10/28/07                                                      Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                   OSHO                                ™




                               Books on CD-ROM

                                                                                                          ™




             The text used in this database is not the original source material and is a reference guide only.
                               © 1994 Osho International Foundation. All Rights reserved. December 1994.
                                               Produced by Osho International London.




Reproduction in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and
 retrieval system in part or in whole is prohibited without prior written permission from the copyright owner, except for photocopying for
  personal use. Modification, editing, adaptation, translation, renting or leasing, or creating derivative works or other distribution of this
                                                            database is prohibited.

 The name 'Osho' is a registered trademark of Osho International Foundation. Osho International Foundation also owns the trademarks to
                                        Osho's signature, the Swan symbol and other trademarks.

For permission to publish or reproduce etc. Or to use any of the Osho International Foundation's trademarks, write to:
        Osho International Foundation
        Bahnhofstr. 52
        8001 Zurich
        Switzerland




                                             Biography of Osho
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           1931 - 1953 Early Years
               December 11,1931: Osho is born in Kuchwada, a small village in the state of Madhya Pradesh,
           central India.
               He is the eldest of eleven children of a Jaina cloth merchant. Stories of His early years describe
           Him as independent and rebellious as a child, questioning all social, religious and philosophical
           beliefs. As a youth He experiments with meditation techniques.
               March 21, 1953: Osho becomes enlightened at the age of twenty-one, while majoring in
           philosophy at D.N. Jain college in Jabalpur.
               In the East, enlightenment is described as a state of ultimate and total consciousness or
           awareness, as attained by Gautama Buddha, Socrates, and others. Western concepts of "enlightened"
           connoting "modern" and "the Enlightenment," indicating 18th century European intellectual ferment
           are only linguistically similar.

           1953 - 1956 Education
               1956: Osho receives His M.A. from the University of Sagar with First Class Honors in
           Philosophy.
               He is the All-India Debating Champion and Gold Medal winner in His graduating class.
               1957-1968 University Professor and Public Speaker
               1957: Osho is appointed as a professor at the Sanskrit College in Raipur.
               1958: He is appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Jabalpur, where He taught
           until 1966.
               A powerful and passionate debater, He also travels widely in India, speaking to large audiences
           and challenging orthodox religious leaders in public debates.
               1966: After nine years of teaching, He leaves the university to devote Himself entirely to the
           raising of human consciousness. on a regular basis, He begins to address gatherings 20,000 to 50,000
           in the open-air maidans of India's major cities. Four times a year He conducts intense ten-day
           meditation camps.
               In 1970, the 14th of April, He introduces His revolutionary meditation technique, dynamic
           Meditation, which begins with a period of uninhibited movement and catharsis, followed by a period
           of silence and stillness. Since then this meditation technique has been used by psychotherapists,
           medical doctors, teachers and other professionals around the world .

           1969 - 1974 Bombay Years
               Late 1960's: His Hindi talks become available in English translations.
               1970: In July, 1970, He moves to Bombay, where He lives until 1974.
               1970: Osho - at this time called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - begins to initiate seekers into
           Neo-Sannyas or discipleship, a path of commitment to self-exploration and meditation which does
           not involve renouncing the world or anything else. Osho's understanding of 'renunciation' is a radical
           departure from the traditional Eastern viewpoint. For Him it is not the material world that needs to
           be renounced but our past and the conditionings and belief systems that each generation imposes on
           the next. He continues to conduct meditation camps at Mount Abu in Rajasthan but stops accepting
           invitations to speak throughout the country. He devotes his energies entirely to the rapidly expanding
           group of sannyasins around Him.
               At this time, the first Westerners begin to arrive and to be initiated into Neo-Sannyas. Among
           them are leading psychotherapists from the human potential movement in Europe and America,
           seeking the next step in their own inner growth. With Osho they experience new, original meditation
           techniques for contemporary man, synthesizing the wisdom of the East with the science of the West.

           1974 - 1981 Poona Ashram
               During these seven years He gives a 90 minutes discourse nearly every morning, alternating
           every month between Hindi and English. His discourses offer insights into all the major spiritual
           paths, including Yoga, Zen, Taoism, Tantra and Sufism. He also speaks on Gautam Buddha, Jesus,
           Lao Tzu, and other mystics. These discourses have been collected into over 300 volumes and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           translated into 20 languages.
               In the evenings, during these years, He answers questions on personal matters such as love,
           jealousy, meditation. These 'darshans' are compiled in 64 darshan diaries of which 40 are published.
               The commune that arose around Osho at this time offers a wide variety of therapy groups which
           combine Eastern meditation techniques with Western psychotherapy. Therapists from all over the
           world are attracted and by 1980 the international community gained a reputation as ' the world's
           finest growth and therapy center." One hundred thousand people pass through its gates each year.
               1981: He develops a degenerative back condition. In March 1981, after giving daily discourses
           for nearly 15 years, Osho begins a three-year period of self-imposed public silence. In view of the
           possible need for emergency surgery, and on the recommendation of His personal doctors, He travels
           to the U.S.
               This same year, His American disciples purchase a 64,000-acre ranch in Oregon and invite Him
           to visit. He eventually agrees to stay in the U.S. and allows an application for permanent residence to
           be filed on His behalf.

           1981 - 1985 Rajneeshpuram
                A model agricultural commune rises from the ruins of the central Oregonian high desert.
           Thousands of overgrazed and economically unviable acres are reclaimed. The city of Rajneeshpuram
           is incorporated and eventually provides services to 5,000 residents. Annual summer festivals are held
           which draw 15,000 visitors from all over the world. Very quickly, Rajneeshpuram becomes the
           largest and most controversial spiritual community ever pioneered in America.
                Opposition to the commune and new city keeps pace with its success. Responding to the anti-cult
           fervor which pervades all levels of American society during the Reagan years, local, state and
           federal politicians make inflammatory speeches against the Rajneeshees. The Immigration and
           Naturalization Service (INS), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Treasury Department,
           and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency (ATF) are only a few of the agencies spending
           millions of dollars in taxpayers' money while harassing the commune with unwarranted and fruitless
           investigations. Similar costly campaigns are conducted in Oregon.
                October 1984: Osho ends three and one half years of self-imposed silence, and begins speaking
           to small groups of people who gather at His residence.
                July 1985: He resumes His public discourses each morning to thousands of seekers gathered in a
           two-acre meditation hall.

           Sept. - Oct. 1985: The Oregon Commune is Destroyed
               September 14: Osho's personal secretary and several members of the commune's management
           suddenly leave, and a whole pattern of illegal acts they have committed - including poisoning, arson,
           wiretapping, and attempted murder - are exposed. Osho invites law enforcement officials to
           investigate Sheela's crimes. The authorities, however, see the investigation as a golden opportunity
           to destroy the commune entirely.
               October 23: A U.S. federal grand jury in Portland secretly indicts Osho and 7 others on relatively
           minor charges of immigration fraud.
               October 28: Without warrants, federal and local officials arrest at gun point Osho and others in
           Charlotte, North Carolina. While the others are released, He is held without bail for twelve days. A
           five-hour return plane trip to Oregon takes four days. En route, Osho is held incommunicado and
           forced to register under the pseudonym, David Washington, in the Oklahoma County jail.
           Subsequent events indicate that it is probable that He was poisoned with the heavy metal thallium
           while in that jail and the El Reno Federal Penitentiary.
               November: Emotions and publicity swell around Osho's immigration case. Fearing for His life
           and the well-being of sannyasins in volatile Oregon, attorneys agree to an Alford Plea on two out of
           35 of the original charges against Him. According to the rules of the plea, the defendant maintains
           innocence while saying that the prosecution could have convicted him. Osho and His attorneys
           maintain His innocence in the court. He is fined $400,000 and is deported from America.
               Among others, U.S. Attorney in Portland, Charles Turner, publicly concedes that the government
           was intent on destroying Rajneeshpuram.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           1985 - 1986 World Tour
               December 1985: The Indian government attempts to isolate Him by canceling the visas issued to
           his personal household staff.
               January-February: He travels to Kathmandu, Nepal and speaks twice daily for the next two
           months. In February, the Nepalese government refuses visas for His visitors and closest attendants.
           He leaves Nepal and embarks on a world tour.
               February-March: At His first stop, Greece, he is granted a 30-day tourist visa. But after only 18
           days, on March 5, Greek police forcibly break into the house where He is staying, arrest Him at gun
           point, and deport him. Greek media reports indicate government and church pressure provoked the
           police intervention
               During the following two weeks He visits or asks permission to visit 17 countries in Europe and
           the Americas. All of these countries either refuse to grant Him a visitor's visa or revoke His visa
           upon His arrival, and force Him to leave. Some refuse even landing permission for His plane.
               March-June: On March 19 He travels to Uruguay. On May 14th the government has scheduled a
           press conference to announce that He will be granted permanent residence in Uruguay. Uruguay's
           President Sanguinetti later admits that he received a telephone call from Washington, D.C. the night
           before the press conference. He is told that if Osho is allowed to stay in Uruguay, the six billion
           dollar debt Uruguay owes to the U.S. will be due immediately and no further loans will be granted.
           Osho is ordered to leave Uruguay on June 18th.
               June-July: During the next month He is deported from both Jamaica and Portugal. In all, 21
           countries had denied Him entry or deported Him after arrival. On July 29,1986, He returns to
           Bombay, India.

           1987 - 1989 Osho Commune International
               January 1987: He returns to the ashram in Poona, India, which is renamed Rajneeshdham. The
           Indian government resumes its policy of denying visas to known friends of Osho.
               July 1988: Osho begins, for the first time in 14 years, to personally lead the meditation at the end
           of each evening's discourse. He also introduces a revolutionary new meditation technique called The
           Mystic Rose.
               January-February 1989: He stops using the name "Bhagwan," retaining only the name Rajneesh.
           However, His disciples ask to call Him 'Osho' and He accepts this form of address. Osho explains
           that His name is derived from William James' word 'oceanic' which means dissolving into the ocean.
           Oceanic describes the experience, He says, but what about the experiencer? For that we use the word
           'Osho.' Later, He came to find out that 'Osho' has also been used historically in the Far East, meaning
           "The Blessed One, on Whom the Sky Showers Flowers."
               March-June 1989: Osho is resting to recover from the effects of the poisoning, which by now are
           strongly influencing His health.
               July 1989: His health is getting better and He makes two appearances for silent darshans during
           the Festival, now renamed Osho Full Moon Celebration.
               August 1989: Osho begins to make daily appearances in Gautama the Buddha Auditorium for
           evening darshan. He sits in silence while music is played, explaining: "That which cannot be said has
           to be experienced. This is a great experience of getting into an inner, meditative space." He also
           inaugurates a special group of white-robed sannyasins called the "Osho White Robe Brotherhood."
           All sannyasins and non-sannyasins attending the evening darshans are asked to wear white robes.
           Osho has said that "There is a mystical gathering of energy in these robes; day by day, they gather
           more potential."
               On the second weekend of every month, three-day meditation camps are held, using the unique
           meditation techniques devised by Osho. All participants are asked to wear maroon robes. In a further
           development, Osho suggests that sannyasins working in the ashram should also wear maroon, so in
           the day the commune is filled with maroon-robed people and in the evening with white-robed
           people.
               September 1989: Osho drops the name "Rajneesh," signifying His complete discontinuity from
           the past. He is known simply as "Osho," and the ashram is renamed "Osho Commune International."
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           1990 Osho leaves His body
               January 1990: During the second week in January, Osho's body becomes noticeably weaker. On
           January 18, He is so physically weak that He is unable to come to Gautama the Buddha Auditorium.
           On January 19, His pulse becomes irregular. When His doctor inquires whether they should prepare
           for cardiac resuscitation, Osho says, "No, just let me go. Existence decides its timing." He leaves His
           body at 5 p.m. At 7 p.m. His body is brought to Gautama the Buddha Auditorium for a celebration,
           and is then carried to the burning ghats for cremation. Two days later, His ashes are brought to Osho
           Commune International and placed in His samadhi in Chuang Tzu Auditorium. In the days that
           follow, thousands of sannyasins and lovers fly in from around the world to celebrate and absorb the
           atmosphere of love and meditation that is the fragrance of Osho.
               Just before His departure from the body, Osho says: "Never speak of me in the past tense. My
           presence here will be many times greater without the burden of my tortured body. Remind my
           people that they will feel much more--they will know immediately." Osho also talks about how He
           wants the expansion of the work to continue. He says that now that he is leaving His body, many
           more people would come, many more people's interest would show, and His work would expand
           incredibly beyond our ideas. Then He says: "I leave you my dream."
               In 1980, in answer to the question, "What happens when you leave your body?" Osho replies, "I
           will be dissolved in my people. Just as you can taste the sea from any place and it is salty, you will
           be able to taste any of my sannyasins and you will find the same taste: the taste of the Blessed One....
           I am preparing my people to live joyously, ecstatically. So when I am not in my body, it won't make
           any difference to them. They will still live the same way - and maybe my death will bring them more
           intensity."
               In 1989 He responded to a similar question from Italian TV, saying, "I believe and trust
           absolutely in existence. If there is any truth in what I am saying, it will survive. The people who
           remain interested in my work will be simply carrying the torch, but not imposing anything on
           anyone, either by sword or bread. I will remain a source of inspiration to my people and that is what
           most sannyasins will feel. I want them to grow on their own. Qualities like love, around which no
           church can be created, like awareness, qualities which are nobody's monopoly, like celebration,
           rejoicing, and maintaining childlike fresh eyes. I want people to know themselves not to be
           according to someone else, and the way is in."




Books

              Osho's books have been divided up into four categories:

              1. English Discourses
              2. Darshan Diaries
              3. Translation of Hindi talks
              4. Miscellaneous letters, poems and jokes.

              See table of contents for more details...




                                                           Discourse Series
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                     A Bird on the Wing
                                                 Talks on Zen
                                 Talks given from 10/06/74 am to 20/06/74 am
                                           English Discourse series
                                                 11 Chapters
                                             Year published: 6/74
           Original tape and book title was "Roots and Wings".




                                          A Bird on the Wing
                                                Chapter #1
                                       Chapter title: Empty Your Cup
           10 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406100
              ShortTitle: WING01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 99 mins




    BELOVED MASTER,
              THE JAPANESE MASTER NAN-IN GAVE AUDIENCE
              TO A PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY.
              SERVING TEA, NAN-IN FILLED HIS VISITOR'S CUP,
              AND KEPT POURING.
              THE PROFESSOR WATCHED THE OVERFLOW
              UNTIL HE COULD RESTRAIN HIMSELF NO LONGER:
              STOP!
              THE CUP IS OVERFULL, NO MORE WILL GO IN.
              NAN-IN SAID:
              LIKE THIS CUP,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU ARE FULL OF YOUR OWN OPINIONS AND SPECULATIONS.
              HOW CAN I SHOW YOU ZEN
              UNLESS YOU FIRST EMPTY YOUR CUP?


                You have come to an even more dangerous person than Nan-in, because an empty cup won't do;
           the cup has to be broken completely. Even empty, if you are there, then you are full. Even emptiness
           fills you. If you feel that you are empty you are not empty at all, you are there. Only the name has
           changed: now you call yourself emptiness. The cup won't do at all; it has to be broken completely.
           Only when you are not can the tea be poured into you. Only when you are not is there no need really
           to pour the tea into you. When you are not the whole existence begins pouring, the whole existence
           becomes a shower from every dimension, from every direction. When you are not, the divine is.
                The story is beautiful. It was bound to happen to a professor of philosophy. The story says a
           professor of philosophy came to Nan-in. He must have come for the wrong reasons because a
           professor of philosophy, as such, is always wrong. Philosophy means intellect, reasoning, thinking,
           argumentativeness. And this is the way to be wrong, because you cannot be in love with existence if
           you are argumentative. Argument is the barrier. If you argue, you are closed; the whole existence
           closes to you. Then you are not open and existence is not open to you.
                When you argue, you assert. Assertion is violence, aggression, and the truth cannot be known by
           an aggressive mind, the truth cannot be discovered by violence. You can come to know the truth
           only when you are in love. But love never argues. There is no argument in love, because there is no
           aggression. And remember, not only was that man a professor of philosophy, you are also the same.
           Every man carries his own philosophy, and every man in his own way is a professor, because you
           profess your ideas, you believe in them. You have opinions, concepts and because of opinions and
           concepts your eyes are dull, they cannot see; your mind is stupid, it cannot know.
                Ideas create stupidity because the more the ideas are there, the more the mind is burdened. And
           how can a burdened mind know? The more ideas are there, the more it becomes just like dust which
           has gathered on a mirror. How can the mirror mirror? How can the mirror reflect? Your intelligence
           is just covered by opinions, the dust, and everyone who is opinionated is bound to be stupid and dull.
           That's why professors of philosophy are almost always stupid. They know too much to know at all.
           They are burdened too much. They cannot fly in the sky, they can't have wings. And they are so
           much in the mind, they can't have roots in the earth. They are not grounded in the earth and they are
           not free to fly into the sky.
                And remember, you are all the same. There may be differences of quantity, but every mind is
           qualitatively the same, because mind thinks, argues, collects and gathers knowledge and becomes
           dull. Only children are intelligent. And if you can retain your childhood, if you continuously reclaim
           your childhood, you will remain innocent and intelligent. If you gather dust, childhood is lost,
           innocence is no more; the mind has become dull and stupid. Now you can have philosophies. The
           more philosophies you have, the more you are far away from the divine.
                A religious mind is a nonphilosophical mind. A religious mind is an innocent, intelligent mind.
           The mirror is clear, the dust has not been gathered; and every day a continuous cleaning goes on.
           That's what I call meditation.
                This professor of philosophy came to Nan-in. He must have come for wrong reasons: he must
           have come to receive some answers. Those people who are filled with questions are always in search
           of answers. And Nan-in could not give an answer. It is foolish to be concerned with questions and
           answers. Nan-in could give you a new mind, Nan-in could give you a new being, Nan-in could give
           you a new existence in which no questions arise, but Nan-in was not interested in answering any
           particular questions.He was not interested in giving answers. Neither am I.
                You must have come here with many questions. It is bound to be so, because the mind gives birth
           to questions. Mind is a question-creating mechanism.Feed anything into it, out comes a question, and
           many questions follow. Give an answer to it, and immediately it converts it into many questions.
           You are here filled with many questions, your cup is already full. No need for Nan-in to pour any tea
           into it, you are already overflowing.
                I can give you a new existence - that's why I have invited you here - I will not give you any
           answers. All questions, all answers, are useless, just a wastage of energy. But I can transform you,
           and that is the only answer. And that one answer solves all questions.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Philosophy has many questions, many answers -- millions. Religion has only one answer;
           whatsoever the question the answer remains the same. Buddha used to say: You taste sea water from
           anywhere, the taste remains the same, the saltiness of it.
               Whatsoever you ask is really irrelevant. I will answer the same because I have got only one
           answer. But that one answer is like a master key; it opens all doors. It is not concerned with any
           particular lock -- any lock and the key opens it. Religion has only one answer and that answer is
           meditation. And meditation means how to empty yourself.
               The professor must have been tired, walking long, when he reached Nan-in's cottage. And Nan-in
           said, "Wait a little." He must have been in a hurry. Mind is always in a hurry, and mind is always in
           search of instantaneous realizations. To wait, for the mind, is very difficult, almost impossible.
           Nan-in said, "I will prepare tea for you. You look tired. Wait a little, rest a little, and have a cup of
           tea. And then we can discuss."
               Nan-in boiled the water and started preparing the tea. But he must have been watching the
           professor. Not only was the water boiling, the professor was also boiling within. Not only was the
           tea kettle making sounds, the professor was making more sounds within, chattering, continuously
           talking. The professor must have been getting ready -- what to ask, how to ask, from where to begin.
           He must have been in a deep monologue. Nan-in must have been smiling and watching: This man is
           too full, so much so that nothing can penetrate into him. The answer cannot be given because there is
           no one to receive it. The guest cannot enter into the house-there is no room. Nan-in must have
           wanted to become a guest in this professor.
               Out of compassion, a buddha always wants to become a guest within you. He knocks from
           everywhere but there is no door. And even if he breaks a door, which is very difficult, there is no
           room. You are so full with yourself and with rubbish and all types of paraphernalia which you have
           gathered in many, many lives, you cannot even enter into yourself; there is no room, no space. You
           live just outside of your own being, just on the steps. You cannot enter within yourself, everything is
           blocked.
               Then Nan-in poured tea into the cup. The professor came to be uneasy because he was
           continuously pouring tea. It was overflowing; soon it would be going out on the floor. Then the
           professor said, "Stop! What are you doing? Now this cup cannot hold any more tea, not even a single
           drop. Are you mad? What are you doing?"
               Nan-in said, "The same is the case with you. You are so alert to observe and become aware that
           the cup is full and cannot hold any more, why are you not so aware about your own self? You are
           overflowing with opinions, philosophies, doctrines, scriptures. You know too much already; I cannot
           give you anything. You have traveled in vain. Before coming to me you should have emptied your
           cup, then I could pour something into it."
               But I tell you, you have come to a more dangerous person. No, an empty cup I won't allow,
           because if the cup is there you will fill it. You are so addicted and you have become so habituated
           that you cannot allow the cup to be empty even for a single moment. The moment you see emptiness
           anywhere you start filling it. You are so scared of emptiness, you are so afraid.: emptiness appears
           like death. You will fill it with anything, but you will fill it. No, I have invited you to be here to
           break down this cup completely, so that even if you want to you cannot fill it.
               Emptiness means there is no cup left. All the walls have disappeared, the bottom has fallen
           down; you have become an abyss. Then I can pour myself into you.
               Much is possible, if you allow. But to allow is arduous, because to allow you will have to
           surrender. Emptiness means surrender.
               Nan-in was saying to that professor: Bow down, surrender, empty your head. I am ready to pour.
           That professor had not even asked the question and Nan-in had given the answer, because really
           there is no need to ask the question. The question remains the same.
               You ask me or not, I know what the question is. So many of you are here but I know the
           question, because deep down the question is one: the anxiety, the anguish, the meaninglessness, the
           futility of this whole life - not knowing who you are. But you are filled. Allow me to break this cup.
           This camp is going to be a destruction, a death. If you are ready to be destroyed something new will
           come out of it. Every destruction can become a creative birth. If you are ready to die you can have a
           new life, you can be reborn.
               I am here just to be a midwife. That's what Socrates used to say -- that a master is just a midwife.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I can help, I can protect, I can guide, that's all. The actual phenomenon, the transformation, is going
           to happen to you. Suffering will be there, because no birth is possible without suffering. Much
           anguish will come up, because you have accumulated it and it has to be thrown. A deep cleansing
           and catharsis will be needed.
                Birth is just like death, but the suffering is worth taking. Out of the darkness of suffering a new
           morning arises, a new sun arises. And the dawn is not very far when you feel darkness too much.
           When suffering is unbearable, bliss is very near. So don't try to escape from suffering -- that is the
           point where you can miss. Don't try to avoid it, pass through it. Don't try to find some way which
           goes round about- no, that won't do- pass through it. Suffering will burn you, destroy you, but really
           you cannot be destroyed. All that can be destroyed is just the rubbish that you have gathered. All that
           can be destroyed is something that is not you. When it is all destroyed, then you will feel that you are
           indestructible, you are deathless. Passing through death, consciously passing through death, one
           becomes aware of life eternal.
                These few days you will be here with me many things are possible, but the first step to remember
           is to pass through suffering. Many times I create suffering for you; many times I create the situation
           in which all that is suppressed within you comes up. Don't push it down, don't repress it. Allow it,
           free it. If you can free your suffering, your suppressed suffering, you will become free of it. And you
           can come to the state of bliss only when all suffering has been passed through, thrown, completely
           dropped. And I can see through you: the flame of bliss is just near the corner. Once glimpsed, that
           flame becomes yours. I will push you in many ways to have a glimpse of it. If you miss you will be
           responsible, no one else. The river is flowing, but if you cannot bow down, if you cannot come down
           from your egoistic state of mind, you may go back thirsty. Don't blame the river. The river was there
           but you were paralyzed by your ego.
                Empty the cup- that's what Nan-in said. That means empty the mind. Ego is there, overflowing
           and when ego is overflowing nothing can be done. The whole existence is around you but nothing
           can be done. From nowhere can the divine penetrate you, you have created such a citadel. Empty the
           cup. Rather, throw the cup completely. When I say throw the cup completely I mean be so empty
           that you don't have even the feeling that "I am empty."
                Once it happened, a disciple came to Bodhidharma and said, "Master, you told me to be empty.
           Now I have become empty. Now what else do you say?"
                Bodhidharma hit him hard with his staff on the head, and he said, "Go and throw this emptiness
           out."
                If you say "I am empty," the "I am" is there, and the "I" cannot be empty. So emptiness cannot be
           claimed. No one can say, "I am empty," just as no one can say, "I am humble." If you say, "I am
           humble," you are not. Who claims this humility? Humbleness cannot be claimed. If you are humble,
           you are humble, but you cannot say it. Not only can you not say it, you cannot feel that you are
           humble because the very feeling will give birth to the ego again. Be empty, but don't think that you
           are empty otherwise you have deceived yourself.
                You have brought many philosophies with you. Drop them. They have not helped you at all, they
           have not done anything for you. It is time enough, the right time. Drop them wholesale; not in parts,
           not in fragments. For these few days you will be here with me just be without any thinking. I know it
           is difficult but still I say it is possible. And once you know the knack of it, you will laugh at the
           whole absurdity of the mind that you were carrying so long.
                I have heard about a man who was traveling in a train for the first time, a villager. He was
           carrying his luggage on his head, thinking, "Putting it down will be too much for the train to carry,
           and I have paid only for my own self. I have purchased the ticket but I have not paid for the
           luggage." So he was carrying the luggage on his head. The train was carrying him and his luggage,
           and whether he carried it on his head or put it down made no difference to the train. Your mind is
           unnecessary luggage. It makes no difference to this existence that is carrying you; you are
           unnecessarily burdened. I say drop it.
                The trees exist without the mind and exist more beautifully than any human being; the birds exist
           without the mind and exist in a more ecstatic state than any human being. Look at children who are
           still not civilized, who are still wild. They exist without the mind, and even a Jesus or a Buddha will
           feel jealous of their innocence. There is no need for this mind. The whole world is going on and on
           without it. Why are you carrying it? Are you just thinking that it will be too much for God, for
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existence? Once you can put it down, even for a single minute, your whole existence will be
           transformed. You will enter into a new dimension, the dimension of weightlessness.
                That's what I'm going to give you: wings into the sky, into the heaven -- weightlessness gives
           you these wings- and roots into the earth, a groundedness, a centering. This earth and that heaven :
           they are two parts of the whole. In this life, your so-called ordinary life, you must be rooted; and in
           your inner space, in the spiritual life, you must be weightless and flying and flowing, floating.
                Roots and wings I can give to you- if you allow, because I am only a midwife. I cannot force the
           child out of you. A forced child will be ugly, and a forced child may die. Just allow me. The child is
           there, you are already pregnant. Everybody is pregnant with God. The child is there and you have
           already carried too long. Long ago the period of nine months passed. That may be the root cause of
           your anguish -- that you are carrying something in the womb which needs birth, which needs to
           come out, which needs to be born. Think of a woman, a mother, carrying a child after the ninth
           month. Then it becomes more and more burdensome, and if the birth is not going to happen the
           mother will die, because it will be too much to bear. That may be the reason why you are in so much
           anxiety, anguish, tension. Something needs to be born out of you; something needs to be created out
           of your womb.
                I can help. This Samadhi Sadhana Shibir this camp for inner ecstasy and enlightenment is just
           going to be a help for you so that which you have carried like a seed up to now can come out of your
           soil and become an alive thing, an alive plant. But the basic thing will be that if you want to be with
           me you cannot be with your mind. Both cannot happen simultaneously. Whenever you are with your
           mind you are not with me; whenever the mind is not there, you are with me. And I can work only if
           you are with me. Empty the cup. Throw the cup away completely; destroy it.
                This camp is going to be in many ways different.This night I start a completely new phase of my
           work. You are fortunate to be here because you will be witnesses to a new type of inner work. I must
           explain it to you because tomorrow morning the journey starts.
                The first meditation, which you will be doing in the morning, is related to the rising sun. It is a
           morning meditation. When the sleep is broken the whole of nature becomes alive. The night has
           gone, the darkness is no more, the sun is coming up, and everything becomes conscious and alert. So
           this first meditation is a meditation in which you have to be continuously alert, conscious, aware,
           whatsoever you do. The first step, breathing; the second step, catharsis; the third step, the mantra, the
           mahamantra: HOO.
                Remain a witness. Don't get lost. It is easy to get lost. While you are breathing you can forget;
           you can become one with the breathing so much that you can forget the witness. But then you miss
           the point. Breathe as fast, as deep as possible, bring your total energy to it, but still remain a witness.
           Observe what is happening as if you are just a spectator, as if the whole thing is happening to
           somebody else, as if the whole thing is happening in the body and the consciousness is just centered
           and looking. This witnessing has to be carried in all the three steps. And when everything stops- and
           in the fourth step you have become completely inactive, frozen-then this alertness will come to its
           peak.
                In the afternoon meditation -- kirtan, dancing, singing -- another inner work has to be done. In
           the morning you have to be fully conscious; in the afternoon meditation you have to be half
           conscious, half unconscious. It is a noontide meditation -- when you are alert, but you feel sleepy. It
           is just like a man who is under the influence of some intoxicant. He walks, but cannot walk rightly;
           he knows where he is going, but everything is dim. He is conscious and not conscious. He knows he
           has taken alcohol, he knows his feet are wavering, but he knows this half-asleep, half-awake. So in
           the afternoon meditation remember this -- act as if you are intoxicated, drunk, ecstatic. Sometimes
           you will forget yourself completely like a drunkard, sometimes you will remember, but don't try to
           be conscious just like the morning, no. Move with the day -- half-half in the noon. Then you are in
           tune with nature.
                In the night, just the opposite of the morning -- be completely unconscious; don't bother at all.
           The night has come, the sun has set, now everything is moving into unconsciousness. Move into
           unconsciousness. This whirling, Sufi whirling, is one of the most ancient techniques, one of the most
           forceful. It is so deep that even a single experience can make you totally different. You have to whirl
           with open eyes, just like small children go on twirling, as if your inner being has become a center
           and your whole body has become like a wheel, moving- a potter's wheel, moving. You are in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           center, but the whole body is moving. Start slowly, clockwise. If somebody feels it is very difficult
           to move clockwise then anti-clockwise, but the rule is to move clockwise. If a few people are
           left-handed then they may feel it difficult; they can move anti-clockwise. And almost ten percent of
           people are left-handed, so if you find that clockwise you feel uneasy, move anti-clockwise; but start
           with clockwise, then feel. Music will be there, slow, just to help you. In the beginning move very
           slowly; don't go fast, but very slowly, enjoying. And then, by and by, go faster. The first fifteen
           minutes, go slowly; the second fifteen minutes, fast; the third fifteen minutes, faster; the fourth
           fifteen minutes, just completely mad. And then your total energy, you, become a whirlpool, an
           energy whirlpool, lost completely in it: no witnessing, no effort to observe. Don't try to see; be the
           whirlpool, be the whirling. One hour.
                In the beginning you may not be able to stand so long, but remember one thing, don't stop by
           yourself, don't stop the whirling. If you feel it is impossible the body will fall down automatically,
           but don't you stop. If you fall down in the middle of the hour there is no problem; the process is
           complete. But don't play tricks with yourself, don't deceive; don't think that now you are tired so it is
           better to stop. No, don't make it a decision on your part. If you are tired, how can you go on? You
           will fall automatically. So don't stop yourself; let the whirling itself come to a point where you fall
           down. When you fall down, fall down on your stomach; and it will be good if your stomach is in
           direct touch with the earth. Then close the eyes. Lie down on the earth as if lying down on the breast
           of your mother, a small child lying down on the breast of the mother. Become completely
           unconscious. And this whirling will help.
                Whirling gives intoxication to the body. It is a chemical thing, it gives you intoxication, to be
           exact. That's why sometimes you may feel giddy just like a drunkard. What is happening to the
           drunkard? Hidden behind your ears is a sixth sense, the sense of balance. When you take any drink,
           any alcoholic thing, any intoxicating drug, it goes directly to the center of balance in the ear and
           disturbs it. That's why a drunkard cannot walk, feels dizzy. The same happens in whirling. If you
           whirl, really, the effect will be the same: you will feel intoxicated, drunk. But enjoy this drunkenness
           is worth something. This being in a drunken state is what Sufis have been calling ecstasy, masti. In
           the beginning you may feel giddy, in the beginning sometimes you may feel nausea, but within two,
           three days, these feelings will disappear and by the fourth day you will feel a new energy in you that
           you have never known before. Then giddiness will disappear, and just a smooth feeling of
           drunkenness will be there. So don't try to be alert about what is happening. Let it happen and become
           one with the happening.
                In the morning, alert; in the afternoon, half alert, half unalert; in the night, completely unalert.
           The circle is complete.
                And then fall down on the ground on your stomach. If anybody feels any sort of pain in the navel
           center lying down on the ground, then he can turn on the back, otherwise not. If you feel something,
           a very deep painful sensation in the stomach, then turn on your back, otherwise not. The navel in
           contact with the earth will give you such a blissful feeling -- just the same as once you had, but now
           you have forgotten, when you were a child lying down on your mother's breast, completely unaware
           of any worry, any anxiety, so one with the mother, your heart beating with her heart, your breath in
           tune with her breath. The same will happen with the earth because earth is the mother. That's why
           Hindus have been calling earth the mother and sky the father. Be rooted in it. Feel a merger as if you
           have dissolved. The body has become one with the earth; the form is there no more. Only earth
           exists; you are not there. This is what I mean when I say break the cup completely: forget that you
           are. The earth is, and dissolve in it.
                During the one hour of whirling the music will continue. Many will fall before the hour but
           everybody has to fall by the time the music stops. So if you feel that you are still not in the state of
           falling then go faster and faster. After forty-five minutes go completely mad, so by the time the hour
           is complete you have fallen. And the feeling if falling is beautiful, so don't manipulate it. Fall, and
           when you have fallen then turn on your stomach, be merged, close your eyes. This merger has to be
           there for one hour.
                So the night meditation will be of two hours, from seven o'clock to nine o'clock. Don't eat
           anything before it. At nine o'clock the suggestion will be given to come out of this deep drunkenness,
           this ecstasy. Even out of it you may not be able to walk correctly, but don't be disturbed, enjoy it.
           Then take your food and go to sleep.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Another new thing, I will not be there; only my empty chair will be there. But don't miss me
           because in a sense I will be there, and in a sense there has always been an empty chair before you.
           Right now the chair is empty because there is no one sitting in it. I am talking to you but there is no
           one who is talking to you. It is difficult to understand, but when the ego disappears processes can
           continue. Talking can continue, sitting and walking and eating can continue, but the center has
           disappeared. Even now, the chair is empty. But I was always with you up till now in all the camps
           because you were not ready. Now I feel you are ready. And you must be helped to get more ready to
           work in my absence, because feeling that I am there you may feel a certain enthusiasm that is false.
           Just feeling that I am present you may do things which you never wanted to do; just to impress me
           you may exert more. That is not of much help, because only that can be helpful which comes out of
           your being. My chair will be there, I will be watching you, but you feel completely free. And don't
           think that I am not there because that may depress you, and then that depression will disturb your
           meditation.
               I will be there, and if you meditate rightly whenever your meditation is exactly tuned, you will
           see me. So that will be the criterion of whether you are really meditating or not. Many of you will be
           able to see me more intensely than you can see me right now, and whenever you see me, you can be
           certain that things are happening in a right direction. So this will be the criterion. By the end of this
           camp I hope ninety percent of you will have seen me. Ten percent may miss because of their minds.
           So if you see me don't start thinking about it, what is happening, don't start thinking whether it is
           imagination or a projection or am I really there. Don't think, because if you think immediately I will
           disappear; thinking will become a barrier. The dust will come on the mirror and there will be no
           reflection. Whenever the dust is not there, suddenly you will become aware of me more than you can
           be aware here right now. To be aware of the physical body is not much awareness; to be aware of the
           nonphysical being is real awareness.
               You must learn to work without me. You cannot be here always, you will have to go far away;
           you cannot hang around me forever, you have other works to do. You have come from different
           countries all over the world; you will have to go. For a few days you will be here with me, but if you
           become addicted to my physical presence then rather than being a help it may become a disturbance,
           because then when you go away, you will miss me. Your meditation should be such here that it can
           happen without my presence, then wherever you go the meditation will not be in any way affected.
               And this too has to be remembered: I cannot always be in this physical body with you; one day
           or another the physical vehicle has to be dropped. My work is complete as far as I am concerned. If I
           am carrying this physical vehicle, it is just for you; some day, it has to be dropped. Before it happens
           you must be ready to work in my absence, or in my nonphysical presence which means the same.
           And once you can feel me in my absence you are free of me, and then even if I am not here in this
           body the contact will not be lost.
               It always happens when a Buddha is there: his physical presence becomes so meaningful. and
           then he dies. Everything is shattered. Even a disciple like Ananda, his most intimate disciple, started
           crying and weeping when Buddha said, "Now I have to leave this body." For forty years Ananda was
           with Buddha, twenty-four hours, just like a shadow. He started crying and weeping like a child;
           suddenly he had become an orphan.
           Buddha asked," What are you doing?"
               Ananda said, "It will be impossible now for me to grow. I couldn't grow when you were there so
           how can I grow now? It may be now millions of lives before I come across a buddha again, so I am
           lost."
               Buddha said, "My understanding is different, Ananda. When I am not there you may become
           enlightened immediately, because this has been my feeling -- you have become too much attached
           to me, and that attachment is working like a block. You have become too much attached to me; that
           very attachment is working like a barrier." And this happened as Buddha said. The day Buddha died,
           Ananda became enlightened. There was nothing to cling to then. But why wait? When I die, then you
           will become enlightened? Why wait?
               My chair can be empty; you can feel my absence. And remember, only when you can feel my
           absence can you feel my presence. If you cannot see me while my physical vehicle is not there, you
           have not seen me at all. This is my promise: I will be there in the empty chair, the empty chair will
           not really be empty. So behave! The chair will not be empty, but it is better that you learn to be in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           contact with my nonphysical being. That is a deeper, more intimate touch and contact.
               That is why I say a new phase of my work starts with this camp, and I am calling it a Samadhi
           Sadhana Shibir. It is not only meditation, it is absolute ecstasy that I am going to teach to you. It is
           not only the first step, it is the last. Only no mind on your part is needed and everything is ready. Just
           be alert not to think much. The remaining time between these three meditations, remain more and
           more silent, don't talk. If you want to do something, laugh, dance: do something intense and physical
           but not mental. Go for a long walk, go jogging on the grounds, jump under the sun, lie down on the
           earth, look at the sky, enjoy, but don't allow the mind to function much. Laugh, cry, weep, but don't
           think. If you can be without thinking for these three meditations and the time between them, then
           after three, four days you will feel suddenly a burden has disappeared. The heart has become light,
           the body weightless and you are ready to take a jump into the unknown.
           Anything more?


              OSHO,
              THE LAST PART OF WHAT YOU SAID TO US IS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND BLISSFUL, BUT THE
              FIRST PART IS VERY FRIGHTENING -- BREAKING THE CUP, SUFFERING, FALLING DOWN ON
              THE GROUND, YOU NOT BEING THERE.
              THEN OUR MINDS COME IN AND WE PLAY TRICKS WITH OUR BODIES.
              WE SAY, "I HAVE THIS PAIN. I HAVE THIS BLISTER."
              CAN YOU GIVE US SOME CLUE AS TO HOW WE CAN GET OVER THE BARRIERS WE CREATE
              FOR OURSELVES WHEN WE COME UP AGAINST FEAR?


                Any conflict will create more barriers. If there is fear and you start doing something about it,
           then a new fear has entered: fear of the fear. It has become more complex. So the one thing to be
           done is, if fear is there, accept it. Don't do anything about it because doing will not help. Anything
           that you do out of fear will create more fear; anything that you do out of confusion will add more to
           confusion. Don't do anything. If fear is there note down that fear is there and accept it. What can you
           do? Nothing can be done; fear is there. See, if you can just note down the fact that fear is there,
           where is the fear then? You have accepted it; it has dissolved. Acceptance dissolves; only
           acceptance, nothing else. If you fight you create another disturbance and this can go on ad infinitum,
           then there is no end to it. People come to me and they say, "We are very afraid, what should we do?"
           If I give them something to do they will do it with the being which is full of fear, so action will come
           out of their fear. And the action that comes out of fear cannot be anything other than fear.
                I have heard that Adolf Hitler was suffering from deep depression, melancholy, and
           psychologists were saying that it was due to some hidden inferiority complex. So all the Aryan
           psychologists were called. They tried but they couldn't help, nothing came out of their analysis. So
           they suggested that a Jewish psychoanalyst should be called. Hitler was not ready in the beginning to
           call a Jew, but seeing no way out of it he had to yield. A great Jewish psychoanalyst was called. He
           analyzed, penetrated deep into Hitler's mind, dreams, and then he suggested, "Nothing much is a
           problem. Simply repeat one thing continuously,'I am important, I am significant, I am indispensable.'
           Let it be a mantra. Night, day, whenever you remember, repeat 'I am important, I am significant, I
           am indispensable.'"
           Hitler said, "Stop! You are giving me bad advice."
                The psychoanalyst couldn't understand. He said"What do you mean? Why do you call this bad
           advice?"
                Hitler said, "Because whatsoever I say, I am such a liar, I cannot believe it. I am such a liar,
           whatsoever I say, I cannot believe it. If you say: Repeat 'I am indispensable,' I know that this is a lie.
           I am saying it. I am a liar."
                Out of lies, if you repeat something it will become a lie; out of fear, if you do something it will
           become a fear again. Out of hate, if you try to love that love will just be a hidden hate; it cannot be
           anything else-you are full of hate. Go to the preachers and they will say, "Try to love." They are
           talking nonsense because how can a person who is full of hate try to love? If he tries to love, this
           love will come out of hatred; it will be poisoned already, poisoned from the very source. And this is
           what the misery of all preachers is.
                Gandhi said to people who were violent: Try to be nonviolent. Then their nonviolence comes out
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of violence, so their nonviolence is just a facade, just a face to show. Deep down, they are boiling
           with violence. If your brahmacharya, your celibacy, comes out of too much sexuality, it will be
           perverted sex, nothing else.
               So please don't create any conflict. If you have one problem, don't create another; remain with
           the one, "don't fight and create another. It is easier to solve one problem than to solve another; and
           the first is near the source, the second will be removed. The further removed, the more impossible it
           becomes to solve it.
               If you have fear, you have fear- why make a problem out of it? Then you know that you have
           fear, just as you have two hands. Why create a problem out of it- as if you have only one nose, not
           two? Why create a problem out of it? Fear is there: accept it, note it. Accept it, don't bother about it.
           What will happen? Suddenly you will feel it has disappeared. And this is the inner alchemy -- a
           problem disappears if you accept it, and a problem grows more and more complex if you create any
           conflict with it. Yes, suffering is there, and suddenly fear comes- accept it. It is there and nothing
           can be done about it. And when I say nothing can be done about it, don't think that I am talking about
           pessimism to you. When I say nothing can be done about it I am giving you the key to solve it.
               Suffering is there. It is part of life and part of growth; nothing is bad in it. Suffering becomes evil
           only when it is simply destructive and not creative at all; suffering becomes bad only when you
           suffer and nothing is gained out of it. But I am telling you the divine can be gained through
           suffering; then it becomes creative. Darkness is beautiful if the dawn is coming out of it soon;
           darkness is dangerous if it is endless, leads to no dawn, simply continues and continues and you go
           on moving in a rut, in a vicious circle. This is what is happening to you. Just to escape from one
           suffering you create another; then to escape from another, another. And this goes on and on and all
           those sufferings which you have not lived are waiting for you. You have escaped but you escape
           from one suffering to another, because a mind which was creating a suffering will create another. So
           you can escape from this suffering to that, but suffering will be there because your mind is the
           creative force.
               Accept the suffering and pass through it; don't escape. This is a totally different dimension to
           work in. Suffering is there: encounter it, go through it. Fear will be there, accept it. You will tremble,
           so tremble. Why create a facade that you don't tremble, that you are not afraid? If you are a coward,
           accept it.
               Everyone is a coward. People you call brave are just facades. Deep down they are as cowardly as
           anyone else,
               rather, more cowardly because just to hide that cowardliness they have created a bravery around
           them, and sometimes they act in such a way that everyone knows they are not cowards. Their
           bravery is just a screen. How can man be brave- because death is there. How can man be brave-
           because man is just a leaf in the winds. How can the leaf help not to tremble? When the wind blows
           the leaf will tremble. But you never say to the leaf, "You are a coward." You only say that the leaf is
           alive. So when you tremble and fear takes grip of you, you are a leaf in the wind. Beautiful- why
           create a problem out of it? But society has created problems out of everything.
               If a child is afraid in the dark, we say, "Don't be afraid, be brave." Why? The child is innocent-
           naturally he feels fear in the dark. You force him: "Be brave." So he also forces, then he becomes
           tense. Then he endures the darkness but now tense; now, his whole being is ready to tremble and he
           suppresses it. This suppressed trembling will follow him now his whole life. It was good to tremble
           in the darkness, nothing was wrong. It was good to cry and run, nothing was wrong. The child would
           have come out of darkness more experienced, more knowing. And he would have realized, if he
           passed through darkness trembling and crying and weeping, that there was nothing to fear.
           Suppressed, you never experience the thing in its totality, `you never gain anything out of it. Wisdom
           comes through suffering and wisdom comes through acceptance. Whatsoever the case, be at ease
           with it.
               Don't look to society and its condemnation. Nobody is to judge you here and nobody can pretend
           to be a judge. Don't judge others and don't be perturbed and disturbed by others' judgment. You are
           alone and you are unique. You never were before, you never will be again. You are beautiful. Accept
           it. And whatsoever happens, allow it to happen and pass through it. Soon, suffering will be a
           learning; then it has become creative.
               Fear will give you fearlessness. Out of anger will come compassion. Out of the understanding of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hate, love will be born to you. But this happens not in a conflict, this happens in a passing-through
           with alert awareness. Accept, and pass through it. And if you make it a point to pass through every
           experience, then there will be death, the most intense experience. Life is nothing before it because
           life cannot be so intense as death.
                Life is spread out over a long time -- seventy years, one hundred years. Death is intense because
           it is not spread out -- it is in a single moment. Life has to pass one hundred years or seventy years, it
           cannot be so intense. Death comes in a single moment; it comes whole, not fragmentary. It will be so
           intense you cannot know anything more intense. But if you are afraid, if before death comes you
           have escaped, if you have become unconscious because of the fear, you have missed one of the
           golden opportunities, the golden gate. If your whole life you have been accepting things, when death
           comes, patiently, passively you will accept and enter into it without any effort to escape. If you can
           enter death passively, silently, without any effort, death disappears. When Krishna, Christ, Buddha,
           Mahavir say you are deathless, they are not talking about a doctrine, they are talking about their own
           experience.
                This can happen here in this camp also, because samadhi is death, dhyan is death, meditation is
           death. Many times there will be moments when you will suddenly feel you are dying. Don't escape,
           allow it to happen. If you allow it to happen, death has gone, death is there no more, and the inner
           flame, beginningless, endless, has come into being. It has always been there, now you can feel it. So
           this should be the sutra. With fear, hate, jealousy, anything whatsoever, don't create a problem out of
           it. Accept it, allow it, pass through it, and you will defeat all suffering, all death. And you will
           become a Jaina- a victorious one.

           Anything more?


               OSHO,
               WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT OUR HAVING TO SUFFER, YOU TELL US TO BE JOYFUL AT THE
               SAME TIME. TRYING TO COMPROMISE THESE TWO THINGS SEEMS DIFFICULT.


               When I say suffer joyfully it looks paradoxical and your mind starts thinking how to compromise
           both, because to you they are contradictory. They are not, they only appear contradictory. You can
           enjoy suffering.
               What is the secret- how to enjoy suffering? The first thing is: if you don't escape, if you allow the
           suffering to be there, if you are ready to face it, if you are not trying somehow to forget it, then you
           are different. Suffering is there but just around you; it is not in the center, it is on the periphery. It is
           impossible for suffering to be in the center; it is not in the nature of things. It is always on the
           periphery and you are the center. So when you allow it to happen, when you don't escape, you don't
           run, you are not in a panic, suddenly you become aware that suffering is there on the periphery, as if
           happening to someone else, not to you, and you are looking at it. A subtle joy spreads all over your
           being because you have realized one of the basic truths of life: that you are bliss and not suffering.
               So when I say enjoy it I don't mean become a masochist; I don't mean create suffering for
           yourself and enjoy it. I don't mean: go on, fall down from a cliff, have fractures and then enjoy it- no.
           There are people of that type and many of them have become ascetics, tapasvis, and they are creating
           suffering for themselves. They are masochists, they are ill. They are very dangerous people. They
           wanted to make others suffer but they are not so courageous. They wanted to kill others, be violent
           with others, cripple others, but they are not so courageous, so their whole violence has turned within.
           Now they are crippling themselves, torturing themselves, and enjoying it.
               I am not saying be a masochist; I am simply saying suffering is there, you need not seek for it.
           Enough suffering is there already, you need no go in search. Suffering is already there; life by its
           very nature creates suffering. Illness is there, death is there, the body is there- by their very nature
           suffering is created. See it, look at it with a very dispassionate eye. Look at it -- what it is, what is
           happening. Don't escape. Immediately the mind says, "Escape from here, don't look at it." But if you
           escape then you cannot be blissful.
               Next time you fall ill and the doctor suggests to remain in bed, take it as a blessing. Close your
           eyes and rest on the bed and just look at the illness. Watch it, what it is. Don't try to analyze it, don't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go into theories, just watch it, what it is. The whole body tired, feverish -- watch it. Suddenly, you
           will feel that you are surrounded by fever but there is a very cool point within you; the fever cannot
           touch it, cannot influence it. The whole body may be burning but that cool point cannot be touched.
                I have heard about one Zen nun. She died, but before she died she asked her disciples, "What do
           you suggest? How should I die?" It is an old tradition in Zen that masters ask; they can die
           consciously, so they can ask. And they are so playful even about death, so humorous about it, joking,
           laughing, they enjoy devising methods how to die. So disciples may suggest, "Master, this will be
           good, if you die standing on your head." Or someone suggests, "Walking, because we have never
           seen anyone die walking." So this Zen nun asked," What do you suggest?"
                They said, "It will be good if we prepare a fire, and you sit in it and die meditating."
                She said, " This is beautiful, and never heard of before." So they prepared a funeral pyre, the nun
           made herself comfortable in it, sat in a Buddha posture, and then they lit the fire.
                One man from the crowd asked, "How does it feel there? It is so hot that I cannot even come
           nearer to ask you- that's why I am shouting. How does it feel there?"
                The nun laughed and said, "Only a fool can ask such a question -- How does it feel there? There
           it always feels cool, perfectly cool." She is talking of her inner being, her center. There it is always
           cool and only a foolish person can ask. It is obvious. When a person is ready to sit in a pyre
           meditating, and then the pyre is burnt and she is sitting silently, obviously it shows that this person
           must have achieved the innermost cool point which cannot be disturbed by any fire. Otherwise, it is
           not possible.
                So when you are lying on your bed, feverish, on fire, the whole body burning, just watch it.
           Watching, you will recede towards the source. Watching, not doing anything.... What can you do?
           The fever is there, you have to pass through it; it is no use unnecessarily fighting with it. You are
           resting, and if you fight with the fever you will become more feverish, that's all. So watch it.
           Watching fever, you become cool; watching more, you become cooler. Just watching, you reach to a
           peak, such a cool peak, even the Himalayas will feel jealous; even their peaks are not so cool. This is
           the Gourishankar, the Everest within. And when you feel that the fever has disappeared.... It has
           never really been there; it has only been in the body, very, very far away.
                Infinite space exists between you and your body -- infinite space, I say. An unbridgeable gap
           exists between you and your body. And all suffering exists on the periphery. Hindus say it is a dream
           because the distance is so vast, unbridgeable. It is just like a dream happening somewhere else -- not
           happening to you -- in some other world, on some other planet.
                When you watch suffering suddenly you are not the sufferer, and you start enjoying. Through
           suffering you become aware of the opposite pole, the blissful inner being. So when I say enjoy, I am
           saying: Watch. Return to the source, get centered. Then, suddenly, there is no agony; only ecstasy
           exists.

               Those who are on the periphery exist in agony. For them, no ecstasy. For those who have come
           to their center no agony exists. For them, only ecstasy.
               When I say break the cup it is breaking the periphery. And when I say be totally empty it is
           coming back to the original source, because through emptiness we are born, and into emptiness we
           return. Emptiness is the word, really, which is better to use than God, because with God we start
           feeling there is some person. So Buddha never used "God" he always used sunyata -- emptiness,
           nothingness. In the center you are a nonbeing, nothingness, just a vast space, eternally cool, silent,
           blissful. So when I say enjoy I mean watch, and you will enjoy. When I say enjoy, I mean don't
           escape.




                                               A Bird on the Wing
                                                    Chapter #2
                                         Chapter title: No Mind, No Truth
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           11 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406110
              ShortTitle: WING02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              THE STUDENT DOKO CAME TO THE MASTER AND SAID,
              "IN WHAT STATE OF MIND SHOULD I SEEK THE TRUTH?",
              THE MASTER REPLIED, " THERE IS NO MIND, SO YOU CANNOT PUT IT IN ANY STATE, AND
              THERE IS NO TRUTH, SO YOU CANNOT SEEK IT."
              DOKO SAID, "IF THERE IS NO MIND AND NO TRUTH, WHY DO ALL THESE STUDENTS GATHER
              BEFORE YOU EVERY DAY TO STUDY?"
              THE MASTER LOOKED AROUND AND SAID, "I DON'T SEE ANYONE."
              THE INQUIRER ASKED, "THEN WHO ARE YOU TEACHING?"
              "I HAVE NO TONGUE, SO HOW CAN I TEACH?", REPLIED THE MASTER.
              THEN DOKO SAID SADLY, "I CANNOT FOLLOW YOU; I CANNOT UNDERSTAND."
              THE MASTER SAID, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND MYSELF."


               Life is such a mystery, no one can understand it, and one who claims that he understands it is
           simply ignorant. He is not aware of what he is saying, of what nonsense he is talking. If you are
           wise, this will be the first realization: life cannot be understood. Understanding is impossible. Only
           this much can be understood -- that understanding is impossible. That is what this beautiful Zen
           anecdote says.
               The master says, " I don't understand it myself." If you go and ask the enlightened ones this will
           be their answer. But if you go and ask the unenlightened ones they will give you many answers, they
           will propose many doctrines; they will try to solve the mystery which cannot be solved. It is not a
           riddle. A riddle can be solved, a mystery is unsolvable by its very nature- there is no way to solve it.
           Socrates said, "When I was young, I thought I knew much. When I became old, ripe in wisdom, I
           came to understand that I knew nothing."
               It is reported of one of the Sufi masters, Junnaid, that he was working with a new young man.
           The young man was not aware of Junnaid's inner wisdom, and Junnaid lived such an ordinary life
           that it needed very penetrating eyes to realize that you were near a buddha. He worked like an
           ordinary laborer, and only those who had eyes would recognise him. To recognise Buddha was very
           easy -- he was sitting under a Bodhi tree; to recognise Junnaid was very difficult -- he was working
           like a laborer, not sitting under a Bodhi tree. He was in every way absolutely ordinary.
               One young man working with him, and that young man was continually showing his knowledge,
           so whatsoever Junnaid would do, he would say, "This is wrong. This can be done in this way, it will
           be better" -he knew about erverything. Finally Junnaid laughed and said:," Young man, I am not
           young enough to know so much."
               This is really something. He said, "I am not young enough to know so much." Only a young man
           can be so foolish, so inexperienced. Socrates was right when he said, "When I was young, I knew too
           much. When I became ripened, experienced, I came to realize only one thing -- that I was absolutely
           ignorant."
               Life is a mystery; that means it cannot be solved. And when all efforts to solve it prove futile, the
           mystery dawns upon you. Then the doors are open; then you are invited. As a knower, nobody enters
           the divine; as a child, ignorant, not knowing at all- the mystery embraces you. With a knowing mind
           you are clever, not innocent. Innocence is the door.
               This Zen master was right when he said, "I don't understand it myself." It was very deep, really
           deep, the deepest answer possible. But this is the last part of the anecdote. Start from the very
           beginning.... The disciple came to the Zen master and said, "In what state of mind should I seek the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           truth?" The master said, "There is no mind so there cannot be any state of mind."
                Mind is the illusion that which is not but appears, and appears so much that you think that you
           are the mind. Mind is maya, mind is just a dream, mind is just a projection... a soap bubble floating
           on a river. The sun is just rising, the rays penetrate the bubble; a rainbow is created and nothing is
           there in it. When you touch the bubble it is broken and everything disappears -- the rainbow, the
           beauty- mothing is left. Only emptiness becomes one with the infinite emptiness. Just a wall was
           there, a bubble wall. Your mind is just a bubble wall -- inside, your emptiness; outside, my
           emptiness. It is just a bubble, prick it, and the mind disappears.
                The master said, "There is no mind, so what type of state are you asking about?" It is difficult to
           understand. People come to me and they say, "We would like to attain a silent state of mind." They
           think that the mind can be silent; mind can never be silent. Mind means the turmoil, the illness, the
           disease; mind means the tense, the anguished state. The mind cannot be silent; when there is silence
           there is no mind. When silence comes, mind disappears; when mind is there, silence is no more. So
           there cannot be any silent mind, just as there cannot be any healthy disease. Is it possible to have a
           healthy disease? When health is there, disease disappears. Silence is the inner health; mind is the
           inner disease, inner disturbance.
                So there cannot be any silent mind, and this disciple is asking, "What type, what sort, what state
           of mind should I achieve?" Point blank, the master said, "There is no mind, so you cannot achieve
           any state." So please drop this illusion; don't try to achieve any state in the illusion. It's as if you are
           thinking to travel on the rainbow and you ask me, "What steps should we take to travel on the
           rainbow?" I say, "There is no rainbow. The rainbow is just an appearance, so no steps can be taken."
           A rainbow simply appears; it is not there. It is not a reality, it is a false interpretation of the reality.
                The mind is not your reality; it is a false interpretation. You are not the mind, you have never
           been a mind, you can never be the mind. That is your problem- you have become identified with
           something which is not. You are like a beggar who believes that he has a kingdom. He is so worried
           about the kingdom -- how to manage it, how to govern it, how to prevent anarchy. There is no
           kingdom, but he is worried.
                Chuang Tzu once dreamt that he had become a butterfly. In the morning he was very much
           depressed. His friends asked, "What has happened?.- we have never seen you so depressed." Chuang
           Tzu said, "I am in a puzzle, I am at a loss, I cannot understand. In the night, while asleep, I dreamt
           that I had become a butterfly."
                So the friends laughed: "Nobody is ever disturbed by dreams. When you awake, the dream has
           disappeared, so why are you disturbed?"
                Chuang Tzu said, "That is not the point. Now I am puzzled: if Chuang Tzu can become a
           butterfly in the dream, it is possible that now the butterfly has gone to sleep and is dreaming that she
           is Chuang Tzu." If Chuang Tzu can become a butterfly in the dream, why not the other? - the
           butterfly can dream and become Chuang Tzu. So what is real -- whether Chuang Tzu dreamt that he
           has become a butterfly or the butterfly is dreaming that she has become Chuang Tzu? What is real?
           Rainbows are there. You can become a butterfly in the dream. And you have become a mind in this
           bigger dream you call life. When you awaken you don't achieve an awakened state of mind, you
           achieve a no-state of mind, you achieve no-mind.
                What does no-mind mean? It is difficult to follow but sometimes, unknowingly, you have
           achieved it, but you may not have recognized it. Sometimes, just sitting ordinarily, not doing
           anything, there is no thought in the mind -- for mind is just the process of thinking. It is not a
           substance, it is just a procession. You are here, I can say a crowd is here, but is there really
           something like a crowd? Is a crowd substantial or are only individuals there? By and by individuals
           will go away, then will there be a crowd left behind? When individuals have gone, there is no crowd.
                The mind is just like a crowd; thoughts are the individuals. And because thoughts are there
           continuously you think the process is substantial. Drop each individual thought and finally nothing is
           left. There is no mind as such, only thinking.
                But thoughts are moving so fast, that between two thoughts you cannot see the interval. But the
           interval is always there. That interval is you. In that interval there is neither Chuang Tzu nor the
           butterfly -- for the butterfly is a sort of mind and Chuang Tzu is also a sort of mind. A butterfly is a
           different combination of thoughts, Chuang Tzu again a different combination, but both are minds.
           When the mind is not there, who are you -- Chuang Tzu or a butterfly? Neither. And what is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           state? Are you in an enlightened state of mind? If you think you are in an enlightened state of mind
           this is, again, a thought, and when thought is there you are not. If you feel that you are a buddha, this
           is a thought. The mind has entered; now the process is there, again the sky is clouded, the blueness
           lost. The infinite blueness you can see no more.
                Between two thoughts try to be alert; look into the interval, the space in between. You will see
           no mind; that is your nature. For thoughts come and go -- they are accidental -- but that inner space
           always remains. Clouds gather and go, disappear -- they are accidental -- but the sky remains.You
           are the sky.
                Once it happened that a seeker came to Bayazid, one Sufi mystic, and asked, "Master, I am a
           very angry person. Anger happens to me very easily; I become really mad and I do things. I cannot
           even believe later on that I can do such things; I am not in my senses. So, how to drop this anger,
           how to overcome it, how to control it?"
                Bayazid took the head of the disciple in his hands and looked into his eyes. The disciple became
           a little uneasy, and Bayazid said, "Where is that anger? I would like to see into it.
                The disciple laughed uneasily and said, "Right now, I am not angry. Sometimes it happens." So
           Bayazid said, "That which happens sometimes cannot be your nature. It is an accident, It comes and
           goes. It is like clouds -- so why be worried about the clouds? Think of the sky which is always
           there."
                This is the definition of Atma -- the sky which is always there. All that comes and goes is
           irrelevant; don't be bothered by it, it is just smoke. The sky that remains eternally there never
           changes, never becomes different. Between two thoughts, drop into it; between two thoughts it is
           always there. Look into it and suddenly you will realize that you are in no-mind.
                The master was right when he said, "There is no mind, so there cannot be any state of mind.
           What nonsense are you talking?"
                But the nonsense has its own logic. If you think that you have a mind, you will start thinking in
           terms of states -- an ignorant state of mind, an enlightened state of mind. Once you accept mind, the
           illusory, you are bound to go on dividing it. And once you accept that the mind is there, you will
           start seeking something or other.
                The mind can exist only if you continuously seek something. Why? It is because seeking is
           desire, seeking is moving into the future, seeking creates dreams. So somebody is seeking power,
           politics, somebody is seeking riches, kingdoms, and then somebody is seeking the truth. But seeking
           is there and seeking is the problem, not what you are seeking. The object is never the problem, any
           object will do. The mind can hang on to any object, any excuse is enough for it to exist.
                The master said, "There is no state of mind because there is no mind. And there is no truth, so
           what are you talking about? There can be no seeking."
                This is one of the greatest messages ever delivered.It is very difficult; the disciple cannot
           conceive that there is no truth. What is the meaning of this master when he says that there is no
           truth? Does he mean that there is no truth? No, he is saying that for you, who are a seeker, there can
           be no truth.
                Seeking always leads into the untrue. Only a nonseeking mind realizes that which is, for
           whenever you seek you have missed that which is. Seeking always moves into the future, seeking
           cannot be here and now. How can you seek here and now? You can only be. Seeking is desire --
           future enters, time comes in... and this moment, this here and now is missed. Truth is here, now.
                If you go to a buddha and ask, "Is there God?" he will deny it immediately: "There is no God." If
           he says there is, he creates a seeker; if he says there is God, you will start seeking. How can you
           remain quiet when there is God to be sought? Where will you run? You have created another
           illusion.
                So Buddha said there is no God. Nobody understood him, people thought he was an atheist. He
           was not denying God, he was simply denying the seeker. But if he had said that there is God the
           seeker would have been there. And the seeker is the world; seeking is all that maya is. For millions
           of lives you have been a seeker, after this or after that, this object, that object, this world or that
           world, but a seeker. Now you are a seeker after truth but the master says there is no truth. He cuts
           away the very ground of seeking, he pulls away the very ground where you are standing, where your
           mind is standing. He simply pushes you into the abyss.
                The inquirer said, "Then why these many seekers all around you? If there is nothing to seek and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no truth, then why this crowd?" You must have been there, sitting around the master. Somebody
           comes to me and I say, "There is no seeking. Nothing is to be sought, because there is nothing to
           seek. "He is bound to ask, "Then why are these people here, why are these sannyasis here? What are
           they doing here?"
                But the inquirer went on missing the point. The master looked around and said, "I don't see
           anyone there is no one here." The inquirer went on missing the point for the intellect always goes on
           missing. He could have looked. This was the fact: There was no one.
                You can be in two ways but just one if you are seeking. If you are not seeking you are not, for
           seeking gives you the ego. Right this moment if you are not seeking anyone, anything, you are not
           here, there is no crowd. If I am not teaching anything- because there is nothing to be taught, no truth
           to be taught -- if I am not teaching anything and if you are not learning anything, who is here?
           Emptiness exists and the bliss of pure emptiness. Individuals disappear and it becomes an oceanic
           consciousness. Individuals are there because of individual minds. You have a different desire, that's
           why you differ from your neighbor; desires create distinctions. I am seeking something, you are
           seeking something else; my path differs from yours, my goal differs from yours. That's why I differ
           from you. If I am not seeking and you are not seeking, goals disappear, paths are no more there.
           How, then, can the minds exist? The cup is broken. My tea flows into you and your tea flows into
           me. It becomes an oceanic existence.
                The master looked around and said, "I don't see anyone there is no one." The intellect goes on
           missing, and the inquirer said, "then whom are you teaching? If there is no one, then whom are you
           teaching?" And the master said, "I have got no tongue, so how can I teach?" He goes on giving hints
           to become alert, to look, but the inquirer is engulfed in his own mind. The master goes on hitting,
           hammering on his head; he is talking nonsense just to bring him out of his mind.
                If you had been there you would have been convinced by the inquirer, not by the master. The
           inquirer would have appeared exactly right. This master seemed to be mad, absurd. He was talking
           and he said, "There is no tongue, so how can I talk?" He was saying, "Look at me, I am without
           form. Look at me, I am not embodied. The body appears to you but I am not that, so how can I talk?"
           The mind goes on missing. This is the misery of the mind. You push, it again gathers itself; you hit
           it, and for a moment there is a sinking and a trembling, and again it is established.
                Have you seen a Japanese doll? They call it a daruma doll. You throw it, in whatsoever way --
           topsy-turvy, head upside-down -- but whatsoever you do the doll sits in a buddha posture. The
           bottom part is so heavy you cannot do anything. Throw it in any way and the doll again sits in a
           buddha posture. The name daruma comes from Bodhidharma; in Japan, Bodhidharma's name is
           Daruma. Daruma used to say, this Bodhidharma used to say, that your mind is just like this doll. He
           would throw it, kick it, but whatsoever he did he could not disturb the doll; the bottom part was so
           heavy. You throw it upside-down, it will be right-side-up.
                So this master went on pushing. A little shaking and the doll sat again, missed the point. Finally,
           desperate, the inquirer said, "I don't follow, I don't understand." And with the ultimate hit, the master
           said, "I don't understand myself."
                I go on teaching you, knowing well there is nothing to be taught. That's why I can go on
           infinitely. If there were something to be taught I would have finished already. Buddhas can go on
           and on because there is nothing to be taught. It is an endless story, it never concludes, so I can go on
           and on. I will never be finished; you may be finished before my story ends, for there is no end to it.
                Somebody was asking me, "You go on talking every day?" I said, "Because there is nothing to be
           taught." Some day you will suddenly feel it -- that I am not talking, that I am not teaching. You have
           realized there is nothing to be taught because there is no truth.
                What discipline am I giving to you? None. A disciplined mind is again a mind, even more
           stubborn, more adamant; a disciplined mind is more stupid. Go and see the disciplined monks all
           over the world Christian, Hindu, Jain. Whenever you see a man who is absolutely disciplined you
           will find a stupid mind behind it. The flowing has stopped. He is so much concerned with finding
           something that he is ready to do whatsoever you say. If you say, "Stand on your head for an hour,"
           he is ready to stand on his head. It is because of desire. If God can be achieved only through standing
           on his head for hours, he is ready, but he must achieve.
                I am not giving you any achieving, any desiring; there is nowhere to reach and nothing to
           achieve. If you realize this you have achieved this very moment. This very moment, you are perfect;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing is to be done, nothing is to be changed. This very moment, you are absolute Brahma.
                That's why the master said, "I don't understand it myself." It is difficult to find a master who
           says, "I don't understand it myself," for a master must claim that he knows, only then will you follow
           him. A master must not only claim that he knows, he must claim that only he knows, nobody else:
           "All other masters are wrong, I alone know." Then will you follow. You must be absolutely certain,
           then you become a follower. The certainty gives you the feeling that here is the man, and if you
           follow you will reach.
                I will tell you one story. It happened once, a so-called master was traveling. In every village he
           would go, he would declare, "I have achieved, I have known the divine. If you want, come and
           follow me."
                People would say, "There are many responsibilities. Some day, we hope we will be able to
           follow you." They would touch his feet, give him respect, serve him, but nobody would follow
           because there were many other things to be done first before one went to seek the divine. First things
           first. The divine is always the last, and the last thing never comes because the first are so infinite
           they are never finished. But in one village, a madman -- mad he was, otherwise who would follow
           this master -- said, "Right. Have you have found?"
                The master hesitated a little, looking at the madman -- because this man seemed dangerous, he
           might follow and create trouble -- but before the whole village he couldn't deny it, so he said, "Yes."
                The madman said, "Now, initiate me. I will follow you to the very end. I want to realize God
           myself." The so-called master became perturbed, but what to do? The madman started following
           him, he became a shadow. One year passed. The madman said, "How far, how far is the temple?" He
           said, "I am not in a hurry but how much time will be needed?" By this time the master had become
           very uncomfortable and uneasy with this man. This madman would sleep with him, he would move
           with him; he had become his shadow. And because of him his certainty was dissolving. Whenever he
           would say, in a village, "Follow me," he would become afraid, because this man would look at him
           and say, "I am following you, master, and still I have not reached."
                The second year passed, the third year passed, the sixth year passed, and the madman said, "We
           have not reached anywhere. We are simply traveling in villages and you go on telling people,
           "Follow me." I am following- whatsoever you say, I do it, so you cannot say I am not following the
           discipline." The madman was really mad, so whatever was said he would do. So the master couldn't
           deceive him by saying that he was not doing well. Finally, one night, the master said to him,
           "Because of you I have lost my own path. Before I met you I was certain; now I am no more. Now
           you please leave me."
                Whenever there is someone certain and you are mad enough, you start following. Can you follow
           this type of man who says, "I myself don't know. I myself don't understand?" If you can follow this
           man, you will reach. You have already reached if you decide to follow this man, for the mind asks
           for certainty, the mind asks for knowledge. The mind also asks for dogmatic assertions, so if you can
           be ready to follow a man who says, "I don't know myself," seeking has stopped, for now you are not
           asking for knowledge. One who is asking for knowledge cannot ask for being. Knowledge is
           rubbish; being is life.
                When you stop asking for knowledge you have stopped asking about the truth, for truth is the
           goal of knowledge. If you don't inquire what is, rather you become so silent, so mindless, that which
           is, is revealed.
                I myself say I don't know; you cannot come across a more ignorant man than me. There is no
           truth and there is no way. I have not reached anywhere, I am simply here and now. If you can follow
           this ignorant man your mind will drop. For the mind always follows knowledge, and when the mind
           drops there is no need to go anywhere. Everything is available, has been available always; you have
           never missed it. But just because of your seeking of the future, of the goal, you cannot look. The
           truth surrounds you, you exist in it. Just like the fish exist in the ocean, you exist in the truth. God is
           not a goal, God is what is here and now. These trees, these winds blowing, these clouds moving, the
           sky, you, I -- this is what God is. It is not a goal.
                Drop the mind and the divine. God is not an object, it is a merger. The mind resists a merger, the
           mind is against surrender; the mind is very cunning and calculating.
                This story is beautiful. You are the inquirer. You have come to me to inquire about how to
           achieve truth, you have come to me to inquire about how to achieve a state of mind which is blissful.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You have come to acquire knowledge, to solve the mystery, and I repeat to you: There is no state of
           mind, because there is no mind; there is no truth, so no seeking is allowed. All seeking is futile;
           search as such is foolish. Seek and you will lose, don't seek and it is there, run and you will miss.
           Stop: it has always been there. And don't try to understand- be. Understanding is superficial. Under
           the Bodhi tree, Buddha has not known more. You may know more.
               Many scholars came to Buddha; they knew more than Buddha. Mahakashyap came; he was a
           great pundit. Sariputra came, he was a great pundit. Sariputra came and five hundred disciples came
           with him, disciples of Sariputra. When Sariputra came to Buddha he came for more than knowledge,
           for of knowledge he had had enough. Really, he may have known more than Buddha; he was a very
           deep, penetrating scholar. He knew all the scriptures, he was a great Brahmin pundit and all the
           Vedas were on his tongue. He could have recited them. But he asked Buddha, "Give me something
           that is more than knowledge. Of knowledge I have got enough, and I am fed up with it."
               And what did Buddha say to Sariputra? He said, "Unlearn. Drop knowledge, and that which is
           more will happen to you."
               A real master teaches you unlearning; it is never learning. You have come to me to unlearn
           whatsoever you know, never learning. You have come to me learned, so whatsoever you know,
           please drop it. Become ignorant, become like a child. Only the heart of a child can knock at the
           doors of the divine, and only the heart of a child is heard. Your prayers cannot be heard; they are
           cunning. Only a child, only a heart which doesn't know can be.
               This is the meaning of this anecdote, and it is good for you, for the same is the case with you.
           Anything more?


              OSHO,
              YOU JUST TOLD US YOU HAVE NOTHING TO TEACH US, AND LAST NIGHT IT WAS A GREAT
              SHOCK WHEN YOU SAID AS FAR AS YOU ARE CONCERNED YOUR WORK IS DONE, THAT
              YOU'RE CARRYING YOUR BODY FOR US. A YOUNG JESUS ALSO SAID, "WIST YE NOT THAT I
              AM ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS." WHAT IS OR WHAT WAS YOUR BUSINESS?


               When I say my work is done I mean I am finished with any seeking; I mean I have come to
           realize that there is nothing to be realized, nothing to be known, nowhere to go. This moment is
           enough, this moment is eternity. When I say my work is done I mean now there is no desire.
               Desire is business. You have to do something, only then will you be happy. I am simply happy; it
           is not concerned with any doing, it is now uncaused. That is the difference between happiness and
           bliss. Happiness is caused -- you have a friend and you are happy; your beloved has returned and
           you are happy; you have won a lottery and you are happy. Causes are there; they are beyond you,
           they are outside you, so your happiness comes from the outside. It is caused, and that which is
           caused cannot be forever. The beloved may go back, the friend may turn enemy -- friends turn
           enemy -- and whatsoever you have achieved may be lost. That which is caused cannot always be
           there, cannot be eternal.
               When I say my work is done I mean now my happiness is uncaused. There is nothing that is
           helping me to be blissful, I am simply blissful. It cannot be taken away. You cannot uncause it if it is
           not caused. You cannot do anything to it; it is simply beyond, it cannot be destroyed. My business is
           finished. And when I say my business is finished, I am finished, because I can exist only with the
           business. Then why am I here? This is one of the oldest questions.
               Buddha lived for forty years after he became enlightened. After his business was finished he
           lived for forty years more. Many times it was asked, "Why are you?" When the business is finished
           you should disappear. It looks illogical: why should Buddha exist within the body even for a
           moment? When there is no desire, how can the body continue?
               There is something very deep to be understood. When desire disappears the energy that was
           moving in desire remains; it cannot disappear. Desire is just a form of energy. That's why you can
           turn one desire into another. The anger can become sex, the sex can become anger. Sex can become
           greed, so whenever you find a very greedy person he will be less sexual. If he is really perfectly
           greedy he will not be sexual at all. He will be a brahmachari, a celibate, because the whole energy is
           moving into greed. And if you find a very sexual person you will always find he is not greedy,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because nothing is left. If you see a person who has suppressed his sex he will be angry; anger will
           be always ready. You can see in his eyes, in his face, that he is just angry; the whole sex energy has
           become anger. That's why your so-called monks and sadhus are always angry. The way they walk
           they show their anger; they way they look at you they show their anger. Their silence is just skindeep
           -- touch them and they will become angry. Sex becomes anger. These are forms; life is the energy.
           What happens when all desires disappear? Energy cannot disappear, energy is indestructible. Ask the
           physicists; even they say that energy cannot be destroyed.
               A certain energy was existing in Gautam Buddha when he became enlightened. That certain
           energy was moving in sex, anger, greed in millions of ways. All forms disappeared, so what became
           of that energy? Energy cannot go out of existence, and when desires are not there it becomes
           formless, but it exists. Now, what is the function of it? That energy becomes compassion.
               You cannot be in compassion because you have no energy. All your energy is divided,
           sometimes in sex, sometimes in anger, sometimes in greed. Compassion is not a form. Only when all
           your desires disappear does that energy become compassion, KARUNA. You cannot cultivate
           compassion. When you are desireless, compassion happens; your whole energy moves into
           compassion. And this movement is very different. Desire has a motivation in it, a goal; compassion
           is nonmotivated, there is no goal to it, it is simply overflowing energy.
               So when I say I exist for you I don't mean that I am doing something to exist for you. Now I am
           not doing anything; forms of desire have disappeared. Now the energy is there, without me. The
           energy is moving and overflowing, and you can partake, you can feed on it. That is what Jesus meant
           when he said, "Eat me. Let me become your blood, let me become your food." This overflowing
           energy can become food to you, food of the eternal. I am not doing anything. When I say I exist for
           you it is only language, for there is no other language. I am not doing anything, this is how it is
           happening. My forms have disappeared; now a formless energy has remained, and it will go on
           overflowing. Those who are wise can partake, because soon it will become bodiless also. First
           energy becomes formless, desireless, and then it becomes bodiless.
               The body has its own momentum. When one is born, when a buddha is born, he is born out of a
           communion of two bodies, the father and the mother; then particular chromosomes, particular cells,
           create his body. Those cells have a built-in momentum. That built-in momentum means that this
           body will exist for seventy or eighty years; this is a body blueprint. For eighty years this body can
           exist. The body doesn't know, cannot know, that the soul that has entered is going to become
           enlightened. This house cannot know that the person who has entered this house to live will become
           enlightened. And when this man becomes enlightened, even then this house will not know. The
           house will continue; it has its own life. The body has its own life, and the body is completely
           unaware that a person has become enlightened. It continues, it has its own momentum, its own fuel.
               At the age of forty Buddha became enlightened. The body became irrelevant but it continued. It
           continued, it completed its circle; it was there for eighty years. It is good, for these forty years were
           the overflowing years, and we were able to know what enlightenment is. If Buddha had disappeared
           that very moment there would have been no religion. If the body had dropped, if Buddha had
           become enlightened and the body had dropped, he would not have been -- even to tell what had
           happened. This was good; existence was very compassionate. Buddha lived for forty years more, not
           with any motivation, but with the momentum of the body he just went on overflowing. This body
           will also disappear; the momentum has to be completed.
               I am not doing anything for you; for that too is sort of egoistic, anybody thinking he is doing
           something for you. It is happening. The form of desires disappears and energy becomes compassion.
           The body has to complete its momentum; it has to complete its momentum, it has to complete its
           blueprint. This gap will be an overflowing. It is a feast, not given by me to you, it is a feast given by
           the whole.
               Language creates problems. Language is always dualistic, language is always of this world.
           Language belongs to desire and it carries all the connotations, so it is very difficult to say anything
           about that which is not of this world. Either you have to be silent -- even then, silence too can be
           misunderstood -- or you have to use language. And every word is loaded.
               If I say I am here for you, you can interpret it in such a way that it looks like a business, looks
           like a work. It is not, it is none of it; it is simply an overflowing of love. And I am not the doer for if
           I am the doer, there can be no love. Just a light is burning. You may find the path the light is there.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You may use it, it may become a flame for you, it may kindle a light within you, but that depends on
           you. I am simply here.
               You are initiated, not by me but the energy itself. Eat me as much as you can, let me become part
           of you. Celebrate this occasion.
               Jesus' words again create problems- words always create problems. Had Jesus been here, had he
           been here in the country of the Upanishads, Buddha and Mahavir, the language would have been
           totally different. Jesus was born a Jew; he had to use Jewish language, myth, phraseology. So he
           said, "The work, the business,
               that was given from my father to me, is done." If he had been here he would never have talked
           about "the father." The father is a Jewish concept; it is good, beautiful, but very anthropomorphic.
           God is not the father, God is not a person, and God is not in any sort of business. But Jews are
           businessmen, and their God is also a businessman, the super-businessman- controlling, managing,
           manipulating. And just as with a businessman you can seduce him, you can bribe him. He is a very
           real person. He will be angry: if you don't surrender to him he will throw you in hell; if you follow
           him, you will achieve paradise -- heaven and heavenly pleasures.
               This whole language belongs to the world of profit, business. But every language has its own
           problems. This language is concrete and gives a very family-type appearance to existence: the father,
           son and the work.... You can reach the father through the son.... Jesus was simply using the language
           available.
               In this country we have tried many linguistic patterns. Hindus use millions of types for Hinduism
           is not a religion, it is many religions. All types of religions exist in Hinduism; it is a crowd, it is a
           phenomenon in itself. Every type that has ever existed in the world exists in Hinduism. This is a
           miracle. Even an atheist can be a Hindu -- an atheist cannot be a Christian -- and even an atheist can
           become enlightened. Buddha was an atheist, he didn't believe in God. He said there is no God, and
           even more mysterious, he said there is no soul. He said nothing exists, and he became one of the
           incarnations of a Hindu God. It is really mysterious. This atheist, Gautam Buddha, became the Tenth
           avatar. He said there is no God and Hindus said: This man is God's incarnation he is Bhagwan.
               Hindus say even a denial is a way of assertion; Hindus say even to say no is to say yes. This is
           very mysterious. They say even to say there is no God is to say God in a negative way. If God can be
           asserted in positive language, why not in negative? "It" is a word, "nothing" is also a word, and one
           is just as relevant as the other. Buddha said no; then no became absolute, nothingness became the
           nature. Shankara said yes; then yes became absolute, that "yesness," Brahma, became the source. But
           Hindus say both mean the same. Each language, each pattern of expressing it, has its own benefits
           and its own dangers and pitfalls.
               I myself am inclined towards the negative, hence so much emphasis on Zen masters. I have really
           loved these anecdotes -- no mind, no truth, no understanding.
               Your desire is positive. If God is asserted in a positive way your desire will not die, your desire
           will turn towards God and you will start desiring God. Negativity is to say no to all your desires, to
           all your objects of desire. Then all desires and all objects disappear and only you are left in your
           purity. That purity, that innocence- the benediction of it- is what I want you to enjoy with me. It is
           not a teaching; I am not a teacher. It is not a doctrine, it is just you enjoying with me. I am available
           here, and if you put your mind aside we can celebrate. I am in an inner dance; you can also become a
           partner in it. You may call this my business.
               My work is done as far as I am concerned because I am done. Now the energy has become a
           compassion and an overflowing, and all those who really want to taste are invited to do so without
           any condition. You are not to give anything, you simply are to take. No discipline, no bargain-
           nothing is expected on your part. It is a gift. It has always been so, it will always be so; the ultimate
           bliss is always a gift. That's why we have been calling it grace, PRASAD... as if the divine gives to
           you out of his overflowing energy.
               I will tell you one story Jesus used to say. He repeated it many times- he must have loved this
           story. He said, "Once it happened, a very rich man needed some laborers in his garden to work, so he
           sent a man to the marketplace. All the laborers who were available were called and they started
           working in the garden. Then others heard and they came in the afternoon. Then others heard and they
           came just when the sun was setting. But he employed them. And when the sun went down, he
           gathered all of them and paid them equally. Obviously those who had come in the morning became
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappointed and said, "What injustice! What type of injustice is this? What are you doing? We came
           in the morning and we worked the whole day and these fellows came in the afternoon; just for two
           hours they worked. And a few have just come, they have not worked at all. This is injustice!"
               The rich man laughed and said, "Don't think of others. Whatever I have given to you is it not
           enough?" They said, "It is more than enough, but it is injustice. Why are these people getting when
           they have just come?"
               The rich man said, "I give them because I have got too much, out of my abundance I give them.
           You need not be worried about this. You have got more than you expected so don't compare. I am
           not giving them because of their work, I am giving them because I have got too much... out of my
           abundance."
               Jesus said some work very hard to achieve the divine, some come just in the afternoon and some
           when the sun is setting, and they all get the same divine. Those who had come in the morning must
           object: "this is too much!"
               You just see: you have been meditating so much and suddenly someone comes just at evening
           and becomes enlightened. And you have been such a great ascetic. Just look: if all the ascetics reach
           and see that sinners are sitting just by the side of the throne of God, what will happen? They will
           become so sad: "What is happening?- these sinners never disciplined their lives, they never worked
           and they are here; and we were thinking they would be in hell!" There is no hell; there cannot be.
           How can hell exist? Out of God's abundance everything is heaven. It should be so, it must be so, it
           has to be so. Out of his abundance is heaven, there can be no hell. Hell was created by these ascetics
           because they cannot conceive of sinners in heaven. They have to make compartments; they cannot
           think that you will be there.
               It is reported that one Hassid, a rabbi, Baal Shem, was visited by a woman. She was about
           seventy, h er husband was eighty, and now, by and by, was becoming a virtuous man. His whole life
           he had been a sinner so she had come to give her thanks that he had finally converted her husband --
           which was impossible as he had been a sinner his whole life. But now he was turning so she was
           very thankful to Baal Shem. She had always been a pious lady, never wavered, never went wrong,
           always had been on the right track and always thinking that heaven was just waiting to welcome her,
           and always knowing well that this husband of hers was going to hell. So she said to Baal Shem,
           "There can be hope now- even my husband may reach heaven."Baal Shem laughed and said, "The
           greater the sinner, the greater the saint."
               The woman became sad and said, "Then why didn't you tell me before? You should have told me
           forty years before."
               The greater the sinner, the greater the saint. This woman will be in such hell if she finds her
           husband in heaven. These so-called virtuous people have created hell; otherwise, out of divine
           abundance, hell cannot exist. Saints will receive for they come in the morning; sinners will receive
           and they may have come in the evening. Everyone is going to receive. It is a gift.
               I am here, not as a business but as a gift. But you are so afraid and fearful. You can understand
           business; you know the terms; you cannot understand a gift, you don't know the terms. You can
           understand if you have to fulfill some condition. If nothing is required of you, you are simply at a
           loss.
               All expectations belong to the mind, all disciplines belong to the mind, all so-called saintliness
           and so-called sin belong to the mind. When there is no mind, there is no sinner and no saint, and the
           gift simply showers on you.




                                              A Bird on the Wing
                                                  Chapter #3
                                 Chapter title: The Gates of Heaven and Hell
           12 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7406120
              ShortTitle: WING03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              A WARRIOR CAME TO THE ZEN MASTER HAKUIN AND ASKED "IS THERE SUCH A THING AS
              HEAVEN AND HELL?"
              HAKUIN SAID "WHO ARE YOU?"
              THE WARRIOR REPLIED "I AM CHIEF SAMURAI TO THE EMPEROR."
              HAKUIN SAID "YOU, A SAMURAI? WITH A FACE LIKE THAT, YOU LOOK MORE LIKE A
              BEGGAR."
              AT THIS THE WARRIOR BECAME SO ANGRY HE DREW HIS SWORD.
              STANDING CALMLY IN FRONT OF HIM, HAKUIN SAID "HERE OPEN THE GATES OF HELL."
              PERCEIVING THE MASTER'S COMPOSURE, THE SOLDIER SHEATHED HIS SWORD AND
              BOWED.
              HAKUIN THEN SAID "AND HERE OPEN THE GATES OF HEAVEN."


               Heaven and hell are not geographical. If you go in search of them you will never find them
           anywhere. They are within you, they are psychological. The mind is heaven, the mind is hell, and the
           mind has the capacity to become either. But people go on thinking everything is somewhere outside.
           We always go on looking for everything outside because to be inwards is very difficult. We are
           outgoing. If somebody says there is a god, we look at the sky. Somewhere, sitting there, will be the
           divine person.

               One psychologist in an American school asked small children what they thought about God.
           Children have clearer perception: they are less cunning, more truthful. They are more representative
           of the human mind, they are unperverted. So he asked the children and the answers were collected.
           The conclusions were very ridiculous. Almost all the children depicted God something like this -- an
           old man, very tall, bearded and very dangerous. He created fear. If you didn't follow him he would
           throw you into hell; if you prayed and followed him he would give you paradise and all the
           pleasures. He was sitting on a throne in the sky watching everybody. You couldn't escape him; even
           in your bathroom he was looking.
               The outgoing mind projects everything outside. This is YOUR God too. Don't laugh, don't think
           this is a child's conception -- no, this is you.
               This is how you think about God -- as a cosmic spy, always searching to condemn, to punish, to
           throw you into hell... as very ferocious, revengeful. That's why all religions are based on fear.
           Religions say if you do this you will be appreciated, rewarded; if you don't do this, you will be
           punished. The base seems to be fear. God just seems to be a very powerful emperor sitting on a
           throne in heaven. The whole concept is foolish but human; the human mind is foolish. The whole
           concept is anthropocentric.
               In the Bible it is said God created man in his own image. In reality, it seems to be quite
           otherwise: man created God in his own image. We have projected God in our own image; he is just a
           blow-up of the human mind. He is a bigger human mind, that's all. Remember, if you think God is
           somewhere outside you, you have not even taken the first step towards being religious.
               The same happens with all such concepts. We say heaven is without, hell is without; it is as if
           there exists nothing within. What is within you? The moment you think of the within it seems that
           everything goes empty. What is within? The world is without, sex is without, sin is without, virtue is
           without. God, heaven, hell -- everything is without. What is within you? Who are you? The moment
           you think of the within your mind goes blank, there is nothing. In reality, everything is within; the
           outer is just a projection. Fear is within you; it is projected as a hell. Hell is just a projected image on
           the screen -- of the fear that is within you, of the anger, of the jealousy, of all that is poisonous in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, of all that is evil in you. Heaven is, again, a projected image on the screen -- of all that is good
           and beautiful, of all that is blissful within you. The Devil is the fallen human being, God is the risen
           human being. God is the ultimate possibility of your beatitude; the Devil is your ultimate fall. There
           is nobody like the Devil existing somewhere. You will never meet him unless you become him. And
           you will never encounter God unless you become God.
                In the East religions transcended this anthropocentric attitude very long ago, in the past. Eastern
           religions are non-anthropocentric. They say "you cannot encounter God, you can become God. They
           say "When you reach to the ultimate point of existence, there will be no God to receive you and
           welcome you. Only you will be there in your godliness. So this can be said, and I go on insisting:
           There exists no God -- existence is divine. There exists no one like a person, a super-person, no one.
           God is nonexistential, godliness is existential. The moment I say godliness... it becomes something
           inward; the moment you say God, you have projected it.
                This story is beautiful. The Zen master Hakuin is one of the rare flowerings. A warrior came to
           him, a samurai, a great soldier, and he asked "Is there any hell, is there any heaven? If there is hell
           and heaven, where are the gates? Where do I enter from? How can I avoid hell and choose heaven?"
           He was a simple warrior. Warriors are always simple.
                It is difficult to find a businessman who is simple. A businessman is always cunning, clever;
           otherwise he cannot be a businessman. A warrior is always simple; otherwise he cannot be a warrior.
           A warrior knows only two things, life and death -- nothing much. His life is always at stake, he is
           always gambling; He is a simple man. That's why businessmen could not create a single Mahavir, a
           single Buddha. Even Brahmins could not create a Ram, a Buddha, a Mahavir. Brahmins are also
           cunning, cunning in a different way. They are also businessmen -- of a different world, of the other.
           They deal in business not of this world, but of the other world. Their priesthood is a business; their
           religion is mathematics, arithmetic. They are also clever, more clever than businessmen. The
           businessman is limited to his world, their cunningness goes beyond. They always think of the other
           world, of the rewards they are going to get there. Their rituals, their whole mind is concerned with
           how to achieve more pleasures in the other world. They are concerned with pleasure: they are
           businessmen. Even Brahmins could not create a Buddha. This is strange. All the twenty-four Jaina
           tirthankaras were kshatriyas, warriors. Buddha was a warrior; Rama and Krishna were warriors.
           They were simple people, with no cunning in their minds, with no arithmetic. They knew only two
           things -- life and death.
                This simple warrior came to Hakuin to ask where is heaven and where is hell. He had not come
           to learn any doctrine. He wanted to know where the gate was so he could avoid hell and enter
           heaven. And Hakuin replied in a way only a warrior could understand. If a brahmin had been there,
           scriptures would have been needed; he would have quoted the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bible, the
           Koran, then a Brahmin would have understood. All that exists for a brahmin is in the scriptures;
           scriptures are the world. A brahmin lives in the word, in the verbal. If a businessman had been there,
           he would not have understood the answer, the response Hakuin gave, the way he acted with this
           warrior. A businessman always asks "What is the price of your heaven? What is the cost? How can I
           attain it? What should I do? How virtuous should I be? What are the coins? What should I do so
           heaven can be attained?" He always asks for the price.
                I have heard one beautiful story -- it happened in the beginning when God created the world.
           God came to earth to ask different races about the ten commandments, the ten rules of life. The Jews
           have given so much significance to those ten rules -- Christians also, Mohammedans also. All these
           religions are Jewish, the source is the Jew, and the Jew is the perfect businessman.
                So God came to ask, he came to the Hindus and asked, "Would you like to have ten
           commandments?" The Hindus said, "What is the first? We must have a sample. We don't know what
           these ten commandments are."           God said, "Thou shalt not kill."
                The Hindus said, "It will be difficult. Life is complex, killing is involved. It is a great cosmic
           play: there is birth, death, fighting, competition. If all the competition is taken away the whole thing
           will become flat, dull. We don't like these commandments -- they will destroy the whole game."
                Then he went to the Mohammedans and said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." He also gave
           them one example -- they had also asked for a sample.             The Mohammedans said, "This will be
           difficult... life will lose all beauty. At least four wives are needed. You call it adultery, but this is all
           that life can give, all that a virtuous man should have. Who knows of the other world? This is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world; you have given it to us to enjoy and now you have come with these ten commandments. This
           is contradictory."
                God went around and around. Then he came to Moses, leader of the Jews. Moses never asked for
           a sample, and God was afraid: if Moses said no, nobody was left; Moses was the last hope. When
           God asked Moses -- the moment God said, "I have ten commandments" -- what did Moses reply? He
           said, "How much do they cost?" This is how a businessman thinks: the first thing he wants to know
           is the cost.
                God said, "They cost nothing." And Moses said, "Then I will have ten. If they cost nothing, there
           is no problem." That's how the ten commandments were born.
                But this samurai was not a Jew; he was not a businessman, he was a warrior. He had come with a
           simple question. He was not interested in scriptures, not in cost, not in any verbal answer. He was
           interested in reality. And what did Hakuin do? He said, "Who are you?" And the warrior replied, "I
           am a samurai." It is a thing of much pride to be a samurai in Japan. It means being a perfect warrior,
           a man who will not hesitate a single moment to give his life. For him, life and death are just a game.
                He said, "I am a samurai, I am a leader of samurais. Even the emperor pays respect to me."
                Hakuin laughed and said, " You, a samurai? You look like a beggar."
                The samurai's pride was hurt, his ego hammered. He forgot what he had come for. He took out
           his sword and was just about to kill Hakuin. He forgot that he had come to this master to ask where
           is the gate of heaven, to ask where is the gate of hell. Then Hakuin laughed and said, "This is the
           gate of hell. With this sword, this anger, this ego, here opens the gate." This is what a warrior can
           understand. Immediately he understood: This is the gate. He put his sword back in its sheath. And
           Hakuin said, "Here opens the gate of heaven."
                Hell and heaven are within you, both gates are within you. When you are behaving
           unconsciously there is the gate of hell; when you become alert and conscious, there is the gate of
           heaven.
                What happened to this samurai? When he was just about to kill Hakuin, was he conscious? Was
           he conscious of what he was about to do? Was he conscious of what he had come for? All
           consciousness had disappeared. When the ego takes over, you cannot be alert. Ego is the drug, the
           intoxicant that makes you completely unconscious. You act but the act comes from the unconscious,
           not from your consciousness. And whenever any act comes from the unconscious, the door of hell is
           open. Whatsoever you do, if you are not aware of what you are doing the gate of hell opens.
           Immediately the samurai became alert. Suddenly, when Hakuin said, "This is the gate,
                you have already opened it --" the very situation must have created alertness.
                Just imagine what would have happened if you had been the warrior, if you had been the
           samurai, sword in hand, just about to kill. A single moment more and Hakuin's head would have
           been severed; a single moment more and it would have been separated from the body. And Hakuin
           said, "This is the gate of hell." This is not a philosophical answer; no master answers in a
           philosophical way. Philosophy exists only for mediocre, unenlightened minds. The master responds
           but the response is not verbal, it is total. That this man may have killed him is not the point. "If you
           kill me and it makes you alert, it is worth it" -- Hakuin played the game. If a single moment had been
           lost this man would have killed him. But at the right moment Hakuin said, "This is the gate."
                You may not have heard about samurais. Say you are about to kill a samurai: your sword is in
           your hand, it is just about to touch his neck. He is standing before you, unprotected, without any
           weapon. Samurais have a particular sound, a mantra. He will just say a single word so loudly that all
           your energy will go. You will become as if dead, a statue. He may simply say, "Hey!" You will
           become static, your hand will not move. That sound will hammer the heart, which controls
           everything. Your hand will become static, your mind will be shocked; all activity will disappear.
           You cannot kill a samurai, even if he is without weapons. A sound becomes a protection. If you have
           a gun, your hands cannot move or you will miss the aim. It is just a sound, a sound that has to be
           made in a particular way, so that it goes deep into your heart and changes your activity completely,
           changes the pattern of your activity.
                When Hakuin said, "This is the gate," the samurai must have remained static. In that static state,
           when all activity ceases, you become alert. Some activity is needed... otherwise your unconscious
           would break and you would become conscious. Zen says if a person can sit for six hours without
           doing anything he will become enlightened. Just for six hours... but six hours is really too long; I say
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           six minutes is enough. Even six seconds will do if you can be absolutely without activity. When you
           are not occupied, you cannot be unconscious; when you are unoccupied your whole energy becomes
           consciousness. A tremendous release occurs.
               Your energy is engaged in occupation. Your mind is thinking, your body is working, you are
           occupied. Your whole energy is moving in activity, is being dissipated into the world. When you
           think, you are dissipating energy; each thought takes energy, needs energy. You are continuously
           thinking and dissipating energy for nothing -- just dissipating energy. Activity needs energy, and
           your infinite source of energy is continuously being dissipated. You are leaking from everywhere.
           That's why you feel so weak, so frustrated, so impotent. This impotence feels like helplessness; you
           are omnipotent and you feel impotent. You have all the sources of infinite energy within you, you
           are related to the cosmic source, but you feel impotent because you are continuously dissipating
           energy. If thought stops even for a single moment and activity is no more, if you have become like a
           statue, unmoving within or without, if there is no movement, either of body or of mind, then
           tremendous energy is released. Where will it go now there is no activity? It cannot go without. You
           become a pillar of energy, a flame of energy. Everything becomes conscious inside, everything is
           lighted; your whole being is filled with light.
               This must have happened to the warrior -- stopped, sword in hand with Hakuin just before him,
           with a master, an enlightened master, before him. The eyes of Hakuin were laughing, the face was
           smiling, and the gate of heaven opened. He understood: the sword went back into its sheath. While
           putting the sword back into the sheath he must have been totally silent, peaceful. The anger had
           disappeared, the energy moving in anger had become silence. If you suddenly awake in the middle of
           anger, you will feel a peace you have never felt before. Energy was moving and suddenly it stops.
           You will have silence, immediate silence. You will fall into your inner being and the fall will be so
           sudden, you will become aware. It is not a slow fall, it is so sudden that you cannot remain unaware.
           You can remain unaware only with routine things, with gradual things; you move so slowly you can't
           feel movement. This was sudden movement -- from activity to no-activity, from thought to
           no-thought, from mind to no-mind. As the sword was going back into its sheath, the warrior realized.
           And Hakuin said, "Here open the doors of heaven."
           Silence is the door.
           Inner peace is the door.
           Non-violence is the door.
           Love and compassion are the doors.
               Heaven and hell are not geographical, they are psychological, they are your psychology. And this
           is not a question to be decided on the day of judgment. The human mind is so clever: in avoiding, in
           escaping, Christians, Mohammedans and Jews have created a concept of the last day when
           everybody is to be judged -- you will be taken out of your grave and judged. Those who have
           followed Jesus, who have been good, who have believed, will go to heaven; those who have
           misbehaved, who have not followed Jesus, who have not been to church, will be thrown into hell.
           Christian hell is one of the most ridiculous things. It is eternal, there is no end to it. This seems
           injustice, sheer injustice; whatsoever sin you have committed no punishment which is eternal can be
           just. Bertrand Russell somewhere has joked, "If I calculate all my sins, sins that I have committed
           and sins that I have not committed, only brooded over -- if even they are included -- the hardest
           judge can't send me to jail for more than four years. And Christianity sends you to hell forever."
           Bertrand Russell has written a book, Why I am not a Christian; this is one of his arguments. It is a
           beautiful argument because the whole thing seems to be ridiculous.
               If, as Hindus say, you have committed millions of sins in millions of lives, it may look logical to
           send a person to hell for eternity. But Christians believe in only one life, a life of seventy years. How
           can you commit so much sin that you deserve eternal hell? If you commit sin continuously for
           seventy years, even then eternal hell doesn't look just. The whole thing seems to be revengeful: so
           God is throwing you into hell because of your sins, because you were disobedient, because you were
           rebellious, because you didn't listen to him. It seems to be revenge, but revenge can be unjust. Is it
           punishment? It seems ridiculous.
               The human mind has created a last judgment day. Why? - why wait for the last day? The mind
           always postpones, pushes things ahead: the problem is not right here and now, it is a question of the
           last day, so we will see. The problem is not urgent, we will see what happens. There are ways and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means... In the last moment you can follow Jesus, in the last moment you can surrender and say to
           God, "I was a sinner." You can confess and be forgiven. God is infinite compassion, God is love; he
           is going to forgive you.
               Christians have evolved a technique of confession. You commit sin, and then you go to the priest
           and confess; confessed, you are relieved. If you confess honestly, you are ready to sin again; the past
           sin is forgiven. Once you know the trick, the key -- that you can commit a sin and be forgiven -- who
           is going to prevent you from committing more? So the same people keep on coming to the priest
           every Sunday and go on confessing. Sometimes the ego is such that people confess sins they never
           committed. The ego is such that if you start confessing, you may become so involved in it that you
           may start confessing sins you never committed. To be a greater sinner is so ego-filling -- the greater
           the sinner, the greater will be the forgiveness of the divine.
               It has been said by those studying Leo Tolstoy's autobiographical notes deeply, that many sins he
           says he committed he never committed at all. He is enjoying. Jean-Jacques Rousseau has written
           Confessions, his autobiography; the sins he confesses, he never committed. The same is possible
           with Mahatma Gandhi; in his autobiography the things he depicts himself as committing may be
           exaggerations. This is how the ego works: whatever you say you take to the extreme, then there is
           the beautiful feeling that you have confessed. Last judgment, confession are tricks of the mind.
           Heaven and hell are not at the end, they are here and now. Every moment the door opens; every
           moment you go on wavering between heaven and hell. It is a moment-to-moment question, it is
           urgent; in a single moment you can move from hell to heaven, from heaven to hell.
               This is the meaning of the story. Not even a single moment had passed and Hakuin said, "This is
           the gate of hell. Now the gate of hell opens." And not a single moment had passed and he said,
           "Look, this is the gate of heaven." Heaven and hell are not very distant, they are neighbors; only a
           small fence divides them. You can jump that fence, even without a gate. You go on jumping from
           this to that. In the morning you may be in heaven; by evening you are in hell. This moment heaven,
           that moment hell. It is just an attitude, just a state of your mind, just how you are feeling. Many
           times, in a single life, you may visit hell, and many times you may visit heaven. In a single day
           also...
               There is a beautiful story of a disciple of Mahavira. He was a great king, he renounced and
           became a disciple of Mahavira. He was very ascetic, austere, and did whatever Mahavira said to the
           very extreme. His name spread all over the country -- it was Prasannachandra. Even kings started
           coming to pay homage to him. One king, Bimbasar,
               who had been a friend of Prasannachandra when he was also a king, came to the cave where he
           was standing naked under the sun, with his eyes closed. Bimbasar bowed down before
           Prasannachandra and thought, "When will the time come when I will also become so peaceful, so
           silent, blissful? This man has achieved!" Then he went to Mahavira, Prasannachandra's master -- he
           was near, somewhere in the same forest. He said to Mahavira, "Bhagwan, just before coming to you
           I went to Prasannachandra. He was standing with his eyes closed, so blissful, so heavenly. He has
           achieved. When will the moment come for me? I am not so fortunate -- I feel jealous. I have another
           question: If Prasannachandra had died that very moment when I was there, paying my respects to
           him, where would he reach? Which heaven would he attain?" Jainas say there are seven heavens and
           seven hells.
               Mahavira said, "He will fall to the seventh hell." Bimbasar couldn't understand, he was puzzled
           and confused. He said, "What are you saying, the seventh hell? Prasannachandra was standing so
           silently, so peacefully, so meditatively; he was in such ecstasy. If he falls to the seventh hell what
           will happen to me? Are there more hells beyond the seventh? No, you must be joking, tell me the
           truth."
               Mahavira said, "This is the truth. Just before you a few people had passed by; they also went to
           pay homage to Prasannachandra. They started gossiping around him; he heard, and the doors of hell
           opened. Those people were coming from his capital where he had been king. They said, "This fool
           has renounced all! The prime minister, to whom he has given the whole responsibility for running
           the kingdom, is a thief. He is looting, he is destroying. When Prasannachandra's son comes of age,
           when he comes to be king, there will be nothing left. And this fool is standing here with his eyes
           closed."
               Prasannachandra heard this. Suddenly the door of hell opened. He forgot. He was also a samurai,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a warrior, a kshatriya. He completely forgot that he had renounced, he forgot that there was no
           sword; he completely forgot that he was now a monk. The samurai who had gone to Hakuin had a
           sword. Prasannachandra had none, he was standing naked. He pulled out his sword -- the sword was
           not there, it was just an illusion -- and completely forgot that he was a sannyasin. The whole thing
           was so burdensome, so much anxiety was created by the news, that he pulled his sword out of the
           sheath and said, "I am alive! What does that prime minister think? I will go and cut off his head. I am
           still here!" Whenever he used to become angry in the old days he would always touch his crown, so
           he touched his crown. There was no crown, just a shaven head. Suddenly he remembered, "What am
           I doing? There is no sword; I am a sannyasin and have renounced all."
                Mahavira said, "If he had died at the very moment he realized this he would have achieved the
           seventh heaven. Prasannachandra realized what he had been imagining. Just through imagination the
           door of hell was opened, now it had closed. If he had died at this moment, he would have achieved
           the seventh heaven."
                Hell and heaven are within you. The doors are very close: with the right hand you can open one,
           with the left hand you can open another. With just a change of your mind, your being is transformed
           -- from heaven to hell and from hell to heaven. This goes on continuously. What is the secret? The
           secret is whenever you are unconscious, whenever you act unconsciously, without awareness, you
           are in hell; whenever you are conscious, whenever you act with full awareness, you are in heaven. If
           this awareness becomes so integrated, so consolidated, that you never lose it, there is no hell for you;
           if unconsciousness becomes so consolidated, so integrated, that you never lose it, there is no
           heaven.Fortunately unconsciousness can never become so consolidated; a part always remains
           conscious.
                When your whole being seems to be unconscious, even then a witnessing part always remains
           conscious. Even while asleep, a part is witnessing. That's why in the morning you sometimes say the
           sleep was beautiful. Sometimes you say the sleep was disturbed, nightmarish; sometimes you say, "I
           slept so deeply, so peacefully, it was such great happiness." Who knows this? You were asleep --
           who knows that you were so happy? A part has witnessed; a part was continuously alert, knowing.
           Who knows that you were disturbed, uneasy, uncomfortable? You were asleep -- even in sleep a part
           of you knows. You cannot become completely unconscious. Once achieved, consciousness cannot be
           lost, you cannot reverse the process. You cannot be eternally in hell -- this Christian doctrine is
           absolutely false -- but you can be eternally in heaven. This is the Hindu doctrine: hell can only be
           temporary, it can be only for the time being; it is temporal. Heaven can be eternal.
                To make a distinction between the momentary heaven and the eternal heaven Hindus have a
           different word -- MOKSHA. Hindus have three words; Christians, Mohammedans, Jews have only
           two words. Heaven and hell are the two words for Mohammedans, Christians and Jews. Hindus say
           naraka for hell, swarga for heaven, and moksha -- beyond both. A third word. Hindus say heaven is
           not worth achieving; it can be lost. When the state of heaven becomes permanent, when it cannot be
           lost, it is moksha, it is absolute freedom. Then bliss has become your nature then heaven and hell
           have disappeared. Then wherever you are, it will make no difference. This third state is the aim. But
           you cannot reach the third if you are flickering, if you are wavering between heaven and hell; then
           nothing can be consolidated, integrated. Then you live in a flux, there is no crystallization, your
           being is liquid. Sometimes it moves to heaven, sometimes, to hell. Crystallization means you become
           more and more conscious, you become more and more centered, more and more grounded. Less
           asleep, you become more aware, and a moment comes -- even when you are asleep, you are
           conscious.
                Ananda used to sleep with Buddha in his room. A buddha is worth watching, even in his sleep,
           so Ananda used to watch sometimes. A buddha asleep is such a beautiful phenomenon: he looks like
           a small child, innocent, with no burden of the day.
                You dream only because you carry a burden, only because the day is incomplete. You have left
           many things incompleted; they have to be completed in the dream. You looked at a woman, you
           desired her, but it was not possible. Society, the law, the state, morality, your own conscience,
           diverted your attention. You escaped from the woman but she will follow you in the dream; the act
           has to be completed. You must make love to this woman, if not in reality then in the dream; only
           then will you feel at ease. The incomplete act becomes a burden.
                A buddha sleeps dreamlessly because nothing is incomplete. There is no desire, no passion.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nothing arises and nothing remains; things pass as if in front of a mirror. A woman passes and
           Buddha looks but no passion arises. The woman has passed, the mirror is vacant again; there is no
           trace, no mark of it. He is dreamless. Even a child is not dreamless, even a child has desires. Maybe
           the desire is not for a woman, it may be for a new toy or for something else, but even a child dreams.
           Even a cat, a dog dreams. Look at a cat and you will feel it is dreaming of rats. It is jumping,
           catching; it is sometimes frustrated and sometimes very happy if the rat is caught. Look at a dog
           sleeping. You can feel it is dreaming about flies, about bones, about fighting. Sometimes it is tense,
           sometimes relaxed. The sleep is disturbed.
               To look at a buddha while he is asleep is very beautiful, so Ananda used to watch. Buddha would
           go to sleep, and Ananda would sit and look at him. He was such a silent pool of being. Nothing was
           incomplete, everything, every moment was complete and perfect. There was no dream, there were no
           traces left; his mind was a clean mirror. The stream of consciousness was never muddled, it was
           crystal clear. Ananda became puzzled because Buddha always slept in the same posture. He would
           remain the whole night in the same posture; he would not change, he would remain in the same
           posture. That posture has become very famous -- it is called the lying posture. You may have seen
           Buddha's pictures. There are many statues in Ceylon, China, Japan and India. If you go to Ajanta,
           there is a statue of Buddha lying down. That posture, how Buddha lay, has been reported by Ananda.
           Buddha slept in the same posture the whole night, not even changing sides.
               So one day Ananda asked, "Bhagwan, everything is okay, but one thing puzzles me: you remain
           in the same posture the whole night. Are you asleep or not? If someone is asleep he will change his
           posture. Are you asleep or not? Even while you are asleep or appear to be asleep, it appears you are
           alert. It seems you know what the body is doing; you will not even change your posture
           unconsciously.
               Buddha said, "Yes, when the mind is silent, not dreaming, only the body sleeps. Consciousness
           remains alert." Krishna has said to Arjuna in the Gita, "While you sleep the yogi remains alert."
           Even in the night his sleep is not sleepy. His sleep is only in the body, a rest in the body, a relaxation
           in the body; his consciousness is alert. In reality a yogi's consciousness needs no relaxation; it is
           always relaxed, There is no tension. Relaxation is needed because of tension. You are so tense the
           whole day, your consciousness has to be relaxed. A yogi's body relaxes because the body gets tired.
           His body is a mechanism; his consciousness is always alert, continually alert. It is a continuum of
           alertness.
           When your consciousness becomes a continuum
               there are no gaps in consciousness; when there is no darkness within you, your whole inner
           temple has become enlightened. The light has reached to every corner and no part of your inner
           house is in darkness. You are a mukta, a free man.

               This is the meaning of a christ. You are Christ arisen, resurrected. Now there is no night for you,
           only the day exists; now the sun never sets. Heaven means consciousness, hell means
           unconsciousness: there is the possibility to move to either. When the possibility disappears there is
           no hell, no heaven -- there is a third; the ultimate opens the door. You become free, you become
           freedom. This is the goal.
               Hakuin did well, but this could only have been done with a warrior. The warrior responded
           immediately -- he became angry, totally angry. If he had been a businessman, he would have smiled;
           anger would have been inside. He would not have been ready, immediately, to cut off Hakuin's head.
           Hakuin's response would have been useless. You do this also: when you are angry, you smile. You
           are so inauthentic and false, even in anger, you lie. Your love cannot be believed because even your
           anger is unbelievable. Your whole life is a continuous lie: whatsoever you do, you are not truthful.
           Angry, you are not truthful; you smile, you paint it on, you hide it -- you show something else. Then
           you cannot be made alert that this is the gate of hell.
               This warrior was like a child -- he became totally angry. He became so angry he was going to kill
           this man he had come to as a disciple. He had come in search of a master and he was going to kill
           this man. He was total. This totalness helped. If you are total in your anger you will be total when the
           anger disappears; if you are false in your anger you cannot be real in your silence.
               Hakuin said, "Look, you have opened the door of hell." Immediately the samurai realized. This
           can be realized only if you are total and truthful, otherwise it cannot be realized. You are such a
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deceiver you would have deceived Hakuin. You would have smiled. That means the door of hell
           would have been open but painted with the signboard of heaven. It would have looked from the
           outside as if it were heaven but inside it would have been hell. You would have divided and
           fragmented. No, it would not have been of much help. This warrior became so total in his anger, he
           lost all his consciousness. He became angry. He was not angry -- there was no one who was angry --
           he simply became anger; his whole energy became anger, he was mad. At such a peak things can be
           realized. Then they become penetrative, then somebody can be made alert.
               Hakuin said, "Look!" And the warrior could look. He was a truthful man. Then Hakuin said,
           "This is the gate of hell." and he could realize. When you are total, you can realize. Suddenly the
           anger disappeared. Because it was total, it disappeared; because it was total, it disappeared totally. If
           it had been fragmentary it could not have disappeared totally. It totally disappeared, totally. A deep
           silence was left behind. This is what I have been telling you continuously: Be total, be authentic, be
           true. If you are a sinner, be a true sinner; don't try to create a facade of being a saint. A true sinner is
           bound to become a true saint, sooner or later. Time is irrelevant. A true sinner is true, that is the
           point; sin is not the point.
               I have heard, a peddler was caught and brought to court. He was peddling without a license. He
           was a new man in town but knew that a license was needed. There were a few other persons standing
           before the magistrate -- three women had also been caught. They were prostitutes without licenses.
           This is really a wonderful world -- governments even issue licenses for prostitution. They were
           caught without licenses, so the magistrate asked the first woman, "What do you say? Who are you
           and what are you doing?" The woman said, "I am a model." She was lying. The magistrate sentenced
           her to thirty days hard labor.
               He asked the second woman. She said, "Somewhere something is wrong. I have been caught
           wrongly; I am an actress." The magistrate sent her for sixty days.
               He looked at the third woman. The third woman said, "My lord, I am a prostitute." The
           magistrate could not believe that anybody could be so truthful, that anybody could confess so truly.
           He said, "Authenticity has become so rare that you have shocked me. I have never encountered
           anyone who is truthful. Go, I forgive you. I'll not give you any punishment."
               Then came the number of the peddler. The magistrate asked, "What were you doing?"
           He said, "To be frank, I am also a prostitute."
               This is what is going on -- faces. False faces all over... deception. You are not even aware of how
           you deceive and who you are deceiving. There is no one to be deceived; you are deceiving yourself
           trying to escape, trying to hide.
               That warrior was a true man; this untruthfulness was not there. He was ready to kill or to die; he
           became so inflamed he was a fire. The door was open. Your door is never completely open -- you
           sneak through the holes. Your heaven is also never open -- you enter from the back door.              To be
           total is a basic thing for any seeker, for anyone in search of silence and truth.
               When you are angry, be angry. Don't think of the consequences; let the consequences be there,
           suffer them, but don't deceive yourself. When entering hell, enter totally. Don't leave half your mind
           outside; go into it, pass through it, suffer it. Pain is going to be there but pain gives maturity;
           suffering is going to be there but you can transcend it if you understand. Only a total mind can
           understand. And when anger disappears, you will become so silent, so meditative. If you love, love
           totally; if you hate, hate totally. Don't be fragmentary; suffer the consequences. Because of
           consequences you try to deceive -- you are a peddler and you say you are a prostitute -- because of
           consequences, you are never angry, never hateful. Then you will miss heaven also. One who is
           incapable of opening the door of hell completely, will be incapable of opening, completely, the door
           of heaven. Go through hell. The path passes through there; heaven is achieved through hell.
               This is the meaning of the anecdote. Hakuin first created hell for the warrior; hell must be
           created first. Hell is easy to create -- you are always ready, always knocking at the door. You are
           afraid but always ready; you are not courageous but always ready; you are not daring, but always
           ready. There is continuous turmoil inside. Hakuin could not have created heaven first; that is
           impossible, no one is ready. Heaven is very far away; hell is nearby, just around the corner. You
           move and you are in it.
               I, also, cannot create heaven for you. That is why all my meditation techniques are designed to
           create hell first. People come to me and say, "Make us silent. Why do you insist on us going mad?" I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot open the doors of heaven first and you cannot become silent. Be totally mad first. I create hell
           for you and you will have to pass through it. It is the nearest thing you can easily do. Heaven is very
           far away, and one who has not traveled through hell cannot reach heaven. My insistence is a very
           considered one.      You can understand the story now. Hakuin said to the warrior, "You, a samurai?
           Your face looks like a beggar's." The samurai could not tolerate this, it was too much. A beggar? He
           would never beg, not even for his life. Immediately he was touched to his very core. A beggar?
           Impossible! The sword came out.
               I am touching you, hitting you, hammering you in all my meditation techniques just to bring your
           hell out. But you are such cowards that even if you bring your hell out it will not be total. You play
           with it, you are not involved in it; you are fragmentary, you only become lukewarm. Lukewarm
           won't do. You have to be boiling, only then can you evaporate. The ego evaporates only at the
           boiling point, not before. You just become lukewarm. It is of no use, it is an unnecessary waste of
           heat; again, you will become cold. After meditation you will become cold, cold to the extreme. In
           your catharsis open the door of hell. I promise you, if you can open it I will open the other door
           immediately. It is always open; once you open the door of hell, it is near.
               To say this much is enough: "Look, this is the gate of hell." Then the gate closes. And the other
           gate opens.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW DOES WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL TIE IN WITH WHAT YOU'VE BEEN
              SAYING ABOUT ROOTS AND WINGS? WHEN YOU SAY ROOTS INTO THIS EARTH AND WINGS
              INTO THAT HEAVEN, I'VE GOT A FEELING OF BEING INFINITELY STRETCHED -- THAT THIS
              EARTH IS CLOSE AND THAT HEAVEN IS FAR AWAY. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF "THIS"
              AND "THAT"?


                This earth is close, not because it is close but because of you. That heaven is far away, not
           because it is far away, but because of you.
                "This" means the world, "This" means the body -- these desires, these passions, the physical, the
           visible. "This" means all that has been condemned by religions. They are always against "this" and
           for "that." "That" means Brahma, "That" means moksha, "That" means the divine. "This" means the
           material world -- this devilish world, this which is condemned. All the religions have condemned
           this world.
                I don't condemn it. I want to give you roots into this world.
                All the religions have said unless you are uprooted from "this," you will not get wings into
           "that." They are against "this," against the world, the body, against the material, the visible. All you
           feel as near, they are against. They are for something very far away, something abstract -- God,
           Brahma, moksha. Nobody knows, nobody is in contact with it; there is no communion, no touch with
           it. It looks like a dream, like poetry, it looks imaginary. All religions have condemned "this." They
           say, "Be uprooted." That's why they call sannyas renouncing the world, renouncing "this." I do not.
           They have created a dualism... not only dualism, they have created antagonism between "this" and
           "that," between the physical and the spiritual.
                To me, roots into "this" will help to give you wings into "that." I don't create any antagonism
           where there is none. Antagonism comes from a mind in conflict, from a mind in duality. Out of
           conflict, dual theories are created, conflicting theories. I am not dual; I create no conflict. I see "that"
           not against "this" but as a flowering of "this." I see wings not against roots but as a flowering of the
           roots. Trees have wings into the sky -- their branches are their wings. They have roots into the earth
           and branches into the sky. I would like you to be a strong tree -- with roots into "this" and wings into
           "that."
                My God is not against the world. My God is in the world. My God is the world. This earth is not
           against that heaven; they are two polarities of the same phenomenon.
                "This" appears near you because your mind is not yet in a state to see the invisible. Your mind is
           so disturbed, so coarse, that you can see only the visible, the rough; the subtle escapes you. If your
           mind becomes silent, thoughtless, the subtle will become visible. God is not invisible; he is visible
           everywhere. But your mind is not yet tuned to the subtle, to the invisible. The invisible can be seen.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The word means that which cannot be seen, but no, the invisible can be seen; only you need more
           subtle, more refined eyes. A blind man cannot see, he cannot see that which is visible to you but his
           eyes can be cured and then he can see the sunlight, colors, rainbows. All that was invisible before
           has not become visible.
                God is not invisible. You don't have the right eyes, that's all; You are not a tuned being for which
           the subtle opens its doors.
                "This" and "that," for me, are not divided; "This" reaches into "that", "that" comes into "this."
           For you, "that" means the far away -- not for me. For me, "This" is "that" and someday it will be the
           case for you also: "this" will be "that." This world is God. The visible hides the invisible. That's why
           my sannyas is not a renunciation. My sannyas is not against anything; it is for the totality, for the
           whole.
                Be rooted in the earth so that you can stretch to the sky; be rooted in the visible so that you can
           reach into the invisible. Don't create duality and don't create any antagonism. If I am against
           anything, I am against antagonism. I am against being against anything; I am for the whole, the
           complete circle. The world and God are not divided anywhere. There is no boundary: the world goes
           on spreading into God and God goes on spreading into the world. Really, to use two words is not
           good but language creates problems. We say the creator and the created, we divide. Language is
           dualistic; in reality there is no created and no creator, only creativity, only a process of infinite
           creativity. Nothing is divided. Everything is one -- undivided.
                Language is just like a political map. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh are divided on the political
           map, and if you ask the earth where India begins and Pakistan ends, the earth will laugh and think
           you mad. The earth is round, it is one; only on political maps is it not and maps are false. And
           politicians are madmen, madmen who have attained power. They are more dangerous than madmen
           who live in madhouses, because they have power.
                Where do you end and I begin? Where is the point where we can draw a line between you and
           me? Where? There cannot be any demarcation. The air goes on flowing in you. You breathe: if even
           for a moment the air is not flowing in you, if the breath is not coming, you will be dead. And the air
           in me just a moment before has left me and entered you. It was my life just a moment before, now it
           is your life; and your breath has returned to me. It was your life, now it is my life. Where are we
           divided?
                Life goes on flowing; life is something in between you and me. The tree goes on creating oxygen
           and you breathe it. If the trees disappear, you will disappear. The trees go on changing cosmic rays
           into food -- that is what fruit and vegetables are -- and if they disappear, you will be no more. They
           are constantly creating food for you, that's how you exist. Greenery is in a constant process of
           creating food for you; you depend on it.
                The clouds go on moving, bringing water for you. The whole is connected. The faraway sun
           sends its rays to you and those rays are life. If the sun disappears, all life will disappear. Even the sun
           gets its energy from some source; scientists have not yet been able to find that source, but if that
           source disappears everything will disappear. Everything is related, joined together. This world does
           not exist in fragments, it exists as a whole, one whole.
                To me, "this" plus "that" is God. That's why I say very contradictory things. I would like to give
           you two things: roots into this earth, into all that is earthly, and wings into that heaven, into all that is
           abstract for you now, into all that you cannot even comprehend, that cannot be conceptualized. Roots
           into the finite, wings into the infinite... And you need not renounce "this." If you renounce "this,"
           you are renouncing your roots. That has happened; that is why your monks, your sadhus, look so
           dead. They have renounced "this;" they are uprooted beings. Uproot a tree and you are exposing the
           part that was hidden in the earth. Soon the flowers will die, the branches will die, the leaves will start
           falling.
                That's what is happening to your sannyasins, the so-called old sannyasins. They destroy their
           roots because they are against this earth and then their flowering stops. Have you ever seen an old
           sannyasin in a flowering state? -- one who is blossoming every day, one who is giving anew every
           day, one who is flowering into the unknown every day. No, you will find a rigid, patterned,
           disciplined being there, a dead being. Mahavira may have been alive but look at the followers of
           Mahavira. Look at their faces -- you cannot see any flowers there. Their eyes are dull and dead; they
           are uprooted trees. They have to be pitied; they need much help, much compassion. They are ill.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Without roots they are bound to be ill. They may have destroyed their sex but they don't know that
           they have destroyed their love also. Sex is "this"; love is "that." When you destroy sex, you destroy
           love.      I say go so deep into sex that it becomes love -- so deep that your very roots start flowering,
           that your very roots become blossoms. The beginning becomes the end, the seed becomes the tree.
           Go so deep into it that the other is found hidden there. It is always there. You can control your anger
           but then there will be no compassion. Go so deep into anger that your anger becomes compassion.
           Then something, a miracle, has happened to you. Then you will be blessed, then there will be
           benediction; then, only, there will be ecstasy.
               This earth symbolizes all that has been condemned, and that heaven, all that has been desired.
           But I don't divide; to me, both are one. And the day will soon come for you too when you will be
           able to see that "this" is pregnant with "that." this world is just a womb for the divine; the earthly is
           just a cover, a protective cover, for the unearthly. The seed, the cell of the seed, is not against the
           tree, it is a protection. Matter is just a protection for the Divine.
               Look, and always try to find the unity. In unity is religion, in disunity religion is lost. And avoid
           being against. If you are against, you will become rigid, hard, and the harder you become the more
           dead you will be.
               I have heard that it once happened that a gang of robbers, by mistake, entered a monastery. They
           thought this house belonged to some rich man -- the monastery had a look of richness -- so they
           entered. But the monks gave them such a hard fight they were happy when they succeeded in
           escaping. When they met again outside the town, one of the robbers philosophized, "Not bad, we
           have a hundred rupees among us." The leader said, "You fools! I have always told you to avoid
           monks. We had five hundred rupees when we entered the monastery!" I also say to you: avoid
           monks. If you enter the monastery with five hundred flowers, you will have only one hundred when
           you come out. They are enemies, enemies of "this," and I say those who are enemies of "this" are
           bound to be enemies of "that" -- whether they know it or not.
               Love "this" and love it so deeply that your love transcends "this" and reaches "that." That's what
           I mean: roots into this earth, and wings into that heaven.




                                                A Bird on the Wing
                                                     Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: Have a Cup of Tea.
           13 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406130
              ShortTitle: WING04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              JOSHU, THE ZEN MASTER, ASKED A NEW MONK IN THE MONASTERY, "HAVE I SEEN YOU
              BEFORE?"
              THE NEW MONK REPLIED, "NO SIR."
              JOSHU SAID, "THEN HAVE A CUP OF TEA."

              JOSHU THEN TURNED TO ANOTHER MONK, "HAVE I SEEN YOU HERE BEFORE?
              THE SECOND MONK SAID, "YES SIR, OF COURSE YOU HAVE."
              JOSHU SAID, "THEN HAVE A CUP OF TEA."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              LATER THE MANAGING MONK OF THE MONASTERY ASKED JOSHU, "HOW IS IT YOU MAKE
              THE SAME OFFER OF TEA TO ANY REPLY?"
              AT THIS JOSHU SHOUTED, "MANAGER, ARE YOU STILL HERE?"
              THE MANAGER REPLIED, "OF COURSE, MASTER."
              JOSHU SAID, "THEN HAVE A CUP OF TEA.


                The story is simple, but difficult to understand. It is always so. The more simple a thing the more
           difficult it is to understand. To understand, something complex is needed; to understand, you have to
           divide and analyze. A simple thing cannot be divided and analyzed; there is nothing to divide and
           analyze -- the thing is so simple. The simplest always escapes understanding, that is why God cannot
           be understood. God is the simplest thing, absolutely the simplest thing possible. The world can be
           understood; it is very complex. The more complex a thing is, the more the mind can work in it.
           When it is simple there is nothing to grind, the mind cannot work.
                Logicians say simple qualities are indefinable. For example, somebody asks you what yellow is.
           It is such a simple quality, the color yellow, how will you define it? You will say, "Yellow is
           yellow." The man will say, "That I know, but what is the definition of yellow?" If you say yellow is
           yellow you are not defining, you are simply repeating the same thing again. It is a tautology.
                G.E. Moore, one of the most penetrating minds of this century, has written a book, Principia
           Ethica. The whole book consists of a very persistent effort to define what is good. Making efforts
           from all directions, in two or three hundred pages -- and two, three hundred pages of G.E. Moore is
           worth three thousand pages of anybody else -- he came to the conclusion that good is indefinable.
           Good cannot be defined -- it is such a simple quality. When something is complex there are many
           things in it; you can define one thing by another that is present there. If you and I are in a room and
           you ask me, "Who are you?" I can at least say I am not you. This will become the definition, the
           indication. But if I am alone in a room and I ask myself the question, "Who am I?" the question
           resounds but there is no answer. How to define it?
                That is why God has been missed. Intellect denies it, reason says no. God is the simplest
           denominator in existence -- the simplest and the most basic. When the mind stops there is nothing
           other than God, so how to define God? He is alone in the room. That is why religions try to divide,
           then definition is possible. They say, "This world is not that; God is not the world, God is not matter,
           God is not body, God is not desire." These are ways to define.
                You have to put something against something, then a boundary can be drawn. How do you draw
           a boundary if there is no neighbor? Where do you place the fence of your house if there is no
           neighborhood? If there is no one beside you how can you fence in your house? Your house boundary
           consists of the presence of your neighbor. God is alone, he has no neighbor. Where does he begin?
           Where does he end? Nowhere. How can you define God? Just to define God, the Devil was created.
           God is not the Devil -- at least this much can be said. You may not be able to say what God is but
           you can say what he is not: God is not the world.
                I was just reading one Christian theologian's book. He says God is everything except evil. This,
           too, is enough to define. He says, "All except evil." This much will draw a boundary. He is not
           aware, if God is everything then from where does this evil come? It must be coming from
           everything. Otherwise there is some other source of existence besides God, and that other source of
           existence becomes equivalent to God. Then evil can never be destroyed, then it has its own source of
           existence; then evil is not dependent on God so how can God destroy it? God will not destroy it.
           Once evil is destroyed God cannot be defined. To define him he needs the Devil to be there always,
           just around him. Saints need sinners, otherwise they would not be there. How will you know who is
           a saint? Every saint needs sinners around him; those sinners make the boundary.
                The first thing to be understood is that complex things can be understood, simple things cannot.
           A simple thing is alone. This Joshu story is very simple. It is so simple it escapes you: you try to grip
           it, you try to grab it -- it escapes. It is so simple that your mind cannot work on it. Try to feel the
           story. I will not say try to understand because you cannot understand it -- try to feel the story. Many
           things are hidden if you try to feel them; if you try to understand it nothing is there -- the whole
           anecdote is absurd.
                Joshu saw one monk and asked, "Have I seen you before?"
                The man said, "No sir, there is no possibility. I have come for the first time, I am a stranger --
           you could not have seen me before.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Joshu said, "Okay, then have a cup of tea."Then he asked another monk, "Have I seen you
           before?"
                The monk said, "Yes sir, you must have seen me. I have always been here; I am not a stranger."
                The monk must have been a disciple of Joshu's, and Joshu said, "Okay, then have a cup of tea."
                The manager of the monastery was puzzled: with two different persons responding in different
           ways, two different answers were needed. But Joshu responded in the same way -- to the stranger
           and to the friend, to one who has come for the first time and to one who has been here always. To the
           unknown and to the known Joshu responded in the same way. He made no distinction, none at all.
           He didn't say, "You are a stranger. Welcome! Have a cup of tea." He didn't say to the other, "You
           have always been here, so there is no need for a cup of tea." Nor did he say, "You have always been
           here so there is no need to respond."
                Familiarity creates boredom; you never receive the familiar. You never look at your wife. She
           has been with you for many, many years and you have completely forgotten that she exists. What is
           the face of your wife? Have you looked at her recently? You may have completely forgotten her
           face. If you close your eyes and meditate and remember, you may remember the face you looked on
           for the first time. But your wife has been a flux, a river, constantly changing. The face has changed;
           now she has become old. The river has been flowing and flowing, new bends have been reached; the
           body has changed. Have you looked at her recently? Your wife is so familiar there is no need to
           look. We look at something which is unfamiliar; we look at something which strikes us as strange.
           They say familiarity breeds contempt: it breeds boredom.
                I have heard one anecdote: two businessmen, very rich, were relaxing on Miami Beach. They
           were lying down, taking a sunbath. One said, "I can never understand what people see in Elizabeth
           Taylor, the actress. I don't understand what people see, why they become so mad. What is there?
           You take her eyes away, you take her hair away, you take her lips away, you take her figure away,
           and what is left, what have you got?"
                The other man grunted, became sad and replied, "My wife -- that's what's left."
                That is what has become of your wife, of your husband -- nothing is left. Because of familiarity,
           everything has disappeared. Your husband is a ghost; your wife is a ghost with no figure, with no
           lips, with no eyes -- just an ugly phenomenon. This has not always been so. You fell in love with this
           woman once. That moment is there no longer; now you don't look at her at all. Husbands and wives
           avoid looking at each other. I have stayed with many families and watched husbands and wives
           avoid looking at each other. They have created many games to avoid looking; they are always
           uneasy when they are left alone. A guest is always welcome; both can look at the guest and avoid
           each other.
                Joshu seems to be absolutely different, behaving in the same way with a stranger and a friend.
           The monk said, "I have always been here sir, you know me well."
                And Joshu said, "Then have a cup of tea." The manager couldn't understand. Managers are
           always stupid; to manage, a stupid mind is needed. And a manager can never be deeply meditative. It
           is difficult: he has to be mathematical, calculating; he has to see the world and arrange things
           accordingly. The manager became disturbed. What is this? What is happening? This looks illogical.
           It's okay to offer a cup of tea to a stranger but to this disciple who has always been here? So he
           asked, "Why do you respond in the same way to different persons, to different questions?"
           Joshu called loudly, "Manager, are you here?"
           The manager said, "Yes sir, of course I am here."
                And Joshu said, "Then have a cup of tea." This asking loudly, "Manager, are you here?" is
           calling his presence, his awareness. Awareness is always new, it is always a stranger, the unknown.
           The body becomes familiar not the soul -- never. You may know the body of your wife; you will
           never know the unknown hidden person. Never. That cannot be known, you cannot know it. It is a
           mystery; you cannot explain it. When Joshu called, "Manager, are you here?" suddenly the manager
           became aware. He forgot that he was a manager, he forgot that he was a body; he responded from his
           heart. He said, "Yes sir."
                This asking loudly was so sudden, it was just like a shock. And it was futile, that's why he said,
           "Of course I am here. You need not ask me, the question is irrelevant." Suddenly the past, the old,
           the mind, dropped. The manager was there no more -- simply a consciousness was responding.
           Consciousness is always new, constantly new; it is always being born; it is never old. And Joshu
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said, "Then have a cup of tea."           The first thing to be felt is that for Joshu, everything is new,
           strange, mysterious. Whether it is the known or the unknown, the familiar or the unfamiliar, it makes
           no difference. If you come to this garden every day, by and by you will stop looking at the trees. You
           will think you have already looked at them, that you know them. By and by you will stop listening to
           the birds; they will be singing, but you will not listen. You will have become familiar; your eyes are
           closed, your ears are closed. If Joshu comes to this garden -- and he may have been coming every
           day for many, many lives -- he will hear the birds, he will look at the trees. Everything, every
           moment, is new for him.
                This is what awareness means. For awareness everything is constantly new. Nothing is old,
           nothing can be old. Everything is being created every moment -- it is a continuous flow of creativity.
           Awareness never carries memory as a burden.
                The first thing: a meditative mind always lives in the new, in the fresh. The whole existence is
           newly born -- as fresh as a dewdrop, as fresh as a leaf coming out in the spring. It is just like the eyes
           of a newborn babe: everything is fresh, clear, with no dust on it. This is the first thing to be felt. If
           you look at the world and feel everything is old, it shows you are not meditative. When you feel
           everything is old, it shows you have an old mind, a rotten mind. If your mind is fresh, the world is
           fresh. The world is not the question, the mirror is the question. If there is dust on the mirror the
           world is old; if there is no dust on the mirror how can the world be old? If things get old you will live
           in boredom; everybody lives in boredom; everybody is bored to death.
                Look at people's faces. They carry life as a burden -- boring, with no meaning. It seems that
           everything is just a nightmare, a very cruel joke, that somebody is playing a trick, torturing them.
           Life is not a celebration, it cannot be. With a mind burdened by memory life cannot be a celebration.
           Even if you laugh, your laughter carries boredom. Look at people laughing: they laugh with an
           effort. Their laugh may be just to be mannerly, their laugh may be just etiquette.
                I have heard about one dignitary who went to Africa to visit a community, a very old, primitive
           community of aborigines. He gave a long lecture. He told a very long anecdote -- for almost half an
           hour the anecdote continued -- then the interpreter stood up. He spoke only four words and the
           primitives laughed heartily. The dignitary was puzzled. He had been telling the anecdote for half an
           hour, how could it be translated in four words? It seemed impossible. And people understood; they
           were laughing, a belly laugh. Puzzled, he said to the interpreter, "You have done a miracle. You have
           spoken only four words. I don't know what you said but how can you translate my story, which was
           so long, into only four words?"
                The interpreter said, "Story too long, so I say, 'He says joke -- laugh.' "
                What type of laughter will come out? Just mannerly etiquette will come out, and this man has
           been laboring for half an hour. Look at people's laughter. It is a mental thing, they are making an
           effort; their laughter is false. It is painted, it is just on the lips, it is an exercise of the face. It is not
           coming from their being, from the source, it is not coming from the belly; it is a created thing. It is
           obvious that we are bored, and whatsoever we do will come out of this boredom and will create more
           boredom. You cannot celebrate. Celebration is possible only when existence is a continuous
           newness, and existence is always young. When nothing grows old, when nothing really dies --
           because everything is constantly reborn -- it becomes a dance. Then it is an inner music flowing.
           Whether you play an instrument or not is not the point, the music is flowing.
                I have heard a story. It happened in Ajmer... You must have heard about one Sufi mystic,
           Moinuddin Chishti, whose dargah, whose tomb, is in Ajmer. Chishti was a great mystic, one of the
           greatest ever born, and he was a musician. To be a musician is to be against Islam because music is
           prohibited. He played on the sitar and on other instruments. He was a great musician and he enjoyed
           it. Five times every day, when a Mohammedan is required to pray the five ritual prayers, he wouldn't
           pray, he would simply play on his instrument. That was his prayer.
                This was absolutely anti-religious but nobody could say anything to Chishti. Many times people
           would come to tell him so and he would start singing, and the song would be so beautiful they would
           forget completely why they had come. He would start playing on his instrument and it would be so
           prayerful that even scholars and pundits and maulvis who had come to object, wouldn't object. They
           would remember at home; when they were back at home they would remember why they had come.
                Chisthi's fame spread over the world. From every part of the world, people started coming. One
           man, Jilani, himself a great mystic, came from Baghdad just to see Chishti. When Chishti heard that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Jilani was coming he felt, "To pay respect to Jilani it will not be good to play my instrument now.
           Because he is such an orthodox Mohammedan, it will not be a good welcome. He may feel hurt." So
           only for that day, in his whole life, he decided he would not play, he would not sing. He waited from
           morning and in the afternoon Jilani came. Chishti had hidden his instruments.
               When Jilani came and they both sat in silence, the instruments started to make music -- the whole
           room was filled. Chishti became very puzzled over what to do. He had hidden them, and such music
           he had never known before. Jilani laughed and said, "Rules are not for you, you need not hide them.
           Rules are for ordinary people, rules are not for you -- you should not hide them. How can you hide
           your soul? Your hands may not play, you may not sing from your throat, but your whole being is
           musical. And this whole room is filled with so much music, with so many vibrations that now the
           whole room is playing by itself."
               When your mind is fresh the whole existence becomes a melody. When you are fresh, freshness
           is everywhere and the whole existence responds. When you are young, not burdened by memory,
           everything is young and new and strange.        This Joshu is wonderful. This has to be felt deeply, then
           you will be able to understand. But that understanding will be more like feeling than understanding
           -- not mental but from the heart. Many more dimensions are hidden in this story. Another dimension
           is that when you come to an enlightened person whatsoever you say makes no difference, his
           response will be the same. Your questions, your answers are not meaningful, not relevant; his
           response will be the same. To all the three Joshu responded in the same way because an enlightened
           person remains the same. No situation changes him; the situation is not relevant. You are changed by
           the situation, you are completely changed; you are manipulated by the situation. Meeting a person
           who is a stranger, you behave differently. You are more tense, trying to judge the situation: What
           type of man is this? Is he dangerous, not dangerous? Will he prove friendly or not? You look with
           fear. That's why with strangers you feel an uneasiness.
               If you are traveling in a train, the first thing you will see is passengers asking each other what
           they do, what their religion is, where they are going. What is the need of these questions? These
           questions are meaningful because then they can be at ease. If you are Hindu and they are also Hindu,
           they can relax -- the man is not very strange. But if you say that you are Mohammedan, the Hindu
           becomes tense. Then some danger is there, some stranger is there. He will make a little space
           between you and him; he cannot be at ease, he cannot relax. He may even change his seat. But even
           a Mohammedan is religious. If you say, "I am an atheist, I am not religious at all; I don't belong to
           any religion," then you are even more of a stranger. An atheist? Then he will feel that just sitting by
           your side he will become impure. You are like a disease; he will avoid you. People start asking
           questions not because they are very curious about you; no, they just want to judge the situation --
           whether they can relax, whether they are in a familiar atmosphere or if something strange is there.
           They are on their safeguard and this is their inquiry for safety.
               Your face changes continuously. If you see a stranger you have a different face; if you see a
           friend, immediately the face changes; if your servant is there you have a different face; if your
           master is there you have a different face. You continuously change your masks because you depend
           on the situation. You don't have a soul, you are not integrated, things around you change you. That is
           not the case with a Joshu. With a Joshu, the case is totally different. He changes his surroundings, he
           is not changed by his surroundings. Whatsoever happens around him is irrelevant, his face remains
           the same; there is no need to change the mask.
               It is reported that once a governor came to see Joshu. Of course, he was a great politician, a
           powerful man -- a governor. He wrote on a paper, "I have come to see you," his name, and governor
           of this-and-this state. He must have knowingly or unknowingly wanted to influence Joshu.
               Joshu looked at the paper, threw it away and said to the man who had brought the message, "Say
           I don't want to see this fellow at all. Throw him out."
               The man went and said, "Joshu has said, 'Throw him out.' He has thrown your paper away and
           said, 'I don't want to see this fellow.' "
               The governor understood. He wrote again on a paper just his name and, "I would like to see
           you."
               The paper reached Joshu and he said, "So this is the fellow! Bring him in."
               The governor came in and he asked, "But why did you behave in such a strange way? You said,
           'Throw this man out.' "
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Joshu said, "Faces are not allowed here. "Governor" is a face, a mask. I recognize you very well,
           but I don't recognize masks, and if you have come with a mask you are not allowed. Now it is okay; I
           know you very well but I don't know any governor. The next time you come leave the governor
           behind, leave it at your house; don't bring it with you."
               We are almost continuously using faces; immediately we change. If we see changes in the
           situation we change immediately, as if we have no integrated soul, no crystallized soul.
               For Joshu, everything is the same -- this stranger, this friend, a disciple, this manager. With his
           response, "Have a cup of tea," he remains the same inside. And why have a cup of tea? This is a very
           symbolic thing for Zen masters. Tea was discovered by Zen masters and tea is not an ordinary thing
           for them. In every Zen monastery they have a tearoom. It is special, just like a temple. You will not
           be able to follow this... because tea is a very religious thing for a Zen master or a Zen monastery.
           Tea is just like prayer. It was discovered by them.
               In India, if you see a sannyasin drinking tea, you will feel he is not a good man. Gandhi would
           not allow anybody in his ashram to drink tea. Tea was prohibited, it was a sin; nobody was allowed
           to take tea. If Gandhi had read this story he would have been hurt: an enlightened person, Joshu,
           asking people, inviting people to have tea? But Zen has a different attitude towards tea. The very
           name comes from a Chinese monastery, Ta. There, for the first time, they discovered tea, and they
           found that tea helps meditation because tea makes you more alert, it gives you a certain awareness.
           That's why if you take tea you will find it difficult to go to sleep immediately. They found tea helps
           awareness, alertness, so in a Zen monastery tea is part of meditation. What more can Joshu offer than
           awareness? When he says, "Have a cup of tea," he is saying, " Have a cup of awareness." Tea is very
           symbolic for them. He says, "Have a cup of awareness."
               That is all that enlightenment can do. If you come to me what can I offer you? I have nothing
           other than a cup of tea.
               To the familiar or unfamiliar, to a friend or a stranger, or even to the manager who has always
           been there managing his monastery, Have a cup of tea. That's all a Buddha can offer to anybody, but
           there is nothing more valuable than that. In Zen monasteries they have a tearoom. It is like a temple,
           the most sacred place. You cannot enter with your shoes because it is a tearoom; you cannot enter
           without taking a bath. Tea means awareness and the ritual is just like prayer. When people enter a
           tearoom they become silent; when they enter the room no talk is allowed, they become silent. They
           sit on the floor in a meditative posture and then the hostess or the host prepares tea. Everybody is
           silent. The tea starts boiling and everybody has to listen to it, to the sound, to the kettle creating
           music. Everybody has to listen to it. The drinking has started though the tea is not even ready.
               If you ask Zen people they will say; tea is not something that you pour with unawareness and
           drink like any other drink. It is not a drink, it is meditation; it is prayer. So they listen to the kettle
           creating a melody, and in that listening they become more silent, more alert.
               Then cups are put before them and they touch them. Those cups are not ordinary; every
           monastery has its own unique cups, they prepare their own cups. Even if they are purchased from the
           market, first they break them then glue them again so the cup becomes special, so you cannot find
           any replica of it anywhere else. Then everybody touches the cup, feels the cup. The cup means the
           body; if tea means awareness, then the cup means the body. And if you have to be alert, you have to
           be alert from the very roots of your body. Touching, they are alert, meditating. Then the tea is
           poured. The aroma comes, the smell. This takes a long time -- one hour, two hours -- so it is not just
           within a minute that you have drunk the tea, thrown the cup down and gone away. No, it is a long
           process -- slow, so that you become aware of each step. And then they drink. The taste, the heat --
           everything has to be done with very alert mindfulness. That's why the master gives the tea to the
           disciple. With a master pouring tea in your cup you will be more alert and aware; with a servant
           pouring tea in your cup you can simply forget him. When Joshu pours tea in your cup -- if I come
           and pour tea in your cup -- your mind will stop, you will be silent. Something special is happening,
           something sacred. Tea becomes a meditation.
               Joshu said, have a cup of tea, to all three. Tea was just an excuse. Joshu will give them more
           awareness, and awareness comes through sensitivity. You have to be more sensitive whatsoever you
           do, so even a trivial thing like tea... Can you find anything more trivial than tea? Can you find
           anything more mean, more ordinary than tea? No, you cannot. And Zen monks and masters have
           raised this most ordinary thing into the most extraordinary. They have bridged "this" and "that", as if
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tea and God have become one. Unless tea becomes divine you will not be divine, because the least
           has to be raised to the most, the ordinary has to be raised to the extraordinary, the earth has to be
           made heaven. They have to be bridged, no gap should be left.
                If you go to a Zen monastery and you see a master drinking tea, with an Indian mind you will
           feel very much disturbed. What type of man is this, drinking tea? Can you conceive Buddha under a
           Bodhi tree drinking tea? You cannot conceive it; it is inconceivable. The Indian mind has been
           talking about nonduality but has created much duality. You have been listening to advaita, the unity,
           the one, but whatsoever you have done, you have created two. And you have created such a gap
           between the two that they look unbridgeable. Because of this Shankara had to talk about maya and
           illusion. You have created such a gap between this world and that world, they cannot be bridged. So
           what to do?
                Shankara said: This world is illusory. You need not bridge; this world is not. That is the only
           way to come to one; you have to deny the other completely. But denial won't help; even if you say
           this world is illusory, it is there. And why do you insist so much that it is illusory if it is not really
           there? What is the problem? Why is it that Shankara went his whole life teaching people this world
           is illusory? Nobody bothers if it is illusory. If Shankara knew it is illusory, then why bother about it?
           It seems some problem is there. It cannot be bridged so the only way is to drop it completely from
           consciousness, to say it is not there so only one remains. We have only one way to come to the one --
           to deny the other.
                Zen has another way to bridge, and I think it is more beautiful; there is no need to deny the other.
           And you cannot deny: even in denial you will assert. If you say this world doesn't exist, you have to
           indicate this world, which is nowhere, so what are you indicating? What are you pointing your finger
           at if there is nothing? Then you are foolish. This world exists, and if you say it is illusory, it is only
           an interpretation. If this world is illusory "that" cannot be real, because from "this", "that" has to be
           achieved. If this world is illusory then your Brahma cannot be real. If the creation is illusory how can
           the creator be real? -- because the creation comes from the creator. If the Ganges is illusory how can
           the Gangotri be real? If I am illusory then my parents are bound to be illusory, because only out of
           dream is a dream born. If they are real then the child must be real.
                Zen says both are real, but both are not two. Bridge them -- so tea becomes prayer, so the most
           profane thing becomes the most sacred. It is a symbol. And Zen says if your ordinary life becomes
           extraordinary, only then are you spiritual. Otherwise, you are not spiritual. In the ordinary the
           extraordinary has to be found; in the familiar, the strange; in the known, the unknown; in the near,
           the far; in "this," "that." So Joshu said, "Come and have a cup of tea."
                One more dimension is there in the story and that dimension is of welcome. Everybody is
           welcome. Who you are is not relevant, you are welcome. At the gate of an enlightened master, at the
           gate of a Joshu or a Buddha, everybody is welcome. The door is, in a sense, open: Come in and have
           a cup of tea. What does this mean: Come in and have a cup of tea? Joshu was saying: Come in and
           relax.
                If you go to other so-called masters, so-called monks and sannyasins, you will become more
           tense; you cannot relax. Go to a sannyasin: you become more tense, you become more afraid. And he
           creates guilt; he will look at you with condemnatory eyes, and the very way he will look at you will
           say you are a sinner. And he will start condemning: This is wrong, that is wrong; leave this, leave
           that. This is not the way of a really enlightened person. He will make you feel relaxed. There is a
           Chinese saying that if you reach a really great man you will feel relaxed with him; if you reach a
           false great man he will create tension within you. He will make, knowingly or unknowingly, every
           effort to show that you are low, a sinner; that he is high, above, transcendental.
                A buddha will help you to relax, because only in your deep relaxation will you also become a
           buddha. There is no other way.
                "Have a cup of tea," Joshu said. "Come relax with me." The tea is symbolic -- Relax. If you are
           drinking tea with a buddha, you will immediately feel that you are not alien, not strangers. Buddha
           pouring tea in your cup... Buddha has come down to you. Buddha has come to "this", he has brought
           "that" to "this". Christians, Jews, cannot conceive it; Mohammedans cannot conceive it. If you knock
           at the gate of heaven, can you conceive of God coming and telling you, "Come, have a cup of tea." It
           looks so profane. God will be sitting on his throne looking at you with his thousand eyes, looking at
           every nook and corner of your being, at how many sins you have committed. Judgment will be there.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This Joshu is nonjudgmental. He does not judge you, he simply accepts. Whatsoever you say, he
           accepts and says, "Come and relax with me." Relaxation is the point. And if you can relax with an
           enlightened person his enlightenment will start penetrating you, because when you are relaxed you
           become porous. When you are tense you are closed; when you relax he will enter. When you are
           relaxed, comfortable, drinking tea, Joshu is doing something then. He cannot enter through your
           mind but he can enter through your heart. Asking you to have a cup of tea is making you relaxed,
           friendly, bringing you nearer, closer. Remember, whenever you are taking food and drinking
           something with someone, you become very intimate. Food and sex are the only two intimacies. In
           sex you are intimate, in food you are intimate. And food is more basic an intimacy than sex, because
           when a child is born the first thing he will receive from the mother will be food. Sex will come later
           on when he becomes mature sexually, fourteen, fifteen years afterwards. The first thing you received
           in this world was food and that food was a drink. So the first intimacy known in this world is
           between a mother and a child.
                Joshu was saying, "Come, have a cup of tea. Let me become your mother. Let me give you a
           drink." And a master is a mother. I insist that a master is a mother. A master is not a father, and
           Christians are wrong when they call their priests "father," because father is a very unnatural thing, a
           societal phenomenon. The father doesn't exist anywhere in nature except in human society; it is a
           created thing, a cultured thing. The mother is natural. It exists without any culture, education,
           society, it is there in nature. Even trees have mothers. You may not have heard that not only does
           your mother give you life, but even a tree has a mother. They have been experimenting in England.
           There is a special lab, Delaware, where they have been experimenting with plants, and they have
           come to discover a very mysterious phenomenon. If a seed is thrown in the soil, and the mother from
           where the seed has been taken is near, it sprouts sooner. If the mother is not near, it takes a longer
           time. If the mother has been destroyed, cut, then it takes a very long time for the seed to sprout. The
           presence of the mother, even for a seed, is helpful.
                A master is a mother, he is not a father. With a father you are related only intellectually, with a
           mother your relation is total. You have been part of your mother, you belong to her totally. The same
           is the case with a master in the reverse order. You have come out of the mother, you will go into the
           master. It is a returning back to the source.
                So Zen masters always invite you for a drink. They are saying in a symbolic way, "Come and
           become a child to me, let me become your mother; let me become your second womb. Enter me, I
           will give you a rebirth."
                Food is intimacy, and it is so deeprooted in you that your whole life is affected by it. Men all
           over the world, in different societies, different cultures, go on thinking of women's breasts. In
           paintings, sculpture, films, novels -- whatsoever -- the breast remains the central point. Why so much
           attraction for the breast? That has been the first intimacy with the world; you came to know
           existence through it. The breast was the first touch of the world. For the first time you came near to
           existence, for the first time you knew the other -- from the breast. That's why so much attraction for
           the breast. You cannot be attracted towards a woman who has no breasts, flat breasts. It is difficult
           because you cannot feel the mother there. So even an ugly woman becomes attractive if she has
           beautiful breasts -- as if breasts were the point, the central thing in the being. And what is the breast?
           The breast is food. Sex comes later, food comes first.
                Joshu's calling all the three to come and have a cup of tea was calling them to an intimacy.
           Friends eat together, so if you see a stranger coming near you when you are eating you will feel
           uncomfortable. Strangers feel uncomfortable if they eat together. That's why in a hotel, in a
           restaurant, things have gone very wrong. Because you are eating with strangers the food becomes
           poisonous; you are so strained and tense. It is not a family you are not relaxed.

              Food prepared by someone who loves you has a different quality altogether; even the chemical
           quality changes. And psychologists say when your wife is angry don't allow her to prepare food; it
           becomes poisonous.

               It is difficult, because the wife is almost always angry. And psychologists say when you are
           eating, if your wife starts creating trouble -- talking, arguing -- stop eating.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But then you will die, because the wife almost always creates trouble while you are eating. This
           is a very non-loving world. The wife knows, if she has a small understanding, that the worst time to
           create any conflict is while the husband is taking food, because when he is strained, tense, not
           relaxed, food becomes poisonous and it will take a longer time to digest it. Psychologists say twice
           the time will be needed to digest the food and the whole body suffers.

               Food is intimacy, it is love. And Zen masters always invite you for tea. They will take you in the
           tearoom and give you tea; they are giving you food, drink. They are telling you, "Become intimate.
           Don't stand so far away come nearer. Feel homey. ,"

               These are the dimensions of the story, but they are dimensions of feeling. You cannot understand
           but you can feel, and feeling is a higher understanding love is a higher knowing. And the heart is the
           most supreme center of knowledge, not the mind; the mind is just secondary, workable, utilitarian.
           You can know the surface through the mind, you can never know the center.

               But you have forgotten the heart completely, as if it has become a nothingness; you don't know
           anything about it.
               If I talk about the heart, the heartcenter, you think about the lungs not about the heart.
               The lungs are not the heart; the lungs are just the body of the heartcenter. The heart is hidden in
           the lungs, somewhere deep down. Just as in your body the soul is hidden, in your lungs the heart is
           hidden. It is not a physical thing, so if you go to a physician he will say there is no heart, no
           heartcenter, only lungs.

              The heart has its own ways of knowing. Joshu can be understood only through the heart.
              If you try to understand through the intellect it is possible you may misunderstand, but
           understanding is not possible - that much is certain.

           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              I FEEL I WANT TO BE CLOSE TO YOU, BUT AT THE SAME TIME I WANT TO RUN AS FAR AWAY
              FROM YOU AS I CAN. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS FEAR, SINCE I AM NOT AWARE OF A
              FEELING LIKE THIS ABOUT ANYONE ELSE.


               It is natural, it is not something exceptional. Whenever you have a feeling to be closer to a man
           like me the fear will come, because to be close to me means to be dead, to be close to me means
           losing yourself. It is the same fear that grips a river when it comes to the ocean -- the banks will be
           lost, the river will be lost -- and every river tries to go back. But there is no way.
               If you feel a deep urge to come closer to me there is no way now to escape. You may try but you
           will be a failure; others have tried, others will go on trying. If you have a deep urge to come closer to
           me, you will have to come. You can only delay it; by escaping, struggling, you can delay it. You can
           postpone it, that's all, because the deep urge is coming from your very being. Fear is only in the
           mind. The urge is coming from the deepest core of your being, to be closer. But fear comes in the
           mind because the closeness means death.
               To be close to a master is death, your ego will have to go. The ego thinks, starts thinking, "I must
           escape before something happens; before I am lost, I must escape." The ego will continuously tell
           you to escape. The ego will find rationalizations; it will find faults in me just to help you escape; it
           will convince you in every way that this is the wrong man. Love is deathlike, and no love is as
           deathlike as loving a master.
               If you love a woman, you can dominate her. That's why lovers go on playing politics with each
           other, dominating, possessing; the fear is there that if you don't dominate you will be lost and the
           other will dominate, so they continuously fight. Husbands and wives, lovers, go on fighting; the fight
           is for existence, to survive. The fear is there, "I may be lost in the other."
               But when you come to a master you cannot dominate him, you cannot fight with him. So fear is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deeper because of that, because you cannot create any politics. Either you have to escape or merge,
           no other alternative is there. If you escape, from your very deep source of being you hear you are
           doing wrong; if you escape you will have to come back. If you come closer, the mind says: Where
           are you going? If you go closer still you may be burned. And it is right, the ego is right: The flame
           is there and if you come closer you will be burned. Conflict will be created; inner tension, anguish
           will be created. You can delay, that's all, sooner or later you will have to merge; no river can escape
           the ocean. Once you have come closer you have come, and there is no way to go back. No way exists
           for going back.
                You are here. You have traveled long; not only in physical space but also in the inner space you
           have traveled long. Many, many lives you have been traveling towards this point; you have desired it
           and now when the point has come nearer you become afraid. The fear is natural. Understand it, don't
           let it overpower you. Take a jump, and that jump will not only be a death it will be a rebirth. But you
           cannot know that. Only death, you see only death; the beyond that is hidden behind the death you
           cannot see. I can see it; I know you will be reborn.
                But nobody can be reborn unless he dies; so death is not the goal and death is not the end, it is
           just a beginning. When you are ready to die you are ready to be reborn; the old will disappear and
           the absolutely new will come in its place. That new is struggling from the very core of your being;
           the old is struggling from the mind because the mind has memory -- the old, the past. The past and
           future are struggling within you. That is the problem.
                Now it depends on you. If you are being overpowered by the past then you will delay, postpone,
           and you can delay it for many lives.
                This is not the first time you have delayed; many times you have missed before. Many times you
           have come across a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Jesus and you escaped. You tried to avoid, you closed
           your eyes. Again and again you have been playing that game. But the game is natural to you I say,
           because you can see only death. The river can only see that she will dissolve, she cannot see that she
           will become the ocean. How can she see? That oceanic existence will be only when the river is no
           more, so the river cannot see. When your ego is no more, only then will you know who you are.
                Don't allow the fear to overpower you, allow love to overpower you. Love comes from the
           center, fear always comes from the periphery; don't allow this periphery to be dominant. And what
           have you got to lose? Even if there is no rebirth -- there is rebirth -- but I say even if there is no
           rebirth and you simply die, what have you got to lose? What will be lost? What has the river got that
           is worth preserving? The life through the hills has been just a struggle; the life through the plains has
           been just a dirty passage. What has the river got to lose in the ocean? Nothing.
                So think about it. What have you got to lose if you come closer? - your suffering? your madness?
           What have you got to lose? There is nothing to lose, but we never look within to see that we have got
           nothing to lose because that too gives fear. You like to think that you have got much to lose, that a
           treasure is there, and you will never look. There is no treasure, the house is empty; there has never
           been anything. But you are so afraid, you never look, because you know that there is nothing. Even a
           beggar dreams that he is an emperor; in dreams he becomes an emperor, enjoys. And then he is
           afraid: What if the kingdom is lost? But there has never been any kingdom.
                You have come to me because there has never been any kingdom. You have nothing to lose, and
           now you become afraid. Look at the tricks of the mind, the deceptions of the mind; look into them.
                A man entered a pet shop. He looked around, and he asked the shopkeeper, "How much will that
           big dog cost?" It was a very ferocious looking Alsatian.
           The man said, "Five hundred rupees."
                That was too much for him, so logically he said, "And how much will this small fellow cost?", -
           it was another dog of a smaller size.
           The shopkeeper said, " One thousand rupees."
                The man tried still.further. He said, "How much is this tiny one?" It was a very small dog. The
           man said, "Two thousand rupees."
                The man became very puzzled and disturbed and then he asked, "How much will it cost if I don't
           purchase anything?" The rates are going higher and the dog is disappearing!
                If I don't purchase anything, how much will it cost? - that is your fear. What will happen if you
           come closer to me? Nothing will happen because you have nothing to lose. And everything will
           happen, because once this nothing is lost everything becomes possible. Once this shelter which has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a bondage to you is lost the sky opens infinitely; once these banks which have been a prison
           to you are lost you become boundless, you become infinite.
               Let the river move, unafraid, into the unknown, the uncharted. Death will be there, but death is
           always followed by rebirth. Die and be reborn, lose yourself and find. Fear comes from the mind,
           love comes from your heart; listen to the heart.
               It happened once in a great palace of a king that there was a musical organ. He loved it very
           much but something had gone wrong, and the organ was so unique that nobody knew how to fix it.
           Nobody had ever seen one like it. This king had heard the organ when he was a very small child,
           when his father was alive, and since then something had gone wrong. But he loved the organ so
           much that he used to keep it in his room. It was beautiful; even from the outside it was beautiful.
           Many experts were called in vain. They made many efforts and things went from bad to worse; The
           organ was more and more destroyed. the king lost hope: the organ could not be fixed.
               Then suddenly one day a beggar appeared. To the doorkeeper he said, "I have heard that
           something has gone wrong with the organ. I can fix it."The doorkeeper had the urge to laugh,
           because great experts from many capitals of the world had come, great musicians; they couldn't find
           what was wrong. They couldn't even recognize what type of organ this was and what type of music
           was created by it, it was so complex. He had the urge to laugh, but he looked at the beggar, and the
           voice, the beggar's eyes, seemed to be authentic; he was absolutely confident. He was a beggar but
           his face looked majestic. The doorkeeper's mind was saying, "It will be a wastage again," but his
           heart said," This man seems so confident, what is wrong if he tries?" So he took him to the king.
               Looking at the beggar the king laughed, and he said, " Are you mad? Every type of expert has
           tried and failed. You must be mad. You think you can fix it?"
               The beggar said, " Nothing more, no more harm can be done. The organ is already out of order,
           absolutely. I cannot harm it any more so what is the harm if you give me a chance?"
               The king thought, "He is right, because nothing more harmful can be done." So he said, "Okay,
           you try." For many days the beggar disappeared behind the organ. He was working and working and
           working, and suddenly, one midnight, he started playing on the organ. The whole palace was filled
           with an unknown melody, something so divine that everybody ran to see. The king came out of his
           bedroom and said, "You have done it! It must have been very difficult. It was almost impossible.
           You have done a miracle!"
               The man said, " No, it was not difficult because in the first place I made it. In your father's time I
           made this organ, so it was not difficult."
               If you are ready, for one thing, no more harm can be done to you;
               you are already harmed. I cannot harm you any more than you have been harmed - this much is
           certain. Look at my eyes and feel my voice; give me a chance. It is not difficult, I say to you. Once
           one is dissolved into the infinite, he is at the source of the thing from where he has come.
           I am not there.
               If I were there, if the ego were there, then it would be difficult. There is no expert in me; the
           expert died long ago. The ego is the expert; I don't know anything.
               I am not there, I have disappeared; the ocean exists, God exists, not I.
               In the first place, you are close to that thing from which you have come, and for God, nothing is
           impossible. In the first place, he created you. And I am not there, because otherwise it would be a
           very difficult thing. If I am there I will harm you; the ego can only harm. Experts can only destroy-
           they cannot fix you. You have been with many experts and they have done every type of thing that
           was possible, now you are beyond repair. But the river can fall in the ocean, and suddenly the
           melody arises; a music will come out of you, a music that you have not heard. It is just hidden in you
           -- the ego just has to be put out of the way.
               I have heard: one school teacher was asking his first-graders, "
           How do you help your family at home?"
               One small boy said, "I fix my bed myself."Another said, "I clean dishes." - and so on and so
           forth.
               But then the teacher saw that one small boy, Johnny, had not answered. So he asked, " Johnny,
           what do you do?"
               Johnny hesitated a moment and then he said, " Mostly, I keep out of the way."
               You just keep yourself out of the way that's all! Don't come in between me and you, just keep out
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of the way. Even if you keep out of the way for a single moment the thing can happen: the old can
           die, the new can be born.




                                                A Bird on the Wing
                                                  Chapter #5
                                  Chapter title: Master of the New Monastery
           14 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406140
              ShortTitle: WING05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




    BELOVED MASTER,
              HYAKUJO CALLED HIS MONKS TOGETHER AS HE WISHED TO SEND ONE OF THEM TO OPEN
              A NEW MONASTERY. PLACING A FILLED WATER JAR ON THE GROUND, HE SAID, "WHO CAN
              SAY WHAT THIS IS WITHOUT USING ITS NAME?"

              THE CHIEF MONK, WHO EXPECTED TO GET THE POSITION, SAID, "NO ONE CAN CALL IT A
              WOODEN SHOE." ANOTHER MONK SAID, "IT'S NOT A POND BECAUSE IT CAN BE CARRIED."
              THE COOKING MONK, WHO WAS STANDING NEARBY, WALKED OUT, KICKED THE JAR OVER,
              AND THEN WALKED AWAY.
              HYAKUJO SMILED AND SAID, "THE COOKING MONK BECOMES THE MASTER OF THE NEW
              MONASTERY."


               Reality cannot be known through thinking, it can be known through action. Thinking is just a
           dreamlike phenomenon, but the moment you act you have become part of the reality. Reality is
           activity, action; thinking is fragmentary. When you act you are total; whatever the action your whole
           being is involved in it. Thinking goes on in only a part of the mind, your whole being is not
           involved; without you thinking can continue as an automatic process.
               This has to be understood deeply. This is one of the most basic things for those who are in search
           of truth and not in search of anything else. Religion and philosophy are distinct in this sense: religion
           is action, philosophy is thinking.
               This story has many implications. The master wanted one, one disciple, to become the chief of
           the new monastery that was going to be opened. Who should be sent? Who should be made the guide
           there -- a man who has much philosophy in his mind, a man who can talk, discuss, argue, a man who
           is bookish, knowledgeable, or a man who can act spontaneously? He may not know much; he may be
           simple, not intellectual, but he will be total.
               The chief disciple must have started dreaming, thinking he was going to be chosen. The mind is
           always ambitious. He must have planned how to behave, what to do, so that he would be chosen as
           the chief of the new monastery. He must not have slept for many days, his mind must have been
           revolving around and around.
               The ego plans and whatsoever it plans will miss reality. Reality can only be encountered
           spontaneously; if you think about it beforehand you may be ready but you will miss. A ready person
           will miss; this is the contradiction. A person who is not ready, who has not planned anything, who
           acts spontaneously, reaches the very heart of reality.
               The chief disciple must have theorized, many alternatives must have come to his mind: The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           master is going to choose; there is going to be some sort of test. He must have consulted the
           scriptures. In the old days too, masters had been choosing disciples to be sent to new monasteries.
           How have they chosen? What sort of examination has to be passed? How could he succeed?
               There are many stories from the ancient days but this has been, almost always, one of the basic
           tests Zen masters have put before their disciples -- they ask them to express something without
           using language. They say, "Say something about this thing but don't use any name. The name is not
           the thing."
               The chair is here and I am sitting on it. A Zen master will say, "Say something about this chair
           but don't use the name. The word chair is not the chair. Don't use any verbal expression, don't use
           language and say something."
               The mind feels puzzled because the mind knows only language, nothing else. If language is
           barred, the mind is barred. What else is the mind except verbal accumulation -- names, words,
           language?
               A master says, "Don't use the name." He is saying, "Don't use the mind. Do something so that
           which the chair is, is expressed."
           The word god is not God, the word man is not man,
               the word rose is not a rose. The rose exists when language is not there; when there is no
           language, the tree exists- it is not dependent on language.
               This chief monk must have brooded over and over again. He must have chosen, beforehand, an
           alternative. He was dead, that very moment he failed.
               Inside, if you decide what you are going to do and you act out of that decision, you will miss
           reality. Reality is an ever-flowing movement. Nobody knows what is going to happen, nobody can
           predict it; it is unpredictable.
               There is a Zen story: Two monasteries existed side by side and both the masters had small boys
           to run errands. Both the boys used to go to the market to fetch things for the masters -- sometimes
           vegetables, sometimes other things.
               These monasteries were antagonistic towards each other, but boys will be boys. They would
           forget the doctrines and meet on the way and talk, enjoy. It was really prohibited to talk -- the other
           monastery was the enemy.
               One day, the boy from the first monastery came and said, "I am puzzled. As I was going to the
           market, I saw the boy from the other monastery and asked him, `Where are you going?' He replied,
           `Wherever the wind blows.' I was at a loss as to what to say; he puzzled me.
               The master said, "This is not good. Nobody from our monastery
               has ever been defeated by the other monastery, not even a servant, so you must fix that boy.
           Tomorrow, ask again where he is going. He will say, `Wherever the wind blows,' so you say, `If
           there is no wind, then?' "
               The boy couldn't sleep the whole night. He tried and tried to conceive of what would happen the
           next day; he rehearsed many times. He would ask and the other boy would respond and then he
           would give his answer.
               The next day he waited on the road. The other boy came and he asked, "Where are you going?"
           The boy said, "Wherever my feet lead me."
               He was at a loss as to what to do. His answer was fixed; reality is unpredictable. He came back
           very sad and said to the master, "That boy is not trustworthy. He changed and I was at a loss as to
           what to do."
               So the master said, "Next day when he answers, `Wherever my feet lead,' you tell him, `If you
           are crippled and your legs are cut off, then?' "
               Again he couldn't sleep. He went early to wait on the road. When the boy came he asked, "Where
           are you going?" And the boy said "To fetch vegetables from the market."
               He became very disturbed and said to the master, "This boy is impossible: he goes on changing."
               Life is that boy. Reality is not a fixed phenomenon. You have to be present, spontaneously in it --
           only then will the response be real. If your answer is fixed beforehand you are already dead, you
           have already missed. Then tomorrow will come but you will not be there; you will be fixed in the
           yesterday, that which has passed.
               All the minds which are too verbal are fixed like this. Go to a pundit, a scholar, and ask, "What is
           God?" Before you have asked he will start answering. Your question is not answered because even
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           before you had the question this man had the answer. The answer is dead; it is there already, it has
           just to be brought from the memory.
                This is the difference between a man of wisdom and a man of knowledge. A man of knowledge
           has ready-made answers: you ask and the answer is already there. You are irrelevant, your question
           is irrelevant. Before the question, the answer exists; your question simply triggers the memory.
                If you go to a man of wisdom he has no answers for you; he has nothing ready-made. He is open,
           he is silent. He'll respond but first your question will resound in his being, not in his memory.
           Through his being the response comes; nobody can predict that response. If you go the next day and
           ask the same question, the response will not be the same.
                Once it happened that a man tried to judge the Buddha. Every year he would go and ask the same
           question. He thought, "If he really knows then the answer will be always the same. How can you
           change the answer? If I come and ask, `Is there God?'- if he knows he will say yes or he will say no,
           and next year, I will come again and ask."
                So for many years the man came and he became more and more puzzled. Sometimes Buddha
           would say yes, sometimes no, sometimes he would remain silent, and sometimes he would simply
           smile and not answer anything.
                The man became puzzled and said, "What is this? If you know, then you must be certain, your
           answer fixed. But you go on changing. Once you said yes then you said no. Have you forgotten that I
           asked this question before? Once you even remained silent and now you are smiling. That is why I
           have been coming with the gap of a year -- just to see if you know or not."
                Buddha said, "When you came for the first time and asked, `Is there God,' I answered. But my
           answer was not to the question, it was to you. You have changed, now the same answer cannot be
           given. Not only have you changed, I also have changed. The Ganges has flowed much; the same
           answer cannot be given. I am not a scripture to be opened and the same answer found there."
                A buddha is a living river, and a river is ever-flowing. In the morning it is different -- it reflects
           the gold of the rising sun. The mood is different. In the evening it is different, and when the night
           comes and the stars are reflected in it, it is different. In the summer it shrinks; it floods during the
           rains. A river is not a painting, it is a live force.
                A painting remains the same whether it is raining or it is summer. A painted river will not be
           flooded in the rains; it is dead; otherwise there would be change. There is only one thing that goes on
           continuously and that is revolution. Everything else is impermanent except revolution. It goes on and
           on.
                This chief disciple must have decided; the conclusion was already there. He was waiting only for
           the master to ask. Then the master put a jug before them, a pot filled with water, and said, "Say
           something and don't use language."
                You are creating an impossible situation. How can something be said without using language?
           But if you cannot say something about an ordinary jug filled with water without using language, how
           will you be able to say anything about God, who is filled with the whole universe? If you cannot
           indicate this jug without language, how will you be able to indicate the great jug, the universe, God,
           the truth?
                If you cannot indicate this, how will you be made chief of a monastery? People will be coming to
           you, not to know words but to know reality. People won't be coming to you to be trained in
           philosophy; that can be done by the universities - they teach words.
                So what is the purpose of a monastery? A monastery has to teach reality not words; religion not
           philosophy; existence not theories. And if you can't say anything about an ordinary pot, what will
           you do when someone asks: What is God? What will you do when someone asks: Who am I?
                The chief disciple answered, and whenever the mind faces such a situation the only way is to
           define negatively. If someone says to say something about God -- without naming, what will you do?
           You can only state it negatively. You can say: God is not this world,God is not matter.
                Look at the dictionaries. Go to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and see how it defines things. You
           will be surprised: if you turn to the page where mind is defined you will find it defined as that which
           is not matter. Then turn to the page where matter is defined; you will find it defined as that which is
           not mind. What type of definition is this? When you ask about mind they say no-matter; when you
           ask about matter they say no-mind. Nothing is defined; it is a vicious circle. If I ask about A you say
           it is not B; if I ask about B you say it is not A. You define one thing by another indefinable thing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           How can this be done? This is a tricky thing. Dictionaries are the trickiest things in the world; they
           don't say anything and they appear to be saying so much. Everything is defined and everything is
           indefinable. Nothing can be defined.
                So the chief disciple said something negatively. When the mind is at a loss as to what to do it
           starts saying things negatively. So maybe atheism is just an escape. God is there but how to define
           it? When the mind feels at a loss the easiest escape is to say there is no God, then the problem is
           finished.
                Somebody said, "It is not a pond because it can be carried by hand."
                How can you define a water-filled jug by just saying it is not a pond? What is a pond? Say
           something without naming it.
                Then the cook of the monastery came. He must have been a more real man than these pundits --
           a cook, who has never been much interested in the scriptures; a cook, who has been working with
           reality, encountering it, not thinking about it. This cook kicked the pot and went out.
                What did he say? He said something in a more realistic way. Kicking is not thinking, it is action.
           He kicked the pot and said to the master, "This is nonsense, you are talking absurdities. You say to
           us to say something without words. Something can be done without words, but nothing can be said."
           He caught the point. Something can be done without words but nothing can be said. So he did
           something - he kicked the pot.
                The master said, "This cook has been chosen. He goes to the new monastery and there becomes
           the master. He knows how to act without the mind; he knows how to answer without using the mind.
           He has said that the problem is absurd."
                Remember one thing: if the problem is absurd you cannot answer it in a rational way. If you try
           you will be foolish; it shows foolishness. If the problem is absurd you cannot answer in a rational
           way; for an absurd question there can be no rational answer. If you try, you simply prove that you
           are foolish. That chief disciple must have been a foolish man; the other scholar, who said, "This is
           not a pond,"must have been a foolish man. Scholars are foolish, otherwise they wouldn't be scholars.
           They are wasting their lives in words, scriptures. Nobody can waste his life in words unless he is
           absolutely stupid.
                This cook was wiser- he kicked. He was not kicking the pot, he was kicking the whole problem;
           he was not kicking the pot, he was kicking the whole situation. He saw that it was absurd. He was
           not saying anything, not using a word. Just imagine that cook kicking the pot with his whole being.
           He was involved in it completely, mind, body, soul. The kick was alive, spontaneous; he didn't know
           it was going to be there. He may not even have thought that he was answering, he was just seeing
           what was going on - suddenly, the kick happened.
                In this state of being, when the cook was just action, there was no mind in him, just an emptiness.
           Out of that emptiness, out of that no-mind, the action arose. When the action comes from the actor it
           is dead; when the action comes from the ego it is premeditated. When the action comes without the
           ego, without the mind, without you being there, when it bubbles up out of your nothingness, it is
           from the divine, it is total.
                The cook didn't kick; rather, it was as if the whole existence kicked. He kicked all scholarship,
           all scriptures, the whole intellect and its vicious circles, and he walked out. He didn't wait. If he had
           waited to see what the master said he would have missed, because that would have meant that the
           mind was looking for the conclusion, for the result.
                The mind is always result-oriented: What is going to happen? If I do this, then what will happen?
           If the cause is there, what will be the effect? The mind is always for the result; the mind is
           result-oriented.
                This cook simply walked out. He didn't wait for what was going to happen; he didn't think that he
           would be chosen. How can you think that just by kicking a pot you will be chosen the master of a
           monastery? No, he didn't bother.
                This is what Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita, "Do! Act! But don't ask for the result. Kick and
           walk out."
                Arjuna said, "If I fight, if I go through with this war, what will happen? What will be the result?
           Will it be good or bad? Will I gain or lose? Will killing so many people be worth the effort?"
                Krishna says, "Don't think of the result. Leave the result to me: you simply act."
                The mind cannot do that. Before the mind acts it asks for the result; it acts because of the result.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           If there will be a result, only then will it act.
                People come to me and ask, "If we meditate, what will happen? What will be the result?"
                Remember, meditation can never be result-oriented; you simply meditate, that's all. Everything
           happens but it will not be a result. If you are seeking the result nothing will happen; meditation will
           be useless.
                When you seek a result, it is the mind; when you don't seek a result, it is meditation. Kick the pot
           and walk out, meditate and walk out; don't ask for the result. Don't say, "What will happen?" If you
           think about what will happen you cannot meditate. The mind goes on thinking about the result; it
           cannot be here and now, it is always in the future. You are meditating and thinking, "When will the
           happiness come? It has not come yet."
                If you forget the result completely, if there is not even a flicker in the mind for the result, not a
           single vibration moving into the future - when you have become a silent pool, here and now
           everything happens. In meditation cause and effect are not two -.cause is the effect; the act and the
           result are not two - the act is the result - they are not divided. In meditation the seed and the tree are
           not two -, the seed is the tree.
                For the mind everything is divided: the seed and the tree are two, the act and the result are two.
           The result is always in the future and the act is here, you act because of the future. For the mind the
           present is always sacrificed for the future, and the future does not exist. There is always the present,
           the eternal now, and you are sacrificing this now for something which is nowhere and cannot be
           anywhere.
                In meditation the whole process is reversed. The future is sacrificed for the present; that which is
           not is sacrificed for that which is. There is no result, no conclusion. Kick the pot and walk out.
                That was the beauty of it. The cook simply walked out saying, "The whole thing is absurd -. your
           question and these people's answers. This is a nonsense game. I don't belong here." He must have
           gone to his kitchen and started working - that is how a meditative mind will act. And the master
           said, "This man is chosen, he becomes the chief of the new monastery. He knows how to be total, to
           act spontaneously; he knows how to act without motivation; he knows how to act without the mind.
           This man can lead others into meditation, this man can become a guide. This man has achieved.
                The story is beautiful and very rare; penetrate into it. You can penetrate it but only if you start
           acting the way the cook acted. There is a pitfall - you can premeditate it. If I put a pot before you and
           you kick, you will miss; you know the answer already. You will think, "Okay now, this is the
           opportunity. I'll kick the pot and walk out." That won't do. You cannot deceive because whenever
           your mind is there your total being gives a different vibration. You cannot deceive a master.
                And remember, this incident has been repeated many times. Zen masters are really unique. They
           go on repeating the same problem again and again, and those who read the scriptures behave in the
           old way. They think they already know the answer: kick the pot, walk out, and become the chief.
                But you cannot deceive a Zen master. He is not concerned with what you are doing, he is
           concerned with what you are in that moment of doing. That is a totally different thing. You have a
           perfume, a different perfume, when you act out of emptiness. And when I say a different perfume I
           mean it literally, I'm not using a metaphor. When you act out of emptiness there is a freshness all
           around you, as if suddenly a morning has come in the middle of the day. If you kick the pot ego will
           be there; the ego will do the kicking and you will be aggressive. When this cook kicked the pot it
           was not aggressive, it was simply a statement of fact; there was no violence.
                I have heard that one man, a poor beggar - and I say "poor beggar" because there are wealthy
           beggars also - came to ask for food. The lady of the house felt much compassion for him and said,
           "I'll give you food, and if you want some work there is wood to chop. I'll pay you for it."
                So the man worked, chopped the wood, and in the evening when he was about to go, the lady of
           the house said, "There is a hole in your robe. Give it to me and within minutes I will repair it.
                The man said, "No, a hole in my robe makes all the difference. When you have a repaired dress it
           is premeditated poverty; when you have a hole in your robe it may have happened just now, through
           some accident. But when you have patched it, it looks ancient - it has not happened accidentally, just
           now; it's happened long before and now it's been patched and repaired. It becomes premeditated
           poverty. Let my poverty be spontaneous."
                Your whole mind is premeditated poverty; you have all the answers and not a single response.
           You have already decided what to do, and in that decision you have murdered yourself, committed
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suicide. The mind is suicide.
                Start acting spontaneously. It will be difficult in the beginning, you will feel much discomfort.
           With a premeditated answer there is less discomfort, you are more certain. Why are we not
           spontaneous? It is because of fear, the fear that the answer may be wrong. It's better to decide
           beforehand then you can be certain; but certainty always belongs to death.
                Remember, life is always uncertain. Everything dead is certain, life is always uncertain.
           Everything dead is solid, fixed - its nature cannot be changed; everything alive is moving, changing -
           a flow, a liquid thing, flexible, able to move in any direction. The more you become certain, the
           more you will miss life. And those who know, know life is God. If you miss life, you miss God.
                Act spontaneously. If there is discomfort in the beginning allow it to be there; don't hide it and
           don't suppress it - and don't imitate. Be childlike but don't be childish. If you are childlike, you will
           become a great saint; if you are childish, you will become a great, knowledgeable person.
                A man returned to his house one day. He saw his children and the neighbor's children sitting on
           the steps, so he asked, "What are you doing?"
           They said, " We are playing church."
                He was puzzled; they were just sitting there doing nothing. He inquired, "What type of church is
           this?"
                They said, "We have sung, preached, prayed. Everything has been done, now we are sitting on
           the steps, smoking."
                You can imitate - knowledgeability is imitation. A buddha says something: you interpret it, you
           play church, you cram it in your mind, you repeat it. This is childish.
                Be childlike not childish. Childlikeness is spontaneity. A child is fresh with no answers, no
           accumulated experience; he has, really, no memory, he acts; whatever comes through his being, he
           acts. He is not motivated, not thinking about results, about the future; he is innocent.
                This cook was really innocent. Innocence is meditation. Start being meditative in your acts, just
           with small things: while eating, be spontaneous; while talking, be spontaneous; while walking, be
           spontaneous. Allow life to be a response not an answer. If somebody asks you something, just watch
           whether you are repeating something you always do, just a habit, or whether the answer is a
           response. Just watch whether the mind is repeating an old habit, whether the answer is coming from
           memory, or whether it is coming from you.
                Everybody bores everybody else because everything is dead, borrowed, stale, and stinks of death.
           It is not fresh. Look at children playing and you feel a freshness. For a moment you may even forget
           that you have become old. Listen to the birds, look at the trees or flowers and for a moment, forget.
           Here there is no mind.
                Flowers are flowering: just like the cook kicked they are kicking. Birds are singing, they are
           kicking. Life itself is kicking - but there are no theories. In the beginning it will be uncomfortable.
           Be patient, go through that discomfort; soon you will have an upsurge of energy. It is dangerous,
           that's why people avoid it.
                To be spontaneous is dangerous because when anger comes, it comes. The mind says, " Think -
           don't be angry, it may be costly." So you always think and throw your anger on those weaker than
           you, not on those who are stronger than you. Love can happen but love is not allowed. You can have
           a loving attitude only towards your wife, but life does not know who is your wife and who is not.
           Life is absolutely amoral, it knows no morality. You can fall in love with somebody else's wife,
           because life knows no relations, no fixed institutions. All institutions are man made; that is the
           danger. So the mind says, " Think before - she is not your wife. Don't look in such a loving way,
           don't smile." Whether you feel it or not is not the point, this is duty. That is how we have killed
           everybody. Everybody lives in an institution, not in life.
                Because of these dangers the mind thinks of what to say beforehand. You are late, and when you
           come home you are thinking, "What will my wife say? How will I answer?" The wife is waiting and
           she knows whatever you will say is wrong. She has heard your excuses before, the same old excuses.
           I have heard that one man phoned his wife one day
                and said, "One of my friends has come and I'm bringing him home for dinner."
                The wife screamed and said, "You fool, you know very well the cook has left, the baby is cutting
           his teeth, and I have had a fever for three days."
                The man replied, very calmly, "I know it well, that is why I want to bring him home. The fool is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinking of getting married."
               The whole of life has become an institution, a madhouse in which duties are to be fulfilled not
           love; in which you have to behave, not be spontaneous; in which a pattern has to be followed, not the
           overflow of life and energy. That's why the mind thinks and decides everything, because there is
           danger.
               I call a man a sannyasin who breaks out of these institutions and lives spontaneously. To be a
           sannyasin is the most courageous act possible. To be a sannyasin means to live without the mind,
           and the moment you live without mind you live without society. The mind has created society, and
           society has created the mind; they are interdependent. To be a sannyasin means to renounce all that
           is false but not to renounce the world, to renounce all that is unauthentic, to renounce all the
           answers, to be responsive, spontaneously responsive, and not to think about the reasons, but to be
           real.
               This is difficult: there is much investment in falsity, in the masks, in the faces, in the games you
           go on playing. To be initiated as a sannyasin means now you will try to be authentic; whatsoever the
           consequences, you will accept them and live in the present. You will sacrifice the future for the
           present; you will never sacrifice the present for the future. This moment will be the totality of your
           being, you will never move beforehand.
               This is what sannyas is - to kick the pot and walk out, and not to wait for the results. Results will
           take care of themselves, they will follow you.
               This story doesn't say it but I know, the master must have run out to catch hold of the cook and
           said, "Wait, you have been chosen. You go to the new monastery to guide people in life and
           meditation."
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              EVERY DAY WHEN I SIT HERE, I TRY SITTING WITHOUT A QUESTION IN MY MIND, STAYING
              IN THE MOMENT WITH WHAT I M HEARING, NOT REHEARSING, AND TRYING NOT TO
              REHEARSE. THEN YOU SAY, "ANYTHING MORE?"
              AND IT'S AS IF A SHIELD COMES DOWN AND I CAN'T REACH YOU. I AM TALKING TO MYSELF,
              AND THE MIND IS ALWAYS MAKING THINGS SAFE FOR ME.


               It happens because we are always afraid, afraid something may go wrong. Don't be afraid before
           me; nothing can go wrong. If something goes wrong spontaneously then that is the right thing.
           Spontaneity is right.
               The mind manipulates because of fear. You may ask something and others may start laughing;
           they may think you are foolish. So something has to be asked which nobody can laugh about; then
           everyone thinks you have asked a serious question, a meaningful question. That's why the mind is
           afraid and fear manipulates.
               Near me there is no need for any fear. You can ask absurdities, foolish questions, because to me
           the mind is absurd. It cannot ask anything else so there is no problem. For the mind it can only
           appear as if something is serious because it cannot ask anything which is not foolish. All questions
           are foolish. The whole mind has to be dropped, only then will you not be a fool.
               The fear is why we rehearse; the ego wants to feel important. Near me there is no need of fear;
           I'm not asking you to ask anything wise. Nothing wise can be asked; nobody has ever asked a wise
           question, that is impossible. When you become wise questions drop; when you are wise there are no
           questions.
               You can imitate wisdom also by not asking; that will not help. Those who are not asking should
           not think that they are wise and that the questioner is a fool. He is just your representative so he is
           bound to feel more foolish than you. With so much foolishness represented in him, all together, he is
           bound to feel afraid; it is natural.
               By and by, drop the manipulations, because when you drop manipulations you become natural
           near me and this will give you the first glimpse. To be natural will give you the first glimpse, and
           then you can gather courage to be natural in life. For if you cannot be spontaneous near me how will
           it be possible to be spontaneous in life?
               If you go to other so-called masters they will create fear. You cannot laugh before them; that
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would be taken as an offense. You have to have a serious, sad face; you have to appear very serious.
           Look at the churches and mosques, at the so-called masters with long faces. Christians say Jesus
           never laughed. How can a Jesus laugh? If he laughs he becomes ordinary, he becomes profane.
               I say to you such seriousness is a shield; it will protect all that is nonsensical in you. Allow it to
           come up; don't force it within, don't repress it in any way. Near me be natural, and in this being
           natural you will learn that which cannot be learned in any other way. Just being near me, being
           spontaneous, you will drop the mind and be meditative.
               I answer you not because I am concerned with your questions; they are irrelevant. I'm not
           satisfying your questions in any way, they cannot be satisfied. Then what am I doing? I am just
           being here with you; the answer is just an excuse, the question is just an excuse to be near and closer.
               Why can't we sit silently? I can, but it will be difficult for you. We can sit silently - I, not talking,
           you, not asking - but inside you will go on talking, chattering. Tremendous chattering will go on,
           more than ordinarily, because when you say to the mind, " Sit silently," the mind rebels, it goes mad.
           It creates more words, more questions, a monologue. You cannot sit silently; that's why I ask you to
           ask, that's why I answer you. If I am talking, your mind will not talk. And my talking is not
           destructive, your talking is destructive. When I talk, you get absorbed in it, you may even have a few
           glimpses of silence.
               This is how life is paradoxical - you have glimpses of silence while I am talking; you get so
           absorbed, engaged, occupied, your mind gets so tense listening, so alert, that nothing is missed. In
           that alertness the inner talk stops, you become silent. That gap is my answer.
               My answers are not the real thing so they go on changing. People feel that I am inconsistent. I go
           on saying things - today something, tomorrow something else - they are irrelevant. I am not
           concerned with consistency; my answering is like music being played on a guitar. You never ask
           inconsistently; you play the same thing again and again. The musician goes on changing, and if you
           get absorbed into the music you will have some gaps of silence. In those gaps, you will become
           aware for the first time, and that awareness, by and by, will become crystallized.
               So don't bother about what you are asking. Whatever you ask is okay; don't rehearse it, let it be
           more spontaneous. It will be difficult for you - spontaneity is difficult.
               I have heard about one preacher. He was going into the pulpit for the first time so for the whole
           night he rehearsed what to say. He had chosen a very beautiful passage about Jesus, and this was to
           be a great crisis in his life - whether he would succeed or fail. The first success or failure means
           much, so the whole night, standing in his room, he rehearsed and rehearsed lecturing to the audience.
           But by the morning he was so tired, so sleepy, that when he stood at the pulpit his mind went blank.
               He had chosen a beautiful passage: Behold I come! He said, "Behold I come!" and his mind went
           blank. He couldn't find anything so he thought, "If I repeat it again, maybe the flow will come."
               Again he leaned forward and said, "Behold I come!" but nothing came.
               To appear nonchalant, he leaned forward more, as if it was not by accident that he was repeating,
           and again he said, "Behold I come!"
               Under his pressure the pulpit collapsed and he fell into the lap of an old woman. He said, feeling
           very embarrassed, "Sorry, I never meant it to happen."
               The woman said, "No need to say anything. You warned me three times when you said, `Behold
           I come!' It's not your fault."
               There is no need to rehearse, to premeditate; let things happen. But the way things go in the
           world questions and answers have to be thought over. Both are dead, and when the dead things meet
           there is no spark. I know it is difficult for you but try. By and by it will happen, and once it happens
           you will have a freedom from the mind; you will become weightless and have wings into the sky.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
               MY MIND IS ALREADY WORKING ON THE PARADOX I FIND BETWEEN YESTERDAY'S TALK
               AND TODAY'S.
               TODAY YOU HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT SPONTANEITY OF RESPONSE TO NEW
               SITUATIONS, SEEING THEM AS FRESH. YESTERDAY, ONE OF THE MESSAGES FROM THE
               STORY ABOUT JOSHU WAS THAT SITUATIONS ARE ALL THE SAME, PEOPLE THE SAME.
               HENCE JOSHU OFFERED THREE PEOPLE A CUP OF TEA.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TO ME, THIS IS A PARADOX.


               Yesterday is no more; Joshu has died. Only today is - and even that has passed. Only this
           moment is.
               The mind looks at things and finds paradoxes because the mind thinks of the past, the present and
           the future. Only the present is. The mind finds paradoxes because the mind is always moving from
           the past to the present and then to the future. Once you were a tiny cell in the womb of your mother,
           so tiny that you could not be seen by naked eyes. Now you are totally different, you are young, but
           sooner or later, you will be old, crippled. Now you are alive but the day will come when you are
           dead.
               When the mind thinks all these things together, a child and an old man become a paradox. How
           can a child be old, a young man old? For the mind birth and death become a paradox because they
           can both be thought; for existence, when there is birth there is no death, when there is death there is
           no birth. For existence there is nothing paradoxical, but the mind can look at the past, the present and
           the future, and these are paradoxes.
               Yesterday you heard me; be finished with it. There is no more yesterday but the mind carries it.
           If you really heard me yesterday you will not carry it, for if you carry it how can you hear me today?
           The smoke of yesterday will be a disturbance; there will be that smoke and you will only hear me
           through yesterday and you will miss.
               Yesterday should be dropped so you can be here and now. There is no paradox, but if you
           compare yesterday and today then it comes. If you compare birth and death, the paradox comes.
           Today and yesterday cannot exist together, they can exist together only in the memory. Existence is
           non-paradoxical, the mind is paradoxical.
               Why think about yesterday? If you are thinking about it how can you be here? That will be
           difficult. Because of yesterday you will not be able to hear me today.
               Did you hear me yesterday? - for there have been other yesterdays. And will you be able to hear
           me tomorrow? - for this today will have become yesterday. The film of all the yesterdays is there;
           through that film it is difficult to penetrate into the present.
               So all that I can say is be here, Joshu is dead. The man who was talking here yesterday is no
           more; he is dead. There is no question of consistency or inconsistency.
               Tomorrow I will not be here, you will not be here; it will be absolutely fresh. And when two
           freshnesses meet there is a spark, a spark that dances, and a dance that is always consistent.
               A carried past creates problems. The problem is not what I said yesterday or what I am saying
           today; the problem is that you carry yesterdays and miss today. And whatever you think you have
           heard, I've not said. You may think you have heard it, but through so many yesterdays you will
           interpret whatever I say. You will think meanings into it which are not there; you will miss things
           that are there, and it will become something of your own. Then you will create many paradoxes and
           the mind will become puzzled and confused. Go on dropping the yesterdays.
               I am not a philosopher or a systematizer; I am absolutely anarchistic, as anarchistic as life itself. I
           don't believe in systems.
               If you go to a Hegel or a Kant and say that this is contradictory, immediately they will say no;
           they will immediately show that it is not contradictory. If you can prove that it is contradictory they
           will drop one part so their system becomes consistent.
               One gambler was saying to another gambler, "Yesterday I met this guy, a wonderful man, a great
           mathematician and economist. He has discovered a system through which a family can live without
           money."
               The other gambler became interested wanting to know immediately what the system was. He
           asked, " Does it work?"
               The friend replied, "The system is wonderful but there is one loophole - it doesn't work. That's
           the only loophole; otherwise the system is wonderful."
               All systems are wonderful. Those of Hegel, Kant, Marx are all wonderful. The only loophole is
           this - they are dead.
               I have no system. Systems can only be dead, they cannot be alive. I am a nonsystematic,
           anarchistic flow; not even a person, just a process. I don't know what I said to you yesterday. The
           person who said it is not here to answer; he is gone, I am here. And I am answerable only for this
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moment, so don't wait for tomorrow for I will not be here. And who is going to make consistency,
           who is going to find a thread that is not contradictory? There is nobody. And I would like you to be
           the same.
               Just this moment exists, absolutely consistent, for there can be no comparison. There is no past,
           no future; only this moment is. How can you compare? If you live in this moment there will come a
           consistency which is not of a system, which is of life, which is of the energy itself. That will be an
           inner consistency of your very being, not of the mind.
               I am interested in the being not in the mind, so don't take my answers very seriously; they are
           just play, play with words. Enjoy them and forget them; enjoy me but don't try to systematize me.
           The whole effort is useless, and in that effort you miss much that is beautiful; you miss much that
           can become a deep ecstasy in you.
               Look at me and don't be bothered with what I say; be with me and don't be bothered about
           theories and words. Act with me, listen to me, and don't try to think about it; and this listening
           should be an act, not a mental effort. I am not trying to convince you, I am not trying to give you a
           belief; I am not trying to create any religion or sect - no doctrine is implied. When talking to you, I
           am there; talking is just an excuse. I may be using one sect today, another tomorrow. If you look at
           my sect, you will say, " You are inconsistent. Yesterday you had this sect and today, this."
               I say :Look at me, words are just dressings. I am consistent, my being is consistent; it cannot be
           otherwise. How can your being be inconsistent? There is no gap in it, it is a continuum, but the mind
           starts thinking, comparing, and then problems arise.
               Once it happened that a disciple came to a Zen master and asked, "Why are a few people so
           intelligent and a few so stupid? Why are a few people so beautiful and a few so ugly? Why this
           inconsistency? If God is everywhere, if he is the creator, then why does he create one ugly and
           another beautiful? And don't talk to me about karmas. I have heard all those nonsensical answers -
           that because of karmas, past lives, one is beautiful, another is ugly. I am not concerned with past
           lives. In the beginning, when there was no yesterday, how did the difference come? Why was one
           created beautiful and another ugly? And if everyone was created equal, equally beautiful and
           intelligent, how can they act differently, how can they have different karmas?"
               The master said, "Wait! This is such a secret thing that I will tell you when everybody has left."
           So the man sat, eager, but people kept coming and going and there was no chance. But by the
           evening everybody had left so the man said, "Now?"
               And the master said, "Come out with me." The moon was coming up and the master took him in
           the garden and said, "Look, that tree there is small, this tree here is so tall. I have been living with
           these trees for many years and they have never raised the question of why that tree is small and this
           tree is big.
               "When there was mind in me, I used to ask the same question sitting under these trees. Then my
           mind dropped, and the question dropped. Now I know. This tree is small and that tree is big; there is
           no problem. So look! There is no problem."
               The mind compares. How can you compare when the mind is not? How can you say this tree is
           small and that tree big? When the mind drops, comparison drops, and when there is no comparison
           the beauty of existence erupts. It becomes a volcanic eruption, it explodes. Then you see the small is
           big and the big is small; then all contradictions are lost and the inner consistency is seen.
               Drop the mind and listen to me, then you will not ask, "Why yesterday? Why this today and that
           yesterday?" Then there is no yesterday and no today; then I am here and you are here. There is a
           meeting, and this here and now, when the mind is not there, becomes a communion.
               I am not interested in communicating something to you, I am interested in communion.
           Communication means my mind talking to your mind. Communion means I am not a mind, you are
           not a mind - just your heart melting into my heart, no words.
               That's what the story is: Say something about this pot without using words. The cook kicked and
           walked out. Whatsoever I say, kick and go in.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                               A Bird on the Wing
                                                   Chapter #6
                                   Chapter title: The Miracle of Ordinariness
           15 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406150
              ShortTitle: WING06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              BANKEI WAS PREACHING QUIETLY TO HIS FOLLOWERS ONE DAY WHEN HIS TALKING WAS
              INTERRUPTED BY A PRIEST FROM ANOTHER SECT. THIS SECT BELIEVED IN THE POWER OF
              MIRACLES, AND THOUGHT THAT SALVATION CAME FROM REPEATING HOLY WORDS.
              BANKEI STOPPED TALKING, AND ASKED THE PRIEST WHAT HE WANTED TO SAY.
              THE PRIEST BOASTED THAT THE FOUNDER OF HIS RELIGION COULD STAND ON ONE BANK
              OF THE RIVER WITH A BRUSH IN HIS HAND AND WRITE A HOLY NAME ON A PIECE OF PAPER
              HELD BY AN ASSISTANT ON THE OPPOSITE BANK OF THE RIVER. THE PRIEST ASKED,
              "WHAT MIRACLES CAN YOU DO?"
              BANKEI REPLIED,"ONLY ONE. WHEN I AM HUNGRY I EAT, AND WHEN I AM THIRSTY I DRINK."


               The only miracle, the impossible miracle, is to be just ordinary.
               The longing of the mind is to be extraordinary. The ego thirsts and hungers for the recognition
           that you are somebody. Somebody achieves that dream through wealth, somebody else achieves that
           dream through power, politics, somebody else can achieve that dream through miracles, jugglery, but
           the dream remains the same: I cannot tolerate being nobody.
               And this is a miracle -- when you accept your nobodiness, when you are just as ordinary as
           anybody else, when you don't ask for any recognition, when you can exist as if you are not existing.
           To be absent is the miracle.
               This story is beautiful, one of the most beautiful Zen anecdotes, and Bankei is one of the superb
           masters. But Bankei was an ordinary man.
               Once it happened that Bankei was working in his garden. Somebody came, a seeker, a man in
           search of a master, and he asked Bankei, "Gardener, where is the master?"
               Bankei laughed and said, "Wait. Come from that door, inside you will find the master."
               So the man went round and came inside. He saw Bankei sitting on a throne, the same man who
           was the gardener outside. The seeker said, "Are you kidding? Get down from this throne. This is
           sacrilegious, you don't pay any respect to the master."
               Bankei got down, sat on the ground, and said, "Now then, it is difficult. Now you will not find
           the master here because I am the master."
               It was difficult for that man to see that a great master could work in the garden, could be just
           ordinary. He left. He couldn't believe that this man was the master; he missed.
               We are all in search of the extraordinary. But why are you in search of the extraordinary? It is
           because you also long to be extraordinary. With an ordinary master, how can you become
           extraordinary, exceptional?
               Bankei was talking, lecturing, and one man stood and asked about miracles. He belonged to some
           other sect, a sect which worked through mantras, holy names. Remember that a mantra is a secret
           technique to achieve more power. A mantra is not spiritual, it is political, but the politics are of the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inner space, not of the outer.
               The mind can become powerful if you narrow it down; narrowing is the method. The more
           narrow the mind, the more powerful it becomes. It is just like the sun's rays falling to the ground. If
           you focus those waves, those rays, through a lens, fire can be created. Those rays were falling all
           spread out but now they have been narrowed down through the lens. They have become one-pointed,
           concentrated; now fire is possible.
               The mind is energy, in fact, the same energy that comes through the sun, the same subtle rays.
           Ask the physicists. They say the mind has a voltage of electricity, that it is electrical.
               If you can focus the mind through a lens, the mantra is a lens, and you go on repeating Ram,
           Ram, Ram, or Om, Om, Om, or anything, just one word -- if you go repeating and repeating and
           repeating it, and the mind's whole energy is centered in that one word -- it becomes a lens. Now all
           the rays are passing through that lens. Narrowed to one point it becomes powerful, you can do
           miracles. Just by thinking you can do miracles.
               But remember, those miracles are not spiritual.Power is never spiritual. Powerlessness,
           helplessness, to be nothing, is spiritual;.power is never spiritual. This is the difference between
           magic and religion; magic is after power, religion is after nothingness.
               A mantra is a part of magic not of religion at all, but everything is a big mess, mixed up. People
           who are doing miracles are magicians, not spiritual in any way. They are even anti-spiritual because
           they are spreading magic in the name of religion, which is very dangerous.
               Through a mantra the mind is narrowed; it is more narrowed, more powerful, and then anything
           can be done. There is only one thing you will miss -- you will miss yourself. All miracles will be
           possible, the ultimate miracle you will miss. You will miss yourself because through narrowing
           down you can achieve an object. The more the mind is narrowed, the more it becomes fixed to an
           object; it becomes objective. You are hidden behind and the object is outside.
               So if you are a man of mantras you can say to this tree, "Die," and the tree will die; you can say
           to a man, "Be healthy," and the disease will disappear, or, "Be unhealthy," and the disease will enter
           -- many things you can do. You can become somebody, and people will recognize you as a man of
           power but never a man of God.
               A man of God is born when the mind is not narrowed at all, when the mind is not flowing in one
           direction but is overflowing in all directions. There is no lens, no mantra, just the energy flowing in
           all dimensions everywhere. That flowing energy, that energy overflowing everywhere, will make
           you alert about yourself because then there is no object. Only you, only subjectivity exists, and
           through you, you will become aware of God, not through any power.
               This man asked Bankei, "What type of miracles can you do? My master, through mantra, through
           the holy name, can do miracles. He will stand on one bank of the river, and disciples will stand on
           the other bank with a paper in their hands, a half-mile distant, and he will write from here and the
           words will come on the paper on the other bank. This our master can do. What can you do?"
               And Bankei said, "We know only one miracle here, and that is when I feel hungry I eat, and
           when I feel sleepy I sleep. Only this much." Not much of a miracle. Your mind will say, "What type
           of a miracle is this? It is nothing to be proud of." But I say to you Bankei has said the real thing.
           That's what a Buddha can do, that's what a Mahavira is doing, that's what a Jesus is to do. Only then
           is he a Christ, otherwise not. What he is saying is such a simple thing. He says, "When I am hungry I
           eat." Is it so difficult that he calls it a miracle? I say it is difficult for you; for the mind it is the most
           difficult thing -- not to interfere. When you feel hungry the mind says, "No, this is a religious day
           and I am on a fast." When you don't feel hungry the mind says, "Eat, because this is the time every
           day that you eat." And when the stomach is overfilled the mind says, "Go on eating, the food is
           delicious." Your mind interferes.
               What is Bankei saying? He is saying, "My mind has stopped interfering. When I feel hungry I
           eat, when I don't feel hungry I don't eat. Eating has become a spontaneous thing; the mind is not a
           continuous interference.
               When I feel sleepy I go to sleep." No, you are not doing this. You go to sleep as a ritual, not
           when you feel sleepy. You get up as a ritual because it is brahmamuhurta, and you are a Hindu and
           you must get up before sunrise. Because you are a Hindu, you get up. Who is this Hindu? It is the
           mind. You cannot be a Hindu, you cannot be a Mohammedan; there is no sect for you but the mind.
           The mind says, "You are a Hindu, you must get up," so you get up.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When the mind says, "Now it is time to go to sleep," you go to sleep. You follow the mind, not
           nature.
               Bankei is saying, "I flow with nature; whatsoever my whole being feels, I do it. There is no
           fragmentary mind manipulating it, manipulation is the problem. You go on manipulating and this
           disturbance, interference, this manipulation from the mind is the problem.
               Even in dreams you go on manipulating -- ask the psychologists; they say while awake, you
           continue manipulating. The mind doesn't allow you to see what is there, it projects; the mind doesn't
           allow you to hear what is being said to you, it interprets.
               Even in dreams you are false because the mind goes on playing tricks on you. Freud discovered
           that our dreams are also false. You want to kill your father so in the dream you don't kill your father.
           You want to poison your wife but you don't poison your wife even in a dream, you poison some
           woman who somehow resembles your wife. The mind is interfering continuously.
               I have heard that one man was saying to another, to his friend, "Did I dream last night! What a
           dream! I went to Coney Island -- What delicious ice cream, such a tasteful dinner.I have never eaten
           such a thing in my whole life."
               The other man said,"You are kidding.You call that a wonderful dream? Last night I dreamt that
           on one side was Elizabeth Taylor, on the other side was Marilyn Monroe, both in the nude.
               The other became excited and said, "Then why didn't you call me?" The man said: "I called you,
           but your wife said you had already left for Coney Island."
               Even in dreams the mind goes on creating the world -- Coney Islands, Elizabeth Taylors -- and
           you become jealous even about another's dream:Why didn't you call me?
               Bankei is saying: "We know only one miracle. We allow nature to have its own course, we don't
           interfere." Through interference comes the ego: the more you interfere, the more you manipulate, the
           more you feel you are somebody.
               Look at the ascetics -- their egos are so refined and subtle, so shiny. Why? It is because they have
           interfered the most; you have not interfered so much. They have killed their sex, they have destroyed
           their love, they have suppressed their anger, they have completely destroyed their hunger and the
           feeling of the body. They have reason to be egoists: they are somebodies. Look in their eyes, there is
           nothing except ego.
               Their bodies may be almost dead but their egos are at the supreme-most peak. They have become
           Everests.
               These monks and saints will not be able to understand what Bankei means.He says, "We know
           only one miracle -- to allow nature to have its own course.
               We don't interfere." If you don't interfere, you will disappear. Fighting is the way to be there.
               People come to me and ask how to drop the ego. I tell them, Who will drop it? If you try to drop
           it you will be the ego, and someday you will claim that you have dropped the ego. And who is this
           claimer, who is claiming it? This is the ego, and the most subtle ego always tries to pretend
           egolessness.
               I also know only one miracle, to let nature have its course, to allow it. Whatsoever is happening,
           don't interfere, don't come in the way, and suddenly you will disappear. You cannot be there without
           resistance, fight, aggression, violence; the ego exists through resistance. This has to be understood
           very deeply -- the more you fight, the more you will be there.
               Why do soldiers feel so happy fighting? Fighting is not such a beautiful thing, war is just ugly,
           but why do soldiers feel so happy fighting? If you have once been to a war you will never be happy
           again in peace because the ego comes to such a peak fighting. Why, in competition, do you feel so
           happy? It is because something, your ego, arises; fighting, you become stronger.
               But fighting with another is never so ego-fulfilling because you may be defeated -- the
           possibility is there -- but fighting with yourself you cannot be defeated. You are always going to be
           the winner, "There is nobody else except you. Fighting with another there is fear, the fear of being a
           failure; fighting with yourself there is no fear, you are alone. You are going to win today or
           tomorrow, but finally you will win because there is nobody else.
               The ascetic is fighting with himself; the soldier is fighting with others; the businessman, fighting
           with others; the monk, fighting with himself. The monk and the ascetic are more cunning, they have
           chosen a path where victory is inevitable. You are not so calculating, your path is hazardous. You
           may be a success, you may be a failure, and your success can turn into a failure any moment because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there are so many fighters around you, and you are such a small, tiny existence -- you can be
           destroyed.
                But fighting with yourself you are alone, there is no competition. So those who are very cunning
           escape from the world and start fighting with themselves. Those who are not so cunning, are more
           simple, are in the world and go on fighting with others. But the basic essential thing remains the
           same -- fighting.
                Bankei is saying, "I am not a fighter; I don't fight at all. When I feel hungry I eat, when I feel
           sleepy I go to sleep; when I am alive I am alive, and when I die I will die. I don't come in the way."
           And he says,"This is the only miracle we know."
                But why call it a miracle? Animals are doing it already, trees are doing it already, birds are doing
           it already; the whole existence is doing it already. Why call it a miracle? Man cannot do it.
                The whole existence is a miracle except man. The Christian story seems to be very meaningful:
           that man has been turned out of the Garden of Eden seems to be very relevant, most significant. The
           whole existence is a continuous miracle, it is a continuum; miracles are happening every moment.
           Existence is miraculous but man has been turned out.
                Why has man been turned out? The story says because he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge
           and God had forbidden it. God said, "don't eat the fruit of this tree, the tree of knowledge. All the
           trees are open to you except this one."
                But the Devil persuaded. Of course he persuaded Eve first; the Devil always enters through the
           woman. Why? It is because woman is the weakest point of man, the weakest link from where the
           Devil can enter. To enter man directly is difficult because he will give a good fight, it will be
           difficult, but through woman the Devil can persuade man.
                So the Devil said to woman, to Eve, "This is the only fruit worth eating, and that's why God has
           prohibited it. If you eat this fruit you will be like gods. You will be a god yourself."
                Eve couldn't resist, the temptation was too much. She persuaded Adam. Adam tried to say it was
           not good because God had prohibited it, but when it is a problem of choosing between your wife and
           God, you will choose your wife.
                Really, there is no real alternative because she will create such trouble, in twenty-four hours,
           such trouble... God cannot create so much trouble
                So finally Adam had to eat, and the moment he ate the fruit he became conscious of the ego; he
           became aware that "I am."Immediately he was thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
                It is a beautiful story; the story is really a key to all the secrets.
                This knowledge has turned you out of the miraculous world that you are in. Before this Adam
           was like a child -- naked but not aware that he was naked; naked but not aware that there was some
           guilt in it. He loved Eve but the love was natural; he was never aware that something wrong was
           going on or that there was some sin.
                There was no sin; before knowledge there is no sin. A child cannot commit sin; only an old man
           can be a sinner, so all sinners are old. A child cannot be a sinner. How can it be a sinner? A child is
           innocent because a child is not aware of himself, that he is.
                Adam was like a child, Eve was like a child; they enjoyed but there was no one who was
           enjoying. They were part of this mystery, of the miracle. When they felt hungry they ate, when they
           felt sleepy they slept, when they felt like loving they loved. But everything was a natural
           phenomenon, the mind was not there as the manipulator. They were part of this universe -- flowing
           like rivers, flowering like trees, singing like birds -- they were not separate. Separation came with
           the knowledge that "I am."
                The first thing Adam and Eve did was to try to hide their nakedness; the childhood was lost.
           Whenever a child begins to feel that he is naked, that is the point where Adam and Eve were turned
           out of the Garden of Eden.
                It has always been my feeling that the answer to the Christian story exists in Mahavira -- not in
           Jesus, but in Mahavira -- because if by eating the fruit of knowledge Adam became aware and felt
           guilty that he was naked, then the answer exists in Mahavira. The moment Mahavira became silent
           the first thing he did was to become naked.
                And I say Mahavira entered the Garden of Eden again, he became a child again. The Christian
           story is half, the Jain story is the other half; they make the whole. The whole existence is a miracle;
           you have fallen out of it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Bankei said, "We know only one miracle; we have entered in this great miracle again. We are no
           more separate as egos, we are not individuals. Hunger is there but there is no one who is hungry.
           Sleep comes but there is no one who is sleepy. The ego is not there to resist or to decide; we flow,
           we drift." Nothing is wrong and nothing is good. This is the beyondness, the transcendental attitude
           where no evil exists and no good. You have become innocent.
               Your saints cannot be innocents because their goodness is forced too much; their goodness is
           already ugly. Their goodness is managed, controlled, cultivated, it is not innocent.
               I have heard about one old woman. She served a buddhist monk for thirty years, did everything
           for that monk; she was just like a mother and a disciple both. And the buddhist monk meditated and
           meditated and meditated. The day the old woman was going to die she called a prostitute from the
           town and said, "Go to that monk's hut. Enter the hut, go near him, caress the monk, and just come
           and tell me how he reacts. This night I am going to die, and I want to be certain whether I was
           serving a man who is innocent. I am not certain."
               The prostitute became afraid. She said, "He is such a good man, so saintly, we have never seen
           such a saintly man."
               Even the prostitute felt guilty to go there and touch this man, but the old woman bribed her. She
           went, she opened the door. The monk was meditating. It was midnight; in that isolated part nobody
           was near. The monk opened his eyes, looked at the prostitute, jumped to his feet and said, "why are
           you coming in? Get out!"
               His whole body trembled. The prostitute went nearer. The monk jumped out of the hut and cried,
           "This woman is trying to seduce me!"
               The prostitute returned, she told the whole thing and the old woman sent her servants to burn the
           hut of the monk. She said, "This man is of no use; he has not become innocent yet. He may be a saint
           but his saintliness is ugly, it is manipulated. Why should he see a prostitute so suddenly? A woman
           was entering not a prostitute; why should he think that she had come to seduce him? He should have
           been at least gentlemanly. He should have said, 'Come, sit, why have you come?' He should have at
           least shown a little compassion.
               And even if she had embraced him, why should he be afraid? He has been telling me for thirty
           years, 'I am not the body.'If he is not the body then why should he be so much afraid of the body?
           No, his saintliness is cultivated, it is a pose. It is not from the inner, it is from the outer. He has
           managed it all right, but inside he is not innocent, he is not childlike."
               And unless saintliness becomes childlike, it is not saintliness at all, it is just a sinner hiding,
           hiding through a facade.
               Bankei has said, "We know only one miracle." What is that miracle? It is to be childlike.
           Whenever a child feels hungry he starts crying -- he is hungry. Whenever he feels sleepy, he goes to
           sleep.
               We try to manage even a child; we destroy him.In the West now there are books, guides for
           mothers. And what type of world is there going to be when a guide is needed even for a mother --
           guidelines that say: After three hours give milk, never before, but each three hours, give. The child is
           crying, but that's not the point because the guidebook says after three hours. The mother is waiting,
           and when the three hours are completed she will feed the child.
               Even motherhood is not enough, a guide is needed; and a child's authentic cry is not to be trusted,
           as if the child may be trying to deceive. Why should the child deceive? If he is hungry, he is crying.
               But we are trying to destroy childhood. Sooner or later he will follow us, he will also look at the
           clock, and when the three hours are complete he will give a cry that he is hungry. This hunger will
           be false, and when hunger goes false everything goes false.
               We go on forcing children to go to sleep when we think it is time. But sleep is not to be
           manipulated by time, sleep is something inner. When the child feels sleepy he will go to sleep, but
           mother and father go on forcing the child to go to sleep, as if sleep can be ordered.
               Children must think that you are foolish, they think that something has gone wrong in your mind.
           How can a child force sleep? He can pretend, so when you are there he can close the eyes and when
           you have gone he can open the eyes, because sleep cannot be forced. Nobody, not even you, can
           force sleep. If you don't feel sleepy how can you go to sleep?
               But this is how society destroys. That's how the Devil persuades, that's how we bring every child
           out of the Garden of Eden. Remember, not only were Adam and Eve born in the Garden, every child
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is born there because that is the birthplace, and then society brings the child out. So society is the
           Devil. Society persuades: Do this, do that, and bring the child out. Make him an ego, make him a
           manipulator.
                And the only miracle that is possible is to enter this Garden of Eden again, to become childlike,
           to allow nature its flow. Don't block it, don't stand in the way, don't push it; just flow with it. You are
           nature, you are Tao; you are part of the continuous mystery that is happening. Bankei was right, it is
           difficult for us because we have become so much addicted to the mind and its manipulation. And
           even if I say to you, be natural, you will try to be natural and then you will miss. How can one try to
           be natural? If I say don't do anything
                you try not to do anything; if I say be inactive then you make every effort to be inactive, but the
           effort is the activity. So this has to be understood: no effort is needed. Any effort on your part and
           you will miss the miracle.
                Then what is to be done? Nothing is to be done, just a simple feeling -- allow nature. In the
           beginning it will be difficult because you have always been jumping in the way, always interfering.
           In the beginning it will be difficult but for just three weeks allow nature. When you feel hungry, eat,
           when you feel sleepy, go to sleep.
                When you don't feel hungry, don't eat. It is not a fast, remember, because a fast is from the mind,
           and you are feeling hungry but you are on a fast. There is no harm if you don't feel sleepy; there is no
           harm because the body doesn't need it, so don't force it. Stay awake, enjoy, go for a walk, have a
           little dance in the room or sing or meditate, but don't force sleep. When you feel sleepy, when the
           eyes say: Now go to sleep....
                And don't force yourself in the morning to come out of bed; allow your inner being, give it a
           chance. It will give you the indication, the eyes will open by themselves.
                For a few days there will be difficulty but within three weeks... and I say within three weeks if
           you don't interfere; if you interfere, then three lives are not enough. Don't interfere and just wait for
           things to happen, and allow them. Within three weeks you will fall into nature again, and suddenly
           you will see that you have been existing in the Garden of Eden and Adam has never been expelled --
           he only thinks he has. That's what the knowledge of the fruit means.
                You simply think that you have been expelled. Where can you be expelled to? The whole nature
           is the Garden of Eden -- where can you be expelled to? The whole house is God so where can you be
           expelled to? Bankei said, "I have entered the Garden again."
                Bankei was going to die. The disciples were very worried and they asked, "What should we do?
           What should we do with your body? Should we preserve it? Should be burn it, as Hindus do, as
           Buddhists do? Should we bury it in the ground, as Mohammedans and Christians do? We don't know
           who you are, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Mohammedan? You have confused us too much we don't know
           who you are, so what should we do?"
                Bankei said, "Wait, let me die first. Why are you in such a hurry? The mind always jumps ahead.
           Why are you in such a hurry? And you call yourselves my disciples? Let me die and do whatsoever
           you like, because Bankei will not be there. Whether you bury, whether you burn, or whether you
           preserve, it makes no difference to Bankei; Bankei will not be there. But let me die first then do
           whatsoever you like. It makes no difference but don't jump ahead. The mind has a tendency to jump
           ahead, always to jump ahead.
                "One minister invited his congregation for a garden party. He forgot a little old lady. Just at the
           eleventh hour he remembered, so he phoned because that lady was dangerous, very religious, and
           very religious people are always dangerous. He was afraid that she might create trouble or mischief.
           She was one of the oldest members of his congregation and contributed to the church and everything.
           She could create trouble. So he phoned and told the old lady, "Come. Just by mistake I forgot, but
           forgive me and you must come."
                The old lady said, "It is too late now, I have already prayed for rain."
                There was going to be a garden party and she had not been invited, and she had already prayed
           for rain so it was too late. See, it was no use; now, nothing could be done.
                The mind goes on jumping ahead, that is the way of the mind. Make jumps less and less, or if it
           is very difficult for you, then allow the mind to jog but don't jump ahead. Jogging is meditation, it is
           a jogging; you are jumping on the same ground and the mind is accustomed to jump ahead.
                It may be difficult to stop it completely, so do half-half -- don't jump ahead, jump on the ground,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           jog. Half is cut. Then, by and by, slow down; then stand, then sit down. When you are here and now,
           sitting totally, not jumping ahead, the miracle has happened. To be in the moment is the miracle.
                But I know Bankei will not appeal to you. Sai Baba can appeal to you because with Sai Baba
           your mind has a logic, a tuning. With Bankei your mind cannot be tuned, it has to be dropped -- only
           then can that tuning happen. With Sai Baba you can understand things -- with logic it is the same --
           what your mind says is that a miracle is happening.
                This is not religion at all, this is simply magic. And there is no difference between a Houdini and
           a Sai Baba. The only difference, if there is any, is that Houdini was more honest than Sai Baba
           because he simply said that he was a magician, that these were tricks. And all that Sai Baba can do,
           any magician can do, but you will not pay much respect to a magician because he is so sincere and
           honest that he says, "These are tricks." So you say, "Okay, so these are tricks; no miracle."
                When somebody says, "These are not tricks, this is a miracle, divine power manifesting through
           me," then your mind starts jumping. Then you think, "If I can become a close disciple of this man
           then I also can become somebody, I can also do something."
                If you have come in search of such a miracle from me
                you have come to the wrong person. I am Bankei reborn. I know only one miracle -- to be here
           and now: when feeling hungry, to eat; when feeling sleepy, to sleep; just to be ordinary and just to be
           part of the cosmos.
                If you are in search of such a miracle much can happen near me, but if you are not in such a
           search nothing will happen near me. And remember, you will be responsible for it because your
           whole search is wrong, and then there can be no tuning with me. So decide clearly in your mind,
           come to an understanding of what type of miracle you are searching for.
                I can make you most ordinary, I can make you simple human beings, I can make you like trees
           and birds. There is no magic around here, only religion, but if you can see, this is the greatest
           miracle.

           Anything more?

    OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT FOOD, AND NOW IN THE WEST FOOD IS A BIG CULT. IT'S
              ONE OF THE THINGS COMING IN AS A BASIS OF SPIRITUALITY.
              YOU SAID IF WE'RE NATURAL, WE'LL KNOW WHAT TO EAT AND WHEN TO EAT, BUT NOW WE
              ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH OUR CHILDLIKE NATURE.
              ALSO, MANY RELIGIONS SAY THAT THE FOOD YOU EAT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO
              ONE'S SPIRITUAL PATH.

              IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT FOOD AS A GUIDE FOR THE WEST?


               It is the other way round: food cannot make you spiritual, but if you are spiritual your food habits
           will change.
               Eating anything will not make much difference. You can be a vegetarian and cruel to the
           extreme, and violent; you can be a non-vegetarian and kind and loving. Food will not make much
           difference.
               In India there are communities who have lived totally with vegetarian food; many Brahmins have
           lived totally with vegetarian food. They are non-violent but they are not spiritual.
               And Jains are the most materialistic community in India, the most attracted by possessions,
           accumulation; that's why they have become the wealthiest. They are the Jews in India. But a
           non-vegetarian world in the West is not in any way different from these vegetarian communities in
           India.
               Rather, on the contrary, a very important thing has to be remembered: if you are violent and your
           food is vegetarian, then your violence will have to find some other way of expression. It is natural,
           because eating non-vegetarian food gives release to your violence.
               So if you know some hunters you may have come to realize that hunters are the most loving
           people. Their whole violence is released in hunting, they are most friendly, loving. But a
           businessman vegetarian has no way for his violence to be released so his whole violence becomes a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           search for wealth and power; it becomes narrowed down.
                But it happens the other way round. It happened to Mahavira. Mahavira came from a warrior
           family, he was a Kshatriya. Violence must have been easy for him, and then a deep meditative effort,
           a twelve-year-long silence changed his inner essence. When the essence changed the expression
           changed; when the innermost being changed, his character changed. But that character change was
           not basic, it was a consequence. So I say to you, if you become more meditative you will become
           more and more vegetarian automatically. You need not bother about it.
                And only if this happens, that through meditation vegetarian food comes into you not through
           mind manipulation, it is good.But manipulating by the mind, argument, reasoning that vegetarian
           food is good, that it will help you to gain spirituality, is not going to help anything. Your clothes,
           your food, your habits of life, your style, everything will change; but this change is not basic. The
           basic change is going to be in you and then everything else follows.
                If you meditate long enough, deep enough, it is impossible for you to hurt anybody for food; it is
           impossible. It is not a question of argument, it is not a question of scriptures, it is not who says what,
           it is not a question of calculating that if you take vegetarian food you will become spiritual; it is
           automatic. It is not a question of cunningness, you simply become spiritual. The whole thing seems
           so absurd. Just for food, killing animals, birds, seems so absurd, it falls down.
                Your clothes change automatically; by and by you like looser and looser clothes. The more
           relaxed you are inside -- loose clothes. Automatically I say; there will be no decision on your part.
           By and by, if you use tight clothes you will feel uneasy. Tight clothes belong to a tense mind, loose
           clothes belong to a relaxed mind.
                But the inner change is the first thing and everything else is just a consequence. If you reverse
           the order you will miss then you will become a food addict.
                One man came to me. He was just lean and thin and pale, and any moment he could die, and he
           said, "I want to live only on water because everything else is a hindrance to spirituality. Now I want
           to live on pure water."
                This man is going to die. There have been a few people who have lived on pure water but that
           happened to them naturally, it cannot be practised. They were freaks, accidents; their body
           mechanism and chemistry worked differently. It has happened -- somebody can survive on water but
           nobody can practise it.
                Someday science may be able to find the basic chemical change and then everybody will be able
           to survive on water; then science will change your body chemistry and you will survive just on air. It
           is possible but you cannot practise it. And the whole effort is meaningless and the whole suffering is
           unnecessary, but there are mad people who try things like that. It has never happened by effort.
                There was one woman in Bengal -- she lived forty years without food, but it simply happened.
           Her husband died and she couldn't eat for a few days.just out of misery, out of sorrow, she couldn't
           eat. But suddenly she realized that without eating she was feeling better than ever. Then she realized
           that in the past whenever she was eating, she was always ill, and suddenly she became healthy as she
           never was. Then she lived for forty years without eating anything, just the air was the food. And this
           has happened in many cases.
                There was one woman in Europe -- for thirty years she lived without eating. She became a saint
           because Christians thought it a miracle. They examined her with every scientific instrument to see
           what was happening and they couldn't find out anything; then it seemed a miracle. It was not a
           miracle.
                Yoga says there is a possibility of a body change, of a body chemistry change. Right now you are
           doing the same just by an intermediary. You cannot eat sunrays directly because your body
           chemistry is not in such a state; the mechanism is not such that it can absorb sunrays directly. So first
           the fruit of the tree absorbs the sunrays, it becomes vitamin B in the fruit, then you eat the fruit, then
           the vitamin B goes into your body. The fruit is just an intermediary; the fruit is working just as your
           agent to absorb the sunrays and then give them to you. You can absorb them through the fruit, not
           directly.
                But if the fruit can absorb directly, why not you? So someday there is going to be a scientific
           discovery that some body changes will help you to absorb directly, and then fruit will not be needed.
           In the future -- and I think not very long, fifty years -- science is bound to discover it.It has to be
           discovered, otherwise humanity is going to die because food will not be possible. And birth control
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not helping, nothing is helping; the population goes on growing. Some way has to be found so
           food can be dropped and direct absorption of cosmic rays becomes possible. It has happened in
           individual cases but it was by accident. If it can happen to one individual, it can happen to every
           individual but not as an accident; it will happen as a scientific change.
                But don't try such things, they are not spiritual. Even if you eat sunrays directly there is nothing
           spiritual. What is spiritual? Just by dropping the intermediary of fruit you become spiritual? If you
           live only on water, nothing is spiritual.
                What you eat makes no difference; what you are is a totally different phenomenon. And when
           that changes, everything will change; but that change will not be from the mind, it will be from the
           innermost being. Then things will change automatically.
                Sex will disappear by and by. So I don't say be a brahamachari, be a celibate. That is foolish,
           because if you force celibacy you will become more and more sexual in the mind and your whole
           mind will become ugly and dirty; you will think only of sex and nothing else. That is not the way.
           you will go crazy and insane. Freud says that ninety percent of madmen are mad because of
           repressed sexuality.
                I don't say change sex, I don't say change food; I say change your being and then things will start
           changing.
                Why is so much sex needed? Because you are tense, sex becomes a release. Your tensions are
           released through it -- you feel relaxed, you can go to sleep; if you repress it, you remain tense. And if
           you repress sex -- the only release, the only possibility of release -- what will happen? You will go
           mad. Where will you release your tensions then?
                You eat food; it is needed by the body, and the body rejects only things which are not needed.
           Whatsoever you are eating is somehow needed by the body. If you are taking animal food, if you are
           taking non-vegetarian food, your mind, your body, your whole being is violent. And it is needed.
           don't change it otherwise your violence will have to find another channel.
                Change yourself and food will change, clothes will change, sex will change. But change should
           come from the innermost core, it should not come from the periphery. And all turmoil is on the
           periphery; deep down there is no turmoil. You are just like the sea -- go and watch the sea. All the
           turmoil, all the waves clashing, is just on the surface; deep, the deeper you go, there is more and
           more calm. At the deepest part in the sea there is no turmoil, not a single wave.
                First go deeper into your sea so you achieve a calm crystallization, so you achieve the point
           where no disturbance ever reaches. Stand there. From there every change comes, every
           transformation comes. Once you are there you have become a master; Now whatsoever is
           unnecessary can be dropped, and can be dropped without any struggle and fight.
                Whenever you drop something by fight, it is never dropped. You can drop smoking by fighting,
           and then you will start doing something else which will become a substitute. You may start chewing
           gum, it is the same; You may start chewing pan, it is the same, there is no difference. You need
           something to do with your mouth -- smoking, chewing, anything. When your mouth goes on
           working, you feel at ease because through the mouth tensions are released. So whenever a man feels
           tense he starts smoking. Why is it that through smoking or chewing gum or tobacco tensions are
           released?
                Just look at a small child. Whenever he feels tense he will put his hand in his mouth, he will start
           chewing his own hand. This is his substitute for smoking. And why does he feel good when his
           thumb is in his mouth? Why does the child feel good and go to sleep? This is the way of almost all
           children. Whenever they feel sleep is not coming they will put the thumb inside the mouth, feel at
           ease, and fall asleep. Why? The thumb becomes a substitute for the mother's breast, and food is
           relaxing. You cannot go to sleep on a hungry stomach, it is difficult to get sleep. When the stomach
           is full you feel sleepy, the body needs rest. So whenever the child takes the breast in his mouth, food
           is flowing, warmth, love. He is relaxed, he need not worry; tensions are relaxed. The thumb is just a
           substitute for the breast; it is not giving milk, it is a false thing, but still it gives the feeling.
                When this child grows, if he takes his thumb in public you will think he is foolish, so he takes a
           cigarette. A cigarette is not foolish, it is accepted. It is just the thumb, and more harmful than the
           thumb. It is better if you smoke your thumb, go on smoking to your grave; it is not harmful, it is
           better. No harm is done but then people think you are childish, juvenile, then people think what you
           are doing is stupid. But there is a need so it has to be substituted.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And in countries where breast-feeding has stopped, more smoking will automatically be there.
           That's why the West smokes more than the East -- because no mother is ready to give her breast to
           the child because the shape is lost. So in the West smoking is increasing more and more; even small
           children are smoking.
               I have heard that one mother said to her child, "I don't want neighbors to tell me that you have
           started smoking. Be truthful and whenever you start smoking, tell me." The child said, "Don't bother
           Mom, I have already stopped. It is one year now, that I have stopped smoking. It is one year now so
           don't you bother, don't you get worried about it."
               Small children smoking, and the mother is not aware that it is because the breast has been taken
           away.
               In all primitive communities a seven-year-old child, or even an eight or nine-year-old child, will
           continue breast-feeding. Then there is a satisfaction and smoking will not be so necessary. That's
           why in primitive communities men are not so much interested in women's breasts; there is no
           problem that somebody will attack them. Nobody looks at the breasts.
               If you had been given the breast for ten years continuously, you would get fed up and bored, you
           would say, "Stop now!" But every child has been taken away from the breast prematurely, and that
           remains a wound. So all civilized countries are obsessed with breasts. Even an old man, dying, is
           obsessed with breasts, goes on searching for breasts.
               This seems mad, and it is, but the basic cause is there -- children should be given the breast
           otherwise they will become addicted to it, the whole life they will be in search of it.
               You cannot stop smoking directly because it has many related things, implications. You are
           tense, and if you stop smoking you will start something else and the other may be more harmful.
           Don't go on escaping problems, face them. The problem is that you are tense, so the goal should be
           how to be non-tense, not, smoking or not smoking.
               Meditate. Relax your tensions without any object into the sky, allow catharsis to happen. When
           you are non-tense these things will become absurd, foolish, and they will drop. Food will change,
           your styles of living will change.
               But my insistence is on you. Character is secondary, behavior is secondary, the essential you is
           the primary thing. Don't pay too much attention to what you do, pay much attention to what you are;
           being should become the focus, and doing should be left to itself. When being changes, doing
           follows.
           Anything more?

    OUR BELOVED OSHO,
              WHENEVER YOU SPEAK OF OUR FAILINGS, YOU USUALLY MENTION ANGER, SEX AND
              JEALOUSY. ANGER AND SEX SEEM FAIRLY STRAIGHTFORWARD, BUT THERE'S SOME
              CONFUSION ABOUT EXACTLY WHAT JEALOUSY IS, AND IT'S HARDER TO GET TO THE CORE.
              WOULD YOU TELL US ABOUT JEALOUSY?


               Yes, I make more mention of anger, sex, and less of jealousy, because jealousy is not a primary
           thing. It is secondary, it is a secondary part of sex.
               Whenever you have a sexual urge in your mind, a sexual happening in your being, whenever you
           feel sexually attracted and related to somebody, jealousy enters because you are not in love. If you
           are in love, jealousy never enters.
               Try to understand the whole thing. Whenever you are sexually related you are afraid, because sex
           is really not a relationship, it is an exploitation. If you are attached to a woman or man sexually, you
           are always afraid that this woman may go to somebody else, this man may move to somebody else.
           There is no relationship really, it is just mutual exploitation. You are exploiting each other, but you
           don't love and you know it, so you are afraid.
               This fear becomes jealousy so you may not allow things, you will guard; you will make every
           security arrangement so this man cannot look at another woman. Even looking will be a danger
           signal. This man should not talk to another woman because talking.... and you feel afraid he may
           leave. So you will close all the paths, all the ways of this man going to another woman, of this
           woman going to another man; you will close all the ways, all the doors.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But then a problem arises. When all the doors are closed, the man becomes dead, the woman
           becomes dead, a prisoner, a slave, and you cannot love a dead thing. You cannot love one who is not
           free because love is beautiful only when it is given freely, when it is not taken and demanded and
           forced.
                First you make security arrangements, then the person becomes dead, becomes like an object. A
           beloved may be a person, a wife becomes an object; a beloved may be a person, a husband becomes
           an object to be guarded, possessed, controlled. But the more you control, the more you are killing,
           because freedom is lost. And the other person may be there for other reasons, but not for love,
           because how can you love a person who possesses you? He looks like an enemy.
                Sex creates jealousy but it is a secondary thing. So it is not a question of how to drop jealousy;
           you cannot drop it because you cannot drop sex. The question is how to transform sex into love, then
           jealousy disappears.
                If you love a person, the very love is enough guarantee, the very love is enough security. If you
           love a person, you know he cannot go to anybody else. And if he goes, he goes; nothing can be done.
           What can you do? You can kill the person, but a dead person will not be of much use.
                When you love a person you trust that he cannot go to anybody. If he goes, there is no love and
           nothing can be done. Love brings this understanding. There is no jealousy.
                So if jealousy is there, know well there is no love. You are playing a game, you are hiding sex
           behind love. Love is just a painted word, the reality is sex.
                In India, because love is not allowed much, not allowed at all -- marriage is arranged --
           tremendous jealousy exists. A husband is always afraid. He has never loved so he knows -- and the
           wife is always afraid because she has never loved, so she knows -- that this has been an arrangement.
           The parents arranged, astrologers arranged, society arranged; the wife and husband were never
           asked. In many cases they never knew each other, they had never seen each other. So fear exists. The
           wife is afraid, the husband is afraid, and both are spying on each other. The very possibility is lost.
                How can love grow in fear? They can live together, but that living together is also not living
           together; they only tolerate together, they somehow carry on together. It is just utilitarian, and out of
           utility you may manage, but ecstasy is not possible. You cannot celebrate it, it cannot become
           festive; it will be a burdensome affair.
                So a husband is dead before death, and a wife is dead before death. It is two dead persons taking
           revenge on each other, because each thinks that one has killed the other. Taking revenge, angry,
           jealous -- the whole thing becomes so ugly.
                But in the West a different type of phenomenon is happening which is the same on the other
           extreme. They dropped arranged marriage and it is good, that institution is not worth keeping, but by
           dropping it, love has not arisen, only sex has become free. And when sex is free you are always
           afraid, because it is always a temporary arrangement. You are with this girl tonight, tomorrow she
           will be with somebody else, and yesterday she was with somebody else. Yesterday the girl was with
           somebody else, tomorrow she will again be with somebody else; only tonight she is with you.
                How can this be very intimate and deep? It can only be a meeting of the surfaces. You cannot
           penetrate each other because penetration needs seasoning, it needs time, it needs depth, intimacy,
           living together, being together. A long time is needed then depth opens -- depths talking to each
           other....
                This is just acquaintance. It may not even be acquaintance -- in the West you can meet a woman
           on the train and make love, and at midnight you drop her at some station. She never bothers that she
           may never know you again; she may not even have asked your name.
                If sex becomes such a trivial thing -- just a bodily affair where surfaces meet and separate -- your
           depth remains untouched. You are again missing something -- something great, something very
           mysterious -- because you become aware of your own depth only when somebody else touches it.
           Only through the other do you become aware of your inner being; only in deep relationship does
           somebody's love resound in you and bring your depth into being. Only through somebody else do
           you discover yourself.
                There are two ways of discovery. One is meditation -- without the other you search for the depth;
           another is love -- with the other you search for the depth. He becomes a root to reach to yourself.
           The other creates a circle, and both lovers help each other. The deeper love goes, the deeper they feel
           they are; their inner-beings are revealed. But then there is no jealousy. Love cannot be jealous, it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           impossible. Love is always trusting, and if something happens that breaks your trust you have to
           accept it; nothing can be done about it because whatsoever you do will destroy the other.
                Trust cannot be forced; jealousy tries to force it. Jealousy tries, makes you make every effort so
           that trust can be maintained, but trust is not something to be maintained. It is there, or it is not there,
           and I say that nothing can be done about it. If it is there, you go through it; if it is not there, better
           separate.
                But don't fight for it because you are wasting time, life. If you love someone and your depth
           speaks to the other's depth -- you have a meeting in being -- it is okay, beautiful; if it is not
           happening, separate. But don't create any conflict, struggle
                or fight for it, because it cannot be achieved through fight, and time is lost -- and not only time,
           your capacity will be damaged. You may start again with another person repeating the whole pattern.
                If there is no trust, separate -- the sooner, the better -- so you are not destroyed, so you are not
           damaged, so your capacity to love remains fresh and you can love somebody else. This is not the
           place, this is not the man, this is not the woman for you. Move, but don't destroy each other.
                Life is very short and capacities are very delicate. They can be destroyed, and once damaged
           there is no possibility of repairing them.
                I have heard that once it happened that Winston Churchill was invited to speak in a small club of
           friends. Everybody knew that Churchill was a drunkard and loved alcohol very much, and the man
           who introduced him, the president of the club, said, "Sir Winston has drunk so much wine up to now,
           that if we pour all the wine into this hall the level will come up to my head." It was a big hall, and he
           was just joking.
                Winston Churchill stood, looked at the imaginary line, looked at the ceiling -- the ceiling was
           high -- became very sad, and he said, "So much still to be done, and so little time left to do it."
                As far as love is concerned, so much is to be done for everyone and so little time is left to do it.
           Don't waste your energy in fighting, jealousy, conflict; move, and move in a friendly way.
                Search somewhere else for the person who exists who will love you. Don't get fixed with
           someone who is wrong, not for you. Don't be angry, there is no point in it, and don't try to force trust;
           nobody can force it, it never happens. You will miss the time, you will miss the energy, and you may
           only become aware when nothing can be done. Move. Either trust or move.
                Love always trusts, or if it finds that the trust is not possible it simply moves in a friendly way;
           there is no conflict and fight. Sex creates jealousy; find, discover love. Don't make sex the basic
           thing -- it is not.
                India missed with arranged marriage; the West is missing with free love.
                India missed love because parents were too calculating and cunning. They would not allow
           falling in love: that is dangerous, nobody knows where it will lead. They were too clever, and
           through cleverness India missed all possibility of love.
                In the West they are too rebellious, too young; not clever -- too young, too childish. They have
           made sex a free thing, available everywhere: no need to go so deep to discover love, enjoy sex and
           be finished.
                Through sex, the West is missing: through marriage, the East has missed. But if you are alert you
           need not be Eastern, you need not be Western. Love is neither Eastern nor Western.
                Go on discovering love within you. And if you love, sooner or later the person will happen to
           you, because a loving heart, sooner or later, comes to a loving heart -- it always happens. You will
           find the right person. But if you are jealous you will not find, if you are simply for sex you will not
           find, if you live only for security you will not find.
                Love is a dangerous path and only those who have courage can travel it. And I say to you it is the
           same, just like meditation -- only for those who are courageous. And there are only two ways to
           reach the divine: either meditation or love. Find out which is your way, which can be your destiny.




                                                A Bird on the Wing
                                                        Chapter #7
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                        Chapter title: The Severe Teacher
           16 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406160
              ShortTitle: WING07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 97 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              THE JAPANESE MASTER EKIDO WAS A SEVERE TEACHER AND HIS PUPILS FEARED HIM.
              ONE DAY, AS ONE OF HIS PUPILS WAS STRIKING THE TIME OF DAY ON THE TEMPLE GONG,
              HE MISSED A BEAT BECAUSE HE WAS WATCHING A BEAUTIFUL GIRL WHO WAS PASSING
              THE GATES.
              UNKNOWN TO THE PUPIL, EKIDO WAS STANDING BEHIND HIM. EKIDO STRUCK THE PUPIL
              WITH HIS STAFF, AND THE SHOCK STOPPED THE HEART OF THE PUPIL, AND HE DIED.
              BECAUSE THE OLD CUSTOM OF THE PUPIL SIGNING HIS LIFE OVER TO THE MASTER HAD
              SUNK TO A MERE FORMALITY, EKIDO WAS DISCREDITED BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
              BUT AFTER THIS INCIDENT, EKIDO PRODUCED TEN ENLIGHTENED SUCCESSORS, AN
              UNUSUALLY HIGH NUMBER.


               This type of phenomenon is special to Zen and to Zen masters. Only a Zen master beats his
           disciples, and sometimes it happens that the disciple dies through beating. Ordinarily, this looks very
           cruel, violent, mad. Religious people cannot conceive how a master can be so cruel as to kill a
           disciple, but those who know feel differently.
               A man who is enlightened knows well that nobody is ever killed. The inner is eternal, it goes on
           and on. It may change bodies but the change is only of houses, the change is only of dresses the
           change is only of vehicles. The traveler goes on and on, nothing dies.
               The moment of death can become the moment of enlightenment also, both are so similar. When
           someone becomes enlightened it is a death deeper than ordinary death; when someone becomes
           enlightened he comes to know that he is not the body. The attachment, the identification, disappears.
           For the first time he can see an unbridgeable gap. He is here, the body is there; there is an abyss
           between. He has never been the body and the body has never been him. This death is deeper than
           ordinary death; when you die ordinarily you are still identified with the body.
               This death is still deeper. Not only are you unidentified with the body, your identification with
           the mind, with the ego, also disappears. You are left simply as an emptiness, as an inner space,
           boundless, you are neither the body nor the mind.
               In ordinary death only the body dies; the mind goes on following you like a shadow. The mind is
           the problem, not the body. Through the mind you have become one with the body, and unless the
           mind disappears you will go on getting into newer bodies, into newer vehicles, and the wheel of life
           will go on and on. When you become enlightened suddenly you are not the body, you are not the
           mind. Only then do you come to know who you are. The body is a seed, the mind is also a seed;
           hidden beyond them is you.
               Sometimes it happens that a Zen master can coincide the moment of your death with your
           enlightenment. In the right moment he can hit you: the body falls down -- everybody can see that --
           but deep within the ego falls down also. Only you and the master know. It is not cruelty, it is the
           highest form of compassion, and only a very great master can do it. It is very subtle to feel the
           moment of your death, and to make it a point of inner transformation and transfiguration.
               Look at this story and you may think-it is how the story appears-that the master killed his
           disciple. That is not the thing. The disciple was going to die anyhow; it was the moment for his
           death. The master knew it; he simply used the moment of death for the disciple's enlightenment. But
           this is an inner secret, something esoteric, and I could not defend Ekido in a court with this. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           court would say he is a murderer. Anyhow, there would be no way to prove he knew the disciple was
           going to die in that moment.
               Why not use death? An ignorant person cannot use life; an enlightened person can even use
           death. That's how a master should be, using everything for enlightenment.
               Ekido was just standing behind the disciple; he was beating the gong of the temple and the
           master was watching. If this disciple can die in awareness, death will become the turning-point of the
           wheel. If he can die in awareness, if he can fall but remain conscious, if the body can fall, but deep
           down he can remain centered, alert, aware, this will be the last death; he will not need to be reborn
           again. Remember, if you can die with full awareness the wheel of life stops; you can enter a new
           body only if you are unaware, unconscious. When someone dies fully conscious, this world
           disappears, there is no birth again.
               That's why we say an enlightened person never comes again. A buddha simply disappears; you
           will not be able to meet him again in the body. You can meet him in bodilessness -- he is everywhere
           then -- but not in the body. You cannot meet Buddha somewhere because only a body exists
           somewhere. When the body disappears Buddha exists everywhere, or nowhere. You can meet him
           here, you can meet him there, you can meet him anywhere, but don't look for him in the body.
               The body exists somewhere; when the body disappears, the soul, the consciousness exists
           everywhere. You can meet Buddha anywhere; wherever you go you can meet him.
               The body is there because the mind seeks desires through the body; desires cannot be fulfilled
           without the body. You can be completely fulfilled without the body, but desires cannot be fulfilled
           without the body. Desire needs the body; the body is the vehicle of desire. That's why possession
           happens. You have heard, you must have heard, many stories about a ghost possessing somebody
           else. Why is a ghost so interested in possessing somebody else? It is because of desires. Desires
           cannot be fulfilled without a body, so he enters somebody's body to fulfill his desires.
               The same is the case when you enter a womb, enter into a fresh body, and start the journey of
           desires. But if you die alert, in that alertness not only the body dies, all desires evaporate. Then there
           is no entering into a womb. Then entering a womb is such a painful process, it is so painful that
           consciously you cannot do it; only unconsciously you can do it.
               The English word anxiety comes from a Latin root which means narrowing down, and in the
           beginning the word was used for the entry of a soul into a womb. So the first anxiety is felt when a
           soul enters a womb, because everything is narrowed down; an infinite soul becomes a small body.
           This is the most painful process possible, as if the whole sky has been forced to enter into a seed.
           You don't know it because it is so painful that you become totally unconscious.
               There are two painful processes. You may have heard Buddha's saying, "Birth is pain, death is
           pain." These are the greatest pains, the greatest anguishes possible. When the infinite becomes finite
           in the womb, it is painful, it is anxiety; and when the infinite is taken out of the body again there is
           anguish and pain.
               So whenever someone dies consciously, he disappears. Then there is no more entry into the
           body. Then there is no more anxiety, because anxiety is the consequence of desire; then you need not
           be narrowed down because there is no desire to be fulfilled. You can remain infinite; there is no need
           to enter a vehicle because now you are going nowhere.
               This disciple who was beating the gong of the temple must have been near his death, close, and
           the master was standing behind him because of this fact. The disciple was going to die any moment.
           This is not said in the story, this cannot be said but this is how the thing happened; otherwise there
           was no need for the master to stand behind the disciple when he was beating the gong. There are
           many more important things for the master to do. Beating the going is just an ordinary thing, an
           everyday ritual. Why was the master standing behind him? This Ekido seems to be strange fellow.
           Had he not anything more significant to do? At that moment there was nothing more significant,
           because this disciple was going to die anyhow and this death had to be used. And only a master can
           use death -- out of compassion. He was waiting to see whether he remained alert at the moment of
           death or not. He missed. The story is beautiful and very significant. He saw a beautiful girl passing
           and his whole consciousness was lost. He became a desire, his whole being became a desire: he
           wanted to follow this girl, to possess this girl. And whenever there is desire, consciousness is lost
           because both cannot exist together. Desire exists with unconsciousness, it cannot exist with
           consciousness; when you move in desire, consciousness disappears. Hence so much insistence by all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the buddhas and Jainas for desirelessness. When you are desireless you will be aware; when you are
           aware you will be desireless. These are two aspects of the same coin -- on one aspect, desirelessness;
           on another aspect, alertness, consciousness.
               The story is significant. Seeing a beautiful girl pass, the disciple missed himself. He was no more
           there; he became a desire. He started following the girl, he entered a dream, he became sleepy, he
           became unconscious.
               Sex is the mid-point between death and birth; between birth and death is sex. Really, between
           birth and death.there is nothing but sex, an extension of sex. You are conceived out of sex, and from
           the moment you are conceived you start on a journey of sexual pleasure. The moment you die, this
           continues. And sex is so powerful that even if death is standing there, you will forget it. If sex takes
           the grip then everything can be forgotten; you become completely mad.
               The form of the girl caught his mind; he was no more there. He was alert just a moment before,
           now he was not alert.
               You may have heard stories, Indian stories, of rishis, seekers, doing austerities, meditating in
           their forest abodes in the hills. Always it happens that whenever they reach a point of awareness,
           suddenly sex arises. Apsaras, nymphs from heaven, descend as if they are just waiting for someone
           to come to a point of awareness, as if there is a subtle conspiracy against achieving awareness.
           Hidden deep in a forest someone achieves a little alertness, and suddenly nymphs are there, beautiful
           girls from heaven -- not of this earth, perfect; You cannot conceive anything more perfect; the bodies
           are as if of gold, transparent. Suddenly awareness is lost and the rishi has become a man of desire.
           He falls.
               From where do these apsaras come? Do they really come from heaven? Is there some conspiracy
           against awareness? -- no. They come out of the mind of the seeker. The mind, when it sees that
           everything is going to be lost, uses sex as the last weapon. When the mind sees that now awareness
           is reaching a crystallization, and that crystallized the mind will not have any say, the mind will be
           dropped, this is its last struggle -- suddenly the mind creates sex and the desire for sex, the mind
           projects.
               I say to you, there may have been no girl passing. It was just the moment of death, and this man
           was aware, so the mind played the last trick. That is the last; if you win that you have won the mind.
           The mind will play other tricks and always preserve sex as the last resort. If sex cannot work then
           nothing can work. The mind depends basically on sex.
               Look into your mind: you will find it is ninety percent sex, thinking about sex, dreaming about
           sex. Projecting in the future, remembering the past, it is always about sex. And sometimes, even if
           you feel it is not thinking about sex, ponder over it, meditate -- it desires other things also because of
           sex. You may think about becoming wealthy -- what will you do with your wealth? Just ask the
           mind, and the mind says: Then you can enjoy the body, then you can get the most beautiful woman
           possible. The mind may think: become a Napoleon, a Hitler. But ask the mind what you will do with
           power. Suddenly you will find, hidden somewhere, sex and desire.
               This girl may not have been passing there. Or, even if the girl was passing there, the girl may not
           have been as beautiful as she looked, as she appeared. In the first place I think there was no girl --
           just the moment of death and this man's awareness. He was beating the gong fully alert. This is part
           of meditation in a Zen monastery -- whatsoever you do, do it with awareness. When you walk, walk
           fully alert; when you move your head, be fully alert. Whatsoever you do, follow it with alertness;
           don't miss it, don't think of anything else. Be there in it as a light and everything is revealed. Every
           act, every nook and corner of it is lighted; nothing is in darkness. When you eat, eat with awareness.
           This is all one has to do in a Zen monastery -- twenty-four hours of alertness.
               This disciple must have been beating the gong with full alertness. The gong is beaten to make
           everybody alert, and he must have been alert with the sound resounding in the monastery. Suddenly
           the girl appeared -- from where? In the first place I think there was no girl; the mind projected. In the
           second place, even if there was a girl, the girl was not so beautiful as the mind thought -- it projected.
           The girl was just a screen; the dream came from the mind and was projected.
               That's how it is happening to everybody. When for the first time you fall in love, the girl is not of
           this world; she comes from somewhere else -- she is an apsara, a nymph from heaven. But by and by,
           the more you become acquainted, the girl becomes more and more earthly, ordinary, homely.
           Suddenly you find there is nothing -- this is just an ordinary girl -- and then you think you have been
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deceived, that this girl has deceived you.
               Nobody has deceived you. Your mind projected; your mind projected so that desire could move.
           Beauty doesn't exist in things; beauty is a projection. Beauty is not objective; it is subjective. So one
           day somebody looks beautiful, another day the same person becomes ugly. It is you who projects, it
           is you who withdraws, the other works just as a screen.
               Once you come to know that the mind projects beauty and ugliness, that the mind projects good
           and bad, you stop projecting. Then for the first time you come to know what objective reality is. It is
           neither good nor bad, it is neither beautiful nor ugly; it simply is. All your interpretations drop with
           the projections.
               So this disciple at the moment of death was going to be alert and aware, and the mind did the last
           thing, its final resort -- a beautiful girl appeared. The mind created beauty around her and awareness
           was lost. The mind became dim and desire arose; the soul was there no more. The disciple became
           the body.
           That's why all religions insist so much
               on transcending sex. Unless you transcend sex the mind will play the last trick, and it will be the
           winner, not you. But repression is not transcendence, It is escape. Move into desire with full
           awareness; try to be in the sex act but alert. By and by, you will see the emphasis changing: the
           energy will be moving more into alertness and less into the sex act. Now the thing has happened, the
           basic thing has happened. Sooner or later the whole sex energy becomes meditative energy, then you
           have transcended. Then, whether you stand in the market or sit in a forest, apsaras cannot come to
           you. They may be passing on the street but they will be there no more for you. If your mind is there
           absent apsaras become present; if your mind is not there present apsaras disappear.
               At this moment when the disciple missed awareness, the master hit him hard on the head. I
           would like to do the same for you in your moment of death, but it cannot be tolerated here. In Japan
           it was one of the oldest traditions: whenever a disciple came to a master, he said "My life, my death
           -- both are yours. If you want to kill me, you can." This is what surrender is. And he signed, he wrote
           it down; he gave it in writing because the law, the state, won't listen. The law will not listen if you
           say that because he was going to die, that's why you hit him. The law will say: you hit him, that's
           why he has died.
               The law moves from the visible and a master moves from the invisible. The master is seeing the
           invisible death reaching, and he hits just to make the disciple alert. And a very hard hit is needed.
           When the mind is moving in sex an ordinary hit won't do; a real hit is needed, a real electric
           shock-like thing.
               It is an old story. If in the future there are monasteries like old Zen monasteries, there will be no
           need to hit with a staff. An electric shock can be given -- but something so shocking that the whole
           being trembles, something so shocking that there is a break in the desire that is leading you out.
               The master hit the disciple so hard that he died. This is the visible part of it -- he fell down and
           died. What happened inside? What is the inside story? When the master hit the disciple, it was the
           moment of his death, but desire was arising. And in the moment of death if sex is there, only then
           can you enter into another womb; otherwise you cannot enter.
               Men dying in bed, if they are conscious, always think of sex. It may be strange but an old man,
           even a man of a hundred years, dying in bed, almost always thinks of sex, because sex is the first and
           the last in the body's life. He may have been thinking of God before, he may have been chanting
           Ram, Ram, Ram, but suddenly at the moment of death everything drops and sex appears again. It is
           natural: the first must be the last. You were conceived out of sex and you must die with sex in your
           mind.
               So, dirty, old men are not just a myth. The body is almost dead but the mind continues to think.
           And old men think more about sex than young men, because young men can do something about it.
           Old men cannot do, they can only think; the whole phenomenon becomes cerebral, mental.
               In the moment of death you are preparing for a re-entry, for entering the womb. Try to
           understand deeply why there is so much attraction in entering the feminine body, the female body.
           What do you gain out of it? While making love, when your whole being wants to penetrate the
           feminine body, what do you gain out of it? Psychologists say -- and spiritualists have always been
           alert about it -- that it is again the same symbolic act of entry. It is not only when you are born that
           your being enters into the womb of a woman, this persists your whole life. Again and again you want
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to penetrate the female body; you want to reach the womb again and again.
                Sex means the urge to penetrate the feminine body, to enter again into the womb. They are both
           the same: whether you enter as a seed or whether you enter just in a sex act, the urge is to enter.
                At the moment of death sex must come into the mind, and if it comes, you have missed. You
           have created a desire, and now this desire will lead you again into another womb. You will enter.
                The master was waiting behind. Masters are always waiting behind disciples, whether physically
           or nonphysically, and this is one of the greatest moments -- when a person is going to die. The
           master hit him hard, his body fell down, but inside he became alert. The desire disappeared; the girl
           passing was no more, the street was there no more. Everything dropped with the body, shattered; he
           became alert. In that alertness, he died. And if you can join alertness and death you have become
           enlightened. That's why a miracle happened. Ekido's tradition became one of the most significant
           traditions in Japan. Ten persons attained enlightenment. People started to wonder: this cruel man
           who has killed, this aggressive and violent man who has killed, why are his disciples becoming
           enlightened?
                It is a rare number, Ten is rare. With one master, ten disciples becoming enlightened is very rare.
           Even to help one to become enlightened is too much.
                But there is nothing strange, it is plain arithmetic -- only this type of master can help. And
           whenever I have read this story I have always wondered why others missed. This man could have
           enlightened many. But those who were afraid, scared, filled with fear, simply must have escaped
           from this man. People would have stopped coming to his monastery because he was dangerous.
                One thing is said about Ekido -- that when this disciple died he never said anything about it, he
           never said: The disciple is dead. He continued as if nothing had happened, and whenever somebody
           would ask: What about the disciple? he would laugh. He never said anything about it: he never said
           the disciple was dead, he never said something had gone wrong, he never said it was just an accident.
           Whenever someone would ask he would laugh. Why was he laughing? -- because of the inside story.
                People can know only from the outside. If I hit you hard and you die, people can only know that
           you are dead; no one will be able to know what has happened inwardly.
                This disciple achieved something, something which buddhas make efforts for many lives to
           attain -- and Ekido did it in a single moment. He was a great artist, a great master. He used the
           moment of death so beautifully and the disciple attained. The disciple disappeared not only from the
           body, the disciple also disappeared from the mind. The disciple was never born again; this was total
           death with no rebirth.
                But in Japan people had become accustomed to such things. You would go to a master, he would
           hit you; he might throw you out of the window; he would jump on you and start beating you. You
           were asking a philosophical question -- whether God exists or not -- and he would start beating you.
           Ekido helped many persons to become enlightened. Only such a man with such deep compassion can
           help, but a very great surrender is needed.
                It is said that the disciple's parents came when the disciple was dead. They came to see Ekido and
           they were very angry, obviously -- they had only one child and he was dead. They were old and they
           were depending on him. And they were waiting -- sooner or later he was to come back from the
           monastery and help in their old age.
                In Japan, monastery life is a periodical thing. You can go to a monastery, become a sannyasin,
           remain there for a time, study, meditate, attain a certain quantity of alertness, a certain quality of
           being, and then come back to live the life of an ordinary householder. Sometimes, if you feel that
           you are missing and the mind has become dim and confused, you go again. It is not a permanent
           style of life to become a sannyasin in Japan. Only few people follow it their whole life; that is their
           decision; you can come back and this is not thought of with guilt.
                In India there is guilt. If once you become a sannyasin and then come back, get married and
           become a householder, then everyone looks at you as if you have fallen. This is nonsense, this is
           foolish because the whole country cannot become sannyasins Only a few people can be sannyasins,
           not doing anything, and they will have to depend on others who are doing, who are active in life.
                Sannyas should be available to everybody. The whole country must be able to become
           sannyasins, but that is possible only if you can be a sannyasin in ordinary life -- if you can go to the
           office, if you can work in a shop, if you can be a laborer, or a teacher, or a doctor, or an engineer and
           still be a sannyasin.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So in Japan people move to the monastery -- that is just a training period so the whole time is
           devoted to meditation -- then they come back. They carry the quality with them and come back to
           ordinary life, become ordinary citizens again and work in life -- as far as the outward life is
           concerned. Inside they go on trying deeply for the inner flame. Whenever they feel something is
           becoming dim, whenever they feel they are missing consciousness, they go again to the monastery,
           stay there for a period and come back again.
                This old couple was waiting for the boy to come back -- and he was dead. They must have been
           angry; they must have thought many things against this master Ekido. So they came, they looked at
           Ekido and they were waiting for him to say something kind to them. What did Ekido say? He said,
           "Why are you waiting? Follow the boy. You have wasted enough life, don't waste any more."
                And when they looked at Ekido's eyes they forgot their anger. This man could not be cruel; the
           compassion was flowing. They had come to complain but they simply thanked Ekido and went back.
                When you come to a master, be ready to die. Beating any gong, falling in desire, following a girl
           -- the master can hit you any moment. If you have not surrendered the hit will be useless; the master
           will not hit you because you will miss, it will not be of much use.
                This disciple must have been one of the closest, most intimate, and so surrendered that he would
           die but would not complain. He fell down without a complaint, as if the body dropped like an old
           dress. And inside there was light, more light; he entered that light.
                Be ready to die; only then can you be reborn into an altogether different dimension. That
           dimension is the dimension of the divine. Don't protect yourself -- your protection is your undoing;
           don't try to safeguard. Near a master be insecure because he is your security. Be unsafe, leave
           everything to him and wait for his hit; any moment it can descend on you. But if you have not
           surrendered it will not descend, because no master is interested in hitting you, no master is interested
           in killing you. Masters are interested only in making you fully enlightened, and that can happen only
           when your death and your awareness meet -- a very difficult, very rare combination.
                A master can see when you are going to die. It is written, because your body has a fixed span; it
           can be read. An astrologer may miss it; a palmist may not be able to read it because you are such a
           liar that even your palm lies. You are so deceptive that even your forehead will not say the truth.
           And you are so afraid of death that unknowingly, unconsciously, you hide the knowledge of it in the
           innermost chamber. If you are a true person, authentic, you yourself will become aware of when you
           are going to die.
                Zen masters have been forecasting their deaths. They can always tell when they are going to die,
           but even then people don't believe them. How can we believe that you can know death? -- we have
           hidden it so deep, and we never look at it.
                Astrology may fail because it is an outer science, reading something from the outer towards the
           inner. Palmistry may fail because it cannot be very certain. Your hands cannot be believed, you
           cannot be believed; your whole body lies. And the lines on your palm can be changed very easily.
           For fifteen days think of suicide and your life line will be broken. Continuously, for fifteen days,
           don't think of anything else, just think of suicide, of committing suicide, picturing, dreaming. Within
           fifteen days your life line will be broken.
                The mind can create or change. If you go to a palmist and he says within three months you are
           going to die, he may have misinterpreted, but if this idea settles deep in you, you will die in three
           months. And within three months your life line will be finished. Your hand is not influencing your
           mind, your mind is continuously influencing your hand.
                I have heard about one Egyptian king. He was very much afraid of death; he was very weak and
           ill and always on his death bed. He came to know about one astrologer who predicted the death of
           one of his minsters, and exactly on time, the minister died.
                The king thought, "this man is dangerous." The king thought, "This man has done something like
           black magic. He has killed, and to allow this man to be alive is dangerous -- he can do the same to
           me."
                He called the astrologer and asked him, "Tell me something about my death. When am I going to
           die?"
                The astrologer looked at the king's face and felt something dangerous; the king was very
           ferocious. He suspected something, so he made the chart, studied it, and then said, "You will die
           after I have died, within one week."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So the king called all his doctors to look after this man. A palace was created for him with the
           best of food and of everything. The greatest doctors were called,
               just in his service, and told, "Preserve him, because he says if he dies within seven days...." It is
           said that the king lived very long because that man was alive; he was a very healthy man. And the
           king died only when that man died; within a week the king was dead.
               Your mind goes on changing, and if your mind is a liar, don't go to any palmist; the palmist will
           be deceived. But you cannot deceive a master because he never reads your palm, he never looks at
           your forehead, he is not worried about your stars; he looks deep in you. He knows the exact moment
           of your death, and if you surrender the death can be used.
               This story is beautiful, meditate on it. The same can happen to you but much readiness is needed,
           ripeness is needed, and surrender.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              THE LAST LINE OF THIS ZEN STORY SAYS TEN WERE ENLIGHTENED AND THAT THIS WAS A
              GREAT NUMBER. TEN DOESN'T SEEM A GREAT NUMBER TO ME. CAN WE BUY YOUR STICK
              AND USE IT ON OURSELVES TO HELP SURRENDER HAPPEN?


                Ten is really a big number because enlightenment is so arduous, so difficult to achieve, almost
           impossible. Ten is a big number but even bigger numbers have happened. With Buddha hundreds
           became enlightened; with Mahavira hundreds became enlightened.
                The basic thing is not how to buy my stick -- you cannot buy it -- it is how to allow it. It is not a
           question of the master hitting you, it is a question of receiving the hit, welcoming it. If you resist,
           nothing can be done; and resistance is there. In ordinary things resistance is there, and death is very
           big, the ultimate. In ordinary things resistance is there.
                One man was here and he said, "I want to surrender."
                I told him, "Think about it -- what do you mean? It is difficult; it is not so easy that you can come
           and say, 'I surrender.'" I told the man, "Go and first shave your head."
                The man said, "That's very difficult, that I cannot do; I love long hair."
                The man had completely forgotten he was going to surrender to me, but he could not cut his hair.
           And hair is dead already, hair is not a live part of you; that is why you can cut it and you are not
           harmed. Hair is dead, already dead, something which has gone dead and been thrown out of the body
           as dead cells. This man says he cannot cut his hair because he loves long hair -- and he is ready to
           surrender. He doesn't know what surrender means.
                Someone comes to me and says, "I am ready to surrender." And I say to him, "Change to ochre."
           Then he says, "That will be awkward, it will be difficult." He cannot change his dress to ochre yet he
           is ready to surrender.
                The word surrender has become meaningless, it carries no meaning for him. He is not aware of
           what he is saying, otherwise to utter the word surrender would make his whole being tremble and
           shake, because it means death.
                My stick is there; I can hit you but your readiness is not there. If I hit you before you are ready,
           you will simply escape from me. Many escape, many have escaped because I have hit them
           somehow or other.
                And don't think that the stick is really a visible thing; I use subtle sticks. Just a word can hit you
           to death; you are shattered. Your logic, your religion, your concepts are hit and you are shattered,
           and you never come back again to me. I hit your emotions, then you become antagonistic to me.
           Your ripeness is needed: you have to welcome the hit, wait and pray for it.
                In Zen it has been one of the oldest traditions that whenever a disciple is hit, the whole
           monastery becomes happy, and the disciple is received as something special. The master has hit him;
           the disciple has been chosen. People wait for years to be hit by the master. They pray, they ask the
           master, "When will we be capable?" or, "When will we be fortunate enough to be hit? When will
           your stick, your staff, descend upon us?"
                A deep receptivity is needed. There is no need to buy my staff, it is always yours. Only have a
           welcoming heart, a deep receptivity, patience; it can descend on you at any moment. Sometimes it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           comes near to you and you become scared. Sometimes, on many centers of your body I hit but then
           you are scared, then you want to escape from it.
                Be alert to the mind; the mind will always tell you to escape. Wherever there is danger the mind
           will tell you: run away from here.
                The mind has two ways of encouraging a situation -- one is fight, another is flight. Your mind
           starts fighting with me, I can see. When I am talking, I can see in your eyes whether you are fighting
           or fleeing. Your very look, the way you sit, the way you hear, shows that you are fighting, resisting,
           withdrawn -- creating a space so I cannot enter in you. Or, you are on a flight, and then you are
           sleepy and you are not listening at all. Or you are somewhere else, thinking something else, you are
           engaged within so you can escape.
                When you are ready neither flight nor fight exists, just a prayerful patience and waiting. There is
           not even an impatience about it... because impatience creates tension. You are not even impatient,
           just patiently waiting, passively waiting with a prayerful mood.
                The hit is yours; I am waiting for it, and many more than Ekido's disciples can become
           enlightened. The possibility is there; the opportunity is there, the river is flowing, but whether you
           will bow down and take a drink, or whether you will remain egoistic and turn away from the river,
           thinking either of flight or of fight and creating all your own ideas around you -- whether you will
           allow your mind to take you away from me, or whether you will put it aside and allow me to hit you
           -- everything depends on you. The hit is always near but you go on wavering.
                This disciple was hit by Ekido; he was really surrendered. And after his death many more were
           ready. From somewhere the chain is to be broken. When one light is kindled, many more follow.
           Who will be the first to die? -- that's the question. Once this disciple was dead and inside,
           enlightened, many followed; ten became enlightened.
                This word ten is also worth thinking about. This ten is symbolic... because ten is the greatest
           number. It is not exactly ten, it is not arithmetical; ten is just the greatest number. Man started
           counting on his fingers, and there are ten fingers. Even now in the villages people count on their
           fingers. Ten is the highest number and all other numbers are repetitive. Eleven means one upon one,
           twelve means two upon one; there is repetition. Ten is the basic number in all the languages of the
           world, because everywhere man has ten fingers. These are the ten digits so ten is the highest number;
           it is symbolic.
                One dropped into infinity, then many followed. Once the abyss is open and you see someone
           entering it, and you see the bliss, the benediction, you can also enter it very easily; you can take the
           jump as well.
                Many are getting ready, but even if you are ninety-nine percent ready, the hit cannot descend on
           you. The hit can descend on you only when you are one hundred percent ready, because then it is a
           revolution. You can turn back even from ninety-nine percent, that's the problem. It is very
           unfortunate but it happens.
                I have been working with many, many people, and sometimes they turn when the right moment
           was going to be; exactly before that moment they turn away. And the mind is cunning enough; it can
           philosophize, it can say why you have turned away. Exactly at the moment when something was
           going to happen, you can turn away. There is more possibility for you to turn away from that
           moment than from any other moment; it is unfortunate but it happens. You wait and wait and wait,
           and then the moment is nearing where the evaporating point can be reached, and suddenly you turn
           away. To resist that turning is very difficult. It is just like death reaching nearer, nearer, nearer, and
           seeing the abyss you turn away and run as fast as you can.
                Remain alert. This misfortune happens to seekers; it can happen to you.
                Buddha passed through a village many times in his forty years of traveling. One man used to
           come; he would listen for a few minutes then get up and go away. And this had become a habit; he
           never listened to Buddha for the whole time Buddha was speaking. He would come, that was certain,
           and whenever Buddha would come to the town he would wait for that man. He would come, that was
           certain. He would sit and for a few minutes he would listen, then, respectfully bowing down to
           Buddha, he would go away.
           Ananda once asked that man, "Why do you do this?"
                The man said, "Sometimes this is the peak hour for my business, but I must come just to pay my
           respects; that's why I come. But my shop is open and customers are there, and they will not wait.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Enlightenment can wait; next time I will hear." It happened again and again.
               The day Buddha died he was near the village, and before his death he said to Ananda, "That man
           has not come. This is exceptional -- he never missed. He always missed in a sense but he never
           missed. He has always come, now he has not come."
               Then Buddha asked his disciples, "Do you have anything to ask -- because soon I will enter into
           the final samadhi, the final ecstasy, and then I will not be able to come back and answer you."
               They started weeping and crying but there was no question. And Ananda said, "We have asked
           everything, you have answered everything, and there is nothing. Our minds are blank just thinking
           that you are going to disappear."
               Buddha asked thrice, again and again. There was no question so he went behind the tree and
           closed his eyes, just to dissolve into the infinite, to leave the body, and then suddenly the man came.
           He started fighting with the monks and said, "I must see him. This is the last time; I will not be able
           to see him again. For forty years I have been missing and I have a question to ask. I have never been
           able to ask it before because sometimes there was a marriage in my family, sometimes business was
           at a peak, sometimes I was ill or my wife was ill, and sometimes there were relatives staying. I
           always missed but now don't prevent me."
               The disciples said, "It is not possible; now he is dissolving."
               Buddha came out from his ecstasy, from his final samadhi. He came in front of the tree and he
           said, "Don't prevent that man. He may have been foolish, he may have missed because of his
           ignorance, but I cannot be hard on him. I am still alive so let him come. No one should say that
           Buddha was alive and a man who had come begging was sent back." Buddha said, "What have you
           come to ask?"
               The man had forgotten the question. He said, "When I came, I knew, but now I can't remember.
           Next time I see you I will bring the question." ... And there was going to be no next time.
               Buddha died that day, and that man must be wandering somewhere on this or some other earth,
           seeking a man who can answer his question. That man missed Buddha continuously for forty years.
               You can miss me -- always remember that possibility. But it will be because of you, not because
           of me; I am always ready. Whenever you are ready I will hit you, but a deep surrender is needed;
           before that nothing can be done. You have to die, die as you are, so that which you really are can be
           born out of you. You have to die as an appearance so that the real can be born. You have to die on
           the periphery, so that the center evolves and comes out in its luminousness, in its full perfection.
               All hits are to destroy the seed so that the tree is born.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL QUESTIONS CONCERNING WHAT YOU WERE SAYING ABOUT
              WARRIORS AND BUSINESSMEN. SINCE MOST OF US WERE BUSINESSMAN AND
              PROFESSIONALS, AND NOT WARRIORS, ARE WE GOING TO MISS ENLIGHTENMENT?


               To be a warrior doesn't mean to be a soldier, it is a quality of the mind. You can be a
           businessmanand be a warrior; you can be a warriorand be a businessman.
               "Businessman" means a quality of the mind which is always bargaining, trying to give less and
           get more. That's what I mean when I say businessman: trying to give less and get more, always
           bargaining, always thinking about profit. A warrior is again a quality of the mind, the quality of the
           gambler, not of the bargainer, the quality which can stake everything this way or that -- a
           noncompromising mind.
               If a businessman thinks of enlightenment, he thinks of it as a commodity like many other
           commodities. He has a list: he has to make a big palace, he has to purchase this and that, and in the
           end he has to purchase enlightenment also; but enlightenment is always the last -- when everything is
           done, then; when nothing remains to be done, then. And that enlightenment is also to be purchased
           because he understands only money.
               It happened that a great and rich man came to Mahavira. He was really very rich; he could
           purchase anything, even kingdoms. Even kings borrowed money from him.
               He came to Mahavira and he said, "I have been hearing so much about meditation, dhyan, and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           during the time you have been here you have created a craze in people; everybody is talking about
           dhyan. What is dhyan? How much does it cost and can I purchase it?"
                Mahavira hesitated, so the man said, "Don't you think about the cost at all. You simply say and I
           will pay; there is no problem about it."
                How to talk to this man? -- Mahavira was at a loss as to what to say to him. Finally Mahavira
           said, "You go. In your town there is a man, a very poor man; he may be willing to sell his dhyan. He
           has achieved, and he is so poor that he may be ready to sell it."
                The man thanked Mahavira, rushed to the poor man, knocked on his door and said, "How much
           do you want for your dhyan? I want to purchase your meditation."
                The man started laughing. He said, "You can purchase me, that's okay. But how can I give you
           my dhyan? It is a quality of my being, it is not a commodity."
                But businessmen have always been thinking in this way. They donate to purchase, they create
           temples to purchase. They give but their giving is never a giving; it is always to get something, it is
           an investment.
                When I say to you to be a warrior, I mean to be a gambler, to put everything at stake. Then
           enlightenment becomes a question of life and death, not a commodity, and you are ready to throw
           away everything for it. And you are not thinking about the profit.
                People come to me and they ask, "What will we gain out of meditation? What is the purpose of
           it? What will be the profit out of it? If one hour is devoted to meditation what will be the gain?"
           Their whole life is economy.
                A warrior is not after gain; a warrior is after a peak, after a peak of experiencing. What does a
           warrior gain when he fights in a war? Your soldiers are not warriors any longer, they are just
           servants. Warriors are no longer on this earth because the whole thing is being done by technology.
           You drop a bomb on Hiroshima; the dropper is not a warrior. Any child can do that, any madman
           can do that -- really, only a madman can do it. Dropping a bomb on Hiroshima is not being a fighter
           or a warrior.
                War is no more the same as it was in the past; now anybody can do it, and sooner or later only
           mechanical devices will do it. A plane without a pilot can do it -- and the plane is not a warrior. The
           quality is lost. The warrior was facing, encountering the enemy, face to face.
                Just imagine two persons with drawn swords encountering each other: can they think? If they
           think they will miss. Thinking stops; when swords are drawn thinking stops. They cannot plan
           because if they plan, in that moment the other will hit. They move spontaneously, they become
           no-minds. The danger is so much, the possibility of death is so near, that the mind cannot be allowed
           to function. The mind needs time; in emergencies the mind cannot be allowed. When you are sitting
           in your chair you can think, but when you are facing an enemy you cannot think.
                If you pass through a street, a dark street, and suddenly you see a snake, a dangerous snake
           sitting there, what will you do? Will you start thinking? No, you will jump. And this jump will not
           be out of your mind because the mind needs time, and snakes don't have any time; they don't have
           any mind. The snake will strike you -- so the mind cannot be allowed. While facing a snake you
           jump, and that jump comes out of your being; it comes before thought. You jump first and then you
           think. This is what I mean by the quality of a warrior: action comes without thinking, action is
           without mind; action is total. You can become a warrior without going to war, there is no need to go
           to war.
                The whole of life is an emergency, and everywhere there are enemies and snakes, and ferocious
           wild animals ready to attack you. The whole of life is a war. If you are alert you will see that the
           whole of life is a war, and any moment you can die; so the emergency is permanent. Be alert, be like
           a warrior as if moving amidst the enemy. Any moment, from anywhere, death can jump on you;
           don't allow the mind. And be a gambler -- only gamblers can take this jump. The jump is so much
           that those who think of profit cannot take it. It is a risk, the greatest risk; you may be lost and nothing
           may be gained. When you come to me you may lose everything and you may not gain anything.
                I will repeat one of Jesus' sayings: Whosoever clings to life, whosoever tries to preserve it, will
           lose it; and whosoever is ready to lose it will preserve it.
                This is talking in the language of a gambler: Lose it -- this is the way to preserve it. Die -- that is
           the way to reach the eternal life, the immortal life.
                When I say a businessman, I say a calculating, cunning mind. Don't be cunning minds. No child
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is ever a businessman, and it is difficult to find an old man who is not a businessmen. Every child is
           a warrior and every old man is a businessman. How every warrior becomes a businessman is a long
           story: the whole society, education, culture, conditioning, makes you more and more fearful, afraid.
           You cannot take a risk and everything that is beautiful is risky. Love is a risk. Life is a risk. God is a
           risk.
                God is the greatest risk, and through mathematics you will not reach -- only through taking the
           ultimate risk, putting everything that you have at stake. And you don't know the unknown; the
           known you risk and the unknown you don't know.
                The business mind will say,"What are you doing -- losing that which you have for that which no
           one knows exists or not? Preserve that which is in hand and don't long for the unknown." The
           warrior mind says, "The known has been known already, now there is nothing in it; it has become a
           burden and to carry it is useless. The unknown must be known now, and I must risk the known for
           the unknown."
                And if you can risk, totally risk, not preserving anything, not playing tricks with yourself, not
           withholding anything, suddenly the unknown envelops you. And when it comes you become aware
           that it is not only the unknown, it is the unknowable. It is not against the known, it is beyond the
           known. To move in that darkness, to move in that uncharted place without any maps and without any
           pathways, to move alone into that absolute, the quality of the warrior is needed.
                Many of you still have a little of it left because you were once children; you were all warriors,
           you were all dreamers of the unknown. That childhood is hidden but it cannot be destroyed; it is
           there, it still has its own corner in your being. Allow it to function; be childlike and you will be
           warriors again. That's what I mean.
                And don't feel depressed because you run a shop and you are a businessman. Don't feel
           depressed; you can be a warrior anywhere. To take risks is a quality of the mind, a childlike quality
           -- to trust and to move beyond that which is secure.




                                                A Bird on the Wing
                                                     Chapter #8
                                         Chapter title: Zen Without Writing
           17 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406170
              ShortTitle: WING08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              THE ZEN MASTER MU-NAN HAD ONLY ONE SUCCESSOR. HIS NAME WAS SHOJU.
              AFTER SHOJU HAD COMPLETED HIS STUDY OF ZEN, MU-NAN CALLED HIM INTO HIS ROOM
              AND SAID, "I AM GETTING OLD, AND AS FAR AS I KNOW YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL
              CARRY ON THIS TEACHING. HERE IS A BOOK. IT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM MASTER
              TO MASTER FOR SEVEN GENERATIONS, AND I HAVE ALSO ADDED MANY POINTS
              ACCORDING TO MY UNDERSTANDING. THIS BOOK IS VERY PRECIOUS, AND I AM GIVING IT
              TO YOU TO REPRESENT YOUR SUCCESSORSHIP."
              SHOJU REPLIED, "PLEASE KEEP THE BOOK. I RECEIVED YOUR ZEN WITHOUT WRITING, AND
              I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH IT, THANK YOU."
              MU-NAN REPLIED, "I KNOW THAT, BUT THIS GREAT WORK HAS BEEN CARRIED FROM
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               MASTER TO MASTER FOR SEVEN GENERATIONS, AND IT WILL BE A SYMBOL OF YOUR
               LEARNING. HERE, TAKE THE BOOK." THE TWO WERE TALKING IN FRONT OF A FIRE, AND
               THE INSTANT SHOJU FELT THE BOOK IN HIS HANDS HE THRUST IT INTO THE FLAMES.
               MU-NAN, WHO HAD NEVER IN HIS LIFE BEEN ANGRY BEFORE, SHOUTED, "WHAT ARE YOU
               DOING?"
               AND SHOJU SHOUTED BACK, "AND WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"


                All books are dead, and that is how it should be; they cannot be alive. All scriptures are
           graveyards, they cannot be anything else. A word, the moment it is uttered, goes wrong. Unuttered, it
           is okay; uttered, it is falsified by the very utterance.
                Truth cannot be said, cannot be written, cannot be indicated in any way. If it can be said, you will
           attain to truth just by hearing it; if it can be written, you will attain to truth just by reading it; if it can
           be indicated, you will attain to truth by mere indication. This is not possible, there is no way to
           transfer truth to you; there exists no bridge. It cannot be given, it cannot be communicated.
                But people become addicted to scriptures, books, words, theories, because for the mind it is easy
           to understand a theory, it is easy to read a book, it is easy to carry a tradition. With anything dead the
           mind is always the master; with anything alive the mind becomes the slave.
                So the mind is always afraid of life; it is the dead part in you. Just as I said that hairs and nails
           are dead parts of your body, the parts that have died already and that the body is throwing out, so the
           mind is the dead part of your consciousness. It is the part that has already become dead, and the
           consciousness wants to get rid of it.
                What is the mind? It is the past, the memory, the accumulated experience. But the moment you
           have experienced the thing, it is dead. Experiencing is in the present, experience is in the past.
                Why are you listening to me? Just in the moment, just here and now, it is an experiencing, it is an
           alive process, but the moment you say, "I have heard," it has become dead, it has become an
           experience. While listening to me the mind is not there, you are there. The moment the mind comes
           in it says, "I have understood, I have heard, I know." What do you mean? You mean the mind has
           taken possession. The word can be possessed by the mind -- anything dead can be possessed by the
           mind; and only dead things can be possessed. If you try to possess a live thing there are only two
           ways: either you will not be able to possess it, or you will have to kill it first and then you can
           possess it. So wherever there is possession, there is murdering, killing.
                If you love a person, love in itself is an experiencing, a moment-to-moment flow with no past
           being carried; the river remains fresh. But the mind says, "Possess this woman, possess this man,
           because who knows about the future? Possess! She may escape, she may go to somebody else, she
           may fall in love with someone else. Possess her and block all the ways of escape, close all the doors
           so she remains always yours." The mind has entered and now this woman will be killed, now this
           man will be murdered. There will be a husband, there will be a wife, but there will not be two live
           persons.
                And this is the mischief the mind goes on doing everywhere. The moment you say, "I love," it
           has become an experience, it is already dead. Loving is something else; it is a process. Why when in
           love can you not say, "I love?" That would be profane. How can you say, "I love?" In love you are
           not, the possessor is not, so how can you say, "I love?" In love there is no 'I'; love is there of course
           but you are not.
                While an experience is alive, experiencing, there is no ego. The process is there and you can say
           love is there, but you cannot say, "I love." In that love you have dissolved, you have merged and
           melted. Anything live, alive, is greater than you; anything dead and the mind can jump, just like a cat
           jumps on a mouse and catches hold of it.
                Truth cannot be delivered, there is no way to deliver it. Once delivered it is dead, it has already
           become untrue.
                Lao Tzu insisted on not saying anything about the truth his whole life. Whenever someone asked
           about truth he would say many things, but he would not say anything about the truth; he would avoid
           it. In the end he was forced to say something. Disciples, lovers, said he should write because he had
           known something which was rarely known, he had become something which was unique -- there
           would be no Lao Tzu again. So he wrote a small book, Tao Te Ching, but the first thing he said in it
           was, "Tao cannot be said, Truth cannot be uttered. And the moment you utter it, it is already false."
           And then he said, "Now I can write at ease. I have declared the basic fact: uttered, truth becomes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           false; written, it has already gone wrong."
                Why is the word false? One thing: it always belongs to the past. Another thing: the word in itself
           cannot carry the experience to you. I say I am silent. You hear the words; the word in itself cannot
           carry the experience to you. I say I am silent. You hear the words -- the word silent is heard, but
           what do you understand? If you have never been silent, if you have never tasted it, if it has never
           stirred your heart, if it has never overwhelmed you, overpowered you, how can you understand? And
           if it has overpowered you, if there has been a gap when you disappeared and silence was there, there
           will be no need for me to talk about silence. The moment you see me, you will know; the moment
           you come near me, you will feel. The word will not be needed.
                The word is needed because you don't know, this is the problem. Because you don't know, the
           word is needed, so how can the word express? That which you don't know, the word cannot say to
           you. The word may be heard, you may memorize it, you may understand the meaning written in the
           dictionary -- what silence means is written in the dictionary, and you know it already -- but that is
           not the meaning.
                When I say I am silent, the silence that I am here is not written in the dictionary, cannot be
           written in the dictionary, cannot be written there. If you are silent you will understand, but then there
           is no need to say. If you are not silent whatsoever you understand will be wrong -- but then there is
           need to say.
                I have heard a story. Once a villager entered a big bank; many people were coming and going
           and much business was going on. Suddenly the villager cried, shouted at the top of his voice, "Did
           somebody drop a wad of notes with a rubber band around it?" Many people cried, "Yes, I did," and
           they ran towards him. A crowd gathered and everybody was claiming the money. The villager said,
           "I have found the rubber band."
                Whenever I say truth, whenever I say silence, you will only find the rubber band; the notes will
           be missing. The word will reach you but not with the weight of the notes. Those notes will be left
           behind -- they are in my heart; the word will reach but it is just a rubber band. It may have been
           around the notes, but still it is just a rubber band.
                Truth is incommunicable, but then what have masters been doing? They seem to be involved in
           an absurd activity. Yes, that is right: they are trying to say something which cannot be said, and they
           are indicating something which cannot be indicated. They are trying to communicate something
           which has never been communicated and never will be communicated. Then what are they doing?
           Their whole effort is absurd, but still there is something in their effort -- their compassion.
                Knowing well that I cannot say that which I want to say, the easiest course is that I should
           remain silent, because if I know it cannot be said then why bother? You cannot understand my
           words, but will you be able to understand my silence? So it is a trial between two evils.
                It is better I remain silent; that would be more consistent. It cannot be said therefore I should
           remain silent. But will you be able to understand my silence? The word you may not be able to
           understand but you can hear it, and some possibility is open. Hearing it continuously, you may
           become aware of something which has not been said in the word. Listening to me, by and by, you
           may become aware of me, not of what I am saying. The word will help, just as a bait -- you may be
           caught in the net. But if I am silent, you will pass by my side. You will not even become aware that I
           am there, and even that possibility will be lost.
                So when masters speak, they don't speak to tell the truth that cannot be told. They have a choice:
           either they can remain silent or they can talk. With silence you will miss them completely. With
           words a possibility opens, not a certainty because everything depends on you, but a possibility
           opens. Listening continuously to a buddha you will someday become silent, because just being near
           a buddha is being near a pool of silence, an energy, a tremendous energy which has become silent.
           This is what Indians call satsang -- to be near the truth. It is not a question of communication. Just to
           be near the truth can be infectious -- just as you come near a river and the breeze becomes cooler.
           You may not see the river; it may still be far away, but the breeze carries the message and you feel a
           coolness coming.
                When you come near a buddha the words are carrying just such a coolness -- buddha is
           somewhere near. You may start groping for him; you may be lost in his words. Then you are lost in
           the forest and the river is missed. But if you are alert, intelligent, then, by and by, you will feel from
           where this wind is blowing, from where these words are coming. And these words carry a silence
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           around them. It may be just a rubber band, but that rubber band has been in deep contact with the
           notes. It carries something, something of the sound from where this breeze is coming. If you can
           follow intelligently sooner or later you will reach the source.
                The words of a buddha may not be able to communicate the truth, but they can communicate the
           music, the music that exists in one who is enlightened. They carry the melody, something of the
           source, a tiny part, a very tiny part, but something of the source. It should be so, because when a
           word comes out of a buddha it carries something of the buddha. It has to be so. The word has been
           vibrating in his being, it has been in touch with buddha's heartbeat, it has passed through the
           buddha's silence, it has been in the womb, the womb of the buddha. It carries the scent, the
           fragrance. It is a very far off cry, but still....
                You may be lost in the words -- then you miss the buddha -- but if you are aware that the word
           cannot carry the truth, then you will always put aside the word and follow the perfume, put aside the
           word and follow the music, put aside the word and follow the presence. If I suddenly say, "Hey!"
           you look at me. The word is meaningless, but the look.... Suddenly you become aware of me. That
           awareness has to be followed, so then, words can become a help. They may not tell the truth but they
           can become a help, a step towards the truth.
                This story is beautiful. A master is on his dying bed, and soon he has to leave this earth and its
           vehicle, the body, and he would like to have a successor who can carry the flame that he has kindled,
           one who will be able to continue the work that he has started. He chooses a disciple, calls him near,
           and says to him, "You are the most capable of those around me and you are going to be my
           successor. You will have to continue this work. For seven generations a book has been passed from
           the master to the disciple who is going to be the successor. I received this book from my master and I
           give it to you. It is a very precious, a unique treasury. Seven enlightened persons have noted down
           their experiences of truth in it, and I have also added a few of my own understandings. Preserve it.
           Don't lose it; don't let it be lost."
                The disciple said, "But I have achieved the experience without any book, and I am happy and
           blissful. I am not even a little bit dissatisfied, so why add this burden to me, why give an
           unnecessary responsibility to me? I have already experienced the truth and the book was not needed.
           It is unnecessary."
                The master still insisted, "Much that is valuable is written in it. It is no ordinary book, it isthe
           book, The Bible. So don't be sacrilegious, pay respect to this book, keep it and hand it over to your
           successor. By giving this book to you I certify this book is a representation that you are my
           successor."
                The master gave the book to the disciple. It must have been a cold night because the fire was
           burning. In one hand the disciple received the book, and in the same instant he thrust it into the fire.
           The master, who had never been angry in his life, shouted, "What are you doing?"
                And the disciple shouted, even louder than the master, "What are you saying?"
                This is beautiful, the master must have died peacefully. This was the right man. The book had to
           be thrust into the fire or the disciple would have missed. If he had kept the book he would have
           missed, and then he would not have been the successor. You keep the book only when the thing has
           not happened to you. Who is bothered about words when the truth is with you? Who is bothered
           about a book when the real thing has happened within? Who is bothered about explanations when
           the experience is there? Explanations are precious because the experience is lacking; theories are
           significant because there is no knowledge. When you know, you can throw theories -- they are
           rubber bands. And when the notes are with you, you can throw the rubber band. Preserving a rubber
           band shows foolishness.
                This book was not precious -- no book is precious -- and the master was playing a game, the
           same that his master must have played with him. Nobody knows what was written in the book, but I
           tell you nothing was written in it. It was empty. Had the disciple preserved it, when the master died
           he would have opened it, and then he would have cried. Nothing was written in the book. It was just
           a game, an old game. Every master tries to test the experience of a disciple, whether he knows. And
           if he knows, he will not be addicted to the book. Why? -- there is no point in it. That is why the
           disciple said, "What are you saying? To preserve the book when I have achieved without it, when I
           have already achieved? What are you saying?
                The master provoked a situation, and in that situation the disciple proved his mettle. He proved
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that he knew. Even a slight inclination to preserve and he would have missed, he would not have
           been the successor. He didn't even look in the book to see what was there. He was not even curious,
           because only ignorance is curious. If you know, you know.
                What is curiosity? What would have happened to you? The first thing the mind would have said
           was: At least look in it, see what is there. But that gesture would have been enough to prove that you
           had not achieved. Curiosity means ignorance. Wisdom is not curious. Curiosity asks questions;
           wisdom has no questions to ask.
                What would you have done? The first thing that comes to the mind: At least see what is there. If
           my master insists that this precious book has to be preserved, handed down from one generation to
           another with seven enlightened persons having written in it, and with my own master having added
           his own understanding to it, at least have a look before you throw it in the fire.
                But I tell you -- if he had looked, he would have been thrown out of the house with the book: Get
           out, and never come back again! He acted out of a deep understanding. How can the master who
           knows insist that the book is precious? There must be some game. The master had never been angry,
           never in his life, and suddenly he was angry and said, "What are you doing?" He created the whole
           situation.
                In the anger the disciple may have yielded, may have said, "I have done something wrong,
           forgive me. This is how the mind functions. The mind might have come in and thought, "I have done
           something wrong. The master may not appoint me as successor now. If my master is so angry, it
           means I have done something wrong, and I may miss being the successor. I was going to be the
           chief, I was going to be the master of the monastery and millions would have followed me.
           Thousands would have been my disciples, and now I have done something wrong. A man who has
           never been angry is angry, shouting."
                If you had been there, you would have touched the feet of the master and said, "Forgive me, but
           appoint me." But the disciple said, "And what are you saying?" If the master can play at anger the
           disciple can also play. but this can happen only when both know. He answered in the right coin. He
           answered correctly and the master was satisfied: This is the man. He became the successor, he was
           the successor.
                But this has been done by every religion: they preserve books and do nothing else. Christians
           preserve their Bible, Mohammedans preserve their Koran, Hindus preserve their Gita -- and they
           have missed. They are not the successors. Mohammedans do not belong to Mohammed; they cannot
           belong. The Koran must be in the fire before they can belong. Christians don't know anything about
           Christ because they preserve The Bible, and Hindus have no understanding of Krishna because of
           the Gita -- they go on carrying the burden. All the Vedas, and all the Bibles, and all the Korans are
           for those who don't understand. They carry the burden and the burden becomes so much that they are
           crushed under it, they are not freed through it, they become slaves to it.
                A religious person is always beyond the book; a religious consciousness is never addicted to
           words and the verbal. The whole thing is childish. A religious man is in search of authentic
           experience, not borrowed words, not experiences of others. Unless he knows -- buddhas may have
           existed, but they are useless. Unless he knows, there is no truth because truth can only be his
           experience. Only then is it there. The whole world may say there is light and there is a rainbow in
           the sky and the sun is rising, but if my eyes are closed what does it mean to me? The rainbow, the
           colors, the sunrise, the whole thing is nonexistential to me. My eyes are closed, I am blind. And if I
           listen to them too much, and if I start believing in them too much, and if I borrow their words and I
           also start talking about the rainbow that I have not seen, about colors which I cannot see, about the
           sunrise which is not my experience, I may be lost in the forest of words.
                It is better to say, "I am blind. I don't know any color and I don't know any light, and unless my
           eyes open, there is no sun and there can be no sunrise." Insist, so that you can work upon your eyes.
           Don't carry the books; they talk about rainbows seen by others, they talk about sunrises experienced
           by others. Don't carry the borrowed God when you can encounter him directly, immediately. Why
           create barriers of books between you and him? Burn the books! -- that is the message -- throw them
           in the fire.
                That doesn't mean go and throw your Gita in the fire -- that will not be of much help, because if a
           Gita cannot help towards truth how can burning a Gita be helpful? That is not the point. You can
           throw away all the books and you can remain addicted to theories, doctrines. When I say burn the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           books, I say: Burn the mind, drop the mind. Don't be verbal. Seek authentic experience. But your
           inquiry may have arisen out of the books -- that is the problem -- your questions may have arisen out
           of books. If your questioning is itself bookish, your whole inquiry has started in a wrong direction.
                People come to me and ask, "What is God?" And I ask them, "Did this question come out of your
           own life or have you read some book which talks about God and so you have become curious? If
           your curiosity has arisen out of learning it is useless. It is not your question. And if the question is
           not yours, no answer can be of any help. When the basic thing is borrowed, when even the question
           is borrowed, you will go on borrowing the answers. Seek your authentic question. What is your
           question?"
                I have heard about a philosopher who entered a London car showroom. He looked around and
           became fascinated with a beautiful car, a streamlined sports car. The salesman became alert because
           he was looking so interested. He came nearer and asked, "Are you interested in this car?"
           The man said, "Yes, I am interested. Is it fast?"
                The salesman said, "Fast? You cannot find a faster car than this. If you get in it right now, by
           tomorrow morning at three o'clock, you will be in Aberdeen. Are you really interested in buying it?"
           The philosopher said, "I will think about it."
                The next day he came and said, "No, I don't want to purchase that car. The whole night I couldn't
           sleep. I remained awake thinking and thinking and thinking, and I could not find any reason why I
           should like to be in Aberdeen at three o'clock in the morning."
                Whenever you read a book, ask, inquire, for what reason you would like to be in Aberdeen at
           three o'clock in the morning.
                You read a book. You read something about God, you read something about moksha, you read
           something about the soul, you read something about bliss -- you become fascinated -- words of those
           who know are really fascinating -- but you forget completely for what reason you would like to
           encounter God. Just by reading a book, just by reading a man -- for example, reading Jesus -- you
           will become fascinated, because this man is drunk with God, his every word is alcoholic. If you hear
           him, you will feel drunk. But close the Bible, escape from this Jesus, brood over whether this is your
           inquiry or whether this man has sold his inquiry to you. With another's inquiry your own search
           becomes false.
                The first thing to remember is: your question must be yours. Then the second thing to remember
           is: the answer must be yours. Books supply both. That's why I said: Burn the books and be authentic.
           Come out of the jungle of words and feel what you want, what your desire is, and follow it
           wheresoever it leads. Sooner or later you will come to the divine. It may take a little longer, but the
           search will be real.
                If all books were burnt, the world would be more religious. There are so many books and
           readymade answers that everybody knows the question, the answer. It has become a game; it is not
           your life. The world should be freed of books, should be freed of all ideals, should be freed of all
           borrowed inquiries. Every man should start feeling his own heartbeat, his own pulse -- where it
           leads, what it desires, what his question is. If you can find your question, the answer is waiting just
           nearby. It may be that in finding the question you have already found the answer, because the answer
           lies in authenticity. If the question is authentic, if you have become authentic in questioning, fifty
           percent of the problem is already solved. Just a little more effort, going a little deeper, and the
           question always hides the answer behind it.
                Questioning is just one aspect of the coin. The other aspect is the answer. Just behind
           questioning, the answer is lying waiting for you. But if you have not come to your question, how can
           you come to your answer? And only the answer that is yours will free you, will make you free.
                Jesus says truth liberates. Yes, truth liberates, but never borrowed truth. Jesus' truth will not
           liberate you. But Christians believe that Jesus' truth will liberate them. Not only that, they think that
           just by Jesus' crucifixion humanity is already liberated. This is being blind, absolutely blind. Nothing
           is liberated, nobody is liberated; salvation has not happened. Jesus was crucified, that's okay, but
           through Jesus' crucifixion Jesus was liberated, not you. The whole thing seems to be a trick. Jesus
           died on the cross and humanity, particularly Christianity, is liberated; one who is a Christian is
           already liberated.
                This is how the mind thinks: it goes on throwing responsibility onto somebody else. If you are a
           sinner you are a sinner because Adam sinned and was thrown out of heaven, and now you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           liberated because Jesus has again entered the kingdom of God. So Adam and Jesus are the authentic
           persons; you are just shadows. Adam sins, and you have become a sinner -- so who are you? You are
           a shadow. Adam is thrown out of heaven, therefore you are thrown out. This can happen only to a
           shadow, not to a real person. If I am thrown out of this house, only my shadow will be thrown with
           me, nothing else. And if I enter the kingdom of God, only my shadow will enter with me; you cannot
           enter.
               Jesus solved everything. He entered the kingdom of God, and all humanity entered with him.
           Nobody has entered, nobody can enter in such an easy way. You have to pay the cost, you have to
           carry your own cross, you have to be crucified through suffering -- your suffering, remember.
           Neither Jesus' suffering, nor anybody else's will open the doors. They are closed, and you cannot
           enter just following Jesus. Nobody can enter that way. The doors open for the individual, because the
           individual is the authentic reality.
               The disciple said, "I have already entered, master, so why are you giving this map to me? A map
           is needed for one who is lost -- but I have reached the goal, so why this map?"
               And the master said, "The map is very precious. All the paths are indicated on it."
               Would the disciple hesitate for a single moment? The master's penetrating eyes were searching
           his heart to see if he would hesitate, if he would say, "Okay, maybe the master is right and the map is
           precious...." But what does a man need a map for when he has reached the goal? So he threw the
           book in the fire, he threw away the map. I have heard: A man driving his car on a lonely road
           suspected that he had missed the path, suspected that he was moving in a wrong direction. He saw a
           beggar walking, so he stopped the car and asked the beggar, "Does this road lead to Delhi?"
           The beggar said, "I don't know."
           So the man asked, "Does this road lead to Agra?"
           The beggar said, "I don't know."
               The man, who was already irritated, became more irritated, and said to the beggar in anger, "So
           you don't know much." The beggar laughed and said, "But I am not lost."
               So the question is not of knowledge. The question is whether you are lost or not. The beggar
           said, "But I am not lost. Whether I know or not is not the point." When you are lost a map is needed,
           knowledge is needed, a book is needed. When you are not lost, what is the point of carrying a book,
           a map? And an enlightened person is at the goal everywhere. Wherever he is, is the goal. Once you
           become aware that you are the goal you cannot be lost.
               The beggar is not lost. Why? -- because he is not going to Delhi, he is not going to Agra, he is
           not going anywhere. Wherever he reaches, that is the goal. He is not lost because he is not moving in
           any direction; he is not lost because there is no desired goal.
               This disciple threw away the map because there is no goal. He is the goal now. Wherever he is,
           he is at peace, at home. There is no desire and no motivation. The future has disappeared, this
           moment is enough.
               Throw away all the maps because you are the goal. Maps can help if the goal is somewhere else;
           maps cannot help if you are the goal. They may even distract you, because when you look at a map
           you cannot look at yourself Books cannot help, because you are the truth and there is no book in
           which you are written. The book is you, no other book. Here you are, written in this book, which is
           you. You have to be deciphered, and if you are wrong all books that you carry will go wrong. All
           maps that you carry will be wrong and will indicate wrongly, because who will read those books and
           who will follow the instructions indicated in the map?
               I have heard: A man was driving and his wife was looking at the map. Suddenly the wife cried
           out in panic and said, "We are lost -- because this map is upside down. The map is upside down. We
           are lost!"
               The map can be put right side up; no map is upside down by itself. But the wife must have been
           upside down. If you are upside down all the books you read will turn upside down. If you are
           disturbed it will be reflected in your Koran, in your Bible, in your Gita; if you are mad your
           interpretations of the Vedas will be mad; if you are afraid you will meet fear wherever you go.
           Whatsoever you do your doing will come out of you; your interpretations will come out of you and
           you will be wrong.
               So a master is not interested in giving you a right book. There are none. No right book exists,
           only right people and wrong people, right persons and wrong persons. A real master is interested in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           putting you right side up. A master is interested in changing you, the person; he is not interested in
           giving you a book.
               That's why the disciple said, "What are you saying? Such a nonsensical thing you have never
           said before. You have gone mad saying: Keep, preserve the book, it is precious!"
               No book is precious. Only the person is precious. But when you don't know your value you think
           the book is precious. When you don't know the precious value of your being, then every type of
           theory becomes valuable. Words are valuable because you have not known the value of the being.
           Anything more?

              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE WILL BE A PRECIOUS VALUE TO THIS BOOK WHEN IT COMES OUT, BECAUSE IT CAN
              TELL PEOPLE THAT THERE IS A BUDDHA AVAILABLE NOW, AND THAT HE HAS METHODS
              SUITABLE TO THE TIME AND TO US.
              BUT ONE OF THE QUESTIONS WHICH HAS ARISEN HERE AND WILL CERTAINLY ARISE IN
              THE WEST IS: HOW DO I KNOW I NEED A MASTER?


               Yes, this book is going to be very precious. Keep, preserve it. Seven generations of masters have
           given it to me and I have given it to you. Now it depends on what you do. I have added my
           understanding to it, but as far as I'm concerned I am giving you this book just to throw in the fire.
           The day you can throw it in the fire will be the day you have understood it. If you go on preserving it
           you have missed.
               But the book is needed, because if it is not there what will you throw in the fire? It is needed.
           Try to preserve it -- it is very precious -- and when you understand you will throw it in the fire.
               So I am not saying give only the Koran to the fire; give my books to the fire also, because they
           can be more dangerous than the Koran and Gita and Bible which have become out of date in a sense.
           You are very, very far away from Mohammed, even further away from Krishna. Their voices have
           become very, very distant, dim things. My voice is nearer to you. It is immediate; it is direct. It may
           become a greater prison for you, because it is more alive right now. It can capture you; it can become
           more of a burden. If a living master can free you, a living master can become more of a prison also.
           It depends.
               There are directions in the book. It is a map, a map into the world of consciousness, a map of
           how to get roots into the earth, a map of how to get wings into the sky. But trees don't need it. If I tell
           them how to get roots into the earth they will say, "Don't disturb us, we have already got roots into
           the earth" If I tell them how to get wings into the sky they will say, "Don't disturb the silence. We are
           always standing in the sky, swaying in the sky." And if I tell them to preserve this book they will
           laugh, and if they can find a fire they will throw the book in it.
               So what am I saying? I am saying to you: Get roots and throw away the maps; get wings and
           throw away the maps. Don't get fixed on what I say, don't be obsessed with what I say. Put the words
           aside and look at me. And what I hope is that one day, if I say, "Preserve this book," you will be able
           to shout at me and say, "What are you saying? Have you gone mad?" You can say that without
           reaching the point where it becomes meaningful -- but you cannot deceive me. You can throw the
           book into the fire without throwing the attachment. Then you are imitating. Imitation won't help.
           Buddhas have existed on the earth, disciples have existed; everything has happened that can happen
           and everything is written. You may decide you can imitate, but imitation won't help.
               It happened once that a man came to a Zen master. He had read all the scriptures, memorized
           them, and had become a great philosopher because he was very efficient at using words, logic. And
           this Zen master was just a villager, just like the beggar who said, "I am not lost." He had never read
           the Lotus Sutra, one of the greatest Buddhist scriptures, worth preserving, always keeping near. Just
           as there are bedside books, so the Lotus Sutra is a heartside book; it is concerned with the heart. The
           lotus is the symbol for the heart: fully bloomed, in full bloom, it is the heart. And Buddhists think
           there is nothing comparable to the Lotus Sutra.
               This man had memorized the whole Lotus Sutra. He could repeat it from anywhere. Ask any
           question and immediately he would answer -- like a computer, very efficiently. So he asked the Zen
           master, "Have you read the Lotus Sutra?"
               The Zen master said, "Lotus Sutra? Never heard of it."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The man, the pundit, the scholar, said, "Never heard of it? And people think you are
           enlightened!"
                The Zen master said, "People must be wrong. I am an ignorant man, how can I be enlightened?"
                The scholar was at ease now, so he said, "Now I will repeat the Lotus Sutra. Can you read?"
           The monk said, "I can't read."
                So the man said, "Okay, then listen to me and I will explain anything you want to ask."
                He had come to seek a master but now he had become a master. The ego never wants to be a
           disciple, it is always in search of being a master. How the buddha must have laughed at the situation!
           The master became the disciple, and the disciple became the master and said, "Listen."
                The master started listening. The disciple said, "Okay." He began to repeat the Lotus Sutra.
                In the Lotus Sutra, it is said everything is emptiness -- this world is empty, hell is empty, heaven
           is empty, God is empty, everything is emptiness. Emptiness is the nature of all things, nothingness,
           so be attuned to nothingness and you will achieve.
                Suddenly the master jumped and hit the pundit on the head. The pundit became mad. He started
           shouting and said, "Not only are you not enlightened, not only are you ignorant, you seem to be
           neurotic also. What are you doing?"
                The master sat again and said, "If everything is nothingness, from where does this anger come?
           The world is emptiness, heaven is emptiness, hell is emptiness, the nature of things is nothingness.
           From where does this anger come?"
                The pundit was puzzled. He said, "It is not written in the Lotus Sutra. You ask foolish questions.
           It is not written in the Lotus Sutra. The whole Sutra I have memorized -- and this is no way of asking
           a question, hitting me is no way of asking a question."
                But this is the only way. Theories are not of much help. You can say that everything is
           nothingness, but just a little hit and anger arises out of nothingness; a woman passes and sex arises
           out of nothingness; you look at a beautiful house and the desire to possess arises out of nothingness.
           When Buddha said everything is nothingness, he was saying: If you can understand this, nothing will
           arise. How can anything arise out of nothingness? Nothingness is a meditation, not a theory; it is a
           falling into the abyss. Then anger cannot arise and sex cannot arise -- how can they?
                There are two types of persons: one, those who are in search of theories -- and please don't be
           that type, because that is the most stupid type; and the other type is the wise type, those in search of
           experience, not of theories.
                This book and whatsoever I say can become a theory for you; then you miss. It can become a
           thirst, a hunger, a deep urge to experience; then you have got the point. But don't be addicted to the
           words; don't carry the container, remember the content. When the disciple threw the book into the
           fire he was throwing away the container; the content was preserved in his heart. And the master was
           happy that this man had understood: the container has to be thrown away and the content preserved.
                Whatsoever I say, throw it in the fire. But whatsoever happens to you in my presence, that is the
           content. Preserve it, it is precious. But there is no need to preserve it: if it happens, you will preserve
           it; if you know, it is preserved, and then there is no way to throw it in the fire. Only books can be
           thrown in the fire, truth cannot.
                That's why the disciple shouted, "What are you saying? Can a precious thing be thrown into the
           fire? Can a precious thing be burned in the fire? If the fire can burn your book, what type of
           preciousness is it? What type of truth is this? If the fire can burn the truth, it is not worth
           preserving."
                That which cannot be burned, that which cannot be dead, even through fire it becomes more
           alive, more pure -- that is the truth. That's why I said throw The Bible into the fire: not that I am
           against The Bible, I am against the container. The content cannot be thrown. The container is the
           Lotus Sutra. The content is in your lotus, and that is your heart.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THEY CAN'T REALLY LET THEMSELVES GO IN MEDITATION BECAUSE
              OF THE PHYSICAL PAIN, BECAUSE OF BUMPING INTO EACH OTHER AND FALLING DOWN.
              THEY FEEL THIS MAY BE SOME SORT OF EXCUSE FOR NOT REALLY LETTING GO.
              COULD YOU TALK TO US ABOUT THIS PHYSICAL ASPECT?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                A child can fall but he will not feel hurt. A drunkard, walking in the street, falls, but his body is
           preserved, his bones are not fractured. What is happening? The real thing is not the other bumping
           into you, the real thing is your resistance. You are afraid the other may bump into you, so you are
           resisting the whole time. Somebody may not bump into you, but you are afraid. Fear closes you, you
           become stiff, and if somebody then bumps into you that stiffness is hurt, not you. But you feel that
           you are hurt, and then your mind says, "You were right to be afraid from the very beginning, and it
           was good to be alert so that nobody would bump into you."
                The mind is a vicious circle. It gives you an idea, and because of that idea certain things happen.
           Then that idea becomes more fixed, you become more afraid, and then you are constantly in fear.
           How will you do meditation?
                In Japan they have a science of wrestling -- they call it judo or ju-jitsu -- and the whole science
           consists of a very meditative thing: the judo wrestler learns how not to resist. When somebody
           attacks you, you have to absorb his energy, not resist, as if he is giving energy to you. Absorb his
           energy; don't resist. He is not the enemy, he is the friend coming to you; and when he hits you with
           his hand or his fist much energy is released. Soon he will be exhausted, so absorb the energy that is
           released from his fist. When he is exhausted, just by absorbing his energy you will feel stronger,
           stronger than ever. But you resist, you shrink, you become stiff so that you may not be hurt. Then his
           energy and your energy clash, and in that clash pain happens. It is you.
                In meditation, remember this: if somebody bumps into you, absorb his energy. And here is a
           meditative person bumping into you -- you are lucky. He is releasing beautiful energy. A meditative
           energy is coming out of him; absorb it. Feel happy, feel thankful, and start jumping again. Don't be
           stiff, don't resist, because he was sharing his energy with you, unknowingly. Share it and soon you
           will come to know a different quality -- that of nonresistance. The whole body and mind then behave
           in a different way. You know a secret.
                You fall on the ground suddenly: fall as if the ground, the earth, is your mother. Make it a rest,
           not a clash. Fall down but don't be stiff. If you are stiff you may get a fracture; the fracture will
           happen because you were stiff and there was a fight between you and the earth. And the earth is, of
           course, greater than you so you will be a loser. Fall down just like a drunkard. You see them falling
           every day on the street, but by the morning they are back, completely okay. Every night they fall
           down and their bones are never fractured. These drunkards know a certain secret that you don't
           know. What do they know? They fall without any consciousness on their part, without any ego there.
           They just fall. There is nobody to fight with the earth. The earth absorbs them and they absorb the
           earth.
                Be a drunkard: fall without the ego. Enjoy the fall and feel friendly, intimate, with the earth.
           Soon you will be back on your feet with more energy than ever, and once you know the knack there
           will be no disturbance. You are hurt because you are in a fight, a continuous fight; you are hurt
           because you are always resisting. Consciously, unconsciously, you are always ready to resist. And
           when so many people are doing meditation you become afraid that somebody may hit you -- but if
           there is this fear, how will you meditate?
                Rather than being in fear, be in love. With so many persons meditating much divine energy is
           released. This is a celebration, so why be in fear? Be in love. Enjoy this group consciousness, so
           many people dancing. Become part, lose your ego, be one with this collective force and energy. It
           will be difficult in the beginning because many lives have been lived with a fixed attitude of
           resistance. But someday you will become aware; someday a gap will be cleared and you will see.
           One experience will do. If you someday fall on the earth and there is no hurt and you feel beautiful,
           you have come to know a secret, you have stumbled upon the key. Now this key can be used on
           many locks. It is a master key.
                Whenever someone comes to fight you, absorb him; when someone insults you, absorb him and
           see -- his insult becomes a flower. He is releasing energy. When someone insults you, he is giving
           away energy. He is foolish, stupid, so you absorb his energy, thank him, and go back and see what
           happens. When someone is ready to fight, simply allow him to hit you. Be as if you are not there and
           he is fighting an emptiness. Allow him, don't resist, and you will come to know. There is no other
           way; just listening to me will not do.
                This is an art, it is not a science. Science can be explained, art has to be experienced.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is just like swimming. If you tell a non-swimmer, "There is nothing to it, you just take a jump
           and start throwing your arms around," he will say, "What are you saying? This will be suicide." How
           can you explain to a non-swimmer that swimming is beautiful, the most beautiful experience of any
           that the body can give to you? It is such a flowing experience, such a oneness with the river. The
           whole body, every fiber of it, every cell, is alive. The water is life -- because all life arises out of the
           water. Water is vital. In your body you are eighty-five percent water, so eighty-five percent water,
           liquid, is meeting with a big river, or the ocean. You have come to the original source of vitality.
               But you cannot explain to anyone who is a non-swimmer. It is not a science. You have to take
           him step by step -- in the beginning shallow water so he becomes confident, then by and by deeper
           and deeper water. In the beginning he will be awkward, he will be afraid, he will be fighting with the
           river, afraid that it might drown him. He will feel the river as being antagonistic, but soon he will
           realize that the river is not antagonistic, that it enjoys him swimming there, that it feels happy that
           one of its parts has come back. It is a celebrating moment for the river. A river with no one
           swimming in it is sad, but where many people dance and swim and enjoy, the river is happy. Soon he
           will feel that the river is helping him, that he is unnecessarily fighting, and by and by he will drop his
           movements and activity. When a swimmer becomes perfect he simply floats on the river. No activity
           is needed; the river does everything and the swimmer simply floats on the river.
               In old yoga traditions there is a particular meditation -- just float on the river and feel one with it.
           Don't make any movement, don't move the body, let the river do the work. And if the river is doing
           the work and you are simply floating, nondoing, you will have the feeling of the whole existence.
           This is how existence floats. You are unnecessarily fighting.
               In meditation you are entering a river of consciousness. So many people around you creates a
           tremendous force, a stream. Enter into it like a swimmer, not fighting, just floating, and see what
           happens. It is an art.
               I cannot tell you, I can just indicate, and you have to experience. You have to wait until the
           experience happens to you, a single moment of experience that nobody is against you, nobody is
           going to harm you. The existence is whole, there will be no hurt.
               And I say: Even if your bone is broken there will be no pain, there will be no hurt. If you fall
           down and you die, even then there will be no pain. If you are just falling back to mother earth there
           will be no pain. You are simply absorbed.
               And who knows? -- in meditation, just someone bumping into you may become your first
           glimpse of an enlightenment, because it is a shock -- a sudden awareness comes to you. Who knows?
           -- just falling on the ground and breaking a bone may become your first satori, your first
           enlightenment. Nobody knows -- life is mysterious. Enlightenment has happened in such different
           ways. Nobody knows.
               Do it in love. Feel at home and allow things. If somebody bumps into you, let him bump. And let
           him pass through you. Don't be a wall; don't come in his way. Allow him to pass. Be porous.




                                                 A Bird on the Wing
                                                     Chapter #9
                                              Chapter title: Save the Cat
           18 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406180
              ShortTitle: WING09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




    BELOVED OSHO,
              NANSEN FOUND TWO GROUPS OF MONKS SQUABBLING OVER THE OWNERSHIP OF A CAT.
              NANSEN WENT TO THE KITCHEN AND BROUGHT BACK A CHOPPER. HE PICKED UP THE CAT
              AND SAID TO THE MONKS, "IF ANY OF YOU CAN SAY A GOOD WORD, YOU CAN SAVE THE
              CAT."
              NOT A WORD WAS SAID, SO NANSEN CUT THE CAT IN TWO AND GAVE HALF TO EACH
              GROUP.
              WHEN JOSHU RETURNED THAT EVENING, NANSEN TOLD HIM WHAT HAD HAPPENED.
              JOSHU SAID NOTHING. HE JUST PUT HIS SANDALS ON HIS HEAD AND WALKED OUT.
              NANSEN SAID, "IF YOU HAD BEEN THERE, YOU COULD HAVE SAVED THE CAT."


               Nothing is saved by the mind, by thinking, by logic, and if you try to save by logic you will lose.
           Life can be saved only through an irrational jump, through something that is not intellectual but
           total.
               But the whole story seems to be too cruel. Nansen's disciples were struggling over a cat. Nansen
           had a big monastery and the monastery had two wings. This cat was moving from one wing to
           another and both wings claimed that the cat belonged to them -- and the cat was a beautiful one.
               The first thing to be understood is: a real sannyasin cannot claim any ownership. A sannyasin
           means one who has left all possessions, or all possessiveness, which is deeper and more basic. You
           can leave possessions, that is easy; but to leave possessiveness is difficult because it goes deeper in
           the mind. You can leave the world, but the mind goes on clinging to it.
               These monks, Nansen's disciples, had left the world behind -- their homes, their wives, their
           children -- but now they were fighting over the ownership of a cat. This is how the mind works. You
           leave one thing and the mind claims another, but the basic thing remains the same and it makes no
           difference if the object of ownership changes -- it makes no difference. The difference, the
           revolution, the real change, comes only when the subjectivity changes, when the owner changes.
           This is the first thing to be understood. Monks claiming ownership of a cat looks foolish, but this is
           how monks have been acting all over the world. They leave their houses, then they claim ownership
           of the temple, of the church. They leave everything but they can't leave their minds, and the mind
           creates new worlds for them continuously.
               So it is not a question of possessing a kingdom; even a cat will do. And wherever possession
           comes in, fighting, violence and aggression are bound to be there. Whenever you possess, you are
           fighting, because that which you possess belongs to the whole. You cannot possess anything; you
           can use it, that's all. How can we possess the sky and how can we possess the earth? But we possess
           -- and that possession creates all types of conflict, struggle, wars, violence and so on.
               Man has been fighting and fighting and fighting continuously. Historians say that within the last
           three thousand years there have been wars almost continuously somewhere or other on the earth. In
           three thousand years, we have fought at least fourteen thousand wars. Why so much fighting? It is
           because of possession. If you possess you have started a war with the whole.
               Buddha, Mahavira or Jesus, all said, "If you possess, you can't enter the kingdom of God." Jesus
           said, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
           kingdom of heaven." It is impossible, because when you possess you are constantly fighting with
           God. When you claim ownership, from whom are you claiming ownership? The whole belongs to
           the whole; the part cannot claim the whole. The part cannot even claim the part. Every claim is
           aggression. So those who possess cannot be in deep contact with the divine.
               Nonpossessiveness doesn't mean you should not live in a house. Live in a house, but be thankful
           to the whole, to the divine. Use it but don't possess it. If you can use things without being possessive
           you have become a sanysain.
               These followers of Nansen have left the world, but their minds have followed them like shadows.
           Now they claim ownership of a cat. The whole thing is foolish.
               But the mind is foolish. The mind always goes on searching for excuses to fight. If you have a
           mind you have a potential fighter within you who is always in search of a fight with somebody. Why
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is the mind always in search of a fight? By fighting, ego is accumulated, becomes stronger. Through
           fighting your ego grows; if you don't fight, ego disappears.
                Mahavira and Buddha both insisted on nonviolence. The basic reason for not fighting is that once
           you stop fighting the ego cannot exist. Ego exists in fight; it is a consequence of fight. The more you
           fight the more ego exists. If you alone remained on the earth, nobody to fight with, would you have
           an ego? You would not have an ego. The other is needed to create it; the other is a must. Ego is a
           relationship, it is not in you. Remember, the ego is not in you, it is not located within you. It is
           always located within you and the other -- somewhere in between, where fight exists.
                There are two types of relationship: one is of fight, fear, hatred -- this creates ego -- the other is
           of love, compassion, sympathy. These are the two types of relationship. Wherever love is, fight
           ceases, ego drops. This is why you cannot love. It is difficult, because to love means to drop the ego,
           to drop yourself. Love means not to be.
                So look at the strange phenomenon: lovers go on fighting. How can lovers fight? If there is love
           fight should drop and the ego will disappear. Your whole being thirsts for love, your whole mind
           thirsts for ego. So you make a compromise: you love and you fight. The lover becomes an intimate
           enemy, but the enmity remains. All lovers go on fighting and go on loving. They have made a
           compromise: in some moments they are loving, then they drop the ego. But the mind feels uneasy,
           and again the mind starts fighting. So in the morning they fight, in the evening they make love, and
           the next morning they fight again. Then a rhythm of fight and love is created.
                True love means the fight has disappeared, the two have become one. Their bodies exist
           separately but their being has mingled. The boundaries are lost, there is no division. There is no 'I'
           and no 'thou', no one exists.
                These monks of Nansen had left everything, but the mind was there. It wanted to possess, it
           wanted to create a fight, it wanted to be egoistic. A cat became just an excuse. Nansen called all the
           monks, all the disciples, caught hold of the cat, and he said, "Say something which can save this cat."
                What did he mean when he said, "Say something which can save this cat?" He meant: Say
           something Zen-like, say something meditative, say something of the other world, say something of
           ecstasy, say something which doesn't belong to the mind. This cat can be saved if you say something
           which comes from no-mind, which comes from your inner silence. He demanded the impossible. If
           there had been inner silence these monks would not have been claiming possession; if there had been
           inner silence it would have been impossible for them to fight.
                The monks were at a loss. They knew if they said something it would come from the mind and
           the cat would be killed, so they remained silent. But that silence was not real silence; otherwise the
           cat would have been saved. They remained silent not because they were silent; they remained silent
           because they couldn't find anything to say which came from no-mind, which came from an inner
           source, from the very being, from the center. They remained silent as a strategy. It was tactics: it is
           better to remain silent because the master may be deceived that this silence is our response -- this is
           what they were saying.
                But you cannot deceive a master. And if you can deceive a master, then that master is not a
           master at all. Their silence was false. Inside there was turmoil, inside there was continuous
           chattering. They were thinking and thinking, in search of one answer so that this cat might be saved.
           They were very troubled inside; the whole mind was functioning fast. The master must have looked
           at them. Their minds were not inactive, they were not inactive; there was no meditation, there was no
           silence. Their silence was just a false facade. You can sit silently without being silent and you can
           talk and be silent; you can walk and be inactive and you can sit statuelike and be active. The mind is
           complex. You can walk, run, move, and inside, deep at the center, nothing happens, you are inactive.
                I am talking to you and I am silent. You are not talking to me and you are not silent; the mind
           continues. The inner chattering goes on and on and on. The mind is a monkey, It cannot sit silently.
           Darwin discovered that man comes from the monkeys, but in the East meditators have always been
           aware that whether man comes from monkeys or not, the mind definitely comes from monkeys. It is
           monkeyish -- jumping, chattering, doing something or other, never silent.
                What Nansen said to his disciples was, "If you stop behaving like monkeys, this cat can be
           saved." But they couldn't help it. You cannot help it: if the mind is there what can you do? If you try
           to hold it still it becomes more active; if you force it to be silent it talks more; if you suppress it, it
           rebels. You cannot suppress it, you cannot persuade it; you cannot do anything about it, because the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moment you do something it is the mind which is doing. This is the problem.
               They all wanted to save the cat, they all wanted to possess the cat; the cat was really beautiful.
           But how can a mind which is possessive be silent? And how can a mind which is possessive save
           anybody? It can only kill.
               Remember, it was not Nansen who killed the cat, it was these monks who killed it; this is the
           secret key in the story. Nansen gave an opportunity. He said, "You can save this cat. Say something
           which comes from no-mind, from your very being. And if you don't say anything I am going to cut
           this cat and divide it in two so both parties can possess it." It was not Nansen who killed the cat. It
           seemed as though he killed it, but in fact the monks killed the cat. Whenever you possess a live
           thing, you have already killed it. Whenever you claim that you possess a live person, you have
           murdered, because life cannot be possessed. The cat was moving from this wing to that. The cat was
           alive, fully alive, more alive than these monks. She had no home, she didn't belong to anybody. She
           was just like a breeze -- sometimes passing through the left wing, sometimes passing through the
           right. And the cat never claimed that these monks belonged to her, or those monks belonged to her.
           She never possessed.
               Animals are nonpossessive, trees are nonpossessive; only man is possessive. And with
           possessiveness man has missed all that is alive. You can possess only a dead thing. The moment you
           possess you are making something dead. You love a woman and then you try to possess her: you kill
           her. A wife is a thing not a person; a husband is a thing not a person.
               This is the misery -- you love a person and then you start possessing. Unknowingly you are
           poisoning. And sooner or later the day will come when you have poisoned the person completely.
           Now you possess, but how can you love a thing? The love happened in the first place because the
           person was alive. Now the flow has stopped, now life doesn't move, now all the doors of freedom are
           closed. Now it has become a frozen thing. The river is frozen, now there is no movement. Certainly
           now this person cannot go to another. You possess him completely. But how can you love a dead
           person? This is the misery of love. You cannot love a dead person, yet whenever you love you start
           possessing. All possession creates death. Only things can be possessed.
               These monks had already killed the cat. Nansen was not going to kill it, he was only going to
           make manifest what had already happened. This story has been used against Zen monks, Zen
           masters, to show that these people are violent. Think of a Christian theologian reading this story: he
           will say, "What type of religious man is this Nansen? He killed the cat, a poor cat. Those monks who
           claimed it were better. At least they were not killing. What type of master is this? What manner of
           man?" If Jainas -- not Mahavira, if Jainas read this story, they will throw Nansen into hell. He has
           killed a cat.
               Nansen is violent in appearance only to those who cannot understand. To those who can
           understand he is simply manifesting a thing which has already happened. The cat was dead the
           moment it was possessed, the moment people started claiming it. He gave them one more
           opportunity, but they couldn't use that opportunity. They remained silent. But if the silence had been
           real the cat would have been alive. The silence was false, the silence was only on the surface, on the
           faces, skin-deep. Inside, the mad mind was functioning fast. It was whirling, spinning. Many answers
           must have come to those monks, but not the answer. So Nansen had to kill. He chopped the cat in
           two, one part to the left-wing claimers, another part to the right-wing claimers. Those monks must
           have been happy, happy in the sense that at least they possessed half the cat. That is what is
           happening to you all. Whenever you fight, life goes dead and is divided. A father and mother fight
           over a son -- there is continuous fighting over children. The father says that the son belongs to him,
           that he should follow him, and the mother thinks the son belongs to her, that he should follow her.
           Claiming, they are killing. Sooner or later the son will be divided in two halves, chopped. Half of the
           son will belong to the father, half to the mother. And his whole life is destroyed, because now it will
           be very difficult for him to be whole. Half of his heart will always belong to the mother and half
           always to the father. One half will be against the mother and one half will be against the father. Now
           he is divided. Now this division is going to follow him his whole life. He is chopped in two.
               This is what Nansen was saying by chopping the cat in two: Don't fight over a person, don't try to
           possess a person, because you will chop him. Visibly he may seem one, but deep down in his heart
           he has become two, and now there will be constant conflict.
               The mother and father were fighting over the son; now the mother may be dead and the father
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may be dead, but they will go on fighting within the son -- sometimes the voice of the mother,
           sometimes the voice of the father. The son will always be at a loss whom to follow, and he cannot be
           whole.
               You come to me in search of being whole, and I always say: To be whole is to be holy. There is
           no other way to be holy; just be whole. Divisions within you must fall, you must become a unity. But
           you are a conflict. Your father is fighting, your mother is fighting, your brothers are fighting, your
           teachers are fighting, your gurus are fighting -- everybody is fighting to possess you. There are many
           claimants. They have fragmented you, they have chopped you into many parts. You have become
           many, you are not one; you are a crowd. Neurosis comes out of it, madness comes out of it, comes
           out of it. Have you ever observed how many souls you have, many selves you have? You are not
           one, that is certain.
               In my university days I used to live with a boy. He would never get up in the morning at five, but
           every day he would set the alarm. So I asked him, "Why do you set it? Why do you bother? --
           because you never get up. You always turn the alarm off and go to sleep again. So why bother and
           why be disturbed every morning?
               He laughed, but his laugh was hollow. He knew himself that he would not get up. But in the
           evening another self said, "No, tomorrow morning I am going to get up."
               I said, "Okay, try." And at the time he was setting the alarm he was confident, absolutely
           confident that he would get up in the morning at five. There was no suspicion. But this was only one
           fragment who said, "Absolutely, you have to get up. You have slept enough. No more time is left;
           the exam is coming near."
               At five I was waiting for him. He looked at me when the alarm went off. He looked at me -- I
           was aware, I was sitting on my bed -- he smiled, put off the alarm, changed sides and went to sleep
           again.
               Later in the morning, at eight o'clock when he used to get up, I asked him about it. He said, "I
           thought, Just for a few minutes... And what is wrong in just sleeping for a few minutes more? I was
           feeling so sleepy, and the night was so cold. But tomorrow you will see, I will get up."
               These are two different fragments -- and he was not aware that the one who said, "Get up at
           five," was a different part, completely unaware of the part who would say, "Go to sleep. The night is
           very cold."
               You are doing the same: you decide a thing and the next moment you have simply forgotten what
           you decided. You say you are not going to be angry again, and even the next moment is very far
           away. If someone starts arguing with you, saying no, you will become angry. You may become
           angry because he is arguing -- immediately anger can come to you, and you had decided not to be
           angry. A divided house you are. There are many rooms in your house not connected with each other;
           the connections are broken, the bridges have dropped. You exist as a polypsychic being with many
           minds, so whatsoever you possess you will chop it. You are already chopped.
               Those monks could not save the cat because they were divided. Nansen was saying, "Do
           something, say something, in a whole way, in a holy way, undivided. Act as a unity and this cat can
           be saved." Not a single one could act, and the cat was chopped.
               A question arises: How could Nansen cut the cat? Is it just a parable, a symbolic story, or did he
           really chop the cat? There are people who would like to save Nansen; I am not one of them. He
           really did cut the cat. It is not a parable, it is not an anecdote, symbolic, metaphorical. No. Literally,
           it happened exactly the way it is said. He cut the cat in two. Could a saintly man do that? I say to
           you: Only a saintly man can do that.
               That's what Krishna said to Arjuna in the Gita: Then don't bother! Chop these fellows. These
           who are standing against you, cut them down, kill them, but remember only one thing: that which is
           hidden in them cannot be destroyed. Only the body can be destroyed, because the body is already
           dead. Only what is dead can be destroyed. What is alive remains alive; it is eternal, nothing can be
           done to it. Fire cannot burn it, weapons cannot cut it. NAINAM CHHINDANTI SHASTRANI -- no
           weapon can cut it, no fire can burn it -- only the form. But don't bother about the form, because form
           is unreal, it is part of illusion.
               This Nansen must have been in the same state of mind as Krishna, in the same state of
           consciousness as Krishna. He chopped the cat. He knows the soul of the cat cannot be destroyed; he
           knows that only the form can be changed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And one thing more which is very difficult to understand, because moralists have created so
           much confusion and smoke around it: when a cat is chopped by a Nansen, it is beneficial to the cat,
           is is a blessing to the cat. This cat must have been rare -- and now this cat will not be reborn as a cat,
           she will be reborn as a man. To be chopped by Nansen is a rare opportunity, and the cat must have
           been wandering around the monastery waiting for this moment.
                Nansen changed the form. The cat will be reborn as a higher being just because Nansen has
           chopped her.In that moment the cat was more silent than the monks, the cat was more ecstatic than
           the monks. And being chopped by Nansen is not an act of aggression, it is an act of love. Nansen
           freed the cat from the form, from the form of cat. She will be reborn as a higher being. But this is
           difficult to follow, and I am not telling you to go and free people from their forms so they will be
           reborn as higher beings. Don't chop anybody -- you would like to, you would enjoy it. But for
           Nansen, it was an act of deep prayer. He must have been watching this cat. This cat was no ordinary
           cat. There are animals who are crying out to be freed from their forms.
                It happened at a camp in Matheran. I was staying very far away from the campus ground. The
           first evening, when I was going to my bungalow, a dog followed -- really a rare dog. Then the dog
           remained continuously. Three times I would go to conduct the camp, and three times I would return.
           It was half an hour's journey. Three times I was asleep, and he would sit just on the veranda. Even
           when he went to eat something he never left me. For the whole camp this was his routine. He would
           follow me to the camp, and when others were meditating he would sit more silently, more deeply,
           than those who were attending the camp. And then he would go back with me.
                The last day, when I left Matheran by train, he followed the train. He was running by the side of
           the train, and the guard took compassion on him and he took him in. Up to Neral he came. This train
           was a slow train, a toy train, coming from Matheran to Neral, traveling just seven miles in two hours,
           and the dog could follow. But from Neral it is a fast train, when I took the train from Neral to
           Bombay others were standing there on the platform weeping and crying, and the dog was also
           standing there in tears.
                I know that cat must have been extraordinary; otherwise Nansen would not have taken such
           trouble to chop it. He created an opportunity for his disciples, and he used that opportunity for the
           cat also. He hit two targets with one stone. This is possible. If you are ready, then your form can be
           destroyed and you will receive a higher form, because your higher form depends on the moment
           when you die. The cat died in the hands of Nansen -- a very rare opportunity. Such a silent man was
           Nansen, the cat must have caught the silence; such an ecstatic being, the cat must have been filled
           with his ecstasy. And then he chopped it. The cat was not afraid, she must have enjoyed the game. It
           was a surgical act. The cat must be born in the next life as a very much higher soul. But that is an
           inner story and cannot be understood by ordinary morality. And persons like Nansen don't follow
           ordinary morality, they follow the inner rules, the inner laws. Ordinary morality is for ordinary men.
                And then by the evening another monk came in from outside, another disciple who had not been
           in the monastery. Nansen told the story to him, "This has happened, and I had to cut the cat. I had to
           divide it in two because there was no way.... These foolish fellows couldn't save the cat. They
           couldn't save the cat -- they couldn't utter a single word, they couldn't act in a Zenlike way, they
           couldn't prove their Zen. Only Zen could have saved the cat, nothing else."
                The disciple listened to the story, put his shoes on his head and walked out. Nansen called him
           and said, "If you had been here, the cat would have been saved."
                This was the right man. What did he do? He took his shoes off, put them on his head, and walked
           out. He said many things without speaking. The first thing: He listened to the story and didn't
           comment on it. The monkey was silent; the mind was not chattering. He didn't try to think out an
           answer, he simply acted. That action was not from the mind, the action was from his total being. And
           what did he do? He put his shoes on his head. Absurd! But he said that the mind, the head, is no
           more valuable than the shoes. Shoes, the meanest thing -- he put them on his head. He said by this
           act, "The mind is nothing but shoes. The mind is valueless, thinking cannot help. The mind has to be
           thrown to the shoes. Even shoes are more worthy and command more respect than the mind." That's
           what he said, and then he simply walked out.
                And Nansen said, "Had you been here this morning, you could have saved the cat. The cat would
           have been saved.
                Here was a man who didn't believe in the mind, who didn't believe in answers. Here was a man
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who could act spontaneously. Life can be saved only if you can act spontaneously -- not only the
           cat's life, your life also. Throw the mind to the shoes. It is not more worthy in any way. And shoes
           have not troubled you so much; sometimes they may pinch, but only sometimes, and if they are the
           right size they are always okay. But the mind has been pinching you for many many lives, and it is
           never the right size, it is always the wrong size. The mind is never the right size. Shoes can be the
           right size, but the mind is always the wrong size. It goes on pinching. The mind is the wrong size.
           You cannot make a good mind, there is no possibility. You cannot make a beautiful ugliness, you
           cannot make a healthy disease, that is impossible. The mind is always wrong. It goes on pinching.
           And whether you think or whether you pray, if the mind is there everything goes wrong. The mind is
           the factor which creates wrongness in life. This is the source of error, perversion, neurosis. Life can
           be saved only when you drop the mind.
               What did this disciple do? It was difficult to drop the head, it was easier to put the shoes on the
           head. But it was symbolic. He was saying, "I have dropped the head. Don't ask me foolish questions"
           and he acted, that's the thing.
               Meditation is not contemplation, it is action -- action of the whole, of the total being. In the West
           particularly. Christianity has created a false impression, and meditation looks like contemplation. It
           is not. Because of Christianity the West has missed many things, and one of them is meditation, the
           rarest flowering of a human being, because they have made it equivalent to contemplation.
           Contemplation is thinking. Meditation is no-thinking.
               For DHYAN, Zen, there exists no equivalent in the English language, because meditation itself
           means thinking -- to meditate upon. Some object is there. Remember, dhyan is the original word.
           Dhyan traveled to China with Bodhidharma and in the Chinese language it became CH'AN. And
           then from China it traveled to Japan and in Japanese it became first ZAN, and then ZEN; but the
           original root is dhyan -- Ch'an, Zan, Zen. In English there is no word equivalent to it. Meditation also
           means thinking, a consistent thinking. Contemplation means thinking too. It may be thinking about
           God, but it is thinking, and dhyan or Zen is a no-thinking state. It is action, without thought. Thought
           needs time.
               In the morning the monks were sitting thinking what to do. They thought and thought and
           couldn't find. Thought will never find the right answer. The cat had to be chopped. Life became
           death because thought is poisonous; thinking leads to death, not to more life. The cat had to be
           chopped. Nansen couldn't help -- those monks killed the cat.
               This man, this disciple who came in the evening, listened to the story without commenting,
           without saying anything. He simply took off his shoes, put them on his head and walked out. He
           acted -- he said something through his action, not through his mind. He didn't use words, he used
           himself. And he didn't wait, he didn't contemplate, he didn't try to find the answer to how the cat
           should have been saved.
               If you had been there in the evening and you were told the story, you would surely have started
           to think: How? When the how comes, mind has come. This disciple acted without the how; he
           simply acted, and the act was spontaneous, very symbolic. Putting the shoes on his head he said
           something -- he said the head is valueless.
               This Nansen, the master, used to ask people,"What is the most valueless thing in the world?" He
           used to give it as a meditation to his disciples: think, what is the most valueless thing in the world?
           His master also gave this koan to him. He meditated, meditated, then one day he came and told his
           master, "The head. The master asked, "Why?" So Nansen said, "Cut a head and go to the market and
           try to sell it. Nobody will purchase it."
               This is what Nansen's disciple did. By putting shoes on his head he said, "Worthless head!" And
           you go on insisting, asking head-questions. There is no answer. How can the shoes answer? He
           walked out, and Nansen said, "You could have saved the cat. Had you been there this morning the
           cat would have been alive and kicking. Some absurd act was needed -- absurd, spontaneous.
           Rational? No, something irrational was needed, because "ir-reason" is deeper than reason. That's
           why if you are too much head-fixated, you cannot fall in love, because love is irrational, absurd. The
           head goes on saying, "This is useless. What will you gain out of it? There is no profit, you may even
           get into trouble. Think about it."
               It is said of Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest systematizers, that one girl proposed to him. In
           the first place it is bad that the girl should propose, it is always the boy who proposes. But the girl
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           must have waited and waited and Kant wouldn't propose; the idea never occurred to him. He was so
           much rooted in his head, the heart was denied. So the girl, feeling too much time had been lost,
           proposed. Kant said, "I will think it over."
                How can you think about love? Either it is there or not. It is not a question to be solved, it is a
           situation to respond to. Either your heart says yes or your heart says no and it is finished. What will
           you think? It is not a business proposal. But it was a business proposal to Kant. Too much
           head-orientation makes everything businesslike. So he thought, and he not only thought, he went to
           the library and concentrated on the books about love, marriage. Then he noted down in his notebook
           all that was in favor of marriage and all that was against. And he thought and thought and thought,
           and it is said that weighing the pros and cons, he decided in favor of marriage because a few points
           were more in favor than against. So it was a logical decision.
                Then he went and knocked at the girl's door, and the father said, "She is already married and a
           mother of three children. So much time passed... you come a little late."
                Time is needed for the mind. The mind is always late because time will be needed and the
           situation will be lost. And when you knock at the door, the girl has moved -- she is already a mother
           of three children. And this is happening every moment. Remember, a situation is there, so act, don't
           think, because if you think the situation will not wait for you. The girl will have moved. And when
           you are ready to respond there will be nothing to respond to. Kant was ready, but the mind takes time
           and situations are moving. Life is a flow, a flux, it is not static; otherwise the mind would have found
           the answer. If the girl had remained.... But the girl was getting old, she was missing life. She could
           not wait, she had to move, make a decision.
                Life is not static. If life were static there would be no need for meditation. The mind would do.
           Then you could think, and whenever, after many lives, you knocked at the door, the girl would be
           waiting for you. But life is a flux, a movement. Every moment it is changing and becoming new. If
           you miss a moment, you have missed.
                This disciple didn't miss a single moment. He heard the story, took off his shoes, put them on his
           head and walked out. If he had waited a single moment to think Nansen would have beaten him. I
           tell you, he would have been beaten. Because the cat was not there any more he might have chopped
           this disciple -- but he acted.
                Action without the mind is the most beautiful thing possible. But you are afraid because you
           think if you act without the mind you may do something wrong. Because this fear exists the mind
           exploits it -- think first, then act. But you go on missing the train. Leave this fear, otherwise you will
           never be meditative. Act! In the beginning there will be a deep shaking and trembling, because you
           have always been acting out of thinking.
                It is just like a man who has been living in a prison, in a dark cell, for many years. His eyes have
           become attuned to darkness. If he is suddenly brought out of the cell he will not be able to open his
           eyes. The sun will be too much, the light will be too much. His whole being will tremble and he will
           say, "Let me go back to my cell.
                This is what has happened to you, to everybody. We have lived in the mind for many many lives,
           and we have become attuned to its darkness, its ugliness, futility. When you act without the mind,
           your whole being trembles. You are moving on a dangerous path.
                The mind says, "Be alert! Think first, then act." But if you think first and then do something,
           your doing will always be dead, stale. It will be out of thought, it will not be real and authentic. Then
           you cannot love, then you cannot meditate, then you cannot really live and you cannot die. You
           become a phantom, a phony existence. Love knocks at your heart and you say, "Wait! I will think
           about it." Life goes on knocking at your gates and you say, "Wait! I will think about it."
                This disciple must have been deep in meditation. He acted, he simply acted. He could have saved
           the cat. This means he has already saved it -- he has already saved all that is alive. Don't think about
           the story, otherwise I will have to chop the cat. You can save it; otherwise the cat will have to be
           chopped again, and you will be responsible. Act!
                But the story won't help you. Don't try to put your shoes on your head, that won't help. It helped
           that disciple but it won't help you. The cat will have to be chopped if you put the shoes on your head
           and walk out, because that will be false again, that will be from the mind. You know the story. The
           mind cannot give you the real; whatsoever you do, don't imitate.
                I have heard that in a Chinese town there was one big restaurant, very rich, the most beautiful,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rich restaurant in the town. And just near that restaurant lived a poor Chinese. He couldn't go in the
           restaurant, it was too costly. But the smell of food, the aroma.... He used to sniff it, and when he took
           his lunch or dinner he took a chair out of his house and went as near to the restaurant as he dared,
           and he would sit there and sniff the aroma, the smell that was coming from the restaurant, and eat his
           food. He enjoyed it. He ran a small laundry.
                But one day he was surprised. There came a man, the owner of the restaurant, with a bill for the
           smell of the food. That poor man ran into his house, brought his tiny money box, rattled it in the ears
           of the owner and said, "Hereby I pay for the smell of your food, by the sound of my money."
                The mind is just smell and sound, nothing real. Whatsoever you do, the mind is smell and sound,
           nothing authentic. It is the source of all falsity.
                So you have heard the story: don't try now to imitate it. You can do it easily now, now the secret
           is known. You can put the shoes on your head and walk, but the cat will be chopped. It will not save
           it, it will not help it. Act spontaneously. Put aside the mind and do something, and doing it you will
           come to know the cat has never been chopped, because the cat cannot die. Putting aside the mind you
           will come to know your own eternity, and the very same moment you know the eternity of the cat
           also. The mind is mortal, not you. You are immortal. The mind has a death waiting for it, not you.
           You are deathless. Putting aside the mind you will laugh, and you will say this Nansen played a
           trick. The cat cannot be killed.
                That's what Krishna went on saying to Arjuna: "Don't you be worried. You chop these fellows,
           because nobody can be killed."
                The Gita is very dangerous. Nowhere on the earth does such a dangerous book exist, so nobody
           has followed it. People recite it but nobody follows it. It is dangerous, and even people who love it
           very much and respect it very much, never listen to what it says. Even a man like Mahatma Gandhi,
           who called Gita his mother, wouldn't listen to it. How could Mahatma Gandhi listen to it? He
           believed in nonviolence and this Krishna said, "Chop these fellows! Nothing exists; it is like a
           dream. And I tell you, nobody is killed, so don't bother about it."
                How could Gandhi believe? So he had to play a trick. This is how the mind plays tricks. He said,
           "This is a parable, this is metaphorical; don't take it literally, the fight is not real. The Kauravas and
           the Pandavas, these two groups of warriors, are just a story. Kauravas represent evil and Pandavas
           represent good. It is the fight between good and evil, between God and the Devil, it is not a real
           fight." But this was Gandhi's mind playing tricks.
                There have been Buddhist interpreters of Nansen also. They said, "This is just a parable. There
           was no real cat, and this never happened."
                But I tell you this happened. The cat was real, as real as Nansen, and the cat was chopped.
           Nansen could do it. Nansen was a Krishna. He knew nothing is destroyed.
                This word, the English word destruction, is very beautiful, meaningful. The word destruction
           means de-structuring -- nothing is destroyed, only the structure changes, a new structure arises. The
           old structure goes out of existence and a new structure arises. Destruction means de-structuring.
           Only the form changes. The cat may be sitting here -- it is more possible than anywhere else! When
           you go back home, look in the mirror. You may be the cat, and you have come here again. Do
           something, otherwise I will chop you again.
                And remember, now nobody can save you. That time the monks could have saved you. This time
           you are a monk, so nobody can save you except yourself. Action out of immediacy, spontaneous
           action, saves life. That is the only savior. There exists no other savior.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              IN PLACE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, WITH WHICH I WAS BROUGHT UP, I HAVE GIVEN
              MYSELF A NEW SET OF RULES -- BE ALERT, BE PATIENT, BE SPONTANEOUS, ACCEPT
              MYSELF.


              All questions are mind questions -- no question comes out of no-mind -- and all answers are
           no-mind answers. So questions and answers never meet. You ask a question and I give you an
           answer. They never meet, they cannot meet, because your question runs on the track of the mind and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           my answer runs on the track of no-mind. They may run parallel but they never meet. Either I should
           drop my no-mind -- then there can be a meeting -- or you should drop the mind. Then there can be a
           meeting. And remember, I am not going to drop my no-mind. It cannot be dropped, because how can
           you drop a no-thing? You can drop a thing, but you cannot drop a no-thing. So you have to drop the
           mind. Then the answer will be heard, understood. Then it will penetrate you.
                And the mind is a deeper source of new questions, new puzzles, new riddles, so you can change
           the ten commandments -- you can create another ten. That will not do, because if they are created by
           the mind nothing changes.
                Now the ten commandments have become very old, out of date. They speak in a language of the
           past. At that time that language was relevant, but now they don't look relevant. You can change, you
           can make new commandments, but those new commandments, if they are put together by the mind,
           will not be of any use. Your mind can think and put them together and they may look beautiful, but
           they will be false. You can make let-go a commandment, total acceptance a commandment, but if
           they are put by the mind they are meaningless. Why? It is because the mind cannot allow itself to be
           a total let-go. It can pretend, but it cannot really allow itself to let go. And the mind cannot accept
           because the mind exists through rejection; that is why the mind always likes to say no rather than
           yes.
                Whenever you say no you feel the ego; whenever you say yes you don't feel the ego. That's why
           people go on saying no more than yes. They say yes only when it becomes absolutely necessary;
           otherwise they say no. Whenever something is asked the first thing that arises in your mind is no --
           because when you reject, you are, and when you accept, you are not there. Yes-saying will create a
           no-mind. So a theist is a yes-sayer, and an atheist is a no-sayer -- he says no -- and when you say
           there is no God, then you feel a tremendous energy in the ego. Then you are.
                Nietzsche has said, "If God is then I won't want to be, and if I am, then I won't allow God to be,
           because both cannot exist." And he is right. How can both exist, you and God together? If you are
           there, then you are the God. God cannot exist. If he exists, then how can you exist? The ultimate no
           comes to the mind -- no God.
                The mind rejects, cannot accept. So you can change, you can think about it, you can change the
           old ten commandments and create a new ten, but if they come out of the mind they are useless. And
           if they do not come out of the mind, what is the need? If the no-mind has happened and you feel it,
           what is the need of commandments? Commandments are for the mind. They are from the mind and
           for the mind. Rules exist for the mind, because the mind cannot exist without rules. This is one of the
           most basic things. Rules exist for the false, not for the real. The real can exist without rules, but the
           false cannot exist; it has to be propped, helped, supported by the rules. You play a game, you play
           cards -- can you play cards without rules? There can be no possibility. If you say, "I will follow my
           rules and you follow your rules and we play the game," there will be no game. We have to follow the
           rules -- and we both know that rules are just rules, nothing real in them. We have agreed on the rules,
           that's why they exist.
                A game cannot continue if rules are not followed, but life will continue without rules. What rules
           are these trees following? What rules does the sun follow? What rules does the sky follow? The
           human mind is such that it thinks they are also following rules, moving according to rules. The sun
           moves, it follows a rule, so there is a ruler -- the God who controls everything. He is like a great
           super-manager. He goes spying on everybody -- who is following, who is not following. This is a
           mind creation.
                Life exists without rules; games cannot exist without rules. So real religion is always without
           rules; only false religion has rules, because false religion is a game.
                I have heard that one young woman came to a barber's shop with her young boy. The boy was
           dressed like a soldier, looked very dangerous, and he had a toy six-shooter. Immediately he jumped
           on the chair and said, "Bang! Bang!" He just made noise.
                And the lady said to the barber, "I am going to leave my son here for half an hour, I have some
           shopping to do."
                The barber became uneasy and he said, "If this young man becomes too restless, what am I
           supposed to do?" -- and that young boy was standing with his six-shooter on the chair looking very
           dangerous, soldierlike.
                The young lady said, "If he gets too restless, you will simply have to drop dead a few times,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that's all. If he says, 'Bang!' -- you drop dead. Follow the rule -- that's the rule -- then he will not be
           restless. So you have to drop dead a few times, and then he will be happy and there will be no
           trouble."
               All the commandments are, "Bang! Drop dead!" For real life there is no commandment. You
           flow in it without any rules. You simply be. Why follow rules? Out of your being, everything will
           happen. These things you say will happen if you are simply there without any rules. Then acceptance
           will come, let-go will come; then the mind will drop. So these rules cannot be made rules. They are
           consequences of being spontaneous and total. If somebody follows them, and he has made a
           commandment that he has to accept everything, and then accepts, it is false, because in accepting he
           has already rejected. And if you have to accept something because of the commandment, you have
           already rejected. Your mind says: Accept! Why accept? Before it has said: Reject. Then rejection has
           come before the acceptance. But if there is no rejection, how will you be aware of acceptance? You
           will simply accept and flow.
               Become riverlike. Become a white cloud floating in the sky, and let the winds take you
           wheresoever they take. Don't, don't follow any rules. This is what I mean when I say: Be a
           sannyasin. Just be. Your ochre robes, your mala -- these are rules. This is a game. This is not what I
           mean by real sannyas. But you are so accustomed to games that before I lead you to a ruleless life, in
           the transitory period you will need rules. Moving from this world of rules, of games, to that world
           without rules and games, a bridge has to be passed. Your orange clothes, your mala, are just for that
           transitory period. You cannot drop rules immediately, so I give you new rules.
               But be fully alert that your robes are not your sannyas, your mala is not your sannyas, your new
           name is not your sannyas. Sannyas will be there when there is no name, when you become nameless.
           Then there will be no rules. Then you will be so ordinary, you will not be recognized. Only then....
               But don't think that now it is okay, so no need to take sannyas and no need to take an orange
           robe. That is again a trick. You have to pass through this, you have to go through this. You cannot
           bypass it -- and if you try to bypass you will never reach to the other shore.
               Rules of the world, then rules of sannyas, and then comes a no-rule state; no, commandments are
           needed. Don't change the old commandments -- they are okay as they are. You be, simply be, and
           follow and flow into the being.




                                                A Bird on the Wing
                                                    Chapter #10
                                        Chapter title: The Master of Silence
           19 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406190
              ShortTitle: WING10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 106 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              BUDDHA WAS TO GIVE A SPECIAL TALK ONE DAY,AND THOUSANDS OF FOLLOWERS HAD
              COME FROM MILES AROUND.
              WHEN BUDDHA APPEARED HE WAS HOLDING A FLOWER. TIME PASSED, BUT BUDDHA SAID
              NOTHING. HE JUST LOOKED AT THE FLOWER. THE CROWD GREW RESTLESS, BUT
              MAHAKASHYAP, WHO COULD RESTRAIN HIMSELF NO LONGER, LAUGHED.
              BUDDHA BECKONED HIM OVER, HANDED HIM THE FLOWER, AND SAID TO THE CROWD, "I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HAVE THE EYE OF THE TRUE TEACHING. ALL THAT CAN BE GIVEN WITH WORDS I HAVE
              GIVEN TO YOU; BUT WITH THIS FLOWER, I GIVE TO MAHAKASHYAP THE KEY TO THIS
              TEACHING."


               To all teachings, not only for a Buddha but for all masters -- Jesus, Mahavira, Lao Tzu -- the key
           cannot be given through verbal communication, the key cannot be delivered through the mind.
           Nothing can be said about it. The more you say the more difficult it becomes to deliver, because a
           buddha and you live in such different dimensions -- not only different but diametrically opposite --
           that whatsoever a buddha says will be misunderstood.
               I have heard that one evening three slightly deaf women met on the road. The day was very
           windy, so one woman said, "Windy, isn't it?"
           The other said, "Wednesday? No, it's Thursday."
               And the third said, "Thirsty? I am also, so let's go to the restaurant and have a cup of tea."
               This is what happens when a buddha says something to you. He says, "Windy?You say,
           "Wednesday? No, it's Thursday."
               The physical ear is okay, the spiritual ear is missing. A buddha can talk only to another buddha,
           this is the problem, and with another buddha there is no need to talk. Buddha has to talk with those
           who are not enlightened. With them exists the need to talk and communicate, but then
           communication is impossible.
               It is reported of one Mohammedan saint, Farid, that he was passing near Benares where Kabir
           lived. Followers of Farid said, "It would be just wonderful if you and Kabir met. For us it would be a
           blessing."
               The same thing happened to Kabir and his followers. They heard that Farid was passing, so they
           said to Kabir that it would be good if he would ask Farid to stay a few days in the ashram.
               Farid's disciples said, "You both talking would be a great opportunity for us, we would like to
           hear what two enlightened persons say to each other."
               Farid laughed when they said this and replied, "There will be a meeting, but I don't think there is
           going to be any talking. But let us see."
               Kabir said, "Ask Farid. Let him come and stay -- but whosoever speaks first will prove that he is
           not enlightened."
               Farid came; Kabir received him. They laughed and embraced each other. Then they sat in
           silence. Two days Farid was there, and for many hours they sat together, with the disciples restless,
           waiting for them to say something, utter something. But not a single word was communicated.
               The third day Farid left and Kabir came to see him off. They again laughed, embraced each
           other, parted.
               The moment they parted Farid's disciples gathered around him and said, "What nonsense! What
           wastage of time. We were hoping that something was going to happen. Nothing happened. Why did
           you suddenly become so dumb? You talk so much to us."
               Farid replied, "All that I know, he knows also. Nothing is to be said. I looked into his eyes, and
           he is there, where I am. Whatsoever he has seen I have seen; whatsoever he has realized I have
           realized. There is nothing to be said."
               Two ignorant persons can talk. They talk much; they do nothing except talk. Two enlightened
           persons cannot talk -- it would be absurd. Two ignorant persons talking is meaningless because there
           is nothing to convey. They don't know anything that can be said, that should be said, but they go on
           talking. They are chattering. They cannot help it; it's just a mad catharsis, a release.
               Two enlightened persons cannot talk because they know the same. Nothing is to be said. Only
           one enlightened person and one unenlightened person can have a meaningful communication,
           because one knows and the other is yet in ignorance. A meaningful communication, I said. I don't
           say that the truth can be conveyed, but some hints, some indications, some gestures can, so that the
           other becomes ready to take the jump. The truth cannot be conveyed, but the thirst can be given. No
           teaching worth the name can give the key through words.
               Buddha talked -- it's difficult to find another person who talked so much. Scholars have been
           studying all the scriptures in existence that are in the name of Buddha, and it seems an impossible
           accomplishment because after his enlightenment he lived only forty years, walking from one village
           to another. He walked all over Bihar, and the name Bihar comes because Buddha walked there.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bihar means the walking paths of Buddha. The whole province is called Bihar because this is the
           boundary where Buddha walked -- his Bihar, his wanderings.
               He continually walked; only in the rainy season did he rest. So much time was wasted in
           walking, and then also he had to sleep. So scholars have been calculating; they say, "This seems
           impossible. Sleeping, walking, doing other daily routines -- there are so many scriptures, how could
           he have talked so much? If he was continuously talking for forty years, without a gap of a single
           moment, only then could this much have been talked. He must have talked so much -- continuously
           -- yet still he says the key cannot be conveyed through words.
               This story is one of the most significant ones, because from this was passed the tradition of Zen.
           Buddha was the source, and Mahakashyap was the first, the original master of Zen. Buddha was the
           source, Mahakashyap was the first master, and this story is the source from where the whole
           tradition -- one of the most beautiful and alive that exists on earth, the tradition of Zen -- started.
               Try to understand this story. Buddha came one morning, and as usual a crowd had gathered,
           many people were waiting to listen to him. But one thing was unusual -- he was carrying a flower in
           his hand. Never before had he carried anything in his hand. People thought that someone must have
           presented it to him. Buddha came, he sat under the tree. The crowd waited and waited and he would
           not speak. He wouldn't even look at them, he just went on looking at the flower. Minutes passed,
           then hours, and the people became very much restless.
               It is said that Mahakashyap couldn't contain himself. He laughed loudly. Buddha called him,
           gave him the flower and said to the gathered crowd, "Whatsoever can be said through words I have
           said to you, and that which cannot be said through words I give to Mahakashyap. The key cannot be
           communicated verbally. I hand over the key to Mahakashyap."
               This is what Zen masters call transference of the key without scripture -- beyond scripture,
           beyond words, beyond mind. He gave the flower to Mahakashyap, and nobody could understand
           what happened. Neither Mahakashyap nor Buddha ever commented upon it again. The whole
           chapter was closed. Since then, in China, in Tibet, in Thailand, in Burma, in Japan, in Ceylon --
           everywhere Buddhists have been asking for these twenty-five centuries, "What was given to
           Mahakashyap? What was the key?"
               The whole story seems to be very esoteric. Buddha was not secretive; this was the only
           incident.... Buddha was a very rational being. He talked rationally, he was not a mad ecstatic, he
           argued rationally, and his logic was perfect -- you could not find a loophole in it. This was the only
           incident where he behaved illogically, where he did something which was mysterious. He was not a
           mysterious man at all. You cannot find another master who was less mysterious.
               Jesus was very mysterious, Lao Tzu was absolutely mysterious. Buddha was plain, transparent;
           no mystery surrounds him, no smoke is allowed. His flame burns clear and bright, absolutely
           transparent, smokeless. This was the only thing that seemed mysterious; hence many Buddhist
           scriptures never relate this anecdote, they have simply dropped it. It seemed as if someone had
           invented it. It didn't make any sense with Buddha's life and teaching.
               But for Zen this is the origin. Mahakashyap became the first holder of the key. Then six holders
           in succession existed in India, up to Bodhidharma; he was the sixth holder of the key, and then he
           searched and searched all over India but he couldn't find a man of the capability of Mahakashyap -- a
           man who could understand silence. He had to leave India just in search of a man to whom the key
           could be given; otherwise the key would be lost.
               Buddhism entered China with Bodhidharma in search of a man to whom the key could be given,
           a man who could understand silence, who could talk heart to heart without being obsessed in the
           mind, who had no head. A man with no head was difficult to find in India, because India is a country
           of pundits and scholars and they have the biggest heads possible. A pundit by and large forgets
           everything about the heart and he becomes the head. His whole personality becomes lopsided as if
           only the head exists, and the whole body shrinks and disappears.
               This communication beyond words is possible only from heart to heart. So for nine years
           Bodhidharma searched in China, and then he could find only one man. For nine years Bodhidharma
           was sitting in China, not facing people; he would always sit facing the wall. If you had gone to hear
           him he would have been facing the wall, his back towards you. People used to ask him, "We have
           come to listen to you, why do you sit in such a peculiar way?" and Bodhidharma would reply, "I am
           waiting for the man who can listen to me. I will not look at you, I will not waste my time; I will look
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only at the person who can listen to me."
               Then came a man; he stood behind Bodhidharma, cut off his right hand, threw it at Bodhidharma
           and said, "Turn towards this side, otherwise I am going to cut off my head.
               Bodhidharma immediately turned and said, "Right -- so you have come. Take this key and
           relieve me of the work." The key that was passed from Buddha to Mahakashyap Bodhidharma
           delivered to this man; a Chinese became the seventh master. And up to now it has been traveling.
           The key is still there, somebody is still holding it; the river has not dried.
               To me, if all the scriptures of Buddha disappear nothing is lost. Only this anecdote should not
           disappear. This is the most precious, and scholars have dropped it from Buddha's biography. They
           say, "This is irrelevant; it doesn't fit with Buddha." But I say to you, "All that Buddha did was just
           ordinary -- anybody could do that -- but this is extraordinary, this is exceptional. Only a buddha can
           do this."
               What happened that morning? Let us start to penetrate into it. Buddha came, sat, and started
           looking at the flower. He would not look at the people; the flower became the wall. That's what
           Bodhidharma did. He would look at the wall, he would not look at the people -- he would not waste
           his look. The flower became the wall and the crowd disappeared. Buddha looked and looked at the
           flower. What was he doing? When Buddha looks at anything, the quality of his consciousness is
           transferred. And a flower is one of the most receptive things in the world. Hence, Hindus and
           Buddhists go with flowers to put at their master's feet or in the temple, because a flower can carry
           something of your consciousness.
               A flower is a very receptive thing, and if you are aware of the new research in the West, you will
           understand it. Now they say plants are more sensitive than you, than man. A flower is the heart of the
           plant; the whole being comes into it. Much research is going on in Soviet Russia, in the USA, in
           England, about the sensitivity of plants, and something wonderful has been discovered.
               One man, a scientist, was working on plants -- how they feel, whether they feel anything or not,
           whether they have emotions or not. He was sitting with a plant with electrodes fixed to it to detect
           any movement in its inner being, any sensation, any emotions. He thought, "If I cut this plant, if I
           tear down a branch or cut it from the earth, what will happen?" Suddenly, the needle making the
           graph jumped. He had not done anything, he had just had a thought: "If I cut this plant...." The plant
           became afraid of death and the needle jumped, recording that the plant was trembling. Even the
           scientist became scared because he had not done anything -- just a thought and the plant received it.
           Plants are telepathic.
               Then he worked much -- he worked on long distances. The plant was removed one thousand
           miles. His plant, the plant he had helped to grow, had watered, loved, was removed one thousand
           miles away. Here he thought against the plant and there, one thousand miles away, the plant became
           disturbed. So now, scientifically, it could be seen that the plant's emotions were disturbed.
               Not only this, but if you think of cutting one plant all the other plants surrounding the area
           become emotionally disturbed. Also, if someone has cut a plant and he comes into the garden, all the
           plants become disturbed because this man is not good and they carry the memory. Whenever this
           man enters the garden the whole garden feels that an evil person is coming in.
               Now a few scientists think that plants can be used for telepathic communication, because they
           are more sensitive than the human mind. and a few scientists think that plants can be used to receive
           communications from other planets, because our instruments are not so refined.
               In the East it has always been known that a flower is the most receptive thing. When Buddha
           looked at the flower and continued to look at the flower, something of him was transferred to that
           flower. Buddha entered the flower. The quality of his being, the alertness, the awareness, the peace,
           the ecstasy, the inner dance, touched the flower. With Buddha looking at the flower, so at ease, at
           home, without any desire, it must have danced in its inner being. He looked, to transfer something to
           the flower. One thing to be understood is that only the flower and he existed for a long period of
           time. The whole world dropped. Only Buddha and the flower were there. The flower entered
           Buddha's being, and Buddha entered the flower's being.
               Then the flower was given to Mahakashyap. It was not just a flower now, it carried buddhahood.
           It carried the inner quality of Buddha's being. And why to Mahakashyap? There were other great
           scholars, ten great disciples; Mahakashyap was only one, and he was included in the ten only
           because of this story, otherwise he would never have been included.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nothing much is known about Mahakashyap. There were great scholars like Sariputta there --
           you could not find a more keen intellect -- and Moggalayan was also there, a very great scholar. He
           had all the Vedas in his memory, and nothing that had ever been written was unknown to him. A
           great logician in his own right, he had thousands of disciples. And there were others -- Ananda was
           there, Buddha's cousin-brother, who for forty years was continuously moving with him.... But no.
           Someone who was unknown before, Mahakashyap, suddenly became most important. The whole
           gestalt changed. Whenever Buddha was speaking, Sariputta was the significant man because he
           could understand words more than anybody else; and when Buddha was arguing, Moggalayan was
           the significant man. Nobody thought about Mahakashyap very much. He remained in the crowd, was
           part of the crowd.
               But when Buddha became silent, the whole gestalt changed. Now Moggalayan and Sariputta
           were not significant; they simply dropped out of existence, as if they were not there. They just
           became a part of the crowd. A new man, Mahakashyap, became the most important. A new
           dimension opened. Everybody was restless, thinking, "Why is Buddha not speaking? Why is he
           keeping silent? What is going to happen? When will it end?" They became uncomfortable, restless.
               But Mahakashyap was not uncomfortable or restless. Really, for the first time he was at ease with
           Buddha; for the first time he was at home with Buddha. When Buddha was talking he may have been
           restless. He may have thought, "Why this nonsense? Why go on talking? Nothing is conveyed,
           nothing is understood; why go on knocking your head against the wall? People are deaf. They cannot
           understand...." He must have been restless when Buddha was talking, and now for the first time he
           was at home. He could understand what silence was.
               Thousands were there and everybody was restless. He couldn't contain himself, looking at the
           foolishness of the crowd. They were at ease when Buddha was talking; now they were restless when
           he was silent. When something could be delivered they were not open; when nothing could be
           delivered they were waiting. Now through silence Buddha could give something which is immortal,
           but they could not understand. So he couldn't contain himself and laughed loudly -- he laughed at the
           whole situation, the whole absurdity.
               We require even a buddha to talk, because that's all we understand. This is foolish. You should
           learn to be silent with a buddha, because only then can he enter you. Through words he can knock at
           your door but can never enter; through silence he can enter you, and unless he enters nothing will
           happen to you. His entry will bring a new element to your world; his entry into the heart will give
           you a new beat and a new pulse, a new release of life -- but only his entry.
               Mahakashyap laughed at the foolishness of man. They were restless and thinking, "When will
           Buddha stand up and drop this whole silence so that we can go home?" He laughed. Laughter started
           with Mahakashyap and has been going on and on in the Zen tradition. There is no other tradition
           which can laugh. Laughter looks so irreligious, profane, that you cannot think of Jesus laughing, you
           cannot think of Mahavira laughing. It's difficult even to conceive of Mahavira having a belly laugh,
           or of Jesus laughing uproariously. No, laughter has been denied. Sadness, somehow, has become
           religious.
               One of the famous German thinkers, Count Keyserling, has written that health is irreligious.
           Illness has a religiousness about it because an ill person is sad, desireless -- not because he has
           become desireless but because he is weak. A healthy person will laugh, would like to enjoy, will be
           merry -- he cannot be sad. So religious persons have tried in many ways to make you ill: go on a fast,
           suppress your body, torture yourself. You will become sad, suicidal, crucified on your own. How can
           you laugh? Laughter comes out of health. It's an overflowing energy. That's why children can laugh
           and their laughter is total. Their whole body is involved in it -- when they laugh you can see their
           toes laughing. The whole body, every cell, every fiber of the body, is laughing and vibrating. They
           are so full of health, so vital; everything is flowing.
               A sad child means an ill child, and a laughing old man means he is still young. Even death
           cannot make him old, nothing can make him old. His energy is still flowing and overflowing, he is
           always flooded. Laughter is a flooding of energy.
               In Zen monasteries they have been laughing and laughing and laughing. Laughter becomes
           prayer only in Zen, because Mahakashyap started it. Twenty-five centuries ago, on a morning just
           like this, Mahakashyap started a new trend, absolutely new, unknown to the religious mind before --
           he laughed. He laughed at the whole foolishness, the whole stupidity. And Buddha didn't condemn;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rather, on the contrary, he called him near, gave him the flower and spoke to the crowd. And when
           the crowd heard the laughter they must have thought, "This man has gone mad. This man is
           disrespectful to Buddha, because how can you laugh before a Buddha? When a Buddha is sitting
           silently, how can you laugh? This man is not paying respect."
                The mind will say that this is disrespect. The mind has its own rules, but the heart does not know
           them; the heart has its own rules, but the mind has never heard about them. The heart can laugh and
           be respectful; the mind cannot laugh, it can only be sad and then be respectful. But what kind of
           respect is this which cannot laugh? A very new trend entered with Mahakashyap's laughter, and
           down the centuries the laughter has continued. Only Zen masters, Zen disciples, laugh.
                All over the world, all religions have become ill because sadness has become so prominent. And
           temples and churches look like graveyards; they don't look festive, they don't give a sense of
           celebration. If you enter a church what do you see there? Not life, but death -- Jesus crucified on the
           cross completes the whole sadness there. Can you laugh in a church, dance in a church, sing in a
           church? Yes, singing is there, but that is sad, and people sit with long faces. No wonder nobody
           wants to go to church -- it's just a social duty to be fulfilled; no wonder nobody is attracted to the
           church -- it is a formality. Religion has become a Sunday thing. For one hour you can tolerate being
           sad. Mahakashyap laughed before Buddha, and since then, saints, monks, sannyasins, masters, have
           been doing such things which religious minds -- so-called religious minds -- cannot even conceive
           of. If you have seen any Zen book you may have seen Zen masters depicted, painted. No painting is
           true. If you look at Bodhidharma's painting or Mahakashyap's painting, they are not true to their
           faces, but just looking at them you will have a feeling of laughter. They are hilarious, they are
           ridiculous.
                Look at Bodhidharma's painting. He must have been one of the most beautiful men; that he was
           otherwise is not possible, because whenever a man becomes enlightened a beauty descends, a beauty
           which comes from the beyond. A blessing comes to his whole being. But look at Bodhidharma's
           painting. He looks ferocious and dangerous. He looks so dangerous that you will become scared if he
           comes to visit you in the night -- never again in your life will you be able to sleep. He looks so
           dangerous, as if he is going to kill you. It was just disciples laughing at the master, creating a
           ridiculous portrait. It looks like a cartoon.
                All Zen masters are depicted in a ridiculous way. Disciples enjoy it. But those portraits carry a
           quality that Bodhidharma is dangerous, that if you go to him he will kill you, that you cannot escape
           him, that he will follow you and haunt you, that wherever you go he will be there, that unless he kills
           you he cannot leave you. That is the thing depicted with all Zen masters, even Buddha.
                If you look at Japanese and Chinese paintings of Buddha, they don't look like the Indian Buddha.
           They have changed him totally. If you look at Indian paintings of Buddha, his body is proportionate,
           as it should be. He was a prince, then a buddha, a beautiful man, perfect, proportionate. A big-bellied
           Buddha? -- he never had a big belly. But in Japan, in his paintings, his scriptures, he is painted with a
           big belly, because a man who laughs must have a big belly. Belly laughter -- how can you do it with
           a small belly? You cannot do it. They are joking with Buddha, and they have said such things about
           Buddha -- only very deep love can do that, otherwise it looks insulting.
                Bankei always insisted on having a painting of Buddha just behind him, and talking to his
           disciples he would say, "Look at this fellow. Whenever you meet him kill him immediately, don't
           give him a chance. While meditating he will come to disturb you. Whenever you see his face in
           meditation, just kill him then and there; otherwise he will follow you." And he used to say, "Look at
           this fellow! if you repeat his name" -- because Buddhists go on repeating, NAMO BUDDHAYA,
           NAMO BUDDHAYA -- "if you repeat his name, then go and wash your mouth." It looks insulting.
           It is Buddha's name and this man says, "If you repeat it, the first thing to do is wash your mouth.
           Your mouth has become dirty."
                And he is right -- because words are words; whether it is the name of Buddha or not makes no
           difference. Whenever a word crosses your mind, your mind has become dirty. Wash out even
           Buddha's name. And this man, keeping the portrait of Buddha always behind him, would bow down
           to it every morning. So his disciples asked, "What are you doing? You go on telling us: Kill this
           man, don't allow him to stand in the way. And you say: Don't take his name, don't repeat it; if it
           comes wash your mouth. And now we see you bowing down."
                So Bankei said, "All this has been taught to me by this man, this fellow, so I have to pay
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           respect."
                Mahakashyap laughed, and this laughter carried many dimensions in it. One dimension was at
           the foolishness of the whole situation, at a buddha silent and nobody understanding him, everybody
           expecting him to speak. His whole life Buddha had been saying that the truth cannot be spoken, and
           still everybody expected him to speak. The second dimension -- he laughed at Buddha also, at the
           whole dramatic situation he had created, sitting there with a flower in his hand, looking at the flower,
           creating so much uneasiness, restlessness in everybody. At this dramatic gesture of buddha he
           laughed and he laughed.
                The third dimension -- he laughed at his own self. Why couldn't he understand up to now? The
           whole thing was easy and simple. And the day you understand, you will laugh, because there is
           nothing to be understood. There is no difficulty to be solved. Everything has always been simple and
           clear. How could you miss it?
                With Buddha sitting silent, the birds singing in the trees, the breeze passing through the trees,
           and everybody restless, Mahakashyap understood. What did he understand? He understood that there
           is nothing to be understood, there is nothing to be said, there is nothing to be explained. The whole
           situation is simple and transparent. Nothing is hidden in it. There is no need to search, because all
           that is, is here and now, within you. He laughed at his own self also, at the whole absurd effort of
           many lives just to understand this silence -- at so much thinking.
                Buddha called him, gave him the flower and said, "Hereby, I give you the key." What is the key?
           Silence and laughter is the key -- silence within, laughter without. And when laughter comes out of
           silence, it is not of this world, it is divine.
                When laughter comes out of thinking it is ugly; it belongs to this ordinary, mundane world, it is
           not cosmic. Then you are laughing at somebody else, at somebody else's cost, and it's ugly and
           violent.
                When laughter comes out of silence you are not laughing at anybody's cost, you are simply
           laughing at the whole cosmic joke. And it really is a joke! That's why I go on telling jokes to you...
           because jokes carry more than any scriptures. It is a joke because inside you you have everything,
           and you are searching everywhere. What else should a joke be? You are a king and acting like a
           beggar in the streets; not only acting, not only deceiving others, but deceiving yourself that you are a
           beggar. You have the source of all knowledge and are asking questions; you have the knowing self
           and think that you are ignorant; you have the deathless within you and are afraid and fearful of death
           and disease. This really is a joke, and if Mahakashyap laughed, he did well.
                But except for Buddha, nobody understood. He accepted the laughter and immediately realized
           that Mahakashyap had attained. The quality of that laugh was cosmic. He understood the whole joke
           of the situation. There was nothing else to it. The whole thing is as if the divine is playing
           hide-and-seek with you. Others thought Mahakashyap was a fool, laughing in front of Buddha. But
           Buddha thought this man had become wise. Fools always have a subtle wisdom in them, and the
           wise always act like fools.
                In the old days all great emperors always had one fool in their court. They had many wise men,
           counsellors, ministers and prime ministers, but always one fool. Although intelligent and wise,
           emperors all over the world, in the East and the West, had a court joker, a fool. Why? -- because
           there are things so-called wise men will not be able to understand, that only a foolish man can
           understand, because the so-called wise are so foolish that their cunningness and cleverness closes
           their minds.
                A fool is simple and was needed, because many times the so-called wise would not say
           something because they were afraid of the emperor. A fool is not afraid of anybody else. He will
           speak whatsoever the consequences. A fool is a man who will not think of the consequences.
                That's what Krishna was saying to Arjuna: "Be a fool. Don't think of the consequences, the
           result. Act!" This is how fools act -- simply, without thinking what is going to happen, what the
           result will be. A clever man always thinks first of the result, then he acts. Thought comes first, then
           action. A foolish man acts; thought never comes first.
                Whenever someone realizes the ultimate, he is not like your wise men. He cannot be. He may be
           like your fools, but he cannot be like your wise men. When Saint Francis became enlightened he
           used to call himself God's fool. The pope was a wise man, and when Saint Francis came to see him
           even he thought this man had gone mad. He was intelligent, calculating, clever; otherwise how could
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he be a pope?
               To become a pope one has to pass through much politics. To become a pope saintliness is not
           needed, diplomacy is needed, a competitive aggression is needed to put others aside, to force your
           way, to use others as ladders and then throw them. It is politics... because a pope is a political head.
           Religion is secondary or nothing at all. He may be a theologian, but he is not religious, because how
           can a religious man compete? How can a religious man fight and be aggressive for a post? They are
           only politicians.
               Saint Francis came to see the pope, and the pope thought this man a fool. But trees and birds and
           fishes thought in a different way. When Saint Francis went to the river the fishes would jump in
           celebration that Francis had come. Thousands witnessed this phenomenon. Millions of fishes would
           jump simultaneously; the whole river would be lost in jumping fishes. Saint Francis had come and
           the fishes were happy. And wherever he would go birds would follow; they would come and sit on
           his leg, on his body, in his lap. They understood this fool better than the pope. Even trees which had
           become dry and were going to die would become green and blossom again if Saint Francis came
           near. These trees understood well that this fool was no ordinary fool -- he was God's fool.
               When Mahakashyap laughed he was a God's fool, and Buddha understood him because Buddha
           was not a pope. Later on, Buddhist priests didn't understand him, so they dropped the whole
           anecdote.
               I was talking in a Buddhist community once, the neo-Buddhists, so I told them this anecdote. The
           priest came to me later on and said, "From where have you got this? -- because this is not written in
           the scriptures, it is false. A man like you shouldn't say things which are not written in the scriptures,
           because people believe you."
               So I told him, "You bring your scripture; I will add this anecdote and sign it on my own
           account." I said, "This happened -- I was a witness there." The priest looked at me. He must have
           thought: This man is mad the way he is talking.
               I told that priest, "I have no power but I have authority...." Power belongs to the politicians;
           authority to the religious man. Power depends on others -- they give it to you -- but authority comes
           from within.
               So I told him, "I was a witness. I can give you in writing with my signgnature that I was a
           witness. This happened. You have somehow missed it in the scriptures, but I am not at fault for that.
           I am not responsible if you have missed in your scriptures.
               The man, the priest, used to come to me before. Now he stopped coming; he never came again. A
           dead scripture is more important to a priest than a live person. Even if I say I am a witness, I cannot
           be believed. This anecdote has been dropped from Buddhist scriptures because it is sacrilegious to
           laugh before Buddha. to make it the original source of a great religion is not good. This is not a good
           precedent that a man laughed before Buddha, and also not a good thing that Buddha gave the key to
           this man, not to Sariputta, Ananda, Moggalayan, and others who were important, significant. And
           finally, it was they, Sariputta, Ananda and Moggalayan, who recorded the scriptures.
               Mahakashyap was never asked. Even if they had asked he would not have answered.
           Mahakashyap was never consulted if he had something to say to be recorded. When Buddha died all
           the monks gathered and started recording what happened and what not. Nobody asked Mahakashyap.
           This man must have been discarded by the sangha, by the community. The whole community must
           have felt jealous. They key had been given to this man who was not known at all, who was not a
           great scholar or pundit. Nobody knew him before, and suddenly that morning he became the most
           significant man, because of the laughter, because of the silence.
               And in a way they were right, because how can you record silence? You can record words, you
           can record what happened in the visible; how can you record what has not happened in the visible?
           They knew the flower had been given to Mahakashyap, nothing else.
               But the flower was just a container. It had something in it -- buddhahood, the touch of Buddha's
           inner being, the fragrance that cannot be seen, that cannot be recorded. The whole thing seems as if it
           never happened, or as if it happened in a dream.
               Those who were the recorders were the men of words, proficient in verbal communication, in
           talking, discussing, arguing. But Mahakashyap is never heard of again. This is the only thing known
           about him, such a small thing that the scriptures must have missed it. Mahakashyap has remained
           silent, and silently the inner river has been flowing. To others the key has been given, and the key is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           still alive, still opens the door.
                These two are the parts. The inner silence -- the silence so deep that there is no vibration in your
           being; you are, but there are no waves; you are just a pool without waves, not a single wave arises;
           the whole being silent, still; inside, at the center, silence -- and on the periphery, celebration and
           laughter. And only silence can laugh, because only silence can understand the cosmic joke.
                So your life becomes a vital celebration, your relationship becomes a festive thing; whatsoever
           you do, every moment is a festival. You eat, and eating becomes a celebration; you take a bath, and
           bathing becomes a celebration; you talk, and talking becomes a celebration; relationship becomes a
           celebration. Your outer life becomes festive, there is no sadness in it. How can sadness exist with
           silence? But ordinarily you think otherwise: you think if you are silent you will be sad. Ordinarily
           you think how you can avoid sadness if you are silent. I tell you, the silence that exists with sadness
           cannot be true. Something has gone wrong. You have missed the path, you are off the track. Only
           celebration can give proof that the real silence has happened.
                What is the difference between a real silence and a false silence? A false silence is always
           forced; through effort it is achieved. It is not spontaneous, it has not happened to you. You have
           made it happen. You are sitting silently and there is much inner turmoil. You suppress it and then
           you cannot laugh. You will become sad because laughter will be dangerous -- if you laugh you will
           lose silence, because in laughter you cannot suppress. Laughter is against suppression. If you want to
           suppress you should not laugh; if you laugh everything will come out. The real will come out in
           laughter, and the unreal will be lost.
                So whenever you see a saint sad, know well the silence is false. He cannot laugh, he cannot
           enjoy, because he is afraid. If he laughs everything will be broken, the suppression will come out,
           and then he will not be able to suppress. Look at small children. Guests come to your home and you
           tell the children, "Don't laugh!" -- what do they do? They close their mouths and suppress their
           breath, because if they don't suppress their breath then laughter will come out. It will be difficult.
           They don't look anywhere, because if they look at something they forget. So they close their eyes, or
           almost close their eyes, and they suppress their breath.
                If you suppress, your breath cannot be deep. Laughter needs a deep breath; if you laugh, a deep
           breath will be released. That's why nobody is breathing deeply, just shallow breathing, because much
           has been suppressed in your childhood and after it you cannot breathe deeply. If you go deeper you
           will become afraid. Sex has been suppressed through breath, laughter has been suppressed through
           breath, anger has been suppressed through breath. Breath is a mechanism to suppress or release --
           hence my insistence on chaotic breathing, because if you breathe chaotically, then laughter,
           screaming, everything will come up and all your suppressions will be thrown out. They cannot be
           thrown out in another way, because breathing, breath, is the way you have suppressed them.
                Try to suppress anything: what will you do? You will not breathe deeply; you will breathe
           shallowly, you will breathe just from the upper part of the lungs. You will not go deeper because
           deeper it is suppressed. In the belly, everything is suppressed. So when you really laugh the belly
           vibrates; hence, Buddha's big-bellied portraits. The belly is relaxed, and then the stomach is not a
           suppressed reservoir. If you see a saint sad, sadness is there, but the saint is not there. He has stilled
           himself somehow and is every moment afraid. Anything can disturb him.
                Nothing can disturb if real silence has happened. Then everything helps it to grow. If you are
           really silent you can sit in a market, and even the market cannot disturb it. Rather, you feed on the
           noise of the market and that noise becomes more silence in you. Really, to feel silence a market is
           needed -- because if you have real silence, then the market becomes the background and the silence
           becomes perfect in contrast. You can feel the inner silence bubbling against the market.
                There is no need to go to the Himalayas. And if you go, what will you see? Against the silence of
           the Himalayas your mind will be chattering. Then you will feel more chattering, because the
           background is in silence. The background is the silence, and you will feel more chattering.
                If the real happens to you and you are unafraid, it cannot be taken away. Nothing can disturb it.
           And when I say nothing, I mean nothing -- nothing can disturb it. And if something does, it is
           forced, it is cultivated; somehow you have managed it. But a managed silence is not silence, it is just
           like a managed love.
                The world is so mad. The parents, the teachers and the moralists are so mad and insane that they
           teach children to love. Mothers say to their children, "I am your mother, love me," -- as if the child
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can do something to love. What can the child do? The husband goes on saying to the wife, "I am
           your husband, love me," as if love is a duty, as if love is something which can be done. Nothing can
           be done. Only one thing can be done -- you can pretend. And once you learn how to pretend love,
           you have missed. Your whole life will go wrong. Then you will go on pretending that you love. Then
           you will smile and pretend; then you will laugh and pretend. Then everything is false. Then you will
           sit silently and pretend; then you will meditate and pretend. Pretension becomes the style of your
           life.
                Don't pretend. Let the real come out. If you can wait and be patient enough, when the pretensions
           have dropped the real will be waiting there to explode. Catharsis is to drop the pretenses. Don't look
           at what the other is saying because that is how you have pretended, how you have been pretending.
                You cannot love -- either it is there or not -- but the mother says, "Because I am your mother..."
           and the father says, "I am your father..."and the teacher says, "I am your teacher, therefore love me,"
           -- as if love is a logical thing.
                "I am your mother, therefore love me." What will the child do? You are creating such problems
           for the child that he cannot conceive of what to do. He can pretend. he can say, "Yes, I love you."
           And once the child loves his mother as a duty, he will become incapable of loving any woman. Then
           the wife will come and it will be a duty; then the children will come and it will be a duty; then the
           whole life will become a duty. It cannot be a celebration, you cannot laugh, you cannot enjoy. It is a
           burden to be carried. This is what has happened to you. It is a misfortune, but if you understand it
           you can drop it.
                This is the key -- the inner part of it is silence, and the outer part of the key is celebration,
           laughter. Be festive and silent. Create more and more possibility around you -- don't force the inner
           to be silent, just create more and more possibility around you so that the inner silence can flower in
           it. That's all we can do. We can put the seed in the soil, but we cannot force the plant to come out.
           We can create the situation, we can protect, we can give fertilizer to the soil, we can water, we can
           see whether the sunrays reach or not, or how much sunrays are needed, whether more or less. We
           can avoid dangers, and wait in a prayerful mood. We cannot do anything else. Only the situation can
           be created.
                That's what I mean when I tell you to meditate. Meditation is just a situation; silence is not going
           to be the consequence of it. No, meditation is just creating the soil, the surrounding, preparing the
           ground. The seed is there, it is always there; you need not put in the seed, the seed has always been
           with you. That seed is Brahma; that seed is atma. -- that seed is you. Just create the situation and the
           seed will become alive. It will sprout and a plant will be born, and you will start growing.
                Meditation doesn't lead you to silence; meditation only creates the situation in which the silence
           happens. And this should be the criterion -- that whenever silence happens laughter will come into
           your life. A vital celebration will happen all around. You will not become sad, you will not become
           depressed, you will not escape from the world. You will be here in this world, but taking the whole
           thing as a game, enjoying the whole thing as a beautiful game, a big drama, no longer serious about
           it.
           Seriousness is a disease.

               Buddha must have known Mahakashyap. He must have known when he was looking at the
           flower silently and everybody was restless, he must have known only one being was there,
           Mahakashyap, who was not restless. Buddha must have felt the silence coming from Mahakashyap,
           but he would not call. When he laughed, then he called him and gave him the flower. Why? Silence
           is only the half of it. Mahakashyap would have missed if he had been innocently silent and didn't
           laugh. Then the key would not have been given to him. He was only half grown, not yet a fully
           grown tree, not blossoming. The tree was there, but flowers had not yet come. Buddha waited.
               Now, I will tell you why Buddha waited for so many minutes, why for one or two or three hours
           he waited. Mahakashyap was silent but he was trying to contain laughter, he was trying to control
           laughter. He was trying not to laugh because it would be so unmannerly: What would Buddha think?
           What would the others think? But then, the story says, he couldn't contain himself any more. It had
           to come out as a laugh. The flood became too much, and he couldn't contain it any more. When
           silence is too much it becomes laughter; it becomes so overflooded that it starts overflowing in all
           directions. He laughed. It must have been a mad laughter, and in that laughter there was no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mahakashyap. Silence was laughing, silence had come to a blossoming.
               Then immediately Buddha called Mahakashyap: "Take this flower -- this is the key. I have given
           to all others what can be given in words, but to you I give that which cannot be given in words. The
           message beyond words, the most essential, I give to you." Buddha waited for those hours so that
           Mahakashyap's silence became overflooded, it became laughter.
               Your enlightenment is perfect only when silence has come to be a celebration. Hence my
           insistence that after you meditate you must celebrate. After you have been silent you must enjoy it,
           you must have a thanksgiving. A deep gratitude must be shown towards the whole just for the
           opportunity that you are, that you can meditate, that you can be silent, that you can laugh.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              BUDDHA HAD MANY ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE AROUND HIM, YET HE FELT SOMETHING
              SPECIAL FOR THIS ONE ENLIGHTENED PERSON.
              IS THERE SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN ENLIGHTENMENTS?


               Yes, Buddha, had many enlightened persons around, but the key can be given only to such a
           person who can become a master in his own right, because the key is to be delivered on and on. It
           has to be kept alive. It was not going to become a treasure for Mahakashyap; it was a great
           responsibility, it had to be given to somebody else.
               There were other enlightened persons but the key couldn't be given to them; the key would be
           lost with them. Really, Buddha chose the right person, because the key is still alive. Mahakashyap
           did well. He could find another person who would transfer it to somebody else. The question is to
           find the right person. Just enlightened is not enough -- not all enlightened persons are masters -- a
           distinction has to be made.
               Jainas have a beautiful distinction; they have two types of enlightened persons. One enlightened
           person is known as kaivali, one who has attained to absolute aloneness. He has become perfect but
           he cannot be a teacher, he cannot give this perfection to somebody else. He is not a master, he cannot
           guide; he himself has become an ultimate peak, but whatsoever he knows he cannot transmit in any
           way.
               The other type of enlightened person is called tirthankara, one who becomes a vehicle for others.
           He is enlightened, but he is also a master of a certain art of communicating through words and
           communicating through silence. He can deliver the message. Others can be enlightened through him.
               Buddha said, "Whatever can be said by words I have told you. That which cannot be said by
           words I give to Mahakashyap."
               Mahakashyap was the master of silence. Through his silence he could teach. Others were masters
           of words, and through their words they could teach and carry on the work. It was not so essential, it
           was on the periphery; but that too was needed because Buddha's words had to be recorded. What
           Buddha did had to be recorded and transferred from generation to generation. This, too, was
           essential, but it existed on the periphery. His scholars, Moggalayan, Sariputta, Ananda, would record
           everything. That is a treasure. Buddha was really happy: all should be recorded, not a single word
           should be left, because, who knows, that single word may become enlightenment to someone. But
           the silence also had to be carried. So two traditions exist -- the tradition of the scripture and the
           tradition of silence. Then many can become enlightened. And the moment they become enlightened
           they become so silent, so content that not even the desire to help others arises in them.
               But Jainas say that the tirthankara is a person who has gathered some karma -- and this is strange
           -- and has to fulfill this karma by conveying the message to others. It is not a very good thing; karma
           is not a very good thing. In his past life he has gathered karma to be a master. It is not a good thing,
           because something has to be done, something has to be completed, and he must do it; then his
           karmas are fulfilled, then he is relieved completely. The desire to help others is still a desire;
           compassion towards others is still energy moving towards others. All desires have disappeared but
           one, to help others. That too is a desire, and unless this desire also disappears this man will have to
           come back.
               So a master is one who has become enlightened, but one desire is left. That desire is not a trouble
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in becoming enlightened -- to help others helps to become enlightened -- but you will still be
           attached to the body. Only one stream, all sources cut, but one bridge is there.
                There were other enlightened persons, but the key could not be given to them; it had to be given
           to Mahakashyap, because he had an inner desire to help -- his past karmas. He could become a
           tirthankara; he could become a perfect master. And he did well. Buddha's choice was perfectly right
           -- because there was one other of Buddha's disciples who could have been given the key. His name
           was Subhuti. He was as silent as Mahakashyap, even more. It will be difficult for you -- how silence,
           how perfection, can be more -- but it is possible. It is beyond ordinary arithmetic. You can be
           perfect, and you can be even still more perfect, because perfection has growth, it goes on growing
           infinitely.
                Subhuti was the most silent man around Buddha, even more than Mahakashyap. But the key
           could not be given to him because he was so silent. It will be difficult now: you are entering a very
           complex phenomenon. In the first place, he would not laugh, and the key could not be given to him
           because he would not laugh. He was not there. He was so silent, he was not there to laugh, he was
           not there to contain or not to contain. Even if Buddha had called, "Subhuti, come!" he would not
           have come. Buddha would have had to go to him.
                It is related of Subhuti that one day he was sitting under a tree, when suddenly out of season
           flowers started falling on him. So he opened his eyes: What is the matter? The tree was not in
           blossom, the season was not there; then from where, suddenly, these millions of flowers? He looked
           and he saw many deities all around, above the tree, in the sky, dropping flowers. He would not even
           ask the deities what was the matter. He closed his eyes again.
                Then those deities said to Subhuti, "We are thanking you
           for the sermon you have given on emptiness."
                And Subhuti said, "But I haven't said a single word, and you say you are thanking me for the
           sermon that I have given on emptiness! I have not spoken a single word."
                The deities said, "You have not spoken and we have not heard -- that is the perfect sermon on
           emptiness." He was so empty that the whole cosmos felt it, and gods had to come to shower flowers
           on him.
                This Subhuti was there, but he was so silent that he was not there. He was not even bothered why
           Buddha was sitting with the flower. Mahakashyap was -- not like the others, but still in a way. He
           looked at Buddha, he felt the silence, he felt the absurdity, but there was one who was feeling.
                Subhuti must have been there somewhere, sitting. There arose no idea why Buddha was sitting
           silently today, why he was looking at the flower; then there was no effort to contain it, then there
           was no explosion. Subhuti was there as if absolutely absent. He would not laugh, and if Buddha had
           called he would not have come; Buddha would have had to go to him. And no one knows -- if the
           key had been given to him, he might have thrown it away. He was not a man meant to be a
           tirthankara, he was not a man meant to be a teacher or a master. He had no past karmas. He was
           perfect, so perfect, and whenever something is so perfect it becomes useless. Remember, a person so
           perfect is useless, because you cannot use him for any purpose.
                Mahakashyap was not so perfect. Something was lacking and he could be used, so in that gap the
           key could be put. The key was delivered to Mahakashyap because he could be relied upon to deliver
           it to somebody else. Subhuti was not reliable. Perfection, when absolute, just disappears. It is not
           there in the world. You can shower flowers on it but you cannot use it. That's why many enlightened
           persons were there, but only one in particular, Mahakashyap, was chosen. He was a man who could
           be used for this great responsibility.
                This is strange. That's why I say ordinary arithmetic won't help, because you will think that the
           key should be given to the most perfect. But the most perfect will forget where he had put the key.
           The key should be given to one who is almost perfect, just on the brink where one disappears. And
           before he disappears he will hand over the key to somebody else. To the ignorant the key cannot be
           given, to the most perfect the key cannot be given. Someone has to be found who is just on the
           boundary, who is passing from this world of ignorance to that world of knowing, just on the
           boundary. Before he crosses the boundary this time can be used and the key delivered. To find a
           successor is very difficult, because the most perfect is useless.
                I will tell you one event that happened just recently: Ramakrishna was working on many
           disciples. Many attained, but nobody knows about them. People know about Vivekananda, who
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never attained; the key was given to Vivekananda who was not the most perfect, and not only was he
           not the most perfect, but Ramakrishna wouldn't allow him to be perfect. And when Ramakrishna felt
           that Vivekananda was going to enter into the perfect samadhi, he called him and said, "Stop! Now I
           will keep the key with me for this final entry, and only before your death, three days before, the key
           will be returned to you." And only three days before Vivekananda died, did he have a first taste of
           ecstasy, never before.
               Vivekananda started crying and weeping and said, "Why are you so cruel to me?"
               Ramakrishna replied, "Something has to be done through you. You have to go to the West, to the
           world; you have to give my message to people, otherwise it will be lost."
               There were others, but they were already in; he could not call them out. They would not be
           interested in going to the West or around the world. They would say that this was nonsense -- they
           were just like Ramakrishna. Why would he not go himself? He was already in, and somebody had to
           be used who was out. Those who are far out cannot be used; those who are almost in, just near the
           door, can be used; and before they enter they deliver the key to somebody else.
               Mahakashyap was just near the door, fresh, entering into silence. Silence became celebration and
           he had a desire to help. That desire has been used. But Subhuti was impossible. He was the most
           buddhalike, the most perfect, but when somebody is buddhalike he is useless. He can give himself
           the secret key; there is no need to give it to him. Subhuti never made anybody a disciple. He lived in
           perfect emptiness, and gods had to serve him many times. And he never made a disciple; he never
           said anything to anybody, everything was so perfect. Why bother? Why say anything?
               A master is fulfilling his past karmas. He has to fulfill them. And when I have to find a
           successor, many will be there who will be like Subhutis: they cannot be given the key. Many will be
           there who are like Sariputtas: only words can be given to them. Somebody has to be found who is
           entering silence, celebrating, and has been caught just near the door. That is why.




                                              A Bird on the Wing
                                                   Chapter #11
                                               Chapter title: Sober Up
           20 June 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7406200
              ShortTitle: WING11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
              THE MONK ZUIGAN USED TO START EVERY DAY BY SAYING OUT LOUD TO HIMSELF,
              "MASTER, ARE YOU THERE?" AND HE WOULD ANSWER, "YES SIR, I AM."
              THEN HE WOULD SAY, "BETTER SOBER UP." AND HE WOULD REPLY, "YES SIR, I'LL DO
              THAT."
              THEN HE WOULD SAY, "LOOK OUT NOW, DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU." AND HE WOULD
              ANSWER, "OH NO SIR, I WON'T, I WON'T."


               Meditation cannot be a fragmented thing, it should be a continuous effort. Every moment one has
           to be alert, aware and meditative. But the mind has played a trick: you meditate in the morning and
           then you put it aside; or you pray in the temple and then forget it. Then you come back to the world,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           completely unmeditative, unconscious, as if walking in a hypnotic sleep. This fragmented effort
           won't do much. How can you meditate for one hour when you have been nonmeditative for
           twenty-three hours of the day? It is impossible. Suddenly to become meditative for one hour is not
           possible. You can simply deceive yourself.
                Consciousness is a continuum; it is like a river, flowing constantly. If you are meditative the
           whole day, every moment of it... and only when you are meditative the whole day the flowering will
           come to you. Nothing will come before.
                This Zen anecdote looks absurd but it is very meaningful. The master, the monk, used to call
           himself -- this is what meditation means, calling yourself -- he used to call his own name. He would
           say, "Are you there?" And he himself would reply, "Yes sir, I am here." This is an effort, a peak
           effort, to be alert. You can use this, it will be very helpful. Suddenly, walking on the street, you call
           yourself, "Teertha, are you there?" Suddenly thinking stops, and you have to answer, "Yes sir, I am
           here." It brings you to a focus. When thinking stops you are meditative, alert.
                This calling to oneself is a technique. Going to sleep, putting off the light in the night, suddenly
           you call, "Are you there?" And in that darkness alertness comes. You become a flame and inside you
           answer, "Yes, I am here."
                And then this monk used to say, "Sober up!" Be sincere, be authentic; don't play the game. He
           used to call to himself, "Sober up!" And he would reply, "Yes, I will make every effort that I can."
                Our whole life is a fooling around. You can do it because you are not aware of how you waste
           time, how you waste energy -- how life is wasted you are not aware. It is going down the drain.
           Everything is going down the drain. Only when death comes to you, you may become aware, alert:
           What have I been doing? What have I done with life? A great opportunity has been lost. What was I
           doing fooling around? I was not sober. I never reflected upon what I was doing.
                Life is not just to pass, it is to reach somewhere deep within you. Life is not on the surface, it is
           not the circumference, it is the center. And you have not reached to the center yet. Sober up! Enough
           time is already wasted. Be alert and see what you are doing. And what are you doing? Searching for
           money? It is finally, ultimately useless. It is again a game, the money game. You have more than
           others, you feel good; others have more than you, you feel bad. It is a game. But what is the meaning
           of it? What do you gain from it? Even if you have all the money the world contains, at the moment
           of death you will die as a beggar. So the whole wealth of the world cannot make you rich. Games
           cannot make you rich. Sober up!
                Somebody is after power, prestige, somebody is after sex, and somebody after something else.
           All is a game. Unless you touch the center of your being all is a game. On the surface only games
           exist, and on the surface are only waves, and in those waves you will only suffer and drift. You
           cannot be anchored into your self. This is why he had to call, "Sober up!" He was saying, "Don't play
           games. Enough, you have played enough. Don't be foolish any more. Use life for anchoring, use life
           to gain roots, use life as an opportunity to reach the divine. You are sitting just outside the temple,
           sitting just on the steps, playing games, and the ultimate is waiting just behind you. Knock and the
           door shall be opened unto you..." But you have no time left from the games.
                "Sober up" means remember what you are doing and why you are doing it. But even if you
           succeed, where can you reach? This is the paradox -- that whenever a man succeeds in these foolish
           games, for the first time he becomes aware that the whole thing has been nonsense. Only those who
           never succeed go on playing the game; those who succeed suddenly become aware that nothing has
           been reached. Ask an Alexander, ask a Napoleon what he has reached.
                It is reported of Alexander that before he was going to die, he told his court, "When you carry my
           dead body in the streets let both my hands hang out. Don't cover them." This was rare -- nobody was
           carried that way.
                The court couldn't understand, so they asked, "What do you mean? This is not the usual way. The
           whole body is hidden.... Why do you want both your hands hanging out?"
                Alexander replied, "I want it to be known that I am dying with empty hands. Everybody must see
           it, and nobody should try to be an Alexander again. I have gained much and still gained nothing; my
           kingdom is great but I am still poor."
                You die a beggar even if you are an emperor; then the whole thing seems like a dream. Just as in
           the morning the dream is broken and all emperorhoods disappear, all kingdoms disappear, so death is
           an awakening. That which remains in death is real, that which disappears was a dream: this is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           criterion. And when this monk used to call, "Sober up!" he meant this: Remember death and don't
           fool around.
                You go on in such a way as if you are not going to die, ever. Your mind says, "Death always
           happens to others, never to me; it is always a phenomenon happening to others, never to me." Even if
           you see a man dying you never think that you are dying in him. His death is symbolic: the same is
           going to happen to you. If you can see that you are going to die, will you be able to play these games
           so seriously, putting your whole life at stake for nothing? The monk was right to call in the morning,
           "Sober up!" Whenever you start playing a game again -- with your wife, in the shop, in the market,
           in politics, close your eyes, call yourself and say, "Sober up!" And the monk used to reply, "Yes sir,
           I will make every effort that I can."
                Another thing is that he used to remember in the morning. And why the morning? The morning
           sets the pattern, the first thought in the morning becomes the door; hence all religions insist on at
           least two prayers. If you can be prayerful, that it is the right thing, but if not, then say at least two
           prayers -- one in the morning, one in the night. In the morning, when you are fresh and sleep has left
           you and consciousness is rising again, the first thought, the prayer, the meditation, the remembrance,
           will set the pattern for the whole day. That will become the door... because things move in a chain. If
           you are angry in the morning the whole day you will become more and more angry. The first anger
           creates the chain, the second anger follows easily, the third becomes automatic -- and then you are in
           it. Then whatsoever happens around you creates anger. To be prayerful in the morning, or to be alert,
           to call yourself, to be mindful, sets the pattern.
                In the night also, when you go to sleep, the last thought becomes the pattern for the whole sleep.
           If the last thought is meditative the whole sleep will become meditation; if the last thought is of sex
           then the whole sleep will be disturbed by sexual dreams; if the last thought is of money then the
           whole night you will be in the market purchasing and selling. A thought is not an accident. It creates
           a chain, and then things follow and similar things follow.
                So pray at least twice a day. Mohammedans pray at least five times. It is beautiful, because if a
           man is to pray five times a day then it is almost a continuous thing. He has to remember, "Now the
           morning has come, now the afternoon, now the evening prayer, now the night has come...." There are
           gaps, but two prayers are so near that they become joined together. Look at Mohammedans praying:
           they are the most beautiful people for prayer. Hindus don't look so prayerful -- they will do it in the
           morning. But a Mohammedan has to pray five times; only then is he a Mohammedan. It is a simple
           rule, and five times, continuously remembering, sets the pattern. It becomes an inner flow; you have
           to come again and again to it. Between two prayers it will be difficult to be angry; between two
           prayers it will be difficult to be aggressive and violent. The fundamental thing is that if what one
           does is continuous there is no need for five prayers. Still there will be gaps, and you are so cunning
           that you can fill the gaps with something wrong and then your prayer will be affected. Then it will
           not be real prayer. You will be praying, but inside deep down the wrong current will go on and on
           and on.
                In the morning this monk used to call himself -- because Buddhists don't believe in prayer, they
           believe in meditation. The distinction has to be understood. I myself don't believe in prayer; my
           emphasis is also on meditation. There are two types of religious people: one, the praying type, and
           the other, the meditating type. Buddhists say there is no need to pray, but just to be alert, aware,
           because alertness will give you the prayerful mood. There is also no need to pray to a God. How can
           you pray to a God you don't know? Your prayer is in the dark; you don't know the divine. If you
           knew him there would be no need to pray -- so your prayer is just groping in the dark. You are
           addressing someone you don't know, so how can your address be authentic and real, how can it come
           from the heart? It is just a belief and deep down there is doubt. Deep down you are not certain
           whether God exists or not; deep down you are not certain whether this prayer is a monologue or a
           dialogue, whether there is someone who is listening and will answer, or whether you are alone,
           talking to yourself. This uncertainty will destroy the whole thing.
                Buddha emphasized meditation. He said, "There is no need for the other; know well that you are
           alone." At least that much is certain -- that you are alone. Base your life on something which is
           absolutely certain... because how can you base your life on something which is uncertain, doubtful,
           which exists only as a belief, not as a knowing? But what is certain in life? Only one thing is certain,
           and that is you. Everything else can be doubted.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I am here talking to you; you may not be there, it may be just a dream. You are here listening to
           me; I may not be here, it may be just a dream, because many times in dreams you have listened to
           me. And when the dream is on it looks real. How can you make the distinction whether this is a
           dream or not? How can you make the distinction between the real and the dream? There is no way.
           About the other you can never be certain; there is no way to be certain about the other. About
           yourself only you can be certain; the only certainty that is there is you. Why? -- because even to
           doubt yourself, you have to be there.
               The father of modern western philosophy, Descartes, started by doubt; he doubted everything,
           because he was in search of something which could not be doubted. Only that can become the base
           of real life, authentic life -- that which can be doubted. That which has to be believed cannot become
           the real foundation. This foundation is sinking, and you are building a house on the sands. So he
           doubted everything. The gods can be doubted easily, the world can be doubted, it may be just a
           dream; the others.... He doubted everything.
               Then suddenly he became aware that he could not doubt himself. That is contradictory. If you
           say that you doubt yourself it means you have to believe you are there to doubt. You can say that you
           may be deceived about yourself, but there is somebody who has to be there to be deceived. The self
           cannot be doubted.
               Hence Mahavira didn't believe in God; he believed only in the self, because that is the only
           certainty. You cannot grow out of uncertainty. When there is certainty there is trust; when there is
           uncertainty there may be belief, but the belief is always hiding the doubt.
               So many people come to me who are theists. They believe in God, but their belief is just
           skin-deep. Poke them a little, push them a little, shake them a little -- they become doubtful and they
           become afraid. What type of religion is possible if you are so much in doubt? Something indubitable
           is needed.
               Mahavira and Buddha both emphasized meditation. They canceled prayer; they said: How can
           you pray? You don't know the divine, so you cannot really believe.... You can force a belief, but a
           forced belief is a false belief. And you can argue and convince yourself, but that won't help, because
           your arguments, your convictions, are always yours; and the mind goes on wavering.
               So Buddha and Mahavira both emphasized meditation. Meditation is a totally different
           technique. There is no need to believe, no need to move to the other; you are alone there. But you
           have to wake yourself: that is what that monk is doing. He is not calling the name of Ram, he is not
           calling the name of Allah, he is calling the name of himself, and only himself, because nothing else
           is certain. He calls his whole name, "Are you there?" And he doesn't wait for any God to reply. He
           replies to himself, "Yes sir, I am here."
               This is the Buddhist attitude, that you are alone there. If you are asleep you have to call yourself,
           you have to answer. It is a monologue. Don't wait for any God to answer you; there is no one to
           answer you, your questions will be lost in the empty sky, your prayers will not be heard -- there is
           nobody else to hear them. So this monk seems foolish, but really, all those who are in prayer may be
           more foolish than this monk. This monk is doing a more certain thing, calling himself and answering
           himself.
               You can make yourself alert. I tell you, your name is the mantra. Don't call Ram, don't call
           Allah, call your own name. Many times a day, whenever you feel sleepy, whenever you feel that the
           game is taking over and you are losing yourself in it, call yourself, "Are you there?" -- and answer
           yourself. Don't wait for anybody's answer; there is no one to answer you. Answer, 'Yes sir, I am
           here." And don't answer verbally, feel the answer: "I am here." And be there, alert. In that alertness
           thoughts stop, in that alertness the mind disappears, even for a moment. And when there is no mind
           there is meditation; when the mind has stopped meditation comes into being.
               Remember, meditation is not something that is done by the mind, it is the absence of the mind.
           When the mind stops meditation happens. It is not something out of the mind, it is something beyond
           the mind. And whenever you are alert, the mind is not. So we can conclude that your sleepiness is
           your mind, your unawareness is your mind, your somnambulism is your mind. You move as if
           drunk, not knowing who you are, not knowing where you are going, not knowing why you are going.
               And the third thing the monk says is to remember not to be fooled by others. Others are fooling
           you continuously. Not only are you fooling yourself, others are also fooling you. How are the others
           fooling you? The whole society, culture, civilization, is a collective conspiracy. That's why no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           society allows rebellious people; every society requires obedience, conformity. No society allows
           rebellious thoughts. Why? Rebellious thoughts make people aware that the whole thing is just a
           game, and when people become aware that the whole thing is just a game they become dangerous,
           they start going beyond the society.
                Society exists as a hypnotic state, and the crowd is a hypnotizing factor. You are born, but when
           you are born you are neither a Hindu nor a Parsee, because consciousness cannot belong to any sect.
           Consciousness belongs to the whole, it cannot be sectarian. A child simply is, innocent of all
           nonsense of Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas. A child is a pure mirror. But immediately society starts
           working on the child -- a mould has to be given. A child is born as a freedom, but immediately
           society starts killing his freedom. A mould has to be given, a pattern.
                If you are born in a Hindu family your parents will start teaching you that you are a Hindu. Now
           they are creating a hypnotic state. Nobody is a Hindu -- but this child is innocent, he can be
           befooled. This child is simple. He will believe the parents, that he is a Hindu -- not only a Hindu, but
           a brahmin, not only a brahmin, but a deshastha brahmin. Sects within sects, just like Chinese boxes
           -- boxes within boxes. And the more he becomes narrowed, the more he becomes a prisoner. The
           box goes on getting smaller and smaller. He was just like the sky when he was born. Then he became
           a Hindu, a smaller box; then he became a brahmin -- a smaller box; then he became a Deshastha --
           an even smaller box.
                This goes on and on. Society goes on forcing him into smaller boxes, and then he will have to
           live as a Deshastha brahmin. His whole life he will be with this box. He will carry this box around
           him. This box is a grave. He must come out of these boxes; only then will he know what real
           consciousness is.
                Then society gives concepts; then society gives prejudices and systems and religions. And then
           he will never be able to look directly, always society will be there to interpret. You are not aware
           when you say something is good. Are you there, looking? Is this your feeling, that something is
           good, or just an interpretation of the society? Something is bad: have you looked into it and come to
           the conclusion that something is bad, or has society simply taught you that this is bad?
                Look! A Hindu looking at cow dung thinks that this is the purest thing possible in the world.
           Nobody in the world will think of cow dung as the purest thing in the world -- cow dung is dung,
           excreta -- but a Hindu thinks of cow dung as the purest thing in the world. He will eat it happily. He
           eats it! Nobody in the world can believe how Hindus can be befooled in this, but they are befooled.
           When the Hindu child is initiated, panchamrita is given to him -- a particular combination of five
           things. In these five things cow dung is one, and the urine of the cow is another. It is difficult --
           nobody can believe that this is right. But they have their own prejudices. Put down all prejudices and
           look directly.
                But no society allows you to look directly. It always comes in and interprets, and you are
           befooled by it. This monk in the morning used to call, "Don't be fooled by others." And he would
           reply, "Yes sir -- yes sir, I will not be befooled by others."
                This has to be constantly remembered, because the others are all around and they are befooling
           you in such subtle manners. And now the others have more power than ever. Through advertisement,
           through radio, through newspapers, through television, the others are manipulating you.
                In America, the whole market depends on how you can befool the customer, how you can create
           an idea in the minds of others. Now, a two-car garage is a must if you want to be happy; in America,
           a two-car garage is a must. Nobody asks why. If you are not happy with one car, how can you be
           happy with two cars? If there is fifty percent happiness with one car, how can you be happy with two
           cars? With one car you are unhappy; with two cars you will be doubly unhappy, that's all. The
           mathematics is simple. But there is advertisement, propaganda; the whole society exists by
           manipulating others.
                Happiness is something like a commodity in the market -- you go and purchase it, it has to be
           purchased. How can happiness be purchased? Happiness is not a commodity, it is not a thing; it is a
           quality of living, a consequence of another life. You cannot purchase it -- there is no way.
                Look at American newspapers and you will see that you are missing: happiness can be purchased
           just through money. They create a feeling that you are missing something; then you start working for
           it, then you earn money, then you purchase it. And then you feel that you have been deceived. But
           that feeling is not very deep, because before you feel that you have been deceived some new
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deceptions have entered the mind, and now they are pulling you ahead. You must have a hill station
           house, or you must have a summer resort, or you must have a yacht -- something is always there to
           be achieved. Only then will you be happy. They will go on pulling you up to your death. Until you
           die, those advertisements, that propaganda, will go on pulling you.
                This monk was right. This must be part of your alertness -- that you should not be befooled by
           others. The whole society exists on exploitation, exploiting the other. Everybody is exploiting, and
           this exploitation is not only in the market, it is in the temple, in the church, in the synagogue. It is
           everywhere... because the priest is also a businessman, and the pope is a super-businessman. Because
           you need peace, you ask for peace, so there are people who say, "Come to us, we will give you
           peace." You ask for bliss, and there are people who are ready to sell bliss to you. If people like
           Maharishi Mahesh Yogi succeed in the West, they don't succeed in the East. Nobody listens to them
           in India. Nobody is bothered.
                But America listens to every kind of nonsense. Once you get onto the right channel of
           propaganda, once you get all the right advertising people, then there is no problem. Maharishi
           Mahesh Yogi talks as if the inner silence can be purchased immediately, as if within a week you can
           find mediation; just by sitting for fifteen minutes and repeating a mantra you will be happy forever
           and ever. And the American mind, which has been poisoned by advertisements, is attracted and a
           crowd gathers. It goes on changing, but it is always a crowd, and it appears as if things are
           happening. Even temples and churches have become shops.
                Meditation cannot be purchased and no one can give it to you. You have to achieve it. It is not
           something outer, it is something inner, a growth, and that growth comes through awareness. Call
           your own name, in the morning, in the night, in the afternoon, whenever you feel sleepy, call your
           own name. And not only call it, answer it and say it loudly. Don't be afraid of others. You have been
           afraid of others enough; they have already murdered you through fear. Don't be afraid. Even in the
           marketplace you must remember. Call your own name, "Teertha, are you here?" And answer, "Yes
           sir."
                Let people laugh. Don't be befooled by them. The only thing to be achieved is alertness -- not
           respect, not respectability from people. ... Because that is one of their tricks: they make you obedient
           through respectability. They say, "We will respect you. You bow down and be obedient. Don't be
           there at all. Just follow the society and the society will pay you much respect." This is a mutual
           arrangement. The more dead you are the more society will pay you respect; the more alive you are
           the more society will create trouble for you. Why?
                A Jesus had to be crucified because he was an alive man. He must have called in his childhood,
           "Jesus, don't be befooled by others." And he was not befooled, so others had to crucify him, because
           he was not part of the game. Socrates had to be poisoned and killed, Mansoor had to be murdered.
           These are people who have escaped from the prison, and whatsoever you say you cannot persuade
           them to come back. They will not come into the prison. They have known the freedom of the open
           sky.
                Remember. Be mindful and alert. If you are alert, if your actions become more and more aware,
           whatsoever you do will not be done sleepily. The whole effort of society is to make you automatic, is
           to make you an automaton, is to make you a perfect efficient mechanism.
                When you start learning to drive you are alert but not efficient, because alertness takes energy,
           and you have to be alert to many things -- the gears, the wheel, the brake, accelerator, clutch. There
           are so many things you have to be aware of that you cannot be efficient, you cannot go fast. But by
           and by, when you become efficient, you need not be aware. You can go on humming a song or
           thinking inside or solving a puzzle, and the car goes by itself. The body takes it automatically. The
           more automatic you become the more efficient.
                Society needs efficiency, so it makes you more and more automatic: In everything you do, be
           automatic. Society doesn't bother about your awareness; your awareness is a problem for society.
           You are asked to be more efficient, more productive. Machines are more productive than you. The
           society doesn't want you to be as men, it needs you as mechanical devices, so it makes you more
           efficient and less aware. This is automatization. This is how the society fools you. You become
           efficient, but your soul is lost.
                If you can understand me, then the whole effort of meditative techniques is to deautomatize you,
           to make you again alert, to make you again a man, not a machine. In the beginning you will become
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           less efficient, but don't be bothered by it because everything has settled as an automaton. In the
           beginning everything will become a mess. You will not be able to do anything efficiently. You will
           feel difficulty, because you have become fixed with unconscious efficiency. To be consciously
           efficient, long effort will be needed, but by and by you will be aware and efficient.
                If there exists in the future any possibility of a real human society, the first thing, the basic thing
           that will have to be done is this: don't make children automatic. Even if it takes a little longer to
           make them efficient, make them efficient with awareness; don't make them machines. It will take
           longer, because two things have to be learned: the efficiency and awareness. A human society will
           give you awareness, even with less efficiency, but efficiency will come by and by. Then when you
           are alert you will be able to be efficient with alertness.
                Meditation is deautomatization in the beginning. Then you will start working with a new
           awareness -- efficiency remains in the body, and consciousness remains alert. You don't become a
           machine you remain a man. If you become a machine, you have lost humanity.
                This monk was doing this deautomatization. From the very morning he called himself, said, "Be
           alert!" said, "Don't fool yourself!" said, "Don't be befooled by others!" These three layers of
           mindfulness have to be achieved.
                I have heard: once it happened that a young man belonging to a very rich and aristocratic family,
           came to a Zen master. He had known everything, indulged in every desire; he had enough money, so
           there was no problem. But then he got fed up -- fed up with sex, fed up with women, fed up with
           wine. He came to the Zen master and said, "Now I am fed up with the world. Is there some way that
           I can know myself, who I am?"
                The young man said, "But before you say anything, let me tell you something about myself. I am
           indecisive and cannot continue anything for long, so if you give me some technique or if you tell me
           to meditate, I may do it for a few days and then I will escape, knowing well that there is nothing in
           the world, knowing well that only misery awaits there, death. But this is my type of mind. I cannot
           continue, I cannot persist in anything, so before you choose something, remember this."
                The master said, "Then it will be very difficult if you cannot persist, because long effort will be
           needed to undo all that you have done in the past. You will have to travel back. It will have to be a
           regression. You will have to reach back to the moment when you were born, when fresh, young.
           That freshness will have to be achieved again. It is not ahead, but back that you will have to go -- to
           become a child again. But if you say you cannot persist and that within days you will escape, it will
           be difficult. But let me ask you one question: Have you ever been interested in something so deeply
           that you were absorbed completely?"
                The young man thought and he said, "Yes, only in chess, the game of chess, I have been very
           much interested. I love it, and that's the only thing that is saving me. Everything else has fallen away;
           only chess is still with me, and with it I can somehow pass my time."
                The master said, "Then something can be done. You wait." He called the attendant and told him
           to bring one monk who had been meditating for twelve years in the monastery, and to tell the monk
           to bring a chessboard.
                The chessboard was brought; the monk came. He was acquainted a little with chess, but for
           twelve years he had been meditating in a cell. He had forgotten the world and chess and everything.
                The master said to him, "Listen, monk! -- this is going to be a dangerous game. If you are
           defeated by this young man, the sword is here and I will cut off your head, because I wouldn't like a
           meditative monk -- who has been meditating for twelve years -- to be defeated by an ordinary young
           man. But I promise you, if you die by my hand then you will reach the highest heaven. So don't be
           disturbed."
                The young man became also a little uneasy, and then the master turned to him and said, "Look,
           you say that you get absorbed in chess, so now get totally absorbed -- because this is a question of
           life and death. If you are defeated I will cut off your head, and remember, I cannot promise heaven
           for you. This man is okay, he will go anyhow, but I cannot promise any heaven for you. If you die
           hell is the place -- immediately you will go to the seventh hell."
                For a moment the young man thought to escape. This was going to be a dangerous game, and he
           had not come here for this. But then it looked dishonorable; he was a samurai, a son of a warrior, and
           just because of death, imminent death, to escape was not in his blood. So he said, "Okay."
                The game started. The young man started trembling like a leaf in a strong wind, the whole body
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           trembling. He started perspiring, and cold perspiration came to his body; he started sweating from
           his head to the soles of his feet. It was a question of life and death, and thinking stopped, because
           whenever there is such an emergency you cannot afford thought. Thought is for leisure. When there
           is no problem you can think; when there is really a problem thinking stops, because the mind needs
           time, and when there is an emergency there is no time. You have to do something immediately.
               Every moment, death was coming nearer. The monk started, and he looked so serene and calm
           that the young man thought, "Well, death is certain!" But when the thoughts disappeared, he became
           totally absorbed in the moment. When thoughts disappeared, he also forgot that death was awaiting
           -- because death too is a thought. He forgot about death, he forgot about life, he became just a part of
           the game, absorbed, totally immersed in it.
               By and by, as the mind disappeared completely, he started playing beautifully. He had never
           played that way. In the beginning the monk was winning, but within minutes the young man got
           absorbed, started beautiful movements, and the monk started losing. Only the moment existed, only
           the present. There was no problem then; the body became okay, trembling stopped, perspiration
           evaporated. He was light like a feather, weightless. The perspiration even helped -- he became
           weightless, his whole body felt as if it could fly. His mind was no more there. Perception became
           clear, absolutely clear, and he could see ahead, five moves ahead. He had never played so
           beautifully. The other's game started crumbling; within minutes the other would be defeated, and his
           victory was certain.
               Then suddenly, when his eyes were clear, mirrorlike, when perception was profound, deep, he
           looked at the monk. He was so innocent. Twelve years of meditation -- he had become like a flower;
           twelve years of austerity -- he had become absolutely pure. No desire, no thought, no goal, no
           purpose existed for him. He was as innocent as possible... not even a child is so innocent. His
           beautiful face, his clear, skyblue eyes.... This young man started feeling compassion for him --
           sooner or later his head would be cut off. The moment he felt this compassion, unknown doors
           opened, and something absolutely unknown started filling his heart. He felt so blissful. All over his
           inner being flowers started falling. He felt so blissful... he had never known this bliss, this
           beautitude, this benediction.
               Then he started making wrong moves knowingly, because the thought came to his mind, "If I am
           killed nothing is disturbed; I have nothing of worth. But if this monk is killed something beautiful
           will be destroyed; but for me, just a useless existence...." He started making wrong movements
           consciously, to make the monk win. At that moment the master upturned the table, started laughing
           and said, "Nobody is going to be defeated here. You both have won."
               This monk was already in heaven, he was rich; no need to cut off his head. He was not troubled
           at all when the master said, "Your head is to be cut off." Not a single thought arose in his mind.
           There was no question of choice -- if the master says it is going to be so, it is okay. He said yes with
           his whole heart. That was why there was no perspiration, no trembling. He was playing chess; death
           was not a problem.
               And the master said, "You have won, and your victory has been greater than this monk's. Now I
           will initiate you. You can be here, and soon you will be enlightened."
               Both basic things had happened: meditation and compassion. Buddha has called these two the
           basic: pragya and karuna, meditation and compassion.
               The young man said, "Explain it to me. Something has happened I don't know about. I am
           already transformed; I am not the same young man who came to you a few hours ago. That man is
           already dead. Something has happened -- you have done a miracle."
               The master said, "Because death was so imminent, you couldn't think, thoughts stopped. Death
           was so close by, thinking was impossible. Death was so near, there was no gap between you and
           death, and thoughts need space to move. There was no space, so thinking stopped. Meditation
           happened spontaneously. But that was not enough, because that type of meditation which happens
           because of emergency will be lost; when the emergency is gone that meditation will be lost. So I
           couldn't throw the board at that moment, I had to wait."
               If meditation really happens, whatsoever the cause, compassion has to follow. Compassion is the
           flowering of meditation. If compassion is not coming, your meditation is, somewhere, wrong.
               Then I looked at your face. You were filled with bliss and your eyes became buddhalike. You
           looked at the monk, and you felt and you thought, "It is better to sacrifice myself than this monk.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This monk is more valuable than me."
               This is compassion -- when the other becomes more valuable than you. This is love -- when you
           can sacrifice yourself for the other. When you become the means and the other becomes the end, this
           is love. When you are the end and the other is used as a means, this is lust. Lust is always cunning
           and love is always compassionate.
               "Then I saw in your eyes the compassion arising, and then you started to make wrong
           movements just to be defeated, so that you would be killed and this monk saved. At that moment I
           had to throw the board. You had won. Now you can be here. I have taught you both meditation and
           compassion. Now follow this track, and let them become spontaneous in you -- not situational, not
           depending on any emergency, but just a quality of your being."
               Carry this story within you, in your heart; let it become the beat of your heart. Rooted in
           meditation you will have wings of compassion. That's why I say that I would like to give you two
           things: Roots into this earth and wings into that heaven. Meditation is this earth, it is here and now;
           the very moment you can spread your roots, do it. And once roots are there your wings will reach to
           the highest sky possible. Compassion is the sky, meditation is the earth, and when meditation and
           compassion meet a buddha is born.
               Go deeper and deeper into meditatio so you can go higher and higher in compassion. The deeper
           the roots of a tree reach the higher the peak. You can see the tree, you cannot see the roots, but they
           are always in proportion. If the tree is reaching to the sky the roots must be reaching to the very end
           of the earth. The proportion is the same. As deep as your meditation is, the same depth will be
           achieved in compassion. So compassion is the criterion. If you think you are meditative and there is
           no compassion, then you are deceiving yourself. Compassion must happen, because that is the
           flowering of the tree. Meditation is just a means towards compassion; compassion is the goal.
               Make yourself more and more alert. Call your name and answer, just to create more awareness.
           When you really become aware, you will feel a new upsurge of energy. Compassion will happen to
           you, and with compassion, bliss; with compassion, beatitude; with compassion, conviction.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
              AT THE START OF THE CAMP YOU SAID YOU WERE MOVING INTO A NEW PHASE OF YOUR
              WORK. WE'VE FELT IT IN MEDITATION, BUT MOST IMPORTANT, YOU'VE CHANGED THE WAY
              YOU SPEAK TO US. AT ONE TIME, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU NEVER ADMITTED TO BEING AN
              ENLIGHTENED MASTER, AND NOW YOU DO. COULD YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS NEW
              PHASE OF YOUR WORK?


               I can only say things which you have become capable of hearing. It depends on you. If you have
           become a disciple, then I can easily say that I am a master; but if you are not a disciple it will be just
           meaningless saying to you that I am a master. If somebody comes who is just curious about me, I
           will not say this to him; it would be pointless. He will not understand; rather, he will misunderstand.
               When you are ready to receive, only then can I give. And now that you are ready I can say many
           things which cannot be said to casual visitors. They are curious.; their curiosity is shallow, they have
           not come to receive something. Their mind functions in a childish way: they just want to know
           everything, and they are not going to penetrate deeper into it.
               Now I can say many things to you, because I know that you will not misunderstand. Even if you
           don't understand this much is certain: you will not misunderstand. This will be a new phase; it has
           already started. I will be working only with those who are sober, not fooling around. I will be
           working only with those who have really come to a point where they need transformation -- who are
           really sincere, authentic seekers and are ready to do whatsoever I say. To them I can say, "I am a
           master" to them I can say, "Come to me and drink out of me, and you will not be thirsty, ever."
               But this cannot be said to everybody; this cannot be said to somebody who is just passing, who
           you meet on the street. The more you get ready the more I can pour myself into you. Before, your
           pots were there but upside down; even if I had poured it would have been a wastage. Now many of
           you are in a situation where now your pots are not upside down, now they are right side up. Now I
           can pour, now I can trust that you will take it as a treasure, that you will hide it, that you will share it
           only with those who are sincere, who are in search. Many more secrets will be following, but they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will only follow as you get more ready.
               The phase, a new phase, has started. I will not be working with the masses now, and I will be
           dropping all those who are just hanging around for other reasons, and not for their spiritual growth.
           There are many types of people, and even they are not aware why they are hanging around -- but I
           know. I will be dropping them.
               Fewer and fewer will be accepted now. If I drop you, you will not be able to know that I have
           dropped you because you will go on thinking that you dropped me. That's how the ignorant mind
           always consoles itself. Now I will be working only with a few, a chosen few, and as you get ready
           many more secrets can be given to you, and I will be able to talk easily. Then I can be true, I need
           not say a lie to you then. I will not say what you want to hear; no, I will say what is really to be said
           to you.
               And don't wait for the future, because no one knows about the future. This very moment open
           yourself as much as you can so you can receive me.
               I will tell you one anecdote. It happened to the head of one of the most famous European banking
           families, the Rothschilds. Baron Rothschild was standing in his garden one day, and a man looking
           like a beggar, a peddler, came to him and told him to purchase a lottery ticket. He said, "Come on,
           take a chance."
               The Baron wanted to get rid of him. He said, "What should I do with the lottery ticket? I don't
           need it, I have got enough."
               The beggar said, "No one has got enough. Take a chance -- who knows, you may win it!" So, just
           to get rid of the nuisance, he purchased the ticket.
               Next morning the man knocked again and said, "Look, you have won one million dollars."
               The Baron was very much pleased and said, "I suppose I must reward you." Then the Baron
           thought and said, "What will you choose? I can give you twenty-five thousand dollars right this
           moment, or ten thousand dollars a year for your whole life."
               The man was not more than thirty or thirty-five. He was perfect in his health; he was going to
           live at least thirty, forty years, even more. Forty years at ten thousand dollars a year comes to four
           hundred thousand dollars -- or right now, twenty-five thousand dollars. The beggar thought for a
           single moment and said, "You please give me twenty-five thousand dollars right now."
               Even the Baron was puzzled. He said, "You think over what you are doing. Your whole life, I
           say -- ten thousand dollars per year!"
               The man said, "I will choose twenty-five thousand right now, because looking at the luck you
           Rothschilds have, I will not be alive six months. Looking at the luck you Rothschilds have, I will not
           live for six months more. You give it to me right now; the next moment is uncertain. Don't waste
           time!"
               That's what I say to you. Right this moment I am here, available. Don't wait for the future,
           because nobody knows.... Open your heart, become more receptive, get attuned. Everything is
           possible. At this very moment I can give you the key.
               A new phase has started. Now get ready for it, because it is not a question concerning me, it is a
           question concerning you. How much you can get, you will get; your capacity will be the limit. If you
           are totally open there is no limit. The whole ocean is ready to fall into the drop, but the drop is
           afraid. It is trying to protect itself.
               Kabir, one of the greatest mystics ever born, has said two things. He has said, "In the beginning,
           when I was in search of God, I was thinking my drop of water would drop into the ocean of the
           divine. But when it really happened it happened quite otherwise: the ocean dropped into my small
           drop."
               It always happens otherwise. You are not going to meet God, God is going to meet you. How can
           you seek him? You don't know his whereabouts, you don't know his address. He is in search of you
           constantly, and whenever you are ready the ocean drops into you.
               Meditation will make you ready, compassion will make you perfect. So carry these two mantras:
           PRAGYA, meditation, KARUNA, compassion -- let these two be the goals. Let your whole life
           revolve around them, and very soon you will be attuned. Then I can pour myself into you.
           Anything more?

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU'VE SAID MEDITATION IS A FLOWERING. AND FOR US, THE PERFUME OF THE FLOWER
              IS GRATITUDE. IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO FOR YOU?


                Yes. Meditation, compassion and gratitude. Whenever you are meditative, you feel blissful;
           whenever you are in compassion, you feel ecstatic. And then gratitude arises -- not towards anyone
           in particular, gratitude just arises. It is not towards me or towards Jesus, or Zarathustra or Buddha, it
           is simply gratitude. You feel so grateful just for being here, just for being alive, just for being able to
           be meditative, just for being able to be in compassion. You feel simply grateful. That gratefulness is
           not towards anybody, it is towards the whole.
                If you feel grateful towards me it is a gratitude of the mind. If you meditate and if you flower in
           compassion you will feel simply grateful, not grateful towards me. Then there is no "towards" -- you
           feel simply grateful towards all. And when you feel grateful towards all, that is really gratefulness
           towards me, never before it. When it is a choice you choose me; then your master becomes a point,
           not the whole.
                That's what is happening everywhere. Disciples get fixed with the master and masters help them
           to be fixed. That's not good, it is ugly. When you really flower then your perfume is not addressed to
           anybody; when you really flower the perfume goes in all directions. It simply moves in all
           directions, and whosoever passes near you is filled with your fragrance, he carries your fragrance.
           And if nobody passes you then on that silent, lonely path your fragrance goes on spreading -- but it is
           not addressed.
                Remember, the mind is always addressed; being is never addressed. The mind is always moving
           towards something; being is simply moving towards all. It is a movement without any goal. A goal
           exists because of motive: you move towards something because there is desire. When there is no
           desire how can you move? Movement is there but no motivation. Then you move in all directions,
           then you overflow. Then your master is everywhere; then I am everywhere. And only when this
           point comes are you free from the master also. Then you are freed of all relationship, you are freed
           of all presence, of all bondage. And if a master cannot free you from himself he is not a master at all.
                So you need not do anything for me; you do something for you. Meditation, compassion -- that
           is doing for me. Then the presence will come, and not thought by the mind. Right now you think and
           you feel: What shall we do? Then it is the mind. How to pay the master? He has done so much for
           you, what should you do? This is the mind thinking in terms of giving and taking. No, this mind
           won't help. One thing you can do for me: drop this mind, allow your being to flower; then you will
           be fragrant. Then in all dimensions and directions the whole will be happy. You will be a bliss and
           your gratitude will not be narrow. It will not be towards a point, it will be moving all over,
           everywhere. Only then do you achieve prayer. This gratitude is prayer.
                When you go in a temple and do a prayer, it is not prayer; but when, after compassion, gratitude
           arises, the whole existence becomes the temple. Whatsoever you touch it becomes a prayer;
           whatsoever you do it becomes prayerful. You cannot be otherwise. Deeply rooted, anchored in
           meditation, deeply flowing into compassion, you cannot be otherwise. You become prayer, you
           become gratitude.
                But remember, the mind is always addressed. It has a goal, a desire to achieve. Being is
           unaddressed; it has no goal, it has nothing to achieve. The kingdom of being is already achieved, the
           emperor is already there on the throne. You move because movement is life, but don't move towards
           any goal, because when there is no goal, there is no tension. Then movement is beautiful, graceful.




                                A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                  Talks on Zen Stories
                                     Talks given from 11/08/76 am to 20/08/76 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                      10 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1977
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                          A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                     Chapter #1
                                     Chapter title: A Sudden Clash of Thunder
           11 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608110
              ShortTitle: THUNDE01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




                 BUTEI, THE EMPEROR OF RYO, SENT FOR FU-DAISHI TO EXPLAIN THE DIAMOND SUTRA. ON
                 THE APPOINTED DAY FU-DAISHI CAME TO THE PALACE, MOUNTED THE PLATFORM,
                 RAPPED ON THE TABLE BEFORE HIM, THEN DESCENDED AND, STILL NOT SPEAKING, LEFT.
                 BUTEI SAT MOTIONLESS FOR SOME MINUTES, WHEREUPON SHIKO, WHO HAD SEEN ALL
                 THAT HAD HAPPENED, WENT UP TO HIM AND SAID, "MAY I BE SO BOLD, SIR, AS TO ASK
                 WHETHER YOU UNDERSTOOD?"
                 THE EMPEROR SHOOK HIS HEAD SADLY. "WHAT A PITY," SAID SHIKO. "FU-DAISHI HAS
                 NEVER BEEN MORE ELOQUENT."


                 TRUTH IS. It simply is, Nothing can be said about it. And all that can be said about it will falsify
           it.
                There is no need for any explanation. Unexplained, utterly immediate, truth is. It surrounds you.
           It is within you, without you. There is no need to come to any conclusion about it. It is already
           concluded! You are in it. You cannot be without it. There is no way to lose it. There is no way to
           become distracted from it. You may be fast asleep, unaware, but still you are in it.
                So those who know truth know well that philosophy is not going to help. The more you try to
           know about truth, the more you be come asleep. The very effort to know leads you astray. Truth can
           be felt but cannot be known. When I say it can be felt, I mean you can be present to it, it can be
           present to you. There is a possibility of a meeting. There is a possibility of becoming one with it. But
           there is no way to know it.
                Truth cannot be objectified. You cannot put it there and see it. You cannot hold it in your hand
           and see it. You cannot examine it from the outside -- only from the inside, only by becoming one
           with it, can you feel it. Feeling is the only knowledge possible. Hence, those who know say: Love is
           the way.
                Knowledge is a sort of ignorance. The word 'ignorance' is very beautiful. Split it in two -- it
           becomes 'ignor-ance'. Truth can be ignored. That's what ignorance is; otherwise, truth is already
           present. Ignorance is nothing but ignoring the truth which is already there. And a man of knowledge
           becomes more ignorant, because the more he thinks he knows, the more he becomes capable of
           ignoring that which is. Lost in his theories, dogmas, creeds, scriptures, he no longer has any eyes to
           look at the reality. Lost in words, verbalizations, his vision is clouded. He cannot see that which is.
                The more you are clouded by your thinking, the more you are a mind, the more you will be able
           to ignore the truth. Nothing like knowledge is needed -- only innocence, a childlike innocence.
           Vulnerable, open.... Not trying to know. In the very effort to know, there is violence. In the very
           effort to know, you have trespassed reality. In the very effort to know, you have become a voyeur.
           You have attacked reality, you are trying to rape reality.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That's why I continuously say science is a rape on reality. The word 'science' comes from a root
           which means 'to know'. Science is knowledge. Religion is not knowledge. Religion is love. The word
           'religion' comes from a root which means binding together -- falling into love, becoming one.
                Truth is felt. It is a lived experience. So whatsoever can be said about truth will be untrue. Just
           because it has been said, it becomes untrue.
                All that has been said up to now, and all that will be said in the future, has nothing to do with
           truth. There is no way of expressing it. Truth is very elusive. You cannot catch hold of it in words.
           You cannot catch hold of it through the mind. Mind goes on missing it, because the very functioning
           of the mind is anti-truth. The functioning of the mind is non-existential: it functions in that which is
           not, either in the past or in the future. The past is no more, the future not yet, and the mind only
           functions either in the past or in the future. In the present there is no mind.
                If you are herenow, suddenly you have slipped out of the mind. How can you think herenow?
           Thinking will take you away from the herenow. A single thought, and you are thousands of miles
           away from here and now. In the here and now there is no possibility, there is no space for thinking to
           arise.
                Mind functions in the non-existential, in the fictitious, in the imaginary. Mind is a faculty of
           dreaming -- it is a dream faculty! Truth is not known by mind; that's why I say it is not known at all.
           Truth is felt by the heart, by your totality; by you, not by your head; by you as an organic unity.
           When you know truth, you know by the head and by the toes; you know by your bones and by your
           guts; you know by your heart and by your blood; you know it by your breathing -- just by your very
           being. Truth is known by being.
           That is the meaning when I say truth is felt. It is an experience.
           I have heard:

           A monk asked Joshu: "What is the Buddha?"
           "The one in the hall."
           The monk said, "The one in the hall is a statue, a lump of mud."
           Joshu said, "That's so."
           "What is the Buddha, then?" asked the monk again.
           "The one in the hall," said Joshu.
                Now what is this Joshu trying to do? He is saying: "Your question is absurd. Because you are
           asking an absurd question, I am answering it in an absurd way. Your question is stupid, and there can
           be no intelligent answer to a stupid question." He is trying to show to this monk that the very
           question: What is the Buddha? is nonsense, because there is no way to say anything about the
           Buddha. It is an awakening. It is an experience. It happens within you. You cannot read it through
           the scriptures, and you cannot ask those who have come to know it. The only way is: you have to go
           to it; you have to allow it to happen.
                In the Buddhist terminology 'Buddha' is equivalent to 'truth'. They don't talk much about truth;
           they talk much more about Buddha. That too is significant, because when you become a Buddha --
           'Buddha' means when you become Awakened -- truth is, so why talk about truth? Just ask what
           awakening is. Just ask what awareness is -- because when you are aware, truth is there; when you are
           not aware, truth is not there.
                So the basic and real question is about awareness. But that, too, cannot be asked and solved. One
           has to become aware -- there is no other way.
                A disciple asked a Zen master, "If someone were to ask me a hundred years from now what I
           thought was your deepest understanding, what should I say?"
           The master replied, "Tell him I said: This is it!"
                Now what type of answer is this? -- This is it! He indicated to the immediate reality: This.
                Vedanta, the greatest philosophical effort in India, talks about 'That': TATWAMASI Swetketu --
           That art thou, Swetketu. Zen people talk about 'this'. Certainly their understanding is deeper --
           because 'that' is again in the future, far away; 'this' is present. This is that. This shore is the other
           shore. This life is the only life, and this moment is eternity.
                If you can live this moment, if you can be here this moment, then everything takes care of itself.
           Then you need not be anxious. Then there is no need to ask -- before you ask, the answer is
           delivered. The answer has been always there, but we are not aware. So the whole effort of Zen is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how to bring awareness to you.
               Man is as if asleep. Man lives in a stupor -- moves, works, is born, lives and dies, but almost fast
           asleep, snoring. Man's mind is very dull. Mind is dullness. Mind has no intelligence in it. There has
           never been an intelligent mind. I don't mean that there have never been intelligent people; there have
           been intelligent people, but there has never been an intelligent mind. Intelligence is something that
           comes when mind is dropped. Mind is never original, never radical. Mind is always orthodox. Mind
           is always repetitive, mechanical; it functions like a robot. It goes on repeating the same thing again
           and again. It is like a computer: whatsoever you feed into it, it goes on chewing it again and again.
               Have you watched your own mind and its functioning? Nothing new ever happens to it. Nothing
           new can happen to it. And because of it you remain oblivious of all that is happening all around you;
           you go on ignoring it. You are too much attached to this mediocre, stupid instrument. It is good to
           use it; it is good as a reservoir, as memory; it is good to keep records -- but it is not a way to see into
           reality. It has no eyes.
               Mind is blind like a bat. It has no eyes. Mind can never be intelligent -- only no-mind is
           intelligent. Only no-mind is original and radical. Only no-mind is revolutionary -- revolution in
           action.
               This mind gives you a sort of stupor. Burdened by the memories of the past, burdened by the
           projections of the future, you go on living -- at the minimum. You don't live at the maximum. Your
           flame remains very dim. Once you start dropping thoughts, the dust that you have collected in the
           past, the flame arises -- clean, clear, alive, young. Your whole life becomes a flame, and a flame
           without any smoke. That is what awareness is.
               Consciousness without thinking: that's what awareness is. Being alert and with no thought. Try
           it! whenever you see thinking gathering, disperse it! pull yourself out of it! Look at the trees with no
           screens of thinking between you and the trees. Listen to the chirping of the birds with no chirping of
           the mind inside. Look at the sun rising and feel that inside you also a sun of consciousness is rising...
           but don't think about it, don't assert, don't state, don't say. Simply be. And, by and by, you will start
           feeling glimpses of awareness, sudden glimpses of awareness -- as if a fresh breeze has entered into
           your room which was getting stale and dead; as if a ray of light has entered into the dark night of
           your soul; as if, suddenly, life has called you back.

               YOU HAVE heard the story of Lazarus -- that is a story of man as such. It is said Lazarus died.
           Jesus loved him very much. His sisters informed Jesus; by the time the news reached him, Lazarus
           had been dead for four days. Jesus came running. Everybody was crying and weeping, and he said,
           "Don't weep, don't cry! Let me call him back to life!"
               Nobody could believe him. Lazarus is dead! And the sisters of Lazarus said, "He is now stinking
           -- he cannot come back. His body is deteriorating."
               But Jesus went to the grave where the body was preserved for him to come. The stone was pulled
           aside. In the dark cave Jesus called out, "Lazarus, come out! " And it is said he came out.
               It may not have happened that way; it may be just a parable -- but it is a beautiful parable about
           man. When I look into your eyes, that's all I can say: "Lazarus, come out!" You are dead and
           stinking. You are not yet alive. You are born, but you need to be reborn. Your first birth has not been
           of much help. It has brought you to a certain extent, but that is not enough. You have to go a little
           further. The birth that has already happened to you is only physical -- you need a spiritual birth.
               It is said: One professor of Jerusalem university went to see Jesus. Of course, he went in the
           night. His name was Nicodemus; he was a very rich, respectable man, a great scholar, well known in
           the Jewish world. He was afraid to go to Jesus in the daylight, because what will people think? He
           was known to be a great, learned man, wise -- what will they think? that he has gone to this
           carpenter's son to ask something? He was older than Jesus -- could almost have been Jesus' father.
           No, it was not possible for him to go in the daylight. Cunning and clever, he went in the night when
           there was nobody else. And Jesus asked him, "Why didn't you come in the day?"
           He said, "I was afraid."
               Jesus must have laughed. He said, "Nicodemus, for what have you come? What do you want of
           me?"
               He said, "I would like to know how I can know God, how I can know the truth."
           Jesus said, "You will have to be reborn."
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nicodemus could not understand. Jokingly he said, "What do you mean? Have I to enter again
           into a woman's womb? Are you joking or something? Are you kidding or something?"
               Jesus said, "No, I mean it -- I mean what I say. You have to be reborn. You are such a coward.
           This is not life. You don't have any courage. You will have to be reborn! You will have to become a
           new man, because only that new man can come to truth and realize it. Even to see me you have come
           in the night. How will you be able to go and see the truth? How will you encounter God? You will
           have to go naked. You will have to go in deep humility. You will have to drop all your
           respectability, all your scholarship. You will have to drop your ego -- that's what to be reborn
           means."
               The first birth is only a physical birth; don't be satisfied with it. It is necessary but not enough. A
           second birth is needed. The first birth was through your mother and father; the second birth is going
           to be out of the mind. You have to slip out of the mind and that will be your rebirth -- you will be
           reborn.
               And, for the first time, trees will be greener than they are, and flowers will be more beautiful
           than they are, and life will be more alive than you have ever known it, because you can know it only
           to the extent that you are alive. You cannot know life if you are not alive. Whatsoever you are, you
           know life only up to that extent.
               Mind, and mind's hold on you, is the imprisonment. Get rid of the mind. The question is not how
           to know truth; the question is how to get rid of the mind, how to get rid of this constant ignoring, this
           ignorance; how to be just here naked, throbbing, streaming, flowing, overflowing, and meeting the
           truth that has already been there, that has always been there.
           Somebody asked a very famous Chinese poet, Yang Wang-li:

               "Now what is poetry?" He said, "If you say it is simply a matter of words, I will say a good poet
           gets rid of words. If you say it is simply a matter of meaning, I will say a good poet gets rid of
           meaning.'But,' you ask,'without words and without meaning, where is the poetry?' To this I reply:
           Get rid of words and get rid of meaning, and there is still poetry."

                In fact, only then is there poetry. When words are no more there, when meaning is no more there,
           then suddenly poetry erupts, explodes. Poetry is a flowering of your being, and religion is more like
           poetry than like philosophy.
                Philosophy tries to explain things -- never succeeds. At the most, it can succeed only in
           explaining away things, but it never succeeds in explaining them. Religion makes no effort to
           explain life. It tries to live it. Religion does not take life as a problem to be solved -- it takes life as a
           mystery to be lived. Religion is not curious about life. Religion is in awe, in tremendous wonder
           about life.
                Just our being here is such a miracle. It cannot be explained why I am here, why you are here.
           Why these trees are here, why these stars are here. Why at all this universe exists, and goes on
           peopling itself with trees and birds and people. Why in the first place it is there, there is no way to
           know. It simply is there. But it inspires awe! It fills the heart with wonder. It is unbelievably true -- it
           is incredible! It is absurd, but tremendously beautiful.
                Why it is there, there is no way to say -- but it is there. And religion says: Don't waste your time
           for the why. It is there: delight in it! Celebrate it! Be lost into it! And let it be lost into you. Meet it!
           Let the meeting be like two lovers entering into each other. Let it be an orgasmic experience.
                But religion in the West has a very wrong connotation. It has almost reached to a point where the
           very word 'religion' creates a repulsion, where the very word 'religion' reminds one of dead churches
           and dead priests. It reminds one of serious looking people, long faces. It has lost the capacity to
           dance, to sing, to celebrate. And when a religion has lost the capacity to dance, to celebrate, to sing,
           to love, just to be, then it is no more religion -- it is a corpse, it is theology. Theology is dead
           religion.
                In the West theology has overpowered religion. When theology overpowers religion, then
           religion is nothing but philosophy. And the philosophy is also not very philosophic -- because
           philosophy can exist only through doubt, and theology bases itself on faith. So it is impotent
           philosophy, not even philosophy in the real sense.
                Religion is not based on belief or faith: religion is based on awe, religion is based on wonder.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Religion is based on the mysterious that is your surround. To feel it, to be aware of it, to see it, open
           your eyes and drop the dust of the ages. Clean your mirror! and see what beauty surrounds you, what
           tremendous grandeur goes on knocking at your doors. Why are you sitting with closed eyes? Why
           are you sitting with such long faces? Why can't you dance? and why can't you laugh?
                Nietzsche is right: God is dead... because theologians have killed Him. God can be alive only
           when a lover is dancing. When a theologian is trying to find arguments to prove God, He is dead.
           God is alive when two persons fall in love -- then God is throbbing and kicking. God is alive when
           you look at a flower and you cannot move from there -- something overpowers you, overwhelms
           you. When you look at the stars and you are one with the mystery, and your boat starts sailing
           towards the other shore, then God is alive. When you sing a song -- it may be meaningless, it may be
           just la-la-la -- it may not have any meaning, but God is alive in that sheer expression of joy.
                God is alive when you are alive. If you are not alive, how can your God be alive? Your God is
           yours. If you are dead, your God is dead; if you are alive, your God is alive. Your God cannot be
           more than you, because your God is your innermost core of being. So if you want to know what God
           is, become more alive. If you want to know what God is, become more divine. If you want to know
           what God is, then don't try to know -- try to feel. He comes through the door of the heart.
                God is such a mystery -- or call it life, or existence -- life is such a mystery that even if you enter
           into the innermost shrine of it you will not be able to believe it. It is unbelievably true. It is
           incredible.
           I was reading a poem of Leopold Staff. Listen to it:
           The Bridge
              I DIDN'T BELIEVE,
              STANDING ON THE BANK OF A RIVER
              WHICH WAS WIDE AND SWIFT,
              THAT I WOULD CROSS THAT BRIDGE
              PLAITED FROM THIN, FRAGILE REEDS
              FASTENED WITH BAST.
              I WALKED DELICATELY AS A BUTTERFLY
              AND HEAVILY AS AN ELEPHANT,
              I WALKED SURELY AS A DANCER
              AND WAVERED AS A BLIND MAN.
              I DIDN'T BELIEVE THAT I WOULD CROSS THAT BRIDGE,
              AND NOW THAT I AM STANDING ON THE OTHER SIDE,
              I DON'T BELIEVE I CROSSED IT.

                Even when you have known God, you will not be able to believe that you have known Him. That
           is what I mean when I say God is a mystery. Unknown, He remains unknowable. Known also, He
           remains unknowable. Unseen, He is a mystery; seen He becomes an even greater mystery. It is not a
           problem that you can solve. It is bigger than you. You can dissolve into it -- you cannot solve it.
                I have heard that Wittgenstein, a great Western philosopher, who comes nearest to the Zen
           attitude, used to say that he did not solve philosophical problems -- he dissolved them. And he used
           to say: "We leave things as they are but perhaps for the first time we come to see them as they are."
           Nothing can be done about things as they are. All that can be done is to help you to see them as they
           are. "We leave things as they are but perhaps for the first time we come to see them as they are."
                And again: "Philosophy simply puts everything before us, and neither explains nor deduces
           anything -- since everything lies open to view, there is nothing to explain."
                Yes, life is a mystery, and there is nothing to explain -- because everything is just open, it is just
           in front of you. Encounter it! Meet it! Be courageous! That is the whole standpoint of Zen.

               NOW LET ME help you to enter into this beautiful story. I will not explain it. I can just seduce
           you to enter into it. I can simply allure you to enter into it. I can only persuade you to have a taste of
           it.
              BUTEI, THE EMPEROR OF RYO, SENT FOR FU-DAISHI TO EXPLAIN THE DIAMOND SUTRA.

               Now the Diamond Sutra is really a Kohinoor; it is one of the most significant utterances ever
           uttered on this earth. Buddha's sayings in the Diamond Sutra are the most precious. But the basic
           thing in the Diamond Sutra is that nothing can be explained, that life is utterly unexplainable; that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life is such that all explanations fall short, that all philosophies prove very narrow. The sky of life is
           so vast that there is no way to confine it in any hypothesis or doctrine.
                Buddha himself never used to talk about metaphysical problems. He made a list of ten or twelve
           problems, and before he entered a town or a city his disciples would go and declare in the town:
           "Don't ask about these twelve problems because he will not answer." Not that he cannot answer -- if
           he cannot answer then who will answer? -- but that these problems are unanswerable. They are better
           left not touched; better they are left alone.
                Nobody should ask about God. Buddha would not say God is; he would not say God is not --
           because he said both are irrelevant. To say God is, is as irrelevant as to say God is not -- because that
           which is, is beyond the positive and the negative. That which is, it is beyond the minus and the plus.
           That which is cannot be said 'is' and cannot be said 'is not'. It is far beyond both. That which is, it is
           beyond dichotomy, it is beyond dialectics, it is beyond duality. 'Is' and 'is not' create a duality.
           Existence is one, organically one; it comprehends both.
           Questions like this, Buddha would say, please don't ask.
                This Emperor Butei asked another Buddha, Fu-daishi, a Zen master, to come to his palace and
           explain to him the Diamond Sutra. Buddhists long too much to understand what this Diamond Sutra
           is. It is utterly absurd. It is difficult to understand, because it has nothing explained in it. Those are
           utterances of tremendous value, but no philosophy is woven around them, no system is created.
           Those are atomic utterances. And the substratum of them all is that nothing can be said. Just like Lao
           Tzu's TAO TE KING: The Tao that can be uttered is no longer Tao. The truth that is said is no
           longer truth. Truth said becomes untrue -- said and it becomes false. Now what to do? How to
           understand?
                The Emperor must have been reading the Diamond Sutra. And there is no other way than to ask
           some Enlightened person -- because the Diamond Sutra, or scriptures like that, are utterly illogical.
           Unless you can find someone who has become awakened you cannot sort it out, you cannot figure it
           out. It will be very confusing to you. You can go on repeating it, you can even enjoy the music of
           your repetition, the rhythm, but you will never be able to penetrate into the mystery. The mystery
           can be explained only by an alive person.
              ON THE APPOINTED DAY FU-DAISHI CAME TO THE PALACE, MOUNTED THE PLATFORM,
              RAPPED ON THE TABLE BEFORE HIM, THEN DESCENDED AND, STILL NOT SPEAKING, LEFT.

                This was his discourse on the Diamond Sutra. He did a great job! What did he say by doing this?
                First thing: that truth can be explained only in action; words are not enough. If the Emperor had
           watched rightly the way Fu-daishi walked, there was the commentary on the Diamond Sutra. The
           grandeur, the dignity, the beauty, the grace,.the way he walked -- there was the commentary on the
           Diamond Sutra. He must have walked like Buddha -- he was a Buddha. He must have carried a
           milieu of Buddhahood around him. He must have brought a different type of universe with him into
           the palace -- a dimension alive. His door was open: if the Emperor had had any eyes, he would have
           seen that Buddha himself had come. It was not Fu-daishi, it was Buddha walking again on the earth
           -- in another form, under another name. The container may have been different, but the content was
           exactly the same.
                Fu-daishi walked, MOUNTED THE PLATFORM, RAPPED ON THE TABLE BEFORE HIM...
           why did he rap on the table before him? He must have seen the Emperor fast asleep. He must have
           seen him dozing. Just to make him a little alert, just to shock him!... THEN DESCENDED... he did
           well! What more can you do? When a person is asleep, that's all that can be done: you can shout at
           him, you can knock at his door. HE RAPPED ON THE TABLE... what else can you do? Then
           gracefully he must have descended... AND, STILL NOT SPEAKING, LEFT. Because if he had
           spoken on the Diamond Sutra he would have proved that he himself had not understood it.
                On the Diamond Sutra it is impossible to speak: it is the very truth. No, it would have been
           profane. It would have been a sacrilege! It would not have been right. Only silence can be the
           commentary. Had the Emperor had any ears to listen to silence, he would have understood.
                ... AND, STILL NOT SPEAKING, LEFT. Why did he leave so suddenly? -- because more is not
           possible. You cannot forcibly give the truth to somebody who is not ready. He did whatsoever he
           could; now there was no point in lingering any longer.
                And that suddenly leaving the Emperor was also another shock. He must have jolted the Emperor
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to his very roots. He came like a cyclone, almost uprooted the tree of Butei! The Emperor could not
           have even dreamt that such a rude behavior.... He was doing it out of tremendous compassion, but to
           the Emperor it must have looked rude, uncivil, unmannerly.
               And in a country like Japan where people are obsessed with manners, where their faces have all
           become false, where everybody is carrying a mask! For centuries the Japanese have been the most
           false people in the world, always smiling. The Emperor must have been shocked; he could not have
           believed what happened... and so suddenly comes Fu-daishi!
               And he must have waited for so long for this appointed time. And he must have longed for so
           long that he would say something, that he would enlighten him, he would help him to know. And
           here comes this man: walks, mounts on the platform -- leaves without uttering a single word!
              BUTEI SAT MOTIONLESS FOR SOME MINUTES...

               He must have been completely incapable of figuring it out. Fu-daishi had shocked him out of his
           wits! But had he been a little aware, that interval would have opened a new dimension for him.
           Fu-daishi has invited him, he waits there, seeing that the Emperor is completely asleep -- even
           shouting is not going to help. Even if you call "Lazarus, come out! " he will not listen.
           He left. The Emperor was shocked. For a few minutes he sat motionless
              ... WHEREUPON SHIKO, WHO HAD SEEN ALL THAT HAD HAPPENED, WENT UP TO HIM AND
              SAID, "MAY I BE SO BOLD, SIR, AS TO ASK WHETHER YOU UNDERSTOOD?"

                Now to ask this even of an ordinary man is dangerous. And to ask an emperor: "Sir, whether you
           understood...?"
                Now this man, Shiko, is a man of tremendous understanding -- must have been. He has
           understood the significance of the gesture of Fu-daishi. He must have seen the glory that walked; he
           must have seen the light that shone in silence. He must have seen those eyes overflowing with
           compassion. He must have felt the grace that came like a breeze -- cool, calm, serene. He must have
           felt sorry for the Emperor also.
              "MAY I BE SO BOLD, SIR, AS TO ASK WHETHER YOU UNDERSTOOD?"
              THE EMPEROR SHOOK HIS HEAD SADLY.

               He has not been able to understand. He is sad. He must have become even sadder because of this
           man, Shiko. Now he can see that something has happened; now he can feel that some opportunity
           has passed his door, that some momentous interval was available to him, and he has missed.
              THE EMPEROR SHOOK HIS HEAD SADLY.

               Many people have been doing that down the centuries. A Buddha comes, a Jesus comes, a
           Krishna, a Zarathustra -- very few, very rarely. Shiko's are very few -- those who understand. Butei
           exists as the mass; Butei is the many; Butei is the majority, the crowd. Buddha comes and walks; he
           brings another world into this world. He brings tremendous beauty, but you cannot see, you cannot
           feel,
               Jesus goes on saying to his disciples: "If you have ears, listen! If you have eyes, see!" Truth was
           standing before them. God Himself was standing before them. God has come many times to the earth
           -- He cares for it! In many forms He has been seeking you. Never think for a moment that you are
           uncared for.
               It is not only that you are seeking God -- God is also seeking you in many, many ways.
           Sometimes as a Krishna with his flute, sometimes as a Buddha with his silence, sometimes as a Jesus
           with his revolutionary approach to life -- in millions of ways God has been extending his hand
           towards you, groping for you. Sometimes your hand has even touched His hand -- but you don't
           understand. Sometimes even a glimmer, a tremor has gone through your spine, but you don't
           understand. On the contrary, you explain it somehow.

              A WOMAN came to me a few years ago. She sat just in front of me holding my feet, crying. It
           was a beautiful moment. Somehow, she had been able to feel me. But then she became afraid; then I
           could see -- suddenly she left my feet, recoiled backwards. I asked her, "What has happened?
           Something was going deep in you -- why have you withdrawn yourself?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               She said, " I am a professor in a university and I teach psychology -- this must have been a
           relapse, a regression. I must have regressed towards my childhood; you must have worked like a
           father-figure. No, this is nothing. Yes, something happened, but it was a relapse into childhood. Yes,
           something happened, but it was nothing but a sort of hypnosis. Your eyes got hold of me." Now she
           has explained it away.
               Something was on the way, something was really going to happen. One moment more and she
           would have been a totally different woman, and there would have been no possibility of her falling
           back. She would have crossed the point of no return. But just before it, she recoiled back, became
           afraid. And, of course, she was intelligent -- as intelligence goes -- a well-educated woman, capable
           of rationalizations. She immediately produced a rationalization: "It may be a sort of hypnosis, or a
           relapse into childhood, or you must have reminded me of my dead father." Now that which was
           happening has been cut.
               Many times God has reached you, and many times you have withdrawn yourself. Many times He
           has walked with you and you have not recognized Him. Many times He has shouted at you:
           "Lazarus, come out! " and you won't listen. Or you think: "He must be calling somebody else --
           Lazarus is not my name. " Let me tell you: Lazarus is your name!
               And don't think about this story just as a story. That's what Buddha has done, that's what
           Bodhidharma has done, that's what Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu have done: they have shouted at you,
           they have taken you by your hands and shaken you. Very few understand. In most of the cases
           people become angry, they become annoyed, because you are disturbing their sleep. They are
           sleeping and having beautiful dreams, golden dreams, sweet dreams, and you are disturbing their
           sleep.
               That's why they had to kill Jesus, murder Mansoor, poison Socrates -- these people were great
           disturbers. They were disturbing your sleep.
              "MAY I BE SO BOLD, SIR, " ASKED SHIKO, "AS TO ASK WHETHER YOU UNDERSTOOD?"

               Now this is a very meaningful question. People go on believing that they understand -- and this
           very idea that they understand keeps their ignorance intact. The first step to be taken towards
           understanding is to understand that you don't understand, to recognize and realize your ignorance, to
           realize in deep humility that you have been ignoring the truth.
           I was reading a small story:

               Four frogs sat upon a log that lay floating on the edge of a river. Suddenly the log was caught by
           the current and swept slowly down the stream. The frogs were delighted and absorbed, for never
           before had they sailed.
               At length the first frog spoke, and said, "This is indeed a most marvellous log. It moves as if
           alive. No such log was ever known before."
               Then the second frog spoke, and said, "Nay, my friend, the log is like other logs, and does not
           move. It is the river, that is walking to the sea, and carries us and the log with it."
               And the third frog spoke, and said, "It is neither the log nor the river that moves. The moving is
           in our thinking. For without thought nothing moves."
               And the three frogs began to wrangle about what was really moving. The quarrel grew hotter and
           louder, but they could not agree.
               Then they turned to the fourth frog, who up to this time had been listening attentively but holding
           his peace, and they asked his opinion.
               And the fourth frog said, "Each of you is right and none of you is wrong. The moving is in the
           log and the water and our thinking also, but if you look still deeper then nothing has moved, because
           nothing can move and there is nowhere to move."
               And the three frogs became very angry, for none of them was willing to admit that his was not
           the whole truth and that the other two were not wholly wrong; and they were not ready to think that
           they didn't know, and this fourth foolish frog -- he knows? It was against their egos.
               Then the strange thing happened -- this has always been happening: the three frogs got together
           and pushed the fourth frog off the log into the river.

              It is very difficult to see; when truth knocks at your door, it is very difficult to open the door and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           receive the guest, and welcome the guest -- because when truth knocks at your door, suddenly you
           become aware that you have been living up to now with lies, that up to now you have been untrue,
           that all your declarations were false and all your dogmas were false. When truth comes face to face
           with you, suddenly your whole life is nullified. Your whole past has been just a darkness. It is too
           much for the ego to accept. It is better to deny the truth, it is better to close the door, and say that
           truth never knocked at your door. It is better to say that there has been never a Buddha, never a
           Jesus, never a Krishna. It is better to say that to save your own face.
               It is very difficult to understand that you don't understand. It is very humiliating. And think of an
           emperor: emperors have been thinking that they know everything; they have even been trying that
           they are the representatives of God on earth, the very incarnations of God on earth. They have power
           -- power blinds the eyes. It is very difficult to see that you are ignorant when you have money,
           respect, power. When others think that you know, it is very difficult.
           Shiko's fear was relevant.
              "MAY I BE SO BOLD, SIR, AS TO ASK WHETHER YOU UNDERSTOOD?"
              THE EMPEROR SHOOK HIS HEAD SADLY...

               but the Emperor must have been a humble person -- maybe blind, but still humble; may not have
           seen what had happened, what had transpired; may not have seen what Fu-daishi had brought as a
           gift, but he was not arrogant, not very egoistic. There is a possibility for him. He was sad that he
           could not understand; he was not annoyed.
               Remember: anger and sadness are two aspects of the same energy. These are the two alternatives.
           Either the Emperor could have been angry, or sad. Angry -- then he would have killed Fu-daishi;
           then Fu-daishi would have been thrown into the prison, poisoned, murdered, crucified. But he was
           sad. Then there is a hope.
               Sadness has something beautiful in it, because sadness can become creative. Anger is always
           destructive. If he had been an angry person he would have thought that Fu-daishi had insulted him.
           But he thought: "I have missed an opportunity. " If you can be that humble then more possibilities
           open for you.
               The Emperor is not very far off the mark. Sooner or later, he will enter on the path.
              "WHAT A PITY," SAID SHIKO. "FU-DAISHI HAS NEVER BEEN MORE ELOQUENT."

               Rapping on the table, shouting so hard and so loud, walking with such intense grace -- bringing
           Buddha to the palace: yes, Fu-daishi has never been more eloquent. He has said that which can be
           said. He created the situation in which there was every possibility that the Emperor could have seen.
           Whatsoever he could do, he had done. You cannot find any fault with Fu-daishi. More cannot be
           done. In fact, he had already gone out of the way to do it.
               In the first place, it is very difficult for a man like Fu-daishi to come to the palace. Emperors
           should go -- but he must have been of tremendous compassion: he came to the palace. A disciple
           should go to the master; but sometimes it has happened that a master has come to the disciple -- out
           of sheer compassion and love. Then, he came with his full flame, he came naked. He had never been
           so aflame, he had never revealed his being so totally as on that day.
               And then... there are stories: Once Buddha came and sat silently. There are other stories of other
           Zen masters: They came. They stood on the platform, looked around, left the platform, not saying a
           single word. But Fu-daishi is the only one who rapped on the table, who shouted loudly, who tried to
           shake the Emperor out of his stupor. Yes, Shiko is right: "Fu-daishi has never been more eloquent."
           In that moment a transfiguration was possible.
           Chao-pien says:
              A SUDDEN CLASH OF THUNDER...
              THE MIND-DOORS BURST OPEN,
              AND LO! THERE SITTETH THE OLD MAN
              IN ALL HIS HOMELINESS.

               Fu-daishi created a sudden clash of thunder. If the Emperor had really been ready to receive this
           tremendous compassion, this grace, this gift, then the mind-doors must have opened, burst open...
           AND LO! THERE SITTETH THE OLD MAN.
               You are already that which you are seeking. That which you are seeking is already sitting inside
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, it has already entered you. It has been there before you ever were: AND LO! THERE SITTETH
           THE OLD MAN IN ALL HIS HOMELINESS.
           But the Emperor missed.

               I AM shouting to you every day, every morning. Of course, I am not rapping on the table -- I am
           rapping on your heads! because your stupor is bigger and greater. Beating on the table won't help.
           Beating on the table, there is every possibility you will become angry at me -- you will not even be
           sad. So, in different ways, in different words, I go on hammering on your head.
               But remember: whatsoever I am saying is not the thing that I want to say to you. Whatsoever I
           am saying has nothing to do with truth, because truth cannot be said. Whatsoever I am saying is
           nothing but a hammering. If you become awake, you will see the truth. This is just to create an
           opportunity. I am shaking you hard -- and if you allow, if you don't resist, if you cooperate with me,
           if you are ready to go with me, if you can trust, if you are courageous, then my words can become a
           clash of sudden thunder.
               Life is slipping by... each moment... you are missing it. Enough is enough! You have missed
           long; now missing it has become a habit -- you will have to break this habit. The only way to be
           benefited by me, the only way to be blessed by me and by my presence, is to gather courage. Come
           out of your graves! Only your periphery is dead -- you can never be dead. That is the meaning of the
           story of Lazarus: only the periphery can be dead; you can never be dead. Deep down, life is eternal.
           Burst forth! Rush out!
               This is the whole effort of all the masters: to create a sudden clash of thunder so those who are
           fast asleep can be awakened.
              A SUDDEN CLASH OF THUNDER...
              THE MIND-DOORS BURST OPEN,
              AND LO! THERE SITTETH THE OLD MAN
              IN ALL HIS HOMELINESS.

               That old man is what Zen people mean by God. Their term is beautiful: the old man. It is your
           nature -- ancientmost, eternal nature. It is the old man. Drop the mind! Stop thinking! Become more
           alert! See the trees and listen to the birds, with no screens of thoughts hindering the path. Meet
           directly! Truth is immediate, radiant, herenow. It is not that truth has to be discovered -- only you
           have to become aware. Truth is already here.
               Let me shake you, allow me to shake you out of your sleep. Don't go on thinking that you
           understand. You don't. Your knowledge is a way of ignoring the truth. Drop this ignorance -- and
           ignorance cannot be dropped by accumulating more knowledge. Ignorance can be dropped only by
           dropping the knowledge that you have already accumulated.
               Knowledge is the barrier to knowing. When knowledge is dropped, knowing flowers.




                                        A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                   Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: When you are Not, God is
           12 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608120
              ShortTitle: THUNDE02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




The first question:


              I HAVE BEEN THINKING ALL DAY OF A WAY TO ASK THE QUESTION: HOW TO STOP
              THINKING?


                THINKING cannot be stopped. Not that it does not stop, but it cannot be stopped. It stops of its
           own accord. This distinction has to be understood, otherwise you can go mad chasing your mind.
                No-mind does not arise by stopping thinking. When the thinking is no more, no-mind is. The
           very effort to stop will create more anxiety, it will create conflict, it will make you split. You will be
           in a constant turmoil within. This is not going to help.
                And even if you succeed in stopping it forcibly for a few moments, it is not an achievement at all
           -- because those few moments will be almost dead, they will not be alive. You may feel a sort of
           stillness, but not silence, because a forced stillness is not silence. Underneath it, deep in the
           unconscious, the repressed mind goes on working.
                So, there is no way to stop the mind. But the mind stops -- that is certain. It stops of its own
           accord.
                So what to do? -- your question is relevant. Watch -- don't try to stop. There is no need to do any
           action against the mind. In the first place, who will do it? It will be mind fighting mind itself. You
           will divide your mind into two; one that is trying to boss over -- the top-dog -- trying to kill the other
           part of itself, which is absurd. It is a foolish game. It can drive you crazy. Don't try to stop the mind
           or the thinking -- just watch it, allow it. Allow it total freedom. Let it run as fast as it wants. You
           don't try in any way to control it. You just be a witness. It is beautiful!
                Mind is one of the most beautiful mechanisms. Science has not yet been able to create anything
           parallel to mind. Mind still remains the masterpiece -- so complicated, so tremendously powerful,
           with so many potentialities. Watch it! Enjoy it!
                And don't watch like an enemy, because if you look at the mind like an enemy, you cannot
           watch. You are already prejudiced; you are already against. You have already decided that
           something is wrong with the mind -- you have already concluded. And whenever you look at
           somebody as an enemy you never look deep, you never look into the eyes. You avoid!
                Watching the mind means: look at it with deep love, with deep respect, reverence -- it is God's
           gift to you! Nothing is wrong in mind itself. Nothing is wrong in thinking itself. It is a beautiful
           process as other processes are. Clouds moving in the sky are beautiful -- why not thoughts moving
           into the inner sky? Flowers coming to the trees are beautiful -- why not thoughts flowering into your
           being. The river running to the ocean is beautiful -- why not this stream of thoughts running
           somewhere to an unknown destiny? is it not beautiful?
                Look with deep reverence. Don't be a fighter -- be a lover. Watch! -- the subtle nuances of the
           mind; the sudden turns, the beautiful turns; the sudden jumps and leaps; the games that mind goes on
           playing; the dreams that it weaves -- the imagination, the memory; the thousand and one projections
           that it creates. Watch! Standing there, aloof, distant, not involved, by and by you will start feeling...
                The deeper your watchfulness becomes, the deeper your awareness becomes, and gaps start
           arising, intervals. One thought goes and another has not come, and there is a gap. One cloud has
           passed, another is coming and there is a gap.
                In those gaps, for the first time you will have glimpses of no-mind, you will have the taste of
           no-mind. Call it taste of Zen, or Tao, or Yoga. In those small intervals, suddenly the sky is clear and
           the sun is shining. Suddenly the world is full of mystery because all barriers are dropped. The screen
           on your eyes is no more there. You see clearly, you see penetratingly. The whole existence becomes
           transparent.
                In the beginning, these will be just rare moments, few and far in between. But they will give you
           glimpses of what samadhi is. Small pools of silence -- they will come and they will disappear. But
           now you know that you are on the right track -- you start watching again.
                When a thought passes, you watch it; when an interval passes, you watch it. Clouds are also
           beautiful; sunshine also is beautiful. Now you are not a chooser. Now you don't have a fixed mind:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you don't say, "I would like only the intervals." That is stupid -- because once you become attached
           to wanting only the intervals, you have decided again against thinking. And then those intervals will
           disappear. They happen only when you are very distant, aloof. They happen, they cannot be brought.
           They happen, you cannot force them to happen. They are spontaneous happenings.
                Go on watching. Let thoughts come and go -- wherever they want to go. Nothing is wrong! Don't
           try to manipulate and don't try to direct. Let thoughts move in total freedom. And then bigger
           intervals will be coming. You will be blessed with small satoris. Sometimes minutes will pass and no
           thought will be there; there will be no traffic -- a total silence, undisturbed.
                When the bigger gaps come, you will not only have clarity to see into the world -- with the
           bigger gaps you will have a new clarity arising -- you will be able to see into the inner world. With
           the first gaps you will see into the world: trees will be more green than they look right now. You will
           be surrounded by an infinite music -- the music of the spheres. You will be suddenly in the presence
           of God -- ineffable, mysterious. Touching you although you can not grasp it. Within your reach and
           yet beyond. With the bigger gaps, the same will happen inside. God will not only be outside, you
           will be suddenly surprised -- He is inside also. He is not only in the seen; He is in the seer also --
           within and without. By and by... But don't get attached to that either.
                Attachment is the food for the mind to continue. Non-attached witnessing is the way to stop it
           without any effort to stop it. And when you start enjoying those blissful moments, your capacity to
           retain them for longer periods arises.
                Finally, eventually, one day, you become master. Then when you want to think, you think; if
           thought is needed, you use it; if thought is not needed, you allow it to rest. Not that mind is simply
           no more there: mind is there, but you can use it or not use it. Now it is your decision. Just like legs: if
           you want to run you use them; if you don't want to run you simply rest -- legs are there. In the same
           way, mind is always there.
                When I am talking to you I am using the mind -- there is no other way to talk. When I am
           answering your question I am using the mind -- there is no other way. I have to respond and relate,
           and mind is a beautiful mechanism. When I am not talking to you and I am alone, there is no mind --
           because it is a medium to relate through. Sitting alone it is not needed.
                You have not given it a rest; hence, the mind becomes mediocre. Continuously used, tired, it
           goes on and on and on. Day it works; night it works. In the day you think; in the night you dream.
           Day in, day out, it goes on working. If you live for seventy or eighty years it will be continuously
           working.
                Look at the delicacy and the endurability of the mind -- so delicate! In a small head all the
           libraries of the world can be contained; all that has ever been written can be contained in one single
           mind. Tremendous is the capacity of the mind -- and in such a small space! and not making much
           noise.
                If scientists some day become capable of creating a parallel computer to mind... computers are
           there, but they are not yet minds. They are still mechanisms, they have no organic unity; they don't
           have any center yet. If some day it becomes possible... and it is possible that scientists may some day
           be able to create minds -- then you will know how much space that computer will take, and how
           much noise it will make.
                Mind is making almost no noise; goes on working silently. And such a servant! -- for seventy,
           eighty years. And then, too, when you are dying your body may be old but your mind remains
           young. Its capacity remains yet the same. Sometimes, if you have used it rightly, it even increases
           with your age! -- because the more you know, the more you understand, the more you have
           experienced and lived, the more capable your mind becomes. When you die, everything in your body
           is ready to die -- except the mind.
                That's why in the East we say mind leaves the body and enters another womb, because it is not
           yet ready to die. The rebirth is of the mind. Once you have attained the state of samadhi, no-mind,
           then there will be no rebirth. Then you will simply die. And with your dying, everything will be
           dissolved -- your body, your mind... only your witnessing soul will remain. That is beyond time and
           space. Then you become one with existence; then you are no more separate from it. The separation
           comes from the mind.
                But there is no way to stop it forcibly -- don't be violent. Move lovingly, with a deep reverence --
           and it will start happening of its own accord. You just watch. And don't be in a hurry.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The modern mind is in much hurry. It wants instant methods for stopping the mind. Hence, drugs
           have appeal. Mm? -- you can force the mind to stop by using chemicals, drugs, but again you are
           being violent with the mechanism. It is not good. It is destructive. In this way you are not going to
           become a master. You may be able to stop the mind through the drugs, but then drugs will become
           your master -- you are not going to become the master. You have simply changed your bosses, and
           you have changed for the worse. Now the drugs will hold power over you, they will possess you;
           without them you will be nowhere.
                Meditation is not an effort against the mind. It is a way of understanding the mind. It is a very
           loving way of witnessing the mind -- but, of course, one has to be very patient. This mind that you
           are carrying in your head has arisen over centuries, millennia. Your small mind carries the whole
           experience of humanity -- and not only of humanity: of animals, of birds, of plants, of rocks. You
           have passed through all those experiences. All that has happened up to now has happened in you
           also. In a very small nutshell, you carry the whole experience of existence. That's what your mind is.
           In fact, to say it is yours is not right: it is collective; it belongs to us all.
                Modern psychology has been approaching it, particularly Jungian analysis has been approaching
           it, and they have started feeling something like a collective unconscious. Your mind is not yours -- it
           belongs to us all. Our bodies are very separate; our minds are not so separate. Our bodies are
           clear-cutly separate; our minds overlap -- and our souls are one.
                Bodies separate, minds overlapping, and souls are one. I don't have a different soul and you don't
           have a different soul. At the very center of existence we meet and are one. That's what God is: the
           meeting-point of all. Between the God and the world -- 'the world' means the bodies -- is mind. Mind
           is a bridge: a bridge between the body and the soul, between the world and God. Don't try to destroy
           it!
                Many have tried to destroy it through Yoga. That is a misuse of Yoga. Many have tried to
           destroy it through body posture, breathing -- that too brings subtle chemical changes inside. For
           example: if you stand on your head in shirshasan -- in the headstand -- you can destroy the mind
           very easily. Because when the blood rushes too much, like a flood, into the head -- when you stand
           on your head that's what you are trying to do.... The mind mechanism is very delicate; you are
           flooding it with blood. The delicate tissues will die.
                That's why you never come across a very intelligent yogi -- no. Yogis are, more or less, stupid.
           Their bodies are healthy -- that's true -- strong, but their minds are just dead. You will not see the
           glimmer of intelligence. You will see a very robust body, animallike, but somehow the human has
           disappeared.
                Standing on your head, you are forcing your blood into the head through gravitation. The head
           needs blood, but in a very, very small quantity; and very slowly, not floodlike. Against gravitation,
           very little blood reaches to the head. And that, too, in a very silent way. If too much blood is
           reaching into the head it is destructive.
                Yoga has been used to kill the mind; breathing can be used to kill the mind. There are rhythms of
           breath, subtle vibrations of breath, which can be very, very drastic to the delicate mind. The mind
           can be destroyed through them. These are old tricks. Now the latest tricks are supplied by science:
           LSD, marijuana, and others. More and more sophisticated drugs will be available sooner or later.
                I am not in favour of stopping the mind. I am in favour of watching it. It stops of its own accord
           -- and then it is beautiful When something happens without any violence it has a beauty of its own, it
           has a natural growth. You can force a flower and open it by force; you can pull the petals of a bud
           and open it by force -- but you have destroyed the beauty of the flower. Now it is almost dead. It
           cannot stand your violence. The petals will be hanging loose, limp, dying. When the bud opens by its
           own energy, when it opens of its own accord, then those petals are alive.
                The mind is your flowering -- don't force it in any way. I am against all force and against all
           violence, and particularly violence that is directed towards yourself. Just watch -- in deep prayer,
           love, reverence. And see what happens! Miracles happen of their own accord. There is no need to
           pull and push.
                You ask: How to stop thinking? I say: Just watch, be alert. And drop this idea of stopping,
           otherwise it will stop the natural transformation of the mind. Drop this idea of stopping! Who are you
           to stop? At the most, enjoy.
                And nothing is wrong -- even if immoral thoughts, so-called immoral thoughts, pass through
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your mind, let them pass; nothing is wrong. You remain detached. No harm is being done. It is just
           fiction; you are seeing an inner movie. Allow it its own way and it will lead you, by and by, to the
           state of no-mind. Watching ultimately culminates in no-mind.
                No-mind is not against mind: no-mind is beyond mind. No-mind does not come by killing and
           destroying the mind: no-mind comes when you have understood the mind so totally that thinking is
           no longer needed -- your understanding has replaced it.

           The second question:

              TODAY, AND MANY TIMES, WHEN YOU DESCRIBED ZEN MASTERS, IT SOUNDED LIKE ME;
              YET WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THE EMPEROR, THE EGO, I ALSO FELT IT IS ME. I FEEL THIS
              IS WEIRD SINCE MY MIND IS NOT EXACTLY SILENT.


                IT APPEARS weird but it is true -- because on one level everybody is already a Zen master, on
           one level everybody is already a Buddha; on another level everybody is the Emperor, the ego.
                There are two planes in you: the plane of the mind, and the plane of the no-mind. Or, let me say
           it in this way: the plane when you are on the periphery of your being and the plane when you are at
           the center of your being. Every circle has a center -- you may know it, you may not know it. You
           may not even suspect that there is a center, but there has to be. You are a periphery, you are a circle:
           there is a center. Without the center you cannot be; there is a nucleus of your being.
                At that center you are already a Buddha, a Siddha, one who has already arrived home. On the
           periphery, you are in the world -- in the mind, in dreams, in desires, in anxieties, in a thousand and
           one games. And you are both.
                So it is possible that when I am talking about Zen masters you can feel: "Yes, it is true!" Not
           only is it intellectually true -- you can feel it is existentially true. "Yes! This is what is happening to
           me also." When listening to me, there are bound to be moments when you will see that you have
           been for a few moments like a Buddha -- the same grace, the same awareness, the same silence; the
           same world of beatitudes, of blessings, of benediction.
                There will be moments, glimpses of your own center. They cannot be permanent; again and
           again you will be thrown back to the periphery... and then it will look weird. Then you will see that
           "I am like the Emperor: not understanding at all; stupid, sad, frustrated; missing the meaning of life"
           -- because you exist on two planes: the plane of the periphery and the plane of the center.
                But, by and by, the weirdness will disappear. By and by, you will become capable of moving
           from the periphery to the center and from the center to the periphery very smoothly -- just as you
           walk into your house and out of your house. You don't create any dichotomy. You don't say, "I am
           outside the house so how can I go inside the house?" You don't say, "I am inside the house so how
           can I come outside the house?" It is sunny outside, it is warm, pleasant -- you sit outside in the
           garden. Then it is becoming hotter and hotter, and you start perspiring. Now it is no longer pleasant
           -- it is becoming uncomfortable: you simply get up and move inside the house. There it is cool; there
           it is not uncomfortable. Now, there it is pleasant. You go on moving in and out.
                In the same way a man of awareness and understanding moves from the periphery to the center,
           from the center to the periphery. He never gets fixated anywhere. From the marketplace to the
           monastery, from sansar to sannyas, from being extrovert to being introvert -- he continuously goes
           on moving, because these two are his wings, they are not against each other. They may be balanced
           in opposite directions -- they have to be; if both the wings are on one side, the bird cannot fly into
           the sky -- they have to be balancing, they have to be in opposite directions, but still they belong to
           the same bird, and they serve the same bird. Your outside and your inside are your wings.
                This has to be very deeply remembered, because there is a possibility... the mind tends to fixate.
           There are people who are fixated in the marketplace; they say they cannot get out of it; they say they
           have no time for meditation; they say even if time is there they don't know how to meditate and they
           don't believe that they can meditate. They say they are worldly -- how can they meditate? They are
           materialistic -- how can they meditate? They say, "Unfortunately, we are extroverts -- how can we
           go in?" They have chosen only one wing. And, of course, if frustration comes out of it, it is natural.
           With one wing frustration is bound to come.
                Then there are people who become fed up with the world and escape out of the world, go to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           monasteries and the Himalayas, become sannyasins, monks: start living alone, force a life of
           introversion on themselves. They close their eyes, they close all their doors and windows, they
           become like Leibnitz' monads -- windowless -- then they are bored.
               In the marketplace they were fed up, they were tired, frustrated. It was getting more like a
           madhouse; they could not find rest. There was too much of relationship and not enough holiday, not
           enough space to be themselves. They were falling into things, losing their beings. They were
           becoming more and more material and less and less spiritual. They were losing their direction. They
           were losing the very consciousness that they are. They escaped. Fed up, frustrated, they escaped.
               Now they are trying to live alone -- a life of introversion. Sooner or later they get bored. Again
           they have chosen another wing, but again one wing. This is the way of a lopsided life. They have
           again fallen into the same fallacy on the opposite pole.
               I am neither for this nor for that. I would like you to become so capable that you can remain in
           the marketplace and yet meditative. I would like you to relate with people, to love, to move in
           millions of relationships -- because they enrich -- and yet remain capable of closing your doors and
           sometimes having a holiday from all relationship... so that you can relate with your own being also.
               Relate with others, but relate with yourself also. Love others, but love yourself also. Go out! --
           the world is beautiful, adventurous; it is a challenge, it enriches. Don't lose that opportunity!
           Whenever the world knocks at your door and calls you, go out! Go out fearlessly -- there is nothing
           to lose, there is everything to gain.
               But don't get lost. Don't go on and on and get lost. Sometimes come back home. Sometimes
           forget the world -- those are the moments for meditation. Each day, if you want to become balanced,
           you should balance the outer and the inner. They should carry the same weight, so that inside you
           never become lopsided.
               This is the meaning when Zen masters say: "Walk in the river, but don't allow the water to touch
           your feet." Be in the world, but don't be of the world. Be in the world, but don't allow the world to be
           in you. When you come home, you come home -- as if the whole world has disappeared.
               Hotei, a Zen master, was passing through a village He was one of the most beautiful persons who
           have ever walked on earth. He was known to people as 'The Laughing Buddha' -- he used to laugh
           continuously. But sometimes he would sit under a tree -- in this village he was sitting under a tree,
           with closed eyes; not laughing, not even smiling; completely calm and collected.
           Somebody asked: "You are not laughing, Hotei?"
           He opened his eyes and he said, "I am preparing."
               The questioner could not understand. He said, "What do you mean by 'preparing'?"
               He said, "I have to prepare myself for laughter. I have to give myself rest. I have to go in. I have
           to forget the whole world so that I can come again rejuvenated and I can again laugh."
               If you really want to laugh you will have to learn how to weep. If you cannot weep and if you are
           not capable of tears, you will become incapable of laughter. A man of laughter is also a man of tears
           -- then a man is balanced. A man of bliss is also a man of silence. A man who is ecstatic is also a
           man who is centered. They both go together. And out of this togetherness of polarities a balanced
           being is born. And that is what the goal is.
               So sometimes when I am talking about Buddhas, you may have glimpses, you may start flying
           into the inner world. And you will see, yes! -- you know what it is. It simply fits with you in some
           moments. You can become a witness to it. But in some other moments it is weird. You don't know
           what a Buddha is. You have lost contact with your own inner center; now you are on the periphery.
           You can understand a Machiavelli, but now you cannot understand a Buddha. You are both!
               And I am not in any way suggesting that you choose one. I would like you to remain in the world
           and also to have a few holidays for yourself. Even God had to rest on the seventh day. In six days He
           created the world, and then the seventh day He rested -- even God! Some theologians have reached
           to the conclusion that He must have been a Jew, because nobody else can work six days a week. He
           worked for six days continuously.
               If you ask Hindus, they have a better conception of God and His creativity. I also think that this
           concept of working six days and resting the seventh is a Jewish concept -- the businessman's
           concept. Even on the seventh day, it seems, very reluctantly He would have allowed Himself a little
           space. Hindus have a totally different attitude. They say: God's world, His creation, is not like a
           profession, not like business -- God's creation is like play. So each moment is both: work and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           worship, work and rest. That is the difference between work and play. Hindus call it leela -- God's
           play. It means He is resting and at the same time He is doing.
                That is the difference between a profession and a vocation. A profession is work -- you get tired,
           then you need rest. A vocation is a play -- while you are working you are also resting, your very
           work is your rest. In a profession, vacation is needed separately. In a vocation, vacation is implied in
           it -- vocation is at the same time vacation also.
                So Hindus don't have any concept that God created the world in six days and then rested. No, He
           has never rested -- in that way. And, in that way, He has never created the world -- He is still
           creating! And His very creativity is His rest.
                Have you watched a businessman? Six days he works in the marketplace; the seventh day he
           comes home and starts painting. Now he says this is rest. Painting is his love, his play; it gives rest.
           Or he comes home and starts playing a flute. Six days he has been working and now he is again
           working, but this is no longer work -- it is play.
                God is playing. And a real man of understanding becomes godly -- godly in the sense that he is in
           the world and yet he remains out of it; on the periphery and yet he remains mindful of his center.
           Doing a thousand and one things, yet he remains a non-doer. In tremendous activities, but he is never
           lost. His inner light burns bright.

           The third question:

              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOOKING AND SEEING?


                THERE IS a great difference. Looking means you are looking for something; you have already
           some idea to look for. You come here and you say, "I am looking for Teertha" -- then you have an
           idea. Then you look all around for where Teertha is. The idea is there already.
                Looking is already prejudiced. If you are looking for God, you will never find Him -- because
           looking means you have a certain idea already of who God is. And your idea is bound to be either
           Christian or Judaic or Hindu or Mohammedan. Your idea is going to be your concept -- and your
           concept can never be higher than you. And your concept is bound to be your concept. Your concept
           is bound to be rooted in ignorance, borrowed. At the most, it is just belief; you have been
           conditioned for it. Then you go on looking.
                A person who is looking for truth will never find it, because his eyes are already corrupted, he
           already has a fixed concept. He is not open. If you have come to me to look for something, then you
           already have an idea -- you will miss me. Then whatsoever I say you will interpret according to your
           idea and it will not be my meaning, it will be your meaning. You may find yourself agreeing with
           me, you may find yourself not agreeing with me -- but agreeing or not agreeing is not the question at
           all, it is not the point at all. You have missed me. You can agree, but you are agreeing with your own
           idea.
                You say: "Yes, this man is right," because this man fits with your idea. Your idea is right so
           that's why this man is right. Or, you don't agree because it doesn't fit with your idea. But in both the
           cases your idea is more important. You will miss me.
           A man who is looking for something will always be missing it.
                Seeing is just clarity -- open eyes, open mind, open heart. Not looking for something in
           particular; just ready and receptive. Whatsoever happens, you will remain alert, receptive,
           understanding. Conclusion is not there! Conclusion has to come: by your own eyes you will see --
           and there will be a conclusion. The conclusion is in the future. When you are seeing, the conclusion
           is not already there. When you are looking, the conclusion is already there. And we go on
           interpreting according to our ideas.
           Just the other night I was reading a joke:

               A small child is reading a pictorial book on wild life, and he becomes very intrigued with the
           pictures of ferocious lions. He reads whatsoever is there, but one question is not answered there so
           he asks his mother.
           He asks his mother: "Mom, what type of love-life do lions have?"
               The mother said, "Son, I don't know much about Lions because all your father's friends are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Rotarians."

                If you have some idea in the mind, you corrupt. Then you are not listening to what is being said
           -- then you are listening according to yourself. Then your mind is playing an active role. When you
           are looking, mind is active. When you are seeing, mind is passive. That is the difference. When you
           are looking, mind is trying to manipulate. When you are seeing, mind is silent -- just watching,
           available, open, with no idea in particular to enforce on reality.
                Seeing is nude. And you can come to truth only when you are absolutely nude; when you have
           discarded all clothes, all philosophies, all theologies, all religions; when you have dropped all that
           has been given to you; when you come empty-handed, not knowing in any way. When you come
           with knowledge you come already corrupted. When you come in innocence, knowing that you don't
           know, then the doors are open -- then you will be able to know. Only that person who has no
           knowledge is capable of knowing.

           The fourth question:

               I FEEL SOMEWHAT DETACHED FROM ALL EXTERNAL EVENTS -- EVEN SHARP PHYSICAL
               PAIN. IT WOULD BE NICE TO THINK THAT THIS IS THE FIRST BUD OF MEDITATIVE BEING,
               BUT IT SEEMS MORE LIKELY TO BE A CHILLING SIGN OF SCHIZOID WITHDRAWAL. COULD
               YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE PERILS OF WITHDRAWAL, AND HOW TO AVOID
               THEM?


               IN THE search for a meditative state of mind, that peril always exists. In the search of one's own
           self there is always a danger that you may choose the inner against the outer -- then the withdrawal
           becomes schizoid, because you become lopsided, you lose balance.
               Balance is health. To lose balance is to lose health. And balance is sanity -- to lose balance is to
           become insane. The fear is always there. The danger is always there. The danger comes because of
           your mind.
               It is always easy for the mind to change its diseases. Somebody is mad after women; only sex is
           his obsession. One day or other he will be fed up with this, tired of it all. He will start moving to the
           other extreme: he will start thinking of brahmacharya -- celibacy -- of becoming a Catholic monk or
           something.
               There is danger. It is as if you have been eating too much and then one day you decide to fast.
           Eating too much is bad but fasting is not better. In fact, by eating too much you are not going to die
           so soon; you may become heavier, fatty, uglier, but you will linger on, you will drag on. But by
           fasting, within weeks you will disappear; you cannot survive more than three months. Both are
           dangerous.
               Eating too much is neurotic. Fasting is the opposite neurosis, but still neurotic. Have a balanced
           diet. Eat as much as is needed by the body; don't go on stuffing your body. But this is how it
           happens. I have been watching people: whenever a society becomes very rich, fasting comes as a
           cult.
               In India, Jains are one of the richest societies -- fasting is their cult, fasting is their religion. Now
           America is becoming very rich -- fasting is becoming more and more a fashion. It is difficult to find
           a woman who is not on a diet. People go to nature cure clinics to fast.
               A poor man's religion is always of festivity, feast. Mohammedans, poor people, when their
           religious day comes they feast. They starve the whole year so, of course, the religious day, at least on
           that day, they change their clothes, new clothes, colorful, and they enjoy -- at least for one day they
           can enjoy.
               Jains feast the whole year, and when their religious days come they fast. That is logical. A poor
           man's festival is going to be a feast; a rich man's festival is going to be a fast. People move to the
           opposite extreme.
               So when you start meditating, there is a danger that you may become too much attached to this
           introversion. Meditation is an introversion; it leads you to your center. If you lose your elasticity and
           you become incapable of coming back to the periphery, then it is a withdrawal -- and a dangerous
           withdrawal. It is schizoid.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Be alert! That has happened to many people. The whole history is full of such people who
           became schizoid.
               When you are meditating, always remember that the periphery is not to be lost permanently. You
           have to come to the periphery again and again so the route remains clear and the path remains there.
           Hence my insistence to meditate but not to renounce the world. Meditate in the morning and then go
           to the market; meditate in the morning and then go to your office. Meditate and then make love!
           Don't create any dichotomy, don't create any conflict. Don't say, "Now how can I love? I am a
           meditator." Then you are moving in a dangerous direction; sooner or later you will lose all contact
           with the periphery. Then you will become frozen at the center. And life consists of being alive --
           changing, moving. Life is dynamic, it is not dead.
               There are two types of dead people in the world: dead on the periphery and dead on the center.
           Become the third type: alive in between; go on moving from the center to the periphery, from the
           periphery to the center. They are enriching to each other; they are enhancing to each other. Just
           watch! If you meditate and then make love, your love will have a tremendously new depth to it. Love
           and then meditate and suddenly you will see: when your energy is full of love, meditation goes so
           deep and so easily. You simply ride on the wave -- you need not make any effort. You simply float
           and reach higher and higher and higher. Once you understand the rhythm of the polar opposites, then
           there is no fear.
               Remember: life is a rhythm between day and night, summer and winter. It is a continuous
           rhythm. Never stop anywhere! Be moving! And the bigger the swing, the deeper your experience
           will be.
               So make it a point that you have to be continuously journeying, you have to travel. When you go
           to the inner center in your meditation, enjoy it! -- as if there is no periphery. Forget the periphery
           completely; there is no need to remember it. Don't be distracted by it. Dig deep into your own being
           -- be enriched by it! And bring that flavor back to the periphery. Bring that fragrance back to the
           world. Bring that aura, that light, that grace, that dignity, that grandeur, back to the periphery.
               Walk in the marketplace like a Buddha. Live in the world... the world is very enriching, because
           relationship mirrors. All relationships are mirrorlike. You see your face in the mirror of the other's
           being. It is very difficult to see your own face directly -- you will need the other, the mirror, to see
           your own face. And where can you find a better mirror than the eyes of the other?
               Sometimes, look in the eyes of your enemy and you will see a facet of your being. Sometimes
           look in the eyes of your lover, your friend, and you will see another facet of your being. Sometimes
           look in a person's eyes who is indifferent to you and you will see yet another facet of your being.
           Collect all these faces -- they are yours; aspects of your being. In different situations, with different
           people, in different worlds, move... and gather all this richness and awareness and alertness and
           consciousness. Then go back to the center and take all this awareness with you, and your ecstasy in
           the meditation will be deeper and richer for that.
               And this has to go on continuously. Pour your center on the periphery, and pour your periphery
           on the center. Pour your love in your meditation and pour your meditation in your love.
               This is what I teach. This is what I call a dynamic life. And a religious life is a dynamic life.

           The fifth question:

              YOU HAVE REMINDED ME AGAIN THAT, FOR ME, KNOWING BECOMES KNOWLEDGE, WHICH
              BECOMES THE PRACTICE OF THAT KNOWLEDGE. EVEN THIS IS BECOMING A PRACTICE.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


              KNOWING always becomes knowledge -- and you have to be alert not to allow it. One of the
           most delicate situations on the path of a seeker: knowing always becomes knowledge -- because the
           moment you have known something, your mind collects it as knowledge, as experience.
              Knowing is a process. Knowledge is a conclusion. When knowing dies it becomes knowledge.
           And if you go on gathering this knowledge, then knowing will become more and more difficult --
           because with knowledge, knowing never happens. Then you carry your knowledge around you. A
           knowledgeable person is almost hidden behind his knowledge; he loses all clarity, all perception.
           The world becomes far away; the reality loses all transparency.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The knowledgeable person is always looking through his knowledge. He projects his knowledge.
           His knowledge colors everything -- now there is no longer any possibility of knowing. Remember:
           knowledge is not gathered only through scriptures -- it is also gathered, and more so, through your
           own experience.
                You love a woman, for example. You have never known a woman before, have never fallen in
           deep love. You fall for the first time -- you are innocent, you are a virgin. You don't know what love
           is -- your mind is open. You don't have any knowledge about love. You are spontaneous. You move
           into the unknown. It is mysterious. Love opens doors of unknown temples, sings unknown songs into
           your ears and into your heart, dances with unknown tunes. And you don't know anything; you don't
           have any knowledge to judge by, to evaluate, to condemn, to say good or bad. It is ecstatic. You are
           gripped by the ineffable experience of love. You live in moments of grace.
                But, by and by, you become knowledgeable -- now you know what love means; now you know
           what the woman means; now you know the geography, the topography of love. You have become
           knowledgeable.
                You fall in love with another woman. Now, nothing like the first experience happens -- nothing
           like it. Dull. A repetition. As if you have gone to see the same movie again, or reading the same
           novel again. A little difference here and there, but not much. Now, why are you missing? Why is the
           same mysterious experience not gripping you? Why are you not throbbing with the unknown again?
           You are knowledgeable. Something so beautiful like love has become a repetition.
                Knowing always becomes knowledge. So you have to be very alert: know something -- the
           moment it becomes knowledge, drop it. Go on dying to your knowledge. Never carry it -- because no
           other woman is the same. Your first woman was a totally different world; this new woman you have
           fallen in love with is a totally different world. It is not going to be the same. But if you move through
           knowledge it will look like the same.
                Drop the knowledge. Be again innocent. Again move into the unknown -- because no two
           persons are alike. Every person is so unique that there has never been a person like that before and
           there will never be again. Learn again from A B C and you will be full of wonder. And then you
           have learnt a deep experience: never allow any knowledge to settle.
                All knowing becomes knowledge. The moment it becomes knowledge, drop it. It is just like dust
           gathers on the mirror; every day you have to clean it. On the mirror of your mind dust gathers, dust
           of experience: it becomes knowledge. Clean it. That's why every day meditation is needed.
           Meditation is nothing but cleaning the mirror of your mind. Clean it continuously! If you can clean it
           every moment of your life, then there is no need to sit separately for meditation.
                Remember, be alert that knowledge has not to be gathered, that you have to remain like a child --
           full of wonder, full of awe. Every nook and corner is mysterious, and you don't know what it is. You
           cannot figure it out, what this life is. Enchanted you run in this direction and that direction.
                Have you watched a child running on the sea-beach? So elated! in such euphoria! collecting
           shells and colored stones. Have you watched a child running in a garden to catch a butterfly? You
           will not run that way even if God is there; you will not run that way. You will not be so ecstatic even
           if God is there. You will move like a gentleman. You will not rush, you will not be mad. You will
           still keep your manners; you will still show that you are mature, you are not a child.
                And Jesus says: "Only those who are childlike, they will be able to enter into my Kingdom of
           God" -- only those who are childlike, only those who are still capable of wonder. Wonder is the
           greatest treasure in life. Once you lose wonder, you have lost your life -- then you drag, but you no
           longer live. And knowledge kills wonder.
                That is one of the most difficult problems the modern mind is facing, because knowledge has
           accumulated every day more and more. The twentieth century is so much burdened with knowledge.
           Hence religion has disappeared -- because religion can exist only with wonder, with wonder-filled
           eyes; eyes which don't know but are ready to rush into any direction to see what is there; innocent
           eyes, virgin hearts. So remember to remain capable of childlike wonder.
                Science grows out of doubt. Religion grows out of wonder. Between the two is philosophy; it has
           not yet decided -- it goes on hanging between doubt and wonder. Sometimes the philosopher doubts
           and sometimes the philosopher wonders: he is just in between. If he doubts too much, by and by he
           becomes a scientist. If he wonders too much, by and by he becomes religious.
                That's why philosophy is disappearing from the world -- because ninety-nine percent of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           philosophers have become scientists. And one person -- a Buber somewhere, or a Krishnamurti
           somewhere, or a Suzuki somewhere -- great minds, great penetrating intellects, they have become
           religious. Philosophy is almost losing its ground.
               If you become too sceptical, you become scientists. If you become too childlike, you become
           religious. Science exists with doubt. Religion exists with wonder. If you want to be religious then
           create more wonder, discover more wonder. Allow your eyes to be more filled with wonder than
           anything else. Be surprised by everything that is happening. Everything is so tremendously
           wonderful that it is simply unbelievable how you go on living without dancing, how you go on living
           without becoming ecstatic. You must not be seeing what is happening all around.
               Just to be is so miraculous, just to breathe is so miraculous. Just to breathe and just to be! --
           nothing else is needed for a religious person. To be full of wonder. And when one is full of wonder,
           praise arises, and praise is prayer. When you see this wonderful existence, you start praising it. In
           your praising, prayer arises. You say: "Holy, holy, holy! " It is holy. It is so beautiful and so holy.

                S0, THE QUESTIONER has raised a very pertinent question: "You have reminded me again
           that, for me, knowing becomes knowledge, which becomes the practice of that knowledge." These
           are the three steps. First knowing; then the knowing dies, shrinks, becomes knowledge; then
           knowledge also shrinks even more and becomes practice or character.
                A man of character is the deadliest man in the world. He practises his knowledge; he tries to
           follow his knowledge. He is not spontaneous. He is continuously managing, manipulating, pushing
           himself this way and that; somehow holding himself together. He is not responsible -- responsible in
           the sense of being capable of response. If you come across him, if you embrace him, he will answer
           it, but that answer will come out of his past experiencing -- out of his character.
                A man of character is predictable. Only a mechanism can be predictable. A fully conscious man
           is unpredictable. No astrologer can predict anything about a fully conscious man. He moves
           moment-to-moment, full of wonder. He acts out of wonder; he acts out of response to the moment.
           He carries no knowledge, he carries no character with him. Each moment he is new, reborn.
                So these are the three steps: knowing dies; knowing becomes knowledge; knowledge becomes
           character. Be aware -- beware! Don't allow your knowing to fall and to become knowledge. And
           never allow your knowledge to control you and to create a character for you. A character is an
           armour. In the armour you are jailed... then you can never be spontaneous. You are already in your
           grave -- a character is a grave.
                Let your knowing be there, but don't allow it to become knowledge or character. The moment it
           is turning into knowledge, drop it, empty your hands. Forget all about it. Move ahead! again like a
           child. Difficult, I know. Easy to say; difficult to be that way -- but that is the only way you can attain
           to satchitanand -- you can attain to truth, you can attain to consciousness, you can attain to bliss.
                Yes, it is hard. One has to pay too much for it -- but God is not cheap. You will have to pay with
           your whole being. Only when you have paid totally and you are not holding anything and you are not
           a miser, and you have sacrificed and surrendered yourself totally, will you attain. God comes to you
           when you are not; when you have become just a zero God comes to you. He is just waiting by the
           corner. The moment you become empty, He rushes towards you, He comes and fulfiles you.
                Don't allow knowing to become knowledge and character. Then a totally different type of
           character will arise which will not be like the character you have seen in the world. It will be inner --
           a discipline which comes from the innermost core of your being. Never forced! -- always
           spontaneous. It is not like a commandment: it is an organic growth. God is your spontaneous organic
           growth.




                                         A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                        Chapter #3
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                 Chapter title: Why Should I Grieve Over Him?
           13 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608130
              ShortTitle: THUNDE03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              THERE WAS A MAN OF WEI, TUNG-MEN WU, WHO DID NOT GRIEVE WHEN HIS SON DIED.
              HIS WIFE SAID TO HIM:
              "NO ONE IN THE WORLD LOVED HIS SON AS MUCH AS YOU DID, WHY DO YOU NOT GRIEVE
              NOW HE IS DEAD?"
              HE ANSWERED:
              "I HAD NO SON, AND WHEN I HAD NO SON I DID NOT GRIEVE. NOW THAT HE IS DEAD IT IS
              THE SAME AS IT WAS BEFORE, WHEN I HAD NO SON. WHY SHOULD I GRIEVE OVER HIM?"


               THE MOST fundamental religious truth is that man is asleep -- not physically, but
           metaphysically; not apparently, but deep down. Man lives in a deep slumber. He works, he moves,
           he thinks, he imagines, he dreams, but the sleep continues as a basic substratum to his life. Rare are
           the moment when you feel really awake, very rare; they can be counted on the fingers. if in seventy
           years' life you had only seven moments of awakening, that, too, will be too much.
               Man lives like a robot: mechanically efficient, but with no awareness. Hence the whole problem!
           There are so many problems man has to face, but they are all by-products of his sleep.
               So the first thing to be understood is what this sleep consists in -- because Zen is an effort to
           become alert and awake. All religion is nothing but that: an effort to become more conscious, an
           effort to become more aware, an effort to bring more alertness, more attentiveness to your life.
               All the religions of the world, in one way or other, emphasize that the sleep consists in deep
           identification or in attachment.
               Man's life has two layers to it: one is that of the essential, and another is that of the accidental.
           The essential is never born, never dies. The accidental is born, lives and dies. The essential is eternal,
           timeless; the accidental is just accidental. We become too much attached to the accidental and we
           tend to forget the essential.
               A man becomes too much attached to money -- money is accidental. It has nothing to do with
           essential life. A man becomes too much attached to his house or to his car, or to his wife, or to her
           husband, to children, to relationship. Relationship is accidental; it has nothing essential in it. It is not
           your real being. And in this century, the twentieth century, the problem has become too deep.
               There are people who call the twentieth century 'the accidental century' -- they are right People
           are living too much identified with the non-essential: money, power, prestige, respectability. You
           will have to leave all that behind when you go. Even an Alexander has to go empty-handed.
           I have heard:

              A great mystic died. When he reached Paradise, he asked God, "Why was Jesus not born in the
           twentieth century?"
              The Lord God started laughing and said, "Impossible! Impossible! Where would the twentieth
           century people ever find three wise men or a virgin?"

               The twentieth century is the most accidental. By and by, man has become too much attached to
           'my' and 'mine' -- to possessions. And he has completely lost track of his being. He has completely
           lost track of 'I'. 'My' has become more important. When 'my' becomes more important then you are
           getting attached to the accidental. When 'I' remains more important and 'my' remains just as a
           servant, then you are a master, then you are not a slave -- then you live in a totally different way.
               That's what Zen people call the original face of man, where pure 'I' exists. This 'I' has nothing to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do with the ego. Ego is nothing but the center of all the non-essential possessions that you have. Ego
           is nothing but the accumulated 'my' and 'mine' -- my house, my car, my prestige, my religion, my
           scripture, my character, my morality, my family, my heritage, my tradition. All these 'my's', all these
           'mines', go on getting accumulated: they become crystallized as the ego.
                When I am using the word 'I', I am using it in an absolutely non-egoistic sense. 'I' means your
           being.
                Zen people say: Find out your face, the face you had before you were born; find out that face that
           you will again have when you are dead. Between birth and death, whatsoever you think is your face
           is accidental. You have seen it in a mirror; you have not felt it from the within -- you have looked for
           it in the without. Do you know your original face? You know only the face your mirror shows to
           you. And all our relationships are just mirrors.
                The husband says to the wife, "You are beautiful!" and she starts thinking she is beautiful.
           Somebody comes, buttresses you, says, "You are very wise, intelligent, a genius!" and you start
           believing in it. Or somebody condemns you, hates you, is angry about you. You don't accept what he
           says, but still, deep down in the unconscious it goes on accumulating. Hence the ambiguity of man.
                Somebody says you are beautiful, somebody else says you are ugly -- now what to do? One
           mirror says you are wise, another man says you are an idiot -- now what to do? And you depend only
           on mirrors, and both are mirrors. You may not like the mirror that says you are an idiot, but it has
           said so, it has done its work. You may repress it, you may never bring it to your consciousness, but
           deep down it will remain in you that one mirror has said you are an idiot.
                You trust in mirrors -- then you become split because there are so many mirrors. And each mirror
           has its own investment. Somebody calls you wise? not because you are wise -- he has his own
           investment. Somebody calls you an idiot, not because you are an idiot-he has his own investment.
           They are simply showing their likes and dislikes; they are not asserting anything about you. They
           may be asserting something about themselves, maybe, but they are not saying anything about you --
           because no mirror can show you who you are.
                Mirrors can only show you your surface, your skin. You are not on your skin: you are very deep.
           You are not your body. One day the body is young; another day it becomes old. One day it is
           beautiful, healthy; another day it becomes crippled and paralyzed. One day you were throbbing with
           life; another day life has oozed out of you. But you are not your periphery! You are your center.
                The accidental man lives on the periphery. The essential man remains centered. This is the whole
           effort!

               LET ME tell you one anecdote. I have-heard a very beautiful Jewish story. It is tremendously
           significant -- it is about a man:

                He was always sleepy. And always ready to sleep. Everywhere. At the biggest mass meetings, at
           all the concerts, at every important convention, he could be seen sitting asleep.

              You must have known that man because you are that. And you must have come across that man
           many, many times, because how can you avoid him? -- it is you.

               And he slept in every conceivable and inconceivable pose. He slept with his elbows in the air and
           his hands behind his head. He slept standing up, leaning against himself so that he should not fall
           down. He slept in the theater, in the streets, in the synagogue. Wherever he went, his eyes would drip
           with sleep.

               Had he been a Hindu he could have even slept standing on his head in shirshasan. I have seen
           Hindus sleeping that way. Many yogis become efficient in sleeping standing on their head. It is
           difficult, arduous; it needs great practice -- but it happens.

               Neighbors used to say that he had already slept through seven big fires, and once, at a really big
           fire, he was carried out of his bed, still asleep, and put down on the sidewalk. In this way he slept for
           several hours until a patrol came along and took him away.
               It was said that when he was standing under the wedding canopy and reciting the vows, "Thou
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           art to me...." he fell asleep at the word 'sanctified' -- try to remember him -- and they had to beat him
           over the head with brass pestles for several hours to wake him up. And he slowly said the next word
           and again fell asleep.

               Remember your own wedding ceremony. Remember your honeymoon. Remember your
           marriage. Have you ever been awake? Have you ever missed any opportunity where you could have
           fallen asleep? You have always fallen asleep.

               We mention all this so that you may believe the following story about our hero.
               Once, when he went to sleep, he slept and slept and slept; but in his sleep it seemed to him that
           he heard thunder in the streets and his bed was shaking somewhat; so he thought in his sleep that it
           was raining outside, and as a result his sleep became still more delicious. He wrapped himself up in
           his quilt and in its warmth.

               Do you remember how many times you have interpreted things through your sleep? Do you
           remember sometimes you have fixed the alarm clock, and when it goes off you start dreaming that
           you are in the church and the bells are ringing. A trick of the mind to avoid the alarm, to avoid the
           disturbance that the alarm is creating.

               When he awoke he saw a strange void: his wife was no longer there, his bed was no longer there,
           his quilt was no longer there. He wanted to look through the window, but there was no window to
           look through. He wanted to run down the three flights and yell 'Help!' but there were no stairs to run
           on and no air to yell in. And when he wanted merely to go out of doors, he saw that there was no out
           of doors. Everything evaporated!
               For a while he stood there in confusion unable to comprehend what had happened. But afterward
           he bethought himself: I will go to sleep. He saw, however, that there was no longer any earth to sleep
           on. Only then did he raise two fingers to his forehead and reflect: Apparently I have slept through the
           end of the world. Isn't that a fine how-do-you-do?
               He became depressed. No more world, he thought. What will I do without a world? Where will I
           go to work, how will I make a living, especially now that the cost of living is so high and a dozen
           eggs costs a dollar twenty and who knows if they are even fresh, and besides, what will happen to
           the five dollars the gas company owes me? And where has my wife gone off to? Is it possible that
           she too has disappeared with the world, and with the thirty dollars' pay I had in my pockets? And she
           is not by nature the kind that disappears, he thought to himself.

              You will also think that way one day if you suddenly find the world has disappeared. You don't
           know what else to think. You will think about the cost of eggs, the office, the wife, the money. You
           don't know what else to think about. The whole world has disappeared! -- but you have become
           mechanical in your thinking.

               And what will I do if I want to sleep? What will I stretch out on if there isn't any world? And
           maybe my back will ache? And who will finish the bundle of work in the shop? And suppose I want
           a glass of malted, where will I get it?
               Eh, he thought, have you ever seen anything like it? A man should fall asleep with the world
           under his head and wake up without it!

               This is going to happen one day or other -- that's what happens to every man when he dies.
           Suddenly, the whole world disappears. Suddenly he is no longer part of this world; suddenly he is in
           another dimension. This happens to every man who dies, because whatsoever you have known is just
           the peripheral. When you die, suddenly your periphery disappears -- you are thrown to your center.
           And you don't know that language. And you don't know anything about the center. It looks like void,
           empty. It feels like just a negation, an absence.

               As our hero stood there in his underwear, wondering what to do, a thought occurred to him: To
           hell with it! So there isn't any world! Who needs it anyway? Disappeared is disappeared -- I might as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           well go to the movies and kill some time. But to his astonishment he saw that, together with the
           world, the movies had also disappeared.
               A pretty mess I've made here, thought our hero, and began smoothing his moustache. A pretty
           mess I've made here, falling asleep! If I hadn't slept so soundly, hc taunted himself, I would have
           disappeared along with everything else. This way I'm unfortunate, and where will I get a malted? I
           love a glass in the morning. And my wife? Who knows who she's disappeared with? If it is with the
           presser from the top floor, I'll murder her, so help me God.
           Who knows how late it is?
               With these words our hero wanted to look at his watch but couldn't find it. He searched with both
           hands in the left and right pockets of the infinite emptiness but could find nothing to touch.
               I just paid two dollars for a watch and here it's already disappeared, he thought to himself. All
           right. If the world went under, it went under. That I don't care about. It isn't my world. But the watch!
           Why should my watch go under? A new watch. Two dollars. It wasn't even wound.
               And where will I find a glass of malted? There's nothing better in the morning than a glass of
           malted. And who knows if my wife..I've slept through such a terrible catastrophe, I deserve the
           worst. Help, help, he-e-e-lp! Where are my brains? Where were my brains before? Why didn't I keep
           an eye on the world and my wife? Why did I let them disappear when they were still so young?
               And our hero began to beat his head against the void, but since the void was a very soft one it
           didn't hurt him and he remained alive to tell the story.

                This is a story of human mind as such. You create a world around you of illusions. You go on
           getting attached to things which are not going to be with you when you die. You go on being
           identified with things which are going to be taken away from you.
                Hence, the Hindus call the world 'illusion'; they don't mean by the 'world' the world that is there
           -- they simply mean the world that you have created out of your sleep. That world is maya -- illusion.
           It is a dreamworld.
                Who is your wife? The very idea is foolish. Who is your husband? Who is your child? You are
           not yours -- how can anybody else be yours? Not even you are yours; not even you belong to
           yourself. Have you watched sometimes that not even you belong to yourself? You also belong to
           some unknown existence you have not penetrated.
                Deeper in yourself you will come to a point where even self disappears -- only a state of no-self,
           or call it the Supreme Self. It is only a difference of language and terminology. Have you not seen
           deep down in yourself things arising which don't belong to you? Your desires don't belong to you,
           your thoughts don't belong to you. Even your consciousness, you have not created it -- it has been
           given to you, it is a given fact. It is not you who have created it -- how can you create it?
                You are suddenly there... as if it happens by magic. You are always in the middle; you don't
           know the beginning. The beginning does not belong to you, and neither does the end belong to you.
           Just in the middle you can create, you can go on creating dreams. That's how a man becomes
           accidental.
                Watch out! Become more and more essential and less and less accidental. Always remember:
           Only that which is eternal is true; only that which is going to be forever and ever is true. That which
           is momentary is untrue. The momentary has to be watched and not to be identified with.
           I was reading a beautiful anecdote:

                An elderly Irishman checked out of a hotel room and was half way to the bus depot when he
           realized he had left his umbrella behind. By the time he got back to the room, a newly wed couple
           had already checked in. Hating to interrupt anything, the Irishman got down on his knees and
           listened in at the keyhole.
           "Whose lovely eyes are those, my darling?" he heard the man's voice ask.
           "Yours, my love," the woman answered.
           "And whose precious nose is this?" the man went on inside the room.
           "Only yours," the woman replied.
           "And whose beautiful lips are these?" the man continued.
           "Yours!" panted the woman.
           "And whose...?" but the Irishman could not stand it any more.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Putting his mouth to the keyhole, he shouted, "When you get to a yellow plaid umbrella, folks, it
           is mine!"

                This game of 'my' and 'mine' is the most absurd game -- but this is the whole game of life. This
           earth was there before you ever came here, and this will be here when you are gone. The diamonds
           that you possess were there before you ever came here, and when you are gone those diamonds will
           remain here -- and they will not even remember you. They are completely oblivious that you possess
           them.
                This game of possessiveness is the most foolish game there is -- but this is the whole game.
                Gurdjieff used to say that if you start getting disidentified from things, sooner or later you will
           fall upon your essential being. That is the basic meaning of renunciation. Renunciation does not
           mean, sannyas does not mean, renouncing the world and escaping to the Himalayas or to a
           monastery -- because if you escape from the world and go to a monastery, nothing is going to
           change. You carry the same mind. here in the world, the house was yours, and the wife was yours;
           there the monastery will be yours, the religion will be yours. It will not make much difference. The
           'mine' will persist. It is a mind-attitude -- it has nothing to do with any outside space. It is an inner
           illusion, an inner dream, an inner sleep.
                Renunciation means: wherever you are, there is no need to renounce the things because in the
           first place you never possessed them. It is foolish to talk about renunciation. It means as if you were
           the possessor and now you are renouncing. How can you renounce something which you never
           possessed? Renunciation means coming to know that you cannot possess anything. You can use, at
           the most, but you cannot possess. You are not going to be here forever -- how can you possess? It is
           impossible to possess anything. You can use and you can be grateful to things that they allow
           themselves to be used. You should be thankful to things that they allow themselves to be used. They
           become means, but you cannot possess them.
                Dropping the idea of ownership is renunciation. Renunciation is not dropping the possessions but
           possessiveness. And this is what Gurdjieff calls getting unidentified. This is what Bauls call realizing
           'Ardhar Manush' -- the essential man. This is what Zen people call the original face.

               THERE IS a very famous Taoist story -- I love it tremendously. The story is about an old Taoist
           farmer whose horse ran away:

               That evening the neighbors gathered to commiserate with him since this was such bad luck. He
           said, "Maybe."
               The next day the horse returned, but brought with it six wild horses, and the neighbors came
           exclaiming at the good fortune. He said, "Maybe."
               And then the following day, his son tried to saddle and ride one of the wild horses, was thrown,
           and broke his leg. Again the neighbors came to offer their sympathy for the misfortune. He said,
           "Maybe."
               The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the army, but
           because of the broken leg the farmer's son was rejected. When the neighbors came in to say how
           fortunate everything had turned out, he said, "Maybe."

               This is the attitude of a man who understands what is accidental and what is essential. The
           accidental is always 'maybe'; it is a 'perhaps'. You cannot be certain about it, you need not be certain
           about it. People who become certain about the accidental are going to be frustrated sooner or later;
           their certainty is going to create much frustration for them. Their certainty will create expectations,
           and they cannot be fulfilled -- because the universe is not there to fulfill your expectations. It has its
           own destiny. It is moving towards its own goal. It does not care about your private goals.
               All private goals are against the goal of the universe itself. All private goals are against the goal
           of the Whole. All private goals are neurotic. The essential man comes to know, to feel, that 'I am not
           separate from the Whole and there is no need to seek and search for any destiny on my own. Things
           are happening, the world is moving -- call it God -- He is doing things. They are happening of their
           own accord. There is no need for me to make any struggle, any effort; there is no need for me to
           fight for anything. I can relax and be.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The essential man is not a doer. The accidental man is a doer. The accidental man is, of course,
           then in anxiety, tension, stress, anguish, continuously sitting on a volcano -- it can erupt any
           moment, because he lives in a world of uncertainty and believes as if it is certain. This creates
           tension in his being: he knows deep down that nothing is certain. A rich man has everything that he
           can have, and yet he knows deep down that he has nothing. That's what makes a rich man even
           poorer than a poor man.
               A poor man is never so poor because still he has hopes: some day or other, destiny is going to
           shower blessings on him; some day or other he will be able to arrive, to achieve. He can hope. The
           rich man has arrived, his hopes are fulfilled -- now, suddenly, he finds nothing is fulfilled. All hopes
           fulfilled, and yet nothing is fulfilled. He has arrived and he has not arrived at all -- it has always been
           a dream journey. He has not moved a single inch.
               A man who is successful in the world feels the pain of being a failure as nobody else can feel it.
           There is a proverb that says that nothing succeeds like success. I would like to tell you: nothing fails
           like success. But you cannot know it unless you have succeeded. When all the riches are there that
           you have dreamt about, planned about, worked hard for, then sitting just amidst those riches is the
           beggar -- deep inside empty, hollow; nothing inside, everything outside.
               In fact, when everything is there outside, it becomes a contrast. It simply emphasizes your inner
           emptiness and nothingness. It simply emphasizes your inner beggarliness, poverty. A rich man
           knows poverty as no poor man can ever know. A successful man knows what failure is. At the top of
           the world, suddenly you realize that you have been behaving foolishly. You may not say so, because
           what is the point of saying it? You may go on pretending that you are very happy -- presidents and
           prime ministers go on pretending they are very happy; they are not. They are just saving their faces.
           Now, what to say? There is no point even in saying anything -- they are not true.
               In the older ages, people were truer, more authentic. Buddha was a prince, he was going to be the
           emperor, but he realized that there is nothing in it. He could have pretended. Mahavir was a prince;
           he was going to be the emperor. He realized that there is nothing in it. They simply declared their
           realization to the world. They simply said that riches have failed, that kingdoms are not kingdoms;
           that if you are really seeking the kingdom, you will have to seek somewhere else, in some other
           direction.
           In this world there is no way to arrive.
           It happened:

               Theodore Roosevelt, returning from Africa, received a most affectionate and exuberant greeting
           as his ship steamed into New York harbor. Bands were playing; soldiers, sailors and marines saluted;
           pretty girls greeted him as pretty girls will do. Ships in the harbor sprayed water in a festive white
           arc, and the people -- throngs of people -- shouted their welcome to him.
               On the same ship, a mystic, a very old wise man, was also returning. A few old friends greeted
           him off in a corner, trying to be heard in the tumultuous noise. One of them said, "We are sorry we
           can't welcome you home as Theodore Roosevelt is being welcomed."
               To which the mystic answered as he pointed upward, "That's all right -- I'm not home yet."

               In this world there is no home. This world is accidental. It is illusory -- just ripples on the
           surface, waves. And whatsoever you are doing is nothing but making card houses, or trying to sail
           paper boats: they are doomed to drown. This realization makes a man for the first time a little alert
           about his sleepiness, and then he starts moving more and more towards consciousness.
               When things are no longer important, only consciousness becomes important. When things are
           no longer significant, a new search, a new door opens. Then you are not rushing towards the without:
           you start slipping into the within. The kingdom of God is within. And once you drop identifying with
           things, suddenly you are no longer fighting -- there is no point. You start moving with the river of
           existence.
           Arrival at home is effortless.
           Bodhi has sent me a small, beautiful story; Werner Erhard likes to tell it:

              Once there was a famous medicine man in Northern Canada who was said to have enormous
           powers. When he waved a blanket at the northern lights they changed color. Every time he waved his
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           blanket, the northern lights really would change color.
               One day, he lost his blanket, and the northern lights changed color anyway. That ruined his
           reputation as a medicine man.

                Life is also that way. No matter what you do, life only turns out the way it turns out. Struggling
           with life does not help at all. Struggling is simply destructive; there is no point in it. Effort is not
           needed. Effort is needed only in the accidental world, and even then there too it fails finally;
           eventually it fails. It gives you hope, but eventually it fails.
                In the inner world no effort is needed. Once you start slipping withinwards, you suddenly see
           everything is happening as it should. Life is perfect. There is no way to improve upon it. Then
           celebration starts.
                When life is felt as perfect, when you suddenly see the tremendous beatitude, the tremendous
           glory surrounding you; when you suddenly see that you have always been at home -- there was
           nowhere else to go; when you suddenly feel in your innermost core of being that you are with God
           and God is with you, that you are floating with the Whole, you don't have a private destiny... the
           destiny of the Whole is your destiny also, so wherever this existence is moving, you are also moving.
           You don't have any private goals; you are no longer idiotic.
                The word 'idiot' is very beautiful. It comes from the same root as 'idiom'. It means a person who
           is trying to live a private life; a person who is trying to move against the Whole. A person who has
           his own idiom -- that's what an idiot is. The whole world is going to the south: he is going to the
           north -- that's what an idiot is.
                The accidental man is idiotic. Such a vast universe, running so smoothly... Look at the stars, look
           at the change of seasons; rivers running from the Himalayas to the ocean, clouds coming and
           showering. Watch nature -- everything is running so smoothly! Why not become a part of it? Why
           create any conflict? Conflict creates anxiety; anxiety brings anguish.
                If you have a private goal you are going to get mad. Relax! Drop out of the accidental world so
           you can drop into the essential world. Then one starts accepting things as they are. Then one starts
           loving things as they are. Then one starts cherishing things as they are. And they have always been
           beautiful. Once you are not fighting, not going anywhere, you can feel the music, the celestial music
           that is surrounding. You can see the infinite beauty, and you can feel grateful for it. It is a gift. There
           is no need to steal it -- it is already given to you. By being alive, God has already accepted you. By
           being alive, He has already loved you.
                If you don't like the word 'God', you can drop it. I am not a fanatic about language. You can call
           it 'the Existence', 'the Unknown', 'the Truth', 'the Ultimate', 'the Absolute' -- or anything. Any name
           will do -- X, Y, Z -- because it has no name. It is not particular so it cannot have any name; it is not
           particular so it cannot have any adjective. It is the Universal. It is That which is.

               S0 THERE are two ways of living. One is the accidental way. The accidental way is the worldly
           way. The worldly way is against God, against the Whole. Then there is another way of living,
           another style -- tremendously graceful, with no anxiety, no anguish.
           I have heard:

               A botanist, a great scientist, came across a valley in the Himalayas where beautiful flowers were
           flowering, but there was no approach. It was very difficult to reach into the valley -- thousands of
           feet down. And he had never heard about these flowers. He had studied about all flowers; this was
           some new species, undiscovered. He was enchanted, intrigued. He wanted to get those flowers but
           there was no way -- what to do?
               In a desperate effort, he took his small child, tied a rope under the child's arms, and dropped the
           child into the valley -- afraid, perspiring, trembling... something may go amiss. And then the child
           reached and he picked a few flowers. And the father shouted from the top of the hill: "Are you okay,
           my son? Are you not afraid?"
               The son laughed. He said, "Why should I be afraid? -- the rope is in my father's hands."

                The father may be afraid, but the child is not afraid. That's what a religious man feels: The rope
           is in my Father's hands. Then, suddenly, all anxiety disappears.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In the accidental world you have to struggle. In the essential world you have simply to surrender.
           In the accidental world you have to doubt. In the essential world you simply trust -- and this trust is
           not like belief. Belief is against doubt. Trust is simply absence of doubt -- it is not against doubt.
           You simply feel trustful!
               So the question is not how to believe; the question is how to change your consciousness from
           being accidental to essential -- how to come to your center, how to start feeling your center again.
           Trust will arise -- trust is an outcome, a by-product. When one comes closer to one's center, one
           starts trusting more and more.
               But ordinarily our whole training is how to fight. We have been trained as soldiers. As I see it
           there are only two types of people in the world: the soldiers and the sannyasins. The soldiers are
           those who have been taught to fight, to struggle against, to achieve their goals; to force, to be violent,
           to be aggressive, to coerce. And the sannyasin is one who knows that there is no need -- life is
           already going that way: "I have just to be in tune with life. I have just to be a part of this vast
           orchestra. I have just to become a note in harmony with the Whole. I have to surrender." The
           sannyasin is not a warrior, not a soldier. He is surrendered.
           Once it happened:

               Mulla Nasrudin had harnessed a kitten to his broken-down Cadillac. When bystanders pointed
           out that this was absurd, he replied, "You all may think so, but I got a horsewhip."

               There are people who think that just by forcing, anything is possible -- just a horsewhip is
           needed; just you have to do it a little harder. If you are not succeeding, that simply shows that you
           are not working hard at it -- work a little harder. If you are still not succeeding, then you are not
           putting all your energy -- put a little more energy into it. This is the logic of the accidental world.
               The essential man knows that it is not a question of putting more energy, it is not a question of
           fighting at all. It is a question of allowing existence to happen. Nothing is needed on your part to be
           done. Only one thing: a deep trust and surrender.
               But sometimes it happens, just like the waving of the blanket of the medicine man, that you wave
           the blanket and something happens -- you think it is happening because of the waving of your
           blanket. Had you waited a little, it would have happened on its own. You simply wasted your energy
           by waving the blanket.
               Sometimes it happens that you have been struggling for something yet it happens -- that gives the
           idea to your mind that it has happened 'because of my effort.' Then you are in a vicious circle. When
           you fail you think 'I have not been making as much effort as needed.' When you succeed you think 'I
           have done as much as was needed.' But, in fact, things go on happening of their own accord; they
           don't happen by your effort. Sometimes it is a coincidence that they happen even when you are
           making an effort.
               All that is beautiful, true and good, simply comes as a grace. It descends on you. And once some
           effort succeeds, you are in a mad mess. Then you think, now...

               An architect was having a difficult time with Mulla Nasrudin, a prospective home-builder. "But
           can't you give some idea," he pleaded, "of the general type of house you want to build, Nasrudin?"
               "Well," replied the Mulla hesitantly, "all I know is: it must go with an antique doorknob my wife
           bought the other day."

                He has only an antique doorknob and he wants to make a house. Now, the only thing he knows:
           it must go with the antique doorknob. That's how we are working. A small effort has succeeded, so
           you have an antique doorknob -- now you are trying to create the whole house of life accordingly.
           You are creating trouble for yourself. And that antique doorknob is also not because of your efforts.
           It is better to say that it happened in spite of your efforts. Somehow, you coincided with the universe.
                This is the whole philosophy of the religious man: that 'I have nothing to do -- just to celebrate,
           let things happen to me; just to dance and sing.' It does not mean that a religious man becomes
           inactive. No. He becomes more active, but in his action there is no effort, there is no strain, there is
           no violence. It is not that he becomes inactive, dull, lethargic. No. He radiates with energy, he
           overflows with energy, because all that energy that was being wasted in effort is no longer wasted.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He has too much of it -- he can share. But now he functions as a vehicle. Now he has given his whole
           energy to the Whole. Now, wherever the Whole takes him, he goes. Now he is with the Whole and
           not against it.
               Whether you go in a church or in a temple or not is irrelevant. If you are with the Whole, you are
           a religious person. Whether you are a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan is irrelevant. If you
           are with the Whole, you are a religious person. And remember this with me: I am not here to convert
           you to become a Hindu, to become a Mohammedan, to become a Christian. All that nonsense is not
           for me. I am here to help you to become religious -- with no adjective attached to it.
               And once you start understanding this, the world takes on a totally new color. Even sometimes
           when there is pain, you are understanding. Sometimes it hurts -- yes, even then it is not all roses. It
           cannot be, but you start understanding it. In fact, you start seeing that thorns are there to protect the
           roses; that night is needed to help the day to be born; that death is needed to refresh life. Once you
           start understanding, you become positive. Then whatsoever happens, you can always look deeper
           into its meaning, its significance.
           I was reading a poem:
              THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE
              TO BE BORN INTO,
              IF YOU DON'T MIND HAPPINESS
              NOT ALWAYS BEING
              SO VERY MUCH FUN,
              IF YOU DON'T MIND A TOUCH OF HELL
              NOW AND THEN
              JUST WHEN EVERYTHING IS FINE --
              BECAUSE EVEN IN HEAVEN
              THEY DON'T SING
              ALL THE TIME.


              Even a dancer needs a rest, even a singer needs a rest. Even a happy person needs rest. One
           cannot remain in one mood continuously -- there is no need. When there are so many climates
           available, why get attached to one? Why not be enriched by all?
              A man who has attained to his essential center moves on dancing in different situations.
           Sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is cold; sometimes it is joy, sometimes it is sadness -- but now
           everything brings him some message from the Whole. Everything has become a messenger.

               THIS STORY, today's story, is a very simple story but very significant. And it always happens
           that significant things are very simple, and simple things are very significant.

              THERE WAS A MAN OF WEI, TUNG-MEN WU, WHO DID NOT GRIEVE WHEN HIS SON DIED.
              HIS WIFE SAID TO HIM:
              "NO ONE IN THE WORLD LOVED HIS SON AS MUCH AS YOU DID, WHY DO YOU NOT GRIEVE
              NOW HE IS DEAD?"
              HE ANSWERED:
              "I HAD NO SON, AND WHEN I HAD NO SON I DID NOT GRIEVE. NOW THAT HE IS DEAD IT IS
              THE SAME AS IT WAS BEFORE, WHEN I HAD NO SON. WHY SHOULD I GRIEVE OVER HIM?"


               A very simple parable, but tremendously significant, very meaningful. Enter into it layer by
           layer:

              THERE WAS A MAN OF WEI, TUNG-MEN WU, WHO DID NOT GRIEVE WHEN HIS SON DIED.


               It is very difficult not to grieve when somebody you loved so much has died. It is possible only if
           you have known something of the essential. It is possible only if you have tasted something of the
           deathless. It is possible only if you have transcended the accidental. He did not grieve, he was not
           sad. He was not weeping or crying, he was not broken. He remained just the same as he was before.
           The wife was disturbed. She said:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              "NO ONE IN THE WORLD LOVED HIS SON AS MUCH AS YOU DID, WHY DO YOU NOT GRIEVE
              NOW HE IS DEAD?"


               Ordinarily, this is our logic, that if you love a person too much you will grieve too much when he
           is gone. The logic is fallacious; the logic has a very deep flaw in it. In fact, if you have loved a
           person really, when he is gone he is gone; you will not grieve much. If you have not loved the person
           deeply, then you will grieve very much. Try to understand this.
               Your father dies, or your mother dies. If you have loved him totally while he was alive, you will
           be able to say goodbye to him without any grief -- because you loved him. That experience of love
           was total and fulfilling; nothing is left undone; nothing is hanging over your head. Whatsoever was
           possible has happened; now you can accept it. What more was possible? Even if he had been alive,
           what more would have been possible? The experience is complete.
               Whenever an experience is complete, you are ready to say goodbye very easily. But if you have
           not loved your father as you always wanted to, you have not been respectful towards him as you
           always wanted to, you will feel guilty. Now the father is gone; now there is no way to fulfill your
           desire -- now there is no way to show your respect, your love. Now there is no way, you will feel
           yourself hanging in the middle, in mid-air, in a limbo. You will not be at ease; you cannot say
           goodbye. You will cry and weep and you will be broken, and you will say that you are broken
           because your father is dead, but the real thing is something else.
               You are broken because now the possibility to love him, to respect him, is gone. Now there is no
           possibility -- the doors are closed and you have missed an opportunity. The son will cry more if he
           has not really loved his father. If he has loved his father he will be able to accept the fact -- love is
           very accepting and very understanding.
               Once an experience is complete, you can get out of it very easily -- you can just slip out of it as
           the snake slips out of his old skin. If you love a woman and you have been constantly quarrelling
           with her, and it never became a deep satisfaction, and she dies... now she will haunt you, her ghost
           will haunt you for your whole life. You could not do something that was possible, but now it is no
           longer possible. Now something incomplete will always be there in the heart, hurting; it will become
           a wound.
               This is the understanding of all the sages, that while you are loving a person, if you love him
           totally there is going to be no misery. If you love him totally, if you enjoy and delight in him totally,
           and the person is gone -- of course, one feels a little sad but it is not grief; one misses a little but one
           is capable of remaining centered, one is not distracted.
               If you are in love, love totally, so nothing remains hanging. Otherwise, that hanging, incomplete
           experience, that unlived experience, will haunt you. These unlived experiences go on piling up and
           they become heavy burdens.
               And the problem is that now there is no way -- what to do with them? You cannot complete them
           because the person has disappeared. You cannot drop them because incomplete experiences cannot
           be dropped. It is just like a ripe fruit drops of its own accord. When it is ripe, it drops; when it is not
           ripe, it is difficult to drop. Whenever an experience is complete, it is a ripe fruit -- it drops of its own
           accord. It leaves no scar behind, no wound.
               The wife says: "NO ONE IN THE WORLD LOVED HIS SON AS MUCH AS YOU DID, WHY
           DO YOU NOT GRIEVE NOW HE IS DEAD?"
               She is giving the argument of the accidental mind. That is the argument of the accidental man:
           Why don't you grieve? In fact, the accidental man was not really happy while the person was alive,
           but he becomes very unhappy when the person is gone.
               I used to know a woman who was very unhappy with the husband -- almost in hell, continuously
           fighting, quarrelling, nagging. The husband started drinking too much, just to avoid all this. Then the
           fight became even more fierce, because the wife started fighting against his drinking. It led him to
           even more drinking. When he was only thirty-six he died -- died because of too much drinking.
               The woman was never happy. She lived with him for almost seven years, she was never happy.
           All those seven years I used to know them -- they were next-door neighbors to me -- and always the
           husband would come with his miseries, and the wife would come with her miseries -- I was a silent
           watcher. Then the husband died, and the woman became so sad. Months passed and she was crying
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and crying, and she was going mad!
               One day I went to her, and there was nobody else so I told her, "Now I can be true to you: Stop
           this nonsense! -- because you were never happy with this man. In fact, many times you have told me
           that if this man dies it will be good. Now he is dead; he has fulfilled your desire, so why are you
           crying and weeping? I can't see any point in it! Are you missing all those fights? Are you missing all
           that misery? -- because I cannot see that you are missing the man, because there was nothing in it!"
               She was shocked. She had never expected something like that from me or from anybody else.
           People in such situations expect sympathy. I said, "Stop this nonsense! I know that you were never
           happy. Now you can be happy! He is no longer there to create any trouble."
               She looked at me, shocked. Her tears dried and she said, "It is shocking, but you have made me
           alert about one thing: I am not missing him at all. I am simply crying and weeping because I could
           not love him. It is not his death -- it is my own missed experience of love. I loved that man, but I
           could not love him. We wasted the whole opportunity in quarrelling over futile things. Now I know
           those things mean nothing; now that he is gone, I know those things were just trivia. I can't even
           remember the reasons why we were fighting continuously."
               If you love a person totally, and the experience is complete, has enriched you, you can say
           goodbye. Of course, there will be sadness but there will be no grief. And sadness is natural. It will
           disappear in time; it is nothing to be worried about. You will miss the person a little while -- natural
           -- but you will not be in grief.
               The accidental man says if you don't cry when a person is dead, that means you never loved him.
           That's what the wife was trying to point out: "You loved him so much. At least you pretended to love
           him so much, as if nobody has ever loved his son so much. Now what has happened? There is no
           grief! What type of love is this?" If you ask me, I say it is because he really loved the child. Now that
           he is gone, he is gone!
               Love is understanding. And love is so understanding that not only does it understand life, it
           understands death also.
           He answered: "I HAD NO SON, AND WHEN I HAD NO SON I DID NOT GRIEVE."
               This is the logic of the essential man. He says: "There was a moment in my life when the son was
           not there, and I was happy without him. I had known no grief then. Then the son came and I was
           happy with him. Now that he is gone, I am again in the same situation as before, before he was born.
           And I was not in grief then so why should I be in grief now? Again I am in the same situation: the
           son is not there; I am not a father again. Once I used not to be a father, then I became a father. I am
           again not a father. Something has happened, disappeared... I am left in the same way as I was
           before."

               IT IS said about a great sage who was a prime minister: When he was appointed prime minister
           to a king, he was almost a beggar on the streets. But the news of his wisdom spread, rumors started
           coming to the palace, and the king started going to him and he was impressed. He was tremendously
           impressed by the man and his insight -- he appointed him his prime minister.
               The beggar came to the palace. The king said, "Now you can drop your robe." Beautiful clothes
           were ready for him. He was given a good bath; beautiful robes were given to him, ornaments -- and
           as befits a prime minister.
               Then everybody became intrigued by the fact that in one room he had something like treasure
           locked. And every day he used to go, unlock the door -- he would go alone, he would not allow
           anybody inside -- lock the door again, and he would remain there for at least half an hour, then come
           out. Everybody became suspicious: What is happening in that room? What is he having in that
           room? Is there some conspiracy? Is there some secret? And, of course, the king also became
           interested.
               One day the king said, "I would like to come with you in your private room. I could not sleep last
           night. I continuously worried about what is there."
               The prime minister said, "There is nothing. And it is not worthy of your eyes. I will not take
           you."
               The king became even more suspicious. He said, "There seems to be some danger! I cannot allow
           this to happen in my palace. You will have to take me in!"
               The prime minister said, "If you don't trust me then I will take you in -- but then this is the end of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           my prime-ministership. Then take my resignation and come into the room. Otherwise, trust me and
           never ask about the room!"
               But the king was really suspicious. He said, "Okay, you give your resignation but I am coming
           into the room.
               With his whole court they entered. There was nothing... his old robe. Just the old robe hanging
           on a nail in the room. They looked around: there was nothing -- the room was empty. They said,
           "Why do you come here?"
               He said, "Just to see this robe -- to remind me that once I was a beggar, and any day I will be a
           beggar again. Just to remind me so that I don't get too much attached to this prime-ministership."
               He dropped out of his dress, took his robe. The king started weeping and crying; he said, "Don't
           go!" But he said, "Now, enough is enough. You could not trust me, and when there is no trust there
           is no point in my being here. I must go."
               But he left the palace the same way he had entered one day. Those ten, twelve years he remained
           the prime minister meant nothing; that was just an accident.
               This is what this man is saying: "I had no son, and when I had no son I did not grieve. I never
           missed this son when he was not there. When I was not a father, I never missed him, so why now
           should I miss him? Again the same situation has come back: now that he is dead, it is the same as it
           was before when I had no son. Why should I grieve over him?"
               This is the way to watch life. Whatsoever is accidental... you are living in a big house, in a
           palace. Remember that if this palace is taken away from you, there is no point in becoming
           depressed. Once you were living outside the palace, so again you are under the sky. You become
           very respectable, and then something happens... you are condemned by the society. What is the point
           to be worried about it? One day you were not famous at all and you were happy -- again you can be
           happy.
               One day you were not in this world! When you were not born, do you remember that you were in
           any way unhappy? -- then why be worried when you die? You will be again in the same state. You
           were not, and you don't remember any unhappiness. One day you will again disappear... why be
           worried? You will be again in the same state: you will not be again -- at least not in the way that you
           are here.
               This is what Zen people say: Find out your original face -- the face that you had before you were
           born, and the face that will be there when you are dead. Find out the eternal, and don't pay much
           attention to the accidental.
               If you can drop out of the accidental, you have dropped out of the world. There is no need to go
           anywhere: it is an inner attitude.

                REMEMBER remain alert that you don t get too much attached to the accidental -- and all is
           accidental except your consciousness. Except your awareness, all is accidental. Pain and pleasure,
           success and failure, fame and defamation -- all is accidental. Only your witnessing consciousness is
           essential. Stick to it! Get more and more rooted in it. And don't spread your attachment to worldly
           things.
                I don't mean leave them. I don't mean leave your house, leave your wife, leave your children --
           but remember that it is just an accident that you are together. It is not going to be an eternal state. It
           has a beginning; it will have an end. Remember that you were happy even before it began; and you
           will be happy when it has ended. If you can carry this touchstone, you can always judge what is
           accidental and what is essential.
           That which is always is truth. That which is momentary is untrue.
                In the East and in the West there is a difference in the definition of truth. In the Western
           philosophy, truth is equivalent to the real. In the East. truth is equivalent to the eternal -- because in
           the East we say even the momentary is real: real for the moment; but it is not true because it is not
           eternal. It is just a reflection. The reflection is also real!
                You see the moon in the sky and the reflection in the lake -- the reflection is also real because it
           is there! There is a difference between the reflection and no reflection, so it is real. Even a dream is
           real, because when you dream it is there! It is real as a dream, but it is real. The only difference
           between the dream and the waking state is that the dream lasts only for a few moments -- the waking
           state lasts longer. But in the East we have come to the ultimate awakening also. Then this waking
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           state also looks momentary, then this too is dreamlike.
               The eternal is true. The temporal is untrue. Both are real. The accidental is also real and the
           essential is also real, but with the accidental you will remain in misery. And with the essential the
           doors of bliss open, the doors of satchitanand -- of truth, of consciousness, of bliss.
               Remember this story in your day-to-day life. Imbibe its impact. If you can remember it, it can
           become a transforming influence on your life, it can transfigure you -- it can help you to reach to
           your center.




                                         A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                     Chapter #4
                                     Chapter title: Man is Always an Opening
           14 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608140
              ShortTitle: THUNDE04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins


The first question:


              I BELIEVED I WAS UNCREATIVE. WHAT ELSE CAN BE CREATIVITY BESIDES DANCING AND
              PAINTING AND HOW TO FIND OUT WHAT MY CREATIVITY IS?


               CREATIVITY has nothing to do with any activity in particular -- with painting, poetry, dancing,
           singing. It has nothing to do with anything in particular.
               Anything can be creative -- you bring that quality to the activity. Activity itself is neither creative
           nor uncreative. You can paint in an uncreative way. You can sing in an uncreative way. You can
           clean the floor in a creative way. You can cook in a creative way.
               Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner
           approach -- how you look at things.
               So the first thing to be remembered: don't confine creativity to anything in particular. A man is
           creative -- and if he is creative, whatsoever he does, even if he walks, you can see in his walking
           there is creativity. Even if he sits silently and does nothing, even non-doing will be a creative act.
           Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree doing nothing is the greatest creator the world has ever known.
               Once you understand it -- that it is you, the person, who is creative or uncreative -- then this
           problem disappears.
               Not everybody can be a painter -- and there is no need also. If everybody is a painter the world
           will be very ugly; it will be difficult to live. And not everybody can be a dancer, and there is no
           need. But everybody can be creative.
               Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing it is not purely
           economical, then it is creative. If you have something growing out of it within you, if it gives you
           growth, it is spiritual, it is creative, it is divine.
               You become more divine as you become more creative. all the religions of the world have said:
           God is the Creator. I don't know whether He is the Creator or not, but one thing I know: the more
           creative you become, the more godly you become. When your creativity comes to a climax, when
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your whole life becomes creative, you live in God. So He must be the Creator because people who
           have been creative have been closest to Him.
               Love what you do. Be meditative while you are doing it -- whatsoever it is! irrelevant of the fact
           of what it is.
               Have you seen Paras cleaning this floor of Chuang Tzu auditorium? Then you will know:
           cleaning can become creative. With what love! Almost singing and dancing inside. If you clean the
           floor with such love, you have done an invisible painting. You lived that moment in such delight that
           it has given you some inner growth. You cannot be the same after a creative act.
               Creativity means loving whatsoever you do -- enjoying, celebrating it, as a gift of God! Maybe
           nobody comes to know about it. Who is going to praise Paras for cleaning this floor? History will not
           take any account of it; newspapers will not publish her name and pictures -- but that is irrelevant.
           She enjoyed it. The value is intrinsic.
               So if you are looking for fame and then you think you are creative -- if you become famous like
           Picasso, then you are creative -- then you will miss. Then you are, in fact, not creative at all: you are
           a politician, ambitious. If fame happens, good. If it doesn't happen, good. It should not be the
           consideration. The consideration should be that you are enjoying whatsoever you are doing. It is
           your love-affair.
               If your act is your love-affair, then it becomes creative. Small things become great by the touch
           of love and delight.
               The questioner asks: "I believed I was uncreative." If you believe in that way, you will become
           uncreative -- because belief is not just belief. It opens doors; it closes doors. If you have a wrong
           belief, then that will hang around you as a closed door. If you believe that you are uncreative, you
           will become uncreative -- because that belief will obstruct, continuously negate, all possibilities of
           flowing. It will not allow your energy to flow because you will continuously say: "I am uncreative."
               This has been taught to everybody. Very few people are accepted as creative: A few painters, a
           few poets -- one in a million. This is foolish! Every human being is a born creator. Watch children
           and you will see: all children are creative. By and by, we destroy their creativity. By and by, we
           force wrong beliefs on them. By and by, we distract them. By and by, we make them more and more
           economical and political and ambitious.
               When ambition enters, creativity disappears -- because an ambitious man cannot be creative,
           because an ambitious man cannot love any activity for its own sake. While he is painting he is
           looking ahead; he is thinking, 'When am I going to get a Nobel Prize?' When he is writing a novel,
           he is looking ahead. He is always in the future -- and a creative person is always in the present.
               We destroy creativity. Nobody is born uncreative, but we make ninety-nine percent of people
           uncreative.
               But just throwing the responsibility on the society is not going to help -- you have to take your
           life in your own hands. You have to drop wrong conditionings. You have to drop wrong, hypnotic
           auto-suggestions that have been given to you in your childhood. Drop them! Purify yourself of all
           conditionings... and suddenly you will see you are creative.
               To be and to be creative are synonymous. It is impossible to be and not to be creative. But that
           impossible thing has happened, that ugly phenomenon has happened, because all your creative
           sources have been plugged, blocked, destroyed, and your whole energy has been forced into some
           activity that the society thinks is going to pay.
               Our whole attitude about life is money-oriented. And money is one of the most uncreative things
           one can become interested in. Our whole approach is power-oriented and power is destructive, not
           creative. A man who is after money will become destructive, because money has to be robbed,
           exploited; it has to be taken away from many people, only then can you have it. Power simply means
           you have to make many people impotent, you have to destroy them -- only then will you be
           powerful, can you be powerful.
               Remember: these are destructive acts. A creative act enhances the beauty of the world; it gives
           something to the world, it never takes anything from it. A creative person comes into the world,
           enhances the beauty of the world -- a song here, a painting there. He makes the world dance better,
           enjoy better, love better, meditate better. When he leaves this world, he leaves a better world behind
           him. Nobody may know him; somebody may know him -- that is not the point. But he leaves the
           world a better world, tremendously fulfilled because his life has been of some intrinsic value.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Money, power, prestige, are uncreative; not only uncreative, but destructive activities. Beware of
           them! And if you beware of them you can become creative very easily. I am not saying that your
           creativity is going to give you power, prestige, money. No, I cannot promise you any rose-gardens. It
           may give you trouble. It may force you to live a poor man's life. All that I can promise you is that
           deep inside you will be the richest man possible; deep inside you will be fulfilled; deep inside you
           will be full of joy and celebration. You will be continuously receiving more and more blessings from
           God. Your life will be a life of benediction.
               But it is possible that outwardly you may not be famous, you may not have money, you may not
           succeed in the so-called world. But to succeed in this so-called world is to fail deeply, is to fail in the
           inside world. And what are you going to do with the whole world at your feet if you have lost your
           own self? What will you do if you possess the whole world and you don't possess yourself? A
           creative person possesses his own being; he is a master.
               That's why in the East we have been calling sannyasins 'swamis'. 'Swami' means a master.
           Beggars have been called swamis -- masters. Emperors we have known, but they proved in the final
           account, in the final conclusion of their lives, that they were beggars. A man who is after money and
           power and prestige is a beggar, because he continuously begs. He has nothing to give to the world.
               Be a giver. Share whatsoever you can! And remember, I am not making any distinction between.
           small things and great things. If you can smile whole-heartedly, hold somebody's hand and smile,
           then it is a creative act, a great creative act. Just embrace somebody to your heart and you are
           creative. Just look with loving eyes at somebody... just a loving look can change the whole world of
           a person.
               Be creative. Don't be worried about what you are doing -- one has to do many things -- but do
           everything creatively, with devotion. Then your work becomes worship. Then whatsoever you do is
           a prayer. And whatsoever you do is an offering at the altar.
               Drop this belief that you are uncreative. I know how this belief is created: you may not have been
           a gold medalist in the university; you may not have been top in your class; your painting may not
           have won appreciation; when you play on your flute, neighbors report to the police. Maybe -- but
           just because of these things, don't get the wrong belief that you are uncreative. That may be because
           you are imitating others.
               People have a very limited idea of what being creative is -- playing the guitar or the flute or
           writing poetry -- so people go on writing rubbish in the name of poetry. You have to find out what
           you can do and what you cannot do. Everybody cannot do everything! You have to search and find
           your destiny. You have to grope in the dark, I know. It is not very clear-cut what your destiny is --
           but that's how life is. And it is good that one has to search for it -- in the very search, something
           grows.
               If God were to give a chart of your life to you when you were entering into the world -- this will
           be your life: you are going to become a guitarist -- then your life would be mechanical. Only a
           machine can be predicted, not a man. Man is unpredictable. Man is always an opening... a
           potentiality for a thousand and one things. Many doors open and many alternatives are always
           present at each step -- and you have to choose, you have to feel. But if you love your life you will be
           able to find.
               If you DON'T love your life and you love something else, then there is a problem. If you love
           money and you want to be creative, you cannot become creative. The very ambition for money is
           going to destroy your creativity. If you want fame, then forget about creativity. Fame comes easier if
           you are destructive. Fame comes easier to an Adolf Hitler; fame comes easier to a Henry Ford. Fame
           is easier if you are competitive, violently competitive. If you can kill and destroy people, fame
           comes easier.
               The whole history is the history of murderers. If you become a murderer, fame will be very easy.
           You can become a prime minister; you can become a president -- but these are all masks. Behind
           them you will find very violent people, terribly violent people hiding, smiling. Those smiles are
           political, diplomatic. If the mask slips, you will always see Genghis Khan, Timur Leng, Nadir Shah,
           Napoleon, Alexander, Hitler, hiding behind.
               If you want fame, don't talk about creativity. I am not saying that fame never comes to a creative
           person, but very rarely it comes, very rarely. It is more like an accident, and it takes much time.
           Almost always it happens that by the time fame comes to a creative person, he is gone -- it is always
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           posthumous; it is very delayed.
               Jesus was not famous in his day. If there were no Bible, there would have been no record of him.
           The record belongs to his four disciples; nobody else has ever mentioned him, whether he existed or
           not. He was not famous. He was not successful. Can you think of a greater failure than Jesus? But,
           by and by, he became more and more significant; by and by, people recognized him. It takes time.
               The greater a person is, the more time it takes for people to recognize him -- because when a
           great person is born, there are no criteria to judge him by, there are no maps to find him with. He has
           to create his own values; by the time he has created the values, he is gone. It takes thousands of years
           for a creative person to be recognized, and then too it is not certain. There have been many creative
           people who have never been recognized. It is accidental for a creative person to be successful. For an
           uncreative, destructive person it is more certain.
               So if you are seeking something else in the name of creativity, then drop the idea of being
           creative. At least consciously, deliberately, do whatsoever you want to do. Never hide behind masks.
           If you really want to be creative, then there is no question of money, success, prestige, respectability
           -- then you enjoy your activity; then each act has an intrinsic value. You dance because you like
           dancing; you dance because you delight in it. If somebody appreciates, good, you feel grateful. If
           nobody appreciates, it is none of your business to be worried about it. You danced, you enjoyed --
           you are already fulfilled.
               But this belief of being uncreative can be dangerous -- drop it! Nobody is uncreative -- not even
           trees, not even rocks. People who have known trees and loved trees, know that each tree creates its
           own space, each rock creates its own space. It is like nobody else's space. If you become sensitive, if
           you become capable of understanding, through empathy, you will be tremendously benefited. You
           will see each tree is creative in its own way; no other tree is like that -- each tree is unique; each tree
           has individuality, each rock has individuality. Trees are not just trees -- they are people. Rocks are
           not just rocks -- they are people. Go and sit by the side of a rock -- watch it lovingly, touch it
           lovingly, feel it lovingly.
               It is said about a Zen master that he was able to pull very big rocks, remove very big rocks -- and
           he was a very fragile man. It was almost impossible looking at his physiology! Stronger men, very
           much stronger than him, were unable to pull those rocks, and he would simply pull them very easily.
               He was asked what his trick was. He said, "There is no trick -- I love the rock so the rock helps.
           First I say to her, 'Now my prestige is in your hands, and these people have come to watch. Now help
           me, cooperate with me.' Mm? -- then I simply hold the rock lovingly... and wait for the hint. When
           the rock gives me the hint -- it is a shudder, my whole spine starts vibrating -- when the rock gives
           me the hint that she is ready, then I move. You move against the rock; that's why so much energy is
           needed. I move with the rock, I flow with the rock. In fact, it is wrong to say that I remove it -- I am
           simply there. The rock removes itself."
               One great Zen master was a carpenter, and whenever he made tables, chairs, somehow they had
           some ineffable quality in them, a tremendous magnetism. He was asked, "How do you make them?"
               He said, "I don't make them. I simply go to the forest: the basic thing is to enquire of the forest,
           of trees, which tree is ready to become a chair."
               Now these things look absurd -- because we don't know, we don't know the language. For three
           days he would remain in the forest. He would sit under one tree, under another tree, and he would
           talk to trees -- and he was a mad man! But a tree is to be judged by its fruit, and this master has also
           to be judged by his creation. A few of his chairs still survive in China -- they still carry a magnetism.
           You will just be simply attracted; you will not know what is pulling you. After a thousand years! --
           something tremendously beautiful.
               He said, "I go and I say that I am in search of a tree who wants to become a chair. I ask the trees
           if they are willing; not only willing: cooperating with me, ready to go with me -- only then.
           Sometimes it happens that no tree is ready to become a chair -- I come empty-handed."
               It happened: The Emperor of China asked him to make him a stand for his books. And he went
           and after three days he said, "Wait -- no tree is ready to come to the palace."
               After three months the Emperor again enquired. The carpenter said, "I have been going
           continuously. I am persuading. Wait -- one tree seems to be leaning a little bit."
               Then he persuaded one tree. He said, "The whole art is there! -- when the tree comes of its own
           accord. Then she is simply asking the help of the carpenter."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You can go and ask Asheesh -- he has a feel for wood, and wood also has a feel for him.
               If you are loving you will see that the whole existence has individuality. Don't pull and push
           things. Watch, communicate; take their help -- and much energy will be preserved.
               Even trees are creative, rocks are creative. You are man: the very culmination of this existence.
           You are at the top -- you are conscious. Never think with wrong beliefs, and never be attached to
           wrong beliefs, that you are uncreative. Maybe your father said to you that you are uncreative, your
           colleagues said to you that you are uncreative. Maybe you were searching in wrong directions, in
           directions in which you are not creative, but there must be a direction in which you are creative.
           Seek and search and remain available, and go on groping -- unless you find it.
               Each man comes into this world with a specific destiny -- he has something to fulfill, some
           message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed. You are not here accidentally -- you
           are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The Whole intends to do something through
           you.

           The second question -- it is from Hareesh:

              A WHITE AND SMALL AURA IS VISIBLE JUST OVER YOUR HEAD. WHY IS NOT A COLORED
              ONE VISIBLE?


                IT IS a colored one -- but all the colors are there, hence it looks white. White is not colorless.
           White is the presence of all the colors together. White is the most colorful thing in the world -- hence
           it looks white.
                When a white ray passes through a prism it divides into seven colors. That's how a rainbow is
           created in the rainy season. Small particles of water hanging in the air function as prisms. White rays
           of sun enter through those hanging particles of water and are divided into seven colors. If you mix all
           the colors in the right proportions, you will create white. White is all the colors together.
                I am not a Buddhist, I am not a Hindu, I am not a Christian, I am not a Jain, I am not a
           Mohammedan -- and I am all. All colors together! Hence white is created. A white aura is the
           greatest possibility.
                People have different auras: somebody has a black aura -- black is the lowest possibility. Black is
           the absence of all colors. Hence, in all the mythologies we paint the Devil as black -- that is the aura
           -- we paint the Devil as black. Even negroes paint the Devil as black; they should paint the Devil as
           white, but they paint the Devil as black.
                Black means the absence of all colors -- absence of everything. Black is negative. Black is just
           nihilistic. Black means simply negativity. Black is death. That's why death is also painted black. And
           when you mourn for a person, you use black dress. White is the opposite polarity of black: black is
           the absence of all colors; white is the presence of all colors. White is an invisible rainbow.
                Go on watching your own face in the mirror. Next time you stand before your mirror, don't be
           bothered too much with your physiological shape -- try to see the aura. In the beginning it will not be
           visible, but if you go on working, within three months you will be able to see a subtle aura
           surrounding your face in the mirror. And that will be greatly indicative and helpful for your growth,
           because it will show the color where you are. If it is black, then much has to be done. If it is grey,
           then you are just in the middle of your growth; half the journey is over, half has yet to be travelled.
                You ask: "Why is not a colored one visible?" -- because all the colors are there it cannot be a
           colored one. A colored one means simply one color. And you will be surprised: if you ask the
           physicists, who know color well, what it is, you will be surprised. If you are using a red dress, that
           simply means the red color is reflected back, is given back to the world. Your dress absorbs all other
           colors; only the red color it doesn't absorb but reflects back, shares with the existence, it gives it
           back. It renounces red -- that's why it is red.
                This seems paradoxical: red dress is not red! It renounces red; that's why it looks red -- people
           looking at you see it red because the red ray is going back and falls on their eyes and they see it as
           red. A black dress absorbs all; it doesn't give back anything. It simply absorbs all -- the black is
           miserly, it doesn't share. It is a sort of spiritual constipation. It simply takes in and never gives out.
                White simply reflects everything back, gives everything back. Hence, in India white became the
           color of renunciation. White means nothing is absorbed; all the rays are returned back to the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existence -- with thanks, with gratitude. When all the rays fall on your eyes, it looks white. When
           one ray falls on your eye -- red, blue, green -- then it is colorful.
                A white aura is the best aura. And I would like to tell Hareesh... he is a very sensitive man. A
           new sannyasin in a way, but a very ancient one in another. I have known him before -- and he also
           knows this. May not be very conscious about it, but he feels it somewhere. He is a very sensitive
           man, an infinitely sensitive man. That's why he has been able to see the aura. If he tries a little, soon
           he will be able to see his own aura. And if he tries a little more, he can become an aura expert, he
           can see anybody's aura. And it is going to be helpful in his work. He is a psychotherapist. It will be
           of tremendous help to him.
                In the East, masters have used it as a psychoanalytic device. When a person comes to a master,
           the first thing to see is his aura -- because that will decide everything. He starts analyzing his aura
           because that is very indicative. That shows about the deepest layers of his mind, conscious and
           unconscious both.
                There are people who come to me sometimes who say they don't want to take sannyas, and in
           their aura I see that they are ready. Just the other day, Prasthan's ex-wife was here. I see she is ready,
           but she says she has to think about it. Her aura is crystal-clear. She is finished with the world! but is
           unconscious about it. I told her, "For me you have become a sannyasin -- for yourself you can take a
           little time to think." There are people who want to become sannyasins, and I even initiate them, but I
           see their aura is still too much involved in the world, too much of the world. I hope for them. Their
           desire is good, but their preparation is none.
                People are not aware of their auras, otherwise they would be able to self-analyze themselves.
           Hareesh can attain to this capacity very easily.

           The third question:

              WHEN SRI AUROBINDO SAID THAT INDIA IS THE SPIRITUAL CENTER OF THE WORLD, THE
              THINKERS ALL OVER THE WEST FELT OFFENDED. THEY MOCKED AND LAUGHED AT IT.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Sri AUROBINDO was never really a very spiritual man. Originally he was a politician, and
           politics lingered and lingered to the very end. He became religious, he tried hard, but the shadow of
           politics continued. His assertions should not be given too much value. He was a little chauvinistic
           about India, as people are about their own country all over the world.
               An Indian thinks that he is the very center of the world spiritually, very highly evolved. All
           rubbish! No country as such is spiritually evolved, no race as such is spiritually evolved. Spirituality
           happens only to individuals, not to countries. Yes, Buddha was evolved, so was Jesus; Mahavir was
           evolved, so was Mohammed; Krishna was evolved, so was Zarathustra -- so what! Individuals. Just
           because Buddha happened to be born in India, India does not become spiritual -- because spiritual
           people have been born all over the world, to every part, to every country, to every century, to every
           race. But there is a spiritual egoism, and there are reasons also.
               India feels very inferior in many ways; it has to compensate. The West is very materially
           progressive, materially affluent, rich -- rich in science, rich in living, rich in every way. India feels
           inferior: how to compensate for it? This becomes a compensation: that we are spiritually evolved.
               No country is spiritually evolved -- because spirituality is basically individual. It has nothing to
           do with country and climate; it is not confined to the boundaries of politics. Ask the Indians: "Now
           what about Pakistan?" Just twenty years ago it was India -- then it was spiritually evolved. Now? --
           now it is the worst country in the world -- ask an Indian. It was India just twenty years ago! Now it is
           no more India. Political boundaries. The world is one, the earth is one, for a spiritual man.
               So if Aurobindo is talking about the geographical India, he is talking nonsense. But Indians feel
           good; they have nothing else to claim. Spirituality is good because it is a very invisible thing; you
           cannot disprove it. If somebody says, "I am very rich," you can prove or disprove it -- mm? -- you
           can go and see the bank-balance. And somebody says, "I am spiritual," now what to do? How to
           prove or how to disprove?
           I have heard an anecdote:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A few Christian theologians have concluded that Adam and Eve were Indians. Why? "First,"
           they argue, "they had nothing to wear. Second, they stole apples; and, third, with it all, they thought
           they were living in the Garden of Eden."

               They had nothing to wear, were stealing apples, and still thinking that they lived in Paradise!
           That's what an Indian goes on thinking. So when somebody like Sri Aurobindo declares that India is
           the center, the spiritual guide, the spiritual guru of the whole world, Indians feel very good. It
           enhances the;r ego. It helps them to stand a little more erect; it helps them to feel a little good. It
           cheers them -- that's all. But it is not a truth.
               And Sri Aurobindo was definitely talking about the geographical India -- because he was very
           fanatical, chauvinistic. He had the idea that Indians are very superior, that they have spiritual work to
           do in the world. No. But in another way, if you take India not as a geographical thing, not as a
           political map, but if you take India as an eternal search for truth, then this country has been in search
           long -- longer than any other country. It has sacrificed much for its search. That's how it has become
           so poor -- because when people start thinking of the inner world, they start dropping from the outside
           world, they become dropouts.
               India has been approaching the inner continuously. If you take India as a symbol of inner search,
           good -- but then you should remember that it is an inner search and a symbol of inner search. Then
           somebody who is born in the West and is seeking God is an Indian; and somebody who is born in
           India and is seeking money is an American. Then there is no trouble -- then Jesus is Indian,
           Zarathustra is Indian, Lao Tzu is Indian, Chuang Tzu is Indian, Bokuju, Rinzai -- all are Indians.
           Then 'India' has a totally different meaning.
               I also say that India is significant, but just as a psychological symbol. Longest India has been
           searching. And MORE Buddhas have happened here. The very climate of spirituality, the milieu,
           helps. Jesus is rare, Zarathustra is rare. In India, Buddha, Mahavir, Krishna, Ram -- it seems almost a
           normal state of affairs.
               But it is just like when somebody says: "The West is symbolic for science." Yes, the West has
           been searching scientifically longest. From the ancient Greeks up to today the Western mind has
           been searching in scientific categories. It has been leaning more and more towards logic,
           mathematics, experimentation. And in the East, India has been leaning more and more illogically,
           irrationally, towards the inner.
               If you can think of the West as a symbol of science, then the East can become a symbol for
           spirituality. If you think of the Greek mind as logical, then you can think of the Indian mind as
           religious -- but then these are symbols, nothing to brag about.
               But every country, every race, goes on bragging about itself. I have heard an anecdote:

                The mother superior of a convent was interviewing the three girls graduating from the high
           school.
                "Wee Margaret," she asked the first, "and what will you be doing when you leave us?"
                "Oh, Mother," the girl replied, "I'm not going to be leaving you -- I'm going to stay here and take
           the veil!"
                "Bless you, Margaret," said the nun, well pleased. Turning to the next one she asked,"And you,
           Katherine, what are your plans?"
                "Oh," replied Katherine, "I'm going to continue to get a good Catholic education and then teach
           little children in a parochial school."
                "Most commendable," said the nun. "And what will you do, Eileen?" she asked of the third
           student.
           Lowering her eyes, the girl replied, "I'm going to become a prostitute."
           "A what?" shrieked the mother superior.
           "A prostitute," the girl repeated, whereupon the nun fainted to the floor.
                They quickly revived her, but even before she rose from the floor, the nun gasped, "Eileen, say
           that again."
           "Mother," the girl replied firmly, "I'm going to be a prostitute! "
                "Oh, saints preserve us!" said the nun crossing herself quickly. "I thought you said a Protestant!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Every religion, every country, every sect, is fanatically mad Only they are the right, they are the
           true ones. They are on the right track and everybody else is wrong, everybody else is condemned.
               So, it is natural that the thinkers all over the West felt offended. But to feel offended is to be ill
           with the same disease. "They mocked and laughed at it." There is no need to mock and laugh.
               Sri Aurobindo's statement is absurd -- but there is no need to mock and laugh at it, because when
           you mock and laugh at it then you are carrying the same mind within you. Then an American feels
           offended -- because India, the guru? Then an Englishman feels offended. How can an Englishman
           ever think of India as the guru? -- impossible. But this is the same mind! One extreme is declaring
           that India is the center, the suprememost guru of the world, and then the other is feeling offended.
               No need to feel offended -- just feel pity for such statements. Just feel sorry that still in this
           twentieth century there are people who don't belong to this century -- very traditional, orthodox; not
           contemporaries at all. But there is no need to feel offended -- because it is ego asserting and it is ego
           feeling offended. So just see the point; don't feel offended -- otherwise you are in the same boat.

           The fourth question:

              YOU REFER TO GOD ALWAYS AS 'HIM' OR 'HE'. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FEMALE QUALITIES
              OF GOD?


               NOW IT IS a very delicate problem.... In fact, all His qualities are feminine -- that's why I call
           Him 'He' and 'Him'. Otherwise He has no reason to call Himself a male. You can feel sorry for Him!
           And you can allow this much, can't you? He has all the qualities of a woman, but to call Him 'She'
           will be too much. Just to compensate I call Him 'He' and 'Him'.
               God is more a mother than a father. God is more like a womb than anything else. Out of God we
           are born, and back into God we dissolve. He is our birth and He is our death. He is like the ocean: He
           'waves' us, we become His waves; He absorbs us -- we disappear. He is compassion, love. All His
           qualities are feminine.
               So there is no need to be worried about it, why I call Him 'He'. To call Him 'She' will be too
           realistic. Mm? This much romance, this much poetry, you can allow me -- to call Him 'He'. That
           balances.
               In fact, He is neither -- He cannot be, because man is born out of Him, woman is born out of
           Him. Either He is both or He is neither -- because He is all.
               But I understand the question. It must be coming from some woman belonging to the Lib
           movement. They have already started calling Him 'She'. Nothing wrong in it! In fact, it may become
           by and by more prevalent. The word 'she' is beautiful; in a way, it includes 'he' -- -s-h-e. 'He' does not
           include 'she', right; but 'she' includes 'he'. It is a better word, but very confusing.
               The whole humanity, in all the ages, has called Him 'He'. Maybe something of the male mind is
           involved in it, because it is man who has created all the scriptures. It would have been very offensive
           for men to think that He is a she, God is a woman. It would not have been good for the male ego.
           Now, there is no need to move to the other extreme. What I am pointing at again and again is that
           extremes are not good.
               Up to now we have called Him 'He' -- maybe male chauvinistic attitudes are implied in it. Now
           we can start calling Him 'She' -- then female chauvinistic attitudes will become implied in it. In
           India, we have a neutral gender: neither masculine nor feminine -- neutral. 'Brahma', the word for
           God in India, is a neuter gender word. We call Him 'It' -- that seems to be the best and the most
           scientific. We call Him 'That' -- neither He nor She. Tatwamasi Swetketu -- That art thou, that art
           thou, Swetketu. This is more scientific.
               From He it is very easy for the pendulum to swing to She, but it will be again the same fallacy.
           God is both or neither.

           The fifth question:

              HOW CAN I KNOW THAT A WOMAN HAS FALLEN IN LOVE IN REALITY, NOT PLAYING GAMES?
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THIS IS DIFFICULT! Nobody has ever been able to know it -- because, in fact, love is a game.
           That is its reality! So if you are waiting and watching and thinking and analyzing whether this
           woman who is in love with you is just playing a game or is in reality in love, you will never be able
           to love any woman -- because love is a game, the suprememost game.
               There is no need to ask for it to be real -- play the game! that's its reality. And if you are too
           much of a seeker for reality, then love is not for you. It is a dream! It is a fantasy -- it is a fiction, it is
           a romance, it is a poetry. If you are too much of a seeker for reality, obsessed with reality, then love
           is not for you -- then meditate.
               And I know the questioner is not that type -- the question is from Krishna Gautam. No meditation
           is possible, at least in this life! He has many karmas to fulfill with women. So he continuously thinks
           about meditation and continuously goes on moving with this woman or that. Now the women he
           moves with, they also come to me and they say, "Is he really in love with us?" What to do? And here
           comes he with a question!
               But this problem comes to everybody sometime or other -- because there is no way to judge. We
           are such strangers -- we are strangers, and our meeting is just accidental. Just on the road suddenly
           we have come across each other, not knowing who we are, not knowing who the other is. Two
           strangers meeting on a road, feeling alone, hold each other's hands -- and think they are in love. They
           are in need of the other, certainly, but how to be certain that there is love?
           I was reading a beautiful joke; listen to it carefully:

                A woman arrived at a small midwestern town late at night, only to find there wasn't a single hotel
           room available. "I'm sorry," said the desk clerk, "but the last room we had was just taken by an
           Italian."
                "What number is it?" said the woman in desperation. "Maybe I can work something out with
           him."
                The clerk told her the room and the woman went up and knocked on the door. The Italian let her
           in.
                "Look, mister," she said, "I don't know you and you don't know me, but I need some place to
           sleep desperately. I won't be any bother, I promise, if you just let me use that little couch over there."
                The Italian thought for a minute and then said, "Okay." The woman curled up on the couch and
           the Italian went back to bed. But the couch was very uncomfortable and after a few minutes the
           woman tiptoed over to the bed and tapped the Italian's arm. "Look mister," she said, "I don't know
           you and you don't know me, but that couch is impossible to sleep on. Could I just sleep here, at the
           edge of the bed?"
           "Okay," said the Italian, "use the edge of the bed."
                The woman lay down on the bed, but after a few minutes she felt very cold. Again she tapped the
           Italian.
                "Look mister," she said, "I don't know you and you don't know me, but it's very cold out here.
           Could I just get under the cover with you."
           "Okay," said the Italian, "get under the cover."
                The woman snuggled under, but the closeness of a male body stirred her and she started to feel a
           little horny. Again she tapped the Italian.
                "Look mister," she said, "I don't know you and you don't know me, but how about having a little
           party?"
                Exasperated, the Italian bolted up in the bed. "Look lady," he hollered, "I don't know you and
           you don't know me. In the middle of the night, who we gonna invite to a party?"

               But this is how it goes: You don't know me, I don't know you -- it is just accidental. Needs are
           there. People feel lonely; they need somebody to fill their loneliness. They call it love. They show
           love because that is the only way to hook the other. The other also calls it love because that is the
           only way to hook you. But who knows whether there is love or not? In fact, love is just a game. Yes,
           there is a possibility of a real love, but that happens only when you don't need anybody -- that's the
           difficulty.
               It is on the same lines as banks function. If you go to a bank and you need money, they will not
           give you any. If you don't need money, you have enough, they will come to you and they will always
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be ready to give you. When you don't need, they are ready to give you; when you need, they are not
           ready to give you.
               When you don't need a person at all, when you are totally sufficient unto yourself, when you can
           be alone and tremendously happy and ecstatic, then love is possible. But then too you cannot be
           certain whether the OTHER'S love is real or not -- you can be certain about only one thing: whether
           your love is real. How can you be certain about the other? But then there is no need.
               This continuous anxiety -- whether the other's love is real or not -- simply shows one thing: that
           your love is not real. Otherwise, who bothers? Why be worried about it? Enjoy it while it lasts! Be
           together while you can be together! It is a fiction, but you need fiction.
               Nietzsche used to say that man is such that he cannot live without lies, he cannot live with truth.
           Truth will be too much to tolerate, to bear. You need lies. Lies, in a subtle way, lubricate your
           system; they are lubricants. Mm? You see a woman, you say, "How beautiful! I have never come
           across such a beautiful person." These are just lubricating lies -- you know it!
               You have said the same thing to other women before, and you know you will say the same thing
           again to other women in the future. And the woman also says that you are the only person that has
           ever attracted her. These are lies. Behind these lies there is nothing but need. You want the woman to
           be with you to fill your inner hole; you want to stuff that inner emptiness with her presence. She also
           wants. You both are trying to use each other as a means.
               That's why lovers, so-called lovers, are always in conflict -- because nobody wants to be used,
           because when you use a person the person becomes a thing, you have reduced him to a commodity.
           And every woman feels, after making love to a man, a little sad, deceived, cheated, because the man
           turns over and goes to sleep -- finished is finished!
               Many women have told me that they cry and weep after the man, their man, has made love to
           them -- because after love he is no longer interested. His interest was only for a particular need; then
           he turns over and goes to sleep. And he is not even bothered about what has happened to the woman.
           And men also feel cheated. They, by and by, start suspecting that the woman loves them for
           something else -- for money, power, security. The interest may be economical -- but it is not love.
               But it is true. This is how it can be; only this is how it can be! The way you are, living almost
           asleep, moving in a stupor, somnambulistic, this is the only way it is possible. But don't be worried
           about it, whether the woman loves you really or not. While you are asleep you will need somebody's
           love -- even if it is false, you will need it. Enjoy it! Don't create anxiety. And try to become more and
           more awake.
               One day when you are really awake you will be able to love -- but then you will be certain about
           your love only. But that's enough! Who bothers? Because right now you want to use others. When
           you are really blissful on your own, you don't want to use anybody. You simply want to share. You
           have so much, so much is overflowing, you would like somebody to share it. And you will feel
           thankful that somebody was ready to receive. Finished! That is the full point.
               Right now, you are worried too much whether the other loves you really -- because you are not
           certain about your own love. One thing. You are not certain about your worth. You cannot believe
           that somebody can really love you. You don't see anything in yourself. You cannot love yourself --
           how can somebody else love you? It seems unreal, it seems impossible.
               Do you love yourself? You have not even asked the question. People hate themselves. People
           condemn themselves -- they go on condemning; they go on thinking that they are rotten. How can
           the other love you? such a rotten person. No, nobody can love you really. The other must be
           befooling, cheating; there must be some other reason. She must be after something else; he must be
           after something else.
           I have heard:

               A dirty, smelly, filthy-looking old Jewish bum, sat down on a park bench next to a sweet young
           girl. The girl took one look at the bum and looked away in revulsion. Pretty soon she heard a noise
           and turned her head to see what was happening. She watched in horror as the Jewish bum took a
           sandwich from a brown bag and took a big bite of it. The meat was rancid, the lettuce was brown,
           and the bread mouldy.
               Sensing the girl's eyes on him, the Jewish bum turned towards her and said, "Pardon me, miss,
           would you like a bite of my sandwich? I suppose to make love would be out of the question."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                This is what goes on happening. You know about yourself -- love seems to be out of the
           question. You know your rottenness, worthlessness -- love seems to be out of the question. And
           when some woman comes and says she adores you, you cannot trust. When you go to a woman and
           you say you adore her, and she hates herself, how can she believe you? It is self-hatred that is
           creating the anxiety.
                There is no way to be certain about the other -- first be certain about yourself. And a person who
           is certain about himself is certain about the whole world. A certainty achieved at your innermost core
           becomes a certainty about everything that you do and everything that happens to you. Settled,
           centered, grounded, in yourself, you never worry about such things. You accept.
                If somebody loves you, you accept it because you love yourself. You are happy with yourself;
           somebody else is happy -- good! It does not get in your head; it does not make you madly egoistic.
           You simply enjoy yourself; somebody else also finds you enjoyable -- good! While it lasts, live the
           fiction as beautifully as possible -- it will not last forever. That too creates a problem.
                When a love is finished, you start thinking it was false -- that's why it has come to an end. No,
           not necessarily -- not necessarily. It may have had some glimmer of truth in it, but you were both
           unable to keep and hold that truth. You killed it It was there -- you murdered it. You were not
           capable of love. You needed love, but you were not capable of it. So you meet a woman or a man;
           things go very well, very smoothly, fantastically beautifully -- in the beginning. The moment you
           have settled, things start getting sour, bitter. The more you have settled, the more conflict arises.
           That kills love.
                As I see it, every love has in the beginning a ray of light in it, but the lovers destroy that. They
           jump on that ray of light with all their darknesses within -- dark continents, great Africas within.
           They jump on it and they destroy it. When it is destroyed they think it was false. They have killed it!
           It was not false -- they are false. The ray was real, true.
                So don't be worried about the other; don't be worried whether the love is real or not. While it is
           there, enjoy it. Even if it is a dream, good to dream about it. And become more and more alert and
           aware so sleep is dropped.
                When you are aware, a totally different kind of love will arise in your heart -- which is absolutely
           true, which is part of eternity. But that is not a need -- it is a luxury. And you have so much of it that
           you hanker for somebody to share it with.
                Just like clouds when they are so full of rainwater: they would like to shower anywhere, upon
           anybody. And they don't bother whether it is a hilly track they are showering on, whether it is rocky
           ground they are showering on, or whether it is fertile soil thirsty for them -- they don't bother. They
           go on raining on rocks, on fertile soil, on everybody -- good and bad, thirsty, non-thirsty; needed, not
           needed. Because it is not a question now of whether you need; it is a question now that they are so
           full they have to share.
                I love you -- not because I need. I love you simply because what else can I do now? It is there
           and I would like to shower it on you, and I go on showering -- unconditionally. It is not that you
           deserve it -- never think that. You know and I know that you don't deserve it, but that is not the
           point. What else can I do?
           I have heard a very old Tibetan story:

               There was a great sage who would not initiate anybody, who would not make anybody a disciple.
           And his fame spread far and wide, and thousands of people would come every year to his hilltop and
           they would touch his feet and they would cry and weep and they would say, "Accept us! Initiate us
           into the truth you have achieved! Open the door of your temple to us also -- we are thirsty."
               But he would say, "You are not worthy, you don't deserve. First become worthy of me!" And his
           conditions were such that nobody was ever able to fulfill them: Be truthful for three years, not a
           single lie; for three years be celibate, not even a thought of a woman or a man -- and so on and so
           forth. Those conditions were impossible! And those conditions are such that the more you try to
           fulfill them, the more you will feel it is impossible. You can be a celibate if you don't bother too
           much about it; but if you think too much about celibacy then you will be surrounded by many, many
           women in your mind.
               Many people had tried and nobody was successful, so nobody was initiated. Then the man was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dying. Just three days before he died, many people had gathered and he told his closest people, "Now
           you go, and whosoever wants to be initiated I will initiate -- only three days are left!"
           The people knew him well and they said, "What about your conditions?"
                He said, "Forget all about those conditions! In fact, I was not ready to initiate anybody; hence, I
           was insisting too much on the conditions. Now I am ready! and I am full and I want to share. Now
           forget all about the conditions -- whosoever wants to come, fetch them! And be in a hurry because
           only three days are left."
                He initiated any and everybody, whosoever came. People could not believe it! They asked,
           "What are you doing? We are sinners!"
                He said, "Forget about it. I was not a saint up to now -- that was the only trouble. I had nothing to
           initiate you into. There was no door -- I was standing outside the door myself. But now the door has
           opened -- now I have to share. Now there is no question of any conditions."
                When you are aware, you are not in need of love. When you are not in need of love, you become
           capable of love. This is the paradox. When you are in need you are not capable.
                And in this sleepy state, full of needs and desires, you go on stumbling. Why bother? let me tell
           you one anecdote:

               Two very proper English gentlemen were drunk in the pubs looking for women. They finally got
           lucky and were about to bed with their respective finds. As they were lurching their way through the
           crowded London streets, one turned to the other and said, "Look here, old man, do you mind
           switching bitches?"
           "No, I don't mind old thing, but can you tell a fellow why?"
           "Well," slobbered the first, "don't you know, between the grog and the fog and the smog, I seem to
           have picked up my old auntie!"

              In the darkness of desire, in the madness of passion, between the grog and the fog and the smog,
           don't be too worried whether the other's love is real or not. Right now, as you are, the real cannot
           happen to you. The real happens only to real persons. Gurdjieff used to say: "Don't seek reality --
           become real!" because the real happens to real persons only. To unreal persons only the unreal
           happens.

           The last question:

              HOW IS IT THAT I GOT SUCH A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO BE AT GOD'S FEET, AND NOT
              JUST GOD, BUT SUCH A BEAUTIFUL GOD?


               IT IS Sheela's question. You are also beautiful, Sheela -- and everybody is beautiful. It is just a
           question of realization. It is not only that God is beautiful; in fact, because God is beautiful,
           everything is beautiful -- because everything is out of God, everything is in God.
               You may not know your own beauty, you may not have looked into your own being, but let me
           remind you again and again: You are beautiful, Sheela -- everybody is beautiful. In fact, there is no
           way of being otherwise: only beauty exists and only beauty can exist. Truth is beauty: beauty is
           truth.




                                         A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                     Chapter #5
                                         Chapter title: Listen to the Waves
           15 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 7608150
              ShortTitle: THUNDE05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              A WRESTLER NAMED O-NAMI GREAT WAVES, WAS IMMENSELY STRONG AND HIGHLY
              SKILLED IN THE ART OF WRESTLING. IN PRIVATE BE DEFEATED EVEN HIS VERY TEACHER,
              BUT IN PUBLIC HIS OWN YOUNG PUPILS COULD THROW HIM.
              IN HIS TROUBLE HE WENT TO A ZEN MASTER WHO WAS STOPPING AT A NEARBY TEMPLE
              BY THE SEA, AND ASKED FOR COUNSEL.
              "GREAT WAVES IS YOUR NAME, " SAID THE MASTER, "SO STAY IN THIS TEMPLE TONIGHT
              AND LISTEN TO THE WAVES OF THE SEA. IMAGINE YOU ARE THOSE WAVES. FORGET YOU
              ARE A WRESTLER, AND BECOME THOSE HUGE WAVES SWEEPING EVERYTHING BEFORE
              THEM."
              O-NAMI REMAINED. HE TRIED TO THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES, BUT BE THOUGHT OF MANY
              THINGS. THEN GRADUALLY HE DID THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES. THEY ROLLED LARGER
              AND LARGER AS THE NIGHT WORE ON. THEY SWEPT AWAY THE FLOWERS IN THE VASES
              BEFORE THE BUDDHA; THEY SWEPT AWAY THE VASES. EVEN THE BRONZE BUDDHA WAS
              SWEPT AWAY. BY DAWN THE TEMPLE WAS ONLY SURGING WATER, AND O-NAMI SAT
              THERE WITH A FAINT SMILE ON HIS FACE.
              THAT DAY HE ENTERED THE PUBLIC WRESTLING AND WON EVERY BOUT, AND FROM THAT
              DAY NO ONE IN JAPAN COULD EVER THROW HIM.


               SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS IS A DISEASE. Consciousness is health, self-consciousness is
           disease -- something has gone wrong. Some tie has arisen, some complex. The river of consciousness
           is not flowing naturally -- something foreign has entered into the river of consciousness, something
           alien; something that cannot be absorbed by the river; something that cannot become part of the
           river; something that resists becoming part of the river.
               Self-consciousness is morbidity. Self-consciousness is a frozen state, blocked. It is like a dirty
           pool -- going nowhere; just drying, evaporating and dying. Of course, it stinks.
               So the first thing to be understood is the difference between self-consciousness and
           consciousness.
               Consciousness has no idea of 'I', of ego. It has no idea of one's separation from existence. It does
           not know any barrier, it knows no boundaries. It is one with existence; it is in a deep at-onement.
           There is no conflict between the individual and the Whole. One is simply flowing into the Whole,
           and the Whole is flowing into one. It is like breathing: you breathe in, you breathe out -- when you
           breathe in the Whole enters you, when you breathe out you enter the Whole. It is a constant flow, a
           constant sharing. The Whole goes on giving to you, and you go on giving to the Whole. The balance
           is never lost.
               But in a self-conscious man something has gone wrong. He takes in but he never gives out. He
           goes on accumulating and he has become incapable of sharing. He goes on making boundaries
           around himself so nobody can trespass. He goes on putting boards around his being: No Trespassing
           Allowed. By and by, he becomes a grave, a dead being -- because life is in sharing.
               A self is a dead thing, alive only for the name's sake. Consciousness is infinite life, life abundant.
           It knows no boundaries. But ordinarily everybody is self-conscious.
               To be self-conscious is to be unconscious. This paradox has to be understood: to be
           self-conscious is to be unconscious; and to be unself-conscious, or to be self-unconscious, is to
           become conscious. And when there is no self, when this small, tiny self disappears, you attain to the
           real Self with a capital 'S' -- call it the supreme Self, the Self of all.
               So it is both: no-self in the sense that it is not only yours, and the ultimate Self also because it is
           the self of all. You lose your tiny center and you attain to the center of existence itself. Suddenly you
           become infinite; suddenly you are no longer bound, you have no cage around your being. And
           infinite power starts flowing through you. You become a vehicle -- clear, with no obstructions. You
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a flute and Krishna can sing through you. You become just a passage -- empty, nothing of
           your own. This is what I call surrender.
                Self-consciousness is a non-surrendering attitude -- it is the attitude of conflict, fight, struggle. If
           you are fighting with existence you will be self-conscious and, of course, you will be defeated again
           and again and again. Each step is going to be a step in more and more defeat -- your frustration is
           certain. You are doomed from the very beginning because you cannot hold this self against the
           universe. It is impossible. You cannot exist separately. You cannot be a monk.
                This word 'monk' is good. You must be aware of similar words like 'monopoly' -- that comes
           from the same root; or 'monastery' -- that comes from the same root; or 'monologue' -- that comes
           from the same root. A monk is one who is trying to be himself, who is trying to define his
           boundaries, and who is trying to exist separate from this total existence. His whole effort is egoistic
           -- it is bound to fail. No monk can ever succeed.
                You can succeed only with God, never against Him. You can succeed only with the Whole,
           never against It. So if you are frustrated, in deep misery, remember: you are creating that misery.
           And you are creating it by a subtle trick: you are fighting against the Whole.

               It happened -- it must have been a rainy season like this -- and the village river was flooded. And
           people came running to Mulla Nasrudin and said, "Your wife has fallen in the flooded river. Run
           fast! Save her!"
               Nasrudin ran. He jumped into the river and started swimming upstream. The people who had
           gathered to see, they shouted, "What are you doing, Nasrudin? Your wife cannot go upstream -- the
           stream has taken her downwards."
               Nasrudin said, "What are you talking about? I know my wife: SHE CAN ONLY GO
           UPSTREAM!"

                The ego is always an effort to go upstream. People don't like to do easy things. Before they want
           to do them, they want to make them hard, difficult. People enjoy doing hard things. Why? Because
           when you face a hard thing, your ego becomes subtle, sharp; there is a challenge.
                When the first group reached to the top of Everest, somebody asked Edmund Hillary, "Why did
           you take such a risk? It was dangerous -- many others have died before you and have not been able
           to reach." And the person who was asking was unable to understand why people go on trying to
           reach Everest and losing their lives. What is the point of it? What is there to achieve?
                Edmund Hillary is reported to have said, "We cannot rest as long as this Everest remains
           unconquered. We have to conquer it!" There is nothing to get in it, but the very presence of Everest
           unconquered is a challenge. To whom is it a challenge? -- to the ego.
                You watch your own life: many things you are doing only because of the ego. You want to make
           a big house. You may be perfectly comfortable in your house as it is, but you want to make a big
           palace. That big palace is not for you, that big palace is for the ego. You may be perfectly
           comfortable as you are, but you go on accumulating money. That money is not for you; that money
           is for the ego. How can you rest unless you have become the richest man in the world? -- but what
           are you going to do by becoming the richest man in the world? You will become more and more
           miserable -- because misery comes out of conflict. Misery is an indication that you are in conflict. So
           don't throw your responsibility on something else.
                People are very rationalizing: if they are miserable they will say, "What can we do? -- the past
           lives' karmas are making us miserable." All rubbish! Past life karmas must have made you miserable,
           but in past lives! Why should they wait up to now? There is no point in waiting. Your present
           karmas are making you miserable. Throwing it on past lives makes it easy -- what can you do? You
           have to be the way you are. Now nothing can be done; the past cannot be undone -- you cannot erase
           it just by waving your hand. There is no magic trick that can help you to erase your past. It has
           happened and it has happened forever; now it is going to remain absolute; there is no possibility of
           changing it. That relieves you of the burden, and you think: "So okay, I have to be miserable because
           of the past karmas."
                You can throw the responsibility on the Devil as Christians go on doing. Hindus go on throwing
           the responsibility on past karmas; Christians go on throwing the responsibility on the Devil -- he
           must be creating traps for you. It is not you -- it is the Devil who goes on trapping you into miseries,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and who goes on pulling you down towards hell. Who is bothered with you? Why should this Devil
           be bothered with you?
                Then there are Marxists, Communists, Socialists -- they say it is the social structure, the
           economic system, that makes people miserable. Then there are Freudians, psychoanalysts; they say it
           is the child and mother relationship. But it is always something else -- it is never you. It is never you
           in the present.
                And I would like to tell you: It is you. If you are miserable, you and only you are responsible.
           Neither the past nor the social structure nor the economic system -- nothing is going to help.
                If you remain you, in any sort of a society, you will remain miserable; in any economic system
           you will remain miserable; in any world you will remain miserable -- if you remain you.
                And the first, basic change happens when you start dropping this conflict with existence. That is
           the only meaning of all the great religions when they emphasize: Drop the ego! They are saying:
           Drop the conflict. I would like you to remember it more, because 'drop the ego' seems too
           metaphysical. 'Ego'? -- where is the ego? what is the ego? The word seems to be known, you seem to
           be well acquainted with it, but it seems to be very vague, cannot be grasped. I would like to make it
           more practical: drop the conflict -- because ego is a by-product of your conflicting attitude.
                People talk of conquering nature, people talk of conquering this and that -- how can you conquer
           nature? You are part of it. How can the part conquer the Whole? See the foolishness of it, the
           stupidity. You can be with the Whole in harmony, or you can be in conflict with the Whole in
           disharmony. Disharmony results in misery; harmony results in bliss.
                Harmony naturally results in a deep silence, joy, delight. Conflict results in anxiety, anguish,
           stress, tension.

                THE EGO IS NOTHING but all the tensions that you have created around yourself. And in the
           first place there is no need to create it -- but why does man go on creating it? There must be some
           reason. Why does everybody go on creating the self? The real Self is unknown -- that's why. And it
           is very difficult to live without a self, so we create a pseudo-self, a substitute self. The real Self is
           unknown.
                In fact, the real Self never becomes absolutely known; it remains mysterious, it remains
           ineffable, indefinable. The real Self is so vast that you cannot define it, and the real Self is so
           mysterious that you cannot penetrate it to the very core. The real Self is the self of the Whole. It is
           not possible for human intellect to penetrate, to ponder, to contemplate it.

               I have heard, there is a famous story of a wise man who was called by Alexander the Great. And
           Alexander asked him, "I have heard that you have come to know what God is, so please tell me. I
           have been in search, and people say you have attained, so enlighten me about God, what God is."
               It is said the wise man said, "You give me at least twenty-four hours to think over it."
               Twenty-four hours passed, and Alexander was waiting very eagerly. The wise man came and he
           said, "Seven days, will be needed."
               And then seven days passed, and Alexander was very impatient. The wise man came and he said,
           "One year will be needed."
               Alexander said, "What do you mean, one year will be needed? You know or you don't? If you
           know, you know -- tell me. Why waste time?"
               The wise man laughed and he said, "The more I ponder, the more it becomes unknowable. The
           more I know, the more difficult it becomes to say that I know. Twenty-four hours I tried and tried,
           and it started slipping from my hands. It is very elusive -- it is like mercury. Then I asked for seven
           days -- that didn't help. Now, at least one year -- and I am not certain that I will be able to bring a
           definition."

              The wise man did well. He must have been really wise, because there is no way to define the
           REAL Self. But man cannot live without a self -- then one feels so empty! Then one feels like a
           wheel without a hub; then one feels like a circumference without a center. No, it is hard to live
           without a self.
              To know the real Self is arduous; one has to travel long to arrive home. One has to knock on
           many doors before one comes to the right door. The easy trick is: you can create a false self. To grow
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           real roses is difficult; you can purchase plastic roses. They will not deceive you, but they will
           deceive the neighbors. Mm? -- that is the point of the self, the ego. It cannot deceive you; you know
           well that you yourself don't know who you are -- but at least it can deceive the neighbors. In the
           outside world at least you have a certain label, who you are.
               Have you ever thought about it? If somebody asks, "Who are you?" what do you answer? You
           say your name. Name is not yours, because you came in the world without a name; you came
           nameless. It is not your property -- it has been given to you. And any name -- A-B-C-D -- would
           have been useful; it is arbitrary. It is not essential in any way.
               If you are called 'Ram', good; if you are called 'Hari', good -- it makes no difference. Any name
           would have been as applicable to you as any other. It is just a label. A name is needed to call you by,
           but it has nothing to do with your being. Or you say, "I am a doctor"; or you say, "I am an engineer"
           -- or a businessman, or a painter, or this and that -- but nothing says anything about you.
               When you say, "I am a doctor," you say something about your profession, not about you; you say
           how you earn your living. You DON'T say anything about life; you say something about your living.
           You may be earning your living as an engineer, or as a doctor, or as a businessman -- it is irrelevant.
           It does not say anything about you.
               Or you say your father's name, your mother's name, your family tree -- that too is irrelevant
           because that doesn't define you. Your being born in a particular family is accidental; you could as
           well have been born in another family, and you would not even have noticed the difference.
               These are just utilitarian tricks -- and man becomes a self. This self is a pseudo-self, a created,
           manufactured self, home-made. And your own real Self remains deep down hidden in mist and
           mystery.
           I was reading:

              A Frenchman was crossing the desert with an Arab guide. Day after day, the Arab never failed to
           kneel on the burning sand and call upon his God. At last, one evening the unbeliever said to the
           Arab, "How do you know there is a God?"
              The guide fixed his eye upon the scoffer for a moment and then replied: "How do I know there is
           a God? How did I know that a camel and not a man passed last night? Was is not by the print of his
           hoof in the sand?" And pointing to the sun whose last rays were fading over the horizon, he added,
           "That footprint is not of man."

                Your Self cannot be created by you; it cannot be man-made. Your Self you have brought with
           you; it is you. How can you create it? To create it you will have to be there in the first place. That is
           the meaning when Christians, Mohammedans, Hindus, say that man is a creature. That means that
           man has not created himself, that's all. The creator is somewhere hidden in the unknown. We have
           come out of some mysterious life-source. Your Self is not yours!
                This false self is not yours because you have created it; and your real Self is not yours because it
           is still in God, you are still rooted in God.

               THIS FALSE SELF that we go on carrying in our lives like a flag is always in danger of being
           damaged; it is very fragile, it is very weak -- it has to be: it is man-made. How can man make
           something deathless? He himself has to pass through many deaths, so whatsoever he produces is
           always mortal.
               Hence the fear, continuous fear that: "I may be lost. My self may be destroyed." A continuous
           fear goes on trembling into your being; you can never be certain about this false self of yours -- you
           know it is false. You may avoid the fact, but you know it is false. It is gathered together,
           manufactured, it is mechanical; it is not organic.
               Have you observed the difference between an organic unity and a mechanical unity? You make a
           car engine; you can purchase parts from the market and you can fix those parts, and the engine starts
           functioning like a unity. Or you can purchase parts of a radio from the market and you can fix them,
           and the radio starts functioning like a unity. Somehow it comes to have a self. No part in itself can
           function as a radio; all parts together start functioning like a radio -- but still the unity is mechanical,
           forced from the outside. Then you throw seeds into the ground, and those seeds die into the soil and
           a plant arises. This unity is organic; it is not forced from outside -- it was in the seed itself. The seed
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           goes on spreading, goes on gathering a thousand and one things from the earth, from the air, from the
           sun, from the sky -- but the unity is coming from within. The center comes first and then the
           circumference. In a mechanical unity the circumference comes first and then the center.
               Man is an organic unity. You were a seed one day, like any tree; in the soil of your mother's
           womb you started gathering your circumference. Center came first, center preceded circumference.
           And now you have forgotten the center completely. You live on the circumference and you think this
           is your whole life. This circumference, and continuously living on it, creates a sort of self, a
           pseudo-self, which gives you a feeling that yes, you are somebody. But it is always trembling
           because it has no organic unity in it.
               Hence, the fear of death. If you know your real Self you will never be afraid of death-there is no
           question, because the organic unity never dies. Organic unity is immortal. Only mechanical unities
           are put together and die. That which is put together, one day will fall apart. Mechanical unity has a
           beginning and an end. The organic unity has no beginning and no end -- it is an eternal process.
               Do you know your center? If you don't know it then you will be continuously afraid. Hence,
           self-consciousness is always afraid, always trembling. And you always need support from others --
           somebody to appreciate you; somebody to clap; somebody to say how beautiful you are or how
           intelligent. You need somebody to say these things to you, like suggestions, so that you can believe
           that yes, you are intelligent, you are beautiful, you are strong. But see the point: you depend on
           others.
               A foolish man comes to you and says you are very intelligent. And in fact, you can look
           intelligent only to a foolish man. If he is more intelligent than you, of course, you will not look
           intelligent to him. So a foolish man comes and certifies your intelligence, and you are very happy.
           You can look beautiful only to an ugly man. If he is more beautiful than you, you will look ugly --
           because it is all relative. And you are certified by ugly people that you are beautiful, and you are
           tremendously happy.
               What type of intelligence is this which has to be certified by foolish people? What type of beauty
           is this which has to be certified by ugly people? It is completely false. It is idiotic. But we go on
           searching. We go on searching in the outside world to find some support for our ego, somebody to
           give a little support, to become a prop. Otherwise there is always the danger that our ego will
           collapse. So we have to support it from this side and from that and continuous worry arises.
               That's why you are more graceful when you are alone -- because you are not worried. Nobody is
           there to see you. You are more innocent when you are alone -- in your bathroom you are more
           innocent, you are more like a child. Again you stand before the mirror and make faces, and you
           enjoy it. But if you become aware that your small child is looking through the keyhole, immediately
           you are totally different. Now the ego is at stake. That's why people are so much afraid of others.
           Alone, there is no anxiety.
           There is a famous Zen story:

               A Zen master was making a painting, and he had his chief disciple sit by his side to tell him
           when the painting was perfect. The disciple was worried and the master was also worried, because
           the disciple had never seen the master do anything imperfect. But that day things started going
           wrong. The master tried, and the more he tried, the more it was a mess.

               In Japan or in China, the whole art of calligraphy is done on rice-paper, on a certain paper, a very
           sensitive paper, very fragile. If you hesitate a little, for centuries it can be known where the
           calligrapher hesitated -- because more ink spreads into the rice-paper and makes it a mess. It is very
           difficult to deceive on rice-paper. You have to go on flowing; you are not to hesitate. Even for a
           single moment. split moment, if you hesitate -- what to do? -- missed, already missed. And one who
           has a keen eye will immediately say, "It is not a Zen painting at all" -- because a Zen painting has to
           be a spontaneous painting, flowing.

                The master tried and tried and the more he tried -- he started perspiring. And the disciple was
           sitting there and shaking his head again and again negatively: 'No, this is not perfect.' And more and
           more mistakes were being made by the master.
                Then the ink was running out so the master said, "You go out and prepare more ink." While the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disciple was outside preparing the ink, the master did his masterpiece. When he came in he said,
           "Master, but this is perfect! What happened?"
               The master laughed; he said, "I became aware of one thing: your presence. The very idea that
           somebody is there to appreciate or to condemn, to say no or yes, disturbed my inner tranquility. Now
           I will never be disturbed. I have come to know that I was trying to make it perfect and that was the
           only reason for its not being perfect."

               Try to make something perfect and it will remain imperfect. Do it naturally and it is always
           perfect. Nature is perfect; effort is imperfect. So whenever you are doing something too much, you
           are destroying.
               That's why it happens: everybody talks so beautifully; everybody is a talker; people talk their
           whole life -- but just put them on a platform and tell them to talk to a crowd, and suddenly they
           become dumb; suddenly they forget everything, suddenly they cannot utter a single word. Or, even if
           they do utter, it is not graceful, it is not natural, it is not flowing. What has happened? And you have
           known this man talking so beautifully to his friends, to his wife, to his children. These are also
           people, the same people -- why are you afraid? You have become self-conscious. Now the ego is at
           stake: you are trying to perform something.
               Listen carefully: whenever you try to perform something, you are searching food for the ego.
           Whenever you are natural and let things happen, they are perfect, and then there is no problem.
           When you are natural and let things happen, God is at the back with you. When you are afraid,
           trembling, trying to prove something, you have lost God. In your fear, you have forgotten Him. You
           are looking more at the people and you have forgotten your source. Self-consciousness becomes a
           weakness. A person who is unself-conscious is strong, but his strength has nothing to do with
           himself -- it comes from the beyond.

               WHEN YOU ARE SELF-CONSCIOUS, you are in trouble. When you are self-conscious, you
           are really showing symptoms that you don't know who you are. Your very self-consciousness
           indicates that you have not come home yet.
           It happened:

              As a pretty girl passed by, Mulla Nasrudin turned to look. His wife said with a pout, "Every time
           you see a pretty girl you forget you are married."
              "That's where you are wrong," said the Mulla. "Nothing makes me more aware of the fact!"

               Whenever you are self-conscious you are simply showing that you are not conscious of the Self
           at all. You don't know who you are. If you had known, then there would have been no problem --
           then you are not seeking opinions; then you are not worried what others say about you. It is
           irrelevant! In fact, nobody ever says anything about you -- whenever people say something about
           you, they are saying it about themselves.
               One day it happened: I was in Jaipur and a man came in the morning to see me, and he said,
           "You are divine."
           I said, "You are right!"
               He was sitting there and another man came and he was very much against me, and then he said,
           "You are almost devilish."
           I said, "You are right!"
               The first man became a little worried. He said, "What do you mean? You told me also, 'You are
           right,' and you say to this man also, 'You are right' -- we can't be both right."
               I told him, "Not only two -- millions of people can be right about me, because whatsoever they
           say about me they say about themselves. How can they know me? It is impossible -- they have not
           even known themselves yet. Whatsoever they say is their interpretation. "
               So the man said, "Then who are you? If this is my interpretation that you are divine, and this is
           his interpretation that you are evil, then who are you?"
               I said, "I am just myself. And I have no interpretation about myself, and there is no need. I am
           simply delighted in being myself! -- whatsoever that means. I am happy in being myself."
               Nobody can say anything about you. Whatsoever people say is about themselves. But you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become very shaky, because you are still clinging to a false center. That false center depends on
           others, so you are always looking to what people are saying about you. And you are always
           following other people, you are always trying to satisfy them. You are always trying to be
           respectable. You are always trying to decorate your ego. This is suicidal.
               Rather than being disturbed by what others say, you should start looking inside yourself. To
           know the real Self is not so cheap. But people are always hankering for cheap things.
           It happened:

               When the pain in Mulla Nasrudin's back became unbearable, he reluctantly went to a specialist to
           diagnose his problem.
               "Well," said the doctor, "your problem can be cured by an operation, two weeks in the hospital
           and six months totally horizontal."
           "Doctor, I can't afford the cost of all that!" shouted Nasrudin.
               "Well then, for twenty-five rupees I can retouch the X-ray," suggested the doctor.

               This is cheap! -- retouch the X-ray -- but that is not going to make you healthy. That's what we
           are doing: continuously retouching the X-ray, and thinking that somehow the miracle will happen.
           When you are decorating your ego you are retouching the X-ray. That is not going to help in any
           way; it is not going to help you become healthy. But it is cheaper: no operation is needed; at no cost.
           But what is the point? Your misery remains.
               You become respectable and your misery remains. You become highly praised by the society --
           your misery remains. You are decorated by medals, gold medals -- Padma Bhushan, Victoria Cross
           -- but your misery remains. These gold medals are not going to destroy your misery: they are like
           retouching the X-ray. All decoration on the ego, for the ego, is nothing but deceiving yourself.
               And continuously you go on becoming weaker and weaker and weaker -- because the ego goes
           on becoming weaker every day. Your body will become weaker, your mind will become weaker, and
           by and by the ego that you have created out of the body and mind combination will become weaker.
           Fear will become greater and greater; you will be continuously sitting on a volcano that can any day
           explode. It will not allow you rest. It will not allow you relaxation. It will not allow you any
           moments of peace.
               Once you understand it then the whole energy is put into another direction. One has to know
           oneself. One has not to be worried about what others say about you.
           Madhuri has sent me a very beautiful joke:

               So there was this guy, and nobody ever noticed him. He did not have any friends. He was at a
           salesman's convention in Miami, see, and he saw that everybody else was happy and laughing and
           paying attention to each other, but not to him.
               One evening he was sitting really bummed out when he got to talking with another salesman. He
           told him his problem. "Oh, I know how to fix that up," cried the other. "You just get a camel and ride
           it around in the streets, and in no time everybody will notice you and you will have all the friends
           you want."
               So, whaddya know? There was a circus going out of business and they wanted to sell a camel.
           The man bought it and rode up and down the streets on it, and, sure enough, everybody paid
           attention to him and noticed him. He felt on top of the world.
               But then a week later, the camel disappeared. The man was heartbroken and immediately phoned
           the local newspaper to place an ad for his lost camel.
           "Is it a boy or a girl camel?" enquired the guy on the phone.
               "A boy or a girl? How should I know?" raged the man. Then he thought, "Oh, yeah, of course, it
           was a boy, that's right."
           "How do you know?" enquired the adman.
               "Because," said the man, "every time I rode up and down the streets people yelled, 'Look at that
           schmuck on the camel! "'

              'Schmuck' is a Yiddish word, a very beautiful word. It has two meanings, and very relevant
           meanings. One meaning is 'the idiot'; another meaning, in the beginning looks very far-fetched,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means the male genital organ. But in a way both meanings are very deeply related. Idiots live only as
           sexual beings -- they don't know any other life. So 'schmuck' is beautiful. If a person has known only
           sex as life, he is stupid, he is an idiot.
               Now, people were saying, "Look at that idiot on the camel!" but the man thinks they were talking
           about the male genital organ of the camel, not about him.
               The ego is very deceptive. It goes on hearing what it wants to hear. It goes on interpreting what it
           wants to interpret. It never sees the fact. It never allows the fact to reveal itself to you. People who
           live in the ego live behind curtains. And those curtains are not inactive -- they are active curtains.
           Whatsoever passes through the curtain, the curtain changes it.
               People go on living in a mental world of their own creation. Ego is the center of their world, of
           the false world -- call it 'illusion', 'maya' -- and around the ego they go on creating a world... which is
           nobody else's world. Only they live in that world.
               When you drop the ego, you drop a whole world that you have created around it. For the first
           time you are able to see things as they are -- not as you would like them to be. And when you are
           capable of knowing the facts of life, you become capable of knowing the truth.
               The facility of life is the first step towards truth. And ego is the most falsifying agent.

              NOW THIS STORY
              A WRESTLER NAMED O-NAMI, GREAT WAVES, WAS IMMENSELY STRONG AND HIGHLY
              SKILLED IN THE ART OF WRESTLING. IN PRIVATE HE DEFEATED EVEN HIS VERY TEACHER,
              BUT IN PUBLIC HIS OWN YOUNG PUPILS COULD THROW HIM.
              IN HIS TROUBLE HE WENT TO A ZEN MASTER WHO WAS STOPPING AT A NEARBY TEMPLE
              BY THE SEA, AND ASKED FOR COUNSEL.
              "GREAT WAVES IS YOUR NAME, " SAID THE MASTER, "SO STAY IN THIS TEMPLE TONIGHT
              AND LISTEN TO THE WAVES OF THE SEA. IMAGINE YOU ARE THOSE WAVES, FORGET YOU
              ARE A WRESTLER AND BECOME THOSE HUGE WAVES SWEEPING EVERYTHING BEFORE
              THEM."
              O-NAMI REMAINED. HE TRIED TO THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES, BUT HE THOUGHT OF MANY
              THINGS. THEN GRADUALLY HE DID THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES. THEY ROLLED LARGER
              AND LARGER AS THE NIGHT WORE ON. THEY SWEPT AWAY THE FLOWERS IN THE VASES
              BEFORE THE BUDDHA, THEY SWEPT AWAY THE VASES. EVEN THE BRONZE BUDDHA WAS
              SWEPT AWAY. BY DAWN THE TEMPLE WAS ONLY SURGING WATER, AND O-NAMI SAT
              THERE WITH A FAINT SMILE ON HIS FACE.
              THAT DAY HE ENTERED THE PUBLIC WRESTLING AND WON EVERY BOUT, AND FROM THAT
              DAY NO ONE IN JAPAN COULD EVER THROW HIM.


               This is a story of self-consciousness and how to lose it, and how to drop it, and how to get rid of
           it. We will try to enter into it step by step.

              A WRESTLER NAMED O-NAMI, GREAT WAVES, WAS IMMENSELY STRONG...


               Everybody is immensely strong. You don't know your strength; that is another matter. Everybody
           is immensely strong -- has to be, because everybody is rooted in God, everybody is rooted in this
           universe. However small you may look, you are not small-you cannot be by the very nature of
           things.
               Now physicists say that in a small atom so much energy is confined -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki
           were destroyed by atomic energy. And the atom is so small -- nobody has yet seen it! It is just an
           inference, a deduction. Nobody has seen the atom. With all the sophisticated instruments science has
           today, nobody has seen the atom -- so small and such vast energy.
               If the atom can have so much energy, what to say about man? What to say about this small flame
           of consciousness in man? If some day this small flame bursts forth, it is bound to become an infinite
           source of energy and light. That's how it has happened to a Buddha, or to a Jesus.
               Everybody is immensely strong because everybody is immensely divine. Everybody is strong
           because everybody is rooted in God, in the very origin of existence. Remember it
               The human mind tends to forget it. When you forget it, you become weak. When you become
           weak,.you start trying some artificial ways to become strong. That's what millions of people are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doing.
               Searching for money, what are you really searching? You are searching power, you are searching
           strength. Searching for prestige, political authority, what are you searching? You are searching
           power, strength -- and strength is all the time available just by the corner. You are searching in
           wrong places.

              A WRESTLER NAMED O-NAMI, GREAT WAVES...


               We are all great waves of the ocean. We may have forgotten it, but the ocean has not forgotten
           us. We may have so much forgotten it that we have no idea of what an ocean is -- still we are in the
           ocean. Even if a wave forgets and becomes oblivious of the ocean, it is still in the ocean -- because
           the wave cannot exist without the ocean. The ocean can exist without the wave -- maybe it can exist
           without the wave -- but the wave cannot exist without the ocean. The wave is nothing but waving of
           the ocean; it is a process, it is not an entity. It is just the ocean delighting in its being.
               God in His delight peoples the earth; God in His delight peoples existence. It is ocean searching
           ocean -- just playful. It has tremendous energy -- what to do with it?

              A WRESTLER NAMED O-NAMI, GREAT WAVES, WAS IMMENSELY STRONG...


                But this strength is possible only when the wave knows that it is a wave of a great, infinite ocean.
           If the wave forgets this, then the wave is very weak. And our 'forgetory' is tremendous; our memory
           is very small, very tiny -- forgetory tremendous. We go on forgetting. And that which is very
           obvious, we forget very easily. That which is very close, we forget very easily. That which is always
           available we forget very easily.
                Do you remember your breathing? You remember only when there is some trouble: you have a
           cold, breathing trouble or something; otherwise, who remembers breathing? That's why people
           remember God only when they are in trouble. Otherwise, who remembers? And God is closer than
           your breathing, closer than you are to yourself; He is more close than yourself. One tends to forget.
                Have you watched it? If you don't have something, you remember. When you have it, you forget
           -- you take it for granted. Because God cannot be lost, it is very difficult to remember. Only very
           rare people become capable of remembering God. To remember that which we have never been
           away from is very difficult.
                A fish in the ocean forgets the ocean. Throw the fish on the shore, in the sands, hot sands, and
           then the fish knows, then the fish remembers. But there is no way to throw you out of God; there is
           no shore to Him -- God is a shoreless ocean. And you are not like a fish, you are like a wave. You
           are exactly like God; your nature and God's nature are the same.
           That's the symbolic meaning of choosing this name for this story.

              HE WAS HIGHLY SKILLED IN THE ART OF WRESTLING. IN PRIVATE HE DEFEATED EVEN HIS
              OWN TEACHER...


              but in private, because in private he must have been capable of forgetting his self.
              Remember this sutra: When you remember your self, you forget God; when you forget your self,
           you remember God -- and you cannot remember both together. When the wave thinks of herself as a
           wave she forgets that she is an ocean. When the wave knows herself as the ocean, how can she
           remember herself now as a wave? Only one is possible. Either the wave can think about herself as a
           wave, or as the ocean. It is a gestalt. You cannot remember both together -- that is impossible.

              IN PRIVATE HE DEFEATED EVEN HIS OWN MASTER, BUT IN PUBLIC HIS OWN YOUNG PUPILS
              COULD THROW HIM.


              In privacy he must have been completely forgetful of his own self, the ego. Then he was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendously powerful. In public he must have been becoming too self-conscious. Then he was
           weak. Self-consciousness is weakness. Self-forgetfulness is strength.

              IN HIS TROUBLE HE WENT TO A ZEN MASTER WHO WAS STOPPING AT A NEARBY TEMPLE
              BY THE SEA, AND ASKED FOR COUNSEL.
              "GREAT WAVES IS YOUR NAME, " SAID THE MASTER, "SO STAY IN THIS TEMPLE TONIGHT
              AND LISTEN TO THE WAVES OF THE SEA."


               A MASTER IS ONE who can create devices for everybody. A master is one who has no fixed
           device. He looks at the man, this man O-nami, Great Waves -- just his name and he creates a device
           around his name.
               That's what I go on doing: I give you a name and create a device around it. I give you a name so
           that you can remember your device, you can remember your technique, so that it becomes a constant
           mindfulness for you, a reminder, an arrow pointing out your path continuously.
           Just coming to know that his name is O-nami, Great Waves, the master said:

              "GREAT WAVES IS YOUR NAME, SO STAY IN THIS TEMPLE TONIGHT AND LISTEN TO THE
              WAVES OF THE OCEAN."


                Listening is one of the basic secrets of entering into the temple of God. Listening means
           passivity. Listening means forgetting yourself completely -- only then can you listen. When you
           listen attentively to somebody, you forget yourself. If you cannot forget yourself, you never listen. If
           you are too self-conscious about yourself, you simply pretend that you are listening -- you don't
           listen. You may nod your head; you may sometimes say yes and no -- but you are not listening.
                When you listen, you become just a passage, a passivity, a receptivity, a womb: you become
           feminine. And to arrive one has to become feminine. You cannot reach God as aggressive invaders,
           conquerors. You can reach God only... or it will be better: God can reach you only when you are
           receptive, a feminine receptivity. When you become yin, a receptivity, the door is open. And you
           wait.
                Listening is the art for becoming passive. Buddha has emphasized listening so much, Mahavir
           has emphasized listening so much, Krishnamurti goes on emphasizing right listening so much. The
           ears are symbolic. Have you watched?
                Your ears are nothing but passages, just holes -- nothing else. Your ears are more feminine than
           your eyes; your eyes are more male. Your ears are a yin part; your eyes are a yang part. When you
           look at somebody, you are aggressive. When you listen to somebody, you are receptive.
                That's why looking at somebody for too long a time becomes vulgar, impolite, unmannerly.
           There is a certain limit; psychologists say three seconds. If you look at a person for three seconds it's
           okay; it can be tolerated. More than that, then you are not looking -- you are staring; you are
           offending the person; you are trespassing.
                But listening to a person has no limit, because ears cannot trespass. They simply remain
           wherever they are. Eyes need rest. Have you seen in the night -- eyes need rest, ears need no rest.
           They are open twenty-four hours -- year in, year out. Eyes cannot remain open even for minutes --
           continuous blinking, continuously tiring. Aggression tires, because aggression takes your energy out;
           so the eyes have to blink continuously to rest. It is a continuous rest. Ears are rested always.
                That's why music has been used by many religions as an approach towards prayer -- because
           music will make your ears more vibrant, more sensitive. One has to become more of the ears and less
           of the eyes.

              "GREAT WAVES IS YOUR NAME, SO STAY IN THIS TEMPLE TONIGHT AND LISTEN TO THE
              WAVES OF THE SEA."


                "You just become ears," said the master. "You just listen. There is nothing else to do -- just go on
           listening with no idea why, with no idea of what is happening. Just go on listening with no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           interpretation, with no activity on your part." And then:

              "IMAGINE YOU ARE THOSE WAVES."


               "First listen, get in tune with the waves, and when you feel that now you are completely silent
           and receptive, then imagine that you are those waves. That is the second step. First: don't be
           aggressive; become receptive. And when you have become receptive, then just melt into those
           waves, start imagining that you are those waves."
               The master is giving him a device so that he can forget his self, the ego. First step is receptivity,
           because in receptivity ego cannot exist -- it can exist only in conflict. And when you are receptive,
           suddenly your faculty of imagination becomes tremendously powerful.
               Receptive people, sensitive people, are imaginative people. Those who can see the greenery of
           the trees, just without any aggression on their part, not even a subtle aggression on their part, who
           can just drink the greenery of the trees, who can simply absorb it as if they are sponges -- they
           become very creative, they become very imaginative. These are the poets, the painters, the dancers,
           the musicians -- they absorb the universe in deep receptivity, and then they pour whatsoever they
           have absorbed into their imagination.
               Imagination is the one faculty you have which comes closest to God. God must have a great
           imagination -- mm? -- just look at His world! Just to think! -- such an imaginative world, with so
           many flowers and so many butterflies and so many trees and so many rivers, and so many people.
           Just think about His imagination! With so many stars, and so many worlds -- worlds beyond worlds,
           non-ending.... He must be a great dreamer.
               In the East, Hindus say the world is God's dream, His imagination. The world is His magic, His
           imagination. He is dreaming it. We are part of His dream.
               When the master said to O-nami, "Then you imagine yourself as those waves," he was saying,
           "Then you become creative. First you become receptive and then you become creative. And once
           you have dropped your ego, you become so flexible that whatsoever you imagine will happen. Then
           your imagination will become your reality."

              "FORGET YOU ARE A WRESTLER AND BECOME THOSE HUGE WAVES SWEEPING
              EVERYTHING BEFORE THEM."
              O-NAMI REMAINED. HE TRIED TO THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES...


               Of course, it was difficult in the beginning: HE THOUGHT OF MANY THINGS. It is natural --
           but he remained. He must have been very patient. THEN GRADUALLY HE DID THINK ONLY
           OF THE WAVES. Then a moment came.... If you pursue, if you persist, one moment is bound to
           come when the thing that you have been desiring for many lives happens -- but patience is needed.

              THEN GRADUALLY HE DID THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES. THEY ROLLED LARGER AND
              LARGER AS THE NIGHT WORE ON


               Now these are not the real waves of the ocean that are rolling larger and larger. Now there is no
           distinction between his waves of imagination and the real waves. That distinction is lost. Now he
           does not know what is what; what is dream and what is real he does not know. He has become a
           small child again. Only children have that capacity.
               In the morning you can find a child weeping for a toy he had seen in the dream, and he wants it
           back, and he says, "Where is my toy?" And you go on insisting that it was just a dream, but he says,
           "Still, where is it now?" He makes no distinction between the dream and the waking. He knows no
           distinctions. He knows reality as one.
           When you become very receptive, you become childlike.
           Now these waves:

              THEY ROLLED LARGER AND LARGER AS THE NIGHT WORE ON. THEY SWEPT
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           AWAY THE FLOWERS IN THE VASES BEFORE THE BUDDHA, THEY SWEPT AWAY THE
           VASES. Not only that -- EVEN THE BRONZE BUDDHA WAS SWEPT AWAY.

               This is beautiful! It is very difficult for a Buddhist to imagine that the Buddha is being swept
           away. If he had been too much attached to his religion, that would have been the point where he
           would have been completely cut off from his imagination. He would have said, "Enough is enough!
           Buddha being swept away! -- what am I doing? No, I am no more a wave. " He would have stopped
           at the feet of the Buddha, he would have touched the feet of the Buddha, but not more than that.
               But remember: one day, even those feet that have helped you tremendously on the path, they
           have to go; Buddhas also have to be swept away. Because the door can become a hindrance if you
           cling to it.

              LARGER AND LARGER -- THEY SWEPT AWAY THE FLOWERS IN THE VASES BEFORE THE
              BUDDHA, THEY SWEPT AWAY THE VASES. EVEN THE BRONZE BUDDHA WAS SWEPT AWAY.
              BY DAWN THE TEMPLE WAS ONLY SURGING WATER...


               Not that it really happened: it happened to O-nami. Remember it: if you had been in that temple
           that time, you would not have seen the surging water in the temple -- it was happening only to
           O-nami. It was happening in a totally different dimension of his being. It is the dimension of poetry,
           imagination, dream; the intuitive, the feminine, the childlike; innocence.
               He had opened the doors of his imaginative faculty. By listening to the waves, by becoming
           receptive, he became imaginative. His imagination flowered as a thousand-and-one-petalled lotus.

              BY DAWN THE TEMPLE WAS ONLY SURGING WATER, AND O-NAMI SAT THERE WITH A FAINT
              SMILE ON HIS FACE.


               HE BECAME A BUDDHA! The same faint smile as one day came to Buddha under the Bodhi
           Tree must have come to O-nami, Suddenly he was no more there! -- and that was the smile, the smile
           of coming back home. The smile that one has arrived. The smile that now there is no longer
           anywhere to go. The smile that one has reached the source. The smile that one has died and is
           resurrected.

              O-NAMI SAT THERE WITH A FAINT SMILE ON HIS FACE.
              THAT DAY HE ENTERED THE PUBLIC WRESTLING AND WON EVERY BOUT, AND FROM THAT
              DAY NO ONE IN JAPAN COULD EVER THROW HIM.


                Because now it is not his energy. He is no more O-nami -- he is no more the waves, he is the
           ocean now. How can you defeat the ocean? You can only defeat the waves.
                Once you have dropped the ego you have dropped all defeat, all failure, all frustration. Carry the
           ego and you are doomed to failure. Carry the ego and you will remain weak. Drop the ego and
           infinite strength starts flowing through you. By dropping the ego you become a river, you start
           flowing, you start melting, you start streaming -- you become alive.
                All life is of the Whole. If you are trying to live on your own, you are simply being stupid. It is
           as if a leaf on a tree is trying to live on its own -- not only that, but fighting the tree; fighting other
           leaves, fighting the roots, thinking that those are all inimical to him. We are just leaves on a tree, a
           great tree -- call it 'God', or 'the Whole', or you name it, but we are small leaves on an infinite tree of
           life. There is no need to fight. The only way to come home is to surrender.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                     Chapter #6
                                   Chapter title: Life Undefined is What God is
           16 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608160
              ShortTitle: THUNDE06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins


The first question:


               LEAVING SOON FOR THE WEST
               I LOOK BACK ON THE FIVE MONTHS WITH YOU AND THINK:
               I HAVE BEEN WITH BHAGWAN AND I HAVE NOT BEEN WITH BHAGWAN.
               I HAVE SEEN HIM AND YET SOMETHING REMAINS UNSEEN.
               I HAVE HEARD HIM YET STILL I AM DEAF TO HIS TEACHING.
               I LEAVE WITH NO FEELING OF SECURITY, NO SENSE OF CERTAINTY, NOTHING TO RELY ON.
               HAVE I MISSED YOU?


                THE QUESTION is from Swami Anand Subhuti. No -- you have not missed me at all. People
           who leave me with certainty, security, they are the ones who have missed me.
                I am not here to give you a dogma. A dogma makes one certain. I am not here to give you any
           promise for the future -- any promise for the future makes one secure.
                I am here simply to make you alert and aware. That is: to be herenow -- with all the insecurity
           that life is; with all the uncertainty that life is; with all the danger that life is.
                I know you come here seeking some certainty, some creed, some 'ism', somewhere to belong to,
           someone to rely upon. You come here out af your fear. You are searching a sort of beautiful
           imprisonment -- so that you can live without any awareness.
                I would make you more insecure, more uncertain, because that's how life is, that's how God is.
           When there is more insecurity and more danger, the only way to respond to it is by awareness.
                There are two possibilities. Either you close your eyes and become dogmatic -- become a
           Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan... then you become like an ostrich. It doesn't change life: it
           simply closes your eyes; it simply makes you stupid; it simply makes you unintelligent. In your
           unintelligence you feel secure -- all idiots feel secure. In fact, only idiots feel secure. A really alive
           man will always feel insecure. What security can there be?
                Life is not a mechanical process. It cannot be certain. It is an unpredictable mystery. Nobody
           knows what is going to happen the next moment. Not even God that you think resides somewhere in
           the Seventh Heaven, not even He -- if He is there -- not even He knows what is going to happen,
           because if he knows what is going to happen then life is just bogus, then everything is written
           beforehand, then everything is destined beforehand. How can He know what is going to happen next
           if the future is open? If God knows what is going to happen the next moment, then life is just a dead
           mechanical process, then there is no freedom. And how can life exist without freedom? Then there is
           no possibility to grow, or not to grow. If everything is predestined then there is no glory, no
           grandeur. Then you are just robots.
                No -- nothing is secure. That is my message. Nothing can be secure, because a secure life will be
           worse than death. Nothing is certain. Life is full of uncertainties, full of surprises -- that is its beauty!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You can never come to a moment when you can say, "Now I am certain." When you say you are
           certain, you simply declare your death, you have committed suicide.
               Life goes on moving with a thousand and one uncertainties. That's its freedom. Don't call it
           insecurity. I can understand why mind calls freedom insecurity.
               Have you lived in a jail for a few months or a few years? If you have lived in a jail for a few
           years, when the day of release comes the prisoner starts feeling uncertain about the future.
           Everything was certain in the jail; everything was dead routine. Food was supplied to him, protection
           was given to him; there was no fear that he would be hungry next day and there would be no food --
           nothing! Everything was certain. Now, suddenly, after many years the jailer comes and says to him,
           "Now you are going to be released." He starts trembling. Outside the wall of the prison, again
           uncertainties; again he will have to seek, search; again he will have to live in freedom...
               Freedom creates fear. People talk about freedom but they are afraid. And a man is not yet a man
           if he is afraid of freedom. I give you freedom -- I don't give you security. I give you understanding --
           I don't give you knowledge. Knowledge will make you certain. If I can give you a formula, a set
           formula, that there is a God and there is a Holy Ghost and there is an only begotten son, Jesus; there
           is Hell and Heaven; and these are the good acts and these are the bad acts; do the sin and you will be
           in Hell; do what I call the virtuous acts and you will be in Heaven -- finished! -- then you are certain.
               That's why so many people have chosen to be Christians, to be Hindus, to be Mohammedans, to
           be Jains -- they don't want freedom. They want fixed formulas.

               A Jew was dying -- suddenly, in an accident on a road. Nobody knew that he was a Jew. A priest
           was called, a Catholic priest. He leaned close to the Jew -- and the man was dying, in the last throes
           of death -- and the priest said, "Do you believe in the Trinity of God the Father, the Holy Ghost and
           the son Jesus?"
               The Jew opened his eyes and he said, "Look, here I am dying -- and he is talking riddles? Here I
           am dying and he is talking in riddles!"

                When death knocks at your door, all your certainties will be simply riddles and foolish. Don't
           cling to any certainty. Life is uncertain -- its very nature is uncertain. And an intelligent man always
           remains uncertain.
                This very readiness to remain in uncertainty is courage. This very readiness to be in uncertainty
           is trust. An intelligent person is one who remains alert whatsoever the situation -- and responds to it
           with his whole heart. Not that he knows what is going to happen; not that he knows that 'do this' and
           'that will happen'. Life is not a science; it is not a cause and effect chain. Heat the water to a hundred
           degrees and it evaporates -- it is a certainty. But like that, in real life, nothing is certain.
                Each individual is a freedom, an unknown freedom. It is impossible to predict, impossible to
           expect. One has to live in awareness and in understanding.
                You come to me seeking knowledge; you want set formulas so that you can cling to them. I don't
           give you any. In fact, if you have any I take them away. By and by, I destroy your certainty; by and
           by, I make you more and more hesitant; by and by, I make you more and more insecure. That is the
           only thing that has to be done. That's the only thing a master needs to do! -- to leave you in total
           freedom. In total freedom, with all the possibilities opening, nothing fixed... you will have to be
           aware. Nothing else is possible.
                This is what I call understanding. If you understand, insecurity is an intrinsic part of life -- and
           good that it is so, because it makes life a freedom, it makes life a continuous surprise. One never
           knows what is going to happen. It keeps you continuously in wonder. Don't call it uncertainty -- call
           it wonder. Don't call it insecurity -- call it freedom.
                "I leave you with no feeling of security, no sense of certainty, nothing to rely on." Precisely that's
           what I have been always hoping. "Have I missed you?" No, not at all. You have understood me well.
           Go with this uncertainty into the world; go with this insecurity into the world. And never be a
           coward, and don't regress back into some dogma.

           "I have been with Bhagwan and I have not been with Bhagwan."

              YES, IT IS SO. This is the paradox of love. You possess your beloved and yet you don't possess.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are with your beloved and yet you are not with. This is the paradox of love.
                You cannot possess your beloved like a thing; you cannot become a possessor -- yet in a certain
           sense you possess your beloved, and in a certain sense you don't possess. In fact, the more you love,
           the more you make your beloved free. In fact, the more freedom you give to your beloved, the more
           you possess. The more you possess, the less you possess. This is the paradox of love.
                Here being with me is an act of love. I have nothing else to give to you -- except my love. I have
           nothing else to share with you except my love. While you are here with me you will be in this
           paradox continuously: you will feel you have been with me, and you will feel that you have not been
           with me. Both are true -- and both are true together! That's the paradox of love.
                The more you have been with me, the more you will feel that you have not been with me. The
           less you have been with me, the more you will feel that you have been with me.
                There are foolish people, unloving people, who come and listen once or twice and think they
           have known me. And they go with certainty, with decisions, conclusions. They don't know what love
           is. They don't know what truth is. They come with certain prejudices, and if they feel that I am
           agreeing with their prejudices, they think they have understood me and they say I am right. If I am
           not agreeing with their prejudices, they think they have understood me and 'this man is wrong'.
                If you are here for a longer period... and the period is not as important as the depth of the
           relationship. That is the meaning of sannyas: it is a plunge into a deeper intimacy, into a deeper
           commitment.
                Just the other night a woman was asking: "If I don't take sannyas, won't you accept me?" I told
           her: "Yes, I accept you -- whether you take sannyas or not is irrelevant -- but you will not be able to
           accept me if you don't take sannyas."
                If you are able to accept me, then sannyas is just a gesture of your acceptance, nothing else. It is
           just a gesture that 'I am coming with you', that 'I am ready to be with you', that 'even if you are going
           to hell I would rather be with you in hell than be in heaven alone' -- that's all. I am not promising you
           that I will take you to heaven -- nothing of the sort. Nobody should be hoping that. I am not
           promising you anything of that sort. Maybe I am going to hell.
                A sannyasin is one who has trusted me, who says, "Okay, so I am also coming -- but I am
           coming with you." Then something starts transpiring between me and you. It is not only changing
           your clothes, it is not only changing your name. It is simply dropping your whole past and starting
           from A-B-C. That's why I change your name -- mm? -- just to give you a new start, as if you are born
           again.
                The day of your initiation into sannyas becomes your real birthday. You disown the past and you
           tell me: "I am ready for a new future -- I will not continue my past; I am ready to discontinue it. And
           I will not insist on my past -- I disclaim, I disown it. And I am absolutely open: wherever you lead, I
           am ready. I have no prejudices."
                If you have been here with me in a deep intimate relationship, if you have loved me, and if you
           have tasted my love, this is bound to happen: "I have been with Bhagwan and I have not been with
           Bhagwan." Yes, you will feel that paradox. "I have seen him and yet something remains unknown,
           unseen." That will always remain -- unless you also become Bhagwan. Unless you also reclaim your
           divinity, unless you also become a God, something will remain unknown -- because we can know
           only that of which we have become capable.
                Another woman last night came to me and she said, "I love you, but I cannot love you as a divine
           being -- I love you as a human being." That's okay! In fact, how can you see divineness if something
           of the divine has not already stirred in your heart? How can you see beyond yourself?
                And the woman who said it is a dogmatic Christian. In fact she thinks -- maybe not very
           consciously, but unconsciously -- that Jesus is the only God there ever has been. But you must know
           that Jesus was crucified, and the people who crucified him, they were not crucifying a God -- they
           were crucifying a vagabond, they were crucifying a criminal; they were crucifying a man who was
           creating mischief.
                The people who crucified Jesus were not able to see his godliness at all; they could only see the
           mischief in him. So whether Jesus was a God or not is not the question -- whether you can see or not
           is the question. And you can see only that which you are; you cannot see beyond yourself.
                The moment you start seeing God in me, something of the God has been born in you. And then it
           is not going to remain confined to me. The moment you start seeing God in me, by and by you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           see God in Jesus, in Buddha, in Krishna. And, by and by, you will see God in other people. By and
           by, you will be able to see God in birds, in trees, in rocks -- and one day you will see that only God
           exists and nothing else. In fact, only God exists and nothing else.
                The more you hear me, the more you will feel something has been left unheard. The more you
           see me, the more you will feel something is missing, you have not seen me totally. The more close
           you are to me, the more intense your thirst will become. The more you love me, the more passionate
           you will become in your love; a burning desire will arise in you to become a God yourself.
                Now there is a problem with Christians, Mohammedans, Jews, who think of God as a person --
           there is a problem. They think God is the one who created the world. In the East we have a deeper
           understanding of God than that. Creation is not something separate from God: it is His play; it is He
           Himself hiding in many forms. Here He has become a rock, there He has become a flower. Here He
           is a sinner and there He is a saint. The whole play is His. And He is the only actor and He goes on
           dividing His roles. He is in Jesus and He is in Judas.
                In the East, God is not a person -- God is the very stuff the universe is made of. God is not a
           creator -- God is creativity. And the creator and the creation are just two aspects of the same creative
           energy.
                In the West, the idea is something like a painter making a picture, a painting. By the time the
           painting is complete, the painting is separate from the painter. Then the painter can die, but the
           painting will remain. In the East, we don't think of God and the world as a painter and a painting --
           we think of God as a dancer, nataraj. You cannot separate the dancer from the dance; if the dancer
           goes, the dance goes. If the dance stops, then the person is no more a dancer. Dancer and dancing
           exist together; they cannot exist separately; you cannot separate them.
                God is more like a dancer. I am one of His movements; you are also one of His movements --
           you may recognize it, you may not recognize it. The only difference in the world is that a few people
           recognize that they are Gods and a few people don't recognize that they are Gods. The difference is
           not of your being, it is only of recognition.
                The more and more you love, the more and more you become understanding and aware, the more
           and more you will feel something is missing.
                "I have heard him and yet still I am deaf to his teaching" -- you have really heard me. Only then
           can this feeling arise. If hearing me you think you have understood me, you are really deaf -- not
           only deaf, you are stupid also.
                I am saying something about the ineffable. I am saying something about the ultimate mystery.
           You can understand it, yet you can never understand it totally. It is elusive, it escapes. It is within
           reach, but it is not within grasp. You are always coming closer and closer to it, but you never arrive.
           And the day you arrive, then you are no more there; the distinction between the seeker and the
           sought disappears. Then you are it. That art thou -- then you are it! That is the moment of
           culmination.
                I would like to tell Anand Subhuti: Go happily. go in insecurity, go in freedom; go independent
           -- there is no need to lean on anything or anybody. Don't use me as a crutch. Allow me to help you to
           become independent, to be free of me and to be free of everything. You have not missed me. I have
           fallen like a seed into your heart. Just watch prayerfully, wait with deep gratitude, and in the right
           time the seed will sprout.

           The second question:

              WHILE IN A PEACEFUL STATE OF BEING, I WATCHED A BIRD FLYING BY. I THOUGHT, "THIS
              WOULD BE A NICE TIME TO DIE." YET DURING THE "STOP" EXERCISE WHEN I WAS FEELING
              SOME DISCOMFORT, I EXPERIENCED MAYBE AS MUCH SEPARATION AS EVER.
              DO THE CONDITIONS OF THE PARTICULAR MOMENT OF DEATH DETERMINE SOMETHING
              ABOUT THE NATURE OF AN ENLIGHTENED BEING? OR VICE VERSA?


               FIRST: this is a sort of calamity that has befallen human beings. Somehow, when things are
           going beautifully, and you feel calm and quiet and collected, why do you start thinking of death?
               The questioner says: "While in a peaceful state of being, I watched a bird flying by. I thought,
           'This would be a nice time to die!"' Why not think: This would be a nice time to live! Why think:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This would be a nice time to die! Something is implied in
                All over the world, and in the West more so, people have been taught not to be happy, not to
           enjoy life, not to be ecstatic. People have been taught that to be happy is somehow to be guilty.
           People have become deep down very much conditioned: when they feel happy, they almost always
           feel guilt arising. When they feel sad, everything is good. When they are depressed, nothing is wrong
           When they are serious, there is no guilt.
                Have you watched it? Dancing with a woman, suddenly you feel guilty. Making love to a
           woman, suddenly you feel guilty. Enjoying your food, suddenly you start looking guilty. Have you
           watched? Whenever there is happiness something of guilt arises in you. This never happens when
           you are sad; when you are depressed, when you are carrying a long face, then this never happens.
           But if you are smiling... people even feel afraid to laugh; they laugh reluctantly, as if they are going
           to do something wrong. The whole humanity has been conditioned to be unhappy. All happiness has
           been condemned as sin.
                That's why saints are pained as if they never laugh. Christians, in fact, say that Jesus never
           laughed. This is absurd! If Jesus was an Enlightened man, only he is entitled to laugh. But Christians
           say he never laughed. Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus laughing? So dead, dull, serious,
           deathlike.
                All Jesus' pictures are falsifications; they cannot be about the real Jesus. This real man must have
           been totally different, because we know he enjoyed drinking -- it is impossible to think of a person
           who enjoys drinking and not laughing. He enjoyed women -- it is difficult to think of a man who
           enjoys women and not laughing. He was friendly, almost in love, with a prostitute, Mary Magdalene.
           It is difficult to move with a prostitute -- he was not moving with a Catholic monk, not with a priest,
           not with the Pope... with a prostitute! These were the condemnations against him.
                And he was moving with simple people, simple folk -- carpenters, farmers -- very uneducated
           people. You cannot expect them to be serious. He was not moving with scholars, with professors,
           with vice-chancellors -- no. He was moving with very simple people, ordinary people, down-to-earth
           people. It is impossible to think that he was not laughing. Late in the nights they would enjoy food
           and drink. He must have been gossiping, he must have been telling jokes.
                But Jesus has been depicted as a serious man. And Christians say he never laughed. Then what is
           the function of an Enlightened man? If Jesus cannot laugh, then who is going to laugh in this world?
                Somehow man has been conditioned to be unhappy. Happiness seems to be hedonistic,
           epicurean, pagan. A religious man has to be serious, has to carry a long face, a mask; he cannot
           smile. He cannot enjoy the small things of life -- his ego won't allow it. His ego keeps aloof, away,
           distant. He will not meet and mingle with ordinary people, and he will not enjoy ordinary gossiping.
           He will always remain aloof, far away.
                This is an egoistic attitude, this is pious ego -- and a pious ego is more poisoned than ordinary
           egos because it is purer: it is pure poison. And these people have conditioned the human mind. They
           are neurotic people. Something is missing -- they are not normal, they are not healthy; they are
           morbid, ill. These ill people have conditioned humanity's mind. They have destroyed laughter from
           the earth, they have destroyed festivity. They have destroyed celebration -- and destroying
           celebration they have destroyed the very foundation of God. Life is a celebration!
                Because of this conditioning, whenever you are feeling happy you think, "This is the right
           moment to die." Why not to live?! When you are miserable, that is the right moment to live; and
           when you are feeling happy, this is the right moment to die. Drop this nonsense! When a bird flies by
           and you are feeling peaceful, this is the moment to live and love and dance. Why be in a hurry for
           death? Death is coming on its own. It need not have any support from you. It is already coming.
                While you are alive, be so alive that even death when it comes cannot kill you. A really alive
           person transcends death. Death happens only to dead people. Let me repeat it: Death happens only to
           dead people; who are already dead, only to those people does death happen. A really alive person
           transcends death, goes beyond death. Death comes, but misses the target.
                How can you kill a person like Buddha? How can you kill a person like Jesus? How can you kill
           Krishna with his flute on his lips? -- impossible. Death itself will start dancing around him! His life
           is so abundant that death itself will fall in love with him.
                Always remember that to be happy is to be religious, to be happy is to be virtuous. To be
           celebrating is to be prayerful. To be festive, and to remain in a festive dimension continuously, is to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be a sannyasin. Then you enjoy whatsoever happens. You enjoy health when it happens; you enjoy
           illness also when it happens. Then both become beautiful. In health you enjoy activity; when you are
           ill you enjoy relaxation.
                It is beautiful sometimes to be ill and just Lying on the bed, resting, not worrying about the
           world; allowing yourself a good holiday; singing, praying, meditating on the bed; reading a little bit,
           listening to music; or just doing nothing, just being lazy. It is beautiful! If you know how to enjoy
           health, you will be able to know how to enjoy illness also. Then you become a master, you become
           skillful.
           This is the whole art of life!
                You enjoy your youth, and when you become old you enjoy your old age. Old age has its own
           beauties; no young man can have those beauties. Youth is shallow; full of energy but shallow. Old
           age is not so full of energy, but things are settling and depth is arising.
                If you miss your youth, you will miss your old age also -- remember. So I am not saying become
           old while you are young. I am saying be whatsoever you are; let that moment be your totality. When
           a child, be a child; never enforce your wisdom on any child because that is a crippling thing. Don't
           try to make a child old before he is old, don't crush him.
                That's what has happened in the world: old people are dominating children, and they want to pull
           them out of their childhood faster than nature allows. They kill and they crush -- the child loses
           something forever. And when a child was not a child when he was a child, he will not be young
           when he is young. Something will always go on missing. He will always be late in life -- he will miss
           the train.
                That's why so many people dream of missing the train. This is one of the commonest dreams in
           the world: people rushing towards the railway station, doing everything in a hurry; somehow they
           reach on the platform and the train is moving, or has moved, and they just see the last bogie leaving
           the platform.
                This is the commonest dream; it is very significant. It simply shows that somehow you have been
           missing the train that life is. You always reach late; you are never in time. And the wonder of
           wonders is that everybody is studying the timetable so much. People go on studying the timetable,
           but when they reach they are always late. They waste their time with the timetable.
                This is what is happening when you read the Bible or you read the Koran or you read the Gita --
           these are timetables. And reading the timetables you miss the train of life. Good sometimes to read
           them, when you have nothing else to do -- but don't make them a substitute for life. They are nothing
           compared to life.
                While you can read the book of life, don't substitute it by any other book. When you can read a
           tree, read the tree! When you can read the rosebush, read the rosebush! When you can read a man,
           read the man! When you can read a woman, read the woman! These are alive books, the real Bibles.
           But you are too much concerned with dead books, and by the time you raise your eyes, the train has
           left.
                A child has to be a child when he is a child. A young man has to be a young man when he is a
           young man. An old man has to be an old man when he is old. If you miss your youth then you will be
           in difficulty: you will never be really old; your body will start deteriorating and your mind will
           hanker around your youth. The unfulfilled desires, the sensuality, the sexuality, the greed, the
           ambition -- all that you always wanted to do and could not because at that time you were reading the
           Bible or the Gita -- now will haunt you. Now your mind will go after those things.
           I was reading one beautiful story about a missionary:

               He went to Africa to teach Christianity to a cannibal tribe. He was talking to the chief of the
           cannibal tribe -- a very old man, near about eighty-five, ninety. The cannibal listened very
           attentively, then he asked a few questions. One he said: "So do you mean to say to me that I should
           not fall in love with my neighbor's wife?"
           The missionary said, "Yes, you have understood rightly."
               And then the chief said, "And do you mean to say to me that I should not kill anybody in a
           fight?"
               The missionary was very happy. He said, "Perfectly right! You have understood me."
               The cannibal said, "Do you mean to say that robbing some body of his property or killing him in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the fight or taking his wife as your own wife is wrong, immoral, a sin?"
           The missionary said, "Absolutely, absolutely!"
               The chief said, "But I can't understand -- because I am too old to do all these things. So do you
           mean to say that to be an old man and to be a Christian are the same?"

               Your so-called religions are just religions created by dead people. They don't allow you life.
           They don't allow you love. They go on condemning all that is beautiful and all that is right at the
           time.
               My whole emphasis is to live the moment whatsoever it is, and live it with tremendous energy.
               If you are a young man while young, you will be an old man while old -- very wise. You will
           have known all that is good and bad in life: the day and night, the summer and winter -- all you will
           have have known. By your own experience a wisdom will arise. And when you are dying, you will
           have enjoyed your life so tremendously that you will be able to enjoy your death also.
               Only a person who has enjoyed his life becomes capable of enjoying his death. And if you are
           capable of enjoying your death, you have defeated death. Then there is no more birth for you and no
           more death for you -- you have learnt the lesson.
               This is what we call Enlightenment: learning the lesson that life can teach you.
               The questioner says: "While in a peaceful state of being, I watched a bird flying by. I thought,
           'This would be a nice time to die.'"
               This thought must have come out of your Christian background, the so-called, the
           pseudo-religious background, life-negating background -- otherwise you would have thought: "Nice
           time to live!" And you are alive so think in terms of life. Why do you think in terms of death? There
           must be some suicidal tendency in you. This I have watched in many people.
               Once I took one of my professors -- he was my teacher -- I took him to a very beautiful place.
           Nothing like it exists anywhere in the world. I used to live in Jabalpur, and just thirteen miles away
           from there flows the beautiful River Narmada. Two miles amidst hills of marble, two miles' stretch
           of marble hills: it is something not of this world. On a full-moon night it is unbelievable; you cannot
           believe that it is there. It is so unreal! It has such a hypnotic energy in it.
               I took my old professor on a full-moon night, just in the middle of the night when the moon is
           just on the head. He could not believe that such a beautiful thing is possible on this earth. He said,
           "What a beautiful place to die!"
               But why does this idea arise? "What a beautiful place to live!" would have been absolutely
           relevant. "What a beautiful place to love! What a beautiful place to dance! and sing!" would have
           been relevant. But the idea arises: "What a beautiful place to die!" Why this death-obsession? Can't
           you enjoy anything? Can't you delight in anything?
               Become aware of such tendencies. And next time when a beautiful moment passes by -- dance!
           sing! paint! love! Death will take care of itself. It will come one day. Be ripe when it comes -- and
           the only ripeness that is possible is through living.
               Live deeply, live totally, live wholly, so when death comes and knocks at your door you are
           ready -- ready like a ripe fruit to drop. Just a small breeze comes and the fruit drops; sometimes even
           without the breeze the fruit drops from its own weight and ripeness. Death should be like that. And
           the readiness has to come through living.

              THE QUESTIONER asks: "Yet during the 'stop' exercise when I was feeling some discomfort I
           experienced maybe as much separation as ever."
              You think about death and you become disturbed by small things: a headache, an ant crawling on
           your body. You become distracted by such small things, small discomforts -- and you talk about
           death. Maybe you don't know what death is; maybe you have only heard the name. And you have
           seen people dying, but you yourself have never seen death.
              In fact, when a person dies you see him Lying in repose -- silent, relaxed, with no discomfort.
           You think death is not a discomfort? You are seeing only a dead person; you have not seen his inner
           misery, you have not seen his inner conflict. You have not seen his inner struggle with death. You
           have not seen his inner anguish and turmoil. You just see the dead body -- painted, dressed well,
           washed, cleaned.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One man died. Mulla Nasrudin went to see with his wife. And the wife said, "Looks so beautiful
           and so silent!"
               Nasrudin said, "Has to look beautiful and silent -- is coming from Kashmir, three months'
           holiday!"

                Watch a dead person -- every person looks beautiful, silent. Not that he died in silence, not that
           he died beautifully -- rarely does a person die beautifully. Ninety-nine percent of people struggle
           very badly -- fight, great stress arises.
                Just think! -- a small ant crawling on your body, a small thorn in your foot, and how
           uncomfortable you become. A small headache, stomach a little disturbed, and how much you
           become concerned. Just think! -- the body and soul are being taken apart. With the body you have
           become so involved; you have completely forgotten that you are a soul -- and you are being taken
           apart. You cling. You leave your claim with great difficulty, very reluctantly -- fighting, struggling,
           crying. But nobody can see it; it is something inside you -- only you can see it. You cannot even say
           anything.
                You die in misery. Only a few people die blissfully. And when death becomes a bliss, it is a
           samadhi. When death is a relaxation...real relaxation. Deep inside you surrender, you welcome. You
           have known life, now you want to know death also. You have lived life, you have enjoyed it. A great
           trust has arisen in you about life -- and you know death is the culmination of life, the crescendo. It
           must be beautiful! When the whole journey has been beautiful, why not the goal? There is no reason
           to be afraid. When the whole journey has been such a tremendous joy, why not the end? It is the
           culmination. You have come home. You welcome, you are ready to embrace death. You relax, you
           simply slip into death.
                And that's the moment! If you can die without any fight, you don't die -- and you are never born
           again. You have simply slipped out of the body confinements -- of the world. You live! -- you live
           eternally. But then you live as an unembodied existence, with no limitations, with no boundaries.
                Body gives you a boundary. Death takes away all boundaries from you. Body gives you a
           definition, makes you a man or a woman, makes you ugly or beautiful, makes you intelligent or
           unintelligent, makes you this and that -- body gives you definition. Death takes all definitions away.
           It simply leaves life undefined.
                Life undefined is what God is. But to know this death you will have to know life well.
                So if you can accept my suggestion: next time when a beautiful moment passes by, think in terms
           of life -- "What a beautiful moment to live and dance and be alive!" Then one day when death
           comes, you will say the same to death: "What a beautiful moment to die!"
                All moments are beautiful, only you have to be receptive and surrendering. All moments are
           blessings, only you have to be capable of seeing. All moments are benedictions. If you accept with a
           deep gratitude, nothing ever goes wrong.


              "DO THE CONDITIONS OF THE PARTICULAR MOMENT OF DEATH DETERMINE SOMETHING
              ABOUT THE NATURE OF AN ENLIGHTENED BEING? OR VICE VERSA? "


               Vice versa. Death does not determine, neither does the time of death determine anything. It is
           you, conscious or unconscious, who determine the meaning of death. It is an Enlightened
           consciousness that makes death so beautiful, so tremendously beautiful. You are making even life
           ugly, and an Enlightened man makes even death beautiful.
               It is you in the final analysis, always you, the decisive factor, who decide whatsoever happens to
           you. Remember it. This is the very key. If you are unhappy, it is you. If you are not living rightly, it
           is you. If you are missing, it is you. The responsibility is totally yours. Don't be afraid of this
           responsibility.
               Many people become too much afraid of the responsibility because they don't see the other side
           of the coin. On one side is written 'responsibility'; on another side is written 'freedom'. Responsibility
           means freedom. If somebody else is forcing you to be in misery, then you cannot get out of it -- how
           can you get out of it if somebody else is forcing you into misery? Unless the other decides not to
           make you miserable you can never get out of it. If it is you who are responsible for your misery, then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is for you to decide. If you are enjoying being miserable, be miserable thousandfold -- there is no
           problem. Enjoy! If you are not enjoying it, then drop it. Be clear-cut.
                What I see is: people go on thinking that they want to be happy, but what can they do? -- they are
           being forced to be miserable. This is absolutely absurd. Nobody is forcing anybody -- nobody can
           force anybody -- to be miserable. A man who knows how to be happy becomes happy in any sort of
           situation. You cannot give him any situation in which he will not find something to be happy about.
                And there are persons who have learnt the trick of being unhappy. You cannot give them any
           situation in which they will not find something to be unhappy about.
                Whatsoever you want to find, you will find. Life goes on supplying all sorts of things to you.
           You choose!
           I have heard:

               Two men were imprisoned. It was a full-moon night; both were standing near the window of
           their dark cell. The full moon was there. One was looking at the moon, and it was the rainy season --
           must have been like these days -- and there was much water and mud just in front of the window.
           Dirty, and it was smelling and stinking.
               One man continued to look at the moon, the other continued to look at the mud. And the man
           who was looking at the mud, of course, was feeling very miserable. And the man who was looking at
           the moon was aflame, aglow; his face was reflecting the moon; his eyes were full of beauty. He had
           completely forgotten that he was imprisoned.

               BOTH are standing at the same window, but they are choosing different things. There are people:
           if you take them to a rosebush they will count the thorns; they are great calculators -- their
           mathematics is always right. And when they have counted thousands of thorns, it is simply logical
           that they will not be able to see the one roseflower. In fact, their inner world will say, "How is it
           possible? -- amidst so many thorns, how is a roseflower possible? It must be a deception, it must be
           illusory. Or even if it is possible, it is worthless."
               Then there are people who have never known the thorns of a rosebush -- they look at the rose.
           And looking at the rose, feeling the rose, the beauty of it, celebrating the moment, they come to feel
           that even thorns are not so thornlike. "How can they be when they are growing on the same rosebush
           as the roseflower?" When their mind is focused on the roseflower, they start looking at thorns also in
           a different way: they start thinking that thorns are there to protect the roseflower. They are no longer
           ugly, they are no longer irrelevant; they are no longer anti -- a positive attitude arises.
               It is up to you to make whatsoever you want out of your life. An enlightened consciousness
           makes even death beautiful. An unenlightened consciousness makes even life ugly. For an
           enlightened consciousness, only beauty exists -- only beauty; only bliss exists -- only bliss.
               So the question is not how to change ugliness into beauty, how to change pain into pleasure, how
           to change misery into happiness. No. The question is how to change the unconscious into conscious,
           the unenlightened attitude into the enlightened attitude -- how to change your inner world of being,
           how to attain to life-affirmative values and drop life-negative values.

           The third question:

              I AM A SO-CALLED PSYCHOLOGIST. USUALLY I ENJOY IT. RECENTLY I HAVE BEGUN TO
              APPRECIATE WITNESSING. I WONDER NOW IF I AM 'QUALIFIED" TO BE A PSYCHOLOGIST.
              CARL ROGERS USED THE PHRASE "UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD" AS THE CORE OF
              PSYCHOTHERAPY. COMPASSION IS SO FOREIGN AND NEW TO ME.
              KINDLY ADVISE.


               ALL PSYCHOLOGISTS are so-called psychologists -- because the real psychology does not
           exist yet, because man is still not known. Psychology is just a groping. It is still not a science; it is
           just in a very primary stage.
               So every psychologist is a so-called psychologist because psychology is a so-called psychology.
           The real psychology is yet to be born. But the so-called psychology is paving the way for it, so it is
           valuable. When I say it is so-called psychology, I am not condemning it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is just like alchemy preceded chemistry and astrology preceded astronomy. This so-called
           psychology is preceding, is a requirement, for the real psychology to be born. Just as alchemists are
           no longer remembered, forgotten, you cannot even mention their names, sooner or later Freud and
           Jung and Adler will be forgotten the same way -- they are alchemists of the inner world.
               Sooner or later, you will be surprised, a few other names will become more important which are
           already there but known only to a few people. For example, Gurdjieff will become more important
           than Freud in the coming century -- because he has tried to give a few keys for a real, objective
           psychology. Ouspensky's name will become more important than Jung's. And a few completely
           unknown names will bubble up into prominence.
               But Freud, Jung and Adler have done a great service. They have paved the way. Without
           alchemy chemistry would not have been born. It is a must -- but it is so-called. We call it psychology
           because nothing else exists, but it is not yet real. It simply watches human beings from the lowest
           rung of the ladder.
               You go to a pond; you see a lotus -- the lotus comes out of dirty mud. The modern psychology
           reduces the lotus to the dirty mud: it says the lotus is nothing but the dirty mud. It is right in a way,
           and yet absolutely wrong. Right in a way because the lotus needs the dirty mud; it comes out of the
           dirty mud. But to reduce it back to the dirty mud is not right.
               The real psychology, if you ask a Buddha, or you ask a Patanjali, who are the pioneers of a real
           psychology -- which has not vet settled, which has not yet found its place in the human
           consciousness, which is still hovering around, seeking, searching for a nest -- they will say that
           rather than reduce the lotus to the dirty mud, why not raise the value of dirty mud to the lotus itself?
           Why say that the lotus comes out of the dirty mud? Why not say that the dirty mud carries a lotus
           within itself? that the dirty mud is an abode of the lotus, a temple? Why not raise the value of the
           dirty mud? And that seems to be better, more objective.
               The higher should never be explained by the lower. The lower cannot explain the higher, but the
           higher can explain the lower.
               Watch... Darwin says man comes from the monkeys, so he is nothing but a monkey. Freud says
           art comes out of sexuality, so it is nothing but sexuality; meditation, religion, God, are nothing but
           frustrations, repressions, complexes. Then religion looks like a mass neurosis.
               Darwin or Freud, they reduce the higher to the lower -- mm? But then go on the whole way.
           From where do the monkeys come? Then reduce them back, further back, go on, go on... finally you
           will come to matter. Then everything is reduced to matter. Then even Darwin is reduced to matter.
           You reduce religion to repressed sexuality, then how will you treat Freud himself? Then what is
           psychology? Then that too is reduced.
               I have heard an anecdote: Adler was talking to a few friends and a few visitors. A group of
           Americans had come to see him, and he was talking about his famous theory about the inferiority
           complex. And he said, "If a man is inferior in one way, he tries to compensate for it in another.
               "For example: Lenin was very small, his legs were very short, out of proportion. When he sat on
           a chair, his legs would not reach to the ground. That was the reason he rose so high: to prove that he
           was very powerful and he was not a weakling." Adler talked on and on, and he gave many examples
           as to why people who lack something always become ambitious for power.
               Then somebody stood and said, "And what about psychologists? Do they lack something in their
           minds so that they become psychologists? Do they have a smaller mind than other people so that
           they try to compensate for it by thinking and talking and creating theories about mind?"
               I don't know what Adler said to it, but in fact there is no answer to it. If religion is repressed
           sexuality, art is repressed sexuality, science is repressed sexuality, then what is psychology? What
           are Freud, Jung and Adler? Then you go on reducing backwards, and finally nothing is left -- only
           matter.
               But everything comes out of this matter! -- that means everything is implied in matter; then
           matter is no more material; then matter carries gods hidden behind it... because a Buddha is born, a
           lotus flowers.
               In the East we have a totally different attitude about psychology, and the attitude is: Always
           explain the lower by the higher. We say that sex is nothing but the lowest rung of samadhi, sex is
           nothing but the lowest rung of your superconsciousness. Then the whole view changes. Then there is
           a possibility to grow.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The modern psychology leaves no possibility for growth. It reduces everything to dirt -- and
           there is no possibility to grow. In fact, there is no point in growing because all is going to be just
           repressed sexuality. If you listen to the modern psychologists, their definition of the normal man
           makes life worthless.
                Einstein is abnormal, because a normal man never bothers about the mathematics of the world --
           why should he bother? Michelangelo is abnormal; he must have some psychological problem --
           that's why he becomes so imaginative. Van Gogh is abnormal. Buddha, Jesus, Krishna -- all are in
           some way neurotic. They are not normal: abnormal. They are all condemned. Then who is normal?
                The man who only lives in unconsciousness is normal: he gets up early in the morning, goes to
           the marketplace, earns his living, gives birth to children, makes a house -- goes on moving in a
           routine for seventy years, then dies. This is the normal man. Not creative, not innovative, not original
           in any way; has nothing to contribute -- no art, no science, no religion.
                Just think about a really normal world according to Freud: it will be the most boring world
           possible. There will be no music because it is repressed sexuality. There will be no poetry because it
           is just fantasy. There will be no science, because to be a scientist is just nothing but a deep instinct of
           voyeurism.
                If you remain clean, you like a shower, you use beautiful clothes, then it is exhibitionism. Then
           everything is condemned. Then everything is suspected and doubted. Then only animals are normal
           -- and if man is to be normal he has to just live an animal life. Then you cannot soar high. Then the
           whole sky is taken away from you, and you live caged in your small cages of normal routine life.
                A world of normal people according to Freud is going to be worse than hell. Hell at least must be
           interesting! The world is beautiful because people soar high -- because there are Buddhas and
           Michelangelo's and Van Goghs and Picasso's; musicians and dancers and philosophers, and
           psychologists and poets and painters. The world is beautiful because not all are normal -- a few
           people try to be abnormal, a few people try to go beyond the norm, beyond the ordinary. And they
           try to raise themselves a little higher, to see more, to perceive more, to Live more.
                People who are not satisfied with a dead, routine life, people who are adventurous, people who
           take risks, people who dare, and people who go into the unknown and the unfamiliar... you are all
           abnormal according to Freud! Otherwise, what are you doing here with me? Meditating? Meditation
           is not a good term with Freud. Then something has gone wrong; otherwise, an ordinary, normal
           person never thinks of meditation.
                According to Freud, a normal person never thinks about himself. To think about the self is to
           become morbid. A normal person only thinks about others, never thinks about himself.
           Self-knowledge is a disease. The very idea of knowing oneself is ill. You are all abnormal. In fact,
           all great people, all rare people, are abnormal.
                This psychology cannot be a real psychology. It cannot help us to explain Buddha, Jesus Christ,
           Mahavir, Patanjali; it cannot help us to understand the lotus -- it can only help us to understand the
           dirty mud. What type of psychology is this? It does not help us to see above the boundaries, beyond
           the boundaries. It confines us to the boundaries. I call it a so-called psychology. Necessary, a
           preparation for the real psychology to come and take over. That's why I call all psychologists
           'so-called'.
                And the person who has asked the question says: "I am a so-called psychologist." Good that you
           are aware of the so-calledness of your science, that you are aware that it is not enough, that you are
           humble. It is very difficult to find a psychologist who is humble, because he thinks he has known
           man, he has known all that is possible to know. He becomes very, very egoistic. Good! It is a
           religious quality to be humble.
                "Usually I enjoy it." It is good to help people; it is good to help them grow. Just one thing
           remember always: Don't help them just to be normal -- help them to grow; help them to become
           unique. Don't help them to become normal! Normal, they will be just part of a collectivity. Help
           them to become individuals. Help them to become rare, unique. Enjoy it!
                "Recently I have begun to appreciate witnessing. I wonder now if I am 'qualified' to be a
           psychologist."
                If you ask me, and if my certificate can mean anything: To whomsoever it concerns, I certify
           you. By becoming a witness, the first rays are entering in you. You are really becoming qualified to
           be a psychologist. How can you be a psychologist if you have not witnessed even your own self?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then all your observations are from the outside. You see people's behavior -- you can be a
           behaviorist but not a psychologist.
                When you have watched your innermost core... and that is the only way to watch it. You cannot
           watch it in somebody else -- because watching somebody else, you are always outside. You can
           watch the real human soul only from the inside. You have to become an introvert -- witnessing.
           That's why the questioner has become suspicious whether he can call himself qualified, because if he
           goes and asks Freudians they will say, "You are dropping out of the profession. An introvert is
           morbid. Witnessing? There is nothing to witness. You are losing your track." But I will say to you:
           For the first time you are really becoming a psychologist.
                "Carl Rogers used the phrase 'unconditional positive regard' as the core of psychotherapy."
                Yes, it is -- compassion. An unconditional acceptance of the other's being as he is. Ordinarily
           psychology has a condemnatory attitude -- it goes on labelling. You say something and they will say
           you are a schizophrenic. You say something and you are a split personality. You say something, you
           are a neurotic or a psychotic. And they go on labelling -- as if man is just a thing to be labelled. Man
           is not a thing to be labelled: man is something to be revered, with deep regard.
           "Compassion is so foreign and new to me."
                Yes, it is foreign to psychologists because they take people as patients not as persons. They have
           to treat you. Something has gone wrong; they have accepted it. It is new. If you start witnessing your
           being, you will feel more and more compassion. Allow it to happen more and more.
                In deep compassion you will be able to help many more people -- because, in fact, compassion is
           the only thing that helps. Compassion is therapeutic. Compassion is the only therapy there is.




                                        A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                   Chapter #7
                                            Chapter title: Only the Gold
           17 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608170
              ShortTitle: THUNDE07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 82 mins




              ONCE THERE WAS A MAN OF CH'I WHO WANTED GOLD. AT DAWN HE PUT ON HIS COAT AND
              CAP AND SET OUT FOR THE MARKET.
              HE WENT TO THE STALL OF A DEALER IN GOLD, SNATCHED HIS GOLD, AND MADE OFF
              THE POLICE CAUGHT HIM AND QUESTIONED HIM. "WHY DID YOU SNATCH SOMEBODY
              ELSE'S GOLD, AND IN FRONT OF SO MANY PEOPLE?"
              THE MAN REPLIED:
              "AT THE TIME WHEN I TOOK IT I DID NOT SEE THE PEOPLE -- I ONLY SAW THE GOLD."


               LET ME tell you first one small anecdote:
               "My doctor insisted that I came to see you." the patient told the psychiatrist. "Goodness knows
           why -- I am happily married, secure in my job, lots of friends, no worries..."
               "Hmmm." said the psychiatrist, reaching for his notebook, "and how long have you been like
           this?"

              HAPPINESS IS UNBELIEVABLE. It seems that man cannot be happy. If you talk about your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           depression, sadness, misery, everybody believes it. It seems natural. If you talk about your happiness
           nobody believes you -- it seems unnatural.
                Sigmund Freud, after forty years of research into the human mind, working with thousands of
           people, observing thousands of disturbed minds, came to the conclusion that happiness is a fiction:
           man cannot be happy. At the most, we can make things a little more comfortable, that's all. At the
           most we can make unhappiness a little less, that's all. But happy man cannot be.
                Looks very pessimistic -- but looking at the modern man it seems to be exactly the case, it seems
           to be a fact.
                Buddha says that man can be happy, tremendously happy. Krishna sings songs of that ultimate
           bliss -- satchitanand. Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God. But how can you believe so few people,
           who can be counted on the fingers, against the whole mass, millions and millions of people down the
           centuries, remaining unhappy, growing more and more into unhappiness,.their whole life a story of
           misery and nothing else? And then comes death! How to believe these few people?
                Either they are lying or they are deceived themselves. Either they are Lying for some other
           purpose, or they are a little mad, deceived by their own illusions. They are living in a
           wish-fulfillment. They wanted to be happy and they started believing that they were happy. It seems
           more like a belief, a desperate belief, rather than a fact. But how did it come to happen that very few
           people ever become happy?
                If you forget man, if you don't pay much attention to man, then Buddha, Krishna, Christ, they
           will look more true. If you look at the trees, if you look at the birds, if you look at the stars, then
           everything is shimmering in tremendous happiness. Then bliss seems to be the very stuff the
           existence is made of. Only man is unhappy.
           Something deep down has gone wrong.
                Buddha is not deceived and he is not Lying. And I say this to you, not on the authority of the
           tradition -- I say this to you on my own authority. Man can be happy, more happy than the birds,
           more happy than the trees, more happy than the stars -- because man has something which no tree,
           no bird, no star, has. Man has consciousness!
                But when you have consciousness then two alternatives are possible: either you can become
           unhappy or you can become happy. Then it is your own choice! Trees are simply happy because they
           cannot be unhappy. Their happiness is not their freedom -- they have to be happy. They don't know
           how to be unhappy; there is no alternative.
                These birds chirping in the trees, they are happy! not because they have chosen to be happy --
           they are simply happy because they don't know any other way to be. Their happiness is unconscious.
           It is simply natural.
                Man can be tremendously happy, and tremendously unhappy -- and he is free to choose. This
           freedom is hazardous. This freedom is very dangerous -- because you become responsible. And
           something has happened with this freedom, something has gone wrong. Man is somehow standing
           on his head.
                You have come to me seeking meditation. Meditation is needed only because you have not
           chosen to be happy. If you have chosen to be happy there is no need for any meditation. Meditation
           is medicinal: if you are ill then the medicine is needed. Buddhas don't need meditation. Once you
           have started choosing happiness, once you have decided that you have to be happy, then no
           meditation is needed. Then meditation starts happening of its own accord.
                Meditation is a function of being happy. Meditation follows a happy man like a shadow:
           wherever he goes, whatsoever he is doing, he is meditative. He is intensely concentrated.
                The word 'meditation' and the word 'medicine' come from the same root -- that is very significant.
           Meditation is also medicinal. You don't carry bottles of medicines and prescriptions with you if you
           are healthy. Of course, when you are not healthy you have to go the doctor. Going to the doctor is
           not a very great thing to brag about. One should be happy so the doctor is not needed.
                So many religions are there because so many people are unhappy. A happy person needs no
           religion; a happy person needs no temple, no church -- because for a happy person the whole
           universe is a temple, the whole existence is a church. The happy person has nothing like religious
           activity because his whole life is religious.
                Whatsoever you do with happiness is a prayer: your work becomes worship; your very breathing
           has an intense splendor to it, a grace. Not that you constantly repeat the name of God -- only foolish
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people do that -- because God has no name, and by repeating some assumed name you simply dull
           your own mind. By repeating His name you are not going to go anywhere. A happy man simply
           comes to see God is everywhere. You need happy eyes to see Him.
           What has gone wrong?
               I have heard about a man who became very famous in Germany -- even today his statues are
           there and some squares and some streets are still named after him. His name was Dr. Daniel Gottlieb
           Schreber. He was the real founder of Fascism. He died in 1861, but he created the situation for Adolf
           Hitler to come -- of course, unknowingly.
               This man "... had very pronounced views on how to bring up children. He wrote many books.
           Those books were translated into many languages. Some of them ran into fifty editions." His books
           were loved tremendously, respected tremendously, because his views were not exceptional -- his
           views were very common. He was saying things which everybody has believed down the centuries.
           He was the spokesman for the ordinary mind, the mediocre mind.
               "Hundreds of clubs and societies were set up to perpetuate his thoughts, his ideas, and when he
           died many statues were installed, many streets were named after him.
               "He believed in disciplining children from the time they were six months old" -- because he said
           if you don't discipline a child when he is six months old you will miss the real opportunity of
           disciplining him. When a child is very tender and soft, unaware of the ways of the world, make a
           deep imprint -- then he will always follow that imprint. And he will not even be aware that he is
           being manipulated. He will think he is doing all this of his own will -- because when a child is six
           months old he has no will yet; the will will come later on, and the discipline will come earlier than
           the will. So the will will always think: 'This is my own idea.'
               This is corrupting a child. But all the religions of the world and all the demagogues and all the
           dictatorial people of the world, and all the so-called gurus and the priests, they all have believed in
           doing this.
               This seems to be the basic cause why man is unhappy, because no man is moving freely, no man
           is sensing, groping his path with his own consciousness. He has been corrupted at the very root.
               But Schreber called it discipline, as all parents call it. "He believed in disciplining children from
           the time they were six months old in such a way that they would never after question their parents
           and yet believe that they were acting of their own free will. He wrote that on the first appearance of
           self-will one has to..." stop it immediately, kill it immediately. When you see the child becoming a
           person, an individual, you have to destroy the first ray of his individuality, immediately, not a single
           moment should be lost.
               When the first appearance of self-will is noticed "... one has to step forward in a positive
           manner... stern words, threatening gestures, rapping against the bed... bodily admonishments,
           consistently repeated until the child calms down or falls asleep.
               "This treatment was needed only once or twice or at the most thrice," the doctor told people.
               Make the child so afraid, shake him to his very roots! And those roots are very tender yet -- a
           six-month-old child. Threaten him with gestures, with a deep hatred, enmity in your eyes, as if you
           are going to destroy the child himself. Make it clear to the child that either he can live or his self-will
           -- both cannot be allowed to live. If he wants his self-will then he will have to die. Once the child
           comes to know that he can live only at the cost of self-will, he will drop his self-will and he will
           choose survival. That's natural! Survival one has to choose first; everything else comes secondary.
               "And then one is master of the child forever. From now on, a glance, a word or a single
           threatening gesture is sufficient to rule the child."
               What happened to his own children? Nobody bothered. Everybody liked the idea. Parents all
           over the world became very enthusiastic and everybody started trying to discipline their children.
           And that's how, according to Schreber, the whole of Germany was disciplined. That paved the way
           for Adolf Hitler.
               Such a beautiful country, intelligent, became the victim of a fool who was almost mad. And he
           ruled the whole country. How was it possible? It is still a question which has not been answered.
           How could he rule so many intelligent people so easily, with such foolish ideas?
               These people were trained to believe; these people were trained not to be individuals. These
           people were trained always to remain in discipline. These people were trained that obedience is the
           greatest virtue. It is not! Sometimes it is disobedience which is the greatest virtue. Sometimes, of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           course, it is obedience. But the choice has to be yours: you have consciously to choose whether to
           obey or not to obey. That means you have consciously to remain the master in every situation,
           whether you obey or you disobey.
                What happened tO his own children? Just now the whole history of his children has come to
           light.
                "One of his daughters was melancholic and her doctor suggested putting her in a mad asylum.
           One of his sons suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized. He recovered, but eight
           years later had a relapse and died in a madhouse. His other son went mad and committed suicide."
           And the autopsies of both the sons proved that there was nothing wrong physically with their brains
           -- still both went mad: one died in a madhouse, another committed suicide.
                What happened? Physically their brains were perfect, but psychologically they were damaged.
           This mad father damaged all of his children. And that is what has happened to the whole of
           humanity.
                Down the centuries, parents have been destroying people. They were destroyed by their parents,
           and so on and so forth. It seems to be a chronic state. Your parents were not happy; whatsoever they
           knew made them only more unhappy and more unhappy -- and they trained you for it, and they have
           made a replica of themselves in you.
                Arthur Koestler has coined a beautiful word for this whole nonsense. He calls it 'bapucracy'.
           'Bapu' means father -- it is an Indian term. Indians used to call Mahatma Gandhi, 'bapu'. This word
           'bapucracy' is perfect. India suffers more than any other country from bapucracy. The Indian
           leadership is still suffering from its bapu, Mahatma Gandhi.
                Each child is destroyed by the bapus. Of course, they were destroyed by their bapus. So I am not
           saying that it is their responsibility; it is an unconscious, chronic state that perpetuates itself. So there
           is no need of complaining against your parents -- that is not going to help. The day you understand it,
           you have to consciously drop it and come out of it.
                Be an individual if you want to be happy. If you want to be happy, then start choosing on your
           own. There are many times when you will have to be disobedient -- be! There are many times when
           you will have to be rebellious -- be! There is no disrespect implied in it. Be respectful to your
           parents. But remember that your deepest responsibility is towards your own being.
                Everybody is dragged and manipulated, so nobody knows what his destiny is. What you really
           always wanted to do you have forgotten. And how can you be happy? Somebody who could have
           been a poet is just a moneylender. Somebody who could have been a painter is a doctor. Somebody
           who could have been a doctor, a beautiful doctor, is a businessman. Everybody is displaced.
           Everybody is doing something that he never wanted to do -- hence unhappiness.
                Happiness happens when you fit with your life, when you fit so harmoniously that whatsoever
           you are doing is your joy. Then suddenly you will come to know: meditation follows you. If you
           love the work that you are doing, if you love the way you are living, then you are meditative. Then
           nothing distracts you. When things distract you, that simply shows that you are not really interested
           in those things.
                The teacher goes on telling the small children: "Pay attention to me! Be attentive!" They are
           attentive, but they are attentive somewhere else. A cuckoo is crying with all its heart outside the
           school building, and the child is attentive -- nobody can say he is not attentive, nobody can say he is
           not meditative, nobody can say he is not in deep concentration -- he is. In fact, he has completely
           forgotten the teacher and the arithmetic that he is doing on the board. He is completely oblivious. He
           is completely possessed by the cuckoo. And the teacher says: "Be attentive! What are you doing?
           Don't be distracted!" In fact, the teacher is distracting.
                The child is attentive -- it is happening naturally. Listening to the cuckoo, he is happy. The
           teacher is distracting and the teacher says: "You are not attentive." He is simply stating a lie. The
           child was attentive. The cuckoo was more attractive to him, so what can he do? The teacher was not
           so attractive. The arithmetic has no appeal. But we are not born here to be mathematicians. There are
           a few children who will not be interested in the cuckoo. The cuckoo may go on getting madder and
           madder, and they will be attentive to the blackboard. Then arithmetic is for them. Then they have a
           meditation, a natural meditative state.
                We have been distracted into unnatural motivations: money, prestige, power. Listening to the
           cuckoo is not going to give you money. Listening to the cuckoo is not going to give you power,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prestige. Watching the butterfly is not going to help you economically, politically, socially. These
           things are not paying, but these things make you happy.
               A real person takes the courage to move with things that make him happy. If he remains poor, he
           remains poor; he has no complaint about it, he has no grudge. He says: "I have chosen my way -- I
           have chosen the cuckoos and the butterflies and the flowers. I cannot be rich, that's okay! But I am
           rich because I am happy."
               This type of man will never need any method to concentrate, because there is no need -- he is in
           concentration. His concentration is spread all over his life. Twenty-four hours he is in concentration.
           Man has gone topsy-turvy. I was reading:

               Old Ted had been sitting on the edge of the river for some hours without getting a bite. The
           combination of several bottles of beer and a hot sun caused him to nod off, and he was completely
           unprepared when a lively fish got himself hooked, tugged at his line and woke him up. He was
           caught completely off balance and, before he could recover, found himself in the river.
               A small boy had been watching the proceedings with interest. As the man struggled to get out of
           the water, he turned to his father and asked, "Dad, is that man catching a fish or is that fish catching
           a man?"

               Man has gone completely topsy-turvy. The fish is catching you and dragging you; you are not
           catching the fish. Wherever you see money, you are no more yourself. Wherever you see power,
           prestige, you are no more yourself. Wherever you see respectability, you are no more yourself.
           Immediately you forget everything -- you forget the intrinsic values of your life, your happiness,
           your joy, your delight.
               You always choose something of the outside, and you bargain with something of the inside. You
           lose the within and you gain the without. But what are you going to do? Even if you get the whole
           world at your feet and you have lost yourself, even if you have conquered all the riches of the world
           and you have lost your own inner treasure, what are you going to do with it? This is the misery.

               IF YOU CAN learn one thing with me, then that one thing is: Be alert, aware, about your own
           inner motives, about your own inner destiny. Never lose sight of it, otherwise you will be unhappy.
           And when you are unhappy, then people say: "Meditate and you will become happy!" They say:
           "Concentrate and you will become happy; pray and you will become happy; go to the temple, be
           religious, be a Christian or a Hindu and you will be happy!" This is all nonsense.
               Be happy! and meditation will follow. Be happy, and religion will follow. Happiness is a basic
           condition. People become religious only when they are unhappy -- then their religion is pseudo. Try
           to understand why you are unhappy.
               Many people come to me and they say they are unhappy, and they want me to give them some
           meditation. I say: First, the basic thing is to understand why you are unhappy. And if you don't
           remove those basic causes of your unhappiness, I can give you a meditation, but that is not going to
           help very much -- because the basic causes remain there.
               The man may have been a good, beautiful dancer, and he is sitting in an office, piling up files.
           There is no possibility for dance. The man may have enjoyed dancing under the stars, but he is
           simply going on accumulating a bank-balance. And he says he is unhappy: "Give me some
           meditation." I can give him! -- but what is that meditation going to do? what is it supposed to do? He
           will remain the same man: accumulating money, competitive in the market. The meditation may help
           in this way: it may make him a little more relaxed to do this nonsense even better.
               That's what TM is doing to many people in the West -- and that is the appeal of transcendental
           meditation, because Maharishi Mahesh Yogi goes on saying, "It will make you more efficient in
           your work, it will make you more successful. If you are a salesman, you will become a more
           successful salesman. It will give you efficiency." And American people are almost crazy about
           efficiency. You can lose everything just for being efficient. Hence, the appeal.
               Yes, it can help you. It can relax you a little -- it is a tranquillizer. By constantly repeating a
           mantra, by continuously repeating a certain word, it changes your brain chemistry. It is a
           tranquillizer! a sound-tranquillizer. It helps you to lessen your stress so tomorrow in the marketplace
           you can be more efficient, more capable to compete -- but it doesn't change you. it is not a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           transformation.
               Just the other day, a small sannyasin asked me -- whenever he comes he asks beautiful questions
           -- very small, maybe seven years old. When he took sannyas... he must be courageous -- he took
           sannyas before his mother decided to take sannyas; he took sannyas before his father decided to take
           sannyas. Has an individuality of his own. He took sannyas and I asked him. "Have you something to
           say?"
           He said, "Yes, what group should I do?"
           And the other night he came and I asked, "Now, what do you have to say?"
           He said, "What do you think about Maharishi?" A seven year-old child!
               I told him, "Maharishi is a good man, a very nice guy -- but doing very ordinary work."
               You can repeat a mantra, you can do a certain meditation; it can help you a little bit here and
           there -- but-it can help you to remain whatsoever you are. It is not a transformation.
               Hence, my appeal is only for those who are really daring, dare-devils who are ready to change
           their very pattern of life, who are ready to stake everything -- because in fact you don't have anything
           to put at the stake: only your unhappiness, your misery. But people cling even to that.
           I have heard:

               In a certain remote training camp, a squad of rookies had just returned to their billet after a day's
           route-march under the boiling sun.
               "What a life!" said one new soldier. "Miles from anywhere, a sergeant who thinks he's Attila the
           Hun, no women, no booze, no leave -- and on top of all that. my boots are two sizes too small."
               "You don't want to put up with that, chum," said his neighbor. "Why don't you put in for another
           pair?"
           "Not likely." came the reply. "Taking'em off is the only pleasure I've got!"

               What else do you have to put at the stake? Just the misery. The only pleasure that you have got is
           talking about it. Look at people talking about their misery: how happy they become! They pay for it:
           they go to psychoanalysts to talk about their misery -- they pay for it! Somebody listens attentively,
           they are very happy.
               People go on talking about their misery again and again and again. They even exaggerate, they
           decorate, they make it look bigger. They make it look bigger than life-size. Why? Nothing do you
           have to put at the stake. But people cling to the known, to the familiar. The misery is all that they
           have known -- that is their life. Nothing to lose, but so afraid to lose.
               With me, happiness comes first, joy comes first. A celebrating attitude comes first. A
           life-affirming philosophy comes first. Enjoy! If you cannot enjoy your work, change. Don't wait!
           because all the time that you are waiting you are waiting for Godot. Godot is never to come. One
           simply waits -- and wastes one's life. For whom, for what are you waiting?
               If you see the point, that you are miserable in a certain pattern of life, then all the old traditions
           say: you are wrong. I would like to say: The pattern is wrong. Try to understand the difference of
           emphasis. You are not wrong! Just your pattern, the way you have learnt to live is wrong. The
           motivations that you have learnt and accepted as yours are not yours -- they don't fulfill your destiny.
           They go against your grain, they go against your element.

               The village policeman stopped his son on the road as he saw him going home after a day's
           fishing.
           "Any luck, son?" he asked.
               "Yes, Dad," said the lad, opening his basket to show half a dozen lovely trout.
           "That's marvellous! Where did you catch all those?"
               "Just down there, Dad. There's a narrow lane marked 'Private' and you go down there until you
           come to a notice saying 'Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted'. A few yards further on there's a pool with
           a big sign 'No Fishing Allowed' -- and that's the place."

              Remember it: nobody else can decide for you. All their commandments, all their orders, all their
           moralities, are just to kill you. You have to decide for yourself. You have to take your life in your
           own hands. Otherwise, life goes on knocking at your door and you are never there -- you are always
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somewhere else.
               If you were going to be a dancer, life comes from that door because life thinks you must be a
           dancer by now. It knocks there but you are not there -- you are a banker. And how is life expected to
           know that you would become a banker? God comes to you the way He wanted you to be; He knows
           only that address -- but you are never found there, you are somewhere else, hiding behind somebody
           else's mask, in somebody else's garb, under somebody else's name.
               How do you expect God to find you? He goes on searching for you. He knows your name, but
           you have forgotten that name. He knows your address, but you never lived at that address. You
           allowed the world to distract you.
           It happened:

               "I dreamt I was a kid last night," Joe was telling Al, "and I had a free pass to all the rides at
           Disneyland. Boy, what a time I had! I didn't have to choose which rides to go on -- I rode them all."
               "That's interesting," remarked his friend. "I had a vivid dream last night too. I dreamt a beautiful
           dreamgirl blonde knocked on my door and knocked me out with her desire. Then just as we were
           getting started, another visitor, a gorgeous well-stacked brunette came in and wanted me too!"
               "Wow," interrupted Joe. "Boy, would I have loved to be there! Why didn't you call me?"
           "I did," responded Al. "And your mother told me you were at Disneyland."

               God can find you only in one way, only in one way can He find you, and that is your inner
           flowering: as He wanted you to be. Unless you find your spontaneity, unless you find your element,
           you cannot be happy. And if you cannot be happy, you cannot be meditative.

               WHY DID this idea arise in people's minds? that meditation brings happiness. In fact, wherever
           they found a happy person they always found a meditative mind -- both things got associated.
           Whenever they found the beautiful meditative milieu surrounding a man, they always found he was
           tremendously happy -- vibrant with bliss, radiant. They became associated. They thought: Happiness
           comes when you are meditative. It was just the other way round: meditation comes when you are
           happy.
               But to be happy is difficult and to learn meditation is easy. To be happy means a drastic change
           in your way of life, an abrupt change -- because there is no time to lose. A sudden change -- a sudden
           clash of thunder -- a discontinuity.
               That's what I mean by sannyas: a discontinuity with the past. A sudden clash of thunder, and you
           die to the old and you start afresh, from ABC. You are born again. You again start your life as you
           would have done if there had been no enforced pattern by your parents, by your society, by the state;
           as you would have done, must have done, if there had been nobody to distract you. But you were
           distracted.
               You have to drop all those patterns that have been forced on you, and you have to find your own
           inner flame.
               Don't be too much concerned about money, because that is the greatest distraction against
           happiness. And the irony of ironies is that people think they will be happy when they have money.
           Money has nothing to do with happiness. If you are happy and you have money, you can use it for
           happiness. If you are unhappy and you have money, you will use that money for more unhappiness.
           Because money is simply a neutral force.
               I am not against money, remember. Don't misinterpret me: I am not against money -- I am not
           against anything. Money is a means. If you are happy and you have money, you will become more
           happy. If you are unhappy and you have money, you will become more unhappy because what will
           you do with your money? Your money will enhance your pattern, whatsoever it is. If you are
           miserable and you have power, what will you do with your power? You will poison yourself more
           with your power, you will become more miserable.
               But people go on looking for money as if money is going to bring happiness. People go on
           looking for respectability as if respectability is going to give you happiness. People are ready, at any
           moment, to change their pattern, to change their ways, if more money is available somewhere else.
           I have heard:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The treasurer of a black civil rights organization picked up the phone and heard a Southern voice
           drawling on the other end of the line, "Hey there, boy, I want to talk to the head nigger." Shocked
           and outraged, the treasurer said, "My dear sir.."
              "I want to contribute $50,000 to your cause, so let me talk to the head nigger," the redneck said.
              "Hold the line there, brother," the treasurer said. "I think I see that ugly jigaboo coming in the
           door right now."

           Once money is there immediately everything changes.
           I have heard:

                Mulla Nasrudin's daughter came home and she said she was pregnant and the richest man of the
           town was the father of the unborn child. Mulla Nasrudin was, of course, mad. He rushed with his gun
           towards the rich man's house; he forced the rich man into a corner and said, "Now you can breathe
           your last, or if you have any prayer to say to God, say it!"
                The rich man smiled and he said, "Listen, before you do anything neurotic. Yes, I know your
           daughter is pregnant by me -- but if a boy is born I have kept one lakh rupees in the bank for the boy.
           If a daughter is born I have kept fifty thousand rupees in the bank for the daughter."
                Mulla took his gun away and said, "Sir, if something goes wrong, if there is a miscarriage or
           something, are you ready to give her another chance?"

               Once the money is there, then suddenly you are no more yourself; you are ready to change.
               This is the way of the worldly man. I don't call those people worldly who have money -- I call
           those people worldly who change their motives for money. I don't call those people unworldly who
           have no money -- they may be simply poor. I call those people unworldly who don't change their
           motives for money. Just being poor is not equivalent to being spiritual; and just being rich is not
           equivalent to being a materialist. The materialistic pattern of life is that where money predominates
           over everything. The non-materialistic life is that where money is just a means -- happiness
           predominates, joy predominates; your own individuality predominates. You know who you are and
           where you are going, and you are not distracted. Then suddenly you will see your life has a
           meditative quality to it.
               But somewhere on the way. everybody has missed. You were brought up by people who have not
           arrived. You were brought up by people who were unhealthy themselves. Feel sorry for them! I am
           not saying be against them; I am not condemning them -- remember. Just feel compassion for them.
           The parents, the school-teachers. the university professors, the so-called leaders of the society -- they
           were unhappy people. They have created an unhappy pattern in you.
               And: you have not yet taken charge of your life. They were living under a misinterpretation --
           that was their misery. And you are also living under a misinterpretation.
           It happened:

                In the days of the British Raj in India. a young subaltern traveled to a distant part of the Punjab to
           join his first regiment. He reported to the Colonel who welcomed him and then said, "You must
           understand, Skiffington-Smythe, that we need a very special type of officer out here. Someone who
           can handle the natives, someone who can think for himself and keep cool in a tight spot. So we have
           devised a little test which all new officers are requested to undergo. Are you willing to have a try?"
           "Certainly, sir," said the keen young officer. "anything you say sir.
                "Very good." said the Colonel. "Now, the test is quite simple. It's in two parts: first of all you
           must go down to the village marketplace, where you will take hold of the first woman you see, rip
           off her veil and kiss her full on the lips. This is quite a dangerous procedure, since the men here are
           very jealous of their womenfolk and carry wicked-looking knives with them at all times. So you
           must kiss this woman and make good your escape. Then you must go into the jungle and shoot the
           first tiger you see right between the eyes. You must kill it with one shot -- right between the eyes.
           All clear?"
           "Yes, sir," replied the subaltern.
                And with that the Colonel handed the young officer a rifle with one round, and one round only,
           up to the spout. The brave young man saluted, turned on his heel, and was gone.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A week later the Colonel heard a scratching at his door. He shouted for whoever it was to come
           in: the door slowly opened and a figure collapsed across the mat. It was Skiffington-Smythe!
                Bruised, battered and bleeding from a dozen wounds, he crawled across the floor, hauled himself
           painfully to his feet at the Colonel's desk, saluted weakly and gasped, "Right, sir..... where's this
           woman I've got to shoot between the eyes?!"

              Get it?! He kissed a tiger! -- got mixed up. And when I look at you, I see the same problem.
           Something has gone very deeply wrong. You have misunderstood the instructions.

               MEDITATION comes naturally to a happy person. Meditation comes automatically to a joyous
           person. Meditation is very simple to a person who can celebrate, who can delight in life. You are
           trying it from the other way -- which is not possible. This is the whole meaning of this small Zen
           anecdote -- simple and yet very significant.

              ONCE THERE WAS A MAN OF CH'I WHO WANTED GOLD. AT DAWN HE PUT ON HIS COAT AND
              CAP AND SET OUT FOR THE MARKET.
              HE WENT TO THE STALL OF A DEALER IN GOLD, SNATCHED HIS GOLD, AND MADE OFF.
              THE POLICE CAUGHT HIM AND QUESTIONED HIM. "WHY DID YOU SNATCH SOMEBODY
              ELSE'S GOLD, AND IN FRONT OF SO MANY PEOPLE?"
              THE MAN REPLIED:
              "AT THE TIME WHEN I TOOK IT I DIDN'T SEE THE PEOPLE -- I ONLY SAW THE GOLD."


                It is a parable. It says: If you know exactly what you want, you only see that. Concentration
           comes easy. If you know exactly what you want, then the whole life and the whole world goes on its
           own way -- you don't see it even. You go like an arrow You are not distracted.
                But if you don't know what you are meant to be here, if you don't know what your destiny is, if
           you don't know what you really want, then everything is a distraction, then you are pulled in this
           direction and that. Then continuously you go on being pulled in many directions -- and that creates a
           mess out of you.
                You are pulled in so many directions together that your personality becomes broken, split. Only
           fragments: one fragment going to the north, another fragment going to the south. You are
           continuously in conflict. You don't know where you are going, because you are not one any more.
           You become one when you know what you want.
                Many people come to me and I ask them: "What do you want really?" They shrug their
           shoulders. They say, "We don't know." Then it is obvious that your life cannot have any organic
           unity in it. You don't have any sense of direction. You have been misguided. But -- it is never too
           late. You can take possession of your life any moment. If you decide, then the first thing is: don't
           listen to the parental voice within you, don't listen to the school-teacher's voice within you.
                You can do a small technique to get rid of all this. You can just sit on your bed every night
           before you go to sleep, close your eyes, and just try to feel: whatsoever you want, is it your own?
           that wanting, that desiring. And try to find out, try to check it out, to whom that voice belongs.
                If you listen silently you will be surprised: your mother is saying, "Become a doctor!" And you
           will be able to know exactly who is saying this. Your father is saying, "Become rich!" Your brother
           is saying something else, your teachers are saying something else, your neighbors are saying
           something else.
                And not only that: your father is saying something with his lips and another thing with his eyes;
           saying one thing, meaning another thing. He says, "Be honest, be true!" and you know he himself is
           not honest and is not true. And you can see it in his eyes -- children are very perceptive. They look
           deep; their eyes go very deep, they can penetrate -- they can see the father is Lying. He himself is not
           honest, he himself is not true.
                It happens: he is inside the house and somebody knocks at the door, and he sends the child to tell
           him that the father has gone out. He lies! The father is saying, "Don't beat your small brother -- you
           are stronger, you are bigger," and the father goes on beating him himself -- and he is very strong and
           very big, and takes every advantage that he can. One thing he is saying, another thing the child is
           reading. He goes on reading the indirect message.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In the school something is taught, and life needs something else. Confusion arises, conflict
           arises, contradictions go on getting together, and then they pull you in different directions -- then you
           are no longer together, your unity is lost. A child is born as an organic unity. By the time you have
           become young, you are no more an individual, you are no more a unity. You are a crowd, a mad
           crowd.
                This you have to understand: it is something that you have learnt from others. And remember --
           one of the basic truths of life -- that which you have learnt can be unlearnt. That which you have
           learnt from others is nothing natural to you: you can erase it. Just a conscious awareness is needed; it
           can be erased and the slate can become clean again.
                So the first thing is to erase all that has been forced on you, and only then will you be able to
           listen to your own heart's voice.
                Many people come to me and they say, "How to distinguish what is what -- what is mind's voice
           and what is heart's voice?" It is difficult to distinguish right now: first you have to clean the mind.
           The heart's voice is very still and very small. The mind's is very noisy: it goes on shouting things.
           The heart whispers. The mind shouts.
                Your father used to shout at you. Your mother used to shout at you. The teachers in the school
           used to shout at you. The mind shouts. God speaks in whispers. First this shouting has to be dropped,
           otherwise it is very difficult. And many people have followed Dr. Daniel Gottlieb Schreber's
           methods. They have put their voice in you at such an early stage that it seems as if it is your own
           heart's voice.
                One thing is certain: you can never become anything other than yourself, and unless you become
           yourself you cannot be happy. Happiness happens only when a rosebush grows roseflowers; when it
           flowers, when it has its own individuality. You may be a rosebush and trying to flower as lotus
           flower -- that is creating insanity.
                Erase the mind. And the way to erase it is not by fight: the way to erase it is just to become
           aware.
                Every night for at least one hour, sit in your bed and just watch from where you hear something
           -- just go to the very roots of it. Trace it out, go backwards, find out from where it comes. You will
           always find the source, and the moment you have found the source you will feel an unburdening.
           Suddenly it is no more yours -- now you are not deceived by it.
                It is slow work, but if you work, after a few months you will be feeling so clean -- your book
           clean, nobody else writing in it. Then, only then will you be able to hear that still small voice. And
           once you hear it, the very hearing is like a sudden clash of thunder. Suddenly you are together,
           suddenly you have a direction -- suddenly you know where your gold is. And then you don't see
           anybody; you simply go like an arrow towards your destiny.

               IT IS very easy to follow your parents, it is very easy to follow your teachers, it is very easy to
           follow the society, it is very easy to be obedient -- to be rebellious, to be on your own, is very
           difficult. But growth comes the hard way.
           Let me tell you one small anecdote to end with:

               There was once a farmer who, after a poor crop, complained: "If God would only let me control
           the weather, everything would be better, because He apparently does not know very much about
           farming."

              That's true! Nobody has ever heard about God being a farmer -- how can He know?

              The Lord said to him: "For one year I will give you control of the weather; ask for whatever you
           wish and you will get it."

           In the old days God used to do that. Then He got fed up.

               The poor man became very happy and immediately said, "Now I want sun," and the sun came
           out. Later he said, "Let the rain fall," and it rained. For a whole year first the sun shone and then it
           rained. The seed grew and grew, it was a pleasure to watch it. "Now God can understand how to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           control the weather," he said proudly. The crop had never been so big, so green, such a luscious
           green.
               Then it was time to harvest. The farmer took his sickle to cut the wheat, but his heart sank. The
           stalks were practically empty. The Lord came and asked him, "How is your crop? "
           The man complained, "Poor, my Lord, very poor!"
               "But didn't you control the weather? Didn't everything you wanted turn out all right?"
               "Of course! and that is the reason I am perplexed -- I got the rain and the sunshine I asked for,
           but there is no crop."
               Then the Lord said, "But have you never asked for wind, storms, ice and snow, and everything
           that purifies the air and makes the roots hard and resistant? You asked for rain and sunshine, but not
           for bad weather. That's the reason there is no crop.

                Life is possible only through challenges. Life is possible only when you have both good weather
           and bad weather, when you have both pleasure and pain, when you have both winter and summer,
           day and night. When you have both sadness and happiness, discomfort and comfort. Life moves
           between these two polarities.
                Moving between these two polarities you learn how to balance. Between these two wings you
           learn how to fly to the farthest star.
                If you choose comfort, convenience, you choose death. That's how you have missed real
           happiness: you have chosen convenience instead. It is very convenient to follow the parental voice,
           convenient to follow the priest, convenient to follow the church, convenient to follow the society and
           the state. It is very easy to say yes to all these authorities -- but then you never grow. You are trying
           to get life's treasure too cheap. It requires that you have to pay for it.
                Be an individual and pay for it. In fact, if you get something without paying for it, don't accept it
           -- that is insulting to you. DON'T accept it; that is below you. Say: "I will pay for it -- only then will
           I accept it." In fact, if something is given to you without your being ready for it, without your being
           capable for it, without your being receptive for it, you will not be able to possess it for long. You will
           lose it somewhere or other. You will not be able to appreciate its value.
                God never gives you anything cheap -- because given without any effort on your part, you will
           never be able to rejoice in it.
                Choose the hard way. And to be an individual is the hardest thing in the world, because nobody
           likes you to be an individual. Everybody wants to kill your individuality and to make a sheep out of
           you. Nobody wants you to be on your own. Hence, you go on missing happiness, you go on missing
           direction, and, naturally, meditation has become impossible, concentration seems to be almost
           non-existent. You cannot concentrate, you cannot meditate, you cannot be with anything for more
           than a split second. How can you be blissful?
                Choose your own destiny. I cannot show it to you, what your destiny is -- nobody else knows it,
           not even you. You have to sense it, and you have to move slowly.
                First, drop all that is borrowed on your being and then you will be able to feel. It always leads
           you to the right place, to the right goal. The thing that you call conscience right now, it is not your
           conscience. It is a substitute -- pseudo-conscience, fake, counterfeit. Drop it! and by its very
           dropping, you will be able to see hidden behind it your real conscience which has been waiting for
           you. Once that conscience comes into your consciousness your life has a direction, meditation
           follows you like a shadow.
           Yes, that man was right. He said:

              "AT THE TIME WHEN I TOOK IT I DID NOT SEE THE PEOPLE -- I ONLY SAW THE GOLD."


              When you have felt and sensed your destiny, you see only your destiny, you see only the gold.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                        A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                    Chapter #8
                                      Chapter title: Choicelessness is Bliss
           18 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608180
              ShortTitle: THUNDE08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 85 mins


The first question:


              "ONLY COMPASSION IS THERAPEUTIC" YOU SAID. COULD YOU COMMENT ON THE WORD
              'COMPASSION', COMPASSION FOR ONESELF AND COMPASSION FOR THE OTHER?


               YES, only compassion is therapeutic -- because all that is ill in man is because of lack of love.
           All that is wrong with man is somewhere associated with love. He has not been able to love, or he
           has not been able to receive love. He has not been able to share his being. That's the misery. That
           creates all sorts of complexes inside.
               Those wounds inside can surface in many ways: they can become physical illness, they can
           become mental illness -- but deep down man suffers from lack of love. Just as food is needed for the
           body, love is needed for the soul. The body cannot survive without food, and the soul cannot survive
           without love. In fact, without love the soul is never born -- there is no question of its survival.
               You simply think that you have a soul; you believe that you have a soul because of your fear of
           death. But you have not known unless you have loved. Only in love does one come to feel that one is
           more than the body, more than the mind.
               That's why I say compassion is therapeutic. What is compassion? Compassion is the purest form
           of love. Sex is the lowest form of love, compassion the highest form of love. In sex the contact is
           basically physical; in compassion the contact is basically spiritual. In love, compassion and sex are
           both mixed, the physical and the spiritual are both mixed. Love is midway between sex and
           compassion.
               You can call compassion prayer also. You can call compassion meditation also. The highest form
           of energy is compassion. The word 'compassion' is beautiful: half of it is 'passion' -- somehow
           passion has become so refined that it is no more like passion. It has become compassion.
               In sex, you use the other, you reduce the other to a means, you reduce the other to a thing. That's
           why in a sexual relationship you feel guilty. That guilt has nothing to do with religious teachings;
           that guilt is deeper than religious teachings. In a sexual relationship as such you feel guilty. You feel
           guilty because you are reducing a human being to a thing, to a commodity to be used and thrown
           away.
               That's why in sex you also feel a sort of bondage -- you are also being reduced to a thing. And
           when you are a thing your freedom disappears, because your freedom exists only when you are a
           person. The more you are a person, the more free; the more you are a thing, the less free.
               The furniture in your room is not free. If you leave the room locked and you come after many
           years, the furniture will be in the same place, in the same way; it will not arrange itself in a new way.
           It has no freedom. But if you leave a man in the room, you will not find him the same -- not even the
           next day -- not even the next moment. You cannot find the same man again.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Says old Heraclitus: YOU CANNOT STEP IN THE SAME RIVER TWICE. You cannot come
           across the same man again. It is impossible to meet the same man twice -- because man is a river,
           continuously flowing. You never know what is going to happen. The future remains open.
               For a thing, future is closed. A rock will remain a rock, will remain a rock. It has no potentiality
           for growth. It cannot change, it cannot evolve. A man never remains the same. May fall back, may
           go ahead; may go into hell or into heaven -- but never remains the same. Goes on moving, this way
           or that.
               When you have a sexual relationship with somebody, you have reduced that somebody to a
           thing. And in reducing him you have reduced yourself also to a thing, because it is a mutual
           compromise that 'I allow you to reduce me to a thing, you allow me to reduce you to a thing. I allow
           you to use me, you allow me to use you. We use each other. We both have become things.'
               That's why... watch two lovers: when they have not yet settled. the romance is still alive, the
           honeymoon has not ended and you will see two persons throbbing with life, ready to explode --
           ready to explode the unknown. And then watch a married couple, the husband and the wife, and you
           will see two dead things, two graveyards, side by side -- helping each other to remain dead, forcing
           each other to remain dead. That is the constant conflict of the marriage. Nobody wants to be reduced
           to a thing!
               Sex is the lowest form of that energy 'X'. If you are religious, call it 'God'; if you are scientific,
           call it 'X'. This energy, X, can become love. When it becomes love, then you start respecting the
           other person. Yes. sometimes you use the other person, but you feel thankful for it. You never say
           thank-you to a thing. When you are in love with a woman and you make love to her, you say
           thank-you. When you make love to your wife, have you ever said thank-you? No, you take it for
           granted. Has your wife said thank-you to you ever? Maybe, many years before, you can remember
           some time when you were just undecided, were just trying, courting, seducing each other -- maybe.
           But once you were settled, has she said thank-you to you for anything? You have been doing so
           many things for her, she has been doing so many things for you, you are both living for each other --
           but gratitude has disappeared.
               In love, there is gratitude, there is a deep gratefulness. You know that the other is not a thing.
           You know that the other has a grandeur, a personality, a soul, an individuality. In love you give total
           freedom to the other. Of course, you give and you take; it is a give-and-take relationship -- but with
           respect.
               In sex, it is a give-and-take relationship with no respect. In compassion, you simply give. There
           is no idea anywhere in your mind to get anything back -- you simply share. Not that nothing comes!
           millionfold it is returned, but that is just by the way, just a natural consequence. There is no
           hankering for it.
               In love, if you give something, deep down you go on expecting that it should be returned. If it is
           not returned, you feel complaining. You may not say so, but in a thousand and one ways it can be
           inferred that you are grumbling, that you are feeling that you have been cheated. Love seems to be a
           subtle bargain.
               In compassion, you simply give. In love, you are thankful because the other has given something
           to you. In compassion, you are thankful because the other has taken something from you; you are
           thankful because the other has not rejected you. You had come with energy to give, you had come
           with many flowers to share, and the other allowed you, the other was receptive. You are thankful
           because the other was receptive.
               Compassion is the highest form of love. Much comes back -- millionfold, I say -- but that is not
           the point, you don't hanker for it. If it is not coming there is no complaint about it. If it is coming you
           are simply surprised! If it is coming, it is unbelievable. If it is not coming there is no problem -- you
           had never given your heart to somebody for any bargain. You simply shower because you have. You
           have so much that if you don't shower you will become burdened. Just like a cloud full of rainwater
           has to shower. And next time when a cloud is showering watch silently, and you will always hear,
           when the cloud has showered and the earth has absorbed, you will always hear the cloud saying to
           the earth "Thank-you." The earth helped the cloud to unburden.
               When a flower has bloomed, it has to share its fragrance to the winds. It is natural! It is not a
           bargain, it is not a business -- it is simply natural! The flower is full of fragrance -- what to do? If the
           flower keeps the fragrance to itself then the flower will feel very, very tense, in deep anguish. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           greatest anguish in life is when you cannot express, when you cannot communicate, when you
           cannot share. The poorest man is he who has nothing to share, or who has something to share but has
           lost the capacity, the art, of how to share it -- then a man is poor.
                The sexual man is very poor. The loving man is richer comparatively. The man of compassion is
           the richest -- he is at the top of the world. He has no confinement, no limitation. He simply gives and
           goes on his way. He does not even wait for you to say a thank-you. With tremendous love he shares
           his energy.
           This is what I call therapeutic.
                Christians believe that Jesus did many miracles. I cannot see him doing any miracle. The miracle
           was his compassion. If anything happened, it happened without his doing it. If anything ever
           happens in the highest plane of being, it always happens without any effort. He moved; many sorts
           of people came to him. He was there like a tremendous pool of energy -- anybody who was ready to
           share, shared.
                Miracles happened! He was therapeutic. He was one of the greatest healers the world has ever
           known. Buddha, or Mahavir, or Krishna -- they are all great healers, on different levels. Yes, you
           cannot find in Buddha's life any miracle of healing an ill person, or healing a blind man, or bringing
           a dead person to life. You will be surprised: Was Jesus' compassion more than Buddha's? What
           happened? Why were many people not healed through Buddha's energy? No. It is not a question of
           more or less. Buddha's compassion functioned on a different level. He had a different type of
           audience and a different type of people around him from Jesus.
                It always happens -- almost always -- I go on watching: continuously a stream of people comes
           to me from the West -- they never ask anything about their bodies. They don't come to me and say, "I
           have a constant headache. Osho, help me, do something!" Or, "My eyes are weak," or, "My
           concentration is not good," or, "My memory is being lost" -- no, never. But Indians come and always
           something of the physical they bring. Mm? They have had an upset stomach for many years --
           "Osho, do something!"
                Almost always I feel: Why? What has happened to India? Why do these people come only for
           some bodily, physical problems? They have only those problems. A poor country, a very poor
           country, has no spiritual problems. A rich country has spiritual problems; a poor country has
           physical problems.
                Buddha's time in India was the golden age. That was the time for India at its peak. The country
           was rich, tremendously rich, affluent. The whole world was poor, and India was very rich. The
           people coming to Buddha were bringing spiritual problems. Yes, they were also bringing wounds,
           but they were spiritual wounds.
                Jesus moved in a very poor country, lived in a very poor country. The people who were coming
           to him had no spiritual problems, in fact, because to have a spiritual problem you have to attain to a
           certain standard of living. Otherwise, your problems go on being of the lower levels. A poor man has
           a problem.
                Just a few days before, one of my relatives was here. For one month he was here, meditating,
           doing things. And then on the last day I was hoping he would ask something meaningful. What did
           he ask? He asked that his son is not doing well. Living one month here, listening to me for one
           month, this was the only question that came to his mind: his son is not doing well. He drives a taxi,
           and they have purchased such a car that every day there is some problem or other -- "Osho, do
           something!" I am not a car mechanic! So I told him, "Sell that car!" He said, "Nobody will purchase
           it, so do something!"
                When people are poor, their problems are of the world. When people are rich, their problems are
           of a higher quality. Only an affluent country can be really spiritual; a poor country cannot be. I am
           not saying that a poor man cannot be -- yes, a poor man can be, exceptions are there -- but a poor
           country cannot be. A poor country, on the whole, thinks in terms of money, medicine, house, car,
           this and that. And it is natural, it is logical!
                Jesus moved in a very poor world. People were seeking their own solutions. Many were helped --
           not that Jesus was helping -- they were helped. And Jesus says again and again: "It is your faith that
           has healed you." When you have faith, compassion can pour into you. When you have faith, you are
           open to compassion. Buddha did miracles, but those miracles are of the invisible. Mahavir did
           miracles, but those miracles are of the invisible. You cannot see them -- they can only be seen by the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           person to whom they have happened.
                But compassion is always therapeutic; whatsoever your level, it helps you. Compassion is love
           purified -- so much so that you simply give and don't ask anything in return.
                Buddha used to say to his disciples, "After each meditation, be compassionate -- immediately --
           because when you meditate, love grows, the heart becomes full. After each meditation, feel
           compassion for the whole world so that you share your love and you release the energy into the
           atmosphere and that energy can be used by others."
                I would also like to say that to you: After each meditation, when you are celebrating, have
           compassion. Just feel that your energy should go and help people in whatsoever ways they need it.
           Just release it! You will be unburdened, you will feel very relaxed, you will feel very calm and quiet,
           and the vibrations that you have released will help many. End your meditations always with
           compassion.
                And compassion is unconditional. You cannot have compassion only for those who are friendly
           towards you, only for those who are related to you.
                It happened in China: When Bodhidharma went to China, a man came to him. He said, "I have
           followed your teachings: I meditate and then I feel compassion for the whole universe -- not only for
           men, but for animals, for rocks and rivers also. But there is one problem: I cannot feel compassion
           for my neighbor. No -- it is impossible! So you please tell me: can I exclude my neighbor from my
           compassion? I include the whole existence, known, unknown, but can I exclude my neighbor? --
           because it is very difficult, impossible. I cannot feel compassion for him."
                Bodhidharma said, "Then forget about meditation, because if compassion excludes anybody then
           it is no more there."
                Compassion is all-inclusive -- intrinsically all-inclusive. So if you cannot feel compassion for
           your neighbor~ then forget all about meditation -- because it has nothing to do with somebody in
           particular. It has something to do with your inner state. Be compassion! unconditionally, undirected,
           unaddressed. Then you become a healing force into this world of misery.
                Jesus says: "Love thy neighbor as thyself" -- again and again. And he also says: "Love thy enemy
           as thyself." And if you analyze both the sentences together, you will come to find that the neighbor
           and the enemy are almost always the same person. "Love thy neighbor as thyself" and "Love thy
           enemy as thyself." What does he mean?
                He simply means: don't have any barriers for your compassion, for your love. As you love
           yourself, love the whole existence -- because in the ultimate analysis the whole existence is yourself.
           It is you -- reflected in many mirrors. It is you -- it is not separate from you. Your neighbor is just a
           form of you; your enemy is also a form of you. Whatsoever you come across, you come across
           yourself. You may not recognize because you are not very alert; you may not be able to see yourself
           in the other, but then something is wrong with your vision, something is wrong with your eyes.

               COMPASSION is therapeutic. "Could you comment on the word 'compassion', compassion for
           oneself and compassion for the other?"
               Yes, you have to understand that to be compassionate one has to have compassion for oneself in
           the first place. If you don't love yourself you will never be able to love anybody else. If you are not
           kind to yourself you cannot be kind to anybody else. Your so-called saints who are so very hard on
           themselves are just pretenders that they are kind to others. It is not possible. Psychologically it is
           impossible. If you cannot be kind to yourself, how can you be kind to others?
               Whatsoever you are with yourself you are with others. Let that be a basic dictum. If you hate
           yourself you will hate others -- and you have been taught to hate yourself. Nobody has ever said to
           you, "Love yourself!" The very idea seems absurd -- loving oneself? The very idea makes no sense --
           loving oneself? We always think that to love one needs somebody else. But if you don't learn it with
           yourself you will not be able to practise it with others.
               You have been told, constantly conditioned, that you are not of any worth. From every direction
           you have been shown, you have been told, that you are unworthy, that you are not what you should
           be, that you are not accepted as you are. There are many shoulds hanging over your head -- and those
           shoulds are almost impossible to fulfill. And when you cannot fulfill them, when you fall short, you
           feel condemned. A deep hatred arises in you about yourself.
               How can you love others? So full of hatred, where are you going to find love? So you only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pretend, you only show that you are in love. Deep down you are not in love with anybody -- you
           cannot be. Those pretensions are good for a few days, then the color disappears, then reality asserts
           itself.
                Every love-affair is on the rocks. Sooner or later, every love-affair becomes very poisoned. And
           how does it become so poisoned? Both pretend that they are loving, both go on saying that they love.
           The father says he loves the child; the child says he loves the father. The mother says she loves her
           daughter, and the daughter goes on saying the same thing. Brothers say they love each other. The
           whole world talks about love, sings about love -- and can you find any other place so loveless? Not
           an iota of love exists -- and mountains of talk! Himalayas of poetry about love.
                It seems all these poetries are just compensations. Because we cannot love, we have somehow to
           believe through poetry, singing, that we love. What we miss in life we put in poetry. What we go on
           missing in life, we put in the film, in the novel. Love is absolutely absent, because the first step has
           not been taken yet.
                The first step is: accept yourself as you are; drop all shoulds. Don't carry any ought on your
           heart! You are not to be somebody else; you are not expected to do something which doesn't belong
           to you -- you are just to be yourself. Relax! and just be yourself. Be respectful to your individuality.
           and have the courage to sign your own signature. Don't go on copying others signatures.
                You are not expected to become a Jesus or a Buddha or a Ramakrishna -- you are simply
           expected to become yourself. It was good that Ramakrishna never tried to become somebody else, so
           he became Ramakrishna. It was good that Jesus never tried to become like Abraham or Moses, so he
           became Jesus. It is good that Buddha never tried to become a Patanjali or Krishna -- that's why he
           became a Buddha.
                When you are not trying to become anybody else, then you simply relax -- then a grace arises.
           Then you are full of grandeur, splendor, harmony -- because then there is no conflict! nowhere to go,
           nothing to fight for; nothing to force, enforce upon yourself violently. You become innocent.
                In that innocence you will feel compassion and love for yourself. You will feel so happy with
           yourself that even if God comes and knocks at your door and says, "Would you like to become
           somebody else?" you will say, "Have you gone mad?! I am perfect! Thank-you, but never try
           anything like that -- I am perfect as I am."
                The moment you can say to God, "I am perfect as I am, I am happy as I am, "this is w hat in the
           East we call shraddha -- trust; then you have accepted yourself and in accepting yourself you have
           accepted your creator. Denying yourself you deny your creator.
                If you go and see a painting of Picasso's and you say, "This is wrong and that is wrong, and this
           color should have been this way," you are denying Picasso. The moment you say, "I should be like
           this," you are trying to improve upon God. You are saying, "You committed blunders -- I should
           have been like this, and you have made me like this?" You are trying to improve upon God. It is not
           possible. Your struggle is in vain -- you are doomed to failure.
                And the more you fail, the more you hate. The more you fail, the more you feel condemned. The
           more you fail, the more you feel yourself impotent. And out of this hatred, impotency, how can
           compassion arise? Compassion arises when you are perfectly grounded in your being. You say,
           "Yes, this is the way I am." You have no ideals to fulfill. And immediately fulfillment starts
           happening!
                The roses bloom so beautifully because they are not trying to become lotuses. And the lotuses
           bloom so beautifully because they have not heard the legends about other flowers. Everything in
           nature goes so beautifully in accord, because nobody is trying to compete with anybody, nobody is
           trying to become anybody else. Everything is the way it is.
                Just see the point! Just be yourself and remember you cannot be anything else, whatsoever you
           do. All effort is futile. You have to be just yourself.
                There are only two ways. One is: rejecting, you can remain the same; condemning. you can
           remain the same; or: accepting, surrendering, enjoying, delighting, you can be the same. Your
           attitude can be different, but you are going to remain the way you are, the person you are. Once you
           accept, compassion arises. And then you start accepting others!
                Have you watched it? -- it is very difficult to live with a saint, very difficult. You can live with a
           sinner; you cannot live with a saint -- because a saint will be condemning you continuously: by his
           gesture, by his eyes, the way he will look at you, the way he will talk at you. A saint never talks with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you -- he talks at you. He never just looks at you; he has always some ideals in his eyes, clouding.
           He never sees you. He has something far away and he goes on comparing you with it -- and, of
           course, you always fall short. His very look makes you a sinner. It is very difficult to live with a saint
           -- because he does not accept himself, how can he accept you? He has many things in him. jarring
           notes he feels. he has to go beyond. Of course, he sees the same things in you in a magnified way.
                But to me only that person is a saint who has accepted himself, and in his acceptance has
           accepted the whole world. To me, that state of mind is what sainthood is: the state of total
           acceptance. And that is healing, therapeutic. Mm? -- just being with somebody who accepts you
           totally is therapeutic. You will be healed.
                As life is.... I divide it in three parts: breakfast, Lunch, supper. The childhood is the
           breakfast-time. And as it happens if you have not been given your breakfast today, you will feel
           very, very hungry, out of all proportion, at lunchtime. And if you have missed lunch also, then of
           course at supper you will be almost mad. Love is food -- that's why I divide life in three: breakfast,
           lunch, supper.
                Love is food: food for the soul. When a child sucks at his mother's breast for the first time, he is
           sucking two things, not only milk -- milk is going into his body and love is going into his soul. Love
           is invisible, just as soul is invisible; milk is visible just as body is visible. If you have eyes to see,
           you can see two things together dripping into the child's being from the mother's breast. Milk is just
           the visible part of love; love is the invisible part of milk -- the warmth, the love, the compassion, the
           blessing.
                If the child has missed at his breakfast, then when he is young he will be too needy for love --
           and that creates trouble. Then he will be too impatient for love -- that creates trouble. Then he will be
           in such a hurry for love -- that creates trouble. Because love grows very slowly, it needs patience.
           And the more you are in a hurry, the more is the possibility that you will miss.
                Have you watched it in yourself and in others? The people who are too much in need of love
           always suffer, because they always feel that nobody is going to fulfill them. In fact, nobody is going
           to be their mother again. In a mother-child relationship, nothing was expected from the child. What
           can a child do? -- helpless. He cannot return anything. At the most he can smile -- that's all -- or
           follow with his eyes where the mother is going -- that s all. Small, beautiful gestures -- but nothing
           else can he do. The mother has to give, the child has to receive.
                If at breakfast-time you have missed this, then you will be looking for a woman who can be your
           mother. Now, a woman is looking for a lover, not for a son -- trouble is bound to be there. Unless by
           chance, by accident, you can find some woman who is looking for a son -- then things will settle;
           then two illnesses will fit together.
                It always happens: a pessimist always finds an optimist to fit; a sadist always finds a masochist to
           fit; a dominating person always finds one who is in need of being dominated, then they fit. You
           cannot find two masochists living together, never. I have watched thousands of couples: up to now I
           have not been able to come to a single couple in which both the partners are sadists or both the
           partners are masochists. It is impossible to live together -- they have to fit. Only opposites fit, and
           people always fall in love with the opposite.
                If you can meet a woman who is in search of a son... that too is ugly, that too is ill, because a
           woman naturally should be seeking a lover, not a child. And this is the problem, and the problem
           becomes more complicated: even if she is looking for a son, she is unaware of it; and even if you are
           looking for a mother, you are unaware of it. In fact, if a woman tries to mother you, you will feel
           hurt. You will say, "What are you doing? Am I a child?" And you are looking for a mother.
           Thousands, millions of people are looking for a mother.
                That's why man seems so much interested in women's breasts -- otherwise there is no need to be
           so much interested in women's breasts. The interest simply shows that in your childhood, at your
           breakfast-time, you have missed something. It continues, it hovers on your mind, it haunts you.
           Breasts are for breakfast time. Now why do you go on thinking and painting -- mm?...
                Just a few days before, a painter was here and he brought a few of his paintings; just breasts and
           breasts. He became a sannyasin so I said to him, "Now at least you start to grow a little. This is
           childish!" And he has won many prizes; he is a world famous painter. His paintings have been
           exhibited all over the world: in New York, in London, in Paris. in Berlin, and everywhere. And he
           has been appreciated very much. Of course, must have been appreciated by other children! There is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no point in it.
                So I told him, "Do something else -- breakfast time is over! You are old enough to do something
           else."
           He said, "I will try."
                Now he sends a painting in which I am sitting in the middle -- and breasts and breasts all around.
           So not I am also part! He has tried his best, but difficult to get out of it.
                Watch deep down, because it is nothing of your responsibility, it is nothing to do with you -- you
           cannot change your mother now. It happened as it happened -- but you can become conscious. You
           can become conscious of all these things inside. And by becoming conscious a miracle happens. If
           you become conscious of these things, they start dropping. They can cling to you only in deep
           unconsciousness. A profound consciousness begins to be a transforming force.
                So just become conscious! If you have some childish attitudes towards love, become conscious,
           find out, search deep. And just by becoming conscious, they drop. So nothing else is needed. Not
           that first you have to become conscious and then you have to ask "What to do now?" The moment
           you become conscious they disappear -- because by becoming conscious you are becoming adult.
                A child is not conscious. A child lives in a deep unconsciousness. By becoming conscious you
           are becoming adult, mature, so all that was clinging in your unconsciousness will disappear. Just as
           you bring light in a room and the darkness disappears; bring consciousness deep in your heart.
                Then there are people who miss their lunch also. Then in their old age they become what you call
           'dirty old people'. hen in their old age they continuously think of sex and nothing else. They may not
           talk about sex in a direct way -- they may start talking against sex -- but they will talk about sex.
           Their being against makes no difference.
                You go and listen to the so-called saints in India, and you will always find them continuously
           talking against sex and praising brahmacharya. These people have even missed their lunch. Now
           suppertime has come -- and they are mad. Now they know that death is coming any moment. And
           when death is approaching near, and time is disappearing from their hands, if they become neurotic it
           seems natural.
                These neurotic people have stories in the old scriptures that when they meditate, apsaras --
           beautiful women from heaven -- descend. Naked they dance around them. Why should they do such
           a thing? Who is bothered about an old man sitting in the Himalayas meditating -- who is bothered?
           dead almost -- who is bothered? Those apsaras from heaven, they can find better people.
                In fact, so many people are chasing apsaras, how can they find time to chase rishis, these
           so-called saints? No, it has nothing to do with apsaras or with heaven or anything. It is just that
           these people have missed breakfast and lunch both. And by suppertime their imagination is playing
           tremendous games with them. It is their imagination, starved imagination.
                You do one thing: you just go on a fast for three weeks, and then everywhere you will start
           seeing food -- everywhere! Even you may see a full moon rushing into the sky and you will say it
           looks like bread, a chapati. That's how it will happen. You will start projecting, your imagination
           will be playing games with you.
                If this happens, then compassion never arises. Move slowly, alert, watching, be loving. If you are
           sexual I don't say drop sex: I say make it more alert, make it more prayerful, make it more profound,
           so that it can become love. If you are loving, then make it even more grateful; bring deeper gratitude,
           joy, celebration, prayer to it, meditation to it, so that it can become compassion.
                Unless compassion has happened to you, don't think that you have lived rightly or that you have
           lived at all. Compassion is the flowering. And when compassion happens to one person, millions are
           healed. Whosoever comes around him is healed. Compassion is therapeutic.

           The second question:

              EACH CENTER OPENING BRINGS A DIFFERENT JEWEL: KUNDALINI, BALANCE, LOVE,
              EXPRESSION, A DIAMOND MIND. THIS IS THE DILEMMA: WHICH TO CHOOSE? YOU SAY
              CHOICELESSNESS IS BLISS, BUT SOCIETY REWARDS SPECIALISTS. ALSO, ON THE
              CELLULAR LEVEL, THE EVOLUTION OF COMPLEX ORGANISMS ARISES OUT OF THE
              INCREASING SPECIALIZATION OF ITS CELLS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                YES, my emphasis is not to choose -- be choiceless. Because if you choose, you become narrow.
           Every choice narrows you down. Every choice says, "Now I will have a window to the sky, not the
           whole sky." Why? Why have a frame to the sky? The sky is frameless. When you stand at a window
           and look into the sky, you have falsified the sky -- because your window-frame looks as if it is
           framed on the sky. Then you have only a limited vision, narrow.
                Why be poor? Why not come out of the house and see the sky as it is -- infinite? To me, life is an
           infinite expanding energy. Don't make any choice!
                That's why I don't put sannyas against the world. I say be a sannyasin and be in the world,
           because a sannyasin, if he chooses the life of the monk and escapes from the world, will be poorer
           for that -- because the world has many things to give to you. It is a tremendously beautiful device of
           God's -- to help you grow, to give you challenges, to give you new adventures; to give you
           opportunities to test yourself, your awareness, your being.
                If you escape from the world you will be escaping from all these opportunities. Sitting in a cave
           in the Himalayas you will be very poor -- poor in the sense that you will not have richness of
           experience. And by and by you will become stupid. You will become silent -- that's true -- because
           there will be nothing to distract you. But that silence also is of the Himalayas, it is not yours. Come
           back to the world and in the marketplace you will see your silence has disappeared. It was not yours
           -- it was part of the Himalayan silence. You were deceived by yourself.
                When silence happens in the marketplace then it is true, then it is yours -- now nobody can take it
           away. Now no distraction can be a distraction to you. You can remain anywhere; whatsoever the
           situation, your silence will remain there as a deep substratum to your being. It is inner.
                So I don't say leave the world. I say be in the world and yet be beyond it -- so that you can have
           both the experiences of the sansari, the worldly, and the sannyasin, the other-worldly. When both are
           possible, why choose? Make life as big as possible. Don't narrow it down.
                "Each center opening brings a different jewel... the dilemma is which to choose."
                No, no need to choose any center. All the centers, all the seven chakras of the body, have to
           function well. All the centers of the body have to function in a unity, in an organic unity. From sex to
           sahasrar, from the first to the seventh, they should vibrate like an orchestra.
                You can choose one center. That's what people have done: some people have chosen the sex
           center -- they remain, around and around they go. They move in a circle. Their whole life remains
           just a process of sexuality -- very poor. I don't call them sinners; I simply call them very poor people.
           And poor by their own choice -- when more was possible.
                It is as if you have an aeroplane and you yoke bullocks to it and use it as a bullock-cart. You are
           poor -- not a sinner. You are simply foolish, stupid! Or you can use the aeroplane like a truck, like a
           bus -- a little better than the bullock-cart, but still you are foolish. Such a costly vehicle, and you are
           using it as a bus! A vehicle that can fly into the skies, you are using it as a truck on the road.
                That's what is happening. You have a beautiful orchestra within you, the full range, all the colors,
           all the notes -- all that is possible is possible within you, but you cling to one center: the sex.
           Somebody clings to some other center, somebody to some other. And then there are people who
           think: "Leave all this, and we should just remain in the ajna chakra -- in the third-eye center." That
           too is narrowing down your being. Better than being a bullock-cart but still you are a truck on the
           road.
                Then there are a few who think that they have to use only the sahasrar against all the six -- then
           again you are confining your being. Then you have an aeroplane, but you never get down on the
           earth. You are going to have a big accident sooner or later because sooner or later the gas will be
           finished, the petrol will not be there. Flying continuously is dangerous. Sometimes come back to the
           earth, down to earth; refill the petrol, rest, relax; get ready to fly again. That's the way.
                And the earth is beautiful -- as much as the sky. The stars are beautiful, but have you watched,
           sitting in an aeroplane? -- you cannot look very long in the sky, it is boring. It is beautiful, but it is
           monotonous. People start falling asleep sooner or later. They look outside the window for a little
           while and then they feel bored -- it is monotonous. Earth is tremendously beautiful, never
           monotonous. So many flowers, so many trees, so many birds, so many people.
                My emphasis is to live in all the seven centers together. Never lose contact with the lowest, and
           never avoid flying with the highest. Use all the centers! Then your wings will be in the sky and your
           roots will be in the earth. And a perfect man is a meeting of heaven and earth -- that's what Taoists
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say: a meeting of heaven and earth. That's what a perfect man is: meeting of the physical and the
           spiritual, meeting of the body and the soul, meeting of the world and renunciation, meeting of prose
           and poetry.

               AND THE questioner asks: "You say choicelessness is bliss but society rewards specialists."
           That's true -- society is not interested in your bliss: society is interested in its own efficiency. Society
           is not bothered whether you are ecstatic or not -- that is none of its business. Society wants you to be
           just efficient mechanisms, robots. Do the work that society wants you to do, and then the society is
           finished with you. What you do with your own being is none of its business.
               In fact, the society wants you not to do anything on your own, because that can become a
           distraction from efficiency. A man who is very happy cannot be so efficient -- because he is so
           bubbling with happiness that efficiency seems trivial. What does it matter whether you earn one
           thousand rupees a month or ten thousand rupees a month? If his needs are fulfilled, a happy man
           doesn't bother. He stops at a point; he is not obsessed with money.
               If a happy man sees that five days working is enough, then two days he rests -- goes fishing or to
           the mountains. If he sees that only two days working is enough, then he works two days -- in five
           days there are many more important things to do. He has to compose poetry, and he has to play his
           guitar, and he has to dance; and he has to just sit with friends and gossip; he has to meditate, pray,
           dance -- he has a thousand and one things. His work is a need he has to fulfill. He enjoys it, but he is
           not obsessed with it.
               A happy man is never a perfectionist. Only unhappy people are perfectionists, only unhappy
           people are obsessed with their work -- because that is the only way they can avoid themselves, they
           can avoid facing themselves. they can avoid encountering themselves. They are continuously
           working; late hours they will go on working; unless they fall asleep they go on working. Why?
           because they are afraid. If they stop work, then what to do? Then they are left to themselves and they
           cannot face themselves.
               Society is, of course, interested in specialists. And specialists, more or less, become inhuman --
           because they know too much about too little. Their whole vision becomes narrow, narrow, narrow.
           I have heard -- the story must belong to the twenty-first century:

               One man knocked at a doctor's, an eye specialist's office, and he said, "My left eye is hurting
           very much, and I cannot see rightly, my vision is blurred."
               The doctor said, "Excuse me, I am sorry, but I specialize only in right eyes. For the left eye you
           will have to go to some other specialist."

               Narrower and narrower goes on the path of the specialist. He never sees the tree; he only can see
           the leaf. The whole is lost in the part. And, of course, the part cannot exist without the whole. In fact,
           all divisions are arbitrary. The leaf is not separate from the branch; the branch is not separate from
           the tree; the tree is not separate from the roots; the roots are not separate from the earth. Everything
           is in organic unity. The specialist goes on dividing, and by and by those divisions, those
           demarcations, take on too much importance. A specialist becomes inhuman.
           I have heard:

                A doctor put an elderly man on a diet because of his weight problem. The man returned to his
           doctor in two months' time and he had lost dozens of pounds.
           The doctor was very pleased with the result.
                The patient said, "I feel so young. doctor. Only today I saw a girl's bare arm and I felt like biting
           it!"
           The doctor said, "You could have done. It's only about forty calories.'

              A specialist is a specialist. All specialization becomes basically inhuman. It loses track of the
           whole. But the society is interested in efficiency. So beware of the society.
              Society is not interested in your happiness, in your joy. The interest of the society is more
           production, efficiency, more work -- and don't ask for what, because they don't know for what. If you
           work hard they will say to create better situations -- for what? -- to work still harder. It is just like a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man who earns money and you ask him "For what?" He says, "To earn more money. "And then you
           earn more money, then what?" He says "To earn still more money." The thing seems to be vicious.
               The individual has totally different interests from the society, because the society has no soul.
           The society is soulless. And if you become too much a part of the society, it will reduce your soul
           also to a non-entity.
               Beware, before you have lost your whole opportunity. Don't be a slave. Follow society to the
           point you feel is needed, but always remain master of your own destiny.
           It happened:

               Abe Katz got a call from his stockbroker one day. "Abe, do I have a deal for you!" started the
           broker. 'It's an Indian copper mine and the shares are selling for only fifty cents apiece.'
           "Buy a thousand," ordered Abe.
               A few days later another call came in announcing the price had gone up to $1.00.
           "Looks good," said Abe. "Buy another thousand."
           A week went by before the broker was heard from.
               "Well, Abe, I'm sorry to tell you the stocks are down to twenty-five cents... what to do?"
           "Sell!" barked Abe.
           'To whom?" answered the broker.

                It is easy to purchase, it is difficult to sell. It is easy to become part of the society and get into the
           rut; it is difficult to get of it. And once you are in the rut, you start becoming afraid: What will
           happen if you get out of it.J You will lose money, you will lose this, you will lose that. But you are
           losing your life all the time!
                Life should be the supreme value. Nothing should be put above life. I call a man religious who
           puts life as the supreme value, and sacrifices everything to life, and never sacrifices his life to
           anything. Even if your country says, "The country is in difficulty -- sacrifice your life! Become a
           martyr!" don't be foolish. Life is the supreme value. No country has any right to sacrifice a single
           life. It is your life, and it is only yours.
                If your religion says you are a Mohammedan and says, "Fight Hindus! and sacrifice your life!" or
           you are a Hindu and Hinduism says, "Go and fight and kill the Mohammedans! Even if you are
           killed, don't be worried -- in heaven you will be paid well" -- don't listen to all that nonsense. Enough
           is enough! Much has happened on the earth, much suffering because of these people.
                Never sacrifice your life for anything! Sacrifice everything for life! Life is the ultimate goal --
           greater than any country. greater than any religion, greater than any god, greater than any scripture.
                But nobody is going to say that to you, no leader is going to say that to you, because then their
           whole business is gone. No priest is going to say that to you, because then their whole business is
           gone. That's why politicians and priests are very against me.
                If you understand me well, then do, become part of the society -- you are part of the society --
           but do only that which is needful, never get lost.

           The fourth question:

               HOW CAN I TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'NONDOING' AND BEING LAZY... AND IF
               'FLOATING' -- HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS?


                IT IS not difficult. Both have different tastes, and very clear-cut, very distinct. When you are
           lazy, it is a negative taste -- you simply feel you have no energy, you simply feel dull; you simply
           feel sleepy, you simply feel dead. When you are in a state of nondoing then you are full of energy --
           it is a very positive taste. You have full energy, overflowing. You are radiant, bubbling, vibrating.
           You are not sleepy, you are perfectly aware. You are not dead -- you are tremendously alive.
                So there is not a problem. You can just check in, and always continue to check. There is a
           possibility the mind can deceive you: it can rationalize laziness as non-doing. It can say "I have
           become a Zen master" or "I believe in Tao" -- but you arc not deceiving anybody else. You will be
           deceiving only yourself. So be alert.
                When you are lazy you will know it certainly. It is like a headache: how do you know when you
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have a headache? and when you don't have? You will say you simply know. It is self-evident. In the
           same way it is self-evident: if you are lazy you will feel sleepy, in a stupor -- no energy to do
           anything, no energy to be creative, no energy to go anywhere. Remember: no energy is the basic
           taste.
               When you are in a non-doing state, you are so full of energy that you want to go somewhere, but
           nowhere to go. The difference is not no energy but nowhere to go. You are so radiant, but what to
           do? You are sitting there overflowing. The energy goes on welling up, and goes on cleansing you, as
           if you are under a shower of energy -- fresh, you have taken a bath just now; sharp, intelligent,
           aware. The taste will tell you.
           Let me tell you one anecdote -- I loved it:

               Two big mountain lions were stalking through the jungle single file. Suddenly the rear lion took
           a big swipe with his tongue across the ass of the front lion.
           "Are you turning queer or something?" asked the front lion.
               "No," answered the back lion. "I just ate a Jew and I'm trying to get the taste out of my mouth."

               Now you know when you eat a Jew -- then the taste.... The taste will show. And the taste is so
           clear-cut and distinct that there is no question of confusion.

           The last question:

              THROUGH YOUR LECTURES YOU HAVE OFTEN UNDERTAKEN THE COMPARATIVE STUDY
              OF DIFFERENT ENLIGHTENED PERSONS OR INCARNATIONS -- OF COURSE, THAT OF THEIR
              PERSONALITIES. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO STUDY THE PERSONALITIES OF THE TWO LIVING
              ENLIGHTENED PERSONS -- RAJNEESH AND KRISHNAMURTI?


              Don't waste your time on these people -- they exist not!




                                       A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                    Chapter #9
                                     Chapter title: Laugh Your Way to God
           19 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608190
              ShortTitle: THUNDE09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 78 mins




              IN THE TANG DYNASTY THERE WAS A STOUT FELLOW WHO WAS CALLED THE HAPPY
              CHINAMAN, OR THE LAUGHING BUDDHA.
              THIS HOTEI HAD NO DESIRE TO CALL HIMSELF A ZEN MASTER, OR TO GATHER DISCIPLES
              AROUND HIM. INSTEAD HE WALKED THE STREETS WITH A SACK ON HIS BACK FULL OF
              CANDY, FRUIT AND DOUGHNUTS -- WHICH HE GAVE OUT TO THE CHILDREN WHO
              GATHERED AND PLAYED AROUND HIM.
              WHENEVER HE MET A ZEN DEVOTEE HE WOULD EXTEND HIS HAND AND SAY: "GIVE ME
              ONE PENNY." AND IF ANYONE ASKED HIM TO RETURN TO THE TEMPLE TO TEACH OTHERS,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AGAIN HE WOULD REPLY: "GIVE ME ONE PENNY."
              ONCE WHEN HE WAS AT HIS PLAY-WORK ANOTHER ZEN MASTER HAPPENED TO ALONG
              AND INQUIRED: "WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ZEN?" HOTEI IMMEDIATELY PLOPPED HIS
              SACK DOWN ON THE GROUND IN SILENT ANSWER.
              "THEN," ASKED THE OTHER, "WHAT IS THE ACTUALIZATION OF ZEN?" AT ONCE THE HAPPY
              CHINAMAN SWUNG THE SACK OVER HIS SHOULDER AND CONTINUED ON HIS WAY.


               LAUGHTER is the very essence of religion. Seriousness is never religious, cannot be religious.
           Seriousness is of the ego, part of the very disease. Laughter is egolessness.
               Yes, there is a difference between when you laugh and when a religious man laughs. The
           difference is that you laugh always about others -- the religious man laughs at himself, or at the
           whole ridiculousness of man's being.
               Religion cannot be anything other than a celebration of life. And the serious person becomes
           handicapped: he creates barriers. He cannot dance, he cannot sing, he cannot celebrate. The very
           dimension of celebration disappears from his life. He becomes desert-like. And if you are a desert,
           you can go on thinking and pretending that you are religious but you are not.
               You may be a sectarian, but not religious. You can be a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jain, a
           Mohammedan, but you cannot be religious. You believe in something, but you don't know anything.
           You believe in theories. A man too much burdened by theories becomes serious. A man who is
           unburdened, has no burden of theories over his being, starts laughing.
               The whole play of existence is so beautiful that laughter can be the only response to it. Only
           laughter can be the real prayer, gratitude.
               This Hotei is tremendously significant. Rarely has a man like Hotei walked on the earth. It is
           unfortunate -- more people should be like Hotei; more temples should be full of laughter, dancing,
           singing. If seriousness is lost, nothing is lost -- in fact, one becomes more healthy and whole. But if
           laughter is lost, everything is lost. Suddenly you lose the festivity of your being; you become
           colorless, monotonous, in a way dead. Then you energy is not streaming any more.
               Laughter is a flowering. If Buddha was the seed, then Hotei is the flower on the same tree. If
           Buddha is the roots, then Hotei is the flower on the same tree. And if you want to understand
           Buddha, try to understand Hotei. And it is right that people used to call him the Laughing Buddha.
           Buddha has come of age in Hotei. Buddha has laughed in Hotei. Enlightenment has come to its very
           crescendo.
               But it is difficult to understand Hotei. To understand him you will have to be in that festive
           dimension. If you are too much burdened with theories, concepts, notions, ideologies, theologies,
           philosophies, you will not be able to see what this Hotei is, what his significance is -- because he
           will laugh looking at you. He will laugh because he will not be able to believe that a man can be so
           foolish and so ridiculous.
               It is as if a man is just trying to live on a cookery book and has forgotten to cook food; just goes
           on studying books about food and how to prepare it and how not to prepare it, and argues this way
           and that -- and is all the time hungry, all the time dying, and has forgotten completely that one
           cannot live on books. That's what has happened: people are living on Bibles, Korans, Dhammapadas,
           Gitas -- they have completely forgotten that religion has to be lived. It is something that has to be
           digested. It is something that has to circulate in your blood, become your bones, your very marrow.
           You cannot just think about it. Thinking is the most superficial part of your being. You have to
           absorb it!

           This story has to be understood very deeply.
              IN THE T'ANG DYNASTY THERE WAS A STOUT FELLOW WHO WAS CALLED THE HAPPY
              CHINAMAN, OR THE LAUGHING BUDDHA.


               WHEN for the first time you hear the phrase 'laughing Buddha' it looks a little contradictory, a
           contradiction in terms. A Buddha and laughing? Not a single statue exists, not a single painting, not
           a single description, of Buddha as laughing. But that is not because Buddha never laughed -- that is
           because Indians are much too serious about religion.
               Maybe that is one of the basic reasons why Buddhism disappeared from India. India was too
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           serious, too intellectual, too full of theorizing. Buddha was very simple. His approach was not of the
           mind; his approach was of the existential being. And this country is the country of the pundits, the
           scholars, the learned men, the knowledgeable. If Buddha disappeared from this country, it seems
           natural.
                He was bringing a totally different dimension -- something very original; something very natural
           yet very original because man has forgotten it. He was doing a tremendous service to humanity. He
           was not a pundit, not a philosopher, not a metaphysician. He was a very simple being -- silent,
           happy, fully alive, living moment-to-moment.
                If you want to understand Buddha, go via Hotei. Hotei is his true disciple. It is very difficult,
           because whenever a man like Buddha happens immediately pundits and scholars gather around.
           because they get new material for their theorizing. Intellectuals immediately gather around. They
           have something new to philosophize about, to write about, to make scriptures of.
           It is said -- a very old story -- that once it happened:

              A man became Enlightened. The disciples of the Devil immediately went to the Devil, their
           master, and they said, "What are you doing sitting here? Run fast! Rush fast! One man has become
           Enlightened -- and we have to destroy his truth before it reaches to people, otherwise Hell will
           become empty, nobody will be coming to Hell. Everybody will go to Heaven, to Paradise, or to
           Moksha!"
              It is said that the Devil sitting there smiled silently. He said, "Don't be worried -- there is no
           hurry and no worry. Scholars have already reached there. They will destroy the truth. They do our
           work so perfectly that we need not be worried."

               Whenever a truth is born, a ray of light, suddenly scholars gather together -- intellectuals,
           professors, philosophers. theoreticians -- and they jump upon the truth, they crush it; they mould it
           into dead theories and scriptures. That which was alive becomes just a paper thing. The real rose
           disappears.
               Once I was staying in a Christian friend's house. I started looking into his Bible: there was a rose.
           He must have kept it in the Bible. Many years old -- dry, dead, crushed between the pages of the
           Bible. I started laughing. He came rushing from his bathroom. He said, "What! For what are you
           laughing? What has happened?"
               I said, "The same has happened to truth as has happened to this rose. Between the pages of your
           Bible, the rose has died. Now it is just a memory of something which was alive one day. Just a
           remembrance. All fragrance gone, all aliveness gone. It is as dead as a plastic flower or a paper
           flower. It has a history but it has no future. It has a past but it has no possibility. And the same has
           happened to truth. In the pages of the scriptures it has died."
               The Devil said, "Don't be worried. Take it easy -- If people have already reached there: the
           scholars, the professors; they will immediately crush it."
               When truth happens it is non-verbal, it is silent. It is so profound it cannot be expressed through
           words. Then sooner or later people will come who will put it into words, who will systematize it.
           And in their very systematization it is killed.
               Hotei lived a totally different life from an ordinary religious man. His whole life was nothing but
           a continuous laughter. It is said about Hotei that even sometimes in sleep he would start laughing. He
           had a big belly, and the belly would shake. Sardar Gurdayal Singh would have enjoyed meeting him,
           and Hotei would have enjoyed Sardar Gurdayal Singh. People would ask him, "Why are you
           laughing? and even in sleep!" Laughter was so natural to him that any and everything would help
           him to laugh. Then the w hole life, awake or asleep, is a comedy.
               You have turned life into a tragedy. You have made a tragic mess of your life. Even when you
           laugh, you don't laugh. Even when you pretend to laugh, the laughter is just forced, manipulated,
           managed. It is not coming from the heart, not at all from the belly. It is not something coming from
           your center; it is just something painted on the periphery. You laugh for reasons -- which have
           nothing to do with laughter.
               I have heard: In a small office, the boss was telling some old stale anecdote, which he had told
           many times. And everybody was laughing -- one has to laugh! They were all bored by it, but the boss
           is the boss, and when the boss tells a joke you have to laugh -- it is part of duty. Just one woman
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           typist was not laughing, was sitting straight, serious. The boss said, "What is the matter with you?
           Why are you not laughing?"
           She said, "I am leaving this month" -- then there is no point!
           It happened:

                Mulla Nasrudin listened very attentively while a stranger told a long story in the coffee-house.
           But the man spoke so indistinctly and muffed his punchline so badly that the story was not funny at
           all, and except for the Mulla no one laughed. But the Mulla laughed heartily.
                "Why did you laugh, Nasrudin?" I asked him afterwards when the stranger had left.
                "I always do," replied Nasrudin. "If you don't laugh, there is always the danger of their telling it
           over again."

               People have their own reasons. Even laughter is businesslike; even laughter is economic,
           political. Even laughter is not just laughter. All purity is lost. You cannot even laugh in a pure way,
           in a simple way, childlike. And if you cannot laugh in a pure way, you are losing something
           tremendously valuable. You are losing your virginity, your purity, your innocence.
               Watch a small child; watch his laughter -- so profound, comes from the very center. When a
           child is born, the first social activity that the child learns -- or maybe it is not right to say 'learns',
           because he brings it with himself -- is smiling. The first social activity. By smiling he becomes part
           of society. It seems very natural, spontaneous. Other things will come later on -- that is his first spark
           of being in the world, when he smiles. When a mother sees her child smiling, she becomes
           tremendously happy -- because that smile shows health, that smile shows intelligence, that smile
           shows that the child is not stupid, not retarded. That smile shows that the child is going to live, love,
           be happy. The mother is simply thrilled.
               Smiling is the first social activity, and should remain the basic social activity. One should go on
           laughing the whole of one's life. If you can laugh in all sorts of situations, you will become so
           capable of encountering them -- and that encounter will bring maturity to you. I am not saying don't
           weep. In fact, if you cannot laugh, you cannot weep. They go together; they are part of one
           phenomenon: of being true and authentic.
               There are millions of people whose tears have dried; their eyes have lost luster, depth; their eyes
           have lost water -- because they cannot weep, they cannot cry; tears cannot flow naturally. If laughter
           is crippled, tears are also crippled. Only a person who laughs well can weep well. And if you can
           weep and laugh well, you are alive. The dead man cannot laugh and cannot weep. The dead man can
           be serious. Watch: go and look at a corpse -- the dead man can be serious in a more skillful way than
           you can be. Only an alive man can laugh and weep and cry.
               These are moods of your inner being, these are climates -- enriching. But, by and by, everybody
           forgets. That which was natural in the beginning becomes unnatural. You need somebody to poke
           you into laughter, tickle you into laughter -- only then do you laugh. That's why so many jokes exist
           in the world.
               You may not have observed, but Jews have the best jokes in the world. And the reason is because
           they have lived in deeper misery than any other race. They had to create jokes, otherwise they would
           have been dead long before. They have passed through so much misery, they have been tortured
           down the centuries so much, they have been crushed, murdered -- they had to create a sense of the
           ridiculous. That has been a saving device. Hence, they have the most beautiful jokes. the funniest,
           the profoundest.
               What I am trying to show you is this: that we laugh only when there is some reason which is
           forcing us to laugh. A joke is told, and you laugh -- because a joke creates a certain excitement in
           you. The whole mechanism of a joke is: the story goes in one direction, and suddenly it takes a turn;
           the turn is so sudden, so drastic, that you could not have imagined it. Excitement grows and you are
           waiting for the punchline. And then suddenly, whatsoever you were expecting is never there --
           something absolutely different, something very absurd and ridiculous, never fulfilling your
           expectation.
               A joke is never logical. If a joke is logical it will lose all its sense of laughter, the quality of
           laughter, because then you will be able to predict. Then by the time the joke is being said, you will
           have reached the punchline because it will be a syllogism, it will be simple arithmetic. But then it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will not have any laughter. A joke takes a sudden turn, so sudden that it was almost impossible for
           you to imagine it, to infer it. It takes a jump, a leap, a quantum leap -- and that's why it releases so
           much laughter. It is a subtle psychological way to tickle you.
               I have to tell jokes because I am afraid -- you are all religious people. You tend to be serious. I
           have to tickle you so sometimes you forget your religiousness, you forget all your philosophies,
           theories, systems, and you fall down to earth. I have to bring you back to the earth again and again,
           otherwise you will tend to become serious, more and more serious. And seriousness is a canceric
           growth.
           Much you can learn from Hotei.
              IN THE T'ANG DYNASTY THERE WAS A STOUT FELLOW WHO WAS CALLED THE HAPPY
              CHINAMAN...


                HE MUST have been stout, he laughed so much. Laughter brings strength. Now, even medical
           science says that laughter is one of the most deep-going medicines nature has provided man with. If
           you can laugh when you are ill you will get your health back sooner. If you cannot laugh, even if you
           are healthy, sooner or later you will lose your health and you will become ill.
                Laughter brings some energy from your inner source to your surface. Energy starts flowing,
           follows laughter like a shadow. Have you watched it? When you really laugh, for those few moments
           you are in a deep meditative state. Thinking stops. It is impossible to laugh and think together. They
           are diametrically opposite: either you can laugh or you can think. If you really laugh, thinking stops.
           If you are still thinking, laughter will be just so-so, it will be just so-so, lagging behind. It will be a
           crippled laughter.
                When you really laugh, suddenly mind disappears. And the whole Zen methodology is how to
           get into no-mind -- laughter is one of the beautiful doors to get to it.
                As far as I know, dancing and laughter are the best, natural, easily approachable doors. If you
           really dance, thinking stops. You go on and on, you whirl and whirl, and you become a whirlpool --
           all boundaries, all divisions are lost. You don't even know where your body ends and where the
           existence begins. You melt into existence and the existence melts into you; there is an overlapping of
           boundaries. And if you are really dancing -- not managing it but allowing it to manage you, allowing
           it to possess you -- if you are possessed by dance, thinking stops.
                The same happens with laughter. If you are possessed by laughter, thinking stops. And if you
           know a few moments of no-mind, those glimpses will promise you many more rewards that are
           going to come. You just have to become more and more of the sort, of the quality, of no-mind. More
           and more, thinking has to be dropped.
                Laughter can be a beautiful introduction to a non-thinking state. And the beauty is.... There are
           methods -- for example, you can concentrate on a flame or on a black dot, or you can concentrate on
           a mantra, but the greater possibility is that by the time the mind is disappearing you will start feeling
           sleepy, you will fall asleep. Because before the mind disappears there open two alternatives: sleep --
           sushupti -- and samadhi: sleep and satori.
                When thinking disappears, these are the two alternatives left: either you move into satori -- a
           fully alert, no-thought state; or a fully asleep, no-thought state -- sleep. And sleep is more natural,
           because you have practised it long. If you live sixty years, twenty years you have been asleep. It is
           the greatest activity that you have been doing; one third of your life is spent in sleep. In no other
           exercise do you spend so much time and so much energy.
                So if you are doing TM-type meditations, repeating a mantra, by the time the mantra helps you to
           become non-thinking, immediately sleep will possess you. Hence, I call TM a sort of tranquillizer.
           And that is the appeal in America for Maharishi and his method, because America is the only
           country which is suffering from sleeplessness so tremendously. Insomnia has become almost
           common.
                If after forty you have not started suffering from insomnia, that simply means that you are a
           failure, that you could not succeed -- in business, in politics. In power you couldn't succeed; you are
           a failure. All successful people suffer from insomnia, have to suffer. They suffer from ulcers, have to
           suffer. So remember: insomnia, ulcers and things like that are nothing but certificates of success --
           that you have succeeded.
                TM has an appeal for the American mind, because repeating a mantra -- monotonous, the same
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           again and again -- the mind loses interest in it, starts falling asleep. That's the beauty of laughter: you
           cannot fall asleep. Laughing, how can you fall asleep? It brings a state of no-mind and no-thought,
           and does not allow you to fall asleep.
                In a few Zen monasteries, every monk has to start his morning with laughter, and has to end his
           night with laughter -- the first thing and the last thing! You try it. It is very beautiful. It will look a
           little crazy -- mm? -- because so many serious people are all around. They will not understand. If
           you are happy, they always ask why. The question is foolish! If you are sad, they never ask why.
           They take it for granted -- if you are sad, it's okay. Everybody is sad. What is new in it? Even if you
           want to tell them, they are not interested because they know all about it, they themselves are sad. So
           what is the point of telling a long story? -- cut it short!
                But if you are laughing for no reason, then they become alert -- something has gone wrong. This
           man seems to be a little crazy because only crazy people enjoy laughter; only in madhouses will you
           find crazy people laughing. This is unfortunate, but this is so.
                It will be difficult, if you are a husband or a wife it will be difficult for you to suddenly laugh
           early in the morning. But try it -- it pays tremendously. It is one of the most beautiful moods to get
           up with, to get out of the bed with. For no reason! because there is no reason. Simply, you are again
           there, still alive -- it is a miracle! It seems ridiculous! Why are you alive? And again the world is
           there. Your wife is still snoring, and the same room, and the same house. In this constantly changing
           world -- what Hindus call the 'maya' -- at least for one night nothing has changed? Everything is
           there: you can hear the milkman and the traffic has started, and the same noises -- it is worth
           laughing for!
                One day you will not get into the morning. One day the milkman will knock at the door, the wife
           will be snoring, but you will not be there. One day, death will come. Before it knocks you down,
           have a good laugh -- while there is time, have a good laugh.
                And look at the whole ridiculousness: again the same day starts; you have done the same things
           again and again for your whole life. Again you will get into your slippers, rush to the bathroom -- for
           what? Brushing your teeth, taking a shower -- for what? Where are you going? Getting ready and
           nowhere to go! Dressing, rushing to the office -- for what? Just to do the same thing again
           tomorrow?
                Look at the whole ridiculousness of it -- and have a good laugh. Don't open your eyes. The
           moment you feel that sleep is gone, first start laughing, then open the eyes -- and that will set a trend
           for the whole day. If you can laugh early in the morning you will laugh the whole day. You have
           created a chain effect; one thing leads to another. Laughter leads to more laughter.
                And almost always I have seen people doing just the wrong thing. From the very early morning
           they get out of bed complaining, gloomy, sad, depressed, miserable. Then one thing leads to another
           -- and for nothing. And they get angry... it is very bad because it will change your climate for the
           whole day, it will set a pattern for the whole day.
                Zen people are more sane. In their insanity they are saner than you. They start with laughter...
           and then the whole day you will feel laughter bubbling, welling up. There are so many ridiculous
           things happening all over! God must be dying of His laughter -- down the centuries, for eternity,
           seeing this ridiculousness of the world. The people that He has created, and all the absurdities -- it is
           really a comedy. He must be laughing.
                If you become silent after your laughter, one day you will hear God also laughing, you will hear
           the whole existence laughing -- trees and stones and stars with you.
                And the Zen monk goes to sleep in the night again with laughter. The day is over, the drama is
           closed again -- with laughter he says "Goodbye, and if I survive again, tomorrow morning I will
           greet you again with laughter."
                Try it! Start and finish your day with laughter, and you will see, by and by, in between these two
           more and more laughter starts happening. And the more laughing you become, the more religious.
              THERE WAS A STOUT FELLOW WHO WAS CALLED THE HAPPY CHINAMAN, OR THE
              LAUGHING BUDDHA.
              THIS HOTEI HAD NO DESIRE TO CALL HIMSELF A ZEN MASTER, OR TO GATHER DISCIPLES
              AROUND HIM.


              EVERY master has his own unique way. Every master has his unique method to express
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whatsoever he has attained -- it was laughter for Hotei. He went from one town to another, travelling
           continuously all his life -- laughing.
               It is said that he would come to a town, stand in the middle of the village, and start laughing. And
           then people would start laughing at him, that a madman has come; then the crowd would gather and
           by and by the laughter would spread. It would become infectious and the whole crowd would surge
           with laughter. He would create waves of laughter: and in that laughter satsang was happening --
           what in India we call 'satsang' -- the presence of the master.
               Then, by and by, those who had eyes would start looking at him: 'He is not a madman -- in the
           garb of a madman a Buddha is standing there.' Then those who had ears to hear, they would start
           hearing that it was not just the laughter of a madman -- something of tremendous significance was
           transpiring between them and Hotei.
               This was his way of expressing his being. This was his way of preaching -- a beautiful way.

               A clergyman was recently telling me a marvellous story when his little girl said, "Now, pa, is that
           really true, or is it just preaching?"

               Even children understand that preaching is just preaching. The old man was telling me a
           beautiful story and then his little girl interfered and said, "Now, pa, is that really true, or is it just
           preaching?" She knows! -- her father is a preacher.
               Preaching is not true -- unless your whole life becomes your preaching. Unless your whole
           activity becomes a message, unless you become your message, preaching remains false. Hotei
           became his own message.

              THIS HOTEI HAD NO DESIRE TO CALL HIMSELF A ZEN MASTER, OR TO GATHER DISCIPLES
              AROUND HIM. INSTEAD HE WALKED THE STREETS WITH A SACK ON HIS BACK FULL OF
              CANDY, FRUIT AND DOUGHNUTS -- WHICH HE GAVE OUT TO THE CHILDREN WHO
              GATHERED AND PLAYED AROUND HIM.


                Now, sometimes these children were really children, and sometimes these children were young
           people, and sometimes these children were old people -- so don't be misguided by the word
           'children'. Aged people, more aged than Hotei himself, they were also children for him. In fact, to
           make a contact with Hotei, you had to be a child, innocent. And he would distribute a few things:
           toys, candy, sweets. He is saying something symbolically: A religious man brings you this message
           -- don't pay much attention to life, it is nothing but a toy. Don't pay much attention to life, it is
           nothing but a sweet. Taste it, but don't get obsessed by it. It has no nourishment in it. It has no truth
           in it. You cannot live upon it.
                You have heard Jesus' saying: A man cannot live by bread alone. Can a man live by sweets
           alone? Bread at least has some nourishment in it; a sweet has nothing. Tastes good, but can be
           harmful in the long run.
                Both children and the old, he would always treat everybody as children: he would give them toys
           -- very indicative. A better way you cannot find to say that the world is just a toy thing. And the life
           that you think is life is nothing true -- it is just a falsity, a dream, momentary. Don't cling to it.

              WHENEVER HE MET A ZEN DEVOTEE HE WOULD EXTEND HIS HAND AND SAY: "GIVE ME
              ONE PENNY."


               And whenever somebody was there whom he knew, who was a devotee of Zen, Dhyan, and was
           meditative -- mm? -- just watch: to others he would give; to a person who has some leanings towards
           meditation he would say, "Give me one penny." He is saying, "Meditation is nothing but sharing --
           you give me one penny." If you are a meditative person, you give, you share -- you don't hoard, you
           are not miserly. You don't possess. How can you possess in this world?
               You were not here and the world was here; you will not be here one day and the world is going
           to be here. How can you possess you? How can you claim that 'I am the owner'? How can you own
           anything? And if you are meditative, your whole life will become a sharing. You will give
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whatsoever you can give -- your love, your understanding, your compassion -- whatsoever you can
           you will give -- your energy, body, mind, soul -- whatsoever. And you will enjoy it.
               There is no greater enjoyment than that of sharing something. Have you given something to
           somebody? That's why people enjoy giving gifts so much. It is a sheer delight. When you give
           something to somebody -- maybe valueless, may not be of much value -- but just the way, just the
           gesture that you give, satisfies tremendously. Just think of a person whose whole life is a gift! whose
           every moment is a sharing -- he lives in heaven. There is no other heaven than that.

              WHENEVER HE MET A ZEN DEVOTEE HE WOULD EXTEND HIS HAND AND SAY: "GIVE ME
              ONE PENNY. "


             One of the greatest Indian poets, Rabindranath Tagore, has written a small poem: WHAT HAVE
           YOU GOT FOR ME? The poem consists of a small story:

              Once while I was begging from door to door, I suddenly saw a gleaming chariot pull up to me
           and stop. When I beheld its lordly driver step down and smile at me with searching eyes, I
           immediately envisioned the unsolicited charity that would surely be mine.

               A beggar is relating this story. A beggar has come out of his house, and suddenly he sees a
           golden chariot stop and the King of kings gets out of the chariot. The beggar must have been thrilled
           by the very possibility that he could get something today.

              But to my everlasting chagrin, this King of kings suddenly thrust out his hand and asked, "What
           have you got for me?" Oh, Lord, torn with perplexity and indecision, I offered you a mere grain of
           wheat and on my carpet that very night I found a grain of gold. How sorry I was that I had not given
           you everything I had!

               The beggar is, of course, accustomed to receiving, not accustomed to giving. He has never given
           anything. He has always been begging and begging. So suddenly the King of kings spreads his hands
           and says, "What have you got for me?" He was perplexed, bewildered, confused. He must have
           hesitated. He must have searched his bag. He could have given more, but he could not gather
           courage. He gave only one grain of wheat -- just because he could not say no. How to say no to the
           King of the kings? And by the time he must have become conscious the chariot was gone, and there
           were only dust clouds on the road. And still, the whole day he must have worried about that one
           grain of wheat less in his bag today. He must have thought again and again; it must have been like a
           wound.
               And in the night when he comes back home and drops on the floor all that he has begged in the
           whole day, he finds a grain of gold. Then he understands. Then he cries and weep, but now it is too
           late -- where can you find the King of kings again? Where? Now he wants to give everything that he
           has, now he has found the illogical logic of it: that which you give becomes golden, and that which
           you go on hoarding becomes dirt. If you hoard gold it becomes dust; if you give dust, dust becomes
           gold -- that is the message of this beautiful anecdote. And I absolutely agree with it.
               It is not just a parable: it is a true secret of life -- give and you will get millionfold; share and in
           the very sharing you will become richer. Go on hoarding and you will become poorer and poorer.
           You cannot find a poorer man than a miser. He may have much, but he has nothing -- because you
           can have only that which you have given. It is a paradox only in appearance.
               Let me repeat it: You possess only that which you have given; you never possess that which you
           have hoarded -- you become a master of something which you share. Share! unconditionally --
           because everything is going to be taken from you anyway; death is going to take everything from
           you.
               And death will not beg -- it simply snatches away, it robs. It doesn't ask your permission; it
           doesn't knock on your door and say, "Can I come in, sir." No. It simply comes. By the time you are
           aware, you are gone. By the time you can do something, everything has been taken away. Death is
           going to take everything.
               Before death knocks on your door, share -- whatsoever you have. You can sing a beautiful song?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- sing it, share it. You can paint a picture? -- paint, share it. You can dance? -- go and dance, share
           it. Whatsoever you have -- and I have never come across a man who has not much to share. If you
           want to share, you have too much to share. If you don't want to share, you may have enough, more
           than enough, but you are poor, you don't have anything.
           It happened:

           Mulla Nasrudin was fishing off a pier when he lost his balance and fell in.
              "Help! Help!" Mrs Nasrudin started shouting. "My husband is drowning. Help! Help!"
              Luckily, her cries were heard by two husky young men in the vicinity, and they dove into the
           water and pulled poor Nasrudin out.
              As he lay on the pier drying out, Mrs Nasrudin leaned over him and whispered, "They saved you
           from drowning, man. Shouldn't we give them a rupee?"
              Mulla opened one eye and whispered back, "I was only half-drowned. Half a rupee will do."

           The miser's mind continues to the very end. Beware of it.

              WHENEVER HE MET A ZEN DEVOTEE HE WOULD EXTEND HIS HAND AND SAY. "GIVE ME
              ONE PENNY." AND IF ANYONE ASKED HIM TO RETURN TO A TEMPLE TO TEACH OTHERS,
              AGAIN HE WOULD SAY. "GIVE ME ONE PENNY."


              That was his whole preaching: Share! Give! What else can be said, what else can be taught?

              ONCE WHEN HE WAS AT HIS PLAY-WORK ANOTHER ZEN MASTER HAPPENED ALONG AND
              INQUIRED. "WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ZEN?" HOTEI IMMEDIATELY PLOPPED HIS SACK
              DOWN ON THE GROUND IN SILENT ANSWER.


               ZEN BELIEVES that truth cannot be expressed by words, but it can be expressed by gestures,
           action. Something can be done about it. You cannot say it, but you can show it.
               When they ask a question, Zen masters don't expect an answer verbally -- they expect some
           gesture of spontaneous understanding. And remember: verbal answers you can get from scriptures,
           they can be borrowed, they can be second-hand -- and a second-hand answer is never true. A
           second-hand God is never true. A second-hand truth is never true. Beware of second-hand things.
               Zen masters say: "Show your understanding, don't say! Show in some gesture!" And you cannot
           deceive a Zen master, you cannot deceive an Enlightened man. Yes, you can learn gestures also. For
           example: now you know this story of Hotei -- mm? -- you can have a sack on your back and you can
           move, and I come across and I ask: "What is the significance of Zen?" And you plop down the sack...
           I will hit your head! because it is not a question of repeating the story. You will have to show your
           understanding. It was Hotei's understanding -- you cannot copy it. When the question is there, you
           will have to respond -- out of your own heart, out of your own being, out of that moment of
           understanding and awareness, you will have to do something.
               HOTEI PLOPPED HIS SACK DOWN ON THE GROUND IN SILENT ANSWER -- what was
           he saying? The question was: "What is the significance of Zen?" He dropped his bag of doughnuts,
           toys, sweets. He is saying: "Zen is renunciation -- like this!" Dropping the whole bag, all that you
           possess. That was all that he possessed at that moment, nothing else, just his bag.
               That bag was the non-essential part; he had nothing else. Then only the essential is left. The bag
           was the only non-essential thing with him. He plopped it on the ground. He is saying in silent answer
           that Zen is a deep renunciation of the world. It is dropping all that is non-essential -- like this bag!
           But it was not said: it was shown.

               "THEN," ASKED THE OTHER, "WHAT IS THE ACTUALIZATION OF ZEN? This may be
           the significance, but what is the actualization of Zen?" AT ONCE THE HAPPY CHINAMAN
           SWUNG THE SACK OVER HIS SHOULDER AND CONTINUED ON HIS WAY.
               He is saying: "We renounce the world, yet we don't escape from the world. That is the
           actualization. We renounce the world, yet we live in the world." Again the bag is on his shoulder,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           again he is moving, but he is not a clinger. The bag is dropped! -- deep down he is far away from the
           bag. He has no attachment to it. Still he will carry it; while he is alive he will carry it.
               Zen says escaping is not renunciation -- that's my message also. That's why I love this man
           Hotei: he really showed a deep, profound awareness. Be unattached, but be here -- because there is
           nowhere else to be. This is the only world -- there is no other world. So your monks and your munis
           and sadhus who are sitting in the temples and monasteries, in the Himalayan caves, are just escapists.
           Renounce! -- but there is no need to escape. Renounce and still be here. Be in the world, but don't be
           of the world. Remain in the crowd and remain alone. Do a thousand and one things -- whatsoever is
           needed, do it -- but never be the doer. Don't gather the ego -- that's all.

              "THEN, " ASKED THE OTHER, "WHAT IS THE ACTUALIZATION OF ZEN?"


              Essence is renunciation. Actualization, actual practice, is living in the world and not being of it.

              AT ONCE THE HAPPY CHINAMAN SWUNG THE SACK OVER HIS SHOULDER AND CONTINUED
              ON HIS WAY.


                This is very difficult to understand, because centuries of escapists, centuries of these cowardly
           people who have been running away from the world and condemning the world, have corrupted your
           minds, have poisoned your being. It is difficult to understand, but if you can understand you will be
           benefited tremendously, great will be your benefit.
                A person who escapes is not really a man of understanding. His very escape shows his fear, not
           understanding. If you say, "How can I be happy sitting in the marketplace? How can I be silent
           sitting in the marketplace?" and you escape to the Himalayan silence, you are escaping from the very
           possibility of ever becoming silent -- because it is only in the marketplace that the contrast exists; it
           is only in the marketplace that the challenge exists; it is only in the marketplace that distractions
           exist. And you have to overcome all those distractions.
                If you escape to the Himalayas you will start feeling a little still, but at the same time a little
           stupid also. You will start feeling more silent, but that silence belongs to the Himalayas, not to you.
           Come back and your silence will be left behind -- you will come alone. And back in the world you
           will be even more disturbed than before, because you will have become more vulnerable, soft. And
           you will come with a prejudice, with this idea that you have attained to silence. You will have
           become more egoistic.
                That's why people who have escaped to the monasteries become afraid of coming back to the
           world. The world is the test. The world is the criterion. And it is easier to be in the world and, by and
           by, grow into a silence, then the Himalayan silence comes into your being. You don't go to the
           Himalayas: the Himalayas themselves come to you. Then it is something of your own, then you are
           the master of it.
                I don't teach escape. I also teach renunciation. Many people, orthodox, old people. come to me
           and they say, "What type of sannyas is this? People have taken sannyas -- they are still living in their
           families, with their wife, with their children. going to the office, to the factory, to the shop -- what
           type of sannyas is this?" They have only one conception of sannyas, a one dimensional conception --
           of escape. This is multi-dimensional. It is renouncing and yet living here, dropping and yet not
           dropping, changing and yet remaining ordinary, transforming one's being totally and yet remaining
           in the ordinary world like everybody else.
                The Zen concept of renunciation is my concept of renunciation also. But it is difficult because
           the world has been condemned so much that it has become almost unconscious; it has become
           habitual to think in terms of condemnation. If somebody says you are worldly, you feel hurt,
           insulted. When you want to condemn somebody, you call him worldly -- you have condemned him.
                There is nothing wrong in being worldly. Be worldly, and yet remain unworldly -- that is the very
           art, the art of living between two opposites, balancing oneself between two opposites. It is a very
           narrow path, like a razor's edge -- but this is the only path. If you miss this balance, you miss truth.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "THEN," ASKED THE OTHER, "WHAT IS THE ACTUALIZATION OF ZEN?" AT ONCE THE HAPPY
              CHINAMAN SWUNG THE SACK OVER HIS SHOULDER AND CONTINUED ON HIS WAY.


              Remain herenow in this world, and continue on your way, and continue with deep laughter in
           your being. Dance your way to God! Laugh your way to God! Sing your way to God!




                                         A Sudden Clash of Thunder
                                                    Chapter #10
                                        Chapter title: Towards Nothingness
           20 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608200
              ShortTitle: THUNDE10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 75 mins


The first question:


              I HAVE DEVELOPED A BAD CASE OF SEEKERS EGO. IT CONSTANTLY TRIES TO
              CONGRATULATE ME ON THE GREAT PROGRESS I HAVE MADE. YOU HAMMER ME, AND IT
              FALLS APART, BUT IT COMES BACK. NOTHING TO DO BUT WATCH IT -- AND YET IT
              FRIGHTENS ME. WILL YOU COMMENT?


                IT'S NATURAL. When you are doing something and you are succeeding in it, a subtle pride
           arises. It is nothing unnatural, so don't be too much concerned with it. If you become serious about it,
           then it can become a permanent guest in the house. If you accept it as a natural thing -- you walk,
           your shadow follows -- if you accept the ego just like a shadow, then there is no problem.
                The shadow has never created any problem for anybody, but if you start getting frightened about
           your own shadow then you will be in trouble. If you start fighting with your own shadow, you are
           doomed to fail. Never fight with the ego.
                You can pretend to be humble, you can impose a sort of egolessness on your ego,, but it will
           remain there, and it will go on disrupting and sabotaging your life. Just try to understand it. It is
           natural! You are succeeding, you feel good; you are progressing, you feel good; you are growing,
           you feel good!
                It is said that when God created the world and He looked around, He said, "Very good! A
           beautiful thing I have done."
                Nothing wrong about it! You paint a picture, then you look from many angles -- you feel good;
           you have succeeded in materializing something which was immaterial. A vision, a dream, you have
           been able to bring to the world. When you compose a poem, you feel good! Nothing is wrong about
           it. Just remember that the shadow is not you.
                This is your shadow, certainly -- but the shadow is not you. The ego is a shadow. It is not you.
           This remembrance is enough -- there is no need to fight because a shadow does not exist in the first
           place. It is a simple negativity, it is just absence. It has no positivity in it. So if you fight a negative
           thing, you will be defeated -- because there is no way to defeat a negative thing. That which is not
           cannot be defeated. That's the problem.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That which is not cannot be defeated. And if you start fighting with it, you will be defeated. It is
           just like fighting darkness: there is no need! The problem is arising because you have an underlying
           notion that the ego should not be there. Why? Why not accept it also? Just remember it is not you.
           The problem arises only when you get identified with your shadow.
                You are walking, the sun is there, and a shadow is falling. Somebody walks upon your shadow --
           do you fight with him? You know it is a shadow! He has not walked on you. Somebody walks on
           your ego: don't fight. He has not walked on you. Somebody insults you: it hurts because you get
           identified with the shadow -- otherwise there is nothing. Somebody walks on your shadow: the hurt
           is imaginary and is a consequence of getting oneself identified with the shadow.
           "I have developed a bad case of seeker's SHADOW."
                You are condemning it. You are creating the problem and anxiety for yourself. Accept it! It is
           part of a natural flow. But don't put the shadow ahead of you! DON'T become a shadow of the
           shadow! -- that's all. You remain yourself.
           "It constantly tries to congratulate me..."
           Accept its congratulation! and give a heartfelt thankyou to it.
           "You hammer me and it falls apart..."
                I don't hammer the ego, I never hammer the ego -- I simply hammer the identification. I am not
           so foolish as to hammer your ego; that would be hammering your shadow. I simply hammer the
           bridge that you have created between the existential and the non-existential, between the essential
           and the non-essential, between the real and the unreal, between the fact and the fiction -- between
           you and the shadow. I hammer only that bridge. And, of course, it falls apart, because it is just an
           idea. It has no reality: just an idea that 'this is me'.
                If you want to do anything about the ego, the only thing that I feel can be helpful is: laugh at it. It
           is ridiculous to get identified with the shadow -- simply ridiculous. But don't get serious. Accept it
           and you will be delivered from it.
           I have heard:

               It is said that a French prince visited a jail. In honor of the royal guest, the prison warden offered
           to release any prisoner the prince might designate. To pick out that prisoner, the prince began
           interviewing each of the men privately, asking, "Why are you here?"
               "I'm innocent, my lord!" cried one. "I've been framed!" pleaded another. Perjury, prejudice,
           injustice and oppression were reasons given by the convicts for their being in prison.
               Only one man told a different story. "Your highness," he replied, "I deserve to be here and I have
           no complaint. In my time I have been a wicked, desperate murderer. It is a great mercy, both to
           society and to myself, that I am here."
               "You wicked wretch!" the prince replied. "What a pity you should be confined among so many
           honest citizens. You admit yourself that you are evil enough to corrupt them all. I can't allow you to
           remain in their company another day. Guard! This is the man I wish released!"

               Once you accept the reality, you are relieved, released; the prison exists no more. So don't try to
           be humble! Just know that ego arises. What can you do? You are not creating it.
               It is just like when a wave moves: in the wake another wave follows it upside-down -- that is the
           wake. It is natural. When there arises a big mountain, a valley follows it. The valley is nothing but
           the mountain upside-down. It is part of it. When you move, in the wake your shadow, your valley,
           follows. You simply accept it! Mountains are not crying tears that 'why do valleys exist?' And
           neither are waves worried.
               The very idea that you have to get rid of the ego is wrong. Drop that very idea! When ego arises,
           simply note the fact that the shadow is falling -- and remember not to get identified with it;
           remember that you are separate. This is enough. And the true humbleness is born out of this
           realization.
               It is not an effort against the ego that brings humbleness. If you fight the ego, it can bring you a
           certain type of humbleness -- but then there will be another ego arising and that will be the ego of the
           humble person. The pious ego: "I am the most humble person in the world. Nobody is humble in
           comparison to me. I am at the top." Again the ego has arisen. Ego will always arise whatsoever you
           do.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Doing brings ego. Ego is the shadow of action. And there is only one thing that is not doing and
           that is awareness, watchfulness. The only thing that is not part of the world of action is pure
           awareness. No shadow is created by pure awareness. It is so pure that light can pass through it -- it is
           transparent and no shadow is created.
               Shadow is created by solid things. The more solid a thing is, the more shadow it creates. Your
           body creates a shadow; your mind also creates a shadow -- the ego is the shadow of the mind. If you
           become more aware, if you simply watch the mind, its functioning, its mechanism, then you are
           moving beyond the mind. You become just pure awareness, transparent. Then there is no shadow.
               So just laugh at it. And if it tries to seduce you, have a good laugh! at your own absurdities. But
           don't become a warrior and don't start fighting with it.

           The second question:

              YOU SAY NEVER TO IMPOSE YOURSELF ON ANYONE ELSE. YET YOU GIVE SANNYAS TO
              CHILDREN WHO CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE UP THEIR MINDS TO TAKE IT. YOU HAVE EVEN
              GIVEN INITIATION TO SLEEPING BABIES! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?


                THE FIRST THING: I have never yet given sannyas to anybody who was awake -- all are
           sleeping babies! Some are younger, some are older; that is immaterial. What does it matter -- a baby
           of seven months, or an old man of seventy years? Sleep is the same.
                Yes, I was also puzzled in the beginning when some mother would come with a sleeping baby.
           Then I pondered over it: why should I say no? because that would be unjust to the sleeping baby
           when I go on giving sannyas to so many sleeping people. So I decided to give sannyas to babies.
                Another thing: they may be asleep, but they are more innocent. And innocence can receive
           sannyas in a deeper way than cunningness, cleverness. You are also asleep; the only difference is
           that you are more cunning. The children are more innocent.
           You are asleep but you pretend that you are awake.
                It happened: A friend came to see Albert Einstein; he had not seen him for two, three years. A
           baby had been born to the friend's wife and they brought the baby also. Just seeing Einstein. the baby
           started crying and became very much afraid and wanted to escape from there.
                The father and the mother felt a little embarrassed, but Einstein said, "Don't be disturbed by it. In
           fact, he is the first person who has told his views about me so clearly. Others come; they may not
           like me but they smile -- they are untrue. They talk against me outside, in my absence; and yet here
           they praise me. Your child is the first person I have met who has simply said whatsoever his opinion
           is. I am happy to meet such a true person. Don't be worried about it."
                Children are simple, innocent. And sannyas is something which can be received only in deep
           innocence.
                The more you grow in experience, the more cunning you become. Then even when you take
           sannyas, it is not a jump -- it is a calculated step. You think about it. You ponder about it. You think
           for and against, pro and con. And then you think that it seems beneficial; or you think that it doesn't
           seem beneficial. Then you decide. Your sannyas is a conclusion.
                A conclusion is always of the mind. There have only been a few people who have taken sannyas
           without thinking. I say to everybody, when people come to me I say to them: "Would you like to
           think about it? or are you ready?" A few people say they are ready; they don't want to think about it.
           Then it is reaching to a deeper level of your being.
                When Maneesha came first, I asked her would she like to think about it. She said, "What --
           think? I am fed up with thinking! If you can accept me, I am ready." This is innocence. She is again
           behaving like a child. The sannyas will have a totally different meaning to her.
           I have heard:

               A backwoods preacher was exhorting his followers about sin and morality. Finally he demanded,
           "I want every virgin in this congregation to stand up!"
           Nobody moved.
           Again he shouted, "Every virgin in this congregation, rise!"
               Finally a woman with an infant in her arms got up. "Didn't you hear me, woman?" yelled the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           preacher. "I said the virgins!" Replied the woman, "How do you expect a three-month old baby to
           get up by herself?"

                Now that baby was the only virgin in the whole church -- but, of course, a baby cannot get up by
           herself.
                When somebody brings a child to me for sannyas, many times I say no. I say wait a little. Unless
           I feel that the child is ready -- of course, the child cannot come by himself -- unless I feel the child
           has moved in his past lives closer and closer and closer in his search, and he is ready... otherwise, I
           say wait, let the child grow a little.
                Not only to sleeping babies -- sometimes I have given sannyas to babies in the womb. If I feel...
           and to feel a child is very simple. It is very difficult to feel you, because you are broadcasting such
           confusing statements about yourself -- from your left side something else, from your right side
           something else, from your back something else, from your front something else. You are
           contradictory! You go on broadcasting contradictory vibes. It is very difficult to make certain of
           where you are, what you want. And the complexity is even doubled, because one moment you are
           one thing, another moment you are another thing. Like a chameleon you go on changing your colors.
                A baby is simple, has one taste, has one color. If I feel, if the vibes show me, that it will fit with
           his life pattern in the future, only then do I give sannyas.
                And one thing more has to be understood: my sannyas is not in any way imposing something on
           you. It is simply conferring freedom on you. By giving you sannyas I am not giving you an ideology
           -- I am just giving you courage to get free of all ideologies. By giving sannyas to you I am not giving
           you a certain religion -- Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian -- I am simply giving you courage to be an
           individual, to be a unique individual.
                My sannyas is not a character that will confine you. My sannyas is an awareness that will give
           you more and more freedom. And if one day you feel that my sannyas is making a prison for you,
           then drop out of it -- that will be the true sannyas spirit. But never allow it to become an
           imprisonment.
                The child will grow. One day, if he feels that it is not for him, he is free. There is no legal
           bondage in it. He can simply drop out of it! If he feels in tune with it, he can go deeper into it.
                I have no ideology to teach to you. I am not a teacher at all. That's the difference between a
           teacher and a master. A teacher has an ideology; he tries to condition your mind; he wants to give
           you certain concepts. A master simply wants to uncondition your mind; he does not want to give you
           any concepts; he wants to give you clarity of vision.
                So if you are thinking that by becoming a sannyasin you have attained to all the answers of life,
           you are completely missing me. I have not given a single answer to you. I may have provoked many
           questions in you, but I have not provided any answer. I may have filled you with deep wonder about
           life; I may have awakened you towards the grandeur of reality -- but I have not given you a
           philosophy.
                I have not given you, in fact, anything. I may have taken many things away from you. I am not
           giving you new clothes: I am giving you nudity. I would like you to move towards truth naked --
           naked of all theories, concepts, philosophies. A naked human being with an innocent heart, with a
           deep courage. Looking at life as it is. Not projecting any idea of one's own.
                So my sannyas is not like a baptism where you become a Christian, or the thread-ceremony
           where you become a Hindu. You don't become part of any organization -- I have none. By becoming
           a sannyasin, you simply come in tune with me, you simply start moving with me. You simply allow
           me to take you to the truth that I have seen. You simply allow me to take you to the open sky where I
           found something which satisfies utterly.
           And a child is more capable of that than an old man.

           The third question:

              I AM A PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY. I HAVE STUDIED AND TAUGHT CONDITIONING. CAN
              ANYBODY AVOID CONDITIONING? AREN'T WE BEING CONDITIONED BY YOU?


              IT DEPENDS on you. You can be conditioned by me -- but am not conditioning you. Let that be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely clear!
               You can be conditioned by me. If you are listening only through the mind you will be
           conditioned, because the mind goes on gathering knowledge. The mind is very suggestible,
           corruptible, vulnerable. If you are listening to me through your mind, through your reason, through
           your argumentative faculty, through your intellect, you will be conditioned. Even if you are not
           convinced by me, even if you go thinking that you are not convinced by me, still you will be
           conditioned. Maybe against me, but that too will condition you. For or against does not matter: if
           you listen through the mind you will be conditioned -- because mind is the faculty of conditioning.
               But there is another way to listen also -- and it is not of the mind, it is of the heart. It is not
           through argumentativeness, through knowledge -- it is through pure heart-trust. Then you listen to
           me not like a philosopher but like a poet. You are never conditioned by a poet.
               You can enjoy poetry, but you are never conditioned by it. You are not conditioned by
           roseflowers -- you can enjoy, you can celebrate, but you are not conditioned. A beautiful sunrise or a
           sunset, or a full moon in the night -- are you being conditioned? These green trees all around, do they
           condition you? You can celebrate, you can enjoy, you can dance with them, you can sing with them,
           but you are not conditioned by them.
               Think of me as a poet, a painter, a dancer; never think about me as a philosopher or a theologian.
           I am not. What I am doing here is poetry, sheer poetry. I am not giving you any ideology, so there is
           no question of being conditioned. But you have to look in the right way, otherwise there is every
           possibility of your being conditioned by me.
               If you listen to me just to gather knowledge, you will be conditioned. If you listen to me in such
           tremendous depth and profundity that it is not a question of gathering knowledge but a meeting of
           the hearts, a communion.... I am not here, the speaker is not here. Long ago the speaker disappeared.
           All that is coming out is coming out of a tremendous emptiness, nothingness. Look into my eyes and
           you can feel it! And if you are also empty while listening to me, who is going to be conditioned and
           by whom?
               If you put aside your mind... in fact, if you are really intelligent you will always put your mind
           exactly where you have left your shoes -- leave your mind also there. I would like Krishna to put a
           notice there: Shoes and Minds are to be Left Here at the Gate. If you bring your shoes it is not such a
           big thing, it is not so profane. But if you bring your minds here, then you never come to me.
               Minds are conditioned, always conditioned; they are ready to be conditioned. Minds are
           bio-computers: they go on absorbing whatsoever is heard. It is a mechanical thing. Put the mind off
           while listening to me. Be a heart -- love, trust. Listen to me in deep emptiness. Don't be there! I am
           not here -- don't you be there. And then something will happen, something will transpire between me
           and you. Between two nothingnesses the river of truth starts flowing. And it is never conditioning: it
           is always unconditioning. It will wash your whole being, it will give you a shower; it will cleanse
           you, purify you.
           The questioner says: "I am a professor of psychology."
               That's a problem. It is really a great disease, psychology. It is almost pathological. I feel sorry for
           you. If you had had cancer that would not have been so bad, because the cancer can be treated. But a
           professor of psychology? -- impossible! No treatment exists yet, because this disease called
           'psychology' is so invisible and so subtle that it is very difficult to operate upon it.
               'The professor of psychology' means one who has been conditioned so deeply that he does not
           believe that he exists. He believes only in body and mind. He does not believe in the soul; he does
           not believe that there is really anything transcendental to the mind. And I am saying leave your mind
           where you leave your shoes -- how can a professor of psychology do that? Because if he leaves the
           mind where he leaves his shoes, he will have to sit there, he cannot come here -- because he believes
           only in the mind, nothing beyond it. He does not believe in anything transcending mind. Then, of
           course, he has no way to escape from conditioning.
               Everything will condition him. Whatsoever he reads, whatsoever he hears, whatsoever he sees,
           will be a conditioning. Now he is caught in an imprisonment -- because he does not know that there
           is something beyond also. The beyond within -- he is not aware of that. He does not believe in
           awareness.
               You can look into the books of psychology: you will see chapters on memory, you will see
           chapters on imagination, dream, instinct, sex, and a thousand other things, but you will never find a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           chapter on awareness. No -- that doesn't exist. You will find everything calculated, only the
           calculator is not there. You will find all the observations categorized, only the observer is not there.
                The psychologist does not believe in himself. This is absurd! He does not believe in the observer;
           he believes only in the observations. He says: "I have seen this"; but if you ask: "Is there a seer
           within you?" he says, "No." Then who has seen this?
                The very name 'psychology' is a misnomer, because 'psyche', from where the word comes, means
           soul -- and soul is not a part of psychology. The name should be changed. It is not the right name for
           it. Psychology either has to find a soul or has to drop the very name 'psychology'.
                And if you are just a student, the disease is not very advanced; but if you are a professor then you
           have gone beyond the point of return. It is very difficult for a professor to relax back, to see things
           again as they are. He knows so much. He has accumulated so much knowledge, so many screens are
           there on his eyes. It is difficult to find more blind people than professors.
                I have been a professor, that's why I say so -- I know. I know from within. I have lived with
           professors for many years. They are the most unintelligent people in the world. Even a farmer in a
           village seems to be more intelligent, because he is more responsive to the reality. A professor never
           responds to reality. He is always reacting out of his knowledge.
                So whatsoever I am saying, the professor will be interpreting it in his own ways. Right now,
           whatsoever I am saying, he will be interpreting and classifying and he will be saying yes or no. And
           he will be classifying me: to what school I belong, to what ideology, what I am talking about. He is
           not listening! It is very difficult for a professor to listen: he is so full of inner noise, inner chattering.
           The noise is so much that nothing ever enters in him.
           It happened:

               "Whisky and whisky alone is responsible for your deplorable condition!" the judge admonished
           the drunken prisoner, who was a professor -- maybe a professor of psychology.
               "Glad to hear you say that, judge," beamed the drunk. "My wife says it's all my fault!"

                If you have a certain idea in the mind, that idea will function as a nucleus: it will gather things
           around it which are supportive to it; it will drop things which are not supportive to it. A man who
           wants to come closer to truth has to drop all ideas, otherwise his own prejudices will be confirmed
           again and again. You can move with a prejudice and you will always find evidence for it.
                Now the drunk used to think that he alone was not responsible, and the judge says: "Whisky and
           whisky alone is responsible for your deplorable condition."
                "Glad to hear you say that, judge," beamed the drunk. "My wife says it's all my fault!"
                If you come with a mind, you will go with a bigger mind. If you come with a no-mind, you will
           go with a bigger no-mind. It depends on you: how you come to me, what you bring to me, what you
           are ready to offer to me -- a mind? then there is no communication. You will gather a few bits from
           here and there, and you will collect them in your old ways. It will be addition to your knowledge; it
           will not be a revelation, it will not give you anything new. It will not be a breakthrough.
                But if you can listen to me just listening, not thinking, not interpreting, not classifying -- just
           listening as if you don't know anything; listening in deep silence with no knowledge interfering in
           between -- you will not be conditioned at all.
                Innocence can never be conditioned. Only cunningness can be conditioned. Innocence is such
           freedom! It listens, but it remains above. Innocence is like a lotus flower: it remains in the water, but
           untouched by it. Then you can move around the world, you can go and listen to many people, you
           can read a thousand and one books, you can study all that down the centuries the human mind has
           invented, discovered, systematized, and you will remain unconditioned, you will remain free.
           Something within you will remain above, distant.

               A habitual drunk staggered up to the front door of a home late one night, and kept rapping loudly
           until a lady in pyjamas came to answer.
               "Par'n me, ma'am," he lushes, "this is an emergency. Can you tell me where Mulla Nasrudin
           lives?"
           "Why," she exclaimed, "you are Mulla Nasrudin yourself!"
               "I know, I know," he replied, "but that still doesn't answer the question -- where does he live?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               You are a soul -- which canNOT be corrupted. Innocence is its very nature. It is just like the sky:
           you see clouds come and go, and the sky remains just the same; it is not corrupted by the clouds.
           Dust storms arise, and settle back; the sky is not corrupted by dust storms. How many things have
           not happened under the skies? Millions of things have happened -- nothing has corrupted it. It
           remains pure.
               The inner sky is also pure, just like the outer sky. Thousands of things go on happening, but the
           innermost core remains virgin. There is no way to corrupt it.
               That's why I say: if you are too much addicted, drunk with psychology, then it will be difficult to
           understand what I am saying. But if you can put aside your head for a while, if you can behead
           yourself for a while, if you can approach towards me directly, immediately, then you will hear what I
           am saying, you will understand what I am saying -- but you will not be conditioned by it, you will
           remain free. That is the beauty!
               A Buddha has not conditioned anybody, a Jesus has never conditioned anybody. If people are
           Christians and have become conditioned, that is their choice -- you cannot throw the responsibility
           on Jesus. If people have become Buddhists and have completely forgotten about Buddha, and go on
           talking only about Buddhist doctrines and dogmas, that is their responsibility -- otherwise, Buddha
           has not conditioned anybody.
               These people come to free you. They bring freedom, they bring purity, they bring innocence. But
           the ultimate result depends on you.

           The fourth question:

              GIVE AND SHARE.
              RENOUNCE NON-ESSENTIAL AND BE ESSENTIAL.
              TO WHOM TO GIVE -- THE POOR AND NEEDY? -- IN GENERAL OR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS?
              BEGGARS -- ORGANIZED OR INDIVIDUALS? INSTITUTIONS -- POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS?
              PURCHASE INSTITUTIONAL PRESENTS -- BOOKS AND OTHER THINGS? SAINTS AND
              MAHATMAS? ETC?


              I GIVE YOU POETRY -- you immediately translate it into prose. I have been simply saying:
           Share! You ask: With whom? You have changed the subject.

               Mulla Nasrudin was talking to a woman and saying great things, was getting very romantic. He
           was saying, "Your eyes -- never, never have they happened before. And your face -- it is just like the
           moon. And the glow that surrounds you, and the vibe that you create -- it is the most beautiful thing
           that has ever happened." And he went on and on.
               And, of course, as women are very practical, the woman asked, "Are you going to marry me,
           Nasrudin?"
           Nasrudin said, "Please, don't change the subject!"

                I am talking about sharing and you immediately change the subject, You say: "With whom?"
           Your emphasis is not about yourself. You have not asked: "I am a miser and I cannot share. It is
           difficult for me to share." You have not asked how to share, how not to be miserly. You have
           immediately changed the subject -- as if you are ready to share but it is very difficult to find the right
           persons. So with whom?
           "The poor and needy? -- in general or relatives and friends?"
                You are going into details -- without asking the basic and fundamental question: Are you ready
           to share? When the cloud is ready to shower, it doesn't ask: "Where to shower? -- on the mountains?
           in a lake?.on grounds? in the fields? in the gardens? Where to shower? -- on good people? virtuous
           or sinners? on temples or on churches? on saintly people or on worldly people?" It doesn't bother --
           it simply showers. It is not a question of on whom to shower. The cloud is ready -- it has to shower,
           to unburden itself.
                When the flower blooms, it doesn't ask: "Towards whose nostril should I float now? Where
           should I send my fragrance? To saints and mahatmas? or to sinners?" No, it never asks. It goes on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spreading its fragrance, it goes on unconcerned about whom; the fragrance moves unaddressed.
               That's what I would like to say to you: Share! and let your sharing be spontaneous. When you
           have to give, give! Why bother? But people are very cunning -- they say: "Give? First we have to see
           whether it is the right person or not." How is one going to decide who is a right person or not? What
           are the criteria? How are you going to decide who is the right person?
               A person may be poor but may be a criminal -- so whether to give to him or not? A person may
           be poor, needy, his wife may be suffering from illness, his children may be hungry, but he may be a
           drunkard. If you give him money, he will simply go and drink -- he is not going to purchase
           medicine with it. With whom to share?
               In Jainism there is a sect called 'Terapanth'. It has gone to the very logical end; it has rationalized
           miserliness to the very extreme. This sect says: "Don't give because you don't know what the other
           person will do about it -- you give money to somebody; he may go and purchase a gun and kill a few
           people. Then? Then you will be responsible! It will be part of your karma. If you had not given him
           the money he would not have purchased the gun and he would not have killed so many people. He
           has killed now -- you are part, knowingly, unknowingly, and you will have to pay for it"
               Now this is the businessman's mind, and all these Terapanthis are business people. "Don't give,
           because who knows what will be done, what will happen out of it?" They say if a person is dying by
           the side of the road, thirsty, crying and asking for water, you just go on your way, don't be distracted
           by him -- because if you give him water and tomorrow he kills somebody, then? or goes and steals
           something from somebody, then? You will be part of it.
               Humanity is very cunning. Human beings are very cunning. This is the end-result of Mahavir's
           teaching -- who taught about love and sharing. This Terapanth is a sect of Jains. Mahavir says:
           "Share!" But how things can turn! even to the very opposites. And it is appealing -- it is rational, it
           looks right. Then these Terapanthis say: "If somebody is poor, he is poor because of his past karmas
           -- who are you to help him? He is suffering from his past karmas and you are becoming a distracting
           force. If you give him money and you help him not to suffer, he will have to suffer some day or other
           -- so you simply postpone. Let him be whatsoever he is."
               If you want to share you will never ask these questions. These questions come up out of
           miserliness.
               If you ask me, I will say: Share! If I cannot say anything positively about with whom to share, at
           least I can say one thing negatively: Never share with saints and mahatmas! -- because what can you
           share with them? What can you give to them? If they are really saints and mahatmas they are in
           tremendous bliss -- you cannot give them anything. You can beg something from them. You can ask
           them to shower what has happened to them. You can receive. You can be the receiving end -- you
           cannot be the giver. They don't need.
               Otherwise, keep it as a simple remembrance that whenever there is any situation in which you
           are asked to share and you can share, you have something to share -- share! and don't be bothered
           who the person is with whom you are sharing. That is none of your business! You shared -- that's all.
               And it is always beautiful -- whether you share with a sinner or you share with a pious man,
           whether you share with a criminal or you share with a very respectable citizen, it is always beautiful.
           It will always give you tremendous joy. It is not a question of what happens afterwards! In the very
           sharing you have enjoyed a climax of being.

               A Jewish couple were honeymooning at Niagara Falls. The boy's money ran out after a week, but
           he and his bride were having such a good time they wanted to stay longer. So he wired his father for
           more money. His telegram read: "Dear Dad. It's great here. Want to stay longer. Please send money.
           Love, Son."
               The father wired back: "Dear Son. It's great anywhere. Come home. Love, Dad."

               It is great anywhere! -- love is great. It is not a question of whether you are near Niagara Falls or
           in the Himalayas: love is great everywhere, yes, anywhere. Sharing is great: with whom you share is
           irrelevant.
               I know your mind will always find ways not to share. Avoid those tricks of the mind. You have
           to share. You should be happy whenever you can find an opportunity to share.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mulla Nasrudin lay on his deathbed for months, while flocks of relatives gathered like vultures
           waiting for the kill. At last the dear old man went to his peaceful reward and the lawyers announced
           the date of the reading of his will.
               All the relatives assembled on the appointed day. The lawyer tore open the envelope, drew out a
           piece of paper and read:
           "Being of sound mind, I spent every dime before I died."

              That is the golden rule: Before you die, share whatsoever you have. If you are of a sound mind
           you will share your whole life. Before you die, spend yourself in love.

           The fifth question:

              ARE YOU HOLDING MY ROPE? DOES THAT SCARE YOU?


                I HAVE told you one story -- the question is concerned with that story -- about the botanist who
           lowered his son with a rope round his waist into a deep valley in the Himalayas. It was difficult to
           reach in any other way to the flowers that were flowering in the valley. The father was, of course,
           afraid, scared. The child was enjoying -- mm? -- it was a beautiful adventure. He was thrilled. But
           the father was afraid.
                The child reached down, he plucked the flowers. The father shouted from the top, "Are you okay,
           little one? Are you not afraid?"
                The child laughed -- the whole valley echoed his laughter -- and he said, "Why should I be afraid
           when you, my father, are holding the rope? Why should I be afraid?"
           The questioner asks: "Are you holding my rope? Does that scare you?"
                Now this is a totally different situation. In the first place, I am not holding any rope -- because
           any rope will create a bondage for you. In the second place, I have not lowered you into the valley to
           pick flowers -- I have lowered you into the valley to disappear.... You cannot look back, and you
           cannot look at the top and say, "You are holding the rope." Even if I managed to give you the notion
           that I am holding your rope, it is all false. It is just a trick to lower you down -- there is no rope! And
           once lowered you cannot come back, because there is no way. Why should I be scared?
                And it is not a question of picking some flowers there -- it is a question of disappearing
           completely. I am sending you towards nothingness. I am sending you towards ultimate death. Yes, in
           the beginning I pretend that I am binding a rope around your waist: this mala, etc. This is the rope! I
           have to persuade you. Once you are persuaded... gone.
                My whole effort is to help you to disappear. My whole effort is to help you to be so empty:
           anatta -- non-being. Because if you are, you will remain in trouble. If you are, you will remain
           limited. If you are, there will be a definition to your being -- and you will never be overflowing.
           Only emptiness can be overflowing, only emptiness can be at ease. Only emptiness can be life
           abundant. To be, the way passes through non-being.
                If you really want to be, you will have to drop all concepts of your being. You will have to
           disappear, by and by. You will have to melt into nothingness.
                Yes, I am lowering you, and I convince you that the rope is in my hand -- you don't be worried. I
           have to do that to give you courage. The rope is non-existential. You will come to know about it --
           that the rope is non-existential -- but you will come to know only when there is no question of
           returning. You will not be able to return. And you will be happy that there is no rope. You will be
           happy that there is no way to return. You will be happy that I persuaded you to disappear. You will
           feel grateful, eternally grateful.
                Right now it may be difficult to understand what I am saying. You are the trouble; you are the
           anxiety, the anguish; you are the disease. In total health, you will not find yourself: the total health is
           a zero experience. That zero experience is what religious people have called the God experience.
                I am not scared at all -- I am simply laughing. And the day you understand, you will also not be
           scared. You will also laugh from the valley, and the valley will re echo your laughter.

           The last question:
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OSHO, DID YOU EVER WAKE UP IN THE MORNING WITH THE FEELING "THE HECK WITH ALL
              THIS ENLIGHTENMENT BUSINESS. TODAY I THINK I'LL JUST GO OUT AND DRIVE A TRUCK"?


               IT IS not a question of every waking up in the morning and saying to myself and feeling: The
           heck with all this Enlightenment business -- it is an everyday rule. Every morning I say to myself:
           The heck with all this Enlightenment business. Today I think I will just go out and drive a truck. But
           where can I find a better truck with so many school-children inside it? Then I decide finally, by the
           time it is eight I again decide that one day more...
               This question is from Swami Deva Nartan, and he has a P.S. also to it. The P.S. is "You told me
           not to be so serious. You see, I'm trying."
               Now my P.S. to the answer: "Whatsoever I have said, please, don't take it seriously. I am saying
           it very seriously!"




                                                    Ah, This!
                                                 Talks on Zen Stories
                                    Talks given from 03/01/80 am to 10/01/80 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                      8 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1982




                                                      Ah, This!
                                                   Chapter #1
                                  Chapter title: The Heart of Knowing is Now
           3 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001030
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              ASCENDING TO THE HIGH SEAT, DOGEN ZENJI SAID: "ZEN MASTER HOGEN STUDIED WITH
              KEISHIN ZENJI.
              ONCE KEISHIN ZENJI ASKED HIM, JOZA, WHERE DO YOU GO?'
              HOGEN SAID. 'I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY.'
              KEISHIN SAID, 'WHAT IS THE MATTER OF YOUR PILGRIMAGE?'
              HOGEN SAID, 'I DON'T KNOW.'
              KEISHIN SAID, 'NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.'
              HOGEN SUDDENLY ATTAINED GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT."


              ZEN IS JUST ZEN. There is nothing comparable to it. It is unique -- unique in the sense that it is
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the most ordinary and yet the most extraordinary phenomenon that has happened to human
           consciousness. It is the most ordinary because it does not believe in knowledge, it does not believe in
           mind. It is not a philosophy, not a religion either. It is the acceptance of the ordinary existence with a
           total heart, with one's total being, not desiring some other world, supra-mundane, supra-mental. It
           has no interest in any esoteric nonsense, no interest in metaphysics at all. It does not hanker for the
           other shore; this shore is more than enough. Its acceptance of this shore is so tremendous that
           through that very acceptance it transforms this shore -- and this very shore becomes the other shore:

               This very body the buddha;
               This very earth the lotus paradise.


                Hence it is ordinary. It does not want you to create a certain kind of spirituality, a certain kind of
           holiness. All that it asks is that you live your life with immediacy, spontaneity. And then the
           mundane becomes the sacred.
                The great miracle of Zen is in the transformation of the mundane into the sacred. And it is
           tremendously extraordinary because THIS way life has never been approached before, THIS way life
           has never been respected before.
                Zen goes beyond Buddha and beyond Lao Tzu. It is a culmination, a transcendence, both of the
           Indian genius and of the Chinese genius. The Indian genius reached its highest peak in Gautam the
           Buddha and the Chinese genius reached its highest peak in Lao Tzu. And the meeting...the essence
           of Buddha's teaching and the essence of Lao Tzu's teaching merged into one stream so deeply that no
           separation is possible now. Even to make a distinction between what belongs to Buddha and what to
           Lao Tzu is impossible, the merger has been so total. It is not only a synthesis, it is an integration. Out
           of this meeting Zen was born. Zen is neither Buddhist nor Taoist and yet both.
                To call Zen "Zen Buddhism" is not right because it is far more. Buddha is not so earthly as Zen
           is. Lao Tzu is tremendously earthly, but Zen is not only earthly: its vision transforms the earth into
           heaven. Lao Tzu is earthly, Buddha is unearthly, Zen is both -- and in being both it has become the
           most extraordinary phenomenon.
                The future of humanity will go closer and closer to the approach of Zen, because the meeting of
           the East and West is possible only through something like Zen, which is earthly and yet unearthly.
           The West is very earthly, the East is very unearthly. Who is going to become the bridge? Buddha
           cannot be the bridge; he is so essentially Eastern, the very flavor of the East, the very fragrance of
           the East, uncompromising. Lao Tzu cannot be the bridge; he is too earthly. China has always been
           very earthly. China is more part of the Western psyche than of the Eastern psyche.
                It is not an accident that China is the first country in the East to turn communist, to become
           materialist, to believe in a godless philosophy, to believe that man is only matter and nothing else.
           This is not just accidental. China has been earthly for almost five thousand years; it is very Western.
           Hence Lao Tzu cannot become the bridge; he is more like Zorba the Greek. Buddha is so unearthly
           you cannot even catch hold of him -- how can he become the bridge?
                When I look all around, Zen seems to be the only possibility, because in Zen, Buddha and Lao
           Tzu have become one. The meeting has already happened. The seed is there, the seed of that great
           bridge which can make East and West one. Zen is going to be the meeting-point. It has a great future
           -- a great past and a great future.
                And the miracle is that Zen is neither interested in the past nor in the future. Its total interest is in
           the present. Maybe that's why the miracle is possible, because the past and the future are bridged by
           the present.
                The present is not part of time. Have you ever thought about it? How long is the present? The
           past has a duration, the future has a duration. What is the duration of the present? How long does it
           last? Between the past and the future can you measure the present? It is immeasurable; it is almost
           not. It is not time at all: it is the penetration of eternity into time.
                And Zen lives in the present. The whole teaching is: how to be in the present, how to get out of
           the past which is no more and how not to get involved in the future which is not yet, and just to be
           rooted, centered, in that which is.
                The whole approach of Zen is of immediacy, but because of that it can bridge the past and the
           future. It can bridge many things: it can bridge the past and the future, it can bridge the East and the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           West, it can bridge body and soul. It can bridge the unbridgeable worlds: this world and that, the
           mundane and the sacred.

                BEFORE WE ENTER INTO this small anecdote it will be Good to understand a few things. The
           first: the Masters do not tell the truth. Even if they want to they cannot; it is impossible. Then what is
           their function? What do they go on doing? They cannot tell the truth, but they can call forth the truth
           which is fast asleep in you. They can provoke it, they can challenge it. They can shake you up, they
           can wake you up. They cannot give you God, truth, NIRVANA, because in the first place you
           already have it all with you. You are born with it. It is innate, it is intrinsic. It is your very nature. So
           anybody who pretends to give you the truth is simply exploiting your stupidity, your gullibility. He
           is cunning -- cunning and utterly ignorant too. He knows nothing; not even a glimpse of truth has
           happened to him. He is a pseudo Master.
                Truth cannot be given; it is already in you. It can be called forth, it can be provoked. A context
           can be created, a certain space can be created in which it rises in you and is no more asleep, becomes
           awakened.
                The function of the Master is far more complex than you think. It would have been far easier,
           simpler, if truth could be conveyed. It cannot be conveyed, hence indirect ways and means have to
           be devised.
                The New Testament has the beautiful story of Lazarus. Christians have missed the whole point of
           it. Christ is so unfortunate -- he has fallen into the wrong company. Not even a single Christian
           theologian has been able to discover the meaning of the story of Lazarus, his death and resurrection.
                Lazarus dies. He is the brother of Mary Magdalene and Martha and a great devotee of Jesus.
           Jesus is far away; by the time he gets the information and the invitation, "Come immediately," two
           days have already passed, and by the time he reaches Lazarus' place four days have passed. But
           Mary and Martha are waiting for him -- their trust is such. The whole village is laughing at them.
           They are being stupid in others' eyes because they are keeping the corpse in a cave; they are
           watching day in, day out, guarding the corpse. The corpse has already started stinking; it is
           deteriorating.
                The village people are saying, "You are fools! Jesus cannot do anything. When somebody is
           dead, somebody is dead!"
                Jesus comes. He goes to the cave -- he does not enter into the cave -- he stands outside and calls
           Lazarus forth. The people have gathered. They must be laughing: "This man seems to be crazy!"
                Somebody says to him, "What are you doing?" He is dead! He has been dead for four days. In
           fact, to enter into the cave is difficult -- his body is stinking. It is impossible! Whom are you
           calling?"
                But, unperturbed, Jesus shouts again and again, "Lazarus, come out!"
                And the crowd is in for a great surprise: Lazarus walks out of the cave -- shaken, shocked, as if
           out of a great slumber, as if he had fallen into a coma. He himself cannot believe what has happened,
           why he is in the cave.
                This in fact is just a way of saying what the function of a Master is. Whether Lazarus was really
           dead or not is not the point. Whether Jesus was capable of raising the dead or not is not the point. To
           get involved in those stupid questions is absurd. Only scholars can be so foolish. No man of
           understanding will think that this is something historical. It is far more! It is not a fact, it is a truth. It
           is not something that happens in time, it is something more: something that happens in eternity.
                You are all dead. You are all in the same situation as Lazarus. You are all living in your dark
           caves. You are all stinking and deteriorating...because death is not something that comes one day
           suddenly -- you are dying every day. Since the day of your birth you have been dying. It is a long
           process; it takes seventy, eighty, ninety years to complete it. EACH MOMENT something of you
           dies, something in you dies, but you are absolutely unaware of the whole situation. You go on as if
           you are alive; you go on living as if you know what life is.
                The function of the Master is to call forth: "Lazarus, come out of the cave! Come out of your
           grave! Come out of your death!"
                The Master cannot give you the truth but he can call forth the truth. He can stir something in you.
           He can trigger a process in you which will ignite a fire, a flame. Truth you are -- just so much dust
           has gathered around you. The function of the Master is negative: he has to give you a bath, a shower,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so the dust disappears.
               That's exactly the meaning of Christian baptism. That's what John the Baptist was doing in the
           River Jordan. But people go on misunderstanding. Today also baptism happens in the churches; it is
           meaningless.
               John the Baptist was preparing people for an inner bath. When they were ready he would take
           them symbolically into the River Jordan. That was only symbolic -- just as your orange clothes are
           symbolic, that bath in the River Jordan was symbolic -- symbolic that the Master can give you a
           bath. He can take the dust, the dust of centuries, away from you. And suddenly all is clear, all is
           clarity. That clarity is enlightenment.

              The great Master Daie says: "All the teachings of the sages, of the saints, of the masters, have
           expounded no more than this: they are commentaries on your sudden cry, 'Ah, This!'"

               When suddenly you are clear and a great joy and rejoicing arises in you, and your whole being,
           every fiber of your body, mind and soul dances, and you say, "Ah, this! Alleluia!" a great shout of
           joy arises in your being, that is enlightenment. Suddenly stars come down from the rafters. You
           become part of the eternal dance of existence.
           Auden says:

           Dance till the stars come down from the rafters!
           Dance, dance, dance till you drop!

               Yes, it happens -- it is not something that you have to do. It is something that even if you want
           not to do you will find it impossible; you will find it impossible to resist. You will have to dance.
               The beauty of this, the beauty of now, the joy that existence is and the closeness of it.... Yes,
           stars come down from the rafters. They are so close you can just touch them; you can hold them in
           your hands.
           Daie is right. He says:

             All the teachings the sages expounded are no more than commentaries on your sudden cry, "AH,
           THIS!"

               The whole heart saving "Aha!" And the silence that follows it, and the peace, and the joy, and the
           meeting, and the merger, and the orgasmic experience, the ecstasy...!
               Masters don't teach the truth; there is no way to teach it. It is a transmission beyond scriptures,
           beyond words. It is a transmission. It is energy provoking energy in you. It is a kind of
           synchronicity.
               The Master has disappeared as an ego; he is pure joy. And the disciple sits by the side of the
           Master slowly slowly partaking of his joy, of his being, eating and drinking out of that eternal,
           inexhaustible source: AIS DHAMMO SANANTANO. And one day...and one cannot predict when
           that day will come; it is unpredictable. One day suddenly it has happened: a process has started in
           you which reveals the truth of your being to you. You come face to face with yourself. God is not
           somewhere else: he is now, here.
               The Masters illuminate and confirm realization. They illuminate in a thousand and one ways.
           They go on pointing towards the truth: fingers pointing to the moon. But there are many fools who
           start clinging to the fingers. By clinging to the fingers you will not see the moon, remember. There
           are even greater fools who start biting the fingers. That is not going to give you any nourishment.
           Forget the finger and look at where it is pointing.
               The Masters illuminate. They shower great light -- they are light -- they shower great light on
           your being. They are like a searchlight: they focus their being on your being. You have lived in
           darkness for centuries, for millions of lives. Suddenly a Master's searchlight starts revealing a few
           forgotten territories in you. They are within you; the Master is not bringing them -- he is simply
           bringing his light, he is focusing himself on you. And the Master call focus only when the disciple is
           open, when the disciple is surrendered, when the disciple is ready to learn, not to argue, when the
           disciple has come not to accumulate knowledge but to know truth, when the disciple is not only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           curious but is a seeker and is ready to risk all. Even if life has to be risked and sacrificed the disciple
           is ready. In fact, when you risk your sleepy life, you sacrifice your sleepy life, you attain to a totally
           different quality of life: the life of light, of love, the life which is beyond death, beyond time, beyond
           change.
               They illuminate and confirm realization. First the Master illuminates the way, the truth that is
           within you. And secondly: when you realize it, when you recognize it.... It is very difficult for you to
           believe that you have attained it. The most unbelievable thing is when realization of truth happens to
           you, because you have been told that it is very difficult, almost impossible, and that it takes millions
           of lives to arrive at it. And you have been told it is somewhere else -- maybe in heaven -- and when
           you recognize it within yourself, how can you believe it?
               The Master confirms it. He says, "Yes, this is it!" His confirmation is as much needed as his
           illumination. He begins by illuminating and ends by confirming. The Masters are evidence of truth,
           not its proof.
               Meditate over the subtle difference between evidence and proof. The Master is an evidence; he is
           a witness. He has seen, he has known, he has become. You can feel it; the evidence can be felt. You
           can come closer and closer; you can allow the fragrance of the Master to penetrate to the innermost
           core of your being. The Master is only evidence; he is not proof. If you want any proof...there is no
           proof.
               God can neither be proved nor disproved; it is not an argument. God is not a hypothesis, it is not
           a theory: it is experience. The Master is living evidence. But to see it you will need a different
           approach than you are accustomed to.
               You know how to approach a teacher, how to approach a professor, how to approach a priest.
           They don't require much because they simply impart information which can be done even by a tape
           recorder or by a computer or by a gramophone record or by a book.

                I WAS A STUDENT IN A UNIVERSITY. I never attended the classes of my professors.
           Naturally, they were offended. And one day the head of the department called me and he said, "Why
           have you joined the university? We never see you, you never attend any classes. And remember:
           when the examination time comes, don't ask for an attendance record -- because seventy-five percent
           attendance is a must to enter into the examination."
                I took hold of the hand of that old man and I said, "You come with me -- I will show you where I
           am and why I have entered the university."
                He was a little afraid of where I was taking him and why. And it was a well-known fact that I
           was a little eccentric! He said, "But where are you taking me?"
                I said, "I will show you that you have to give me one hundred percent attendance. You come
           with me."
                I took him to the library and I told the librarian, "You tell this old man -- has there ever been a
           single day when I have not been in the library?"
                The librarian said, "Even on holidays he has been here. If the library is not open then this student
           goes on sitting in the garden of the library, but he comes. And every day we have to tell him, 'Now
           please, you leave, because it is closing time.'"
                I told the professor, "I find the books far more clear than your so-called professors. And,
           moreover, they simply repeat what is already written in the books, so what is the point of going on
           listening to them second-hand? I can look in the books directly!"
                I told him, "If you can prove that your teachers are teaching something which is not in the books,
           then I am ready to come to the classes. If you cannot prove it, then keep it in mind that you have to
           give me one hundred percent attendance -- otherwise I will create trouble!"
                And I never went to ask him; he gave me one hundred percent attendance. He followed the point;
           it was so simple. He said, "You are right. Why listen to second-hand knowledge? You can go
           directly to the books. I know those professors -- I myself am just a gramophone record. The truth is,"
           he said to me, "that for thirty years I have not read anything. I just go on using my old notes."
                For thirty years he has been teaching the same thing again and again and again; and in thirty
           years' time, millions of books have been published.

              You know how to approach a teacher, you know how to approach a book, you know how to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           approach dead information, but you don't know how to approach a Master. It is a totally different
           way of communing. It is not communication, it is communion -- because the Master is not a proof
           but an evidence. He is not an argument for God, he is a witness for God. He does not possess great
           knowledge about God, he knows. He is not knowledgeable, he simply knows.
                Remember, to know ABOUT is worthless. The word "about" means around. To know about
           something means to go on moving in circles, around and around. The word "about" is beautiful.
           Whenever you read "about," read "around." When somebody says, "I know ABOUT God," read: he
           knows AROUND God. He goes in a circle. And real knowing is never about, never around; it is
           direct, it is a straight line.
                Jesus says: "Straight is the path...." It does not go in circles; it is a jump from the periphery to the
           center. The Master is an evidence of that jump, that quantum leap, that transformation.
                You have to approach the Master with great love, with great trust, with an open heart. You are
           not aware who you are. He is aware who he is, he is aware who you are. The caterpillar might be
           said to be unaware that it may become a butterfly. You are caterpillars -- BODHISATTVAS. All
           caterpillars are Bodhisattvas and all BODHISATTVAS are caterpillars. A BODHISATTVA means
           one who can become a butterfly, who can become a Buddha, who is a Buddha in the seed, in
           essence. But how can the caterpillar be aware that he can become a butterfly? The only way is to
           commune with butterflies, to see butterflies moving in the wind, in the sun. Seeing them soaring
           high, seeing them moving from one flower to another flower, seeing their beauty, their color, maybe
           a deep desire, a longing arises in the caterpillar: "Can I also be the same?" In that very moment the
           caterpillar has started awakening, a process has been triggered.
                The Master/disciple relationship is the relationship between a caterpillar and a butterfly, a
           friendship between a caterpillar and a butterfly. the butterfly cannot prove that the caterpillar can
           become a butterfly; there is no logical way. But the butterfly can provoke a longing in the caterpillar
           -- that is possible.
                The Master helps you to reach your own experience. He does not give you the Vedas, the Koran,
           the Bible; he throws you to yourself. He makes you aware of your inner sources. He makes you
           aware of your own juice, of your own godliness. He liberates you from the scriptures. He liberates
           you from the interpretations of others. He liberates you from all belief. He liberates you from all
           speculation, from all guesswork. He liberates you from philosophy and from religion and from
           theology. He liberates you, in short, from the world of words -- because the word is the problem.
                You become so much obsessed with the word "love" that you forget that love is an experience,
           not a word. You become so obsessed with the word "God" that you forget that God is an experience,
           not a word. The word "God" is not God, and the word "fire" is not fire, and the word "love" is not
           love either.
                The Master liberates you from words, he liberates you from all kinds of imaginative
           philosophies. He brings you to a state of wordless silence. The failure of religion and philosophy is
           that they all become substitutes for real experience. Beware of it!

               Marlene and Florence, two Denver secretaries, were chatting over lunch.
           "I was raped last night by a scholar," whispered Marlene.
           "Really?" said Florence. "How did you know he was a scholar?"
           "I had to help him."

               Scholars are crippled people, paralyzed, hung up in their heads. They have forgotten everything
           except words. They are great system-makers. They accumulate beautiful theories; they arrange them
           in beautiful patterns, but that's all they do. They know nothing -- although they deceive others and
           deceive themselves, too, that they know.

               A man went into a restaurant to have some lunch and when the waiter came he said, "I will have
           a plate of kiddlies, please."
           "What?" said the waiter.
           "Kiddlies," said the man.
           "What?" said the waiter again.
           So the man picked up the menu and pointed at what he wanted. "Kiddlies," he repeated firmly.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Ah," said the waiter. "I see. Kidneys. Why didn't you say so?"
           "But," said the man, "I said kiddlies, diddle I?"

               It is very difficult to pull them out. They live in their own words. They have forgotten that reality
           has anything else in it but words. They are utterly deaf, utterly blind. They can't see, they can't hear,
           they can't feel. Words are words. You can't see them, you can't feel them, but they can give you great
           ego.

              A cannibal rushed into his village to spread the word that a hunting party had captured a
           Christian theologian.
           "Good," said one of the cannibals enthusiastically, "I have always wanted to try a baloney
           sandwich."

               Beware of getting lost in philosophy and religion if you really want to know what truth is.
           Beware of being Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, because they are all ways of being deaf, blind,
           insensitive.

              Three deaf British gentlemen were traveling on a train bound for London.
           The first said, "Pardon me, conductor, what station is this?"
           "Wembley, sir," answered the conductor.
           "Good Lord!" exclaimed the second Englishman. "I am sure it is Thursday."
           "So am I," agreed the third. "Let us all go into the bar car and have a drink."

               That's how it goes on between professors, philosophers, theologians. They can't hear what is
           being said. They have their own ideas and they are so full of them, so many thick layers of words,
           that reality cannot reach them.

               ZEN SAYS: IF YOU CAN DROP PHILOSOPHIZING, there is a hope for you. The moment
           you drop philosophizing you become innocent like a child. But remember: -- the Zen emphasis on
           not knowing does not mean that it emphasizes ignorance. Not knowing is not ignorance; not
           knowing is a state of innocence. There is neither knowledge nor ignorance; both have been
           transcended.
               An ignorant man is one who ignores; that's how the word comes. The root is "ignoring." The
           ignorant person is one who goes on ignoring something essential. In that way the knowledgeable
           person is the most ignorant person, because he knows about heaven and hell and he knows nothing
           about himself. He knows about God, but he knows nothing about who he is, what this consciousness
           inside is. He is ignorant because he is ignoring the MOST fundamental thing in life: he is ignoring
           himself. He is keeping himself occupied with the non-essential. He is ignorant -- full of knowledge,
           yet utterly ignorant.
               Not knowing simply means a state of no-mind. Mind can be knowledgeable, mind can be
           ignorant. If you have little information you will be thought ignorant; if you have more information
           you will be thought knowledgeable. Between ignorance and knowledge the difference is that of
           quantity, of degrees. The ignorant person is less knowledgeable, that's all; the very knowledgeable
           person may appear to the world as less ignorant, but they are not different, their qualities are not
           different.
               Zen emphasizes the state of not knowing. Not knowing means one is neither ignorant nor
           knowledgeable. One is not knowledgeable because one is not interested in mere information, and one
           is not ignorant because one is not ignoring -- one is not ignoring the most essential quest. One is not
           ignoring one's own being, one's own consciousness.
               Not knowing has a beauty of its own, a purity. It is just like a pure mirror, a lake utterly silent,
           reflecting the stars and the trees on the bank. The state of not knowing is the highest point in man's
           evolution.
               Knowledge is introduced to the mind after physical birth. Knowing is always present, like the
           heart knowing how to beat or a seed knowing how to sprout, or a flower knowing how to grow, or a
           fish knowing how to swim. And it is quite different from knowing about things. So please make a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           distinction between knowledge and knowing.
                The state of not knowing is really the state of knowing because when all knowledge and all
           ignorance have disappeared you can reflect existence as it is. Knowledge is acquired after your birth,
           but knowing comes with you. And the more knowledge you acquire, the more and more knowing
           starts disappearing because it becomes covered with knowledge. Knowledge is exactly like dust and
           knowing is like a mirror.
                The heart of knowing is now. Knowledge is always of the past. Knowledge means memory.
           Knowledge means you have known something, you have experienced something, and you have
           accumulated your experience. Knowing is of the present. And how can you be in the present if you
           are clinging too much to knowledge? That is impossible; you will have to drop clinging to
           knowledge. And knowledge is acquired: knowing is your nature. Knowing is always now -- the heart
           of knowing is now. And the heart of now...?
                The word "now" is beautiful. The heart of it is the letter "O" which is also a symbol for zero. The
           heart of now is zero, nothingness. When the mind is no more, when you are just a nothingness, just a
           zero -- Buddha calls it exactly that, SHUNYA, the zero -- then everything that surrounds you, ALL
           that is within and without, is known, but known not as knowledge, known in a totally different way.
           The same way that the flower knows how to open, and the fish knows how to swim, and the child
           knows in the mother's womb how to grow, and you know how to breathe -- even while asleep, even
           in a coma, you go on breathing -- and the heart knows how to beat. This is a totally different kind of
           knowing, so intrinsic, so internal. It is not acquired, it is natural.
                Knowledge is got in exchange for knowing. And when you have got knowledge, what happens to
           knowing? You forget knowing. You have got knowledge and you have forgotten knowing. And
           knowing is the door to the divine; knowledge is a barrier to the divine. Knowledge has utility in the
           world. Yes, it will make you more efficient, skillful, a good mechanic, this and that; you may be able
           to earn in a better way. All that is there and I am not denying it. And you can use knowledge in that
           way; but don't let knowledge become a barrier to the divine. Whenever knowledge is not needed, put
           it aside and drown yourself into a state of not knowing -- which is also a state of knowing, real
           knowing. Knowledge is got in exchange for knowing and knowing is forgotten. It has only to be
           remembered -- you have forgotten it.
                The function of the Master is to help you RE-member it. The mind has to be RE-minded, for
           knowing is nothing but RE-cognition, RE-collection, RE-membrance. When you come across some
           truth, when you come across a Master, and you see the truth of his being, something within you
           immediately recognizes it. Not even a single moment is lost. You don't think about it, whether it is
           true or not -- thinking needs time. When you listen to the truth, when you feel the presence of truth,
           when you come into close communion with the truth, something within you immediately recognizes
           it, with no argumentation. Not that you accept, not that you believe: you recognize. And it could not
           be recognized if it were not already known somehow, somewhere, deep down within you.
           This is the fundamental approach of Zen.

              "Has your baby brother learned to talk yet?"
           "Oh, sure," replied little Mike. "Now Mummy and Daddy are teaching him to keep quiet."

                The society teaches you knowledge. So many schools, colleges, universities...they are all devoted
           to creating knowledge, more knowledge, implanting knowledge in people. And the function of the
           Master is just the opposite: what your society has done to you the Master has to undo. His function is
           basically anti-social, and nothing can be done about it. The Master is bound to be anti-social.
                Jesus, Pythagoras, Buddha, Lao Tzu, they are all anti-social. Not that they want to be anti-social,
           but the moment they recognize the beauty of not knowing, the vastness of not knowing, the
           innocence of not knowing, the moment the taste of not knowing happens to them, they want to
           impart it to others, they want to share it with others. And that very process is anti-social.
                People ask me why the society is against me. The society is NOT against me -- I am anti-social.
           But I can't help it -- I have to do my thing. I have to share what has happened to me, and in that very
           sharing I go against the society. Its whole structure is rooted in knowledge, and the Master's function
           is to destroy both knowledge and ignorance and to bring you back your childhood.
                Jesus says: Unless you are like small children you will not enter into the kingdom of God.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The society, in fact, makes you uprooted from your nature. It pushes you off your center. It
           makes you neurotic.
               Conducting a university course, a famous psychiatrist was asked by a student, "Sir, you have told
           us about the abnormal person and his behavior, but what about the normal person?"
           "When we find him," replied the psychiatrist, "we cure him."

               The society goes on curing normal people. Every child is born normal, remember; then the
           society cures him. Then he becomes abnormal. He becomes Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian,
           Communist, Catholic...there are so many kinds of neurosis in the world. You can choose, you can
           shop for whatever kind of neurosis you want. Society creates all kinds; all sizes and shapes of
           neurosis are available, to everybody's liking.
               Zen cures you of your abnormality. It makes you again normal, it makes you again ordinary. It
           does not make you a saint, remember. It does not make you a holy person, remember. It simply
           makes you an ordinary person -- takes you back to your nature, back to your source.
           This beautiful anecdote:
              ASCENDING TO THE HIGH SEAT, DOGEN ZENJI SAID: "ZEN MASTER HOGEN STUDIED WITH
              KEISHIN ZENJI.
              ONCE KEISHIN ZENJI ASKED HIM, JOZA, WHERE DO YOU GO?'
              HOGEN SAID, 'I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY.'
              KEISHIN SAID, 'WHAT IS THE MATTER OF YOUR PILGRIMAGE?'
              HOGEN SAID, 'I DON'T KNOW.'
              KEISHIN SAID, 'NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.'
              HOGEN SUDDENLY ATTAINED GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT."

               NOW MEDITATE OVER EACH WORD of this small anecdote; it contains all the great
           scriptures of the world. It contains more than all the great scriptures contain -- because it also
           contains not knowing.
              ASCENDING TO THE HIGH SEAT...

               This is just a symbolic, metaphorical way of saying something very significant. Zen says that
           man is a ladder. The lowest rung is the mind and the highest rung of the ladder is the no-mind. Zen
           says only people who have attained to no-mind are worthy enough to ascend to the high seat and
           speak to people -- not everybody. It is not a question of a priest or a preacher.
               Christians train preachers; they have theological colleges where preachers are trained. What kind
           of foolishness is this? Yes, you can teach them the art of eloquence; you can teach them how to
           begin a speech, how to end a speech. And that's exactly what is being taught in Christian theological
           colleges. Even what gestures to make, when to make a pause, when to speak slowly and when to
           become loud -- everything is cultivated. And these stupid people go on preaching about Jesus, and
           they have not asked a single question!
               Once I visited a theological college. The principal was my friend; he invited me. I asked him,
           "Can you tell me in what theological college Jesus learned? -- because the Sermon on the Mount is
           so beautiful, he must have learned in some theological college. In what theological college did
           Buddha learn?"
               Mohammed was absolutely uneducated, but the way he speaks, the way he sings in the Koran, is
           superb. It is coming from somewhere else. It is not education, it is not knowledge. It is coming from
           a state of no-mind.

               Little Johnny was the son of the local minister. One day his teacher was asking the class what
           they wanted to be when they grew up.
               When it was his turn to answer he replied, "I want to be a minister just like my father."
               The teacher was impressed with his determination and so she asked him why he wanted to be a
           preacher.
           "Well," he said thoughtfully, "since I have to go to church on Sunday anyway, I figure it would be
           more interesting to be the guy who stands up and yells than the one who has to sit down and listen."

              You can create preachers, but you cannot create Masters.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In India, the seat from where a Master speaks is called VYASPEETHA. Vyasa was one of the
           greatest Masters India has ever produced, one of the ancientmost Buddhas. He was so influential, his
           impact was so tremendous, that thousands of books exist in his name which were not written by him.
           But his name became so important that anybody who wanted to sell his book would put Vyasa's
           name on it instead of putting his own name. His name was guarantee enough that the book was
           valuable. Now scholars go crazy deciding which is the real book written by Vyasa.
               The seat from where a Buddha speaks is called VYASPEETHA -- the seat of the Buddha.
           Nobody else is allowed to ascend to the seat unless he has attained to no-mind. ASCENDING TO
           THE HIGH SEAT is a metaphor: it says the man has attained to the state of no-mind, he has attained
           the state of not-knowing which is true knowing.
              ...DOGEN ZENJI SAID: "ZEN MASTER HOGEN STUDIED WITH KEISHIN ZENJI.
              ONCE KEISHIN ZENJI ASKED HIM, JOZA, WHERE DO YOU GO?'"

                This is a Zen way of saying, "What is your goal in life? Where are you going?" It also implies
           another question: "From where are you coming? What is the source of your life?" It also implies,
           "Who are you?" -- because if you can answer where you are coming from and where you are going
           to, that means you must know who you are.
                The three most important questions are: "Who am I? From where do I come? And to where am I
           going?"
              ...KEISHIN ZENJI ASKED "JOZA, WHERE DO YOU GO?"
              HOGEN SAID, "I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY."

             See the beauty of the answer. This is how tremendously beautiful things transpire between a
           Master and a disciple. He said:
              "I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY."

               If you are going to Kaaba, then it is not a pilgrimage because there is an aim in it; if you are
           going to Jerusalem or to Kashi it is not a pilgrimage. Wherever there is a goal there is ambition, and
           wherever there is ambition there is mind, desire. And with desire there is no possibility of any
           pilgrimage.
               A pilgrimage can only be aimless. See the beauty of it! Only a Zen Master can approve it and
           only a Zen disciple can say something so tremendously revolutionary.
              "I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY."

               The Master asks, "Where are you going?" And the disciple says, "Nowhere in particular."
           Aimlessly, just like a dry leaf in the wind, wherever the wind takes it: to the north, then the north is
           beautiful; to the south, then the south is beautiful -- because all is divine. Wherever you go you
           encounter him. There is no need to have any aim.
               The moment you have any aim you become tense; you become concentrated on the aim. The
           moment you have any aim you are separate from the whole. You have a private goal, and to have a
           private goal is the root of all ego. Not to have a private goal is to be one with the whole, and to be
           one with the whole is possible only if you are aimlessly wandering.
               A Zen person is a wanderer, aimless, with no goal, with no future. Moment-to-moment he lives
           without any mind; just like the dry leaf he makes himself available to the winds. He says to the
           winds, "Take me wherever you want." If he rises on the winds high in the sky he does not feel
           superior to others who are lying down on the ground. If he falls to the ground he does not feel
           inferior to others who are rising on the wind high in the sky. He cannot fail. He cannot ever be
           frustrated. When there is no goal, how can you fail? And when you are not going anywhere in
           particular, how can you be in frustration? Expectation brings frustration. Private ambitions bring
           failures.
               The Zen person is always victorious, even in his failure.
              KEISHIN SAID, "WHAT IS THE MATTER OF YOUR PILGRIMAGE?"


              He asks again to make certain, because he may be simply repeating He may have read in some
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           old Zen scriptures that "One should be aimless. When one is aimless, life is a pilgrimage." Hence the
           Master asks again:
              ..."WHAT IS THE MATTER OF YOUR PILGRIMAGE?"
              HOGEN SAID, "I DON'T KNOW."

              Now, if Hogen was only repeating some knowledge gathered from scriptures or others, he would
           have again answered the same thing, maybe paraphrased in a different way. He would have been like
           a parrot. The Master is asking the same question, hut the answer has changed, totally changed. He
           simply says: I don't know.
              How can you know if you are aimless? How can you know when you don't have any goal? How
           can you be when there is no goal? The ego can exist only with goals, ambitions, desires.
              HOGEN SAID, "I DON'T KNOW."

               His answer, his response, is not parrotlike. He has not repeated the same thing again. The
           question was the same, remember, but the answer has changed. That's the difference between a
           knowledgeable person and a man of knowing, the wise man, who functions out of a state of
           not-knowing.
              "I DON'T KNOW."

              Keishin must have been tremendously happy. He said:
              "NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."

               Knowledge creates a distance between you and reality. The more you know, the greater is the
           distance -- so many books between you and reality. If you have crammed the whole of the
           ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, then there is so much distance between you and reality. Unless
           reality tries to find you through the jungle of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA or you try to
           find reality through the jungle of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, there is not going to be any
           meeting. The more you know, the greater is the distance; the less you know, the thinner is the
           distance. If you don't know at all there is no distance at all. Then you are face to face with reality;
           not even face to face -- YOU ARE IT. That's why the Master said:
              "NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."

              Remember, such a beautiful sutra, so exquisite, so tremendously significant:
              "NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."

               The moment you don't know, intimacy arises between you and reality, a great friendship arises. It
           becomes a love affair. You are embracing reality; reality penetrates you, as lovers penetrate each
           other. You melt into it like snow melting in the sun. You become one with it. There is nothing to
           divide. It is knowledge that divides; it is not-knowing that unites.
           Listening to this tremendously significant sutra:
              "NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE," HOGEN SUDDENLY ATTAINED GREAT
              ENLIGHTENMENT.

               HE MUST HAVE BEEN VERY CLOSE, obviously. When he said, "I DON'T KNOW," he must
           have been just on the borderline. When he said, "I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY," he
           was just one step away from the borderline. When he said, "I DON'T KNOW," even that one step
           disappeared. He was standing on the border-line.
               And when the Master said, when the Master confirmed, illuminated, and said, "NOT KNOWING
           IS THE MOST INTIMATE"...when the Master patted him on the back: "NOT KNOWING IS THE
           MOST INTIMATE"....
              HOGEN SUDDENLY ATTAINED GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT.

               IMMEDIATELY, that very moment, he crossed the border. Immediately his last clinging
           disappeared. Now he cannot even say, "I don't know."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The stupid person says, "I know"; the intelligent person comes to know that "I don't know." But
           there is a transcendence of both when only silence prevails. Nothing can be said, nothing can be
           uttered. Hogen entered that silence, that great enlightenment, and suddenly, immediately, without
           any lapse of time.
               Enlightenment is always sudden because it is not an achievement; it is already the case. It is only
           a remembering, it is only a reminding, it is only a recognition. You are already enlightened; you are
           just not aware of it. It is awareness of that which is already the case.
               Meditate over this beautiful anecdote. Let this sutra resound in your being:
              "NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."

               And one never knows: sudden enlightenment may happen to you as it happened to Hogen. It is
           going to happen to many people here, because what I am doing every day is destroying your
           knowledge, destroying and destroying all your clingings and strategies of the mind. Any day when
           your mind collapses, when you cannot hold it together any more, there is bound to be sudden
           enlightenment. It is not an attainment, hence it can happen in a single moment, instantly. Society has
           forced you to forget it; my work here is to help you remember it.




                                                       Ah, This!
                                                   Chapter #2
                                               Chapter title: Neti Neti
           4 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001040
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO,
              PLEASE, IN THE QUESTION "WHO AM I?" WHAT DOES "I" MEAN? DOES IT MEAN THE
              ESSENCE OF LIFE?


                Hermann Sander,
           "WHO AM I?" IS NOT REALLY A QUESTION because it has no answer to it; it is unanswerable.
           It is a device, not a question. It is used as a mantra. When you constantly inquire inside, "Who am I?
           Who am I?" you are not waiting for an answer. Your mind will supply many answers; all those
           answers have to be rejected. Your mind will say, "You are the essence of life. You are the eternal
           soul. You are divine," and so on and so forth. All those answers have to be rejected: NETI NETI --
           one has to go on saying, "Neither this nor that."
                When you have denied all the possible answers that the mind can supply and devise, when the
           question remains absolutely unanswerable, a miracle happens: suddenly the question also disappears.
           When all the answers have been rejected, the question has no props, no supports inside to stand on
           any more. It simply flops, it collapses, it disappears.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When the question also has disappeared, then you know. But that knowing is not an answer: it is
           an existential experience. Nothing can be said about it, or whatever will be said will be wrong. To
           say anything about it is to falsify it. It is the ultimate mystery, inexpressible, indefinable. No word is
           adequate enough to describe it. Even the phrase "essence of life" is not adequate; even "God" is not
           adequate. Nothing is adequate to express it; its very nature is inexpressible.
               But you know. You know exactly the way the seed knows how to grow -- not like the professor
           who knows about chemistry or physics or geography or history, but like the bud which knows how to
           open in the early morning sun. Not like the priest who knows about God; about and about he goes,
           around and around he goes.
               Knowledge is beating around the bush: knowing is a direct penetration. But the moment you
           directly penetrate into existence, you disappear as a separate entity. You are no more. When the
           KNOWER is no more then the knowing is. And the knowing is not ABOUT something -- you are
           that knowing itself.
               So I cannot say, Sander, what "I" means in the question "Who am I?" It means nothing! It is just
           a device to lead you into the unknown, to lead you into the uncharted, to lead you into that which is
           not available to the mind. It is a sword to cut the very roots of the mind, so only the silence of
           no-mind is left. In that silence there is no question, no answer, no knower, no known, but only
           knowing, only experiencing.
               That's why the mystics appear to be in such difficulty to express it. Many of them have remained
           silent out of the awareness that whatsoever you say goes wrong; the moment you say it, it goes
           wrong. Those who have spoken, they have spoken with the condition: "Don't cling to our words."
               Lao Tzu says: "Tao, once described, is no more the real Tao." The moment you say something
           about it you have already falsified it, you have betrayed it. It is such an intimate knowing,
           incommunicable.
           "Who am I?" functions like a sword to cut all the answers that the mind can manage. Zen people will
           say it is a koan, just like other koans. There are many koans, famous koans. One is: "Find out your
           original face." And the disciple asks the Master, "What is the original face?" And the Master says,
           "The face that you had before your parents were born."
               And you start meditating on that: "What is your original face?" Naturally, you have to deny all
           your faces. Many faces will start surfacing: childhood faces, when you were young, when you
           became middle-aged, when you became old, when you were healthy, when you were ill.... All kinds
           of faces will stand in a queue. They will pass before your eyes claiming, "I am the original face."
           And you have to go on rejecting.
               When all the faces have been rejected and emptiness is left, you have found the original face.
           Emptiness is the original face. Zero is the ultimate experience. Nothingness -- or more accurately
           NO-THINGNESS -- is your original face.
               Or another famous koan is: "The sound of one hand clapping." The Master says to the disciple,
           "Go and listen to the sound of one hand clapping." Now this is patent absurdity: one hand cannot
           clap and without clapping there can be no sound. The Master knows it, the disciple knows it. But
           when the Master says, "Go and meditate on it," the disciple has to follow.
               He starts making efforts to listen to the sound of one hand clapping. Many sounds come to his
           mind: the birds singing, the sound of running water.... He rushes immediately to the Master; he says,
           "I have heard it! The sound of running water -- isn't that the sound of one hand clapping?"
               And the Master hits him hard on the head and he says, "You fool! Go back, meditate more!"
               And he goes on meditating, and the mind goes on providing new answers: "The sound of wind
           passing through the pine trees -- certainly this is the answer." He is in such a hurry! Everybody is in
           such a hurry. Impatiently he rushes to the door of the Master, a little bit apprehensive, afraid too, but
           maybe this is the answer....
               And even before he has said a single thing the Master hits him! He is very much puzzled and he
           says, "This is too much! I have not even uttered a single word, so how can I be wrong? And why are
           you hitting me?"
               The Master says, "It is not a question of whether you have uttered something or not. You have
           come with an answer -- that is enough proof that you must be wrong. When you have REALLY
           found it you won't come; there will be no need. I will come to you."
               Sometimes years pass, and then one day it has happened, there is no answer. First the disciple
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knew that there was no answer to it, but it was only an intellectual knowing. Now he knows from his
           very core: "There is no answer!" All answers have evaporated.
               And the sure sign that all answers have evaporated is only one: when the question also
           evaporates. Now he is sitting silently doing nothing, not even meditating. He has forgotten the
           question: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" It is no more there. It is PURE silence.
               And there are ways...there are inner paths which exist between a Master and a disciple. And now
           the Master rushes towards the disciple. He knocks on his door. He hugs the disciple and says, "So it
           has happened? This is it! No answer, no question: this is it. Ah, this!"

           The second question


              OSHO,
              I FEEL LIFE IS VERY BORING. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               Brij Mohan,
           AS IT IS, YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE ENOUGH. You have made life boring -- some
           achievement! Life is such a dance of ecstasy and you have reduced it to boredom. You have done a
           miracle! What else do you want to do? You can't do anything bigger than this. Life and boring? You
           must have a tremendous capacity to IGNORE life.
               Just the other day I was telling you that ignorance means the capacity to ignore. You must be
           ignoring the birds, the trees, the flowers, the people. Otherwise, life is so tremendously beautiful, so
           ABSURDLY beautiful, that if you can see it as it is you will never stop laughing. You will go on
           giggling -- at least inside.
               Life is not boring, but MIND is boring. And we create such a mind, such a strong mind, like a
           China Wall around ourselves, that it does not allow life to enter into us. It disconnects us from life.
           We become isolated, encapsulated, windowless. Living behind a prison wall you don't see the
           morning sun, you don't see the birds on the wing, you don't see the sky in the night full of stars. And,
           of course, you start thinking that life is boring. Your conclusion is wrong. YOU are in a wrong
           space; you are living in a wrong context.
               You must be a religious person, Brij Mohan, because to make life boring one has to be religious;
           one has to be very scholarly. One has to know Christianity, Hinduism, Islam. One has to learn much
           from the Vedas and the Koran and the Bible. You must be very well-informed. A man who is too
           well-informed, too knowledgeable, creates such a thick wall of words -- futile words, empty words --
           around himself that he becomes incapable of seeing life.
           Knowledge is a barrier to life.
               Put aside your knowledge! And then look with empty eyes...and life is a CONSTANT surprise.
           And I am not talking about some divine life -- the ORDINARY life is so extraordinary. In small
           incidents you will find the presence of God -- a child giggling, a dog barking, a peacock dancing.
           But you can't see if your eyes are covered with knowledge. The poorest man in the world is the man
           who lives behind a curtain of knowledge.
               The poorest are those who live through the mind. The richest are those who have opened the
           windows of no-mind and approached life with the no-mind.
               Brij Mohan, this is not only YOUR experience; you are not alone in it. In fact, the majority of
           people will agree with you. They don't find any surprise anywhere. And each moment there are
           surprises and surprises because life is never the same; it is constantly changing, and it takes such
           unpredictable turns. How can you remain unaffected by the very wonder of it? The only way to
           remain unaffected is to cling to your past, to your experience, to your knowledge, to your memories,
           to your mind. Then you cannot see that which is; you go on missing the present.
               Miss the present and you live in boredom. BE in the present and you will be surprised that there
           is no boredom at all. Start by looking around a little more like a child. Be a child again! That's what
           meditation is all about: being a child again -- a rebirth, being innocent again, not-knowing. That's
           what we were saying the other day. The Master said: NOT-KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.
               Yes, you must have become very alienated from life, hence boredom. You have forgotten the
           intimacy, the immediacy You are no longer bridged. Knowledge functions as a wall: innocence
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           functions as a bridge.
                Start looking like a child again. Go to the seashore and again start collecting seashells. See a
           child collecting seashells -- as if he has found a mine of diamonds. So thrilled he is! See a child
           making sandcastles and how absorbed he is, utterly lost, as if there is nothing more important than
           making sandcastles. See a child running after a butterfly...and be a child again. Start running after
           butterflies again. Make sandcastles, collect seashells.
                Don't live as if you know. You know nothing! All that you know is about and about. The moment
           you KNOW something, boredom disappears. Knowing is such an adventure that boredom cannot
           exist. With knowledge of course it can exist; with knowing it cannot exist.
                And let me remind you: I am not talking about some divine knowledge, some esoteric
           knowledge; I am simply talking about THIS life. Just look around with a little more clarity, with a
           little more transparency...and life is hilarious!

               A downtown store featured a plaque in its window reading: BUY AMERICAN. Printed in small
           letters at the bottom was: MADE IN JAPAN.

           Just start looking around a little more carefully.

              A German in the Soviet Zone reported to the police that his parrot was missing. He was asked
           whether the parrot talked.
           "Yes," he replied, "but any political opinions he expresses are strictly his own."

                Molly, aged seventy-nine, complained of abdominal swelling and pain to the doctor. He
           examined her thoroughly, put her through a series of laboratory tests, and then announced the results.
           "The plain fact, madam," said the medical man, "is that you are pregnant."
           "That's impossible!" said Molly. "Why, I am seventy-nine years old and my husband, although he
           still works, is eighty-six!"
           The doctor insisted, so the aging mother-to-be pulled over his desk telephone and dialed her
           husband's office. When he was on the line she shouted, "You old goat, you have got me pregnant!"
           "Please," quavered the old man, "who did you say was calling?"

           The third question


              OSHO,
              I KNOW YOU WANT US ALL TO RID OURSELVES OF OUR EGOS AND MINDS, AND IN MY
              CASE, I KNOW THAT THIS IS VERY NECESSARY, BUT FOR THOSE OF US WHO WILL BE
              RETURNING TO THE WEST, WOULD NOT A TOTAL ABSENCE OF MIND OR EGO MAKE LIFE
              MUCH MORE DIFFICULT?


               Prem Joyce,
           WHEN I SAY, "DROP THE EGO, DROP THE MIND," I don't mean that you cannot use the mind
           any more. In fact, when you don't cling to the mind you can use it in a far better, far more efficient
           way, because the energy that was involved in clinging becomes available. And when you are not
           continuously in the mind, twenty-four hours a day in the mind, the mind also gets a little time to rest.
               Do you know? -- even metals need rest, even metals get tired. So what to say about this subtle
           mechanism of the mind? It is the MOST subtle mechanism in the world. In such a small skull you
           are carrying such a complicated biocomputer that no computer made by man is yet capable of
           competing with it. The scientists say a single man's brain can contain all the libraries of the world
           and yet there will be space enough to contain more.
               And you are continuously using it -- uselessly, unnecessarily! You have forgotten how to put it
           off. For seventy, eighty years it remains on, working, working, tired. That's why people lose
           intelligence: for the simple reason that they are so tired. If the mind can have a little rest, if you can
           leave the mind alone for a few hours every day, if once in a while you can give the mind a holiday, it
           will be rejuvenated; it will come out more intelligent, more efficient, more skillful.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So I am NOT saying that you are NOT to use your mind, but don't be USED by the mind. Right
           now the mind is the master and you are only a slave.
                Meditation makes you a master and the mind becomes a slave. And remember: the mind as a
           master is dangerous because, after all, it is a machine; but the mind as a slave is tremendously
           significant, useful. A machine should function as a machine, not as a master. Our priorities are all
           upside-down -- your CONSCIOUSNESS should be the master.
                So whenever you want to use it, in the East or in the West -- of course you will need it in the
           marketplace -- USE it! But when you don't need it, when you are resting at home by the side of your
           swimming-pool or in your garden, there is no need. Put it aside. Forget all about it! Then just be.
                And the same is the case with the ego. Don't be identified with it, that's all. Remember that you
           are part of the whole; you are not separate from it.
                That does not mean that if somebody is stealing from your house you have simply to watch --
           because you are just part of the whole and he is also part of the whole, so what is wrong? And
           somebody is taking money from your pocket, so there is no problem -- the other's hand is as much
           yours as his! I am not saying that.
                Remember that you are part of the whole so that you can relax, merge; once in a while you can
           be utterly drowned in the whole. And that will give you a new lease of life. The inexhaustible
           sources of the whole will become available to you. You will come out of it refreshed; you will come
           out of it reborn, again as a child, full of joy, inquiry, adventure, ecstasy.
                Don't get identified with the ego, although, as far as the world is concerned, you have to function
           as an ego -- that is only utilitarian! You have to use the word "I" -- use the word "I," but remember
           that it is only a word. It has a certain utility, and without it life will become impossible. If you stop
           using the word "I" completely, life will become impossible. We know names are only utilitarian,
           nobody is born with a name. But I am not saying to drop the name and throw your passport into the
           river. Then you will be in trouble! You NEED a name; that is a necessity because you live with so
           many people.
                If you are alone in the world, then of course there is no need to carry a passport. If you are
           alone...for example, if the third world war happens and Joyce is left alone, then there will be no need
           to carry a passport; you can throw it anywhere. Then there will be no need to have any name. Even if
           you have one it will be useless -- nobody will ever call you. Then there will be no need to even use
           the word "I" because "I" needs a "thou"; without a "thou" the "I" is meaningless. It has meaning only
           in the context of others.
                So don't misunderstand me. USE your ego, but use it just like you use your shoes and your
           umbrella and your clothes. When it is raining, use the umbrella, but don't go on carrying it
           unnecessarily. And don't go to bed with the umbrella, and don't be afraid that in a dream it may
           rain.... The umbrella has a utility, so use it when it is needed; but don't become so identified with the
           umbrella that you cannot put it aside. Use the shoes, use the clothes, use the name -- they arc all
           utilities, not realities.
                In the world, when so many people are there, we need a few labels, a few symbols, just to
           demark, just to make sure who is who.

             You ask me: I KNOW YOU WANT US ALL TO RID OURSELVES OF OUR EGOS AND
           MINDS....

               I am not saying to "get rid"; I am simply saying to be master of your minds. I am not telling you
           to be mindless; I am only saying: don't just be minds -- you are far more. Be consciousnesses! Then
           the mind becomes a small thing. You can use it whenever needed, and whenever not needed you can
           put it off.
               I am using my mind when I am talking to you. The mind has to be used; there is no other way.
           But the moment I enter my room, then I don't go on using it -- there is no point. Then I am simply
           silent. With you I am using the language, the words, but when I am with myself there is no need for
           any language, for any words. When I am settled into myself and there is no question of
           communication, language disappears. Then there is a totally different kind of consciousness.
               Right now my consciousness is flowing through the mind, using the mechanism of the mind to
           approach you. I can reach for you with my hand, but I am not the hand. And when I touch you with
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           my hand, the hand is only a means; something else is touching you through the hand. The body has
           to be used, the mind has to be used, the ego, the language, and all kinds of things have to be used.
           And you are allowed to use them with only one condition: remain the master.

           The fourth question


               OSHO,
               THE OTHER DAY YOU ANSWERED MY QUESTION ABOUT LOVING THREE WOMEN. A FEW
               THINGS HAVE HAPPENED SINCE THEN. IN THE FIRST PLACE, I MISSED YOU BECAUSE I WAS
               NOT IN THE DISCOURSE BUT IN THE ARMS OF THE CHOSEN ONE, WHICH TURNED OUT TO
               BE A BAD CHOICE BECAUSE SHE RAN STRAIGHT AWAY AND INTO THE ARMS OF
               SOMEBODY ELSE AFTER SHE REALIZED THAT SHE WAS CHOSEN. THEN, IN SPITE OF THIS,
               THE LITTLE COMMUNE HAS GROWN INTO FIVE WOMEN NOW. ONE WOMAN IS HELL, BUT
               WHAT TO SAY ABOUT FIVE? BUT I HAVE GOT A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS. FOR
               INSTANCE, HAMID HAS SUGGESTED I TURN GAY AND HAS OFFERED ME A DATE WITH HIM.
               VIVEK SUGGESTED THAT I WAIT UNTIL THERE ARE SEVEN. BUT PLEASE, OSHO, BEFORE I
               DISAPPEAR INTO THE SEVENTH HELL, I HAVE ALREADY LOST THREE KILOS IN WEIGHT.
               YOU OFFERED TO BUY ME OUT. CAN'T WE TALK BUSINESS NOW? I REALLY MEAN IT!


              Prem Aditya,
           A PREACHER WAS LISTENING to a young man confess his sins. In the middle of it he stopped
           him. "Wait a minute, young man," he said, "you ain't confessin' -- you are braggin'."

               Now you have started bragging! I know perfectly well...because I am in contact with your three
           women too. I also mean business! You don't have five -- you have even lost the three. And today you
           are here because there is nobody you can be with!
               Hamid is generous...but, remember, he is an Iranian!

              One day, back when the draft was still in effect Glascox received his induction notice. He
           reported to his draft board and confessed that he was a homosexual.
           "Queer, huh?" one member grunted. "Do you think you could kill a man?"
           "Oh, yes," giggled Glascox, "but it would take me quite a while!"

               And let me make you aware that before you can kill an Iranian the Iranian will kill you! So avoid
           Hamid -- he is generous, but avoid him! He is also tired of women. He has just separated from
           Divya, so he must be feeling lonely.
               And Vivek's suggestion is very esoteric. She is becoming a little esoteric, by and by. Being the
           chief medium she has many esoteric mediums under her so she is learning a few esoteric numbers.
           Seven is really dangerous!
               And your guess is right: seven women will lead you to the seventh hell. And that is the last, the
           rock bottom; you cannot fall below that. Vivek must have suggested it so that once you have fallen
           to the rock bottom you start rising back up because there is nowhere else to go.
               And you say you have lost three kilos in weight. Your weighing machine is not functioning well
           -- you must have lost more! It is really strange why women are called the weaker sex -- they are not.
           Man is the weaker sex.

               Danny discovered his wife was cheating with another guy, so he went to this guy's wife and told
           her about it.
           "I know what we will do," she said, "let's take revenge on them."
           So they went to a motel and had revenge on them.
           She said, "Let's have more revenge," and they kept having revenge, revenge....
           Finally Danny said, "That's enough revenge -- I have no more hard feelings left."

           Be a little careful -- this is just the beginning!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A couple wakes up after the first night of their honeymoon. She sits up in bed, looks at her
           husband who is Lying naked next to her, and says in a surprised voice, "Darling, did we use him all
           up in one night?"

               Aditya, this happens to almost every new male sannyasin in the beginning: finding so many
           women here he goes crazy. But within a few weeks he comes to his senses, and then a totally reverse
           process sets in. First he chases women; after a few weeks the women start chasing men and they start
           escaping.
               Many women have reported to me: "What has happened here to male sannyasins? They don't
           seem to be much interested in women. They don't approach women, they avoid them. Rather than
           taking the initiative, they escape -- the moment they see a woman chasing them, they escape."
               What happens in the ordinary world is that man has plenty to imagine, fantasize about, because
           the society does not allow you many relationships with women -- only one woman. And you get
           tired, you get bored, and your mind starts roaming around. And all the women who don't belong to
           you look tremendously beautiful, just stunning -- because they are not available. Your mind starts
           fancying, your mind goes into trips.
               Here it is totally different. This commune lives in the future now. It is how it is going to be all
           over the world sooner or later. This commune heralds a new consciousness, a consciousness rooted
           in freedom. Up to now you have lived in a deep slavery, psychological slavery.
               When you GET freedom, in the beginning you rush into it madly. You start doing all kinds of
           things that you always wanted to do but you were not permitted to do. Then soon things settle. You
           become aware that all women are alike just as all men are alike. Maybe there are differences, but
           they are peripheral. Somebody has black hair and somebody has blonde hair and somebody has blue
           eyes and somebody has black eyes -- just peripheral differences.
               But as you become more and more aware of MANY people, as you become related to many
           people, one thing becomes absolutely clear to you: that ALL men are alike -- almost alike -- so are
           all women. Then settling starts. Then you start settling with one woman, with one man, in a more
           intimate relationship.
               That intimacy is not possible in the outside world because your mind will always go on thinking
           that your woman, your man, has not got that which others have got. And there is no way to find out
           the truth. Here the way is available; you can find out the truth. And once the truth is known you start
           settling with one person. And this settlement is not enforced; this is not a legal arrangement. You
           will not be punished if you separate; nobody is preventing you from separating.
               But, still, now you start a totally different kind of journey, a new pilgrimage of intimacy,
           unimposed intimacy. And now you see that the deeper you want to enter into the other person, the
           more time is needed, patience is needed, many kinds of situations are needed.
               And physical penetration is sex, which is a very superficial thing. Psychological penetration is
           love, which is far more deep, far more significant, far more beautiful, far more human. The first is
           animal, the second is human. And then there is a third kind of penetration: when two
           consciousnesses meet, merge, melt into each other. I call that prayer.
               Aditya, move towards prayer, because only prayer will give you REAL contentment. Only prayer
           will make you aware of the divinity of the other person, of the godliness of the other person. And
           seeing the godliness of the other person, of your beloved, you will become aware of your own
           godliness.
               Love is a mirror. A real relationship is a mirror in which two lovers see each other's faces and
           recognize God. It is a path towards God.

           The fifth question


              OSHO,
              I AM BORN BRITISH AND SO IS MY FRIEND! ANY HOPE?


             Vivek,
           NOBODY IS BORN BRITISH. It is a disease that happens later on. We learn it; it is not innate. Just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           like nobody is born German or Indian. These are structures that are imposed on us later on, after the
           birth. These are social ways of enslaving your psyche, your being. Every society imposes certain
           forms, rules, regulations. Every society gives you a shape, a form, a face, a facade.
                Nobody is British and nobody is German and nobody is Indian. Hence these structures can be
           dropped, one can slip out of them.
                The only thing needed is awareness. We are so unaware that we become one with the structure,
           identified with it. We start thinking that we ARE it. And that's where the disease becomes a
           permanent phenomenon; it becomes chronic. Otherwise, one can slip out of being British or Hindu
           or Mohammedan or communist as easily as the snake gets out of its old skin and never looks back.
                Secondly: not all Britishers are British, not all Germans are Germans, not all Indians are Indians.
           You can find a few Indians here -- my sannyasins or my would-be sannyasins; they are not Indians.
           They have slipped out of the Indian prison. Now, there are so many Germans here, and when I go on
           telling jokes against Germans they laugh as relaxedly as you laugh. They don't feel hurt.
                When I said something against the British, the Britishers were those who were most happy. They
           were happy because they must be feeling jealous of the Germans! I go on hitting the Germans so
           much! I have a certain soft corner for Haridas, Govinddas, etcetera -- I go on hitting them! And the
           Britishers must be feeling a little lost, lagging behind!
                My sannyasins belong to no race, to no country, to no religion. That's what my sannyas is all
           about: getting out of all kinds of prisons, becoming simply human; declaring one's universality,
           declaring that "The whole earth belongs to us."
                As sannyasins grow slowly slowly into millions, we are going to create trouble. When I have got
           enough sannyasins I will tell you, "Now you can burn your passports and move freely from one
           country to another -- because freedom of movement is a birthright."
                This is so ugly, that you cannot move from one country to another country easily; they create so
           many barriers. When you pass the boundary of one country to another you immediately become
           aware that you have been in a prison and you are entering into another prison. The prison is big, so
           when you are inside you don't know about it.
                The person who has never left India will not be aware that he is living in a big prison, but when
           you leave the country then you know how difficult it is: how you are tortured for hours, how many
           papers you have to fill in, how many things you have to do before you can get over the border. Then
           you know that this is a prison. And you have to do the same thing in the other country. These
           countries are big prisons.
                The hope is that when there are millions of sannyasins, and we have created enough orange
           energy in the world, we will break all these barriers.
                But remember always: not all Germans are Germans, not all Britishers are British, not all Indians
           are Indian. That is the only hope. There are a few who ARE in the prison but not part of it -- it is just
           an accident that they are born in India, an accident that they are born in England; otherwise they are
           free souls. They are the real hope for humanity, the real hope for the future.

               This English sportsman had been abroad and returned to his home without notice. While walking
           through the corridor with his butler, he looked into his bedroom and discovered his wife making love
           to a strange man.
           "Fetch my rifle at once!" he instructed his butler.
               In a matter of minutes his rifle was brought to him. Raising it and taking aim, he was tapped on
           the shoulder by the butler who whispered, "If I may say so, sir, remember you are a true sportsman.
           Get him on the rise!"

              Now the butler is not British, not at all! -- has more sense of humor.

               Two Englishmen were coming home late at night from a poker party. One said, "I am always
           afraid when I return home late from a party like this. I shut off the engine of my car a half a block
           from home and coast into the garage. I take off my shoes and sneak into the house. I am as quiet as
           possible, but invariably, about the time I settle down into bed, my wife sits up and starts to berate
           me."
               The other man said, "You just have the wrong technique. I never have any trouble. I barge into
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the garage, slam the door, stomp into the house and make a hell of a racket. Then I go upstairs to the
           bedroom, pat my wife and say, 'How about it, kid?' She always pretends she is asleep."

           The sixth question


              OSHO,
              NO PASSION, NO JEALOUSY, AND SO MUCH LOVING. CAN IT BE TRUE THAT THIS
              SUFFERING IS OVER?


                Prem Turiya,
           THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL THINGS to be remembered, and you will have to
           be constantly aware: you cannot take it for granted that the suffering is over. If you take it for
           granted that the suffering is over, the suffering will be back by the back door. You have to be
           constantly alert and aware.
                Yes, for the moment there is no jealousy, no passion, and yet so much loving -- naturally. When
           there is no passion and no jealousy, all the energies move into the direction of love. It is the same
           energy that becomes passion, that becomes jealousy. When there is no jealousy, no passion, all the
           energy is available for the flowers of love to bloom. But don't take it for granted. Don't think that the
           suffering is over for ever.
                Life is a continuous evolution and you have to be constantly alert, otherwise you can fall back
           into the old patterns very easily. And the old patterns have persisted so long, they have become so
           ingrained in your blood, in your bones, in your very marrow, that one moment of unconsciousness
           and you are back. You have to go on being aware.
                Something beautiful is happening...much more is going to happen. One never knows how much
           more is possible. We are never aware of our potential unless it becomes actual.
                You have seen a beautiful space of non-jealous love. Passion is a kind of fever and it consumes
           much energy. Fever naturally consumes energy -- and passion is fever. When passion disappears,
           compassion arises. And compassion is cool. Passion is hot, it burns you. Compassion is cool -- not
           cold, remember. Hatred is cold, lust is hot. Exactly between the two is the golden mean, neither hot
           nor cold. Then you are in a state of cool warmth. Very paradoxical it seems -- cool warmth. It is not
           hot, but it is warm; it is not cold, but it is cool.
                And the real flower of love opens up only in that climate of warmth-coolness. A warm coolness
           is the right climate for the lotus of love to blossom.
                But don't take it for granted. Never take anything for granted! Each moment you have to conquer
           it again and again. Life is a continuous conquest. It is not that once and for all it is settled and then
           you can fall asleep and stay unconscious and there is no worry left. Again you will be back in the
           same rut.
                Turiya, I am happy -- I have been watching you. You are looking both warm and cool. It is a
           non-ending process. Be alert, be watchful. Don't destroy this beautiful flower that is growing in you.
                When you have something precious you have to be more aware. When you have nothing to lose
           you can be unconscious, you can fall asleep; there is no problem. But when you have something to
           lose -- and this is something precious -- be more conscious, be more alert. You have discovered a
           treasure.

           The seventh question


              OSHO,
              WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE?


              Govindo,
           FIRST, KNOW WELL THAT INTELLECTUALITY is not intelligence. To be intellectual is to be
           phony; it is a pretending intelligence. It is not real because it is not yours; it is borrowed. Intelligence
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is the growth of inner consciousness. It has nothing to do with knowledge, it has something to do
           with meditativeness.
               An intelligent person does not function out of his past experience; he functions in the present. He
           does not react, he responds. Hence he is always unpredictable; one can never be certain what he is
           going to do.

               A Catholic, a Protestant and a Jew were talking to a friend who said he had just been given six
           months to live.
           "What would you do," he asked the Catholic, "if your doctor gave you six months to live?"
           "Ah!" said the Catholic. "I would give all my belongings to the Church, take communion every
           Sunday, and say my 'Hail Marys' regularly."
           "And you?" he asked the Protestant.
           "I would sell up everything and go on a world cruise and have a great time!"
           "And you?" he said to the Jew.
           "Me? I would see another doctor."

           That is intelligence!

              Janet, a pert secretary, sashayed into the boss' office. "I have some good news and some bad
           news," she announced.
           "No jokes, please," said her boss. "Not on quarterly report day. Just give me the good news."
           "Okay," declared the girl. "The good news is that you are not sterile."

           This is intelligence!

               The outraged husband discovered his wife in bed with another man. "What is the meaning of
           this?" he demanded. "Who is this fellow?"
           "That seems like a fair question," said the wife, rolling over. "What is your name?"

           That is intelligence!




                                                       Ah, This!
                                                    Chapter #3
                                              Chapter title: I am Higher
           5 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001050
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              ONE DAY THE KING OF YEN VISITED THE MASTER CHAO CHOU, WHO DID NOT EVEN GET UP
              WHEN HE SAW HIM COMING.
              THE KING ASKED, "WHICH IS HIGHER, A WORLDLY KING, OR THE 'KING OF DHARMA'?"
              CHAO CHOU REPLIED, "AMONG HUMAN KINGS I AM HIGHER; AMONG THE KINGS OF
              DHARMA I AM ALSO HIGHER."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HEARING THIS SURPRISING ANSWER, THE KING WAS VERY PLEASED.
              THE NEXT DAY A GENERAL CAME TO VISIT CHAO CHOU, WHO NOT ONLY GOT UP FROM HIS
              SEAT WHEN HE SAW THE GENERAL COMING, BUT ALSO SHOWED HIM MORE HOSPITALITY
              IN EVERY WAY THAN HE HAD SHOWN TO THE KING.
              AFTER THE GENERAL HAD LEFT, CHAO CHOU'S ATTENDANT MONKS ASKED HIM, "WHY DID
              YOU GET UP FROM YOUR SEAT WHEN A PERSON OF LOWER RANK CAME TO SEE YOU, YET
              DID NOT DO SO FOR ONE OF THE HIGHEST RANK?"
              CHAO CHOU REPLIED, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. WHEN PEOPLE OF THE HIGHEST
              QUALITY COME TO SEE ME, I DO NOT GET UP FROM MY SEAT; WHEN THEY ARE OF MIDDLE
              QUALITY, I DO; BUT WHEN THEY ARE OF THE LOWEST QUALITY, I GO OUTSIDE OF THE
              GATE TO RECEIVE THEM."


               MAN LIVES IN A VERY UPSIDE-DOWN STATE. Hence, whenever there is an enlightened
           Master, his actions, his words, his behavior, all appear to the ordinary man absurd. Jesus is
           misunderstood for the simple reason that a man of eyes is talking to the men who are blind. Socrates
           is not understood for the same reason, because he is talking to people who are utterly deaf. And so
           has been the case with all the Buddhas of all the countries, of all the races. And, unfortunately, this is
           going to remain the case forever. It is something in the very nature of things.
               Man is unconscious; he understands the language of unconsciousness And whenever somebody
           talks from the peaks of consciousness it becomes utterly ununderstandable, unintelligible. He is so
           far away! By the time his words reach the dark valleys of our unconscious we have distorted them to
           such an extent that they have no reference at all to the origin any more.
               The Master looks sometimes mad, sometimes irrational, sometimes stubborn. But the only reason
           that he cannot behave like you, that he cannot be part of the crowd mind, is that he has become
           awakened and the crowd is fast asleep.
               To understand a Master you have to learn great sympathy: only that will create a bridge. That's
           what the relationship of a disciple to the Master is. You can listen to a Master without being a
           disciple. You will hear the words but you will miss the meaning. You will hear the song but you will
           miss the music. You will hear the argument but you will miss the conclusion. You will know what he
           is saying but you will not be able to see where he is indicating.
               To understand the significance -- which is wordless -- to understand the meaning, a totally
           different kind of relationship is needed. It is not that of a speaker and the audience: it is that of two
           lovers. It has to be a love affair; then only is there sympathy enough to have a bridge, to have
           communication.
               And once the sympathy is there, it is not very far away from empathy. Sympathy can be
           transformed into empathy very easily; in fact, it changes into empathy of its own accord. Just as you
           sow seeds and in the right time they sprout and the spring comes and there are many flowers, sow the
           seeds of sympathy -- that is, initiation into disciplehood -- then soon there will be flowers of
           empathy.
               In sympathy there is still a little distance. You can hear -- you can hear a little better than before,
           you can understand more clearly than before -- but still things are in a state of vagueness: more clear
           than before but not absolutely clear yet; in a state of twilight. The night is no more but the sun has
           not risen yet and it is very misty. You can see but can't decipher things accurately.
               Empathy means now there is no distance any more. Now the disciple is drowned in the Master --
           he has become a devotee. Now the Master is drowned in the disciple; they are not separate entities
           any more. They have reached the same rhythm of being, they pulsate in synchronicity.
               Then there is understanding and that understanding liberates, and that understanding is
           immediate. You see the Master, you look into his eyes, you hear his words, you see him moving, his
           gestures...and they are immediately understood without any translation by the mind. The mind
           functions no more as a mediator. It is direct communion -- not even communication but communion.
               The first step is that of a student, curious but still a spectator, far away, collecting information,
           knowledge. The second step is that of a disciple, no more a spectator but a participant, no more
           interested in knowledge but tremendously interested in knowing. And the third step is that of a
           devotee, utterly one with the Master, partaking of his being, drinking out of his inexhaustible source,
           drunk -- drunk with the divine.
               Only the devotee understands absolutely, the disciple understands a little bit, the student only
           hears mere words.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Remember, you have to pass through these stages too. And it all depends on you: one can remain
           a student forever. If you keep the distance, if you are afraid to come close, you will be here and yet
           not here.
               Come closer -- spiritually closer. Bring your beings, unafraid, closer to the Master, closer to his
           light. Yes, that light is not only light, it is fire too; it is going to consume you. Be consumed, because
           in that fire there is great hope of a rebirth.

                These small Zen stories on the surface look like just ordinary anecdotes -- they are not. They
           carry immense significance. Before we enter into the story, a few things have to be understood.
                The other day there was a question from Satsanga. He said, "Osho, why are you not a little more
           diplomatic with the politicians and the priests? -- because that will save us a lot of trouble."
                I can understand what he means; I can understand his worry. He would like me to be a little more
           diplomatic -- but a Master cannot be diplomatic. It has never been so, it is impossible. Diplomacy is
           cunningness, diplomacy is the art of Lying. Diplomacy is the way of persuading others without
           telling them the truth. Diplomacy is a game. Politicians play the game; mystics cannot play it.
                A mystic is one who calls a spade a spade. He is straight, whatsoever the cost. He cannot
           deceive, he cannot lie, he cannot keep quiet. If he sees something he will say it, and he will say it as
           it is.
                Gurdjieff used to say, sometimes to very prominent people, famous in some way or other -- great
           authors, painters, poets, politicians, the people who dominate this world, the great egoists.... He used
           to say to these people a very significant thing -- remember it. Suddenly he would say to them, "You
           have a very good facade."
                Now to say to a politician, to a president of a country or to a prime minister or to a king, "You
           have a very good facade," is to invite trouble. And Gurdjieff lived his whole life in trouble. But there
           is no other way.
                He also used to say, more than once.... Whenever some egoist would ask him, "Do you love me?
           Do you like me?" this was his answer: "For what you could be I have nothing but benevolence, but
           as you are I hate you -- back to your grandmother!"
           This is not diplomacy: this is creating enemies.
                Jesus must have been a really great artist in creating enemies because he was only thirty-three
           when he was crucified, and there were only three years of work because he appeared at the age of
           thirty. Up to that time he was with the mystery schools, going around the world to Egypt, to India,
           and the possibility is even to Tibet and to Japan.
                Hence the Bible has no record of his years of preparation; the record is very abrupt. Something
           about his childhood is said, very fragmentary. And only once is he mentioned: when he was twelve
           years of age and he started arguing with the priests in the temple -- that's all. Then there is a gap of
           eighteen years... nothing is mentioned.
                Now a man like Jesus cannot just live an ordinary life for eighteen years and then suddenly
           explode into Christhood; that is not possible. These eighteen years he was moving with different
           Masters, with different systems, getting initiated into different mystery schools, learning whatsoever
           was available, getting in tune with as many Masters as possible.
                He appears at the age of thirty and by the age of thirty-three he is crucified. In three years he
           really did a good job! He was quick! You cannot think that he was diplomatic; he was the most
           undiplomatic man ever.
           In fact, that's the way the awakened people behave.
           What exactly is diplomacy, Satsanga?

           "Daddy, what is diplomacy?" asked little Bill, just home from school.
           "Well, son, it is like this," replied his dad. "If I were to say to your mother, 'Your face would stop a
           clock,' that would be stupidity. But if I were to say, 'When I look at you, time stands still,' that is
           diplomacy!"

               Yes, you would like me to be a little more diplomatic; that will save a lot of trouble. But that will
           save you also from truth, remember. Truth brings many troubles. It is bound to be so because people
           live in lies, and when you bring truth into the world, their lies, their lives rooted in lies, react. A great
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           antagonism is bound to happen. And people as they are, in their unconsciousness, cannot live
           without lies.
               Friedrich Nietzsche is right. He says, "Please, don't destroy people's lies, their illusions, because
           if you destroy their illusions they will not be able to live at all; they will collapse." They will not find
           anything worth living for. They live because of the illusions; the illusions keep on giving them hope.
           They live in the tomorrow which never comes. They live in their ambitions which are never fulfilled;
           but whether fulfilled or not, through those ambitions and desires and illusions and expectations and
           hopes they can drag their lives up to their graves. If you destroy their illusions, they may simply drop
           dead here and now because then there would be no point in living.
               And whenever you think of suicide, remember, why are you thinking of suicide? Some hope has
           turned sour, some expectation has turned into a frustration, some desire has proved futile. You have
           become aware; even in your unawareness a little ray of awareness has penetrated you. You have
           seen, maybe only for a moment, a glimpse, just like lightning in the dark night. For a moment all was
           light and you have seen that the way you are living is false and there is no fulfillment if you live in a
           false way. Immediately the idea of suicide arises in you.
               More and more people are committing suicide today, more than ever. More people commit
           suicide in the West than in the East. It looks very strange, very illogical. It should not be so, because
           in the East people are starving but they don't commit suicide. In the West they have all that man has
           always desired. People have two houses -- one in the city, one in the mountains or on the seabeach,
           in the country. They have two-car garages...and all kinds of gadgets that technology has made
           available.
               For the first time, the West has succeeded in being affluent, but more people are committing
           suicide there than in the East. Why? -- for the simple reason that the East can still hope and the West
           is becoming aware that there is no hope. When you don't have something you can hope for it; when
           you have it, how can you hope any more? The thing is there and nothing has happened through it.
           You have the money, you have a good wife, children, husband, prestige, respectability -- and
           suddenly you become aware in this affluence that deep down you are hollow, poor, a beggar and
           nothing else. The whole effort of achieving all these things has failed. Things are there, but no
           fulfillment has happened through them. This is the cause of more suicide in the West.
               In the West, too, more Americans commit suicide than anybody else because they are the most
           affluent, they are the most in a state of shock: "All the hopes for which we have lived for centuries
           are fulfilled, and yet nothing is fulfilled." And this is going to be so more and more: more and more
           people will commit suicide.
               Friedrich Nietzsche is correct: the ordinary man cannot live without illusions. Don't take his
           illusions away from him!
               And the Master does exactly that: he tries to take your illusions away. He creates a situation in
           which, ordinarily, you would commit suicide. But if you are fortunate enough to have a communion
           with a Master, the same situation creates sannyas. It is the same situation, the SAME crisis!
               This is my observation: that true sannyas happens only when you have come to the verge of
           suicide. When you see that the outside world is finished, then there are only two alternatives left:
           either commit suicide and be finished because there is nothing to live for any more, or turn in. "The
           outer world has failed, now let us try the inner": that is sannyas. Sannyas and suicide are two aspects
           of the same coin. If you are focused and obsessed with the outside, then suicide; if you are a little
           loose, flexible, then sannyas.
               But a Master cannot be diplomatic. He has to create this crisis in which suicide is possible -- and
           also sannyas, also transformation, also a new birth. But a new birth is possible only when you die to
           the old, when you die to the past.

               Cynthia's fine figure had been poured into a beautiful form-fitting gown and she made a point of
           calling her date's attention to it over and over again through-out the evening.
               Finally, over a nightcap in his apartment, he said, "You have been talking about that dress all
           evening long. You called my attention to it first when we met for cocktails, mentioned it again at
           dinner, and still again at the theater. Now that we are here alone in my penthouse, what do you say if
           we drop the subject?"
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This is diplomacy! But Masters simply call a spade a spade. Their truth is utterly nude; whether
           you like it or not is not the point. They cannot compromise with your likings. If they start
           compromising with your likings they can't be of any help to you. To compromise with you means to
           compromise with your sleep, your unconsciousness, your mechanicalness. To compromise with you
           means to stop waking you up. That is not possible.
                Hence, Satsanga, I cannot be diplomatic. Moreover, I am not British.
                Just the other day I was talking about poor Anurag's mother -- a perfect British lady! -- but she
           was not here, just as expected. She had been here only once in many weeks. She simply goes on
           sitting in the hotel, utterly bored -- as every British person is bored! Poor Anurag -- I call her "poor"
           because she is going through something really horrible. Now I have to call it horrible, I can't be
           diplomatic! She arranged so that her mother could listen to the tape, and after she listened to the tape
           Anurag asked her, "What do you think of it?" She said, "Dear, I fell asleep."
           This is diplomacy!
                People listen only to that which they want to listen to; otherwise they fall asleep. At least they
           can think of a thousand other things, and that too is a kind of sleep because they are no longer
           listening.
                I have to be hard! I have to be as hard as possible because your sleep is deep and it has to be
           shattered. I have to hit your head with a hammer, otherwise you are not going to wake up. For
           centuries you have been asleep; sleep has become your nature. You have forgotten what awareness
           is, what to be awake means.

               THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF MEN, and the Master behaves differently according to the
           type. The highest type is the man who has tasted the joy of no-mind. The Master behaves with that
           type of man in a totally different way, because he knows he will understand.
               The state of no-mind is the highest state. You are at the peak when you are in the state of
           no-mind, when you are absolutely silent, when nothing stirs within you, no idea, no thought, when
           the mind has ceased to create noise, the constant noise. The mind is chattering so much that it won't
           allow you to hear anything. When the mind's chattering ceases, for the first time you become aware
           of the music of your own being. And for the first time you also become aware of the music that this
           existence is.
               When such a man approaches a Master, the Master behaves in a totally different way -- because
           he knows whatsoever he does he will be understood. Communion is possible because there is no
           barrier.
               The second type of man is the man who lives in between, between the first and the third. He has
           a meditative mind -- not a no-mind yet, but a meditative mind. That is, he is on the way. He has
           learned how to be a little silent, a little more harmonious than others. The noise is there, but it is a
           distant noise; he has been able to detach himself from it. He has created a little distance between
           himself and his mind; he is no more identified with the mind. He does not think, "I am the mind."
           The mind is there, still chattering, still playing old tricks, but the man is a little alert not to be a slave
           of the mind. The mind has not left him, but the mind is no longer so powerful as it ordinarily is.
               In the state of no-mind, the mind has left; the mind has become tired. The mind has come to
           realize that "This man has gone beyond -- beyond my powers. Now this man cannot be exploited any
           more. This man has become utterly unidentified with me. He will use me but I cannot use him."
               The second type of man, who is in between, sometimes falls back into the old pattern, is USED
           by the mind, sometimes gets out of the old pattern. It is hide-and-seek. Mind is still not absolutely
           certain that it has failed; there is still hope, because once in a while the man starts listening to the
           mind, becomes again identified. The distance is not great; the mind is very close. Any moment -- any
           moment of unconsciousness -- and the mind takes over, starts bossing over him again.
               This is the second type of man: the meditative man, who has known a few glimpses of the
           eternal. Just as you can see the Himalayas from thousands of miles away...the snow-covered peaks in
           the early morning sun in an open sky, unclouded sky, can be seen from thousands of miles away.
           That is one thing; and to be on the peak, to abide there, is quite another.
               The first type of man ABIDES in no-mind. The second type of man has glimpses only -- of
           tremendous value of course, because those glimpses will pave the way so that he can reach the peak.
           Once you have seen the peak, even from thousands of miles away, the invitation has been received.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now you cannot remain in the world at rest, in the old way. Something starts challenging you,
           something starts calling you forth. An adventure has taken possession of you: you HAVE to travel to
           the peak. It may take years, maybe lives, but the journey has started. The first seed has fallen into the
           heart.
               The Master behaves with the meditative man in a different way, because with the first,
           communion is possible, with the second, communication is possible.
               And then there is the third type: the man who lives identified with the mind, with the ego, with
           whom even communication is not possible, with whom there is no way to relate.
               This word "identification" is beautiful. It means to make something an entity, to entityfy the "id";
           that is the meaning of identification. When YOU become the mind you have become a thing; you are
           no more separate. You have fallen in sleep. This is what is called metaphysical sleep. You have lost
           track of your own self. You have forgotten your reality and you have become one with something
           which you are not. To become one with something that you are not is identification; and to be that
           which you are is dis-identification.
               The first man lives in disidentification. He knows he is not the body, he is not the mind. He
           simply knows he is only awareness and nothing else. The body goes on changing, the mind goes on
           changing, but there is one thing in you which is unchanging, absolutely unchanging; that is your
           awareness. It was exactly the same when you were a child and it will remain exactly the same when
           you are an old man. It was the same when you were born and it will be the same when you die. It
           was the same before your birth, it will be the same after your death. It is the ONLY thing in
           existence which is eternal, unchanging, the only thing that abides.
               And only this eternal awareness can be the true home, nothing else, because everything else is a
           flux. And we go on clinging to the changing; then we create misery, because it changes and we want
           it not to change. We are asking for the impossible, and because the impossible cannot happen we fall
           into misery again and again.
               The young man wants to remain young forever; that is not possible. He will have to become old,
           the body will have to become old. And when the body is old he will be miserable. But awareness is
           the same. The body is just like the house; awareness is the host. Deep down within your body and
           mind complex there is a totally different phenomenon constantly happening. It is neither body nor
           mind; it is something that can observe body and mind both. It is pure observation. It is the witnessing
           soul -- SAKSHIN. The first type of man knows that he is unidentified with all that is changing. He is
           centered in his reality. The third type of man is obsessed with something which he is not. In fact, the
           majority of people belong to the third type. The third type is metaphysically ill. If you ask the
           awakened one, then the third type is mad, insane. To think yourself something which you are not is
           insanity.

               A man went to a psychiatrist and said, "Doctor, you will have to help me. I can't help thinking
           that I am a dog. I even chew bones, bark, and lie on the mat in the evenings."
           Said the psychiatrist, "Just lie on that couch...."
           "I am not allowed to!" he cried.

               But this is the situation of the ordinary humanity. Somebody has become a Hindu, somebody has
           become a Mohammedan, somebody has become a Christian. Somebody is Indian, somebody is
           Chinese, somebody is Italian. These are all identifications. Somebody thinks himself white,
           somebody thinks himself black. Somebody thinks himself a man and somebody is identified with
           being a woman. These are all states of deep unconscious slumber.
               If you are not the body, how can you be a man or a woman? If you are not the body, how can you
           be white or black? If you are not even the mind, how can you be Christian or Hindu? If you are only
           awareness, then you are only awareness and nothing else.

           Now this little Zen story:
              ONE DAY THE KING OF YEN VISITED THE MASTER CHAO CHOU, WHO DID NOT EVEN GET UP
              WHEN HE SAW HIM COMING.

              THAT IS STRANGE! First: now it has become almost impossible for a president or a prime
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           minister or a king to go to a Master, because they think they are powerful people. Why should they
           go to these poor people? What can they give to them? Values have changed.
               Within these two thousand years, man's values have gone through immense change. In the
           ancient days, the highest man was not the one who had power but the one who had renounced power.
           And it seems significant that the one who has renounced power should be thought higher; it is a very
           ordinary desire to be powerful. The man who has been able to renounce power has attained to a
           certain inner integrity. He has dropped a very ordinary ambition; he has become extraordinary.
               In those days, kings used to go to seek advice, to search for light, to sit at the feet of somebody
           who had attained.
               This king must have heard of Chao Chou. He went to see him. This shows a totally different
           priority. It is very difficult now; it is difficult because man has become more materialistic. His mind
           is too much concerned with what you have rather than with what you are. In the ancient days the
           value was not in your possessions but in your being. The value was not in your things, not even in
           your knowledge -- because that too is a possession -- but in your being, in your sheer being, in the
           purity of your inner core. You may have nothing....

               Alexander had gone to see Diogenes -- a naked man who had nothing. But it is beautiful to
           remember that even Alexander the Great had the guts to go to Diogenes, the naked FAKIR. For what
           had he gone? Alexander's generals, his prime minister, his ministers, were all against it. They said,
           "For what are you going there? That man has nothing!"
               Alexander said, "I know it, that that man has nothing; that's why I am going to see him, because I
           have heard he has a tremendous rootedness, a great centeredness -- and I want to see a centered man.
           I am just fragmentary, I have no center. I don't know what it is to have a Center and I want to see a
           person who has a center. He possesses nothing on the outside, but he possesses himself -- and that is
           the real possession."
              ONE DAY THE KING OF YEN VISITED THE MASTER CHAO CHOU, WHO DID NOT EVEN GET UP
              WHEN HE SAW HIM COMING.

               And Chao Chou did not get up. That would have been normal, expected. When the king comes to
           see you, you have to get up and receive him; it is just a formality.

               I have heard that Chuang Tzu, a Taoist Master, used to be in the service of the King of China.
           Then he left the service. After a few years the king came to hear that Chuang Tzu had become
           enlightened, so he went to see him.
               Chuang Tzu was a man of great manners, formality, because he had been one of the most
           important men in the court of the king. So the king was expecting the same court manners. When he
           reached Chuang Tzu, he was playing on his flute, both his legs spread underneath a tree, leaning
           against the tree. He continued to play on the flute with legs spread.
               The king stood there, could not believe his eyes. He said, "Have you gone mad or something?
           Have you forgotten all court manners?"
               Chuang Tzu laughed and he said, "I was showing those manners because I was still hankering for
           respectability. Now I don't hanker for anything, so why should I care? You may be the king, you
           may be the beggar -- it is all the same to me. Because now I have no desires any more, it does not
           matter whether the king comes to me or the beggar."
               The king was immensely impressed; he understood the point. All those court manners were
           nothing but ways of buttressing the king.
               You buttress somebody, and then in response he buttresses your ego. It is a mutual kind of
           arrangement. You say good things about others and they say good things about you. Both are being
           formal because both want to hear good things about themselves.
               Chuang Tzu said, "Now it is up to you, whatsoever you think. You can think I have gone mad,
           you can think I have fallen from grace. Who cares?"

              Exactly the same happened with Chao Chou: he did not even get up when he saw the king
           coming. But this king must have had a totally different quality from the king who visited Chuang
           Tzu. Even Alexander was offended by Diogenes' behavior, because Diogenes was lying down naked
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on the bank of a river in the sand. It was early morning -- must have been a morning like this, very
           cool -- and he was taking a sunbath. He didn't get up; he remained lying down, taking a sunbath.
                Alexander was a little embarrassed -- how to start talking with this man? Not finding anything
           else, he said, "I have come to see you -- I am Alexander the Great. Can I be of any help to you?"
                Diogenes said, "Look, if you are really great, you need not go on declaring it. That simply shows
           a very stupid mind. That shows only a very small mind, egoistic. To declare yourself great simply
           means you are suffering from an inferiority complex!
           "And the second thing: I don't need anything, but if you really want to help me you can do one thing
           -- just stand aside, because you are blocking the sun."
                That was all that Diogenes asked from Alexander the Great: "Stand aside, don't come in the way
           of the sun and me."
                But Alexander could not understand Diogenes. Of course he was impressed, but in a totally
           different manner. He was impressed by the powerful presence of Diogenes -- it was as if the whole
           bank was full of his presence, as if he was creating a Buddhafield. Although he was armored,
           although he was not at all interested in mysticism, he was impressed.

              But this King of Yen must have been of the first type far higher than the king who visited
           Chuang Tzu and far higher than Alexander. He understood it.
              THE KING ASKED, "WHICH IS HIGHER, A WORLDLY KING, OR THE 'KING OF DHARMA'?"

              Why did he ask this question? You will be surprised to know that he asked it just to see whether
           Chao Chou showed any so-called humility or not.
              The religious people always go on showing humbleness: "I am nothing, I am nobody." And if
           you look into their eyes, their eyes are saying just the opposite. If you watch their behavior, it is
           always a projection of holier-than-thou. They go on saying, "We are nothing," and they go on in a
           subtle way, in a diplomatic way, proclaiming, "We are saints."
              THE KING ASKED, "WHICH IS HIGHER, A WORLDLY KING, OR THE 'KING OF DHARMA'?"
              CHAO CHOU REPLIED, "AMONG HUMAN KINGS I AM HIGHER; AMONG THE KINGS OF
              DHARMA I AM ALSO HIGHER."

               THE REAL MAN OF ZEN IS NOT HUMBLE in the ordinary sense of the word. He simply says
           whatsoever is the case. This is the case! Chao Chou is simply stating a truth. He is not saying
           anything about himself, remember. He is simply stating a fact: "THIS state -- this state of no-mind in
           which I am -- is higher, higher among human kings and higher among Kings of Dharma also --
           because it is the highest state."
               Once Ramakrishna was given a painting by a great painter -- a painting of Ramakrishna himself,
           a portrait. Ramakrishna took the painting, bowed down to the painting, touched the feet -- his own
           feet, it was his own portrait! The painter was puzzled: "Is that man really mad?" The disciples were
           puzzled.
               One disciple asked, "Paramahansadeva, what are you doing, touching your own feet?"
               Ramakrishna said, "Right! You should have reminded me before. I should not do such a thing.
           What will people think? They will think I am mad! But the truth is, I completely forgot that this is
           my picture -- I could only see the ultimate state of consciousness. This is a portrait of SAMADHI,
           not of Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna is irrelevant! It could have been Buddha's picture, it could have
           been Krishna's picture, it could have been Jesus' picture. It is just an accident that it is mine. It
           doesn't matter.
           "But the painter has been able to catch hold of something very subtle; he has been able to depict
           something which is indescribable. And I could not resist myself -- I had to bow down, I had to touch
           the feet."
           Remember, when Chao Chou says:
              "AMONG HUMAN KINGS I AM HIGHER; AMONG THE KINGS OF DHARMA, I AM ALSO HIGHER..."

              he is not talking about himself, not at all. He is talking about the ultimate state. He is no more, so
           who is there to be humble? See the point: there is nobody to be proud, there is nobody to be humble.
           Those are all games of the ego -- to be humble or to be proud.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The real man is neither proud nor humble; he simply is not. Then whatsoever he says has no
           reference to his personality. He is only a mirror; he reflects the ultimate. Chao Chou is talking about
           the ultimate. He has become one with the ultimate. And the king understood it.
              HEARING THIS SURPRISING ANSWER...

                The answer is really surprising. When you go to saints, they don't talk like that.
                Once I was invited to a religious conference. Three hundred saints were invited from all over the
           country. I was puzzled why they invited me, because I am not a saint. It seems by some mistake....
                They had made a great platform for all three hundred saints to sit together, but they were not
           ready to sit on the same platform, at the same height, with others. Nobody was ready! They all
           wanted a little higher place than the others. Now, that was impossible! How can you manage three
           hundred people, everybody asking for a little higher place than the other? So the stage was for three
           hundred people, and thousands of people had gathered to listen, but each saint talked to the people --
           sitting alone on that big platform.
                It was impossible to even bring them together. And if you talk to them they will all say, "We are
           just dust and nothing else. We are humble people, servants of God, servants of humanity."
                Even once a year some of them would wash the feet of a poor man -- all formality! But they
           could not sit on the same platform. One of those three hundred saints had brought his own golden
           throne and he wanted to sit on his golden throne. Now the others were very angry. They said, "This
           cannot be allowed! If he sits on a golden throne, then we also need golden thrones of the same
           height."
                Can you see what kind of people these are? Are these saints or monkeys? Even monkeys are not
           so stupid! I have seen them just sitting in trees, on the same branches, enjoying themselves. Nobody
           is worried about who is higher, who is lower.
                But if you talk to these saints...and they all addressed the audience, and with great humbleness.
           Pious egoism! Religious egoism! And the pious, religious egoism is far more dangerous than any
           other. All their behavior, all their talk, is only a beautiful facade, a cultivated phenomenon. Because
           people respect humbleness they are pretending to be humble -- in order to be respected. You see the
           strategy and the cunning ways of the ego? And these are the people who have reduced the whole of
           religion to formality.
              HEARING THIS SURPRISING ANSWER...

               It was really surprising -- surprising because ordinarily the religious people don't talk like that.
           The king must have expected that he would say, "I am nobody. I am just dust under your feet. I am
           the servant of humanity, just a servant of God. I am here to serve others."
               But he simply said, "No. I am higher than the human kings and I am higher than the Kings of
           Dharma too." He simply stated the fact. In fact, he is showing great respect to the king. By saying the
           truth he is saying, "I understand that you can understand."
              HEARING THIS SURPRISING ANSWER, THE KING WAS VERY PLEASED.

               Reading this sentence for the first time, you will be a little surprised why the king is pleased. He
           should really be displeased because this man is trying to prove himself higher than everybody -- not
           only than him but than other saints also. He is saying, "I am greater than the Kings of Dharma."
               But he was pleased. Why? -- for the simple reason that this man understands that the king can
           understand -- and more respect than that cannot be shown. He has said the truth as it is, naked,
           utterly naked, trusting that here is a man who will be able to understand. There is no need to
           compromise; there is no need to come down; there is no need to talk in a language that HE can
           understand. You can say the truth as it is and still you can hope that he will understand.
               Chao Chou must have seen that this man had attained something of the no-mind.
               And whenever you come before a Master, just a look is enough and he knows you through and
           through, to the innermost core. He becomes immediately acquainted with you; no other introduction
           is needed. He can see whether you are asleep or awake. He can see whether you are pretending or
           real. He can see whether you are pseudo or authentic. He can see where you are.
               Every evening people come to see me; they come to touch my feet. Touching my feet has
           nothing to do with me; that is just an excuse for them to bow down, to surrender. Any other excuse
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will do. If you can manage you can bow down to a tree, and immediately you will see a great
           uprising in yourself, a great uplift.
                There are a few fools also. They will touch my feet, but they are only following a formality.
           There are a few other kinds of fools who will come to touch my feet but will not even be able to do it
           formally. They will just sit there like rocks. I touch their heads not to offend them, otherwise it is not
           worth it because it is meaningless. If they are not surrendering, my touch cannot reach their hearts,
           my energy cannot stir their hearts. If they are sitting like rocks, they are just touching my feet in a
           pseudo way. Touching their heads is futile. Still I touch, just not to hurt them unnecessarily. And
           they will not understand even that. You can hit only when somebody understands.
                Now Chao Chou has hit the king as hard as possible by saying, "What are you? I am higher than
           all the kings, of this world and the other world." He has hit him hard -- must have see the immense
           capacity of the man to understand. And that's why the king is very pleased: he was not hoping that he
           would be respected so much.
                Do you see the point? It is not an ordinary anecdote. When you read it, it looks ordinary; when
           you go deep into it meditatively, you will find subtle nuances, subtle turns. Just this single phrase --
           THE KING WAS VERY PLEASED -- is of immense importance. What is there to be pleased about?
           The man has hit him like anything! But there is something to be pleased about, because he thought
           him worthy enough to hit; he thought him worthy enough to say the truth as it is. He belongs to the
           first category.
              THE NEXT DAY A GENERAL CAME TO VISIT CHAO CHOU, WHO NOT ONLY GOT UP FROM HIS
              SEAT WHEN HE SAW THE GENERAL COMING, BUT ALSO SHOWED HIM MORE HOSPITALITY
              IN EVERY WAY THAN HE HAD SHOWN TO THE KING.
              AFTER THE GENERAL HAD LEFT, CHAO CHOU'S ATTENDANT MONKS ASKED HIM, "WHY DID
              YOU GET UP FROM YOUR SEAT WHEN A PERSON OF LOWER RANK CAME TO SEE YOU, YET
              DID NOT DO SO FOR ONE OF THE HIGHEST RANK?"

               NOW THE ATTENDANT MONKS can see only the outer shell. The general is of a lower rank,
           the king is of a higher rank -- they can only see the outer side. And they must have been puzzled:
           "Why did Chao Chou behave in such a hard way with the king and why did he behave in such a soft
           way with the general?"
              CHAO CHOU REPLIED, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. WHEN PEOPLE OF THE HIGHEST
              QUALITY COME TO SEE ME, I DO NOT GET UP FROM MY SEAT..."

              There is no need, because the highest quality people have no egos; that's why they are of the
           highest quality. If they have no egos, there is no need to stand up or to show great respect to them.
           That will be futile, meaningless. That will simply show that you don't understand.
              "WHEN PEOPLE OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY COME TO SEE ME, I DO NOT GET UP FROM MY
              SEAT; WHEN THEY ARE OF MIDDLE QUALITY, I DO; BUT WHEN THEY ARE OF THE LOWEST
              QUALITY, I GO OUTSIDE OF THE GATE TO RECEIVE THEM."

               THE WAYS OF THE MASTERS ARE STRANGE! And to be with a Master is to be with a
           mystery. A Master is a mystery: he lives on the earth and yet he is not part of the earth. He is in the
           body and he is not the body. He uses the mind and he is not the mind. He is in time but he belongs to
           the beyond, to eternity. He is as alive as you are, but in a totally different way because he knows
           there is no birth, no death. He has gone beyond life and death; he knows life eternal.
               From the outside he is just like you -- hungry he eats, thirsty he drinks, tired he sleeps -- just like
           you. But in his innermost core he is totally different because he is in a totally different world, in a
           totally different space.
               And to understand his inner world you will have to grow into your own interiority; that is the
           only way. You can understand only so much. If you move deep into yourself you will understand the
           Master in a deep way. The deeper you move inside, the deeper you will understand the Master. To
           understand the Master you will have to go deeper into yourself. When you have reached the
           innermost core of your being you will know the Master in his absolute perfection. Otherwise, you
           will misunderstand.
           Now, even the attendant monks could not understand.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              CHAO CHOU SAID, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND."

              It is VERY simple!
              "WHEN THE PEOPLE OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY COME TO SEE ME, I DO NOT GET UP FROM
              MY SEAT..."

               "In that way I show my respect to them. I say to them, 'I have seen that you have known
           something of the no-mind, that your ego is no more a solid phenomenon, it is no more substantial;
           that you don't hanker for respect. That's why I am not showing you the formal respect. I know that
           you have gone beyond the form and beyond the formal.'"
               We live in the form and in the formal; we change everything into a formality. Love becomes
           marriage. Christ becomes the church. Buddha is reduced to stone statues. Great truths become
           ordinary scriptures to be worshipped. We are really very skillful in reducing every higher thing to the
           lowest possible. We bring everything to our level.
               Rather than going to the level of the Buddhas, of the Masters, we bring the Masters, once they
           have left the world.... Of course, when they are alive you cannot bring them to your level; they live
           without any compromise. You have to surrender to them. But once they are gone, then it is very
           easy: you can make their statues and temples and you can worship them, and everything becomes
           formal -- Sunday religion -- comfortable, convenient, but meaningless.

                One Hell's Angel remarked to another, "I don't see you at the gang bangs any more. What
           happened?"
           "I got married," said his buddy.
           "No shit, man," said the first cycler, "is legal tail any better than the normal kind?"
           "It ain't even so good," said the new groom, "but you don't have to stand in line for it."

               It is comfortable, it is convenient -- the legal tail! And man is more interested in convenience
           than in truth, more interested in comfort than in truth, more interested in security than in
           transformation.
               If that is your state too you are going to miss me, because my interest is not security; I will force
           you more and more into insecurity. My interest is not convenience; I will force you more and more
           into rebellion. My interest is only one: truth, because it is truth that liberates; everything else
           becomes a bondage.

               THE HIGHEST QUALITY MAN immediately becomes a devotee. The middle quality man
           immediately becomes a disciple. The lowest quality man remains for years, for lives, just a student.
               Look into yourself, where you are. Don't be just a student here. This is not a school; in fact, the
           whole process is one of de-schooling. I am not teaching you anything; I am here to help you be
           transformed. I am not giving you a dogma or a creed or a religion; I am not interested in all these
           things. I simply want to give you that which you already have -- it has only to be provoked.
               You have to become attuned to me, in deep accord, one with me. Only then will you be
           benefited. Great benediction can be yours, great blessings can be yours, but you will have to come
           out of your small prisons, out of your small minds, out of your small egos. And you will get only that
           which you deserve, which you are worthy of. I can go on showering diamonds on you, but if you
           don't understand what a diamond is you will go on collecting colored stones.
               And people are really so asleep that they don't know what they are doing and they ask for wrong
           things. They ask for respect, they ask for some nourishment for their egos.
               Many people write letters to me -- newcomers -- saying, "Why in your ashram isn't a little more
           love shown to us newcomers? Why does everybody seem to be a little aloof, a little cool? Why don't
           people seem to be interested in newcomers? We come here to find love, warmth."
               In fact, behind these words -- "love," "warmth," etcetera -- all that they are hankering for is some
           kind of respect, some kind of ego nourishment. That's why people will look cool, people will look
           aloof.
               We are not interested in helping your egos because we don't want to create greater hells for you.
           You are already in suffering -- you have suffered enough. We want to pull you out of your egos. Just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a small thing can hurt, just a very small thing. And we have managed things in such a way that there
           are many things which are bound to hurt your egos. Unless you are ready to drop them you will
           escape from this place sooner or later.
               Only those who are ready to drop their egos will become part of this commune. And this
           commune is happening after many centuries. There have been Masters with a few disciples.... My
           effort is to bring such a revolution that the whole consciousness of humanity is affected by it. Just
           individual enlightenment is not enough. We have to start a process of enlightenment in which
           thousands of people become enlightened almost simultaneously, so that the whole consciousness of
           humanity can be raised to a higher level because that is the only hope of saving it.
               Otherwise, these twenty years are going to be fatal. Either we will succeed in transforming the
           consciousness of the whole of humanity and bring it to a higher level -- at least to the second level, a
           meditative mind, for millions of people, and for thousands of people to the first grade, the no-mind....
           If we can do it, that is the only possible way to save humanity. Otherwise, in the hands of foolish
           politicians so much power has come that ANY moment the third world war can start, and that will
           destroy the whole of humanity. And all the work of the ages, of all the Buddhas, will be simply
           destroyed.
               Krishna, Jesus, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Pythagoras, Socrates: these people have worked hard to create
           this garden. And now we are getting ready to burn it totally.
               Before it is too late...wake up! At least move to the second state of mind -- meditative mind --
           then the first will become easy. Being with me don't be of the third, because that is not really being
           with me. Only the second is a little bit with me and is on the way to being totally with me. But
           remember, the goal is to be of the first: no-mind is the goal.
           From mind to no-mind is the revolution of sannyas.




                                                       Ah, This!
                                                    Chapter #4
                                       Chapter title: Dying Into the Master
           6 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001060
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD THAT JOHN THE BAPTIST NEARLY DROWNED HIS DISCIPLES WHEN
              BAPTIZING THEM. IS THIS TRUE? IS THIS TYPE OF EXPERIENCE SOMETHING THROUGH
              WHICH A DISCIPLE MUST PASS?


                Anand Navin,
           IT IS TRUE. I KNOW THIS FELLOW John the Baptist! In fact, every Master has been doing that.
           It is absolutely necessary because the disciple has to pass through a death process. Unless he dies --
           dies to his past, dies to his knowledge, dies to his beliefs -- he cannot be reborn. And baptism is only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           symbolic: it is the symbol of death and resurrection.
                That's exactly what I am doing here. You cling to your beliefs -- political, social, religious,
           philosophical You cling to whatsoever you have accumulated -- although it is all junk, although it
           has not given you a single glimpse of truth, you cling to it.
                Somebody has asked: "I was initiated by a Master five years ago, and now I am feeling deeply
           interested in you. But the problem is: can a man have two Masters?"
                If your first initiation has opened the door to truth, there is no need for me to work on you. Why
           waste my time? I have so many other people to work upon. If the first Master has not been able to
           open the door, or you have not allowed him to open the door, or who knows whether he was a
           Master or not, then why not drop him?
                One cannot have two Masters; that is utterly stupid. If the first has done the work then I am not
           needed; if the first has not done the work, for whatever reason -- he may be a pseudo Master, you
           may have been a pseudo disciple.... Something must have gone wrong somewhere. One thing is
           certain: that initiation did not work. He could not drown you, he could not kill you -- you are still
           there. But you don't want to drop your old Master and whatsoever he has taught you.
                Now you are asking me: "Can a man have two Masters?" I don't accept such people because this
           is the wrong type of people. Sooner or later you will go to a third person and you will ask: "Can a
           man have three Masters?"
                The first thing to remember here is: to be with me means you disconnect yourself from your past,
           whatsoever it is -- your initiation, your Master, your church, your religion. Unless you disconnect
           yourself you can't be with me. To be with me you have to be reborn; you have to be a new being,
           utterly fresh as the dewdrops in the early sun. Less than that won't do. You have to pass through fire.
           And it is very difficult to pass through fire, because one can see that the familiar is disappearing and
           the promised is far away. The promised land may be, may not be, and the familiar is going out of
           your hands. And the mind says, "It is better to have half the bread that you already have than to lose
           it for the whole bread which you don't have, which is only a promise."
                A Master is only a promise: a promise of something that can happen, a promise of your potential
           becoming actual, a promise of a flowering. But right now you are only a seed, and the seed cannot
           believe in the promise; it is very difficult for the seed to believe in the promise. The seed would like
           to remain a seed and yet be a flower. So we go on clinging to the familiar beliefs, systems of
           thought, ideology. And still we want to be reborn!
                It is like a child who wants to cling to the womb and yet wants to be born. That is impossible.
           Either he has to be in the womb and die in the womb -- because after nine months to be in the womb
           is going to be sure death -- or he has to take the risk, the adventure, of going into the unknown.
                And, certainly, the child must feel the birth as death. It is death to his life as he has known it up
           to now: for nine months the darkness, the soothing darkness of the womb, the warmth, the absolutely
           responsibility-free existence, total rest, relaxation. And he has been floating, swimming, in a
           body-temperature liquid. He has never lacked anything; all was supplied by the body of the mother.
           Even before he needed anything it was there, ready to be given to him. Now suddenly he is being
           thrown out of his home into the unknown. Who knows what is going to happen? He is being
           uprooted. He clings! It is natural to cling.
                And that's exactly the situation when you are with a Master: you have lived in a psychological
           womb. When you are with a Master he starts pulling you out of your psychological womb. It is far
           more difficult than the physical process of leaving the womb because you feel closer to the
           psychological womb. You are a Christian, you are a Hindu, a Mohammedan, and you would like to
           remain that. And still you want to be transformed. Then you are in a double bind, then you are split.
                Two Masters can only mean a deep split in you. I am not here to create schizophrenia. No, one
           cannot have two Masters -- one is more than enough!

             You have heard rightly, Navin:...JOHN THE BAPTIST NEARLY DROWNED HIS DISCIPLES
           WHEN BAPTIZING THEM.

           That's the only way to baptize.

              You ask me: IS THIS TYPE OF EXPERIENCE SOMETHING THROUGH WHICH A
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           DISCIPLE MUST PASS?

               Yes, it is a must. Unless the disciple passes through it he never becomes a devotee. And unless
           you become a devotee you don't know what it means to be with a Master. It is not an intellectual
           relationship; it is a deep merger with the being of the Master. It is something very existential.

           The second question


              OSHO,
              I THOUGHT YOU KNEW EVERYTHING. I THOUGHT THAT'S WHAT BEING ENLIGHTENED IS
              ABOUT: KNOWING. BUT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT WOMEN, AND THAT THEY TRUST
              PRECISELY BECAUSE THEY KNOW EACH OTHER'S HEART. WOMEN'S HATE FOR WOMEN IS
              A MALE MYTH INVENTED TO KEEP WOMEN SEPARATE AND POWERLESS. WHO WANTS TO
              BE A MAN? OSHO, I AM TOTALLY UPSET. HOW CAN YOU TALK NONSENSE? MY MIND IS
              HAVING A FIT AND SO IS MY HEART. WHAT TO DO?


               Prem Judy,
           YOU MUST BE CARRYING TOO MUCH OF THE CRAP that the Women's Liberation Movement
           is creating. You are too full of it. Next time you come to me I will have to look into your eyes,
           because when people are too full of crap, up to their heads, their eyes are brown! And you must have
           some lesbian tendencies.

           You say: I THOUGHT YOU KNEW EVERYTHING.

               You are absolutely wrong -- I know nothing. NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.
               If you have come here with this idea, you have come to a wrong person and to a wrong place. We
           celebrate ignorance! We destroy all kinds of knowledge. Our whole effort is to bring innocence back
           to you, the innocence that you had before you were born. The Zen people call it the original face.
           The innocence is intrinsic. Knowledge is given to you by the society, by the people around you, by
           the family. Innocence is yours: knowledge is always of others. The more knowledgeable you are, the
           less you are yourself.
               Enlightenment has nothing to do with knowledge. It is freedom from knowledge, it is absolute
           transcendence of knowledge. It is going beyond knowing. That's why we started this series of talks
           with the great sutra: NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.
               An enlightened person is one who has no barrier between him and existence. And knowledge is a
           barrier. Knowledge divides you from existence; it keeps you separate. Not knowing unites you. Love
           is a way of innocence. Innocence is a bridge: knowledge is a wall. Who has ever heard of
           knowledgeable people becoming enlightened? They are the farthest away from enlightenment.
           Enlightenment grows only in the soil of innocence.
               Innocence means childlike wonder, awe. The enlightened person is one who is continuously
           wondering -- because he knows nothing, so everything becomes again a mystery. When you know,
           things are demystified; when you don't know, they are RE-mystified. The more you know, the less
           wonder is in your heart. The more you know, the less you feel the great experience of awe. You
           cannot say "AH, THIS!" You cannot be ecstatic. The knowledgeable person is so burdened that he
           cannot dance, he cannot sing, he cannot love. For the knowledgeable there is no God, because God
           only means wonder, awe, mystery. That's why, as knowledge has grown in the world, God has
           become further and further away.
               Friedrich Nietzsche could declare that God is dead because of his knowledgeability. He was
           certainly a great philosopher, and philosophy is bound to come to the conclusion that there is no God
           because God simply means the mysterious, the miraculous. And knowledge reduces every miracle to
           ordinary laws; every mystery is reduced to formulas.
               Ask the knowledgeable person "What is love?" and he will say, "Nothing but chemistry, the
           attraction between male and female hormones. It is no more important than a magnet attracting iron
           pieces; it is the same -- like negative and positive electricity. Man and woman are bio-electricity."
               Then everything is destroyed. Then all love and all poetry and all music are reduced to nonsense.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The lotus is reduced to the mud. The lotus certainly grows out of the mud, but the lotus is not the
           mud. It is not the sum total of its parts; it is more than the sum total of the parts. That MORE is God,
           that MORE is poetry, that MORE is love. But science has no place for the "more." Science reduces
           every phenomenon to a mechanical thing. And do you know what "science" means? "Science"
           means knowledge; the actual word "science" means knowledge.
               Religion is not knowledge; it is just the opposite of knowledge. It is poetry, it is love. It is
           basically absurd. Yes, you can say that I am talking nonsense. If science is sense then religion is
           nonsense. But that's the beauty of it.

           You say, Judy: I THOUGHT YOU KNEW EVERYTHING.

                That is YOUR thought -- and I am not here to oblige everybody's thought. I cannot be according
           to YOUR thoughts. I have more than one hundred thousand sannyasins; if I am to fulfill everybody's
           thought I will be absolutely torn apart, into millions of pieces. I cannot fulfill your ideas about me;
           that is YOUR mistake. And it is not too late -- either drop that idea if you want to be here with me....
                You ARE here with a paradoxical person, with a person who is trying to convey something
           mysterious to you -- not knowledge -- who is trying to pour his experience of wonder and awe into
           your beings -- it is more like wine than like knowledge -- who is trying to make you intoxicated, who
           is trying to transform you into drunkards. Yes, for the rational person it will look like nonsense.
                That's what one of the most important thinkers of the West, Arthur Koestler, has written about
           Zen. He calls it "all nonsense." If you look rationally, it is -- but is reason the only way to approach
           reality? There are other ways, far deeper, far more intimate -- NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST
           INTIMATE.
                I am not a man of knowledge, although I use words. I am not even a man of words.

               "I am a man of few words. Will you or won't you?"
           "Your apartment or mine?" said the chick.
           "Look," he said, "if there's going to be such a lot of discussion about it, let's forget the whole damn
           thing!"

               I use words, but I am not a man of words. It is just out of sheer necessity: it is because of you that
           I have to use words, because you won't understand the wordless. I am waiting eagerly for the day
           when I will be able to drop words. I am utterly tired...because words can't convey that which I am
           and I have to go on trying to do something which is not possible.
               Get ready soon so that we can sit in silence and listen to the birds or to the wind in the trees. Just
           SITTING SILENTLY DOING NOTHING, THE SPRING COMES AND THE GRASS GROWS
           BY ITSELF. That is going to be my ultimate message and my final work on the earth.

              You say: I THOUGHT THAT'S WHAT BEING ENLIGHTENED IS ABOUT: KNOWING.

               You cannot think anything about enlightenment, and whatsoever you think is bound to be wrong.
           It has nothing to do with knowing; it is a state of not knowing.

           BUT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT WOMEN AND THAT THEY TRUST PRECISELY
           BECAUSE THEY KNOW EACH OTHER'S HEART.

               I know about nothing. What to say about women? -- I don't even know about men! So don't be
           worried about that. If you know what a woman is or what a man is, beware of your knowledge,
           because that is not real knowing; it is just opinion that you have gathered. Yes, man has been
           propagating ideas against women; now women are propagating ideas against men. It is the same
           foolish thing! And we go on doing this: we go on moving from one extreme to another extreme.

             Now, you say: WOMEN'S HATE FOR WOMEN IS A MALE MYTH INVENTED TO KEEP
           WOMEN SEPARATE AND POWERLESS.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Man has created many myths about women, but now the women are doing the same. They are
           creating myths about men which are as false as man's myths about women. But I am not here to
           decide which myth is right and which myth is wrong. I am not here to make you a propagandist for
           women or against women. My work consists in freeing you from man/woman duality.

           And now you say: WHO WANTS TO BE A MAN?

               Judy, if you really don't want to be a man you would not have written this. It is just like the
           ancient parable of the fox who was trying to reach the grapes and could not reach: the grapes were
           too high. She tried and tried, and failed again and again. Then she looked around -- foxes are very
           cunning people -- to see if anybody was watching, any journalist, any photographer. There was
           nobody, so she walked away.
               But a small hare was hiding in a bush. He said, "Aunty, what happened?"
               The fox puffed her chest up as big as she could and said, "Nothing. Those grapes are not
           worthwhile. They are not ripe yet -- they are sour."

           Why should you write: WHO WANTS TO BE A MAN?

               Deep down somewhere you must be hankering to be a man. Every man wants to be a woman,
           every woman wants to be a man, for the simple reason that every man is both -- man/woman -- and
           every woman is both -- woman/man. You are born out of the meeting of male and female energies;
           half of you belongs to your father and half of you belongs to your mother. You are a meeting of two
           polar opposites, two energies.
               The only difference between man and woman is this: that the woman has the consciousness of a
           woman and the unconscious of a man, and the man has the consciousness of a man and the
           unconscious of a woman. But BOTH are both!
               That's why it is possible to be homosexuals, lesbians; otherwise it would be impossible. This
           phenomenon has been happening down the ages; it is nothing new. The reason is simple: because the
           man is only half man and half woman; the woman part is hidden deep in the darkness. But the
           conscious part can become tired, and when the conscious part becomes tired the unconscious takes
           over. Hence he may have the body of a man, but he starts functioning like a woman. And the same
           happens to a lesbian: on the surface she is a woman, but deep down the unconscious male energy has
           taken possession. Things have become upside-down. It will affect her physiology too.
               There are a few lesbians here. Their physiology is bound to be affected by their psychology,
           because psychology and physiology are not two separate phenomena; they are joined together. Mind
           and body are not two; you are mindbody. So whatsoever happens in your physiology affects your
           psychology. That's why hormones can be given to you and your psychology can be changed. Now
           we know a man can be changed into a woman, a woman can be changed into a man.
               And this is MY observation: that in the coming century millions of people will change their sex.
           That will become something avant-garde; that will become something very progressive. That will be
           a new kind of freedom. Why remain confined to being a man your whole life when you can have
           both the worlds? If you can afford it you can change your sex. For a few years you remain a man and
           you look at the world from the male's viewpoint, and then you go for a simple operation and you are
           changed into a woman; now you can look at the world through the feminine eyes. And it is possible
           that a man may change many times. If the process becomes simpler, and it WILL become simpler --
           that's the whole work of science: to make things simpler and simpler -- if the process becomes very
           simple, millions of people are bound to change.
               It will release a great freedom in the world, but a great confusion also, a great chaos also. One
           day suddenly your husband comes home and he is a woman! Or your wife returns from a holiday and
           she is no more a woman....
               Because each is both, the desire to be the other is in everybody. Judy, it must be there and very
           insistently there. Hence you are writing: WHO WANTS TO BE A MAN? Judy wants to be a man! I
           don't know about anybody else....

           And you ask me: OSHO, I AM TOTALLY UPSET.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               That's good! So I am succeeding! I want you to be completely uprooted, upset, disturbed. I want
           to create a chaos in you, because only out of chaos are stars born.

           You ask me: HOW CAN YOU TALK NONSENSE?

              What else?! Sense cannot be talked...only nonsense is left. So I don't take it as a criticism -- it is a
           compliment! Many many thanks to you. At least you are talking some sense!

              You say: MY MIND IS HAVING A FIT AND SO IS MY HEART. WHAT TO DO?

               I don't think anything can be done now. It is too late. You CAN'T go back -- I will haunt you! --
           you can only go ahead. Drop all these ideas that you are carrying within yourself, this antagonism
           about men. Drop all these ideas! I am neither for men nor for women. I am only for transcendence.
               And don't take my jokes seriously! You are such fools that you can't even take jokes playfully.
           Another woman has written: "Osho, you have been talking too much against women. The other day
           you called them 'big-mouths'." Now this woman simply proves that she is a big-mouth, nothing else!
           Nobody else has felt offended. A joke is a joke! But why are you so touchy? Now this woman must
           have a big mouth. At least her husband must be telling her again and again, "You big-mouth, shut
           up!" And now she comes here to hear something beautiful said about her, and I tell a joke...and again
           that big mouth comes in.
               Don't take jokes seriously. In fact, don't take anything seriously. You miss the point if you start
           taking things seriously. Even scriptures have to be taken non-seriously; only then can you
           understand. Understanding has to be with a deep, relaxed, non-serious, playful attitude. When you
           become serious you become tense. When you become serious you become closed. When you are
           playful many things can happen because in playfulness is creativity. In playfulness you can innovate.
               But your ideas are continuously there; you can't put them aside.
               Judy, now nothing can be done. You are a sannyasin. Now, being a sannyasin means you are
           neither man nor woman. Finished -- that game is finished!

           The third question


              OSHO,
              AREN'T ALL PEOPLE REALLY THE SAME?


               Sudarsho,
           ESSENTIALLY YES, BUT ACCIDENTALLY NO. At the center yes, on the circumference no.
           Essentially we are made of the same stuff called God, but on the circumference God comes in every
           shape and size, in every color, in every form. There is much difference And it is beautiful because if
           people were really the same, both at the center and on the circumference, the world would be a very
           boring place. But it is not a boring place. It is immensely interesting; it is immensely beautiful, rich.
           And the richness comes because of variety.
               No two persons are the same on the circumference, although everybody is the same at the center
           -- not only people but trees and rocks, they are also the same at the center. Call that center the soul
           and it will be easier for you to understand. Our souls are the same, there we meet and are one, but
           our bodies and minds are different, there we are separate.
               And no effort should be made to make us similar on the surface. Down the ages people have been
           trying to do that; that creates only fascism. That's what Adolph Hitler was trying to do. That's what
           happens in every army: we try to make people similar even on the surface. In the army names
           disappear, numbers take their place. If a person dies you read on the board, "Number 14 has fallen."
           Now, number 14 has no personality. Anybody can replace number 14, anybody can be given number
           14; number 14 is replaceable. But the person who has died, is he replaceable? Can anybody in the
           world ever replace him? Who will be the husband of his wife and who will be the father of his
           children? And who will be the son of his old parents? And who will be the friend of his friends?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Number 14 cannot do that. Number 14 is perfectly okay in the army; he will carry the gun and he
           will do the same things -- the same stupid things -- that the other number 14 was doing before. But as
           far as their real personality is concerned, number 14 is a different person.
               All the military leaders of the world have been trying to force a certain pattern on people. They
           would like machines, not men. They would like God to make men the way Ford cars are made, on an
           assembly line, so similar Fords go on coming. God does not work with an assembly line; he creates
           each individual with uniqueness.
               So, Sudarsho, you have to understand two things. One: the variety, the difference, and love the
           variety and love the difference....
               Mohammedans have been trying to convert the whole world to one religion; Hindus have been
           trying to do the same, Christians have been doing the same, Buddhists have been doing the same.
           The whole effort is to make all the world similar, so there are all Christians and Christians. It will be
           a poor world where no temple exists and no mosque, where there are only churches and churches,
           and the same prayer and the same scripture and the same silly Pope...it won't be good! It is beautiful
           that there are three hundred religions in the world; more are needed.
               In my vision, each person should have his own religion. There should be as many religions as
           there are people. Only then this conflict, this continuous conflict, will stop, this fight between
           religions will stop: when everybody has a religion and it is something unique like your signature,
           like the print of your thumb -- unique. Then there will be no problem, no conflict; nobody will try to
           convert anybody. You don't try to convert people saying, "Make your signature just as I do." In fact,
           if somebody does it you will inform the police: "This man is trying to imitate me."
               Religion should be a personal, intimate phenomenon. But there are people who want to change
           the whole world into Christianity or communism. They want to make the whole world Catholic or
           Mohammedan or Hindu.
               Mohammedans say there is only one God and only one prophet of God, that is Mohammed. Then
           God seems to be very poor -- just ONE prophet? Can't he create more prophets? Mohammed has not
           exhausted all the possibilities; nobody can exhaust them, neither Buddha nor Jesus. They are all
           unique peaks, but no peak can exhaust all the peaks. The Himalayas have their own beauty, but it is
           different from the beauty of the Alps; and the Alps have their own beauty, but it is different from the
           beauty of the Vindhyas. Each mountain has its own beauty, each peak has its own beauty, and it
           contributes to the richness of the world.
               I would not like all people to become Christians or Hindus or Mohammedans. I would like
           everybody to be free from these prisons, everybody to be just himself. This is a fascist idea, that
           everybody should be like everybody else. And this fascist idea is being imposed in different ways on
           different aspects of humanity.
               The heterosexuals will not allow anybody to be homosexual. Why? Who are you to decide? Who
           has given you the right to decide? If two persons are feeling joyous in being homosexual, it is
           nobody else's business to interfere. But every society interferes.
               Just the other day Aditya said Hamid had suggested that there was no reason why he should not
           think of turning into a gay person. Hamid must have joked. And when I talked about it Hamid was
           very much disturbed: "What will people think about me now?" He must have been joking with
           Aditya. Now he is very much disturbed about his reputation. And of course, he is our Ayatollah
           Hamidullah Khomaniac! So his prestige.... Even Divya wept when she heard that Hamid had invited
           Aditya! He must have been joking because Iranians are very much against homosexuality.
               In Iran, the punishment for homosexuality is death -- although because of this punishment, more
           Iranians are homosexual than anybody else. Because when something is so dangerous, people
           become interested: "Naturally there must be something in it. When the punishment is death, that
           means there must be something higher than life in it, more than life in it. It is worth taking the risk!"
               But why should people be worried about others? About everything the society remains alert:
           nobody should have his own individual way about his sex, about his love, about his clothes, about
           his way of talking, manners. Every society imposes a fascist rule on its members. It destroys much
           that is beautiful.

              Sudarsho, you ask me: AREN'T ALL PEOPLE REALLY THE SAME?
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Not as you know them.

               The pretty co-ed nervously asked the doctor to perform an unusual operation: the removal of a
           large chunk of green wax from her navel.
           Looking up from the ticklish task, the physician asked, "How did this happen?"
           "Well, you see, doc," said the girl, "my boyfriend likes to eat by candlelight."

              Nothing is wrong in it. This should be nobody else's business. If somebody wants to eat by
           candlelight he should be allowed. And where can you put the candle? The best place seems to be the
           navel -- so natural
           Some idea!

               Abe and Me talked of their no-account sons.
           Abe said, "My no-good son. I give him a job in my clothing business. I give him $50,000 a year, a
           new car, a beautiful apartment, and what does he do? He stays up all hours of the night, comes into
           work eleven or twelve o'clock and plays around with the models all afternoon."
           "You think you've got trouble?" Me said. "My no-good son is worse. I give him a job in my clothing
           business. I pay him $50,000 a year and give him a new car and a beautiful apartment, and what does
           he do? He stays up all hours of the night, comes in eleven or twelve o'clock and plays around with
           the models all afternoon!"
           "What's worse about that?" Abe questioned.
           "You forget," Me replied. "I am in men's clothing!"

               On the circumference people are different, and they SHOULD be different, and everybody
           should maintain his individuality on the circumference. One should never compromise for any
           reason. Then only can we create a really democratic world. Real democracy means that the mob, the
           crowd, is no more in control of the individual life.
               Democracy is less a political phenomenon than a religious phenomenon; it is far more important
           than politics. Democracy is a totally new vision of life. It has not yet happened anywhere; it has yet
           to happen. Democracy means each individual has the right to live according to his light; he should
           not be prevented. Unless he becomes a disturbance or a nuisance to others he should be allowed
           every freedom in all the aspects of life.
               That's my vision of a really democratic world. That's how I would like my sannyasins to
           function: no interference in anybody's life. A great respect has to be given to the other.
               But at the center, everybody is the same. When you meditate you move towards the center. In the
           deepest moments of meditation, all differences disappear. You are universal there, not individual.
               And you have to be both: individual and universal. And you have to be very flexible and fluid
           between these two. It should be as easy as when you come out of your home, out of your house.
           When it is too cold inside you come out, you sit in the sun. When it becomes too hot you go in. It
           creates no problem; you just go in, you come out. There is no problem -- it is your house.
               A person should be capable of living on the circumference and at the center easily. He should be
           able to move from the marketplace to the meditative space and from the meditative space to the
           marketplace -- with no problem, playfully, easily, spontaneously.

           The fourth question


              OSHO,
              MOST OF MY EARLY LIFE WAS SPENT IN DEADENING MYSELF TO UNBEARABLE
              PUNISHMENT. THE DEADENING WAS ENTIRELY NECESSARY FOR ME TO SURVIVE THOSE
              TIMES, BUT THOSE DAYS NO LONGER EXIST, AND AFTER THIRTY-TWO YEARS I AM
              TERRIFIED AND LACK THE COURAGE TO GO WITHIN. FROM WHERE IS THE SOURCE OF
              FORGIVENESS, AND, OSHO, WHAT KIND OF FOOLISH NAME HAVE YOU GIVEN ME?


              Devaprem,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ALL NAMES ARE FOOLISH. That s why I have to explain the name to you, so at least it looks as
           if it is not foolish. I have to give it a beautiful meaning...otherwise names are names! They are just
           labels. "Devaprem" means divine love. What a beautiful name I have given to you! But, still, names
           are names.

               There is an ancient Chinese ceremony in which the parents of a child choose the baby's name: as
           soon as the baby is born, all the cutlery in the house of its parents is thrown in the air. The parents
           then listen to the falling knives, forks, and spoons and choose a name -- Ping, Chang, Tang, Fung,
           Chung....

               That's also perfectly right! That seems to be a wise way to find out the name, as if God himself
           has chosen. And that's how I go on choosing your names. Do you think there is much esoteric, secret
           knowledge behind it? Nothing of the sort! Just anything, and I make a name out of it. I don't even
           think twice.
               But I can understand why you feel that the name does not fit you. You have become a closed
           person and love has become difficult. It happens to many people -- in fact, to the majority of people,
           more or less.
               The child has to become unloving, unspontaneous. He has to deaden his sensitivity just to
           survive -- every child, more or less; the difference is only of degrees. Every child has to learn tricks
           to survive. And the basic trick is: never be spontaneous. Be formal, never be natural, because your
           spontaneity is bound to be punished and your formality praised, rewarded.
               The parents enforce a subtle strategy: they create fear in the child if he says the truth. Nobody
           wants the child to say the truth, and the child is not yet capable of Lying. But he has to learn.

              When Cleo's parents threatened to forbid her to see her boyfriend unless she told them why he
           had been there so late the night before, she began to talk.
           "Well, I took him... him into the loving room, and..."
           "That is LIVING, dear," said the mother.
           "You're telling me!"

                Children are careful watchers, observers of what is happening all around. Of course, their senses
           are very clear, unclouded. They see the truth immediately. You cannot cheat a child; he knows it
           immediately, intuitively. And he is so innocent that it is impossible for him to be formal. But he has
           to be formal to survive. And man's child is very helpless. It is because of man's child's helplessness
           that our whole civilization exists. We can manage, mold the child in every possible way, whatsoever
           way we want.
                Children are not supposed to say things that they know. They know much more than they ever
           tell you. They pretend to be innocent because you don't want them to know more than is taught in the
           school, than is taught by the preacher, than is taught by you; and they certainly know more. They
           move in society, in life, with keen, alert senses. They are watching everything, whatsoever is
           happening all around. But they learn one thing sooner or later: that they have to be diplomatic -- with
           the grown-ups you can't be true, honest, sincere.

               Three young French boys were spending the summer in the country. One afternoon they were
           strolling through a field when they happened to see a couple Lying under a tree, locked in a loving
           embrace.
           "Mon dieu," exclaimed the youngest boy, who was only six, "those people are having a terrible
           fight."
           "But no, mon petit," replied the more sophisticated nine-year-old, "those people are making love."
           "True," agreed the oldest boy, a lad of eleven years, "but what amateurs!"

              But children cannot say these things to their parents or before their parents. They know much
           more than you think they know. They are so alert, so available to life. They are so open and
           vulnerable; they go on allowing every sensation to reach into their being. But they have to deaden
           themselves sooner or later; they have to become stiff, they have to become closed. They learn one
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing: that unless they follow their parents, their priests, their politicians, they will have to suffer
           much. Respectability is only for those who are obedient.

              Devaprem, you say: MOST OF MY EARLY LIFE WAS SPENT IN DEADENING MYSELF
           TO UNBEARABLE PUNISHMENT. THE DEADENING WAS ENTIRELY NECESSARY FOR
           ME TO SURVIVE THOSE TIMES, BUT THOSE DAYS NO LONGER EXIST, AND AFTER
           THIRTY-TWO YEARS, I AM TERRIFIED AND LACK THE COURAGE TO GO WITHIN.

               Now there is no need to be terrified; that has to be understood. You can snap out of it! It is just
           an old habit. A little intelligence...and that much intelligence everyone has. If you had the
           intelligence in childhood to deaden yourself to survive, you ARE an intelligent person.
               Now, the parents are not there...nobody is forcing anything on you, nobody is punishing you. It is
           just an old fear, a memory. You can snap out of it!
               You don't need primal therapy: to go screaming against your parents for three years. That is not
           going to help -- that is simply stupid. If it takes three years to shout and scream at your parents, and
           only then will you come out of it, that means you don't have any intelligence. And what is the
           guarantee that just by screaming for three years and shouting at your parents you will become
           intelligent? I think you will be less intelligent than you were before -- three years of screaming and
           shouting? You will lose any intelligence that is left by your parents in you! There is no need! One
           has simply to see that those days are over. Meditation is enough.
               Meditation means SEEING, becoming aware, that those days are over, the fear is no more there,
           nobody is going to punish you. It is just an old habit. Snap out of it with as little fanfare as possible.
           Don't make much fuss about it. Because you make much fuss about it so many therapies have
           evolved. They are just aids for you so that you can make a fuss scientifically, so that your fuss is
           rationalized. But they are not needed by intelligent people.
               An intelligent person is one who can see that it is no more night, it is day. Why are you afraid of
           darkness? Do you need first to scream for three hours against the night and the dark and the fear?
           That will be utterly stupid! That will destroy the day. Why waste it? The night is no more.
               That's why in the East we have not developed any therapeutic methods like the West, for the
           simple reason that we came to understand one thing: that all that is needed is a little intelligence --
           and everybody has it. And meditation helps the intelligence to become sharp.
               Just seeing is enough; seeing brings transformation. And when transformation comes without any
           long process it is far deeper. When it takes a long process that means it will remain superficial.
               So I have not come across a single person yet whose primal therapy has totally succeeded. It can
           NEVER succeed. Psychoanalysis has not been able to create a single person who is totally
           psychoanalyzed; even Sigmund Freud was not in that totality. Janov is not really what he is talking
           about -- the primal man, the primal innocence -- he is not. You can see in his face all kinds of
           tension, anguish, anxiety; it is so apparent. He needs a few more years of screaming; and then too I
           don't think those tensions will disappear. They may even become more subtle, more nourished,
           because if you scream for years, remember, you are practicing it; it is a kind of practice, a kind of
           cultivation of it. Then you become addicted to it; without screaming for a few hours you won't feel
           good. Then it is an intoxicating process, a kind of auto-hypnosis. Yes, screaming for one hour every
           day will make you feel a little relaxed, but it is a stupid kind of relaxation.
               Seeing is transformation. That is our experience in the East. All the Buddhas in the East have
           given only one meditation: watchfulness, awareness.
               Now, Devaprem, you know, you are aware of how this fear has arisen in you: out of thirty years
           of fear, continuous fear of punishment, you have become closed, encapsulated, and you are always
           on guard. You cannot relax, you cannot be true, you cannot be honest. You cannot say the thing that
           you want to say, you cannot do the thing that you always wanted to do. You KNOW -- and now....
               It was right in those years -- you behaved intelligently. Nothing was wrong, otherwise you would
           not have survived. Now you have survived, get out of it -- it is no more needed. The disease is no
           more, why go on carrying the bottles of medicines and prescriptions? Do you need a therapy to
           throw the bottles and the prescriptions? Will you go to a therapist and say, "Now the disease is no
           more, but I can't let go of this prescription. I go on carrying it, and these bottles. I don't need them
           any more. How to drop them?" Is any "how" needed? No "how" is needed. Go to the Rotary Club
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and donate them! They collect medicines, etcetera, which are not needed by anybody else. Their
           motto is: We serve. So help them serve people.
               It is very simple to come out. But why do people make so much out of it? -- because that is part
           of your ego. You don't want it to be so simple. Thirty years of life -- and I am making a joke of it!
           You would like to pay some therapist good money and you would like to invest some time. That
           feels good; it makes you feel important.
               In fact, in the West now people brag that they have been in psychoanalysis for three years or
           seven years. And somebody else brags that "Psychoanalysis is out of date. I have been in gestalt
           therapy, in primal therapy." And there are "groupies" now who go on moving from one group to
           another group. Their whole life consists of moving from one group to another group.
               Many groupies come to me and they say, "We have done ALL the groups." And they say it in the
           same way as in the old days people used to say, "We have fasted, prayed, and we have sacrificed all
           our joys, and we are saints" -- in the same way! This is a new kind of holiness that is arising in the
           world: "I have passed through all kinds of groups." And I look in their eyes and they say, "And
           nothing has happened."
               They are saying, "My problems are far more complex, far more deep-rooted than these therapies
           can go. They can't help me. I am no ORDINARY person; my problems are extraordinary."
               People enjoy saying it. I see a light in their eyes when they say, "Nobody has been able to help
           me. Osho, can you help me?" They are giving me a challenge! All that they want is to add one more
           name to their list: "I have been to this guy too and he cannot help. My problems are such...not
           ordinary problems that anybody can help."
               People brag about their diseases too, remember. They may just have some ordinary disease, but
           who wants to have some ordinary disease?
               Have you ever watched your own reaction? When you go to the doctor with a throbbing heart,
           thinking it is cancer, and he says, "It is nothing. It is just a common cold"...have you observed? --
           you feel a little sad. Just a common cold? A desire arises to visit another doctor. you and a common
           cold?! You are not a common person, how can you have a common cold? Ego is such that it thrives
           on every kind of thing, right or wrong.
               So don't be much worried about it. It is past, it is finished. Slip out of it -- and without making
           any noise, without making any ceremony that you are getting out of it. Just start being again alive,
           sensitive, as you had always been in your childhood. That is your nature so it can be reclaimed
           easily. What you have learned is not your nature so it can be unlearned very easily.

           The last question


              OSHO,
              ARE ALL THE JOURNALISTS BLIND? CAN'T THEY SEE THE TRUTH? WHY ARE THEY
              CONTINUOUSLY SPREADING LIES ABOUT YOU?


               Nisha,
           THE PROFESSION OF A JOURNALIST is such that it lives on lies. Truth is not news; lies are
           news, beautiful news. The bigger the lie the better the news, because it has a certain quality in it: the
           quality of creating a sensation. Journalism lives on lies. If journalists decide only to be true, there
           won't be so many newspapers, so many magazines. And there will not be much news either. Truth
           you can write on a postcard.
               I have heard that in heaven there are no newspapers because no news ever happens there.
               George Bernard Shaw has made a definition: "When a dog bites a man it is not news, but when a
           man bites a dog it is news." In heaven no man bites a dog. In the first place it is very difficult to find
           a dog there; in the second place nobody is interested in biting anybody, so what news can you have?
               But in hell they have really great newspapers and there circulation is in the millions. They have
           news there. Every day, every moment, things are happening -- everybody is biting everybody else.
               When journalists come they come to find something sensational. If they cannot find it they have
           to invent it; otherwise their coming and going has been useless. And if a journalist goes back to his
           office without any news again and again, his job is gone. Either find something sensational or invent
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                 Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it.
               Journalism depends on invention. And then slowly slowly a journalist starts having a certain kind
           of approach towards things: he immediately sees the negative. He can't see the positive because the
           positive is not his business.
               It is like a shoemaker: he looks only at your shoes, not at your face. What does he have to do
           with your face? In fact, looking at your shoe he knows your whole biography; a real shoemaker just
           looking at your shoe can say everything about your life far more accurately than any astrologer can.
           The condition of the shoe will show the condition, the financial condition, in which you are. If you
           have to walk too much, that will show that you don't have a car, that you don't have any money. The
           shoe will say so many things. The shoemaker looks only at the shoe, and the tailor looks only at your
           clothes, and the doctor looks only at the diseases. Bring a perfectly healthy man to a doctor and you
           will be surprised: he will find many diseases.

               I have heard that one doctor friend of Picasso had come to visit him. Picasso had just finished a
           portrait. He invited the doctor friend to see the portrait. He looked; he looked from this side and from
           that side, and then he asked for a torch -- in the daytime!
               Picasso was puzzled, but he was intrigued also so he gave him a torch. He looked into the eyes of
           the portrait and he said, "Pneumonia."

               A doctor is a doctor! His profession gives him a certain eye.
               The journalist comes here with a certain eye, with certain fixed ideas, prejudices. He comes to
           pick up on something negative which can become sensational. And then, of course, he can find it;
           and if he cannot find it he can invent it. And they look only from the outside; they are too afraid to
           get involved deeper. A few journalists have got involved -- once they get involved they are no more
           journalists.
               You can ask Satyananda. He was a famous journalist in one of the most important magazines in
           Germany, STERN. He got so much involved...he didn't function here like a journalist. He tried to
           know things from the inside. He participated in groups, in meditations, and then...he became a
           sannyasin.
               STERN refused to publish his story because they said, "You are no more a journalist. Now you
           have become part of this orange movement, so whatsoever you say will be favorable."
               For months he had to insist, "I have worked hard!" They cut his story almost by half. They
           destroyed his whole story, distorted the whole story, and only then did they print it. And he lost his
           job!
               Now he has come here forever. There are a few other journalists also, at least a dozen. Subhuti is
           here and others are here....
               A journalist is taught by his profession to always remain at a distance: "Look from the outside."
           And from the outside you can never know how things are.

               A pretty young woman was traveling in a train across Texas. A dapper looking man walked up to
           her and whispered something in her ear, whereupon she gave him a stinging slap in the face.
           A tall Texan seated across the aisle stood up and asked her, "Is this man molesting you, Ma'am?"
           "He certainly is," she replied. "He just offered me ten dollars if I would go with him to his sleeping
           compartment."
           Without hesitation, the Texan pulled out his pistol and shot the man.
           "Good God!" cried the woman. "That's no reason to kill him!"
           "I will kill any man," replied the Texan, "who tries to raise the prices in Texas."

               If you had looked only from the outside you would never have thought about this, what was
           inside the mind of the Texan. You would have thought him a great saint or something.
               But the journalist has to keep a distance. He thinks that by keeping a distance he will be able to
           know better. No, he will only gather information, bits of information, in fact irrelevant, unconnected
           with each other, because he has no approach to the center. And he is going to distort it more to make
           it more sensational.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A group of Rajneesh sannyasins in Bonn, Germany, were taking a boatride down the Rhine river
           when they noticed that a well-known journalist was aboard the boat. They decided to do something
           to give sannyasins a more positive image in Germany. So, before the eyes of the journalist, they
           stepped off into the water and did a whirling Sufi dance all the way around the moving boat. Then,
           completely dry, they climbed back onto the boat's deck.
           The next day the sannyasins eagerly scanned the newspaper to see what the journalist had written
           about their fantastic feat.
           There, in the back pages, they found a small article with the headline: WHEN WILL RAJNEESH
           SANNYASINS FINALLY LEARN TO SWIM?




                                                      Ah, This!
                                                   Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: See Right at Once
           7 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001070
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              DOGO HAD A DISCIPLE CALLED SOSHIN. WHEN SOSHIN WAS TAKEN IN AS A NOVICE, IT
              WAS PERHAPS NATURAL OF HIM TO EXPECT LESSONS IN ZEN FROM HIS TEACHER THE
              WAY A SCHOOLBOY IS TAUGHT AT SCHOOL. BUT DOGO GAVE HIM NO SPECIAL LESSONS
              ON THE SUBJECT, AND THIS BEWILDERED AND DISAPPOINTED SOSHIN.
              ONE DAY HE SAID TO THE MASTER, "IT IS SOME TIME SINCE I CAME HERE, BUT NOT A
              WORD HAS BEEN GIVEN ME REGARDING THE ESSENCE OF THE ZEN TEACHING."
              DOGO REPLIED, "SINCE YOUR ARRIVAL I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVING YOU LESSONS ON THE
              MATTER OF ZEN DISCIPLINE."
              "WHAT KIND OF LESSON COULD IT HAVE BEEN?"
              "WHEN YOU BRING ME A CUP OF TEA IN THE MORNING, I TAKE IT; WHEN YOU SERVE ME A
              MEAL, I ACCEPT IT; WHEN YOU BOW TO ME, I RETURN IT WITH A NOD.
              HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPECT TO BE TAUGHT IN THE DISCIPLINE OF ZEN?"
              SOSHIN HUNG HIS HEAD FOR A WHILE, PONDERING THE PUZZLING WORDS OF THE
              MASTER.
              THE MASTER SAID, "IF YOU WANT TO SEE, SEE RIGHT AT ONCE. WHEN YOU BEGIN TO
              THINK, YOU MISS THE POINT."


             Sujata has written to me:
           How odd of god to choose the Jews!

           Sujata,
               GOD HAS A TREMENDOUS SENSE OF HUMOR! Religion remains something dead without
           a sense of humor as a foundation to it. God would not have been able to create the world if he had no
           sense of humor. God is not serious at all. Seriousness is a state of disease; humor is health. Love,
           laughter, life, they are aspects of the same energy.
               But for centuries people have been told that God is very serious. These people were pathological.
           They created a serious God, they projected a serious God, out of their own pathology. And we have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           worshipped these people as saints. They were not saints. They needed great awakening; they were
           fast asleep in their seriousness. They needed laughter -- that would have helped them more than all
           their prayers and fasting; that would have cleansed their souls in a far better way than all their ascetic
           practices. They did not need more scriptures, more theologies; they needed only the capacity to
           laugh at the beautiful absurdity of life. It is ecstatically absurd. It is not a rational phenomenon; it is
           utterly irrational.

               Moses went up the mountain. After a long time God appeared. "Hello, Moses. Good to see you.
           Sorry you had to wait, but I think you will feel it was worth it because I have something very special
           for you today."
           Moses thought for a second and then said, "Oh, no, Lord, really. Thank you, but I don't need
           anything right now. Some other time perhaps."
           "Moses, this is free," said the Lord.
           "Then," said Moses, "give me ten!"
           That's how the Jews got the Ten Commandments.

               Sujata, Zen has something Jewish in it. It is really very puzzling why Zen did not appear in the
           Jewish world. But the Chinese also have a tremendous sense of humor. Zen is not Indian, remember.
           Of course, the origin is in Gautam the Buddha, but it went through a tremendous transformation
           passing through the Chinese consciousness.
               There are a few very wise people who think that Zen is more a rebellion against the Indian
           seriousness than a continuity of it. And they have a point there; a certain truth is there. Lao Tzu is
           more Jewish than Hindu -- he can laugh. Chuang Tzu has written such beautiful and absurd stories;
           nobody can conceive of an enlightened person writing such stories, which can only be called, at the
           best, entertainment. But entertainment can become the door to enlightenment.
               Zen is originally connected with Buddha, but the color and the flavor that came to it came
           through Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu and the Chinese consciousness. And then it blossomed in
           Japan; it came to its ultimate peak in japan. Japan also has a great quality: of taking life playfully.
           The consciousness of Japan is very colorful.
               Zen could have happened in the Jewish world too. Something like it really DID happen -- that is
           Hassidism. This story must have come from Jewish sources, although it is about Jesus. But
           Christians have no sense of humor. And Jesus was never a Christian, remember. He was born a Jew,
           he lived as a Jew, he died as a Jew.

               Jesus is hanging on the cross singing, "Da-di-li-da-dum-dein...."
           Suddenly Peter hisses from underneath, "Hey, Jesus!"
           Jesus goes on, "Da-di-dum-da-dum-da-dei...."
           Peter, now more urgently, "Hey, Jesus, stop it!"
           Jesus continues happily with "Di-duah-duah...."
           Finally Peter yells, "For God's sake, Jesus, cut it out! Tourists are coming!"

                Try to understand Zen through laughter, not through prayer. Try to understand Zen through
           flowers, butterflies, sun, moon, children, people in all their absurdities. Watch this whole panorama
           of life, all these colors, the whole spectrum.
                Zen is not a doctrine, it is not a dogma. It is growing into an insight. It is a vision -- very
           light-hearted, not serious at all.
                Be light-hearted, light-footed. Be of light step. Don't carry religion like a burden. And don't
           expect religion to be a teaching; it is not. It is certainly a discipline, but not a teaching at all.
           Teaching has to be imposed upon you from the outside and teaching can only reach to your mind,
           never to your heart, and never, never to the very center of your being. Teaching remains intellectual.
           It is an answer to human curiosity, and curiosity is not a true search.
                The student remains outside the temple of Zen because he remains curious. He wants to know
           answers and there are none. He has some stupid questions to be answered: "Who made the world?
           Why did he make the world?" And so on and so forth. "How many heavens are there and how many
           hells? And how many angels can dance on the point of a needle? And is the world infinite or finite?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Are there many lives or only one?" These are all curiosities -- good for a student of philosophy but
           not good for a disciple.
               A disciple has to drop curiosity. Curiosity is something very superficial. Even if those questions
           are answered, nothing will have happened to your being; you will remain the same. Yes, you will
           have more information, and out of that information you will create new questions. Each question
           answered brings ten more new questions; the answer creates ten more new questions.
               If somebody says, "God created the world," then the question is, "Why did he create the world?
           And why a world like this? -- so miserable. If he is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, could he
           not see what he was doing? Why did he create pain, disease, death?" Now, so many questions....
           Philosophy is an exercise in futility.

               A student comes out of curiosity. Unless he becomes a disciple he will not become aware that
           curiosity is a vicious circle. You ask one question, you are given the answer, the answer brings ten
           more new questions, and so on and so forth. And the tree becomes bigger and bigger; thicker and
           thicker is the foliage. And finally the philosopher has only questions and no answers at all.
               Surrounded by all those stupid questions...stupid I call them because they have no answers;
           stupid I call them because they are born out of childish curiosity. When one is surrounded by all
           those questions and there is no answer, one loses sharpness, one loses clarity, one is clouded. And
           one is no more intelligent. The more intellectual one becomes, the less intelligent he is.

               The professor who had committed his wife to a mental institution was talking to the chief of
           staff. "How will we know when my wife is well again, doctor?"
           "We have a simple test we give all our patients," he replied. "We put a hose into a trough, turn on the
           water, give the patient a bucket, and tell him to empty out the trough."
           "What does that prove?" inquired the professor.
           "Elementary, sir," the doctor assured him. "Any sane person will turn off the hose."
           "Isn't science wonderful!" he replied. "I never would have thought of that!"

               He must be a professor of philosophy; he can't be less than that.
               The professor only knows questions. He is lost in the jungle of questions. The philosopher
           remains immature. Maturity is of consciousness, not of intellectuality. It is not of knowledge, it is of
           innocence.
               Yes: NOT TO KNOW IS THE MOST INTIMATE. And to function out of that not-knowing is to
           function in an enlightened way. To respond out of not-knowing is to respond like a Buddha. That is
           true response because it is not clouded, not distorted, not contaminated, not polluted and poisoned by
           your mind and your past. It is fresh, it is young, it is new. It arises to the challenge of the present. It
           is always in synchronicity with the new, with the present. And the present is always new, it is always
           moving -- it is dynamic. All your answers are static, and life is dynamic.

               HENCE ZEN IS NOT INTERESTED IN ANSWERS -- or in questions. It is not interested in
           teaching at all. It is not a philosophy; it is a totally different way of looking at things, at life, at
           existence, at oneself, at others. Yes, it is a discipline.
               Discipline simply means a methodology of becoming more centered, of becoming more alert, of
           becoming more aware, of bringing more meditativeness to your being; not functioning through the
           head, not even through the heart, but functioning from the very core of your being, from the very
           innermost core, from the center of your being, from your totality. It is not a reaction -- reaction
           comes from the past -- it is a response. Response is always IN the present, TO the present.
               Zen gives you a discipline to become a mirror so that you can reflect that which is. All that is
           needed is a thoughtless awareness.
               The first thing to be dropped is curiosity, because curiosity will keep you tethered to the futile. It
           will keep you being a student; it will never allow you to become a disciple.

              Boris, who was from Russia, had been in America only a few months. He did not speak English
           very well.
           One day he was asked, "Boris, what is it that you are most anxious to see in America?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Well," replied Boris, "I weesh most to meet the most famous Mrs. Beech, who had so many sons in
           the last war."

                Get it? He must have heard all the Americans calling each other "sonofabitch, sonofabitch..." so
           he is very much interested, anxious, curious, to know about Mrs. Beech, the famous Mrs. Beech.
                Curiosity is always like that. It is foolish, but it can keep you tethered to the mind. And don't
           think that there is some curiosity which is spiritual, metaphysical. No, nothing like that exists; all
           curiosity is the same. Whether you inquire about "the famous Mrs. Beech" or you inquire about God
           it is all the same. Inquiry from the mind will have the same quality -- of childishness.
                There is a totally different kind of esquire that arises from the deeper recesses of your being.
                Zen is interested in discipline, not in teaching. It wants you to be more alert so you can see more
           clearly. It does not give you the answer; it gives you the eyes to see. What is the use of telling a blind
           man what light is and all the theories about light? It is futile. You are simply being stupid by
           answering the curiosity of a blind man. What is urgently needed is treatment of his eyes. He needs an
           operation, he needs new eyes, he needs medicine. That is discipline.
                Buddha has said: "I am a physician, not a philosopher." And Zen is absolutely a treatment. It is
           the greatest treatment that has come to humanity, out of the work of thousands of enlightened people
           -- very refined. It can help to open up your eyes. It can help you to feel again, to be sensitive to the
           reality. It can give you eyes and ears. It can give you a soul. But it is not interested in answers.

           Meditate over this beautiful story:
              DOGO HAD A DISCIPLE CALLED SOSHIN. WHEN SOSHIN WAS TAKEN IN AS A NOVICE, IT
              WAS PERHAPS NATURAL OF HIM TO EXPECT LESSONS IN ZEN FROM HIS TEACHER THE
              WAY A SCHOOLBOY IS TAUGHT AT SCHOOL.

                YES, IT IS NATURAL IN A WAY, because that s how we are conditioned. Knowledge is given
           to us in the form of questions and answers. From the primary school to the university that's how we
           are taught, conditioned, hypnotized. And naturally, after one third of your life is wasted in that way,
           you become accustomed to it. Then you start asking profound questions in the same way as one asks,
           "How much is two plus two?" You start asking about love, life, God, meditation -- in the same way!
                In fact, even that ordinary question is not answerable. If you ask the real mathematicians, even
           this simple question "How much is two plus two?" is not answerable, because sometimes it is five
           and sometimes it is three. It is very rarely four. It is an exception that two plus two comes to be four,
           very exceptional, for the simple reason that two things are never the same. It is an abstraction: you
           add two and two and you say four.
                Two persons and two persons are four different persons, so DIFFERENT that you cannot create
           an abstraction out of them. Even two leaves and two other leaves are so different that you cannot
           simply call them four leaves; they are not the same. Their weights are different, their colors are
           different, their shapes are different, their tastes are different. No two things in the world are the
           same. So how can two plus two be four? It is just an abstraction; it is lower mathematics. Higher
           mathematics knows that this is only utilitarian, it is not a truth. Mathematics is an invention of man;
           it is a workable lie.
                What to say about love, which goes beyond all mathematics and all logic? In love, one plus one
           becomes one, not two. In deep love, the twoness disappears. Mathematics is transcended; it becomes
           irrelevant. In deep love, two persons are no more two persons, they become one. They start feeling,
           functioning, as one unit, as one organic unity, as one orgasmic joy. Mathematics won't do, logic
           won't do, chemistry won't do, biology won't do, physiology won't do. Love is something which has
           to be experienced in a totally different way. It cannot be taught in the ordinary ways of teaching; it
           cannot become part of pedagogy.
           But the disciple, Soshin, was a novice, a newcomer.
              ...IT WAS PERHAPS NATURAL OF HIM TO EXPECT LESSONS IN ZEN FROM HIS TEACHER THE
              WAY A SCHOOLBOY IS TAUGHT AT SCHOOL.

              It is natural in a state of unconsciousness.
           Remember, there are two natures. One is when you are asleep; then many things are natural.
           Somebody insults you, you become angry, and that is NATURAL -- but only in unconsciousness, in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sleep. You insult the Buddha, he does not become angry -- that is higher nature, a totally different
           kind of nature. He is functioning from a different center altogether. He may feel compassion for you,
           not anger. He functions through awareness, you function through unawareness.
               In sleep you cannot do anything of any value, you cannot do anything valuable. Whatsoever you
           do is all dream. You imagine, you think you are doing good.
               Just the other day somebody asked: "I want to do good, I want to BE good. Osho, help me."
               I cannot help you directly to do good or to be good; I can help you only indirectly. I can help you
           only to be more meditative. And on the surface it may seem that your question is about something
           else and my answer is totally different: you want to be good and I talk about meditation. How are
           they related? If you are asleep you may THINK you are doing good, you may do harm. You may
           THINK you are doing harm, you may do good. In your sleep everything is possible.
               You will become a do-gooder -- and do-gooders are the most mischievous people. We have
           suffered much from these do-gooders. They don't know who they are, they don't know any silent
           state of consciousness, they are not aware, but they go on doing good. What to say about good? A
           sleepy person cannot even be certain of doing harm. He may think he is doing harm and the result
           may be totally different.
               That's how acupuncture was discovered. A man wanted to kill somebody; he shot him with an
           arrow. And that man, the victim, had suffered his whole life from a headache. The arrow hit him on
           the leg and the headache disappeared, totally disappeared. He was puzzled.
               He went to his physician saying, "You have not been able to treat me and my enemy has treated
           me. He wanted to kill me, but something went wrong -- my headache has disappeared. I am grateful
           to him."
               Then the physicians started thinking about it, how it happened. That's what acupuncturists go on
           doing now.
               You can go to Abhiyana. You may have a headache and he may start putting needles all over
           your body. Those needle points were discovered because of this accident. Five thousand years have
           passed; in these five thousand years acupuncture has developed tremendously. Now there is much
           scientific support for it.
               In Soviet Russia they are working on acupuncture very seriously because it has great potential: it
           can cure almost all diseases. Those needles can change the currents of your body electricity.
               That man must have suffered from too much electricity in the head. The arrow hit a certain
           meridian, a certain electric current in his leg, and the electricity changed its course; it was no longer
           going to the head. Hence the headache disappeared.
               Now, the man who wanted to do harm did a great, beneficial act for the whole of humanity -- not
           only for that man -- because in these five thousand years, millions of people have been helped by
           acupuncture. The whole credit goes to that unknown person who wanted to kill.
               In your unconsciousness it is difficult to decide what the outcome will be. You move in a dark
           dark night. All is accidental.

               Sindenburg had lived a virtuous life; he was even president of the synagogue. But when he
           entered heaven the angel in charge said, "You can't stay here."
           "Why?" asked Sindenburg. "I always tried to be a good man."
           "That is it," explained the angel. "Everyone here was a good man, but they all committed at least one
           sin. Since you didn't sin at all, the rest of the souls will resent you."
           "But," protested Sindenburg, "isn't there something I can do?"
           "Well," considered the angel, "you can have six more hours on earth to commit a sin, but you must
           do somebody a real injury."
           Sindenburg went back to earth and suddenly he saw a middle-aged woman looking at him. They
           started talking; she invited him home with her. Soon they were making love like two teenagers.
           Six hours later Sindenburg said, "I am sorry, but I have to go now."
           "Listen!" cried the woman. "I never married or even had a man. You just gave me the best time I had
           in my whole life. What a good deed you did today!"

              Now he came to do some real injury and what he has really done is a good deed. The woman is
           immensely happy and grateful. And those six hours are gone; now there is no more time left. Again
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he will be in trouble!
              In sleep you cannot do good -- you cannot even do bad! All is accidental. And when a person
           comes to a Master he comes almost fast asleep. He comes out of curiosity, accidentally. He expects
           much, and his expectations are natural in his state.

           He expected LESSONS IN ZEN....

               Now that is absolutely foolish: there are no lessons in Zen. Zen, in the first place, is not a
           teaching but a device to awaken you. It is not information, it is not knowledge. It is a method to
           shake you up, to wake you up. Teaching means you are fast asleep and somebody goes on talking
           about what awakening is -- and you go on snoring and he goes on talking. YOU are asleep, HE is
           asleep; otherwise he will not talk to you. At least when he sees that you are snoring he will not talk
           to you.
               When I was a student at university I had a great teacher, a very well-known philosopher. For
           three years nobody had joined his class -- he was the head of the department. And people were afraid
           to join his class because he was a non-stop talker. Sometimes two hours, three hours, four
           hours....And he had this condition: he would say to every student, "If you want to participate in MY
           classes, if you want to take MY subject, then this must be remembered: that I can START my lecture
           when the period starts, but I cannot stop when the period is over. Unless I am totally finished with
           the subject...and how can it be managed within forty minutes? Sometimes it takes two hours,
           sometimes it takes only half an hour. So whenever it is finished, that is the end."
               He also told me the same. I wanted to join his class -- I was intrigued by the old man. He said,
           "Listen! Don't blame me later on. Sometimes I speak for four hours; five hours also I have spoken."
               I said, "You don't be worried about that. I can speak longer than you." And I told him,
           "Remember that when I start speaking I forget who is the teacher and who is the student. I don't care!
           So you also keep it in mind that if I start speaking you cannot stop me.
           "And secondly: the time of your periods is such that those are the hours when I sleep. From twelve to
           two I must sleep; that I have done my whole life. I can sleep longer -- I have slept from eleven to
           five, the whole day -- but this much is absolutely necessary, that I cannot miss. So I will sleep -- you
           can go on talking."
           He said, "How can you sleep when I am talking?"
               I said, "I use earplugs! You go on talking. I am not concerned with your talk at all, that is up to
           you. You enjoy it to your heart's content -- I will be sleeping. And you cannot object to that."
               He agreed to my condition, I agreed to his condition. And that's how we became great friends: he
           would speak and I would sleep.
               Now this person must be fast asleep himself, otherwise why...because I was the only student in
           his class! To whom was he talking? He was unburdening himself. And he was very happy to find a
           student who would at least remain in the class -- although asleep, but at least he was there.

               This is what goes on in the whole world! Priests are asleep talking to their congregations.
           Professors are asleep talking to their students -- metaphysically asleep; I am not talking about the
           ordinary sleep. Metaphysically everybody is snoring.
               Zen is not a teaching, because it knows you are asleep. The primary thing is not to teach you; the
           primary thing is to wake you up. Zen is an alarm.
               But Soshin naturally expected some lessons in Zen from his teacher THE WAY A
           SCHOOLBOY IS TAUGHT AT SCHOOL.
               Remember, if Zen is not a teaching then you cannot call the Zen Master a teacher either. He is
           not a teacher, he is a Master. And there is a great difference between a teacher and a Master. But
           when you first come in close contact with a Master you think of him as a teacher -- maybe a great
           teacher, but still you think in terms of his being a teacher. And the reason is in your expectation that
           he is teaching something: that he is teaching great philosophy, that he is teaching great truths.
               No, a real Master is not a teacher: a real Master is an awakener. His function is totally different
           from a teacher; his function is far more difficult. And only very few people can stay with a Master
           because to wake up after millions of lives is not an ordinary feat; it is a miracle. And to allow
           somebody to wake you up needs great trust, great surrender.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So in Zen, first, people are accepted only as novices, as beginners. Only when the Master sees
           some quality in them which can be awakened, when he sees something very potential, then they are
           accepted and initiated into higher things. Otherwise they remain novices for years, doing small
           things: cleaning the floor, cooking the food, chopping wood, carrying water from the well. And the
           Master goes on watching and he goes on helping them to become a little more alert while they are
           chopping wood, while they are carrying water from the well, while they are cleaning the floor.
               You will see here in this commune at least one thousand sannyasins doing different kinds of
           things. When Indians come here for the first time they are puzzled, because their idea of an ashram,
           of a religious commune, is totally different. People should be sitting praying, doing BHAJAN. They
           can't conceive that people should be working, cooking food, weaving, doing pottery, painting,
           photography, creating music, poetry, dancing. They can't believe their eyes when they see the
           commune for the first time. They come with certain expectations. And they want you to look serious,
           religious, holy. And you look so joyous! You look so loving, so warm. They expect you to be utterly
           cold -- as cold as corpses. And you are so warm and so loving and so alive that they are shocked for
           the first time.
               Zen does not believe that people should just live a holy life, a virtuous life, doing nothing -- just
           turning beads or repeating some mantra. Zen believes in creativity. Zen believes in the ordinary
           world. It wants to transform the mundane into the sacred.
               So the first message given to the beginners is to start work but be alert. And it is easier to be alert
           while you are working than while you are simply chanting a mantra, because when you are chanting
           a mantra every possibility is that the mantra will function as a tranquilizer. When you repeat a single
           word again and again it creates sleep because it creates boredom. When you repeat a certain word
           again and again it changes your inner chemistry. It is one of the ancientmost ways of falling asleep.
               If you cannot fall asleep in the night, if you suffer from sleeplessness, then methods like
           Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation are perfectly good. That method has nothing to
           do with meditation; it is neither meditation nor transcendental. It is simply a non-medicinal
           tranquilizer. It is good as far as it can bring sleep and without any drug -- I appreciate it -- but it has
           nothing to do with meditation.
               You can repeat your own name again and again and you don't need to pay the fees to anybody
           and you don't need any initiation. Just repeat your own name; repeat it fast so that nothing else enters
           your mind, only your name resounds. Repeat loudly inside so that from your toes to the head it is
           resounding inside. Soon you will get bored, fed up. And that is the moment when you start falling
           asleep because there seems to be no other escape.
               All mothers know it. It is one of the ancientmost methods women have been using with their
           children, on their children. They didn't call it Transcendental Meditation; they used to call it
           "lullaby." The child tosses and turns, but the mother goes on repeating the same line again and again.
           And finding no other escape outside, the child escapes inside; that means he falls asleep. He says, "I
           am so fed up that unless I fall asleep, this woman is not going to stop." And soon he learns: the
           moment he falls asleep the woman stops, so it becomes a conditioning; then it becomes a
           conditioned reflex. Slowly slowly, the woman just repeats the line one or two times and the child is
           fast asleep.
               This you can do to yourself. It is a process of auto-hypnosis; good as far as sleep is concerned
           but it has nothing to do with meditation. In fact, it is just the opposite of meditation, because
           meditation brings awareness and this method brings sleep. Hence I appreciate it as a technique for
           sleep, but I am totally against it if it is taught to people as a method of meditation.

             Soshin expected LESSONS IN ZEN FROM HIS TEACHER THE WAY A SCHOOLBOY IS
           TAUGHT AT SCHOOL.

               This is your story. This is everybody's story. Each seeker comes with such expectations.
               Sometimes foolish people come to me and they ask: "What is your teaching in short?" Which of
           your books contains your total teaching?"
               I have no teaching! That's why so many books are possible. Otherwise how can so many books
           be possible? If you have a certain teaching, then one or two books will do. That's why I can go on
           talking for ever, because I have no teaching. Every teaching will sooner or later be exhausted; I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot be exhausted. There is no beginning and no end...we are always in the middle. I am not a
           teacher.
               Everybody grows physically but psychologically remains a child. Your psychological age is
           never more than thirteen, even less than that. It was a shock when it was discovered for the first time
           in the First World War that man's average psychological age is only twelve or thirteen at the most.
           That means you may be seventy but your mind is only thirteen. So if somebody looks at your body
           you look so old, so experienced, but if somebody looks into your mind you are carrying the same
           childish mind still.
               Your God is nothing but a projected father; it is a father fixation. You cannot live without the
           idea of a father. Maybe your actual father is dead and you cannot conceive of yourself without a
           father. You need an imaginary father in heaven who takes care of you, who looks after you. And,
           certainly, the ordinary father is bound to die one day or other so you need a heavenly father who is
           eternal, who will never die, so he will become your safety and security.

               Once somebody asked George Gurdjieff, "Why do all the religions teach: Respect your parents?"
               Gurdjieff said, "For a simple reason: if you respect your parents you will respect God, because
           God is nothing but the ultimate parent. If you don't respect your parents you will not be bothered
           with God either. "
               A great insight: God is the great father; you are just small children searching for a lost father,
           searching for a lost childhood, searching for the security of childhood. Your behavior is childish.

               A young father was shopping at a department store with his daughter when the little girl
           suddenly said, "Daddy, I gotta go."
           "Not right now," replied the father.
           "I gotta go NOW!" shouted the girl.
           To avoid a crisis a saleslady stepped up and said, "That's all right, sir, I will take her."
           The saleslady and the little girl went off hurriedly, hand in hand. On their return, Tony looked at his
           daughter and said, "Did you thank the nice lady for being so kind?"
           "Why should I thank her?" retorted the little girl. "She had to go too!"

               Just watch your reactions and you will be surprised: they are childish. Your manners, howsoever
           sophisticated from the outside, deep down are childish. Your prayers, your church-going, are ALL
           childish.
               Zen is not concerned with your childish state of mind. It has no desire to nourish it any more. Its
           concern is maturity; it wants you to become mature, it wants you to become ripe. Hence it has no
           idea of God -- no father in the sky. It leaves you totally alone because only in aloneness is maturity
           possible. It leaves you totally in insecurity. It gives you no security, no guarantee. It gives you all
           kinds of insecurities to move into.
               And that's what sannyas is also: a quantum leap into insecurity, a quantum leap into the
           unknown, because only with that encounter will you become mature. And maturity is freedom,
           maturity is liberation.
              BUT DOGO GAVE HIM NO SPECIAL LESSONS ON THE SUBJECT....

              There are none.
              ...AND THIS BEWILDERED AND DISAPPOINTED SOSHIN.

               Naturally. He was expecting and expecting and waiting, and no special lessons were given. He
           wanted a few simple principles so he could cling to them, so that he could hold onto them, so that
           they would become his treasure, his knowledge. And the Master had not given any special lesson.
           Naturally he was disappointed. If you are expecting anything you are bound to be disappointed.
           Expectation always brings disappointment, frustration.
              ONE DAY HE SAID TO THE MASTER, "IT IS SOME TIME SINCE I CAME HERE, BUT NOT A
              WORD HAS BEEN GIVEN ME REGARDING THE ESSENCE OF THE ZEN TEACHING. "

              People are in a hurry. I have come to know people who have meditated three days, and on the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fourth day they ask, "Three days we have been meditating, why has nothing happened yet?"
               As if they are obliging existence by meditating for so long -- three days, one hour every day; that
           means three hours. And if you actually look, in their meditation they were just daydreaming; with
           closed eyes they were daydreaming. They call it meditation! And just because for three days they
           have been sitting for one hour -- with great difficulty, somehow managing, great noise inside, no
           silence, no peace, no consciousness, just desires, thoughts, memories, imagination, constant traffic, a
           crowd -- then they come on the fourth day saying, "Osho, what is happening? Three days have
           passed and nothing has happened yet."
               Time should not be taken into account at all -- three years, not even three lives. You should not
           think in terms of time, because the phenomenon of meditation is non-temporal. It can happen any
           moment, it can happen RIGHT now; it may take years, it may take lives. It all depends on your
           intensity, on your sincerity, and it all depends on your totality.

               A pretty young woman stepped onto a crowded streetcar, and seeing that all the seats were taken
           she asked, "Would one of you gentlemen make room for a pregnant woman?"
           A middle-aged man quickly stood up and gave her his seat. After she was seated he solicitously
           asked her, "How long have you been pregnant?"
           "About fifteen minutes, and God, am I tired!"

              Fifteen minutes pregnant! Even that is okay, but three days of meditation is even more stupid.
              SOSHIN SAID ONE DAY TO THE MASTER....

              There must be some anger, frustration, disappointment. Has he chosen a wrong person to be
           with? No special teaching has been given yet -- and the ego always wants something special.
              "IT IS SOME TIME SINCE I CAME HERE," HE SAID, "BUT NOT A WORD HAS BEEN GIVEN ME
              REGARDING THE ESSENCE OF THE ZEN TEACHING."

               In the first place, there is no Zen teaching as such. Zen is a method of awakening, not a theology.
           It does not talk about God: it forces you into God. It hits you in many ways so that you can be
           awakened into God. To be asleep is to be in the world: to be awake is to be in God. Methods are
           there, devices are there, but no teaching at all.

               In a little New Mexico town, a pretty young tourist overheard a virile Navajo saying "Chance!"
           to every passing female.
           Finally her curiosity got the better of her and she walked up to him and said "Hello," to which he
           answered "Chance! "
           "I thought all Indians said 'How!' "
           "I know how -- just want chance!" he replied.

               All teachings are concerned about how to do it, why to do it, for what purpose, for what goal.
           Zen simply gives you a chance, an opportunity, a certain context, a space in which you can become
           awakened. And that's exactly my work here: to create an opportunity, a space, a context, where you
           are bound to be awakened, where you cannot go on sleeping forever.
              DOGO REPLIED, "SINCE YOUR ARRIVAL I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVING YOU LESSONS ON THE
              MATTER OF ZEN DISCIPLINE."
              "WHAT KIND OF LESSON COULD IT HAVE BEEN?"

              Now Soshin is even more puzzled and bewildered because the Master says:
              "SINCE YOUR ARRIVAL I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVING YOU LESSONS ON THE MATTER OF ZEN
              DISCIPLINE."

               Strange are the ways of the real Masters. Indirect are their ways, subtle are their ways.
           Remember, he does not say "on Zen teaching"; he says "on Zen discipline -- on the matter of Zen
           discipline."
              "WHAT KIND OF LESSON COULD IT HAVE BEEN?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "WHEN YOU BRING ME A CUP OF TEA IN THE MORNING, I TAKE IT; WHEN YOU SERVE ME A
              MEAL, I ACCEPT IT; WHEN YOU BOW TO ME, I RETURN IT WITH A NOD."

               The Master is saying, "Have you observed me?" That is the essential core of Zen: watching,
           observing, being aware. The Master is saying, "When you bring a cup of tea in the morning for me,
           have you watched me -- how I take it, with what gratitude? Have you watched me -- how I accept it
           with great awareness? It is not just tea!"
               Nothing is ordinary in the eyes of Zen; everything is extraordinary because everything is divine.
           Zen Masters have transformed ordinary things like tea-drinking into religious ceremonies.
               The tea ceremony is a great meditation; it takes hours. In every Zen monastery there is a separate
           place for the tea ceremony, a temple -- a temple for tea! And when people are invited by the Master
           they go to the temple in absolute silence. The temple is surrounded by rocks or a rock garden.
               Sanantano has just now made a small rock garden around my room, with a small waterfall. He
           has placed the rocks in such a beautiful way -- he seems to have the insight, seems to have a
           communion with the rocks. The rocks have come alive and they don't seem to be just put any way,
           haphazardly; they seem to be in a deep harmony.
               Now, Sanantano is going to create many rock gardens in the new commune so you can sit by
           those rocks...and small bamboo huts for the tea ceremony.
               And when a person goes -- when the Master invites someone for tea -- he takes a bath, he
           meditates, he cools himself down. He prepares himself because it is no ordinary occasion: an
           invitation from the Master. Then he walks the rocky path with full awareness, slowly. The closer he
           comes to the temple, the more alert he becomes. He becomes alert to the birds singing. He becomes
           alert to the flowers, their colors, their fragrance. And as he comes closer to the tearoom he starts
           hearing the noise of the samovar. He goes in. The shoes have to be left outside. He enters very
           silently, bows down to the Master, sits quietly in a corner listening to the samovar, the humming
           sound of the samovar...and the subtle fragrance of tea filling the room. It is a prayerful moment.
               Then cups and saucers are given. The Master himself gives those cups and saucers...the way he
           gives. He pours the tea...the way he pours. Then they all sip the tea silently. It has to be sipped with
           tremendous awareness; then it becomes a meditation.
               And if tea-drinking can become a meditation, then anything can become a meditation -- cooking
           or washing your clothes, any activity can be transformed into meditation. And the real sannyasin, the
           real seeker, will transform all his acts into meditation. Only then, when meditation spreads over all
           your life, not only when you are awake in the day -- slowly slowly it starts penetrating and
           permeating your being in sleep too -- when it becomes just part of you, like breathing, like your
           heartbeat, then, only, have you attained to the discipline, to the essential discipline of Zen.
           The Master said:
              "WHEN YOU BRING ME A CUP OF TEA IN THE MORNING...

               "Have you observed or not? Are you asleep or awake? Can't you see the way I take it? When you
           serve me a meal...can't you see the way I accept it, with great gratitude, as if you have brought a
           treasure?
              "...WHEN YOU BOW TO ME, I RETURN IT WITH A NOD.

              "Have I ever missed? Has it ever been noticed by you that I have not responded immediately? If
           you have been watching, then this is the real matter of Zen discipline. Do the same, do likewise!
              "HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPECT TO BE TAUGHT IN THE DISCIPLINE OF ZEN?"

              But you don't watch, you don't see. You go on rushing, doing things somehow, mechanically.
           And you go on falling into pitfalls, the SAME pitfalls again and again.

               A nigger walks into a white bar with three friends, goes up to the barman and bets him $25 he
           can lick his own eye.
           The barman thinks, "God-damned stupid nigger, nobody can lick his own eye," so he bets him the
           $25. The nigger takes out his glass eye and licks it and then bets the barman another $25 he can bite
           his other eye.
           The barman thinks, " Oh boy, is this nigger ever dumb! Nobody could come in here with two glass
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           eyes," and takes him up on the bet. The nigger takes his false teeth out and bites the other eye and
           the barman turns red with anger: "Smartass nigger!"
           Then the nigger says, "I will bet you another $25...."
           "Wait a minute," says the barman. "No way. You think I'm stupid?"
           "Oh, come on," says the nigger. I'll bet you double or nothing I can piss in that shot glass on the table
           on the other side of the room."
           The barman stops, ponders a while and says, "Okay, even a stupid god-damned nigger couldn't do
           that! You're on. I'll bet you double or nothing!"
           The nigger proceeds to piss all over the bar, the floor, everywhere. The barman starts laughing like
           hell, and wiping it up, says, "Boy, nigger, you are really dumb to think you could piss that far!"
           And the nigger replies, "I'm not so dumb -- see those three dudes over there? I bet them $300 I could
           piss all over the bar and you would wipe it up laughing!"

               Man goes on doing the same; maybe a slightly different situation, but nothing very different. If
           you are asleep, if you are unconscious, you cannot watch, you cannot observe that again another
           pitfall...that again you are going into another mistake, another error, that you are again stumbling.
           Maybe it is a little bit different, because in life nothing is ever the same, but thousands of times you
           fall and still you don't learn the single thing worth learning. You learn all kinds of things in life
           except the one thing which can transform you, and that is the art of awareness.
              SOSHIN HUNG HIS HEAD FOR A WHILE, PONDERING THE PUZZLING WORDS OF THE
              MASTER.
              THE MASTER SAID, "IF YOU WANT TO SEE, SEE RIGHT AT ONCE. WHEN YOU BEGIN TO
              THINK, YOU MISS THE POINT."

              These are tremendously significant words:
              "IF YOU WANT TO SEE, SEE RIGHT AT ONCE. WHEN YOU BEGIN TO THINK, YOU MISS THE
              POINT."

               BECAUSE THINKING IS ONLY A WAY OF MISSING the point. When you hear the truth,
           SEE it immediately. Don't say, "I will think it over." Don't take notes saying, "Back home I will
           ponder over it." You are missing the whole point! Truth has an immediacy, and you are postponing it
           by thinking. And what can you think about truth? And whatsoever you think is going to be wrong.
           Truth is truth and untruth is untruth. You cannot make an untruth truth by thinking for years, and you
           cannot make a truth untruth by thinking for years. Nothing can be done about it; your thinking is
           absolutely irrelevant. See it. Seeing is relevant; thinking is not relevant.
               That's why in the East we don't have any word to translate the English word "philosophy." We
           have a word, DARSHAN, which is ordinarily used as a translation for philosophy but it is not right
           to do that. DARSHAN means seeing, and philosophy means thinking -- and there is such a
           tremendous difference, such a vast difference, between the two. What greater difference can there be
           between two things -- seeing and thinking?
               DARSHAN simply means seeing. It is NOT thinking, it is awareness. Silently alert you sit by the
           side of the Master. He says something -- or SHOWS something rather -- and you see it! If you are
           silent and aware you are bound to see it, you cannot miss it. If you hang your head and you start
           thinking, you have forgotten about the Master; you are lost in your own words. You are translating
           the Master into your own words -- and you cannot translate those heights, those depths. And
           whatsoever you translate will be something utterly different from what the Master has said.

              Three Frenchmen, while practicing their English, got around to discussing the wife of a friend
           who was childless.
           "She is unbearable," said one.
           "No, that is the wrong word. She is inconceivable."
           "No, no, you are both wrong," said the third. "What you mean is she is impregnable."

               Now, you can go on thinking....When the Master speaks, he speaks from the heights of
           awareness -- and you listen in the darkness of your valley. Don't translate and don't try to figure it
           out, what he is saying. Just listen.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Just the other day somebody asked: "Listening to you unquestioningly, accepting it, isn't it a way
           of being conditioned by you?"
                Listening silently does not mean that you are agreeing with me. It is not a question of agreement
           or disagreement. Listening silently does not mean that you are accepting me or rejecting me. If you
           are accepting you are not silent; activity is there -- the activity of accepting. If you are agreeing with
           me that means you are already translating me. If you are rejecting me that is negative activity; if you
           accept me that is positive activity. And to be silent simply means no activity at all. You are simply
           here...just being here, only available, no question of agreeing or disagreeing.
                And the beauty of truth is that the moment you hear the truth something inside you responds,
           says yes. It is not agreement of the mind, remember; it comes from your totality. Every fiber of your
           being, every cell of your body, nods in tremendous joy, "Yes!" Not that you say yes -- it is not said,
           it is not verbalized at all. It is silently there. And when you hear some untruth, in the same way there
           is a no; your whole being says "no." That is not mental either.
                This is a totally different approach. The West has not been able to evolve it yet; the East has
           evolved it. For centuries we have been working on this subtle method, polishing it, polishing it. It
           has become a mirror.
                The East knows how to just sit in silence, without agreeing or disagreeing, because we have
           discovered one fundamental thing: that truth is already inside you. If you hear the truth from the
           outside your truth will be awakened, it will be provoked. Suddenly you will say "Yes!" -- as if you
           had known it already. It is a recognition, it is a remembrance. You are simply being reminded by the
           Master about that which you have forgotten. It is not a question of agreement or disagreement -- no,
           not at all.
                I am not interested in creating beliefs in you and I am not interested in giving you any kind of
           ideology. My whole effort here is -- as it has always been of all the Buddhas since the beginnings of
           time -- to provoke truth in you. I know it is already there; it just needs a synchronicity. It just needs
           something to trigger the process of recognition in you.
                The Master speaks not to give you the truth, but to help you to recognize the truth that is already
           within you. The Master is only a mirror. You see your own original face in deep silence, sitting by
           his side.
              THE MASTER SAID, "IF YOU WANT TO SEE, SEE RIGHT AT ONCE. WHEN YOU BEGIN TO
              THINK, YOU MISS THE POINT."




                                                        Ah, This!
                                                        Chapter #6
                                                 Chapter title: Try it My Way
           8 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001080
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins


              The first question


              OSHO,
              WHEN I AM WORKING IN THE WEST I FEEL LIKE AN ORANGE WARRIOR, AND I LIKE IT. WHEN
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I AM HERE I FEEL MEDITATIVE, AND I LIKE IT. IS THE PART OF MYSELF THAT STILL NEEDS
              TO FIGHT AN OBSTACLE TO BECOMING A GOOD DISCIPLE?


               Deva Majid,
           A SANNYASIN HAS TO BE LIQUID, FLOWING. He has not to be stonelike, fixated. He has to be
           like flowing water so he can take any form. Whatsoever is the need of the moment he responds
           accordingly -- not according to any fixed pattern, not according to any A PRIORI idea of how a
           sannyasin should be. There is nothing like that in MY vision of sannyas.
               Never ask me how a sannyasin should be, because that will become a pattern and you will act out
           of the pattern. And any action out of a patterned life is wrong. One has to be loose, relaxed, so that
           one can respond to the situation. And situations go on changing. In the West it is different; here it is
           different.
               So when it is needed to be a warrior, be a warrior; and when it is needed to be meditative, be
           meditative. When it is needed to be an extrovert, be an extrovert; and when it is needed to be an
           introvert, be an introvert. This fluidity is sannyas. If you become fixated, then you are no more alive
           -- you have become obsessed. Then you are an extrovert or an introvert, worldly or other-worldly,
           but you are no more my sannyasin.
               My sannyasin is indescribable, as indescribable as God himself, as life itself, as love itself -- as
           inexpressible as existence itself. A sannyasin is in total harmony with existence, so whatsoever the
           need of the moment, the sannyasin goes with the moment, flows with the river. He does not go
           upstream; he does not have any idea of how things should be. He has no "ought"; he has no
           commandments in his mind to be fulfilled, to be followed.
               This is true discipline: discipline that brings freedom, discipline that liberates.

           The second question


              OSHO,
              I CANNOT DROP THE HABIT OF CHAIN-SMOKING. I HAVE TRIED HARD BUT I HAVE FAILED
              ALWAYS. IS IT A SIN TO SMOKE?


               Gurucharan,
           DON'T MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL! Religious people are very skillful in doing
           that. Now, what are you really doing when you are smoking? Just taking some smoke inside your
           lungs and letting it out. It is a kind of PRANAYAMA -- filthy, dirty, but still a PRANAYAMA! You
           are doing yoga, in a stupid way. It is not sin. It may be foolish but it is not a sin, certainly.
               There is only one sin and that is unawareness, and only one virtue and that is awareness.
               Do whatsoever you are doing, but remain a witness to it, and immediately the quality of your
           doing is transformed. I will not tell you not to smoke; that you have tried. You must have been told
           by many so-called saints not to smoke: "Because if you smoke you will fall into hell." God is not so
           stupid as your saints are. Throwing somebody into hell just because he was smoking cigarettes will
           be absolutely unnecessary.

               One morning, Weintraub went to a restaurant and ordered bacon with his eggs. He was an
           orthodox Jew and his wife kept a strictly kosher home, but Weintraub felt the need just this once.
           As Weintraub was about to leave the restaurant, he stopped in the door frozen with terror. The sky
           was filled with black clouds, there was lightning, and the ground shook with the rumble of thunder.
           "Can you imagine!" he exclaimed. "All that fuss over a little piece of bacon!"

               But that's what your so-called saints have been telling you down the ages, for centuries.
               Smoking is unhealthy, unhygienic, but not a sin. It becomes a sin only if you are doing it
           unconsciously -- it is not smoking that makes it a sin but unconsciousness.
               Let me emphasize the fact. You can do your prayer every day unconsciously; then your prayer is
           a sin. You can become addicted to your prayer. If you miss the prayer one day, the whole day you
           will feel something is wrong, something is missing, some gap. It is the same with smoking or with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           drinking; there is no difference in it. Your prayer has become a mechanical habit; it has become a
           master over you. It bosses you; you are just a servant, a slave to it. If you don't do it, it forces you to
           do it.
               So it is not a question of smoking. You may be doing your Transcendental Meditation every day
           regularly, and it may be just the same. If the quality of unconsciousness is there, if mechanicalness is
           there, if it has become a fixed routine, if it has become a habit and you are a victim of the habit and
           you cannot put it aside, you are no more a master of yourself, then it is a sin. But its being a sin
           comes out of your unconsciousness, not out of the act itself.
               No act is virtuous, no act is a sin. What consciousness is behind the act -- everything depends on
           that.

           You say: I CANNOT DROP THE HABIT OF CHAIN-SMOKING.

               I am less interested in your chain-smoking; I am more interested in your habit. Any habit that
           becomes a force, a dominating force over you, is a sin. One should live more in freedom. One should
           be able to do things not according to habits but according to the situations.
               Life is continuously changing -- it is a flux -- and habits are stagnant. The more you are
           surrounded by habits, the more you are closed to life. You are not open, you don't have windows.
           You don't have any communication with life; you go on repeating your habits. They don't fit; they
           are not the right response to the situation, to the moment. They are always lagging behind, they are
           always falling short. That's the failure of your life.
               So remember: I am against all kinds of habits. Good or bad is not the point; there is no good
           habit as such, there is no bad habit as such. Habits are all bad because habit means something
           unconscious has become a dominating factor in your life, has become decisive. You are no more the
           deciding factor. The response is not coming out of awareness but out of a pattern, structure, that you
           have learned in the past.

                Two members of the Shalom Retirement Home, Blustein and Levin, were strolling past the home
           of Nelson Rockefeller.
           "If I only had that man's millions," sighed Blustein, "I would be richer than he is."
           "Don't be a dummy," said Levin. "If you had his millions you would be as rich as he is, not any
           richer."
           "You are wrong," said Blustein, "don't forget -- I could give Hebrew lessons on the side!"

                That's what he has been doing. Even if he becomes Nelson Rockefeller he will go on giving
           Hebrew lessons on the side. That's how people are living, just according to habits.
                I have seen many rich people living very poor lives. Before they became rich their habits became
           settled -- and their habits became settled when they were poor. That's why you find so much
           miserliness in rich people; it comes from the habits that became ingrained in them when they were
           poor.
                One of the richest men in the world -- not ONE of the richest but THE richest man in the world it
           is thought -- was the Nizam of Hyderabad. His collection of diamonds was the greatest in the world
           because he owned the diamond mines of Golconda which have provided the greatest diamonds to the
           world. The Kohinoor comes from Golconda. It was once in the Nizam's possession. He had so many
           diamonds that it is said that no one has ever been able to calculate exactly the price of his collection.
           Thousands and thousands of diamonds -- they were not counted, they were weighed!
                But he was one of the most miserly men in the world. He used a single cap for thirty years. It was
           stinking but he wouldn't change it. He continued to wear the same coat for almost his whole life and
           he would not give it to be washed because they might destroy it. He was so miserly -- you cannot
           imagine -- that he would collect half-smoked cigarettes from the guests' ashtrays and then smoke
           them. The richest man in the world smoking cigarette butts smoked by others! The first thing he
           would do whenever a guest left was to search in the ashtrays and collect the ends of the cigarettes.
                When he died, his greatest diamond was found in his dirty shoes. He was hiding it in his shoe!
           Maybe he had some idea behind it -- that maybe he would be able to take it with him to the other
           world. Maybe he was afraid: "When I am dead, people may steal it." It was the greatest diamond; he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           used that diamond as a paper-weight on his table. Before he died he must have put it inside his shoe.
               Even when one is dying one is moving in old habits, following old patterns.
           I have heard:

               The old Mulla Nasruddin had become a very rich man. When he felt death approaching he
           decided to make some arrangements for his funeral, so he ordered a beautiful coffin made of ebony
           wood with satin pillows inside. He also had a beautiful silk caftan made for his dead body to be
           dressed in.
           The day the tailor delivered the caftan, Mulla Nasruddin tried it on to see how it would look, but
           suddenly he exclaimed, "What is this! Where are the pockets?"

                Gurucharan, smoking or no smoking, that is not important. Maybe if you continue to smoke you
           will die a little earlier. So what? The world is so overpopulated, you will do some good by dying a
           little earlier. Maybe you will have tuberculosis. So what? Tuberculosis is now almost like the
           common cold. In fact, there is no cure for the common cold but there is a cure for tuberculosis I
           know it because I suffer from a common cold. To have tuberculosis is to be very fortunate.

               A man was suffering from a common cold for many years. All the doctors were tired of the man
           because nobody was able to cure him. Then a new doctor came to the town. All the other doctors
           told the new doctor, "Beware of this man! He is going to haunt you! He is a nuisance -- his cold
           cannot be cured."

              In fact, there is no cure for the common cold. They say that if you take medicine it goes within
           seven days; if you don't take the medicine it goes in one week.

               So the new doctor was ready and the man appeared, as predicted by the others. The new doctor
           said, "I can cure it. You do one thing" -- it must have been winter-time, just like this morning -- he
           told him, "You do one thing: tomorrow, early in the morning, before sunrise, go to the lake; swim in
           the lake naked, then stand on the bank in the cold wind."
               The man said, "Are you mad or something? How is that going to cure my common cold?"
               The doctor said, "Who told you that it is going to cure your common cold? It will give you
           influenza, and I can cure that!"

                So it is possible, Gurucharan, that you may die two years earlier, you may get tuberculosis -- but
           it is not a sin. Don't be worried about THAT.
                If you really want to do something about your life, dropping smoking is not going to help --
           because I know people who drop smoking; then they start chewing gum. The same old stupidity! Or
           if they are Indians they start chewing pan; it is the same. You will do something or other. Your
           unconsciousness will demand some activity, some occupation. It is an occupation. And it is only a
           symptom; it is not really the problem. It is not the root of the problem.
                Have you not observed? Whenever you feel emotionally disturbed you immediately start
           smoking. It gives you a kind of relief; you become occupied. Your mind is distracted from the
           emotional problem. Whenever people feel tense they start smoking. The problem is tension, the
           problem is emotional disturbance -- the problem is somewhere else; smoking is just an occupation.
           So you become engaged in taking the smoke in and out and you forget for the time being...because
           mind cannot think of two things together, remember it. One of the fundamentals of mind is: it can
           think only of one thing at one time; it is one-dimensional. So if you are smoking and thinking of
           smoking, then from all other anxieties you are distracted.
                That's the whole secret of the so-called spiritual mantras: they are nothing but distractions, like
           smoking. You repeat "Om, Om, Om," or "Ram, Ram, Ram," or "Allah, Allah, Allah" -- that is just
           giving mind an occupation. And all these people who teach mantras say, "Repeat it as quickly as
           possible, so that between two repetitions there is not even a small gap. Let them overlap -- so 'Ram
           Ram Ram' -- don't leave a gap between two Rams, otherwise some thought may enter. Repeat like
           crazy!"
                Yes, it will give you a certain relief -- the same relief that comes from smoking, because your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind will be distracted from the anxieties and the world. You will forget about the world; you have
           created a trick. All mantras are tricks, but they are spiritual. Chain-smoking is also a mantra. It is a
           worldly mantra; non-religious you can call it, secular.
           The real problem is the habit.

           You say: I HAVE TRIED HARD TO DROP IT....

                You have not tried to be conscious of it; without trying to be conscious you have tried to drop it.
           It is not possible. It will come back, because your mind is the same; its needs are the same, its
           problems are the same, its anxieties, tensions are the same, its anguish is the same. And when those
           anxieties arise, what will you do? Immediately, mechanically, you will start searching for the
           cigarettes.
                You may have decided again and again, and again and again you have failed -- not because
           smoking is such a great phenomenon that you cannot get out of it, but because you are trying from
           the wrong end. Rather than becoming aware of the whole situation -- why you smoke in the first
           place -- rather than becoming aware of the process of smoking, you are simply trying to drop it. It is
           like pruning the leaves of a tree without cutting the roots.
                And my whole concern here is to cut the roots, not to prune the tree. By pruning the leaves and
           the branches the tree will become thicker, the foliage will become thicker. You will not destroy the
           tree; you will be helping it, in fact. If you really want to get out of it you will have to look deeper,
           not into the symptoms but the roots. Where are the roots?
                You must be a deeply anxiety-ridden person, otherwise chain-smoking is not possible;
           chain-smoking is a by-product. You must be so concerned about a thousand and one disturbances
           inside, you must be carrying such a big load of worries on your heart, on your chest, that you don't
           even know how to forget them. You don't know how to drop them -- smoking at least helps you to
           forget about them.

           You say: I HAVE TRIED HARD...

               Now one thing has to be understood. The hypnotists have discovered a fundamental law; they
           call it the Law of Reverse Effect. If you try hard to do something without understanding the
           fundamentals, just the opposite will be the result.
               It is like when you are learning how to ride on a bicycle. You are on a silent road, no traffic,
           early in the morning, and you see a red milestone just standing there by the side of the road like
           Hanuman. A sixty-foot-wide road and just a small milestone, and you become afraid: you may get to
           the milestone, you may hit against the milestone. Now you forget about the sixty-foot-wide road. In
           fact, even if you go blindfolded there is not much chance of your encountering the milestone,
           crashing into the milestone, but with open eyes now the whole road is forgotten; you have become
           focused. In the first place, that redness is very focusing. And you are so much afraid! -- you want to
           avoid it. You have forgotten that you are on a bicycle; you have forgotten everything. Now the only
           problem for you is how to avoid this stone; otherwise you may harm yourself, you may crash into it.
               Now the crash is absolutely inevitable; you are bound to crash with the stone. And then you will
           be surprised: '.'1 tried hard." In fact it is BECAUSE you tried hard that you reached the stone. And
           the closer you come, the harder you try to avoid it; but the harder you try to avoid it, the more
           focused you become on it. It becomes a hypnotic force, it hypnotizes you. It becomes like a magnet.
               It is a very fundamental law in life. Many people try avoiding many things and they fall into the
           same things. Try to avoid anything with great effort and you are bound to fall into the same pit. You
           cannot avoid it; that is not the way to avoid it.
               Be relaxed. Don't try hard, because it is through relaxation that you can become aware, not by
           trying hard. Be calm, quiet, silent.
               I will suggest: smoke as much as you want to smoke. It is not a sin in the first place. I give you
           the guarantee -- I will be responsible. I take the sin on myself, so if you meet God on Judgment Day
           you can just tell him that this fellow is responsible. And I will stand there as a witness for you that
           you are not responsible. So don't be worried about its being a sin. Relax and don't try to drop it with
           effort. No, that is not going to help.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Zen believes in effortless understanding.
               So this is my suggestion: smoke as much as you want to smoke -- just smoke meditatively. If Zen
           people can drink tea meditatively, why can't you smoke meditatively? In fact, tea contains the same
           stimulant as the cigarettes contain; it is the same stimulant, there is not much difference. Smoke
           meditatively, very religiously. Make it a ceremony. Try it my way.
               Make a small corner in your house just for smoking: a small temple devoted, dedicated to the god
           of smoking. First bow down to your cigarette packet. Have a little chit-chat, talk to the cigarettes.
           Inquire, "How are you?" And then very slowly take a cigarette out -- very slowly, as slowly as you
           can, because only if you take it very slowly will you be aware. Don't do it in a mechanical way, as
           you always do. Then tap the cigarette on the packet very slowly and for as long as you want. There is
           no hurry either. Then take the lighter, bow down to the lighter. These are great gods, deities! Light is
           God, so why not the lighter?
               Then start smoking very slowly, just like VIPASSANA. Don't do it like a PRANAYAMA --
           quick and fast and deep -- but very slowly. Buddha says: Breathe naturally. So you smoke naturally:
           very slow, no hurry. If it is a sin you are in a hurry. If it is a sin you want to finish it as soon as
           possible. If it is a sin you don't want to look at it. You go on reading the newspaper and you go on
           smoking. Who wants to look at a sin? But it is not a sin, so watch it -- watch each of your acts.
               Divide your acts into small fragments so you can move very slowly. And you will be surprised:
           by watching your smoking, slowly slowly smoking will become less and less. And one day
           suddenly...it is gone. You have not made any effort to drop it; it has dropped of its own accord,
           because by becoming aware of a dead pattern, a routine, a mechanical habit, you have created, you
           have released, a new energy of consciousness in you. Only that energy can help you; nothing else
           will ever help.
               And it is not only so with smoking, Gurucharan, it is so with everything else in life: don't try too
           hard to change yourself. That leaves scars. Even if you change, your change will remain superficial.
           And you will find a substitute somewhere; you will HAVE to find a substitute, otherwise you will
           feel empty.
               And when something withers away of its own accord because you have become so silently aware
           of the stupidity of it that no effort is needed, when it simply falls, just like a dead leaf falling from a
           tree, it leaves no scar behind and it leaves no ego behind.
               If you drop something by effort, it creates great ego. You start thinking, "Now I am a very
           virtuous man because I don't smoke." If you think that smoking is a sin, naturally, obviously, if you
           drop it you will think you are a very virtuous man.
               That's how your virtuous men are. Somebody does not smoke, somebody does not drink,
           somebody eats only once a day, somebody does not eat in the night, somebody has even stopped
           drinking water in the night...and they are all great saints! These are saintly qualities, great virtues!
               We have made religion so silly. It has lost all glory. It has become as stupid as people are. But
           the whole thing depends on your attitude: if you think something is a sin, then your virtue will be
           just the opposite of it.
               I emphasize: not-smoking is not virtue, smoking is not sin; awareness is virtue, unawareness is
           sin. And then the same law is applicable to your whole life.

           The third question


              OSHO,
              THE OTHER DAY IN DISCOURSE YOU SAID THAT SANNYAS ONLY COMES WHEN THE POINT
              OF SUICIDE HAS BEEN REACHED. BUT I DID NOT FEEL SUICIDAL WHEN I TOOK SANNYAS,
              ONLY IN DEEP LOVE WITH YOU. MY LIFE SEEMED RICH, BUT YOU HAVE MADE IT INFINITELY
              RICHER. AM I NOT A TRUE SANNYASIN BECAUSE I DON'T FEEL SUICIDAL?


               Prem Sunderam,
           AND WHAT IS LOVE? It is the greatest suicide in the world! Love means committing suicide: the
           suicide of the ego. Love means dropping the ego. That's why people are so much afraid of love. They
           talk about it, they pretend also. They manage to befool others and themselves too that they love. But
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they avoid love -- because love requires you first to die; only then are you resurrected.
               So what I said is absolutely true and absolutely applicable to you. And life certainly becomes
           richer. The more you die to the ego, the richer your life is, the more your life is full of overflowing
           love and joy and ecstasy.
               No, you are my true sannyasin -- but love is the ultimate in suicide. All other suicides are small
           suicides. Somebody commits suicide; that is only physical. Love is psychological suicide and
           meditation is spiritual suicide. In love you die psychologically, you drop the psychological ego, and
           in meditation you drop the very idea of the self, even of the supreme self. You become a
           nothingness...and in that nothingness blooms the white lotus of a Buddha.

           The fourth question


              OSHO,
              HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE?


               Rabindra,
           THERE ARE NO SECRETS IN LIFE. Or you can say: life is an open secret. Everything is
           available, nothing is hidden. All that you need is just eyes to see.
               It is like a blind man asking: "I want to learn the secret of light." All that he needs is treatment of
           the eyes so that he can see. Light is available, it is not a secret. But he is blind -- for him there is no
           light. What to say about light? For him there is not even darkness -- because even to see darkness
           eyes are needed. A blind man cannot see darkness. If you can see darkness you can see light; they
           are two aspects of the same coin. The blind man knows nothing of darkness and nothing of light.
           Now he wants to learn the secrets of light.
               We can only help him, not by teaching him great truths about light -- they will be useless -- but
           by operating on his eyes.
               That's exactly what is being done here. This is an operation theater. The moment you become a
           sannyasin you are getting ready for the operation table, and you have to pass through many surgical
           operations. That's what all the therapies are. And if you survive all the therapies, then I am there
           finally to finish you off!
               The moment the ego disappears, all the secrets are open secrets. Life is not like a fist; it is an
           open hand.
               But people enjoy the idea that life has secrets -- hidden secrets. Just to avoid their blindness they
           have created the idea of hidden secrets, of esoteric knowledge which is not available to anybody, or
           is available only to great adepts who live in Tibet or in the Himalayas, or who are no more in their
           bodies, who live only in astral bodies and appear only to a few chosen people. And all kinds of
           nonsense has been perpetuated down the ages for the simple reason that you want to avoid seeing,
           recognizing the simple fact of your blindness. Rather than saying, "I am blind," you say, "Life's
           secrets are very hidden; they are not easily available. You will need great initiation."
               Life is not esoteric at all. It is written on each leaf of each tree, on each pebble on the seashore; it
           is contained in each ray of the sun -- whatever you come across is life in all its beauty. And life is not
           afraid of you, so why should it hide itself? In fact, you are hiding, continuously trying to hide
           yourself. You are closing yourself against life because you are afraid of life. You are afraid to live --
           because life requires a constant death.
               One has to die every moment to the past. That is a great requirement of life -- simple if you
           understand that the past is no more. Slip out of it, snap out of it! It is finished. Close the chapter,
           don't go on carrying it! And then life is available to you.
               But you remain in the past; the past goes on hanging around you, the hangover never ends. And
           rather than coming to the present, the hangover of the past pushes you towards the future. So either
           you are in the memories or you are in your imagination. These are the two ways to miss life;
           otherwise there is no need to miss life. Just drop out of memories and out of imagination. Past is no
           more, future is not yet; both are non-existential. All that exists is the present, the now. Now is God.
               Enter the doors of the now and all is revealed -- instantly revealed, immediately revealed. Life is
           not a miser: it never hides anything, it does not hold anything back. It is ready to give all, totally and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unconditionally. But you are not ready.

              And Rabindra, you ask: HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE?

               It is not a question of learning; it is more a question of unlearning. You have already learned too
           much: the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Koran, the Bible, the Talmud. Thousands of
           scriptures are there inside you, clamoring, making noise, fighting with each other; all kinds of
           ideologies constantly trying to attract your attention. Your mind is a mess! It is overcrowded, it is a
           multitude. Unlearn! All that you have accumulated up to now as knowledge, unlearn it.
               Zen people are right when they say: NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.
               Unlearning is the process that can bring you to that beautiful space of not knowing. And then
           observe. Observe life without any knowledge interpreting it. You have become so accustomed to
           interpretation.
               The moment you see the sunset, immediately, habitually, you repeat words that you have heard
           from others: "What a beautiful sunset!" You don't mean anything by it; you are not even looking at
           the sunset. You have not allowed it to penetrate to your heart. You are not feeling any wonder. You
           are not in a state of awe. You have not fallen on your knees. You are not looking with unblinking
           eyes, absorbing. Nothing of that. Just a casual remark: "What a beautiful sunset!" Just a way of
           speaking, a mannerism, showing that you are cultured, sophisticated, that you know what beauty is,
           that you have a great aesthetic sense, that you have great sensitivity towards nature. You are not
           looking at the sunset. Have you ever looked at the sunset? If you had looked you would not have
           asked this question; the sunset would have told you all.
               Have you ever looked at a roseflower? Yes, you say, "It is beautiful!" You may repeat the
           famous saying: "A rose is a rose is a rose," but you are not seeing the rose. You are full of words, all
           kinds of jargon -- poetic, philosophic -- but between you and the roseflower there is such a wall, a
           China Wall. Behind that wall you are hiding.

              And you are asking: HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE?

               And life goes on utterly nude, utterly naked, absolutely available. All that is required is a
           not-knowing state, an empty space which can absorb it, which can receive it. Only when you are in a
           state of not knowing are you a host, and then life becomes a guest.
               Just observe, with no evaluation. Don't say "good," don't say "bad"; don't say "beautiful," don't
           say "ugly." Don't say anything at all! Without saying anything, without bringing your mind in, just
           watch with utterly empty eyes, like a mirror. Reflect the moon, the stars, the sun, the trees, the
           people, the animals, the birds. And life will pour itself into your being. And it is an inexhaustible
           source of energy. And energy is delight.
               William Blake is right when he says: Energy is delight. And when life pours its energy into your
           being it rejuvenates you, it revitalizes you; you are constantly reborn. A real, alive person is born
           again and again every MOMENT. He is fresh, he is always young. Even when he dies he is fresh and
           young. Even in the moment of death, life is pouring more and more energy into him. His way of
           approaching life -- without mind -- helps him to see not only life but death too. And when you are
           able to see life, you are able to see death. And to see death means there is no death; all is life, and
           eternal, beginningless, endless. And you are part of this infinite celebration.
               Just watch, be alert, and function from a state of innocence. Your question seems to be
           knowledgeable.

           You say: HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE?

           You are still asking like a student, a schoolboy.
                Life is ready every moment to embrace you. YOU are hiding away from life because you are
           afraid. You want life on your terms. You want life to be Hindu or Mohammedan or Christian, and
           life cannot do that. You want life according to the Gita or the Koran, and life cannot do that.
                Don't put conditions on life. Putting conditions on life is ugly, violent, stupid. Remain
           unconditionally open...and suddenly some bells in your heart start ringing, in tune with the whole. A
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           music arises, a melody is born. You are no more separate as a learner, as a knower. Finally you are
           not even separate as an observer; the observer and the observed become one ultimately.
               That is the moment of enlightenment, of Buddhahood, when you are part of this whole, an
           intrinsic part, inseparable. Then you ARE life -- what is the need to learn anything? You ARE it; you
           are not separate from it. Who is going to learn and about what? You are life. Then experiencing
           arises: not knowing but experiencing, not knowledge but wisdom.

               Raul was sitting against the wall of his friend Pablo's adobe shack. Pablo came out of the house
           with a butterfly in his hand.
           "Ay, Pablo," called Raul. "Where are you going with the butterfly?"
           "I am going to get some butter," replied Pablo.
           "Oh, you foolish fellow!" said Raul. "You cannot get butter with a butterfly!"
           A few minutes later, to Raul's astonishment, Pablo returned with a bucket of butter.
           In a little while Pablo came out, this time carrying a jar of horseflies.
           "Ay, Pablo," called Raul, "where are you going with them horseflies?"
           "Where you think?" answered Pablo. "To get horses, of course!"
           Pablo returned in a few minutes leading a pair of beautiful stallions.
           "See, I told you!" said Pablo to the amazed Raul.
           Ten minutes later Pablo came out clutching a handful of pussy willows.
           "Ay, Pablo!" shouted Raul. "Wait for me -- I go with you!"

              Just observe. Nothing is hidden -- just observe. And slowly slowly you will start going with life.
           Slowly slowly you will not remain separate, you will follow life. And to follow life is to be religious.
           Not to follow Christ, not to follow Buddha, but to follow life is to be religious.

           The fifth question


              OSHO,
              I CAN FIND THE ANSWER TO ALL THE QUESTIONS I ASK YOU WITHIN MYSELF, BUT STILL I
              WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU ONE -- JUST FOR FUN, SIMPLY TAKING UP YOUR INVITATION. IS IT
              REALLY POSSIBLE FOR AN ORDINARY PERSON LIKE MYSELF TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD,
              EARNING AND SPENDING, AND STILL BE IN THE STATE OF NO-MIND CONSTANTLY?


               Deva David,
           I WILL NOT ANSWER THIS QUESTION -- just for fun! If you can find the answer to all the
           questions, find out the answer to this one too!
               And you don't seem to be an ORDINARY person -- one who can find all the answers to all the
           questions within himself can't be an ordinary person, otherwise how will you define the
           extraordinary?
               No, I will not bother you with an answer -- you find it within yourself. When you cannot find it,
           then ask me again.

           The sixth question


              OSHO,
              CAN'T ONE BELIEVE IN GOD WITHOUT SEEING HIM?


              Surendra Mohan,
           WHO IS TELLING YOU TO BELIEVE IN GOD? I am against all belief. You must be a very new
           comer here. Belief is irreligious, as much as disbelief is. Belief means you don't know yet you have
           accepted something. It is cowardly -- you have not inquired. You are pretending, you are a hypocrite.
              All believers are hypocrites -- Catholic and communist, Jainas and Jews -- all. Believers are
           hypocrites. They don't know and yet they pretend AS IF they know. What is belief? It is playing the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           game of "as if." And the same is true about disbelief.
               The communist knows NOT that there is no God, just as the Hindu knows not that there is a God.
           The Hindu believes there is a God, the communist believes there is no God. Disbelief is also a kind
           of belief -- a negative kind of belief. And that's why it is so easy to become a Hindu from being a
           communist or a communist from being a Hindu.
               It is a well-known fact that before the Russian revolution Russia was one of the MOST religious
           countries in the world. Then what happened? After ten years of revolution, the whole country
           became atheistic. The same people who were fanatical believers became fanatical disbelievers! On
           the surface it looks puzzling, but it is not. The fanaticism is the same; nothing has changed. They
           were fanatic Christians, now they are fanatic communists. They believed madly, now they disbelieve
           madly, their madness is the same. And their belief was wrong because they had not experienced it,
           and their disbelief is wrong because they have not yet experienced the ABSENCE of God.

              Surendra Mohan, you ask me: CAN'T ONE BELIEVE IN GOD WITHOUT SEEING HIM?

               In the first place there is no need to believe in God. And if you believe you will never be able to
           know him. Belief will become a barrier; belief is always a barrier. Belief means you are carrying a
           prejudice, and you will not be able to see that which is. You will project your own idea.
               That's why a Hindu, when he comes to a vision of God, will see Krishna with the flute. He will
           never see Christ, he will never see Mahavira, he will never see Buddha. And the Christian? He has
           never seen Krishna or Buddha. And a Jew? He has his own ideas. So when you see, what you see is
           not really the real but your own projection, your own idea.
               Remember: as long as you have even a single idea inside you, your experience is going to be
           distorted by it.
               MY suggestion to MY people is: don't carry any idea of God, for or against. Don't carry any
           image of God. In fact, God is absolutely irrelevant -- be meditative! And meditation means: drop all
           thoughts, drop all ideologies, drop all knowledge. Drop the mind itself.
               And then when you are in a state of no-mind, something unimaginable, unbelievable,
           unpredictable, inexpressible, is. experienced. You can call it God, you can call it truth, you can call it
           NIRVANA, or whatsoever you want to call it. You are free because no word describes it, hence any
           word is as good as any other. But don't carry any belief.
               And what do you mean: "...without seeing him"? Do you think someday you will see God? Is
           God a person? That's how people think: God is like Rama, always carrying a bow with arrows. Now,
           in the twentieth century, carrying a bow would look so foolish. Give him an atom bomb -- that will
           look far more contemporary! Jesus on the cross...twenty centuries have passed. Now we have electric
           chairs! Give him an electric chair. At least he can rest on the chair! Still you go on giving him a
           cross. Make your ideas a little more contemporary. They are all out of date.
               What do you mean by "SEEING God"? Is he a person? Will you say hello and will you shake
           hands with him? God is not a person, hence God cannot be seen in that sense. God is a presence.
               There is no God but godliness. It is a quality, a fragrance. You experience it, you don't see it.
           And when you experience it, it is not something out there as an object; it is something IN HERE, in
           the heart of your hearts. It is your subjectivity, it is your consciousness.
               So there is no question of belief and there is no question of seeing either.
               But people are brought up in all kinds of beliefs and they go on seeing through their prejudices.
           So anything that fits with their prejudices enters inside; anything that does not fit with their prejudice
           is prevented from entering.

               An elephant escaped from the local zoo and made his way into the vegetable garden of one of the
           town's most prominent matrons. Unfortunately this lady had only just returned from a cocktail party
           where she had had just a little too much to drink. She was not too drunk, however, to see the beast in
           her garden, and she had the presence of mind to call the police.
           "Quick," she said, "there is some kind of huge, strange looking animal in my garden."
           "What is he doing?" asked the desk sergeant.
           "He seems to be picking lettuce with his tail!"
           "Oh, really?" replied the wary policeman. "And what is he doing with it?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The lady peered out into her garden once more and then said, "Sergeant, even if I told you, you
           would never believe it!"

               God has been experienced. Nobody has ever been able to say exactly what that experience is.
           And even if somebody tries to say it, you are not going to believe it. Your prejudices, your A
           PRIORI ideas, will prevent you.
               No, Surendra Mohan, no need to believe in God; no need even to believe that one day you are
           going to see him. In fact, God is not a religious subject at all -- you will be surprised when you hear
           it -- God is a philosophic subject. It is for those useless people who go on endlessly into
           logic-chopping and hair-splitting. It is for those people to discuss God.
               A religious person is not interested in God; he is more interested in the very source of his being,
           who he is: "Who am I?" That is the MOST fundamental religious question -- not God, not heaven,
           not hell, but "Who am I?" And if you can find the truth of your own being you will have found all
           the truth that is necessary to know and is worth knowing. You will have found God and you will
           have found NIRVANA and you will have found all that the seers, the rishis, the Buddhas, the
           prophets, down the ages, have been telling you to inquire into.
               But don't make a philosophical inquiry, otherwise you will end up with a conclusion. And all
           conclusions are dangerous because once you conclude you become fanatical about your conclusion,
           you start clinging to it. You become afraid of truth -- because who knows? Truth may disturb your
           conclusion, and your conclusion is so cozy and so convenient, and it has helped to give you a certain
           feeling of security. So you go on clinging to your conclusion -- and your conclusion is your
           conclusion.
               If you are unaware, what value can your conclusion have? Your conclusion cannot be bigger
           than you, your conclusion cannot be higher than you. Your conclusion will be as high, as deep, as
           you are high and you are deep. Your conclusion will only reflect you.
               God is not a conclusion. It is not arrived at by logical processes -- by believing, by discussing, by
           analyzing, no. All mind processes have to cease. When all processes have ceased, something -- call it
           XYZ -- suddenly wells up within you. A few qualities can be indicated: you will feel tremendously
           ecstatic, blissful, at home, at ease. For the first time existence will be your home. You will not be an
           outsider, a stranger. For the first time there will be no conflict between you and existence, no
           struggle for the survival of the fittest. For the first time you will be in a state of let-go. And in let-go
           wells up great joy.
               You will be able to sing the song that you have brought in your heart and is still unsung. You
           will be able to bloom into thousands of flowers. Or as in the East we say: you will bloom into a
           thousand-petalled lotus of consciousness, of awareness. That is God -- or better, godliness.

           The seventh question


              OSHO,
              I KNOW YOU ARE AGAINST MARRIAGE, BUT I STILL WANT TO GET MARRIED. CAN I HAVE
              YOUR BLESSINGS?


               Rakesh,
           MEDITATE OVER MURPHY'S MAXIM: A fool and his cool are soon parted.
               It is not yet published anywhere, but Asha is the custodian of Murphy's unpublished manuscripts,
           so she goes on supplying these maxims of Murphy to me. Meditate over it: A fool and his cool are
           soon parted.
               That's what marriage is going to be. Only fools think in terms of legality; otherwise, love is
           enough. And I am not against marriage -- I am for love. If love becomes your marriage, good; but
           don't hope that marriage can bring love. That is not possible. Love can become a marriage. You have
           to work very consciously to transform your love into a marriage.
               Ordinarily, people destroy their love. They do EVERYTHING to destroy it and then they suffer.
           And they go on saying, "What went wrong?" They destroy -- they do everything to destroy it.
               There is a tremendous desire and longing for love, but love needs great awareness. Only then can
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it reach its highest climax -- and that highest climax IS marriage. It has nothing to do with law. It is a
           merging of two hearts into totality. It is the functioning of two persons in synchronicity -- that is
           marriage.
                But people try love and because they are unconscious...their longing is good, but their love is full
           of jealousy, full of possessiveness, full of anger, full of nastiness. Soon they destroy it. Hence for
           centuries they have depended on marriage. Better to start by marriage so that the law can protect you
           from destroying it. The society, the government, the court, the policeman, the priest, they will all
           force you to live in the institution of marriage, and you will be just a slave. If marriage is an
           institution, you are going to be a slave in it. Only slaves want to live in institutions.
                Marriage is a totally different phenomenon: it is the climax of love. Then it is good. I am not
           against marriage -- I am for the REAL marriage. I am against the false, the pseudo, that exists. But it
           is an arrangement. It gives you a certain security, safety, occupation. It keeps you engaged.
           Otherwise, it gives you no enrichment, it gives you no nourishment.
                So, Rakesh, if you want to get married according to me, only then can I give you my blessings.
                Learn to love, and drop all that goes against love. It is an uphill task. It is the greatest art in
           existence, to be able to love. One needs such refinement, such inner culture, such meditativeness, so
           that one can see immediately how one goes on destroying. If you can avoid being destructive, if you
           become creative in your relationship; if you support it, nourish it; if you are capable of compassion
           for the other person, not only passion.... Passion alone is not able to sustain love; compassion is
           needed. If you are able to be compassionate towards the other; if you are able to accept his
           limitations, his imperfections; if you are able to accept him the way he is or she is and STILL love --
           then one day a marriage happens. That may take years. That may take your whole life.
                You can have my blessings, but for a legal marriage you need not have my blessings -- and my
           blessings won't be of any help either. And beware! Before you jump into it, give it a second thought.

               A woman walks into a pet shop and sees a bird with a big beak. "What is that strange looking
           bird?" she asks the proprietor.
           "That is a gobble bird," he answers.
           "Why do you call him a gobble bird?"
           The man says to the bird, "Gobble bird, my chair!"
           The bird immediately starts pecking away and gobbles up the chair.
           "I will buy him," the woman says.
           The owner asks why.
           "Well," she says, "when my husband comes home he will see the bird and ask, 'What is that?' I will
           say, 'A gobble bird.' And then he will say, 'Gobble bird, my foot!'"

              Just be a little aware before you move! My blessings won't help. Marriage is a trap and your wife
           sooner or later will find a gobble bird.

              Mrs. Moskowitz loved chicken soup. One evening she was spooning it up when three of her
           husband's friends came in. "Mrs. Moskowitz," the spokesman said, "we are here to tell you that your
           husband, Izzy, has been killed in an automobile accident."
           Mrs. Moskowitz continued eating her soup. Again they told her. Still no reaction.
           "Look," said the puzzled speaker, "we are telling you that your husband is dead!"
           She went right on with the soup. "Gentlemen," she said between mouthfuls, "soon as I am finished
           with this chicken soup, you gonna hear some scream!"

           Marriage is not love; it is something else.

               A woman at the grave of her husband was wailing, "Oh, Joseph, it is four years since you have
           gone, but I still miss you!"
           Just then Grossberg passed by and saw the woman crying. "Excuse me," he said, "who are you
           mourning?"
           "My husband," she said. "I miss him so much!"
           Grossberg looked at the stone and then said, "Your husband? But it says on the gravestone 'Sacred to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the memory of Golda Kreps'."
           "Oh, yes, he put everything in my name."

               So be a little aware before you are trapped! Marriage is a trap: you will be trapped by the woman
           and the woman will be trapped by you. It is a mutual trap. And then legally you are allowed to
           torture each other forever. And particularly in this country, not only for one life but for lives
           together! Divorce is not even allowed after you are dead. Next life also you will get the same wife,
           remember!

           And the last question


              OSHO,
              WHAT IS GOING ON?


              Anand Subhuti,
           I AM SURPRISED, because that's exactly what I was going to ask you all! I don't know. But: NOT
           KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE.




                                                      Ah, This!
                                                      Chapter #7
                                              Chapter title: Take No Notice
           9 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001090
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins



              THE ANCIENTS SAID:

              "(SELF-)CULTIVATION TAKES AN UNIMAGINABLE TIME (WHILE) ENLIGHTENMENT IN AN
              INSTANT IS ATTAINED."

              IF THE TRAINING IS EFFICIENT, ENLIGHTENMENT WILL BE ATTAINED IN ONE FINGERSNAP.

              IN DAYS GONE BY CH'AN MASTER HUI CHUEH OF LANG YEH MOUNTAIN, HAD A DISCIPLE
              WHO CALLED ON HIM FOR INSTRUCTION. THE MASTER TAUGHT HER TO EXAMINE INTO THE
              SENTENCE: "TAKE NO NOTICE."
              SHE FOLLOWED HIS INSTRUCTION STRICTLY WITHOUT BACKSLIDING.

              ONE DAY HER HOUSE CAUGHT FIRE, BUT SHE SAID: "TAKE NO NOTICE."
              ANOTHER DAY, HER SON FELL INTO THE WATER AND WHEN A BYSTANDER CALLED HER,
              SHE SAID: "TAKE NO NOTICE."
              SHE OBSERVED EXACTLY HER MASTER'S INSTRUCTION BY LAYING DOWN ALL CASUAL
              THOUGHTS.

              ONE DAY, AS HER HUSBAND LIT THE FIRE TO MAKE FRITTERS OF TWISTED DOUGH, SHE
              THREW INTO THE PAN FULL OF BOILING (VEGETABLE) OIL A BATTER WHICH MADE A NOISE.
              UPON HEARING THE NOISE, SHE WAS INSTANTLY ENLIGHTENED. THEN SHE THREW THE
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               PAN OF OIL ON THE GROUND, CLAPPED HER HANDS AND LAUGHED.
               THINKING SHE WAS INSANE, HER HUSBAND SCOLDED HER AND SAID: "WHY DO YOU DO
               THIS? ARE YOU MAD?"
               SHE REPLIED: "TAKE NO NOTICE."

               THEN SHE WENT TO THE MASTER HUI CHUEH AND ASKED HIM TO VERIFY HER
               ACHIEVEMENT.
               THE MASTER CONFIRMED THAT SHE HAD OBTAINED THE HOLY FRUIT.


               THERE ARE TWO PATHS TO THE ULTIMATE TRUTH. The first is of self-cultivation and
           the second is of enlightenment. The first is basically wrong. It only appears to be a path; it is not.
           One goes on and on in circles, but one never arrives. The second does not appear to be a path
           because there is no space for a path when something happens instantly, when something happens
           immediately. When something happens without taking any time, how can there be a path?
               This paradox has to be understood as deeply as possible: the first appears to be the path but is
           not; the second appears not to be a path but is. The first appears to be a path because there is infinite
           time; it is a time phenomenon But anything happening in time cannot lead you beyond time;
           anything happening in time only strengthens time.
               Time means mind. Time IS a projection of mind. It does not exist; it is only an illusion. Only the
           present exists -- and the present is not part of time. The present is part of eternity. Past is time, future
           is time; both are non-existential. The past is only memory and the future is only imagination;
           memory and imagination, both are non-existential. We create the past because we cling to memory;
           clinging to the memory is the source of the past. And we create the future because we have so many
           desires yet to be fulfilled, we have so many imaginations yet to be realized. And desires need a
           future like a screen onto which they can be projected.
               Past and future are mind phenomena; and past and future make your whole idea of time.
           Ordinarily you think that time is divided into three divisions: past, present and future. That is totally
           wrong. That is not how the awakened ones have seen time. They say time consists only of two
           divisions: past and future. The present is not part of time at all; the present belongs to the beyond.
               The first path -- the path of self-cultivation -- is a time path; it has nothing to do with eternity.
           And truth is eternity.
               The second path -- the path of enlightenment, Zen Masters have always called the pathless path
           because it does not appear to be a path at all. It cannot appear as a path, but just for the purposes of
           communication we will call it "the second path," arbitrarily. The second path is not part of time, it is
           part of eternity. Hence it happens instantaneously; it happens in the present. You cannot desire it,
           you cannot be ambitious for it.
               On the first path, the false path, all is allowed. You can imagine, you can desire, you can be
           ambitious. You can change all your worldly desires into other-worldly desires. That's what the
           so-called religious people go on doing. They don't desire money any more -- they are fed up with it,
           tired of it, frustrated with it, bored with it -- but they start desiring God. Desire persists; it changes its
           object. Money is no more the object of desire but God; pleasure is no more the object of desire but
           bliss. But what bliss can you imagine? Whatsoever you imagine in the name of bliss is nothing but
           your idea of pleasure -- maybe a little bit refined, cultivated, sophisticated, but it can't be more than
           that.
               The people who stop desiring worldly things start desiring heaven and heavenly pleasures. But
           what are they? -- magnified forms of the same old desires, in fact more dangerous than the worldly
           desires, because with the worldly desires one thing is absolutely certain: you are bound to get
           frustrated sooner or later. You will get out of them; you Cannot remain in them forever. The very
           nature of them is such that they promise you, but they never fulfill their promises -- the goods are
           never delivered. How long can you remain deceived by them? Even the most stupid person has
           glimpses, once in a while, that he is chasing illusions which cannot be fulfilled by the very nature of
           existence. The intelligent one comes to the realization sooner.
               But with the other-worldly desires there is far greater danger because they are other-worldly, and
           to see them and to experience them you will have to wait till death. They will happen only after
           death so you cannot be free of them in life, while you are alive. And a man who has lived
           unconsciously his whole life, his death is going to be the culmination of unconsciousness; he will die
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in unconsciousness. In death also he will not be able to disillusion himself. And the person who dies
           in unconsciousness is born again in unconsciousness. It is a vicious circle; it goes on and on. And the
           person who is born in unconsciousness will repeat the same stupidities that he has been repeating for
           millions of lives.
               Unless you become alert and aware IN life, unless you change the quality of your living, you will
           not die consciously. And only a conscious death can bring you to a conscious birth; and then a far
           more conscious life opens its doors.
               Changing worldly desires into other-worldly desires is the last strategy of the mind to keep you
           captive, to keep you a prisoner, to keep you in bondage.
               So the first path is not really a path but a deception -- but a very alluring deception. In the first
           place, it is SELF-cultivation. It is not against the ego; it is rooted in the refinement of the ego. Refine
           your ego of all grossness, then you become a self. The ego is like a raw diamond: you go on cutting
           it and polishing it and then it becomes a Kohinoor, very precious. That is your idea of "self," but it is
           nothing but ego with a beautiful name, with a spiritual flavor thrown in. It is the same old illusory
           ego.
               The very idea that "I am" is wrong. The whole is, God is -- I am not. Either I can exist or God
           can exist; we cannot both exist together -- because if I exist, then I am a separate entity. Then I have
           my own existence independent of God. But God simply means the total, the whole. HOW can I be
           independent of it? How can I be separate from it? If I exist, I destroy the very idea of totality.
               The people who deny God are the most egoistic people. It is not an accident that Friedrich
           Nietzsche declared God dead. He was one of the most egoistic persons possible. It was his ego that
           made him insane finally. Ego is insanity, the basic insanity, the most fundamental, out of which all
           other insanities arise. He said: "God is dead and man is free." That sentence is significant. In one
           sentence he has said the whole thing: Man can be free only if God is dead; if God is alive, then man
           cannot be free, in fact man cannot exist.
               The very idea that "I am" is unspiritual. The idea of the self is unspiritual.
               And what is self-cultivation? It is an effort to polish; it is an effort to create a beautiful character,
           to drop all that is unrespectable and to create all that is respectable. That's why in different countries
           different things are cultivated by the spiritual people -- the so-called spiritual. It depends on the
           society; what the society respects, that will be cultivated.
               In Soviet Russia, before the revolution, there was a Christian sect which believed that sexual
           organs should be cut, only then are you real Christians. The statement of Jesus was taken literally.
           Jesus has said: Be eunuchs of God. And these fools followed it literally. Every year they would
           gather in thousands and in a mad frenzy they would cut their sexual organs. Men would cut their
           genital organs, women would cut their breasts. And those who were able to do it were thought to be
           saints; they were very much respected -- they had made a great sacrifice. Now, anywhere else they
           would have been thought utterly insane; but because in that particular society it was respected, they
           were saints.
               In India you can find many people Lying down on beds of thorns or needles, and they are
           thought to be great sages. If you look into their eyes, they are just stupid people. Lying down on a
           bed of thorns can't make one spiritual. It will simply deaden your body, your sensitivity. Your body
           will become more and more dull; it will not feel.
               That's how it happens. Your face does not feel the cold because it remains open; it becomes
           insensitive to the cold. Your hands don't feel the cold so much because they are open; they become
           insensitive to the cold. Exactly in the same way you can live naked. Only for the beginning few
           months will you feel the cold; slowly slowly your body will adjust.
               That's how the Jaina monks live naked. And their followers praise them like anything; they think:
           "This is what real spirituality is. Look, they have gone beyond the body!" They have gone nowhere;
           the body has just become dull. And when the body becomes dull it naturally creates a dullness of the
           mind too, because body and mind are deeply one. The body is the outer shell of the mind and the
           mind is the inner core of the body.
               If you really want to be a sensitive, intelligent mind, you need a sensitive, intelligent body too.
           Yes, the body has its own intelligence. Don't kill it, don't destroy it, otherwise you will be destroying
           your intelligence. But if it is respected, then it becomes something religious, spiritual, holy.
               Anything that the society respects becomes a nourishment for your ego. And people are ready to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do any stupid thing. The only joy is that it will bring respectability.
               Self-cultivation is nothing but another name for ego-cultivation. It is not a real path. In fact, no
           real path is needed. It looks like a long long, arduous path; it needs many lives. The people who have
           been preaching self-cultivation know perfectly well that one life is not enough; otherwise they will
           be exposed. So they imagine many many lives, a long, arduous journey of many lives. Then finally,
           after an unimaginable time, you arrive. In fact, you never arrive. You cannot arrive because you are
           already there. Hence this very idea of a path leading to a goal is meaningless.
               Try to understand the paradox; it is very significant in understanding the spirit of Zen.

               ZEN IS NOT A WAY, IS NOT A PATH. Hence they call it the gateless gate, the pathless path,
           the effortless effort, the actionless action. They use these contradictory terms just to point towards a
           certain truth: that a path means there is a goal and the goal has to be in the future. You are here, the
           goal is there, and between you and the goal a path is needed, a bridge, to join you. The very idea of a
           path means you have yet to arrive home, that you are not at home already.
               The second path -- the pathless path, the path of enlightenment -- has a totally different
           revelation to make, a totally different declaration of immense value: that you are already it. "AH,
           THIS!" There is nowhere to go, no need to go. There is NO ONE to go. We are already enlightened.
           Then only can it happen in an instant -- because it is a question of awakening.
               For example, if you have fallen asleep and you are dreaming...you can dream that you are on the
           moon. Do you think that if somebody wakes you up you will have to come back from the moon?
           Then it will take time. If you have already reached the moon, then you will have to come back and it
           will take time. The airship may not be available right now. There may be no tickets available; it may
           be full. But you can be awakened because it is only a dream that you are on the moon. In fact you are
           in your bed, in your home: you had not gone anywhere. Just a little shaking and you are suddenly
           back -- back from your dreams.
               The world is only a dream. We need not go anywhere; we have always been here; we ARE here
           and we are going to be here. But we can fall asleep and we can dream.

                The All-Indian National Guard was out on maneuvers. They were about to begin a mock battle
           between the "red" team and the "blue" team when they received a telegram from Delhi: "Because of
           recent budget cuts we cannot supply weapons or ammunition, but please continue with your battle
           for training purposes."
                The General called his troops together and said, "We will simulate the battle. If you are within a
           hundred yards of the enemy, point your arm and shout 'BANG-BANG' for a rifle. If you are within
           fifty feet, throw your arms over your head and shout 'BOOM' for a hand grenade. If you are within
           five feet, wave your arms and shout 'SLASH-SLASH' for a bayonet."
                Private Abul was put on scout patrol, and apparently all the action went in another direction. He
           was out for three days and three nights, but did not see another person.
                On the fourth day Abul was sitting under a tree, discouraged, when he saw a figure coming
           across the hill in his direction. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled through the mud
           and weeds, as he had been trained. Sure enough, it was a soldier from the other team.
                Abul raised his arm and shouted "BANG-BANG!" but he got no response. So he ran up closer,
           threw his arm over his head, and shouted "BOOM!" very loudly. The other soldier did not even turn
           in his direction. So he ran right up to the soldier and shouted in his ear "SLASH-SLASH!
           SLASH-SLASH!" but still he got no reaction.
                Abul was angry. He grabbed the other soldier by the arm and shouted, "Hey! You are not playing
           according to the rules. I went 'BANG-BANG,' I shouted 'BOOM,' and I came right up to you and
           said 'SLASH-SLASH,' and you have not even indicated that you have seen me yet."
                At this point, the other soldier wheeled around to Abul and said in a deep voice,
           "RUMBLE-RUMBLE, I am a tank!"

               This is the situation. You are not what you think you are, you are not what you believe you are.
           All your beliefs are dreams. Maybe you have been dreaming for so long that they appear almost like
           realities.
               So the question is not of self-cultivation: the question is of enlightenment.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Zen believes in sudden enlightenment because Zen believes that you are already enlightened; just
           a certain situation is needed which can wake you up. Just a little alarm may do the work. If you are a
           little alert, just a little alarm and you are suddenly awake. And all the dream with all its long long
           desires, journeys, kingdoms, mountains, oceans...they have all disappeared in a single instant.

           This beautiful story:
              THE ANCIENTS SAID:
              "(SELF-)CULTIVATION TAKES AN UNIMAGINABLE TIME...."

                It is bound to take an unimaginable time because you will be fighting with shadows. You cannot
           conquer them, you cannot destroy them either. In fact, the more you fight with them, the more you
           believe in their existence. If you fight with your own shadow, do you think there is any possibility of
           your ever becoming victorious? It's impossible. And it is not because the shadow is stronger than you
           that the victory is impossible. Just the contrary: the shadow has NO power, it has NO existence, and
           you start fighting with something which is non-existential -- how can you win? You will be
           dissipating your energy. You will become tired and the shadow will remain unaffected. It will not
           get tired. You cannot kill it, you cannot burn it, you cannot even escape from it. The faster you run,
           the faster it comes behind you.
                The only way to get rid of it is to SEE that it is not there at all. Seeing that a shadow is a shadow
           is liberation. Just seeing, no cultivation! And once the shadows disappear, your life has a luminosity
           of its own. Certainly there will arise great perfume, but it will not be something cultivated; it will not
           be something painted from the outside.
                That's the difference between a saint and a sage. A saint follows the path of self-cultivation. He
           practices non-violence, like Mahatma Gandhi; he practices truth, truthfulness; he practices sincerity,
           honesty. But these are all practices. And whenever you are practicing non-violence, what are you
           doing? What is really happening inside you? You must be repressing violence. When you are
           practicing -- when you HAVE to practice -- truth, what does it mean? It simply means untruth arises
           in you and you repress it and you go against it, and you say the truth. But the untruth has not
           disappeared from your being. You can push it downwards into the very basement of your being; you
           can throw it into the deep darkness of the unconscious. You can become completely oblivious of it.
           You can forget that it exists, but it exists and it is bound to function from those deep, dark depths of
           your being in such a subtle way that you will never be aware that you are still in its grip -- in fact, far
           more so than before because when it was consciously felt you were not so much in its grip. Now the
           enemy has become hidden.
                That's my observation of Mahatma Gandhi. He observed, cultivated non-violence; but I have
           looked deeply into his life and he is one of the most violent men this century has known. But his
           violence is very polished; his violence is so sophisticated that it looks almost like non-violence. And
           his violence has such subtle ways that you cannot detect it easily. It comes from the back door; it is
           never at the front door. You will not find it in his drawing-room; it is not there. It has started living
           somewhere in the servants' quarters at the back of the house where nobody ever goes, but it goes on
           pulling his strings from there.
                For example, if ordinarily you are angry, you are angry with the person who has provoked it.
           Mahatma Gandhi would be angry with himself, not with the person. He would turn his anger upon
           himself; he would make it introverted. Now it is very difficult to detect it. He would go on a fast, he
           would become suicidal, he would start torturing himself. And in a subtle way he would torture the
           other by torturing himself.
                In his ashram, if somebody was found drinking tea.... Now tea is so innocent, but it was a sin in
           Mahatma Gandhi's ashram. These ashrams exist by creating guilt in people; they don't miss any
           opportunity to create guilt. That is their trade-secret, so no opportunity has to be missed. Even tea is
           enough; it has to be used. If somebody is found drinking tea, he is a sinner. He is committing a crime
           -- far more than a crime, because a sin is something far deeper than a crime. If somebody was
           found....
                And people used to drink tea. They would drink tea in hiding; they had to hide. Just to drink tea
           they had to be thieves, deceivers, hypocrites! That's what your so-called religions have done to
           millions of people. Rather than making them spiritual they have simply made them, reduced them to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hypocrites.
               They would pretend that they didn't drink tea, but once in a while they would be found
           red-handed. And Gandhi was searching, looking; he had agents planted to find out who was going
           against the rules. And whenever somebody was found he would be called...and Gandhi would go on
           a fast to punish himself.
           "What kind of logic is this?" you will ask. It is a very simple logic. In India it has been followed for
           centuries. The trick is that Gandhi used to say, "I must not yet be a perfect Master, that's why a
           disciple can deceive me. So I must purify myself. You could deceive me because I am not yet
           perfect. If I was perfect nobody could deceive me. How can you imagine deceiving a perfect Master?
           So there is some imperfection in me."
               Look at the humbleness! And he would torture himself; he would go on a fast. Now Gandhi is
           fasting because you have taken a cup of tea. How will YOU feel? His three days' fast for you, just for
           a single cup of tea! It will be too heavy on you. If he had hit you on the head it would not have been
           so heavy. If he had insulted you, punished you, told you to go on a fast for three days, it would have
           been far simpler -- and far more compassionate. But the old man himself is fasting, torturing himself,
           and you are condemned by every eye in the ashram. Everybody is looking at you as a great sinner:
           "It is because of YOU that the Master is suffering. And just for a cup of tea? How low you have
           fallen!"
               And the person would go and touch his feet and cry and weep, but Gandhi wouldn't listen. He
           had to purify himself.
               This is all violence; I don't call it non-violence. It is violence with a vengeance, but in such a
           subtle way that it is very difficult to detect. Even Gandhi may not have been aware at all of what he
           was doing -- because he was not practicing awareness, he was practicing non-violence.
               You can go on practicing...then there are a thousand and one things to be practiced. And when
           will you be able to get out of all that is wrong in your life? It will take an unimaginable time. And
           then, too, do you think you will be out of it? It is not possible; you will not be out of it.
               I have never seen anybody arriving at truth by self-cultivation. In fact, the people who go for
           self-cultivation are not very intelligent people because they have missed the most fundamental
           insight: that we are not going anywhere, that God is not something to be achieved; God is already the
           CASE in you. You are pregnant with God, you are made of the stuff called God. Nothing has to be
           achieved -- only a certain awareness, a SELF-awareness.

              There is an unusual store in New York where one can buy exotic foods from all over the world.

               Mulla Nasruddin visited this store recently. He found rare tropical fruits from the jungles of
           South America and many strange delicacies from Africa and the Middle East.
               In one corner he found a counter with several trays of human brains. There were politicians'
           brains at $1 per pound, engineers' brains at $2 per pound, and there was one tray Of saints' brains at
           $50 per pounce.
               Since all the brains looked very much alike, he asked the man behind the counter, "Why do you
           charge so much more for the saints' brains?"
               The man peered out from behind his glasses and answered, "Do you have any idea how many
           saints we have to go through to get a pound of brains?"

               My observation of your so-called saints is exactly the same. I don't think they are very intelligent
           people -- basically stupid, because unless one is stupid one cannot follow the path of self-cultivation.
           It APPEARS only as a path; it is not. And it is tedious and it is long; in fact, it is unending.
               You can change one habit; it will start asserting itself in something else. You can close one door
           and another door immediately opens. By the time you close that door a third door is bound to open --
           because basically you remain the same, the same old unconscious person. Trying to be humble you
           will be simply becoming more and more egoistic and nothing else. Your humbleness will be simply
           a new way of fulfilling your ego. Deep down you will imagine yourself to be the humblest person in
           the world -- there is nobody who is more humble than you. Now, this is ego speaking a new
           language, but the meaning is the same. The language is changed but the meaning is the same;
           translated into a different language it does not change. First you were the greatest man in the world,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now you are the humblest man in the world, but you remain special, you remain extraordinary, you
           remain superior. First you were this, now you are that, but deep down nothing has changed. Nothing
           can ever change by self-cultivation.

               A man spent thousands of dollars going from doctor to doctor trying to find a cure for his
           insomnia. Finally a doctor was able to help him.
           "You must be terribly relieved," said one of his friends sympathetically.
           "You said it!" replied the former insomniac. "Why, sometimes I lie awake all night thinking of how I
           used to suffer."

               So what has changed? Self-cultivation only gives you a deception: the deception that something
           is happening, that you are doing something, that something great is on the way; that if not today,
           tomorrow it is going to happen.

              Hornstein manufactured coats, but business was so bad the poor man could not sleep.
           "Count sheep," advised Slodnick, his friend. "It is the best-known cure."
           "What can I lose?" said Hornstein. "I will try tonight."
           The next morning he looked more bleary-eyed than ever.
           "What happened?" asked Slodnick.
           "Sheep I could count," moaned Hornstein. "I counted up to fifty thousand. Then I sheared the sheep
           and made up fifty thousand overcoats. Then came the problem that kept me awake all the rest of the
           night: where could I get fifty thousand linings?"

              No such things are going to help because if the MIND is the same, it will go on creating the same
           problem in different ways. Basically the roots have to be transformed; just pruning the leaves is not
           going to help. And self-cultivation is only pruning of the leaves.
              THE ANCIENTS SAID:
              "(SELF-)CULTIVATION TAKES AN UNIMAGINABLE TIME (WHILE) ENLIGHTENMENT IN AN
              INSTANT IS ATTAINED."

               ENLIGHTENMENT IS ATTAINED IN A SINGLE MOMENT. Why? -- because you are
           already enlightened. You have simply forgotten it. You have to be reminded, that's all.
               The function of the Master is to remind you, not to give you a path but to give you a
           remembrance; not to give you methods of cultivation, not to give you a character, virtue, but only
           awareness, intelligence, awakening.
               In a single moment it can be attained because you have never lost it in the first place. You are
           dreaming that you are unenlightened. You can dream you are in heaven, you can dream you are in
           hell. And you know! -- you dream sometimes you are in heaven and sometimes in hell. In the
           morning you can be in heaven and by the evening you can be in hell. One moment you can be in
           heaven, another moment you can be in hell. It all depends on you. It is something to do with your
           psyche; it is not something outside you.

               A man died, arrived at the Pearly Gates, and was shown by St. Peter to a waiting room. He sat
           there, naturally anxious to know whether he would be sent to Heaven or to Hell. The door opened
           and a famous saint walked in.
           The man rejoiced, "I must be in Heaven!"
           Just then the door opened again and a famous prostitute walked in. The man was confused. "In that
           case I must be in Hell!" he thought.
           While he was still wondering, the saint grabbed the prostitute and started making love to her. The
           man, flabbergasted, ran to St. Peter and asked, "You MUST tell me: is this Heaven or Hell?"
           "Can't you see?" answered St. Peter. "It is Heaven for him and Hell for her!"

                Heaven and hell are not geographical; they are not something outside you, they are something
           that belongs to your interiority. If you are awake, then you are in a totally different universe; it is as
           if in your awakening the whole existence becomes awakened. It takes a new color, a new flavor, a
           new fragrance. When you are asleep, the whole existence sleeps with you. It all depends on you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So the question is not of cultivating any character, of becoming virtuous, of becoming a saint.
           The question is how to come out of dreams, how to come out of the past and the future, how to be
           just herenow.
           That's what enlightenment is... "AH, THIS!"

               When Alice was at the Mad Hatter's tea party, she noticed that no jam was available. She asked
           for jam, and the Mad Hatter said, "Jam is served every other day."
               Alice protested, "But there was no jam yesterday either!"
           "That's right," said the Mad Hatter. "The rule is: always jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, never jam
           today...because today is not every other day!"

                And that's how you are living: jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, never jam today. And that's where
           jam is! So you only imagine; you go on in a drugged, sleepy state. You have forgotten completely
           that this moment is the ONLY real moment there is. And if you want to have any contact with
           reality, wake up herenow!
                Hence this strange idea of Zen that enlightenment happens in an instant. Many people become
           puzzled: "How can it happen in an instant?" Indians particularly become very puzzled because they
           have the idea that first you have to get rid of all the past karmas, and now this foolish idea has
           reached to the West. Now in the West people are talking about past karma: first you have to get rid
           of the past karma.
                Do you know how long the past is? It is eternity! And if you are to get rid of all past karma you
           are never going to get rid of it -- that much is certain. And meanwhile you will be creating other
           karmas, and the past will go on becoming bigger and bigger every day. If that is the only way out --
           that one has to get rid of all past karmas -- then there is no possibility of enlightenment. Then there
           has never been any Buddha and there is never going to be any Buddha; it is impossible. Just think of
           all the past lives and all the karmas that you have built up -- first you have to get rid of them. And
           how are you going to get rid of them? In trying to get rid of them you will have to create other
           karmas. And this is a vicious circle.
           "And to be totally enlightened," the people who believe in the philosophy of karma say, "not only are
           you to get rid of the bad karmas, you have to get rid of the good karmas too -- because bad karmas
           create iron chains and good karmas create golden chains. But chains are chains, and you have to get
           rid of all kinds of chains." Now things become even more complicated. And how can you get rid of
           bad karmas? If you ask them they say, "Create good karma to get rid of bad karmas." And how can
           you get rid of good karmas? Then the saints become angry. They say, "Stop! You are arguing too
           much. This is not a question of argument. Believe, trust, have faith!"
                It is not really a question of getting rid of karmas. When in the morning you wake up, do you
           have to get rid of all the dreams first? You have been a thief in the dreams, a murderer, a rapist, or a
           saint...you can be all kinds of things in a dream. Do you have to get rid of all those dreams first? The
           MOMENT you are awake you are out of all those dreams -- they are finished! There is no question
           of getting rid of them.

               That is the essential message of Zen: that you need not be worried about the past karmas; they
           were all dream acts. Just wake up and they are all finished.
               But we are sleepy people and anything that fits with our sleep has great appeal. We listen only
           according to our state of mind. The whole world is asleep. There is rarely, once in a while, a person
           who is not asleep, who is awake. When he speaks to you there is misunderstanding, obviously. He
           speaks from his standpoint, from his awakening, and he says, "Forget all about your dreams -- that is
           all nonsense! Good and bad, they are all alike; saint and sinner, they are all alike. Simply wake up!
           Don't be worried that first you have to become a saint in your dream, that you have to change your
           being a sinner into being a saint first, then you can wake up. Why go by such a long route? You can
           wake up directly! You can wake up while you are committing a sin; while you are murdering
           somebody in your dream you can wake up. There is no problem.
               In fact, if you are a saint you may not like to wake up. A murderer will find it easier to wake up
           because he has nothing to lose, but the saint has great prestige to lose. Maybe he is being garlanded
           and a Nobel prize is being given and people are clapping and touching his feet...and suddenly the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           alarm goes. Is this the time for the alarm? Can't the alarm wait a little more? When things are going
           so sweetly and beautifully the alarm can wait a little. A murderer has nothing to lose. He is already
           suffering; he is in a deep inner torture. In fact, he will feel relieved if the alarm goes off. He will feel
           a great freedom coming out of that nightmare.
                Hence it happens more often that sinners wake up earlier than the saints, because the sinners go
           through nightmares and saints are having such sweet dreams. Who wants to wake up when you are a
           king with a golden palace and enjoying all kinds of things? Maybe you are in paradise in your
           dream.
                But one thing is certain: when you are asleep you have a certain language -- the language of
           sleep -- and you can understand other people who are asleep and speak the same language. That's
           why the philosophy of karma became so important, so prevalent, so dominant. It has ruled almost all
           the religions of the world in different ways.
                In India there have been three great religions: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism. They disagree on
           every point EXCEPT on the philosophy of karma; they disagree on EVERY point possible. They
           disagree on the existence of God, they disagree even on the existence of the soul, they disagree on
           the existence of the world, but they don't disagree on the philosophy of karma. It must have some
           deep appeal for the sleeping mind. And these people cannot understand Zen.
                When a Hindu pundit or a Jaina MUNI comes to me he is very much puzzled. He says, "Are you
           teaching instant, sudden enlightenment? Then what about Mahavira who had to struggle for many
           many lives to become enlightened?"
                I say to them, "Those stories are invented by you. The Mahavira that YOU talk about is an
           invention of your dream; you don't know about the real Mahavira. How can you know about his past
           lives? You don't even know about YOUR past lives!" And there is not even any agreement on his
           last life amongst his followers -- what to say about his past lives?
                On such factual matters...for example, whether he was married or not: one sect of Jainas says he
           was not married, because to them a man like Mahavira getting married looks insulting, humiliating.
           And the other sect of the Jainas says he was not only married, but he had a daughter too. Now that is
           going too far -- having a daughter! That means he must have indulged in sex -- because at that time
           the story of Jesus had not happened. Virgin birth was not yet known!
                They can't agree...the disciples can't agree about Mahavira's last life on factual matters like
           marriage, daughter, etcetera, and they talk about his past lives!
                Anything that helps you to go on sleeping, postponing, appeals. "Even Mahavira had to work
           hard for many many lives, so how can WE become enlightened in this life? It will take many lives,
           so there is no need to do anything right now. We can wait! And it is NOT going to happen right now
           anyway; it will take many many lives. Meanwhile, why not do other things? Accumulate more
           money, prestige, power. Do other things: eat, drink, be merry -- because this is not going to happen,
           this enlightenment, right now; it will take many many lives. And meanwhile you cannot just go on
           sitting and waiting; one has to do something."
                Sleeping people can understand a language which appeals to their sleep. We understand only that
           which triggers some process in our being.

               The Sisters of Mercy were about to be sent as missionaries out into the world of sin. Mother
           Superior had one last question to ask each nun before deciding which of them were best fitted for the
           hazardous tasks ahead.
           "Sister Agatha," she asked the first. "What would you do if you were walking along a deserted street
           at night and a strange man approached you and made indecent advances?"
           "Oh, Holy Mother of God!" gasped the nun. "May all the saints forbid! Why, I would get down on
           my knees and pray to the Holy Virgin that my soul might be saved."
           Mother Superior noted that Sister Agatha might be better suited to more domestic work.
           The same question was asked of Sister Agnes, who replied, "Why, I would punch him in the
           nose...and then start running down the street as fast as I could, shouting 'Help, help!'"
           Mother Superior noted Sister Agnes as one of the possible candidates for the missionary work.
           Next she asked Sister Theresa, who began, "Well, first I would pull his trousers down...." Mother
           Superior choked a little, but Sister Theresa continued. "And then I would pull my dress up, and
           then...."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Sister Theresa," interrupted the senior nun. "Now what kind of an answer is that?"
           "Well," said the other, "I just figure that I can run faster with my dress up than he can with his
           trousers down !"

               We understand only that which we CAN understand. The sleeping humanity can understand only
           certain things; it can HEAR only certain things. The other things are not heard or even if heard they
           are not understood; they are misunderstood.
               Zen has been misunderstood very much. You will be surprised to know that even Buddhists don't
           understand Zen.
               Many orthodox Buddhists have come to me asking why I emphasize Zen so much, because it is
           not the main Buddhist tradition. That is true; the main Buddhist tradition is against Zen. Zen seems
           to be a little outlandish, a little eccentric, for the simple reason that it brings such a totally new truth
           to you: INSTANT enlightenment Never has any other religion emphasized it so much: that you are
           capable of becoming enlightened right now -- it is all up to you.
              IF THE TRAINING IS EFFICIENT, ENLIGHTENMENT WILL BE ATTAINED IN ONE FINGERSNAP.

               There is no path as such, but there is a certain discipline to wake you up. That is called
           "training." Training has nothing to do with your character but something to do with your
           consciousness. Training simply means a certain space, a certain context has to be created around you
           in which awakening is easier than falling asleep -- just like when you want somebody to be awake
           you throw cold water into his eyes. Not that you teach him to be virtuous, not that you teach him to
           be non-violent -- those things are not going to help him to be awake. But cold water, that is a totally
           different phenomenon; that is creating a context. Or you give him a cup of tea; that helps him to
           wake up. Or you tell him to jog, run, shout; that will help him to wake up more quickly.
               All Zen methods are like that: cold water thrown in your eyes, a hammer hit on your head. Zen is
           totally different from other religions. It does not give you a certain character; it certainly gives you a
           context.
              IN DAYS GONE BY, CH'AN MASTER HUI CHUEH OF LANG YEH MOUNTAIN, HAD A WOMAN
              DISCIPLE WHO CALLED ON HIM FOR INSTRUCTION. THE MASTER TAUGHT HER TO EXAMINE
              INTO THE SENTENCE: "TAKE NO NOTICE."

               NOW, THIS IS CREATING A CONTEXT. The Master told her to meditate on this small
           sentence: "Take no notice." And it has to be meditated on in different situations, in all possible
           situations. It has not to be forgotten any time; it has to be remembered continuously, whatsoever
           happens.
              SHE FOLLOWED HIS INSTRUCTION STRICTLY WITHOUT BACKSLIDING.
              ONE DAY HER HOUSE CAUGHT FIRE, BUT SHE SAID: "TAKE NO NOTICE."

               Now, this is creating a context. This is real training, this is discipline. The house is on fire and
           she remembers the instruction: "Take no notice." It is easy when the house is not on fire and
           everything is running smoothly, well, and you can sit silently in a small corner you have made in the
           house to meditate -- then you can say, "Take no notice." It is easy, but it is not going to wake you up;
           it may even help you to fall asleep. But when the house is on fire it is difficult, very difficult. Your
           possessiveness is at stake, your life is in danger, your security is gone, your safety is gone. You may
           be just a beggar the next day on the street with nothing left
           But the woman must have been a real disciple.
              SHE SAID: "TAKE NO NOTICE."

               And not only did she say it, she took no notice. She relaxed, as if nothing was happening. And
           the moment you can see your house on fire and can see it as if nothing is happening, nothing
           happens. The house will be burned, but you will come out of that experience for the first time with
           clarity, with no dust on your mirror, with great insight. Everything is on fire! The whole life is on
           fire because we are dying every moment. Nothing is secure, nothing is safe. We only go on believing
           that everything is secure and safe. In this world of flux and change, where death is the ultimate end
           of everything, how can there be any security?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you can see your own house on fire and go on meditating silently, relaxedly, in a deep let-go --
           take no notice -- you will come out of it a totally different person, with a new consciousness, reborn.
              ANOTHER DAY, HER SON FELL INTO THE WATER AND WHEN A BYSTANDER CALLED HER,
              SHE SAID, "TAKE NO NOTICE."

               Now even more difficult -- because a house is, after all, a dead thing. We can make another
           house, money can be earned again. But your son falls into the water, is drowning...this is a more
           difficult situation, more attachment -- your own son. And for the mother, the son is her extension,
           part of her, part of her soul, of her being. Still she says, "Take no notice."
              SHE OBSERVED EXACTLY HER MASTER'S INSTRUCTION BY LAYING DOWN ALL CASUAL
              THOUGHTS.

               If this is possible...because these are the two problems in the world: possessiveness of things and
           relationship with people. These are YOUR problems too. That's where people are asleep: either they
           are possessive with things or they are in heavy relationships with people. These are the two points
           which keep you clouded, confused, unaware.
               She passed both the tests. And if you can pass these two things: if you can become aware that
           you possess nothing.... Use everything but possess nothing, and relate with people but don't become
           part of any relationship.
               Relating is one thing, relationship quite another. Relating does not take you into any bondage;
           relationship is a bondage. Love people, but don't be jealous, don't be possessive. Relate with as many
           people as possible, but remain free and let them also be free of you. Don't try to dominate and don't
           allow anybody to dominate you either.
               Use things, but remember: you come into the world with empty hands and you will go from the
           world again with empty hands, so you cannot possess anything.
               If these two insights become clear and you start taking no note, all casual thoughts will disappear
           from your mind. And all thoughts are casual, no thought is essential. The essential is silence;
           thoughts are all casual. When thoughts disappear, the essential surfaces. Great silence explodes in a
           tremendous melody. And that experience is liberating, that experience is divine.
              ONE DAY, AS HER HUSBAND LIT THE FIRE TO MAKE FRITTERS OF TWISTED DOUGH, SHE
              THREW INTO THE PAN FULL OF BOILING (VEGETABLE) OIL A BATTER WHICH MADE A NOISE.
              UPON HEARING THE NOISE, SHE WAS INSTANTLY ENLIGHTENED.

               THAT'S WHAT I CALL...if you are ready, if the context is ready, then ANYTHING can trigger
           the process of enlightenment -- ANYTHING. Just:
              UPON HEARING THE NOISE, SHE WAS INSTANTLY ENLIGHTENED.

               Nothing special was happening, just an ordinary noise. You come across that kind of noise every
           day many times But if the right context is there, you are in a right space...and she was in a right
           space: non-possessive, unrelated to anything, to any person, non-dominating. She was in a state of
           liberation, just on the borderline. One step more and she would move into the world of the Buddhas.
           And that small step can be caused by anything whatsoever.
              UPON HEARING THE NOISE....

              That noise became the last alarm, the last straw on the back of the camel.
              ...SHE WAS INSTANTLY ENLIGHTENED. THEN SHE THREW THE PAN OF OIL ON THE
              GROUND, CLAPPED HER HANDS AND LAUGHED.

               Why did she do that: CLAPPED HER HANDS AND LAUGHED? When one becomes
           enlightened, laughter is almost a natural by-product; spontaneously it comes -- for the simple reason
           that we have been searching and searching for lives for something which was already there inside.
           Our whole effort was ridiculous! Our whole effort was absurd. One laughs at the great cosmic joke.
           One laughs at the sense of humor that God must have or the existence: that we have it with us
           already and we are searching for it. One laughs at one's own ridiculous efforts, long long journeys,
           pilgrimages, for something which was never lost in the first place. Hence the laughter, hence the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clapping.
              THINKING SHE WAS INSANE, HER HUSBAND SCOLDED HER AND SAID...

               And of course, anybody who is still asleep seeing somebody suddenly becoming enlightened,
           clapping hands and laughing, is bound to think that the person has gone insane. This breakthrough
           will look to the sleeping person like a breakdown; it is not a break-down. But the sleeping person
           can't help it; he can understand only according to his values, criterions.
              ...HE SCOLDED HER AND SAID: "WHY DO YOU DO THIS? ARE YOU MAD?"
              SHE REPLIED: "TAKE NO NOTICE."

                She continues: her meditation is still there. She is following her Master's instruction to the very
           end. The husband is calling her mad and she says: "Take no notice."
                The world WILL call you mad. The world has always been calling Buddhas mad. Take no notice.
           It is natural; it should be accepted as a matter of course.
              THEN SHE WENT TO MASTER HUI CHUEH AND ASKED HIM TO VERIFY HER ACHIEVEMENT.

                THE MASTER'S FUNCTIONS ARE MANY. First: to help you to wake up, to provoke you into
           an awakening; to create the situation in which sleep becomes more and more difficult and awakening
           becomes more and more easy; and when for the first time you ARE awakened, to confirm it, because
           it is very difficult for the person himself. The territory is so unknown. The ego is lost, all old values
           are gone, the old mind is no more functioning. Everything is so new; nothing seems to be continuous
           with the old. There seems to be no way to judge, evaluate, be certain. One is in deep awe and
           wonder. One does not know what is happening, what has happened, what it is all about. One is
           simply at a loss.
                Hence the last function of the Master is to confirm, to say, "Yes, this is it."
              THE MASTER CONFIRMED THAT SHE HAD OBTAINED THE HOLY FRUIT.

               Zen people call this "the holy fruit," the fruition, the flowering -- coming to the ultimate
           awakening, coming to the ultimate experience of yourself and existence. But remember: it can only
           happen in the moment. It can only happen in the instant. It can only happen now -- now or never.
               You will ask: "Then why all these methods, trainings?" They are just to bring you back to the
           now. You have gone too far away in the memories and in imagination. They are not to create any
           cultivation; they are not for self-cultivation but for bringing you back home.
               Here we are using all kinds of methods, and as many more people will be coming we will be
           devising new methods, because different people will need different methods. In the new commune
           we are going to have all possible methods. It has never been tried on such a scale. Every religion has
           a few methods, but we are going to have ALL the methods of all the religions of the past and of all
           the religions that are going to happen in the future. We are going to create a space for ALL kinds of
           people, not for any particular type. The old religions are missing in that way.
               For example, only a particular type of person can be helped by Mahavira's methods -- only the
           type who belongs to Mahavira's type can be helped. It is a very limited methodology. Mahavira
           attained to the holy fruit; he taught the same method by which he attained. Jesus had his own
           method, Mohammed had his own method. So no religion of the past could be universal because it
           belonged to a certain type and only that type could be benefited by it.
               Hence one problem has arisen: you may be born in a Jaina family and you may not be of the
           same type which the Jaina method can help. Then you are in a difficulty; your whole life will be a
           wastage. You will try the method; it won't suit you -- and you will not change your method. You will
           think it is because of your past karmas that the method is not working, that it will take time. You will
           rationalize. You may be born in a Hindu family and Hindu methods may not work.
               There are so many types of people in the world, and as the world has grown and people's
           consciousnesses have grown, more and more new types, more and more crossbreeds have come into
           existence which were never there before -- which never existed in Mahavira's time, which never
           existed in Krishna's time. There are many new types, crossbreeds. And in the future this is going to
           happen more and more; the world is becoming a small village.
               My effort is to use all the methods of the past, to make them up-to-date, to make them
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           contemporary, and to create new methods for the future -- for the future of humanity. Hence what I
           am teaching is neither Hinduism nor Buddhism nor Christianity, and yet I am teaching the essence of
           all the religions.
                You are here not to cultivate a certain spiritual ego but to dissolve all the ego, to dissolve all
           sleep. You are here to wake up. The situation is being created -- use this situation as totally as
           possible.
                Remember this woman who was meditating on "Take no notice." Such totality is needed. The
           house is on fire and she says: "Take no notice." Her son falls into the water and she says: "Take no
           notice." Her husband calls her mad and she says: "Take no notice." Then such a simple meditation --
           of taking no notice -- creates the necessary milieu in which she becomes aflame, afire. Her inner
           being explodes. She is no more the same old person; she is reborn. She is reborn as enlightened. She
           becomes a Buddha.
                You are all Buddhas -- sleeping, dreaming, but you are Buddhas all the same. My function is not
           to MAKE Buddhas out of you, because you are already that, but just to help you remember it, to
           remind you.




                                                       Ah, This!
                                                      Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title: Not Knowing is the Most Intimate
           10 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001100
              ShortTitle: AHTHIS08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins


              The first question


              OSHO,
              IS AWARENESS A HIGHER VALUE THAN LOVE?


                Virendra,
           THE HIGHEST PEAK IS THE CULMINATION of all the values: truth, love, awareness,
           authenticity, totality. At the highest peak they are indivisible. They are separate only in the dark
           valleys of our unconsciousness They are separate only when they are polluted, mixed with other
           things. The moment they become pure they become one; the more pure, the closer they come to each
           other.
                For example, each value exists on many planes; each value is a ladder of many rungs. Love is
           lust -- the lowest rung, which touches hell; and love is also prayer -- the highest rung, which touches
           paradise. And between these two there are many planes easily discernible.
                In lust, love is only one percent; ninety-nine percent are other things: jealousies, ego trips,
           possessiveness, anger, sexuality. It is more physical, more chemical; it has nothing deeper than that.
           It is very superficial, not even skin-deep.
                As you go higher, things become deeper; they start having new dimensions. That which was only
           physiological starts having a psychological dimension to it. That which was nothing but biology
           starts becoming psychology. We share biology with all the animals; we don't share psychology with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all the animals.
                When love goes still higher -- or deeper, which is the same -- then it starts having something of
           the spiritual in it. It becomes metaphysical. Only Buddhas, Krishnas, Christs, they know that quality
           of love.
                Love is spread all the way and so are other values. When love is one hundred percent pure you
           cannot make any distinction between love and awareness; then they are no more two. You cannot
           make any distinction between love and God even; they are no more two. Hence Jesus' statement that
           God is love. He makes them synonymous. There is great insight in it.
                On the periphery everything appears separate from everything else; on the periphery existence is
           many. As you come closer to the center, the manyness starts melting, dissolving, and oneness starts
           arising. At the center, everything is one.
                Hence your question, Virendra, is right only if you don't understand the highest quality of love
           and awareness. It is absolutely irrelevant if you have any glimpse of the Everest, of the highest peak.

           You ask: IS AWARENESS A HIGHER VALUE THAN LOVE?

               There is nothing higher and nothing lower. In fact, there are not two values at all. These are the
           two paths from the valley leading to the peak. One path is of awareness, meditation: the path of Zen
           we have been talking about these days. And the other is the path of love, the path of the devotees, the
           BHAKTAS, the Sufis. These two paths are separate when you start the journey; you have to choose.
           Whichever you choose is going to lead to the same peak. And as you come closer to the peak you
           will be surprised: the travelers on the other path are coming closer to you. Slowly slowly, the paths
           start merging into each other. By the time you have reached the ultimate, they are one.
               The person who follows the path of awareness finds love as a consequence of his awareness, as a
           by-product, as a shadow. And the person who follows the path of love finds awareness as a
           consequence, as a by-product, as a shadow of love. They are two sides of the same coin.
               And remember: if your awareness lacks love then it is still impure; it has not yet known one
           hundred percent purity. It is not yet REALLY awareness; it must be mixed with unawareness. It is
           not pure light; there must be pockets of darkness inside you still working, functioning, influencing
           you, dominating you. If your love is without awareness, then it is not love yet. It must be something
           lower, something closer to lust than to prayer.
               So let it be a criterion if you follow the path of awareness, let love be the criterion. When your
           awareness suddenly blooms into love, know perfectly well that awareness has happened, SAMADHI
           has been achieved. If you follow the path of love, then let awareness function as a criterion, as a
           touchstone. When suddenly, from nowhere, at the very center of your love. a flame of awareness
           starts arising, know perfectly well...rejoice! You have come home.

           The second question


              WHY, OSHO, ISN'T KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES HELPFUL IN FINDING THE TRUTH?


               Maneeshi,
           KNOWLEDGE IS NOT YOURS, THAT'S WHY. It is borrowed. And can you borrow truth? Truth
           is untransferable; nobody can give it to you. Not even an alive Master can transmit it to you. You can
           learn, but it cannot be taught. So what to say about dead scriptures, howsoever holy they may be?
           They must have come from some original source; some Master, someone awakened must have been
           at the very source of them -- but now they are only words. They are only words about truth,
           information about truth.
               To be with Krishna is a totally different matter from reading the Bhagavad Gita. To be with
           Mohammed, attuned, in deep harmony, overlapping with his being, allowing his being to stir and
           move your heart, is one thing. And just to read the Koran is a far, faraway cry; it is an echo in the
           mountains. It is not the truth itself; it is a reflection, a full moon reflected in the lake. If you jump
           into the lake you are not going to get to the moon; in fact, if you jump into the lake even the
           reflection will disappear. Scriptures are only mirrors reflecting faraway truths.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now the Vedas have existed for at least five thousand years; they reflect something five thousand
           years old. Much dust has gathered on the mirror, much interpretation, commentary -- that's what I
           mean by dust. Now you cannot know exactly what the Vedas say; you know only the commentators,
           the interpreters, and they are thousands. There is a thick wall of commentaries and it is impossible to
           just put it aside. You will know only ABOUT truth, and not only that: you will know commentaries
           and interpretations of people who have not experienced at all.
                Knowledge is imparted for other purposes. Yes, there is a possibility of imparting knowledge
           about the world because the world is outside you, it is objective. Science is knowledge; science, the
           very word, means exactly knowledge. But religion is not knowledge.
                Religion is experience -- for the simple reason that its whole concern is your interiority, your
           subjectivity, which is available only to you and to nobody else. You cannot invite even your beloved
           into your inner being. There you are utterly alone -- and there resides the truth.
                Knowledge will go on enhancing, decorating, enriching your memory, but not your being. Your
           being is a totally different phenomenon. In fact, knowledge will create barriers. One has to unlearn
           all that one has learned -- only then does one reach the being. One has to be innocent Not knowing is
           the most intimate. Knowing creates distance.

              You ask me, Maneeshi: WHY ISN'T KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES HELPFUL IN
           FINDING THE TRUTH?

               For the simple reason that if you accumulate knowledge you will be starting to believe in
           conclusions. You will already conclude what truth is without KNOWING it, and your conclusion
           will become the greatest hindrance. Truth has to be approached in utter nudity, in utter purity, in
           silence, in a state of innocence, child-like wonder and awe; not knowing already, not full of the
           rubbish called knowledge, not full of the Vedas and the Bibles and the Korans, but utterly
           silent...without any thought, without any conclusion, without knowing anything about truth. When
           you approach in this way, suddenly truth is revealed. And truth is revealed here and now: "AH,
           THIS!" A great rejoicing starts happening inside you.
               Truth is not separate from you; it is your innermost core. So you need not to learn it from
           somebody else. Then what's the function of the Masters?
               The function of the Masters is to help you drop your knowledge, to help you unlearn, to help you
           towards a state of unconditioning. Your knowledge means you will be always looking through a
           curtain and that curtain will distort everything. And knowledge is dead. Consciousness is needed,
           knowing is needed, a state of seeing is needed, but not knowledge. How can you know the alive
           through the dead?

                A man stepped into a very crowded bus. After a while he took out his glass eye, threw it up in the
           air, then put it back in again. Ten minutes later he again took out his glass eye, threw it up in the air,
           then put it back in again.
           The lady next to him was horrified. "What are you doing?" she cried.
           "I am just trying to see if there is any room up front."

                 That's what knowledge is: a glass eye. You cannot see through it, it is impossible to see through
           it.
               Drop all your conclusions -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, Jaina, Jewish. Drop all the
           knowledge that has been forced upon you. Every child has been poisoned -- poisoned by knowledge,
           poisoned by the parents, the society, the church, the state. Every child has been distracted from his
           innocence, from his not-knowing. And that's why every child, slowly slowly, becomes so burdened
           that he loses all joy of life, all ecstasy of being, and he becomes just like the crowd, part of the
           crowd.
               In fact, the moment a child is perfectly conditioned by you, you are very happy; you call it
           "religious education." You are very happy that the child has been initiated into the religion of his
           parents. All that you have done is you have destroyed his capacity to know on his own. You have
           destroyed his authenticity. You have destroyed his very precious innocence. You have closed his
           doors and windows. Now he will live an encapsulated existence. He will live in his inner darkness,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           surrounded by all kinds of stupid theories, systems of thought, philosophies, ideologies. He will be
           lost in a jungle of words and he will not be able to come out of it easily.
                Even if he comes across a Master, if he meets a Buddha, then too it will take years for him to
           unlearn -- because learning becomes almost your blood, your bones, your marrow. And to go against
           your own knowledge seems to be going against yourself, against your tradition, against your country,
           against your religion. It seems as if you are a traitor, as if you are betraying. In fact, your society has
           betrayed you, has contaminated your soul.
                Every society has been doing that up to now, and every society has been very successfully doing
           it. That's why it is so rare to find a Buddha; it is so rare to escape from the traps the society puts all
           around the child. And the child is so unaware; he can easily be conditioned, hypnotized. And that's
           what goes on and on in the temples, in the churches, in the schools, colleges, universities. They all
           serve the past; they don't serve the future. Their function is to perpetuate the past, the dead past.
                My work here is just the opposite. I am not here to perpetuate the past; hence I am against all
           knowledge. I am all for learning, but learning means innocence, learning means openness, learning
           means receptivity. Learning means a non-egoistic approach towards reality. Learning means: "I don't
           know and I am ready -- ready to know." Knowledge means: "I know already." Knowledge is the
           greatest deception that society creates in people's minds.
                My function is to serve the future, not the past. The past is no more, but the future is coming
           every moment. I want you to become innocent, seers, knowers -- not knowledgeable -- alert, aware,
           not unconsciously clinging to conclusions.

           The third question


              OSHO,
              WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG FOR ME TO GET IT?


                Pankaja,
           IT T IS BECAUSE OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. Pankaja has written many books; she has been a
           well-known author. And here I have given her the work of cleaning. In the beginning it was very
           hurtful to her ego. She must have been hoping some day to get a Nobel prize! And she has been
           wondering what she is doing here. Her books have been praised and appreciated, and rather than
           giving her some work nourishing to her ego I have given her very ego-shattering work: cleaning the
           toilets of the ashram. It was difficult for her to swallow, but she is a courageous soul, she swallowed
           it. And slowly slowly she has become relaxed.
                Pankaja, it is not special to you; it takes time for everybody. And the more successful you have
           been in life, the more it takes for you to get it, because your very success is nothing but a prop, a new
           prop for the ego -- and ego is the barrier. The ego has to be shattered, uprooted totally, smashed,
           burned, so nothing remains of it. It is arduous work, hard work.
                And sometimes it looks as if the Master is cruel. But the Master has to be cruel because he loves
           you, because he has compassion for you. It may appear paradoxical in the beginning -- because if
           you have compassion, then you can't be cruel. That is the complexity of the work: that if the Master
           is really compassionate he cannot sympathize with anything that nourishes your ego.
                So I have been in every way shattering Pankaja's ego. She has been crying and weeping and
           freaking out...but slowly slowly things have settled. The storm is no more and a great silence has
           come in.
                In fact, if you think of your many past lives -- such a long long sleep, such a long long dreaming
           -- then just being here with me for two, three years is not a long time if the silence has started
           permeating your being. Even if it happens in thirty years' time it is happening soon.
                Many people come to me and ask, "Osho, when is my satori going to happen?"
                I say, "Very soon" -- but remember what I mean by "very soon." It may take thirty years, forty
           years, fifty years, but that is very soon. Looking at your long long journey of darkness, if within
           thirty years we can create the light it is really as fast as it can be.
                But things are happening far more quickly. Every situation is being created here so processes can
           be quickened. It is not too late, Pankaja, it is too early. And I can see the change happening. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spring is not far away; the first flowers have already appeared.
               In fact, this was your vocation, but it took so many years of your life to reach me. What you were
           doing before you came to me was not really part of your heart; it was just a head trip -- hence it was
           not a fulfillment. Successful you could become; famous, yes, that was possible. But it would not
           have been a contentment, it would not have been a deep deep joy -- because unless something that
           belongs to your heart starts growing, contentment is not possible, fulfillment is not possible.
               Now you are on the right track. Now things will happen with a faster pace. Speed also is
           accumulative. If you have watched the spring, first only one flower blooms, and then ten flowers,
           then hundreds of flowers, and then thousands, and then millions....
               Just like that it happens in spiritual growth too. But everybody is stumbling in darkness, groping
           in darkness. Somebody becomes a poet not knowing whether that is his vocation, his heart's real
           desire. Somebody becomes a musician not knowing whether that is going to fulfill his life.
           Somebody becomes a painter.... And people have to become something; some earning is needed and
           one has to do something to prove oneself. So people go on groping and they become something.
               And you are fortunate, Pankaja, that you came to realize that what you were doing was not the
           real thing for you. There are many unfortunate people -- after their whole lives are wasted, then they
           recognize that they have been into something which was not their real work. They were doing
           somebody else's work.

               I have heard about a famous surgeon, one of the world's most famous surgeons. He was retiring.
           Even at the age of seventy-five his hands were as young as they had been before. He was able to do
           brain surgery even at the age of seventy-five; his hands were not yet shaky.
               Everybody was happy -- his disciples, students, colleagues -- and they were celebrating. But he
           was sad. Somebody asked him, "Why are you sad? You are the world's most famous brain surgeon.
           You should be happy!"
               He said, "Yes, I should be happy, I also think so, but what can I do? I never wanted to be a
           famous surgeon in the first place. I wanted to be a dancer -- and I am the lousiest dancer you can
           find. My father FORCED me to be a surgeon -- and he was right in a way, because by dancing what
           can you get? The very idea was silly in his eyes, so he forced me to be a surgeon. I became a
           surgeon, I became famous. NOW I am retiring, but I am sad -- my whole life has gone down the
           drain. I never wanted to be a surgeon in the first place, so who cares whether I am famous or not? I
           would have loved to be just a good dancer, even if unknown, anonymous -- that would have been
           enough."

               While questioning a suspect, the police detective leafed through the man's folder. "I see here," he
           said, "that you have a string of previous arrests. Here is one for armed robbery, breaking and
           entering, sexual assault, sexual assault, sexual assault...."
           "Yes, sir," replied the felon modestly, "it took me a little while to find out what I do best."

               Pankaja, you came to me in the right time. Rejoice! Celebrate! And things have started
           happening. You were like a hard rock when you came; now you are becoming soft like a flower. The
           spring is not far away.

           The fourth question


              OSHO,
              MOST RELIGIONS HAVE A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS WORK, AS IF IT IS A PUNISHMENT
              AND A LABOR AND NOT AT ALL SPIRITUAL. COULD YOU SPEAK TO US MORE ABOUT
              WORKING?


               Parmananda,
           THE BUDDHAS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LIFE-AFFIRMATIVE, but the religions that arose
           afterwards have all been life-negative. This is a strange phenomenon, but there is something which
           has to be understood -- why it happened in the first place. And it happened again and again.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It seems that the moment a Buddha speaks he is bound to be misunderstood. If you don't
           understand him, that's okay, but people don't stop there: they misunderstand him -- because people
           cannot tolerate the idea that they don't understand. It is better to misunderstand than not to
           understand; at least you have some kind of understanding. All the Buddhas have been
           misunderstood, wrongly interpreted. And whatsoever they were standing for has been forgotten as
           soon as they were gone, and just the opposite was organized.
                Jesus was a lover of life, a very affirmative person, but Christianity is life-negative. The seers of
           the Upanishads were absolutely life-affirmative people, they loved life tremendously, but Hinduism
           is life-negative, Buddhism and Jainism are life-negative.
                Just look at the statue of Mahavira and you will see that he must have loved his body, he must
           have loved life and existence. He is so beautiful! It is said about Mahavira that it is possible that
           never before and never again has a more beautiful person walked on the earth. But look at the Jaina
           MUNIS, the Jaina monks, and you will find them the ugliest. What has happened?
                Buddha is very life-affirmative. Of course, he does not affirm YOUR life, because your life is not
           life at all; it is death in disguise. He CONDEMNS your life, but he affirms the real life, the eternal
           life. But that's how he was misunderstood His condemnation of your false life was taken to be
           condemnation of life itself. And nobody bothered that he was affirming life -- real life, eternal life,
           divine life, the life of the awakened ones. That is true life. What life do YOU have? It is just a
           nightmarish experience. But the Buddhists -- the Buddhist monks and nuns -- have lived AGAINST
           life.
                Parmananda, it is because of this misunderstanding, which seems to be inevitable.... I can see it
           happening with me. Whatsoever I say is immediately misunderstood all over the world. I really
           enjoy it! Strange, but somehow seems to be natural. The moment you say something you can be sure
           that it is going to be misunderstood, for the simple reason that people are going to interpret it
           according to THEIR minds. And their minds are fast asleep. They are hearing in their sleep; they
           can't hear rightly, they can't hear the whole thing. Only fragments they hear.
                Even a man like P.D. Ouspensky, who lived with Gurdjieff for years, could not hear the whole
           teaching as it was. When he wrote his famous book IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS and he
           showed it to George Gurdjieff, his Master, he said, "It is beautiful, but it needs a subtitle:
           FRAGMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN TEACHING."
           Ouspensky said, "But why? -- why fragments?"
                He said, "Because these are only fragments. What I have told you you have not heard in its
           totality. And whatsoever you have written is beautiful...."
                Ouspensky was really one of the most skillful writers the world has ever known, very artistic,
           very logical, a superb artist with words.
                So he said, "You have written well, you have written beautifully, but these are only fragments --
           and the fragments cannot reveal the truth. On the contrary, they conceal it. So call it: FRAGMENTS
           OF AN UNKNOWN TEACHING. The teaching still remains unknown. You just had a few glimpses
           here and there, and you have put all those glimpses together, you have somehow made a whole out
           of them, but it is not the truth, it is not the real teaching."
                Ouspensky understood it. Hence the book still carries the subtitle: FRAGMENTS OF AN
           UNKNOWN TEACHING.
                What to say about ordinary people? Ouspensky cannot be called an ordinary person;
           extraordinarily intelligent he was. If fact, it was because of him that Gurdjieff became famous in the
           world; otherwise nobody may have heard about him. His own writings are very difficult to
           understand. There are very few people in the world who have read HIS books -- they are very
           difficult to read. Gurdjieff writes in such a way that he makes it in every possible way difficult for
           you to grasp what he is saying, what he wants to say. Sentences go on and on...by the time the
           sentence comes to a full stop you have forgotten the beginning! And he uses words of his own
           invention which exist nowhere; nobody knows what the meaning of those words is. No dictionary
           has those words. In fact, they never existed before; he invented them.
                And he writes in such a boring way that if you suffer from insomnia they are good, those books.
           You read three...four pages at the most you can read and you are bound to fall asleep. I have never
           come across a single person who has read his books from the beginning to the end.
                When for the first time his first book was published -- ALL AND EVERYTHING -- one hundred
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pages were open and the remaining nine hundred pages were not cut yet. And with a note the book
           was sold saying, "Read the first hundred pages, the introductory part. If you still feel like reading,
           then you can open the other pages. Otherwise return the book and take your money back." Even to
           read those hundred pages is very difficult.
                It was a device. It needs great awareness to read. The book is not written to inform you about
           something; the book is only a device to make you aware. You can read it only if you are very
           conscious, if you have decided consciously, "I have to go through it from the beginning to the end,
           and I am not going to fall asleep, and I am not going to stop, whatsoever happens, and whatsoever
           my mind says I am going to finish it."
                If you make that decision...and it is very difficult to keep it for one thousand pages of such
           nonsense. Yes, here and there there are beautiful truths, but then you will come across those truths
           only if you go through much nonsense. Gems you will find, but they are few and far between. Once
           in a while you will come across a diamond, but for that you will have to read fifty, sixty very boring
           pages.
                I have seen thousands of books, but Gurdjieff is extraordinary Nobody have I seen who can
           create such boring stuff. But he is deliberately doing it; that was his method.
                If you went to see him, the first thing he would tell you was to read fifty pages of his book loudly
           in front of him. That was the greatest task! You don't understand a single word, a single sentence,
           and it goes on and on and on, and he sits there looking at you. You have to finish fifty pages, then
           you can be accepted as a disciple. If you cannot manage this simple feat, then you are rejected.
                Ouspensky made him famous in the world, but even Ouspensky could not get to the very core of
           his teaching -- only fragments. And he understood only in part.
                And remember always: truth cannot be divided into fragments; you cannot understand only parts
           of it. Either you understand the whole of it or you don't understand it at all. But it is very difficult to
           recognize the fact that "I don't understand." And knowledgeable people -- scholars, professors -- they
           cannot accept that they don't understand, so they go on misinterpreting.
                And the most fatal misinterpretation has been that all affirmative teachings have been turned into
           negative ones. In fact, you live in a negative darkness. When Buddha speaks he speaks from a
           positive state of light; by the time his words reach you they have reached into a negative darkness.
           Your negative darkness changes the color of those words, the meaning of those words, the
           connotations of those words, the nuances of those words. And then YOU create the church. You
           create Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Jainism; you create all kinds of "isms" and you
           create all kinds of religions.
                Yes, Parmananda, most religions have a negative attitude towards work because they are against
           life. Hence they can't be FOR work, they can't be creative. They teach renunciation of life -- how can
           they teach creativity? And they teach that life is a punishment, so how can they say life is spiritual?
           You are being punished for your past life karmas, that's why you are born. It is a punishment -- just
           as in Soviet Russia if you are punished you are sent to Siberia.
                In the days of the British Raj in India, if somebody was to be really punished they used to send
           him to faraway islands: Andaman, Nicobar. The climate is bad, not healthy at all; no facilities to live,
           nothing grows, hard work. That was punishment.
                All these life-negative religions have been telling you, directly or indirectly, that this earth is like
           Andaman and Nicobar, or like Siberia, and you are prisoners. You have been thrown here, thrown
           into life, to be punished. This is utter nonsense.
                Life is not a prison, it is a school. You are sent here to learn, you are sent here to grow. You are
           sent here to become more conscious, more aware. This earth is a great device of God.
                This is my approach towards life: life is not a punishment but a reward. You are rewarded by
           being given a great opportunity to grow, to see, to know, to understand, to be. I call life spiritual. In
           fact, to me, life and God are synonymous.

           The fifth question


               OSHO,
               WHY DO INDIANS THINK THEY ARE MORE SPIRITUAL THAN OTHERS?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                John,
           PLEASE FORGIVE THE POOR INDIANS. They don t have anything else to brag about. You can
           brag about other things: money, power, atomic or hydrogen bombs, airplanes, that you have walked
           on the moon, that you have penetrated to the very secrets of life, your science, technology; you can
           brag about your affluence. Poor India has nothing else to brag about; it can only brag about
           something invisible so there is no need to prove it. Spirituality is such a thing you can brag about it
           and nobody can prove it, nobody can disprove it.
                For thousands of years India has suffered starvation, poverty, so much so that it has to rationalize
           it. It has rationalized it so that to be poor is something spiritual. The Indian spiritual man renounces
           all comforts and becomes poor. When he becomes poor, only then do Indians recognize him as
           spiritual. If he does not become poor, how can he be spiritual?
                Poverty has become the very foundation of Indian spirituality. The more poor you are, the more
           spiritual you are. Even if you are unhealthy, that is good for being spiritual; that shows your
           antagonism towards the body. Torture your body, fast, don't eat, don't fulfill the needs of the body,
           and you are doing some spiritual work.
                So you will look at Indian so-called spiritual saints and many of them will look physically ill, in
           deep suffering, in self-torture; their faces are pale because of fasting. But if you ask their disciples
           they will say, "Look, what a golden aura around the face of our saint!" I know such people -- just a
           feverish aura around their faces, nothing else! But their disciples will say, "A golden aura -- this is
           spirituality!"
                Count Keyserling writes in his diary that when he came to India he understood for the first time
           that poverty, starvation, ill health, these are necessary requirements for spirituality. These are
           rationalizations. And everybody wants to be higher than the other, superior to the other.
                Now, there is no other way for Indians to declare their superiority. They cannot compete in
           science, in technology, in industry, but they can compete in spirituality. They are more able to fast,
           to starve themselves. For thousands of years they have practiced starvation, so they have become
           very very accustomed to it; it is easy for them.
                For the American to go on a fast is very difficult. Eating five times a day -- that means almost the
           whole day you are eating -- and I am not counting things that you eat in between.... For the American
           it is difficult to fast, but for the Indian it has become almost natural. His body has become
           accustomed to it. The body has a tremendous capacity to adjust itself.
                The Indian can sit in the hot sun, almost in a state of fire from the showering of the sun,
           undisturbed. You cannot sit there -- you have become accustomed to air conditioning. The Indian
           can sit in the cold weather, naked in the Himalayas. YOU cannot; you have become accustomed to
           central heating. The body becomes accustomed.
                And then India can claim: "This is spirituality. Come and compete with us!" And you cannot
           compete. And certainly, when you cannot compete, you have to bow down to the Indians and you
           have to accept that they must have some clue. There is no clue, nothing, just a long long history of
           poverty.

              In a cannibal village in the heart of Africa, the wife of the chief head-hunter went to the local
           butcher's shop in search of a choice rib for her husband's dinner. Inspecting the goods, she asked the
           butcher, "What is that one?"
           The butcher replied, "That is an American -- seventy cents a pound."
           "Well, then what about that one?" asked the woman.
           The butcher replied, "That is an Italian -- ninety-five cents a pound. He is a little spicy."
           "And," asked the woman, "what about that one there in the corner?"
           "He is an Indian,'' replied the butcher. "two dollars a pound."
           The woman gasped, "Two dollars a pound? What makes him so expensive?"
           "Well, lady," the butcher replied, "have you ever tried cleaning an Indian?"

               But that has become spirituality. Do you know? -- Jaina monks never take a bath. To take a bath
           is thought to be a luxury. They don't clean their teeth; that is thought to be a luxury. Now, to be
           spiritual in the Jaina sense of the term you have to stop taking a bath, cleaning your teeth, even
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           combing your hair, even cutting your hair. If it becomes too messy, too dirty, you have to pull it out
           by hand. You can't use any razor or any other mechanical device, because a spiritual person should
           be independent of all machines. So Jaina monks pull their own hair out. And when a Jaina monk
           pulls his hair out, mostly once a year, then a great gathering happens because it is thought to be
           something very special.
                I have been to such gatherings. Thousands of Jainas gather together simply to see this poor man,
           hungry, dirty, pulling his hair out -- crazy! And you will see people watching with great joy and with
           great superiority: "This is our saint! Who ELSE can compete with us?"
                No nation is spiritual. It has not happened yet. One can hope that it may happen some day, but it
           has not happened yet. In fact, only individuals can be spiritual, not nations And individuals have
           been spiritual all over the world, everywhere. But ignorance prevents people from recognizing
           others' spirituality.
                One day I was talking to an Indian and I told him that everywhere spirituality has been
           happening; it is nothing to do with India as such.
                He said, "But so many saints have happened here. Where else have so many saints happened?"
                I said, "Do you know how many saints have happened in China? Just tell me a few names."
                He had not even heard of a single name. He does not know anything about Lao Tzu, he does not
           know about Chuang Tzu, he does not know about Lieh Tzu.
                He does not know anything of the long long tradition of Chinese mysticism. But he knows about
           Nanak, Kabir, Mahavira, Krishna, Buddha, so he thinks all the great saints have happened only in
           India. That is sheer stupidity. They have happened in Japan, they have happened in Egypt, they have
           happened in Jerusalem. They have happened everywhere! But you don't know -- and you don't want
           to know either. You simply remain confined to your own sect.
                In fact, you may have lived in the neighborhood of the Jainas your whole life, but you cannot tell
           the twenty-four names of their great TEERTHANKARAS. Who bothers to know about the others?
           Only one name -- Mahavira -- is known; the twenty-three other names are almost unknown. Even
           Jainas themselves cannot give the twenty-four names in exact sequence. They know three names: the
           first, Adinatha; the last, Mahavira; and the one before Mahavira, a cousin-brother of Krishna,
           Neminath. These three are known; the remaining twenty-one are almost unknown even to the Jainas.
           And this is how it is.
                Do you know how many Hassid mystics have attained to God? Do you know how many Zen
           Masters have attained to Buddhahood? Do you know how many Sufis have attained to the ultimate
           state? Nobody cares, nobody wants to know. People live in a small, cozy corner of their own religion
           and they think this is all.
                Neither Indians nor anybody else is specially spiritual or holy. Spirituality is something that
           happens to individuals. It is the individual becoming aflame with God. It has nothing to do with any
           collectivity -- nation, race, church.

           The sixth question


              OSHO,
              WHY ARE THE JEWS SO NOTORIOUS FOR THEIR MONEY-GREED?


               Narotam,
           DO YOU I THINK OTHERS ARE IN ANY WAY DIFFERENT from the Jews? Unless love
           flowers in your being you are bound to remain greedy. Greed is the absence of love. If you love,
           greed disappears; if you don't love, greed remains.
               Greed is rooted in fear. And of course, Jews have lived in tremendous fear for centuries. For the
           two thousand years since Jesus they have lived in constant fear. Fear creates greed. And because
           they lost their nation -- they lost everything, they became uprooted, they became wanderers -- the
           only thing they could trust was money; they could not trust anybody else. Hence, naturally, they
           became greedy. Don't be too hard on them for that. They are greedy, maybe a little more than others,
           but that is only a difference of quantity, not of quality.
               In India we have MARWARIS, who are the Indian Jews. Jainas are not less greedy...and others
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           too! Maybe they are not so notorious. Jews become notorious because whatsoever they do, they do
           with a flavor; whatsoever they do, they do without any disguise. They are not very deceptive people
           -- intelligent but not deceptive. Whatsoever they want to do, they do it directly And they are very
           earthly people. And that is one of the qualities I appreciate. The earth is our home and we have to be
           earthly.
               A real spirituality must be rooted in earthliness. Any spirituality that denies the earth, rejects the
           earth, becomes abstract, becomes airy-fairy. It has no more blood in it; it is no more alive. Yes, Jews
           are very earth-bound.
               And what is wrong in having money? One should not be possessive; one should be able to use it.
           And Jews know how to use it! One should not be miserly. Money has to be created and money has to
           be used. Money is a beautiful invention, a great blessing, if rightly used. It makes many things
           possible. Money is a magical phenomenon.
               If you have a ten-rupee note in your pocket, you have thousands of things in your pocket. You
           can have anything with those ten rupees. You can materialize a man who will massage your body the
           whole night! Or you can materialize food or you can materialize ANYTHING! That ten-rupee note
           carries many possibilities. You cannot carry all those possibilities with you if there is no note; then
           your life will be very limited. You can have a man who can massage your body, but then that is the
           only possibility you have with you. If you suddenly feel hungry or thirsty, then that man cannot do
           anything else. But a ten-rupee note can do many things, millions of things; it has infinite
           possibilities. It is one of the greatest inventions of man; there is no need to be against it. I am not
           against it.
               Use it. Don't cling to it. Clinging is bad. The more you cling to money, the poorer the world
           becomes because of your clinging, because money is multiplied if it is always moving from one hand
           to another hand.
               In English we have another name for money which is more significant -- it is "currency." That
           simply indicates that money should always remain moving like a current. It should always be on the
           move from one hand to another hand. The more it moves the better.
               For example, if I have a ten-rupee note and I keep it to myself, then there is only one ten-rupee
           note in the world. If I give it to you and you give it to somebody else and each person goes on
           giving, if it goes through ten hands then we have a hundred rupees, we have used a hundred rupees'
           worth of utilities; the ten rupees is multiplied by ten.
               And Jews know how to use money; nothing is wrong in it. Yes, greed is bad. Greed means you
           become obsessed with money; you don't use it as a means, it becomes the end. That is bad, and it is
           bad whether you are a Jew or a Jaina, Hindu or Mohammedan; it doesn't matter.

              Four Jewish mothers were talking, naturally of their sons.
           One said, "My son is studying to be a doctor, and when he graduates he will make $50,000 a year."
           Said the second, "My son is studying dentistry, and when he graduates he will make $100,000 a
           year."
           The third said, "My son is studying to be a psycho-analyst, and when he graduates he will make
           $200,000 a year."
           The fourth one remained silent. The other ones asked her, "And what about your son?"
           "He is studying to become a rabbi," she answered.
           "And how much does a rabbi make?"
           "$10,000 a year."
           "$10,000? Is this a job for a Jewish boy?"

               Gropestein's clothing store stood on New York's Lower East Side. One day, Gropestein went out
           for lunch and left Salter, his new salesman, in charge.
           When he came back Salter proudly announced, "I sold that black cloth coat."
           "For how much?" asked Gropestein.
           "Ninety-eight cents, like it said on the tag."
           "Ninety-eight cents?" screamed the owner. "The tag said ninety-eight dollars, you idiot!"
           The clerk looked as if he would die of embarrassment.
           "Let this be a lesson to you," said Gropestein. "But don't feel bad -- we made ten percent profit."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                A famous anti-Semite was dying. He gathered his sons around his deathbed and said, "Sons, my
           last wish and command is that whenever you need anything, go buy it from a Jew and give him the
           first price he asks."
           The sons in surprise said, "Father, has your mind gone crazy in this your last hour?"
           "Ah, no," smiled the anti-Semite wickedly, "he is going to eat himself up he has not asked for more."

           The seventh question


              OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF MORALITY CONCERNING SEX?


               Divendra,
           THERE IS NO FUTURE OF ANY MORALITY concerning sex. In fact, the very combination of
           sex and morality has poisoned the whole past of morality. Morality became so much sex-oriented
           that it lost all other dimensions -- which are far more important. Sex should not really be so much of
           a concern for moral thinking.
               Truth, sincerity, authenticity, totality -- these things should be the real concerns of morality.
           Consciousness, meditation, awareness, love, compassion -- these should be the real concerns of
           morality.
               But sex and morality became almost synonymous in the past; sex became overpowering,
           overwhelming. So whenever you say somebody is immoral you simply mean that something is
           wrong with his sexual life. And when you say somebody is a very moral person, all that you mean is
           that he follows the rules of sexuality laid down by the society in which he lives. Morality became
           one-dimensional; it has not been good. There is no future for that morality; that is dying. In fact, it is
           dead. You are carrying a corpse.
               Sex should be more fun than such a serious affair as it has been made in the past. It should be
           like a game, a play: two persons playing with each other's bodily energies. If they both are happy, it
           should be nobody else's concern. They are not harming anybody; they are simply rejoicing in each
           other's energy. It is a dance of two energies together. It should not be a concern of the society at all.
           Unless somebody interferes in somebody else's life -- imposes himself, forces somebody, is violent,
           violates somebody's life, then only should society come in. Otherwise there is no problem; it should
           not be any concern at all.
               The future will have a totally different vision of sex. It will be more fun, more joy, more
           friendship, more a play than a serious affair as it has been in the past. It has destroyed people's lives,
           has burdened them so much -- unnecessarily! It has created so much jealousy, possessiveness
           domination, nagging, quarreling, fighting, condemnation -- for NO reason at all.
               Sexuality is a simple, biological phenomenon. It should not be given so much importance. Its
           only significance is that the energy can be transformed into higher planes; it can become more and
           more spiritual. And the way to make it more spiritual is to make it a less serious affair.

               Doctor Biber was perplexed by the case at hand. He had given the sorority girl all sorts of tests,
           but his results were still inconclusive. "I am not sure what it is," he finally admitted. "You either
           have a cold or you are pregnant."
           "I must be pregnant," said the girl. "I don't know anybody who could have given me a cold."

           This is something of the future.

              Clarice and Sheffield were having a mid-afternoon breakfast. Their Park Avenue apartment was
           completely askew after a wild, all-night party.
           "Dear, this is rather embarrassing," said Sheffield, "but was it you I made love to in the library last
           night?"
           "About what time?" asked Clarice.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Another story about the future:

               The schoolteacher was complaining rather bitterly to Cornelia about the behavior of little
           Nathaniel. "He is always picking on boys smaller than he is and beating them up," she said.
           "My goodness!" said Cornelia, "That boy is just like his pappy."
           "And several times I have caught him in the cloak-room with one of the little girls," continued the
           teacher.
           "Just the sort of thing his pappy would do."
           "Not only that, but he steals things from the other children."
           "The very same as his pappy -- Lord, I sure am glad I didn't marry that man!"

               Don't be worried about the future of morality concerning sex. It is going to disappear completely.
           The future will know a totally different vision of sex. And once sex no longer overwhelms morality
           so powerfully, morality will be free to have some other concerns which are far more important.
               Truth, sincerity, honesty, totality, compassion, service, meditation, these should be the real
           concerns of morality -- because these are things which transform your life, these are things which
           bring you closer to God.

           And the last question


              OSHO,
              WHY DO YOU SPEAK AT ALL IF THE TRUTH IS INEXPRESSIBLE?


             Paramahansa,
           TAKE NO NOTICE!




                                   Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                 Talks on Zen Stories
                                    Talks given from 21/02/76 am to 29/02/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                      9 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1977




                                        Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                   Chapter #1
                                             Chapter title: A Zen Story
           21 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602210
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              GOSA HOYEN USED TO SAY:
              'WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHAT ZEN IS LIKE I TELL THEM THIS STORY:'



              NOTICING THAT HIS FATHER WAS GROWING OLD, THE SON OF A BURGLAR ASKED HIS
              FATHER TO TEACH HIM THE TRADE SO THAT HE COULD CARRY ON THE FAMILY BUSINESS
              AFTER HIS FATHER HAD RETIRED.



              THE FATHER AGREED, AND THAT NIGHT THEY BROKE INTO A HOUSE TOGETHER.



              OPENING A LARGE CHEST THE FATHER TOLD HIS SON TO GO IN _ AND PICK OUT THE
              CLOTHING. AS SOON AS THE BOY WAS INSIDE, THE FATHER LOCKED THE CHEST AND
              THEN MADE A LOT OF NOISE SO THAT THE WHOLE HOUSE WAS AROUSED. THEN HE
              SLIPPED QUIETLY AWAY.



              LOCKED INSIDE THE CHEST THE BOY WAS ANGRY, TERRIFIED, AND PUZZLED AS TO HOW
              HE WAS GOING TO GET OUT. THEN AN IDEA FLASHED TO HIM -- HE MADE A NOISE LIKE A
              CAT.



              THE FAMILY TOLD A MAID TO TAKE A CANDLE AND EXAMINE THE CHEST.



              WHEN THE LID WAS UNLOCKED THE BOY JUMPED OUT, BLEW OUT THE CANDLE, PUSHED
              HIS WAY PAST THE ASTONISHED MAID, AND RAN OUT. THE PEOPLE RAN AFTER HIM.



              NOTICING A WELL BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD THE BOY THREW IN A LARGE STONE, THEN
              HID IN THE DARKNESS. THE PURSUERS GATHERED AROUND THE WELL TRYING TO SEE
              THE BURGLAR DROWNING HIMSELF.



              WHEN THE BOY GOT HOME HE WAS VERY ANGRY AT HIS FATHER AND HE TRIED TO TELL
              HIM THE STORY; BUT THE FATHER SAID: 'DON'T BOTHER TO TELL ME THE DETAILS, YOU
              ARE HERE -- YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ART.'


               Being is one, the world is many...and between the two is the divided mind, the dual mind. It is
           just like a big tree, an ancient oak: the trunk is one, then the tree divides into two main branches, the
           main bifurcation, from which a thousand and one bifurcations of branches grow. The being is just
           like the trunk of the tree -- one, non-dual -- and the mind is the first bifurcation where the tree
           divides into two, becomes dual, becomes dialectical: thesis and antithesis, man and woman, yin and
           yang, day and night, God and Devil, yoga and Zen. All the dualities of the world are basically in the
           duality of the mind -- and below the duality is oneness of being. If you slip below, underneath the
           duality you will find one -- call it God, call it nirvana, or whatsoever you like.
               If you go higher through the duality, you come to the many million-fold world.
               This is one of the most basic insights to be understood -- that mind is not one.
               Hence, whatsoever you see through the mind becomes two. It is just like a white ray entering a
           prism; it is immediately divided into seven colors and the rainbow is created. Before it entered the
           prism it was one, through the prism it is divided. and the white color disappears into the seven colors
           of the rainbow.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The world is a rainbow, the mind is a prism, and the being is the white ray.
               Modern research has come to a very significant fact, one of the most significant achieved in this
           century, and that is that you don't have one mind, you have two minds. Your brain is divided into
           two hemispheres: the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. The right hemisphere is joined with
           the left hand, and the left hemisphere is joined with the right hand -- crosswise. The right hemisphere
           is intuitive, illogical, irrational, poetic, platonic, imaginative, romantic, mythical, religious; and the
           left hemisphere is logical, rational, mathematical, Aristotelian, scientific, calculative. These two
           hemispheres are constantly in conflict -- the basic politics of the world is within you, the greatest
           politics of the world is within you. You may not be aware of it, but once you become aware, the real
           thing to be done is somewhere between these two minds.
               The left hand is concerned with the right hemisphere -- intuition, imagination, myth, poetry,
           religion -- and the left hand is very much condemned. The society is of those who are right-handed --
           right-handed means left hemisphere. Ten per cent of children are born left-handed but they are
           forced to be right-handed. Children who are born left-handed are basically irrational, intuitive,
           non-mathematical, non-Euclidean... they are dangerous for society so it forces them in every way to
           become right-handed. It is not just a question of hands, it is a question of inner politics: the
           left-handed child functions through the right hemisphere -- that society cannot allow, it is dangerous,
           so he has to be stopped before things go too far.
               It is suspected that in the beginning the proportion must have been fifty-fifty -- left-handed
           children fifty per cent and right-handed children fifty per cent -- but the right-handed party has ruled
           so long that by and by the proportion has fallen to ten per cent and ninety per cent. Even amongst
           you here many will be left-handed but you may not be aware of it. You may write with the right
           hand and do your work with the right hand but in your childhood you may have been forced to be
           right-handed. This is a trick because once you become right-handed your left hemisphere starts
           functioning. The left hemisphere is reason; the right hemisphere is beyond reason, its functioning is
           not mathematical. It functions in flashes, it is intuitive, very graceful -- but irrational.
               The left-handed minority is the most oppressed minority in the world, even more than Negroes,
           even more than the poor people. If you understand this division, you will understand many things.
           With the bourgeoisie and the proletariat the proletariat is always functioning through the right
           hemisphere of the brain: the poor people are more intuitive. Go to the primitive people, they are
           more intuitive. The poorer the person, the less intellectual -- and that may be the cause of his being
           poor. Because he is less intellectual he cannot compete in the world of reason. He is less articulate as
           far as language is concerned, reason is concerned, calculation is concerned -- he is almost a fool.
           That may be the cause of his being poor.
               The rich person is functioning through the left hemisphere; he is more calculative, arithmetical in
           everything, cunning, clever, logical -- and he plans. That may be the reason why he is rich.
               The bourgeoisie and the proletariat cannot disappear by communist revolutions, no, because the
           communist revolution is by the same people. The Czar ruled Russia; he ruled it through the left
           hemisphere of the mind. Then he was replaced by Lenin who was of the same type. Then Lenin was
           replaced by Stalin who was even more of the same type. The revolution is false because deep down
           the same type of people are ruling -- the ruler and the ruled mean the same, and the ruled are those of
           the right-sided hemisphere. So whatsoever you do in the outside world makes no difference really, it
           is superficial.
               The same applies to men and women. Women are right-hemisphere people, men are
           left-hemisphered. Men have ruled women for centuries. Now a few women are revolting but the
           amazing thing is that these are the same type of women. In fact they are just like men -- rational,
           argumentative, Aristotelian. It is possible that one day, just as the communist revolution has
           succeeded in Russia and China, somewhere, maybe in America, women can succeed and overthrow
           men. But by the time the women succeed, the women will no more be women, they will have
           become left-hemisphered. Because to fight, one has to be calculative, and to fight with men you have
           to be like men: aggressive. That very aggressiveness is shown all over the world in women's
           liberation. Women who have become part of that liberation movement are very aggressive, they are
           losing all grace, all that comes out of intuition. Because if you have to fight with men you have to
           learn the same trick; if you have to fight with men, you have to fight with the same techniques.
           Fighting with anybody is very dangerous because you become like your enemy. That is one of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           greatest problems of humanity. Once you fight with somebody, by and by you have to use the same
           technique and the same way. Then the enemy may be defeated but by the time he is defeated you
           have become your own enemy. Stalin is more Czar-like than any Czar, more violent than any Czar.
           Of course it has to be so: to throw Czars, very violent people are needed, more violent than the Czar
           himself. Only they will become the revolutionaries, will come out on top. By the time they reach
           there they have become Czars themselves, and the society continues on the same way. Just
           superficial things change, deep down the same conflict remains.
               The conflict is in man. Unless it is resolved there, it cannot be resolved anywhere else. The
           politics is within you; it is between the two parts of the mind.
               A very small bridge exists. If that bridge is broken through some accident, through some
           physiological defect or something else, the person becomes split, the person becomes two persons --
           and the phenomenon of schizophrenia or split personality happens. If the bridge is broken -- and the
           bridge is very fragile -- then you become two, you behave like two persons. In the morning you are
           very loving, very beautiful; in the evening you are very angry, absolutely different. You don't
           remember your morning... how can you remember? Another mind was functioning -- and the person
           becomes two persons. If this bridge is strengthened so much that the two minds disappear as two and
           become one, then integration, then crystallization, arises. What George Gurdjieff used to call the
           crystallization of being is nothing but these two minds becoming one, the meeting of the male and
           the female within, the meeting of yin and yang, the meeting of the left and right, the meeting of logic
           and illogic, the meeting of Plato and Aristotle.
               If you can understand this basic bifurcation in your tree of then you can understand all the
           conflict that goes on around and inside you.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
                Among the Germans, Berlin is considered to be the very epitome of Prussian brusqueness and
           efficiency, while Vienna is the essence of Austrian charm and slipshoddery.
                There is the tale of a Berliner visiting Vienna who was lost and in need of directions. What
           would such a Berliner do? He grabbed at the lapel of the first passing Viennese and barked out, 'The
           Post Office. Where is it?'
                The startled Viennese carefully detached the other's fist, smoothed his lapel and said in a gentle
           manner,
           'Sir, would it not have been more delicate of you to have approached me politely and to have said.
           "Sir, if you have a moment and happen to know, could you direct me to the Post Office?"'
                The Berliner stared in astonishment for a moment, then growled, 'I would rather be lost!' and
           stomped away.
                That very same Viennese was visiting Berlin too that year and it turned out that now it was he
           who had to search for the Post Office. Approaching a Berliner he said politely, 'Sir, if you have a
           moment and happen to know, could you please direct me to the Post Office?'
                With machine-like rapidity the Berliner replied,
           'About face, two blocks forward, sharp turn right, one block forward, cross a street, half turn on the
           right, walk left over railroad tracks, pass news-stand into Post Office lobby.'
                The Viennese, more bewildered than enlightened, nevertheless murmured, 'A thousand thanks,
           kind sir,' whereupon the Berliner snatched furiously at the other's lapel and shouted, 'Never mind the
           thanks, repeat the instructions!'

               The male mind, the Berliner; the female mind, the Viennese. The female mind has a grace, the
           male mind has efficiency. and of course, in the long run, if there is a constant fight, the grace is
           bound to be defeated -- the efficient mind will win. because the world understands the language of
           mathematics not of love. But the moment your efficiency wins over your grace, you have lost
           something tremendously valuable: you have lost contact with your own being. You may become
           very efficient, but you will be no more a real person. You will become a machine, a robot-like thing.
               Because of this here is constant conflict between man and woman. They cannot remain separate,
           they have to get into relationship again and again -- but they cannot remain together either. The fight
           is not outside, the fight is within you. And this is my understanding: unless you have resolved your
           inner fight between the right and the left hemispheres, you will never be able to be peacefully in love
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- never -- because the inner fight will be reflected outside. If you are fighting inside and you are
           identified with the left hemisphere, the reason hemisphere, and you are continuously trying to
           overpower the right hemisphere, you will try to do the same with the woman you fall in love with. If
           the woman is continuously fighting her own reason inside, she will continuously fight the man she
           loves.
               All relationships -- almost all, the exceptions are negligible, can be left out of account -- are ugly.
           In the beginning they are beautiful; in the beginning you don't show the reality; in the beginning you
           pretend. Once the relationship settles and you relax, your inner conflict bubbles up and starts being
           mirrored in your relationship. Then come fights, then come a thousand and one ways of nagging
           each other, destroying each other. Hence the attraction for homosexuality. Whenever a society
           becomes too divided between man and woman, homosexuality erupts immediately. Because at least
           a man in love with a man is not that much in conflict. The love relationship may not be very
           satisfying, may not lead to tremendous bliss and orgasmic moments, but at least it is not so ugly as
           the relationship between a man and a woman. Women become lesbians whenever the conflict
           becomes too much, because at least the love relationship between two women is not so deep in
           conflict. The same meets the same; they can understand each other.
               Yes, understanding is possible, but the attraction is lost, the polarity is lost -- it is at a very great
           cost. Understanding is possible, but the whole tension, the challenge, is lost. If you choose challenge,
           then comes conflict, because the real problem is somewhere within you. Unless you have settled,
           come to a deep harmony between your female and male mind, you will not be able to love.
               People come to me and they ask how to go deep in a relationship, I tell them, 'First you go deep
           in meditation. Unless you are resolved within yourself you will create more problems than you
           already have. If you move in relationship, all your problems will be multiplied. Just watch. The
           greatest and the most beautiful thing in the world is love but can you find anything more ugly, more
           hell-creating?'

               Mulla Nasruddin once told me, 'Well, I have been putting off the evil day for months but I have
           got to go this time.'
           'Dentist or doctor?' I inquired.
           'Neither,' he said, 'I am getting married.'
               People go on avoiding marriage, people go on putting it off. When some day they find it
           impossible to get out of it only then they relax. Where is the problem? Why are people so afraid of
           getting deeply involved? Involvement immediately creates fear; commitment immediately creates
           fear -- and the modern man wants to have sex but no love.
               A woman told me that she wants sex only with strangers. Traveling in a train, meeting with a
           stranger -- that's okay -- but not even with someone who is friendly or familiar. I asked, 'Why?' She
           said that once you make love to someone who is known to you, some involvement starts. In a train,
           on a journey, you meet, make love, you don't know even what the other person's name is, who he is,
           from where he comes. You get down when your station comes and he moves away, forgotten
           forever; he leaves no scratch, you remain completely clean. You come out of it completely clean and
           unscratched.
               I can understand. This is the difficulty of the whole modern mind. All relationships are becoming
           by and by casual. People are afraid of any sort of commitment,, because they have come to know at
           least one thing out of bitter experience -- whenever you become related too much, the reality erupts,
           and your inner conflict starts being reflected by the other and then life becomes ugly, horrible,
           intolerable.
               It happened once that I was sitting with a few friends in a university campus ground. One of the
           professors said, 'On the day my wedding occurred....'
               But the other professor stopped him immediately and said 'Pardon the correction, but affairs such
           as marriages, receptions, dinners, and things of that nature, take place. It is only calamities which
           occur. You see the distinction? Please don't say, "The day my marriage occurred, or the day my
           wedding occurred."'
               The other was a professor of language and of course he was right. But the first man said, 'Yes,
           many, many things...' and again started, 'And as I was saying, the day my wedding occurred....It is a
           calamity.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you are outside of it, it may look like a beautiful oasis in the desert but as you come close the
           oasis starts drying and disappearing. Once you are caught in it, it is an imprisonment, but remember,
           the imprisonment doesn't come from the other, it comes from within you.
               If the left-hemisphere brain goes on dominating you, you will live a very successful life -- so
           successful that by the time you are forty you will have ulcers; by the time you are forty-five you will
           have had at least one or two heart-attacks; by the time you are fifty you will be almost dead -- but
           successfully dead. You may become a great scientist, but you will never become a great being. You
           may accumulate enough of wealth, but you will lose all that is of worth. You may conquer the whole
           world like an Alexander, but your own inner territory will remain unconquered.
               There are many attractions to follow the left-hemisphere brain -- that is the worldly brain. It is
           more concerned with things: cars, money, houses, power, prestige. That is the orientation of the man
           who in India we call a GRUSTHA, a householder.
               The right-hemisphere brain is the orientation of the SANNYASIN. one who is more interested in
           his own inner being, his inner peace, his blissfulness, and is less concerned about things. If they
           come easily, good; if they don't come that is also good. He is more concerned with the moment, less
           concerned with the future; more concerned with the poetry of life, less concerned with the arithmetic
           of it.

           I have heard an anecdote.
               Finkelstein had made a huge killing at the races and Muscovitz, quite understandably, was
           envious.
           'How did you do it, Finkelstein?' he demanded.
           'Easy,' said Finkelstein, 'it was a dream.'
           'A dream?'
           'Yes; I had figured out a three-horse parley, but I was not sure about the third horse. Then the night
           before, I dreamed that an angel was standing over the head of my bed and kept saying, 'Blessings on
           you, Finkelstein, seven times seven blessings on you.' When I woke up I realized that seven times
           seven is forty-eight and that horse number seventy-eight was Heavenly Dream. I made Heavenly
           Dream the third horse in my parley and I just cleaned up, simply cleaned up.'
           Muscovitz said, 'But Finkelstein, seven times seven is forty-nine!'
           And Finkelstein said, 'So you be the mathematician.'

               There is a way to follow life through arithmetic and there is another way to follow life through
           dream -- through dreams and visions. They are totally different.
               Just the other day somebody asked, 'Are there ghosts, fairies, and things like that?' Yes, there are
           -- if you move through the right-hemisphere brain, there are. If you move through the
           left-hemisphere brain, there are not. All children are right-hemisphered, they see ghosts and fairies
           all around, but you go on talking to them and putting them in their places and saying to them,
           'Nonsense. You are stupid. Where is the fairy? There is nothing, just a shadow.' By and by you
           convince the child, the helpless child; by and by you convince him and he moves from the
           right-hemisphered orientation to the left-hemisphered orientation -- he has to. He has to live in your
           world: he has to forget his dreams, he has to forget all myth, he has to forget all poetry, he has to
           learn mathematics. Of course he becomes efficient in mathematics -- and becomes almost crippled
           and paralyzed in life. Existence goes on getting farther and farther away and he becomes just a
           commodity in the market, his whole life becomes just rubbish... although, of course, valuable in the
           eyes of the world.
               A SANNYASIN is one who lives through the imagination, who lives through the dreaming
           quality of his mind, who lives through poetry, who poeticizes about life, who looks through visions.
           Then trees are greener than they look to you, then birds are more beautiful, then everything takes a
           luminous quality. Ordinary pebbles become diamonds; ordinary rocks are no longer ordinary --
           nothing is ordinary. If you look from the right hemisphere, everything becomes Divine, sacred.
           Religion is from the right hemisphere.
               A man was sitting with his friend in a cafeteria drinking tea. He studied his cup and said with a
           sigh, 'Ah, my friend, life is like a cup of tea.'
               The other considered that for a moment and then said, 'But why? Why is life like a cup of tea?'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The first man replied, 'How should I know? Am I a philosopher?'
               The right-hemisphere brain only makes statements about facts, it cannot give you reasons. If you
           ask, 'Why?' it can only remain silent, there comes no response from it. If you are walking and you
           see a lotus flower and you say, 'Beautiful!' -- and somebody says, 'Why?' what will you do? You will
           say, 'How am I to know? Am I a philosopher?' It is a simple statement, a very simple statement, in
           itself total, complete. There is no reason behind it and no result beyond it, it is a simple statement of
           fact. Read the Upanishads -- they are simple statements of facts. They say, 'God is. Don't ask why.'
           They will say, 'Are we philosophers? How are we to know? God is.' They say God is beautiful, they
           say God is near, closer than your heart, but don't ask why -- they are not philosophers.
               Look at the gospels and the statements of Jesus -- they are simple. He says, 'My God is in
           heaven. I am his son, he is my father. Don't ask why.' He will not be able to prove it in a court, he
           will simply say, 'I know.' If you ask him by whom he has been told, by what authority he says these
           things, he will say, 'It is by my own authority. I have no other authority.' That is the problem when a
           man like Jesus moves in the world. The rational mind cannot understand, he was not crucified for
           any other reason. He was crucified by the left hemisphere because he was a right-hemisphere man.
           He was crucified because of the inner conflict.
               Lao Tzu says, 'The whole world seems to be clever, only I am muddle-headed; the whole world
           seems to be certain, only I am confused and hesitant.' He is a right-hemisphered man.
               The right hemisphere is the hemisphere of poetry and love. A great shift is needed; that shift is
           the inner transformation. Yoga is an effort to reach the oneness of being through the left hemisphere,
           using logic, mathematics, science and trying to go beyond. Zen is just the opposite: the aim is the
           same but Zen uses the right hemisphere to go beyond. Both can be used, but to follow yoga is a very,
           very long path; it is almost an unnecessary struggle because you are trying to reach from reason to
           super-reason which is more difficult. Zen is easier because it is an effort to reach the super-reason
           from irreason. Irreason is almost like super-reason -- there are no barriers. Yoga is like penetrating a
           wall and Zen is like opening a door. The door may not be closed at all, you just push it a little and it
           opens.
               Now the story. It is one of the most beautiful among Zen anecdotes. Zen people talk through
           stories. They have to talk through stories because they cannot create theories and doctrines, they can
           only tell stories. They are great story-tellers. Jesus goes on talking in parables, Buddha goes on
           talking in parables, Sufi mystics go on talking in parables -- it is not coincidental. The story, the
           parable, the anecdote, is the way of the right hemisphere; logic argument, proof, syllogism, is the
           way of the left hemisphere.
           Listen to it.
              GOSO HOYEN USED TO SAY, 'WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHAT ZEN IS LIKE, I TELL THEM THIS
              STORY.'

               This story really tells what Zen is like -- without defining, it indicates. A definition is not
           possible because Zen in its basic quality is indefinable. You can taste it but you cannot define it; you
           can live it but language is not sufficient to say it; you can show it but you cannot say it. But through
           a story a little bit can be transferred. And this story really indicates, indicates perfectly the quality of
           what Zen is like. This is just a gesture, don't make it a definition, don't philosophize around it, let it
           be like lightning, a flash of understanding. It is not going to increase your knowledge but it can give
           you a shift, a jerk, a change of gestalt. You can be thrown from one corner of the mind to
           another...and that is the whole point of the story.

              NOTICING THAT HIS FATHER WAS GROWING OLD,
              THE SON OF A BURGLAR ASKED HIS FATHER TO TEACH HIM THE TRADE
              SO THAT HE COULD CARRY ON THE FAMILY BUSINESS
              AFTER HIS FATHER HAD RETIRED.


               The trade of a burglar is not a scientific thing: it is an art. Burglars are as much born as poets;
           you cannot learn, learning won't help. If you learn, you will be caught because then the police know
           more than you. They have accumulated centuries of learning. A burglar is a born burglar; he lives
           through intuition, it is a knack; he lives through hunches. A burglar is feminine, he is not a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           businessman; he is a gambler, he risks all for almost nothing; his whole trade is of danger and risk. It
           is just like a religious man. Zen people say that religious people are also like burglars: in search of
           God they are also burglars. There is no way to reach God through logic or reason or accepted
           society, culture, civilization. They break the wall somewhere, they enter from the back door If in the
           daylight it is not allowed, they enter in dark. If it is not possible to follow the crowd on the
           super-highway, they make their own individual paths in the forest. Yes, there is a certain similarity.
           You can reach God only if you are a burglar, an artist of how to steal the fire, how to steal the
           treasure.
               The father was going to retire and the son asked, 'Before you retire teach me your trade.'

               THE FATHER AGREED, AND THAT NIGHT THEY BROKE INTO A HOUSE TOGETHER.



               OPENING A LARGE CHEST THE FATHER TOLD THE SON TO GO IN AND PICK OUT THE
               CLOTHING. AS SOON AS THE BOY WAS INSIDE, THE FATHER LOCKED THE CHEST AND
               THEN MADE A LOT OF NOISE SO THAT THE WHOLE HOUSE WAS AROUSED. THEN HE
               SLIPPED QUIETLY AWAY.


               A real master he must have been, no ordinary burglar...

               LOCKED INSIDE THE CHEST THE BOY WAS ANGRY, TERRIFIED, AND PUZZLED...


               of course, naturally, what type of teaching is this? He had been thrown in a dangerous situation.
               But that is the only way to teach something of the unknown; that is the only way to teach
           something of the right-hemisphere brain. The left hemisphere can be taught in schools: learning is
           possible, discipline is possible, gradual courses are possible. Then by and by, moving from one class
           to another, you become masters of art and science -- many things. But there cannot be any schools
           for the right hemisphere: it is intuitive, it is not gradual, it is sudden. It is like a flash, a lightning in
           the dark night. If it happens, it happens; if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen -- nothing can be done
           about it. You can only leave yourself in a certain situation where there is more possibility for it to
           happen. That's why I say the old man must have been a real master.

               LOCKED INSIDE THE CHEST, THE BOY WAS ANGRY, TERRIFIED, AND -- PUZZLED...


                These are the three states your reason will pass through. In all my meditations the same is being
           done to you. Locked in a chest, with the key thrown away, first you feel angry. Many
           SANNYASINS come to me and they say they feel very angry with me. I can understand, it is natural
           -- I am forcing them into situations where their old mind cannot function. That is the root cause of
           anger. They simply feel impotent, their old mind cannot function, they cannot make anything out of
           it. What is happening? And when you feel a situation where your mind is simply useless, you feel
           angry towards me -- angry and then terrified. Then one understands the whole situation and all that
           you have learned seems absolutely useless...hence fear.
                Now there was no logical way to get out of that chest: it was locked from the outside, the father
           had made a noise, the whole house was awake, people were moving around, searching, and the father
           had escaped. Now is there any logical way to get out of this chest? Logic simply fails, reason is of no
           use. What can you think? Mind suddenly stops -- and that is what the father is doing, that is what it is
           all about. He is trying to force the son into a situation where the logical mind stops, because a
           burglar does not need a logical mind. If he follows a logical mind he will be caught sooner or later
           by the police because they also follow the same logic.
                It happened in the second world war. For three years Adolph Hitler continued to win, and the
           reason was that he was illogical.. All the other countries that were fighting with him were fighting
           logically. Of course, they had a great science of war, military training and this and that, and they had
           experts who would say, 'Now, Hitler is going to attack from this side.' And if Hitler was also in his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           senses he would have done that because that was the weakest point in the enemy's defense. Of course
           the enemy has to be attacked where he is the weakest -- it is logical. So they would be expecting
           Hitler at the weakest point, they would be gathering around the weakest point and he would hit
           anywhere, unpredictably. He would not even follow his own generals' advice.
                He had an astrologer who would suggest where to attack. Now this is something never done
           before -- a war is not run by astrologers. Once Churchill understood, once the spies came with the
           report that they were not going to win with this man because he was absolutely illogical; that a
           foolish astrologer who didn't know anything about war, who had never been on the front, was
           deciding things, deciding by the stars -- what have stars got to do with a war going on on the earth?
           -- then Churchill immediately appointed a royal astrologer to the king and they started following the
           royal astrologer. Then things started falling in line because now two fools were predicting.... Things
           became easier.
                If a burglar is going to follow Aristotle he will be caught sooner or later because the same
           Aristotelian logic is followed by the police. Just few days before, Vedanta did a beautiful thing: he
           escaped with the ashram jeep. Of course the police had to be informed. Everybody was expecting
           that he would go towards Chanda, because he had been saying that he wanted to go to Chanda and
           re-open an old ashram which used to be there -- Kailash. Had he gone towards there the police may
           not have follow, but the police were thinking logically and they said, 'If he had been saying that he
           was going towards Chanda he will not go to Chanda now because he will be afraid he will be caught
           on that road. He is not going there.' So they were not worried about that road and, of course, Vedanta
           was caught in Lonavalla. He was going towards Bombay. But the police also followed the same
           logic.
                If you go through logic, then anybody who follows the logical method can catch you anywhere.
                A burglar has to be unpredictable, logic is not possible. He has to be illogical -- so much so that
           nobody can predict him. But illogic is possible only if your whole energy moves through the right
           hemisphere.

              LOCKED INSIDE THE CHEST, THE BOY WAS ANGRY, TERRIFIED, AND PUZZLED AS TO HOW
              HE WAS GOING TO GET OUT.

               'How?' is a logical question. Hence he was terrified because there was no way -- 'How?' was
           simply impotent. Then an idea flashed to him. Now this is a shift: only in dangerous situations where
           the left hemisphere cannot function, does it, as a last resort. allow the right hemisphere to have its
           say. When it cannot function, when it feels that now there is no go, now it is defeated, then it says
           why not give a chance to the oppressed, to the imprisoned part of the mind? Give that too a chance.
           Maybe...there can be no harm.

              THEN AN IDEA FLASHED ON HIM -- HE MADE A NOISE LIKE A CAT.


              Now this is not logical. Making a noise like a cat? Simply an absurd idea. But it worked.

              THE FAMILY TOLD A MAID TO TAKE A CANDLE AND EXAMINE THE CHEST.



              WHEN THE LID WAS UNLOCKED THE BOY JUMPED OUT, BLEW OUT THE CANDLE, PUSHED
              HIS WAY PAST THE ASTONISHED MAID, AND RAN OUT. THE PEOPLE RAN AFTER HIM.



              NOTICING A WELL BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD THE BOY THREW IN A LARGE STONE, THEN
              HID IN THE DARKNESS. THE PURSUERS GATHERED AROUND THE WELL TRYING TO SEE
              THE BURGLAR DROWNING HIMSELF.


              This too is not of the logical mind. Because the logical mind needs time -- the logical mind needs
           time to proceed, to think, to argue this way and that, all the alternatives -- and there are a thousand
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and one alternatives. When you are in a situation there is no time to think. If people are pursuing you
           -- how can you think? Thinking is good when you are sitting in an armchair. With your closed eyes
           you can philosophize and think and argue, for this and against that, pro and con; but when people are
           pursuing you and your life is in danger you have no time to think -- one lives in the moment, one
           simply becomes spontaneous. It is not that he decided to throw the stone, it simply happened. It was
           not a conclusion, he was not thinking about doing it, he simply found himself doing it. He threw a
           stone in the well and hid himself in the darkness, and the pursuers stopped, thinking the burglar had
           drowned himself in the well.

               WHEN THE BOY GOT HOME HE WAS VERY ANGRY AT HIS FATHER AND HE TRIED TO TELL
               HIM THE STORY; BUT THE FATHER SAID: 'DON'T BOTHER TO TELL ME THE DETAILS, YOU
               ARE HERE YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ART.'


                What is the point of telling the details? They are useless. Details are useless as far as intuition is
           concerned because intuition is never a repetition. Details are meaningful as far as logic is concerned.
           So, logical people go on into minute details so that if the same situation happens again they will be
           in control and they will know what to do.
                But in the life of a burglar the same situation never happens again. And in real life also the same
           situation never happens again. If you have conclusions in your mind you will become almost dead,
           you will not be responding. In life, response is needed, not reaction: you have to act out of nowhere,
           with no conclusions inside. With no center you have to act -- you have to act into the unknown from
           the unknown.
                And this is what Goso Hoyen used to say when people asked him what Zen is like. This story he
           would tell.
                Zen is exactly like burglary: it is an art, it is not a science; it is feminine, it is not male; it is not
           aggressive, it is receptive; it is not a well-planned methodology; it is a spontaneity. It has nothing to
           do with theories, hypotheses, doctrines, scriptures; it has something to do with only one thing -- that
           is, awareness.
                What happened in that moment when the boy was inside the chest? In such a danger you cannot
           be sleepy, in such a danger your consciousness becomes very sharp, has to. Life is at stake, you are
           totally awake -- that's how one should be totally awake each moment. And when you are totally
           awake, this shift happens: from the left hemisphere the energy moves to the right hemisphere.
           Whenever you are alert, you become intuitive; flashes come to you, flashes from the unknown, out of
           the blue. You may not follow them -- then you will miss much.
                In fact all the great discoveries in science come from the right hemisphere also, not from the left.
           You must have heard about Madam Curie, the only woman who got a Nobel Prize. She had been
           working hard for three years on a certain mathematical problem but could not solve it. She worked
           hard. argued from this way and that, but there was no way. One night. tired. exhausted. she fell
           asleep -- and while she was falling asleep then too she was trying to solve the problem. In the night
           she awoke. walked, wrote the answer on some paper. came back. and went to sleep. In the morning
           she found the answer there on the table but she could not believe who had done it. Nobody could do
           it! The servant -- you could not expect him to do it; he did not know anything about mathematics.
           She remembered well that last night she had tried her best and could not do it. What had happened?
           Then she tried to remember -- because the handwriting was hers. She tried to remember...and then a
           faint remembrance came: as if in a dream she had walked to the table and written.
                From where had this answer come? It could not be from the left hemisphere. the left had been
           working hard for three years. And there was no process on the paper, just the conclusion. If it had
           come from the left there would have been a process, it goes step by step. But this was like a flash --
           the same kind of flash that had happened to the boy in the chest. The left hemisphere, tired,
           exhausted, helpless, sought the help of the right hemisphere.
                Whenever you are in such a corner that your logic fails, don't be desperate, don't become
           hopeless. Those moments may prove the greatest blessings in your life: those are the moments that
           the left allows the right to have its way. Then the feminine part, the receptive part. gives you an idea.
           If you follow it. many doors will be opened. But it is possible you may miss it; you may say. 'What
           nonsense!'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This boy could have missed. The idea is not very normal, regular, logical. Make a noise like a
           cat? For what? He could have asked, 'Why? and then he would have missed. But he could not ask
           because the situation was such that there was no other way. So he thought, 'Let us try. What is wrong
           in it?' He used the clue.
                The father was right. He said, 'Don't go into details. they are not important. You are back home,
           you have learned the art.'
                The whole art is how to function from the feminine part of the mind. because the feminine is
           joined with the Whole and the male is not joined with the Whole. The male is aggressive, the male is
           constantly in struggle -- the feminine is constantly in surrender, in deep trust. Hence the feminine
           body is so beautiful, so round. There is a deep trust and a deep harmony with nature. A woman lives
           in deep surrender -- a man is constantly fighting, angry, doing this and that, trying to prove
           something, trying to reach somewhere. A woman is happy, not trying to reach anywhere. Ask
           women if they would like to go to the moon. They will simply be amazed. For what? What is the
           point? Why take such trouble? The home is perfectly good. The woman is not interested in what is
           happening in Vietnam and what is happening in Korea and what is happening in Israel She is at the
           most interested in what is happening in the neighborhood, at the most interested in who has fallen in
           love with whom, who has escaped with whom... in gossips not in politics. She is more interested in
           the immediate, here now, and that gives her a harmony, a grace. Man is constantly trying to prove
           something. and if you want to prove of course you have to fight and compete and accumulate.
                Once a woman tried to get Dr. Johnson to talk with her but he seemed to take very little notice of
           her.
           'Why, Doctor,' she said archly, 'I believe you prefer the company of men to that of women.'
           'Madam,' replied Johnson, 'I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their
           delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.'

                Man has been forcing woman to be silent, not only outside, inside also -- forcing the feminine
           part to keep quiet. Just watch within you. If the feminine part says something you immediately jump
           upon it and you say, 'Logical? Absurd!' People come to me and they say. 'The heart says we would
           like to become SANNYASINS but the head says no...' Dr. Johnson, trying to keep the woman silent.
           The heart is feminine.
                You miss much in your life because the head goes on talking; it does not allow. And the only
           quality in the head is that it is more articulate, cunning, dangerous, violent. Because of its violence it
           has become the leader inside, and that inside leadership has become an outside leadership for man.
           Man has dominated women in the outside world also; the grace is dominated by violence.
                I was invited to a school for a certain function. There was a rally of school-children and in the
           rally the procession had been arranged according to height -- from the shortest up to the tallest. But
           the pattern was broken, I noticed, by the first boy heading the procession. He was a gangling youth
           who looked a head taller than the rest. 'Why is he at the front?'
           I asked a young girl, 'Is he the leader of the school, the captain, or something like that?'
           'No,' she whispered, 'he pinches.'
                The male mind goes on pinching, creating trouble. Trouble-makers become leaders. In the
           schools, all wise teachers choose the greatest trouble-makers as captains of the classes and the
           schools -- the trouble-makers. the criminals. Once they are in a powerful post their whole energy for
           trouble-making becomes helpful for the teacher. They start creating discipline -- the same ones.
                Just watch the politicians in the world: when one party is in power the opposite party goes on
           creating trouble in the country. They are the law-breakers, the revolutionaries. And the party which
           is in power goes on creating discipline. Once they are thrown out of power, they will create trouble.
           and once the opposite party comes into power they become the guardians of discipline.
           They are all trouble-makers.
                The male mind is a trouble-making phenomenon -- hence it overpowers. it dominates. But deep
           down. although you may attain power, you miss life -- and deep down, the feminine mind continues.
           Unless you fall back to the feminine and you surrender. unless your resistance and struggle become
           surrender. you will not know what real life, and the celebration of it, is.

           I have heard one anecdote.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               An American scientist once visited the offices of the great Nobel prize-winning physicist, Niels
           Bohr, in Copenhagen, and was amazed to find that over his desk was a horseshoe, securely nailed to
           the wall with the open end up in the approved manner so it would catch the good luck and not let it
           spill out.
               The American said with a nervous laugh, 'Surely you don't believe the horseshoe will bring you
           good luck, do you, Professor Bohr? After all, as a level-headed scientist....'
               Bohr chuckled, 'I believe in no such thing, my good friend, not at all. I am scarcely likely to
           believe in such foolish nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck
           whether you believe in it or not.'
               Look a little deeper, and just underneath your logic you will find fresh waters of intuition, fresh
           waters of trust, flowing.
               Yoga is a way to use reason to reach God -- of course very difficult, and the longest path. If you
           follow Patanjali you are trying to do that which can happen without doing; you are trying hard to do
           something. You are trying to pull yourself by shoe-strings -- to pull yourself up.
               Zen is the way of the spontaneous -- the effortless effort, the way of intuition.
               A Zen Master, Ikkyu, a great poet, has said: I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient
           music in the pines.
               This is what Zen is all about. You cannot see clouds a thousand miles away with the logical
           mind. The logical mind is like glass, too dirty, too covered with the dust of ideas, theories, doctrines.
           But you can see clouds a thousand miles away with the pure glass of intuition, with no thoughts --
           just pure awareness. The mirror is clean and the clarity supreme.
               You cannot hear ancient music in the pines with the ordinary logical mind. How can you hear the
           ancient music? Music once gone is gone forever.
               But I tell you, Ikkyu is right. You can hear ancient music in the pines -- I have heard it -- but a
           shift, a total change, a change of gestalt, is needed. Then you can see Buddha preaching again and
           you can hear Buddha speaking again. You can hear the ancient music in the pines because it is
           eternal music, it is never lost. You have lost the capacity to hear it. The music is eternal; once you
           regain your capacity, suddenly it is there again. It has always been there, only you were not there. Be
           here now and you can also see clouds a thousand miles away, and hear ancient music in the pines.
               Change more and more towards the right hemisphere, become more and more feminine, more
           and more loving, surrendering, trusting, more and more closer to the Whole. Don't try to be an island
           -- become part of the continent.




                                         Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                   Chapter #2
                                Chapter title: A thousand and one bifurcations
           22 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602220
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              The first question:

              YOU TOLD ME THAT MY MIND IS IMMATURE. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE A MIND THAT IS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MATURE?


               To think that you know is to be immature. To function from knowledge, from conclusion, is to be
           immature. To function from no-knowledge, from no conclusion, from no past, is maturity.
               Maturity is deep trust in your own consciousness; immaturity is a distrust in your own
           consciousness. When you distrust your consciousness you trust your knowledge, but that is a
           substitute and a very poor substitute at that. Try to understand this -- it is important.
               You have been living, you have experienced many things; you have read, you have listened, you
           have thought. Now all those conclusions are there. When a certain situation arises. you can function
           in two ways. You can function through all the accumulated past, according to it -- that's what I
           mean by functioning through a center. through conclusions, through experience, stale, dead -- then
           whatsoever you do your response is not going to be a response, it will be a reaction. And to be
           reactionary is to be immature.
               Or, if you can function right now, here in this moment, through your consciousness, through your
           being aware, putting aside all that you have known -- this is what I call functioning through
           no-knowledge, this is functioning through innocence. And this is maturity.

           I was reading one anecdote.
               It seemed to Mr. Smith that now that his son had turned thirteen, it was important to discuss
           those matters which an adolescent ought to know about life. So he called the boy into the study one
           evening. shut the door carefully, and said with impressive dignity. 'Son, I would like to discuss the
           facts of life with you.'
           'Sure thing, Dad.' said the boy. 'What do you want to know?'
               The mind is immature when it is not ready to learn. The ego feels very fulfilled if it need not
           learn anything from anybody; the ego feels very enhanced if it feels that it already knows. But the
           problem is that life goes on changing, it is never the same; it goes on flowing, it is a flux. And your
           knowledge is always the same. Your knowledge is not evolving with life, it is stuck somewhere in
           the past, and whenever you react through it you will miss the point because it will not be exactly the
           right thing to do. Life has changed but your knowledge remains the same. and you act out of this
           knowledge. That means you face today with your yesterday's knowledge. You will never be able to
           be alive. The more you function through knowledge, the more immature you become.
               Now let me tell you a paradox: every child who is innocent is mature.
               Maturity has nothing to do with age because it has nothing to do with experience; maturity has
           something to do with responsiveness, freshness, virginity, innocence. So when I use the word
           'mature' I don't mean that when you become more experienced you will be more mature. That's what
           people usually mean when they use the word -- I don't mean that. The more you gather knowledge,
           the more your mind will become immature; and by the time you are seventy or eighty, you will be
           completely immature because you will have a stale past to function through. Watch a small
           child...knowing nothing, having no experience, he functions here and now.
               That's why children can learn more than aged people. Psychologists say that if a child is not
           forced to learn, not forced to discipline himself, he can learn any foreign language in three months.
           Just left to himself with people who know the language he will catch it in three months. But if you
           force him to learn, it will take almost three years, because the more you force, the more he starts
           functioning through whatsoever he learns, through yesterday's knowledge. If he is left to himself he
           moves freely, spontaneously; learning comes easy, by itself, on its own accord.
               By the time the child reaches the year eight he has learned almost seventy per cent of whatsoever
           he is going to learn in his whole life. He may live eighty years, but by the time he is eight he has
           learned seventy per cent -- he will learn only thirty per cent more, and every day his capacity to
           learn will be less and less and less. The more he knows, the less he learns. When people use the word
           'maturity' they mean more knowledge; when I use the word 'maturity' I mean the capacity to learn.
           Not to know but to learn -- and they are different, totally different, diametrically opposite things.
           Knowledge is a dead thing; the capacity to learn is an alive process -- you simply remain capable of
           learning, you simply remain available, you simply remain open, ready to receive. Learning is
           receptivity. Knowledge makes you less receptive because you go on thinking that if you already
           know, what is there to learn? When you already know. you miss much; when you don't know
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything you cannot miss anything.
                Socrates said in his old age, 'Now I know nothing!' That was maturity. At the very end he said, 'I
           know nothing.'
                Life is so vast. How can this tiny mind know? At the most, glimpses are enough. Even they are
           too much. Existence is so tremendously vast and infinite, beginningless, endless... how can this tiny
           drop of consciousness know it? It is enough even that a few glimpses come, a few doors open, a few
           moments happen when you come in contact with existence. But those moments cannot be turned into
           knowledge.
                And your mind tends to do it -- then it becomes more and more immature.
                So the first thing is that you should be capable of learning and your learning capacity should
           never be burdened by knowledge, never be covered by dust. The mirror of learning should remain
           clean and fresh so it can go on reflecting.
                The mind can function in two ways. It can function like a camera: once exposed, finished -- the
           film immediately becomes knowledgeable and it loses its learning capacity. Exposed once and it
           already knows -- now it is useless; now it is not capable of learning more. If you expose it again
           and again it will become more confused. That's why people who know too much are always afraid of
           learning... because they will become confused. They are already exposed films. Then there is another
           type of learning -- learning like a mirror. Expose the mirror for a thousand and one times, it makes
           no difference -- if you come in front of the mirror, you are reflected: if you go, the reflection goes.
           The mirror never accumulates.
                The film in the camera immediately accumulates -- it catches hold, clings, but the mirror simply
           mirrors: you come in front, you are in it; you go, you are gone.
                This is the way to remain mature. Every child is born mature and almost all people die immature.
           This will look very paradoxical but this is so. Remain innocent and you will remain mature.
                The second thing is that the immature mind is always interested in trivia. The immature mind is
           always interested in things: money, houses, cars, power, prestige...all trivia, all rot. The mature mind
           is interested in existence, in being, in life itself. So when I say to you that you have an immature
           mind I mean you are still interested in things, not in persons; still interested in the outside, not in the
           inside; still interested in objects, not in subjectivity; still interested in the finite, not interested in the
           infinite.
                Just watch your mind -- where it moves, what its fantasies are. If you find a valuable diamond
           on the road and just there by its side a rose has flowered, in what will you be interested? In the rose
           or in the diamond? You will not be able to see the rose if you are interested in the diamond; you will
           simply miss the rose, it is valueless. Your eyes will be too clouded by the diamond, your whole mind
           will become focused on the diamond, and you will miss another diamond which was more alive --
           the rose.
                In the Hindu paradise they say roses are not ordinary roses, they are made of diamonds. I don't
           know, but I have seen roses. If you can see roses here exactly on this earth, they are made of
           diamonds -- so why go far away? Not in paradise but here now, once you know how to see a rose
           there is nothing comparable to it. And once you can see the rose you may forget completely about
           the diamond.
                It happened that Mulla Nasruddin came to me one day. He was very much worried and he said,
           'Ah, poor Mr. Jones. Did you hear, Osho, what happened to him? He tripped at the top of the stairs,
           fell down the whole flight, banged his head and died.'
           Shocked, I said, 'Died?'
           'Died,' he repeated with emphasis, 'and broke his glasses too!'
                The immature mind is more interested in glasses than in life and death and love; more interested
           in things, like houses and cars. When I tell you that you have an immature mind, I mean you are still
           interested in that which is worthless, non-essential. At the most it can be used, at the most it can
           become a decoration in life, but it cannot replace life, it cannot substitute life, it cannot become life
           itself.
                And there are many people who have made it a life. I know a few rich people who live such
           beggarly lives -- one cannot imagine it.
                I used to know a man in Delhi who had six bungalows, all out on rent. And he lived in a small
           dark cell with no children and no wife.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I asked him once, 'You have enough. Why do you go on living in this small dark cell? Why have
           you imposed this imprisonment upon yourself? What penance are you doing?'
               He said, 'None. I have always lived this way and it is perfectly beautiful. And people are living in
           those six bungalows.'
           He goes to those bungalows only to collect rent.
           I asked him, 'Why have you never married?'
           'I am a poor man and women are very costly. I could not afford it,' he said.
               If you meet that man you will not be able to recognize that he owns six big houses and earns a lot
           of money. What has happened to this man? He is more interested in money than he is in himself, he
           is more interested in money than he is in love, he is more interested in the power that money brings
           -- but he has never shared anything with anybody.
               These people are not rare, they are very common. Everybody has such a tendency inside. And
           people go on rationalizing. Man is very clever -- he says, 'This is not miserliness. Don't
           misunderstand me. I am a simple man. I live a simple life. I am a religious man, and a simple life is
           beautiful.'
               If you are too interested in things you are immature. Shift your attention. Become more and more
           interested in people rather than in yourself.
               I have a SANNYASIN here, Nisha. She always falls in love with beggarly people and she is
           tremendously rich. Just a few days before, she came and asked 'Why, Osho, do I go on falling in love
           with beggarly people -- people who are almost on the street?' I know the reason... with a beggarly
           man she need not be worried about her money. And she thinks that she helps these people -- by
           food, by small things -- in fact she has never fallen in love. She is so much in love with money that
           she cannot fall in love with persons. She purchases these people for money -- they are without any
           cost, without any risk. And they feel obliged because she gives food, clothing, shelter -- they feel
           obliged, so they pretend that they love her, and she goes on pretending that she has fallen in love.
           This is a way to protect the money and this is a way to remain closed, miserly.
               And she is suffering, in pain, but she cannot see the point. She has to learn how to share. If you
           know how to share, you are mature; if you don't know how to share, you are immature.
               This sharing goes on on all levels, in all directions, in all dimensions. So one of the most basic
           things to understand is the more you share something, the more it grows in you. Share whatsoever
           you have and it will grow; cling to it, become afraid of sharing, of friendship, of love, and it will
           shrink'. Life knows only one law and that law is of expansion and sharing.
               Look at nature. Nature is such a spendthrift. When one flower is needed, a thousand and one
           flowers will bloom. When you make love to a woman or to a man, in each orgasm millions of cells
           are released. One would have been enough because at the most one child can be conceived, but
           millions of cells are released. One man can populate the whole earth -- just one man! One ordinary
           man has at least four thousand intercourses in his life -- one ordinary man -- and in each
           intercourse millions of cells are released. The whole world, the whole population that exists right
           now, can be produced by one man. And yet the man will become the father of only two or three, if in
           the West; or twelve, fourteen, fifteen, if in the East -- that's all. For fifteen persons to be conceived,
           millions of cells are released.
               Nature is a spendthrift. Where one flower is needed it produces millions. One tree will produce....
           Look at the Gulmohr -- millions of seeds are ready. They will all fall down and a few, one, two,
           four, five, ten, twenty, a hundred, may become trees. Why so many seeds? God is not a miser. If you
           ask for one he gives millions. Just ask! Jesus has said, 'Knock and the doors shall be opened unto
           you, ask and it shall be given.' Remember, if you ask for one, millions will be given.
               The moment you become miserly you are closed to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion,
           sharing. The moment you start clinging to things, you have missed the target -- you have missed.
           Because things are not the target, you, your innermost being, is the target -- not a beautiful house,
           but a beautiful you; not much money, but a rich you; not many things, but an open being, available to
           millions of things.
               When I say you are immature, I mean you are too concerned with things and you have not yet
           learned that life consists of consciousness -- of beings, not of things. Things are to be used, they are
           needed, but don't start living by them. Man cannot live by bread alone -- once living by bread alone,
           things alone, you are already dead.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the third thing: maturity is always spontaneous. It does not plan, it makes no rehearsals.
               People come to me.... Just the other night somebody was there. He said, 'I prepare so many
           questions when I come to see you. but when I come here I forget. What do you do to me?' I am not
           doing anything at all. It is YOU. The moment you prepare something you are already saying that it is
           false. The real thing need not be prepared. In life. rehearsals are not needed, they are needed in a
           drama. A drama is a false thing. If you prepare your questions it means that those questions are not
           yours. If you are thirsty and you come to me, will you forget that you are thirsty and you would like
           your thirst to be quenched? How can you forget? In fact, when you reach the side of a river thirst
           will burn more intensely. The moment you see water flowing, and hear the sound of gurgling,
           immediately all that you have been suppressing will bubble up, it will respond, your whole being
           will say, 'I am thirsty!' If you are thirsty you will not forget.
               But you prepare questions. You prepare yourself to go to the river and say, 'I am very thirsty.'
           What is the point of preparing? If you are thirsty, you are; if you are not, by the time you reach to the
           river, you will forget about it.
               When I say you are immature I mean that you prepare your questions, your inquiries. They are
           mind things. they don't come from your heart, they are not related to you, they have no roots in you.
               It is related in George Bernard Shaw's life that once, at the opening of one of his plays, he
           stepped forward at its conclusion with obvious complaisance, to accept the rousing plaudits of the
           crowd. There was one dissenter, however, who seized the occasion of a lull in the applause to call
           out in stentorian tones, 'Your play stinks!'
               There was a momentary horrified silence, but Shaw, unperturbed, exclaimed from the stage, 'My
           friend, I agree with you completely, but what are we two' -- here he waved his hand over the
           audience -- 'against the great majority?'
           And applause returned more loudly than ever.
               You cannot prepare something like that, it is impossible It is a spontaneous response -- hence
           the beauty of it. You cannot prepare for such things. And life is such a continuous thing: either you
           act or you miss. Later on, you will find a thousand and one answers -- you could have said this, you
           could have said that -- but they are of no use.
               Mark Twain was coming back home with his wife from a lecture hall. He had just delivered a
           beautiful talk. His wife had not been present, she had just come to pick him up.
           On the way she asked, 'How was the lecture?'
               Mark Twain said, 'Which one? The one that I prepared, or the one that I delivered, or the one that
           I am thinking now that I should have delivered? Which one?'
               If you prepare, this is going to be so. Remain conscious, alert, aware, and act out of your
           spontaneity. And not only will others see the alive response of it, you also will be thrilled by your
           own response. Not only will others be surprised, you will also be surprised yourself.
               I call a mind mature which retains the capacity to be surprised. A mind is mature if it goes on
           continuously being surprised. by others, by himself, by everything. Life is a constant wonder: he has
           no ready-made plans or ready-made responses for it, he never knows what is going to happen, he
           moves into the unknown each moment. And he never jumps ahead of himself, he never lags behind
           himself, he remains simply himself, wherever he is.
               And, the last and most basic thing: when I say that you have an immature mind, basically I mean
           that you have a mind. Mind as such is immature; only no-mind is mature.
               Maturity has nothing to do with mind because mind means all that you know; mind means your
           experiences, mind means your past, your rehearsals, your preparations. All these things are implied
           in the word 'mind.' Mind is not something in particular, it is the whole accumulation, all the junk, the
           whole heap, of your dead past.
               When I say, 'Be mature,' I mean become a no-mind. If you act spontaneously, you will act out of
           no-mind. If you remain capable of learning, you will remain capable of being a no-mind again and
           again and again -- the mind will never be accumulated. If you are capable of remaining alert-and
           spontaneous, able to be surprised by life and by yourself, you will become by and by more and more
           interested in the interior-most life, in the core of life. When you see a person, you will not see just
           the body, your gaze will become penetrating, your gaze will become like an x-ray. It will catch hold
           of the person -- of the consciousness there, of the inner light there in the other person. The body is
           just an abode -- you will meet the person, you will shake hands, but not only hands, you will shake
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the person, you will meet the person. And in your own life, by and by, you will become aware that
           the body is just the outermost garment: you have to take care of it, it is not to be neglected, it is
           valuable, but it is not the end. You are the master, not the servant. And by and by, the more you
           penetrate withinwards, you will see that the mind also is an innermost garment -- more valuable
           than the body but not more valuable than you. You remain the supreme value.
               Once you know your supreme value, you have become mature; and once you know your supreme
           value, you know the supreme value of all: all beings are Buddhas -- nobody is less than that; the
           whole of life is Divine; you are always walking on holy ground.
               It is said that when Moses went to the hill to meet his God, the bush was afire and from behind
           the bush he heard, 'Stop! Take your shoes off. This is holy ground.' I have always liked it, loved it.
           But all ground is holy ground and all bushes are afire with God. If you have not seen this yet you
           have missed much. Look again. All bushes are afire with God and from every bush comes the
           commandment, 'Stop and take your shoes off. It is holy ground you are walking on. All ground, the
           whole earth, the whole existence is sacred. Once you have that feeling entering you, I will call you
           mature -- not before that. A mature mind is a religious mind.

           The second question:

              WHY DO I MAKE MOUNTAINS OUT OF MOLEHILLS?


                Because the ego does not feel good, at ease, with molehills -- it wants mountains. Even if it is a
           misery, it should not be a molehill, it should be an Everest. Even if it is miserable, the ego doesn't
           want to be ordinarily miserable -- it wants to be extraordinarily miserable!
                Bernard Shaw is reported to have said, 'If I am not going to be the first in heaven, I would like to
           go to hell...but I would like to be the first.' In Christianity there is only one hell and Bernard Shaw
           never knew that in India we have a concept of seven hells. If he had heard about Hindu hells he
           would have chosen the seventh, because in the fifth he would have felt humiliated, others are still far
           ahead of him in the seventh -- the real sinners, the great sinners, are in the seventh!
                Either this way or that -- but one wants to be the first. Hence one goes on making mountains out
           of molehills.
                One woman hypochondriac died. The whole town felt relieved, the whole medical profession felt
           relieved, because she was a constant trouble to many people's heads, everywhere, all around. The
           family, the doctors, the physicians -- she had troubled everybody and nobody was of any help. And
           she relished the idea that nobody knew anything about the sort of disease she was suffering from --
           it was an extraordinary disease. In fact there was no disease.
                Then she died, and it was almost a celebration in the town. But when they opened the will, she
           had written in her will that her request had positively to be fulfilled. Her request was that a carved
           tombstone had to be put on her tomb with these words inscribed on it: Now will you believe I was
           sick?
           In this way she would haunt the whole town again.
                People go on and on, creating big problems out of nothing. I have talked to thousands of people
           about their problems and I have not come across a real problem yet! All problems are bogus -- you
           create them. Because without problems you feel empty... then there is nothing to do, nothing to fight
           with, nowhere to go. People go from one guru to another, from one master to another, from one
           psychoanalyst to another, from one encounter group to another, because if they don't go, they feel
           empty, and they suddenly feel life to be meaningless. You create problems so that you can feel that
           life is a great work, a growth, and you have to struggle hard.
                The ego can exist only when it struggles, remember -- when it fights. And if I tell you, 'Kill
           three flies and you will become enlightened, you will not believe me. You will say, 'Three flies?
           There doesn't seem to be much to that. And I will become enlightened? That doesn't seem to be
           likely. If I say you will have to kill seven hundred lions, of course that looks more like it!
                The greater the problem, the greater the challenge -- and with challenge your ego arises, soars
           high. You create problems. Problems don't exist.
                And now if you allow me, there are not even molehills. That too is your trick. You say, 'Yes,
           there may not be mountains, but molehills?' No, not even molehills are there -- those are your
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           creations. First you create molehills out of nothing, then you create mountains out of molehills. And
           the priests and the psychoanalysts and the gurus, they are happy because their whole trade exists
           because of you. If you don't create molehills out of nothing and you don't make your molehills into
           mountains, what will be the point of gurus helping you? First you have to be in a shape to be helped.
                The real masters have been saying something else. They have been saying, 'Please look what you
           are doing, what nonsense you are doing. First you create a problem, then you go in search of a
           solution. Just watch why you are creating the problem, just exactly in the beginning, when you are
           creating the problem, is the solution -- don't create it!' But that won't appeal to you because then
           you are suddenly thrown flat upon yourself. Nothing to do? No enlightenment? No satori? No
           samadhi? And you are deeply restless, empty, trying to stuff yourself with anything whatsoever.
                You don't have any problems -- only this much has to be understood.
           This very moment you can drop all problems
                because they are your creations. Have another look at your problems: the deeper you look, the
           smaller they will appear. Go on looking at them and by and by they will start disappearing. Go on
           gazing and suddenly you will find there is emptiness -- a beautiful emptiness surrounds you.
           Nothing to do, nothing to be, because you are already that.
                Enlightenment is not something to be achieved, it is just to be lived. When I say that I achieved
           enlightenment, I simply mean that I decided to live it. Enough is enough! And since then I have lived
           it. It is a decision that now you are not interested in creating problems -- that's all. It is a decision
           that now you are finished with all this nonsense of creating problems and finding solutions.
                All this nonsense is a game you are playing with yourself: you yourself are hiding and you
           yourself are seeking, you are both the parties. And you know it! That's why when I say it you smile,
           you laugh. I am not talking about anything ridiculous -- you understand it. You are laughing at
           yourself. Just watch yourself laughing, just look at your own smile -- you understand it. It has to be
           so because it is your own game: you are hiding and waiting for yourself to be able to seek and find
           yourself.
                You can find yourself right now because it is you that is hiding. That's why Zen masters go on
           hitting. Whenever somebody comes and says, 'l would like to be a Buddha, the master gets very
           angry. Because he is asking nonsense, he IS a Buddha. If Buddha comes to me and asks how to be a
           Buddha, what am I supposed to do? I will hit his head. 'Whom do you think you are befooling? You
           are a Buddha.'
                Don't make unnecessary trouble for yourself. And understanding will dawn on you if you watch
           how you make a problem bigger and bigger and bigger, how you spin it, and how you help the wheel
           to move faster and faster and faster. Then suddenly you are at the top of your misery and you are in
           need of the whole world's sympathy.
                One sannyasin, Marga, wrote me a letter. She said, 'Osho, I feel very sad because when you talk,
           you look at everyone except me.' Now, I am not looking at anybody, but I have got eyes, so they
           have to be somewhere. It is not that I am looking at somebody, I am not looking at anybody. And
           you can see in my eyes that they are empty, they are vacant. But if you are trying to find your
           reflection in them and you don't, great sadness comes to you. Now there is a new problem. Now the
           ego feels hurt -- looking at everybody else except you! Just watch how you have made yourself an
           exception; extraordinary you have become. I look at everybody, the ordinary mass, except you. You
           have become unique. If I look at Marga -- which I am not going to do! Since I received her letter, I
           am never going to look at her -- if I look at her then the ego can have another trip: that I look only
           at her. Then that will create a problem!
                You are a great problem-creator... just understand this and suddenly problems disappear. You are
           perfectly in shape; you are born perfect, that is the whole message. You are born perfect; perfection
           is your innermost nature. You have just to live it. Decide, and live it.
                But if you are not yet fed up with the game you can continue, but don't ask why. You know. The
           why is simple: the ego cannot exist in emptiness, it needs something to fight with. Even a ghost of
           your imagination will do, but you need to fight with someone. The ego exists only in conflict, the
           ego is not an entity, it is a tension. Whenever there is a conflict, the tension arises and the ego exists;'
           when there is no conflict the tension disappears and the ego disappears. Ego is not a thing -- it is
           just a tension.
                And of course nobody wants small tensions, everybody wants big tensions. If your own problems
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not enough, you start thinking about humanity and the world and the future... socialism,
           communism, and all that rubbish. You start thinking about it as if the whole world depends on your
           advice. Then you think, 'What is going to happen in Israel? What is going to happen in Africa?' And
           you go on advising, and you create problems. People become very excited, they cannot sleep because
           there is some war going on. They become very excited. Their own life is so ordinary that they will
           have to reach extraordinariness from some other source. The nation is in difficulty so they become
           identified with the nation. The culture is in difficulty, the society is in difficulty -- now there are big
           problems and you become identified. You are a Hindu and the Hindu culture is in difficulty; you are
           a Christian and the church is in difficulty. The whole world is at stake. Now you become big through
           your problem.
               The ego needs some problems. If you understand this, in the very understanding the mountains
           become molehills again, and then the molehills also disappear. Suddenly there is emptiness, pure
           emptiness all around. This is what enlightenment is all about -- a deep understanding that there is
           no problem.
               Then, with no problem to solve, what will you do? Immediately you start living. You will eat,
           you will sleep, you will love, you will have a chit-chat, you will sing, you will dance -- what else is
           there to do? You have become a God, you have started living.
               If there is any God, one thing is certain: he will not have any problems. That much is certain.
           Then what is he doing with all his time? No problems, no psychiatrist to consult, no gurus to go and
           surrender to... what is God doing? What will he do? He must be getting crazy, whirling. No, he is
           living; his life is totally full with life. He is eating, sleeping, dancing, having a love affair -- but
           without any problems.
               Start living this moment and you will see that the more you live, the less problems there are.
           Because now that your emptiness is flowering and living there is no need. When you don't live, the
           same energy goes sour. The same energy which would have become a flower, is stuck; not being
           allowed to bloom it becomes a thorn in the heart. It is the same energy.
               Force a small child to sit in the corner and tell him to become completely immobile, unmoving.
           Watch what happens...just a few minutes before, he was perfectly at ease, flowing; now his face will
           become red because he will have to strain, hold himself. His whole body will become rigid and he
           will try to fidget here and there and he will want to jump out of himself. You have forced the energy
           -- now it has no purpose, no meaning, no space to move, nowhere to bloom and flower; it is stuck,
           frozen, rigid. The child is suffering a short death, a temporary death. Now if you don't allow the
           child to run again and move around the garden and play, he will start creating problems, he will
           fantasize; in his mind he will Create problems and start fighting with those problems. He will see a
           big dog and he will get afraid, or he will see a ghost and he will have to fight and escape from him.
           Now he is creating problems. The same energy that was just a moment before flowing all around, in
           all directions, is stuck and becoming sour.
               If people can dance a little more, sing a little more, be a little more crazy, their energy will be
           flowing more, and their problems will by and by disappear. Hence I insist so much on dance. Dance
           to orgasm; let the whole energy become dance, and suddenly you will see that you don't have any
           head -- the stuck energy in the head is moving all around, creating beautiful patterns, pictures,
           movement. And when you dance there comes a moment when your body is no longer a rigid thing, it
           becomes flexible, flowing. When you dance there comes a moment when your boundary is no longer
           so clear; you melt and merge with the cosmos, the boundaries are mixing.
               Watch a dancer -- you will see that he has become an energy phenomenon, no longer in a fixed
           form, no longer in a frame. He is flowing out of his frame, out OT his form, and becoming more
           alive, more and more alive. But only if you dance yourself will you know what really happens. The
           head inside disappears; again you are a child. Then you don't create any problems.
               Live, dance, eat, sleep, do things as totally as possible. And remember again and again:
           whenever you catch yourself creating any problem, slip out of it, immediately. Once you get into the
           problem then a solution will be needed. And even if you find a solution, out of that solution a
           thousand and one problems will arise again. Once you miss the first step you are in the trap.
           Whenever you see that now you are slipping into a problem, catch hold of yourself, run, jump,
           dance, but don't get into the problem. Do something immediately so that the energy that was creating
           the problems becomes fluid, unfrozen, melts, goes back to the cosmos.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Primitive people don't have many problems. I have come across primitive groups in India who
           say they don't dream at all. Freud would not be able to believe that it is possible. They don't dream,
           but if sometimes somebody dreams -- it is a rare phenomenon -- the whole village fasts, prays to
           God. Something has gone wrong, something wrong has happened... a man has dreamed.
               It never happens in their tribe because they live so totally that nothing is left in the head to be
           completed in the sleep. Whatsoever you leave incomplete has to be completed in your dreams;
           whatsoever you have not lived remains as a hang-over and completes itself in the mind -- that's
           what a dream is. The whole day you go on thinking. The thinking simply shows that you have more
           energy than you use for living; you have more energy than your so-called life needs.
               You are missing real life. Use more energy. Then fresh energies will be flowing. Just don't be a
           miser. Use them today; let today be complete unto itself; tomorrow will take care of itself, don't be
           worried about tomorrow. The worry, the problem, the anxiety, all simply show one thing: that you
           are not living rightly, that your life is not yet a celebration, a dance, a festivity. Hence all the
           problems.
               If you live, ego disappears. Life knows no ego, it knows only living and living and living. Life
           knows no self, no center; life knows no separation. You breathe -- life enters into you; you exhale
           you enter into life. There is no separation. You eat, and trees enter into you through the fruit. Then
           one day you die, you are buried in the earth, and the trees suck you up and you become fruits. Your
           children will eat you again. You have been eating your ancestors -- the trees have converted them
           into fruits. You think you are a vegetarian? Don't be deceived by appearances. We are all cannibals.
               Life is one, it goes on moving. It comes into you; it passes through you. In fact to say that it
           comes into you isn't right, because then it seems as if life comes into you, and then passes out of you.
           You don't exist -- only this life's coming and going does. You don't exist -- only life exists in its
           tremendous forms, in its energy, in its millions of delights. Once you understand this, let that
           understanding be the only law.
               And start living as Buddhas from this very moment. If you decide otherwise, it is for you to
           decide -- but as I see it, it is a decision: 'I am not going to befool myself anymore. Now I start living
           as a Buddha, in emptiness. I will not try to find unnecessary occupations. I dissolve.'

           The third question:

              I NOTICE THAT DEEP DOWN I WANT TO BE LOVED, ACCEPTED, LIKE THE GREATEST MAN
              ON EARTH, THAT I WANT TO BE THE MOST FAMOUS PERSON. AND I FEEL HURT WHEN
              SOMEONE REJECTS ME. WHAT TO DO WITH THESE DREAMS?


               If you understand that they are dreams then wash your face and have a cup of tea. What is there
           to be done about it? Dreams are dreams -- why be bothered?
               But you don't understand that they are dreams. This is borrowed. You know that they are not
           dreams -- that s why you are worried. Otherwise why be worried? If in a dream you see that you
           have fallen ill, when you wake up in the morning do you go to the doctor?
               In my dream I was very ill and now some medication is needed. You never go. You realize it was
           a dream -- finished! What is the point of going to a doctor?
               But you have not yet understood that these are dreams. These are realities for you -- hence the
           problem.
               I NOTICE THAT DEEP DOWN I WANT TO BE LOVED. If you want to be loved -- love!
           Because whatsoever you give is returned back. If you want to be loved forget about wanting to be
           loved, and in a thousand ways love will come to you. Life reflects, life resounds, life echoes
           whatsoever you throw at life. So if you want to be loved forget about wanting and being loved --
           that is not the point at all then. Then simple is the rule -- love.
               And if you want to be accepted like the greatest man on earth, then start accepting everybody as
           the greatest man on earth. Otherwise how are they going to accept you as the greatest? They are also
           on the same trip. They are not going to accept you as the greatest because then what will happen to
           them? If you are the greatest, then who are they? Nobody wants to be anything else.
               Once it happened, a friend of Mulla Nasruddin was talking to Mulla Nasruddin. They had met
           after many -- years. Both were bitter rivals; both were poets. Both started to boast about the progress
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they had made in their careers.
           'You have no idea, Nasruddin, how many people read my poetry now,' bragged the friend. 'My
           readers have doubled.'
           'My God, my God!' cried Nasruddin. 'I had no idea you got married!'
               Everybody is on the same trip. If you want people to accept you as the greatest man on earth, let
           this be the rule: whatsoever you want others to do for you, do for them. But that is the trouble. The
           ego wants you to be the greatest man on earth -- nobody else. Then you will feel hurt. Because all
           are on the same trip -- can't you understand the simple point? They are also waiting for you to
           accept them as the greatest man.
               I heard Mulla Nasruddin once. He was delivering a political speech.
               He Said, 'It is with some trepidation that I address an audience of people all of whom are smarter
           than I am... all of them put together, that is.'
               Everybody is trying to be at the top of the world -- then you are in competition with the whole
           world. Remember, you are going to be defeated. One man fighting against the whole world -- that is
           the situation.
               If you see the point, there are two ways. One, forget about this trip, be ordinary, simple,
           whatsoever you are. There is no need to be great, the only need is to be real. Great is the wrong goal.
           To be real.... I have come across a hip slogan: Be realistic -- plan for a miracle. Yes. that s how it is.
           If you ale really realistic, you start living the miracle. And the miracle is: if you are real, you don't
           want to be bothered with competition, comparison. Who bothers? You enjoy your food, you enjoy
           your breathing, you enjoy the sunlight, you enjoy the stars, you enjoy life, you enjoy being alive --
           you are perfectly in tune. in harmony with the Whole. What is the point of being a great man? The
           great men, the so-called great men, are almost always phony -- they have to be. They cannot be real
           persons. They are plastic. Because they have chosen a wrong goal: to be great is an ego goal; to be
           real is existential.
               If you want to be great you will be in continuous conflict. And of course you will be hurt by
           everybody. Not that everybody is trying to hurt you, they are doing their own trip. You are
           unnecessarily coming in their way.
               Get out of this rat race. Sit under the tree by the side of the road; it is tremendously beautiful and
           silent. Otherwise be ready to be hurt.
               One politician used to come to me. Once he was the president of the Indian National Congress --
           a great man in India.
               And he told me, 'I am such a simple man. Why do people go on spreading nasty things about me?
           Why do people want to hurt me?'
               I told him, 'Nobody wants to hurt you. You are unnecessarily coming in their way. They also
           want to be president of great parties -- you are standing in their way. They have to push you away.'
           I told him, 'You just remember what you did to the president before you. The same thing they are
           trying to do with you -- leg-pulling.'
               Once you are in a power post you are continuously being pulled and pushed. It has to be so.

           Ramakrishna used to tell a beautiful story.
               A bird was flying with a dead mouse and twenty or thirty birds were chasing him. The bird was
           very much worried.
           'I am not doing anything to them, I am just carrying my dead mouse. They are all after me.'
               And they hit him hard and in the conflict, in the struggle, the bird opened his mouth and the
           mouse dropped. Immediately they all flew towards the mouse; they all forgot about him.
           Then he sat upon a tree and brooded.
               They were not against him, they were also on the same trip -- they wanted the mouse.
               If people are hurting you, open your mouth. You must be carrying a dead mouse! Drop it! And
           then sit -- if you can, sit on the tree or under the tree and brood. And suddenly you will see that they
           have forgotten about you. They are not concerned. They never were concerned. The ego is a dead
           mouse.
               Jones' oldest daughter had just given birth to a beautiful baby and Jones was being congratulated.
               He looked downcast, however, and a friend said, 'What's the matter, Jones? Don't you like the
           idea of being a grandfather?'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Jones heaved an enormous sigh. 'No,' he said, 'I don't, but that doesn't bother me so much. It is
           just that it is so humiliating to have to go to bed with a grandmother.'
               Just watch your mind -- how it creates problems. The woman remains the same but now she has
           become a grandmother -- and one feels humiliated.
               It is your idea that is giving you humiliation. If you are really concerned with your own
           well-being then nobody is hurting you -- just your own ideas. Drop them.
               Or, two, it you feel good with them, don't be worried about the hurts. Carry them. But you have a
           decision inside. If you want the ego trip, if you want to be the greatest man in the world, then
           everybody is going to prove that you are the worst man in the world. Then have courage and heart to
           suffer all that. It is futile, but if you choose that way, it is your choice. If you really want your
           well-being and your inner calm and silence and bliss, then these hurts are indicative: you are
           carrying some wrong ideas within you.
           Drop those ideas.

           The last question:,

              I DON'T HAVE A QUESTION -- JUST A FEELING OF HOPELESSNESS. I CAN'T BELIEVE MY
              QUESTIONS, I HAVE A FEELING THEY COME FROM SOMETHING BRITTLE AND UNREAL.


               I DON'T HAVE A QUESTION -- JUST A FEELING OF HOPELESSNESS. How does
           hopelessness arise? You must be hoping too much; it comes out of too much hope.
               If you don't hope, all hopelessness disappears. If you expect too much, frustration is bound to
           come. if you are trying to succeed, you are bound to fail. Whatsoever you want to try too hard, just
           the opposite will happen.
               You must have been trying too hard to fulfill some hope then hopelessness comes. If you really
           want to get rid of hopelessness -- and everybody wants that -- then get rid of hope. Drop all hope
           and suddenly you will see that with the hope, hopelessness has disappeared. Then one comes to an
           inner tranquillity where no hope exists -- and no hopelessness. One is simply calm and quiet and
           collected -- a deep reservoir of energy, a pool of energy, cool.
               But for that you have to sacrifice hope. The question shows that you are still hoping.... Go a little
           more deeper and further: if you are really hopeless, hopelessness will disappear.
               Let me tell it to you another way. Whenever a person says that he is hopeless he simply says he
           is still clinging to the same hope which has proved to be futile, of which there is no indication of
           being fulfilled at all. One goes on holding it, hoping against all hope. Then hopelessness continues.
               Don't hope for anything. There is no need because all that you can hope for is already given.
           What more can you hope for?
               You are here, everything is here -- just being is all. But you don't appreciate, you are asking for
           some dead mouse, some power trip, some ego trip, some success in the eyes of the world. Those are
           not going to be fulfilled, even Alexanders have failed. Even Alexander dies a poor man, a beggar,
           because everything that you accumulate is snatched back from you, you go empty-handed.
           Empty-handed you come; empty-handed you go.
               So why bother about success, riches, power -- material or spiritual? Just be.... And being is the
           greatest miracle. Turn within yourself -- what Buddha calls PARABVRUTTI. Turn yourself a
           complete turn, a total turn, and suddenly you are so full of joy, you don't need anything. In fact you
           have so much that you would like to shower it on others.
               But things go on moving from one extreme to another. You hope -- then by and by the
           pendulum moves towards hopelessness. If you are too much in love with life, by and by you move
           towards suicide. If you are too religious, by and by you move and become anti-religious. The
           pendulum goes on moving towards the opposite.
               Somewhere in the middle one has to stop. And if you stop in the middle, time stops with you.
           And when time stops, all hope, all desires have stopped. You start living. Now, now is the only time
           and here is the only space.
               Let me tell you one story. It is a very beautiful Jewish anecdote.
               Young Sammy Moskowitz had just bought himself a motor scooter, but he had been brought up
           in orthodox fashion and wasn't the least bit sure whether it was fitting for an orthodox Jew to ride
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one. He thought that the best way out would be to get his reverend rabbi to teach him a barucha -- a
           traditional prayer of blessing -- to intone over the motor scooter before he drove it. Surely that
           would make it proper for him to use it.
                He therefore approached his rabbi and said, 'Rabbi, I have bought a motor scooter and I wish to
           know if you could teach me a barucha to say over it each morning.'
           The rabbi said, 'What is a motor scooter?'
                Sammy explained, and the rabbi shook his head. 'As far as I know, there is no appropriate
           barucha for the occasion and I strongly suspect that riding a motor scooter is a sin. I forbid you to
           use it.'
                Sammy was very downhearted for from his very soul he longed to drive his motor scooter, which
           had set him back a considerable sum. A thought occurred to him. Why not seek a second and perhaps
           more liberal opinion -- from a rabbi who was not orthodox, but merely conservative?
                He found a conservative rabbi, who, unlike the orthodox rabbi earlier consulted, was not in the
           traditional long coat at all but wore a dark business suit. The conservative rabbi said, What is a
           motor scooter?'
           Sammy explained.
                The rabbi thought for a while, then said, 'I suppose there's nothing wrong about riding a motor
           scooter, but still I don't know of any appropriate barucha and if your conscience hurts you without
           one, then don't drive it.'
                He journeyed out to the suburbs and met Rabbi Richmond Ellis, in his knickerbockers, about to
           leave for the golf-links on his motor scooter.
                Sammy grew terribly excited, 'It's all right for a Jew to ride a motor scooter?' he said. 'I've got
           one but I didn't know.'
           'Sure, kid,' said the rabbi. 'Nothing wrong with the motor scooter at all. Ride it in good health.'
           'Then give me a barucha for it.'
                The reformed rabbi thought, then said, 'What's a barucha?'
                The orthodox doesn't know what a motor scooter is and the progressive is not aware of what a
           barucha is.
                From religion, too much dogmatic religion, people become too irreligious. When they leave the
           church, they move to the prostitute.
                Somewhere a deep balance is needed. Just between the two, exactly between the two, is
           transcendence.
                So, you have lived with hope -- now the hope has failed and you are living in hopelessness.
           Now, let hopelessness also fail; you drop hope and hopelessness together. You just transcend that
           attitude which lives in the future. Live here now! Living in hope is living in the future, which is
           really postponing life. It is not a way of living, but a way of suicide. There is no need for any hope
           and there is no need to feel hopeless. Live here now. Life is tremendously blissful, it is showering
           here and you are looking somewhere else. It is just in front of your eyes, but your eyes have moved
           far away, they look at the horizon. It is within you, but you are not there.
                I am not for hope; I am not for hopelessness. I am against all extremism. All excess is futile.
                Buddha used to say, 'My path is the middle path.' That is the path of transcendence.




                                         Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                   Chapter #3
                                  Chapter title: The Halo of Yakushi-Buddha
           23 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602230
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN03
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   Video:    No
                  Length: 83 mins




              ONE WINTER DAY, A MASTERLESS SAMURAI CAME TO EISAI'S TEMPLE AND MADE AN
              APPEAL: 'I'M POOR AND SICK,' HE SAID, 'AND MY FAMILY IS DYING OF HUNGER. PLEASE
              HELP US, MASTER.'



              DEPENDENT AS HE WAS ON WIDOWS' MITES, EISAI'S LIFE WAS VERY AUSTERE, AND HE
              HAD NOTHING TO GIVE.



              HE WAS ABOUT TO SEND THE SAMURAI OFF WHEN HE REMEMBERED THE IMAGE OF
              YAKUSHI-BUDDHA IN THE HALL. GOING UP TO IT HE TORE OFF ITS HALO AND GAVE IT TO
              THE SAMURAI. 'SELL THIS,' SAID EISAI, 'IT SHOULD TIDE YOU OVER.' THE BEWILDERED BUT
              DESPERATE SAMURAI TOOK THE HALO AND LEFT.
              'MASTER!' CRIED ONE OF EISAI'S DISCIPLES, 'THAT'S SACRILEGE! HOW COULD YOU DO
              SUCH A THING?'
              'SACRILEGE? BAH! I HAVE MERELY PUT THE BUDDHA'S MIND, WHICH IS FULL OF LOVE AND
              MERCY, TO USE, SO TO SPEAK. INDEED, IF HE HIMSELF HAD HEARD THAT POOR SAMURAI
              HE'D HAVE CUT OFF A LIMB FOR HIM.'


               MEDITATION is a flower and compassion is its fragrance.
               Exactly like that it happens. The flower blooms and the fragrance spreads on the winds in all
           directions, to be carried to the very ends of earth. But the basic thing is the blooming of the flower.
               Man is also carrying a potentiality for flowering within him. Until and unless the inner being of
           man flowers, the fragrance of compassion is not possible. Compassion cannot be practiced. It is not a
           discipline. You cannot manage it. It is beyond you. If you meditate, one day, suddenly, you become
           aware of a new phenomenon, absolutely strange -- from your being compassion is flowing towards
           the whole of existence; undirected, unaddressed, it is moving to the very ends of existence.
               Without meditation, energy remains passion; with meditation, the same energy becomes
           compassion. Passion and compassion are not two energies, they are one and the same energy. Once it
           passes through meditation, it is transformed, transfigured; it becomes qualitatively different. Passion
           moves downwards, compassion moves upwards; passion moves through desire, compassion moves
           through desirelessness; passion is an occupation to forget the miseries in which you live, compassion
           is a celebration, it is a dance of attainment, of fulfillment...you are so fulfilled that you can share.
           Now there is nothing left; you have attained the destiny that you were carrying for millennia within
           you like an unflowered potentiality, just a bud. Now it has flowered and it is dancing. You have
           attained, you are fulfilled, there is no more to attain, nowhere to go, nothing to do.
               Now what will happen to the energy? You start sharing. The same energy that was moving
           through the dark layers of passion, now moves with light rays upwards, uncontaminated by any
           desire, uncontaminated by any conditioning. It is uncorrupted by any motivation -- hence I call it
           fragrance. The flower is limited but not the fragrance. The flower has limitations it is rooted
           somewhere in bondage. but fragrance has no bondage. It simply moves, rides on the winds; it has no
           moorings in the earth.
               Meditation is a flower. It has roots. It exists in you. Once compassion happens, it is not rooted; it
           simply moves and goes on moving. Buddha has disappeared but not his compassion. The flower will
           die sooner or later -- it is part of earth and the dust will return unto dust -- but the fragrance that has
           been released will remain forever and forever. Buddha has gone, Jesus has gone, but not their
           fragrance. Their compassion still continues and whoever is open to their compassion will
           immediately feel its impact, will be moved by it, will be taken on a new journey, on a new
           pilgrimage.
               Compassion is not limited to the flower -- it comes from the flower but it is not of the flower. It
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           comes through the flower, the flower is just a passage. but it comes really from the beyond. It cannot
           come without the flower -- the flower is a necessary stage -- but it does not belong to the flower.
           Once the flower has bloomed, compassion is released.
                This insistence, this emphasis, has to be deeply understood, because if you miss the point you
           can start practicing compassion but then it is not real fragrance. A practiced compassion is just the
           same passion with a new name. It is the same desire-contaminated, motivation-corrupted energy and
           it can become very dangerous to other people -- because in the name of compassion you can destroy,
           in the name of compassion, you can create bondage. It is not compassion, and if you practice it, you
           are being artificial, formal -- in fact a hypocrite.

               The first thing to be remembered continuously is that compassion cannot be practiced. It is this
           point where all the followers of all the great religious teachers have missed. Buddha attained
           compassion through meditation -- now Buddhists go on practicing compassion. Jesus attained
           compassion through meditation -- now Christians, the Christian missionaries, go on practicing love,
           compassion, service to humanity but their compassion has proved to be a very destructive force in
           the world. Their compassion has created only wars; their compassion has destroyed millions of
           people. They end up in deep imprisonments.
               Compassion frees you, gives you freedom, but that compassion has to come only through
           meditation, there is no other way to it. Buddha has said that compassion is a by-product, a
           consequence. You cannot catch hold of the consequence directly, you have to move; you have to
           produce the cause, and the effect follows. So if you really want to understand what compassion is
           you have to understand what meditation is. Forget all about compassion; it comes on its own accord.
               Try to understand what meditation is. Compassion can become a criterion as to whether the
           meditation was right or not. If the meditation has been right, compassion is bound to come -- it is
           natural; it follows like a shadow. If the meditation has been wrong then compassion will not follow.
           So compassion can work as a criterion as to whether the meditation has been really right or not. And
           a meditation can be wrong. People have a wrong notion that all meditations are right; It is not so.
           Meditations can be wrong. For example, any meditation that leads you deep into concentration is
           wrong -- it will not result in compassion. You will become more and more closed rather than
           becoming open. If you narrow down your Consciousness concentrate on something, and you exclude
           the whole of existence and become one-pointed, it will create more and more tension in you. Hence
           the word 'attention'. It means 'at-tension'. Concentration, the very sound of the word, gives you a
           feeling of tenseness.
               Concentration has its uses but it is not meditation. In scientific work, in scientific research, in the
           science lab, you need concentration. You have to concentrate on one problem and exclude
           everything else -- so much so that you almost become unmindful of the remaining world. The only
           problem that you are concentrating upon is your world. That's why scientists become absent-minded.
           People who concentrate too much always become absent-minded because they don't know how to
           remain open to the whole world.
           I was reading an anecdote.
           'I have brought a frog,' said a scientist, a professor of zoology, beaming at his class, 'fresh from the
           pond, in order that we might study its outer appearance and later dissect it.'
           He carefully unwrapped the package he carried and inside was a neatly prepared ham sandwich. The
           good professor looked at it with astonishment.
           'Odd!' he said, 'I distinctly remember having eaten my lunch.

               That goes on happening to scientists. They become one-pointed and their whole mind becomes
           narrow. Of course, a narrow mind has its use: it becomes more penetrating, it becomes like a sharp
           needle, it hits exactly the right point, but it misses the great life that surrounds it.
               A Buddha is not a man of concentration, he is a man of awareness. He has not been trying to
           narrow down his consciousness; on the contrary, he has been trying to drop all barriers so that he
           becomes totally available to existence. Watch...existence is simultaneous. I am speaking here and the
           traffic noise is simultaneous. The train, the birds the wind blowing through the trees -- in this
           moment the whole of existence converges. You listening to me, I speaking to you, and millions of
           things going on -- it is tremendously rich.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Concentration makes you one-pointed at a very great cost: ninety-nine per cent of life is
           discarded. If you are solving a mathematical problem, you cannot listen to the birds -- they will be a
           distraction. Children playing around, dogs barking in the street -- they will be a distraction. Because
           of concentration, people have tried to escape from life -- to go to the Himalayas, to go to a cave, to
           remain isolated, so that you can concentrate on God. But God is not an object. God is this wholeness
           of existence, this moment; God is the totality. That's why science will never be able to know God.
           The very method of science is concentration and because of that method, science can never know
           God.
               It can know more and more minute details. First the molecule was thought to be the last particle,
           then it was divided. Then an even tinier part, the atom, was known, then concentration divided that
           also. Now there are electrons, protons, neutrons -- sooner or later they are also going to be divided.
           Science goes on from the smaller to the smaller, and the bigger, the vast, is completely forgotten.
           The whole is completely forgotten for the part. Science can never know God because of
           concentration. So when people come to me and they say, 'Osho, teach us concentration, we want to
           know God,: I'm simply puzzled. They have not understood the basics of the search.
               Science is one-pointed; the search is objective. Religion is simultaneity; the object is the whole,
           the total. To know the total, that is, to know God, you will have to have a consciousness which is
           open from everywhere -- not confined, not standing in a window. Otherwise the frame of the window
           will become the frame of existence. Just standing under the sun in the open sky -- that is what
           meditation is. Meditation has no frame: it is not a window, it is not a door. Meditation is not
           concentration, it is not attention -- meditation is awareness.
               So what to do? Repeating a mantra, doing transcendental meditation, is not going to help.
           Transcendental meditation has become very important in America because of the objective approach,
           because of the scientific mind. Now it is the only meditation on which scientific work can be done. It
           is exactly concentration and not meditation, so it is comprehensible for the scientific mind. In the
           universities, in the science laboratories, in psychological research work, much is being done about
           TM, because it is not meditation. It is concentration, a method of concentration; it falls under the
           same category as scientific concentration; there is a link between the two. But it has nothing to do
           with meditation. Meditation is so vast, so tremendously infinite, that no scientific research is
           possible. Only compassion will show whether the man has achieved or not. Alpha waves won't be of
           much help because they are still of the mind and meditation is not of the mind -- it is something
           beyond.
               So, let me tell you a few basic things. One, meditation is not concentration but relaxation -- one
           simply relaxes into oneself. The more you relax, the more you feel yourself open, vulnerable, the
           more you are less rigid, you are more flexible -- and suddenly existence starts penetrating you. You
           are no longer like a rock, you have openings. Relaxation means allowing yourself to fall into a state
           where you are not doing anything, because if you are doing something, tension will continue. It is a
           state of non-doing. You simply relax and you enjoy the feeling of relaxation. Relax into yourself,
           just close your eyes, and listen to all that is happening all around. No need to feel anything as
           distraction. The moment you feel it is a distraction, you are denying God. This moment God has
           come to you as a bird. Don't deny. He has knocked at your door as a bird. The next moment he has
           come as a dog -- barking, or as a child crying and weeping, or as a madman laughing. Don't deny;
           don't reject; accept -- because if you deny you will become tense. All denials create tension. Accept.
           If you want to relax, acceptance is the way. Accept whatsoever is happening all around; let it become
           an organic whole. It is -- you may know it or you may not know it. Everything is inter-related. These
           birds, these trees, this sky, this sun, this earth, you, me -- all are related. It is an organic unity. If the
           sun disappears, the trees will disappear; if the trees disappear, the birds will disappear; if the birds
           and trees disappear, you cannot be here, you will disappear. It is an ecology. Everything is deeply
           related with each other.
               So don't deny anything, because the moment you deny, you are denying something in you. If you
           deny these singing birds then something in you is denied.
               Once it happened that it was spring. The weather was delightful and I was sitting on a park
           bench. I enjoyed the spring, the birds, the air and the sun. I listened to the melodious chirping of
           numerous birds.
               A stranger was also sitting on the same bench. I turned to him and said to him, 'Is not the music
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of the birds delightful?'
                But he must have been a religious man. He was doing some mantra. He felt disturbed. He felt as
           if I had interfered.
                He scowled and said, 'How the devil can I hear what you are saying over the damned noise of
           those stupid birds?'
                But if you deny, reject, if you feel distracted, if you feel angry, you are rejecting something
           within you. Just listen again to the birds without any feeling of distraction, anger, and suddenly you
           will see that the bird within you responds. Then those birds are not there as strangers, intruders --
           suddenly the whole existence becomes a family. It is, and I call a man religious who has come to
           understand that the whole existence is a family. He may not go to any church, he may not worship in
           any temple, he may not pray at any mosque or gurudwara -- that doesn't matter. That is almost
           irrelevant. If you do, good, it is okay; if you don't that is even better. But one who has understood the
           organic unity of existence is constantly in the temple, is constantly facing the sacred and the Divine.
                But if you are doing some stupid mantra you will think these birds are stupid. If you are
           repeating some nonsense within you, or thinking some trivia -- you may call it philosophy, religion
           -- then these birds become distractions. Their sounds are simply Divine. They don't say anything,
           they are simply bubbling with delight. Their song has no meaning except an overflowing of energy.
           They want to share with existence, with the trees, with the flowers, with you. They have nothing to
           say; they are just being there, themselves.
                If you relax, you accept; acceptance of existence is the only way to relax. If small things disturb
           you then it is your attitude that is disturbing you. Sit silently; listen to all that is happening all
           around, and relax; accept, relax -- and suddenly you will feel immense energy arising in you. That
           energy will be felt first is a deepening of your breath. Ordinarily your breath is very shallow and
           sometimes if you try to have deep breaths, if you start doing PRANAYAM, you start forcing
           something, you make an effort. That effort is not needed. You simply accept life, relax, and suddenly
           you will see that your breath is going deeper than ever. Relax more and the breath goes deeper in
           you. It becomes slow, rhythmic, and you can almost enjoy it; it gives a certain delight. Then you will
           become aware that breath is the bridge between you and the whole. Just watch. Don't do anything.
                And when I say watch, don't TRY to watch, otherwise you will become tense again, and you will
           start concentrating on the breath. Simply relax, remain relaxed, loose, and look...because what else
           can you do? You are there, nothing to be done, everything accepted, nothing to be denied, rejected,
           no struggle, no fight no conflict, breathing going deep -- what can you do? You simply watch.
           Remember, simply watch. Don't make an effort to watch. This is what Buddha has called
           VIPASSANA -- the watching of the breath, awareness of the breath -- or SATIPATTHANA --
           remembering, being alert of the life energy that moves in breath. Don't try to take deep breaths, don't
           try to inhale or exhale, don't do anything. You simply relax and let the breathing be natural -- going
           on its own, coming on its own -- and many things will become available to you.
                The first thing will be that breathing can be taken in two ways because it is a bridge. One part of
           it is joined with you, another part is joined with existence. So it can be understood in two ways. You
           can take it as a voluntary thing. If you want to inhale deeply, you can inhale deeply; if you want to
           exhale deeply, you can exhale deeply. You can do something about it. One part is joined with you.
           But if you don't do anything, then too it continues. No need for you to do anything and it continues.
           It is non-voluntary also.
                The other part is joined with existence itself. You can think of it as if you are taking it in, you are
           breathing it, or you can think in just the opposite way -- that it is breathing you. And the other way
           has to be understood because that will lead you into deep relaxation. It is not that you are breathing,
           but existence is breathing you. It is a change of gestalt, and it happens on its own. If you go on
           relaxing, accepting everything, relaxing into yourself, by and by, suddenly, you become aware that
           you are not taking these breaths -- they are coming and going on their own. And so gracefully. With
           such dignity. With such rhythm. With such harmonious rhythm. Who is doing it? Existence is
           breathing you. It comes into you, goes out of you. Each moment it rejuvenates you, each moment it
           makes you alive again and again and again.
                Suddenly you see breathing as a happening... and this is how meditation should grow. And this
           you can do anywhere, in the marketplace also, because that noise is also Divine. And if you listen
           silently, even in the marketplace you will see a certain harmony in the noise. It is no longer a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           distraction. You can see many things if you are silent -- tremendous waves of energy moving all
           around. Once you accept, wherever you go you will feel
               The bird is not important but you will feel something tremendously great, you will feel
           something holy, something luminous, something mysterious. A miracle is constantly happening all
           around you but you go on missing it.
               Once meditation settles in you and you fall into rhythm with existence, compassion is a
           consequence. Suddenly you feel you are in love with the whole and the other is no longer the other --
           God. in the other also you live. And the tree is no longer just 'the tree there', somehow it is related to
           you. Everything becomes inter-related. You touch a leaf of grass and you have touched all the stars
           because everything is related. It cannot be otherwise. Existence is organic. It is one. It is a unity.
               Because we are not aware we don't see what we go on doing to ourselves. One thing happens and
           something which you have never thought that it was related to starts happening.
               Just the other night I was reading something about smell. The sensation, the capacity of smell,
           has almost disappeared from humanity. Animals are very sharp. A horse can smell for miles. A dog
           can smell more than a man. Just by the smell the dog knows that his master is coming, and after
           many years the dog will again recognize the smell that is his master's smell. Man has completely
           forgotten.
               What has happened to smell? What calamity has happened to smell? There seems to be no reason
           why smell has been so suppressed No culture anywhere has consciously suppressed it but it has
           become suppressed. It has become suppressed because of sex. Now, the whole of humanity lives
           with sex deeply suppressed -- and smell is connected with sex. Before making love, a dog will smell
           the partner because unless he smells a harmony deep down between the two bodies, he will not make
           love. Once the smell is fitting then he knows that now the bodies are in tune and they can fit and they
           can become a song -- even for a moment a unity is possible.
               Because sex has been suppressed all over the world, smell has become suppressed. The very
           word has become a little condemnatory. If I say to you, 'Do you hear?' or if I say to you, 'Do you
           see?' you don't feel offended. So, if I say, 'Do you smell?' one should not feel offended, it is the same
           language. Smell is a capacity; just like seeing and hearing, smelling is a capacity. When I ask, 'Do
           you smell?' one feels offended because one has completely forgotten that it is a capacity.
               There is a famous anecdote about an English thinker, Dr. Johnson. He was sitting in a stagecoach
           and a lady entered. She said to Dr. Johnson, 'Sir, you smell!'
               But he was a man of language, letters, a grammarian. He said, 'No, madam. You smell. I stink!'

               Smell is a capacity. 'You smell. I stink.' Linguistically he is right. That's how it should be if you
           follow grammar. But the very word has become very condemnatory. What has happened to smell?
           Once you suppress sex, smell is suppressed.
               You can read in the scriptures that people say, 'I saw God. Nobody says, 'I smelled God.' What is
           wrong in it? If eyes are right then why is nose wrong? In the Old Testament it is said that your face
           is beautiful and your taste is beautiful, but not your smell. Smell is not talked about. We talk about
           God's beatific vision, we never talk about his beatific smell.

               One sense is completely crippled -- and if you cripple one sense then one part of the mind is
           crippled. If you have five senses then your mind has five parts. One fifth of the mind is crippled and
           one never knows. That means one fifth of life is crippled.
               The implications are tremendous. If you touch a small thing somewhere it reverberates all over.
           Accept everything. I was talking to you a few minutes before about repressing sex: because of
           repressing sex, smell has been repressed, and because of repressing sex your breathing has become
           shallow -- because if you breathe deep, your breathing massages the sex center inside. People come
           to me and say, 'If we really breathe, we feel more sexual.' If you make love to a woman your
           breathing will become very deep. If you keep your breathing shallow you will not be able to achieve
           orgasm. The breathing hits hard, deep down in the sex center; from the within it massages the sex
           center.
               Because sex has been repressed, and because breathing is repressed people have become
           incapable of meditation. Now look at the whole thing. What nonsense we have done! Repressing sex
           we have repressed breathing and breathing is the only bridge between you and the whole.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Gurdjieff is right when he says that almost all religions have behaved in such a way that they
           seem to be against God. They talk about God but they seem to be basically against God. The way
           they have behaved is against God. Now that breathing is repressed, the bridge is broken. You can
           only breathe shallowly you never go deep, and if you cannot go deep in yourself, you cannot go deep
           in existence.

                Buddha makes breathing the very foundation. A deep, relaxed breathing, an awareness of it,
           gives you such tremendous silence, relaxation, that by and by you simply merge, melt, disappear.
           You are no longer a separate island, you start vibrating with the whole. Then you are not a separate
           note but part of this whole symphony. Then compassion arises.
                Compassion arises only when you can see that everybody is related to you. Compassion arises
           only when you see that you are a member of everybody and everybody is a member of you. Nobody
           is separate. When the illusion of separation drops, compassion arises. Compassion is not a discipline.
                In the human experience, the relationship between a mother and her child is the closest to
           compassion. People call it love but it should not be called love. It is more like compassion than love
           because it has no passion in it. A mother's love for the child is closest to compassion. Why? Because
           the mother has known the child in herself; he was a member of her being. She has known the child as
           part of herself and even if the child is born and is growing the mother goes on feeling a subtle
           rhythm with the child. If the child feels ill, a thousand miles away the mother will immediately feel
           it. She may not be aware of what has happened but she will become depressed; she may not be aware
           that her child is suffering but she will start suffering. She will make some rationalization about why
           she is suffering -- her stomach is not okay, she has a headache, or something or other -- but now
           depth psychology says that the mother and the child always remain joined together with subtle
           energy, waves, because they go on vibrating on the same wavelength. The telepathy is easier
           between a mother and the child than between anybody else. Or, between twins -- between twins
           telepathy is very easy.

               Many experiments on telepathy have been done in Soviet Russian -- not of course for religion,
           they are trying to find out if telepathy can be used as a war technique. They will be able to use it
           because they are finding clues: twins are very telepathic. If one twin has a cold a thousand miles
           away the other starts having a cold. They vibrate on the same wavelength, they are affected by the
           same things within seconds. Because they have both lived in the same womb as part of each other;
           they have existed in the mother's womb together.
               A mother's feeling for the child is more of compassion because she feels he is her own.

           I was reading an anecdote.
               During the preliminary inspection of a Boy Scout Camp, the director found a large umbrella
           hidden in the bedroll of a tiny scouter, obviously not one of the items of equipment listed. The
           director asked the lad to explain. The tenderfoot did so neatly by asking, 'Sir, did you ever have a
           mother?'

               Mother means compassion, mother means feeling for the other as one feels for oneself. When a
           person moves deeply in meditation and attains to samadhi, he becomes a mother. Buddha is more
           like a mother than like a father. The Christian association with the word 'father' is not very
           meaningful or beautiful. To call God 'father' looks a little male-orientated. If there is any God he can
           only be a mother, not a father.
           'Father' is so institutional. A father is an institution. In nature a father doesn't exist. If you ask a
           linguist he will say that the word 'uncle' is older than the word 'father.' Uncles came first into
           existence because nobody knew who the father was. Once private property was fixed, once marriage
           became a private ownership, the institution of father entered into human life. It is very fragile, it can
           disappear any day. If the society changes, the institution can disappear, as many other institutions
           have disappeared. But mother is going to remain. Mother is natural.

              In the East, many people, many traditions, have called God, the mother. Their approach seems to
           be more relevant. Watch Buddha, his face seems more like a woman than like a man. In fact, because
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of that we have not depicted him as having a beard or mustache. Mahavir, Buddha, Krishna, Ram --
           you never see any mustache or beard on their faces. Not that they were lacking in some hormones
           they must have had beards, but we have not depicted them because that would give their faces a
           more male-like appearance. In the East we don't bother much about facts, but we bother much about
           relevance, significance. Of course, the statues of Buddha that you have seen are all false, but in the
           East we don't worry about that. The significance is that Buddha has become more womanly, more
           feminine. That is what I was telling you about, the first day: the shift from the left hemisphere of the
           brain to the right hemisphere of the brain, from the male to the female, the shift from the aggressive
           to the passive, the shift from the positive to the negative, the shift from effort to effortlessness. A
           Buddha is more feminine, more motherly. If you really become a meditator by and by you will see
           many changes in your being and you will feel more like a woman than like a man -- more graceful,
           more receptive, non-violent, loving. And a compassion will arise continuously from your being; it
           will be just a natural fragrance.

               Ordinarily whatsoever you call compassion goes on hiding your passion in it. Even if you
           sometimes feel sympathetic towards people, watch, dissect, go deeper into your feeling and
           somewhere you will find some motivation. In acts which look very compassionate, deep down you
           will always find some motivation.
               Once it happened that a man called Louie came back home. He was very shocked to find his wife
           in the arms of another man. He rushed out of the room crying, 'I am getting my shotgun.'
               His wife dashed after him despite her unclothed state, seized him and shouted, 'You fool, what
           are you getting excited about? It was my lover who paid for the new furniture we recently got, my
           new clothes, the extra money you thought I earned sewing, the little luxuries we have been able to
           buy -- they all came from him!'
               But Louie wrenched away and continued upstairs.
           'No shotgun, Louie!' yelled his wife.
           'What shotgun?' called back Louie. 'I am getting a blanket. That poor fellow will catch cold, Lying
           there like that.'

               Even if you feel, or you think you feel, or you pretend that you feel, compassion, just go deep
           and analyze it and you will always find some other motivation in it. It cannot be pure compassion
           and if it is not pure it is not compassion. Purity is a basic ingredient in compassion, otherwise it is
           something else -- it is more or less a formality. We have learned how to be formal: how to behave
           with your wife, how to behave with your husband, how to behave with your children, with friends,
           with your family. We have learned everything. Compassion is not something which can be learned;
           when you have unlearned ail formalities, all etiquette and manners, it arises in you. It is very wild; it
           doesn't taste of etiquette, of formality, they are all dead things compared to it. It is very alive, it is a
           flame of love.
               At the twelfth hole of a hotly-contested match, the grounds overlooked the highway and as Smith
           and Jones approached the green, they saw a funeral procession making its way along the road.
               At this, Smith stopped, took off his hat, placed it over his heart, and bent his head till the
           procession disappeared around the bend.
               Jones was astonished and after Smith had replaced his hat and returned to his game, he said,
           'That was delicate and respectful of your Smith.'
               Ah, well,' said Smith, 'I could not do less. I had been married to the woman for twenty years,
           after all.'
               Life has become plastic, artificial, formal, because you have to do certain things that you do. You
           of course reluctantly follow duties but if you miss much of life, it is natural, because life is possible
           only if you are alive, intensely alive. If your own flame has become covered by formalities, duties,
           rules, which you have to fulfill reluctantly, you can only drag. You may drag comfortably, your life
           may be a life of convenience, but it cannot be really alive.
               A really alive life is, in a way, chaotic. In a way, I say, because that chaos has its own discipline.
           It has no rules because it need not have any rules. It has the most basic rule in-built in it -- it need not
           have any external rules.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now the Zen story.

              ONE WINTER DAY, A MASTERLESS SAMURAI CAME TO EISAI'S TEMPLE AND MADE AN
              APPEAL: 'I AM POOR AND SICK,' HE SAID, 'AND MY FAMILY IS DYING OF HUNGER. PLEASE
              HELP US, MASTER.' DEPENDENT AS HE WAS ON WIDOWS' MITES, EISAI'S LIFE WAS VERY
              AUSTERE, AND HE HAD NOTHING TO GIVE.



              HE WAS ABOUT TO SEND THE SAMURAI OFF WHEN HE REMEMBERED THE IMAGE OF
              YAKUSHI-BUDDHA IN THE HALL. GOING UP TO IT HE TORE OFF ITS HALO AND GAVE IF TO
              THE SAMURAI. 'SELL THIS,' SAID EISAI, 'IT SHOULD TIDE YOU OVER.' THE BEWILDERED BUT
              DESPERATE SAMURAI TOOK THE HALO AND LEFT.
              'MASTER!' CRIED ONE OF EISAI'S DISCIPLES, 'THAT'S SACRILEGE! HOW COULD YOU DO
              SUCH A THING?'
              'SACRILEGE? BAH! I HAVE MERELY PUT THE BUDDHA'S MIND, WHICH IS FULL OF LOVE AND
              MERCY, TO USE, SO TO SPEAK. INDEED, IF HE HIMSELF HAD HEARD THAT POOR SAMURAI
              HE WOULD HAVE CUT OFF A LIMB FOR HIM.'


               A very simple story, but very significant. First, even when you have nothing to give, look again.
           You will always find something to give. Even when you have nothing to give, you can always find
           something to give. It is a question of attitude. If you cannot give anything, at least you can smile; if
           you cannot give anything, at least you can sit with the person and hold his hand. It is not a question
           of giving something, it is a question of giving.

               This Eisai was a poor monk as Buddhist monks are. His life was very austere and he had nothing
           to give. Ordinarily, it is an absolute sacrilege to take the halo off Buddha's statue and give it away.
           No so-called religious person could think of it. Only somebody who is really religious would -- that's
           why I say compassion knows no rules, compassion is beyond rules. It is wild. It follows no
           formalities.
               Then suddenly the Master remembered the image of Buddha in the hall. In Japan, in China, they
           put a gold halo around the head of the Buddha, just to show the aura around his head. Suddenly the
           Master remembered it -- every day he must have worshipped the same statue.
              GOING UP TO IT HE TORE OFF ITS HALO AND GAVE IT TO THE SAMURAI. 'SELL THIS,' SAID
              EISAI, 'IT SHOULD TIDE YOU OVER.' THE BEWILDERED BUT DESPERATE SAMURAI TOOK THE
              HALO AND LEFT.

               Even the samurai was bewildered. He had not expected this. Even he must have thought that this
           was sacrilege. What type of man is this? He is a follower of Buddha and he has destroyed the statue.
           Even to touch the statue is sacrilege and he has taken away the halo.
               This is the difference between a real religious person and a so-called religious person. The
           so-called religious person always Looks to the rule; he always thinks of what is proper and what is
           not proper. But a really religious person lives it. There is nothing proper and improper for him.
           Compassion is so infinitely proper that whatsoever you do through compassion becomes proper
           automatically.
              'MASTER!' CRIED ONE OF EISAI'S DISCIPLES, 'THAT'S SACRILEGE HOW COULD YOU DO
              SUCH A THING?' Even a disciple understands that this is not right. Something improper has been
              done. 'SACRILEGE? BAH! I HAVE MERELY PUT THE BUDDHA'S MIND WHICH IS FULL OF LOVE
              AND MERCY, TO GOOD USE, SO TO SPEAK. INDEED, IF HE HIMSELF HAD HEARD THAT POOR
              SAMURAI HE WOULD HAVE CUT OFF A LIMB FOR HIM.'


               To understand is something other than just to follow. When you follow, you become almost
           blind; then there are rules which have to be kept. If you understand, then too you follow, but you are
           no longer blind. But each moment decides, each moment your consciousness responds, and
           whatsoever you do is right.
               One of the most beautiful stories in Zen is about a Zen master who asked, one winter night, to be
           allowed to stay in a temple. He was shivering because the night was cold and snow was falling
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           outside. Of course, the temple priest sympathized and told him, 'You can stay, but only for the night,
           because this temple is not a sarai. In the morning you will have to go.'
               In the middle of the night the priest suddenly heard a noise. He came running and could not
           believe his eyes. The monk was sitting around a fire which he had made inside the temple. And one
           Buddha statue was missing.
           In Japan they make wooden Buddhas.
           The priest asked, 'Where is the statue?'
               The Master showed him the fire and he said, 'I was shivering and it was very cold.'
               The priest said, 'You seem to be mad! Don't you see what you have done? It was a Buddha
           statue. You have burnt Buddha!
               The Master looked in the fire, which was disappearing, and poked the fire with a stick.
           The priest asked, 'What are you doing?'
               He said, 'I am trying to find the bones of the Buddha.
               The priest said, 'You are certainly mad. It is a wooden Buddha. There are no bones in it.'
               Then the monk said, 'The night is still long and it is getting even colder, why not bring these two
           other Buddhas also?'
               Of course, he had to be thrown out of the temple immediately. This man was dangerous.
               When he was being thrown out he said, 'What are you doing throwing a live Buddha out? For a
           wooden Buddha? The alive Buddha was suffering so much I had to show compassion. If Buddha was
           alive he would have done the same. He would himself have given all those three statues to me. I
           know it. I know from my very heart that he would have done the same!'
               But who was there to listen to him? He was thrown out into the snow and the doors were closed.
               In the morning, when the priest went out, he saw the Master sitting near a milestone with a few
           flowers on top of it, worshipping it. The priest came again and said, 'What are you doing now?
           Worshipping a milestone?'
               The Master said, 'Whenever the time to pray comes, I create my Buddhas anywhere, because
           they are always all around. This milestone is as good as your wooden Buddhas inside!'
               It is a question of attitude. When you look with worshipful eyes then anything becomes Divine.

               And remember, the story about Eisai is easy to remember because the compassion is shown
           towards somebody else. This story is even more difficult and complex to understand because the
           compassion is shown towards oneself. A real man of understanding is neither hard towards others
           nor hard towards himself because it is one and the same energy. A real man of understanding is not a
           masochist; he is not a sadist, he is not a masochist. A real man of understanding simply understands
           that there is no separation -- all including himself is Divine. And he lives out this understanding.
               To live out of understanding is compassion. Never try to practice it, simply relax deep into
           meditation. Be in a state of let-go in meditation and suddenly you will be able to smell the fragrance
           that is coming from your own innermost depth. Then the flower blossoms and compassion spreads.
           Meditation is the flower and compassion is its fragrance.




                                         Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                    Chapter #4
                                      Chapter title: Be a light unto yourself
           24 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602240
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question:

              IS ZEN THE PATH OF SURRENDER? THEN HOW COME THE BASIC TEACHING OF BUDDHA IS
              'BE A LIGHT UNTO YOURSELF'?


                The essential surrender happens within you, it has nothing to do with anybody outside you. The
           basic surrender is a relaxation, a trust -- so don't be misguided by the word. Linguistically, surrender
           means to surrender to somebody, but religiously, surrender simply means trust, relaxing. It is an
           attitude rather than an act: you live through trust.
                Let me explain. You swim in water -- you go to the river and swim. What do you do? You trust
           water. A good swimmer trusts so much that he almost becomes one with the river. He is not fighting,
           he does not grab the water, he is not stiff and tense. If you are stiff and tense you will be drowned; if
           you are relaxed the river takes care. That's why whenever somebody dies, the dead body floats on the
           water. This is a miracle. Amazing! The alive person died and was drowned by the river, and the dead
           person simply floats on the surface. What has happened? The dead person knows some secret about
           the river which the alive person did not know. The alive person was fighting. The river was the
           enemy. He was afraid, he could not trust. But the dead person, not being there, how could he fight?
           The dead person is totally relaxed with no tension -- suddenly the body surfaces. The river takes
           care. No river can drown a dead person.
                Trust means you are not fighting; surrender means you don't think of life as the enemy but as the
           friend. Once you trust the river, suddenly you start enjoying. Tremendous delight arises: splashing,
           swimming, or just floating, or diving deep. But you are not separate from the river, you merge, you
           become one.
                Surrender means to live the same way in life as a good swimmer swims in the river. Life is a
           river. Either you can fight or you can float; either you can push the river and try to go against the c.
           or you can float with the river and go wherever the river leads you.
                Surrender is not towards somebody; it is simply a way of life. A God is not needed to surrender
           to. There are religions which believe in God, there are religions which don't believe in God, but all
           religions believe in surrender. So surrender is the real God.
                Even the concept of God can be discarded. Buddhism does not believe in any God, Jainism does
           not believe in any God -- but they are religions. Christianity believes in God, Islam believes in God,
           Sikhism believes in God -- they are also religions. The Christian teaches surrender to God; God is
           just an excuse to surrender. It is a help, because it will be difficult for you to surrender without any
           object. The object is just an excuse so that in the name of God you can surrender. Buddhism says
           simply surrender -- there is no God. You relax. It is not a question of some object, it is a question of
           your own subjectivity. Relax, don't fight. Accept.
                The belief in God is not needed. In fact, the word 'belief' is ugly. It does not show trust, it does
           not show faith -- belief is almost the very opposite of faith. The word 'belief' comes from a root 'lief'
           -- 'lief' means to desire, to wish. Now let me explain it to you. You say, 'I believe in God the
           compassionate.' What exactly are you saying? You are saying, 'I wish there was a God who is
           compassionate.' Whenever you say, 'I believe,' you say, 'I intensely desire.' But you don't know.
                If you know, there is no question of belief. Do you believe in the trees here? Do you believe in
           the sun which arises every morning? Do you believe in the stars? There is no question of belief. You
           know that the sun is there, that the trees are there. Nobody believes in the sun -- if he did, you would
           say he is mad. If somebody came and said, 'I believe in the sun,' and tried to convert you, you would
           say, 'You have gone mad!'

           I have heard an anecdote.
               A certain lady, Lady Lewis, was appointed ambassador to Italy by the United States of America.
           She was a recently converted Catholic, and, of course, when people become converted, they are very
           enthusiastic. And she was boring everybody. Whosoever she came into contact with, she would try
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and make him a Catholic.
               The story goes that when she went to Italy as the ambassador, she went to see the Pope. A long
           discussion followed -- it went on and on. A press reporter slipped closer and closer, just to hear what
           was going on. The Pope had never given so much time to anybody, and the discussion seemed to be
           very heated and hot. Something was going on. When the Pope talks so long to the ambassador of the
           richest and the strongest nation in the world, there is going to be some news.
               Just to overhear, he came closer and closer. He could hear only one sentence. The Pope was
           saying in a faltering English, 'Lady, you don't understand me. I am already a Catholic!'
           She was trying to convert the Pope!

                If somebody comes and says to you, 'Believe in the sun,' you will say, 'I am already a Catholic. I
           already believe. You don't be worried about it.' You know.
                Somebody asked Shri Aurobindo, 'Do you believe in God?' He said, 'No.' Of course the
           questioner was very shocked. He had come from far away, from Germany, and he was a great seeker
           of God and he was hoping for much. Then this man simply says a flat no. He said, 'But I was
           thinking that you have known him.' Aurobindo said, 'Yes, I have known him, but I don't believe in
           him.'
                Once you know, what is the point of belief? Belief is in ignorance. If you know, you know. And
           it is good that if you don't know, know that you don't know -- the belief can deceive you. The belief
           can create an atmosphere in your mind, where, without knowing, you start thinking that you know.
           Belief is not trust, and the more strongly you say that you believe totally, the more you are afraid of
           the doubt within you.
                Trust knows no doubt. Belief is just repressing doubt; it is a desire. When you say, 'I believe in
           God,' you say, 'I cannot live without God. It will be too difficult to exist in this darkness, surrounded
           by death, without a concept of God.' That concept helps. One doesn't feel alone; one doesn't feel
           unprotected, insecure -- hence belief.
                Martin Luther has written, 'My God is a great fortress.' These words cannot come from a man
           who trusts. 'My God is a great fortress'? Martin Luther seems to be on the defensive. Even God is
           just a fortress to protect you, to make you feel secure? Then it is out of fear. The thinking that 'God is
           my greatest fortress', is born out of fear, not out of love. It is not of trust. Deep down there is doubt
           and fear.
                Trust is simple. It is just like a child trusts in his mother. It is not that he believes -- belief has not
           yet entered. You were a small child once. Did you believe in your mother or did you trust her? The
           doubt has not arisen so what is the question of belief? Belief comes only when the doubt has entered;
           doubt comes first. Later on, to suppress the doubt, you catch hold of a belief. Trust is when doubt
           disappears; trust is when doubt is not there.
                For instance, you breathe. You take a breath in; then you exhale, you breathe out. Are you afraid
           of breathing out, because who knows, it may not come back? You trust. You trust it will come. Of
           course there is no reason to trust, what is the reason? Why should it come back? You can at the most
           say that in the past it has been happening so -- but that is not a guarantee. It may not happen in the
           future. If you become afraid of breathing out because it may not come back, then you will hold your
           breath in. That's what belief is -- clinging, holding. But if you hold your breath in, your face will go
           purple and you will feel suffocated. And if you go on doing that, you will die.
                All beliefs suffocate and all beliefs help you not to be really alive. They deaden your being.
                If you exhale, you trust in life. The Buddhist word 'nirvana' simply means exhaling, breathing out
           -- trusting. Trust is a very, very innocent phenomenon. Belief is of the head; trust is of the heart. One
           simply trusts life because you are out of life, you live in life, and you will go back again to the
           source. There is no fear. You are born, you live, you will die; there is no fear. You will be born
           again, you will live again, you will die. The same life that has given you life can always give you
           more life, so why be afraid? Why cling to beliefs? Beliefs are man-made; trust is God-made. Beliefs
           are philosophical; trust has nothing to do with philosophy. Trust simply shows that you know what
           love is. It is not a concept of God who is sitting somewhere in heaven and manipulating and
           managing. Trust needs no God, the infinite life, this totality, is more than enough. Once you trust,
           you relax. That relaxation is surrender.
                Now, IS ZEN THE PATH OF SURRENDER? Yes. Religion, as such, is surrendering, relaxing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Don't cling to anything. Clinging shows that you don't trust life.
               Every evening, Mohammed used to distribute whatsoever he had collected in the day. All! Not
           even a single pai would he save for the tomorrow because he said that the same source that had given
           today, would give to him tomorrow. If it has happened today, why be untrusting about tomorrow?
           Why save?
               But when he was dying and he was very ill, his wife became worried. Even at midnight a
           physician may be needed, so that evening she saved five rupees, five dinars. She was afraid. 'Nobody
           knows -- he may become too ill in the night, and some medicine may be needed and in the middle of
           the night, where would I go? Or a doctor may be needed and the fee would have to be given.' Not
           saying anything to Mohammed, she'd saved five dinars.
               Near about midnight, Mohammed opened his eyes and he said, 'I feel a certain distrust around
           me. It seems something has been saved.'
               The wife became very much afraid and she said, 'Excuse me, but thinking that something may be
           needed in the night, I have saved just five dinars.'
               Mohammed said, 'You go out and give it to somebody.'
               She said, 'In the middle of the night who is going to be there?'
               Mohammed said, 'You just listen and let me die peacefully, otherwise I will feel guilty, guilty
           against my God. And if he asks me. I will feel ashamed that at the last moment I died in deep
           distrust. You go out!'
               The wife went out, unbelieving of course, but a beggar was standing there.
               When she came back, Mohammed said, 'Look, he manages well, and if we need something, then
           a donor will be standing outside the door. Don't be worried.'
               Then he pulled up his blanket and died immediately, relaxed totally.
               Clinging to anything, anything whatsoever, shows distrust. If you love a woman or a man, and
           you cling, that simply shows that you don't trust. If you love a woman and you say, 'Tomorrow also,
           will you love me or not?' you don't trust. If you go to the court to get married, you don't trust. Then
           you trust more in the court, in the police, in the law, than in love. You are preparing for tomorrow. If
           this woman or this man tries to deceive you tomorrow or leaves you in the ditch, you can get support
           from the court and the police, and the law will be with you and the whole society will support you.
           You are making arrangements, afraid. But if you really love, love is enough, more than enough. Who
           bothers about tomorrow? But deep down there is doubt. Even while you think you are in love, doubt
           continues.
               It is reported that when Jesus was resurrected after his crucifixion, the first person to see him
           back alive was Mary Magdalene. She had loved him tremendously. She ran towards him. In the New
           Testament it is said that Jesus said, 'Don't touch me.' I became a little suspicious because Jesus
           saying, 'Don't touch me,' does not look right. Something somewhere has gone wrong. Of course it is
           okay if a pope says, 'Don't touch me,' but a Jesus saying, 'Don't touch me.' Almost impossible. So I
           tried to find the original. In the original the Greek word can mean both touch or cling. Then I found
           the key. Jesus says, 'Don't cling to me,' not 'Don't touch me, but the translators have interpreted it as,
           'Don't touch me.' The interpreter has entered his own mind in it. Jesus must have said, 'Don't cling to
           me,' because if there is trust, there is no clinging if there is love, there is no clinging. You simply
           share without any clinging; you share in deep relaxedness.
               Surrendering means surrendering to life; surrendering to the source from where you come and to
           where one day you will go back again. You are just like a wave in the ocean: You come out of the
           ocean, you go back to the ocean. Surrendering means trusting in the ocean -- and of course, what can
           a wave do except that? The wave has to trust the ocean and whether you trust or not, you remain part
           of the ocean. Non-trusting, you will create anxiety -- that's all. Nothing will change. only you will
           become anxious. tense, desperate. If you trust, you flower. you bloom. you celebrate. knowing well
           that deep down is your mother, the ocean. When tired, you will go back and rest in her being again.
           When rested, you will come back again to have a taste of the sky and the sunlight and the stars.
           Surrendering is trusting and it has nothing to do with any concept of any God, any ideology of any
           God. It is an attitude.
               Then you can understand the meaning of Buddha s last utterance. Be a light unto yourself. When
           he says. Be a light unto yourself. he means: if you have surrendered to life you have become a light
           unto yourself. Then life leads you. Then you always live in enlightenment. When he says. 'Be a light
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unto yourself, he is saying don t follow anybody, don't cling to anybody. Learn from everybody but
           don't cling to anybody. Be open, vulnerable, but remain on your own, because finally the religious
           experience cannot be a borrowed experience. It has to be existential; it has to be your own. Only then
           it is authentic. If I say something and you believe in it, it is not going to help. If I say something and
           you search, and you surrender, and you trust, and you also experience the same -- then it has become
           a light unto yourself. Otherwise my words will remain words; at the most they can become beliefs.
           Unless you experience the truth of them, they cannot become trust, they cannot become your own
           truth. My truth cannot become yours, otherwise it would have been very cheap. If my truth could be
           yours then there would be no problem.
                That is the difference between a scientific truth and a religious truth. A scientific truth can be
           borrowed. A scientific truth, once known, becomes everybody else's property. Albert Einstein
           discovered the theory of relativity. Now there is no need for everybody to discover it again and again
           and again. That would be foolish. Once discovered, it has become public. Now it is everybody's
           theory. Once discovered, once proved, now even a school child can learn it. Now no genius is
           needed -- you need not be an Albert Einstein. Just a mediocre mind will do; just an ordinary mind
           will do. You can understand it and it is yours. Of course, Einstein had to work for years -- then he
           was able to discover it. You need not work. If you are ready to understand and put your mind to it, in
           just a few hours you will understand.
                But the same is not true about religious truth. Buddha discovered, Christ discovered, Nanak and
           Kabir discovered, but their discovery cannot become your discovery. You will have to rediscover it
           again. You will have to move again from ABC; you cannot just believe in them. That won't help. But
           that is what humanity has been doing: mistaking religious truth for scientific truth. It is not scientific
           truth, it can never become a public property. Each individual has to come to it alone, each individual
           has to come to it again and again. It can never become available in the market. You will have to pass
           through the hardship; you will have to seek and search and follow the same path. A shortcut cannot
           even be made. You will have to pass through the same austerities as Buddha, the same difficulties as
           the Buddha; you will have to suffer the same calamities on the path as the Buddha and you will have
           to be in the same hazards as the Buddha. And one day, when the clouds disappear, you will dance
           and be as ecstatic as the Buddha.
                Of course, when an Archimedes discovers something, he runs naked in the streets, 'Eureka! I
           have found it!' You can understand Archimedes within minutes, within seconds, but you will not be
           ecstatic -- otherwise every school child would run naked in the streets, crying, 'Eureka!' Nobody has
           done that since Archimedes did it. It happened only once. For Archimedes it was a discovery; since
           then it has become public property.
                But it is good that the religious truth cannot be transferred to you otherwise you would never
           achieve the same ecstasy as Buddha or Jesus or Krishna. Never, because you would learn. it in a
           school textbook -- any fool could transfer it to you. Then the whole orgasmic experience will be lost.
                It is good that religious experience has to be experienced individually. Nobody can lead you
           there. People can indicate the way but those indications are very subtle -- don't take them literally.
           Buddha said, 'Be a light unto yourself.' He is saying, 'Remember, my truth cannot be your truth; my
           light cannot be your light. Imbibe the spirit from me, become more thirsty from me, let your search
           be intense and be totally devoted to it, learn the devotion of a truth-seeker from me -- but the truth,
           the light, will burn within you. You will have to kindle it within you.' You cannot borrow truth, it
           cannot be transferred, it is not a property. It is such a subtle experience that it cannot even be
           expressed. It is inexpressible. One at the most tries to give a few hints.

           The second question:

              PLEASE EXPLAIN THE NATURE OF THE EXPERIENCES WE CALL BOREDOM AND
              RESTLESSNESS.


               Boredom and restlessness are deeply related. Whenever you feel boredom, then you feel
           restlessness. Restlessness is a by-product of boredom.
               Try to understand the mechanism. Whenever you feel bored you want to move away from that
           situation. If somebody is saying something and you are getting bored, you start becoming fidgety.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is a subtle indication that you want to move from this place, from this man, from this
           nonsense-talk. Your body starts moving. Of course, because of politeness you suppress it, but the
           body is already on the move -- because the body is more authentic than the mind, the body is more
           honest and sincere than the mind. The mind is trying to be polite, smiling. You say, 'How beautiful,'
           but inside you are saying, 'How horrible! I have listened to this story so many times and he is telling
           it again!'
               I have heard about Albert Einstein's wife, Frau Einstein. A friend of Albert Einstein used to come
           many times and Einstein would tell some anecdotes, some jokes, and they would laugh. But the
           friend became curious about one thing: whenever he came, and whenever Einstein started telling
           jokes....
               Einstein was a Jew, and Jews have the best jokes in the world. Because they have suffered so
           long they have lived by jokes. Their life has been so miserable that they had to tickle themselves --
           hence they have the most beautiful jokes. No other country. no other race, can compete with them. In
           India we don't have good jokes at all because the country has lived very peacefully -- no need to
           tickle. Humor is needed when one is in constant danger; one needs to laugh at anything. Any excuse
           will do to laugh.
               ....Einstein would tell some joke, some anecdote, some story and they both would laugh. But the
           friend became curious because whenever Einstein would start saying something, the wife would
           immediately start knitting or doing something.
               So he asked, 'The moment Einstein starts telling some joke, why do you start knitting?'
               The wife said, 'If I don't do anything, it will be tremendously difficult for me to tolerate because I
           have heard that joke a thousand and one times. You come sometimes -- I am always here. Whenever
           anybody comes he tells the same joke. If I didn't do something with my hands, I would become so
           fidgety that it will be almost impolite. So I have to do something so that I can move my restlessness
           into work and I can hide behind the work.'
               Whenever you feel bored you will feel restless. Restlessness is an indication of the body; the
           body is saying, 'Move away from here. Go anywhere, but don't be here.' But the mind goes on
           smiling and the eyes go on sparkling, and you go on saying that you are listening and you have never
           heard such a beautiful thing. The mind is civilized; the body is still wild. The mind is human; the
           body is still animal. The mind is false; the body is true. The mind knows the rules and regulations --
           how to behave and how to behave rightly -- so even if you meet a bore you say, 'I am so happy, so
           glad to see you!' And deep down, if you were allowed, you would kill this man. He tempts you to
           murder. Then you become fidgety, then you feel restlessness.
               If you listen to the body and run away, the restlessness will disappear. Try it. Try it. If somebody
           is boring you simply start jumping and running around. See. Restlessness will disappear because
           restlessness simply shows that the energy does not want to be here. The energy is already on the
           move; the energy has already left this place. Now you follow energy.
               So the real thing is to understand boredom not restlessness. Boredom is a very, very significant
           phenomenon. Only man feels bored, no other animal. You cannot make a buffalo bored. Impossible.
           Only man gets bored because only man is conscious. Consciousness is the cause. The more sensitive
           you are, the more alert you are, the more conscious you are, the more you will feel bored. In more
           situations you will feel bored. A mediocre mind does not feel so bored. He goes on; he accepts;
           whatsoever is, is okay; he is not so alert. The more alert you become, the more fresh, the more you
           will feel as if some situation is just a repetition, as if some situation is just getting hard on you, as if
           some situation is just stale. The more sensitive you are, the more bored you will become.
               Boredom is an indication of sensitivity. Trees are not bored, animals are not bored, rocks are not
           bored -- because they are not sensitive enough. This has to be one of the basic understandings about
           your boredom -- that you are sensitive.
               But Buddhas also are not bored. You cannot bore a Buddha. Animals are not bored and Buddhas
           are not bored, so boredom exists as a middle phenomenon between the animal and the Buddha. For
           boredom a little more sensitivity is needed than is given to the animal. And if you want to get
           beyond it then you have to become totally sensitive. Then again the boredom disappears. But in the
           middle the boredom is there. If you become animal-like, then boredom disappears. So you will find
           that people who live a very animalistic life are less bored. Eating, drinking, marrying -- they are not
           very bored, but they are not sensitive. They live at the minimum. They live only with that much
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           consciousness as is needed for a day-to-day routine life. You will find that intellectuals, people who
           think too much, are more bored, because they think. And because of their thinking they can see that
           something is just repetition.
               Your life is repetition. Every morning you get up almost the same way as you have been getting
           up all your life. You take your breakfast almost the same way. Then you go to the office -- the same
           office, the same people, the same work. Then you come home -- the same wife. If you get bored it is
           natural. It is very difficult for you to see any newness here; everything seems to be old, dust-covered.

           I have heard an anecdote.
               Mary Jane, the very good friend of a wealthy broker, opened the door cheerfully one day, and
           then quickly attempted to close it when she discovered the person on the threshold to be her lover's
           wife.
               The wife leaned against the door and said, 'Oh, let me in, dear. I don't intend to make a scene,
           just to have a small friendly discussion.'
               With considerable nervousness Mary Jane let her enter, then said cautiously, 'What do you want?'
           'Nothing much' said the wife, looking about. 'I just want the answer to one question. Tell me dear,
           just between us, what do you see in that dumb jerk?'

               The same husband every day becomes a dumb jerk; the same wife every day...you almost forget
           how she looks. If you are told to close your eyes and to remember your wife's face, you will find it
           impossible to remember. Many other women will come in your mind, the whole neighborhood, but
           not your wife. The whole relationship has become a continuous repetition. You make love, you hug
           your wife, you kiss your wife, but these are all empty gestures now. The glory and the glamour has
           disappeared long before. A marriage is almost finished by the time the honeymoon is over, then you
           go on pretending. But behind those pretensions a deep boredom accumulates. Watch people walking
           on the street and you will see them completely bored. Everybody is bored, bored to death. Look at
           their faces -- no aura of delight. Look at their eyes -- dust-covered, no glimmer of inner happiness.
           They move from the office to the home, from the home to the office, and by and by the whole life
           becomes a mechanical routine, a constant repetition. And one day they die... almost always people
           die without ever having been alive.
               Bertrand Russell is reported to have said, 'When I remember, I cannot find more than a few
           moments in my life when I was really alive, aflame.' Can you remember? How many moments in
           your life were you really aflame? Rarely it happens. One dreams about those moments, one imagines
           those moments. one hopes for those moments -- but they never happen. Even if they happen, sooner
           or later they also become repetitive. When you fall in love with a woman or a man you feel a
           miracle, but by and by the miracle disappears and everything settles into a routine.
               Boredom is the consciousness of repetition. Because animals cannot remember the past, they
           cannot feel bored. They cannot remember the past, so they cannot feel bored. They cannot remember
           the past, so they cannot feel the repetition. The buffalo goes on eating the same grass every day with
           the same delight. You cannot. How can you eat the same grass with the same delight? You get fed
           up.
               Hence people try to change. They move into a new house, they bring a new car home, they
           divorce the old husband, they find a new love affair, but again that thing is going to become
           repetitive sooner or later. Changing places, changing persons,, changing partners, changing houses,
           is not going to do anything. And whenever a society becomes very bored, people start moving from
           one town to another. from one job to another, from one wife to another, but sooner or later they
           realize that this is all nonsense because the same thing is going to happen again and again with every
           woman, with every man, with every house, with every car.
               What to do then? Become more conscious. It is not a question of changing situations; transform
           your being, become more conscious. If you become more conscious you will be able to see that each
           moment is new; but for that, very much energy, tremendous energy of consciousness is needed.
               The wife is not the same -- remember. You are in an illusion. Go back home and look again at
           your wife -- she is not the same. Nobody can be the same. Just appearances deceive. These trees are
           not the same as they were yesterday. How can they be? They have grown. Many leaves have fallen,
           new leaves have come. Look at the almond tree. How many new leaves have come! Every day the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           old are falling and the new are coming. But you are not that much conscious.
                Either have no consciousness -- then you cannot feel repetition -- or have so much
           consciousness that in each repetition you can see something new. These are the two ways to get out
           of boredom.
                Changing outside things is not going to help. It is just like arranging the furniture in your room
           again and again. Whatsoever you do -- you can put it this way or that way -- is the same furniture.
           There are many housewives who continuously think about how to manage things, how to put things,
           where to put them, where not to put -- and they go on changing. But it is the same room, it is the
           same furniture. How long will you deceive in this way?
                A brief television skit I once saw was of a caveman and a cavewomen who were kissing wildly
           and hysterically. They broke apart only to say, 'Gee, this is great!' then they turned to kissing again.
                Finally the cavewoman pulled away to say, 'Listen. Do you suppose this wonderful thing we
           have discovered means that we are married?'
                The caveman bent his small mind to the matter and finally said, 'Yes, I guess we are married.
           Now let us kiss some more.'
                Whereupon the cavewoman put her hand to her head and said in sudden anguish, 'Oh, I have
           such a headache!'
                Two persons meet, strangers -- everything is wonderful, beautiful. But sooner or later they
           become acquainted with each other. That's what marriage means. It means that now they are settling,
           now they would like to make it a repetition. Then the same kissing and the same hugging is no
           longer beautiful; it becomes almost a duty.
                A man came home and found his friend kissing his wife. He took the friend into another room.
           The friend was trembling with fear. Now there is going to be something! The friendship will be
           broken.
                The husband seemed to be very angry, but he was not. He closed the door and asked the friend,
           'Just tell me one thing. I HAVE to -- but why were you kissing?'
           'I HAVE to, but why were you kissing?' By and by everything settles, newness disappears, and you
           don't have that much consciousness or that quality of consciousness which can go on finding the new
           again and again. For a dull mind, everything is old; for a totally alive mind there is nothing old under
           the sun. Cannot be. Everything is in flux. Every person is in flux, is river-like. Persons are not dead
           things. How can they be the same? Are you the same? Between when you came this morning to
           listen to me and when you went back home, a lot has happened. Some thoughts have disappeared
           from your mind, other thoughts have entered. You may have attained to a new insight. You cannot
           go the same as you had come. The river is continuously flowing; it looks the same but it is not the
           same. The old Heraclitus has said that you cannot step twice into the same river because the river is
           never the same.
                One thing is that you are also not the same, and another thing is that everything is changing....
           but then one has to live at the peak of consciousness. Either live like a Buddha or live like a buffalo,
           then you will not be bored. Now the choice is yours.
                I have never seen anybody the same. You come to me -- how many times you have come to me --
           but I never see the old. I'm always surprised by the newness that you bring every day. You may not
           be aware of it.
           Remain capable of being surprised.

           Let me tell you one anecdote.
               A man entered a bar, deep in private thoughts of his own. He turned to a woman just passing and
           said, 'Pardon me, Miss, do you happen to have the time?'
               In a strident voice she responded, 'How dare you make such a proposition to me!'
               The man snapped to attention in surprise and was uncomfortably aware that every pair of eyes in
           the place had turned in their direction. He mumbled, 'I just asked the time, Miss.'
               In a voice even louder the woman shrieked. 'I will call the police if you say another word!'
               Grabbing his drink and embarrassed very nearly to death, the man hastened to the far end of the
           room and huddled at a table, holding his breath and wondering how soon he could sneak out the
           door.
               No more than half a minute had passed when the woman joined him. In a quiet voice she said,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           'I'm terribly sorry, sir, to have embarrassed you, but I am a psychology student at the University and
           I am writing a thesis on the reaction of human beings to sudden, shocking statements.'
               The man stared at her for three seconds, then he leaned back and bellowed, 'You will do all that
           for me, all night, for just two dollars?'
               And it is said that the woman fell down unconscious.

                Maybe we don't allow our consciousness to rise higher because then life would be a constant
           surprise and you might not be able to manage it. That's why you have settled for a dull mind, there is
           some investment in it. You are not dull for no reason, you are dull for a certain purpose -- if you
           were really alive then everything would be surprising and shocking. If you remain dull then nothing
           surprises you, nothing is shocking. The more dull you are, the more life seems to be dull to you. If
           you become more aware, life will also become more alive, livelier, and there is going to be
           difficulty.
                You always live with dead expectations. Every day you come home and you expect certain
           behavior from your wife. Now look how you create your own misery: you expect a certain fixed
           behavior from your wife and then you expect your wife to be new. You are asking the impossible. If
           you really want your wife to remain continuously new to you, don't expect. Come home always
           ready to be surprised and shocked, then the wife will be new. But she has to fulfill certain
           expectations. We never allow our total flux-like freshness to be known to the other. We go on hiding,
           we don't expose, because the other may not be able to understand it at all. And the wife also expects
           the husband to behave in a certain way, and, of course, they manage the roles. We are not living life,
           we are living roles. The husband comes home; he forces himself into a certain role. By the time he
           enters the house, he is no more an alive person -- he is just a husband.
                A husband means a certain type of expected behavior. The woman there is a wife, and the man
           there is a husband. Now when these two persons meet there are really four persons: the husband and
           wife, which are not real persons -- just personas, masks, false patterns expected behavior, duties, and
           all that -- and the real persons hiding behind the masks. Those real persons feel bored.
                But you have invested much in your persona, in your mask. If you really want a life which has no
           boredom in it, drop all masks, be true. Sometimes it will be difficult, I know, but it is worth it. Be
           true. If you feel like loving your wife, love her, otherwise say you don't feel like it. What is
           happening right now is that the husband goes on making love to the wife, and goes on thinking of
           some actress. In imagination he is not making love to this woman, in imagination he is making love
           to some other woman. And the same is true about the wife. Then things become boring because they
           are no more alive. The intensity, the sharpness, is lost.
                It happened on a railway platform. Mr. Johnson had weighed himself on one of those
           old-fashioned penny machines that delivered a card with a fortune printed on it.
                The formidable Mrs. Johnson plucked it from her husband's fingers and said, 'Let me see that.
           Oh, it says you are firm and resolute, have a decisive personality, are a leader of men, and are
           attractive to women.'
                Then she turned over the card, studied it for a moment and said, 'And they have got the weight
           wrong as well'
                No woman can believe that her husband is attracted to other women. There is the whole point,
           the whole crux. If he is not attracted to other women, how can she expect that he will be attracted to
           herself? If he is attracted to other women only then can he be attracted to her, because she is also a
           woman. The wife wants him to be attracted to her and not attracted to anybody else. Now this is
           asking something absurd. It is as if you are saying, 'You are allowed to breathe only in my presence
           and when you go near somebody else, you are not allowed to breathe. How dare you breathe
           anywhere else?' Just breathe when the wife is there, just breathe when the husband is there, and don't
           breathe anywhere else. Of course, if you do that you will be dead and you will not be able to breathe
           in front of your wife also.
                Love has to be a way of life. You are to be loving. Only then can you love your wife and your
           husband. But the wife says, 'No, you should not look at anybody else with a loving eye.' Of course
           you manage because if you don't it creates such nuisance.... But by and by the glimmer in your eyes
           disappears. If you cannot look anywhere else with love, by and by you cannot look at your own wife
           with love -- it disappears. The same has happened to her. The same has happened to the whole of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           humanity. Then life is a boredom; then everybody is waiting for death; then there are people
           continuously thinking of committing suicide.
                Marcel has said somewhere that the only metaphysical problem facing humanity is suicide. And
           it is so, because people are so bored. It is simply amazing why they don't commit suicide; how they
           go on living. Life doesn't seem to give anything, all meaning seems to be lost, but still people go on
           dragging somehow, hoping that some day some miracle will happen and everything will be put right.
           It never happens. You have to put it right; nobody else is going to put it right. No Messiah is to
           come. Don't wait for any Messiah. You have to be a light unto yourself.
                Live more authentically. Drop the masks; they are a weight on your heart. Drop all falsities. Be
           exposed. Of course it is going to be troublesome but that trouble is worth it because only after that
           trouble will you grow and become mature. And then nothing is holding life. Each moment life
           reveals its newness. It is a constant miracle happening all around you only you are hiding behind
           dead habits.
                Become a Buddha if you don't want to be bored. Live each moment as fully alert as possible,
           because only in full alertness will you be able to drop the mask. You have completely forgotten what
           your original face is. Even when you stand before the mirror in your bathroom and you are alone,
           nobody is there, even standing before the mirror you don't see your original face in the mirror. There
           too you go on deceiving.
                Existence is available for those who are available to existence. And then I tell you, there is no
           boredom. Life is infinite delight.

           The third question:

              I FEEL SO MUCH RESISTANCE AGAINST MEDITATION AND I DON'T HAVE THIS DESIRE FOR
              GOD THAT YOU SPEAK ABOUT. IS THIS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR ME?


               If you feel much resistance against meditation it simply shows that deep down you are alert that
           something is going to happen which will change your total life. You are afraid of being reborn. You
           have invested too much in your old habits, in the old personality, in the old identity.
               Meditation is nothing but trying to clean your being. trying to become fresh and young, trying to
           become more alive and more alert. If you are afraid of meditation it means you are afraid of life, you
           are afraid of awareness, and the resistance comes because you know that if you move into
           meditation, something is bound to happen. If you are not resisting at all it may be because you don't
           take meditation very seriously. you don't take meditation very sincerely. Then you can play around.
           What is there to be afraid of?
               It is exactly because you are resisting that this is the right place for you. This is precisely the
           right place for you. The resistance shows that something is going to happen. One never resists
           without any cause.
               You must be living a very dead life. Now you are afraid that something is becoming alive,
           something is changing. You resist. Resistance is an indication, resistance is a very clear indication
           that you have suppressed much. Now in meditation that suppression will surface, it will be released.
           You would also like to be released of the burden but in that burden there are investments.
               For example, you may be carrying pebbles in your hands but you think they are diamonds. And
           then I tell you, 'Clean yourself. Drop these pebbles. They have become a burden and you cannot
           move because of them.' You would like to be unburdened but then you are afraid that your diamonds
           will be lost. And they are not diamonds. Look again at your diamonds. If they were really diamonds,
           you should be happy. If they were really diamonds, you would not have come to me at ail. There is
           no need. If you have come, it shows that you are seeking. You may say that you are not interested in
           God -- I am also not interested in God -- but you are interested in yourself. Are you interested in
           yourself? Forget all about God. If you are interested in yourself. then this is precisely the place for
           you. If you are interested in your own being, in your own wholeness and health; if you are interested
           in becoming a blossomed flower, then forget all about God -- because in that blossoming you will
           know what God is. When your fragrance is released then you will know what God is. God is your
           ultimate flowering, your final flowering; your destiny fulfilled is what God is all about.
               A woman seeing Turner's pictures said once, 'Making a lot of fuss over him, are they not? I never
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saw anything in him myself.'
               And another woman said to Turner himself, 'But you know, Mr. Turner I never see sunsets like
           yours.'
               She received the mild yet devastating reply, 'No. Don't you wish you could?'
               When a Turner paints a sunset of course he sees a sunset in a totally different way to you. He
           brings all his sensitivity, his whole being, to see it. In fact, you may not have ever seen a sunset the
           way a painter looks at it. Turner says rightly, 'Don't you wish you could?'
               I'm here. I know you can't see what I am talking about, but don't you wish you could? I know that
           many things I am saying are almost nonsense to because to see them you will have to attain different
           eyes, you will have to clarify your being; to see them you will have to pacify your turmoil within. I
           know you cannot see the green that I am seeing in the trees. Your green is bound to be very dusty
           because your eyes are full of dust.
               It happened once, that a man was staying with a friend at somebody's house. The host and the
           guest were standing near the window -- the window was closed -- and in the neighbor's house,
           clothes were hanging out to be dried.
               The host said, 'These people are very dirty. Look at their clothes.'
               The man looked, he came closer to the window and he said, 'Those clothes are not dirty. Your
           window glass is covered with dust.'
               They opened the windows and it was so. Those clothes were not dirty.
               Life is tremendously beautiful. It is Divine. When we say 'Life is God' we simply say that life is
           so tremendously beautiful that one feels a reverence for it. That's all. Life is so tremendously
           beautiful that one feels like worshipping it. That's all we mean when we say 'Life is God.' When we
           say 'Life is God' we only mean, 'Don't see that life is ordinary. It is extraordinary. There is
           tremendous potentiality. Just open your eyes.' I have never seen a person who is not interested in
           God -- although he may not know it -- because I have never seen a person who is not interested in
           happiness. If you are interested in happiness, you are interested in God; if you are interested in being
           blissful, you are interested in God.
               Forget all about God. You just try to be blissful, and one day, when you are dancing in your
           inner bliss. when the inner juices are flowing, suddenly this life is no longer ordinary. Everywhere
           some unknown force is hiding and you will see God in the flowers and in the stones and in the stars.
           I talk to you just to plant a seed, a song, a star. If you can become happy, you become religious. A
           happy person is a religious person -- let that be the definition. A religious person is not one who goes
           to the church or the temple if he is unhappy, he cannot be religious. A religious person is happy.
           Wherever he is, he is in the temple. A happy person carries his temple around him. I know it because
           I have been carrying it. I need not go to any temple. Where I am is my temple. It is a climate. It is my
           own inner juice overflowing. God is nothing but you realized, reached, fulfilled.
               Yes. I say to you, I have never seen a man who is not interested in God. There cannot be. That
           man is not possible. Even people who say they don't believe in God, who are atheists, are not
           uninterested in God. They are interested. Their denying, their saying that they don't believe may be
           just a trick of the mind to protect themselves; because once you allow yourself to be possessed by
           God you disappear, only God remains. So people who are afraid of being, of disappearing, of
           moving into non-being, people who are too egoistic and cannot allow their drop to drop into the
           ocean, say there is no ocean. That is the trick of their mind so that they can protect themselves. They
           are fearful people, afraid, scared of life.
               If you are interested in being happy, this is the place for you. And you are already here. Nobody
           has brought you, nobody has forced you, you have come on your own. Some inner search that you
           may not be aware of has brought you here. Maybe something is in the heart and your head does not
           know anything about it. There are desires of which the head is completely unaware -- the head is
           concerned only with rubbish. The heart may have brought you here.
               Break that resistance -- and when you are here, be really here. Don't miss this opportunity.
               In the New Testament the Greek word for sin is 'antinomic' or 'anomeia'. It means to miss the
           point; or, as in archery, to miss the mark. The word 'sin' comes from a root which means to miss the
           point, to miss the mark. If you are here and you miss me, that will be a sin. If you are here then why
           waste time? Be totally here. Drop the resistance. Or if you cannot be totally here, then go away from
           here. But go totally away. Then never again remember me, otherwise that will be a sin.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The word 'sin' is beautiful. It has been badly corrupted by Christianity. It has nothing to do with
           guilt, nothing to do with something bad, evil. It has nothing to do with morality but it has something
           to do with consciousness. If you are here, be consciously and totally here; your unconscious heart
           has brought you here. Groping in the dark you have come to me, now don't miss this opportunity.
           Either be totally here, or go away. Turn your back against me and never remember me again;
           because going away, if you remember me, then you will not be totally there -- wherever you are
           going. Wherever you are, be totally there, that's the only way to open the secrets and mysteries of
           life.
                And don't be worried about whether you are interested in the concept of God or not. In fact,
           people who are too interested in the concept of God will not be able to know him.
                I have come across a very beautiful book, written somewhere in the Middle Ages by a certain
           man known as Dionysius Exegius. His book is 'Theologica Mystica'. He says in that book that the
           highest knowledge of God is through what he calls in Greek 'agnostos', which means unknowing.
           You must have heard the word 'agnostic', it comes from the same root, agnostos. Agnostos means
           unknowing. And this Dionysius says that God is known only by unknowing. No need to be worried
           about the concept; no need to ac-cumulate knowledge, theories, doctrines about God; forget all about
           the word and the theory. You be simply interested in your happiness, in your bliss, and one day you
           will find God has entered in you. It is another name for ultimate bliss.

           The last question:

              OSHO, I HAVE THIS IDEA THAT YOU DON'T REALLY EXIST. WHEN WE THINK THAT THERE IS
              SOMEONE WHO LIVES IN YOUR HOUSE AND WHO MAKES THINGS HAPPEN TO US, IT IS NOT
              REALLY YOU AT ALL. COULD YOU TELL US WHAT THIS IS AND BY THE WAY, WHO IS GIVING
              THE DISCOURSE EVERY MORNING?


              I don't know.




                                         Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                  Chapter #5
                           Chapter title: The Ultimate Secrets of Swordsmanship
           25 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602250
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 83 mins




              YAGYU YAJIMA NO KAMI MUNENORI WAS A TEACHER OF SWORDSMANSHIP TO THE
              SHOGUN.



              ONE OF THE PERSONAL GUARDS OF THE SHOGUN CAME TO TAJIMA NO KAMI ONE DAY
              ASKING TO BE TRAINED IN SWORDPLAY.
              'AS I OBSERVE, YOU SEEM TO BE A MASTER OF THE ART YOURSELF,' SAID THE TEACHER.
              'PLEASE TELL ME TO WHAT SCHOOL YOU BELONG BEFORE WE ENTER INTO THE
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              RELATIONSHIP OF TEACHER AND PUPIL.'



              THE GUARDSMAN SAID: 'L DO NOT BELONG TO ANY SCHOOL, I HAVE NEVER STUDIED THE
              ART.'
              'IT IS NO USE TRYING TO FOOL ME,' SAID THE TEACHER. 'MY JUDGING EYE NEVER FAILS.'
              'I AM SORRY TO DEFY, YOUR HONOUR,' SAID THE GUARD, 'BUT I REALLY KNOW NOTHING.'
              'IF YOU SAY SO THEN IT MUST BE TRUE, BUT I AM SURE THAT YOU ARE THE MASTER OF
              SOMETHING, SO TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF.'
              'THERE IS ONE THING,' SAID THE GUARD. 'WHEN I WAS A CHILD I THOUGHT THAT A
              SAMURAI SHOULD NEVER BE AFRAID OF DEATH, SO I GRAPPLED WITH THE PROBLEM, AND
              NOW THE THOUGHT OF DEATH HAS CEASED TO WORRY ME.'
              'THAT'S IT!' EXCLAIMED THE TEACHER. 'THE ULTIMATE SECRETS OF SWORDSMANSHIP LIE
              IN BEING RELEASED FROM THE THOUGHT OF DEATH. YOU NEED NO TECHNICAL TRAINING,
              YOU ARE ALREADY A MASTER.'


                THE ocean is not only hidden behind the waves, it is also manifesting itself in the waves. It is
           there on the surface as much as it is in the depth. The depth and the surface are not two separate
           things: they are two polarities of the same phenomenon. The center comes to the circumference; it is
           as much on the circumference as it is at the center.
                God is not only the unmanifest, it is also the manifest. God is not only the Creator, God is also
           the creation. God is as much in his world as he is in himself.
                Just the other night, a new sannyasin asked me,' Osho, can you show me the Divine form?' I told
           him, 'All forms are Divine. I have not seen a single form which is not Divine. The whole existence is
           Divine -- don't divide it into profane and sacred.'
                All the time, what else am I doing? Showing the Divine form. What else are you doing? Showing
           the Divine form. What else is happening all over existence? The Divine is spread everywhere. It is as
           much in the small as it is in the great; it is as much in a grass leaf as in a faraway great star.
                But the mind thinks in dualities. It thinks God is hidden, then it tries to deny the manifest and
           seek the unmanifest. Now you are creating an unnecessary conflict for yourself. God is here, now --
           as much as anywhere else. God is as much in the seeker as in the sought. He is manifesting himself.
           That's why I say that the ocean is in the waves. Dig deep into the waves, dig deep into the form, and
           you will find the formless.
                If you cannot see this it doesn't mean that God is not manifested, it only means that you are still
           blind. You have still not got the eyes that can see the obvious. God is the obvious.
                And this is so on every level of being: whatsoever you are, you go on broadcasting it around you.
           You cannot hide it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can be hidden. There is a Zen saying that nothing
           whatsoever is hidden -- from of old, all is as clear as daylight. But all is not as clear as daylight for
           you. That doesn't mean the daylight is not there -- it simply means you are standing with closed eyes.
           Open your eyes, just a little, and the darkness starts disappearing. Open your eyes, and wherever you
           are, immediately you will be able to see as deep as existence is.
                Once your eyes are open, everything becomes transparent.
                When you see me, you just see the surface, the waves. When you hear me, you only hear the
           words, not the silence hidden behind them. You see exactly that which is of no worth and you miss
           all that is of any worth and significance. When I see you, it is not the form, it is not the image that
           you see in the mirror. When I see you, I see YOU.
                And you are broadcasting yourself in your every gesture, in your every movement. The way you
           walk, the way you talk, the way you stay silent and don't talk, the way you eat, the way you sit --
           everything is manifesting you. Anybody who is perceptive will be able to see whether you are dark
           inside, or whether you have kindled the flame.
                It is as easy as if you pass by a house in the night, a dark night, and the house is lighted inside. Is
           it in any way difficult to know it is lighted? No, because from the windows and from the doors you
           can see the light coming out. Or, if the house is in darkness and there is no light burning inside, then
           of course, you see it. It is obvious.
                The same is happening in you. Whatsoever you are is being broadcasted every moment. Your
           neurosis is broadcasted; your enlightenment also. Your meditation is broadcasted; your madness
           also. You cannot hide it. All efforts to hide yourself are futile. They are stupid, ridiculous.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I was reading a book by Edmund Carpenter. He was working on a sociological project, a research
           project, in Borneo. He writes: 'In a small town in Borneo, professional clerks sit before open
           windows, reading and writing. Because people are illiterate and they cannot read and write, for their
           letters, documents, or any other thing, they need the help of professional writers and readers. And I
           was very surprised because I noticed one who was plugging his ears with his fingers while he read
           aloud. I inquired and was told that this was done at the request of the writer who did not want to
           share his letter with the reader!'
               So the reader was plugging his ears with his fingers and reading the letter loudly!
               But this is what is happening in everybody's life. You go on hiding, but everything is being
           declared, continuously, loudly. Everything is being broadcasted; you are a continuous broadcasting
           station. Even while you are asleep, you are broadcasting. If a Buddha comes to you while you are
           asleep he will be able to see who you are. Even in your sleep you will be making gestures, faces,
           movements, uttering something. And all those things will indicate something about you, because the
           sleep is yours and it is bound to carry your signature.
               If one becomes a little alert, one stops hiding. It is futile, it is ridiculous. Then one simply
           relaxes. Because of your hiding you remain tense, continuously afraid that somebody may know
           about you. You never expose yourself, you never live in the nude...spiritually I mean. You never live
           in the nude, you are always afraid. That fear cripples you and paralyses you.
               Once you understand that, everything is bound to be declared. it is already being declared; that
           the center is coming to the circumference every moment, and the ocean is waving in the waves; that
           God is everywhere, spread all over existence, and you are spread all over your activities -- there is no
           point in hiding. Nothing whatsoever is hidden from of old; everything is as clear as daylight. Then
           why bother?
               Then one relaxes -- the anxiety, the tension, the anguish, disappear. Suddenly you become
           vulnerable, no more closed; suddenly you are open; suddenly you become inviting. And this is the
           point to be understood: once you are exposed to others, only then will you be exposed to yourself. If
           you are hiding from others, whatsoever you are hiding from others will by and by be thrown into the
           basement of your unconscious mind. Others will not know about it and by and by you will also
           forget about it.
               But whenever you come within the vision of a perceptive man, everything will be revealed. That
           is one of the basic reasons why, in the East, the relationship of a disciple to a master is so valued:
           because the master is just like a ray of light, an x-ray, and the disciple exposes himself. And the
           more the master penetrates and knows about the disciple the more the disciple by and by becomes
           aware of his own hidden treasures.
               Trying to hide himself from others, he has become such an expert in hiding that he hides from
           himself also.
               You don't know much about yourself; you know just a fragment about yourself, just the tip of the
           iceberg. Your knowledge about yourself is very limited -- not only limited, it is almost irrelevant! It
           is so partial, it is so fragmentary that unless you put it in the context with your whole being it carries
           no meaning. It is almost meaningless.
               That's why you go on living without knowing yourself. And how can one live without knowing
           oneself? And you go on projecting things on others which have nothing to do with others; they may
           be just hidden inside you. But you project them on others. Somebody looks Like an egoist to you --
           you may be the egoist, and it is you projecting. Somebody looks very angry. The anger may be
           inside you and the other is just like a screen -- it is you projecting.
               Unless you know yourself exactly, you will not be able to know what is real and what is
           projection. And you will not be able to know about others also. Self-knowledge becomes the door of
           all knowledge; it is the very base. Without that foundation all knowledge is just knowledge in
           appearance; deep down it is ignorance.

           I have heard an anecdote.
                Mistress Jones, deeply troubled, was consulting a psychiatrist.
           'My husband,' she said, 'is convinced he is a chicken. He goes around scratching constantly, and
           sleeps on a large bar of wood he has fixed up as a perch.'
           'I see,' said the psychiatrist thoughtfully. 'And how long has your husband been suffering from this
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fixation?'
           'For nearly two years now.'
               The psychiatrist frowned slightly and said, 'But why have you waited till now to seek help?'
               Mistress Jones blushed and said, 'Ah well, it was so nice having a steady supply of eggs!'
               Now this woman is neurotic -- but she thinks her husband is neurotic! Whenever you think
           something about somebody else -- watch. Don't be in a hurry. First look within. The cause may be
           inside you. But you don't know yourself so you go on confusing your own projections with outer
           realities. It is impossible to know anything real unless you have known yourself. And the only way
           to know oneself is to live a life of vulnerability. openness. Don't live in a closed cell. Don't hide
           yourself behind your mind. Come out.
               Once you come out you will become by and by aware of millions of things in you. You are not a
           one-room apartment, you have many rooms -- you are a palace. But you have become accustomed to
           living on the porch and you have forgotten the palace completely. Many treasures are hidden in you,
           and those treasures constantly go on knocking, inviting. But you are almost deaf.
               This blindness, this deafness, this insensitivity, has to be broken -- and nobody else can do it. If
           somebody else tries, you will feel offended, you will feel a trespassing. 11 happens every day. If I try
           to help you, you feel you have been trespassed upon; if I try to say something true about you, you
           feel offended, you feel humiliated, you feel hurt, your pride is hurt. You want to listen to lies about
           yourself from me; you want to listen to something which helps your already-fixed image. You have a
           very golden image about yourself which is false. It has to be shattered to pieces, because once it is
           shattered, the reality will arise. If it is not shattered you will go on clinging to it.
               You think you are religious, you think you are a great seeker -- you may not be religious at all.
           You may be simply afraid of life. In your temples and churches cowards are hiding, afraid of life.
           But to accept that one is afraid of life is very humiliating so they say they are not afraid of life, they
           have renounced: 'Life is not worth anything. Life is only for mediocre minds.' They have renounced
           everything for God; they are searching for God. But watch. They are trembling. On their knees they
           are praying -- but their prayer is not of love, their prayer is not of celebration, their prayer is not a
           festivity. Their prayer is out of fear. And fear corrupts everything; nobody can approach God
           through fear.
               You have to approach truth through fearlessness, but if you are hiding your fear behind
           religiousness then it will be very difficult to shatter it. You are greedy, miserly, but you go on saying
           that you live a very simple life. If you are hiding behind the rationalization of simplicity, then it is
           very difficult to see that you are a miser.
               A miser misses tremendously. Because life is for those who share, life is for those who love, life
           is for those who are not too clinging to things -- because then they become available to persons.
               To cling to a thing is to cling to something which is below you. And if you go on clinging to
           things which are below you, how can you soar high? It is as if you are clinging to rocks and trying to
           fly in the sky. Or you are carrying rocks on the head and trying to climb Everest. You have to throw
           them. You have to throw those rocks. You will have to unburden yourself.
               Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach to the top of Everest, says in his autobiography, 'As we
           started reaching closer and closer, I had to leave more and more things behind. At the last moment, I
           had to leave almost everything, because everything became such a burden.'
               The higher you reach, the more unburdened you need to be. So a miser cannot soar high. A miser
           cannot soar in love, or in prayer, or in God. He remains clinging to the earth, he almost remains
           rooted in the earth. Trees cannot fly. If you want to fly, you need to be uprooted. You need to be like
           a white cloud, with no roots anywhere -- a wanderer.
               But you can hide your miserable self. And you can hide your diseases behind good, beautiful
           terms and words. You can be very articulate and you can be very rationalizing. All these have to be
           broken.
               And if you go on hiding, then not only do you hide your diseases, you hide your treasures also.
           This hiding becomes a fixation, it becomes a habit, an obsession. But I tell you, before a perceptive
           man, before a Master who has known himself, you will be completely x-rayed. You cannot hide from
           somebody who has eyes. You can hide from yourself, you can hide from the world, but you cannot
           hide from somebody who has come to know what clarity is, what perception is.
           For such a man, you are absolutely on the surface.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have heard about an American couple who were strolling along the banks of the Seine under the
           shadows of Notre Dame. He was lost in silence. She said finally, 'What are you thinking about,
           darling?'
           'I was thinking, dear, that if anything happened to either of us, I would like to spend the rest of my
           life in Paris.'
                He may not be aware of what he is saying; he may have uttered this in absolute unawareness. Let
           me repeat it. He says, 'I was thinking, dear, that if anything happened to either of us, I would like to
           spend the rest of my life in Paris.' He wants the wife to die although he is not saying it clearly. But
           he has said it.
           We continuously broadcast, in many ways.

               Just a few days ago, President Ford gave a party in honor of the Egyptian ambassador to the
           States. But then when he was giving the toast he forgot completely and something from the
           unconscious bubbled up -- a slip of the tongue, we say, but it is not just a slip of the tongue. He
           raised the glass and said, 'In honor of the great nation of Israel.' To Egyptians! Then of course he
           tried to mend it, to patch it -- but it was too late. Deep down, he wants Israel to win over the
           Egyptians; from the unconscious it bubbled up, surfaced.
               It happened at a party: a man was leaving, but he was very diffident. He murmured to the
           hostess, 'The meal was delicious what there was of it.'
               Noting the hurt expression on his hostess' face, the guest blushed and hastened to say, 'Ah, ah.
           And there was plenty of food, such as it was.'
               These are unconscious assertions; they come out of you when you are not on guard. Ordinarily,
           you are on guard. That's why people are so tense: continuously on guard, guarding themselves. But
           there are moments when the tension is too much and one relaxes; one has to relax, one cannot be on
           guard for twenty-four hours. In those moments, things surface.
               You are truer when you have drunk a little too much, and things start surfacing from your
           unconscious. Under the influence of alcohol you are truer than you ordinarily are, because the
           alcohol relaxes the guard. Then you start saying things you always wanted to say, and you are not
           worried about anything, and you are not trying to leave any impression -- you are simply being true.
           Drunkards are beautiful persons: truer, more authentic. It is ironical that only drunkards are
           authentic.
               The more you are clever and cunning, the more inauthentic you become. Don't hide behind
           screens. Come out in the sunshine. And don't be afraid that your image will be shattered. The image
           that you are afraid of being shattered is not worth keeping -- it is better to shatter it on your own.
           Take a hammer and shatter it.
               That's what being a SANNYASIN means: you take a hammer in your hands and you shatter the
           old image. And then you start a new life from ABC, from the very beginning again, as if you are
           born again. It is a rebirth.
               Then by and by, if you relax, and if you are not too much worried about your image in the eyes
           of others, your own authentic face, your original face, comes into being -- the face that you had
           before you were born, and the face that you will again have when you are dead, the original face, not
           the cultivated mask. With that original face you will see God everywhere, because with the original
           face you can meet with the original, with the reality.
               With a mask, you will meet only other masks; with a mask, there can be never any dialogue with
           reality; with a mask, you remain in the relationship of 'I' and 'it'. The reality remains behind it. When
           the mask is removed and you have come back home, a tremendous transformation happens. The
           relationship with reality is no more one of 'I/it', it is of 'I/Thou'. That 'Thou' is God.
               The reality takes on a personality: you become alive there, reality becomes alive there. It has
           always been alive -- just you were dead. It is as if you have taken chloroform: when you come back,
           and the influence of the chloroform disappears by and by, how do you feel? It is a beautiful
           experience! If you have never been to the surgeon's table, go, just for the experience! For a few
           moments you are completely in oblivion -- and then consciousness arises. Suddenly, everything
           becomes alive, fresh. You are coming out of the womb. Exactly the same happens when you decide
           to live an authentic life. Then for the first time you understand that now you are born. Just
           before...you were thinking and dreaming that you were alive -- but you were not.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A great mathematician, Herr Gauss, was keeping vigil while his wife lay ill upstairs. And as time
           passed, he found himself beginning to ponder a deep problem in mathematics.
               People have grooves in their mind and they move in the same grooves again and again. A
           mathematician has a certain track. The wife is going to die, the doctors have said that this is going to
           be the last night, he is keeping vigil -- but the mind started moving, in its old pattern of course. He
           has started thinking about a mathematical problem. Just see. The wife will no longer be there, it is
           the last night, but the mind is creating a screen of mathematics. He has completely forgotten about
           the wife; he has moved, he has gone far away on a journey.
               As time passed he found himself beginning to ponder a deep problem in mathematics. He drew
           pen and paper to himself and began to draw diagrams. A servant approached and said deferentially.
           Herr Gauss. your wife is dying.
               And Gauss, never looking up, said, 'Yes, yes. But tell her to wait till I'm through.
               Even the great minds are as much unconscious as you are. As far as consciousness is concerned,
           great, small, and mediocre, all sail in the same boat. Even the greatest mind lives under chloroform.
               Come out of it. Make yourself more alert. Bring yourself together. Let one thing become a
           centering, a constant centering in you -- and that is alertness, awareness. Do whatsoever you do, but
           do it consciously. And by and by consciousness accumulates and it becomes a reservoir of energy.

           Now, the Zen story.
              YAGYU TAJIMA NO KAMI MUNENORI WAS A TEACHER OF SWORDSMANSHIP TO THE
              SHOGUN.

               In Zen, and only in Zen, something of great import has happened. That is, they don't make any
           distinction between ordinary life and religious life; rather, they have bridged them both. And they
           have used very ordinary skills as UPAYA, as methods for meditation. That is something of
           tremendous import. Because if you don't use ordinary life as a method to meditation, your meditation
           is bound to become something of an escape.
               In India it has happened, and India has suffered badly. The misery that you see all around, the
           poverty, the horrible ugliness of it, is because India always thought religious life to be separate from
           ordinary life. So people who became interested in God, they renounced the world. People who
           became interested in God, they closed their eyes, sat in the caves in the Himalayas, and tried to
           forget that the world existed. They tried to create the idea that the world is simply an illusion,
           illusory, a MAYA, a dream. Of course, life suffered much because of it.
               All the greatest minds of this country became escapists, and the country was left to the
           mediocres. No science could evolve; no technology could evolve.
               But in Japan, Zen has done something very beautiful. That's why Japan is the only country where
           East and West are meeting: Eastern meditation and Western reason are in a deep synthesis in Japan.
           Zen has created the whole situation there. In India you could not conceive that swordsmanship could
           become an UPAYA, a method for meditation, but in Japan they have done it. And I see that they
           have brought something very new to religious consciousness.
               Anything can be converted into a meditation because the whole thing is awareness. And of
           course, in swordsmanship more awareness is needed than anywhere else because life will be at stake
           every moment. When fighting with a sword you have to be constantly alert -- a single moment's
           unconsciousness and you will be gone. In fact, a real swordsman does not function out of his mind,
           he cannot function out of his mind -- because mind takes time. It thinks, calculates. And when you
           are fighting with a sword, where is time? There is no time. If you miss a single fragment of a second
           in thinking, the other will not miss the opportunity: the other's sword will penetrate into your heart or
           cut off your head.
               So thinking is not possible. One has to function out of no-mind, one has to simply function,
           because the danger is so much that you cannot afford the luxury of thinking. Thinking needs an easy
           chair. You just relax in the easy chair and you go off on mind trips.
               But when you are fighting and life is at stake and the swords are shining in the sun and at any
           moment a slight unawareness and the other will not lose the opportunity, you will be gone forever,
           there is no space for thought to appear, one has to function out of no-thought. That's what meditation
           is all about.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               if you can function out of no-thought, if you can function out of no-mind, if you can function as a
           total organic unity, not out of the head, if you can function out of your guts.... It can happen to you.
           You are walking one night and suddenly a snake crosses the path. What do you do? Do you sit there
           and think about it? No, suddenly you jump out of the way. In fact you don't decide to jump, you don't
           think in a logical syllogism that: here is a snake; and wherever there is a snake there is danger;
           therefore, ergo, I should jump. That is not the way! You simply jump! The action is total. The action
           is not corrupted by thinking, it comes out of your very core of being, not out of the head. Of course,
           when you have jumped out of the danger you can sit under a tree and think about the whole thing --
           that's another matter! Then you can afford the luxury.
               The house catches fire. What do you do? Do you think whether to go out or not to go out -- to be
           or not to be? Do you consult a scripture about whether it is right to do it? Do you sit silently and
           meditate upon it? You simply get out of the house. And you will not be worried about manners and
           etiquette -- you will jump out of the window.
               Just two nights ago a girl entered here at three o'clock in the night and started screaming in the
           garden. Asheesh jumped out of his bed, ran -- and only then he realized that he was naked. Then he
           came back. That was an act out of no-mind, without any thought. He simply jumped out of the bed.
           Thought came later on. Thought followed, lagged behind. He was ahead of thought. Of course, it
           caught hold of him so he missed an opportunity. It would have become a satori -- but he came back
           and put on his gown. Missed!
               Swordsmanship became one of the UPAYAS, one of the basic methodologies. Because the very
           thing is so dangerous that it doesn't allow thinking. It can lead you towards a different type of
           functioning, a different type of reality, a separate reality. You know of only one way to function: to
           think first and then to function. In swordsmanship, a different-type of existence becomes open to
           you: you function first and then you think. Thinking is no longer primary, and this is the beauty..
           when thinking is not primary, you cannot err.
               You have heard the proverb: it is human to err. Yes, it is true. It is human to err because the
           human mind is prone to err. But when you function out of no-mind you are no longer human, you are
           Divine and then there is no possibility of erring. Because the total never errs, only the part; only the
           part goes astray. God never errs, he cannot err. He is the Whole. When you start functioning out of
           nothingness, with no syllogism, with no thinking, with no conclusions -- your conclusions are
           limited, they depend on your experience, and you can err -- when you put aside all your conclusions,
           you are putting aside all limitations also. Then you function out of your unlimited being, and it never
           errs.
               It is said that sometimes it has happened in Japan that two Zen people will fight who have both
           attained to satori through swordsmanship. They cannot be defeated. Nobody can be victorious
           because they both never err. Before the other attacks, the first has already made preparations to
           receive it. Before the other's sword moves to cut off his head, he is already prepared to defend the
           attack. And the same happens with his attack. Two Zen people who have attained to satori can go on
           fighting for years, but it is impossible -- they cannot err. Nobody can be defeated and nobody can be
           victorious.
              YAGYV TAJIMA NO KAMI MUNENORI WAS A TEACHER OF SWORDSMANSHIP TO THE
              SHOGUN.

              ONE OF THE PERSONAL GUARDS OF THE SHOGUN CAME TO TAJIMA NO KAMI ONE DAY
              ASKING TO BE TRAINED IN SWORDSPLAY.
              'AS I OBSERVE, YOU SEEM TO BE A MASTER OF THE ART YOURSELF,' SAID THE TEACHER.


               AS I OBSERVE...' said the Master. When Buddha was alive, one of his contemporaries was
           Mahavir. Between the disciples of the two there has been a great discussion ever since. The
           discussion is about an enlightened person's awareness. Mahavir's followers, Jainas, say that
           whenever a person has become enlightened, he always knows everything of the past, of the present,
           of the future. He has become omniscient. He knows everything. He has become a mirror to the whole
           of the reality.
               Buddha's followers say that that is not so. They say that he becomes capable of knowing
           anything if he observes. If he tries to focus on anything, he will be able to know everything about it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           But it does not happen as the followers of Mahavir say -- that whether he focuses or not, he knows.
               To me also, the Buddhist standpoint seems to be better and more scientific. Otherwise a man like
           Buddha would go almost mad. Just think of it: knowing everything of the past, and the present, and
           the future. No, that doesn't seem to be right. The Buddhist attitude seems to be more right: he has
           become capable of knowing.
               Now, whenever he wants to use the capacity, he focuses, he throws his ray of light, he puts
           something in the flow of his meditation -- and that thing becomes revealed to him. Otherwise it
           would be impossible for him to rest. Even in the night he would be continuously knowing, knowing
           the past, and the present, and the future. And not only of himself, of the whole world! Just think of
           the sheer impossibility of it. No. That's not possible.
           'AS I OBSERVE...' said the Master. The disciple has come and he has asked to be trained in
           swordplay. The Master said, 'As I observe...' He focuses his ray of light, his torch, towards this
           disciple. Now this disciple is under his meditation. He goes through and through -- the disciple
           becomes transparent. That is what happens when you come to a Master: simply his light penetrates
           you to your very core....'YOU SEEM TO BE A MASTER OF THE ART YOURSELF,' SAID THE
           TEACHER. He could not find anything wrong in this man. Everything was as it should be, in tune,
           humming. This man was a beautiful song; he had already achieved.
           'PLEASE TELL ME TO WHAT SCHOOL YOU BELONG BEFORE WE ENTER INTO THE
           RELATIONSHIP OF TEACHER AND PUPIL.'

               That is the highest relationship in the world -- greater than a love relationship, greater than any
           relationship. Because the surrender has to be total. Even in a love relationship the surrender is not
           total, surrender is partial. the divorce is possible. But in fact, if you have once become a disciple of a
           Master, if you have really become a disciple, if you have been accepted, if you have surrendered,
           there is no possibility of divorce. There is no going back; it is a point of no return. Then the two
           persons are no more there. They exist like one, two aspects of one, but they are not two.
               So the Master says, 'Before we enter into the relationship of teacher and pupil, I would like to
           know where you learned this art. How have you become so tuned? You are already a Master.'

              THE GUARDSMAN SAID, 'I DO NOT BELONG TO ANY SCHOOL, I HAVE NEVER STUDIED THE
              ART.'
              'IT IS NO USE TRYING TO FOOL ME,' SAID THE TEACHER. 'MY JUDGING EYE NEVER FAILS.'


               Now, listen to this paradox: the judging eye arises only when you have left all judgment. In
           meditation you have to leave all judging: what is good, what is bad -- you have to drop all that
           division. You simply look. You look without any judgment, without any condemnation, without any
           appreciation. You don't evaluate, you simply look. The look becomes pure.
               When this look has happened to you and has become an integrated thing in your being. you attain
           to a capacity which never fails. Once you have become one insider and gone beyond morality,
           dualism -- good and bad. sin and virtue, life and death, beautiful and ugly -- once you have gone
           beyond the dualisms of mind, you attain to the judging eye.
               This is the paradox: all judgment has to be left, then you attain to the judging eye. Then it never
           fails. You simply know it is so, and there is no alternative to it. It is not a choice on your part, it is
           not a decision, it is a simple revelation that it is so.

              IT IS NO USE TRYING TO FOOL ME,' SAID THE TEACHER. 'MY JUDGING EYE NEVER FAILS.'
              'I AM SORRY TO DEFY, YOUR HONOR,' SAID THE GUARD, 'BUT I REALLY KNOW NOTHING.'
              'IF YOU SAY SO, THEN IT MUST BE TRUE, BUT I AM SURE YOU ARE THE MASTER OF
              SOMETHING....'


              Now this point has to be understood: it makes no difference what you are a Master of, the taste of
           Mastery is the same, the flavor is the same. You can become a Master of archery, or you can become
           a Master of swordsmanship, or you can become a Master Just of the ordinary tea ceremony -- it
           makes no difference. The real thing is that you have become a Master. The art has gone so deep that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are not carrying it anymore; the art has gone so deep that now there is no need to think about it
           -- it has become simply your nature.
           '...BUT I AM SURE THAT YOU ARE THE MASTER OF SOMETHING... Maybe you aren't a
           Master of swordsmanship, but you are a Master '...SO TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF.' 'THERE IS
           ONE THING,' SAID THE GUARD. 'WHEN I WAS A CHILD I THOUGHT THAT A SAMURAI
           SHOULD NEVER BE AFRAID OF DEATH, SO GRAPPLED WITH THE PROBLEM. AND
           NOW THE THOUGHT OF DEATH HAS CEASED TO WORRY ME.'

                But that is what the whole of religion is all about. If death no longer bothers you, you have
           become a Master. If you have tasted something of the deathless, something of your innermost nature
           -- you have known something of the eternal. To know the deathless is the whole business of life. Life
           is an opportunity to know the deathless.
           '...AND NOW THE THOUGHT OF DEATH HAS CEASED TO WORRY ME.
           'THAT'S IT!' EXCLAIMED THE TEACHER. 'THE ULTIMATE SECRETS OF
           SWORDSMANSHIP LIE IN BEING RE/EASED FROM THE THOUGHT OF DEATH. YOU
           NEED NO TECHNICAL TRAINING, YOU ARE ALREADY A MASTER.'

               When you are fighting with a sword, if you are afraid of death, thinking will continue.
               Now let me tell you one basic truth: thinking is out of fear.
               All thinking is out of fear. The more you become afraid, the more you think. Whenever there is
           no fear, thinking stops. If you have fallen in love with someone, there are moments with your
           beloved or your lover when thinking stops. Just sitting by the lake, doing nothing, holding hands,
           looking at the moon or the stars, or just gazing into the darkness of the night, sometimes thoughts
           stop because there is no fear. Love dispels fear just as light dispels darkness.
               If even for a moment you have been in love with someone, fear disappears and thinking stops.
           With fear, thinking continues. The more you are afraid, the more you have to think -- because by
           thinking you will create security; by thinking, you will create a citadel around you; by thinking you
           will manage, or try to manage, how to fight.
               A swordsman, if he is afraid of death, cannot be a real swordsman because the fear will make
           him tremble. With just a slight trembling inside, a slight thinking inside, he will not be able to act out
           of no-mind.

           There is a story.
               A man in China became the greatest archer. He asked the king, 'Declare me as the greatest archer
           of the country.' The king was just going to decide and declare him when an old servant of the king
           said, 'Wait, sir. I know a man who lives in the forest who never comes to the town. He is a greater
           archer. So let this young man go to him and learn from him for at least three years. He does not
           know what he is demanding. He is like a camel who has not yet come across a mountain. Archers
           don't live in the capitals, the real archers are in the mountains. I know one, and I know for certain
           that this man is nothing.'
               Of course, the man was sent. He went. He could not believe that there could be a greater archer
           than him. But he found the old man and, he was! For three years he learned from him. Then one day,
           when he had learned everything, the thought arose in him that, 'If I kill this old man, then I will be
           the greatest archer.'
               The old man had gone to cut wood and he was coming back carrying wood on his head. The
           young man hid behind a tree, waiting to kill him. He shot an arrow. The old man took a small piece
           of wood and threw it. It struck the arrow and the arrow turned back and wounded the young man
           very deeply. The old man came, took out the arrow, and said, 'I knew this. I knew that some day or
           other you were going to do this. That's why I have not taught you this secret. Only one secret I have
           kept for myself. There is no need to kill me, I am not a competitor. But one thing I must tell you --
           my Master is still alive, and I am nothing before him. You will have to go deeper into the mountains.
           He is a man of one hundred and twenty years, very old -- but while he is alive, nobody can pretend
           and nobody should even think of declaring. You must be with him for at least thirty years. And he is
           very old, so go fast! Find the old man!'
               The young man traveled, now very desperate. It seemed to be impossible to become the greatest
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           archer in the country. He found the old man. He was very ancient, one hundred and twenty years old,
           completely bent, he could not stand upright. But the young man was surprised because there was no
           bow, no arrow, with him. And he asked, 'Are you the old man who is the greatest archer?'
                The old man said, 'Yes.'
           'But where are your bow and arrows?'
                The old man said, 'Those are playthings. Real archers don't need them once they have learned the
           art. They are just devices to learn; once you have learned, you throw them. A great musician will
           throw his instrument because he has learned what music is. How to carry the instrument is foolish,
           childish.'
                And the old man said, 'But if you are really interested in becoming an archer, then come with
           me.'
                He took him to a precipice. A rock was there overlooking a very deep valley. The old man went
           ahead of the young man and stood just at the very edge. With a slight trembling he would topple
           down into the valley. He called the young man to come close to him. He started perspiring, he started
           trembling, it was so dangerous to be there.
                At just two feet away he said, 'I cannot come that close.' The old man started laughing and he
           said, 'If you tremble so much with fear, how can you become an archer? Fear must disappear totally,
           with no trace left behind.'
                The young man said, 'But how can it be? I am afraid of death.'
                The old man said, 'Drop the idea of death. Find someone who can teach you what a deathless life
           is and you will become the greatest archer -- never before.'

              Fear creates trembling; fear creates thinking. Thinking is a sort of inner trembling. When one
           becomes unwavering, the flame of consciousness remains there, undistracted, untrembling.
              'THAT'S IT!' EXCLAIMED THE TEACHER. 'THE ULTIMATE SECRETS OF SWORDSMANSHIP ARE
              IN BEING RELEASED FROM THE THOUGHT OF DEATH. YOU NEED NO TECHNICAL TRAINING,
              YOU ARE ALREADY A MASTER.'

               But he was not aware of his own mastery. He may have been hiding many other things and
           because of that he was hiding his treasures also. Once exposed to a Master, he became alert. And the
           Master said, 'There is no need for any techniques. You are already a Master.'
               As I see in you, everybody is carrying the deathless within him. You may know it, you may not
           know it, that is not the point -- but you are carrying it within you. It is already there, it is already the
           case. Just a slight understanding of it and your life can be transformed. And then there is no need of
           any techniques; religion is not technology
               Everybody is born with a secret treasure but goes on living as if he were born a beggar.
           Everybody is born an emperor but goes on living like a beggar. Realize it! And the realization will
           come to you only if by and by you drop your fear.
               So whenever fear comes to you, don't suppress it, don't repress it, don't avoid it, don't get
           occupied in something so that you can forget about it. No! When fear comes, watch it. Be face to
           face with it. Encounter it. Look deep into it. Gaze into the valley of fear. Of course you will perspire,
           and you will tremble, and it will be like a death, and you will have to live it many times. But by and
           by, the more your eyes become clear, the more your awareness becomes alert, the more your focus is
           there on the fear, the fear will disappear Like a mist.
               And once fear disappears, sometimes, even for only a moment, suddenly you are deathless.
               There is no death. Death is the greatest illusion there is, the greatest myth -- a lie. For even a
           single moment, if you can see that you are deathless. then no meditation is needed. Then live that
           experience, then act out of that experience, and the doors of eternal life are open for you.
               Much is being missed because of fear. We are too attached to the body and we go on creating
           more and more fear because of that attachment. The body is going to die, the body is part of death,
           the body is death -- but you are beyond the body. You are not the body; you are the bodiless.
           Remember it. Realize it. Awaken yourself to this truth -- that you are beyond the body. You are the
           witness, the seer. Then death disappears and fear disappears, and there arises the tremendously
           glorious life -- what Jesus calls 'life abundant,' or 'the kingdom of God.' The kingdom of God is
           within you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                          Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                     Chapter #6
                                       Chapter title: Madmen and Devotees
           26 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602260
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 78 mins



              The first question:

              WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MADMAN AND A DEVOTEE?


               Not much. And yet much. Both are mad but their madness has a totally different quality to it; the
           center of madness is different. The madman is mad from the head; the devotee is mad from the heart.
               The madman is mad because of a failure. His logic failed He could not go on with the head
           anymore, any longer. There comes a point for the logical mind where breakdown is a must, because
           logic goes well up to a certain limit then suddenly it is no longer real, then it is no longer true to
           reality.
               Life is illogical. It is wild. In life, contradictions are not contradictions but complementaries. Life
           does not believe in the division of either/or, life believes in both. The day becomes night, the night
           becomes day. They melt and merge. Boundaries are not clear. Everything is overlapping everything
           else: you are overlapping into your beloved, your beloved is overlapping into you. Your child is still
           a part of you and yet he is independent. Boundaries are blurred.
               Logic makes clear-cut boundaries. For clarity it dissects life into two, into a duality. Then clarity
           is achieved but aliveness is lost. At the cost Of aliveness, logic achieves clarity.
               So if you are a mediocre mind, you may never go mad. That means you are just lukewarmly
           logical, and much that is illogical goes on existing in you side by side. But if you are really logical,
           then the ultimate result can be only madness. The more logical you are the more you will be
           intolerant of anything illogical. And life is illogical. So you will become by and by intolerant of life
           itself; you will become more and more closed. You will deny life, you will not deny logic. Then
           finally you break down -- this is the failure of logic.
               Almost all the great philosophers who are logical, go mad. If they don't go mad, they are not
           great philosophers. Nietzsche went mad; Bertrand Russell never went mad He is not such a great
           philosopher, he is in a way mediocre. He goes on living with his commonsense -- he is a
           commonsensical philosopher, he does not move to the very extreme. Nietzsche moved to the very
           extreme and, of course, then There is the abyss.
               Madness is the failure of the head and in life there are millions of situations where suddenly the
           head is irrelevant.

           I was reading an anecdote.
               A woman telephoned the builder of her new house to complain about the vibrations that shook
           the structure when a train passed by, three streets away.
           'Ridiculous!' he told her. 'I will be along to check it.' 'Just wait until a train comes along,' said the
           woman, when the builder arrived for his inspection. 'Why, it nearly shakes me out of bed. Just lie
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down there. You will see.'
               The builder had just-stretched himself out on the bed, when the woman's husband came home.
           'What are you doing on my wife's bed?' the husband demanded.
               The terrified builder shook like a leaf. 'Would you believe I am waiting for a train?' he said.
               There are a thousand and one situations where life comes in its total illogicalness. Suddenly your
           logical mind stops -- it cannot function. If you watch life you will find you act illogically every day;
           and if you insist too much on logic then by and by you will get paralyzed, by and by you will be
           thrown away from life, by and by you will feel a certain deadness settling in you.
               One day or other this situation has to explode -- the division of either/or breaks down. Division
           as such is false. Nothing is divided in life. Only in your head is there division; only in your head are
           there clear-cut boundaries. It is as if you have made a small clearing in a forest -- clean, with a
           boundary wall, with a lawn, with a few rosebushes, and everything perfectly i., order. But beyond
           the boundary the forest is there -- waiting. If you don't care about your garden for a few days, the
           forest will enter in. If you leave your garden untended, after a while the garden will disappear -- and
           the forest will be there. Logic is man-made, like an English garden -- not even like a Zen Japanese
           garden -- clean-cut.
               Every day there is a difficulty.... Mukta looks after my garden. She is my gardener. And she goes
           on cutting. I go on telling her, 'Don't cut! Let it be like a forest!' But what can she do? She hides from
           me that she is cutting, and planning and managing because she cannot allow the garden to become a
           forest. It should be in boundaries.
               The logical mind is like a small garden, man-made, and life is wild forest. Sooner or later you
           will come against life and then your mind will boggle, will fall down flat. Stretch your mind to the
           very extreme of logic and you will go mad.
               It happened at an airport Moskowitz met his business rival, Levinson, at the airport, and asked
           him with an elaborate pretense of casualness, 'And where do-you happen to be going, Levinson?'
               Levinson, just as casually. responded, 'Chicago.'
           'Ah!' said Moskowitz, shaking his finger triumphantly. 'Now I have caught you in a flat-footed lie.
           You tell me Chicago because you want me to think you are going to St. Louis, but I talked to your
           partner only this morning, and I happen to know you are going to Chicago, you liar!'
               The logical mind goes on weaving and spinning its own theories, its own ideas, and tries to make
           the reality fit accordingly. The reality should follow your idea -- that is what a logical mind is. The
           effort is that the reality should be a shadow to your ideology, but it is not possible. You are trying the
           impossible. It is implausible. It cannot happen. Ideology has to follow reality, and when the situation
           comes where you have to follow reality, the whole structure of your mind staggers, the whole
           structure of your mind simply drops down -- it proves to be a house of playing-cards. A small wind
           of reality and the palace disappears. That is madness.
               What is the madness of a devotee? The center of the devotee's madness is his heart; the center of
           ordinary madness is the head. The ordinary madness happens from the failure of the head and the
           devotee's madness happens from the success of his heart When logic fails -- ordinary madness; when
           love succeeds -- extraordinary madness; the madness of a devotee.
               Love is illogical. Love is irrational. Love is life. Love comprehends all contradictions in it. Love
           is even capable of comprehending its own opposite -- hate. Have you not observed it? You go on
           hating the same person you love. But love is bigger. It is so big that even hate can be allowed to have
           its play. In fact, if you really love, hate is not a distraction; on the contrary, it gives color, spice. It
           makes the whole affair more colorful -- like a rainbow. Even hate is not the opposite for a loving
           heart. He can hate and continue loving. Love is so great that even hate can be allowed to have its
           own say. Lovers become intimate enemies. They go on fighting. In fact, if you ask psychoanalysts,
           psychiatrists and psychologists, they will say that when a couple stops fighting, love has also
           stopped. When a couple no longer bother even to fight, have become indifferent to each other, then
           love has stopped. If you are still fighting with your wife or your husband, your boyfriend or
           girlfriend, that simply shows that life is still running in it, it is still a live wire, still hot. When love is
           no longer there and everything is dead, then there is no fight. Of course! For what to fight? It is
           meaningless. One settles into a sort of coldness; one settles into a sort of indifference.
               Love is like wild life -- hence Jesus' saying that God is love. What does he mean? He means that
           if you love you will know many things which are qualities of God that he comprehends opposites,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that even the Devil is allowed to have his say, that there is no problem with the opposite, that the
           enemy is also a friend and deep down related and connected, that death is not against life, but that
           death is part of life and life is part of death.
                The whole is bigger than all the opposites, and it is not just a total of the opposites -- it is more
           than the total. This is the higher mathematics of the heart. Of course a man of love will look mad. He
           will look mad to you because you function from the head and he functions from the heart; the
           languages are totally different.
                For example, Jesus was crucified. The enemies were waiting for him to curse them, and they
           were a little afraid; the friends were waiting for him to do some miracle, that all the enemies would
           fall dead. And what did he do? He did an almost mad thing. He prayed to God to forgive these
           people because they didn't know what they were doing. This is the madness of love. It is unexpected
           that when you are being killed you pray that these people should be forgiven because they don't
           know what they are doing. They are completely unconscious. Sleepwalkers. Whatsoever they are
           doing is not their responsibility because how can you throw responsibility on somebody who is
           asleep? They are unconscious -- forgive them.
                This is the miracle that happened that day but nobody could see that miracle; it was sheer
           madness.
                Love's language is so foreign to the head. Head and heart are the farthest poles of reality. There
           is no greater distance between any other two points as there is between the head and the heart, reason
           and love, logic and life. If a person is mad because of his love, his madness is not a disease. In fact,
           he is the only healthy person, he is the only whole person, he is the only holy person -- because
           through his heart he has again become bridged with life.
                Now he is no longer fighting; there is no more conflict. He is surrendered, he is in a let-go. He
           trusts life, he has faith, and he knows that nothing wrong is going to happen. He's not afraid. Even in
           death he will go laughing and singing, ecstatic, because even in death God is waiting for him. Death
           also becomes a door. Of course to the logical mind this man looks mad and he is mad, in a sense,
           because whatsoever he is doing is beyond the comprehension of reason. But to me, he is not mad.
           Ask Jesus -- to him he is not mad. Ask Buddha -- to him he is not mad. In fact, he's the only sane
           person, because now he no longer thinks, he lives; now he is no longer divided, but total; now there
           is no duality in him -- he is a unity.
                That is the meaning of the word 'yoga' -- that which unites. That is the meaning of the word
           'religion' also -- that which makes you one, that which puts you again together -- 'religere'. You are
           no longer split.
                Otherwise, ordinarily, you are not one person, you are many persons. You are a crowd. You don't
           know what your left hand is doing and what your right hand is planning to do. In the morning you
           don't know what you are going to do in the evening. You say one thing but you wanted to say
           something else, and you will go on saying something else still. You are not a unity. You are a crowd.
           There are many persons inside you revolving in a wheel and each becomes, for a time being, the
           king. And in that moment, the king asserts things which he cannot fulfill because by the time the
           moment to fulfill comes, he will no longer be a king.
                You fall in love with a woman and you say, 'I will love you forever and forever.' Wait! What are
           you saying? Now, at this moment, a certain part of your personality is on the throne and that part
           says, 'I will love you forever and forever.' But just half an hour later you may repent. And just a few
           days later, you will completely forget what you had said.
                The woman is not going to forget it. She will remember. She will remind you again and again
           about what you have said -- that you would love her forever and forever, and what has happened to
           your love? You will feel guilty and you will feel impotent and helpless because you cannot do
           anything. Now you know you should not have talked about the future, but at that moment you could
           not resist yourself; at that moment it looked as if you would be loving her forever and forever; at that
           moment it was a truth but the part of the mind that asserted it is no longer the emperor. Now there
           are other minds. Another part is sitting on the throne and he loves another woman, he chooses
           another woman. Whatsoever you promise, you are not going to fulfill it.
                A man of understanding never promises because he knows his helplessness. He will say, 'l would
           like to love you forever and forever but who knows? I may not be the same the next day.' He will
           feel humble; he will not feel confident. Only fools feel confident. People of understanding hesitate
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because they know there is a crowd inside them -- they are not one.
                That's why it is said in all the old scriptures that if a good thought comes to you, do it
           immediately. because the next moment you may not like to do it at all. And if a bad thought comes to
           you, postpone it a little. If anything good arises in you, don't miss the moment. Do it! If you feel it is
           good you can do it again tomorrow but do it right now, don't postpone. But the ordinary mind goes
           on doing just the opposite: whatsoever good arises in you, you postpone it for tomorrow, and
           whatsoever bad arises in you, you do it immediately. If you are angry, you will be angry right now,
           you cannot postpone it. But if you are feeling compassion, you will say, 'What is the hurry?
           Tomorrow.' That tomorrow never comes. Tomorrow is non-existential.
                Ordinarily, a man is a crowd; in fact, we should not use 'the mind' in singular. We should not say
           that you have a mind, that is wrong. Only rare persons have a mind. You have minds. You are
           poly-psychic. The heart -- this is the beautiful thing -- the heart is always one. It does not know the
           duality; it is not a crowd. It is a unity. The closer you come to the heart, the one arises and the many
           disappear, far away. The heart needs no promise; even without promising, it is going to fulfill.
                The mind goes on making promises but it never fulfills them. In fact, it promises just to create an
           illusion because it knows it is not going to fulfill anything. So at least create an illusion by promising
           -- 'I will love you forever and ever.' The heart will never say that but it will do it. And when you can
           do it, what is the point of saying it? There is no need.
                The man of love is mad, mad to the logical mind -- but he is not ill.
                In the Western madhouses, there are many people who are not mad. If they had been in the
           Eastern countries they may even have been worshipped. In the West the clarity does not yet exist
           that a man can be mad head-oriented or heart-oriented. A heart-oriented madman is not a madman he
           is a God's man; or, he is mad in such a different way that he needs to be worshipped, revered,
           respected. There is no need to treat him, there is no need to put him in an asylum there is no need to
           give him shocks. But things go to the extreme always.
                In the East it has happened that many mad people have been worshipped -- those who were mad
           from the head. They were simply crazy -- but they were worshipped because we have worshipped
           the madman of the heart and it is very difficult for the ordinary common masses to make the
           distinction. They almost look alike.
                Now in the West the opposite is happening. People who would have been saints in the past... just
           think if Jesus came, was born in America today. Where would he be? Or Saint Francis of Assisi --
           where would he be? In some madhouse. Jews treated Jesus very well. They killed him, but they
           never put him in a madhouse. That was more respectful.
                But now, in the modern world, if he came back to somewhere in the West, he would be in a
           madhouse, Lying down on some Freudian couch, being given some electric shocks, drugged --
           because psychoanalysts say that he was neurotic, his personality was neurotic, he was mad Of course
           the things that he said looked mad. He said, 'I am the Son of God.' What nonsense! Son of God?
           Megalomania! What is he talking about? He is not in his senses. He lives in a dream. He talks about
           the kingdom of God. All nonsense. Fairy tales. Good for children's books, but immature. He chose a
           better time to come.
                Saint Francis of Assisi would certainly be in a madhouse. talking to trees, saying to the almond
           tree, 'Sister, how are you?' -- if he were here, he would have been caught. What are you doing?
           Talking to an almond tree? Sister, sing to me of God', he says to the almond tree. And not only that,
           he hears the song that the sister almond tree sings! Crazy! Needs treatment. He talks to the river and
           to the fish -- and he claims that the fish respond to him. He talks to stones and rocks -- is there any
           need for any more proof that he is mad?
                He is mad but wouldn't you like to be mad like Saint Francis of Assisi? Just think -- the capacity
           to hear the almond tree singing, and the heart that can feel brothers and sisters in trees, the heart that
           can talk to the rock, the heart that sees God everywhere, all around, in every form.... It must be a
           heart of utmost love -- utter love reveals that mystery to you. But for the logical mind, of course
           these things are nonsense.
                To me, or to anybody who has known how to look at life through the heart, these are the only
           meaningful things. Become mad, if you can, become mad from the heart.
                Now the last thing about this question. If your head comes to a breakdown, don't be worried. Use
           this opportunity of a de-structured state. In that moment, don't be worried that you are going mad; in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that moment, slip into the heart.
                Someday, in the future, when psychology really comes of age, whenever somebody goes mad
           from the head we will help him to move towards the heart -- because an opportunity opens in that
           moment. The breakdown can become a breakthrough. The old structure is gone, now he is no longer
           in the clutches of reason, he is free for a moment. The modern psychology tries to go on adjusting
           him back to the old structure. All modern efforts are adjustive: how to make him normal again. The
           real psychology will do something else. The real psychology will use this opportunity because the
           old mind has disappeared, there is a gap. Use this interval and lead him towards another mind -- that
           is, the heart. Lead him towards another center of his being.
                When you drive a car you change gears. Whenever you change the gear, there comes a moment
           when the gear moves through neutral; it has to move through the neutral gear. Neutral gear means no
           gear. From one gear to another, a moment comes when there is no gear. When one mind has failed,
           you are in a neutral state. Just now you are again as if you are born. Use this opportunity and lead the
           energy away from the old rotten structure which is falling. Leave the ruin. Move into the heart.
           Forget reason and let love be your center, your target. Each breakdown can become a breakthrough,
           and each possibility for the failure of the head can become a success for the heart -- the failure of the
           head can become a success for the heart.

           The second question:

              ONCE AT DARSHAN I HEARD YOU SAY OF A VISITOR THAT HE WOULD BE A GOOD
              SANNYASIN. WHAT IS A GOOD SANNYASIN?


               First, what is a SANNYASIN? A SANNYASIN is one who has come to understand the futility
           of so-called worldly life. A SANNYASIN is one who has understood one thing -- that something
           needs to be done immediately about his own being. If he goes on drifting in the old way, he will lose
           the whole opportunity of this life. A SANNYASIN is one who has become alert that up to now he
           has lived wrongly, has moved in wrong directions. has been too concerned with things and not
           concerned with himself, has been too concerned with worldly prestige and power and has not been
           concerned about who he is. A SANNYASIN is one who is turning towards himself,
           PARABVRUTTI. A SANNYASIN is a miracle -- the energy is moving back towards oneself.
               Ordinarily, the energy is moving away from you -- towards things, targets, in the world. The
           energy is moving away from you, hence you feel empty. The energy goes away, never comes back;
           you go on throwing away energy. By and by you feel dissipated, frustrated. Nothing comes back. By
           and by you start to feel empty. The energy is just oozing out every day -- and then comes death.
           Death is nothing else but that you are exhausted and spent. The greatest miracle in life is to
           understand this, and to turn the energy towards home. It is a turning-in. This turning-in,
           PARABVRUTTI, is SANNYAS.
               It is not that you leave the world. You live in the world -- there is no need to leave anything, or
           go anywhere else. You live in the world, but in a totally different way. Now you live in the world but
           you remain centered in yourself; your energy goes on returning to yourself.
               You are no longer out-going: you have become in-going. Of course you become a pool of
           energy, a reservoir, and energy is delight, sheer delight. Just energy there, overflowing, and you are
           in delight, and you can share, and you can give in love. This is the difference. If you put your energy
           into greed, it never comes back; if you put your energy into love, it comes back a thousand-fold. If
           you put your energy into anger, it never comes back. It leaves you empty, exhausted, spent. If you
           use your energy in compassion, it comes back a thousand-fold.
               So now I will tell you what a good SANNYASIN is. I don't mean a moral or immoral
           SANNYASIN. My word 'good' has nothing to do with morality. It is something to do with what
           Buddha calls AES DHAMMO SANANTANO, what Buddha calls the eternal law of life.
               A good man is an understanding man. A good man is alert, aware -- that's all. Awareness is the
           only value for me -- all else is meaningless. Awareness is the only value for me. So when I say a
           good SANNYASIN, I mean a SANNYASIN who is aware. Of course, when you are aware, you
           behave according to the law, the fundamental law. When you are unaware, you go on destroying
           yourself -- you go on being suicidal.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you behave according to the fundamental law, you will be enriched tremendously. Your life
           will become richer and richer every moment. You will become a king. You may remain a beggar in
           the outside world, but you will become a king, a pinnacle of inner richness. What Jesus calls the
           kingdom of God will be within you. You will become a king of the kingdom that is within you. But
           more awareness is needed.
               So don't misunderstand me. When I say a good SANNYASIN I don't use the word in any
           moralistic sense. I use it in a more fundamental sense, because to me, morality is just a by-product of
           awareness, and immorality is a shadow of unawareness. I am not concerned with shadows and
           by-products; I am concerned with the fundamental, with the essential. Be aware and you will be
           good; be unaware and you will be bad.

           I have heard a small anecdote.
               An old farmer was watching his young son. Luke, lighting the wick of the hurricane lamp prior
           to departing for the evening.
           'What is the lantern for?' he asked.
               Said his son casually, 'I am off courting Dad, don't worry, I will pay for the oil.'
           'Dang me!' said the father, 'When I was a courting, I never took me no lamp along, son.'
           'That figures,' came the reply. 'Look what you got!'
               If you don't take the lamp of awareness with you, you are going to create a hell around you. Light
           your lamp wherever you go -- courting, not courting, that is not the point. Wherever you go,
           whatsoever you do, always do it in the inner light, with awareness.
               And don't be worried about moralities -- about concepts, about what is good and what is bad.
           Good follows your inner light just like a shadow. You take care of the inner light. That's what
           meditation is all about -- to become more alert. Live the same life, just change your alertness -- make
           it more intense. Eat the same food, walk the same path, live in the same house, be with the same
           woman and the children, but be totally different from your inside. Be alert! Walk the same path, but
           with awareness. If you become aware, suddenly the path is no more the same, because you are no
           more the same. If you are aware, the same food is not the same, because you are not the same, the
           same woman is not the same, because you are not the same. Everything changes with your inner
           change.
               If somebody changes his within, the without changes totally. My definition of the world is this --
           you must be living in a deep inner darkness, hence the world. If you light your inner lamp, suddenly
           the world disappears, and there is only God. The world and the God are not two things but two
           perceptions of the same energy. If you are unaware, the energy appears to you to be as the world, the
           SANSARA; if you are alert, the same energy appears as God. The whole thing depends on your
           inner awareness or unawareness. That is the only change, the only transformation, the only
           revolution, that has to be made.

           The third question:

              I FEEL SICK WITH COWARDICE.


               There must be a desire not to be a coward -- that desire creates the problem. If you are a coward,
           you are a coward. Accept it. What can you do about it? Whatsoever you do will create more
           problems, more complexities.
               And who is not a coward? When life is constantly in danger of death, how is it possible not to be
           a coward? k is impossible! When any moment you can die, and life can be taken away from you,
           how is it possible, in face of such danger, to be brave?. You can pretend, you can manage to show
           that you are brave -- but deep down you are going to remain a coward. It is natural. Just look at the
           tininess of human beings: so tiny, and existence is so vast. We are not even like drops fighting
           against such an ocean. How is it possible not to be a coward?
               Try to understand it. Accept it. It is natural. Don't create a goal against it because that goal is
           coming out of your cowardice. That goal is not going to help you. At the most you can become very
           tense and pretend that you are not a coward. You can move to the opposite extreme just to prove to
           the world and to yourself that you are not a coward. That's what your generals and your great leaders
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are doing -- just trying to prove to the world that they are not cowards. And because of their efforts,
           the whole world has suffered tremendously. Please, don't try any foolish thing like that. Just accept.
           It is helplessness. One has to accept it. Once you accept it, and you start understanding it, you will
           see that by and by it disappears. It is not that you become brave -- but one day you simply find that
           through acceptance it disappears.
                There is no fight; it disappears. There is no resistance; you accept it and it disappears. It is not
           that you become brave, you simply become more understanding. Bravery is not a goal, but you have
           been taught from your very childhood, 'Be brave!' so you go on trying to be brave. That creates much
           anxiety and tension. You are trembling everywhere inside -- and on the outside you are like a stone
           statue. Divided.
                This has created much misery in you. The goals that have been taught to you from your
           childhood are foolish, are simply not based on reality. It is as if you say to a small leaf on a tree,
           'When strong winds come,. don't shake, don't waver, don't tremble -- that is cowardice.' But what can
           a small leaf do? When the strong wind comes, it shakes; the whole tree shakes. But trees are not so
           foolish. They won't listen to you -- they go on doing their thing.
                Have you watched two dogs fighting? They don't start fighting immediately. First they move in a
           mock fight; both start barking. That is just a game to gauge, to judge, who is more strong. They are
           not going to fight immediately because that is foolish, stupid; that is done only by human beings.
           First they will try to bark at each other, jump at each other, show their totality -- the one will show: 'I
           am this,' and the other will show: 'I am this.' Then immediately they judge -- that judgment needs
           nobody else to convince them. Immediately one feels that he is weaker, and he puts his tail down and
           moves. 'This is finished. What is the point of fighting? I am weaker and you are stronger and the
           stronger is going to win! The point is lost.' It is not that he is a coward -- he is simply wise. I don't
           call this cowardness.
                Human beings will stick -- even if you feel that you are weak. The more you feel that you are
           weak, the more you will be afraid to leave. People will say you are a coward, so you must fight....
           and you will be beaten badly and unnecessarily hurt. There is no point. It is a simple calculation --
           and the stronger one doesn't go and show the other dogs that he has won. No, the thing is simply
           dropped. He also knows that he is stronger, so what is the point? He doesn't go on advertising that he
           has won. No, the fight is dropped, he forgets all about it.
                But in the human situation the whole thing has taken a very wrong shape, because you have been
           taught wrong goals. Each child should be taught to be true to life. If there is fear, then be afraid. Why
           hide it? Why pretend that you are not afraid? If you want to cry, cry. Why be afraid of tears? But we
           have been taught not to cry, particularly men. With small children the mother will say, 'Don't be a
           sissy. Don't start crying. That is only for girls.' And the boy becomes hard. Look, men cannot cry.
           They have missed one of the most beautiful things in life. Nature has not made any difference
           between man and woman; man has as many tear-glands as woman, so the thing is proved -- there is
           no difference. Tears are needed. They are cleansing. But how to cry? What will people say? They
           will say, 'You, and crying? Your wife has died and you are crying? Be a man. Be brave. Bear it.
           Don't cry.'
                But you understand? If you don't cry, by and by your smile will be corrupted, because everything
           is joined together. If you cannot cry, you cannot laugh; if you don't allow your tears to flow
           naturally, you will not be able to allow your smiles to flow naturally. Everything will become
           unnatural, everything will become strained, everything will become a forced thing, you will move
           almost in a diseased way and you will never be at ease with yourself. That is what has happened, and
           now you are miserable.
                Life consists of flowing. If you are a coward, be a coward. Be honestly a coward. And I tell you
           there is nobody else who is not a coward. And it is good that people are not that way; otherwise,
           even while they are so helpless, they would feel so egoistic. If they were not cowards they would be
           almost dead stones -- they would not be alive -- just egos, frozen. Don't be bothered. Accept it. If it is
           there, it is there -- a fact of life. Try to understand it And don't listen to others; you are still being
           manipulated by others.

           I was reading an anecdote.
              Mistress Jones pursued her small husband through the crowds at the zoo brandishing her
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           umbrella and emitting cries of menace. The frightened Mr. Jones, noticing the lock on the lions' cage
           had not quite caught, wrenched it off, flew into the cage, slammed the door shut again, pushed the
           astonished lion hard against the door, and peered over its shoulder.
                His frustrated wife shook her umbrella at him and yelled furiously, 'Come out of there, you
           coward!'
           This man a coward?
                But each husband is a coward in the eyes of the wife. In others' eyes, you are a coward. Don't
           trust the opinion of others too much. if you feel yourself to be a coward, close your eyes, meditate on
           it. Ninety-nine per cent is others' opinion -- the wife, brandishing her umbrella, 'Come out, you
           coward!' Ninety-nine per cent is others' opinion -- drop it; one per cent is reality -- accept it; and
           don't create any antagonistic goal. Accept it and then you will see that cowardice is no longer
           cowardice. Rejected, it becomes cowardice -- the very word 'cowardice' is a condemnation --
           accepted, it becomes humbleness, helplessness. That's how it is. We have to be humble, we are not
           the whole. We are the parts of a tremendously vast whole -- very tiny parts, atomic parts, small
           leaves on a big tree.
                It is good to tremble sometimes. Nothing wrong in it. It helps you to shake off the dust. You
           become again fresh.
                My whole point is: accept life as it is and don't try to change it into something else. Don't try to
           change your violence into non-violence; don't try to change your cowardice into bravery; don't try to
           change your sex into celibacy; don't create the opposite. Rather, try to understand the fact of violence
           and by and by you will become non-violent. Understand the fact of cowardice and cowardice will
           disappear. Understand the fact of sex and you will find a new quality arising in it which goes beyond
           it. But always move through the fact, never against it.

           The fourth question:

              MY FATHER IS OBSESSED WITH GENEALOGY. IS THERE ANYTHING TO SUCH PURSUITS?


               Must be, otherwise why should your father be obsessed? He may have taken a wrong route, but
           there must be something in it. Even when people go astray, they go astray for a certain reason --
           although they may not be aware of it.
           For example, let me tell you an anecdote first.
               Young Willie, aged eight, came to his father one morning and said, 'Daddy, where did I come
           from?'
               Willie's father felt a sinking sensation in his stomach for he knew he was now up against it. He
           was a modern parent and realized a question like that deserved a full and frank answer. He found a
           quiet spot and for the next half hour, he carefully indoctrinated Willie into what are euphemistically
           called the facts of life, managing to be quite explicit.
               Willie listened with fascinated absorption, and when it was over, the father said, 'Well, Willie,
           does that answer your question?'
           'No,' said Willie, 'it does not. Johnny Brown came from Cincinnatti, where did I come from?'
               If your father is interested in genealogy he has misunderstood his inquiry. This is a natural
           question in everybody's being: from where do we come? From where? From what source? Now, if
           you get into genealogy, you are not getting anywhere. The basic question is religious; it has nothing
           to do with genealogy. The basic question is: who is the ultimate father, or ultimate mother? Now this
           is pointless. I have a father, and my father had a father, and of course this goes on and on and you
           can go on searching and you can make a big tree of your family, but it is pointless because the
           question remains the same -- who is the first?
               Searching into genealogy, you cannot come to the first. Always the question will remain -- from
           whom? I can move a hundred generations back, or a thousand generations back, but the question
           remains the same; it is not solved. From where? From where? From what source has life arisen?
               Your father has missed; he has misinterpreted a religious inquiry. He has been thinking that it is
           a question of genealogy. It is not.
               This question, 'From where do I come?' has to be asked because unless I know that, it is
           impossible to know who I am.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There are two ways to know it. Either you ask, 'From where do I come?' That is the way of the
           Christian, the Mohammedan and the Judaic religion. If you know from where you come, what the
           ultimate source is, what God is, then you will know who you are. Or, the Indian religions have a
           different way of solving it -- and a better and more scientific way. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism --
           they say it is difficult to say from where you come. There is more possibility that you may be lost in
           thinking and in philosophical doctrines. The better question is, 'Who am l?' If you know this, you
           will know from where you come. So they say forget all about God. They are not worried about who
           created the world; they are worried about, 'Who am l?' In a way that is more scientific, because if I
           can understand the quality of my being. that will immediately give me the key to understand the
           whole and what it is. If I can understand myself... Because the source must be existing in some way
           within me still. The tree goes on still existing in the seed. If you can understand the seed, you will be
           able to know the tree; in the fruit the whole tree exists.
               If we can understand ourselves.... Of course this is the closest approach possible because I am
           closer to me than anything else. Just close your eyes and you reach into yourself. The only problem
           is how to drop the thoughts -- then suddenly you start sinking into your being. From there is the door
           to the whole, to the source.
               When you go back home, tell your father that genealogy is not going to help. He must have some
           religious inquiry within him which he has misunderstood. Once he is made aware of It, his inquiry
           will be on the right lines.
               It is happening in the West because religion is no longer an accepted inquiry; it is a rejected
           inquiry. So people go on seeking religious inquiries through vicarious ways. You cannot accept
           directly that you are seeking God -- people will think you are mad! 'It is foolish. What are you
           talking about? You are not a contemporary then. God is dead, have you not heard? What are you
           doing?' But the desire arises to know the source, and you cannot accept it in religious ways because
           religious ways are no longer accepted by the modern mind. So you have to search for it in a
           vicarious way. Then you start asking about genealogy.
               Religion is a valid inquiry; whether society accepts it or rejects it, it doesn't matter. Man is a
           religious animal and is going to remain that way. Religion is something natural. To ask from where
           you come is relevant; to ask, 'Who am l?' is going to remain relevant always. But the modern mind
           has created a climate of atheism so you cannot ask such questions. If you ask, people laugh. If you
           talk about such things, people feel bored If you start inquiring in these ways, people think you are
           slipping out of your sanity. Religion is no longer a welcome inquiry.
               Tell your father. And of course, genealogy will remain an obsession because this is not the right
           inquiry; but once his consciousness shifts to the religious dimension he will be released from the
           obsession -- and then something is possible. Something of tremendous import is possible. He wants
           to know who the real father is, who has fathered existence, or, who is still mothering existence?.

              The last question: Listen to it very carefully. It is very important.

              OSHO, HOW DO YOU MANAGE IT -- TO HAVE ALWAYS THE RIGHT ANECDOTE AT THE RIGHT
              MOMENT?


               Let me answer you by an anecdote.
               A king, passing through a small town, saw what he took to be indications of amazing
           marksmanship. On trees, barns and fences there were numbers of bull's-eyes, each with a bullet-hole
           in the exact center. He could not believe his eyes. It was superb marksmanship, almost a miracle of
           achievement. He himself was a good marksman, and he had known many great marksmen in his life,
           but never anything like this. He asked to meet the expert shot. It turned out to be a madman.
           'This is sensational! How in the world do you do it?' he asked the madman. 'I myself am a good shot,
           but nothing compared to your skill and art. Please tell me.'
           'Easy as pie!' said the madman and laughed uproariously. 'I shoot first and draw the circles in later!'
               Dig?! I choose the anecdotes first, and then draw the circles! I am just like that madman.
               There are other people who use anecdotes to illustrate some theoretical point. I do just the
           opposite. I use theoretical points to illustrate the anecdotes.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                    Chapter #7
                                     Chapter title: The Proper State of Mind
           27 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602270
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              WHEN WOLVES WERE DISCOVERED IN THE VILLAGE NEAR MASTER SHOJU'S TEMPLE,
              SHOJU ENTERED THE GRAVEYARD NIGHTLY FOR ONE WEEK AND SAT IN ZAZEN. THIS PUT
              A STOP TO THE WOLVES' PROWLING.



              OVERJOYED, THE VILLAGERS ASKED HIM TO DESCRIBE THE SECRET RITES HE HAD
              PERFORMED.
              'I DIDN'T HAVE TO RESORT TO SUCH THINGS,' HE SAID, 'NOR COULD I HAVE DONE SO.
              WHILE I WAS IN ZAZEN A NUMBER OF WOLVES GATHERED ROUND ME, LICKING THE TIP OF
              MY NOSE, AND SNIFFING MY WINDPIPE, BUT BECAUSE I REMAINED IN THE RIGHT STATE OF
              MIND, I WASN'T BITTEN.



              AS I KEEP PREACHING TO YOU, THE PROPER STATE OF MIND WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR
              YOU TO BE FREE IN LIFE AND DEATH, INVULNERABLE TO FIRE AND WATER. EVEN WOLVES
              ARE POWERLESS AGAINST IT. I SIMPLY PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH.'


                WHAT is meditation? Is it a technique that can be practiced? Is it an effort that you have to do?
           Is it something which the mind can achieve? It is not.
                All that the mind can do cannot be meditation -- it is something beyond the mind, the mind is
           absolutely helpless there. The mind cannot penetrate meditation; where mind ends, meditation
           begins. This has to be remembered, because in our life, whatsoever we do, we do through the mind;
           whatsoever we achieve, we achieve through the mind. And then, when we turn inwards, we again
           start thinking in terms of techniques, methods, doings, because the whole of life's experience shows
           us that everything can be done by the mind. Yes. Except meditation, everything can be done by the
           mind; everything is done by the mind except meditation. Because meditation is not an achievement
           -- it is already the case, it is your nature.. It has not to be achieved; it has only to be recognized, it
           has only to be remembered. It is there waiting for you -- just a turning in, and it is available. You
           have been carrying it always and always.
                Meditation is your intrinsic nature -- it is you, it is your being, it has nothing to do with your
           doings. You cannot have it, you cannot not have it, it cannot be possessed. It is not a thing. It is you.
           It is your being.
                Once you understand what meditation is things become very clear. Otherwise, you can go on
           groping in the dark.
                Meditation is a state of clarity, not a state of mind. Mind is confusion. Mind is never clear. It
           cannot be. Thoughts create clouds around you -- they are subtle clouds. A mist is created by them,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and the clarity is lost. When thoughts disappear, when there are no more clouds around you, when
           you are in your simple beingness, clarity happens. Then you can see far away; then you can see to
           the very end of existence; then your gaze becomes penetrating -- to the very core of being.
               Meditation is clarity, absolute clarity, of vision. You cannot think about it. You have to drop
           thinking. When I say, 'You have to drop thinking,' don't conclude in a hurry, because I have to use
           language. So I say, 'Drop thinking,' but if you start dropping, you will miss, because again you will
           reduce it to a doing.
               'Drop thinking' simply means: don't do anything. Sit. Let thoughts settle themselves. Let mind
           drop on its own accord. You just sit gazing at the wall, in a silent corner, not doing anything at all.
           Relaxed. Loose. With no effort. Not going, anywhere. As if you are falling asleep awake -- you are
           awake and you are relaxing but the whole body is falling into sleep. You remain alert inside but the
           whole body moves into deep relaxation.
               Thoughts settle on their own accord, you need not jump amongst them, you need not try to put
           them right. It is as if a stream has become muddy...what do you do? Do you jump in it and start
           helping the stream to become clear You will make it more muddy. You simply sit on the bank. You
           wait. There is nothing to be done. Because whatsoever you do will make the stream more muddy If
           somebody has passed through a stream and the dead leaves have surfaced and the mud has arisen,
           just patience is needed. You simply sit on the bank. Watch, indifferently. And as the stream goes on
           flowing, the dead leaves will be taken away, and the mud will start settling because it cannot hang
           forever
               After a while, suddenly you will become aware -- the stream is crystal-clear again.
               Whenever a desire passes through your mind the stream becomes muddy. So just sit. Don't try to
           do anything. In Japan this 'just sitting' is called zazen; just sitting and doing nothing. And one day,
           meditation happens. Not that you bring it to you; it comes to you. And when it comes, you
           immediately recognize it; it has been always there but you were not looking in the right direction.
           The treasure has been with you but you were occupied somewhere else: in thoughts, in desires, in a
           thousand and one things. You were not interested in the only one thing... and that was your own
           being.
               When energy turns in -- what Buddha calls PARABVRUTTI: the coming back of your energy to
           the source -- suddenly clarity is attained. Then you can see clouds a thousand miles away, and you
           can hear ancient music in the pines. Then everything is available to you.
               Before we enter this beautiful Zen story, a few things about the mind have to be understood.
           Because the more you understand the mechanism of the mind, the more the possibility is that you
           will not interfere. The more you understand how the mind functions, the more the possibility is that
           you will be able to sit in zazen; that you will be able just to sit, sit and do nothing; that you will be
           able to allow meditation to happen. It is a happening.
               But the understanding of the mind will be helpful, otherwise you may go on doing something
           which helps the mind to continue to function, which goes on giving cooperation to the mind.
               The first thing about the mind is that it is a constant chattering. Whether you are talking or not, it
           goes on doing some inner talk; whether you are awake or asleep the inner talk continues as an
           undercurrent. You may be doing some work but the inner talk continues; you are driving, or you are
           digging a hole in the garden, but the inner talk continues.
               The mind is constantly talking. If the inner talk can drop even for a single moment you will be
           able to have a glimpse of no-mind. That's what meditation is all about. The state of no-mind is the
           right state. It is your state.
               But how to come to an interval where the mind stops the inner chattering? If you try, again you
           will miss. But there is no need to try. In fact the interval is continuously happening -- just a little
           alertness is needed. Between two thoughts there is an interval; between two words even, there is a
           gap. Otherwise the words will run into each other; otherwise thoughts will overlap each other. They
           don't overlap.
               Whatsoever you say.... You say, 'A rose is a rose is a rose.' Between two words there is a gap;
           between 'a' and 'rose' there is a gap, howsoever small, howsoever invisible, howsoever
           non-perceptible. But the gap is there, otherwise, 'a' will run into 'rose'. With just a little alertness, just
           a little watchfulness, you can see the gap: a-rose-is-a-rose-is-a-rose. The gap is continuously
           occurring; after each word the gap is recurring.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The gestalt has to be changed. Ordinarily you look at the words, you don't look at the gaps. You
           look at the 'a', you look at the 'rose', but you don't look at the gap between the two. Change your
           attention. Have you seen children's books? There are many pictures which you can look at in two
           ways: if you look one way there is an old woman, but if you go on looking, suddenly the picture
           changes and a young beautiful woman can be seen. The same lines make both faces -- of an old
           woman and a young woman. If you go on looking at the young face, again it changes, because the
           mind cannot remain constant at anything -- it is a flux. And if you go on looking again at the old
           face, it will change back to a young face.
               One thing you will notice: when you see the old face, you cannot see the young face though you
           know it is hidden somewhere -- you have known it, you have seen it. And when you see the young
           face, the old face cannot be seen; it disappears although you know it is there.
               You cannot see both together. They are contradictory. They cannot be seen together. When you
           see the figure, the background disappears; when you see the background, the figure disappears. Mind
           has a limited capacity to know -- it cannot know the contradictory. That s why it cannot know God --
           God is contradictory; that s why it cannot know the innermost core of your being -- it is
           contradictory. it comprehends all contradictions, it is paradoxical.
               The mind can see only one thing at a time. and the opposite is not possible at the same time.
           When you see the opposite. the first disappears. The mind goes on looking at the words so it cannot
           see the silences that come after each word. Change the focus. Just sitting silently. start looking in the
           gaps. Not with effort, no need to strain. Relaxed -- just easy -- in a playful mood -- just as fun. No
           need to be religious about it otherwise you become serious, and once you become serious it is very
           difficult to move from words to no-words. It is very easy if you remain loose, flowing, non-serious,
           playful -- as if it is just a fun.
               Millions of people miss meditation because meditation has taken on a wrong connotation. It
           looks very serious, looks gloomy, has something of the church in it, looks as if it is only for people
           who are dead, or almost dead, who are gloomy, serious, have long faces, who have lost festivity, fun,
           playfulness, celebration. These are the qualities of meditation. A really meditative person is playful:
           life is fun for him, life is a LEELA, a play. He enjoys it tremendously. He is not serious. He is
           relaxed.
               Sit silently, relaxed, loose, and just allow your attention to flow towards the gaps. Slip from the
           edges of words into the intervals. Let intervals become more prominent and allow words to fade
           away. It is just as if you are looking at a blackboard, and I put a small white dot on it: you can see
           either the dot, then the blackboard goes far away. or you can see the blackboard, then the dot
           becomes secondary, a shadow phenomenon. You can go on changing your attention between the
           figure and the background.
               Words are figures; silence is the background. Words come and go; silence remains. When you
           were born you were born as a silence -- just intervals and intervals, gaps and gaps. Infinite emptiness
           you came with, unbounded emptiness you brought with you in life -- then you started collecting
           words.
               That's why if you go back in your memory, if you try to remember, you cannot go past the age of
           four. Because before the age of four you were almost empty; words started collecting in your
           memory after the age of four. Memory can function only where words function, emptiness leaves no
           trace on you. That's why when you go back and you try to remember, you can remember, at the most,
           the age of four. Or, if you were very intelligent, then your remembering can go back to the age of
           three. But there comes a point where suddenly there is no memory. Up to that time you were an
           emptiness -- pure, virgin, uncorrupted by words. You were pure sky. The day you die, again your
           words will drop and scatter; you will move into another world or into another life again with your
           emptiness.
           Emptiness is your self.
               I have heard that Shankara used to tell the following story of a pupil who kept asking his Master
           about the nature of the ultimate self. Each time the question came, the Master would turn a deaf ear
           -- until finally he turned on his pupil one day and said, 'I am teaching you, but you do not follow.
           The self is silence.'
               Mind means words; self means silence. Mind is nothing but all the words that you have
           accumulated; silence is that which has always been with you, it is not an accumulation. That is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meaning of self. It is your intrinsic quality. On the background of silence you go on accumulating
           words, and the words in total are known as the mind. Silence is meditation. It is a question of
           changing the gestalt, shifting the attention from words into silence -- which is always there.
               Each word is like a precipice: you can take a jump into the valley of silence. From each word you
           can slip into silence... that is the use of a mantra. Mantra means repeating a single word again and
           again and again. When you repeat a single word again and again and again, you get bored with that
           word because the novelty is lost. You get fed up with that word, you want to get rid of that word.
           Boredom helps. It helps you to get rid of the word -- now you can slip more easily into silence.
               The silence is always there by the corner. If you go on repeating Ram, Ram, Ram... how long can
           you repeat it? Sooner or later you feel fed up, bored. The use of a mantra to create such boredom that
           you want to get rid of it, is beautiful, because then there is no other way than to slip into silence.
           Leave the word behind and move into the gap; use the word as a jumping-board and jump into the
           abyss.
               If words change -- ordinarily they do change, of course -- you are never fed up. A new word is
           always attractive; a new idea is always attractive; a new dream, a new desire, is always attractive.
           But if you can see that the mind is simply repeating the same thing again and again and again, either
           you fall asleep or you jump into silence -- these two are the possibilities. And I know that most
           people who chant mantras fall into sleep That too is a possibility which we have known for
           centuries. Mothers know it well. When a child is not falling asleep, they do a mantra -- they call it a
           lullaby. They repeat just two or three words in a monotonous tone and the child starts feeling sleepy.
           Go on repeating and the child gets bored, and he cannot escape, he cannot go anywhere, so the only
           escape is into sleep. He says, 'Go on repeating. I am going to sleep!' And he falls asleep.
               Many chanters of mantras fall asleep -- hence the use of Transcendental Meditation for people
           who suffer from sleeplessness, hence its appeal in America. Insomnia has become a normal thing.
           The more insomnia is there, the more will be the appeal of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, because people
           need some tranquilizers. A mantra is a prefect tranquilizer, but that is not its real use. There is
           nothing wrong in it -- if it gives you good sleep, good, but that is not its real use.
               It is as if you are using an airplane like a bullock-cart. You can use it. You can put the airplane
           behind bullocks, and use it as a bullock-cart -- nothing wrong in it, it will serve a little purpose, but
           that is not its use. You could soar very high with it.
               A mantra has to be used with full awareness that this is to create boredom, and you are to
           remember not to fall asleep. Otherwise, you miss. Don't fall asleep. Go on repeating the mantra and
           don't allow yourself to fall into sleep. So it is better if you repeat the mantra standing, or repeat it
           walking, so that you don't fall asleep.
               One of the great disciples of Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, was dying. The doctors told him to rest
           but he would not -- instead he continued walking the whole night. They thought he had gone crazy.
           He was dying, his energy was disappearing -- what was he doing? This was the time to rest; he
           would die sooner if he went on walking. But he would not stop.
           Somebody asked, 'What are you doing?'
               He said, 'I would like to die alert, awake. I don't want to die asleep -- otherwise I will miss the
           beauty of death.'
           And he died walking.
           That is the way to do a mantra. Walk.
               If you go to Bodh-Gaya, where Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment, near the Bodhi tree you
           will find a small path. On that path Buddha walked continuously. For one hour he would meditate
           under the tree, and then for one hour he would walk.
               When his disciples asked, 'Why?' he would say, 'Because if I sit too much under the tree, then
           sleepiness starts coming.'
               The moment sleepiness starts coming, one has to walk, because otherwise you will slip into
           sleep, and the whole mantra is lost. The mantra is to create boredom, the mantra is to create a
           fed-up-ness so that you can jump into the abyss. If you move into sleep the abyss is missed.
               All Buddhist meditations alternate. You do them sitting -- but when you feel drowsiness setting
           in immediately you get up and start doing them walking. Then the moment you see that the
           sleepiness has disappeared, sit again, do the meditation again. If you go on doing this, a moment
           comes when suddenly you slip out of the words, just like a snake who slips out of his old skin. And it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happens very naturally. There is no effort to it.
                So the first thing to remember about mind is: it is a constant chattering. That chattering keeps it
           alive, that chattering is a food for it, without that chattering the mind cannot continue. So drop out of
           the clutches of the mind -- that is, drop out of inner chattering.
                You can do this by forcing yourself, but then again you miss. You can force yourself not to talk
           inside, just as you can force yourself not to talk outside -- you can keep a forced silence. In the
           beginning it is difficult, but you can go on insisting and you can force the mind not to talk. It is
           possible. If you go to the Himalayas, you will find many people who have attained to it, but you will
           find dullness on their faces, not intelligence. The mind has not been transcended, it has been simply
           dulled. They have not moved into alive silence, they have simply forced the mind and controlled it.
           It is as if a child has been forced to sit in the corner and not to move. Watch him. He feels restless,
           but he goes on controlling himself, afraid.. He represses his energy otherwise he will be punished.
                If this goes on for as long as it does -- in schools children are sitting for five or six hours -- by
           and by they are dulled, their intelligence is lost. Every child is born intelligent and almost
           ninety-nine per cent of people die stupid. The whole education dulls the mind -- and you can do it
           yourself also.
                You will find religious people almost stupid although you may not see it because of your ideas
           about them. But if you have open eyes, go and look at your SANNYASINS -- you will find them
           stupid and idiotic; you will not find any sign of intelligence or creativity. India has suffered very
           much because of these people. They have created such an uncreative state that India has lived at the
           minimum. Paralysis is not meditation.
                It happened once in a church that the preacher shouted at the revival, 'Let all you husbands who
           have troubles on your minds, stand up!'
                Every man in the church rose to his feet except one.
           'Ah!' exclaimed the preacher. 'You are one in a million!'
           'It is not that. I cannot get up,' said the man. 'I am paralyzed.'
                Paralysis is not meditation; paralysis is not healthy. You can paralyze the mind -- there are
           millions of tricks available to paralyze it. People lie on a bed of thorns. If you continuously lie on a
           bed of thorns, your body becomes insensitive. It is not a miracle. You are simply desensitizing your
           body. When the body loses aliveness there is no problem -- it is not a bed of thorns for you at all.
           You may by and by even start feeling comfortable. In fact, if you-are given a good comfortable bed
           you will not be able to sleep on it. This is paralyzing the body.
                There are similar methods to paralyze the mind. You can fast. Then the mind goes on saying that
           the body is hungry but you don't supply food, you don't listen to the mind. By and by the mind
           becomes dull. The body goes on feeling the hunger but the mind does not report it. Because what is
           the point? There is nobody to listen, there is nobody to respond. Then a certain paralysis happens in
           the mind. Many people who go on long fasts think they have attained meditation. It is not
           meditation, it is just low energy, paralysis, insensitivity. They are moving like dead corpses. They
           are not alive. Remember, meditation will bring you more and more intelligence, infinite intelligence,
           a radiant intelligence. Meditation will make you more alive and sensitive; your life will become
           richer.
                Look at the ascetics: their life has become almost as if it is not life. These people are not
           meditators. They may be masochists, torturing themselves and enjoying the torture...the mind is very
           cunning, it goes on doing things and rationalizing them. Ordinarily you are violent towards others
           but mind is very cunning -- it can learn non-violence, it can preach non-violence. then it becomes
           violent towards itself. And the violence that you do on your own self is respected by people because
           they have an idea that to be an ascetic is to be religious. That is sheer nonsense.
                God is not an ascetic, otherwise there would be no flowers, there would be no green trees, only
           deserts. God is not an ascetic, otherwise there would be no song in life, no dance in life -- only
           cemeteries and cemeteries. God is not an ascetic; God enjoys life. God is more Epicurean than you
           can imagine. If you think about God, think in terms of Epicurus. God is a constant search for more
           and more happiness, joy, ecstasy. Remember that.
                But mind is very cunning. It can rationalize paralysis as meditation; it can rationalize dullness as
           transcendence; it can rationalize deadness as renunciation. Watch out. Always remember that if you
           are moving in the right direction you will go on flowering. Much fragrance will come out of you and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will be creative. And you will be sensitive to life, to love, and to everything that God makes
           available to you.
               Have a very penetrating eye inside your mind -- see what its motivations are. When you do
           something, immediately look for the motivation, because if you miss the motivation, the mind goes
           on befooling you and goes on saying that something else was the motivation. For example: you come
           home angry and you beat your child. The mind will say, 'It is just for his own sake, to make him
           behave.' This is a rationalization. Go deeper... You were angry and you wanted somebody with
           whom you could be angry. You could not be angry with the boss in the office, he is too strong for
           that. And it is risky and economically dangerous. No, you needed somebody helpless. Now this child
           is perfectly helpless, he depends on you; he cannot react, he cannot do anything, he cannot pay you
           back in the same coin. You cannot find a more perfect victim.
               Look. Are you angry with the child? If you are, then the mind is befooling you.
               The mind goes on befooling you twenty-four hours a day and you cooperate with it. Then in the
           end you are in misery, you land in hell. Watch every moment for the right motivation. If you can find
           the right motivation, the mind will become more and more incapable of deceiving you And the
           further away you are from deception, the more you will be capable of moving beyond mind, the
           more you will become a master.

           I have heard.
               One scientist was saying to his friend, 'I don't see why you insisted that your wife wear a chastity
           belt while we were away at the convention. After all, between us as old buddies, with Emma's face
           and figure, who would?'
           'I know, I know,' replied the other. 'But when I get back home, I can always say I lost the key.'
               Look, watch for the unconscious motivation. The mind goes on bullying you and bossing you
           because you are not capable of seeing its real motivations. Once a person becomes capable of seeing
           real motivations, meditation is very close... because then the mind no longer has a grip on you.
               The mind is a mechanism. It has no intelligence. The mind is a bio-computer. How can it have
           any intelligence? It has skill, but it has no intelligence; it has a functional utility, but it has no
           awareness. It is a robot; it works well but don't listen to it too much because then you will lose your
           inner intelligence. Then it is as if you are asking a machine to guide you, lead you. You are asking a
           machine which has nothing original in it -- cannot have. Not a single thought in the mind is ever
           original, it is always a repetition. Watch. Whenever mind says something, see that it is again putting
           you into a routine. Try to do something new and the mind will have less grip on you.
               People who are in some way creative are always easily transformed into meditators, and people
           who are uncreative in their life are the most difficult. If you live a repetitive life the mind has too
           much control over you -- you cannot move away from it, you are afraid. Do something new every
           day. Don't listen to the old routine. In fact, if the mind says something, tell it, 'This we have been
           doing always. Now let us do something else.'
               Even small changes... in the way you have always been behaving with your wife -- just small
           changes; in the way you always walk -- just small changes; the way you always talk -- small
           changes. And you will find that the mind is losing its grip on you, you are becoming a little freer.
               Creative persons get more easily into-meditation and go deeper. Poets, painter, musicians,
           dancers, can get into meditation more easily than businessmen -- they live a routine life, absolutely
           uncreative.
               I have heard about a father who was giving advice to his son. The father, a noted playboy in his
           younger days, was discussing his son's forthcoming marriage.
           'My boy,' he said, 'I have got just two pieces of advice to give you. Make it a point to reserve the
           right to one night a week out with the boys.'
               He paused. His son asked for the second piece of advice and then he said, 'Don't waste it on the
           boys!'
               He is transferring his own routine, his own ways to his son. The old mind goes on giving advice
           to the present consciousness -- the father giving advice to the son.
               Each moment -- you are new, reborn, the consciousness is never old. The consciousness is
           always the son and the mind is always the father. The mind is never new and the consciousness is
           never old -- and the mind goes on advising the son. The father will create the same pattern in the son,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then the son will repeat the same thing.
                You have lived in a certain way up to now -- don't you want to live in a different way? You have
           thought in a certain way up to now -- don't you want some new glimpses in your being? Then be
           alert and don't listen to the mind.
                Mind is your past constantly trying to control your present and your future. It is the dead past
           which goes on controlling the alive present. Just become alert about it.
                But what is the way? How does the mind go on doing it? The mind does it with this method: it
           says, 'If you don't listen to me, you will not be as efficient as I am. If you do an old thing you can be
           more efficient because you have done it before. If you do a new thing you cannot be so efficient.'
           The mind goes on talking like an economist. an efficiency expert; it goes on saying, 'This is easier to
           do. Why do it the hard way? This is the way of least resistance.'
                Remember, whenever you have two things, two alternatives, choose the new one, choose the
           harder, choose the one in which more awareness will be needed. At the cost of efficiency always
           choose awareness, and you will create the situation in which meditation will become possible. These
           are all just situations. Meditation will happen. I am not saying that just by doing them you will get to
           meditation -- but they will be helpful. They will create the necessary situation in you without which
           meditation cannot happen.
                Be less efficient but more creative. Let that be the motive. Don't be bothered too much about
           utilitarian ends. Rather, constantly remember that you are not here in life to become a commodity;
           you are not here to become an utility, that is below dignity;. you are not here just to become more
           and more efficient -- you are here to become more and more alive; you are here to become more and
           more intelligent; you are here to become more and more happy, ecstatically happy. But that is totally
           different from the ways of the mind.
                A woman received a report from the school.
           'Your little boy is very intelligent,' said the teacher's note accompanying the report card, 'but he
           spends entirely too much time playing with the girls. However, I am working on a plan to break him
           of the habit.'
                The mother signed the report and sent it back with this note: 'Let me know if it works, and I will
           try it out on his father.'
                People are constantly searching for cues to control others, cues which can give you more profit --
           profitable cues. If you are after cues on how to control others, you will be in the control of the mind
           always. Forget about controlling anybody. Once you drop the idea of controlling others -- husband or
           wife, son or father, friend or foe -- once you drop the idea of controlling others, the mind cannot
           have the grip on you because it becomes useless.
                It is useful in controlling the world; it is useful in controlling society.... A politician cannot
           meditate. Impossible! Even more impossible than for a businessman. A politician is at the very other
           end. He cannot meditate. Sometimes politicians come to me. They are interested in meditation but
           not exactly in meditation -- they are too tense and they want a certain relaxation. They come to me
           and they ask if I can help them, because they are too tense, their work is such. and constant conflict,
           leg-pulling, rat-racing, continues. They ask for something so that they can have a little peace. I tell
           them that it is impossible. They cannot meditate. The ambitious mind cannot meditate because the
           basic foundation of meditation is to be non-ambitious. Ambition means the effort to control others.
           That is what politics is: the effort to control the whole world. If you want to control others you will
           have to listen to the mind, because the mind enjoys violence very much.
                And you cannot try new things -- they are too risky. You have to try the old things again and
           again. If you listen to the lessons of history, they are amazing.
                in 1917, Russia went through a great revolution, one of the greatest in history. But somehow the
           revolution failed. When the communists came into power, they became almost like the czars --
           worse, even. Stalin proved more terrible than Peter the Terrible. He killed millions of people. What
           happened? Once they came into power, to do something, new was too risky. It might not work, it has
           never worked before so who knows? Try the old methods which have always been useful. They had
           to learn from the czars.
                Every revolution fails because once a certain group of politicians comes into power, it has to use
           the same methods. The mind is never for the new, it is always for the old. If you want to control
           others, you will not be able to meditate...about that one point be absolutely certain.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The mind lives in a sort of sleep, it lives in a sort of unconscious state. You become conscious
           only very rarely. If your life is in tremendous danger you become conscious; otherwise you are not
           conscious. The mind goes on moving, sleepy. Stand by the side of the road and watch people and
           you will see shadows of dreams on their faces. Somebody talks to himself, or makes gestures -- if
           you look at him you will be able to see that he is somewhere else, not here on the road. It is as if
           people are moving in deep sleep.
               Somnambulism is the ordinary state of the mind. If you want to become a meditator, you have to
           drop this sleepy habit of doing things. Walk, but be alert. Dig a hole, but be alert. Eat, but while
           eating don't do anything -- just eat. Each bite should be taken with deep alertness, chew it with
           alertness. Don't allow yourself to run all over the world. Be here, now. Whenever you catch your
           mind going somewhere else.... It is always going somewhere else, it never wants to be here. Because
           if the mind is here it is no longer needed; right in the present there is no need for the mind --
           consciousness is enough. The mind is needed only there, somewhere else in the future, in the past,
           but never here.....Whenever you become alert that the mind has gone somewhere else -- you are in
           Poona and the mind has gone to Philadelphia -- immediately become alert. Give yourself a jerk.
           Come back home. Come to the point where you are. Eating, eat; walking, walk; don't allow this mind
           to go all over the world.
               It is not that this will become meditation, but it will create a situation.
               The party was in full gear and a man decided to call up a friend and invite him to join the fun. He
           dialed the wrong number and apologized to the sleepy voice that answered. On the next try he got
           the same voice.
           'I am terribly sorry,' he said, 'I dialed very carefully. Can't understand how I got the wrong number.'
           'Neither can I,' said the sleepy voice. 'Especially since I have no phone.'
               People are living almost asleep, and they have learned the trick of how to do things without
           disturbing their sleep. If you become. a little alert, you will catch yourself red-handed many times
           doing things that you never wanted to do, doing things that you know you are going to repent, doing
           things that you had decided, just the other day, never to do again. And you say many times, 'I did it,
           but I don't know how it happened. It happened in spite of me.' How can something happen in spite of
           you?
               It is possible only if you are asleep. And you go on saying that you never wanted it, but
           somewhere deep down you must have wanted it.
               Just the other day, Paritosh sent me a very beautiful joke -- one of the rare ones, a jewel of the
           finest water. Listen to it carefully.
               It was after the last war and a journalist was interviewing the Reverend Mother of a convent in
           Europe.
           'Tell me,' said the journalist, 'what happened to you and your nuns during those terrible years? How
           did you survive?'
           'Well, first of all,' said the Reverend Mother, 'the Germans invaded our country, seized the convent,
           raped all the nuns -- except sister Anastasia -- took our food and left. Then came the Russians. Again
           they seized the convent, raped all the nuns -- except Sister Anastasia -- took our food and left. Then
           again the Russians were driven out and the Germans came back again, seized the convent, raped all
           the nuns -- except Sister Anastasia -- took our food and left.'
               The journalist made the required sympathetic noises, but was curious about Sister Anastasia.
           'Who is this Sister Anastasia?' he asked. 'Why did she escape these terrible happenings?'
           'Ah, well,' replied the Reverend Mother, 'Sister Anastasia does not like that kind of thing.'
               Even rape is your desire; that too happens because you want it. It may look too extreme, but
           psychoanalysts say it is so. And I also observe it is so. Without your cooperation, even rape is not
           possible. A deep desire of being raped is hidden somewhere. In fact, it is very rare to find a woman
           who has not fantasized about herself being raped, who has not dreamed of herself being raped. Deep
           down rape shows that you are beautiful, desired -- desired wildly. It is an historical fact that when
           one of the most beautiful women of Egypt died her dead body was raped, the mummy. If the spirit of
           that woman knew about it, she must have felt tremendously happy. Just think...a dead body being
           raped.
               You may deny it. Just a few days ago a woman came to me. She had been raped in Kabul. And
           she was telling her whole story with such relish that I said to her, 'You must have been cooperating.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           She said, 'What are you saying?' She felt hurt! I told her not to feel hurt. 'You are enjoying the whole
           story,' I said. 'Close your eyes, and be true. At least once, be true to me. Have you enjoyed it?' She
           said, 'What are you saying? Rape -- and me enjoying it? I am a Catholic, a Christian!' I said, 'Still,
           you close your eyes. It makes no difference whether you are Catholic, Hindu, or Buddhist -- still just
           close your eyes and meditate.' She relaxed. She was a really sincere woman. Then her face changed
           and she opened her eyes and said, 'I think you are right. I enjoyed it. But please don't say it to
           anybody! My husband is going to come to -- see you soon -- never mention it!
               Just watch your mind: on the surface it says something, but deep down, simultaneously, it is
           planning something else. Be a little more alert and don't move in sleep.
               The nagging old lady had been in bed for a week on doctor's orders. Nothing suited her. She
           complained about the weather, the medicine, and especially about her husband's cooking.
               One day after taking in her breakfast tray and cleaning up the kitchen, the old man sat down in
           his den. She heard the scratching of his pen.
           'What are you doing now?' she called.
           'Writing a letter.'
           'Who are you writing to?'
           'Cousin Ann.'
           'What are you writing to her about?'
           'I am telling her you are sick, but the doctors say you will be okay soon, and there is no danger.'
               And then he asked, after a small pause,
           'How do you spell cemetery? With a 'c' or with an 's'?'
               On the surface, one thing deep down, something exactly the opposite. He is hoping against hope;
           he is hoping against doctors. On the surface he will go on saying that she is going to be okay again
           soon -- but deep down he is hoping that somehow she will die. And he will not accept the fact, even
           to himself. That's how you go on hiding from yourself.
               Stop these tricks. Be sincere with your mind, and the grip that your mind has on you will be lost.

           Now this small anecdote.
              WHEN WOLVES WERE DISCOVERED IN THE VILLAGE NEAR MASTER SHOJU'S TEMPLE,
              SHOJU ENTERED THE GRAVEYARD NIGHTLY FOR ONE WEEK AND SAT IN ZAZEN. THIS PUT
              A STOP TO THE WOLVES' PROWLING.



              OVERJOYED, THE VILLAGERS ASKED HIM TO DESCRIBE THE SECRET RITES HE HAD
              PERFORMED.
              'I DIDN'T HAVE TO RESORT TO SUCH THINGS,' HE SAID, 'NOR COULD I HAVE DONE SO.
              WHILE I WAS IN ZAZEN A NUMBER OF WOLVES GATHERED AROUND ME, LICKING THE TIP
              OF MY NOSE, AND SNIFFING MY WINDPIPE, BUT BECAUSE I REMAINED IN THE RIGHT STATE
              OF MIND, I WASN'T BITTEN.



              AS I KEEP PREACHING TO YOU, THE PROPER STATE OF MIND WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR
              YOU TO BE FREE IN LIFE AND DEATH, INVULNERABLE TO FIRE AND WATER. EVEN WOLVES
              ARE POWERLESS AGAINST IT. I SIMPLY PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH.'


              A simple story, but very meaningful. The Master simply went to the graveyard and sat there for
           one week -- not doing anything, not even praying, not even meditating. He simply sat there in
           meditation -- not meditating, just in meditation. He simply sat there. That is the meaning of the word
           zazen. It is one of the most beautiful words to be used for meditation: it simply means just sitting,
           doing nothing. 'Za' means sitting. He simply sat there. And this sitting -- when the mind is not there,
           and thoughts are not there, when there is no stirring, and the consciousness is like a cool pool of
           water with no ripples -- is the right state. Miracles happen on their own accord.

           The Master said,
              WHILE I WAS IN ZAZEN A NUMBER OF WOLVES GATHERED AROUND ME, LICKING THE TIP
              OF MY NOSE, AND SNIFFING MY WINDPIPE, BUT BECAUSE I REMAINED IN THE RIGHT STATE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OF MIND, I WASN'T BITTEN.'


               A very fundamental law of life is that if you become afraid, you give energy to the other to make
           you more afraid. The very idea of fear in you creates the opposite idea in the other.
               Each thought has a negative and positive polarity just like electricity. If you have the negative
           pole, on the other side a positive pole is created. It is automatic. If you are afraid, the other
           immediately feels a desire arising in him to oppress you, to torture you. If you are not afraid, the
           desire in the other simply disappears And it is not only so with man, it is so even with wolves. With
           animals it is also the same.
               If you can remain in the right state -- that is, undistracted, silent, just a witness to everything, to
           whatsoever is happening, with no idea arising in you -- then no idea will arise in others around you.

           There is an old Indian story.
                In the Hindu heaven, there is a tree called 'Kalptaru.' It means the wish-fulfilling tree. By
           accident a traveler arrived there and he was so tired that he sat under the tree. And he was hungry so
           he thought, 'If somebody was here, I would ask for food. But there seems to be nobody.'
                The moment the idea of food appeared in his mind, food suddenly appeared and he was so
           hungry that he didn't bother to think about it. He ate it. Then he started feeling sleepy, and he
           thought, 'If there was a bed here....' And the bed appeared.
                But lying on the bed the thought arose in him, 'What is happening? I don't see anybody here.
           Food has come, a bed has come -- maybe there are ghosts doing things to me!' Suddenly ghosts
           appeared..
                Then he became afraid and he thought, 'Now they will kill me!' And they killed him!
                In life the law is the same: if you think of ghosts, they are bound to appear. Think and you will
           see. If you think of enemies, you will create them; if you think of friends, they will appear. If you
           love, love appears all around you; if you hate, hate appears. Whatsoever you go on thinking is being
           fulfilled by a certain law.
                If you don't think anything, then nothing happens to you.
                The Master simply sat there in the graveyard. The wolves came, but finding nobody there they
           sniffed. They must have sniffed to see whether this man was thinking or not. They circled around.
           They watched. But there was nobody, just emptiness. What to do with emptiness?
                This emptiness, this silence, this bliss, cannot be destroyed. Not even wolves are that bad. They
           felt the sacredness of this emptiness and they disappeared.
                The villagers thought that this man had done some secret rites, but the Master said, 'I have not
           done anything, nor could I have done so. I simply sat there and everything changed.'
                This anecdote is a parable. If you sit in this world, silently, if you live silently, as an alive
           nothingness, the world will become a paradise. The wolves will disappear. There is no need to do
           anything else. Just the right state of your consciousness and everything is done.
                There are two laws. One law is of the mind. With the law of the mind you go on creating hell
           around you; friends become foes, lovers prove enemies, flowers become thorns. Life becomes a
           burden. One simply suffers life. With the law of mind, you live in hell wherever you live. If you slip
           out of the mind, you have slipped out of that law, and suddenly you live in a totally different world.
           That different world is nirvana. That different world is God.
           Then without doing, everything starts happening.
                So let me say it in this way: if you want to do, you will live in the ego, and the wolves will
           surround you, and you will be constantly in trouble. If you drop the ego, if you drop the idea of being
           a doer, if you simply relax into life and are in a let-go, you are again back in the world of God, back
           in the Garden of Eden -- Adam has come back home. Then things happen.
                The Christian story says that there was no need for Adam to do anything in the Garden of Eden.
           Everything was available. But then he fell from grace and he was thrown out. He became
           knowledgeable, he became an egoist, and since then humanity has been suffering.
                Each person has to come back to the Garden of Eden again. The doors are not closed. 'Knock,
           and they shall be opened unto you. Ask, and it shall be given.' But one has to turn back. The path is
           from doing towards happening, from the ego towards no-ego, from mind towards no-mind. No-mind
           is what meditation is all about. That different world is nirvana. That different world is God.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                          Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                     Chapter #8
                                            Chapter title: Three Mysteries
           28 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602280
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




              The first question:

              CAN YOU TALK ABOUT FACING THE DEATH OF EACH MOMENT AND LETTING GO?


                Death is already happening. Whether you face it or not, whether you look at it or not, it is already
           there.
                It is just like breathing. When a child is born, he inhales. he breathes in for the first time. That is
           the beginning of life. And when one day he becomes old, dies, he will exhale.
                Death always happens with exhalation and birth with inhalation. But exhalation and inhalation
           are happening continuously. With each inhalation you are born; with each exhalation you die.
                So the first thing to understand is that death is not somewhere in the future, waiting for you, as it
           has been always pictured. It is part of life; it is an ongoing process -- not in the future, here, now.
                Life and death are two aspects of existence. simultaneously happening together.
                Ordinarily, you have been taught to think of death as being against life. Death is not against life
           -- life is not possible without death. Death is the very ground on which life exists. Death and life are
           like two wings: the bird cannot fly with one wing, and the being cannot be without death. So the first
           thing is a clear understanding of what we mean by death.
                Death is an absolutely necessary process for life to be. It is not the enemy, it is the friend. And it
           is not there somewhere in the future, it is here, now. It is not going to happen, it has been always
           happening. Since you have been here it has been with you. With each exhalation it happens -- a little
           death, a small death -- but because of fear we have put it in the future.
                The mind always tries to avoid things which it cannot comprehend, and death is one of the most
           incomprehensible mysteries. There are only three mysteries: life, death and love. All these three are
           beyond mind.
                So mind takes life for granted; then there is no need to inquire. That is a way of avoiding. You
           never think, you never meditate on life; you have simply accepted it, taken it for granted. It is a
           tremendous mystery. You are alive, but don't think that you have known life.
                For death, mind plays another trick: it postpones it. To accept it here and now would be a
           constant worry, so the mind puts it somewhere in the future -- then there is no hurry. When it comes,
           we will see.
                And for love, mind has created substitutes which are not love. Sometimes you call your
           possessiveness your love; sometimes you call your attachment your love; sometimes you call your
           domination your love -- these are ego games. Love has nothing to do with them. In fact, because of
           these games, love is not possible.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Between life and death, between the two banks of life and death, flows the river of love. And that
           is possible only for a person who does not take life for granted, who moves deep into the quality of
           being alive and becomes existential, authentic. Love is for the person who accepts death here and
           now and does not postpone it. Then between these two a beautiful phenomenon arises: the river of
           love.
                Life and death are like two banks. The possibility is there for the river of love to flow, but it is
           only a possibility. You will have to materialize it. Life and death are there, but love has to be
           materialized -- that is the goal of being a human. Unless love materializes, you have missed -- you
           have missed the whole point of being.
                Death is already happening -- so don't put it in the future. If you don't put it in the future there is
           no question of defending yourself. If it is already happening -- and it has been already happening
           always -- then there is no question of protecting yourself against death. Death has not killed you, it
           has been happening while you were still alive. It is happening just now and life is not destroyed by
           it; in fact, because of it, life renews itself each moment. When the old leaves fall, they make space
           for the new leaves to come. When the old flowers disappear, the new flowers appear. When one door
           closes, another immediately opens. Each moment you die and each moment there is resurrection.
                Once a Christian missionary came to me and he asked, 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ's
           resurrection?'
                I told him that there was no need to go so far. Each moment everybody is resurrected. But he
           could not understand. It is difficult for people who are too much into their ideology.
                He said, 'But do you believe that he was crucified? Is this not just a myth, or is it a reality? What
           do you think?'
                I said to him again that everybody is crucified every moment. That is the whole meaning of
           Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection. Whether it is historical or not does not matter a bit. It is
           simply irrelevant to think whether it happened or not -- it is HAPPENING.
                Each moment the past is crucified, the old leaves disappear. And each moment a new being
           arises in you, resurrects. It is a constant miracle.
                The second thing to understand about death is that death is the only certainty. Everything else is
           uncertain: it may happen, it may not happen. Death is certain because in birth half of it has already
           happened, so the other end must be somewhere, the other pole must be somewhere in the dark. You
           have not come across it because you are afraid; you don't move in the dark. But it is certain! With
           birth, death has become a certainty.
                Once this certainty penetrates your understanding, you are relaxed. Whenever something is
           absolutely certain then there is no worry. Worry arises out of uncertainty.
                Watch. A man is dying and he is very worried. The moment death becomes certain and the
           doctors say, 'Now you cannot be saved,' he is shocked. A shivering goes through his being. But then
           things settle, and immediately all worries disappear. If the person is allowed to know that he is going
           to die and that death is certain, with that certainty a peace a silence, comes to his being.
                Every person who is dying has the right to know it. Doctors go on hiding it many times, thinking,
           'Why disturb?' But uncertainty disturbs; certainty, never. This hanging in-between, this being in
           limbo, wondering whether one is going to live or die -- this is the root cause of all worry. Once it is
           certain that you are going to die then there is nothing to do. Then one simply accepts it. And in that
           acceptance, a calmness, a tranquillity happens. So if the person is allowed to know that he is going to
           die in the moment of death he becomes peaceful.
                In the East we have been practicing that for millennia. Not only that, in countries like Tibet
           particular techniques were evolved to help a man to die. They called it BARDO TODO. When a
           person was dying, friends, relatives and acquaintances would gather together around him to give him
           the absolute certainty that he was going to die, and to help him to relax.
                Because if you can die in total relaxation, the quality of death changes and your new birth
           somewhere will be of a higher quality. The quality of birth is decided by death. And then, in turn, the
           quality of birth will decide the quality of another death. That's how one goes higher and higher, that's
           how one evolves. And whenever a person becomes absolutely certain about death a flame arises on
           his face -- you can see it. In fact, a miracle happens: he becomes alive as he has never been before.
                There is a saying in India that before a flame dies, it becomes tremendously intense. Just for a
           moment it flares up to totality. I was reading a small anecdote.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Once there were two little worms. The first was lazy and improvident, and always stayed in bed
           late. The other was always up early, going about his business. The early bird caught the early worm.
           Then along came a fisherman with a flashlight, and caught the night crawler. Moral: You can't win.
                Death is certain. Whatsoever you do -- get up early or not -- death is certain. It has already
           happened, that's why it is certain; it is already happening, that's why it is certain. So why wait for the
           moment when you are dying on your bed? Why not make it certain right now?
                Just watch. If I say death is certain, can't you feel fear disappearing within you? Can't you feel
           that with the very idea -- and it is just an idea right now, not your experience -- with just an idea that
           death is certain, you are calm and quiet. If you can experience it.... And you can, because it is a fact.
           I am not talking about theories; I don't deal in theories. This is a simple fact. Just open your eyes and
           watch it. And don't try to avoid it; there is no way to avoid it. In avoiding, you miss. Accept it.
           Embrace it. And live with the consciousness that each moment you die and each moment you are
           born. Allow it to happen. Don't cling to the past -- it is no more, it is already gone. Why go on
           carrying dead things? Why be so burdened with corpses? Drop them. And you will feel
           weightlessness; you will feel unburdened.
                And once you drop the past the future drops on its own accord, because the future is nothing but
           a projection of the past. In the past you had some pleasures; now the mind projects those same
           pleasures into the future. In the past you had some sufferings; now the mind projects a future in
           which those sufferings are not allowed to happen. That's what your future is. What else is your
           future? Pleasures that you enjoyed in the past are projected and miseries are dropped. Your future is
           a more colorful and modified past, repainted, renovated, but it is the past. Once the past drops,
           suddenly the future drops -- and then you are left here and now; then you are in existence, you are
           existential, and that is the only way to be. All other ways are just to avoid life. The more you avoid
           life, the more you become afraid of death.
                A person who is really living is not in any way afraid of death. If you are living rightly you are
           finished with death, you are already too grateful, fulfilled. But if you have not lived, then the
           constant worry continues, 'I have not lived yet and death is coming. And death will stop all; with
           death there will be no future.' So one becomes apprehensive, afraid, and tries to avoid death.
                In trying to avoid death, one goes on missing life. Forget about that avoidance. Live life. In
           living life, death is avoided. In living life, you become so fulfilled that if this very moment death
           comes and the future stops, you will be ready. You will be happily ready. You have lived your life;
           you have delighted in existence; you have celebrated it; you are contented. There is no complaint, no
           grumbling; you don't have any grudge. You welcome death. And unless you can welcome death, one
           thing is certain -- you have not lived.

           I have heard one anecdote.
                Two Hungarian noblemen fell into a deadly quarrel. But since neither was anxious to risk his life
           with either sword or pistol, a bloodless duel was decided upon. Each was to speak a number, and the
           one presenting the higher number would be adjudged the winner.
                The seconds were of course at hand, and the excitement and suspense were extreme as the two
           noblemen, seated at opposite ends of a long table, bent to the task of thinking of a high number. The
           challenged party who had the privilege of going first. thought long and hard. The veins on his
           temples swelled, and the perspiration stood out on his forehead.
           'Three,' he said finally.
                The other duelist said at once, 'Well, that beats me.'
                When you are afraid of death even the number three is the ultimate. When you are afraid of death
           you go on finding excuses for how to go on living. Whether your life means anything or not one
           simply goes on finding excuses to prolong it.
                In the West now, there is a craze about how to prolong life. That simply shows that somewhere
           life is being missed. Whenever a country or a culture -- starts thinking about how to prolong life, it
           simply shows one thing -- that life is not being lived. If you live life, then even a single moment is
           enough. A single moment can be equal to eternity. It is not a question of length, it is a question of
           depth; it is not a question of quantity, it is a question of quality.
                Just think: would you like one moment of Buddha's life or would you like a thousand years of
           your own life? Then you will be able to understand what I mean about the quality, the intensity, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           depth. In a single moment fulfillment is possible: you can bloom and blossom. But you may not
           bloom for one thousand years, you may remain hiding in the seed.
               This is the difference between the scientific attitude towards life and the religious attitude. The
           scientific attitude is concerned with prolongation -- how to prolong life. It is not concerned with
           significance. So you can find old people in hospitals, particularly in the West, just hanging on. They
           want to die but the culture won't allow them. They are fed up with just being alive; they are simply
           vegetating. There is no significance, no meaning, no poetry, because everything has disappeared, and
           they are a burden to themselves. They are asking for euthanasia but society does not allow it. Society
           is so afraid of death that it does not allow death even for people who are ready to die.
               The very word 'death' is a taboo word, more taboo than sex. Sex has by and by become almost
           accepted. Now death also needs a Freud to make it by and by accepted. Now death also needs a
           Freud to make it accepted so that it is no longer a taboo and people can talk about it and share their
           experiences about it. Then there is no need to hide it and there is no need to force people to live
           against themselves. In hospitals, in old people's homes, people are simply hanging on because the
           society, the culture, the law, won't allow them to be.
               If they ask that they should be allowed to die, it looks as if they are asking for suicide. They are
           not asking for suicide. In fact, they have become dead corpses; they are a living suicide and they are
           asking to be rid of it. The length is not the meaning. How long you live is not the point -- how deep
           you live, how intensely you live, how totally you live -- the quality -- is.
               Science is concerned about quantity; religion is concerned about quality. Religion is concerned
           with the art of how to live life and how to die life. Seven years, seventy years or seven hundred years
           -- what difference will it make? You will go on repeating the same vicious circle again and again and
           again. You will simply get more and more bored.
               So change the focus of your being. Learn how to live each moment and learn how to die each
           moment. Both are together. If you know how to die each moment, you will be able to live each
           moment -- fresh, young, virgin. Die to the past. Don't allow it to interfere with your present. The
           moment you have passed it, let it be no longer there. It is no longer there; it only goes on in your
           memory, it is just a remembrance. Let this remembrance also be released. This psychological
           hang-up should not be allowed.
               I am not saying that you should forget everything that you know. I am not saying that all memory
           is bad. It has technical uses. You have to know how to drive, you have to know where your home is,
           you have to recognize your wife and your children. But those are not psychological hang-ups. When
           you come home of course you recognize that this is your wife. This is factual memory -- useful,
           enhances life, facilitates it. But if you come home and you look at your wife with all the past
           experiences with her, then that is a psychological hang-up. Yesterday she was angry... now again
           you look with that memory in-between; your eyes are clouded by that memory. The day before
           yesterday she was sad or nasty and nagging -- now if you look through all these psychological
           impressions then you are not looking at the woman who is right now standing in front of you. You
           are looking at someone who is not there you are seeing someone who doesn't exist, you are looking
           at a ghost -- she is not your wife. And she may also be looking at you in the same way.
               So ghosts meet, and realities remain separate; ghosts are married, and realities are divorced. Then
           these two ghosts will make love, these two ghosts will fight, quarrel, and do a thousand and one
           things, and the realities will be far, far away. There will be no contact; realities will not have any
           connection. Then there can be no communication, there can be no dialogue. Only realities can love.
           Ghosts can only make impotent gestures -- movements, but with no life in them.
               Drop the past each moment. Remember to drop it. Just as you clean your house every morning,
           every moment clean your inner house of the past. All psychological memories have to be dropped.
           Just keep factual things and your mind will be very, very clean and clear.
               Don't move ahead of yourself into the future because that is not possible to do. The future
           remains unknown; that is its beauty, that is its grandeur, glory. If it becomes known it will be
           useless, because then the whole excitement and the whole surprise will be lost.
               Don't expect anything in the future. Don't corrupt it. Because if all your expectations are fulfilled
           then too you will be miserable... because it is your expectation and it is fulfilled. You will not be
           happy about it. Happiness is possible only through surprise; happiness is possible only when
           something happens which you had never expected, when something takes you completely unawares.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           If your expectations are fulfilled a hundred per cent, you will be living as if you are in the past, not in
           the future. You come home and you expected your wife to say something and she does. And you
           expected your child to behave in a certain way and the child does. Just think -- you will be constantly
           in boredom. Nothing will happen. Everything will be just a repetition, as if you are seeing something
           which you have seen before, hearing something which you have heard before. Continuously you will
           see that it is a repetition of something. and repetition can never be satisfying. The new, the novel, the
           original, is needed.
               So if your expectations are fulfilled. you will remain completely unfulfilled.
               And if your expectations are not fulfilled. then you feel frustrated. Then you feel constantly as if
           you propose and God goes on disposing; you feel that God is the enemy; you feel as if everybody is
           against you and everybody is working against you. If your expectations are never fulfilled you will
           feel frustrated.
               Just meditate upon your expectations: if they are fulfilled you will feel bored, if they are not
           fulfilled you will feel cheated. You will feel as if a conspiracy is going on against you. as if the
           whole existence is conspiring against you. You will feel exploited, you will feel rejected, you will
           not be able to feel at home. And the whole problem arises because you expect.
           Don't go ahead into the future. Drop expectations.
               Once you drop expectations you have learned how to live. Then everything that happens fulfills
           you, whatsoever it is. For one thing, you never feel frustrated because in the first place you never
           expected. So frustration is impossible. Frustration is a shadow of expectation. With the expectation
           dropped, frustration drops on its own accord.
               You cannot frustrate me, because I never expect anything. Whatsoever you do, I will say, 'Good.'
           I always say, 'Good,' except for only a few times when I say, 'Very good.'
               Once expectations are not there you are free to move into the unknown and to accept the
           unknown -- whatsoever it brings. And to accept it with deep gratitude. Complaints disappear;
           grumbling disappears; whatsoever the situation, you always feel accepted, at home. Nobody is
           against you, existence is not a conspiracy against you -- it is your home.
               The second thing: when everything happens unexpectedly, everything becomes new. It brings a
           freshness to your life; a fresh breeze is continuously blowing and it does not allow dust to gather on
           you. Your doors and your windows are open: in comes sunshine, in comes the breeze, in comes the
           fragrance of flowers -- everything unexpected. You never asked for it, and existence goes on
           showering it on you. One feels God Is.
               The proposition 'God is', is not a proposition; it is a statement of someone who has lived
           unexpectedly, without any expectations, who has lived in wonder. God is not a logical hypothesis; it
           is an exclamation of joy. It is just like, 'Aha!' -- It doesn't mean anything more. It simply means,
           'Aha!' so beautiful, so wonderful, so new, so novel, and beyond anything that you could have
           dreamed. Yes, life is more adventurous than any adventure that you can imagine. And life is
           pregnant, always pregnant, with the unknown.
               Once you expect, everything is destroyed. Drop the past; that is the way to die each moment.
           Never plan for the future; that is the way to allow life to flow through you. And then you remain in
           an unfrozen state, flowing. This is what I call a sannyasin -- no past, no future, just at this moment
           alive, intensely alive, a flame burning from both the ends, a torch burning from both the ends. This is
           what let-go is.

           The second question:

              A SHORT TIME AGO I HEARD YOU SAY THAT YOU SAW YOURSELF STANDING IN THE
              MARKETPLACE WITH A BOTTLE OF ALCOHOL IN YOUR HAND. TODAY L WAS REFUSED
              DARSHAN BECAUSE ALCOHOL WAS ON MY BREATH.


               This is from Vedanta.
               What I say and what you hear are not necessarily the same. My alcohol is my alcohol; your
           alcohol is your alcohol. When I am talking about alcohol, I am not talking about your alcohol. I am
           talking about the alcohol of Buddhas. Yes, they are drunk -- drunk with the Divine.
               But I can understand. You go on hearing that which you want to hear. You don't hear me; you
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           manipulate. You manage to hear whatsoever you want to hear. Your unconscious goes on
           interfering, it goes on confusing you. Yes, I said that I am in the marketplace and not only in the
           marketplace, but with a bottle in my hand. This. is an old Zen saying.
               Zen says that one who has finally understood himself comes back to the world -- and comes
           completely drunk. But why a bottle in the hand? The meaning is clear. Not only is he drunk, he has
           something to offer to you also. That is the meaning of the bottle in the hand. If you are ready, he can
           also make you drunk -- he has something to offer you. It is not only that he is drunk, he can share his
           drunkenness with you. Hence the bottle. He has an invitation, an invitation for you. That's why he
           has come to the marketplace.
               You go to the marketplace to get something, he has come to the marketplace to give something.
           He has found something, and this finding is such that it has to be shared. Sharing is its intrinsic
           nature. You cannot keep your bliss to yourself -- it would be like a flower trying to keep its fragrance
           to itself or a star trying to keep its light to itself. It is not possible. When there is light it spreads, it
           goes to others; it helps even those who are not even prepared to take its help. The fragrance disperses
           into the winds for friends and for foes alike.
               Once a man has attained, he has to share. Not that he has to do something to share; he simply
           finds himself sharing because he cannot do otherwise. He moves to the marketplace where people
           are -- where people are stumbling in darkness, he brings his light to them; where people are thirsty,
           he brings his own drunkenness to be shared with them.
               Yes, I am drunk and I have a bottle in my hand -- can't you see it! But it is not your bottle. But
           people have an unconscious tendency to hear something which is not said.

           I have heard one anecdote.
               A cavewoman came running to her husband in the greatest possible agitation.
           'Wok!' she called out. 'Something terrible has just happened. A saber-toothed tiger has just gone into
           my mother's cave and she is in there. Do something! Do something!'
               Wok looked up from the macedon drumstick which he was gnawing and said, 'Why should I do I
           something? What the devil do I care what happens to a saber-toothed tiger?'
               It is not necessarily that you don't hear that which is said, your unconscious continuously colors
           whatsoever you hear, It continuously interprets in its own ways. The words may be the same, but a
           slight jerk to the meaning, a slight turning, and everything changes.
               After ten years of marriage, a man was consulting a marriage counselor.
           'When I first married,' he said, 'I was very happy. When I would come at night, my little dog would
           race around barking, and my wife would bring me my slippers. Now, after all these years, when I
           come home, my dog brings me my slippers, and my wife barks at me.'
           'What is the complaint?' asked the counselor. 'You are still getting the same service!'
               Yes, the service is the same, but still, not the same. You may hear my words and you may think
           the meaning is the same -- it is not. So please be careful. Handle my words very carefully; they are
           very delicate. And before you decide what they mean, don't be in a hurry. Meditate. Otherwise not
           only will you miss, you may misunderstand, and not only will my words not be able to help you,
           they can be harmful.

           The third question:

               IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A POLITICIAN TO BE ENLIGHTENED?


               Never heard of it. It has never happened. There are intrinsic problems. The very dimension the
           politician moves in is against enlightenment.
               A few things have to be understood. Politics is a diametrically opposite phenomenon to religion.
           A scientist can easily become religious; his approach is different but not opposite. He may have been
           working with matter, with the objective world, but his working is a sort of meditation. He needs a
           certain space in his consciousness, a silent space, to work and to discover. It is not very difficult to
           move from the objective towards subjectivity because the same space can be used for the inner
           journey.
               A poet can very easily become religious -- he is very close, very, very close; almost in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           neighborhood. A painter or a sculptor can very easily become religious; they are already religious,
           unknowingly. They are already worshippers though they have not yet worshipped. They may not
           have thought about God. they may not have consciously been religious at all, they may not go to the
           church or to the temple they may not be concerned with the Bible and the Koran and the Gita -- but
           that is not the point. A painter goes on seeing something Divine in nature: colors are Divine for him.
           A poet goes on feeling something of the religious romance all around. All creative arts are very
           closely related -- any moment consciousness can dawn, any ray can become a transformation.
               But a politician moves in a diametrically opposite direction. His whole training is against
           religion.

           I have heard an anecdote:
                The Congressman had delivered a stirring speech against a controversial bill. He was promptly
           buried in mountains of mail from back home as constituents wrote condemning his stand. Next day
           he was back on his feet in the house, this time making a speech in favor of the bill. When he
           finished, a colleague collared him.
           'Yesterday,' said the colleague, 'you made an eloquent explanation of the principles which motivated
           your stand. I wonder, what has happened to change your mind?'
           'Someday,' said the Congressman, 'you will learn that there comes a time in every man's life when he
           must rise above mere principles.'
                A politician is an opportunist; in fact, he has no principles. He talks about principles, but he has
           no principles. He pretends that he has principles but if he is a politician worth the name, he cannot
           have any principles. Those principles are just to fool people. He is on an ego trip. He uses all sorts of
           principles.
                I have heard about one politician. In an election campaign he was speaking in his constituency.
           There was a great controversy about prohibition: about whether alcohol should be totally prohibited
           or not. When he was speaking, a man stood up and asked, 'What is your stand on prohibition?'
                Now he became a little shaky because half the population was for it and half was against it. And
           he could see that half the crowd was for it and half the crowd was against it. Whatsoever he said was
           going to lose half the votes. It was really difficult. He was in a dilemma.
                And then he said, 'You are all my friends. Please raise their hands those who are in favor and
           those who are against.' Half the people raised their hands in favor, and half against.
                Then he said, 'Good. I am with my friends. I am all for my friends. You are all my friends and I
           am for you.'
           Now he is saying neither yes nor no.
                The trip is of the ego: how to become more powerful, how to control others. Religion is just the
           opposite. It is not in any way an ego trip -- one has to lose the ego. And one is not trying to be
           powerful. In fact, one is trying to understand the total helplessness of the part against the whole; one
           is learning how to surrender, not how to conquer; and one is not concerned with others, one is totally
           concerned with himself. If this much is possible, that 'I can become aware of my own being' it is
           enough, more than enough.
                The politician is concerned with the outside world, he is an extrovert. The religious person is an
           introvert. He is not concerned with things, with the world with situations; he is concerned with the
           quality of his consciousness. A religious person is trying to find out how to be fulfilled; a politician
           is trying to show to the world that he is somebody. He may not be fulfilled but he pretends that he is
           fulfilled; he has opted for pretensions, hypocrisy. He simply wants the whole world to know that he
           is somebody special. extraordinary, very happy. Deep inside he may be carrying a hell but he
           believes that if he can fool everybody else, he will be able to fool himself. That dream is never
           fulfilled.
                You can fool everybody else by smiling a false smile, but how can you fool yourself? Deep down
           you know that everything is getting cold and dead; deep down you know that everything is empty, in
           vain. But one goes on thinking, 'If I can convince everybody else that I am somebody, then somehow
           I will be able to convince myself that I am somebody.
                The politician is a liar. He's trying to lie -- to himself and to the whole world. The religious
           dimension is the dimension of being true, authentic.
                Once it happened that a man entered a bar and said, 'Bartender, I want you to meet my dog. He
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           talks. I will sell him to you for only ten dollars.'
           'Who do you think you are kidding?' said the bartender.
               The dog, tears in his eyes looked up. 'Please buy me,' he said. 'This man treats me cruelly. He
           never gives me a bone. He never bathes me. He is always kicking me around. And once I was the
           richest trick-dog in the country. I performed before presidents and kings. My name was in the papers
           every day, and....'
           'So he does talk,' said the bartender. 'But why sell a valuable dog like that for only ten dollars?'
           'Because,' said the customer, 'l hate liars.'
               A politician is a liar, and he is trying to convince himself through convincing others.
               A politician is almost mad -- mad for power. Many people are in the madhouses in the world:
           somebody thinks he is Adolph Hitler, somebody thinks he is Napoleon, somebody thinks he is Ford
           or Mao Tse Tung. They are in the jails, or in the madhouses, or in the hospitals, because we think
           they have gone mad. Somebody thinking that he is Adolph Hitler is thought to be mad, but what
           about Adolph Hitler himself? The only difference is this: -this man, this madman who thinks himself
           to be Adolph Hitler, has not been able to prove it, that's all. He's innocent. His madness is just
           innocence. Adolph Hitler proved to the world that, yes, he is. Adolph Hitler is more mad than this
           man. His madness was such that he proved to the whole world that he was somebody and if he could
           not create, then he could destroy.
               There are only two possibilities. you can be a creator, then you feel a certain fulfillment -- that
           comes to a mother when she gives birth to a child, that comes to a poet when poetry is born, that
           comes to a sculptor when he has created something a beautiful piece in marble, in stone, in wood.
           Whenever you create something, you feel enhanced; you reach towards peaks. you get high.
               All people who are creative are close to religion. Religion is the greatest creativity because it is
           an effort to give birth to yourself, to become a father and mother to yourself, to be born again, to be
           reborn through meditation, through awareness. Poetry is good, painting is good -- but when you give
           birth to your own consciousness, there is no comparison. Then you have given birth to the ultimate
           poetry, the ultimate music, the ultimate dance. This is the dimension of creativity. On the rung of
           creativity, religion is the last. It is the greatest art, the ultimate art -- that's why I call it 'the ultimate
           alchemy'.
               On the opposite end of the ladder is destruction. People who cannot be creative become
           destructive because through destruction they can have a vicarious feeling that they are powerful.
           When Hitler destroyed millions of people, of course he had a very powerful feeling that, 'I am
           somebody. I can destroy the whole world.' He was almost ready to destroy the whole world -- he had
           almost destroyed it.
               A politician is a destructive mind. He may talk about the nation, the country; he may talk about
           utopias, socialism, communism, but basically a politician is a destructive mind. And a destructive
           mind cannot become enlightened.
               First, the whole energy should move towards Construction, towards creation. Then only is there
           the possibility that by and by you participate in the ultimate creation -- that is nirvana, the ultimate
           creation, in which you are born Divine, infinite, unlimited. Then you expand, you spread all over
           existence; then you are no longer a wave, you have become the ocean.
               The politician can never become enlightened. I am not saying that the politician cannot move
           towards enlightenment -- he can. But as he moves, he will have to drop politics. A politician is also a
           human being, but he will have to drop the politics, and by the time he comes to meditate he will be
           no more a politician. Remaining a politician, a politician cannot become enlightened. But his
           humanity is there. Even a Hitler can become a Buddha -- some day. One hopes he will. Some day,
           far away in the future, even an Adolph Hitler is going to become a Buddha; that is his potentiality.
           But then, by that time, he will not be an Adolph Hitler.
               Nuclear war had come and gone. Only one tiny monkey in one isolated part of the world
           remained alive. After weeks of wandering about, he finally came across a little female monkey. He
           threw his arms around her in greeting.
           'I am starved,' he said. 'Have you found anything to eat?'
           'Well,' she said. 'I found this little old apple.'
           'Oh, no, you don't!' he snapped. 'We are not going to start that all over again!'
               Even monkeys are worried about humanity. And I have heard monkeys talking. They don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           believe in Darwin, they don't say that man has-evolved out of monkeys, they don't think that man is a
           developed form -- they think man has fallen from the monkeys. Of course -- fallen from the trees,
           fallen from the height, fallen from the monkeys.
               And this is true in a way, because man has up to now remained political. The whole history up to
           now has been political; no civilization has yet existed which has been religious -- not even Indian
           civilization. Not a single nation has become like a being which is religious -- only rare individuals,
           here and there, far apart. Somewhere a Buddha, a Jesus, a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu -- islands.
           Otherwise, ordinarily, the main current of humanity has remained political.
               Politics is basically ambition. Politics is basically wrong because ambition is wrong. You are not
           to become somebody, says religion, you are already. You are not to become powerful -- you are
           already. You are extensions of God. You need not be worried about being powerful and being
           somebody on a throne; those are all stupid games, childish, very juvenile, immature. And you cannot
           find more immature people than politicians.
               In fact, in a better world, politicians will be kept in madhouses, and mad people will be allowed
           to move into the world. Those mad people have not done anything wrong. They may be a little off
           the track but they have not been harmful. Politicians are dangerously mad people, tremendously
           dangerous.
               I have heard that before Richard Nixon renounced his throne, he called a meeting of his
           colleagues and he threatened that he had the power to go into the other room, push a button, and the
           whole world could be destroyed in twenty minutes.
               And, yes, he had that power. Millions of atom bombs are ready -- a button has just to be pushed.
           The power of the atom and H-bombs already made is seven times more than is needed to destroy this
           earth -- seven times morel We have become so skilled, super-skilled, in destruction that seven earths
           of this size could be destroyed. And nobody can say -- any day any president of America, or Soviet
           Russia, or China, can go mad.
               And politicians are almost mad...any day, anybody can push the button. It is now only a question
           of pushing a button. And everybody has mad moments, angry moments. The threat is very, very real.
               Politics has been the disease of humanity, the cancer of consciousness.
               Drop all politics within you. And remember, when I am talking about politicians, I don't mean
           particularly those people who are in politics -- I mean all those who are ambitious. Wherever
           ambition is, politics comes in; wherever you are trying to get ahead of somebody, politics comes in;
           wherever you are trying to dominate somebody -- maybe your wife, or your husband -- politics
           comes in. Politics is a very common disease, like the common cold.

           The last question:

              SINCE I HAVE BEEN HERE, I HAVE LOST MY ABILITY TO CONCENTRATE. IT IS HARD FOR ME
              TO UTTER A LOGICAL SENTENCE. AND I HAVE BECOME VERY FORGETFUL. I FEEL MYSELF
              AS A STUPID CHILD. IS THAT THE WAY TO ME INTELLIGENCE YOU TALK ABOUT?


               The ability to concentrate is not something to feel blessed about. It is a frozen state of mind, a
           very narrow state of mind. Useful, of course, useful -- for others. Useful in scientific inquiry, useful
           in business, useful in the market, useful in politics -- but absolutely useless for yourself. If you
           become too attuned with concentration you will become very, very tense. Concentration is a tense
           state of mind; you will never be relaxed. Concentration is like a torch, focused, and consciousness is
           like a lamp, unfocused.
               My whole effort here is to teach you consciousness, not concentration. And this is the point to be
           remembered: if you become conscious, any moment you want to concentrate on a particular
           problem, you can. It is not a problem. But if you become too focused with concentration the vice
           versa is not true: you cannot relax. A relaxed mind can always concentrate. easily, there is no trouble
           about it. But a focused mind becomes obsessed. narrow. It is not easy for it to relax and leave the
           tension. It remains tense.
               If you meditate. first concentration will disappear and you will be feeling a little at a loss. But if
           you go on, by and by you will attain to an unfocused state of light -- that's what meditation is. Once
           meditation is attained. concentration is child's play -- whenever you need to, you can concentrate.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           There will be no problem about it and it will be easy and without any tension.
               Right now, you are being used by society. Society wants efficient people. It is not worried about
           your soul, it is worried about your productivity. I am not worried about your productivity: man has
           already too much, more than he can enjoy -- there is no need to go on producing more. Now there is
           more need to play around more and there is more need to be more conscious. Science has developed
           enough. Now, whatsoever science is doing is almost futile. Now, going to the moon is simply
           useless. But tremendous energy is wasted. Why? Because scientists are now obsessed -- they have to
           do something. They have learned a trick of concentration and they have to do something. They have
           to produce, they have to go on producing something -- they cannot relax. They will go to the moon,
           they will go to Mars, and they will persuade people that whatsoever they are doing is tremendously
           important. It is absolutely useless. But this happens.
               Once you become trained in a certain thing, you go on in that line, blind, unless a cul de sac
           comes and you cannot go on anymore. But life is infinite. There comes no cul de sac. You can go on
           and on and on.
               And now scientific activity has almost become ridiculous.
               Religious activity is totally different. It is not worried about being more efficient; the whole point
           is how to be more joyful, how to be more celebrating. So if you 90 with me, by and by, concentration
           will relax. And in the beginning you will feel afraid because you will see your skill disappearing,
           your efficiency disappearing. You will feel you are losing something that you have gained with so
           much effort. In the beginning it will happen. The ice is melting and becoming water. The ice was
           solid, something concentrated; now it is water -- loose, relaxed, flowing in all directions. But
           anytime you need ice, the water can be turned into ice again. There is no problem -- just a little more
           cooling is needed.
               This is my own experience. Whatsoever I say, I say from my own experience -- the same has
           happened to me. First, concentration disappeared; but now I can concentrate on anything. There is no
           problem. But I don't remain in concentration; I can concentrate and relax -- whenever the need
           arises. Just as whenever the need arises, you walk; you don't sit on the chair and go on moving your
           Legs. There are a few people who go on moving because they cannot sit relaxed -- you will call this
           man restless!
               Legs in perfect order are needed so that whenever you need to, you can walk, you can run. But
           when there Is no need, you can relax, and the legs will no longer be functioning.
               But your concentration has become almost as focused as if you are continuously preparing for an
           Olympic! Runners in an Olympic cannot relax. They have to run a particular amount every morning
           and evening; they are continuously on the go. If they relax for a few days they will lose their skill.
           But I call all Olympics political, ambitious, foolish. There is no need.
               Competition is foolish. There is no need. If you enjoy running -- perfectly good. Run. and enjoy.
           But why compete? What is the point of competition? Competition brings illness, unhealthiness;
           competition brings jealousy, and a thousand and one diseases.
               Meditation will allow you to concentrate whenever the need arises, but if there is no need you
           will remain relaxed, flowing in all directions like water.

           IT IS HARD FOR ME TO UTTER A LOGICAL SENTENCE.
                Feel blissful, blessed. What is the point of uttering logical sentences! Utter nonsense; make
           sounds, gibberish, like birds... Like trees! (At this moment a nearby tree decided, with the help of a
           passing breeze, to illustrate Osho's words by shaking its branches and causing hundreds of leaves to
           fall with loud rustling sounds to the ground.) Look! This way! Is this logical? The tree is enjoying.
           Delighting. Simply shedding away the past.
                Delight. Sing. Utter sounds. Forget all logic! And by and by you will become more alive. Less
           logical of course that is the price one has to pay -- but you become dead if you become more logical
           and you become more alive if you become less logical.
                Life is the goal, not logic. What are you going to do with logic? If you are hungry, logic is not
           going to feed you; if you need love, logic is not going to hug you; if you are thirsty, logic will tell
           you that water is H20! It is not going to give you water, real water. No. It simply functions in
           formulas, maxims.
                Look at life, and by and by you will understand that life has its own very logical logic. Be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           attuned to it and that will become the door for your ecstasy, samadhi, nirvana.

           AND I HAVE BECOME VERY FORGETFUL.
                Perfectly good! If you can forget, you will be able to remember more. Forgetfulness is a great
           capacity -- it simply means getting the past dusted off. There is no need to remember everything that
           happens because almost ninety-nine per cent of it is trivia. What do you go on remembering?
                Just think... what do you go on remembering? Write it down and just look at it. It is trivia. What
           goes on in your mind? You will not be able to show it to your intimate friend because he will think
           you are mad. This goes on in your mind?
                It is good. Forget. Forgetfulness is a great capacity because it will allow you to remember. It is
           part of remembrance. The useless has to be forgotten so that the useful is remembered -- and the
           useful is very, very small, the useless i5 too much. In twenty-four hours, millions of bits of
           information are collected by the mind. If you collect them and remember them all, you will be mad.
                I have heard about a man. He was once presented to the Governor-General in India because he
           was a man of rare memory. He knew only one language, Rajasthani-Hindi. He was a poor man,
           uneducated, but if you told him anything in any language, he would never forget it. But he would
           repeat it like a parrot, not knowing what it meant.
                To the Governor-General's palace he was called, and the Governor-General was surprised to hear
           about his capacity. Thirty other persons were called, and in thirty languages they uttered a few
           sentences. It was arranged in the following manner: the man would go to the first person, and the
           first person would say the first word of his sentence. Then he would go to another person and he
           would say the first word of his sentence, in another language. Then he will go to the third. In this
           way he would go to thirty people. Then he would come back to the first who would now say his
           second word. This was repeated -- many rounds, many hours it took. And then he repeated all the
           sentences separately.
                The Governor-General was simply puzzled. He could not believe it.
           But this man went mad.
                This much memory is dangerous. This type of person is almost always idiotic.
                Too much memory is not a good sign; it simply says that you have a very mechanical mind. It is
           not a sign of intelligence. Hence you hear so many stories of absent-mindedness about great
           scientists, philosophers. They are people of great memory, and great intelligence has nothing to do
           with great memory. Memory is mechanical, intelligence is non-mechanical -- they are totally
           different.
                So don't be worried. It is good. The memory is relaxing, many things will disappear, space will
           be created in you. And in that space you will be able to become more brilliant, more intelligent, more
           understanding. Intelligence means understanding; memory means a quality, a mechanical quality of
           repetition. Parrots have good memories. Don't be worried about your memory. In the beginning it
           happens: you have accumulated much rubbish and when you meditate that rubbish starts
           disappearing, falling away.

           AND I FEEL MYSELF A STUPID CHILD.
                That is the way, the way to the kingdom of God. Lao Tzu says, 'Be like an idiot in this world so
           that you can understand the illogical ways of Tao.' Jesus says, 'Be like a child -- because only those
           who are like children will be able to enter into the kingdom of God.' Don't be worried about those
           things; the non-essential is dropping away. Feel happy and grateful. Once the rubbish has dropped,
           the real will arise; non-essential gone, the essential will arise. This is the way to reach to one's own
           source.
                But many times you will get scared because you are losing your grip on what you have valued up
           till now. But I can tell you only one thing: I have traveled the same path and have passed through the
           same phases. They are phases -- they come and go. And your consciousness will become more and
           more purified, virgin -- pure, uncorrupted. That uncorrupted consciousness is God.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         Ancient Music in the Pines
                                                    Chapter #9
                                       Chapter title: You Have My Marrow
           29 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7602290
              ShortTitle: ANCIEN09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              AFTER NINE YEARS, BODHIDHARMA, THE FIRST ZEN PATRIARCH, WHO TOOK ZEN TO CHINA
              FROM INDIA IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, DECIDED THAT HE WISHED TO RETURN HOME. HE
              GATHERED HIS DISCIPLES AROUND HIM TO TEST THEIR PERCEPTION.



              DOFUKU SAID: 'IN MY OPINION TRUTH IS BEYOND AFFIRMATION OR NEGATION, FOR THIS IS
              THE WAY IT MOVES.' BODHIDHARMA REPLIED: 'YOU HAVE MY SKIN.'



              THE NUN SOJI SAID: 'IN MY VIEW, IT IS LIKE ANANDA'S INSIGHT OF THE BUDDHA-LAND --
              SEEN ONCE AND FOREVER.' BODHIDHARMA ANSWERED: 'YOU HAVE MY FLESH.'



              DOIKU SAID: 'THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF LIGHT, AIRINESS, FLUIDITY, AND SOLIDITY, ARE
              EMPTY, AND THE FIVE SKANDHAS ARE NO-THINGS. IN MY OPINION NO-THING IS REALITY.'
              BODHIDHARMA COMMENTED: 'YOU HAVE MY BONES.'



              FINALLY, EKA BOWED BEFORE THE MASTER AND REMAINED SILENT. BODHIDHARMA SAID:
              'YOU HAVE MY MARROW.'


               I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient music in the pines.
               Of what music have I been talking to you? The Hindu mystics have called it AUMKAR, the
           ultimate sound or, even better, they have called it the ANAHATA, the soundless sound -- the sound
           that is uncreated, the sound that has always been there, the sound of existence itself. It is surrounding
           you; it is within you, without you; you are made of it.
               Just as modern physics says that everything is made of electricity, so Eastern mystics have said
           that everything is made of sound. On one thing modern physics and ancient mystics agree. Modern
           physics says sound is nothing but electricity, and ancient mystics say electricity is nothing but sound.
               It seems that if you observe the eternal music from the outside, as if it is an object, then it
           appears like electric energy. If you feel it, introspectively, not as an object but as your very being, as
           your subjectivity. then it is heard as sound -- ANAHATA; then it is heard as music. This music is
           constantly there, you need not do anything else except listen to it. Listening is all that meditation is
           about -- how to listen to that which is already there.
               In a small school it happened that a small boy sitting in the rear of the classroom appeared to be
           daydreaming.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           'Johnny,' asked the teacher, 'do you have trouble hearing?'
           'No ma'am,' he replied, 'I have trouble listening.'
                I know you can hear, there is no trouble about it -- but you cannot listen. Listening is totally
           different from hearing. Listening means hearing without mind; listening means hearing without any
           interference of your thoughts; listening means hearing as if you are totally empty. If you have even a
           small trembling of thinking inside, waves of subtle thoughts surrounding you, you will not be able to
           listen, although you will be able to hear. And to listen to the music, the ancient music, the eternal
           music, one needs to be totally quiet -- as if one is not. When you are, you can hear; when you are not,
           you can listen.
                How not to be is the whole problem of religion: how to be in such a deep silence that being
           becomes almost equivalent to non-being, that there remains no difference between being and
           non-being, that the boundaries between being and non-being disappear. You are, and yet in a certain
           sense you are not; you are not and yet in a certain sense, for the first time, you are.
                When thought is not disturbing you.... Thoughts are like ripples on the lake, silence is like no
           ripples on the lake. Just being. Suddenly you become aware of a music that has always surrounded
           you. Suddenly it enters from everywhere. You are overwhelmed. You are possessed.
                This is the first thing to understand. You will not be able to know-truth unless you have become
           capable of listening to the ancient music of AUMKAR. This music is the very heartbeat of existence;
           this music is the very door of existence. You will not be able to enter the temple of God -- but this
           music is the bridge. Only on this music, riding on this music, will you enter him. The kingdom of
           God is available only to those who have become capable of listening to the eternal music.
                It has been heard; I have heard it, you can hear it. Nobody except yourself is barring the path;
           nobody is hindering, If you are missing, you are missing only on your own account. There is not a
           wall between you and the music; even if there is felt to be a wall it is only of your own thoughts.
           And even then the music goes on penetrating you. You may not listen to it but it goes on massaging
           your whole being, it goes on nourishing you, it goes on giving you life, it goes on rejuvenating you.
           Your heart throbs in the same rhythm as the heart of the whole.
                Whenever your heart falls out of line with the whole you are in trouble, you are ill; whenever the
           heart is in rhythm with the whole you are healthy. Let this be the definition of health. Whenever
           there is no conflict between you and the whole, not even a rumor of conflict, you are healthy. To be
           whole is to be healthy. To be whole is to be holy. And what is the way to be holy, healthy, whole?
           Your heart should beat in the same rhythm as the heart of the whole. You should not fall out of line,
           out of step. It is a great cosmic dance. It is a great harmony. When you sit still, silent, not doing
           anything, meditative, prayerful, suddenly you start merging into the whole. You come closer and
           closer and closer and your steps are no longer heard as separate from the whole. You become part of
           this great symphony. Suddenly you are healthy, holy, whole.
                How to come to this tuning with the whole? Why are you missing it?
                You are constantly in discord, you have many contradictions within you. Those contradictions go
           on like a tug of war within continuously, day and night, awake and asleep. You are constantly pulled
           into opposite directions. This tense state of affairs does not allow you to listen.
                Even when you are in love you go on fighting. Even in love, you don't fall into step with the
           whole. Even lovers go on fighting with each other; otherwise love can become a door to the ancient
           music. Hence Jesus says that God is Love. If you love somebody at least drop all conflict with him,
           or with her, with your child, with your wife, with your brother, friend, with your Master -- drop! But
           even there conflict continues; a subtle way of fight continues. Because you are constantly in conflict
           within yourself, whatsoever you do is going to be an extension of the same conflict, a reflection of
           the same disharmony. This is making you incapable of listening.

           I have heard an anecdote.
               In Eastern Europe, half a century ago, when marriages were still arranged by marriage-brokers,
           young Samuel had been introduced to the young woman of whom the marriage-broker had sung a
           gorgeous hymn of praise.
               After a short interview, Samuel motioned the marriage-broker into a corner and said to him, in a
           furious whisper, 'What is this woman you have brought me? She is ugly. She has a cast in one eye.
           She's unintelligent and she has bad breath.'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The marriage-broker said, 'But why are you whispering? She's deaf also.'
                God is whispering. God is a whisper. And you are deaf and God cannot shout. He is incapable of
           it because he cannot be aggressive, because he cannot interfere, because he cannot trespass, because
           he respects your freedom. He whispers and you are deaf. The whole of existence is a whisper -- it is
           very subtle. Unless you are tuned, unless you have become capable of listening to the whisper, you
           will not be able to understand -- you will not be able to hear the music.
                And you have become very gross. You cannot even hear if God starts shouting. Jesus told his
           disciples, 'Go to the house-tops and shout from there. Tell people what has happened to you.' He had
           to tell his disciples to shout because people are deaf; A great sensitivity is needed. To be religious is
           to be tremendously sensitive... and now comes the irony: religions have made you, on the contrary,
           more insensitive. They have made you almost gross by their constant talk of conflict, struggle, fight,
           ascetic methods; they have made religion a battle-ground also. Jainas call their Teerthankara,
           Mahavir. Mahavir means the great warrior. As if there is a constant war with truth, as if truth has to
           be conquered....
                No, truth is not to be conquered; you are to be conquered by truth. Truth... just to think in terms
           of conquering it is absurd. You have to surrender to it. If you fight with your methods, yogas,
           techniques, you will become more and more gross. You will not be able to feel subtle, delicate
           experiences that are constantly happening all around you.
                Have you watched? If you are a musician, your ears become very, very sensitive. If you are a
           painter, your eyes become tremendously sensitive. Then you see colors others have never seen. Then
           green is not just green: there are a thousand and one shades of green. Then each leaf of a tree is
           different -- has a different shade of green, is unique, is individual. If you are a poet, then each word
           has its own romance; then each word has its own subtle music, a poetry around it. There are poetic
           words and there are non-poetic words. If you are a poet you become capable of seeing poetry
           everywhere -- wherever you look, you look with the eyes of a poet. You see something else which
           cannot be seen except by you. Whatsoever you do, you become more sensitive about it.
                Religion needs total sensitivity of all the senses: of the eyes, of the nose, of the ears, of the taste,
           of the touch, because religion is not a part of life, it is the whole. You can have a musical ear and you
           may not have eyes at all. In fact blind people have better musical ears because their whole energy
           starts moving through the ears. Their ears become very, very sensitive because the eyes are not there,
           and through eyes moves eighty per cent of your energy. Eyes closed, the energy moves through the
           ears. Blind people become very, very musical. They start listening to subtle sounds of which you
           have never been aware. A blind person starts recognizing people by the sound of their footsteps.
                I used to go to a blind man. Whenever I would enter his room he would immediately recognize
           me. So I asked him, 'How do you do it?' He said, 'Because of your footsteps. Your footsteps are
           different from anybody else's.
                Each thing is different -- just as your thumb impressions are different from anybody else's in the
           world, past, present, or future, in exactly the same way the sound of your footsteps is different,
           unique. Nobody has walked that way before, and nobody is going to walk that way again. But we
           cannot recognize people by their foot-sounds -- impossible.
                The ear can be very, very sensitive -- then you become a musician. If the eyes are very sensitive,
           you become an artist, a painter, a sculptor. But religion is your total being. You become sensitive in
           all the ways possible. All the doors of your house have to be opened so the sun can come in and the
           sunshine can come in; so the fresh breeze can come in and keep you constantly alive and young and
           pure and vital. Be sensitive if you want to be religious.
                What I am saying is almost the opposite to what you have been trained to look for. If you go to
           your religious people, the so-called saints, you will find them almost dull. They are not sensitive; in
           fact, they are afraid of sensitivity. They have been trying to eat food without tasting it: they call it
           ASSWAB. They have made it a great method. Mahatma Gandhi used to teach his disciples: 'Eat but
           without tasting.' Now if you do that, by and by you will lose the delicate sensitivity of your tongue.
           Then you will not be able to taste God. If you cannot taste food, how can you taste God? God is food
           also and in food, God is hidden. The Upanishads say: ANNAM BRAHM -- Food IS Brahma. Now if
           you cannot taste food -- you can dull your tongue, your tongue can become almost dead, you can
           simply go on stuffing yourself without tasting -- then you are losing one dimension of reaching to
           God. Then you will not be able to understand when Jesus says, 'I am your food, eat me.' Impossible
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to think of it -- you will eat Jesus also without tasting him.
               Islam became afraid of music because music has tremendous power over humanity and it is good
           that it has. Wherever religion sees that something has tremendous power over humanity, religion
           becomes competitive, jealous. Food has tremendous power over humanity. There are many people
           who live to eat -- who don't eat to live. Religion became afraid. Their God became jealous of food. A
           competition arose. They said kill this sensitivity of taste, otherwise people will choose food rather
           than choosing God.
               Music has tremendous power. It can possess. It can almost make you ecstatic. alcoholic.
               Islam became afraid. Music was debarred. Music was thought to be irreligious because the
           ecstasy should come from God not from music -- as if the music comes from somewhere else.
               It happened in an Emperor's court that a musician came. He was a very rare genius, and he said,
           'I will play on my veena, on my instrument, only with one condition: that nobody should move his
           head while I am playing. Nobody should move his body. People should become like stone statues.'
               The Emperor whom he told that this condition had to be fulfilled, was a madman. He said, 'Don't
           you be worried. If somebody moves his head, his head will be cut off immediately.'
               The whole town was made alert -- that if they came to listen to the musician, know well that it
           was risky. Come prepared, don't move, particularly the head. Thousands of people wanted to come.
           They had long cherished the idea of hearing this musician, and now he had come with such a
           dangerous condition, almost absurd. Who has ever heard of any musician asking for such a condition
           to be fulfilled? In fact, musicians become happy when people sway, and their heads move and their
           body energy starts a subtle dance. They feel happy because their music is possessing people, their
           music is effective people are moved.
               Emotion is a movement; hence the word 'emotion'. It comes from motion.
               When people are moved, thrilled, stirred, a musician feels happy, rewarded, appreciated. So what
           type of man was this? Only a very few people came. Only people who were madly in love with
           music, who said, 'Okay, at the most we can be killed, but this man has to be heard.' Just a very few
           people came.
               The King had made arrangements: soldiers were standing all around with naked swords.
               Then the musician started playing on his veena. For half an hour nobody moved. People were
           like yogis -- sitting like stone Buddhas, unmoving, as if dead. Then suddenly the people were
           possessed. As the musician entered deeper. deeper, deeper. a few heads started moving and swaying.
           Then a few more.
               When the musician finished in the middle of the night, many persons were caught. They were to
           be beheaded. but the musician said, 'No. No need to kill them. In fact these are the only people who
           have the capacity to listen. Don't kill them. The others who have remained like statues have to be
           thrown out. Now I will sing only for these people. These are the real listeners.'
           The King said, 'I don't understand.'
               The musician said, 'It is simple. If you cannot be possessed so much that even life becomes
           irrelevant, you are not possessed. If you cannot risk life, then music is secondary and life is primary.'
               A moment comes when you can risk life; then music becomes primary, then music becomes
           ultimate. Then you hear the ancient music in the pines -- not before it.
               But religions have killed your sensitivities. Islam killed the ear; Hinduism and Jainism. they have
           been killing the taste. And all the religions have been against the eyes. There are stories of saints
           who plucked out their eyes because they became afraid Eyes can lead them into desire, into passion.
               In India a story is told about Surdas. He was moving from a town when he saw a beautiful
           woman. He became possessed. Then he felt guilty so he went home and plucked his eyes out.
               But eyes are not the culprit. In fact, to see a beautiful woman -- nothing is wrong in it. If you
           really see a beautiful woman, and you have really sensitive eyes, you will see a glimpse of God there
           -- because all beauty is his. All forms are his. Surdas goes on singing about the beauty of Krishna but
           if Krishna's beauty is God's, what about that woman whose beauty attracted him? By whom did he
           become hypnotized? God is hypnotic. Plucking out your eyes is a crime against God.
               If Surdas ever did it, then he is no longer a saint to me. He may be a great poet but not a saint.
           But I have been moving deeply into his poetry and I feel somehow the story seems to be fabricated.
           It must be a creation of the priests, of the so-called religious, the mediocre, the stupid, who don't
           understand life. Otherwise, every sensitivity leads to him, all roads go to him -- where else can they
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go? If the problem arises, it is not of the eyes... the problem is that you don't have enough eyes. Then
           a woman looks like a woman. You don't have enough eyes.
               If it happens to you, my suggestion is, clean your eyes; become more sensitive; train your eyes;
           let your eyes be more and more pure, unclouded -- and the woman will start transforming into
           divineness, and the man will become God, and the trees will disappear and they will be green flames
           of the Divinity, and the rivers will disappear and they will be nothing but constant flow of his
           energy.
               All the religions have been against your senses. I'm not against, because my understanding is:
           whatsoever you are against, you are against God, because every door opens towards him and every
           path leads to him. Enhance your senses. Become more alive in your senses. Let your sensitivity be
           total and from every dimension you will have his glimpses.
               Because of these wrong and foolish teachings you are constantly in conflict within yourself.
           Because of these foolish teachings you love a woman and you also feel guilty because you love her,
           because somehow it looks like a sin. You love a woman and you hate her also. because she is the
           cause of your sin. Of course you will take revenge. How can you forgive the woman who has drawn
           you into the mud -- as the religious people say? How can you forgive her?
               Listen to your saints. Nobody seems to have forgiven the woman. Even after they have become
           great saints they go on taking revenge. Still somewhere deep in the unconscious the woman is
           lingering. They are still afraid. Then there is a constant fight, a quarrel. even in love. So what to say
           of other things?
               Love is closest to God because in love you tall in tune with another being; in love you are no
           more a solitary instrument. A small symphony is created between two persons. Then the children are
           born and the symphony has more members. It is becoming an orchestra: children, family, friends.
           You are no more alone; you have become part of something bigger than you. And this has to go on
           growing so that one day the whole existence is your family. That is the meaning when Jesus says,
           'God, my father.' His actual word is not 'father', his actual word is ABBA -- closer. 'Father' also looks
           a little clinical, smells of institutionalization. ABBA, BAPU -- they are so close, so intimate. A
           bridge has happened, God is not a faraway thing. 'God is ABBA and I am his son. I am his
           continuity. If he is my past, I am his future. That is the meaning of a son the same river flows.
               A moment comes. if you go on growing in your sensitivity, when your family grows and the
           whole existence becomes your home. Right now, even your home is not your home; even in your
           home, you are not at home.
           I have heard of an anecdote.
               In some of the more remote sections of Tennessee there are still a few counties without any
           telephone. The Tennessee State Forest Service recently installed a telephone in one of these counties
           and linesmen tried to get a native to converse with his wife, then in a small town some thirty miles
           distant.
               After much persuasion, Uncle Joe put the receiver to his ear. Just at that moment, there was a
           terrific thunderclap and the old man was knocked to his knees.
               As he climbed to his feet, he turned and said, 'That's her all right. That sure is my old woman.'
               Even in your home you are not at home. The very word 'wife' creates some uneasiness in you; the
           very word 'husband' creates some uneasiness in you. In Urdu, the word for husband is KASAM -- it
           also means the enemy. The original root from where it comes is Arabic. In Arabic, KASAM means
           the enemy, and in Urdu, it means the husband. Both are true; both are the meanings of the same
           word.
               Even people we love, we don't love enough. In our love also, hatred goes on and on and
           continues. We are never one, we are never a unity; we are a divided self, divided against ourselves.
           This dividedness creates confusion, conflict, noise, and because of this noise it is difficult to listen to
           the eternal music.
               If you go on continuously listening to this noise within you, by and by you completely forget that
           something else also exists by the side, by the corner. This inner noise becomes your whole life. The
           whole day you are listening to your inner noise -- a feverish state. In the night also you are listening
           to the same noise.
               Of course, this noise goes on creating layers upon layers around you. You become almost
           insulated; you become like a capsule, closed from every side. You don't live in my world, you don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           live in your wife's world, you didn't live in your child's world -- you live in your own world, in a
           capsule. Your child lives in his world; your wife lives in her world. In the world there are as many
           worlds as there are persons. Everybody is closed, into himself, and goes on projecting things out of
           these noises, goes on hearing things which have not been uttered, goes on seeing things which are
           not there, and goes on believing that whatsoever he is seeing is true. Whatsoever you have seen up to
           now is not true, it cannot be; because your eyes are not functioning as pure receptivities, they are
           functioning more as protectors. You go on seeing things that you want to see; you go on believing in
           things that you want to believe. Humanity lives in a sort of neurosis.
                I have heard that once a man asked a psychiatrist, 'In simple, everyday terms, without any of that
           scientific jargon, what is the difference between a psychotic and a neurotic?'
           'Well,' said the psychiatrist, after thinking a moment. 'you could put it this way. A psychotic thinks
           two plus two equals five. The neurotic knows perfectly well that two plus two equals four, but it
           worries the hell out of him.'
                There are two types of people in the world: the psychotic and the neurotic. The psychotic has
           arrived, he has got the conclusions. He is the dogmatic person. He says, 'Only MY religion is the true
           religion.' He says, 'Only MY God is the true God.' He's absolutely certain. He is very dangerous. His
           certainty is not because of his experience, his certainty is because deep down he is very much
           uncertain, in deep conflict, turmoil. How to avoid it? He clings to a conclusion. He will not listen to
           anything going against his ideology. He may be a communist, or a Catholic, or a Hindu, or a Jaina --
           it makes no difference. The psychotic person has already arrived, he has conclusions. He's no longer
           growing, he's no longer learning, he's no longer listening -- he lives out of his conclusions. He of
           course misses life, because life is a process, there is no conclusion to it. Life is always in the middle,
           there is no beginning and no end to it. And life is tremendously vast. All dogmas can have a certain
           truth about them but no-dogma is the truth. Cannot be. Life is so big that no dogma can comprehend
           it in its totality.
                So a really intelligent person is hesitant. He's never dogmatic. He's ready to learn, ready to listen.
                So many people come here. Whenever I see somebody who, while listening to me, is trying to
           compare notes with his conclusions, I know he's in deep trouble. And I can see from your faces
           whether you are comparing notes or listening to me. Sometimes you nod your head; you say, 'Right,
           you are perfectly right, this is also my principle.' You agree with me, not because you are listening to
           me -- in fact you are happy because you feel I am agreeing with you. Sometimes your head says,
           'No.' You may not even be aware of what you are doing. It may be just unconscious. But the gesture
           is bringing something from your unconscious. You say, 'No, I cannot agree with this. This is against
           my conclusion. This doesn't fit with me.' Then you are not listening. You are psychotic. You may not
           be in much trouble and you may not need a psychiatrist yet, but that doesn't matter much -- it is only
           a question of degrees. Any day you can be in a psychiatric hospital. You are getting ready for it --
           preparing.
                And then there is the neurotic person. He's continuously in conflict -- even small things he cannot
           decide. The psychotic has decided even ultimate things and the neurotic cannot decide even small
           things. What dress to wear today? Have you watched women standing there before their cupboards
           so puzzled? They bring one sari and put it back -- and they bring -- and put back.... What dress to
           wear today? To help you out of such neurosis, I give you one color -- orange. Free. No need to
           worry. No alternatives left.
                Both are in trouble: the one who has decided for ultimate things, he has stopped learning; and the
           one who cannot decide for trivia, he cannot learn, because he is in such a hell, such a confusion.
                In my village, just in front of my house, lives a goldsmith. He is the -- sort of the person you will
           call neurotic. He will lock his door, he will go a few steps, and then come back again and shake the
           lock just to see whether he has locked it or not.
                It has become a joke in the whole town. He may be in the market and somebody will say, 'Have
           you locked your door, or not?'
                Now it is impossible. He will stop whatsoever he is doing, he will say, 'Wait, I will be coming,'
           and he will run back.
                One day he was taking his bath in the river and somebody said something about the door. He
           jumped out and naked he ran towards his home.
                I have watched him. He will come back again and again and again. It has become almost
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           impossible for him to do anything else. The lock.... Just think about his misery.
                Ordinarily, you are both. these are extreme cases. Ordinarily you are both. In certain ways you
           are psychotic: you have decided the ultimate, that Jesus is the only Son of God, the only begotten
           Son -- this is psychosis. Then what about Buddha and what about Lao Tzu and what about
           Zarathustra? In certain matters you have decided and in certain matters you are completely in
           confusion. A part of your being is neurotic and a part of your being is psychotic. And because of this
           madness you cannot hear the ancient music which is always there.
                Meditation is to get out of your psychosis and to get out of your neurosis; it is simply to slip out
           of them. So you don't have any ultimate conclusion with you on one hand; and on another hand you
           are not worried about trivia. You are simply silent. You are simply being yourself, with no decision,
           with no conclusion, with no center, and not worried about small things. If you can be in a state where
           no thought interferes with your being, no thought passes by, suddenly you are overwhelmed.
                Now this beautiful anecdote -- one of the most beautiful in the history of Zen. And, of course, it
           belongs to the first Zen patriarch, Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma is the genius of the absurd. Nobody
           has ever surpassed him.
                When he reached China, the Emperor came to receive him. Rumors had arrived that a great man
           was coming -- and he was a great man, one of the greatest. The Emperor came, but when he saw
           Bodhidharma, he repented. He started thinking, 'It would have been better if I had not come. This
           man seems to be almost mad!' Bodhidharma was coming with one shoe on his foot and one shoe on
           his head.
                Even the Emperor started feeling embarrassed to receive such a man, and when they were alone
           he asked, very politely, why he did this.
                Bodhidharma said, 'This is just the beginning. I have to prepare my disciples. If you cannot
           accept this much contradiction, you will be incapable of understanding me, because I am all
           contradictions. The shoe is just symbolic. In fact I wanted to put my feet on my head.'
                Bodhidharma took Zen from India to China. He planted the seed of Zen in China. He started a
           great phenomenon on its way. He is the father and, of course, Zen has carried the qualities of
           Bodhidharma all these centuries. Zen is one of the most absurd religions -- in fact, a religion has to
           be absurd because it cannot be logical. It is beyond logic.
                I was reading an anecdote. When I read it I remembered Bodhidharma. Listen to it.
                A great zoologist informed a colleague that he was trying to cross a parrot with a mountain lion.
           'No!' exclaimed the other. 'What do you expect to get?'
           'I don't know exactly,' the scientist admitted. 'but I will tell you this -- if it starts talking you had
           better listen.'
                Reading this anecdote, suddenly Bodhidharma surfaced in me. He was the man who was also a
           lion. Ordinarily he would not speak but his silence was also terrible and terrific. He would look into
           your eyes absolutely silent, and he would go like a cold shudder through your spine. Or he would
           speak -- then too he was like thunder. Find a picture of Bodhidharma and look: very ferocious and
           still very sweet. A parrot crossed with a lion -- very sweet and very ferocious.
                The whole Zen discipline has carried the same quality with it. Zen masters are very hard on the
           outside and very sweet on the inside. Once you have earned their love they are as sweet as honey,
           but you will have to pass through hardship. Bodhidharma, for nine years while he was in China, sat
           facing a wall, gazing at a wall. He was known in China as the man, the ferocious man, who gazed at
           the wall for nine years. It is said that his legs withered away -- sitting and just looking at the wall.
           People would come and they would try to persuade him, 'Look at us. Why are you looking at the
           wall?' And he would say, 'Because you are also like a wall. When somebody comes who is really not
           like a wall, I will look.' Then one day his successor came. And the successor cut off his hand and
           gave it to Bodhidharma and said, 'Look this way, otherwise I am going to cut off my head.' He
           turned, immediately about-turned, and said. 'Wait! So you have come. I was waiting for nine years
           for you.'
                After nine years he came back to India. When he was coming back, this incident happened.
                AFTER NINE YEARS, BODHIDHARMA, THE FIRST ZEN PATRIARCH, WHO TOOK ZEN
           TO CHINA FROM INDIA IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, DECIDED HE WISHED TO RETURN
           HOME. HE GATHERED HIS DISCIPLES AROUND HIM TO TEST THEIR
           APPERCEPTION...what they had learned from him, and what they knew about truth.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So he asked, 'What is truth? Tell me in short.' The first disciple, Dofuku, said, 'IN MY OPINION
           TRUTH IS BEYOND AFFIRMATION OR NEGATION, FOR THIS IS THE WAY IT MOVES.'
           BODHIDHARMA REPLIED: 'YOU HAVE MY SKIN.'
                What the disciple said was true, but not truth. It was not wrong, but it was philosophical. It was
           not experiential, it was not existential. He said, 'In my opinion...' as if truth depends on your opinion.
                Truth is independent of all opinions. What you think about truth is irrelevant; in fact, because
           you think, you will not be able to know what is. That which is can be known only when all thinking
           stops. when all opinions are thrown away, put aside. So I say, 'True, but not truth.' The opinion is not
           wrong, it is well-informed, but if is still an opinion; Dofuku has not experienced it himself. He seems
           to be of the philosophical bent. He has been speculating, thinking, weaving and spinning theories.
           BODHIDHARMA REPLIED: 'YOU HAVE MY SKIN.'
                If it had been just philosophical, Bodhidharma would not have said even this much. But he said,
           'You have my skin -- the most outermost part. the very circumference of my being.' Why? Because
           he said that truth is beyond affirmation or negation It can neither be said about truth that it is, nor can
           it be said that it is not. He has some insight. He has groped in the dark through thinking, logic, but he
           has come to a certain insight. And that insight is beautiful. Nothing can be said about truth. You
           cannot say, 'God is,' you cannot say, 'God is not.' Because if you say, 'God is,' you will make God
           like a thing -- as a table is, the house is. Then God will become an ordinary commodity, an ordinary
           thing. And then, as linguistic philosophers say, the table can be destroyed. Whatsoever 'is', can
           become 'is not'. The house can be demolished. The tree is here today; tomorrow it may not be. So
           what about God? If you use the word 'is', then what about God? Can God be in a situation where he
           is not? Because wherever 'is' is used, 'is not' is the possibility also. No, it cannot be said that 'God is'
           but can we say the opposite, 'God is not'? That too is not possible because, it he is not, what's the
           point of saying 'God is not'? Who are you denying, and for what? It he is not, he is not. What is the
           point of denial?
                And people deny so passionately. that their very passion says. 'He must be. God must be.'
                Look at the atheists who say. 'No. There is no God.' They are ready to tight. For something which
           is not, who fights? Why are you worried? I know atheists who have been thinking their whole life
           and trying to prove that God is not. Why are you wasting your life for something which is not? For
           centuries people have been writing books. and arguing and discussing about God is not. But why be
           concerned? It seems that God is. in some way. and you cannot rest at ease unless you prove that he is
           not -- otherwise he will go on challenging you. He will go on calling you. invoking you. so to put
           yourself at ease you have to create a philosophy that he is not. This is rationalization.
                And then God is so vast.... Call it truth, as Bodhidharma would like. Buddhists don t like the
           word God. and they do rightly, because the word IS 50 corrupted and so many people have used it
           with such wrong connotations that it has almost become a dirty word. Truth must be both, because in
           truth existence and non-existence must meet. Existence cannot be alone -- it needs non-existence by
           the side. Just as the day needs the night, just as life needs death, existence needs non-existence. So
           the ultimate must comprehend both...that is what Dofuku said. But it is still philosophical -- on the
           right track, but still philosophical, just on the periphery. BODHIDHARMA REPLIED: 'YOU HAVE
           MY SKIN.'
                It happened that Pierre Laplace was a mathematician, an astronomer, who in Napoleon's time
           wrote a ponderous five-volume work on celestial mechanics. In it, using Newton's law of gravity, he
           painstakingly worked out the motions of the solar system in finest detail.
                Napoleon, who fancied himself (with only partial justification) an intellectual, leafed through the
           early volumes, and said to Laplace, 'I see no mention of God in your explanation of the motions of
           the planets.'
           'I had no need of that hypothesis, sir,' said the scientist politely.
                Another astronomer, Legrange, hearing of the remark, is reported to have said, 'But it is a
           beautiful hypothesis just the same. It can be used to explain so many things.'
                To the philosophical mind God remains, at the most, a beautiful hypothesis. Not a truth, but a
           helpful hypothesis which can be used in explaining many things; at the most, a help to explanation --
           just a theoretical need, not an existential need. When a philosopher talks about God, the God is cold,
           the God is not warm enough. You cannot love that God, you cannot worship that God, you cannot
           pray to that God, you cannot surrender yourself to that God -- it is just a hypothesis. How can you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           surrender to the theory of H20? Or to the theory of relativity? How can you surrender, how can you
           raise a temple to the theory of relativity? Howsoever beautiful it is, it cannot be revered, it cannot be
           worshipped, you cannot pray to it. It remains a hypothesis, a tool in your hands to explain a few
           things which cannot be explained otherwise. But a hypotheses can be discarded any moment;
           whenever you can find a better hypothesis, it can be discarded. Truth is not a hypothesis -- it is a
           lived experience.
                That's why Bodhidharma said, 'You have only my skin.' Skin goes on changing. Every seven
           years your whole skin has gone through change. You don't have even a single cell of the same skin.
           If you live for seventy years, ten times your skin would have changed. Skin is your outermost part. It
           can be replaced very easily. It is being replaced every moment. It is just the bag in which you are -- it
           is not very, very essential. It is not your being -- just the outer wall of your abode.
                THE NUN SOJI SAID: -- the second disciple 'IN MY VIEW, IT IS LIKE ANANDA'S
           INSIGHT OF THE BUDDHA-LAND -- SEEN ONCE AND FOREVER.' BODHIDHARMA
           ANSWERED: 'YOU HAVE MY FLESH.'
                A little better than the first -- deeper than the skin is flesh. A little better because this is no more
           a philosophical standpoint; it comes closer to experience, but the experience i8 borrowed. She says,
           'IN MY VIEW, IT IS LIKE ANANDA'S INSIGHT OF THE BUDDHA-LAND.'
                Ananda was the chief disciple of Buddha who lived with him for forty years continuously, like a
           shadow following him. So the nun said that truth is like Ananda's insight of the Buddha-land -- of
           that land of paradise, land of light. Once seen it is seen forever. Then you can never forget about it; it
           is a point of no return. Once known, it is known forever; then you cannot fall from it.
                But, the experience is not her own. The insight is Ananda's. She is still comparing. Her answer is
           theological, not philosophical -- theological, as a Christian theologian goes on talking about the
           experience of Jesus, and a Buddhist goes on talking about the experience of Buddha, and a Jaina
           goes on talking about the experience of Mahavir. It is second-hand, not first-hand; leaning more
           towards the existential, but still theological; more contemplative than the first -- the first is more
           speculative, the second is more contemplative -- better, but yet far away.
                Then the third disciple, Doiku, said, 'THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF LIGHT, AIRINESS,
           FLUIDITY, AND SOLIDITY, ARE EMPTY, AND THE FIVE SKANDHAS ARE NO-THINGS.
           IN MY OPINION NO-THING IS REALITY.' BODHIDHARMA COMMENTED: 'YOU HAVE
           MY BONES.'
                Still deeper, but not yet home. The statement is true but it is still a statement. The truth is said
           better than the other two but it is still said -- and the truth cannot be said. Once you say it, you falsify
           it. The very saying makes it false. He's right. The four elements of light, airiness, fluidity and solidity
           -- that means the whole existence are empty. There is no substance in them. It is just like a dream; it
           is of the same stuff as dreams are made -- maya, illusory. No-thing is reality. Nothingness is reality.
           Right...but he is trying to say something which cannot be said.
                Wittgenstein has said that it is better to keep silent where saying is going to falsify. Keep quiet if
           it cannot be said because whatsoever you say will be a betrayal of the truth. BODHIDHARMA
           COMMENTED: 'YOU HAVE MY BONES.' You have come very, very close, but still missed.
                FINALLY, EKA BOWED BEFORE THE MASTER AND REMAINED SILENT.
           BODHIDHARMA SAID: 'YOU HAVE MY MARROW' -- you have my very soul.
                Eka bowed before the Master. That was his statement -- bowing down in deep gratefulness, a
           gesture of thankfulness, and then remaining silent. This is the true statement and it is not a statement
           at all. It is only through silence that truth can be said because it is only through silence that the truth
           is heard. It is through silence that one comes to hear the ancient music in the pines. And only through
           silence can you say it without betraying it.
                Eka did two things. He bowed down -- that is a gesture; a gesture of deep reverence, respect,
           gratefulness, gratitude. That moment Bodhidharma could see an emptiness bowing down before him.
           There is nobody in this fourth disciple Eka, he is just emptiness within. He is what the third was
           saying -- emptiness, nothingness. He has the experience of what the second was saying -- Ananda's
           Buddha-land. He is what the first was trying to utter philosophically: beyond yes and no. Only
           silence is beyond negation and affirmation; only silence is neither atheistic nor theistic; only silence
           is religious; only silence is sacred. To Show that sacredness of silence he bowed down and then he
           kept silent. He really said it without saying it. That is the only way to say it and there is no other
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           way.
               BODHIDHARMA SAID, 'YOU HAVE MY MARROW' -- you have my innermost core of
           being.
               I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient music in the pines. You can also hear it. It
           is your birthright. If you miss it, only you, and ONLY you will be responsible for it. Listen in the
           pines.... Just listen. In this very moment it is there. You have to be just like Eka, in deep gratefulness,
           in silence. It is immediately here and it has never been otherwise. A turning-in is needed,
           PARABVRUTTI.
               Someone asked Buddha,
           'What is the greatest miracle?'
           He said, 'PARABVRUTTI, turning in.'
               Turn in, tune in, and you will be able to see clouds a thousand miles away and you will be able to
           hear the ancient music in the pines.




                                And The Flowers Showered
                                                     Talks on Zen
                                     Talks given from 31/10/74 am to 10/11/74 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     11 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1974




                                         And The Flowers Showered
                                                     Chapter #1
                                             Chapter title: Flower shower
           31 October 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7410310
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              SUBHUTI WAS ONE OF BUDDHA'S DISCIPLES. HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE
              POTENCY OF EMPTINESS -- THE VIEWPOINT THAT NOTHING EXISTS EXCEPT IN ITS
              RELATIONSHIP OF SUBJECTIVITY AND OBJECTIVITY.
              ONE DAY, WHEN SUBHUTI WAS SITTING UNDER A TREE IN A MOOD OF SUBLIME
              EMPTINESS, FLOWERS BEGAN TO FALL AROUND HIM. 'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR
              DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS,' THE GODS WHISPERED TO HIM. 'BUT I HAVE NOT SPOKEN
              OF EMPTINESS,' SAID SUBHUTI. 'YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, WE HAVE NOT
              HEARD EMPTINESS,' RESPONDED THE GODS. 'THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS.'
              AND BLOSSOMS SHOWERED UPON SUBHUTI LIKE RAIN.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Yes, it happens. It is not a metaphor, it is a fact -- so don't take this story metaphorically. It is
           literally true... because the whole of existence feels happy, blissful, ecstatic when even one
           individual soul achieves the ultimate.
                We are part of the whole and the whole is not indifferent to you, cannot be. How can a mother be
           indifferent to a child -- her own child? It is impossible. When the child grows the mother also grows
           with him. When the child is happy the mother is also happy with him. When the child dances,
           something in the mother also dances. When the child is ill the mother is ill. When the child is
           miserable the mother is miserable... because they are not two, they are one. Their hearts beat in a
           rhythm.
                The whole is your mother. The whole is not indifferent to you. Let this truth penetrate as deeply
           as possible in your heart, because even this awareness that the whole feels happy with you will
           change you. Then you are not alienated, then you are not a foreigner here. Then you are not a
           homeless wanderer, then this is a HOME. And the whole mothers you, cares about you, loves you.
           So it is natural that when somebody becomes a buddha, when somebody reaches the ultimate peak,
           the whole existence dances, the whole existence sings, the whole existence celebrates. Literally true
           it is. It is not a metaphor, remember; otherwise you will miss the whole point.
                Blossoms shower, and then they go on showering -- they never stop.
                The blossoms that showered for Buddha are still showering. The blossoms that showered for
           Subhuti are still showering. You cannot see them, not because they are not showering but because
           you are not capable of seeing them. Existence goes on celebrating infinitely for all the buddhas that
           have happened, for all the buddhas that are happening, and for all the buddhas that will happen --
           because for existence, past, future and present don't exist. It is a continuity. It is eternity. Only the
           now exists, infinite now.
                They are still showering, but you cannot see them. Unless they shower for you, you CANNOT
           see them; and once you see them showering for you, you will see that they have been showering for
           every buddha, for every enlightened soul.
                The first thing: existence CARES what happens to you. Existence is continuously praying that
           the ultimate should happen to you. In fact you are nothing but a hand extended by the whole to reach
           the ultimate. You are nothing but a wave coming from the whole to touch the moon. You are nothing
           but a flower opening, so that the whole is filled with fragrance through you.
                If you can drop yourself, those flowers can shower this very morning -- this very moment. Gods
           are always ready, their hands are always full with flowers. They simply watch and wait. Whenever
           somebody becomes a Subhuti, empty, whenever somebody is absent, suddenly the flowers start
           showering.
                This is one of the basic facts. Without it there is no possibility of trust; without it there is no
           possibility of your ever reaching the truth. Unless the whole helps, there is no possibility for you to
           reach -- how can you reach? And ordinarily, our minds think just the opposite. We think of the
           whole as the enemy, not as the friend, never as the mother. We think about the whole as if the whole
           is trying to destroy us. We look at the whole through the door of death, not through the door of birth.
           It looks as if the whole is against you, fighting you, not allowing you to reach your goals and aims,
           not allowing you to be fulfilled. Hence you go on constantly warring with it. And the more you fight,
           the more your misconception proves to be true -- because if you fight, your own fight is reflected
           through the whole.
                The whole supports you, remember. Even when you fight, the whole supports you; even when
           you fight and you are wrong, the whole supports you. This is a second truth to be understood well. If
           you don't understand, it will be difficult for you to proceed further. Even if you fight with the whole,
           the whole supports you -- because the whole cannot do anything other than support. If you go wrong,
           still the whole cares about you. Even if you go wrong, the whole moves with you. If a child goes
           wrong, the mother still cares. If the child becomes a thief and is ill, the mother will still care. She
           cannot give poison to the child. If the child goes completely wrong, astray, the mother will still pray
           for him. That is the meaning of Jesus' story of the two brothers.
                One went away -- and not only away but astray -- from the father, and wasted his part of the
           heritage and became a beggar, a gambler, a drunkard. The other remained with the father, helped the
           business, worked on the farm and the gardens, increased the heritage, helped in every way, served in
           a surrendering spirit to the father. And then suddenly the news came that the other brother had
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a beggar, that he was begging on the streets, and the father's whole heart started aching for
           him, and all his prayers were for him. He completely forgot the one who was near; he remembered
           only the one who was distant. In his dreams at night the other was present, but not the one who was
           close and working for him, who was good in every way.
                And then one day the beggar son came back and the father arranged a big feast. The good son
           was coming home from the farm and somebody told him, 'Look at the injustice of your father! You
           love him, you care for him and serve him and you have remained with him, been absolutely good,
           moral, never done anything against his wish, but never was a feast arranged for you. The fattest lamb
           has been murdered for your brother who has gone astray. He is coming like a beggar, and the whole
           house is celebrating!'
                The son, the good son, felt very hurt: this was absurd! He went back home angry. He talked to
           his father: 'What are you doing? Never has a feast been given for me -- and I have been serving you,
           and what has this other son done for you? Just wasted the heritage, gambled everything, and now he
           has come home a beggar!'
                The father said, 'Yes, because you are so close and you are so good and you are so happy, I need
           not worry about you. But the one who has gone astray -- my prayers follow him and my love follows
           him.'
                And Jesus used to tell this story again and again to his disciples, because, as he said, God can
           forget the saints, there is no need to remember them, but God cannot forget the sinners.
                If he is a father -- and I tell you he is not a father, he is a mother; a father is not such a deep
           phenomenon as a mother. That's why Hindus call him the mother -- God is mother, a mothering. And
           Jesus said whenever it happens that a shepherd is coming back home and a sheep is lost, he leaves all
           the sheep in the forest, in the dark night, and goes to search and seek for the lost one. And when the
           lost sheep is found, he carries the lost sheep on his shoulders and he rejoices and he comes back
           home feeling very happy, because one who was lost has been found. Whenever it happens -- we are
           all lost sheep -- whenever a sheep is found again, the shepherd rejoices. Flowers start showering.
                Deities, gods, are not persons in the East, they are natural forces. Everything has been
           personified just to give a heart to it, a heartbeat -- just to make it more caring. So Hindus, Buddhists,
           they have converted all the natural forces into gods, and they are right! When Subhuti attained to
           emptiness, gods started showering.
                And the meaning is very beautiful: the sun is a god for Hindus and Buddhists, the sky is a god;
           every tree has its own god, deity. The air is god, the earth is god. Everything has a heart -- that is the
           meaning. Everything feels -- that is the meaning. Nothing is indifferent to you -- that is the meaning.
           And when you attain, everything celebrates. Then the sun shines in a different way; the quality has
           changed.
                To those who are ignorant everything remains the same. The sun shines in the old way because
           the change of quality is very subtle and only one who is empty can feel it. It is not gross, the ego
           cannot feel it; the gross is the field of the ego. The subtle can be felt only when there is no ego,
           because it is so subtle that if you are there you will miss it. Even your presence will be enough
           disturbance.
                When one is totally empty the quality of the sun immediately changes. It has a welcoming poetry
           about it. Its warmth is not only warmth, it has become a love -- a loving warmth. The air is different,
           it lingers a little more around you, it touches you with more feeling, as if it has got hands. The touch
           is totally different; now the touch has a sensitivity around it. The tree will flower, but not in the same
           way. Now the flowers are coming out of the tree as if they are jumping.
                It is said that whenever Buddha passed through a forest, trees would start blossoming even when
           it was not the season for them. It has to be so! Man can err in recognizing Buddha but how can trees
           err? Man has a mind and the mind may miss, but how can the trees miss? -- they don't have any
           minds, and when a buddha walks in a forest they start blossoming. It is natural, it has to be so! It is
           not a miracle. But you may not be able to see those flowers, because those flowers are not really
           physical. Those flowers are the FEELINGS of the trees. When Buddha passes the tree trembles in a
           different way, throbs in a different way, is no longer the same. This is the meaning. The whole cares
           for you, the whole is your mother.
                Now try to understand this parable -- one of the best.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SUBHUTI WAS ONE OF BUDDHA'S DISCIPLES.


               Buddha had thousands of disciples. Subhuti was just one of them, nothing special about him.
           Really nobody knows much about Subhuti, this is the only story about him. There were great
           disciples, well known, famous -- great scholars, princes. They had big kingdoms, and when they left
           them and renounced and became disciples of Buddha, they had a name around them. But flowers
           didn't shower on them. Flowers chose this Subhuti who was just one of the disciples, nothing special
           about him.
               Only then do flowers shower; otherwise you also can become special around a buddha -- and you
           can miss! You can feel egoistic about being near a buddha too, you can create a hierarchy; you can
           say, 'I am not an ordinary disciple, I am something special. I am just next to Buddha. Others are just
           ordinary, a crowd, but I am not a crowd; I have a name, an identity of my own. Even before I came
           to Buddha I was somebody' -- and they remain somebody.
               Sariputta came to Buddha. When he came it was with five hundred disciples of his own. He was
           a master -- of course an unenlightened master, knowing nothing, and still feeling that he knew
           because he was a great scholar. He knew all the scriptures. He was born a brahmin and a very
           talented one, a genius. From his very childhood he was known for his great memory -- he could
           memorize anything. Only once he had to read a scripture, and it was already memorized. He was
           known all over the country; when he came to Buddha he was somebody. That somebodiness became
           the barrier.
               These gods seem to be very irrational -- they have chosen a disciple, Subhuti, who was just one
           in the crowd, nothing special about him. These gods seem to be crazy! They should have chosen
           Sariputta, he was the man to be chosen. But they have not chosen him. They have not chosen
           Ananda, Buddha's cousin-brother, Buddha's shadow continuously for forty years -- for forty years,
           not for a single moment was he away from Buddha. He slept in the same room; he moved with
           Buddha, continuously by his side. He was the most well known person. All the stories that Buddha
           told he starts by telling them to Ananda. He says, 'Ananda, it happened this way'; 'Ananda, once it
           happened.' 'Ananda' and 'Ananda' and 'Ananda' -- he goes on repeating his name. But these gods are
           crazy, they have chosen Subhuti -- a nobody!
               Remember, only nobodies are chosen -- because if you are somebody in this world you are
           nobody in the other world. If here you are a nobody, you become somebody in the other world.
           Values differ. Here, gross things are valued; there, subtle things are valued. And the most subtle, the
           subtlest, is NOT TO BE. Subhuti lived in the crowd -- nobody even knew his name -- and when this
           news came that flowers were showering on Subhuti everybody wondered, 'Who is this Subhuti? We
           never heard about him. Has it happened by some accident? Have the gods chosen him wrongly?' --
           because there were many who were higher in the hierarchy. Subhuti must have been the last. This is
           the only story about Subhuti.
               Try to understand it well. When you are near a great master be a nobody. Gods are crazy, they
           will chose you only when you are not. And if you try to be, the more you succeed in being
           somebody, the more you will miss. This is what we are doing in the world and this we start doing
           around a buddha also. You crave for riches. Why? -- because with riches you become someone. You
           crave for prestige and power. Why? -- because with power and prestige you are not ordinary. You
           crave for learning, scholarship, knowledge. Why? -- because with knowledge you have something to
           be proud of.
               But gods will not chose you that way. They have their own way of choosing. If you are yourself
           beating your drum too much, there is no need for gods to shower flowers on you -- you are throwing
           flowers upon yourself; there is no need. When you stop being proud about anything suddenly the
           whole existence starts being proud of you. Jesus says, 'Those who are first in this world will be the
           last in the kingdom of my God, and those who are last will be the first.'
               It happened once that a very rich man died on the same day a beggar in the town also died. The
           name of the beggar was Lazarus. The rich man went directly to hell and Lazarus directly to heaven.
           The rich man looked up and saw Lazarus sitting near God, and he cried to heaven, 'It seems that
           something has gone wrong. I should be there and this beggar Lazarus should be here!'
               God laughed and he said, 'Those who are last shall become the first, and those who are first shall
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become the last. You have enjoyed being first enough, now let Lazarus enjoy a little.'
               And the rich man was feeling very hot -- of course in hell you don't have any air-conditioning yet
           -- burning hot. He was feeling very thirsty and there was no water. So he again cried and said, 'God,
           please at least send Lazarus with a little water, I am feeling very thirsty.'
               And God said, 'Lazarus was thirsty many times, nearly dying at your door, and you never gave
           him anything. He was dying, hungry at your door and there was a feast every day, and many were
           invited, but he was always chased away from the door by your servants because guests were coming,
           powerful guests, politicians, diplomats, rich men, and a beggar standing there would look awkward.
           Your servants chased him away and he was hungry, and the people who were invited were not
           hungry. You never looked at Lazarus. Now it is impossible.'
           And it is said Lazarus laughed.
               This became a deep story for many many Christian mystics to ponder over. It became just like a
           zen koan, and in monasteries Christian mystics have been asking again and again why Lazarus
           laughed.
               He laughed at the absurdity of things. He never knew that a nobody like Lazarus -- a leper, a
           beggar, would ever enter heaven. He could never believe that this had happened. And he could not
           believe the other thing either -- that a rich man, the richest in the town, should go to hell. He
           laughed.
               And Lazarus still laughs. And he will laugh when you die also: if you are a somebody he will
           laugh, because you will be thrown out. If you are nobody, just ordinary, he will laugh because you
           will be received.
               In this world, because egos exist, all valuations belong to the ego. In the other world, the other
           dimension, valuation belongs to egolessness. Hence Buddha's emphasis on no-selfness -- ANATTA.
           He said, 'Don't even believe "I am a soul" because that too can become a subtle ego. Don't say
           "AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am Brahma, I am the ultimate self." Don't say even that, because the I is
           very tricky. It can deceive you. It HAS deceived you for many many lives. It can go on deceiving
           you. Simply say "I am not" and remain in that NOTNESS, remain in that nothingness -- become
           empty of the self.'
               One has to get rid of the self. Once the self is thrown away, nothing is lacking. You start
           overflowing and blossoms start falling on you.

              SUBHUTI WAS ONE OF BUDDHA'S DISCIPLES. Remember, ONE OF.
           HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS.

               He was just one of many, that's why he was able to understand the potency of emptiness. Nobody
           talked about him, nobody knew about him. He walked with, he followed Buddha on many many
           paths in his travels. Nobody knew that he was also there; if he had died nobody would have become
           aware. If he had escaped nobody would have known, because nobody ever knew that Subhuti was
           there. He knew, by and by, being nobody, he knew THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS.
               What is the meaning of it? ... Because the more he became a nonentity, the more he felt that
           Buddha was coming closer to him. Nobody else was aware, but Buddha was aware. Everybody
           wondered when these flowers showered on him, but it was not a surprise to Buddha. When it was
           reported to him that something had happened to Subhuti, Buddha said, 'I was waiting. Any moment
           it was going to happen, because he has erased himself so much; any day it was going to happen.
           There is no surprise in it for me.'

              HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS


               - by being empty! You don't know the power of emptiness. You don't know the power of being
           totally absent within. You know only the poverty of the ego.
               But try to understand. With ego have you ever felt really powerful? With ego you always feel
           impotent. That's why the ego says, 'Make your empire a little bigger so that you can feel you are
           powerful: no, this house won't do, a bigger house is needed; no, this much bank balance won't do, a
           bigger bank balance is needed; no, this much fame won't do, a little more.' The ego always asks for
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more. Why? If it is powerful, why go on asking for more? The very craving for more says, shows,
           that the ego feels impotent. You have a million rupees and you are impotent. The ego says, 'No, one
           million won't do, have ten million rupees.' And I tell you -- with ten million rupees you will be
           tenfold more impotent, that's all. And then the ego will say, 'No, this won't do....'
           NOTHING will do with ego. Everything proves only that you are impotent, powerless. The more
           power you gain the more powerless you feel in contrast. The richer you become the poorer you feel.
           The more healthy you are, the more afraid of death; the younger, the more you feel old age is coming
           nearer. The opposite is just around the corner, and if you have a little understanding, the opposite is
           just reaching you -- around your neck. The more beautiful you are, the more you feel the inner
           ugliness.
                Ego has never felt powerful. It only dreams of power, it thinks of power, it contemplates on
           power -- but those are simply dreams and nothing else. And dreams are there just to hide the
           impotence that is within you. But dreams cannot hide the reality. Whatsoever you do, from here or
           from there, from a loophole, again the reality comes in and shatters all dreams.
                Ego is the most impotent thing in the world. But nobody realizes it, because it goes on asking for
           more, it never gives you a space to look at the situation. Before you become aware, it pushes you
           further and further somewhere. Always the goal is somewhere near the horizon. And it is so near you
           think, By the evening I will reach.
                The evening never comes; the horizon remains always at the same distance. The horizon is an
           illusion; all the goals of ego are just illusions. But they give hope, and you go on feeling, 'Some day
           or other I will become powerful.' Right now you remain powerless, impotent, inferior, but in the
           future, in the hope, in the dream, you become powerful. You must be aware that many times, just
           sitting on your chair, you start daydreaming: you have become the emperor of the whole world or the
           president of the United States, and immediately you start enjoying it. Everybody looks at you, you
           have become the focal point of everyone's attention. Even that dream gives you exhilaration,
           intoxication. If you dream that way, you will walk in a different way.
                This is how it is happening to everybody: your potency remains in the dreams, YOU remain
           impotent. The truth is just the opposite: when you don't seek, it comes; when you don't ask it is
           given; when you don't hanker it is there; when you don't go to the horizon, suddenly you realize that
           it has been always yours -- you never lived it. It is there inside, and you seek it outside. It is there
           within you and you go without. You are carrying it: the suprememost power, the divine itself, is in
           you. And you are looking here and there like a beggar.

              HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS.


               Just being empty, you will understand -- there is no other way of understanding. Whatsoever you
           want to understand, be that, because that is the only way. Try being an ordinary man, nobody, with
           no name, no identity, with nothing to claim, with no power to enforce on others, with no effort to
           dominate, with no desire to possess, just being a nonentity. Try it -- and see how powerful you
           become, how filled with energy and overflowing, so powerful that you can share your power, so
           blissful that you can give it to many, to millions. And the more you give, the more you are enriched.
           The more you share, the more it grows. You become a flood.

              HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS -- just by being nobody
           -- THE VIEWPOINT THAT NOTHING EXISTS EXCEPT IN ITS RELATIONSHIP OF
           SUBJECTIVITY AND OBJECTIVITY.

                This is one of the deepest meditations Buddha discovered. He says everything exists in relation,
           it is a relativity; it is not an absolute, substantial thing.
                For example: you are poor, I am rich. Is it a substantial thing or just a relationship? I may be poor
           in relation to somebody else, and you may be rich in relation to somebody else. Even a beggar can be
           rich in relation to another beggar; there are rich beggars and poor beggars. A rich man in comparison
           to a richer man is a poor man. You are poor -- is your poverty existential or just a relationship? It is a
           relative phenomenon. If there is nobody to be related to, which will you be, a poor man or a rich
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man?
                Think... suddenly the whole of humanity disappears and you are left alone on the earth: which
           will you be, poor or rich? You will be simply YOU, not rich, not poor -- because how to compare?
           There is no Rockefeller to compare with, there is no beggar to compare with. Will you be beautiful
           or ugly when you are alone? You will be neither, you will be simply you. With nothing to compare
           with, how can you be ugly or beautiful? So with beauty and ugliness, richness and poverty and with
           all things. Will you be wise or a fool? Foolish or wise? Neither!
                So Buddha says all these things exist in relationship. They are not existential, they are just
           concepts. And we are so bothered about these things which are NOT. You are too bothered if you are
           ugly. You are too bothered if you are beautiful. The worry is created by something which is not.
                A relative thing is NOT. It is just a relationship, as if you have drawn a design in the sky, a
           flower of air. Even a bubble in water is more substantial than relativities. Who are you if you are
           alone? Nobody. Somebodiness comes in relationship with somebody.
                That means, just to be nobody is to be in nature; just to be nobody is to be in existence.
                And you are alone, remember. The society exists only outside you. Deep within you are alone.
           Close your eyes and see whether you are beautiful or ugly; both the concepts disappear, inside there
           is no beauty, no ugliness. Close your eyes and contemplate who you are. Respected, not respected?
           Moral, immoral? Young, old? Black, white? A master or a slave? Who are you? Close your eyes and
           in your aloneness every concept drops. You cannot be anything. Then emptiness arises. All concepts
           nullified, only your existence remains.
                This is one of the deepest meditations Buddha discovered: To be nobody. And this has not to be
           forced. You are not to THINK that you are nobody, you have to realize it; otherwise your nobodiness
           will be too heavy. You are not to think that you are nobody, you have to simply realize that all things
           that you think you are, are relative.
                And truth is absolute, it is not relative. Truth is not relative: it does not depend on anything, it is
           simply there. So find out the truth within you and don't bother about relationships. They differ,
           interpretations differ. And if interpretations change, you change.
                Something is in fashion -- if you use it you are modern, appreciated. Something has gone out of
           fashion -- if you use it you are out of date, you are not respected. Fifty years before, that was in
           fashion and you would have been modern. Fifty years later on it may come again in fashion and then
           again you will be modern. Right now you are out of date. But who are you -- changing fashions,
           changing concepts, relativities?
                One of my friends was a communist, but a very rich man -- and he never felt the contradiction.
           He was a bourgeois, well fed, never worked with his hands. He had many servants; he belonged to
           an old royal family. And then he went to Russia in 1940. When he came back he told me, 'Wherever
           I went, I started feeling guilty there -- because whenever I shook hands with anybody, I could feel
           immediately that the other felt that my hands didn't carry any marks of a laborer. They are not
           proletarian, they are bourgeois: soft, feminine. And immediately the other person's face would
           change, and he would let go of my hand as if I was untouchable.' He told me, 'In India, whenever I
           shake hands with anybody my hands are appreciated. They are beautiful, feminine, artistic. In
           Russia, I felt so guilty about my hands that I even started to think how to destroy their softness, so
           that nobody would look at me as an exploiter -- a bourgeois, a rich man.' ... Because there, labor has
           become a value. If you are proletarian in Russia you are somebody; if you are a rich man you are a
           sinner. Anything is just a relative concept.
                In India, we have respected BHIKKHUS, SWAMIS, SANNYASINS. And that has been so in
           China also -- before Mao. A man who renounced the world was the most respected man and the
           society cared about him. He was the highest peak of humanity. And then communism came to China
           and thousands of monasteries have been destroyed completely, and all the monks, respected men of
           the past, have become sinners. They have to work. You can eat only if you work, and begging is
           exploitation. It has been prohibited by the law; now nobody can beg.
                If Buddha were born in China, it would be very difficult for him now. He would not be allowed
           to beg, he would be thought an exploiter. Even if Marx were born in China or Russia he would be in
           difficulty because his whole life he never did anything other than read in the British Museum. He
           was not a proletarian, he was not a laborer -- and his friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels, was a
           very rich man. They are worshipped like gods there. But if Friedrich Engels came to visit Russia, he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would be in difficulty. He never worked, he lived on others' labor, and he helped Marx; without his
           help Marx could not have written Das Kapital or the Communist Manifesto.
               But now it is different; in Russia, he would be in difficulty now, the fashion has changed.
           Concepts change. Remember this, that that which changes is relative and that which remains
           unchanging is absolute -- and your being is absolute; it is not part of relativity.

              ... THE VIEWPOINT THAT NOTHING EXISTS EXCEPT IN ITS RELATIONSHIP OF SUBJECTIVITY
              AND OBJECTIVITY.


               If you understand this standpoint well, contemplate on it, meditate on it, suddenly you are
           illuminated within and you see that everything is empty.

              ONE DAY, WHEN SUBHUTI WAS SITTING UNDER A TREE IN A MOOD OF SUBLIME
              EMPTINESS....


                Remember the words SUBLIME EMPTINESS, because sometimes you also feel empty -- but
           that is not sublime. Sometimes you also feel empty, but not ecstatic emptiness -- a depression, a
           negative emptiness, not a positive emptiness. This distinction has to be remembered.
                A negative emptiness means you are feeling a failure, not understanding. You have tried to
           achieve something in the world and you have not achieved it. You feel empty because the thing you
           desired you couldn't get; the woman you wanted you couldn't get -- you feel empty. The man you
           were after escaped -- you feel empty. The success that was in your dreams could not happen -- you
           feel empty. This emptiness is negative. This is a sadness, a depression, a frustrated state of mind. If
           you are feeling empty that way, remember, flowers will not shower on you. Your emptiness is not
           real, not positive. You are still after things, that's why you are feeling empty. You are still after the
           ego; you wanted to be somebody and could not. It is a failure, not an understanding.
                So remember, if you renounce the world through a failure it is not renunciation, it is not sannyas,
           it is not true. If you renounce the world through understanding, that is totally different. You don't
           renounce it as a sad effort, with frustration within, failure all around. You don't do it like a suicide,
           remember. If your sannyas is a suicide, then flowers will not shower on you -- then you are
           leaving....
           You must have heard Aesop's fable....
                A fox was passing, and there were grapes, but the vine was high on a tree. She tried and tried and
           jumped but they were beyond her reach. So she went away saying, 'They are not worth anything,
           they are not yet sweet and ripe. They are sour.' She couldn't reach.
                But it is difficult for the ego to realize, 'I am a failure.' Rather than recognizing, 'I have failed,
           they were beyond my reach,' the ego will say, 'They were not worth anything.'
                Your many sannyasins, so-called saints, are just like that Aesop's fox. They have renounced the
           world not because they understood the futility of it but because they were failures and it was beyond
           their reach -- and they are still filled with grudge and complaint. You go to them and they will still
           be against, saying, 'Wealth is dirt; and what is a beautiful woman? -- nothing but bones and blood!'
           Who are they trying to convince? They are trying to convince themselves the grapes are sour and
           bitter.
                Why talk about women when you have left the world? And why talk about wealth when you are
           not concerned with it? A deep concern still exists. You cannot accept the failure yet and
           understanding has not arisen.
                Whenever you are against something, remember, understanding has not arisen -- because in
           understanding for and against both disappear. In understanding you are not inimical to the world. In
           understanding you are not condemning the world and the people there. If you go on condemning,
           your condemnation shows that somewhere there is a wound, and you are feeling jealous -- because
           without jealousy there can be no condemnation. You condemn people because somehow,
           somewhere, unconsciously you feel they are enjoying themselves and you have missed. You go on
           saying this world is just a dream, but if it is really a dream then why insist that it is a dream? Nobody
           insists about dreams. In the morning you wake up and you know your dream was a dream -- finished.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You don't go telling people that whatsoever they are is a dream.
               Remember one trick of the mind: you try to convince people about something just to convince
           yourself, because when the other feels convinced you feel okay. If you go and tell people that sex is
           sin and they are convinced or they cannot refute you, you become happy. You have convinced
           yourself. Looking into others' eyes, you are trying to cover your own failure.
               Negative emptiness is useless. It is simply the absence of something. Positive emptiness is
           presence of something, not absence; that's why positive emptiness becomes a power. Negative
           emptiness becomes a sad, depressed state of mind -- you simply cave yourself inwards, that's all.
           Feeling a failure, feeling dejected, feeling everywhere the wall that you cannot cross, feeling
           impotent, you denounce, you condemn.
               But this is not a growth, this is a regression. And deep inside you cannot flower, because only
           understanding flowers, never depression, and if you cannot flower, existence is not going to shower
           flowers on you. Existence simply responds to you: whatsoever you are, existence gives you more of
           that. If you have many flowers within your being flowering, a million times more flowers will
           shower on you. If you have a deep depression, the existence helps that too -- a million times more
           depression will come to you. Whatsoever you are will knock at your door. Whatsoever you are will
           be given to you more and more.
               So be careful and be alert. And remember, a sublime emptiness is a positive phenomenon. One is
           not a failure, one simply looks at the thing and understands that dreams cannot be fulfilled. And then
           one never feels sad, one feels happy that one has come to this understanding that dreams cannot be
           fulfilled. One never feels depressed, hopeless, one feels simply happy and blissful because one has
           come to an understandinG: Now I will not try the impossible, now I will not try the futile. And one
           NEVER says that the object of desire is wrong; when you are in positive sublime emptiness, you say
           desire is wrong, not the object of desire -- this is the difference. In negative emptiness you say the
           object of desire is wrong, so change the object! If it is wealth, money, power -- drop it! Make the
           object God, liberation, heaven -- change the object!
               If emptiness is perfect and sublime and positive you don't see the object as wrong, you simply
           see that desire is futile; objects are okay, but desire is futile. Then you don't change your desire from
           one object to another object, you simply drop the desire itself.
               Nondesiring, you flower. Desiring, you become more and more paralyzed and dead.

              ONE DAY, WHEN SUBHUTI WAS SITTING UNDER A TREE IN A MOOD OF SUBLIME
              EMPTINESS....


               ... Empty but happy, empty but filled; empty but not lacking, empty but overflowing; empty but
           at ease, at home.

              ... FLOWERS BEGAN TO FALL AROUND HIM.


               He was surprised -- because he was nobody. He never expected it. If you expect, they never
           shower; if you don't expect, they shower -- but then you are surprised. Why? Subhuti must have
           thought something had gone wrong. Showering on Subhuti, a nobody, no one, and that too when he
           was empty? Not even thinking of God, not even thinking of liberation, not even meditating --
           because when you are meditating you are not empty, you are doing something and filled with your
           effort -- not doing anything? Subhuti must have become alert that something had gone wrong: The
           gods have gone crazy. Why these flowers, and it is not the season? He must have looked at the tree
           and he must have looked at himself again. On ME, flowers are showering? He could not believe it.
               Remember, whenever the ultimate happens to you, you will be surprised -- because you never
           expected it; you were not waiting for it even, you were not hoping. And those who are expecting and
           waiting and hoping and praying and desiring -- it never happens to them because they are so tense.
           They are never empty, never relaxed.
               The universe comes to you when you are relaxed, because then you are vulnerable, open -- all
           doors open. From anywhere, God is welcome. But you are not praying, and you are not asking for
           him to come; you are not doing anything. When you are not doing anything, just in a mood of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sublime emptiness, you become the temple, and he comes.

              IN A MOOD OF SUBLIME EMPTINESS, FLOWERS BEGAN TO FALL AROUND HIM....


              He looked all around -- what is happening?
           'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS,' THE GODS
           WHISPERED TO HIM.

              He couldn't believe it. He was never expecting it. He couldn't believe that he was worthy, or he
           was capable, or he had grown.
           'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS,' THE GODS
           WHISPERED TO HIM.

               They have to whisper. They must have looked at the amazed eyes of this Subhuti, so surprised.
           They said, 'We are praising you. Don't be so surprised and don't be so amazed. Be at ease! We are
           just praising you for your discourse on emptiness.'
           'BUT I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS,'
           SAID SUBHUTI -- 'I have not spoken anything!'
           'YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, WE HAVE NOT HEARD EMPTINESS,'
           RESPONDED THE GODS. 'THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS.'
           AND BLOSSOMS SHOWERED UPON SUBHUTI LIKE RAIN.

               Try to understand. They said, 'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON
           EMPTINESS,' and he was not talking to anybody, there was nobody. He was not talking to himself
           because he was empty, not divided. He was not talking at all, he was simply there. Nothing was
           being done on his part -- no clouds of thought were passing through his mind, no feelings arising in
           his heart: he was simply as if not. He was simply empty.
               And the gods said, 'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS.'
               So he was more surprised and he said, 'What? I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, I have
           not said anything!'
               They said, 'You have not spoken and we have not heard. THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS.' For you
           cannot discourse on emptiness, you can only be empty; that is the only discourse. Everything else
           can be talked about, everything else can become a sermon, an object of sermon, everything else can
           be discussed, argued -- but not emptiness, because the very effort to say anything about it destroys it.
           The moment you say it, it is not there. Even a single word is enough and the emptiness is lost. Even a
           single word can fill you, and the emptiness disappears.
               No, nothing can be said about it. Nobody has ever said anything about it. You can just be empty
           and that is the discourse. BEING is the discourse.
               Emptiness can never become an object of thought, thoughtlessness is its nature. So the gods said,
           'You have not said anything and we have not heard. That is the beauty of it! That's why we are
           praising you. Rarely does it happen that somebody is simply empty. This is true emptiness' -- and he
           was not even aware that it was emptiness, because if you are aware, something foreign has entered
           into it: you are divided, you are split. When one is really empty, there is nothing other than
           emptiness, not even the awareness of emptiness. Not even the witness is there. One is perfectly alert,
           one is not asleep -- but the witness is not there. It goes beyond witnessing, because whenever you
           witness something there is a slight tension inside, a subtle effort, and then emptiness is something
           else and you are something else. You witness it, you are not empty; then emptiness is again just a
           thought in the mind.
               People come to me and say, 'I have experienced one moment of emptiness.' And I tell them, 'If
           you have experienced it then forget about it, because who will experience it? The experiencer is
           enough, enough of a barrier. Who will experience it?' Emptiness cannot be experienced, it is not an
           experience because the experiencer is not there: the experiencer and the experience have become
           one. It is an EXPERIENCING.
               Allow me to coin this word: it is an EXPERIENCING. It is a process, undivided -- both the poles
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have disappeared, both the banks have disappeared, and only the river exists. You cannot say, 'I
           experienced,' because you were not there -- how can you experience it? And once you enter it you
           cannot make it a past experience, you cannot say, 'I experienced,' for then it becomes a past memory.
                No, emptiness can never become a memory, because emptiness can never leave a trace. It cannot
           leave any footprints. How can emptiness become a past memory? How can you say 'I experienced'?
           It is always in the now, it is experiencING. It is neither past nor future, it is always an ongoing
           process. Once you enter you have entered. You cannot even say, 'I experienced' -- that's why Subhuti
           was not even aware of what was happening. He was not there. Any distinction between him and the
           universe was not there. No distinction, all boundaries dissolved. The universe started melting in him,
           he melted into the universe: merging, melting, oneness. And the gods said, 'This is true emptiness.'

              AND BLOSSOMS SHOWERED UPON SUBHUTI LIKE RAIN.


               This last line has to be understood very very carefully, because when somebody says that you are
           empty, immediately the ego can come back -- because you will become aware, and you will feel
           something has been achieved. Suddenly the gods will make you aware that you are empty.
               But Subhuti is rare, extraordinarily rare. Even though the gods shouted around him, whispered in
           his ears, and the flowers were showering on him like rain, he didn't bother. He simply kept silent.
           They said, 'You have spoken, you have given a discourse!' He listened without coming back. They
           said, 'You have not spoken, we have not heard. THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS!' There was no ego
           saying, 'The true happiness happened to me. Now I have become enlightened' -- otherwise he would
           have missed at the last point. And immediately flowers would have stopped showering, if he had
           come back. No, he must have closed his eyes and he must have thought, 'These gods are mad and
           these flowers are dreams -- don't bother.'
               The emptiness was so beautiful that now nothing could be more beautiful than that. He simply
           remained in his sublime emptiness -- that's why blossoms showered upon Subhuti as rain. Now they
           were not falling a few here and a few there, now they were showering like rain.
               This is the only story about Subhuti, nothing is said about him anymore. Nowhere is he
           mentioned again. But I tell you the flowers are still showering. Subhuti is no longer under any tree --
           because when one becomes really, totally empty, one dissolves into the universe.
               But the universe still celebrates it. The flowers go on showering.
               But you will be able to know them only when they shower for you. When God knocks at your
           door only then do you know that God is, never before. All arguments are futile, all discourses not to
           the point, unless God knocks at your door. Unless it happens to YOU, nothing can become a
           conviction.
               I talk about Subhuti because this happened to me, and this is not a metaphor; it is literal. I had
           read about Subhuti before, but I thought, 'It is a metaphor -- beautiful, poetic.' I had never even a
           slight notion that this happens actually. I never thought that this was a realistic phenomenon, a real
           thing that happens.
               But now I tell you it happens. It happened to me, it can happen to you... but a sublime emptiness
           is needed.
               And never be confused. Don't ever think that your negative emptiness can ever become sublime.
           Your negative emptiness is like darkness; sublime emptiness is like light, it is like a rising sun.
           Negative emptiness is like death. Sublime emptiness is like life, eternal life. It is blissful.
               Allow that mood to penetrate you deeper and deeper. Go and sit under trees. Just sit, not doing
           anything. Everything stops! When you stop, everything stops. Time will not be moving, as if
           suddenly the world has come to a peak and there is no movement. But don't bring in the idea, 'Now I
           am empty,' otherwise you will miss. And even if gods start showering flowers on you, don't pay
           much attention.
               And now you know the story, don't even ask why. Subhuti had to ask, you need not. And even if
           they whisper by themselves, 'We have heard true emptiness and the discourse on it,' don't bother, and
           the flowers will shower like rain on you too.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                        And The Flowers Showered
                                                    Chapter #2
                                         Chapter title: The brash student
           1 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411010
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins




              WHEN YAMAOKA WAS A BRASH STUDENT HE VISITED THE MASTER DOKUON.
              WANTING TO IMPRESS THE MASTER HE SAID: 'THERE IS NO MIND, THERE IS NO BODY,
              THERE IS NO BUDDHA. THERE IS NO BETTER, THERE IS NO WORSE. THERE IS NO MASTER,
              THERE IS NO STUDENT. THERE IS NO GIVING, THERE IS NO RECEIVING. WHAT WE THINK
              WE SEE AND FEEL IS NOT REAL. NONE OF THESE SEEMING THINGS REALLY EXISTS.'
              DOKUON HAD BEEN SITTING QUIETLY SMOKING HIS PIPE, AND SAYING NOTHING.
              SUDDENLY HE PICKED UP HIS STAFF AND GAVE YAMAOKA A TERRIBLE WHACK.
              YAMAOKA JUMPED UP IN ANGER.
              DOKUON SAID: 'SINCE NONE OF THESE THINGS REALLY EXISTS, AND ALL IS EMPTINESS,
              WHERE DOES YOUR ANGER COME FROM? THINK ABOUT IT.'


               KNOWLEDGE IS NOT OF MUCH HELP. Only being can become the vehicle for the other
           shore.
               You can go on thinking, accumulating information -- but those are paper boats, they won't help
           in an ocean voyage. If you remain on the shore and go on talking about them, it is okay -- paper
           boats are as good as real boats if you never go for the voyage; but if you go for the voyage with
           paper boats then you will be drowned. And words are nothing but paper boats -- not even that
           substantial.
               And when we accumulate knowledge, what do we do? Nothing changes inside. The being
           remains absolutely unaffected. Just like dust, information gathers around you -- just like dust
           gathering around a mirror: the mirror remains the same, only it loses its mirroring quality. What you
           know through the mind makes no difference -- your consciousness remains the same. In fact it
           becomes worse, because accumulated knowledge is just like dust around your mirroring
           consciousness; the consciousness reflects less and less and less.
               The more you know, the less aware you become. When you are completely filled with
           scholarship, borrowed knowledge, you are already dead. Then nothing comes to you as your own.
           Everything is borrowed and parrotlike.
               Mind IS a parrot. I have heard -- it happened in the days of Joseph Stalin -- that a man, a very
           prominent communist, came to the Moscow police station and reported that his parrot was missing.
           Because this man was a very prominent communist, the chief at the police station inquired about the
           parrot, for it was significant and had to be searched for. In his inquiries he asked, 'Does the parrot
           talk?'
               The communist, the comrade, felt a slight fear, and then he said, 'Yes, he talks. But note it down:
           whatsoever political opinions he has, they are completely his own.'
               But how can a parrot have opinions of its own? A parrot cannot have opinions of its own -- and
           neither can mind, because mind is a mechanism. A parrot is more alive than a mind. Even a parrot
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may have some opinions of its own, but the mind cannot. Mind is a computer, a biocomputer. It
           accumulates. It is never original, it cannot be. Whatsoever it has is borrowed, taken from others.
                You become original only when you transcend mind. When the mind is dropped, and the
           consciousness faces existence directly, immediately, moment to moment in contact with existence,
           you become original. Then for the first time you are authentically your own. Otherwise all ideas are
           borrowed. You may quote scriptures, you may know by heart all the Vedas, the Koran, the Gita, The
           Bible, but that makes no difference -- they are not your own. And knowledge that is not your own is
           dangerous, more dangerous than ignorance, because it is a hidden ignorance, and you will not be
           able to see that you are deceiving yourself. You are carrying false coins and thinking that you are a
           rich man, carrying false stones and thinking that they are Kohinoors. Sooner or later your poverty
           will be revealed. Then you will be shocked.
                This happens whenever you die, whenever death comes near. In the shock that death gives to
           you, suddenly you become aware that you have not gained anything -- because only that is gained
           which is gained in being.
                You have accumulated fragments of knowledge from here and there, you may have become a
           great encyclopedia, but that is not the point; and particularly for those who are in search of truth, that
           is a barrier, not a help. Knowledge has to be transcended.
                When there is no knowledge, knowing happens, because knowing is your quality -- the quality of
           consciousness. It is just like a mirror: the mirror reflects whatsoever is there; consciousness reflects
           the truth that is always in front of you, just at the tip of your nose.
                But the mind is in between -- and the mind goes on chattering, and the truth remains just in front
           of you and the mind goes on chattering. And you go with the mind. You miss. Mind is a great
           missing.
                Before we enter this beautiful anecdote, a few more things. First: knowledge is borrowed, realize
           this. The very realization becomes a dropping of it. You don't have to do anything. Simply realize
           that whatsoever you know you have heard, you have not KNOWN it. You have read it, you have not
           realized it; it is not a revelation to you, it is a conditioning of the mind. It has been taught to you --
           you have not learned it. Truth can be learned, cannot be taught.
                Learning means being responsive to whatsoever is around you -- that which is, to be responsive
           to it. This is a great learning, but not knowledge.
                There is no way to find truth -- except through finding it. There is no short cut to it. You cannot
           borrow, you cannot steal, you cannot deceive, to get to it. There is simply no way unless you are
           without any mind within you -- because mind is a wavering, mind is a continuous trembling; mind is
           never unmoving, it is a movement. Mind is just like a breeze, continuously flowing, and the flame
           goes on wavering. When mind is not there the breeze stops, and the flame becomes unmoving. When
           your consciousness is an unmoving flame, you know the truth. You have to learn how not to follow
           the mind.
                Nobody can give you the truth, nobody, not even a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna -- nobody can
           give it to you. And it is beautiful that nobody can give it to you, otherwise it would become a
           commodity in the market. If it can be given, then it can be sold also. If it can be given, then it can be
           stolen also. If it can be given then you can take it from your friend, borrow it. It is beautiful that truth
           is not transferable in any way. Unless YOU reach it, you cannot reach. Unless you BECOME it, you
           never have it. In fact, it is not something you can have. It is not a commodity, a thing, a thought. You
           can BE it, but you cannot have it.
                In the world, in THIS world, we can have everything -- everything can become part of our
           possessions. Truth can never be possessed, because there are two commodities which can be
           possessed: thoughts and things. Things can be possessed, thoughts can be possessed -- truth is
           neither. Truth is being. You can become it, but you cannot possess it. You cannot have it in your
           safe, you cannot have it in your book, you cannot have it in your hand. When you have it, you ARE
           it. You become truth. It is not a concept, it is a being itself.
                Second thing to remember: this is a human tendency, to try to show you have that which you
           don't have. If you have it, you don't try to show it, there is no point. If you don't have it you try to
           show it, as if you have it. So remember, whatsoever you want to show to people, that is the thing you
           don't have.
                If you go to a rich man's house, become his guest -- nothing changes; if he is really rich nothing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           changes, he simply accepts you. Go to a poor man's house -- he changes everything. He may borrow
           furniture from his neighbor, a carpet from somebody else, curtains from somebody else. He would
           like to impress you that he is rich. If you are not rich you would like to impress people that you are
           rich. And if you don't know, you would like people to think that you know. Whenever you want to
           impress somebody, remember this: it is a human tendency to impress, because nobody wants to look
           poor -- and more so where things of the other world are concerned.
               You can be a poor man as far as things of this world are concerned, that is not much of a poverty;
           but as far as God, the soul, liberation, truth are concerned -- it is too much to bear, to be poor is too
           much to bear. You would like to impress people that you have something, and it is difficult to
           impress them as far as things of this world are concerned, because those things are visible. It is easy
           to impress people about things of the other world because they are not visible. You can impress
           people that you know, without knowing.
               The problem arises because when you impress others, there is a possibility that you may be
           impressed yourself by their eyes and their convictions that you have something. If many people are
           convinced that you know, by and by YOU will be convinced that you know -- there is the problem,
           because deceiving others is not much of a problem. But if you are deceived by your own effort, then
           it will be almost impossible to bring you out of your sleep, because you think it is not a sleep at all!
           You think you are fully awake. It will be difficult to bring you out of your ignorance because you
           think you are enlightened already. It will be difficult to bring you out of your disease because you
           believe that you are healthy and whole already!
               The greatest barrier that stands between you and the truth is that you have convinced yourself via
           others that you already have it. So it is a vicious circle. First: you try to convince others -- and you
           CAN convince others because the thing is invisible. Second: others don't have it either, so they don't
           know. If you go and start talking about God, and go on talking, sooner or later people will start
           thinking that you know about God -- because they don't know either. Except for the word god they
           don't know anything about it, and you can be very clever and cunning, cunning about theories and
           philosophies, argumentative. And if you go on and on, just out of sheer boredom they will say, 'Yes,
           we believe that you know, but be finished.'
               I have heard, once it happened: there was one great mystic, Baal Shem, a Jew, a Hassid. A
           scholar came to see him, a pretender -- and all scholars are pretenders, because by 'scholar' I mean
           someone who knows something through the scriptures, words, language, who has not encountered
           the reality himself -- and he started talking about old prophets, and the Old Testament, and
           commenting about them... everything borrowed of course, unoriginal; foolish on his part because he
           was talking to a man who KNOWS.
               Baal Shem listened out of compassion, and then in the end he said, 'Too bad, too bad; had the
           great Maimonides known you....'
               Maimonides is a Jewish philosopher, a very great philosopher, so the pretender was very happy,
           overjoyed with this compliment, that had great Maimonides known him.... So he asked, 'I am so
           happy that you recognize me and you have given me recognition. Just one thing more: why do you
           say, "Too bad, too bad; had the great Maimonides known you...?" What do you mean? Please tell me
           this -- what do you mean?'
               Said Baal Shem, 'Then you would have bored him, not me.'
               Just out of sheer boredom people start believing, 'Yes, you know -- but keep quiet.' And,
           moreover, you don't know, you are as ignorant as they. There is only one difference: you are more
           articulate, you have read more, you have accumulated a little more dust, and they cannot argue, and
           you can put them in their places and make them silent. They HAVE TO believe that you know, and
           it doesn't make any difference to them whether you know it or not.
               Be happy if you think you know, but you are creating such a stone wall it will be difficult for you
           to break it -- because if you convince others, you become convinced that, Yes, I know. That's how
           there are so many so-called masters. They don't know anything, but they have followers, and because
           of the followers they are convinced that they know. Take away their followers and you will see their
           confidence is gone.
               Deep down, depth psychologists say that people accumulate followers just to convince
           themselves that they know. Without followers, how will you convince yourself? There is no way --
           you are alone! And it is difficult to deceive oneself directly, it is easy to deceive oneself via others.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When you talk to someone and you see the light in his eyes, you are convinced that you must have
           something, otherwise, 'Why did this light come to his eyes, his face? He was impressed.' That's why
           we hanker so much to impress people. The mind wants to impress people so that it can be impressed
           via them, and can then believe in its borrowed knowledge as if it is a revelation. Beware of this. This
           is one of the trickiest traps. Once you fall into it, it will be difficult for you to come out.
                A sinner can reach the truth more easily than a scholar, because a sinner feels deep down that he
           is guilty, he can repent, and he feels he has done something wrong. You cannot find a sinner who is
           basically happy. He feels the guilt; he has done something wrong and he repents in the unconscious;
           he wants to undo whatsoever he has done to bring about the balance in his life, and some day or
           other he will bring the balance. But if you are a scholar, a man of words, theories and philosophies, a
           great pundit, then it is difficult, because you never feel guilt about your scholarship, you feel happy
           and egoistic about it.
                Remember one thing: whatsoever gives you a feeling of ego is a barrier; whatsoever gives you a
           feeling of egolessness is the Way.
                If you are a sinner and you feel guilty, that means your ego is shaken. Through sin you cannot
           accumulate ego. It has happened many times that a sinner has taken the jump in a moment and has
           become a saint. It happened to Valmiki, an Indian saint, the first to tell the story of Rama. Valmiki
           was a robber and a murderer, and in a single moment the transformation happened. It has never
           happened like that to any pundit ever -- and India is a great country of pundits: the brahmins, the
           scholars. You cannot compete with Indian scholars -- they have a long heritage of thousands of
           years, and they have lived on words and words and words. But it has never happened that a scholar
           in a single moment took a jump, exploded, was broken from the past and became totally new. It has
           never happened that way. But it has happened many times with sinners, in a single moment, because
           deep down they were never able to make arrangements in their ego with whatsoever they were
           doing. Whatsoever they were doing was ego-shattering -- and ego is the wall, the stone wall.
                If you feel you are a moralist, a puritan, you will create a subtle ego. If you think you are a
           knower, you will create a subtle ego. Remember, there is no sin except the ego, so don't accumulate
           it; and it is always accumulated through false things, because real things always shatter it. If you
           REALLY know, the ego disappears; if you don't know, it accumulates and becomes bigger and
           bigger and stronger. If you are really a pure man, a religious man, ego disappears; but if you are a
           puritan, a moralist, then ego is strengthened. This should always be the criterion to judge whether
           whatsoever you are doing is good or wrong: judge it by the ego. If ego is strengthened, then it is
           wrong: drop it as soon as you can, drop it immediately! If ego is not strengthened, it is good.
                If you go to the temple every day, or to church every Sunday, and you feel ego is strengthened,
           don't go to church -- stop; don't go to the temple, it is not helping you, it is a poison. If you feel by
           going to church that you are religious, you are something extraordinary, greater, purer than others,
           holier-than-thou, if this attitude comes to you, holier-than-thou, then drop it, because this attitude is
           the only sin in the world that exists. All else is child's play. This is the only sin -- this attitude of
           holier-than-thou.
                Do only that which doesn't strengthen your ego, and sooner or later you will become enlightened,
           because when the ego is not, if even for a single moment it leaves you -- suddenly the eyes open and
           you have seen it. Once seen, it is never forgotten. Once glimpsed, it becomes such a powerful
           magnet in your life that it goes on drawing you nearer and nearer to the center of the world. Sooner
           or later you will be merged into it.
                But the ego resists, the ego resists surrender. It resists love, it resists prayer, it resists meditation,
           it resists God. Ego is a resistance, a fight against the whole; that's why it is a sin. And ego is always
           interested in impressing people. The more you can impress people, the more ego gets food. This is a
           fact. If you cannot impress anybody, the supports are withdrawn and the ego starts trembling. It has
           no base in reality, it depends on others' opinions.

           Now try to enter this anecdote: The Brash Student.
               This is a contradiction, because a student cannot be brash, and if he is, he cannot be a student. A
           student cannot be impudent, he cannot be rude, he cannot be an egoist. If he is he cannot be a
           student, because to be a student means to be receptive, to be ready to learn. And what is readiness to
           learn? Readiness to learn means: I know that I am ignorant. If I KNOW that I know, how can I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           learn? The doors are closed, I am not ready to learn; really, I am ready to teach.
                It happened once in a zen monastery: a man came; he wanted to be initiated. The master said,
           'We have two categories of initiates here. I have five hundred inmates in the ashram, in the
           monastery, and we have two categories: one is that of disciple, and one that of master. So which
           category would you like to join?'
                The man was absolutely new, he even felt a little hesitation. He said, 'If it is possible then I
           would like to be initiated as a master.'
                The master was just joking. He was just joking -- and wanted to look to the deeper unconscious.
                Everybody would like to be a master, and even if you become a disciple you become one only as
           a means, just as a means to become a master: you have to pass through it, it is a compulsion;
           otherwise how can you become a master? So you have to be a disciple, but the search of the ego is to
           be the master. The ego would like to teach, not to learn, and even if you learn it is learning with the
           idea of how to get ready to teach.
                You listen to me. With listening I have two categories also: you can listen like a disciple; you can
           listen like a would-be master. If you listen like a would-be master you will miss, because you cannot
           listen with that attitude. If you are just waiting, getting ready, and wondering how to jump into being
           a master and teach others, you cannot be receptive. You can learn only if you are a disciple with no
           thought of becoming a master. This was one of the oldest traditions in the East -- that a person would
           not start teaching unless his master told him to.
                There was one disciple of Buddha who remained for many years with him; his name was Purna.
           He became enlightened, and he still remained with Buddha. After his enlightenment he would also
           come every day in the morning to listen to Buddha. He himself was now a buddha; nothing was
           lacking, he stood now in his own right, but he continued to come.
                One day Buddha asked Purna, 'Why do you go on coming? Now you can stop.'
                And Purna said, 'Unless you say so, how can I stop? If you say so, it is okay.'
                Then he stopped coming to Buddha's lectures, but he remained just like a shadow moving with
           the SANGHA, with the order. Then after a few years, again Buddha said, 'Purna, why do you go on
           following me? You go and teach people! You need not be here with me.'
                And Purna said, 'I was waiting. When you say so, I will go. I am a disciple, so whatsoever you
           say I will do. If you say so, it's okay. So where should I go? Which direction should I go? Whom
           should I teach? You simply direct me and I will follow! I am a follower.'
                This man must have listened to Buddha totally, because even when he becomes enlightened he
           remains a disciple. And there are people who are absolutely ignorant -- and they are already
           'masters'. Even if they are listening, they are listening with an attitude that sooner or later they have
           to teach. You listen just to tell others what you have learned! Drop that idea completely from the
           mind, because if that idea is there, if the would-be master is there, the disciple cannot exist with that
           idea; they never coexist.
                A disciple is simply a disciple. One day it happens that he becomes a master -- but that is not the
           end, that is just a consequence. Just by being a learner one becomes wise. That is a consequence, not
           the goal. If you learn simply to become wise you will never learn, because to be wise is an ego-goal,
           an ego-trip. And if you are just waiting to ripen, mature, and become a master, and this disciplehood
           is just a passage to be passed through -- the sooner the better, it has to be finished, you are not happy
           in it, you would like to end it -- then you are not a disciple, and you will never be a master. ...
           Because when a disciple ripens, he becomes a master spontaneously. That is not a goal to be
           followed, it happens as a byproduct.
                The brash student -- impudent, rude, thinking that he already knows... and that is the only
           impudence that can happen to a mind: that you already know.

              WHEN YAMAOKA WAS A BRASH STUDENT HE VISITED THE MASTER DOKUON.
              WANTING TO IMPRESS THE MASTER HE SAID....


              These Yamaokas come to me almost every day. I have met many, this Yamaoka is a type. They
           come to me and sometimes I enjoy it very much.
              Once it happened: a man came; he talked for one hour -- talked the whole Vedanta, and he had
           been asking for an interview for many days, writing letters to me, and he had traveled far, and he had
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been saying that he would like to ask a few questions. When he came he forgot about the questions,
           he started giving me answers -- and I had not asked anything. For one hour he talked and talked and
           talked, there was not even a gap so I could interrupt him. No, he wouldn't listen even, so I had to say
           yes, yes, yes. And I listened to him and enjoyed it, and after one hour he said, 'Now I will have to go,
           my time is finished -- but I learned so many things from you. And I will remember this meeting for
           ever and ever. I will cherish this memory -- and you have solved all my problems.'
               Really, this was his problem: that he wanted to talk and say things and give some knowledge to
           me. And he was very happy because I listened. He remained the same, but he went away happy.
               People come to me and they say that of course they know that 'All is Brahma.' India is burdened
           too much with knowledge, and fools have become greater fools because of that burden, because they
           all know, and they talk as knowers. They say that all is Brahma, that reality is nondual, and then in
           the end they ask, 'My mind is very tense. Can you suggest something?'
               If you know that existence is nondual, if you know that the two does not exist, how can you be
           troubled and tense? If you know this, all trouble has gone, all worry dissolved, anguish disappears!
           But if you say to them, 'You don't know,' they won't listen. And if you just go on listening to them, in
           the end the real will come out automatically.
               In a court, it happened: a man was charged with stealing a pocket watch. The man whose watch
           was stolen was a little short sighted, his eyes were weak and he could see only with specs. He had
           forgotten his specs somewhere, and then on the street this man cut his pocket and took the watch.
           When the judge inquired, 'Can you recognize this man, that this is the man who has taken your
           watch?' the robbed man said, 'It is difficult, because my eyes are weak, and without specs I cannot
           see rightly, everything is a little blurred. So I cannot say exactly whether it is this man or not, but my
           watch is stolen and I feel it is this man.'
               But because there was no other eyewitness or anything, and it could not be proved, the
           magistrate had to free the man. He said, 'Now you can go, now you are free.'
               But the man looked a little puzzled. The judge said, 'Now you can go, you are free!' The man still
           looked puzzled, and the judge asked, 'Do you want to ask anything?'
               He said, 'Yes, can I have the watch? Can I keep it?'
               This is what is happening.... People go on talking, and if you go on listening to them, in the end
           you will find all their Vedanta is useless, in the end they ask something which shows the reality. The
           other was just language, verbalization.
               This Yamaoka visited the master Dokuon -- Dokuon was an enlightened man, one of the most
           loved in Japan, one of the most respected.

              WANTING TO IMPRESS THE MASTER HE SAID....


               When you want to impress a master you are a fool, you are a perfectly stupid man. You may
           want to impress the whole world, but don't try to impress a master; at least there, open your heart.
           Don't talk nonsense; at least there, be true.
               If you go to a doctor you expose all your diseases to him, you allow him to diagnose, to examine,
           you tell everything, whatsoever is there, you don't hide anything. If you hide from a doctor, then why
           go to him in the first place? Go on hiding! But how do you expect him to help you if you hide?
               To a doctor you tell everything about the body, to a master you have to tell everything of the
           soul; otherwise no help is possible. When you go to a master, go completely! Don't create a barrier
           of words between you and him. Say only whatsoever you know. If you don't know anything say 'I
           don't know.'
               When P.D.Ouspensky came to Gurdjieff he was a great scholar, already world famous -- more
           known in the world than Gurdjieff himself. Gurdjieff was an unknown fakir in those days; he became
           known through Ouspensky. Ouspensky had written a great book before he met Gurdjieff. The book
           is really rare because he talks as if he knows, and he is such an articulate man that he can deceive.
           The book is Tertium Organum -- third canon of thought, and really one of the rarest books in the
           world. Even ignorance can sometimes do things; if you are skillful you can do things, even in your
           ignorance.
               Ouspensky claims in that book -- and his claim is right -- that there exist only three real books in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the world: one is Aristotle's Organum, the first canon of thought; second is Bacon's Novum
           Organum, new canon of thought, that is the second canon of thought; and the third is his Tertium
           Organum, third canon of thought. And really these three books are rare. All the three authors are
           ignorant, none of them knows anything about truth, but they are very articulate men. They really
           have done miracles: without knowing about truth they have written beautiful books. They have
           almost come around, approximately they have reached.
               Ouspensky was a name; when he came to Gurdjieff, Gurdjieff was nobody. Of course he came
           with the knowledge that Gurdjieff was a man of being -- a man of no knowledge really, but of very
           substantial being. What did he do? He did something beautiful: he remained silent. Ouspensky
           waited and waited and waited, became fidgety, started perspiring before this man because he simply
           remained silent, looking at him, and it was so awkward, and his eyes were very very penetrating -- if
           he wanted to he could BURN you with his eyes; and his face was such that, if he wanted to, he could
           simply shake you out of your being with his face. If he looked in you, you would feel very uneasy.
           He remained like a statue, and Ouspensky started trembling, a fever came over him. Then he asked,
           'But why are you silent? Why don't you say something?'
               Gurdjieff said, 'First one thing has to be decided, decided absolutely; only then will I say even a
           single word. Go into the other room, you will find a piece of paper there; write on it whatsoever you
           know, and also that which you don't know. Make two columns: one of your knowledge, one of your
           ignorance, because whatsoever you know I need not talk about. We are finished with it; you know it,
           there's no need to talk of it. Whatsoever you don't know, I will talk about.'
               Ouspensky has reported that he went into that room, sat on a chair, took the paper and the pencil
           -- and for the first time in his life realized that he didn't know anything. This man destroyed his
           whole knowledge because, for the first time with awareness, he was going to write: I know God.
           How to write that? -- because he didn't know. How to write: I know truth?
               Ouspensky was authentic. He came back after half an hour, gave a blank sheet to Gurdjieff and
           said, 'Now you start work. I don't know anything.'
               Gurdjieff said, 'How could you write Tertium Organum? You don't know anything -- and you
           have written the third canon of thought!'
               It's as if people go on writing in their sleep, go on writing in their dreams; as if they don't know
           what they are doing, they don't know what is happening through them.

              WANTING TO IMPRESS THE MASTER, YAMAOKA SAID, 'THERE IS NO MIND, THERE IS NO
              BODY, THERE IS NO BUDDHA. THERE IS NO BETTER, THERE IS NO WORSE. THERE IS NO
              MASTER, THERE IS NO STUDENT. THERE IS NO GIVING, THERE IS NO RECEIVING. WHAT WE
              THINK WE SEE AND FEEL IS NOT REAL. NONE OF THESE SEEMING THINGS REALLY EXISTS.'


               This is the highest teaching, the ultimate truth. This is the essence of the whole tradition of
           Buddha -- that Buddha says everything is empty. That's what we were talking about when I
           discussed Sosan with you: everything is empty, everything is just relative, nothing exists absolutely.
           This is the highest realization, but you can read it in a book. If you read it in a book and say it, it is
           simply stupid.
           'THERE IS NO MIND, THERE IS NO BODY, THERE IS NO BUDDHA.'

                Buddha has said, 'I am not.' But when Buddha says it, it means something. When Yamaoka says
           it, it means nothing. When Buddha says it, it is very significant: 'I am not.' He says, 'Even I am not,
           so be more alert -- you cannot be.' 'This is my realization,' he says. 'Personality is just like a wave, or
           a line drawn on the water. It is a form, and form is continuously changing. The form is not truth.
           Only the formless can be the true. Only the unchanging can be true.' And Buddha says, 'It may take
           seventy years for your form to disappear, but it disappears -- and that which was not one day, and
           again one day will not be, cannot BE in the middle. I was not, one day; I will not be, one day. On
           two sides, nothing -- and just in the middle, I am? This is not possible. How, between two
           nonexistences, can existence exist? How, between two emptinesses, can there be something
           substantial? It must be a false dream.'
                Why, in the morning, do you say that the dream was false? It was, but why do you say it was
           false? What is the criterion of its being false or true? How do you judge? And in the morning
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everybody says, 'I dreamed, and the dream was false.' Dream means 'the false' -- but why? This is the
           criterion: that in the evening it was not there, when I went to sleep it was not there, when I again
           came up out of sleep it was not there, so how can it BE in the middle? The room is real, the dream is
           false -- because when you went into sleep the room was there, and when you came out of sleep the
           room was there. The room is real, the dream is false, because the dream has two nothingnesses
           around it, and between two nothingnesses, nothing can exist. But the room continues, so you say that
           the room is real, the world is real, and the dream is false.
               A buddha has awakened out of this world and he sees that, just like the dream, your world is also
           false. He has awakened out of this great dream which we call world, and then he says, 'It was not
           there, now again it is not there, so how could it be in the middle?' Hence Buddhas, Shankaras, go on
           saying, 'The world is illusory, it is a dream.' But you cannot say it; you cannot just take the words
           and repeat them.
               This Yamaoka must have listened, must have learned, read, studied. He is repeating like a parrot:
           'THERE IS NO MIND, THERE IS NO BODY, THERE IS NO BUDDHA. THERE IS NO
           BETTER, THERE IS NO WORSE' -- because they are all relative. Remember, Buddha calls
           anything relative 'false', anything absolute 'true'. Absoluteness is the criterion of truth, relativity is
           the criterion of a dream.
               Try to understand this, because this is basic. You say your friend is tall. What do you mean? He
           can only be said to be taller not tall -- taller than somebody. He may be a pygmy before somebody
           else, so tallness is not in him. Tallness is just a relationship, a relative phenomenon. In comparison to
           somebody he is taller, in comparison to somebody else he may be a pygmy. So what is he -- is he a
           pygmy or a tall man? No, these two things are relativities. In himself what is he -- tall or a pygmy?
           In himself he is neither tall nor a pygmy. That's why Buddha says, 'The better does not exist, the
           worse does not exist.'
               Who is a sinner and who is a saint? Look! -- if there are only saints in the world will there be any
           saint? If all are sinners in the world will there be any sinners? The sinner exists because of the saint,
           the saint exists because of the sinner -- they are relativities. So if you want to be a saint you will
           create a sinner; you cannot be a saint without there being sinners. So be aware, don't become a saint,
           because if you become a saint that means somewhere the other polarity will have to exist.
               Saints are false, sinners are false. Who are you in yourself? If you are alone, are you a sinner or a
           saint? Then you are neither. Look into that reality which you are, unrelated to anything else; look
           into yourself without relation -- then you will come to the absolute truth; otherwise everything is just
           a relative term. Relativities are dreams.
               Reality is not a relativity, it is an absoluteness. Who ARE you?
               If you go inside and you say, 'I am light,' you are dreaming again, because what can light mean
           without darkness? Light needs darkness to be there! If you say, 'Inside I am blissful,' again you are
           dreaming, because bliss needs misery to be there. You cannot use any term because all terms are
           relativities. That's why Buddha says that we cannot use any term -- because inside there is emptiness.
           Also, this 'emptiness' is not against 'fullness'; this is just to say that all terms are empty. In absolute
           truth, no term applies, you cannot say anything.
               Buddha would not be in agreement with Hindus in saying that reality is SAT-CHIT-ANANDA,
           because he says that SAT exists because of ASAT, CHIT exists because of ACHIT, ANANDA
           exists because of DUKKHA. Sat is existence; God cannot be said to be existential because then
           nonexistence would be needed, and where will nonexistence exist? God cannot be said to be
           consciousness, because then unconsciousness would be needed, and where will unconsciousness
           exist? God cannot be said to be bliss, because then misery would be needed.
               Buddha says whatsoever word you use is useless, because the opposite will be needed. Look into
           yourself -- then you cannot use language, only silence. Only through silence can reality be indicated.
           And when he says, 'All terms are empty, all words are empty, all things are empty, all thoughts are
           empty,' he means this because they are relative -- relativity is a dream.

              THERE IS NO BETTER, THERE IS NO WORSE. THERE IS NO MASTER, THERE IS NO STUDENT.
              THERE IS NO GIVING, THERE IS NO RECEIVING. WHAT WE THINK WE SEE AND FEEL IS NOT
              REAL. NONE OF THESE SEEMING THINGS REALLY EXISTS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is the most profound teaching of Buddha, so one thing has to be remembered: you can
           repeat the most profound words ever uttered, and you can still be a stupid man. This Yamaoka IS
           stupid. He's repeating exactly the same words as Buddha.
               Words carry your being. When Buddha says the same words, they have a different significance, a
           different fragrance. The words carry something of the Buddha, something of his being: the aroma,
           the taste, of his inner being. The music of his inner harmony is carried by those words. When
           Yamaoka repeats them they are dead, stale, they don't carry any fragrance. They will carry
           something: they will carry Yamaoka and his bad odor.
               Remember, just by repeating the Gita, don't think anything is going to happen, although the
           words are the same, and Krishna said the same words you are repeating. All over the world
           thousands of Christian missionaries go on repeating the same words that Jesus spoke. Those words
           are dead. It is better not to repeat them, because the more you repeat them, the more stale they
           become. It is better not to touch them, because your very touch is poisonous. It is better to wait.
           When YOU attain to a Christ-consciousness, or a Krishna-consciousness, or a
           Buddha-consciousness, then you will begin to flower, then things will start coming out of you --
           never before. Don't be a gramophone record... because then you can only repeat, but that doesn't
           mean anything.

              DOKUON HAD BEEN SITTING QUIETLY SMOKING HIS PIPE....


               A very beautiful man -- he didn't even bother. He didn't interrupt, he simply continued smoking
           his pipe.
               Remember, only zen masters can smoke a pipe, because they are not pretenders. They don't
           bother what you think about them -- they don't bother! They are people at ease with themselves. You
           cannot think of a Jaina MUNI smoking a pipe, or a Hindu SANNYASIN smoking a pipe --
           impossible. These are men of rules, regulations, they have forced themselves into disciplines. No
           need to smoke a pipe if you don't want to, but if you want to, then don't force something dead upon
           yourself, because that desire will remain hidden somewhere, and that desire will disturb. And why?
           If you want to smoke a pipe, why not smoke it? What is wrong in it? You are as false as the pipe and
           the smoke, and the smoke and the pipe are as true as you.
               But why not? Deep down you want to be extraordinary, not ordinary. Smoking a pipe will make
           you very ordinary. This is what ordinary people are doing: smoking a pipe, drinking tea and coffee,
           and laughing and joking -- this is what ordinary people are doing. You are a great saint -- how can
           you do ordinary things in an ordinary way? You are extraordinary.
               To pose extraordinariness you drop many things. Nothing is bad in dropping them -- if you don't
           like them, it's okay. There's no need to force yourself to smoke a pipe just to say that you are
           ordinary, no need... because this is how the mind goes! No need to do anything if you don't want to,
           but if you want to then don't pose, don't try to have a mask of seriousness. Then be simple. Nothing
           is wrong if you are simple; everything is wrong if you are not simple.
           This man Dokuon must have been a simple man:

              DOKUON HAD BEEN SITTING QUIETLY SMOKING HIS PIPE


              very meditative, just relaxing, listening to this pretender --

              AND SAYING NOTHING. SUDDENLY, HE PICKED UP HIS STAFF AND GAVE YAMAOKA A
              TERRIBLE WHACK.


               Zen masters carry a staff for such people. They are very gentle people, but very authentic, and
           there are people who will not listen to words, who can listen only to a whack. If you talk to them,
           they won't listen, they will talk still more. They need shock treatment.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SUDDENLY, HE PICKED UP HIS STAFF AND GAVE YAMAOKA A TERRIBLE WHACK.
              YAMAOKA JUMPED UP IN ANGER.
              DOKUON SAID: 'SINCE NONE OF THESE THINGS REALLY EXISTS, AND ALL IS EMPTINESS,
              WHERE DOES YOUR ANGER COME FROM? THINK ABOUT IT.'


                Dokuon has created a situation, and only situations are revealing. He could have said,
           'Whatsoever you are saying is just borrowed information.' That wouldn't have made much difference
           because the man sitting before him was fast asleep. Just talking would not have brought him out of
           it; it may have helped him to stay asleep more, he may have started arguing. Rather than doing that,
           Dokuon did the right thing; he hit hard with the staff -- suddenly, because Yamaoka was not ready
           for it, it came unexpectedly. It was so sudden that he could not arrange his character accordingly, he
           could not manage a false pose. For a moment -- the whack was so sudden -- the mask slipped, and
           the real face came out. Just by talking this would not have been possible. Dokuon must have been
           very compassionate.
                Just for a single moment anger peeped, the real came out -- because if everything is empty, how
           can you be angry? Where can the anger come from? Who will be angry if even a Buddha is not, you
           are not, nothing is there, only emptiness exists? How, in emptiness, is anger possible?
                What Dokuon is doing is bringing this Yamaoka to being from knowledge; that's what he is
           doing by whacking. A situation is needed because in a situation suddenly you become real,
           whatsoever you are. If words are allowed, if Dokuon talks and says, 'This is wrong and that is right,'
           he helps the continuity of the mind. Then a dialogue will be there, but of no use. He gives a shock,
           he brings you back to your reality. Suddenly all thinking disappears; Yamaoka is Yamaoka, not a
           buddha. He was talking like a buddha, and just by a hit, buddha disappears and in comes Yamaoka --
           angry.

               DOKUON SAID: 'SINCE NONE OF THESE THINGS REALLY EXISTS, AND ALL IS
           EMPTINESS, Yamaoka, WHERE DOES YOUR ANGER COME FROM?
           THINK ABOUT IT.'
           'Don't talk about Buddha; and don't talk about reality, and don't talk about truth -- think about this
           anger and from where it comes.'
               If you really think about anger, from where it comes, you will reach to emptiness.
               Next time, when you feel angry... or if you cannot, then come to me, I will give you a whack. I
           go on giving, but my whacks are more subtle than Dokuon's. I don't use a real staff -- it is not
           needed; you are so unreal, a real staff is not needed. I need not physically give you a whack, but
           spiritually I go on giving them. I go on creating situations in which I try to bring you back to your
           Yamaokahood from your buddhahood, because that Yamaoka is real within you, buddha is just a
           mask. And remember, Yamaoka has to live, not the mask; Yamaoka has to breathe, not the mask;
           Yamaoka has to digest food, not the mask; Yamaoka will fall in love, Yamaoka will be angry,
           Yamaoka will have to die, not the mask -- so it is better that you are freed from the mask and brought
           back to your Yamaokahood.
               Remember, buddha cannot be a mask. If Yamaoka goes on going deeper in himself, he will find
           buddha there. And how to go deeper in yourself? Follow anything that comes from within; follow it
           back, regress back. Anger has come? -- close your eyes; it is a beautiful moment, because anger has
           come from within... from the very center of your being it comes, so just look backwards, move, just
           see where it is coming from, from where.
               What you would do ordinarily -- and what this Yamaoka could have done -- would be to think
           that the anger has been created because of this Dokuon: because he whacked you, that's why anger
           was created. You would look at Dokuon as the source. Dokuon is not the source; he may have
           whacked you but he is not the source -- if he whacked Buddha anger would not come -- it is
           Yamaoka.
               Go back, don't look outside for the source, otherwise this beautiful moment of anger will be lost
           -- and your life has become so false that within a second you will put on your mask again, and you
           will smile, and you will say, 'Yes, Master, you did a very good thing.'
               The false will come in soon, so don't miss the moment. When the anger has come, it is just a split
           second before the false comes. And anger is true; it is truer than what you are saying -- the words of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha are false in your mouth. Your anger is true because it belongs to you, all that belongs to you
           is true. So find the source of this anger, where it is coming from. Close your eyes and move inwards;
           before it is lost go backwards to the source -- and you will reach emptiness. Go backwards more, go
           inwards more, move deeper, and a moment comes when there is no anger. Inside, at the center, there
           is no anger. Now, buddha will not be a face, a mask. Now something real has been penetrated.
                From where does the anger come? It never comes from your center, it comes from the ego -- and
           ego is a false entity. If you go deeper you will find it comes from the periphery, not from the center.
           It cannot come from the center: at the center is emptiness, absolute emptiness. It comes only from
           the ego, and ego is a false entity created by the society, it is a relativity, an identity. Suddenly you
           are whacked, and the ego feels hurt, anger is there. If you help somebody, smile at somebody, bow
           down to somebody, and he smiles, that smile is coming from the ego. If you appreciate, give
           compliments to somebody, if you say to a woman, 'How beautiful you are!' and she smiles, that smile
           is coming from the ego. ... Because at the center there is neither beauty nor ugliness, at the center
           there exists absolute emptiness, ANATTA, no-selfness -- and that center has to be achieved.
                Once you know it, you move as a nonbeing. Nobody can make you angry, nobody can make you
           happy, unhappy, miserable. No! In that emptiness all dualities dissolve: happy, unhappy, miserable,
           blissful -- all dissolve. This is buddhahood. This is what happened under the bodhi tree to Gautam
           Siddhartha. He reached emptiness. Then everything is silent. You have gone beyond opposites.
                A master is to help you to go to your inner emptiness, the inner silence, the inner temple; and the
           master has to devise methods. Only zen masters beat; sometimes they throw a person out of the
           window, or they jump on him. Because you have become so false, such drastic methods are needed
           -- and in Japan particularly, because Japan is so false.
                In Japan, a smile is a painted smile. Everybody smiles -- it is just a habit, a beautiful habit as far
           as the society is concerned, because in Japan, if you are driving and you hit a person on a Tokyo
           road, something will happen which can never happen anywhere else: the person will smile and bow
           down and thank you. Only in Japan can this happen, nowhere else. He will say, 'This is my fault,'
           and you will say, 'This is my fault,' if you are Japanese. Both will say, 'This is my fault,' and both
           will bow down and smile and go their ways. In a way it is good, because what is the use of being
           angry and shouting at each other and creating a crowd -- what is the use?
                From their very childhood the Japanese are conditioned to always smile -- that's why in the West
           they are thought to be very sly people: you cannot rely on them because you don't know what they
           are feeling. You cannot know what a Japanese feels, he never allows anything to come out.
                This is one extreme: everything false, painted. So zen masters had to devise these drastic
           methods, because only through them would the Japanese mask fall down; otherwise it is fixed, it has
           almost become their skin, as if grafted on the skin.
                This is happening to the whole world now, not only Japan. Degrees may differ, but now this is
           the whole world. Everybody laughs, smiles: neither the laugh is true, nor the smile. Everybody says
           good things about each other: nobody believes in them, nobody feels that way; it has become social
           etiquette.
                Your personality is a social phenomenon. Your being is buried deep down under this personality.
           You need a shock, so that the personality is thrown open, or for some moments you are identified
           with it no more and you reach the center. There, everything is empty.
                The whole art of meditation is, how to leave the personality easily, move to the center, and be not
           a person. Just to be and not be a person is the whole art of meditation, the whole art of inner ecstasy.




                                         And The Flowers Showered
                                                     Chapter #3
                                               Chapter title: The temper
           2 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7411020
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins




              A ZEN STUDENT CAME TO BANKEI AND SAID: 'MASTER, I HAVE AN UNGOVERNABLE TEMPER
              -- HOW CAN I CURE IT?' 'SHOW ME THIS TEMPER,' SAID BANKEI, 'IT SOUNDS FASCINATING.' 'I
              HAVEN'T GOT IT RIGHT NOW,' SAID THE STUDENT, 'SO I CAN'T SHOW IT TO YOU.' 'WELL
              THEN,' SAID BANKEI, 'BRING IT TO ME WHEN YOU HAVE IT.' 'BUT I CAN'T BRING IT JUST
              WHEN I HAPPEN TO HAVE IT,' PROTESTED THE STUDENT. 'IT ARISES UNEXPECTEDLY, AND I
              WOULD SURELY LOSE IT BEFORE I GOT IT TO YOU.' 'IN THAT CASE,' SAID BANKEI, 'IT
              CANNOT BE PART OF YOUR TRUE NATURE. IF IT WERE, YOU COULD SHOW IT TO ME AT ANY
              TIME. WHEN YOU WERE BORN YOU DID NOT HAVE IT, AND YOUR PARENTS DID NOT GIVE IT
              TO YOU -- SO IT MUST COME INTO YOU FROM THE OUTSIDE. I SUGGEST THAT WHENEVER
              IT GETS INTO YOU, YOU BEAT YOURSELF WITH A STICK UNTIL THE TEMPER CAN'T STAND
              IT, AND RUNS AWAY.'


               THE TRUE NATURE IS your eternal nature. You cannot have it and not have it, it is not
           something that comes and goes -- it is you. How can it come and go? It is your BEING. It is your
           very foundation. It cannot BE sometimes, and NOT BE sometimes; it is always there.
               So this should be the criterion for a seeker of truth, nature, tao: that we have to come to the point
           in our being which remains always and always -- even before you were born it was there, and even
           when you are dead it will be there. It is the center. The circumference changes, the center remains
           absolutely eternal; it is beyond time. Nothing can affect it, nothing can modify it, nothing really ever
           touches it; it remains beyond all reach of the outside world.
               Go to the sea, and watch the sea. Millions of waves are there, but deep in its depth the sea
           remains calm and quiet, deep in meditation; the turmoil is just on the surface, just on the surface
           where the sea meets the outside world, the winds. Otherwise, in itself, it always remains the same,
           not even a ripple; nothing changes.
               It is the same with you. Just on the surface where you meet others there is turmoil, anxiety,
           anger, attachment, greed, lust -- just on the surface where winds come and touch you. And if you
           remain on the surface you cannot change this changing phenomenon; it will remain there.
               Many people try to change it THERE, on the circumference. They fight with it, they try not to let
           a wave arise. And through their fight even more waves arise, because when the sea fights with the
           wind there will be more turmoil: now not only will the wind help it, the sea will also help -- there
           will be tremendous chaos on the surface.
               All the moralists try to change man on the periphery. Your character is the periphery: you don't
           bring any character into the world, you come absolutely characterLESS, a blank sheet, and all that
           you call your character is written by others. Your parents, society, teachers, teachings -- all are
           conditionings. You come as a blank sheet, and whatsoever is written on you comes from others; so
           unless you become a blank sheet again you will not know what nature is, you will not know what
           Brahma is, you will not know what tao is.
               So the problem is not how to have a strong character, the problem is not how to attain no-anger,
           how not to be disturbed -- no, that is not the problem. The problem is how to change your
           consciousness from the periphery to the center. Then suddenly you see that you have always been
           calm. Then you can look at the periphery from a distance, and the distance is so vast, infinite, that
           you can watch as if it is not happening to you. In fact, it never happens to you. Even when you are
           completely lost in it, it never happens to you: something in you remains undisturbed, something in
           you remains beyond, something in you remains a witness.
               So the whole problem for the seeker is how to shift his attention from the periphery to the center;
           how to be merged with that which is unchanging, and not to be identified with that which is just a
           boundary. On the boundary others are very influential, because on the boundary change is natural.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The periphery will go on changing -- even a buddha's periphery changes.
                The difference between a buddha and you is not a difference of character -- remember this; it is
           not a difference of morality, it is not a difference in virtue or nonvirtue, it is a difference in where
           you are grounded.
                You are grounded on the periphery, a buddha is grounded in the center. He can look at his own
           periphery from a distance; when you hit him he can see it as if you have hit somebody else, because
           the center is SO distant. It's as if he is a watcher on the hills and something is happening in the
           valleys and he can see it. This is the first thing to be understood.
                Second thing: it is very easy to control, it is very difficult to transform. It is VERY easy to
           control. You can control your anger, but what will you do? -- you will suppress it. And what happens
           when you suppress a certain thing? The direction of its movement changes: it was going out, and if
           you suppress it, it starts going in -- just its direction changes.
                And for anger to go out was good, because the poison needs to be thrown out. It is bad for the
           anger to move within, because that means your whole body mind structure will be poisoned by it.
           And then if you go on doing this for a long time... as everybody has been doing, because the society
           teaches control, not transformation. The society says, 'Control yourself,' and through controlling all
           the negative things have been thrown deeper and deeper into the unconscious, and then they become
           a constant thing within you. Then it is not a question of your being angry sometimes and sometimes
           not -- you are simply angry. Sometimes you explode, and sometimes you don't explode because there
           is no excuse, or you have to find an excuse. And remember, you can find an excuse anywhere!
                A man, one of my friends, wanted to divorce his wife, so he went to a lawyer, an expert on
           marriage affairs, and he asked the lawyer, 'On what grounds can I divorce my wife?'
                The lawyer looked at him and said, 'Are you married?'
           The man said, 'Of course, yes.'
                The lawyer said, 'Marriage is enough grounds. There is no need to seek any other grounds. If you
           want a divorce, then marriage is the only thing that is needed, because it will be impossible to
           divorce a woman if you are not married. If you are married -- enough!'
                And this is the situation. You ARE angry. Because you have suppressed so much anger, now
           there are no moments when you are not angry; at the most, sometimes you are less angry, sometimes
           more. Your whole being is poisoned by suppression. You eat with anger -- and it has a different
           quality when a person eats without anger: it is beautiful to watch him, because he eats nonviolently.
           He may be eating meat, but he eats nonviolently; you may be eating just vegetables and fruits, but if
           anger is suppressed, you eat violently.
                Just through eating, your teeth, your mouth release anger. You crush the food as if this is the
           enemy. And remember: whenever animals are angry, what will they do? Only two things are
           possible -- they don't have weapons and they don't have atom bombs, what can they do? Either with
           their nails or with their teeth they will do violence to you.
                These are the natural weapons of the body -- nails and teeth. It is very difficult to do anything
           with your nails, because people will say, 'Are you an animal?' So the only thing remaining to you
           through which you can express your anger or violence easily is the mouth -- and that too you cannot
           use to bite anybody. That's why we say, 'a bite of bread,' 'a bite of food,' 'a few bites.'
                You eat food violently, as if the food is the enemy. And remember, when the food is the enemy,
           it does not REALLY nourish you, it nourishes all that is ill in you. People with deep suppressed
           anger eat more; they go on gathering unnecessary fat in the body -- and have you observed that fat
           people are almost always smiling? Unnecessarily, even if there is no cause, fat people always go on
           smiling. Why? This is their face, this is the mask: they are so much afraid of their anger and their
           violence that they have to keep a smiling face continuously on themselves -- and they go on eating
           more.
                Eating more IS violence, anger. And then this will move in every way, in every arena of your
           life: you will make love, but it will be more like violence than like love, it will have much aggression
           in it. Because you never observe one another making love, you don't know what is happening, and
           you cannot know what is happening to you because you are almost always so much in aggression.
                That's why deep orgasm through love becomes impossible -- because you are afraid deep down
           that if you move totally without control, you may kill your wife or kill your beloved, or the wife may
           kill the husband or the lover. You become so afraid of your own anger!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Next time you make love, watch: you will be doing the same movements as are done when you
           are aggressive. Watch the face, have a mirror around so you can see what is happening to your face!
           All the distortions of anger and aggression will be there.
                In taking food, you become angry: look at a person eating. Look at a person making love -- the
           anger has gone so deep that even love, an activity totally opposite to anger, even that is poisoned;
           eating, an activity absolutely neutral, even that is poisoned. Then you just open the door and there is
           anger, you put a book on the table and there is anger, you put off the shoes and there is anger, you
           shake hands and there is anger -- because now you are anger personified.
                Through suppression, mind becomes split. The part that you accept becomes the conscious, and
           the part that you deny becomes the unconscious. This division is not natural, the division happens
           because of repression. And into the unconscious you go on throwing all the rubbish that society
           rejects -- but remember, whatsoever you throw in there becomes more and more part of you: it goes
           into your hands, into your bones, into your blood, into your heartbeat. Now psychologists say that
           almost eighty percent of diseases are caused by repressed emotions: so many heart failures means so
           much anger has been repressed in the heart, so much hatred that the heart is poisoned.
                Why? Why does man suppress so much and become unhealthy? Because the society teaches you
           to control, not to transform, and the way of transformation is totally different. For one thing, it is not
           the way of control at all, it is just the opposite.
                First thing: in controlling you repress, in transformation you express. But there is no need to
           express on somebody else because the 'somebody else' is just irrelevant. Next time you feel angry go
           and run around the house seven times, and after it sit under a tree and watch where the anger has
           gone. You have not repressed it, you have not controlled it, you have not thrown it on somebody else
           -- because if you throw it on somebody else a chain is created, because the other is as foolish as you,
           as unconscious as you. If you throw it on another, and if the other is an enlightened person, there will
           be no trouble; he will help you to throw and release it and go through a catharsis. But the other is as
           ignorant as you -- if you throw anger on him he will react. He will throw more anger on you, he is
           repressed as much as you are. Then there comes a chain: you throw on him, he throws on you, and
           you both become enemies.
                Don't throw it on anybody. It is the same as when you feel like vomiting: you don't go and vomit
           on somebody. Anger needs a vomit. You go to the bathroom and vomit! It cleanses the whole body
           -- if you suppress the vomit it will be dangerous, and when you have vomited you will feel fresh, you
           will feel unburdened, unloaded, good, healthy. Something was wrong in the food that you took and
           the body rejects it. Don't go on forcing it inside.
                Anger is just a mental vomit. Something is wrong that you have taken in and your whole psychic
           being wants to throw it out, but there is no need to throw it out on somebody. Because people throw
           it on others, society tells them to control it.
                There is no need to throw anger on anybody. You can go to your bathroom, you can go on a long
           walk -- it means that something is inside that needs fast activity so that it is released. Just do a little
           jogging and you will feel it is released, or take a pillow and beat the pillow, fight with the pillow,
           and bite the pillow until your hands and teeth are relaxed. Within a five-minute catharsis you will
           feel unburdened, and once you know this you will never throw it on anybody, because that is
           absolutely foolish.
                The first thing in transformation then is to express anger, but not on anybody, because if you
           express it on somebody you cannot express it totally. You may like to kill, but it is not possible; you
           may like to bite, but it is not possible. But that can be done to a pillow. A pillow means 'already
           enlightened'; the pillow is enlightened, a buddha. The pillow will not react, and the pillow will not
           go to any court, and the pillow will not bring any enmity against you, and the pillow will not DO
           anything. The pillow will be happy, and the pillow will laugh at you.
                The second thing to remember: be aware. In controlling, no awareness is needed; you simply do
           it mechanically, like a robot. The anger comes and there is a mechanism -- suddenly your whole
           being becomes narrow and closed. If you are watchful control may not be so easy.
                Society never teaches you to be watchful, because when somebody is watchful, he is wide open.
           That is part of awareness -- one is open, and if you want to suppress something and you are open, it
           is contradictory, it may come out. The society teaches you how to close yourself in, how to cave
           yourself in -- don't allow even a small window for anything to go out.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But remember: when nothing goes out, nothing comes in either. When the anger cannot go out,
           you are closed. If you touch a beautiful rock, nothing goes in; you look at a flower, nothing goes in:
           your eyes are dead and closed. You kiss a person -- nothing goes in, because you are closed. You
           live an insensitive life.
                Sensitivity grows with awareness. Through control you become dull and dead -- that is part of
           the mechanism of control: if you are dull and dead then nothing will affect you, as if the body has
           become a citadel, a defense. Nothing will affect you, neither insult nor love.
                But this control is at a very great cost, an unnecessary cost; then it becomes the whole effort in
           life: how to control yourself -- and then die! The whole effort of control takes all your energy, and
           then you simply die. And the life becomes a dull and dead thing; you somehow carry it on.
                The society teaches you control and condemnation, because a child will control only when he
           feels something is condemned. Anger is bad; sex is bad; everything that has to be controlled has to
           be made to look like a sin to the child, to look like evil.
                Mulla Nasruddin's son was growing up. He was ten years of age and so Mulla thought: Now, this
           is the time. He is old enough and the secrets of life must be revealed to him. So he called him into his
           study and gave him the lowdown on sex among birds and bees. And then in the end he told him,
           'When you feel your younger brother is old enough, you tell the whole thing to him also.'
                Just a few minutes after, when he was passing by the rooms of the kids, he heard the older one,
           the ten-year-old one, already at work. He was telling the younger: 'Look, you know what people do,
           that stuff people do when they want to get a child, a baby? Well, Dad says birds and bees do the
           same darn thing.'
                A deep condemnation enters about all that is alive. And sex is the most alive thing -- has to be! It
           is the source. Anger is also a most alive thing, because it is a protective force. If a child cannot be
           angry at all, he will not be able to survive. You have to be angry in certain moments. The child has
           to show his own being, the child has to stand in certain moments upon his own ground; otherwise he
           will have no backbone.
                Anger is beautiful; sex is beautiful. But beautiful things can go ugly. That depends on you. If you
           condemn them, they become ugly; if you transform them, they become divine. Anger transformed
           becomes compassion -- because the energy is the same. A buddha is compassionate: from where
           does his compassion come? This is the same energy that was moving in anger; now it is not moving
           in anger, the same energy is transformed into compassion. From where does love come? A Buddha is
           loving; a Jesus is love. The same energy that moves into sex becomes love.
                So remember, if you condemn a natural phenomenon it becomes poisonous, it destroys you, it
           becomes destructive and suicidal. If you transform it, it becomes divine, it becomes a God-force, it
           becomes an elixir; you attain through it to immortality, to a deathless being. But transformation is
           needed.
                In transformation you never control, you simply become more aware. Anger is happening: you
           have to be aware that anger is happening -- watch it! It is a beautiful phenomenon -- energy moving
           within you, becoming hot!
                It is just like electricity in the clouds. People were always afraid of electricity; they thought in
           olden days, when they were ignorant, that this electricity was the god being angry, being threatening,
           trying to punish -- creating fear so that people would become worshippers, so that people would feel
           that the god was there and he would punish them.
                But now we have domesticated that god. Now that god runs through your fan, through your air
           conditioner, through the fridge: whatsoever you need, that god serves. That god has become a
           domestic force, it is no longer angry and no longer threatening. Through science an outer force has
           been transformed into a friend.
           The same happens through religion for inner forces.
                Anger is just like electricity in your body: you don't know what to do with it. Either you kill
           somebody else or you kill yourself. The society says if you kill yourself it is okay, it is your concern,
           but don't kill anybody else -- and as far as society goes that is okay. So either you become aggressive
           or you become repressive.
                Religion says both are wrong. The basic thing that is needed is to become aware and to know the
           secret of this energy, anger, this inner electricity. It is electricity because you become hot; when you
           are angry your temperature goes hot, and you cannot understand the coolness of a buddha, because
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when anger is transformed into compassion everything is cool. A deep coolness happens. Buddha is
           never HOT; he is always cool, centered, because he now knows how to use the inner electricity.
           Electricity is hot -- it becomes the source of air conditioning. Anger is hot -- it becomes the source of
           compassion.
                Compassion is an inner air conditioning. Suddenly everything is cool and beautiful, and nothing
           can disturb you, and the whole existence is transformed into a friend. Now there are no more
           enemies... because when you look through the eyes of anger, somebody becomes an enemy; when
           you look through the eyes of compassion, everybody is a friend, a neighbor. When you love,
           everywhere is God; when you hate, everywhere is the devil. It is your standpoint that is projected
           onto reality.
                Awareness is needed, not condemnation -- and through awareness transformation happens
           spontaneously. If you become aware of your anger, understanding penetrates. Just watching, with no
           judgment, not saying good, not saying bad, just watching in your inner sky. There is lightning, anger,
           you feel hot, the whole nervous system shaking and quaking, and you feel a tremor all over the body
           -- a beautiful moment, because when energy functions you can watch it easily; when it is not
           functioning you cannot watch.
                Close your eyes and meditate on it. Don't fight, just look at what is happening -- the whole sky
           filled with electricity, so much lightning, so much beauty -- just lie down on the ground and look at
           the sky and watch. Then do the same inside.
                Clouds are there, because without clouds there can be no lightning -- DARK clouds are there,
           thoughts. Somebody has insulted you, somebody has laughed at you, somebody has said this or
           that... many clouds, dark clouds in the inner sky and much lightning. Watch! It is a beautiful scene --
           terrible also, because you don't understand. It is mysterious, and if mystery is not understood it
           becomes terrible, you are afraid of it. And whenever a mystery is understood, it becomes a grace, a
           gift, because now you have the keys -- and with keys you are the master.
                You don't control it, you simply become a master when you are aware. And the more you
           become aware, the more inwards you penetrate, because awareness is a going-inwards, it always
           goes inwards: more aware, more in; totally aware, perfectly in; less aware, more out; unconscious --
           you are completely out, out of your house wandering around.
                Unconsciousness is a wandering outside; consciousness is a deepening of the inside.
                So look! -- and when anger is not, it will be difficult to look: what to look at? The sky is so
           vacant, and you are not yet capable of looking at emptiness. When anger is there, look, watch, and
           soon you will see a change. The moment the watcher comes in, the anger has already started
           becoming cool, the heat is lost. Then you can understand that the heat is given by you; your
           identification with it makes it hot, and the moment you feel it is not hot, the fear is gone, and you
           feel unidentified with it, different, a distance. It is there, lightning around you, but you are not it. A
           hill starts rising upwards. You become a watcher: down in the valley, much lightning... distance
           grows more and more... and a moment comes when suddenly you are not joined to it at all. The
           identity is broken, and the moment the identity breaks, IMMEDIATELY the whole hot process
           becomes a cool process -- anger becomes compassion.
                Sex is a hot process, love is not. But all over the world people always talk about warm love.
           Love is not warm; love is absolutely cool, but not cold -- it is not cold because it is not dead. It is
           cool, just like a cool breeze. But it is not hot, not warm. Because of the identification with sex, the
           conception has come to the mind that love should be warm.
                Sex IS hot. It is electricity, and you are identified with it. The more love, the more coolness --
           you may even feel cool love as cold; that is your misunderstanding, because you feel love has to be
           hot. It cannot be. The SAME energy, when not identified with, becomes cool. Compassion is cool,
           and if your compassion is still hot, understand it is not compassion.
                There are people who are too hot, and they think they have much compassion. They want to
           transform the society, they want to change the structure, they want to do this and that, they want to
           bring a utopia into the world: the revolutionaries, the communists, the utopians -- and they are very
           hot.
                And they think they have compassion -- no, they have only anger. The object has changed. Now
           their anger has a new object, a very impersonal object -- the society, the structure of the society, the
           state, the situation. They are very hot people. Lenin, or Stalin, or Trotsky -- they are hot people but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they are not against anybody in particular, they are against a structure. Gandhi is a hot person --
           against the British Empire. The object is impersonal, that's why you cannot feel that he is angry --
           but he IS angry. He wants to change something in the outside world, and wants to change it so
           immediately that he is impatient, fighting. The fighting may choose nonviolence as the means, but
           the fighting IS violence. Fight as such is violence. You can choose nonviolent means to fight --
           women have always chosen them. Gandhi did nothing else, he simply used a feminine trick.
               If a husband wants to fight, he will beat his wife; and if the wife wants to fight, she will beat
           herself. This is as old as woman -- and woman is older than man! She will start beating herself; that
           is her way to fight. She is violent, violent against herself. And remember, beating a woman you will
           feel guilty, and sooner or later you will have to come down and make a compromise. But beating
           herself, she never feels guilty. So either you beat a woman and you feel guilty, or she beats herself
           and then also you feel guilty -- that you created the situation in which she is beating herself. In both
           cases she wins.
               The British Empire was defeated because it was a male aggressive force, and the British Empire
           could not understand this feminine fight of Gandhi's: he will fast unto death -- and then the whole
           British mind will feel guilty. Now you cannot kill this man, because he is not fighting in any way
           with you, he is simply purifying his own soul -- the old feminine trick, but it worked. There was only
           one way to defeat Gandhi, and that was impossible. It was for Churchill to go on a fast unto death,
           and that was impossible.
               Either you are hot against someone in particular or just hot against some structure in general, but
           the heat remains.
               A Lenin is not compassion, cannot be. Buddha is compassion -- not fighting at all with anything,
           simply being and allowing things to be as they are; they move on their own. Societies change on
           their own, there is no need to change them; they change as trees change in season. Societies change
           on their own -- old societies die on their own, there is no need to destroy them! And new societies
           are born just like new children, new babies, on their own. There is no need to force an abortion, it
           goes on automatically by itself.
               Things move and change. And this is the paradox: that they go on moving and changing and still
           in a sense they remain the same -- because there will be people who are poor, and there will be
           people who are rich; there will be people who are helpless, powerless, and there will be people who
           have power over them. Classes cannot disappear -- that is not in the nature of things. Human society
           can never become classless.
               Classes can change. Now in Russia, there are not the poor and the rich but the governed and the
           governors -- they are there now. Now a new class division has arisen: the bureaucrats and the
           ordinary people, the managers and the managed -- the same, it makes no difference. If now
           Tamerlane was born in Soviet Russia, he would become the prime minister. If Ford was born in
           Soviet Russia, he would become the general secretary of the communist party, he would manage
           from there.
               Situations go on changing, but in a subtle sense they remain the same. The managers, the
           managed; the governors, the governed; the rich, the poor -- they remain. You cannot change it,
           because society exists through contradiction. A real man of compassion will be cool; he cannot be a
           revolutionary really, because revolution needs a very hot mind and heart and body.
               No control, no expression on others, more awareness -- and then consciousness shifts from the
           periphery to the center.
           Now try to understand this beautiful anecdote.

              A ZEN STUDENT CAME TO BANKEI AND SAID: 'MASTER, I HAVE AN UNGOVERNABLE TEMPER
              -- HOW CAN I CURE IT?'


               He has accepted one thing, that he has an ungovernable temper; now he wants to cure it.
           Whenever there is a disease, first try to find whether there is really disease or a misunderstanding,
           because if there is a real disease then it can be cured, but if it is not a real disease, just a
           misunderstanding, then no medicine will help. Rather, on the contrary, every medicine that is given
           to you will be harmful. So first be perfectly clear about a disease, whether it is there or not, or
           whether you are simply imagining it, or whether you are simply thinking that it is there. It may not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be there at all; it may be simply a misunderstanding. And the way man is confused, many of his
           diseases don't exist at all -- he simply believes they are there.
               You also are in the same boat, so try to understand this story very deeply; it may be helpful to
           you.
           The student said,
           'MASTER, I HAVE AN UNGOVERNABLE TEMPER -- HOW CAN I CURE IT?'

               The disease is accepted, he does not doubt it; he is asking for the cure. Never ask for the cure.
           First try to find out whether the disease exists or not. First move into the disease and diagnose it,
           decipher it, scrutinize it; move into the disease first before you ask for a cure. Don't accept any
           disease just on the surface, because the surface is where others meet you, and the surface is where
           others reflect in you, and the surface is where others color you. It may not be a disease at all, it may
           be just the reflection of others.
               It is just like a silent lake, and you stand on the bank of the lake with your orange robe, and the
           water near you looks orange, reflects you. The lake may think that it has become orange. How to get
           rid of it? Where to find the cure? Whom to ask?
               Don't go to the experts immediately. First try to find out whether it is really a disease or just a
           reflection. Just being alert will do much: many of your diseases will simply disappear without any
           cure, no medicine is needed.
           'SHOW ME THIS TEMPER,' SAID BANKEI, 'IT SOUNDS FASCINATING.'

               A man like Bankei immediately starts working on the disease, not on the cure. He is not a
           psychoanalyst; a psychoanalyst starts working for the cure -- and that is the difference. Now new
           trends in psychiatry are coming up which start working on the disease, not on the cure. New trends
           are developing: they are nearer to reality, and nearer to zen, and nearer to religion. Within this
           century psychiatry will take on a more religious color, and then it will not be just a therapy, it will
           REALLY become a healing force -- because therapy thinks of a cure, and a healing force brings your
           consciousness to the disease.
               Out of a hundred diseases, ninety-nine will disappear simply by bringing your consciousness to
           them. They are false diseases; they exist because you are standing with your back towards them.
           Face them, and they go, and they disappear. That is the meaning of encounter -- and encounter
           groups can be helpful, because the whole message is how to encounter things as they are. Don't think
           of cure, don't think of medicine, don't think of what to do; the real thing is, first, to know what is
           there.
               Mind has deceived you in so many ways that a disease appears on the surface but there is no
           disease deep down; or a disease appears on the surface, but you move within and you find there are
           other diseases, and that was just a trick to deceive you, that was not the real disease.
               A man came to me and he said, 'My mind is very much disturbed. I am continuously tense,
           anxiety is there, I cannot sleep. So give me some technique of meditation -- how to be silent and at
           peace.'
               I asked him, 'What is really the problem? Do you really want to be at peace with yourself?'
               He said, 'Yes, I am a seeker, and I have been to Sri Aurobindo's ashram, and I have been to Sri
           Raman's ashram, and I have been everywhere, and nothing helps.'
               So I asked him, 'Have you ever thought about it -- that when nothing helps maybe the disease is
           false? Or that you have labeled it falsely? Or that the container contains something else which is not
           written on it? You easily accept that Sri Aurobindo failed, Sri Raman failed, and you have moved all
           around....' And he was feeling very victorious that everybody had failed, and nobody had been able
           to help, that everybody was bogus. And then I told him, 'Sooner or later you will go and say the same
           about me also, because I don't see that you are a spiritual seeker, I don't see that you are really
           interested in being at peace with yourself. Just tell me, what is your anxiety? What is your tension?
           Just go on telling me what thoughts come continuously to you, and why you go on thinking about
           them.'
               He said, 'Not many, only one thought: I had a son, he is still alive -- but no more a son to me. I
           have thrown him out. I am a rich man, and he had fallen in love with a girl not of my caste, and
           economically also below my status, uneducated. And I told the boy, "If you want to marry this girl
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then never come back to this house." And he never came back.'And now I am getting old. The boy
           lives in poverty with the girl, and I continuously think about the boy, and THIS is my trouble. You
           give me some technique of meditation.'
                I said: 'How will this technique of meditation help? -- because the technique of meditation will
           not bring the boy home. And this is such a simple thing, there is no need to go to Aurobindo, there is
           no need to go to Sri Raman or come to me. A sword is not needed for your problem, a needle will do.
           You are looking for swords, and then swords prove failures because you need only a needle. This is
           not a spiritual problem, just ego. Why shouldn't one fall in love with a girl who is economically
           below one's status? Is love something economical? Something to think of in terms of finance,
           economics, money, wealth, status?'
                I told him one story: One marriage agent came to a young man and told him, 'I have got a very
           beautiful girl, just exactly fit for you.'
                The boy said, 'Don't bother me. I am not interested.'
                The marriage agent said, 'I know, but don't be worried, I have another girl who will bring five
           thousand rupees in dowry.'
                The young man said, 'Stop talking nonsense. I am not interested in money either! You simply go.'
                The man said, 'I know. You don't bother! If five thousand is not enough, I have another girl who
           will bring twenty-five thousand rupees in dowry.'
                The boy said, 'You simply get out of my room, because if ever I get married, it is for me to think
           about, it is not a question for an agent to settle. You simply get out of it! Don't make me angry!'
                The agent said, 'Okay, now I understand. You are not interested in beauty, you are not interested
           in money. I have a girl who comes from a family of long tradition, a very famous family --
           everybody knows about it, and four prime ministers have come from that family in the past. So you
           are interested in family, right?'
                Now by this time the boy was very very angry and he wanted to physically throw this man out.
           And when by physically forcing him he was just throwing him out of the door, he said, 'If I ever get
           married it will be for love and nothing else.'
                The agent said, 'Then why in the first place didn't you tell me? I have those kinds of girls too.'
           I told this man this story.
                Love is not manageable, it is simply something that happens, and the moment you try to manage
           it everything misfires. So I told that man, 'Just go and ask your son's forgiveness -- that's what is
           needed. No meditation technique, no Aurobindo, no Raman, no Osho, nobody can help you. Simply
           go to your boy and ask his forgiveness! -- that's what is needed. Accept and welcome him back. It is
           just the ego that is troubling you. And if EGO is troubling you then the disease is different. You seek
           meditation, and you think through meditation silence will be possible? No.'
                Meditation can be a help only to that person who has come to a right understanding with his
           inner diseases, when he has come to understand which disease is false, which disease is wrongly
           identified, and which disease is not there at all -- the container is empty.
                When one has come to an understanding, a deep understanding with all one's diseases, then
           ninety-nine percent of the diseases disappear -- because you can do something and they disappear.
           Then only one thing remains, and that one thing is spiritual search.... A deep anguish, unrelated to
           this world, not related with anything in this world: son, father, money, prestige, power -- nothing. It
           is not related to them, it is simply existential. Deep down, if you can pinpoint it, it is HOW TO
           KNOW ONESELF. Who am I? Then this anguish becomes the search. Then meditation can help --
           never before it. Before it, other things are needed: needles will do, why carry a sword unnecessarily?
           And where needles will do, swords will be failures. This is what is happening to millions of people
           all around the world.
                This Bankei is a master. He immediately got to the point, to the business.
           'SHOW ME THIS TEMPER,' said he,'IT SOUNDS FASCINATING.'
                It sounds fascinating, really. Why does this Bankei say it sounds fascinating? -- because the
           whole thing is false. This boy, this student has never looked within. He is seeking for a method and
           he has not diagnosed what his disease is.
           'I HAVEN'T GOT IT RIGHT NOW,' SAID THE STUDENT, 'SO I CAN'T SHOW IT TO YOU.'

              You cannot manage to bring about anger, can you? If I tell you: 'Be angry right now,' what will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you do? Even if you act, even if you manage somehow to pretend, it will not be anger, because deep
           down you will remain cool and acting. It happens! What does it mean, 'it happens'? It means it
           happens only when you are unconscious. If you TRY to bring it, you are conscious. It cannot happen
           when you are conscious, it can happen only when you are unconscious. Unconsciousness is a MUST
           -- without it anger cannot happen. But still, the boy said:
           'I HAVEN'T GOT IT RIGHT NOW, SO I CAN'T SHOW IT TO YOU.' 'WELL THEN,' SAID
           BANKEI, 'BRING IT TO ME WHEN YOU HAVE IT.' 'BUT I CAN'T BRING IT JUST WHEN I
           HAPPEN TO HAVE IT,' PROTESTED THE STUDENT. 'IT ARISES UNEXPECTEDLY, AND I
           WOULD SURELY LOSE IT BEFORE I GOT IT TO YOU.'

               Now, Bankei has put him on the right path. He has already moved along, he is already nearing
           the goal, because he is now becoming aware of things of which he was never aware. The first thing
           he becomes aware of is that he cannot produce it right now. It cannot be produced; it happens when
           it happens -- it is an unconscious force, you cannot bring it about consciously. That means if he goes
           further, the next step will be that he remains conscious, and if you remain conscious it cannot
           happen.
               Even while anger is happening, if you suddenly become conscious it drops. Try it. Just in the
           middle, when you are feeling very hot and would like to commit murder, suddenly become aware,
           and you will feel something has changed: a gear inside -- you can feel the click. Something has
           changed, now it is no more the same thing. Your inner being has relaxed. It may take time for your
           outer layer to relax, but the inner being has already relaxed. The cooperation is broken; now you are
           not identified.
               Gurdjieff used to play a very beautiful trick on his disciples. You are sitting here, and he will
           create a situation; he will tell you, 'Somebody, A, is coming, and when he comes I will behave
           rudely with him, very rudely -- and you all have to help me.'
               Then A comes and Gurdjieff laughs and he says, 'You are looking a perfect fool!' -- and
           everybody looks at the man and shows him that everybody agrees. Then Gurdjieff will say nasty
           things about this man, and everybody nods and feels in agreement. The man gets angrier and angrier,
           and Gurdjieff will go on and on, and everybody nods as if there is complete agreement, and the man
           becomes hotter and hotter -- and then he explodes. And when he explodes, suddenly Gurdjieff says
           'Stop and look!'
               Something inside relaxes. Immediately the man understands he has been moved into a situation,
           he has become angry -- and the moment he realizes that this is a situation, that Gurdjieff has played a
           trick, the gear changes: he becomes alert, aware. The body will take a little time to cool down, but
           deep at the center, there everything is cool and he can look at himself now.
               The student is already on the path -- Bankei has put him immediately on the path. The first thing
           he has become aware of is: 'I cannot show it to you right now, because it is not there.'
           'WELL THEN, BRING IT TO ME WHEN YOU HAVE IT.'

           A second step has been taken.
           'BUT I CAN'T BRING IT JUST WHEN I HAPPEN TO HAVE IT,' PROTESTED THE STUDENT.
           'IT ARISES UNEXPECTEDLY.'
           'I don't know when it will arise. I may be very far away, you may not be available, and, moreover,
           even if I bring it to you, by the time I reach you it will not be there.' He has already arrived at a deep
           understanding.
               You cannot bring anger to me, can you? ... Because in the very effort to bring it, you will become
           aware. If you are aware, the grip is lost; it starts subsiding. By the time you have reached me it will
           be no more.
               And it was easier to reach Bankei; it is difficult to reach me, you will have to pass through
           Mukta. By the time the appointment is given and by the time you reach me, it will not be there.
           Hence the appointment -- because otherwise you will bring problems unnecessarily. They drop
           automatically by themselves -- and if they persist, then they are WORTH bringing to me.
               By the time you come to me you will have already passed over it; and if you understand, that
           means that things that come and go are not worth paying any attention to -- they come and go. You
           always remain, they come and go. YOU are the thing to be more attentive about, not things that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come and go -- they are like seasons, climate changes: in the morning it was different, in the evening
           it is again different. It changes. Find out that which doesn't change.
                The student has already reached a beautiful understanding. He says:
           'UNEXPECTEDLY IT ARISES, AND I WOULD SURELY LOSE IT BEFORE I GOT IT TO
           YOU.' 'IN THAT CASE,' SAID BANKEI, 'IT CANNOT BE PART OF YOUR TRUE NATURE.'

                ... Because true nature is always there. It never arises and never sets, it is always there. Anger
           arises, goes; hate arises, goes; your so-called love arises, goes. Your nature is always there.
                So don't be too bothered and concerned with all that comes and goes; otherwise you can remain
           concerned with it for years and years, and lives and lives, and you will never come to the point.
                That's why Freudian psychoanalysis never serves much purpose. The patient lies down on the
           couch for years together -- three years, four years, five years, he goes on talking, talking about things
           that come and go. Remember, the whole Freudian analysis is concerned with things that come and
           go: what happened in your childhood, what happened in your youth, what happened in your sex life,
           what happened in your relations with others -- it goes on and on! It is concerned with what
           happened, not to whom it happened -- and that is the difference between Bankei and Freud.
                If you are concerned with what happened then... so much has happened. Even in twenty-four
           hours so much happens that if you relate it, it will take years -- and you go on relating. It is just like
           talking about the weather for your whole life, how it has been: sometimes very hot, sometimes very
           cloudy, sometimes rainy, sometimes this and that. But what is the point of it all?
                And what happens? How does the psychoanalysis help a patient? It helps a little. It simply gives
           time, that's all. For two years you are continuously talking about things that happened. These two
           years, or one year, or even more, just give you time; the wound heals automatically, you become
           readjusted again. Of course, a certain understanding also arises, the understanding that arises when
           you go backwards, and come forwards, move like a shuttle in your memory. A certain understanding
           arises because you have to watch your memories. Because of this watching... but that is not the main
           thing.
                Freud is not concerned with your witnessing. He thinks that just by relating, telling your past,
           bringing it out through words, verbalization, something deep is changing. Nothing deep is changing.
           A little garbage is thrown out. Nobody listened to you, and Freud and his psychoanalysts are
           listening to you so attentively. Of course, you have to pay for it. They are professional listeners.
           They help in a way, because you would like to talk to someone intimately -- even that helps. That's
           why people talk about their miseries; they feel a little relaxed, somebody has heard patiently, with
           compassion. But now nobody listens, nobody has that much time.
                Bertrand Russell has written a small story. In the coming century, the twenty-first century, there
           will be a great profession of professional listeners. In every neighborhood, every four or five houses
           there will be a house with a sign: Professional Listener -- that is what psychoanalysis is -- because
           nobody will have time, everybody will be in such a hurry. The wife will not be able to talk to the
           husband, the husband will not be able to talk to the wife, people will make love through phone calls,
           or will see each other on the television screen. That is going to happen, because what is the use of
           going to meet a friend when you can see him on the television screen, he can see you? Phones will
           have screens also so that you can see your friend talking to you, he can see you talking, so what is
           the point? ... Because what will you do just sitting in front of each other in a room? It is happening
           already: the distance is covered by the telephone and the television. Contact will be lost, so
           professional listeners will be needed.
                You go to psychoanalysts and they listen like a friend. Of course you have to pay -- and
           psychoanalysis is the most costly thing in the world now, only very rich people can afford it. People
           boast about it: 'I have been in psychoanalysis for five years. How many years have you been in it?'
           Poor people cannot afford it.
                But the Eastern methods of meditation have a different attitude: they are not concerned with what
           happened to you, they are concerned with to whom it happened. Find out: to whom?
                Lying down on a Freudian couch you are concerned with the objects of the mind. Sitting in a zen
           monastery you are concerned with to whom it happened -- not the objects but the subject.
           'IN THAT CASE,' SAID BANKEI, 'IT CANNOT BE PART OF YOUR TRUE NATURE. IF IT
           WERE,YOU COULD SHOW IT TO ME AT ANY TIME. WHEN YOU WERE BORN YOU DID
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           NOT HAVE IT, AND YOUR PARENTS DID NOT GIVE IT TO YOU -- SO IT MUST COME
           INTO YOU FROM THE OUTSIDE. I SUGGEST THAT WHENEVER IT GETS INTO YOU, YOU
           BEAT YOURSELF WITH A STICK UNTIL THE TEMPER CAN'T STAND IT, AND RUNS
           AWAY.'

               He is simply joking -- don't start doing it, don't take the stick literally.
               In zen, awareness is called the stick by which you beat yourself. There is no other way to beat
           yourself, because if you take an ordinary stick the body will be beaten, not you. You can kill the
           body, but not YOU. To beat with a stick means: when you feel angry, continuously be aware; bring
           awareness to it, become alert, conscious, and beat with the stick of awareness continuously inside,
           UNTIL THE TEMPER CAN'T STAND IT AND RUNS AWAY. The only thing that the temper
           CAN'T stand is awareness. Just beating your body won't do. That's what people have been doing --
           beating others' bodies or their own. That's not Bankei's meaning -- he is joking, and he is indicating a
           symbolic term zen people use for awareness: the stick one has to beat oneself with.
               In the zen tradition, when a master dies he gives his stick, the staff, to his chief disciple, to him
           whom he chooses as his heir, he who is going to replace him. He gives him the stick, the staff, that
           he carried his whole life. The meaning is that he to whom this stick is given has attained to the inner
           stick -- to awareness. To receive the stick of the master is the greatest gift, because he accepts
           through it, agrees, recognizes, that now your inner stick is born; you have become aware of what
           happens to you, to WHOM it happens. The distinction is there. The gap has come in, the space is
           there; now the periphery and your center are not identified.
               Said Bankei, 'I SUGGEST THAT WHENEVER IT GETS INTO YOU, this anger, it must be
           coming from outside. You didn't have it when you were born; nobody, not your parents or anybody,
           presented it to you as a gift, so from where is it coming? It must be coming from outside, the
           periphery must be touching other peripheries. From there, you must be getting the ripples and the
           waves. So be conscious' -- because the moment you are conscious you are suddenly thrown to the
           center.
           Be unconscious and you live on the periphery.
           Be conscious and you are thrown to the center.
               And from the center you can see what is happening on the periphery. Then if two people touch
           on the periphery, then two people will create trouble on the periphery, but it will not be any trouble
           for you. You can laugh, you can enjoy it, you can say, 'It sounds fascinating.'
               It happened: Buddha was passing near a village; a few people came and they abused him very
           badly, said nasty things, used vulgar words -- and he just stood there. They got a little puzzled,
           because he was not reacting. Then somebody from the crowd asked, 'Why are you silent? Answer
           what we are saying!'
               Buddha said, 'You came a little late. You should have come ten years ago, because then I would
           have reacted. But now I am not there where you are doing these things to me; a distance has arisen.
           Now I have moved to the center where you cannot touch me. You came a little late. I am sorry for
           you, but I enjoy it. Now I am in a hurry, because in the other village where I am going, people will
           be waiting for me. If you are not yet finished, then I will pass back by the same route. You can come
           again. IT SOUNDS FASCINATING.'
               They were puzzled. What to do with such a man? Another from the crowd asked, 'Really, are you
           not going to say anything?'
               Buddha said, 'In the village I have come from just now, people came with many sweets to present
           to me, but I take things only when I am hungry, and I was not hungry, so I gave them back their
           sweets. I ask you, what will they do?'
               So the man said, 'Of course, they will go in the village and give those sweets as PRASAD to
           people.'
               So Buddha started laughing and he said, 'You are really in trouble, you are in a mess -- what will
           you do? You brought these vulgar words to me, and I say I am not hungry -- so now take them back!
           And I feel very sorry for your village, because people will get such vulgar things, vulgar words in
           their prasad.'
               When you are at the center, IT SOUNDS FASCINATING -- you can enjoy it. When you are cool
           you can enjoy the whole world. When you are hot you cannot enjoy it, because you get so much into
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it; you are lost, you get identified. You become so messed up in it, how can you enjoy it?
                This may sound paradoxical, but I tell you: only a buddha enjoys this world. Then everything
           sounds fascinating.




                                        And The Flowers Showered
                                                    Chapter #4
                                          Chapter title: What is the way?
           3 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411030
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




              A MASTER WHO LIVED AS A HERMIT ON A MOUNTAIN WAS ASKED BY A MONK: 'WHAT IS THE
              WAY?' 'WHAT A FINE MOUNTAIN THIS IS,' THE MASTER SAID IN REPLY.'I AM NOT ASKING
              YOU ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN,' SAID THE MONK, 'BUT THE WAY.'
              THE MASTER REPLIED: 'SO LONG AS YOU CANNOT GO BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN, MY SON,
              YOU CANNOT REACH THE WAY.'


               THE WAY IS EASY -- but you are the mountain and beyond lies the Way. Crossing yourself is
           very difficult. Once you are on the Way there is no problem, but the Way is very far from you.
               And you are such a mass of contradictions! One fragment of you goes to the east, another goes to
           the west -- you are not moving in one direction. You cannot as you are, because to move in one
           direction you need an inner unity, a crystallized being. As you are you are a crowd, with many
           selves, with no unity.
               At the most, if you make some arrangement, as everybody has to make -- if you control yourself,
           at the most you can become an assembly, not a crowd; and then too you will be the Indian assembly,
           not the British: at the most the majority of your fragments can move in one direction, but the
           minority will always be there, going somewhere else.
               So even a very controlled man, disciplined, a man of character, of thinking, that man too never
           reaches the Way. He may be able to adjust to the society, but he is also unable to reach the Way from
           where the door towards the divine opens.
           You are really a mountain.
               The first thing to be understood is that the crowd must go. The polypsychic existence must
           become unipsychic; you must be one. That means you must be thoughtless, because thoughts are a
           crowd; they divide you, and every thought pulls you apart. They create chaos within you and they
           are always contradictory. Even when you decide, the decision is always against some part within
           you, it is never total.
               I have heard it happened: Mulla Nasruddin was very ill -- tense, psychiatrically ill. And the
           illness was that he became, by and by, absolutely unable to make any decision -- not big decisions at
           that, but small ones also: whether to take a bath or not, whether to wear this tie or that, whether to
           take a taxi to the office or drive the car -- not big ones, small decisions, but he became unable to
           make them so he was put in a psychiatric hospital.
               Six months of treatment and everything settled, and the doctors felt that now he was okay. They
           said one day, 'Now, Nasruddin, you are absolutely okay. You can go back in the world, take your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           job, start working and functioning. We are completely satisfied that now there is nothing wrong.' But
           seeing a slight indecision on Nasruddin's part the doctor said, 'Don't you feel that now you are ready
           to go into the world and start working and functioning?'
           Nasruddin said, 'Yes and no.'
                But this is the situation. Whether you are ill or healthy is not the question, the difference is only
           of degree -- but this remains the problem deep inside: yes and no, both.
                You love a person? -- yes, and deep down is hidden the no. Sooner or later when you get bored
           and fed up with the yes, the no will come up and you will hate the person, the same person you
           loved. You like something but the dislike is hidden; sooner or later you will dislike this same thing.
                You were mad when you loved, when you liked; and you will be mad when you hate and dislike.
           As you are -- yes and no, both -- how can you move towards the divine? The divine needs total
           commitment, nothing less will do. But how to commit totally? -- you are not a total being! This is the
           mountain.
                The path is easy, but you are not on the path; and all the techniques, all the methods in the world,
           and all the masters, to be exact, they don't give you the path -- the path already exists. Their methods
           and techniques simply lead you towards the path; THEY are not paths. They create small pathways
           on the mountain so you can go beyond -- because the path is THERE; there is no need to create a
           path, it already exists. But you are lost in a forest. You have to be brought to the path.
                So the first thing is: the more divided you are, the farther away from the Way you will be; the
           more undivided, the nearer the path.
                Thoughts divide because they always carry the opposite within them: love carries hate,
           friendship carries enmity, liking carries disliking. Sosan is right when he says: 'A slight distinction
           between like and dislike, a slight movement in your being of like and dislike, and heaven and earth
           are set apart.' No distinction -- and you have reached, because with no distinction you are one.
                So the first thing to remember is how to drop thoughts and become thoughtless -- thoughtless but
           alert, because in deep sleep also you become thoughtless, and that won't do. It is good for the body,
           that is why after a deep sleep your body feels rejuvenated. But the mind remains tired even in the
           morning, because the mind continues its activity. The body relaxes, though it too cannot relax totally
           because of the mind; but still, it relaxes. So in the morning the body is okay, at least workably okay
           -- but the mind feels tired, even in the morning. You go to bed tired, you get up in the morning more
           tired because the mind was continuously working, dreaming, thinking, planning, desiring; the mind
           was continuously working.
                In deep sleep for a few moments when you are absolutely unconscious you become one. This
           same oneness is needed with a conscious and alert mind. As you are in deep sleep -- no thought, no
           distinction of good and bad, heaven and hell, God and the devil, no distinction of any sort, you
           simply ARE, but unconscious -- this has to be attained while you are alert and conscious. Samadhi,
           the final, the ultimate, the utter meditation, is nothing but deep sleep with full consciousness.
                Deep sleep you attain, so the only thing to be attained is more and more consciousness. If you
           can add more consciousness to your deep sleep you will become enlightened. The mountain is
           transcended and the path opens -- one thing.
                Second thing: you carry the past within you -- that creates multiplicity. You were a child, the
           child is still hidden in you, and sometimes you can still feel the child kicking; in certain moments
           you regress and become the child again. You were once young, now you are old; that young man is
           hidden there, and sometimes even an old man starts being as foolish as a young man.
                You carry the whole past, every moment of it, and you have been many things! From the womb
           up to now you have been millions of persons, and they are all carried within you, layer by layer. You
           have grown, but the past has not disappeared; it may be hidden, but it is there -- and it is not only in
           the mind, it is even in the body. If, when you were a small child and you were angry and someone
           said, 'Stop! Don't be angry,' and you stopped, that anger is still being carried by your hand. It has to
           be so because energy is indestructible, and unless you relax that hand it will persist, unless you do
           something consciously to complete the circle of that energy which became anger in a certain moment
           fifty years back or sixty years back, you will carry it within you, and it will color all your actions.
                You can touch somebody, but the touch won't be pure: the whole past is carried by the hand; all
           repressed anger, all repressed hatred is there. Even if in love you touch a person your touch is not
           pure, love cannot be -- because where will that anger go which is carried by the hand?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Wilhelm Reich worked very much on this somatic repression. The body carries the past, the
           mind carries the past; because of this loaded state you cannot be here and now. You have to come to
           terms with your past.
               So meditation is not only a question of doing something here and now; before that is possible
           you have to come to terms with your past -- you have to dissolve all hangovers, and there are
           millions of them.
               Even when one becomes old he is also a child, a young man, and all that he has ever been is
           there, because you don't know how to die every moment.
               That is the whole art of life -- to die moment to moment so that there is no hangover.
               A relationship has finished -- you don't carry it, you simply die to it! What can you do?
           Something was happening and now it is not happening. You accept it and you die to it -- you simply
           DROP IT with full awareness, and then you are renewed in a new moment. Now you are not
           carrying the past.
               You are a child no more, but watch yourself and you will feel the child is there -- and that child
           creates trouble! If you were really a child there would be no trouble, but you are young or old....
               I have heard: Mulla Nasruddin was hospitalized. He was eighty -- and then came his birthday,
           and he was waiting for his three sons to bring him some present. They came of course, but they had
           not brought anything -- because he was eighty years old! A child feels happy with a present, but an
           old man? Eighty years old! His eldest son was sixty. So they didn't think about it at all, but when
           they came and Mulla looked and they were empty-handed, he felt angry, frustrated, and he said,
           'What! Have you forgotten your old father, your poor old father's birthday? It is my birthday!'
               The child... at that moment you could have looked into his eyes, and this eighty-year-old man
           was not there, just a child waiting for some toys.
           One son said, 'Forgive us, we forgot completely.'
               Mulla Nasruddin said, 'I reckon I will forgive you, because it seems this forgetfulness runs in our
           family. Really, I forgot to marry your mother.' He was really angry.
               So they all three shrieked in unison, and they said, 'What! Do you mean we are...?'
           He said, 'Yes! -- and damned cheap ones at that!'
               The child continues somewhere in you: when you weep you can find him, when you laugh you
           can find him, when somebody gives you a present you can find him, when somebody forgets to, you
           can find him, when somebody appreciates you, you can find him; when somebody condemns you,
           you can find him -- it is very difficult to be really mature. One can never be mature unless the child
           simply dies within you, is no longer a part of you -- otherwise it will go on influencing your actions,
           your relationships.
               And this is not only true for the child, every moment of the past is there and influencing your
           present -- your present is so loaded. And millions of voices from the body and the mind go on
           manipulating you; how can you reach the path?
               You are a mountain. This mountain has to be dissolved. What to do? It can be dissolved
           consciously -- one thing is to live your past again, consciously.
               This is the mechanism of consciousness: whenever you live something consciously it never
           becomes a loaded thing on you; try to understand this. It never becomes a burden on you if you live
           it consciously.
               If you go to the market to purchase something and you move consciously, walk consciously,
           purchase the thing consciously, with full remembrance, mindfully come back home, this will never
           be a part of your memory. I don't mean that you will forget it -- it will not be a load. If you want to
           remember it, you can remember it, but it will not be constantly forcing your attention towards it, it
           will not be a loaded thing.
               Whatsoever you do consciously is lived through and is no longer a hangover. Whatever you live
           unconsciously becomes a hangover, because you never live it totally -- something remains
           incomplete. When something is incomplete it has to be carried -- it waits to be completed.
               You were a child, and somebody had broken your toy, and you were crying; and your mother
           consoled you, diverted your mind somewhere -- gave you some sweets, talked about something else,
           told you a story, diverted you -- and you were going to cry and weep, and you forgot. That has
           remained incomplete; it is there, and any day whenever somebody snatches a toy from you -- it may
           be any toy, it may be a girlfriend, and somebody snatches her -- you start weeping and crying. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you can find the child there, incomplete. It may be a post: you are mayor of the town and somebody
           snatches the post, a toy, and you are crying and weeping again.
                Find out... regress into the past, move through it again, because there is no other way now; the
           past is there no more, so if something has remained hanging the only way is to relive it in the mind,
           move backwards.
                Every night make it a point to go backwards for one hour, fully alert, as if you are living the
           whole thing again. Many things will bubble up, many things will call your attention -- so don't be in
           a hurry, and don't pay half-attention to anything and then move again because that will again create
           incompleteness. Whatsoever comes, give total attention to it. Live it again. And when I say live it
           again I mean LIVE it again -- not just remember, because when you remember a thing you are a
           detached observer; that won't help. RELIVE IT!
                You are a child again. Don't look as if you are standing apart and looking at a child as his toy is
           being snatched. No! BE the child. Not outside the child, inside the child -- be again the child. Relive
           the moment: somebody snatches the toy, somebody destroys it, and you start crying -- and cry! Your
           mother is trying to console you -- go through the whole thing again, but now don't be diverted by
           anything. Let the whole process be completed. When it is completed, suddenly you will feel your
           heart is less heavy; something has dropped.
                You wanted to say something to your father; now he is dead, now there is no way to tell him. Or
           you wanted to ask his forgiveness for a certain thing you did which he didn't like, but your ego came
           in and you couldn't ask his forgiveness; now he is dead, now nothing can be done. What to do? --
           and it is THERE! It will go on and on and destroy all your relationships.
                I am very much aware of that because to be a master is to be in a certain sense a father -- it is to
           be many things but very importantly it is in a certain sense to be a father. When people come to me,
           if they are loaded with their relationship with their father, then it becomes very difficult to be related
           to me because I always feel their father comes in. If they have hated their father they will hate me, if
           they wanted to fight with their father, they will fight, if they love their father they will love me, if
           they respected their father they will respect me, if they respected him just superficially and deep
           down they had a disrespect, it will be the same with me -- and the whole thing starts working.
                If you are conscious, you can watch. Go back. Now your father is no more but for the eyes of the
           memory he is still there. Close your eyes; again be the child who has committed something, done
           something against the father, wants to be forgiven but cannot gather courage -- now you can gather
           courage! You can say whatsoever you wanted to say, you can touch his feet again, or you can be
           angry and hit him -- but be finished! Let the whole process be completed.
                Remember one basic law: anything that is complete drops, because then there is no meaning in
           carrying it; anything that is incomplete clings, it waits for its completion.
                And this existence is really always after completion. The whole existence has a basic tendency to
           complete everything. It does not like incomplete things -- they hang, they wait; and there is no hurry
           for existence -- they can wait for millions of years.
                Move backwards. Every night for one hour before you go to sleep, move into the past, relive.
           Many memories by and by will be unearthed. With many you will be surprised that you were not
           aware that these things are there -- and with such vitality and freshness, as if they had just happened!
           You will be again a child, again a young man, a lover, many things will come. Move slowly, so
           everything is completed. Your mountain will become smaller and smaller -- the LOAD is the
           mountain. And the smaller it becomes, the freer you will feel. A certain quality of freedom will come
           to you, and a freshness, and inside you will feel you have touched a source of life.
                You will be always vital -- even others will feel that when you walk your step has changed, it has
           a quality of dance; when you touch, your touch has changed -- it is not a dead hand, it has become
           alive again. Now life is flowing because the blocks have disappeared; now there is no anger in the
           hand, love can flow easily, unpoisoned, in its purity. You will become more sensitive, vulnerable,
           open.
                If you have come to terms with the past suddenly you will be here and now in the present,
           because then there is no need to move again and again.
                Go on moving every night. By and by memories will come up before your eyes and they will be
           completed. Relive them; completed, suddenly you will feel they drop. Now there is no more to be
           done, the thing is finished. Less and less memories will come as the time moves. There will be gaps
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- you would like to live, nothing is coming -- and those gaps are beautiful. Then a day will come
           when you will not be able to move backwards because everything is complete. When you cannot
           move backwards, only then do you move forwards.
               There is no other way. And to move forwards is to reach the path: the whole consciousness
           moving ahead every moment into the unknown.
               But your legs are being pulled back continuously by the past, the past is heavy on you; how can
           you move into the future, and how can you be in the present? The mountain is really big, it is a
           Himalaya, uncharted, unmapped; nobody knows how to pass through it -- and everybody is such a
           different Himalaya that you can never make a map, because it differs with everybody. You have your
           Himalayas to carry, others have their Himalayas to carry, and with these mountains, when you meet
           with people there is only clash and conflict.
               The whole life becomes just a struggle, a violent struggle, and everywhere you can see and feel
           and hear the clash. Whenever somebody comes near, you are tense and the other is also tense -- both
           are carrying their Himalayas of tension and sooner or later they will clash. You may call it love but
           those who know, they say it is a clash. Now there is going to be misery.
               Be finished with the past. As you become more free from the past, the mountain starts
           disappearing. And then you will attain a unison: you will become, by and by, one.
               Now, try to understand this parable: What is the Way?

              A MASTER WHO LIVED AS A HERMIT ON A MOUNTAIN WAS ASKED BY A MONK: 'WHAT IS THE
              WAY?'


              Every word has to be understood because every word carries meaning:

              A MASTER WHO LIVED AS A HERMIT ON A MOUNTAIN....


               It has been happening always, that a Buddha moves to the mountains, a Jesus moves to the
           mountains, a Mahavira goes into the mountains. Why do they move to the mountains, to the
           loneliness? Why do they become solitaries? Just to face their inner mountains immediately and
           directly. In society it is difficult because the whole energy is wasted in day-to-day work and routine
           and relationship; you don't have enough time, you don't have enough energy to encounter yourself --
           you are finished in encountering others! You are so very occupied -- and to come face to face with
           oneself a very unoccupied life is needed, because it is such a tremendous phenomenon to face
           oneself. You will need all your energies. It is such an absorbing job, it cannot be done half-heartedly.
               Seekers have always moved into solitary existence, just to face oneself. Wherever they go -- just
           to face oneself; to make it uncomplicated, because in relationship it becomes complicated because
           the other brings his or her miseries and mountains. You are already loaded -- and then comes the
           other! And then you clash, then things become more complex. Then it is two diseases meeting, and a
           very complicated disease is created out of it. Everything becomes entwined, it becomes a riddle. You
           are already a riddle -- it is better to solve it first and THEN move in relationship, because if you are
           not a mountain, then you can help somebody.
               And remember, two hands are needed to make a sound, and two mountains are needed for a
           clash. If you are a mountain no more, now you are capable of being related. Now the other may try
           to create a clash, but it cannot be created because there is no possibility of creating a sound with one
           hand. The other will start feeling foolish -- and that is the dawn for wisdom.
               You can help if you are unburdened; you cannot help if you are not unburdened. You can
           become a husband, you can become a father, a mother, and you will be burdening others with your
           burdens also. Even small children carry your mountains; they are crushed under you -- it has to be so
           because you never bother to have a clarity about your being before you become related.
               That must be the basic responsibility of every alert being: Before I move in any relationship I
           must be unburdened. I should not carry a hangover; only then can I help the other to grow.
           Otherwise I will exploit, and the other will exploit me! Otherwise I will try to dominate and the other
           will try to dominate me. And it will not be a relationship, it cannot be love, it will be a subtle
           politics.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Your marriage is a subtle politics of domination. Your fatherhood, motherhood, is a subtle
           politics. Look at mothers, just simply watch! -- and you will feel they are trying to dominate their
           small children. Their aggression, their anger, is thrown on them -- they have become objects of
           catharsis, and by this they are already burdened. They will move in life carrying mountains from the
           very beginning, and they will never know that life is possible without carrying such loaded heads;
           and they will never know the freedom that comes with an unloaded being. They will never know that
           when you are not loaded you have wings and you can fly into the sky and into the unknown.
               And God is available only when you are unburdened. But they will never know. They will knock
           at the doors of temples but they will never know where the real temple exists. The real temple is
           freedom: dying moment to moment to the past and living the present. And freedom to move, to move
           into the dark, into the unknown -- that is the door to the divine!

              A MASTER WHO LIVED AS A HERMIT ON A MOUNTAIN... alone.


                You must make a distinction between two words: lonely and alone. In the dictionary they carry
           the same meaning, but those who have been meditating, they know the distinction. They are not the
           same, they are as different as possible. Loneliness is an ugly thing; loneliness is a depressive thing --
           it is a sadness; it is an absence of the other. Loneliness is the absence of the other -- you would like
           the other to be there, but the other is not, and you feel that and you miss them. YOU are not there in
           loneliness, the absence of the other is there. Alone? -- it is totally different. YOU are there, it is your
           presence; it is a positive phenomenon. You don't miss the other, you meet yourself. Then you are
           alone, alone like a peak, tremendously beautiful! Sometimes you even feel a terror -- but it has a
           beauty. But the presence is the basic thing: you are present to yourself. You are not lonely, you are
           with yourself. Alone, you are not lonely, you are with yourself. Lonely, you are simply lonely --
           there is no one. You are not with yourself and you are missing the other. Loneliness is negative, an
           absence; aloneness is positive, a presence.
                If you are alone, you grow, because there is space to grow -- nobody else to hamper, nobody else
           to obstruct, nobody else to create more complex problems. Alone you grow, and as much as you
           want to grow you can grow because there is no limit, and you are happy being with yourself, and a
           bliss arises. There is no comparison: because the other is not there you are neither beautiful nor ugly,
           neither rich nor poor, neither this nor that, neither white nor black, neither man nor woman. Alone,
           how can you be a woman or a man? Lonely, you are a woman or a man, because the other is missing.
           Alone, you are no one, empty, empty of the other completely.
                And remember, when the other is not, the ego cannot exist: it exists with the other. Either present
           or absent, the other is needed for ego. To feel 'I' the other is needed, a boundary of the other. Fenced
           from the neighbors I feel 'I'. When there is no neighbor, no fencing, how can you feel 'I'? You will be
           there, but without any ego. The ego is a relationship, it exists only in relationship.
                Alone the master lived -- a hermit means alone -- on a mountain, facing himself, meeting himself
           at every corner. Wherever he moves he is encountering himself -- not burdened with the other, so
           knowing well what he is, who he is.
                Things start solving themselves if you can be alone, even things like madness. Just the other
           night I was talking to a few friends. In the West if a man goes crazy, mad, insane, neurotic, much
           treatment is given; too much really -- for years! And the result is almost nothing. The man remains
           the same.
                I have heard, once it happened: a psychiatrist was treating a woman who had an obsession -- the
           obsession is called kleptomania, stealing things. She was very rich, there was no need, just a
           psychological obsession. It was impossible for her not to steal: wherever she found an opportunity
           she would steal, even worthless things: a needle, a button. She was treated for years.
                After the five-year-long treatment -- thousands of dollars had gone down the drain -- after five
           years the psychiatrist who was treating her, the Freudian psychoanalyst, asked, 'Now you look
           normal, and now there is no need to continue the treatment. You can drop out of it. What do YOU
           feel?'
                She said, 'I feel perfect. I feel fine. Everything is good. Before you started treatment I always
           used to feel guilty about stealing things -- now I steal, but I never feel guilty. Fine! Everything is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           good. You really did it. You helped me a lot.'
                This is all that happens. You simply become accustomed, attuned to your illness, that's all.
                In the East, particularly in Japan -- because of zen -- a totally different treatment has existed for
           at least one thousand years. In zen monasteries... these are not in any way hospitals, not meant for ill
           people, but in a village, if a zen monastery exists, it is the only place; if someone goes mad or
           neurotic, where to go? In the East always they bring the neurotic people to the master because if he
           can treat normal people, why not neurotics? The difference is only of degree.
                So they will bring the neurotic people to the zen monastery, to the master, and they will say,
           'What to do? You take charge of him.' And he will take charge.
                And the treatment is really unbelievable! The treatment is -- no treatment at all. The man has to
           be given a solitary cell somewhere at the back of the monastery, in a corner; the neurotic has to live
           there. He will be given food, every facility -- that's all. And he has to live with himself. Within three
           weeks, only three weeks, with no treatment, the neurosis disappears.
                Now many Western psychiatrists are studying this as a miracle. This is not a miracle. This is
           simply giving the man a little space to sort it out, that's all! Because he was normal a few days
           before, he can be normal again. Something has become too heavy on him and he needs space, that's
           all. And they will not pay him much attention, because if you pay a neurotic person much attention,
           as it is being paid in the West, he is never going to be back to normal again because nobody paid him
           so much attention before. He is never going to be back the same, because then nobody bothered
           about him, and now great psychoanalysts are bothering -- great doctors, names, world-famous
           names, and they talk to him or her: the patient lying on a couch resting, and a great name just sitting
           behind, and whatsoever he or she says is listened to carefully, every word. So much attention! The
           neurosis becomes an investment, because people NEED attention.
                A few people start behaving foolishly because then the society gives them attention. In every old
           country, in every village, you will find a village fool -- and he is not a mediocre man, he is very
           intelligent. Fools are almost always intelligent, but they have learned a trick: people pay them
           attention, they feed them, everybody knows them, they are already famous without holding any post
           -- the whole village looks after them. Wherever they pass, they are like great leaders, a crowd
           follows them: children jumping and throwing things at them -- and they enjoy it! They are great ones
           in the town, and they know that this being a fool is an investment, a good one! And the village takes
           care of them: they are well fed, well clothed -- they have learned the trick. No need to work, no need
           to do anything -- just be a fool and it is enough!
                If a neurotic person... and remember ego IS neurosis and ego needs attention; pay it attention,
           and ego feels good. Many people have murdered simply to get the attention of the newspapers,
           because only when they murder can they be covered by headlines. They become suddenly very, very
           important -- their pictures are given, their names, their biographies are covered: suddenly they are
           not nobodies, they have become somebodies.
                Neurosis is a deep hankering after attention, and if you give it attention, you feed it -- that's why
           psychoanalysis has been a complete failure.
                In zen monasteries they treat a person within three weeks: in Freudian psychoanalysis they
           cannot treat him in thirty years, because they miss the very point. But in zen monasteries no attention
           is given to the neurotic person, nobody thinks that he is somebody important -- they simply leave
           him alone, that is the only treatment. He has to sort out his own things; nobody bothers. Within three
           weeks he comes out absolutely normal.
                Solitariness has a healing effect, it is a healing force. Whenever you feel that you are getting
           messed up, don't try to solve it there. Move away from society for a few days, for at least three
           weeks, and just remain silent, just watching yourself, feeling yourself, just being with yourself, and
           you will have a tremendous force available which heals. Hence, in the East, many people have
           moved to the mountains, to the forests, somewhere alone, somewhere where there is nobody else to
           be bothered with. Only oneself... so one can feel oneself directly, and you can see what is happening
           within.
                Nobody is responsible for you except yourself, remember. If you are mad you are mad -- you
           have to sort it out: it is your deed! This is what Hindus say: your karma. The meaning is very deep. It
           is not a theory. They say, whatsoever you are it is your own work, so sort it out! Nobody else is
           responsible for you, only you are responsible.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So go into solitary confinement -- to sort out things, meditate on your own being and your
           problems. And this is the beauty: even if you can just be quiet, living with yourself for a few days,
           things settle automatically, because an unsettled state is not natural. An unsettled state is unnatural,
           you cannot prolong it for long. It needs effort to prolong it. Simply relax and let things be, and
           watch, and make no effort to change anything, remember; if you try to make any change you will
           continue the same because the very effort will continue to disturb things.
               It is just like sitting by the side of a river: the river flows, the mud settles, the dead leaves go to
           the sea; by and by the river becomes absolutely clean and pure. You need not go into it to clean it --
           if you go, you will muddle it more. Simply watch, and things happen. This is what the theory of
           karma is: that you have messed yourself up; now move alone.
               So you need not throw your problems on others, you need not throw your diseases on others --
           you simply move alone; suffer them in silence, watch them. Just sit by the bank of the river of your
           mind. Things settle! When things settle you have a clarity, a perception. Then move back into the
           world -- if you feel like it. That too is not a necessity, that too should not be an obsession. Nothing
           should be an obsession, neither the world nor the mountain.
               Whatsoever you feel is natural, whatsoever you feel is good and heals you, whatsoever you feel
           you are whole in, not divided -- that is the path. The mountain is crossed. You have reached the path
           -- now follow it, now flow into it!
               The mountain is the problem. The path is available when you have crossed the mountain. And
           you have accumulated this mountain in many lives -- your karmas, whatsoever you have done. It is
           now heavy on you.

              A MASTER WHO LIVED AS A HERMIT ON A MOUNTAIN WAS ASKED BY A MONK -- a seeker --
              'WHAT IS THE WAY?' 'WHAT A FINE MOUNTAIN THIS IS,' THE MASTER SAID IN REPLY.


               Looks absurd -- because the man is asking about the Way and the master is saying something
           about the mountain. Looks absolutely irrational, outlandish, because the man has not asked anything
           about the mountain.
               Remember, this is my situation. You ask about A, I talk about B; you ask about the Way, and I
           talk about the mountain. If you love me, only then can you feel; if you simply listen to me, I am
           absurd -- because I am not talking relevantly. If I talk relevantly I cannot help you; that is the
           problem. If I say something which seems relevant to you it will not be of much help, because YOU
           are the problem; and if I talk relevantly that means I adjust to you. Even if to you I look relevant, it
           means something has gone wrong. I have to be irrelevant by the nature of the phenomenon itself.
               I will look absurd, irrational. And this gap between the question and the answer can only be
           bridged if you have trust. Otherwise it cannot be bridged -- how to bridge it? The gap between the
           seeker and the master, the disciple and the master, the gap between the question and the answer --
           because you question about the Way and the answer is given about the mountain -- how to bridge it?
               Hence trust becomes very very significant; not knowledge, not logic, not argumentative capacity
           -- no, but a deep trust which can bridge the irrelevant answer, which can see through the irrelevance
           deeply and can catch a glimpse of the relevancy.
              'WHAT A FINE MOUNTAIN THIS IS,' THE MASTER SAID IN REPLY.'I AM NOT ASKING YOU
              ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN,' SAID THE MONK, 'BUT THE WAY.'


               He sticks to his question. If you stick you will miss -- because YOU are wrong, your question
           cannot be right; that's impossible! How can you ask a right question? If you can ask a right question
           the right answer is not very far away, it is hidden there. If you can ask a right question you are
           already right! And with a mind which is already right, how can the answer remain hidden? No,
           whatsoever you ask, whatsoever you say, carries YOU.
               It happened: Mulla Nasruddin was getting fatter and fatter, stouter and stouter. The doctor
           advised a diet.
               After two months Mulla went to see the doctor. The doctor said, 'My God! It is a miracle! You
           are even fatter than before -- I cannot believe my eyes! Are you strictly following the diet I gave
           you? Are you eating only that which I prescribed and nothing else?'
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nasruddin said, 'Nothing whatever! Of course I'm following your diet.'
               The doctor couldn't believe it. He said, 'Tell me, Nasruddin, nothing whatever?'
               Nasruddin said, 'Of course! Except my regular meals.' Regular meals PLUS the diet the doctor
           has prescribed.
               But this has to be so. Your mind moves in whatsoever you do, you ask, you think -- it colors
           everything. You cannot ask a right question. If you can ask a right question there is no need to ask,
           because the right is the thing, not the question and not the answer. If YOU are right, you ask the right
           question -- suddenly the right answer is there. If you can ask a right question you simply have no
           need to go anywhere; just close your eyes and ask the right question and you will find the right
           answer there.
               The problem is not with the right answer, the problem is not with the Way; the problem is the
           mountain, the problem is the mind, the problem is YOU.
              'WHAT A FINE MOUNTAIN THIS IS,' THE MASTER SAID IN REPLY. 'I AM NOT ASKING YOU
              ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN,' SAID THE MONK, 'BUT THE WAY.' THE MASTER REPLIED, 'SO LONG
              AS YOU CANNOT GO BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN, MY SON, YOU CANNOT REACH THE WAY.'

              Many things to be understood -- to be felt, rather.



              THE MASTER REPLIED, 'SO LONG AS YOU CANNOT GO BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN, MY SON,
              YOU CANNOT REACH THE WAY.'


               Why suddenly 'my son'? Up to now the master has not used a single loving word; why suddenly
           'my son'? Because now the trust will be needed, and you cannot create trust in a person just by
           saying something, even if it is the absolute truth. A trust can be created only if the master is loving,
           because only love creates trust. On the side of the disciple a trust, SHRADDHA, is needed, a deep
           faith is needed. But the faith arises only when the master says 'my son.'
               Now the thing is moving differently. It is not an intellectual relationship, it is becoming one of
           the heart. Now the master is becoming more a father than a master; now the master is moving
           towards the heart. He is making a heart relationship now.
               If you ask head-oriented questions and the master goes on answering them, it may be a dialogue
           on the face of it, but it cannot be a dialogue. You can crisscross but you cannot meet that way. When
           people talk, listen to them: they crisscross each other but they never meet. This is not a dialogue!
           They both remain rooted in themselves, they never make any effort to reach the other. 'My son' is an
           effort on the part of the master to reach the monk. He is preparing the way for the disciple to trust.
               But then again a problem arises because the disciple can think, 'This is too much! I have not
           come here in search of love, I have come here in search of knowledge.' But a master cannot give you
           knowledge. He can give you wisdom, and wisdom comes only through the vehicle of love. Hence
           suddenly the master says,
           'MY SON, SO LONG AS YOU CANNOT GO BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN YOU CANNOT
           REACH THE WAY.'

           One thing more he said:
           'WHAT A FINE MOUNTAIN THIS IS.'

               To an enlightened person even madness is beautiful. To an unenlightened person even
           enlightenment is not beautiful. The whole attitude changes. He says, 'What a fine mountain.' To an
           enlightened person even your neurosis is a beautiful thing, he accepts that also; it has to be
           transcended, but not destroyed. One has to go beyond it, but it also is beautiful while it lasts. One has
           to reach somewhere else, but the goal is not the thing -- the thing is: each moment, living the goal
           here and now.
               For an enlightened person everything is beautiful and for an unenlightened person everything is
           ugly. For an unenlightened person there are two categories: less ugly, more ugly. No beauty exists.
           Whenever you say to a person, 'You are beautiful,' in fact you are saying, 'You are less ugly.' Watch
           when you say it again and then find out what you really mean. Do you really mean beautiful? --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because that is impossible for your mind; your mind cannot see beauty, you are not so perceptive. At
           the most you can manage to say that this person is less ugly than others -- and less ugly can become
           more ugly any moment, with just a change of mood.
                Your friend is nothing but the person least inimical towards you. You have to be that way
           because your mind is so messed up, it is such a chaos; everything is muddled, murky, you cannot see
           direct. Your eyes are covered with millions of layers, it is really a miracle how you manage even to
           see; you are completely blind.
                You cannot hear, you cannot see, you cannot touch, you cannot smell. Whatsoever you do, it is
           impure; many things come into it. You love, and millions of things are there: immediately you start
           being possessive, and you never know that being possessive is part of hate, not part of love. Love
           can never possess. Love is giving freedom to the other. Love is an unconditional gift, it is not a
           bargain. But to your mind love is nothing but less hate, that's all. At the most you think, 'I can
           tolerate this person; I cannot tolerate that person so I cannot love him. This person I can tolerate.' But
           the valuation remains negative.
                When you are enlightened the valuation becomes positive. Then everything is beautiful; even
           your mountain, your neurosis is beautiful -- even a madman is something beautiful. God may have
           gone a little astray and sinned, but it is God.
                So nothing can be wrong for an enlightened person. Everything is right -- less right, more right.
           The difference between the devil and God is nothing, the difference is only of less and more. God
           and the devil are not two poles, enemies.
                Hindus have beautiful words; no other country has been so understanding about words. Sanskrit
           is really something which exists nowhere else -- very perceptive people! The English word devil
           comes from the same root as DEVA; deva means god. Devil and god come from the same root:
           DEV. Dev means light; from the same dev comes the devil; and from the same dev comes deva,
           DEVATA, the divine. The words divine and devil come from the same Sanskrit root dev. It is one
           phenomenon. Your seeing may be different, your standpoint may be different, but it is one
           phenomenon. An enlightened person will say even to the devil: 'How beautiful! How divine! How
           wonderful!'
                It happened: one Mohammedan mystic woman, Rabiya al-Adabia, changed many lines in her
           Koran. Wherever it is said, 'Hate the devil,' she crossed it out. Then once another mystic, Hassan,
           was staying with Rabiya, and on the journey he had forgotten his own copy of the Koran somewhere,
           and in the morning, for morning prayers, he needed it. So he asked for Rabiya's copy; Rabiya gave it
           to him. He was a little surprised in the beginning because the Koran had collected so much dust --
           that meant it was not used every day. It was not used at all it seemed; for many months it had not
           been used -- but he thought it would be impolite to say something so he opened the Koran and
           started his morning prayer.
                Then he was surprised even more, even shocked, because NOBODY can correct the Koran, and
           there were many corrections. Wherever it is said, 'Hate the devil,' Rabiya had simply crossed it out
           completely, rejected it.
                He couldn't pray, he was disturbed so much: this Rabiya had gone heretic, she had become an
           atheist, or what?... because it is impossible for a Mohammedan to conceive that you can correct the
           Koran. It is God's word, nobody can correct it. That's why they say that now no more prophets will
           be coming, because if a prophet comes again and he says something which is not in the Koran, it will
           create trouble. So the doors have been closed after Mohammed -- he is the last prophet.
                And they are very clever. They say there have been many other prophets in the past: he is not the
           first, but he is the last. And now no more messages will be coming from God -- he has given the final
           one with Mohammed. So how dare this woman Rabiya! She is correcting the Koran? He couldn't
           pray, he was so much disturbed. He finished somehow, went to Rabiya.
                Rabiya was an enlightened woman. Very few women have become enlightened in the whole
           world; Rabiya is one of them. Looking at Hassan she said, 'It seems you couldn't do your prayer. It
           seems the dust on the Koran disturbed you. So, you are still attached to things like dust? And it
           seems my corrections in the Koran must have shocked you very much.'
           Hassan said, 'How... how could you know?'
                Rabiya said, 'I passed by when you were praying and I felt all around you much disturbance; it
           was not a prayerful prayer at all. It was so neurotic, the vibrations -- so what is the matter? Tell me
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and be finished with it!'
               Hassan said, 'Now that you have started yourself, don't think I am impolite, but I couldn't believe
           a woman like you could correct the Koran!'
               Rabiya said, 'But look first at my difficulty: the moment I came to realize, the moment I came
           face to face with the divine, after that, in every face I can see that same face. No other face is
           possible. Even if the devil comes to stand before me, I see the same face. So how can I hate the devil
           now that I have realized the face of the divine that I have come to see? Now every face is his. I had
           to correct, and if ever I meet Mohammed I have to tell him frankly that these words are not good.
           They may be good for the ignorant because they divide; but they are not good for those who know,
           because they cannot divide.'
           Hence the master says:
           'WHAT A FINE MOUNTAIN THIS IS.'

               Everything is beautiful and divine for a man who knows.
           'I AM NOT ASKING YOU ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN,' SAID THE MONK, 'BUT THE WAY.'

               Have you ever observed that you never ask any question about yourself, about the mountain, you
           always ask about the Way? People come to me and they ask, 'What to do? How to reach God? How
           to become enlightened?' They never ask, 'What to BE?' They never ask anything about themselves,
           as if they are absolutely okay -- only the path is missing. What do you think? You are absolutely
           okay, only the path is missing? So somebody can say, 'Go to the right and then turn to the left and
           you are on the path'?
               It's not so simple. The path is just in front of you. You are not missing the path at all. You have
           never missed it, nobody CAN miss it -- but you cannot look at it because you are a mountain.
               It is not a question of finding the Way, it is a question of finding yourself, who you are. When
           you know yourself, the Way is there; when you don't know yourself, the Way is not there.
               People go on asking about the Way, and there are millions of ways proposed -- but there cannot
           be. There is only one Way. The same Way passes before Buddha's eyes, and the same Way passes
           before Lao Tzu, and the same Way before Jesus. Millions are the travelers but the Way is one, the
           same. That is the tao, the dhamma, the logos of Heraclitus -- it is one.
               Millions are the travelers but the Way is one. There are not a million ways, and you are not
           missing it; but you always ask about the Way, and you always get entangled in the ways because
           when you ask, when foolish people ask, there are more foolish people to answer them. If you ask and
           insist on an answer, then somebody has to supply it -- this is the law of economics. You demand, and
           there will be a supply. You ask a foolish question and a foolish answer will be given because don't
           think that you are the ultimate fool -- there are better ones. Smaller ones become disciples and better
           ones become 'masters'. You ask, and they supply the answer.
               Then there are millions of ways, and always in conflict. A Mohammedan saying is: You cannot
           reach through that way because it never leads anywhere, it goes into a cul-de-sac. Come to our way!
           -- and if you don't listen we will kill you. Christians are persuading: Come to our way! They are
           cleverer than Mohammedans; they don't kill really; they bribe, they seduce, they give you bread,
           they give you hospitals, they give you medicine, and they say, Come our way! Where are you going?
           They are merchants, and they know how to bribe people; they have converted millions, just by
           giving things to them. There are Hindus, they go on saying: We possess the whole truth -- and they
           are so arrogant they don't bother even to convert anybody, remember: You are fools, you need not be
           converted. They are so arrogant, and they think: We know the Way. If you want to you can come.
           We are not going to bribe you or kill you -- you are not that important. You can come if you want,
           but we are not going to make any effort.
               And then there are three hundred religions in the world, and each religion thinking: This is the
           only Way, THE Way. All others are false.
               But the question is not of the Way, the question is not: Which Way is true? The question is: Have
           you crossed the mountain? The question is: Have you gone beyond YOU? The question is: Can you
           look at yourself from a distance, a watcher? Then, the one Way.
               Mohammed and Mahavira and Krishna and Christ -- they all walked on the same Way.
           Mohammed is different from Mahavira, Krishna is different from Christ, but they walk on the same
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Way -- because the Way cannot be many: how can many lead to one? Only the one can lead you to
           the one.
               So don't ask about the Way and don't ask about the method. Don't ask about the medicine. First
           ask about the disease that you are. A deep diagnosis is needed first, and nobody can diagnose it for
           you. You have created it and only the creator knows all the nooks and corners. You have created it,
           so only you know how these complexities arise, and only YOU can solve them.
               A real master simply helps you to come to yourself. Once you are there, the way opens. The way
           cannot be given but you can be thrown upon yourself. And then the real conversion happens: not a
           Hindu becoming a Christian or a Christian becoming a Hindu, but an outward-moving energy
           becomes an inward-moving energy -- that is conversion. You become an inward-looking. The whole
           attention moves inwards, and then you see the whole complexity -- the mountain. And if you simply
           watch it, it starts dissolving.
               In the beginning it looks like a mountain; in the end you will feel that it was just a molehill. But
           you never looked at it because it was at the back of you, and it became so big. When you face it,
           immediately it decreases, becomes a molehill, you can laugh about it. Then it is no longer a burden.
           You can even enjoy it and sometimes can go in it for a morning walk.




                                        And The Flowers Showered
                                                    Chapter #5
                                              Chapter title: Is he dead?
           4 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411040
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins




              AT THE DEATH OF A PARISHIONER, MASTER DOGO, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS DISCIPLE
              ZENGEN, VISITED THE BEREAVED FAMILY.
              WITHOUT TAKING TIME TO EXPRESS A WORD OF SYMPATHY, ZENGEN WENT UP TO THE
              COFFIN, RAPPED ON IT, AND ASKED DOGO:'IS HE REALLY DEAD?' 'I WON'T SAY,' SAID
              DOGO.'WELL?' INSISTED ZENGEN.'I'M NOT SAYING, AND THAT'S FINAL,' SAID DOGO.
              ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THE TEMPLE THE FURIOUS ZENGEN TURNED ON DOGO AND
              THREATENED: 'BY GOD, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER MY QUESTION, WHY I'LL BEAT YOU.' 'ALL
              RIGHT,' SAID DOGO, 'BEAT AWAY.'
              A MAN OF HIS WORD, ZENGEN SLAPPED HIS MASTER A GOOD ONE.
              SOME TIME LATER DOGO DIED, AND ZENGEN, STILL ANXIOUS TO HAVE HIS QUESTION
              ANSWERED, WENT TO THE MASTER SEKISO, AND, AFTER RELATING WHAT HAD HAPPENED,
              ASKED THE SAME QUESTION OF HIM. SEKISO, AS IF CONSPIRING WITH THE DEAD DOGO,
              WOULD NOT ANSWER.'BY GOD!' CRIED ZENGEN. 'YOU TOO?' 'I'M NOT SAYING,' SAID SEKISO,
              'AND THAT'S FINAL.'
              AT THAT VERY INSTANT ZENGEN EXPERIENCED AN AWAKENING.


               LIFE CAN BE KNOWN, death also -- but nothing can be said about them. No answer will be
           true; it cannot be by the very nature of things. Life and death are the deepest mysteries. It would be
           better to say that they are not two mysteries, but two aspects of the same mystery, two doors of the
           same secret. But nothing can be said about them. Whatever you say, you will miss the point.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Life can be lived, death also can be lived. They are experiences -- one has to pass through them
           and know them. Nobody can answer your questions. How can life be answered? or death? Unless
           YOU live, unless YOU die, who's going to answer?
               But many answers have been given -- and remember, all answers are false. There is nothing to
           choose. It is not that one answer is correct and other answers are incorrect; all answers are incorrect.
           There is nothing to choose. Experience, not answers, can answer.
               So this is the first thing to be remembered when you are near a real mystery, not a riddle created
           by man. If it is a riddle created by man it can be answered, because then it is a game, a mind game --
           you create the question, you create the answer. But if you are facing something which you have not
           created, how can you answer it, how can the human mind answer it? It is incomprehensible for the
           human mind. The part cannot comprehend the whole. The whole can be comprehended by becoming
           whole. You can jump into it and be lost -- and there will be the answer.
               I will tell you one anecdote Ramakrishna loved to tell. He used to say: Once it happened that
           there was a great festival near a sea, on the beach. Thousands of people were gathered there and
           suddenly they all became engrossed in a question -- whether the sea is immeasurable or measurable;
           whether there is a bottom to it or not; fathomable or unfathomable? By chance, one man completely
           made of salt was also there. He said, 'You wait, and you discuss, and I will go into the ocean and find
           out, because how can one know unless one goes into it?'
               So the man of salt jumped into the ocean. Hours passed, days passed, then months passed, and
           people started to go to their homes. They had waited long enough, and the man of salt was not
           coming back.
               The man of salt, the moment he entered the ocean, started melting, and by the time he reached
           the bottom he was not. He came to know -- but he couldn't come back. And those who didn't know,
           they discussed it for a long time. They may have arrived at some conclusions, because the mind
           loves to reach conclusions.
               Once a conclusion is reached, mind feels at ease -- hence so many philosophies exist. All
           philosophies exist to fulfill a need: the mind asks and the mind cannot remain with the question, it is
           uneasy; to remain with the question feels inconvenient. An answer is needed -- even if it is false it
           will do; mind is put at rest.
               To go and take a jump into the sea is dangerous. And remember, Ramakrishna is true: we are all
           men of salt as far as the ocean is concerned -- the ocean of life and death. We are men of salt, we
           will melt into it because we come out of it. We are made by it, of it. We will melt!
               So mind is always afraid of going into the ocean; it is made of salt, it is bound to dissolve. It is
           afraid, so it remains on the bank, discussing things, debating, arguing, creating theories: all false --
           because they are based on fear. A courageous man will take the jump, and he will resist accepting
           any answer which is not known by himself.
               We are cowards, that's why we accept anybody's answer: Mahavira, Buddha, Christ -- we accept
           their answers. Their answers cannot be our answers. Nobody else's knowledge can be yours -- they
           may have known, but their knowledge is just information for you. YOU will have to know. Only
           when it is your own is it knowledge; otherwise it will not give you wings. On the contrary, it will
           hang on your neck like stones, you will become a slave to it. You will not achieve liberation, you
           will not be set free by it.
               Says Jesus, 'Truth liberates.' Have you seen anybody being liberated by theories? Experience
           liberates, yes, but theories about every experience? No, never! But the mind is afraid to take the
           jump, because mind is made of the same stuff as the universe; if you take the jump you will be lost.
           You will come to know, but you will know only when you are not.
               The salt man came to know. He touched the very depth. He reached the very center but he
           couldn't come back. Even if he could, how would he relate...? Even if he comes, his language will
           belong to the center, to the depth, and your language belongs to the bank, to the periphery.
               There is no possibility of any communication. He cannot say anything meaningfully, he can only
           remain silent meaningfully, significantly. If he says something he himself will feel guilty, because he
           will immediately know that whatsoever he knows has not been transferred through the words; his
           experience is left behind. Only words have gone to you, dead, stale, empty. Words can be
           communicated but not truth. It can only be indicated.
               The salt man can say to you, 'You also come' -- he can give you an invitation -- 'and take a jump
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with me into the ocean.'
               But you are very clever. You will say, 'First answer the question; otherwise how do I know that
           you are right? Let me first consider and think and brood and ponder, then I will follow. When my
           mind is convinced, then I will take the jump.'
               But mind is never convinced, cannot be convinced. Mind is nothing but a process of doubt; it can
           never be convinced, it can go on arguing infinitely, because whatsoever you say it can create an
           argument around it.
               Once I was traveling with Mulla Nasruddin. At a station, at a stop, a newcomer came into the
           compartment -- he may have known Nasruddin. He said, 'Hello.' They greeted each other and then he
           said, 'How are you, Nasruddin?'
           Nasruddin said, 'Fine! Absolutely fine!'
           Then the man said, 'And how is your wife?'
               Nasruddin said, 'She is also fine, thank you.' 'And how are your children?'
               Nasruddin said, 'They are all very well, thank you.'
               I was surprised. When the man left at another stop, I asked Nasruddin, 'What is the matter? --
           because I know well that you don't have a wife, you don't have any children.'
               Nasruddin said, 'I also know -- but why create an argument?'
               Many times buddhas have nodded to you, just not to create any argument. They have remained
           silent just not to create any argument. They have not said much, but whatsoever they have said has
           created enough argument around it. You are like that. You will weave theories, you will spin
           philosophies, and you will get so engrossed in them that you will completely forget that the ocean is
           just near. You will completely forget that the ocean exists.
               Philosophers completely forget what life is. They go on thinking and thinking and thinking and
           going astray, because mind is a distance from the truth. The more you are in the mind, the farther
           away you are from the truth; the less in the mind, the nearer. If there is no mind, even for a single
           moment, you have taken the jump -- but then you become one with the ocean.
               So the first thing to remember is, if it is a question created by you, not relating to the existential
           mystery of the universe, then it can be answered. Really, only mathematical questions can be
           answered. That's why mathematics is such a clear-cut science, because the whole thing is created by
           man. Mathematics does not exist in the universe, that's why mathematics is the purest science -- you
           can be certain about it; you have created the whole game.
               Trees are there, but not one tree, two, three trees, four trees -- numbers don't exist there. You
           create the numbers, you create the very base, and then you ask, 'How many? If two are added to two,
           what is the conclusion, what is the result?' you can answer 'Four,' and that answer will be true
           because you have created the whole game, all the rules: two and two make four. But in existence that
           is not true because in existence no arithmetic exists -- it is a wholly man-made affair. So you can go
           on and on and create as many mathematics, as many arithmetics, as you like.
               Once people thought that there was only one mathematics; now they know there can be many,
           because man can create them. Once people knew that there was only one geometry -- Euclid's; now
           they know that you can create as many geometries as you want, because they are man-created. So
           now there is Euclidean geometry and non-Euclidean geometry.
               Many mathematicians have played with numbers. Leibnitz worked with three digits: one, two,
           three. In Leibnitz' mathematics, two plus two cannot be four, because the four doesn't exist: one, two,
           three -- only three digits are there, so in Leibnitz' mathematics two plus two will become ten,
           because after three comes ten. The four doesn't exist. Einstein worked with two digits: one and two,
           so two plus two in Einstein's mathematics will be eleven. And they are all right, because the whole
           game is man-made. It is up to you.
               There is no inner necessity to believe in nine or ten digits, except that man has ten fingers, so
           people started counting on the fingers. That's why ten became the basic unit all over the world;
           otherwise there is no necessity.
               Mathematics is a thought product: you can ask a question and a right answer can be given to you
           -- but except for mathematics everything moves into the mysterious. If it belongs to life, no answer
           can be given. And whatsoever you say will be destructive because the whole cannot be said. Words
           are so narrow, tunnel-like; you cannot force the sky into them, it is impossible.
               Second thing to remember: when you ask something of a master -- a master is not a philosopher,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he is not a thinker; he knows, he is a seer -- when you ask something of a master, don't look for and
           don't wait for his answer, because he IS the answer. When you ask something, don't be attentive
           towards the answer; be attentive towards the master, because HE is the answer. He is not going to
           give you any answer; his presence is the answer. But there we miss.
               You go and you ask a question; your whole mind is attentive to the question and you are waiting
           for the answer -- but the master, his whole being, his presence is the answer. If you look at him, if
           you watch him, you will receive an indication -- his silence, the way he looks at you in that moment,
           the way he walks, the way he behaves, the way he remains silent or talks. The master is the answer,
           because it lies in an indication. The master can show you the truth, but cannot say it. And your mind
           is always obsessed with the answer: 'What is he going to say?'
               If you go to a master, learn to be attentive to his presence; don't be too head-oriented -- and don't
           insist, because every answer can be given only when the time is ripe. Don't insist, because it is not a
           question of your insistence; a right thing can be given only when you are ready, when you are ripe.
           So when you are near a master you can ask a question -- but then wait. You have asked, then he
           knows. Even if you have not asked, he knows what is troubling you within. But he cannot give you
           anything right now -- you may not be ready; and if you are not ready and something is given it will
           not reach you, because only in a certain readiness can certain things penetrate you. When you are
           ripe you can understand. When you are ready, you are open, receptive. The answer will be given, but
           not in words; the master will reveal it in many ways. He can do it. He can devise many methods to
           indicate it, but then you will have to be ready.
               Just because you have asked a question doesn't mean that you are ready. You can ask a question
           -- even children can raise questions so mysterious that even a buddha will be unable to answer them.
           But just because you have asked, just because you are articulate enough to form a question, does not
           mean that you are ready, because questions come out of many many sources. Sometimes you are
           simply curious. A master is not there to fulfill your curiosities, because they are childish. Sometimes
           you really never meant it. Just by the way you asked, you showed you were not concerned and you
           are not going to use the answer in any way. Somebody is dead and you simply ask the question,
           'What is death?' -- and by the next moment you have forgotten it.
               Curiosity is one thing -- it is childish and no master is going to waste his breath on your
           curiosities. When you ask a certain thing it may be just intellectual, philosophic; you are interested,
           but intellectually -- you would like an answer just to become more knowledgeable, but your being
           will remain unaffected. Then a master is not interested, because he is interested only in your being.
           When you ask a question in such a way as if your life and death depend on it, then if you don't
           receive the answer you will miss, your whole being will remain hungry for it; you are thirsty, your
           whole being is ready to receive it, and if the answer is given you will digest it, it will become your
           blood and your bones and move into the very beat of your heart; only then will a master be ready to
           answer you.
               You ask a question... then the master will try to help you to become ready to receive the answer.
           Between your question and the master's answer there may be a great gap. You ask today and he may
           answer you after twelve years, because you have to be ready to receive it; you have to be open, not
           closed, and you have to be ready to absorb it to the very depth of your being.
           Now try to understand this parable:

              AT THE DEATH OF A PARISHIONER, MASTER
              DOGO, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS DISCIPLE ZENGEN, VISITED THE BEREAVED FAMILY.
              WITHOUT TAKING TIME TO EXPRESS A WORD OF SYMPATHY, ZENGEN WENT UP TO THE
              COFFIN, RAPPED ON IT, AND ASKED DOGO: 'IS HE REALLY DEAD?'


               The first thing: when death is there you have to be very respectful because death is no ordinary
           phenomenon, it is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the world. Nothing is more mysterious than
           death. Death reaches to the very center of existence, and when a man is dead you are moving on
           sacred ground: it is the holiest moment possible. No, ordinary curiosities cannot be allowed. They
           are disrespectful.
               In the East particularly, death is respected more than life -- and the East has lived long to come to
           this conclusion. In the West life is more respected than death; hence so much tension, so much worry
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and so much anguish, so much madness.
               Why? If you respect life more, you will be afraid of death, and then death will look antagonistic,
           the enemy; and if death is the enemy you will remain tense your whole life, because death can
           happen any moment. You don't accept it, you reject it -- but you cannot destroy it. Death cannot be
           destroyed. You can reject it; you can deny it; you can be afraid, scared, but it is there, just at the
           corner, always with you like a shadow. You will be trembling your whole life -- and you ARE
           trembling. And in the fear, in all fears if searched deeply, you will find the fear of death.
               Whenever you are afraid, something has given you an indication of death. If your bank goes
           bankrupt and you are filled with fear and trembling, anxiety -- that too is anxiety about death,
           because your bank balance was nothing but a security against death. Now you are more open,
           vulnerable. Now who will protect you if death knocks at the door? If you become ill, if you become
           old, then who is going to take care of you? The guarantee was there in the bank, and the bank has
           gone bankrupt.
               You cling to prestige, power, position, because when you have a position you are so significant
           that you are more protected by people. When you are not in power, you become so impotent that
           nobody bothers in any way who you are. When you are in power you have friends, family, followers;
           when you are not in power, everybody leaves. There was a protection, somebody was there to care;
           now nobody cares. Whatsoever you are afraid of, if you search deeply you will always find the
           shadow of death somewhere.
               You cling to a husband, you are afraid he may leave; or you cling to a wife, afraid she may leave
           you. What is the fear? Is it really the fear of a divorce, or is it a fear of death? It is a fear of death...
           because in divorce you become alone. The other gives a protection, a feeling that you are not alone,
           somebody else is with you. In moments when somebody else will be needed, you will have
           somebody to look to. But the wife has left, or the husband has left, and now you are left alone, a
           stranger. Who will protect you? Who will care for you when you are ill?
               When people are young they do not need a wife or a husband so much, but when they are old
           their need is more. When you are young it is a sexual relationship. The older you become the more it
           becomes a life relationship, because now if the other leaves you, immediately death is there.
           Wherever you are afraid, try to explore, and you will find death hiding somewhere behind. All fear is
           of death. Death is the only fear source.
               In the West people are very scared, worried, anxious, because you have to fight continuously
           against death. You love life, you respect life -- that's why in the West old people are not respected.
           Young people are respected, because old people have moved further towards death than you; they
           are already in its grip. Youth is respected in the West -- and youth is a transitory phenomenon, it is
           already passing from your hands.
               In the East old men are respected, because in the East death is respected; and because in the East
           death is respected, there is no fear about death. Life is just a part; death is the culmination. Life is
           just the process; death is the crescendo. Life is just the moving; death is the reaching. And both are
           one! So what will you respect more, the way or the goal? The process or the flowering?
               Death is the flower, life is nothing but the tree. And the tree is there for the flower, the flower is
           not there for the tree. The tree should be happy and the tree should dance when the flower comes.
               So in the East death is accepted; not only accepted, welcomed. It is a divine guest. When it
           knocks at the door, it means the universe is ready to receive you back.
               In the East we respect death. And this young man Zengen just came in without even expressing a
           word of sympathy or respect. He simply became curious. Not only that, he was very disrespectful --
           he tapped on the coffin and asked Dogo, 'Is he really dead?' His question is beautiful, but not in the
           right moment. The question is right but the moment he has chosen is wrong. To be curious before
           death is childish; one has to be respectful, silent. That is the only way to have a rapport with the
           phenomenon.
               When somebody dies it is really something very deep happening. If you can just sit there and
           meditate many things will be revealed to you. Questioning is foolish. When death is there, why not
           meditate? Questioning may be just a trick to avoid the thing, it may be just a safety measure so as not
           to look at death directly.
               I have watched when people go to burn or to cremate somebody -- they start talking too much
           there. At the cremation ground they discuss many philosophical things. In my childhood I loved very
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           much to follow everybody. Whosoever died, I would be there. Even my parents became very much
           afraid; they would say, 'Why do you go? We don't even know that man. There is no need to go.'
                I would say, 'That is not the point. The man is not my concern. Death... it is such a beautiful
           phenomenon, and one of the most mysterious. One should not miss it.' So the moment I heard that
           somebody had died I would be there, always watching, waiting, witnessing what was happening.
                And I watched people discussing many things, philosophical problems such as: What is death?
           And somebody would say: 'Nobody dies. The innermost self is immortal.' They would discuss the
           Upanishads, the Gita, and quote authorities. I started feeling: 'They are avoiding. By just becoming
           engaged in a discussion, they are avoiding the phenomenon that is happening. They are not looking
           at the dead man. And the thing is there! Death is there, and you are discussing it! What fools!'
                You have to be silent. If you can be silent when death is there you will suddenly see many things,
           because death is not just a person stopping breathing. Many things are happening. When a person
           dies, his aura starts subsiding. If you are silent you can feel it -- an energy force, a vital energy field,
           subsiding, getting back to the center.
                When a child is born just the opposite happens. When a child is born an aura starts spreading; it
           starts near the navel. Just as when you throw a pebble in a lake, ripples start -- they go on spreading,
           go on spreading -- when a child is born breath is like a pebble in the lake; when the child breathes
           the navel center is hit. The first pebble has been thrown in the silent lake, and the ripples go on
           spreading.
                Your whole life you go on spreading. Nearabout the age of thirty-five your aura is completed, at
           its peak. Then it starts subsiding. When a person dies it goes back to the navel. When it reaches the
           navel, it becomes a concentrated energy, a concentrated light. If you are silent you can feel it, you
           will feel a pull. If you sit near a dead man you will feel as if a subtle breeze is blowing towards the
           dead man and you are being pulled. The dead man is contracting his whole life, the whole field that
           he was.
                Many things start happening around a dead man. If he loved a person very deeply, that means he
           had given a part of his life energy to that person, and when a person dies, immediately that part that
           he had given to another person leaves that person and moves to the dead man. If you die here and
           your lover lives in Hong Kong, something will leave your lover immediately -- because you have
           given a part of your life and that part will come back to you. That's why when a loved one dies you
           feel that something has left you also, something in you has died also. A deep wound, a deep gap will
           exist now.
                Whenever a lover dies, something in the beloved also dies, because they were deeply involved
           with each other. And if you have loved many, many people -- for example, if a person like Dogo
           dies, or a buddha -- from all over the universe energy moves back to the center. It is a universal
           phenomenon because he is involved in many many lives, millions of lives, and from everywhere his
           energy will come back. The vibrations that he has given to many will leave, they will move to the
           original source, they will become again a concentration near the navel.
                If you watch you will feel ripples coming back in a reverse order, and when they are totally
           concentrated in the navel, you can see a tremendous energy, a tremendous light-force. And then that
           center leaves the body. When a man 'dies', that is simply a stopping of the breath, and you think he is
           dead. He is not dead; that takes time. Sometimes, if the person has been involved in millions of lives,
           it takes many days for him to die -- that's why with sages, with saints, particularly in the East, we
           never burn their bodies. Only saints are not burned; otherwise everybody is burned, because others'
           involvement is not so much. Within minutes the energy gathers, and they are no more part of this
           existence.
                But with saints, the energy takes time. Sometimes it goes on and on -- that's why if you go to
           Shirdi, to Sai Baba's town, you will still feel something happening, still the energy goes on coming;
           he is so much involved that for many people he is still alive. Sai Baba's tomb is not dead. It is still
           alive. But the same thing you will not feel near many tombs -- they are dead. By 'dead' I mean they
           have accumulated all their involvement, they have disappeared.
                When I am dead, don't bury my body, don't burn it, because I will be involved in you, many of
           you. And if you can feel, then a sage remains alive for many years, sometimes thousands of years --
           because life is not only of the body. Life is an energy phenomenon. It depends on the involvement,
           on how many persons he was involved in. And a person like Buddha is not only involved with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           persons, he is involved even with trees, birds, animals; his involvement is so deep that if he dies his
           death will take at least five hundred years.
               Buddha is reported to have said, 'My religion will be a live force for only five hundred years.'
           And the meaning is here, because he will be a live force for five hundred years. It will take five
           hundred years for him to get out of the involvement totally.
           When death happens, be silent. Watch!
               All over the world, whenever you pay respect to a dead man, you become silent, you remain
           silent for two minutes -- without knowing why. This tradition has been continued all over the world.
           Why silence?
               The tradition is meaningful. You may not know why, you may not be aware, and your silence
           may be filled with inner chattering, or you may do it just like a ritual -- that is up to you. But the
           secret is there.

              WITHOUT TAKING TIME TO EXPRESS A WORD OF SYMPATHY, ZENGEN WENT UP TO THE
              COFFIN, RAPPED ON IT, AND ASKED DOGO: 'IS HE REALLY DEAD?'

               His question is right, but the time is not right. He has chosen the wrong opportunity. This is not
           the moment to talk about it, this is the moment to BE with it. And the man who is dead must have
           been someone very deep; otherwise Dogo would not be going to pay his respects. Dogo is an
           enlightened man. The disciple who is dead must have been something. And Dogo was there to do
           something more for him. A master can help you when you are alive; a master can help you when you
           are dead even more -- because in death a deep surrendering happens.
               In life you are always resisting, fighting, even with your master; not surrendering, or
           surrendering half-heartedly -- which means nothing. But when you are dying, surrendering is easier,
           because death and surrender are the same process. When the whole body is dying, you can surrender
           easily. To fight is difficult, resistance is difficult. Already your resistance is being broken, your body
           is moving into a let-go; that is what death is.
               Dogo was there for something special, and this disciple asked a question. The question is right
           but the time is not right.
           'I WON'T SAY,' SAID DOGO.'WELL?' INSISTED ZENGEN.'I'M NOT SAYING, AND THAT'S
           FINAL,' SAID DOGO.

                First thing: what can be said about death? How can you say anything about death? It is not
           possible for any word to carry the meaning of death. What does this word 'death' mean? In fact it
           means nothing. What do you mean when you use the word death? It is simply a door beyond which
           we don't know what happens. We see a man disappearing inside a door; we can see up to the door,
           and then the man simply disappears. Your word death can give only the meaning of the door. But
           what happens really, beyond the door? -- because the door is not the thing.
                The door is to be passed through. Then what happens to one who disappears through the door
           that we cannot see beyond? What happens to him? And what is this door? Just a stopping of the
           breath? Is the breath the whole of life? Don't you have anything more than the breath? Breath stops...
           body deteriorates... if you are body and breath alone, then there is no problem. Then death is nothing.
           It is not a door to anything. It is simply a stopping, not a disappearance. It is just like a clock.
                The clock is tick-ticking, working, then it stops; you don't ask where the tick-tick has gone -- that
           would be meaningless! It has gone nowhere. It has not gone at all, it has simply stopped; it was a
           mechanism and something has gone wrong in the mechanism -- you can repair the mechanism, then
           it will tick-tick again. Is death just like a clock stopping? Just like that?
                If so, it is not a mystery, it is nothing really. But how can life disappear so easily? Life is not
           mechanical. Life is awareness. The clock is not aware -- you can listen to the tick-tick, the clock has
           never listened to it. You can listen to your own heartbeat. Who is this listener? If only the heartbeat
           is life, then who is this listener? If breath is the only life, how can you be aware of your breath?
           That's why all Eastern techniques of meditation use breath awareness as a subtle technique --
           because if you become aware of the breathing, then who is this awareness? It must be something
           beyond breath because you can look at it and the looker cannot be the object. You can witness it; you
           can close your eyes and you can see your breath going in and coming out. Who is this seer, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           witnessing? It must be a separate force that does not depend on breathing. When the breathing
           disappears it is the stopping of a clock, but where does this awareness go? Where does this
           awareness move to?
                Death is a door, it is not a stopping. Awareness moves but your body remains at the door -- just
           as you have come here and left your shoes at the door. The body is left outside the temple, and your
           awareness enters the temple. It is the most subtle phenomenon, life is nothing before it. Basically life
           is just a preparation for dying, and only those are wise who learn in their life how to die. If you don't
           know how to die you have missed the whole meaning of life: it is a preparation, it is a training, it is a
           discipline.
                Life is not the end, it is just a discipline to learn the art of dying. But you are afraid, you are
           scared, at the very word death you start trembling. That means you have not yet known life, because
           life never dies. Life cannot die.
                Somewhere you have become identified with the body, with the mechanism. The mechanism is
           to die, the mechanism cannot be eternal, because the mechanism depends on many things; it is a
           conditioned phenomenon. Awareness is unconditional, it doesn't depend on anything. It can float like
           a cloud in the sky, it has no roots, it is not caused, it is never born so it can never die.
                Whenever someone dies you have to be meditative near them, because a temple is just near and it
           is holy ground. Don't be childish, don't bring curiosities, be silent so you can watch and see.
           Something very very meaningful is happening -- don't miss the moment. And when death is there,
           why ask about it? Why not look at it? Why not watch it? Why not move with it a few steps?
           'I WON'T SAY,' SAID DOGO.'WELL?' INSISTED ZENGEN.'I'M NOT SAYING, AND THAT'S
           FINAL,' SAID DOGO.
           ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THE TEMPLE, THE
           FURIOUS ZENGEN TURNED ON DOGO AND THREATENED: 'BY GOD, IF YOU DON'T
           ANSWER MY QUESTION, WHY I'LL BEAT YOU!'

               This is possible in zen, that even a disciple can beat the master, because zen is very true to life
           and very authentic. A zen master does not create the phenomenon around him: 'I am holier than you.'
           He does not say, 'I am so superior.' How can one who has achieved say, 'I am superior and you are
           inferior'? The disciple can think that he is superior, but the master cannot claim any superiority,
           because superiority is only claimed by inferiority. Superiority is only claimed by the ego which is
           impotent, inferior. Strength is claimed only by weakness: when you are uncertain you claim
           certainty, when you are ill you claim health, when you don't know you claim knowledge. Your
           claims are simply to hide the truth. A master claims nothing. He cannot say, 'I am superior.' It is
           foolish. How can a wise man say, 'I am superior'?
               So a zen master even allows this -- a disciple to hit him -- and he can enjoy the whole thing.
           Nobody else in the world has done that; that's why zen masters are rare -- you cannot find rarer
           flowers than them. The master is so superior really that he allows you even to hit him; his superiority
           is not challenged by it. You cannot challenge him in any way and you cannot bring him down in any
           way. He is no more there. He is an empty house. And he knows that a disciple can only be foolish.
           Nothing else is expected because a disciple is ignorant.
               Compassion is needed. And in ignorance a disciple is bound to go on doing things, things which
           are not proper, because how can an improper person do proper things? And if you force proper
           things on an improper person, he will be crippled, his freedom will be cut. And a master is to help
           you to be free -- so hitting is allowed. In fact it is not irreverence; in fact the disciple also loves the
           master so much, so intimately, that he can come so close. Even hitting a person is a sort of intimacy
           -- you cannot hit just anybody.
               Sometimes it happens that even a child hits his father, or a child slaps his mother. No antagonism
           is meant, it is just that the child accepts the mother so deeply and so intimately that he doesn't feel
           that anything is improper. Andthe child knows he will be forgiven, so there is no fear.
           A master forgives infinitely, unconditionally.
               The disciple was very angry because he had asked a very meaningful question -- it looked
           meaningful to him. He couldn't conceive why Dogo should behave so obstinately and say, 'No!' --
           and not only that, he said, 'This is final! And I am not going to say anything more.'
               When you ask a question you ask because of your ego, and when the answer is not given the ego
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feels hurt. The disciple was hurt; his ego was disturbed, he couldn't believe it -- and this must have
           happened before many people. They were not alone, there were many others, there must have been --
           when someone dies many people gather there. And before those people the master said, 'No, and this
           is final! I am not going to say anything.' They all must have thought, 'This disciple is just a fool,
           asking irrelevant questions.'
               Zengen must have felt angry, he must have been boiling. When he found himself alone with the
           master going back to the monastery he said:
           'BY GOD, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER MY QUESTION, WHY I'LL BEAT YOU!' 'ALL RIGHT,'
           SAID DOGO, 'BEAT AWAY.'

              Be finished with it! If you are angry, then be finished with it.
              A master is always ready to bring all that is in you out, even your negativity. Even if you are
           going to hit him he will allow you to. Who knows -- in hitting the master you may become aware of
           your negativity; you may become aware of your illness, your disease, your madness. Hitting the
           master may become a sudden enlightenment -- who knows. And a master is to help you in every
           way. So Dogo said:
           'ALL RIGHT' -- go ahead -- 'BEAT AWAY.'
           A MAN OF HIS WORD, ZENGEN SLAPPED HIS MASTER A GOOD ONE.
           SOME TIME LATER DOGO DIED, AND ZENGEN, STILL ANXIOUS TO HAVE HIS
           QUESTION ANSWERED, WENT TO THE MASTER SEKISO, AND, AFTER RELATING
           WHAT HAD HAPPENED, ASKED THE SAME QUESTION OF HIM. SEKISO, AS IF
           CONSPIRING WITH THE DEAD DOGO, WOULD NOT ANSWER.

                All masters are always in a secret conspiracy. If they are masters at all, they are always together
           -- even if they contradict each other, they belong to the same conspiracy; even if they say sometimes
           that the other is wrong, they are in a conspiracy.
                Buddha and Mahavira were contemporaries and they moved in the same province, Bihar. It is
           known as Bihar because of them: BIHAR means their field of movement, they walked all over that
           part. Sometimes they were in the same village.
                Once it happened that they were staying in the same roadside inn -- half the inn was engaged by
           Buddha and half by Mahavira -- but they never met each other and continuously they refuted each
           other. Disciples used to move from one master to the other. It has remained a problem -- why?
           Buddha would even laugh, he would joke about Mahavira. He would say, 'That fellow! So he claims
           that he is enlightened? He claims that he is all-knowing? But I have heard that he says it once
           happened that he knocked at a door to beg food and there was no one inside, and I have heard that he
           claims that he is all-knowing! And even this much he didn't know -- that the house was vacant?'
                He goes on joking. He says, 'Once Mahavira was walking and he stepped on the tail of a dog.
           Only when the dog jumped and barked did he know that the dog was there, because it was morning
           and dark. And that fellow says that he is all-knowing?' And he goes on joking. He cuts many jokes
           against Mahavira; they are beautiful.
                They are in a conspiracy, Buddha and Mahavira, and this has not been understood, neither by
           Jainas nor by Buddhists -- they have missed the whole point. They think they are against each other,
           and Jainas and Buddhists have remained against each other for these two thousand years.
                They are not against each other! They are playing roles, and they are trying to help people. They
           are two different types. Somebody can be helped by Mahavira, and somebody else can be helped by
           Buddha. The person who can be helped by Buddha cannot be helped by Mahavira -- that person has
           to be taken away from Mahavira. And the person who can be helped by Mahavira cannot be helped
           by Buddha -- that person has to be taken away from Buddha. That's why they talk against each other;
           it is a conspiracy. But everybody should be helped, and they are two different types, absolutely
           different types.
                How can they be against each other? Nobody who ever became enlightened is against any other
           enlightened person, cannot be. He may talk as if it is so because he knows the other will understand.
           Mahavira is never reported to have said anything about the jokes that Buddha was telling here and
           there. He kept completely silent. That was his way. By being completely silent, not even refuting, he
           was saying, 'Leave that fool to himself!' -- by being completely silent, not saying anything.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Every day reports would come, people would come and they would say, 'He has said this,' and
           Mahavira would not even talk about it. And that was fitting, because he was very old, thirty years
           older than Buddha; it was not good for him to come down and fight with a young man -- this is how
           young fools are! But he was the same as Buddha against other teachers who were older than him. He
           would talk about them, talk against them, argue against them.
               They are in a conspiracy. They have to be -- because you cannot understand. They have to divide
           paths, because you cannot understand that life exists through opposites. They have to choose
           opposites. They have to stick to one thing, and then they have to say, FOR YOU, 'Remember that all
           others are wrong' -- because if they say everybody is right you will be more confused. You are
           already confused enough. If they say, 'Yes, I am right. Mahavira is also right, Buddha is also right --
           everybody is right,' you will immediately leave them; you will think: 'This man can't help, because
           we are already confused. We don't know what is right and what is wrong, and we have come to this
           man to know exactly what is right and what is wrong.'
               So masters stick to something and they say, 'This is right and everything else is wrong,' knowing
           all along that there are millions of ways to reach the Way; knowing all along that there are millions
           of paths which reach the final path. But if they say that millions of paths reach, you will be simply
           confused.
               This disciple Zengen was in trouble, because his Master Dogo died. He never expected that this
           was going to happen so soon. Disciples always feel in great difficulty when masters die. When
           masters are there, they fool around and waste time. When masters are dead, then they are in a real fix
           and difficulty -- what to do? So Zengen's question remained, the problem remained, the puzzle was
           as it was before. The disciple had not yet come to know what death is, and Dogo had died.
               He went to another master, Sekiso, and after relating the whole thing, what had happened, asked
           the same question of him.

              SEKISO, AS IF CONSPIRING WITH THE DEAD DOGO, WOULD NOT ANSWER.'BY GOD!' CRIED
              ZENGEN. 'YOU TOO?' 'I'M NOT SAYING,' SAID SEKISO, 'AND THAT'S FINAL.'


                They are doing something. They are creating a situation. They are saying, 'Be silent before death.
           Don't ask questions, because when you ask you come to the surface, you become superficial. These
           questions are not questions to be asked. These questions are to be penetrated, lived, meditated on.
           You have to move into them. If you want to know death -- die! That is the only way to know. If you
           want to know life -- live!'
                You are alive but not living, and you will die and you will not die... because everything is
           lukewarm in you. You live? -- not exactly; you just drag. Somehow, somehow you pull yourself
           along.
                Live as intensely as possible! Burn your candle of life from both ends! Burn it so intensely... if it
           is finished in one second it is okay, but at least you will have known what it is. Only intensity
           penetrates. And if you can live an intense life you will have a different quality of death, because you
           will die intensely. As life is, so will the death be. If you live dragging, you will die dragging. You
           will miss life, and you will miss death also. Make life as intense as possible. Put everything at stake.
           Why worry? Why be worried about the future? THIS moment is there. Bring your total existence
           into it! Live intensely, totally, wholly, and this moment will become a revelation. And if you know
           life, you will know death.
                This is the secret key: if you know life, you will know death. If you ask what death is, it means
           you have not lived -- because deep down they are one. What is the secret of life? The secret of life is
           death. If you love, what is the secret of love? Death. If you meditate, what is the secret of
           meditation? Death.
                Whatsoever happens that is beautiful and intense always happens through death. You die. You
           simply bring yourself totally in it and die to everything else. You become so intense that you are not
           there, because if you are there then the intensity cannot be total; then two are there. If you love and
           the lover is there, then love cannot be intense. Love so deeply, so totally, that the lover disappears.
           Then you are just an energy moving. Then you will know love, you will know life, you will know
           death.
                These three words are very meaningful: love, life, and death. Their secret is the same, and if you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understand them there is no need to meditate. It is because you don't understand them that meditation
           is needed. Meditation is just a spare wheel. If you really love, it becomes meditation. If you don't
           love, then you will have to meditate. If you really live, it becomes meditation. If you don't live, then
           you will have to meditate; then something else will have to be added.
                But this is the problem: if you cannot love deeply, how can you meditate deeply? If you cannot
           live deeply, how can you meditate deeply? ... Because the problem is neither love nor meditation nor
           death, the problem is: How to move to the depth? Deepness is the question.
                If you move deeply in ANYTHING, life will be on the periphery and death will be in the center.
           Even if you watch a flower totally, forgetting everything, in watching the flower you will die in the
           flower. You will experience a merging, a melting. Suddenly you will feel you are not, only the
           flower is.
                Live each moment as if this is the last moment. And nobody knows -- it may be the last.
                Both the masters were trying to bring Zengen an awareness. When Sekiso heard the disciple
           telling him the whole story he also said, 'No. I'M NOT SAYING AND THAT'S FINAL.' He repeated
           the same words Dogo had said. The first time the disciple missed, but not the second time.

              AT THAT VERY INSTANT, ZENGEN EXPERIENCED AN AWAKENING.


                A satori happened... suddenly lightning... he became aware. The first time he missed. It is almost
           always so. The first time you will miss, because you don't know what is happening. The first time,
           the old habits of the mind will not allow you to see; that's why the second master, Sekiso, simply
           repeated the words of Dogo -- simply repeated. He did not change even a single word. The very line
           is the same:
           'I'M NOT SAYING,' HE SAID, 'AND THAT'S FINAL.'

           He again created the same situation.
              It was easy to fight with a Dogo, it is not easy to fight with Sekiso. He is not Zengen's master. It
           was easy to hit Dogo, it will not be possible to hit Sekiso. It is enough that he answers. It is his
           compassion; he is not bound to answer.
              An intimacy was there between Dogo and this disciple, and sometimes it happens when you are
           very intimate that you can miss -- because you take things for granted. Sometimes a distance is
           needed; it depends on the person.
              A few people can learn only when a distance is there, a few people can learn only when there is
           no distance -- there are these two types of people. Those who can learn from a distance, they will
           miss a master; they will miss their own master, but he prepares them. Many of you are here who
           have worked in many lives with many other masters. You have missed them, but they have prepared
           you to reach me. Many of you will miss me, but I will have prepared you to reach somebody else. So
           nothing is lost, no effort is wasted.
           Dogo created the situation, Sekiso fulfilled it.
              AT THAT VERY INSTANT ZENGEN EXPERIENCED AN AWAKENING.


               What happened? Hearing again the same words... is there a certain conspiracy? Why the same
           words again? Suddenly he became aware: My question is absurd, I am asking something which
           cannot be answered. It is not the master who is denying the answer, it is my very question, the nature
           of it.
               A silence is needed before death, before life, before love. If you love a person you sit silently
           with the person. You would not like to chatter, you would like to just hold their hand and live and be
           silent in that moment. If you chatter, that means you are avoiding the person -- love is not really
           there. If you love life, chattering will drop, because every moment is so filled with life that there is
           no way, no space to chatter. Each moment life is flooding you so vitally -- where is the time to
           gossip and chatter? Each moment you live totally, mind becomes silent. Eat, and eat so totally --
           because life is entering you through food -- that mind becomes silent. Drink, and drink totally: life is
           entering through water, it will quench your thirst; move with it as it touches your thirst, as the thirst
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappears. Be silent and watch. How can you chatter when you are drinking a cup of tea? Warm life
           is flowing within you. Be filled with it. Be respectful.
                Hence, in Japan, tea ceremonies exist, and every house worth calling a house has a tearoom just
           like a temple. A very ordinary thing, tea -- and they have raised it to a very holy status. When they
           enter the tearoom, they enter in complete silence, as if it is a temple. They sit silently in the tearoom.
           Then the kettle starts singing, and everybody listens silently, as you are listening to me: the same
           silence. And the kettle goes on singing millions of songs, sounds, OMKAR -- the very mantra of life
           -- and they listen silently. And then the tea is poured. They touch their cups and saucers. They feel
           grateful that this moment is again given to them. Who knows if it will come again or not? Then they
           smell the tea, the aroma, and they are filled with gratitude. Then they start sipping. And the taste...
           and the warmth... and the flow... and the merging of their own energy with the energy of the tea... it
           becomes a meditation.
                Everything can become a meditation if you live it totally and intensely. And then your life
           becomes whole.
                Suddenly, listening to the same words again, Zengen came to realize, 'I was wrong and my
           master was right. I was wrong because I thought: He is not answering; he is not paying attention to
           my question; he is not caring about me at all and my inquiry. My ego was hurt. But I was wrong --
           he was not hitting my ego. I was not at all in the question. The very nature of death is such....'
           Suddenly he was awakened.
                This is called satori. It is a special enlightenment. In no other language does there exist a word
           equivalent to satori. It is a specially zen thing. It is not samadhi; it is samadhi. It is not samadhi
           because it can happen in very ordinary moments: drinking tea, taking a walk, looking at a flower,
           listening to the frog jumping in the pond. It can happen in very ordinary moments, so it is not like
           the samadhi about which Patanjali talks.
                Patanjali would simply be surprised that a frog jumps into the pond and at the sound of it
           somebody becomes enlightened. Patanjali would not be able to believe that a dry leaf drops from the
           tree, zigzags, moves on the wind a little, then falls to the ground and goes fast asleep -- and
           somebody sitting under the tree attains enlightenment? No, Patanjali would not be able to believe it:
           'Impossible, because,' he will say, 'samadhi is something exceptional; samadhi comes after much
           effort, millions of lives. And then it happens in a particular posture -- SIDDHASAN. It happens in a
           particular state of body and mind.'
                Satori is samadhi and yet not samadhi. It is a glimpse, and a glimpse in the very ordinary of the
           extraordinary: samadhi happening in ordinary moments. A sudden thing also -- it is not gradual, you
           don't move in degrees. It is just like water coming to boiling point, to one hundred degrees -- and
           then the jump, and the water becomes vapor, merges into the sky, and you cannot trace where it has
           gone. Up to ninety-nine degrees it is boiling and boiling and boiling, but not evaporating. From the
           ninety-ninth degree it can fall back, it was only hot. But if it passes the hundredth degree, then there
           is a sudden jump.
                The situation is the same in the story. With Dogo, Zengen became hot, but couldn't evaporate. It
           was not enough, he needed one more situation, or he may have been in need of many more
           situations. Then with Sekiso -- the same situation, and suddenly something is hit. Suddenly the focus
           changes, the gestalt. Up to this point he had been thinking that it was his question to which Dogo had
           not replied. He had been egocentric. He had been thinking, 'It is I who have been neglected by my
           master. He was not careful enough about me and my inquiries. He didn't pay enough attention to me
           and my inquiry.'
                Suddenly he realizes: 'It was not I who was neglected, or that the master was indifferent, or that
           he didn't pay attention. No, it was not me -- it is the question itself. It cannot be answered. Before the
           mysteries of life and death, one has to be silent.' The gestalt changes. He can see the whole thing.
           Hence, he attains a glimpse.
                Whenever the gestalt changes you attain a glimpse. That glimpse is satori. It is not final, you will
           lose it again. You will not become a buddha by satori; that's why I say it is a samadhi and yet not a
           samadhi. It is an ocean in a teacup. Ocean, yes, and yet not the ocean -- samadhi in a capsule. It
           gives you a glimpse, an opening... as if you are moving in a dark night, in a forest, lost; you don't
           know where you are moving, where the path is, whether you are moving in the right direction or not
           -- and then suddenly there is lightning. In a moment you see everything! Then the light disappears.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You cannot read in lightning, because it lasts only a moment. You cannot sit under the sky and start
           reading in lightning. No, it is not a constant flow.
               Samadhi is such that you can read in its light. Satori is like lightning -- you can see a glimpse of
           the whole, all that is there, and then it disappears. But you will not be the same again. It is not final
           enlightenment, but a great step towards it. Now you know. You have had a glimpse, now you can
           search for more of it. You have tasted it, now buddhas will become meaningful.
               Now if Zengen meets Dogo again he will not hit him, he will fall at his feet and ask for his
           forgiveness. Now he will weep millions of tears, because now he will say, 'What compassion Dogo
           had, that he allowed me to hit him; that he said, "Okay, you go ahead. Beat away!"' If he meets Dogo
           again, Zengen will not be the same. He has now tasted something which has changed him. He has
           not attained the final thing -- the final thing will be coming -- but he has got the sample.
               Satori is the sample of Patanjali's samadhi. And it is beautiful that the sample is possible, because
           unless you taste it how can you move towards it? Unless you smell it a little, how can you be
           attracted and pulled towards it? The glimpse will become a magnetic force. You will never be the
           same again. You will know something is there and 'whether I find it or not -- that is up to me.' But
           trust will arise. Satori gives trust and starts a movement, a vital movement in you, towards the final
           enlightenment that is samadhi.




                                        And The Flowers Showered
                                                    Chapter #6
                                          Chapter title: The art of archery
           5 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411050
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




              LIEH-TZU EXHIBITED HIS SKILL IN ARCHERY TO PO-HUN WU-JEN.
              WHEN THE BOW WAS DRAWN TO ITS FULL LENGTH, A CUP OF WATER WAS PLACED ON HIS
              ELBOW AND HE BEGAN TO SHOOT.
              AS SOON AS THE FIRST ARROW WAS LET FLY, A SECOND WAS ALREADY ON THE STRING,
              AND THEN A THIRD ONE FOLLOWED. IN THE MEANTIME HE STOOD UNMOVED LIKE A
              STATUE.
              PO-HUN WU-JEN SAID: 'THE TECHNIQUE OF SHOOTING IS FINE, BUT IT IS NOT THE
              TECHNIQUE OF NON-SHOOTING. LET US GO UP TO A HIGH MOUNTAIN AND STAND ON A
              PROJECTING ROCK, AND THEN YOU TRY AND SHOOT.'
              THEY CLIMBED UP A MOUNTAIN. STANDING ON A ROCK THAT PROJECTED OVER A
              PRECIPICE TEN THOUSAND FEET HIGH, PO-HUN WU-JEN MOVED BACKWARDS UNTIL ONE
              THIRD OF HIS FEET WERE OVERHANGING THE EDGE. HE THEN MOTIONED LIEH-TZU TO
              COME FORWARD.
              LIEH-TZU FELL DOWN ON THE GROUND WITH PERSPIRATION FLOWING DOWN TO HIS
              HEELS.
              SAID PO-HUN WU-JEN: 'THE PERFECT MAN SOARS UP ABOVE THE BLUE SKY, OR DIVES
              DOWN TO THE YELLOW SPRINGS, OR WANDERS ALL OVER THE EIGHT LIMITS OF THE
              WORLD, YET SHOWS NO SIGN OF CHANGE IN HIS SPIRIT. BUT YOU BETRAY A SIGN OF
              TREPIDATION, AND YOUR EYES ARE DAZED. HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO HIT THE TARGET?'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               ACTION NEEDS SKILL. But no-action also needs skill. The skill of action is just on the
           surface; the skill of no-action is at the very core of your being. The skill of action can be learned
           easily; it can be borrowed; you can be educated in it because it is nothing but technique. It is not
           your being, it is just an art.
               But the technique, or the skill, of no-action is not technique at all. You cannot learn it from
           somebody else, it cannot be taught; it grows as you grow. It grows with your inner growth, it is a
           flowering. From the outside, nothing can be done to it; something has to evolve from the inside.
               The skill of action comes from without, goes within; the skill of no-action comes from within,
           flows without. Their dimensions are totally different, diametrically opposite. So first try to
           understand this, then we will be able to enter this story.
               For example, you can be a painter just by learning the art; you can learn all that can be taught in
           art schools. You can be skillful, and you can paint beautiful pictures, you can even become a
           renowned figure in the world. Nobody will be able to know that this is just technique, unless you
           come across a master; but YOU will always know that this is just technique.
               Your hands have become skillful, your head knows the know-how, but your heart is not flowing.
           You paint, but you are not a painter. You create a work of art but you are not an artist. You do it, but
           you are not in it. You do it as you do other things -- but you are not a lover. You are not involved in
           it totally; your inner being remains aloof, indifferent, standing by the side. Your head and your
           hands, they go on working, but you are not there. The painting will not carry your presence, it will
           not carry YOU. It may carry your signature, but not your being.
               A master will immediately know, because this painting will be dead. Beautiful... you can
           decorate a corpse also, you can paint a corpse also, you can even put lipstick on the lips and they will
           look red, but lipstick, howsoever red, cannot have the warmth of flowing blood. Those lips --
           painted, but no life in them.
               You can create a beautiful painting, but it will not be alive. It can be alive only if you flow in it;
           that's the difference between a master when he paints and an ordinary painter. The ordinary painter
           really always imitates because the painting is not growing within him. It is not something with which
           he is pregnant. He will imitate others, he will have to look for ideas; he may imitate nature -- that
           makes no difference. He may look at a tree and paint it, but the tree has not grown within him.
               Look at van Gogh's trees. They are absolutely different -- you cannot find trees like that in the
           world of nature. They are totally different; they are van Gogh's creations, he is living through the
           trees. They are not these ordinary trees around you, he has not copied them from nature, he has not
           copied them from anybody else. If he had been a god then he would have created those trees in the
           world. In the painting he is the god, he is the creator. He is not even imitating the creator of the
           universe; he is simply being himself. His trees are so high they grow and touch the moon and stars.
               Somebody asked van Gogh, 'What type of trees are these? Where did you get the idea from?'
               Van Gogh said: 'I don't go getting ideas from anywhere -- these are my trees! If I was the creator
           my trees would touch the stars, because my trees are desires of the earth, dreams of the earth -- to
           touch the stars; earth trying to reach, to touch the stars -- hands of the earth, dreams and desires of
           the earth.'
               But these trees are not imitations. These are van Gogh trees.
               A creator has something to give to the world, something he is pregnant with. Of course, even for
           a van Gogh technique is needed, because hands are needed. Even van Gogh cannot paint without
           hands -- if you cut off his hands what will he do? He also needs technique, but technique is just a
           way to communicate. Technique is just the vehicle, the medium. The technique is not the message,
           the medium is not the message. The medium is simply a vehicle to carry the message. He HAS a
           message; every artist is a prophet -- has to be! Every artist is a creator -- has to be, he has something
           to share. Of course, technique is needed. If I have to say something to you, words are needed, but if I
           am saying only words, then there is no message; then this whole thing is just a chattering. Then I am
           throwing garbage on others. But if words carry my silence, if words carry my wordless message to
           you, only then is something being said.
               When something is to be said, it has to be said in words, but that which has to be said is not
           words. When something has to be painted it has to be painted by colors and brush and canvas, and
           the whole technique is needed -- but the technique is not the message. Through the medium the
           message is given but the medium in itself is not enough.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A technician has the medium, he may have the perfect medium, but he has nothing to deliver, he
           has no message. His heart is not overflowing. He is doing something with the hand and with the
           head, because the learning is in the head, and the know-how, the skill, is in the hand. Head and hand
           cooperate, but the heart remains aloof, untouched. Then painting will be there, but without a heart.
           There will be no beat in it, there will be no pulse of life in it, no blood will flow in it; very difficult to
           see -- you can see only if you know the difference within yourself.
                Take another example, which will be easier to understand. You love a person: you kiss, you hold
           his or her hand in your hand, you embrace, you make love. All these things can be done to a person
           you don't love -- exactly the same kiss, exactly the same embrace, the same way of holding hands;
           the same gestures in making love, the same movements -- but you don't love the person. What will
           be the difference? -- because as far as action is concerned there is no difference: you kiss, and you
           kiss in the same way, as perfectly the same as possible. The medium is there, but the message is not
           there. You are skillful, but your heart is not there. The kiss is dead. It is not like a bird on the wing, it
           is like a dead stone.
                You can make the same movements while making love, but those movements will be more like
           yoga exercises. They will not be love. You go to a prostitute; she knows the technique -- better than
           your beloved. She has to know, she is professionally skillful -- but you will not get love there. If you
           meet the prostitute on the street the next day, she will not even recognize you. She will not even say
           hello, because no relationship exists. It was not a contact, the other person was not there. While
           making love to you, she may have been thinking about her lover. She was not there! She cannot be;
           prostitutes have to learn the technique of how not to be there -- because the whole thing is so ugly.
                You cannot sell love, you can sell the body. You cannot sell your heart, you can sell your skill.
           For a prostitute making love is just a professional thing. She is doing it for the money, and she has to
           learn how not to be there, so she will think of her lover; she will think of a thousand and one things
           but not about you -- the person who is present there -- because to think about the person who is there
           will create a disturbance. She will not be there... absent! She will make movements, she is skillful in
           that, but she is not involved.
                This is the point of this anecdote. You can become so perfect that you can deceive the whole
           world, but how will you deceive yourself? And if you cannot deceive yourself, you cannot deceive
           an enlightened master. He will see through all the tricks that you have created around you. He will
           see that you are not there in your technique; if you are an archer you may hit the target perfectly, but
           that is not the point. Even a prostitute brings you to orgasm, she hits the target as perfectly as
           possible, sometimes even more perfectly than your own beloved; but that is not the point -- because
           although a person remains incomplete, a technique can easily become complete.
                A person remains incomplete unless he becomes enlightened. You cannot expect perfection from
           a person before enlightenment, but you can expect perfection in a skill. You cannot expect perfection
           in the being, but in the doing it can be expected, there is no problem about it. An archer can hit the
           target without ever missing it -- and may not be in it. He has learned the technique, he has become a
           mechanism, a robot. It is simply done by the head and the hand.
                Now, let us try to penetrate this story, The Art of Archery. In Japan and in China, meditation has
           been taught through many skills -- that is the difference between Indian meditation and Chinese and
           Buddhist and Japanese meditation. In India, meditation has been taken away from all action in life.
           It, in itself, is the total thing. That created a difficulty -- that's why in India, religion by and by died.
           It created a difficulty, and the difficulty is this: if you make meditation the whole thing, then you
           become a burden on the society. Then you cannot go to your shop, you cannot go to the office, you
           cannot work in the factory -- meditation becomes your whole life, you simply meditate. In India,
           millions of people simply existed meditating; they became a burden on the society, and the burden
           was too much. Some way or other, the society had to stop it.
                Even now, today, almost ten million sannyasins exist in India. Now they are not respected. Only
           a few... not even ten in those ten million are respected. They have become just beggars. Because of
           this attitude -- that when you do meditation, when religion becomes your life, then there is only
           religion, then you drop all life and you renounce -- Indian meditation has been, in a way, anti-life.
           You can tolerate a few persons but you cannot tolerate millions, and if the whole country become
           meditators, then what will you do? And if meditation cannot be available for each and every person
           -- that means even religion exists only for the few, even in religion class exists, even God is not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           available to all? No, that cannot be. God is available to all.
               In India, Buddhism died. Buddhism died in India, the country of its source, because Buddhist
           monks became a heavy burden. Millions of Buddhist monks -- the country could not tolerate them, it
           was impossible to support them, they had to disappear. Buddhism completely disappeared; the
           greatest flowering of Indian consciousness and it disappeared, because you cannot exist like a
           parasite. A few days, okay; a few years, okay. India tolerated it -- it is a great tolerating country, it
           tolerates everything -- but then there is a limit. Thousands of monasteries filled with thousands of
           monks -- it became impossible for this poor country to continue to support them. They had to
           disappear. In China, in Japan, Buddhism survived, because Buddhism took a change, it passed
           through a mutation -- it dropped the idea of renouncing life. Rather, on the contrary, it made life an
           object of meditation.
               So whatsoever you do, you can do meditatively -- there is no need to leave it. This was a new
           growth, this is the base of zen Buddhism: life is not to be denied. A zen monk goes on working; he
           will work in the garden, he will work on the farm, and he lives on his own labor. He is not a parasite,
           he is a lovely person. He need not bother about the society, and he is MORE free from the society
           than the one who has renounced. How can you be free from the society if you have renounced it?
           Then you become a parasite, not free -- and a parasite cannot have freedom.
               This is my message also: be in the society and be a sannyasin. Don't become a parasite, don't
           become dependent on anybody, because every sort of dependence ultimately will make you a slave.
           It cannot make you a MUKTA, it cannot make you an absolutely free person.
               In Japan, in China, they started to use many things, skills, as an object, as a help, as a support to
           meditation. Archery is one of them -- and archery is beautiful, because it is a very subtle skill, and
           you need much alertness to be skillful in it.

              LIEH-TZU EXHIBITED HIS SKILL IN ARCHERY TO PO-HUN WU-JEN.


                Po-Hun Wu-Jen was an enlightened master. Lieh-Tzu himself became enlightened later on, this
           story belongs to the days of his seeking. Lieh-Tzu himself became a master in his own right, but this
           is a story from before he became enlightened.

              LIEH-TZU EXHIBITED....


                The desire to exhibit is the desire of an ignorant mind. Why do you want to exhibit? Why do you
           want people to know you? What's the cause of it? And why do you make it so significant in your life,
           the exhibition, that people should think that you are somebody very significant, important,
           extraordinary -- WHY? Because you don't have a self. You have only an ego -- a substitute for the
           self.
                Ego is not substantial. Self is substantial, but that is not known to you -- and a man cannot live
           without the feeling of 'I'. It is difficult to live without the feeling of 'I'. Then from what center will
           you work and function? You need an 'I'. Even if it is false it will be helpful. Without an 'I' you sill
           simply disintegrate! Who will be the integrator, the agent within you? Who will integrate you? From
           what center will you function?
                Unless you know the self, you will HAVE to live with an ego. Ego means a substitute self, a
           false self; you don't know the self, so you create a self of your own. It is a mental creation. And for
           anything that is false, you have to make supports. Exhibition gives you support.
                If somebody says, 'You are a beautiful person,' you start feeling that you are beautiful. If nobody
           says so, it will be difficult for you to feel that you are beautiful; you will start suspecting, doubting.
           If you even say to an ugly person continuously, 'You are beautiful,' the ugliness will drop from his
           mind, he will start feeling he is beautiful -- because the mind depends on others' opinions, it
           accumulates opinions, depends on them.
                The ego depends on what people say about you: the ego feels good if people feel good about you;
           if they feel bad, the ego feels bad. If they don't give you any attention, the supports are withdrawn; if
           many people give you attention, they feed your ego -- that's why so much attention is asked for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           continuously.
               Even a small child asks for attention. He may go on playing silently, but a guest comes... and the
           mother has said to the child that when the guest comes, he has to be silent: 'Don't create any noise,
           and don't create any disturbance' -- but when the guest comes, the child HAS to do something
           because he also wants attention. And he wants more, because he is accumulating an ego -- just
           growing. He needs more food and he has been told to keep silence -- that is impossible! He will
           HAVE to do something. Even if he has to harm himself, he will fall. Harm can be tolerated, but
           attention must be paid to him, everybody must pay attention, he MUST become the center of
           attention!
               Once I stayed in a home. The child there must have been told that while I was there he was not to
           make any trouble, he had to remain quiet and everything. But the child could not remain quiet, he
           wanted my attention also, so he started creating noise, running here and there, throwing things. The
           mother was angry and she told him many times, admonished him: 'Listen, I am going to beat you if
           you go on doing this.' But he wouldn't listen. Then finally she said to the child, 'Listen, go to that
           chair and sit there NOW!'
               From the very gesture the child understood, 'Now it is too much and she is going to beat me,' so
           he went to the chair, sat there on the chair, glared at his mother and said, very meaningfully, 'Okay! I
           am SITTING, on the outside -- but on the inside I am standing.'
               From childhood to the final, ultimate day of your death, you go on asking for attention. When a
           person is dying the only idea that is in his mind, almost always, is, 'What will people say when I am
           dead? How many people will come to give me the last goodbye? What will be published in the
           newspapers? Is any newspaper going to write an editorial?' These are the thoughts. From the very
           beginning to the last we look at what others say. It must be a deep need.
               Attention is food for the ego; only a person who has attained to the self drops that need. When
           you have a center, your own, you need not ask for others' attention. Then you can live alone. Even in
           the crowd you will be alone, even in the world you will be alone, you will move in the crowd, but
           alone.
               Right now you cannot be alone. Right now if you go to the Himalayas and move into a dense
           forest, sitting under a tree, you will wait for somebody to pass by, at least somebody who can carry
           the message to the world that you have become a great hermit. You will wait, you will open your
           eyes many times to see -- has somebody come yet or not? ... Because you have heard the stories that
           when somebody renounces the world, the whole world comes to his feet, and up to now nobody has
           reached -- no newspaper man, no reporters, no cameramen, nobody! You cannot go to the
           Himalayas. When the need for attention drops you are in the Himalayas wherever you are.

              LIEH-TZU EXHIBITED HIS SKILL IN ARCHERY....


              Why 'exhibit'? He was still concerned with the ego, he was still looking for attention, and he
           showed his skill to Po-Hun Wu-Jen who was an enlightened master, a very old man. The story says
           he was almost ninety -- very, very old -- when Lieh-Tzu went to see him. Why to Po-Hun? --
           because he was a renowned master, and if he says, 'Yes, Lieh-Tzu, you are the greatest archer in the
           world,' it will be such a vital food that one can live on it for ever and ever.

              WHEN THE BOW WAS DRAWN TO ITS FULL LENGTH, A CUP OF WATER WAS PLACED ON HIS
              ELBOW AND HE BEGAN TO SHOOT --


              and even a single drop of water would not come out of the full cup placed on his elbow, and he
           was shooting!

              AS SOON AS THE FIRST ARROW WAS LET FLY, A SECOND WAS ALREADY ON THE STRING,
              AND THEN A THIRD ONE FOLLOWED. IN THE MEANTIME HE STOOD UNMOVED LIKE A
              STATUE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Great skill -- but Po-Hun Wu-Jen was not impressed, because the moment you want to exhibit
           you have missed. The very effort to exhibit shows that you have not attained to the self, and if you
           have not attained to the self you can stand like a statue on the outside -- in the inside you will be
           running, following many many motivations, desires and dreams. Outside, you may be unmoving;
           inside, all sorts of movements will be going on there together, simultaneously; in many directions
           you must be running. Outside you can become a statue -- that is not the point.
               It is said of Bokuju: he went to his master and for two years he sat before his master, near him,
           just like a statue, a marble statue of Buddha. At the beginning of the third year the master came, gave
           Bokuju a whack with his staff, and told him: 'You stupid! We have a thousand and one Buddha
           statues here, we don't need any more!' -- because his master lived in a temple where there were one
           thousand and one Buddha statues. He said, 'There are enough! What are you doing here?'
               Statues are not needed, but a different state of being. It is very easy to sit silently on the outside
           -- what is difficult in it? Just a little training is needed. I have seen one man, very much respected in
           India, who has been standing for ten years -- he even sleeps standing. His legs have become so thick
           and swollen that now he cannot bend his legs. People respect him very much, but when I went to see
           him he wanted to see me alone, and then he asked: 'Tell me how to meditate. My mind is very much
           disturbed.'
               Ten years standing like a statue! -- he has not sat, he has not slept, but the problem remains the
           same: how to meditate, how to become silent inside. Unmoving outside, many movements inside.
           There may be even more than there are with you, because your energy is divided; much energy is
           needed for body movements. But a man who stands without moving -- his whole energy moves
           inwards in the mind, he becomes inside MAD. But people respect him -- and that has become an
           exhibition. Ego is fulfilled but the self is nowhere to be found.

              PO-HUN WU-JEN SAID: 'THE TECHNIQUE OF SHOOTING IS FINE' -- you did well,
           beautiful! -- 'BUT IT IS NOT THE TECHNIQUE OF NON-SHOOTING.'

                This may be a little bit difficult because in zen they say that the technique of shooting is just the
           beginning, to know HOW to shoot is just the beginning; but to know how NOT to shoot, so that the
           arrow shoots by itself, is to know the end.
                Try to understand: when you shoot, the ego is there, the doer. And what is the art of
           non-shooting? The arrow shoots in that too, it reaches the target in that too, but the target is not the
           point. It may even miss the target -- that is not the point. The point is, inside there should be no doer.
           The SOURCE is the point. When you put an arrow on the bow, you should not be there; you should
           be as if nonexistent, absolutely empty, and the arrow shoots by itself. No doer inside -- then there
           can be no ego. You are so much one with the whole process that there is no division. You are lost in
           it. The act and the actor are not two -- not even the slight distinction of 'I am the doer and this is my
           action.' It takes many years to attain. And if you don't understand, it is very difficult to attain it; if
           you understand the thing, you create the possibility.
                Herrigel, a German seeker, worked for three years with his master in Japan. He was an archer,
           when he reached Japan he was already an archer, and a perfect one, because a hundred percent of his
           targets were hit by the arrow; there was no question of it. When he arrived he was already an archer
           just like Lieh-Tzu. But the master laughed. He said, 'Yes, you are skilled in shooting, but what about
           non-shooting?'
                Herrigel said, 'What is this non-shooting? -- never heard of it.'
           The master said, 'Then I will teach you.'
                Three years passed; he became more and more skillful and the target became nearer and nearer
           and nearer. He became absolutely perfect, there was nothing lacking. And he was worried because...
           and this is the problem for the Western mind: the East looks mysterious, illogical, and the East is. He
           couldn't understand this master; was he a madman? ... Because now he was absolutely perfect, the
           master could not find a single fault, and he went on saying, 'No!' This is the problem: the gulf
           between the Eastern and the Western approaches towards life. The master goes on saying no, goes on
           rejecting.
                Herrigel started getting frustrated. He said, 'But where is the fault? Show me the fault and I can
           learn how to go beyond it.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The master said, 'There is no fault. YOU are faulty. There is no fault, your shooting is perfect --
           but that is not the point. YOU are faulty; when you shoot, YOU are there, you are too much there.
           The arrow reaches the target, that's right! -- but that is not the point. WHY are you there too much?
           Why the exhibition? Why the ego? Why can't you simply shoot without being there?'
               Herrigel, of course, continued arguing, 'How can one shoot without being there? Then who will
           shoot?' -- a very rational approach: then who will shoot?
               And the master would say, 'Just look at me.' And Herrigel also felt that his master had a different
           quality, but that quality is mysterious and you cannot catch it. He felt it many times: that when the
           master shoots it is really different, as if he becomes the arrow, the bow, as if the master is there no
           more; he is completely one, undivided.
               Then he started asking how to do this. The master said, 'This is not a technique. You have to
           understand, and you have to soak yourself into that understanding more and more, and sink into it.'
               Three years lost, and then Herrigel understood that this was not possible. Either this man is mad,
           or it is not possible for a Westerner to attain this non-shooting: I have wasted three years, now it is
           time to go.
               So he asked the master straight; the master said, 'Yes, you can go.'
               Herrigel asked, 'Can you give me a certificate stating that for three years I learned with you?'
               The master said, 'No, because you have not learned anything. You have been three years with
           me, but you have not learned anything. All that you have learned you could have learned in Germany
           also. There was no need to come here.'
               The day he was to leave he just went to say goodbye, and the master was teaching other
           disciples, and demonstrating. It was just morning, and the sun was rising and there were birds
           singing; and Herrigel was now unworried because he had decided, and once the decision is taken the
           worry disappears. He was not worried. For these three years he was tense in the mind -- how to
           attain? How to fulfill the conditions of this madman? But now there was no worry. He had decided,
           he was leaving, he had booked; by the evening he would leave and all this nightmare would be left
           behind. He was just waiting for the master so that when he was finished with his disciples he could
           say goodbye and a thank you and leave.
               So he was sitting on a bench. For the first time, suddenly he felt something. He looked at the
           master. The master was pulling the string of the bow and, as if he was not walking towards the
           master, he suddenly found himself standing and walking from the bench. He reached the master,
           took the bow from his hand... the arrow left the bow, and the master said, 'Good, fine, you have
           attained! Now I can give you a certificate.'
               And Herrigel says: 'Yes, that day I attained. I now know the difference. That day something
           happened by itself -- I was not the shooter, I was not there at all. I was just sitting on the bench
           relaxed. There was no tension, no worry, no thinking about it. I was not concerned.'
               Remember this, because you are also near a madman. It is very difficult to fulfill my conditions.
           It is almost impossible -- but it is possible also. And it will happen only when you have done
           everything that you can do, and you come to the point to say goodbye, when you come to the point
           where you would like to leave me and go away. It will come to you only when you come to the point
           where you think, 'Drop all these meditations and everything. The whole thing is nightmarish.' Then
           there is no worry. But don't forget to come to me and say goodbye; otherwise you may leave without
           attaining.
               Things start happening when you are finished with effort, when the effort has been made totally
           -- of course, Herrigel was total in his effort; that's why in three years he could finish the whole thing.
           If you are partial, fragmentary, your effort is not total, then three lives may not be enough. If you are
           lukewarm in your effort then you will never come to a point when the whole effort becomes useless.
               Be total in the effort. Learn the whole technique that is possible to do meditation. Do everything
           that you can do. Don't withhold anything. Don't try to escape from anything; do it wholeheartedly.
           Then there comes a point, a peak, where no more can be done. When you come to the point where no
           more can be done and you have done all, and I go on saying, 'No, this is not enough!' -- my 'no' is
           needed to bring you to the total, to the final, to the peak from where no more doing is possible.
               And you don't know how much you can do. You have tremendous energy which you are not
           using; you are using only a fragment. And if you are using only a fragment, then you will never
           come to the point where Herrigel reached -- I call that the Herrigel point.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But he did well. He did whatsoever could be done; on his part he was not saving anything. Then
           the boiling point comes. At that boiling point is the door. The whole effort becomes so useless, so
           futile: you are not reaching anywhere through it, so you drop it. A sudden relaxation... and the door
           opens.
               Now you can meditate without being a meditator. Now you can meditate without even
           meditating. Now you can meditate without your ego being there. Now you become the meditation --
           there is no meditator. The actor becomes the action, the meditator becomes meditation; the archer
           becomes the bow, the arrow -- and the target is not there outside somewhere hanging on a tree. The
           target is YOU, inside you -- the source.
           This is what Po-Hun Wu-Jen said. He said:
           'THE TECHNIQUE OF SHOOTING IS FINE' --

              of course Lieh-Tzu was a good shot, a perfect archer

              -- 'BUT IT IS NOT THE TECHNIQUE OF NON-SHOOTING. LET US GO UP TO A HIGH MOUNTAIN
              AND STAND ON A PROJECTING ROCK, AND THEN YOU TRY AND SHOOT.'


               What is he bringing Lieh-Tzu to? The outside is perfect but the source is still trembling. The
           action is perfect but the being is still shaking. The fear is there, death is there; he has not known
           himself yet. He is not a knower; whatsoever he is doing is just from the head and the hand: the third
           H is still not in it. Remember always to have all the three H's together -- the hand, the heart and the
           head. You have learned the three R's, now learn the three H's. And always remember that the head is
           so cunning that it can deceive you, it can give you the feeling, 'Okay, all the three H's are there,'
           because as a skill develops, as you become more and more technically perfect, the head says, 'What
           else is needed?'
               Head means the West, heart means the East. The head says, 'Everything is okay.' Herrigel is
           head, the master is the heart -- and the master looks mad. And remember: for the head, the heart
           always looks mad. The head always says, 'You keep quiet. Don't come in, otherwise you will create a
           mess. Let me tackle the whole thing. I have learned everything, I know the arithmetic, and I know
           how to deal with this.' And technically the head is always correct. The heart is technically always
           wrong, because the heart knows no technique, it knows only the feeling, it knows only the poetry of
           being. It knows no technique, it knows no grammar, it is a poetic phenomenon.'LET US GO TO A
           HIGH MOUNTAIN,'

              said the old master -- very very old, ninety years old --
           'AND STAND ON A PROJECTING ROCK AND THEN YOU TRY AND SHOOT.'

           Then we will see.

              THEY CLIMBED UP A MOUNTAIN. STANDING ON A ROCK THAT PROJECTED OVER A
              PRECIPICE TEN THOUSAND FEET HIGH....


               And remember, that is the difference between the head and the heart: ten thousand feet high is
           the heart, on a projecting rock overlooking a ten thousand foot deep valley....
               Whenever you move nearer to the heart you will feel dizzy. With the head, everything is on level
           ground; it is a highway, concrete. With the heart you move into the forest -- no highways, ups and
           downs, everything mysterious, unknown, hidden in a mist; nothing is clear, it is a labyrinth; it is not
           a highway, it is more like a puzzle. Ten thousand feet high!
               Somewhere Nietzsche has reported that once it happened that he suddenly found himself ten
           thousand feet high, ten thousand feet high from time -- as if time were a valley, and he found himself
           ten thousand feet high and away from time itself. The day he reported this in his diary is the day he
           went mad. The day he reported this in his diary is the day his madness came in.
               It is a very dizzy point; one can go mad. As you move nearer towards the heart, you will feel you
           are moving nearer madness. 'What am I doing?' Things get dizzy. The known leaves you behind, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unknown enters. All maps become useless, because no maps exist for the heart; all maps exist for the
           conscious mind. It is a clear-cut thing; in it, you are secure. That's why love gives you fear, death
           gives you fear, meditation gives you fear. Whenever you are moving towards the center, fear grips
           you.

              THEY CLIMBED UP A MOUNTAIN. STANDING ON A ROCK THAT PROJECTED OVER A
              PRECIPICE TEN THOUSAND FEET HIGH, PO-HUN WU-JEN MOVED BACKWARDS --


             not forwards; on this projecting rock ten thousand feet high he moved backwards.
             PO-HUN WU-JEN MOVED BACKWARDS UNTIL ONE THIRD OF HIS FEET WERE
           OVERHANGING THE EDGE -- and backwards. HE THEN MOTIONED LIEH-TZU TO COME
           FORWARD.

               It is said that this ninety-year-old man was almost bent; he couldn't stand erect, he was very very
           old. This bent old man, half of his feet overhanging the edge -- not even looking that way,
           backwards.

              HE THEN MOTIONED LIEH-TZU TO COME FORWARD.


              That is where I am standing and calling you to come forward.

              LIEH-TZU FELL DOWN ON THE GROUND.


              He would not come near him. Wherever he was standing, far away from the projecting precipice,
           Lieh-Tzu fell down on the ground.
              The very idea of coming closer to this old madman who is just standing, overhanging death; any
           moment he will fall and will not be found ever....

              .... WITH PERSPIRATION FLOWING DOWN TO HIS HEELS.


               Lieh-Tzu fell down on the ground with perspiration flowing down to his heels. Remember, first
           perspiration comes to the head. When the fear starts, first you perspire on the head; the heels are the
           last thing. When fear enters so deep in you that not only is the head perspiring, but the heels are
           perspiring, then the whole being is filled with fear and trembling. Lieh-Tzu could not stand -- he
           could not stand even the idea of coming nearer to the old master.

              SAID PO-HUN WU-JEN: 'THE PERFECT MAN SOARS UP ABOVE THE BLUE SKY, OR DIVES
              DOWN TO THE YELLOW SPRINGS, OR WANDERS ALL OVER THE EIGHT LIMITS OF THE
              WORLD, YET SHOWS NO SIGN OF CHANGE IN HIS SPIRIT.'
              'Lieh-Tzu, why are you perspiring so much? To the very heels? And why have you fallen there on the
              ground, dazed? Why this change in spirit? Why are you shaking so much? Why this trembling? What
              is the fear? -- because a perfect man has no fear!'

               Perfection is fearlessness... because a perfect man knows there is no death. Even if this old
           Po-Hun Wu-Jen falls, he knows he cannot really fall; even if the body shatters into millions of pieces
           and nobody can find it again, he knows he cannot die. He will remain as he is. Only something on
           the periphery will disappear; the center remains, remains always as it is.
               Death is not for the center. The cyclone is only on the periphery, the cyclone never reaches the
           center. Nothing ever reaches the center. The perfect man is centered, he is rooted in his being. He is
           fearless. He is not unafraid -- no! He is not a brave man -- no! He is simply fearless. A brave man is
           one who has fear, but goes against his fear; and a coward is one who also has fear, but goes with his
           fear. They don't differ, the brave and cowards, they don't differ basically, they both have fears. The
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           brave is one who goes on in spite of the fear, the coward is one who follows his fear. But a perfect
           man is neither; he is simply fearless. He is neither a coward, nor is he brave. He simply knows that
           death is a myth, death is a lie -- the greatest lie; death does not exist.
              Remember, for a perfect man death does not exist -- only life, or God, exists. For you, God does
           not exist, only death exists. The moment you feel deathlessness you have felt the divine. The
           moment you feel deathlessness you have felt the very source of life.
           'THE PERFECT MAN SOARS UP ABOVE THE BLUE SKY, OR DIVES DOWN TO THE
           YELLOW SPRINGS, OR WANDERS ALL OVER THE EIGHT LIMITS OF THE WORLD, YET
           SHOWS NO SIGN OF CHANGE IN HIS SPIRIT.'

              Change may happen on the periphery but in his spirit there is no change. Inside he remains
           unmoving. Inside he remains eternally the same.
           'BUT YOU BETRAY A SIGN OF TREPIDATION, AND YOUR EYES ARE DAZED,
           LIEH-TZU.HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO HIT THE TARGET?'

                ... Because if you are trembling within, howsoever exactly you hit the target, it cannot be exact
           because the trembling inside will make your hand tremble. It may be invisible, but it will be there.
           For all outward purposes you may have hit the target, but for inward purposes you have missed. How
           can you hit the target?
                So the basic thing is not to hit the target, the basic thing is to attain a non-trembling being. Then
           whether you hit the target or not is secondary. That is for children to decide, and child's play.
                This is the difference between the art of shooting and the art of non-shooting. It is possible that
           this master, old master, may miss the target, it is possible; but still, he knows the art of non-shooting.
           Lieh-Tzu will never miss the target, but still he has missed the real target, he has missed himself.
                So there are two points: the source from where the arrow moves, and the end where the arrow
           reaches. Religion is always concerned with the source from where all the arrows move. Where they
           reach is not the point; the basic thing is from where they move -- because if they move from a
           non-trembling being they will attain the target. They have already attained, because in the source is
           the end, in the beginning is the end, in the seed is the tree, in the alpha is the omega.
                So the basic thing is not to be worried about the result; the essential thing is to think, to meditate,
           about the source. Whether my gesture is a perfect love gesture or not is not the point. Whether love
           is flowing or not, that is the point. If love is there it will find its own technique, if love is there it will
           find its own skill. But if love is not there, and you are skilled in the technique, the technique cannot
           find its love -- remember this.
                The center will always find its periphery, but the periphery CANNOT find the center. The being
           will always find its morality, its character, but the character will not find its being. You cannot move
           from without towards within. There is only one way: energy flows from within towards without. The
           river cannot move if there is no source, no originating source. Then the whole thing would be false.
           If you have the source, the river will move, and it will attain to the ocean -- there is no problem.
           Wheresoever it goes, it will reach the target. If the source is overflowing, you will attain; and if you
           are simply playing with techniques and toys, you will miss.
                In the West particularly, technology has become so important that it has entered even in human
           relationship. Because you know too much about techniques, you are trying to convert everything into
           technology. That's why books, thousands of books, are published every year about love -- the
           technique, how to attain orgasm, how to make love. Even love has become a technological problem
           and orgasm a technological thing, it has to be solved by technicians. If love has also become a
           technological problem then what is left? Then nothing is left, then the whole life is just a technology.
           Then you have to know the know-how -- but you miss; you miss the real target which is the source.
                Technique is good as far as it goes, but it is secondary. It is nonessential. The essential is the
           source and one must first look for the source -- and then the technique can come. It is good that you
           learn technique, it is good! People come to me and I see they are always concerned with technique.
           They ask how to meditate. They don't ask, 'What is meditation?' 'How?' -- they ask HOW to attain
           peace. They never ask, 'What is peace?' As if they already know.
                Mulla Nasruddin killed his wife and then there was a case in the court. The judge said to
           Nasruddin, 'Nasruddin, you go on insisting again and again that you are a peaceloving man. What
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           type of peaceloving man are you? You killed your wife!'
               Nasruddin said, 'Yes, I repeat again that I am a peaceloving man. You don't know: when I killed
           my wife such peace descended on her face, and for the first time in my house there was peace all
           over. And I still insist that I am a peaceloving man.'
               Technique kills. It can give you a peace which belongs to death, not to life. Method is dangerous,
           because you may forget the source completely and you may become obsessed with the method.
           Methods are good if you remain alert and you remain conscious that they are not the end, they are
           only the means. Too much obsession with them is very harmful, because you can forget the source
           completely.
               This is the point. This old master, Po-Hun Wu-Jen, showed Lieh-Tzu one of the secrets.
           Lieh-Tzu himself became an enlightened man, he himself became what this old man was at that
           moment: backwards, moving towards the precipice ten thousand feet high and half his feet hanging
           over -- and a very old body, ninety years old, and still no trembling came to the old man; not a slight
           change, not even a tremor! Inside he must have been totally fearless. Inside he must have been
           rooted, grounded in himself, centered. Remember this always, because there is always a possibility
           of becoming a victim of techniques and methods.
               The ultimate comes to you only when all techniques have been dropped. The ultimate happens to
           you only when there is no method, because only then are you open. The ultimate will knock at your
           door only when you are not there. When you are absent, you are ready, because when you are absent
           only then is there a space for the ultimate to enter into you. Then you become a womb. If YOU are
           there you are always too much; there is not even a slight gap, space, for the ultimate to enter into you
           -- and the ultimate is VAST. You have to be so vastly empty, so infinitely empty -- only then is there
           a possibility of the meeting.
               That's why I go on saying you will never be able to meet God, because when God comes you will
           not be there. And until you are, he cannot come. You are the barrier.




                                        And The Flowers Showered
                                                    Chapter #7
                                              Chapter title: Temple fire
           6 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411060
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              WHILE TOKAI WAS A VISITOR AT A CERTAIN TEMPLE, A FIRE STARTED UNDER THE KITCHEN
              FLOOR.
              A MONK RUSHED INTO TOKAI'S BEDROOM, SHOUTING: 'A FIRE, MASTER, A FIRE!' 'OH?' SAID
              TOKAI, SITTING UP. 'WHERE?' 'WHERE?' EXCLAIMED THE MONK. 'WHY, UNDER THE KITCHEN
              FLOOR -- GET UP AT ONCE.' 'THE KITCHEN, EH?' SAID THE MASTER DROWSILY. 'WELL, TELL
              YOU WHAT, WHEN IT REACHES THE PASSAGEWAY, COME BACK AND LET ME KNOW.'
              TOKAI WAS SNORING AGAIN IN NO TIME.


             THE WHOLE IGNORANCE OF MIND consists in not being in the present. Mind is always
           moving: into the future, or into the past. Mind is never here and now. It cannot be. The very nature
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of mind is such that it cannot be in the present, because mind has to think, and in the present moment
           there is no possibility to think. You have to see, you have to listen, you have to be present, but you
           cannot think.
                The present moment is so narrow that there is no space to think about. You can be, but thoughts
           cannot be. How can you think? If you think, it means it is already past, the moment has gone. Or you
           can think if it has not come yet, it is in the future.
                For thinking space is needed, because thinking is like a walk -- a walk of the mind, a journey.
           Space is needed. You can walk into the future, you can walk into the past, but how can you walk in
           the present? The present is so close, really not even close -- the present is YOU. Past and future are
           parts of time; the present is YOU, it is not part of time. It is not a tense: it is not at all a part of time,
           it doesn't belong to time. The present is you; past and future are out of you.
                The mind cannot exist in the present. If you can be here, totally present, mind will disappear.
           Mind can desire, can dream -- dream a thousand and one thoughts. It can move to the very end of the
           world, it can move to the very beginning of the world, but it cannot be here and now -- that is
           impossible for it. The whole ignorance consists in not knowing this. And then you worry about the
           past, which is no more -- it is absolutely stupid! You cannot do anything about the past. How can
           you do anything about the past which is no more? Nothing can be done, it has already gone; but you
           worry about it, and worrying about it, you waste yourself.
                Or you think about the future, and dream and desire. Have you ever observed? -- the future never
           comes. It cannot come. Whatsoever comes is always the present, and the present is absolutely
           different from your desires, your dreams. That's why whatsoever you desire and dream and imagine
           and plan for and worry about, never happens. But it wastes you. You go on deteriorating. You go on
           dying. Your energies go on moving in a desert, not reaching any goal, simply dissipating. And then
           death knocks at your door. And remember: death never knocks in the past, and death never knocks in
           the future; death knocks in the present.
                You cannot say to death, 'Tomorrow!' Death knocks in the present. Life also knocks in the
           present. God also knocks in the present. Everything that is always knocks in the present, and
           everything that is not is always part of past or future.
                Your mind is a false entity because it never knocks in the present. Let this be the criterion of
           reality: whatsoever is, is always here and now; whatsoever is not is never a part of the present. Drop
           all that which never knocks in the now. And if you move in the now, a new dimension opens -- the
           dimension of eternity.
                Past and future move in a horizontal line: A moves to B, B to C, C to D, in a line. Eternity moves
           vertically: A moves deeper into the A, higher into the A, not to B; A goes on moving deeper and
           higher, both ways. It is vertical. The present moment moves vertically, time moves horizontally.
           Time and present never meet. And you are the present: your whole being moves vertically. The
           depth is open, the height is open, but you are moving horizontally with the mind. That's how you
           miss God.
                People come to me and they ask how to meet God, how to see, how to realize. That is not the
           point. The point is: how are you missing him? -- because he is here and now, knocking at your door.
           It cannot be otherwise. If he is the real, he must be here and now. Only unreality is not here and now.
           He is already at your door -- but YOU are not there. You are never at home. You go on wandering
           into millions of words, but you are never at home. There you are never found, and God comes to
           meet you there, reality surrounds you there, but never finds you there. The real question is not how
           you should meet God; the real question is how you should be at home, so that when God knocks he
           finds you there. It is not a question of your finding him, it is a question of him finding you.
                So it is a real meditation. A man of understanding does not bother about God or that type of
           matter, because he is not a philosopher. He simply tries to be at home, meditates on how to stop
           worrying about the future and the past, thinking about future and past; he meditates on how to settle
           here and now, how not to move from this moment. Once you are in this moment, the door opens.
           This moment is the door!
                I was staying once with a Catholic priest and his family. It happened one evening that I was
           sitting with the family: the priest, his wife, and their young child who was playing in the corner of
           the room with a few blocks, making something. Then suddenly the child said, 'Now everybody be
           quiet, because I have made a church. The church is ready, now be silent.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The father was very happy that the boy understood that in a church one has to be quiet. To
           encourage him he said, 'Why is it one needs to be quiet in a church?' 'Because,' said the boy, 'the
           people are asleep.'
                The people are really asleep, not only in the church, but on the whole earth, everywhere. They
           are asleep in the church because they come asleep from out-side. They go out of the church, they
           move in sleep -- everybody is a sleepwalker, a somnambulist. And this is the nature of sleep: that
           you are never here and now, because if you are here and now you will be awake!
                Sleep means you are in the past, sleep means you are in the future. Mind is the sleep, mind is a
           deep hypnosis -- fast asleep. And you try many ways, but nothing seems to help you -- because
           anything done in your sleep will not be of much help, because if you do it in sleep it will not be more
           than a dream.
                I have heard that once a man came to a psychoanalyst, a very absentminded psychoanalyst -- and
           everybody is absentminded because mind is absent-mindedness, not at home; that's what
           absent-mindedness means. A man went to this very absentminded psychoanalyst and told him. 'I am
           in great trouble. I have knocked at the doors of all types of doctors but nobody could help me, and
           they say that nothing is wrong. But I am in trouble. I snore so loudly in my sleep that I wake myself
           up. And this happens so many times in the night: the snoring is so loud that I wake myself up!'
                Without exactly listening to what this man was saying, the psychoanalyst said, 'This is nothing.
           A simple thing can change the whole matter. You simply sleep in another room'.
                You understand? -- this is exactly what everybody is doing. You go on changing rooms, but
           sleep continues, snoring continues, because you cannot leave it in another room. It is not something
           separate from you; it is you, it is your mind, it is your whole accumulated past, your memory, your
           knowledge -- what Hindus call SAMSKARAS, all the conditionings that make your mind. You go in
           another room, they follow you there.
                You can change your religion: you can become a Christian from a Hindu, you can become a
           Hindu from a Christian -- you change rooms. Nothing will come of it. You can go on changing your
           masters -- from one master to another, from one ashram to another: nothing will be of much help.
           You are changing rooms; and the basic thing is not to change rooms but to change YOU. The room
           is not concerned with your snoring; the room is not the cause, YOU are the cause. This is the first
           thing to be understood; then you will be able to follow this beautiful story.
                Your mind, as it is, is asleep. But you cannot feel how it is asleep because you look quite awake,
           with open eyes. But have you ever seen anything? You look wide awake with your open ears, but
           have you ever heard anything?
                You are listening to me so you will say, Yes! But are you listening to me or listening to your
           mind inside? Your mind is constantly commenting. I am here, talking to you, but you are not there
           listening to me. Your mind constantly comments, 'Yes, it is right, I agree'; 'I don't agree, this is
           absolutely false'; your mind is standing there, constantly commenting. Through this commentary,
           this fog of the mind, I cannot penetrate you. Understanding comes when you are not interpreting,
           when you simply listen.
                In a small school the teacher found that one boy was not listening. He was very lazy and fidgety,
           restless. So she asked: 'Why? Are you in some difficulty? Are you not able to hear me?'
                The boy said, 'Hearing is okay, listening is the problem. '
                He made a really subtle distinction. He said, 'Hearing is okay, I am hearing you; but LISTENING
           is the problem' -- because listening is more than hearing; listening is hearing with full awareness.
           Just hearing is okay, sounds are all around you -- you hear, but you are not listening. You have to
           hear, because the sounds will go on knocking at your eardrum; you have to hear. But you are not
           there to listen, because listening means a deep attention, a rapport -- not a constant commentary
           inside, not saying yes or no, not agreeing, disagreeing, because if you agree and disagree, in that
           moment how can you listen to me?
                When you agree, what I said is already past; when you disagree, it is already gone. And in the
           moment you nod your head inside, say no or yes, you are missing -- and this is a constant thing
           inside you.
                You cannot listen. And the more knowledge you have the more difficult listening becomes.
           Listening means innocent attention -- you simply listen. There is no need to be in agreement or
           disagreement. I am not in search of your agreement or disagreement. I am not asking for your vote, I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           am not seeking your following, I am not in any way trying to convince you.
               What do you do when a parrot starts screeching in a tree? Do you comment? Yes, then too you
           say, 'Disturbing.' You cannot listen even to a parrot. When the wind is blowing through the trees and
           there's the rustling noise, do you listen to it? Sometimes, maybe; it catches you unawares. But then
           too you comment, 'Yes, beautiful!'
               Now watch: whenever you comment, you fall asleep. The mind has come in, and with the mind
           the past and future enter. The vertical line is lost -- and you become horizontal. The moment mind
           enters you become horizontal. You miss eternity.
               Simply listen. There is no need to say yes or no. There is no need to be convinced or not
           convinced. Simply listen, and the truth will be revealed to you -- or the untruth! If somebody is
           talking nonsense, if you simply listen the nonsense will be revealed to you -- without any
           commentary from the mind. If somebody is speaking the truth, it will be revealed to you. Truth or
           untruth is not an agreement or a disagreement of your mind, it is a feeling. When you are in total
           rapport, you feel, and you simply feel that it is true or it is untrue -- and the thing is finished! No
           worrying about it, no thinking about it! What can thinking do?
               If you have been brought up in a certain way, if you are a Christian, or a Hindu, or a
           Mohammedan, and I am saying something which happens to agree with your upbringing, you will
           say yes. If it doesn't happen so, you will say no. Are YOU here or is only the upbringing here? And
           upbringing is just accidental.
               The mind cannot find what is true, the mind cannot find what is untrue. The mind can reason
           about it, but all reasoning is based on conditioning. If you are a Hindu you reason in one way, if you
           are a Mohammedan you reason in a different way. And every type of conditioning rationalizes. It is
           not really reasoning: you rationalize.
               Mulla Nasruddin became very aged; he attained one hundred years. A reporter came to see him,
           because he was the oldest citizen around those parts. The reporter said, 'Nasruddin, there are a few
           questions I would like to ask. One is, do you think you will be able to live a hundred years more?'
               Nasruddin said, 'Of course, because a hundred years ago I was not so strong as I am now.' A
           hundred years before, he was a child, just born, so he said: 'A hundred years ago I was not so strong
           as I am now, and if a small child, helpless, weak, could survive for a hundred years, why shouldn't
           I?'
               This is rationalization. It looks logical, but it misses something. It is a wish-fulfillment. You
           would like to survive longer, so you create a rationale around it: you believe in the immortality of the
           soul. You have been brought up in a culture which says that the soul is eternal. If somebody says,
           'Yes, the soul is eternal,' you nod, you say, 'Yes, that's right.' But that's not right -- or wrong. You say
           yes because it is a deep-rooted conditioning in you. There are others: half the world believes --
           Hindus, Buddhists and Jainas believe -- that the soul is eternal, and there are many rebirths. And half
           the world -- Christians, Mohammedans, Jews, believe the soul is not eternal and there is no rebirth,
           only one life and then the soul dissolves into the ultimate.
               Half the world believes this, half the world believes that, and they all have their own arguments,
           they all have their own rationalizations. Whatsoever you want to believe, you will believe, but deep
           down your desire will be the cause of your belief, not reason. Mind looks rational, but it is not. It is a
           rationalizing process: whatsoever you want to believe, the mind says yes. And where does that
           wanting come from? It comes from your upbringing.
               Listening is a totally different affair, it has a totally different quality to it. When you LISTEN,
           you cannot be a Hindu, or a Mohammedan, or a Jaina, or a Christian. When you listen you cannot be
           a theist or an atheist; when you listen you can't listen through the skin of your -isms or scriptures --
           you have to put them all aside; you simply listen.
               I'm not asking you to agree, don't be afraid! Simply listen, not bothered by agreement or
           disagreement, and then a rapport happens.
               If the truth is there, suddenly you are drawn -- your whole being is drawn as if by a magnet. You
           melt and merge into it, and your heart feels 'This is true,' without any reason, without any arguments,
           without any logic. This is why religions say reason is not the way to the divine. They say it is faith,
           they say it is trust.
               What is trust? Is it a belief? No, because belief belongs to the mind. Trust is a rapport. You
           simply put aside all your defense measures, your armor; you become vulnerable. You listen to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something, and you listen so totally that the feeling arises in you as to whether it is true or not. If it is
           untrue, you FEEL it. Why does this happen? If it is true, you feel it. Why does this happen?
               It happens because truth resides in you. When you are totally nonthinking your inner truth can
           feel wherever truth is -- because like always feels out like: it fits. Suddenly everything fits,
           everything falls in a pattern and the chaos becomes a cosmos. The words fall in line... and a poetry
           arises. Then everything simply fits.
               If you are in rapport, and the truth is there, your inner being simply agrees with it -- but it is not
           an agreement. You feel a tuning. You become one. This is trust. If something is wrong, it simply
           falls from you -- you never pay it a second thought, you never look at it a second time: there is no
           meaning in it. You never say, 'This is untrue'; it simply doesn't fit -- you move! If it fits, it becomes
           your home. If it doesn't fit, you move.
               Through listening comes trust. But listening needs hearing plus attention. And you are fast asleep
           -- how can you be attentive? But even fast asleep a fragment of attention remains floating in you;
           otherwise there would be no way. You may be in a prison, but possibilities always exist -- you can
           come out. Difficulties may be there, but it is not impossible, because prisoners have been known to
           escape. A Buddha escapes, a Mahavira escapes, a Jesus escapes -- they were also prisoners like you.
           Prisoners have escaped before -- prisoners have always escaped. There remains somewhere a door, a
           possibility; you simply have to search for it.
               If it is impossible, if there is no possibility, then there is no problem. The problem arises because
           the possibility is there -- you are a little alert. If you were absolutely unalert, then there would be no
           problem. If you were in a coma, then there would be no problem. But you are not in a coma; you are
           asleep -- but not totally. A gap, a leakage exists. You have to find within yourself that possibility of
           being attentive.
               Sometimes you become attentive. If somebody comes to hit you, the attention comes. If you are
           in danger, if you are passing through a forest at night and it is dark, you walk with a different quality
           of attention. You are awake; thinking is not there. You are fully in rapport with the situation, with
           whatsoever is happening. Even if a leaf creates a sound you are fully alert. You are just like a hare,
           or a deer -- they are always awake. Your ears are bigger, your eyes are wide open, you are feeling
           what is happening all around because danger is there. In danger your sleep is less, your awareness is
           more, the gestalt changes. If somebody puts a dagger to your heart and is just going to push it in, in
           that moment there is no thinking. Past disappears, future disappears: you are here and now.
               The possibility is there. If you make the effort you will catch the one ray that exists in you, and
           once you catch the one ray, the sun is not very far; then through the ray you can reach the sun -- the
           ray becomes the path.
               So remember: find attention, let it become a continuity in you twenty-four hours a day,
           whatsoever you do. Eat, but try to be attentive: eat with awareness. Walk, but walk with awareness.
           Love, but love fully aware. Try!
               It cannot become total just in one day, but even if one ray is caught, you will feel a deep
           fulfillment -- because the quality is the same whether you attain to one ray or the whole sun.
           Whether you taste a drop of water from the ocean or the whole ocean, the salty taste is the same --
           and the taste becomes your satori, the glimpse.
               Here, listening to me, be alert. Whenever you feel that you have gone again into sleep, bring
           yourself back: just shake a little and bring yourself back. When walking on the street, if you feel you
           are walking in a sleep, shake a little, give a little shake to the whole body. Be alert. This alertness
           will remain only for a few moments; again you will lose it, because you have lived in a sleep for so
           long, it has become such a habit, that you cannot see how you can go against it.
               I was traveling once from Calcutta to Bombay in a plane, and one child was creating a great
           nuisance, running from one corner of the aisle to the other, disturbing everybody -- and then the
           stewardess came with tea and coffee. The boy ran into her, and everything was a mess. Then the
           mother of the child said, 'Now listen, I have told you many times -- why don't you go outside and
           play there?'
               Just old habit. She was sitting just by my side and was not aware of what she had said. I listened
           as she spoke, and she never became alert to what she had said. Only the child made her alert. He
           said, 'What do you mean? If I go out I am finished!'
               A child is more attentive of course, because he has less habits. A child is more alert because he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has less armor around him, he is less imprisoned. That's why all religions say that when a man
           becomes a sage he has some quality of a child: the innocence. Then habits drop. ... Because habits
           are your prison, and sleep is the greatest habit.
           Now, try to enter in this parable with me.

              WHILE TOKAI WAS A VISITOR AT A CERTAIN TEMPLE, A FIRE STARTED UNDER THE KITCHEN
              FLOOR.
              A MONK RUSHED INTO TOKAI'S BEDROOM, SHOUTING, 'A FIRE, MASTER, A FIRE!' 'OH?' SAID
              TOKAI, SITTING UP. 'WHERE?' 'WHERE?' EXCLAIMED THE MONK. 'WHY, UNDER THE KITCHEN
              FLOOR -- GET UP AT ONCE.' 'THE KITCHEN, EH?' SAID THE MASTER DROWSILY. 'WELL, TELL
              YOU WHAT, WHEN IT REACHES THE PASSAGEWAY, COME BACK AND LET ME KNOW.'
              TOKAI WAS SNORING AGAIN IN NO TIME.


               Tokai was a great zen master, enlightened, living in total awareness, and whenever you live in
           total awareness you live moment to moment. You cannot plan, even for the next moment you cannot
           plan -- because who knows, the next moment may never come! And how can you plan it beforehand,
           because who knows what the situation will be in the next moment? And if you plan too much you
           may miss it, the freshness of it.
               Life is such a flux, nothing remains the same, everything moves. Heraclitus has said that you
           cannot step twice in the same river -- how can you plan? By the time you are stepping the second
           time, much water has flowed, it is not the same river. Planning is possible if the past repeats itself.
           But the past never repeats itself, repetition never happens -- even if you see something repeating
           itself it is just because you cannot see the whole.
               Heraclitus again: he says, every day the sun is new. Of course, you will say, it is the same sun --
           but it cannot be the same, there is no possibility of its being the same. Much has changed: the whole
           sky is different, the whole pattern of stars is different, the sun itself has become older. Now scientists
           say that within four million years the sun will die, its death is coming near -- because the sun is an
           alive phenomenon and it is very old, it has to die.
               Suns are born, they live -- and they die. Four million years for us is very long; for the sun it is
           just nothing, it is as if the next moment it is going to die. And when the sun dies, the whole solar
           family will disappear, because the sun is the source. Every day the sun is dying, and becoming older
           and older and older -- it cannot be the same. Every day energy is lost -- a VAST amount of energy is
           being thrown in the rays. The sun is less every day, exhausted. It is not the same, it cannot be the
           same.
               And when the sun rises, it rises upon a different world, and the onlooker also is not the same.
           Yesterday you may have been filled with love; then your eyes were different, and the sun of course
           looked different. You were so filled with love that a certain quality of poetry was around you, and
           you looked through that poetry -- the sun may have looked like a god, as it looked to the seers of the
           Vedas. They called the sun, God -- they must have been filled with so much poetry. They were poets,
           in love with existence; they were not scientists. They were not in search of what matter was, they
           were in search of what the mood was. They worshipped the sun. They must have been very happy
           and blissful people, because you can worship only when you feel a blessing; you can worship only
           when you feel that your whole life is a blessing.
               Yesterday you may have been a poet, today you may not be a poet at all -- because every
           moment the river is flowing within you. You are also changing. Yesterday things were fitting into
           each other, today everything is a mess: you are angry, you are depressed, you are sad. How can the
           sun be the same when the onlooker has changed? Everything changes, so a man of understanding
           never exactly plans for the future, cannot -- but he is more ready than you to meet the future. This is
           the paradox. You plan, but you are not so ready.
               In fact, planning means that you feel so inadequate, that's why you plan -- otherwise, why plan?
           A guest is coming, and you plan what you are going to say to him. What nonsense! When the guest
           comes can't you be spontaneous? But you are afraid, you don't believe in yourself, you have no trust;
           you plan, you go through a rehearsal. Your life is an acting, it is not a real thing, because a rehearsal
           is needed only in acting. And remember: when you are going through a rehearsal, whatsoever
           happens will be an acting, not the real thing. The guest has not arrived and you are planning already
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what you will say, how you will garland him, how you are going to respond; you are already saying
           things. The guest, in the mind, has already arrived -- you are talking to him. In fact, by the time the
           guest arrives you will be fed up with him. In fact, by the time the guest arrives he has already been
           with you too long -- you are bored, and whatsoever you say will not be true and authentic. It will not
           come from you, it will come from the memory. It will not pop up from your existence, it will come
           from the rehearsal that you have been having. It will be false -- and a meeting will not be possible,
           because how can a false man meet? And it may be the same with your guest: he was also planning,
           he also is fed up with you already. He has talked too much and now he would like to be silent, and
           whatsoever he says will be out of the rehearsal.
               So wherever two persons meet, there are four persons meeting -- at least; more are possible. Two
           real ones are in the background, two false ones meeting each other and encountering. Everything is
           false, because it comes out of planning. Even when you love a person you plan, and go through a
           rehearsal -- all the movements that you are going to make, how you are going to kiss, the gestures --
           and everything becomes false. Why don't you trust yourself? When the moment comes, why don't
           you trust your spontaneity? Why can't you be real?
               The mind cannot trust the moment; it is always afraid, that's why it plans. Planning means fear. It
           is fear that plans, and by planning you miss everything -- everything that is beautiful and true,
           everything that is divine, you miss. Nobody has ever reached God with a plan, nobody can ever
           reach.

              WHILE TOKAI WAS A VISITOR AT A CERTAIN TEMPLE, A FIRE STARTED UNDER THE KITCHEN
              FLOOR.


               The first thing: fire creates fear, because it is death. And if even fire cannot create fear, nothing
           can create fear. But even fire cannot create fear when you have encountered death, when you know
           that death doesn't exist; otherwise, the moment you hear the word 'Fire!' you are in a panic. No need
           for there to be a real fire, just somebody coming running here and saying, 'Fire!' and you will be in a
           panic. Somebody may jump out of it, and may kill himself -- and there was no fire. Just the word fire
           can give you panic.
               You live with words. Somebody says 'Lemon' -- and juice starts flowing in your mouth.
           Somebody says, 'Fire!' -- and you are here no more, you have already escaped. You live with words,
           not with realities. You live with symbols, not with realities. And all symbols are artifices, they are
           not real.
               I have heard, overheard really: an old woman was teaching a younger one how to cook a certain
           thing. She was explaining, and then she said, 'Six glugs of molasses.' The younger woman said, 'Six
           what?' The older woman said: 'Six glugs.'
               The younger woman was puzzled and asked again, 'What is this "glug"? I've never heard of it
           before.'
               The older woman said, 'My God! You don't know such a simple thing? Then it's difficult to teach
           you cookery!'
               The younger one said, 'Be kind and just tell me what this "glug" is.'
               The older woman said: 'You tip the jug; when it sounds "glug" that is one. Five more like it -- six
           glugs!'
               But the whole of language is just like that. No word really means anything. The meaning is given
           by us by mutual contract. That is why three thousand languages exist in the world, but three
           thousand realities are not there. The whole of language is just like 'glug'.
               You can create your own private language, there is no problem. Lovers always create their
           private language: they start using words -- nobody understands what they are saying, but THEY
           understand. Words are symbolic. The meaning is given, the meaning is not really there. When
           somebody says, 'Fire!' there is no fire in the word, there cannot be. When somebody says God, in the
           word god there is no God -- cannot be. The word god is not God. When somebody says love, the
           word love is not love.
               When somebody says, 'I love you,' don't be deceived by the words. But you will be deceived,
           because nobody looks at reality; people look only at words. When somebody says, 'I love you,' you
           think: Yes, he loves me; or: Yes, she loves me. You are getting into a trap and you will be in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficulty. Just look at the reality of this man or this woman. Don't listen to the words, listen to the
           reality. Be in rapport with the reality of this person and understanding will arise as to whether
           whatsoever he is saying is only words, or whether it carries some content also. And depend on the
           content, never depend on the word; otherwise sooner or later you will be frustrated. So many lovers
           are frustrated in the world -- ninety percent! The word is the cause. They believed in the word and
           they didn't look at the reality.
               Remain unclouded by the words. Keep your eyes clean from the words. Don't allow them to
           settle in your eyes and in your ears; otherwise you will live in a false world. Words are false in
           themselves; they become meaningful only if some truth exists in the heart from where the words are
           coming.

              WHILE TOKAI WAS A VISITOR AT A CERTAIN TEMPLE, A FIRE STARTED UNDER THE KITCHEN
              FLOOR.


              Fire is fear, fire is death -- but not the word fire.

              A MONK RUSHED INTO TOKAI'S BEDROOM, SHOUTING: 'A FIRE, MASTER, A FIRE!'

              He was excited, death was near.
              'OH?' SAID TOKAI, SITTING UP. 'WHERE?'


               You cannot excite a master, even if death is there, because excitement belongs to the mind. And
           you cannot surprise a master, even if death is there, because surprise also belongs to the mind. Why
           can't you surprise a master? -- because he never expects anything. How can you surprise a man who
           never expects anything? Because you expect, and then something else happens, that's why you are
           surprised. If you are walking on the street and you see a man coming, and suddenly he becomes a
           horse, you will be surprised, amazed: what has happened? But even this will not surprise a man like
           Tokai, because he knows life is a flux -- everything is possible: a man can become a horse even, a
           horse can become a man. This is what has been already happening many times: many horses have
           become men, and many men have become horses. Life moves on!
               A master remains without any expectation, you cannot surprise him. To him everything is
           possible, and he is not closed to any possibility. He lives in the moment totally open; whatsoever
           happens, happens. He has no plan to meet reality, no protection. He accepts.
               If you expect something, you cannot accept. If you accept everything, you cannot expect. If you
           accept and you don't expect, you cannot be surprised -- and you cannot be excited. Excitement is a
           fever, it is a disease; when you get excited your whole being is feverish, you are hot. You may like it
           sometimes because there are two types of fever: one that comes out of pleasure and one that comes
           out of pain. The one that you like you call pleasure, but it is also a fever, excitement; and the one you
           dislike you call pain, disease, illness -- but both are excitements. And try to observe: they go on
           changing into each other.
               You love a woman; you get excited and you feel a certain pleasure, or you interpret it as
           pleasure. But let that woman remain there and sooner or later the excitement goes. On the contrary, a
           boredom creeps in, you feel fed up, you would like to escape, you would like to be alone. And if the
           woman still continues, now the negative enters. You are not only bored, you are in a negative fever
           now; you feel ill, you feel nauseous.
               Look: your life is just like a rainbow. It carries all the colors -- and you go on moving from one
           color to another. It carries all the extremes, all the opposites: from pleasure you move to pain, from
           pain you move to pleasure. If the pain goes on too long, you may even start getting a certain pleasure
           out of it. If the pleasure lasts too long, you will certainly get pain out of it. Both are states of
           excitement, both are fevers. A man of understanding is without fever. You cannot excite him, you
           cannot surprise him. Even if death is there he will coolly ask, 'Where?' And this question 'Where?' is
           very beautiful, because a man of enlightenment is always concerned with the here. He is not
           concerned with there, he is not concerned with then, he is concerned only with now. Now, here, is
           his reality; then, there, is your reality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           'A FIRE, MASTER, A FIRE!' 'OH?' SAID TOKAI, SITTING UP, 'WHERE?'

           He wants to know: there or here.
           'WHERE?' EXCLAIMED THE MONK.

              ... Because he couldn't believe it, that when there is a fire somebody could ask such a stupid
           question. One should simply jump out of the window, get out of the house; this is no time for subtle
           arguments.'WHERE?' EXCLAIMED THE MONK. 'WHY, UNDER THE KITCHEN FLOOR --
           GET UP AT ONCE.' 'THE KITCHEN, EH?' SAID THE MASTER DROWSILY. 'WELL, TELL
           YOU WHAT, WHEN IT REACHES THE PASSAGEWAY, COME BACK AND LET ME KNOW.'

               When it reaches here, then come and let me know. If it is there, it is none of my concern. The
           anecdote is very revealing. Anything there is not a concern; only when it is here does it become real.
               A master cannot plan for the future. Of course he is ready: whatsoever happens, he will respond
           -- but he cannot go through a rehearsal, and he cannot plan... and he cannot move before the reality
           has come. He will say, 'Let the reality come, let the moment knock at my door, and then we will see.'
           Unburdened with rehearsals, plans, he is always spontaneous -- and whatsoever he does with his
           spontaneity is always right.
               Remember this criterion always: whatsoever comes out of your spontaneity is right. There exists
           no other criterion of right and wrong. Whatsoever comes out of the moment, your alive response to it
           is good. Nothing else is good -- there exists no other criterion for good and bad.
               But you are afraid. Because of your fear you create morality. Because of your fear you create
           distinctions between right and wrong. But don't you see that sometimes a situation is different, and
           the right becomes wrong and the wrong becomes right? But you remain dead. You don't look at the
           situation. You simply go on following your right and wrong and the conceptions around it. That's
           why you become a misfit. Even trees are wiser than you -- they are not misfits. Even animals are
           better than you -- they are not misfits. Even clouds are worthier than you -- they are not misfits. The
           whole of existence fits together; only man is a misfit. Where has he gone wrong?
               He has gone wrong with his mental distinctions -- this is right and that is wrong -- and in life
           such fixed things cannot be useful. Something is wrong this moment, next moment it becomes right.
           Something is right this moment, next moment it is right no more. What will you do? You will be
           constantly in a state of fear and worry, an inner tension.
               So the foundational teaching of all those who have known is: be alert and spontaneous, and
           whatsoever happens out of your spontaneous alertness is right, and whatsoever happens out of your
           sleep, unconsciousness, is wrong. Whatsoever you do unconsciously is wrong -- whatsoever you do
           with awareness is right. Right and wrong is not a distinction between objects; right and wrong is a
           distinction between consciousnesses.
               For example, there exists a Jaina sect in India: TERAPANTH. Mahavira said, 'Don't interfere in
           anybody's karma. Let him fulfill it' -- a beautiful thing. He says really the exact thing that hippies are
           now saying in the West: do your own thing. From the other side Mahavira says the same thing:
           'Don't interfere with anybody's thing. Let him do his karma, let him fulfill it. Don't interfere.
           Interference is violence; when you interfere with somebody's karma you are doing a violence, you
           are throwing that man from his own path. Don't interfere.' A beautiful thing!
               But how things can go wrong, even beautiful things! The terapanth, this one sect of the Jainas,
           concluded that if somebody is dying by the side of the road you simply go on, you don't touch him,
           you don't give him any medicine, you don't give him water if he is crying, 'I am thirsty!' Don't give
           him water because -- don't interfere with anybody's karma. Logical! -- because if he is suffering
           because of his past karmas, then who are you to interfere? He must have accumulated a certain
           karma to suffer in this life from thirst and die from it. Who are you to give him water? You simply
           neglect him, you go on.
               I was talking to one of the leaders of the terapanth monks, and I told him, 'And have you ever
           considered the possibility that it may be your karma to give him water?'
               You are not interfering with his karma, but you are interfering with your own. If the desire arises
           to help him, what will you do? The desire shows that it is your karma to give him water. If you resist
           that desire and go on because of the principle, you are not being spontaneous -- so what to do? If you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           make dead principles heavy on your head, you will always be in trouble, because life does not
           believe in your principles; life has its own laws. But they are not your principles and your
           philosophies.
                Be spontaneous. If you feel like helping, don't bother about what Mahavira has said. If you feel
           like helping, help. Do your thing. If you don't feel like helping, don't help. Whatsoever Jesus may
           have said, that by helping people you will help me -- don't bother, because sometimes the help may
           be dangerous. A man is ready to kill somebody, and he says to you, 'Give me water, because I am
           feeling so thirsty, and I cannot go on this long journey to kill that man' -- what will you do? ...
           Because if you give him water, you help him in murder. Decide! -- but NEVER decide before the
           moment because all such decisions will go false. One never knows what type of situation will be
           there.
                In old Indian scriptures there is a story: A murderer came to a crossroads where a monk was
           sitting meditating. He was following a man. He had already hit the man hard but he escaped, the
           victim escaped, and he was following him. At the crossroads he was puzzled; he asked the monk
           who was meditating under a tree, 'Have you seen a man with blood flowing, passing by here? If so,
           which direction has he gone?' -- because it was a crossroads.
                What should this monk do? If he tells the truth, that the man has gone to the north, he will
           become a part of the murder. If he says that he has not gone to the north, he has gone to the south, he
           will be telling a lie. What should he do? Should he tell the truth, and allow the murder, or should he
           become a liar and stop it? What should he do?
           There have been many answers. I have none.
                Jainas say that even if it is going to be an untruth, let him be untrue, because violence is the
           greatest sin. They have their own valuation -- violence is the greatest sin, untruth comes next. But
           Hindus say no, untruth comes first, so let him be true; he has to tell the truth and let things happen,
           whatsoever happens. Gandhi said -- Gandhi had his own answer about this -- HE said, 'I cannot
           choose between these two because both are supreme values, and there is no choice. So I will tell him
           the truth, and I will stand in his way, and I will tell him, "First kill me, and then follow that man."'
                It appeals, Gandhi's answer appeals, seems to be better than both the Hindu's and the Jaina's --
           but look at the whole situation: the man is going to commit one murder and Gandhi is forcing him to
           commit two. So what about HIS karma?
                So what to do? I have no answer. Or my answer is: don't decide beforehand, let the moment
           come and let the moment decide, because who knows? -- the victim may be a man who is worth
           murdering. Who knows? -- the victim may be a dangerous man, and if he survives he may murder
           many. Who knows what the situation will be because it will never be the same again -- and you
           cannot know the situation beforehand.
                Don't decide. But your mind will feel uneasy without a decision because the mind needs clear-cut
           answers. Life has none, no clear-cut answers. Only one thing is certain: be spontaneous and alert and
           aware, and don't follow any rule. Simply be spontaneous -- and whatsoever happens, let it happen. If
           you feel in that moment like taking the risk of losing truth, lose it. If you feel in that moment that
           that man is not worth it, then let the violence happen, or if you feel, 'That man is worth more than
           me,' stand in between.
                Millions of possibilities will be there. Don't fix it beforehand. Just be aware and alert and let
           things happen. You may not wish to say anything. Why not be silent? Don't tell any untruth, don't
           help the man in violence, don't force the murderer to commit two murders. Why not be silent? Who
           is forcing you?
                But let the moment decide: that is what all the awakened ones have said.
                But if you listen to ordinary moralists they will tell you that life is dangerous, to go with a
           decision; otherwise you may do something wrong. And I tell you whatsoever you do through a
           decision will be wrong, because the whole existence is not following your decisions; the whole
           existence moves in its own way. You are a part of it -- how can you decide for the whole? You have
           to simply be there and feel the situation and do whatsoever you can do with humbleness, with every
           possibility of it being wrong.
                Don't be such an egoist as to think, 'Whatsoever I do will be right.' Then who will do the wrong?
           Don't be such an egoist that you think, 'I am moral, and the other is immoral.' The other is also you.
           You are also the other. We are one. The murderer and the victim are not two.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But don't decide. Just be there; feel the whole situation, be in rapport with the whole situation,
           and let your inner consciousness do whatsoever comes. You should not be the doer, you should be
           just a witness. A doer has to decide beforehand, a witness need not.
                That is the whole message of Krishna and the Gita. Krishna says: Just see the whole situation,
           and don't follow moralists' dead rules. See the situation and act as a witness; don't be a doer. And
           don't be bothered what the result will be, nobody can say what the result will be. In fact there is no
           result, cannot be, because it is an infinity.
                For example, Hitler was born. If the mother had killed this child all the courts in the world would
           have found her a murderess. She would have been punished. But now we know it would have been
           better to kill Hitler than to leave him alive, because he killed millions. So did Hitler's mother do right
           in not murdering this child? Was she right or was she wrong? Who is to decide? And how could that
           poor mother know that this boy was going to murder so many people?
                Who is to decide? And how to decide?... and it is an infinite sequence. Hitler killed many, but
           who can decide whether those were the right persons to be killed or not killed? Who will ever decide
           and who will ever know? Nobody knows. Who knows, perhaps God sends Hitler-like people to kill
           all those who are wrong, because somehow or other God is involved in everything! He is in the right
           and he is in the wrong.
                The man who dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima -- was he right or wrong? Because of his
           bomb the second world war stopped. Of course, the whole city of one hundred thousand people
           dropped dead immediately. But if the atom bomb had not been dropped on Hiroshima, the war would
           have continued, and many more lakhs of people would have died. And if Japan could have survived
           only one year more, she could have invented the atom bomb -- and then they would have dropped it
           on New York, on London. Who is to decide, and how to decide, whether the man who dropped the
           bomb was right or wrong?
                Life is so entangled, entwined, and every event leads to other events; and whatsoever you do,
           you will disappear, but whatsoever you did, the consequences will continue forever and forever.
           They cannot end. Even a small act -- you smile at a person, and you have changed the whole quality
           of existence, because that smile will decide many things.
                It happened: I was reading Greta Garbo's biography. She was an ordinary girl, working with a
           barber, just soaping people's faces, and she would have remained the same because she was already
           twenty-two, and then one American film director accidentally came to that barber's shop -- there
           were twenty shops in that town -- and when she was soaping his face he smiled, looking at the girl in
           the mirror, and said, 'How beautiful!' And everything changed.
                This was the first man to say to Greta Garbo, 'How beautiful!' -- nobody had ever said it before,
           and she never thought herself beautiful, because how can you think yourself beautiful if nobody says
           so?
                The whole night she could not sleep. The next morning she searched out the director, where he
           was staying, and she asked, 'Do you REALLY think that I am beautiful?'
                The director may have made the remark casually, who knows! But when a girl comes searching
           for you and asks, 'Really? What you told me, you really MEANT it?'... so the director said, 'Yes, you
           ARE beautiful!'
                Then Greta Garbo said, 'Then why not give me some work in your film, in some film you are
           making?' Now things started. And Greta Garbo became one of the most famous actresses.
                Very small things move around, and they go on moving. It is just like throwing a small pebble in
           a lake. Such a small pebble, and then ripples go on and on and on -- and they will go on to the very
           end. By the time they reach the shore, long before it, the pebble has settled deep into the bottom, is
           lost.
                That pebble will change the whole quality of existence, because it is all one net; it is just like a
           spider's web: you touch it anywhere, shake it a little, and the whole web ripples. Everywhere it is
           felt. You smile at a person -- and the whole world is a spider's web -- and the whole God is changed
           through that smile.
                But how to decide? Krishna says you need not be bothered with decision, because it is such a
           vast thing that you will never be able to make a decision. So don't think about the result, simply
           respond to the situation. Be spontaneous, alert; be a witness and not a doer.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 A MONK RUSHED INTO TOKAI'S BEDROOM, SHOUTING: 'A FIRE, MASTER, A FIRE!' 'OH?' SAID
                 TOKAI, SITTING UP. 'WHERE?' 'WHERE?' EXCLAIMED THE MONK. 'WHY, UNDER THE KITCHEN
                 FLOOR -- GET UP AT ONCE.' 'THE KITCHEN, EH?' SAID THE MASTER DROWSILY. 'WELL, TELL
                 YOU WHAT, WHEN IT REACHES THE PASSAGEWAY, COME BACK AND LET ME KNOW.'


                 When it has become part of the present, then let me know. It is still in the future -- don't bother
           me.

                 TOKAI WAS SNORING AGAIN IN NO TIME.


                This is the quality of an enlightened person: so relaxed that although a fire is burning in the
           kitchen, the house is catching fire -- everybody is excited and running around, nobody knows what is
           going to happen, everything is a mess -- he can relax and go to sleep again. He was snoring in no
           time.
                This non-tenseness must come out of, has to come out of, a deep trust that whatsoever happens is
           good. He is not worried -- even if he dies he is not worried; even if the fire comes and burns him he
           is not worried, because he is no more. The ego is not there; otherwise there will be fear, there will be
           worry, there will be a future, there will be planning, there will be a desire to escape, to save oneself.
           He is not worried; he simply falls back into sleep, relaxed.
                There is no possibility of relaxation if you have a mind and an ego; the ego is the center of the
           mind. You will be tense, you will remain tense. How to relax? Is there any way to relax? There is no
           way unless understanding is there. If you understand the nature of the world, the nature of the very
           existence, then who are you to worry, and why be in a worried state continuously?
                Nobody asked you about being born, nobody is going to ask you when the time comes for you to
           be taken away. Then why be worried? Birth happened to you; death will happen to you; who are you
           to come in between?
                Things are happening. You feel hunger, you feel love, you feel anger -- everything happens to
           you, you are not a doer. Nature takes care. You eat and nature digests it; you need not bother about
           it, about how the stomach is functioning, how the food is going to become blood. If you become too
           tense about it you will have ulcers -- and king-size ulcers, not ordinary ones. No need to worry.
                The whole is moving. The vast ocean, the infinite is moving. You are just a wave in it. Relax,
           and let things be.
                Once you know how to let go, you have known all that is worth knowing. If you don't know how
           to let go, whatsoever you know is worthless, it is rubbish.




                                          And The Flowers Showered
                                                      Chapter #8
                                          Chapter title: Tozan's five pounds
           7 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411070
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              THE MASTER TOZAN WAS WEIGHING SOME FLAX IN THE STOREROOM.
              A MONK CAME UP TO HIM AND ASKED: 'WHAT IS BUDDHA?'
              TOZAN SAID: 'THIS FLAX WEIGHS FIVE POUNDS.'


               RELIGION IS NOT CONCERNED with philosophical questions and answers. To go on looking
           this way is stupid, and a sheer waste of life, time, energy and consciousness, because you can go on
           asking and answers can be given -- but from answers only more questions will come out. If in the
           beginning there was one question, in the end, through many answers, there will be a million
           questions.
               Philosophy solves nothing. It promises, but never solves anything -- all those promises remain
           unfulfilled. Still it goes on promising. But the experience which can solve the riddles of the mind
           cannot be attained through philosophical speculation.
               Buddha was absolutely against philosophy -- there has never been a man more against
           philosophy than Buddha. Through his own bitter experience he came to understand that all those
           profundities of philosophy are just superficial. Even the greatest philosopher remains as ordinary as
           anyone. No problem has been solved by him, not even touched. He carries much knowledge, many
           answers, but he remains the same in his old age -- no new life happens to him. And the crux, the core
           of the matter is that mind is a question-raising faculty: it can raise any sort of question, and then it
           can befool itself by answering them. But YOU are the questioner, and YOU are the one who solves
           them.
               Ignorance creates questions, and ignorance creates answers -- the same mind creating both parts.
           How can a questioning mind come to an answer? Deep down, the mind itself is the question.
               So philosophy tries to answer questions of the mind, and religion looks at the very base. The
           mind is the question, and unless mind is dropped the answer will not be revealed to you -- mind
           won't allow it, mind is the barrier, the wall. When there is no mind you are an experiencing being;
           when the mind is there you are a verbalizing being.
               In a small school it happened: there was a very stupid child; he never asked any questions and
           also the teacher neglected him. But one day he was very excited when the teacher was explaining a
           certain problem of arithmetic, writing some figures on the board. The child was very excited, raising
           his hand again and again; he wanted to ask something. When the teacher finished with the problem,
           she washed the figures from the board, and was very happy that for the first time this child was so
           excited as to ask something, and she said, 'I am happy that you are ready to ask something. Go ahead
           -- ask!'
               The child stood, and he said, 'I am very worried, and the question comes again and again to me
           but I couldn't gather the courage to ask. Today I have decided to ask: where do these damn figures
           go when you wash them off?'
               The question is very philosophical; all questions are like this. Many ask where a buddha goes
           when he dies; the question is the same. Where is God? -- the question is the same. What is truth? --
           the question is the same. But you cannot feel the stupidity hidden in them, because they look very
           profound, and they have a long tradition -- people have always been asking them, and people whom
           you think very great have been concerned with them: theorizing, finding answers, creating systems...
           but the whole effort is useless because only experience can give you the answer, not thinking. And if
           you go on thinking you will become more and more mad, and the answer will still be far away --
           farther away than ever.
               Buddha says: When the mind stops questioning, the answer happens. It is because you are so
           much concerned with questions that the answer cannot enter you. You are in such trouble, you are so
           disturbed, so very tense, the reality cannot enter into you -- you are shaking so much inside,
           trembling with fear, with neurosis, with stupid questions and answers, with systems, philosophies,
           theories; you are so filled up.
               Mulla Nasruddin was passing through a village in his car. Many crowds were gathered at many
           spots, and he was worried -- what is the matter? Nobody was on the streets, everybody was gathered
           somewhere or other. Then he saw a policeman, and he stopped him and asked, 'What is the matter?
           Has something gone wrong? What has happened? I don't see people anywhere, working, moving, in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the shops... they are gathered in many crowds!'
                The policeman could not believe his ears; he said, 'What are you asking? There has been an
           earthquake just now! Many houses have fallen, many people are dead!' Then the policeman said, 'I
           cannot believe that you couldn't feel the earthquake!'
                Nasruddin said, 'Because of alcohol I am always shaking so much, my hands are so jittery, that I
           missed it.'
                If an earthquake is going on inside you continuously, then a real earthquake will not be capable
           of entering you. When you are silent and still, then the reality happens. And questioning is a
           trembling inside. Questioning means doubt, doubt means trembling. Questioning means you don't
           trust anything -- everything has become a question, and when everything is a question there will be
           very much anxiety. Have you observed yourself? Everything becomes a question. If you are
           miserable, it is a question: Why? Even if you are happy, it is a question: Why? You cannot believe
           yourself being happy.
                People come to me when meditation goes deeper and they have glimpses, they come to me very
           disturbed because, they say, something is happening, and they cannot believe that it is happening to
           THEM, that a bliss can happen -- there must be some deception. People have said to me, 'Are you
           hypnotizing? -- because something is happening!' They cannot believe that they can be blissful,
           somebody must be hypnotizing them. They cannot believe that they can be silent -- impossible!
           'Why? Why am I silent? Somebody is playing a trick!'
                Trust is not possible for a questioning mind. Immediately experience is there, the mind creates a
           question: Why? The flower is there -- if you trust, you will feel a beauty, a blooming of beauty; but
           the mind says: Why? Why is this flower called beautiful? What is beauty? -- you are going astray.
           You are in love, the mind asks: Why, what is love?
                It is reported that Saint Augustine said, 'I know what time is, but when people ask me, everything
           is lost, I cannot answer. I know what love is, but you ask me: What is love? -- and I am at a loss, I
           cannot answer. I know what God is, but you ask, and I am at a loss.' And Augustine is right, because
           profundities cannot be asked, cannot be questioned. You cannot put a question mark on a mystery. If
           you put a question mark, the question mark becomes more important; then the question covers the
           whole mystery. And if you think that when you have solved the question, then you will live the
           mystery, you will never live it.
                Questioning is irrelevant in religion. Trust is relevant. Trust means moving into the experience,
           into the unknown, without asking much -- going through it to know it.
                I tell you about a beautiful morning outside, and you start questioning me about it here, walled in
           a room, enclosed, and you would like your every question to be answered before you take a step
           outside. How can I tell you if you have never known what morning is? How can I tell you? Only that
           can be told through words which you already know. How can I tell you that there is light, beautiful
           light falling through the trees, and the whole sky is filled with light, the sun has risen, if you have
           always lived in darkness? If your eyes are accustomed only to the dark, how can I explain to you that
           the sun has risen?
                You will ask: What do you mean? Are you trying to deceive us? We have lived all our lives and
           we have never known anything like light. First answer our questions, and then, if we are convinced,
           we can come out with you; otherwise it seems you are leading us astray, astray from our sheltered
           life.
                But how can the light be told of if you don't know about it? But that's what you are asking:
           Convince us about God, then we will meditate, then we will pray, then we will search. How can we
           search before the conviction is there? How can we go on a search when we don't know where we are
           going?
                This is distrust -- and because of this distrust you cannot move into the unknown. The known
           clings to you, and you cling to the known -- and the known is the dead past. It may feel cozy because
           you have lived in it, but it is dead, it is not alive. The alive is always the unknown, knocking at your
           door. Move with it. But how can you move without trust? And even doubting persons think that they
           have trust.
                Once it happened: Mulla Nasruddin told me that he was thinking of divorcing his wife. I asked,
           'Why? Why so suddenly?'
           Nasruddin said, 'I doubt her fidelity towards me.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           So I told him, 'Wait, I will ask your wife.'
                So I told his wife, 'Nasruddin is talking around town and creating a rumor that you are not
           faithful, and he is thinking of divorce, so what is the matter?'
                His wife said, 'This is too much. Nobody has ever insulted me like that -- and I tell you, I have
           been faithful to him dozens of times!'
                It is not a question of dozens of times -- you also trust, but dozens of times. That trust cannot be
           very deep, it is just utilitarian. You trust whenever you feel it pays. But whenever the unknown
           knocks you never trust, because you don't know whether it is going to pay or not. Faith and trust are
           not a question of utility -- they are not utilities, you cannot use them. If you want to use them, you
           kill them. They are not utilitarian at all. You can enjoy them, you can be blissful about them -- but
           they don't pay.
                They don't pay in the terms of this world; on the contrary, the whole world will look at you as a
           fool, because the world thinks someone wise if he doubts, the world thinks someone wise if he
           questions, the world thinks someone wise only when he moves a step with conviction, and before he
           is convinced he will not move. This is the cunning and the cleverness of the world -- and the world
           calls such people wise!
                They are fools as far as Buddha is concerned, because through their so-called wisdom they are
           missing the greatest, and the greatest cannot be used. You can merge with it, you cannot use it. It has
           no utility, it is not a commodity; it is an experience, it is an ecstasy. You cannot sell it, you cannot
           make a business out of it -- rather, on the contrary, you are lost in it completely. You will never be
           the same again. In fact you can never come back -- it is a point of no return: if you go, you go. You
           cannot go back, there is no going back. It is dangerous.
                So only very courageous people can enter on the path. Religion is not for cowards. But you will
           find in churches, temples, mosques -- cowards: they have destroyed the whole thing. Religion is only
           for the very very courageous, for those who can take the most dangerous step -- and the most
           dangerous step is from the known towards the unknown; the most dangerous step is from the mind to
           no-mind, from questioning to no-questioning, from doubt to trust.
                Before we enter this small but beautiful anecdote -- it is just like a diamond: very small but very
           valuable -- a few more things are to be understood. One: you will be able to understand it only when
           you can take a jump, when you can bridge, somehow, the known with the unknown, mind with
           no-mind. Second thing: religion is not at all a question of thinking; it is not a question of RIGHT
           thinking, that if you think rightly you will become religious -- no! Whether you think rightly or
           wrongly you will remain unreligous. People think that if you think rightly you will become religious;
           people think that if you think wrongly you will go astray.
                But I tell you, if you think, you will go astray -- rightly or wrongly is not the point. If you DON'T
           think, only then are you on the path. Think and you miss. You have already gone off on a long
           journey, you are no longer here, now; the present is missed -- and reality is only in the present.
                With mind, you go on missing. Mind has a mechanism -- it moves in circles, vicious circles. Try
           to observe your own mind: has it been on a journey, or just moving in circles? Have you really been
           moving, or just moving in a circle? You repeat the same, again and again. The day before yesterday
           you were angry, yesterday you were angry, today you have been angry -- and there is every
           possibility that tomorrow you are going to be angry; and do you feel that anger is different? The day
           before yesterday it was the same, yesterday it was the same, today it is the same -- the anger is the
           same. Situations may differ, excuses may differ, but the anger is the same! Are you moving? Are you
           going somewhere? Is there any progress? Are you reaching some goal, getting nearer? You are
           moving in a circle, reaching nowhere. The circle may be very big, but how can you move if you
           move in a circle?
                I overheard once, walking in the afternoon, I heard coming from the inside of a small house a
           child whining and saying, 'Mum, I am fed up with moving in circles.'
                The mother said, 'Either you shut up, or I will nail your other foot to the floor also.'
                But you are not yet fed up. One foot is nailed to the earth, and like the child you are moving in
           circles. You are like a broken gramophone record -- the same line repeats itself, it goes on repeating.
           Have you ever listened to a broken gramophone record? Listen! -- it is like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's
           transcendental meditation, TM: you repeat one thing, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram... you go on
           repeating. You get bored; through boredom you feel sleepy. Sleep is good! After the sleep you feel
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fresh -- but this is not going towards truth at all, it is just getting a good sleep, through a trick. But
           this TM you are doing continuously; your whole life is a TM, repeating, moving in the same groove
           again and again and again.
               Where are you going? Whenever you become aware of this you will think simply: What has been
           happening? You will feel very strange, shocked, that your whole life has been a misuse. You have
           not moved a single inch. The sooner the better -- if you realize this, the sooner the better, because
           through this realization something is possible.
               Why this repetition? Mind is repetitive, it is a broken record; the very nature of it is just like a
           broken record. You cannot change it. A broken record can be repaired, mind cannot be, because the
           very nature of the mind is to repeat; repetition is the nature of the mind. At the most you can make
           bigger circles, and with bigger circles you can feel that there is some freedom; with bigger circles
           you can deceive yourself that things are not repeating.
               Somebody's circle is just twenty-four hours. If you are clever you can make a circle of thirty
           days; if you are even more clever you can make a circle of one year; if you are even more clever you
           can make a circle of a whole life -- but the circle remains the same. It makes no difference. Bigger or
           smaller, you move in the same groove, you come back to the same point.
               Because of this understanding, Hindus have called life a wheel -- your life, of course, not a
           buddha's life. A buddha is one who has jumped out of the wheel. You cling to the wheel, you feel
           very secure there -- and the wheel moves on; from birth to death it completes a circle. Again birth,
           again death. The word SANSAR, the word Hindus use for this world, means the wheel. It moves in
           the same groove. You come and go, and you do much -- to no avail. Where do you miss? You miss
           in the first step.
               The nature of the mind is repetition, and the nature of life is no repetition. Life is always new,
           ALWAYS. Newness is the nature of life, Tao; nothing is old, cannot be. Life never repeats, it simply
           becomes new every day, new every moment -- and mind is old; hence mind and life never meet.
           Mind simply repeats, life never repeats -- how can mind and life meet? That's why philosophy never
           understands life.
               The whole effort of religion is: how to drop the mind and move into life, how to drop the
           repetitive mechanism and how to enter the evernew, evergreen phenomenon of existence. This is the
           whole point of this beautiful story, TOZAN'S FIVE POUNDS.

              THE MASTER TOZAN WAS WEIGHING SOME FLAX IN THE STOREROOM. A MONK CAME UP
              TO HIM AND ASKED: 'WHAT IS BUDDHA?'
              TOZAN SAID: 'THIS FLAX WEIGHS FIVE POUNDS.'


               Many things: first, a zen master is not a recluse, he has not renounced life; rather, on the
           contrary, he has renounced the mind and entered life.
               There are two types of sannyasins in the world: one type renounces life and enters the life of the
           mind completely -- these are the anti-life people, escaping from the world towards the Himalayas,
           Tibet. They renounce life to be completely absorbed in the mind -- and they are in the majority,
           because to renounce life is easy; to renounce mind is difficult.
               What is the difficulty? If you want to escape from here, you can escape! You can leave your
           wife, your children, your house, your job -- really you will feel unburdened, because your wife has
           become a burden, the children have become a burden, and the whole thing, working every day,
           earning... you are fed up! You will feel unburdened.
               And what will you do in the Himalayas? The whole energy will become mind: you will repeat
           Ram, Ram, Ram, you will read the Upanishads and the Vedas, and you will think profound truths.
           You will think about where the world came from, where the world is going, who created the world,
           why he created the world, what is good and what is evil. You will contemplate, think -- great things!
           Your whole life energy which was engaged in other things will be freed from them now and will be
           absorbed in the mind. You will become a mind.
               And people will pay you respect because you renounced life. You are a great man! Fools will
           recognize you as a great man: fools can recognize you only because you are the greatest of them and
           they will pay respect, they will prostrate themselves at your feet -- you have done a great miracle!
               But what has happened? You renounced life just to be the mind. You renounced the whole body
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just to be the head -- and the head was the problem! You saved the disease, and you renounced
           everything. Now the mind will become a cancerous growth. It will do JAPA, mantra, austerities -- it
           will do everything; and then it will become a ritual. That's why religious people move in rituals:
           ritual means a repetitive phenomenon. Every morning, every day they have to do their prayer: a
           Mohammedan does five prayers in a day -- wherever he is, he is to do the prayer five times; a Hindu
           goes on doing the same ritual every day for his whole life; Christians have to go to church every
           Sunday... just a ritual! Because mind likes repetition, mind creates a ritual.
                In your ordinary life also, mind creates a ritual. You love, you meet friends, you go to parties...
           everything is a ritual, has to be done, repeated. You have a program for all the seven days, and the
           program is fixed -- and this has been so always. You have become a robot, not alive. Mind is a robot.
           If you give too much attention to the mind it will absorb all your energy; it is a cancer, it will grow,
           it will spread all over.
                But a zen master belongs to the other category of sannyasin. He belongs to my category of
           sannyasin. A zen master has always been a neo-sannyasin -- hence I love to talk about them; I have a
           deep affinity with them. They renounce mind and they live life; they don't renounce life and live
           mind -- just the contrary. They simply renounce mind because it is repetitive -- and they live life.
           They may be living the life of a householder; they may have a wife, they may have children; they
           will work on the farm, they will work in the garden, they will dig holes, they will weigh flax in the
           storeroom....
                A Hindu cannot think why an enlightened man should weigh flax -- why? Why such an ordinary
           activity? But a zen master renounces mind, lives life in its totality. He drops mind and becomes
           simple existence.
                So the first thing to remember: if you renounce mind and live life you are a true sannyasin; if you
           renounce life and live mind you are an untrue sannyasin, you are a pseudo-sannyasin. And remember
           well, to be pseudo is always easier; to be real is always difficult. To live with a wife and to be happy
           is really difficult; to live with children and to be blissful is really difficult. To work in a shop, in an
           office, in a factory and to be ecstatic is the real difficulty.
                To leave everything and just sit under a tree and feel happy is not difficult -- anybody will feel
           that way. Nothing to do, you can be detached; everything to do, you become attached. But when you
           do everything AND remain unattached, when you move with the crowd, in the world and yet alone,
           then something real is happening.
                If you don't feel anger when you are alone, that is not the point. When you are alone you will not
           feel anger because anger is a relationship, it needs somebody to be angry towards. Unless you are
           mad you will not feel anger when you are alone; it will be inside but it will not find any way to come
           out. When the other is there, not to be angry THEN is the point. When you don't have any money,
           any things, any house -- if you are unattached, what is the difficulty in it? But when you have
           everything and you remain unattached -- a beggar in the palace -- then something very deep has been
           attained.
                And remember, and always keep it in your heart: truth, love, life, meditation, ecstasy, bliss, all
           that is true and beautiful and good, always exists as a paradox: in the world, and not of it; with
           people, yet alone; doing everything, and being inactive; moving and not moving; living an ordinary
           life, and yet not being identified with it; working as everybody else is working, yet remaining aloof
           deep down. Being in the world and not of the world, that is the paradox. And when you attain this
           paradox, the greatest peak happens to you: the peak experience.
                It is very easy to move into a simple existence either in the world and attached or out of the
           world and detached -- both are simple. But the greater comes only when it is a complex
           phenomenon. If you move to the Himalayas and are unattached, you are a single note of the music; if
           you live in the world and are attached, again you are a single note of the music. But when you are in
           the world AND beyond it, and you carry your Himalaya in the heart, you are a harmony not a single
           note. An accord happens, including all discordant notes, a synthesis of the opposites, a bridge
           between two banks. And the highest is possible only when life is most complex; only in complexity
           the highest happens.
                If you want to be simple you can choose one of the alternatives -- but you will miss the
           complexity. If you cannot be simple in complexity, you will be like an animal, an animal or someone
           in the Himalayas living a renounced life -- they don't go to a shop, they don't work in a factory, they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't have wives, they don't have children....
               I have observed many people who have renounced life. I have lived with them, observed them
           deeply; they become like animals. I don't see in them something of the supreme happening; rather,
           on the contrary, they have fallen back. Their life is less tense of course because an animal's life is
           less tense, they don't have worries because no animal has worries. In fact they go on falling, they
           regress; they become like vegetables -- they vegetate. If you go to them you will see that they ARE
           simple, no complexity exists -- but bring them back to the world and you will find them more
           complex than you, because when the situation arises they will be in difficulty. Then everything that
           is suppressed will come out. This is a sort of suppression. Don't regress, don't move backwards -- go
           ahead.
               A child IS simple, but don't become a child, become mature. Of course when you become
           absolutely mature, a childhood happens again, but that is qualitatively different. A sage is again a
           child, but not childish. A sage has again the flower, the fragrance, the newness of a child, but a deep
           difference is also there: a child has many repressed things in him and whenever the opportunity is
           given they will come out . Sex will come out, anger will come out -- he will move into the world and
           become attached and lost. He has those seeds within him. A sage has no seeds, he cannot be lost. He
           cannot be lost because he is no more. He carries nothing within him.
               Zen masters have lived a very ordinary life -- very otherworldly, but in the world. They are more
           beautiful people than any Hindu sannyasin, they are more beautiful than any Catholic monk. In fact,
           nothing like zen exists on the earth, because they have attained to the highest paradox.

              THE MASTER TOZAN WAS WEIGHING SOME FLAX IN THE STOREROOM.


                An enlightened person, a buddha, weighing flax? You would have simply turned away. Why ask
           any question of this man? -- if he knew anything he would not be weighing flax. Because you have a
           concept of a saint, a sage, as something extraordinary, beyond you, somewhere in the sky sitting on a
           golden throne, you cannot reach him. He is very different -- whatsoever you are, he is just the
           opposite.
                A zen master is not that way. He is in no way extraordinary -- and yet extraordinary. He lives the
           very ordinary life just like you, and yet he is not you. He is not somewhere in the sky, he is HERE,
           but still beyond you. Weighing flax -- but just the same as Buddha under a bodhi tree. In India
           nobody can conceive of Mahavira weighing flax or Buddha weighing flax -- impossible! It would
           look almost profane. What is Buddha doing in a storeroom? Then what is the difference between you
           and him? You also weigh flax, he is also weighing flax, so what is the difference?
                The difference is not outward -- and outward differences don't make any change. You can go and
           sit under a bodhi tree -- nothing will happen. And when the inside changes, why be bothered with the
           outside? Carry on whatsoever you were doing. Carry on whatsoever is given to you. Carry on
           whatsoever the whole wills.

              THE MASTER TOZAN WAS WEIGHING SOME FLAX IN THE STOREROOM.
              A MONK CAME UP TO HIM AND ASKED: 'WHAT IS BUDDHA?'


               In Buddhism that is the greatest question to be asked -- just like what is truth? or what is God? --
           because in Buddhism God is not a concept, Buddha is God; no other god exists. Buddha is the
           highest reality, the highest peak; nothing is beyond it. The truth, God, the absolute, Brahma --
           whatsoever name you give to it, Buddha is THAT.
               So when a monk asks, 'What is Buddha?' he is asking what is truth? what is Tao? what is
           Brahma? what is that one among the many? what is the basic reality? what is the very central core of
           existence? -- he is asking all that.

              TOZAN SAID: 'THIS FLAX WEIGHS FIVE POUNDS.'


              Absurd. Irrelevant. It seems to be completely pointless because the man was asking, 'What is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha?' And this Tozan seems to be a madman. He is not talking about Buddha at all, he has not
           answered the question at all -- and yet he has answered. This is the paradox. If you start living this
           paradox your life will become a symphony; it will become a higher and higher synthesis of all the
           opposites. In YOU, then, all opposites will dissolve.

              TOZAN SAID: 'THIS FLAX WEIGHS FIVE POUNDS.'


               One thing he said: that this very ordinary life is Buddha, this very ordinary life is truth, this very
           ordinary life is Brahma, is the kingdom of God. There is no other life except this; there is no that,
           only THIS exists. Hindus say, 'THAT exists, this is illusion'; Tozan said, 'This is true, that is illusion.
           This very moment is truth, and don't ask for any extraordinary thing.'
               Seekers always ask for something extraordinary, because ego feels fulfilled only when something
           extraordinary is given. You come to a master and you ask questions, and if he says such things you
           will think he is mad, or joking, or not a man worthy to be asked. You will simply escape. Why? --
           because he shatters your ego completely. You were asking Buddha, you were desiring Buddha, you
           would like to be a buddha yourself; hence the question. And this man says: What nonsense you are
           asking! Not even worth answering! This flax weighs five pounds. This is more important than any
           buddha. This moment, this flax, is the whole of existence. In this five pounds of flax is centered the
           whole being of the world -- here and now. Don't go astray; don't ask philosophical questions. Look at
           this moment.
               Tozan did a wonderful thing. Tozan is a buddha. Tozan weighing flax is Buddha weighing flax --
           and reality is one! Tozan is Buddha, and the flax is also Buddha; and in that moment it weighed five
           pounds. That was the truth, the facticity of the moment. But if you are filled with philosophy you
           will think this man is mad and you will go away.
               This happened to Arthur Koestler, one of the keenest intellects in the West. He missed the whole
           point completely. When he went to Japan to study zen he thought: These people are simply mad -- or
           else they are joking, not serious at all. He wrote a book, Against zen. It looks absurd. It is. He is
           wrong, and yet right. It IS absurd. If you don't know the language of zen it is absurd; if you are
           identified too much with logical thinking, it is absurd. It is illogical -- what more illogical thing can
           you find: somebody asking, 'What is Buddha?' and somebody answering, 'This flax weighs five
           pounds'?
               You ask about the sky and I answer about the earth; you ask about God and I talk about a rock --
           no meeting. And yet there is a meeting -- but very perceptive eyes are needed, not intellectually keen
           but feelingfully perceptive; not identified with reasoning but waiting to look, watching, witnessing
           what is happening; not already prejudiced, but open. Koestler is prejudiced... a very keen intellect,
           can work out things very logically in the tradition of Aristotle, but does not know anything, does not
           know at all that there exists an absolutely non-Aristotelian world of zen, where two plus two are not
           necessarily four; sometimes they are five, sometimes they are three -- anything is possible. No
           possibility is destroyed, all possibilities remain open, infinitely open. And every time two and two
           meet, something else happens. The world remains open, unknown; you cannot exhaust it.
               Look: superficially this man is mad, but deeply you cannot find a saner man than this Tozan. But
           Koestler will miss, and Koestler is a keen intellect, very logical; only a few people can compete with
           him in keen intelligence, but he misses. In this world intelligence is a means, in that world
           intelligence becomes a barrier. Don't be too wise, otherwise you will miss the real wisdom. Look at
           this Tozan without any prejudice, without any mind of your own. Simply look at the phenomenon,
           what is happening?
               A disciple monk asks, 'What is Buddha?' -- and a zen master lives in the moment, he is always
           here and now, he is always at home -- whenever you come you will find him there, he is never absent
           from there -- he remains in this moment. The trees, the sky, the sun, the rocks, the birds, the people --
           the whole world is concentrated in this moment! This moment is vast. It is not just a tick of your
           clock; this moment is infinite, because in this moment, everything is. Millions of stars, many new
           stars being born, many old stars going to die, this whole infinite expanse of time and space meets in
           this moment. So how to indicate this moment? -- and Tozan was weighing flax -- how to indicate
           this moment, how to bring this monk here and now? How to put his philosophic inquiry aside? How
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to shock him and awaken him to this moment, and in this moment?
               This is a shock -- because he must have been inquiring about Buddha in his mind, thinking:
           'What is the reality of a buddha? What is truth?' And he must have been expecting some profound
           answer, something very superb: 'This master is enlightened, so he must say something very valuable.'
           He could never have expected that it was going to be such an ordinary thing, such an ordinary and
           absurd answer. He must have been shocked.
               In that shock you can be awake for a moment, a fraction of a moment. When you are shocked
           thinking cannot continue. If the answer is anything relevant, thinking can continue, because that is
           what mind asks -- relevancy. If something is said which is relevant to the question, thinking can
           continue; if something is said which is absolutely absurd, discontinuous, is not to the point at all, the
           mind cannot continue. Suddenly the mind is shocked, and the continuity broken. Soon it will start
           again, because the mind will say: This is absurd!
               Mulla Nasruddin was being analyzed by a psychiatrist. After many months of analysis, many
           meetings, the psychiatrist said, as Mulla lay on the couch: 'This is what I feel, this is what I
           conclude: you need to fall in love, you need a beautiful feminine object. Love is your need.'
               Mulla said, 'Between me and you, don't you think love is silly?'
               The psychiatrist said, 'Between me and you? -- it would be absurd!'
               For a moment he must have been shocked, but only for a moment. If you cannot find relevancy,
           the mind will say immediately: This is absurd! If you find relevancy, the continuity continues. If
           there is something absurd, for a split second there is a discontinuity, the mind is not able to cope with
           what has been said. But immediately it recovers, it will say it is absurd; continuity restarts.
               But the shock, and the assertion of the mind that it is absurd, are not simultaneous; there is a gap.
           In that gap satori is possible. In that gap you can be awakened, you can have a glimpse. It would
           have been wonderful if the opportunity could have been used; wonderful is this man Tozan,
           incomparable. You cannot find such a man anywhere else. And what a spontaneous answer! Not
           prefabricated, not in any way readymade; nobody had said that ever before, and there is no point in
           saying it now. Nobody has ever said, 'THIS FLAX WEIGHS FIVE POUNDS' in answer to a
           question about Buddha: 'What is Buddha?'
               Tozan is spontaneous, he does not answer from the memory; otherwise he knows the scriptures,
           he was a great scholar before he became enlightened.... He knows by heart and has chanted all
           Buddha's words, he has discussed philosophy for many years; he knows what the monk is asking, he
           knows what he is expecting -- but he is simply spontaneous, weighing flax.
               Just try to imagine and see Tozan weighing flax. In that moment what could indicate more
           spontaneously the reality of the moment, the facticity of existence? He simply said, 'THIS FLAX
           WEIGHS FIVE POUNDS' -- and finished! He doesn't say anything about Buddha; there is no need.
           This is buddhahood. This being spontaneous is buddhahood. This being true to the moment is
           buddhahood.
               What he says is just part of it; what he leaves unsaid is the whole. If you awaken in that moment
           you will see Buddha weighing flax -- and the flax weighs five pounds. What is he indicating? He is
           not saying much, but he is showing much, and by not saying much he is creating a possibility: you
           may, for a single moment, be aware of the whole existence that is there concentrated in this Tozan.
               Whenever a buddha happens in the world, the whole existence finds a center there. Then all the
           rivers fall in him, and all the mountains bow down to him, and all the stars move around him.
           Whenever there is an enlightened man, the whole existence converges on his being. He becomes the
           center.
               Tozan weighing flax in that moment was the buddha: the whole existence converging, flowing
           into Tozan, and Tozan weighing flax -- and the flax weighed five pounds. This moment is so real: if
           you awaken, if you open your eyes, satori is possible. Tozan is spontaneous; he has no readymade
           answers; he responds to the moment.
               Next time if you come to Tozan the same answer cannot be given, will not be given, because
           Tozan may not be weighing, or may be weighing something else, or may be even weighing flax, but
           the flax may not weigh five pounds. Next time the answer will be different. If you come again and
           again, each time the answer will be different. This is the difference between a scholar and a man of
           knowledge. A scholar has fixed answers. If you come, whenever you come, he has a readymade
           answer for you. You ask, and he will give you the answer, and the answer will always be the same --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and you will feel he is very consistent. He is.
                There was once a case against Mulla Nasruddin in the court, and the judge asked his age. He
           said, 'Forty years.'
                The judge looked surprised and he said, 'Nasruddin, four years ago you were here, and I asked
           that time also what is your age, and you told me forty years. Now this is absolutely inconsistent --
           how can you still be forty?'
                Nasruddin said, 'I am a man of consistency. Once forty, I remain forty always. When I have
           answered once, I have answered for ever! You cannot lead me astray. I am forty, and whenever you
           ask you will get the same answer. I am a man who is always consistent.'
                A consistent man is dead. If you are dead, only then can you remain forty. Then there is no need
           to change. A dead man never grows -- and you cannot find persons more dead than pundits, scholars,
           men of information.
                An enlightened man lives in the moment: you ask, he replies -- but he has got no fixed replies.
           He IS the reply. So whatsoever happens in that moment happens; he does not manipulate it, he does
           not think about it, about what you are asking. You simply ask, and his whole being responds. In this
           moment it happened that Tozan was weighing flax, and in this moment it happened that the flax
           weighed five pounds, and when this monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' in Tozan's being five pounds
           was the reality. He was weighing; in Tozan's being five pounds was the fact. He simply said: Five
           pounds of flax.
                Looks absurd on the surface. If you go deeper, deeper, you find a relevancy which is not a logical
           relevancy, and you find a consistency which is not that of the mind, but of the being. Understand, try
           to understand the difference. If next time you come and Tozan is digging a hole in the garden, and
           you ask, 'What is Buddha?' -- he will give you the answer. He will say, 'Look at this hole,' he will
           say, 'It is ready; now the tree can be planted.' Next time, if you come again, and if he is going for a
           walk with his walking stick, he may say, 'This walking stick.'
                Whatsoever is in the moment will be the reply, because a buddha lives moment to moment -- and
           if you start living moment to moment, you become a buddha. This is the answer: live moment to
           moment and you become a buddha. A buddha is one who lives moment to moment, who does not
           live in the past, who does not live in the future, who lives here now. Buddhahood is a quality of
           being present here and now -- and buddhahood is not a goal, you need not wait, you can become just
           here and now.
                Talking, I am a buddha, because only talk is happening. If only listening is happening there at the
           other end with you, you are a buddha in listening. Try to catch a glimpse of the moment, this
           moment. This moment Tozan is not weighing flax; Tozan is talking to you. This moment you have
           not asked, 'What is Buddha?' but the question is there whether you ask it or not. The question goes
           around and around in the mind: What is truth? what is Buddha? what is Tao? Whether you ask it or
           not it is the question. YOU are the question.
                In this moment you can awake. You can look, you can shake the mind a little, create a
           discontinuity, and suddenly you understand... what Arthur Koestler misses. If you are also too
           intelligent, you will miss. Don't be too intelligent, don't try to be too clever, because there is a
           wisdom which is attained by those who become fools; there is a wisdom which is attained by those
           who become like madmen; there is a wisdom which is attained only when you lose your mind.
                Tozan is beautiful. If you can see, and if you can see that the answer is not absurd, you have seen
           it, you have understood it. But if the understanding remains intellectual it will not be of much use. I
           have explained it to you, you have understood it, but if the understanding remains intellectual -- you
           understand with the mind -- again you miss. Koestler may be against zen and you may be for it, but
           you both miss. It is not a question of being for or against; it is a question of a nonmental
           understanding. If it arises from your heart, if you feel it, not think it, if it touches your whole being,
           if it penetrates, is not just a verbal thing, not a philosophy, but becomes an experience, it will
           transform you.
                I am talking about these stories just to shock you out of your mind, just to bring you down a little
           towards the heart -- and if you are ready, then still further down towards the navel.
                The further down you go, the deeper you reach... and, ultimately, depth and height are the same
           thing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         And The Flowers Showered
                                                     Chapter #9
                                        Chapter title: Deaf, dumb and blind
           8 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411080
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 114 mins




              GENSHA COMPLAINED TO HIS FOLLOWERS ONE DAY: 'OTHER MASTERS ARE ALWAYS
              CARRYING ON ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF SAVING EVERYONE -- BUT SUPPOSE YOU MEET
              UP WITH SOMEONE WHO IS DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND: HE COULDN'T SEE YOUR GESTURES,
              HEAR YOUR PREACHING, OR, FOR THAT MATTER, ASK QUESTIONS. UNABLE TO SAVE HIM,
              YOU'D PROVE YOURSELF A WORTHLESS BUDDHIST.'
              TROUBLED BY THESE WORDS, ONE OF GENSHA'S DISCIPLES WENT TO CONSULT THE
              MASTER UMMON WHO, LIKE GENSHA, WAS A DISCIPLE OF SEPPO.'BOW PLEASE,' SAID
              UMMON.
              THE MONK, THOUGH TAKEN BY SURPRISE, OBEYED THE MASTER'S COMMAND -- THEN
              STRAIGHTENED UP IN EXPECTATION OF HAVING HIS QUERY ANSWERED.
              BUT INSTEAD OF AN ANSWER, HE GOT A STAFF THRUST AT HIM. HE LEAPT BACK.'WELL,'
              SAID UMMON, 'YOU'RE NOT BLIND. NOW APPROACH.'
              THE MONK DID AS HE WAS BIDDEN. 'GOOD,' SAID UMMON, 'YOU'RE NOT DEAF EITHER.
              WELL, UNDERSTAND?' 'UNDERSTAND WHAT SIR?' SAID THE MONK.'AH, YOU'RE NOT DUMB
              EITHER,' SAID UMMON.
              ON HEARING THESE WORDS THE MONK AWOKE AS FROM A DEEP SLEEP.


               JESUS USED TO SAY to his disciples, and not only once but many times, 'If you have eyes --
           look! If you have ears, then hear me!' They had eyes just like you and they had ears just like you.
           Then Jesus must have meant something else -- not these ears, not these eyes.
               There is a different way of seeing the world and a different way of hearing -- a different way of
           being. When you have that different quality of seeing, God is seen; when you have that different way
           of hearing, God is heard; and when you have that different quality of being, you become God
           yourself. As you are, you are deaf, dumb, blind -- almost dead. Deaf to God, dumb to God, blind to
           God, dead to God.
               Nietzsche has declared that God is dead. In fact, when YOU are dead, how can God be alive to
           you? God is dead because you are dead. You can know God only when you live abundantly, when
           your life becomes an overflowing, when it is a flood. In that overflowing moment of bliss, life and
           vitality, for the first time you know what God is, because God is the most luxurious overflowing
           phenomenon.
               God is not a necessity in this world. Scientific laws are a necessity -- without them the world
           cannot be. God is not a necessity that way. Without him the world can be, but it will be worthless.
           Without him you can exist, but your existence will be just a vegetable existence. Without him you
           can vegetate, you cannot be really alive.
               God is not a necessity -- you can be there, but your being there will not be of any meaning, it will
           not carry any meaning at all. It will have no poetry, it will have no song, it will have no dance to it. It
           will not be a mystery. It may be an arithmetic, it may be a business, but it cannot be a love affair.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Without God all that is beautiful disappears, because the beautiful comes only as an overflowing
           -- it is a luxury. Watch a tree: if you have not watered it well, if the tree is not getting nourishment
           from the soil, the tree can exist but flowers will not come. Existence will be there, but futile! It
           would have been better not to be, because it will be a constant frustration. Flowers come to the tree
           only when the tree has so much that it can share, and the tree has so much nourishment that it can
           flower -- flowering is a luxury! The tree has so much that it can afford it.
                And I tell you that God is the most luxurious thing in the world. God is not necessary -- you can
           live without him. You can live very well, but you will miss something, you will feel an emptiness in
           the heart. You will be more like a wound than like an alive force. You will suffer; there cannot be
           any ecstasy in your life.
                But how to find this meaning, this ecstasy? You will need a different way of looking. Right now
           you are blind. Of course you can see matter, but matter is a necessity. You can see the tree very well
           but you miss the flowers; and even if you can see the flowers, you miss the fragrance. Your eyes can
           see only the surface -- you miss the center, the very core. Hence Jesus goes on saying that you are a
           blind man, you are deaf -- and you have to be dumb, because if you have not seen him what is there
           to say? If you have not heard him what is there to convey and communicate? If that poetry has not
           happened what is there to sing? You may make gestures from your mouth, but nothing will come out
           of it because nothing is there in the first place.
                When a man like Jesus speaks he is POSSESSED; something greater than him speaks through
           him. When a man like Buddha speaks he is not Gautam Siddhartha who was born a son to a king; no,
           he is no longer that. He is no longer the body you can see and touch, he is not even the mind that you
           can comprehend and understand. Something of the beyond has entered, something which is not of
           time and space has come into time and space. A miracle has happened. HE is not speaking to you, he
           is just a vehicle; something else is flowing through him, he is just a medium. He carries to you
           something from the unknown shore. Only then can you sing -- when ecstasy has happened.
           Otherwise you can go on singing, but it will be superficial. You may make much noise, but noise is
           not speaking. You may use many words, but they will be empty. You may talk too much, but in fact
           how can you TALK?
                When it happened to Mohammed, the first day when he came in contact with the divine, he fell
           on the ground, started shivering and shaking and perspiring -- and the morning was as cold as this
           morning. He was alone, and from the very pores of the soles of his feet he started perspiring; he was
           afraid. Something unknown had touched him and he was scared to death. He came running home and
           went to bed. His wife was very afraid. Many blankets were put on him but still he continued
           shivering and his wife asked, 'What has happened? Your eyes look dazed -- and why don't you
           speak? Why have you gone dumb?'
                And Mohammed is reported to have said, 'For the first time something is there to say. Up to now
           I have been a dumb man; there was nothing to say, I was making gestures from the mouth. I was
           talking but only my lips were moving, there was nothing to say. Now there is something I have to
           say -- that's why I am trembling so much. I am pregnant with the unknown, with the divine.
           Something is going to take birth.'
                And this brings suffering, as every mother knows. If you have to give birth to a child you have to
           pass through many painful days, and when the birth happens there is much suffering. When life
           enters, it is a struggle.
                For three days, it is said, Mohammed remained in his bed, absolutely dumb. Then, by and by,
           just as a small child starts talking, he started talking. And then the Koran was born.
                You are dumb. You may be saying too many things, but remember -- you talk too much just to
           hide that dumbness. You talk not to communicate, you talk just to hide -- to hide the fact that you are
           dumb. Next time you start talking with someone, WATCH: why are you talking? Why are you so
           verbal? What is the need? Suddenly you will become aware that the fear is, if I remain quiet the
           other will think I am dumb. So you talk just to hide this fact -- and you know there is nothing to say,
           yet you go on talking.
                I once stayed with a family and I was sitting with the man of the house, my host, when the son
           came in, a small child, and he asked his father if he would answer a few questions. The father said, 'I
           am engaged; you go and ask your mother.'
                The child said, 'But I don't want to know that much! Because if she starts talking there is no end
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to it, and I have to do my homework -- and I don't want to know THAT much!'
                People go on talking and talking and talking and without knowing why they are talking -- for
           what? What is there to convey? It is just to hide their dumbness. People go on moving from here to
           there, from this town to that; they go on traveling, and go for holidays to the Himalayas and to
           Switzerland -- why all this traveling, moving? They want to feel they are alive.
                But movement is not life. Of course life has a very deep movement, but movement is not life.
           You can go on moving from one town to another, and you can cover the whole earth, but that
           movement is not life. Life is of course a very subtle movement -- the movement from one state of
           consciousness to another.
                When people get stuck they start moving outwardly. Now the American has become the bona
           fide traveler; he travels all over the world from this corner to that -- because the American
           consciousness is stuck somewhere so badly that if you remain in one place you will feel you have
           gone dead. So move! Move from one wife to another, move from one job to another, move from one
           neighborhood to another, move from one town to another -- never in the history of man has this
           happened. In America the average time for a person to stay in a town is three years; people move on
           within three years -- and this is just the average, there are people who are moving every month. They
           go on changing -- dresses, cars, houses, wives, husbands -- everything.
                I have heard that once one Hollywood actress was introducing her child to a new husband. She
           said, 'Now, meet your new father.'
                The child said, 'Hello, I am happy to meet you! Would you like to give me your signature in my
           visitors' book?' -- because he had met so many new fathers.
                Everything has to be changed just to feel that you are alive. A hectic search for life. Of course,
           life IS a movement, but not from one place to another; it is a movement from one state to another. It
           is a DEEP inward movement from one consciousness to another consciousness, to the higher realms
           of being. Otherwise you are dead. As you are, you are dead. Hence Jesus goes on saying, 'Listen! --
           if you have ears. See! -- if you have eyes.' This has to be understood first, then this story will become
           easier.
                Then the second thing: why are you so dead? Why are you so dumb, blind, deaf? There must be
           something, there must be some investment in it -- otherwise so many people, millions of them, could
           not be in such a state. It must be paying you something, you must be getting something out of it,
           otherwise how is it possible that Buddhas and Krishnas and Christs go on saying, 'Don't be blind,
           don't be deaf, don't be dumb, don't be dead! Be alive! Be alert, awake!' -- and nobody listens to
           them? Even if they appeal intellectually, you never listen to them. Even if you feel in certain sublime
           moments of life that they are right, you never follow them. Even if sometimes you decide to follow,
           you always postpone it for tomorrow -- and then tomorrow never comes. What is the deep
           investment in it?
                Just the other night I was talking to a friend. He is a very educated man, cultured -- has moved all
           over the world, has lived in the Soviet Union and the UK and the United States, has been to China,
           and this and that. Listening to him I felt he is completely dead! And then he asked me, 'What
           solution would you suggest? -- because life has so many sufferings and miseries, so many injustices,
           so many things that hurt you. How to live life so that you don't feel hurt, so that life cannot create so
           many wounds in your being -- what to do?'
                So I told him there are two ways: one -- which is easier but at a very great cost -- one is to
           become dead, to become as insensitive as possible. ... Because if you are insensitive, if you grow a
           thick skin around you, an armor, then you don't bother much, nobody can hurt you. Somebody
           insults you and you have such a thick skin that it never enters. There is injustice, but you simply
           never become aware of it.
                This is the mechanism of your deadness. If you are more sensitive, you will be hurt more. Then
           every small thing will become a pain, a misery, and it will be impossible to live -- and one has to
           live. There ARE problems, and there are millions of people -- there is violence all around, there is
           misery all around. You pass through the street and beggars are there; you have to be insensitive
           otherwise it will become a misery, a heavy weight on you. Why these beggars? What have they done
           to suffer this? And somehow deep down you will feel: I am also responsible. You simply pass by the
           beggar as if you are deaf, dumb, blind -- you don't look.
                Have you ever LOOKED AT a beggar? You may have seen a beggar, but you have never looked
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           at him. You have never encountered him, you have never sat with him, you have never taken his
           hand in your hand -- it would be too much. So open -- there is danger. And you have to think about
           your wife, not about this beggar; you have to think about your children -- and you are not concerned!
           So whenever there is a beggar, watch: your speed increases, you walk faster and don't look that way.
           If you really look at a beggar you will feel the whole injustice of life; you will feel the whole misery
           -- and it will be too much. It will be impossible to tolerate it, you will have to do something and what
           can you do? You feel so helpless; you have your own problems too, and you have to solve them.
               You see a dying man, what can you do? You see a crippled child, what can you do? Just the
           other day one sannyasin came to me and he said he was very much disturbed, because on the road
           when he was passing a truck almost killed a dog. The dog was already not in good shape; two legs
           must have been crushed before. With only two legs the dog was trying to live, and then this truck
           again crushed him. The sannyasin took pity, felt compassion, he took the dog in his hands -- and then
           he saw there was a hole in its back and millions of worms. He wanted to help, but how to help? And
           he became so disturbed that he couldn't sleep; he had nightmares and continuously the dog was
           haunting him: 'I have not done anything -- I have to do something. But what to do?' The idea came to
           his mind to kill the dog because that was the only thing that could be done now. With so many
           worms, maggots, the dog could not live. And its life would be misery, so it was better to kill it. But
           to kill -- wouldn't that be violence? Wouldn't that be murder? Wouldn't that be a karma? So what to
           do? You cannot help. Then the best way is to be insensitive.
               There are dogs and there are trucks, and things go on happening, you go on your way, you don't
           look around. It is dangerous to look, so you never use your eyes one hundred percent -- scientists say
           only two percent. Ninety-eight percent, you close your eyes. Ninety-eight percent, you close your
           ears -- you don't listen to everything that is happening all around. Ninety-eight percent you don't live.
               Have you ever observed how you always feel fear whenever you are in a love relationship or
           whenever love stays? Suddenly a fear takes over, because whenever you love a person you surrender
           to the person. And surrendering to a person is dangerous because the other may hurt you. Your
           protection is down. You don't have any armor. Whenever you love you are open and vulnerable, and
           who knows, how to believe in the other?... because the other is a stranger. You may have known the
           other for many years but that makes no difference. You don't even know yourself, how can you
           know the other? The other is a stranger. And to allow the other to enter into your intimate life means
           to allow him to hurt you.
               People have become afraid of love; it is better to go to a prostitute than to have a beloved. It is
           better to have a wife than to have a beloved, because a wife is an institution. Your wife cannot hurt
           you more because you never loved her. It was arranged: your father and mother and the astrologer...
           everybody was involved except you. It is an arrangement, a social arrangement. Not much is
           involved. You take care of her, you arrange for her food and shelter. She takes care; she arranges the
           house, the food, she looks after the children -- it is an arrangement, a business-like thing. Love is
           dangerous, it is not a business, it is not a bargain. You give power to the other person in love,
           COMPLETE power over you. The fear: the other is a stranger and who knows...? Whenever you
           trust anybody, fear grips.
               People come to me and they say, 'We surrender to you,' but I know they cannot. It is almost
           impossible. They have never loved, how can they surrender? They are speaking without knowing
           what they are saying. They are almost asleep. They are talking in their sleep, they don't mean it,
           because surrender means that if I say, 'Go on top of the hill and jump!' you cannot say no. Surrender
           means total power has been given to the other: how can you give that?
               Surrender is just like love. That's why I say only lovers can become sannyasins -- because they
           know a little of how to surrender. Love is the first step towards the divine, surrender is the last. And
           two steps is the whole journey.
               But you are afraid. You would like to have your own control on your life: not only that -- you
           would like to control the other's life also. Hence the continuous quarrel between husbands and wives
           and lovers -- constant quarrel, conflict. What is the conflict? The conflict is: Who will dominate
           whom? Who will possess whom? It has to be settled first. This is not a surrender but a domination --
           just the opposite. Whenever you dominate a person there is no fear. Whenever you love a person
           there is fear, because in love you surrender and you give total power to the other. Now the other can
           hurt, the other can reject, the other can say NO. That's why you live only two percent, not one
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hundred percent. Ninety-eight percent you are dead, insensitive. And insensitivity, deadness, is very
           much respected by the society. The more you are insensitive, the more society will respect you.
                It is said, it happened in Lokmanya Tilak's life -- one of the great Indian leaders. He lived in
           Poona, just this town, and before Gandhi took over and dominated the scene he was the topmost man
           in India -- it is said about him that he was a man of discipline, and men of discipline are always dead
           because discipline is nothing but how to deaden yourself. His wife died, and he was sitting in his
           office where he published a newspaper, KESARI -- it is still published -- when somebody reported,
           'Your wife has died, come home!' Hearing this, he looked at the clock at the back and he said, 'But it
           is not yet time. I only leave my office at five.'
                Look at the whole thing. What type of intimacy, what type of love, what type of caring and
           sharing was there? This man cares about his work, this man cares about time, but not about love. It
           seems almost impossible that when somebody says your wife is dead, to look at the clock and then to
           say, 'It is not yet time. I leave my office only at five.' And the wonder of wonders is that all his
           biographers appreciate this incident very much. They say, 'This is devotion to the country! This is
           how a disciplined man should be.' They think this is nonattachment. This is NOT nonattachment, this
           is not devotion to anything. This is simply deadness, an insensitivity. And one who is insensitive
           towards his wife, how can he be sensitive to the whole country? Impossible.
                Remember, if you cannot love a person you cannot love humanity. That may be a trick. Those
           who cannot love persons -- because it is very dangerous to love a person -- they always think they
           love humanity. Where is humanity? Can you find it anywhere? It is just a word. Humanity exists
           nowhere. Wherever you go you will find a person existing. Life is persons, not humanity. Life is
           always personified, it exists as an individual. Society, country, humanity, are just words. Where is
           society? Where is the country, the motherland? You cannot love a mother, and you love a
           motherland? You must be deceiving somewhere. But the word is good, beautiful: motherland. You
           need not bother about the motherland, because the motherland is not a person, it is a fiction in your
           mind. It is your own ego.
                You can love humanity, you can love the motherland, you can love society, and you are not
           capable of loving a person -- because a person creates difficulties. Society will never create a
           difficulty because it is just a word. You need not surrender to it. You can dominate the word, the
           fiction, but you cannot dominate a person. Even with a small child it is impossible, you cannot
           dominate him because he has his own ego, he has his own mind, he has his own ways. It is almost
           impossible to dominate life but words can be easily dominated -- because you are alone there.
                People who cannot love a person start loving God. They don't know what they are doing. To talk
           to a person, to communicate to a person, is a difficult matter. It needs skill, it needs a very loving
           heart, it needs a very KNOWING heart, understanding heart. Only then can you touch a person,
           because to touch a person is to move in a dangerous arena -- life is throbbing there also. And each
           person is so unique that you cannot be mechanical about it. You have to be very alert and watchful.
           You have to become more sensitive if you love a person; only then does understanding arise.
                But to love a god who is somewhere sitting in the sky, it is a monologue. Go to the churches --
           people are talking to no one. They are as crazy as people you will find in the madhouses, but that
           madness is accepted by the society and this madness is not accepted, that is the only difference. Go
           to a madhouse; you will find people talking alone, nobody is there. They talk, and not only do they
           say something, they answer also. They make it LOOK like a dialogue; it is a monologue. Then go to
           the churches and the temples; there people are talking to God. That too is a monologue, and if they
           really go mad they start doing both things: they say something and they answer also, and they feel
           that God has answered.
                You cannot do that unless you have learned how to love a person. If you love a person, by and by
           the person becomes the door to the whole. But one has to start with the person, with the small, with
           the atomic. You cannot take the jump. The Ganges cannot simply jump into the ocean, it has to start
           in the Gangotri, just a small stream; then wider and wider and bigger and bigger it goes, and then
           finally it merges with the ocean.
                The Ganga, the Ganges of love, also has to start just like a small stream, with persons, then it
           goes on becoming bigger and bigger. Once you know the beauty of it, the beauty of surrender, the
           beauty of insecurity, the beauty of being open to all that life gives -- bliss and suffering both -- then
           you get bigger and bigger and bigger and expand, and the consciousness finally becomes an ocean.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then you fall into God, into the divine. But because of fear you create insensitivity -- and the society
           respects it. Society does not want you to be very alive because alive people are rebellious.
               Look at a small child: if he is really alive he will be rebellious, he will try to have his own way.
           But if he is a dumb imbecile, an idiot, somehow stuck somewhere and not growing, he will sit in the
           corner perfectly obedient. You tell him to go, he goes; you tell him to come, he comes. You tell him
           to sit down, he sits; you tell him to stand, he stands. He is perfectly obedient because he has no
           personality of his own. The society, the family, the parents, will like this child. They will say, 'Look,
           he is so obedient.'
               I heard once: Mulla Nasruddin was talking to his son; he had come with a report card from his
           school. Mulla was expecting that he would receive an A, and he had received a D; in fact he was the
           last in the class. So Nasruddin said, 'Look, you never obey me, whatsoever I say you disobey; now
           this has resulted. And look at the neighbors' child -- he always receives an A, always stands first in
           the class.' The child looked at Nasruddin and said, 'But that's a different matter -- he has talented
           parents.' This child is very alive, but he has his own ways.
               Obedience has a certain dumbness about it, disobedience a sharp intelligence about it. But
           obedience is respected because obedience gives less inconvenience. Of course that's right --
           disobedience creates inconvenience. You would like a dead child because he will not create any
           inconvenience. You would not like an alive child -- the more alive, the more danger there is.
               Parents, societies, schools, they all force obedience, they dull you; and then they respect those
           people. That's why in life you never see people who stand first in schools, universities; in life they
           are simply lost. You never find them in life, where they go... they prove themselves very talented in
           school, but somehow in life they are lost. It seems that the ways of school are different from the
           ways of life. Somehow life loves lively people -- the more lively, the more rebellious: people with
           their own consciousness, being, and personality; people who have their own ways to fulfill; people
           who are not dead. Schools prefer just the opposite. The whole society helps you to become dumb,
           deaf, blind, dead.
               In the monasteries you will find dead people worshipped as saints. Go to Varanasi: you will find
           people lying down on beds of thorns, nails -- and they are worshipped like gods. And what have they
           achieved? If you look at their faces you will not find more stupid faces anywhere. A person lying on
           a bed of nails or thorns has to be STUPID. In the first place to choose this way of life one has to be
           stupid. And then what will he do, what can he do by lying on the nails? He has to make his whole
           body insensitive. That's the only way: he must not feel it. By and by he becomes thicker-skinned,
           then it doesn't matter. Then he becomes a rock, completely dead. And the whole society worships
           him: he is a sage, he has attained something. What has he attained? He has attained more deadness
           than you. Now the nails do not matter because the body has become dead.
               You may not know, but if you ask physiologists they say there are already many spots in the
           body which are not alive; they call them dead spots. On your back there are many dead spots. Just
           give a needle to one of your friends, or your wife or your husband, and tell him to push the needle in
           your back on many spots. You will feel some spots and some you will not feel. Some spots are
           already dead, so when the needle is pushed in you don't feel it. Those people, they have done one
           thing: they have made their whole body a dead spot. But this is not growing, this is regression. They
           are becoming more material rather than more divine, because to be divine means to be perfectly
           sensitive, to be perfectly alive.
               So I told that man that there is one way, and that is to be dead: that is easier, that is what
           everyone is doing. People differ in degrees, but in their own ways they are doing that.
               You return to your home afraid of your wife; you become deaf, you don't hear what she says.
           You start reading your newspaper, and you put your newspaper in such a way that you don't see her.
           What she says you simply become deaf to, otherwise you feel, How can I live if I listen to her? You
           don't see that she is crying or weeping. Only when she makes it almost impossible for you, then you
           look -- and that look is so angry.
               You go to the office, you move through the traffic, everywhere you have to create a certain
           deadness around you. You think it protects -- it does not protect, it only kills. Of course you will
           suffer less, but less blessings will come to you, less bliss also. When you become dead, suffering is
           less because you cannot feel it; blissfulness is less because you cannot feel it. A person who is in
           search of a higher blissfulness has to be ready to suffer.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This may look a paradox to you: that a man of the status of a buddha, a man who is awakened, IS
           blissful -- absolutely -- and also suffers absolutely. Of course he is blissful inside, the flowers go on
           showering there, but he suffers for everybody all around. He has to, because if you have sensitivity
           for blessings to become available to you, suffering will also become available to you. One has to
           choose. If you choose not to suffer, you don't want to suffer, then you will not attain to blissfulness
           either -- because they both come by the same door; this is the problem. You can close your door in
           fear of the enemy, but the friend also comes by the same door. And if you lock it completely and
           block it completely, so afraid of the enemy, then the friend cannot come either. God has not been
           coming to you, your doors are closed. You may have closed them against the devil, but when doors
           are closed they are closed. And one who needs, feels the hunger, the thirst to meet the divine, has to
           meet the devil also. You cannot choose one, you have to meet both.
                If you are alive, death will be a great phenomenon to you. If you live totally you will die totally;
           if you live two percent you will die two percent. As life, so will be death. If the door is open for God
           it is open for the devil also.
                You have heard many stories but I don't feel that you have understood: whenever God happens
           the devil happens just before him, because whenever the door is open the devil rushes in first. He is
           always in a hurry. God is not in a hurry.
                So with Jesus -- when he attained to the final enlightenment the devil tempted him for forty days.
           When he was meditating, fasting in his aloneness, when Jesus was disappearing and he was creating
           a place for Christ to come, the devil tempted him. Those forty days the devil was continuously by his
           side. And he tempted very beautifully and very politically; he is the greatest politician, all other
           politicians are his disciples. Very diplomatically he said, 'Right, so now you have become the
           prophet, and you know that in the scriptures it is said that whenever God chooses a man, and a man
           becomes a messiah, a prophet, he becomes infinitely powerful. Now you are powerful. If you want
           you can jump from this hill and angels will be standing in the valley. And if you are really a messiah,
           fulfill whatever is said in the scriptures -- jump!'
                The temptation was great and he was quoting scriptures. Devils always quote, because to
           convince you a scripture has to be brought in. Devils know all the scriptures by heart.
                Jesus laughed and said, 'You are right but in the same scripture it is said that you should not test
           God.'
                Then one day when he was feeling very hungry... thirty days of fasting, the devil always sitting
           by his side... before God comes, the devil comes; the moment you open the door he is just standing
           there, and he is always first in the queue. God always lags behind because he is not in a hurry,
           remember: God has eternity to work, the devil has not eternity to work -- moments only. If he loses,
           he loses, and once a man becomes divine, he will not be hurt any more... so he has to find weak
           moments when Jesus is disappearing and Christ has not entered. That gap is the moment where he
           can enter. Then the devil said, 'But it is said in the scriptures that when a man is chosen by God he
           can turn even stones into bread. So why are you suffering? And PROVE this, because the world will
           be benefited by this.' This is diplomacy. He said, 'The world will be benefited by this.'
                It seems that's how the devil has convinced your Satya Sai Baba. The world will be benefited by
           this because when you turn stones into bread, people will know that you are the man of God. They
           will come running, then you can help them. Otherwise who will come and who will listen to you?
                Jesus said, 'You are right. I can turn -- but not I, God can turn stones into bread. But whenever he
           needs to he will tell me, you need not bother. Why are you taking so much trouble?'
                Whenever you enter into meditation the first man you will find on the gate, the moment you open
           the door, will be the devil, because it is in fear of him you have closed the door. And remember... but
           first I will tell you an anecdote, then you will understand.
                In a shop they had declared a special concession for Christmas, particularly for ladies' clothes
           and dresses, so there was a crowd of ladies. One man had come because his wife was ill, and she
           forced him to go because this was not a chance to be lost. So he stood, gentlemanly, for one hour, but
           he couldn't reach the counter. You know ladies, their way -- screaming, shouting at each other,
           moving from anywhere, no queue; and the man was thinking of a queue, so he stood. When one hour
           passed and he was nowhere near the counter, then he started shoving and shouting and screaming,
           and he started forcibly to enter the crowd and reach the counter.
                One old lady shouted, 'What! What are you doing? Be a gentleman!'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man said, 'For one hour I have been a gentleman. Now I must behave like a lady! Enough!'
               Remember, the devil never behaves like a gentleman, he behaves like a lady. He is always first in
           the queue. And God is a gentleman. It is difficult for him to be first in the queue and the moment you
           open the door, the devil enters. And because of your fear of him, you remain closed. But if the devil
           cannot enter, God also cannot. When you become vulnerable, you become vulnerable for both God
           and the devil -- light and dark, life and death, love and hate -- you become available for both
           opposites.
               You have chosen not to suffer, so you are closed. You may not be suffering but your life is a
           boredom, because although you don't suffer as much as you will suffer if you are open, there is no
           blessing either. The door is closed -- no morning, no sun, no moon enters, no sky enters, no fresh air,
           everything has gone stale. And in fear you are hiding there. It is not a house where you are living;
           you have already converted it into a grave. Your cities are graveyards, your houses are graves. Your
           whole way of life is that of a dead man.
               Courage is needed to be open -- courage to suffer, because blessing only becomes possible then.
               Now we should try to understand this beautiful anecdote: DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND.

              GENSHA COMPLAINED TO HIS FOLLOWERS ONE DAY: 'OTHER MASTERS ARE ALWAYS
              CARRYING ON ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF SAVING EVERYONE -- BUT SUPPOSE YOU MEET
              UP WITH SOMEONE WHO IS DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND? HE COULDN'T SEE YOUR GESTURES,
              HEAR YOUR PREACHING, OR, FOR THAT MATTER, ASK QUESTIONS. UNABLE TO SAVE HIM,
              YOU'D PROVE YOURSELF A WORTHLESS BUDDHIST.'


               Masters generally don't complain, but when they complain it means something. This is not only
           Gensha complaining, it is all the masters complaining. But this is their experience, and wherever you
           move you find deaf and dumb and blind people, because the whole society is that way. And how to
           save them? They cannot see, they cannot hear, they cannot feel, they cannot understand any gesture.
           If you try too much to save them they will escape. They will think: This man is after something, he
           wants to exploit me, or he must have some scheme. If you don't do very much for them they feel:
           This man is not for me because he is not caring enough. And whatsoever is done they cannot
           understand.
               This is not Gensha's complaint, because enlightened persons never complain for themselves. This
           complaint is general, it is how it happens. A Jesus feels the same way, a Buddha feels the same way.
           Wherever you go, you have to meet people who are deaf, dumb, blind. You make gestures -- they
           cannot see; or even worse, they see something else. You talk to them -- they cannot understand, and
           even worse, they misunderstand. You say something else, they understand something else again,
           because meaning cannot be given through words. Only words can be communicated, meaning has to
           be supplied by the listener.
               I say a word; I mean one thing. But if ten thousand people are listening there will be ten thousand
           meanings, because each will listen from HIS mind, from HIS prejudice, from HIS concept and
           philosophy and religion. He will listen from HIS conditioning and his conditioning will supply the
           meaning. It is very difficult, almost impossible. It is just as if you go to a madhouse and talk to
           people. How will you feel? That's what Gensha feels, that's the complaint.
               That's my complaint also. Working with you, I always feel a block comes. Either your eyes are
           blocked, or your ears are blocked, or your nose is blocked, or your heart is blocked; somewhere or
           other, something is blocked, a stonelike thing comes. And it is difficult to penetrate because if I do
           too much to penetrate it, you become afraid -- why am I interested so much? If I don't do too much,
           you feel neglected. This is how an ignorant mind works. Do this and he will misunderstand, do that
           and he will misunderstand. One thing is certain: he will misunderstand.

              GENSHA COMPLAINED TO HIS FOLLOWERS ONE DAY: 'OTHER MASTERS ARE ALWAYS
              CARRYING ON ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF SAVING EVERYONE.'


               Buddha has said that when you are saved, the only thing to do is save others. When YOU have
           attained the only thing to do is to spread it to others, because everybody is struggling. Everybody is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on the path stumbling, everybody is moving knowingly, unknowingly, and you have attained. Help
           others.
               And that is a necessity also, an inner necessity of energies, because a man who has become
           enlightened will have to live a few years, because enlightenment is not a destiny; it is not fixed, it is
           not caused. When it happens it is not necessarily at the moment when the body dies. There is no
           necessity for these two happenings to be together. Really, it is almost impossible, because
           enlightenment is a sudden uncaused phenomenon. You work for it but it never happens through your
           work. Your work helps to create the situation but it happens through something else -- that
           something else is called grace. It is a gift from God, it is not a byproduct of your efforts; they don't
           cause it. Of course they create a situation: I open the door and the light enters. But the light is a gift
           from the sun. I cannot create light just by opening the door. Opening of the door is not a cause to it.
           Non-opening of the door was a hindrance but opening of the door is not a cause -- I cannot cause. If
           you open the door and it is night, light will not enter. Opening the door is not creating light, but by
           closing the door you hinder.
               So all the efforts that you make towards realization are just to open the door. Light comes when
           it comes. You have to remain with an open door so whenever it comes, whenever it knocks at your
           door, it finds you there and the door is open so it can enter. It is always a gift -- and it has to be so,
           because if you can attain the ultimate through your efforts it will be an absurdity. A limited mind
           making efforts -- how can it find the infinite? A finite mind making efforts -- all efforts will be finite.
           How can the infinite happen through finite efforts? The ignorant mind is making efforts -- those
           efforts are made in ignorance; how can they change, transform into enlightenment? No, it is not
           possible.
               You make efforts; they are necessary, they prepare you, they open the door -- but the happening
           happens when it happens. You remain available. God knocks many times at your door, the sun rises
           every day. And remember, nowhere else is it said what I would like to say to you, although it will be
           a help. It is not said because if you misunderstand it can become a hindrance. There is a day for God
           and there is a night also. If you open the door in the night, the door will remain open but God will
           not come. There is a day -- if you open the door in the right moment, immediately God comes.
               And it has to be so, because the whole of existence has opposites. God is also in a rest period
           when he sleeps. If you open the door then he will not come. There is a moment when he is awake,
           when he is moving -- it has to be so because every energy moves through two opposites, rest and
           movement, and God is infinite energy! He has movements and he has a rest. That's why a master is
           needed.
               If you do it on your own you may be working hard and nothing is happening, because you are not
           working at the right moment. You are working in the night; you open the door and only darkness
           enters. Afraid, you close it again. You open the door and there is nothing but vast emptiness all
           around. You become afraid, you close it again, and once you see that emptiness, you will never
           forget it -- and you will be so afraid that it will take many years for you to gather courage again to
           open it. ... Because once you see the infinite abyss, when God is asleep, when God is in rest, if you
           see that moment of infinite negativity and abyss and darkness, you will be scared -- so much so that
           for many years you will not make another attempt.
               And I feel people are afraid, they are afraid of going into meditation -- and I know that
           somewhere in their past life they have made some effort and they had a glimpse of the abyss at the
           wrong moment. They may not know it but unconsciously it is there, so whenever they come near the
           door and they put their hand on the knob and it becomes possible to open the door, they become
           afraid. They come back exactly from that moment, run back -- they don't open it. An unconscious
           fear grips. It has to be so, because for many lives you have been struggling and striving.
               Hence the necessity of the master who knows, who has attained, and who knows the right
           moment. He will tell you to make all the efforts when it is the night of God. And he will not tell you
           to open the door. He will tell you to prepare in the night, prepare as much as you can, be ready, and
           when the morning strikes and the first rays have entered he will tell you to open the door. Sudden
           illumination! Then it is totally different because when the light is there it IS totally different.
               When God is awake then the emptiness is not there. It is a fulfillment; it is perfect fulfillment.
           Everything is full, more than full -- it is everflowing perfection. It is the peak, not the abyss. If you
           open the door in the wrong moment, it is the abyss. You will get dizzy, so dizzy that for many lives
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           together you will never attempt it. But only one who knows, only one who has become one with
           God, only one who knows when the night is, and when the day, can help, because now they happen
           in him also -- he has a night, he has a day.
                Hindus had a glimpse of this and they have a beautiful hypothesis: they call it Brahma's day,
           God's day. When the creation is there they call it God's day -- but the creation has a time limit, and
           the creation dissolves and Brahma's night, God's night, starts. Twelve hours of Brahma's day is the
           whole creation. Then, tired, the whole existence disappears into nonexistence. Then for twelve hours
           it is Brahma's night. For us it is millions and millions of years, for God it is twelve hours -- his day.
                Christians also had a theory, or a hypothesis -- because I call all religious theories hypotheses,
           for nothing is proved, nothing can be proved by the very nature of the thing. They say God created
           the world in six days, then on the seventh day he rested. That's why Sunday is a rest day, a holiday.
           Six days he created, and on the seventh day he rested. They had a glimpse that even God must rest.
                These are both hypotheses, both beautiful, but you have to find the essence of it. The essence is
           that every day God also has a night and a day. And every day there is a right moment to enter and a
           wrong moment; in the wrong moment you will be against the wall, in the right moment you simply
           enter. Because of this those who have knocked at the wrong moment say that to attain enlightenment
           is a gradual thing, you attain it by degrees; and those who have come to the door in the right moment
           say enlightenment is sudden, it happens in a moment. A master is needed to decide when is the right
           moment.
                It is reported that Vivekananda started his disciplehood and then one day he attained the first
           glimpse. You can call it SATORI, the zen word for SAMADHI, because it is a GLIMPSE, not a
           permanent thing. It is just as if clouds are not there in the sky -- the sky is clear and from a distance
           of one thousand miles you have a glimpse of Everest in all its glory, but then the sky becomes cloudy
           and the glimpse is again lost. It is not attainment, you have not reached Everest, you have not
           reached the top; from thousands of miles you had a glimpse -- that is satori. Satori is a glimpse of
           samadhi. Vivekananda had a satori.
                In Ramakrishna's ashram there were many people, many people were working. One man, his
           name was Kalu, a very simple man, a very innocent man, was also working in his own way -- and
           Ramakrishna accepted EVERY way. He was a rare man; he accepted every technique, every method,
           and he said everybody has to find his own way, there is no superway. And this is good, otherwise
           there would be such a traffic jam! So it is good, you can walk on your own path. Nobody else is
           there to create any trouble or make it crowded.
                That Kalu was a very simple man. He had at least one hundred gods -- as Hindus are lovers of
           many gods, one is not enough for them. So they will put in their worship place this god, that god,
           whatsoever they can find; they will even put calendars there. There is nothing wrong in it; if you
           love it, it is okay. But Vivekananda was a logician, a very keen intellect. He always argued with this
           innocent man and he could not answer. Vivekananda said, 'Why this nonsense? One is enough, and
           the scriptures say that he is one, so why these one hundred and one gods?' And they were all sorts of
           shapes, and Kalu had to work with these gods at least three hours in the morning and three in the
           evening -- the whole day was gone, because with every god he had to work, and however fast he
           worked it took three hours in the morning and three in the evening. But he was a very very silent
           man and Ramakrishna loved him.
                Vivekananda always argued, 'Throw these gods!' When he had a glimpse of satori he felt very
           powerful. Suddenly the idea came to him that in this power, if he simply sent a telepathic message to
           Kalu -- he was worshipping in his room, this was time for worship -- to take all his gods to the
           Ganges and throw them, it would happen.
                He simply sent a message. Kalu was really a simple man. He gathered all his gods into a bed
           sheet and carried them towards the Ganges.
                From the Ganges Ramakrishna was coming, and he said, 'Wait! This is not you who is going to
           throw them. Go back to your room and put them in their place.' But Kalu said, 'Enough! Finished!'
           Ramakrishna said, 'Wait and come with me!'
                He knocked at Vivekananda's door. Vivekananda opened the door and Ramakrishna said, 'What
           have you done? This is not good and this is not the right moment for you. So I will take your key of
           meditation and will keep it with me. When the right moment comes I will give it to you.' And for his
           whole life Vivekananda tried in millions of ways to attain, but he couldn't get that glimpse again.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Just before he died, three days before, Ramakrishna appeared in a dream and he gave him the
           key. He said, 'Now you can take the key. Now the right moment is here and you can open the door.'
              And the next day in the morning he had the second glimpse.

               A master knows when it is the right time. He helps you, prepares you for the right moment, and
           he will give you the key when the right moment is there; then you simply open the door and the
           divine enters -- because if you open the door and darkness enters it will look like death, not like life.
           Nothing is wrong in this but you will get scared, and you can get so scared that you may carry that
           fear for ever and ever.
               Buddha says that whenever you attain, start helping others, because all your energies that were
           moving into desire... now that door is finished, that travel is no more, that trip is no more; now let all
           your energies which were moving in desiring, VASANA, become compassion, let them become
           KARUNA. And there is only one compassion -- how to help the other to attain the ultimate, because
           there is nothing else to be attained. All else is rubbish. Only the divine is worth attaining. If you
           attain that you have attained all; if you miss that you have missed all.
               When one becomes enlightened he lives for a few years before the body completes its circle.
           Buddha lived on for forty years because the body had got a momentum: from the parents the body
           had got chromosomes, from his own past karma the body had got a life circle. He was to live eighty
           years, enlightened or not. If enlightenment became possible or if it happened, then too he had to live
           eighty years. It happened nearabout when he was forty; he lived forty years more. What to do with
           the energies now? Now there is no desire, no ambition. And you have infinite energies flowing.
           What to do with those energies? They can be moved into compassion. Now there is no need for
           meditation either; you have attained, you are overflowing -- now you can share. Now you can share
           with millions, you can give it to them.
               So Buddha has made this a part of his basic teaching. He calls the first part DHYANA,
           meditation, and the second part PRAJNA, wisdom attainment. Through meditation you reach to
           prajna. These are your inward phenomena, two parts: you meditated, now you have attained. Now to
           balance it with the outer -- because a man of enlightenment is always balanced. Outside, when there
           was no meditation inside, there was desire. Now there is wisdom inside, there should be compassion.
           The outer energies should become compassion; the inner energies have become wisdom,
           enlightenment. Enlightenment inside, compassion outside. The perfect man is always balanced. So
           Buddha says go on and on and help to save people.
               Gensha complained: how to do it if you come to somebody who is deaf, dumb and blind? -- and
           you almost always come across such people because only they are there. You don't come across a
           buddha, and a buddha doesn't need you. You come across an ignorant person, not knowing what to
           do, not knowing where to move. How to help him?

              TROUBLED BY THESE WORDS, ONE OF GENSHA'S DISCIPLES WENT TO CONSULT THE
              MASTER UMMON.


               Ummon was a brother disciple to Gensha -- they were disciples to the same teacher, Seppo. So
           what to do? Gensha has said such a troubling thing to this man: how to help people? He went to
           Ummon.
               Ummon is a very famous master. Gensha was a very silent one. But Ummon had thousands of
           disciples and he had many devices to work with them. And he was a man like Gurdjieff -- he would
           create situations, because only situations can help. If words can't help because you are dumb, you are
           deaf -- words can't help. If you are blind, gestures are useless. Then what to do? Only situations can
           help.
               If you are blind, I cannot show you the door just by gesture because you can't see. I cannot tell
           you about the door because you are deaf and you cannot listen. Really, you cannot even ask the
           question, 'Where is the door?' -- because you are dumb. What to do? I have to create a situation.
               I can take hold of your hand, I can take you by my hand towards the door. No gesture, no word. I
           have to DO something; I have to create a situation in which the dumb, the deaf and the blind can
           move.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TROUBLED BY THESE WORDS, ONE OF GENSHA'S DISCIPLES WENT TO CONSULT THE
              MASTER UMMON.


              ... Because he knew well that Gensha wouldn't say much; he was not a man of many words and
           he never created any situation; he would say things and he would keep quiet. People had to go to
           other masters to ask what he meant. He was a different type, a silent type of man, like Ramana
           Maharshi; he would not say much. Ummon was like Gurdjieff. He was also not a man of words, but
           he would create situations, and he would use words only to create situations.

              HE WENT TO CONSULT THE MASTER UMMON WHO, LIKE GENSHA, WAS A DISCIPLE OF
              SEPPO.


               And Seppo was totally different from both. It is said he never spoke. He remained completely
           silent. So there was no problem for him -- he never came across a deaf, dumb and blind man because
           he never moved. Only people who were in search, only people whose eyes were slightly opening,
           only people who were deaf but if you spoke loudly they could hear something... so that's why many
           people became enlightened near Seppo because only those who were just borderline cases reached
           him.
               This Ummon and this Gensha, these two disciples became enlightened with Seppo, a totally
           silent man -- he would simply sit and sit and do nothing. If you wanted to learn you could be with
           him, if you didn't want to you could go. He would not say anything. YOU had to learn, HE would
           not teach. He was not a teacher, but many people learned.
           The disciple went to Ummon.
           'BOW PLEASE,' SAID UMMON.

               He started immediately, because people who are enlightened don't waste time, they simply jump
           to the point immediately.
           'BOW PLEASE,' SAID UMMON.
           THE MONK, THOUGH TAKEN BY SURPRISE....

               ... Because this is no way! You don't order anybody to bow. And there is no need -- if somebody
           wants to bow he will bow, if he wants to pay you respect, he will pay it. If not, then not. What type
           of man is this Ummon? He says 'Bow please' before the monk has asked anything; he has just
           entered his room, and Ummon says 'Bow please.'

              THE MONK, THOUGH TAKEN BY SURPRISE, OBEYED THE MASTER'S COMMAND -- THEN
              STRAIGHTENED UP IN EXPECTATION OF HAVING HIS QUERY ANSWERED.
              BUT INSTEAD OF AN ANSWER, HE GOT A STAFF THRUST AT HIM. HE LEAPT BACK.'WELL,'
              SAID UMMON, 'YOU'RE NOT BLIND. NOW APPROACH.'


              He said: You can see my staff, so one thing is certain, you are not blind. Now approach.

              THE MONK DID AS HE WAS BIDDEN. 'GOOD,' SAID UMMON, 'SO YOU'RE NOT DEAF EITHER.'

              You can listen: I say approach and you approach.
              'WELL, UNDERSTAND?' 'UNDERSTAND WHAT SIR?' SAID THE MONK.

              What is he saying? He says:
              'WELL, UNDERSTAND?' 'UNDERSTAND WHAT SIR? SAID THE MONK.'AH, YOU'RE NOT DUMB
              EITHER,' SAID UMMON. ON HEARING THESE WORDS THE MONK AWOKE AS FROM A DEEP
              SLEEP.


              What happened? What is Ummon pointing to? First, he is saying that if it is not a problem to you
           why be worried? There are people who come to me....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A very rich man came, one of the richest in India, and he said, 'What about poor people, how will
           you help poor people?' So I told him, 'If you are a poor person, then ask; otherwise let the poor ask.
           How is it a problem to you? You are not poor, so why create a problem out of it?'
                Once Mulla Nasruddin's child asked him -- I was present, and the child was working very
           strenuously, grumbling of course, on his homework, and then suddenly he looked at Nasruddin and
           said, 'Gee Dad, what is this education stuff? Of what use is all this education stuff anyway?'
                Nasruddin said, 'Well, there is nothing like education. It makes you capable of worrying about
           everybody else in the world except you.'
                There is nothing like education. All your education simply makes you capable of worrying about
           situations everywhere in the world, about everyone except you -- about all the troubles that are in the
           world. They have always been there, they will always be there. It is not because you are here that
           troubles are there. You were not and they were there; you will not be soon and they will remain
           there. They change their colors but they remain. The very scheme of the universe is such that it
           seems that through trouble and misery something IS growing. It seems to be a step, it seems to be a
           necessary schooling, a discipline.
                The first thing Ummon is pointing out is: You are neither blind, nor dumb, nor deaf, so why are
           you concerned and why are you troubled? YOU have eyes -- why waste time thinking about blind
           men? Why not look at your master? -- because blind men will be there always, your master will not
           be there always. And you can think and worry about blind and deaf people, how to save them, but
           the man who can save you will not be there for ever. So you be concerned about yourself.
                My experience is also that people are concerned about others. Once one man brought to me even
           exactly the same question. He said, 'We can listen to you but what about those who can't come to
           listen, what to do? We can read you,' he said, 'but what about those who cannot read?'
                They appear relevant, but they are absolutely irrelevant. Because why are YOU worried? And if
           you are worried in such a way then you can never become enlightened, because a person who goes
           on wasting and dissipating his energy on others never looks at himself. This is a trick of the mind to
           escape from oneself -- you go on thinking about others and you feel very good because you are
           worrying about others. You are a great social reformer or a revolutionary or a utopian, a great
           servant of the society -- but what are you doing? You are simply avoiding the basic question: it is
           with YOU that something has to be done.
                Forget the whole society, and only then can something be done to you; and when you are saved
           you can start saving others. But before that, please don't think -- it is impossible. Before you are
           healed, you cannot heal anyone. Before YOU are filled with light, you cannot help anyone to
           enkindle his own heart. Impossible -- only a lighted flame can help somebody. First become a lighted
           flame -- this is the first point.
                And the second point is, Ummon created a situation. He could have said this but he is not saying
           it; he is creating a situation, because only in a situation are you totally involved. If I say something
           only intellect is involved. You listen from the head; but your legs, your heart, your kidneys, your
           liver, your totality is not involved. But when the monk got a staff thrust at him he jumped totally.
           Then it was total action; then not only the head and the legs, the kidneys, the liver, but the whole of
           him JUMPED.
                That's the whole point of my meditation techniques: the whole of you has to shake, jump, the
           whole of you has to dance, the whole of you has to move. If you simply sit with closed eyes only the
           head is involved. You can go on and on inside the head -- and there are many people who go on
           sitting for years together, just with closed eyes, repeating a mantra. But a mantra moves in the head,
           your totality is not involved -- and your totality is involved in existence. Your head is only as much
           in God as your liver and kidneys and your feet. You are totally in him, and just the head cannot
           realize this.
                Anything intensely active will be helpful. Inactive, you can simply go on rambling inside the
           mind. And they have no end, the dreams, the thoughts, they have no end. They go on infinitely.
                Kabir has said: There are two infinities in the world -- one is ignorance and another is God. Two
           things are endless -- God is endless, and ignorance. You can go on repeating a mantra, but it will not
           help unless your whole life becomes a mantra, unless you are completely involved it it -- no holding
           back, no division. That's what Ummon did. The monk got a staff thrust at him.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE LEAPT BACK.'WELL,' SAID UMMON, 'YOU'RE NOT BLIND. NOW APPROACH.'
              THE MONK DID AS HE WAS BIDDEN. 'GOOD, YOU'RE NOT DEAF EITHER.'


               What is he pointing at? He is pointing at this: 'You can understand, so why waste time?' Then he
           asks, 'WELL, UNDERSTAND?' Ummon was finished. The situation was complete. But the disciple
           was not yet ready, had not yet got the point. He asked, 'UNDERSTAND WHAT SIR?' The whole
           thing was there now. Ummon had said whatsoever was to be said. And he had created a situation
           where thoughts were not: when somebody pushes a staff at you, you jump without thought. If you
           think you cannot jump, because by the time you have decided to jump the staff will have hit you.
           There is no time.
               Mind needs time, thinking needs time. When somebody pushes a staff at you, or suddenly you
           find a snake on a path, you jump! You don't think about it, you don't make a logical syllogism, you
           don't say: Here is a snake; a snake is dangerous; death is possible; I must jump. You don't follow
           Aristotle there. You simply put aside all Aristotle -- YOU JUMP! You don't care what Aristotle says,
           you are illogical. But whenever you are illogical you are total.
               That's what Ummon has said. You jump totally. If you can jump totally, why not meditate
           totally? When a staff is thrust at you, you jump without caring about the world. You don't ask, 'That's
           okay, but what about a blind man? If you push a staff, how will it help a blind man?' You don't ask a
           question -- you simply jump; you simply avoid. In that moment the whole world disappears, only
           you are the problem. And the problem is THERE -- you have to solve it and come out of it.
           'UNDERSTAND?'

           -- that's what Ummon asked. The point is complete.
           'UNDERSTAND WHAT SIR?' SAID THE MONK.

           He has still not got it.
           'AH, YOU'RE NOT DUMB EITHER' -- you can speak also.
              ON HEARING THESE WORDS THE MONK AWOKE AS FROM A DEEP SLEEP.


               A whole situation -- nonverbal, illogical, total. As if someone has shaken him out of his sleep. He
           awoke; for a moment everything became clear. For a moment there was lightning, there was no
           darkness. Satori happened. Now the taste is there. Now this disciple can follow the taste. Now he has
           known, he cannot forget it ever. Now the search will be totally different. Before this it was a search
           for something unknown -- and how can you search for an unknown? And how can you put down
           your total life for it? But now it will be total, now it is not something unknown -- a glimpse has been
           given to him. He has tasted the ocean, maybe out of a teacup but the taste is the same. Now he
           KNOWS. It was really a small experience -- a window opened, but the whole sky was there. Now he
           can move out of the house, come out under the sky and live in it. Now he knows that the question is
           individual.
               Don't make it social. The question is YOU, and when I say you I mean YOU, each individual;
           not you as a group, not you as a society. When I mean you, I mean simply you, the individual -- and
           the trick of the mind is to make it social. The mind wants to worry about others -- then there is no
           problem. You can postpone your own problem; that's how you have been wasting your lives for
           many lives. Don't waste it any more.
               I have been pushing these talks, subtler ones than with Ummon, but if you don't listen to me I
           may have to find grosser things.
               Don't think about others. First solve YOUR problem, then you will have the clarity to help others
           also. And nobody can help unless he is enlightened himself.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         And The Flowers Showered
                                                    Chapter #10
                                             Chapter title: Seeing double
           9 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411090
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              A MASTER WAS ASKED BY A CURIOUS MONK: 'WHAT IS THE WAY?' 'IT IS RIGHT BEFORE
              YOUR EYES,' SAID THE MASTER.'WHY DO I NOT SEE IT FOR MYSELF?' ASKED THE
              MONK.'BECAUSE YOU ARE THINKING OF YOURSELF,' SAID THE MASTER.'WHAT ABOUT
              YOU,' SAID THE MONK, 'DO YOU SEE IT?'
              THE MASTER SAID: 'SO LONG AS YOU SEE DOUBLE, SAYING I DON'T, AND YOU DO, AND SO
              ON, YOUR EYES ARE CLOUDED.' 'WHEN THERE IS NEITHER I NOR YOU, CAN ONE SEE IT?'
              SAID THE MONK.'WHEN THERE IS NEITHER I NOR YOU, WHO IS THE ONE WHO WANTS TO
              SEE IT?' REPLIED THE MASTER.


                YES, THE WAY IS RIGHT before your eyes. But your eyes are not right before the way -- they
           are closed, closed in a very subtle manner. They are clouded. Millions of thoughts are closing them,
           millions of dreams are floating on them; whatsoever you have seen is all there, whatsoever you have
           thought is all there. And you have lived long -- many lives, and you have thought much, and it is all
           gathered there in your eyes. But because thoughts cannot be seen you see your eyes as clear. The
           clarity is not there. Millions of layers of thought and dreams are there in your eyes. The Way is right
           before you. All that is, is right before you. But you are not here. You are not in that still moment
           where eyes are totally empty, unclouded, and you SEE, and you see that which is.
                So the first thing to be understood is: how to attain unclouded eyes, how to make eyes empty so
           that they can reflect truth, how not to be continuously in a mad rush within; how not to be
           continuously thinking and thinking and thinking, how to relax thought. When thought is not, seeing
           happens; when thought is, you go on interpreting and you go on missing.
                Don't be an interpreter of reality, be a visionary. Don't think about it, see it!
                What to do? One thing: Whenever you look, just be the look. Try. It is going to be difficult,
           difficult just because of old habit. But try. It happens. It has happened to many, why not you? You
           are no exception. The universal law is as available to you as to a buddha or to anybody. Just make a
           little effort.
                You see a flower: then just see, don't say anything. The river is flowing: sit on the bank and SEE
           the river, but don't say anything. Clouds are moving in the sky: lie down on the ground and SEE, and
           don't say anything. Just don't verbalize!
                This is the deepest habit, to verbalize; this is your whole training -- to jump immediately to
           words from reality, to immediately start making words: 'beautiful flower,' 'lovely sunset.' If it is
           lovely, let it be lovely! -- why bring in this word? If it is beautiful, do you think your word 'beautiful'
           will make it more beautiful? On the contrary, you missed an ecstatic moment. The verbalization
           came in. Before you could have seen you moved, moved in an inner wandering. If you go too far
           away in this wandering you become mad.
                What is a madman? He who never comes to reality, who always wanders in his own world of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           words -- and he has wandered so far that you cannot bring him back. He is not with the reality, but
           are YOU with the reality? You are not either. The difference is only of degree. A madman has
           wandered very far, you never wandered that far -- just in the neighborhood -- and you come again
           and again and touch reality and go again.
                You have a small touch, a small contact somewhere, uprooted, but still one root seems to be there
           in the reality. But that root is very fragile; any moment it can be broken, any accident -- the wife
           dies, the husband escapes, you become bankrupt in the market -- and that fragile root is broken. Then
           you go on wandering and wandering; then there is no coming back, then you never touch reality.
           This is the state of the madman, and the normal man is different only in degree.
                And what is the state of a buddha, an enlightened man, a man of Tao, of understanding,
           awareness? He is deeply rooted in reality, he never wanders from it -- just the opposite of a madman.
                You are in the middle. From that middle either you can move towards being a madman or you
           can move towards being a buddha. It is up to you. Don't give much energy to thoughts, that's
           suicidal; you are poisoning yourself. Whenever thinking starts, if it is unnecessary -- and ninety-nine
           percent of it is unnecessary -- immediately bring yourself back to reality. Anything will help: even
           the touch of the chair you are sitting on, or the touch of the bed you are lying on. Feel the touch -- it
           is more real than your thoughts about God, it is more godly than your thoughts about God because it
           is a real thing.
                Touch it, feel the touch, be the touch, be here and now. You are eating? -- taste the food well, the
           flavor. Smell it well, chew it well -- you are chewing reality! Don't go wandering in thoughts. You
           are taking a bath? -- enjoy it! The shower is falling on you? -- feel it! Become more and more a
           FEELING center rather than a thinking center.
                And yes, the way is right before your eyes. But feeling is not allowed much. The society brings
           you up as a thinking being not as a feeling being, because feeling is unpredictable; no one knows
           where it will lead, and society cannot leave you on your own. It gives you thoughts: all the schools,
           colleges and universities exist as centers to train you for thinking, to verbalize more. The more
           words you have, the more talented you are thought; the more articulate you are with words and
           words, the more educated you are thought. It will be difficult, because thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years
           of training... but the sooner you begin the better. Bring yourself back to reality.
                That is the meaning of all sensitivity groups. In the West they have become a focal point and all
           those who are interested in consciousness, extension of consciousness, have to be interested in
           sensitivity groups, in training to be more sensitive. And you need not go anywhere to learn it, the
           whole of life is sensitivity. Twenty-four hours a day the reality is just before you, around you -- it
           surrounds you; you breathe it in, you eat it. Whatsoever you do you have to do with reality.
                But the mind moves far away. There exists a gap between your being and your mind -- they are
           not together, the mind is somewhere else. You have to be here in reality because when you eat you
           have to eat real bread; thinking about bread won't help. When you take a bath you have to take a real
           bath; thinking about it is of no use. When you breathe you have to breathe real air; just thinking
           about it won't do. Reality surrounds you from everywhere, is bumping you from all sides -- wherever
           you go you encounter it.
                That is the meaning of: The way is right in front of your eyes. It is everywhere because nothing
           else can be -- only the real IS.
                Then what is the problem? Why then do people go on seeking and seeking and seeking and never
           find it? Where does the problem exist? What is the basic core of the whole trouble? The trouble is,
           mind can be in thoughts. The possibility for mind being in thoughts is there. The body is in reality,
           but the mind can be in thoughts -- and that is the duality. And all your religions have been in favor of
           the mind and not in favor of the body. That has been the greatest block that has ever existed in this
           world. They poison the whole mind of humanity; they are for the mind, not for the reality.
                If I tell you: When you are eating, eat with taste, and eat so deeply that the eater is forgotten,
           simply become the process of eating -- you will be surprised because no religious man will say a
           thing like that. Religious people have been teaching: Eat without taste -- ASWAD; they have made a
           great thing out of it, the training for no-taste.
                In Gandhi's ashram they had eleven rules. One of them was aswad, no taste -- eat, but without
           taste, kill the taste completely. Drink -- but without taste. Make your life as insensitive as possible.
           Deaden your body completely, so that you become a pure mind. You will become so -- but this is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how people go towards madness.
                I teach you just the contrary, just the opposite. I am not against life -- and life is the way. I affirm
           life in its totality. I am not a negator, I am not a denier -- and I want you to bring your mind back to
           reality. Your body is more real than your mind. You can befool with the mind, you cannot befool
           with the body. The body is more rooted in the world; the body is more existential than your mind.
           Your mind is just mental. It thinks, it spins words, it creates systems -- and all systems are foolish.
                Once it happened, Mulla Nasruddin was gambling in a horse race. First race he lost; second, he
           lost; third -- he went on losing, and two ladies just by his side sitting in a box were continuously
           winning every race.
                Then at the seventh he could not contain his curiosity. What system were they following? Every
           race, and it was now the seventh, they had been winners and he had been a loser, and he had been
           working so hard at it. So he gathered courage, leaned over, and asked the ladies: 'You are doing
           well?'
                They said, 'Yes,' very happily, they were beaming with happiness.
                So he whispered: 'Can you tell me about your system? Just a hint.'
                One lady said laughingly, 'We have a lot of systems! But today we have decided for long tails.'
                But all systems and all philosophies are just like that -- long tails. No system is true to reality
           because no system CAN be true to reality. I am not saying that some system can be -- no. NO system
           can be true to reality because all systems are fabrications of the mind, verbalizations, your
           interpretations, your projections -- mind working on reality. That's how a system is born; all systems
           are false.
                Reality needs no system. Reality needs a clarity of vision. To look at it needs no philosophy, it is
           right here and now. Before you start moving into a philosophy it is there; when you come back it
           will be there and will have always been there with you -- and you were thinking about it. Thinking
           about it is the way to miss it.
                If you are a Hindu you will miss, if you are a Christian you will miss, if you are a Mohammedan
           you will miss; every 'ism' is a way of missing. If you have the Koran in your head you will miss, if
           you have the Gita in your head you will miss; whatsoever scripture you carry -- scripture is mind,
           and reality doesn't fall in line with the mind, reality does not bother about your mind and your
           fabrications.
                Beautiful theories you spin, beautiful arguments you give, logical rationalizations you find. You
           work hard. You go on refining your theories, polishing them, but they are just like bricks: you go on
           rubbing, polishing, but they can never become a mirror. But I say: Maybe bricks can become a
           mirror, but the mind can NEVER become a mirror to reality. The mind is a destroyer. The moment it
           enters, everything becomes cloudy.
                Please don't be a philosopher, and don't be an addict of any system. It is easy to bring an
           alcoholic back, it is easy to bring back a person who has gone deep into drugs; it is difficult to bring
           a system-addict back. And there exist organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous for alcoholics and
           other organizations for drug addicts, but there exists no organization for people who have become
           system-addicts -- and there cannot be, because whenever there is an organization, it itself is a system.
                I am not giving you a system. My whole effort is to bring you out of your systematizing mind. If
           you can become again a child, if you can look at reality without any preconceptions about it, you
           will attain. It is simple, it is ordinary, nothing is special about it. Reality is nothing special and
           extraordinary -- it is there, it is everywhere. Only your mind is an unreal thing. Mind creates illusion,
           MAYA, mind creates dreams -- and then you are clouded in them. And you are trying to do the
           impossible, that which cannot be done: you are trying to find the real through the mind. You lose the
           real through the mind, you cannot find it through the mind. You have to drop the mind completely.
                Yes, the way is right before your eyes -- but you are not there.
                First thing: mind won't help. Try to understand it: mind won't help, it is the barrier. And the
           second thing: your over-concern about yourself is the greatest barrier. It has been my constant
           observation that people who meditate miss because they are concerned too much in themselves.
           They are too egocentric. They may pretend humbleness and they may even want to know how to be
           egoless, but they are the most egocentric people; they are only worried about themselves, they are
           only concerned with themselves.
                To be worried about others is stupid; to be worried about oneself is even more stupid -- because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be worried IS stupidity; it makes no difference about whom you are worried. And people who are
           worried about others, you will feel they are always more healthy.
               So in the West psychoanalysts help people to think about others and drop thinking about
           themselves. Psychologists go on teaching people how to be extroverts and not to be introverts,
           because an introvert becomes ill, an introvert becomes in reality perverted. He thinks continuously
           about himself, he becomes enclosed. He remains with his frustrations, worries, anxieties, anguish,
           depressions, anger, jealousy, hate, this and that -- and he only worries. Think what type of anguish
           he lives in, continuously worried about things: Why am I angry? How should I become non-angry?
           Why do I hate? How should I transcend it? Why am I depressed? How to attain bliss? -- he is
           continuously worried, and through this worry he creates the very same things he is worried about. It
           becomes a vicious circle.
               Have you ever observed that whenever you want to go beyond a depression the depression
           deepens? Whenever you want not to be angry you become more angry. Whenever you are sad and
           you don't want to be sad any more, more sadness descends on you -- have you not observed it? It
           happens because of the Law of the Reverse Effect. If you are sad and you want not to be sad, what
           will you do? You will look at sadness, you will try to suppress it, you will be attentive to it -- and
           attention is food.
               Psychoanalysts have found a clue. That clue is not very meaningful in the end; it cannot lead you
           to reality, it can at the most make you NORMALLY unhealthy. It can make you adjusted -- it is a
           sort of adjustment to the people around you. They say: Be concerned with others' worries, help
           people, serve people.
               Rotarians, members of Lions Clubs and others, they always say: We serve. Those are the
           extroverts. But you will feel that people who are in social service, those who are concerned with
           others and are less concerned with themselves are happier than people who are concerned too much
           with themselves.
               Too much concern with oneself is a sort of disease. And then the deeper you move within -- you
           are opening a Pandora's Box: many things bubble up and there seems to be no end to it. You are
           surrounded by your own anxieties and you go on playing with your wounds, you go on touching
           them again and again to see whether they are healed or not. You have become a pervert.
               What to do? There seem to be only two ways: either be an extrovert -- but by being an extrovert
           you can NEVER become a buddha, because if you are worried about others, this worrying about
           others may be an escape. It is. You cannot look at your own worries when you are worried about
           others. Your focus is others, you are in a shadow. But how will your inner being grow this way? You
           will look more happy, you may look as if you are enjoying life more, but how are you going to
           grow? How will your inner being come to that point where it becomes light? If you are not
           concerned with it at all, it is not going to grow. To be an extrovert is good in the sense that you
           remain healthy -- you don't become a pervert. To be an introvert is dangerous. If you move wrongly,
           you will become a pervert and the wrong movement is that you become too concerned. Then what to
           do? Treat yourself as if you also are the other; don't be too concerned.
               And you ARE the other. Your body is other, why not my own body also? Your mind is other,
           why not my own mind? The question is only distance: your body is five feet away from me, my body
           is a little closer, that's all. Your mind is there, my mind is here -- the difference is of distance. But
           my mind is as other as your mind, and my body is as far away from me as your body. And if this
           whole world is not a concern to me, why make myself a concern? Why not leave both and be neither
           extrovert nor introvert? -- this is my message.
               If you cannot follow this then it is better to follow the psychoanalysts. Be an extrovert, be
           unconcerned; you will not grow but at least you will not suffer so much as an introvert suffers. But
           don't be an introvert and don't play with your wounds. Don't be concerned too much. Don't be so
           selfish and don't be so self-centered. Look at yourself from a distance; the distance is there, you only
           have to try it once and you will feel it. You are also the other.
               When your body is ill it is as if somebody else's body is ill: do whatsoever is needed but don't be
           too concerned, because that overmuch concern is a greater illness than the body's. If you have a fever
           go to the doctor, take the medicine, take care of the body, and that's all. Why be concerned too
           much? Why create another fever -- which no doctor can treat? This fever in the body can be treated,
           but if you become too concerned another fever is created. That fever is deeper, no doctor can help
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with it.
               And this is the problem: the body may become well soon, but the other fever may continue; and
           the other fever may go on continuing, and you may feel that the body is still ill. This happens every
           day: the disease disappears from the body but not from the mind and the mind carries it on. It has
           happened many times.
               Once somebody was telling me about his friend who is a drunkard -- he walks on crutches, he
           cannot walk without them. For many years he has been walking on crutches -- some accident some
           twenty years ago. Then one day he had taken too much drink; he forgot the crutches and went out for
           a walk. After one hour he came running back in a panic; he said, 'Where are my crutches? I cannot
           walk without them! I must have taken too much.' But if while you are drunk you can walk, why not
           when you are not drunk?
               All over the world many cases are reported about paralysis. Somebody is paralyzed and then the
           house catches fire and everybody runs out, and the man who was paralyzed and who couldn't get out
           of his bed -- everything was done in the bed -- he also runs out, because he forgets. The house is on
           fire, he forgets completely that he is paralyzed. In that forgetfulness he is not paralyzed. And outside
           the house the family looks at him and says, 'What are you doing? How can you run?' -- and he falls
           down; remembering comes back.
               You may be creating many diseases, not because the body is ill but because the mind carries the
           seed. So once a disease happens the mind carries the seed and goes on projecting it again and again
           and again. Many diseases, ninety percent, have their origin in the mind.
               Too much concern about yourself is the greatest disease possible. You cannot be happy, you
           cannot enjoy yourself. How can you enjoy? So many problems inside! Problems and problems and
           problems and nothing else! -- and there seems to be no solution. What to do? You go crazy.
           Everybody, inside, IS crazy.
               I have heard -- it happened in Washington -- one man suddenly climbed up a pole, a flagpole. A
           crowd gathered, policemen came, and the man shouted as loudly as he could, uttered profane words,
           then came down.
               Immediately he was caught by the police and they asked the person, 'What are you doing here?'
               The man said, 'Don't disturb me. If I don't do such a crazy thing now and then I will go mad, I
           will go nuts. I tell you, don't stop me. If I do such a thing now and then everything runs smoothly.
           And I did not think that anybody would be able to know, because where so much craziness is going
           on all around, who will bother?'
               You also need to become mad now and then -- that's how anger happens: anger is a temporary
           madness. If you don't allow a leakage now and then you will gather so much you will explode, you
           will go nuts. But if you are continuously concerned with this you are already nuts.
               This has been my observation, that people who meditate, pray, seek and search for the truth are
           more prone to neurosis than other people. And the reason is: they are concerned with themselves too
           much, too egocentric, just continuously thinking of this and that, this block, that block, this anger,
           that sadness, headache, backache, stomach, legs... they are continuously moving inside. They are
           never okay, they cannot be, because the body is a vast phenomenon and many things go on.
               And if nothing is happening then too they are worried: why is nothing happening? And
           immediately they have to create something because that has become their constant business,
           occupation; otherwise they feel lost. What to do? Nothing is happening! How is it possible that
           nothing is happening to me? They feel their ego only when something is happening -- maybe it is
           depression, sadness, anger, an illness, but if something is happening they are okay, they can feel
           themselves.
               Have you seen children? They pinch themselves to feel that they are. The child remains in you --
           you would like to pinch and see whether you are or not.
               It is said about Mark Twain that once at a dinner party he was suddenly in a panic and he said,
           'Sorry, I will have to leave, and you will have to call a doctor. It seems my right leg has become
           paralyzed.'
               The lady sitting by his side started laughing and said, 'Don't be worried, you have been pinching
           MY leg.'
               Then Mark Twain said, 'Once twenty years ago a doctor said to me, "Some day or other your
           right side will get paralyzed," so since then I have been pinching myself; I always feel, twenty or
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thirty times a day, whether it has gone. Just now I was pinching and' ... he was pinching somebody
           else's leg.
               But why go on pinching? Why be concerned with paralysis? It is more of a disease if you have to
           pinch your leg thirty times a day for twenty years. Count it. This is worse than paralysis! Paralysis
           happens once; this is happening thirty times a day for twenty years. They say a brave man dies once
           and cowards die millions of times -- because they go on pinching and feeling whether they are dead
           yet or not.
               Your diseases help you to retain your ego. You feel that something is happening -- of course not
           bliss, not ecstasy, but sadness and 'Nobody is as sad as I am,' and 'Nobody is as blocked as I am,' and
           'Nobody has such a migraine as I have got.' You feel superior there, everybody else is inferior.
               If you are concerned too much with yourself remember, you will not attain. This over-concern
           will enclose you, and the Way is right before your eyes. You have to open your eyes, not close them.
           Now try to understand this parable.

              A MASTER WAS ASKED BY A CURIOUS MONK: 'WHAT IS THE WAY?'


               The first thing is to understand that the monk is curious, not a seeker. If you are a seeker you
           inquire in a different way. You inquire with your being, you put yourself at stake, you become a
           gambler. If you are simply curious it is just like an itch; you feel a subtle itch in the mind but it is
           nothing, you are not REALLY concerned with it, not sincere about it -- whatsoever the answer you
           will not bother. It will not change you. And a curious man is a superficial man. You cannot ask such
           questions out of curiosity, you have to ask them out of a very authentic search. And when you go to a
           master you feel you have to ask something; otherwise you will be thought foolish.
               Many people come to me and I know from where they are asking. Sometimes they are simply
           curious: because they have come, now they have to ask; otherwise they will be thought foolish. And
           by asking they prove they ARE foolish, because if the question has not really arisen in you, if the
           question has not become a deep inquiry, if the question does not put everything at stake, if the
           problem is not a problem of life and death, if you are not ready to be transformed by the answer, you
           are foolish if you ask. And if you are not questioning from the heart, it is difficult to give any
           answer, and even if an answer is given you will misunderstand it.
               The monk was a curious monk, that's why in this parable he does not awake. Otherwise... we
           have been studying many parables; when the search is true, in the end satori happens, a certain
           enlightenment comes. Suddenly a disciple becomes alert, as if someone has shaken him out of his
           sleep. A clarity comes. Maybe only for a split second, but clouds disperse and the vast sky is seen.
           The clouds will come again -- that's not the problem, but now you know what real sky is and you
           will carry this seed within you. Rightly taken care of, this seed will become a tree, and thousands
           will be able to find rest and shelter under you. But if you are curious, nothing will happen. If you are
           curious, the question has not come out of the heart. It is an intellectual itch -- and in mind, seeds
           cannot be sown.
               Jesus has a parable -- he was continuously talking about it. A farmer went to sow seeds. He just
           threw them here and there. Some fell on the road; they never sprouted because the road was hard and
           the seeds could not penetrate the soil, they could not move in the deeper, darker realm of the soil. ...
           Because only there does birth happen, only in the deep dark does God start working. The work is
           secret work, it is hidden.
               Some fell by the side of the road; they sprouted, but animals destroyed them. Only some fell on
           the right soil; they not only sprouted, they grew to their full height, they flowered, they came to
           fulfillment, and one seed came to be millions of seeds.
               If you ask from curiosity, you are asking from the road. The head is just a road -- it has to be, it
           has such a constant traffic. It has to be very hard, almost concrete. Even on your roads the traffic is
           not so much as in your head. So many thoughts going here and there at fast speed! We have not yet
           been able to invent a faster vehicle than thought -- our fastest vehicles are nothing before thought.
           Your astronauts may reach the moon, but they cannot reach it with the speed of thought, they will
           take time; you can simply immediately reach the moon in thought. For thought, it is as if space does
           not exist: one moment you can be here, next moment in London and the next in New York, and hop
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           around the world many times within a second. So much traffic... the road is almost concrete; throw
           something there, it will never sprout.
               Curiosity comes from the head. It is asking a master something just as if you have encountered
           him in the market and you ask him. I know such people. I was traveling so much it was a problem to
           avoid such people. Even on the platform -- I am going to catch a train and they are accompanying me
           and they will ask, 'What about God? Does God exist or not?' These people are curious and they are
           foolish! Never ask a question out of curiosity, because it is useless, wasting your time and others'.
               If somebody had asked this master the question right from the heart, the end would have been
           different. The man would have flowered into satori, there would have been a fulfillment. But there is
           no end like that because the very beginning was wrong. A master gives you an answer out of
           compassion, knowing well that you are curious -- but maybe, who knows, even accidents happen;
           sometimes curious people also become authentically interested, nobody knows.

              A MASTER WAS ASKED BY A CURIOUS MONK: 'WHAT IS THE WAY?' 'IT IS RIGHT BEFORE
              YOUR EYES,' SAID THE MASTER.


               This is absurd because if it is really right before the eyes then why do people seek, why do
           people inquire? And why can't they see for themselves?
               A few things to be understood. One: the closer a thing, the more difficult it is to see it -- the
           closest almost impossible, because eyes need a certain space, perspective, to see. I can see you, but if
           I go on coming closer and closer and closer everything will be blurred; your face will be blurred,
           lines will lose their shape. And if I go on coming and coming and just put my eyes on your face,
           nothing will be seen -- your face will become a wall. But still I can see a little because a little
           distance will be there.
               Not even that much distance exists between you and the real. It is just touching your eyes. It is
           just touching your skin -- not only that, it is penetrating the skin. It is moving in your blood. It is
           beating in your heartbeat. It is you. The Way is not only in front of your eyes, the way is YOU. You
           are one with it. The traveler is not different from the Way, not in reality; they are one.
               So how to see it? No perspective, no space...? Unless you attain to a clear intelligence, to a
           clarity of understanding, you will not be able to see it. Unless you become so intensely aware, you
           will not be able to see it. The distance is not there, so ordinary ways of looking AT will not do; you
           need an extraordinary awareness, to be so extraordinarily alert that nothing is asleep in you.
           Suddenly the door opens. The Way is there -- you ARE the Way. But you miss because it is there
           already. It has always been there -- before you were born. You were born on the Way, in the Way,
           for the Way, of the Way -- because the Way is the reality.
               Remember, this Way doesn't go to a goal; this Way IS the goal. So in fact there is no traveling,
           just staying alert, just being still, silent, not doing anything. Just becoming a clarity, an awareness, a
           silent cool understanding.
           'IT IS RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES,' SAID THE MASTER.'WHY DO I NOT SEE IT FOR
           MYSELF?' ASKED THE MONK.

                When you are curious, every answer will create another question, because curiosity can never be
           satisfied. Inquiry can be satisfied, inquiry can come to an end, to a conclusion; never curiosity,
           because you bring again the same curious mind to the answer, again a new question comes out of it.
           You can satisfy one who is really in inquiry, you cannot satisfy one who is simply asking: 'WHY DO
           I NOT SEE IT FOR MYSELF?'
                Another thing: a curious person deep down is not concerned with reality, is concerned only with
           himself. He says, 'WHY DO I NOT SEE IT FOR MYSELF? Why can you see it and why can't I see
           it? I cannot believe you, I cannot trust, and if it is right in front of my eyes then why can't I see it?'
           'BECAUSE YOU ARE THINKING OF YOURSELF,' SAID THE MASTER.

                The Way is there, and you are thinking about yourself: 'Why can't I see?' Nobody can see who is
           filled so much with the ego. Put it aside, because the ego means your whole past, all that you have
           experienced, all that you have been conditioned for, all that you have known, studied, collected,
           gathered -- information, scripture, knowledge -- all that is your ego, the whole lot, and if you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           concerned with it, you cannot see it.'WHAT ABOUT YOU?' SAID THE MONK.

                Whatsoever a master says, every answer could lead to a satori -- if the person is right. Just the
           first thing, when he said, 'IT IS RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES,' would have become an
           enlightenment if the right person had been there. But he missed; otherwise the next statement would
           have been an understanding.
           'WHY DO I NOT SEE IT FOR MYSELF?' HE ASKED.'BECAUSE YOU ARE THINKING OF
           YOURSELF.'

              But no. Curiosity cannot be satisfied, it never comes to an end. Suddenly, whenever you touch
           somebody's 'I', he jumps on you. He said:
           'AND WHAT ABOUT YOU... DO YOU SEE IT?'

               Ego always feels: If I cannot see it, how can anybody else see it? The ego can never feel that
           anybody else can be egoless: impossible. And if you can feel this your ego has already started dying.
           If you can feel that somebody can be egoless, already the grip is loosening. The ego won't allow you
           to feel that anybody has EVER been without an ego. And because of your ego you go on projecting
           egos on others.
               Many books have been written about Jesus -- more than about anybody else -- and many books
           try to prove that Jesus must have been a very deep egoist because he goes on saying, 'I am the son of
           God; I and my father are one.' He is saying: I am God. Many psychoanalysts have tried to explain
           that he was neurotic. How can you say you are God? You must be an egoist.
               And that's how Jews felt when Jesus was alive. They also felt: this man is just mad with his ego!
           What is he saying -- that he is God, or the only son of God? Claiming so much for himself! And they
           mocked. They mocked, they laughed.
               And when they crucified Jesus their behavior with him is simply incomprehensible. They put a
           crown of thorns on his head and said, 'You, King of the Jews, son of God, you and your father are
           one -- remember us when we also come to your Kingdom of God.' They forced him to carry his
           cross. He was weak, the cross was very heavy -- they had made it very heavy knowingly, and they
           forced him just like an ordinary criminal to carry his own cross. And he was feeling thirsty, because
           where he was crucified it was a hill; the hill is known as Golgotha. It was uphill, he was carrying his
           big cross, heavy cross; he was perspiring, feeling thirsty, and people were mocking all around and
           making jokes about him, and they said, 'Look -- the King of the Jews! Look! The man who claims
           that he is the son of God.'
               Many had gathered there just to enjoy it -- it was a sort of amusement, a merriment. The whole
           town had gathered there just to throw stones at this man. Why were they taking such a revenge? --
           because they felt that this man had hurt their egos. He claimed that he was God himself. They
           couldn't understand that this man had no ego at all; hence the claim. The claim was not coming from
           the ego, the claim was simply a reality. When YOUR ego drops you are also a god.
               But one can claim from the ego. All our claims are from the ego, so we cannot see how a person
           can claim without the ego. Krishna in the Gita says to Arjuna, 'Come to my feet. Leave all, and
           surrender to me.' Hindus are not so bold, and they are very mannerly; they have not written that this
           man is an egoist. But in the West many have felt the same as with Jesus: What manner of man is this
           who says, 'Come to my feet!' Our egos cannot feel that when Krishna is saying to Arjuna, 'Come to
           my feet,' there is no one inside. It is coming to nobody's feet. But egos cannot see this. You can see
           only that which you are, you cannot see that which you are not.
               Immediately the monk said, 'And what about you?' He feels hurt because the master has said,
           'Because you are thinking of yourself, that's why you are missing the way -- and it is right in front of
           you.' Now this man is reacting. He would like to hurt the master also. He says,
           'WHAT ABOUT YOU... DO YOU SEE IT?'

               He wanted, he expected -- because of his own ego -- that this man would say, 'Yes, I see it,' and
           then everything would have been easy. He could have said, 'Then you are also concerned with your
           I; how can you see it? You also assert your ego -- how can you see it? We are just the same.' And he
           would have gone away happy, because the account would have been closed with this man.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              But you cannot close your account with a master. He never fulfills your expectation. He is simply
           unpredictable. You cannot get him caught in your trap because his ways always change. Your mind
           cannot give you the answer which he is going to give.

              THE MASTER SAID: 'SO LONG AS YOU SEE DOUBLE, SAYING I DON'T, AND YOU DO, AND SO
              ON, YOUR EYES ARE CLOUDED.'


               The master has not said anything about himself. If there had been an Arjuna there the master
           would have said, 'Yes, I see it -- and please, don't you go around and around, come to my feet.' But
           this man was no Arjuna -- just a curious man, not really interested. It was just a problem, not a
           question. He is not going to change himself in any way. At the most he will have a little more
           information, he will become a little more knowledgeable.
               That's why the master says, 'SO LONG AS YOU SEE DOUBLE, SAYING I DON'T, AND YOU
           DO, AND SO ON, YOUR EYES ARE CLOUDED' -- because the monk's eyes are clouded by 'I' and
           'you'. They are one phenomenon, try to understand this. I and you are two aspects of the same coin:
           this side I, that side you. If I drops, you drop. If I is there no more, you are there no more, because
           when the coin drops both the aspects drop together. I -- that is one pole, thou -- that is another pole;
           they both drop or they both remain. If you are, then all around you is a crowd, a milling crowd of I's,
           you's; if you are not, the whole crowd has disappeared as if it was just a nightmare -- it was -- and
           simply silence exists, in which there is no division, not even this one of I and thou.
               That's why zen people never talk about God, because, they say, 'if we talk about God we will
           have to say thou.' Buddha never talked about God, and he said, 'Don't pray, because your prayer will
           continue the division, the duality, the dual vision -- I and thou.'
               At the very peak also you will carry the same disease, in subtle ways: you will say I, you will say
           thou. Howsoever lovingly you say it, the division exists, and with the division the love is not
           possible. That is the difference between Jewish thinking and Jesus' way of thinking.
               Martin Buber has written a book, I and Thou. He is one of the most profound Jewish thinkers --
           but he remains a thinker. He may talk about mysticism, but that talk is also one of a thinker and
           philosopher, because at the very end he retains the old division, I and thou. Now the thou is not here,
           in this world, but God has become the thou, but the old division persists.
               Jews, Mohammedans have always denied that you can become one with God just because of that
           fear that the I may claim that it has become God. They have retained the division. They say that you
           can come closer and closer and closer, but you will remain you and he will remain he. You will
           remain an I and he has to be addressed as thou.
               And that is the trouble that Jesus created, because he said, 'I and my father in heaven are one.' He
           dropped the division of I and thou. That has been the trouble with Mohammedans in India -- they
           couldn't understand the Upanishads, they couldn't understand the Hindu teaching that you are the
           same as him. Drop the I and he is no more a thou. In fact, suddenly the poles disappear and the
           energy is one. Here I disappear, there you disappear, and the energy is one.
               Sometimes in deep love glimpses happen when neither you are an I nor is your lover or beloved a
           thou -- but sometimes only, it is very rare, when two energies simply meet and you cannot find the
           division, where they are divided. They mingle and meet and merge and become one; you cannot feel
           where the boundary is, suddenly the boundary has disappeared. That's why love creates fear.
               Deep love creates deep fear. It looks like death because the I disappears, the you disappears --
           and it IS a sort of death. And when YOU die, only then do you enter into the divine. But then the
           divine is no more a God, you cannot address him; hence no prayer exists in Buddhism. So Christians
           can't believe what type of religion Buddhism is: no prayer?'How can you pray?' Buddha said.
           'Because the prayer can be possible only with a division -- I praying, thou listening -- how can you
           pray?'
               In Buddhism only meditation exists. Try to understand the difference: prayer continues with the
           old division of I and thou, meditation drops the division. Prayer has to lead finally to meditation.
           Prayer cannot be the final thing. It is beautiful, but it is not the ultimate. The ultimate can only be
           this: when both have disappeared and only oneness exists. Tremendous... vast! You become afraid of
           it! All the cozy divisions of I and thou disappear. All relationship disappears -- that is the fear; that's
           what Buber is afraid of. He's afraid that if there is no I and no thou, the whole phenomenon will be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so tremendous and so terrible and fear-creating... because no relationship is possible.
               Relationship gives you a home; relationship gives you a feeling of coziness; relationship gives
           you something which does not look like a TREMENDUM, which is not fear-creating. Meditation
           has to be the ultimate, because prayer can never lead to the nondual -- and this is what the master is
           saying. He says:
           'SO LONG AS YOU SEE DOUBLE, SAYING I DON'T, AND YOU DO, AND SO ON, YOUR
           EYES ARE CLOUDED.'

               Division is the clouding. Through division is the mist in the eyes, through division is the dust in
           the eyes, through division your eyes are murky, cloudy, distorted. Drop the division and the Way is
           there.
               But a curious mind goes on and on and on. The monk could have become enlightened at that
           moment, because enlightenment is nothing but a clarity, an understanding. Such profound truths --
           and the seeds go on missing, because the man is just a highway, the man is not a right soil. He said
           again:
           'WHEN THERE IS NEITHER I NOR YOU, CAN ONE SEE IT?'

               Look: avoid this tendency of being curious. He is not listening at all, he has not understood a
           single word, he has not felt anything -- he goes on and on, and on the same surface, at the same level,
           not even an inch deeper. His questioning is not an inquiry now, rather a reaction: whatsoever the
           master says, he reacts. Whenever this happens it means that when the master is speaking he is
           thinking at that moment also, preparing the next question. He is not listening.
           'WHEN THERE IS NEITHER I NOR YOU, CAN ONE SEE IT?'

               He will again be expecting. Whenever you ask a question of someone you already have an
           expected answer. If it fits with your expected answer, then the man is right; if it doesn't fit, then this
           man is talking nonsense.
               Never come to me with your expected answers, because if you already have the answer then
           there is no need to ask. And this is the difference -- if you ask a question without any expected
           answer, you will be able to hear the answer; if you have a subtle expectation that THIS is going to be
           the answer, if your mind has already given you an answer, you will not be able to listen. You will
           simply be listening either to be confirmed that your answer is right, or to be confirmed that this man
           is wrong -- but in either case you are right.
               Never ask a question with the feeling that you are right. If you are right there is no need to ask.
           Always ask the question from the position of a man who is ignorant, knowing well that 'I don't
           know,' so how can you expect, how can you create an answer? Knowing perfectly that 'I don't know,'
           ask -- and you are a right soil, and the seeds will fall in it, and a large crop will be possible.
           Asked the man again:
           'WHEN THERE IS NEITHER I NOR YOU, CAN ONE SEE IT?'

               He's trying to put this master in a corner, as mind always tries -- because now he must say yes. If
           he says yes then the curious mind can ask again, 'Then who will see it if there is neither I nor you?'
           And if you say, 'Yes, then the Way can be seen,' then the question will arise automatically, 'Then
           who will see it? When I am not there and you are not there, then who will see it?'
               But you cannot put an enlightened man into a corner. You can put another mind into a corner,
           then you can play a game of chess, but a man who has no mind -- you cannot put him in a corner and
           you cannot defeat him, because he is not there. His victory is absolute. With him, either you are
           defeated or you escape. His victory is absolute because he is no longer there -- who can be defeated?
           Who can be forced into a corner?
               This is a beautiful corner. This man must have been a professor or a logician or a pundit. He has
           really brought the master to a corner within three questions -- if a man were there he would have
           been put in a corner. But because a master is not, how can you force him into a corner? He is the
           whole sky. How can you force the whole sky into a corner? All corners exist in him, but you cannot
           force him into a corner.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE MASTER SAID, 'WHEN THERE IS NEITHER I NOR YOU, WHO IS THE ONE WHO WANTS TO
              SEE IT?'


               Really, when you see... you see only when you are not. When you are not, there is no question of
           trying to see, wanting to see, desiring to see. Who will desire? When YOU are not, who bothers
           about the Way? The Way has already happened. Who bothers about God? -- it is already the case!
               Here you disappear and there everything is ready, everything that you ever sought, everything
           that you were seeking, every inquiry fulfilled. Here you dissolve and all answers disappear and all
           queries dissolve. Suddenly the truth is there.
               Your dissolution is the truth. Your 'not being there' is the Way. Your absence is the presence of
           God.




                                        And The Flowers Showered
                                                  Chapter #11
                                Chapter title: Not mind, not buddha, not things
           10 November 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7411100
              ShortTitle: FLOWRS11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              A MONK ASKED NANSEN: 'IS THERE A TEACHING NO MASTER EVER PREACHED BEFORE?'
              NANSEN SAID: 'YES THERE IS.' 'WHAT IS IT?' ASKED THE MONK.
              NANSEN REPLIED: 'IT IS NOT MIND, IT IS NOT BUDDHA, IT IS NOT THINGS.'


               THE 'TEACHINGS' OF THE AWAKENED ONES are not teachings at all because they cannot
           be taught -- so how to call them teachings? A teaching is that which can be taught. But nobody can
           teach you the truth. It is impossible. You can learn it, but it cannot be taught. It has to be learned.
           You can absorb it, you can imbibe it, you can live with a master and allow it to happen but it cannot
           be taught. It is a very indirect process.
               Teaching is direct: something is said. Learning is indirect: something is indicated, not said --
           rather, something is shown. A finger is raised towards the sun, but the finger is not the point; you
           have to leave the finger and look at the sun, or at the moon. A master teaches but the teaching is just
           like the finger: you have to leave it and look where it indicates -- the dimension, the direction, the
           beyond.
               A teacher teaches, a master LIVES -- you can learn from his life, the way he moves, the way he
           looks at you, the way he touches you, the way he is. You can imbibe it, you can allow it to happen,
           you can remain available, you can remain open and vulnerable. There is no way to say it directly,
           that's why those who are very intellectual miss it -- because they know only one way of learning and
           that is direct. They ask, What is truth? -- and they expect an answer.
               This is what happened when Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, 'What is truth?' and Jesus remained silent
           -- not even a flicker, as if the question had not been asked, as if there was no Pontius Pilate standing
           before him and asking. Jesus remained the same as he was before the question was raised, nothing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           changed. Pontius Pilate must have thought this man a little mad, because he had asked a direct
           question: 'What is truth?' and this man remained silent as if he had not heard.
                Pontius Pilate was a viceroy, a well-educated, cultured, cultivated man; Jesus was a son of a
           carpenter, uneducated, uncultivated. It was as if two poles were meeting, two opposite poles. Pontius
           Pilate knew all philosophy -- he had learned it, he knew all the scriptures. This man Jesus was
           absolutely uneducated, in fact he knew nothing -- or, he knew ONLY nothing. Standing before
           Pontius Pilate, totally silent, he replied -- but the reply was indirect: he raised a finger. That total
           silence was the finger raised towards truth. But Pontius Pilate missed. He thought, This man is crazy.
           Either he is deaf, cannot hear, or he does not know, is ignorant -- that's why he is silent. But silence
           can be a finger raised towards truth -- that is incomprehensible to the intellectual Pontius Pilate.
                He missed. The greatest opportunity! He may be still wandering somewhere in search of 'What is
           truth?' On that day truth was standing before him. Could he be silent for a moment? Could he be in
           the presence of Jesus, not asking? just looking, watching, waiting? Could he imbibe Jesus a little?
           Could he allow Jesus to work upon him? The opportunity was there -- and Jesus indicated it. But
           Pontius Pilate missed.
                Intellect will always miss the teaching of the awakened ones, because intellect believes in the
           direct way, and you cannot hit truth in such a direct way. It is a very subtle phenomenon, delicate,
           the most delicate possible; you have to move very cautiously, you have to move very indirectly. You
           have to feel it -- it comes through the heart, it never comes through the head. Teaching comes
           through the head, learning happens through the heart.
                Remember my emphasis. It is not the master who teaches, it is the disciple who learns. It is up to
           you -- to learn or not to learn; it is not up to me to teach or not to teach. A master cannot help
           himself: because of the way he is, he goes on teaching. His every moment, his every breath is a
           teaching, his whole being is a teaching, a message. The message is not different from the master. If it
           is different then the master is simply a teacher, not a master; then he is repeating words of others.
           Then he is not awakened himself, then he has a borrowed knowledge; inside he remains as ignorant
           as the student. There is no difference in their being, they differ in their knowledge.
                A teacher and a student are on the same level as far as their being is concerned; as far as their
           knowledge is concerned they are different: the teacher knows more, the student knows less. Some
           day the student will know more, he himself will become a teacher, he can even come to know more
           than the teacher -- because it is the horizontal line of accumulation. If you accumulate more
           knowledge, information, you can become a teacher, but not a master.
                A master is truth. He does not know ABOUT truth, he has become it, so he cannot help himself.
           It is not a question of to teach or not to teach, it is not a choice. Even if he is fast asleep, he goes on
           teaching. Buddha fast asleep -- you simply sit near him, you can learn much; you can even become
           enlightened, because the way he sleeps is totally different. The quality differs because the being
           differs. Buddha eating -- you just watch, and he is giving a message. The message is not separate,
           that's why I say he cannot help himself. He IS the message.
                You cannot ask the question, 'What is truth?' Anyway, he will not answer you directly. He may
           laugh or he may offer you a cup of tea, or he may hold your hand and sit silently, or he may take you
           for a morning walk into the woods, or he may say, 'Look! This mountain is beautiful!' But
           whatsoever he is doing is an indirect way of indicating, indicating towards his being.
                All that is beautiful, true, good, is like happiness -- I say 'like happiness' because you may be
           able to understand that. You have known something of happiness. Maybe you have lived very
           miserably, as people live. But sometimes, even in spite of yourself, moments happen when happiness
           enters you -- you are filled with an unknown silence, an unknown bliss; suddenly those moments
           come. You cannot find a man who has not had a few moments of happiness in his life.
                But have you observed one thing? -- whenever they come they come indirectly. Suddenly they
           happen, unexpectedly they happen. You were not waiting for them, you were doing something else,
           and suddenly you become aware. If you are waiting for them, expecting them, they never come; if
           you are directly in search, you will miss.
                Somebody says, 'When I go swimming in the river I feel much happiness.' You are also in search
           of it; you say, 'Then I will come also,' and you follow. You are seeking happiness -- you are not
           concerned with swimming directly, you are concerned directly with happiness. Swimming is just a
           means. You swim for hours; you are tired, you wait, you expect -- and you are frustrated. Nothing is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happening, the bliss is not there, and you tell your friend: 'You deceived me. I have been swimming
           for hours, feel completely tired, and not a single moment of happiness has happened.'
               No, it cannot happen. When you are lost in swimming so completely that there is nobody, the
           boat is empty, there is nobody in the house, the host is silent, swimming is so deep that the swimmer
           is lost in it and you simply swim, you play with the river, and the rays of the sun and the morning
           breeze, and you are simply lost in it... and there is happiness! Swimming by the bank, swimming all
           over the river, spreading all over existence, jumping from one ray to another ray of light -- every
           breeze brings it. But if you expect you miss, because expectation leads you into the future and
           happiness is in the present. It is not a result of any activity; it is a consequence, it is a byproduct. You
           are so deeply involved, it happens.
               It is a consequence, remember, it is not a result; a result can be expected. If you put two plus two,
           the four, the result, can be expected; it is already there in the two plus two, it will come out. The
           result can be expected if things are mechanical, mathematical. But a consequence is not a mechanical
           thing, it is an organic phenomenon. It happens only when you are not expecting. The guest comes to
           your door and knocks when you were not thinking about the guest at all. It always comes like a
           stranger, it always surprises you. You suddenly feel something has happened -- and if you start
           thinking about what is happening, you will immediately miss. If you say, 'How wonderful! How
           beautiful!' it is already gone; the mind is back. Again you are in the same misery, thrown back.
               One has to learn deeply that all that is beautiful is indirect. You cannot make an attack upon it,
           you cannot be aggressive with it; you cannot snatch from existence. If you are violent and
           aggressive, you will not find it.
               Move towards it like a drunkard, not knowing where, not knowing why, like a drunkard -- lost
           completely, you move towards it.
               All meditations are subtle ways to make you drunk, subtle ways to make you drunkards of the
           unknown, drunkards of the divine. Then you are no longer there with your conscious mind
           functioning, then you are not there expecting, then you are not there planning for the future. You are
           NOT. And when you are not, suddenly flowers start showering on you, flowers of bliss. Just like
           Subhuti, empty... you are surprised! You were never expecting, you never knew! You never felt that
           you ever deserved it; that's how it is felt -- like a grace, because it is not something YOU have
           brought on, it is something which has happened.
               So one thing: truth cannot be taught, bliss cannot be given to you, ecstasy cannot be purchased in
           the market. But your mind continuously thinks in terms of getting, purchasing, collecting, finding;
           your mind never thinks in terms of happening because you cannot control happening -- everything
           else you can control.
               I have heard: Once a man became suddenly rich. Of course, when it happened he collected all
           those things he had always been desiring -- a very big house, a big car, swimming pool, this and that.
           And then he sent his daughter to college. He had always wanted to be educated but he could not be;
           now he wanted to fulfill all his desires, and whatsoever HE couldn't do he wanted his children to do.
           But after a few days the dean of the college wrote a letter to him, and in the letter wrote: 'To be
           frank, we cannot admit your girl to the college because she has no capacity to learn.'
               The father said, 'Just capacity? Don't bother! I will purchase the best capacity available in the
           market for her.'
               How can you purchase capacity? But a man who has become suddenly rich thinks only in terms
           of purchasing. You think in terms of power -- power to purchase, power to get something.
           Remember, truth cannot be got through power; it comes when you are humble. You have nothing to
           purchase it with, it cannot be purchased. And it is good that it cannot be purchased; otherwise no one
           would be able to give the cost. It is good that it HAPPENS; otherwise how would you purchase it?
           All that you have is rubbish. Because it cannot be purchased, that's why sometimes it can happen. It
           is a gift. It is a sharing of the divine with you -- but the divine can share only when you allow. Hence
           I say you can learn it but it cannot be taught.
               In fact in the spiritual world there are only disciples, not masters. Masters ARE there but they are
           inactive, passive forces. They cannot DO anything, they are just there -- like a flower: if nobody
           comes, the flower will go on spreading its fragrance into emptiness. It cannot help itself. The whole
           thing is decided by the disciple: how to learn? how to learn from a flower? And a flower shows
           something but doesn't say it. It cannot be said. How can the flower say what beauty is? -- the flower
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           IS beauty. You have to gain, attain, eyes to see, a nose to smell, ears to hear the subtle sound that
           comes to the flower when the breeze passes by. And you need a heart to feel the throbbing of the
           flower, because it throbs also -- everything alive throbs, the whole existence throbs.
               You may not have observed this because it is impossible before you go into deep meditation; you
           cannot observe the fact that the whole universe breathes. And just as you expand and shrink the
           whole existence shrinks and expands. Just as you inhale and the chest fills, and then you exhale and
           the air goes out and the chest shrinks, the same rhythm exists in existence. The whole existence
           breathes, expands, inhales, exhales -- and if you can find the rhythm of existence and become one
           with the rhythm, you have attained.
               The whole art of ecstasy, meditation, samadhi, is: How to become one with the rhythm of the
           universe. When it exhales, you exhale. When it inhales, you inhale. You live in it, are not separate,
           are one with it. Difficult, because the universe is vast.
               A master is the whole universe in miniature. If you can learn how to inhale with the master and
           how to exhale with the master, if you can learn simply that, you will learn all.
               At the moment when Pontius Pilate asked, 'What is truth?' if he had known anything, even the
           ABC of disciplehood, the next thing would have been to just close his eyes and inhale and exhale
           with Jesus... just inhale and exhale with Jesus. The way he inhales, you inhale, and in the same
           rhythm; the way he exhales, you exhale, and in the same rhythm -- and suddenly there is oneness: the
           disciple has disappeared, the master has disappeared. In that oneness you know what truth is because
           in that oneness you taste the master.
               And now you have the key -- and this has not been given either, remember, it has been learned
           by you. It has not been given to you; it cannot be given, it is so subtle. And with this key now every
           lock can be opened. It is a master key, no ordinary key -- it doesn't open one lock, it opens all locks.
           Now you have the key, and once you have the key you use it with the universe.
               Kabir has said, 'Now I am in much difficulty. God and my guru, the whole existence and my
           master, are standing before me; now to whom do I bow first? To whose feet now do I go first? I am
           in deep trouble!' And then he says, 'Forgive me, God. I will have to go to my master's feet first,
           because he has shown you to me. I come to you through him. So even if you are standing before me,
           excuse me, I have to touch my master's feet first.'
               Beautiful... this has to be so, because the master becomes the door to the unknown, he becomes
           the key to the whole existence. He is the truth.
               Learn how to be in the presence of the master, how to breathe with him, how to silently allow
           him to move in you, how to silently merge into him, because the master is nothing but God who has
           knocked at your door. He is the whole universe concentrated. Don't ask questions, LIVE with him.
               Now try to penetrate this story -- small, but very significant.

              A MONK ASKED NANSEN: 'IS THERE A TEACHING NO MASTER EVER PREACHED BEFORE?'


                Whatsoever has been preached is not the teaching; the real teaching has never been preached, it
           cannot be told.
                Buddha said to Mahakashyap, 'To all others I have told that which can be told, and to you I give
           that which cannot be told, cannot be said.' Now for two thousand years followers of Buddha have
           been asking again and again and again: What was given to Mahakashyap? What was given to
           Mahakashyap, what was the teaching that Buddha never told to anybody, that even Buddha said
           cannot be told because words will not be able to carry it?
                Words are so narrow, the vastness of truth cannot be forced into them -- and they are so
           superficial, how can they carry the depth? It is just like this: How can a wave on the ocean carry the
           depth of the ocean? It cannot. By the very nature of things it is impossible because if a wave exists it
           has to exist on the surface. The wave cannot go to the depth because if it goes to the depth it is a
           wave no more. The wave exists only in touch with the winds -- it has to be on the surface, it cannot
           go to the depth. And the depth cannot come to the wave because the moment it comes to the surface
           it itself becomes the wave, it is no more the depth.
                This is the problem. The truth is the center and the words exist on the surface, on the periphery --
           where people meet, where the wind and the ocean meet, where the question and the answer meet,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           where the master and disciple meet; just there on the surface words exist. Truth cannot come to the
           surface, it is the very depth, and the words cannot go to the truth, they are the very surface.
               So what to do? All that can be said will be just so-so; it will not be true, it will not be untrue, it
           will be just in the middle -- and very dangerous, because if the disciple has not been in tune with the
           master he will misunderstand. If he has been in tune with the master, only then will he understand
           because then there exists a rapport.
               Understanding is not a question of keen intelligence; understanding is a question of deep rapport.
           Understanding is not a question of reason, intellect, logic. Understanding is a question of deep
           sympathy, or even of deep empathy; hence the central significance of trust, faith. Understanding
           happens through faith, because in faith you trust, in trust you become sympathetic, in trust rapport is
           possible -- because you are not defensive, you leave the doors open.

              THIS MONK ASKED NANSEN: 'IS THERE A TEACHING NO MASTER EVER PREACHED
              BEFORE?'


               Yes, there is a teaching; in fact ALL the teaching is there which no master has ever preached
           before. Then why do masters go on preaching? Why is it Buddha went on talking for forty years?
           Why do I go on talking, whether you listen or not? Why do they talk? If that which is to be learned
           cannot be said, then why do they go on talking?
               Talking is just a bait. Through talking you are caught, you cannot understand anything else.
           Talking is just giving sweets to children. Then they start coming to you, blissfully unaware that
           talking is not the point; blissfully unaware they come for the sweets, they come for the toys. They
           are happy with the toys. But the master knows that once they start coming, by and by the toys can be
           taken away, and by and by they will start loving the master without the toys -- and once that
           happens, words can be dropped.
               Whenever a disciple is ready, words can be dropped. They are just a way to bring you closer
           because you cannot understand anything except words. If somebody speaks, you understand; if
           somebody is silent you cannot understand. What will you understand? Silence is just a wall for you,
           you cannot find your way in it. And silence carries a deep fear also, because it is deathlike. Words
           are lifelike, silence is deathlike. If somebody is silent you start feeling afraid and scared -- if
           somebody goes on being silent you will try to escape from there because it is too much, the silence
           becomes so heavy for you.
               Why? -- because YOU cannot be silent, and if you cannot be silent you cannot understand
           silence. You are a chattering; inside a monkey is sitting, continuously chattering. Somebody has
           defined man as nothing but a monkey with metaphysics, with some philosophy, that's all. And that
           philosophy is nothing but a better way of chattering, more systematic, more logical, but still
           chattering.
               A master has to talk to bring you nearer. The nearer you come, the more he will drop it. Once
           you are in the grip of his silence there is no need to talk. Once you know what silence is, once you
           have become silent, a new rapport exists. Now things can be said without any saying, messages can
           be given without ever giving them -- without him giving them you can receive them. Now the
           phenomenon of discipleship has happened.
               One of the most beautiful phenomena in the world is that of being a disciple, because now you
           know what rapport is. Now you breathe, inhale, exhale with the master; now you lose your
           boundaries and become one with him. Now something of his heart starts flowing towards you; now
           something of him comes into you.

              A MONK ASKED NANSEN: 'IS THERE A TEACHING NO MASTER EVER PREACHED BEFORE?'


                Nansen is one of the most famous zen masters. Many stories are told about him; one I have been
           telling you many times. I will repeat it again, because stories like that are to be repeated again and
           again, so that you can imbibe them. They are a sort of nourishment. Every day you have to take
           nourishment; you won't say, 'Yesterday morning I took breakfast so now there is no need.' Every day
           you have to eat; you don't say, 'Yesterday I took food, now what is the need?'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                These stories -- they are a nourishment. There exists a special word in India, it cannot be
           translated. In English the word reading exists, in India we have two words for it: one means reading,
           the other means the reading of the same thing again and again. You read the same thing again and
           again and again -- it is like a part. Every day you read the Gita in the morning; then it is not a
           reading, because you have read it many times. Now it is a sort of nourishment. You don't read it, you
           EAT it every day.
                It is also a great experiment, because every day you will come to new shades of meaning, every
           day new nuances. The same book, the same words, but every day you feel some new depth has
           opened unto you. Every day you feel you are reading something new, because the Gita, or books like
           that, have a depth. If you read them once you will move on the surface; if you read them twice, a
           little deeper; thrice -- you go on. A thousand times, and then you will understand that you can never
           exhaust these books, it is impossible. The more you become alert, aware, the more your
           consciousness grows deeper -- that is the meaning.
                I will repeat this story of Nansen. A professor came to him, a professor of philosophy....
           Philosophy is a disease, and it is like a cancer: no medicine exists for it yet, you have to go through
           surgery, a great operation is needed. And philosophy has a similar type of growth, a canceric growth:
           once it is in you it goes on growing by itself, and it takes all your energies. It is a parasite. You go on
           becoming weaker and weaker and it becomes stronger and stronger and stronger. Every word creates
           another word -- and it can go on infinitely.
                A philosopher came to Nansen. Nansen lived on a small hill, and when the philosopher came
           uphill he was tired and perspiring. The moment he entered the hut of Nansen he said, 'What is truth?'
                Nansen said, 'Truth can wait a little. There is no hurry. Right now you need a cup of tea, you are
           so tired!' Nansen went in and prepared a cup of tea.
                This can happen only with a zen master. In India you cannot think of Shankaracharya preparing
           tea for you. For YOU -- and Shankaracharya preparing tea? Impossible! Or think of Mahavira
           preparing tea for you... absurd!
                But with a zen master this can happen. They have a totally different attitude: they LOVE life.
           They are not anti-life; they affirm life, they are not against it -- and they are ordinary people, and
           they say that to be ordinary is the most extraordinary thing. They live a really simple life. When I say
           a REALLY simple life I mean not an imposed simplicity. In India you can find such impostors all
           over -- simplicity is imposed. They may be naked, completely naked, but they are not simple; their
           nakedness is very complex. Their nakedness is not the nakedness of a child; they have cultivated it,
           and how can a cultivated thing be simple? They have disciplined themselves for it, and how can a
           disciplined thing be simple? It is very complex.
                Your clothes are not so complex as the nakedness of a Jaina DIGAMBER monk. He has
           struggled for it for many years. They have five steps -- you have to fulfill each step by and by, and
           then you attain to nakedness. It is an achievement, and how can an achievement be simple? If you
           work for it for many years, if you make every effort to achieve it, how can it be simple? A simple
           thing can be achieved here and now, immediately, there is no need to work for it.
                Nakedness when simple is a majestic phenomenon; you simply drop clothes. It happened to
           Mahavira -- it was simple. When he left his house he had clothes on; then, passing by a rosebush, his
           shawl got caught in the thorns, so he thought: It is evening time and the rosebush is going to sleep, it
           will be disturbing to remove it. So he tore off half of the shawl that was entangled in the thorns and
           left it there. It was evening time and the gesture was beautiful. It was not for nakedness he did it, it
           was for that rosebush. And the next day in the morning, with the half-shawl left, half naked, a beggar
           asked him for something -- and he had nothing else to give. How to say no when you still have
           something left to give -- that half-shawl? So he gave it to the beggar. This nakedness is something
           superb, simple, ordinary; it happened, it was not practiced. But a Jaina monk practices it.
                Zen monks are very simple people. They live an ordinary life as everybody else. They don't make
           differences, because all differences are basically egoistic. And this game you can play in many ways,
           but the game remains the same: higher than you. The game remains the same: I have more money, I
           am higher than you; I have more education, I am higher than you; I am more pious, I am higher than
           you; I am more religious, I am higher than you; I have renounced more, I am higher than you.
                Nansen went in, prepared tea, came out, gave the cup into the professor's hand, poured tea from
           his kettle. The cup was full. Up to that moment the professor waited because up to that moment
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everything was rational: a tired man comes and you feel compassion for him and you prepare tea. Of
           course it is as it should be. Then you fill the cup -- that too is okay. But then something irrational
           happened.
               Nansen went on pouring, the cup was overflowing. Then the professor became a little surprised:
           What is this man doing? Is he mad? But still he waited -- he was a well disciplined man, he could
           tolerate little things like that. Maybe a little crazy... but then the saucer was also completely full, and
           Nansen went on pouring.
               Now this was too much. Now something had to be done and said, and the professor shrieked,
           'Stop!' -- because now the tea was overflowing on the floor. 'What are you doing? Now this cup
           cannot contain any more tea. Can't you see a simple thing like this? Are you mad?'
               Nansen started laughing and said, 'That's what I was also thinking: Are YOU mad? -- because
           you can see that the cup is full and it will not contain a single drop more, but you cannot see that
           your head is full and it cannot contain a single drop of truth more. Your cup is full in the head, your
           saucer is full and everything is flowing on the floor -- look! Your philosophy all over my hut and
           you can't see it? But you are a reasonable man; at least you could see the tea. Now see the other
           thing.'
               This Nansen helped many people in different ways to awake, created many sorts of situations for
           people to awake.

              A MONK ASKED NANSEN: 'IS THERE A TEACHING NO MASTER EVER PREACHED BEFORE?'
              NANSEN SAID: 'YES THERE IS.' 'WHAT IS IT?' ASKED THE MONK.
              NANSEN REPLIED: 'IT IS NOT MIND, IT IS NOT BUDDHA, IT IS NOT THINGS.'


               Now, if no master has ever said it how can Nansen say it? The questioner is foolish, asking a
           stupid question. If nobody has said it, how can Nansen say it? If buddhas have kept silent about it, if
           buddhas have not uttered a single word, could not utter, then how can Nansen? But Nansen would
           like to help even this stupid man.
               And there are only stupid men all around, because unless you become enlightened you remain
           stupid. So stupidity is not a condemnation, it is just a state, a fact. A man who is not enlightened will
           remain stupid -- there is no other way. And if he feels himself wise, then he is more stupid. If he
           feels that he is stupid, then wisdom has started -- then he has started awakening. If you feel you are
           ignorant, then you are not stupid; if you feel you know you are perfectly stupid -- not only stupid but
           grounded in it so much that there seems no possibility for you to come out of it.
               Nansen would like to help this stupid man, because there are no others; that's why he speaks, he
           answers. But he has to use all negatives; he says nothing positive. He uses three negatives. He
           says:'IT IS NOT MIND, IT IS NOT BUDDHA, IT IS NOT THINGS.'

               You cannot say the truth but you can say what it is not. You cannot say what it is but you can
           indicate it negatively. Via negativa: saying what it is not. This is all that masters have done. If you
           insist that they say something, they will say something negative. If you can understand their silence,
           you understand the affirmative. If you cannot understand their silence but insist on words, they will
           say something negative.
               Understand this: words can do a negative job; silence can do a positive job. Silence is the most
           positive thing and language is the most negative. When you speak you are moving in the negative
           world; when you remain silent you are moving into the positive. What is truth? Ask the Upanishads,
           ask the Koran, The Bible, the Gita; they all say what it is not. What is God? They all say what he is
           not.
               Three things he denies: one -- it is not things, the world; it is not that which you see, it is not that
           which is all around you. It is not that which can be seen by the mind, which the mind can
           comprehend -- it is not objects. And second: it is not the mind, it is not the subject; neither this world
           around you nor this mind within you. No, these two things are not the teaching, are not the truth.
               But the third thing only buddhas have denied, only very perfect masters have denied, and that
           third thing is: IT IS NOT BUDDHA.
           And what is Buddha?
               The world of things is the first boundary around you, then the world of mind, thoughts: things the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           first boundary, thoughts the second boundary -- of course closer, nearer you. You can draw three
           concentric circles: first circle, the world of things; second circle, the world of thoughts; and then
           remains the third -- and Buddha has denied that also -- the self, the witnessing, the soul, the
           consciousness, the buddha. Only Buddha denies that.
                All others have known that: Jesus knows it, Krishna knows it, but they don't deny it because that
           would be too much for you to understand. So they deny two things: they say this world is illusory,
           and the mind that looks at this world is also illusory. Mind and world are one phenomenon, two
           aspects of the same coin. The mind creates the dream; the dream is illusory, and the mind, the
           source, is also illusory. But they say that the third -- witnessing, you in your deep consciousness
           where you are only a witness, not a thinker, where no thought exists, no thing exists, only you exist
           -- they don't deny that. Buddha has denied that also.
                He says, 'No world, no mind, no soul.' That is the highest teaching -- because if things are not,
           how can thoughts be? If thoughts are not how can you witness them? If the world is illusory then the
           mind that looks at the world can't be real. The mind is illusory. Then the witness that looks at the
           mind -- how can it be real? Buddha goes to the deepest core of existence. He says, All that you are is
           unreal; your things, your thoughts and you -- all is unreal.
                But these are three negatives. Buddha's path is the negative path, his assertions are negative.
           That's why Hindus called him a NASTIK; they called him an atheist, an absolute nihilist. But he is
           not. When all these three things are denied, that which remains is truth. When things disappear,
           thoughts disappear, and the witnessing disappears -- these three things that you know -- when all
           these three disappear, that which remains is truth. And that which remains liberates, that which
           remains is nirvana, is enlightenment.
                Buddha is very very deep; nobody has gone deeper than that in saying. Many people have
           reached in being but Buddha has tried to be perfect in saying also. He never asserts a single positive.
           If you ask about any positive he simply remains silent. He never says God is, he never says the soul
           is; in fact he never uses the word is. You ask and he will use the word not. No is his answer for
           everything. And if you can understand, if you can feel a rapport, you will see that he is right.
                When you deny everything, that doesn't mean you have destroyed everything. That only means
           you have destroyed the world that you had created. The real remains because the real cannot be
           denied. But you cannot assert it. You can know it but you cannot state it. When you deny all these
           three, when you transcend all these three, you become a buddha. You are enlightened.
                Buddha says you are awakened only when these three sleeps are broken. One sleep is the sleep
           with things: many people are asleep there, that is the grossest sleep. Millions of people, ninety-eight
           percent of the people are asleep there -- the first and grossest sleep, the sleep with things. One goes
           on thinking about his bank balance, one goes on thinking about the house, about clothes, about this
           and that -- and one lives in that. There are people who only study catalogues for things....
                I have heard one story: One religious man was staying overnight in a family. In the morning, as
           was his habit, he wanted The Bible to read a little and to pray a little. The small child of the house
           was passing through the room so he asked the kid, he said, 'Bring that book' -- because he thought
           the child may not understand what book The Bible was, so he said, 'Bring that book which your
           mother reads every day.' The child brought the Whole Earth Catalogue, because that was the book
           the mother read every day.
                People, ninety-eight percent of them, are asleep in things. Try to find out where you are asleep,
           because the work has to start there. If you are asleep with things, then you have to start from there.
           Drop that sleep with things.
                Why do people go on thinking about things? I used to stay in a house in Calcutta. The woman
           there must have had at least one thousand saris, and every day it was a problem.... When I was there
           her husband and I would be sitting in the car and her husband would go on honking and she would
           say, 'I am coming!' -- and it was difficult for her to decide which sari to wear. So I asked, 'Why is
           this a problem every day?'
                So she took me and showed me, and she said, 'You would also be puzzled. I have got one
           thousand saris and it is difficult to decide which one to choose, which will suit the occasion.'
                Have you seen people?... from the very morning they start cleaning their car, as if that is their
           Bible and their God. 'Things' is the first sleep, the grossest. If you are attached too much to things
           and continuously thinking of things, you are asleep there. You have to come out of that. You have to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           look at what type of attachments you have, where you cling, and for what. What are you going to get
           there?
               You may increase your things, you may accumulate a vast empire, but when you die you will go
           without things. Death will bring you out of your sleep. Before death does, it is better to bring
           yourself out; then there will be no pain in death. Death is so painful because this first sleep has to be
           broken; you are to be snatched away from things.
               Then there is the second sleep, the sleep of the mind. There are people who are not concerned
           with things -- only one percent of people -- who are not concerned with things but who are
           concerned with the mind. They don't bother about what type of clothes they use -- artists, novelists,
           poets, painters; they are not worried about things in general, they live in the mind. They can go
           hungry, they can go naked, they can live in a slum, but they go on working in the mind. The novel
           they are writing... and they go on thinking, I may not be immortal but my novel that I am going to
           write is going to be immortal; the painting that I am doing is going to be immortal. But when you
           cannot be immortal, how can your painting be immortal? When you are to perish, when you are to
           die, everything that you create will die, because how is it possible that from death something
           immortal can be born?
               Then there are people who go on thinking of philosophy, thoughts, oblivious of things, not
           worried much about them. It happened once: Immanuel Kant was coming to his class. He was a
           perfect timekeeper, never missed a single appointment, would never be late; at exactly the right time
           he would enter. He never cared about his clothes, about his house, or food, or anything -- never
           worried about it, never got married; just a servant would do, because that was not much of a problem
           and the servant can do the food and take care of the house. He never needed a wife or someone who
           was intimate, a friend -- no; a servant was okay as far as the world of things was concerned. The
           servant was really the master, because he would purchase everything, he would take care of the
           money and the house and everything.
               Immanuel Kant lived like a stranger in that house. It is said that he never looked at the house, he
           never knew how many rooms the house had, what type of furniture; even if you were to show him
           something which had been in his room for thirty years he would not be able to recognize it. But he
           was concerned much with thoughts -- he lived in the world of thoughts, and many stories are told,
           beautiful stories, because a man who lives in the world of thoughts is always absentminded,
           absentminded in the world of things, because you cannot live in two worlds.
               He was going to his class; the road was muddy and one of his shoes got stuck, so he left it there,
           went to the class with one shoe. Somebody asked, 'Where is your other shoe?'
               He said, 'It got stuck just on the way. It is raining and it was muddy.'
               But the man who had asked said, 'Then you could have got it back.'
               Said Immanuel Kant, 'There was a series of thoughts in my mind and I didn't like to interfere
           with it. If I had got concerned with the shoe, the track would have been lost, and such beautiful
           thoughts were there that who cares whether you come to the class with one shoe or two!' The whole
           college laughed, but he was not concerned.
               Once it happened: he came back after his evening walk... he used to have a walking-stick, and he
           was so absorbed in his thought that he did everything that was done every day, but forgot something.
           He was so absentminded that he put the walking-stick on the bed where he used to put himself, and
           he himself stood in the corner of the room where he used to put the... got a little mixed-up!
               After two hours the servant became aware that the light was on -- so what was the matter? He
           looked through the window, and Immanuel Kant was standing with closed eyes in the corner and the
           walking-stick was fast asleep on the pillow. A man who is asleep too much in the mind will be
           absentminded in the world. Philosophers, poets, men of literature, painters, musicians -- they are all
           fast asleep there.
               And then there is a third sleep: monks, those who have renounced the world, and not only the
           world but also the mind, who have been meditating for many years and they have stopped the
           thought process. Now no thoughts move in their inner sky, now no things are there; they are not
           concerned with things, not concerned with thoughts. But a subtle ego, the 'I' -- now they call it
           ATMAN, the soul, the self, the Self with a capital 'S' -- is their sleep; they are asleep there.
               Buddha says sleep has to be broken on these three layers, and when all the sleeps are broken,
           nobody is awake, only awakening is there; nobody is enlightened, only enlightenment is there -- just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the phenomenon of awareness, without any center....
               An enlightened person cannot say 'I'; even if he has to use it he never says it, even if he has to
           use it he cannot mean it. It is just a verbal thing, has to be followed because of the society and the
           language game. It is just a rule of the language; otherwise he has no 'I' feeling.
               The world of things disappears -- then what happens? When the world of things disappears, your
           attachment to things falls, your obsession with things falls. Things don't disappear; on the contrary,
           things for the first time appear as they are. Then you are not clinging, obsessed; then you are not
           coloring them in your own desires, in your own hopes and frustrations -- no. Then the world is not a
           screen for your desires to be projected on. When your desires drop, the world is there, but it is a
           totally new world. It is so fresh, it is so colorful, it is so beautiful! But a mind attached to things
           cannot see it because eyes are closed with attachment. A totally new world arises.
               When the mind disappears, thoughts disappear. It is not that you become mindLESS; on the
           contrary you become mindFUL. Buddha uses this word 'right mindfulness' millions of times. When
           the mind disappears and thoughts disappear you become mindful. You do things -- you move, you
           work, you eat, you sleep, but you are always mindful. The mind is not there, but mindfulness is
           there. What is mindfulness? It is awareness. It is perfect awareness.
               And when the self disappears, the ego, the atman, what happens? It is not that you are lost, you
           are no more -- no. On the contrary, for the first time you ARE. But now you are not separate from
           existence. Now you are an island no more; you have become the whole continent, you are one with
           the existence.
               But those are the positive things -- they cannot be said. Hence, Nansen said, 'Yes, there is a
           teaching which no master has ever preached, because it cannot be preached, and that teaching is:
           'IT IS NOT MIND, IT IS NOT BUDDHA, IT IS NOT THINGS.'
               That teaching is emptiness, that teaching is absolute nothingness. And when you are not,
           suddenly the whole existence starts flowering on you. The whole ecstasy of existence converges on
           you -- when you are not.
               When you are not, the whole existence feels ecstatic and celebrates; flowers shower on you.
           They have not showered yet because you ARE, and they will not shower until you dissolve. When
           you are empty, no more, when you are a nothingness, SHUNYATA, suddenly they start showering.
           They have showered on Buddha, on Subhuti, on Nansen; they can shower on YOU -- they are
           waiting. They are knocking at the door. They are ready. Just the moment you become empty, they
           start falling on you.
               So remember it: the final liberation is not YOUR liberation, the final liberation is FROM YOU.
           Enlightenment is not yours, cannot be. When you are not, it is there. Drop yourself in your totalness:
           the world of things, the world of thoughts, the world of the self; all three layers, drop. Drop this
           trinity; drop this TRIMURTI, drop these three faces, because if you are there then the one cannot be.
           If you are three, how can the one be?
               Let all three disappear -- God, the Holy Ghost and the Son; Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh -- all the
           three, let them drop! Let them disappear. Nobody remains -- and then everything is there.
           When nothing happens, the all happens.
           You are nothing... the all starts showering on you.




                                            The Art of Dying
                                                 Talks on Hassidism
                                    Talks given from 11/10/76 am to 20/10/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1978
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                   The Art of Dying
                                                      Chapter #1
                                             Chapter title: The Art of Dying
           11 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610110
              ShortTitle: ART01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins




               WHEN RABBI BIRNHAM LAY DYING, HIS WIFE BURST INTO TEARS.
               HE SAID, 'WHAT ARE YOU CRYING FOR?
               MY WHOLE LIFE WAS ONLY THAT I MIGHT LEARN HOW TO DIE.'


                LIFE is in living. It is not a thing, it is a process. There is no way to attain to life except by living
           it, except by being alive, by flowing, streaming with it. If you are seeking the meaning of life in
           some dogma, in some philosophy, in some theology, that Is the sure way to miss life and meaning
           both.
                Life is not somewhere waiting for you, it is happening in you. It is not in the future as a goal to
           be arrived at, it is herenow, this very moment -- in your breathing, circulating in your blood, beating
           in your heart. Whatsoever you are is your life, and if you start seeking meaning somewhere else, you
           will miss it. Man has done that for centuries.
                Concepts have become very important, explanations have become very important -- and the real
           has been completely forgotten. We don't look to that which is already here, we want rationalisations.

           I have heard a very beautiful story.
               Some years ago a successful American had a serious identity crisis. He sought help from
           psychiatrists but nothing came of it, for there were none who could tell him the meaning of life --
           which is what he wanted to know. By and by he learned of a venerable and incredibly wise guru who
           lived in a mysterious and most inaccessible region of the Himalayas. Only that guru, he came to
           believe, would tell him what life meant and what his role in it ought to be. So he sold all his worldly
           possessions and began his search for the all-knowing guru. He spent eight years wandering from
           village to village throughout the Himalayas in an effort to find him. And then one day he chanced
           upon a shepherd who told him where the guru lived and how to reach the place.
               It took him almost a year to find him, but he eventually did. There he came upon his guru, who
           was indeed venerable, in fact well over one hundred years old. The guru consented to help him,
           especially when he learned of all the sacrifices the man had made towards this end. 'What can I do
           for you, my son?' asked the guru. 'I need to know the meaning of life,' said the man.
               To this the guru replied, without hesitation, 'Life,' he said, 'is a river without end.'    'A river
           without end?' said the man in a startled surprise. 'After coming all this way to find you, all you have
           to tell me is that life is a river without end?'
               The guru was shaken, shocked. He became very angry and he said, 'You mean it is not?'

              Nobody can give you the meaning of your life. It is your life, the meaning has also to be yours.
           Himalayas won't help. Nobody except you can come upon it. It is your life and it is only accessible
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to you. Only in living will the mystery be revealed to you.
                The first thing I would like to tell you is: don't seek it anywhere else. Don't seek it in me, don't
           seek it in scriptures, don't seek it in clever explanations -- they all explain away, they don't explain.
           They simply stuff your empty mind, they don't make you aware of what is. And the more the mind is
           stuffed with dead knowledge, the more dull and stupid you become. Knowledge makes people
           stupid; it dulls their sensitivity. It stuffs them, it becomes a weight on them, it strengthens their ego
           but it does not give light and it does not show them the way. It is not possible.
                Life is already there bubbling within you. It can be contacted only there. The temple is not
           outside, you are the shrine of it. So the first thing to remember if you want to know what life is, is:
           never seek it without, never try to find out from somebody else. The meaning cannot be transferred
           that way. The greatest Masters have never said anything about life -- they have always thrown you
           back upon yourself.
                The second thing to remember is: once you know what life is you will know what death is. Death
           is also part of the same process. Ordinarily we think death comes at the end, ordinarily we think
           death is against life, ordinarily we think death is the enemy, but death is not the enemy. And if you
           think of death as the enemy it simply shows that you have not been able to know what life is.
                Death and life are two polarities of the same energy, of the same phenomenon -- the tide and the
           ebb, the day and the night, the summer and the winter. They are not separate and not opposites, not
           contraries; they are complementaries. Death is not the end of life; in fact, it is a completion of one
           life, the crescendo of one life, the climax, the finale. And once you know your life and its process,
           then you understand what death is.
                Death is an organic, integral part of life, and it is very friendly to life. Without it life cannot exist.
           Life exists because of death; death gives the background. Death is, in fact, a process of renewal. And
           death happens each moment. The moment you breathe in and the moment you breathe out, both
           happen. Breathing in, life happens; breathing out, death happens. That's why when a child is born the
           first thing he does is breathe in, then life starts. And when an old man is dying, the last thing he does
           is breathe out, then life departs. Breathing out is death, breathing in is life -- they are like two wheels
           of a bullock cart. You live by breathing in as much as you live by breathing out. The breathing out is
           part of breathing in. You cannot breathe in if you stop breathing out. You cannot live if you stop
           dying. The man who has understood what his life is allows death to happen; he welcomes it. He dies
           each moment and each moment he is resurrected. His cross and his resurrection are continually
           happening as a process. He dies to the past each moment and he is born again and again into the
           future.
                If you look into life you will be able to know what death is. If you understand what death is, only
           then are you able to understand what life is. They are organic. Ordinarily, out of fear, we have
           created a division. We think that life is good and death is bad. We think that life has to be desired
           and death is to be avoided. We think somehow we have to protect ourselves against death. This
           absurd idea creates endless miseries in our lives, because a person who protects himself against
           death becomes incapable of living. He is the person who is afraid of exhaling, then he cannot inhale
           and he is stuck. Then he simply drags; his life is no longer a flow, his life is no longer a river.
                If you really want to live you have to be ready to die. Who is afraid of death in you? Is life afraid
           of death? It is not possible. How can life 4e afraid of its own integral process? Something else is
           afraid in you. The ego is afraid in you. Life and death are not opposites; ego and death are opposites.
           Life and death are not opposites; ego and life are opposites. Ego is against both life and death. The
           ego is afraid to live and the ego is afraid to die. It is afraid to live because each effort, each step
           towards life, brings death closer.
                If you live you are coming closer to dying. The ego is afraid to die, hence it is afraid to live also.
           The ego simply drags.
                There are many people who are neither alive nor dead. This is worse than anything. A man who
           is fully alive is full of death also. That is the meaning of Jesus on the cross. Jesus carrying his own
           cross has not really been understood. And he says to his disciples, 'You will have to carry your own
           cross.' The meaning of Jesus carrying his own cross is very simple, nothing but this: everybody has
           to carry his death continuously, everybody has to die each moment, everybody has to be on the cross
           because that is the only way to live fully, totally.
                Whenever you come to a total moment of aliveness, suddenly you will see death there also. In
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           love it happens. In love, life comes to a climax -- hence people are afriad of love.
                I have been continuously surprised by people who come to me and say they are afraid of love.
           What is the fear of love? It is because when you really love somebody your ego starts slipping and
           melting. You cannot love with the ego; the ego becomes a barrier. and when you want to drop the
           barrier the ego says, 'This is going to be a death. Beware!'
                The death of the ego is not your death. the death of the ego is really your possibility of life. The
           ego is just a dead crust around you, it has to be broken and thrown away. It comes into being
           naturally -- just as when a traveller passes, dust collects on his clothes, on his body, and he has to
           take a bath to get rid of the dust.
                As we move in time, dust of experiences, of knowledge, of lived life, of past, collects. That dust
           becomes our ego. Accumulated, it becomes a crust around you which has to be broken and thrown
           away. One has to take a bath continuously -- every day, in fact every moment, so that this crust never
           becomes a prison. The ego is afraid to love because in love, life comes to a peak. But whenever there
           is a peak of life there is also a peak of death -- they go together.
                In love you die and you are reborn. The same happens when you come to meditate or to pray, or
           when you come to a Master to surrender. The ego creates all sorts of difficulties, rationalisations not
           to surrender: 'Think about it, brood about it, be clever about it.' When you come to a Master, again
           the ego becomes suspicious, doubtful, creates anxiety, because again yhou are coming to life, to a
           flame where death will also be as much alive as life.
                Let it be remembered that death and life both become aflame together, they are never separate. If
           you are very, very minimally alive, at the minimum, then you can see death and life as being
           separate. The closer you come to the peak, the closer they start coming. At the very apex they meet
           and become one. In love, in meditation, in trust, in prayer, wherever life becomes total, death is
           there. Without death, life cannot become total.
                But the ego always thinks in divisions, in dualities; it divides everything. Existence is indivisible;
           it cannot be divided. You were a child, then you became young. Can you demark the line when you
           became young? Can you demark the point in time where suddenly you were no longer a child and
           you had become young? One day you become old. Can you demark the line when you become old?
                Processes cannot be demarked. Exactly the same happens when you are born. Can you demark
           when you are born? When life really starts? Does it start when the child starts breathing -- the doctor
           spanks the child and the child starts breathing? Is life born then? Or is it when the child got into the
           womb, when the mother became pregnant, when the child was conceived? Does life start then? Or,
           even before that? When does life start exactly?
                It is a process of no ending and no beginning. It never starts. When is a person dead? Is a person
           dead when the breathing stops? Many yogis have now proved on scientific grounds that they can
           stop breathing and they are still alive and they can come back. So the stopping of the breathing
           cannot be the end. Where does life end?
                It never ends anywhere, it never begins anywhere. We are involved in eternity. We have been
           here since the very beginning -- if there was any beginning -- and we are going to be here to the very
           end, if there is going to be any end. In fact, there cannot be any beginning and there cannot be any
           end. We are life -- even if forms change, bodies change, minds change. What we call life is just an
           identification with a certain body, with a certain mind, with a certain attitude, and what we call death
           is nothing but getting out of that form, out of that body, out of that concept.
                You change houses. If you get too identified with one house, then changing the house will be
           very painful. You will think that you are dying because the old house was what you were -- that was
           your identity. But this doesn't happen, because you know that you are only changing the house, you
           remain the same. Those who have looked within themselves, those who have found who they are,
           come to know an eternal, non-ending process. Life is a process, timeless, beyond time. Death is part
           of it.
                Death is a continuous revival: a help to life to resurrect again and again, a help to life to get rid of
           old forms, to get rid of dilapidated buildings, to get rid of old confining structures so that again you
           can flow and you can again become fresh and young, and you can again become virgin.

           I have heard.
               A man was browsing through an antique shop near Mount Vernon and ran across a rather
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ancient-looking axe. 'That's a mighty old axe you have there,' he said to the shop owner. 'Yes,'
           said the man, 'it once belonged to George Washington.'          'Really?' said the customer.'It certainly
           stood up well.'     'Of course,' said the antique dealer, 'it has had three new handles and two new
           heads.'

               But that's how life is -- it goes on changing handles and heads; in fact, it seems that everything
           goes on changing and yet something remains eternally the same. Just watch. You were a child --
           what has remained of that now? Just a memory. Your body has changed, your mind has changed,
           your identity has changed. What has remained of your childhood? Nothing has remained, just a
           memory. You cannot make a distinction between whether it really happened, or you saw a dream, or
           you read it in a book, or somebody told you about it. Was the childhood yours or somebody else's?
           Sometimes have a look at the album of old photographs. Just see, this was you. You will not be able
           to believe it, you have changed so much. In fact everything has changed -- handles and heads and
           everything. But still, deep down, somewhere, something remains a continuity; a witnessing remains
           continuous.
               There is a thread, howsoever invisible. And everything goes on changing but that invisible thread
           remains the same. That thread is beyond life and death. Life and death are two wings for that which
           is beyond life and death. That which is beyond goes on using life and death as two wheels of a cart,
           complementaries. It lives through life; it lives through death. Death and life are its processes, like
           inhalation and exhalation.
               But something in you is transcendental. THAT ART THOU...that which is transcendental.
               But we are too identified with the form -- that creates the ego. That's what we call 'I'. Of course
           the 'I' has to die many times. So it is constantly in fear, trembling, shaking, always afraid, protecting,
           securing.

               A Sufi mystic knocked at the door of a very rich man. He was a beggar and he wanted nothing
           but enough to have a meal.
               The rich man shouted at him and said, 'Nobody knows you here!' 'But I know myself,' said the
           dervish.'How sad it would be if the reverse were true. If everybody knew me but I was not aware of
           who I was, how sad it would be. Yes, you are right, nobody knows me here, but I know myself.'

               These are the only two situations possible, and you are in the sad situation. Everybody may know
           about you -- who you are -- but you yourself are completely oblivious of your transcendence, of your
           real nature, of your authentic being. This is the only sadness in life. You can find many excuses, but
           the real sadness is this: you don't know who you are.
               How can a person be happy not knowing who he is, not knowing from where he comes, not
           knowing where he is going? A thousand and one problems arise because of this basic self-ignorance.

               A bunch of ants came out of the darkness of their underground nest in search of food. It was
           early in the morning. The ants happened to pass by a plant whose leaves were covered with morning
           dew.      'What are these?' asked one of the ants, pointing to the dew-drops. 'Where do they come
           from?'
           Some said, 'They come from the earth.'
           Others said, 'they come from the sea.'
               Soon a quarrel broke out -- there was a group who adhered to the sea theory, and a group who
           attached themselves to the earth theory.
               Only one, a wise and intelligent ant, stood alone. He said, 'Let us pause a moment and look
           around for signs, for everything has an attraction towards its source. And, as it is said, everything
           returns to its origin. No matter how far into the air you throw a brick it comes down to the earth.
           Whatever leans towards the light, must originally be of the light.'
               The ants were not totally convinced yet and were about to resume their dispute, but the sun had
           come up and the dew-drops were leaving the leaves, rising, rising towards the sun and disappearing
           into it.

              Everything returns to its original source, has to return to its original source. If you -understand
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life then you understand death also. Life is a forgetfulness of the original source, and death is again a
           remembrance. Life is going away from the original source, death is coming back home. Death is not
           ugly, death is beautiful. But death is beautiful only for those who have lived their life unhindered,
           uninhibited. unsuppressed. Death is beautiful only for those who have lived their life beautifully,
           who have not been afraid to live, who have been courageous enough to live -- who loved, who
           danced, who celebrated.
                Death becomes the ultimate celebration if your life is a celebration. Let me tell you in this way:
           whatsoever your life was, death reveals it. If you have been miserable in life, death reveals misery.
           Death is a great revealer. If you have been happy in your life, death reveals happiness. If you have
           lived only a life of physical comfort and physical pleasure, then of course, death is going to be very
           uncomfortable and very unpleasant, because the body has to be left. The body is just a temporary
           abode, a shrine in which we stay for the night and leave in the morning. It is not your permanent
           abode, it is not your home.
                So if you have lived just a bodily life and you have never known anything beyond the body,
           death is going to be very, very ugly, unpleasant, painful. Death is going to be an anguish. But if you
           have lived a little higher than the body, if you have loved music and poetry, and you have loved, and
           you have looked at the flowers and the stars, and something of the non-physical has entered into
           your consciousness, death will not be so bad, death will not be so painful. You can take it with
           equanimity, but still it cannot be a celebration.
                If you have touched something of the transcendental in yourself, if you have entered your own
           nothingness at the centre -- the centre of your being, where you are no more a body and no more a
           mind, where physical pleasures are completely left far away and mental pleasures such as music and
           poetry and literature and painting, everything, are left far away, you are simply, just pure awareness,
           consciousness -- then death is going to be a great celebration, a great understanding, a great
           revelation.
                If you have known anything of the transcendental in you, death will reveal to you the
           transcendental in the universe -- then death is no longer a death but a meeting with God, a date with
           God.
                So you can find three expressions about death in the history of human mind.
                One expression is of the ordinary man who lives attached to his body, who has never known
           anything greater than the pleasure of food or sex, whose whole life has been nothing but food and
           sex, who has enjoyed food, has enjoyed sex, whose life has been very primitive, whose life has been
           very gross, who has lived in the porch of his palace, never entered it, and who had been thinking that
           this is all life is. At the moment of death he will try to cling. He will resist death, he will fight death.
           Death will come as the enemy.
                Hence, all over the world, in all societies, death is depicted as dark, as devilish. In India they say
           that the messenger of death is very ugly -- dark, black -- and he comes sitting on a very big ugly
           buffalo. This is the ordinary attitude. These people have missed, they have not been able to know all
           the dimensions of life. They have not been able to touch the depths of life and they have not been
           able to fly to the height of life. They missed the plenitude, they missed the benediction.
                Then there is a second type of expression. Poets, philosophers, have sometimes said that death is
           nothing bad, death is nothing evil, it is just restful -- a great rest, like sleep. This is better than the
           first. At least these people have known something beyond the body, they have known something of
           the mind. They have not had only food and sex, their whole life has not been only in eating and
           reproducing. They have a little sophistication of the soul, they are a little more aristocratic, more
           cultured. They say death is like great rest; one is tired and one goes into death and rests. It is restful.
           But they too are far away from the truth.
                Those who have known life in its deepest core, they say that death is God. It is not only a rest but
           a resurrection, a new life, a new beginning; a new door opens.

               When a Sufi mystic, Bayazid, was dying, people who had gathered around him -- his disciples --
           were suddenly surprised, because when the last moment came his face became radiant, powerfully
           radiant. It had a beautiful aura.
               Bayazid was a beautiful man, and his disciples had always felt ar aura around him, but they had
           not known anything like this; so radiant.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They asked, 'Bayazid, tell us what has happened to you. What is happening to you? Before you
           leave us, give us your last message.'
               He opened his eyes and he said, 'God is welcoming me. I am going into his embrace. Goodbye.'
               He closed his eyes, his breathing stopped. But at the moment his breathing stopped there was an
           explosion of light, the room became full of light, and then it disappeared.

              When a person has known the transcendental in himself, death is nothing but another face of
           God. Then death has a dance to it. And unless you become capable of celebrating death itself,
           remember, you have missed life. The whole life is a preparation for this ultimate.
           This is the meaning of this beautiful story.

              WHEN RABBI BIRNHAM LAY DYING, HIS WIFE BURST INTO TEARS.
              HE SAID, 'WHAT ARE YOU CRYING FOR?
              MY WHOLE LIFE WAS ONLY THAT I MIGHT LEARN HOW TO DIE.'


                His whole life had been just a preparation, a preparation to learn the secrets of dying.
                All religions are nothing but a science -- or an art -- to teach you how to die. And the only way to
           teach you how to die is to teach you how to live. They are not separate. If you know what right living
           is, you will know what right dying is.
                So the first thing, or the most fundamental thing is: how to live.
                Let me tell you a few things. First: your life is your life, it is nobody else's. So don't allow
           yourself to be dominated by others, don't allow yourself to be dictated to by others, that is a betrayal
           of life. If you allow yourself to be dictated to by others -- maybe your parents, your society, your
           education system -- your politicians, your priests, whosoever they are -- if you allow yourself to be
           dominated by others you will miss your life. Because the domination comes from outside and life is
           within you. They never meet.
                I am not saying that you should become a no-sayer to each and everything. That too is not of
           much help. There are two types of people. One is an obedient type, ready to surrender to any and
           everybody. They don't have any independent soul in them; they are immature, childish, always
           searching for a father-figure, for somebody to tell them what to do and what not to do. They are not
           able to trust their own being. These people are the greater part of the world, the masses.
                Then there are, against these people, a small minority who reJect society, who reject the values
           of the society. They think they are rebellious. They are not, they are only reactionaries. Because
           whether you listen to society or you reject society, if society remains in either way the determining
           factor, then you are dominated by the society.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               Once Mulla Nasrudin had been away for a while and arrived back in town wearing a long beard.
           His friends naturally kidded him about the beard and asked him how he happened to acquire the
           fur-piece. The Mulla with the beard began to complain and curse the thing in no uncertain terms. His
           friends were amazed at the way he talked and asked him why he continued to wear the beard if he
           did not like it. 'I hate the blasted thing!' the Mulla told them. 'If you hate it then why don't you
           shave it off and get rid of it?' one of his friends asked.
               A devilish gleam shone in the eyes of the Mulla as he answered, 'Because my wife hates it too!'

               But that does not make you free. The hippies, the yippies and others, they are not really
           rebellious people, they are reactionaries. They have reacted against the society. A few are obedient, a
           few are disobedient, but the centre of domination is the same. A few obey, a few disobey, but
           nobody looks at his own soul.
               A really rebellious person is one who is neither for society nor against society, who simply lives
           his life according to his own understanding. Whether it goes against society or it goes with society is
           not a consideration, it is irrelevant. Sometimes it may go with the society, sometimes it may not go
           with the society, but that is not the point to be considered. He lives according to his understanding,
           according to his small light. And I am not saying that he becomes very egoistic about it. No, he is
           very humble. He knows that his light is very small, but that is all the light that there is. He is not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           adamant, he's very humble. He says, 'I may be wrong, but please allow me to be wrong according to
           myself.'
                That is the only way to learn. To commit mistakes is the only way to learn. To move according to
           one's own understanding is the only way to grow and become mature. If you are always looking at
           somebody to dictate to you, whether you obey or disobey makes no difference. If you are looking at
           somebody else to dictate to you, to decide for or against, you will never be able to know what your
           life is. It has to be lived, and you have to follow your own small light.
                It is not always certain what to do. You are very confused. Let it be so. But find a way out of
           your confusion. It is very cheap and easy to listen to others because they can hand over dead dog
           mas to you, they can give you commandments -- do this, don't do that. And they are very certain
           about their commandments. Certainty should not be sought; understanding should be sought. If you
           are seeking certainty you will become a victim of some trap or other. Don't seek certainty, seek
           understanding. Certainty can be given to you cheap, anybody can give it to you. But in the final
           analysis you will be a loser. You lost your life just to remain secure and certain, and life is not
           certain, life is not secure.
                Life is insecurity. Each moment is a move into more and more insecurity. It is a gamble. One
           never knows what is going to happen. And it is beautiful that one never knows. If it was predictable,
           life would not be worth living. If everything was as you would like it to be, and everything was
           certain, you would not be a man at all, you would be a machine. Only for machines is everything
           secure and certain.
                Man lives in freedom. Freedom needs insecurity and uncertainty. A real man of intelligence is
           always hesitant because he has no dogma to rely upon, to lean upon. He has to look and respond.
                Lao Tzu says, 'I am hesitant, and I move alertly in life because I don't know what is going to
           happen. And I don't have.any principle to follow. I have to decide every moment. I never decide
           beforehand. I have to decide when the moment comes!'
                Then one has to be very responsive. That's what responsibility is. Responsibility is not an
           obligation, responsibility is not a duty -- it is a capacity to respond. A man who wants to know what
           life is has to be responsive. That is missing. Centuries of conditioning have made you more like
           machines. You have lost your manhood, you have bargained for security. You are secure and
           comfortable and everything has been planned by others. And they have put everything on the map,
           they have measured everything. This is all absolutely foolish because life cannot be measured, it is
           immeasurable. And no map is possible because life is in constant flux. Everything goes on changing.
           Nothing is permanent except change. Says Heraclitus, 'You cannot step in the same river twice.'
                And the ways of life are very zig-zag. The ways of life are not like the tracks of a railway train.
           No, it does not run on tracks. And that's the beauty of it, the glory of it,.the poetry of it, the music of
           it -- that it is always a surprise.
                If you are seeking for security, certainty, your eyes will become closed. And you will be less and
           less surprised and you will lose the capacity to wonder. Once you lose the capacity to wonder, you
           have lost religion. Religion is the opening of your wondering heart. Religion is a receptivity for the
           mysterious that surrounds us.
                Don't seek security; don't seek advice on how to live your life. People come to me and they say,
           'Osho, tell us how we should live our life.' You are not interested in knowing what life is, you are
           more interested in making a fixed pattern. You are more interested in killing life than in living it.
           You want a discipline to be imposed on you.
                There are, of course, priests and politicians all over the world who are ready, just sitting waiting
           for you. Come to them and they are ready to impose their disciplines on you. They enjoy the power
           that comes through imposing their own ideas upon others.
                I'm not here for that. I am here to help you to become free. And when I say that I am here to help
           you to become free, I am included. I am to help you to become free of me also. My sannyas is a very
           paradoxical thing. You surrender to me in order to become free. I accept you and initiate you
           into.sannyas to help you to become absolutely free of every dogma, of every scripture, of every
           philosophy -- and I am included in it. Sannyas is as paradoxical -- it should be -- as life itself is. Then
           it is alive.
                So the first thing is: don't ask anybody how you should live your life. Life is so precious. Live it.
           I am not saying that you will not make mistakes, you will. Remember only one thing -- don't make
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the same mistake again and again. That's enough. If you can find a new mistake every day, make it.
           But don't repeat mistakes, that is foolish. A man who can find new mistakes to make will be growing
           continuously -- that is the only way to learn, that is the only way to come to your own inner light.

           I have heard.
               One night the poet, Awhadi of Kerman (a very great Muslim poet) was sitting on his porch bent
           over a vessel. Shams-e-Tabrizi, a great Sufi mystic, happened to pass by.
               Shams-e-Tabrizi looked at the poet, at what he was doing. He asked the poet, 'What are you
           doing?'
               The poet said, 'Contemplating the moon in a bowl of water.'
               Shams-e-Tabrizi started laughing, with an uproarious laughter, a mad laughter. The poet started
           feeling uncomfortable; a crowd gathered. And the poet said, 'What is the matter? Why are you
           laughing so much? Why are you ridiculing me?'
               Shams-e-Tabrizi said, 'Unless you have broken your neck, why don't you look directly at the
           moon in the sky?'

               The moon is there, the full moon is there, and this poet was sitting with a bowl of water arid
           looking into the bowl of water at the reflection of the moon.
               Seeking truth in scriptures, seeking truth in philosophies, is looking at the reflection. If you ask
           somebody else how you should live your life, you are asking for misguidance, because that man can
           only talk about his own life. And never, never, are two lives the same. Whatsoever he can say or
           impart to you will be about his own life -- and that too only if he has lived. He may have asked
           somebody else, he may have followed somebody else, he may have been an imitator himself. Then it
           is a reflection of a reflection. And centuries pass and people go on reflecting the reflection of the
           reflection of the reflection -- and the real moon is always there in the sky waiting for you. It is your
           moon, it is your sky, look directly. Be immediate about it. Why borrow my eyes or anybody else's
           eyes? You have been given eyes, beautiful eyes, to see, and to see directly. Why borrow
           understanding from anybody? Remember, it may be understanding to me. but the moment you
           borrow it, it becomes knowledge to you -- it is no more understanding,
               Understanding is only that which has been experienced by the person himself. It may be
           understanding for me, if I have looked at the moon, but the moment I say it to you it becomes
           know.ledge, it is no longer understanding. Then it is just verbal, then it is just linguistic. And
           language is a lie.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               A chicken farmer, dissatisfied with the productivity of his flock, decided to use a bit of
           psychology on his hens. Accordingly he purchased a gay-coloured, talking parrot and placed him in
           the barnyard. Sure enough, the hens took to the handsome stranger immediately, pointed out the best
           tidbits for him to eat with joyous clucks, and generally followed him around like a bevy of teen-age
           girls following a new singing star sensation. To the delight of the farmer even their egg-laying
           capacities improved.
               The barnyard rooster, naturally jealous of being ignored by his harem, set upon the attractive
           interloper, assailed him with beak and claws, pulling out one green or red feather after the other.
           Whereupon the intimidated parrot cried out in trepidation, 'Desist sir! I beg of you, desist! After all, I
           am only here in the capacity of a language professor!'

               Many people live their life as language professors. That is the falsest kind of life. Reality needs
           no language, it is available to you on a non-verbal level. The moon is there; it needs no bowl and no
           water, it needs no other medium. You have just to look at it; it is a non-verbal communication. The
           whole of life is available -- you just have to learn how to communicate with it non-verbally.
               That's what meditation is all about -- to be in a space where language does not interfere, where
           learned concepts don't come in between you and the real.
               When you love a woman don't be bothered about what others have said about love, because that
           is going to be an interference. You love a woman, the love is there, forget all that you have learned
           about love. Forget all Kinseys, forget all Masters and Johnsons, forget all Freuds and Jungs. Please
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't become a language professor. Just love the woman and let love be there, and let love lead you
           and guide you into its innermost secrets, into its mysteries. Then you will be able to know what love
           is.
                And what others say about meditation is meaningless. Once I came upon a book written by a
           Jaina saint about meditation. It was really beautiful but there were just a few places by which I could
           see that the man had never meditated himself -- otherwise those places could not be there. 3ut they
           were very few and far between. The book on the whole, almost ninety-nine per cent, was perfect. I
           loved the book.
                Then I forgot about it. For ten years I was wandering around the country. Once in a village of
           Rajasthan, that saint came to meet me. His name sounded familiar, and suddenly I remembered the
           book. And I asked the saint why he had come to me. He said, 'I have come to you to know what
           meditation is.' I said, 'I remember your book. I remember it very well, because it really impressed
           me. Except for a few defects which showed that you have never meditated, the book was perfectly
           right -- ninety-nine per cent right. And now you come here to learn about meditation. Have you
           never meditated?'
                He looked a little embarrassed because his disciples were also there. I said, 'Be frank. Because if
           you say you know meditation, then I am not going to talk about it. Then finished! You know. There
           is no need. If you say to me frankly -- at least be true once -- if you say you have never meditated,
           only then can I help you towards meditation.' It was a bargain, so he had to confess. He said, 'Yes, I
           have never said it to anybody. I have read many books about meditation, all the old scriptures. And I
           have been teaching people, that's why I feel embarrassed before my disciples. I have been teaching
           meditation to thousands, and I have written books about it, but I have never meditated.'
                You can write books about meditation and never come across the space that meditation is. You
           can become very efficient in verbalising, you can become very clever in abstraction, in intellectual
           argumentativeness, and you can forget completely that all the time that you have been involved in
           these intellectual activities has been a sheer wastage.
                I asked the old man, 'How long have you been interested in meditation?' He said, 'My whole life.'
           He was almost seventy. He said, 'When I was twenty I took sannyas, I became a Jaina monk, and
           those fifty years since then I have been reading and reading and thinking about meditation.' Fifty
           years of thinking and reading and writing about meditation, even guiding people into meditation, and
           he has not even tasted once what meditation is!
                But this is the case with millions of people. They talk about love, they know all the poetries
           about love, but they have never loved. Or even if they thought they were in love, they were never in
           love. That too was a 'heady' thing, it was not of the heart. People live and go on missing life. It needs
           courage. It needs courage to be realistic, it needs courage to move with life wherever it leads,
           because the paths are uncharted, there exists no map. One has to go into the unknown.
                Life can be understood only if you are ready to go into the unknown. If you cling to the known,
           you cling to the mind, and the mind is not life. Life is non-mental, non-intellectual, because life is
           total. Your totality has to be involved in it, you cannot just think about it. Thinking about life is not
           life. beware of this 'about-ism'. One goes on thinking about and about: there are people who think
           about God, there are people who think about life, there are people who think about love. There are
           people who think about this and that.

              Mulla Nasrudin became very old and he went to his doctor. He was looking very weak so the
           doctor said, 'I can say only one thing. You will have to cut your love-life to half.'
              The Mulla said, 'Okay. Which half? Talking about it or thinking about it?'

               That's all. Don't become a language professor, don't become a parrot. Parrots are language
           professors. They live in words, concepts, theories, theologies, and life goes on passing, slipping out
           of their hands. Then one day suddenly they become afraid of death. When a person is afraid of death,
           know well that that person has missed life. If he has not missed life there cannot be any fear of death.
           If a person has lived life, he will be ready to live death also. He will be almost enchanted by the
           phenomenon of death.
               When Socrates was dying he was so enchanted that his disciples could not understand what he
           was feeling so happy about. One disciple, Credo, asked, 'Why are you looking so happy? We are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crying and weeping.' Socrates said, 'Why should I not be happy? I have known what life is, now I
           would like to know what death is. I am at the door of a great mystery, and I am thrilled!I am going
           on a great journey into the unknown. I am simply full of wonder! I cannot wait!' And remember,
           Socrates was not a religious man; Socrates was not in any way a believer.
               Somebody asked, 'Are you so certain that the soul will survive after death?' Socrates said, 'I don't
           know.'
               To say, 'I don't know' takes the greatest courage in the world. It is very difficult for the language
           professors to say, 'I don't know'. It is difficult for the parrots. Socrates was a very sincere and honest
           man. He said, 'I don't know.'
               Then the disciple asked, 'Then why are you feeling so happy? If the soul does not survive,
           then...?' Socrates said, 'I have to see. If I survive there can be no fear about it. If I don't survive, how
           can there be fear? If I don't survive, I don't survive. Then where is the fear? There is nobody there, so
           fear cannot exist. If I survive, I survive. There is no point in getting afraid about it. But I don't know
           exactly what is going to happen. That's why I am so full of wonder and ready to go into it. I don't
           know.'
               To me, this is what a religious man should be. A religious man is not a Christian, or a Hindu, or a
           Buddhist, or a Mohammedan. All these are ways of knowledge. A Christian says, 'I know.' And his
           knowledge comes from the Christian dogmas. The Hindu says, 'I also know.' And his knowledge
           comes from the Vedas and the Gitas and his dogmas. And a Hindu is against the Christian, because
           he says, If I am right, you cannot be right. If you are right, then I cannot be right.' So there is great
           argument and there is much dispute and much debate and unnecessary conflict.
               A religious man, a really religious man -- not the so-called religious people -- is one who says.'I
           don't know.' When you say 'I don't know' you are open, you are ready to learn. When you say 'I don't
           know' you don't have any prejudice this way or that, you don't have any belief, you don't have any
           knowledge. You have only awareness. You say, 'I am aware and I will see what happens. I will not
           carry any dogma from the past.'
               This is the attitude of a disciple, the attitude of one who wants to learn. And discipline simply
           means learning. A disciple means a learner, one who is ready to learn, and discipline means learning.
               I am not here to teach you any dogmas; I am not imparting any knowledge to you. I am simply
           helping you to see that which is. Live your life whatsoever the cost. Be ready to gamble with it.

              I have heard about a business man. He was walking from his office to a restaurant for lunch
           when he was stopped by a stranger who said to him, 'I don't think that you remember me, but ten
           years ago I came to this city broke. I asked you for a loan and you gave me twenty dollars because
           you said you were willing to take a chance to start a man on the road to success.'
              The business man thought for a while and then he said. 'Yes, I remember the incident. Go on
           with your story.' 'Well,' remarked the stranger, 'are you still willing to gamble?'

                Life asks you the same question again and again and again: 'Are you still willing to gamble?' It is
           never certain. Life has no insurance to it; it is simply an opening, a wild opening, a chaotic opening.
           You can make a small house around you, secure, but then that will prove to be your grave. Live with
           life.
                And we have been doing that in many ways. Marriage is man-created; love is part of life. When
           you create marriage around love you are creating security. You are making something which cannot
           be made -- love cannot be made legal. You are trying to do the impossible, and if, in that effort, love
           dies, it is no wonder. You become a husband, your beloved becomes a wife. You are no longer two
           alive persons, you are two functionaries. The husband has a certain function, the wife has a certain
           function: they have certain duties to fulfil. Then life has ceased to flow, it is frozen.
                Watch a husband and wife. You will always see two persons frozen, sitting side by side, not
           knowing what they are doing there, why they are sitting there. Maybe they have nowhere to go.
                When you see love between two persons, something is flowing, moving, changing. When there is
           love between two persons they live in an aura, there is a constant sharing. Their vibrations are
           reaching to : each other; they are broadcasting their being to each other. There is no wall between
           them, they are two and yet not two -- they are one also.
                The husband and wife are as far away as it is possible to be, even though they may be sitting by
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the side of each other. The husband never listens to what the wife is saying; he has become deaf long
           ago. The wife never sees what is happening to the husband; she has become blind to him. They take
           each other absolutely for granted; they have become things. They are no longer persons because
           persons are always open, persons are always uncertain, persons are always changing. Now they have
           a fixed role to fulfil. They died the day they got married. Since that day they have not lived.
               I'm not saying not to get married, but remember that love is the real thing. And if it dies then
           marriage is worthless.
               And the same is true about everything in life, about everything. Either you can live it -- but then
           you have to live with this hesitation, not knowing what is going to happen the next moment -- or you
           can make everything certain about it.
               There are people who have become so certain about everything that they are never surprised.
           There are people whom you cannot surprise. And I am here to deliver to you a message which is
           very surprising -- you will not believe it, I know. You cannot believe it, I know. I am here to tell you
           something which is absolutely unbelievable -- that you are gods and goddesses. You have forgotten

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               Harvey Firestone, Thomas A. Edison, John Burroughs and Henry Ford stopped at a rural service
           station on their way to Florida for the winter. 'We want some bulbs for our headlights,' said Ford.
           'And by the way, that is Thomas Edison sitting there in the car, and I am Henry Ford.'
               The fellow at the service station did not even look up, just spat out some tobacco juice with
           obvious contempt.       'And,' said Ford, 'we would like to buy a new tire if you have any Firestone
           tires. And that other fellow in the car is Harvey Firestone himself.'
               Still the old fellow said nothing. While he was placing the tire on the wheel, John Burroughs,
           with his long white beard, stuck his head out the window and said, 'How do you do, stranger?'
               Finally the old man at the service station came alive. He glared at Burroughs and said, 'If you tell
           me you are Santa Claus I will be damned if I don't crush your skull with this lug wrench.'

                He could not believe that in one car Harvey Firestone, Thomas A. Edison, John Burroughs and
           Henry Ford were travelling. They were all friends and they used to travel together.
                When I say to you you are gods and goddesses you will not believe it because you have
           completely forgotten who is travelling within you, who is sitting within you, who is listening to me,
           who is looking at me. You have completely forgotten. You have been given some labels from the
           outside and you have trusted those labels -- yoUr name, your religion, your country -- all bogus! It
           does not make any sense if you are a Hindu or a Christian or a Mohammedan if you don't know your
           self. These labels make no sense at all except that they may be of a certain utility. What sense does it
           make whether you are a Hindu, or a Christian, or a Mohammedan, or an Indian, or an American, or
           Chinese? How does it make sense, how does it help you to know your being? All are irrelevant --
           because the being is neither Indian, nor Chinese, nor American; and the being is neither Hindu, nor
           Mohammedan, nor Christian. The being is simply a pure 'is-ness'.
                The pure 'is-ness' is what I call God. If you can understand your inner divinity you have
           understood what life is. Otherwise you have not been able yet to decode life. This is the message.
           The whole life is pointing at one thing, continuously -- that you are gods. Once you have understood
           it, then there is no death. Then you have learned the lesson. Then in death gods will be returning
           back to their homes.

              WHEN RABBI BIRNHAM LAY DYING, HIS WIFE BURST INTO TEARS.
              HE SAID, 'WHAT ARE YOU CRYING FOR?
              MY WHOLE LIFE WAS ONLY THAT I MIGHT LEARN HOW TO DIE.'


               The whole life...just a training for how to go back home, how to die, how to disappear. Because
           the moment you disappear, God appears in you. Your presence is God's absence; your absence is
           God's presence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                 The Art of Dying
                                                    Chapter #2
                                     Chapter title: Confusion is my Method
           12 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610120
              ShortTitle: ART02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins




              The first question:


              HOW CAN WE PREPARE OURSELVES FOR DEATH?


                DON'T accumulate anything whatever: power, money, prestige, virtue, knowledge, even the
           so-called spiritual experiences. Don't accumulate. If you don't accumulate you are ready to die any
           moment, because you have nothing to lose. The fear of death is not really fear of death; the fear of
           death comes out of the accumulations of life. Then you have too much to lose so you cling to it. That
           is the meaning of Jesus' saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit.
                I don't mean become a beggar, and I don't mean renounce the world. I mean be in the world but
           don't be of the world. Don't accumulate inside, be poor in spirit. Never possess anything -- and then
           you are ready to die. Possessiveness is the problem, not life itself. The more you possess, the more
           you are afraid to lose. If you don't possess anything, if your purity, if your spirit is uncontaminated
           by anything, if you are simply there alone, you can disappear any moment; whenever death knocks
           on the door it will find you ready. You are not losing anything. By going with death you are not a
           loser. You may be moving into a new experience.
                And when I say don't accumulate, I mean it as an absolute imperative. I'm not saying don't
           accumulate things of this world but go on accumulating virtue, knowledge, and so-called spiritual
           experiences, visions -- no. I am talking in absolute terms: don't accumulate. There are people,
           particularly in the East, who teach renunciation. They say, 'Don't accumulate anything in this world
           because it will be taken away from you when death comes.' These people seem to be basically more
           greedy than the ordinary worldly people. Their logic is: don't accumulate in this world because death
           will take it away, so accumulate something that death cannot take away from you -- accumulate
           virtue, PUNYA; accumulate character, morality, knowledge; accumulate experiences, spiritual
           experiences, experiences of kundalini, meditation, this and that; accumulate something that death
           cannot take away from you.
                But if you accumulate, with that accumulation comes fear. Each accumulation brings fear in the
           same proportion...then you are afraid. Don't accumulate and fear disappears. I don't teach you
           renunciation in the old sense; my sannyas is an absolutely new concept. It teaches you to be in the
           world and yet to be not of it. Then you are always ready.

               I have heard about a great Sufi mystic, Abraham Adam. Once he was the Emperor of Bokhara,
           then he left everything and became a Sufi beggar. When he was staying with another Sufi mystic he
           was puzzled because every day the man was continuously complaining of his poverty.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Abraham Adam said to him, 'The way you abuse it, it may be that you have bought your poverty
           cheaply.'     'How stupid you must be!' the man retorted, not knowing to whom he was talking, not
           knowing that Abraham was once the emperor. He said, 'How stupid you must be to think that one
           buys poverty.'
               Abraham replied, 'In my case, I paid my kingdom for it. I would even give away a hundred
           worlds for a single moment of it, for every day its value becomes more and more to me. No wonder
           then that I give thanks for it while you lament it.'

               The purity of the spirit is the real poverty. The word 'sufi' comes from an Arabic word 'safa'. Safa
           means purity. Sufi means one who is pure in the heart.
               And what is purity? Don't misunderstand me, purity has nothing to do with morality. Don't
           interpret it in a moralistic way. Purity has nothing to do with puritans. Purity simply means an
           uncontaminated state of mind, where only your consciousness is and nothing else. Nothing else
           really enters into your consciousness, but if you hanker to possess, that hankering contaminates you.
           Gold cannot enter into your consciousness. There is no way. How can you take gold into your being?
           There is no way. Money cannot enter into you r consciousness. But if you want to possess, that
           possessiveness can enter into your consciousness. Then you become impure. If you don't want to
           possess anything, you become fearless. Then even death is a beautiful experience to pass through.
               A man who is really spiritual has tremendous experiences but he never accumulates them. Once
           they have happened he forgets about them. He never remembers, he never projects them into the
           future. He never says that they should be repeated or that they should happen again to him. He never
           prays for them. Once they have happened they have happened. Finished! He is finished with them
           and he moves away from them. He is always available for the new, he never carries the old.
               And if you don't carry the old you will find life absolutely new, incredibly, unbelievably new at
           each step. Life is new, only the mind is old; and if you look through the mind, life also looks like a
           repetition, a boring thing. If you don't look through the mind.... Mind means your past, mind means
           the accumulated experiences, knowledge and everything. Mind means that through which you have
           passed, but on to which you are still hanging. Mind is a hang-over, dust from the past covering your
           mirrorlike consciousness. Then when you look through it everything becomes distorted. Mind is the
           faculty of distortion. If you don't look through the mind you will know that life is eternal. Only mind
           dies -- without mind you are deathless. Without mind nothing has ever died; life goes on and on and
           on forever. It has no beginning and no end.
               Accumulate, then you have a beginning, and then you will have an end.
               How to prepare yourself for death.... When I say 'how to prepare for death', I don't mean
           preparing for the death that will come in the end -- that is very far away. If you prepare for it you
           will be preparing for the future and again the mind will come in. No, when I say prepare for death, I
           don't mean the death that will come finally, I mean the death that visits you every moment with each
           exhalation. Accept this death each moment and you will be ready for the final death when it comes.
           .
               Start dying each moment to the past. Clean yourself of the past each moment. Die to the known
           so that you become available to the unknown. With dying and being reborn each moment you will be
           able to live life and you will be able to live death also.
               And that's what spirituality is really all about: to live death intensely, to live life intensely; to live
           both so passionately that nothing is left behind unlived, not even death. If you live life and death
           totally, you transcend. In that tremendous passion and intensity of life and death, you transcend
           duality, you transcend the dichotomy, you come to the One. That One is really the truth. You can
           call it God, you can call it life, you can call it truth, samadhi, ecstasy, or whatsoever you choose.

           The second question:.


               AT TIMES YOU SEEM TO INTEND TO CONFUSE US ABOUT LOVE AND MEDITATION.
               SOMETIMES YOU STRESS THE ULTIMATE FUTILITY OF LOVE BUT ON OTHER OCCASIONS
               YOU PRONOUNCE MEDITATION AS BEING USELESS. AND SOMETIMES YOU SAY BOTH LOVE
               AND MEDITATION ARE FUNDAMENTAL PATHS OF ENLIGHTENMENT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                The questioner says, 'At times you seem to intend to confuse us'. No, you have not listened to me
           well. I am always confusing, not only at times. Confusion is my method.
                What I am trying to do by confusing you is to uproot you from your mind. I would not like you
           to have any roots in the mind in the name of love or in the name of meditation or in the name of God.
           Your mind is very cunning. It can thrive on anything; on meditation, on love, it can thrive. The
           moment I see that your mind is thriving on anything, I immediately have to uproot you from it. My
           whole effort is to create a no-mind state in you. I am not here to convince you about anything. I am
           not here to give you a dogma, a creed tolive by. I am here to take all creeds away from you because
           only then will life happen to you. I am not giving you anything to live by, I am simply taking all
           props away from you, all crutches.
                The mind is very clever. If you say, 'Drop money' the mind says, 'Okay. Can I cling to
           meditation?' If you say to the mind, 'Renounce the world' the mind says, 'Okay. Can I now possess
           spiritual experiences?' If you say, 'Renounce the world' the mind says, 'I can renounce the world, but
           now I will cling to the idea of God.'
                And nothing is a greater barrier to God than the idea of God.
                The word 'God' has become a great barrier, the belief in God has become a great barrier. If you
           want to reach to God you will have to drop all ideas about God, all beliefs about God -- Hindu,
           Christian, Mohammedan. You will have to be absolutely silent, unclinging, not-knowing. In that
           profound ignorance God reveals himself to you -- only in that profound ignorance.
                My effort is totally different from your effort. What you are doing here is diametrically opposite
           to what I am doing here. My effort is to create a profound ignorance in you, so I will have to confuse
           you. Whenever I see that some knowledge is being gathered, I immediately jump on it and destroy it.
           By and by you will learn -- being close to me you are bound to learn -- that it is futile to accumulate
           because this man will not leave you in peace. If you cling to something he is going to take it away.
           So what is the point? One day you will simply listen to me, not clinging, not making any belief out
           of it, not creating a philosophy, a theology out of it -- simply listening as you listen to the birds, as
           you listen to the wind passing through the pines, as you listen to the river rushing towards the ocean,
           as you listen to the wild roar of the ocean waves. Then you don't create a philosophy, you simply
           listen.
                Let me be a wild ocean roaring in front of you, or a wind passing through the trees, or birds
           singing in the morning. I am not a philosopher, I am not imparting knowledge to you. I am trying to
           point to something which is beyond knowledge.
                So the moment I see that you are nodding, the moment I see that you are saying, 'Yes, this is
           true', the moment I see that you are accumulating something, immediately I have to jump upon it and
           contradict it to confuse you. Confusion is my method, I am doing it all the time. I will not leave you
           to rest unless you drop that whole effort of philosophising, unless you start listening to me without
           any mind, out of the sheer joy of it, as you listen to music. When you start listening to me in that way
           then you will never feel confused. You feel confused because first you cling to something, then in
           the next step I destroy it. You feel confused. You were making a house and again I come there and
           destroy it.
                Your confusion is in fact created by yourself. Don't create that house then I cannot destroy it. If
           you create, I am going to destroy. If you stop creating houses -- card-houses they are -- if you stop
           creating houses, if you say, 'This man will come and destroy,' if you simply wait and listen and you
           don't bother to make any house to live in, then I cannot confuse you. And the day I cannot confuse
           you will be a great day of rejoicing for you. Because that very moment you will be able to
           understand me -- not by your intellect but by your being. It will be a communion, not a
           communication. It will be a transfer of energy, not of words. You will have entered into my house.
                I will not allow YOU to create any house because that will be a barrier. Then you will start living
           in that house and I am trying to bring you into my house. Jesus says to his disciples, 'In my God's
           house there are many mansions.' I also say to you, 'I am taking you on a journey where a great palace
           is waiting for you.' But I see you making houses by the side of the road and I have to destroy them
           otherwise your journey will be destroyed and you will never reach the goal. You start worshipping
           anything. You are in such a hurry, you are so impatient, that whatsoever I tell you, you simply grab
           it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I am not going to allow it to happen. So, be alert. If you are alert there will be no need to confuse
           you. In fact, if you are alert, whatsoever I do I cannot confuse you. The day you can say, 'Now,
           Osho, you cannot confuse me. Whatsoever you say I listen, I rejoice in it, but I don't make any
           conceptualisation' is the day I cannot confuse you. Until that moment I am going to confuse you
           again and again and again.

           The third question:


              AS SEX IS CLOSELY RELATED TO DEATH, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SPONTANEOUS
              CELIBACY?


               Sex is more closely related to birth than to death. Birth is out of sex; birth is a sexual
           phenomenon. Naturally, sex is also closely related to death -- but as a by-product. Because birth is
           out of sex, death is also going to be out of sex. Hence the nonsensical idea arose in the East that if
           you remain celibate, if you remain a BRAHMACHARY, if you go beyond sex, you will never die --
           you will become an immortal. That is foolish, because death is not something that is going to happen
           in the future, it has already happened with birth. You cannot avoid it. You can indulge in sex or you
           can indulge in celibacy, it is going to make no difference.

               Mulla Nasrudin had completed his hundredth year, and a few journalists came to interview him.
           He was the first citizen of his town who had become a centenarian. They asked how he had attained
           to such great age.
               He said, 'I never touched wine, I was never interested in women. That must be the reason for it.'
               Immediately something in the next room fell very loudly and there was a racket. The journalists
           became very alert. They said, 'What is going on?'
               Mulla said, 'It must be my Dad. It seems he is again running after the maid, and he seems to be
           drunk.'

                The old man must be one hundred and twenty-five. Mulla had said, 'I have attained to this age
           because of celibacy and because I never touched any wine. I have remained away from women' but
           here is his father still rushing, drunk, trying to catch hold of a woman.
                Death had already happened the moment you became incarnated in the body. The moment you
           entered the womb, death had already happened. Your clock, the clock of your life, can run only so
           far -- seventy years, eighty years -- it depends on a thousand and one things. But your clock can only
           run so far. It makes no difference how you live your life. Death is going to happen. Death cannot be
           avoided.
                The questioner has asked: As SEX IS CLOSELY RELATED TO DEATH WHAT IS THE
           MEANING OF SPONTANEOUS CELIBACY?
                The first thing is that birth and death are both related to sex, but just by becoming celibate you
           are not going to transcend death. Death has already happened in birth, there is no way to transcend it.
           It is going to happen because in fact it has already happened. It is only a question of time unfolding.
           You are rushing towards it each moment.
                So don't try to be celibate just to avoid death because that again is fear. The people who try to
           become celibate are afraid of death, and one who is afraid of death can never know what death is,
           can never know what deathlessness is. So don't be afraid.
                And celibacy can only be spontaneous. You ask: WHAT IS THE MEANING OF
           SPONTANEOUS CELIBACY? Celibacy can only be spontaneous, there is no other type of
           celibacy. If it is not spontaneous, it is not celibacy. You can force it. you can control your sexuality,
           but that is not going to help. You will not be celibate, you will be only more and more sexual. Sex
           will spread all over your being. It will become part of your unconscious. It will move your dreams, it
           will become your motivation in dreams, it will become your fantasy. In fact, you will become more
           sexual than you ever were before. You will think more about it and you will have to repress it again
           and again. And whatsoever is repressed has to be repressed again because victory is never complete.
           There is no way to destroy sex by force, by violence. There is no way to control and discipline it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The people who have tried to control and discipline it have made the world very pornographic. Your
           so-called saints have a very pornographic mind. If a window can be created and a hole can be made
           in their heads, you will be able to see just sex, pornography. it is bound to be so. It is natural.
                Never enforce any celibacy on yourself. Try to understand what sexuality is, go deep into it. It
           has a tremendous beauty of its own. It is one of the profoundest mysteries of life. Life comes out of it
           -- it has to be a great mystery. Sex is not sin; repression is a sin. Sex is very natural, very
           spontaneous. You have not done anything to have it, it is inborn, it is part of your being. Don't
           condemn it, don't judge it, don't fear it, don't fight with it. Simply go into it more -- more
           meditatively. Let it happen in such silence, in such deep acceptance, that you can know the very core
           of it. The moment you penetrate to the very core of sexual orgasm you will see sex is losing its
           appeal for you, you r energy is moving in a higher plane, you are becoming more loving and less
           sexual. And this happens spontaneously.
                I am not saying become more loving. I am saying that if you go deep into the mystery of sex,
           love arises out of it naturally. You become more loving and sexuality becomes less and less and less.
           And one day there is just a pure flame of love, all the smoke of sex has disappeared. The crude
           energy of sex has been transformed into a more subtle perfume -- the perfume of love.
                Then I will say go deep into love. If you go deep into love, again you will come to the very core
           of it. And in that moment prayer will arise. That too happens spontaneously. In sex you are more
           concerned with the body; in love you are more concerned with the psyche; in prayer you suddenly
           become concerned with the soul. These are the three possibilities hidden in the seed of sex. And
           when sex has disappeared into love and love has disappeared into prayer, there is a spontaneous
           celibacy.
                The Indian term for it is very beautiful. It is BRAHMACHARYA. The word literal!y means
           'living like a God'. BRAHMACHARYA means living like a God. The whole energy is just prayer,
           the whole energy is just grace, a gratitude, a benediction. One becomes absolutely divine.
                But I am not saying that sex is not divine. It is the seed. Love is the tree, prayer is the flowering.
           Prayer arises out of sex energy. You have to be grateful towards it, you have to respect it. Sex should
           be respected because everything is going to happen out of it. Life has happened out of it; death is
           going to happen out of it; love, prayer and God are going to happen out of it. Sex carries the whole
           blueprint of your destiny. To me, sex is not just sex, sex is all.
                So if from the very beginning you take an 'anti' attitude you will be missing the whole journey of
           life. And you will get involved in a fight which leads nowhere, you will get involved in a fight in
           which your defeat is certain. You cannot defeat sexual energy because in sexual energy God is
           hidden, in sexual energy love and prayer are hidden. How can.you defeat it? You are very tiny and
           sexual energy is very universal. This whole existence is full of sexual energy.
                But the word 'sex' has become so condemned. It has to be taken out of the mud. It has to be
           cleaned.A temple has to be made around it. And remember, celibacy can only be spontaneous, there
           is no other type of celibacy. It is not a control, it is not a discipline; it is a tremendous understanding
           of your energies and their possibilities.

           The fourth question:


              YOU SAID NOBODY SHOULD DICTATE WHAT YOU SHOULD DO WITH YOUR LIFE. HOW DOES
              THAT FIT WITH BEING AVAILABLE AND SURRENDERING TO YOU?

              In the first place I am a nobody.

               Now listen to the question again. YOU SAID NOBODY SHOULD DICTATE WHAT YOU
           SHOULD DO WITH YOUR LIFE. Don't surrender to me because I dictate to you. But if you feel
           like surrendering, what can I do? If you feel like surrendering, it is your feeling. If I am dictating to
           you to surrender to me, don't listen to me. But if your heart is dictating, then what are you going to
           do? If I tell you to be available to me, don't listen at all. But if your own understanding says, 'Be
           available to this man', then be.
               And here there is nobody. If you look deeply into me you will not find anybody there. The house
           is empty, the whole space is yours, just for the asking. I am just a space. The man you see here
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sitting in the chair died long before. There is no entity who can dictate anything to you.
                Just last night one woman seeker was saying, 'I would like to do what other sannyasins are doing,
           but I cannot surrender. I cannot lose my freedom. I have lived in many confinements from my very
           childhood, in many disciplines. Now I am afraid to get involved in another imprisonment.' I said,
           'Don't be worried. I confer freedom upon you, an absolute freedom.'
                Sannyas is freedom. If you understand rightly, it is absolute freedom.
                And the woman understood the point because I said, 'Now you are afraid that you may get into
           another trap. But are you aware that your ego itself can become the trap, and the greatest of all? You
           have lived within many other commitments and you found they all became imprisonments -- but
           your own ego can become the imprisonment. When you surrender to a nobody he cannot imprison
           you, and the very danger of your own, ego becoming an imprisonment for you also disappears. When
           you surrender to me you are not really surrendering to me, because I am not here. And I'm not
           enjoying your surrender at all -- whether you surrender or not makes no difference to me. In fact,
           when you surrender to me, you surrender yourself. You don't surrender to me. You simply surrender
           your ego. I am just a device, an excuse. It will be difficult for you to go and surrender to the river, or
           to the sky, or to the stars -- it will be very difficult and you will look a little ridiculous. So I pretend
           to be here just to help you so that you don't feel ridiculous. You can put you r ego here. There is
           nobody to receive it and nobody to be happy about it, but it helps.
                Buddha used to call such things devices -- UPAYA. It is just a UPAYA, a device to help those
           who cannot put their egos down unless they find some feet. I make my feet available to you, but
           inside there is nobody.

           The fifth question:


              WHY DO YOU GIVE US THESE RELIGIOUS TITLES? THEY SEEM ABSURD. OUTSIDE THE
              ASHRAM INDIANS SELDOM CALL ME SWAMI WITH A STRAIGHT FACE.


                You must be hankering for it. I have not called you swami to be swami for others. The word
           'swami' means lord. Don't hanker for others to call you lord. I have called you swami just to indicate
           your path -- so that you become lord of yourself. It is not to make others slaves to you, it is just to
           make a master of you. The word 'swami' is intended for self-mastery. So don't feel frustrated if
           nobody calls you swami. In fact, if somebody calls you swami, be alert, because there is danger. You
           may start thinking that you are a swami, you may start thinking that you are some holy man or
           something. Don't carry that type of nonsense. I am not here to make you holy or saintly or anything.
                You ask why I give you these religious titles, because they seem absurd. They are. Really my
           whole intention is to make you so ridiculous, so absurd, that others laugh at you and you-can also
           laugh at yourself. That is the whole trick in it.
                And for another purpose also I call you swami. I give you these religious titles because to me the
           profane and the sacred are not two separate things: the profane is the sacred, the ordinary is the
           extraordinary, and the natural is the super-natural.
                God is not somewhere away from the world. God is in the world, immanent. That's my whole
           approach...that everything is divine as it is. The old concept of a religious man is that he is anti-life.
           He condemns this life, this ordinary life -- he calls it mundane, profane, illusion. He denounces it. I
           am so deeply in love with life that I cannot denounce it. I am here to enhance the feeling for it.
                When I give you these religious titles I am not making you in any way superior to others. Don't
           carry any idea of 'holier than you', don't carry any idea of that sort. That is stupid.
                I give you these orange clothes. These clothes have been used for centuries down through the
           ages for a specific purpose -- to make a demarcation between the ordinary life and the religious life. I
           want to dissolve all those differences. Hence I give you these robes and I don't take you away from
           life.
                You will be sitting in ordinary life, working in ordinary life, walking in ordinary life. You will be
           in the marketplace, you will be in the shop or in the factory, you will be a labourer, a doctor, an
           engineer. I am not making you special in any way -- because that very desire to become special is
           irreligious. And I have given you these robes to destroy the whole concept completely. That's why
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the traditional sannyasins are very much against me.
                I am destroying their whole superiority. Now sooner or later there will be no distinction. My
           swamis are growing so fast that the old traditional swamis will be simply lost in the jungle of my
           swamis. And people will not know who is who. That's the purpose behind it. I want to make
           religious life ordinary life, because this is the only life there is. All else is just an ego trip. And this
           life is so beautiful, there is no need to create another life superior to it.
                Go deeper into it, move deeper into it, and profounder depths will be revealed to you. This
           ordinary life is carrying tremendous possibilities. So I don't want you to become religious in the
           sense that others are not religious. I want to drop all distinctions between the profane and the sacred,
           between the holy and the unholy. It is a great revolution. You may not even be aware of what is
           happening.
                And if the traditionalists are against me, I can understand. I am destroying their whole'holier than
           you' attitude.
                That's why I have chosen the orange particularly. That has been the traditional dress for
           sannyasins. But I have chosen only the dress nothing else is there in you -- nothing else of the
           traditional discipline. There is just awareness, a love for Life, a respect for life, a reverence for life. I
           have given you the orange robe, but the day I see that now the traditional distinction has been
           destroyed, I will free you from the orange robe. There is no need then. But it will take time because
           they have been creating the distinction for centuries.
                You cannot conceive of what is happening. When an orange-robed sannyasin walks with his
           girlfriend on the street, you cannot conceive what is happening. It has never happened in India, not
           for ten thousand years. People cannot believe it -- and you are expecting that they should call you
           swami? It is enough that they are not killing you! You are destroying their whole tradition. A
           sannyasin was one who would never LOOK at a woman. Touching was out of the question -- and
           holding the hand, impossible! That was enough to throw him into hell.
                I have made you a totally new kind of sannyasin. It is a neo-sannyas. And behind whatsoever I
           am doing there is a method. You may be aware of it or not. I want to destroy the whole traditional
           attitude. Life should be religious and religion should not have any life. The distinction between the
           marketplace and the monastery should not be there. The monastery Should be in the marketplace; the
           divine dimension should become part of everyday life.

               Somebody asked Bokoju, 'What do you do? What is your religious discipline?'
               He said, 'I live an ordinary life. That is my discipline. When I feel hungry I eat, and when I feel
           sleepy I sleep.' Yes, this is exactly how it should be.
               The questioner was puzzled. He said, 'But I don't see anything special in it.'
               Bokoju said, 'That is the point. There is nothing special.'
           All hankering for the special is of the ego.
               The questioner was still puzzled. He said, 'But this is what everybody else is doing -- when
           hungry they eat, when feeling sleepy they sleep.'
               Bokoju laughed. He said, 'No, when you eat, you do a thousand and one things also. You think,
           you dream, you imagine, you remember. You are not there Just eating. When I eat, I simply eat.
           Then there is only eating and nothing else. It is pure. When you sleep you do a thousand and one
           things -- you dream, fight, have nightmares. When I sleep I simply sleep, there is nothing else. When
           sleep is there, there is only sleep. Not even Bokoju exists. When eating is there, there is only eating.
           Not even Bokoju exists. When there is walking, there is only walking -- no Bokoju. There is
           walking, simply walking.

               This is what I would like you to become. Be ordinary, but bring a quality of awareness to your
           ordinary life. Bring God to your ordinary life, introduce God into your ordinary life. Sleep, eat, love,
           pray, meditate, but don't think that you are making or doing something special. And then you will be
           special. A man who is ready to live an ordinary life is an extraordinary man. Because to be
           extraordinary, to desire to be extraordinary, is a very ordinary desire. To relax and to be ordinary is
           really extraordinary.

           The sixth question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              WHY IS THIS LIFE, WHICH HAS NO END AND NO BEGINNING, SO MYSTERIOUS? PLEASE
              EXPLAIN.


                Now, not only do I give you absurd answers, you have started asking absurd questions. Why is
           this life so mysterious? How am I supposed to know? It is so! It is simply a fact, I am not talking
           about theories. I'm not saying that it is my theory that life is mysterious -- then you could ask why. It
           is simply so. The trees are green. You ask why. The trees are green because they are green. There is
           no question of why.
                If you can ask why and the question can be answered, then life will not be a mystery. If the why
           can be answered, then life cannot be a mystery. Life is a mystery because no why is relevant.
                WHY IS THIS LIFE, WHICH HAS NO END AND NO BEGINNING, SO MYSTERIOUS?
           Now you make me feel guilty, as if I am responsible for life having no beginning and no end. It
           should have. I agree perfectly with you, but what to do? It has no beginning and no end.

           I have heard.
                Mulla Nasrudin was saying to one of his disciples that life is like a woman. I was surprised, so I
           listened attentively to what he was saying.
                He was saying, 'The man who says he understands women is bragging. The man who thinks he
           understands them is gullible. The man who pretends to understand them is ambiguous. The man who
           wants to understand them is wistful. On the other hand, the man who does not say he understands
           them, does not think he understands them, does not pretend to understand them, does not even want
           to understand them -- he understands them!'

               And that's how life is also. Life is a woman. Try to understand life and you will become a mess.
           Forget all about understanding. Just live it and you will understand it. The understanding is not going
           to be intellectual, theoretical; the understanding is going to be total. The understanding is not going
           to be verbal; it is going to be non-verbal. That is the meaning when we say life is a mystery. It can be
           lived but it cannot be solved.
               You can know what it is, but you cannot say what it is. That is the meaning of mystery. When we
           say that life is a mystery, we are saying that life is not a problem. A problem can be solved. A
           mystery is that which cannot be solved. Insolubility is unbuilt. And it is good that life cannot be
           solved, otherwise what would you do then? Just think of it. If life is not a mystery and somebody
           comes and explains it to you -- then what will you do? There will be nothing left except to commit
           suicide. Even that will look meaningless.
               Life is a mystery; the more you know it, the more beautiful it is. A moment comes when
           suddenly you start living it, you start flowing with it. An orgasmic relationship evolves between you
           and life, but you cannot figure out what it is. That's the beauty of it, that's its infinite depth.
               And yes, there is no beginning and no end. How can there be any beginning to life and any end to
           life? Beginning will mean that something came out of nothing, and end will mean that something
           was there and went into nothing. That will be an even bigger mystery. When we say life has no
           beginning we simply say it has always been there. How can there be a beginning? Can you mark a
           line and say that at this moment life started, as Christian theologians used to say? Just four thousand
           years before Jesus Christ, they say, life started on a certain Monday. Of course, it must have been in
           the morning. But how can you call it Monday if there was no Sunday before it?And how can you call
           it morning if there was no night before it? Just think of it.
               No, you cannot make a mark, that is foolish. It is not possible to mark a line because even to
           mark a line something is needed. Something is needed to precede it, otherwise demarcation is not
           possible. You can mark a line if there are two things, but if there is only one thing how can you mark
           a line? The fence around your house is possible because there is a neighbour. If there is no
           neighbour, nothing beyond your fence, the fence cannot exist. Just think of it. If there is absolutely
           nothing beyond your fence, your fence will fall down into nothing. How can it exist? Something is
           needed beyond the fence to hold it.
               If on a certain Monday life started, a Sunday is needed to precede it. Otherwise the Monday will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fall, topple down and disappear. And in the same way there is no possibility of any end. Life is, life
           simply is. It has been, it will be. It is eternity.
                And don't start thinking about it. Otherwise you will be missing it, because all the time that you
           waste in thinking about it, is simply waste. Use that time, use that space, use that energy to live it.

           The seventh question:


              WHY DO YOU PREFER TO CALL MEDITATION THE ART OF DYING RATHER THAN CALLING IT
              THE ART OF GROWING?


              Because I know your ego will like it very much if I called it the art of growing. The art of dying
           comes like a shock.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.

               One day Mulla Nasrudin saw a crowd gathered around the town well. A Moslem priest with a
           huge turban on his head had fallen into the water, and was calling for help. People were leaning over
           and saying, 'Give me your hand, Reverend, give me your hand!' But the priest didn't pay attention to
           their offer to rescue him. He kept wrestling with the water and shouting for help.
               Finally Mulla Nasrudin stepped forward: 'Let me handle this!' He stretched out his hand towards
           the priest and shouted at him, 'Take my hand!' The priest grabbed Mulla's hand and was hoisted out
           of the pond.
               People were very surprised and asked Mulla for the secret of his strategy. 'It is very simple, ' he
           said. 'I know this miser would not give anything to anyone, not even his hand. I know this miser
           would not give anything to anyone, so instead of saying, "Give me your hand" I said, "Take my
           hand, your Reverence." And sure enough, he took it.'

               I know you would like it to be called the art of growing. Then your ego would feel perfectly
           good. 'So it is a question of growth; so I am going to remain and grow.' That's what the ego always
           wants.
               I have knowingly called it the art of dying. Meditation is the art of dying. Then your ego will be
           shocked.
               And it is also truer to cal I it the art of dying, because you r ego is not going to grow, your ego is
           going to die in meditation. These are the only two possibilities: either your ego goes on growing
           more, it becomes stronger, or, it disappears. If your ego goes on growing and becomes more and
           more strong, you are getting more and more into the mud. You are getting more and more into
           fetters, you are getting more and more into the imprisonment of it. You will be suffocated. Your
           whole life will become a hell.
               The growth of the ego is a canceric growth. It is like cancer, it kills you. Meditation is not growth
           of the ego, it is death of the ego.

           The eighth question:


              THE MORE YOU TALK ABOUT DEATH, THE GREATER MY DESIRE FOR LIFE. I HAVE JUST
              REALISED THAT I HAVE NOT REALLY LIVED. WHILE I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT LIFE AND
              DEATH COME TOGETHER, THERE IS A YEARNING INSIDE ME THAT CRIES OUT FOR LIFE,
              LOVE AND PASSIONATE INTENSITY. I HAVE DISCOVERED I AM ANGUISHED AT THE
              THOUGHT OF SURRENDERING MY UNFULFILLED DESIRES. CAN ONE GIVE UP WHAT ONE
              HAS NEVER HAD? I FEEL I WOULD ONLY RETURN TO THE BODY AGAIN. ILLUSION OR NOT,
              TO MY GREAT AMAZEMENT I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I STILL DESIRE, AND I HAVE NEVER FELT
              SUCH HUNGER.


              When I say 'to die' I really mean: live intensely; I really mean: live passionately. How can you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           die unless you have lived totally? In total life there is death, and that death is beautiful. In a
           passionate, intense life, death comes spontaneously -- as a silence, as a profound bliss. When I say 'to
           die', I am not saying anything against life; in fact, if you are afraid of death you will be afraid of life
           also. That's what has happened to the questioner.
               A man who is afraid of death will be afraid of life also, because life brings death. If you are
           afraid of the enemy and you close your door, the friend will also be prohibited. And you are so afraid
           of the enemy that you close the door; the enemy may enter so you close the door for the friend also.
           And you become so afraid that you cannot open for the friend, because who knows? The friend may
           turn out to be the enemy. Or, when the door is open, the enemy may enter.
               People have become afraid of life because they are afraid of death. They don't live because at the
           highest points, peaks, death always penetrates into life. Have you watched this happening? The
           majority of women have lived a frigid life -- they are afraid of orgasm, they are afraid of that wild
           explosion of energy. For centuries women have been frigid; they have not known what orgasm is.
               And the majority of men suffer because of that fear too -- ninety-five per cent of men suffer from
           premature ejaculation. They are so afraid of orgasm, there is so much fear, that somehow they want
           to finish it, somehow they want to get out of it.
               Again and again they go into love-making and there is fear. The woman remains frigid and the
           man becomes so afraid that he cannot stay in that state any longer. The very fear makes him
           ejaculate sooner than is natural, and the woman remains rigid, closed, holding herself. Now orgasm
           has disappeared from the world because of the fear. In the deepest orgasm death penetrates; you feel
           as if you are dying. If a woman goes into orgasm she starts moaning, she starts crying, screaming.
           She may even start saying, 'I am dying. Don't kill me!' That actually happens. If a woman goes into
           orgasm she will start mumbling, she will start saying that 'I am dying! Don't kill me! Stop!'
           Amoment comes in deep orgasm where ego cannot exist, death penetrates. But that is the beauty of
           orgasm.
               People have become afraid of love because in love also, death penetrates. If two lovers are sitting
           side by side in deep love and intimacy, not even talking.... Talking is an escape, an escape from love.
           When two lovers are talking that simply shows they are avoiding the intimacy. Words in-between
           give distance -- with no words distance disappears, death appears. In silence there is death just
           lurking around -- a beautiful phenomenon. But people are so afraid that they go on talking whether it
           is needed or not. They go on talking about anything, everything -- but they cannot keep silent.
               If two lovers sit silently, death suddenly surrounds them. And when two lovers are silent you will
           see a certain happiness and also a certain sadness -- happiness because life is at its peak, and sadness
           because at its peak death also comes in. Whenever you are silent you will feel a sort of sadness. Even
           looking at a rose flower, if you are sitting silently and not saying anything about the rose flower, just
           looking at it, i n that silence you will suddenly feel it is there -- death. You will see the flower
           withering, within moments it will be gone, lost forever. Such a beauty and so fragile! Such a beauty
           and so vulnerable! Such a beauty, such a miracle and soon it will be lost forever and it will not return
           again. Suddenly you will become sad.
               Whenever you meditate you will find death moving around. In love, in orgasm, in any aesthetic
           experience; in music, in song, in poetry, in dance -- wherever you suddenly lose your ego, death is
           there.
               So let me tell you one thing. You are afraid of life because you are afraid of death. And I would
           like to teach you how to die so that you lose all fear of death. The moment you lose the fear of death
           you become capable of living.
               I am not talking against life. How can I talk against life? I am madly in love with life! I am so
           madly in love with life, that because of it I have fallen in love with death also. It is part of life. When
           you love life totally how can you avoid death? You have to love death also. When you love a flower
           deeply, you love its withering away also: When you love a woman deeply, you love her getting old
           also, you one day love her death also. That is part, part of the woman. The old age has not happened
           from the outside, it has come from the inside. The beautiful face has become wrinkled now -- you
           love those wrinkles also. They are part of your woman. You love a man and his hair has grown white
           -- you love those hairs also. They have not happened from the outside; they are not accidents. Life is
           unfolding. Now the black hair has disappeared and the grey hair has come. You don't reject them,
           you love them, they are a part. Then your man becomes old, becomes weak -- you love that too.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then one day the man is gone -- you love that too.
               Love loves all. Love knows nothing else than love. Hence I say love death. If you can love death
           it will be very simple to love life. If you can love even death, there is no problem.
               The problem arises because the questioner must have been repressing something, must be afraid
           of life. And then repression can bring dangerous outcomes. If you go on repressing, repressing, one
           day you will lose all aesthetic sense. You lose all sense of beauty, sense of grace, sense of divinity.
           Then the very repression becomes such a feverish state that you can do anything which is ugly.

               Let me tell you a beautiful anecdote. Chinmaya has sent this. He sends beautiful jokes!
               This marine is sent to a distant island outpost where there are no women, but there is a large
           monkey population. He is shocked to see that without exception his fellow marines all make love
           with the monkeys. And he swears to them that he will never get that horny. They tell him not to be
           closed-minded. But as the months passed by, the marine can hold out no longer. He grabs the first
           monkey he can and gets caught in the act by his buddies, who start laughing their heads off.
               Surprised, he says to them, 'What are you guys laughing at? You keep telling me to do it!'
               They answer, 'Yeah, but did you have to pick the ugliest one?'

               If you repress, the possibility is that you may choose the ugliest life. Then the very fever is so
           much that you are not in your consciousness. Then you are almost in neurosis. Before the repression
           becomes too much, relax, move into life. It is your life! Don't feel guilty. It is your life to live and
           love and to know and be. And whatsoever instincts God has given to you, they are just indications of
           where you have to move, where you have to seek, where you have to find your fulfillment.
               I know that this life is not all -- a greater life is hidden behind it. But it is hidden BEHIND it.
           You cannot find that greater life against this life; you have to find that greater life only by indulging
           deeply in this life. There are waves on the oceans. The ocean is hidden just behind the waves. If,
           seeing the turmoil and the chaos, you escape from the waves, you will be escaping from the ocean
           and its depth also. Jump in, those waves are part of it. Dive deep and waves will disappear, and then
           there will be the depth, the absolute silence of the ocean.
               So this is my suggestion for the questioner. You have waited long, now no more. Enough is
           enough.

           Let me tell you an anecdote, an old Italian joke.
               The Pope's personal waiter was delivering His Holiness' breakfast, when he slipped and threw the
           food all over the floor. 'Godammit!' he screamed as he fell.
               His Holiness came out of the door of his room and said, 'No cursing in here, my son. Say instead,
           Ave Maria.'
               The following morning as he attempted to deliver His Holiness' breakfast, the waiter slipped
           again, throwing the food on the floor. 'Godammit!' screamed the poor man. 'No, my son,' said the
           Pope. 'Ave Maria.'
               On the third day the waiter was trembling with fear, but this time he remembered. 'Ave Maria!'
           he yelled out as soon as he started falling with the breakfast on the floor. 'No!' exclaimed the Pope.
           'Godammit! This is my third day of skipping breakfast! Enough is enough!'

              It is your life. There is no need going on skipping breakfast every day. And Ave Maria twice is
           good, but when it comes finally, it is Godammit!

           The last question:


              I AM A PIECE OF ROCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOUNTAIN. EVEN THIS I DON'T DARE TO
              REALISE. I DREAM INSTEAD. OSHO, WHY DID YOU TELL ME ABOUT RIVERS, THE OCEAN
              AND THE SKY? AND HOW COULD YOU GIVE ME SANNYAS? I AM A PIECE OF ROCK IN THE
              MIDDLE OF THE MOUNTAIN.


              Everybody is a piece of rock. Unless you attain to your uttermost glory, you are bound to be a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           piece of rock. But nothing is wrong in being a piece of rock. The piece of rock is nothing but God
           fast asleep, snoring.A piece of rock is God asleep. Nothing is wrong in the piece of rock, it has to be
           awakened. Hence, I have given you sannyas.
           You say, AND HOW COULD YOU GIVE ME SANNYAS?
                Sannyas is nothing but an effort to wake you, an effort to shake you, an effort to shock you into
           awareness. Sannyas is nothing but an alarm.
                EVEN THIS I DON'T DARE TO REALISE -- that I am a piece of rock in the middle of the
           mountain -- I DREAM INSTEAD.
                That's how the rock avoids its own growth, the rock avoids its own future -- by dreaming.
           Dreaming is the barrier. By dreaming we are avoiding the reality, by dreaming we avoid the real. It
           is our escape. You don't have any other escape. This is the only escape route -- dreaming.
                When you are listening to me, you can dream also. Sitting here you can have a thousand and one
           thoughts roaming around in your mind. You can think of the future or of the past. You can be for and
           against what I am saying, you can argue, you can debate with me inside yourself. But then you are
           missing me. I am a fact here. You need not dream here, you can just be here with me. And
           tremendous will be the result of it.
                But we go on dream ing. People are dreamers, and that is their way. When they are making love
           to a woman, they are dreaming; when they are eating, they are dreaming. When they are walking on
           the road -- they have gone for a walk in the morning, the sun is rising, the day is beautiful, the.people
           are getting up, life is coming back again -- they are dreaming. They are not looking at anything.
                We go on dreaming. Dreaming functions as a blindfold, and we go on missing the reality.
           OSHO, WHY DID YOU TELL ME ABOUT RIVERS, THE OCEAN AND THE SKY?
                Because those are your possibilities. The rock can fly; the rock can grow wings. I myself was a
           rock one day. Then I started growing wings, sol know. I know your possibility, you may not know it.
           Hence I talk about the rivers, the ocean and the sky. The rock can become a flower, the rock can
           become a river, the rock can become the ocean, the rock can become the sky -- infinite are your
           possibilities! Your possibilities are as many as God's possibilities. You are multi-dimensional.
                That's why I go on talking about the rivers and the ocean and the sky. Some day or other a great
           thirst will possess you, a new passion will arise for the impssible and you will be able to fly into the
           sky. It is yours, claim it! You only look like a rock. Rocks also only look like rocks. If they make a
           little effort, if they shake themselves a little, they will find wings are hidden there. They will find
           infinite possibilities opening, doors upon doors.
                But dreaming functions as the barrier. Being a rock is not a problem: being too much in dreams
           is the problem. Start dropping dreams. They are futile, meaningless, a wastage and nothing more.
           But people go on dreaming, go on dreaming.... By and by people start thinking that dreaming is their
           only life. Life is not a dream and dreaming is not life. Dreaming is avoiding life.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
                On his seventy-fifth birthday, Turtletaub rushed into a physician1s office. 'Doctor,' he exclaimed,
           'I have got a date tonight with a twenty-two-year-old girl. You gotta give me something to pep me
           up.'
                The M.D. smiled sympathetically and supplied the old man with a prescription. Later that night,
           out of curiosity, the medical man phoned his elderly patient, 'Did the medicine help?'               'It's
           wonderful,' replied Turtletaub. 'Seven times already.'      'That's great,' agreed the doctor. 'And what
           about the girl?' 'The girl?' said Turtletaub. 'She didn't get here yet!'

               Don't go on dreaming, otherwise you will miss the girl. You will miss life. Stop dreaming, look
           at that which is.And it is already in front of you. It is already around, it is within and without. God is
           the only presence if you are not dreaming. If you are dreaming, then your dreams occupy your inner
           space. They become the hindrances for God to enter into you. This dreaming we call maya.
           Maya-means a magic show, a dream show. When you are not dreaming, when you are in a state of
           no-dream, the reality is revealed.
               The reality is already there, you are not to achieve it. You have only to do one thing: you have to
           put aside your dreams. And you will no longer be a rock, you can fly with me to the very end of the
           sky.
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Receive my invitation, receive my challenge. That's what sannyas is all about.




                                               The Art of Dying
                                                   Chapter #3
                                      Chapter title: Walking the Tightrope
           13 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610130
              ShortTitle: ART03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins




              ONCE, WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SEATED TOGETHER
              IN ALL BROTHERLINESS,
              PIPE IN HAND, RABBI ISRAEL JOINED THEM.
              BECAUSE HE WAS SO FRIENDLY THEY ASKED HIM, 'TELL US, DEAR RABBI, HOW SHOULD
              WE SERVE GOD?'



              HE WAS SURPRISED AT THE QUESTION,
              AND REPLIED, 'HOW SHOULD I KNOW?'
              BUT THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL THEM THIS STORY..



              THERE WERE TWO FRIENDS OF THE KING,
              AND BOTH WERE PROVED GUILTY OF A CRIME.
              SINCE HE LOVED THEM THE KING WANTED TO SHOW THEM MERCY,
              BUT HE COULD NOT ACQUIT THEM BECAUSE EVEN A KING'S WORD
              CANNOT PREVAIL OVER THE LAW.
              SO HE GAVE THIS VERDICT:
              A ROPE WAS TO BE STRETCHED OVER A DEEP CHASM,
              AND, ONE AFTER ANOTHER, THE TWO WERE TO WALK ACROSS IT.
              WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE.



              IT WAS DONE AS THE KING ORDERED,
              AND THE FIRST OF THE FRIENDS GOT SAFELY ACROSS.



              THE OTHER, STILL STANDING ON THE SAME SPOT, CRIED TO HIM,                'TELL ME, FRIEND,
              HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO CROSS?'



              THE FIRST CALLED BACK, 'I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING BUT THIS:
              WHENEVER I FELT MYSELF TOPPLING OVER TO ONE SIDE,
              I LEANED TO THE OTHER.'


              EXISTENCE is paradoxical; paradox is its very core. It exists through opposites, it is a balance
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the opposites. And one who learns how to balance becomes capable of knowing what life is, what
           existence is, what God is. The secret key is balance.
                A few things before we enter into this story.... First, we have been trained in Aristotelian logic --
           which is linear, one-dimensional. Life is not Aristotelian at all, it is Hegelian. Logic is not linear,
           logic is dialectical. The very process of life is dialectic, a meeting of the opposites -- a conflict
           between the opposites and yet a meeting of the opposites. And life goes through this dialectical
           process: from thesis to antithesis, from antithesis to synthesis -- and then again the synthesis
           becomes a thesis. The whole process starts again.
                If Aristotle is true then there will be only men and no women, or, only women and no men. If the
           world was made according to Aristotle then there will be only light and no darkness, or, only
           darkness and no light. That would be logical. There would be either life or death but not both.
                But life is not based on Aristotle's logic, life has both. And life is really possible only because of
           both, because of the opposites: man and woman, yin and yang, day and night, birth and death, love
           and hate. Life consists of both.
                This is the first thing you have to allow to sink deep into your heart -- because Aristotle is in
           everybody's head. The whole education system of the world believes in Aristotle -- although for the
           very advanced scientific minds Aristotle is out of date. He no longer applies. Science has gone
           beyond Aristotle because science has come closer to existence. And now science understands that
           life is dialectical, not logical.

           I have heard.
               Do you know that on Noah's ark, making love was forbidden while on board?
               When the couples filed out of the ark after the flood, Noah watched them leave. Finally the
           tom-cat and the she-cat left, followed by a number of very young kittens. Noah raised his eyebrows
           questioningly and the tom-cat said to him, 'You thought we were fighting!'

               Noah must have been Aristotelian; the tom-cat knew better.
               Love is a sort of fight, love IS a fight. Without fight love cannot exist. They look opposite --
           because we think lovers should never fight. It is logical: if you love somebody how can you fight? It
           is absolutely clear, obvious to the intellect, that lovers should never fight -- but they do. In fact, they
           are intimate enemies; they are continuously fighting. In that very fight the energy that is called love
           is released. Love is not only fight, love is not only struggle, that's true -- it is more than that. It is
           fight too, but love transcends. The fight cannot destroy it. Love survives fight but it cannot exist
           without it.
               Look into life: life is non-Aristotelian, non-Euclidean. If you don't force your concepts on life, if
           you simply look at things as they are, then you will be suddenly surprised to see that opposites are
           complementaries. And the tension between the opposites is the very basis on which life exists --
           otherwise it would disappear. Think of a world where death does not exist.... Your mind may say
           'then life will be there eternally', but you are wrong. If death does not exist life will simply disappear.
           It cannot exist without death; death gives it the background, death gives it colour and richness, death
           gives it passion and intensity.
               So death is not against life -- the first thing -- death is involved in life. And if you want to live
           authentically you have to learn how to continuously die authentically. You have to keep a balance
           between birth and death and you have to remain just in the middle. That remaining in the middle
           cannot be a static thing: it is not that once you have attained to a thing -- finished, then there is
           nothing to be done. That is nonsense. One never achieves balance forever, one has to achieve it again
           and again and again.
               This is very difficult to understand because our minds have been cultivated in concepts whiCh
           are not applicable to real life. You think that once you have attained meditation then there is no need
           of anything more, then you will be in meditation. You are wrong. Meditation is not a static thing. It
           is a balance. You will have to attain it again and again and again. You will become more and more
           capable of attaining it, but it is not going to remain forever, like a possession in your hands. It has to
           be claimed each moment -- only then is it yours. You cannot rest, you cannot say, 'I have meditated
           and I have realised that now there is no need for me to do anything more. I can rest.' Life does not
           believe in rest; it is a constant movement from perfection to more perfection.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Listen to me: from perfection to more perfection. It is never imperfect, it is always perfect, but
           always more perfection is possible. Logically these statements are absurd.

           I was reading an anecdote....
               A man was charged with using counterfeit money to pay a bill. At his hearing, the defendant
           pleaded that he didn't know the money was phony. Pressed for proof, he admitted: 'Because I stole it.
           Would I be stealing money that I knew was counterfeit?'
               After thinking it over, the Judge decided that made good sense, so he then tossed out the
           counterfeit charge. But he substituted a new charge -- theft.      'Sure, I stole it,' the defendant
           conceded amiably. 'But counterfeit money has no legal value. Since when is it a crime to steal
           nothing?'
               No one could find any flaw in his logic, so the man went free.

                But logic won t do in life. You cannot go free so easily.
                You can come out of a legal trap legally and logically because the trap consists of Aristotelian
           logic -- you can use the same logic to come out of it. But in life you will not be able to come out
           because of logic, because of theology, because of philosophy, because you are very clever -- clever
           in inventing theories. You can come out of life or you can go beyond life only through actual
           experience.
                There are two types of people who are religious. The first type is childish; it is searching for a
           father-figure. The first type is immature; it cannot rely upon itself, hence it needs a God somewhere
           or other. The God may exist or not -- that is not the point -- but a God is needed. Even if the God is
           not there the immature mind will invent him, because the immature mind has a psychological need --
           it is not a question of truth whether God is there or not, it is a psychological need.
                In the. Bible it is said God made man in his own image, but the reverse is more true: man made
           God in his own image. Whatsoever is your need you create that sort of God, that's why the concept
           of God goes on changing in every age. Every country has its own concept because every country has
           its own need. In fact, every single person has a different concept of God because his own needs are
           there and they have to be fulfilled.
                So the first type of religious person -- the so-called religious person -- is simply immature. His
           religion is not religion but psychology. And when religion is psychology it is just a dream, a
           wish-fulfillment, a desire. It has nothing to do with reality.

           I was reading....

                A small boy was saying his prayers and concluded with this remark, 'Dear God, take care of
           Mommy, take care of Daddy, take care of baby sister and Aunt Emma and Uncle John and Grandma
           and Grandpa -- and, please God, take care of yourself, or else we're all sunk!'
                This is the God of the majority. Ninety per cent of the so-called religious people are immature
           people. They believe because they cannot live without belief; they believe because belief gives a sort
           of security; they believe because belief helps them to feel protected. It is THEIR dream, but it helps.
           In the dark night of life, in the deep struggle of existence, without such a belief they will feel left
           alone. But their God is THEIR God, not the God of reality. And once they get rid of their
           immaturity, their God will disappear.
                That's what has happened to many people. In this century many people have become irreligious
           -- not that they have come to know that God does not exist but only because this age has made man a
           little more mature. Man has come of age; man has become a little more mature. So the God of the
           childhood, the God of the immature mind, has simply become irrelevant.
                That is the meaning when Friedrich Nietzsche declares that 'God is dead'. It is not God that is
           dead, it is the God of the immature mind that is dead. In fact to say that God is dead is not right
           because that God was never alive. The only right expression will be to say that 'God is no more
           relevant'. Man can rely more upon himself -- he does not need belief, he does not need the crutches
           of belief.
                Hence people have become less and less interested in religion. They have become indifferent to
           what goes on in the church. They have become so indifferent to it that they will not even argue
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           against it. If you say, 'Do you believe in God?' they will say, 'It's okay whether he is or not, it doesn't
           make any difference, it doesn't matter.' Just to be polite, if you believe, they will say, 'Yes, he is.' If
           you don't believe, they will say, 'No, he is not.l But it is no more a passionate concern.
               This is the first type of religion; it has existed for centuries, down the centuries, down the ages,
           and it is becoming more and more outmoded, out of date. Its time is finished. A new God is needed
           -- who is not psychological; a new God is needed -- who is existential, the God of reality, the God as
           reality. We can even drop the word 'God' -- 'the real' will do, 'the existential' will do.
               Then there is a second type of religious people for whom religion is not out of fear. The first type
           of religion is out of fear, the second type -- also bogus, also pseudo, also so-called -- is not out of
           fear, it is only out of cleverness. There are very clever people who go on inventing theories, who are
           very trained in logic, in metaphysics, in philosophy. They create a religion which is just an
           abstraction: a beautiful piece of art work, of intelligence, of intellectuality, of philosophising. But it
           never penetrates life, it never touches life anywhere, it simply remains an abstract conceptualisation.

              Once Mulla Nasrudin was saying to me, 'I have never been what I oughta been. I stole chickens
           and watermelons, got drunk and got in fights with my fists and my razor, but there is one thing I ain't
           never done: in spite of all my meanness I ain't never lost my religion.'

               Now what kind of religion is that? It has no impact on life.
               You believe, but that belief never penetrates your life, never transforms it. It never becomes an
           intrinsic part of you, it never circulates in your blood, you never breath it in or breathe it out, it never
           beats in your heart -- it is simply something useless. Ornamental maybe, at the most, but of no utility
           to you. Some day you go to the church; it is a formality, a social need. And you can pay lip service to
           God, to the Bible, to the Koran, to the Vedas, but you don't mean it, you are not sincere about it.
           Your life goes on without it, your life goes on in a totally different way -- it has nothing to do with
           religion. Watch...somebody says he is a Mohammedan, somebody says he is a Hindu, somebody
           says he is a Christian, somebody says he is a Jew -- their beliefs are different but watch their life and
           you will not find any difference. The Mohammedan, the Jew, the Christian, the Hindu -- they all live
           the same life. Their life is not at all touched by their belief. In fact, beliefs cannot touch your life,
           beliefs are devices. Beliefs are cunning devices through which you say 'I know what life is' -- and
           you can rest at ease, you are not troubled by life. You hold a concept and that concept helps you to
           rationalise. Then life does not bother you much because you have all the answers to all the questions.
               But remember... unless religion is personal, unless religion is not abstract but real, deep in your
           roots, deep in your guts, unless it is like blood and bone and marrow, it is futile, it is of no use. It is
           the religion of the philosophers not the religion of the sages
               When the third type comes in...and that is the real type, these other two are the falsifications of
           religion, pseudo dimensions. cheap, very easy, because they don't challenge you. The third is very
           difficult, arduous; it is a great challenge; it will create a turmoil in your life -- because the third, the
           real religion says God has to be addressed in a personal way. You have to provoke him and you have
           to allow him to provoke you and you have to come to terms with him; in fact, you have to struggle
           with him, you have to clash against him. You have to love him, and you have to hate him; you have
           to be a friend and you have to be an enemy; you have to make your experience of God a living
           experience.

                I have heard about a small child -- and I would like you to be like this small child. He was really
           smart....
                A little boy was lost at a Sunday school picnic. His mother began a frantic search for him, and
           soon she heard loud sounds in a childish voice calling, 'Estelle, Estelle!'
                She quickly spotted the youngster and rushed up to grab him in her arms. 'Why did you keep
           calling me by my name, Estelle, instead of Mother?' she asked him, as he had never called her by her
           first name before. 'Well,' the youngster answered, 'it was no use calling out "Mother" -- the place
           is full of them.'

               If you call 'mother' there are so many mothers -- the place is full of them. You have to call in a
           personal way, you have to call the first name.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Unless God is also called in a personal way, addressed with the first name, it will never become a
           reality in your life. You can go on calling 'father' but whose father are you talking about? When
           Jesus called him 'father' it was a personal address, when you call, it is absolutely impersonal. It is
           Christian but impersonal. When Jesus called him 'father' it was-meaningful; when you call 'father' it
           is meaningless -- you have made no contact, no real contact with him. Only experience of life --
           neither belief nor philosophy -- only experience of life will make you able to address him in a
           personal way. Then you can encounter him.
               And unless God is encountered you are simply deceiving yourself with words...with words which
           are empty, hollow, with words which have no content.

                There was a very famous Sufi mystic, Shaqiq was his name. He trusted God so deeply, so
           tremendously, that he lived only out of that trust.
                Jesus says to his disciples, 'Look at those lilies in the field -- they Labour not and yet they are so
           beautiful and so alive that not even Solomon was so beautiful in all his glory.' Shaqiq lived the life of
           a lily. There have been very few mystics who have lived that way but there have been people who
           have lived that way. The trust is so infinite, the trust is so absolute that there is no need to do
           anything -- God goes on doing things for you: In fact, even when you are doing them he is doing
           them; it is only that you think you are doing them.
                One day a man came to Shaqiq accusing him of idleness, laziness, and asked him to work for
           him. 'I will pay you according to your services,' the man added.
                Shaqiq replied, 'I would accept your offer if it weren't for five drawbacks. First, you might go
           broke. Second, thieves might steal your wealth. Third, whatever you give me you will do so
           grudgingly. Fourth, if you find faults with my work, you'll probably fire me. Fifth, should death
           come to you, I'll lose the source of my sustenance. 'Now,' Shaqiq concluded, 'it happens that I have
           a Master who is totally devoid of such imperfections.'

                This is what trust is. Trust in life then you cannot lose anything.But that trust cannot come by
           doctrination, that trust cannot come by education, preaching, studying, thinking -- that trust can only
           come by experiencing life in all its opposites, in all its contradictions, in all its paradoxes. When with
           in all the paradoxes you come to the point of balance, there is trust. Trust is a perfume of balance, the
           fragrance of balance.
                If you really want to attain to trust, drop all your beliefs. They will not help. A believing mind is
           a stupid mind; a trusting mind has pure intelligence in it. A believing mind is a mediocre mind; a
           trusting mind becomes perfect. Trust makes perfect.
                And the difference between belief and trust is simple. I am not talking about the dictionary
           meaning of the words -- in the dictionary it may be so: belief means trust, trust means faith, faith
           means belief -- I am talking about existence. In an existential way belief is borrowed, trust is yours.
           Belief you believe in but doubt exists just underneath. Trust has no doubt element in it; it is simply
           devoid of doubt. Belief creates a division in you: a part of your mind believes, a part of your mind
           denies. Trust is a unity in your being, your totality.
                But how can your totality trust unless you have experienced it? The God of Jesus wont do, the
           God of MY experience won't do for you, the God of Buddha's experience won't do -- it has to be
           your experience. And if you carry beliefs you will come again and again to experiences which don't
           fit the belief, and then there is the tendency of the mind not to see those experiences, not to take note
           of them because they are very disturbing. They destroy your belief and you want to cling to your
           belief. Then you become more and more blind to life -- belief becomes a blindfold on the eyes.
                Trust opens the eyes; trust has nothing to lose. Trust means whatsoever is real is real -- 'I can put
           my desires and wishes aside, they don't make any difference to reality. They can only distract my
           mind from reality.'
                If you have a belief and you come against an experience which the belief says is not possible, or,
           the experience is such that you have to drop the belief, what are you going to choose -- the belief or
           the experience? The tendency of the mind is to choose the belief, to forget about the experience.
           That's how you have been missing many opportunities when God has knocked at your door.
                Remember it is not only you who are seeking truth -- truth is also seeking you. Many times the
           hand has come very close to you, it has almost touched you, but you shrugged yourself away. It was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not fitting with your belief and you chose to choose your belief.

           I have heard a very beautiful Jewish joke.
               There is a joke about a vampire who flew into Patrick O'Rourke's bedroom one night for the
           purpose of drinking his blood. Remembering the stories his mother told him, O'Rourke grabbed a
           crucifix and brandished it frantically in the vampire's face. The vampire paused for a moment, shook
           his head condolingly, clucked his tongue, and commented genially in the purest Yiddish, 'Oy vey,
           bubbula! Have you ever got the wrong vampire!'
               Now, if the vampire is Christian, good! You can show the cross. But if the vampire is Jewish.
           then what? Then 'Oy vey, bubbula! Have you ever got the wrong vampire!'
               If you have a certain belief and life does not fit with it, what are you going to do? You can go on
           showing your crucifix -- but the vampire is a Jew. Then he is not going to take any note of your
           cross. Then what are you going to do?
               Life is so vast and beliefs are so small; life is so infinite and beliefs are so tiny. Life never fits
           with any belief and if you try to force life into your beliefs you are trying to do the impossible. It has
           never happened; it cannot happen in the nature of things. Drop all beliefs and start learning how to
           experience.

           Now this story.

              ONCE WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SEATED TOGETHER
              IN ALL BROTHERLINESS,
              PIPE IN HAND, RABBI ISRAEL JOINED THEM.
              BECAUSE HE WAS SO FRIENDLY THEY ASKED HIM, 'TELL US, DEAR RABBI, HOW SHOULD
              WE SERVE GOD?'


                A few things about Hasidism. First, the word 'hasid' comes from a Hebrew word which means
           pious, pure. It is derived from the noun 'hased' which means grace.
                This word 'hasid' is very beautiful. The whole standpoint of Hasidism is based on grace. It is not
           that YOU do something -- life is already happening, you just be silent, passive, alert, receiving. God
           comes through his grace, not through your effort. So Hasidism has no austerities prescribed for you.
           Hasidism believes in life, in joy. Hasidism is one of the religions in the world which is
           life-affirmative. It has no renunciation in it; you are not to renounce anything. Rather, you have to
           celebrate. The founder of Hasidism, Baal-Shem, is reported to have said, 'I have come to teach you a
           new way. It is not fasting and penance, and it is not indulgence, but joy in God.'
                The Hasid loves life, tries to experience life. That very experience starts giving you a balance.
           And in that state of balance, some day, when you are really balanced, neither leaning on this side nor
           leaning on that side, when you are exactly in the middle, you transcend. The middle is the beyond,
           the middle is the door from where one goes beyond.
                If you really want to know what existence is, it is neither in life nor in death. Life is one extreme,
           death is another extreme. It is just exactly in the middle where neither death is nor life is, where one
           is simply unborn, deathless. In that moment of balance, equilibrium, grace descends.
                I would like you all to become Hasids, receivers of grace. I would like you to learn this science,
           this art of balance.
                The mind very easily chooses the extreme. There are people who indulge: they indulge in
           sensuality, sexuality, food, clothes, houses, this and that. There are people who indulge -- they lean
           too much towards life, they fall down, they topple. Then there are people, who, seeing people
           toppling down from the tightrope of existence into indulgence, falling into the abyss of indulgence,
           become afraid; they start leaning towards the other extreme. They renounce the world, they escape to
           the Himalayas. They escape from the wife, the children, the home, the world, the marketplace and
           they go and hide themselves in monasteries. They have chosen another extreme. Indulgence is the
           extreme life; renunciation is the extreme death.
                So there is some truth in Friedrich Nietzsche's comment upon Hinduism -- that Hinduism is a
           religion of death. There is some truth when Nietzsche says that Buddha seems to be suicidal. The
           truth is this: you can move from one extreme to another.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The whole Hasidic approach is not to choose any extreme, just to remain in the middle, available
           to both and yet beyond both, not getting identified with either, not getting obsessed and fixated with
           either -- just remaining free and joyously enjoying both. If life comes, enjoy life; if death comes,
           enjoy death. If out of his grace God gives love, life -- good; if he sends death, it must be good -- it is
           his gift.
               Baal-Shem is right when he says, 'I have come to teach you joy in God.' Hasidism is a
           celebrating religion. It is the purest flowering of the whole Judaic culture. Hasidism is the fragrance
           of the whole Jewish race. It is one of the most beautiful phenomena on the earth.

              ONCE WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SITTING TOGETHER IN ALL BROTHERLINESS...


               Hasidism teaches life in community. It is a very communal approach. It says that man is not an
           island, man is not an ego -- should not be an ego, should not be an island. Man should live a life of
           community.
               We are growing a Hasidic community here. To live in a community is to live in love; to live in a
           community is to live in commitment, caring for others.
               There are many religions which are very, very self-oriented: they only think of the self, they
           never think of the community. They only think of how I am going to become liberated, how I am
           going to become free, how I should attain moksha -- MY moksha, MY freedom, MY liberation, MY
           salvation. But everything is preceded by MY, by the self. And these religions try hard to drop the
           ego but their whole effort is based on the ego. Hasidism says if you want to drop the ego, the best
           way is to live in a community, live with people, be concerned with people -- with their joy, with their
           sadness, with their happiness, with their life, with their death. Create a concern for the others, be
           involved, and then the ego will disappear on its own accord. And when the ego is not, one is free.
           There is no freedom of the ego, there is only freedom FROM the ego.
               Hasidism uses community life as a device. Hasids have lived in small communities and they have
           created beautiful communities, very celebrating, dancing, enjoying the small things of life. They
           make the small things of life holy -- eating, drinking. Everything takes the quality of prayer. The
           ordinariness of life is no longer ordinary, it is suffused with divine grace.

              ONCE WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SITTING TOGETHER
              IN ALL BROTHERLINESS....


               This is the difference. If you see Jaina monks sitting, you never see any brotherliness -- it is not
           possible. The very approach is different. Each Jaina monk is an island, but the Hasids are not islands.
           They are a continent, a deep brotherliness.
               Remember it. The community I would like to grow here should be more like the hasidim, less
           like Jaina monks, because a man alone, confined to himself, is ugly. Life is in love, life is in flow, in
           give and take and sharing.
               You can go to a Jaina monastery or a Jaina temple where Jaina monks are sitting -- you can just
           watch. You will see exactly how everybody is confined to himself; there is no relationship. That is
           the whole effort: how not to be related. The whole effort is how to disconnect all relationship. But
           the more you are disconnected with community and life, the more dead you are. It is very difficult to
           find a Jaina monk who is still alive. And I know it very deeply because I was born a Jaina and I have
           watched them from my very childhood. I was simply surprised! What calamity has happened to these
           people? What has gone wrong? They are dead. They are corpses. If you don't go near them already
           prejudiced, thinking that they are great saints. if you simply go, observing without any prejudice, you
           will be simply puzzled, confused. What illness, what disease has happened to these people? They are
           neurotic. Their concern about themselves has become their neurosis.
               Community has completely lost meaning for them -- but all meaning is in community.
           Remember...when you love somebody, it is not only that you give love to them -- in giving, you
           grow. When love starts flowing between you and the other, you both are benefitted. And in that
           exchange of love your potentialities start becoming actualities. That's how self-actualisation
           happens. Love more and you will be more; love less and you will be less. You are always in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           proportion to your love. The proportion of your love is the proportion of your being.

              ONCE WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SEATED TOGETHER
              IN ALL BROTHERLINESS.
              PIPE IN HAND...

              Can you think of any saint pipe in hand?



              ...PIPE IN HAND, RABBI ISRAEL JOINED THEM.


                Ordinary life has to be hallowed, has to be made holy, even a pipe. You can smoke in a very
           prayerful way. Qr, you can pray in a very unprayerful way. It is not a question of what you do...you
           can go into the temple, you can go into the mosque, but still you can pray in a very unprayerful way.
           It depends on you; it depends on the quality you bring to your prayer. You can eat, you can smoke,
           you can drink, and you can do all these small thingS, mundane things, in such gratitude that they
           become prayers.
                Just the other night a man came. He bowed down and touched my feet. The way he was doing it
           was, I Could see, very unprayerful. He was an Indian so he was doing it just out of duty, it seemed.
           Or he was not even conscious of what he was doing -- he must have been taught. But I could feel, I
           could see his energy was absolutely unprayerful. And I was wondering why he had come. He wanted
           to become a sannyasin. I never refuse but I wanted to refuse him. I thought for a moment what to do.
           If I refuse, it doesn't look good -- but the man was absolutely wrong. Finally I said, 'Okay, I will give
           you sannyas' -- because I cannot refuse, I cannot say no. I find that word very difficult to use.
                So I gave him sannyas, and then everything became clear. Immediately after sannyas he said, 'I
           have come to your feet, now help me. I am posted' -- he is in the army -- 'I have been posted
           somewhere in Palanpur. Now, Osho, with your spiritual power, help me to be transferred to Ranchi.'
           My spiritual power has to be used for his transfer to Ranchi. Now what type of concept does he have
           of spiritual power? Now everything was clear. He was not interested in sannyas -- that taking
           sannyas was just a bribery. He must have thought that if he asks for the transfer without sannyas it
           won't look good. So first become a sannyasin and then ask.
                Just to THINK in these terms is unprayerful, unspiritual. And that man thinks he is very spiritual.
           He says he is a follower of Paramahans Yogananda and the way he said it was so egoistic, he felt so
           good, so superior -- 'I am a follower of Paramahans Yogananda; I am a disciple. And I have been
           working on myself for many years...and that's why 'I want to go to Ranchi.' Ranchi is the centre of
           Paramahans Yogananda's disciples.
                Now this man is absolutely unspiritual. His whole approach is unspiritual, unprayerful.
                The point that I want to make clear to you is this: that it does not depend on what you DO. You
           can touch my feet in a very unprayerful way -- then it is meaningless; but you can smoke and you
           can do it in a prayerful way and your prayer will reach to God.
                It is very difficult for people who have very fixed concepts about religion, spirituality, but I
           would like you to become more liquid. Don't have fixed concepts. Watch.

              ...PIPE IN HAND, RABBI ISRAEL JOINED THEM.
              BECAUSE HE WAS SO FRIENDLY THEY ASKED HIM,                 'TELL US DEAR RABBI, HOW SHOULD
              WE SERVE GOD?'


               Yes, only in deep friendliness can something be asked. And only in deep friendliness can
           something be answered. Between the Master and the disciple there is a deep friendship. It is a love
           affair. And the disciple has to wait for the right moment and the Master has also to wait for the right
           moment; when the friendship is flowing, when there is no hindrance, then things can be answered.
           Or even, sometimes, without answering them, they can be answered; even without using
           verbalisation the message can be delivered.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE WAS SURPRISED AT THE QUESTION,
              AND REPLIED, 'HOW SHOULD I KNOW?'


               In fact, that is the answer of all those who know. 'How should I know?'    'How to serve God?
           You are asking such a great question, I am not worthy to answer it,' said the Master. 'How should I
           know?'
               Nothing can be known about love; nothing can be known about how to serve God -- it is very
           difficult.

              BUT THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL THEM THIS STORY....


               First he says, 'How should I know?' First he says that knowledge is not possible about such
           things. First he says that he cannot give you any knowledge about such things. First he says that he
           cannot make you more knowledgeable about these things -- there is no way. But then he tells his
           story.
               A story is totally different to talking in terms of theories. A story is more alive, more indicative.
           It does not say much but it shows much. And all the great Masters have used stories, parables,
           anecdotes. The reason is that if you say something directly, it kills much. A direct expression is too
           crude primitive, gross, ugly. The parable is saying the thing in a very indirect way. It makes things
           very smooth; it makes things more poetic, less logical, closer to life, more paradoxical. You cannot
           use a syllogism for God, you cannot use any argument, but you can tell stories.
               And the Jewish race is one of the richest races on the earth for parables. Jesus was a Jew and he
           has told a few of the most beautiful parables ever uttered. Jews have learnt how to tell stories. In
           fact, Jews don't have much philosophy but they have beautiful philosophical parables. They say
           much; without saying, without hinting anything directly, they create an atmosphere. In that
           atmosphere something can be understood. That is the whole device of a parable.

              BUT THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL THEM THIS STORY....


               First he said, 'How should I know?' First he simply denies knowledge of any possibility of
           knowing about it. A philosopher says, 'Yes, I know' and a philosopher proposes a theory in clear-cut
           statements, logical, mathematical, syllogistic, argumentative. He tries to convince. He may not
           convince but he can force you into silence.
               A parable never tries to convince you. It takes you unawares, it persuades you, it tickles you deep
           inside.
               The moment the Master says, 'How should I know?' he is saying to them, 'Relax, I am not going
           to give any argument for it, any theory for it.And you need not be worried that! am going to
           convince you about something. Just enjoy a little parable, a little story.' When you start listening to a
           story, you relax; when you start listening to a theory, you become tense. And that which creates
           tension in you cannot be of much help. It is destructive.

              BUT THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL THEM THIS STORY....



              THERE WERE TWO FRIENDS OF THE KING,
              AND BOTH WERE PROVED GUILTY OF A CRIME.
              SINCE HE LOVED THEM THE KING WANTED TO SHOW THEM MERCY,
              BUT HE COULD NOT ACQUIT THEM BECAUSE EVEN A KING'S WORD
              CANNOT PREVAIL OVER THE LAW.
              SO HE GAVE THIS VERDICT:
              A ROPE WAS TO BE STRETCHED OVER A DEEP CHASM,
              AND, ONE AFTER ANOTHER, THE TWO WERE TO WALK ACROSS IT.
              WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               A parable has an atmosphere, a very homely atmosphere -- as if your grandmother is telling you
           a story when you are falling asleep. Children ask, 'Tell us stories.' It helps them relax and go into
           sleep. A story is very relaxing and does not create any pressure on your mind; rather, it starts playing
           with your heart. When you listen to a story, you don't listen from the head -- you cannot listen to a
           story from the head -- you listen from the head you will miss. If you listen from the head there is no
           possibility of understanding a story; a story has to be understood from the heart. That's why races
           and countries which are very 'heady' cannot understand beautiful jokes. For example, Germans! They
           cannot understand. They are one of the most intelligent races of the world but they don't have any
           good stock of jokes.

              A man was telling a German -- I have just overheard this in the ashram -- a man was telling a
           German that he had heard a very beautiful German joke.
           The German said, 'But remember, I am a German.'.
              So the man said, 'Okay, then I will tell it very, very slowly.'

               lt is very difficult. Germany is the country of the professors, logicians -- Kant, Hegel, and
           Feuerbach -- and they have always been thinking through the head. They have cultivated the head,
           they have created great scientists, logicians, philosophers, but they have missed something.
               In India we don't have many jokes; there is a great poverty of spirit. You cannot find a
           specifically Hindu joke, no. All the jokes that go on in India are borrowed from the West. No Indian
           joke exists. I have not come across any. And you can rely on me because1 have come across all the
           jokes of the world! No Hindu joke, as such, exists. What is the reason?Again, very intellectual
           people. They have been weaving and spinning theories; from Vedas to Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan
           they have been just weaving and spinning theories and theories and they have got into it so deeply
           that they have forgotten how to tell a beautiful story or how to create a joke.
               The Rabbi started telling this story -- the disciples must have become relaxed, must have become
           relaxed AND attentive. That's the beauty of a story: when a story is told you are attentive and yet not
           tense. You can relax and yet you are attentive. A passive attentiveness arises when you listen to a
           story. When you listen to a theory you become very tense because of you miss a single word you
           may not be able to understand it. You become more concentrated. When you listen to a story you
           become more meditative -- there is nothing much to be lost. Even if a few words are lost here and
           there, nothing will be lost because if you just have the feel of the story you wi 11 understand it, it
           does not depend so much on the words.
               The disciples must have relaxed, and the Master told this story.

              SO HE GAVE THIS VERDICT:
              A ROPE WAS TO BE STRETCHED OVER A DEEP CHASM,
              AND, ONE AFTER ANOTHER, THE TWO WERE TO WALK ACROSS IT.
              WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE.

              Now, this sentence is very pregnant --



              WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE.


               JESUS says many times to his disciples, 'Come unto me if you want life in abundance. If you
           want life in abundance, come to me.' But life in abundance happens only to people who go beyond
           birth and death, who go beyond the duality, to the other shore. The other shore, the other side, is just
           symbolic of the transcendental. But it is just a hint. Nothing is particularly said, just a hint is given.
           And then the story moves on.

              IT WAS DONE AS THE KING ORDERED, AND THE FIRST OF THE FRIENDS GOT SAFELY
              ACROSS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Now these are the two types of people.

                The first simply got safely across. Ordinarily we would like to enquire how to go on a rope. A
           tightrope stretched over a chasm -- it is dangerous. Ordinarily we would like to know the ways, the
           means, the method, how to go. We would like to know how? The technique -- there must be a
           technique. For centuries people have walked on tightropes.
                But the first one simply walked without enquiring, without even waiting for the other. This is the
           natural tendency: to let the other go first. At least you will be able to watch and observe and that will
           be helpful for you. No, the first simply walked. He must have been a man of tremendous trust; he
           must have been a man of undoubting confidence. He must have been a man who has learnt one thing
           in life: that there is only one way to learn and that is to live, to experience. There is no other way.
                You cannot learn tightrope-walking by watching a tightrope-walker -- no, never. Because the
           thing is not like a technology that you can observe from the outside, it is some inner balance that
           only the walker knows. And it cannot be transferred. He cannot just tell you about it; it cannot be
           verbalised. No tightrope-walker can tell anybody how he manages.
                You ride a bicycle. Can you tell anybody how you ride it? You know the balance; it is a sort of
           tightrope-walking, just on two wheels straight in one line. And you go fast and you go so trustingly.
           If somebody asks what the secret is, can you reduce it to a formula, just like H20? Can you reduce it
           to a maxim? You don't say, 'This is the principle, I follow this principle,' you will say, 'The only way
           is for you to come and sit on the bike and I will help you to go on it. You are bound to fall a few
           times and then you will know the only way to know is to know.' The only way to know swimming is
           to swim -- with all the dangers involved in it.
                The first man must have come to a deep understanding in his life -- that life is not like a
           textbook. You cannot be taught about it, you have to experience it. And he must have been a man of
           tremendous awareness. He did not hesitate, he simply walked, as if he had always been walking on a
           tightrope. He had never walked before; it was for the first time.
                But for a man of awareness everything is for the first time, and a man of awareness can do things
           -- even when he is doing them for the first time -- perfectly. His efficiency does not come out of his
           past, his efficiency comes out of his present. Let this be remembered. You can do things in two
           ways. You can do something because you have done it before -- so you know how to do it, you need
           not be present, you can simply do it in a mechanical way. But if you have not done it before, and you
           are going to do it for a first time, you have to be tremendously alert because now you don't have any
           past experience. So you cannot rely on the memory, you have to rely on awareness.
                These are the two sources of functioning: either you function out of memory, out of knowledge,
           out of the past, out of mind; or you function out of awareness, out of the present, out of no-mind.
                The first man must have been a man of no-mind, a man who knows that you can simply be alert
           and go on and see what happens. And whatsoever happens is good. A great courage.

              ...THE FIRST OF THE FRIENDS GOT SAFELY ACROSS.
              THE OTHER, STILL STANDING ON THE SAME SPOT, CRIED TO HIM,                  'TELL ME, FRIEND,HOW
              DID YOU MANAGE TO CROSS?'


                The second is the majority mind, the mass mind. The second wants to Know first how to cross it.
           Is there a method to it? Is there a technique to be learnt? He is waiting for the other to say.
               'TELL ME, FRIEND, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO CROSS?'

               The other must be a believer in knowledge. The other must have been a believer in others'
           experiences.
               Many people come to me. They say, 'Osho, tell us. What happened to you?' But what are you
           going to do about it? Buddha has told it, Mahavir has told it, Jesus has told it -- what have you done
           about it? Unless it happens to you it is futile. I can tell you one more story and then you can join that
           story also in your record of memories, but that is not going to help.
               Waiting for others' knowledge is waiting in vain because that which can be given by the others
           has no worth, and that which is of any worth cannot be given and cannot be transferred.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE FIRST CALLED BACK,           'I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING BUT THIS....


                Even though he had crossed he still said, I don't know anything but this....' Because, in fact, life
           never becomes knowledge; it remains a very suffused experience, never knowledge. You cannot
           verbalise it, conceptualise it, put it into a clear-cut theory.
              'I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING BUT THIS:
           WHENEVER I FELT MYSELF TOPPLING OVER TO ONE SIDE,
           I LEANED TO THE OTHER.'
               'This much only can be said: that there were two extremes, left and right, and whenever I felt that
           I was going too much towards the left and the balance was getting lost, I leaned towards the right.
           But again I had to balance because then I started going too much to the right and again I felt the
           balance was getting lost. Again I leant towards the left.'
                So he said two things. One, 'I cannot formulate it as knowledge. I can only indicate. I don't know
           exactly what happened but this much I can give as a hint to you. And that is not much; in fact, you
           need not have it. You will come across the experience yourself. But this much can be said.'
                Buddha was asked again and again, 'What has happened to you?' And he would always say, 'That
           cannot be said but this much I can say to you -- I can say in what circumstances it happened. That
           may be of some help to you. I cannot tell about the ultimate truth but I can tell how, on what path,
           with what method, in what situation I was when it happened, when the grace descended on me, when
           the benediction came to me.'
           The man says,

              ... WHENEVER I FELT MYSELF TOPPLING OVER TO ONE SIDE,
              I LEANED TO THE OTHER.'
                  'That's all. Nothing much to it. That's how I balanced, that's how I remained in the middle.' And in
              the middle is grace.


               The Rabbi is saying to his disciples, 'You ask how we should serve God?' He was indicating with
           this parable: remain in the middle.
               Don't indulge too much and don't renounce too much. Don't be only in the world and don't escape
           out of it. Go on keeping a balance. When you feel that now you are falling into too much indulgence,
           lean towards renunciation, and when you feel that now you are going to become a renunciate, an
           ascetic, lean back again to indulgence. Keep in the middle.
               On the road in India you will find boards saying 'Keep to the Left' -- in America you will find
           'Keep to the Right'. In the world there are only two types of people: a few keep to the left, a few keep
           to the right. The third type is the very pinnacle of consciousness. And there the rule is 'Keep to the
           Middle'. Don't try it on the road but on life's way keep to the middle: never to the left, never to the
           right. Just to the middle.
               And in the middle there will be glimpses of balance. There is a point -- you can understand, you
           can feel it -- there is a point when you are not leaning to either extreme, you are exactly in the
           middle. In that split-second suddenly there is grace, everything is in equilibrium.
               And that's how one can serve God. Remain in balance and it becomes a service to God; remain in
           balance and God is available to you and you are available to God.
               Life is not a technology, not even a science; life is an art -- or it would even be better to call it a
           hunch. You have to feel it. It is like balancing on a tightrope.
               The Rabbi has chosen a beautiful parable. He has not talked about God at all; he has not talked
           about service at all; he has not really answered the question at all directly. The disciples must have
           themselves forgotten about the question -- that's the beauty of a parable. It doesn't divide your mind
           into a question and an answer, it simply gives you a hunch that this is how things are.
               Life has no 'know-how' about it. Remember, life is not American, it is not a technology. The
           American mind, or to be more specific, the modern mind, tends to create technologies out of
           everything. Even when there is meditation the modern mind immediately tends to create a
           technology out of it. Then we create machines, and man is getting lost, and we are losing all contact
           with life.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Remember, there are things which cannot be taught but which can only be caught. I am here, you
           can watch me, you can look into me and you will see a balance and you will see a silence. It is
           almost tangible, you can touch it, you can hear it, you can see it. It is here. I cannot say what it is, I
           cannot specifically give you techniques how to attain to it. At the most I can tell you a few parables,
           a few stories. They will be just hints. Those that understand will allow those hints to fall into their
           hearts like seeds. In their time, in the right season, they will sprout and you will understand me really
           only on the day you also experience the same that I am experiencing. I have crossed to the other
           shore, you are shouting from the other side, 'Tell me, friend, how did you manage to cross?' I can tell
           you only one thing,
              'I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING BUT THIS:
           WHENEVER I FELT MYSELF TOPPLING TO THE ONE SIDE,
           I LEANED TO THE OTHER.'

               Keep to the middle. Keep continuously alert that you don't lose the balance, and then everything
           will take care of itself.
               If you can remain in the middle, you remain available to God, to his grace. If you can remain in
           the middle you can become a Hasid; you can become a receiver of grace. And God is grace. You
           cannot do anything to find him, you can only do one thing: not stand in his way. And whenever you
           move to an extreme you become so tense that that very tension makes you too solid; whenever you
           are in the middle, tension disappears, you become liquid, fluid. And you are no longer i n the way.
           When you are in the middle you are no longer in God's way -- or let me tell you it in this way: when
           you are in the middle you are not. Exactly in the middle that miracle happens -- that you are nobody,
           you are a nothingness.
               This is the secret key. It can open the lock of mystery, of existence to you.




                                                  The Art of Dying
                                                    Chapter #4
                                              Chapter title: Let It Be So
           14 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610140
              ShortTitle: ART04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins




              The first question:


              SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO ME THROUGH YOU BUT IT IS SOMETHING WHICH IS
              INEXPRESSIBLE. WHAT IT IS I DON'T KNOW. BUT EVEN THEN IT IS THERE.


               THE human mind tends to convert every experience into a question. That is a very destructive
           step. Please avoid it. Here near me the whole purpose is to know that which is not knowable, to
           know that which is not expressible, to know that which cannot be put into words. When it starts
           happening, don't make a problem out of it, don't create a question out of it -- because your very
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           questioning will become a stopping. Then your mind will have started something else and you are
           distracted.
               When it starts happening, enjoy it, love it, be nourished by it, savour it, dance it, sing it, but don't
           make a question about it. Just be it. And allow it total space. It will grow. It needs space in you to
           grow.
               Don't be in a hurry to make a theory out of it. Theories are very dangerous. They can kill the
           child in the womb. The moment you start thinking in terms of analysing, knowing what it is and
           what it is not, comparing, labelling, you are moving towards an abortion. You will miss something
           that was going to grow -- you killed it. Don't be suicidal, don't be analytical, just allow it. Feel its
           presence -- but not with the mind. Feel its presence with your totaility. Let your heart be open to it
           and it will grow.
               And in that very growth, by and by understanding will come. Understanding is not going to come
           through analysis, through thinking, through brooding, through logic. Understanding is going to come
           by deeper and deeper experience.
               You say something has happened to you through me but it is something which is inexpressible.
           Let it be so. Be happy. You are blessed. When something inexpressible starts happening then you are
           on the right track, you are moving towards God, the ultimate mystery. Whenever you have
           something within you which you cannot understand, that simply shows something bigger than you
           has entered in you -- otherwise you could have understood it, you could have figured it out.
           Something bigger than the mind has penetrated you, a ray of light in the dark soul, a ray of light in
           the dark night of the mind. The mind cannot comprehend it; it is beyond its understanding. But not
           beyond understanding, remember. Beyond the understanding that is possible for the mind but not
           beyond understanding -- because there is understanding which is not of the mind: the understanding
           of the total organ, of your total being, of your totality.
               But that comes not by analysis, not by dissection; it comes by absorbing the experience. Eat it!
           That which is inexpressible has to be eaten by you. Jesus says to his disciples, 'Eat me.' That's what
           he means: eat the inexpressible, eat the unknown. Digest it, let it circulate into your blood. Let it
           become part of you. And then you will know. And the knowing will arise as suddenly as the
           experience has arisen.
               Now a ray has entered in you. Allow it to become part of you -- only then will you understand it.
               This understanding is not the understanding you have been acquainted with up to now. You have
           known only the mind and its ways. It labels things very immediately. Whenever you ask what this is,
           what are you asking really? You see a bush and a flower and you say, 'What is this?' Somebody says
           'a rosebush' and you think you have understood. Somebody has just uttered a word 'rose' and you
           think you have understood.
               But if you don't know the name you feel a little disturbed. That unknown flower confronts you,
           challenges you. You feel your prestige is at stake. Because that unknown flower continuously says,
           'You don't know me, so what kind of knowledge is yours? You don't know even me?' The flower
           goes on hitting hard at you and you start feeling disturbed. You want to know so that you can finish
           with this challenge. You go to the library, you look at the books, at the Encyclopedia Britannica; you
           find out what the name of this rose is. It is 'rose' -- okay, you have labelled it. Now you can be at
           ease.
               But what have you done? Just by putting a word to the rosebush do you think you have
           understood it? You have lost an opportunity of understanding. You have lost a great challenge.
           Because remember well -- the name 'rose' is given by man to the rosebush, the rosebush does not
           know the name at all. If you talk about the rosebush to the rosebush, the rosebush will not
           understand it. What are you talking about? What nonsense are you talking about? The rosebush has
           no name as far as the bush itself is concerned -- the name is given by others, given by people like
           you who cannot tolerate the unknowable anywhere.
               The unknowable is such an uneasy thing, it creates so much discomfort. You see somebody; you
           say, 'Who is this man?' And then somebody says he is a Chinese, or an African, or a Japanese, and
           you feel at ease. What have you known? Just by saying that he is a Chinese.... There are millions of
           Chinese -- eight hundred million -- and no other Chinese is like him. In fact, nothing exists like THE
           Chinese. There are millions and millions of Chinese -- each individual is unique, different; each has
           his own signature, his own being. What have you understood by labelling a man as a Chinese? But
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you feel at ease.
               What religion does he belong to? He is a Buddhist. Another label has come into your hand. You
           know a little more now. To what party does he belong? He is a communist. Still a few more labels
           you gather -- and then you think you have known the man.
               Is knowledge as cheap as the mind thinks? Labelling is not knowledge. Labelling is a way to
           avoid the opportunity that was open. You could have known the man if you had got involved with
           him. You could have known the rosebush if you had meditated alone with it, if you had allowed its
           fragrance to enter into your nostrils and into your heart; if you had touched it with love. If you had
           had a communion with this rosebush you might have known something.
               I don't say you can know the rosebush totally. If you can know a single rosebush totally then you
           have known the whole universe -- because in the single rosebush the whole universe is involved: the
           sun and the moon and the stars and the past and the present and the future. All time and all space is
           converging on that small roseflower. If you can know it in its totality you will have known the whole
           universe. Then nothing is left behind. Each small thing is so great.
               And when something like an unknown flower starts blooming within you, don't be in a hurry to
           dissect it; don't put it on the table and cut it and start looking for the ingredients. Enjoy it. Love it.
           Help it to grow. A grace has descended upon you. You have become a Hasid.
           That is the meaning of Hasid -- grace.

           The second question:


              LORD SHIVA DISCLOSED MANY TECHNIQUES OF EQUILIBRIUM UNTO DEVI, HIS CONSORT IN
              'VIGYAN BHAIRAV TANTRA'. WILL YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE
              TECHNIQUES IN REFERENCE TO THE HASIDIC ART OF EQUILIBRIUM, BALANCE?


                No, I will not say anything about those techniques -- because Hasidism is absolutely
           non-technical. The whole approach is non-technical. Hasidism has no technique -- just a sheer joy in
           life.
                Hasidism is not a path of meditation, it is a path of prayer. Prayer has no technique. Meditation
           can have millions of techniques because meditation is a scientific approach to inner reality. Hasidism
           is not a science, it is an art. Hasidism does not believe in techniques but in love.
                Remember well, the technological mind is a mathematical mind. The mind of the lover is
           non-mathematical; the mind of the lover is the mind of the poet. Love is a romance, not a technique.
           Love is a dream. not a technique. Love has a totally different approach to life.
                Hasidism has no techniques; it has no yoga, no Tantra in it. It simply says: trust life, trust God,
           and whatsoever has been given to you, enjoy it. Enjoy it so deeply and with such gratitude that every
           ordinary thing becomes hallowed, becomes holy, each small thing in life becomes sacred. Transform
           everything into a sacred thing -- the profane disappears when you bring your energy of love, grace,
           gratitude.
                Love is not a technique, so nobody can teach you how to love. And if you come across books
           which say that they can teach you how to love, beware of those books. If you once learn the
           techniques of love you will never be able to love again. Those techniques will become a barrier.
           Love is a natural spontaneous phenomenon. Even animals are loving -- they don't have Kinseys and
           Masters and Johnsons and they are achieving orgasm perfectly, without any scientific help. They
           don't have any sex therapists and they don't go to any guru to be taught how to love. It is an inborn
           quality. Each being born brings it with himself.
                There are a few things which you bring with your birth. A child is born...nobody can teach the
           child how to breathe. If it depended on teaching then nobody would be able to be alive, because time
           would be needed to teach the child. He would first have to be sent to school, taught language,
           disciplined, and then finally, after at least seven, eight or ten years, we would be able to teach him
           how to breathe -- he doesn't understand even the word 'breathe'. No, it doesn't depend on any
           teaching. The Child is born with the capacity to breathe; it is inborn. It is as inborn as a flower on a
           bush. It is as inborn as water rushing towards the ocean -- naturally.
                The moment a child is born the whole being of the child hankers, becomes hungry for breath --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not knowing what is happening because he has never breathed before. Nobody has ever taught him,
           he has never done it, he has no experience about it -- it simply happens.
                In exactly the same way, one day, at the age of fourteen, the child starts feeling a tremendous
           attraction towards the other sex. Nobody has taught it; in fact, teachers have been teaching against it.
           The whole human history seems to be a teaching against sexuality. against sex energy. Religions,
           cultures, civilisations, priests and politicians -- they have all been teaching how to suppress sex. But
           still it cannot be suppressed. It seems it is impossible to suppress it.
                It is a natural phenomenon. It arises. It arises even when you are against it -- see the truth of it.
           Even when you are against it, it arises in spite of you. It is bigger than you. You cannot control it. It
           is natural.
                Hasidism says that if a man starts living a natural life, one day, suddenly, love of God arises as
           naturally as love for the woman or love for the man arises; as naturally as breathing arises after birth.
           That precious moment cannot be managed; you cannot plan for it, you cannot prepare for it, there is
           no need. You simply live a natural life. Don't fight with nature, float with it, and one day suddenly
           you will see that grace has descended on you. A tremendous urge has arisen in your being, a new
           LOVE towards existence -- call it God. Because when love arises, existence becomes personal. Then
           it is no more 'it'; it becomes 'thou'. Then it is a relationship between 'I' and 'thou'.
                Hasidism simply says don't be unnatural and prayer will be born on its own accord. It has no
           techniques. And that's the beauty of it.
                If you have missed the natural flowering of prayer -- then techniques are needed. Meditation is a
           substitute for prayer; it is second to prayer. If you have missed prayer then meditation is needed but
           if prayer has arisen in you then there is no need for any meditation. Prayer is spontaneous
           meditation; meditation is prayer with effort. Prayer with technique is meditation; meditation without
           technique is prayer.
                Hasidism is the religion of.prayer, that's why in Hasidism there is no renunciation. A Hasid lives
           the natural life that God has conferred on him. Wherever God has placed him, he lives, he loves; he
           enjoys the small pleasures of life. And once you start enjoying the small pleasures, the total
           cumulative effect is a great bliss in your being.
                This has to be understood. Don't wait for some great bliss to descend on you. It never happens.
           Great bliss is nothing but small pleasures accumulating in your being. The total of all the small
           pleasures is the great bliss. Eating, enjoy it. Drinking, enjoy it. Taking a bath, enjoy it. Walking,
           enjoy it. Such a beautiful world, such a beautiful morning, such beautiful clouds...what else do you
           need to celebrate? The sky full of stars...what more do you need to be prayerful? The sun rising from
           the east...what more do you need to bow down? And amidst a thousand and one thorns a small
           roseflower arises, opening its buds, so fragile, so vulnerable, yet so strong, so ready to fight with the
           wind, with the lightning, with the thunderings. Look at the courage...what more do you need to
           understand trust?
                Techniques are needed when you have missed these small openings towards God. If you go on
           looking in the small openings, the total effect is a great-door. And suddenly you start seeing what
           prayer is. Not only seeing, you start living it.
                Hasidism is a totally different approach to Tantra. And Hasidism is far superior to any Tantra,
           because it is the natural Tantra, it is the natural way. It is the way of Tao.
                But the mind is very cunning. The mind wants to manipulate. The mind wants to manipulate
           even the relationship of love; the mind wants to manipulate even the mysterious phenomenon of
           prayer. The mind is a great controller. The obsession of the mind is to control everything, not to
           allow anything beyond control -- hence technique. The mind is always asking for techniques and the
           mind goes on planning for every possibility.
                If you plan for every possibility, if you manage for everything on your own, you never give a
           chance to God to penetrate you, to take control onto his shoulders. You never allow Bod to help you.
           You think you have to be independent; you think there is no other way than self-help. You remain
           unnecessarily poor.

               A small child was playing around his father who was sitting in the garden. And the small child
           was trying to pull up a big rock. It was too big and he could not do it. He tried hard. He was
           perspiring.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The father said, 'You are not using all your energies.'
              The child said, 'Wrong. I am using all my energy. And I don't see what more I can do?'
              The father said, 'You have not asked me to help. That too is your energy. I am sitting here and
           you have not asked me to help. You are not using all your energy.'

               A man who lives through techniques may think he is using all his energies but he has not asked
           for God's help. A man who is simply meditating with techniques is a poor man. A Hasid is
           tremendously rich because he is really using all his energy. A Hasid is open; a technique-oriented
           mind is a closed mind. It goes on planning everything. Even if your plans are fulfilled you will not
           be happy, because they are your plans. They are as small as you are. Even if you succeed you will be
           a failure; even in your success you will have the taste of frustration. Because what will you get? Or,
           if you fail, you will of course be frustrated. When you fail you are frustrated, but when you succeed
           then you are frustrated too.
               Open yourself to the divine. You live naturally; not trying to improve, not living through ideas,
           not living through moral disciplines -- just living a natural life. Nature should be your only
           discipline, and whatsoever is natural is good because that's how God wills it to be, wants it to be. If
           you can accept your life with such gratefulness, that this is how God wants it to be.... If he has given
           sex to you, he has given sex to you -- he knows better. You need not try to enforce any celibacy on
           yourself. An enforced celibacy is ugly, more ugly than a natural sex. And if you accept natural sex
           you will find that beyond a certain point natural sex becomes natural celibacy. Then
           BRAHMACHARYA arises. Then you start living in a totally different way.
           But it comes floating with the river of life.
               Do you see? A river descends from the mountains, moves thousands of miles, then one day
           disappears into the ocean. If the river were a great thinker, and it started thinking, 'This is going
           downwards. I should not do that. My abode is on the mountains. A river is first just snow peaks of
           the Himalayas -- there is my abode. And I am falling. This is sin. Falling down in a glacier, moving
           towards the earth, from the height of the heaven....' If rivers were thinkers they would go crazy,
           because this is going down, descending into hell. But rivers are not thinkers, they are very fortunate.
           They accept it. It was God's will to be on the hilltop, it is his will now to explore the depths.
               And a person who really wants to know the height has also to know the depth, otherwise he will
           not be able to know. Depth is the other part of the height. The higher the peak of the mountain, the
           deeper the valley. If you want to know the tree, you have to know the roots also. The tree goes
           upwards and roots go downwards. And the tree exists between this: the upward movement and the
           downward movement. This is the tension that gives life to the tree.
               The river moves, trusting, not knowing where she is going -- she has never gone before and she
           has no road map available, no guide to guide. But she goes trusting: if this is how it is happening it
           must be good. She goes singing and dancing. And then one day every river -- whether it runs
           towards the East or whether it runs towards the West or the South or the North, it makes no
           difference -- every river finally, eventually, reaches the ultimate, disappears into the ocean. In the
           ocean she has attained the final depth.
               Now the journey is complete. She has known the peaks of the Himalayas, now she has known the
           depth of the ocean. Now the experience is total; now the circle is complete. Now the river can
           disappear into nirvana; now the river can disappear into moksha.
           This is what liberation is.
               A Hasid lives like a river. He trusts. A man who is too obsessed with technique is a non-trusting
           man, a doubting man. He cannot trust in life, he trusts in his own techniques.

               I have heard a very beautiful anecdote. Bodhi has sent it to me.
               A gorilla collector was anxious to collect some more gorillas, so he went to Africa. Soon he
           found himself in the hut of a Great White Hunter. 'And how much do you charge for each catch?'
           asked the collector.       'Well,' said the Hunter, 'I get five hundred dollars tor myself, five hundred
           dollars for that little pygmy over there with the rifle, and five hundred dollars for my dog.'
               The collector couldn't figure out why the dog should get five hundred dollars, but being a
           practical man he reasoned that fifteen hundred dollars was reasonable and he didn't care how it got
           divided up.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                On safari the Great White Hunter spied a gorilla up a tree whereupon he climbed up the tree and
           hit the gorilla over the head. As the gorilla fell to the ground, the dog ran over and grabbed it by the
           testicles with his teeth, rendering it motionless. Meanwhile the Hunter climbed down the tree,
           brought a cage over, and pushed the gorilla in it.
                The collector was flabbergasted. He said to the Hunter, 'This is simply fantastic! I have never
           seen anything like it in my life! You are certainly earning your five hundred dollars, and that dog --
           well, what can I say? -- he's simply terrific. But that pygmy with the rifle -- he doesn't seem to be
           doing a thing.'
                The Hunter said, 'Don't you worry about the pygmy. He earns his money.'
                So on and so forth it went, catching gorilla after gorilla, until finally he came across a gorilla
           who had been watching the whole proceedings. The Hunter climbed up the tree, and just as he was
           about to bash the gorilla over the head, the gorilla turned and bashed him first.
                As the Hunter was falling from the tree, he yelled to the pygmy, 'Shoot the dog! Shoot the dog!'

               Now this is the technique-oriented mind. It arranges for everything, for every possibility. It does
           not leave a loophole in the system.
               A religious man cannot live in such a planned way, it is not possible. He has to leave many
           loopholes for Bod to enter in. In fact, if you understand rightly, a religious man is one who plans
           nothing -- because how can we plan? and what are our capacities for planning? We are limited. We
           have a small light of intelligence but it is too tiny. Trusting it totally creates a very mediocre life.
           The vast never enters into this mediocre life; the infinite never enters into this mediocre life; the
           endless never enters into this mediocre life.
               Hasidism is a very revolutionary step -- a great risk is involved. The risk is in dropping the mind
           which seems to be our only security; dropping the mind which seems to be our only certainty;
           dropping the mind which seems to be our only capacity. And then trusting the no-mind -- call it God;
           trusting existence, not trusting oneself. Hasidism is a great surrender.

           The third question:


              OSHO. ONLY ONE MASTER AT A TIME.


               I can understand and appreciate your difficulty. I am talking about too many Masters and too
           many paths and too many doors -- and it is natural that you may start getting confused.
               But you can get confused only if you cling to my words. If you don't cling to my words I am
           saying the same thing again and again and again even though the words may be different and I may
           be using different approaches. And when I use any approach, any path, I am totally with it. Then I
           don't care about anything else. Even things that I have said before, I don't care about.
               When I am talking about Hasids, I am a Hasid.And then I am totally involved in it. That's the
           only way to reveal its secret to you. If I remain uninvolved, if I remain without any passion, if I am
           just a spectator, a professor, just explaining things to you, it won't give you the insight that is
           Intended, it won't give you the vision. Then you will collect information and you will go home -- you
           will become more knowledgeable, but not wise.
               So whenever I am speaking about any Master or any path or any scripture, I am totally in it, my
           involvement is absolute. In those moments nothing else exists for me because I am in a passion, I am
           passionately in love with that teaching.
               Of course, I can understand your difficulty, because when I say passionately that Hasidism is the
           way, you become disturbed because one day I was saying Tantra is the way, another day I was
           saying Zen is the way, and another day I was saying Tao is the way. So now what is the way?
               When I am talking about one way, I am that way. Don't cling to my words, listen to the wordless
           message. And if it hits your heart, if it sings in your heart, then you have found your way. Then
           forget everything I have said before or whatsoever I am going to say in future. Then you need not
           worry. You have found your key. Now you can open the lock.
               I will go on talking because I am talking for millions. When you have found your key, enjoy
           whatsoever I say but don't again and again get disturbed by it. You have found your key, now I must
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           talk for somebody else who has not yet found his key. When you have found your peace, your
           silence, your bliss, you have got what you were needing, but there are many others who have not got
           it. I will be talking for them and I will be using all the possibilities.
                For example, when I am talking on Hasidism it may hit your heart deeply and your love may
           arise for this path. My passion may inflame you. That's why I speak with passion. If I speak with
           indifference as professors do.... I am not a professor. When I am speaking on Hasidism I am a Hasid
           rabbi. It is my path then that I am talking about. It is not somebody else's path that I am describing to
           you, it is my path that I have travelled, that J have loved, that I have known, that I have tasted. I am
           talking about my own experience, and if it hits and something clicks in your heart and prayer
           becomes your path, then forget whatsoever I am saying, then you need not reconsider again and
           again.
                If it has not happened then you have to consider. If it has not happened then don't worry about it,
           forget all about it, I will be talking about something else, I will be opening another door. Maybe that
           is the door for you. But when you have found the door then don't be worried about other doors that I
           will be opening because all the doors lead to the same. Don't you be worried that you should enter
           THIS door -- maybe Osho is going to open another bigger and golden door. But they are all the
           same.
                And the door that you have fallen in love with is the golden door for you. Now there is no other
           door if you have fallen in love with this door. And you will find others entering from other doors but
           when you reach to the very centre of existence, you will all be meeting there in tremendous love and
           brotherhood. Somebody will be a Hasid and somebody will be a Zen monk and somebody will be a
           Tibetan lama and somebody will be a Sufi and somebody has come through sitting silently and
           somebody has come dancing -- but in deep brotherhood at the centre all seekers meet.
                I know it is very difficult. If you start choosing two Masters you will be in conflict. Never choose
           two Masters -- one is enough, more than enough.

                When Mulla Nasrudin was dying he called his son, told him to come close and said to him, 'My
           son, I have one thing to say to you -- even though I know you will not listen, because I didn't listen
           to my own father when he was dying. He told me, "Nasrudin, don't chase women too much." But I
           could not resist; the temptation was too much. And I got involved with one woman, another
           woman....' He married nine women -- the maximum that the Koran permits.
                And he said, 'I have created a hell. I suffered much. I know you don't listen but still I am saying
           it, because now I am departing and there will be no chance to say it to you. I know you will fall in
           love with women but at least remember one thing from your old man: My son, one at a time, one at a
           time. At least do that much.'

               One at a time. If you fall in love with two women at a time, what does it show? It shows you
           have a split personality. You are schizophrenic, you are not one, you are two. If you fall in love with
           three women at a time then you are three. And there are people who fall in love with any woman
           they see. Whosoever is passing, suddenly they are in love. Every woman is their love object. They
           are a crowd. You can count how many persons live in you by counting how many women you fall in
           love with simultaneously. That's a very beautiful way to measure how many persons live in you, a
           very easy criterion.
               But to fall in love with one woman makes you a unity, gives you a unison, you become total.
           You become sane because then there is no conflict.

           I have heard.
               The bride and bridegroom stepped into the hotel elevator and the pretty girl operator said, 'Hello,
           darling' to the bridegroom. Not another word was spoken until the couple alighted at their floor,
           when the bride exclaimed, 'Who was that hussy?'          'Now, don't you begin anything,' said the
           bridegroom quite worriedly. 'I'm going to have enough trouble on my hands explaining you to her
           tomorrow.'

               Even to fall in love with two women is dangerous -- but to fall in love with two Masters is a
           million-fold more dangerous. Because the love of the woman may be only of the body, so the spirit
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           goes only that far. Or at the most, the love of the woman may be of the mind, and the spirit goes only
           that far. But the love of the Master is of the soul and if you fall in love with two Masters your soul
           will be dividing, you will be totally disintegrated you will start falling in parts, you will not be able
           to remain together. You will simply lose all shape and all form, all integrity. And the whole point in
           being with a Master is to attain to integration.
                Once you fall in love with a Master, remain. I am not saying that even when you are
           disillusioned remain with him. When you are disillusioned, he is no more your Master. Then there is
           no point in remaining with him. Then seek another.
                But never be with two Masters in your mind simultaneously. Be decisive about it -- because this
           decision is no ordinary decision, it is very momentous. It will decide your whole being: its quality,
           its future.

           The third question:


              BELOVED OSHO, YOU ARE REALLY MISCHIEVOUS. YOU TELL US THAT YOU WANT TO
              BREAK OUR HOUSES SO THAT WE CAN ENTER IN YOUR HOUSE BUT I HAVE SEEN IT. YOUR
              HOUSE HAS NO FLOOR, NO WALLS, NO CEILING. SO I GO ON LOOKING FROM THE PORCH
              GRABBING ONTO A PILLAR, AFRAID TO BE SUCKED IN.


               That's true. My whole effort is to trick you in; to trick you in for something you have never
           desired.
               A disciple and the Master are in a great conflict; a great struggle goes on. And the disciple can
           win only if he is unfortunate. If the Master wins it the disciple is blessed, very fortunate. The
           struggle is because the disciple has come to the Master for wrong reasons -- maybe he has come to
           seek some sort of spiritual ego. He has failed in life; money, power, prestige, respectability, success
           in the marketplace, ambitions in the political world -- he has failed there. He could not attain to the
           very peak of his egoistic journey; he could not become a president or a prime minister -- now life is
           running out of his hands and he wants to be somebody. It is very, very uncomfortable to remain a
           nobody.
               Finally people start seeking and searching into the dimension of religion. There it seems easier.
           There it seems easier to attain to a certain ego, a certain crystallisation of the ego. At least you can
           become a Rajneesh sannyasin -- so simple. And you can feel great. You can feel that you have
           become special.
               The so-called religious people are trying to attain something which they have not been able to
           attain in the world -- sometimes they try by austerities, asceticism. Somebody fasts for days together,
           he becomes special -- nobody can fast that much. He may be a masochist, he may be a self torturer --
           he has to be. Or he may be suicidal. He has to be. But he starts getting respect from people -- he is a
           great mahatma. He fasts so much; he is against the body, he is against comfort. He can lie down on a
           bed of thorns, or he can stand for years.
               Or he can sit on a pillar in the desert for years -- just sitting there on a pillar. Very
           uncomfortable. He cannot sleep, he cannot rest -- but then he attracts people. Suddenly he has
           become very important. Even those prime ministers and presidents that he wanted to become and
           failed to, start coming to him because they think that if such a great ascetic can bless them, they can
           rise more in the world of power. He feels very gratified, contented. Now the ego is at the supermost.
           Even kings and prime ministers and presidents are coming to him.
               The disciple comes for wrong reasons. Or a disciple comes to attain a certain sort of peace
           because he is in much turmoil. Why does he want to attain to peace? He wants to attain to peace so
           that he can work out his ambitions in a better way.
               Just the other day I was looking at an advertisement of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental
           Meditation. It promises everything: a good job, proficiency in your work, health, mental health,
           physical health, longevity; everything that a man can desire, it promises. It is a long list. Economic,
           spiritual, social, physical, psychological -- all these benefits -- just for sitting for twenty minutes and
           repeating something stupid. Coca-cola, coca-cola -- or something like that.
               So simple! That's why it is said that you should not tell your mantra to anybody -- otherwise they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will laugh! It has to be kept private. If you say to somebody that I repeat coca-cola, coca-cola, they
           will think you have gone mad. So a mantra has to be kept absolutely private. You will keep it private
           anyway because it will look so absurd to tell it to anybody.
               Just twenty minutes repeating any nonsense word and you get so many benefits? It appeals to the
           mediocre mind immediately. This Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's meditation is neither meditation nor
           transcendental; it is simply an effort to exploit the gullible, to exploit the people who are searching
           and seeking for everything, searching for a panacea, searching for a remedy.
               When you come to a real Master he says there is no remedy, he says there is no panacea. And he
           does not say that he will make you peaceful and healthy and this and that and then you can go into
           the world and rush after your ambition in a more efficient way. No, he will say you are disturbed,
           you are in a turmoil BECAUSE of the ambition. Drop the ambition. A real Master can only promise
           you that he will take away your ambition, he will take away your ego. He can only promise that he
           will kill you. You have come to be protected, you have come to attain to some security, you have
           come to find some props -- but a real Master is one who takes your props, prop by prop, away from
           you. One day you simply collapse. And in that very collapse, out of the ashes, arises a new being.
           That new being has nothing to do with you. That new being is so new it is discontinuous with you. It
           has no past, it has no future, it has only a pure presence, herenow.
               The question is from Krishna Radha. She is right. YOU ARE REALLY MISCHIEVOUS. I am.
           So beware of me. And if you can escape in time, good. Otherwise how long can you cling in the
           porch? If you have entered the porch it is not very far from the house.
               And the porch is also imaginary because the house has no floor, no roof, no wall -- how can such
           a house have a porch? Just think about it. The porch is just imaginary.
               I help you to see the porch so you can at least enter the porch -- then the journey becomes easier.
           I sometimes promise you things which you ask for, simply to help you to be here a little longer. Your
           very understanding will tell you by and by that you were asking for foolish things. And then one day
           suddenly you will find that the porch has disappeared and, of course, that the house had never
           existed.
               But the house that has no walls to it and no roof and no floor is the house of God -- because the
           very sky is its roof and the very earth is its floor and the no-boundaries are its boundaries.
               Yes, I am not taking you into any house which has boundaries because then that house will prove
           again another imprisonment, it will be another prison. Maybe a little more comfortable, a little more
           decorated, maybe furnished in a little more modern way and a modern style, but still a prison.
               My house is a house of freedom. It is exactly what Radha says -- YOUR HOUSE HAS NO
           FLOOR, NO WALLS, NO CEILING, SO L AM LOOKING FROM THE PORCH GRABBING A
           PILLAR. Look again. The pillar exists not. Because you want to grab, you believe in the pillar. Look
           again. Open your eyes. There is no pillar and there is no point in grabbing. Relax. Let go. And
           suddenly you disappear and you become the infinity, you become the space. That is what God is --
           space, no boundaries.
               My house is the house of God, it is not a man-made temple.

           I have heard an anecdote.
               Two office workers had a drink or two at a midtown bar after the labours of the day. One offered
           a third round, but his friend refused, saying he'd better get home and explain to his wife. 'Explain
           what?' asked the friend. 'How do I know? I'm not home yet.'

               Don't go on standing in the porch. You will not know by standing in the porch. Come home.
           disappear in this infinity that I am making available to you. Only then will you know. And there is
           no need for any explanation then, no need for any theory then, no need for any rationalisation then --
           because the experience itself is self-evident proof. You have lived in small houses and small dark
           cells up to now and you cannot believe that one can live in such absolute freedom. You have lost the
           capacity to be free.
               That capacity has to be relearned, that capacity has to be reclaimed. I am not here to discipline
           you, I am not here to give you principles -- my whole effort is to give you an unprincipled Life, a
           spontaneous, undisciplined life. The only gift that I can present to you is freedom. And freedom has
           no walls to it, it is as infinite as the sky. Claim the whole sky -- it is yours.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The fifth question:


              WHO CAN BECOME A BETTER DISCIPLE: A LEARNED FOOL OR AN UNLEARNED FOOL? AND
              FOR THE INTELLIGENTSIA PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR DICTUM: BLESSED ARE THE FOOLS.


                I don't see any intelligentsia here -- except blessed fools.
                Maybe the questioner can be excluded -- Pundit Swami Yoga Chinmaya. He can be excluded.
           But otherwise I don't see any intelligentsia here.
                There is a very strange saying of Mohammed -- that heaven is mostly occupied by fools. When J
           came across it even I was surprised. I had never expected Mohammed to be so revolutionary. A
           tremendous saying! What does he mean by it -- that heaven is mostly occupied by fools'? But by and
           by, looking at you, I felt that he was right! Here also it is mostly occupied by fools.
                Let me explain to you how many types of fools there are. The first: one who knows not, and
           knows not that he knows not. The simple fool. Then the second: one who knows not but knows that
           he knows. The complex fool, the learned fool. And the third: one who knows that he knows not -- the
           blessed fool.
                Everybody is born as a simple fool -- that is the meaning of 'simpleton'. Every child is a simple
           fool. He knows not that he knows not. He has not yet become aware of the possibility of knowing --
           that is the Christian parable of Adam and Eve.
                God said to them, 'Don't eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge.' Before that accident of eating the
           fruit of the tree of knowledge, they were simple fools. They knew nothing. Of course, they were
           tremendously happy, because when you know not, it is difficult to be unhappy. Unhappiness needs a
           little training; unhappiness needs a little efficiency to create it; unhappiness needs a little technology.
           You can not create hell without knowledge. How can you create hell without knowledge?
                Adam and Eve were like small children. Every time a child is born an Adam is born. And he
           lives for a few years -- at the most four years, that time is becoming less and less every day. He lives
           in paradise because he knows not how to create misery. He trusts life; he enjoys small things --
           pebbles on the shore, or seashells. He gathers them as if he has found a treasure. Ordinary coloured
           stones look like KOHINOORS. Everything fascinates him -- the dew-drops in the morning sun, the
           stars in the night, the moon, the flowers, the butterflies -- everything is a sheer fascination.
                But then by and by he starts knowing: a butterfly is just a butterfly. a flower is just a flower.
           There is nothing much in it. He starts knowing the names: this is a rose, and that is a champa and that
           is a chameli and this is a lotus. And by and by those names become barriers. The more he knows, the
           more he is cut off from life as such. He becomes 'heady'. Now he lives through the head, not through
           his totality. That is the meaning of the fall. He has eaten of the tree of knowledge. Every child has to
           eat of the tree of knowledge.
                Every child is so simple that he has to become complex -- that is part of the growth. So every
           child moves from simple foolishness towards complex foolishness. There are different degrees of
           complex foolishness -- a few people only matriculate, a few people become graduates, a few become
           post-graduates, a few become doctors and Ph.D's -- there are degrees. But every child has to taste
           something of knowledge because the temptation to know is great. Anything that is standing there
           unknown becomes dangerous, a danger. It has to be known because with knowledge we will be able
           to cope with it. Without knowledge how are we going to cope with it? So every child is bound to
           become knowledgeable.
                So the first type of fool necessarily, out of necessity, has to become the second type of fool. But
           from the second the third may happen or may not happen, there is no necessity. The third is possible
           only when the second type of foolishness has become a great burden -- one has carried knowledge
           too much, to the extreme; one has become lust the head and has lost all sensitivity, all awareness. all
           living; one has become just theories and scriptures and dogmas and words and words whirling
           around in the mind. One day, if the person is aware, he has to drop all that. Then he becomes the
           third type of fool -- the blessed fool.
                Then he attains to a second childhood; again he is a child. Remember Jesus saying, 'In my
           kingdom of God only those who are like small children will be welcomed.' But remember, he says
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           LIKE small children, he does not say small children. Small children cannot enter; they have to enter
           the ways of the world, they have to be poisoned in the world and then they have to clean themselves.
           That experience is a must.
                So he does not say 'small children' he says those who are like small children. That word 'like' is
           very significant. It means those who are not children and yet are like children. Children are saints but
           their sainthood is only because they have not yet experienced the temptations of sin. Their saintliness
           is very simple. It has not much worth in it because they have not earned it, they have not worked for
           it, they have not yet been tempted against it. The temptations are coming sooner or later. A thousand
           and one temptations will be there and the child will be pulled in many directions. I am not saying
           that he should not go in those directions. If he inhibits himself, represses himself from going he will
           remain always the first type of fool. He will not become part of Jesus' kingdom, he will not be able to
           fill Mohammed's paradise -- no. He will simply remain ignorant. His ignorance will be nothing but a
           repression, it will not be an unburdening.
                First he has to attain to knowledge, first he has to sin, and only after sin and knowledge and
           disobeying God and going into the wildness of the world, going astray, living his own life of the ego,
           will he become capable one day to drop it all.
                Not everybody will drop it all. All children move from the first foolishness to the second, but
           from the second only a few blessed ones move to the third -- hence they are called blessed fools.
                The blessed fool is the greatest possibility of understanding because he has come to know that
           knowledge is futile, he has come to know that all knowledge is a barrier to knowing. Knowledge is a
           barrier to knowing so he drops knowledge and becomes a pure knower. He simply attains to clarity
           of vision. His eyes are empty of theories and thoughts. His mind is no Longer a mind; his mind is
           just intelligence, pure intelligence. His mind is no longer cluttered with junk, his mind is no longer
           cluttered with borrowed knowledge. He is simply aware. He is a flame of awareness.
                Tertullian has divided knowledge into two categories: one he calls ignorant knowledge -- that is
           the second fool, the ignorant knowledge. The pundit knows and yet does not know, because he has
           not known it as his own experience. He has listened, memorised; he is a parrot, a computer at the
           most.
                Just yesterday I received a letter from a sannyasin, Ninad, from America. He says, 'Osho, I am
           very happy. And in the office where I work the computer every morning welcomes me. The
           computer says, 'Swamaji, Namaste."' Now he is very happy. And he knows well it is a computer
           which is saying, 'Swamaji, Namaste.' There is nobody. But even the word makes him happy. He
           knows it is just a machine -- there is nobody, there is no heart in it. Nobody is saying it.
                When a pundit says something he is a computer. He says, 'Swamaji, Namaste.' It is parrot-like.
           Tertullian says this is the knowledge which is really not knowledge, but ignorance in the garb of
           knowledge, ignorance in the disguise of knowledge. It is a fall, a fall from the childhood innocence.
           It is a corruption. It is a corrupt state of mind. Cunning, clever, but corrupt.

                Then, Tertullian says, there is another type of knowledge WhiCh he calls 'knowing ignorance'.
           This is when a person drops all knowledge, theories, looks directly, looks into life as it is, has no
           ideas about it, allows reality as it is, encounters reality immediately, directly, with no knowledge
           about it, faces and encounters reality, allows that which is to have its flowering. He simply listens to
           reality, looks into reality -- and he says, 'I don't know.' He is the child Jesus talks about -- he is not
           really a child, he is like a child.
                And I say, 'Yes, blessed are the fools because they shall inherit all the blessings of God.'
                From the first, the second is automatic; from the second, the third is not automatic. From the
           second to the third the leap has to be a decision -- that's what sannyas is. You decide that you have
           had enough of knowledge; now you would like to be ignorant again, you would like to be a child
           again, reborn. I am a midwife here. I can help you to become fools.
                And remember, unless you have attained to the third, your whole life is a sheer wastage.
                Adam disobeyed God. Every Adam has to disobey. Adam fell from grace. Every Adam has to
           fall. Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Every Adam has to become knowledgeable, it is a
           natural process. I have come across thousands of parables but nothing to compare with this parable
           of Adam's fall. It is the most pregnant parable ever. That's why I come to it again and again with new
           meanings, it goes on revealing new meanings.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And when Adam turned into Christ he became the third type of fool. Christ is the third type of
           fool -- the blessed fool. What Adam did, Christ undid. Christ returns back in tremendous obedience,
           innocence.
               The rabbis, the Jewish religious people, the priests of the temple of Jerusalem, they were learned
           fools. They could not tolerate Jesus. The learned fools are always disturbed by the blessed fools.
           They had to murder him because his very presence was uncomfortable; his very presence was such a
           pinnacle of peace, love, compassion and light, that all the learned fools became aware that their
           whole being was at stake. If this man lived then they were fools, and the only way to get rid of this
           man was to destroy him so they could. again become the learned people of the race.
               Socrates was killed by knowledgeable people; Mansoor was killed by other knowledgeable
           people. There has always been a great conflict whenever the third type of fool arises in the world.
           All the pundits gather together; their whole business is at stake. All that they know, this man says is
           foolish. And they also know deep in their hearts that it is foolish because it has done nothing for
           them. No bliss. no benediction has come out of it. They are as they always have been -- their
           knowledge has not touched their hearts, has not become a transformation at all. They know it deep in
           their hearts, that's why they become even more uncomfortable. They want to destroy such men
           because with the very possibility of such a man they are nobodies. Without Jesus they were the great
           priests of the temple; with Jesus suddenly they were nobodies. In the presence of Jesus there was
           God himself and all the priests felt their glory had been taken away.
               From the second to the third only very courageous people take the jump. It is a quantum leap.
           Religion is only for the very courageous, in fact, for dare-devils. It is not for cowards.

           A few anecdotes....
               The elderly man who liked his drink, but was also learned and bookish, was hauled before the
           bar of justice in a country town.    'You're charged with being drunk and disorderly,' snapped the
           judge. 'Have you any reason why sentence should not be pronounced?' 'Man's inhumanity to man
           makes countless thousands mourn,' began the prisoner in a flight of oratory. 'I am not so debased as
           Poe, so profligate as Byron, so ungrateful as Keats, so intemperate as Burns, so timid as Tennyson,
           so vulgar as Shakespeare, so....' 'That'll do,' interrupted the judge. 'Ninety days -- and, officer, take
           down those names he mentioned and round up those guys also. They're as bad as he is.'

               Now the judge is the first type of fool and the judged is the second type of fool. And the earth is
           mostly inhabited by these two types of fools. The third type -- a Jesus, a Buddha -- rarely happens.
               The Indian term for fool IS BUDDHU -- it comes from Buddha. When Buddha renounced his
           kingdom and many, many people started following him, the whole country was in a turmoil. People
           started saying to others, 'Don't be a BUDDHU, don't be a fool, don't follow this man.' People started
           calling those who followed Buddha, BUDDHUS. He is a BUDDHU, he is a fool, because he
           renounced the kingdom. Who else would renounce a kingdom? People hanker, desire, dream for the
           kingdom, and he has renounced it -- he must be a fool.
               The third type is a very rare phenomenon. But it happens. And if you are courageous enough you
           can take the jump.

           The second anecdote.
               When somebody tells me that he did the best he could and I figure that it was not good enough, I
           put this fellow in the same class as the motorcycle cop who stopped a motorist and started to write a
           ticket.      'Officer,' this motorist protested with great indignation, 'I was not speeding! You are
           permitted to go fifty miles an hour, and I was only going forty.' 'I know that,' the motorcycle cop
           answered defensively, 'but I can't catch up with the really fast ones.'

               The third fool is very fast. Where angels fear to tread, there too he goes unheeded. The third fool
           is very fast, that's why I call h is leap the quantum leap. The third fool rushes out of sheer courage
           and energy. The second fool is not so courageous. He goes on collecting pieces from here and there.
           He does not have that much courage or that great a speed. He borrows knowledge -- rather than
           knowing it himself, he borrows knowledge. That way it is cheaper and he can purchase it wholesale.
               If you want to know reality directly, it is very arduous. It asks for total sacrifice. The second fool
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only tries up to a certain limit. The limit is: if he can get knowledge cheaply he is ready, but if there
           is anything to be put at stake then he recoils back.
               Be courageous. Unless you have infinite courage you will not be able to become the third type,
           the blessed fool.

           And the last anecdote.
               Ordinarily nobody remains in the first state, that is only a theoretical state. Everybody has to pass
           out of it, more or less -- the difference is of degrees, of quantity but not quality. So people are almost
           always found in the second category. From the second to the third, wherever you are, remember this
           rule....
               Don't have a closed mind. Be like the old maid who caught a burglar in her room. He pleaded
           with her, 'Please, lady, let me go. I ain't never did anything wrong.'
               The old maid answered him, 'Well, it is never too late to learn.'

               And that's what I would like to say to you. If you are in the second category' if you think you are
           the intelligentsia, then it is never too late to learn. Knowledge you have enough, now learn knowing.
           Knowledge clutters the mind as dust gathers on the mirror. Knowledge is not knowing -- knowing
           has a totally different quality and flavour to it. It has the flavour of learning.
               Let me tell you the distinction. Knowledge means that you go on gathering information,
           experience, categorising, memorising, learning means you don't gather anything, you simply remain
           available to what is happening or is going to happen. Learning is a state of open mind. The more you
           know, the more you become closed because then you cannot avoid the knowledge that you have, it
           always comes in-between.
               If you are listening to me and you are a knowledgeable man, a pundit, then you cannot listen to
           me directly simply. You cannot listen to me. While I am speaking, deep inside you are judging,
           evaluating, criticising -- there is no dialogue, there is a debate. You may look silent but you are not
           silent, your knowledge goes on revolving. It destroys everything that I am saying. It distorts. And
           whatsoever reaches you is not the real thing, whatsoever reaches you is only that which your
           knowledge allows to reach to you.
               A learning mind is one which listens attentively with no interference from the past, which is just
           an opening, a mirror-like phenomenon, which simply reflects whatsoever is. If you start learning,
           you will attain knowing. And knowing will help you to see that you don't know at all. A person who
           has come to know reality becomes aware of his ignorance -- he knows that he knows not. In this
           knowing, ignorance is the mutation, the transfiguration, the revolution.
               So take a jump from the second state of foolishness to the third state of being a blessed fool. All
           my blessings are for those who are blessed fools.




                                                  The Art of Dying
                                                     Chapter #5
                                           Chapter title: Peasant Wisdom
           15 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610150
              ShortTitle: ART05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              RABBI VISAKHAR BAER MET AN OLD PEASANT
              FROM THE VILLAGE OF OLESHNYA
              WHO HAD KNOW HIM WHEN HE WAS YOUNG.



              NOT BEING AWARE OF HIS RISE IN THE WORLD
              THE PEASANT CALLED TO HIM, 'BAER, WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU?'
                'AND WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU?' ASKED THE RABBI.
                'WELL,' ANSWERED THE OTHER, 'I SHALL TELL YOU.
              WHAT YOU DON'T GET BY YOUR OWN WORK, YOU DON'T HAVE.'



              FROM THAT TIME ON, WHENEVER RABBI BAER
              SPOKE OF THE PROPER WAY TO CONDUCT ONE'S LIFE,
              HE ADDED, 'AND THE OLD MAN OF OLESHNYA SAID:
              "WHAT YOU DON'T GET BY YOUR OWN WORK, YOU DON'T HAVE."'


               CONSCIOUSNESS has two dimensions: one is that of having and the other is that of being. And
           there are only two categories of human beings: one who is struggling hard to have more and more,
           and one who has understood the futility of it and has changed their life into the other direction, the
           direction of being. These people are trying to know who they are.
               In the world of having you only believe that you have something, but really you don't have
           anything. You come alone empty-handed and you go alone empty-handed. And all that happens
           in-between is almost like a dream. It appears to be true, while it is there it appears to be real, but
           once it is gone then you understand that nothing was really happening. The reality has remained
           untouched by your dreaming. The world of having is nothing but a world of dreaming.
               The religious person is one who has become aware of the futility of it all. You cannot have
           anything except yourself. And all that you have, except yourself, is a deception. It is an illusion.
           And, in fact, that which you have possesses you more than you possess it. The possessor finally
           becomes the possessed. You-think you have so many things -- riches, power, money -- but deep
           down you are being possessed by those same things, you are being encaged, enchained, imprisoned
           by those same things.
               Look at the rich people. They don't possess riches -- they are as poor as any other poor man in
           the world, they are as beggarly as any other beggar. In fact, whatsoever they possess possesses them.
           They are burdened by it.
               So the first thing to be understood is that these are the two doors: having, being. If you are still
           lost in the dream of having, you are in the world. You may be sitting in a cave in the Himalayas, that
           makes no difference -- the world is still there because the world is in the very desire to possess. And
           nobody has ever possessed anything.
               Only one thing can be possessed and that you already have with you -- your own self, your own
           consciousness. But to have that being one has to work hard. You cannot get to it easily. First you
           will have to detach yourself from the world of having. That will be almost like a death because that's
           where you have got identified -- you are your car, your house; you are your bank balance. And when
           you start awakening out of this dream you start feeling as if you are disappearing because all your
           old identities start disappearing. One identity disappears, one part of you disappears. There is
           emptiness left behind.
               When all your identities disappear -- and simply you are left, there is only pure space -- as pure
           as life, as pure as death. Nothing else is there. That is your being. Only that being can be possessed
           because it is already there. You can possess only that which is already there, you cannot possess
           anything else. All desiring is desiring for the futile. It leads only into frustration.
               Ordinarily, even when people become religious, they go on thinking in terms of having --
           possessing heaven or possessing the pleasures of heaven -- but still they go on thinking in terms of
           having. Their heaven is nothing but their projected desire of having everything. All that they have
           missed here they would like to have in the after-life. But it is the same desire.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The really religious person is one who has become aware of the futility of desiring, of the
           impossibility of having anything here in this world or thereafter in the other world. You can only
           possess yourself. You can only be the master of your own being. If you are not trying for that.... It is
           hard work, there is no shortcut to it; notwithstanding what Timothy Leary says, there is no shortcut
           to it. Acid, drugs, are not going to help you there. That is very cheap, it is very cunning. It is a
           chemical deception. You want to get into the world of your innermost being without any effort. It is
           a dishonesty. Without earning it you want to possess it.

                When a Mahavira possesses it he has worked hard for it; when a Baal-Shem possesses it he has
           worked hard for it. He has sacrificed his whole being for it. His whole being has become just a
           prayer, a devotion, a sacrifice to the divine. He is not there, he has simply offered himself totally.
           Then he possesses. Or a Kabir or a Zarathustra...they have all worked the hard way. The hard way is
           the only way. There exists no shortcut.
                But man has tried to invent shortcuts always, in many ways. The drug trip is the latest invention
           of the cunningness of the human m ind. Just by taking a tablet or injecting a certain chemical into
           your body you think you can become a Buddha, you think you can attain to that total possession of
           your being. You will simply become a slave of-the chemical, not the master of your being. Now
           there will arise a craving for the chemical -- more and more, again and again. Bigger and bigger
           quantities will be needed. Soon you will be a wreck, soon you will be a wasteland, soon you will be
           deserted by all that is beautiful and true and all that is divine. But the lure is there. The human mind
           thinks it can find some shortcuts.
                You may all remember certain dreams. I n dreams, if you are travelling in the train, you skip
           many stations. You are\\in London and then suddenly you are in Tokyo -- you skip the whole
           journey. The unconscious continually craves for shortcuts. In dreams it is okay but in real life it is
           not possible -- you cannot skip any stage and you cannot skip any station on the way. Howsoever
           fast you go, there is no way to skip anything.Faster or slower, it eventually does not make any
           difference. But you have to go all the way and you have to go the hard way.
                Acid and drugs have always lured man. It is nothing new. It is as old as man himself -- in the
           Vedas they used to have SOMA. In India they have continued to use drugs down the centuries --
           charas and ganga and opium -- they have tried everything. Now the madness is spreading all over the
           world. Now people are trying to find a shortcut -- a very easy and cheap thing -- that you can
           possess, that you can just swallow. Samadhi cannot be swallowed. And God is not a chemical
           phenomenon; you have to earn it, only then can you have it.
                Then there are others -- there are other methods also. It is not only drugs that are a shortcut, there
           are other methods also. They all guarantee you that, with very little effort, in fact with no effort at
           all, you can reach to the goal -- for example, just chanting a mantra a few minutes every day.
           Chanting a mantra can only dull your mind; all repetition dulls the mind, makes you silly and stupid.
           If you simply go on chanting a mantra, it kills your sensitivity, it creates boredom, it brings a sort of
           slumber to your consciousness -- you become more unconscious than conscious, you start slipping
           into sleep. Mothers have known always that when a child is restless and cannot go to sleep they must
           sing a lullaby. A lullaby is a mantra. The mother repeats something again and again and again and
           the child feels bored. The constant repetition creates a monotonous atmosphere. The child cannot
           escape anywhere -- the mother is sitting by the side of the bed and repeating a lullaby. The child
           cannot escape; the child cannot say, 'Shut up!' He has to listen. The only escape available is to go
           into sleep. So that he tries -- to avoid this lullaby and to avoid this mother.
                The mantra works in the same way: you start repeating a certain word and then you create a
           monotonous state for yourself. All monotony is deadening; all monotony dulls you, destroys your
           sharpness.
                It has been tried in many ways. In the old monasteries all over the world -- Christian. Hindu,
           Buddhist -- in all the monasteries they have tried the same trick on a bigger scale. The life of a
           monastery is routine, absolutely fixed. Each morning you have to get up at three o'clock or five
           o'clock, and then the same circle starts. Then you have to do the same activity the whole day for your
           whole life. This is spreading a mantra all over your whole life, making a routine.
                By and by, doing the same thing again and again, a person becomes more like somnambulist.
           Whether he is awake or asleep makes no difference, he can simply go on making the empty gestures
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and empty movements. He loses all distinction between sleeping and waking.
               You can go to the old monasteries and watch monks walking in their sleep. They have become
           robots. Between when they get up in the morning and when they go to sleep, there is no distinction --
           the territories are overlapping. And it is exactly the same every day. In fact, the word 'monotonous'
           and the word 'monastery' come from the same root. They both mean the same.
               You can create such a monotonous life that intelligence is not needed. When intelligence is not
           needed you become dull. And when you become dull, of course you start feeling a certain sort of
           peace, a certain silence -- but it is not real, it is pseudo. The real silence is very alive, throbbing. The
           real silence is positive; it has energy in it, it is intelligent, aware, full of life and zest. It has
           enthusiasm in it.
               The false silence, the pseudo silence, is simply dull. You can see it. If a stupid person is sitting
           there -- an idiot, an imbecile -- you will feel a certain silence around him; it is the same silence as
           you can feel near a cemetery. He has a space around him which is very dull. He seems to be very
           indifferent to the world, not in contact at all, disconnected; he is sitting there -- like a lump of mud.
           There is no vibration around him of any life, of any energy; there is nothing streaming around him.
           This is not real silence. He is simply stupid.
               When you come close to a Buddha, he is silent because of his intelligence, he is silent because of
           his awareness, he is silent, not because he has forced himself to be silent, he is silent simply because
           he has understood the pointlessness of being disturbed in any way. He is silent because he has
           understood that there is no point in being worried and there is no point in being tense. His silence is
           out of understanding. It is overflowing understanding. When you come near a Buddha you will have
           a totally different fragrance -- the fragrance of consciousness.
               And not only will you feel a freshness, a breeze around him, you will feel that you have also
           become more alive, aflame. Just by being close to him your own inner being is lit; a lamp starts
           burning within you. When you are close to him, with just the very affinity, the closeness, you
           suddenly feel you are no longer so depressed. His presence is pulling you out of the mud in which
           you had established yourself perfectly. His very presence is uplifting -- you will feel life, love,
           compassion, beauty, reality.
               A person who goes on chanting a mantra and living a monotonous life of routine is dead; he just
           goes into the gestures and motions because he has to. And he has done the same things so many
           times that there is no need to be alert about it -- he can do it in his sleep. He has become very
           efficient, but his efficiency simply means that he has become mechanical. That's why he is silent.
           You will see this type of silence if you come across people who practise Transcendental Meditation.
           They have stilled themselves by repeating a certain mantra; they have forced their mind to keep
           quiet. But this is cheap and you cannot get the real with such cheap measures.
               The real becomes available only when you work for it with your totality.
               But remember, I am not saying that the real becomes available by your work...there is a paradox i
           n it. You have to work hard, you have to work in a total, passionate way and yet you have to
           remember that it does not happen by your work alone. It happens by grace. That is the message of
           Hasidism.
               You work hard -- it never happens without you working hard, that is certain; it happens only
           when you have worked hard, but that only creates the situation for it to happen. It is not like cause
           and effect. It is not that you heat water to a hundred degrees and then it has to evaporate -- it is not
           like that. It is not a natural law; it has nothing to do with the world of gravitation. It is a second law,
           a totally different law -- the law of grace. You work hard, you come to a hundred degrees, then you
           wait there -- throbbing, expectant, alive, happy, celebrating, singing, dancing. You wait there at the
           hundred-degree point. It is a must, you must come to the hundred-degree point -- but now you have
           to wait, you have to wait patiently, lovingly. When the right moment comes, when your work is
           complete and your waiting is also complete, then the grace descends. Or, you can say that the grace
           ascends -- both mean the same because it comes from the deepest core of your being. It looks like it
           is descending because you have not known your innermost core up to now. It seems as if from
           somewhere above it is coming to you -- but it really comes from somewhere within you. The within
           is also the beyond.
               Hard work is needed to attain to grace but the real thing finally happens only because of grace.
           This is a paradox. It is difficult to understand it. Because of this paradox millions of people have lost
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           their-way. There are a few who say -- and they are very logical, their logic is impeccable -- there are
           a few who say that if it comes only by their effort then why bother about grace and God? If it
           happens only by their effort, then okay, they will make all the effort, they will make it happen. So
           they don't talk about grace or God. They will miss, because it never happens only by your own
           effort.
                Then there are people who say that if it happens only by grace and never happens by our own
           effort, then why bother? We should wait -- and whenever God wills it, it is going to happen.
                They both miss. One misses because of egoism -- 'Only my effort is enough. Only I am enough'
           -- the other misses because of laziness, lethargy. Both miss.
                The one who arrives home has to follow the paradoxical path. This is the paradox: 'I have to
           work hard, not only hard, I have to put myself totally at the stake -- only then will I become capable
           of receiving grace. But it happens through grace. A moment comes when I have done all that I can
           do and then I pray that now no more is possible from my side, now something is needed from the
           other end, now you also do something.' And God starts working on you only when you have done all
           that you could have done. If something is still lacking and a part of your being is still not involved,
           then God cannot come to your help. God helps only those who help themselves.
                This is the paradox of the Hasid. He works hard and still he trusts that the ultimate flowering is
           going to be only by His grace, by God's grace.
                And it is beautiful. We are very small. Our effort cannot create much. Our fire is very small -- by
           this fire alone we cannot set the whole existence aflame. We are just drops. We cannot create oceans
           out of these drops. But if the drop can drop into a deep prayer, the ocean becomes available. When
           the drop relaxes, it becomes capable of containing oceans in itself. It is small if you look only at its
           periphery; it is tremendously vast if you look at its centre.
                Man is both, man is a paradox. He is the tiniest particle of consciousness, an atom, very atomic,
           and yet he contains the vast. The whole sky is contained in him.

               So first these two languages have to be understood: the language of having and the language of
           being. And you have to change your gears from the language of having to the language of being.

           Let me tell you a few anecdotes.
               A Japanese high official confronted his daughter, 'I have been told that you are going out on
           dates with a foreigner. Furthermore, he is an American soldier, and what's more, he is Jewish.'
           The girl shot back, 'What schmuck told you that?'

               Now the word 'schmuck' tells everything. There is no need for anybody to say anything anymore.
               The person who knows only the language of having has a totally different quality to his being:
           the way he walks, the way he sits. the way he talks, the words that he uses, the words that he avoids
           using, the people he mingles with and the people that he avoids, the places that he visits and the
           places that he does not visit -- everything indicates something. Even single, ordinary words indicate
           something. Even if he comes to a Master, a man who is always trying to have more and more and
           more can be seen, by the way he comes, by the desire With which he comes. Even if he surrenders,
           in his very surrender you can find his language.
               A man came to see me. By the way he came, I could see that he was absolutely indifferent
           towards me. It was so clear, it was so loud. He was not flowing towards me, he had no flow in his
           being; he was a stagnant pool of energy.
               I was surprised. I wondered why he had come to me. And then he started talking about God. The
           word 'God' was simply irrelevant on his tongue. It made no sense. He was speaking some language
           which he did not know how to use. I was waiting, because there must have been something else
           behind these words about Bod. He was saying, 'I want to realise God and I want to realise myself.'
           But by the way he was saying it and by the way he was expressing it, it was absolutely clear that he
           had not come for these things. Maybe just to be polite towards me or just to start a dialogue, he was
           using these props.
               And then by and by he said, 'I will come one day and become a sannyasin also.'
               So I said, 'If you have come, and you are a seeker, and you want to realise God, then why waste
           any more time? As it is, you have wasted enough already.' He must have been almost sixty-five. He
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said, 'That's right. But right now I am contesting the election.' There was a by-election going on. 'So I
           have come for your blessings.' I said, 'Then why did you waste so much time talking about God,
           talking about the soul, talking about meditation?'
               Indians are very proficient about such things -- just by tradition they have learned these words.
           These words are in the air, they have caught them. They don't have any roots in their being, they just
           float in their heads. These words exist in them without any roots, and unrelated to them.
               I said, 'Why did you waste so much time talking about God and the soul? You should have said
           the real thing in the beginning.' He was a little embarrassed. And I told him, 'From the very
           beginning I was wondering why you have come to me -- because you were coming towards me and
           yet you were not coming towards me. Your language was clear and loud. You were sitting here and
           yet you were not sitting here and I could see that your presence was false, only physical. And I could
           see the politician in you; in fact, you were talking about God as a political strategy. It was your
           politics.'
               There are those people who say, 'Honesty is the best policy.' Even honesty they have made into a
           policy. Policy means politics. 'It pays to be honest,' they say. So honesty is also a useful instrument
           to earn more money, to earn more prestige, to be more respectable. But how can honesty be a policy?
           Just to say such things -- that honesty is the best policy -- is to utter a profanity. It is almost saying
           that God is the best policy, or that meditation is the best policy, or that love is the best policy.
               If your language is of having, you can use God and meditation and things, but they will be just
           garbs, masks, and something else will be hidden behind them.
               'I'm afraid it's bad news,' said the doctor to the husband of a nagging wife. 'Your wife has only a
           few hours left to live. I hope you understand there's nothing more to be done. Don't let yourself
           suffer!'     'It's all right, Doc,' said the husband. 'I've suffered for years -- I can suffer a few more
           hours!'

               People have different languages. Even if they use the same words they don't use them with the
           same meaning. Listen to the meaning and never listen to the words. If you listen to the words you
           will never understand people. Listen to the meaning -- the meaning is a totally different thing.

               The woman lion tamer had her beasts under perfect control. At her summons, the fiercest lion
           came meekly to her and took a piece of sugar out of her mouth. The circus crowd marvelled -- all
           except one man, Mulla Nasrudin. 'Anybody could do that,' he yelled from the audience. 'Would
           you dare to do it?' the ringmaster yelled back scornfully. 'Certainly,' replied Nasrudin, 'I can do it
           just as well as the lion can.'

                Whenever you are listening, listen to the meaning. Whenever you are listening to a person, listen
           to his whole personality -- and you will immediately be able to see whether the person lives in the
           dimension of having or in the dimension of being.
                And that will be very helpful for your own inner growth and your own change of gears. Just
           watch people. It is easier to watch people than to watch yourself, in the beginning, because people
           are more objective, and there is a little distance between you and them. And you can be more
           objective about people because you are not involved in them. Just watch. Make it a point.
                Buddha used to say to his disciples, 'Watch everybody passing by; coming and going in the
           streets, watch people. See exactly what is happening -- Don't listen to their words because they are
           very cunning, they have become very deceptive. When somebody is saying something, listen to his
           face, to his eyes, to his being, to the gesture, and you will be simply surprised how, up to now, you
           have lived only with words. A person may be saying, 'I love you' and his eyes may be simply
           denying it. A person may be smiling with his lips and his eyes may be ridiculing you, rejecting you.
           A person may be saying 'Hullo' and holding your hand, and his whole being may be condemning
           you.
                Listen to the language of the body, the language of the gesture -- the language behind the
           language. Listen to that meaning.
                And first become alert about it in others. Let everybody who comes to you be an experiment of
           awareness. Then by and by you will become able to watch yourself. Then turn your whole flood of
           life upon yourself; then use the same with yourself. When you say to somebody 'I love you' listen to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what you really are saying -- not these words. Words are almost always fake.
               Language is very tricky and can garb things so beautifully that the container becomes very
           important and you lose sight of the content. People have become very sophisticated as far as their
           surface is concerned but their innermost co-re remains almost primitive. Listen to the centre of the
           circumference. Go into each word.
               First others have to be watched, then watch yourself. And then by and by you will see that there
           are a few moments when you also move into the dimension of being. These moments are the
           moments of beauty, the moments of happiness. In fact, whenever you see that you are feeling very
           happy, you have corrie in contact with the dimension of being -- because there is no other happiness
           possible.
               But if you don't observe it accurately, you may misunderstand it. You are sitting with a woman
           you love, or with a man you love, or with a friend, and suddenly you feel a deep well-being arising
           in you, a deep joy -- for no reason at all, for no visible cause. You are just aglow. Then you start
           finding causes outside: you think maybe it is because the woman is sitting by your side and she loves
           you so much. Or it is because you have met the friend after so many years. Or it is because the full
           moon is so beautiful. You will start finding causes.
               But those who have become alert in listening to their heart, to their real meanings, will not be
           looking for causes outside. They will look inside. They have come in contact with their being.
           Maybe the woman you loved functioned as a situation, as a jumping-board, and you jumped into
           yourself.
               It is difficult to jump into yourself when there is some antagonism outside. You have to be
           outside then. When somebody loves you, you can drop all defense measures, you can drop all your
           strategies, you can drop your politics, you can drop your diplomacy. When somebody loves you, you
           can be vulnerable; you can trust that he or she is not going to take advantage of you, that you can be
           defenceless and you will not be killed and crushed, that you can be defenceless and the presence of
           your friend will be soothing, it will not be poisoning you. Whenever there is a situation where you
           can leave yourself defenceless and you can drop your strategies and your armours, suddenly you are
           in contact with your being -- you have moved from the dimension of having to the dimension of
           being. Whenever it happens, there is happiness, there is joy, there is rejoicing. Even if it is only for a
           split second, suddenly the doors of heaven are open. But again and again you lose it because you are
           not aware. It happens only accidentally.
               Remember, a religious person is one who has understood this accidental happening and who has
           understood the innermost key of it. And now he does not move into his dimension of being only
           accidentally, he has the key -- and whenever he wants to move, he opens the door, he unlocks the
           door and goes into it.
               This is the only difference. In ordinary happiness and the happiness of a religious person, the
           only difference is this: that the religious person has become capable of moving any time, any place,
           into his being. Now he knows the direct route and he does not depend on outside props.
               You depend too much on outside props. Sometimes you are in a beautiful house; it feels good.
           You are travelling in a beautiful car -- the car is humming and everything is going beautifully -- it
           feels good. In that feeling you start coming closer to your being. But you misunderstand; you think it
           is because of this car so you have to possess this car. Maybe the car functioned as a situation but the
           car is not the cause. Maybe a beautiful house functioned as a situation but it is not the cause.
               If you think it is the cause then you move into the world of having; then you must have the most
           beautiful car -- you have to have it. Then you have to have the best house, you have to have the best
           garden, you have to have the best woman and the best man. And you go on collecting and collecting
           and collecting and one day suddenly you recognise or realise that your whole life has been a
           wastage. You have collected much but you have lost all sources of happiness. You got lost in
           collecting things. The basic logic was that with whatever you felt good and happy, that thing had to
           be possessed.
               Listen to me...that thing need not be possessed. You just watch what is happening inside you and
           you can start having that happening without any outside help. That's what a sannyasin does. It is not
           that you have to have all, that you have to possess all, but you have to remain alert that you cannot
           possess ANYTHING in this world. All that you possess can function only as a situation -- it is not
           the cause. The cause is inside. And you can open the door without any outside prop, at any time, in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any place, and you can go in and you can rejoice.
               You are no longer attached. You can use things, they are useful....I am not against things,
           remember. Neither are the Hasids against things, remember. Use things but don't believe that things
           can cause you happiness. Use things, they have a utility, but don't believe that they are the goals.
           They are not the ends, they are only the means. The goal is within you, and the goal is such that one
           can move directly into it without any outside help. Once you know it, you become a master of your
           being.
               This -- whatsoever I am saying -- has to be experienced by you. Just by my saying it and just by
           your listening to it and understanding it intellectually, it is not going to help much.

               Mulla Nasrudin refused the cow-puncher's command to drink, for three reasons. 'Name them!'
           roared the terror of the town.    'First,' said the Mulla, 'it is prohibited in my religion. Second, I
           promised my grandmother on her death-bed that I would handle not, touch not, taste not, the
           accursed stuff.' 'And the other reason, the third?' insisted the bully, somewhat softened. 'I have
           just had a drink,' said Nasrudin.

               If you only listen to me, if you only understand me intellectually and never experiment in your
           own inner lab of consciousness, whatsoever I am saying will remain just in your head. It will never
           become a lived experience.And unless it becomes a lived experience it is worthless knowledge, it is
           junk. Again you can start collecting knowledge, then again you are into the same trip -- the
           dimension of having. And you can go on collecting as much knowledge as is available. It is one of
           the misfortunes of modern man that so much knowledge has become available. It was never so.
               The thing that has proved the greatest calamity for modern man is the tremendous amount of
           knowledge which has become available. It was never available before. A Hindu used to live with
           Hindu scriptures; the Mohammedan used to live with Mohammedan scriptures; the Christian used to
           live with the Bible -- and they were all secluded and nobody went into the other's world of
           knowledge. Things were clearcut; there was no overlapping.
               Now everything is overlapping and a tremendous amount of new knowledge has become
           available. We are living in a 'knowledge explosion'. In this explosion you can start gathering
           information; you can become a great scholar very cheaply, very easily, but it is not going to
           transform you at all.
               Again, remember, knowledge belongs to the dimension of having; knowing belongs to the
           dimension of being. They look alike but they are not. Not even are they not alike, they are
           diametrically opposite to each other. A man who goes on collecting knowledge goes on losing
           knowing. Knowing needs a mirror-like mind -- pure, uncorrupted. I am not saying that knowledge is
           useless. If you have your knowing, clear, mirror-like, fresh, you can use your knowledge in a
           tremendously useful way. It can become beneficial. But the knowing has to be there in the first place.
               Knowledge is very easy; knowing is very difficult. For knowing you have to pass through many
           fires. For knowledge nothing is needed -- as you are you can go on adding more and more
           knowledge to yourself.

               A gay man-about-town, long on charm but short on cash, surprised his friends by his sudden
           marriage to an extremely ugly woman whose only virtue was her well-padded bankroll. After the
           marriage, his friends were doubly mystified by his insistence on taking his wife everywhere with
           him.     'I can understand your marrying that painfully ugly woman for her money,' one of his close
           friends remarked frankly, 'but why do you have to bring her with you every time you go out?' 'It's
           simple,' the husband explained. 'It's easier than kissing her good-bye.'

               It is easier to have knowledge, very cheap, costs nothing; it is very difficult, arduous, to attain to
           knowing. That's why very few, very rare people try to meditate, very rare people try to pray, very
           rare people ever make any effort towards knowing what truth is. And whatsoever you have not
           known on your own is meaningless. You can never be certain about it. The doubt never disappears;
           the doubt remains like a worm underneath, sabotaging your knowledge. You can shout loudly that
           you believe in God but your shouting does not prove anything. Your shouting only proves one thing:
           that there is doubt. Only doubt shouts loudly. You can become a fanatic believer but your fanaticism
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           simply shows one thing: that there is doubt.
               Only a man who has doubt within himself becomes a fanatic. A fanatic Hindu means one who
           does not really trust that Hinduism is right. A fanatic Christian simply means one who has doubts
           about Christianity. He becomes fanatic, aggressive -- not to prove anything to others, he becomes
           fanatic and aggressive to prove to himself that whatsoever he believes he really believes. He has to
           prove it.
               When you really know something, you are not a fanatic at all. A man of knowing, one who has
           come to know even glimpses of God. glimpses of his being, becomes very, very soft, sensitive,
           fragile. He is not fanatic. He becomes feminine. He is not aggressive. He becomes deeply
           compassionate. And, by knowing, he becomes very understanding of others. He can understand even
           the diametrically opposite standpoint.

           I have heard about a Hasid rabbi.
           He was saying, 'Life is like a river.
           A disciple asked, 'Why?'
               The Rabbi said, 'How can I know? Am I a philosopher?'

              Another day the rabbi was saying, 'Life is like a river.'
           Another disciple asked, 'Why?'
              And the rabbi said, 'Right you are. Why should it be?'

                This is tremendous understanding. No fanaticism. A man of knowing attains to a sense of
           humour. Let this always be remembered. If you see someone who has no sense of humour, know
           well that that man has not known at all. If you come across a serious man, then you can be certain
           that he is a pretender. Knowing brings sincerity but all seriousness disappears. Knowing brings a
           playfulness; knowing brings a sense of humour. The sense of humour is a must.
                If you find a saint who has no sense of humour, then he is not a saint at all. Impossible. His very
           seriousness says that he has not achieved. Once you have some inner experiences of your own you
           become very playful, you become very innocent, childlike.
                The man of knowledge is very serious. The man of knowledge always carries a serious, gloomy
           atmosphere around him. Not only does he carry a serious atmosphere, he makes anybody he comes
           into contact with, serious. He forces seriousness on them. In fact, deep down, he is worried that he
           does not know anything. He cannot relax. His seriousness is a tension. He is anguished. He knows
           that he knows only for its name's sake, he knows that his knowledge is all fake -- so he cannot laugh
           at it.

           Now listen to it.
           The rabbi said, 'Life is like a river
           And a disciple asked, 'Why?'
              And the rabbi said, 'How can I know? Am I a philosopher?'

              And another day the rabbi said again, 'Life is like a river.'
           Another disciple asked, 'Why?'
              And the rabbi said, 'Right you are. Why should it be?'

               You see the non-seriousness? You see the tremendous sense of humour?
               Hasidism has created a few of the greatest saints of the world. And my respect towards them is
           immense because they are not serious people. They can joke and they can laugh -- and they can
           laugh not only at others, they can laugh at themselves. That's the beauty. If you go on collecting
           knowledge, you can have a great amount of knowledge but it is not going to be of any help when the
           need arises. You can go on throwing it around and showing and exhibiting it, but whenever the need
           arises and the house is on fire you will suddenly see you have forgotten all that you knew -- because
           you never knew in the first place. It was just in your memory.
               Wherever there is an emergency situation...for example, when a person is dying. He will forget
           all his knowledge. In that moment he will not remember that the soul is immortal. That was advice
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for others. In that moment he will not remember that he is going back to God -- and that one should
           go happily and dancing. In that moment he will start clinging, to life; all his knowledge will be gone.
               I used to know a very learned man, a very intellectual man, famous all over the country. He was
           not only learned, he was a follower of J. Krishnamurti. He used to come to see me sometimes and he
           would say that there is no need for any meditation -- Krishnamurti says so.
               I used to listen to him and laugh. He would ask me, 'Why do you laugh whenever I say these
           things?' I told him again and again, 'I listen to YOU, I don't listen to what you say. Your being gives
           me a totally different message. If there is really no need for meditation, there is no need for
           scriptures, there is no need for any methods, there is no need even for prayer -- and you have
           understood it, then this would have transformed you totally.' He would answer seriously, 'That's
           right. I have understood intellectually but some day I will understand it nonintellectually also. I have
           taken the first step, the second will be coming.'
               Then one day his son came running to me to tell me, 'Father is very ill, it seems like a heart
           attack and he remembers you.' So I rushed to him. He was lying on the bed repeating Ram, Ram,
           Ram. I shook his head and I said, 'What are you doing? Your whole life you said there is no
           meditation -- what are you doing repeating Ram, Ram, Ram...?' He said, 'Now don't disturb me at
           this moment. Death is at the door. I am dying. Who knows? Maybe God is. And who knows, maybe
           the people who have always said remember his name and he will forgive you, are right. This is no
           time to create a debate or an argument; let me repeat it.'
               For forty years he had not said a single mantra, but now, suddenly, forty years of knowledge is
           discarded. It is of no use -- in this dangerous situation when death is there, he forgets Krishnamurti
           completely. He becomes again an ordinary Hindu. It was okay for an ordinary Hindu villager to
           repeat Ram, Ram -- he can be forgiven -- but this man? He had written books, he had lectured all
           over the country, he had helped many people to drop their mantras and to drop their meditations and
           their scriptures. And now suddenly he is repeating a mantra.
               But he survived the heart attack and he came to see me after two or three months -- and again he
           was back to his knowledge. I said, 'Now stop your foolishness. Death will come again and you will
           repeat Ram, Ram, Ram. So what is the point of it all?'

               A very rich old man had remained a bachelor. Now he was nearing seventy-five. Then suddenly
           a friend, a married friend, convinced him that he should get married. 'You should not miss this
           pleasure,' he said.
               So he decided to get married. Because he had so much money he immediately found a beautiful
           girl. Off they went on their honeymoon.
               He took the married friend and his wife with him as guides in this new exploration. The next
           morning they met in the motel at breakfast. The friend had given him every bit of information about
           sex and how to make love and what to do and what not to do. 'What a fantastic time I had last night,'
           said the married man. 'We went to bed last night. My wife was eager, I was eager and we had a
           marvellous night of love. What about you, old man?' 'Oh, my God!' said the old rich man. 'I forgot
           clean about it!'

               After a whole life of bachelorhood, even if somebody guides you, tells you things and you
           memorise them, they don't have any deep contact with your being -- they simply float above your
           head. They don't touch you.
               The old man said, 'Oh my God! I forgot clean about it!' Seventy-five years of sleeping alone
           creates a mechanical habit of its own.
               If you go on accumulating knowledge, it creates a habit; it never gives you any knowledge but it
           gives you a habit, a habit for accumulating more, a very dangerous habit. Even if you come across a
           Buddha or a Jesus, you will miss, because there also you will be accumulating. You will be taking
           notes inside the mind -- 'Yes, this is right, worthy of being remembered.' Your accumulation will
           become bigger and bigger but you will be just a dead museum, or, a museum of dead things.
               And the more you are concerned with this 'having knowledge', the less will be the possibility for
           the real knowledge to be there; the knowledge that comes by knowing being, by BEING, will be
           missed.
               Remember, the mind is nothing but that which you have collected up to now. The mind is all that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have inside your being. Beyond the mind is your real being, beyond having is your real being.
           Outside you have collected things; inside you have collected thoughts -- both are in the dimension of
           having.
               When you are no longer attached to things and when you are no longer attached to thoughts,
           suddenly -- the open sky, the open sky of being. And that's the only thing worth having and the only
           thing that you can really have.

           Now the story.

              RABBI VISAKHAR BAER MET AN OLD PEASANT
              FROM THE VILLAGE OF OLESHNYA
              WHO HAD KNOWN HIM WHEN HE WAS YOUNG.



              NOT BEING AWARE OF HIS RISE IN THE WORLD
              THE PEASANT CALLED TO HIM, 'BAER, WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU?'
                'AND WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU?' ASKED THE RABBI.
                'WELL,' ANSWERED THE OTHER, 'I SHALL TELL YOU.
              WHAT YOU DON'T GET BY YOUR OWN WORK, YOU DON'T HAVE.'



              FROM THAT TIME ON, WHENEVER RABBI BAER
              SPOKE OF THE PROPER WAY TO CONDUCT ONE'S LIFE,
              HE ADDED, 'AND THE OLD MAN OF OLESHNYA SAID:
              "WHAT YOU DON'T GET BY YOUR OWN WORK, YOU DON'T HAVE."'


               A tremendously significant saying. Maybe the peasant hasn't meant it in such a significant way
           but the rabbi took it in that way. It was a precious stone. Out of that ordinary peasant.... He may not
           have meant it the way the rabbi understood it -- you understand only in the way that YOU can
           understand.

              FROM THAT TIME ON, WHENEVER RABBI BAER
              SPOKE OF THE PROPER WAY TO CONDUCT ONE'S LIFE
              HE ADDED, 'AND THE OLD MAN OF OLESHNYA SAID:
              "WHAT YOU DON'T GET BY YOUR OWN WORK, YOU DON'T HAVE."'


               The old man must have meant it in the ordinary way. He was saying that in this life you can have
           only that which you have worked for. There is no other way. One has to work hard to have
           something.
               That is the experience of an ordinary farmer. The farmer was not a king; a king can have much
           that he has not earned by his own labour.

              A very great, rich man was once asked by a poor man, 'What is the best way to get rich in the
           world?'
              The rich man said, 'The best way is to find the right parents.'

              You can have much without ever having earned it if you were clever enough to find the right
           womb. Very few people are that clever. They simply rush into any womb available!
              You can rob, you can cheat, you can exploit...there are a thousand ways. But the farmer. the
           peasant, really lived by his own earning. He was not a king, he was not a politician, he was not a rich
           man -- whatsoever he earned, that's all he had.
              The farmer must have said it in the very ordinary sense, but look at the beauty of it. Whatsoever
           you hear, you hear from your dimension. The rabbi heard it in a totally different way. It became a
           very illuminated saying in his being. It was a simple, ordinary statement, but the rabbi was in a deep
           meditation, the rabbi was in his other dimension -- the dimension of being.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              When you are in the dimension of being, small things, ordinary pebbles, become precious stones.
           Ordinary things take on so much colour, become so colourful. Ordinary events become so
           psychedelic...it depends on you, on your vision.

              FROM THAT TIME ON, WHENEVER RABBI BAER
              SPOKE OF THE PROPER WAY TO CONDUCT ONE'S LIFE,
              HE ADDED, 'AND THE OLD MAN OF OLESHNYA SAID:
              "WHAT YOU DON'T GET BY YOUR OWN WORK, YOU DON'T HAVE."'


               This is true. In the innermost world it is absolutely true -- although it may not be so true in the
           outside world. In the outside world there are a thousand and one ways to be dishonest, to cheat, to
           rob, to steal, to exploit. In fact, in the outside world the workers don't have much, only the cheaters.
           The cunning people have much. Those who work don't have much. Those who don't work, they have
           much.
               But in the inside world the statement is absolutely true. You cannot have anything there in your
           being that you have not earned. And it is earned the hard way; there are no shortcuts. So don't try to
           cheat God.
               A man who is deluded by having things, loses all opportunities of attaining to the state of being.

           I have heard.
               A husband took a shot at his mother-in-law, so she brought charges against him.           'You were
           drinking,' said the judge, 'so I must tell you something. It was liquor that inflamed you. It was liquor
           that made you hate your mother-in-law. It was liquor that got you to buy the revolver to shoot her. It
           was liquor that made you go to your mother-in-law's house, point the revolver, pull the trigger and
           fire. And note, it was liquor that made you miss her!'

              It is the same story, the same liquor. Throughout your whole life it is your ambition to have that
           functions like the liquor. So watch it. Beware of it. That is the only illusion in the world.
              One day when you go, then you will realise -- but then it will be too late.

           I have heard about a man.
                He went to Florida with his wife, and became fascinated by the spectacle of eight horses chasing
           each other around a track. He and his wife bet heavily, and after a few days they had only two
           dollars left between them. But he was a hopeful type and he convinced his wife that everything
           would be all right if she let him go out to the track alone.
                A friend drove him out. There was a forty-to-one shot in the first race, and he decided to bet on
           it. The horse came in.
                In every race the man backed the long shot, and in every race he won. By the end of the last race
           he had over ten thousand dollars, and he decided to press his lucky streak. On the way back to the
           hotel he stopped off at a little gambling club and ran his stake up to forty thousand on the roulette
           wheel. One more play, he decided, and he would leave. He put the entire forty thousand on black.
                The wheel spun. The croupier announced, 'Number fourteen, red.'
                The man walked back to the hotel. His wife called him from the verandah. 'How did you make
           out?' she asked eagerly.
           The husband shrugged: 'I lost the two dollars.'

               In the end, when death comes, the whole game of thousands and thousands of dollars, achieving
           this, attaining that, becoming this, becoming that, the power, the prestige, the money, the
           respectability -- nothing counts. Finally you have to say only, 'I have lost my being.'
               In running, rushing into the dimension of having, only one thing happens -- you lose your being.
           Life is a great opportunity, a great opportunity. In fact, there are millions of opportunities in it to
           attain to yourself, to know who you are. But that comes the hard way. You have to work for it.
               Don't try to borrow. Nothing can be borrowed in that inner world. And don't try to become just
           knowledgeable. Attain to a clarity, attain to a vision where no thought exists in your mind. This is
           the hardest thing in the world. To drop thoughts is the hardest thing in the world, the greatest
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           challenge. All other challenges are very small. This is the greatest adventure that you can take and
           those who are courageous, they accept the challenge and go into it.
               The greatest challenge is how to drop the mind, because only when the mind ceases, the God can
           be. Only when the known disappears, the unknown can be. Only when there is no mind, no you,
           nothing of you left, suddenly there is that which you have been seeking forever and forever. God is
           when you are not. This is the hardest thing to do.

           The last anecdote.
                 Rabbi Grossman and Father O'Malley were seated beside each other at a banquet. 'Have some
           ham,' offered the priest.        'I'm afraid not,' answered the rabbi.      'C'mon, try some,' the priest
           encouraged. 'It's real good!'        'Thanks, but I don't eat that kind of meat because of my religion.'
           'It's really delicious!' said Father O'Malley five minutes later. 'You oughta try this ham, you'd like it!'
           'No thank you!' replied Rabbi Grossman.
                 After dinner, the two men shook hands. 'Tell me,' said the Jewish clergyman, 'do you enjoy sex
           with your wife?'        'Oh, Rabbi, you should know I'm not allowed to be married,' said the priest. 'I
           can't have sex!' 'You ought to try it,' said the rabbi. 'It's better than ham!'

               That's all that I can say to you. You ought to try the state of no-mind, the state of being. It is
           better than all the worlds put together.
               The world of being is the only real world, the world of truth. And unless you have come to it,
           you go on wandering in foreign lands. You can never come home. You come home only when you
           have come into the innermost core of your being -- which is possible. It is difficult, but not
           impossible; arduous, but not impossible. It is difficult certainly, but it has happened. It has happened
           to me, it can happen to you.
               But don't cling to cheap remedies. Don't try to cheat, chemically or otherwise. Don't try to
           borrow knowledge. Don't go on accumulating.
               It is already there, accumulations only hide it. It is already there. Once you stop accumulating
           and you drop all the junk you have accumulated inside you -- that's what your mind is, the junk. If
           you drop that junk, suddenly it is there in its absolute purity, in its absolutely beauty, in its absolute
           benediction.

               A wise man, the wonder of his age, taught his disciples from a seemingly inexhaustible store of
           wisdom. He attributed all his knowledge to a thick tome that was kept in a place of honour in his
           room.
           The sage would allow nobody to open the volume.
               When he died, those who had surrounded him, regarding themselves as heirs, ran to open the
           book, anxious to possess what it contained.
               They were surprised, confused and disappointed when they found that there was writing on only
           one page.
               They became even more bewildered, and then annoyed, when they tried to penetrate the meaning
           of the phrase that met their eyes.
               It was: 'When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will have
           knowledge.'

               Let me repeat it: 'When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will
           have knowledge.'
               The container is your consciousness, the content is your mind. The container is your being, the
           content is all that you have accumulated. When you realise the distinction between the content and
           the container between the mind and the being, you will have knowledge. In a single split moment,
           when you remember and you recognise that you are not the content, you are the container -- there is
           a mutation, there is a revolution. And that is the only revolution there is.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                   The Art of Dying
                                                     Chapter #6
                                           Chapter title: Why No Women?
           16 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610160
              ShortTitle: ART06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 74 mins




              The first question:


              TODAY AT THE LECTURE YOU EXTOLLED THE VIRTUES OF HASIDISM. BUT IF THEY ARE SO
              PRAISEWORTHY, SO FULL OF FEELING OF BROTHERHOOD, ETC., WHY DO THEY EXCLUDE
              WOMEN FROM THEIR RELIGIOUS PRACTICES, AND PARTICULARLY THEIR ECSTATIC
              RELIGIOUS DANCING?


                Pratima has asked the question. It is very relevant, and has to be understood. The first thing to
           remember, to always remember, is never to judge the past by present standards. That is not
           compassionate. For example, when Hasidism was arising, to allow women into a religiously ecstatic
           dance would have been impossible. Not that Hasidic mystics were not aware, not that they would not
           have liked to allow it -- they would have loved it -- but it was impossible. Even Buddha was afraid to
           initiate women into his order.
                What was the fear? Was he an orthodox person? No, you cannot find a more revolutionary mind,
           but he insisted for many years on not allowing women into his order. No, the reason is to be found
           somewhere else.
                A religion has to exist in the society. If the society is too much against a certain thing, even the
           founder has to make a few compromises. Otherwise the religion as such will not exist at all. Society
           is not in a condition of perfection, society is not yet as it should be, but a religion has to exist in this
           society, in the framework that this society allows it. Revolutionaries try to go a little further than the
           boundary, but even they cannot go too far. If they go too far they will be uprooted.
                For example, I have no objection if you go naked when meditating. I have no objection. In fact I
           will support it, because clothes are part of the repressive culture. I know it, but still I have to insist
           on you not being naked in the meditations. Because that creates such trouble that even meditation
           becomes impossible. That will be too much. To destroy the whole possibility of meditation just for
           clothes or nudity would be foolish. It would have been good if I had been able to allow you to be
           absolutely free -- free from clothes also. But then society would not allow us to exist at all, and we
           have to exist in society. So we have to choose the lesser evil.

               Or, take the question of drugs. I am not in support of drugs, but I am not against them either. I
           am not in support of Timothy Leary, I don't think that you can attain samadhi by drugs -- about that I
           am absolutely certain. No one has ever attained samadhi by- drugs, notwithstanding what Aldous
           Huxley and others say. It is too cheap, and through chemicals there is no possibility to attain the
           ultimate. But I am aware that drugs can help in a certain way. They can give you a glimpse; they
           cannot give you the reality, but they can give you a glimpse of the reality, and that glimpse can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a breakthrough. That glimpse can uproot you from your past and can send you on a search
           for the real. If you have seen God, even in your dream, your whole life will be transformed. Of
           course, the God in a dream is a dream, but the next morning you will start looking into the world --
           where can you find this phenomenon that has happened in your dream?
               Many people start their journey towards God, truth, samadhi, because they have had a certain
           glimpse somewhere. Maybe through drugs, maybe through sexual orgasm, maybe through music, or
           sometimes accidentally. Sometimes a person falls from a train, is hit on the head and he has a
           glimpse. I'm not saying make a method of that! But I know this has happened. A certain centre in the
           head is hit by accident and the person has a glimpse, an explosion of light. Never again will he be the
           same; now he will start searching for it.
               This is possible. The probable is no longer probable, it has become possible. Now he has some
           inkling, some contact. He cannot rest now.
               I am not for drugs, I am not against drugs. But still, in this community, in my commune, drugs
           cannot be allowed. Politicians have never been very intelligent and one should not expect too much
           from them. In fact, only stupid people become interested in politics. If they were intelligent they
           would not be in politics at all.
               So just for some ordinary, small thing the whole movement cannot be destroyed. That would be
           foolish. After a hundred years my attitude that drugs cannot be allowed in the Ashram will be
           thought anti-revolutionary. Naturally, I know it is anti-revolutionary. So let it be here on the record.
               The Hasidic Masters knew it well. It is inhuman, anti-revolutionary. not to allow women to
           participate in ecstatic religious ceremonies, in ecstatic dances. But that society was very much
           against it. Because of this the whole movement would have died. So they had to prohibit it.
               Buddhism died in India. Do you know why? It was because Buddha finally allowed women into
           his order. He himself is reported to have said, 'My religion would have lived at least five thousand
           years, but now it will not live more than five hundred, because I am taking a very great risk.' Just
           allowing woman into his order was such a risk that Buddha said, 'The life of my religion is reduced
           by four thousand, five hundred years -- at the most it will last only five hundred years.' And it
           happened exactly that way. For only five hundred years Buddhism lived, and that life was also not at
           the climax. not at the optimum. Every day the life was slowing down, every day death was coming
           closer and closer. What happened?
               The society. Society has long been male-oriented. To allow women into a religious order was to
           destroy the old hierarchy, the superiority of man. Even a man like Mahavir, a very revolutionary
           man, is reported to have said that women cannot enter moksha directly as women. First they will
           have to be born as men and then.... So no woman has entered into the Jaina moksha, into nirvana,
           directly as a woman. First she has to change her body, take a male shape and form, and then she can
           enter.
               Why should Mahavir say this? Society, the politics of the country, the priests and the politicians,
           they were too chauvinistic. Some compromise was needed, otherwise they would not allow anything.
           Mahavir lived naked, but he himself did not allow any women to go naked because the society was
           not ready to accept even him in his nudity. By and by people accepted him, grudgingly, reluctantly,
           but to accept the idea that women could go naked would have been too much.
               And because Mahavir said, 'Unless you leave everything -- even clothes -- unless you are as
           innocent as a child, as you were on the first day you were born, you cannot enter into my kingdom of
           God,' he had to say that women Could not enter directly. If he had said that women could enter
           directly then a few courageous women would have come forward and would have thrown off their
           clothes also -- would have become naked. Just to avoid nude women he had to make a very false
           statement, untrue. And I know he knew that it was untrue -- I know because I make many untrue
           statements. But we have to exist in a society, in a particular state, i n a particular confused state, in a
           particular neurotic state. If you live with mad people you have to make a few compromises. If you
           live with mad people at least you have to pretend that you are also mad.
               Narendra is here. His father went mad thirty or forty years ago. He escaped from the house. After
           a few months he was caught in Agra and put into jail with mad people all around. There was a
           special jail in Lahore, only for mad people. He said that for nine months everything went okay
           because he was also mad. After nine months, just by accident he drank a whole jug of phenoil -- a
           mad man -- he found it in the bathroom and he drank it. That gave him vomits, nausea, diarrhea.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Because of that diarrhea he was throwing things out for fifteen days continuously, and his madness
           disappeared then the real problem began, because he was amongst mad people. Now for the first
           time he became aware of where he was -- somebody was pulling his leg, somebody was hitting him
           on his head, and people were talking and dancing. And he was no longer mad. Those three months
           when he was not mad and was living with mad people, were the most painful; they were deep
           anguish and anxiety. He couldn't sleep.
               And he would go to the authorities and he would say, 'Now let me out because I am no longer
           mad!' And they wouldn't listen because every mad person says that -- that he is no longer mad. So
           that was not proof. He had to comploete his sentence of one year.
               He told me that he could never forget those three months; they were a continuous nightmare. But
           for nine months he was perfectly happy because he was also mad.
               You cannot conceive of what happens to a person when he becomes a Buddha or a Baal-Shem in
           a country, in a world, which is absolutely mad. He is no longer mad but he has to follow your laws,
           otherwise you will kill him. He has to make compromises. Of course he cannot hope that you will
           make compromises with him. You are not in a state in which you can think. But he can think. Only
           the higher can make compromises with the lower, only the greater can make compromises with the
           lower, only the wise person can make compromises with stupid people.
               So it happened that women have never been accepted. It is only just in this century, very
           recently, that women are coming out of the dark night of the past history.

           I have heard.
               It happened that when Golda Meir was Prime Minister of Israel, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister
           of India, went to Israel. And when Indira Gandhi visited Israel she was welcomed by Golda Meir.
               After seeing all the historical sights, Mrs. Gandhi said, 'I would like to visit a synagogue.' 'By
           all means,' answered the Israeli Prime Minister.
               Two weeks later, Mrs. Gandhi stood before her cabinet.         'What did you learn in Israel?' asked
           one of the members. 'Many things,' answered the Indian Prime Minister. 'But most of all I learned
           that in Israeli synagogues the men pray on the first floor and the Prime Ministers worship in the
           balcony.'

               Two women, but she thought that prime ministers worship in the balcony and men on the floor.
               Once a thing settles it is very difficult to change it, even for a prime minister. Even for a prime
           minister it is difficult to change the traditional way.
               The Hasids were a new way, but rather than destroying the whole movement they chose to go
           with the society and its rules and its regulations. At least let the message reach to men. If it cannot
           reach to women right now, later on it will -- but at least let the message be rooted on the earth.
               I am existing here in a very alien and strange world. I would like to give you many things but I
           cannot, because you yourself will resist. I would like to make you aware of many things in your
           being, but you will be against me. I have to go very slowly, I have to be very roundabout; it cannot
           be done directly.
               Just see. I have done what Pratima was enquiring about in relation to Hasidism. I have done It. In
           my community, men and women are no longer separate. That's why Indians have stopped coming to
           my Ashram. They cannot come. When they used to come, their questions were more or less all
           concerned about what type of Ashram this was -- men and women mixing and meeting, holding each
           other's hands, going together? Even after meditations hugging, kissing each other? What type of
           things were these? This is not good.
               They used to come to me and say, 'This is not good, this should not be allowed. Osho, you should
           interfere.' I never interfered because to me there is nothing wrong -- man and woman should not be
           made in any way distinct. They are not separate, nobody is higher and nobody is lower. They are
           different but equal. Difference is beautiful, it has to be there. The difference has to be enhanced, but
           the equality has to be saved. And to me, love is a way towards God.
               I didn't listen to them. By and by they disappeared. Now only very courageous Indians can enter
           here. Now only a few Indians can enter here, those who have no repressed mind in them, who are
           post-Freudians -- only they can enter here. But Inida as a whole is pre-Freudian. Freud is still
           unknown in India. Freud has not yet entered into the Indian soul.
10/28/07                                                      Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But I have done it. And I am a Hasid, so you can forgive the old Hasids. Time was not ripe at
           that time; even now it is very difficult. I have to encounter difficulties every day. For every small
           thing there are difficulties. Those difficulties could be avoided if I behaved in an orthodox way. I
           cannot behave in an orthodox way -- because then there is no point in my being here, then I could
           not deliver the message to you -- and I cannot be absolutely revolutionary because then there would
           be no possibility of something happening between you and me.
               And I am not in any way interested in being a martyr because that too seems to me to be a sort of
           masochism. People who are always seeking to become martyrs are not really aware of what they are
           doing -- they are seeking suicide. I am not a martyr. I love life, I love all that is implied in life, and
           the original Hasid Masters were as much in love with life as I am. That's why I have chosen to talk
           about them. When I choose to talk about some path, I choose it only because it appeals to me
           tremendously.
               The Hasids were not people who wanted to become political revolutionaries. They were not
           reformists. They were not trying to reform the society, they were trying to bring a mutation to the
           individual soul. And they had to exist in the society. Remember that always.
               But then what happens whenever a tradition gets settled? Now Hasidism is a settled tradition,
           now it itself has become an orthodoxy. Now the time is ripe. If the community exists in New York --
           a Hasidic community exists in New York -- now the time is ripe, but now they themselves have
           become orthodox. They have their own tradition. they cannot go against Baal-Shem. And these
           people who are now Hasids are not really Masters, they are simply followers of the followers of the
           followers.
               You are here with me. You are face to face with something original. When you tell it to
           somebody else it will not be the original. You have heard it from me, then you will tell it to
           somebody else and much of it is lost. And then that person goes to somebody else and delivers the
           message. Again much is lost. Within a few years, within a few transfers, the truth is completely
           distorted, only lies are left. And again a revolutionary movement becomes an orthodox tradition.

           The second question:


              CAN'T YOU DO IT FOR ME? CAN'T YOU CUT MY HEAD OFF? BECAUSE I CAN'T DROP IT. I
              KNOW THAT BECAUSE I HAVE TRIED.

              I can do that but there will be much trouble.

              Let me tell you an anecdote.

               St. Peter returned to the new arrival waiting impatiently outside the gates. 'I can't find your
           name,' he reported. 'Would you please spell it for me?' The man did so, and St. Peter left to check his
           reservation lists again. In a few moments he returned, 'Say, you are not due for ten ears. Who is your
           doctor?'

               If I cut your head off, then St. Peter will ask you, 'You are not due for many lives. Who is your
           guru?'
               It cannot be done by another. It is not something that can be done from the outside. In fact you
           also cannot do it. You have to grow into it. It is not something that you can do or force, it comes
           through deeper understanding.
               The dropping of the head is one of the most difficult things because you are identified with the
           head. You are the head! Your thoughts, your ideologies, your religion, your politics, your scriptures,
           your knowledge, your identity -- everything is in your head. How can you drop it? Just think of
           dropping the head. Then who are you? Without the head you are nobody.
               You have to grow into understanding. When you can grow a new head above this head, only then
           can you drop this head. That's the whole effort of meditation -- to help you grow a new head, a new
           head which does not need thoughts, does not need ideologies; which is pure awareness and enough
           unto itself; WhiCh needs no external influence to live; which lives from its own innermost core.
           When you have grown a new head, the old will be dropped very easily. It will drop on its own
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           accord.
              If I force anything upon you, you will resist it, you will become afraid, you will be scared. And
           nobody wants to die. It is a great art to be learned.

           I have heard.
               It was the day of the hanging and as Mulla Nasrudin was led to the foot of the steps of the
           scaffold, he suddenly stopped and refused to walk another step.        'Let us go,' the guard said
           impatiently. 'What is the matter?'     'Somehow,' said Nasrudin, 'those steps look mighty rickety.
           They just don't look safe enough to walk up.'

               He is going to be hanged, but those steps look 'mighty rickety' -- not safe enough to walk on!
           Even at the moment of death a person goes on clinging -- to the very end. Nobody wants to die, and
           unless you learn to die you will never be able to live, you will never be able to know what life is. A
           person who is able to die is a person who is able to live, because life and death are two aspects of the
           same coin. You can choose both or you can drop both, but they both come together in one parcel,
           they are not different things.
               Once you are afraid of death you are bound to be afraid of life. That's why I am talking about this
           Hasidic approach. The whole approach consists of methods, ways and means of how to die -- the art
           of dying is the art of living also. Dying as an ego is being born as a non 'ego; dying as a part is being
           born as a whole; dying as man is a basic step towards being born as a God.
               But death is difficult, very difficult. Have you watched it? Except man, no animal can commit
           suicide. It is not possible for any animal even to think about committing suicide. Have you thought
           about it? Have you heard of any tree committing suicide, any animal committing suicide? No. Only
           man, man's intelligence, can make it possible that a man can commit suicide.
               And I am not talking about ordinary suicide -- because that is not really suicide, you simply
           change the body -- I am talking of the ultimate suicide. Once you die the way I am teaching you to
           die, you will never be born again in life. You will disappear into the cosmos, you will not have any
           form any more, you will become the formless.

           I have heard.
               The man was charged with trespassing on the farmer's property and shooting quail. The Counsel
           for Defense tried to confuse the farmer.     'Now,'he asked, 'are you prepared to swear that this man
           shot your quail?'     'I didn't say he shot them,' was the reply. 'I said I suspected him of doing it.'
           'Ah, now we are coming to it. What made you suspect this man?' 'Well,' replied the farmer, 'firstly,
           I caught him on my land with a shotgun. Secondly, I heard a gun go off and saw some quail fall.
           Thirdly, I found four quail in his pocket, and you can't tell me them birds just flew in there and
           committed suicide.'

                Only man is capable of committing suicide. That is the glory of man. Only man can be capable
           enough to think that life is not worth living, only man is capable enough to reflect that this life is
           simply futile. Ordinarily when people commit suicide, they don't do it because they have understood
           life's futility, they do it only because they have understood THIS life's futility -- and they are hoping
           that in another life somewhere else things will be better.
                The spiritual suicide means that a man has come to understand that not only THIS life is futile,
           but life as such is futile. Then he starts thinking of how to get rid of being born again and again, how
           to get rid of getting into the tunnel of the body and of being confined and encased; then he starts
           thinking of how to remain absolutely free without any form. This is what moksha is, this is what
           liberation is -- or you can call it salvation.
                A man can never be happy in the body because it is such a confinement. All around are walls;
           you are forced into a prison. It does not look like a prison because the prison walks with you --
           wherever you go it goes with you, so you don't feel that it is like a prison. Once you have known a
           life without the body, once you have become capable of getting out of the body -- even for a single
           split moment -- then you will see how you are confined, how you are imprisoned.
                The body is a bondage, the mind is a bondage, but, you have to understand -- I cannot force you
           free. Remember one thing: you can be forced into bondage from the outside, but you cannot be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forced into freedom from the outside. Somebody can force you into a prison cell, but nobody can
           take you out of a prison cell. If you want to remain in a prison cell, you will find some other prison
           cell somewhere else. You may escape from one prison, but you will get into another -- from the
           frying pan into the fire. You can easily change your prisons, but that doesn't make any difference.
           That's what everybody has been doing for millennia. Each life you have been in a prison --
           sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes black, sometimes white, sometimes Indian,
           sometimes Chinese, sometimes American. You have moved in all the forms possible.
               When people come to me and I look into them, it is surprising how many forms they have moved
           in, how many bodies, how many shape$ they have lived in, how many names and religions and
           countries...and still they are not fed up. And they go on repeating the old circle again and again.
               Remember one thing more. Just as I said to you that suicide is absolutely human, no animal
           commits it, the same is true about boredom. Boredom is absolutely human. A buffalo is never bored,
           a donkey is never bored -- only man, only a highly evolved consciousness. If you are not bored with
           your life, it simply shows that you live in a very low state of consciousness.
               A Buddha is bored, a Jesus is bored, a Mahavira is bored -- bored to death! Just repetition all
           around and nothing else. Out of boredom comes renunciation. A man who is bored with the world
           becomes a sannyasin. The search is not for another world, it is for an end of the search. It is suicide,
           total, ultimate.

           The third question:


              LISTENING TO YOU I FEEL AS IF I AM DYING AS IF YOU ARE CONTINUOUSLY PUSHING ME
              FARTHER AWAY. YOU ARE MY PEAK MY EVEREST SO BEAUTIFUL AND SO FAR AWAY AND
              YET INCREDIBLY CLOSE. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO OPEN MYSELF TO YOU?


                My whole purpose here is to push you towards death, to push you into the abyss of the unknown,
           to push you into zero experience. We in India call it samadhi. It is a zero experience -- where in a
           way you are and in a way you are not; where you are empty of all content, just the container has
           remained; where all writing from the book has disappeared, just the book remains, empty. That's the
           real Bible, the real Veda. When all writing has disappeared and the book is absolutely empty; when
           all the content, all the thoughts, mind, emotions, desires, have disappeared and there is only a pure
           consciousness, empty of all content -- this is what I call the abyss.
                YOU SAY YOU ARE MY PEAK, MY EVEREST.... Yes, that's true, but the peak will come
           only later on. First comes the abyss. I am also your abyss. Let me tell you one very, very beautiful
           anecdote. Listen to it very, very attentively, and later on when you are sitting silently at home,
           meditate over it.

               A man went to a ranch to buy a horse, pointed at one and said, 'My, that's a beautiful pony right
           there. What kind is it?'     'That's a palomino,' said the rancher.     'Well, any friend of yours is a
           friend of mine. I would like to buy that pony,' said the man.
               The rancher replied, 'I gotta tell you, sir, it was owned by a preacher-man. If you want the horse
           to move you say, "Good Lord"; if you want the horse to stop you gotta say, "Amen."' 'Let me try
           that horse,' said the buyer.
               He mounted and said, 'Good Lord.' The horse promptly moved out and was soon galloping up in
           the mountains. The man was yelling, 'Good Lord! Good Lord!' and the horse was really moving.
           Suddenly he came to the end of the cliff, and panic-stricken he yelled, 'Whoa! Whoa!' That didn't
           work and then he remembered and said, 'Amen!' The horse stopped right on the end of the cliff.
               And wiping his brow with relief, the man said, 'Good Lord!'

              You ask IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO OPEN MYSELF TO YOU? Say 'Good Lord'
           and then all else will happen on its own accord.

           The fourth question.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              I LOVE EVERY TIME I HEAR YOU SPEAK, BUT MY FAVORITE THING I EVER HEARD YOU SAY
              WAS THE OTHER DAY WHEN YOU ASKED US IF WE COULD HEAR YOU.


              I would like to ask it every day, every moment. Gan you hear me? But just out of politeness I
           don't ask it. That day the mike failed and I could gather courage. But remember you lied to me.
           When I said, 'Can you hear me?' you said, 'No.' You lied. If you had not heard my question how you
           could answer it? -- Again because of politeness I remained quiet. I had to.

              A young lady went to Mulla Nasrudin for advice. She said to the Mulla, 'Should I marry a fellow
           who lies to me?' 'Yes, unless you want to remain unmarried forever,' said Nasrudin.

              I have to accept you liars as my disciples because there;s no other way, unless I decide to remain
           a master without disciples. You lied to me absolutely that moment. You had heard me, you
           immediately said, 'No.' Not only did you like my asking you, 'Can you hear me,' I also loved your
           answer.

           The fifth question:


              YOU CALL THE HASIDIM A JOYOUS, ENLIGHTENED COMMUNITY, YET THE HASIDISM OF
              MODERN NEW YORK APPEARS TO BE SO RIGID, AUSTERE, DOGMATIC AND
              CONTEMPTUOUS OF BOTH GOYIM AND OTHER JEWS.
              HOW DID THIS TRANSFORMATION TAKE PLACE?

              It always takes place.

               Truth cannot remain long on the earth; it comes and it disappears. If you are available it hits you,
           and then it is gone. You cannot hold it on the earth. The earth is so false and people are so engrossed
           in their lies that truth cannot remain here long. Whenever a Buddha walks on the earth, truth walks
           for a few moments. When the Buddha is gone, truth also disappears. Only the footprints are left and
           you go on worshipping the footprints. The footprints are not the Buddha, and the words uttered by
           the Buddha are just mere words. When you repeat them they are just words, they mean nothing.
               It was Buddha who was the meaning behind the words. You can repeat exactly the same words,
           but they will not mean the same, because the person behind the words is no longer the same.
               The Hasidim were a choice community when Baal-Shem was there. When he walked on the
           earth, the Hasidim were one of the most beautiful communities on the earth -- they flowered. A
           Master is needed, a living Master is needed. Only in a living Master's presence does your innermost
           bud open, blossom.
               After Baal-Shem disappeared, there was only a tradition left. What he said, what he did, the
           legends about him, are many. And then people go on repeating them, people go on imitating them.
           These people are bound to be false.
               But this is natural so don't be angry at them. Once I am gone from here this community will not
           be so joyous, cannot be. It is just natural. Then the words will be there and people will be repeating
           them and they will try to follow them religiously, but there will be effort. Right now there is no
           effort. You are simply flowing with me. Right now it is spontaneous, right now it is a love affair.
           Then it will be a sort of duty to be fulfilled. You will feel an obligation.
               You will remember me. You will want to live the same way, but something very vital will be
           missing -- the life will be missing. Whenever a Master departs, only a dead corpse of his teaching
           remains.
               So always seek a living Master. A dead Master is of no use -- because a dead Master means
           nothing but a dead teaching. Always seek a living Master. But it is very difficult because people's
           minds are very slow. By the time you come to recognise somebody as a Master he is gone. This is
           the difficulty. By the time you recognise that Jesus is a Master, Jesus is no longer there. Then there
           are only Christians, then there are churches, then there are the Pope and the priest, and they catch
           hold of you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yes, Hasidism has become orthodox but the Hasids were not. They were a living religion, a very
           living river.

           I have heard:
               A rabidly anti-Christian Jew was on his deathbed. All the family were gathered round as he
           gasped 'Fetch a priest
               They were all thunder-struck but his wife said to their eldest son, 'Go on, it is his dying wish.
           Fetch a priest.' So the son fetched a Catholic priest, who received the old man into the Church, gave
           him the last rites and left.
               The eldest boy, with tears in his eyes whispered to his father, 'Dad, all your life you have brought
           us up to believe that the Church of Rome is anti-religious. How come in your last moments you can
           bring yourself to join them? You are a Jew, and you have always believed in the Judaic tradition.
           How can you do this at the last moment?'
               And with his last breath the old man muttered, 'Another one of the bastards dead.'

               He converted himself to be a Catholic so that a Catholic dies in the world. 'Another one of the
           bastards dead!'
               People always become that way because they live through the mind. Mind is a tradition.

               I have heard. 'Is your grandfather a religious man7' asked the young co-ed of her date. 'He's
           so orthodox,' replied the boy, 'that when he plays chess he does not use bishops, he uses rabbis!'

               The ego functions in a very traditional way. To be revolutionary, one needs to be beyond the ego.
           And it is not that you can do it once and forever, you have to do it every moment again and again,
           because the ego goes on closing in on you, it goes on caving in on you. Each moment that you pass
           through, whatsoever you have lived, whatsoever you have experienced, becomes your ego. You have
           to discard it. Renunciation is not once and for all. You have to renounce every moment; whatsoever
           is gathered you have to renounce. Only then renunciation remains a revolution. And not only do you
           have to renounce ordinary things of the world, you have to renounce ordinary ideologies also --
           Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan. You have to renounce thoughts so that you can remain in a
           pure mirrorlike reflection. Then your consciousness can remain undisturbed, uncoloured by any
           thought, you can see into things directly and your consciousness is not distracted or distorted by any
           prejudice.
               Once a tradition settles, once a religion is no longer revolutionary, you start interpreting it in
           your own ways. Then you don't bother what Buddha meant, then you start reading your own
           thoughts into Buddha's assertions. Then you don't bother what Krishna says, you go on reading into
           the Gita whatsoever you want to read. Then perversion settles. That's why I insist again and again: if
           you can find a living Master, be with him -- because you cannot distort a living Master. You will try!
           But you cannot distort him because a living Master can stop you from distorting his message. But a
           dead book, a scripture -- Holy Bible, Holy Koran, Holy Gita -- what can they do? They may be holy
           but they are completely dead; you can do whatsoever you want to do with them. And man is very
           cunning and very clever.

              When aged Fennessy collapsed on the street, a crowd soon gathered and began making
           suggestions as to how the old fellow should be revived.
              Maggie O'Reilly yelled 'Give the poor man some whiskey.'
              No one paid any attention to her and the crowd continued shouting out suggestions. Finally
           Fennessy opened one eye, pulled himself up on an elbow, and said weakly, 'Will the lot of ye hold
           your tongues and let Maggie O'Reilly speak?'

               Whatsoever we want to hear, whatsoever we want, becomes our scripture, becomes our
           interpretation. People are rigid. So whether they are Hasids or Buddhists or Sufis or Zen Buddhists
           does not matter -- people's minds are rigid. Wherever they belong they create rigidity there. You can
           move from being a Hindu and you can become a Christian, or from Christian you can become a
           Mohammedan, but it will not make much difference because you will remain you. And you will do
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the same by being a Christian, you will do the same by being a Mohammedan or by being a Hindu.
           What ideology you believe in does not matter much. The real thing that matters is you, your
           consciousness, your state of consciousness.
               You are here with me. Your children, the next generation, will believe in me simply because
           their father or their mother believed in me. They will not have any direct contact with me. They will
           simply believe; it will not be trust, it will be just a mental thing, a formal thing.
               It happens that sometimes the children come and when the mother takes sannyas, the child also
           wants to take sannyas. The child does not know what he is doing, where he is moving; he is just
           imitating the mother. The mother has come on her own but the child has come just as a shadow. For
           the mother I have a totally different meaning, for the child I have no meaning at all. If the mother
           had gone to another Master, the child would have been initiated there. If the mother had become
           Mohammedan or Christian, the child would have become Mohammedan or Christian.
               There is no relevance for the child, it is not significant for the child -- and it may become part of
           his ego that he is a sannyasin. Later in his life he may wear orange, may wear a mala, and he will do
           the formal thing, but he will be as ordinary a mind as there are all over the world. And he will do
           with his belief what the ordinary mind has always been prone to do: he will become rigid about it,
           fanatical about it. He will start declaring that HERE is truth and nowhere else.
               When you declare that only your belief is true and all else is false, you are not concerned with
           truth at all. You are simply concerned with the assertion of your ego. It is an ego declaration, 'MY
           country has to be right, MY religion has to be right. Wrong or right, MY country has to be right, MY
           religion has to be right -- because it is MY religion.'
           Deep down it is my 'I' that has to be right.

           The sixth question:


              LAST NIGHT IN THE EARLY MORNING I SAW TWO DREAMS ONE AFTER ANOTHER. ONE, YOU
              WERE SITTING IN THE ROOM IN COMPLETE SILENCE. I ENTERED THE ROOM VERY SLOWLY,
              CAME CLOSER AND CLOSER TO YOU, BOWED DOWN, TOUCHED YOUR FEET. YOU PLACED
              YOUR HANDS ON MY HEAD. I FELT VERY BLISSFUL, ECSTATIC, VERY, VERY LIGHT.
              ANOTHER: IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL ROOM, VERY COOL, SOOTHING, BLUE-COLOURED. YOU
              WERE LYING ON THE BED. LAXMI, SOME OTHER DISCIPLES AND MYSELF WERE SITTING
              THERE-VERY FEW DISCIPLES WERE THERE. LAXMI BECKONED TO ME TO COME CLOSER
              NEAR YOUR BED. YOU WERE INDICATING SOMETHING NOT INDICATED BEFORE. YOUR
              FINGERS WERE MAKING VERY DIFFERENT GESTURES. IT LOOKED AS IF YOU WERE GIVING
              YOUR FINAL MESSAGE. I COULD EVEN HEAR IT VERY CLEARLY AND DISTINCTLY. IT WAS,
              'DRINK ME, EAT ME, BREATHE ME. DON'T LEAVE ME UNDRUNK, UNEATEN, UNBREATHED.'
              AND WE ALL WERE WEEPING.


               There you missed. You should have been laughing. Correct your dream. Next.time don't commit
           that mistake.

           The seventh question:
               'SHALL THE DAY OF PARTING BE THE DAY OF GATHERING? AND SHALL IT BE
           SAID THAT MY EVE WAS IN TRUTH MY DAWN? SHALL MY HEART BECOME A TREE,
           HEAVY-LADEN WITH FRUIT THAT I MAY GATHER AND GIVE UNTO THEM? AM I A
           HARP THAT THE HAND OF THE MIGHTY MAY TOUCH ME, OR A FLUTE THAT HIS
           BREATH MAY PASS THROUGH ME? A SEEKER OF SILENCES AM I, AND WHAT
           TREASURE HAVE I FOUND IN SILENCES THAT I MAY DISPENSE WITH CONFIDENCE?'

               Yes, a million, million times, yes. Let this be your guide. You just allow the Divine and he will
           start singing through your flute. Don't hinder his way.
               Only one thing is needed -- don't hinder God. It is not a question of God playing on your flute or
           not. It is only a question of whether you will allow him or not. If you allow him, this very moment
           the song begins. If you don't allow him and you go on praying, 'Play on my flute,' then it is never
           going to begin.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Man has nothing else to do but surrender -- in deep trust, in deep love. Don't be a doer, just
           surrender. Let there be a let-go.And whatsoever you have asked, I say yes, a million, million times,
           yes.

           The eighth question:


              I WAS A SAD CHILD, A FRIGHTENED ADOLESCENT, AND AN ANGRY YOUNG MAN. YET ALL
              MY LIFE I HAVE FELT DEEP WITHIN THAT EVERYTHING WAS FUNNY, ABSURD, RIDICULOUS.
              WHEN I WAS IN THE SEMINARY SOME YEARS AGO, A FRIEND TOLD ME THAT WE HAVE
              SUCH A LIMITED CAPACITY FOR DIVINE THINGS THAT IF GOD TOLD US A JOKE, WE WOULD
              DIE LAUGHING. I REMEMBER MY FRIEND'S STATEMENT BECAUSE SINCE COMING TO
              POONA I HAVE FELT A GREAT BELLY-LAUGH WELLING UP INSIDE OF ME. I FEEL THAT GOD
              HAS TOLD ME A JOKE, AND THE PUNCH-LINE IS SLOWLY DAWNING ON ME. I AM A LITTLE
              AFRAID THAT I WILL NOT CATCH IT FULLY UNTIL I HAVE LEFT POONA IN DECEMBER, AND
              THEN I WILL LAUGH SO LOUD AND HARD THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR ME ALL THE
              WAY FROM TEXAS. PLEASE TELL ME, WILL I SURVIVE THIS JOKE? IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO
              SURVIVE THIS JOKE.


               It is impossible to survive THIS joke. The laughter that I am teaching to you is something that is
           going to destroy you completely. The laughter that I am teaching to you is very destructive, it is a
           crucifixion. But only after this destruction is there creation. Only out of chaos are stars born and only
           after crucifixion is there resurrection.
               No, you will not be able to survive this laughter. If you really allow it, you will be drowned by it,
           you will disappear and only laughter will remain. If YOU laugh then the laughter is not total. When
           there is only laughter and you are not, then it is total. And only then have you heard the joke that
           God is telling.
               Yes, this whole cosmos is a joke; Hindus call it LEELA. It is a joke, it is a play. And the day that
           you understand, you start laughing, and that laughing never stops. It goes on and on. It spreads all
           over the cosmos.
               Laughter is prayer. If you can laugh you have learnt how to pray. Don't be serious; a serious
           person can never be religious. Only a person who can laugh, not only at others but at himself also,
           can be religious. A person who can laugh absolutely, who sees the whole ridiculousness and the
           whole game of life, becomes enlightened in that laughter.
               No. You ask: PLEASE TELL ME, WILL I SURVIVE THIS JOKE? No, if you have heard the
           joke you cannot survive. If you have not heard, then it is very unfortunate because you will survive.

           The last question and the most important:


              OSHO, WHY DO JEWS HAVE LONG NOSES?


                Now don't be afraid. I am not going to give you a long talk, a ninety-minute talk, no, because I
           know the answer. When you don't know the answer you have to give a very long answer. You see,
           that's why I go on talking so long. When I don't know the answer I have to talk very long. In my
           talking you forget your question. But when I know the answer there is no need. And I know the
           answer. I happen to know the answer.
                How I came upon the answer -- about that I must tell you something.
                One day -- just a few days ago -- Vivek asked me this question early in the morning: 'Why do
           Jews have long noses?' I settled in my chair, in my posture. I made my towel comfortable, looked at
           the clock and I was just going to start a great discourse on the philosophy and the physiology of the
           Jewish nose. But then she became apprehensive and afraid. Naturally -- because once I take off, then
           it takes ninety minutes at least for me to land on the earth. So she said, 'Stop! Stop! I happen to know
           the answer! You need not give me the answer!'
                I was very shocked because I was already on the way. In a hurried way she said, 'Because the air
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is free!'
                It is a beauty. I loved it. It explains everything. The Jews have long noses because the air is free!




                                                  The Art of Dying
                                                     Chapter #7
                                              Chapter title: The Treasure
           17 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610170
              ShortTitle: ART07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins




              RABBI BUNAM USED TO TELL YOUNG MEN WHO CAME TO HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME THE
              STORY OF RABBI EISIK SON OF RABBI YEKEL IN CRACOW...
                 'AFTER MANY YEARS OF GREAT POVERTY WHICH HAD NEVER SHAKEN HIS FAITH IN GOD
              HE DREAMED THAT SOMEONE BADE HIM LOOK FOR TREASURE UNDER THE BRIDGE WHICH
              LEADS TO THE KING'S PALACE IN PRAGUE. WHEN THE DREAM RECURRED THE THIRD TIME
              HE SET OUT FOR PRAGUE. BUT THE BRIDGE WAS GUARDED DAY AND NIGHT AND HE DID
              NOT DARE START DIGGING. NEVERTHELESS HE WENT TO THE BRIDGE EVERY MORNING
              AND KEPT WALKING AROUND IT UNTIL EVENING.
              FINALLY THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDS WHO HAD BEEN WATCHING HIM ASKED IN A KINDLY
              WAY WHETHER HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING OR WAITING FOR SOMEONE.
              RABBI EISIK TOLD HIM OF THE DREAM WHICH HAD BROUGHT HIM FROM A FAR AWAY
              COUNTRY.
              THE CAPTAIN LAUGHED 'AND SO TO PLEASE YOUR DREAM YOU WORE OUT YOUR SHOES
              TO COME HERE YOU POOR FELLOW. AND AS FAR AS HAVING FAITH IN DREAMS IF I HAD
              HAD IT I SHOULD HAVE HAD TO GO TO CRACOW AND DIG FOR TREASURE UNDER THE
              STOVE IN THE ROOM OF A JEW-EISIK SON OF YEKEL! THAT'S WHAT THE DREAM TOLD ME.
              AND IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE; ONE HALF OF THE JEWS OVER THERE ARE
              CALLED EISIK AND THE OTHER HALF YEKEL! AND HE LAUGHED AGAIN. RABBI EISIK BOWED
              TRAVELED HOME DUG UP THE TREASURE FROM UNDER HIS STOVE, AND BUILT THE
              HOUSE OF PRAYER WHICH IS CALLED REB EISIK'S SHUL.'



              RABBI BUNAM USED TO ADD 'TAKE THIS STORY TO HEART AND MAKE WHAT IT SAYS YOUR
              OWN. THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT FIND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD NOT EVEN AT
              THE ZADDIK'S AND THERE IS NEVERTHELESS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT.'


               LIFE is a search, a constant search, a desperate search, a hopeless search...a search for
           something one knows not what. There is a deep urge to seek but one knows not what one is seeking.
               And there is a certain state of mind in which whatsoever you get is not going to give you any
           satisfaction. Frustration seems to be the destiny of humanity, because whatsoever you get becomes
           meaningless the very moment you have got it. You start searching again.
               The search continues whether you get anything or not. It seems irrelevant what you have got,
           what you have not got -- the search continues anyway. The poor are searching, the rich are
           searching, the i!l are searching, the well are searching, the powerful are searching. the powerless are
           searching, the stupid are searching, the wise are searching -- and nobody knows exactly what for.
               This very search -- what it is and why it is there -- has to be understood. It seems that there is a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gap in the human being, in the human mind; in the very structure of the human consciousness there
           seems to be a hole, a black hole. You go on throwing things into it, and they go on disappearing.
           Nothing seems to make it full, nothing seems to help towards fulfillment. It is a very feverish search.
           You seek it in this world, you seek it in the other world; sometimes you seek it in money, in power,
           in prestige, and sometimes you seek it in God, bliss, love, meditation, prayer -- but the search
           continues. It seems that man is ill with search.
               The search does not allow you to be here and now because the search always leads you
           somewhere else. The search is a projection, the search is a desire: that somewhere else is what is
           needed, that it exists but it exists somewhere else, not here where you are. It certainly exists, but not
           in this moment of time; not now, but somewhere else. It exists then, there, never herenow. It goes on
           nagging you; it goes on pulling you, pushing you, it goes on throwing you into more and more
           madness; it drives you crazy and it is never fulfilled.

               I have heard about a very great Sufi mystic woman, Rabia al-Adawia.
               One evening, people found her sitting on the road searching for something. She was an old
           woman, her eyes were weak, and it was difficult for her to see. So the neighbours came to help her.
           They asked, 'What are you searching for?'
               Rabia said, 'That question is irrelevant, I am searching. If you can help me, help.'
               They laughed and said, 'Rabia, have you gone mad? You say our question is irrelevant, but if we
           don't know what you are searching for, how can we help?'
               Rabia said, 'Okay. Just to satisfy you, I am searching for my needle, I have lost my needle.'
               They started helping her -- but immediately they became aware of the fact that the road was very
           big and a needle was a very tiny thing.
               So they asked Rabia, 'Please tell us where you lost it -- the exact, precise place. Otherwise it is
           difficult. The road is big and we can go on searching and searching forever. Where did you lose it?'
               Rabia said, 'Again you ask an irrelevant question. How is it concerned with my search?'
               They stopped. They said, 'You have certainly gone crazy!'
               Rabia said, 'Okay. Just to satisfy you, I have lost it in my house.'
           They asked, 'Then why are you searching here?'
               And Rabia is reported to have said, 'Because here there is light and there is no light inside.'
               The sun was setting and there was a little light still left on the road.

               This parable is very significant. Have you ever asked yourself what you are searching for? Have
           you ever made it a point of deep meditation to know what you are searching for? No. Even if in
           some vague moments, dreaming moments, you have some inkling of what you are searching for, it is
           never precise, it is never exact. You have not yet defined it. If you try to define it, the more it
           becomes defined the more you will feel that there is no need to search for it. The search can continue
           only in a state of vagueness, in a state of dreaming; when things are not clear you simply go on
           searching. pulled by some inner urge, pushed by some inner urgency. One thing you do know: you
           need to search. This is an inner need. But you don't know what you are seeking.
               And unless you know what you are seeking, how can you find it? It is vague -- you think it is in
           money, power, prestige, respectability. But then you see people who are respectable, people who are
           powerful -- they are also seeking. Then you see people who are tremendously rich -- they are also
           seeking. To the very end of their life they are seeking. So richness is not going to help, power is not
           going to help. The search continues in spite of what you have.
               The search must be for something else. These names, these labels -- money, power, prestige --
           these are just to satisfy your mind. They are just to help you feel that you are searching for
           something. That something is still undefined, a very vague feeling.
               The first thing for the real seeker, for the seeker who has become a little alert, aware, is to define
           the search; to formulate a clear-cut concept of it, what it is; to bring it out of the dreaming
           consciousness; to encounter it in deep alertness; to look into it directly; to face it. Immediately a
           transformation starts happening. If you start defining your search, you will start losing your interest
           in the search. The more defined it becomes, the less it is there. Once it is clearly known what it is,
           suddenly it disappears. It exists only when you are not attentive.
               Let it be repeated: the search exists only when you are sleepy; the search exists only when you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not aware; the search exists only in your unawareness. The unawareness creates the search.
               Yes, Rabia is right. Inside there is no light. And because there is no light and no consciousness
           inside, of course you go on searching outside -- because outside it seems more clear.
               Our senses are all extrovert. The eyes open outwards, the hands move, spread outwards, the legs
           move into the outside, the ears listen to the outside noises, sounds. Whatsoever is available to you is
           all opening towards the outside; all the five senses move in an extrovert way. You start searching
           there where you see, feel, touch -- the light of the senses falls outside. And the seeker is inside.
               This dichotomy has to be understood. The seeker is inside but because the light is outside, the
           seeker starts moving in an ambitious way, trying to find something outside which will be fulfilling.
               It is never going to happen. It has never happened. It cannot happen in the nature of things --
           because, unless you have sought the seeker, all your search is meaningless. Unless you come to
           know who you are, all that you seek is futile, because you don't know the seeker. Without knowing
           the seeker how can you move in the right dimension, in the right direction? It is impossible. The first
           things should be considered first.
               So these two things are very important: first, make it absolutely clear to yourself what your
           object is. Don't just go on stumbling in darkness. Focus your attention on the object -- what you are
           really searching for. Because sometimes you want one thing and you go on searching for something
           else, so even if you succeed you will not be fulfilled. Have you seen people who have succeeded?
           Can you find bigger failures anywhere else? You have heard the proverb that nothing succeeds like
           success. It is absolutely wrong. I would like to tell you: nothing fails like success. The proverb must
           have been invented by stupid people. Nothing fails like success.
               It is said about Alexander the Great that the day he became the world conqueror he closed the
           doors of his room and started weeping. I don't know whether it really happened or not, but if he was
           even a little intelligent it must have happened.
               His generals were very disturbed. What has happened? They had never seen Alexander weeping.
           He was not that type of man, he was a great warrior. They had seen him in great difficulties, in
           situations where life was very much in danger, where death was very imminent, and they had not
           seen even a tear coming out of his eyes. They had never seen him in any desperate, hopeless
           moment. What has happened to him now -- now when he has succeeded, when he is the world
           conqueror?
               They knocked on the door, they went in and they asked, 'What has happened to you? Why are
           you crying like a child?' He said, 'Now that I have succeeded, I know it has been a failure. Now I
           know that I stand exactly in the same place as I used to be in when I started this nonsense of
           conquering the world.And the point has become clear to me now because there is no other world to
           conquer anymore -- otherwise I could have remained on the journey, I could have started conquering
           another world. Now there is no other world to conquer, now there is nothing else to do, and suddenly
           I am thrown to myself.'
               A successful man is always thrown to himself in the end and then he suffers tortures of hell
           because he wasted his whole life. He searched and searched, he staked everything that he had, now
           he is successful -- and his heart is empty and his soul is meaningless and there is no fragrance, there
           is no benediction.
               So the first thing is to know exactly what you are seeking. I insist upon it because the more you
           focus your eyes on the object of your search, the more the object starts disappearing. When your
           eyes are absolutely fixed, suddenly there is nothing to seek; immediately your eyes start turning
           towards yourself. When there is no object for search, when all objects have disappeared, there is
           emptiness. In that emptiness is conversion, turning in. You suddenly start looking at yourself. Now
           there is nothing to seek, and a new desire arises to know this seeker.
               If there is something to seek, you are a worldly man; if there is nothing to seek, and the question
           'Who is this seeker?' has become important to you, then you are a religious man. This is the way I
           define the worldly and the religious.

              If you are still seeking something -- maybe in the other life, on the other shore, in heaven, in
           paradise, in moksha, it makes no difference -- you are still a worldly man. If all seeking has stopped
           and you have suddenly become aware that now there is only one thing to know -- 'Who is this seeker
           in me? What is this energy that wants to seek? Who am I?' -- then there is a transformation. All
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           values change suddenly. You start moving inwards.
                Then Rabia is no longer sitting on the road searching for a needle that is lost somewhere in the
           darkness of one's own inner soul. Once you have started moving inwards.... In the beginning it is
           very dark -- Rabia is right. It is very, very dark because for lives together you have never been inside
           -- your eyes have been focussed on the outside world.
                Have you watched it? Observed? Sometimes when you come in from the road where it is very
           sunny and the sun is hot and there is bright light -- when you suddenly come into the room or into
           the house it is very dark because the eyes are focussed for the outside light, for much light. When
           there is much light, the eyes shrink. In darkness the eyes have to relax. A bigger aperture is needed
           in darkness; in light a smaller aperture is enough. That's how the camera functions and that's how
           your eye functions. The camera has been invented along the lines of the human eye.
                So when you suddenly come from the outside, your own house looks dark. But if you sit a little
           while, by and by the darkness disappears. There is more light; your eyes are settling.
                For many lives together you have been outside in the hot sun, in the world, so when you go in
           you have completely forgotten how to enter and how to re-adjust your eyes. Meditation is nothing
           but a re-adjustment of your vision, a re-adjustment of your seeing faculty, of your eyes. In India that
           is what is called your third eye. It is not an eye somewhere, it is a re-adjustment, a total
           re-adjustment of your vision. By and by the darkness is no longer dark; a subtle, suffused light starts
           being felt.
                And if you go on looking inside -- it takes time -- gradually, slowly, you start feeling a beautiful
           light inside. But it is not aggressive light;it is not like the sun, it is more like the moon. It is not
           glaring, it is not dazzling, it is very cool; it is not hot, it is very compassionate, it is very soothing, it
           is a balm.
                By and by, when you have got adjusted to the inside light, you will see that you are the very
           source. The seeker is the sought. Then you will see that the treasure is within you and the whole
           problem was that you were seeking for it outside. You were seeking for it somewhere outside and it
           has always been there inside you, it has always been here within you. You were seeking in a wrong
           direction, that's all.
                Everything is available to you as much as it is available to anyone else, as much as it is available
           to a Buddha, to a Baal-Shem, to a Moses, to Mohammed. It is all available to you, only you are
           looking in the wrong direction. As far as the treasure is concerned you are not poorer than Buddha or
           Mohammed -- no, God has never created a poor man. It does not happen, it cannot happen -- because
           God creates you out of his richness. How can he create a poor man? You are his overflowing, you
           are part of his being, how can you be poor? You are rich, infinitely rich, as rich as God himself.
                But you are looking in the wrong direction. The direction is wrong, that's why you go on
           missing. And it is not that you will not succeed in life, you can succeed, but still you will be a
           failure. Nothing is going to satisfy you because nothing can be attained in the outside world which
           can be comparable to the inner treasure, to the inner light, to the inner bliss.

               Now this story. This story is tremendously meaningful.

               RABBI BUNAM USED TO TELL YOUNG MEN WHO CAME TO HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE
               STORY OF RABBI EISIK, SON OF RABBI YEKEL IN CRACOW.... 'AFTER MANY YEARS OF
               GREAT POVERTY, WHICH HAD NEVER SHAKEN HIS FAITH IN GOD, HE DREAMED THAT
               SOMEONE BADE HIM TOOK FOR TREASURE UNDER THE BRIDGE WHICH LEADS TO THE
               KING'S PALACE IN PRAGUE. WHEN THE DREAM RECURRED THE THIRD TIME HE SET OUT
               FOR PRAGUE. BUT THE BRIDGE WAS GUARDED DAY AND NIGHT AND HE DID NOT DARE
               START DIGGING. NEVERTHELESS HE WENT TO THE BRIDGE EVERY MORNING AND KEPT
               WALKING AROUND IT UNTIL EVENING.
               FINALLY, THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDS, WHO HAD BEEN WATCHING HIM, ASKED IN A
               KINDLY WAY WHETHER HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING, OR WAITING FOR SOMEONE.
               RABBI EISIK TOLD HIM OF THE DREAM WHICH HAD BROUGHT HIM FROM A FAR AWAY
               COUNTRY.
               THE CAPTAIN LAUGHED, 'AND SO TO PLEASE YOUR DREAM YOU WORE OUT YOUR SHOES
               TO COME HERE! YOU POOR FELLOW. AND AS FOR HAVING FAITH IN DREAMS, IF I HAD HAD
               IT I WOULD HAVE HAD TO GO TO CRACOW AND DIG FOR TREASURE UNDER THE STOVE IN
               THE ROOM OF A JEW -- EISIK, SON OF YEKEL! THAT'S WHAT THE DREAM TOLD ME. AND
               IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE; ONE HALF OF THE JEWS OVER THERE ARE
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               CALLED EISIK, AND THE OTHER HALF YEKEL! AND HE LAUGHED AGAIN. RABBI EISIK
               BOWED, TRAVELED HOME, DUG UP THE TREASURE FROM UNDER HIS STOVE, AND BUILT
               THE HOUSE OF PRAYER WHICH IS CALLED REB EISIK'S SHUL.'
               RABBI BUNAM USED TO ADD, 'TAKE THIS STORY TO HEART AND MAKE WHAT IT SAYS YOUR
               OWN. THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT FIND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, NOT EVEN AT
               THE ZADDIK'S, AND THERE IS, NEVERTHELESS, A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT.'


               The first thing to be under stood about the story is that he dreamed. All desiring is dreaming and
           all dreaming takes you away from you -- that is the very nature of the dream.
               You may be sleeping in Poona and you may dream of Philadelphia. In the morning you will not
           wake up in Philadelphia, you will wake up in Poona. In a dream you can be anywhere; a dream has a
           tremendous freedom because it is unreal. In a dream you can be anywhere: on the moon, on Mars.
           You can choose any planet, it is your game. In a d ream you can be anywhere, there is only one place
           you cannot be -- that is where you are. This is the first thing to be understood about the dreaming
           consciousness. If you are where you are, then the dream cannot exist, because then there is no point
           in the dream, then there is no meaning in the dream. If you are exactly where you are and you are
           exactly what you are, then how can the dream exist? The dream can exist only if you go away from
           you. You may be a poor man and you dream about being an emperor. You may be an ordinary man
           and you dream about yourself being extraordinary. You walk on the earth and you dream that you fly
           in the sky. The dream has to be a falsification of reality; the dream has to be something else than
           reality.

               In reality there is no dreaming, so those who want to know the real have to stop dreaming.
               In India we have divided human consciousness into four stages. We call the first stage the
           ordinary waking consciousness. Right now you are in the ordinary waking consciousness. What is an
           ordinary waking consciousness? You appear to be awake but you are not. You are a little bit awake,
           but that little bit is so small that it doesn't make much difference.
               You can walk to your home, you can recognise your wife or your husband, you can drive your
           car...that little bit is only enough for this. It gives you a sort of efficiency -- that's all. But it is a very
           small consciousness, exhausted very easily, lost very easily. If somebody insults you it is lost, it is
           exhausted. If somebody insults you, you become angry. You are no longer conscious. That's why
           after anger many people say, 'Why did I do it? How did I do it? How could I do it? It happened in
           spite of me.' Yes, they are right -- it happened in spite of you because you lost your consciousness. In
           anger, in violent rage, people are possessed; they do things they would never do if they were a little
           aware. They can kill, they can destroy; they can even destroy themselves.
               The ordinary waking consciousness is only 'waking' for name's sake -- deep down dreams
           continue. Just a small tip of the iceberg is alert -- most of the thing is underneath, in darkness. Watch
           it sometimes. Just anywhere close your eyes and look within: you will see dreams floating like
           clouds surrounding you. You can sit on the chair any moment of the day, close your eyes, relax, and
           suddenly you see that the dreams have started. In fact they have not started, they were continuing --
           just as during the day stars disappear from the sky. They don't really disappear, they are there, but
           because of the light of the sun you don't see them. If you go into a deep well, a very deep, dark well,
           from the dark well you can look at the sky and you will be able to recognise a few stars -- even at
           midday. The stars are there; when night Comes they don't reappear, they have always been there, all
           twenty-four hours. They don't go anywhere, the sunlight just hides them.
               Exactly the same is the case with your dreaming: it is just below the surface, just underground it
           continues. On the top of it is a little layer of awareness, underneath are a thousand and one dreams.
           Close your eyes any time and you will find yourself dreaming.                'That's why people are in great
           difficulty when they start meditating. They come to me and they say, 'This is something funny,
           strange. We never thought that there were so many thoughts.' They have never closed their eyes, they
           have never sat in a relaxed posture, they have never gone in to see what was happening there because
           they were too engaged in the outside world, they were too occupied. Because of that occupation they
           never became aware of this constant activity inside.
               In India, the ordinary waking consciousness is called the first state. The second state is that of
           dreaming. Any time you close your eyes you are in it. At night you are continuously in it, almost
           continuously. Whether you remember your dream in the morning or not is not of much importance,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you go on dreaming. There are at least eight cycles of dreaming during the night. One cycle
           continues for many minutes -- fifteen, twenty minutes; then there is a gap; then there is another
           cycle; then there is a gap; then again there is a cycle. Throughout the whole night you are
           continuously dreaming and dreaming and dreaming. This is the second state of consciousness.
               This parable is concerned with the second state of consciousness. Ordinarily all desires exist in
           the second state of consciousness, the dreaming state. Desire is a dream and to work for a dream is
           doomed from the very beginning, because a dream can never become real. Even if sometimes you
           feel it has become almost real, it never becomes real -- a dream by nature is empty. It has no
           substance in it.
               The third state is sleep, deep sleep, SUSHUPTI. In it all dreaming disappears -- but all
           consciousness also. While you are awake there is a little awareness, very little; when you are
           dreaming, even that little awareness disappears. But still there is an iota of awareness -- that's why
           you can remember in the morning that you had a dream, such and such a dream. But in deep sleep
           even that disappears. It is as if you have completely disappeared. Nothing remains. A nothingness
           surrounds you.
               These are the three ordinary states. The fourth state is called TURIYA. The fourth is simply
           called 'the fourth'. TURIYA means 'the fourth'. The fourth state is that of a Buddha. It is almost like
           dreamless sleep with one difference -- that difference is very great. It is as peaceful as deep sleep, as
           without dreams as deep sleep, but it is absolutely alert, aware.
               Krishna says in his Gita that a real yogi never sleeps. That does not mean that a real yogi simply
           sits awake in his room the whole night. There are a few foolish people who are doing that. That a
           real yogi never sleeps means that while he is asleep he remains aware, alert.
               Ananda lived with Buddha for forty years. He asked Buddha one day, 'One thing surprises me
           very much; I am intrigued. You will have to answer me. This is just out of curiosity but I cannot
           contain it anymore. When you sleep at night I have watched you many times, for hours together, and
           you sleep in such a way that it seems as if you are awake. You sleep in such a graceful way; your
           face, your body -- everything is so graceful. I have seen many other people sleeping, and they start
           mumbling, their faces go through contortions, their bodies lose all grace, their faces become ugly,
           they don't look beautiful any more....' All beauty has to be managed, controlled, practised; in deep
           sleep it disappears. 'And, one thing more,' Ananda said. 'You never change your posture you remain
           in the same posture. Wherever you put your hand in the beginning, you keep it there the whole night.
           You never change it. It seems that deep down you are keeping absolutely alert.' Buddha said, 'You
           are right. That happens when meditation is perfect.'
               Then awareness penetrates your being so deeply that you are aware in all of the four states.
           When you are aware in all four states dreaming absolutely disappears, because in an alert mind a
           dream cannot exist. And the ordinary waking state becomes an extraordinary waking state -- what
           Gurdjieff calls self-remembering. One remembers oneself absolutely, each moment. There is no gap.
           The remembrance is a continuity. Then one becomes a luminous being.
               And deep sleep is there but its quality changes completely. The body is asleep but the soul is
           awake and alert, watchful. The whole body is deep in darkness but the lamp of inner consciousness
           burns bright.

           This story says:

              AFTER MANY YEARS OF GREAT POVERTY, WHICH HAD NEVER SHAKEN HIS FAITH IN GOD,
              HE DREAMED THAT SOMEONE BADE HIM LOOK FOR TREASURE UNDER THE BRIDGE WHICH
              LEADS TO THE KING'S PALACE IN PRAGUE.


               After many years of great poverty it is natural that one should start dreaming about treasures. We
           always dream about that which we don't have. Fast for one day and in the night you will dream about
           food. Try to force celibacy upon yourself and your dreams will become sexual, they will have a
           quality of sexuality.
               That's why psychoanalysis says that the analysis of dreams is of tremendous import, because it
           shows what you are repressing. Your dream becomes a symbolic indication of the repressed content
           of your mind. If a person continuously dreams about food, about feasts, that simply shows that the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           person is starving himself. Jaina monks always dream about food -- they may say so, they may not. If
           you fast too much you are bound to dream about food. That's why many religious saints become so
           afraid of falling asleep.
               Even Mahatma Gandhi was very afraid to go into sleep. He was trying to reduce it to as little as
           possible. Religious people make it a point to try not to sleep for too long -- four hours, five hours at
           the most. Three is the ideal. Why? Because once your need of bodily rest is satisfied your mind starts
           weaving and spinning dreams. And immediately the mind brings up things which you have been
           repressing Mahatma Gandhi said, 'I have become a celibate as far as my waking consciousness is
           concerned, but in my d reams I am not a celibate.' He was a true man in a sense -- truer than other
           so-called saints. At least he accepted that in his dreams he was not yet celibate.
               But unless you are celibate in your dreams you are not yet celibate, because the dream reveals
           whatsoever you are repressing during the day. The dream simply brings it back to your
           consciousness. Dreaming is a language, a communication from the unconscious which is saying,
           'Please don't do this to me. It is impossible to tolerate. Stop this nonsense. You are destroying my
           natural spontaneity. Allow me, allow whatsoever is potential in me to flower.'
               When a person represses nothing, dreams disappear. So a Buddha never dreams. If your
           meditation goes deep you will immediately find that your dreams are becoming less and less and
           less. The day your dreams completely disappear and you attain to clarity in your sleep -- no clouds,
           no smoke, no thoughts; simple, silent sleep, without any interference of dreams -- that day you have
           become a Buddha, your meditation has come to fruition.
               Psychoanalysis insists that dreams have to be understood because man is very cunning: he can
           deceive while he is awake but he cannot deceive when he is in a dream. A dream is truer...Look at
           the irony. A dream is more true about you than your so-called waking consciousness. Man has
           become so false. man has become so fake that the waking consciousness cannot be relied upon -- you
           have corrupted it too much. A psychoanalyst immediately wants to go into your dreams, he does not
           want to know about your religion, he does not want to know about your philosophy of life, he does
           not want to know whether you are a Hindu or a Christian, an Indian or an American -- that is all
           nonsense. He wants to know what your dreams are. Look at the irony -- your dreams have become so
           real that your reality is less real than your dreams. You are living such a pseudo-life, inauthentic,
           false, that the psychoanalyst has to go to your dreams to find a few glimpses of truth. Only your
           dreams are still beyond your control.
               There are people who try to control dreams also. tn the East methods have been invented to
           control dreams. That means you are not even allowing the unconscious to convey any message to
           you. You can do that too. You can cultivate dreams if you work hard. You can start planning your
           dreams. You can give a story to your own unconscious to unfold in your dreams. If you do it
           consistently, every day, by and by you will be able to corrupt the unconscious.
               For example, once a devotee of Krishna stayed with me. He said, 'I always dream of Krishna.' I
           asked him, 'How do you manage it? A dream is not something that you can manage. What method
           have you tried?' He said, 'A simple method which my guru gave to me. Every night when I go to
           sleep, I go on thinking and thinking about Krishna, fantasising. After three years of continuously
           practising fantasy while falling asleep, one day it happened. Whatsoever I had fantasised continued
           in my dream and it became my dream. Since then I have been having tremendously religious
           dreams.'

               I said, 'You just go into the details -- because you may have managed the story but the
           unconscious will be sending messages in the story itself, the unconscious can use your story to send
           its messages.' He said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'You simply give me the content of your dream,
           the detailed content.'
               And he started telling me. It was absolutely sexual. Krishna was his lover and he had become a
           male gopi, a boyfriend. The content was homosexual. And they were dancing together and kissing
           and hugging and loving each other.
               I said, 'You have changed the figure, but the content still remains. And my understanding is that
           you are a homosexual.' He was very much disturbed and shocked. He said, 'What do you mean? How
           have you come to know about it?' I told him, 'Your dream is a clear message.'
               He started weeping and crying. He said, 'From my childhood I was never attracted to women, I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was always attracted to men. And I thought that it was good because women would distract me from
           my path.'
                The homosexual content had entered into his religious story. Krishna was nothing but a
           homosexual partner. He became very disturbed and that very night the dream disappeared and a
           purely ",homosexual dream entered. He said, 'What have you done to me?' I said, 'I have not done
           anything. I have simply made your message clear to you. You can fabricate a story but that doesn't
           matter, the ';inner content remains the same.'
                Just see. Go to a person who is not religious. You will find nude pictures of women in Indian
           homes, in bachelors' homes. These people are not religious. But go to a religious man. He may have
           beautiful pictures of gods and goddesses but just look at the content, at the detail of it. Whether it is a
           film actress or whether it is a goddess makes no difference. Just look at the breasts! They will
           indicate exactly the same content. The story is different. Somebody has a picture of a goddess on his
           wall and somebody has Elizabeth Taylor or somebody else's picture, or Sophia Loren -- but it makes
           no difference. Whether you call her a goddess or you call her a film actress makes no difference.
           Look at the detail and you will see what that man is hankering after.
                You can manipulate your dreams, you can destroy the purity of your unconscious's messages but
           still the unconscious will go on giving you messages. It has to. It has to scream to you because you
           are destroying your own nature, your own spontaneity.
                This dream happened AFTER MANY YEARS OF GREAT POVERTY WHICH HAD NEVER
           SHAKEN HIS FAITH IN GOD. HE DREAMED THAT SOMEONE BADE HIM LOOK FOR
           TREASURE UNDER THE BRIDGE WHICH LEADS TO THE KING'S PALACE IN PRAGUE.
                Poor men always dream of kings' palaces and kings' treasure and things like that. If you have
           very rich dreams it simply shows that you are a poor man. Only very rich people dream of becoming
           sannyasins -- a Buddha, a Mahavir. Living in their palaces they had dreams of becoming sannyasins,
           because they were fed up with their success. Success was finished for them, it had no charm, it had
           no allurement, it had no fascination any more. They thought now that a poor man's life is a real life
           and they started to seek somewhere else where they were not.
                But the dream always goes somewhere else. The rich man thinks that the poor man is living a
           real life, and the poor man thinks that the rich man is living a real life. But the fallacy is the same:
           they both think, 'Real life is somewhere else where I am not. Somehow I am always excluded from
           the real life -- somebody else is enjoying it. Life is always happening somewhere else. Wherever I
           go, life simply disappears. Wherever I reach for it I always find emptiness.' But it is always
           happening somewhere else. Life seems to be like the horizon, it is just ahead somewhere. It is a
           mirage.
              WHEN THE DREAM RECURRED THE THIRD TIME HE SET OUT FOR PRAGUE.

               And remember, if a dream recurs too many times it almost starts looking real. Repetition makes
           things real.
               Adolf Hitler wrote in his autobiography 'Mein Kampf' that if you go on repeating a lie it becomes
           real. Repetition is the key. And he should know. He practised it. He is not simply asserting
           something theoretical, he practised it the whole of his life. He uttered lies, absolutely absurd lies, but
           one thing he insisted on -- he went on repeating. When you go on repeating some lie again and again
           and again it starts becoming real, because the mind starts getting hypnotised by it.
               Repetition is the method of hypnosis. Repeat anything and it becomes engraved in your being --
           that's how we are deluded in life. If you repeat, 'This woman is beautiful, this woman is beautiful...'
           if you go on repeating it, you will start seeing beauty in her. It may be there, it may not be there, it
           doesn't matter -- if you repeat it long enough it will become true. If you think that money is the goal
           of life, go on repeating it and it will become your goal of life.
               That's how all advertising functions: it just goes on repeating. The advertiser believes in the
           science of repetition; he simply goes on repeating that this brand of cigarette is the best. When you
           read it for the first time you may not believe it. But next time, again and again -- how long can you
           remain an unbeliever? By and by the belief will arise. And the belief will be such that you may not
           even become conscious of it. It will be subliminal, it will be just underneath consciousness. One day
           suddenly, when you go to the store and the store-keeper asks what brand of cigarette you need, you
           will say a certain brand. That repetition worked. It hypnotised you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's how religions have been functioning in the world -- and all politics depends on it too.
           Advertise, go on repeating to the public, and don't be bothered whether they believe or not -- that's
           not the point. Hitler says there is only one difference between a truth and a lie: the truth is a lie that
           has been repeated very often. And man can believe any lies. Man's gullibility is infinite. Man can
           believe in hell, man can believe in heaven, man can believe in angels, man can believe in devils, man
           can believe in anything! You just go on repeating.
               And there is no need to argue. An advertisement never argues -- have you observed the fact?
           There is no need to argue. The advertisement simply persuades you, it never argues. An arguer may
           not be able to convince you but a person who persuades you, who simply goes on throwing soft
           suggestions at you, not direct arguments.... Because when somebody argues with you, you may
           become defensive, but if somebody simply goes on hinting at certain things, not in any direct way,
           just supposing, you are more prone to be convinced by it.
               Dreaming functions in that way; a dream is a salesman. A dream simply goes on repeating itself.
           It never argues, it simply insists on being repeated. And, often repeated, one starts believing in it.

              WHEN IT HAPPENED THRICE HE SET OUT FOR PRAGUE. BUT THE BRIDGE WAS GUARDED
              DAY AND NIGHT AND HE DID NOT DARE START DIGGING.

               In the world there is much competition. Every place is guarded and every object has to be fought
           for -- it is not easy. This is something very strange. In this world nothing is meaningful and yet for
           everything you have to fight. Nothing seems to be significant but there is much competition, much
           conflict. Everybody is rushing towards it, that creates the trouble -- it is not that there is something in
           it. There is nothing in it but everybody is trying to rush towards it. Everybody is hankering for
           everybody else's place that's why the world is so crowded.
               In fact, it is not as crowded as it seems. Look...we are sitting here, everybody is sitting in his own
           place. This place is not crowded at all. But if a frenzy suddenly takes hold of your mind and
           everybody starts trying to reach another's place, then this place would be crowded. Right now you
           are sitting religiously; in that situation you would be rushing at each other politically. Right now you
           are satisfied with your place and you are not hankering for anybody's place -- at least not in Chuang
           Tzu auditorium. But if you start pushing yourself into other's places, others will become defensive,
           they will start pushing you. A fight, a war, will ensue.
               Why are there so many wars in the world? The reason is that everybody is trying to have
           another's territory. And the other may be trying the same thing. He may be looking at you.
              BUT THE BRIDGE WAS GUARDED DAY AND NIGHT AND HE DID NOT DARE START DIGGING.
              NEVERTHELESS HE WENT TO THE BRIDGE EVERY MORNING AND KEPT WALKING AROUND
              IT UNTIL EVENING.

              That's what many people are doing. Very few succeed. many simply walk around. But they go on
           doing it. Even if you cannot succeed, your desires, your hopes, are continuously there. At least you
           can go to the place, near the palace, and you can walk around. The whole day, from morning to
           evening he was walking around -- that's what many people are doing, waiting for some miracle to
           happen. Someday there may be no guards, someday may be a holiday, someday there may be a
           possibility to dig...one waits and one goes on waiting. It never happens but one' s whole life is
           wasted in waiting.

              NEVERTHELESS HE WENT TO THE BRIDGE EVERY MORNING AND KEPT WALKING AROUND
              IT UNTIL EVENING.
              FINALLY, THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDS, WHO HAD BEEN WATCHING HIM, ASKED IN A
              KINDLY WAY WHETHER HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING OR WAITING FOR SOMEONE.
              RABBI EISIK TOLD HIM OF THE DREAM WHICH HAD BROUGHT HIM FROM A FAR AWAY
              COUNTRY.
              THE CAPTAIN LAUGHED, 'AND SO TO PLEASE YOUR DREAM YOU WORE OUT YOUR SHOES
              TO COME HERE! YOU POOR FELLOW. AND AS FOR HAVING FAITH IN DREAMS, IF I HAD HAD
              IT I WOULD HAVE HAD TO GO TO CRACOW AND DIG FOR TREASURE UNDER THE STOVE IN
              THE ROOM OF A JEW -- EISIK, SON OF YEKEL! THAT'S WHAT THE DREAM TOLD ME. AND
              IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE; ONE HALF OF THE JEWS OVER THERE ARE
              CALLED EISIK, AND THE OTHER HALF YEKEL!' AND HE LAUGHED AGAIN. RABBI EISIK
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BOWED, TRAVELED HOME, DUG UP THE TREASURE FROM UNDER HIS STOVE, AND BUILT
               THE HOUSE OF PRAYER WHICH IS CALLED REB EISIK'S SHUL.


                it is a beautiful story -- and very true. That is how it is happening in life. You are looking
           somewhere else for that which is already there within you.
                Rabbi Eisik bowed, thanked the man, traveled home.... This is the journey of religion: traveling
           back home. And a man who has understood life always pays his respect towards life because it has
           shocked you out of your dreams. He is not against life; he simply knows that he has nothing to do
           with life, he simply knows that he was searching in a wrong direction.
                Life has always been compassionate, life has been telling you again and again that you can find
           nothing here -- go back home. But you don't listen.
                You earn money, and one day money is there -- then life says to you, 'What have you got?' But
           you don't listen. Now you think you have to put your money into politics, you have to become a
           prime minister or a president -- then everything will be okay. One day you are a prime minister, and
           life again says, 'What have you got?' You don't listen. You go on thinking of something else and
           something else and something else. Life is vast -- that's why many lives are wasted.
                But don't be angry at life. It is not life that is frustrating you, it is you who are not listening to
           life. And this I call a criterion, a touchstone: if you see a saint who is against life, bitter against life,
           know well he has not understood yet. Otherwise he will bow down to life in deep respect and
           reverence, because life has awakened him out of his dreams. Life is very shocking, that's why. Life is
           painful. The pain comes because you are desiring something which is not possible. It doesn't come
           from life, it comes from your expectation.
                People say that man proposes and God disposes. It has never happened. God has never disposed
           of anything. But in your own proposition you have disposed of something yourself. Listen to God's
           proposition, keep your own proposition to yourself. Keep quiet. Listen to what the whole is willing --
           don't try to have your private goals, don't try to have your private desires. Don't ask anything
           individually -- the whole is moving towards its destiny. You simply be part of it. Co-operate. Don't
           be in a conflict. Surrender to it. And life always sends you back to you r own reality -- that is why it
           is shocking.
                It shocks you because it doesn't fulfil your dreams. And it is good that life never fulfils your
           dreams -- it always goes on disposing, in a way. It gives you a thousand and one opportunities to be
           frustrated so that you can understand that expectations are not good and dreams are futile and desires
           are never fulfilled. Then you drop desiring, you drop dreaming, you drop proposing. Suddenly you
           are back home and the treasure is there.
               RABBI EISIK BOWED, TRAVELED HOME, DUG UP THE TREASURE FROM UNDER HIS STOVE,
               AND BUILT THE HOUSE OF PRAYER WHICH IS CALLED REB EISIK'S SHUL.

               The treasure had always been waiting there under his stove. In the same room he dreamed that
           the treasure was somewhere near the palace of the king in Prague. In his own room, in his own
           house, it was just there waiting to be dug up.
               This is very indicative. Your treasure is in your own being -- don't look for it somewhere else.
           Ali palaces and all bridges to the palace are meaningless; you have to create your own bridge within
           your own being. The palace is there; the treasure is there.
               God never sends anybody into this world without a treasure. He sends you ready for every
           situation -- how can it be otherwise? When a father sends his son on a long journey he makes every
           preparation. Even for unexpected situations the father provides. He makes all provisions.
               You are carrying everything that you need. Just go into the seeker and don't go seeking outside.
           Seek the seeker, let the seeker be the sought.
               Because of this, Rabbi Eisik built the house of prayer. It was such a tremendous revelation, such
           a tremendous experience -- 'God has put the treasure where I have always lived. I was poor because
           of myself, I was not poor because God wanted me to be poor. As far as he is concerned I was a king,
           always a king.' Because of this understanding he made a prayer house, a temple, out of this treasure.
           He used it well.
               Whenever somebody comes to his innermost treasure, prayer arises -- that is the meaning of the
           story. He made a house of prayer called Reb Eisik's Shul. Whenever you understand the grace of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God, the compassion, the love, what else can you do? A great prayer of thankfulness rises into your
           being, you feel so overpowered by his love, overwhelmed. What else can you do? You simply bow
           down and you pray.
               And remember, if you pray to ask for something, it is not prayer. When you pray to thank him for
           something, only then is it prayer. Prayer is always a thanksgiving. If you ask for something then the
           prayer is still corrupted by desire. Then it is not prayer yet -- it is still poisoned by dreaming. Real
           prayer happens only when you have attained to yourself, when you have known what God has given
           to you already without your asking for it. When you realise what you have been given, what infinite
           sources have been given to you, a prayer arises You would like to say to God, 'Thankyou.' There is
           nothing else in it but a pure thank you.
               When a prayer is just a thank you it is a prayer. Never ask for anything in a prayer; never say,
           'Do this, do that; don't do this, don't do that.' Never advise God. That shows your irreligiousness, that
           shows your lack of trust. Thank him. Your life is already a benediction, a blessing. Each moment is
           such pure joy, but you are missing it, that I know. That's why the prayer is not arising -- otherwise
           you would build a house of prayer; your whole life would become that house of prayer; you would
           become that temple -- his shrine. His shrine would burst from your being. He would flower in you
           and his fragrance would spread to the winds.
               It does not happen because you are missing something. And you are missing not because of him,
           you are missing because of yourself. If you desire, and you think that the treasure is somewhere else,
           you move into the future. The future is needed because you desire; the future is a by-product of
           desiring. How can you project desire in the present? The present is already here, you cannot project
           any desire in it, it does not allow desire. If you desire, the present has already gone; you can desire
           only in the future, only in the tomorrow.
               This has to be understood. Desire is always in the future but the future is never there. The future
           is that which is not, and desire is only in the future. And desire comes out of the past which also is
           not. The past is gone and the future has not yet come. Desire comes out of the past because you must
           have known what you desire in the past somehow. How can you desire something which is
           absolutely new? You cannot desire the new. You can only ask for a repetition. You had some money,
           you will ask for more -- but money you know. You had some power, you ask for more -- but power
           you know. Man cannot desire the unknown. Desire is just a repetition of the known. Just look at it.
           You have known it and you are not fulfilled, so you are asking for it again. Do you think you will be
           fulfilled? At the most you can ask for more quantity, but if one rupee is not fulfilling, how can a
           thousand rupees be fulfilling? If one rupee is unfulfilling, ten thousand rupees will be ten
           thousandfold more unfulfilling -- that is simple logic. If one woman has not fulfilled you, then ten
           thousand women are not going to fulfil you. If one woman has created such a hell then ten thousand
           women...just think! It is simple arithmetic. You can solve it.
               You can ask only out of the past and into the future and both are non-existential. That which
           exists is the present. This very moment is the only moment there is. You cannot desire in it, you can
           just be in it. You can just enjoy it.
               And I have never come across a person who can be miserable in the present. You will be
           surprised. Many times people come to me and they say that they are very miserable and this and that,
           and I say to them, 'Close your eyes and find out right now whether you are miserable or not.' They
           close their eyes, then they open their eyes, and they say, 'Right now I am not miserable.'
               Right now nobody is miserable. There is no possibility. It is not allowed by the nature of things.
           This very moment are you miserable? This very moment? You may have been miserable a moment
           before, okay -- that is right. Or you may be miserable a moment afterwards -- that too is allowed. But
           this very moment, between these two non-existential moments, are you miserable? Nobody has ever
           been.
               This moment is always pure benediction; this moment is always one of joy, of tremendous
           delight; this moment is God's moment. The past is yours, the future is yours, the present is God's. We
           divide time into three tenses -- past, present, future -- but we should not divide it in that way. That
           division is not right. Time can be divided between the past and the future but the present is not part
           of time, it is part of eternity. God has no past, remember, you cannot say God was. God has no future
           -- you cannot say God will be. God has only one tense -- present. God is. God always is. In fact, God
           is only another name for the 'isness' of existence. Whenever you are also in the moment, whenever
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are also in this 'isness', you are happy, blessed. A prayer arises. You become a shrine. You will
           become Reb Eisik's Shul, you will become a prayer house.

              RABBI BUNAM USED TO ADD, 'TAKE THIS STORY TO HEART AND MAKE WHAT IT SAYS YOUR
              OWN. THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT FIND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, NOT EVEN AT
              THE ZADDIK'S, AND THERE IS, NEVERTHELESS, A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT.'


               Zaddik means the Master. The word 'zaddik' comes from a Hebrew root which means: the pure,
           the purest, purity itself. The Zaddik means the Master -- who has attained to his 'presentness', who is
           no longer in the past and no longer in the future, who is just herenow, who is just a presence. To be
           in the presence of a Master is to be in the presence of a presence. That's all. And to be in the
           presence of a Master can help you to be present because his presence can become infectious.
               But Rabbi Bunam says, 'There IS something you cannot find anywhere in the world, not even at
           the Zaddik's....' He says that there is something which you cannot find anywhere, not even in the
           presence of a Master. But don't feel hopeless -- there is nevertheless a place where you can find it.
               That place is you, and that time is now. In fact, the Zaddik's, the Master's, effort is nothing but to
           throw you to your 'presentness', to make you available to God, or, to make God available to you.
               This 'presentness' cannot be taught but it can be caught -- hence the value of SATSANG, of
           being in the presence of a Zaddik, of a Master, of a guru. Just to be there doing nothing.... In fact, a
           Master is not doing anything. He is just there. A Master is a prayer, a constant thankfulness. With
           each breath he is thanking God -- not verbally, his very breathing is a thankfulness; with each beat of
           his heart he goes on saying thank you. His thank you is not verbal, it is existential. His being is
           prayer. To be in the presence of such a man may help you to have some taste of prayer. That taste
           will start a new journey in your life -- the inward journey.
               You have been seeking for centuries, for millennia, and you have not yet found. Now, let the
           seeker be the sought. You have traveled outside for so long that you are very tired, very exhausted.
               Jesus says, 'Those who are tired, those whose burden is heavy, they should come to me. I will
           give them rest.' What does he mean? He simply means, 'Come to me. I am at rest. Be close to me.
           Have a taste of it.' And that very taste will turn the tide and you will start moving inwards.
               You are here with me. Have a taste of my being. Don't just listen to my words, listen to me. Taste
           me. And then suddenly you will be here and now, and you will be turning inwards and you will not
           ask for anything and you will not desire anything and you will not have any movement into the
           future and you will not have any clinging with the past.
               And then this moment is liberation, this moment is enlightenment.




                                                  The Art of Dying
                                                  Chapter #8
                                Chapter title: A Child on the Seashore of Time
           18 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610180
              ShortTitle: ART08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The first question:


              OSHO, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT TYPE OF PLAY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH US? AND HOW
              LONG WILL YOU PLAY? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


                TO be frank with you -- which usually I am not -- I don't know who I am. Knowledge is not
           possible here where I am. Only the knower is left, the known has disappeared; only the container is
           left, the content is no more.
                For knowledge to exist, a great division is needed in reality -- the knower and the known.
           Between the two, knowledge happens. The known is a must for knowledge to happen.
                The space I am in is absolutely undivided and indivisible. Knowledge is not possible. So, to be
           exact, I don't know.
                And I would like you also to come to this innoCent ignorance, to this state of not-knowing.
           Because the state of not-knowing is the highest state of knowing; not of knowledge, mind you, of
           knowing. And this knowing is content-less -- it is not that you know something, there is nothing to
           know. You simply are. I am, but I don't know who I am. All identities have disappeared -- just a
           tremendous emptiness is left behind.
                I call it emptiness because you are full of identities -- otherwise it is an absolute presence, not an
           absence. It is the presence of something which by its very nature is a mystery and cannot be reduced
           to knowledge.
                So I don't know who I am, but I am tremendously content in this not-knowing. And whosoever
           has come to this door of not-knowing has laughed at all knowledge and the stupidity that goes on in
           the name of knowledge. Knowledge is mediocre. To be in the state of not-knowing is intelligence, it
           is awareness -- and it is non-ccumulative. Each moment that which happens disappears, it leaves no
           trace behind, no existential trace. One comes out of it again pure, again innocent, again like a child.
                So I am a child on the seashore of time, collecting seashells, coloured stones. But I am
           tremendously fulfilled. I know not who I am because I am not. When I say 'I am not' I mean that that
           'I' no longer has any relevance. I use the word -- obviously I have to use it and there is nothing in the
           word to be against -- but it is no longer relevant to my inner world. It is still of use with you but
           when I am alone I am not. When I am with you, then this word 'I' has to be used as a communicative
           device. But when I am alone I am not. Aloneness is there, amness is there, but the 'I' is not. So who
           should know, and whom?
                First I told you that the content had disappeared, now I would like to tell you -- because the more
           you get ready and receptive, the more I can tell you -- that the container has also disappeared. The
           container is meaningful only with the content -- without the content what is the meaning of the
           container? The content and the container are both not there. Something is, tremendously is,
           absolutely is, but there is no name to it In love you call this space Bhagwan and in deep respect I
           also call it Bhagwan.
                Just the other night I was reading a letter in 'Current'. The letter-writer asked me who appointed
           me as Bhagwan. Now, Bhagwan cannot be appointed. If somebody appoints somebody as Bhagwan
           then the appointer will be the Bhagwan, not the appointed. It is a recognition, it is a realisation.
           Bhagwan simply means that all that we call wordly is no longer there -- that's all. The desire to
           possess, to be possessed, the desire to accumulate, the desire to cling, the desire to be, the libido, the
           lust for life, has disappeared. When the smoke of the desire disappears and only the flame remains in
           its purity, who is going to appoint? Who is there to appoint? It is not an appointment. Or, if you love
           the word very much, then I will say, 'It is a self-appointment.' But that too is not very meaningful. It
           is a declaration.
                The letter-writer wants me to say who. Nobody can decide who I am. This is my declaration.
           Only I know what has happened within me; nobody else can know it. Unless you also come to that
           state of divine being -- the state is hiding behind you; any moment you become courageous enough
           to enter it, you can -- then only will you recognise me, not before it.
                I also call this space, in tremendous respect, Bhagwan. The word 'Bhagwan' is very beautiful.
           The English word 'God' is not as beautiful. 'Bhagwan' simply means: the blessed one. That's all. The
           blessed one.And I declare myself to be the blessed one. And I declare it only so that you can also
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gain heart and you can also strive for it; so that my presence can become a dream in you; so that my
           presence can invoke a journey in you; so that my presence can create a fire in you -- a fire that will
           burn you and through which you are going to be reborn true. A fire that is going to destroy you,
           annihilate you utterly, and yet out of it you will come absolutely new, with no identity, with no
           name, with no form.
                I have declared myself Bhagwan because I would like you also to come to this recognition. You
           have forgotten the language. Somebody must exist in front of you as a reality, not as a concept, not
           as someone in the scriptures. Krishna exists in the Gita, Christ exists in the Bible -- they may have
           been, they may not have been, nobody can be certain.
                I am just here, confronting you. If you are courageous enough to open towards me, suddenly a
           sprout will start coming into being in your seed; you will start growing in an unknown dimension.
           To make that dimension available to you I declare myself Bhagwan. This is nobody else's business.
                But I can declare myself Bhagwan only because I am not. Only one who is not can call himself
           the blessed one.
                If YOU are, you remain miserable, your very being is your misery. Hell is not somewhere else --
           hell is the confined state, hell is the miserable state when you live with the 'I'. To live with the ego is
           to live with hell.
                You ask me, WHAT TYPE OF PLAY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH US? Certainly, it is a play. I
           am not serious. And if you are serious, there is not going to be any meeting with you.-Seriousness
           does not cross my path at all. I am absolutely non-serious. This is a play. And I would like to call
           this play 'the mad game'.
                The word 'mad' I have coined so: 'm' stands for the master and 'd' stands for the disciple. The
           master-and-disciple game! It is a mad game! I am an expert in being a Master. If you are also ready
           to become a disciple, here we go!
                And it is none of anybody else's business. It is a game between me and you. If you decide to be a
           disciple, as I have decided to be a Master, then we can play the game. And those who have decided
           to be disciples are enjoying it tremendously!
                Once you decide to be a disciple, you enter into another world -- a totally different world of the
           heart, of love, of trust. Then it is a play. You are not serious but still you are very sincere. Never
           misunderstand seriousness for sincerity. Sincerity is very playful, never serious. It is true, authentic,
           but never serious. Sincerity does not have a long face, it is bubbling with joy, radiating with an inner
           joyousness.
                Rojoice that I am here! If you decide to be a disciple, then only can you understand what I am
           doing here, then only can you understand this mad game, this madly mad game. It is a play; in fact, it
           is the ultimate game in life. You have played many other games, this is the last. You have played
           being a lover, being a friend; being a father, being a husband, being a wife, mother, brother, being
           rich, being poor, being a leader, being a follower -- you have played all the games. And only those
           who have played all the games can play this game, because they will be mature enough to play it.
                This is the last game. After this game, games stop, game-playing stops. Once you have played
           the game rightly -- the Master-disciple game -- by and by you come to a point where all playing
           disappears. Only you are left -- neither the Master nor the disciple exists there. This is just a device.
                Between the Master and the disciple -- if the rule of the game is followed rightly -- devotion
           arises. That is the fragrance, the river that flows between the two banks of the Master and the
           disciple. That's why it is so difficult for the outsider to understand. But I am not interested at all in
           the outsider understanding it, it is a very esoteric game. It is only for the insiders, it is only for mad
           people. That is why I not interested even in answering people who are not insiders, because they will
           not understand. They do not have that attitude of being in which understanding becomes possible.
                Just see. If two chess-players are playing and you don't know what chess is, and you start asking
           questions, they will simply say, 'Shut up! First you go and learn the game. It is a complicated game.'
                And chess is nothing when you start playing THIS mad game! Your whole life -- your emotions,
           your feelings, your intellect, body, mind, soul, everything -- is involved, is at stake. It is the last
           gamble.
                So only those who are insiders can understand; outsiders will always feel uncomfortable about it.
           They don't know the language.
                I am not here to play the game of a priest; I am not here to play the game of a prophet. In fact, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prophet is nothing but the politician in disguise. The language of the prophet is the language of the
           politician -- of course, in the name of religion. The prophet is revolutionary; he wants to change the
           world, the whole world, to his heart's desire. I have no plans for changing the world. It is perfectly
           good as it is and it is going to remain as it is. All the prophets have failed. That game is doomed to
           be a failure.
               I am not a priest because I don't belong to any religion; I simply belong to religion as such. I am
           not a Jew, I am not a Hindu, I am not a Mohammedan, I am not a Jaina -- I don't belong to any
           religion. So I am not a priest, I am not a preacher. I simply love pure religion.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
                Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg had scrimped and saved to put their eldest son through college. At last
           they had the money and decided to send him to a fine, highbrow Eastern boarding school. They saw
           him off on the train and tearfully bade him farewell.
                A few months later he returned home for the Christmas holidays. The parents were overjoyed to
           have their son, Sammy, back with them. The mother greeted him with, 'Samelah! Oh, it's so good to
           see you.' 'Mother,' replied the son, 'stop calling me Samelah. After all, I'm a grown man now, and I
           do wish you would refer to me as Samuel.'
                She apologised and asked, 'I hope you only ate Kosher foods while you were away.' 'Mother,
           we are living in a modern age, and it's preposterous to hang onto the old world traditions. I indulged
           in all types of food, and believe me, you would be better off if you did too.' 'Well, tell me, did you
           at least go to the synagogue to offer a prayer of thanks occasionally?'
                The son replied, 'Really, do you honestly feel that going to a synagogue when you're associating
           with a large percentage of non-Jews is the proper thing to do? Honestly, Mother, it's unfair to ask it
           of me, really.'
                At this point Mrs. Goldberg, fighting back anger, looked at her eldest son and said, 'Tell me,
           Samuel, are you still circumcised?'

               I am not interested in whether you are circumcised or not. I am not interested in whether you are
           a Jew, a Hindu, a Christian or a Mohammedan. To me that sort of thing is sheer stupidity. I am not
           teaching you any religion. My whole effort, or my whole play here, is to make you aware of the
           reality as it is; to make you aware of the fact, not to give you any fantasy about it; to make you aware
           of the truth, not to give you any theory about it. I am not a theoretician, I am not a theologist. In fact,
           theology has killed God, and so many religions have created such confusion in the minds of people
           that, rather than helping, they have been harmful and poisonous. Rather than helping people to be
           religious, they have created great politics in the name of religion -- great violence, conflict, hatred
           has been 'created in the name of religion.
               To me, religion simply means a dimension of love. I am here to show you the beauty of life, the
           grandeur that surrounds you. From that very grandeur you will have your first glimpses of God.
               I am here to seduce you into a love of life; to help you to become a little more poetic; to help you
           die to the mundane and to the ordinary so that the extraordinary explodes in your life. But this is
           possible only if you decide to become a disciple.
               Sannyas is a great agreement, a covenant. When I initiate you into sannyas, I am initiating you
           into the world of my play. And if you are ready to go with me, great doors are waiting to be opened
           fo r you. But those doors are not of the mosque, of the church? of the gurudwara, of the temple --
           those doors are of life itself. Life is the only shrine of God and to be playful about it is the only
           prayer.
               WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT TYPE OF PLAY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH US? AND HOW
           LONG WILL YOU PLAY? It is not a question of time. If you decide to be a disciple, it can go on
           and on -- in the body and out of the body, with the mind, without the mind, in life and in death,
           within life and beyond life. This game is an eternal game, that's why I call it the ultimate game.
           Those who decided to play with Christ, they are still playing; on new planes, in new plenitudes it
           continues. Those who decided to play with Buddha are still playing. The game is so beautiful. so
           eternal, who wants to stop it?
               I may not be here in the body but that will be a loss only to those who are not close to me, that
           will be a loss only to those who were not courageous enough to be with me. When I have gone out of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the body it is not going to be a loss to you if you have really been a disciple. The game will continue.
           I Will remain available, you will remain available. It is a question of the heart, it is a question of
           consciousness. And consciousness knows no time; consciousness is beyond time, consciousness is
           timelessness.
               So the question is meaningful from some outsider -- but then I will not answer it. The question is
           meaningless from an insider -- and only then can I answer it. If you are an insider you know that
           there is a beginning to this play but no end to it. You have entered into something which is going to
           last forever.
               OSHO PLEASE EXPLAIN. A game has to be played, not to be explained. If you explain it, it
           loses all charm. Come, be a partner. Get involved in it.
               There are a few things which cannot be explained -- in the very explanation they die. For
           example, a joke cannot be explained. That's the beauty of a joke: either you understand it or you
           don't understand it. If you ask, 'Please explain,' it cannot be explained. If somebody explains it and it
           becomes completely clear to you, no laughter will come out of it. Because it is when the joke
           suddenly dawns on your being that there is laughter; when there is a jump, a quantum leap, then
           there is laughter. You were going along on one plane, the story was moving along on one plane, then
           suddenly an unexpected turn which you could not have imagined, happened. That very turn -- which
           you could not have imagined happening -- gives it beauty. That very turn shocks you. That very turn
           releases the tension that was building up. You were going along in suspense -- 'What is going to
           happen? What is going to happen?' -- and everything was just ordinary and then, suddenly, there is
           an extraordinary turn to the story. The punch-line has to be a sudden turn. Then the built-up tension
           relaxes and you start laughing. The tension is released, explodes. But if somebody explains to you,
           dissects the Joke logically, explains everything to you and then you understand it -- then the joke
           disappears. The joke has to be enjoyed, not understood.
               This whole world is a cosmic joke. If you try to understand it you will miss...that is how
           philosophers have always been missing. They have been trying to solve it, they have been trying to
           look for clues. It has no clues. It is a sheer mystery. It has no keys and no locks. It is available if you
           are available. But a mind which wants to understand it becomes tense and becomes unavailable.
               Don't try to understand life. Live it! Don't try to understand love. Move into love. Then you will
           know -- and that knowing will come out of your experiencing. That knowing will never destroy the
           mystery: the more you know, the more you know that much remains to be known. Life is not a
           problem. To look at it as a problem is to take a wrong step. It is a mystery to be lived, loved.
           experienced.
               In fact, the mind which is always after explanations is an afraid mind. Because of great fear he
           wants everything to be explained. He cannot go into anything before it is explained to him. With
           explanation he feels that now the territory is familiar, now he knows the geography, now he can
           move with the map and the guidebook and the timetable. He is never ready to move in an unknown
           territory, uncharted, without a map, without a guide. But life is like that. And no map is possible,
           because life goes on changing. Every moment it is now. There is nothing old under the sun, I say to
           you. Everything is new. It is a tremendous dynamism, an absolute movement. Only change is
           permanent, only change never changes -- everything else goes on changing.

               So you cannot have a map; by the time the map is ready it is already out of date. By the time the
           map is available it is useless. Life has changed its tracks. Life has started playing a new game. You
           cannot cope with life with maps because it is not measurable. And you cannot cope with life with
           guidebooks because guidebooks are possible only if things are stagnant. Life is not stagnant, it is a
           dynamism, it is a process. You cannot have a map of it. It is not measurable, it is an unmeasurable
           mystery. Don't ask for explanations.
               That's why although I answer when you ask questions -- because this is part of the agreement of
           this mad game: you will ask and I will answer -- you should never take my answers as explanations.
           They are not. They are simply introductions to the mystery, prefaces to the mystery, seductions to
           the mystery. They are not really answers.
               My answers are not answers; my answers are simply to help you to come out of your questions
           and to start living. An answer is an answer when it simply explains your question and you are
           satisfied that you have now got some information which you were needing and your question is no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           longer there. Now the place that the question was occupying is occupied by the answer. My answers
           are not answers in that way. They will help you to drop the question but they are not going to answer
           the question. And once the question is dropped you will find no answer occupying its place. There
           will be no answer. My whole way of answering is such that I answer and yet I never answer. I
           answer so that you don't feel offended -- your question has to be respected so I respect it -- but I
           cannot answer it because life has no answers.

              And this I call maturity of mind: when somebody comes to the point of looking at life without
           any questions, and simply dives into it with courage and fearlessness.

           The second question:


              DREAMS ARE UNREAL. BUT I HAVE HEARD AND READ THAT THE MOTHER OF MAHAVIRA
              SAW NINE WHITE ELEPHANTS IN HER DREAMS BEFORE MAHAVIRA'S BIRTH. THEN WHAT
              DOES THAT MEAN? AND WHAT IS THE USE OF ANSWERING THE DREAMS OF
              QUESTIONERS?


               Dreams are unreal but so is your life. Dreams are unreal but that is what your life is. Your life is
           just a dream because you are fast asleep. Can't you hear yourself snoring?
               You are fast asleep. Whatsoever you call your life is just a dream seen with open eyes. You see
           two types of dreams: one with closed eyes, one with open eyes. But both are dreams.
               You say, DREAMS ARE UNREAL BUT I HAVE HEARD AND READ THAT THE MOTHER
           OF MAHAVIRA SAW NINE WHITE ELEPHANTS IN HER DREAMS BEFORE MAHAVIRA'S
           BIRTH. Your reading is a dream, your hearing is a dream. Whatsoever you have heard about
           Mahavira has nothing to do with Mahavira. It is your dream.
               And just look -- Mahavira's mother dreamed of nine white elephants. First it is a dream, then it is
           a dream about a white elephant. A dream is a dream! White elephant? The story is beautiful; it says
           that life is just like a Chinese box -- a box within a box. It is just like an onion. You peel it, there is
           another layer; you peel it, another layer -- box within box.
               First, Mahavira's being born is a dream; then, being born out of a mother is another dream. Then
           the mother dreams. And the mother dreams about white elephants! Look at the whole absurdity of it.
               Then there are stupid people who start analysing these dreams and make much fuss about it.
           Jainas say that whenever a TEERTHANKARA is born, a particular series of dreams has to happen to
           the mother. And if those dreams have not happened, then the man is not a TEERTHANKARA. So
           all the mothers HAD to dream -- remember. Twenty-four TEERTHANKARAS have been born in
           India, and all the mothers of the TEERTHANKARAS had to repeat the same dream. It is a must, it is
           a legal thing -- you cannot avoid it! If you don't dream, your son cannot be a TEERTHANKARA.
           When my mother started dreaming I said, 'Stop! There is no need. I am not going to fulfil any legal
           and formal things. There is no need to dream about white elephants. You can rest.'
               Foolish people go on finding foolish things, but they decorate them very well. You ask what it
           means. It means nothing. It simply means that you are more interested in dreams than you are in
           reality.
               People are not interested in Mahavira as such. If Mahavira's mother had forgotten to dream these
           dreams, Jainas would have not accepted him as the twenty-fourth TEERTHANKARA. That was one
           of the most important things to be decided. You may not know it but there were a few other people
           who were also claiming that they were TEERTHANKARAS. In the time of Mahavira there were
           eight persons who were claiming that they were TEERTHANKARAS and it was a great problem
           how to decide, because no criteria existed. So people had to invent such foolish criteria. It was only
           Mahavira's mother, the story says, who dreamed these dreams. Goshalak's mother erred. Poor
           Goshalak suffered for it. Mahavira's mother must have been very clever; she must have planned
           everything very beautifully. At least Mahavira's astrologers must have -- the mother died
           immediately after giving birth. In fact, I don't see that she ever told anybody because she died
           immediately. But that too is a point. Jainas say that when a TEERTHANKARA is born, the mother
           dies immediately. They have made things very difficult for the mother. Mahavira's mother's death
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           must have been a pure accident. Goshalak's mother lived. These things are not allowed. Goshalak
           suffered because his mother lived. Mahavira's mother died. These are foolish criteria. They don't see
           Mahavira directly, they are looking for other indications.
               When Jesus was there, Jews were asking certain questions, because he had to fulfil the
           prophesies in the Old Testament. Were they fulfilled or not? Jesus was there in reality, standing
           before them, but they were not concerned about Jesus, they were concerned about the prophesies in
           the Old Testament. If they were fulfilled, then he was the right man; if they were not fulfilled, then
           he was not the right man. How foolish can humanity be? Jesus is there -- but that is not proof of
           anything, no. And Jews denied him because they thought he had not fulfilled all the criteria. They
           had to crucify him because they thought he was just a charlatan, a deceiver; he had not fullfilled all
           the prophesies.
               And Christians go on proving that he has fulfilled them. Now it has become just a verbal game of
           argumentation, of logic. The reality is completely forgotten.
               Look at the real. If Mahavira is there, Mahavira is there whether the mother dreamed of white
           elephants or black elephants. Whether she dreamed or didn't dream doesn't matter; whether she lived
           or died doesn't matter. These are all irrelevant things. If Mahavira is there, look directly. His
           presence will be enough proof. And if it is not enough proof then there is no need to bother about
           other proofs. Then what can other proofs do?
               AND WHAT IS THE USE OF ANSWERING THE DREAMS OF QUESTIONERS? The
           questioners have only dreams, they don't yet have a real life, so by answering their questions I will
           be pulling them out of their mud of dreams. I am not interested in their dreams, I am interested in the
           consciousness that is dreaming. That consciousness is not a dream. It is dreaming, it is in a dream,
           but it is not a dream. It is a reality, and it has to be pulled out of the dreaming state.
               So I go on using whatsoever devices are needed. If sometimes I feel that analysing the dream
           may help you to come out of it then I analyse it. But remember always and always, I am not
           interested in the dream, I am not a psychoanalyst. But if I feel that by dissecting the dream I will be
           able to make you aware that you are not the dream, that you are the witness to it, then I dissect it.
           The reality is not in the dream, the reality is in the dreamer -- and the dreamer has to be awakened. I
           function like an alarm clock.

           The third question:


              FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SO CLOUDED BY LIES AND DECEPTIONS IN THE WAKING
              STATE, CAN REMEMBERING DREAMS, RE-ENACTING AND EXPERIENCING THEM IN THE
              WAKING STATE, BE A USEFUL METHOD -- THE FIRST STEP ON THE PATH OF HIGHER
              CONSCIOUSNESS AND TRUTH? CAN THIS METHOD HASTEN THE THIRST FOR GOD UNTIL
              THE POINT COMES WHEN THE DREAMING MIND IS DROPPED?


               Yes, to a limited extent it can be of great help -- but remember, only to a limited extent.
           Otherwise people are such that first they waste their time in dreaming, then they waste their time in
           enacting the dream in the waking state; then they waste their time on some psychoanalyst's couch
           talking about their dreams -- and the psychoanalyst analyses them. Then the dream becomes too
           important. That much importance should not be given to them.
               There is a great need of a shift of the consciousness from the content to the container. For a time
           being, dreams can be used. Enacting them will be useful. If in the night you have seen a dream, then
           enacting it in the morning can be of tremendous help because in the night you were asleep. The
           dream was there, the message was there, the message was delivered by the unconscious, but the
           conscious was fast asleep. So it was as if you were drunk and somebody called you and you took the
           phone somehow, and you listened, but you cannot remember exactly what the message was because
           you were drunk. The message was delivered, the unconscious delivered a certain message -- that's
           what a dream is: a packaged message from the unconscious that you are doing something wrong, that
           you are moving against nature, that you are going against me, that you are going against yourself. It
           is a warning from the unconscious that enough is enough, stop! Come back home, be natural, be
           more spontaneous. Don't be lost in social formalities and moralities and don't become a fake. Be real.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The message is delivered but you are asleep and in the morning you cannot even remember
           anything exactly. Have you watched it? When you wake up in the morning, for a few seconds some
           fragments of the dream float in the consciousness -- just for a few seconds, not more than thirty
           seconds, or at the most sixty seconds, one minute. Then they have gone. You have washed your face,
           taken a cup of tea; finished with the night, you don't remember now. And even when you awake in
           the morning, only very, very fragmentary things are there. And those too are the tail parts of the
           dream. When you dream, you dream in a certain way: you started the dream at five o'clock in the
           morning, then you went into it, and at six o'clock you woke up. That was the end part of the dream --
           it is as if you were seeing a film and you were only awake at the end part. So you remember the end
           part of the dream, not the beginning. not the middle. Then you have to go upstream. If you want to
           recollect the dream you have to move in the reverse order, as if you are reading a book backwards. It
           is very difficult.
                And then, one thing more. When you are conscious you again start interpreting the dream
           content, you don't allow the whole message to be received. You will drop many things. If you have
           murdered your mother in the dream, you will drop it. You will not remember it, you will not allow it
           to become conscious. Or, at the most, you will allow it to be there in a very deep disguise: you have
           murdered somebody else. Or, if you have lived in a community which values non-violence very
           much, you may not even remember that you murdered -- that part will simply disappear. We listen
           only to that which we want to listen to.

           I have heard.
               As he lay on his deathbed he spoke, 'Sara, I want you to know before I die that Ginsburg the
           tailor owes me two hundred dollars, and Morris the butcher owes me fifty dollars, and Klein next
           door owes me three hundred dollars.'
               His wife turned to the children and said, 'What a wonderful man your father is. Even when he's
           dying he's got the brains to realise who owes him money.'
               The old man continued, 'And Sara, I want you also to know that I owe the landlord a hundred
           dollars.'
               To which the wife cried, 'Ho ho, now he's getting delirious.'

                Whatsoever you want to hear is right, otherwise 'ho ho!' Then immediately you become
           disconnected.
                You will remember the dream, now the mechanism has to be understood. The dream is a
           message from the unconscious to the conscious because the conscious is doing something which the
           unconscious feels is unnatural. And the unconscious is always right, remember; the unconscious is
           your nature. The conscious is cultivated by the society, it is a conditioning. The conscious means
           society inside you. It is a trick of society. The conscious is doing something which the unconscious
           feels is too much against nature, so the unconscious wants to give a warning. In the morning, when
           you remember, again you will remember from the conscious, again the conscious will interfere.
           Whatsoever is against it, will not be allowed; whatsoever is sweet will be allowed. But that is not the
           point. The bitter part was the real message.
                But try it. What they do in psychodrama can be useful. Rather than remembering a dream,
           re-living a dream is more useful. And -they are different. When you remember, you remember from
           the conscious; when you re-live, you re-live from the total. In re-living there is more possibility that
           the unconscious will again be able to give some messages.
                For example: you dreamed during the night that you were walking on a road. You go on walking
           and walking and walking and the road never ends. The non-ending road creates tremendous fear in
           you because with anything non-ending the mind cannot cope, the mind becomes afraid. Non-ending?
           It looks very boring. You go on, you go on, you go on -- and the road is non-ending. You become
           tired, you become frustrated, you are fed-up, you fall down -- but the road goes on and on. You have
           limitations and the road seems to be unlimited.
                If you dream such a dream.... Many people dream about it because there is a message in it. The
           famous Russian author, Maxim Gorky, used to dream it many times. He said that in his life it was
           one of the most important dreams -- it was repeated almost every month. It must have had a great
           message otherwise it wouldn't have been repeated. And it was repeated -- that simply shows that
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Gorky never understood it. Once you understand a dream, once the message is delivered, the dream
           stops. If a dream is continuously repeated, that simply shows that you have not understood it, so the
           unconscious goes on knocking at your door. It wants you to understand it.
                Remembering is one thing -- you can close your eyes and remember the dream and it will be as if
           you are seeing a film, a movie. Re-living is totally different. You create the whole situation, you
           visualise the whole situation. It is not a dream on the screen, you re-live it. Again you are on the
           road. Look around. Close your eyes when you remember it, look around. What type of road is it? Are
           trees there or is it a desert? What kind of trees? Is the sun there in the sky or is it night? Visualise it,
           stand on the road and visualise it and let it be as colourful as possible -- because the unconscious is
           very colourful. The conscious is just black and white, the unconscious is very psychedelic.
                So let it be colourful. See the glory of the trees, the colour of the flowers, the brightness of the
           stars. Feel the road, the touch underneath the feet. Feel the road -- rough, smooth, dead, alive? Every
           road has its own individuality. Smell. Standing there, smell. What type of smell is it? Has it rained
           just now and a delicate smell from the earth is arising? Or have the flowers bloomed and the
           fragrance is there? Feel the breeze; feel whether it is cool or warm. Then start moving -- as if you are
           moving in reality. It is not on the screen of the memory, you are re-living it. And through this
           sensitivity of taste, touch, air, feel, coolness, warmth, greenery, colour; it again becomes real. Again
           the unconscious will start giving you messages. They can be of tremendous value.
                But there is a limit to it. Try to understand in this way but always remember that whether the
           dream is seen in the night or re-lived in the day, it is a dream. And below the unconscious -- or
           beyond the unconscious -- is still another door of your being that has to be opened.
                Freud and the Freudians think that man ends with the conscious and unconscious. Man does not
           end with the conscious and unconscious, there is a super-conscious-element also. And that is truer.
                So, don't think that the conscious is the only mind. Before Freud it was thought that the
           conscious was the only mind. When Freud introduced the concept of the unconscious for the first
           time, he was laughed at, ridiculed, because people said, 'What nonsense! How can mind be
           unconscious? Mind means consciousness. If it is unconscious, it is not mind; if it is mind, it is
           conscious.' Of course, their grammar was right and their language was true -- but existentially they
           were wrong. And Freud by and by became victorious. Truth always wins.
                Now another layer has to be introduced into the world of psychology -- that layer is of the
           super-conscious. Psychologists will again be against it. They will say, 'What nonsense you are
           talking! You are bringing religion into psychology. Somehow we have got rid of religion and now
           you bring it in again from the back door!' But you cannot get rid of religion -- religion is not
           something accidental, it is very essential. You have to recognise it. And you have to recognise its
           claims.
                Man is conscious, unconscious and super-conscious. Man is a trinity -- that is the meaning of the
           old concept of the trinity in Christianity, Judaism. In the East we have the concept of trimurti -- three
           faces of God, three faces of being. Man is a triangle. The third has to be remembered.
                The questioner has asked: FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SO CLOUDED BY LIES AND
           DECEPTIONS IN THE WAKING STATE, CAN REMEMBERING DREAMS, RE-ENACTING
           THEM AND EXPERIENCING THEM IN THE WAKING STATE BE A USEFUL METHOD?
           Yes, a useful method but with a limited possibility. And rather than remembering, emphasise
           re-living.
                CAN IF BE THE FIRST STEP ON THE PATH OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS AND
           TRUTH. Certainly, but only the first step. There are many people who become lost in the first step
           and then they never take the second. Then the first is useless. Unless the second happens, the first is
           meaningless. Only with the second does the first become relevant. And only when you have
           achieved the goal does your journey becomes relevant. Otherwise it remains irrelevant; the relevance
           is transcendental.
                So, first re-live your dreams. It will be helpful, it will make you more alert. And then, even in
           your dreaming, even while you are re-living, or when you are awake, walking on the street, in an
           ordinary waking state, start seeing yourself as a witness not as a participant. As a watcher. The
           watcher, the observer, the seer, the witness, is the real step which leads you into reality. It is beyond
           dream.
                The dreams can be helpful so that the grip of the dreams on your mind is loosened, but the real
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           step is only when you have started becoming watchful. Try it the whole day. Whatsoever you are
           doing, remember that you are the watcher. Walking...remember that the body is walking, you are the
           watcher. Eating...remember that the body is eating, you are the witness. If it spreads all over your
           day, one day, suddenly, you will see that in the dream also the watcher has a little possibility. And
           when you can also remember that 'I am just the watcher' in the dream, then dreams disappear. Then,
           with the disappearance of the dreams, a new consciousness arises in you. That consciousness I call
           the super-consciousness. And that consciousness is the goal of the psychology of the Buddhas.

           The fifth question:


              HOW CAN I COME CLOSER? WHAT SHOULD I DO?


              Let me tell you an anecdote.      'Help me,' the man demanded of the rabbi. 'I have a wife and
           twelve children and I cannot support them. Every year my wife gives me a new child. What should I
           do?' 'Do?' screamed the rabbi. 'Haven't you done enough?'

               You ask me WHAT SHOULD I DO TO COME CLOSER TO YOU? Your doing is not going to
           help -- because by doing, you become more of a doer and the doer feeds the ego and the ego is the
           barrier between me and you. By non-doing you will come closer to me, not by doing. Not by
           will-power can you come closer to me, only by surrendering. Only when you recognise that nothing
           can be done, and you are helpless and you relax, suddenly you will find that you have come close to
           me. When you surrender you come close to me.
               The mind goes on asking 'What should I do?' If you do something, that very doing will not allow
           you to move away from the ego.

           Let me tell you another anecdote.
               Old man Ginsberg was disgusted with his family. He told them that he was leaving them and
           going to Japan.
           The boys asked, 'Papa, how will you get there?'
           He said, 'Don't worry, I'll row there.'
               They walked him to the dock and without their father seeing, tied a very long rope to his row
           boat. He bade them all farewell and started rowing towards the horizon. They let him stay in the boat
           all night, but when the sun began to rise they became nervous about his well-being. There was a
           tremendous fog and the old man and the boat were not visible. The old man had been rowing away
           all night when suddenly he heard a voice in the distance shouting, 'Abe Ginsberg, are you all right?'
               He turned towards the voice and shouted, 'Who knows me in Japan?'

               Now he thinks that he has reached Japan just by rowing the whole night, and the boat is tied with
           a long rope. He has not gone anywhere. If you want to come close to me by doing something then
           you may have a little or a long rope, but you will remain tethered to the shore, you cannot go far
           away.
               By doing, nobody can come close to a Master. By doing, you can attain things in the world but
           by doing you cannot attain anything in God -- only by non-doing, by a tremendous receptivity,
           passivity. You just leave it to me, you just enjoy being here. You dance, you sing, you celebrate.
           You forget this nonsense of coming closer and you will be coming; by your dance, by your singing,
           by your rejoicing, you will be coming close to me.
               The question is from Priya. She has asked today, but three weeks ago I gave her a message to go
           and dance every day. Her question has come today but it reached me three weeks ago. It may have
           reached to her self today, to her own conscious it may have come today -- but three weeks ago I
           suddenly felt that a deep desire to come close to me was arising in her unconscious, so I sent her a
           message to go and dance. And she is dancing, and believe me, she is coming closer.
               By your dance, by your laughter, by your joy, you come close to me -- because in dance you
           relax, the doer disappears. In singing you are lost. Whenever you are lost I can penetrate your being;
           whenever you are there then it is difficult, because you are closed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The sixth question:


              I HAVE HEARD SANNYASINS SAY THAT THEY ARE WITH YOU FOR SOME BENEFIT TO THEM.
              THEY HAVE A MOTIVATION OF ENLIGHTENMENT OR SOMETHING LIKEWISE. BUT I DO NOT
              HAVE ANY THOUGHTS OF ENLIGHTENMENT OR ANY BENEFIT WHICH I MAY GET BY BEING
              WITH YOU. I JUST LOVE TO BE IN YOUR PRESENCE WITHOUT ANY MOTIVATION
              WHATSOEVER.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Then why are you asking? In your question there is a motivation. You want me to say, 'Good
           boy. You are absolutely right. It is you who are going to obtain enlightenment and not the others,
           because you have no motivation.' This is the motivation in asking the question!
               But remember, you cannot deceive me. Your words cannot deceive me. Your words cannot hide
           the motivation. Why are you asking me to comment? If you are really enjoying being here, no
           comment is needed. If you are really in love with me, it is enough -- nothing else is needed. In love
           there is no question, it is a non-questioning attitude.
               But you want me to say, 'This is the true way. You are on the right track. Soon enlightenment is
           going to happen to you and others who are here with motivation are going to miss.'

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               A Jewish couple found themselves in Florida unable to find a room in a hotel. The only place left
           to stay in was a hotel that was notorious in its policy of not allowing Jews.
               The husband turned to his wife and said, 'Becky, you keep your big mouth shut; not one word is
           to come from your lips. Leave it to me. You'll see, I'll talk good English, the man at the desk will
           never know and we'll get a room.'
               Sure enough, they walk up to the desk, Dave asks for a room, the hotel clerk gives them the key
           to the room, and they are set.
               Becky says, 'Dave, it's so hot, maybe we can go down to the pool for a swim?'
               Dave says, 'Okay, but, remember, not one word is to fall from your mouth.'
               They walk down to the cabanas. Dave signals the cabana boy and he sets up chairs and towels for
           them.i
               Becky turns to Dave and asks, 'Now can I go into the pool?'
               He answers, 'Okay, but remember not a syllable must you utter.' Becky goes over to the edge of
           the pool and sticks one toe into the water, which is icy cold, and before she realises what she is
           doing, she yells, 'Oy vay!' whereupon everyone at the pool turns on her. Without blinking an eye she
           adds, 'Whatever that means.'

               But you cannot deceive. Howsoever you put it, it will show. Motivation is a thing you cannot
           hide. There is no way to hide it; there is no language to hide it. Motivation simply shows.
               Now, let me tell you this. This motivation may not be very conscious to you, you may not be
           very aware of it, but it is there. And I am not saying that something is wrong in it, I am not trying to
           make you guilty about it. Always remember one thing: never feel guilty about anything.
               It is natural to come with a motivation, nothing is wrong in it. It is absolutely natural to come
           with a motivation, otherwise how else will you come? Without motivation, only a madman can come
           here. Without motivation, how can you come? You must have some motivation to learn meditation,
           to have a more silent life, to learn about love, to have more loving relationships, to know what this
           life is all about, to know what death is, to know if there is something beyond death. Without
           motivation you cannot come to me.
               So I accept it absolutely and you have to accept it -- you have come to me with motivation.
               It is my work here to help you to drop the motivation. You come with motivation -- that's your
           work, without it you cannot come. Then starts my work: to help you to drop the motivation.
           Motivation brings you close to me but then motivation itself becomes the obstacle. You have to
           come with a motivation and then you have to learn to drop it. And when you drop it, suddenly you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not only close to me, you are one with me -- because closeness is still a distance. In closeness
           also there is a distance. Howsoever close you are, you are distant. The real closeness is only when all
           distance and all closeness disappears -- you are simply one with me, I am one with you; when we
           only appear as two, but we are not.
               Become conscious of your motivation in asking this question and that will help you to drop it.
           Consciousness helps you to drop it. Anything you become conscious about starts slipping out of your
           hands. You cannot cling consciously, you cannot be angry consciously, you cannot be greedy
           consciously, you cannot be motivated consciously.
               Consciousness is such a mutation, it brings so much light into your being that darkness simply
           disappears.
               So the only thing to remember is: don't be worried about others' motivations, that is none of your
           business. If they are motivated, they will suffer for it, they will create their own hell. You simply
           don't be concerned with it, you simply go on looking at your own motivations, you simply go on
           penetrating deeper and deeper into why you are here.
               And never feel guilty if you have found a motivation. If you come across a motivation, it is
           natural. But when I say it is natural, I don't mean that it has to be there forever and ever. It is natural
           but it has to go. When it goes, something super-natural starts happening. If you are not aware about it
           and if you go on hiding it, then it will never go.

                And this may be a trick of the mind -- looking for motivation in others. You may be using others
           as scapegoats. It is one of the great psychological truths about the human mind that whatsoever you
           want to hide within yourself you start projecting onto others. Whenever you start seeing something
           in somebody else, remember it as a message. Go immediately withinwards -- it must be there. The
           other is functioning only as a screen. When you see anger in others, go and dig within yourself and
           you will find it there; when you see too much ego in others, just go inside and you will find ego
           sitting there. The inside functions like a projector; others become screens and you start seeing films
           on others which are really your own tapes.

           The last question:


              I DO NOT FEEL I AM A MAN YET I SEE A MAN'S FACE IN THE MIRROR.


               A great insight has happened to you, a great realisation. Let it sink deep, let it become a constant
           awareness.
               No face is yours. All faces are false. Once you had the face of a lion, once you had the face of a
           donkey, once you had the face of a tree and once the face of a rock. Now you have the face of a man
           -- or a woman, ugly, beautiful, white, black.
               But you don't have any face. Your reality is faceless. And that facelessness is what Zen people
           call the original face. It is not a face at all.
               When you were not born, what face had you then? When you die, what face will you carry with
           yourself? This face that you see in the mirror will be dropped here; it will disappear into the earth --
           dust unto dust. You will go faceless just as you came faceless.
               Right now you don't have any face, the face is just a belief -- you have believed in the mirror too
           much. And when you have come to realise this facelessness, you have seen the face of God.




                                                  The Art of Dying
                                                     Chapter #9
                                      Chapter title: 'I see what I need to see'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           19 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610190
              ShortTitle: ART09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              ONE DAY, AFTER HE HAD GONE BLIND,
              RABBI BUNAM VISITED RABBI FISHEL.
              RABBI FISHEL WAS FAMOUS THROUGHOUT THE LAND
              FOR HIS MIRACLE CURES.
                'ENTRUST YOURSELF TO MY CARE,' SAID HIS HOST, 'I SHALL RESTORE YOUR LIGHT.'
                'THAT IS NOT NECESSARY,' ANSWERED BUNAM 'I SEE WHAT I NEED TO SEE.'


               SPIRITUALITY is not a question of morality, it is a question of vision. Spirituality is not the
           practising of virtues -- because if you practise a virtue it is no longer a virtue. A practised virtue is a
           dead thing, a dead weight. Virtue is virtue only when it is spontaneous; virtue is virtue only when it
           is natural, unpractised -- when it comes out of your vision, out of your awareness, out of your
           understanding.
               Ordinarily religion is thought of as a practice. It is not. That is one of the most fundamental
           misunderstandings about religion. You can practise non-violence but you will still remain violent,
           because your vision has not changed. You still carry the old eyes. A greedy person can practise
           sharing, but the greed will remain the same. Even the sharing will be corrupted by the greed, because
           you cannot practise anything against your understanding, beyond your understanding. You cannot
           force your life into principles unless those principles are of your own experience.
               But so-called religious people try to practise virtue -- that's why they are the most unvirtuous
           people on the earth. They try to practise love and they are the most unloving people on the earth.
           They have created all sorts of mischief: wars, hatred, anger, enmity, murder. They practise friendship
           but the friendship has not flowered on the earth. They go on talking about God but they create more
           and more conflict in the name of God. The Christian is against the Mohammedan, the Mohammedan
           is against the Hindu, the Hindu is against the Jaina, the Jaina is against the Buddhist -- that's all they
           have been doing.
               There are three hundred religions and they have all created fragments in the human mind; they
           have not been an integrating force, they have not healed the wounds of the human soul. Because of
           them humanity is ill, because of them humanity is insane -- and the insanity comes out of one thing.
           That has to be understood as deeply as possible because you can also go in the wrong direction. The
           wrong direction has a tremendous appeal, otherwise so many people would not have gone in it. The
           appeal must be great. The magnetic force of the wrong direction has to be understood, only then can
           you avoid it. You can try practising anything you like and you can remain opposite to it.
               You can try practising anything you like and you can remain opposite to it. You can enforce a
           sort of stillness upon yourself: you can sit silently, you can learn a yoga posture, you can make the
           body still, as if it is without movement, you can make the body like a statue. And by repeating a
           mantra or by repressing the mind continuously for a long time, you can enforce a certain stillness
           upon your being -- but it will be the silence of the cemetery, it will not be throbbing, alive, kicking.
           It will be a frozen thing. You can deceive others but you cannot deceive yourself and you cannot
           deceive God. You have got it without any understanding; you forced it upon yourself; it is a
           practised silence.
               The real silence arises out of the understanding: 'Why am I not silent? Why do I go on creating
           tensions for myself? Why do I go on getting into miserable patterns? Why do I support my hell?' One
           starts understanding the 'why' of one's hell -- and by that very understanding, by and by, without any
           practising on your part, you start dropping those wrong attitudes that create misery. Not that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           drop them, they simply start disappearing.
                When understanding is there, things start changing around you. You will love but you will no
           longer be possessive. It is not love that creates trouble. If you ask your so-called saints, they say it is
           love that creates trouble. That is an absolutely false statement. It is based on a deep
           misunderstanding of the human love-life. It is not love that creates misery -- love is one of the
           greatest blessings, a benediction. It is possession that creates misery. Possess your beloved, your
           friend, your child, and you will be in misery. And when you are in misery those religious people are
           there waiting by the corner. They jump upon you. They say, 'We told you before. Never love,
           otherwise you will be in trouble. Drop out of all love situations, escape from the world.' And of
           course it appeals because you are already seeing it happening to you. It is now your own experience
           that they are right -- and yet they are not right and it is not your experience. You never analysed the
           phenomenon that has happened, you never analysed that it is not love that has tricked you into
           misery, it is possessiveness. Drop possessiveness, not love.
                If you drop love, of course the misery will disappear, because by dropping love you will be
           dropping possessiveness also -- that will be automatically dropped. The misery will disappear but
           you will never be happy. Go and see your saints. They will be a proof of what I am saying. They will
           never be happy.
                They are not unhappy, that is true, but they are not happy either. So what is the point? If
           happiness does not arise by dropping unhappiness then some mistake has been committed. Otherwise
           it should be natural. You say, 'I have lighted the candle and the darkness is still there.' Either you are
           befooling yourself or you are dreaming, hallucinating, about the candle. Otherwise it is not possible
           -- the candle is burning bright and the darkness is still there? No, the darkness is certain, absolute
           proof that the light has not entered yet.
                When unhappiness drops, suddenly there is happiness. What is happiness? Absence of
           unhappiness is happiness. What is health? Absence of disease is health. When you are not unhappy
           then how can you avoid happiness? When you are not unhappy how can you manage not to be
           happy? It is impossible. It is not in the nature of things. It is against the arithmetic of life. When a
           person is not unhappy suddenly all his sources are alive; a dance arises in his being; a joy rises in his
           being. A laughter bursts forth. He explodes. He becomes a Hasid, a Sufi. He becomes a presence of
           divine ecstasy. By seeing him you will see God -- a glimpse, a ray of light. By visiting him you will
           be visiting a shrine, a sacred place, a TEERTHA. Just by being in his presence you will be suffused
           with a new light, a new being; a new wave will arise around you and you can ride on that tidal wave
           and go to that other shore.
                Whenever there is really a dropping of unhappiness, happiness is left -- nothing else is possible.
           One is simply happy without any reason, without any why.
                But your saints are not happy, your saints are very sad; your saints are not living, your saints are
           dead. What has happened? What calamity? What curse? A mis-step. They thought that love had to be
           dropped and then there would be no misery. They dropped love -- but the misery was not happening
           because of love, the misery was happening because of possessiveness.
                Drop possessiveness! In fact, convert the energy which is involved in possessiveness into
           love-energy. But that cannot be done by enforcing anything -- a clear vision is needed, a clarity.
                So the first thing I would like to say to you is: spirituality is not the practising of any virtue,
           spirituality is the gaining of a new vision. Virtue follows that vision; it comes on its own accord. It is
           a natural by-product. When you start seeing, things start changing.
                In life there are three things -- one. the objective world, the world of things. Everybody is able to
           see that. We are naturally capable of seeing the objective world. But this is only the beginning of the
           journey. Many have stopped there and think that they have arrived. Of course they have not arrived
           so they are miserable.
                Beyond the objective is the opening of another world -- the world of the subjective. The
           objective is the world of things, objects; the objective is the world of science, mathematics, physics,
           chemistry. The objective is very clear because naturally we are born perfectly able to see the
           objective.
                The subjective has to be explored; nobody is born with a vision of the subjective. The subjective
           has to be explored; one has to learn what it is; one has to taste it by and by and move into it by and
           by. The world of music, poetry, art -- the world of any creativity -- is the world of the subjective.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The man who starts moving inwards becomes more poetic, more aesthetic. He has a different aroma
           around him, a different aura.
                The scientist lives with things; the poet lives with persons. The scientist is not at all aware of
           who he is, he is simply aware of what surrounds him. He may be able to know about the moon and
           about Mars and about the stars far, far away, but he is completely oblivious of his own inwardness.
           In fact, the more he becomes concerned with faraway things, the more and more he becomes
           oblivious of himself: He remains almost in a sort of sleep about himself.
                The poet, the painter the dancer, the musician, they are closer to home. They live in the
           subjective -- they know they are persons. And when you know you are a person, suddenly you
           become capable of looking into other persons. For a poet even a tree is a person, even animals are
           people; for a scientist even a man or a woman is nothing but an object. A scientist looks at a man as
           if he is also just an object. And if he is not aware of his own inwardness how can he be aware of the
           inwardness of the other?
                When I use the word 'person' I mean that there is an inside which is not available to outside
           observation, analysis, dissection. There is a rock, it has no inside; you can break it and you can see
           everything. If you break a rock, nothing is disturbed, nothing is destroyed. Even if it is in pieces, it is
           the same rock. But if you break a person, something of tremendous value immediately disappears.
           Now you are left with a dead body, and the dead body is not the person. The rock broken is still the
           same rock, but the person is no longer the same person. In fact, the person broken is not a person at
           all. On the dissection table of a surgeon you are not a person, only when a poet touches you and
           holds your hand do you become a person.
                That's why people hanker for love. The reason for the hankering for love is nothing but this: you
           would like somebody to see that you are a person, not a thing.
                You go to the dentist, he is not worried about you -- he is simply interested in your teeth. Even if
           I go to the dentist -- I see him...what a miracle! He is not interested in me, he just looks at my teeth. I
           am there, sitting in his chair, he is completely oblivious of me. A great space is available just in his
           room but he will not even look at me -- that's not his concern. He is only interested in the teeth, in his
           own technique. His knowledge of the objective world is his only world.
                People hanker for love because only love can make you a person, only love can reveal your
           inwardness to you, only love can make you feel that you are not just that which is apparent from the
           outside. You are something more; you are something totally different to what you appear to be. The
           reflection in the mirror is not your totality; the reflection in the mirror is just the reflection of your
           surface, not of your depth. It says nothing about your depth.
                When you come to a scientist, or a person who is absolutely absorbed with the objective
           dimension, he looks at you as if you are just the reflection in the mirror. He does not look at you, he
           looks around you. His approach is not direct, his approach is not intimate -- and you feel something
           is missing. He is mistreating you because he is not accepting your personality. He is treating you as
           if you are a thing. He is doing things but he is not touching you at all; you remain almost
           non-existential to him.
                And unless somebody touches you with love, looks at you with love, your own inwardness
           remains unfulfilled, unrecognised -- that is what the need to be needed is.
                The subjective is the dimension, the inward dimension, of poetry, song, dance, music, of art. It is
           better than the scientific dimension because it is deeper. It is better than the objective dimension
           because it is closer to home. But it is not yet the dimension of religion, remember. There are many
           people whose mind is obsessed with the objective -- when they think about God, God also becomes
           an object. Then God is also outside. Ask a Christian where God is and he will look upwards,
           somewhere in the sky -- outside. When you ask a person where God is and he looks somewhere else
           than within himself, then he belongs to the non-religious dimension. People ask, 'What is the proof
           of God?' Proofs are needed only for a thing. God does not need proof. If I love you, what is the
           proof? For poetry there is no proof, for chemistry there is. But poetry exists. And a world without
           chemistry would not be very much worse, but a world without poetry would not be a human world at
           all.
                Poetry brings meaning to life, the unproved brings meaning to life -- the proved at the most
           makes you comfortable. God is not an object and cannot be proved. God is more like music. It exists,
           certainly it exists, but there is no way to grab it. You cannot have it in your fist, you cannot lock it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           into your treasury, there is no way.
                Love exists but you cannot possess it. If you try to possess it, you belong to the objective
           dimension and you are killing love -- that's why possession is destructive. If you possess a woman, if
           you say, 'She is my wife and I possess her' then she is no longer a person. You have reduced her to
           be a thing and she will never be able to forgive you. No wife has ever been able to forgive her
           husband; no husband. has ever been able to forgive his wife -- because both have reduced each other
           to things. A husband is a thing, a wife is a thing, and when you become a thing you become ugly --
           you lose freedom, you lose inwardness, you lose poetry, you lose romance, you lose meaning. You
           become simply a thing in the world of things. Utility is there -- but who lives for utility? Utility can
           never be satisfying. You are being used, how can it be satisfying? Whenever you feel you are being
           used, you feel offended. And you SHOULD feel offended, because it is a crime to use somebody and
           it is a crime to allow somebody to use you. It is a crime against God.
                But there are people who try to use God also. When you go and you pray for something you are
           trying to use God. You don't know what prayer is, you don't know what love is, you don't know what
           poetry is, you don't know the subjective realm at all. Your prayer, if it has a motivation in it, a desire
           in it, is ugly. But we find -- we are very cunning people -- we find ways and means.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
                A minister, a priest and a rabbi were discussing how they decided what part of the collection
           money each retained for personal needs and what part was turned into their respective institutions.
           'I draw a line,' said the minister, 'on the floor. All the money I toss in the air. What lands to the right
           of the line I keep, to the left of the line is the Lord's.'
                The priest nodded, saying,' My system is essentially the same, only I use a circle. What lands
           inside is mine, outside is his.'
                The rabbi smiled and said, 'I do the same thing. I toss all the money into the air and whatever
           God grabs is his.'

               We even go on playing tricks with God. In fact, God is also our invention, a very cunning
           invention. It is also somewhere there -- and you can pray to him, you can ask things from him, you
           can find security in him, consolation, comfort. It is a security measure, a sort of other-worldly bank
           balance. But it remains an object.
               God is not an object -- that's why Mohammedans, Christians, Jews have all tried not to make any
           image of God. That is very symbolic and meaningful because when you make an image of God it
           becomes objective. Let God remain without any image. But it has remained without an image only in
           theology. Whether you have made an image of God or not, it makes no difference; your mind, if it is
           capable of moving in the objective dimension, will treat God as an object. Even a Mohammedan
           turns towards Mecca for his prayers; that becomes an image. Even a Mohammedan goes to Mecca to
           kiss the stone; That becomes the image. The Black Stone of Mecca is the most kissed stone ever. In
           fact, it is very dangerous to kiss it now -- it is unhygenic.
               But whether you make any image of God or not, if the mind is objective, your idea of God will
           be objective. When you think of God you start thinking of high heaven, the uppermost boundary of
           the sky. God is THERE. If you ask a truly religious person where God is, he will close his eyes and
           go inwards. God is there, inwards. Your own being is divine. Unless God is immanent in you, unless
           God is immersed in your being, you are carrying an image. Whether you have made an image of
           wood or of stone does not matter -- you can make an image with thinking, thoughts, ideas. That too
           is an image -- made of a subtler material, but still an image.
               Man remains the same unless he changes his dimension. Somebody is an atheist; he says, 'There
           is no God because I cannot see him. Show me and I will believe.' And then someday he comes to
           have an experience, a vision, a dream in which he sees God standing there. Then he starts believing.
               In the Gita, Arjuna, Krishna's disciple, goes on asking again and again, 'You go on talking about
           him but I cannot believe unless I see.'Now, what is he saying? He is saying, 'Let God be objective
           then I will believe.' And Krishna concedes to his desire. I am not happy with that -- because to
           concede to this desire means to concede that the objective dimension is capable of seeing God. The
           story says that Krishna then revealed his reality, his vastness; he revealed God. Arjuna started
           trembling and shaking. He said, 'Stop! Enough! I have seen!' He saw Krishna expanding and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becoming the whole universe; and in Krishna stars were moving, the sun was rising and the moon
           and planets and the beginning of the world and the end of the world and all life and all death was
           there. It was too much; he could not bear it. He said, 'Stop!' And then he came to believe.
               But this belief does not change the object, this belief does not change the objective dimension.
           He did not believe because he could not see; now he has seen so he believes -- but the God remains
           in the objective world, the God remains a thing. I am not happy with Krishna for doing this. It should
           not be done. It is conceding to a foolish disciple's desire. The disciple needs to be changed from his
           dimension; he should be made more subjective.
               But we remain the same -- we go on changing forms but we remain the same.

           I have heard.
               The funeral was over. Still sobbing, Goldberg, the new widower, followed his late wife's
           sister-in-law into the waiting limousine. As the big car passed through the cemetery gates the
           sister-in-law was horrified by Goldberg's hand which was slowly but passionately creeping up her
           leg. With her body still wracked with sobs of bereavement, she screamed, 'Goldberg, you monster,
           you fiend, you animal! My sister is not yet cold in her grave. What is the matter with you!'
               In a voice shaking with emotion, Goldberg replied, 'In my grief do I know what I am doing?'

               People remain the same in their grief or in their other moods -- they remain the same. they don't
           change the dimension.
               So this is the first thing to understand: you need a shift from the objective to the subjective.
           Meditate more and more with closed eyes about your emotions, about your thoughts. Look deeper
           into the inner world, the world that is absolutely private to you. The objective is public; the
           subjective is private. You cannot invite anybody into your dreams, it is not possible. You cannot say
           to your friend, 'Tonight come into my dream,' because the dream is absolutely yours. You cannot
           even invite your beloved who may be sleeping just on the same bed, who may be sleeping just by
           your side, hand in hand. But you dream your dreams and she dreams her dreams. Dreams are private.
           The subjective is the private; the objective is the public, the objective is the marketplace. Many
           people can watch one thing, but many people cannot watch one thought, only one person can -- the
           person to whom the thought belongs.
               Remove your consciousness more and more towards me private. The poet lives a private life; the
           politician lives a public life. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that he didn't have any private life. That
           means he must have had a very poor life. A private life is a rich life. The politician's life is there to
           be watched by everybody: on the TV, in the newspapers, in the street, in the crowd. The politician
           only has a public face. When he goes home he is nobody. He loses all face.
               You have to find your private face. The emphasis should be more on the private than on the
           public. And you should start learning how to love the private -- because the private is the door to
           God. The public is the door to science but not to religion, not to God. The public is the door towards
           arithmetic, calculation, but it is not the door to ecstasy, to love. And enjoy things which are very
           private: music, poetry, painting. Zen insisted on calligraphy, painting, poetry, gardening --
           something that is absolutely private, something that you live from the in towards the out, something
           that rises as a wave in the innermost core of your being and spreads outwards.
               The public life is just the reverse: something rises outside and faces in towards you. In a public
           life the original, the source, is always outside. Your centre of being is never within yourself, It is
           always outside. That's why a politician is always afraid of the outside -- because his life depends on
           the outside. If the people don't vote he will be nobody.
               But that doesn't make any difference to a painter or to a poet. Nobody purchased Vincent van
           Gogh's paintings. During his whole life not a single painting was sold, but that didn't matter; he
           enjoyed himself. If they sold, good; if they did not sell, good. The real prize was not in their being
           sold and appreciated, the real prize was in the painter's creating of them. In that very creation he has
           attained his goal. In the moment of creation he becomes divine. You become God whenever you
           create.
               You have heard it said again and again that God created the world. I tell you one thing more:
           whenever YOU create something you become a small God in your own right. If God is the creator
           then to be creative is the only way to reach him. Then you become a participant, then you are no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more a spectator.
                Van Gogh, appreciated or not, lived a tremendously beautiful life in his inner world -- very
           colourful. The real prize is not when a painting is sold and critics appreciate it all over the world --
           that is just a booby prize. The real prize is when the painter is creating it, when the painter is lost in
           his painting, when the dancer has dissolved into his dance, when the singer has forgotten who he is
           and the song throbs. THERE is the real prize, THERE is the attainment.
                In the outside world you depend on others. In the public life, in the political life, you depend on
           others, you are a slave. In the private life you start becoming a master of your own being.
                Let me insist and emphasise it because I would like all of my sannyasins to be creative in some
           way. To me, creativity is of tremendous import. An uncreative person is not a religious person at all.
           I am not saying that you all have to be van Goghs -- you cannot. I am not saying you all have to be
           Leonardo da Vincis or Beethovens or Mozarts; I am not saying you all have to become Wagners and
           Picassos, Rabindranaths -- no, I am not saying that. I am not saying that you have to become a world
           famous painter or poet or you have to win a Nobel prize -- if you have that idea, again you fall into
           politics. The Nobel prize comes from the outside; it is a booby prize, it is not a real prize. The real
           prize comes from inside. And I am not saying that you are capable -- all are not capable of becoming
           Picassos. And there is no need either, because too many Picassos would make a very monotonous
           world. It is good that there is only one Picassos and it is good that he has never been repeated,
           otherwise it would become boring.
                But you all can become creators in your own way. It does not matter whether anybody comes to
           know about it or not, that is absolutely unimportant. You can do something out of love -- then it
           becomes creative. You can enjoy something while you are doing it -- then it becomes creative.
                While I am talking to you Astha is cleaning my bathroom and my room. I enquired of her if she
           would like to drop this work and come to the talk. She said, 'Osho, cleaning your bathroom is enough
           for me.' It is a creative act, and she has chosen it out of love. And certainly she is not missing
           anything. Whether she listens to me or not is not the point. If she loves cleaning the bathroom, if she
           loves me, it is a prayer. You can be here but you may listen to me or you may not listen to me. She is
           not here but she has listened to me. She has understood me. Now the work itself becomes worship.
           Then it is creative.
                I would like to remind all of my sannyasins again and again: be creative. In the past the majority
           of the religious people proved to be uncreative. That was a calamity, a curse. Saints were simply
           sitting doing nothing. That is not real religion. When real religion explodes into people's lives,
           suddenly much creativity explodes also.
                When Buddha was here a great creativity exploded. You can find proofs in Ajanta, Ellora. When
           Tantra was an alive religion a great creativity exploded. You can go to Puri, Kanorak, Khajuraho and
           see. When Zen Masters were alive they created really many new dimensions -- out of small things,
           but very creative.
                If you are uncreative it simply means that you must have practised your religion, you must have
           forced yourself into a certain pattern, and you have got blocked, frozen in that pattern. A religious
           person is flowing, streaming, river-like; seeking, exploring, always seeking and exploring the
           unknown, always dropping the known and going into the unknown, always choosing the unknown
           for the known, sacrificing the known for the unknown. And always ready. A religious man is a
           wanderer, a vagabond; into the innermost world he goes on wandering moving from one place to
           another. He wants to know all the spaces that are involved in his being.
                Be more creative. Dance, and don't bother whether somebody likes your dance or not -- that is
           not the question. If you can get dissolved into it, you are a dancer. Write poetry. There is no need
           even to show it to anybody. If you enjoy it, write it and burn it. Play on your flute or guitar or sitar.
           You must see our tabla-player, Bodhi. How meditatively he plays on his tabla! That's his meditation.
           He is growing: going into it, dissolving, melting.
                The subjective is the realm of all art and creativity. These are the two ordinary realms of being.
                The third, the really religious, is the transcendental. First is the objective -- the objective is the
           world of science, second is the subjective -- the subjective is the world of art; and third is the
           transcendental -- that which goes beyond both; is neither objective or subjective; is neither out nor
           in. In it both are implied, in it both are involved but yet it is higher than both, bigger than both,
           beyond both. The subjective is closer to the transcendental than the objective, but remember, just by
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           being subjective, you don't become religious. You have taken a step towards being religious, a very
           important step, but just by being subjective you don't become religious. You can find poets who are
           not religious, you can find painters who are not religious...religion is more than art, more than songs.
               What is this third? First, you start looking into your thoughts. Drop the public world and move
           into the private: look into your dreams, your thoughts, your desires, your emotions, your moods and
           the climates that go on changing inside you, year in, year out. Look into it. This is the subjective.
               Then the last and the ultimate jump: by and by, by looking into thoughts, start looking into the
           looker, the witness, the one who is watching the thoughts.
               First move from things to thoughts, then from thoughts to the thinker. Things are the world of
           science, thought is the world of art and the thinker is the world of religion. Just go on moving
           inwards. The first circumference around you is of things, the second of thoughts, and the third, the
           centre, your very being, is nothing but consciousness. It is nothing but a witnessing.
               Drop things and go into thoughts; then one day thoughts also have to be dropped and then you
           are left alone in your purity, then you are left absolutely alone. In that aloneness is God, in that
           aloneness is liberation, moksha, in that aloneness is nirvana, in that aloneness for the first time you
           are in the real.
               The objective and subjective are divided; there is a duality, a conflict, a struggle, a division. The
           person who is objective will miss something -- he will miss the subjective. And the person who is
           subjective will miss something -- he will miss the objective. Both will be incomplete. The scientist
           and the poet both are incomplete. Only the holy man is complete; only the holy man is whole. And
           because he is whole I call him holy.
               By 'holy' I don't mean that he is virtuous, by 'holy' I mean that he is whole. Nothing is left,
           everything is involved. His richness is whole: the subjective and the objective both have dissolved
           into him. But he is not just the total of subjective and objective, he is more. The objective is without,
           the subjective is within and the religious is beyond. The beyond comprehends both without and
           within and yet is beyond.
               This vision is what I call spirituality: the vision of the beyond.
               A few more things. In the world of the objective, action is very important. One has to be active
           because only action is relevant in the world of things. If you do something, only then can you have
           more things; if you do something, only then can you change in the world of objectivity.
               In the world of subjectivity...inaction. Doing is not important, feeling is. That's why poets
           become lazy. And painters -- even great painters and great poets and great singers, they have bouts
           of activity and then again they relapse into laziness. The subjective person is more sleepy, dreamy,
           lazy; the objective person is active, obsessed with action. The objective person always needs to do
           something or other, he cannot sit alone, he cannot rest. He can fall asleep -- but once he is awake he
           has to do something. The subjective person is inactive. It is very difficult for him to move into
           action. He enjoys the world of fantasy -- and that is available without action. He does not have to go
           anywhere, he has just to close his eyes and the world of dreams opens.
               The religious person is the meeting of the opposites: action in inaction, inaction in action. He
           does things but he does them in such a way that he never becomes the doer. He remains a vehicle of
           God, the passage -- what the Chinese call wu-wei, inaction in action. Even if he is doing, he is not
           doing it. His doing is very playful, there is no tension in it, no anxiety, no obsession about it. And
           even when he is inactive he is not dull; even when he is sitting, or Lying down and resting, he is full
           of energy. He is not lethargic, he is radiant with energy. Because both the opposites have come to a
           meeting and to a higher synthesis in him, he can act as if he is in a non-doing state and he can remain
           in a non-doing state but still you can feel the energy, you can feel a vibe of tremendous activity
           around his being. Wherever he moves, he brings life to people. Just by his presence dead people
           become alive; just by his touch dead people are called back to life.
               Like Jesus.... When Lazarus died, Jesus was called. He went to the grave where Lazarus was kept
           and he called out, 'Lazarus, come out!' And the dead Lazarus came out and said, 'I am here. You
           called me out of death. I am here.'
               A religious person is active -- not because he is doer, a religious person is active because he has
           infinite energy available. A religious person is active -- not because he has to do something, because
           he has an obsession to do, not because he cannot relax, but because he is such a pool of energy that
           he has to overflow; the energy is too much and he cannot contain it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So while sitting silently.... You can see Buddha sitting silently under the Bodhi tree but you will
           see energy playing around him, a great aura of energy.
                A beautiful story is told about Mahavir -- that wherever he moved, for miles around life would
           become more alive. And he was an inactive man. He would simply stand or sit under a tree, for
           hours, for days, but for miles life would start throbbing with a new rhythm. It is said that trees would
           bloom out of season; trees would start growing faster than ever; dead trees would start producing
           new fresh leaves. Whether it happened or not is not the point, it maybe just a story.But it is very
           indicative, it is very symbolic. Myths are not symbolic things, myths are very meaningful symbols.
           They say something.
                What does this myth say? It simply says that Mahavir was such a pool of energy, such an
           overflowing of energy, such an overflowing of God, that wherever he was, life would move faster. A
           speed would happen to all the existence around him. He would not be doing anything but things
           would start happening.
                Lao Tzu has said that the greatest religious person never does anything, but millions of things
           happen through him. He is never a doer but much happens through him. He simply goes on sitting
           and yet the impact of his being on the world of affairs is tremendous. Nobody may ever come to
           know about him -- he may be sitting in a cave in the Himalayas so you never know about him -- but
           still your life will be affected by him because he will be vibrating. He will give a new energy, a new
           pulse to life; he will impart a new pulsation to life. You may not come to know about him but you
           may have been benefitted by him.
                The opposites become complementaries in a religious being. The day and night meet and
           dissolve their conflict; the man and woman meet in the religious person and dissolve their conflict. A
           religious person is ARDHANARISHVAR -- he is half man, half woman. He is both. He is as strong
           as any man can be and he is as fragile as any woman can be. He is as fragile as a flower and as
           strong as a sword. He is hard and he is soft and he is both together. He is a miracle, he is a mystery.
           Because opposites meet he goes beyond logic, his being is paradoxical. He is alive as nobody else is
           alive and he is dead, more dead, than the dead who are in the graveyards. He is dead in a way and
           alive in a way -- together, simultaneously; he has known the art of dying and the art of living
           simultaneously.
                In ordinary life with the ordinary mind everything is divided into its opposites, and there is a
           great attraction for meeting with the opposite: the man seeks the woman, the woman seeks the man --
           the yin-yang circle. In a religious man all search has stopped -- the man has found the woman, the
           woman has found the man. In his innermost core the energy has come to a point where everything
           has dissolved into oneness, into non-duality, ADVAIT. All opposites become complementaries; all
           conflicts dissolve and become co-operation. Then you have come home, then there is no need to go
           anywhere, then there is nothing to be sought, nothing to be desired. This state is the state of God.
           God is a state, God is not an object. And God is not even a person, because God is neither objective
           nor subjective. God is transcendental.
                If you are in the objective I will say, 'Seek the subjective -- there is the God.' If you are in the
           subjective, I will say, 'Now go beyond. There is no God in the subjective. God is beyond.' By and by
           one has to go on eliminating, by and by one has to go on dropping. God is when there is no object
           and no subject, when there is no thing and no thought, when there is no this world and no that world.
           When there is no matter and no mind, God is; God is neither matter nor mind. In God both exist.
           God is a tremendous paradox, absolutely illogical, beyond logic. You cannot make an image of God
           in wood or in stone and you cannot make an image of God in concepts and ideas. When you dissolve
           all images -- when you have dissolved all in/out, man/woman, life/death, all dualities -- then that
           which is left is God.

           Now this story.

              ONE DAY, AFTER HE HAD GONE BLIND,
              RABBI BUNAM VISITED RABBI FISHEL.
              RABBI FISHEL WAS FAMOUS THROUGHOUT THE LAND
              FOR HIS MIRACLE CURES.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ENTRUST YOURSELF TO MY CARE SAID HIS HOST.                'I SHALL RESTORE YOUR LIGHT.'



              THAT IS NOT NECESSARY,' ANSWERED BUNAM,                'I SEE WHAT I NEED TO SEE.'


               The eyes that see only the outside are blind. They are not really eyes yet. They are very
           primitive, rudimentary. The eyes that see withinwards are more real. The Rabbi was right. He said,
           'Now there is no need to restore my eyes, because although I cannot see objects now I don't WANT
           to see them anymore. And the world that I need to see, I can see. It is good that blindness happened
           to me because now I am no longer disturbed and distracted by the other world of objects.'
               It has happened many times. Milton became blind -- and all his great poetry was born only after
           he became blind. At first he was very much shocked, naturally. He lost his eyes and there was no
           way to restore them. He thought his whole life was finished. He was a good poet, already famous.
           And, of course, a poet thinks, 'Without eyes, how can you see the trees and how can you see the
           moon and how can you see the river and the wild ocean? And without eyes how can you see the
           colour of life? Of course, your poetry will become very poor. It will lose colour.' But Milton was
           wrong. He was a religious man and he accepted his blindness. He said, 'Okay. If God wills it that
           way, then that has to be so.' He accepted it. And by and by he became aware of an infinite new world
           becoming available: the world of inner thoughts. He became subjective. Now there was no need to
           see outside so all his energy was available.
               Have you seen blind people? On their faces you will always see a certain grace. Even ordinary
           blind people look v3ry graceful, very silent. They don't have any of the distraction of the outside
           world.
               Scientists say that man lives through the eyes; almost eighty per cent of his life is involved with
           his eyes. Eighty per cent! Only twenty per cent is distributed to other senses. You live eighty per
           cent of your life through the eyes. That's why when you see a blind man a great compassion arises in
           your being. You don't feel that much compassion for a dumb or deaf person, no, but for a blind
           person great compassion arises. You feel, 'Poor fellow. Eighty per cent of his life is not there.'
               Eyes are very important. The whole scientific search depends on the eyes. Have you ever heard
           of any scientist who was blind? It is impossible. A blind person cannot be in objective research -- it
           becomes difficult. But there have been many blind musicians, blind singers; in fact, a blind person
           has tremendous qualities of the ear which a man with eyes cannot have, because eighty per cent of
           his energy is no longer being wasted by the eyes. That energy shifts to his ears. His ears become
           very, very receptive and sensitive. He starts seeing through his ears. Hold a blind man's hand and
           you will be surprised. You will find a very alive touch -- a touch you will not find in people who
           have eyes. Hold the hand of a blind man and you will feel a warmth flowing towards you, because
           the blind man cannot see you, he can only touch you. His whole energy moves into his touch.
               Ordinarily you touch with your eyes. A beautiful woman passes by -- you look. You have
           touched her through the eyes. You touched her whole body -- and without offending her and
           breaking no law. By and by you forget completely what touch is.
               Eyes have become monopolies -- they have taken many energies from many sources. For
           example, the nose. Eyes are very close to the nose. The eyes have taken the whole energy from the
           nose. People don't smell. They have lost their smell power. Their noses are dead. A blind person
           smells. His smelling capacity is tremendous. When you come close to him he knows your smell; he
           recognises you by your smell. He touches you; he knows you by your touch. He hears your sound; he
           knows you by your sound. His other senses become alive. And he is very graceful, because the eyes
           create much tension.
               When Milton became blind, first he was shocked but-then he accepted -- he was a religious man.
           He prayed to God and he said, 'Thy will be done.' By and by he was surprised that it was not a curse,
           it was a blessing. He became aware of infinite colours inside. It was a psychedelic world. Very
           subtle nuances, very beautiful dreams started opening up for him. And all his great poetry was born
           when he became blind. He was a good poet but not a great poet, but when he became blind he was
           no longer a good poet, he became a great poet. Good poetry is just so-so -- luke-warm. Maybe you
           cannot find any fault in it but that's all. Great poetry has a penetrating energy in it; great poetry is a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           revolutionary force; it has an impact strong enough to shake the whole world, to change the whole
           world.
                It has happened many times. If, when a certain person has suddenly become blind, he can accept
           it, that very acceptance gives him a new world. The objective disappears, the subjective opens its
           door. And the subjective is closer to the transcendental -- that's why all the meditators close their
           eyes.
                Have you observed? All women close their eyes when you make love to them; men never close
           their eyes. They are foolish. The man wants to see the woman when he is making love to her. He
           would like to have the light on so he can see. And there are many foolish people who have mirrors in
           their bedroom. Not only would they like to see the woman, they would like to see all the reflections
           around. And there are a few who have fixed cameras in their room -- automatically taking pictures --
           because if they miss something right now, later on they can see it!
                But women are still not that foolish. I don't know about liberation women -- maybe they are
           doing the same thing because they have to compete with everything, whatsoever it is. They may be
           making love with open eyes -- but then they will miss something. Men make love in the objective
           dimension, women make love in the subjective dimension. Women immediately close their eyes
           because it is so beautiful inside, what is there to see outside? When you are moving in love energy,
           melting, flowing, and an orgasm is opening inside you, it is there that reality has to be looked at. The
           man is just foolish, he is just looking at the body; the woman is more understanding, she is looking at
           the psyche -- a higher standpoint.
                But still it is not religious. It is artistic, aesthetic, but still not religious. When you become
           religious, then the Tantra attitude arises. Then you don't see with open eyes, you don't see with
           closed eyes you simply see the seer! You are not worried about the experience, you look at the
           experiencer, you look at the witness. Then love becomes Tantra. Whether it is a man or a woman
           who is moving into the dimension of Tantra, he or she is not interested in what is happening; rather,
           he or she is more interested in the witness who is watching it all. Who is this witness? And when the
           energy is exploding in such a natural, spontaneous realm it is better to watch. Just be a watcher on
           the h i 11. Forget about you r being a man or a woman, forget about your being in the body, forget
           that you are a mind and just be a witness -- and then you have become transcendental. Tantra is
           transcendental.
                And this dimension has to evolve in all your ordinary life situations. Whatsoever you do, you can
           do in three ways: objectively, that is the scientific way, the Western way; or, subjectively, that is the
           Eastern way, or, the religious way, the transcendental way, in which East and West meet and
           dissolve. The religious way is neither Eastern nor Western. The West is scientific, the East is poetic;
           the West thinks in terms of history, the East thinks in terms of myths, PURANAS; the West is more
           concerned about what reality is, the East is more concerned about the fantasy about the reality, the
           dream about the reality; the West is more concerned with the conscious mind, the East is more
           concerned with the unconscious mind. But religion is beyond both. Religion is of the
           super-conscious mind, the transcendental mind -- it is neither Eastern nor Western.
                Just as man and woman meet, so East and West meet. West is more male, East is more female;
           West is more will, East is more surrender. But religion is both, and beyond.
               'THAT IS NOT NECESSARY,' ANSWERED BUNAM, 'I SEE WHAT I NEED TO SEE.'

               Certainly a great religious statement -- it's enough, more than enough, if you can see the seer. If
           you can see the seer. If you can be your consciousness, your awareness, that's enough. All is
           available. You have become a God, nothing else is needed.
               Strive for that state of being. If you are coming from the West, struggle for it; if you are coming
           from the East, surrender for it. If you are coming from the West, will it; if you are coming from the
           East, be passive, wait for it.
               And if you are my sannyasins, who don't belong to the East or to the West, then drop all duality,
           be non-dual. Drop all division. Just be individual.!f you belong to me then you belong to the
           transcendental. That is the whole meaning of being initiated by me. I bring you the transcendental, I
           bring you the ultimate, I bring you that which cannot be seen on the outside, that which cannot be
           seen on the inside but you can become that because you are already that.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                   The Art of Dying
                                                    Chapter #10
                                          Chapter title: Just a Hotch-potch
           20 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610200
              ShortTitle: ART10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              The first question:


              YOU SEEM TO BE AGAINST THE DEMYSTIFICATION OF LIFE. IN THIS REFERENCE IS IT RIGHT
              TO SAY THAT MOVEMENTS IN THE WEST LIKE ARICA, ZEN, SUFISM, EST, TM, ETC., ARE THE
              INEVITABLE SYNTHESIS BETWEEN EASTERN MYSTICISM AND WESTERN SCIENCE?


               THE real synthesis will be the disappearance of East and West. It will not be a meeting. In the
           real synthesis the East will not be there and the West will not be there. That's what yesterday I called
           the transcendental.
               East and West are polarities. If you try to synthesise them -- take something of the East and
           something of the West and make a hotchpotch out of it -- it will be a compromise and not a
           synthesis. It will be mechanical, not organic. You can put things together -- that is a mechanical
           unity -- but you cannot put a tree together, you cannot put a human being together. The unity of a
           tree grows, it comes from its own innermost core and it spreads towards its circumference. It arises
           in the centre. A mechanical unity can be put together from the outside: you can put a car or a clock
           together; but the clock has no centre to it, the car has no centre to it -- the car has no soul. That is the
           meaning when we say the clock has no soul...it means it has no centre of its own. It is a unity put
           together from the outside. It works; it is utilitarian.
               But a tree, a bird, a human baby -- you cannot put them together. They grow. Their unity comes
           from their innermost core. They have a centre.
               A compromise is a mechanical unity' a synthesis is an organic growth. So whatsoever is
           happening right now in the name of EST, TM, Arica, is a sort of mechanical unity.
               And mechanical unity has its own dangers. The greatest danger is this: the East has developed a
           great insight into religion and the West has developed a great insight into science. When a Western
           person starts searching in the East, his attitude is scientific. He can understand only that which is
           scientific in the East -- try to understand this. And the East has not developed any scientific attitude;
           Eastern science is very primitive and rudimentary. When a religious person goes to the West from
           the East he looks into Western religion which is very rudimentary, very primitive. And he can
           understand only the religious language.
               So when somebody from the East approaches the West, he approaches the West from the weak
           point in Western growth. And when somebody comes from the West to the East he approaches the
           East from the weakest link in its growth.
               Now what is happening? East and West are meeting in Arica, EST, TM, and other so-called
           spiritual movements -- and just the opposite to what was expected is happening. It is not Eastern
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religion meeting Western science, it is Eastern science meeting Western religion. It is an ugly affair.

           You must have heard.
               A French actress told George Bernard Shaw that she would like to get married to him.
           Bernard Shaw inquired why.
               She said, 'The logic is simple. I have a tremendously beautiful body. Look at my face, my eyes,
           my form -- it is perfect. And you have a beautiful intellect, the greatest intelligence ever. Our child
           will be a beauty: your brain and my body.'
               George Bernard Shaw said, 'I am afraid things can go wrong. Our child may have my body and
           your intellect.'

           This is what is happening!

              He declined the offer to marry. He said, 'It is dangerous. There is no certainty about it.'

                Of course, George Bernard Shaw had a very ugly body -- and actresses have never been known
           to have any intellect. Intelligence is a strange phenomenon to actresses, otherwise why would they
           be actresses in the first place?
                EST, Arica and TM are just by-products of the marriage between George Bernard Shaw and the
           actress. Things have gone wrong. This is not a synthesis, this is a compromise, a hotch-potch. And it
           is very dangerous.
                A great synthesis is needed. That synthesis will not come through movements, it will come only
           through a few people who attain to that synthesis in their souls. It is not a question of reading the
           Bible and reading the Bhagavad Gita and finding out the similarities and making a synthesis out of it
           -- that would be a mechanical unity. But many people have done that.
                Dr. Bhagwandas has written a very scholarly book: 'The Essential Unity of all Religions.' The
           whole thing is silly. Read the Koran, read the Veda, read the Bible, read the Dhammapada, find the
           similarities -- it is very easy to find similarities -- but in fact the Koran is beautiful only because of
           those things which are not in the Gita.The beauty is in its uniqueness. When you find something...as
           Mahatma Gandhi has done, he read the Koran and found things which were similar to the Gita. He
           was looking for the Gita in the Koran. It was unjust to the Koran; it was not good manners either
           because he was imposing some alien element on the Koran. And whatsoever was not similar to the
           Gita, in tune with the Gita, he would forget about. He would forget that it existed in the Koran. And
           that which was dropped is the uniqueness of the Koran.
                The same can be done by a Christian. He can look into the Gita and find something which
           satisfies his Christian mind -- then he is looking for the Bible in the Gita, but the Gita is beautiful
           only where it is not at all similar to the Bible. There is its uniqueness. Beauty is in uniqueness;
           similarities become cliches, similarities become meaningless, similarities are monotonous. The
           Himalayas are beautiful because they have something unique that is not in the Alps. And the Ganges
           is beautiful because it has something that is not in the Amazon. Of course, both are rivers, and there
           are a thousand and one things similar, but if you go on looking for similarities you will live in a very
           boring world. I am not in favour of it.
                I will not tell you to look into Eastern scriptures and into Western scriptures and to find some
           sort of compromise, no. I would like you to go into your innermost being. If you go beyond the
           object, you have gone beyond the West; if you go beyond the subject, you have gone beyond the
           East. Then the transcendental arises and THERE is the synthesis. And when it has happened within
           you you can spread it without also. The synthesis has to happen within human beings, not in books,
           not in dissertations, not in Ph.D. theses. An organic unity is possible only in an organic way.
                This is what I am doing here. I am hammering you to make you to go beyond the objective and
           beyond the subjective. I am not telling you to make subjective and objective meet inside you,
           because that meeting will not be able to bring the higher into existence. You have to go beyond. The
           humanity of the future has to go beyond East and West; both have been only half, both have been
           lop-sided. I am neither for East nor for West, I am for a total world, a world that is whole.
                But it is natural in a way -- Arica, EST, TM -- it is natural in a way. Because the common
           humanity, the ordinary human mind, always tries to find cheap methods, short-cuts. People are not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           really interested in the ultimate truth, they are interested at the most in a convenient, comfortable
           life. They are not really interested in being alive and being an adventurer, they are really afraid of all
           adventures. They want to put things together in such a way that things become comfortable and one
           can live comfortably and one can die comfortably. Comfort seems to be the goal, not truth.
                And everybody has his own prejudice. The Christian, the Hindu, the Mohammedan, they all have
           their prejudices. They are very deep-rooted. You can talk about love but that is always superficial.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               The distraught young man was perched on the fortieth-floor ledge of a mid-town hotel,
           threatening to jump. The closest the police could get was the roof of an adjacent building a few feet
           below. However, all pleas to the man to return to safety were of no avail.
               A priest from the nearest parish was summoned and he hastened to the scene. 'Think, my son,'
           he intoned to the would-be suicide in a very loving way. 'Think, my son, think of your mother and
           father who love you.'      'Oh, they don't love me,' the man replied. 'I am jumping.'        'No, my son,
           stop!' cried the priest with great love in his voice. 'Think of the woman who loves you.' 'Nobody
           loves me. I am jumping,' came the response.         'But think, still think, my boy,' the priest implored.
           'Think of Jesus and Mary and Joseph who love you.'          'Jesus, Mary and Joseph?' the man queried.
           'Who are they?'
               At which the point the cleric yelled back, 'Jump, you Jew bastard, jump!'

               All love disappears immediately. All talk of love is just superficial; all talk of tolerance is
           intolerant deep down.
               People say, 'Tolerate each other.' What do you mean when you say, 'Tolerate each other'? It is
           already intolerant. The very word 'tolerance' is ugly. When you tolerate somebody, do you love him?
           When Hindus tolerate Mohammedans, do they love them? When Mohammedans tolerate Hindus, do
           they love them? Can tolerance ever become love? Tolerance may be political but it is not religious.
               One who wants to know the truth -- the truth that is beyond all polarities: man/woman,
           East/West, good/bad, heaven/hell, summer/winter -- one who is interested in knowing, in enquiring
           into the truth which is beyond all dualities, has to drop all his prejudices. If he still carries his
           prejudice, that prejudice will colour his mind. To know truth you need not be a Hindu, you need not
           be a Mohammedan, you need not be a Christian, you need not be a Jew -- to know truth you have to
           drop all this rubbish, you have to be just yourself. You need not be Indian, you need not be
           American, you need not be English, you need not be Japanese, Chinese. To know truth you have just
           to be immense, huge, vital, alive, loving, enquiring, meditative...but with no prejudice, with no
           scripture, with no concepts, with no philosophy. When you become completely nude of all that has
           been taught to you, when all the conditionings have dropped, then suddenly there is the highest truth
           -- and that highest truth is a synthesis unto itself, you need not synthesise. It is an organic unity. And
           from that altitude you can laugh at all the nonsense that goes on in the name of religion, in the name
           of tolerance, in the name of love, in the name of churches and temples and mosques.
               The revolution has to happen within you; it has not to be introduced into the world. Because only
           YOU are alive -- society is dead, society is just a name. Only YOU have something of the soul. The
           synthesis has to happen there. The synthesis has not to happen in Poona or in New York or in
           Timbuktu or in Constantinople, the synthesis is going to happen within you, within me. And each
           individual has to become a great experiment towards that synthesis. But remember, when that
           synthesis arises, you will not be able to say whether it is a synthesis between East and West, between
           Mohammedan and Christian, between Hindu and Jaina. No, you will immediately be able to see it is
           a transcendence. Synthesis, real synthesis, organic synthesis, is a transcendence -- your altitude has
           changed, you are standing on the highest peak. From there you look.
               Whatsoever we look at, whatsoever we see, is not very important. The important thing is where
           you stand. If you are clinging to the East, whatsoever you see in the West will be a misinterpretation.
               Just the other day I was reading a newspaper. Someone had written an article against me. The
           article asked how Americans can understand religion. They cannot, so my whole effort is a wastage.
           This is the Indian chauvinist mind. The Indian thinks that nobody can understand religion except the
           Indian. And this is not only so with the Indian, this is so with everybody. Everybody deep down
           carries this nonsense -- that we are the chosen few. This idea is very destructive. It is not a question
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of being American or Indian; truth has nothing to do with all these labels. Truth is available to
           anybody who is ready to drop all these labels. Truth is understood only when you are neither --
           American nor Indian nor Hindu nor Christian. Truth is understood by a consciousness that is no
           longer clouded by any conditionings, which is no longer clouded by the past. Otherwise we go on
           seeing in things only that which we can understand.

           I was reading a very beautiful anecdote....
               The family managed to bring the patriarchal grandfather from Hungary and he came to his
           daughter and her family.
               The old man was fascinated by New York and all it had to offer.
               One day his grandson, Yunkel, took him to the zoo in Central Park. Most of the animals were
           familiar to the old man. However, they came to the cage where the laughing hyena was confined and
           the old man became curious. 'Yunkel, in the old country I never heard of an animal that laughed.'
               Yunkel noticed the keeper standing nearby and approached him.                'My grandfather recently
           came from Europe. He says they don't have any laughing hyenas there. Could you tell me something
           about it so that I can in turn tell him?'
           The keeper said, 'Well, he eats once a day.'
               Yunkel turned to his grandfather and said in Yiddish, 'He eats once a day.'
               The keeper continued, 'He takes a bath once a week.' 'He bathes once a week.'
           The old man listened intently.
               The keeper added, 'He mates once a year.' 'He mates once a year.'
               The old man shook his head thoughtfully.           'All right. He eats once a day, he bathes once a
           week, but if he mates only once a year, why is he laughing?'
               Now this old man is not so old. His mind is still clinging somewhere -- to his youthful days. His
           mind is still sexual. He cannot understand why the hyena is laughing if he mates only once a year.
               There are people who cannot understand that happiness is possible in any way other than sex.
           There are people who cannot understand that there is any bliss beyond sex. There are people who
           cannot understand that there is any happiness except in food. There are people who cannot
           understand that there is any happiness except in big houses, big cars, much money, power and
           prestige. It is impossible to understand beyond your own standpoint -- people remain confined within
           their own standpoints. That is the real prison. If you want a synthesis you have to drop all the
           imprisonments, you have to drop out of your cages. They are very subtle cages and you have
           decorated them for a long time; you may have even started loving them. You may have forgotten
           completely that they are prisons; you may have started thinking that they are your home. A Hindu
           thinks Hinduism is his home, he never thinks that it is a barrier. All '-isms' are barriers. The Christian
           thinks that Christianity is the bridge; he never thinks that it is Christianity that is not allowing him to
           reach to Christ. The church is not the door, it is the wall, the barrier, the China Wall.
               But if you have lived with this wall for too long, for centuries, if the mind has become
           accustomed to it, you think of it as a protection, as a shelter, as security. And then you look at other
           people; from your cell in the prison you look outside. Your presence in the cell corrupts your vision.
               Come out under the sky and under the stars -- and synthesis will take care of itself. You need not
           synthesise East and West, you are simply to go beyond these standpoints. Move to the transcendental
           and there is synthesis.

           The second question:


              I HAVE HEARD YOU SAYING THAT MAN IS A GOAL-ORIENTED PROCESS AND HIS
              DESTINATION IS THE STARS. CAN YOU PLEASE OPEN THIS FLOWER FOR ME FOR A DEEP
              SMELL?

              The flower is open. I suspect your nose is closed.

               Your nose has to be opened and you have to reclaim the capacity to smell. You may have lost the
           sensitivity to smell. You have lived so long in lies that when you come across truth you cannot
           recognise it. Even truth has to come to you -- if truth wants to be recognised in the garb of a lie. You
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot see it directly. You have learned how to look sideways -- you never look directly, your look
           is never immediate. You are always wavering this way or that and you are always losing the fact.
                I am here. This is the flower I am talking about. I am your future. That which is going to happen
           to you has happened to me. If you cannot smell then don't blame the flower -- blow your nose.
                But that is difficult for the ego; the ego is always ready to deny, it is never ready to transform
           itself. The ego can say there is no God; it cannot say, 'Maybe it is because I have got so many blocks
           that I cannot feel God.' The ego can deny that there is a flower but it cannot recognise the fact that it
           has lost the capacity to smell.
                Hence there are so many people who deny God. It is easy to deny God, it is comfortable in fact --
           because if there is no God you need not bother about your nose, you need not work upon your being.
           If there is no God then there is no work, then there is no growth, then there is no search. You can be
           lazy you can drown yourself in lethargy. If there is no God then there is no guilt.
                I am against guilt -- the guilt that has been created by the priests -- but there is a different type of
           guilt which is not created by the priest.And that guilt is very meaningful. That guilt arises if you feel
           there is something more in life and you are not working hard to get to it. Then you feel a guilt. Then
           you feel that somehow you are creating barriers to your own growth -- that you are lazy, lethargic,
           unconscious, asleep; that you don't have any integration; that you cannot move towards your destiny.
           Then a guilt arises. When you feel that you have the possibility and you are not turning it into
           actuality then a guilt arises. That guilt is totally different.
                I am not talking about the guilt that priests have created in humanity: don't eat this otherwise you
           will feel guilty; don't do that otherwise you will feel guilty.... They have condemned millions of
           things, so if you eat, if you drink, if you do this and that, you are surrounded by guilty feelings. I am
           not talking about that guilt -- that guilt has to be dropped. In fact, that guilt helps you to remain
           where you are. Those guilty feelings don't allow you to know the real guilt inside. They create so
           much fuss about small things: you eat in the night and the Jains create much fuss -- you are guilty,
           you are a sinner. Why have you eaten in the night? Or, you have divorced your wife or your husband
           and the Catholics create a guilty feeling in you -- you have done something wrong. It was not wrong
           to live with the woman and continuously fight, it was not wrong to destroy the woman and destroy
           yourself, it was not wrong to destroy the children -- just between the two of you they were being
           crushed, their whole life was conditioned in a wrong way.... No, that was not bad, but if you get out
           of that marriage, if you get out of that hell, you feel guilty.
                These guilt feelings don't allow you to see the real spiritual guilt which has nothing to do with
           any politics, with any priesthood, with any religion or church. That guilt feeling is very natural.
           When you see that you can do something and you are not doing it, when you see how potential you
           are but you are not changing that potentiality into actuality, when you see that you are carrying
           tremendous treasures as seeds which could bloom, and you are not doing anything about it and you
           are just remaining in misery -- then you feel a great responsibility towards yourself. And if you are
           not fulfilling that responsibility, you feel guilty. This guilt is of tremendous import.
                I am here; the flower is here. In Zen they say that the flower does not talk but I would like to
           contradict that. I would like to say to you the flower talks too, but one thing is needed: you need the
           capacity to hear, you need the capacity to smell. The flower has its own language. He may not talk in
           the language that you understand, but your language is a very local language. The flower speaks the
           universal language.
                I am here; look into me, feel me, try to imbibe my spirit in you, let my flame come closer to you.
           Any moment there can be a jump -- my flame can jump and Light your unlit candle. Just come close,
           come close...and when I say come close I mean be more and more in love. Love is the only closeness
           there is; love is the only intimacy there is. It is not a question of physical closeness, it is a question of
           inner intimacy. Be open to me, as I am open to you; be available to me, as I am available to you.
           Don't be afraid, you have nothing to lose...except your chains.

           The third question:


               SOMEWHERE THERE IS THAT FEAR WHICH MAKES ME.CLOSED AND HARD AND SAD AND
               DESPERATE AND ANGRY AND HOPELESS. IT SEEMS TO BE SO SUBTLE THAT I DON'T EVEN
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GET REALLY IN TOUCH WITH IT. HOW CAN I SEE IT MORE CLEARLY?


               The only problem with sadness, desperateness, anger, hopelessness, anxiety, anguish, misery, is
           that you want to get rid of them. That's the only barrier.
               You will have to live with them. You cannot just escape. They are the very situation in which life
           has to integrate and grow. They are the challenges of life. Accept them. They are blessings in
           disguise. If you want to escape from them, if you somehow want to get rid of them, then a problem
           arises -- because if you want to get rid of something you never look at it directly. And then the thing
           starts hiding from you because you are condemnatory; then the thing goes on moving deeper into the
           unconscious, hides in the darkest corner of your being where you cannot find it. It moves into the
           basement of your being and hides there. And, of course, the deeper it goes, the more trouble it
           creates -- because then it starts functioning from unknown corners of your being and you are
           completely helpless.
               So the first thing is: never repress. The first thing is: whatsoever is the case is the case. Accept it
           and let it come -- let it come in front of you. In fact, just to say 'do not repress' is not enough. If you
           allow me, I would like to say, 'Befriend it.' You are feeling sad? Befriend it. Have compassion for it.
           Sadness also has a being. Allow it, embrace it, sit with it, hold hands with it. Be friendly. Be in love
           with it. Sadness is beautiful! Nothing is wrong with it. Who told you that something is wrong in
           being sad? In fact, only sadness gives you depth. Laughter is shallow; happiness is skin-deep.
           Sadness goes to the very bones, to the marrow. Nothing goes as deep as sadness.
               So don't be worried. Remain with it and sadness will take you to your inner-most core. You can
           ride on it and you will be able to know a few new things about your being that you had never known
           before. Those things can be revealed only in a sad state, they can never be revealed in a happy state.
           Darkness is also good and darkness is also divine. The day is not only God's, the night is his also. I
           call this attitude religious.

           SOMEWHERE THERE IS THAT FEAR WHICH MAKES ME CLOSED AND HARD AND SAD
           AND DESPERATE AND ANGRY AND HOPELESS. IT SEEMS TO BE SO SUBTLE THAT I
           DON'T EVEN REALLY GET IN TOUCH WITH IT.

               It becomes subtle if you want to get rid of it. Then, of course, it protects itself, it hides in the
           deepest corners of your being. It becomes so subtle and so garbed that you cannot recognise it. It
           starts coming under different names. If you are very much against anger then anger will arise under a
           different name -- it may become pride, it may become ego, it may become even a religious pride, it
           may become even pious. It may hide behind your virtues, it may start hiding behind your character.
           Then it becomes very subtle because now the label is changed. It is playing something else's role but
           deep down it remains anger.
               Let things be as they are. This is what religious courage is: to allow things as they are.
               I am not promising you any rose garden -- thorns are there, roses also. But you can reach the
           roses only when you have passed the thorns.
               A man who has never been sad cannot really be happy. It is impossible for him to be happy. His
           happiness will be just a forced gesture -- empty, impotent. You can see it on people's faces when
           they laugh: their laugh is so shallow, it is just painted on their lips. It has no relationship with their
           heart, it is absolutely unconnected.
               It is just like lipstick -- the lips look red and rosy but that redness does not come from the redness
           of the blood. It is good if lips are red, but the redness should come from aliveness, from your blood
           cells, from your energy, vitality, youth. No, you paint your lips -- they look red but it is ugly.
           Lipstick is ugly. And you will find only ugly women using it. What does a beautiful woman have to
           do with lipstick? The whole thing seems to be absurd. If your lips are red, vital, alive, what is the
           point of painting them? You are making them ugly and false.
               Your happiness is also like lipstick. You are not happy and you know you are not happy, but you
           cannot accept the fact because that would be too shattering for your ego. You -- and not happy?!
           How can you accept it? Maybe you are not happy inside but that is your own problem, you must not
           express it, you are not to say the truth. For the world you have to keep a face, you have to maintain a
           personality. So you go on laughing. Watch people's laughter and you will immediately see which
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           laughter comes from the heart. When the laughter comes from the heart you can immediately feel a
           different vibe -- an overflowing. That man is really happy. When laughter is just on the lips it is
           empty. It is just a gesture; nothing is behind it. It is a facade.

               The man who cannot laugh deeply is the man who has repressed sadness -- he cannot go deep
           because he is afraid of sadness. Even if he goes deep into his laughter, there is a fear that sadness
           may surface, may bubble up. He has to be always on guard.
               So please, whatsoever the situation is, start allowing it. If you are sad, you are sad. This is what
           God means for you -- at this moment at least he wants you to be sad. So be true...be sad! Live this
           sadness. And if you can live this sadness a different quality of happiness will arise in you -- it will
           not be a repression of sadness, it will be beyond sadness.
               A person who can be patiently sad will suddenly find that one morning a happiness is arising in
           his heart from some unknown source. That unknown source is God. You have earned it if you have
           been truly sad; if you have been truly hopeless, desperate, unhappy, miserable, if you have lived in
           hell, you have earned heaven. You have paid the cost.

           I was reading a joke.
                Mr. Goldberg came home from the office unexpectedly and found his wife in bed with Mr.
           Cohen, the next-door neighbour.
                Distraught and angry, he ran next door and confronted Mrs. Cohen.            'Mrs. Cohen!' he cried.
           'Your husband is in bed with my wife.'        'Calm down! Calm down!' Mrs. Cohen said. 'Look, don't
           take it so hard. Sit down, have a cup of tea. Relax.'
                Mr. Cohen sat quietly and drank his cup of tea. It was then that he noticed a little glint in Mrs.
           Cohen's eye.
           Coyly she suggested, 'You want a little revenge?'
                And with that they withdrew to the couch and made love. Then they had another cup of tea, then
           a little more revenge, a little more tea, more revenge; more tea....
                Finally Mrs. Cohen looked at Mr. Goldberg and asked, 'How about another revenge?'               'I will
           tell you, Mrs. Cohen,' said Mr. Goldberg quietly, 'to be truthful, I aren't got no hard feelings left.'

               Whatsoever the situation, if you are sad, be sad; if you are in a revengeful mood, take your
           revenge; if you are jealous, be jealous; if you are angry, be angry. Never avoid the fact. You have to
           live it, that is part of life's progress, growth, evolution. Those who avoid, remain immature. If you
           want to remain immature then go on avoiding, but remember, you are avoiding life itself.
           Whatsoever you are avoiding is not the point, the very avoiding is an avoidance of life.
               Confront life. Encounter life. Difficult moments will be there but one day you will see that those
           difficult moments gave you strength because you encountered them. They were meant to be. Those
           difficult moments are hard when you are passing through them but later on you will see they have
           made you more integrated. Without them you would never have been centred, grounded.
               The old religions all over the world have been repressive; the new religion of the future is going
           to be expressive. And I teach that new religion...Let expression be one of the most fundamental rules
           of your life. Even if you have to suffer for it, suffer. You will never be a loser. That suffering will
           make you more and more capable of enjoying life, of rejoicing in life.

           The fifth question:


              YOU ARE THE BEST WHISKEY-COKE I HAVE EVER HAD. I STUMBLE OUT OF YOUR
              LECTURES EVERY DAY MY HEAD SPINNING. SHOULD I GIVE YOU UP AS A BAD HABIT?


               It is very difficult to give up bad habits. Good habits are very easy to drop.
               Who has ever heard of any man or woman capable enough to give up a bad habit? And if religion
           has become your bad habit, or sannyas, you are blessed, you are fortunate. If I am your bad habit
           then you are fortunate. I would never like to become a good habit to you, no, because a good habit
           can be dropped very easily!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               St. Peter, concerned about the state of affairs in America, sent his most dependable and
           conservative disciple, St. Theresa, to look over the situation and give him a personal report. She
           stopped first in New York and phoned at the end of three days to say that things were even worse
           than they had feared.     'Let me come home,' she begged. 'No,' said St. Peter. 'Finish the job. Go
           on to Chicago.'
               She called him again from Chicago with an even more dismal tale. 'It is a mess of corruption,' she
           reported sadly. 'Sinners on all sides. I can't take any more of it. Allow me to return to heaven.'
           'Patience and fortitude,' consoled St. Peter. 'They tell me Hollywood is worst of all. Have a look
           around out there and then you can come home.'
               Two weeks went by, then four weeks went by, then six weeks went by without further word from
           St. Theresa. St. Peter, beside himself with anxiety, was about to turn the case over to the celestial
           F.B.I. when the phone finally rang and the operator said,          'One moment, please. Hollywood
           calling.'
               And then a sweet voice came over the wire, 'Hullo, Peter darling! How divine! This is Terry.'

               I would not like you to become St. Theresas. Even if you go to Hollywood, Hollywood is not
           going to corrupt you because I have corrupted you finally, utterly. I am a bad habit. And nobody can
           make a good habit out of me because good habits are not reliable. At the drop of the hat, good habits
           disappear. Let religion be your bad habit; let meditation be your bad habit. Yes, it is perfectly good --
           let me be your whisky-coke.

           The sixth question:


              WHEN I FIRST SAW YOU, OSHO, I FELT I HAD FOUND PROTECTION. OSHO WILL PROTECT.
              BUT NOW I AM ASKING MYSELF 'HOW IS OSHO GOING TO PROTECT ME FROM OSHO
              HIMSELF?' PLEASE COMMENT.


               That is not your problem. That is my problem. How am I going to protect you from myself? That
           is my problem.!t is none of your business.
               One thing I can say...Let me say it through an anecdote.

               Life was over. His wife had left him and taken the children. He had lost his job. The bank had
           just foreclosed the mortgage on his house. He decided the only thing left for him to do was to jump
           off a bridge and kill himself. He walked to Brooklyn Bridge, climbed as high as he could and was
           just about to jump when he heard a voice down below, screeching.
           "Don't jump! I can help you.'
           He yelled back, 'Who are you?'
           To which the voice replied, 'I am a witch.'
               Curious, he climbed down and there before him was an ugly old crone. She looked at him and
           said, 'I am a witch and if you do as I say I will grant you three wishes.'
               He thought to himself, 'Things can't be any worse so what do I have to lose?' So he said, 'All
           right. What do I have to do?'
           She said, 'Come home with me and spend the night.'
               He went with her to her hovel and she commanded him to make wild love to her. With great
           effort he accomplished all her bidding and finally fell asleep in a completely exhausted state. When
           he woke up there was the ugly old woman standing in front of him.
               He said, 'Now that I have done your bidding old witch, you must keep your part of the bargain
           and grant me my three wishes.'
           The hag looked at him and asked, 'How old are you?'
           He replied, 'Forty-two.'
               The old woman sighed, 'Do you mean to tell me that you still believe in witches?'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Listening to me for so long, do you tell me you still believe in Osho?
               My whole effort is to take all the props away from you, all beliefs, Osho included. First I pretend
           to give you help...because that is the only language you understand! Then by and by I start
           withdrawing myself. First I take you away from your other desires and help you to become very
           passionate about nirvana, liberation, truth. And when I see that now all desires have disappeared,
           there is only one desire left, then I start hammering on that desire, and I say, 'Drop it because this is
           the only barrier.'
               Nirvana is the last nightmare. You cannot go back because once you have dropped those futile
           desires, you cannot get back into them. Once you have dropped them, the very charm, the very
           mystery disappears from them. You cannot really believe how you were carrying them for so long.
           The whole thing looks so ridiculous that you cannot go back.
               And I start taking the last desire from you. Once the last desire disappears, you are enlightened.
           Then you are Osho. My whole effort here is to make you capable of declaring yourself to be a God
           also -- and not only declaring it, living it too.

           The seventh question:


              WHEN I THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE ON THIS EARTH AND WHY YOU HAVE COME? IT SEEMS
              THAT THERE MUST BE A RISK IN YOUR UNDERTAKING -- WITH POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE,
              THAT YOUR WORK CANNOT BE GRANTED, THAT YOU ALSO MUST BE ABLE TO ERR, TO
              COMMIT A MISTAKE. IT SEEMS THAT, IF THERE IS NO FREEDOM TO ERR, THEN THERE IS NO
              FREEDOM AT ALL. BUT WHEN I LOOK AT YOU THERE IS NO QUESTION OF MISTAKES;
              EGOLESSNESS IS PERFECT. PLEASE COMMENT.


               The first thing: I am not under any obligation to do anything. This is not an undertaking. I am not
           doing any work actually; it is not work that I am doing. It may be work for you, it is not work for me.
           I am enjoying the game. It is a play. And in a play it does not matter whether you make mistakes or
           not. It does not matter.
               Mistakes become very, very important when you are serious about a thing. When you are doing it
           as serious work then mistakes become very important. But I am not doing it seriously at all. It is a
           laughter, it is a dance, it is a play for me. I am enjoying it. And I have no plan, no reverence for it.
           How can I commit a mistake? You can commit a mistake if you have a plan -- then you know where
           you missed. I carry no plans with me. I have no blueprint. I simply go on doing whatsoever happens
           in the moment. So whatsoever happens is perfectly right, because there is no way to judge it, there is
           no criterion, there is no touchstone. That's the beauty of it. And that's what freedom is. In serious
           work you can never be free; in serious work anxiety will always haunt you; in serious work you are
           always afraid that something can go wrong.
               With me nothing can go wrong because there is nothing that is right. If something is right then
           something can go wrong; if nothing is right then nothing can be wrong. That's what the-meaning of
           the Eastern concept of LEELA is -- play. It is a playfulness. While I am here I am enjoying this
           playfulness, I am enjoying it terribly, enjoying it terrifically.
               You ask, WHEN I THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE ON THIS EARTH.... You are thinking in
           wrong terms. You are thinking in the terms that religions have conditioned your minds to think in.
           You are thinking as Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jainas do. You have not yet learnt my
           language.
               Christians think that Christ came to deliver the whole world from sin -- all nonsense! You can
           see the world is not delivered yet. In fact, if the world were completely delivered from sin there
           would be no work left for Christ. He would go broke. He would go bankrupt. He would have to close
           the shop. Jainas think that TEERTHANKARAS come to help humanity. I can understand -- you
           want help, so you project help.
               But a TEERTHANKARA is not going to help you. He is simply enjoying himself. And if you
           want to enjoy, you can participate. He simply opens a door of spiritual enjoyment, of spiritual bliss.
           And he is not worried whether you come or not, he is not worried whether a few people come or
           millions come. If nobody comes it is as good as if millions come. He is not in search of customers.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He is happy, things are going perfectly well for him. If a few people come and dance with him, good.
           If nobody comes, he dances alone. His dance remains perfect, it is not a work.
               Hindus think AVATARAS come when the world is in misery, when the world is in ignorance.
           When religion disappears from the world then AVATARAS come. All nonsense! AVATARAS have
           come many, many times, but the misery has not disappeared, the ignorance has not disappeared.
               Religion never becomes an established fact; in fact, the moment religion becomes established, it
           is no longer religion, it becomes a church. Established religion is no longer religion, religion remains
           only unestablished. Religion is a rebellion. You cannot make anything established out of it; it is
           intrinsically rebellious. And the play continues.
               But I can understand why people have projected their need for help all over the world. This is
           their hope. They are in misery, that is certain, and they want somebody to help them. Why do you
           want somebody to help you? Because you don't want to take the responsibility on yourself. First you
           say that others have made you miserable, now you say that somebody has to take you out of the
           misery. What are YOU doing? You don't create your misery, you can't drop it...do you exist or not?
               Responsibility is existence, responsibility gives you being. If you go on throwing responsibility
           on to someone else -- it is the Devil who is creating misery and it is God who becomes Christ,
           becomes Mohammed, becomes Mahavira, and takes you out of the misery -- then what are you
           doing? You seem to be just like a football -- on one side is the Devil, on one side is God and you are
           being kicked from this side to that. Enough! You simply say, 'Enough! I am not going to allow
           myself to be kicked any more.'
           Are you a football? Claim responsibility.
               I am not here to help you. You may be here to be helped but I am not. I am just enjoying my
           thing. I am doing my thing. And you will be benefitted more if you drop your idea of help and work
           and Christ and avataras. You will be helped more if you drop all concepts of help. You simply be
           with me. Don't bring business into it. Let it be pure play.
               IT SEEMS THAT THERE MUST BE A RISK IN YOUR UNDERTAKING. There is nothing,
           no risk -- because it is not an undertaking. I am not risking anything because there is nothing to risk,
           there is nothing to lose. All that is, always is. And that which is not, never is. So what is the risk?
               If somebody comes and kills me, he kills only my body which is already dead, has always been
           dead -- it is part of the earth. So, dust unto dust. He cannot kill me. I was before I was born, I will be
           after death has happened. So what has he done? Nothing serious; nothing of much importance. He
           may think he had done a very serious thing: that he has killed me, that he has crucified a Jesus or
           killed a Socrates. That is his idea. But in me, that which is matter is going to fall into matter and that
           which is consciousness is going to fall into consciousness, so nobody can kill me. You can shoot at
           me but you cannot shoot me. You can cut my head off, but your sword will not touch me. The sword
           is material and it cannot touch the spiritual.
               There is no risk and there is no possibility of failure -- because there is no possibility of success
           either. I cannot succeed so how can I fail? In fact, the very terminology of success, failure, benefit,
           loss, is absurd, irrelevant.
               You ask: THAT YOUR WORK CANNOT BE GRANTED, THAT YOU MUST BE ABLE TO
           ERR, TO MAKE A MISTAKE. IT SEEMS THAT IF THERE IS NO FREEDOM TO ERR THEN
           THERE IS NO FREEDOM AT ALL.
               The freedom is so absolute that there is no right and no wrong. The freedom is so absolute that
           whatsoever you do is right. It is not that you have to do something and sometimes it is right and
           sometimes it is wrong.... Try to understand my standpoint, from my grounding, from my centring.
           Whatsoever you do is perfectly right -- not that it fulfills any criterion of what is right, simply there
           is NO criterion of what is right. That's why I can be with Hasids, I can be with Sufis, I can be with
           Tantricas, I can be with yogis. It is very difficult for so-called religious people: if they are with
           Mahavira, how can they be with Mohammed? Impossible. If one is right then the other is wrong. If
           they are with Krishna, how can they be with Christ? If one is right, the other is wrong. Their
           mathematics is clear: only one can be right. To me there is no criterion. You cannot judge who is
           right and who is wrong. Mahavira is right because he enjoyed his thing; Buddha is right because he
           also enjoyed his thing; Mohammed is right because he enjoyed his thing, tremendously. Bliss is
           right. So whatsoever I am doing I am enjoying it tremendously -- and to be blissful is to be right.
               Even if I commit mistakes according to you.... Maybe sometimes you feel I am committing a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mistake. That will be according to you because you carry some criterion.
               I stayed in a Jaina family once. An old man came to see me -- ninety years old. And he touched
           my feet and said, 'You are almost a twenty-fifth TEERTANKARA.'
               I said, 'Wait, don't be in a hurry. You just watch me.'
           He said, 'What do you mean?'
               I said, 'You simply watch me. Otherwise you will have to take your words back.'
               He became a little disturbed. It was dusk, the sun was setting, the evening was descending and a
           woman, my host's wife, came in and said, 'Your food is ready.'
           I said, 'Wait.'
               The old man said, 'What? the sun has already gone past the horizon. Are you going to take your
           food?'
               I said, 'Yes, I am telling the woman to wait. I will have to take my bath and then I will take my
           food.'
               He stood up. He said, 'Sorry. I must take my words back. You were right. You can eat at night?
           You don't know even this much? Then what type of enlightened person are you?'
               He has a certain criterion: an enlightened person cannot eat at night. This is the Jaina criterion.
               If you go to any person he has criteria and he looks through those windows to see if I fit or if I
           don't fit. But I am not here to fulfil your expectations. I am always right because I don't carry any
           criteria. There is no way. You cannot even find contradictions in me, because whatsoever I have said
           up to this moment is irrelevant! I don't bother a bit about it. Now it is for foolish scholars, it is
           finished for me! The moment I say something, I enjoy saying it -- that's all. More than that is not my
           concern. The moment I do something I enjoy it infinitely -- beyond that it is not my concern.

               BUT WHEN I LOOK AT YOU THERE IS NO QUESTION OF MISTAKES; EGOLESSNESS
           IS PERFECT. How can egolessness be perfect? The very idea of perfection is the ego; egolessness
           cannot be perfect. Egolessness simply means an absence of the ego. Can absence be imperfect?
           Absence cannot be imperfect so how can absence be perfect? Absence is simply absence. Ego can be
           imperfect, ego can be perfect, but egolessness cannot be either. There is nobody to be perfect.
               When ego sees the point that the whole game of ego is absurd, ego disappears. Nothing is left
           behind. There is a wholeness but there is no perfection. There is totality but there is no perfection.
               The old religions were all perfection-oriented; my whole teaching is whole-oriented. I say be
           whole. I don't say be perfect. And the difference is tremendous. When I say be whole I allow you
           contradictions. Then be wholly contradictory. When I say be whole, I don't give you a goal, a
           criterion, an ideal; I don't want to create any anxiety in you. I simply want you, in this moment,
           wherever, whatsoever you are doing, and whatsoever you are, to be total in it. If you are sad, be
           totally sad -- you are whole. If you are angry, be totally angry. Go into it totally.
               The idea of perfection is absolutely different, diametrically opposite -- not even different,
           opposite. The perfectionists will say, 'Never be angry; always be compassionate. Never be sad;
           always be happy.' He chooses one polarity against the other. In wholeness we accept both the
           polarities: the lows and the highs, the ups and the downs. Wholeness is totality. And you have to see
           the whole nonsense of the ego, otherwise it can come in from the back door. If I say, 'Now become
           PERFECTLY egoless,' you will have to prove that there exists nobody who is more egoless than
           you.

           Let me tell you an anecdote.
               A family with a son about to be bar-mitzvahed wanted to celebrate the occasion in a unique way.
           Money was no object. The caterer suggested many things: flying the party out to Disneyland, renting
           out the White House, having the affair in a nuclear-submarine. All of these ideas were rejected by
           the family as old hat. It was not until the caterer came up with the idea of having the bar-mitzvah on
           safari in Africa that the family grew excited. Invitations were issued to two hundred guests, two
           hundred plane tickets were bought and the group set off for Africa.
               In Africa the bar-mitzvah party was met by two hundred elephants, fifty guides, seven buglers,
           and three hundred native porters who were to carry their food. Each guest mounted their own
           elephant with the father of the bar-mitzvah boy in the rear of the procession.
               They were only several miles into the jungle when the whole caravan came to a sudden halt.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           From the rear elephant the father cried, 'What is going on there?'
               And the question was repeated two hundred times till it reached the head guide at the front of the
           procession. The answer came back up the line, 'We have to stop here for a little while.' 'Why?'
           cried the distressed father. 'Why?' wailed the two hundred guests as the question proceeded up the
           line.
               And then came the answer. 'There is another bar-mitzvah party ahead!'
               The whole ego trip is like that. You move in a circle, you can never be in the front -- never.
           Again there will be a bar-mitzvah party ahead. Even in the darkest jungles of Africa you cannot do
           anything that has not been done before, you cannot be anything that has not happened before, you
           cannot be unique. That's why the ego can never be satisfied. The ego remains imperfect and goes on
           demanding perfection.
               My whole message is to see the truth, to see the hell that ego creates in the name: of perfection,
           uniqueness -- and to let it drop. Then there is a tremendous beauty -- no ego, no self, just a deep
           emptiness. And out of deep emptiness is creativity, out of that nothingness arises bliss,
           SATCHITANANDA, truth. Being, bliss, all arise out of that absolute purity. When the ego is not,
           you are a virgin. Christ was born out of a virgin; your nothingness is that Mother Virgin, Mother
           Mary.

              The last question -- and the most important one. In fact, a question of historic importance:


              OSHO, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS CARRY A TOWEL? AND WHY DON'T YOU DROP IT NOW?


              The first thing: the towel has been with me for almost twenty-five years. It is a silver jubilee
           year!
              And I am very surprised by the question because only last night I decided to drop it.

           I am reminded of a story.
               A man became very old, he became a hundred years old, and the journalists came to interview
           him. They asked many questions. One journalist, hesitating a little about whether to ask or not -- that
           must also have been the case with the person who asked this question; he or she must have hesitated
           many times whether to ask such an absurd question or not -- asked, 'Sir, one thing more I want to
           know. What do you think about women?'
               The old man said, 'Strange, only this morning I decided not to think about women at all!'
               A hundred-year-old man and he decided just that morning...! And he said, 'Please, don't tempt me
           again!'

           I decided just last night.
                But it is good that you have asked. It is a long history how the towel started to be with me, and
           before I part company with it I had better tell the story to you.
                When I started living in Jabbalpur, there were so many mosquitoes -- don't laugh, because you
           have nothing in Poona compared with Jabalpur; that's nothing -- I had to chase them with the towel
           the whole day. It was impossible to sit still.
                Once a Buddhist monk, a very famous scholar, Bikkshu Jagdish Kashyap, stayed with me. He
           was my guest.
                When he saw the mosquitoes he said, 'I used to think that Sarnath was the tops for mosquitoes
           but now it seems that Jabalpur has defeated Sarnath.'
                And he said, 'I will tell you a story about Sarnath and Buddha. 'Buddha came to Sarnath only
           once. His first sermon was delivered at Sarnath -- but he never came again. So down the centuries
           Buddhists have said he never came again because of the mosquitoes.'
                I told Bikkshu Jagdish Kashyap that once I left Jabalpur I would not go back again. And I have
           not been there since I left. I can understand Buddha's difficulty. How could he have managed
           without a towel? Throughout his life he visited the same towns many times -- Shravasti at least thirty
           times, Rajgrih at least forty times -- and he never came back to Sarnath. There must be some secret
           in it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In fact, mosquitoes are old enemies of meditators. Whenever you meditate, whether the Devil
           comes to tempt you or not, the mosquitoes will always come.
               For eighteen years I was in Jabalpur. My towel became my constant companion. When I left
           Jabalpur and came to Bombay I was thinking of leaving it, but then people started spinning esoteric
           theories about it. So just to save the theoreticians I continued using it.
               Now it is a superstition. The word 'superstition' comes from a root which means: something that
           was useful sometimes but the circumstances have now changed, it is no longer useful. But it
           continues. This towel is a superstition and I have continued carrying it just for your sake -- because
           there are theoreticians, esoteric people around who have to have something to base their theories
           upon.
               One woman, one of my beautiful sannyasins from the Phillipines, told me that she had found out
           the truth about my towel. I asked what it was. She said, 'You are a nobody, you live in nothingness,
           you have to hold something otherwise you will disappear.' I said, 'Right! Absolutely right!'
               Just three things I had: my lungi, my robe and my towel. My lungi is gone, you can see. Parijat
           helped me to renounce it. Parijat is my official seamstress -- appointed by His Holiness, Bhagwan
           Shree Shree Shree Rajneeshji Maharaj! She made the robe so beautifully that the lungi became
           almost absurd with it. It started looking like a bullock cart by the side of a Cadillac. So out of
           necessity I had to drop it.

              Now here goes my towel. The only thing left is my robe. Please never ask any question about it!

           Let me tell an anecdote.
               A young Jewish couple were being wed in the usual Jewish tradition surrounded by at least two
           hundred relatives and friends. The room was in complete hush as the Rabbi reached the part of the
           service which said. With all my worldly goods I thee endow.
               The best man turned to the maid-of-honour and said, 'There goes Erwin's bicycle!'

               And here goes Osho's towel. It is all that I have. So I must remind you again: never ask any
           question about my robe.
               I will throw the towel. Whosoever it lands upon becomes its proud owner, but nobody must raise
           their hands or try to catch it. Hmmm? You just be in a meditation, absolutely passive. That is the
           way God also descends! If you try to catch it you cannot be the owner of it.
               And if some problem or some dispute arises that two or three persons claim the towel, you can
           always go to Mulla Nasruddin. It will be difficult to locate him because he is a very subtle and
           invisible man. But he's the best. If you cannot locate him then you can go to the next best person,
           Swami Yoga Chinmaya. He will decide the dispute -- who the owner is. And if it cannot be decided
           then you can always divide it.
               Remember that you are not to catch it. If you try to catch it, you miss the opportunity. Let it land
           on you.
           Here goes Osho's towel...!




                                           Be Still and Know
                                         Responses to Disciples Questions
                                    Talks given from 01/09/79 am to 10/09/79 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1981
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                 Be Still and Know
                                                      Chapter #1
                                         Chapter title: Always on the Rocks
           1 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909010
              ShortTitle: BESTIL01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, MEDITATIVENESS AND SCIENCE ARE DIFFICULT TO RECONCILE. YET PAINTING A
              PICTURE, WRITING A POEM, AND SOLVING A SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM ALL BRING THE SAME
              JOY. THE SAME JOY!
              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO BE MEDITATIVE AND A SCIENTIST?
              WHY HAS THERE NEVER BEEN A SOCIETY IN WHICH THE INNER AND THE OUTER
              SCIENCES, THE SCIENCE OF GENTLENESS AND LOVE AND THE SCIENCE OF AGGRESSION
              AND DEATH, LIVE IN HARMONY?

              Ananda Prabhu,


               THE VERY EFFORT TO RECONCILE THE POLAR opposites is wrong -- you will never
           succeed in it. It is like trying to reconcile day and night, it is like trying to reconcile life and death.
           You need not reconcile them, you have only to see that they ARE reconciled. Day and night are
           moving perfectly in rhythm; life and death are like two wings of existence.
               Once you see that the polar opposites can't exist separately, once you have seen that
           reconciliation is not needed at all, that they are already reconciled, that awareness will help you to
           move from one pole to another without any problem. They are totally different phenomena -- polar
           opposites, but all polar opposites are also complementaries.
           Science is concentration: it is mind, it is effort.
               Meditation or religion is a totally different world: it is relaxation, it is let-go -- it is not
           concentration at all. It is not one-pointedness, it is no-pointedness. So how can you reconcile them?
           How do you reconcile work and rest? But you work hard in the day, and at night the rest comes of its
           own accord. You have earned it; your hard work brings rest.
               Philosophically reconciliation is not possible: work cannot be rest, rest cannot be work. If you try
           to create a synthesis you will destroy both, the beauty of both. Work is work, rest is rest. But work
           done well brings rest, and if you have rested well in the night; in the morning you will feel so vital,
           so alive, so full of energy, that work is needed. Rest brings work, work brings rest -- it is a circle.
           Reconciliation is already there: day brings night, night brings day; life brings death, death brings life.
           They are half-circles; with both together the circle is perfect and complete. But please don't try to
           reconcile them in theory, in philosophy.
               In existence watch, and see how polar opposites are functioning together, hand in hand, as
           complementaries. That has not been done yet; in fact, humanity was not mature enough to do it up to
           now. Everything needs a particular time, a particular maturity, in which to be done.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The East has lived religiously -- that is one pole -- and because IT has lived religiously it has not
           been able to produce science. The West has lived scientifically, and because of its science it has lost
           track of religion. Now for the first time, the East is no more East and the West is no more West. The
           earth is becoming one: the earth is becoming one. global village. This is the time when the
           reconciliation can be seen, can be understood.
                Man is entering into a new phase; a new consciousness is to dawn. For at least ten thousand
           years, as far as consciousness is concerned, nothing new has happened. There have been Buddhas
           and there have been Albert Einsteins, but we are still waiting for a Buddha who is also an Albert
           Einstein or an Albert Einstein who is also a Buddha. The day is coming closer and closer. Albert
           Einstein in his last days was very much interested in meditation, in religion. His last days were full
           of wonder. He said in his old age, "I used to think when I was young that sooner or later all the
           mysteries of existence would be solved, and I worked hard. But now I can say that the more we
           know, the more existence turns out to be mysterious. The more we know, the less we know and the
           more we become aware of the vastness...."
                Science has not been able to demystify existence. Now this is recognized not by ordinary
           technicians but by geniuses, because they are the pioneers; they can see the dawn very close by, they
           are the prophets. Albert Einstein says that science has failed in demystifying existence, that on the
           contrary it has mystified things even more.
                For example, it was so easy in the old days, just a hundred years ago, for the scientist to say that
           all is matter. Now matter has disappeared; in neo-physics there is no entity called matter. The deeper
           the physicist went into the world of matter, the more matter was not to be found at all: it is pure
           energy. How to define energy now? Is it material? Energy cannot be material; energy is something
           totally different from matter. Matter is static, energy is dynamic; matter is a noun, energy is a verb.
           Matter is measurable. That is exactly the meaning of the word 'matter': it comes from 'measure', the
           root means 'measurable'. Matter can be measured, that's why it is called matter. Energy is
           immeasurable, it cannot be called matter. And as the physicist has entered into the world of energy,
           he has become more and more puzzled; never before has he been so puzzled.
                Mystics have always been in awe before existence. The physicist is for the first time in awe,
           because he has for the first time touched something very vital otherwise he was just looking from the
           outside. A stone is just a stone from the outside. The physicist now knows that the stone is not just a
           stone: it contains universes. A single small pebble that you can hold in your hand contains so much
           atomic energy that the whole universe can grow out of it, contains so much atomic energy that the
           whole universe can be destroyed by it. It is not just a pebble any more and it is not solid any more.
           You are holding it in your hand and you know it is solid, but your knowing is no longer scientific. It
           only appears solid; it is liquid. And it looks so available, manipulatable; you can do things with it.
           But you don't know its mysteries which are not manipulatable, and the mysteries are really immense
           -- almost as immense as the mystery of God itself.
                The modern physicist is using the language of the mystics for the first time. Eddington said, "The
           universe no longer looks like a thing but like a thought." This, from the mouth of a scientist, a Nobel
           prize-winner -- the universe looks like a thought and not like a thing? That means the universe is
           more consciousness than matter. And matter has been analyzed, our penetration has become deeper;
           we have come across atoms, electrons, neutrons -- and we are utterly mystified, at a loss even to
           express what we have come across. We don't have the language, the right language for it, because we
           have never known it.
                Now the right language has to be found in the words of the mystics: a Buddha will be helpful, a
           Lao Tzu will be helpful And scientists ARE looking into the words of the Buddhas to find the right
           language, because these are the people who have been talking about paradox, mystery. And now
           science is coming across paradoxes.
                The greatest paradox is that the electron behaves in such a mysterious way that the scientist has
           no language to express it. It behaves simultaneously as a particle and as a wave. This is impossible,
           inconceivable for the mind. Either something is a particle or it is a wave; the same thing cannot be
           both at the same time.
                You know Euclidean geometry: either something is a point or something is a line; one thing
           cannot be a point and a line together at the same time. A line means many points following each
           other in sequence; a single point cannot function like a line. But that's now electrons are functioning
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- simultaneously as a point and as a line, as a particle and as a wave. What to make of it? How to
           say it?
                The scientist is dumb. Now he knows that the mystics, who have always been talking in
           paradoxes, who have been saying God is far away and very close by, must be saying something
           through their experience. The mystics who used to say that life and death are one, not two, for the
           first time are becoming relevant to the scientist's mind. A new science is arising which says it is a
           science of uncertainty. NO more certainty! Certainty seems to be too gross.
                Mahavira, twenty-five centuries ago, used to make each of his statements with a 'perhaps'. If you
           asked him, "Is there a God?" he would say, "Perhaps." In those days it was not understood at all --
           because how can you say, "Perhaps"? Either God is or is not. It seems so simple and so logical: "If
           God is, God is; if he is not, he is not. What do you mean by 'perhaps'?"
                Now it can be understood. Mahavira was using the same language in religion that is being used
           by Albert Einstein in physics. Albert Einstein calls it the theory of relativity. Mahavira has called his
           philosophy exactly the same: SAPEKSHAWAD -- the theory of relativity. Nothing is certain,
           everything is flexible, fluid. The moment you have said something, it is no longer the same. Things
           don't exist, Mahavira says, but only events.
                That's what modern science is saying, that there are no things in the world, but only events. And
           we cannot say anything absolutely, we cannot say, "This is so." Whenever somebody says
           absolutely, "This is so," he is behaving foolishly. In the past he was thought to be a man of
           knowledge; the more certain he was, the more it was thought that he knew. The uncertain person, the
           hesitating person, was thought to be ignorant.
                That's why Mahavira could not influence the world very much; he came too early, he arrived
           before his time. Now is the time for him -- now he will be understood by the scientist, by the highest
           intelligence in the world. But he was talking to people, the ordinary masses, who could not
           understand his SYADAWAD -- his perhaps-ism. People wanted certain knowledge: "Is there a
           God?" And Mahavira would say, "Perhaps. Yes -- in one way it can be said yes, and in another it can
           be said no. And both are right together, simultaneously."
                Now the time has come. Ananda Prabhu, don't try to reconcile things -- that will be a false
           phenomenon. Just watch, just look deep into things as they are. They are already reconciled; there is
           no conflict in existence. All contraries are complementaries.

              YOU SAY: MEDITATIVENESS AND SCIENCE ARE DIFFICULT TO RECONCILE.


               If you try to reconcile them it is not only difficult but impossible. It cannot be done. You will go
           mad -- the very effort to reconcile them will drive you crazy. Avoid such an effort. Rather, on the
           contrary, simply watch.
               Life is paradoxical. It is already a synthesis of paradoxes; the opposites are already meeting in it.
           All that we need is a pure mirror-like consciousness, so that whatsoever life is it is reflected. And
           you will see in that reflection the meeting of the opposites: the meeting of East and West, the
           meeting of religion and science.

              YOU SAY: YET PAINTING A PICTURE, WRITING A POEM, AND SOLVING A SCIENTIFIC
              PROBLEM ALL BRING THE SAME JOY. THE SAME JOY!


               Yes, they can -- because art is just in the middle between both, equidistant from religion and
           science. Art has the qualities of both. One aspect of art is scientific, the technological aspect. Hence
           the scientist can paint and enjoy painting, and will have the same joy; and the mystic can also paint
           and will have the same joy as in prayer, as in meditation -- although both are doing the same thing,
           the mystic's painting will be totally different from the scientist's painting.
               You can look: modern painting in the West is too much under the influence of technology. It has
           lost beauty; it is no longer helpful in bringing you to the divine presence that permeates existence.
           On the contrary, it simply reflects the insane mind of man. Looking at Western painting you will feel
           dizzy, nauseous, ill.
               Zen Masters have also painted, but their painting is totally different. Watching a Zen painting
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will feel uplifted; a feeling of subtle joy will arise in you. You would like to dance or sing or
           play on your flute. Zen painting comes from the other side, the mystic's side. Picasso, Dali, and
           others come from the side of science. Now, there is no similarity between a Picasso painting and the
           painting of a Zen Master, no similarity. They are two totally different worlds, and the reason is that
           the painters are different.
                Yes, Ananda Prabhu, you may be feeling the same joy in painting, writing a poem, and solving a
           scientific problem. It is all mind. Solving a scientific problem is mind; your poem will also be more
           or less mathematical, logical. It will have only the form of poetry but its spirit will be prose.
                That's why in the West poetry is dying, painting has become ugly, sculpture is no longer
           representative of nature. Something is immensely missing: the spirit, the very spirit of art is missing.
           Looking at a Zen painting you will be overwhelmed; something from the beyond Will start
           showering on you.
                Have you watched a Zen painting closely? There are a few things you will be surprised to see.
           Human figures are very small, so small that if you don't look minutely you will miss them. Trees are
           big, mountains are big, the sun and moon, rivers and waterfalls are big, but human beings are very
           small.
                In Western painting the human being is very big; he covers the whole canvas. Now this is not
           right, this is not proportionate, this is not true. The human being covering the whole canvas is very
           egoistic -- but the painter IS egoistic. The Zen Master is right: man is only a tiny part in this great
           universe. The mountains are big and the waterfalls are big and the trees are big and the stars and the
           moon and the sun -- and where is man?
                Just the other day I was looking at a Zen painting. The men were so small, two small figures
           crossing a bridge, that I would have missed them because tall mountains and trees were covering the
           whole painting. But there was a note underneath the painting saying, "Please don't miss: there are
           two human figures on the bridge." I had to look very closely -- yes, they were there, two human
           figures, very small, walking hand in hand, passing over the bridge. This is the right proportion; this
           is a non-egoistic painting.
                In Western paintings you will find the whole canvas covered. In Zen painting only a small part of
           the canvas is covered, and the remaining part is empty. It looks like a wastage: if you are going to
           make such a small painting, why not use a small canvas? Why use such a big canvas which covers
           the whole wall, and just in the corner make a small painting? But the Zen people say that's how
           things are: "Emptiness is so much all around. The whole sky is empty -- how can we leave out the
           sky? If we leave out the sky the painting will be untrue."
                Now no Western painting has that vision, that we are surrounded by emptiness: the earth is very
           small, humanity a very small part of the earth, and infinite emptiness all around.... To be true, to be
           existentially true, the emptiness cannot be left outside; it has to be there. This is a different vision,
           from a different side.
                Zen painting is not done in the Western way. In Western painting you will find that the painter
           goes on improving: over one coat of paint there will be another coat of paint and still another coat of
           paint, and he goes on improving and touching up and doing things. Zen painters cannot do that; that
           is impossible. They use a certain kind of paper, rice-paper, on which you can make only one stroke.
           You cannot correct it; you have to leave it as it is. The paper is so thin that if you try to correct it the
           whole thing will be lost. Why is rice-paper being used? So that the mind has nothing to do -- the
           mind is constantly trying to improve, to make things better. It has to be from the heart, a single
           stroke. If your heart is full of it, it will come right. But you cannot correct it; correction comes from
           the mind.
                Zen painting is never corrected; if you correct it your correction will always show that you are
           not a Master. It has to come out of your meditativeness, your silence. Your feeling of the moment is
           spread on the rice-paper.
                Art is just in the middle, equidistant from science and religion. It can be both. It can be scientific
           art, as it is in the West -- that's what you mean, Ananda Prabhu. It can be religious art: you don't
           know anything about that yet, because before you can know anything about it you will have to know
           what meditation is.
                Meditation is not a state of concentration; it is not a state of mind at all. It is a state of total
           mindlessness -- and not a state of sleep either. No mind, no sleep; no mind, but total awareness. Out
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of that awareness you bring a different quality to music, to painting, to poetry. And out of that
           meditativeness you can bring a totally different quality to science too. But before that can happen we
           will need large numbers of meditative people around the earth.
               That's what my work is. That's what I am trying to do here: to create meditators. That is the first
           requirement. If we want to bring a new world vision where science and religion can meet, we will
           have to create the foundation first; only then can the temple be raised on it. Meditation has to be the
           foundation.
               And don't try to reconcile things: just become more meditative. In your meditation is
           reconciliation, because in your meditation you become able to see that the contradictions are only
           apparent, that the contraries are only enemies on the surface but deep down they are friends. It is like
           two friends playing chess: on the surface they are enemies, but deep down they are friends. That's
           why they are playing chess -- they are friends; but because they are playing chess they are pretending
           to be enemies.
               This is the LEELA of existence, the play of existence. God has divided himself into two, because
           that is the only way to play hide-and-seek. k is a very beautiful play if you understand it as play.
           Don't take it too seriously because then you will not be able to see the playfulness of it.

              You ask me: WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO BE MEDITATIVE AND A SCIENTIST?

                It is not. To be meditative is difficult for everybody; it is not only a question of the scientist.
           Ananda Prabhu is a scientist. But it is the same difficulty as a businessman will feel, it is the same
           difficulty as the carpenter will feel. It is not just something new to the scientist. Maybe quantitatively
           it is a little more difficult, because his whole mind knows only one way of functioning, that of
           concentration. He knows only one way to use the mind: to focus it on a certain object. And
           meditation means remaining unfocussed, just remaining open, open for everything.
                While listening to me you can listen in two ways. The scientific way is to concentrate -- what I
           am saying, concentrate on it. That means close your mind to everything else: the airplane passes by,
           and the train makes a noise, and the traffic on the road and the birds singing in the trees...close your
           mind to everything. Just let there be only a small keyhole available to me; listen only to me. That's
           how the scientist listens; he looks through a keyhole into existence.
                The mystic comes out of the room, stands under the sky, utterly open to everything. That is the
           other way of listening, the way a meditator listens. Then you go on listening to me, and the chirping
           of the birds goes on as a background to it. And what I am saying the chirping of the birds cannot
           disturb -- no, not at all. It enhances its beauty; it gives it color, it gives it music And not only the
           chirping of the birds but the airplane passing by and sudden noise create more silence in contrast.
                When the airplane has passed by, you are suddenly listening to me on a deeper level. And while
           the airplane is passing and the noise is there, you listen to both. You don't become disturbed. You
           don't say inside, "This stupid airplane is disturbing me." The airplane cannot disturb you. But if you
           say inside, "This stupid plane is disturbing me," your SAYING it will be a disturbance; when you are
           saying it you will lose track of me. The airplane cannot disturb you, but your reaction to it is bound
           to.
                Listening meditatively means all that is is accepted, welcomed. In all its multiplicity the universe
           is received. You are simply open from all sides to all that is happening. And you will be surprised' It
           brings such a great silence, such exquisite silence, such profound silence.
                Concentration tires you, meditation never tires you. But it is difficult for everybody, not only for
           the scientist -- because we have become accustomed to a certain pattern of looking at things. You
           will have to melt your pattern; you will have to become a little more liquid, fluid, and meditation
           will come to you. Don't be worried about it being difficult for the scientist; that idea can create
           difficulty. Once you have accepted the idea that it is difficult then it will be difficult. Don't bring that
           idea; that will become auto-hypnotic, it will become a suggestion. It is not difficult: meditation is the
           simplest and the easiest thing in the world. We have just become accustomed to concentration. We
           have been told since childhood to concentrate: from the primary school to the university we have
           been trained for concentration. This is a kind of habituation; it takes a little time to drop the old habit
           and to learn something which is not a habit but your very nature.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           YOU SAY: WHY HAS THERE NEVER BEEN A SOCIETY IN WHICH THE INNER AND THE
           OUTER SCIENCES, THE SCIENCE OF GENTLENESS AND LOVE AND THE SCIENCE OF
           AGGRESSION AND DEATH, LIVE IN HARMONY?

               Now the time has come. Everything can happen only at a particular time. Religion has come to
           its ultimate peak in the Buddhas; now science is also coming to an ultimate peak. And only when
           two things have grown is a meeting possible.
               A seed cannot meet a tree; the seed will have to become a tree. Only then, high in the winds, in
           the clouds, can they whisper to each other, can they fall in love with each other, can they embrace
           each other, hug each other -- can they have a dialogue. But a seed cannot have a dialogue with a
           grown-up tree; it is impossible. The seed will not know the language, the tree will not understand the
           language of the seed.
               Religion has been in a mature state for almost five thousand years. Science is still growing,
           coming to maturity. Hence I say this time is one of the most precious times. You are fortunate to be
           alive today, because something immensely great is going to happen -- and that is the meeting of
           science and religion, the meeting of West and East, the meeting of the extrovert mind and the
           introvert mind. It will create the new man who will be able to move easily to the outside or into the
           inside, who will be able to move easily into the extrovert world of science and into the introvert
           world of religion -- just as you move outside your house into the garden and back into the house. It is
           not a problem; you don't need any reconciliation. You need not make a great effort each time you
           come out of your house onto the lawn -- you simply come out! It is feeling cold inside, and the sun is
           beautiful and warm outside: you come onto the lawn, you sit on the lawn. Later on when it becomes
           too hot you simply move in because there is coolness inside.
               Just as easily as you come out of your house and go in, a total man will be able to move into
           science and religion; the inner and outer will both be his.
               Carl Gustav Jung has divided human beings into two: the extroverts and the introverts. His
           categorization is relevant for the past but will be utterly useless for the future, because the future
           man will be BOTH together. In the past, we have always been categorizing in this way, but the
           future man will not be a man and will not be a woman. I am not saying biologically -- biologically
           the woman will be a woman, and the man will be a man -- but spiritually the future man will have as
           many feminine qualities as the woman, and the woman will have as many masculine qualities as the
           man. Spiritually they will never be labeled as man or woman any more. And that will be the real
           liberation -- not only the liberation of women, but the liberation of men too: liberation from
           straitjackets, liberation from imprisoning categories, liberation from all labels.
               Man is not going to be Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian; man is not going to be Indian, German,
           English; man is not going to be white or black. Not that colors will disappear -- the white man will
           be white and the black will be black -- but these will become irrelevant, trivial, meaningless; they
           will not be decisive. The new man will have a universal consciousness, and the foundation will be
           laid by the meeting of science and religion.

           The second question


              OSHO, CAN BUDDHA OR CHRIST BE CREATED OR DEVELOPED OUT OF EVERY COMMON
              HUMAN BEING? OR IS BUDDHA OR CHRIST ONLY BORN AS SUCH? EVERY MAN IS BUDDHA,
              EVERY MAN IS CHRIST: I FEEL IT IS NOT TRUE.

              Bal Krishna Bharti,


               THE BUDDHA OR THE CHRIST CANNOT BE CREATED because the Buddha is your
           intrinsic nature. It need not be created. It has not to be developed either; it is already there, it is
           already the case. It has only to be unfolded, it has to be discovered.
               The treasure is there; you have to find the key to unlock the door. The treasure is not to be
           created, the treasure is not to be developed; you only have to find the right key. You have forgotten
           about the key -- the key is also with you. God provides you with everything that is needed on the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           journey; you come absolutely prepared. But society disturbs every child, distorts every child,
           because a Buddha or a Christ is useless to the society; they don't serve any utilitarian purpose.
                What can you do with a Buddha? What purpose is he going to serve? He will be a beautiful
           flower, but flowers don't serve any purpose. Flowers have to be enjoyed, appreciated, loved. You can
           dance around them, you can drink their beauty, but they are not commodities in the marketplace.
           What can you do with the full moon? You cannot sell it, you cannot purchase it, you cannot be
           profited by it. You cannot have a bigger bank balance because of the full moon.
                Hence the society is not interested in a Buddha or a Christ. Buddha is a full moon, a Buddha is a
           lotus flower, a Buddha is a bird on the wing. The Buddha is a poem, the Buddha is a song, the
           Buddha is a celebration. Because they are utterly beyond utility, the society is not interested in them;
           it is really afraid of these people. It wants you to be slaves, to be cogs in the wheel of the society. It
           wants you to be servants to the vested interests. It does not want you to be rebels -- and a Buddha is
           bound to be a rebel.
                A Buddha cannot follow stupid commandments given by the politicians or the moralists or the
           puritans or the priests. And these are the people who are exploiting humanity, oppressing humanity.
           They start destroying every possibility of every human child ever becoming a Buddha. They start
           crippling, they start poisoning. And down the centuries they have learnt many ways to poison. It is a
           miracle that once in a while a child has escaped -- must have somehow been a mistake on the part Of
           the priests and the politicians that a child escaped from the trap and became a Buddha.
                Bal Krishna, every man is born to be a Buddha, every man has the seed of Buddhahood in him.
           But I can understand your question.

           You say: I FEEL IT IS NOT TRUE.

               Yes, if you look at the masses it doesn't seem to be true. If it were true there would be many
           Buddhas, but one rarely hears about a Buddha. We only know that somewhere, twenty-five centuries
           ago, a certain Siddhartha Gautam became Buddha. Who knows whether it is true or not? It may be
           just a myth, a beautiful story, a consolation, an opium for the masses, to keep them hoping that one
           day they will also become Buddhas. Who knows whether Buddha is a historic reality?
               And so many stories have been woven around the Buddha that he looks more like a mythological
           figure than a reality. When he becomes enlightened, gods come from heaven, play beautiful music,
           dance around him. Now how can this be history? And flowers shower on him from the sky -- flowers
           of gold and silver, flowers of diamonds and emeralds. Who can believe that this is history?
               This is not history, true, I agree. This is poetry. But it symbolizes something historical, because
           something so unique has happened in Buddha that there is no other way to describe it than to bring
           poetry in. Real flowers have not showered on Buddha, but whenever somebody becomes enlightened
           the whole existence rejoices -- because we are not separate from it.
               When you have a headache your whole body suffers, and when the headache goes your whole
           body feels good, a well-being. We are NOT separate from existence. And until you are a Buddha you
           are a headache -- a headache to yourself, a headache to others, a headache to the whole existence.
           You are a thorn in the flesh of existence. When the headache disappears, when the thorn becomes a
           flower, when one man becomes a Buddha, a great pain that he was creating for himself and others
           disappears.
               Certainly -- I vouch for it, I am a witness to it -- certainly the who]e existence rejoices, dances,
           sings. How to say it? It is nothing visible; photographs cannot be taken of it. Hence the poetry; hence
           these metaphors, symbols, similes.
               It is said that when Buddha was born his mother immediately died. It may not be a historical fact,
           it may be. But my feeling is that it is not a historical fact -- because it is said that whenever a Buddha
           is born, the mother immediately dies. That is not true. There have been many Buddhas -- Jesus'
           mother did not die, Mahavira's mother did not die, Krishna's mother did not die. Maybe Siddhartha
           Gautam's mother died, but it cannot be said that whenever a Buddha is born the mother dies, not
           historically.
               But I know it has some significance of its own which is not historical. By 'the mother' is not
           really meant the mother; by 'the mother' is meant your whole past. You are reborn when you become
           a Buddha; your whole past functions as a womb, the mother. And the moment a Buddha is born, the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moment you become enlightened, your whole past dies. That death is necessary.
               Now, THIS IS absolutely true. It happened with Mahavira, with Krishna, with Jesus; it has
           happened always. To say it, it is said that whenever a Buddha is born the mother dies. You will have
           to be very very sympathetic to understand these things.
               I can understand that it is difficult, looking at the greater part of humanity, to see that there is any
           possibility of every human being becoming a Christ or a Buddha. Looking at a seed can you believe
           that one day it can become a lotus? Just looking at the seed, dissecting the seed, will you be able to
           infer, conclude, that each seed is going to become a lotus? There seems to be no relationship at all.
           The seed looks nothing, and when you dissect it you find nothing in it, only emptiness. Still each
           seed carries a lotus within it -- and each human being carries the Buddha within him.

           YOU ASK ME: CAN BUDDHA OR CHRIST BE CREATED OR DEVELOPED...?

               No, they cannot be created and they cannot be developed: they have to be discovered, they have
           to be uncovered. they are already there. You just have to reach your innermost core and you will find
           the Buddha enshrined, you will find the Christ. Christ and Buddha mean the same: the ultimate state
           of consciousness.

           And you say:...OUT OF EVERY COMMON HUMAN BEING?

               I have never come across a single common human being. I have come across thousands of
           people, I have looked into the depths of thousands of different people, but I have never come across
           a common, ordinary man. Every human being is unique, extraordinary, uncommon, exceptional. God
           never creates common human beings, God only creates unique consciousnesses .
               Drop this idea of a common human being. This is an insult to humanity.

           And you say: IS BUDDHA OR CHRIST ONLY BORN AS SUCH?

               No. Nobody is born as such. We are all born alike. That too is again a trick of the mind to avoid
           growing. If it is settled that a Buddha is born as a Buddha, and a Christ is the ONLY begotten son of
           God, and Krishna is a reincarnation of God, this is a beautiful strategy to avoid: "Then what can we
           do? If we are not Buddhas it is not our fault -- we are not BORN like that. And if Buddha is a
           Buddha, so what? He is BORN a Buddha. No credit to him; he has not done anything special. If we
           were born like Buddha we would be Buddhas too. But we are born as COMMON human beings."
               This is a strategy. Very cunning is the mind, and subtle is its cunningness: beware of it. Nobody
           is born as a Buddha yet everybody brings the potential of being a Buddha. And don't say, "I feel it is
           not true" -- because how can you feel unless you have become a Buddha? You can only infer, you
           can only think, you cannot feel.
               Listen to me! I FEEL that everybody can become a Buddha. And I feel it because I was also a
           common human being...and then suddenly this explosion, then suddenly this light, then suddenly this
           meditativeness blossomed. You can also become a Buddha; it is your birthright. Don't be tricked by
           your mind -- remain alert, aware.

           The third question


              OSHO, I FIND MYSELF MOSTLY ATTRACTED TO WOMEN AND VERY RARELY DEEPLY TO A
              MAN. I AM A LITTLE BOTHERED ABOUT IT. COULD YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

              Ma Prem Loka,


               SEX HAS BEEN CALLED THE ORIGINAL SIN -- it is neither original nor sin. Even before
           Adam and Eve ever ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge they were having sex, and all the other
           animals in the Garden of Eden were having sex. The only thing that happened after the eating of the
           fruit of knowledge was awareness: they became aware of it. And by becoming aware of it they
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           became ashamed.
               Why did they become ashamed? From where did this shame come? They became ashamed
           because they saw that they were behaving just like other animals. But what is wrong in behaving just
           like other animals? Man is an animal too. But the ego came in: the fruit of knowledge created the
           ego. It created superiority, the idea of superiority: "We are superior human beings. These foolish
           animals, if they do certain things they can be forgiven. But we cannot be forgiven -- this is below our
           dignity."
               Sex is such a fundamental activity in nature that the ego of man started trying to get rid of it.
               The first thing I would like you to remember: sex is natural. There is no need to make any effort
           to get rid of it -- although I know a moment comes when you transcend it, that is something totally
           different. It is not by your effort that you can get rid of it; if you try to get rid of it you will fall a
           victim of perversions. Because for centuries man has been trying to get rid of sex he has created
           many kinds of perversions. Homosexuality has arisen because we have deprived people of
           heterosexuality. Homosexuality was born as a religious phenomenon in the monasteries because we
           forced monks to live together in one place and nuns to live in one place, and we separated them by
           great walls.
               Still now there are Catholic monasteries in Europe where for twelve hundred years not a single
           woman has entered -- not even a six-months baby, female baby, has been allowed to enter. What
           kind of people are living there who are afraid of a six-month-old girl? What kind of people? Must
           have become very much perverted, must be very much afraid they might do something. They cannot
           trust themselves.
               Homosexuality is BOUND to happen. It happens only in monasteries and in the army -- because
           these are the two places where we don't allow men and women to mix. Or it happens in boys' and
           girls' hostels; there also we don't allow them to mix. The whole phenomenon of homosexuality is a
           by-product of this whole stupid upbringing. Homosexuality will disappear from the world the day we
           allow men and women to meet naturally.
               From their very childhood we start separating them. If a boy is playing with girls we condemn
           him. We say, "What are you doing? Are you a sissy? You are a boy, you are a man! Be a man, don't
           play with girls!" If a boy is playing with dolls we immediately condemn him: "This is for girls."
               If a girl is trying to climb a tree we stop her immediately: "This is not right; this is against
           feminine grace." And if a girl tries and persists and is rebellious she is called a tomboy; she is not
           respected. We start creating these ugly divisions. Girls enjoy climbing trees; it is such a beautiful
           experience. And what is wrong in playing with dolls? A boy can carry dolls, because in life he will
           have to meet dolls and then he will be at a loss as to what to do!
               Loka, this whole phenomenon has nothing to do with you personally. It is a social disease spread
           all over the world.

              Two English gentlemen of the old school were discussing old acquaintances one evening in their
           London club. "What," asked one, "ever became of old Cholmondeley?"
           "Why, didn't you hear? Cholmondeley went to Africa on a game hunt, and, by Jove, the chap took up
           with an ape!"
           "An ape? Is the old boy queer?"
           "Heavens, no! It was a female "

               If it is a female, even though an ape, it is perfectly okay.
               We create these conditionings so deeply that out of so much conditioning sometimes people start
           revolting against them. Sex should be taken VERY naturally -- we have been taking IT very
           seriously. Either we condemn IT as ugly, animalistic, or we raise it to something divine, but we
           never accept it as human and we never accept it as fun. Basically it is fun, it is a good sport! And
           humanity is going to remain burdened with ugly nonsense if we don't accept its beauty as a sport. It
           is good physical activity too, and the best of exercises.
               You can ask the heart specialists. Now they say sexual activity prevents heart attacks. One thing
           is certain, that no man has ever had a heart attack while making love. In every other kind of activity
           heart attacks have happened, but never making love. Have you ever heard that anybody had a heart
           attack making love and died? No, never. It is a natural physical activity, and fun, a good sport.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you take it non-seriously, then there is no need to be worried even if you are attracted to
           women. Don't be worried -- because your worry is not going to help. It's perfectly okay. In a really
           free world which is unconditioned by the primitive, ignorant past, in a really enlightened world, we
           will accept all these things. Yes, once in a while you may love a woman or a man. Nothing is wrong
           in it, because inside you both are there. Each man is both a man and a woman, and each woman is
           both a woman and a man, because you are born out of the meeting of one man and one woman. So
           half of you comes from your father and half of you comes from your mother; part of you is man and
           part of you is woman.
               So there is nothing much to be worried about. It may be that your man part is attracted towards
           other women, but because biologically you are a woman you feel afraid. No need to be afraid! Take
           things easily -- that is my basic approach. Take it easy. And by taking things easy one can go beyond
           them more comfortably, conveniently, quickly, than by taking things seriously. If you take them
           seriously you become entangled with them, you become burdened with them.
               And this is not such a big problem. There are bigger problems, Loka.

              The famous Greek shipowner, Ori Oristotle, was having a house built on a large piece of land in
           Greece. He said to the architect, "Don't disturb that tree over there, because directly under that tree is
           where I had my first love."
           "How sentimental, Mr. Oristotle," said the architect "Right under that tree?"
           "Yes," continued Ori Oristotle. "And don't touch that tree over there either, because that is where her
           mother stood watching while I was having my first love affair."
           "Her mother just stood there while you were screwing her daughter?" asked the architect.
           "Yes," said the Greek shipowner.
           "But, Mr. Oristotle, what did her mother say?"
           "Baaa."

               There are greater problems, Loka. Your problem is nothing -- at least you are attracted to other
           women, at least to other human beings. Perfectly okay. A little outlandish, but not too serious.
           Things like that have been happening always. Now people have become more courageous and they
           ask questions -- particularly in the West people have become more honest. Now no Indian will ask
           such a question -- not that things like that are not happening in India, they are happening, but no
           Indian will have courage enough to ask such a question.
               Loka, you asked the question. I am happy. This is sincerity, this is authenticity. One should be
           able to expose oneself as one is. The West is becoming freer; the East is very much repressed. And
           because the East is very much repressed it will take a longer time for the East to get rid of its
           perversions. The West is going to transcend sooner.

               When the Queen had her baby, she was being offered congratulations by hundreds of people
           when a certain gentleman walked by.
           "What do you do for a living?"
           "I'm a photographer," he replied.
           "Isn't that remarkable?" said the Queen. "My brother-in-law is a photographer!"
           "Isn't that remarkable," he said. "My brother-in-law is a queen."

              Things like that are always happening everywhere. It is part of the human scene. So don't make
           much fuss about it, and don't get disturbed.

             You say: I FIND MYSELF MOSTLY ATTRACTED TO WOMEN AND VERY RARELY
           DEEPLY TO A MAN.

               Good -- at least you find yourself attracted to somebody. There is a possibility of love. There are
           people so dull, so dead, so insensitive, that they only feel attracted towards money, or political
           power, or fame. You are in a far better situation; at least you are not in love with money. Even Ori
           Oristotle was in a far better situation than the people who are in love with money. But these people
           are not thought to be perverted. They are the REAL perverts: money is their whole life, their
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           devotion; money is their god.
               You are attracted to women: perfectly good. Go deep into relationship with women. If you make
           an anxiety out of it you will not be able to go deep in relationship with a woman. If you go deep in
           relationship with women, my understanding is that sooner or later you will find that this relationship
           cannot be very fulfilling, because two women are alike. And a relationship needs a certain tension to
           be fulfilling, a certain polarity to be fulfilling. Two women in love, or two men in love, will have a
           good relationship, but it will not be very spicy. It will be a little dull, monotonous, a little boring.
               But if you go deeply, only then will you become aware of these things. Your anxiety will not
           allow you to go deep, and then your whole life you will remain interested and attracted towards
           women.
               My approach about all problems is that if anything is there, go DEEPLY into it, so either you
           find the treasure, if it has any treasure, or you find that it is empty. In both cases you are enriched. If
           you find the treasure, of course you are enriched. If you find it is empty, you are finished with it.
               Two women in relationship can't have a very great love affair. It will remain on plain ground; it
           will not have heights and it will not have depths. So people who are afraid of heights and depths will
           find it very comfortable, convenient. Hence the homosexuals are called 'gay' people. They look gay;
           they look far more gay than heterosexuals. Heterosexuals are always going into turmoils -- more
           conflict, more fight, less understanding. It is bound to be so, because two women can understand
           each other far better than one man and one woman can understand each other. Two men can
           understand each other far better because they are of the same type, but the spark will be missing.
           Yes, a certain gayness will be there, but NOT great poetry, not great romance -- mild. The
           relationship will be homeopathic. It will not have adventure, surprises: safe, secure, more
           understanding, less conflict, less nagging.
               With a man and a woman there ARE problems -- problems of misunderstanding. They live in
           totally different worlds; they are two different poles of consciousness. The woman thinks intuitively,
           the man thinks intellectually, hence there is no meeting. The woman simply jumps to conclusions
           without going into any process of thought. And the man goes step by step, comes to a conclusion.
           The man tries hard to come to a conclusion and the woman simply jumps to the conclusion. She has
           an intuitive feeling. Hence you cannot deceive a woman, particularly not your wife. That IS
           impossible; nobody has ever been able to do it. She will immediately see through you -- through and
           through, because her way of seeing is not your way of seeing. She comes from the back door, and
           you don't know that you have a back door too. You arrange everything at the front door and she
           comes from the back door and knows all the ins and outs.
               The husband comes home prepared. What he is going to say, how he is going to answer -- he
           rehearses everything. And the moment he looks at the woman all rehearsing goes to the winds and he
           is almost like a small child, stuttering. Even a very great person like Napoleon was very much afraid
           of women. His own wife he was very much afraid of, because she would see through and through
           him.
               Man's mind goes zigzag, woman goes direct like an arrow. She does not listen to what you say,
           she looks into your eyes. She listens to HOW you say it. She sees your trembling hand, she sees your
           eyes are trying to avoid her. She does not listen to what you are saying; that is irrelevant -- she
           knows that that is a story; you have managed to put it together on the way from the pub to the house.
           But she has more attunement with your body language. And your body language is more authentic,
           because you cannot yet manage to control it, manage to deceive by it. Even great actors are not able
           to manage the body language.
               For example, if somebody talks about women, you may be a celibate and you may be against all
           relationship and all sex -- that is all in your head -- but somebody can go on watching your eyes. Try
           this on some friend who is a BRAHMACHARIN, a celibate, against all relationship and sex, and all
           those ugly things -- just try this on him. Just start describing Sophia Loren naked: all the curves and
           the beautiful body. And don't listen to what he says, look at his eyes. His pupils will become big --
           that he cannot control, that is beyond his control. The moment you say, "Sophia Loren!" his eyes are
           no more the same. Watch how he is moving his body: he will sit erect. If he was leaning back he will
           come forward, closer, to listen. Although he is saying, "Nonsense! What are you talking about? This
           is all dirty," he is all alert. Just now he was yawning; now he no longer yawns.
               This I have tried. Whenever I see that somebody is yawning somewhere, I know now a joke is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           needed -- and immediately the yawning disappears. Even Sheela comes back from her sleep! Once
           she is certain that now I am going to talk metaphysics she falls asleep, she goes to sleep, she takes a
           rest. But the moment I start a joke, even in her sleep she remains that much alert: immediately she is
           back.
               The body has its own language just as the mind has its own language. The spirit also has its own
           language. A man and woman are bound to be in conflict, but that conflict takes them far away and
           again and again creates situations for mini honeymoons.
               A homosexual relationship is a little saccharine -- too sweet, a little bit nauseating. But a
           man/woman relationship is always on the rocks. You cannot fall asleep, the other will not allow it.
           They go on goading each other. And they are such different worlds; THAT is the attraction.
               Loka, go as deeply as possible in your relationships with women -- don't be worried. Soon you
           will see that there is a different kind of relationship that can exist only between polar opposites. Then
           go into a deep relationship with a man, because only by going deep in relationship with a man will
           you be able to know that all relationships fall short. Even the man/woman relationship falls short; it
           never brings you the contentment it promises.
               And only by your own experience -- not by what Buddhas say, not by what I say -- only by your
           own experience will you one day be able to go beyond all relationships. Then you can be happy
           alone. And the person who can be happy alone is REALLY an individual. If your happiness depends
           on the other, you are a slave; you are not yet free, you are in bondage.
               When you are happy alone, when you can live with yourself, there is no intrinsic necessity to be
           in relationship. That does not mean that you will not relate. But to relate is one thing, and to be in
           relationship is quite another. Relationship is a kind of bondage, relating is sharing. You will relate
           with many people, you will share your joy with many people, but you will not depend on anyone in
           particular and you will not allow anybody else to depend on you. You will not be dependent, and
           you will not allow anybody to be dependent on you. Then you live out of freedom, out of joy, out of
           love.

           You say: I AM A LITTLE BOTHERED ABOUT IT.

               Don't be bothered about it at all, not even a little. En joy it. It is not your fault. You have been
           brought up by Christians, Jainas, Hindus, Buddhists -- it is not your fault. What can you do? You
           come into a world which is already conditioned, and you come so innocent, so clean, unaware of
           what is going to happen to you. And your parents start writing on you, and the whole society starts
           writing things on you. It is not your fault, it is simply symptomatic of an ill society.
               We have to transform the society. But the only way to transform it is to transform individuals;
           there is no other way, there is no shortcut. Enjoy it, it is good -- not enough but still good. It will lead
           you into heterosexual relationship; that is a little better. Even that is not going to satisfy. Then that
           will lead you into meditativeness, into solitude, into that beauty, that benediction, which happens
           only when you are alone.
               That's what sannyas is all about: learning how to be alone and yet joyous.




                                                  Be Still and Know
                                                     Chapter #2
                                           Chapter title: No Sin, No Virtue
           2 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909020
              ShortTitle: BESTIL02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question


              OSHO DOES WITNESSING ALWAYS BRING JOY? THE MOMENTS THAT I CALL WITNESSING
              SOMETIMES FEEL DISTANT -- ALMOST COLD IN THEIR NEUTRALITY. OTHER TIMES IT IS LIKE
              SPROUTING WINGS AND SOARING IN JOY OVER THE OPEN SEA.

              Deva Abhiyana,


                THE STATE OF WITNESSING IS NEITHER COLD NOR hot. It is neither happiness nor
           unhappiness. It is neither dark nor light. It is neither life nor death. The Upanishads say NETI NETI
           -- neither this nor that.
                If you feel joy you have already become identified; witnessing is gone. If you feel sad you are no
           more a witness; you have forgotten witnessing, you have become involved. You are colored by your
           psychology of the moment. Joy, sadness, all these qualities, are part of your psychology. And
           witnessing is a transcendence; it is not psychological.
                The whole art of meditation consists in witnessing. Then what does it bring? At the most we can
           say it brings total peace; it simply brings eternal silence. You cannot define it as joy. The moment
           you define it as joy you have fallen into the world of duality again. Then you have become part of
           what is passing, you have started clinging to it.
                The state of witnessing remains indefinable. That's why Buddha has not used the word 'bliss' at
           all, because it can give you a wrong idea -- because in your mind bliss will mean happiness. That's
           how you are going to translate it, to interpret it. Buddha has not used the word 'bliss', he has not used
           the word 'God'.
                The word that he has used is 'absolute void' -- SHUNYAM. There will be nothing left, just
           absolute silence, absolute emptiness -- but not emptiness in the English meaning of the word.
           SHUNYAM has a totally different connotation; it has been translated and can only be translated as
           emptiness. But emptiness is negative, emptiness means something is missing, emptiness means
           loneliness. Emptiness is not a life quality but a death quality.
                SHUNYAM IS not negative; it is not even positive, how can it be negative? It simply means you
           are alone -- not lonely, but alone. You are not missing anything. You are spacious, there is great
           space in you, but it is not empty of something. On the contrary, it is utter plenitude. It is full of
           emptiness -- if you allow me the expression It is FULL of emptiness, but one is fulfilled.
                SHUNYAM IS blossoming in you. There is great peace but not joy, because joy becomes
           positive; but not sadness, because sadness becomes Negative. Peace is exactly the middle, neither
           cold nor hot. It is not neutrality, it is not indifference. It is not a state where you turn your back
           towards something, you are no more interested No, there is no question of disinterest, indifference or
           neutrality. You are utterly there, absolutely there, totally there, but like a mirror, just reflecting
           whatsoever is the case.
                Joy passes by and the mirror reflects it, but the mirror does not become joy itself; it never
           becomes identified. And sadness comes like a cloud, a dark cloud, and passes by, and the mirror
           reflects it. The mirror has no prejudice against it. The mirror is not favorable to joy and unfavorable
           to sadness. The mirror has no liking, no disliking; it simply reflects whatsoever is the case. It is not
           neutral, otherwise it will not reflect; it does not turn its back towards things. It is not indifferent,
           because indifference again means you are already prejudiced; you have a certain conclusion. It is not
           disinterested and you cannot say it is interested -either. It is a transcendence.
                Abhiyana, don't get identified with the joy that comes -- watch it. Remain a watcher on the hills,
           a mirror. Reflect it but don't cling to it. A bird on the wing...and the lake reflects it.
                The Zen people say this is the state of Buddha-hood. The bird has no mind to be reflected in the
           lake and the lake has no mind to reflect the bird, but the bird on the wing...and the lake reflects it.
           You see the point: the bird has no mind to be reflected and the lake has no mind to reflect the bird,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but the bird IS reflected. It simply happens that the lake is there and the bird is on the wing...the
           reflection is bound to happen -- it is natural! The bird is gone; the lake does not miss the bird, it does
           not hanker for it, it does not long for it, it does not hope that it will come again. It does not go into
           the past, into the memories, or into the future projections. The bird has flown; it never thinks of the
           lake again, it never desires to be there again. One day it may be there again, and again it will be
           reflected, but no relationship is created. The HAPPENING IS there but no relationship is there.
               This is what I call relating, not relationship. It is a fluid phenomenon. This is witnessing.

           The second question


               OSHO, IS IT ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE THAT A BUDDHA WILL ALWAYS BE MISUNDERSTOOD?

               Prem Madira,


                YES, IT IS ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE. It can't be otherwise. A Buddha is bound to be
           misunderstood. If a Buddha is not misunderstood then he is not a Buddha at all. Why is it so? --
           because the Buddha lives in a state which is beyond mind, and we live IN minds. To translate
           something from the beyond to the mind is the most impossible thing in the world. It can t be done,
           although every Buddha has tried to do it. That too is inevitable; no Buddha can avoid it.
                The Buddha HAS to say the unsayable, he has to express the inexpressible, he has to define the
           indefinable. He has to do this absurd act, because the moment he reaches beyond the mind great
           compassion arises. He can see people stumbling in the dark, he can see people suffering
           unnecessarily -- creating their own nightmares, creating their own hell and drowning in their own
           created hells. How can he avoid feeling compassion?
                And the moment compassion arises he wants to communicate to them that this is your own
           doing, that you can get out of it; that there is a way out of it, that there is a state beyond it; that life is
           not what you think it is -- your thinking about life is just like the thinking of a blind man about light.
           The blind man can go on thinking about light, but he will never be able to come to a true conclusion.
           His conclusions may be very logical, but still they will miss the experience. Light is an experience;
           you don t need logic for it -- what you need is eyes.
                Buddha has eyes -- and eyes are attained only when you have gone beyond the mind, when you
           have become a witness of the mind, when you have attained to a higher state than psychology; when
           you know that you are not your thoughts, not your body, when you know that you are only knowing
           -- the energy that reflects, the energy that is capable of seeing: that you are pure seeing.

               Once Buddha was asked, Who are you?" He was such a beautiful man and the Buddhahood had
           conferred such grace on him, that many times he was asked, Who are you?" He looked like an
           emperor or a god who had come from heaven, and he lived like a beggar! Again and again he was
           asked, "Who are you?" And the man who was asking was a great scholar. He said, "Are you from the
           world of gods? Are you a god?"
           Buddha said, "No."
           "Then are you a GANDHARVA?
           GANDHARVAS are the musicians of the gods. Buddha had such music around him -- the music of
           silence, the sound of no sound, one hand clapping -- that it was natural to ask him, "Are you a
           GANDHARVA, a celestial musician?"
           Buddha said, "No."
               And the man went on asking. There are many categories in Hindu mythology from gods to man.
           Then finally he asked, "Are you a great king, a CHAKRAVARTIN, one who rules over the whole
           world?"
           And Buddha said, "No."
               Annoyed, the scholar asked, "Are you a man, or not even that?"
               Buddha said. 'Don't be annoyed, but what can I do? I have to state the truth as it is. I am not a
           man either."
               Now the scholar was very very angry, enraged. He said, Then are you an animal?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Buddha said, "No, not an animal, not a tree, not a rock."
           Then who are you? the man asked.
              Buddha said, I am awareness, just pure awareness, just a mirror reflecting all that is. '

               When this moment arrives, great compassion happens Buddha has said that those who know are
           bound to feel compassion for those who don't know. They start trying to help. And the first thing that
           has to be done is to communicate to people who are blind that eyes are possible, that you are not
           really blind but only keeping your eyes closed. You can open your eyes. You are not born blind, you
           have only been taught to remain blind.
               Your society teaches you to be blind because the society needs blind people. They are good
           slaves because they are always dependent on the leaders, politicians, pundits, priests. They are very
           convenient people, they never create any trouble. They are never rebels. They are obedient, always
           ready to submit to any kind of nonsense, to any stupid politician, to any stupid priest.
               And in fact, who else wants to be a politician except stupid people, and who wants to be a priest
           except stupid people? These are the dimensions for the mediocre, for the inferior. Those who are
           suffering from an inferiority complex, they become politicians -- just to prove that they are not
           inferior, to the world and to themselves.
               The society, the establishment, wants you to be blind. From the very beginning it teaches every
           child: "You are blind"; it conditions every child: "You are blind." Your whole educational system is
           nothing but a conspiracy against every child -- to keep you blind. It does not teach you meditation,
           because meditation is the art of opening your eyes.
               When somebody arrives at awareness he naturally feels great compassion. All around he sees
           that people who have eyes -- who have inbuilt capacities to see the truth, who are from their very
           birth capable of becoming Buddhas, enlightened ones, awakened ones -- are suffering. And the
           whole suffering is ridiculous! It need not be so. Compassion happens and compassion starts
           communicating. But communication is difficult, impossible.
               Buddha speaks from the hilltop and you live in the dark valleys where light never reaches. He
           talks in words of light; by the time they reach you their meaning changes. By the time your mind
           catches hold of them it colors them in its own color.
               It is not only so about Buddhas -- even ordinary communication seems to be impossible. The
           husband cannot communicate with his wife, the parents cannot communicate with their children, the
           teachers cannot communicate with their students. What to say about Buddhas? People who exist on
           the same level, even THEY cannot communicate, because words are tricky things. You say one
           thing, but the moment it reaches the other person then it is in his power how to interpret it.

               The Queen was traveling in England's back country when she saw a man, his wife, and a flock of
           children. Impressed, the Queen asked, "Are all of these your children?"
           "Yes, Your Highness," answered the man.
           "How many children do you have?" asked the English sovereign.
           Sixteen, was the reply.
           "Sixteen children," repeated Her Highness. "We should give you a knighthood."
           "He has one," piped up the lady, "but he won't wear it.

           Or, if you have missed, another story for you:

              Thor, the Germanic god of thunder, was feeling restless so he decided to have a weekend fling.
           Taking a handful of jewels from the Valhalla petty cash department he slipped down to earth, got
           himself an elegant disco suit and a few gold chains, and began hitting the Saturday night dance bars.
              After a big night on the town he finally took home the most beautiful woman he had seen and
           spent the rest of the night and morning satisfying his heroic libido. When he got out of bed and
           began dressing he realized that the exhausted girl on the bed lacked his godly sexual stamina. By
           way of explanation, he leaned down over her and whispered, "Honey, I think you should know -- I
           am Thor."
              Wide-eyed, the girl exclaimed, 'Thor! You big thon-of-a-bitch, I can't even thtand up!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ordinary communication, very mundane communication, even in the marketplace, is difficult.
           And a Buddha wants to communicate to you something which he has found in a state of no-mind,
           which he has found when all thoughts disappear, which he has found when even he himself is no
           more -- when the ego evaporates, when there is utter silence, absolute peace, the sky is without
           clouds.
               Now how to bring this infinite experience into words? No word is adequate enough -- hence the
           misunderstanding.
               Yes, Madira, it is absolutely inevitable that a Buddha will always be misunderstood. Only those
           few people can understand a Buddha who are disciples and devotees.
               By disciple is meant one who has put aside all his prejudices, one who has put aside all his
           thoughts, and is ready to listen -- not to his own mind and his mind s interpretations, but to the words
           of Buddha; who is not in a state of argument with the Buddha, who is not inside thinking about what
           Buddha is saying, who listens to a Buddha as you listen to classical music, who listens to a Buddha
           as you listen to the sound of running water, who listens to Buddha as you listen to the wind passing
           through the pine trees or the cuckoo calling from the distance. That is the state of a disciple, or if you
           rise a little higher and become a devotee....
               A devotee is one who has not only dropped his mind but has brought his heart in, who listens
           from the heart -- not from logic but from love. The disciple is on the way to being a devotee. The
           disciple is the beginning of being a devotee, and the devotee is the fulfillment of being a disciple.
               Only these few people understand a Buddha. And in understanding a Buddha they are
           transformed, transported into another world -- the world of liberation, nirvana, light, love,
           benediction.

           The third question


              OSHO, JESUS SAID THAT HIS SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS WAS FOR THE SALVATION OF THE
              WORLD FROM THE SINS OF MAN.
              PLEASE WOULD YOU COMMENT ON THIS.

              Anand Geetam,


               THE FIRST THING TO BE UNDERSTOOD about a man like Jesus is that whatsoever the
           church that is bound to grow around such a man says about him, it is bound to be wrong. What the
           Christian church says about Christ cannot be true. In fact the Christian priest does not represent
           Christ at all. He is the same old rabbi in new garments, the same old rabbi who was responsible for
           Jesus murder. The Pope is not a different kind of person.
               It makes no difference whether it is a Jewish establishment or a Christian establishment or a
           Hindu establishment; all establishments function in the same way.
               Jesus is a rebel, just as Buddha is or Lao Tzu is. When the church starts establishing itself it
           starts destroying the rebelliousness of Jesus, Buddha, because rebellion cannot go with an
           establishment. It starts imposing its own ideas -- once Jesus is gone it is very easy to impose your
           own ideas. It starts selecting what to keep in the Bible and what not to keep. Many things have been
           dropped, many things have not been included in it. For example, the Gospel of Thomas has not been
           included in the New Testament. It was just discovered a few years ago -- and it is the MOST
           important gospel. The four gospels that have been included are nothing compared to it, but it is very
           rebellious.
               It seems Thomas has simply reported Jesus without polluting, contaminating, his message. That
           must have been the reason why the gospel has not been included in the authorized version of the
           New Testament. And those gospels which have been included, they have also been edited. For
           centuries conferences went on editing them, destroying them, distorting them.
               I know Jesus because I know meditation. My knowing of Jesus is not through the Bible, it is not
           through Christian theology. I know Jesus directly. I know Jesus because I know myself; that s my
           way of knowing all the Buddhas.
               The moment you know your own Buddhahood you have come to know all the Buddhas; the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           experience is the same. All differences are in the mind; the moment you transcend mind there are no
           differences left. How can there be differences in absolute void? Two voids can only be exactly the
           same. Minds are bound to be different because they consist of thoughts. When there are clouds in the
           sky then each cloud is different, but when there are no clouds at all then the sky is one and the same.
                I don't know Jesus through Christian theology; I know him directly. And my knowing is that he
           cannot talk in terms of sacrifice -- first thing, the very first. A man like Jesus does not talk in terms
           of sacrifice; it is celebration, not sacrifice. He is going to meet his God dancing, singing. It is not
           sacrifice; he is not a martyr. The Christian church tries to make him the greatest martyr, the greatest
           man who has sacrificed himself for the salvation of the world from the sins of man. In the first place
           it is not sacrifice -- sacrifice looks business-like -- it is celebration! Jesus is celebrating his life and
           his death.
                Secondly: nobody can solve the problems of others, nobody can be the salvation of the world.
           And you can see it: the world is still the same. Twenty centuries have passed and Christian priests go
           on talking nonsense, that he sacrificed himself for the salvation of the world. But where is the
           salvation of the world? Either he failed, he could not manage... that they cannot accept, that he
           failed. Then what happened? The world seems to be exactly the same -- nothing has changed!
           Humanity remains in the same misery. But Jesus cannot have said, I have come for the salvation of
           the world.
                But it happens always when a church starts establishing itself that it has to create such ideas,
           otherwise who is going to listen to the priests? Jesus is salvation -- not only that but the ONLY
           salvation!
                Just the other night I was looking at a book: JESUS, THE ONLY WAY. Why the only way? Is
           Buddha not a way? Is Lao Tzu not a way? Is Zarathustra not a way? Is Moses not a way? Is
           Mohammed not a way? There are infinite ways to reach God. Why make God so poor? -- only one
           way?
                But the Christian priest is not interested in God: he is interested in creating a business. He has to
           claim that Jesus is the ONLY way, that all other ways are wrong. He is in search of customers.
                That's why every religion creates fascists and fanatics. EVERY religion claims, My way is the
           only right way -- only through me can you arrive at God. If you go on some other way you are
           destined for hell, you are doomed." This is a fascist way of thinking and this creates fanatics. And all
           religious people are fanatics, and the world has suffered very much from this fanatical approach. It is
           TIME, ripe time now, to drop all kinds of fascist and fanatical attitudes.
                Jesus is a way, but the way has to be walked. The way can go on lying there; it is not going to
           help you. Just by being there, just by being crucified, Jesus cannot be the salvation of the world --
           otherwise it would have happened! Then what are we doing now? Then what are the priests doing
           now? What is the Pope doing now?
                Just the other day somebody asked: 'Osho, have you heard? The new Pope has done a miracle?
                Yes, I have heard: he has made a blind man lame. What else can these popes do? What are these
           popes doing now? The world's salvation has happened! Now no religion is needed and no church is
           needed. Even Christ is not needed any more! The work is finished. I have heard:

               One young man came from medical college with a gold medal; he had topped the university. His
           father was also a physician. The father said, "Now that you have come I would like to go to the
           mountains for a rest. For years I have not taken even a single holiday. Now you look after my
           practice and for one month I would like to go to the mountains."
               So the old man went to the mountains. After one month when he came back the young doctor
           received the father at the airport and said, 'Dad, do you know? -- the old woman whom you have
           been treating for thirty years and could not manage to cure -- I have cured her within one month! '
               The father simply hit his head with his hand and said, You have destroyed the whole business! It
           is because of her that you could go to medical college. And I was hoping that your younger brother
           would also become a doctor. You fool! What have you done? That woman was our business! You
           have finished my whole life s career!

             If Jesus has REALLY done the work of salvation, then there is no point in Mohammed coming --
           Mohammed came after Jesus. Then there is no point in Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, coming, no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           point in Kabir coming. He has closed the shop! But it has not happened.
           Buddha says: Buddhas can only point the way."
               But the fanatic disciples always want to claim.... What to say about Jesus? -- even Jainas claim
           that Mahavira came to the world for the salvation of humanity. Now it may be a little bit relevant
           with Jesus because he speaks in such a way that he can be very easily misinterpreted, but Mahavira
           is VERY clear. He says in absolutely definite terms that nobody can save another: "I have not come
           to save anybody. If I can save myself, that is enough." Even a man like Mahavira who has stated this
           absolutely, his disciples -- the Jaina MUNIS and the Jaina monks and the Jaina pundits -- go on
           claiming that he came for the salvation of humanity.
               Why are people after humanity? And how can you manage it? You have not created the misery
           for the world so how can you destroy it? If Jesus is the cause of the misery of the world, then
           certainly he can withdraw it. If HE is the person who has imprisoned you, he can open the gates,
           unlock the doors and tell you to leave, and you are free. But he is not the person to do it. You have
           done it; your hell is created by you. What can Jesus do about it?
               But this stupid logic has gone very deep in the mind of humanity -- for a certain reason. We
           always want somebody else to be responsible -- for our misery, for our happiness, we always want
           somebody else to be responsible. We don't want to be responsible! To avoid responsibility we
           become trapped in these kinds of ideas.
               Now, Christians say Adam and Eve committed the original sin and the whole of humanity is
           suffering. It is so patently foolish! Scientists say that humanity has existed for millions of years.
           Millions of years ago, a couple, Adam and Eve, committed a sin and we are suffering for it. Can you
           think of a more ridiculous thing? -- that you are imprisoned because millions of years ago somebody
           committed a crime. You did not commit it, how can you suffer for it? And what original sin are they
           talking about? It is neither original nor sin! What Adam did was a simple phenomenon: he disobeyed
           the father.
               Every child has to disobey the father. Unless a child disobeys the father he never becomes
           mature. It is nothing, original, it is very simple and natural. It is very psychological. There comes an
           age when every child has to say NO to the parents. If he does not say no to the parents he will not
           have a spine; he will be spineless. If he cannot say no to the parents, he will be a slave his whole life.
           He will never attain to individuality.
               Adam and Eve did not commit any sin; they simply became mature. They said no, they
           disobeyed. When your child goes behind the house and starts smoking don't be worried too much; he
           is simply disobeying you That is part of growth. If he never disobeys you, be worried. Take him to
           the psychoanalyst -- something is wrong with him. If he ALWAYS obeys you then he has no soul;
           he is abnormal, he is not normal.
               Be happy when your child disobeys you. Thank God that now he has started moving towards
           becoming an individual. It is only by disobeying, rebelling, that a child attains authentic
           individuality. If parents are wise they will be happy.
               And I think God cannot be so foolish as Christian priests are. God must have been happy the day
           Adam and Eve disobeyed; he must have rejoiced. He must have sung a song saying, "Now my
           children are be-coming mature." I CAN'T see him being annoyed. I can't conceive a God who cannot
           understand such a simple psychological phenomenon.
               You have to give your God a little more intelligence than Sigmund Freud! It is such a simple fact
           of life that each child has to disobey. It is not sin -- disobedience is not sin. And what is original
           about it? It is nothing unique and it did not only happen millions of years ago: it happens each time a
           child starts growing. You will see it happening in your child somewhere near the age of three or four
           the child starts asserting his freedom.
               That's why if you want to remember your life you can remember only back to the age of four or
           at the most three; beyond that all is dark. Why? You had no individuality, hence no memory. You
           attained your first individuality when you were three or four. Girls attain at nearabout three, boys
           attain at nearabout four; they are always lagging behind, and this is going to be their whole life
           pattern. Apparently the husband is walking ahead, but deep down he is always behind the wife.
           I have heard a story:

              The great King Akbar once asked his ministers, "My wife was saying to me that all my ministers
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are hen-pecked. Is it true? I want to know the truth and please don't try to deceive me. If I find that
           you have deceived me, then death will be the penalty. So stand in a row on the right all those who
           are hen-pecked husbands, and on the left those who are not."
               All except one moved to the line of hen-pecked husbands -- embarrassed, hesitating, but they did
           not want to be false to the King. They knew perfectly well, "He will go into deep research, and
           sooner or later, if he calls our wives, we will be caught. So it is better to say it once and finish it."
               But one man, whom the King had never thought very heroic, who was the most cowardly, was
           standing alone. The King said, "I am happy. At least there is one person who is not hen-pecked."
               The man said, "Wait! Don't misunderstand me. When I was coming from my home my wife said,
           'Avoid crowds. That's why I am standing here -- just to avoid the crowd. If she comes to know that I
           was standing in the crowd there will be difficulty, sir, and I don't want any difficulties."

               Nearabout the age of three or four That's why I say this parable of Adam and- Eve has so many
           aspects; I am never tired of talking about it from different angles. It was Eve who was the first to
           disobey -- that means one year ahead. Adam came to his senses a little later; in fact he was
           persuaded by Eve.
               If the world is really left free then women will seduce men, not men women; that will be the
           natural course. And in fact that's exactly what happens right now, but in a very subtle way. The
           woman seduces the male, but seduces in such a subtle way that the gross male mind cannot
           understand it. The gross male mind thinks, I am taking all the initiative," and the woman goes on
           laughing deep down; she knows who is pulling the strings. She never takes a single step on her own
           visibly; you cannot see it. She always allows the man to approach her; she can wait. She trusts her
           own capacity to pull the man. She does not want to wag her tail; she always manages, persuades the
           man to wag his tail.
               That's what happened: Eve ate the fruit first, disobeyed God, and then Adam followed. This is
           not something that happened once; it happens always. It happens to every child and it is good that it
           happens. It is nearabout four that the child starts feeling a kind of individuality of his own; he starts
           defining himself.

              Lanahan, an Irish political prisoner, escaped from jail by digging a tunnel that opened into a
           school playground. As he emerged in the open air Lanahan could not help shouting at a small girl, I
           am free, I am free!"
           "That's nothing," said the girl, "I am four."

                There is a time when the child wants to declare to the world that "I am here!" that I am!" He
           wants to define himself, and the only way to define himself is by disobedience. So there is nothing
           original about it and nothing like sin; it is a simple process of growth. And because Christianity has
           been denying it as a simple process of growth, it has not helped humanity to become mature.
                All the religions have been trying to keep humanity immature, juvenile, childish. They are all
           afraid that once humanity becomes mature then they will not be of any value; they will lose all
           luster. They will not be able to exploit a mature humanity; they can exploit only children.
                So what sin has humanity committed so that Jesus is needed to come for the salvation of the
           world?
                I would like to make it absolutely clear to you that there is no need for ANY salvation. Secondly:
           if there is any need you feel, it can't be done by anybody else except you yourself. Thirdly: you are
           not living in sin; you are living in nature -- but if nature is condemned you start feeling guilty. And
           that is the trade-secret of the priests: to make you feel guilty.
                I don't think Jesus said that his sacrifice on the cross was for the salvation of the world from the
           sins of man. Priests must have imposed their ideas on Jesus. The New Testament was written
           centuries afterwards, and then for centuries it was edited, changed, and the words that Jesus spoke
           were in a language which is no more alive -- Aramaic. It was not even Hebrew -- a dialect of
           Hebrew, but different in many ways.
                When Jesus' words were translated -- first into Latin -- a great change happened: they lost their
           original quality, the flavor. They lost something very essential: their soul. And when from Latin they
           were translated into English, something was again lost. For example, a few words you can meditate
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           over: 'Repentance' is one of the key words because Jesus uses it again and again, says to his
           disciples: Repent! Repent ye, because the Day of Judgment is very close. He repeats it so many
           times that it must have been of tremendous value to him. But what does it mean -- 'repent'? Ask the
           Christian priest; he will say, "This is a simple word; everybody knows what it means: repent for your
           sins, repent for your guilt, repent for all that you have done." And the priest can be helpful; he can
           help you in the ways of repentance. But the word 'repent' has nothing to do with repentance.
               Jesus' word for repent simply means 'return'; it does not mean repentance at all. 'Turn in' it
           means, 'return to the source', it means, 'return to your own being'. That's what meditation is all about:
           returning to the source, returning to the center of the cyclone, returning to your very being.
               Now you can see the difference. When you use the English word 'repent' it has something very
           ugly about it: sin, guilt, the priest, confession; this is the climate of the English word 'repent'. But the
           Aramaic word simply means return to the source, return! Return, don't waste time.
           And that's how it is with almost all key words.
               It is almost impossible to understand Jesus through the priests. The only pure way, the only
           possible way, is to go in, return inside. There you will meet Christ-consciousness. The only way to
           understand Christ is to become a Christ. Never be a Christian -- be a Christ! Never be a Buddhist --
           be a Buddha! Never be a Hindu -- be a Krishna! And if you want to be a Krishna, Christ or Buddha,
           then you need not go into the scriptures and you need not ask the scholars: you will have to ask the
           mystics how to go in.
               That's exactly what I am doing here: helping you to become aware of yourself. And the moment
           you know yourself you will be surprised: you have never committed a sin. Sin is the invention of the
           priest to create guilt in you.
               You don't need any salvation. All that you need is a little shaking up so you can wake up. You
           don t need priests. You certainly need awakened people, because only the awakened ones can shake
           those who are fast asleep and dreaming. And humanity needs to be free of guilt, free of the idea of
           sin, free of the idea of repentance. Humanity needs innocence, and the priests don't allow you to be
           innocent; they corrupt your minds.
               Beware of the priests. They are the people who crucified Jesus -- how can they interpret Jesus?
           They are the people who have always been against the Buddhas -- and the irony is that finally they
           become the interpreters.

           The fourth question


              OSHO WHY CAN'T I TOLERATE PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO OTHER RELIGIONS?

              Maria,


               IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR UPBRINGING. You have been brought up as a fascist, as a fanatic
           -- as Christians, Hindus, Jainas, Mohammedans; you have not been brought up as human beings.
           You are hypnotized from your very childhood; you are living in a kind of hypnosis. To live as a
           Christian or as a Mohammedan is to live in a hypnosis, is not to live really.
               That's why you cannot tolerate people who belong to other religions, because deep down you
           know they are wrong, they are stupid, they are committing a great crime. They have to be put right,
           they have to be brought under your flag, into your flock -- because only Jesus saves or only Buddha
           saves. You cannot tolerate them because they look like pretenders.
               To a Christian, a Buddhist is a pretender, because God has only one son. It is very strange -- why
           should God have only one son? Is he in favor of birth control? But Jesus is the only-begotten son of
           God, and the Buddhists claim that Buddha has arrived, that he has attained. It becomes intolerable,
           the very idea. It creates suspicion in you, it creates doubt. Maybe the Buddhists are right, and you
           don t want to see this doubt inside yourself, because doubt is heavy and doubt disturbs your peace
           and doubt disturbs your sleep.
               Hence you would not like to read the Buddhist scriptures, you would not like to read the Koran,
           you would not like to read Mahavira, because their words can be dangerous. Or even if you read
           them you will read them as ordinary books, because there is only one holy book, the Bible, or only
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one holy book, the Koran. Your book is the only holy book and all other books are unholy.
               There are many things involved in this attitude, Maria. And this is not only your attitude: this is
           the attitude of the greater masses. It is good that you have become aware of it.

              You ask me: WHY CAN'T I TOLERATE PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO OTHER RELIGIONS?

                First: they create doubt in you, they create suspicion, skepticism, about your own beliefs. And
           you are so settled with your beliefs, they are so consoling; they are like tranquilizers. And the person
           who lives in a different way, behaves in a different way, worships a different God, meditates in a
           different way, prays in a different way, certainly creates doubt. Maybe he is right -- who knows?
           You certainly don't know. Whatsoever you have been told has been told by others; it is not your own
           knowing so you don't have any trust in it.
                You have repressed your doubts deep down inside yourself; those doubts are alive, very much
           alive. They are ready to explode any moment -- any opportunity and they will surface. The people of
           other religions become an opportunity for the doubts to surface.
                In Jaina scriptures it is written that if you are on a road being followed by a mad elephant and
           you come across a Hindu temple, you can enter the temple and save your life, but it is better not to
           enter the temple and be crushed underneath the elephant, be killed by the elephant. Not to enter into
           the Hindu temple even to save your life! It is better to be killed but to remain a Jaina, then heaven is
           absolutely guaranteed.
                And the same, exactly the same, is written in Hindu scriptures too, about the Jainas: don't enter a
           Jaina temple. It is better to die, be killed by a mad elephant, than be saved by going inside a Jaina
           temple. Why? -- because the Jaina priest may be saying something there, you may hear something.
           That may disturb you, may create doubt inside you. And doubt is dangerous, the door to hell; belief
           is the door to heaven.
                The first thing, Maria: people who are not like you -- not only religiously, but people who dress
           differently from you -- even they are not liked.
                That's why my disciples are disliked by the so-called Indian society . The reason is not that you
           are doing anything wrong; the reason is simply that you are different. And that is the problem:
           nobody likes the different person. People like you to be like them, exactly like them. Dress like
           them, behave like them, use the same language, go to the same temple -- and then you are accepted,
           because you don't create doubt.
                Now my disciples are bound to create doubt, my sannyasins are bound to create doubt. They are
           behaving in a totally different way they are behaving with freedom, and the slaves are bound to get
           disturbed. Slaves of tradition, slaves of orthodoxies, they are bound to get disturbed.
                Just seeing a young man and a young woman walking together holding hands and it is enough to
           disturb the Hindu mind. It has repressed so much that all that repression starts coming up. They
           would also like to walk hand-in-hand with their beloveds but they cannot. If THEY cannot then they
           cannot allow anybody else to do the same.
                In the West if you are walking hand-in-hand with a woman no problem arises, because the
           society is also the same. But walk hand-in-hand with a man, two men walking hand-in-hand, and
           people start looking at you. Something is wrong -- you look homosexual, you look gay. It is
           dangerous!
                Now homosexuals have been one of the tortured minorities in the world, very much tortured. In
           some countries they are killed. In some countries, for example in Iran, if it is found that two persons
           are living as homosexuals or lesbians, then the only punishment is death. What nonsense! They have
           not committed any crime against anybody, they have not harmed anybody! Two men living together,
           or two women living together, this should be nobody else's business. But there is a great fear of
           homosexuality, and the reason is that homosexuality has been repressed down the ages.
                In fact, in every person homosexuality is repressed, because there are four stages. First the child
           is auto-erotic, then the child becomes homosexual, then the child becomes heterosexual, and the
           fourth and the ultimate state is that of brahmacharya -- the person goes beyond sex.
                Each child passes the stage of homosexuality. If he passes it naturally there will be no repression,
           but because he is not allowed to pass it naturally, repression happens; then a hangover remains. Now
           these people who kill homosexuals are really homosexuals them-selves -- repressed homosexuals --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they cannot tolerate it.
                It is so about everything: you cannot see the things that you are doing.
                For example in India -- just the other day somebody asked: I was saying good-bye to my
           girlfriend; we hugged and kissed and we were caught by the police. It took two hours for us to
           manage somehow to get out of the trouble. They were going to put us in jail and they were trying to
           take us to the court, to make a case.... Now, kissing in a public place! The questioner has asked, And
           I see Indians pissing in public places and nobody objects. Kissing is objectionable, pissing is not?"
                You don't know: this country belongs to Morarji Desai. Pissing is a holy act! If you are pissing in
           a public place you are doing something great -- you are making the earth holy. It is not urine: it is
           water of life!
                In India you can piss in a public place, you can go and defecate anywhere. The whole country is
           a latrine! But that is allowed. Nobody takes any note of it. Only Westerners when they come to
           India, they note it. They immediately note it -- what is happening? Just coming from Santa Cruz
           airport to Bombay, the whole way on both sides people are defecating -- but NO Indian takes any
           note of it!
                We only see things which are not accepted by us. We only see things which are strange. The
           Indian has lived in the same way for centuries; he is not taking any note. It is just the natural way; no
           question arises in his mind.
                You see beggars on the street. All the Westerners go on writing letters to me: "We feel very
           much disturbed." And no Indian seems to be disturbed at all -- what is the matter? The Indians
           accept the beggars; that is accepted. They are suffering from their past karmas; nobody else is
           responsible for it. A beautiful strategy, a defense, they have created out of this theory, that
           everybody has to suffer according to his past lives. These people must have done something wrong,
           something really ugly; now they are suffering. Every-body has to pay for their past, so there is no
           question of compassion.
                In fact you will be surprised to know that there is a Jaina sect in India, TERAPANTH, whose
           head is Acharya Tulsi; this sect believes you should not help the beggar because by helping the
           beggar you will be disturbing his life pattern. If you help him then he will have to suffer some other
           time. He HAS to suffer! If a man has fallen into a well don't take him out, because if you take him
           out he will fall into another well some day -- so what is the point? Let him suffer and let him be
           finished with the karma so he is free from it -- one thing. And secondly, if you save this man from
           the well, if you take him out and he goes and kills somebody then you are also responsible for the
           murder. If you had not taken him out of the well he would not have committed the murder -- so
           fifty-fifty. Then beware: in some other life you will have to suffer also. You will have to fall in some
           well -- maybe not so deep....
                So on two grounds Acharya Tulsi and his sect teach: don't help anybody. And if you look, the
           logic is there. If the theory of karma is right then Acharya Tulsi's conclusion is very logical; the
           logical conclusion cannot be doubted. But the theory itself is an invention; you don t suffer for your
           karmas in your next lives.
                Life is immediate: if you put your hand in the fire you will be burnt right now, not in your next
           life. Each karma is immediately finished. You immediately suffer or you immediately enjoy the
           bliss, but there is no waiting. The whole theory is nonsense. To try to postpone for other lives is a
           strategy -- political, social.
                Indians can accept the beggars but they cannot accept a couple kissing good-bye. But why should
           you be so much worried? If kissing is something bad, they may be suffering from their past karmas
           -- let them suffer! Why should you interfere? But interference is there because you are sexually
           suppressed. Indian society is very much sexually suppressed; it cannot accept people who are
           sexually free.
                So, Maria, it is not only a question of religion -- it is a question of everything. The different
           person creates doubt, the different person creates suspicion about whether what you are doing is
           right or wrong. You want to destroy the different person so that you can suppress your doubt again --
           one thing.
                Secondly: a person belonging to a different religion hurts your ego; you would like your religion
           to be the suprememost, the only religion. It hurts your ego that there are other religions also claiming
           the same supremacy
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You have a double-bind mind: for yourself you think in one way, for others in a totally different
           way. If you claim your Bible as the holy book, you don't allow Mohammedans to claim their book as
           the holy book. And the Mohammedans don't allow the Hindus to call their Vedas the holy book. And
           the people who believe in the Vedas -- the Hindus -- they laugh at the nonsense of calling the Koran
           or the Bible holy books. The Vedas is the only holy book -- because the Vedas are written by God
           himself; all other books are written by human beings. Maybe they contain something good, but
           written by human beings they are bound to be fallible -- the Vedas are infallible.
           This is the way of the ego.

               Mrs. Keen and Mrs. Monahan were sitting on their stoop watching the apartment across the
           street, which was rented by a young Italian girl. As a steady stream of men entered and left at
           half-hour intervals they kept saying, She is a slut. She is no good. She is a disgrace to the
           neighborhood!"
               Then after ten visitors, Father Gilhooley, the neighborhood priest, went in. "Oh my!" said Mrs.
           Keen. 'The poor girl must be sick.

              Now you see the change! Immediately a different standard is applied.

               Walsh stumbled out of a saloon and into a church he thought was a cathedral, and fell asleep. The
           sexton soon woke him and told him they were closing. "They don't close cathedrals," said Walsh.
           "This is not a cathedral," said the sexton. "It is a Presbyterian church."
               Walsh looked around and saw stained-glass windows of St. Luke, St. Mark and St. Thomas.
           "And since when," asked the Irishman, "did the saints become Presbyterians?"

           All the saints belong to YOUR religion!
               Mahavira and Neminath are not even mentioned by Hindu books -- not even mentioned. A man
           like Mahavira remains unmentioned in Hindu books. Jesus is not mentioned in any Jewish book. A
           man like Jesus remains unmentioned?
               You apply double standards. For your own religion you have one valuation, for the others,
           different valuations. You don't weigh on the same weighing machine. This is the way of the ego; it is
           always doing it in every dimension of life.
               And let me repeat again: each religion creates fascism in you. Each religion creates Adolph
           Hitlers because of this idea that "My way is the only right way." And when you are a fascist and
           when you are a fanatic you are murderous. You may not murder, but deep down you are murderous.
           You may not murder anybody, but one thing is certain: you will murder your qualities of love and
           compassion and brotherhood.

               A group of young men -- all Irish Catholics -- go into a pub. They don't greet Abbie, one of the
           men already standing at the bar. Paddy, one of the young Irish fellows, asks his friends why they
           don't greet Abbie. "Oh, he is a Jew," they say, "and Jews are awful people. They killed our Lord
           Jesus Christ."
               Paddy is very upset to hear this and goes over to Abbie and starts beating him up.
           "Stop, stop!" shouts Abbie. "What are you doing this for?"
           "I'm doing it because Jews tortured Jesus and killed him."
           "Yes, I know," says Abbie, "but it is nothing to do with me. That happened two thousand years ago."
               Paddy gives him another blow and says, "I don't care. I only heard it ten minutes ago!"

               I don't want you to be tolerant of other religions. Mahatma Gandhi used to teach people: "Be
           tolerant of other religions." But if you become tolerant of other religions that simply means
           intolerance persists underground.
               I don't teach tolerance; tolerance is ugly. It is better to be knowingly intolerant; at least the
           disease is on the surface and sooner or later you will become aware of it -- as Maria has become
           aware of it. If you become tolerant, as Gandhians have become tolerant, then the disease goes deep
           into the unconscious. On the surface you are very polite, sweet, and you say good things, that the
           Bible and the Gita, they say the same thing: ALLAH ISHWAR TERE NAM SABKO SANMATI
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           DE BHAGWAN -- all are names of the same God, and let God give understanding to all." You go on
           saying these things, but deep down it is not so.
               Mahatma Gandhi his whole life prayed morning and evening saying that Allah and Ram are the
           names of the same God. But when he was shot in Delhi...by a Poonaite, remember! Beware of the
           Poonaites! The man who murdered Gandhi, Nathuram Godse, was a Poonaite; Poona is one of the
           strongholds of Hindu orthodoxy. I have knowingly chosen a place to create trouble for you!
               When Gandhi was shot dead he didn't say Allah. The last words were "Ram -- Hey Ram! Oh
           Ram!" He forgot all about Allah. His whole life...but still deep down he knows that he is a Hindu.
           The Gita he says is his mother. And who is his father -- the Koran? That he never says anything
           about. The Gita is his mother but the Koran is not his father. And he chooses words from the Koran
           which are really nothing but echoes of the Gita, and he also chooses words from the Bible which are
           echoes from the Gita. He is REALLY clinging to the Gita; the Gita is the criterion. Whatsoever is in
           the Gita is right; if it is in the Koran, then too it is right because it is in the Gita. He leaves out
           everything that goes against the Gita. This is tolerance....
               I don't teach tolerance. I teach freedom from all the nonsense of being Hindu, Mohammedan,
           Christian. Be free from all prejudices. Be just a human being! And in that freedom you will find
           great joy, and in that freedom. for the first time you will feel love for other human beings,
           compassion, brotherhood. You will start feeling the whole universe as your family, your commune.
           And not only with human beings -- when the fascist in you has disappeared and the fanatic is gone,
           even with the trees and the birds and the animals you will have a communion. You will be constantly
           in a beautiful dialogue with existence.
               Maria, drop all this nonsense. To be a Hindu, to be a Mohammedan, to be a Christian, to be a
           Jaina, to be a Buddhist, these are stupid hangovers from the past. Be finished with them, and in a
           single blow -- not slowly, not gradually. See the point and be finished with them RIGHT now, this
           very moment! Because who knows? -- tomorrow may come, may not come. Who knows? -- the next
           moment may come, may not come. This is the only moment available. Rebel against all nonsense!
           Be free!




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                    Chapter #3
                                     Chapter title: No Question, No Answer
           3 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909030
              ShortTitle: BESTIL03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, ALL QUESTIONS SEEM TO BE POINTLESS. ONLY THE ANSWERLESS QUESTION OF
              LIFE REMAINS.

              Anand Ali,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IT IS SO. ALL QUESTIONS NOT only seem to be pointless, they are. In your mind there is still
           a lurking doubt. Hence you say:

           ALL QUESTIONS SEEM TO BE POINTLESS.

                It is not a question that they SEEM, that they APPEAR -- they are. The moment you understand
           that they are pointless, even the answerless question of life will not remain. Then there is mystery --
           no questions, no answers. Then there is tremendous mystery. One is not trying to solve it because it
           is not a problem. One is not seeking for any answer because it is not a question. One starts LIVING
           it. And the day you start living life as a mystery you have entered into God.

              Life understood as a question creates science; life understood as a mystery creates religion.

              And you say: ONLY THE ANSWERLESS QUESTION OF LIFE REMAINS.

               If it is answerless, how can it be a question? A question Is always a question in reference to an
           answer; an answer is only an answer in reference to a question. They are together, halves of one
           whole. If one REALLY disappears, the other disappears automatically.
               That's why I say there is a lurking doubt in you: "Maybe there is some question which is NOT
           pointless. Maybe I have still to find it. Maybe my questions are pointless, maybe the questions that I
           know ARE pointless, but who knows? -- there may be a valid question, a real question."
           There is none.
               When this becomes a trust in you and no lurking doubt remains...because it is doubt that creates
           the question, it is doubt that becomes a question. When there is no doubt left, when you know that
           nothing can be known, that knowledge is impossible; when you come to the same understanding as
           happened to Socrates -- "I know only one thing, that I know nothing" -- if that innocence happens to
           you, then nothing is left, not even an answerless question. The very word 'question' becomes
           irrelevant.
               A silence is left, a deep silence and a great joy, a benediction is left. Life flows through you,
           passes through you, not creating any question. You simply live it.
               This is simplicity -- not the cultivated simplicity of a SADHU or a monk. This is the simplicity
           of innocence, uncultivated. One has great wonder about everything, one lives in awe. One can
           worship a tree, one can worship a rock, because the moment questions are gone and your heart is full
           of the mysterious and the miraculous, your whole life becomes a prayer, a worship.
               It is so tremendously unbelievable that we are alive -- for no reason at all! -- that we are
           breathing, that we can see, that we can taste, that we can hear, that we can love, that our hearts are
           beating, that life is passing through us, that life has chosen us as its vehicles. Just to know it is
           enough to be grateful, just to feel it is enough to be prayerful.
               No God is needed to pray to. If you pray to a God your prayer is false. When there is simply
           prayer, not addressed to anyone in particular, a kind of prayerfulness, a state of praying...not a prayer
           to any God, Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, because they are all manufactured by the mind of man,
           they are not true. ALL Gods are false. They are bound to be false because they are answers to certain
           questions -- and questions are false, questioning is false, and the Gods are answers to certain
           questions.
               Somebody asks, "Who created the world?" Now that question becomes a thorn in the flesh; the
           mind cannot rest at ease unless an answer is found. You have to invent an answer just to console
           yourself. Either you do it or some cunning priest will do it for you on your behalf, will say, "God
           created the world." The question was false -- how can a false question lead to a right answer? The
           very premise was false, hence the conclusion is false.
               And people are so stupid that they accept such an answer: "God created the world." And they don
           t ask "Who created God?" Yes, sometimes small children ask that: "Who created God?" Then we
           immediately hush them up. We say, "Wait! You are too young for such deep mysteries. When you
           become grown-up you will know." As if you have known by becoming grown-up. But you cannot
           accept your ignorance.
               You are untrue even to children. You are untrue, deceiving dishonest. insincere, even to innocent
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           children. You go on pretending as if you know and you go on telling them that they will also know
           when they are grown-up, more experienced. And they will repeat the same stupidity to their own
           children. That's how stupidities are perpetuated for centuries
               Ask a question and somebody is bound to supply an answer. If nobody supplies one, YOU are
           going to invent one yourself. This is not true religion; a religion that is based on a false answer is not
           true religion. And all the Gods have been created in the same way, and all the scriptures too -- just to
           console you, just to keep you in a false state of knowledge, because you are so afraid of being
           innocent, you are so afraid of being ignorant.
               Remember: ignorance is not stupidity, knowledge is. Ignorance is innocence. No question, no
           answer...one simply lives moment-to-moment. And one is grateful because the universe is. One is
           grateful because the sun rises and the birds sing and the flowers bloom and the clouds float and in
           the night the sky becomes full of stars. One is simply grateful because there are mountains and rivers
           and oceans and deserts. One is simply grateful because there are animals and human beings. Such an
           incredible existence, so far out! Such a celebration, so psychedelic, so colorful! Such a dance of
           energy!
               When feeling it you simply bow down, you simply bow down on the earth. Not in a temple, not
           in a mosque, not in a GURUDWARA, not in a church -- they are all man-made. When you simply
           bow down before the sky, before the sunset, with no motive...what can you ask from a sunset? You
           cannot ask for money, you cannot ask for power, you cannot ask for prestige. It will look so stupid!
           What can you ask from a tree? But when you go into a temple, into a church, you start asking for
           these things. Your prayer is rooted in some motive, and a prayer rooted in any motive is ugly, a
           prayer addressed to somebody is ugly.
               But just a prayerfulness, a thankfulness, a pure gratitude...the sheer joy that we are part of such a
           mysterious existence!
               Anand Ali, you are very close to understanding that all questions are pointless, but you have not
           yet touched the target; you are going round and round.

           You say: ALL QUESTIONS SEEM TO BE POINTLESS.

              Why do you use the word 'seem'? There is still some possibility: "Maybe, perhaps there is a
           question that is not known to me yet which is not pointless." Hence your second statement:

           ONLY THE ANSWERLESS QUESTION OF LIFE REMAINS.

                Although you say it is answerless, still you call it a question. Be very watchful about words. Be
           very careful what you say, how you say it -- because it shows your state of consciousness. You are
           very close, missing the target only by inches. But whether you miss the target by inches or by miles
           it makes no difference -- you miss it all the same.
                Become a little more alert. Let all questions go, and all answers. Remain in that silence that is
           left behind. Become that silence, BE that silence.
           C. E. Bignall says:

           Where shall wisdom be found.
           be still and know.
           seek the strength of no desire.

           The second question


              OSHO, WHAT IS TRUE WISDOM?

              Prem Samadhi,


              WISDOM CANNOT BE TRUE OR UNTRUE. Wisdom is simply wisdom. It is truth. There is
           no possibility of there ever being an untrue wisdom. All knowledge is untrue: all wisdom is true.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Knowledge is borrowed, hence it is untrue. It is yours, that's why is it untrue. It may have been true
           to the person who imparted it to you.
                The Buddha talking to his disciples is talking wisdom, but the moment it reaches the disciples it
           becomes knowledge. Wisdom falls from its heights to the level of the listeners and becomes
           knowledge.
                Hence Buddhas have always been very much aware that they impart something of their presence,
           something of their silence, something of their joy, rather than imparting their wisdom. Even if they
           have to talk, they talk only in order to persuade you to be silent. Even if they use words, those words
           are used to create a wordless state of consciousness in you.
                So the first thing, Prem Samadhi: wisdom as such is truth, it cannot be untrue. Just as light is
           light and cannot be dark, just as life is life and cannot be death, just as logic is love and cannot be
           hate. If it is hate, it is not love.
                Wisdom is intrinsically true because it is an existential experience. It is not something known
           from others, it is not something gathered from the scriptures; it is something that grows in your heart.
           It is a growth, not an accumulation. It is experience, not information.
                Knowledge makes you learned: wisdom makes you innocent. Knowledge is very ego-fulfilling,
           very ego-strengthening. The ego feeds on knowledge; it is the best tonic for the ego. But wisdom
           happens only when ego has disappeared; wisdom appears only on the death of the ego. The death of
           the ego is the birth of wisdom.
                Mind is interested in knowledge not in wisdom, because for wisdom you will have to create a
           space called no-mind. And, naturally, mind is afraid of your ever becoming interested in wisdom,
           because mind does not want to commit suicide.
                Sannyas is a suicide of the mind, so is meditation, so is wisdom. These are different names for
           the same phenomenon, different aspects of the same diamond.
                Knowledge depends on words. You can easily become knowledgeable by sitting in a library, but
           you cannot become wise that way. To become wise you will have to be in communion with a wise
           man. For knowledge all that is required of you is that you should be a student, that you should be full
           of questions, inquiries; you should be able to learn from scriptures, books, teachers, universities,
           libraries. Your memory becomes more and more rich, your biocomputer becomes full of
           information, but wisdom is not arrived at that way.
                Wisdom is more or less a love affair with Master. One has to be a disciple, not only a student.
           The student keeps a distance from the Master. For him the Master is only a teacher; he is interested
           in the Master because of his teaching. Really he is interested in the teaching, not in the being of the
           Master. The disciple is not interested in teaching because one thing he has come to understand: that
           knowledge can be taught but wisdom can only be caught.
                Wisdom is contagious. You have to be available to a Master, to his being. He has become afire,
           your candle of the heart is still unlit; if you become available to the fire of the Master you can also
           become a lit candle, you can also become aflame.
                To be aflame with silence, with joy, is wisdom. It is not through logic but through love. It is not
           through words but through a wordless state called meditation or a state of no-mind, satori, samadhi.
                Beware of learning, otherwise you may never become wise. To be knowledgeable is very easy; it
           is not risky, it is safe. To move into the dimension of wisdom is risky; it is going into the unknown,
           into the uncharted. Great courage is needed, guts are needed.
                And when you have tasted something of wisdom, knowledge looks so stupid, so utterly stupid.
           But if you have not tasted anything of wisdom, knowledge seems to be of tremendous value.

               Zalewski got a job as a delivery boy in a pet shop. One day he was told to deliver a pet rabbit to
           Mrs. Caldwell, Route 2 -- Box 4.
           "You better write that down in case I forget it," said the boy.
               Slipping the address into his pocket, Zalewski started off on his errand. Every few minutes he
           glanced at the address and said, "I know where I am going: Mrs. Caldwell, Route 2 -- Box 4."
               Everything went smoothly until he hit a huge hole in the road. The truck landed in a ditch and the
           rabbit began to run for its life across an open field.
               Zalewski stood there laughing uproariously. A passerby stopped and asked, "What's so funny?"
           "Did you see that crazy rabbit running across that field?" said the Polack. "He does not know where
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he is going because I have got the address in my pocket."

               That is the state of the knowledgeable man: he has got the address in his pocket. He knows where
           God is, he knows where heaven is, he knows where hell is. He knows everything -- all is in his
           pocket. He carries scriptures, AND he believes in the letter and he misses the spirit. He goes on
           believing in words, he believes too much in the words. And words are useful if you can understand
           the spirit that is hidden behind them, that is not so apparent, not so visible.
               In the hands of a meditative person words can become of infinite value, because they can be
           indicators. But in the hands of non-meditators words are dangerous, very dangerous, because the
           spirit is completely missed and one starts believing in the hollow, empty word, and one starts
           following the word.
               That is what is happening to the Christians, to the Hindus, to the Mohammedans, to the Jainas, to
           the Buddhists -- all are believers in words. Somebody believes in the Koran and somebody in the
           Gita and somebody in the Bible, and they ALL are missing the spirit. Because to know the spirit of
           the Bible, you will have to come to certain inner spaces where you become acquainted with Moses,
           with Jesus.... Unless you have a direct, inner contact with Moses and Jesus you will not understand
           the Bible.
               But following the word you may look Very important -- to people who are just like you, not
           different in any way. They also believe in words, you also believe in words; both live in the same
           kind of ignorance. This is not wisdom.
               Wisdom is an interior phenomenon. It is the discovery of the spirit of all the Buddhas. And there
           is no need to go into the history of the Buddhas. You have only to go within yourself, because you
           contain the whole past of existence, the infinite past, and you also contain the infinite future.

              A mailman was delivering his mail during the Christmas season. At one house the door was
           opened by a beautiful woman wearing a sheer negligee.
           "Would you like to come in?" cooed the woman.
           "Sure," replied the startled mailman.
              She led him up to her bedroom and made love to him. When they were finished she got up and
           handed the man a dollar. "Why the dollar?" asked the puzzled mailman. "Well," replied the woman,
           "when I asked my husband what to give the mailman for Christmas he said 'Just give him a buck and
           fuck him!'"

           The third question


              OSHO, GURDJIEFF TALKS ABOUT THREE ASPECTS OF BEING: ESSENCE, FALSE
              PERSONALITY AND TRUE PERSONALITY -- FALSE PERSONALITY BEING A FALSE,
              CONDITIONED VEHICLE FOR OUR REAL ESSENCE, AND TRUE PERSONALITY BEING THAT
              WHICH CAN BE DEVELOPED AND CONVEYS AND PROTECTS OUR REAL SELF.
              PRIMITIVE PEOPLES LIVE IN THE ESSENCE STATE LIKE ANIMALS. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL BUT
              NOT ENLIGHTENED. IF ENLIGHTENMENT IS NATURAL AND OUR BIRTHRIGHT, WHY ARE NOT
              THE PRIMITIVE PEOPLES ENLIGHTENED, OR ARE THEY?
              I HEAR YOU TELL US TO ACCEPT THE ANIMAL THAT WE ARE, RETURN TO ESSENCE. I HAVE
              READ GURDJIEFF SAYING YOU MUST BECOME YOUR TRUE SELF -- THE MASTER. HE SAID
              BEWARE OF BEING SWALLOWED BY THE ANIMAL. GIVE IT SOME CIGARETTES OR ICE
              CREAM AND IT WILL BE CALMED.
              WHAT IS TRUE PERSONALITY AND WHAT IS ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ESSENCE?

              Paul Maniloff,


              THERE IS NO PERSONALITY. Personality as such is false. The word 'personality' has to be
           understood. It comes from 'persona'; persona means a mask. In ancient Greek drama the actors used
           to wear masks; those masks were called persona -- persona because the sound was coming from
           behind the mask. 'Sona' means sound. The masks were apparent to the audience and from behind the
           mask the sound was coming. From that word 'persona' has come the word 'personality'.
              All personality is false. Good personality, bad personality, the personality of a sinner and the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           personality of a saint -- all are false. You can wear a beautiful mask or an ugly mask, it doesn't make
           any difference.
               The real thing is your essence. But the question is relevant. If essence is the real thing, as I say,
           then Maniloff asks:

           PRIMITIVE PEOPLES LIVE IN THE ESSENCE STATE JUST LIKE ANIMALS. THEY ARE
           BEAUTIFUL BUT NOT ENLIGHTENED.

                It is true -- they cannot be enlightened. For them to become enlightened, first they will have to
           create a personality. Enlightenment is dropping of the personality; they don't have any personality to
           drop. You will feel a little puzzled: Why can't one become enlightened when one has no personality?
                Personality is also a necessary part of growth. It is like if you catch hold of a fish in the sea and
           you throw it on the shore; the fish jumps back into the sea. Now for the first time it will know that it
           has always lived in the sea; for the first time it will know that "The sea is my life." Up to now, before
           it was caught and thrown on the shore, it may not have ever thought of the sea at all; it may have
           been utterly oblivious of the sea. To know something, first you have to lose it.
                To be aware of paradise, first you have to lose it. Unless it is lost AND regained you will not
           understand the beauty of it.
                Adam and Eve had to lose the Garden of Eden; that is part of natural growth. Only Adam leaving
           the beautiful Garden of God can become a Christ one day -- he can come back. Adam leaving Eden
           is just like the fish being caught and thrown on the shore and Jesus is the fish jumping back into the
           sea.
                The primitive people cannot become enlightened. They are beautiful, spontaneous, natural, but
           utterly unaware of what they are; they don't have any awareness. They live joyously but their joy is
           unconscious. First they have to lose it. They have to become civilized, educated, knowledgeable;
           they have to become a culture, a civilization, a religion. They have to lose all their spontaneity, they
           have to forget all about their essence, and then suddenly one day they start missing it. It is bound to
           happen.
                That is happening all over the world, and it is happening in such great measure because this is the
           first time that humanity has really become civilized.
                The more civilized a country is, the more is the feeling of meaninglessness. The backward
           countries still don't have that feeling, they can't have. To have that feeling of inner emptiness,
           meaninglessness, absurdity, one has to become very civilized.
                Hence I am all in favor of science, because it helps the fish to be thrown on the shore. And once
           on the hot shore, in the hot sand, the fish starts feeling thirsty. It had never felt thirsty before. For the
           first time it misses the ocean around, the coolness, the life-giving waters. It is dying.
                That is the situation of the civilized man, the educated man: he is dying. Great inquiry is born.
           One wants to know what should be done, how one can enter into the ocean of life again.
                In the backward countries, for example in India, there is no such feeling of meaninglessness.
           Even though a few Indian intellectuals write about it, their writing has no depth because it does not
           correspond to the situation of the Indian mind. A few Indian intellectuals write about
           meaninglessness, absurdity, almost in the same way as Soren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jaspers,
           Heidegger.... They have read about these people or they may have visited the West, and they start
           talking about meaninglessness, nausea, absurdity, but it sounds phony.
                I have talked to Indian intellectuals -- they sound very phony because it is NOT their OWN
           feeling; it is borrowed. It is Soren Kierkegaard speaking through them, it is Friedrich Nietzsche
           speaking through them; it is not their own voice. They are not really aware of what Soren
           Kierkegaard is saying; they have not suffered the same anguish. The feeling is alien, foreign; they
           have learnt it like parrots. They talk about it, but their whole life says and shows something else.
           What they say and what their life shows are diametrically opposite.
                It is very very rare that any Indian intellectual ever commits suicide -- I have not heard of it --
           but many Western intellectuals HAVE committed suicide. It is very rare to come across an Indian
           intellectual who goes mad; it is a very common phenomenon in the West, many intellectuals have
           gone mad. The real intellectuals have almost inevitably gone mad; it is their life experience.
                The civilization all around, the over-developed personality, have become an imprisonment. They
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are being killed by it. The very weight of civilization is too much and unbearable. They are feeling
           suffocated, they can't breathe. Even suicide seems to be a liberation, or if they cannot commit suicide
           then madness seems to be an escape. At least by becoming mad one forgets all about civilization,
           one forgets all about the nonsense that goes on in the name of civilization. Madness is an escape
           from civilization.
                Do you know that primitive people don't go mad? It is only the civilized man's privilege.
           Primitive people don't commit suicide; again it is the civilized man's privilege.
                But to feel that life is utterly meaningless is to be on a crossroads: either you choose suicide or
           you choose sannyas; either you choose madness or you choose meditation. It is a great turning-point!
                Maniloff, ALL personality is false. There is an essence inside which is not false, which you bring
           with your birth, which has always been there.
                Somebody asks Jesus: "Do you know anything about Abraham?" And Jesus says, "Before
           Abraham ever was, I am."
                Now what an absurd statement, but also of tremendous significance. Abraham and Jesus -- there
           is a big gap between them; Abraham preceded Jesus by almost three thousand years. And Jesus says,
           "Before Abraham ever was, I am." He is talking about the essence. He is not talking about Jesus, he
           is talking about the Christ. He is talking about the eternal. He is not talking about the personal, he is
           talking about the universal.
                The Zen people say that unless you come to know your original face that you had before your
           father was ever born, you will not become enlightened. What is this original face? Even before your
           father was born you had it, and you will have it again when you have died and your body has been
           burnt and nothing is left except ashes -- then you will have it again.
                What is this original face? The essence -- call it the soul, the spirit, the self. These are words
           signifying the same thing. You are born as an essence, but if you are left as an essence without the
           society creating a personality for you, you will remain animal-like. It has happened to some people.
                Just six months ago, again one child was found somewhere in North India near the Himalayas, a
           child of eleven years who had been brought up by wolves, a wolf-child -- a human child brought up
           by wolves. Of course wolves can only give the personality of a wolf; so the child was human, the
           essence was there, but he had the personality of a wolf.
                Many times it has happened. Wolves seem to be capable of bringing up human children; they
           seem to have a certain love, compassion, for human children. But these children are not enlightened.
           They don't have any of the corruption that human society is bound to give; their beings are not
           polluted, they are pure essence. They are like the fish in the ocean -- they don't know who they are.
           And it is very difficult once they have been brought up by animals to give them a human personality;
           it is too hard a job.
                Almost all the children have died in that effort. They cannot learn human ways, it is too late now.
           Their mold is cast; they have already become fixed personalities. They have learnt how to be wolves.
           They run like wolves on all fours and they are strong like wolves. You cannot fight with a
           wolf-child; he will kill you, he will eat you raw. They are cannibals! They don't know any morality,
           they don't know any religion. They are not Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan. They don't bother about
           God -- they have never heard of him. All that they know is the life of a wolf.
                If human personality is a barrier, it is a barrier only if you cling to it. It has to be passed through:
           it is a ladder, it is a bridge. One should not make one's house on the bridge, true, but one has to pass
           over the bridge.
                Human personality is partial. In a better society we will give children personalities but also the
           capacity to get rid of them. That is what is missing right now: we give them personalities, too tight
           personalities, so that they become encapsulated, imprisoned, and we never give them a way to get rid
           of them. It is like giving a child steel clothes and not giving him any idea of how to unlock, how to
           throw the clothes, one day when he is becoming bigger.
                What we are doing with human beings is exactly what was done in ancient China with the feet of
           women. From the very childhood girls were given iron shoes so that their feet never grew, they
           remained very small. Small feet were loved very much, they were appreciated very much. Only
           aristocratic families could afford them, because it was almost impossible for the woman to do
           anything. The woman could not even walk rightly; the feet were too small and the body was big. The
           feet were crippled; she had to walk with a support. Now a poor woman could not afford it, so small
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feet was the symbol of the aristocracy.
                We can laugh at it, but we go on doing the same thing. Now in the West women are walking on
           such absurd shoes, such high heels! It is okay if you do such a thing in a circus, but such high heels
           are not for walking. But they are appreciated, because when a woman walks on very high heels she
           becomes more sexually attractive: her buttocks stand out more prominently. And because walking is
           difficult, her buttocks move more than they would do ordinarily. But this is accepted, then it is okay.
           Other societies will laugh at it!
                All over the world women are using bras and they think that it is very conventional and
           traditional. My sannyasins are not using bras, and that is one of the greatest criticisms against them
           from the Hindus. In fact the bra makes the woman look more sexual; it is just to give her body a
           shape that she has not got. It is to help her so that the breasts can stand out and can look very young,
           not sagging. And these Hindu women think they are being very religious and orthodox. They are
           simply befooling themselves and nobody else -- the bra is a sexual symbol.
                Just like the bra, there are societies in Africa, a few primitive societies, which use strange things.
           Lips are made bigger and thicker. From the very childhood weights are hung on the lips so that they
           become very thick, big. That is a symbol of a very sexual woman -- thicker and bigger lips can of
           course give a better kiss!
                In some primitive societies the man even used to wear a certain sheath on his genital organs to
           make them look bigger, just as women are using bras. Now we laugh at such foolish people, but it is
           the SAME story. Even the younger people all over the world are using very tight pants -- that is just
           to show their genitals. But once a thing is accepted, nobody takes any note of it.
                Civilization should not become a tight enclosure. It is absolutely necessary that you should have
           a personality, but you should have a personality which can be put on and off easily, just like loose
           garments, not made of steel. Just cotton will do, so that you can put them off and on; you need not
           continuously wear them.
                That's what I call a man of understanding: he who lives in his essence, but as far as the society is
           concerned he moves with a personality. He uses the personality; he is the master of his own being.
                The society needs a certain personality. If you bring your essence into the society you will be
           creating trouble for yourself and for others. People will not understand your essence; your truth may
           be too bitter for them, your truth may be too disturbing for them. There is no need! You need not go
           naked in the society; you can wear clothes.
                But I have heard about a nun who used to take her bath with clothes on. When other nuns came
           to hear about it they asked, "What nonsense! Why can't you undress in your bathroom? There is
           nobody looking."
                She said, "No, but the Bible says God is watching everywhere." So the nun cannot even undress
           in the bathroom because God is watching -- as if God is a peeping Tom! And if God can watch even
           behind locked doors, can't he watch inside your clothes? He can watch there too! If walls cannot
           prevent him, just your garments, how can they prevent him?
                One should be able to be naked in one's own house, playing with one's children; sipping tea on a
           summer morning in the garden, on the lawn, one should be able to be naked. There is no need to go
           to your office naked -- there is no need! Clothes are perfectly good; there is no necessity to expose
           yourself to each and everybody. That will be exhibitionism, that will be another extreme. One
           extreme is that people cannot even go to bed without clothes on; another extreme is that there are
           Jaina DIGAMBARA monks moving naked in the marketplace, or naked Hindu SADHUS. And
           strange is the thing: that these Jainas and these Hindus, they object to MY people because they are
           not wearing proper clothes.
                Now, in a hot country like India people coming from the West find it really difficult to wear too
           many clothes. It looks so absurd to the Western seeker who comes here to see Indians with ties and
           coats. It looks so absurd! It is okay in the West -- it is too cold and the tie is protective -- but in India
           it is an effort to commit suicide. In the West it is okay to have your shoes and socks on, but in India?
           But imitative people! They are moving the whole day with shoes and socks on in a hot country like
           India. The Western dress in India is not relevant -- tight pants and coat and tie and hat -- it simply
           makes you look ridiculous. India needs loose garments. But there is no need to go to the other
           extreme, that you start running naked, bicycling naked into the marketplace. It will unnecessarily
           create trouble for you and for others.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the strange thing is that the people who have always worshipped naked SADHUS and have
           never raised any problem, for them I am creating a trouble. For them I look as if I am a dangerous
           person because my sannyasins are not wearing proper clothes.
               One should be natural, and by being natural I mean one should be capable of putting on the
           personality when needed, in society. It functions like a lubricant, it helps, because there are
           thousands of people. Lubricants are needed, otherwise people will be constantly in conflict, clashing
           against each other. Lubricants help; they keep your life smooth.
               Personality is good when you are communicating with others, but personality is a barrier when
           you start communing with yourself. Personality is good when you are relating with human beings;
           personality is a barrier when you start relating with existence itself, with God.
               Maniloff, to me there are only two things: the essence and the personality. The personality is
           good as a means, the essence is the end. And personalities are not real and unreal.

              You ask: WHY ARE NOT THE PRIMITIVE PEOPLE ENLIGHTENED?

                They are not enlightened because they don't have any personalities yet. Unless you have a
           personality you cannot drop it. Unless you have a properly developed mind you cannot enter into the
           state of no-mind. Unless you have an ego, well-formed, mature, you cannot surrender.
                These things look like puzzles but they are not. If you just contemplate over these things, they
           are very simple to understand. What do you have to surrender if you don't have any ego? Hence, first
           the ego has to be developed. But the ego should be developed and side by side another thing has to
           be developed: the capacity to drop the ego. Man has to learn this paradox so when the need arises
           you can drop the ego. Then you are always the master, and the mastery is always of the essence. But
           if you don't have any personality you will not be the master, because you don't have any slave to be a
           master of. The essence and personality are both needed, then the essence can be the master.
                It is not so ordinarily: the personality becomes the master and essence is either completely
           reduced to a slave or completely forgotten and thrown into the basement of your unconsciousness.
           The education is faulty.
                MY vision of a right education is to teach people how to grow the ego and how to be able to drop
           it; how to become great minds and yet be ready any moment to put the mind aside. You should be
           able to just put your personality, your ego, your mind, on and off, because these are good things if
           you can use them. But you should know the mechanism, how to put them off. Right now you know
           only how to put them on.
           I am reminded:

               Sigmund Freud somewhere remembers that a friend came to visit him from a very very faraway
           village. They had studied together in primary school; since then they had not met. Electricity had just
           then come; just a few months before, electricity had come to Vienna where Sigmund Freud lived. He
           forgot to tell the friend how to put off the light in the night and the friend was almost going mad in
           the night because he could not sleep -- the light was too much. And he tried every possible way that
           he could conceive to blow it out.
               He even stood on a table and studied the lamp, how to blow it out. But you can't blow it out! He
           tried every possible way. He could not sleep the whole night and because of his ego he could not
           wake Sigmund Freud and ask him what to do with this light. All that he knew about was kerosene
           lamps. But an electric bulb functions in a different way; it is not a kerosene lamp.
               In the morning Freud asked, "You look tired, your eyes are red. What happened? Couldn't you
           sleep?"
               And the man confessed. He said, "No, I could not sleep, and now I have to tell you. I wanted not
           to tell you because I wanted not to appear so stupid that I don't know how to put off the light, but I
           tried my best. The whole night I tried to figure it out, how to put it off, but I could not."
               Freud took him in the room. He said, "It is very simple: this is the button" -- the button was
           behind the door so he could not see it; even if he had seen it he would not have thought that the
           button had any connection with the light -- "you just put it on and off with the button."

              Our situation is like that: our society puts on the ego, the personality, and nobody ever teaches us
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how to put it off. So day in, day out, we are burdened by it, tortured by it, goaded by it. We become
           slaves of something false.
               I don't want you to drop your personality forever; I simply want you to be capable of putting it
           off when it is not needed. This is the whole art of real religion: to teach you how to put the mind off
           and how to put it on.
               Talking to you, I have to put my mind on, otherwise how can I talk? The heart cannot talk, the
           being cannot talk, the essence knows no language. I have to use the personality. But the moment I
           have said, "Enough for today," you may not know but that is how I put it off. I tell you the secret! It
           is not to you that I am saying enough for today; I am saying to my own mind, "Enough for today.
           Now go to sleep."

             You also say, Maniloff: I HEAR YOU TELL US TO ACCEPT THE ANIMAL THAT WE ARE,
           RETURN TO ESSENCE. I HAVE READ GURDJIEFF SAYING YOU MUST BECOME YOUR
           TRUE SELF -- THE MASTER. HE SAID BEWARE OF BEING SWALLOWED BY THE
           ANIMAL.

               He is right! -- beware of being swallowed by the animal. But why not swallow the animal
           yourself? Otherwise you will have to be constantly alert and aware and on guard, because the animal
           will be there. And the animal is the animal: if the animal finds you off guard, it will jump upon you.
               So I don't say only beware of the animal and go on persuading the animal, as Gurdjieff says. You
           say that he says:

           "GIVE IT SOME CIGARETTES OR ICE CREAM AND IT WILL BE CALMED. "

                It is not so easy! It will not be calmed by SOME ice cream -- it will ask for more. It always asks
           for more. It will not be calmed by SOME cigarettes; it will go on asking for more. And it is not only
           a question of cigarettes and ice cream, otherwise the problem would not have been very complex.
                It asks for money, it asks for power; it wants to be the president of the country, the prime
           minister of the country. The animal has strange ideas to be fulfilled! It wants all the women of the
           world; it can't be satisfied with one. The animal is mad, the animal is insane! The animal is simply
           animal; it has no understanding -- you cannot expect understanding from it. Don't believe that it will
           be calmed just by giving it some cigarettes and ice cream -- don't be so simplistic. It will go on
           demanding new things and more things, and there is no end to its demanding. If you try to persuade
           it in this way you will never be able to persuade it.
                Why not swallow the animal yourself? Eat it and be finished with it! That's my idea. Why not
           make ice cream out of the animal? Why not make cigars out of it and smoke it and be finished with
           it?
                That's why I say don't repress -- because if you repress, the animal is there. I say go deep into the
           very spirit of the animal. Enjoy it! That's what I mean when I say eat it. Be capable of digesting it
           and you will be more mighty by digesting it. Your sex digested will release so much energy that you
           can attain to superconsciousness. Hence I say 'from sex to superconsciousness'. Your greed digested
           will become your love.
                You will be surprised to know that the English word 'love' comes from a Sanskrit word LOBHA;
           LOBHA means greed. It may have been just a coincidence that the English word 'love' grew out of
           LOBHA; LOBHA means greed. But my feeling is it cannot be just coincidence; there may be
           something more mysterious behind it, there may be some alchemical reason behind it. In fact greed
           digested becomes love. It is greed, LOBHA, digested well, which becomes love.
                Love is sharing; greed is hoarding. Greed only wants and never gives, and love knows only
           giving and never asks for anything in return; it is unconditional sharing. There may be some
           alchemical reason that LOBHA has become 'love' in the English language. LOBHA becomes love as
           far as inner alchemy is concerned.
                Swallow the animal! That is the way to transform it. That is the way to transmute lower energies
           into higher energies.
                You are given a great opportunity. You have been thrown out of the sea -- this is the opportunity;
           expelled from the Garden of Eden -- this is the opportunity. Adam can become Christ if he uses the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opportunity well. Use the opportunity: eat the animal, digest the animal. Don't try to cut it off,
           otherwise you will become poorer. Don't try to destroy it as your so-.called saints have been doing
           down the ages, otherwise you will be dull and dead, insipid. Don't repress it, otherwise it will take
           revenge -- the animal is animal. One day it will jump upon you with such vengeance that you will be
           destroyed by it.
               And don't try to persuade it because it cannot be persuaded. Its demands are infinite, its thirst
           cannot be quenched by anything. Give it anything and it immediately asks for something more. The
           'more' is its very way of living.
               So don't befool yourself that cigarettes and ice cream and things like that will help the animal to
           subside and to be calmed. No, you will need great insight into the animal, you will need great
           acquaintance with the animal. You will need very deep awareness of the working of the animal. And
           you will have to digest it slowly slowly, gradually, so that one day the animal becomes part of your
           being.
               The animal has great energy, that's why it is called animal. 'Anima' means aliveness, power,
           vitality; 'animal' means one who is vital. The saints cut their roots from the animal; they became
           non-vital. That's why they have not been able to transform the whole world -- they were not even
           able to transform their own selves. They became impotent. Rather than becoming more potent, rather
           than becoming omnipotent, they became impotent. Hence I am not for suppression.
               I am for understanding, I am for transformation. And if the animal is transformed and absorbed
           by the essence, you will feel great power, great fire. Your life will become such a passionate affair
           with existence, you will have such intensity, that each moment will give you the joy of an eternity.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, BEFORE, WHEN I WAS CLEVER, I WAS REALLY STUPID. NOW I AM NO LONGER
              CLEVER, BUT STILL FEEL STUPID. IN FACT, THIS IS A STUPID LETTER...DOES THAT MEAN I'M
              STILL CLEVER? OR DO SOME PEOPLE WHEN THEY DROP THEIR CLEVERNESS FIND THAT
              THEY ARE SIMPLY STUPID?
              PS: I ALWAYS WANTED TO WRITE AN IMPRESSIVE QUESTION, BUT SEEM TO HAVE WAITED
              TOO LONG. A JOKE TO ILLUSTRATE MY PROBLEM: A MAN TELEPHONES HIS DOCTOR:
              "DOCTOR, YOU KNOW THOSE PILLS YOU PRESCRIBED FOR MY MUSCULAR
              WEAKNESS...WELL, I CAN'T GET THE TOP OFF THE BOTTLE."

              Devageet,

              YOU ARE IN A BEAUTIFUL MESS! Remain this way.

                No need to figure it out, whether you are clever or stupid; whatsoever you are, it is perfectly
           okay. Trying to figure it out is an unnecessary effort. If one is stupid, one is stupid -- so what?! How
           does it matter? If one is clever, one is clever -- so what! How does it matter?
                But we have always been thinking in terms of comparison. Man is very much conditioned to
           create hierarchies: who is clever, who is stupid, who is beautiful, who is ugly...We can't accept
           people as they are.
                And if you start figuring it out you WILL be in trouble -- because nothing can be figured out.
           Life is mysterious. If you are clever you are stupid; if you know you are stupid you are clever....
           Now you will be moving in a circle; there will be no end to it. It will be like a dog chasing its own
           tail: the more the dog chases the tail, the more the tail will jump -- with the dog, of course, because it
           is the dog's tail. And the dog can go crazy! Sometimes you can watch dogs going crazy, just chasing
           their tails. Philosophers are like dogs chasing their tails.
                Devageet, don't be a philosopher. Such problems have arisen in philosophy many times.
                They say that before Socrates there was a great school of sophists in Greece; they used to train
           people in sophistry. Before philosophy, sophistry was the dominant thing in people's minds; the
           sophist was thought to be the real intellectual. And the fundamental of sophistry was that nothing is
           true and nothing is false.
                You can try anything, and you can prove anything right and you can prove anything wrong.
           Something can be proved right and the same thing can be proved wrong, it all depends on what you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           want to prove.
                Logic is a whore! -- logic can go with anybody. So whenever someone wins in an argument it
           does not prove that he has the truth. It only proves that he is more clever in logical gymnastics, that's
           all; he may not have the truth at all. When someone is defeated in logic, argumentation, it does not
           prove that he does not have the truth; it may be simply that he is not logically skillful. So there is no
           truth, no untruth; it is only a game.
                Sophistry was a game, and the sophists used to teach people, whosoever wanted to learn the
           game -- the aristocracy, the rich people, particularly, loved it very much. It was like a chess game.
           It happened to a great sophist:

               A young man came and he said, "I have heard much about you -- you are the greatest sophist
           master in the country. If you trust so much in your own intelligence, this is my proposal: that I will
           pay half of your fees right now and the other half I will pay only when I win in an argument."
               The master was so trustful of his own skill, he said, "Perfectly okay. You can give half my fees
           now and half I will take when you win your first argument. It is bound to happen -- you are going to
           win. Never have my students been defeated anywhere."
               But the young man was also really clever. He learnt the whole art, but he never argued with
           anybody. The master was puzzled about what to do: "Unless he argues and wins, half of the fee is
           gone, and if he never argues..." and he used to avoid. The master told many other disciples, "Create
           some argument with him." But he would always say, "Yes, you are right." Whatsoever you said he
           would say, "Yes, you are right." He would never argue. The master was at a loss: "It seems as if the
           disciple is winning and I am being defeated."
               So the master put a case in the court: "This disciple has not paid half my fee which is due to me,
           and the court should force this young man to give me my fee which he has promised." Now the
           master thought, "If I win In the court, the court will order the young man to give my fee and I will
           get the fee. If I am defeated in the court, then too nothing is lost -- outside the court I will say to the
           young man, "You have won your first argument, now give me the other half of my fee.
               But the disciple belonged to this same master. He said, "Okay. If I win in the court I will say this
           will be an insult to the court if I pay you now. If I am defeated in the court, how can I pay you? --
           because my first argument, and I am defeated!"
               And this is how it happened. The court decided that the young man is right, because unless he
           wins how can he pay?
               The master said, "Okay. So he has won his first case -- I want my fee."
               The young man said, "How can I give it? I have won the case and it will be an insult to the court
           now. I cannot go against the court, against the law of the country."

              How to decide it? It is impossible, it can't be decided.
           Another story is told:

               A young man from Sicily came to Athens and told Socrates, "All men in Sicily lie."
               Socrates looked at the young man and said, "You come from Sicily?"
           He said, "Yes."
           "Are you lying?"
               Now the problem arises: if he is lying then what he is saying is not true; if he is NOT lying, then
           too what he is saying is not true -- because one man from Sicily is not lying, is saying a truth. In
           either case it will be impossible to figure it out, where we stand.

             You ask, Devageet: WHEN I WAS CLEVER, I WAS REALLY STUPID. NOW I AM NO
           LONGER CLEVER, BUT STILL FEEL STUPID. IN FACT, THIS IS A STUPID LETTER...DOES
           THAT MEAN I AM STILL CLEVER?

               Forget about it! You are in a beautiful mess -- remain in it. There is no need to decide because
           we are not labeling people here, who is clever and who is stupid.
               The whole effort here is: who lives in the mind and who lives out of the mind.... The stupid and
           the clever both live in the mind, because cleverness or stupidity, both are qualities of the mind. It
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           does not matter whether you are clever or you are stupid. You are in the mind, that is the real thing.
           Slip out of the mind. Slip out of cleverness and stupidity both! And the best way to slip out is not to
           be bothered by these things because if you are bothered by these things you will remain entangled.
               Slip out of the mind! Be a no-mind, neither clever nor stupid. Then you will know what truth is,
           then you will know what bliss is.

           And the last question


              OSHO, ARE YOU REALLY THE FIRST BUDDHA WHO JOKES?

              Gangatar,


                I AM NOT ONLY THE FIRST BUDDHA WHO JOKES, but the last too...because I am going to
           tell all the jokes! I am not going to leave a single joke untold!




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                    Chapter #4
                                     Chapter title: You Are Ancient Pilgrims
           4 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909040
              ShortTitle: BESTIL04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, I HAVE WORN THE MALA FOR LESS THAN A MONTH, BUT I UNDERSTAND HOW
              FEELING YOU IS IMPORTANT. BUT THESE FEELINGS ARE MIXED UP. I RESPECT AND LOVE
              YOU, BUT I DON'T LOOK AT YOU AS HIS HOLINESS. STRANGE, BUT I LOOK AT YOU AS A
              BUDDHA. ONLY THAT, WITHOUT ANYTHING ADDED OR TAKEN AWAY FROM YOUR BEING.
              AND WHAT A BUDDHA IS I DON'T KNOW. HOW COME I LOVE YOU, RESPECT YOU BECAUSE
              YOU ARE MY MASTER. BUT...LOVE? ALSO I SEE THAT I CAN PLAY WITH YOU WITH JOY AND
              YOU ARE SO FAR AWAY. OR SO CLOSE? RESPECT, LOVE, JOY -- ARE THEY THE SAME?

              Anand Mario,


               IT IS GOOD THAT YOU CANNOT THINK OF ME AS HIS Holiness, because I am neither
           His Holiness nor His Unholiness. It is good and beautiful that you think of me as a Buddha, because
           that's exactly what I am -- simply a Buddha.
               A Buddha means one who is awake. It has nothing to do with holiness, nothing to do with
           unholiness. Holiness, unholiness, both are dreams; for dreams you have to be asleep. A Buddha is
           awake; all dreams have disappeared. A Buddha is not a saint, is not a sinner either. A Buddha is not
           God and is not a devil either. All dualities are irrelevant as far as Buddha is concerned. Buddha is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           simply a witness of all the mystery that surrounds you within and without.
                Mario, it is absolutely right, you are moving in the right direction. If you start looking at me as a
           Buddha, that is a fundamental step to understanding me. If you think of me as a saint you have
           misunderstood me.
                That's one of the fundamental problems with Indians who come here: they start thinking about
           me as a saint. Then a thousand and one problems arise because they have certain ideas about how a
           saint should be They have a thousand and one expectations: how I should live, what I should eat,
           how I should talk, what I should say and what I should not say.
                I am not a saint, hence I cannot fulfill any of their expectations. Then they feel very frustrated
           and out of frustration they become enraged. It has nothing to do with me; it is their own minds, their
           own expectations. I am not here to fulfill anybody's expectations; I am here to be myself, simply to
           be myself. I am not here to be somebody else's carbon copy.
                A Jaina comes and thinks in terms of Mahavira and compares me with Mahavira -- certainly I am
           not a Mahavira. The Christian comes with the idea of Christ and starts comparing me with Christ --
           certainly I am not a Christ either. I am simply myself. You can understand me only ii you drop all
           comparisons, if you forget all the ideas that have been imposed on your mind. If you simply look at
           me without any prejudice things will be very clear.
                Mario, it is good that a great clarity is coming to you. But still somewhere deep down in the
           unconscious there are hangovers, hence you are puzzled. You are puzzled because you cannot
           understand: "How come I love you?" Because saints are to be respected, not loved. They are so high,
           there in the heavens, and you are so low, how can you love them? Love means equality. Love means
           we are standing on the same plane. Saints are so holy and you are so unholy! Yes, respect is okay,
           but love? -- seems to be impossible. These are hangovers.
                But I would like to say to you: 'respect' is an ugly word; it has more letters than four, but actually
           it is a four-letter word. Respect is bound to be ugly in two ways: if you respect somebody you
           degrade yourself into inferiority; unless you start feeling inferior to somebody you cannot respect
           them. Hence all your saints go on condemning you; unless you are condemned they cannot be
           respected. The respect from your side is dependent on the condemnation from their side. They call
           you sinners, only then can you call them saints. They condemn everything that you do: your eating,
           your drinking, your living.... Your whole life, in every minute detail, has to be condemned. All that
           is natural has to be condemned; then their unnatural lives become very respectable.
                All the saints -- the so-called saints I mean -- have been condemning humanity down the ages.
           And, slowly slowly, hearing for centuries that you are sinners you have become sinners. They have
           conditioned you into such inferiority that it has almost become a reality. You have started fulfilling
           what they have been saying about you.
                If you want a man to be a criminal, go on telling him that he is a criminal. Go on repeating it and
           he will slowly be hypnotized. And if everybody repeats that he is a criminal he will start believing
           that it must be so: "How can so many people be wrong? And how can so many SAINTS be wrong? I
           must be a criminal." And once a person accepts that he is a criminal he becomes one. He starts
           behaving to PROVE that he is a criminal. How can he prove the saints wrong? The saints have to be
           proved right, and the only way to prove them right is to behave the way they say you are. Their
           saintliness depends on your being sinners. The greater you are in your sin, the higher is their
           saintliness. I am not a saint!
                And because they have to condemn your natural instincts THEY become unnatural, pathological
           They start standing on their heads just to show that they are totally different from you. If you enjoy
           eating, they hate eating. If you love beauty, they condemn beauty. If you are enchanted With the
           world, they call the world illusion, MAYA; they say it does not exist at all. If you love your body,
           they destroy their bodies. Whatsoever YOU do they have to do just the opposite, because that is the
           only way to prove their superiority.
                Your so-called saints have created a very insane humanity. They have turned you insane and they
           have turned themselves insane. And because they have to be unnatural they are sitting on volcanoes.
           They have repressed all that is natural -- and nature wants to assert itself. They are in a constant civil
           war; they are fighting with themselves. And whatsoever they are fighting with is becoming stronger
           every day, because the more you fight with something the more you have to pay attention to it. Their
           minds become focused. If they repress sex, twenty-four hours of their day there is an undercurrent of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sexuality. If they fast, they think only of food and nothing else.
                These insane people, pathological people, have been very dominant in the past. It is because of
           these people that the earth has become a hell; they have transformed the whole of humanity into an
           ugly mess.
                I am not a saint. I am simply a man just like you, with only one small difference -- and that
           difference does not make me superior to you, remember it. It does not make you inferior to me,
           remember it. Never for a single moment forget that you may be asleep and I may be awake, but one
           day 1 was asleep just like you and one day you can be awake just like me. Sleep and waking are as
           much YOUR potential as they are MY potential. Sleep and waking are two sides of the same coin,
           and how can one side be superior to the other side? Both sides are of the same coin. You are asleep, I
           am awake, but this does not make me superior in any way.
                In fact, Buddha has said that the day he became a Buddha, the day he became enlightened, the
           whole universe became enlightened with him. What does he mean? He means the day he became
           enlightened he became aware that EVERYBODY can become enlightened. This is nothing special; it
           is an ordinary quality of every being. You may not use it -- that is YOUR choice; you may not
           actualize your potential -- that is YOUR decision and you are free to decide that way. You may
           choose to remain asleep, but you are not committing any sin. You are not doomed just because you
           are asleep. Any moment you can decide to wake up.
                It is your freedom to be a Buddha or not to be a Buddha -- and if you like sleep and the dreams
           it's perfectly okay with me. I respect your freedom.
                You can love me. You cannot love your saints; they are too far away. I am standing just by your
           side! I am not sitting on a golden throne somewhere high in the heavens; I am walking on the earth
           with you, I am as earthly as you are. Just a little difference -- I say difference, not superiority -- and
           the difference is that I am no more asleep, no more dreaming.
                And you can come out of your dreams THIS VERY MOMENT, because dreams cannot hold
           you; they cannot keep you imprisoned in themselves. You can burst forth from them. You are an
           imprisoned splendor, but you are imprisoned through your own choice. You have gone into the
           prison through your own choice -- this is your decision.

               There is a beautiful story of a Zen monk who used to steal small things. He was a great
           enlightened Master and he used to steal small things -- somebody's cigarette case or somebody's
           shoes -- and then he would be caught and he would be sent to prison. His disciples were very much
           puzzled; he had many disciples, and they asked him again and again, "Why do you DO such things?
           And we are here ready -- how many cigarette boxes do you want, how many shoes do you want? We
           can bring as many as you want. Why do you steal?"
               He would laugh and never say anything, but he continued in his own way. In the end when he
           was dying his disciples asked, "Now tell us: what was the secret? There must be something!"
               He said, "There is nothing much in it; it is a simple phenomenon. I wanted to go to jail again and
           again to help the people who were inside to come out, and that was the only way -- stealing small
           things, then getting caught. I had to manage both: first stealing things and then getting caught. And
           then the magistrate would send me for six months to jail and for those six months I would try to help
           the people who were inside to come out. And I am happy, tremendously happy, that I have helped
           many to come out of jail."
               Now this man is going knowingly, consciously; it is his choice. Even in the jail he is a free man.
           He is not imprisoned by anybody else; he has imprisoned himself, for a certain purpose.
               So is the case with you: you have imprisoned yourself. This simply proves your freedom. Any
           day, if you want to get out of it, you can get out of it. I go on hammering only one thing on your
           head again and again: that there is another choice also, please don't forget. You have chosen to be in
           sleep, you can choose to be awake. You have lived in sleep for many many lives, you have seen all
           that sleep makes possible, now please see what awakening can give to you.
               I have seen both and I tell you that sleep cannot give you anything; it only promises but never
           delivers any goods. Sleep can give you only dreams, hallucinations; sleep cannot fulfill you. I have
           known both, you have known only one. Those who have known both, listen to what they are saying.
           And if you come close to them you are BOUND to fall in love with them.
               It is not a question of respect; respect is a formality. You respect the Christian priest, you respect
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the Hindu mahatma, you respect the Jaina MUNI, YOU respect the Catholic monk, you respect the
           Pope. You don't respect Christ or Buddha or Krishna -- you love them.
               Respect is very ordinary; it brings no revolution in your life. It is a trick of the mind. The mind
           says, "Look how much I respect the holy people!" and there it is finished. Now what more can you
           do? You can respect them, sometimes you can go and touch their feet -- it becomes a formality.
               In India it is such a formality that it has lost its beauty, its tremendous power to transform people.
           People go on touching each and everybody's feet. Children are taught from the very beginning to
           touch everybody's feet.
               In my childhood it was so. Any Tom, Harry, Dick who would come to my house, if he was aged
           my father would say, "Touch his feet." I was always puzzled: "Why? I don't see anything in the man,
           I have no feeling for him." But it is a formality, it is a social obligation. You have to do it.
               So finally I made it a point -- why wait for my father to say it? Anybody who came, I would
           touch his feet before he ever said to. Then he started telling me, "You need not touch everybody's
           feet." I said, "Why make any distinction? And why give you the trouble of telling me again and
           again? Now I will touch everybody's feet, whosoever comes. It doesn't matter -- it is just a physical
           exercise! It is good for the body -- just bowing down and standing up again and again. And the
           whole day people are coming, all kinds of stupid people. And they feel happy, so it is good -- they
           enjoy it."
               In India it is just a formality; it means nothing. Respect means nothing. And it is dangerous too,
           because when you respect somebody, deep down you start imitating because you would also like to
           be respected, the ego wants to be respected. So whomsoever you respect, sooner or later,
           unconsciously, you will start imitating him, because that is the only way to get respect from people.
           Respect creates in you a desire to imitate; you become carbon copies.
               It is good, Mario, that you love me. Forget the word 'respect'; love is absolutely right. And don't
           be puzzled.

              You say: HOW COME I LOVE YOU? I RESPECT YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE MY MASTER.

                Yes, respect always has a 'because'; love has no 'because'. Love is simply there for no reason at
           all. Respect is logical; you can say why you respect a person: he eats only once a day; he has
           renounced the world, his wife, children, family, everything; he sleeps for only three hours or maybe
           he remains awake the whole night; he is continuously chanting the name of God...things like this. Or
           he serves the poor, or he goes to the ill people and serves them.
                What will happen if poverty disappears? It will be a great loss to your saints! In fact, you will not
           believe it -- one of the very respected Hindu saints, Karpatri, has written a book AGAINST
           socialism, and the reasons that he has given against socialism are all so stupid. The MOST stupid
           reason of all of them is that socialism will destroy poverty; it will create equal distribution of
           property and possessions. And if there are no more poor people, whom will you serve? And without
           service, how can you be a saint? Without service there will be no virtue.
                This is a great argument! This means poverty is needed, very essentially needed - needed for the
           existence of the saints. Ill people are needed, lepers and blind and lame and deaf people are needed,
           otherwise whom will the missionaries serve? And without serving you cannot reach heaven; service
           is the ladder. So let people be poor!
                And when these people serve poor people, you respect them. In fact they are the causes of
           poverty in the world. The poverty can be removed any day; now science has made all the technology
           available that can remove poverty from the earth absolutely. But then how will Christian
           missionaries be able to convert poor people to Christianity?
                In India, not even a single rich person has been converted to Christianity, only poor people, very
           poor people. And they are converted to Christianity not because they love Christ but because they
           love bread and butter. The Christian missionaries can supply them with a little food, clothes, shelter,
           a school, a hospital. Now Christian missionaries will not like it at all if poverty disappears from the
           world, neither will the Hindu saints like it.
                Karpatri also argues the old Hindu argument that the poor people are poor because they are
           suffering from their past karmas. If you make them rich, if you distribute the property and the land to
           the poor, you will be interfering with their past karmas. And this is not good, this is a sin, to interfere
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with somebody's karma. Let them suffer -- they deserve suffering! Helping the poor to become rich
           is almost like breaking the walls of the prison and letting the prisoners escape -- you will be doing
           something very illegal. The poor people are suffering, and the rich people are rich because they were
           virtuous in their past lives. Any effort to take their money from them is going against the law of life,
           the law of karma. You are going against God!
               Socialism is against religion according to Karpatri and the other so-called saints. This is a very
           strange world! But all these things go on because we are asleep.
               If you become a little bit alert and start looking around you will be surprised: your saints need
           psychoanalysis, your saints need psychological treatment. They are utterly ill! And because they are
           repressing all their desires, sooner or later they start living a double life. They start living two lives
           together: one on the surface, the saintly, and the real underground, from the back door. And you go
           on respecting the masks.
               It is good, Mario. I don't expect your respect for me, no, not at all. Love is enough, love is right,
           because love gives you equality with me. And as far as I am concerned I see you as equals -- not
           only you, but the trees and the birds and the animals and the rocks. The whole existence is a
           brotherhood. Nobody is higher and nobody is lower; there is no hierarchy. It is only ONE God
           expressing itself in millions of forms. How can there be any hierarchy? There is no BRAHMIN and
           no SUDRA.

           You say: I RESPECT YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE MY MASTER.

               Forget the respect! Love me because I am your Master -- and not for any formal reason, because
           to be a disciple can never be formal; it can only be of the heart.

             You say: ALSO I FEEL THAT I CAN PLAY WITH YOU WITH JOY AND YOU ARE SO
           FAR AWAY. OR SO CLOSE?

               Both are true; simultaneously I am far away and very close -- very close because the awakening
           is just the other side of the coin, and very far because awakening takes you into a totally different
           world from sleep. Sleep takes you into dreams, awakening into reality. To be awake is the door to
           God. Yes, I am far away and yet very close by.

               You also ask: RESPECT, JOY, LOVE -- ARE THEY THE SAME?

                No, they are not the same -- certainly respect and love are not the same. Respect is a poor
           substitute for love, a plastic substitute for the real rose. It may appear like the rose but it is not. It has
           no roots in the earth, no juices flow through it. It has no contact with the sun and the wind and the
           rain. It is disconnected from existence. It is simply a plastic flower, looks like a rose -- it is an
           imitation. Respect is a plastic flower, love is a real rose.
                And joy never arises out of respect. In fact, out of respect a little sadness arises. If you have
           observed closely, whenever you respect somebody you feel humiliated. You may not look at your
           humiliation because it hurts, but whenever you respect somebody there is humiliation -- because if
           somebody is superior you ARE inferior, and the inferiority hurts. You can avoid it, you may not see
           it, you may keep it at the back, you may forget all about it, but it is there. If you search for it you will
           always find it lurking in the darkness of your unconscious.
                Respect cannot give you joy, but love certainly gives you joy. Joy is a by-product of love, the
           aura of love. Wherever love is there is joy, there is silence, there is benediction.
                Anybody can see it here. You are sitting in such silence! You may be the only commune on the
           whole of the earth sitting in such silence, in such love -- engulfed, encompassed, by something of the
           beyond.
                Others who don't know about love, may misunderstand your love as respect because they know
           only respect. Those who have never seen any real rose may think that the plastic flower is the real
           rose.

               I have heard about an old woman who went to see an exhibition of Picasso paintings. She was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very much puzzled looking at a painting; the cost was millions of dollars. She said to her husband,
           "This is madness! This painting millions of dollars? And in fact it is a copy of a calendar that has
           been hanging in my bathroom for years!"
               The calendar is a copy, but the woman has known the calendar for years. Now the real painting
           looks like a copy of the calendar -- "And millions of dollars? This man must be mad who is asking
           millions of dollars! I can give the calendar free to anybody. I am fed up with it, because for years I
           have been looking at it!"

                Those who don't know real roses and have always known the plastic, if you bring them to a
           rosebush they will think that these are plastic flowers attached to the bush.
                People who come from the outside, seeing you sitting with me in deep communion, in deep love,
           your hearts beating with my heartbeat, will think that you are in deep respect. It is not respect at all!
           It is the real thing, not the synthetic flower. It is happening -- it is a rare opportunity.
                When there is somebody awake, many people who are groping in their sleep to be awake,
           longing in their sleep to be awake, start moving towards the source wherever awakening has
           happened. That's how you have arrived here from faraway countries. You may not even be aware of
           how you have reached here; you may think it is just accidental. It is not. Many many lives of longing
           to find a Buddha, to find a Christ, have brought you here. You are ancient pilgrims. Now you have
           found the opportunity.
                Mario, you are fortunate to love, fortunate to feel the joy of love, fortunate because this love is
           going to become a door to the divine.

           The second question


              OSHO, WHAT IS PRAYER?

              Deva Tatva,


                PRAYER IS ONE OF THE INDEFINABLES, because prayer is the fragrance of love. Even love
           is indefinable. Love is a flower, tangible, you can see it, you can touch it, you can smell it, you can
           feel it. You can close your eyes and you can touch the texture of the flower, the softness of it, you
           can see the beauty of it; it is visible. But prayer is the fragrance released to the winds, offered to the
           sky. It becomes even more indefinable because you cannot see it, you cannot touch it.
                You can only have a very subtle relationship with it, not one of words, not one of philosophy, not
           one of theology -- only the silence of your heart, the utter silence of your heart, can have a little
           glimpse of it, of what it is.
                What goes on in the name of prayer is not prayer; it is desire disguised. You go to the temple or
           to the church and you pray to God; your God is part of your imagination. Your God is not true God;
           it is a Christian God, it is a Hindu God, it is a Mohammedan God. And how can God be Christian,
           Hindu or Mohammedan? It is a God that you have created, or your priests on behalf of you. It is a
           toy, it is not true.
                Bowing down before a statue made by man, manufactured by man -- and you think you are in
           prayer? You are simply being stupid, you are simply showing utter ignorance. This statue has been
           purchased in the marketplace, and God is not a commodity and God cannot be made. It is God who
           has made us -- how can we make God? But we are worshipping, praying to man-made Gods.
                And what are your prayers? They are also your desires. You want this, you want that; you are
           trying to use God as a means. You have been told certain prayers from your very childhood and you
           have crammed it all; you have been forced to cram it. It has become a habit, a mechanical routine;
           you go on repeating it but your heart is not in it. Your prayer is a corpse, it breathes no more.
                Yes, when Jesus called God 'Abba' he meant it. When you call God 'Father' you don't mean
           anything. And between 'Abba' and 'Father' there is a great difference. 'Father' is an institution, legal,
           social; 'Abba' is a heart-to-heart relationship. Jesus looked at existence as the source of our life.
                A disciple asks Jesus, "What is prayer?" Jesus falls on his knees and starts praying. The disciple
           says, "I am asking what prayer is, I am not asking you to pray!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And Jesus says, "There is no other way. I can pray, you can participate. I INVITE you to be a
           part of my prayer. I cannot say what prayer is, but I can go into prayer -- because prayer is a state of
           being, not something that you do."
           Leo Tolstoy has written a beautiful story:

           Three men became very famous saints in Russia.
               The highest priest of the country was very much disturbed -- obviously, because people were not
           coming to him, people were going to those three saints, and he had not even heard their names. And
           how could they be saints? -- because in Christianity a saint is a saint only when the church
           recognizes him as a saint. The English word 'saint' comes from 'sanction'; when the church sanctions
           somebody as a saint, then he is a saint. What nonsense! that a saint has to be certified by the church,
           by the organized religion, by the priests -- as if it has nothing to do with inner growth but some outer
           recognition; as if it is a title given by a government, or a degree, an honorary degree, conferred by a
           university.
               The high priest was certainly very angry. He took a boat because those three saints used to live
           on the far side of a lake. He went in the boat. Those three saints were sitting under a tree. They were
           very simple people, peasants, uneducated. They touched the feet of the highest priest, and the priest
           was very happy. He thought, "Now I will put them right -- these are not very dangerous people. I
           was thinking they would be rebels or something." He asked them, "How did you become saints?"
               They said, "We don't know! We don't know that we are saints either. People have started calling
           us saints and we go on trying to convince them that we are not, we are very simple people, but they
           don't listen. The more we argue that we are not, the more they worship us! And we are not very good
           at arguing either."
               The priest was very happy. He said, "What is your prayer? Do you know how to pray?"
               They looked at each other. The first said to the second, "You say." The second said to the third,
           "You say, please."
               The priest said, "Say what your prayer is! Are you saying Our Lord's Prayer or not?"
               They said, "To be frank with you, we don't know any prayer. We have invented a prayer of our
           own and we are very embarrassed -- how to say it? But if you ask we have to say it. We have heard
           that God is a trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. We are three and he is also three, so we
           have made a small prayer of our own: 'You are three, we are three: Have mercy on us!' "
               The priest said, "What nonsense! Is this prayer? You fools, I will teach you the right prayer."
           And he recited The Lord's Prayer.
               And those three poor people said, "Please repeat it once more, because we are uneducated, we
           may forget."
               He repeated it and they asked, "Once more -- we are three, repeat it at least three times." So he
           repeated it again, and then very happy, satisfied, he went back in his boat.
               Just in the middle of the lake he was surprised, his boatman was surprised: those three poor
           people were coming running on the water! And they said, "Wait! Please one more time -- we have
           forgotten the prayer!"
               Now it was the turn of the priest to touch their feet, and he said, "Forget what I have said to you.
           Your prayer has been heard, my prayer has not been heard yet. You continue as you are continuing. I
           was utterly wrong to say anything to you. Forgive me!"

               Prayer is a state of simplicity. It is NOT of words but of silence.
               Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, has said that prayer is an I/thou relationship. It is
           not. He does not know anything about prayer. An I/thou relationship? In prayer there is no I and in
           prayer there is no thou. A prayer is not a dialogue between I and thou; a prayer is a merger. The I
           disappears into the thou, the thou disappears into the I. There is nobody to say anything and there is
           nobody to say anything to.
               The river disappearing into the ocean is prayer. The dewdrop slipping from the lotus leaf into the
           lake is prayer. Seeing the early morning sun and you are silent, and something starts rising in you too
           -- that is prayer. A bird on the wing, and YOU are on the wing; you forget that you are separate --
           THAT is prayer. Wherever separation disappears, prayer appears. When you become one with the
           whole of existence, that is prayer.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ego is a state of no-prayer: egolessness is a state of prayer. It is not a dialogue, it is not even a
           monologue. It has nothing to do with words; it is wordless silence. It is an open, silent sky; with no
           clouds, no thoughts. In prayer you are not Hindu or Christian or Mohammedan. In prayer you are
           not: in prayer God is.

           The third question


              OSHO, WHAT IS DIPLOMACY?

              Sandeep,


                DIPLOMACY IS A BEAUTIFUL NAME for all kinds of cunningness. It is a beautiful label for
           all that is ugly. It is an effort to cover human violence, human stupidity, human cunningness, behind
           a beautiful word. Diplomacy is simply an effort to dominate. It may be between persons, it may be
           between religions, it may be between countries -- it does not matter. Even husbands and wives are in
           a diplomatic relationship, parents and children are in a diplomatic relationship. It is not only in
           politics, it is in our whole life.
                When you see somebody and you feel, "Now my whole day is wasted; seeing this bastard early
           in the morning is a perfect indication that something wrong is going to happen, some calamity is
           going to happen to me," but you say to the man, "Hello! How are you? Glad to see you!" -- that is
           diplomacy.
                Diplomacy has entered into our blood. When you don't love your wife and pretend that you love
           her, it is diplomacy. When without any love you hug your children, just because it has to be done,
           because Dale Carnegie says so: HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE....
                Dale Carnegie is the prophet of the modern age. Dale Carnegie's book, HOW TO WIN
           FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, has sold next only to the Bible. It seems to be even more
           important than the Bible, because the Bible is being distributed free by the Christian missionaries
           and Dale Carnegie's book you have to purchase. And what he teaches is simply diplomacy.
                He says that even if you don't mean it, at least a few times in the day remind your wife how much
           you love her. That's enough, because people don't bother about love; people live in words. If you say,
           "I love you," that's enough. If you go on repeating, "I love you," that becomes a proof that you really
           love. This is a very ugly state of affairs. Humanity has fallen so low that Dale Carnegie becomes the
           prophet.
                Diplomacy is not only political, not any more -- it has entered into every arena of life. And
           wherever it enters it brings pseudoness, falsity; it destroys authenticity, sincerity, honesty. It makes
           you say things which you don't mean, it makes you do things which you don't mean. It makes you
           many instead of one; you become a crowd. You go on carrying many masks with you because you
           never know which mask will be needed in a certain situation.
                And not only has man become diplomatic -- even animals who live with man become diplomatic,
           dogs become diplomatic. Watch a dog.... A stranger comes to your house, knocks on the door. The
           dog starts two things: he starts barking and at the same time he wags his tail. This is diplomacy!
           because he is not certain whether the man who has knocked on the door is really a friend of the
           master or not -- it is better to keep your feet in both the boats, then whatsoever turns out to be right
           you can withdraw from the wrong one. Then you come out of the house and the dog sees that the
           stranger is a friend; the barking stops and the tail continues to wag.
                Man contaminates everything; even innocent people like dogs are corrupted by human contact.
           You start teaching small children to be diplomatic. On the one hand you go on telling them, "Be true,
           be sincere be honest," and then one day a man comes to the door and you tell your son, "Go and say
           that daddy is out." Now the boy is puzzled. What to do?
                My own way in my childhood was to go out and say to the man, "Daddy says he is out." What
           else to do? One has to be true and one has to be obedient too. Now either I can be true or I can be
           obedient....
                Small children, we start corrupting their minds. We corrupt animals, and it is possible one day
           we will discover that we even corrupt trees, because they are also very sensitive. Living with man
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they must be learning all kinds of things from humanity.

               Alfie and Dan, two Cockney pub crawlers, were in their cups one afternoon when Alfie pointed
           to a woman sitting at the end of the bar. "Hey!" he said, That woman looks like Queen Elizabeth!"
           "Nah," replied Dan. "What would the Queen be doing in a pub in hogtown?"
           "I am telling you it is her," insisted Alfie. "Can't you see the resemblance?"
           "Look, that ain't the Queen," said Dan. "And I am willing to bet five on it."
           "You are on!" came the reply. "I will go ask her." He walked over to the woman sitting at the bar and
           said, "I beg your pardon, are you the Queen?"
           "Get lost, you little runt," growled the woman, before I kick your ass across the room!"
           He returned to his seat. "Well?" his friend asked.
           "Well, she didn't say she was and she didn't say she wasn't."

           This is diplomacy!
                A religious person has to drop all diplomacy. He has to be authentic, sincere; he has to be as he
           is: no pretensions, no false personalities, no facades; just being utterly nude as you are, utterly naked
           in your reality.
                The moment you can gather that much courage you will be so filled with joy...you cannot believe
           right now, you cannot even conceive right now, because it is our falsities which are like parasites on
           our being; they go on sucking our blood. The more falsities you create around yourself, the more
           miserable you become, the more you are in a hell.
                To live in falsities is to live in hell: to live authentically is to be in heaven.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, TO ME IT SEEMS THAT THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF THE SOUL IS THE SAME AS
              WHAT YOU MEAN BY THE REAL I, THE ONE WHO IS THE WATCHER. WHY DIDN'T JESUS
              SPEAK ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF REINCARNATION OF THE SOUL? THIS SEEMS TO BE A
              DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN RELIGIONS. CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING
              ABOUT IT?

              Jaap-Willem,

              JESUS KNEW PERFECTLY WELL about reincarnation.

               There are indirect hints spread all over the gospels. Just the other day I was saying, quoting
           Jesus: "I am before Abraham ever was." And Jesus says, "I will be coming back." And there are a
           thousand and one indirect references to reincarnation. He knew about it perfectly well, but there is
           some other reason why he did not talk about it, why he did not preach it.
               Jesus had been to India and he had seen what had happened because of the theory of
           reincarnation. In India for almost five thousand years before Jesus the theory was taught. And it is a
           truth, it is not only a theory; the theory is based in truth. Man has millions of lives. It was taught by
           Mahavira, by Buddha, by Krishna, by Rama; all the Indian religions agree upon it. You will be
           surprised to know: they don't agree on anything else except this theory.
               Hindus believe in God and the soul. Jainas don't believe in God at all but only in the soul. And
           Buddhists don't believe in the soul or God either. But about reincarnation all three agree -- even
           Buddhists agree, who don't believe in the soul. A very strange thing...then who reincarnates? Even
           THEY could not deny the phenomenon of reincarnation, although they could deny the existence of
           the soul; they say the soul does not exist but reincarnation exists. And it was very difficult for them
           to prove reincarnation without the soul; it seems almost impossible. But they found a way -- of
           course it is very subtle and very difficult to comprehend, but they seem to be closer, the closest to the
           truth.
               It is easy to understand that there is a soul and when you die the body is left on the earth and the
           soul enters into another body, into another womb; it is a simple, logical, mathematical thing. But
           Buddha says there is no soul but only a continuum. It is like when you kindle a candle in the evening
           and in the morning when you are blowing it out a question can be asked of you: Are you blowing out
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the same light that you started in the evening? No, it is not the same light, and yet a continuity is
           there. In the night when you lit the candle... that flame is no more there, that flame is continuously
           disappearing; it is being replaced by another flame. The replacement is so quick that you can't see
           the gaps, but with sophisticated scientific instruments it is possible to see the gaps: one flame going
           out, another coming up, that going out, another coming up. There are bound to be small intervals, but
           you can't see them with bare eyes.
                Buddha says that just as the candle flame is not the same -- it is changing constantly, although in
           another sense it is the same because it is the same continuum -- exactly like that, there is no soul
           entity in you like a thing but one like a flame. It is continuously changing, it is a river.
                Buddha does not believe in nouns, he only believes in verbs, and I perfectly agree with him. He
           has come closest to the truth; at least in his expression he is the most profound.
                But why did Jesus, Moses, Mohammed -- the sources of all the three religions that have been
           born outside India -- not talk about reincarnation directly? For a certain reason, and the reason is that
           Moses was aware... because Egypt and India have been in constant contact. It is suspected that once
           Africa was part of Asia and that the continent has slowly shifted away. India and Egypt were joined
           together, hence there are so many similarities. And it is not strange that South India is black; it has
           partly Negro blood in its veins, it is negroid -- not totally, but if Africa was joined with Asia then
           certainly the mingling of the Aryans with the Negroes must have happened, and then South India
           became black.
                Moses must have been perfectly aware of India. You will be surprised that Kashmir claims that
           both Moses and Jesus are buried there. The tombs are there, one tomb for Moses and one tomb for
           Jesus. They saw what happened to India through the theory of reincarnation.
                Because of the theory of reincarnation India became very lethargic; there is no hurry. India has
           no time sense, not even now. Even though everybody is wearing a wristwatch there is no time sense.
           If somebody says, "I will be coming at five o'clock in the evening to see you," it can mean anything.
           He may turn up at four, he may turn up at six, he may not turn up at all -- and it is not taken
           seriously! It is not that he is not fulfilling his promise -- there is no time sense! How can you have
           time sense when eternity is available? When there are so many many lives, why be in such a hurry?
           One can go on slowly; one is bound to reach some day or other.
                The theory of reincarnation made India very lethargic, dull. It made India utterly
           time-unconscious. It helped people to postpone. And if you can postpone for tomorrow, then today
           you will remain the same as you have been and the tomorrow never comes. And India knows how to
           postpone not only to tomorrow but even to the next life.
                Moses and Jesus both visited India, both were aware. Mohammed never visited India but was
           perfectly aware, because he was very close to India and there was constant traffic between India and
           Arabia. They decided that it was better to tell people, "There is only one life, this is the LAST
           chance -- the first and the last -- if you miss it, you miss forever." This is a device to create intense
           longing, to create such intensity in people that they can be transformed easily.
                Then the question arises: Were Mahavira, Buddha and Krishna not aware? Were they not aware
           that this theory of reincarnation would create lethargy? They were trying a totally different device.
           And each device has its time; once it is used...it cannot be used forever. People become accustomed
           to it. When Buddha, Mahavira and Krishna tried the device of reincarnation they were trying it from
           a totally different angle.
                India was a very rich country in those days. It was thought to be the golden country of the world,
           the richest. And in a rich country the real problem, the greatest problem, is boredom. That is
           happening now in the West. Now America is in the same situation, and boredom has become the
           greatest problem. People are utterly bored, so bored that they would like to die.
                Krishna, Mahavira and Buddha used this situation. They told people, "This is nothing, one life's
           boredom is nothing. You have lived for many lives, and remember, if you don't listen you are going
           to live many more lives; you will be bored again and again and again. It is the same wheel of life and
           death moving."
                They painted boredom in such dark colors that people who were already bored with even one life
           became really very deeply involved with religion. One has to get rid of life and death; one has to get
           out of this wheel, this vicious circle of birth and death. Hence it was relevant in those days.
                Then India became poor. Once the country became poor boredom disappeared. A poor man is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never bored, remember; only a rich man can afford boredom, it is a rich man's privilege. It is
           impossible for a poor man to feel boredom; he has no time. The whole day he is working; when he
           comes home he is so tired he falls asleep. He need not have many many entertainments -- television
           and movies and music and art and museums -- he need not have all these things, he CANNOT have
           them. His only entertainment is sex: a natural thing, inbuilt. That's why poor countries go on
           reproducing more children than rich countries -- the only entertainment.
               If you want to reduce the population of poor countries, give them more entertainment. Give them
           television sets, give them radios, movies -- something that can keep them distracted from sex.
               I have heard about American couples that they become so much obsessed with the television that
           even while making love they go on watching the television. Love becomes secondary, television
           becomes primary. They don't want to miss the program that is going on.
               A poor country knows only one entertainment because it cannot afford any other; it can afford
           only the natural, inbuilt one. So a poor country goes on producing people; it becomes more and more
           crowded. And they are not fed up with life. What life do they have? First you have to have life to be
           fed up with it. You have to have money to be fed up with it. You have to have many women to be
           fed up with them. You have to have many experiences of the world to be finished with it.
               The moment India became poor the theory of reincarnation became an escape, a hope -- rather
           than a boredom it became a hope, a possibility to postpone. "I am poor in this life. Nothing to be
           worried about; there are many lives. Next life I am going to strive a little harder and I will be richer.
           This life I have got an ugly woman. Nothing to be worried about; it is only a question of one life.
           Next time I am not going to make the same mistake again. This time I am suffering from my past
           karmas. This life I will not commit any wrong things so that I can enjoy the coming life." It became
           postponement.
               Jesus saw it, that the device was no longer working in the way it was meant to work. The
           situation had changed. Now Jesus had to create another device: there is only one life -- so if you
           want to be religious, if you want to meditate, if you want to become a sannyasin, BE ONE RIGHT
           NOW -- because the tomorrow is not reliable. There may be no tomorrow.
               Hence the West has become too conscious of time; everybody is in a hurry. This hurry is because
           of Christianity. The device has again failed. No device can work forever.
               My own experience is that a particular device works only while the Master is alive, because he is
           the soul of it; he manages it in such a way that it works once the Master is gone, the device falls out
           of use or people start finding new interpretations for it.
               Now in the West the device has failed utterly; now it has become a problem. People are in a
           constant hurry, tension, anxiety, because there is only one life. Jesus wanted them to remember:
           because there is one life, remember God. And what are they doing? Seeing that there is only one life
           they want to drink, eat and be merry, because there is no other life. So indulge as much as you can.
           Squeeze the whole juice of life right now! And who cares about what will happen on the Judgment
           Day? Who knows whether the Judgment Day is there or not?

               The professor at a girls' college was a really dirty old man. He could not give a lecture without
           making some kind of obscene remark. Eventually the girls decided that the next time he did it they
           would all get up from their desks and leave the classroom.
               The next morning the professor entered the room and started in right away: "Hey, girls, I heard
           that just yesterday a ship came into the harbor with thirty Negro sailors on deck. Just imagine, girls,
           thirty huge Negro pricks...."
               At this point the whole class got up and started to go out of the room.
           "Hey, girls," shouted the professor after them, "no need to hurry. They are gonna stay here for
           another two weeks."

              A great hurry has arisen in the West about everything, because there is no other life.

               Mary and John are both living in a big apartment-house in New York City. One day they meet
           and instantly fall in love with each other, but they don't make any contact. This goes on for six
           months until John just can't bear the tension any more and asks her to come to his apartment for a
           drink. Hesitatingly she says yes and as soon as they reach his flat they close the door behind them
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and rush into the bedroom and throw themselves on the bed.
              After a few minutes John explains with a hoarse voice, "Listen, I am very sorry, but if I had
           known that you were a virgin I would have taken more time."
              Mary replies, "Well, if I had known that you had more time, I would have taken my pants off!"

               Such a hurry! Speed is the mania, faster and faster. Nobody is bothered where you are going, but
           you have to go fast; invent speedier vehicles.
               And this whole thing has happened because of the device. It worked in Jesus' time. He was
           continuously telling his people, "Beware! The Day of Judgment is very close by. You are going to
           see the end of the world in your very own life and there is no other life. And if you miss you will be
           thrown into hell for eternity!" He was simply creating a psychological atmosphere. It worked when
           he was alive and it worked for a few more days when he was gone. It continued to work for a few
           days because of the closest disciples who had something of the climate of Jesus with them, some
           aura, but then it created just the opposite effect.
               It has created the MOST worldly civilization the world has ever known. And the desire was that
           the idea of one life would make people so alert and aware that they would seek and search for God
           and they would drop ALL other desires and ALL other occupations. Their whole life would become
           one-pointedly a search, an inquiry, for God. That was the idea behind the device. But the ultimate
           result is that people have become absolutely worldly, because there is no other life, only one life --
           enjoy it the most you can! Enjoy it, don't postpone it for tomorrow.
               The Indian device failed because people became lethargic. It worked with Buddha. He really
           created one of the greatest movements in the world. Thousands of people renounced their lives,
           became sannyasins. That means they devoted their whole energy to the search for truth, because he
           created such an atmosphere of boredom that you would be bored if you missed.
               But what happened later on was just the opposite. It is always going to be so. The Masters are
           bound to be misunderstood. And people are so cunning, so diplomatic, they can always find ways to
           destroy the whole device.
               Jesus knows perfectly that life is eternal, reincarnation is a fact. He mentions it in indirect ways,
           maybe to his very close disciples he mentions it, but not to the masses -- for a simple reason: he has
           seen that it failed in India, something else has to be tried.
               I am creating many devices because others have failed. I know perfectly well that my devices
           will function only while I am here; they are bound to fail as every other device has failed. I am not
           living in any fool's paradise thinking that my devices will remain as I create them forever. When I
           am not there, people are going to distort them. But that is natural, it has to be accepted; there is
           nothing to worry about.
               Hence those who are here, please be alert and use these devices as deeply as possible. While I am
           here these devices will function perfectly well. In my hands they can be great situations for inner
           transformation, but once my hands are no more visible these same devices will be in the hands of the
           pundits and the scholars, and then the same story will be repeated as it has been in the past.
           Beware, be watchful. Don't waste time.




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                  Chapter #5
                                Chapter title: Watch This! Stranger than Fiction
           5 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909050
              ShortTitle: BESTIL05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question


              OSHO, YOU TALKED YESTERDAY OF CHILDREN ASSERTING THEIR EGOS AND REBELLING
              AGAINST THEIR PARENTS, OF BEING ABLE TO SAY NO! AND THUS CREATING A SPINE, AN
              INDIVIDUALITY, A FREEDOM.
              OSHO, DO WE NOW COME TO YOU AND SAY YES! SO THAT WE CAN DROP THAT EGO? BY
              DOING SO, WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO OUR INDIVIDUALITY, FREEDOM AND SPINE?

              Nitin Bharti,


               IF THE EGO IS LIKE A LADDER: you have to use it but you cannot make your house on it. Or,
           the ego is like a boat: you can use it to go to the other shore but then you need not carry it on your
           head for your whole life. It has something essential to do, but it should not become a burden forever;
           when its purpose is fulfilled it has to be dropped.
               Just as a child needs to say no, the mature person one day needs to say yes. If the child cannot
           say no to the parents, to the authorities, to the teachers, if the child is unable to disobey, he will not
           attain to any individuality; he will not have any form, shape. He will be just part of the mob mind,
           the crowd. He will be impotent; he will not be able to stand on his own. He will not have any
           self-respect. He will remain hotchpotch, an ugly mess. He will not really be born; he will remain in a
           psychological womb his whole life, ungrown-up. He has to learn how to disobey. And the wise
           parents will help him to disobey in such a way that disobeying does not distort him. They will give
           him opportunities to disobey, they will give him opportunities to say no.
               That's exactly the meaning of the biblical parable. God said to Adam, "Don't eat the fruit of this
           tree, the tree of knowledge. If you eat the fruit of this tree you will be expelled from paradise." It is a
           great temptation! It is giving Adam an opportunity to disobey.
               And also God said to Adam, "If you eat the fruit of this tree you will become a mortal; right now
           you are immortal. Secondly, if you eat the fruit of this tree you will become like gods, all-knowing."
           You see the temptation, the multi-dimensional temptation? First: "You will be able to become like
           gods, all-knowing." Who would not like to become like gods, all-knowing? And the second, the
           danger, the risk: "If you eat from this tree you will become mortal; death will start happening to
           you." Now it is a challenge! Danger always attracts, and death is the greatest danger.
               God did not leave any possibility for Adam to remain obedient. There must have been millions of
           trees in the Garden of Eden and only one tree of knowledge; if Adam had been left alone, on his own
           he might not have discovered it up to now. But God didn't leave it up to him; he pointed out the tree
           and created the temptation. You think the serpent did it? If the serpent did it, then he must have been
           in the service of God.

               A small child was telling his mother...the mother had asked, "What have you been taught today
           in Sunday school?"
               He said, "We have been told the biblical story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion. Adam and
           Eve were told not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, then the servant of God came and tempted
           them."
               The mother said, "Servant? You must have misunderstood -- it is not servant, it is serpent!"

               But my feeling is that the child is right: the serpent must have been in the service of God, must
           have been in the secret police department of God, the FBI or something like that. And in all
           civilizations the serpent has always represented wisdom. Jesus says: "Be wise like serpents and
           innocent like doves." Wise like serpents? God must have used the most wise animal to convey the
           message, the temptation, to Adam and Eve.
               The message was given to Eve, not to Adam; since then it has been always so. The salesman
           comes to the wife not to the husband. The moment the husband leaves for the office the salesman
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           comes and knocks on the door, because the woman can be tempted more easily. The husband will
           argue, will be stubborn, will not listen, but the wife is easily tempted.
                One advertising company was told by a big manufacturer of television sets, "Find out some new
           way to tempt people to purchase our product." The advertising company suggested, "Send letters to
           all the addresses given in the telephone directory. The letters should be in the husbands' names but
           on top of the letters there should be a note in red letters: 'Personal. Private. Not to be read by
           anybody else.' Then the wives are bound to read them; then you cannot miss." And once they read
           them, once THEY are impressed...all husbands are henpecked -- universally so, categorically so. To
           be a husband and to be henpecked are synonymous, and I cannot do anything about it. It has been so
           since Adam; that is the way things are.
                Once Eve was convinced, tempted, Adam followed suit.
                If parents are really wise they will create opportunities for the children to say no -- and beautiful
           opportunities. Right now, unknowingly, they give ugly opportunities. For example, you say to the
           child, "Don't smoke cigarettes." This is an ugly opportunity because the child WILL smoke -- you
           have tempted the child to smoke cigarettes. You should have told him something better -- "Don't go
           out in the sun. Don't climb the tree." But you say to the children, "Don't eat ice cream." You should
           say to them, "Don't eat fruit" -- that will be a wise temptation! "Eat as much ice cream as you want,
           but don't eat fruit." Give them such a temptation as leads them to say no to you but does not harm
           their lives; otherwise they will remain deformed their whole lives.

               Two old men -- one was seventy, the other was eighty -- were talking. They were talking about
           the most embarrassing moments in their lives. The seventy-year-old man said, "I have never told
           anybody, but you are my bosom friend and I know you will keep it a secret. The most embarrassing
           moment of my life was when I was caught looking through the keyhole of a bathroom when a young
           woman was taking a bath."
               The other said, "Forget all about it -- each child does that. There is nothing to be so much
           embarrassed about."
               And the old man said, "I know -- but it was yesterday."

               Once wrong habits are formed they continue; they remain like hangovers and they become more
           and more ingrained, more and more deep they go into your unconscious.
               Nitin, I am perfectly in favor of creating an ego in the child, because without an ego the child
           will remain a part of the parents; he will never be an individual on his own. But the no and the
           no-saying creates only a superficial individuality; because no is negative it cannot create REAL
           individuality.
               The superficial individuality is called personality; the ego gives you a personality. But it is better
           than having nothing at all at least it gives you a sense of your being, it defines you. But don't remain
           in it forever; it is a passing phase, a stepping-stone. From the personality you have to reach
           individuality. From the superficial individuality you have to attain to a core individuality. That is
           possible only by saying yes. But yes is significant only when you have become able to say no. If you
           say yes from the very beginning, your yes carries no meaning at all; it is meaningless. If you are
           capable of saying no then your yes has meaning, as much meaning as your no has strength.
               Hence the society teaches you a false, superficial personality. But when you come to a Buddha,
           to a Jesus, to a Krishna, to a Mahavira -- to a MASTER, to a real Master -- he will teach you how to
           say yes. He will take away your no, he will take away your personality.
               The personality is like the shell of an egg -- the ego is the shell of the egg. It protects the life
           within for the time being only; beyond that it will be destructive. The egg has to be broken one day
           so the bird can come out. No only creates a shell around you. It is good, it is needed, it is protective,
           but one day you have to come out of it. That's the function of religion.
               Hence religion is possible only in a civilized, cultured, sophisticated society. The more educated
           the society is, cultured, civilized, the higher the religion that is possible. The primitive people also
           have religion, but their religion is not yet religion; it is magic, it is ritual. Hence they have not
           produced Buddhas. They are good people, simple, beautiful, innocent....
               You can go around India; there are many tribes still, aboriginals, very beautiful people. I have
           been to them, I have lived with them, I have enjoyed their beauty and their innocence. But they have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never created a Buddha in their whole history; at the most they create magicians. Their religion
           consists only of rituals, formalities; it never attains to the heights of prayer and meditation; it never
           reaches to the heights of a Patanjali or a Lao Tzu or a Mohammed. They have not produced any
           Koran, Upanishads, Bible; they cannot. They are people who have not yet said no, they are people
           who have not yet disobeyed. They have not eaten the fruit of knowledge, they are simply ignorant.
               Eat the fruit of knowledge! Become knowledge-able, and one day renounce your knowledge.
           Then wisdom is born. Wisdom is not ignorance; wisdom is renunciation of knowledge -- but first the
           knowledge is required.
               Before you can become a Christ you will have to become a disobedient Adam and Eve,
           otherwise Christ is not possible. Christ is the higher stage of Adam. Adam says no, creates a
           personality; Christ says yes, drops the old personality and attains to a new individuality which is
           eternal. By saying no Adam becomes a mortal; by saying yes Christ becomes an immortal. By saying
           no Adam becomes only apparently a god; by saying yes Christ REALLY becomes a god.
               The process is paradoxical, hence the question. I can understand your question, Nitin:

           WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO OUR INDIVIDUALITY, FREEDOM AND SPINE?

                The spine, the individuality, the freedom, that is created by no is only a transitory process. You
           have to go beyond it; it is a boat that has to be left behind. When you have reached the roof you
           leave the ladder; it is a bridge to be crossed.
                Now learn how to say yes. No you know perfectly well. In fact, Nitin has come from Africa to be
           here with me forever -- against his parents. This was your ultimate no! Those who come to me, they
           have to come against their parents, because parents are Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians,
           Buddhists, Jainas...I am nobody! Coming to me, a Christian will become a non-Christian and a
           Hindu will become a non-Hindu and a Mohammedan will become a non-Mohammedan.
                I am not creating a new religion here, but a new man, a new consciousness. I am not creating a
           new philosophy or theology, but a new vision, a new humanity. You have to come out of your old,
           rotten ideologies. Hence parents are bound to be against you; they will not like you to be here. I can
           understand them -- they are worried about you, they care for you. Their worry is utterly wrong, but
           still it shows their care and their love. They would like you to remain in the fold in which they and
           their forefathers have always lived. They are worried you may go astray -- they have not attained to
           anything by being in the fold, but still they would like you to be in the fold. It is safer, familiar, more
           secure.
                Nitin has come with his wife against the desires of his parents; that was the ultimate no. Now I
           will teach you how to say the ultimate yes. The function of the no is complete; if you go on saying
           no here too, then you are misunderstanding me completely. I am not your father, I am not your
           mother! I have to take this no away from you and create yes. The work of the no is complete; now
           you need a higher flight, now you need a higher altitude of being. That is possible only through yes,
           because yes is positive.
                No gives you a negative kind of individuality, yes gives you a positive individuality. A negative
           individuality is not real individuality, it is only personality, a mask -- good in its own time. But
           remember always that every means has to be transcended some day or other. If you want to reach the
           goal, one day you will have to leave the way.

               Buddha used to say, "Once I saw five fools carrying a boat on their heads in the marketplace. I
           asked them, 'What is the matter with you? Why are you carrying this boat?'
           "They said, 'This boat helped us to come from the other shore to this shore; this boat has helped our
           lives.
               If this boat had not been available... on the other shore there were wild animals, and if we had
           had to remain there even only for one night we would be dead by now. We can never forget the great
           blessing that the boat has bestowed upon us. Out of sheer thankfulness we will carry the boat forever
           on our heads!'"
               Buddha said, "This is the way of the stupid people. They carry scriptures, they carry ideologies,
           they carry philosophies, on their heads. Rather than becoming a help, the boat has become a
           hindrance. It would have been better if they had died on the other shore; at least they would have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been saved carrying this weight their whole lives. Now this WEIGHT will kill them!"

               No is good, but nobody can live in the no, nobody can make a home out of the no. No is suicidal
           -- use it, but go beyond it. Be alert and conscious that you don't become encaged in the no-saying.
           Attain to yes; use no as a stepping-stone.
               By being part of this commune you have to learn how to say yes with totality. That is trust, that
           is surrender, that is faith. That's what will become a bridge, the final bridge between you and God. It
           will not destroy your freedom; it will simply make your freedom positive.
               There are three kinds of freedom. One is 'freedom from'; that is a negative freedom: freedom
           from the father, freedom from the mother, freedom from the church, freedom from the society. That
           is a negative kind of freedom -- freedom from -- good in the beginning, but that can't be the goal.
           Once you are free from your parents, what are you going to do? Once you are free from your society
           then you will be at loss. You will lose all meaning and significance because your whole life had
           meaning in saying no. Now whom to say no to?

               A young man came to me; he wanted to marry a girl. He was a brahmin, a very high-caste
           brahmin, very respected in the city, and he wanted to marry a Parsi girl. The parents were obviously
           against it, absolutely against it. They had told him that if he married that girl they would disown him
           -- and he was the only son. The more stubborn the parents became, the more the young man became
           determined to marry the girl. He had come to ask my advice.
               I said, "Just meditate for three days on one thing: are you really interested in the girl or are you
           simply interested in saying no to your parents?"
               He said, "Why do you say this to me? I LOVE the girl, I am absolutely in love!"
               I said, "If you say so, then get married. But I don't see any love in your eyes, I don't see any love
           in your heart. I don't see any fragrance of love. I only see some negative aura around you, a black
           aura around your face. It says you are determined to go against your parents -- the girl is only an
           excuse."
               But he wouldn't listen. If he was not going to listen to his parents, how was he going to listen to
           me? He got married. After six months he came to see me, crying and weeping. He fell at my feet and
           said, "You were right -- I don't love that woman, that love was false. You were right, your diagnosis
           was right. Now that I have got married to her and I have denied my parents' order, all love has
           disappeared."

               This is 'freedom from'. This is not much of a freedom, but better than nothing.
               The second kind of freedom is 'freedom for'; that is positive freedom. Your interest is not in
           denying something, rather you want to create something. For example, you want to be a poet, and
           just because you want to be a poet you have to say no to your parents. But your basic orientation is
           that you want to be a poet and your parents would like you to be a plumber. "Better be a plumber!
           That is far more paying, far more economical, far more respectable too. Poet?! People will think you
           are crazy! And how are you going to live? And how are you going to support your wife and your
           children? Poetry can't pay!"
               But if you are for poetry, ready to risk all, this is a higher freedom, better than the first. It is
           positive freedom -- 'freedom for'. Even if you have to live a life of poverty you will be happy, you
           will be cheerful. Even if you have to chop wood to remain a poet you will be utterly blissful,
           fulfilled, because you are doing what you wanted to do, you are doing your own thing. This is
           positive freedom.
               And then there is a third freedom, the highest; in the East we have called it MOKSHA -- the
           ultimate freedom, which goes beyond both the negative and the positive. First learn saying no, then
           learn saying yes, and then just forget both, just be. The third freedom is not freedom against
           something, not for something, but just freedom. One is simply free -- no question of going against,
           no question of going for. 'Freedom from' is political, hence all political revolutions fail -- when they
           succeed. If they don't succeed they can go on hoping, but the moment they succeed they fail, because
           then they don't know what to do. That happened in the French Revolution, that happened in the
           Russian Revolution...that happens to every revolution. A political revolution is 'freedom from'. Once
           the Czar is gone, then you are at a loss: What to do now? Your whole life was devoted to fighting the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Czar; you know only one thing, how to fight the Czar. Once the Czar is gone you are at a loss; your
           whole skill is useless. You will find yourself very empty. 'Freedom for' is artistic, creative,
           scientific. And 'just freedom' is religious.
               Nitin, before I can teach you MOKSHA -- just freedom, neither for nor against, NETI NETI,
           neither this nor that, but pure freedom, just the fragrance of freedom -- before I can teach it to you,
           you will have to know the positive one: 'freedom for'.
               Hence the commune. It is a creative commune; we are going to be creative in a thousand and one
           ways. In every possible way we are going to be creative, so that you can learn how to say yes to life.
               When the yes has destroyed your no, both can be thrown away. That is the ultimate in joy, in
           freedom, in realization.

           The second question


              OSHO, IS LIFE NOT SOMETIMES FAR MORE SURPRISING THAN FICTIONS THEMSELVES?

              Praghosh,


               NOT ONLY SOMETIMES BUT ALWAYS. Fictions are only reflections of life -- how can they
           be more surprising? No fiction is so fictitious as life itself; life is made of the stuff called dreams.
           Hence the mystic says life is illusion, MAYA, a mirage. It is a mystery, unfathomable, infinite,
           beginningless, endless.
               So I will not say that only sometimes it is surprising; each moment of it is a surprise, but you
           don't feel it. You feel it only once in a while when something really extraordinary happens and you
           are shocked into wakefulness. Only then do you understand that life is far more surprising -- because
           you are fast asleep. Unless something out of the way, very outlandish, far out, happens, and you are
           shaken and shocked into a little bit of awareness, only then do you see what a miracle life is, how
           much surprise it contains.
               But to the Buddhas each moment of it is a surprise, because it is each moment new, renewing
           itself. Everything is extraordinary if you are alert, if you are sensitive enough, if you are open
           enough. Then the whole of life, from the mundane to the sacred, from the lowest to the highest, the
           whole of life is such a mystery that you are always in for a surprise. It depends on your sensitivity, it
           depends on your awareness, it depends how conscious you are.

               A Zen Master was asked, "What did you use to do before you became enlightened?"
               He said, "I used to chop wood and carry water from the well for my Master's house."
               The inquirer asked, "And now that you have become enlightened, what do you do?"
           He said, "I chop wood and carry water."
               The inquirer was obviously puzzled. "Then what is the difference? You used to chop wood and
           carry water, you still chop wood and still carry water -- then what is the difference?"
               The Master laughed. He said, "The difference is infinite! Before I simply used to chop wood not
           knowing the beauties that surrounded me. Now chopping wood is not the same because I am not the
           same. My eyes are not the same, my heart beats in a different rhythm -- my heart beats with the heart
           of the whole. There is a synchronicity, there is harmony.
           "Carrying water from the well is the same from the outside, but my interior has become totally
           different. I am a new man, I am born again! Now I can see in depth, I can see into the very core of
           things, and each pebble has become a diamond, and each song of a bird is nothing but a call from
           God, and whenever a flower blooms, God blooms for me. Looking into people's eyes I am looking
           into God's eyes. Yes, on the surface I am carrying on the same activity, but because I am not the
           same the world is not the same."

              Start becoming a little more alert and watch things, and you will be surprised. Life is mysterious,
           unexplainable -- life is absurd. You cannot prove anything for or against.

              Tertullian says: I believe in God because God is absurd -- CREDO QUIA ABSURDUM. WHY
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do I believe in God? -- because God is absurd! No logic can prove him, no logic can disprove him. It
           is a love affair. And life is very hilarious because it is very ridiculous too.
                If you become a little alert you will find love, light, laughter, everywhere!

               It is said that when Hotei attained enlightenment he started laughing. He lived at least thirty
           years afterwards; he continued laughing for thirty years. Even in sleep his disciples would hear him
           giggling. His whole message to the world was laughter; he would go from one town to another just
           laughing. He would stand in one marketplace, then in another, just laughing, and people would
           gather. His laughter had something of the beyond -- a Buddha's laughter. He is known in Japan as
           'the laughing Buddha'.
               His laughter was so contagious that whosoever heard it would start laughing. Soon the whole
           marketplace would be laughing; crowds would gather and laugh and they would ask him, "Just give
           us a few instructions."
               He would say, "Nothing more, this is enough. If you can laugh, if you can laugh totally, it is
           meditation."
               Laughter was his device. It is said many people became enlightened through Hotei's laughter.
           That was his only meditation: to laugh and help people laugh.

           Just watch life, and you will be surprised.

                A Scot, an Italian and a Jewish man were dining together in an expensive restaurant. When the
           bill arrived, the Scotsman promptly declared that he would take it.
                Now this is impossible! "The Scotsman promptly declared that he would take it." Can you
           believe it? Is it possible? It has never happened, it is not going to happen -- but that day it happened.
           The next day the newspapers carried the headline: "JEWISH VENTRILOQUIST SHOT IN
           RESTAURANT."

               McLeod and his wife visited one of the circus airfields where they charge fifty dollars for a plane
           ride just around the town. Naturally he would not spend the money until the pilot approached him.
           "I will take you and your wife up for nothing," he said. "It will be a rough ride -- but if you and your
           wife let out one single word, one sound, while we are up there, then it is double."
               McLeod accepted the challenge and up they went. It really was a rough ride -- dives, loops,
           turnovers. Finally they landed.
           "You win," said the pilot. "Not a word out of you."
           "No," said the Scotsman. "But I almost did speak when my wife fell out."

              Just look at people! And each person is a fiction, and each person carries so many stories in his
           heart. Love people, search in their souls, and you will not need to go to the movies and you will not
           need to read novels. EACH person contains many novels and many movies, but we don't listen to
           people. We don't see people face to face, we don't hold their hands, we don't allow them to open their
           hearts.

               For the first time humanity has become very closed. Each person is living a windowless life,
           completely encapsulated. Open up! Throw your doors and windows open. Let wind and rain and sun
           come in Let people enter into you and you enter into people's lives. That is the only way to become
           aware of the tremendous mystery of life. And to be aware of the mystery of life is to be aware of
           God.
           One day King Arthur decided to go in search of the Holy Grail, but he hesitated to leave his knight,
           Sir Lancelot, with his wife, Queen Guinevere, so he went to ask the wise Merlin for advice. Merlin
           told him to give him a few days to think it over.
           A few days later King Arthur returned to see Merlin who proudly showed him his new invention -- a
           chastity belt. Puzzled, King Arthur looked at it and said, "But this is no good -- it has the hole in the
           wrong place! "
           Merlin said, "No, no! You just watch this." And he picked up a pencil and put it in the hole. The
           pencil snapped in half.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           King Arthur was absolutely delighted and departed with the belt. After putting it on his wife he set
           off in search of the Holy Grail, his mind at peace about Guinevere and Sir Lancelot.
               Many weeks later he returned -- and immediately lined up all his knights in the castle courtyard
           and told them to pull down their trousers. Lo and behold, all the knights were castrated except the
           one at the end of the line, Sir Lancelot.
           King Arthur, distraught at having mistrusted his gallant knight -- the only one to have upheld the
           honor of Queen Guinevere -- went up to him and said, "I give you my humble apologies. You are the
           knight that I mistrusted the most, but in fact you are the most loyal. I will grant you anything that
           you ask for. Say what it is that you desire."
           And Sir Lancelot went, "Mm mm mm...."

           The third question


              OSHO, IN A LECTURE YOU SPOKE ABOUT NON-IDENTIFICATION, THAT ONE SHOULD
              BECOME A WITNESS. BUT IN THE WEST MANY PEOPLE ARE ALIENATED, THEY CANNOT GET
              INVOLVED. THEY ARE SIMPLY INDIFFERENT TO EVERYTHING. THAT IS ALSO MY
              EXPERIENCE. PLEASE CAN YOU MAKE CLEAR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
              NON-IDENTIFICATION AND ALIENATION?

              Nicolaas,


                THE DIFFERENCE IS VERY CLEARCUT, but subtle and delicate To be indifferent means to
           be dead; it does not mean that you are a witness, it simply means you are disconnected from life and
           all the sources that nourish you. You are only uprooted; that is alienation.
                Uproot a tree and it will start dying. Its greenness will be gone, soon the foliage will wither
           away, flowers will not come any more. The spring will come and go but the tree will know nothing
           of it; it has become alienated from existence. It is no longer rooted in the earth, it is no longer related
           to the sun, it no longer has any bridge. It is surrounded by walls, all bridges are broken.
                That's what has happened to the modern man: he is an uprooted tree. He has forgotten how to
           relate with existence, he has forgotten how to whisper with the clouds and the trees and the
           mountains. He has completely forgotten the language of silence... because it is the language of
           silence that becomes a bridge between you and the universe that surrounds you. The universe knows
           no other language. On the earth there are three thousand languages; existence knows no language
           except the language of silence.

               An English general was talking to a German general after the Second World War. The German
           was very puzzled; he said, "We had the best equipped army in the world, the best war technology,
           the greatest leader that history has ever known, the best of generals, and such a devoted army. Why?
           -- why couldn't we win? It seems simply Impossible that we have been defeated! It is unbelievable --
           although it has happened -- but we cannot believe it!"
               The English general laughed and said, "There is one thing you have forgotten: before starting any
           battle we used to pray to God; that is the secret of our victory."
               The German said, "But we also used to pray to God, every morning!"
               The English general laughed and he said, "We know that you used to pray, but you pray in
           German and we pray in English -- and who told you that God knows German?"

                Everybody thinks his language is the language of God. Hindus say Sanskrit is the holy language,
           the divine language -- DEVA VANI -- God understands only Sanskrit. And ask the Mohammedans
           -- then God understands only Arabic; otherwise, why should he have revealed the Koran in Arabic?
           And ask the Jews -- then God understands only Hebrew.
                God understands no language because God means this total existence. God understands only
           silence -- and we have forgotten silence.
                Nicolaas, because we have forgotten silence, forgotten the art of meditation, we have become
           alienated. We have become small, dirty, muddy pools and we don't know how to go and be one with
           the ocean. We go on becoming dirtier every day, shallower every day, because the water goes on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           evaporating. We are just muddy, our life has no clarity. Our eyes cannot see and our hearts cannot
           feel.
                This state is the state of indifference; it is a negative state. The mystics have called it 'the dark
           night of the soul'. It is not witnessing, it is just the opposite of witnessing.
                When I say be a witness I am not saying become uprooted from life. I am saying live life in all its
           multi-dimensionality, and YET remain aware. Drink the juices of life, but remember that while you
           are drinking the juices of life there is a consciousness in you beyond all action, all doing. Drinking,
           eating, walking, sleeping, are all acts, and there is a consciousness in you which simply reflects, a
           mirrorlike phenomenon. It is not indifference. The mirror is not indifferent to you, otherwise why
           should it bother to reflect you at all? It is immensely interested in you, it reflects you, but it does not
           become attached. The moment you are gone, you are gone; the mirror does not remain remembering
           you; the mirror now reflects that which is in front of it.
                A witnessing consciousness lives in life but with tremendous non-attachment, with great
           non-possessiveness; it possesses nothing. It lives totally, it lives passionately, but still knowing that
           "I don't possess anything."
                The witnessing consciousness is not an island separate from the ocean; it is ONE with the ocean.
           But still a miracle, a paradox: even being one with the ocean there is a part that remains above the
           ocean like the tip of the iceberg. That part is your witnessing soul. To create it is the greatest treasure
           in the world; one becomes a Buddha by creating it
                Falling into indifference you become simply unconscious, you go into a coma. You lose all joy in
           life; the celebration of life stops for you. Then you don't exist, you only vegetate. Then you are not a
           man but only a cabbage -- and that too uprooted. You become more and more rotten every day, you
           stink; no fragrance comes out of you. The same energy that could have become fragrance passing
           through a witnessing soul becomes a stinking phenomenon by becoming indifferent.
                But I can understand your question, Nicolaas. From the outside sometimes indifference and
           witnessing may appear alike. This has been one of the greatest calamities -- because they APPEAR
           alike. Hence true sannyas was lost and a phony sannyas became predominant. I call sannyas phony if
           it lives in indifference.
                The phony sannyas is escapist. It teaches you not to enjoy ,life, it teaches you not to love music,
           it teaches you not to cherish beauty. It teaches you to destroy all the sources that beautify your
           existence. It teaches you to escape to the caves, ugly caves, to turn your back towards the world that
           God has given as a gift to you.
                The phony sannyas is not only against the world, it is against God too, because to be against the
           world is to be against the creator of the world. If you hate the painting you are bound to hate the
           painter. If you dislike the dance, how can you like the dancer? God is the painter, the world is his
           painting. God is the musician, the world is his music. God is the dancer, NATARAJ, and the world is
           his dance. If you renounce the world, indirectly you are renouncing God.
                The phony sannyas is escapist; cheap it is, easy it is. It is very easy to escape from the world and
           live in a cave and feel holy -- because there is no opportunity for you to be unholy, no challenge.
           Nobody insults you, nobody criticizes you. There is nobody present, so you can think that now there
           is no anger in you, you can feel that now there is no ego in you. Come back to the world!...
                I know people who have lived for thirty years in the Himalayas, and when they come back to the
           world they are surprised to find that they are the same people, nothing has changed. Thirty years of
           Himalayas -- a sheer wastage! But while they were in the Himalayas they were thinking they had
           become very sacred, very holy, they had become great saints. And there were reasons for them to
           think so, because no anger, no ego, no greed... there is nothing to possess so you feel non-possessive,
           nobody to compete with so you feel non-competitive, nobody hurts your ego so you don't feel the
           ego at all.
                Things are felt only when there is some hurt. For example, you feel your head only when there is
           a headache. When the headache disappears, the head also disappears from your consciousness; you
           cannot feel your head without a headache. You become headless when there is no headache.
                Living in the Himalayan cave you have escaped from all the hurts of the world which make you
           aware again and again of the ego, of the anger, of the greed, of jealousy.... Coming back into the
           world you will find everything is back again -- and back with a vengeance, because for thirty years it
           has been accumulating. You will bring a bigger ego than you had ever taken with you to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Himalayas.
           The sannyas that teaches indifference is phony.
               The sannyas that teaches you how to live in the world and yet float above it like a lotus flower,
           like a lotus leaf, remaining in the water and yet untouched by the water, remaining in the world and
           yet not allowing the world to enter into you, being in the world yet not being OF the world, that is
           true renunciation.
               That true renunciation comes through witnessing; it is not indifference. Indifference will make
           you alienated, being alienated you will feel meaningless, joyless, accidental. Feeling accidental, the
           desire to commit suicide will arise, is bound to arise. Why go on living a meaningless life? Why go
           on repeating the same rut, the same routine, every day? If there is no meaning, why not end it all,
           why not be finished with it all?
               Hence many many more people are committing suicide every day, many many people are going
           mad every day. The rate of suicide and madness is increasing. Psychoanalysis seems to be of no
           help. Psychoanalysts, in fact, commit suicide more, go mad more, than any other profession.
               Nothing seems to help the modern man -- because the indifference is too heavy; it has created a
           dark cloud around him. He cannot see beyond his own nose; he is suffocating in his lonely world.
           The walls are so thick, thicker than the China Wall, that even when you love you are hidden behind
           your wall, your beloved is hidden behind her wall. There are two China Walls between you. You
           shout, but no communication seems to be possible. You say one thing, something else is understood;
           she says something, you understand something else. Husbands and wives sooner or later come to one
           understanding: that it is better not to talk. It is better to keep silent, because the moment you utter a
           word misunderstanding is bound to follow.
               All communication has disappeared from the world. Everybody is living a lonely life -- lonely in
           the crowd; the crowd is becoming bigger and bigger every day. The world population is exploding;
           there have never been so many human beings as there are today -- and man has never been so lonely.
           Strange! Why are we so lonely amidst such a crowd? Communication has failed.

               Gaffney staggered into a bar crying. "What happened?" asked Brady the bartender.
           "I did a horrible thing," sniffed the drunk. "Just a few hours ago I sold my wife to someone for a
           bottle of Scotch."
           "That's awful," said Brady. "Now she is gone and you want her back, right?"
           "Right," said Gaffney, still crying.
           "You are sorry you sold her because you realized too late that you love her, right?"
           "Oh, no," said the Irishman, "I want her back because I am thirsty again!"

               It is becoming more and more difficult to understand people, because such thick, dense
           indifference surrounds everybody that even if you shout you can't be heard, or they hear something
           which you have not said at all. They hear that which they want to hear or they hear that which they
           CAN hear. They hear not what is said but what their mind interprets.

               Two black teenage girls wandered into a photographer's shop in Alabama to have their photos
           taken.
               The photographer sat them down and then busied himself under the black cloth behind his
           camera.
           "What's he doin'?" whispered one girl to her friend.
           "He's gonna focus," she whispered back.
           "What, both of us?"

               D'Angelo, the immigrant, had to travel by train from New York to Raleigh, North Carolina.
           When he was met by a cousin it was obvious that D'Angelo was in a very bad mood.
           "What happened?" asked his relative.
           "Ah, that goddamn-a conductor he tell-a me no do this and no do that!" exclaimed the Italian. "I take
           out-a my sand-a-wich and he say, 'No -- inna dining car.' I start-a drink-a some vino and he say, 'No
           -- inna cluba car.' So I go inna club-a car, meet-a girl, and she take-a me back to her empty
           compartment and then the goddamn conductor he come along ana yell, 'No'foka Virginia, no'foka
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Virginia!'"

                You understand that which you can understand. Your mind is always there to interpret, and the
           interpretation is yours. It has nothing to do with what you have been told
                People are becoming more and more lonely, and out of desperation they are trying every possible
           way to communicate. Nothing seems to help. Nothing can help unless they start learning the art of
           silence. Unless a man and woman know what silence is, unless they can sit together in deep silence,
           they cannot merge into each other's being. Their bodies may penetrate each other, but their souls will
           remain far apart. And when souls meet there is communion, there is understanding.
                Indifference makes you dull, makes you mediocre, makes you unintelligent. If you are indifferent
           your sword will lose all sharpness. That's how it happens to the monks in the monasteries. Look at
           their faces, in their eyes, and you can see that something is dead. They are like corpses walking,
           doing things robotlike because those things have to be done. They are not really involved; they have
           become utterly incapable of getting involved in anything.
                This is a very sad situation, and if it continues, man has no future. If it continues, then the third
           world war is bound to happen -- so that we can commit a global suicide; so there is no need to
           commit suicide retail, we can commit it wholesale. In one single moment the whole earth can die.
                Hence meditation has become something absolutely needed, the only hope for humanity to be
           saved, for the earth to still remain alive. Meditation simply means the capacity to get involved yet
           remain unattached. It looks paradoxical -- all great truths ARE paradoxical. You have to experience
           the paradox; that is the only way to understand it. You can do a thing joyously and yet just be a
           witness that you are doing it, that you are not the doer.
                Try with small things, Nicolaas, and you will understand. Tomorrow when you go for a morning
           walk, enjoy the walk -- the birds in the trees and the sunrays and the clouds and the wind. Enjoy, and
           still remember that you are a mirror; you are reflecting the clouds and the trees and the birds and the
           people.
                This self-remembering Buddha calls sammasati -- right mindfulness. Krishnamurti calls it
           'choiceless awareness', the Upanishads call it 'witnessing', Gurdjieff calls it 'self-remembering', but
           they all mean the same. But it does not mean that you have to become indifferent; if you become
           indifferent you lose the opportunity to self-remember.
                Go on a morning walk and still remember that you are not it You are not the walker but the
           watcher And slowly slowly you will have the taste of it -- it is a taste, it comes slowly. And it is the
           most delicate phenomenon in the world; you cannot get it in a hurry. Patience is needed.
                Eat, taste the food, and still remember that you are the watcher. In the beginning it will create a
           little trouble in you because you have not done these two things together. In the beginning, I know, if
           you start watching you will feel like stopping eating, or if you start eating you will forget watching.
                Our consciousness is one-way -- right now, as it is -- it goes only towards the target. But it can
           become two-way: it can eat and yet watch. You can remain settled in your center and you can see the
           storm around you; you can become the center of the cyclone. And that is the greatest miracle that can
           happen to a human being, because that brings freedom, liberation, truth, God, bliss, benediction.

           The last question


              OSHO, CAN YOU ALSO MAKE MISTAKES?


               Darshan,
           NOT A FEW BUT MANY...PLENTY! because I don't take anything seriously. So many times my
           sannyasins write to me, "Osho..." Subhuti wrote just a few days ago; when I said that Napoleon was
           obsessed with food, he wrote to me, "Is it Napoleon or Nero?" Who cares; Subhuti? Whichever you
           like! Sometimes I say Nero, sometimes I say Napoleon. I am not a very learned mm, and I am
           absolutely happy in being utterly unlearned.
               The other day somebody wrote: "You said that the gospels were written a few centuries after
           Jesus. This is not correct!" But I have not told you that this is correct! If it is incorrect it makes no
           difference to me. He has also written -- must be a learned man!...you have fallen in wrong company!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- he has also written: "You said that it was translated into Latin first." To me Latin and Greek are all
           the same! I don't understand Latin, I don't understand Greek, so all that I meant was that it was
           translated into something that I don't understand!
               Teertha understands it perfectly well. He has written a story. He has written to me:

               Osho, I was walking down M.G. Road one day when I saw a very strange sight: there was this
           man, right in the middle of the road, moving his arms as though he was rowing a boat. (Demonstrate,
           but mind the microphone!)
               I watched for a while, and eventually had to call out to him to find out what was going on.
           "What are you doing?" I shouted.
           "Rowing a boat, of course!" he replied.
           "But you are not in a boat" I called back.
           "I am not?!" he yelled, looking panic-stricken; and then started swimming as hard as he could.
           (Demonstrate, but mind the microphone.)

               Now he knows that I can hit the microphone -- and he is much more concerned about the
           microphone!
               I can commit mistakes a-plenty, but I am not deterred by them, I go on committing them --
           because if I start thinking that no mistake has to be committed then I cannot relate to you what I
           want to relate. Then I will have to be absolutely silent, because the truth that I have known can only
           be related if I am ready to commit many mistakes. Then too it is not related as it is.

               A telephone operator in San Francisco says that the city's Chinatown receives fewer calls than
           any other area of similar size in the city. And with a straight face she explained the reason: "I guess
           there are so many people named Wing and Wong that people are afraid they will wing the wong
           number."

              I am not afraid -- I go on winging the wong number! And it is not only that I can commit
           mistakes...the world is proof enough that God also commits mistakes. Otherwise, do you think you
           would have had any chance of being here in the world?

              Mulla Nasruddin was speaking to Morarjibhai Desai. Seeing Mulla Nasruddin in orange,
           Morarjibhai Desai was obviously annoyed. He said to Nasruddin, "Mulla, what turned you on to
           Rajneesh?"
           'The day I saw him walking out with his hands folded, I knew then that God exists," replied Mulla.
              Morarji, looking at Mulla from the corner of his eye, asked, "Hmmm, and what do you feel when
           you see me?"
           Mulla said, "That God can also make mistakes."




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                    Chapter #6
                                               Chapter title: Only Now
           6 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909060
              ShortTitle: BESTIL06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question


              OSHO, CAN YOU CLEAR THIS CONFUSION IN ME? THE OTHER DAY AT DISCOURSE YOU
              TALKED ABOUT THE DIFFERENT WAYS AND PATHS TO GOD. THE CHRISTIAN FEELS HIS IS
              THE ONLY WAY, THE MOSLEM FEELS HIS IS THE ONLY WAY, AND SO ON. NOW ALL OF US
              HERE, YOUR ENTIRE FOLLOWING -- DON'T WE TOO BELIEVE THAT YOURS IS THE MOST
              APPEALING AND THEREFORE THE ONLY WAY? THEN WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? I CANNOT
              SEEM TO FIGURE IT OUT AND YET I AM SURE THERE IS DIFFERENCE.


               GOD IS NOT A GOAL, hence there can be no way to God. All ways are wrong. God is right
           now, this very moment. God is always in the present, now and here, and always now and here. There
           can be no way to God.
               The very idea of the way is fallacious. The way means you have postponed; the way leads to
           tomorrow, and the tomorrow never comes. The way means you have projected into the future: God is
           somewhere else and you have to travel. Then religion becomes a journey. And religion is not a
           journey, it is already the case.
               God has not to happen to you. God has happened because you are alive. What is life? Who is
           breathing in you and who is conscious in you? God is not to be known, God is the knower. God is
           not the object that you have to see, God is the SEER in you. This is the most fundamental thing I
           would like you to remember.
               What I am teaching here is not a way, it is a totally different phenomenon. Hence I am not
           creating a religion, I am not creating a sect -- I am simply waking you up to the reality of God. Even
           while you are asleep God is within and without; even in your sleep you are in God.
               It is like if a man is asleep and it is spring and the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing
           and the trees are green, celebrating -- but the man is asleep. He is unaware of the spring, he is
           unaware of the flowers, of the birds' songs; he is unaware of everything that is happening. But that
           does not mean that it is not happening. He may be unaware, he may be asleep, but the spring has
           come, it is there. Any moment the man can open his eyes; any situation may help him to be awake.
           And suddenly he will be surprised that there was no need to go anywhere -- all was already here.
               That s how it happens when a man really wakes up -- not that one has to travel somewhere. All
           traveling is dreaming, all pilgrimage is dreaming, desiring. And your so-called religions have made
           God a goal, and your mind is perfectly satisfied with that because mind can exist only if there is a
           goal. The mind needs a tension, the mind needs a way to remain tense. If there is a goal then mind
           can remain desiring -- unfulfilled, frustrated, hoping one day to get it.
               This is how mind can nourish itself, and it can dream about the joys of finding God and the
           beauties and the blessings. It can create paradise in imagination -- and all these are simply dreams of
           the mind. The moment you think of the future, you have slipped out of reality and fallen into the
           ditch of dreaming. My effort here is to bring you out of your sleep and dreaming.
               Zareen, I am not teaching a way, so you cannot claim that my way is the best way -- it is not a
           way at all. You cannot say that this is the only way, because I am saying there is no way at all. I am
           simply trying to make you alert to that which is already there. It is beating in your heart, it is God
           beating in your heart. It is pulsating in your being; every fiber of your body, of your being, is alive.
           That aliveness is God.
               God is not a person but only the presence. Feel it now! If you can ever feel it you can only feel it
           now -- now or never. Hence I don't give any opportunity for your mind. You would like me to say
           something about how to find God, where to find God, where to go. You will be perfectly happy if I
           give you ways, goals, faraway, distant goals; you will be tremendously happy. Why? Because the
           goal helps you to remain the same as you are, the goal helps you to remain asleep and dreaming. It
           becomes a new dream, a new desire, a new ambition: How to attain God? It becomes a new ego trip.
               I am shattering your egos, because your egos are a kind of shell that surrounds you and keeps
           you oblivious of the reality. It keeps you encapsulated within yourself, does not allow you to open
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your eyes and see what is happening.
                God is this total existence happening. Be silent and know. There is nowhere to go, there is
           nothing to achieve, no ambition has to be fulfilled. God has already decided to be inside you; that's
           why you are alive.
                So, Zareen, don't get unnecessarily confused. I am not proposing a way in competition with the
           Mohammedan and the Christian and the Hindu and the Parsi. What I am saying has nothing to do
           with Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism. What I am saying is simply a statement, a naked, bare statement
           of the fact that YOU ARE GOD! already, as you are. Nothing has to be changed at all. Only one
           thing has to happen and that is not a change really but just the other side of you. One side is sleep,
           the other side is awakening. One side of you, one aspect of your coin, is sleep, darkness, the night
           part; the other side is the day part. Just wake up...and you will 'he surprised that there was no need to
           desire anything. God has already given it to you. He has given himself: he lives in you, he resides in
           you. If I can help you to remember this, that's all.
                Zareen, that's why you feel the difference but you cannot figure it out. This is the difference. All
           religions are ways; all religions are new directions for the ego, new projections, new desires, and
           sometimes far more dangerous than the ordinary desire is. A man desiring money is not in such a
           mess as a man who desires God, because money can be FOUND by desiring; money can ONLY be
           found by desiring, and God can never be found by desiring. God can only be found by non-desiring.
                So miserable is the man, most miserable is the man who desires God. The man who is greedy for
           money is not in such a great mess; he is far more sane -- because money can be found only if you
           desire and work hard for it, compete, struggle. If you desire political power, then be madly after it;
           that is the only way to attain it. It will not come if you go on sitting IN your room waiting for it; it
           will never knock on your door. You can wait for millions of lives -- nobody will come and knock on
           your door and say to you that you have been chosen to be the prime minister of the country or the
           president. You will have to fight for it, you will have to be very violent, aggressive; only then is it
           possible.
                But if you go in search of God you will miss. The very search will be the cause of your missing.
           Where are you going? He is inside and you are going outside. All going is going outside. Go to
           Jerusalem or Kaaba or Kashi or Girnar or Bodh Gaya: wherever you go, it is outside. All going is
           extrovert. Ingoing is not a going at all.
                What is ingoing? When you don't go outside, you are in. It is not really a going at all; not even a
           single step has to be taken. There is no space inside where you can walk and go in. When it is said,
           "Go in," it is said only metaphorically. What is actually meant is: Stop going out. Stop completely, a
           full point, no more going outside. Then suddenly you are in -- where else can you be when you are
           not going outside? When you are not going to Kaaba and to Jerusalem and to Kashi, where will you
           be? You will simply be inside, you will find yourself inside. Your outgoing was preventing you from
           finding yourself.
                Stop seeking: that is the only way to find God. Stop desiring: that is the only way to find God.
                I am giving you an insight, not a religion. And you are not my followers, remember, Zareen.
           Nobody here is my follower -- -friends, of course, but nobody is a follower. The orange color creates
           the illusion that people are following me. Just to avoid that, I cannot wear orange myself. I love the
           color, but if I start wearing orange then it will become a logical proof that you are following me.
           Certainly, you are not following me; I am a white person, you are orange people -- what connection
           can there be?
                You are not my followers but friends. And because I love orange, out of your love you have
           accepted it. It is not a uniform; it is not that by wearing orange you become part of a certain sect or
           church. There is no church, no sect. Because I love orange, just out of love for me you are wearing
           orange. That is just a gesture of love, nothing else.
                Zareen, you are not my follower, nobody is. But certainly you have chosen to be with me. That is
           your choice. You have fallen in love with a madman, and when you fall in love with a madman a
           little bit of madness is bound to enter in your heart. That's what is happening here. I am drunk, I am
           making you drunk. What else can I do? But this is not a religion. Hence you can love me and you
           can love Jesus, and there is no conflict. In fact by loving me you are bound to love Jesus. By loving
           me you will find for the first time the real taste of Jesus. By being with me you can love Buddha. In
           fact for the first time you will have an insight of what Buddha is. By being with me, in communion
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with me, you will be in communion with Zarathustra, with Lao Tzu, with Mahavira, with
           Mohammed. But this is a totally different approach I become the door, and when you enter in me
           you find all the Buddhas -- because it is like the ocean: you can taste it from anywhere, it is salty. If
           you taste me, you have tasted all the Buddhas; it is the SAME taste.
               You cannot find Mohammed in the Koran, and you cannot find Jesus in the Bible. You cannot
           become really religious by becoming part of a church -- Catholic, Protestant -- it is impossible.
           These are the mischievous people who have been creating a very ugly humanity. You can be a Jew
           only if you hate Jesus. You can be with Moses only if you are not with Jesus; that is a condition. And
           if you are with Jesus then you cannot be with Buddha; that's a condition.
               That's why they go on claiming, "This is the ONLY way" -- so even the idea that there are other
           possible ways drops from your mind. You are conditioned in such a way by every religion that "This
           is the only truth THE ONLY truth, THE truth," and the conditioning becomes so strong, steel-like,
           that it becomes impossible for you to think that there can be other ways, absolutely impossible.
           Unless you are very intelligent, alert, watchful, unless you look at your conditioning and become a
           witness, it is impossible.
               I was born in a Jaina family and, naturally, just as everybody else is conditioned, the
           conditioning was imposed on me. But I was continuously watchful, continuously alert, hence I was
           not caught by the conditioning. And the conditioning is so subtle that once you are caught in it you
           become incapable of thinking, seeing; anything that goes against your conditioning, you become
           deaf to it.
               For example, a Jaina cannot think that Jesus is enlightened -- impossible. His conditioning will
           not allow him. And his conditioning is very logical in his mind, and you cannot argue with him. He
           will say, "Jesus eats meat: how can an enlightened person eat meat?" And how are you going to
           convince him? He has some logic there.
               Jesus drinks wine. He not only drinks wine but he also turns the whole sea into wine so the
           whole world can become drunk. It is a beautiful story, Jesus turning the whole sea into wine. Can an
           enlightened person do that? Not according to the Jainas. If there was a sea full of wine the Jaina
           TEERTHANKARA would come and do the miracle and turn it into water -- and pure water, mind
           you, filtered water. And that too you are allowed to drink only in the day, not in the night. If you are
           really a Jaina you won't drink it at night, not even water.
               My grandmother would not even allow poor tomatoes in the house, because they look like meat
           -- just the appearance! Only when she died could tomatoes enter into the house. You will be
           surprised Jainas don't eat potatoes. Now, what have these poor potatoes done? But their ideas:
           anything that grows under the earth has not to be eaten; only things that grow in the open, in the sun,
           because anything that grows in darkness creates darkness in you. Logic! It is TAMAS; it will create
           TAMASIC energy in you; it will create a certain energy that will pull you towards the earth,
           downwards. The potato is a secret agent of the earth -- beware! Eat things that grow upwards
           towards the sun; they will help you to be uplifted, your energy will be sattvic, pure. You will be
           under the law of levitation. The potato pulls you downwards, it is heavy.
               And once you are conditioned from your very childhood, that's how it starts appearing. Then eat
           a potato and you w ill feel very heavy and pulled downwards -- all these things will happen and then
           you will know that the teaching is right.
               Up to my eighteenth year I had not eaten in the night. Then I went with a few friends to see a
           fort, far away in the jungles. They were all Hindus, and the fort was such a beauty that the whole day
           they were not interested in preparing food. I was the only Jaina, and I could not insist, because thirty
           people were not interested in cooking food in the day. So I kept quiet. In the night they cooked food.
           Now, the whole day's wandering in the forest, in the ruins of that old ancient castle -- I was tired,
           hungry; I had never known such hunger. But my eighteen years' conditioning: you cannot eat in the
           night....
               And then they started preparing beautiful food, and the smell of the food and so close by.... And
           they all started persuading me; they said. "Nobody is here, and nobody will tell your family, your
           parents. Nobody will ever know." I resisted -- but the more I resisted, the more I was tempted.
           Finally I yielded, I ate. The food was delicious, but the whole night I suffered hell. I vomited at least
           seven times. That eighteen years' conditioning is not an easy thing to get rid of. I could not digest
           that food; my whole body revolted. Until all the food was thrown out I could not sleep. And then it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was certainly a proof that whatsoever I had been told was right.
               But those thirty people, they slept well. I had only one consolation -- that they would all suffer in
           hell. The whole night I was preparing for their hell, as bad a hell as possible. I was suffering my hell,
           and they were sound asleep and snoring. I was consoling myself, "It's okay -- just a few days more,
           then I will be in paradise and you will be in hellfire. Then you will know. The pleasures of this life
           are momentary," I was telling myself.
               Your so-called religions only condition you against other religions. They make you antagonistic,
           they create conflict. They don't allow you to create a brotherhood, they don't allow you to create a
           humanity.

              Godfarb was invited to a birthday party for the parish priest. Wanting to show his desire to be a
           good member of the community, he went to a jewelry store to get the good father a birthday present.
           "What would you recommend?" asked Godfarb of the store clerk.
           "How about this lovely crucifix with Christ on it?"
           "Do you think he would like that?"
           "Absolutely."
           "How much is it?"
           "One hundred and fifty dollars."
           "One hundred and fifty dollars!" exclaimed Godfarb. "Have you got one without the acrobat on it?"

               Jesus looks like an acrobat -- if you are a Jew, that's how it is. To a Jaina. Mohammed is not even
           worthy of being counted among the saints -- what to say about the messengers of God? According to
           the Buddhists, even Mahavira, the TEERTHANKARA of the Jainas, is not worthy of being counted
           as a holy man, not even a moral man, because he moves naked -- this is utter immorality. Buddhists
           cannot forgive him. This is exhibitionism, this is neurosis; the man is pathological!
               You have been given ideas in the name of religions. I am not giving you any idea; I am trying to
           take all ideas away from you.
               Just the other day there was a question saying: "Osho, sometimes you give wrong information to
           US." SOMETIMES? My whole effort here is to destroy all the information that you have. All
           information is wrong. So I am not interested in giving you RIGHT information, because all
           information has to be taken out. You have to be left without information. When you are without
           information, without knowledge, not knowing what is what, in that state of not-knowing you bloom.
           God starts opening up within your being.
               I am not teaching a way, I am not giving you a system of thought, a philosophy -- just the
           contrary. I am against all knowledge, all philosophy, all systems of thought, all theologies, all
           religions. And by dropping all, you can be in communion with me. It is a communion, not a
           following.
               A communion means I respect you, I love you as equals. You are NOT inferior, just asleep! Your
           sleep does not make you inferior at all, your sleep simply gives you dreams. In fact, when Buddha
           became enlightened somebody asked him, "What have you gained?"
               He said, "I have not gained anything, but I have lost many things. I have lost my desires, my
           dreams, my sleep, my anger, my greed, my ambition, my ego -- I have lost so many things. And I
           have gained nothing, nothing at all. But by losing all those things I have come home. I have become
           just myself -- a purity, a clarity, a cloudless sky."
               I am not giving you anything; on the contrary I am taking things away from you. In fact, if you
           think in terms of things, you are far superior to me, because you have many more things which I
           don't have. You have a big ego...I cannot compete with you. You have great greed, possessiveness,
           jealousy, anger. You have a thousand and one things. I am a poor man compared to you, very poor,
           nothing to claim -- or ONLY nothing to claim. And if you are courageous enough, you are going to
           become a nothing yourself sooner or later.
               Zareen, I am not teaching a way, I am not giving you a goal. I am taking all ways away, all goals
           away.

           The second question
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OSHO, WHY DON'T YOU GIVE YOUR DISCIPLES A CERTAIN MODE OF CONDUCT? ISN'T A
              MORAL CHARACTER NECESSARY FOR A SPIRITUAL LIFE?

              Mahendra Singh,


                MY WHOLE EFFORT is to give you a consciousness, not a character. Consciousness is the real
           thing, character the false entity. Character is needed by those who don't have consciousness. If you
           have eyes, you don't need a walking-stick to find your way, to grope your way. If you can see you
           don't ask others, "Where is the doer?" Character is needed because people are unconscious.
           Character is just a lubricant; it helps you to run your life in a smooth way.
                George Gurdjieff used to say character is like a buffet. Buffers are used in railway trains;
           between two compartments there are buffers. If something happens, those two compartments cannot
           clash with each other; these buffers prevent them from clashing with each other. Or it is like springs:
           cars have springs so you can move smoothly -- even on an Indian road. Those springs go on
           absorbing the shocks; they are called shock absorbers.
                That's what character is: it is a shock absorber. People are told to be humble. If you learn how to
           be humble it is a shock absorber. By learning how to be humble you will be able to protect yourself
           against other people's egos. They will not hurt you so much; you are a humble man. If you are
           egoistic you are bound to be hurt again and again. The ego is very sensitive, so you cover up your
           ego with a blanket of humbleness. It helps, it gives you a kind of smoothness, but it does not
           transform you.
                My work consists of transformation. This is an alchemical school: I want to transform you from
           unconsciousness into consciousness, from darkness into light. I cannot give you a character; I can
           only give you insight, awareness. I would like you to live moment-to-moment, not according to a set
           pattern given by me or given by the society, the church, the state. I would like you to live according
           to your own small light of awareness, according to your own consciousness. Be responsive to each
           moment.
                Character means you have a certain ready-made answer for all the questions of life, so whenever
           a situation arises you respond according to the set pattern. Because you respond according to the
           ready-made answer it is not a true response, it is only a reaction. The man of character reacts, the
           man of consciousness responds: he takes the situation in, he reflects the reality as it is, and out of that
           reflection he acts. The man of character reacts, the man of consciousness acts. The man of character
           is mechanical; robotlike he functions. He has a computer in his mind, full of information; ask him
           anything and a ready-made answer rolls down from his computer.
                A man of consciousness simply acts in the moment, not out of the past and out of the memory.
           His response has a beauty, a naturalness, and his response is true to the situation. The man of
           character always falls short, because life is continuously changing; it is never the same. And your
           answers are always the same, they never grow -- they can't grow, they are dead.
                You have been told a certain thing in your childhood; it has remained there. You have grown, life
           has changed, but that answer that was given by your parents or by your teachers or by your priests is
           still there. And if something happens you will function according to that answer which was given to
           you fifty years before. And in fifty years so much water has gone down the Ganges; it is a totally
           different life.
                Heraclitus says: You cannot step in the same river twice. And I say to you: You cannot step in
           the same river even once, the river is so fast-flowing.
                Character is stagnant; it is a dirty pool of water. Consciousness is a river.
                Mahendra Singh, that's why I don't give my people ANY code of conduct. I give them eyes to
           see, a consciousness to reflect, a mirrorlike being to be able to respond to any situation that arises. I
           don't give them detailed information about what to do and what not to do; I don't give them ten
           commandments. And if you start giving them commandments then you cannot stop at ten, because
           life is far more complex.
                In Buddhist scriptures there are thirty-three thousand rules for a Buddhist monk. Thirty-three
           thousand rules! For every possible situation that may ever arise, they have given a ready-made
           answer. But how are you going to remember thirty-three thousand rules of conduct? And a man who
           is cunning enough to remember thirty-three thousand rules of conduct will be clever enough to find a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           way out always; if he does not want to do a certain thing he will find a way out. If he wants to do a
           certain thing he will find a way out.

               I have heard about a Christian saint: somebody hit him on his face, because just that day in his
           morning discourse he had said, "Jesus says if somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other."
           And the man wanted to try it, so he hit him, really hit him hard on one cheek. And the saint was
           really true, true to his word: he gave him the other cheek. But that man was also something: he hit
           even harder on the other cheek. Then he was surprised: the saint jumped on the man, started beating
           him so hard that the man said, "What are you doing? You are a saint, and just this morning you were
           saying that if somebody hits you on one cheek, give him the other."
               He said, "Yes -- but I don't have a third cheek. And Jesus stops there. Now I am free; now I will
           do what I want to do. Jesus has no more information about it."

               It happened exactly like that in Jesus' life also. Once he told a disciple, "Forgive seven times."
           The disciple said, "Okay." The way he said, "Okay," Jesus became suspicious; he said,
           "Seventy-seven times I say."
               The disciple was a little disturbed, but he said, "Okay -- because numbers don't end at
           seventy-seven. What about seventy-eight? Then I am free, then I can do what I want to do!"
               How many rules can you make for people? It is stupid, meaningless. That's how people are
           religious, and still they are not religious: they always find a way to get out of those rules of conduct
           and commandments. They can always find a way through the back door. And character can at the
           most give you only a skin-deep, pseudo mask -- not even skin-deep: just scratch your saints a little
           bit and you will find the animal hidden behind. On the surface they look beautiful, but only on the
           surface.
               I don't want you to be superficial; I want you to REALLY change. But a real change happens
           through the center of your being, not through the circumference. Character is painting the
           circumference, consciousness is transformation of the center.

               Once a carpenter was working in a church and he hit his thumb with a hammer. "Fuck's sake!" he
           yelled.
               The Vicar happened to be passing and heard him. "You cannot use that kind of language here.
           This is a house of God," he admonished.
           "Pardon, Vicar, but what's a man to say when he whacks his thumb with a hammer?"
           "You can say, 'God preserve me,' or 'Jesus help me,'" suggested the Vicar.
               Later, when the carpenter was sawing a piece of wood, he sawed right through his finger, which
           dropped to the floor. "God preserve me!" cried the carpenter, and the finger jumped back upon the
           hand and healed itself.
           "Fuck's sake!" exclaimed the Vicar.

           The third question


              OSHO, ONCE SOMEONE ASKED ME THE MEANING OF THE CHRISTIAN GOD, AND I
              ANSWERED SPONTANEOUSLY, "LOVE, TRUST, FEAR OF DEATH."
              AT THAT TIME, AFTER YEARS OF A WELL-CONDITIONED OUTSIDE LIFE AND A REPRESSED
              INNER WORLD, LOVE AND TRUST HAPPENED TO ME AS AN INTENSE INNER OPENING AND
              AN OVERFLOWING OF ENERGY. IT HAPPENED JUST WHEN I HEARD OF YOU AND STARTED
              DOING THE MEDITATIONS. FROM THE OUTSIDE IT SEEMED LIKE MADNESS, BUT IN ALL THE
              CRAZINESS I GOT A CLEAR, STRONG FEELING OF AN ENERGY WHICH MOVES ME
              SOMEWHERE I HAVE SEARCHED FOR ALL THE TIME.
              ON THE OTHER SIDE, GREAT FEAR CAME UP. FEAR OF DEATH, CONNECTED WITH A
              CHILDHOOD PICTURE OF AN ANCIENT GOD WHO HAD THE POWER TO PUNISH HUMAN
              BEINGS WITH DEATH AND ETERNAL DARKNESS. THIS FEELING OF FEAR STILL CREATES A
              CERTAIN HEAVINESS IN MY MIND AND STOPS THE NATURAL FLOW OF ENERGY.
              OSHO, CAN YOU SPEAK ABOUT FEAR AND DEATH.

              Anand Marita,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                THE ORDINARY GOD is nothing but a projection of your fear. It is not love, it is not trust --
           because love knows nothing of fear, and trust knows nothing of fear. Just as light has never seen
           darkness, love and trust have never met fear But in all the languages of the world there are
           expressions like 'godfearing'; the religious person is known as 'godfearing'. That is sheer nonsense. A
           religious person cannot be godfearing, he can only be godloving. If he is godfearing he is not
           religious yet. How can you fear God?
                But your priests have made so much fuss about hell, punishment, karma; they have made so
           much fuss about a God who is a very angry God -- if you disobey him he will throw you into hellfire,
           and for eternity. It is the priest's work to create fear in you, because once fear is there you can be
           exploited. A fearful person will go to the church, to the mosque, to the temple, but he is not going to
           God, he is going to the priest really, and the priest exploits his fear.
                A really religious person has a totally different approach towards life: it is not of fear, it is of
           tremendous love. His God comes out of his love, his God is nothing but another name for his total
           love. His God is another name for his total orgasmic joy with existence.
                And that's what is happening to you, Marita. Here, being with me, a sannyasin, meditating, love
           is arising, trust is arising. But at the same time you are feeling fear. This fear is totally different; it is
           not the fear created by the priests, because I don't create any fear in you. And it is not the fear of
           death either, because you don't know anything about death -- how can you be afraid of something
           you don t know at all? To be afraid you have to be at least acquainted a little bit -- you cannot be
           afraid of the absolutely unknown, and death is absolutely unknown.
                It is not fear of death either. It is something else which you have not yet been able-to figure out --
           it is the fear of a dying ego which appears like death. It is a death in a way, because you are so much
           identified with the ego, with the idea of 'I', that when the 'I' starts evaporating you feel as if you are
           dying -- obviously. Your identification is disappearing, you are passing through an identity crisis.
           Don't cling to the ego, let it go -- because the death of the ego is not your death. The death of the
           ego, on the contrary, is your real birth.
                Marita, you are coming closer and closer to the birth, to the real birth. You will be reborn. But
           you can be reborn only when death is gone, when ego is gone. With ego, death also disappears,
           remember -- because you have never died. How can you die? You are not born either. You are God!
           You are divine energy! You have been here forever, and you will be here forever. Birth and death
           are only of the body and the mind, and between the body and the mind exists the ego. It is a creation,
           a conspiracy of body/mind: When the ego disappears your death disappears too. Once the ego is
           gone, you will be surprised that you are eternal, that you have been here always and always, and you
           will be here always and always. You are part of the truth which cannot die.
                Marita, you are coming close to something immensely valuable. But your mind is creating a
           problem; it is saying to you that it is fear of death. It is not fear of death, it is fear of ego
           disappearing. Allow it to go.
                I say to you: This is how it has happened to me. This is how it is happening to many of my
           people. This is how it has always happened to all the Buddhas, down the ages: the ego dies -- but
           everybody hesitates before the ego dies. We are so much identified with it that the death of the ego
           appears as if WE are dying. We are not dying.
                It is like when the child is getting ready to be born when nine months in the mother's womb are
           over. The child must be feeling a great fear -- because this was his life. This nine months' womb life,
           this is the only life he knows. And he is being thrown out of the womb: he must be feeling like he is
           being expelled from the Garden of Eden. He clings; he does not want to get out of the womb. He is
           afraid of the unknown.
                But nature does not allow him to succeed. He can cling for a few hours and create pain for the
           mother -- because he clings to the womb and the womb is ready to expel the child because he is
           ready to go into the wider world. He is now mature enough; there is no need for him to be protected
           in a womb. And what kind of life can one have in a womb? There is no life at all. Twenty-four hours
           the child is asleep; he is as if in a coma. But still this is the only life he knows, hence the clinging.
                Marita, you know only one life, the life of the ego. It is not much of a life -- it is only suffering,
           misery, sleep, dream -- but that's the only life you know. A moment comes when one becomes
           mature through meditation and you have to be expelled out of the ego. That is the second birth. In
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           India we call such a person DVIJ -- twice-born. A Buddha is a DVIJ. One birth is from the mother,
           the physical, the biological birth. Another birth is through the Master, the spiritual birth, the religious
           birth.
               Marita, feel blessed. You are coming closer to a very vital point, a turning-point in your life.
           Don't cling to the ego -- relay, let go. Let the ego disappear; it is not you. And then for the first time
           you will know who you are. For the first time the mystery of your being will be revealed to you. And
           from there onwards you start living; before that you were just sleeping.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, WHY DO YOU SPEAK A STRANGE KIND OF ENGLISH? -- ALTHOUGH I LOVE IT.

              Shivananda,


               I DON'T KNOW ENGLISH AT ALL. In fact I don t know any language really. That's why I can
           go on speaking so easily, unafraid, unworried, undeterred by languages grammar, etcetera. I am not a
           great orator. I simply go on saying to you whatsoever happens in the moment.
               That's why sometimes Napoleon turns into Nero, Nero turns into Napoleon; Greek becomes
           Latin, Latin becomes Greek. You are listening to a drunkard! It is a miracle that I can utter a few
           sensible words and you can make some sense out of it.
               Sometimes I even laugh about what I have said to you. Just the other day...whenever I see
           Pradeepa bowing her head down, then I know that I must have told something wrong. Just a few
           days ago I was saying 'cropping the reap' instead of 'reaping the crop'. Pradeepa is my criterion: then
           I just look at her and I know I have done it again.
               But what more can you expect from someone who is utterly drunk?

               An elderly gentleman with a walrus mustache, frock coat, and bowler hat jiggled the telephone
           receiver. "I say, operator," he said, "I want to talk to Sir Reginald Barrett in Grosvenor Square,
           London."
           "I'm afraid I can't hear you, sir," said the operator.
           "Sir Reginald Barrett, Grosvenor Square, London," said the party.
           "I still can't hear you," said the operator. "I guess you are English, aren't you?"
           "My dear madam," said the gentleman, "if I were any more English I could not talk at all."

              Fortunately I don't know much English. Hence I can talk undeterred by any linguistic barriers.
           This is not English English, this is not American English, this is not even Indian English -- it is
           simply Rajneesh English. It HAS to be strange.
           And what about my Italian!

           Scene: Father visiting his son in jail.
              Father: "You-a no-a good-a bumma, you! I raise you to be-a a good-a kid-a!"
           Son: "Please, Father, don't talk like that."
              Father: "I'm-a ashame-a. You-a, you-a no good-a son!"
           Son: "Father, please, don't talk that way."
           Father: "Why-a I no talk-a this-a way?"
           Son: "Because you are not Italian!"

               I am neither Italian nor English nor Indian nor Chinese, and I have to talk all these languages. So
           I go on winging the wong number.

           The fifth question


              OSHO, WHO ARE YOU?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Samadhi,


              I DON'T KNOW AT ALL. If some time you come to know, please tell me.

           The sixth question


              OSHO, THE DEVIL SEEMS TO BE AS POPULAR AS MAO TSE TUNG THESE DAYS. WHY? WHY
              IS THE DEVIL SO ATTRACTIVE?

              Bodhi,


                THE DEVIL IS NOTHING BUT THE OTHER SIDE OF God. The religions have been praising
           God and condemning the Devil, and the Devil is the other side of God. The word 'devil' is beautiful;
           it comes from a Sanskrit root which means divine. 'Divine' and 'devil' both come from the same root,
           DEV: in Sanskrit it becomes DEVADATA -- gods. The Devil and the Divine, both are the same --
           but if you repress one part of God, one aspect of his being, sooner or later it is going to assert itself.
                Now there are churches, in the West particularly, churches devoted to the Devil. Disciples of the
           Devil are growing, mushrooming all over the world. The First Church of Satan is there in America,
           where people gather and worship Satan. Satan means 'devil', that is Arabic for 'devil'. All kinds of
           bizarre things are going on in the world, but the reason for them and the responsibility is that of the
           priests. For centuries they have been repressing God's aspects. You cannot repress anything forever;
           sooner or later it will assert itself.
                In the East, particularly in India, there is no Devil worship at all. It cannot happen -- because we
           have accepted it, we have never rejected it. The Indian trinity, TRIMURTI, the three faces of God,
           have to be understood. Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh: these are the three faces of God. Brahma is the
           creator God, the aspect that creates, Vishnu, the aspect that maintains the world, the existence, keeps
           it running, and Mahesh, the destroyer who destroys the world.
                Now, Christians cannot conceive of Mahesh as God. God has to be always the creator. The
           Christian concept of God as creator makes it a very limited one. Then whose responsibility is it to
           destroy things? -- because there is destruction too, and no creation is possible without destruction.
           Creation is possible only through destruction. God gives life -- and who gives death? Somebody has
           to be responsible for death too, but God cannot be responsible for death.
                Christians are so afraid; their God is partial. The Indian idea of God is more total: with one hand
           he creates, with the other hand he destroys too. He is good and he is bad too; he is light and darkness
           both, life and death both. And if God is both, then only can God be transcendental. When you are
           both, you transcend both.

             You ask me: THE DEVIL SEEMS TO BE AS POPULAR AS MAO TSE TUNG THESE
           DAYS. WHY? WHY IS THE DEVIL SO ATTRACTIVE?

               It is because of a long long repression through Christianity. The Devil aspect of God has been
           completely denied. Now after twenty centuries of repression it has become very strong, it has
           gathered too much energy -- it is exploding all over the place. It is certainly becoming more and
           more attractive. God seems to be poor compared to the Devil.
               Christians, particularly the priests, have been talking so much about God that they have made the
           word almost sickening, nauseating. They have talked so much about God and their God is so sweet,
           only sweetness is allowed to God. Their God has no salt; it is pure white sugar, which is another
           name for poison. So the Christian God has created a kind of diabetes all over the world. It is false
           because it is partial, and the other part will take revenge.
               God has to be accepted in its totality. This whole existence is divine: don't reject anything.
           Everything is good in its place. Salt is needed as much as sweetness. Even bitterness has its own
           place, its own joy, its own taste. The thorn on the rosebush has its own function; it is a bodyguard to
           the rose, it protects the rose. Don't deny it, don't prune all the thorns, otherwise the roses will die.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Life exists through polar opposites. And this has been a fallacious step, that we have chosen only
           one pole: God is only positive Then the negative has to be given to some entity, some fictitious
           entity, the Devil. The Devil does not exist. There is no hell, all is paradise. Yes, there are two
           situations: you can fall asleep in the paradise or you can be awake, but there is no hell.
               I deny hell absolutely. And if there is misery in life, it is part of life. If there is death, it is a
           process of life, it is a renewal of life; it gives you a new body, a new model. The old rotten body is
           taken away and you are given a fresh new model. Death is not against life but in the service of life.
           Even what we know as bad is in the service of good. Yes, if you are wise enough you can transform
           poison into medicine. And if you are foolish even medicine can be dangerous, it can become poison.
               The West will have to change its idea of God. And the Western idea is no longer Western -- it
           has spread all over the world. Christian missionaries have done such mischief; they have drowned all
           other kinds of religion; almost half the earth they have changed into Christianity. They have
           destroyed all variety. They have given a very singular, one-dimensional idea of God to humanity.
           And their idea of God is very juvenile, it is not even mature. And their idea of God is
           anthropocentric, it is made in the image of man. And they have been trying hard to make God a great
           saint. Their whole effort has created this situation: the denied part is ready now to explode. Denial is
           always dangerous; repression is dangerous. We have to pay tremendously for it.
               Accept both the polarities. The negative and the positive are both needed for the electricity to
           happen; the good and bad are both needed for the world to go on; they are like the two wheels of a
           bullock cart. The sinner and the saint are both needed. That's my approach I love the sinner as much
           as the saint -- and if I have to choose, if I am forced to choose, I will choose the sinner rather than
           the saint, because the sinner is at least authentic. You cannot find a pseudo-sinner -- have you ever
           heard the word 'pseudo-sinner'? Pseudo-saints are there; in fact ninety-nine point nine percent of
           saints are pseudo -- because there is rarely a Jesus or a Buddha. That phenomenon is very rare; WE
           have made it rare. We have made it almost impossible for anybody to be a Jesus or a Buddha; we
           create all kinds of hurdles. And even if somebody becomes a Jesus, we don't tolerate him -- we kill
           the man the moment we become aware....
               Jesus lived only three years as Christ. For thirty years he was in preparation, in meditation, in
           search. After thirty years when he attained his satori, he went to the marketplace and started giving
           the message that he had attained. It took three years for it to become known to people that this man
           had attained. They killed him immediately.

               When Mansoor attained godhood he declared, "Ana'l Haq! am God!" His Master, Junaid, said,
           "Keep quiet. I know, you know, that's enough. No need to tell it to anybody -- otherwise you will be
           in danger and you will create danger for me and for other disciples also. Yes, I accept," said Junaid,
           "I can see you have attained. But let it be a secret between me and you."
               But Mansoor could not keep it a secret; it is very difficult to keep it a secret. Nobody has ever
           been able to keep it a secret. There would be moments when he was in deep ecstasy and he would
           start shouting again "I am God!" Soon the news spread. The priests went to the king and they said,
           "This is sacrilegious. This man has to be destroyed, this man has to be killed!"

               First you don't allow anybody to become a Jesus or Mansoor, and if one somehow escapes from
           your bondage and becomes one you kill him. And you go on preaching something which is absurd,
           pseudo. You create a saint against the sinner; he is bound to be pseudo because he has not absorbed
           the sinner into himself. He has no foundation -- he is a house without any foundation, he is a house
           made on the sands. The sinner becomes the foundation. Unless the sinner is absorbed and
           transformed you will not find a true Buddha. Your saints are pseudo, bogus. only on the surface,
           pretenders.
               If I am forced to choose I will choose the sinner, because the sinner has all the energies which
           can be transformed into a saint. But the saint has cut himself from all the sources of energies; he has
           become a plastic flower. He is almost hopeless; his case is hopeless.
               This calamity has happened -- this Devil becoming too attractive -- because of the priests
           denying God all reality, making God an abstraction. God is not an abstraction, God is not a person;
           God is the total harmony of existence. And in that harmony, in that orchestra, all the instruments are
           involved -- the bad, the dark, the death, they also have to play their parts. They become the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           background, they become the context.
               You don't see stars in the day -- why? Do you think all the stars disappear? They are there in the
           sky; they have not disappeared. It would be too much work every morning to disappear and every
           evening to come back; it would create unnecessary trouble. They are there! Just because of the
           sunlight, the background is missing in which you could see them. When the night comes and the
           darkness comes, the background becomes available. In the dark night they shine forth. The darker
           the night, the more shining stars and the more stars you will be able to see.
               God is both -- the darkest depth and the lightest height. Once this is accepted the Devil loses all
           attraction, the Devil dies. The Devil becomes a fertile land for God to grow; the Devil becomes a
           fertilizer. You can accumulate fertilizers in your house, you can accumulate manure in your house,
           and your house will stink. Spread the manure in the garden, and the same manure will sprout into
           beautiful flowers, the same manure will release great fragrance. Manure has not to be accumulated in
           the basement of your house, it has to be spread in the garden, in the open, in the sun.
               We have been repressing anger, greed, sex -- everything that has been thought to be bad in some
           way we have been repressing in the basement of our being, in the unconscious. And that's why every
           human being is stinking. Bring it into the light! Let it become manure, let it be a fertilizing
           phenomenon in your life, and you will have great flowers blossoming in you. You will attain to the
           one-thousand-petalled lotus.

           The last question


              OSHO, WHY ARE YOU AGAINST THE PUNDITS AND THE LEARNED PEOPLE? AREN'T THEY
              THE EXPERTS THAT ARE RUNNING THE WORLD?

              Madira,


               HAVE A LOOK AT THE WORLD -- and certainly they are running the world! that's why the
           world is in a mess. The knowledgeable people are running the world and they are the most ignorant
           people -- knowledgeable about superficial things. And sometimes these knowledgeable people are so
           ridiculous.
               Once I was talking on Mahavira. A great scholar, well-known all over the world, particularly on
           Mahavira, came to listen to me. After the discourse he stood up and he said, "I have one question to
           ask. My question is: Mahavira and Buddha were contemporaries -- who was older and who was
           younger? I have spent thirty years of research on this project, but I have not been able to come to a
           clear-cut decision. A few scriptures say Buddha was older and a few scriptures say Mahavira was
           older, and there seems to be no way to decide. I am very much impressed," he said, "by what you
           said about Mahavira. Can you throw some light on my problem?"
               I said, "You wasted thirty years of your life! How does it matter who was older and who was
           younger? What are you going to do if you come to a clear-cut conclusion? One thing is certain:
           whosoever was younger or older, you have wasted your life -- thirty years! In these thirty years you
           could have become a Buddha or a Mahavira. Mahavira became a Mahavira in twelve years'
           meditation, Buddha became a Buddha in six years' meditation."
               I said to the man, "If you had worked on meditation you would have become Buddha five times!
           Thirty years wasted -- and Buddha became Buddha in six years. You would have been a Buddha five
           times over. And don't ask such foolish questions; it doesn't matter."
               But that's how knowledgeable people are concerned. He was very angry at me, he became very
           antagonistic to me. He started writing articles against me. Now he is dead. So first he was wasting
           his life in searching for who was older, Buddha or Mahavira, and then he wasted his life in writing
           articles against me. The poor man, I really feel sorry for him.
               The learned people know only the superficial, which has no significance.

               Carruthers was visiting a small English town to do business. As his first appointment was not
           until twelve noon he decided to play a round of golf early in the morning. The golf course was right
           on the edge of town, and he was first off.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He sliced his first ball, and it went over the hedge that ran parallel to the first fairway. He did not
           bother to go and look for it; he played another ball which went straight down the middle.
                On returning to the club house at the end of the game the club professional approached him
           saying, "Excuse me, sir, were you by any chance the first off this morning?"
           "Yes, I was," replied the businessman.
           "And did you slice your first ball over the hedge to the right?"
           "Yes, I did, as a matter of fact, old man," replied the businessman.
           "Well," said the professional, "that hedge runs parallel to a very busy street, and your ball landed on
           the head of a cyclist. The cyclist swerved into the middle of the road, and in order to miss the cyclist
           a car swerved in front of a bus; and in order to miss the car, shopfront of a jeweler's. The shop
           collapsed, and in the process a lot of very valuable jewelry has disappeared."
           "Oh, my God!" cried the businessman, shaking at the knees. "What shall I do?"
           "Oh, no problem, old man," said the professional. "Just make sure that you keep your right hand a
           little further round the handle, and everything will be fine."

              That's how the professional, the expert, the knowledgeable person, works. He knows everything
           about the meaningless, the insignificant; he goes into insignificant details and he goes on missing the
           central thing.
              I am not against the pundits and the learned people, I am simply compassionate towards them.

               Semyonov, a local party secretary, stopped Kagonovich on the street. "Comrade," he asked, "why
           don't you come for ideological instruction every Tuesday and Thursday evening?"
           "I don't need it," said Kagonovich.
           "Who was Karl Marx?" asked Semyonov.
           "I don't know."
           "Who was Vladimir Lenin?"
           "I don't know."
               Semyonov went on and on. Finally Kagonovich interrupted, "You ask me who is this and who is
           that. Let me ask you! Who is Rudolf Ulyanov?"
           "I don't know," replied the secretary.
           "Ah!" said Kagonovich. "But I know that one. While you are at ideological instruction every
           Tuesday and Thursday night, Rudolf Ulyanov is screwing your wife!"




                                                  Be Still and Know
                                                    Chapter #7
                                    Chapter title: Thanks for the Compliment!
           7 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909070
              ShortTitle: BESTIL07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE CONTRADICTIONS. A LOT OF IT I CAN ACCEPT NOW AS TWO
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SIDES OF ONE COIN. BUT TODAY AFTER LECTURE SOME QUESTIONS STILL AROSE.
              ON THE ONE SIDE YOU SAY THE GOOD AND THE BAD ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
              AND BOTH HAVE TO BE AND THE ONE CAN'T BE WITHOUT THE OTHER. ON THE OTHER SIDE
              YOU WANT TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD WITH YOUR SANNYASINS.
              ON THE ONE SIDE YOU TELL US NOT TO THINK IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE. ON THE OTHER
              SIDE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE COMING THIRD WORLD WAR.
              ON THE ONE SIDE YOU TELL US NOT TO WISH ANYTHING. ON THE OTHER SIDE IT SEEMS
              YOU WANT TO AVOID THE THIRD WORLD WAR.
              ON THE ONE SIDE YOU SAY THINGS ARE OKAY AS THEY ARE, THERE IS NO GOAL, NOTHING
              TO ACHIEVE, TO CHANGE. ON THE OTHER SIDE: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHAT ARE
              WE DOING HERE?
              I CAN FEEL THERE IS AN ANSWER, BUT I CAN'T POINT IT OUT. CAN YOU?

              Anand Suresh,


                IT IS NOT THAT I LOVE CONTRADICTIONS: life is contradictory. Existence itself is
           possible only through contradictions. It is the mind that has been trained in Aristotelian logic that
           becomes disturbed because of contradictions. The Aristotelian logic gives you a linear mind, a
           one-dimensional mind. It says: A can only be A and can never be B, and B can only be B and can
           never be A, and for two thousand years our minds have been conditioned by this logic.
                This logic never had any sway over the mystics, and now even scientists are escaping from the
           Aristotelian prison. If you want to be true to life you cannot be a follower of Aristotle; to be true to
           life you will have to say things as they are. If you want to be true to Aristotle then you will have to
           repress a few things of life, deny, at least avoid, not look at them, choose only what fits with your
           logic.
                The whole world has existed up to now according to one-dimensional logic -- and existence is
           multi-dimensional, it is rooted in contradictions. In fact, to call it a contradiction is again to use a
           word from Aristotle.
                The mystics use the word 'paradox', not 'contradiction'. In the very word 'contradiction' there is
           condemnation: something is wrong, something has to be put right. But a paradox is a totally different
           phenomenon: nothing has to be put right. A paradox is a mystery, elusive, inexplicable.
                Existence is a mystery. Mathematics is incapable of understanding it; mind is utterly impotent in
           understanding it, because mind knows only one way. The Aristotelian way is the mind's way. And
           anybody who knows life knows that Aristotle has been a calamity, the greatest that has ever existed
           in the world. And he is the father of modern philosophy, the father of modern science! But there are
           revolts against him. Mystics have always been revolting, now physicists are revolting.
                According to Aristotle there is no mystery: everything is explainable in logical terms -- that is his
           fundamental tenet. And my fundamental tenet is: nothing is explainable in terms of logic. If you try
           to explain life in terms of logic you destroy life.
                It is as if to explain the beauty of a rose you take the rose to the chemist to dissect it, to analyze
           it, and to find out where the beauty is. The chemist is capable of analyzing the rose, but he will find
           only chemicals, not beauty. Beauty will evaporate. Beauty was in the paradox of the rose. It should
           NOT be according to logic -- hence logic is very blind.
                Your problem, Suresh, is that you suffer from Aristotelitis. It is one of the most deep-rooted
           diseases.

           You say: I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE CONTRADICTIONS.

               It is not so that I love contradictions. What can I do? Contradictions are there! If I have to be true
           to the totality of existence I have to love them, otherwise something will have to be denied. And the
           moment you deny something you miss something immensely valuable, and the denial will never
           allow you to know the whole. And only the whole is true; the parts are only parts. They have some
           meaning only in the context of the whole; in themselves they are meaningless.
               That's why science has created great meaninglessness in the world. It was bound to happen; it is
           a by-product of scientific methodology. Science tries to explain everything cleanly, with no
           vagueness; it wants to reduce everything to clear-cut categories. And it has succeeded, but in its
           success man and his spirit has failed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The success of science is rooted in Aristotle, but man's failure -- the failure of his joy, the failure
           of his love, the failure of his capacity to sing, dance and celebrate -- is also rooted in Aristotle. But
           there are clear-cut signs of revolt, particularly within these last thirty, forty years -- many great
           scientists have revolted against Aristotle. The first one to revolt was Albert Einstein.
               Aristotle is very absolutistic: A is absolutely A and never B, man is absolutely man and never a
           woman. He believes in the absolutes, and Einstein brought the idea of relativity. He said absolutes
           don't exist; there are only relative things. A man is relatively more a man than a woman and a
           woman is relatively more a woman than a man, but the question is not one of absolute distinction --
           they overlap. And you may be a man in the morning and you may not be a man by the evening; you
           may be a woman in the evening and you may not be a woman by the morning. You are not
           one-sided, you have many sides.
               Have you not seen a woman in anger? Then she is more masculine than any male. And have you
           not seen a man when he is in love? -- his tenderness, his feminineness. He is MORE feminine than
           any woman can ever be. When a woman is in anger, enraged, her whole denied part starts
           functioning, and the denied part is very vital and alive because it has never been used.
           I have heard a future story:

               A man went into a hospital to purchase a brain; because his own was not functioning well he
           wanted to replace it. The surgeon took him around; there were many brains available. He showed
           him the brain of a scientist, the price only a hundred rupees; the brain of a great, famous, well-known
           mathematician, and the price only two hundred rupees; and the brain of a great general, and the price
           only three hundred rupees -- so on and so forth. And then he came to the brain of a great political
           leader, and the price- was ten thousand rupees!
               The customer was a little puzzled. He said, "What do you mean? Do you mean that the politician
           has a greater brain than a great, Nobel prize-winning scientist?"
               The surgeon said, "Please don't misunderstand us. It is not that the politician has a greater brain
           than the scientist or the general or the mathematician or the poet, but this is a brain which has never
           been used. It is brand new, hence the price!"

               Whatsoever is not used and denied in you remains very vital. Hence a woman enraged is far
           more dangerous than a man; and if you have been in relationship with a woman you know it
           perfectly well -- she can drive you crazy! because that is the denied part, the unused part. When it is
           used it has vitality, newness. And when a man is tender, loving, he is more tender and loving than a
           woman. He can be more womanly because that is his denied part.
               Carl Gustav Jung accepted that man is bi-sexual: no man is simply man and no woman is simply
           woman. Man has a woman part, a very intrinsic part, and woman has a man inside her, very intrinsic.
           Now this is a totally different world: old categories lose meaning, old absolutes disappear.
               And then came the theory of uncertainty -- because up to now science was aware only of the
           superficial world of matter. It has not penetrated into the mysteries of matter as mystics have done in
           the inner world; they have penetrated into the mysteries of consciousness. And when they penetrated
           the mysteries of consciousness they became aware that it is not Aristotelian at all. Sometimes A is A
           and sometimes A is B; and not only that -- that sometimes A is B -- there are times when A is both A
           and not A simultaneously.
               Mahavira said that; his philosophy is known as SAPTABHANGI -- sevenfold. He must have
           appeared a very strange man. You asked one question and he would always answer your one
           question with seven answers, because his philosophy was sevenfold. He said, "I have come to see the
           seven aspects of the inner world." You asked him, "Does God exist?" and he would say, "First:
           perhaps he exists. Second: perhaps he does not. Third: perhaps he exists and yet does not exist. And
           fourth: perhaps he neither exists nor does not exist." And so on and so forth. He would give you
           seven answers. You would leave him more confused than you had come. That's why he could not
           influence many people. His religion remained one of the smallest although it had the potential of
           becoming one of the greatest religions of the world.
               But now the days of Mahavira are coming: Albert Einstein has made the way for it. As the
           physicist entered deeper into the mysteries of matter he was very much puzzled -- Aristotle works no
           more, helps no more. On the contrary, if you remain hung up with Aristotle you have to deny a few
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           things which you cannot deny -- they are there!
                For example: matter does not exist at the deepest level of matter; matter is only apparent, it is
           MAYA. Shankara said it thousands of years ago: it is illusion. By 'illusion' he does not mean that it
           does not exist; by 'illusion' he simply means it APPEARS to exist -- something ELSE exists. Don't
           be deceived by the appearance. And the scientist found himself entering more into the world of
           Shankara than into the world of Aristotle. Matter disappears, there is only energy -- energy moving
           so fast that you cannot see its movement and it gives you the idea of solid matter.
                Nothing is solid, everything is liquid. And when there is nothing solid, what meaning can the
           word 'liquid' have? Then a new problem arises: if there is nothing solid, what do you mean by
           'liquid'? Liquidity had meaning only in reference to solidity; the moment solidity disappears,
           liquidity disappears...and you are dumb, in awe.
                Only energy is, and the ways of energy are very paradoxical, very mystic. One particle of energy
           jumps from its place to another place; it is continuously lumping. It IS taking quantum leaps. The
           term 'quantum leap' comes from QUANTA. 'Quanta' means the ultimate particle of energy, and
           'quantum leap' means a very different leap from what you understand by the word 'leap'.
                When the ultimate particle of energy jumps from place A to B the phenomenon is very
           mysterious: it simply disappears from A and appears at B and you cannot find it anywhere in
           between. You come from your place to me; you will be found in between. How can you just jump
           from your place to my place? Even if you jump, you will have to pass through. Even if you take the
           fastest plane, still you will be in between. But the ultimate particle of matter simply disappears from
           one place and appears at another place and you cannot find it in between at all. Now what to make
           out of it? It should not be so, but it is so.
                First scientists figured, "We must be missing it -- maybe we don't have sophisticated enough
           instruments. How can it be?" The old Aristotle was haunting them: "It MUST be somewhere in
           between." But now we have more sophisticated instruments -- it simply disappears. It becomes
           unmanifest in one place and becomes manifest again in another place. What happens in between
           nothing can be known about, because it becomes unmanifest; it simply disappears from existence. It
           moves into a totally different dimension which is not known at all and may never be known at all,
           because it is the unknowable.
                And it was thought always, according to Aristotle and Euclid, that a point can never be a line. It
           was found by the physicists that the point can be both together: it can be a particle and a wave, it can
           be a point and a line. Euclidean geometry used to say -- you must have read it at school -- that two
           parallel lines never meet. Now there is something like non-Euclidean geometry which says they
           meet. What to make out of it? Euclidean geometry says you can draw a straight line: a straight line is
           the shortest distance between two points -- a well-known definition, every schoolboy knows about it.
           But non-Euclidean geometry has come with great force and is changing the whole course of
           scientific thinking.
                Non-Euclidean geometry says you CANNOT draw a straight line at all; it is impossible to draw a
           straight line. Why? -- because you are sitting on an earth which is round. So whatsoever you draw, it
           appears straight because you don't know that you are sitting on a round globe. Go on drawing the
           line, go on drawing the line, and soon you will see that it becomes a circle, because it will cover the
           whole earth. And a straight line cannot be a part of a circle, obviously; if it is a part of a circle it is
           not straight. No straight line can create a circle, but every straight line that you know, if drawn to its
           ultimate, will become part of a circle. Then it is an are, not a straight line.
                And the whole universe is circular. The whole universe, all the movement, is circular; everything
           is a circle. Straight lines are not possible; they are imaginary lines.
                Mystics have always talked in paradoxes; now physicists are talking in paradoxes. And the
           reason is the same: mystics entered reality through their being and came across the mystery;
           physicists are coming across the same reality from another door -- the outward door.
                I am not in love with contradictions -- they can't be helped. Existence is a paradox.

              You say: A LOT OF IT I CAN ACCEPT NOW AS TWO SIDES OF ONE COIN.

               That is again a hangover from Aristotle. I have to say to you many times, just not to disturb you
           too much too early, that these are two aspects of the same coin. Then it becomes a little acceptable to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you. You can accept that one coin can have two aspects and they must be facing in opposite
           directions. You can accept the negative and the positive, you can accept the dark night and the bright
           day, you can accept life and death, as two sides of one coin. But when I am using the simile of the
           coin I am not really being true to the reality; I am compromising -- compromising with your
           Aristotelian mind.
               Sooner or later, when you become more accustomed, when you start seeing the paradoxicalness,
           I will not say to you that they are two aspects, two sides of one coin. The negative is the positive and
           the positive is the negative. Life and death are not two sides of one coin -- life IS death. But that will
           be a little more difficult to accept, although the truth is so. The day you were born you started dying.
           The process may be completed in seventy years, that is another thing -- that it takes time -- but time
           matters not. The day you were born you started dying -- IMMEDIATELY. It is not the other side of
           the coin, it is the same side of the coin. Life is death, and day is night, and love is hate, and
           friendship is enmity. Then it becomes more difficult.
               But if I look at your difficulty, then I cannot take you into the world of truth. I have to persuade
           you slowly slowly, so first I say, "These are two aspects of the same coin." The day I feel that now
           you are ready to accept the paradox without questioning I will say, "Life is death." I will not say that
           God and the Devil are two aspects of one energy, I will say God IS the Devil -- two names of the
           SAME energy, not two aspects.

              You say: A LOT OF IT I CAN ACCEPT NOW AS TWO SIDES OF ONE COIN.

               That is not understanding, just acceptance. Listening to me again and again you start figuring out
           that it must be that each phenomenon has two sides. It is not a question of sides. And each
           phenomenon has many dimensions, not only two sides.

             BUT TODAY, you say, AFTER LECTURE SOME QUESTIONS STILL AROSE. ON THE
           ONE SIDE YOU SAY THE GOOD AND THE BAD ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
           AND BOTH HAVE TO BE AND THE ONE CAN'T BE WITHOUT THE OTHER. ON THE
           OTHER SIDE YOU WANT TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD WITH YOUR SANNYASINS.

               Certainly! A better world will be a world where good and bad are absolutely accepted and
           absorbed. I don't mean by using the word 'better' that it will be a good world against the bad. My
           concept of a better world is a world which will be multi-dimensional, a world which will accept the
           earth and the sky so totally that the sky is not higher and the earth is not lower; which will accept the
           body and the soul so wholly that there is no question of who should be the master.
               I have said to you many times, "Let consciousness be the master of the body and mind." That is
           just to persuade you towards a quantum leap. I know you cannot take that leap immediately; you will
           have to be seduced into it.
               The better world will be where the duality of body and spirit is dissolved: the body becomes the
           manifest spirit and the spirit becomes the unmanifest body, they are both one. How can one of these
           two be the master? The very idea of twoness is wrong, so there cannot be anybody who is the master
           and anybody else who is the slave. You are one entity.
               I talk to you in terms of 'from sex to super-consciousness' because you cannot understand right
           now unless some hierarchy is brought to you. 'From sex to superconsciousness' -- even that becomes
           very difficult for rotten, old minds, orthodox, conventional people to understand why I say 'from sex
           to superconsciousness'. But please don't tell others: sex is superconsciousness! Not 'from sex to
           superconsciousness', but sex is superconsciousness. There is no higher, no lower, there is no 'from'
           and no 'to'; there is no journey, you are already there as you are.
               But to assert such pregnant truths I have to prepare you.
               My vision of a better world is not the vision of a good world, where people are virtuous, have
           good character, don't cheat each other, don't lie, are very compassionate towards each other, very
           loving, great servants of humanity. That is not my vision of a better world. That has been the vision
           for centuries, and it has not been fulfilled because it cannot be fulfilled in the very nature of things. It
           is not possible -- you have been denying the bad part.
               For me, a real sannyasin will neither be good nor bad in the old sense of the words. He will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           simply be. And whatsoever he is in a certain moment, he will be totally in it. If he is angry his anger
           will be total; if he is loving his love will be total.
               The old idea of a good man was that he would never be angry. That brought repression into the
           world -- and once you are repressed you go on and on living with your repressed part. The repressed
           part remains a burden because it has not been absorbed. Once absorbed it releases great energy in
           you. It makes you vital, it makes you passionate, it makes you throbbing with infinite life. Repressed
           you are divided in two, you are cut into two; you live, but your life is only so-so.

               Sisters Maria Theresa and Mary Elizabeth were walking down a street when they were grabbed
           by two men, dragged into an alley and raped. Twenty minutes later the nuns continued their stroll.
           "What is Father going to say," said Sister Maria Theresa, "when we tell him we have been raped
           twice?"
           "What do you mean, twice ?" asked her companion.
           "Well, we are coming back this way, aren't we?"

               Repress something and it will come by the back door. It will find its way: it will control you from
           the unconscious. You cannot get rid of it so easily, in fact there is no way to get rid of it. It is PART
           of you, such an organic part that you cannot be alive if you cut it off. That's why your saints look so
           dead, and the deadlier they are, the more you respect them.
               Just a few days ago a man came to me and he was talking about a saint, Devraha Baba, who is
           known in the North of India as the ageless saint, because at least this much is certain, that he is a
           hundred and fifty years old, maybe more. Now that is his only great quality, nothing else! The man
           was very much impressed. He said, "I am a disciple of Devraha Baba."
               I asked him, "What is great in it, to live a hundred and fifty years? Many animals live that long,
           many trees live for thousands of years. There are trees four thousand years old. There are animals
           who easily live a hundred years, a hundred and fifty, two hundred years."
               And I told the man about an experiment. Scientists have discovered about rats.... First they work
           on rats because they have found one thing: that men and rats behave similarly. They are the most
           ancient companions: wherever man is found, rats are found, and wherever rats are found, man is
           found. Their companionship seems to be eternal. Only two are man's eternal companions: rats and
           cockroaches! Wherever man is, these two things are always there. And rats behave very similarly.
               Many experiments have been done on rats. If you give them half their normal food they live
           double. If you give them double their normal food they live only half the span of their life.
               Now these people like Devraha Baba, Jaina monks, they are living on half their normal food.
           They eat only once, and that too in a very miserly way, yet they can live double. How does it
           happen? -- because when you don't get enough food your life flame burns low; instead of gaining
           intensity it starts gaining length. In colder countries people live longer than in the hotter countries,
           because in colder countries you cannot live so passionately so intensely; the cold prevents you. In
           hotter countries you are more passionate.
               Hence it is not strange that the first book on sexology was written in India: the KAMA SUTRA
           of Vatsyayana, and it is not strange that the most strange sexual stories have been written in the very
           hot countries like Arabia. The reason is: when the sun is hot you also live in a hot way. When there
           is no sun and it is all cloudy, your life also burns low.
               Food is fuel: if you eat less you will be thin, if you eat less you will have less sexual desire, if
           you eat less you will have less possibility of being angry, if you eat less you will live at a very
           minimum level of life. You can live long, but this is not life. Then why not get frozen in a deep
           freeze? Then you can live forever!
               And that was one of the reasons why the escapist monks found it a great attraction to go to the
           Himalayan caves; it is a natural way of living a frozen life. And not only did they escape to the
           Himalayas, they also tried to live without clothes, naked or almost naked. If your body remains too
           cold your blood is nothing but frozen; then you can live long, but length has no value. time has no
           value, and length is in time. Depth has value, and depth is a totally different matter.
               When I say 'a better world' I don't mean people will be living for two hundred years, three
           hundred years, because they will be great saints. I simply mean people WILL be living passionately,
           totally, wholly. Even if they live a very short life their life will be a fulfillment.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              My idea of a better world is not your idea of a better world, Suresh. Listening to me always
           remember: my words have MY meaning, and become capable of separating your meaning from my
           meaning.

             You say: ON THE ONE SIDE YOU TELL US NOT TO THINK IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE.
           ON THE OTHER SIDE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE COMING THIRD WORLD WAR.

                For me there is no future, no past; all is present. To you I say, "Don't think of the future," because
           if you think of the future you will miss the present. I am SO rooted in the present that it is only the
           present that extends into the past and into the future.
                It is like you are hiding in your room and looking from the keyhole at what is happening outside.
           You see a man suddenly appearing from nowhere, because just a moment before he was not there
           because he was not in front of your keyhole -- he was in the future. Now suddenly he appears before
           the keyhole; you can see him for a moment and then he is gone again. Now he is in the past.
                But I am outside the room. When for you he was in the future, for me he was in the present;
           when for you he has again become in the past, he is still for me in the present. Once you have known
           how to live in the present then all is present. So if I sometimes talk about past or about future, don't
           misunderstand me. For me there is no past and no future but only the present. I live in the present.
                For you the third world war is in the future; for me it is already there, it has arrived. It may take a
           little time to come before you can see it, before it comes in front of your keyhole, but then it will be
           too late, then nothing can be done about it.

             And you say: ON THE ONE SIDE YOU TELL US NOT TO WISH FOR ANYTHING. ON
           THE OTHER SIDE IT SEEMS YOU WANT TO AVOID THE THIRD WORLD WAR.

               I don't want to avoid anything, not even the third world war, but I want to become a help to you
           so that you can be aware of it. And the third world war can be used as a device for your awareness. If
           you become alert that this earth is going to die, your life will be transformed.
               Jesus used to say again and again: "Watch, beware! The Day of Judgment is very close by. In
           your life, this very life you will see it happening!" It has not happened up to now, but it was a device
           Jesus was creating a situation in which people could become aware that the time is very short and
           much has to be done, and we should not go on playing with stupid games -- money, power, prestige.

                It happened in the life of a great mystic, Eknath: A man used to come to him for years, must have
           been a man of a very philosophic bent. He would ask Eknath again and again, "I cannot believe that
           a man can be so innocent as you, so saintly, so holy. Sometimes great doubts arise in me -- maybe
           you are holy only on the surface; maybe deep inside your mind you still desire things that we desire,
           you are still ambitious. Maybe your ambition is very subtle and we cannot see it; maybe deep down
           in your dreams you still commit sin. Help me to get rid of this doubt, because this has become a
           barrier between me and you."
           Eknath would laugh and would never answer.
                One day early in the morning the man came and he said, "I could not sleep the whole night. Now
           it is too much -- it is becoming a nightmare! Seeing you I see such beauty, such grace, that I cannot
           believe it is possible in a human body. Seeing you I believe God is, but the moment I go home doubt
           starts sprouting, mushrooming: 'How can it be? After all he is also made of body and mind. Maybe
           there is still some sexual desire hidden in his unconscious.'"
                That day Eknath did not laugh. On the contrary, he looked very serious and sad. He said, "Friend,
           today I have to impart something very essential, urgent, to you. And before I discuss your question I
           would like to say what I have to give to you, because I may forget. If I go on discussing with you I
           may not remember."
                The man said, "What is it? What is that which is so urgent?"
                Eknath said, "Just the other day by chance I looked at your hand, and your life line is finished.
           Just a little fragment is left, seven days at the most. Today is Sunday -- I don't think you will be able
           to survive next Sunday.
                By next Sunday evening you will be gone. Now you can ask your question."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man stood up. He said, "What question? I will come again."
               Eknath said, "Wait! Why is there so much hurry? It is enough time -- seven days."
               The man said, "You say it is enough time? -- seven days? I can't waste it on stupid doubts! And
           what am I to do about you? Whether you suffer from sexuality or sin, that is your business. I am
           going home!"
               Eknath tried to hold him but he escaped. He said, "I have no time for philosophical matters any
           more!"
               Just a moment before when he had come he was so strong, so young -- and just a moment
           afterwards when he was going down the steps of the temple of Eknath he was shaking and trembling.
           He had to take the support of the wall.
               He went home, he gathered his family, and he said, "Only seven days are left and I am going to
           die. Tell all my friends and all my enemies to come -- I would like to forgive and be forgiven. Only
           seven days are there, so what is the point of quarreling with people and fighting and competing?
           Finished, the game is finished!"
               He laid himself on the bed. He became so weak that he could not get up from the bed. He was fed
           on the bed and continuously he was chanting, "Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama," remembering God for
           the first time in his life. And every day he was asking, "How many days are still left?" And as the
           seventh day started coming closer and closer he became more and more oblivious of the world. He
           started looking at people indifferently, he started forgetting people's names, their faces. He stopped
           recognizing people: he stopped recognizing his own wife and children, his own father and mother!
               And the seventh day came and he was crying, and he was chanting the whole day and asking
           again and again, "How far is the sunset? -- because Eknath has said, 'The moment the sun sets, you
           are finished!' Exactly at sunset I am going to die."
               And the sun was coming down every moment, coming closer and closer to the western horizon.
           Just a few minutes more...and Eknath arrived. The whole family started crying and weeping. Eknath
           said, 'Wait! Let me see the person!"
               Eknath went there, shook the man. It was very difficult for the man to recognize even Eknath --
           and he used to call him his Master, and for at least twenty years he had been sitting in SATSANG
           with him, in communion with him. And he could not recognize him!
               Eknath said, "Can't you recognize me? I am Eknath, your Master!"
               Then a little recognition arose and he said, "Yes, vaguely. I am in a very cloudy state. How far is
           the sun from the western horizon?"
               Eknath said, "Forget all this nonsense! I have come to ask you one question: in these seven days
           what was going on inside you? Sex, greed, anger, jealousy? What was going on inside you? I have
           come to ask that question."
               The man said, "I am dying and you are talking philosophy! Death was so close to me that I could
           only remember God. I don't remember even for a single moment that sex was there, greed was there,
           enmity was there, anger was there. No, they had all disappeared."
               Eknath said, "You are not going to die -- get up! This was just an answer to your question. The
           day I became aware that death is, since that day my inner being has changed. How does it matter
           whether death is to come in seven days or seventy years? Once you become aware that this life is
           going to slip out of your hands, it has already slipped! Then you have to prepare for the other shore,
           then you have to prepare for something beyond."

               The third world war is coming closer, but I am not interested in avoiding it or bringing it. Who
           cares? My whole interest is in you, and I want you to become aware that this earth is not going to
           live for long. If this becomes an awareness in you it will be a transforming force. And if millions of
           people are transformed in this way, this earth may be saved -- but that will be just a payoff, a
           consequence.
               I am not desiring that the world should be saved. It is such a stupid world, it is such a stupid
           humanity -- if it is gone it is good! I am not very much interested in saving this stupid lot -- they
           have lived here for millions of years and they have proved only a burden and a corruption, they have
           polluted everything.
               But I am certainly interested in using this as a device, which is far more potential than Jesus'
           statement that the Day of Judgment is close, because that is an abstraction. But the third world war
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           IS coming closer every day, because Russia is preparing, America is preparing; they go on piling up
           atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, death bombs, and they go on inventing new ways for killing
           humanity instantly. So it is a very very real danger. Why not use it as a device? It can shake you up,
           it can wake you up. And if millions of people become meditators, there is a possibility the world war
           may not happen. But that is not my interest. My interest is to save people -- people who are worth
           saving.

             And the last thing you ask: ON THE ONE SIDE YOU SAY THINGS ARE OKAY AS THEY
           ARE, THERE IS NO GOAL, NOTHING TO ACHIEVE, TO CHANGE. ON THE OTHER SIDE:
           WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

               Just explaining this to you: that there is no goal, that there is nothing to achieve, that everything
           is good as it is.
           I will tell you a Sufi story:

               There is a story told by Sufis about a man who read that certain dervishes, on the orders of their
           Master, never touched meat and did not smoke. Since this tends to fit in with certain well-established
           beliefs, especially in the West, this man made his way to the ZAWIA -- assembly place -- of the
           illuminated ones, to sit at their feet. They were all over ninety years old.
               Sure enough, there they were, not a spot of nicotine or shred of animal protein among them, and
           our hero gasped with delight as he sat drinking in the unpolluted air and tasting the bean-curd soup
           which they provided. He hoped that he would at least live to a hundred.
               Suddenly one of them whispered, "Here comes the great Master!" And all stood up as the
           venerable sage came in. He smiled benignly and went into the house, heading for his quarters. He did
           not look a day over fifty.
           "How old is he, and what does he eat?" asked the enraptured visitor.
           "He is one hundred and fifty years old, and I don't suppose any of us will reach that venerable age
           and station," wheezed one of the ancients. "But, of course, he is allowed twenty cigars and three
           steaks a day, since he is now beyond being affected by frivolities and temptations!"

               It is a beautiful story. There comes a moment when a man goes beyond all duality -- then he is
           allowed everything.
               I can talk about the future because I live in the present -- it is allowed! And I can talk about
           saving the world from the third world war because I have no desires left -- it is allowed. I can go on
           teaching you day in, day out, year in, year out, saying continuously, hammering continuously:
           "There is no goal, no purpose, nothing to achieve." Still it is allowed to me to teach you.
               Why is it allowed to me to teach you? -- because I am not a teacher any more. And I am not
           giving you a doctrine, and I am not giving you a character, and I am not giving you a discipline. I am
           simply imparting my joy that has happened to me. With me all is okay -- third world war or no world
           war. If the third world war happens I will be the same, if it doesn't happen I am the same.
               If the third world war happens, if you are alive and I am alive, I will continue the morning
           discourse, the evening darshan...everything will continue. The third world war will go on destroying
           the earth and I will go on doing my own thing, not being bothered by it at all. It does not matter.
               Suresh, drop the Aristotelian mind. Only then will you be able to understand me well, to
           understand me at all.

           The second question


              OSHO, I HAVE BEEN SO MUCH CONDITIONED AS A CATHOLIC THAT I SEE NO HOPE FOR
              MYSELF: CAN YOU STILL HELP ME?

              Maria,

                CATHOLIC OR COMMUNIST, Mohammedan or Maoist, Jaina or Jew, it makes no difference,
           it is all the same. Of course, Catholics do it more systematically than Hindus, more scientifically.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They have developed a great expertise for how to condition people. But all the religions are doing it
           more or less, all the societies are doing it in their own way: everybody is conditioned.
               The moment you are born, conditioning starts, from your very first breath; it cannot be avoided.
           The parents will condition you, the children you play with will condition you, the neighborhood will
           condition you, the school, the church, the state. And consciously not much conditioning is being
           done, but unconsciously the child goes on and on accumulating it. The child learns by imitating.
               So don't be worried. This is the normal situation in the world: everybody is conditioned. And
           everybody has to come out of the conditioning. It is difficult. It is not like undressing -- it is like
           peeling your skin. It is hard, it is arduous, because we have become identified with our conditioning.
           We know ourselves only as Catholics, communists, Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians. And the
           greatest fear of dropping the conditioning is the fear that you may fall into an identity crisis. Hence
           sannyas.
               Sannyas is just a device to help you so that you don't start feeling that you are falling into an
           abyss, a bottomless abyss. I take away your conditionings -- you will feel very empty -- I have to
           give you something to play with for the time being. Sannyas is that toy to play with for the time
           being. But sannyas is given to you in such a way that it never becomes a conditioning; it remains
           fun, it remains sport -- involved yet you remain a witness to it.
               Maria, it is difficult to drop the conditioning, because that is your whole past, your mind, your
           ego, all that you are. But if you are ready, if you are courageous, if you have guts enough to come
           along with me it is possible, it is not impossible.

               The local procurer in Mexico grabbed the distraught tourist stepping down the gangplank. "I got
           a nice young girl for you -- twelve years old, a virgin."
               When the tourist refused the procurer said, "Then I got a nice young boy for you, twelve years
           old, a virg -- "
           "Look!" roared the tourist, "I don't want a young girl, I don't want a young boy... I just want the
           American consul!"
           "Hmmm!" murmured the procurer, "A little difficult, but I try."

               It is a little difficult, but I try. Maria, give me a chance to try! It has happened to so many people.
           I have so many Marias! Become part of this happening, don't remain a spectator. Join the dance! My
           invitation is for all, my invitation is unconditional.
               Whatever conditioning you have got can be dropped, because it has been forced on you from the
           outside -- and because it has been forced on you from the outside it can be taken away from you
           from the outside.
               I cannot give you God, I cannot give you truth, I cannot give you your inner core, but I can take
           all the rubbish that has been heaped upon you. And once that rubbish is removed, God starts
           becoming alive in you. Once all the obstacles are removed, the spring of your life starts flowing, the
           innocence is regained. Innocence regained is paradise regained; you enter again into the Garden of
           Eden.
               And one thing is certain, Maria, that you are not contented with being a Catholic. How can
           anybody who has any intelligence be contented with being a Catholic or a Hindu or a Jaina or a
           Buddhist? All these sects are
               dead! It was beautiful when Jesus walked on the earth; to have followed a few steps with him
           would have been a tremendous transformation. Those few people were fortunate who broke bread
           with him, drank wine with him -- must have laughed, danced, sung, celebrated. Those few people
           were real Christians.
               How can you be a Christian if Christ is missing? And how can you be a Buddhist if Buddha is
           not present?
               A Master is absolutely necessary for the disciple to go through the mutation. I am available, my
           heart is open for you. Please come in! And all the junk that you are carrying will be dropped.
           Difficult it is always, but not impossible. I can save at least the essential core and that is the real
           thing. If I can save your very center, then let the circumference remain Catholic, communist, Hindu
           or Mohammedan -- it cannot affect you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There was this King Edward potato who one night decided that he fancied a night out on the
           town. So he jumped in the tub and had a scrub, put on his best red jacket and went up West.
               Sitting in a bar he spied this luscious young tomato, so he thought to himself, "I fancy that -- I
           will chat it up!"
               In the corner of the pub was a bunch of punk carrots -- green hair, everything. One of them turns
           to the other and says, "Hey, yon potato is chatting up your tomato!"
               The other says, "I am not having that. We will get him at chucking out time!"
               So come closing time they get this potato outside. What a mess! They kick in his eyes, rip up his
           jacket -- totally mash him up!
               When he wakes up in the hospital the surgeon says, "I have got good news and bad news for
           you."
               So the potato says, "Well, let me have the good first."
           The surgeon says, "We managed to save your eyes.
           "And what is the bad?"
           "You will be a cabbage for the rest of your life!"

                I can save your eyes, and that's what matters. Then you can be a cabbage or a Catholic,
           whatsoever you want. On the circumference you can be anything, but at the center become
           consciousness, become a witness. Your being a Catholic or Hindu or Mohammedan is a content of
           your consciousness. Don't get identified with the content; remember that you are the watcher. There
           is Catholic upbringing, there is Mohammedan conditioning, there is Hindu hypnosis -- watch! They
           are separate from you. You are a pure consciousness, a mirror, reflecting all that has been put upon
           you from the outside.
                Once you know that you are separate you are free from all conditioning, and then you can use
           your conditioning. I am not saying to become unnecessarily a nuisance in your society; I am not
           saying to get into unnecessary trouble for yourself and others. You can go on acting being a Catholic
           -- it is beautiful! You can go to the church every Sunday and enjoy it, but remember that you are not
           a Catholic -- the Catholic upbringing is just on the circumference. You are only a witness.
                Be a witness in the church, be a witness in the temple, be a witness while you are reading the
           Gita and be a witness while you are reading the Bible -- and this witnessing will become the
           foundation of your liberation.

           The third question Sarjano,


              OSHO, ONCE I THOUGHT ABOUT ENERGY AS IF ENERGY WAS MINE AND I LIKED TO THINK
              THAT I HAD A LOT OF ENERGY. NOW I HAVE REALIZED THAT I AM ONLY A PASSAGE, A
              MEDIUM, A VEHICLE FOR THE ENERGY OF THE DIVINE. SO HOW COME THAT SOMETIMES I
              AM SO FULL OF ENERGY AND OVERFLOWING FROM EACH PORE, FEELING THAT IT IS
              IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTAIN THAT MUCH AND I WILL EXPLODE -- AND AFTER A FEW HOURS I
              AM EMPTY WITH NO ENERGY EVEN TO SAY THAT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE MORE ENERGY?
              IS THERE NO WAY TO KEEP THE FLOW OF ENERGY CONSTANT? AND AGAIN, SOMETIMES I
              FEEL SUCH APPETITE FOR LIFE THAT LITERALLY I AM GOING AROUND HUGGING
              EVERYBODY, AND I WOULD LIKE TO HUG TREES AND STARS AND FLOWERS, AND THEN
              AFTER A FEW HOURS I FEEL THAT LIFE IS NO LONGER WORTH LIVING AND IT IS ONLY OUT
              OF RESPECT FOR LIFE THAT I DON'T KILL MYSELF. BUT I START ASKING GOD, "PLEASE,
              TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE -- IT IS TOO PAINFUL AND BORING." IS THERE SOME RELATION
              BETWEEN THESE PHENOMENA? WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK MORE ABOUT ENERGY?


               YOU ARE COMING CLOSER TO THE POINT, to the target of understanding, but you have
           not come exactly to the point yet; you are missing only by inches.

              You say: ONCE I THOUGHT ABOUT ENERGY AS IF ENERGY WAS MINE AND I LIKED
           TO THINK THAT I HAD A LOT OF ENERGY. NOW I HAVE REALIZED...

              Still that 'I' continues; before it was identified with energy, now it is identified with realization.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

             NOW I HAVE REALIZED, you say, THAT I AM ONLY A PASSAGE, A MEDIUM, A
           VEHICLE FOR THE ENERGY OF THE DIVINE.

               To be a passage means you are no more. You cannot realize that "I am only a passage,"
           otherwise you are still there -- and if you are there you cannot be a passage. You have to disappear
           completely. Nobody remains there to realize that "I am a passage" -- then you are a passage.
               That's why this problem is arising. Sometimes you are less and sometimes you are more: when
           you are less, more energy is flowing; when you are more, the flow stops. When you are a little more
           there as a realizer, as a spiritual being who has understood the flow of energy, when you are there
           identified with this new idea of being a passage and a medium, energy disappears because you
           obstruct it. Sometimes when you are not there -- not even as a realizer, not even as a medium, when
           simply you are not there -- the energy starts flowing.

              You ask: SO HOW COME THAT SOMETIMES I AM SO FULL OF ENERGY...?

               Whenever you are not, you are full of energy; whenever you are, energy disappears. God can
           exist only in your absence; you cannot coexist with God. But you are still there in a subtle way.

              You ask: HOW COME THAT SOMETIMES I AM SO FULL OF ENERGY...?

               Who is this 'I am'? You are enjoying this: "I am so full of energy." Energy comes when you are
           not, and immediately you jump in and you say, "I am so full of energy," and energy starts
           disappearing.

             You say:...OVERFLOWING FROM EACH PORE, FEELING THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO
           CONTAIN THAT MUCH...?

              Who is there to contain? Who is there to count how much it is? Who is there to weigh? In a
           subtle way you are hiding by the side or looking from the corner of your eye.

              A guest had come to Mulla Nasruddin's house. Mulla Nasruddin was giving him food. The guest
           was saying, "Now it is enough -- I have taken five PURIS, now no more."
              Nasruddin said, "Five? You have taken eleven, but who is counting?"

              This is also counting! Who is there to contain? You jump in -- it always happens. Not only with
           you, Sarjano, it happens with everybody. Whenever those rare moments come when you are not,
           energy flows, suddenly the mind recoils, comes back, feels great: "So much energy, impossible to
           contain!" And immediately you fall to the opposite polarity.

             You say:...AND AFTER A FEW HOURS I AM EMPTY, WITH NO ENERGY EVEN TO SAY
           THAT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE MORE ENERGY? IS THERE NO WAY TO KEEP THE
           FLOW OF ENERGY CONSTANT?

               Who wants to keep the flow of energy constant? Just see the point: it is you. The old habit goes
           on coming back in new ways.

               Rosenfeld, a New York men's clothing manufacturer, was returning to America after a business
           trip to Israel. On the way back he decided to stop off in Rome and take in the sights.
               Two weeks later he finally arrived home. "How was the trip?" asked his sales manager.
           "Fantastic!" replied Rosenfeld. "In Israel I sold a thousand more suits than any of us expected. Then
           I stopped off in Rome and saw all the historical sights. I got in with a sightseeing group and we had
           an audience with the Pope."
           "The Pope himself? You don't say!" exclaimed the sales manager. "What does he look like?"
           "Oh," said Rosenfeld, "I would say about a forty-four short."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A tailor is a tailor, a businessman is a businessman. Even if he goes to see a Buddha he will come
           with this information -- a forty-four short.
                They say that a shoemaker never looks at people's faces, he goes on looking at their shoes. In
           fact, that is his only way to judge about people. Seeing the shoe he knows whether you have money
           in your pocket or not. He knows how things are going in your life, whether you are happy or
           unhappy. In fact, a good shoemaker can predict everything about you just by looking at your shoes;
           the psychoanalysis of the shoe will show everything about you.
                Old habits, Sarjano, and it is so with everybody....The 'I' is the most ancient habit; for millions of
           lives we have carried it, so I comes again and again. You will have to be a little more watchful, a
           little more alert. Who wants to keep the flow of energy constant? -- Exactly the same entity that
           wants the flow to remain constant is the cause of it not being constant. Be a little more alert.

               Mrs Hatton wanted to scare her husband out of his terrible drinking habit. One night she dressed
           up like the Devil and waited for him in an alley.
               Soon the bar closed for the night and Hatton staggered towards home. Mrs. Hatton jumped out at
           him and yelled, "Yah! I am the Devil!"
               Hatton held out his hand and said, "How da ya do? I married your sister!"

           This is awareness -- even drunk!
               Learn a little more awareness, be aware. The 'I' will come in many forms, shapes, disguises. It
           can become spiritual, it can become holy, it can become saintly, godly. It can try every possible way
           to save itself.
               When you are feeling full of energy you are not, hence great love arises. The ego poisons love;
           you start hugging people, trees. People have complained to me and trees too, because they may not
           be in the same energy space as you are, Sarjano. Be a little watchful!
               But I know, when the energy flows one is constantly in a sharing state; one would like to share
           with everybody, even with trees and rocks. But when it disappears you will feel very very empty, so
           empty that you would like to commit suicide. This happens only when you reach a peak of energy,
           and then coming back to the valley is very disturbing. People who live in the valley and never go to
           the peak never think of suicide.
               That's why in poor countries suicide is rare, in primitive countries absolutely non-existent.
           Animals don't commit suicide -- they never go to the peak. Because they don't know anything about
           the peak they never feel the ugliness, the darkness of the valley. Because they have never smelt the
           fragrance of the divine they can never smell the stinking existence that they are living.
               So this is going to happen to every sannyasin: you will reach peaks of joy and then when you fall
           from the peaks the only desire will be to be finished with it all. But the fall is not happening on its
           own -- you are the cause of it, it can be stopped.
               And the only way to stop it is: when you are on the peak, enjoy the peak, enjoy the sunlit peak,
           the pure air, the whispering of the clouds, the closeness of the stars, enjoy that; and when you fall
           into the valley, enjoy the darkness of the valley, the dangers of the valley -- and don't bring yourself
           in -- both are good. In fact, the valley will allow you a little rest so that you can again be ready to go
           to the peak. The valley is a kind of sleep; it is needed after a day's hard work. Tomorrow morning
           you will be again rejuvenated, you can again track your path towards the peak.
               Enjoy both -- and you can enjoy both if the 'I' disappears. And if the 'I' disappears -- I would like
           to give you the real mystic statement about it -- if the 'I' disappears there is no peak, no valley;
           everything is the same. Wherever you are, God is flowing through you; wherever you are, you are in
           a state of blessedness. Wherever you are, not only are YOU blessed, you bless the whole existence
           too.

           The last question


              OSHO, ARE ALL ENLIGHTENED MASTERS RASCALS LIKE YOU? TO ME, YOUR RASCALINESS
              IS EVEN MORE PREDOMINANT THAN YOUR JOKE-TELLING. ARE YOU TRYING TO TRICK US
              ALL INTO ENLIGHTENMENT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Satya,

              A thousand and one thanks for the compliment!




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                     Chapter #8
                                         Chapter title: Just For Your Sake
           8 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909080
              ShortTitle: BESTIL08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, IN THE WEST MANY GROUP-PSYCHOANALYSTS, SUCH AS BION, EZRIEL, ANZIEN,
              PICHON-PRIVIERE, TREAT A GROUP AS A UNITY AND THEY ANALYZE THE GROUP
              MENTALITY, MOOD AND RESISTANCES, BUT NOT AS INDIVIDUALS. FOR THEM, AS A MAN IS
              MADE OF MANY ASPECTS AND PARTS, BUT IS A UNITY, SO A GROUP IS MADE OF MANY
              PERSONS BUT IS A UNITY TOO.
              HERE WITH YOU, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GROUP IS VERY MUCH STRESSED IN THERAPY,
              WORK, MEDITATION, ENERGY DARSHAN; ON THE OTHER HAND GREAT IMPORTANCE IS
              GIVEN TO INDIVIDUALITY. OSHO, PLEASE, HAS A GROUP A KIND OF UNIQUE SOUL BEYOND
              INDIVIDUALS, OR IS IT ONLY A BUNCH OF PEOPLE OCCASIONALLY GATHERED TOGETHER?
              ARE DIFFERENT SOCIAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS CONCERNED IN SUCH A CASE?
              PLEASE COMMENT.

              Ramadas,


               THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FASCISM, that individuals don't exist, only
           groups are real. But then the problem arises: where will you put the full point? If the group is real
           and individuals are not real, or are just parts of the group, then the church is far more real -- it is a
           bigger group; then the nation is far more real because it is an even bigger group; then the whole of
           humanity is still more real because it is an even bigger group. And the individual is completely lost.
           And whenever there is a conflict between the individual and the group, of course the individual has
           to sacrifice himself -- because he is unreal. He exists only as a part of the group.
               This is the way to destroy revolution completely, totally. This is not psychoanalysis; this is trying
           to bring fascism from the back door. But all the societies love fascism. No society wants individuals,
           because the very existence of the individual is a question mark on many things the society goes on
           doing.
               An individual is bound to be a rebel. An individual is a non-conformist, he cannot conform. He
           can say yes only to things which he feels are worth saying yes to, but it depends on his own feeling,
           his own intuitive understanding, his own intelligence. He cannot be forced to yield. He can surrender
           out of love, but he cannot be made to surrender; he would rather die than surrender. He cannot be an
           obedient slave -- not that he does not know how to obey. When he feels for something, when he is
           committed to something, involved with something, he obeys, he obeys totally, but he is really
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           obeying his own inner light; he is not following any commandments from the outside.
               To be an individual is to be non-political. The whole of politics depends on people who are not
           individuals, who are only phony individuals, who appear to be separate but are not separate --
           dependent on the group, utterly dependent, for their safety, security, respectability, power, prestige:
           for their ego.
               The real individual has no ego, hence he need not depend on the society he society gives you the
           ego, and if you want to be on an ego trip you have to depend on people; only they can nourish your
           ego. The individual knows his real self, hence he needs no ego.
               But, Ramadas, the individual will not go to a psychoanalyst; there is no need for him. To be an
           individual is to be whole and healthy.
               The problem arises...psychoanalysis has become very important and significant because we have
           taken away people's individuality. We have given them phony egos which DON'T satisfy. They are
           like unnourishing food -- colorful, appealing, but not giving you any nourishment.
               And the man who lives with the ego is always missing himself; he is always feeling empty,
           meaningless. He wants to fill his being with something: he may become obsessed with food just as a
           way to feel full; he can eat too much, he can become obsessed with food. Or he can become obsessed
           with money, with gold, with power. These are all ways to somehow feel significant. But nothing
           succeeds, everything fails. You can hope only while things are far away; when you achieve them,
           suddenly you see you have been chasing shadows.
               You are not feeling empty because you don't have much money. You are feeling empty because
           you have not yet encountered your real self, you have not come to your authentic individuality.
           Meditation is the way to individuality. It makes you a light unto yourself.
               No, an individual is not a part; an individual is a universe in himself. But no society wants
           individuals, hence for centuries individuality has been destroyed and a plastic thing has replaced it.
           That plastic thing is called 'personality'.
               People are very much confused about personality and individuality. They think personality is
           individuality. It is not -- in fact it is the barrier. You will never attain to individuality if you are not
           ready to drop your personality. Here the group therapies, meditations, work, this communion...all is
           devised in such a way that it destroys your personality, the plastic self, and throws you back to your
           real individuality.
               Individuality is born with you, it is your being. Personality is a social phenomenon, it is given to
           you. When you are sitting in a cave in the Himalayas you don't have any personality, but you have
           individuality. Personality can exist only in reference to others. The more people know you, the more
           personality you have -- hence the desire to have name and fame. The more people respect you, the
           more you enjoy the personality; it becomes strengthened.
               Hence a great longing for respectability. You can attain it through money, you can attain it by
           renouncing money. You can attain it by eating too much or you can attain it by eating too little, by
           fasting. You can attain it by accumulating things or you can attain it by accumulating knowledge.
           But the whole idea is: you are looking in the others' eyes to see how they are feeling about you. You
           can become very virtuous, very moral, just to attain a personality, but the personality is not going to
           fulfill you. And down the centuries the individuality has been destroyed, people are carrying
           personalities .
               In these group-psychotherapies about which you are asking me, and the people like Bion, Ezriel,
           Anzien, Pichon-Priviere, and their psychoanalysis -- who goes to these people? The people who have
           lost contact with their beings, the people who are too much confined to their personalities and have
           no idea of any individuality. They ate ready to become part of a group. They feel very at ease in
           becoming part of a group, because the moment they become part of a group they have no
           responsibility. They can relax, they have no anxiety. Now the group takes the responsibility.
               That's why people are Hindus and Christians and Mohammedans. Why? Why do people belong
           to rotten, utterly out-of-date, so-called ideologies? For a single reason: it gives you security, a feeling
           that you belong, that there are people who are with you -- you are not alone. The Christian knows
           that millions of people are Christians. The Hindu knows that he is not alone, millions of people are
           with him -- how can he be wrong? How can millions of people be wrong? He must be right! He
           knows nothing of what is right and what is wrong, but the crowd around him gives him the feeling
           that he does -- a false feeling, obviously.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Truth has nothing to do with the crowd; truth has always been attained by individuals. A Buddha
           attains it, a Jesus, a Mohammed, a Moses, a Zarathustra. But they attain to truth when they are
           absolutely alone in their deep meditative states, when they forget all about the world and the other,
           when they are no more obsessed by the other in any possible way, when they are utterly alone
           drowning in their own consciousness and reaching the very bottom core of it. Then they know what
           truth is.
               But the crowd keeps you away from yourself. The crowd is an escape from your real being. The
           crowd makes it possible for you to remain interested in others; it never allows you any
           self-encounter.
               The groups in this commune have a totally different orientation. It is not to force you to become
           part of the group. On the contrary, the group is just a help for you to drop your personality and BE
           individuals. If by dropping your individuality you become part of a group, you are committing
           suicide. And that's what these people are helping people to do.
               People are tired of themselves; they want to commit suicide. If they cannot commit suicide
           physiologically, at least psychologically they can commit it. They may not be courageous enough to
           really commit suicide, hence these group-psychoanalysts are giving them ways to commit
           psychological suicide: "Become part of the group."
               Becoming part of the group you are no more anxious, no more burdened. For a few days while
           you are in the group you feel a certain kind of relaxation; out of the group you will be back in your
           personality. Hence you will need the groups again and again; after a few days, a few weeks, you will
           again feel to participate in a group. Now the group becomes like an intoxicant which helps you to
           forget yourself.
               This is not the purpose here. Here the purpose is totally different: you have to be helped to stand
           on your own feet, to be yourself.

             You ask me: IN THE WEST MANY GROUP-PSYCHOANALYSTS TREAT A GROUP AS A
           UNITY. .

                No group can ever be a unity; a group can at the most be a union. And the difference between
           union and unity is great. In unity you become one, you dissolve yourself completely, you are no
           more separate. In union you remain separate but you are together for a certain purpose. Once the
           purpose is fulfilled the union disappears. But the unity, once attained, never disappears -- it is not
           purposive.
                With people you need only unions with God you need unity.
                Even a love affair is a union not a unity, a friendship is a union not a unity. Once the purpose is
           fulfilled the love affair will disappear. You may cling for a fear days just out of a sense of gratitude,
           out of a sense of responsibility, duty, out of a sense of all the promises that you have given in the
           past -- you may cling for a few days, but that clinging cannot go on for long. Sooner or later it is
           finished, the purpose is fulfilled.
                Unity means there is no way to finish it; it can only be with God. Unity with God, union with
           people. In unity you become one, inseparably one, but in a group you are not inseparably one. It is a
           temporary commitment: you can drop out of it any moment, you can say no any moment; you still
           remain capable of separating yourself. Remember the difference between unity and union.
                When a group, a psychotherapeutic group, meets together, it is a kind of union. You have met for
           a certain purpose for a few days: to help each other, to be helped by the wisdom of the psychoanalyst
           -- if he has any.... He may not have any. His psychotherapy may be just an escape for him to avoid
           his own problems.
                It happens many times: listening to other people's problems you can easily forget your own
           problems. Getting involved with other people's anxieties you can avoid your own anxieties; they
           look very small compared to other people's problems. You can even feel a little good inside: "My
           problems are not so great." Listening to other people's problems you become focused on others.
                Your so-called psychoanalysts, more or less, are simply avoiding their own problems -- because I
           know them! Many of them have become sannyasins, many more are on the way. They are in the
           same misery, in the same mess, as you are. But they are knowledgeable, they are experts, they have
           studied. They can help a little, they can supply a kind of expertise; maybe a little bit of help IS
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible. Sometimes they may not be able to give you any help, but they may function as a placebo.
               A placebo literally means 'that which pleases'; it is a medical term. Sometimes there are people
           who come to the physicians who have no problems, no real problems, just imaginary problems. They
           are given placeboes -- just sugar pills -- they have no medicinal quality in them, but the patient
           believes that he has been given a great medicine. His illness is imaginary; he needs an imaginary
           medicine. A real medicine will create some trouble. Taking those imaginary medicines he is helped,
           he feels good.
               Sometimes it happens: the moment the doctor comes to see you, half your disease is already
           gone. He has not given you any medicine, but he just comes smiling, holds your hand, and now you
           know that you are in the hands of an authority. That's enough to feel relief. And his smile, and his
           authoritative manner, and all the gadgets that he brings -- the cardiogram, the stethoscope, the
           thermometer -- and a few things he does on your body... and then he smiles and says, "Don't be
           worried. This will be gone within two days." Half of it is already gone!
               Hence a doctor has to take big fees. If he takes no fee from you, you will not be helped. The
           bigger the fee, the greater the doctor! When you come to the highest authority, certainly you know
           you are going to be helped, it is going to happen. This man is a magician -- whomsoever he touches
           he cures! This very belief is medicinal, and then any medicine will do. Much depends on the
           physician and his demeanor.
               These group-psychotherapists -- and there are now many kinds all around the world -- they are a
           kind of placebo. You feel good knowing that somebody knows; he may know, he may not know. My
           own observation is that they are much more in a mess than you are, but they have found a way. The
           psychoanalysis may not help you but it helps them.
           I have heard:

               A young woman entered into the office of a psychoanalyst. The psychoanalyst immediately said,
           "Undress!"
               The woman said, "But I have no physical problem; it is a question of my mind."
               The psychoanalyst said, "Did you hear me or not? Undress! If you don't want to undress, get out!
           Then I won't take the case at all."
               Now what do you do when some authority says "Undress"? You undress! Reluctantly the woman
           did it. And the psychoanalyst jumped on the woman, made love to her, and when they were off the
           couch he said to her, "Now this takes care of my problem -- what is your problem?"

           Blind people are being led by other blind people!
               I am not a psychoanalyst. I am not here to treat your minds and cure them. I am here to bring you
           out of your minds -- healthy, unhealthy, neurotic, non-neurotic, it doesn't matter. I don't take any
           note of your mind, what kind of mind you have. ANY kind of mind...you have to be taken out of it!
           So I don't go into the details, I simply start hammering! Once you are out of your mind, once you
           have an awareness that you are a witness of your mind, the mind disappears with all its diseases.
               And in fact, to tell you the truth, MIND is the disease. It is not a question of ill minds and healthy
           minds -- there are no healthy minds at all. MIND AS SUCH is the disease!
               But these people -- psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychiatrists -- they are fixing your minds.
           They may help a little bit, but their whole effort is to make you well-adjusted to the society. Now the
           real problem is: Is the society healthy? Is the society natural? Is the society as it should be? If the
           society ITSELF is insane, helping you to be adjusted to this insane society is not a real help.
               And as I see it, the people who become psychologically ill are more sensitive people than the
           others. The others who are never psychologically ill are not healthy but only insensitive people, dull.
           They don't have much intelligence, they can't see the problems of life. That's why they remain
           undisturbed.
               Those who feel the problems of life, those who see the ugliness we have created all around, the
           violence, the war, the way we have lived up to now, against each other, destructive to nature, to
           people, to birds, to animals... the way we have behaved up to now is absolutely insane! Those who
           are more sensitive amongst us, they become disturbed because they can feel. The less sensitive are
           not disturbed because they can't feel; they have rocklike hearts. They look sane.
               It is a very strange world! The really sensitive people become insane and the utterly insane
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people look sane, for the simple reason that they have grown a stonelike shell around their beings;
           they can't feel anything. They go on dragging their lives in the normal way. The normal is not really
           normal, it is only average. To be normal is very rare.
               A Buddha is normal, a Jesus is normal. But ask Sigmund Freud -- Sigmund Freud thinks Jesus is
           neurotic! Now whom are you going to choose, Jesus or Sigmund Freud? Who is neurotic?
               Sigmund Freud is utterly neurotic, very much afraid of death -- and he calls Jesus neurotic, who
           goes to his death with a prayer on his lips, who can pray from the cross, "God, forgive these people
           because they know not what they are doing." This man is neurotic? And Sigmund Freud? -- it is
           reported that at least three times- in his life he fainted, fell into a coma, became unconscious, just at
           the mention of the word 'death' -- just at the mention of the word. Nobody was crucifying him! And
           Jesus is neurotic?!

               Mansoor is neurotic? When his hands were cut he laughed. He looked at the sky and said, "You
           cannot befool me!" and had a hearty laugh.
               Somebody in the crowd asked, "Why are you laughing? Have you gone mad? They are killing
           you! They have cut your hands, now they will cur your feet, and then they will cut your tongue and
           they will destroy your eyes!"
               No man was ever tortured so much as Mansoor, not even Jesus, not Socrates. Part by part he was
           killed very cruelly killed, but he laughed to the last.
               He said, "I am laughing because you are not killing me; the man you are killing is not me. That's
           why I am laughing -- you are killing the body and I am NOT the body. It is so ridiculous! I had never
           thought that you would be so foolish, and I am telling God, looking upwards to the sky: You cannot
           befool me. Even if you have come in the form of the murderers, I recognize you -- because only God
           exists and nobody else. Today he has come in the form of murderers, as death -- it is my ultimate
           test."

               This person is neurotic? And just the mention of the word 'death' is enough to make Freud
           tremble and fall from his chair and faint! And this is the founder of psychoanalysis!
               Psychoanalysts are avoiding their own problems. Except a man enters into meditation, he goes on
           avoiding his problems.

             You ask me, Ramadas: HERE WITH YOU, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GROUP IS VERY
           MUCH STRESSED IN THERAPY...

                Yes, but always as a union, not as unity. It is a temporary arrangement, an experiment. You are
           not to become one with the group. You have to function in harmony with the group, but you remain
           the individual. Just like in an orchestra different instruments are being played, but each instrument
           remains different, unique. Each contributes to the whole, but you can contribute to the whole only if
           you are separate, otherwise who is going to contribute and to whom?
                In an orchestra the flute-player is contributing, the guitarist is contributing, the pianist is
           contributing -- but the pianist is a pianist and the flute-player is a flute-player. The flute is a flute and
           the piano is a piano; they retain their individualities. But for the moment they have joined hands
           together -- it is a union not a unity. The flute has not become part of the piano- if it does become the
           whole beauty will be lost.
                Here in the groups, Ramadas, the emphasis is that you should be individuals and yet capable of
           functioning in harmony with others. That's what is happening on a greater scale in the whole
           commune: everybody should remain an individual, yet be capable of participating in the communal
           life -- participating in the work, in the play, in the music, of the commune. But it is not expected that
           you should destroy your individuality; that will be suicidal, that will be a murder. On the contrary,
           the whole effort is to sharpen your individuality, to give you more and more uniqueness The more
           meditative you become, the more unique, incomparable, you become.
                The Buddha is a peak: part of the infinite universe but not part in the sense that he is replaceable;
           not like a part in a car that you can replace. He is unique, he is irreplaceable; nobody can replace
           him. The higher you rise in awareness, the more you are in tune with the universe, and at the same
           time the more unique you go on becoming. Hence the uniqueness of a Buddha in contrast to Jesus,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the uniqueness of Mohammed in contrast to Mahavira. Where else can you find such unique
           individuals?
               But we have lived in a society which destroys individuality and gives us false toys in the name of
           individuality -- gives us a personality. This personality is a burden, and you are always ready,
           absolutely willing, to put this burden aside.
               In group therapies you can do that, you can put the personality aside -- you don't do anything
           about your individuality and you put the personality aside. Then what do you become? You are
           simply drowned in the group mind, you start functioning as a part of the group. You don't attain to a
           soul -- in fact you lose much. Of course! Because the personality is discarded, the anxiety that was
           there is no longer felt; but this is not a way to get rid of anxiety -- it will come back. How long can
           you live in a group? Sooner or later you will be back in the society and there you will again cling to
           the personality, it will be needed. And soon the desire will arise to go to another group for a few
           days to put the personality aside so you can feel free -- but that freedom is at a great cost. Freedom is
           god only if it happens around the center of your individuality; otherwise it is not helpful, it is
           harmful.
               The group that takes your individuality awaits destroys you, destroys something very essential in
           you. It functions like an intoxicant.

              You say, Ramadas: ON THE OTHER HAND, HERE GREAT IMPORTANCE IS GIVEN TO
           INDIVIDUALITY TOO.

              Yes, in the group you learn how to be in tune with others and at the same time you learn how to
           remain yourself. It is a paradoxical process: remain yourself mole and more and yet become a great
           contribution to the orchestra of life. Between these two poles your real being will become more and
           more sharpened.

           YOU SAY: OSHO, PLEASE, HAS A GROUP A KIND OF UNIQUE SOUL BEYOND
           INDIVIDUALS?

               No, but a group can have a mind -- not a soul. A group can easily have a mind; that's how people
           are. All the Mohammedans have a certain kind of mind.
               I was a student at a university and I was staying with one of my professors. He loved me
           tremendously. Not only did he love me -- he was a rare man, very old, must have been almost of the
           same age as my father -- he not only loved me, he respected me to. I had to tell him again and again,
           "I am just your student -- you need not be so respectful towards me." It was embarrassing for me
           sometimes, because whenever I would enter the room he would stand up, even if there were other
           people. Once the Vice Chancellor was present; I entered the room, he stood up. The Vice Chancellor
           could not believe his eyes! I had to ask the Vice Chancellor to forgive me, "It is all my fault -- I
           should not have entered!"
               I was staying with the professor. It was a winter morning; in the sun outside on the lawn I was
           reading a book. The professor's mother came -- very old, must have been eighty she asked me, "What
           are you reading?"
               Just to tease her, because she was a fanatical Hindu I said, "This is the holy Koran."
               That old woman simply forgot that she was eighty! She snatched the book away from me, threw
           it away, outside on the road, and told me, "How dare you bring such a book in MY house!"
               I said, "Now you have committed a sin. It was not the holy Koran, it was the Bhagavad Gita -- I
           was just joking! "
               She ran, brought the book, touched it seven times with her head, cried and wept, and I said,
           "What are you doing? It is the holy Koran! I am just teasing you!"
               She threw the book in the fire! I told her, "You have the mind of a Mohammedan."
               Mohammedans have a very obstinate, stubborn mind. Hindus also have an obstinate, stubborn
           mind -- but it is not so tight, it is a little loose. The reason is that so many Buddhas have happened in
           this country and they have been hammering on the society, they have made it loose in many places.
           But Mohammedans have not known anybody else except Mohammed.
               That's what has happened to Catholics. The word 'catholic' means one who is very liberal, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that is not the case -- Catholics are worse than communists!
               Just the other day a friend from Rome sent me a letter saying that the new Pope has released a
           five-page epistle, very stern, very hard, cruel. And the friend writes, "It seems that the epistle has
           been written keeping YOU in mind." Of course the name is nor mentioned, but whatsoever is said
           seems to show that the Pope must have some idea of me in his mind. He must be reading THE
           MUSTARD SEED, COME FOLLOW ME... because he says, "There are people now on the earth
           who are claiming that THEIR interpretation of Jesus is more right than the Vatican's interpretation.
           Beware of these people! Don't even listen to them and don't read them. If you read and listen to them
           you are bound for eternal hell."
               Now these people create a certain mind -- but not a soul. Catholics have a certain mind,
           Mohammedans have a certain mind, Hindus have a certain mind. People who have no individuality
           start having a certain mind -- the mob mind.
               In the army you will find there are no individuals. The whole effort in the army is to destroy the
           individual and give you a uniform, a number. Now, to give you a number is a subtle way of
           destroying your individuality: a name gives you a uniqueness, 'No. 11' takes all individuality from
           you.
               RAMADAS is a totally different matter -- if Ramadas dies, a person dies; if No. 11 dies, who
           cares? Ramadas cannot be replaced by anybody else, but No. 11? -- there is no problem. You can fix
           'No. 11' on anybody and he becomes No. 11.
               In the army, scientifically, technologically, the individuality is destroyed. Your name disappears,
           you become a number. Your hair is cut in the same way. You are forced to follow stupid orders year
           in, year out: left turn, right turn, about turn...for what?!

              Once a philosopher got recruited into the army. The first thing was the morning parade, and the
           captain said, "Right turn!" Everybody turned towards the right except the philosopher.
           The captain said, "Are you deaf?"
              He said, "No. I can hear you are saying, 'Right turn,' but why? I cannot do anything unless I can
           explain to myself the reason."
              Now you don't say such things in the army -- and the professor was very well-known. The
           captain said, "This will be difficult. I myself don't know why, but this has to be done, and for three
           hours every morning. And not only right turn -- left turn, about turn, go forward, come back -- and I
           don't know why. And nobody has ever asked -- people simply do it! This is a training in obedience."
           The professor said, "Then it is impossible for me!"
              He was given another job, in the kitchen, something that he could do creating no problem for
           others. He was given a full bag of peas and told to sort them out, smaller ones on one side and bigger
           ones on the other side. After two hours when the captain came, the philosopher was sitting in the
           Rodin posture -- with his hand on his chin in great thought -- and the peas were exactly there as they
           had been left.
              The captain said, "What are you doing? Have you not started yet?"
              He said, "How can I start? -- because there are a few big ones and a few smaller ones and a few
           which are in between. Unless I know exactly where those which are in between go, how can I start?"
              He had to be discharged immediately from the army! This type of person is not needed in the
           army, and they can become contagious.

               In the army there is no 'why'. You are simply told to do such a thing and you have to do it. In
           fact; the more stupid a thing it is, the better it prepares you for the work of the army. Following
           stupid orders for years, one day they say, "Shoot this man!" and you shoot the man, robotlike,
           without asking why -- you have forgotten how to ask why. In the army, the group mind arises -- not a
           group soul, remember.
               The soul is always individual; mind is always group. ANY mind, watch carefully, and you will
           find it belongs to some group. If you believe in God, that means you belong to a certain group which
           believes in God; they have given the idea, the conditioning, to you. What are your beliefs? From
           where do they come? They come from the social mind -- from the church, from the state; you can
           find the source from where they come.
               You can watch your mind and you will be surprised that all that you carry in your mind and think
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is yours is NOT yours. It has all come from different sources -- from parents, teachers, priests,
           politicians -- others have given it to you. There is something like a Hindu mind and there is
           something like a Mohammedan mind and something like a Jaina mind and something like a Buddhist
           mind -- but there is no Buddhist soul, there is no Christian soul.
               Minds, Ramadas, certainly belong to groups. And it can happen that if you participate in a
           psychotherapy group you may become part of the mind of the group leader, the ideology.
               It happens -- it is now a well-known fact -- if you go to a Freudian psychoanalyst, slowly slowly
           you start bringing dreams which are needed for Freudian psychoanalysis. You start adjusting to the
           psychoanalyst. It is a very subtle process. If you go to the Jungian psychoanalyst you bring other
           kinds of dreams to him. If you go to the Adlerian, again different kind of dreams you dream as if
           somehow you start buttressing the ego of the psychoanalyst. He buttresses your ego, you buttress his
           ego; it becomes a mutual arrangement. He interprets your foolish dreams in such great detail and
           brings such beautiful meanings to them, such profound significance to them, that naturally you
           would love to bring more and more dreams of the same kind -- which make HIM happy!

               When the doctor comes to see you, you want to make him happy. If he makes you happy, it is a
           natural understanding that you want to tell the doctor, "Your medicine is helping -- I am getting
           better." And you are not lying! You are not consciously, deliberately, cheating him. This is a simple
           process of becoming part of another mind. In the army it is very very prominent but in the society
           also it is very prominent.

               Sergeant Major MacGregor walked into a Glasgow drugstore and took a beat-up condom out of
           his kilt. "How much, mon," he asked the proprietor, "would it cost to fix this?"
           "Let us see," murmured the druggist. "I could launder and disinfect it, heat-weld the holes and tears
           and insert a new elastic in the top. That would cost you two shillings, the same price as a new one."
           MacGregor said that he would think it over.
               He returned the next day. "You have convinced me, mon," he announced. "The regiment has
           decided to replace."

           The regiment....
               In the army you will find it absolutely clear-cut that the people have lost their minds. The
           regiment has the mind. And on a smaller scale the same is the case in the society.
               But my effort here, Ramadas, is to create individuals. And the soul is always individual; it cannot
           be given to you by anybody. It is already in you: it has to be discovered.
               In a group, function as a union but never as a unity. In a group, drop your personality but never
           your individuality. Say yes, but remain capable of saying no.
               The no has not to be killed completely. If you become utterly incapable of saying no, your yes is
           meaningless.
               What I am doing here is not psychoanalysis; it is alchemy, pure and simple alchemy. It is an
           effort to transform your being from the level of mind to the level of the soul. It is a journey, a
           pilgrimage.
               The greatest adventure that can happen to a human being is the movement from mind to no-mind,
           the movement from personality to individuality. The no-mind has an individuality: the mind is
           social.

           The second question


              OSHO, WHAT IS HELL? IS THERE REALLY SUCH A PLACE?


                RELIGION HAS SURVIVED UP TO NOW because of your fear and greed -- the false religion I
           mean, of course. The true religion has nothing to do with fear and greed. In fact, the true religion
           means transcending fear and greed. Fear and greed are not two things, they are one. Fear standing on
           its head becomes greed; it is one energy, two poles of the same energy.
                The priests must have discovered it very early, that man can be dominated easily if he is made
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           afraid. They created hell. It is imaginary, it is pure imagination -- there is no place like hell. Of
           course, there is a SPACE like hell, but no place.
               Hell is not geographical, it is psychological. It is not somewhere down underneath the earth. If
           you dig a hole from here and you go on digging and digging, you will reach America, and the
           American will come to India. And the American believes somewhere down in the earth there is hell
           and the Indian believes somewhere down in the earth... and the earth is round!
               And there is no heaven either -- that is to satisfy your greed. Hell is to create fear and heaven is
           to create greed. And these are the two strategies of the priests to dominate you, to oppress you, to
           exploit you.

               One day a great Sufi mystic Rabiya was seen running in the marketplace, with a burning torch in
           one hand and a pot full of water in the other hand. People stopped her and they said, "What are you
           doing? Where are you going? We have heard stories about you, that you are a little crazy, but this is
           going too far!"
               She said, "Don't stop me! I am going to burn your heaven -- this torch is for that -- and I am
           going to drown your hell -- this water is for that. And unless your hell and heaven are taken away
           from you you will not find God, because God cannot be found by those who live in fear or those who
           live in greed."

               So the first thing, Krishna Deva: there is no hell, no heaven, as places somewhere. But still they
           exist -- in a totally different way: they exist within you: Whenever you are in anger you are in hell,
           but that is psychology not geography. And whenever you are in love you are in heaven; that too is
           again psychology not geography.
               The Western religions know only two words: heaven and hell. The East has a third word also:
           MOKSHA. That means absolute freedom from both heaven and hell. That means transcending
           psychology. No fear, no greed, no mind... and suddenly you enter into the world of eternity,
           immortality, into the world of God.
               You carry your hell within you and you carry your heaven within you, and each moment it is up
           to you to be in hell or in heaven.

               I have heard about a great saint who was never known to be sad. He was nearing ninety years of
           age but he was always happy, always cheerful, always bubbling with joy, like a small child
           overflowing with joy. People gathered; they were celebrating his ninetieth birthday, and maybe this
           was going to be the last so all the disciples had come from faraway places. They asked him, "We
           have only one question -- and soon you may leave us, your body is getting older and older. Before
           you leave, please satisfy our inquiry: What is the secret of your joy? Nobody has ever seen you sad."
               The old man laughed. He said, "There is not much of a secret in it. Early in my life I discovered
           that it is up to me to be in hell or to be in heaven, so every morning when I wake up, the first thing I
           ask myself is: 'What do you want today? -- heaven or hell?' And I always decide for heaven! That is
           my simple secret."

              A whole bus-load of women from the Hadassah and the United Jewish Appeal overturned on a
           Miami freeway and everybody was killed. In Heaven, Saint Peter, without thinking, assigned them to
           Hell They had hardly been there a week, however, when Satan phoned Peter and demanded that he
           remove the women to Heaven. They were a disrupting influence.
           "Why, what have they done?" asked Peter.
           "They have banded together, collected money, and employed engineers to install air-conditioning."

              If you have intelligence, awareness, even in hell you can manage to air-condition it.
              That's what I am doing. Can't you see the hell all around? But somehow I have got a few people
           banded together and we are trying to create a small heaven of our own. What to do? People have
           decided to live in hell, they are not ready to listen, then the only wise choice is: we can create our
           own heaven. And if we can create our own heaven, that will become an example, a model, that this
           way also one can live.
              When people come for the first time to our commune they are surprised. Just the other day a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           young priest wrote a letter to me, a Catholic priest, who now has become interested in me, and wants
           to get married, and wants to get rid of the Catholic church. He has written a letter to me saying, "I
           have heard that you have got the most beautiful people in the whole of the world around you. Can
           you find a wife for me?"
               I have told Laxmi to write to him, "Why one? Just come here. And I need not find any wife for
           you -- the women will chase you, they will find you!"
               We have got the most alive lot of women in the whole of the world here.

               Heaven and hell are not realities but ways of living. You can live in jealousy -- that's how people
           live. You can live in competition, you can live in conflict, you can live in ambition. That's how you
           have been brought up to live. This is the way to hell!

               A Zen Master was asked by the Emperor of Japan.... The Emperor had come and asked the same
           question, Krishna Deva. Maybe you are the reincarnation of the same Emperor! Because the
           Japanese tend to be reborn in India -- this is the land of their Master, Buddha. Every Japanese keeps
           the desire to come to India some day. If they die without coming in this life, they are reborn here.
           They die with the desire.
               The Emperor reached the Zen Master and asked him, "What is hell and what is heaven?"
               The Zen Master looked at the Emperor and said "You son-of-a-bitch! Have you looked at your
           face in the mirror lately? I have never seen such a dirty-looking fellow before!"
               The Emperor was enraged! He had not expected such a thing from such a great saint. You don't
           know great saints! You know only small, puny saints. A real saint is not a cat, he is a tiger!
               The Emperor was so enraged that he pulled his sword out of its sheath. He was going to cut the
           head of the Master. Just as the sword was coming closer, the Master said, "Wait! You are entering
           hell. This is the gate to hell."
               The way the Master said "Wait!" was so powerful that the Emperor's hand was stopped in the
           middle, and he understood -- "True!" He threw the sword away, fell at the feet of the Master, and the
           Master laughed and said, "This is the way to heaven! You have already experienced both within a
           single moment. The distance is not far."

               Whenever you are surrendered to existence, whenever you live in trust, love, prayer, joy,
           celebration, you are in heaven.
               But what I am doing here is to help you to go beyond both -- because the person who lives in
           heaven can fall into hell any moment. They are not far away, they are very close by...just a small
           fence and that too is tattered because it is very old. And for centuries there has been an argument as
           to who should repair it. The Devil is not ready. Why should he be worried about it? Nobody wants to
           enter hell! If it is God' worry that hell people may enter into heaven, then he should repair it. But
           God is a miser, and they go on quarreling.
               One day it happened: God said, "If you don't repair the fence -- which has really been destroyed
           by your people and your nuisance on the other side, our people have not done anything -- I am going
           to court!"
               The Devil said, "You can go, but where are you going to find an advocate? They are all here on
           my side! Go to court!"

               Hell is a state of mind when you live in plenty and yet you live in poverty, when life is such a
           blessing and yet you live in sadness. When the flowers bloom you don't bloom. When the stars shine
           you don't shine. When the clouds are in the sky floating in freedom don't enjoy the freedom. When
           the cuckoo calls from a distant wood and you remain deaf. When the peacock dances you don't
           dance. This is hell! And you are the creator of it.

              Mahatma Gandhi died and went to heaven. He was royally welcomed by St. Peter as a great saint
           and told that any request of his would be granted. Gandhi said, "All my life I have been non-violent.
           Now I would like to live a life like Adolph Hitler."

              That seems to be absolutely psychological, right. If you live a repressed life this is going to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happen. Adolph Hitler would like to live like Mahatma Gandhi, and Mahatma Gandhi would like to
           live like Adolph Hitler; the rejected, the denied part will take revenge. So I see a point in this
           fictitious story.

               St. Peter replied, "This is too horrible a wish to be granted -- but we will let you see Hitler in
           hell. That will give you an idea and you may drop your desire."
               Gandhi was taken to hell where he saw Hitler surrounded by beautiful naked dancing girls and
           many bottles of wine. "How can this be hell?" cried Gandhi "This is heaven!"
           "Of course it is hell," said St. Peter. "The bottles all have holes and the women don't!"

           The third question


              OSHO, WHY IS IT THAT ONE BECOMES SO ATTACHED TO THE PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES OF
              A MASTER: HIS BEAUTY, HIS GENTLENESS, HIS LANGUAGE, HIS MISPRONUNCIATION -- SO
              THAT ALONGSIDE THE AWE AND RESPECT HE INSPIRES THERE GROWS SUCH A FEELING
              OF TENDERNESS AND FAMILIARITY? IF THIS IS A DEVICE I WANT TO BE CAUGHT BY IT
              FOREVER.

              Prem Nirada,


               LOVE AFFAIR IS A LOVE AFFAIR! It is not logical. When you love a person, you love his
           wholeness, you love him as he is. And to be with a Master the ONLY way is to fall in total love.
           Hence you start liking everything of the Master -- yes, even his mispronunciations! Of course it is
           easy to love his beauty, his grace, his wisdom, but that is not enough -- unless you start loving him in
           his totality....
               I know that if sometimes I don't mispronounce a few words, you miss -- when I mispronounce I
           can see the joy!
               Vivek goes on telling me every day, "Don't say 'aunt', it is 'ain't'." And whenever I come across it,
           just to be compassionate to you, I again say 'aunt'.
               And there is one more difficulty: there are a few things I cannot figure out. My whole life I have
           been unable to figure out what is left and what is right. In school when I used to go to the parade I
           used to write on my hands, "This is right, this is left." So whenever this question of 'aunt' and 'ain't'
           arises I am puzzled -- whether it is 'aunt' or 'ain't', or vice versa!
               Yes, it is a device. If you can't love me in my totality you will miss me.

               A man with a rosary around his neck, wearing a hooded cloak and sandals, carrying a begging
           bowl and with a long white beard, was surrounded by a crowd in a certain town. They clamored for
           his blessings and he led them to the top of a hill where he sat in silence for several hours.
               Finally someone approached timidly and asked him to address them.
           "I know that you have all been waiting for the words of the Great Teacher so-and-so," he said, "and I
           hope that his visit to this town, which is now over, has conferred the customary blessings upon it.
           But MY own job is now finished, as he will have passed through the streets in our absence...."
           "Then who are you?" shouted a frenzied worshipper.
           "Me? Oh, I am the decoy...."

               He was just a device of the Master, so that the foolish people could go with him outside the town
           and the Master could pass through the town unhindered, undisturbed -- or would be met only by
           those who had eyes. All those who were blind followed this man because they could only see the
           outer garb. He LOOKED like a Master, they followed him. Only a very few people must have
           remained in the town, who were not deceived by the personality.
               My mind is just a mechanism. For me now it is absolutely useless: it is just for your sake that I
           go on feeding it a little bit. Just for your sake I am speaking, otherwise now there is no point for me.
           In fact there is no point for me even to breathe! It is only for you that I am breathing, speaking,
           living. Those who have eyes will be able to see it.
               EVERYTHING IS a device. Remember it: you have to SEE the device to grow beyond it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And as far as the pronunciation is concerned, it is a miracle that I don't mispronounce all the
           words, or that even when I mispronounce you can still understand...because language is very alien to
           my being now -- not English, but my own mother tongue is alien. I have become a stranger to my
           own mind; the distance is infinite between me and the mind. I am surprised myself that the mind
           goes on functioning. What I have known has been known in silence; no language can express it.
               And from my very childhood I was not interested in any subject that was taught in the school --
           hence my poor history! I was always puzzled why these stupid names have to be remembered. Why,
           for what sin, are we punished, to remember the names of some people, dates, exact dates, exact
           names...? And all that these people have done is ugly! History is bunk! Why should we be punished?
           So I was never present in the history class. I was never interested in language, any language.
               My whole interest was from the very beginning, how to transcend mind. Neither history can help,
           nor geography, nor mathematics, nor language -- nothing can help. All these things are irrelevant.
           My whole being was moving in a totally different direction.
               So it is just a miracle happening, that I go on speaking to you, conveying to you something
           which cannot be conveyed, expressing something which is inexpressible, saying the unsayable. And
           you have to forgive many things.

               Landers and his girlfriend were dining at the famous House of Hung Lo. Landers said to the
           waiter, "Bling us some flied lice."
               The waiter left and returned with won ton soup. They ate it, and Landers again said to the waiter,
           "We want flied lice."
               This time the waiter brought them two orders of egg roll. As the waiter walked away, Landers
           called loud enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear, "How about the flied lice?"
               The Chinese waiter came back to the table and said, "Can't you pronounce fried rice, you plick?"

               Somehow I am managing.... So if I manage and say 'fried rice', then I slip somewhere else -- 'you
           plick'! you have to forgive me.
               But everything is a device, remember...and as you get closer and closer to me, more and more
           subtle devices will be used. The day is not far off when we will be simply sitting in silence and there
           will be no question of language, words Get ready for it, because that which I REALLY want to
           communicate can only be communicated in silence.




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                    Chapter #9
                                        Chapter title: He Died in Samadhi
           9 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909090
              ShortTitle: BESTIL09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, WOULD YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR FATHER'S DEATH YESTERDAY?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Vivek,


                IT WAS NOT A DEATH AT ALL. Or it was the total death. And both mean the same thing. I
           was hoping that he would die in this way. He died a death that everybody should be ambitious for:
           he died in samadhi, he died utterly detached from the body and the mind.
                I went to see him only three times during this whole month he was in the hospital. Whenever I
           felt that he was just on the verge, I went to see him. The first two times I was a little afraid that if he
           died he would have to be born again; a little attachment to the body was there. His meditation was
           deepening every day, but a few chains with the body were still intact, were not broken.
                Yesterday I went to see him: I was immensely happy that now he could die a right death. He was
           no more concerned with the body. Yesterday, early in the morning at three o'clock, he attained his
           first glimpse of the eternal -- and immediately he became aware that now he was going to die. This
           was the first time he had called me to come; the other two times I had gone on my own. Yesterday he
           called me to come because he was certain that he was going to die. He wanted to say good-bye, and
           he said it beautifully -- with no tears in the eyes, with no longing for life any more.
                Hence, in a way it is not a death but a birth into eternity. He died in time and was born into
           eternity. Or it is a total death -- total in the sense that now he will not be coming any more. And that
           is the ultimate achievement; there is nothing higher than it.
                He left the world in utter silence, in joy, in peace. He left the world like a lotus flower -- it was
           worth celebrating. And these are the occasions for you to learn how to live and how to die. Each
           death should be a celebration, but it can be a celebration only if it leads you to higher planes of
           existence.
                He died enlightened. And that's how I would like each of my sannyasins to die. Life is ugly if
           you are unenlightened, and even death becomes beautiful if you are enlightened. Life is ugly if you
           are unenlightened because it is a misery, a hell. Death becomes a door to the divine if you are
           enlightened; it is no more a misery, it is no more a hell. In fact, on the contrary, it is getting out of all
           hell, out of all misery.
                I am immensely glad that he died the way he died. Remember it: as meditation deepens, you
           become farther and farther away from your body-mind composite. And when meditation reaches its
           ultimate peak, you can see everything.
                Yesterday morning he was absolutely aware of death, that it had come. And he called me. This
           was the first time he had called me, and the moment I saw him I saw that he was no more in the
           body. All the pains of the body had disappeared. That's why the doctors were puzzled: the body was
           functioning in an absolutely normal way. This was the last thing the doctors could have imagined,
           that he could die. He could have died any day before. He was in deep pain, there were many
           complexities in the body: his heart was not functioning well, his pulse was missing; there were blood
           clots in the brain, in the leg, in the hand.
                Yesterday he was absolutely normal. They checked, and they said it was impossible; now there
           was no problem, no danger. But this is how it happens. The day of the danger, according to the
           physicians, didn't prove dangerous. The first twenty-four hours when he was admitted to the hospital
           one month before were the most dangerous; they were afraid that he would die. He didn't die. Then
           for the next twenty-four hours they were still hesitant to say whether he would be saved or not. A
           suggestion had even come from a surgeon to cut the leg off completely, because if blood clots started
           happening in other places it would be impossible to save him.
                But I was against cutting off the leg, because one has to die one day -- why distort the body and
           why create more pain? And just living in itself has no meaning, just lengthening the life has no
           meaning. I said no. They were surprised. And when he survived for almost four weeks they thought I
           was right, that there had been no need to cut off the leg; the leg was coming back, becoming alive
           again. He had started walking also, which Dr. Sardesai thought was a miracle. They had not hoped
           for that much, that he would be able to walk.
                Yesterday he was perfectly normal, everything normal. And that gave me the indication that now
           death was possible. If meditation happens before death, everything becomes normal. One dies in
           perfect health, because one is not really dying but entering into a higher plane. The body becomes a
           stepping-stone.
                He was meditating for years. He was a rare man -- it is very rare to find a father like him. A
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           father becoming a disciple of his own son: it is rare. Jesus' father did not dare to become a disciple,
           Buddha's father hesitated for years to become a disciple. But he was meditating for years. Three
           hours each day, in the morning from three to six, he was sitting in meditation. Yesterday also, in the
           hospital also, he continued.
               Yesterday it happened. One never knows when it will happen. One has to go on digging...one
           day one comes across the source of water, the source of consciousness. Yesterday it happened; it
           happened in right time. If he had left his body just one day before he would have been back in the
           body again soon -- a little clinging was there. But yesterday the slate was completely clean. He
           attained to no-mind, he died like a Buddha. What more can one have than Buddhahood?
               My effort here is to help you all to live like Buddhas and die like Buddhas. The death of a
           Buddha is both! It is not a death, because life is eternal. Life does not begin with birth and does not
           end with death. Millions of times you have been born and died; they are all small episodes In the
           eternal pilgrimage. But because you are unconscious you cannot see that which is beyond birth and
           death.
               As you become more conscious, you can see your original face. He saw his original face
           yesterday. He heard the one hand clapping, he heard the soundless sound. Hence it is not a death: it
           is attaining life eternal. On the other hand it can be called a total death -- total death in the sense that
           he will not be coming any more.
           Rejoice!

           The second question


              OSHO, WHEN HEARING THE STORY OVER DINNER OF DADU AND TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES,
              RAJJAB AND SUNDERO. I WAS BAFFLED BY HOW DEEPLY AFFECTED THEY BOTH WERE BY
              THE DEATH OF THEIR MASTER. ONE, RAJJAB, NEVER OPENED HIS EYES AGAIN, AND THE
              OTHER, SUNDERO, DIED IN THE SAME BED AS HIS MASTER, DADU. HOW CAN AN
              ENLIGHTENED PERSON BE SO AFFECTED BY THE DEATH OF HIS MASTER OR BELOVED
              ONE?

              Ambubhai Diwanji,


                IT IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STORIES. There is no parallel to it in the whole
           history of religion, but it has to be understood. You have misunderstood it totally; it is very easy to
           misunderstand it. Apparently, what you have understood is what is understood by people who read
           the story.
                The question arises: why are two enlightened persons so much affected by the death of their
           Master? They are not affected at all! It is not happening out of misery; it is a totally different
           dimension.
                Rajjab never opened his eyes again. He was asked once why he had closed his eyes. He said,
           "Because I have seen the most beautiful thing in the world -- now there is nothing else to see!"
                Dadu was the most beautiful flower. Now what is the point of keeping your eyes open? for what?
           If you have the Kohinoor with you, you will not go on collecting pebbles on the seashore -- or will
           you? Rajjab is not affected. It is not out of sadness that he closes his eyes; there is not a single tear in
           his eyes. He is not weeping, he is not crying.
                With closed eyes he continued to dance and sing the songs of Dadu. But he said, "Once you have
           seen God in human form, then there is nothing else worth seeing. I would like the impact of my
           Master on my eyes to be the last and the most penetrating. I would not like it to be covered by dust."
                Ambubhai, then the whole story takes a totally different turn. It is tremendous love. It is not an
           attachment to the Master's body, it is great understanding.
                Once you have seen a Master...and Rajjab lived very very close to Dadu. The day he became an
           initiate he was very small, just seven years old. He had come with his parents to participate in a
           religious festival; he was not even aware of Dadu. Dadu was also there at the festival. The parents
           had gone to pay their formal respects, because it was known in the country that Dadu was
           enlightened. They didn't believe, but this country is very traditional and formal: if people hear that
           somebody is enlightened, whether they believe or not they at least go and touch his feet. Maybe he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is, then why miss the opportunity? If he is not, you are not losing anything by touching his feet. This
           is cunningness, businesslike!
                The parents had gone; Rajjab followed the parents. The parents touched his feet, but Rajjab was
           transformed. The moment he saw Dadu he recognized something from his past lives. This man was
           not new, this quality was not new. He had known him before. That almost always happens if you
           have lived with a Master before -- immediately a recognition!
                He fell at his feet. The parents tried to persuade him to come back with them. He said, "I have
           found my real parents. Now you can go." He touched the feet of his parents and said, "Just as you
           have touched the feet of Dadu formally, I touch your feet and say good-bye." A seven-year-old
           child! Must have had a maturity of many lives behind him.
                The parents cried and wept, but Rajjab said, "It is impossible! I have found the man -- I cannot
           leave him even for a single moment!"
                And from that time, for twenty years, he was in the service of the Master; looking after his needs,
           sleeping in the same room, continuously on guard for what he needed.
                And the day Dadu died Rajjab simply closed his eyes. It was closing eyes to the world. He was
           saying, Now there is nothing more to see. I have seen that which is really worth seeing. Now why
           waste your eyes and why collect dust? Once you have mirrored God then there is nothing else -- you
           have seen the ultimate."
                It was not out of attachment, Ambubhai, that Rajjab closed his eyes; it was out of great
           understanding. And he was not unhappy. He danced, he sang songs, as long as he lived -- but with
           closed eyes, so that he could still see the Master inside. Twenty years' continuous communion with
           the Master...the Master had almost become a part of his soul! By closing his eyes he was still
           keeping company with the Master. Don't misunderstand him.
           Rajjab is one of the most beautiful disciples ever.
                And what happened to Sundero, another disciple? When Dadu died he laid himself down on the
           same bed and remained on the same bed; he never left the bed again. The Master had slept on it his
           whole life: it was full of his vibe, it was full of his presence, it was soaked with him. He would not
           leave the bed. "Why?" people would ask him.
                And Sundero would say, "There is nowhere to go. I have arrived -- this is my home. This is my
           MOKSHA, this is my heaven. And I would like to LIVE in this beautiful space that the Master has
           created in this bed, and I would like to die here."
                It is becoming so attuned with the Master that you don't feel your life and your death as separate
           from him; that is the meaning of it.
                Sundero was so attuned with the Master's life that it used to happen sometimes that he would
           speak in Dadu's name. And he was told by people, "You are not Dadu!"
                Then he would say, "Yes, forgive me. I forget! But if you ask in reality, then I am Dadu -- I have
           become one with my Master."
                That is the ultimate state of disciplehood: when the disciple becomes one with the Master. He
           used to say that he was Dadu. He has written songs in which his name is not given but Dadu's name
           -- and people think that is not good. And the scholars go on discarding all that has been written by
           Sundero; they think that is not from Dadu.
                But I say to you: it IS from Dadu! Sundero has become just a hollow bamboo on the lips of
           Dadu. Sundero exists no more as a separate entity. That is the ultimate goal of a disciple: when the
           disciple and Master meet and merge and become one. Sundero has become one with the Master,
           hence he has every right to sign 'Dadu'. He signs his poems as Dadu, not as Sundero -- and I
           TOTALLY agree with him! And I would like the scholars to be a little more sensitive.
                These things are not for scholarship, these things are not for learned people. These things are for
           lovers! Only lovers can understand these things. Such a beautiful phenomenon: that a disciple cannot
           sign his name, he has forgotten.
                Sometimes people would come to invite Dadu and Sundero would say, "Yes, I will come."
                And they would say, "But we have not come to invite you, we have come to invite Dadu!"
                Sundero would say, "But who am I? Why give trouble to the old man? I can come -- I am his
           younger form. I can travel long distances more easily -- why create trouble for him?"
                And Dadu sometimes used to send Sundero. People would invite Dadu and he would send
           Sundero. And people were very much puzzled: "We have invited the Master, not the disciple." But
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they were not able to understand that the Master and the disciple, at the ultimate peak of their love
           affair, disappear into each other.
               Hence, the day Dadu died, Sundero did not say a single word about his death, did not go to the
           funeral at all. Everybody left for the funeral. Thousands of disciples had gathered, and they were
           crying and weeping and they were in great misery. And what did Sundero do? He entered into the
           bed of the Master, covered himself with his blanket -- became Dadu. When people came back they
           thought, "This is sacrilegious!" They told Sundero, "This is not right -- you are going mad! Have you
           gone crazy or something? This is the Master's bed -- you get out!"
               He said, "But I am no more. Sundero has died. Have you not gone to his funeral? You have gone,
           you have burnt him! I am Dadu. Now Dadu will function through me."
               That's why, Ambujibhai, he never left the bed, not even for a single moment. He lived on the
           bed, he died on the same bed -- because he had become the Master.
               I call this game the mad game! By 'mad' I mean: M represents Master and D represents disciple
           -- 'Master-And-Disciple Game' -- it is a MAD game! Unless you also become mad you will not
           understand it.
               And Ambujibhai, I am happy to see that some madness is entering into you. You are on the way.
           You will not be out of this Buddhafield for long. I can see you approaching closer and closer. Sooner
           or later the color orange is going to be your color too -- and I hope that before you leave the body
           this happens.
               Become Rajjab, become Sundero! Don't think about them -- these people are not to be
           contemplated upon. These people are to be lived! It is only by living that one can understand such
           tremendous phenomena.

           The third question


              OSHO, IF YOU WERE IN A DESERT INSTEAD OF BEING HERE, WOULD YOU FEEL THE SAME?

              Anand Dasi,

              I AM IN THE DESERT! Where do you think I am?

                This is the desert! To live with unconscious people is to live in a desert. To live with people who
           are not blooming, flowering, is to live in a desert. It is a human desert -- far more empty than any
           desert can ever be.
                To become enlightened amongst unenlightened people is to live in a desert. That is the fate of all
           the Buddhas. I say one thing, you understand something; else. Constant misinterpretation is bound to
           happen, because I talk from a totally different plane. I talk out of a fullness and you receive only
           through the mind. You receive only the words -- and words cannot convey my message.
                My message can be conveyed to you only if you really become committed, involved, in the
           energy field that I am creating, if you really become a plant in my garden, if you allow me to destroy
           your ego -- because that is how growth begins. The death of the ego is the beginning of growth. Just
           as the seed has to die in the soil, the ego has to die in the Master. Once your ego is completely gone,
           you are a beautiful tree, with much foliage, greenery, flowers, fragrance.
                My effort is to make this desert a garden. And there is every possibility of succeeding, because
           people ARE getting ready. Hesitating, which is natural; waiting, thinking, which is natural. But you
           cannot be here long thinking and waiting; sooner or later the quantum leap.... You cannot go on
           misunderstanding me for ever.
                If you just remain here, even if you misunderstand my words, I am working on you -- not
           through the mind; I am playing on the instrument of your heart. Words are just to keep you engaged
           so that I can enter into your heart.
           Yes, the work of a Master is like a thief.
                There is a Zen story; Zen Masters have loved it tremendously. When you come across it for the
           first time you will feel puzzled about the story -- it is about a master thief.

              A man was known as a master thief in Japan; he was well-known, famous, all over the country.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And, of course, he was a master thief so nobody had ever been able to catch hold of him. He was
           never caught red-handed -- although everybody knew that he was the one who had stolen -- even
           from the treasury of the king he had been stealing. And he was always leaving marks of his so
           everybody would know who had been there.
                In fact, it had become the fashion to BRAG about it, if the master thief had thought you worthy
           to steal something from. It became an aristocratic bragging! People would brag, saying, "Last night
           the master thief has been to our house."
                But the man was getting older, and one day his young son said to him, "Now you are getting
           older, teach me your art!"
                The father said, "Then come with me tonight -- because this is not something that can be taught.
           You can only imbibe the spirit of me; if you are intelligent enough you can catch it. I cannot TEACH
           it to you, but you can catch it. I cannot give it to you, but you can get it. We will see. You come
           tonight with me."
                Naturally the son was afraid -- the first time! The wall was broken, they went into the palace.
           Even in his old age the father's hands were like a surgeon's, unwavering, unshaking, although he was
           becoming very old -- with no fear, as if he was working in his own home, breaking the wall. He did
           not even look here and there he was so certain of his art. And the young man was trembling -- it was
           a cold winter night and he was perspiring! But the father was doing everything silently.
                Then the father entered into the house. The son followed, his knees trembling, and he was feeling
           he might fall any moment. He was losing all consciousness because the fear was such...if they were
           caught, then?
                The father was moving in the dark house as if it was his house and he knew everything about the
           house, and even in the dark he could move without stumbling against the furniture, against the doors.
           Making no noise at all, noiselessly, he reached into the innermost chamber of the palace. He opened
           a cupboard and told the son to go in and find whatsoever was valuable. The son entered it. The father
           locked the door, shouted, "A thief! A thief! Wake up!" and escaped through the hole that they had
           dug in the wall.
                Now this was too much! The son could not under-stand it. Now he is locked in the cupboard,
           trembling, perspiring, and the whole house is awake, people are searching for the thief. "What kind
           of father is this? He has murdered me!" he thought. "And what kind of teaching is this?" This is the
           last thing he would have ever imagined: he has created a living nightmare for him! Now he is certain
           to be caught! And he has locked the door from the outside; he cannot even open the door and escape.
                After one hour he reached home -- the son -- and the father was fast asleep and snoring! He
           threw aside his blanket and said, "What kind of nonsense is this?!"
                The father said, "So you are back! No need to tell the whole story -- you also go to sleep. Now
           you know the art, we need not discuss it."
                But the son said, "I have to tell you the whole story, what happened."
                The father said, "If you want to tell it you can, otherwise I don't require it. Just that you have
           come is enough proof! Now from tomorrow night you start on your own. You have got the
           intelligence, the awareness that a thief needs. I am immensely happy with you!"
                But the son was so overflowing, he wanted to relate the whole thing -- he had done such a great
           job. He said, "Just listen, otherwise I will not be able to sleep at all. I am so excited! You almost
           killed me!"
                The father said, "It is hard, but that's how a master has to act many times. Tell me the whole
           story. What happened?"
                He said, "Out of nowhere -- not from my intellect, certainly not from my mind -- this has
           happened."
                The father said, "This is the key to all mastery in all the fields of life, whether you are a thief or a
           meditator, whether you are a lover or a scientist or a painter or a poet, it doesn't matter. Whatsoever
           the field, this is the master key -- that nothing happens from the head, everything happens from
           somewhere below. Call it intuition, call it no-mind, call it meditation -- these are names, different
           names for the same thing. It has started functioning, I can see it on your face; I can see the aura
           around you. You are going to become a master thief! And remember through being a master thief I
           have attained to meditation. So remember: this is the way for you to attain meditation."
                The son said, "When I was standing inside that damned cupboard and people were searching for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the thief, a woman servant came with a candle in her hand; I could see from the keyhole. Something
           from nowhere...I started making noises as if I was a cat -- and I have never done it before! The
           woman servant, thinking that there was a cat in the cupboard, unlocked it. As she unlocked it -- I
           don't know how I did it and who did it -- it happened! I blew the candle out, pushed the woman
           away, and ran! People followed me -- the whole house was awake, the neighborhood was awake.
           And they were coming closer and closer and I was on the verge of being caught.
               Then suddenly I came across a well. I saw a rock just by the side of the well -- I don't believe that
           I have that much strength to pick that rock up now, but it happened."

              When you are in such situations your whole energy becomes available to you. You don't live
           only on the superficial level. When life is at stake, your whole energy becomes available.

           "I moved the rock, picked up the rock -- I cannot believe that I could even shake it now! -- and threw
           it in the well, then ran away. The noise, the sound of the rock falling in the well...and all the people
           who were following me stopped following me. They surrounded the well; they thought I had jumped
           into the well. That's how I am back home."
                The father said, "Now you can go to sleep. I am finished! Never ask me anything again. Now you
           start on your own.

               The work of a Master is a difficult work. He has to shout from the peaks, and you are crawling in
           the dark valleys of life. You are living in your graves, and he has to shout from eternal life.
           Misunderstanding is natural; because of that misunderstanding every Buddha lives in a desert.

           A couple were applying for a marriage license.
           "Your name?"
           "Ole Olson."
           "And yours?"
           "Lena Olson."
           "Any connection?"
           The bride blushed. "Only once. He jumped me."

           "Any connection?" and the woman's mind immediately interprets it in her own way, the only way
           she can.

               Monsieur Foucard was visiting London for the first time. While walking about he felt nature
           calling and looked around for a public latrine like those in Paris. He could not find one and, in
           desperation, stepped into a dark building entrance. Immediately a bobby tapped him from behind,
           "You can't do that here, you know!"
               Later he tried to go behind a tree, but another bobby stopped him. In a few minutes he was, again
           prevented by a policeman. Finally he noticed a shingle: "Dr. Dingley, Urologist". Dashing into the
           office, Foucard said, "Doctor, I cannot -- how you say? -- relieve myself."
               The doctor handed him a bottle and told him to step behind the screen. In a few seconds the
           Frenchman cried, "Doctor, another container, s'il vous plait!"
               The doctor handed him one, and in a few minutes had to repeat the process. When the now happy
           Frenchman stepped out, the doctor asked, "My good man, who told you that you could not relieve
           yourself?"
           "Ze entire London Police Department!"

               It is natural. I speak from one world, you listen from a different world. Between me and you
           there is a great desert. If you allow, it can become a garden -- but only if you allow; it cannot be
           imposed on you. You cannot be forced; great things never happen through enforcement. You cannot
           be regimented, you cannot be ordered, commanded. All commandments have failed. Religion has,
           not succeeded because the priests have been ordering people: "Do this, don't do that."
               I cannot say to you: "Do this, don't do that." I can only relate my understanding to you. I can
           open my heart. I can go on playing on my flute. If you become enchanted by it -- yes 'enchanted' is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the word -- if you become allured by it, if you become completely oblivious of yourself, your past,
           your mind, your ideas, your prejudices, your upbringing, if my presence can help you to unburden,
           your seed will fall in the soil.
               The soil is ready, the spring has come. Now it is up to you -- it is ALL up to you! A little
           courage, and the desert can be transformed into a garden.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, YOU SAID TODAY THAT THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A 'GROUP SOUL', BUT I HAVE BEEN
              STRONGLY FEELING SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN THE COMMUNE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THIS
              FEELING OF A COLLECTIVE SOUL IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE INTENSE AND ATTUNED
              DAY BY DAY. IT IS SOMETHING NEW FOR ME, AND VERY BEAUTIFUL, AND ACTUALLY L
              EXPERIENCE IT AS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING THAT IS HAPPENING FOR ME HERE. I
              KNOW THAT EACH OF US HAS TO AWAKEN ALONE, BUT I FEEL THAT THIS 'COLLECTIVE
              SOUL' IS A TREMENDOUS HELP, AT LEAST FOR US NOT TO CREATE OTHER DREAMS.... AM I
              DREAMING NOW OF A 'COLLECTIVE SOUL'?

              Sarjano,


                NO, IT IS A FACT, you just don t know the right word for it. 'Collective soul' is not the right
           term; it is very misleading. Soul can only be individual. Then what is happening here in this
           commune? Anybody who enters the ashram for the first time immediately becomes aware of
           something. He can see it on people's faces, he can see it in their walk, he can see it in the way they
           are working. He can see that it is no ordinary humanity. Some grace he can feel, some joy
           permeating the whole place, some playfulness, some sense of humor. And people are working seven
           days a week. Nobody is looking at the clock...except the Indians!
                People are enjoying the work: it is play, it is creativity. They are not tired. In fact, the deeper
           they go into this creativity, the more nourished they feel he more energy is released in them.
                Anybody can see that something is there like an inner connection that connects all the sannyasins
           into one whole. It is not a collective soul, it is only falling into the same rhythm. I have a rhythm.
           The closer you come to me, the more you start falling into the same rhythm. Then my breath and
           your breath synchronize, then my heart and your heart synchronize.
                And all the sannyasins are getting synchronized with me; hence they are also synchronized, as a
           consequence, with each other. It is a synchronicity. It is an orchestra. We are all playing different
           instruments, but in harmony, in accord.
                That harmony, Sarjano, you are calling the 'collective soul'. It is not a collective soul. An army
           has a collective mind, no soul at all, because soul can never be collective. Soul is always individual.
           It is found in your deepest aloneness; there is no other way to find it. But n a commune...this is the
           chemistry of a commune, that it helps you to become harmonious with others. And the more
           harmonious you are with others, the closer you come to your own soul, because harmony brings you
           closer to the soul. When a person is absolutely in harmony with the universe he becomes
           enlightened.
                A paradox to be remembered: the Buddha is one who is absolutely in harmony with the universe,
           and yet a Buddha is one who is an absolutely unique individual. He plays his flute or his guitar, but
           he plays his flute or guitar in absolute accord with the whole. He does not go in his own egoistic way
           -- he is not an idiot.
                Remember: either you are a Buddha or you are an idiot! The word 'idiot' is beautiful; it simply
           means: doing something privately. Literally it means doing something privately; hence the words
           like 'idiosyncrasy'. The idiot does not mean a fool; the idiot is far more potent a word than the fool.
           The idiot simply means one who is trying to live through his ego, who is playing his instrument
           AGAINST the whole and trying to succeed. He is an idiot: he is going to fail, he is doomed to fail.
           His life will never know any blessing, any benediction.
                Sarjano, your feeling is right, you are just using a wrong word. Yes, a harmony IS being created.
           I am in tune with the universe. You don't know what the tune of the universe is; it is invisible. Right
           now you cannot connect yourself with the universal rhythm directly. But am in tune with the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           universe -- call it God, nirvana, enlightenment -- I am utterly lost in it. I have no song of my own to
           sing; I am singing the song of the universe. YOU can fall in tune with me.
               That is how you become a disciple: when you find somebody with whom falling in love brings
           joy. Falling in love is falling in tune with somebody.
               Your ordinary love affairs are ugly, because you are both in discord. Your love affair is
           superficial. Because you like the blonde hair of a girl, or the shape of the nose, or the color of the
           eyes, or the curves of the body...and you fall in love. Now curves of the body, color of the eyes, the
           blonde hair, are not going to last long. Sooner or later you will be fed up with them -- the same
           curve, the same eyes, the same nose -- sooner or later you will stop seeing them. This is not love!
           Hence conflict arises immediately. All so-called love affairs are nothing but conflicts disguised --
           jealousies, possessiveness, domination, ego trips.
               But when you fall in love with a Master it is a totally different phenomenon. You feel the rhythm
           of the Master; and slowly slowly your heart feels the call and you enter into an adventure. Slowly
           slowly, more and more people enter into that adventure...a commune is created.
               First the Buddha: BUDDHAM SHARNAM GACHCHHAMI -- I go to the feet of the Buddha.
           Then the disciples arise, those who have gone to the feet of the Buddha: SANGHAM SHARNAM
           GACHCHHAMI. Then many many disciples gather, and they start feeling attuned not only with the
           Buddha but a certain attunement with each other also arises naturally: they are all attuned to one
           center, hence they start feeling an attunement with each other. A brotherhood, a sisterhood, arises;
           that is the SANGHA -- the commune.
               And when you have fallen in love with a Buddha and have fallen in love with a commune, the
           ultimate surrender arises: DHAMMAM SHARNAM GACHCHHAMI. Then you know that it is
           neither the Buddha nor the commune: behind the Buddha is the universal law, the ultimate law --
           DHAMMA. Buddha only represents the ultimate law in a visible form; his commune represents it in
           an even grosser way.
               These are the three shelters. First you take shelter in the Buddha, then you take shelter in the
           commune, and then you take shelter in the ultimate law. This is what is happening here.
               Sarjano, you are moving in the right direction; your feeling is perfectly right. Intuitively you are
           right, just intellectually you are using a wrong word. Drop that word!

           The fifth question


              OSHO, I NEVER WANT WHAT I GET; I REJECT IT. I ALWAYS WANT WHAT IS NOT GIVEN TO
              ME; THIS I TRY TO GET. I NEVER FEEL SATISFIED WITH WHAT I HAVE, I ALWAYS WANT
              SOMETHING ELSE. AND I NEVER SAY WHAT I REALLY WANT. L SUFFER MUCH FROM THIS
              BUT, IT SEEMS, NOT ENOUGH AS I STILL CLING TO IT. CAN YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING
              ABOUT THIS?

              Mandiro,


              THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD IS MADE. The world is a great device of God. Just as
           Masters create small devices for the disciples, God creates the ultimate device for all beings. The
           world is a device.

               It was Christmas time and a professor, a professor of philosophy and logic, went to a toyshop
           with his wife to purchase something beautiful, a new toy, for their only child as a Christmas gift.
           They tried many toys but they were all old, a little bit modified here and there. The shopkeeper,
           seeing that they were not satisfied, went inside the store and brought out an absolutely new toy they
           had never seen before. It was a jigsaw puzzle.
               He said, "This is the latest and the best -- you MUST like it."
               They tried to fit the jigsaw puzzle together. First the wife tried -- ladies first. She failed, she
           could not figure it out. The husband laughed -- the male chauvinist laughter! -- and he said, "Wait! I
           will do it." And he was a logician, a professor of philosophy; if he cannot do it, then who will be able
           to do it? He tried hard. First he was very much inspired and finally he was simply perspiring -- the
           whole inspiration became perspiration! He was drenched in perspiration. And a crowd had gathered,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and there was no way to figure it out. The puzzle remained a puzzle, became more and more
           puzzling.
               Finally he asked the shopowner, "What kind of jigsaw puzzle is this? If I cannot do it -- I am the
           Head of the Department of Logic in the University, mathematics is my hobby -- if I cannot do it,
           then how do you hope that a five-year-old child will be able to do it?"
               The shopkeeper said, "Who told you that anybody can do it? This toy represents the world. It is
           made in such a way that it cannot be fixed. This is just a lesson for the child about how the world is!"

                Do whatsoever you like -- EVERYTHING fails. And when I say everything, I mean
           EVERYTHING. But it takes millions of lives for people to arrive at this point, because in one life
           you cannot try all there is. You try a few things; they fail, but the hope remains: maybe you have not
           tried the right things.
                You earn money, you become the richest man in the world -- you become an Andrew Carnegie.
           And at the peak, when you have become the richest man in the world, suddenly you see your whole
           life has been a wastage. Money is there, but there is no contentment inside -- and life has gone down
           the drain.
                You can see the misery of an Andrew Carnegie. When he was dying, somebody who was writing
           a biography said to him, "You must be the most contented man in the world."
                He said, "Contented? I am the MOST discontented man in the world! Don't you know I am the
           wealthiest man in the world? That is my discontent. Now I know there is no more to wealth: all that
           is possible I have attained, and yet I am dying empty. My life has been just a wastage. Next time, if
           God gives me another opportunity, I am not going to try money any more -- it has failed."
           But the hope is there -- he will try politics...?
                Those who attain to political power, they fail. But then they think maybe it is knowledge: "We
           should try knowledge." And so on and so forth....
                Mandiro, remember: the world is made as a device by God. EVERYTHING here is bound to fail.
           You can hope and you try, but nothing is going to succeed. The day you understand that nothing is
           going to succeed is the day of great transformation. That is the day sannyas is born.

                In Detroit, brothels are now automatized. One puts twenty dollars in a slot and a door opens.
                A politician decides to have a go. He puts in the twenty bucks and the door opens. He finds
           himself in a corridor with two doors: one reads "Blonde", the other reads "Brunette". He chooses the
           door with "Blonde" written on it. He then finds himself in another corridor with two doors: one reads
           "Tall" and the other reads "Small". He opens the door with "Tall" written on it and finds himself in
           another corridor with two doors: one reads "Big Tits", the other reads "Small Tits" Immediately he
           chooses the door with "Big Tits" on it, and finds himself in another corridor with two doors, the one
           reading "Small Ass", the other "Large Ass". He rushes through the door with "Small Ass" written on
           it, and again finds himself in a corridor with two doors, one with "Real Screw" on it, the other
           "Fancy Fuck". He throws himself on the door with "Real Screw" on it...and finds himself in the street
           on the other side of the same building!

                But you can try other ways. You will ALWAYS find that you end up in the street on the other
           side of the building!
                The whole of life is like that...otherwise there would have been no reason for sannyas. There
           would have been no reason for religion to exist at all. Religion exists only because the world fails. It
           is the failure of the world that brings you to a new awareness: that if the cherished goal cannot be
           found in the world, then let us try it inwards.
                Mandiro, THERE you have not tried yet. Move inwards! Contentment is a quality of your center;
           it is not found on the circumference. Fulfillment is when you have arrived at your real, authentic
           being; it is not found in the ego.

           The sixth question


              OSHO, WHEN WE DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU RIGHTLY, HOW DO YOU FEEL?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Virendra,


               I SIMPLY FEEL THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME -- and that is that! It is not a
           question of feeling anything else. I say, "Two plus two is four," and you don't understand -- so I
           understand that you don't understand. I try again next day. I go on hammering,
           "Two plus two is four." If you understand, good; if you don't understand, good. It is not a question of
           FEELING. I don't feel hurt, I don't feel frustrated, because from the very beginning I am not
           EXPECTING you to understand.
               Frustration comes through expectation. If I am expecting that you are going to understand, then,
           of course, when you don't understand there will be frustration, deep frustration. If I am hoping that
           you are going to behave in this way and you don't, then certainly I will feel hurt. You have
           disobeyed, you have not proved worthy enough, you have not risen to the occasion. But I have no
           expectation at all, of anybody.
               So whatsoever you do, I go on giggling and seeing it all. If you misunderstand then I say, "Old
           man, try again!" What ELSE can be done? And this is not a new situation; this has been always so
           and this is going to be always so.
               In fact, to expect that people should understand you is a subtle desire to dominate them. Why? If
           they don't want to understand you it is perfectly okay. It is their life! They don't want to go in a
           certain way -- it is their choice and they are free.
               Hence I never give detailed information about how you should live -- although YOU go on
           asking me: what you should eat, when you should go to bed, when should you get up in the
           morning.... You go on asking about these stupid details. And these stupid details have been given by
           your great -- so-called great -- saints down the ages. I don't give you one single detail.
               I simply give you my insight, I SHARE my insight. I open up my heart before you. If you can
           partake of anything, I am obliged, I am thankful that in some way my love, my understanding,
           helped you to become more loving, more understanding. But misunderstanding is accepted.
               Krishnamurti gets very angry -- sometimes even hits his head -- when he sees that people are not
           understanding him. Why be so worried about it? He is taking things too seriously, he is not playful.
           You can ask me the same question a thousand and one times;
               am not going to be angry. Each time you ask the question I am happily ready to share whatsoever
           is possible.
               Why is Krishnamurti so serious? He was brought up by wrong people: the theosophists. They are
           very serious people. They had made a. very mysterious philosophy out of all the religions of the
           world, a kind of synthesis. It is not a synthesis, it is just hocus-pocus, fragments from one place and a
           few fragments from another place. They were very serious people, and they wanted Krishnamurti to
           become the 'World Teacher'.
               Now, how can you become the 'World Teacher'? There has never been a world teacher and there
           will never be. Unless the world decides to be your disciple, how can you be a world teacher?
               In India there are many. All the shankaracharyas are called JAGATGURU -- world teachers. I
           know one shankaracharya who has only one disciple! I asked, "What kind of world teacherhood is
           this?"
               He looked a little embarrassed. I told him, "Don't feel so embarrassed. I will suggest a way out to
           you."
               In Hindi, JAGATGURU means world teacher. JAGAT means the world, GURU means teacher.
               I told him, "You do one thing -- you start calling your disciple Jagat -- and then you become
           JAGATGURU! Don't feel so embarrassed; there is always a way. One can wriggle out of laws and
           words and.... Call him Jagat, and you are the guru, certainly!"
               Theosophists wanted Krishnamurti to be a JAGATGURU -- a world teacher. And they tried hard.
           They could not make him do it, because he was a really intelligent person. If he had been just a little
           less intelligent he would have become a JAGATGURU, a world teacher. But he wriggled his way
           out. But even though he has come out of their grip, the scars are left. The seriousness is still there; he
           is not playful, he has no sense of humor.
               I am not serious! What I am saying to you is said out of playfulness. It is more a gossiping than a
           gospel!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Watson, a Clevelander in Paris, was unable to find a bordello, so he asked a gendarme to give
           him directions. The policeman did not understand English very well. Watson tried pidgin English
           and pointing. "Me," he said, pointing to his chest.
           "Ah! You wish to eat?" said the gendarme.
           "No, no!" said Watson. He tried again, taking out a twenty-dollar bill.
           "Ah! You wish to gamble?"
           "No, no, no!" shouted the American in disgust, and he unzipped and zipped himself.
           "Ah, oui, oui!" said the gendarme.
           "Wee-wee, my ass! Where the hell is the nearest whorehouse?"

              I am talking a different language, you understand a different-language -- but there is no need to
           make much fuss about it. It is natural.

               A hippie was walking along the road when he saw a big rock by the side of the road, wobbling.
           Being a strong hippie, he picked up the rock to see what was underneath. To his surprise, out jumped
           a leprechaun! "To be sure, I am grateful to ye, lad!" he cried. "And in return for your kindness I will
           grant you three magic wishes."
           "Far out!" drawled the hippie. "Hey man, well, I wanna be uptight, outa sight and in the groove,
           baby!"
           "Okay!" said the leprechaun, and turned him into a Tampax.

                There is no problem when you misunderstand me or don't understand me -- there is no problem. I
           simply enjoy, whether you understand or misunderstand. My enjoyment remains undisturbed.
                And I am not a messiah, and I am not a missionary. And I am not here to establish a church or to
           give a doctrine to the world, a new religion, no. My effort is totally different: a new consciousness
           not a new religion, a new consciousness not a new doctrine. Enough of doctrines and enough of
           religions! Man needs a new consciousness.
                And the only way to bring consciousness is to go on hammering from all the sides so that slowly
           slowly chunks of your mind go on dropping. The statue of a Buddha is hidden in you. Right now you
           are a rock. If I go on hammering, cutting chunks out of you, slowly slowly the Buddha will emerge.
           It takes time....
           And there is no hurry either. I am not in a hurry, because the problem with hurry is: the more you are
           in a hurry, the more the whole thing is delayed. And if you are not in a hurry at all, things start
           happening sooner. I can wait for ever, I can wait infinitely. But the miracle is: if you can wait
           infinitely, things can happen instantly.
                RIGHT NOW the Buddha can pop up in your consciousness; suddenly a bud can open and
           become a flower. And one never knows when it is going to happen so one has to simply go on
           working. And the work should never be thought of as work but as worship. Working with you I am
           worshipping you. Talking to you I am loving you -- not giving you a doctrine but my heart. Handle it
           with care.




                                                Be Still and Know
                                                   Chapter #10
                                          Chapter title: Me, Enlightened?
           10 September 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7909100
              ShortTitle: BESTIL10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, TODAY WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT YOUR FATHER, FOR THE FIRST TIME IT BECAME
              VERY CLEAR AND CLOSE FOR ME THAT EVERYBODY, I ALSO, CAN BECOME ENLIGHTENED.
              ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE SAID SO MANY TIMES THAT WE ARE ALL BUDDHAS IN THE CENTER, I
              ALWAYS FELT IT VERY VERY FAR AWAY. SUDDENLY ALL YOUR TEACHING FROM THE LAST
              TWO AND A HALF YEARS BECAME IMMEDIATE, MAYBE BECAUSE YOUR FATHER WAS KIND
              OF CLOSE FOR ME. I SAW HIM IN HIS HOUSE EATING A CHAPATI, SAW HIM TAKING HIS
              MORNING WALK THROUGH THE ASHRAM -- AND HE BECAME ENLIGHTENED! TOO MUCH! I
              WANT TO TELL YOU THAT I HAD A GREAT REALIZATION IN LECTURE.

              Deva Kanchha,


               GREAT TRUTHS TAKE TIME TO SINK IN. And this is the greatest of all, that you all are
           potentially Buddhas. It is impossible for your mind to accept it. You can accept somebody far away,
           a Siddhartha Gautam, being a Buddha, a Jesus Christ, a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu. They are so far
           away, millions of light years away; they have become mythological. They are no more thought to be
           real persons. They have lost all substance, they have become pure shadows -- pure poetry with no
           words, pure silence with no sound. You can imagine them, but you cannot feel them.
               Hence, although I go on repeating again and again that you can become a Buddha...in fact you
           ARE a Buddha, unaware of the fact. On the circumference maybe there is a great storm, just as on
           the surface the sea is stormy -- sometimes more, sometimes less, but there are always waves, bigger
           or smaller; there is always turbulence, disturbance. But at the depth there is not even a ripple: all is
           silence.
               You are the center of the cyclone, but you are not aware of your center. And down the ages
           priests have condemned you so much that it has become almost impossible for you to conceive of
           yourself as a Buddha. The priests have condemned you according to your circumference; they know
           only your circumference. In fact they are interested only in condemning you, so whatsoever they can
           condemn they see very predominantly in you. They choose that which can be condemned, because
           through condemnation you are reduced to slaves: slaves of religion -- Catholic, Protestant, Hindu,
           Mohammedan, Jaina, Buddhist; and slaves of societies, cultures, civilizations, political ideologies --
           communist, fascist, Gandhian.
               The only way to reduce you to a slave is to condemn you so badly that you lose all self-respect.
           And it can be done because your circumference is there, and you also are aware only of the
           circumference. You are fast asleep snoring at the center. Only at the circumference are you a little bit
           awake, and that too because of the disturbance, noise.
               In the marketplace you are a little bit more alert. When you sit silently in your meditation room
           you start falling asleep, because the only kind of alertness that you know is that which is created by
           the noise around you. You know only one kind of awareness, which is pathological because it is out
           of disturbance, not out of stillness.
               That's why it is one of the basic experiences of all meditators that the moment they start
           meditating they start falling asleep. Hence the Zen Master has to walk amongst his disciples with a
           stick in his hand: whenever he sees somebody asleep, he hits him immediately. The hit you can
           understand, because it is on the circumference. Suddenly the energy rushes upwards in your spine,
           and you are awake, alert. The Zen tradition says that when the Master hits you, bow down to him in
           deep respect. He has obliged you; he has taken great trouble to hit you.
               You know only one kind of alertness -- when you are hit, when you are in some danger, when
           you are in some accident. It is because of this that people go mountain climbing, because when they
           are climbing mountains and the danger is great they become a little alert. It is because of this that
           people compete in car races, because the speedier the car goes, the more danger is close by: death
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can happen any moment, you HAVE to become alert.
               Danger has an attraction. The only attraction of danger is that you become a little alert, but this is
           a superficial kind of alertness. Real alertness has to happen at the center, otherwise you can remain
           alert on the circumference because of the noise, disturbance, but it is coming from others, it is not
           your own, and your center can go on sleeping.
               I go on telling you this again and again. Why do r say it again and again? So that it can sink in
           and can reach your center. It takes time, and it takes a right moment.
               My father's disappearance from the body may have been the right moment for you, Kanchha.
           Yes, he was a simple man, just like anybody else. So was Buddha and so was Mahavira and so was
           Jesus -- simple people, innocent people. He was not in any way extraordinary; that was his
           extraordinariness. I have known him from my very childhood -- so simple, so innocent, anybody
           could deceive him.
               He used to believe anybody. I have seen many people cheating him, but his trust was immense;
           he never distrusted human beings although he was cheated many times. It was so simple to see that
           people were cheating him that even when I was a small child I used to say to him, "What are you
           doing? This man is simply cheating you!"
               Once he built a house and a contractor was cheating him. I told him, "This house is not going to
           stand, it will fall, because the cement is not in the right proportion and the wood that is being used is
           too heavy." But he wouldn't listen; he said, "He is a good man, he cannot cheat us."
               And that's what actually happened; the house could not stand the first rains. He was not there, he
           was in Bombay. I sent him a telegram telling him, "What I have been telling you has happened: the
           house has fallen." He did not even answer. He came when he was supposed to come, after seven
           days, and he said, "Why did you unnecessarily waste money on the telegram? The house had fallen,
           so it had fallen! Now what can I do? That contractor wasted ten thousand rupees and you wasted
           almost ten rupees unnecessarily -- those could have been saved.
               And the first thing that he did was to celebrate that we had not moved -- because we had been
           going to move within two or three weeks. He celebrated: "God is gracious, he saved us. He made the
           house fall before we had moved into it." So he invited the whole village. Everybody was just unable
           to understand: "Is this a moment to celebrate?" Even the contractor was called invited, because he
           had done a good job: before we moved, the house fell.
               He was a simple man. And if you look deep down, everybody is simple. The society makes you
           complex, but you are born simple and innocent. Everybody is born a Buddha; the society corrupts
           you.
               And the function of a Master is to take away all the corruption that the society has worked on
           you. the function of the Master is to undo that the society has done to you, and you will be a Buddha
           again.
               The child when he is born functions from the center; we teach him how to function from the
           circumference. That is our whole educational system all over the world: teaching the child how to
           function from the circumference. We pull him away from his center, we make him more and more
           accustomed to the circumference, to living on the circumference... twenty-five years of conditioning,
           education: good names we have given to ugly things. We call it education -- it is not education,
           nothing can be a greater mis-education.
               The very word 'education' means drawing something out, to draw something out. When you draw
           water out of the well it is education. Just like that, when something is drawn outwards from your
           center it is education. But this is not what is going on in the name of education; it is forcing things
           upon you. It is not bringing your center to function. It is not sharpening your center; it is dulling it,
           making it more and more sleepy, dozy.
               The society succeeds the day your center goes into a coma and your circumference remains
           functioning. Then you are a robot, a machine, no more a man.
               Because we function from the circumference Buddhas look so unreal -- of course, because they
           function from a totally different center. That's why I say that unless you are in contact with a living
           Buddha, you will never believe that YOU can become a Buddha. But a living Buddha also, slowly
           slowly, appears far away. It is because of your mind working; it is a strategy of the mind to save
           itself from going through that revolution. So you create a distance -- it is imaginary.
               There is no distance between me and you, not at all. I am just a neighbor to you; not even a fence
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           divides me from you. But you cannot believe it, because that is too dangerous for you, for your
           established pattern of life. You can't allow me too close; you will create a distance.
               Pradeepa has asked a question: "Osho, when-ever you quote Lao Tzu as saying, 'Everybody is
           clear, only I am muddleheaded,' I love it, because I am also muddleheaded. But there must be some
           difference between my muddleheadedness and Lao Tzu's."
               There is none, Pradeepa. But you cannot believe it. Lao Tzu is exactly as muddleheaded as
           Pradeepa. Lao Tzu will agree with me, Pradeepa will not agree. There is the problem: how can
           Pradeepa agree that her muddleheadness...? Lao Tzu must be meaning something very mysterious,
           something of a totally different dimension.
               No. Lao Tzu is simply saying there is no need to be a great genius to know God. God is available
           to all, unconditionally to all, categorically to all. You do not have to fulfill certain conditions, you do
           not have to rise to a certain level. God is available to you as you are, because God has BECOME
           you. There is nobody ELSE inside you. Just a look....
               So it is beautiful in a commune, because when you live in a commune you live with people not
           knowing whether this man is going to become a Buddha; then one day suddenly the lotus opens: that
           man has become a Buddha. It gives you great courage. You know this man, he is just like you. You
           have been drinking tea with him, gossiping with him, reading the same newspaper, listening to the
           same radio, looking at the same TV, you have been to the same movie. You know him, inside and
           out; he was just like you. If HE can become a Buddha, then why not YOU? In fact, his becoming a
           Buddha becomes the greatest uplifting force in your life.
               That is the beauty of a commune, because many many people with whom you were working will
           one day become Buddhas. Somebody was working under you ...for example, one day Deeksha finds
           that the man who has been washing the pots has become a Buddha! Then Deeksha can believe that
           "Although I am an Italian, and nobody has ever heard of any Italian becoming a Buddha, still I can
           become one."
               Have you ever heard about any Italian...? At least have not heard of it. But it is going to happen
           here, because this commune is ninety percent Italian: you eat Italian food, you drink Italian water --
           everybody is turning ninety percent Italian. My effort in creating a commune is simply to make you
           alert and aware that one day the cobbler of the ashram becomes enlightened, another day the guard
           becomes enlightened, and people go on blossoming. Each blossoming brings new courage, new
           inspiration, and in that courage and inspiration your spring comes closer to you. A great self-respect
           arises, and a trust: "God has not forsaken us. If people like me are becoming Buddhas, then I am also
           on the way. Sooner or later...." And it is going to be sooner than later -- because if so many people
           start flowering, then the season has come and it is time not to resist. It is time not to fight any more,
           but to be in a let-go.

           The second question


              OSHO, WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU MEAN BY SAYING "BE STILL AND KNOW" AND ALSO "SEEK
              THE STRENGTH OF NO-DESIRE"?


                BE STILL AND KNOW is one of the most fundamental sutras of the inner alchemy. But by
           being still is not meant that you have to force stillness upon yourself. A forced stillness is not true
           stillness. One can sit like a Buddha, almost like a statue, absolutely still, and yet deep down there
           may be great turmoil, a thousand and one thoughts rushing. There may be great traffic in the mind.
           The body can be forced to sit silently for hours, and you can also learn tricks to still the mind.
                For example, if you chant any mantra for hours, any name of God, if you simply go on chanting
           "Allah, Allah, Allah," it functions like a tranquilizer. Repetition of a single word or a single mantra
           creates a certain melody in your mind soothing, very soothing, very calming. And a kind of stillness
           will be felt which is not the true kind -- because the sound of a certain mantra is simply changing the
           chemistry of your mind. The change is not alchemical, it is chemical.
                Sound is chemistry. Hence music can help you to become still. And, moreover, when a certain
           word OR A mantra Is repeated constantly, you become hypnotized by it. That's the secret of all
           hypnosis. You look at a flame, a candle flame, constantly -- what are you doing? You are repeating
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the flame through the eyes, again and again and again. It is a repetition, it is a mantra -- through the
           eyes. Or you can repeat a mantra inside yourself; that is through the ear, through the sound. Any
           sense can be used. Perfume, incense can be used; the same incense can hypnotize you.
               Hypnosis means going into deep sleep, artificial sleep. That's exactly the meaning of the word
           'hypnosis': a sleep deliberately created. It can be through a tranquilizer, it can be through a soothing
           silence, sound, music, perfume, incense -- there can be a thousand and one ways, but you will
           become hypnotized. And, hypnotized, you will feel a kind of stillness which is not true.
               And also, if you repeat a certain mantra again and again, you will feel bored. Boredom also
           brings sleep. That's why doctors suggest to people who cannot sleep that they count sheep from one
           to a hundred, and then backwards from a hundred -- ninety-nine, ninety-eight, back to one -- and
           then go up the ladder again...go on coming up and down. How long can you do it? Somewhere after
           going three or four times up and down the ladder you will fall asleep. It is the most ancient formula
           for falling asleep: count sheep from one to a hundred and then come back -- because it is such a
           boring job that you lose all interest in it. And the moment you lose all interest in it, there is nowhere
           to escape except in sleep.
               Mothers know it perfectly well. Hence the lullaby: the mother goes on repeating a single note
           again and again and the child falls asleep. And children have their own mantras: they can suck on
           their thumbs -- that is a mantra. The child goes on sucking on the thumb; it is very consoling,
           soothing. He believes that it is the breast of the mother, and he-falls asleep. Children invent their
           own methods -- the teddy bear, or just the corner of the blanket, and the child holds it; if you take the
           blanket away from him he cannot sleep.
               Even grownups are not really grownups; they have their own ritual of going into sleep. For
           example, if every day you clean your teeth before going to sleep, try it one day without cleaning the
           teeth and you will be surprised: you cannot fall asleep. Something is missing. You have created a
           mantra. You change the dress, a different dress than you use in the daytime...you go into a subtle
           ritual.
               A few people who are religious, so-called religious, they will do some prayer. That too is a ritual.
           Grownups are not really grownups; they have grown in age, but not psychologically, not spiritually.
           The world is full of children of many ages: one year, two years, up to seventy, eighty, ninety -- all
           children.
               I am not talking about their stillness. When I say "Be still and know" I mean a stillness that
           comes out of understanding, not out of any kind of hypnosis. And out of understanding the first thing
           that happens is: "Seek the strength of no-desire." The more you look into your life, you will find
           your life is in a mess because of desiring.
               Why are you in such a storm continuously? It is because of the desire -- not only one desire but a
           thousand and one desires. And no desire can ever be fulfilled, no desire has ever been fulfilled.
           Desire as such is incapable of being fulfilled, intrinsically it is unfulfillable. Hence each desire
           creates turmoil, expectation, hope, then frustration, hopelessness. And you have a thousand and one
           desires surrounding you, and you go on supporting your own enemies.
               When you look in, when you watch, you become aware that desire is the cause of your whole
           misery. Seeing it, desiring disappears -- JUST BY SEEING IT, desiring disappears. Seeing that
           desire never leads anywhere, but that you go on moving in circles and desire goes on goading you in
           the same repetitive patterns, seeing this -- not because I am saying it, but seeing it on your own --
           desire disappears. And the disappearance of desire is the stillness, the real stillness, I am talking
           about.
               It brings two things to you: great strength, because all the energy that was involved in a thousand
           and one desires is released. Now energy no more leaks from you; you don't have any holes for it to
           leak from. You become a reservoir of great energy. And the second thing: because now there is no
           noise of desires clashing, conflicting with each other, there is no civil war going on...what to do? to
           be or not to be? to do this or to do that? When there is no conflict, no desire, when all the storm is
           gone, the silence that follows the storm, that is the stillness I am talking about.
           Be still and know.
               And I am not saying that by being still you will be ready to know -- no. Just by being still you
           will know. Being still and knowing are the same phenomenon, because when you are still like a
           mirror, a still lake, no ripples, then the whole firmament, the whole sky, is reflected in the lake. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stars come down, and the moon, and the clouds -- all are reflected in tremendous beauty in the lake.
           When your consciousness becomes a still mirror, a still lake, a silent reservoir of energy, God is
           reflected in it.
               You will not attain to knowledge, remember. You will become wise, you will become a Buddha.
           You will not become a great scholar, a great pundit, a great theologian or a philosopher. You will be
           a Buddha. You will have an innocent kind of knowing: you will know how to live, you will know
           how to die, you will know how to love -- you will know the real art of life. And the real art of life
           consists only of three things: how to live, how to love, how to die. And these things you will not
           know from scriptures; these things you will know from your innermost core.
               I call this education. "Be still and know, seek the strength of no-desire." It is desire that is
           making you weak, it is no-desire that will make you strong. It is desire that is creating continuous
           storms in you, it is no-desire that will bring stillness -- and a stillness that comes on its own is
           authentic; it is not a kind of hypnosis. It is not through mantra, it is not through any device, it is not
           through any trick. You are not trying to pretend to be still: you are simply still. This will give you a
           new birth, you will be reborn.
               Jesus says: "Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into my kingdom of God." I say the
           same to you -- but the rebirth is a state of no-desire, a state of no-mind, a state of total stillness.

           The third question


              OSHO, I ALWAYS THINK OF COMMITTING SUICIDE, AND WONDER WHAT YOU WOULD SAY
              ABOUT MY DEATH?


              Prashant,

           I AM REMINDED OF A BEAUTIFUL ANECDOTE:

              The minister, who got himself a little mixed up now and again, was standing over the open
           casket of the dearly departed, Joe Hall.
           "Our friend Joe Hall is not dead," he orated. "Only the shell is here to be buried; the nut has
           departed."

              Why should you think of suicide? Are you a nut or something? If you have become a sannyasin
           you have already committed suicide. Sannyas is a suicide -- the real one. It is not destroying the
           body, because destroying the body is not going to help; you will be immediately born again
           somewhere in some other womb. It will only be renewing the body; it is not real suicide.

               Sannyas is real suicide, because it destroys the mind, it takes you beyond the mind. And if you
           are beyond the mind you will not be born again. Why be born again and again? Why go on in this
           vicious circle?
               I know you are bored with life. If you are really bored, then meditation is the way, not suicide --
           because suicide will bring you to the SAME life, maybe an uglier life than you have right now,
           because suicide will create its own ugliness in you. To commit suicide is such an ungrateful act
           towards God. He gives you life as an opportunity to grow, and you throw away the opportunity.
               And unless you grow, unless you grow and become a Buddha, you will be thrown back into life
           again and again. Millions of times it has happened before: it is time now you should become aware.
           Don't miss this opportunity.
               Being here with me, learn the real art of suicide. The real art consists not in destroying the
           body...the body is beautiful, the body has not done any wrong. It is the ugly mind. The body is
           beautiful, the soul is beautiful, but between the body and the soul there is something which is neither
           body nor soul. This in-between phenomenon is the mind.
               It is mind that goes on dragging you back into the womb. When you die, if you commit suicide
           you will be thinking of life. Committing suicide means you are thinking of life. You are bored, fed
           up with life; you would like a totally different kind of life, that's why you are committing suicide --
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not that you are really against life. THIS life you are against. Maybe you don't want to be the way
           you are: you would like to be an Alexander, a Napoleon, an Adolph Hitler; maybe you want to be the
           richest man in the world, and you are not. This life has failed, and you would like to be famous,
           successful -- destroy it!
               People commit suicide not because they are really finished with life but because life is not
           fulfilling their demands. But no life ever fulfills anybody's demands. You will always go on missing
           something or other: if you have money, you may not be beautiful; if you are beautiful, you may not
           be intelligent; if you are intelligent, you may not have money.

               Once a man stopped Andrew Carnegie, who had gone for a morning walk in the garden. Andrew
           Carnegie was the richest man in America; the man who stopped him was looking like the very
           incarnation of a beggar. And the man said, "Please don't be deceived by my appearance. I am an
           author, I have also written a book."
               Andrew Carnegie asked, "What kind of book have you written?" The man said, "I have written a
           book entitled ONE HUNDRED WAYS TO BECOME RICH."
               Andrew Carnegie could not stop himself laughing. He said, "ONE HUNDRED WAYS TO
           BECOME RICH? And you are a beggar! What kind of book is this?"
               The beggar started laughing, and he said, "This is the hundredth way of becoming rich -- it is
           included in my book."

               The beggar also thinks of becoming rich, writes books about how to become rich -- even thinks
           that by begging he will become rich. But Andrew Carnegie is not happy either; he was one of the
           most unhappy men ever born on the earth. He lived in unhappiness, he died in unhappiness. The day
           he died somebody asked, "You must be dying fully contented -- because you are leaving such a lot of
           money behind you. You are the richest man in the world."
               Andrew Carnegie opened his eyes and said, very sadly said, "I am not fulfilled in my desires. My
           target was far higher -- I have not been able to reach it. I could accumulate only ten percent of my
           target."

                But even if you achieve one hundred percent of your target, how is it going to help? One is going
           to remain unfulfilled. Each life you will find the same thing repeated; forms change, but the
           discontent remains.
                People think that those who commit suicide are against life -- they are not. They are too lusty for
           life, they have great lust for life; and because life is not fulfilling their lust, in anger, in despair, they
           destroy themselves.
                Prashant, I will teach you the right way to commit suicide. Not the destruction of the body; the
           body is a beautiful gift from God. The mind is not a gift from God; the mind is a conditioning by the
           society. The soul is a gift, the body is a gift, and sandwiched between the two, the society has played
           tricks with you: it has created your mind. It gives you ambition, it gives you jealousy, competition,
           violence, it gives you all kinds of ugly diseases. But this mind can be transcended, this mind can be
           put aside. This mind is not a must.
                I am sitting before you and I say it through my own experience, I say it on my own authority:
           that mind can be put aside. It is so simple, you just have to know the knack of it.
                And remember, whenever I say that I say it on my own authority I am not saying that I am saying
           it AUTHORITATIVELY. Those two expressions are totally different. When something is said
           AUTHORITATIVELY it is a commandment; you have to believe in it. If you don't believe in it you
           will suffer, here or hereafter. The priest speaks with authoritativeness, the politician speaks with
           authoritativeness.
                A realized man speaks not with authoritativeness but on his own authority -- because he
           KNOWS it. I am not saying follow me, I am not saying believe in me. I am simply stating a fact: that
           I have KNOWN it this way, it has happened to me...it can happen to you.
                Life is very precious and the greatest treasure is hidden in it -- and that treasure is of becoming a
           witness.
           A real story for you, Prashant:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One day in 1928 Bucky Fuller stood on the shore of Lake Michigan and planned to throw
           himself in. He was ready to give up because he was a failure financially, by the standards of the
           upper middle class which he had been born into.
               As a construction engineer he had not succeeded. And because his daughter had just died of
           polio, the whole universe did not make any sense to him and he was ready to throw himself in. He
           stopped himself and said, "Wait, I can't be sure. Maybe there is something I can do in this universe
           that is important." He said, "Well, what can I do? Let us see what a man of average intelligence can
           do if he starts questioning everything that is taken for granted and starts looking for alternatives."

               I don't know if he ever was a man of only average intelligence -- IN FACT NO ONE EVER IS --
           but by questioning everything he came to realize, as he said, that when you don't accept anything
           except that which can be experimentally verified, you are overwhelmed by the inherent integrity and
           rationality of the universe. The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is
           comprehensible, as Einstein said. And that gives you faith in the sane, sound center of the universe
           we mentioned earlier. As Ezra Pound wrote in the death-cells at Pisa, looking at the stars, out of all
           this beauty something must come."

                Now Bucky Fuller is one of the most wise men in the West -- not yet a Buddha, but on the way,
           very close. And the art that has brought him so close to becoming a Buddha is the art of questioning
           everything that is accepted by the society: it is the art of becoming an inquirer.
                Transform your life, Prashant, into a quest. Question the values that you have accepted. Question
           all that you have been brought up to believe in. Question the way you have lived up to now.
           Question your mechanicalness, question your robotlike existence.
                Yes, something drastic has to be done, but it is not suicide. It won't help, it won't change you;
           you will be back again in another womb somewhere. Millions of stupid couples are making love
           every moment. Beware! You will be caught in some net somewhere. And you will get only what you
           deserve, remember; you can't get more than you deserve. You get the womb that is right for you.
                And dying in suicide is dying in such anguish, because it is one of the most unnatural things to
           do, most abnormal things to do. No animal commits suicide, no tree ever commits suicide -- only
           man. Only man can go that insane. Nature knows nothing of suicide; it is man's invention. It is the
           most ugly act. And when you do something ugly to yourself you cannot hope that you will get a
           better life. You will die in an ugly state of mind and you will enter an uglier womb.
                But what is the need to commit suicide? Just question: you must have lived in a wrong way,
           that's why life has not become a song. You must have lived foolishly, stupidly, unintelligently; that's
           why life has not attained to celebration. You cannot dance with joy with the stars and with the
           flowers and with the wind and with the rain, because you have lived with wrong kinds of ideas
           imposed on you by the same kind of people as you are.
                It is a perpetual phenomenon; stupidity goes on perpetuating itself. Parents go on giving stupidity
           to their children and the children in their turn will hand over their stupidity to THEIR children. This
           is the heritage. This is called tradition, heritage, culture... great names!
                Question all that you have lived without questioning up to now, and your life will have a new
           intelligence arising in it. Your life will become more sharp
                Sheela has asked a question: "Osho, you say 'Drop the mind.' The more I drop the mind, the
           sharper and sharper my brain is becoming." She is puzzled There is no need to be puzzled: the brain
           is a totally different thing from the mind. The mind is given by the society, the brain is part of your
           body. The brain is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian; the mind is a Hindu,
           Mohammedan, Christian. The brain is simply a beautiful biocomputer. The more you drop the mind,
           the sharper your brain will be, the more intelligent. It is the mind that is creating your mediocrity.
                Sheela, you need not be puzzled by it: this is how it is going to happen. The more and more
           people drop their minds, the more and more they will be able to function intelligently, because the
           brain will be unburdened. The brain will not be expected to carry unnecessary luggage.
                Right now your brain is carrying so much rubbish! That it functions at all is a miracle. Just look
           how much rubbish you are carrying: of being a Hindu, of being an Indian, of being a Japanese, of
           being a Buddhist, of being this, of being that, a fascist, a communist...religious ideologies,
           philosophical ideologies, political ideologies. They are heaped upon you, layer upon layer. Your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           brain has lost all its functioning. Once the mind is dropped, the brain will come to its total
           functioning.
               And every being is born intelligent. It is society that creates unintelligence. No child is born
           unintelligent. Have you ever seen a bird which is unintelligent or a bird which is wise, intelligent?
           All birds are alike. Have you seen a rosebush which is foolish or a rosebush which is a genius? All
           rosebushes are alike. So are all human beings: they come with the same potential but fall into
           different gangs.
               These are all gangs: Indians, Chinese, British, American. These are all gangs, and politicians are
           the criminals. Then there are religious gangs.... And their whole effort is not to allow your
           intelligence to function, because an intelligent person is bound to become rebellious.
               Prashant, question your values. If you have been a Catholic, question it; if you have been a
           Protestant, question it; if you have been a Hindu, question it. Question all that you have lived up to
           now; something is basically wrong somewhere.
               Ezra Pound is right. And do you know from where he is writing this? From his death-cell! "Out
           of all this beauty something must come." Ezra Pound in a dark cell, just waiting for death to come,
           can write such a tremendously important sutra: "Out of all this beauty something must come."
               The birds singing, and the trees, and the flowers...this infinite universe -- is it the place to commit
           suicide? It is the place to dance, to sing, to celebrate, to love and to be loved.
               And if you can love this existence, if you can feel blessed with this existence, I promise you that
           when you die you will not be coming back again...because you will have learnt the lesson. God never
           sends anybody back to the school if once they have learnt their lesson.
               If you can learn to rejoice, you will be accepted. Doors of higher mysteries will be opened to
           you. You will be welcomed into the innermost mysteries of life. That's what I call the true art of
           committing suicide: my name for it is sannyas.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, SUDDENLY THERE YOU WERE YESTERDAY JUST BENDING OVER YOUR FATHER,
              AND I FELT SUCH LOVE AND JOY AND CLOSENESS SEEING YOU IN THIS NATURAL
              SITUATION THAT IT IS HAUNTING ME. IT IS AS IF A DOOR OPENED AND I SAW SOMETHING
              THROUGH IT, SOMETHING FAMILIAR AND TREMENDOUS, AND NOW IT IS GONE. WHAT WAS
              IT?

              Somendra,


               IT IS NOT GONE, and it will never go. Things like this come, and come for ever. They are not
           momentary glimpses. Your heart opened suddenly; it needed such a situation for the opening. I
           immediately felt something happening in your heart -- a great cry arose in your heart, you exploded
           into a totally different plane.
               It is not gone, it can't go. It is there. It will come now in different situations, appear in different
           situations. You are just keeping your back towards the door; the door is open. But more and more
           often you will encounter the door. Once it happens you know it is there, you cannot avoid it. The
           mind will say it is gone; the mind would like to persuade you that it is gone. And the mind will ask
           questions about it so that the whole thing can become intellectual.
               It is the mind which is asking "What was it?" The heart knows; the mind asks and knows
           nothing. The heart has known what it was, but the heart and its knowing is so deep that it cannot be
           conveyed to the mind. And mind feels a little puzzled.
               And it has not happened only to you, it has happened to many people. It was such a situation.
           Many people had suddenly cried -- not out of sadness, no. There was celebration in their tears; they
           could not contain it. It was a spiritual experience for many of the sannyasins.
               And it will remain with you -- don't ask what it was. There are things one should not ask
           questions about, because questions drag them to the level of the mind. There are things which should
           be left as they are: mysterious, miraculous. With wonder, with awe, accept
               The moment the question mark is put, the plane of experience changes. The question mark brings
           them to the mind. The heart knows no questioning, it knows only how to trust. In that moment,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Somendra, you loved, you trusted. In that moment, you were so blissful you could have died
           laughing.
               But to die laughing is one thing; it is easier. To live laughing is far more difficult. Now that is the
           task, now that should be your SADHANA. Live with that vision. Yes, many times you will forget
           about it -- but it is there. Just a little groping and you will find the door again.
               Don't let it become just a memory in the mind. Let it remain a reality. It IS a reality, but mind
           will try to make it a memory. Once something is made a memory, the mind can put it in the safe
           deposit, in the biocomputer, and you can forget all about it. Once in a while you can remember, and
           later on you will start feeling, "Maybe it happened -- or did I just imagine it? Maybe it was just
           because of the whole situation and the impact of it that I felt something which was not really
           happening in my heart." These things mind goes on doing.
               Somendra, be careful about the mind. Mind will drag you many times from the very door of God.
           Mind is your basic enemy. Listen to the heart, because the heart is the friend.

           The fifth question


              OSHO, THIS IS NOT A QUESTION, RATHER A STATEMENT WHICH SHOULD NOT OFFEND YOU
              AT ALL. KRISHNAMURTI SAID LATELY IN SAANEN, SWITZERLAND: A ROSE IS NOT LIKELY TO
              BLOOM NEXT TO A GUIDEPOST.
              I LOVE ROSES, BUT ALSO OTHER FLOWERS.

              Hilke Schmitz,


               FIRST, THERE IS NOTHING that can ever offend me. There is no way to offend me; it is
           impossible because only the ego can be offended. If the wound of the ego is there then small things
           offend. But there is no wound any more; I am absolutely healed and whole. The ego is very touchy
           because it is a wound. Once the ego is not there you cannot offend that person -- impossible.
               So the first thing for you to remember: you can make any kind of statement you like, but you
           cannot offend me. Try, and try again!
           Secondly, you say:

           KRISHNAMURTI SAID: A ROSE IS NOT LIKELY TO BLOOM NEXT TO A GUIDEPOST.

               Roses bloom everywhere, and unless you know that they can even bloom ON the guidepost, let
           alone by the side, roses can bloom even on the guidepost -- unless you know it, you know nothing.

           A Zen story:

               A disciple came to the Master. He had gone to see a polo game. The Master asked him, "Tell me
           a few things. Were the riders on the horses tired?"
               The disciple said, "Yes, at the end of the game they looked tired."
           Secondly the Master said, "Were the horses tired ?"
               The disciple said, "Yes, a little bit, not as much as the riders, but even the horses were tired."
               Then the Master said, "The last and the final question: were the posts, the wooden posts which
           are needed in the game, were they tired too?"
               Now this was too much! The disciple hesitated a little.
               The Master said, "Go into your room and meditate over it. Tomorrow morning you can answer."
               The whole night he could not sleep; he tossed and turned. "The wooden posts -- how can they be
           tired? What a stupid question to ask! But when the Master asks, it can't be stupid; there must be
           something in it." The whole night he tried hard. Early in the morning as the sun was rising he rushed
           to the Master, fell at his feet, and he said, "Yes, Master, they were tired."
               The Master said, "I am happy. Your going to the polo game has not been useless." Others who
           were present, they could not understand what was going on. Wooden posts tired?!
               Somebody asked the Master, "What nonsense is this? How can wooden posts be tired?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              And the Master said, "If wooden posts cannot be tired then nobody can be tired, because this
           whole existence is one."
              If man gets tired, if horses get tired, then wooden posts also get tired. The whole existence is a
           manifestation of one energy.

              I know why Krishnamurti has made that statement. But my own suggestion is unless you come to
           know that roses can bloom not only next to a guidepost, they can even bloom ON the guidepost, you
           have not known anything.
           And thirdly you say:

           I LOVE ROSES, BUT ALSO OTHER FLOWERS.

                Why only roses and why only flowers? Love should be unaddressed. Love need not be oriented
           towards the other. Love oriented towards the other is not true love, love as relationship is not true
           love. Love as a state of being is true love. One can love a woman, one can love a man, one can love
           one's children, one can love one's parents, one can love roses, one can love other flowers, one can
           love a thousand and one things -- but these are all relationships.
                Learn how to be love! So it is not a question of to whom your love is addressed, it is simply a
           question of your being loving. Sitting alone, still love goes on flowing. Absolutely alone, still, what
           can you do? Just as you breathe...you don't breathe for your wife; it is not a relationship. You don't
           breathe for your children; it is not a relationship. You simply breathe! -- it is life. Just as breathing is
           life for the body, love is the life of the soul -- one is simply love! And then only does one know that
           love is God.
                Jesus says: "God is love." I say to you: "Love is God." The words are the same, but the
           significance is very different. Jesus says: "God is love." Then love becomes only one of the qualities
           of God. He is wise also, powerful also, a judge also, and many things more. Amidst all those
           qualities he is love too. Jesus' statement was very revolutionary in those days, but not any more.
                I say: "Love is God." Then it is not a question of God having many other qualities. In fact God
           disappears -- love itself becomes God. Love is the real thing. God is the name given by the
           theologians to something they know nothing about. There is no God; the whole existence is made of
           the stuff called love.
                But if you love the word 'God' it's perfectly okay, you can call it God. But remember always it is
           LOVE, and you will know this love only when love has become a state of your being, a simple state
           of your being.

           The sixth question


              OSHO, WHY DO I HATE HOMOSEXUALS?

              Sargam,


                DEEP DOWN YOU MUST BE A HOMOSEXUAL, otherwise why should you hate them? Hate
           is love upside-down, hate is love doing SIRSHASAN -- headstand. Hate knows yoga postures. And
           do you think you are a different person just by standing on your head? Many fools think that way:
           standing on their heads they think they are yogis; otherwise they were just ordinary people. Now,
           standing on their heads they are special people; distorting their bodies they think they are coming
           closer to God. They may be useful in a circus, but it has nothing to do with spirituality -- otherwise
           the people in circuses would be the most enlightened people in the world. You have seen girls in
           circuses doing such postures -- almost unbelievable, as if they are not made of blood and bone and
           flesh but of rubber. Do you think they become enlightened?
                Hate is a trick: you hate because you want to repress. And hate is not good, because it does not
           harm the other, it simply harms you.
                There are millions of people who hate homosexuals. That simply means millions of people have
           the capacity of becoming homosexuals if the opportunity is given to them. They have a deep longing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for the forbidden fruit. Just to keep themselves in control, they create a great wall of hatred.
               Sargam, that may be the case; or it may be a simple, ordinary phenomenon of life that we don't
           like people who are not like us. People who are unlike us we hate. Why? -- because they create
           suspicion in us. Hindus hate Mohammedans -- not that there is anything specific to hate in
           Mohammedans. Mohammedans hate Hindus -- not that there is anything special in Hindus which has
           to be hated. But whosoever is not like us has to be hated because he is a stranger, an outsider, and the
           outsider creates fear. And who knows? -- maybe he is right. To protect yourself from this doubt you
           create a safety measure; that hate functions as safety, a shelter.
               It is not a question of homosexuality. If you don't dress like other people, as they dress, they hate
           you, they don't like you.
               Now my sannyasins are in great trouble all over the world. Just a few days ago many letters have
           come that in Australia, the school, college, university authorities are very much disturbed by my
           orange-people, because many teachers, many professors, have become sannyasins. And a problem is
           being created by the parents and their leagues. The problem is being created that these orange people
           and their presence may corrupt their children, so the parents are against them. The Catholic priest
           comes in his robe; he is accepted, he does not corrupt. But my sannyasins, just because they are
           coming in orange robes, can be a dangerous influence.
               Anybody who is not behaving like you, not living like you, is hated. This is your experience in
           Poona too. The people are not really in any way HARMED by you -- my sannyasins are the most
           harmless people you can find anywhere -- but people are against you just because you look different.
               The homosexual has a very different lifestyle, and you are heterosexual. He belongs to another
           religion, he has another politics, he is not a man like you. The moment somebody says that he is gay,
           a gap arises, a great gap. Now how can you communicate?
               But all these fears have to be dropped; these are all defense measures. They simply show that you
           are not yet settled in your being -- afraid any outside influence may take you away, off your ground.

               A little Hollywood fruit was following a husky, good-looking man down the street murmuring,
           "My, what a pretty man!" Unable to resist temptation, he went up and felt his ass.
               The man swung round. "What the hell is coming off here? Beat it, will you?"
               Sadly the queer retired, but kept following, and unable to control himself, felt his ass again.
           "I thought I told you to beat it," the man snarled.
               A third time, however, the queer could not resist, and lovingly felt the attractive can. The man
           swung round and knocked him to the ground.
               The injured fruit looked up at the big brute and said sarcastically, "Tourist!"

               It is not only that YOU hate the homosexual, the homosexual also hates the heterosexual; he also
           thinks that he does not belong to him.
               We have created unnecessary labels. We have put labels on every man, and not one label -- a
           thousand and one labels on every man. Remove all the labels! Man is simply man -- homosexual,
           heterosexual, autosexual, doesn't matter -- man is simply man.
               Respect man, love man. Respect his individuality, respect his differences. And that is possible
           only if you respect your individuality. That is possible only if you are grounded in your own being
           and you are unafraid.
               I would like a world utterly fearless, where all labels can be removed.
           Once it happened:

               I entered an air-conditioned train compartment in Bombay. The only passenger in my cabin
           immediately fell on the floor and touched my feet -- -a traditional Hindu SASHTANG when your
           whole body touches the floor. I told him, "Wait, wait! I am not a Hindu!
               But he had already touched my feet. He was shaken; he said, "Then who are you?"
               I told him, "Can't you see my beard? I am a Mohammedan! "
               He said, "My God! And I have touched your feet! Why didn't you say so before?"
               I said, "But you didn't give me any time. The moment I entered you jumped in such a hurry.
           Excuse me, but I am a Mohammedan. You can go to the Ganges and take a dip and you will be
           purified."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But now the thing was that we had to live in the same compartment for twenty-four hours. And
           he was very much worried about what he had done -- such a sin, never heard of before. And he said,
           "Do you know? I am the highest brahmin caste, and I thought that you were a mahatma."
               I said, "Just a little difference between a mahatma and a Mohammed. My name is Mohammed."
               But he would look at me again and again -- pretending to read his newspaper but he would look
           again and again. He was making sure -- I didn't look like a Mohammedan. Finally he said, "You are
           joking! You don't look like a Mohammedan."
           I said, "So you have got it!"
               He jumped again, touched my feet, and said, "I was watching you -- you don't look like a
           Mohammedan. The very vibe is that of the purest saint."
               I said, "If it satisfies you, perfectly good, but if you ask MY opinion, now you will have to take
           two dips! In fact, I AM a Mohammedan! I was just trying to help you, to console you; I was not
           hoping that you would touch my feet again."
               The man was angry. He called the conductor immediately and he said, "Change my
           compartment! I cannot sleep in this compartment -- twenty-four hours with this man will be a
           torture, a hell. I don't know what kind of man he is. Sometimes he says he is Hindu, sometimes he
           says he is Mohammedan."
           I told him, "The fact is, I am simply crazy"
               He said, "That's right! So you are not Mohammedan? It is better to be crazy than to be a
           Mohammedan. Just crazy but Hindu?"
               I said, "Of course! I am a Hindu of the highest brahmin caste, but a little crazy. Once in a while
           this idea comes to me that I am Mohammed -- but I am not! "
           A third time he touched my feet!

              People live by labels.... Drop all labels from your being and drop labels from others' beings.
           Look at people as they are, don't bring labels. Then we will have a better humanity, a more human
           humanity.

           The last question


              OSHO, EACH DAY YOU GET MORE AND MORE CRAZY. IN THE DAYTIME WHEN I THINK OF
              YOU, I START LAUGHING AND THINK WHAT A CRAZY, BEAUTIFUL MASTER I HAVE. OSHO, I
              JUST LOVE YOU.


              Prem Akal,

           JUST A CRAZY JOKE FOR YOU:

               Karpinsky went to Rabbi Roth for advice. "Rabbi," he said, "I am ruined. I am a salesman, a
           respectable married man, but my life is ruined."
           "What happened?" asked the Rabbi.
           "I was in Mobile, Alabama, coming home from dinner in a restaurant, and this big black man
           dragged me by the neck and said to me, 'You are gonna suck me off, you mocky son-of-a-bitch, or I
           am gonna bust your head!' Rabbi, I am ruined!"
           "No, no," said the Rabbi. "The Talmud rules that a man can do anything but spit on the Bible to save
           his life."
           "No, Rabbi, I am ruined," moaned Karpinsky. "I liked it!"




                                         The Beloved, Vol 1
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                              Talks on the Baul Mystics
                                    Talks given from 21/06/76 am to 30/06/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1976




                                                The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                Chapter #1
                            Chapter title: Submission is the secret of knowledge
           21 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606210
              ShortTitle: BELOV101
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 97 mins




              ONLY A CONNOISSEUR OF THE FLAVOURS OF LOVE CAN
              COMPREHEND THE LANGUAGE OF A LOVER'S HEART,
              OTHERS HAVE NO CLUE.
              THE TASTE OF LIME RESTS IN THE CORE OF THE FRUIT,
              AND EVEN EXPERTS KNOW OF NO EASY WAY TO REACH IT.
              HONEY IS HIDDEN WITHIN THE LOTUS BLOOM -- BUT THE
              BEE KNOWS IT.
              DUNG-BEETLES NESTLE IN DUNG, DISCOUNTING HONEY.
              SUBMISSION IS THE SECRET OF KNOWLEDGE.


               I'M TREMENDOUSLY HAPPY TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE WORLD OF THE BAULS. I
           hope you will be nourished by it, enriched by it. It is a very bizarre world, eccentric, in-sane. It has
           to be so. It is unfortunate but it has to be so, because the world of the so-called sane people is so
           insane that if you really want to be sane in it you will have to be insane. You will have to choose a
           path of your own. It is going to be diametrically opposite to the ordinary path of the world.
               The Bauls are called Bauls because they are mad people. The word 'Baul' comes from the
           Sanskrit root VATUL. It means: mad, affected by wind. The Baul belongs to no religion. He is
           neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian nor Buddhist. He is a simple human being. His
           rebellion is total. He does not belong to anybody; he only belongs to himself. He lives in a no man's
           land: no country is his, no religion is his, no scripture is his. His rebellion goes even deeper than the
           rebellion of the Zen Masters -- because at least formally, they belong to Buddhism; at least formally,
           they worship Buddha. Formally they have scriptures -- scriptures denouncing scriptures, of course --
           but still they have. At least they have a few scriptures to burn.
               Bauls have nothing -- no scripture, not even to burn; no church, no temple, no mosque -- nothing
           whatsoever. A Baul is a man always on the road. He has no house, no abode. God is his only abode,
           and the whole sky is his shelter. He possesses nothing except a poor man's quilt, a small, hand-made
           one-stringed instrument called AEKTARA, and a small drum, a kettle-drum. That's all that he
           possesses. He possesses only a musical instrument and a drum. He plays with one hand on the
           instrument and he goes on beating the drum with the other. The drum hangs by the side of his body,
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and he dances. That is all of his religion.
                Dance is his religion; singing is his worship. He does not even use the word 'God'. The Baul
           word for God is ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man. He worships man. He says, inside you and
           me, inside everybody, there is an essential being. That essential being is all. To find that ADHAR
           MANUSH, that essential man, is the whole search.
                So there is no God somewhere outside you, and there is no need to create any temple because
           you are His temple already. The whole search is withinwards. And on the waves of song and on the
           waves of dancing, he moves withinwards. He goes on moving like a beggar, singing songs. He has
           nothing to preach; his whole preaching is his poetry. And his poetry is also not ordinary poetry, not
           mere poetry. He's not consciously a poet; he sings because his heart is singing. Poetry follows him
           like a shadow, hence it is tremendously beautiful. He's not calculating it, he's not making it. He lives
           his poetry. That's his passion and his very life. His dance is almost insane. He has never been trained
           to dance, he does not know anything about the art of dancing. He dances like a madman, like a
           whirlwind. And he lives very spontaneously, because the Baul says, "If you want to reach to the
           ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man, then the way, the way goes through SAHAJA MANUSH,
           the spontaneous man."
                To reach to the essential man, you have to go through the spontaneous man. Spontaneity is the
           only way to reach to the essence...so he cries when he feels like crying. You can find him standing in
           a village street crying, for nothing. If you ask, "Why are you crying?" he will laugh. He will say,
           "There is no why. I felt like, I felt like crying, so I cried." If he feels like laughing, he laughs; if he
           feels like singing, he sings -- but everything has to come out of deep feeling. He's not mind oriented,
           not in any way controlled and disciplined. He knows no rituals. He's absolutely against rituals
           because he says, "A ritualized person is a dead person." He cannot be spontaneous. And a person
           who follows rituals, formalities too much, creates so many habits around him that there is no need to
           be alert. Alertness is lost; habits are formed. Then the man of rituals lives through habits. If he goes
           to the temple he bows down, not in any way conscious and alert of what he is doing, but just because
           he has been taught to do so, he has learned to do so. It has become a conditioning.
                So they don't follow any ritual, they don't have any technique, they don't have any habit. So you
           cannot find two Bauls that are similar; they are individuals. Their rebellion leads them to become
           authentic individuals.
                This has to be understood: the more you become a part of society, the less and less you are an
           individual, the less and less you are spontaneous -- because the very membership in the society will
           not allow you to be spontaneous. You will have to follow the rules of the game. If you enter a
           society, you accept to follow those rules that the society is playing, or has decided to play. That's
           what membership means: you enter into a certain organization; you have to play the game. Bauls
           have no organization, so each Baul is individual.
                And that's what religion really is: it is an individual approach towards truth. One has to go alone,
           one has to go in his own way; one has to find one's own way. You cannot follow another, you cannot
           move on a readymade track. The more you search your own way, the closer you will be to God, or to
           truth, or to reality. In fact, the way is created by walking. You create it as you walk. It is not ready
           there for you, waiting to be walked on. You walk and you create it.
                It is as if you are lost in a forest. What do you do? You have no map and there is no way leading
           anywhere -- trees and trees and trees all around, and you are lost. What do you do? You start
           walking, searching, seeking. By your very walk, by your very search, a path is created.
                Life is wild, and it is good that it is wild. It is good that it has no map, that it is not charted, that it
           is still unknown. And its unknowability is such that there is no way to make it known. Otherwise, all
           charm will be lost, all beauty will be lost. Then life will not surprise you; and if surprise is lost, all is
           lost. Then there will be no wonder, no wondering. Then your eyes will go dead and your heart will
           stop beating; the passion will disappear. Love will not be possible. Awe, wonder, surprise: these are
           the ingredients of the charisma, of the mystery of life. So it is good that there are no scriptures; it is
           good that there are no ritualized religions; it is good that you are not on a super-highway.
                The Baul is a rebellious person, and I say 'rebellious' with great consideration. He is not a
           revolutionary. A revolutionary is still thinking in terms of the society. How to change the society:
           that is the revolutionary's continuous brooding. But he remains society-focused, society-oriented:
           "How to change the world?" A rebellious person does not bother about the world because he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understands that the world cannot be changed by him, and who is he to change the world? -- "What's
           my authority to change the world? And if the world decides to be the way it is, who am I to interfere
           with it?" He leaves the world to itself. He does not interfere, he does not meddle with it. He starts
           changing himself. His revolution is inward; his revolution is absolutely inner.
               A rebellious person is a drop-out. He simply drops out of that society which doesn't suit him. He
           does not wait for it to be transformed so that he can fit with it. That desire is foolish, stupid. Then
           you will be lost. And that day, that utopia will never happen -- when the society has changed so
           much that you can fit with it, and the society can fit with you. It has never happened. Revolutionaries
           have lived down through the centuries, and died. The world has remained the same, more or less, but
           the lives of those revolutionaries were wasted in changing it.
               Just think of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, coming back and looking at the world -- they will start
           crying. This is the world for which they wasted their whole lives? This is the world for which they
           hoped and staked their whole lives, gambled with their lives? They could not live their lives because
           they were trying to change the world. They were trying to change the world because they thought
           that only when the world had changed according to their wishes would they be able to live.
           Otherwise, how could they live? How can you live happily in an unhappy world? -- that is the
           revolutionary's question. Very significant: "How can you be happy in an unhappy world?" -- so he
           tries to make the world happy.
               The rebellious person says, "Leave the world to itself. Nobody has ever changed it." He is more
           practical and down to earth: "I can live my own way. I can create my own world within me." He is a
           drop-out. Bauls are drop-outs. They don't belong to any religion, to any society, to any nation. They
           are beggars, wanderers, vagabonds, hippies, gypsies, moving from one village to another, singing
           their song, dancing their dance, living their lives in their own way, doing their thing.
               A rebellious person is one who says, "I'm not going to wait, I'm going to live right now." The
           revolutionary hopes for the future. He says, "I am going to wait. I will wait for the right moment."
           The rebellious person says, "The right moment is here-now, and I'm not going to wait for anybody,
           I'm going to live right now." A rebellious person lives in the present.
               And one thing more to be understood: a rebellious person is not against anybody. He may appear
           against because he is trying to live his own life, but he is not really against anybody. He may not go
           to the mosque but he is not against Mohammedans. He may not go to the temple but he is not against
           Hindus. He simply says, "I am not concerned; it is irrelevant." He simply says, "Please leave me
           alone. You do your thing and let me do my thing. Don't interfere with me and I will not interfere
           with you."
               The vision of the rebellious mind is very realistic. Life is short. Nobody knows whether
           tomorrow will come or not. The future is not certain, and this is the only moment one can live. Why
           waste it in fighting with others? Why waste it in trying to convince others? Enjoy it, delight in it. A
           Baul is a hedonist; he is epicurean. He starts living: he loves, he lives, he delights.
               When a Baul dies, he is not afraid of death -- he is ready. He has lived his life. He is ripe. The
           fruit is ripe and ready to fall to the ground, with no hesitation.
               You will be afraid. You are already afraid of death because you have not been able to live. You
           have not lived yet and death has come or is coming. You have not yet had time to live and death has
           knocked at the door. How can you accept death? How can you welcome?
               A Baul is ready to die any moment because he has not wasted a single moment of life. He has
           lived it as deeply as it was possible to live. He has no complaint, he has no grudge against life, and
           he has nothing to wait for. So if death comes, he is ready to live death also. He embraces death. He
           says, "Come in." He becomes a host to death also.
               If you live rightly, you will be ready to die peacefully, blissfully. If you are not living rightly, if
           you are postponing, if you are simply putting aside your life and doing other things rather than
           enjoying life, doing a thousand and one things rather than delighting in life, then of course, naturally,
           you will be afraid of death. And when death comes, you will be a coward in front of death.
               A Baul dies dancing, a Baul dies singing, a Baul dies playing his AEKTARA and his DUGGI.
           He knows how to live and how to die. And he is not worried about God; he's only worried about the
           ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man that resides in him. His whole search is to find this essential
           man that he is.'Who am I?' is his essential search. And he's very respectful about other human beings
           because they all belong to that essential nature. All other forms are of that formless essential nature;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all the waves belong to the ocean. He's very respectful, tremendously respectful. A Baul never
           condemns anything.
               To me, that is the very criterion of a religious man: he has no condemnatory attitude. He accepts
           everything, his world includes everything. It does not exclude anything. Sex is accepted, SAMADHI
           also. His world is very rich because nothing is excluded from it. He says, "Everything comes from
           that essential core of your being, so why deny it? And if you deny it, how will you be able to reach
           to the source?" Wherever you deny something, you cling there, you stop there. Then the journey
           cannot move to the very core.
               Life, as it is, is totally accepted. That does not mean that a Baul is a man of mere indulgence, no.
           He knows the alchemy of how to transform the baser into the higher. He knows how to transform
           iron into gold. He knows how to transform sex into SAMADHI; he knows the secret. And what is
           the secret of transforming life into eternal life, time into eternity? The secret is love. Between sex
           and SAMADHI, the bridge is love. Love is participated in by both: on the one hand sex, on the other
           hand SAMADHI. It is the bridge. One bank is sex, the other bank is SAMADHI. Love includes both,
           comprehends both. Through love, the Bauls say, one reaches to the eternal home.
               So that is the only provision for the path: love. Love is their worship, love is their prayer, love is
           their meditation. The path of the Baul is the path of love. He loves tremendously.
               There are two traditions in India: one is the tradition of the Vedas, the other is the tradition of the
           Tantras. Vedas are more formal, more of the nature of rituals. Vedas are more social, organizational.
           Tantras are more individual -- less concerned with rituals, forms, habits, more concerned with the
           essential; less concerned with the forms, more concerned with the soul.
               Vedas are not all-inclusive. Much is excluded; it is more puritan, more moralistic. Tantras are
           non-puritan, allinclusive, more human, more earthly. Tantras say that everything has to be used and
           nothing is to be denied.
               Bauls belong more to the Tantras than to the Vedas. There is only one improvement on Tantras;
           that is the only difference. Tantra is all-inclusive, more feminine than male. The Vedas are more
           male-oriented, the Tantras are more feminine. Of course, woman is more inclusive than man. Man is
           included in woman, but woman is not included in man. Man seems to be a sort of specialization.
           Woman seems to be more general, more fluid, more round. Tantra is the way of the feminine, just
           like Tao.
               But the Bauls have improved upon Tantra also. Tantra is too technical. The very word 'Tantra'
           means technique. It is a little harsh, more scientific. Bauls are more poetic; Bauls are more soft --
           singers and dancers.
               Tantra uses sex to rise higher than it, but it uses it. Sex becomes instrumental. Bauls say that is
           not very respectful: "How can you USE some energy? How can you use some energy as a means?"
           They don't use sex as a means; they delight in it, they enjoy it. They make a worship out of it, but
           without any technique. It is not technological. They love it, and through love the transformation
           happens on its own accord.
               In Tantra, you are to remain unattached. Even while using sex as a means to go towards
           SAMADHI, you have to remain unattached to sex, absolutely neutral, absolutely like an observer, a
           witness, just like a scientist working in his lab. In fact, Tantras say that Tantra techniques cannot be
           used with the woman you love, because love will be a disturbance. You will be too attached. You
           will not be able to remain detached and outside it. So Tantrics will find women with whom they are
           not in love at all so the attitude can remain absolutely of the observer.
               That's where Bauls differ. They say it is too cruel; this passionless attitude is too cruel. There is
           no need to be so hard and so harsh. Through love, the transformation is possible. That's why I call
           their attitude more poetic, more human, and more worthy. The Bauls say you can live attached in the
           world and yet be unattached; you can love a woman and yet be a witness; you can be in the
           marketplace and yet be beyond it. You can live in the world and be not of it.
               This vision is my vision also. That is the meaning of my SANNYAS: be in the world but don't be
           of it. And, nothing is of worth if it is not done through love.
               That's where Tantra lacks something; it lacks humanity. If you love a woman, Tantra is not
           possible. If you love a man, Tantra is not possible. You should be completely aloof. Then sex
           becomes very scientific. It becomes a technique, something to be manipulated, something to be done
           -- not something to be in, not something that absorbs you, not something oceanic, orgasmic, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something that you are doing. The very idea of doing something to a man or to a woman because you
           want to achieve SAMADHI, the very idea of using the other as an instrument, as a means, is ugly
           and immoral.
               That's where Bauls have a totally different fragrance. They say, "There is no need to be so hard.
           There is no need to be so means-oriented. Love will do." And we will try to understand what they
           mean by love.
           The first poem....
               These poems belong to different Bauls, but I'm not going to use their names. That is irrelevant.
           They all belong to the same vision. Different poems, but they remain, deep down, as the same poem;
           different words, different forms, but running through them is the same current. It is just like in a
           garland, many flowers are held together, but only one thread runs inside and holds them all. We will
           insist on that thread. We will not be bothered about who has written this poem. In fact, many of the
           poems are anonymous. Nobody has ever known who wrote them, because in fact, they were never
           written.
               Bauls are illiterate; maybe that's why they have such purity. They are not very cultured people,
           educated in the ways of the world. Maybe that's why there is such innocence. They are children of
           the earth: uneducated, poor, humble, but very sincere. So, I will not be telling you who has sung this
           song, or the other songs that will follow in the coming twenty days. That is irrelevant. They come
           out of the same vision. They have a certain melody, so individual that it is called BAULSUR, the
           melody of the Baul; so special, the taste is so special and the fragrance is so individual that whenever
           you hear a song from the Bauls, you will immediately recognize it. It has its own individuality, its
           own style: wild, illiterate, uncultured, but very individualistic. Just as the ocean tastes the same --
           from anywhere you taste it, and it is salty -- in these songs, immediately you will feel that they come
           from one vision, one attitude, one passion, one experience. And they were never written. Bauls have
           been singing them down through the centuries. Each Baul has dropped something, added something,
           made his own songs or used the old songs that he had heard from his Masters, but the vision is so
           clear that you can never miss when you hear a Baul song.
           The first song:

              ONLY A CONNOISSEUR OF THE FLAVORS OF LOVE CAN
              COMPREHEND THE LANGUAGE OF A LOVER'S HEART,
              OTHERS HAVE NO CLUE..
              THE TASTE OF LIME RESTS IN THE CORE OF THE FRUIT
              AND EVEN EXPERTS KNOW OF NO EASY WAY TO REACH IT.
              HONEY IS HIDDEN WITHIN THE LOTUS BLOOM BUT THE BEE
              KNOWS IT.
              DUNG BEETLES NESTLE IN DUNG DISCOUNTING HONEY.
              SUBMISSION IS THE SECRET OF KNOWLEDGE.


               The first thing is: that love can be known only by loving. It is not something that can be made
           comprehensible by intellectual discussion about it. Love is not a theory. If you try to make a theory
           out of it, it remains incomprehensible. That is the first Baul standpoint: there are things which you
           can know only by doing them, by being them.
               If you don't know swimming you don't know what it is, and there is no way to know about it.
           You may go and hear a thousand and one swimmers talking about it, but still you will never know it,
           what it is. It is incomprehensible in every other way; you will have to learn swimming. You will
           have to go down to the river; you will have to take the risk, the danger of being drowned. If you are
           very, very clever, you may say, "I will not step into the river unless I know swimming first" -- it is
           logical -- "How can I step into the river when I don't know swimming? So, first I must know
           swimming; only then can I step into the river." But then you will never be able to know swimming,
           because even to learn swimming, you will have to step into the river.
               Swimming is known only by swimming; love is known only by loving; prayer is known only by
           praying. There is no other way. There are things which can be known without moving into them --
           those are the futile things, those are intellectual things: philosophies, dogmas, creeds. But all that is
           real has to be lived, and all that is existential has to be penetrated, and the risk has to be taken. One
           has to be courageous, one has to be daring. And it is a great daring, because when you love
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody you start losing yourself. To love somebody is to ]ose the ego; to love somebody is to be
           lost; to love somebody is to give power to somebody over you; to love somebody is to be possessed.
           To love somebody means surrendering...
              ... SUBMISSION IS THE SECRET OF KNOWLEDGE...

                ... because to the Baul, love is the only knowledge there is. You can read the Vedas: there is no
           need to submit, there is no need to surrender. You can read the Bible; there is no need to surrender.
           You can become very proficient, very skilled, very learned, but there is no need to surrender. If there
           is no need to surrender, it is not knowledge for the Baul.
                The Baul criterion is this: that when something demands surrender, only then is there a
           possibility of real knowledge, otherwise not.
                If you come to me and I just impart knowledge to you....
                Many people come to me and they say, "Is there any difficulty if we don't become
           SANNYASINS, if we are not surrendered to you? And still, we love what you say. Still we want to
           listen to it. Is there any problem? Can't we do that?"
                I say, "You can do that; the problem is not there. But then you will collect only the superficial.
           You will collect the words. Then you will collect only the fallen dregs from the table. You will not
           really be a guest to me. You will miss all that is essential; only the non-essential wi!l be your fate.
           You have to decide."
                Once you are surrendered, a totally different world opens between me and you. The
           heart-to-heart communication starts. Then you can listen to my words, but you listen in such a
           different way, with such deep sympathy and love, with such gratitude and receptivity, that those
           words are no longer words; they start becoming alive. You have made them alive with your
           receptivity. You become pregnant with what I am saying to you, with what I am communicating to
           you. Then, there happens a transfer; then words are just excuses. Hanging around the word, I send
           you something which cannot be managed in the word. Then not only is the word reaching you, but
           the climate that it carries through my heart.
                If you are in love with me, then there is a totally different kind of understanding between me and
           you. If you are not in love with me, then we are far apart. Then you are on some other planet,
           thousands and thousands of miles away from me. I may shout: you may hear a few words, but
           nothing special is going to happen that way. You may become more knowledgeable, but that is not
           the point. You should have more being, not more knowledge. If you are really becoming richer here,
           in close contact with me, then your being is growing. Then you are becoming more and more
           crystallized, more and more authentic, more and more alive, more and more divine. That is not
           possible without love.
                And what is surrender? Surrender means surrendering the ego, surrender means surrendering all
           that you know. Surrender means surrendering your knowledge, your mind, your intellect. Surrender
           is a suicide, a suicide of the past. If you carry your past within you in a secret way, then your gesture
           of SANNYAS is impotent. You can take SANNYAS and still go on carrying your past, hiding and
           guarding it like a treasure. Then just on the surface you will be a SANNYASIN, but not surrendered
           to me. And then if you are not fulfilled, nobody else is responsible but you.
                The first Baul standpoint is that existential things can be known only through existential ways.
           Love can be known only by loving.
                Somebody asked Jesus, "How to pray?" and he said, "Pray." But he said, "That's what I am
           asking. I don't know how to pray." So Jesus said, "I will pray. You sit by my side and you also try."
                How to teach prayer? It can be caught but it cannot be taught. If you are open to me, you can
           catch many things. If you are not open to me, nothing can be taught.
                A prayer is like an infection. Love is also like an infection: it can be caught but not taught. You
           can catch it. It is flowing all around you, but if you remain like an island, closed, then there is no
           way to teach it to you.
           The Bauls say,
              GOD IS DESERTING YOUR TEMPLE AS YOU AMUSE YOURSELF BY BLOWING CONCH
              SHELLS AND RINGING BELLS. THE ROAD TO YOU IS BLOCKED BY TEMPLES AND MOSQUES.
              I HEAR YOU CALL, MY LORD, BUT I CANNOT ADVANCE. MASTERS AND TEACHERS BAR THE
              WAY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               God is all around you, but you are so full of scriptures, knowledge, so full of your own ego that
           there is no space left inside you where God can penetrate and enter into you. It has become
           impossible. It is becoming impossible only because of you.
               Jesus is right when he says, "Pray, if you want to know what prayer is"; and the man is also right.
           He says, "How to pray? That is my problem. You have not answered it." And Jesus says, "The only
           way is, I will pray. I will kneel down in prayer. You just sit by my side, open, vulnerable; you may
           catch it."
               That's what I'm trying to do here. Just be open to me; you may catch it. There is every possibility
           once you are not barring your own path, once you start getting out of your own way. There is no
           problem -- because the essential man that is speaking to you is also hearing through you. Then the
           essential can meet with the essential. The ADHAR MANUSH can meet with the ADHAR
           MANUSH. Just put your ego aside, because that is the non-essential. Face me with your essence,
           encounter me with your essence. Then suddenly you will see a new fire arising in you. A new love is
           born.
               Yes, submission is the secret of knowledge, surrender is the secret of knowledge. It is not an
           intellectual effort, but a total submersion, a merging of the self. That's why Bauls talk more about
           love and less about knowledge, because love is the only thing in the world which cannot be attained
           in any other way than by loving.
               Now, it is possible some day that even swimming can be taught to you without taking you to the
           river. They have invented ways to teach driving without ever taking you to the road. You simply sit
           in a car in a room: nothing moves, because there is nowhere, no place to move. You simply sit in the
           car behind the wheel, and a film is shown on the walls. The road moves, so you feel as if you are
           moving on the road. On both sides, the street is moving. A movie is shown fast; it goes on moving
           fast. There are turns and things, and you have to do the right things at the wheel. The teacher can
           show you whether you are doing wrong or right, and you are simply sitting in the car. The car is not
           moving, the road is moving in the movie, just on the sides. You can learn it. It seems to be safer. I
           think someday or other you can just lie down on your mattress, and a movie of a river will be all
           around, and you can start. It is possible. At least a rudimentary knowledge may become possible.
               But love? -- there seems to be no way. Many people are trying movies to learn about love. Many
           people go on trying pornographic literature to know about love. Many people go on reading novels
           and poetry and others' love letters in order to know about love. Yes, there is a danger that you may
           come to know many things about love, but to know about love is not to know love. In fact, the more
           you know about love, the less will be the possibility to know love. You will be lost in your
           knowledge. You will start thinking that you know.
               Have you observed the fact that movie actors who are in the business of love are almost always
           failures in their own love lives? They never succeed. Even a Marilyn Monroe commits suicide. She
           was at the top; even President Kennedy was in love with her. The whole world was in love with her.
           But somehow, her whole life was empty. She committed suicide at the very peak of her career, of her
           fame; such a beautiful woman.
               What happened? Why are actors and actresses always failures in their real love lives? They have
           learned so much about love that they cannot be real about love. They go on acting the same roles,
           they go on playing the same games. As they are playing on the stage, they go on playing in life. On
           the stage it is okay because nothing is involved. But in real life, it is empty. So they go on making
           empty gestures.
               Remember, you can know much about love, but that cannot help to know love. Love can be
           known only by loving. It means you have to move into love without knowing anything about it.
           That's why it needs courage. You have to move in the dark, with no map, nobody to guide, not even
           a torch. You have to move in the dark not knowing where you are moving, not knowing whether you
           are on the right track or not, not knowing whether you will find the path or you will fall in a ditch
           and be lost forever.
           This is the courage.
           Bauls are very courageous people. They say:
              ONLY A CONNOISSEUR OF THE FLAVORS OF LOVE..

              Love has many flavors... Love has many dimensions, many nuances. Love is not one single
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing. It is very rich, tremendously rich. It has many aspects to it; it is multi-faceted. It is like a
           diamond: it has many facets and every facet gives it richness.
               Only a connoisseur -- one who has loved in many ways, one who has loved, lived courageously,
           dangerously, one who knows all the flavors of love.
               Have you watched? -- ' love' does not express all. It is a single word. All the ancient languages
           had many words for love, because there are so many loves. The English language is poor in that way,
           hmm?. -- because you love a car also, and you love your woman and you love your house and you
           love your country and you love your child and you love your mother. Only one word! You love a
           particular brand of cigarettes. It is very poor, because love has so many facets.
               When you love a child, you love differently. It is not the same love as when you love a woman. It
           has no passion. It has compassion, but it has no passion. When you love your mother, it is totally
           different: it has reverence, it has deep gratitude. But when you love a woman it is totally different: it
           has great intensity, almost maddening -- but it is not the way you love your mother. You love your
           friend: that is totally different. It is affection, but not in the same way.
               If you watch, you will find many nuances of love. The single word 'love' has many words hidden
           in it. And one has to know all about love by moving in all the dimensions. If you have not known
           any facet of love, your understanding about love will lack that much. One has to know all the aspects
           and all the subtle differences. That's what the Bauls mean when they say,
              ONLY A CONNOISSEUR OF THE FLAVORS OF LOVE CAN
              COMPREHEND THE LANGUAGE OF A LOVER'S HEART,
              OTHERS HAVE NO CLUE.

               Yes, it is a language. A single word will not do; it is a complete language. And once you know,
           you will be simply surprised. You can touch somebody's hand like a friend, and then the touch has a
           different flavor. And you can touch somebody's hand like a lover, then the touch has again a
           different flavor.
               A connoisseur, with closed eyes, can just feel your hand and see...and understand the language.
               Have you not watched it sometimes: when somebody looks at you with a deep lust in his eyes,
           you can immediately feel? When somebody looks with deep love, you can see the difference. When
           somebody looks with affection, you can feel the difference. But these are very rudimentary things
           because compassion also has many layers.
               When a Buddha is there, his compassion has a totally different quality. When you have
           compassion it is more like sympathy, less like compassion. When a Buddha has compassion, it has
           nothing of sympathy in it. It is pure.
               When Buddha has love showering on you, it has nothing that you have known about love up to
           now. Only a Buddha can know that. It has no passion in it; it is very cool. It is not hot -- not that it
           has no warmth; it has warmth, but still it is very cool. It will cool you down if you come close to a
           Buddha. It will help you to become less excited, more collected. It will not create a turmoil within
           you. It will subside all turmoil; it will be a soothing force. It will surround you like a subtle climate
           and soothe you. It will be like a lullaby. You will start feeling, falling asleep, as if just close to your
           mother's heart. It has something of the mother, something of the father, something of the beloved,
           something of the child. It has every subtle nuance in it. It has all the dimensions of love in a great
           harmony. When you come around Buddha, it is an orchestra of all the flavors of love. Sometimes he
           looks like a child; you can play with him. His smile or his being simply gives you a feeling that he is
           just a child -- you can mother him. Sometimes he is like a mother and you are like a small child.
           Sometimes he looks like a beloved -- you can love him, only him, and nobody else. But sometimes
           he is just like a friend. He is all.
               These changes happen because of you: your outlook changes, your vision changes. Your eyes are
           not yet clear and fixed. You cannot see his totality. You circum-locate him. At one time you see one
           aspect, at another time you see another aspect -- because you cannot comprehend the whole.
              ONLY A CONNOISSEUR OF THE FLAVORS OF LOVE CAN
              COMPREHEND THE LANGUAGE OF A LOVER'S HEART,
              OTHERS HAVE NO CLUE.

               Not even a clue is possible for others. You will have to move into the world of love; and don't
           ask how. You will have to move into the dark; And don't ask for a map -- because that very asking is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           against love. That's why trust is needed, SHRADDHA. If you trust a person, you say, "Okay. If you
           send me in the dark, I will go. If you send me into death, I will go."
               On the path of love, trust is the most essential thing. On the path of meditation, you can move
           without trust. On the path of meditation you can move without surrender, but on the path of love,
           without surrender, without trust, there is no go because it is the very first door. Love demands so
           much. It demands almost the impossible, and on the first step. Love is easy but very demanding.
           That's why even though the path is so easy, very few people travel it. The path of meditation is very
           difficult but not so demanding. That's why the path is difficult and arduous, yet still, many people
           travel it.
               When you hear about love it seems very simple and easy; but look at the demands. On the path of
           meditation, that which will be demanded on the last step, is demanded on the first step on the path of
           love.
               The meditator will be asked to surrender his ego only at the last step: when he moves from
           SAVIKALPA SAMADHI to NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI, when he moves from the mind to no mind;
           only at the last step. First he goes on purifying his mind, he goes on purifying his ego. He goes on
           making it more and more subtle, more and more subtle, refined, cultured. Then just a trace remains.
           On the last step, he has to drop that trace.
               Love demands the impossible. It says: on the first step you have to drop the ego. There is no need
           to refine it and there is no need to work on it. Because one has to drop it, so why bother carrying it?
           Drop it here, now.
               Trust arises on the path of meditation at the last stage. Trust arises only when you are arriving
           home. When the arrival is so close and when you are almost approaching, and you can see the door
           and you can see the house and you can see that you have reached, then trust arises -- you say, "Yes."
               But on the path of love, trust is asked on the first step. The first step of love is the same as the
           last step of meditation. The path is very easy if you are daring, if you are almost a dare-devil. If you
           are almost mad and ready to risk all without any condition, the path is very easy -- because it
           completes on the first step. The first step becomes the last step. Here you surrender, and not even a
           split second is lost and you have arrived.
              ...THE LANGUAGE OF A LOVER'S HEART,
              OTHERS HAVE NO CLUE.

               People who are very learned in the ways of meditation, in the ways of intellectual
           comprehension, contemplation, concentration, have no clue about love. They simply don't know that
           language.
              THE TASTE OF TIME RESTS IN THE CORE OF THE FRUIT, AND EVEN EXPERTS KNOW OF NO
              EASY WAY TO REACH IT.

               And this love the Bauls talk about, or rather, sing about, dance about, is just hidden inside you at
           the very core of your being. It is already there. You have just to find a way to reach to your own
           innermost core -- the ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man. It is not something that has to be
           achieved, it is already there. It is not something that has to be earned, it is a gift of God.
               The moment you were created, that very same moment that treasure was handed over to you --
           because who has ever known somebody to live without love? Have you known anybody to live
           without breathing? Love is the very breath of the soul.
               Bauls say, "As the body cannot exist without breathing, the soul cannot exist without love." So
           you may know it, you may not know it, but continuously love is happening inside. It is throbbing
           there; it is your very beat. You just have to find a way to reach there, because you have gone out in
           search of other treasures that don't belong to you, in search of other treasures that can NEVER
           belong to you.
               That's why a Baul lives like a beggar. That is simply symbolic. He says, "I am not searching for
           any other treasure. I am enough unto myself. My treasure is too much. I am a king already. I don't
           need any other kingdom; my kingdom is already here." He lives like a beggar, but if you come
           across a Baul you will see that he lives like a king. Even kings are not so kingly. Even-kings are not
           so blissful as a Baul is. His whole life consists of bliss. He knows no other taste: he knows no
           anxiety, he knows no worry. He lives in some unknown dimension with tremendous grace. Having
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing, he has everything. Possessing nothing, he possesses the whole world.
           The Bauls sing,
              THE MIRROR OF THE SKY REFLECTS MY SOUL. OH BAUL OF THE ROAD, OH BAUL, MY
              HEART! THE MIRROR OF THE SKY REFLECTS MY SOUL.
              OH, MY SENSELESS HEART, YOU HAVE FAILED TO CULTIVATE THE HUMAN LAND.
              CULTIVATED, IT COULD HAVE YIELDED A HARVEST OF GOLD.
              WHEN THE LIFE, THE MIND AND THE EYES ARE IN AGREEMENT, THE TARGET IS WITHIN
              YOUR REACH. YOU CAN SEE THE FORMLESS ONE WITH BARE EYES.

                "When the life, the mind and the eyes are in agreement", hmm? -- that is the way to find the
           inside. When you are in agreement, when there is no conflict inside you, that is the way. That is why
           Bauls insist on being without conflict, on being natural, spontaneous. Don't create any division
           within yourself, otherwise you will never be able to reach -- because a tremendous quality of
           agreement is needed. When you fall into harmony, the door is open. "When the life, the mind and the
           eyes are in agreement, the target is within your reach. You can see the formless one with bare eyes."
                "Forget not," they say, "that your body contains the whole of existence." "I am fulfilled," they
           sing, "being a blow of your own breath on your flute. What more can I wish for me than to be blown
           away with such melody?"
                A Baul is fulfilled the moment he comes to a deep agreement within himself. His singing and his
           dancing is nothing but an effort to fall into agreement with himself. Have you watched somebody
           dancing? What happens? Have you observed yourself sometimes dancing? What happens? Dance
           seems to be one of the most penetrating things, in which one falls into a harmony. Your body, your
           mind, your soul all fall into a harmony in dancing. Dancing is one of the most spiritual things there
           is. If you really dance, you cannot think. If you really dance, the body is used so deeply that the
           whole energy becomes fluid. A dancer loses shape, fixity. A dancer becomes a movement, a process.
           A dancer is not an entity: he's movement, he's energy. He melts. Great dancers, by and by, melt. And
           a dancer cannot retain his ego because if he retains the ego, that will be a jarring note in his dance. A
           real dancer loses his ego in it. He forgets that he is. The dancer is lost; only the dance remains. Then
           the door opens because you are one unity. Now the soul is not separate, the mind is not separate, the
           body is not separate. All have fallen in one line. All have become one, melting into each other,
           merging into each other.
                It is said about Nijinsky, one of the greatest dancers in the world, that there were moments when
           he would take jumps, and he would come back so slowly that it was almost impossible. He would
           fall back featherlike, as if gravitation had lost its power over him. Scientists were worried: "This
           should not happen, it cannot happen" -- but it was happening. No other dancer has been capable in
           that way.
                And of course, Nijinsky went mad; he became a Baul. His is one of the madnesses which has not
           yet been understood. And because he was in the West, it was impossible to comprehend what had
           happened to him. He was confined to a psychiatric hospital, forced, given electric shocks, insulin
           shots. Had he been in the East he would have become one of the greatest Bauls. His madness was
           nothing to be treated, it was something to be revered.
                But how did he become mad? He became mad through his dancing. When he was asked what
           happens to him, he said, "It happens only when I am lost, so I cannot say anything about it. If I am,
           then it never happens. I have tried it. If I am there, deliberately trying it, consciously trying, it never
           happens. But there are moments when I am lost. Then simply, I don't know who jumps -- and then it
           happens. I am also surprised. I have no explanation for it, but it happens only when I am lost."
                That is what Bauls say: when you dance and you become a whirlwind and, by and by, you are
           completely lost in your dancing, it happens. Something breaks down inside you. The barriers are
           lost. You become one unity. A great orgasm spreads all over your being. You are in tune with
           existence in those moments. These moments are the SATORIS of Zen, but Bauls have a better way
           to attain them. Zen has to be worked on for twelve, fifteen, twenty, thirty years. It is a very slow
           process. It is the path of meditation.
                Bauls can attain to it more easily. Just the day you decide that, "I am ready to drop my ego," you
           become available to God and God becomes available to you. The essential man suddenly arises over
           the non-essential; there is a mutation. And this is the moment when you are full of love, when you
           are love, when your energy is love. This is the moment when you can bless the whole existence.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When there is no conflict within you, there cannot be any conflict between you and the existence.
           That is the secret: drop all conflict within you, and your conflict with the existence is also dropped
           simultaneously. Become one within you and you have become one with the existence.
              THE TASTE OF TIME RESTS IN THE CORE OF THE FRUIT,
              AND EVEN EXPERTS KNOW OF NO EASY WAY TO REACH IT.

              In fact, there is no easy way to reach it, because it is hard to drop the ego. And that is the only
           way.
              HONEY IS HIDDEN WITHIN THE LOTUS BLOOM -- BUT THE BEE KNOWS IT.
              DUNG-BEETLES NESTLE IN DUNG, DISCOUNTING HONEY.

               Bauls say that intellectuals are dung-beetles. The PUNDITS, the scholars, are dung-beetles. They
           will never find the way to the lotus...only the bee.
               Become a bee; become a lover. Because the bee LOVES honey, it finds the way. Why cannot the
           dung-beetle find the way? It finds a certain way; it finds the way to the dung.
           Because love is the way.
               Bauls say, "Whatsoever you love you become, and whatsoever is your love you will find." So be
           alert about your love: don't love a car, don't love a house, don't love a bank balance -- because you
           will become like that. You will become a dung-beetle. Don't love dung.
               If you are to love, then love something of the divine, something...something that transcends
           things, something that transcends forms, something for which you will have to raise your eyes to the
           sky. Love a GOURISHANKAR; love the Himalayan peaks. If you love something like dung, you
           will move into dung because we always find the way. Wherever our love moves, we move behind it.
           The bee loves the lotus; it finds it. The very love is the path. Howsoever the lotus is hiding, the bee
           will find it.
           There is a story about Solomon:
               A woman came; the woman was the queen of Ethiopia. She wanted to love Solomon, she wanted
           to become his beloved. She was very beautiful, but she wanted to love the wisest man in the world.
           So she tried a few tests on Solomon, about whether he was really as wise as he was said to be. She
           did many experiments; one of the experiments was this: she brought one false flower made of paper,
           but made so beautifully that it was almost impossible to detect that it was false. She went into the
           court of Solomon, she stood far away from Solomon, and she said, "I have a flower in my hand. Can
           you say from that far away whether it is real or unreal?"
               Solomon said, "Light is not enough, and I'm an old man, and I cannot see rightly. Please open the
           windows." The windows were opened. He waited for two minutes and said, "No, it is false."
               Then the woman brought another flower from her bag and she said, "What about this?" It was
           exactly like the first, but it was real. Solomon pretended to look at it and then he said, "Yes, this is a
           real flower."
               The woman was astounded. The whole court was astounded: "What has happened?" They asked
           him, "How could you find it?" He said, "Easy -- I opened the windows for the bees to come in. They
           decided. For the first flower, no bee came in; for the second they immediately rushed in."
               When you love something, you have a supra-sense about where it is. Your love monitors you, it
           leads you, it becomes your guide.
               A bee can smell from miles far away where the flowers are. Much experiment and research has
           been done with bees about how they find their way. Miles away the flowers have bloomed, and bees
           will come rushing. Almost a supra-sense exists in them; that supra-sense is-nothing but love.
               You will find your way to the object you love, so be very cautious about your object of love
           because that is going to decide your destiny. Your love is your destiny. Love something superb; love
           something of the supra-existence; love something of the divine, and you will find your way.
               Bauls say, "When there is no fear, just the love is enough; it will monitor you and it will guide
           you."
              HONEY IS HIDDEN WITHIN THE LOTUS BLOOM -- BUT THE
              BEE KNOWS IT.
              DUNG-BEETLES NESTLE IN DUNG, DISCOUNTING HONEY.
              SUBMISSION IS THE SECRET OF KNOWLEDGE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Surrender is the secret of knowledge, because surrender is the secret of love-and love is the only
           knowledge of worth.




                                               The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #2
                                         Chapter title: I am just a midwife
           22 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606220
              ShortTitle: BELOV102
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              The first question.

              I ALWAYS YEARN TO BE HERE, BUT WHY, ON SEEING YOU, AM I FILLED WITH AWE?

                THAT'S HOW IT SHOULD BE. One should feel blessed, because awe is the only quality that
           can make man, religious. That is the only door. Through awe, you start feeling the divine around
           you. Eyes filled with awe cannot deny God; it is impossible. And people who have forgotten how to
           be filled with awe cannot accept God. God is not the question. If you are still capable of being in a
           tremendous state of wonder, so tremendous, so penetrating that thinking stops, everything stops --
           suddenly time is not there, space is not there, and you cannot figure it out, what it is -- some sublime
           presence is felt in those moments.
                But man has become afraid of awe. That's why in language, in the ancient days, 'awful' was a
           religious word, very sacred. Now, when you are feeling terrible you say you are feeling awful. Even
           the word has changed its meaning. People used to be awful when they were deep in prayer, when
           they were in close contact with the divine. When the divine was revealed to them, then they used to
           be awful. Now when they are feeling terrible, horrible, very bad, they say, "I am feeling awful." The
           word has completely been destroyed. It used to be at the peak; now it is at the bottom. It used to be
           the most positive feeling; now it is the most negative feeling. How has it happened? There are some
           reasons for it.
                Whenever people used to feel awe, they also used to feel fear. That is natural, because through
           awe you come in contact with the unknown, unfamiliar, the strange, the mysterious. You cannot
           control it, you cannot manipulate, you cannot possess it. Suddenly, something bigger than you,
           something vaster than you surrounds you, and you are at a loss. Fear arises; you start feeling afraid.
                All the old religions describe God as both 'the mysterium' and 'the tremendum' -- mysterium
           because He is the mystery, a mystery that can never be solved, and tremendum because one feels
           terrible before Him. These two feelings arise together, but you should pay attention to the first
           feeling more. Otherwise, the doors of the temple will be closed for you. Emphasize the positivity of
           it, and learn how to be in the presence of the unknown, how to be in the presence of something that
           you cannot manipulate, how to be in the presence of something where you have to surrender, where
           surrender is the only thing that you can do, that can be done -- that's all that's possible.
                You should feel blessed; but you must be feeling afraid, hence the question. You must be paying
           more attention to the negative part, to the shadow part. If you do that, by and by, you will become
           closed. Then you will not feel awe, and if you cannot feel awe you cannot feel God.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                They say philosophy arises out of wonder. It is right, absolutely right. Philosophy arises out of
           wonder; and religion? -- religion arises out of awe. And what is the difference between wonder and
           awe?
                When you are full of wonder, you try to find a clue; how to dissolve that wonder? You try to
           think about it, figure out what it is. Wonder creates a question-mark in you, and you start struggling
           with it -- so philosophy is a fight with wonder. It arises out of wonder, then it tries to dissolve the
           wonder, to dissolve the inexpressible, the unexplainable, to find an explanation so the wonder can be
           dropped. Wonder is felt like a dis-ease, a tension. So the philosopher is continuously trying ways and
           means to be again at ease. He is trying to find some answer so the questions can be dropped, so the
           mystery is no more a mystery. Philosophy is against wonder.
                Religion arises out of awe. Awe is also wonder with one different quality: that is, it does not
           create a question mark in you. Rather,.it creates deep love, it creates deep gratitude, it creates
           humbleness. It creates such a state in your consciousness that you would like to bow down before it.
           It is not a question to be solved, but a deep mystery to be respected. You would like to kneel down
           and pray. You would not like to think about it because it is so vast; it is impossible to think about it.
           You would like to pray; you would like to fall into it in deep love.
                Wonder becomes awe when it does not create a question-mark in you; awe becomes wonder if it
           creates a question-mark in you. That's the difference between philosophy and religion, and then the
           paths go diametrically opposite. A philosopher goes on thinking and thinking, and a religious person
           goes on dropping thinking.
           God enters into you through awe.
           "I always yearn to be here, but why, on seeing you, am I filled with awe?"
                That's how it should be. If you are not filled with awe, then your coming to me is pointless. If
           you don't feel like praying, if you don't feel like bowing down, surrendering, then you have not come
           to me. Physically you may be here; spiritually we exist far apart.
                It happens many times: every day I watch many people who yet have a living heart in them start
           feeling awe, but they start repressing it. It feels as if it is a kind of weakness and you are not to show
           it. If they want to cry, they stop their tears. They have come with many questions to ask and
           suddenly those questions are not there -- because in an awful mood, questioning stops. They forget
           their questions. And they are very worried about where their questions have gone, and they start
           searching hectically inside to find something to cling to so that awe does not become too
           overpowering. Sometimes they ask foolish questions, just to ask, so that nobody becomes aware that
           they have lost their grounding, that they have fallen into something deep, that they have not been
           strong enough to resist -- but then they miss. Then they come to me, and yet, they come not.
                Coming to me, be ready. It is not a question of asking questions. In fact, there is no need. Just
           being with me, just being close with me...fall in line with me, breathe with me, let your heart beat
           with me a little while so that you can see through my eyes, so that you can taste a little of that with
           which I am completely overtaken and possessed.
                But fear will arise -- because whenever there is something bigger than your mind, the mind says,
           "Don't move; there can be danger. You may not be able to come back." And the mind says, "It is
           almost mad, retain your intelligence, retain your thinking capacity, retain your logic." What are you
           going to do? And you all have been trained for logic, and nobody has been in any way trained for
           love. That feeling of awe is simply trying to assert something from your heart that has been repressed
           by the society, by the forces that are trying to control you, by the mind.
                Mind is nothing but society inside you: the priest, the politicians, the power-mad people -- they
           have become your mind. They are trying to manipulate you from within. When awe arises, you are
           falling into an infinite ocean, not knowing what will happen next. In that moment you would like to
           escape, you would like to close your eyes, you would like to somehow control yourself -- because
           you have always been told that control is a great value. So you go on controlling everywhere, where
           it is not needed at all, where it is a hindrance to life. Where it is almost a suicide, there too you go on
           controlling. You cannot trust, because trust means losing your controlling to somebody else's hands.
           You cannot surrender, you cannot love, you cannot pray. Even people making love cannot surrender;
           they go on controlling deep down. Hence, the real peak is missed. They learn techniques of how to
           make love. They can become very efficient lovemakers, but love is missed -- because it has nothing
           to do with you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Love happens only when you are not there. Love happens only when you are surrendered to
           existence. Then there is a great orgasmic experience. Then you reach to the very peak of your being,
           and you look at existence from the top-most peak of the Himalayas; you look from the
           GOURISHANKAR. Then a totally different vision arises, and that vision transforms your life.
               So when you come to me, be ready to lose control, be ready to lose yourself. That is the whole
           purpose of coming; otherwise, don't come. Even if you ask something, don't ask out of your
           knowledge. Your asking should also be out of your love. Your asking should also be how to go
           deeper in the mystery -- not how to demystify it, not how to explain it, but how to move deeper and
           deeper into the eternally unexplained -- because that's what God is.
               So have a little taste of God with me. Allow me to be a door.
               It will be difficult for you to face God directly, the Whole, because it will be too much, too
           dazzling. You cannot look at the sun directly; it will destroy your eyes. That's the meaning of a
           Master: he gives you God in quantities that you can bear. He gives you God in homeopathic doses,
           and he goes on increasing the dosage, by and by. The more you become capable of absorbing, the
           more he gives to you. One day, when you are ready to face the sun directly, he simply disappears. He
           is no longer between you and God.
               It is just as you start learning swimming: first you learn in shallow water, just on the bank. It's
           natural, it is intelligible, it is practical. Then as you are becoming more and more capable, you start
           moving towards the deeper parts of the river. One day you are ready to go into the ocean.
               When you come to me, allow me to be there rather than insisting for your own presence. You
           dissolve; let me be there. You open your doors and windows and allow me to pass through you.
           Much will happen that way. Nothing is going to happen through your questions because they are
           nothing of worth -- irritations in the mind. But I always see that whenever people feel full of awe,
           they start defending themselves. Then they undo the whole purpose. Don't defend. If you defend,
           then how am I going to help you? -- there is no way. I cannot help you against you; I can help you
           only with your deep cooperation. If you participate, only then can the journey start.
               But many times I have felt it -- many people would like to go on the journey, but when it starts,
           they start clinging to the place where they are standing. They don't want to lose their ground; but
           then, how can the journey start? You have to go on losing that which you have to attain that which
           you don't have.
               Jesus has said, "Those who want to follow me, they should deny everything, including
           themselves. They should deny themselves"...and he is right, but it takes a long time. Between a
           Master and a disciple, that which can happen right this moment takes much time because the disciple
           goes on defending in many ways, rationalizing in many ways.
           The Bauls say,


                  Look...
                  Look for Him in the temple of your limbs;
                  He is there as the Lord of the world --
                  speaking, singing in enchanting tunes.
                  He is an expert at hide-and-seek;
                  no one can see Him.
                  Do not try to catch Him, O my heart!
                  He can never be caught --
                  you can only hope for Him
                  in whole faith.


               When you are deep in awe -- and if you are courageous enough to remain in it -- soon your
           consciousness will have a tremendous shift, a one-hundred-eighty degree turn. If you can remain in
           awe for a few moments without disrupting it, without corrupting it with your thoughts, your
           defences, your rationalizations; if you can remain purely in it -- not doing anything about it, just
           being in it -- there will be a turn That's what Christians call conversion. It doesn't mean that a Hindu
           becomes a Christian; that is foolish. It doesn't mean that a Christian becomes a Hindu.'Conversion'
           means: a great turning in your consciousness. If you can remain with me for a few moments, just in
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pure awe -- not corrupting it in any way, not doing anything whatsoever; just being in it, allowing it
           to be -- there will be a shift, a one-hundred-eighty degree turn, a conversion. Suddenly, I will
           disappear and you will be face to face with your own being. The God is hiding within you.


                  Look...
                  Iook for Him in the temple of your limbs;
                  He is there as the Lord of the world --
                  speaking, singing in enchanting tunes.
                  He is an expert at hide-and-seek;
                  no one can see Him..

               ... because the very effort to see Him separates you from Him. The very effort to see Him makes
           Him an object, and He is not an object; He is your subjectivity. He cannot be reduced to being a
           thing -- He is not. He is not the sought, He is the seeker. He is your consciousness, your purity of
           consciousness. He is your inner sky. You cannot see Him because He is hiding within you.
           There is a beautiful parable:
               When God created the world, He used to live here on this earth, but there was great trouble for
           Him. He was not even able to sleep, because complaints and complaints. And the whole day He was
           trying to solve people's problems, and in the night also they were knocking on His door. And there
           were so many suggestions to improve upon the world that He started becoming almost insane. It
           looked as if nothing was going right -- millions of advisers -- and He was fed up. If He listened to
           one man's advice, there were a thousand and one against it. It was very difficult to do anything. He
           asked His counsellors, His advisers, "What to do?" He said, "I would like to hide somewhere."
               Somebody suggested, "Why don't you go to GOURISHANKAR, Everest. Nobody will ever be
           able to come there; you can make your abode there."
               He said, "You don't know the future. Just within few minutes -- for God it is only few minutes,
           our centuries are seconds for Him -- just within a few minutes, this man Hilary will reach, and then
           the same trouble will start."
           And somebody said, "Why not the moon?"
               He said, "That too is only a question of few minutes. Soon, man will be walking on the moon. It
           will not solve anything. It will at the most postpone a little."
               Then one old counsellor came close to Him and told Him something in His ear. And He was very
           happy, and He said, "Right! This appears to be the perfect solution."
               The old man suggested, "You hide in man himself. There he will never find you. And even if he
           finds, a man who is so wise to find you within himself will not create any trouble for you. Hilarys
           can create trouble, but Buddhas cannot -- because by the time they find you inside themselves they
           will be almost like you. They will not have any complaints, they will not have any question. They
           will be as silent as you are, they will be as deep as you are. By the time they reach you inside
           themselves, they will have been transformed. The very journey will become a mutation."
               God is hiding within you, but you cannot see God there directly because you don't know how to
           go there.
               One method, one way, is of meditation: start dropping your thoughts. One day when there is no
           thinking, no ripple, and you are a no-mind, you will reach there; the conversion will happen. Another
           way is of prayer.
               The SANNYASIN who has asked is Rama Bharti. Her path is going to be that of prayer and
           love. That's why she feels so much awe. When she comes close to me, I have seen her almost
           tremble, as if some unknown breeze is passing through her. I have seen her throbbing with an
           unknown rhythm. Love is her path. She has to use this quality of awe; it is rare. Very few people
           have it; it is disappearing from the world.
               People have become much too intellectual, much too hung-up in their heads. They have forgotten
           the language of the heart. Awe is the script, the very script of that language. Feel it, allow it to
           possess you, be possessed by it. It will lead you to the innermost temple of your own being. There
           will be a conversion, and in that moment your consciousness will have a great shift. Suddenly, it will
           not be looking at me, it will start looking at itself. That is the only way to know God.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The second question:


               WHEN YOU WERE A ZEN MASTER TELLING US TO CHOOSE OUR PATH AND STICK TO IT, I
               FELT SURE THAT MY PATH WAS OF THE HEAD, THAT I WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO
               SURRENDER TO ANYONE. NOW, AFTER ONE LECTURE ON THE BAUL MYSTICS, I FEEL LIKE
               A LOVESICK SCHOOLGIRL. HOW TO CHOOSE A PATH WHEN YOU HAVE NONE? HOW TO BE
               A LIGHT UNTO MYSELF WHEN YOUR LIGHT DAZZLES ME EVERY MORNING?


                I can understand your difficulty, but it is being created knowingly. I will throw you from one
           path to another many times, because that is the only way for you to find out which is your path.
           Sometimes I will push you, pull you towards meditation; sometimes I will force you towardslove,
           prayer. You will need the taste of both; only then can you be decisive about it, otherwise not. Just by
           listening to me you cannot decide, because while you are listening to me you are too much impressed
           by me.
                So this is part of the device: that one day I am speaking on meditation, another day I am speaking
           on love. I would like you to taste both because that taste will be decisive. Only that will decide
           which your path is where you feel really flowing, where you feel really spontaneous Where things
           happen on their own accord and you need not force them, that is your path -- but how to know it?
                When you listen to me when I am talking about love you will be impressed by it, but that is not
           going to decide it. Just being impressed is not going to help. It is a sort of hypnosis. When I am
           chanting and singing about love you will be hypnotized by it. You will start thinking, "Yes, this my
           path." But this is just a wave created by me. It may be your wave, it may not be your wave; and you
           cannot know it. And your whole life has been conditioned so much by others that you have become
           very impressionable. You immediately take the imprint from the outside. If you listen to me on
           meditation, you will be impressed by that. That' why ordinarily Masters have not done that which I
           am doing here. They only insist on one path continuously, for their whole lives. But then many
           people follow that path only -- because their Master has impressed them so much about it
           continuously and consistently that they follow. That may not be their path. Hence, my
           ABSOLUTELY new effort.
                I will be talking on all sorts of paths and all sorts of methods In the beginning it will be very
           confusing, but that is meant to be so. I would like to confuse you so much that you forget all about
           being impressed by anybody. My whole effort is to throw you to yourself. How long can you go on
           doing this? -- one day you are thinking of meditation, an then I talk about love; you start thinking
           about love. Again I will talk about meditation, and again the problem will arise. How long are you
           going to be impressed by me? One day or other you will say, "Now I have to decide. This man will
           drive me crazy!"
                J. Krishnamurti says, "Don't be impressed by anybody," but he is a very consistent man, VERY
           consistent. And his consistency becomes a deep imprint on his followers. He goes on saying,'Don't
           be impressed by anybody," but he has been saying that for forty years so consistently that people
           have even become impressed about it. They say, "Because Krishnamurti says,'Don't be impressed by
           anybody,' we are not going to be impressed by anybody" -- but this is the impression.
                What I am doing is exactly what Krishnamurti is saying. I am doing it; he is simply saying it.
                I will not allow you to be impressed. Even if you want, there is no way. I will change
           continuously: I will plant a few seeds today, tomorrow I will take them back. I will plant something
           today, tomorrow it will be gone. How long are you going to wait for me? One day you will say,
           "Wait! Now let me decide. Enough is enough!" But by that time you will have been shifted and
           shunted from this to that so much that you will have had glimpses of both. You must have tasted a
           little of love, prayer, a little of meditation, a little of yoga; a little of Meera and Chaitanya, and a
           little of Buddha and Mahavir. You will have tasted both, and then decision will arise in you. And
           that will not be because of me, that will be because of you. And when something is because of you it
           is real, it is authentic; it transforms, it transfigures, it transports you into another world. If it is just an
           impression, because I have been consistently telling you about something again and again and again,
           then it becomes just a suggestion deeply implanted within your mind. You may think that you have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           decided, but it is not your decision.
               Krishnamurti has never asserted a single contradiction. He simply goes on repeating the same
           thing. His note is simple, clear; there is nothing confused about him. Either you agree with him or
           you don't agree with him -- that is another thing -- but there is nothing to be confused about. Nobody
           can say that he is confusing. You can say he is right or you can say he is wrong, but not that he is
           confusing.
               You cannot say about me whether I am right or whether I am wrong. At the most, you can say
           that I am confusing. But that is my whole device: to confuse you so much. How long can you allow
           me to shift from this to that, from that to this? One day you are going to shout, "Keep your hands
           away! Now I want to decide"; and that decision will come out of you. And that will come not only
           because of intellectual conviction, it will come because of real experiences on both the paths. When
           you have tasted all, you can decide easily. And then you can remain with that decision for your
           whole life.
               If you are impressed by me and then you decide, you can be impressed by somebody else
           tomorrow, and then you will decide that. And if you are impressionable for me, you are
           impressionable for anybody else. That's how people go from one Master to another.
               Here there is no need to go anywhere because I am all the Masters together. You can just remain
           here and the Master changes; there is no need to go anywhere. I consistently contradict myself, so
           there is no problem. You need not go anywhere; you can just remain where you are.
               People go on changing Masters because one day something impresses you and you are
           over-enthusiastic about it, and then there is a honeymoon -- but honeymoons end. Anything that
           begins has to end. After a few days the enthusiasm is gone. Now the thing seems to be familiar. The
           enthusiasm was because of the unfamiliar, because it was new. Try to understand this mechanism.
               You fall in love with a woman because she is so new: the physiology, the proportions of her
           body, the face, the eyes, the eyebrows, the color of her hair, the way she walks, the way she turns,
           the way she says hello, the way she looks. Everything is new, the whole territory unknown. You
           would like to investigate this territory; it is inviting, it is very inviting. You are caught, hypnotized.
           And when you start approaching, she starts to run away; that is part of the game. The more she runs,
           the more enchanting she becomes. If she simply says, "Yes, I am ready," half of the enthusiasm will
           be dead that very moment. In fact, you will start thinking how to run away. So, she gives you a
           chance to chase her. People are never as happy as while the courting continues -- very happy --
           because it is a chase. Man is basically a hunter, so when the woman is chased, running away, trying
           to hide here and there, avoiding, saying no, the man gets more and more hot. The challenge becomes
           intense; the woman has to be conquered. Now he is ready to die for her, or do whatsoever is needed,
           but the woman has to be conquered. He has to prove that he is no ordinary man.
               But once they are married, then everything...because the whole interest was in the chase, the
           whole interest was in the unfamiliar, the whole interest was that the woman was apparently
           unconquerable. But now she is conquered; now how can that old interest remain? At the most one
           can pretend, but the old interest cannot remain. Things start becoming cold. They start getting bored
           with each other because now there are other women who are again new territories: they attract, they
           invoke, they call forth.
               The same happens with thoughts: you are enchanted with one sort of thinking, but by the time
           you become acquainted with it the honeymoon is over, the love is over. Now you would like to be
           interested in something else, something new that again gives you a thrill, a kick. This way one goes
           from one woman to another, from one man to another, from one thinking to another thinking, from
           one path to another path, from one Master to another Master. This sort of searching will never allow
           you time enough to create trust.
               In one aboriginal community of India in the very primitive parts of Madhya Pradesh, in Bastar,
           there lives a tribe -- aboriginals, very old people, primitive, almost three or four thousand years old.
           They are not contemporaries at all but something can be learned from them. One thing has happened
           in that community that has never happened before anywhere else, and that is: once a man marries a
           woman there is never any divorce. Divorce is allowed, but never has divorce happened. And once a
           man marries a woman, he remains truly with her, and the woman remains truly with him. He never
           becomes again interested in any other woman in any other way, and the woman never becomes
           interested in any other man. How have they managed this miracle? They have managed very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           psychologically.
                The structure of their society is such that every boy and every girl is allowed to meet and mix
           with every other boy and girl. So every boy comes to know each girl of the community, and each girl
           comes to know each boy of the community. In fact, by the time boys and girls are getting interested
           in the other sex, they don't stay in their homes in the night. They have a small temple-like thing just
           in the middle of the village; they call it GHOTUL -- a youth house.
                Once a boy becomes interested in girls he has to go to stay in the GHOTUL; once a girl starts
           becoming interested in the boys, she has to go to live in the GHOTUL. In the GHOTUL they live, all
           the boys of the village and all the girls of the village, and they make love to each other. Only one
           thing is insisted upon: the superintendent of the ghotul insists that no boy and girl should remain
           with each other more than three days. They should change, so that before their marriage time comes
           they have known everybody; then they can decide.
                When you know all the women of your community and decide, that decision is totally different
           than the decision that is taken in civilized societies. You don't know other women; a better woman, a
           better man is always possible. Then what will you do? A more interesting personality can always be
           there; then there will be disruption, there will be distraction, there will be problems. These are small
           village communities: not many people -- two hundred, three hundred people, at the most, in one
           community. Every boy is allowed to know each girl. When he has known all the girls and all the
           girls have known all the boys, and then one girl and one boy decide to get married, before marriage
           happens they are given one more year to be together, to finally decide -- because to decide before
           knowing each other well is dangerous. The decision may be only because they want to know each
           other well. But once they have known each other well, then what will happen to their decision? So
           they have to know each other well for one year, two years; whatsoever time they need, they can be
           together. There is no interference on them by the society.
                But once they decide to get married, of course that decision is very, very solid, absolute,
           unconditional -- because all conquering is gone, hunting is gone, chasing is gone. The honeymoon is
           before marriage in that community, and that seems to be more logical, psychological, more true to
           the human mind. The honeymoon is before the marriage. Marriage has to happen only when the
           honeymoon is over. When two persons, knowing each other well, decide to be together, now it is not
           a question of conquering. It is not a question of novelty. It is not that they decide for marriage
           because they want to know each other; they decide for marriage because they know each other. This
           is totally different.
                But that GHOTUL and the system of those communities is disappearing. They are being
           civilized by us, forced, because this seems to be immoral. At least for Christians, Hindus, Jains, it
           seems immoral. Their community is being destroyed; their GHOTUL is thought to be like a house of
           prostitution. So they are being taught against their experience: they are being taught to destroy
           GHOTULS and to stop this 'immoral' situation.
                But man seems to be absolutely foolish. They are not immoral people; they are very moral
           people, very natural people. But Christians are there working and trying to convert them into
           Christians. They have converted many of those poor people into Christians. Now GHOTULS are
           disappearing, and there, one of the most solid systems is being destroyed. In fact, we should learn
           something from them.
                My whole device is to give you all the chances possible for spiritual growth so that you can have
           a feel for the right path. And that feel has to come through you. It has not to come through me, it has
           not to come through my, influence.
                There are two ways not to influence you: one way is not to speak, to disappear somewhere so
           nobody can come close. Many people have done that too, but that doesn't seem to work. It has no
           compassion in it. The other way is to communicate to you, to say to you what I have attained, what I
           have known, what I have tasted. That has been done, but then people become impressed. They
           become so impressed that they are almost dragged out of their natures That too is dangerous. Maybe
           a hundred persons are influenced -- then ten, fifteen, at the most twenty, will reach to the goal.
           Eighty will be going against their nature.
                My effort is to make you available to all possibilities and to make all possibilities available to
           you so you can move, you can change, you can have your own time, at your own pace. And then one
           day a feeling will arise, and tha. feeling will be totally yours. It will have nothing to do with me.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then you have come to a point where marriage happens: then you are married to a particular path.
               I will continue talking about other paths, but from that moment you will listen to me, you will
           love me, you will be grateful to me, but if I am saying something which goes against your path you
           will not choose it, you will not be impressed by it. If something fits on your path you wil choose, but
           the decision will be your chosen path. Now anything that fits with it you will take in; anything tha
           doesn't fit you will not take in. And you will not say, "That is wrong"; you know that on some other
           path it fits, so I may be right for somebody else.
               But once you have chosen your path, whatsoever I say, you will be able to choose. You will
           become a chooser you will have an inner criterion -- what fits, what does no fit.
               I am here for many sorts of people. I am not one dimensional; I am here for all sorts of people,
           and I am speaking to all of them. By and by, listening to me, being attentive to me, you will go on
           deciding by your feeling. Then I will continue to speak; you will love to listen, you will love to
           understand, but you will not be distracted. Once you are married you will not be distracted. Then
           there is no divorce.
           "When you were a Zen Master telling us to choose our path and stick to it, I felt that my path was of
           the head, that I would never be able to surrender to anyone. Now, after one lecture on the Baul
           mystics, I feel like a lovesick schoolgirl. How to choose a path when you have none? How to be a
           light unto myself when your light dazzles me every moming?"
               One day you will be saturated with it. One day, one morning you will arise in your own being,
           alert to your needs, alert to your direction. Once that direction is understood, recognized, then there
           will be no problem. But one has to wait for it; it takes time. And before it happens I will have to shift
           you, turn you, shunt you from here and there.
           Sorry, but I have to do it.

           The Bauls say,


                  Blind one,
                  how can you stumble
                  on a straight spontaneous path?
                  Be spontaneous in your own self
                  and find the way
                  that is born in you.


               That's what I am trying to do here -- I am a midwife. I'm not going to create something for you; it
           is already being created in your womb. It is already being created in your innermost shrine. At the
           most, I can help it to be born smoothly. At the most, if something goes wrong I can help you to
           remove the obstacle. But the child has been getting ready in you; I am just a midwife....
               Once you have found your child, your direction, then the path is very spontaneous.


                  Blind one,
                  how can you stumble
                  on a straight spontaneous path?
                  Be spontaneous
                  in your own self,
                  and find the way
                  that is born in you



                  Words of wisdom describing God
                  can reveal us riches
                  in a darkened room.
                  Seeking in darkness
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   is confusing.
                   Break the barriers
                   and look at the sky;
                   the formless
                   is held as a beautiful form
                   in the arms of the moon.


               I go on describing about the wealth, treasures, but your eyes are full of darkness. My description
           impresses you; greed arises in you. You would also like to become a possessor of great treasures --
           but your eyes are full of darkness. Even if the treasure is right in front of you and I am describing it
           to you, you are impressed by my description but you are not aware of the treasure Iying just in front
           of you. My description is not going to help.


                   Words of wisdom describing God
                   can reveal us riches
                   in a darkened room.
                   Seeking in darkness
                   is confusing.
                   Break the barriers
                   and look at the sky;
                   the formless is held as a beautiful form
                   in the arms of the moon.


                So don't be too impressed by my words, and don't start feeling very sure while listening to me.
           But I know it is natural, it is human. Many times you will feel sure: "This is my path"; but next day it
           will change. So become a little unsure about your sureness. Hesitate a little. When I was talking on
           Zen you felt sure: "This is my path." Now I am talking about Bauls -- remember, tomorrow I may be
           talking about something else, so this time at least don't feel so sure. Listen to me, but don't give
           surety to what is heard. Wait, there is no hurry. Be patient, go on listening and trying, but don't feel
           sure because your surety is dangerous. Feel sure only when your child is born, when you have a
           sense of direction. And you will be able to see the difference, because it is so tremendously different.
           It will not be because of me. You will be able to see now that it is not that you are impressed by me;
           there is nothing like impression. Suddenly a great upsurge, a great energy has happened in you, and
           it is absolutely certain. But you will be able to see that it is not because of any influence from my
           side. Sometimes it may even happen contrary to what I am saying. Sometimes -- it is possible if you
           have been shifted too many times from one path to another -- I am talking about love, and listening
           to me about love a great certainty will arise in you that, "This is not my path; my path is meditation,"
           or vice versa. It is difficult to say how you will be able to make sure that this is not the surety coming
           by influence, but your own. But I know that you will be able to do it.
                It is exactly like when you have a headache: you know. You don't ask anybody, "Please tell me
           when I have a headache. How am I going to know that it is a headache, that I am really having it?"
           No, you will know. When the real certainty arises, it is so clear, so crystal-clear -- like a pillar of
           light; and just by its arising you are washed clean.
                Just by its arising you feel a new being, altogether new, a new birth. It is not intellectual, it is not
           in the head. You will feel it all over your body, all over your body, all over your mind, all over your
           heart. Your totality will feel it. When that certainty arises, then it is faith, then it is trust. By being
           influenced, whatsoever you get is nothing but a belief. A belief is a very impotent thing;.it never
           changes anybody.

           The third question:

               WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FOLLOWING: THINKING AND UNDERSTANDING,
               REACTION AND RESPONSE, BELIEF AND FAITH, SYMPATHY AND COMPASSION,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNION?


                Thinking is the absence of understanding. You think because you don't understand. When
           understanding arises, thinking disappears. It is like a blind man groping his way; when eyes are there
           you don't grope for the way, you see it. Understanding is like eyes; you see it, you don't grope.
           Thinking is groping. Not knowing what is what, you go on thinking, guessing. Thinking cannot give
           you the right answer because thinking can only repeat that which is known. Thinking has no vision
           for the unknown.
                Have you ever tried thinking about the unknown? How will you think? You can think only that
           which you know; it is repetitive. You can go on thinking it again and again, you can make new
           combinations of old thoughts, but nothing really is new.
                Understanding is fresh, new. It has nothing to do with the past. Understanding is here, now. It is
           an insight into reality.
                With thinking there are questions and questions and no answers. Even sometimes when you feel
           that you have found an answer, it is just because one has to decide some way or other. It is not really
           the answer, but you have to decide for action so some answer has to be clung to. And if you look
           deeply into your answer, you will see a thousand and one questions arising out of it. Understanding
           has no questions but only answers, because it has eyes.
                Thinking is borrowed. All your thoughts are given by others to you. Watch -- can you find a
           single thought that is yours, authentically yours, that you have given birth to? They are all borrowed.
           The sources may be known or unknown, but they are all borrowed. The mind functions like a
           computer, but before the computer can give you any answer you have to feed it. You have to supply
           all the information; then it will give you the answer. That's what mind has been doing.
                Mind is a biocomputer. You go on collecting data, knowledge, information, and then when a
           certain question arises your mind supplies the answer out of that collection. It is not a real response;
           it is just out of the dead past.
                What is understanding? -- understanding is pure intelligence. That pure intelligence is originally
           yours; you are born with it. Nobody can give you intelligence. Knowledge can be given to you, not
           intelligence. Intelligence is your own sharpened being. Through deep meditation one sharpens one's
           being; through meditation one drops borrowed thoughts, reclaims one's own being, reclaims one's
           originality, redaims one's childhood, innocence, freshness. Out of that freshness, when you act, you
           act out of understanding. And then the response is total, here-now; and the response is because of the
           challenge, not because of the past.
                For example: somebody asks you a question -- what do you do? You immediately go inside the
           mind and find out the answer. You immediately go into the basement of the rnind where you have
           collected all knowledge, and find the answer there. Then it is thinking. Somebody asks a question
           and you become silent; you look into the question with penetrating eyes; not into the memory, but
           into the question. You face the question, you encounter the question. If you don't know you say you
           don't know.
                For example: somebody asks whether God exists or not. You immediately say, "Yes, God
           exists." From where is this answer coming? -- from your memory? Christian memory, Hindu
           memory, Muslim memory? Then it is almost useless, futile. If you have a communist memory you
           will say, "No, there is no God." If you have a Catholic memory you will say, "Yes, there is God." If
           you have a Buddhist memory you will say, "There is no God." But these answers are coming from
           the memory. If you are a man of understanding you will simply listen to the question, you will go
           deep into the question, you will simply watch. If you don't know, you will say, "I don't know." If you
           know, only then will you say you know. And when I say 'if you know', I mean, if you have realized.
                A man of understanding is true. Even if he says, "I don't know," his ignorance is more valuable
           than the knowledge of the mind, because at least his ignorance, his acceptance of the ignorance is
           closer to truth. At least he is not trying to pretend, he is not a hypocrite.
                Watch, and you will see that all your answers come from your memory. Then try to find out a
           way where memory does not function and pure consciousness functions. That is what understanding
           is.
           I have heard....
                A doctor stepped into the patient's room. Five minutes later he came out and asked for a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           corkscrew, then he went back to his patient. In another five minutes he was out again and demanded
           a chisel and hammer.
               The distraught husband couldn't stand it any longer. He pleaded, "For heaven's sake, doctor, what
           is wrong with my wife?"
           "I don't know yet," the doctor replied. "I can't get my bag opened."
               Even sometimes when you say, "I don't know," it is not necessary that it may be coming out of
           understanding. It may be simply that you can't open your bag. It may be that you cannot open your
           memories, or you are not able to find something in the memory; you need time. You say, "I don't
           know"; you say "Give me time, let me think about it." What will you do by thinking? If you know,
           you know; if you don't know, you don't know. What are you going to think about? But you say,
           "Give me time, I will think about it." What are you saying? You are saying, "Give me a little, time; I
           will have to go into the basement of my mind and search. And there is such rubbish accumulated
           through the years that it is difficult to find, but I will try."
               Meditate, and become free from this basement. It is not that the basement is not useful; it can be
           used. But it should not become a substitute for your understanding.
               A man of understanding looks into things directly. His insight is direct, but he can use all his
           accumulation to help the insight to reach you. He can use all his accumulation to make everything
           that he is trying to convey to you clear. But that which he is trying to convey is his own. Words may
           be borrowed, language may be borrowed -- has to be borrowed -- concepts may be borrowed, but not
           what he is trying to convey to you. The container will come from the memory, but the contents will
           be his insight.
               And of course, a man who has no understanding is continuously a victim of so many thoughts,
           because he has no one insight to give him a center. He has a crowd of thoughts, unrelated to each
           other, even diametrically opposite to each other, contradicting each other, with deep antagonism
           towards each other. He has a crowd -- not even a group, not even a society, but a mob of thoughts
           buzzing inside the mind. So if you go on with your thinking too far, one day you will become mad.
           Too much thought can create insanity.
               In primitive societies madness is rare. The more civilized a society is, the more people go insane.
           Even in civilized societies, more people go insane who work with their intellects. This is unfortunate
           but this is a fact: that more psychoanalysts go mad than in any other profession. Why? -- too much
           thinking. It is very difficult to manage so many contradictory thoughts together. In managing them,
           your whole being becomes unmanaged, becomes a chaos.
               Understanding is single, understanding is central. It is simple; thoughts are very complex.
               A henpecked husband visited a psychiatrist and said he had a recurring nightmare.
           "Every night," he said. "I dream I am shipwreck with twelve beautiful women."
           "What is so terrible about that?" asked the psychiatrist
           "Have you ever tried cooing for twelve women?"
               That was his problem: how to 'coo' twelve women Even to coo one woman is difficult.
               Thinking is like cooing for thousands and thousands of women around you. One naturally goes
           mad. Understanding is very simple: you are married to one insight, but that insight works like a light,
           a torch. Wherever you focus your torch, mysteries are revealed. Wherever you focus your torch,
           darkness disappears.
               Try to find your hidden understanding, and the way is to drop thinking. And to drop thinking two
           are the possibilities: either meditation or love.
           The second: 'reaction and response'.
               Reaction is from the thoughts and response is understanding. Reaction comes from the past;
           response is always in the present. But ordinarily we react -- we have everything already ready inside.
               Somebody is doing something and we react as if button has been pushed. Somebody insults you
           -- you be come angry. That has happened before. It has been happening the same all the while. It has
           become almost like a button: somebody pushes it, you become angry. There is not a single moment
           of waiting, not a single moment where you look at the situation -- because the situation may be
           different. The person who is insulting you may be right. He may have simply revealed a truth to you;
           that's why you feel insulted. Or, he may be absolutely wrong, or he may be nasty person -- but you
           have to look into the person. If he is right, you have to thank him because he has shown some thing
           to you -- he has shown compassion towards you. He has been friendly by bringing a truth to your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heart. Maybe it hurts, but that is not his fault. Or, he is simply stupid ignorant: not knowing anything
           about you he has blurted something out. Then there is no need to be angry; he is simply wrong.
           Nobody is worried about something which is absolutely wrong. Unless it has some truth in it, you
           are never irritated by it. You can laugh at it, at the whole absurdity of it. It is ridiculous.
                Or, the person is nasty and that is his way. He is being insulting to everybody. So he is not doing
           anything to you in particular; he is simply being himself -- that's all. So in fact, nothing is needed to
           be done. That man is that type.
                Somebody insulted Buddha. His disciple Ananda asked him, "I was getting very angry and you
           kept quiet. You should have at least allowed me; I would have put him right." Buddha said, "You
           surprise me. First he surprised me, now you surprise me. Whatsoever he was saying is simply
           irrelevant. It is unconnected with us, so why get into it? But you surprise me more: you have become
           very annoyed, you look angry. This is foolish. To punish oneself for somebody else's error is foolish.
           You are punishing yourself. Cool down. There is no need to be angry -- because anger is fire. Why
           are you burning your own soul? If he has committed some mistake, why do you punish yourself? It
           is stupid"...but we react.
           I have heard....
                One man was saying to one of his friends, "To please my wife, I have given up smoking,
           drinking, and playing cards."
           "That must make her very happy," said his friend.
           "No, it has not. Now, every time she begins to talk to me, she can't think of anything to say."
                People live mechanical,-robot-like lives. If your wife has been continuously nagging you to stop
           smoking, and you think that she will be happy if you stop, you are wrong. If you smoke she is
           unhappy, if you stop smoking she will be unhappy, because then she will not find any excuse to nag
           you.
                One woman has said to me that she doesn't want her husband to be perfect. I asked, "Why?" She
           said, "Because I love nagging." If the husband is perfect what are you going to do? You will be
           simply at a loss.
                Watch yourself, watch others, and see how they are behaving in a mechanical way: unconscious,
           like somnambulists, sleepwalkers.
                Reaction is of the mind; response is of the no-mind.
                Belief and faith? -- again the same: belief is of the mind, of the thinking; faith is of no-mind, of
           awareness, understanding.
                It happened in a hillside village: the hunter said to his guide, "This seems to be a very dangerous
           cliff. It is a wonder they don't put up a warning sign."
           "They had one up for two years," the native guide admitted, "but no one fell over so they took it
           down."
                Belief is blind -- you believe because you have been taught to believe -- but it never goes very
           deep because it has no understanding of the situation. It is just a superfluous tag, just something
           added to you. It has not grown from you, it has not been a growth. It is just borrowed, so it never
           penetrates your being. A few days you carry it, and then seeing that it is useless, nothing is
           happening, you put it aside. There are Christians who are not Christians; there are Hindus who are
           not Hindus. They are Hindus only because of those beliefs that they have never used, those beliefs
           that have never been given any respect by them. They think they are Christians, Hindus,
           Mohammedans, but how can you be a Mohammedan if you have not lived your belief?
                But belief cannot be lived. If one starts becoming more alert, watching life, responding, then by
           and by a faith arises. Faith is yours; belief is somebody else's. Drop beliefs so that faith can arise.
           And don't be satisfied with beliefs, otherwise faith will never arise.
           Sympathy and compassion....
                The same; the questioner has asked the same thing again and again.
                Sympathy is of the mind: you feel somebody is in trouble, somebody is in misery; you think
           somebody is in misery and you have to help. You have been taught to help, to be of service, to be
           dutiful, to be a good human being, to be a good citizen, to be this and that. You have been taught;
           you feel sympathy. Compassion has nothing to do with your teachings. Compassion arises as an
           empathy, not as a sympathy. Compassion arises when you can see the other person as he is, and
           when you can see him so totally that you start feeling him. You start feeling in the same situation.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It happened: A few people were beating a fisherman. Ramakrishna was moving from one bank to
           another of the Ganges, near Dakshineshwar. On the other shore a few people were beating a man.
           Ramakrishna was in the middle of the stream. He started crying and weeping, and he started
           shouting, "Stop, don't beat me!" People who were sitting around him, his disciples, could not believe
           what was happening: "Who is beating you? Who can beat him?" They said, "What are you saying,
           PARAMAHANSADEVA? Have you gone mad?" He said, "Look! They are beating me there on the
           other side." Then they looked; a few persons were beating a man, and Ramakrishna said, "Look at
           my back." He uncovered his back -- there were marks, blood was coming out. It was impossible to
           believe. They went, they rushed to the other shore, caught hold of the man who was beaten. They
           uncovered his back: exactly the same marks.
               This is empathy -- putting oneself into somebody else's place so totally that what is happening to
           him starts happening to you. Then compassion arises. But these states are all of no-mind.
           Communication and communion....
               Communication is of the mind: verbal, intellectual, conceptual. Communion is of no-mind, of
           deep silence; a transfer of energy, non-verbal; a jump from one heart to another -- immediate,
           without any medium.
               The basic, most essential thing to remember is -- because it divides your life, it divides the whole
           world into two worlds -- that if you are looking through a screen of thoughts, then you live in one
           world: the world of belief, thinking, sympathy. If you are looking with clean eyes, unclouded eyes,
           your perception has a clarity: pure, just seeing into things as they are, not projecting anything upon
           them. Then you have understanding, then you have meditation. Then the whole world changes. And
           the problem is that mind can deceive you. It creates sympathy. It creates pseudo coins: for
           compassion it creates sympathy. Sympathy is a pseudo coin. For communion, it has only
           communication, which is a pseudo coin. For faith, it has belief, which is a pseudo coin.
               Remember it -- mind tries to substitute. You are lacking something? -- mind tries to substitute it.
           Be very alert, because whatsoever mind can do is going to be false. Mind is the great falsifier, the
           greatest deceiver there is. It helps, it tries to console you, it gives you something.
               For example: if in the day you have fasted, in the night you dream of foods, resting in great
           hotels, or being invited to the palaces of the kings and eating beautiful food. Why? -- the whole day
           you have been hungry, now it is difficult to sleep because of hunger; the mind creates a substitute, a
           dream. Have you not watched?
               In the night your bladder is full and you would like to go to the bathroom, but sleep will be
           disturbed -- the mind immediately creates a dream that you are in the bathroom. Then you can go on
           sleeping. It gives you a substitute. The substitute is conciliatory; it is not real -- but for the time
           being it helps.
               So beware of mind's consolations. Seek reality, because only reality can fulfill. Consolations will
           only post-pone; they can never be fulfilling. You can eat as much food as you like in the night in
           your dream, you can enjoy the fragrance of it, the taste of it, the color of it, everything, but it is not
           going to be nourishing. The one thing that is not going to happen: it cannot nourish. Belief can give
           you the whole fragrance of faith, the taste, the color. You can enjoy it but it will not nourish you.
           Only faith can nourish.
               Always remember: that which nourishes you is real, and that which simply gives you a
           consolation is very dangerous. Because of this consolation you will not seek the real food. If you
           start living in dreams and you don't eat real food, then by and by, you will dissipate, disappear,
           become dry, and you will be dead.
               So take immediate action: whenever mind is trying to give you a substitute, don't listen to it. It is
           a great salesman, a great seducer. It convinces you, and it says, "Those things are very cheap. Faith
           is very difficult to find because you will have to risk your life; belief is very easy, very cheap. You
           can get it for nothing." In fact, so many people are ready -- if you accept their belief they are ready to
           give you something more with it: become a Christian, become a Hindu, become a Mohammedan.
           People are ready to give you a great welcome and respect, respectability. Everything is available;
           just accept their belief. Belief is not only cheap, it can even bring many more things with it.
               Faith is dangerous, never cheap. You will have to put your whole life at stake. It needs courage,
           but only a courageous person can be religious.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #3
                                       Chapter title: What is there, is there
           23 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606230
              ShortTitle: BELOV103
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              NOTHING HAS HAPPENED
              AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
              WHAT IS THERE, IS THERE.



              I BECAME A KING
              IN MY DREAM
              AND MY SUBJECTS
              OCCUPIED THE ENTIRE EARTH.
              I SAT ON THE THRONE RULING LIKE A LION,
              LIVING A HAPPY LIFE.
              THE WORLD OBEYED ME.



              AS I TURNED IN MY BED
              ALL WAS CLEAR:
              I WAS NOT A LION
              BUT A LION'S UNCLE,
              A JACKASS,
              THE VILLAGE IDIOT....



              NOTHING HAS HAPPENED
              AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
              WHAT IS THERE, IS THERE.


                THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ASSERTIONS EVER MADE. It is so: the reality
           remains in its suchness. Nothing changes, nothing can change. But we see many changes happening
           all around. For us, everything is changing. Life is a flux.
                Then something is wrong with us. Then the change appears not because it is there, but because
           we cannot see the eternal. Our inability to see the real, the eternal, creates a flux-like phenomenon all
           around us. It is our flickering consciousness.
                Have you watched sometimes in a dark room? -- a small candle burns, and it goes on flickering.
           Because of its flickering the whole room seems to be moving, waving, changing. If the flame is
           constant, the room stops changing -- it becomes constant. Our consciousness creates the mirage, the
           illusion, the dream-like world that surrounds us. This has to be understood very deeply, because this
           is the very base of all essential religions.
                It is true as far as ordinary understanding goes: everything seems to be changing, nothing seems
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be permanent. Nothing seems to be the same even for two moments, two consecutive moments.
           Nothing seems to be the same, everything goes on like a river. To think of anything permanent is
           almost impossible. To think of anything that has remained the same forever and ever is
           incomprehensible to the mind. The mind knows only the world of change. The mind knows only the
           dream, the illusion. A life lived through the mind is a life of dreams. That is the meaning of the
           concept of MAYA. It does not say anything about the reality, remember: it does not say that the
           reality is not real, it does not say that the existence is dream. It simply says that the way you look at
           it is so unconscious, the way you look at it is so wavering, unstable, that your inner wavering gives
           you a world of flux, dreams. Attain to inner integrity, attain to inner crystallization, and suddenly all
           flux-like phenomena disappear -- and suddenly you are face to face with the real, the substantial, the
           permanent; call it God. The world and God are not two things but the same reality looked at in two
           ways. One is through the mind, the other is through no-mind -- because if mind is there, there is
           going to remain, more or less, the flickering.
                The mind cannot be constant. Have you watched? Even for a few seconds the mind cannot be
           constant. Just look at your watch someday, and just remember that you are looking at the watch, and
           you will not be able to retain this remembrance that you are looking at the watch even for a few
           seconds. Your mind will slip somewhere else: some memory, some imagination, some work that is
           incomplete, some worry, some plan; you must go somewhere. Again you will realize and you will
           see that for a few seconds you have not been here. Try again; again the mind will go away.
                Mind cannot be stable, so all efforts to make mind stable are impossible. That is not in the nature
           of the mind. The only way to be stable is to drop the whole mind as such. To look into reality
           without any thinking, to look so directly that the medium of the mind is not there; look immediately,
           then suddenly God is revealed. Then in all the forms the formless is revealed. Then you see that
           which the Bauls say: Nothing has happened, and nothing will happen. What is there, is there; and
           what is not there, is not there. But the mind goes on seeing that which is not there, and because of
           that which is not there, we cannot see that which is there. Because of the false, because of the
           projected, because of the dreamed, we cannot see the real, we cannot see the true. When the false is
           dropped, reality is revealed. There is no other way to seek reality. One has to drop the very
           mechanism that creates falseness.
                Mind is a projector. You sit in a movie house and you see a thousand and one things passing on
           the screen, and the screen is empty; nothing is really passing except shadows. You go on looking at
           the screen and there is every possibility that you may not even think of the projector behind you
           which is projecting all those shadows, pictures. You can start fighting with those shadows but that is
           not the way to stop them. The way is to look back, to turn a one hundred-eighty-degree turn and go
           and stop the projector. Once the projector is stopped, the screen is empty. Suddenly there is nothing,
           or, only the whiteness of the screen is left. Only the eternal is there and the changing has
           disappeared. But one has to stop the projector.
                There are many people who become interested in meditation, but in a wrong way. They start
           fighting with the mind, they start struggling and wrestling with the mind. Then they are not ever
           going to be victorious. Then they are fighting a losing battle. It is not possible because they have
           forgotten the projector. Where is the projector?. -- one has to find the projector hidden behind your
           back. Hidden deep in the unconscious is the projector, hidden in the unconscious: becoming,
           desiring. It is what Buddhists call TRISHNA. The constant desire to be somebody, to be someone, to
           be somewhere else, is the cause of the mind; then the mind continues.
                How to stop the projector? BE HERENOW. Don't try in any way to become somebody else;
           accept that which you are. Drop all ideas of improvement. Drop all ideas of bettering yourself. Drop
           all ideas of achieving something; there is nothing to be achieved. Empty-handed we come,
           empty-handed we go, and in the meanwhile, empty-handed we remain. And if you think your hands
           are full then you are befooling yourself. Then you are taking dreams as real. Your hands may be full
           of dreams.
                You must have heard about the Japanese discipline of KARATE. The word 'karate' is very
           meaningful. It comes from a root which means empty hand. It says: a man can become a great
           warrior if he understands totally the meaning of being empty. If somebody understands that,
           "Empty-handed I have come, empty-handed I will go, and empty-handed I am here," then there is
           nothing to lose. Who can conquer a person who has nothing to lose? Who can defeat a person who
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has nothing to lose? Who can frighten a person who has nothing to lose? By understanding this
           emptiness he becomes a great warrior. It is impossible to defeat him, it is impossible to rob him; it is
           impossible to kill him -- because he is already empty. He holds nothing in his hands. By not holding
           anything, he goes beyond life and death.
               That is the meaning when Jesus says again and again, "Lose yourself." Those who are not going
           to lose themselves, they will lose; and those who are ready to lose, they will gain. The losers will
           become winners, and the winners will become losers. Those who are empty will be fulfilled, and
           those who are trying to fulfill themselves will remain empty. This is the paradox.
               Understand the very motivation of all ideas, thoughts, desires. It is a seed-like thing. Watch
           inside -- why can't you be herenow? Why is it always that you are thinking of somewhere else? Why
           can't you be happy as you are? Why are you thinking that tomorrow you will be happy? How can
           you be happy tomorrow if you are not happy today?. -- because tomorrow is going to be born out of
           the moment. Out of this moment the next moment is going to be born. Today is going to become the
           parent of tomorrow. If you are unhappy today, you will be more unhappy tomorrow. You will have
           learned, by that time, many more tricks to be unhappy. You are practicing it, and you hope tomorrow
           to be happy? Then you are in a hopeless rut. You desire for tomorrow? -- then you are continuously
           missing all that is here, and that is the only reality there is. If you can even for a single moment put
           aside desiring, then the projector stops, and the dreaming stops, and you are able to face reality.
               Nothing has happened. The reality is as it has always been from the very beginning. Nothing has
           happened and nothing will happen, so all your desiring is futile, because you are trying for
           something to happen. Your whole effort is to make something happen: riches, wealth, power,
           prestige. Your whole effort is for something to happen, but,

              NOTHING HAS HAPPENED
              AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
              WHAT IS THERE, IS THERE.


               This is a tremendously significant sutra. All the scriptures can be condensed in such a sutra. If
           you can understand only these three lines, there is no need to understand anything else. Look at your
           life from your childhood up to now. What has happened? Many things appear to happen, but what
           has really happened? You remain the same, the consciousness remains the same, and all that happens
           is just superficial, like a dream. If it has not happened up to now, how is it going to happen in the
           future? Only the present is; past and future are dreams. Even for a single moment, if you can
           penetrate into reality and you can see what is, face to face, you will laugh at the whole absurdity of
           your efforts. What are you trying? -- you are trying something impossible: you are fighting against
           reality. The reality is; it knows no becoming, it is being. It knows no future; it is already here. It has
           always been already here. You have just to see it -- and once you can see it, all worry, all anxiety
           disappears. Then you stop trying, pulling yourself up by your shoestrings. Then you simply relax.
           Then there is no tension. Then rather, you start delighting, you start being blissful as you are.
               Before we can understand it, a few things will be helpful.
               One: ordinarily the Eastern psychology divides the human mind into three divisions. The first is
           deep sleep, very deep sleep when there are no more dreams: SUSHUPTI, dreamless sleep. In this
           state, ninety-nine percent unconsciousness and only one percent consciousness exists. A very small
           fragment of consciousness exists -- the whole continent is dark, just one ray. Because of that ray, in
           the morning you can say, "I had a very good sleep. It was absolutely silent and peaceful. There was
           not any dream." Because of that one ray of consciousness, you can say this in the morning. If there
           were no consciousness at all, then who would remember? Then who would say that the sleep was
           beautiful, nourishing? Just a small ray, a very small ray exists in dreams.
               That is the second stage -- dreaming -- a little more consciousness comes into existence. You
           remember in a general way that you slept well. You can even remember dreams, details of the
           dreams. You can remember even the colors, the story, the pattern, the motif of the dream. You can
           relate the whole dream. You were a little more conscious.
               Then you are awake in the morning; that is the third stage: wakefulness, a little more
           consciousness. But the greater continent of your soul remains dark. Even while you are awake, you
           are not totally awake. Just deep down in your wakefulness, dreams are floating. You can watch that.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Any moment close your eyes, rest for a single minute, and you will see that dreams are floating
           there. So just underneath your consciousness, a great world of dreams continues, and that goes on
           affecting your consciousness. Dreams are powerful things. They are projections; they go on
           shadowing your consciousness. And deep down in your dreams you will find again a sort of sleep.
           That's what happens when you fall asleep in the night. When you have fallen asleep, first dreams
           start. That is the second stage. Then only rarely do you go deep. Then, dreams stop and you are in
           deep sleep. Again you start floating towards the surface, and this goes on continuously, the whole
           night -- up and down, up and down you move. In the whole night if you can touch the deep layer of
           sleep for only fifteen minutes, that will be enough rest. That's why people who meditate don't need
           much sleep, because in deep meditation they can easily move into the depth of their beings. The rest
           of the night is wasted in dreaming. These three states are the ordinary states.
               The East says, "Unless you attain to a greater awareness, your life will never know what the
           reality is, what God is." That greater awareness means becoming totally aware, not leaving a single
           corner of your consciousness dark, dropping all unconsciousness. What the Freudians call the
           unconscious disappears by and by. By methods of meditation, prayer, love, it disappears; more and
           more, you become conscious. One moment comes when your whole being becomes conscious, full
           of light, luminous. Then there is no dreaming and no sleep. Just awareness is the stuff you are made
           of. In that moment you will become able to know what this Baul is singing:

              NOTHING HAS HAPPENED AND
              NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
              WHAT IS THERE, IS THERE.


               And if you understand this, even a glimpse of it, then how can you remain in an agonized
           existence, how can you worry, and how can you remain tense and feeding illnesses?
               Henry Thoreau used to say that what man thinks is wealth -- when man thinks that he is
           becoming by and by wealthy -- is more like 'illth' than wealth. We become more and more ill.
           Well-being does not happen through it, so why call it wealth? Man thinks he is becoming more and
           more powerful, and deep down, more and more impotence happens. On the outside you think you are
           achieving many things, but deep down you remain empty, hollow. The sooner you realize this
           hollowness the better because then you will not waste your time and energy. Then your whole life
           will be of a totally different quality: the search will begin. Then you will not be chasing dreams.
               And dreams look very real. They are not, but they look very real. To an unconscious mind,
           dreams look as if they are the only reality. Have you not watched that deep in sleep, dreaming, every
           night again you become a victim? You again start thinking that this is real. In the morning you
           realize it was false, just a dream, but in the night, again and again you are a victim and you start
           thinking it is real.
               Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, "Unless you realize in your dreams that they are dreams,
           you will not be able to awake." So he used to give them techniques of how to realize while dreaming
           that it is a dream, how to recognize that it is a dream. But the moment you recognize a dream as a
           dream, it stops. It immediately stops. It cannot be there then. With your recognition of the dream as
           dream, the dream dies. It exists only through your cooperation and recognition; you give it reality.
           Pull your hands away and it drops flat, and it has nothing in it. The dream has power only because
           you impart power to it.
               Watch people on the street, in the marketplace. Just stand by the side and just look at people --
           you will be surprised. It is so obvious that they are sleepwalkers. They are walking like
           somnambulists. Somehow, they are managing, but they are walking fast asleep. You can watch their
           lips moving as if they are talking with somebody, and there is nobody. They can even be found
           making gestures to somebody who is not present. Watch their faces; their faces have not the aura of
           awareness -- a dullness, a dark shadow, as if somehow they are forcing themselves to be aware,
           ready to fall any moment into dreaming, into sleep. Drunk with their dreams, people go on moving.
               First watch others, because it will be easy for you to watch others. Then start watching yourself.
           Then start catching yourself red-handed. Then sometimes, just walking on the road, suddenly stop
           and see whether you are here or you are moving somewhere in a dream.
               The more you become alert about your dreams, the more you will see gaps arising in your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           consciousness when dreams are not there and reality can be approached. But we have great
           investments in our dreams. We may be afraid of nightmares, but we are not yet fed-up with
           dreaming. We still go on cherishing sweet dreams.
           I have heard....
                A man was talking to one of his friends. "I had a dream the other night," said Casey to his pal
           McGinn, "and it taught me a great lesson."
           "What was it?" asked McGinn.
           "I dreamed I was in Rome and I had an audience with the Pope. Would I have a drink, he asked me.
           Thinks I, 'Would a duck swim?' And seein' the whisky and lemons and sugar on the sideboard, I told
           him that I wouldn't mind a drop of punch.'Cold or hot?' he asked me. 'Hot, your Holiness,' said I, an'
           that's where I made me mistake!"
           "I don't see anything wrong," said the friend.
           "His Holiness stepped toward the kitchen to boil the water, and before he got back I woke up."
           "What lesson did you learn?" asked McGinn.
           "Next time," swore Casey, "I will say, 'I will take it cold, your Holiness, while the water is getting
           hot.'"
                We have investments in our dreams. They don't exist without our help; we make them exist.
           Sweet dreams, golden dreams; we have a romance with them, a very long romance of many lives.
           We go on courting dreams, and of course when we court them they are there, and they bring nothing
           but frustration. Because they are against reality, they can never bring fulfillment. There is no way to
           make two plus two equal five; there is no way. Whatsoever you do, two plus two will always be four,
           and you go on hoping that someday it is going to be five. Then you are simply in a mathematical
           error. Dreams can never be real; your thoughts can never be real; your hopes can never be realized;
           your desires can never be fulfilled. The only outcome can be more and more frustration.
                That's why children look so beautiful: because they are yet full of hope, full of dreams, and they
           have not yet known frustration. Old people start looking very very dead. Hopes have leaked out, by
           and by, and only frustration -- a very bad taste on the tongue. Experience makes people bitter.
           Experience makes people lose their innocence, lose their hope, lose their trust. But it is not
           experience really -- because they wanted to make their dreams real, that's why. Otherwise you could
           remain as innocent to the very end of your life as in the beginning -- in fact, even more -- because
           the innocence that happens in childhood is just natural. It has not been tested against fire; it is very
           fragile. It has no crystallization in it. It is just a gift; it has not been earned. But when an old man is
           childlike, innocent, then nothing can destroy it. Then it has a solidity to it, then it is substantial; he
           has earned it.
                But how does one earn innocence? -- by learning from frustration, by going deep into frustrations
           and realizing the fact that each frustration is an outcome of a certain dream. If you don't want
           frustrations, drop dreaming. Life is not frustrating, dreaming is frustrating.
                I have heard Mulla Nasrudin say to his son, "It is none of your business to know or enquire how I
           first met your mother, but I can tell you one thing: it sure cured me of whistling."
                If your life can cure you of whistling and dreaming, it will be enough, more than enough, more
           than life can give to you. It will be a great realization.
                But what happens? The moment one dream is frustrated, we immediately replace it, substitute it
           with another dream, maybe an even bigger dream. We never look into the reality. We go on saying
           that man proposes and God disposes. God has never disposed anything. It is you, in your very dream,
           who both proposes and disposes. It is your own proposal that carries the seeds of disposal, because it
           is not in tune with reality. It is your expectation that carries the seeds of frustration.
                God, or call it reality, has never frustrated anybody. It is always showering on you; it is always
           ready to fulfill you to the deepest core of your being. But you won't listen to reality. You are too
           much with dreams.
                This is what I call religious conversion: listening to reality and dropping the dreams is religious
           conversion. It will be difficult, hard, arduous in the beginning, because the dreams persuade you so
           easily, and they show you such wonderful visions, fantasies. Dreams are great poets: they paint, they
           poetize, they fantasize; they create such beautiful hopes in you, paradises, heavens. They are all
           dreams. But you can live hoping, and today's misery can be tolerated because of tomorrow's dream.
                It is very difficult to drop tomorrow's dream because then suddenly you become aware of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           misery that is here today. But remember, that misery is created by yesterday's dream. It has nothing
           to do with today. Yesterday's dream has created misery today; tomorrow's dream will create misery
           again. So when you drop tomorrow's dream, you will not suddenly become happy, because
           yesterday's dream will still linger on. You have sown the seeds -- who is going to reap the crop? But
           half is done when you drop tomorrow's dream. Yesterday's dream, its frustration, has to be passed
           through. That's what in India we call TAPAS, austerity. "Yesterday's dream was my dream. I have
           sown it, so I have to go through the suffering. I have to pass through the frustration. I accept it; it is
           my own doing. Nobody else is responsible, but now I am not going to sow any more seeds."
               First, drop tomorrow's dream, then by and by yesterday's dream and its hang-ups and hangovers
           disappear. Then a man becomes aware. When your eyes are not full of dreams, your eyes are full of
           awareness.
               It happened: MacGonigal was staggering up the street from telephone pole to lamp-post and back
           again. Father Daly stopped him and said, "Drunk again?"
           "Are you?" said MacGonigal. "So am I, Father."
           "This is no time for levity," admonished the priest. "After taking the pledge and promising me two
           weeks ago that you would never drink again! It is a sin against God and the church, and I am sorry to
           be saying so."
           "You are sorry to see me so?"
           "Indeed I am!"
           "Are you sure you are sorry?"
           "Yes, very, very sorry."
           "Then if you are so sorry," said the drunkard, "I will forgive you Father."
               Drunk, in our dreams, we go on interpreting in our own ways. We go on seeing things which are
           not. We go on listening to things which have not been said. We go on pretending what we are not,
           and we go on holding a dream-world around ourselves.
               The befuddled group was hanging around a bar, when the door opened and a voice shouted,
           "McGuire, your house is on fire!"
               One fellow rushed out, and after running a block at breakneck speed, suddenly skidded to a halt.
           "Hell," he said to nobody in particular, "my name isn't McGuire."
               This is what is happening to everybody: you don't know your name, you don't know your
           essence, you don't know who you are, you don't know why you are here, you don't know why you
           are running so fast. Where are you going? Why are you in such a hurry? Reality is here. Where are
           you going? But some conditioning -- what Hindus call SAMSKAR, from many lives of dreaming,
           desiring: that has become your only reality. You go on after it, not knowing why. It has become a
           habit. You cannot resist it; you are always on the move. The reality is here and you are always on the
           move, hence there happens no meeting. Unless that meeting happens, you will never be happy.
               Happiness is when you are in tune with reality. Happiness is a harmony between you and the
           real. So if you are unhappy, remember, you must be going away from reality. Be aware that you
           must be somehow not falling in line with reality. There must be a conflict between you and the real,
           and of course you cannot win against the real; there is no way. You have tried all the ways. The
           whole humanity has tried all the ways possible, but there is no way to win over reality and against
           reality.
               You have to follow reality, you have to come into a deep accordance with reality, in tune with it.
           You have to become a note in the great orchestra that reality is -- not fighting but surrendering,
           submitting to it, ready to dissolve into it. That is what Bauls call love: the readiness to dissolve into
           reality, the readiness to merge, melt, the readiness to be one with reality. You will be losing
           something -- your dreams, your individuality, your ego; you will be losing that separation. You will
           disappear as a drop of water, but it is nothing to be worried about, because you will become the
           ocean. You will not be what you have been up to now: your ego, confined in a form, in a name. Your
           fences will disappear. You will not be an island, you will become part of the continent but you will
           become the continent.
               Nothing is lost by losing yourself; everything is lost by resisting. But we go on misunderstanding
           reality. If reality tries to absorb us, it looks like death.
               So many times, almost every day, somebody or other comes to me. Meditating deeply, when
           reality starts absorbing you, you become frightened because it looks like death. It is like death, but it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not death. It is the door to life more abundant, to life infinite and eternal. But yes, in a way it is
           death -- death to the past, death to you as you are. But then, what are you? Why are you so afraid of
           dying? You have nothing to lose -- only a miserable self, only an imprisonment will be burned down,
           only the structure of misery and agony will be burned down. You have nothing to lose. Why do you
           go on clinging to it? But you have become very familiar with it, and you become afraid. Whenever in
           deep meditation sometimes, by chance, coincidence, you come close to reality and the reality starts
           spreading in you, you become afraid and you escape.
                Your interpretation has to be dropped. You have to learn how to listen to the real -- so when
           reality approaches you, welcome it. If God comes towards you, if you cannot move towards Him, at
           least don't run away. And He IS coming towards you in millions of ways. He wants to overpower
           you, to reclaim you. It is not only that you are seeking Him; He is also seeking you. In fact, your
           seeking is just pseudo. You talk about seeking God but you don't really mean it. You would like to
           find Him by the way. You don't want to stake anything. You don't want to pay for it. You don't want
           to earn Him. You would like to get Him free; that is not the way.
                You will have to lose yourself; you will have to lose all. People don't mean it, and when God
           approaches them -- and He approaches you; I have seen His hands many times coming close to you
           -- I have seen you running away. And again, when you are far away you start seeking Him and you
           say, "How to find God?" Now this game has continued for too long, and it has become almost a habit
           that when He is far away you seek, when He comes close you escape. This pattern has to be broken.
           I have heard....
                It was a Sunday morning when the clarinet player who had recently moved next to the small
           church started practicing some hot licks that brought the minister over on a run.
           "See here," said the minister, "did you ever hear 'keep holy thy sabbath'?"
           "No," said the cat, "but if you whistle a few notes, I will do my best."
                Our understanding is our understanding; our interpretation is our interpretation. Beware -- when
           reality approaches you, don't try to interpret. Just wait, be patient; the reality that is coming closer to
           you will reveal itself to you. But before it reveals, if you take some interpretation to your heart, then
           you are again closed. You close your doors and then there is no way to know what was really going
           to happen.
                Just the other night a SANNYASIN was crying, weeping: she had become so afraid of Dynamic
           Meditation, because she saw one SANNYASIN almost going mad in it. So she became very afraid.
           The fear arose in her that if this could happen to one person, this could happen to her also. The very
           words 'dynamic meditation', she could not utter, because the moment she would say 'dynamic
           meditation', she would start shaking and crying. She could not relate it accurately, what had
           happened, because the very words 'dynamic meditation'...She became so much afraid of the very
           word that she was not able to relate the whole thing, what had happened. Only in fragments could
           she say that somebody was becoming almost mad, and not only that, but the one who was becoming
           mad just by her side started pulling her hand also. That became very symbolic. This madman was
           going mad himself, and trying to pull her in also. But a deep fear of madness is in everybody.
                If you are too afraid of madness you cannot be in love, you cannot meditate, you cannot pray,
           because all of these dimensions are, in a way, mad dimensions -- you wi]l be going beyond the
           normal boundary of humanity. The normal, routine, workaday world, the normal logic, reason, the
           so-called normal humanity -- you will be going beyond it, you will be transcending it. It will look
           like madness.

           Bauls say,


                  Mad, mad, we are all mad!
                  Why is this word
                  so derogatory then?
                  Diving deep
                  into the heart's stream,
                  you will find that no one is better
                  than, the one who is mad.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Madness is possible in two ways: either you fall below the normal, or you go above the normal.
           In both ways you become mad. If you fall below the normal you are ill; you need psychiatric
           treatment to be pulled back to normality. If you go beyond the normal you are not ill. For the first
           time you are becoming really healthy, because for the first time you are filled with wholeness. Then
           don't be afraid. If your madness brings you more sanity in life, then don't be afraid. And remember,
           the madness that is below the normal is always involuntary; that is the symptom: it is involuntary.
           You cannot do it, it happens; you are pulled into it. And the madness that is above the normal is
           voluntary -- you can do it -- and because you can do it, you remain the master of it. You can stop it at
           any moment. If you don't want to go further, you can stop it; if you want to go further, you can go on
           -- but you remain always in control.
               In these meditations here, our whole effort is to give you a taste of the madness that is beyond
           the normal, but you remain the master. Any moment you want to come back, you can come back.
           This is the indication that you don't need any psychiatric help. This is totally different from ordinary
           madness: you are going on your own. And remember, if you go on your own, you will never be
           neurotic because you will release all possibilities of madness. You will not go on accumulating them.
           Ordinarily, we go on repressing.
               The SANNYASIN who was so afraid had repressed much madness in herself. Now she was
           afraid to do meditation. That can create trouble someday. One day, the cup can be too full and
           overflowing; then she will not be able to control it. Right now is the moment to allow it, to move
           into catharsis, to throw it out, to act it out, so you are cleaned of it and your system is cleaned of it.
           But then you interpret, and fear arises.
               Whenever God approaches you, you will see that you are going mad. You will vibrate into a new
           rhythm; your whole body will be full of shivering, shaking; you will feel a new energy pouring into
           you, and the energy is so tremendous that your capacity is not that much. By and by, your capacity
           will grow. By and by, you will be able to absorb it. By and by, the shaking and trembling will
           disappear. By and by, you will become perfectly silent -- but it takes time.

           The Bauls say,


                  That enchanting river
                  reflects the very form
                  of the formless one.
                  Sense the essence
                  of matter....


               You see only a little bit of life and remain involved in it in drunken stupor. You are satisfied with
           very, very little, with a very small fragment. While you could have been a king, you are content with
           being a beggar. You are born to be a king, but you have become habituated to being a beggar -- and
           you think this is your vocation, to be a beggar. In sleep, we are dreaming something which we are
           not.
           Today's poem says,

              NOTHING HAS HAPPENED
              AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
              WHAT IS THERE, IS THERE.



              I BECAME A KING
              IN MY DREAM
              AND MY SUBJECTS
              OCCUPIED THE ENTIRE EARTH.
              I SAT ON A THRONE
              RULING LIKE A LION,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              LIVING A HAPPY LIFE.
              THE WORLD OBEYED ME.



              AS I TURNED IN MY BED
              ALL WAS CLEAR:
              I WAS NOT A LION,
              BUT A LION'S UNCLE,
              A JACKASS,
              THE VILLAGE IDIOT....


               Turn in your sleep and you will see; immediately the dream changes. That is what I call
           SANNYAS -- turning in your sleep. Take a turn, and you will see the dream changes. Just a small
           turn from this side to that, and you can never catch hold of the same dream again -- because dreams
           are not real. You cannot re-continue a broken dream. Once broken, it is broken forever. It is...there is
           no way to catch hold of it. You cannot re-connect yourself with the dream. And in dreams we are
           many things.
               Chuang Tzu says, "In dream, I saw myself becoming a butterfly. In the morning I was very
           worried because a great problem arose: if I can become a butterfly in the dream, if Chuang Tzu can
           become a butterfly in the dream, then the reverse is also possible. Now the butterfly may be
           dreaming, and dreaming that she has become a Chuang Tzu. If Chuang Tzu can become a butterfly,
           why can't a butterfly become a Chuang Tzu?"
               So Chuang Tzu gathered together his disciples and asked, "Please tell me, who am I -- the
           butterfly dreaming?"
               In fact, he was giving a koan to his disciples. I know that he had never dreamt. Men like Chuang
           Tzu don't dream. When dreaming stops, then a man becomes like Chuang Tzu. He was giving a
           koan, and a very beautiful koan, a great puzzle to be solved and meditated over. Those who meditate
           over it will find: you are neither Chuang Tzu, nor a butterfly; both are dreams. You are neither the
           lion nor the lion's uncle; both are dreams. You are the one who recognizes the dream; you are the
           witness.
           Only the witness is the real.
               In the day, you are awake, doing a thousand and one things. In the night, you fall asleep and you
           forget all about the day: your wife, your husband, your children -- so close to you -- even they are no
           more there. You forget all about the world. You enter into a totally different dimension. You forget
           your degrees, your riches, your bank balance; you forget everything, even your name. Another world
           opens. You take another name, another identity, another wife, other children, another profession. In
           the morning again you are back in the old dream, and this goes on. If a person lives ninety years, he
           will dream for thirty years. It is not a small time. One-third of the time you are dreaming, in sleep.
           Thirty years out of ninety years is as big as your so-called world. The world is also a dream, maybe a
           common dream -- we dream together; and in the night the dream is private -- you dream alone, but it
           makes no difference: private or common, a dream is a dream.
               But what is the definition of a dream then? How to define dream, how to make it distinct, and
           how to distinguish it from reality? The Eastern definition is: if in your mind there is any thought,
           then it is dream. If the mind is thoughtless, then whatsoever is, is real -- because the thought process
           creates the flux-like life. It gives an appearance to the permanent, as if it is momentary.

           The Bauls say,


                  A man unknown to me, and I,
                  we both live together,
                  but with a gap
                  of millions of miles
                  between us.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That is what they call the essential man.
           You are two: one is the essential man at the center, and one is the acquired man at the periphery.
           And these two exist far apart, and you have become too identified with the periphery. How to fall
           back to the center, to the essential man, the ADHAR MANUSH? Witnessing is the way. Do
           whatsoever you are doing but remain a witness. Watch it, observe it, continue to remember yourself.
           Walking on the road, remember that there is a point inside you which is not walking, which has
           never walked, which cannot walk with you. It has no legs to walk. That point is your center. Through
           that center you will come to know the reality, the reality that Bauls sing of:

              NOTHING HAS HAPPENED,
              AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
              WHAT IS THERE, IS THERE.


               Once you touch your source of permanence, your eternity, you have touched the eternity of life
           also. Parallel to you, things happen. If you are at the center, you are capable of looking into the very
           center of life. If you are on the periphery, you are capable of only looking at the periphery of life.
           The periphery goes on changing.
               Have you seen a bullock-cart moving? The wheel moves, goes on moving, but at the center of
           the wheel something remains permanent. On that permanent hub the wheel moves. On that
           unmoving hub the wheel's movement exists. Exactly like that, you have a hub -- that hub is
           unmoving; and you have a wheel-like personality that goes on moving. You have travelled far,
           thousands of miles and thousands of lives, and the wheel knows many roads and many paths, but the
           hub has remained where it is. Now you can look at reality in two ways: either from the wheel -- then
           everything is changing every moment; or from the hub -- then nothing is changing.
           "Nothing has happened and nothing will happen. What is there, is there."
               How to find this hub of life? -- by becoming a witness, one finds it. Eating, eat -- but remember
           that there is a point inside you which has never eaten. Food goes into the body; your consciousness
           remains watching. Somebody insults you, anger arises; you remain a witness. The insult comes from
           outside, the anger arises on the periphery, and you remain at the center, watching. Yes, somebody
           has done something, provoked your periphery, and there is anger on the periphery, and the anger is
           surrounding you like a smoke cloud, but you are at the hub, watching. You are not identified with the
           periphery. Then the insult is outside, and the anger is also outside of you. Both are separate and far
           away. Both are different from you.
               When this awareness grows, dreaming stops, by and by. When this awareness grows, the wheel
           moves slower and slower, because there is no point. You never move, so what is the point of
           travelling the whole earth? You remain the same; then desires slow down. One day it happens: the
           wheel is as silent, as unmoving as the hub. That is the point when enlightenment happens.

           The Bauls say,


                  Scanning the cosmos
                  you waste your hours.
                  He is present
                  in this little vessel.
                  In this little body
                  He has made His abode.



                  He is here
                  in this little vessel;
                  in you.
                  He is there,
                  the God of Gods,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  the King of Kings,
                  the Beloved.

               Scanning the cosmos you waste your hours. Moving from this point to that you are unnecessarily
           troubling yourself, creating misery. Look, see into your being; penetrate into the hub. And the Bauls
           say this is possible only if you become very humble.
           That's why they say,

              I BECAME A KING
              IN MY DREAM,
              AND MY SUBJECTS
              OCCUPIED THE ENTIRE EARTH.


              The dream is always egoistic; the ego is the dream.

              I BECAME A KING
              IN MY DREAM
              AND MY SUBJECTS
              OCCUPIED THE ENTIRE EARTH.
              I SAT ON THE THRONE
              RULING LIKE A LION,
              LIVING A HAPPY LIFE.
              THE WORLD OBEYED ME.

              This is what ego is....



              AS I TURNED IN MY BED
              ALL WAS CLEAR:
              I WAS NOT A LION
              BUT A LION'S UNCLE,
              A JACKASS,
              THE VILLAGE IDIOT....


               When one understands, one becomes humble. Then one says, "I am just an idiot, a jackass.'' One
           laughs at one's own ridiculousness.
           The Bauls sing,


                  The act of finding
                  is not for the highest.
                  By being humble
                  you can reach life's goal.
                  Clouds pour down
                  on the hollow of the earth,
                  but the lowest of the wells
                  guards the water
                  as a blessing.


               Become humble. If you start becoming humble, dreams will start disappearing because dreams
           are possible only with the ego. The ego is the dreamer, the creator of the dreams, the projector.
           That's why all the religions insist on humbleness. Jesus goes on saying to his disciples, "Be poor in
           spirit...blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Nobody has ever
           seen the poor inheriting the earth. Nobody has ever seen the meek inheriting the earth. Then why
           does Jesus go on repeating it? He himself was crucified; even he was not able to inherit the earth.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           But he is talking about some other earth, about some other reality -- a separate reality. He is not
           talking about this earth. This earth is the battlefield of the egos, great competition of the egos:
           struggle, fight, war. But when he says, "Blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor, for they shall
           inherit the earth," he means, they shall inherit the real. People who are in their egos may inherit
           kingdoms in dreams, but their kingdoms are futile because they are just their own dreams, nothing
           else.


                  The act of finding
                  is not for the highest.
                  By being humble
                  you can reach life's goal.
                  Clouds pour down
                  on the hollow of the earth,
                  but the lowest of the wells
                  guards the water
                  as a blessing.


               I have heard a story: Willy Jones dreamed that he had died. After the funeral, he found himself in
           a gigantic room, lavishly furnished. He rested on an overstuffed couch for a while, but after an hour
           or so he began to get bored. "Is there anybody here?" he shouted. In a minute, a white robed
           attendant appeared.
           "What do you want?" he asked.
           "What can I have?" Willy asked.
               The attendant shrugged, "Anything you want." Willy asked for something to eat.
           "What do you want to eat?" the attendant asked. "You can have anything you want." And so they
           brought him just what he wanted, and he went on eating and sleeping and having a fine time.
               He began to feel bored after a while, and finally he shouted for the attendant and insisted, "I want
           something to do!"
           "I'm sorry," the attendant told him, "but that is the one thing that we can't provide."
               Willy looked around him. "I am sick and tired of it," he said. "I would rather go to hell."
           "Well," said the attendant, "where do you think you are?"
               The hell is a place where you cannot do anything, because doing is possible only in reality.
           Dreaming is possible in hell, doing is not possible. If you are living in your dreaming, you are living
           in a hell. You may dream a thousand and one things, but you cannot DO anything.
               Watch...you want to be happy, but why can't you be happy? Suddenly, you are impotent. You
           want to be happy, you dream about it, but who is preventing you? Be happy? -- then suddenly you
           feel impotent. You want peace, silence; you desire your dream. But who is preventing you? -- just be
           silent; then suddenly you feel powerless. Doing is possible only when you are in contact with reality.
           Dreaming is possible on your own; you can go on dreaming.
               So let this be your criterion: if you really want to be happy, then find out a way to be in contact
           with reality, and you will be happy. Just go on dreaming and don't try to find a way to reality -- then
           you will be dreaming, and you will become more and more unhappy, because again and again you
           will find that happiness is not happening.
               Doing is a function of the real; dreaming is the function of the unreal.
           The Bauls say,


                  You must be single-minded
                  to visit the court
                  of my beloved.



                  If your mind is torn in two,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  you will swim in a quandary
                  and never reach the shore.

               The dreamer's mind is divided in two: in witnessing and dreaming. Then you are not one; you are
           split. While you are simply witnessing you are one. There is no duality in you. You are -- that's all.
           So try to become one, single-minded. Whatsoever you are doing, try to become one. To say that you
           are dual is not true -- you are many, you are a crowd. It is not only that you are two, you are many.
           Bring these fragments together. Any one thing, continuously followed, will help you to crystallize.
               For example: meditators try to meditate continuously. They do a thousand and one things, other
           things, but one thing continues as a current, as a thread running underground. They eat, but they
           make a meditation out of eating. They walk, but they make a meditation out of walking. They talk,
           but they make a meditation out of talking. They listen, but they listen meditatively. They do many
           things, but they connect everything with meditation. That becomes their one-mindedness.
               Lovers, the followers of the path of love, Bauls, make love their undercurrent. They eat, but they
           eat with love. The walk, but they walk with love -- because the earth is holy ground. They sit under a
           tree; they sit with love -- because the tree is divine. They look at somebody; they look with love --
           because there also is divinity. Everywhere they see their beloved, in each movement they remember
           their beloved. It becomes their constant remembrance.
               But whether on the path of meditation or on the path of love, one thing has to be done. Doing a
           thousand and one things, you have to connect them with one thing. That connection, that running
           thread will make you one-pointed, one-minded. It will give you integration. In that integration,
           dreams dissolve. It is the crowd within you which dreams, it is the split that dreams. When the split
           is bridged, dreams disappear -- because then you start enjoying being here and now so tremendously
           that who bothers to desire? Who has time to think about the tomorrow? Today is more than enough.
           A single moment of undivided being is so big, bigger than eternity.
               Then nobody thinks about the past -- the gone is gone; and nobody thinks about the future -- that
           which has not come yet, has not come yet. One simply goes deeper and deeper into the present, and
           that is the door of God.
               The present is the door, and your single-mindedness is the key.




                                               The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: The only criterion is your thirst
           24 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606240
              ShortTitle: BELOV104
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              The first question:


              HOW TO START THE JOURNEY? WHAT DOES IT EXACTLY MEAN TO TRANSCEND SEX?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                THE JOURNEY HAS ALREADY STARTED; you are in the journey. This has to be recognized.
           Unconsciously, you are inthe journey: that's why it feels as if you have to start it. Recognize it,
           become conscious about it; the very recognition becomes the beginning. The moment you recognize
           that you are always moving going somewhere-knowingly, unknowingly, willingly, unwillingly-but
           you are going...some great force is constantly working within you: God is evolving. He is constantly
           creating something within you, so it is not how to start it. The right question will be, how to
           recognize it. It is there, but recognition is not there.
                For example, trees die, but they don't know; birds and animals die, but they don't know. Only
           man knows that he has to die. That knowledge is also very cloudy, not clear -- and the same is so
           with life. The birds are alive, but they don't know that they are alive -- because how can you know
           life if you don't know death? How can you know that you are alive if you don't know that you are
           going to die? Both recognitions come together. They are alive, but they don't recognize that they are
           alive. Man recognizes, a little, that he is going to die, but that recognition remains very cloudy,
           hidden in deep smoke. And the same is true about life: you are alive, but you don't know exactly
           what being alive means. That too is cloudy, not clear. When I say recognition, I mean becoming alert
           to what this life energy is, that is already on the way. To become aware of one's own being is the
           beginning of the journey. To come to a point where you are so absolutely alert that not even a
           fragment of darkness exists around you is the end of the journey. But in fact, the journey never starts
           and never ends. You will continue even after that, but then the journey will have a totally different
           meaning, a totally different quality to it -- it will be sheer delight. Right now it is near misery.
           "How to start the journey?" -- become more alert about your actions, about your relationships, about
           your movements. Whatsoever you do -- even an ordinary thing like walking on the street -- try to
           become alert, try to take steps with full awareness. Buddha used to say to his disciples, "When you
           take a step with the right foot, remember, now this is the right foot; when you take a step with the
           left, remember, now this is the left. When you breathe in, remember, "Now I am breathing in"; when
           you breathe out, remember, "Now I am breathing out." Not that you have to verbalize it. Not that you
           have to say in words "I am breathing in", but just becoming alert that now the breath is going in. I
           am saying it to you so I have to use words, but when you are becoming alert you need not use words
           because words are like smoke. Don't use words -- just feel the breath going in and filling your lungs
           then being emptied. Just watch, and soon you will come to a recognition, a great recognition. that it
           is not simply breathing that goes in and out, it is life itself. Each breath in is life infusing its energy
           into you. Each breath out is a short death. With each breath, you die and you are reborn. Each breath
           is a crucifixion and a resurrection.
                And when you watch it, you will come to know a beautiful feeling of trust. When you breathe
           out, there is no certainty that you wiil ever be able to breathe in again. What is the certainty? Who
           has guaranteed it? Who CAN guarantee that you will be able to breathe in again? But somehow, a
           deep trust; you know that "I will breathe again". Otherwise breathing would become impossible. If
           you become so afraid that, "Who knows if I let my breath out, and if I go through this small death,
           what is the certainty that I will be able to breathe in again? If I can't breathe, then it is better not to
           breathe out", then you will die immediately. If you stop breathing out, you will die. But a deep trust
           exists -- that trust is part of life. Nobody has taught you.
                When a child starts walking for the first time, tremendous trust exists in him that he will be able
           to walk. Nobody has taught him. He has just seen other people walk, that's all. But how can he come
           to a conclusion that "I will be able to walk"? He is so tiny. People are so big, giants compared to
           him, and he knows that whenever he stands he falls down -- but still he tries. Trust is in-built. It is in
           your every cell of life. He tries, many times he will fall; he will try again and again and again. And
           one day, trust wins over and he starts walking.
                If you watch your breath you will become aware of a deep layer of trust, a subtle trust in life --
           no doubt, no hesitation. If you walk, and walk alert, by and by you will become aware that you are
           not walking, you are 'being walked by'. That's a very subtle feeling: that life is moving through you,
           not that you are moving. When you feel hungry, if you are aware you will see life is feeling hungry
           within you, not you.
                Becoming more alert will make you conscious of the fact that there is only one thing you have
           got that you can call yours and that is witnessing. Everything else belongs to the universe; only
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           witnessing belongs to you. But when you become aware of witnessing, even the idea of being I is
           dissolved. That too does not belong to you. That was part of darkness, part of the clouds that had
           gathered around you. In the clear light, when the sky is open and the clouds have disappeared and
           the sun is bright, there is no possibility of any idea of being I. Then simply witnessing is; nothing
           belongs to you. That witnessing is the goal of the journey.
                How to start the journey? -- start becoming more and more a witness. Whatsoever you do, do it
           with deep alertness; then even small things become sacred. Then cooking or cleaning become sacred;
           they become worship. It is not a question of what you are doing, the question is how you are doing it.
           You can clean the floor like a robot, a mechanical thing; you have to clean it, so you clean it. Then
           you miss something beautiful. Then you waste those moments in only cleaning the floor. Cleaning
           the floor could have been a great experience; you missed it. The floor is cleaned but something that
           could have happened within you has not happened. If you were aware, not only the floor but YOU
           would have felt a deep cleansing. Clean the floor full of awareness, luminous with awareness. Work
           or sit or walk, but one thing has to be a continuous thread: make more and more moments of your
           life luminous with awareness. Let the candle of awareness burn in each moment, in each act. The
           cumulative effect is what enlightenment is. The cumulative effect, all the moments together, all
           small candles together, become a great source of light.
                And the second part of the question is: "WHAT DOES IT EXACTLY MEAN TO TRANSCEND
           SEX?"
                Sex is a subtle subject, delicate, because centuries of exploitation, corruption, centuries of
           perverted ideas, conditioning, are associated with the word 'sex'. The word is very loaded. It is one of
           the most loaded words in existence. You say 'God'; it seems empty. You say 'sex'; it seems too
           loaded. A thousand and one things arise in the mind: fear, perversion, attraction, a tremendous
           desire, and a tremendous anti-desire also. They all arise together. Sex -- the very word creates
           confusion, a chaos. It is as if somebody has thrown a rock in a silent pool; millions of ripples arise --
           just the word 'sex'! Humanity has lived under very wrong ideas.
                So the first thing: why do you ask how to transcend sex? Why do you want in the first place to
           transcend sex? You are using a beautiful word, 'transcend', but out of a hundred, ninety-nine are the
           possibilities that you mean, 'How to repress sex?'
                A person who has understood that sex has to be transcended is not even worried about
           transcending it, because transcendence comes through experience. You cannot manage it. It is not
           something that you have to do. You simply pass through many experiences, and those experiences
           make you more and more mature.
                Have you watched that at a certain age, sex becomes important? Not that you make it important.
           It is not something that you make happen; it happens. At the age of fourteen, somewhere near there,
           suddenly the energy is flooded with sex. It happens as if the flood-gates have been opened in you.
           Subtle sources of energy which were not yet open have become open, and your whole energy
           becomes sexual, colored with sex. You think sex, you sing sex, you walk sex -- everything becomes
           sexual. Every act is colored. This happens; you have not done anything about it. It is natural;
           transcendence is also natural. If sex is lived totally, with no condemnation, with no idea of getting
           rid of it, then at the age of forty-two -- just as at the age of fourteen sex gets opened and the whole
           energy becomes sexual, at the age of forty-two or near about -- those flood-gates close again. And
           that too is as natural as sex becoming alive; it starts disappearing.
                Sex is transcended not by any effort on your part. If you make any effort that will be repressive,
           because it has nothing to do with you. It is in-built in your body, in your biology. You are born as
           sexual beings; nothing is wrong in it. That is the only way to be born. To be human is to be sexual.
           When you were conceived, your mother and your father were not praying, they were not listening to
           a priest's sermon. They were not in the church, they were making love. Even to think that your
           mother and father were making love when you were conceived seems to be difficult. They were
           making love; their sexual energies were meeting and merging into each other. Then you were
           conceived; in a deep sexual act you were conceived. The first cell was a sex cell, and then out of that
           cell other cells have arisen. But each cell remains sexual, basically. Your whole body is sexual, made
           of sex cells. Now they are millions.
                Remember it: you exist as a sexual being. Once you accept it, the conflict that has been created
           down through the centuries dissolves. Once you accept it deeply, with no ideas in between, when sex
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is thought of as simply natural, you live it. You don't ask me how to transcend eating, you don't ask
           me how to transcend breathing -- because no religion has taught you to transcend breathing, that's
           why. Otherwise, you would be asking, "How to transcend breathing?" You breathe! You are a
           breathing animal; you are a sexual animal also. But there is a difference. Fourteen years of your life,
           in the beginning, are almost non-sexual, or at the most, just rudimentary sexual play which is not
           really sexual -- just preparing, rehearsing, that's all. At the age of fourteen, suddenly the energy is
           ripe.
                Watch...a child is born -- immediately, within three seconds the child has to breathe, otherwise
           he will die. Then breathing is to remain the whole of his life, because it has come at the first step of
           life. It cannot be transcended. Maybe before you die then, just three seconds before, it will stop, but
           not before it. Always remember: both ends of life, the beginning and end, are exactly similar,
           symmetrical. The child is born, he starts breathing in three seconds. When the child is old and dying,
           the moment he stops breathing, within three seconds he will be dead.
                Sex enters at a very late stage: for fourteen years the child has lived without sex. And if the
           society is not too repressed and hence obsessed with sex, a child can live completely oblivious to the
           fact that sex, or that anything like sex, exists. The child can remain absolutely innocent. That
           innocence is also not possible, because people are so repressed. When repression happens, then side
           by side, obsession also happens.
                So priests go on repressing; and there are anti-priests, Hefners and others -- they go on creating
           more and more pornography. So on one side there are priests who go on repressing, and then there
           are others, anti-priests, who go on making sexuality more and more glamorous. They both exist
           together -- aspects of the same coin. When churches disappear, only then Playboy magazines will
           disappear, not before it. They are partners in the business. They look enemies, but don't be deceived
           by that. They talk against each other, but that's how things work.
                I have heard about two men who were out of business, had gone broke, so they decided for a
           business, a very simple business. They started journeying, touring from one town to another town.
           First one would enter, and in the night he would throw coal tar on people's windows and doors. After
           two or three days the other would come to clean. He would advise that he could clean any coal tar, or
           anything that had gone wrong, and he would clean the windows. In that time the other would be
           doing half of the business in another town. This way, they started earning much money. This is what
           is happening between the church and Hugh Hefners and people who are continuously creating
           pornography.
           I have heard....
                Pretty Miss Keneen sat in the confessional. "Father," she said, "I want to confess that I let my
           boyfriend kiss me."
           "Is that all you did?" asked the priest, very interested.
           "Well, no. I let him put his hand on my leg too."
           "And then what?"
           "And then I let him pull down my panties."
           "And then, and then...?"
           "And then me mother walked into the room."
           "Oh shit," sighed the priest.
                It is together; they are partners in a conspiracy. Whenever you are too repressed, you start
           finding a perverse interest. A perverted interest is the problem, not sex. Now this priest is neurotic.
           Sex is not the problem, but this man is in trouble.
                Sisters Margaret Alice and Francis Catherine were out walking along a side-street. Suddenly they
           were grabbed by two men, dragged into a dark alley, and raped. "Father, forgive them," said Sister
           Margaret Alice, "for they know not what they do."
           "Shut up!" cried Sister Catherine," this one does."
                This is bound to be so. So never carry a single idea against sex in your mind, otherwise you will
           never be able to transcend it. People who transcend sex are people who accept it very naturally. It is
           difficult, I know, because you are born in a society which is neurotic about sex. Either this way or
           that, but it is neurotic all the same. It is very difficult to get out of this neurosis, but if you are a little
           alert, you can get out of it. So the real thing is not how to transcend sex, but how to transcend this
           perverted ideology of the society: this fear of sex, this repression of sex, this obsession with sex.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sex is beautiful. Sex in itself is a natural rhythmic phenomenon. It happens when the child is
           ready to be conceived, and it is good that it happens -- otherwise life would not exist. Life exists
           through sex; sex is its medium. If you understand life, if you love life, you will know sex is sacred,
           holy. Then you live it, then you delight in it; and as naturally as it has come it goes, on its own
           accord. By the age of forty-two, or somewhere near there, sex starts disappearing as naturally as it
           had come into being. But it doesn't happen that way.
                You will be surprised when I say near about forty two. You know people who are seventy,
           eighty, and yet they have not gone beyond. You know 'dirty old people'. They are victims of the
           society. Because they could not be natural, it is a hangover -- because they repressed when they
           should have enjoyed and delighted. In those moments of delight they were not totally in it. They
           were not orgasmic, they were half-hearted.
                So whenever you are half-hearted in anything, it lingers longer. If you are sitting at your table
           and eating, and if you eat only half-heartedly and your hunger remains, then you will continue to
           think about food the whole day. You can try fasting and you will see: you will continuously think
           about food. But if you have eaten well -- and when I say eaten well, I don't mean only that you have
           stuffed your stomach. Then it is not necessarily so that you have eaten well. You could have stuffed
           yourself, but eating well is an art. It is not just stuffing. It is great art: to taste the food, to smell the
           food, to touch the food, to chew the food, to digest the food, and to digest it as divine. It is divine; it
           is God's gift.
                Hindus say, ANAM BRAHMA: food is divine. So with deep respect you eat, and while eating
           you forget everything, because it is prayer. It is existential prayer. You are eating God, and God is
           going to give you nourishment. It is a gift to be accepted with deep love and gratitude. And you don't
           stuff the body, because stuffing the body is being anti-body. It is the other pole. There are people
           who are obsessed with fasting, and there are people who are obsessed with stuffing themselves. Both
           are wrong because in both the ways the body loses balance.
                A real lover of the body eats only to the point where body feels perfectly quiet, balanced,
           tranquil; where body feels to be neither leaning to the left nor to the right, but just in the middle. It is
           an art to understand the language of the body, to understand the language of your stomach, to
           understand what is needed, to give only that which is needed, and to give that in an artistic way, in
           an aesthetic way.
                Animals eat, man eats. Then what is the difference? Man makes a great aesthetic experience out
           of eating. What is the point of having a beautiful dining table? What is the point of having candles
           burning there? What is the point of incense? What is the point of asking friends to come and
           participate? It is to make it an art, not just stuffing. But these are outward signs of the art; the inward
           signs are to understand the language of your body: to listen to it, to be sensitive to its needs. And
           then you eat, and then the whole day you will not remember food at all. Only when the body is
           hungry again will the remembrance come. Then it is natural.
                With sex the same happens. If you have no anti-attitude about it, you take it as a natural, divine
           gift, with great gratitude. You enjoy it; with prayer you enjoy it.
                Tantra says that before you make love to a woman or to a man, first pray -- because it is going to
           be a divine meeting of energies. God will surround you. Wherever two lovers are, there is God.
           Wherever two lovers' energies are meeting and mingling, there is life, alive, at its best; God
           surrounds you. Churches are empty; love-chambers are full of God. If you have tasted love the way
           Tantra says to taste it, if you have known love the way Tao says to know it, then by the time you
           reach forty-two, love starts disappearing on its own accord. And you say goodbye to it with deep
           gratitude, because you are fulfilled. It has been delightful, it has been a blessing; you say good-bye
           to it.
                And forty-two is the age for meditation, the right age. Sex disappears; that overflowing energy is
           no more there. One becomes more tranquil. Passion has gone, compassion arises. Now there is no
           more fever; one is not interested in the other. With sex disappearing, the other is no more the focus.
           One starts returning towards one's own source -- the return journey starts.
                Sex is transcended not by your effort. It happens if you have lived it totally. So my suggestion is,
           drop all anti-attitudes, anti-life attitudes and accept the facticity: sex is, so who are you to drop it?
           And who is trying to drop it? -- it is just the ego. Remember, sex creates the greatest problem for the
           ego.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So there are two types of people: very egoistic people are always against sex; humble people are
           never against sex. But who listens to humble people? In fact, humble people don't go preaching, only
           egoists. Why is there a conflict between sex and ego? -- because sex is something in your life where
           you cannot be egoistic, where the other becomes more important than you. Your woman, your man,
           becomes more important than you. In every other case, you remain the most important. In a love
           relationship the other becomes very, very important, tremendously important. You become a satellite
           and the other becomes the nucleus; and the same is happening for the other: you become the nucleus
           and he becomes a satellite. It is a reciprocal surrender. Both are surrendering to the God of love, and
           both become humble.
                Sex is the only energy that gives you hints that there is something which you cannot control.
           Money you can control, politics you can control, the market you can control, knowledge you can
           control, science you can control, morality you can control. Somewhere, sex brings in a totally
           different world: you cannot control it. And the ego is the great controller. It is happy if it can control;
           it is unhappy if it cannot control. So there starts a conflict between ego and sex. Remember, it is a
           losing battle. The ego cannot win it because ego is just superficial. Sex is very deep-rooted. Sex is
           your life; ego is just your mind, your head. Sex has roots all over you; ego has roots only in your
           ideas -- very superficial, just in the head.
                So who is trying to transcend sex? -- the head is trying to transcend sex. If you are too much in
           the head then you want to transcend sex, because sex brings you down to the guts. It does not allow
           you to remain hanging in the head. Everything else you can manage from there; sex you cannot
           manage from there. You cannot make love with your heads. You have to come down, you have to
           descend from your heights, you have to come closer to earth. Sex is humiliating to the ego, so egoist
           people are against, always against sex. They go on finding ways and means to transcend it. They can
           never transcend it. They can, at the most, become perverted. Their whole effort from the very
           beginning is doomed to failure.
           I have heard....
                A boss was interviewing applicants to replace his private secretary who was resigning because of
           expectant motherhood. The boss's right-hand man sat with him as he looked the applicants over. The
           first girl was a beautiful buxom blond. She turned out to be intelligent, and had excellent secretarial
           skills. The second was a dark-haired beauty who was even more intelligent and proficient than the
           first. The third one was cross-eyed, had buck teeth, and weighed one hundred and ninety pounds.
           After interviewing all three candidates, the boss informed his associate that he was hiring the third
           applicant.
           "But why?" asked the astonished employee.
           "Well," boomed the boss, "in the first place, she looks very intelligent to me! In the second place, it
           is none of your damned business, and in the third place, she is my wife's sister."
                So you may pretend that you have won over sex, but an undercurrent.... You may rationalize, you
           may find reasons, you may pretend, you may create a very hard shell around you, but deep down the
           real reason, the reality, wi]l stand untouched: "She is my wife's sister" -- that is the real reason. "She
           looks intelligent"; that is just a rationalization. "And it is none of your damned business"; that too is
           getting annoyed and irritated -- because the person is afraid that the other is poking his nose and may
           find the real cause. But the real cause will explode; you cannot hide it, it is not possible.
                So you can try to control sex, but an undercurrent of sexuality will run and it will show itself in
           many ways. Out of all your rationalizations, it will again and again raise its head.
                I will not suggest that you make any effort to transcend it. What I suggest is just the contrary:
           forget about transcending it. Move into it as deeply as you can. While the energy is there, move as
           deeply as you can, love as deeply as you can, and make an art of it. It is not just to be done. That is
           the whole meaning of Tantra: making an art of lovemaking. There are subtle nuances which only
           people who enter with a great aesthetic sense will be able to know. Otherwise, you can make love for
           your whole life and still remain unsatisfied -- because you don't know that satisfaction is something
           very aesthetic. It is like a subtle music arising in your soul. If through sex you fall into harmony, if
           through love you become non-tense and relaxed, if love is not just throwing energy because you
           don't know what to do with it, if it is not just a relief but a relaxation, if you relax into your woman
           and your woman relaxes into you, if for a few seconds, for a few moments or a few hours you forget
           who you are and you are completely lost in oblivion, you will come out of it purer, more innocent,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more virgin. And you will have a different type of being -- at ease, centered, rooted.
                If this happens, one day suddenly you will see that the flood has gone and it has left you very,
           very rich. You will not be sorry that it has gone. You will be thankful, because now richer worlds
           open. When sex leaves you, the doors of meditation open. When sex leaves you, then you are not
           trying to lose yourself in the other. You become capable of losing yourself in yourself.
                Now another world of orgasm, inner orgasm, of being with oneself, arises. But that arises only
           through being with the other; one grows, matures through the other. Then a moment comes when
           you can be alone, tremendously happy. There is no need for any other. The need has disappeared but
           you have learned much through it -- you have learned much about yourself. The other became the
           mirror, and you have not broken the mirror. You have learned so much about yourself. Now there is
           no need to look into the mirror. You can close your eyes and you can see your face there. But that
           face you would not be able to see if there had been no mirror from the very beginning.
                Let your woman be your mirror; let your man be your mirror. Look into her eyes and see your
           face; move into her to know yourself. Then one day the mirror will not be needed. But you will not
           be against the mirror; you will be so grateful to it -- how can you be against it? You will be so
           thankful -- how can you be against it? Then, transcendence.
                Transcendence is not repression. Transcendence is a natural outgrowing -- you grow above, you
           go beyond -- just as a seed breaks and a sprout starts rising above the ground. When sex disappears,
           the seed disappears. In sex, you were able to give birth to somebody else, a child. When sex
           disappears, the whole energy starts giving birth to yourself. This is what Hindus have called DWIJA,
           the twice-born. One birth has been given to you by your parents, the other birth is waiting. It has to
           be given to you by yourself. You have to father and mother yourself. Then your whole energy is
           turning in -- it becomes an inner circle.
                Right now it will be difficult for you to make an inner circle. It will be easier to connect it with
           another pole -- a woman or a man -- and then the circle becomes complete. Then you can enjoy the
           blessings of the circle. But by and by you will be able to make the inner circle, because inside you
           also you are man and woman, woman and man. Nobody is just man and nobody is just woman --
           because you come from man and woman's communion. Both have participated; your mother has
           given something to you, you father has given something to you. Fifty-fifty, they have contributed to
           you. Both are there. There is a possibility that both can meet inside you. Again your father and
           mother can love inside you. Then your reality will be born. Once they met when your body was
           born; now if they can meet inside you, your soul will be born. That's what transcendence of sex is: it
           is a higher sex.
                Let me tell you this: when you transcend sex, you reach to a higher sex. Ordinary sex is gross,
           higher sex is not gross at all. Ordinary sex is outward-moving, higher sex is inward-moving. In
           ordinary sex, two bodies meet, and the meeting happens on the outside. In higher sex, your own
           inner energies meet. It is not physical, it is spiritual -- it is Tantra. Tantra is transcendence. If you
           don't understand this and you go on fighting with sex....
                The question has been asked by Prageeta. I know she is passing through some critical moments
           in her mind. She would like to be independent, but it is too early. She would like not to be bothered
           by anybody else, but it is too early, and it is too egoistic. Right now transcendence is not possible,
           repression is possible. And if you repress now, in your old age you will repent -- because then things
           become very messed up. Each thing has its own right time. Each thing has to be done in its moment.
           While young, don't be afraid of love. If you are afraid of love while young, in old age you will
           become obsessed; and then it will be difficult to move deeply in love, and the mind will be obsessed.
                This is my understanding: that people, if they have lived rightly, lovingly, naturally, then by the
           forty-second year they start transcending sex. If they have not lived naturally and they have been
           fighting with sex, then forty two becomes their most dangerous time -- because by the time they are
           forty-two their energies are declining. When you are young you can repress something because you
           are very energetic. Look at the irony of the fact: a young man can repress sexuality very easily
           because he has energy to repress it. He can just put it down and sit upon it. When the energies are
           going, declining, then sex will assert itself and you will not be able to control it.
                I have heard an anecdote: Stein, aged sixty-five, visited the office of his son, Dr. Stein, and asked
           for something that would increase his sexual potential. The M.D. gave his father a shot, and then
           refused to accept a fee. Nevertheless, Stein insisted on giving him ten dollars. A week later Stein was
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           back for another injection, and this time handed his son twenty dollars.
           "But Pop, shots are only ten dollars."
           "Take it!" said Stein, "the extra ten is from Momma."
              That will continue...so before you become a poppa or a momma, please be finished with it. Don't
           wait for old age, because then things go ugly. Then everything goes out of season.

           The second question:

              IT IS SAID THAT UNLESS ONE IS IN CONTACT WITH ONE WHO IS AWAKENED, IT IS
              IMPOSSIBLE TO COME OUT OF ONE'S IGNORANCE OR DEEP SLEEP. HOW TO FIND OUT
              THAT ONE IS AWAKENED?


               It is a difficult question. Not that it is difficult to find out -- the question is difficult because if
           you don't yet have the urge to find out, then there is no way to help you to find. If you have the urge,
           that very urge helps. There is no other help needed. Your very urge becomes your path.
               How do you find if you are thirsty, in a desert; how will you find water, how will you find an
           oasis? You will run hither and thither; you will do all that you can do because thirst will be killing.
           And your thirst will decide whether you have come across real water or not, because your thirst will
           be quenched whenever you come across real water. If it is a mirage and from far away it looked like
           water and you ran to it, when you come face to face with it you will know it is not water.
           But the only criterion is your thirst.
               How do you know that something is food? -- if you are hungry and it satisfies you, you know. It
           is very difficult for a man who has no appetite to find out what food is.
               Psychologists have come across a very significant fact: that if small children are left to
           themselves, they always choose the right thing to eat. You put everything around, you leave it on the
           dining table, don't force anything, and don't say what to eat and what not to eat. It has been a
           tremendous discovery that children eat only the right thing in the right time. If a child is suffering
           from something and a certain thing is needed which will be helpful for it, he will choose to eat it. By
           the time that suffering disappears he will stop eating that. We confuse them. We tell them to eat this
           and don't eat that. Then by and by, their natural instinct functions no more.
               Have you seen animals eating? They are not dieticians, and they never go to any dietician, but a
           buffalo or a cow just chooses the right grass for itself, instinctively. They will leave other grasses;
           they will eat only the grass that is right for them. You cannot deceive. Somehow their inner nature,
           their appetite, decides.
               The problem arises: how to find whether someone is enlightened, awakened, or not? If you have
           an appetite there will be no problem. If you don't have an appetite then I say the problem is very
           difficult, almost impossible to solve. If you have appetite and hunger, then something around an
           enlightened person will start fulfilling your desire. Something will start falling in harmony and in
           line. Your chaos will start subsiding. You will see a silence arising -- a new being is born. That is the
           only way. But if you don't have a real thirst, or if you have been confused by the society, and if you
           cling to outer symptoms....
               For example, a JAINA thinks an enlightened person should be naked. Now if you come across a
           person who is not naked, even Buddha or Jesus, the JAINA will not be satisfied. He will say, "He is
           not an enlightened person because an enlightened person is always naked." This is foolish. He has no
           appetite. He has learned only through scriptures, he has learned only through tradition. Now if you
           have been a Christian, brought up as a Christian, and you know only that a Christ is one who is
           crucified, then what will you do if you come across Krishna playing on his flute? You will say, "This
           man looks like a clown. How can he be an enlightened person? An enlightened person is always on
           the cross suffering for others, trying to take everybody's sin on his own head, and this man is singing
           and dancing." No, with the mind that is too conditioned by the cross, a flute will not suit. It will be
           simply impossible to believe that a flute can also be a symbol of enlightenment. A cross, of course,
           is.
               And the same happens with the follower of Krishna. He knows the flute, singing, dancing. He
           cannot believe for what Jesus was on the cross. If you ask him he will say, "He must have done some
           very wrong deeds in his past life. Otherwise, how is he crucified? Crucifixion happens only to great
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sinners. He must have done something great, a very great sin. That is why he is suffering -- because
           no Hindu AVATAR has ever suffered like this. This is not possible."
               Hindus have the theory of KARMA; whatsoever happens is your karma: Krishna is playing on
           the flute because he has beautiful KARMAS which sing in him, and Jesus must have been a sinner. It
           is not a question that others have forced him on the cross. Nobody can force anybody except your
           KARMAS. It is not that Judas has betrayed him; it is his own past. Nobody can betray anybody. If
           your KARMAS are good, nobody can make you suffer.
               Now this is problematic. These people listen only to the scriptures, the tradition, the society they
           were born into -- accidental things. They don't have real thirst.
               If you have real thirst, you will find that where Krishna is playing on his flute, you will be
           satisfied. And if you have real thirst, you will find the same satisfaction near Jesus also. Maybe he is
           on the cross and Krishna is playing on his flute, but you will find that both are food. Jesus says so
           many times to his disciples, "Eat me; make me your food. Drink my blood and eat my body." He is
           food; that's what he is saying.
               The questioner asked, "It is said that unless one is in contact with one who is awakened, it is
           impossible to come out of one's ignorance and deep sleep. How to find out that one is awakened?"
           I have heard....
               A man walked into the police station to report that his wife was missing. The sergeant began
           writing up the case.
           "How tall is she?"
           "About so high, give or take a little."
           "How much does she weigh?"
           "About average, I guess."
           "Color of eyes?"
           "I would say they were neutral. I'm not too sure."
           "Color of hair?"
           "I don't know, it changes."
           "What was she wearing?"
           "I suppose a hat and coat."
           "Was she carrying anything?"
           "Yes, she had a dog on a leash."
           "What kind of dog?"
           "A pedigreed brindle-and-white German shepherd, weighing forty pounds, six hands high, licence
           No. 401278976 C.D.7, wearing a brown collar, slightly deaf in the right ear, and answers to the name
           Rover."
               When it was a question of the dog, then the man came alive. When it was a question of his wife:
           how tall is she? -- about so high, give or take a little; and how much does she weigh? -- about
           average, I guess; and color of eyes? -- I would say they were neutral. I'm not too sure.
               Whenever it is your desire, you know. If it is not your desire, then it is difficult. So the person
           who has asked the question may be greedy, but he has no desire yet.
               And I know the man, and he has been to Sivananda ashram, to the Aurobindo ashram, to Shri
           Ramana Maharshi's ashram, to Satya Sai Baba, and to this and that; he has been everywhere. Now I
           am his last victim, and he cannot find anything anywhere that is satisfying. He has not asked the
           basic question: are you hungry? Just by going to this restaurant and that is not going to help; appetite
           is needed. The man is greedy but he has no appetite. The man is very learned but is not very aware.
           He knows the scriptures, he can repeat them parrot-like, but he has no understanding. He goes on
           asking such questions again and again. This is for the first time that I am answering, because when
           the appetite is not there it is futile to talk about. It is better that he should go and live in the world
           and forget all about religion. Let the appetite come, this life or next. There is no hurry; God can wait.
           But let it come. It should be authentic. His appetite is just false. He has listened to talks about food,
           or he has listened to advertisements on the television about food, and he has become greedy. But he
           never looks inside to see that he has no appetite, so nothing happens.
               Once he came to me and he said, "I have been to Shri Aurobindo ashram, I have been to Ramana
           ashram, to Sivananda, to Rishikesh, to Arunachal, to here and there, and nothing happens. Now I am
           here."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I said, "Before you say about me also that nothing happens, let me say to you that nothing will
           happen -- because I don't see any desire in you. I don't see any flicker, any passionate urge."
                He has money so he can go anywhere. He is fed-up with his life, bored with his life, so he goes
           on finding, trying to find at least some thrill, some kick somewhere. And he is a very egoistic man,
           so he cannot try to find non-spiritual kicks. He tries to find spiritual kicks and nothing happens.
                Watch... the basic thing to be remembered is whether you have an appetite. If you don't have,
           why bother? It is not for you. Let these people talk about God; it is not for you. You don't go to a
           musical concert if you don't have an ear for music, and you don't get bothered about it. You don't go
           to listen to some musician, you don't go to see a dancer, you don't go to visit an art gallery to look at
           paintings if you don't have any sense, artistic sense; you don't go there.
                But this is one of the problems about religion: people who don't have any sense of religiousness,
           they also become greedy about religion. And now he is getting old, and death is approaching. Now
           he wants to achieve something which he can carry beyond death. He is simply afraid. He has not
           lived his life -- and unless you have lived your life, you cannot move into religion.
                Only one who lives his life truly, one day comes to the point where a new desire for life beyond
           arises. See the difference between the two. You can be afraid of death; then your desire will be false.
           If you have lived life and loved life, and loved it so much that you would now like to know the
           unknown life also -- it is not out of fear of death, it is out of love for life -- then, you will recognize
           immediately whenever you come across an enlightened person. It is impossible to miss. You will
           recognize immediately. This recognition needs no knowledge. It will simply happen.
                How do you recognize when a beautiful woman passes by? Have you any criterion? But if you
           have desire, suddenly you recognize that the woman is beautiful. If somebody asks you and tries to
           force you to confess to what exactly beauty is, you will be in trouble. You will not be able to define.
           Nobody has yet been able to define. Centuries and centuries of philosophers have been working on
           it, trying to define what beauty is, and ultimately they decide that it is indefinable. But still you feel
           beauty. If you talk to a small child whose desire has not yet ripened, and you say, "This woman is
           beautiful," he will look at you surprised, shrug his shoulders, and go on his way -- "Gone mad. All
           women are alike." For a small child, it makes no difference. He cannot see why one woman should
           be thought beautiful and another not.
                In fact, he knows only one woman who is beautiful: she is his mother -- and that too, for some
           other reasons, not for beauty. She is his nourishment, his life, so she is beautiful. But one day when
           his desire arises and his love ripens, he will start looking with different eyes. Then all women are not
           alike. Then certainly there are women who are beautiful; then certainly there are men who are
           tremendously appealing and magnetic. But one day again, when one becomes very alert,
           understanding, again all men and women are alike. Then again beauty or ugliness don't matter. Then
           again duality is transcended.
                When you come across an enlightened man, if you don't have desire, nothing will happen. You
           will just shrug your shoulders -- "Why are people so attracted to this man?" You can't see anything;
           there is nothing. He is as ordinary as you, or maybe even more ordinary than you. You can't see why
           people are mad. But if the desire is there, if the search has started, if you have lived this life rightly
           and deeply, then you have earned that desire for another life. Then immediately, when you come
           across such a one, you will start feeling.
                It is said, a beautiful myth about Mahavir, that people who had desire would become aware of
           Mahavir from a very faraway distance, twenty-four miles. The area of twenty four miles around
           Mahavir was so filled with his being that people who would come into that area, if they had some
           desire, would be pulled by Mahavir, against themselves. They might have been going somewhere
           else, but they would not be able to go. They would be pulled. They would have to come; they would
           find this man in some unknown way. And he would be sitting under some tree or hiding in a cave,
           and they would find him. And there were people who would pass just in front of him and would be
           thinking that he was mad -- not only mad, but like a criminal, standing there naked. Either he was a
           criminal or he was a fool, and they would beat him, they would throw him out of their town, they
           would force him to leave their place. And both were people: one sort of person throws him away,
           beats him; the other sort of person is pulled. It depends on you.
           I have heard one anecdote:
           "Well my man, what is on your mind?" the worldly matron asked the marriage broker.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I have picked out a wife for your son," he announced triumphantly. "She is the Princess Sessusi
           Wilnanee, the richest young woman in the world," said the marriage broker.
           "The richest woman in the world?" snapped the mother. "Why have I never heard of her?"
           "But she is a wonderful girl," insisted the marriage broker. "She is gorgeous, a terrific skin-diver and
           skier, and golfs in the low seventies. She is royalty all the way."
           "It does not make sense to me, but all right, I will give you my consent. I will let my son marry the
           princess."
           "Well," sighed the marriage broker, "that's half the battle. "
               Half the battle about religion starts with you. If you have the desire, that is half the battle -- and
           the other half is very easy. Then you have the eyes. But if you don't have an appetite, then it is
           almost impossible to recognize: you are blind, you cannot see. If a blind man comes and asks, "When
           I come across light, how am I to recognize it?" what to say to him? How can he recognize? -- he will
           need eyes. You always find that which you REALLY desire; it never happens otherwise. In fact, let
           me tell you: whatsoever you have found is that which you had desired passionately -- maybe it is
           hell, but you desired it -- and whatsoever you have not found, you have not desired passionately.
               Every time Mulla Nasrudin came home drunk, the wife would bawl the daylights out of him. One
           day a kindly neighbor gave her some advice: "You should not do that. You should not call attention
           to his drinking. Be lovable, be kind, and you will find he is a new man. Tonight when he comes
           home, give him a great big kiss."
               That night Mulla staggered in, but the wife remembered the advice and puckered her lips:
           "Darling, give me a kiss."
               He puckered his lips, staggered to her, and kissed her on the forehead. He tried again, missed,
           and kissed her on the ear. The third time he missed again, landing his lips on her cheek.
           "You bum," she said, pointing to her mouth,''if this were a saloon you would find it."
               You always find that which you really want to find. Whatsoever you desire happens. If it is not
           happening, look inside; somewhere you must be missing in your desire.
               There is a beautiful story in Hindu annals about a great saint, Valmiki. He was a robber, a
           murderer. He has written the story of Rama, one of the most beautiful epics in the world. He became
           converted. His conversion happened in such a way that it is almost unbelievable. He was a great
           sinner, but he went to a great teacher and asked him how he could purify himself of his sins. "Chant
           Rama a thousand times a day," advised the great teacher.
               The sinner went to a solitary mountain and chanted and chanted, but in spite of his good will, he
           made a mistake and chanted Mara instead of Rama.
               It happens that if you chant Rama Rama Rama fast, you can get messed up; it can become Mara
           Mara Mara. That's how it happened: he was chanting so fast, and he had never heard this name. It
           was almost an unknown language to him. He tried hard to remember, but somehow he forgot, and for
           years he chanted Mara, Mara, Mara.
               After years of chanting he went back to the great teacher who immediately realized that the man
           was now pure -- not only pure, he was enlightened. "Did you sing the sacred name?" the teacher
           asked.
           "Yes, great one," the ex-sinner answered, "for ten years every single day, thousands of times I have
           chanted Mara, Mara, Mara."
               The teacher burst into a laughter that shook the mountains. As his laughter, like a pebble in the
           lake, vibrated farther and wider into the cosmos, the great teacher took the ex-sinner into his arms.
           "Your will to good, to do good, has saved you," he said, "even though you chanted Mara, Mara,
           Mara, millions of times: the name of the devil."
               Rama is the name of God; Mara is the name of the devil -- but if the desire is there, the thirst is
           there, then everything is okay. Even the name of the devil will do. Just his intention, just his
           tremendous passion for God, to purify himself, for ten years, day in and day out, thousands of times
           he was continuously chanting Mara, Mara, Mara. Even a wrong technique will help if the desire is
           intense, and even a right technique will not be of much help if the desire is impotent.
               Remember it: if you can't recognize enlightened people when you come across them, don't throw
           the responsibility on them. Watch inside -- are you ready yet? It has happened that people who were
           not enlightened have sometimes helped people to become enlightened. If the desire of the seeker is
           tremendous, then even an unenlightened Master is enough.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It is reported about one great mystic, Milarepa:
                When he went to his Master in Tibet, he was so humble, so pure, so authentic, that other
           disciples became jealous of him. It was certain that he would be the successor. And of course there
           was politics, so they tried to kill him.
                One day they said to him, "If you really believe in the Master, can you jump from the hill? If you
           really believe, if the trust is there, then nothing -- no harm is going to happen." And Milarepa
           jumped without even hesitating for a single moment. They rushed down because it was almost a
           three-thousand-foot deep valley. They went down to find his scattered bones, but he was sitting there
           in a lotus posture, very happy, tremendously happy.
                He opened his eyes and said, "You are right; trust saves."
                They thought it must be some coincidence, so when the house was on fire one day, they told him,
           "If you love your Master and you trust, you can go in." He rushed in to save the woman and the child
           who were left inside. He came, and the fire was too great and they were hoping that he would die,
           but he was not burned at all. And he became more and more radiant, because the trust....
                One day they were going somewhere, they were to cross a river, and they told him, "You need
           not go in the boat. You have such great trust; you can walk on the river" -- and he walked.
                That was the first time the Master saw him. He was not aware that he had been told to jump into
           the valley and told to go into the burning house; he was not aware. But that time he was there on the
           bank and he saw him walking, and he said, "What are you doing? It is impossible!"
                And Milarepa said, "Not impossible at all! I am doing it by your power, sir."
                Now the Master thought, "If my name and my power can do this to this ignorant, stupid man.... I
           have never tried it myself"...so he tried. He drowned. Nothing has been heard about him after that.
                Even an unenlightened Master, with deep trust, can revolutionize your life. And the reverse is
           also true: even an enlightened Master may not be of any help. It depends on you, it depends totally
           on you.




                                               The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #5
                                     Chapter title: Kali and Krishna are one
           25 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606250
              ShortTitle: BELOV105
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 76 mins




              COME IF YOU WISH TO MEET
              THE NOVEL MAN.
              HE HAS ABANDONED
              HIS WORLDLY POSSESSIONS
              FOR THE BEGGAR'S SACK
              THAT HANGS FROM HIS SHOULDER.
              HE SPEAKS OF THE ETERNAL MOTHER
              (KALI, THE GODDESS OF TIME)
              EVEN AS HE ENTERS THE GANGES.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SIMPLE WORDS CAN OVERCOME
              IGNORANCE AND DISBELIEF:
              KALI AND KRISHNA ARE ONE.
              THE WORDS MAY DIFFER --
              THE MEANING IS PRECISELY THE SAME.
              HE WHO HAS BROKEN
              THE BARRIER OF WORDS,
              HAS CONQUERED LIMITS:
              ALLAH OR JESUS, MOSES OR KALI,
              THE RICH OR THE POOR,
              SAGE OR FOOL,
              ALL ARE ONE AND THE SAME TO HIM.



              LOST IN HIS OWN THOUGHTS,
              HE SEEMS INSANE TO OTHERS.
              HE OPENS HIS ARMS
              TO WELCOME THE WORLD,
              CALLING ALL TO THE FERRY BOAT
              TIED TO THE COAST OF LIFE.



              COME IF YOU WISH TO MEET THE NOVEL MAN


               THE WHOLE BAUL SEARCH IS FOR THE SEARCH FOR THE NOVEL MAN, THE NEW
           MAN. Who is this new man?
               You can live your life in two ways. Either you can become a man of being, or you can become a
           man of having. Either you can have yourself or you can have many worldly things instead. Either
           you can possess many things and be possessed by them, or you can possess yourself and be not
           possessed by anything. The man of having has a totally different direction. That's what Bauls call
           'the worldly man'. He thinks in terms of money, in terms of commodities, in terms of bank balances;
           he thinks in terms of things. And he thinks that the more he has, the more he is. That is one of the
           most fundamental fallacies. You can have the whole world and you can remain a beggar. You can
           have all that the world can give and yet remain empty.
               The great Alexander died. He is the very symbol of the worldly man. He wanted to conquer the
           whole world, and he had done it, almost. But before he died he told his generals, "Then let both my
           hands hang out of the coffin." They said, "We have never heard. It is not traditionally done. And why
           do you want to do such an absurd thing?" Alexander said,''It is not absurd. It has a certain relevance
           with my life. I want people to see that I am going with empty hands. So let both my hands hang out
           of the coffin, so everybody can see that even Alexander is going with empty hands. I came with
           empty hands, I am going with empty hands, and the whole life has been a wastage."
               He must have been very perceptive, because many more die still clinging, still not aware that
           their hands are empty, still not aware that their hearts are empty, still not aware that they have
           wasted their whole lives, that it has been just a nightmare.
               The man of having continues to accumulate more and more. What he accumulates is not the
           point; his emphasis is on accumulation. His soul exists in his accumulations. What he accumulates is
           not important. He may accumulate money, he may accumulate knowledge; he may accumulate ego,
           he may accumulate humility; he may accumulate things of this world, or he may start accumulating
           virtues, things of the other world, but he accumulates. He exists through things. He feels good when
           he has much, when he feels his hands are full, at least apparently full. He feels good, he feels he is
           achieving, he is being successful. This is 'the old man' -- in the terminology of the Bauls, this is the
           old man. It has always existed. This is the rotten man, this is the diseased man. It is a sort of illness,
           this very idea of having too many things, wasting your time and energy and not knowing at all who
           you are. The Bauls call that direction noble in which you start thinking in terms of being, in terms of
           a certain inner solidity, of a certain inner consciousness, of a certain rootedness, centering, of a
           certain realization of who you are.
               Have you watched it, that sometimes you come across a person who may not have anything
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           visible, but still you feel a tremendous energy surrounding him? His impact is almost magnetic,
           mesmeric. He looks into your eyes and you cannot look into his eyes -- a great power. It is not the
           power of things; he may not have any. He may be just a beggar on the road. It is not the power that
           comes through politics. He may not be a prime minister or a president because that power is bogus.
           That power belongs to the chair, not to the man. It belongs to the chair and not to the chairman. Once
           he is out of the chair, he is as powerless as you.
                Look at Richard Nixon: a tremendous power was there when he was the president. Now, he is
           just simply citizen Nixon. All power has disappeared. That power was not his; it was a reflected
           glory. And you can see it, it is not very difficult. You know men who have much power -- power of
           things, power of big palaces, power of politics, money, prestige, heritage but you can see that they
           are poor people. They don't have any personal power. They don't have any magnetism in their souls.
           If you put their things aside, t]hey are more ordinary than ordinary. All extraordinariness disappears.
           Kings and queens, once they are not kings and queens, are simply ordinary human beings -- almost
           empty, nothing in them.
                But you sometimes come across a person whose power is not derived from the outside, whose
           power comes from some inner spring, some inner source. He is a reservoir of power. Wherever he
           sits, the place becomes sacred; wherever he sits, the place becomes a throne; wherever he moves, he
           moves like a king amongst men. But his kingdom is of the within. That's what Jesus goes on talking
           about: the kingdom of God is within you. He knows his within. He has come to face his own
           within-ness. His eyes are turned within. He is no longer dependent on the outside world. His glory is
           not a reflected glory, it is his own, authentic. He can be thrown into imprisonment, but he will
           remain a king there.
                It is said about Diogenes, one of the contemporaries of Alexander the Great, that even Alexander
           the Great became jealous of Diogenes. He was just a naked fakir: he had nothing. He had renounced
           everything; he was searching his own inner world. It is said about him that when he renounced the
           world, he used to carry a small begging bowl. But then one day he saw a dog drinking water from a
           river. He threw that begging-bowl. He said, "If the dog can do without it, then am I worse than the
           dog?" Then everything was thrown away. He remained naked.
                Many stories, rumors, were reaching Alexander that this man had something in him. Finally,
           fascinated, Alexander went to see him, and he could see that the man had something that he had not.
           He was just lying down -- it was a winter morning, it was cool and the sun was rising. He was lying
           down by the side of a river, bathing himself in the early sun, naked. Alexander said, "Can I do
           something for you, sir? I have much, and whatsoever you desire, I will be happy to do it for you."
                Diogenes laughed and said, "The only thing that you can do is to please stand by the side. Don't
           prevent the sun from coming to me. Nothing else do I need. And remember it, because you seem to
           be dangerous: never stand between the sun and anybody else. Don't disturb anybody else's life.
           That's enough; nothing else do I want from you -- because all that I want is within me."
                And Alexander could feel that the man was true, literally true -- the solidity, the crystallized
           being, the 'vibe' of one who has attained, the surround, the climate of the person who is filled with
           inner light, inner realization, inner riches. He could see it. He bowed down and he said, "If next time
           I am to come into the world, I would ask God not to make me Alexander, but Diogenes."
                Diogenes laughed and said, "There is no need to wait that long. You can become a Diogenes just
           now! For what are you struggling and conquering people, and moving continuously and warring?
           For what?"
                Said Alexander, "First I want to conquer Middle Asia, then India, then the Far East..." And
           Diogenes went on asking, "Then what? Then what?" Finally, when Alexander said he had conquered
           the whole world, he said he would then like to rest.
                And Diogenes said, "You look to me almost stupid, because I am resting without conquering the
           world. You can rest by my side. See, the bank is so big; we can share it. And nobody comes here.
           You can rest to your heart's desire. Who is preventing you? And I don't see the point, that one needs
           to conquer the world first just to rest in the end. You can rest any moment."
                In that moment Alexander must have felt his poverty. He said, "You are right. I am mad, but now
           it is difficult for me to come back. I have to conquer, only then can I come."
                And when he was leaving, Diogenes said, "Remember, nobody can come back unless one is
           aware. And if you are aware right this moment, the journey stops. If you are not aware, you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never come back." And Alexander never could go back. He died before he reached back home.

               The man of being is called 'the novel man', the new man. Why call him new? -- because in a
           sense he is as old as humanity; but he is so rare that whenever he comes he is always new -- rarely a
           Buddha, rarely a Jesus, a Krishna -- very rarely. In this rotten mass of humanity, very rarely does
           somebody arise with an authentic being and declare that his kingdom is of the within, It happens so
           rarely that Bauls are right to call him 'the novel man', the new man.
               So this is the distinction to be understood: the man who is after having more and more will go on
           losing his being -- because the only way to have more is to pay with being. Then you have to cut
           your being and throw it away. Everything has to be paid for, nothing is free. Even futile things have
           to be paid for.
               One day the man of having is almost gone. He has much but he is no more. He has bargained
           with his soul. He has exchanged: he has dollars, rupees, pounds, but no soul in him. Just a negative
           emptiness exists. He is the beggar, but he may look to you like a king. Don't be deceived by
           appearances. Those who look like kings are not kings. Look deeply, watch deeply. They may have
           achieved much which can be counted, which can be shown and exhibited, but they have lost
           something of the invisible, something of their being.
               Have you not observed it? -- whenever you purchase something you have to pay. If you want to
           compete with people you will have to pay. You will become less and less loving. A man who is a
           competitor cannot be loving simultaneously; it is impossible. A man who is trying to compete, a man
           who is ambitious, has to be non-loving. Then he is paying with love.
               Politicians cannot be loving, they know only war. That's natural; they exist through conflict. So
           they may talk about peace, but their whole talk is. just nonsense, just gibberish. They talk about
           peace and they prepare for war. They never prepare for peace. They prepare for war and they never
           talk about war, they talk about peace. And when the time comes, they even war and fight for peace.
           They say it has to be done to save peace. But basically, the mind of the competitor is violent. One
           who is ambitious is violent and cannot be loving.
               The hippie slogan -- Make love not war -- is very, very meaningful. If the world were more
           loving, war would disappear automatically, because who would be ready to fight? For what?
               No country wants its people to be very loving. No country wants its people to be deep in love --
           because if they are deep in love they become incapable of war. Their sex, their love, has to be
           repressed. When love and sex are repressed, people are ready to jump out of their skins. They are so
           boiling; they are always ready to fight. That's why a poor country can fight better than a rich country.
           That is the story of Vietnam.
               The American soldier knows a little of love -- he has the facility, he is not so repressed. That is
           the problem with America now: America is not so repressed. It has tasted of love. But when you
           fight with a small country like Vietnam you cannot win, because their soldiers are very repressed. It
           has always happened in the past: a richer country is always in danger of being invaded by a poorer
           country.
               It has happened in India many times. For two, three thousand years, India had been continuously
           conquered by barbarians who were not rich, who were not affluent, who were not cultured at all. But
           India was defeated continuously. People were loving -- they had forgotten how to fight, they were
           not interested in fighting. There was no need inside for them to be continuously at war. Whenever a
           civilization reaches to the point where it becomes affluent, it is in danger of being invaded by
           barbarians. This is unfortunate, but this is so.
               So every country and every politician tries not to allow love too much. It has to be given only in
           small quantities. If love is free, and people are very loving and they exist in an ocean of love, war is
           not possible. Without war, politics is not possible; without politics, presidents and premiers are not
           possible. They will simply disappear.
               The hippie is the greatest danger signal to politicians yet. In the whole of history, for the first
           time a new sort of generation is arising. If this generation goes on flowering, spreading, politics is
           going to be just out of date. The days of presidents and premiers are gone! And the whole thing
           depends on love, because love is a quality of being. Competition is for things, ambition is for things,
           ambition is for the kingdom without. The inner kingdom knows no competition. You can simply
           delight in it this very moment. It needs no future, it needs no achievement on your part. Already, as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are, you are ready to enjoy and delight and celebrate. Nothing is missing. Everything is
           absolutely available; as it should be, it is. You just have to drop your ambitious mind, and the
           celebration starts.
               Can you see this? If you can see this you will be able to understand 'the novel man'.
               The Bauls say, "The man who has understood the futility of things becomes religious." If you are
           running after having, you will become a manipulator: constantly in conflict with others, constantly
           trying to crush others, by any way and any means trying to reach to the top. You will lose all
           spontaneity.
               The man of being, 'the novel man', is spontaneous. He lives in the moment, he lives here-now. He
           knows no other way to live, he is unpredictable. You can predict a man of competition. You can
           predict, because the mind of the competitor runs like a mathematical formula. It has a logical
           syllogism in it. But the mind of one who is moving inwards, the man of being, is almost dissolving.
           The mind of the inward traveller is dissolving; you cannot predict him. He has no mathematical
           formula about him -- he simply lives in the moment, he responds to the moment.
               Now let me tell you one thing: the man of having is very clear. The man of having has a
           destination, very clear, cut. If he wants to become the president of the United States or the premier of
           India, he has a clear-cut destination.
               What about the man of being? -- he has a direction, but he has no destination. He has a very
           subtle direction, but no destination. He has a quality: he has a light inside, and wherever he moves
           that light falls on his path. He has eyes to see, a direction, but no destination. He is enjoying and he
           is moving, but his movement is not prefabricated. He has no plan. He is like a river, not like a
           railway train. Direction is there, but not like a railway train, not running in a fixed pattern. Zig-zag
           his life will be. Sometimes he will be moving towards the north and sometimes he will be moving
           towards the south. He cannot be very consistent because consistency is part of the logical mind, it is
           not part of the being. He will be found many times to be inconsistent, even contradictory; but those
           contradictions are just on the surface. If you look deep you will find a subtle direction. Even in
           contradictions the direction is there.
               But to know the man of being you need very deep eyes, penetrating eyes. To know the man of
           having, nothing is needed -- just a little mind will do, a mediocre mind will do -- because the man of
           having is also of the category of mediocre minds. But when you move into the inner world, all
           surfaces are lost and depth is infinite.
               The Bauls call this spontaneous man, SAHAJA MANUSH. The novel man, he's the new man. He
           is the man as everyone should be. And unless you become the novel man, you will miss -- you will
           miss treasures, blessings, benedictions which were showering all around you, but you were blind and
           you could not see it.
           I have heard....
           Mulla Nasrudin was in love with a woman.
           "Look darling," he said to her, "here is a diamond engagement ring for you."
           "Oh, it is beautiful!" she claimed "But honey, the diamond has a flaw in it."
           "You should not notice that," said the Mulla. "Why, you are in love and you know what they say --
           'love is blind'."
           "Blind, yes," she said, "but not stone blind."
               Even in love you continue to remain the man of the outside. Even in love you continue to think in
           terms of money, prestige, power. Even in love you don't allow the unpredictable to assert, you don't
           allow your innermost being to have its say. Even then you remain a manipulator.
               Our minds are almost always interested in the very ordinary. It has to be so because mind is
           outward-oriented. The very orientation is towards the without. That's how Jesus was not understood;
           he was a Baul,'the novel man'. If he had been born in Bengal, the land of the Bauls, he would have
           been understood better. They would not have crucified him. For centuries they have known mad
           people of God. They would have understood his language.
               Jews could not understand his language. His language was not of the mind, his language was not
           of money, of the outside. He talked about the kingdom and they asked, "Where is your kingdom?
           About what kingdom are you talking?" -- because they thought he was talking about the kingdom
           which is outside. He said, "I am the king," and they were worried. And they suspected that he was
           trying to sabotage the society, or that he was trying to conquer the society and become the king.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They thought that he was a revolutionary.
               He was a rebellious man, not a revolutionary at all. He was not planning for a revolution; he was
           not a politician. But the Jews were afraid: they thought that he was trying to conquer this world. And
           the Romans were afraid. They were afraid because it was thought that he was the king of men -- the
           king is born. When the king of the Romans heard that a child was going to be born who would
           become the king of men, he became so afraid that he ordered a massacre: to kill all the children
           below the age of two years. When the three wise men of the East reached the capital in search of the
           child Jesus, the king heard of it. He invited them to the palace, and he asked them for what they had
           come. They said they were looking for the king who had been born in his country: "You should be
           happy that a king is born in your country, and the greatest king will walk on your earth." But the
           king was very afraid because he thought, "How can there exist two kings in one country? Then I will
           be dethroned." But he played diplomatic. He said to the wise men, "I am very happy, so if you
           succeed in finding him please come and inform me." But he was planning to kill the boy, and the
           three wise men understood it because they could see in his eyes. He was a cunning man.
           Politicians are cunning.
               After they had met Jesus and worshipped Jesus, they had to find another route because they were
           afraid that the king would be waiting, and they didn't want to become a part of this catastrophe. They
           didn't want to become part in killing and murdering Jesus. So they had to travel very far. They had to
           do a long journey because the shortcut was the one they had come by. And they were very old men,
           but still they took a very long route through deserts and mountains to reach back to their country.
           They didn't want to go back by the same route because it would pass through the capital, and the
           king would be waiting.
               Jesus was crucified because of his terminology, but he was talking about the inner kingdom. He
           was not talking about the kingdom of the outside, and he was not talking about the treasures that you
           know, but the treasures of the unknown.
               As far as the outside world is concerned, all treasures are just false.
           I have heard a beautiful anecdote....
               A man walking along a city street fell through an open sewer hole and broke his leg. He engaged
           a famous attorney, brought suit against the city for ten thousand dollars, and won the case. The city
           appealed the decision right on up to the Supreme Court, but again the lawyer won the decision. After
           the claim was settled, the lawyer sent for his client and handed him a dollar bill.
           "What is this?" inquired the man, looking at the dollar.
           "That's your damages after deducting my fee, the cost of appeals and other expenses," replied the
           attorney.
           Out of ten thousand dollars, only one dollar!
               The man looked at the dollar again, turned it over and scanned it carefully. "What is the matter
           with this dollar?" he said. "Is it counterfeit?"
               But all money outside is counterfeit: all dollars are counterfeit, all rupees are counterfeit. The
           real money does not exist that way; the real money does not exist outside. This conversion from the
           counterfeit to the real is what Bauls call the birth of the novel man.

              COME IF YOU WISH TO MEET
              THE NOVEL MAN.
              HE HAS ABANDONED
              HIS WORLDLY POSSESSIONS
              FOR THE BEGGAR'S SACK
              THAT HANGS FROM HIS SHOULDERS.


               He has abandoned worldly possessions to become a beggar. Why abandon worldly possessions?
           The worldly possessions can be abandoned in two ways. Again you have to understand: the man who
           has lived his whole life in collecting possessions can abandon them out of greed. Then the novel man
           is not born. He can abandon them in order to get some advance booking in heaven, paradise. He can
           abandon his worldly possessions seeing that death will take them away. If that is the case, then the
           old man remains old, even if he abandons all.
               In India it happens many times, more often than not: people abandon their possessions, they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           renounce, but if you watch them you will see they have not abandoned their greed. In fact, they have
           renounced BECAUSE of the greed.
                I know one man who renounced almost a million rupees many years ago, but he still goes on
           talking about it. Thirty years have passed, and whenever I meet him, he will again and again bring
           the subject up that he has renounced a million rupees. And you can see the light that starts shining in
           his eyes -- a million rupees!
                The last time I saw him I asked him, "If you have really renounced then why talk about it? What
           is the point? As far as I can see, you have not renounced at all. The novel man is not born. You are
           as much attached to those one million rupees, or maybe even more than you were before. Now the
           very idea that you have renounced a million rupees has become your bank balance. Now you are
           living on it.'' I told him that if he went to God, the first thing he would relate to Him would be his
           million rupees: "Do you know or not that I have renounced one million rupees?" And he would be
           expecting something special for himself. This man is the same; the novel man is not born. It has been
           a miscarriage.
                You can renounce, but if you enjoy ego through it, if you feel that you are a great man of
           renunciation, a MAHATMA, a great soul because you have renounced, you are not an ordinary man,
           you are not worldly, then your renunciation is not true.
                When is the renunciation true? -- when you understand the futility. Not out of greed, not because
           you have to earn something in the other world, but just seeing the futility of it all, you renounce. This
           renunciation has no effort in it, just a deep insight. Every morning you clean your house and throw
           the rubbish on the rubbish heap, but you don't go declaring and advertising to the whole town that
           again you have renounced much rubbish, again this morning you have done a great deed of
           renunciation. No, you know that it is rubbish -- finished. What is there to tell about it?
                The novel man is born when you have a deep insight that worldly things have no value; they are
           all counterfeit, unreal diamonds, and unreal real diamonds are also so. Real dollars are also as unreal
           as unreal dollars. When the whole outside world has no value for you, that is a real renunciation.
           Then you are not attached at all.

           And Bauls say,


                  My plaited hair
                  is still intact and dry.
                  Though I stand in the stream
                  and splash and swim about the river,
                  I cannot be touched by the water.



                  Keep your soles dry
                  as you coast the sea.
                  Let attachments share the same home,
                  but live unattached.



                  Groping for the river,
                  Oh my senseless heart!
                  In vain do you wander from place to place.
                  The ocean of your heart
                  bears a priceless gem.
                  What good is life
                  if you fail to contact
                  the spontaneous man
                  who dwells in your own body?
                  Your destiny is shamed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Do not give up gold
                  for a piece of glass,
                  nor leave heaven
                  for a visit to hell.
                  What good is there
                  in rushing round the world?
                  The eternal hero Iives
                  in your own little room.



                  Who is there
                  for you to call your own?
                  My heart,
                  for whom do you shed
                  your futile tears?
                  Brothers and friends, let them be;
                  the world is there.
                  Your own dear life
                  is hardly your own.

                  You have come alone,
                  you will go alone....


               The whole idea of renunciation is of a vision, of a great understanding, of looking into things in
           their reality. You need not escape from the world. You can remain in the world and become
           absolutely unattached. But if you feel, "Why carry the burden unnecessarily?" you can leave the
           world also. But remember, the world has no value this way or that. If it has no value, its renunciation
           also cannot have any value. If it is valuable, only then can its renunciation be valuable. But then
           there is no point in renouncing it; it is simply valueless. It is like a dream. When you awake,
           everything disappears.
               You have come alone, you will go alone, and between these two exists the dream. To understand
           the dream, to become alert to it, is the birth of the novel man. "Come if you wish to meet the novel
           man," says the Baul. He invites the whole world: Come to see me; the novel man is born. "His
           worldly possessions he has abandoned for the beggar's sack that hangs from his shoulder."

              HE SPEAKS OF THE ETERNAL MOTHER
              (KALI, THE GODDESS OF TIME)
              EVEN AS HE ENTERS THE GANGES.


               The novel man lives in eternity, the ordinary man lives in time.
               This word 'Kali' has to be understood. Kali is the mother of time. In Sanskrit time is called
           KALA, and the mother of KALA is Kali, mother of time. But the mother of time is beyond time.
           Time is born out of it, but the womb out of which time is born is eternity. Eternity is the mother of
           time. Time is just a reflection of the eternal. The Bauls worship Kali, the mother of time; they
           worship eternity. They seek and search eternity -- not that which changes but that which remains
           always and always, that which is beyond all flux, absolutely permanent, unmoving. They seek that
           hub of the existence. Symbolically it is called Kali.
               This word 'KALA' is very meaningful: one meaning is time, another meaning is death. The same
           word means time and death. It is beautiful, because time is death. The moment you enter into time,
           you are ready to die. With birth, death has entered into you. When the child is born, he has entered
           into the realm of death. The birthday is also the deathday. Now only one thing is certain: that he will
           have to die. Everything else is just uncertain; it may happen, it may not happen. But the moment a
           child is born, the moment the child has taken his first breath, one thing is absolutely certain -- that he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will die.
                Entering into life is entering into death; entering into time is entering into death. Time is death,
           hence the Sanskrit word KALA is very beautiful. It means both time and death. And Kali means
           beyond time and beyond death. Eternity is deathlessness. How to find eternity? What is the way?
           One has to understand the process of time.
                The process of time is horizontal: one moment passes, then comes another moment; that passes,
           then another moment -- a procession of moments, a queue of moments -- one passes, then another
           comes; another passes, then another comes. It is horizontal.
                Eternity is vertical: you go deep into the moment, not moving in a line, but into depth. You
           drown yourself in the moment. If you stand on the bank, then the river goes on passing. Ordinarily
           we are standing on the bank of time. The river goes on moving; one moment, another moment, and
           another, and the sequence of moments continues. This is how we ordinarily live, this is how we live
           in time.
                Then there is another way -- take a jump into the river, drown in the moment, the here-now. Then
           suddenly, time stops. Then you are moving in an altogether different dimension; the vertical
           dimension is eternity. That is the meaning of Jesus' cross.
                The cross is a time symbol. It is made of two lines: one vertical, one horizontal. On the
           horizontal line are the hands of Christ, and on the vertical line is his whole being. Hands are
           symbolic of action: doing, having. Having is in time; being is in eternity. So whatsoever you DO is
           in time, whatsoever you ARE is in eternity; whatsoever you achieve is in time, whatsoever is your
           nature is in eternity. Change from having, doing, towards being. This moment the turning can
           happen. This very moment, if you forget past and future, then time stops. Then nothing moves, then
           everything is absolutely silent and you start drowning in the here-now. That 'now' is eternity.
                Kali is a symbol of now, of the eternal, of the absolutely real. To live moment to moment and not
           to bother about past and future is the way towards the novel man.

              SIMPLE WORDS CAN OVERCOME
              IGNORANCE AND DISBELIEF:
              KALI AND KRISHNA ARE ONE.
              THE WORDS MAY DIFFER --
              THE MEANING IS PRECISELY THE SAME.
              HE WHO HAS BROKEN
              THE BARRIER OF WORDS
              HAS CONQUERED LIMITS:
              ALLAH OR JESUS, MOSES OR KALI,
              THE RICH OR THE POOR,
              SAGE OR FOOL,
              ALL ARE ONE AND THE SAME TO HIM.


                Very significant sentences: "Simple words can overcome ignorance and disbelief." If you can
           listen, then very simple words are enough. If you are capable of being receptive, just simple words
           uttered by one who knows are enough. But if you don't understand, then things become very
           complex. Your non-understanding or non-receptivity makes things complex. It creates confusion, it
           puzzles you, it creates a chaos in your being. If you can listen silently without your mind interfering,
           then simple words can overcome ignorance and disbelief.
           The Bauls say,


                  Even if you forbid, dear friend,
                  I am helpless.
                  My songs contain my prayers.



                  Some flowers pray
                  through the glamour of colors,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  and others, being dark,
                  with fragrance.



                  As the VEENA prays
                  with its vibrating strings,
                  do I with my songs.

               Bauls don't know much philosophy; they are not philosophers. They are simple people of the
           earth. They are very simple people who can sing and dance. Their words are simple. If you love, if
           you trust, their small gestures can reveal much.
               And it is always a question of love and trust. It is not a question of great metaphysical skill,
           because the more metaphysics you know, the more you will be puzzled. And the more you are
           acquainted with philosophy, the less is the possibility to come to understanding. The more you are
           full of knowledge, the less will be your understanding. You will be too clouded, and too many
           thoughts will not allow you vision, clarity. Your mirror will be full of dust.

              SIMPLE WORDS CAN OVERCOME
              IGNORANCE AND DISBELIEF;
              KALI AND KRISHNA ARE ONE.


               Bauls say, "We don't make any distinction between a Hindu and a Mohammedan and a
           Christian...Kali and Krishna are one." They say, "We don't even make any distinction between male
           and female... Kali and Krishna are one, male and female are one." That is one of their great insights:
           that if you really dance and sing in deep trust and love, you will come to feel that man and woman
           are not two things, are not two beings. Inside you, a new alchemy starts, and your inside man melts
           with the inside woman...and Kali and Krishna become one.

           They sing,


                  As the man and the woman in me
                  unite in love,
                  the brilliance of beauty,
                  balanced on the bi-petalled lotus
                  blooms in me,
                  dazzles my eyes.
                  The rays outshine the moon,
                  and the jewels
                  glowing on the hoods of snakes.



                  My skin and bone are turned to gold
                  when the inner man and woman meet,
                  when Krishna and Kali become one.
                  My skin and bone are tumed to gold,
                  I am the reservoir of love,
                  alive as the waves.
                  A single drop of water
                  has grown into a sea,
                  unnavigable....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The whole problem of man is how to meet with the woman, and the whole problem of the
           woman is how to meet man.
                In one ancient myth prevalent in many countries of the Far East, they say God created man and
           woman together, not as two beings; they were joined in one body. But then it became difficult. There
           were conflicts and problems. The woman wanted to go to the East and the man was not willing. Or,
           the man was ready to do something and the woman wanted to rest. But they were together, their
           bodies were joined. So they complained and God cut their bodies separate. Since then, every man is
           searching the woman, his woman, and every woman is searching her man. Now it is such a big
           crowd that it is very difficult to find who is your woman, who is your man. So much misery, and one
           goes on stumbling and groping in the dark. It is almost impossible to find your woman. How will
           you find her?
                The myth says that if you can find, everything fits; you again become one. But it is very difficult
           to find.
                But there is a way to find your woman, because the woman is not outside. Outside, at the most,
           are parallel similarities.
                When you fall in love with a woman, what really happens? This is what happens: somehow the
           outside woman fulfills your inner woman's image, fits with that image -- maybe not a hundred
           percent, but enough to fall in love. When you fall in love with a man, what happens? Something
           inside you clicks and says, "Yes, this is the man, the right man." It is not a logical conclusion, it is
           not a syllogism. It is not that you find out all the pros and cons about the man and then you decide,
           or you compare the man with all the other men in the world, then you decide. No, something
           happens out of the blue. Suddenly you see that this is the man for whom you were waiting, for whom
           you were waiting for lives.
                What happens? You carry an image of man, you carry an image of woman inside. You are both,
           and you go on looking outside. Nobody is going to fit one hundred percent, because the woman that
           you find outside has her own images about you; you have your own images. It is very difficult to fit
           with each other. So all marriages are always on the rocks, and people, by and by, learn how to carry
           on peacefully. They learn not to 'rock the boat'. But nothing more can happen outside.
                Bauls say, "Deep inside you both exist -- Krishna and Kali. Let them meet there." That is the
           whole Tantra method: how to allow your inner man to meet with the inner woman. And when this
           becomes a circle, when this meeting, when this inner copulation happens, a great orgasm, a great
           explosive orgasm begins which knows a beginning but knows no end. Then you live an orgasmic
           life.


                  A single drop of water
                  has grown into a sea,
                  unnavigable....


              Then you are no more finite, you become infinite.

              SIMPLE WORDS CAN OVERCOME
              IGNORANCE AND DISBELIEF:
              KALI AND KRISHNA ARE ONE.
              THE WORDS MAY DIFFER --
              THE MEANING IS PRECISELY THE SAME.
              HE WHO HAS BROKEN
              THE BARRIER OF WORDS,
              HAS CONQUERED LIMITS...


               Break the barrier of words. Now, I am talking to you; I am using words. You can listen to my
           words -- then you have not listened to me. You can listen in such a way that the words are no more a
           barrier, but become vehicles. They no more create problems, but you listen exactly between the
           words, between two words, in the gaps. You listen to my silence; then words and their barriers are
           broken. Then limits are conquered.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              ALLAH OR JESUS, MOSES OR KALI,
              THE RICH OR THE POOR,
              SAGE OR FOOL,
              ALL ARE ONE AND THE SAME TO HIM.


               This is the novel man. Now he knows no duality. He does not make any distinction between the
           sage and the fool. He makes no distinction between the man and the woman. All dualities have come
           to be united, all dualities have dissolved. Once you drop the words, dualities drop.
               Language creates duality, language exists through duality. It cannot indicate the non-dual. If I
           say 'day', immediately I create night. If I say 'life', immediately I create death. If I say 'good',
           immediately bad is created. If I say 'no', just by the side of the no, yes is existing. Language can exist
           only through the opposite. That's why we see life as always divided -- God and devil. Drop language,
           drop this linguistic pattern. Once language is no more on your mind and you look directly into
           reality, day IS night. Suddenly you will start laughing at why you missed it so long! Day, every day
           turns into night; night turns into day every morning again, and you have been missing. Life is always
           turning into death, death always turns again into life, and you have been missing. They are not two,
           they are one whole. This is the non-dual, ADWAITA. This is the most essential religion.

              LOST IN HIS OWN THOUGHTS,
              HE SEEMS INSANE TO OTHERS...


              ... because his consciousness is no longer divided by language. He is no longer looking at the
           world through words. He looks insane: he is absorbed in his own being, he is lost in his own vision.
           And the vision is so vast, as if a thousand and one suns have risen together. It is so dazzling.

              LOST IN HIS OWN THOUGHTS,
              HE SEEMS INSANE TO OTHERS.
              HE OPENS HIS ARMS
              TO WELCOME THE WORLD,
              CALLING ALL TO THE FERRY BOAT
              TIED TO THE COAST OF LIFE.


               And he goes on calling, "Come to me, come, if you wish to meet the novel man," and the boat is
           ready. And his boat is not against life, it is tied to the coast of the life. He is not negative.
               And he says, "Come, and I can take you to the other shore. Come, and I can make you new.
           Come, and I can take you into eternity."




                                                The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                   Chapter #6
                                 Chapter title: Direction a non-ending process
           26 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606260
              ShortTitle: BELOV106
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question:


              YESTERDAY YOU SAID THAT AN INWARD TRAVELLER HAS ONLY DIRECTION AND NOT
              DESTINATION. WILL YOU PLEASE FURTHER CLARIFY THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE
              TWO?


                THE DISTINCTIOIN IS VERY SUBTLE, but it is the same distinction as there is between the
           mind and the heart, as there is between logic and love, or even more appropriate, as there is between
           prose and and poetry.
                A destination is a very clear-cut thing; direction is very intuitive. A destination is something
           outside you, more like a thing. A direction is an inner feeling; not an object, but your very
           subjectivity. You can feel direction, you cannot know it. You can know the destination, you cannot
           feel it. Destination is in the future. Once decided, you start manipulating your life towards it, steering
           your life towards it.
                How can you decide the future? Who are you to decide the unknown? How is it possible to fix
           the future? Future is that which is not known yet. Future is open possibility. By fixing a destination
           your future is no more a future, because it is no more open. Now you have chosen one alternative out
           of many, because when all the alternatives were open it was future. Now all alternatives have been
           dropped; only one alternative has been chosen. It is no longer future, it is your past.
                The past decides when you decide a destination. Your experience of the past, your knowledge of
           the past decides. You kill future. Then you go on repeating your own past -- maybe a little modified,
           a little changed here and there according to your comfort, convenience; repainted, renovated -- but
           still it comes out of the past. This is the way one loses track of future: by deciding a destination one
           loses track of future. One becomes dead. One starts functioning like a mechanism.
                Direction is something alive, in the moment. It knows nothing of the future, it knows nothing of
           the past, but it throbs, pulsates here and now. And out of this pulsating moment, the next moment is
           created. Not by any decision on your part -- but just because you live this moment and you live it so
           totally, and you love this moment so wholly, out of this wholeness the next moment is born. It is
           going to have a direction. That direction is not given by you, it is not imposed by you; it is
           spontaneous. That's what the Bauls call SAHAJA MANUSH, the spontaneous man.
                The spontaneous man is the way to the real man, to the essential man, to the God within. You
           cannot decide direction, you can only live this moment that is available to you. By living it, direction
           arises. If you dance, the next moment is going to be of a deeper dance. Not that you decide but you
           simply dance this moment. You have created a direction: you are not manipulating it. The next
           moment will be more full of dancing, and still more will be following.
                Destination is fixed by the mind; direction is earned by living. Destination is logical: one wants
           to be a doctor, one wants to be an engineer, one wants to be a scientist or one wants to be a
           politician, one wants to be a rich man, famous man -- these are destinations. Direction? -- one simply
           lives the moment in deep trust that life will decide. One lives this moment so totally that out of this
           totality a freshness is born. Out of this totality the past dissolves and the future starts taking shape.
           But this shape is not given by you, this shape is earned by you.
                One Zen master, Rinzai, was dying; he was on the death-bed. Somebody asked, "Master, people
           will ask after you are gone, what was your essential teaching? You have said many things, you have
           talked about many things -- it will be difficult for us to condense it. Before you leave, please, you
           yourself condense it into a single sentence, so we will treasure it. And whenever people who have
           not known you desire, we can give them your essential teaching."
                Dying, Rinzai opened his eyes, gave a great Zen shout, a lion's roar! They were all shocked!
           They couldn't believe that this dying man could have so much energy, and they were not expecting
           it. The man was unpredictable; he had always been so. But even with this unpredictable man they
           were not in any way expecting that dying, at the last moment, he would give such a lion's roar. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when they were shocked -- and of course their minds stopped, they were surprised, taken aback --
           Rinzai said, "This is it!" closed his eyes, and died.
           This is it....
               This moment, this silent moment, this moment uncorrupted by thought, this silence that was
           surrounding, this surprise, this last lion's roar over death; this is it.
               Yes, direction comes out of living this moment. It is not something that you manage and plan. It
           happens, it is very subtle, and you will never be certain about it. You can only feel it. That's why I
           say it is more like poetry, not like prose; more like love, not like logic; more like art than like
           science. Wake, and that's its beauty; hesitant, as hesitant as a dewdrop on a grass leaf, slipping, not
           knowing where, not knowing why; in the morning sun, just slipping on a leaf of grass.
               Direction is very subtle, delicate, fragile. That's why everybody has chosen destination. Society
           tries to fix a destination for you. Parents, teachers, culture, religion, government: they all try to give
           you a fixed pattern of life. They don't want you to be free, left alone, moving into the unknown. But
           that's how they have created boredom. If you know your future beforehand, it is already boring. If
           you know that you are going to be this, it is already boring.

               In the Koran, Mohammed talks about paradise, but he makes it so predictable, so much like a
           destination that it already looks worthless. The word 'paradise', or the Muslim equivalent of it,
           FIRDAUS -- they both come from a single root which means a walled garden -- and in that walled
           garden of God everything is fixed, almost every detail. Nothing is left to imagination. Streams are
           there, streams of wine; and people are sitting in the shade. Of course, Mohammed must have
           suffered too much from the heat and the desert. People are sitting in the shade, enjoying their wives
           -- not wife, but wives -- because Mohammed had nine wives. What else do they do? There is nothing
           else to do but drink wine from the springs, sit on couches under the shade of big trees, enjoy their
           wives.
               But then he was disturbed, because when you die your wife will be old. So what to do? -- he
           made an arrangement for that also: that for good people, those who had lived according to religion,
           God would make their wives young again. So remember, if you are not good you will have to remain
           with your old wife. Then you will be stuck with her forever and ever. Be good! Everything...and
           servants are there to fulfill any desire. But just think of it!
               But it is so ready-made, manufactured, predictable: it loses all meaning. Hindus, Jainas,
           Buddhists, are more subtle. Buddhists are the most subtle. They don't talk about NIRVANA. They
           say: one has to know it to know it; one has to be in it to know it -- there is no other way. They don't
           describe. They don't give any description because all descriptions will be dangerous. All words
           become definitive and the mystery is lost.
               Future should be a direction, not a destination. It should be more like NIRVANA. The word
           Buddha uses means: all that you know will not be there. That's his definition clf nirvana: all that you
           know will not be there, all that you have experienced will not be there, all that you are will not be
           there -- SOMETHING TOTALLY NEW, something that you cannot understand because you don't
           have the language to understand it, you don't have the experience to understand it. Something
           absolutely new; it cannot be talked about. NIRVANA is a direction. FIRDAUS, paradise, Christian
           and Mohammedan, are destinations, very clear-cut.
               The mediocre mind demands clear-cut goals because he is so insecure -- he cannot trust his own
           awareness, and he cannot trust life. The mediocre mind is very afraid of discovery, and discovery is
           the greatest secret in life. To be ready to be surprised, to be always ready to be surprised means that
           one is innocent, trying to discover. And life is such that you can go on discovering. The more you
           discover it, the more you come to know that much more is still left. It is a non-ending process.
           Direction is a non-ending process. Remember, it is a process, movement; destination is a dead thing.
               Destination belongs to the ego; direction belongs to life, to being. To move in the world of
           direction one needs tremendous trust, because one is moving in insecurity, one is moving in
           darkness. But the darkness has a thrill in it: without any map, without any guide you are moving into
           the unknown. Each step is a discovery, and it is not only a discovery of the outside world.
           Simultaneously, something is discovered in you also. A discoverer not only discovers things. As he
           goes on discovering more and more unknown worlds, he goes on discovering himself also,
           simultaneously. Each discovery is an inner discovery also. The more you know, the more you know
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about the knower. The more you love, the more you know about the lover.
                I am not going to give you a destination. I can only give you a direction -- awake, throbbing with
           life; and unknown, always surprising, unpredictable. I'm not going to give you a map. I can give you
           only a great passion to discover. Yes, a map is not needed; great passion, great desire to discover is
           needed. Then I leave you alone. Then you go on your own. Move into the vast, into the infinite, and
           by and by, learn to trust it. Leave yourself in the hands of life, because life is God. When Jesus says,
           "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done," he's saying this...a great trust. Even if God brings death,
           there is nothing to be afraid of. It is He who is bringing death, so there must be a reason in it, there
           must be a hidden secret in it, there must be a teaching in it. He's opening a door.
                The man who trusts, the man who is religious is thrilled even at the gate of death -- he can give a
           lion's roar. Even dying -- because he knows nothing dies -- at the very moment of death he can say,
           "This is it!" Because each moment, this is it. It may be life, it may be death; it may be success, it may
           be failure; it may be happiness, it may be unhappiness. Each moment...
           ... this is it.
                This is what I call the real prayer. And then you will have direction. You need not worry about it,
           you need not fix it; you can move with trust.

           The second question:

              HOW IS IT THAT THE INSCRIPTION ON THE GREEK TEMPLE TO DELPHI SAYS: KNOW
              THYSELF, AND NOT: LOVE THYSELF?


               The Greek mind has an obsession with knowledge. The Greek mind thinks in terms of
           knowledge, how to know. That's why Greeks produced the greatest tradition of philosophers, great
           thinkers, logicians, great rational minds. But the passion is to know.
               In the world, as I see it, there are only two types of minds: the Greek and the Hindu. The Greek
           mind has a passion to know, and the Hindu mind has a passion to be. The Hindu passion is not too
           concerned about knowing, but about being. SAT, being, is the very search -- who am I? -- not to
           know it in a logical way, but to drown in one's own existence so one can taste it, so one can be it --
           because there is no other way to know, really. If you ask Hindus, they will say there is no other way
           to know than to be. How can you know love? The only way is to become a lover. Be a lover and you
           will know. And if you are trying to stand outside the experience and just be an observer, then you
           may know ABOUT love, but you will never know love.
               The Greek mind has produced the whole scientific growth. Modern science is a by-product of the
           Greek mind. Modern science insists on being dispassionate, standing outside, watching,
           unprejudiced. Be objective, be impersonal. These are the basic requirements if you want to become a
           scientist: be impersonal, don't allow your emotions to color anything; be dispassionate, almost not
           interested in any hypothesis in whatsoever way. Just watch the fact. Don't get involved in it, remain
           outside. Don't be a participant. This is the Greek passion: a dispassionate search for knowledge.
               It has helped, but it has helped only in one direction: that is the direction of matter. That is the
           way to know matter. You can never come to know mind that way, only matter. You can never come
           to know consciousness that way. You can know the outside, you can never know the inside --
           because in the inside you are already involved. There is no way to stand out of it. You are already
           there. The inside is you -- how can you get out of it? I can watch a stone, a rock, a river,
           dispassionately because I am separate. How can I watch myself dispassionately? I am involved in it.
           I cannot be outside it. I cannot reduce myself to being an object. I will remain the subject, and I will
           remain the subject. Whatsoever I do, I am the knower, I'm not the known.
               So the Greek mind shifted, by and by, towards matter. The motto, the inscription at Delphi's
           temple: Know Thyself, became the source of the whole scientific progress. But by and by, the very
           idea of dispassionate knowledge led the Western mind away from its own being.
               The Hindu mind, the other type of mind in the world, has another direction: the direction is of
           being. In the Upanishads, the great master Udallack says to his son and his disciple Swetketu, "That
           art thou" -- TATWAMASI Swetketu. That art thou -- there is no distinction between that and thou.
           That is your reality; thou is the reality -- there is no distinction. There is no possibility to know it as
           you know a rock. There is no possibility to know it as you know other things; you can only BE it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               On the temple of Delphi, of course, it was written: Know Thyself. It is expressive of the Greek
           mind. Because the temple is in Greece the inscription is Greek. If the temple had been in India then
           the inscription would have been: Be Thyself -- because that art thou. The Hindu mind moved closer
           and closer to one's own being -- that's why it became non-scientific. It became religious but
           non-scientific. It became introvert, but then it lost all moorings in the outside world. The Hindu mind
           became very rich inside, but the outside became very poor.
               A great synthesis is needed, a great synthesis between the Hindu and the Greek mind. It can be
           the greatest blessing for the earth. Up to now it has not been possible, but now the basic
           requirements are there and a synthesis is possible. The East and West are meeting in a very subtle
           way. The Eastern people are going to the West to learn science, to become scientists, and the
           Western seekers are going, moving towards the East to learn what religion is. A great mingling and
           merging is happening.
               In the future, the East is not going to be East and the West is not going to be West. The earth is
           going to become a global village -- a small place where all distinctions will disappear. And then for
           the first time the great synthesis will arise, the greatest ever -- which will not think in extremes,
           which will not think that if you go outside, if you are a searcher after knowledge then you lose your
           roots in being; or if you search in your being you lose your roots in the world, in the scientific realm.
           Both can be together, and whenever this happens a man has both wings and he can fly to the highest
           sky possible. Otherwise you have only one wing.
               As I see it, Hindus are lopsided as much as the Greek mind is lopsided. Both are half of the
           reality.
               Religion is half; science is half. Something has to happen which can bring religion and science
           together in a greater whole, where science does not deny religion and where religion does not
           condemn science.
           "How is it that the inscription on the Greek temple to Delphi says: Know Thyself, and not: Love
           Thyself?"
               Love thyself is possible only if you become thyself, if you be thyself. Otherwise it is not
           possible. Otherwise the only possibility is to go on trying to know who you are, and that too from the
           outside; watching from the outside who you are, and that too in an objective way, not in an intuitive
           way.

               The Greek mind developed a tremendous logical capacity. Aristotle became the father of all logic
           and all philosophy. The Eastern mind looks illogical -- it is. The very insistence on meditation is
           illogical because meditation says: you can know only when the mind is dropped, when thinking is
           dropped and you merge yourself into your being so totally that not even a single thought is there to
           distract you. Only then can you know. And the Greek mind says: you can know only when thinking
           is clear, logical, rational, systematic. The Hindu mind says: when thinking disappears completely,
           only then is there any possibility to know. They are totally different, moving in diametrically
           opposite directions; but there is a possibility to synthesize both.
               A person can use his mind when working on matter; then logic is a great instrument. And the
           same person can put aside the mind when he moves into his meditation chamber and moves into the
           no-mind. Because mind is not you -- it is just an instrument just like my hand, just like my legs. If I
           want to walk I use my legs, if I don't want to walk I don't use my legs. Exactly in the same way you
           can use the mind logically if you are trying to know about matter. It is perfectly right, it fits there.
           And when you are moving inwards, put it aside. Now legs are not needed; thinking is not needed.
           Now you need a deep silent state of no-thought.
               And this can happen in one person. And when I say it, I say it from my own experience. I have
           been doing both. When it is needed, I can become as logical as any Greek. When it is not needed, I
           can become as absurd, illogical as any Hindu. So when I say it I mean it, and it is not a hypothesis. I
           have experienced It that way. The mind can be used and can be put aside. It is an instrument, a very
           beautiful instrument; no need to be so obsessed with it. No need to be so fixed, fixated with it. Then
           it becomes a disease. Just think of a man who wants to sit but cannot sit because he says, "I have legs
           -- how can I sit?" Or, think of a man who wants to keep quiet and silent and cannot keep quiet and
           silent because he says, "I have a mind." It is the same.
               One should become so capable that even the closest instrument of mind can be put aside and can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be put off. It can be done, it has been done, but it has not been done on a great scale. But more and
           more it will be done. This is what I am trying to do here with you.
                I talk to you, I discuss problems with you; that's logical, that is using the mind. And then I say to
           you, "Drop the mind and move into deep meditation. If you dance, dance so totally that there is not a
           single thought inside, your whole energy becomes dance. Or sing, then just sing. Or sit, then just sit
           -- be in ZAZEN, don't do anything else. Don't allow a single thought to pass through. Just be quiet,
           absolutely quiet." These are contradictory things.
                Every morning you meditate and every morning you come and listen to me. Every morning you
           listen to me and then you go and meditate. This is contradictory. If I were just Greek, I would talk to
           you, I would make a logical communication with you, but then I would not say to meditate. That is
           foolish. If I were just Hindu, there would be no need to talk to you. I can say, "Just go and meditate,
           because what is the point of talking? One has to become silent." I am both. And this is my hope: that
           you will also become both -- because then life is very enriched, tremendously enriched. Then you
           don't lose anything. Then everything is absorbed; then you become a great orchestra. Then all
           polarities meet in you.
                For the Greeks, the very idea of 'love thyself' would have been absurd, because they would say,
           and they would say logically, that love is possible only between two persons. You can love
           somebody else, you can even love your enemy, but how can you love yourself? Only you are there,
           alone. Love can exist between a duality, a polarity; how can you love yourself? For the Greek mind,
           the very idea of loving oneself is absurd: for love, the other is needed.
                For the Hindu mind, in the Upanishads they say: you love your wife not for your wife's sake; you
           love your wife just for your own sake. You love yourself through her. Because she gives you
           pleasure, that's why you love her -- but deep down you love your own pleasure. You love your son,
           you love your friend, not because of them but because of you. Deep down your son makes you
           happy, your friend gives you solace. That's what you are hankering for. So the Upanishads say: you
           love yourself really. Even if you say that you love others, that is just a via media to love yourself, a
           long roundabout way to love yourself.
                Hindus say that there is no other possibility: you can love only yourself. And Greeks say there is
           no possibility to love oneself because at least two are needed.
                If you ask me, I'm both Hindu and Greek. If you ask me I will say love is a paradox. It is a very
           paradoxical phenomenon. Don't try to reduce it to one pole; both polarities are needed. The other is
           needed, but in deep love the other disappears. If you watch two lovers, they are two and one
           together. That's the paradox of love, and that's the beauty of it: they are two, yes, they are two; and
           yet they are not two, they are one. If this oneness has not happened then love is not possible. They
           may be doing something else in the name of love. If they are still two and not one also, then love has
           not happened. And if you are just alone and there is nobody else, then too love is not possible. Love
           is a paradoxical phenomenon. It needs two in the first place, and in the last place it needs two to exist
           as one. It is the greatest enigma; it is the greatest puzzle.
                If you have loved somebody, you will understand what I mean. You know that the other is other,
           and yet deep down you feel something has been bridged. It is as if travelling in a sea you come
           across an island. It is separate from-the continent, yes. But deep down, underneath the sea, the land
           is one. It is joined with the continent; it is not really separate. It is separate yet not separate; that's
           what love is.
                So if you ask me, I will say it is possible to love yourself, but then you will have to divide
           yourself in two. Then you will have to become the lover and the beloved both. And it is also possible
           to love somebody else, but then you will have to become one. Love is something that happens
           between two persons, but when it happens they are no more two, they become one.

           The third question:

              THE SAME DAWN, THE SAME DUSK, THE SAME CHASING, THE SAME THOUGHT OF
              AWARENESS, THE SAME TALK OF AWARENESS, THE SAME AND THE SAME....


               It depends....
           In a way it is the same. How can it be otherwise? The same sun, the same sun rising every morning,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and the same sunset, yes -- but if you watch closely, have you ever seen two sunrises exactly the
           same? Have you watched the colors in the sky? Have you seen the cloud formations around the sun?
                No two sunrises are the same; no two sunsets are the same. The world is a discontinuous
           continuity -- discontinuous because every moment something new is happening, and yet continuous
           because it is not absolutely new. It is connected. So both proverbs are right. There is a proverb which
           says: there is nothing new under the sun; and the other proverb which seems contradictory to it
           which says: there is nothing old under the sun. Both are true.
                Nothing is new and nothing is old. Everything goes on changing and yet somehow remains the
           same, somehow remains the same and yet goes on changing. That's the beauty, the mystery, the
           secret. You cannot reduce it to any category: you cannot say it is the same, you cannot say it is not
           the same. You cannot reduce life into your categories; your pigeon-holes are just worthless. When it
           comes to life, you have to drop all your pigeon-holes, your categories. It is bigger than your
           categories, transcendental to all categories. It is so vast that you cannot find its beginning or its end.
                The questioner says, "The same dawn, the same dusk, the same chasing, the same thought of
           awareness, the same talk of awareness, the same and the same."
                Yes, in a way it is the same; and in another way, nothing is the same. Yesterday also I was here,
           but I am not the same. How can I be? -- so much water has flowed down the Ganges. I am
           twenty-four hours older, twenty-four hours of experience are added to me, twenty-four hours of
           intense awareness. I am richer; I'm not the same -- death has come a little closer. You are also not the
           same, and yet I look the same and you look the same.
                You have to see the point. This is what I mean when I say life is a mystery: you cannot classify
           it, you cannot say definitely that this is so. The moment you say, immediately you will become
           aware that life has falsified you.
                Are these trees the same as they were yesterday? Many leaves have fallen, many new leaves have
           come up, many flowers are gone. They have risen higher. How can they be the same? See, today the
           cuckoo is not singing. It is so silent. Yesterday the cuckoo was singing. It was a different silence: it
           was full of song. Today's silence is different; it is not full of song. Even the wind is not blowing --
           everything has stopped. Yesterday there was great wind. Trees are meditating today; yesterday they
           were dancing. It cannot be the same, and yet, it is the same.
                It depends on you -- how you look at life. If you look as if it is the same, you will be bored. Then
           don't throw your responsibility on somebody else. It is your outlook. If you say it is the same, then
           you will be bored. If you see the constant change, flux-like, the great whirlwind-like movement all
           around you, the dynamism of life, each moment the old disappearing and the new coming in; if you
           can see the continuous birth, if you can see God's hand continuously creating, then you will be
           enchanted, thrilled. Your life will not be bored. You will be continuously wondering, "What next?..."
           You will not be dull. Your intelligence will remain sharp, alive and young.
                Now it depends on what you want. If you want to become like a dead man, stupid, dull, gloomy,
           sad and bored, then you believe that life is the same. If you want to become very young and alive,
           fresh, radiant, then believe that life is new each moment.
                Says old Heraclitus, "You cannot step twice into the same river.''
                You cannot meet the same person twice and you cannot see the same sunrise twice It is up to
           you. And if you understand me, I will say, don't choose. If you choose the idea that everything is old,
           you become old. If you choose that everything is young and new, you become young. If you
           understand me, I say don't choose; see that both are true. Then you transcend all categories. You are
           neither old nor young. Then you become eternal, then you become God-like, then you become
           life-like.
           I have heard an anecdote:
                A Judge Dunne was seated in court in New York, or rather in Brooklyn, while a very, very stupid
           witness was being interrogated. The attorney said, "Were you at the corner of Fourth and Elm the
           day of the accident?"
           The witness said, "Who? Me?"
           "Yes, you," said the attorney. "Did you notice whether or not the ambulance came to care for the
           wounded woman?"
           "Who? Me?"
           "Yes, you! Did you notice whether or not the woman was seriously injured?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Who? Me?"
               By this time, the Prosecuting Attorney was exasperated. He said, "Certainly you! Why do you
           think you are here?"
               The witness said, "I came here to see justice done."
           Judge Dunne said, "Who? Me?"
               If you believe that everything is the same, then this will be a constant thing -- Who? Me? -- and
           you are going to be bored. The repetition will kill you. To be sharp and alive one needs something
           which is not repetitive. Something new, constantly happening, makes you alive, keeps you alive,
           keeps you alert.
               Have you watched a dog sitting silently? A rock is Iying down just in front of him; he will not be
           worried. But let the rock start moving. Just have a small thread connected to the rock and pull it, and
           the dog will jump. He will start barking. Movement makes you sharp; then all dullness is gone. Then
           he is no longer sleepy. Then he is no longer dreaming about flies and other things. Then he will
           simply jump out of his slumber. Something has changed.
               Change gives you movement, but constant change also can be very uprooting. As constant
           no-change can be very deadening, constant change can also be very uprooting.
               That is happening in the West; people are changing. The statisticians say that in America the
           average limit of a person doing a job is three years. People are changing their jobs, changing their
           towns, changing their spouses, trying to change everything -- changing their car every year, their
           house -- the whole value has changed. In England they make Rolls Royce. Their idea is so that it
           lasts forever, life-long at least. In America they make beautiful cars, but stability is not the quality to
           be bothered about -- because who is going to keep a car for his whole life? If it lasts for one year,
           enough. When the American goes to purchase a car, he does not bother about stability; he asks about
           exchangeability. The English still ask about durability, stability, whether the car will be durable
           because he purchases once, and finished. He's very old-fashioned. He does not know any divorce,
           even with a car. Once married, married. He's very monogamous even with a car. He's very sincere.
           The American lives in a world of change -- everything is changing -- but then the American has lost
           the roots.
               In my old village where sometimes I used to go, I was surprised. Everything remains the same.
           The same coolie would greet me at the station -- because there is only one coolie -- and the same
           TONGA, and the same road, and I would see the same people moving around. Everything remains
           almost the same. Rarely somebody dies; rarely somebody is born -- otherwise everything remains
           almost the same. And even when people die, they are replaced by their sons, and they look almost
           the same. Nothing has changed. The houses are the same, the gossip is the same. It seems time does
           not exist.
               I was always surprised going back to my town. That was the first thing that I would see: that in
           this town time does not exist. Everything seems to be eternally the same. But then people have roots.
           They are dull but they are very rooted. They are very comfortable, happy. They are not alienated.
           They don't feel strangers. How can they feel strangers? -- everything is so similar. When they were
           born it was the same; when they die it will be the same. Everything is so stable. How can you feel a
           stranger? The whole town is like a small family.
               In America everything is uprooted. Nobody knows where one belongs. The very sense of
           belonging is lost. If you ask somebody; "Where do you belong?" he will shrug his shoulders --
           because he has been to so many towns, to so many colleges, to so many universities. He cannot even
           be certain of who he is because the identity is very loose, fluid. In a way it is good because the man
           remains sharp and alive, but roots are gone.
               For me, both things have been tried: stability, rootedness, nothing new under the sun -- we have
           tried it in the past, for many centuries. It rusted the human mind. People were comfortable but not
           very alive.
               Then in America, something new has happened and it is spreading all over the world, because
           America is the future of the world. Whatsoever is happening there is going to happen everywhere,
           sooner or later. America sets the trend. Now people are very alive but unrooted, don't know where
           they belong. A great desire to belong has arisen. A great desire to be rooted somewhere, to possess
           someone and to be possessed by someone: something durable, something stable, something like a
           center -- because people are moving like wheels and there seems to be no rest. And it is great stress:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           continuously changing, continuously changing. And change is accelerating every day, becoming
           faster and faster. Now they say that big books cannot be written because by the time you write a big
           book it is out of date. Knowledge is changing so fast, so only small booklets are possible. So they
           reach -- before knowledge changes, they reach to people. Otherwise, before they reach the market,
           already the books will be out of date and useless, rubbish.
               Everything is in such a great change and turmoil and chaos, and man feels deeply stressed, great
           strain and tension. Both have their benefits and both have their curses.
               To me, a synthesis has to be made between these two orientations. One should be aware that life
           is both the old and new together, simultaneously -- old because the whole past is present in the
           present moment; new because the whole future is potentially present in the present moment. The
           present moment is a culmination of the whole past and the beginning of the whole future. In this
           moment, all that has happened is hidden, and all that is going to happen is also hidden. Each moment
           is past and future both, a convergence of past and future. So something is old and something is new,
           and if you can become aware of both together, you will have sharpness and roots both together. You
           will be at ease, without any stress. You will not become dull, and you will be very conscious and
           alert.
           I have heard....
               Mistress MacMahon went beserk one afternoon. She broke every dish and cup and reduced her
           usually spotless kitchen to shambles. The police arrived and took her to the city's mental institution.
           The head psychiatrist sent for her husband.
           "Do you know any reason," asked the shrink, "why your wife should suddenly lose her mind?"
           "I'm just as surprised as you are," answered Mr. MacMahon. "I can't imagine what got into her. She
           has always been such a quiet, hardworking woman. Why, she has not been out of the kitchen in
           twenty years!"
               Now then, one is going to go mad. It is as simple as two plus two make four. If for twenty years
           one has not been out of the kitchen, it is maddening. But the opposite is always maddening. If you
           have never been to your home for twenty years, and have just become a vagabond, always arriving
           and never arriving anywhere, always reaching and never reaching anywhere; if you have become a
           gypsy and you don't have any home, then too you will start going mad.
               Both are dangerous taken separately. Taken together they make life very rich. All polarities make
           life rich: yin and yang, man and woman, dark and light, life and death, god and devil, saint and
           sinner. All polarities taken together make life rich. Otherwise life becomes monotonous. Don't
           choose a monotonous life. Become richer.

           The fourth question:

              AFTER EACH CAMP, I AM LEFT DEEPLY FRUSTRATED AND ANXIOUS, AS IF I HAVE BEEN
              WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN THAT NEVER HAPPENS, AND I SAY TO MYSELF:
              HEERA, YOU ARE BACK IN THE SAME BOAT AGAIN. PLEASE COMMENT.


               Let me first tell you one anecdote.
           The newly-arrived convict was complaining to the warden, "I don't like the food here, I don't like the
           quarters, and I don't like your face."
           "Well," said the warden, "is there anything else you don't like?"
           "That's all for the time being," said the convict. "I don't want you to think that I am unreasonable."
           Heera, you are very unreasonable.
               First, for hundreds and hundreds of lives you have never meditated. Not to meditate has gone
           deep into your bones, into your very heart -- it has become a hard pattern. Now, suddenly you
           meditate and you start expecting too much. It is unreasonable.
               In fact, all expectations are unreasonable, but when one expects something out of meditation it is
           ABSOLUTELY unreasonable. Because the very base of meditation, the very foundation of
           meditation is to understand that expectation has to be dropped; otherwise meditation never starts. It
           is expectation that keeps your mind continuously spinning thoughts. It is expectation that keeps you
           tense. It is expectation, when not fulfilled, that makes you feel frustrated, miserable. Drop
           expectation and meditation will flower, but it can flower only when you are not expecting. You can
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go on expecting for many lives; you will not allow meditation to flower. That is not the way.
           I have heard....
                Lanahan's hair kept falling and he complained to his barber. "That stuff you gave me," he cried
           "is terrible. You said two bottles of it would make me hair grow, but nothing has happened."
           "I don't understand," said the barber, "that is the best hair restorer made."
           "Well," said Lanahan, "I don't mind drinking another bottle, but it better work!"
                Now, with expectation, doing meditation is like drinking a bottle of hair restorer. It is not going
           to work. It can even be destructive, it can be dangerous.
                It is better not to meditate than to meditate with expectation, because at least you will not suffer
           the frustration. Don't meditate. But if you have decided to meditate, then be clear. Meditation does
           not guarantee anything to you. Not that nothing happens out of it; it happens, but there is no
           guarantee. Tremendous possibilities open but you cannot expect them. If you expect, doors remain
           dosed. It is your expectation that blocks the way.
           Two friends met on the street.
           "I'm so unhappy I could cry," said the first.
           "Why?"
           "Two weeks ago, my uncle died and left me one million dollars."
           "That's no reason to cry," said the second.
           "That would make you happy, that's true," said the first, "but last week another uncle died and left
           me two million dollars."
           "But why are you so unhappy then?"
           The man said, "I only had two uncles!"
                Expectation is very, very dangerous. With expectation, even if something happens you will not
           feel fulfilled, because expectation is almost insanity. You go on expecting more and more -- now the
           man is miserable because he had only two uncles. Whatsoever happens is not going to make you
           happy if you start with expectations. Drop expectation -- that is not the right thing to bring into
           meditation -- and immediately things will start happening.
                Next camp, or from tomorrow, just meditate. Enjoy it intrinsically. There is no need to look for
           any result. Let it happen. Let the future come of its own accord. Don't make a destination out of
           meditation -- just simple direction will do. Enjoy it. Celebrate it. Be festive about it.
                The very act of meditation is a great joy. Just to be able to dance, just to be able to sing, just to be
           able to sit silently and breathe and be, is more than enough. Don't ask for anything else. Because of
           your asking you are corrupting your being. You have tried that way, now listen to me and try my
           way. You simply meditate.
           "After each camp, I am left deeply frustrated and anxious..."
                The problem does not arise after the camp, it arises before the camp. First you sow the seeds of
           expectation, then who is going to suffer? You will suffer. You will have to reap the crop.
           "... as if I have been waiting for something to happen that never happens..."
                That is never going to happen. Whatsoever you are waiting for, you are waiting in vain. It is not
           going to happen, and what is going to happen has nothing to do with your expectations and your
           desires. You just let it come in; don't block the way. Remove yourself out of your own way. This
           time, with no expectations, no desires, no hopes, just meditate.
           "... and I say to myself: Heera, you are back in the same boat again."
                If you listen to me you will never again be in the same boat. It is the boat of expectation.
           Frustration is a by-product. You want to get rid of the frustration but you don't want to get rid of the
           expectation. Then it is impossible.
                Buddha is reported to have said, "If you want to get rid of death, get rid of birth." There is no
           other way. If you want to get rid of misery, get rid of the lust for happiness. And when there is no
           misery, there IS happiness. But it is not because you desire it; it is because you don't have any desire.
           In a deep desireless state, you are full of bliss.

           The last question:
           It is from Parijat.

               YOUR CONTRADICTIONS USED TO THROW ME INTO SUCH UNHAPPY EMOTIONAL STATES.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              NOW I LISTEN TO YOU BUT WITHOUT THINKING, REMAINING TRANQUIL. HAVE I ESCAPED
              BEFORE THE POT CAME TO THE BOIL?


               First, one anecdote.
           A mother was examining a new mechanical toy at the corner shop and wondered if it were not too
           complicated for a small boy.
           "Oh, no," the salesman beamed, "it is an educational toy. It is especially designed to teach the child
           something about our current civilization: no matter how he puts it together, he's wrong."
               Don't try to put me together, otherwise you will be wrong. It is designed that way. To contradict
           myself is my way. To never allow you to settle anywhere is my way. To go on goading you on and
           on, is my way.
               But now, Parijat has learned the trick: listen in deep tranquility. Don't be bothered about whether
           I am contradicting something that I have said before. Listen to me this moment; don't bring the past
           in. If you don't bring the past in there is no contradiction. If you bring the past in then there is
           contradiction. Just don't bring the past in: that is what tranquility is. You just listen to me this
           moment; then where is the contradiction? And that's my whole effort -- to go on contradicting. One
           day or other you will decide that if you have to listen to this man, you have to forget all about what
           he has said before. That's a way to make you alert that the past has not to be brought in. If I go on
           saying very consistent things you will stop listening to me -- because there is no need: "He is saying
           the same thing." Even if you sleep you will not miss anything. But I will not allow you to sleep
           because you can miss, you can never rely.
               There was one advertisement in a newspaper: a nightguard was needed by a rich man. He had
           three conditions: one, he should be very tall, strong, violent-looking; second, he should not be
           addicted to any sort of alcoholic beverages, he should be alert; and third, he should be reliable.
               Mulla Nasrudin applied. He was called, but the rich man was surprised because he is a very small
           man, not tall at all, and not violent-looking, a very meek fellow.
               The rich man said,''I am surprised why you troubled yourself to come here, and why you
           answered my advertisement. Can't you see? These are the three conditions: first, that the man should
           be tall, at least six feet. You don't seem to be more than five. The man should be violent looking; I
           have not seen such a simple, almost simpleton, type man. You look so meek. Why have you come?
           Do you drink or not?"
           Nasrudin said, "I drink too much.''
           "Then why are you wasting my time? Why have you come?"
               Nasrudin said, "I have come only to say that I am not reliable either."
               I also am not reliable. I completely go on forgetting what I have said to you yesterday. I am a
           drunkard. That's why I can contradict so easily, otherwise it would be very difficult. It never comes
           to my mind that I am contradictory. Whatsoever I am saying, this is it! I don't bother about what I
           have said before. I'm not concerned with it. That was the truth of that moment, this is the truth of this
           moment, and I'm not reliable. I am not saying anything that I am going to say again tomorrow. Who
           knows? I don't know myself. If you really listen to me, by and by you will listen to the moment.
           That's the whole effort.
               I am not trying to give you a philosophy, a doctrine, a dogma. A dogma has to be consistent, a
           creed has to be consistent. I am not trying to convert you to a certain belief; a belief has to be
           consistent. I am trying to give you a vision, not a belief. I am trying to help you to come to my
           window to see the sky, to see the truth. That truth cannot be described. And that truth cannot be
           made a dogma, and that truth contains all contradictions -- because it is so vast. So I go on giving
           you glimpses, aspects of it: one aspect is contradictory to another aspect. But in the whole truth, all
           aspects meet and mingle and are one.
               The right way to listen to me is this: where Paritosh has arrived. Everybody has to arrive if you
           want to listen to me. If you want to be with me, you have to arrive to that tranquility where you don't
           pay any attention to the past. You forget what. I have said as deeply as I go on forgetting. You are
           simply to listen to this moment. Then there is no contradiction because there is no comparison. And
           then you don't cling to what I say. It becomes just a direction and not a destination. It just helps you
           to become more alert and aware. It does not give you a philosophy. Rather, it gives you a very subtle
           milieu, a totally different vision of life. It imparts my eyes to you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A salesman walked into a busy executive's office and asked, "How about buying some of the
           latest styles in ties?"
           "I don't need any," said the executive. "Scram!"
           "They are pure silk," continued the salesman.
           "Look, I said beat it, and I mean it." Then, his patience exhausted, the executive picked up the
           salesman and tossed him out; sample cases were scattered all over the place. The salesman,
           undaunted, picked up his wares, brushed off his clothes, and walked back into the office.
           "Now that you have got that off your chest," he said, "I am ready to take down your order."
               The same I say to Parijat: now that you have got that off your chest, those contradictions, and
           getting troubled by them and emotionally disturbed about them -- because you were seeking a
           philosophy, you were seeking a mental belief, you were trying to find something to cling to and I
           will not allow -- now that it is off your chest, I am ready to take down your order.

           Now, the really last question:

              I WANT TO TELL YOU, TO THANK YOU FOR ALL THE MIRACLES AND BLESSINGS, BUT I CAN'T
              FIND A WAY BIG ENOUGH. IT IS ALL SO OVERWHELMING.


                A little anecdote....
           A hippie-type hobo wandered into a church and on the way out told the vicar, "Man, you were
           swinging daddy, like way out, man."
           "I beg your pardon?" said the vicar.
           "I mean, man," said the hippie hobo, "I really dig your jive, man. I read you loud and clear. I put a
           little cash in your old plate there, daddyo."
           "Aha!" beamed the vicar, grasping the down-and-out's hand. "Cool man, cool!"
                That's what I say to you -- cool man, cool. There is no need to express your gratitude; it will be
           difficult. If you can express it, it is not of worth. If it is of worth, you cannot express it. If you are
           just giving me a formal thank you, then you can express it. But I know, I know the person who has
           said this. Something is really happening. It is overwhelming, but there is no need to express it. I
           know it.
                In fact, I know it before you come to know it. Whenever it is happening to somebody, I am the
           first to know here. You will be the second, even if it is happening to you -- because it will take a
           little time to reach your mind. It has to travel a little longer. It travels to me more fast. I know it is
           overwhelming, but there is no need; just cool down. Become more cool. And I will know it, and
           everybody else will know it, and the whole world -- even the trees and the rocks and the rivers will
           know it.
                When it really happens, there is no need to say it. The whole existence immediately feels it:
           something has happened. Somebody has opened, some flower flowered, a lotus bloomed.




                                                The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                  Chapter #7
                            Chapter title: Dying with death, You must live to seek
           27 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606270
              ShortTitle: BELOV107
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE EARTH
              WHILE ON THE EARTH,
              MY HEART,
              IF YOU WISH TO ATTAIN
              THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.



              PLACE AT HIS FEET
              YOUR FLOWERS OF FEELINGS
              AND THE PRAYERS OF TEARS
              FLOODING YOUR EYES.



              THE MAN YOU SEEK
              IS EARTHED
              IN THE EARTH,
              DECEASED WHILE BEING.



              DYING WITH DEATH,
              YOU MUST LIVE TO SEEK....


                THE RELIGION OF THE BAULS IS THE RELIGION OF THE EARTH. It's radical, because it
           pertains to the very roots of being. When I say it is the religion of the earth, I mean many things: it is
           the religion of the body, it is the religion of nature, it is the religion of reality. The Bauls don't
           believe in fantasy and they don't believe in some heavenly paradise; they don't believe in far-away
           goals, they are not utopians. They are very realistic people, down-to-earth. This is something very
           special in the world of religions, because ordinarily religions are nothing but wish-fulfillments,
           dreams of a suffering humanity. Because humanity is suffering it substitutes for reality by dreaming.
           A poor man can console himself that at least in the kingdom of God he will be the first. He can
           console himself with sayings like: Blessed are the meek because they shall inherit the earth; the poor
           in spirit are the people of God; those who are last will be the first in the kingdom of God. The poor
           man needs all these consolations.
                Man is afraid of death. He needs to be again and again reassured that he is a soul, deathless,
           immortal; only the body dies, not you. Man is suffering a thousand and one complexities. The whole
           life is almost an oceanic sadness, suffering, sorrow. It is difficult to bear it. Dreams are needed,
           hopes of a better future, of a better world, are needed. Maybe it is beyond death, but just the idea that
           it is there waiting for you and the suffering is only for today, you pass it somehow; you believe in
           tomorrow. Sooner or later you will be relieved of it. Ordinary religions are the religions of
           tomorrow. They simply indicate that because man lives in suffering, man needs dreaming.
                The religion of the Bauls is very down-to-earth; it believes in the here-now. It does not say that
           paradise is somewhere else; it is here, and you cannot postpone it, and all postponement is
           dangerous, suicidal. If you cannot discover it here-now, you will never discover it anywhere else
           because you will remain the same. And whenever you will be, life will always come in the form of
           here-now. So the only door to reality is here, this very moment.
                The Bauls say, "This is the reality and there is no that." They don't divide reality into two: they
           don't say illusory and the real, they don't say MAYA and BRAHMA, they don't say this and that.
           They say, "This is all." This moment is total, and all division is dangerous because reality is nowhere
           divided; it is indivisible.
                Hence, they don't talk about a God somewhere sitting in the seventh heaven. They talk about a
           totally different God -- rooted in you, rooted here in the earth, rooted in this body, rooted in these
           emotions, lust and love, rooted here in tension and stress. The God of the Bauls is a very real God.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You can touch Him, you can love Him, you can embrace Him, you live with Him, you can live Him.
           It is not far away, it is very close; closer than close, because it is you. They don't use the word 'God'
           at all. Their word for God is ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man. Man himself is divine. If you
           enter yourself you will be entering God. If you enter this world you will be entering God.
                This does not mean that there is no God. This is a radical standpoint, but not negation. It is a very
           revolutionary attitude, but not negative. It does not mean that God does not exist. In fact, it means
           that God exists here, now, and the responsibility is yours to discover Him. And there is no alibi,
           there is no excuse to postpone.
                In Chinese, Taoists have reached to the same viewpoint: they dropped the very word 'God'. They
           started using the word, 'CHI'LAN'. CHI'LAN means nature; that is God. CHI'LAN means that which
           happens of itself, that which is already happening, that which has always been happening and will go
           on happening. That is the meaning of the word 'Tao' also. In the Vedas, Hindus have a beautiful
           word: they call it RITAMBH. That is exactly what Tao or CHI'LAN is. RITAMBH means nature,
           not God -- because whenever you say 'God', somehow it is always somewhere else, not here; at least
           not in you, not in your neighbor. The earth seems to be not worthy enough for God to be here.
                Jainas and Buddhists use the word DHAMMA -- that exactly means nature. The Sanskrit word
           DHARMA also means nature. It is not equivalent to the English word 'religion'; no, not at all. In fact,
           both are polar opposites. Religion means that which binds you, gives you a certain organization -- a
           church -- gives you a certain belonging. DHARMA means that which frees you from all churches,
           from all organizations. DHARMA is individual, religion is social. Religion belongs to the collective
           crowd, religion does not belong to the individual. Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, are all
           religions; they are not DHARMAS. DHARMA has no adjective to it. Everybody has to discover his
           own DHARMA; everybody has to discover his own nature.
                The Bauls' attitude that God is here in you has to be understood as deeply as possible, because
           there is no other God. In fact, because religions have been talking about a God somewhere else,
           that's why the world has become more and more godless. Because the God that is not here and
           cannot be touched and cannot be seen and cannot be lived with, cannot be very appealing. As man
           grows to be mature, that God will start disappearing, withering away. Whenever man becomes very
           mature, those gods of the dreams will disappear and man will be left without God. That's what has
           happened to this age. It is not because of atheists that man has become godless, it is because of a
           wrong notion of God.
                Marx could condemn the God of the Christians, Marx cannot condemn the God of the Bauls.
           Scientists can deny the God of the so-called religious, but scientists cannot deny the God of the Baul
           -- because he never proposes anything dreamlike. He is simply realistic.
           I have heard a beautiful anecdote.
                A commissar in Russia asked a peasant how the new potato-crop-production plan was coming
           under their glorious leader.
                Said the peasant, "Our potato crop has been miraculous. If we were to put all the potatoes in a
           pile, they would make a mountain reaching to the feet of God."
           'But you know there is not any God," said the commissar.
           "I know," said the peasant, "but there are not any potatoes either."
                A God in the sky is a false God. Not that the sky is without God, no; the sky is as full of God as
           the earth. But the first understanding of God is going to be rooted in the earth. The first
           understanding has to be of the roots, and out of those roots your understanding will grow and spread
           to the farther corners of existence. But the journey starts at home. It starts deep within you. The first
           glimpse of God has to be in the innermost shrine of your heart. If you have not seen Him there, you
           can go on talking about Him, but you will not ever be able to see Him anywhere. The first encounter
           has to happen within you. Once it happens, you will be surprised that you start seeing God
           everywhere. Once you have seen Him within your heart, how can you miss Him. -- because
           everywhere the heart is throbbing with Him. The tree is full of Him and the rock also, and the river
           and the ocean, and the animals and the birds, everywhere. Once you have felt His pulse, once you
           have felt Him circulating in your own blood, once you have had an experience in your own marrow,
           then everywhere, wherever you look you will find Him. But, it cannot happen otherwise. If you are
           empty of His experience, you can go to the farthest corner of the world; your travelling will be in
           vain. You will never reach His temple because you missed the very root of it. You missed Him at
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           home. If your own house does not become His temple, then no temple can be His abode. If your own
           house has become His temple, then all houses are His abode.
               When the Bauls say that one has to be very earth oriented, they don't mean that the sky is empty
           of God. But they say, "If the earth is not full, then the sky is absolutely empty. If even the earth is not
           full, how can the sky be full of Him? If He is not here, how can He be there? If He is not this, how
           can He be that? If He is not today, how can He be tomorrow? If He is not in this life, how can He be
           in the next?" Their logic is simple and irrefutable.
               But man has created a God in the skies. Why? This God is not a real God, it is a substitute --
           because you are missing Him here, and you are missing Him so tremendously that you have to put
           Him somewhere or other. Otherwise you will feel very alone. You will feel so lonely that you will
           miss the meaning of life. And it is good to put Him very far away, because then there is no hurry.
           The journey is so far that you cannot complete it today. Even this life is not enough, so enough space
           to postpone, enough space to say, "Yes, one day I will do," enough space to pretend that you are
           interested in Him and continuing to be of the world, and going on talking at the same time about
           God. This is the double-talk, the double-bind of ordinary humanity. People talk about God and live
           according to the devil. They go to the temple but they never reach. They read the Bible, they read the
           Koran, but they never listen. These are pretensions, only on the surface. This is how the hypocritical
           humanity is born -- a false, pseudo-humanity.
           I have heard....
               Mulla Nasrudin went to his psychiatrist once and said, "Doctor, I wonder if you can split my
           personality for me?"
           "Why? Why would you want to do that?" asked the doctor, surprised.
           "Because," said the Mulla, "I am so lonesome."
               Man feels very alone without God, and to find the real God is arduous. It is very easy to create a
           pseudo-God which looks like God, which appears like God. It at least gives consolation that you are
           not alone. Have you watched your concept of God? Has it arisen out of the experience of your own
           being, or has it arisen out of your experience of your loneliness? This is the criterion: if you believe
           in God because you feel lonely, your God is going to be false; if you believe in God because you
           have experienced Him in your aloneness, if it has come out of your own being, then the God is real.
           Then let Nietzsche declare that God is dead; your God can never be dead. Your God is alive in you.
           How can Nietzsche declare that God is dead? But he could declare, and not only declare; his
           declaration became a prophecy. Within a hundred years, his declaration has become a reality. The
           God of the churches is dead, the God of the temples is dead, the God of the books is dead. Nobody
           has ever been so prophetic as Nietzsche has been. God is disappearing; the very word has become
           ugly.
               Just the other day I was reading a Christian priest's book. I was surprised, because I have heard
           about cases in which, particularly in India, people, if they want to read Playboy, hide it in their Gita
           or in their Bible and read it. That I have heard. But that Christian says that he was so afraid to read
           the Bible that he was hiding his Bible behind the cover of a Playboy magazine! It has come to
           happen in the West. So when he would go every Sunday to his beauty parlor, he would take his
           Bible. But afraid that others might see that he was reading the Bible, so out of date, he would hide it
           in a Playboy magazine and would read his Bible there.
               One day in the Bible he came across Jesus' saying: If you deny me, remember, at the last day of
           judgment I will also deny you. So he became afraid because this was a sort of denial -- reading the
           Bible behind the cover of Playboy. He became so afraid that he started perspiring, because Jesus
           says, "If you deny me, then before God I will not recognize you." So he threw away the Playboy
           magazine and he felt so good. He went to his priest and said, "Today I have done a great deed. I
           gathered courage to let people know that I read the Bible."
               God IS dead, MUST be dead. Have you watched yourself? -- if you are carrying a Bible you feel
           a little awkward. Or, if you are going to the temple you start finding excuses: that you are going
           because your wife has gone and there is some work to be done, or your father is there, or you are just
           going for formality's sake; it is just social. Have you watched how things change?
               I was reminded when I was reading this of a beautiful story.
               One dacoit, a great robber, became interested in the American ways of dacoity. Everybody has to
           be interested now, because everybody in his own profession is trying to go to America. Doctors are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going, engineers are going, so the dacoit thought, "Why not us? We can also learn the modern
           techniques." So he went to America, he joined a gang, and he was watching and observing what they
           were doing, the modern techniques. He was surprised, because first they kidnapped a beautiful
           woman, and then they wrote. But he said, "This is okay, because we also do the same in India: we
           kidnap a woman and then we write a letter to the husband that if within three days he doesn't give
           fifty thousand rupees, then we will kill his wife." So he wondered, "But what is new in it?" Then he
           looked at what they were writing in the letter. He was surprised; he said, "What are you doing?" --
           because in the letter they were writing, "If within three days you don't send us fifty thousand dollars,
           we will send your wife back."
                The world has tremendously changed. People used to read Playboys hiding them in their Bible
           covers, but now they are hiding their Bibles in Playboy covers. Nietzsche was right -- God is dead.
           But the real God cannot die; that is impossible. To say that God is dead is to say that life is dead. If
           God means life, then the statement 'God is dead' is simply stupid, meaningless, contradictory --
           because life is that which lives, that which goes on living.
                The Bauls would laugh. They would say, "Then you have not understood the real God. Yes, your
           God is dead because he was false, but the God of the Bauls is not dead, cannot be dead, because we
           never talked about God -- we talk about life, love. If all the temples were destroyed and all the
           mosques and GURUDWARAS were burnt, nothing would happen to God. Because the God
           enshrined there is not the real God. The God enshrined in you is the real God, and that cannot be
           destroyed. Life cannot be destroyed; life goes on. It is an eternal river."
                But man feels lonely. In his loneliness he creates fantasies, dreams. Man has become so lonely
           that he finds solace in any way, anywhere. It is unfortunate. But this is no way to find the real.
           I was reading one anecdote:
                Ira quit college, got himself a backpack and began hitchhiking around the United States. After he
           had been gone more than a year he telephoned home. "Hello, Ma, how are you?"
           "Just fine, son. When are you coming home? I will fix you some chopped liver and chicken soup and
           a beautiful potroast. "
           "I'm still pretty far away."
           "Oh, son!" cried the desperate woman.''Just come home, and I will fix your favorite -- oatmeal
           cookies."
           "I don't like oatmeal cookies," said the boy.
           "You don't?" asked the woman.
           "Say," said Ira, "is this Century 5-7682?"
           "No."
           "Then I must have the wrong number."
           "Does that mean you are not coming home, boy?" asked the woman.
                People are really lonely. Even if it is not your son, at least somebody is coming. You can
           pretend, you can believe, you can console.
                The God that exists in the temples is not a real God. That God that exists in the sky is your
           projection; the real God is within you. That which you are seeking is not somewhere else, it is in
           your very seeking. It is in the very seeker -- the sought is in the seeker. You are the truth, alive, in
           flesh. God is reborn in you, God is incarnated in you, God has taken a body in you. Where are you
           seeking, where are you going? The Bauls say, "Wait, listen, go within."

           They sing,


                  The God is living in man,
                  wholly intermingled.
                  Oh, my unseeing heart,
                  your eyes are unwise!
                  How then can you locate
                  the treasured man?
                  The unseen man
                  dwelling in the brilliance of light
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  hides his identity
                  from those blinded by stupor.
                  He is stationed in man,
                  appearing and vanishing
                  as the eyelids blink.

                  They go on singing again and again:



                  All of us in different ways
                  think of God
                  beyond senses and feelings.
                  And yet it is only
                  in the essence of loving
                  that God is found.



                  On the other shore of the ocean
                  of one's own self
                  quivers a drop of fluid
                  as the origin of all.
                  The root of all is based in you.
                  Explore the base
                  to reach the essence,
                  release the sensation of taste
                  on your tongue,
                  open the doors of feeling
                  for the Beloved.
                  Nectar, showering on
                  the lotus of spontaneity,
                  lust and love are housed
                  in one single place,
                  where sorrows and joys do not exist.


               They believe in man. They believe in the tremendous potentiality of man. They believe that man
           is the shrine of God. They believe in the body. No religion except Tantra has ever endeavored to
           understand this miraculous happening of consciousness located in the body, of consciousness
           residing in the body. All the other religions have remained anti-body, anti-life, life-negative,
           body-negative -- as if the more you destroy your body, the more you become divine, or the more you
           come close to God. Bauls say, "If you destroy the body, you destroy the very base. If you destroy
           sensation, you destroy sensitivity. If you destroy your senses, then how will you taste Him, how will
           you hear Him, how will you see Him? If you destroy your love, how will you love Him? If you
           destroy your passion, then you will be impotent."
               They have a really revolutionary religion to preach to the world. They are very illiterate people,
           but of great insight. Maybe that's why they are so full of insight, because they are illiterate...because
           they don't know much about scriptures, and they don't know much about philosophy and
           metaphysics. Because they cannot read the books they read their own bodies; because they cannot
           understand conceptualizations they try to find out who they are; because they cannot be very learned
           -- poor beggars moving from one village to another, singing and dancing, enjoying -- they have come
           very close to reality.
               They are very authentic, uncorrupted by nature, society, education. They are very innocent
           people. And this is their understanding: that body is divine. Body is sacred, because everything is
           sacred. But this word 'sacred' is not very good. In the Old Testament, the word 'sacred' comes from a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           root which means the separate. God is called sacred in the Old Testament because He is a separate
           reality from this reality.
               Bauls would laugh. They will say, "You have gone insane! There is no separate reality. God is
           THIS reality." Bauls make the whole reality sacred, holy, divine. Their vision is so vast that even
           matter is no longer thought of as matter. Even matter, in their vision, becomes luminous. Even body
           is not just body -- it is of the earth, but it carries the divine within it.
               I have heard about a Hassid rabbi: Rabbi Bonum was his name. When he was dying he left this
           last message for his disciples. He said, "Everyone must have two pockets, so that he can reach into
           one or the other according to his needs. In his right pocket are to be the words: For my sake was the
           world created; and in his left: I am nothing but earth."
               Beautiful it is. He is saying: Man is nothing but earth -- keep this message in one pocket; and in
           the other: The whole world is created for me. I am the God of the whole world -- keep this message
           in the other pocket. Both messages are true because one shows the reality, the other shows the
           potentiality. One shows the fact, the other shows the truth.
               The fact is that we are made of earth; the truth is that we are made in His image. We are both --
           God enshrined in earth. We are of the earth, and yet, there is a great passion inside us to rise to the
           highest sky. Look at the trees -- what are they doing? They come from the earth, they belong to the
           earth, they are rooted in the earth, and they are trying to reach to the sun, trying to reach to the stars.
           Rooted in the earth, they move towards heaven. That is the Baul symbol: the tree rooted in the earth,
           reaching towards heaven; rooted in the body, reaching towards the soul.
               Then these two are not contraries; they are both of one process, of one dynamic force.
               Just before the Zen Master, Baso, was dying at the age of sixty, he sat up in the lotus posture, and
           to those gathered around him said, "Don't be misled. Look directly. What is this?" He repeated it
           loudly, and calmly died.
               Let me repeat what he said: "Don't be misled. Look directly. What is this?" He repeated it loudly,
           then calmly died. THIS conveys the whole meaning; the very directness of it. There is no THAT.
           THIS is THAT! This is so vast, there is no need for any that to exist. This implies all that.
           "Don't be misled," he said -- because the greatest misguidance comes from people who separate God
           from reality, who separate truth from fact, who separate spirit from body, who separate lust from
           love, who separate mud from the lotus. They are the great misguiders of the world.
               They are the poisoners, because once they have made it clear to your mind, conditioned your
           mind that the lotus can never be of the mud, they have destroyed the very possibility of the lotus.
           Then you can have a plastic lotus; but a real lotus, never -- because the real lotus is always rooted in
           the mud. It is part of the mud, it is a flowering of the mud. It is earth come to its glory; it is earth's
           essence. Once you can see lust and love as one, passion and compassion as one, body and soul as one
           -- maybe two rhythms of the same energy, two formations of the same force, two concretizations of
           the same stuff, but the stuff is the same -- if you can see the world and God just like mud and lotus,
           lust and love, you have the vision of the Baul.
               If you don't have that vision, there is every possibility that you will be misled. And the
           misguiders are very cunning; they are great rationalizers. They can convince you, they can argue for
           their standpoint.

           I have heard....
               Mistress Goldfarb walked into a kosher butcher shop, asked the owner for a fresh chicken, and
           immediately began inspecting it. She lifted the wing, stuck her nose underneath and dedared, "Phew!
           It smells!" Then she pulled up a leg, sniffed and said, "Phaugh!" After smelling the hind end,
           Mistress Goldfarb held her nose and exclaimed, "It stinks! You call this a fresh chicken?"
           "Tell me, lady," said the butcher, "you could stand such an inspection?"
               These people who go on condemning the world, condemning the body, condemning everything,
           just ask them, "Will your God be able to stand all this inspection?" Then nothing is left, because all
           reality is condemned. Then just a concept, an abstraction is left. Yes, abstraction cannot be
           condemned because then God will not stink. Then He will not perspire because He will have nothing
           to do with the earth. Then His hands will not be muddy; then He will be just an abstraction.
               Have you noticed the fact that all religions have tried to convince the world that their founders
           were almost unreal? Jainas say Mahavir never perspired, because how can a man of God perspire?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Ordinary humanity perspires, not Mahavir. They say that Mahavir was hit, but blood never came out
           of his body. What came out of his body?. -- milk. How could blood have come out Mahavir's body,
           this ordinary humanity? Now they are trying to put Mahavir on such a pedestal that he is bound to
           become unreal. Then if people come and they say, "We don't believe in your Mahavir, he seems just
           a myth," they are right. How can he be real? Reality you deny, you condemn.
               The same has happened with all the great Masters of the world: followers try to make them
           unreal. Followers are always afraid because if the hands of their Masters look dirty....'Dirty' is not a
           dirty word, remember; it comes from 'dirt'. It simply says earthly, earthy. A gardener works in the
           garden; his hands are dirty -- not dirty, just dirt is there -- but dirt is good. We are made of dirt, we
           are made of dust. The word 'human' comes from HUMUS; HUMUS means the earth. The word
           'Adam' also comes from ADAMUS; ADAMUS means the earth. "We are made of earth"; that's what
           Bauls say. We are made of earth but not made only of earth. We are made of earth, but deep inside is
           enshrined the divine.
               You must have seen earthen lamps in India. They are made of earth, but the flame is not of the
           earth. The lamp is of the earth, the lamp belongs to the earth, and the flame is continuously running
           upwards, upwards, and upwards, towards the divine. Man is an earthen lamp -- made of earth, yet
           enshrining the divine flame.

               The Bauls are very down-to-earth realists. They have a beauty in their great vision. They are not
           denyers: they don't say no to the world. Remember, if you say no to the world too much, sooner or
           later your God will be just an abstraction -- because the very no to the world will go on reducing
           God's reality. Whatsoever you say no to will be a reduction of your God. By and by, when you have
           said no to the whole world, God is nothing but a concept, a word: empty, impotent, just a container
           without any content. The reality is earthly.
               The world has been denied and God has been put as if He is an opposite force, as if He is against
           the world. Now look at the absurdity: these same people go on saying, "God created the world." He
           cannot be against it, otherwise why should He create it? The creator cannot be against His own
           creation. The very creation is a proof that God loves it -- the creation is His appreciation, the creation
           is His play, the creation is His love, His vocation. God creates the world because He loves it.
               Gurdjieff used to say that all the religions are against God because they are against His creation.
           How can you be for the poet if you are against his poetry? How can you be for the man if you are
           against his character? How can you be for the painter if you are against his painting? Gurdjieff seems
           to be very logical, absolutely right: religions seem to be against God. They talk about God, but they
           are against Him because they are against His world. They teach you to deny the world; but you
           cannot deny it because you are rooted in it. Then what happens? -- you become pseudo, you become
           false, you become a pretender, you become double faced. You have one face to show to the world,
           and another face to live with. This is an emergency measure; man could not do anything else.
               What to do? You cannot deny the reality, and you cannot allow it, and you cannot accept it --
           because your religions teach you to be against it. So, man has found the golden mean: don't deny it in
           reality, just go on denying it in words. Show that you deny it, that's all. Pay your respects to God and
           go on living reality.
               Religions have not helped man to become sane. They have helped man to become insane,
           neurotic, split.
           It happened in a church:
               A man was confessing. "And how much of that stack of hay did you steal, Kavanagh?" the priest
           asked at confession.
           "I might just as well confess to the whole stack, your Reverence," said Kavanagh. "I am going after
           the rest of it tonight."
               He's confessing, and yet he's planning to do the same thing again this night. Then why confess?
           No, he is putting himself at ease because people say 'this is bad' and 'this is sin', and people have
           made a virtue of confession -- as if confession in itself is a virtue. Unless it is authentic, it is
           meaningless.
           It happened on a road:
               A Protestant minister was given a brand new car by his congregation, and he was driving it
           through downtown Dublin. Suddenly the car in front of him came to a screeching stop, and the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           minister crashed into it. The furious clergyman climbed out and stormed up to the car in front of him
           with murder in his eyes. Then he noticed that the driver of the other vehicle was a Catholic priest.
           "Your Reverence,'' said the minister through clenched teeth, "were it not for the fact that I am a man
           of the cloth, I would be tempted to thrash you within an inch of your life."
           "Your Reverence," said the priest, sticking his head out the window, "were it not that I too am a man
           of the cloth, and that it happens to be a Friday, I would be tempted to bite your balls."
                This is how the whole effort of all religion has made man just pretentious, hypocritical. Their
           reality is something different; their masks are absolutely different. Bauls are against it. They say,
           "Love the world and find your God through that love, so that there is no division created in you. "
                Man had to become a hypocrite; it became just a safety measure. Religions have not left any
           possibility, any way for him to be real. Now look at the absurdity: they go on teaching 'be true', and
           their whole teaching creates untruth. On the one hand they teach you to be true, to be authentic, and
           on the other hand their whole teaching creates such a situation that if you want to be true you will
           have to commit suicide; you cannot live. Either commit suicide if you want to be true but then what
           is the point of being true if you commit suicide? You will not be here to be true. If you want to live,
           you will have to be untrue. But the fault is not with you; the fault is in the whole program that has
           been fed into your brain. The whole program is faulty.
                Man has to be real, real to reality. Whatsoever the reality, man has to accept it and live it in deep
           gratitude, and live it with such reverence, respect -- because it is God's reality. It is His temple.
                When Moses reached on the mount where he encountered God, he saw a fire burning under a
           bush. And the bush was not burnt; the bush was as green as ever and flames were coming out of it.
           He could not believe his eyes. He started moving towards the bush; he was almost magnetized by
           what he saw. Then suddenly God shouted, "Moses! Take your shoes off! You are walking on holy
           ground."
                I have always loved that parable. But I say to you, not only on Mount Sinai, but wherever you
           are walking, you are walking on holy ground -- because all is His ground, because all is He.
                The Beloved is present in so many forms. Lust is also His, love is also His. Bauls say, "Don't
           deny anything because denial is an irreverence. It is a rejection of God."
                One day I saw that Mulla Nasrudin was teaching his son to be able to defend himself, so he
           taught him the finer points of boxing.
                I asked him, "But suppose, Mulla, he comes up against a bigger kid who also knows how to box?
           Then what?"
           "I have already thought of that," said Nasrudin, "so I am teaching him how to run too."
                On one hand we go on teaching people to be true, and on the other hand, in a subtle way, we go
           on teaching them not to be true. Each child is made neurotic by the parents, by the society; and we
           know that we are doing it, and we know that others have done the same to us. Stop doing it to
           yourself and stop doing it to others. Become alert. Just be real. I emphasize reality more than truth.
           Because truth has been used by the anti-life people so much, it has wrong associations. Be real. If
           you are real, one thing will start disappearing from your heart, and that is guilt.
                One psychoanalyst and therapist, Shepard, has coined a word:'unguilting'. I like the word. Real
           religion is always a process of unguilting; false religions are always a process of guilting. They try to
           make you more and more guilty: anger is there, lust is there, sex is there, greed is there, attachment is
           there, hate is there, love is there -- and everything is condemned. You become guilty, you start
           feeling wrong; you are wrong, you start feeling condemned, you start hating yourself. If you start
           hating yourself you will never be able to find God, because He is hiding in you.
                Unguilt; drop all guilt! Whatsoever you are, whosoever you are, wheresoever you are, God has
           accepted you. When God has accepted you, why be worried?. -- accept yourself. Start living your
           life not through concepts; start living your life through your feelings, emotions, your body. Start
           living life as if you were never corrupted by any society, as if you have just come new into the world
           directly from God's hands and nobody has taught you anything. Start living: that life is the real life.
           Then you listen to your own heart, you listen to your body. You don't repress, you try to understand;
           and through understanding is transformation.

           The Bauls sing the song for today:
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE EARTH
              WHILE ON THE EARTH,
              MY HEART,
              IF YOU WISH TO ATTAIN
              THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.


                Commit yourself to the earth -- don't be committed to some heaven somewhere else, be
           committed to the here and now, to the reality that is your surround. Be committed to your humanity,
           to the earth that is just below you: commit yourself to the earth while on the earth.
                Bauls say, "We will think -- when we have moved to heaven and gone to the other world, then
           we will see. Once you have learned how to be committed to the here and now, there also you will be
           committed." Because whenever future comes, it always comes as the present. Even the other world
           will come as this world. Have you seen that you move from one shore of a river to the other, and
           when you reach closer to the other shore, the other shore becomes this shore, and the first shore that
           used to be this shore becomes that shore? So wherever you are, you are surrounded by this-ness.
           I have heard....
                Once Mulla Nasrudin drank too much, and was walking on a road, zig-zagging from this side to
           that. He was asking people, "Where is the other side of the road?"
           Somebody said, "The other side is there."
                He went there and he asked people, "Where is the other side of the road?" And they said, "The
           other side is there."
                He said, "These people seem to be very foolish. When I go to that side, people say the other side
           is there. When I come here, people say the other side is there. Are they mad?"
                The other side is always there. And wherever you are, you are always here; this-ness surrounds
           you.
                Just the other day I quoted one very great saying of Udallak to his son, Swetketu -- ''That art
           thou"; TATWAMASI SWETKETU. The Bauls would like to make a little change in it. They would
           say, "THIS art thou" -- not that, because THAT gives a far away idea of God. THIS is more earthly.

              COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE EARTH
              WHILE ON THE EARTH,
              MY HEART,
              IF YOU WISH TO ATTAIN
              THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.


               That unattainable man, the ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man; if you want to attain it, then
           be committed to the here and now. Be committed to the present, be committed to the reality that is
           available to you in this moment. There is no other commitment.

              PLACE AT HIS FEET
              YOUR FLOWERS OF FEELINGS
              AND THE PRAYERS OF TEARS
              FLOODING YOUR EYES.


               They are very real people. They say 'the flowers of feelings'. Ordinary flowers won't do. You can
           pick flowers from the trees and go to the God of your temple and put those flowers there, but the
           God is abstract, the flowers borrowed. In fact, they were more in tune with God on the trees. They
           were more in tune with God on the trees -- at least they were alive. You have not made them closer
           to God, you have killed them.
               When I used to live in Jabalpur I had a very beautiful garden, and I was a victim, a continuous
           victim of religious people. Because there used to be two temples just close by, so any worshippers
           would come, and without asking they would start picking flowers. In that part of the country it is
           thought that if somebody is picking flowers for his God, it is not good to prevent it. So I had to put
           up a notice, because if I prevented them they would say, "These are for religious purposes." I had to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           put up a notice: You can pick for any other purpose, but not for religious purposes -- because, as I
           see it, the flowers are more surrendered to God on the plants, alive. You will kill them. Your God is
           bogus and you will kill the flowers. This whole worship is pseudo.
               The Bauls say 'your flowers of feelings place at his feet': your love, your compassion, your
           understanding, your lived experiences, your visions, your taste, your richness. "Place at his feet your
           flowers of feelings and the prayers of tears'-' -- because words won't do. How can words become
           prayers? Words are dead things: they don't mean much. Yes, there is much noise in them, but they
           don't mean much. Silent tears would be better. So you can find Bauls standing by the side of the road
           crying, and if you ask, "What are you doing?" they will say, "Praying." And you don't see any shrine,
           no temple, not even a tree-god. They are just standing on the road, crying. You will ask, "Where is
           your God?" and they will say, "Everything! Everywhere He is. Whenever the right moment is
           available to pray, whenever I feel in a receptive moment, that is the right moment to pray. I'm
           praying." With tears they pray, with dance they pray, with singing they pray, but their prayer is very
           alive.

           The Bauls say,


                  With a beggar's humility
                  I have come to your doors.
                  No one is ever turned away
                  from your home of unending stores.
                  You have all the riches,
                  and so much have you given
                  without my demand.
                  No more do I need any wealth,
                  O my Master,
                  give me your feet!


               "No more do I need any wealth, O my Master, give me your feet" -- just your feet are enough, so
           I can cry, so my tears can wash your feet.

              PLACE AT HIS FEET
              YOUR FLOWERS OF FEELINGS
              AND THE PRAYERS OF TEARS
              FLOODING YOUR EYES.



              THE MAN YOU SEEK
              IS EARTHED IN THE EARTH,
              DECEASED WHILE BEING.



              DYING WITH DEATH,
              YOU MUST LIVE TO SEEK...


               The man you seek is earthed, is incarnated in the body. The body is your earth. And the man you
           seek is here, enshrined in the earth, enshrined in death: the flame of life enshrined in death...so don't
           be afraid of the earth, and don't be afraid of death; they make it possible for you to live. Life is
           possible only because of death, soul is possible only because of the body. The tree is possible only
           because of the roots, so don't be afraid of the roots, and don't be afraid of death. Don't be afraid of
           the body. Accept this reality.

              DYING WITH DEATH,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU MUST LIVE TO SEEK...


                Live when life is there. Be committed to the earth while on the earth; die when death comes.
           Move with life and move with death. Dying, don't cling to life. Dying, don't resist death; dying, die.
           Living, live; dying, die. Let the moment be total. Float with it, be committed to it. When death
           comes, then don't be sad. Then accept death. Then accept it with such totality that even death cannot
           kill you.
                A total person cannot be killed, and a divided person never lives. A total person is already
           beyond death. Totality is beyond death. Divided, separated, falling into parts, not together, you just
           look alive but you are not alive. Dying, die; surrender to death. Now it is God who has come as
           death.
                For the Baul everything is divine -- life, death. Nothing is undivine. The devil does not exist.
                You must have heard the parable in Jesus' life that when Mary Magdalene came to see him, she
           was possessed by seven demons. He touched her and all the seven demons rushed, ran towards the
           sea and drowned themselves there. Now this parable is very significant. The word 'demon' comes
           from a root which means division. If you transiate this parable into psychological terms, it simply
           means Mary Magdalene was divided into seven parts. Jesus touched her, she became total,
           unpossessed; the demons disappeared. Demons mean divisions.
                The Baul lives an undivided life; he never divides. He is not against anything, he is not for
           anything; he simply lives. Whatsoever comes in the moment, he lives it. He is surrendered to reality;
           that is his prayer. Death comes, he yields beautifully, gracefully. He dies. He cooperates with death.
           There is not a little bit of resistance, not even a little bit. He is not fighting; he embraces death.

              DYING WITH DEATH,
              YOU MUST LIVE TO SEEK....


                And then he goes on and on. His search is unending. God can never be totally known because He
           is infinite. We can go on knowing Him more and more and more. We go on coming closer and closer
           and closer, but God is not a goal. Nobody can say, "I have arrived." If somebody says it, then
           something is wrong. The Upanishads say the one who says "I have known God", has not known --
           because how can you know the eternal? Yes, you can live Him, you can love Him, you can be in
           Him, but you cannot know Him -- because knowledge will become a definition, knowledge will
           make Him finite. That which is known totally becomes finite, but God remains unknowable. The
           more you know, the more doors open, the more mysteries open. Then each death is a closing of the
           past and a new vision of the future.

               DYING WITH DEATH, YOU MUST LIVE TO SEEK.... and one goes on seeking. The
           pilgrimage is eternal.
           The Bauls sing,

              SHUT THE DOORS ON THE FACE OF LUST,
              ATTAIN THE GREATEST, THE UNATTAINABLE MAN,
              AND ACT AS THE LOVERS ACT:
              MEET THE DEATH BEFORE YOU DIE.


               To die with death is possible only if you have met death before you die. Otherwise it will be
           difficult. You need some acquaintance. If death comes and you are not acquainted with it, it will be
           difficult for you to surrender. That is what meditation is all about: meeting death before you die;
           making a few acquaintances, a few encounters with death, so you start loving the beauty of it, so you
           start falling in love with it, so you can see the divine face even in death. Only a meditator can die
           without fighting, otherwise fight is unconscious. It is not that you will fight; you will find yourself
           fighting, and it will be almost impossible for you not to fight. Resistance is unconscious, it is built in.
               Meditate or love, because these are the two ways to be acquainted with death. If you love, it is a
           small death. If you love very deeply, it is a great death. If you are really in love, you are no more the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same as you were before. Something has disappeared; you are reborn. Love is a rebirth. So, many
           times in life, through meditation and love, you should become acquainted with death so that when
           death really comes you know the guest so well that you are not afraid. You can welcome the guest,
           you can receive the guest with great love, with great rejoicing, celebration.
              The Bauls say about the ADHAR MANUSH, the essential man:


                  Poison and ambrosia
                  are one and the same to him.
                  He is dead while wholly living.


               If you become acquainted with death through love and meditation, by and by you will see that
           life and death are two aspects of the same coin; poison and ambrosia are two aspects of the same
           coin; matter and mind -- two aspects of the same coin; good and bad, all dualities -- two aspects of
           the same coin. Then you are not worried. Then you don't choose. Then you live a life of choiceless
           awareness. Then all is the same. If you choose life you have chosen death. If you avoid death you
           will avoid life -- so there is no point in choosing, and there is no point in avoiding. One simply waits
           and accepts whatsoever gift comes from God's grace.
               This is what Bauls call: He is dead while wholly living. He is absolutely alive and yet, in a sense,
           dead, because all dualities have come into him and become a synthesis. He is wholly dead and
           wholly alive. You are neither alive nor dead; you are in a limbo.
               The perfect man is both together. In him, all dualities are transcended. He is tremendously
           enriched because life goes on pouring into him, death also goes on pouring into him. Whatsoever life
           can give, he accepts; whatsoever death can give, he accepts. Whatsoever happiness gives he accepts,
           and whatsoever unhappiness gives he accepts.
               And remember, there are treasures hidden in unhappiness also, as there are treasures hidden in
           happiness. If you have known only treasures of happiness, then you have not known much. If you
           have known only treasures of joy you have not known much; there are treasures of sadness also.
           There are a few treasures which only sadness can give to you. There are treasures of laughter and
           treasures of tears.
               The Bauls say that one should be so capable that one allows all dualities to merge and come into
           oneself. Then only is the essential man revealed. And the essential man is the God of the Bauls.

              COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE EARTH
              WHILE ON THE EARTH,
              MY HEART,
              IF YOU WISH TO ATTAIN
              THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.



              PLACE AT HIS FEET
              YOUR FLOWERS OF FEELINGS
              AND THE PRAYERS OF TEARS
              FLOODING YOUR EYES.



              THE MAN YOU SEEK
              IS EARTHED
              IN THE EARTH,
              DECEASED WHILE BEING.



              DYING WITH DEATH,
              YOU MUST LIVE TO SEEK....
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #8
                                        Chapter title: The body is an abode
           28 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606280
              ShortTitle: BELOV108
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins




              The first question:

              THE BAULS CELEBRATE THEIR LIVES IN THEIR BODIES. COULD YOU SAY MORE ABOUT
              THIS? AMERICANS CHERISH THEIR BODIES WITH HEALTH FOOD, ROLFING, MASSAGE, ETC.
              BUT I DON'T THINK THIS IS THE SAME AS THE BAULS. COULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               THERE IS A LOT OF DIFFERENCE, and the difference is not only quantitative, it is
           qualitative. The modern world, the modern mind, knows only the empty temple. It has completely
           forgotten about the one who is enshrined in the temple. So we go on worshipping the temple, but the
           God is forgotten. Not knowing anything about the center of life, we go on moving and indulging on
           the periphery. The American cherishes his body as the body, Baul worships his body as the shrine of
           God. Body in itself is nothing. It is luminous because of something that is beyond the body. The
           glory of the body is not in the body itself -- it is a host -- the glory is because of the guest. If you
           forget the guest, then it is sheer indulgence. If you remember the guest, then loving the body,
           celebrating the body is part of worship.
               The Baul has a great vision. In that vision body is the lowest part, the most visible part, the most
           tangible. But it is not the all, it is just the beginning. You have to enter through the body; it is just a
           gate. It leads to deeper mysteries. The Baul cherishes the body because the body is a vehicle, and
           through the body one can know that which is embodied, that which is not body itself. The body is the
           earthen lamp and God is the flame. The lamp is worshipped because of the flame. Once the flame is
           gone, who worships the body, who celebrates the body? Then it is nothing; then dust unto dust, it
           returns back to the earth.
               The body is throbbing with God, pulsating with God. If you can see that pulsation, then even
           dust becomes divine. If you cannot see that pulsation, then it is simply dust. Then there is no
           meaning in it.
               The American worship of the body is meaningless. Hence, people go after health food, massage,
           Rolfing, and in a thousand and one ways they somehow try to create meaning in their lives. But look
           into their eyes; a great emptiness exists. You can see they have missed. The fragrance is not there,
           the flower has not flowered. Deep inside, they are just desert-like, lost, not knowing what to do.
           They go on doing many things for the body, but it is missing the target.
           I have heard an anecdote:
               Rosenfeld walked into the house with a grin on his face. "You will never guess what a bargain I
           just got," he told his wife. "I bought four polyester, steel-belted, radial wide-tread, white-walled,
           heavy-duty tires, on sale yet!"
           "Are you nuts?" said Mistress Rosenfeld. "What did you buy tires for? You don't even have a car."
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "So," said Rosenfeld, "you buy brassieres, don't you?"
                If the center is missing, then you can go on decorating the periphery. It may deceive others, but it
           cannot fulfill you. It may even deceive you sometimes, because even one's own lie repeated too
           many times starts appearing like a truth. But it cannot fulfill you, it cannot give contentment. The
           American is trying hard to enjoy life, but there seems to be no rejoicing. The Baul is not trying at all
           to enjoy life. There is no effort in it; he simply is enjoying it. And he has nothing to enjoy; he is just
           a beggar on the road, but he has something of the inner, some glow of the unknown surrounds him.
           His songs are not only songs; something from the beyond descends in them. When he dances, it is
           not only that his body is moving; something deeper has moved. He's not trying to enjoy.
                Remember it: whenever you are trying to enjoy you will miss. When you are trying to achieve
           happiness you will miss. The very effort to achieve happiness is absurd -- because happiness is here:
           you cannot achieve it. Nothing has to be done about it, you have simply to allow it. It is happening, it
           is all around you; within, without, only happiness is. Nothing else is real. Watch, look deep into the
           world, into trees, birds, rocks, rivers, into the stars, moon and sun, into people, animals -- look deep:
           existence is made out of the stuff of happiness, joy, SATCHITANANDA. It is made of bliss. There
           is nothing to be done about it. Your very doing may be the barrier. Relax and it fulfills you; relax
           and it rushes into you; relax, it overflows you.
                The Baul is relaxed; the American is tense. Tension arises when you are chasing something,
           relaxation arises when you are allowing something. That's why I say there is a great difference, and
           the difference is qualitative. It is not a question of quantity -- that Bauls have more than Americans,
           or Americans have less than the Bauls. No, the Americans have nothing of happiness that the Bauls
           have; and what the Americans have -- the misery, the tension, the anguish, the neurosis -- the Bauls
           don't have. They exist in a totally different dimension.
                The dimension of the Baul is here-now; the dimension of the American is somewhere else --
           then-there, but never here-now. The American is chasing, chasing hard, trying to get something out
           of life, trying to squeeze life. Nothing comes out of it because that is not the way. You cannot
           squeeze life; you have to surrender to it. You cannot conquer life. You have to be so courageous to
           be defeated by life. Defeat is victory there, and the effort to be victorious is going to prove to be
           nothing but your final, UTTER failure.
                Life cannot be conquered because the part cannot conquer the whole. It is as if a small drop of
           water is trying to conquer the ocean. Yes, the small drop can fall into the ocean and become the
           ocean, but it cannot conquer the ocean. In fact, dropping into the ocean, slipping into the ocean is the
           way to conquer.
           Dissolve yourself.
                The Baul is one who is dissolved in life. He has said an absolute yes to life. He's not trying to
           squeeze anything. He simply waits -- passive, alert, available. When God knocks on his door the
           doors are always open, that's all.
                He is not chasing God. How can he chase? Where, in what ways, on what paths can we find
           Him? Either He is everywhere or He is nowhere. You cannot address your life towards God; you
           cannot make a target out of Him. He is the total; the total cannot be made a target. Wherever you
           look, He is. Whatsoever you do, you do in Him. Even when you are miserable, you are miserable in
           Him. Even in your misery you don't lose Him. He cannot be lost. That which can be lost is not God.
                That's why Bauls call God ADHAR MANUSH -- the essential man, the essential consciousness.
           It is so essential you cannot lose it. It is your very ground, it is your being. He celebrates his body
           because he knows that someone who is of the beyond, the stranger, is residing in the body. The body
           is an abode. It is a temple, but not empty. It is full of light, it is full of life -- God is there. Realizing
           this, he dances; realizing this, he sings; realizing this, he smiles and cries and weeps, and tears roll
           down his face. Seeing the miracle: "I have not earned Him, and He is here; I have not even sought
           Him, and He is here; I have not even begged, and He is here," a great, tremendous gratitude arises.
           The Baul dances because of it.
                Now let me say this: the American is trying to find happiness, hence his overconcern with the
           body. It is almost an obsession. It has gone beyond the limits of concern, it has become obsessive:
           continuously thinking about the body, doing this and that, and all sorts of things. He is making an
           effort to have some contact with happiness through the body. That is not possible.
                The Baul has ATTAINED it. He has already seen it inside himself. He has looked deep into his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           body, not through massage, not through Rolfing, not through sauna bath. He has looked into it
           through love and meditation and he has found that it is there, the treasure is there. Hence he worships
           his body; hence he is careful about his body because the body is carrying the divine.
               Have you watched how a woman walks when she is pregnant so careful, because a new life is
           enshrined in her. Have you seen the transfiguration that comes to the, face of a woman when she
           becomes pregnant? Her face is luminous, hopeful, throbbing with new life, new possibility. Look at
           Prafulla; she is pregnant now. Look at her face -- how transfigured, how happy she looks. She is
           carrying a treasure, a great treasure. A new life is going to be created through her. She walks
           carefully, moves carefully. A grace has arisen in her because she is pregnant. She is no more alone:
           her body has become a temple. This is just to make you understand.
               What to say about a Baul? God is there. He is pregnant with the divine. He glows, he is
           luminous, he dances and sings. Possessing nothing, he possesses all; having nothing, he is the richest
           man in the world. In one way he is just a beggar on the road, and in another way, the emperor.
           Because of this that has happened inside -- that he has become aware -- he is happy with his body, he
           takes care of his body, he loves his body. This love is totally different.
               And secondly: the American mind is competitive. It is not necessary that you may be really in
           love with your body; you may be just competing with others. Because others are doing things, you
           have to do them. The American mind is the most shallow, ambitious mind that has ever existed in the
           world. It is the very basic worldly mind. That's why the businessman has become the top-most
           reality in America. Everything else has faded into the background; the businessman, the man who
           controls money is the top-most reality. In India, BRAHMINS were the top-most reality -- the seekers
           of God. In Europe the aristocrats were the top-most reality -- well-cultured, educated, alert, in tune
           with subtle nuances of life: music, art, poetry, sculpture, architecture, classical dances, languages,
           Greek and Latin. The aristocrat, who had been conditioned for the higher values of life for centuries,
           was the top-most reality in Europe. In Soviet Russia the proletariat, the downtrodden, the oppressed,
           the laborer is the top-most reality. In America it is the businessman; VAISHYA, one who controls
           money.
               Money is the most competitive realm. You need not have culture, you need only have money.
           You need not know anything about music, anything about poetry. You need not know anything
           about ancient literature, history, religion, philosophy -- no, you need not know. If you have a big
           bank balance, you are important. That's why I say this is the most shallow mind that has ever existed.
           And this mind has turned everything into commerce. This mind is continuously in competition. Even
           if you purchase a Van Gogh or a Picasso, you don't purchase it for Picasso. You purchase because
           the neighbors have purchased. They have a Picasso painting in their drawing room, so how can you
           afford not to have it? You HAVE to have it. You may not know anything -- you may not know even
           how to hang it, which side is which. Because it is difficult to know, as far as a Picasso is concerned,
           whether the picture is hanging upside-down or right-side up. You may not know at all whether it is
           authentically a Picasso or not. You may not look at it at all, but because others have it and they are
           talking about Picasso, you have to show your culture. You simply show your money. So whatsoever
           is costly becomes significant; whatsoever is costly is thought to be significant.
               Money and the neighbors seem to be the only criterion to decide everything: their cars, their
           houses, their paintings, their decorations. People are having sauna baths in their bathrooms not
           because they love their bodies, not necessarily, but because it is the 'in' thing -- everybody has it. If
           you don't have it you look poor. If everybody has a house in the hills, you have to have it. You may
           not know how to enjoy the hills; you may be simply bored there. Or you may take your t.v. and your
           radio there and just listen to the same radio you were listening to at home, and watch the same t.v.
           program as you were watching at home. What difference does it make where you are sitting, the hills
           or in your own room? But others have it. A four-car garage is needed; others have it. You may not
           need four cars.
               The American mind is continuously competing with others. The Baul is a non-competitor. He is
           a drop-out. He says, "I am no more concerned with what others are doing, I am only concerned with
           what I am. I am not concerned with what others have, I am only concerned with what I have." Once
           you see the fact, that life can be tremendously blissful without having many things, then who
           bothers? That's one of the basic differences between other renunciates in India and the Bauls. Bauls
           are beggars, Jain monks are also beggars, but there is a great difference: Jain monks have the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           American mind. They have left the world with great effort, they have renounced the world with great
           effort -- because they think this is the only way to achieve the other world, to earn virtue. But they
           remain businessmen. The Jains are the top-most businessmen in India. That's why I say they have the
           American mind. Their sannyasins remain the same.
               The Baul's renunciation is totally different. He has not renounced for any other world. He has
           renounced seeing the foolishness of possessions, seeing the unnecessary burdening. He has
           renounced seeing the fact that you can be so happy without many things. Then why carry them?
           Carrying them creates anxiety, burdens you and destroys your blissfulness. The Jain monk is
           thinking of another world: his MOKSHA, his heaven. The Baul is not worried about any other
           world. He says, "This is the only world." But he has come to see the fact, a simple truth: that the
           more you have, the less you enjoy. Can't you see it? It is a simple arithmetic of life -- the more you
           have, the less you enjoy, because you don't have any time to enjoy. The whole time is occupied by
           having. If you have too many things, you are occupied by those many things; your inner space is
           occupied. To enjoy, you need a little space; to enjoy, you need a little unburdening; to enjoy, you
           need to forget your possessions and just be.
               The Baul loves life, hence he renounces. The Jain monk hates life, hence he renounces. So
           sometimes the gesture may appear the same, but it need not be the same. The inner significance may
           be totally different.
           I have heard....
               Old Luke and his wife were known as the stingiest couple in the valley. Luke died and a few
           months later his wife lay dying. She called in a neighbor and said weakly, "Ruthie, bury me in my
           black silk dress, but before you do, cut the back out and make a new dress out of it. It is good
           material and I hate to waste it."
           "Could not do that," said Ruthie. "When you and Luke walk up them golden stairs, what would them
           angels say if your dress ain't got a back in it?"
           "They won't be looking at me," she said. "I buried Luke without his pants."
               The concern is always the other -- Luke will be without pants so everybody will be looking at
           him. The American concern is with the other. The Baul's concern is simply with himself. The Baul is
           very selfish; he is not worried about you, and he is not worried about anything that you have or
           anything that you have done. He is not concerned at all with your biography. He lives on this earth as
           if he were alone. Of course, he has a tremendous space all around him -- because he lives on this
           earth as if he were alone. He moves on this earth without being concerned with others' opinions. He
           lives his life, he is doing his thing, and he is doing his being. Of course, he is happy like a child. His
           happiness is very simple, innocent. It is not manipulated, it is not manufactured. It is very simple,
           essential, basic, like a child's.
               Have you watched a child just running, shouting, dancing for nothing at all -- because he has
           nothing? If you ask him, "Why are you so happy?" he will not be able to answer you. He will really
           think that you are mad. Is there any need for any cause to be happy? He will simply be shocked that
           the 'why' can be raised. He will shrug his shoulders and will go on his way and start singing and
           dancing again. The child has nothing. He is not a prime minister yet, he is not a president of the
           United States, he is not a Rockefeller. He owns nothing -- maybe a few shells or a few stones that he
           has collected on the seashore, that's all.
               That's all that Bauls own: a few seashells, a few stones -- they will make a MALA of those
           stones, they will wear the MALA; a little instrument to sing, bells to ring for their innermost God, a
           small AEKTARA, a one-stringed instrument -- that too one-stringed, because that is enough; a small
           DUGGI, a small drum -- that's all. A Baul sleeps unconcerned with the world. He lives, moves
           unconcerned with the world. And his God is always within him so wherever he is is his shrine. He
           never goes to the temple -- not that he is against it; he never goes to the mosque -- not that he is
           against it. He has come to the real temple, and now there is no need to go anywhere. He worships, he
           prays, he loves, but his love, his prayer, his worship, is of the essential reality that he is.
               The Baul's life does not end when life ends; the American's life ends when life ends. When the
           body ends, the American ends. Hence, the American is very afraid of death. Because of the fear of
           death, the American goes on trying any way to prolong his life, sometimes to absurd lengths. Now
           there are many Americans who are just vegetating in hospitals, in mental asylums. They are not
           living; they are long since dead. They are just managed by the physicians, medicines, modern
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           equipment. Somehow they go on hanging on.
                The fear of death is so tremendous: once gone you are gone forever and nothing will survive --
           because the American knows only the body and nothing else. If you know only the body you are
           going to be very poor. First, you will always be afraid of death, and one who is afraid to die will be
           afraid to live -- because life and death are so together that if you are afraid to die you will become
           afraid to live. It is life that brings death, so if you are afraid of death, how can you really love life?
           The fear will be there. It is life that brings death; you cannot live it totally. If death ends everything,
           if that is your idea and understanding, then your life will be a life of rushing and chasing. Because
           death is coming, you cannot be patient. Hence the American mania for speed: everything has to be
           done fast because death is approaching, so try to manage as many more things as possible before you
           die. Try to stuff your being with as many experiences as possible before you die, because once you
           are dead, you are dead.
                This creates a great meaninglessness and, of course, anguish, anxiety. If there is nothing which is
           going to survive the body, then whatsoever you do cannot be very deep. Then whatsoever you do
           cannot satisfy you. If death is the end and nothing survives, then life cannot have any meaning and
           significance. Then it is a tale told by an idiot, full of fury and noise, signifying nothing.
                The Baul knows that he is IN the body, but he is not the body. He loves the body; it is his abode,
           his house, his home. He is not against the body because it is foolish to be against your own home,
           but he is not a materialist. He is earthly but not a materialist. He is very realistic, but not a
           materialist. He knows that dying, nothing dies. Death comes but life continues.
                I have heard: The funeral service was over and Desmond, the undertaker, found himself standing
           beside an elderly gent.
           "One of the relatives?" asked the mortician.
           "Yes, I am," answered the senior citizen.
           "How old are you?"
           "Ninety-four."
           "Hmm," said Desmond, "hardly pays you to make the trip home."
                The whole idea is of bodily life: if you are ninety-four,; finished. Then it hardly pays to go back
           home; then better to die. What is the point of going back? -- you will have to come again. It hardly
           pays...if death is the only reality, then whether you are ninety-four or twenty-four, how much
           difference does it make? Then the difference is of only a few years. Then the very young start feeling
           old, and the child starts feeling already dead. Once you understand that this body is the only life,
           then what is the point of it all? Then why carry it on?

               Camus has written that the only basic metaphysical problem for man is suicide. I agree with him.
           If body is the only reality and there is nothing within you that is beyond body, then of course that is
           the most important thing to consider, brood, and meditate on. Why not commit suicide? Why wait
           until ninety-four? And why suffer all sorts of problems and miseries on the way? If one is going to
           die, then why not die today? Why get up again tomorrow morning? It seems futile.
               So on the one hand the American is constantly running from one place to another to somehow
           grab the experience, somehow not to miss the experience. He is running all around the world, from
           one town to another, from one country to another, from one hotel to another. He is running from one
           guru to another, from one church to another, in search, because death is coming. On the one hand a
           constant, mad chasing, and on the other hand a deep-down apprehension that everything is useless --
           because death will end all. So whether you lived a rich life or you lived a poor life, whether you
           were intelligent or unintelligent, whether you were a great lover or missed, what difference does it
           make? Finally death comes, and it equalizes everybody: the wise and the foolish, the sages and the
           sinners, the enlightened people and the stupid people, all go down into the earth and disappear. So
           what is the point of it all? Whether it be a Buddha or a Jesus or a Judas; what difference does it
           make? Jesus dies on the cross, Judas commits suicide the next day -- both disappear into the earth.
               On the other hand there is a fear that you may miss and others may attain, and on the other hand
           a deep apprehension that even if you get, nothing is got. Even if you arrive, you arrive nowhere
           because death comes and destroys everything.
               The Baul lives in the body, loves his body, celebrates it, but he is not the body. He knows the
           essential man, the ADHAR MANUSH. He knows that there is something in him which will survive
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all deaths. He knows that there is something in him which is eternal and time cannot destroy it. This
           he has come to feel through meditation, love, prayer. This he has come to feel inside his own being.
           He is unafraid. He is unafraid of death because he knows what life is. And he is not chasing
           happiness, because he knows God is sending him millions of opportunities; he has just to allow.
                Can't you see the trees are rooted in the ground? They cannot go anywhere, and still they are
           happy. They cannot chase happiness, certainly; they cannot go and seek happiness. They are rooted
           in the ground, they cannot move, but can't you see the happiness? Can't you see their joy when it is
           raining, their great contentment when winds are running hither and thither? Can't you feel their
           dance?
                Now researchers say that when the gardener comes and the gardener loves the tree, the tree feels
           happy and rejoices. If you love the tree and you come close to it, it rejoices, as if a great friend is
           coming close. Now there are scientific instruments to check whether the tree is happy or not. It
           vibrates in a different rhythm. When the enemy comes -- the woodcutter, the carpenter -- the tree is
           simply in a turmoil, anxious, afraid. And when you cut one tree, now the scientists say the other trees
           all cry and weep. It is not only that when you cut one tree that tree weeps and cries; other trees, all
           the surrounding trees, cry and weep. And not only with trees, but if you kill a bird, all the trees start
           weeping -- subtle tears, great anguish, agony spreads. But they are rooted; they go nowhere. Still, life
           comes to them.
                This is the understanding of the Baul: that there is no need to go anywhere. Even if you go on
           sitting under a tree as it happened to Buddha; God himself came to him. He was not going anywhere
           -- just sitting under his tree.
                All comes -- you just create the capacity; all comes -- you just allow it. Life is ready to happen to
           you. You are creating so many barriers, and the greatest barrier that you can create is chasing.
           Because of your chasing and running, whenever life comes and knocks at your door she never finds
           you there. You are always somewhere else. When life reaches there you have moved. You were in
           Katmandu; when life reaches Katmandu you are in Goa. When you are in Goa and life somehow
           reaches Goa, you are in Poona. And by the time life reaches Poona, you will be in Philadelphia. So,
           you go on chasing life and life goes on chasing you, and the meeting never happens.
           Be...just be, and wait, and be patient.

           The second question:

              BEFORE COMING TO YOU I USED TO DO A BUDDHIST MEDITATION CALLED MAITRI
              BHAVANA. IT STARTS BY SAYING TO ONESELF: MAY I BE WELL, MAY I BE HAPPY, MAY I BE
              FREE FROM ENMITY, MAY I BE FREE FROM ILL-WILL AGAINST MYSELF. AFTER BEING
              PENETRATED BY THE FEELING THESE THOUGHTS GENERATE, THE NEXT PHASE OF THE
              MEDITATION CONSISTS IN EXTENDING IT TO OTHERS: TO START WITH, VISUALIZING
              PEOPLE YOU LOVE AND GIVING OUT THIS GOOD FEELING TO THEM; THEN DOING THE
              SAME WITH PEOPLE YOU LOVE LESS, UNTIL YOU MIGHT EVEN FEEL COMPASSION FOR
              PEOPLE YOU HATE.
              I USED TO FEEL THIS MEDITATION WAS PRETTY GOOD. IT SOMEHOW OPENED ME TO
              OTHERS. AND I STILL FEEL THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY DEEP AND BASIC TO IT. BUT I
              DROPPED IT WHEN I CAME TO YOU BECAUSE I SAW IN IT THE DANGER OF IT BEING SOME
              KIND OF SELF-HYPNOSIS. I STILL FEEL FOR THIS MEDITATION BUT I AM CONFUSED AS TO
              WHETHER I SHOULD TAKE IT UP AGAIN, MAYBE WITH A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE, OR JUST
              DROP IT. CAN YOU PLEASE SPEAK ABOUT THIS MEDITATION? I WOULD BE GRATEFUL.


               MAITRI BHAVANA is one of the most penetrating meditations. You need not be afraid of
           getting into some sort of self-hypnosis; it is not. In fact, it is a sort of de-hypnosis. It looks like
           hypnosis because it is the reverse process: you have come to me from your home, you walked the
           way; now going back you will walk the same way. The only difference will be that now your back
           will be towards me. The way will be the same, you will be the same, but your face was towards me
           while you were coming towards me; now your back will be towards me.
               Man is already hypnotized. It is not a question now of being hypnotized or not hypnotized. You
           are already hypnotized. The whole process of society is a sort of hypnosis. Somebody is told that he
           is a Christian, and it is so continuously repeated that his mind is conditioned and he thinks himself a
           Christian. Somebody is Hindu, somebody is a Mohammedan -- these are all hypnoses. You are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           already hypnotized. If you think you are miserable, this is a hypnosis. If you think you have too
           many problems, this is a hypnosis. Whatsoever you are is a sort of hypnosis. The society has given
           you those ideas, and now you are too full of those ideas and conditionings.
               MAITRI BHAVANA is a de-hypnosis: it is an effort to bring back your natural mind; it is an
           effort to give you back your original face; it is an effort to bring you to the point where you were
           when you were born and the society had not yet corrupted you. When a child is born he is in
           MAITRI BHAVANA. MAITRI BHAVANA means a great feeling of friendship, love, compassion.
           When a child is born, he knows no hatred, he knows only love. Love is intrinsic; hatred he will learn
           later on. Love is intrinsic; anger he will learn later on. Jealousy, possessiveness, envy, he will learn
           later on. These will be the things the society will teach: how to be jealous, how to be full of hatred,
           how to be full of anger or violence. These things will be taught by the society.
               When the child is born he is simple love. He has to be so because he has not known anything
           else. In the mother's womb he has not come across any enemy. He has lived in deep love for nine
           months, surrounded by love, nourished by love. He knows nobody who is inimical to him. He knows
           only the mother, he knows the mother's love. When he is born his whole experience is of love, so
           how can you expect him to know anything about hatred? This love he brings with himself; this is the
           original face. Then there will be trouble, then there will be many other experiences. He will start
           distrusting people. A newborn child is simply born with trust.
           I have heard....
               A man and a little boy entered a barber shop together. After the man received the full treatment --
           shave, shampoo, manicure, haircut, etcetera, he placed the boy in the chair.
           "I'm going to buy a green tie to wear for the parade. I will be back in a few minutes."
               When the boy's haircut was completed and the man still had not returned, the barber said, "Looks
           like your daddy has forgotten all about you."
           "That was not my daddy," said the boy. "He just walked up, took me by the hand and said, 'Come on,
           son, we are gonna get a free haircut!' "
               Children are trusting, but by and by there will be experiences in which they will be deceived, in
           which they will get into trouble, in which they will be opposed, in which they will become afraid. By
           and by they will learn all the tricks of the world. That's what has happened to everybody, more or
           less.
               Now, MAITRI BHAVANA is again creating the same situation: it is a de-hypnosis. It is an effort
           to drop hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, and come back to the world as you had come in the first place.
           If you go on doing this meditation, first you start loving yourself -- because you are closest to you
           than anybody else. Then you spread your love: your friendship, your compassion, your feeling, your
           well-wishing, your benediction, your blessings, you spread these to people you love -- friends,
           lovers. Then, by and by, you spread these to more people that you don't love so much, then people to
           whom you are indifferent -- you neither love nor hate -- then by and by to people you hate. Slowly
           you are de-hypnotizing yourself. Slowly you are again creating a womb of love around yourself.
               When a Buddha sits, he sits in existence as if the whole existence has again become his mother's
           womb. There is no enmity. He has attained to his original nature, SWABHAWA. He has come to
           know the essential man. Now you can even kill him but you cannot destroy his compassion. Even
           dying, he will remain full of compassion towards you. You can kill him but you cannot destroy his
           trust. Now he knows that trust is something so basic that once you lose trust you lose all. And if you
           don't lose trust and everything is lost, nothing is lost. You can take everything from him but you
           cannot take his trust.
               MAITRI BHAVANA is beautiful; you can do it. There is no need to drop it. It will be
           tremendously helpful. It is a de-structuring.
               The ego is made with hate, enmity, struggle. If you want to drop the ego, you will have to create
           more love feelings. When you love, ego disappears. If you love tremendously and you love
           unconditionally and you love all, then the ego cannot exist. The ego is the most stupid thing that can
           happen to a man or to a woman. Once it has happened it is very difficult even to see it because it
           clouds your eyes.
           I have heard....
               Mulla Nasrudin and his two friends were talking about their resemblances.
               The first friend said, "My face resembles that of Winston Churchill. I have often been mistaken
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for him."
               The second said, "In my case, people think I am President Nixon and ask me for my autograph."
               Mulla said, "That's nothing. Well, in my case, I have been mistaken for God Himself."
           The first and second asked together, "How?"
               Mulla Nasrudin said, "Well, when I was convicted and sent to jail for the fourth time, on seeing
           me the jailer exclaimed, 'Oh God, you have come again!' "
               Once the ego has happened it goes on collecting from everywhere -sense, nonsense -- but it goes
           on feeling itself important. In love you say, "You are also important, not only I." When you love
           somebody, what are you saying? You may be speaking or not, but what is really deep in your heart?
           You are saying, whether in words or in silence, "You are also important, as much as I am." If love
           grows deeper, you will say, "You are even more important than me. If there arises a situation where
           only one can survive, I would like to die for you, and I would like you to survive." The other has
           become more important. That is the meaning of 'beloved': you are even ready to sacrifice yourself for
           the one you love. And if this goes on spreading, as it goes on spreading in MAITRI BHAVANA,
           then by and by you start disappearing. Many moments will come when you will not be there --
           absolutely silent, not any ego at all, no center, just pure space. Buddha says, "When this is attained
           permanently, and you have become integrated to this pure space, then you are enlightened."
               When the ego is lost completely you are enlightened; when you have become so egoless that you
           cannot even say 'I am', you cannot even say that 'I am a self'. The word Buddha uses for that state is
           ANATTA: no-being, non-being, no-self. You cannot even utter the word 'I'; the very word becomes
           profane. In deep love 'I' disappears. You are destructured.
               When the child is born he comes without any 'I'; he simply is -- a blank sheet, nothing is written
           on him. Now the society will start writing, and the society will start narrowing down his
           consciousness. The society will, by and by, fix a role for him: "This is your role; this is you"; and he
           will stick to that role. That role will never allow him to be happy because happiness is possible only
           when you are infinite. When you are narrow, you cannot be happy. Happiness is not a function of
           narrowness; happiness is a function of infinite space. When you are so spacious that the whole can
           enter into you, then only can you be happy.
           MAITRI BHAVANA can be a tremendous help.

           The third question:

              THE OTHER DAY YOU SAID THAT BELIEF WAS LIKE A LANTERN IN THE HANDS OF THE
              BLIND. MAY I KNOW WHAT FAITH IS?


               Faith is like eyes: you see yourself. Belief is like a lantern in a blind man's hand: he cannot see,
           he cannot even use the lighted lantern. Even that lighted lantern will be just a burden to him, to be
           carried. And if the light goes off he will never become aware of it. Belief is just believing what
           others say. It is not faith; faith is knowing. Faith is existential, belief is intellectual.
               Buddha says something, or I say something; you listen to me, it appeals to your intellect. It
           seems to be convincing to your reason and you start believing in it. Then it will be a lantern in a
           blind man's hand. But if you listen to me, something appeals to you and you don't stay with the
           intellectual understanding but you try to make that your own experience..
               If I talk about love and Iistening to me you don't cling to my words but you move into love, you
           take the risk of love, you move into the danger of love, then you will come to an understanding
           which will be like eyes. If you just listen to me, it is very cheap. Just listening to me you can collect
           information and you can say, "Yes, I know much about love." Your knowing will be a deception.
           I have heard....
               Mulla Nasrudin and his wife went to Israel for their holidays and visited a nightclub in Tel Aviv.
           A comedian was on the bill who did his whole act in Hebrew. Nasrudin's wife sat through the
           comic's act in silence, but Nasrudin roared with laughter at the end of each joke.
           "I did not know you understood Hebrew," she said to the Mulla when the comedian had concluded
           his act.
           "I don't," replied Nasrudin.
           "Well, how come you laughed so much at his jokes?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Oh," said Nasrudin, "I trusted him."
                You can laugh at a joke without understanding it, but what sort of laughter will that be? It will
           not arise in you; it will be just a painted laughter. It will be just like an exercise of tne lips and the
           face. It will not have any center in your being. It will not be coming from anywhere -- because you
           can't understand the joke, you can't understand the language -- how can you laugh? But Mulla says,
           "I just trusted him. He MUST be saying something beautiful; others are laughing."
                Buddha must be saying something beautiful -- so many people believe in him, so you believe.
           But you have not understood the joke; the laughter is not yours. It will tire you, it will not refresh
           you. When laughter happens to you it spreads from your very being, from your innermost core of
           being to the surface. Your whole body ripples with it, pulsates, throbs. It gives you a sort of bath;
           you are new after it. But if you simply trust, believe, that is not going to help. Many people have just
           been deceived by their beliefs about many beautiful things. You think you believe in God, you think
           you believe in soul, you think you believe in this and that, and you have not known anything by your
           own experience. Then it is better not to believe -- because if you don't believe, if you know that you
           don't know, there is a possibility that you may seek and search. Your belief will not allow you even
           to seek and search because you already think you know.
                Belief is dangerous. Even to be a sceptic, to be an agnostic, is better. To be true when you don't
           know is better because this honesty of accepting that you don't know will help. This honesty will
           grow. One day or other you will start seeking, because nobody can remain in deep ignorance for
           long. Everybody wants to KNOW. To know is such an intrinsic desire in man that you cannot avoid
           it if you are true.
                Please drop your beliefs so your mind is not clouded with rotten furniture, and you can see what
           you know and what you don't know.
                To know exactly what one knows and what one does not know is the basic step towards
           knowledge. To be absolutely clear-cut that this is all that you know and this is all that you don't
           know. You cannot remain in this state. You will start moving towards the unknown, because it is
           human to seek to know. Every child is born with infinite curiosity; that's why children bore you to
           death with their questions. They go on asking and asking. They don't bother whether you are
           interested in answering them or not; they go on asking. You want to keep them quiet but they go on
           bubbling again and again with new questions. What is happening? From where do so many questions
           come? a deep desire to know. But this desire is crippled by your beliefs.
                Beliefs give you an appearance as if you know. That 'as if' is very costly.
           I have heard....
                The nervous passenger was standing with the pilot of the river steamboat as he twisted and
           turned the wheel.
           "Don't you worry none," said the pilot. "I have been running boats on this river so long, I know
           where every snag and sandbar is."
                Just then the boat struck a submerged snag with such force that the whole boat shivered from
           stem to stern. "There," said the pilot triumphantly, "that is one of them now."
                What type of knowledge is this? How is it going to help? Your whole so-called knowledge is
           only like this; it does not help. It simply gives you a certain egoistic idea that you know, but it
           doesn't help in life, it does not help you on the path, it does not help you to avoid ditches and pitfalls,
           it does not help you to move towards the right direction, it does not help you in any way to avoid
           calamities. Still you go on thinking that you know. Drop this so-called knowledge. This burden is
           useless; don't carry it on your head anymore. Once you drop it you will feel clean, fresh.
           I have heard....
                Aldous Huxley had a very great library, his whole life's efforts. He had collected many rare
           books. And one day it caught fire. The whole library burnt; his many valuable manuscripts were
           burnt, many valuable art pieces, statues, paintings. He had really been a great seeker of beautiful
           things; they were all burnt down to zero. He was standing in front of the fire, and nothing could be
           done. And somebody asked him, "You must be feeling very very sad."
                He said, "I am surprised at what I am feeling. I myself am surprised. I am simply feeling very
           clean, as if the whole burden is gone. I have never felt so clean and unburdened. I am surprised
           myself, because I was thinking I would feel sorry, I would feel tremendously miserable, for years I
           would not be able to forget my library and all these things I have collected, but suddenly, seeing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everything going into flames, I am feeling very unburdened, weightless, clean."
               When you throw your beliefs to the fire, you will feel very clean. It is just a burden. It is not
           yours; it cannot help.
               We know what is right but we do what is wrong. We know anger is bad and we go on being
           angry again and again. We know what should be done, but we never do it; we do just the opposite.
           What type of knowledge is this? We know where the door is and we always go on trying to get out
           through the wall. We stumble and we are knocked down, and we hurt our own being, but again and
           again we try to get out through the wall. We say we know the door; is it possible that you know the
           door and still you try to get out through the wall, and you get hurt and hit in the head? It is not
           possible. You have simply heard about the door. That door exists only in your fantasy, not in reality.
               Whatsoever YOU know, you always behave accordingly. That's why Socrates' famous dictum:
           Knowledge is Virtue -- but it is not your knowledge. He says, "Once one knows something is right,
           one does it. There is no other way." When you know two plus two is four, you cannot make it five,
           can you? Try one day -- just sit, write two plus two, and then try to write five. It will be impossible.
           Even if you write it you will laugh; you are joking, befooling. Once you know two plus two is four,
           there is no way to forget it. The basic thing is to have known it, and the knowledge should be your
           experience. Otherwise, you can always find rationalizations.
           I have heard a small anecdote.
               A small town chorine had theatrical ambitions. Her parents finally agreed to allow her to try New
           York City, but on two conditions: first, no men were allowed in her apartment, and second, she had
           to call home at least once a week. "Remember," said her mother, "I will worry about you, so please
           don't forget to call."
               Armed with a letter of introduction, she went to see an agent. He agreed to help her and started
           squiring her about town. At the end of the week she called home. It was late and mama was
           perturbed.
           "Honey," she said, "you know the bargain we made about no men allowed in your apartment, and I
           hear a man's voice in the background."
           "Oh," said the future actress, "that's my boyfriend. But don't worry," she hastened to assure her
           mother, "we are in his apartment. Let HIS mother worry.''
               We can always find ways, rationalizations to avoid that which we want to avoid, and to do that
           which we want to do. And if your knowledge is just intellectual, just verbal, then it is not going to
           help in actual life. Actual life needs actual knowledge. If you want to write a book, it will be okay. If
           you want to give a lecture, it will be okay. If you want to discuss with your friends, it will be okay --
           because a verbal knowledge is enough for writing a book, for giving a lecture, for discussing with
           your friends. But if you want to translate it into your life, it will be impossible. Life does not believe
           in that which you have accumulated very cheaply. Life believes only in that which has been earned
           the hard way.
               I have heard about a Sufi mystic, Bayazid. He meditated for years, and it is said God was very,
           very compassionate towards him. He had made such great effort; arduous was his search, intense
           was his prayer. So God sent an angel, and the angel came and said to Bayazid, "God is happy, and
           whatsoever you want He is ready to give to you. You just ask. Your days of seeking and inquiry are
           finished."
               But Bayazid said, "But no, that is not the way. I don't want to get so cheaply because I know
           well...in life also I was deceived because of this cheap possibility. Now you cannot deceive me. Tell
           God that I will earn the hard way."
               But the angel said, "You are foolish! He is ready to burn the innermost light of your being. Just
           ask!"
               But Bayazid said, "Thank you, and give Him also my thanks, but I am not going to do that
           because it will be borrowed; even if borrowed from God, it will be borrowed. Let me seek and
           search."
               The angel said, "God will feel offended. It has never happened; His offer has to be accepted."
               Then Bayazid looked around -- he had a small lamp and the oil was almost finished. He said, "If
           He really wants to light something, tell Him to light my lamp because the oil is almost finished and
           the night is dark, and I have still to meditate. Just this will do. You just tell Him to give me one
           blessing: that my oil should never finish so I can meditate the whole night."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's all he asked for, and it is said that God was very happy and He said, "This is the right
           way." If he had asked he would have missed; if he had accepted he would have missed -- because
           whatsoever comes to you without your earning it is never yours. You possess only that which you
           have lived. You possess only that which YOU have known. You possess only that which you have
           earned.
               A young boy had been taking swimming lessons. He rushed home one afternoon and breathlessly
           announced that he had gone off the diving board by himself.
           "That's fine, Johnny," said his father. "But I thought you told me you went off the board last week."
           "I know," said the boy, "but last week somebody shoved."
               Going by yourself is really totally different. When somebody shoves you, it is qualitatively
           different. When I give something to you, it is not the same as when you earn it. Remember it: many
           will be the temptations on the way. When things are available very cheaply, avoid them. Always
           remember that one has to go the hard way, because that is the only way. All shortcuts are false, and
           belief is a shortcut. Faith is a hard way.

           The last question:

              MOST BELOVED OSHO, THIS MORNING I SIT BEFORE YOU FLOODED WITH ORGASM, LIGHT
              AND FEATHERY, DEEP AND OVERWHELMING. I HARDLY NOTICE YOU. THE INNER IS MORE,
              BECAUSE OF YOU. PARAS.


              Good, tremendously good. That's how it should be. A Baul is born in Paras, and I hope that a
           Baul will be born in each of you. Each moment God is available. Just allow Him, don't prevent Him,
           don't bar the way. Just get out of your own way, and this will start happening to each and everybody.
           "This morning I sit before you flooded with orgasm, light and feathery, deep and overwhelming. I
           hardly notice you. The inner is more, because of you."




                                              The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #9
                                    Chapter title: It is always god who loves
           29 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606290
              ShortTitle: BELOV109
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins




              WHAT DEALINGS
              CAN YOU EVER CONCLUDE
              WITH SOMEONE WHO IS UNAWARE
              OF THE FEELINGS IN LOVING?



              THE OWL STARES AT THE SKY,
              SITTING BLIND
              TO THE RAYS OF THE SUN.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               MAN IS A QUEST, AN ETERNAL INQUIRY, A PERENNIAL QUESTION. The quest is for
           the energy that holds existence together -- call it God, call it truth, or whatsoever you like to call it.
           Who holds this infinite existence together? What is the center of it all, the core of it all?
               Science, philosophy, religion, all ask the same question. Their answers may differ but their
           question is the same. Religions call it God. Scientists will not agree with the word 'God'; it looks too
           personal. It looks too anthropomorphic, man-oriented. They call it electricity, magnetism. energy
           fields; but only the name is different. God is an energy field.
               Philosophers go on giving different names to it: the ultimate stratum, the absolute, the
           BRAHMA. From Thales to Bertrand Russell, they have supplied many answers. Sometimes some
           philosopher says it is water, liquidity; sometimes somebody else says it is fire -- but the quest has
           been eternal. What holds this infinite universe together?
               Bauls call it love, and to me, their answer seems to be most pertinent. It is neither personal nor
           impersonal. It has something of God in it, and something of magnetism in it also; something of the
           divine, and something of the earth.
               Love has two faces. It is Janus-like: one face looks towards the earth, the other face looks
           towards the sky. It is the greatest synthesis conceivable: it comes out of lust and moves towards
           prayer; it comes out of mud and becomes a lotus facing the sun.
               This word 'love' has to be understood. What do we mean by the word 'love'? One thing we
           certainly all mean is that it has a pull in it, great energy. When you fall in love, it is not that you do
           something -- you are pulled in. It has a magnetic force. You gravitate towards the object of your
           love, you gravitate almost helplessly, you gravitate even against your will. It has a pull, a magnetic
           field -- that's why we call it 'falling in love'. Who wants to fall? -- but who can avoid it? When the
           energy calls you, suddenly you are no more your old self. Something bigger than you is pulling you,
           something greater than you is invoking you. The challenge is such that one simply runs into it
           headlong.
               So the first thing to understand is: love is a great energy pull. The second thing: whenever you
           fall in love, suddenly you are no longer ordinary; something miraculously changes in your
           consciousness. Love transforms you. Falling in love, a violent man becomes kind and tender. A
           murderer can become so compassionate, it is almost impossible to believe. Love is miraculous -- it
           transforms the baser metal into gold. Have you watched people's faces and eyes when they fall in
           love? -- you cannot believe that they are the same persons. When love takes possession of their souls
           they are transfigured, transported into another dimension; and suddenly...and with no effort of their
           own, as if they are caught in the net of God. Love transforms the base into the higher, transforms
           earth into sky, transforms the human into the divine.
               These two things: first, love is an energy field -- scientists will agree -- second, love is a
           transforming force; it helps you to become weightless, puts you on your wings. You can move
           towards the beyond. Religious thinkers will agree that love is both God and electricity; love is divine
           energy. Bauls have chosen love because this is the most significant experience in man's life. Whether
           you are religious or not makes no difference; love remains the central experience of human life. It is
           the most common and the most uncommon. It happens to everybody, more or less, and whenever it
           happens it transmutes you. It is common and uncommon. It is the bridge between you and the
           ultimate.
           Remember the three L's: life, love, light.
               Life is given to you; you are alive. Light is present, but you have to make a bridge between life
           and light. That bridge is love. With these three L's you can make a total way of life, a way of being, a
           new way of being.
               Bauls are not philosophers. They are more like poets -- they sing, they dance, they don't
           philosophize. In fact, they are almost anti-philosophical, because they have come to see that
           whenever a man becomes too head-oriented he becomes incapable of love -- and love is going to be
           the bridge. A man who becomes too head-oriented goes farther away from the heart, and the heart is
           the center which responds to the call of love.
               A head-oriented man is cut off from the universe. He lives in the universe, but lives as if in a
           deep stupor. He lives in the universe, but lives as a tree that has lost its roots. He lives only for
           name's sake: the sap of life is no more flowing. He has lost contact; he's unconnected. That's what
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           alienation is.
                The modern man feels too alienated, feels too much an outsider, does not feel at home, at ease
           with life, existence, the world. He feels almost as if he has been thrown into it, and it is a curse rather
           than a blessing.
                Why has this happened? -- too much head orientation, too much training of the head has cut all
           the roots from the heart. There are many people -- I have observed thousands of people -- who don't
           know what the heart is; they bypass. The heart is throbbing but the energy no longer moves via it.
           They bypass it; they go directly to the head. Even when they love, they THINK that they love. Even
           when they feel, they THINK that they feel. Even feeling is via thinking. Of course, it has to be false.
                Thinking is the great falsifier, because thinking is man's effort to understand the universe, and
           love is God's effort to understand man. Let me repeat it: when you try to understand God, or
           existence, or truth, it is your effort -- a part, a very tiny part trying to grasp the whole, the infinite
           whole. The effort is bound to be doomed. It's impossible. It cannot happen in the nature of things.
           Love is when God has found you. Love is when God's hand is searching for you, groping for you.
           Love is when you are allowing God to find you. Hence, you cannot manage love. You can manage
           logic; you can be very very efficient as far as logic is concerned. The moment love arises, you
           become absolutely inefficient. Then you don't know where you are, then you don't know what you
           are doing, then you don't know where you are moving, then you don't know any control. Logic is
           controlled; love is uncontrolled. Logic is manipulated; love is a happening. Logic gives you a feeling
           that you are somebody; love gives you a feeling that you are nobody.
                Love arises in you when you allow God to enter you. When you are trying on your own, then the
           whole effort is absurd.
           I have heard....
                Mulla Nasrudin sidled up to a guest at one of his daughter's social evenings. He had heard him
           addressed as doctor, and now he said, diffidently, "Doctor, may I ask a question?"
           "Certainly," he said.
           "Lately," said Mulla Nasrudin, "I have been having a funny pain right here under the heart..."
                The guest interrupted uncomfortably and said, "I am terribly sorry, Mulla, but the truth is I am a
           Doctor of Philosophy."
           "Oh," said Nasrudin, "I'm sorry." He turned away, but then, overcome with curiosity, he turned back.
           "Just one more question, doctor. Tell me, what kind of disease is philosophy?"
                Yes, philosophy is a kind of disease -- and not just an ordinary kind of disease; it is more
           cancerous than cancer, more dangerous than all the diseases put together. A disease can cut only one
           root. Even all the diseases put together cannot cut you completely from existence. Philosophy cuts
           you, uproots you utterly.
                What is disease? When one connection is loose with existence, you feel ill. When the head is
           unconnected, then there is headache. When the stomach is unconnected, then there is stomachache.
           Somewhere, you have become autonomous; you are no more in the ocean of the interdependence of
           existence. There exists disease. Disease has a certain autonomy, independence. When you have a
           cancerous growth inside you, that growth becomes a universe unto itself. It is unconnected with
           existence.
                An ill person is one who is unconnected in many ways. When a certain disease becomes chronic,
           it simply means that that root is completely destroyed; even the possibility to replant it in the earth
           no longer exists. You will have to remain alive only partially; a part of you will remain dead.
           Somebody is paralyzed -- what does it mean? The body has lost contact with the universal energy.
           Now it is almost a dead thing -- hanging, unconnected. The sap of life no longer flows in it.
                If this is what disease is, then philosophy IS really the greatest disease there can be -- because it
           disconnects you utterly; and not only that, it disconnects you with such logic that you never become
           aware that you are ill. It disconnects you with such justifications and rationalizations that you never
           become aware that you are missing. It is a very self-justificatory illness; it goes on supporting itself.
           Philosophy means that a man has become completely head-oriented. He looks towards existence
           through the eyes of logic and not through the eyes of love.
                When you look through the eyes of logic, you will know a few things, but those few things will
           not give you the vision of reality. They will be only abstractions.
                When you look through love, then you know the reality as it is. Love is falling with the universe,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           together; falling in a togetherness. It is orgasmic: you are streaming, and the existence has always
           been streaming, and both streamings meet and mingle and are infused in each other. A higher
           synthesis arises: the part is meeting in the whole and the whole is meeting in the part. Then
           something arises which is more than the part and the whole together -- that's what love is. 'Love' is
           one of the most significant words in human languages, because love is existential language.
               But somehow, from the very childhood, we are being crippled. Our roots with the heart are cut.
           We are forced towards the head and we are not allowed to move towards the heart. It is something
           humanity has suffered for long, a calamity -- that man has not yet become capable of living with
           love.
           There are reasons.
               Love is risky. To love is to move into danger -- because you cannot control it, it is not safe. It is
           not within your hands. It is unpredictable: where it will lead nobody knows. Whether it will lead
           anywhere, that too nobody knows. One is moving into utter darkness but roots grow only in
           darkness. If the roots of a tree become afraid of darkness and don't move underground, the tree will
           die. They have to move into darkness. They have to find their way towards the deepest layers of the
           earth where they can find sources of water, nourishment.
               The heart is the darkest part of your being. It is like a dark night. It is your very womb, it is your
           earth. So people are afraid to move into darkness; they would like to remain in light. At least you can
           see where you are and what is going to happen. You are safe, secure. When you move in love, you
           cannot calculate the possibilities, you cannot calculate the results. You cannot be result-oriented. For
           love, future does not exist, only the present exists. You can be in this moment but you cannot think
           anything about the next moment. No planning is possible in love.
               The society, civilization, culture, church, all force a small child to be more logical. They try to
           focus his energies in the head. Once the energies are focused in the head, it becomes very difficult to
           fall towards the heart. In fact, every child is born with great love energy. The child is born out of
           love energy. The child is full of love, trust. Have you looked into the eyes of a small child? -- how
           trusting. The child can trust anything: the child can play with a snake, the child can go with anybody.
           The child can move so close to a fire that it can become dangerous -- because the child has not yet
           learned how to doubt. So we teach doubt, we teach scepticism, we teach logic. These seem to be
           measures for survival. We teach fear, we teach caution, we teach prudence, and all these together kill
           the possibility of love.
           I have heard....
               Doctor Abrams was called to Mulla Nasrudin's shop where the Mulla was Iying unconscious.
           Doctor Abrams worked on him for a long time and finally revived him.
           "How did you happen to drink that stuff, Nasrudin?" he asked the Mulla. "Didn't you see the label on
           the bottle? It said 'poison'."
               Nasrudin said, "Yes Doctor, but I didn't believe it."
           Doctor Abrams asked, "Why not?"
               Nasrudin said, "Because whenever I believe someone, I am deceived."
               By and by people learn how not to believe, how not to trust, how to become chronic doubters.
           And this happens so slowly, in such small doses that you are never alert to what is happening to you.
           By the time it has happened, it is too late. This is what people call experience. They call a person
           experienced if he has lost his contact with his heart: they say that he is a very experienced man, very
           clever, very cunning; nobody can deceive him.
               Maybe nobody can deceive him, but he has deceived himself. He has lost all that was worthy; he
           has lost all. And what is he saying?
               Then a very peculiar phenomenon happens: people cannot love persons because persons can be
           deceptive; they start loving things. Because there is a great need to love, they go on finding
           substitutes: somebody loves his house, somebody loves his car, somebody loves his clothes,
           somebody loves money. Of course, the house cannot deceive you, the love is not risky. You can love
           the car -- a car is more reliable than a real person. You can love money -- money is dead; it is always
           under your control. Why do so many people love things rather than persons?. -- and even if they
           sometimes love a person, they try to reduce the person to being a thing.

              If you love a woman, you are immediately ready to reduce her to being your wife, that is, you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ready to reduce her to a certain role: the role of a wife -- which is more predictable than the reality of
           a beloved. If you love a man you are ready to possess him like a thing. You would like him to be
           your husband, because a lover is more liquid; one never knows.... A husband seems to be more solid.
           At least the law is there, the court is there, the police is there, the state government is there to give a
           certain solidity to the husband. A lover seems to be like a dream: not so substantial. Immediately
           people fall in love, they are ready to get married -- such fear of love! And whomsoever we love, we
           start trying to control. That's the conflict that goes on between wives and husbands, mothers and
           sons, brothers and sisters, friends -- who is going to possess whom? That means: who is going to
           define whom, who is going to reduce-whom to a thing? Who will be the master and who will be the
           slave?
                Mulla Nasrudin sat moodily over his drink and his friend said, "You look pretty down in the
           mouth, Mulla. What is the matter?"
                Nasrudin said, "My psychiatrist says I am in love with my umbrella, and that is the source of my
           troubles."
           "In love with your umbrella?"
           "Yes, is not that ridiculous? Ah, I like and respect my umbrella, and enjoy its company, but love?"
                But what else is love? If you enjoy the company of your umbrella, and if you respect and like
           your umbrella, what else is love? Love is respect, tremendous respect; love is a deep liking; and love
           is sheer joy in the presence of the one you love. What else is love? But people love things -- a deep
           need is somehow fulfilled by substitutes.
                Remember, the first calamity is that one becomes head-oriented. The second calamity is that one
           starts substituting love needs with things. Then you are lost, lost in the desert land. Then you will
           never reach to the ocean. Then you will simply dissipate and evaporate. Then your whole life will be
           a sheer wastage.
                The moment you become aware that this is what is happening, turn the tide: make all efforts to
           again contact the heart. That's what Bauls call love -- to make contact with the heart again to undo
           that which has been done to you by the society. Undoing that which has been done by the society is
           true religion, undoing all nonsense that has been done by your well-wishers. They may be thinking
           that they are helping you, and they may not be knowingly destroying you; they may themselves be
           victims of their parents and their society. I'm not saying anything against them. Great compassion is
           needed for them.
                Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples that a man only becomes religious when he is able to
           forgive his parents.
                Forgive? Yes, that's how it is. It is very difficult. The moment you become aware, it is very
           difficult, almost impossible to forgive your parents because they have done so many things to you --
           unknowingly of course, behaving unconsciously of course, but still they have done. They have
           destroyed your love and they have handed you dead logic. They have destroyed your intelligence
           and they have given you, as a substitute, intellect. They have destroyed your life and aliveness, and
           they have given you a fixed pattern to live, a plan to live by. They have destroyed your direction and
           have given you a destination. They have destroyed your celebration and they have made you
           commodities in the marketplace. It is very difficult to forgive them, hence all the old traditions say:
           respect your parents.
                It is difficult to forgive them; it is very very difficult to respect them. But if you understand, you
           will forgive them. You will say the same as Jesus said on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they
           know not what they do." Yes, exactly those are the words. And everybody is on the cross -- and the
           cross is not prepared by your enemies, but by your parents, by your society...and everybody is
           crucified.
                The head has become so dominant that it does not allow any spontaneity. It has become
           dictatorial. It does not allow the heart even to utter a single word; it has forced the heart to be
           completely quiet. You will have to listen again to the heart. You will have to start dropping logic a
           little. You will have to take a few risks. You will have to live dangerously. You will have to move
           towards the unknown, and you will have to love persons and not things. You will have to be ready
           not to possess anybody, because the moment you possess the person is not there. Only a thing can be
           possessed.
                Try to understand it as deeply as possible: the moment you fall in love with somebody,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately your whole conditioning starts trying to possess him. Resist that temptation; the devil is
           tempting you -- the devil of the society, the devil of civilization and the church. The devil stands in a
           very religious garb, and the devil goes on quoting scriptures. Beware!
               Whenever you start possessing you are killing love. So either you can possess the person or you
           can love the person; both together are not possible. So this is the alternative: a man who wants to
           become a Baul, a lover, has to drop all possessiveness. Resist all temptation to being possessive
           because that temptation comes from the ego.
               Once Mulla Nasrudin said to me, "It is remarkable,,sir, how congenial we are. After all, we have
           practically nothing in common."
           "Oh yes we have." I replied, "We have one very important thing in common: I think you are
           wonderful and you agree with me."
               The ego goes on agreeing for wrong things, because the ego can exist only with the wrong. It
           feeds on the wrong. So whenever you feel that your ego is fulfilled, beware! -- you have eaten
           something wrong, you have swallowed something wrong. Whenever you feel egoless, relax -- now
           you have eaten the right, something which is in tune with your nature.
               Ego arises out of disturbance, but ego has its own logic. It goes on saying that you are important,
           that you are the most important man in the world, and you have to prove it. And we are all trying to
           do this one way or the other -- somebody by possessing more money, somebody by possessing a
           beautiful woman, somebody by possessing prestige, power, somebody by becoming a president or a
           premier, somebody by becoming an artist, a poet, somebody by becoming a MAHATMA -- but we
           are all trying in some way or other to prove our innermost fantasy, that we are the most important
           person in the world.
           Then you cannot be a lover.
               Ambition is poison for love. A lover is not in any need to prove. In fact, he knows that he is
           loved, and that's enough.
               Try to diagnose it very carefully. When you are not loved -- and how can you be loved if you
           don't love? -- when you are not loved and you don't love, suddenly a great need arises to perform, to
           do something, to show the world that you are important, that you are needed. There is a great need to
           be needed. You feel futile, impotent, useless, if you are not needed. The need in itself is not wrong; it
           is a love need to be needed. If a woman loves you, you are fulfilled -- somebody needs you, you are
           significant. Then you don't bother about the crowd. You don't go into the marketplace and shout, "I
           am important!" Then you are not ambitious; you don't collect money like an obsession. If somebody
           loves you, in that love you are dignified, in that love you become a sovereign. Love makes you an
           emperor, a sovereign. Love fulfills you so deeply and so greatly; then there is no need to perform or
           do anything. Ego simply does not exist with love. But if that need is unfulfilled, then you will try to
           fulfill it somehow: you would like to become a very famous man so many people need you.
               But remember, to be loved by one and to be needed by millions is not the same. Even a single
           person's love, even a single glance of love is enough; and you can collect millions of people and they
           can all look towards you, but that will not be satisfying. That's what politics is, and what the
           politician is trying to do.
               I have never come across a politician whose heart is functioning. The heart is totally dead -- but
           the need is there to be loved, to be needed, somebody to look to. Where to fulfill it? -- he gathers
           crowds. Through the crowds he tries somehow to fulfill the love need. But that crowd does not love
           him, that crowd is not bothered by him; that crowd is after its own needs. Because he's in power he
           seems to be important. They pay their respects to the chair, and the chairman is deceived. Once the
           chairman is not in the chair, they don't bother about him.
               Have you ever observed that once a politician is out of power he is simply forgotten? Nobody
           remembers him. He may live for thirty or forty years; nobody will know about him. By and by, he
           will recede into darkness. Only once, when he dies, will there be a small notice in the newspapers --
           that the ex-president or ex-premier is dead.
               The man who ruled over Russia before Lenin, Kerensky, lived for fifty years after it like a small
           New York grocer, and nobody knew about him. He was the Prime Minister of Russia, the most
           important man -- the revolution happened and he was thrown out of power. He escaped. For fifty
           years he lived. Only when he died did people become aware that Kerensky had been alive for all
           those fifty years.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Power cannot fulfill a love need. You can possess great kingdoms -- that will not fulfill your love
           need. But if you possess one heart which throbs in tune with you, then you are fulfilled.

           The Bauls sing,


                  O my heart,
                  let us go then on a promenade
                  to the grove of Krishna's love.

                  The breeze of joy
                  will calm your life.



                  In that woodland eternally bloom
                  five scented flowers --
                  their fragrance will enchant
                  your life and soul,
                  giving them sovereign dignity.


               Enter the temple of love, and you always enter it as a sovereign. Enter into the world, the world
           of things, and you always enter as a beggar. The world reduces everybody to a beggar; love raises
           everybody to an emperor. Love is an alchemical phenomenon. Even if one heart has flowed towards
           you, God has reached through that heart. Somebody looked towards you with love; in that moment
           God looked at you. Watch the eye full of love, the hand full of love, and you will find God throbbing
           there -- because it is always God who loves. To love is to become God, to allow-love to happen is to
           become God.
               Whenever you fall from the peak of love, then it is something else: you become possessive; you
           become a husband and a wife. Then you are no more in the grip of God. But whenever you reach to
           the peak -- maybe for a single moment sometimes it happens: when two persons are in absolute
           harmony, no barrier, no fence even exists between them; they are not throbbing as two centers, they
           become one center -- in that moment, God happens. When love happens, God happens. When God
           descends on earth, His name is love.


                  Each fruit is open to two frontiers
                  and born on a pair of trees.

                  Listen carefully...

                  Each fruit is open to two frontiers
                  and born on a pair of trees.


               Have you ever seen one fruit born on a pair of trees? One fruit is born on one tree; two trees are
           not needed for one fruit. Love is that fruit which is born on two trees, never on one tree.


                  Each fruit is open to two frontiers
                  and born on a pair of trees.
                  Deep meditation reveals the knowledge
                  beyond any doubt.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When you love somebody and somebody loves you, then there comes a moment when these two
           trees are not two trees; then it becomes one tree. That tree is the tree of love, and on that tree of love
           is fulfillment, is fruition, is flowering.


                  The two who are wholly present
                  can bring forth a fruit
                  to offer the Master;
                  they are conscious and fruitful.

                  Let me repeat:

                  The two who are wholly present...

               In love, two persons are simply present to each other, doing nothing. Love knows nothing of
           doing. When two persons are deep in love, they are simply present to each other. They face each
           other, just present, as if two lamps are burning, illuminating each other, or two mirrors are facing
           each other, reflecting each other in millionfold ways. Two lovers are just in each other's presence,
           saturated by the other, penetrated by the other. In that state a moment arises -- the climax, the peak
           moment -- when the fruit is born: when they are no more two, when all distinction is lost, when the
           egos don't exist, when they have become pure presences. Then, the fruit is born.


                  The two who are wholly present
                  can bring forth a fruit
                  to offer the Master;


              ... and that is the fruit to be offered to the Master, to God.


                  ... they are conscious and fruitful.


                In that peak of love, they are totally conscious and fruitful. Remember, love is not something like
           unconsciousness. Ordinarily, when you are in love, you become more unconscious. Then it is lust.
           Then it is the very lowest denominator. Then it is the lowest rung of the ladder. Of course it belongs
           to the ladder, but it is the lowest rung. At the highest rung there is tremendous consciousness -- and
           if you cannot be conscious in the presence of your lover, where else are you going to be conscious?
           If the presence of your lover is not worth being conscious, then where else will you find the treasure
           to be conscious? If you love the person, if you really love, a peak of consciousness arises. You
           would just like to observe, to see your beloved or your lover; you would like to be with a pure
           presence. And they help each other to be more and more conscious -- because when the one becomes
           more conscious, it is immediately reflected in the other. The other becomes more conscious, and it
           works like a chain reaction. Higher and higher they go, and then there comes a moment when the
           fruit is born; that fruit is called love. That love you can offer to the Master of the world. No other
           fruit will do.


                  They are conscious and fruitful....


               And in that peak of consciousness they are fruitful. Otherwise, people live a fruitless life. People
           live an unfruitful life, people live without fruition. Nothing is born out of them; they simply live and
           die. There is no meaning and no significance in their lives. The significance arises only when two
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           trees have become one tree, and when on that one tree the fruit of love is born.


                  ....conscious and fruitful.
                  The well never sinks
                  into the water.

               The Bauls say, "You see? Go and see a well full of water -- but it never sinks into the water.''
           This is very mysterious. When you are absolutely drowned in oneness, for the first time you are. You
           never sink into it. You are merged, all boundaries lost, but then happens a paradox: the paradox of
           being lost completely and yet being, for the first time, yourself. When you are lost completely, you
           are, for the first time, your reality. You are full, surrounded by tremendous force, but you are not
           sunk in it. You are one with it, but for the first time your flame burns. Without any ego, your being is
           revealed.

           Bauls sing,


                  Let ripeness appear in its own time
                  for the full flavor of the fruit.

                  A green jackfruit
                  can be softened by blows
                  but not made sweet.


              And they say, this love you cannot force. There is no way to manipulate it. There is nothing that
           you can do about it. All that you can do is to allow.


                  Let ripeness appear in its own time...


              It will come in its own time. What do you do when you watch a tree, an apple tree? What do you
           do? You don't pull the fruits, you don't force, you just watch. You take care, every care that is
           needed -- you protect the tree, you water the tree, you provide fertilizers and manure. Everything that
           you can do, you do; but what can you do to force? That is just helping the tree to ripen in its own
           time. Then the fruit comes; then you watch. One day it is ripe, sweet.


                  Let ripeness appear in its own time..


               ... so Bauls are not for any sort of Yoga. They are against Yoga. That's why I told you in the
           beginning that they belong to the tradition of Tantra, not to the tradition of Veda, Yoga -- no. In fact,
           the Bauls' tradition is more ancient than the tradition of Veda and Yoga.
               Historians say that Tantra is pre-Aryan. When the Aryans came to India, Tantra was in existence
           here, and Shiva was their God. When the Aryans came to India they overran India, they defeated the
           people who were living here. Their religion was crushed, their scriptures destroyed, and by and by
           even their Gods were absorbed into the pantheon of the Aryans. Shiva was their God. It took very
           long for him to be absorbed. He was alien, but he had to be absorbed because he was very influential.
           And when all his followers were absorbed into the world of the Aryans, they brought their Gods
           also.
               Tantra belongs to Shiva, and the Baul is an offshoot of the same tree. Tantra says, "Everything
           happens in its own right time, you need not force it. Your force will not help. It will be a disturbance.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It may destroy, but it can never be creative. One has to be very effortless, spontaneous. One has to be
           in a let-go."


                  Let ripeness appear
                  in its own time
                  for the full flavor of the fruit.



                  A green jackfruit
                  can be softened by blows
                  but not made sweet.


               The Bauls say, "We are not searching for liberation." A lover, a seeker of love, never talks in
           terms of liberation. He says, "It is tremendously beautiful. All that is, is already beautiful. There is
           no need to be liberated from it. All that is needed is how to be in it, totally absorbed." The world is
           not a bondage for the Baul, and there is no need to struggle against it. In fact, the Baul says, "We
           love the bondage of the world because these fetters are also created by you, my Lord.


                  The heart, a lotus,
                  continue flowering;
                  age after age, you are bound to it
                  and so am I...

                  The Baul says to his God,



                  You are bound to it
                  and so am I --
                  and with no escape.



                  The lotus blossoms,
                  blossoms,
                  blossoms;
                  there is no end to it,
                  but all these lotuses
                  have one type of honey
                  with one particular taste.



                  The bee is avid and unable to leave,
                  so you are bound and I am bound.
                  Where is freedom then?

               It is a great play of hide and seek between the energy that God is and the energy that you are. It is
           the same energy in a great hide and seek. It is a great play. There is no need to end it. Let lotuses
           flower and blossom forever and ever. The world is beautiful: that is the basic Tantra attitude. Yoga
           says: one needs to be liberated. Tantra says: for what, from whom? The bondage is beautiful because
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is God's. Yoga will say: drop, by and by, all your attachments; and finally, one has to go beyond
           love. The Bauls say: all attachments are beautiful. Go deeper into them so you don't remain with the
           periphery but you reach to the center. On the periphery is attachment, at the center is love.


                  The bee is avid and unable to leave,
                  so you are bound and I am bound.
                  Where is freedom then?


               For the Baul, life is not a serious thing. It is fun, it is laughter, it is joy. So you cannot find
           anything like the seriousness of a church-goer, or the long faces of so-called religious people in the
           world of the Bauls. They love laughter, they love fun. They enjoy small things with tremendous
           respect. Ordinarily, religions are very long-faced, very sombre, serious, because they have to be --
           they are against life.

           I have heard....
               One friend of Mulla Nasrudin was amazed to see that the Mulla had hitched his prize-winning
           possession, his prize-winning bull, to the plough, and was guiding it across his fields.
               He said, "Mulla, have you gone crazy? That bull is worth twenty-five thousand rupees! Why are
           you letting him pull a plough?"
           "That bull," said the Mulla grimly,''has got to learn that life is not all play."
               There are people who become disturbed the moment you laugh; they would like to teach you that
           life is not all play. These people are themselves ill. They have missed life and they would not like
           anybody else to enjoy it. The priests are ill people; they would not like you to enjoy. They have
           missed; they are jealous of you. And they have staked too much: their egos are fulfilled only because
           they have been against life. They have chosen ego against life. If you choose life they will be against
           you. They will go on curbing you, they will go on condemning you, they will go on creating guilt in
           you. No greater calamity, not a bigger calamity can happen to humanity as has happened through
           religions. The calamity is that they have created a guilty conscience. So whenever you are enjoying,
           deep down somewhere you start feeling guilty, as if you are doing something wrong. Whenever you
           are healthy, you start feeling something is wrong. Whenever you are dancing, you start feeling
           something is wrong. Whenever you laugh, you can never laugh totally because deep down something
           goes on pulling you back: "What are you doing?" From the very childhood, whenever you were
           happy there was somebody to teach you that life is not all play: "Stop laughing! Be serious! When
           will you be mature? Be grown up! Enough is enough! Drop all this nonsense of childhood."
           Somebody was always round the corner to teach you.
               They have lost: they could not enjoy so they cannot allow others to enjoy. This is how, from
           generation to generation, diseases are being transferred.

               Take hold of your own life. See that the whole existence is celebrating. These trees are not
           serious, these birds are not serious. The rivers and the oceans are wild, and everywhere there is fun,
           everywhere there is joy and delight. Watch existence, listen to the existence and become part of it.
           Then you become a Baul, then you become a lover -- because love can exist only with a deep respect
           for fun, with a deep respect for delight. Love cannot exist with a serious mind. With a serious mind,
           logic is in tune. be non-serious. I'm not saying not to be sincere. Be sincere, but be non-serious.
           Sincerity is something else; seriousness is totally different. Be sincere with existence, then you will
           be true; you will become part of this cosmic LEELA, this cosmic play.

           The Bauls sing,


                  How can you walk
                  the ways of love
                  carrying stolen loot with impunity?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                  In the forest of Brinda
                  loving is worshipping.


              The forest of Brinda, where Krishna played with his lovers, friends, girlfriends; where he danced,
           where the RAAS happened....
              This word RAAS is very beautiful: it means the divine celebration, the divine dance.


                  How can you walk
                  the ways of love
                  carrying stolen loot with impunity?

                  In the forest of Brinda,
                  loving is worshipping.



                  As the essence of purity
                  in the brilliance of the sky
                  love transcends lust
                  evolving ecstasy.

                  The bellows breathe
                  into the fire of life
                  and stabilize mercury.

                  Beautiful; the saying is very beautiful.



                  The bellows breathe
                  into the fire of life
                  and stabilize mercury.


              Even mercury becomes stabilized. So what about lust? Don't be worried. Let there be a goal to
           your love, a center to your love, a target for your arrow, and love transcends lust.
              Yoga will say: transcend lust, fight with lust. It is a negative approach. The Bauls say: love, and
           love transcends lust. It is a positive approach.


                  Tell me, my silent Master,
                  O my Lord,
                  what worship may open me
                  to my beloved's lotus bloom?

                  The stars and the moon
                  eternally move
                  with no sound at all.

                  Each cycle of the universe
                  in silence prays,
                  welling up with the essence of love.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              It is what physicists call electricity, gravitation, energy field. What religious people call God,
           Bauls call love.


                  Each cycle of the universe
                  in silence prays,
                  welling up with the essence of love.


                Trees are in love with the earth; the earth is in love with the trees. The birds are in love with the
           trees; the trees are in love with the birds. The earth is in love with the sky; the sky is in love with the
           earth. The whole existence exists in a great ocean of love. Let love be your worship, let love be your
           prayer.
                The song for today is very small, but a diamond -- very precious. And Bauls know how to be
           precise. Just the other night I was reading Digale's life, and he had a motto on his table. I loved it;
           Bauls would also appreciate it. The motto is: Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in
           life.

              WHAT DEALINGS
              CAN YOU EVER CONCLUDE
              WITH SOMEONE WHO IS UNAWARE
              OF THE FEELINGS IN LOVING?



              THE OWL STARES AT THE SKY,
              SITTING BLIND
              TO THE RAYS OF THE SUN.


              The Bauls say it is impossible to communicate....

              WHAT DEALINGS
              CAN YOU EVER CONCLUDE
              WITH SOMEONE WHO IS UNAWARE
              OF THE FEELINGS IN LOVING?


               It is impossible to commune with someone who has not known love. How can we talk about
           God? How can we talk meaningfully about prayer? How can we say anything about the truth? --
           because he's completely unaware of his own heart. He does not know the language; he has lived in
           the head. He's like the owl: stares at the sky, sitting blind to the rays of the sun.
               In Indian mythology the owl is a symbol of knowledge, learning, learnedness. People who are
           too learned, too much in their heads, accumulating information and data, are like owls. They cannot
           see that the sun has risen. They can go on looking and staring at the sun, and still they remain
           oblivious to the rays of the light.
               The Bauls say: a man who lives in the head -- a PUNDIT, a scholar -- a man who thinks only in
           terms of concepts, abstract theories, doctrines, dogmas, who has memorized the Vedas, the Koran,
           the Bible, will not be able to understand anything about love. Even if you say, he will immediately
           misunderstand. If you talk about love he will make a theory out of it, and love cannot be managed in
           a theory. If you say something about prayer he will try to make that prayer look like a hypothesis,
           and prayer is not a hypothesis. A man of logic always reduces everything to his logic.
           I have heard....
               A devout clergyman making a tour of the Holy Land arrived at the Sea of Galilee. His heart
           thrilled: "Perhaps one of these very wavelets had touched the feet of the Master Himself..." A
           boatman approached. The clergyman addressed him in choicest Arabic, a pocket dictionary of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Arabic terms in his hand.
           "What is the matter?" complained the ferryman. "Can't you talk United States?" He was an American
           making his living boating tourists.
           "So," exclaimed the clergyman, "this is the Sea of Galilee where our Savior walked upon the
           waters."
           "It is."
           "How much will you charge me to take me to the exact spot?"
           "Well, seeing as you look like a clergyman, I won't charge you anything."
           After reaching the place, the clergyman glanced around with great satisfaction, consulted his texts
           and commentaries, and at last signalled that he was ready to return to shore.
           "Cost you twenty dollars to take you back."
           "But you said you would charge nothing!"
           "That was to bring you here."
           "And you charge everybody twenty dollars to take them back?"
           "That, or more."
           "Well then," said the devout one, reaching for his pocketbook, " no wonder our Savior got out and
           walked."
                Everybody goes on interpreting everything according to his own way. Our interpretations are our
           interpretations.
                It happened one day: Mulla Nasrudin hailed a taxi just outside the Ashram. "Take me to the
           Ashram, driver," he demanded, hopping into the cab.
                The disgusted hackie got out, opened the door and snapped, "You are in front of the Ashram,
           fellow!"
           "Okay," grumbled the Mulla as he got out, "but next time, don't drive so fast."
                If you are drunk, then you are going to interpret everything through your drunkenness. If you are
           drunk with logic, love cannot penetrate your skull. Then you have a very thick head, dense -- it is
           impossible for love to penetrate. Then you are like the owl.
                The Bauls say communication is possible only when there exists a common language. So if you
           want to understand the Bauls, you will have to love -- because there is no other way to understand
           love than to love. If you want to understand the man of prayer, pray. Move into prayer, have a taste
           of it. Put aside all your logic. Don't try first to be logically convinced, then you will pray; then
           nobody has ever prayed -- because the first thing is that it is impossible, it cannot be done. Nobody
           can logically convince you that prayer is meaningful. The very logical framework of your mind
           prohibits it. So you are asking the impossible. If you say, "First it has to be proved that love is God,
           then I will love," then you will have to wait, and you will have to wait for eternity -- it is not going to
           happen. The day it happens, it will happen in the only way it can happen, and the way for it to
           happen is to put aside your logic. Logic is irrelevant. You just love; have a taste of it. Move into the
           world of the lover. Let his singing surround you. Have a feel, and that will become the proof, and
           that will become the conviction. Then you can bring your logic in and your logic will start proving it,
           but not before. First, the taste, the experience; then the logic. Logic is a good servant but a bad
           master.

              WHAT DEALINGS
              CAN YOU EVER CONCLUDE
              WITH SOMEONE WHO IS UNAWARE
              OF THE FEELINGS IN LOVING?



              THE OWL STARES AT THE SKY,
              SITTING BLIND
              TO THE RAYS OF THE SUN


               Love is a radical change in your innermost core of being. The head is just on the periphery. The
           head is just like waves on the ocean; love is like the depth. In the depth there are no waves, and in
           the waves there is no depth. Thoughts are like waves just on the surface. There is no way for a wave
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to know the depth while remaining the wave. The wave can know the depth, but then it has to
           disappear in the depth. It will no more be a wave, but then it can come back to the surface. But then
           that wave will itself become a Baul; no other wave will listen to it. Other waves will call that wave
           mad because she will talk about depths, and waves only know shallowness, they don't know depths.
               Love is an experience -- existential, like taste. If you have not tasted salt, there is no way to
           explain it to you. If you have tasted it, there is no way to forget it. If you have tasted it, then too there
           is no way to explain it to somebody else who has not tasted it. How to explain to somebody else who
           has never known anything salty? What to say? It is not that you don't know; you know, it is just on
           the tip of your tongue. You know what saltiness is, but how to say it to somebody else? The only
           thing is to offer him a little salt. But if he says, "First let me be convinced that there exists something
           like salt, then only will I take"; if he is that cautious it is impossible. Then he will have to remain
           without any experience of salt.
               And to remain without experiencing love is to remain dead -- because only a lover goes on
           dropping his dead selves, because only a lover moves, because only a lover is dynamic. Logic is
           dead; love is alive.
               I am reminded of a saying of Browning. He used to say, "The life process is to rise on the
           stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things."
               ... the life process is to rise on the stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things....
               Logic belongs to the past; love belongs to the future. Logic is just moving in the old circle again
           and again and again. Love moves into new territory. Being yourself is never static, being in love is
           also never static. It is always ecstatic -- not static but ecstatic: out of stasis, out of standing still.
               Be moving. One never arrives, though one is always arriving.




                                                 The Beloved, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #10
                                       Chapter title: Truth is neither I nor you
           30 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606300
              ShortTitle: BELOV110
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




               The first question:

               WHO HAS ORIGINATED BAULS? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               PEOPLE LIKE BAULS ARE NEVER ORIGINATED. Religions like the Baul religion are more
           like happenings. Who originated the roses? Who originated the songs that the birds go on singing
           every morning? No, we never ask that question. It has always been there.
               Philosophies are originated; you can find the originator. 'Isms', dogmas, creeds are originated.
           The Baul is not a creed, it is a spontaneous way of life. People have always lived that way. People
           who have ever lived have always lived that way. People who have ever been alive have been alive in
           no other way. Whether they were known as Bauls or not is immaterial. The name may have some
           origin somewhere; I'm not concerned with it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The word simply means 'the madman': madly in love with existence, madly in love with life --
           but this madness has always been there. And it is good that a few people have always been so mad
           that we have not lost contact with the roots of existence. It is because of them that we haven't. They
           could sing and dance and live and love -- real people, authentic to the very core.
                So, I don't know when they started. They must have started from the very beginning, if there was
           any beginning. They must have started with the first man, because their whole teaching is about the
           essential man. In fact, by and by, they have disappeared. They must have been more in the
           beginning. By and by they have lessened; their numbers have become less and less and less every
           day. Because the world has become too worldly, and the world has become too cunning and clever, it
           does not allow the simplicity of the heart to exist. The world has become too competitive and too
           ambitious. It has forgotten all that is beautiful, it has forgotten all that cannot be manufactured, it has
           forgotten how to surrender, to allow the eternal to happen in time. It has forgotten the language of
           ecstasy.
                The more we move back, the more and more Bauls you will find. In the beginning the whole
           humanity must have been like the Bauls. Even now you can watch it: every child is born a Baul, then
           later on he is corrupted. Every child is again born as madly in love with life, but we cultivate him,
           we prune him, we don't allow him spontaneity of being. We condition him, we give him a certain
           character.
                The Bauls have no character. They are men of consciousness, but not of character. In fact, a man
           of consciousness never has a character. Character is a fixity, character is an obsession, character is
           an armor. You have to do only that which your character allows. Character can never be
           spontaneous. Character is always imposed by the past on the present. You are not free to be, you are
           not free to respond; you can only react.
                The Baul believes in the SAHAJA MANUSH, the spontaneous man. The Baul says the
           spontaneous man is the way to the essential man. To be spontaneous is to be on the way towards
           being essential. Every child is a Baul.
                So as I see it, in the beginning -- if there was, any beginning -- the whole humanity must have
           been like Bauls: true, authentic, sincere, mad, deep in love, rejoicing -- rejoicing the opportunity that
           God has given, rejoicing the gift.
                We don't have any claim on life. Have you ever noticed it, that we don't have any claim? If we
           had not been, there would be no way to be and there would be no way to appeal it. There would be
           no way to complain against it. If you are not, you are not. The next moment you can disappear. Life
           is fragile, and without any claim. We have not earned it! That is the meaning when we say it is a gift.
           A gift is something that you have not earned; you don't have any claim over it. You cannot say that
           you have some right to get it. A gift is something that is given to you.
                Life is a gift. It has been given to you for no reason at all. You cannot have earned it, because
           how can you earn it if you were not? Life is a gift, but we go on forgetting it, we are not even
           thankful. We don't have any gratitude. We certainly complain for a thousand and one things which
           we may think we are missing in life, but we never feel grateful for life itself.
                You may complain that your house is not good: the rains have come and it is leaking. You may
           complain that your salary is not enough; you may complain that you don't have a beautiful body.
           You may complain that this is not happening and that is not happening -- a thousand and one
           complaints -- but have you ever seen that the whole life, the very possibility that you can be, breathe,
           look, see, hear, touch, love and be loved, is a gift? It has been given to you because God has so much
           to give, not because you have earned it.
                The Baul lives in tremendous gratitude. He sings and dances -- that is his prayer. He cries. He
           simply wonders why, for what has life been given to him, for what has he been allowed to see the
           rainbows in the sky, for what has he been allowed to see flowers, butterflies, people, rivers and
           rocks? For what? Because life is so obvious you tend to forget the tremendous gift hidden in it.
                In the beginning, everybody must have been a Baul, because civilization was not there to corrupt,
           society was not there to destroy. Priests and churches were not there to give you a character, to give
           you a narrow passage. In the beginning, life must have been overflowing. Everybody must have
           lived out of their own beings -- not because of any commandments, not because of scripture. There
           was no scripture and there was no commandment. Moses had not appeared yet. Everybody must
           have been a Baul in the beginning; and every child, when he is born, is a Baul. Watch a child to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understand what this phenomenon of being a Baul is. See children delighting for nothing -- just
           shouting out of joy, just running here and there out of overflowing energy. When you become a Baul
           you again become a child.
               To become a Baul is to become a primitive. To become a Baul is to reclaim one's primitiveness,
           one's primalness. One is reborn; it is a rebirth -- the child happens again. Your body may be old,
           your mind may be old, but your consciousness is released from the bondage of the body and the
           mind. You have a past, you have many experiences, but they no longer burden you. You put them
           aside. You use them when needed; otherwise, you don't carry them continuously on your head for
           twenty-four hours. This is what liberation is: it does not liberate you from existence or from life or
           from flowers and love, it simply liberates you from your past. In fact, the more you are liberated, the
           more you fall in love with God. The more you are liberated, the more you become capable of
           rejoicing and loving.
               So don't ask me who originated Bauls. Nobody has ever originated things like that. The whole
           emphasis is on spontaneity. Of course, to have a theory like Einstein's
               Theory of Relativity, an Einstein is needed. Without him it cannot be originated; without him it
           would not be in existence. A very complicated mind is needed to discover the complicated Theory of
           Relativity.
               Bauls don't give any theories. They simply say, "All that you need be, you are already." It is not a
           question of being very clever, it is a question of just being simple. No talent is needed to become a
           Baul. That's the beauty of it: no genius is needed. What genius is needed to be a child? Every child is
           born as a child. The sages and the fools -- all are born as children. No talent is needed. Childhood is
           simply everybody's nature.
               To be a Baul nothing is needed. In fact, the moment you need nothing, you become a Baul. The
           moment you are unburdened and you don't possess anything, any past, you are a Baul.
               No, things like that are never originated. Nobody creates them; they happen. They are part of
           nature.

           The second question:

              SO MANY TIMES I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOUR WORDS BECAUSE THE SOUND OF YOUR
              WORDS SHOWERS ON ME, YOUR SOUND STRIKES ME WITH ENERGY, FILLING ME, AND AS A
              SHOCK, I FEEL IN MY SPINAL CORD THRILLS, WAVES AND VIBRATIONS. SHOULD I BE
              CAREFULLY AWARE FOR THE MEANING OF YOUR WORDS?


                Then there is no need to be careful about the meaning of the words; that will be a disturbance. If
           you feel in tune with my sound, THERE is the meaning. If you feel you are being showered with a
           new energy, if you feel thrilled, pulsating in a new way you never knew before, if you feel a sort of
           new dimension arising in your being because of the sound of my words, then forget all about me.
           Then there is no need; you have got the meaning already. That showering is the meaning, that thrill
           in the spine is the meaning, that vibration that cleanses you is the meaning. Then there is no need to
           worry about the ordinary meaning of the words. Then you are getting a higher meaning, then you are
           reaching a higher altitude of meaning. Then you are really getting the content and not the container.
           The meaning of my words is just the container.
                If this is happening to you, then my words are no longer words to you; they have become
           existential. Then they are alive, then they have become a transfer. Then something is transpiring
           between my energy and your energy. Then there is happening something like what Bauls call love.
                Allow it. Forget all about the words and their meaning. Leave it for foolish people who only
           collect words and are never in contact with the content. The words are just like shells: hidden behind
           them, I am sending you great messages. Those messages cannot be understood by the intellect, those
           messages have to be decoded by your total being. That is what is happening -- the vibration, the
           pulsation, the thrill, the showering of a new energy -- your total being is decoding. This is real
           listening. This is really to be in contact with me, to be in my presence.
                Once I stayed with a friend. He had a big cage in his garden and he had one eagle in that cage.
           He took me to the cage and he said, "See, what a beautiful eagle." The eagle was beautiful, but I felt
           sorry for her.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I told the friend that this was not an eagle.
                He said, "What do you mean? This is an eagle. Don't you know eagles?"
                I said, "I know them, but I have known them only against the wind in the sky, in the high
           heavens, free, almost not of this world and not in this world, weighing themselves floating on the
           winds, in deep love with the free sky. I have known them as freedom. This eagle is no eagle.
           Because an eagle in a cage without the openness, the wideness of sky, without those high heavens,
           without weighing herself in freedom on the winds, is no eagle. Where is the background? -- because
           this is only the figure. In a cage, the real eagle has disappeared. You cannot find a real eagle in a
           cage because a real eagle is tremendous freedom. Where is the freedom? The soul has disappeared.
           The essential has disappeared; only the non-essential is here. This is just a dead eagle, more dead
           than any dead eagle. Release it from the cage; let it become real."
                When I talk to you my words are like caged eagles; my words are in a prison. If you really listen
           to me, you will drop the cage and you will release the eagle. That is what is happening...the thrill.
           Then the freedom is released; then you become the eagle -- and higher and higher you rise. The earth
           is left very far behind. You can forget all about it. The ordinary is left very far behind. The shell is
           left, the container is left, and you have the whole sky open to you; you, your wings, and the sky, and
           there is no end to it. The eternal pilgrimage has started.
                Forget all about words and their meanings, otherwise you will be more concerned with the cage
           and you will not be able to release the eagle within you.

           The third question:

              EVERY TIME I HAVE LOVED SOMEONE AND AFTERWARDS DUG INTO IT, I HAVE FOUND THAT
              IT WAS NO LOVE AT ALL. IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE IN THE NAME OF LOVE. THUS I NOW
              HAVE NO FAITH IN LOVE. I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE THAT WE CAN LOVE AS WE ARE.


                The questioner says, and rightly so, that whenever he has been in love he has found something
           else masquerading as love, so he has lost faith in love.
                The first part is absolutely. right: if you observe deeply, you will find something else always
           hiding behind love, something counterfeit. But the counterfeit can exist only because real coins exist.
           If there were no real coin, how could a counterfeit exist? Sometimes it is possessiveness which hides
           itself behind love, sometimes it is lust, sometimes something else, jealousy.
                But why do they hide behind love? -- because they feel love is a real coin, and you can pretend
           and hide behind it. You can be safe behind love. Whenever you hide yourself somewhere, it simply
           shows that somewhere that place is protective; it can become an armor around you. Why does
           everything seek to hide behind love? -- because love is the greatest protection in the world, the
           greatest reality in the world, the only energy. Everything else is false; love is true. All that is not love
           is false, and whatsoever you are doing which is not love is a sheer wastage. All that is love is true,
           and whatsoever you do on the path of love increases your being, gives you more truth, makes you
           more true. Knowing this, everything hides behind love because love can give protection. Love is so
           beautiful that even ugly things can hide behind it and pretend to be beautiful.
                I was reading Shepard's book, BEYOND SEX THERAPY. He relates one incident.
                He was in love with a woman, a young woman. A few friends had come to see him, but the
           whole time he remained with the woman, talking to her, as if he was not interested in the friends.
           They felt a little offended, and they told the woman, "We know Shepard better than you. He has been
           in love with many women, and this comes and goes. So remember it: sooner or later he will get
           interested in some other woman. What are you going to do then?"
                The woman said, "I will feel jealous, but that is my problem. But I would like my man to know
           every sort of love, to know all that is possible before he dies. I will feel jealous, but that is my
           problem. That I have to tackle, and I have to get over it. That has nothing to do with him. As far as
           he's concerned, this is my desire: that he should know all that he wants to know before he dies,
           because once gone, one is gone forever. I would like him to live as richly as possible. If problems
           arise, like jealousy, then they are my problems."
                This is what love is. It knows the distinction between jealousy and love. It is not confused about
           it. The jealousy cannot hide behind it; it cannot pretend to be love.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So the first thing is right, the questioner is absolutely right: "Every time I have loved someone
           and afterwards dug into it, I have found that it was no love at all. It was something else..." perfectly
           true "... in the name of love. Thus I now have no faith..." That is wrong -- because you have not
           known love yet. How can you lose faith in love, which you have not known yet? You can lose faith
           in jealousy, you can lose faith in possessiveness, you can lose faith in anger, you can lose faith in
           lust, but you have not come across love at all so how can you lose faith in it? To lose faith or to have
           faith, at least some experience of love is essential -- and you have not come across it.
                Dig a little more and you will be able to sort it out now. What is jealousy? -- you know; what is
           possessiveness? -- you know. This is good; you are evolving. This is how everybody has to evolve.
           In the beginning, everything is mixed -- as if mud is mixed in gold. Then one has to put the gold into
           fire: all that is not gold is burned, drops out of it. Only pure gold comes out of the fire. Awareness is
           the fire; love is the gold; jealousy, possessiveness, hatred, anger, lust, are the impurities. You are
           becoming more aware. Now you see what jealousy is, and you can see it is not love. Half the battle is
           won; fifty percent of the battle is over -- you can recognize jealousy. But you have not yet known
           what love is. You are on the right track. But don't become hopeless, don't lose courage, don't lose
           faith, because sooner or later you will be able to know what love is. You are coming closer to home.
                Don't be in such a hurry. Truth tends to reveal itself. Truth is revelatory, truth is revelation. You
           just go on seeking, searching, finding. There may be many errors, but there is no other way to grow.
           Trial and error is the only way. By and by, you go on eliminating the errors. Less and less errors
           happen, and more and more purity becomes available. Don't stop in the middle.
           I have heard....
                Mulla Nasrudin got a job in a bank. The cashier tossed him a packet of one-rupee notes and said,
           "Check them to make sure there are one hundred."
                The Mulla started counting. Finally he got up to fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, then he threw
           the packet in the drawer.
           "If it is right this far," remarked Nasrudin to the man next to him, "it is probably right all the way."
                Don't be in such a hurry. If it has been wrong so far, don't think it will be wrong all the way. At a
           hundred degrees, suddenly it turns right. One has to penetrate all the impurities. But you are on the
           right track, so be happy.
                And it is because of a deep desire for love that you have been able to recognize what is not love.
           Otherwise, how would you recognize? You can recognize that this is not gold because gold exists.
           Otherwise, what is the criterion to know that this is not love? You have some tacit understanding; it
           is not conscious yet, it is tacit, deep down. That is the meaning of understanding, understood. You
           have a tacit understanding, some deep undercurrent which knows what love is. That's why you can
           find 'this is not love', 'that is not love'. Good, you are on the right track. Go on to the very end, all the
           way.
                It is because of the possibility of love that you have become aware of jealousy, of
           possessiveness, of anger, of lust, of greed, of indulgence, of gratification, and a thousand and one
           things. But the central core is dependent on a tacit understanding of love.
           Truth tends to reveal itself.
           Let me tell you a few anecdotes.
                The funeral cortege was being set up for the wife of Mulla Nasrudin. He was dressed sombrely in
           the appropriate black. The funeral director said to the Mulla in a respectful whisper, "And you will
           be sitting in the head car with your mother-in-law."
           Nasrudin frowned, "With my mother-in-law?"
           "Yes, of course."
           "Is it necessary?"
           "It is essential -- the bereaved husband and the bereaved mother, the two closest survivors, together."
                Mulla Nasrudin turned to look at the large and sobbing figure of his mother-in-law and said,
           "Well, all right then. But I tell you right now that it is going to spoil the pleasure of the occasion."
                Your black dress cannot hide the truth, your tears cannot hide the truth. Deep down he was
           feeling happy that now he was free, now he was no more in bondage with this woman. Just on the
           surface he was showing his bereavement.
                Truth has a tendency to reveal itself. If you just become a little alert, you will always know what
           is true. Truth need not be learnt; one needs just to be a little alert, and then the truth reveals itself.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Revelation is intrinsic to truth. And when truth is revealed, a thousand and one lies are also revealed
           simultaneously, all the lies that were pretending to be truth when the truth was not known.
                It happened: Abdul Rehman was very sick, a friend of Mulla Nasrudin. Everybody was worried
           about the sick man. He was very sick indeed, and his friends took turns visiting him to keep up his
           spirits.
                The night Mulla Nasrudin went he was warned in advance that Abdul Rehman was very low and
           he must be extremely careful to say nothing discouraging. Nasrudin was doing beautifully, and
           actually had Rehman chuckling over a number of funny stories. But suddenly however, the Mulla
           stopped and began to shake his head.
           "What is that? What is the matter, Mulla?" said Rehman anxiously.
           "I was just thinking," said Nasrudin, "how in the name of the Holy Prophet are they going to get a
           coffin down the crooked stairs in this house?"
                Now on the surface he was trying to encourage the man, but deep down he knew that he was
           going to die, and deep down an undercurrent: how are they going to get the coffin down? -- the
           staircase is so crooked.
                Truth has a tendency to reveal itself. Just be a little alert and your heart will show you the path.
           And then nothing will be able to hide behind love. Things can hide behind love because you are
           unconscious. It is not a fault of love, it is your unconsciousness. So don't distrust love, distrust
           unconsciousness. Don't lose faith in love -- love has not done anything to you. Nothing wrong has
           love done to you. In fact, in spite of you, it is love that is keeping you alive. I repeat: in spite of you
           it is love that is keeping you alive. Lose faith in unconsciousness. If you are conscious, then nothing
           can hide behind love. Then no counterfeit can deceive you.
           "It was something else, always in the name of love. Thus I now have no faith in love."
                That is absurd. The logic is incorrect. You have not come across love; how can you lose faith in
           love? Dig a little more, go to the very end of it: you will always find purer gold, the deeper you go
           into yourself.
                It is just like digging a well: first you dig a well -- you just get stones, rocks, rubbish; after that
           layer, more pure soil; after that layer, wet soil; after that, muddy water; after that, purer water. The
           deeper you go, purer springs become available. And this is so inside your heart also. On the surface
           there is just dirt, dust, rocks, then dry earth, then wet earth, then muddy water. But don't lose faith;
           you are coming closer to home -- then, pure water.
           "I just cannot believe that we can love as we are." That's true -- you cannot love the way you are. But
           there is no need to choose to remain the way you are. You can change. There is no need to cling to
           your structure. You can destructure it.
                That's what I'm doing here; that's all that we are trying to do together: to destructure you so that
           you can be realigned, so that you can be rearranged, so that the old disappears and the new is born.
                This is true -- that the way you are you cannot love. But there is no reason to lose faith in love.
           Lose faith in yourself, lose faith in your ego. If it is you who is preventing you from loving, then
           drop this you -- because love is worth it. Millions of you's are not as valuable as a single moment of
           love. Drop this structure. Choose the sky, don't choose the cage. The you you are feeling you are is
           nothing but the cage given by the society. Choose the sky drop the cage.

           The fourth question:

              TWO MORNINGS AGO I SLEPT THROUGH THE LECTURE AND WOKE UP AT THE END WITH
              THE WORD 'SINGLE-MINDEDNESS' ON MY MIND. SO WHAT TO DO?


                Be single-minded. The message is so clear; what is there to ask? Your being has given you a
           great message.
                Sometimes it happens after deep sleep that you have messages from your deepest core of being.
           Start listening to your first thoughts in the morning; out of sleep you are very close to your being.
           There is more possibility, within two or three seconds of waking, to have some glimpses of your
           deepest being, some messages. After two, three seconds, the contact will be lost. You will again be
           in the world, thrown into the world. But sometimes it happens, as it happens to a few people:
           listening to me they fall asleep. There are different types of people.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                For example, just now Sheela is fast asleep, but her sleep is really beautiful: it is a sort of trance,
           not sleep. She is not just asleep; her sleep is luminous. She has simply relaxed. Listening to me
           deeply, she could not remain tense. All tension is gone, so she simply relaxed, relaxed into a deeper
           layer of her own being. To all people from the outside she will look fast asleep. When she is back,
           even she may not be able to understand what has happened because to her also it may look like
           sleep. It is not sleep; it is a certain stage: in yoga we call it TANDRA. It is a midway point between
           waking and sleep, and without dreams.
                So there are two midway stages between deep sleep and waking. The ordinary stage is dreaming:
           if you are just in between, then you dream. Either you are awake, or you are fast asleep, or you are
           dreaming. And dreaming is just in the middle of waking and sleeping; it is the middle passage. This
           is ordinarily so.
                But if your meditation goes deeper, or, if your love goes deeper, the first change that happens in
           consciousness is a change in the middle stage -- dreaming stops. Now it is very difficult to say what
           it is. You can think about it as sleep, or you can think about it as waking; it is both together -- just a
           balance between the two, a very balanced stage.
                TANDRA is the first glimpse, the beginning of SATORI. Dreams disappear first. Then in the
           next step, sleep disappears; and in the third step, what you call waking, that disappears. And when all
           three have disappeared, then arises what we call REAL waking. Then one becomes enlightened.
           TANDRA is the first step; dreams are disappearing.
                So sometimes it happens that people fall asleep here -- they are in a state of trance. TANDRA
           can be translated as trance. For all practical purposes, they are asleep. They will not be able to
           remember my words, but after they are back they will remember that something very deep and silent
           has happened. Something in their energy has changed.
                It is a deep relaxation. In this relaxation if some message arises, listen to it very carefully.
           "Two mornings ago I slept through the lecture and woke up at the end with the word
           'single-mindedness' on my mind." That morning I had been talking about singlemindedness.
                The question is old. The question is concerned with the series of Zen stories.
                I was talking that morning about single-mindedness. You may not have heard; you were in
           TANDRA, in trance to what I was saying. But what I wanted to deliver to you has been delivered.
           Your being listened, your body listened, your totality drank out of me, absorbed what I was saying,
           what I was being here. And when you came back, as a condensed message, a gift from your deepest
           core to your periphery, from your center to your circumference, the word 'single-mindedness' arose
           in your consciousness. Now you ask what to do?. -- be single-minded!
                And what do I mean when I say 'be single-minded'? In fact, to say 'be single-minded' is almost to
           say 'be without mind' -- because the mind exists only in conflict. Mind exists only as many. When
           the manyness has disappeared and the crowd is no more there, we call it single-minded -- or you can
           call it no-mind because the mind has disappeared. Mind is many; single mind is no-mind. When you
           are one, together -- no conflict inside, no division, all demons gone, you have become
           indivisible,,everything joined together in a deep coherence and harmony, a single orchestra -- then
           there is no-mind.
                Single-mindedness is a term from Yoga tradition. No-mind means the same, but the term belongs
           to another tradition, Zen. But they both mean the same: don't be a crowd, don't be poly-psychic.
           Become uni-psychic, become one.

           The fifth question:

              HOW CAN I DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ENLIGHTENED SELF-LOVE AND EGOMANIA?


               The distinction is subtle but very clear, not difficult; subtle, but not difficult. If you have
           egomania, it will create more and more misery for you. Misery will indicate that you are ill.
           Egomania is a disease, a cancer of the soul. Egomania will make you more and more tense, will
           make you more and more up-tight, will not allow you to relax at all. It will drive you towards
           insanity.
               Self-love is just the opposite of egomania. In self-love there is no self, only love. In egomania
           there is no love, only self. In self-love you will start becoming more and more relaxed. A person who
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           loves himself is totally relaxed. To love somebody else may create a little tension, because the other
           need not be always in tune with you. The other may have his or her own ideas. The other is a
           different world; there is every possibility of collision, clash. There is every possibility of storm and
           thunder because the other is a different world. There is always a subtle struggle going on. But when
           you love yourself, there is nobody else. There is no conflict -- it is pure silence, it is tremendous
           delight. You are alone; nobody disturbs you. The other is not needed at all. And to me, a person who
           has become capable of such deep love towards himself becomes capable of loving others. If you
           cannot love yourself, how can you love others? It must first happen at close quarters, it must first
           happen within you, to spread towards others.
                People try to love others, not being at all aware that they have not even loved themselves. How
           can you love others? That which you don't have you cannot share. You can give to others only that
           which you have already with you.
                So the first and the most basic step towards love is love of oneself; but it has no self in it.
           Let me explain it to you.
                The 'I' arises only as a contrast to the 'thou'. 'I' and 'thou' exist together. The 'I' can exist in two
           dimensions. One dimension is 'I-it': you -- your house, you -- your car, you -- your money; 'I-it'.
           When there is this 'I', this 'I' of 'I-it', your 'I' is almost like a thing. It is not consciousness; it is fast
           asleep, snoring. Your consciousness is not there. You are just like things, a thing amidst things: part
           of your house, part of your furniture, part of your money.
                Have you watched it? A man who is too greedy about money, by and by starts having the
           qualities of money. He becomes just money. He loses spirituality, he is no more a spirit. He is
           reduced to a thing. If you love money, you will become like money. If you love your house, by and
           by you will become material. Whatsoever you love, you become. Love is alchemical. Never love the
           wrong thing, because it will transform you. Nothing is so transforming as love. Love something
           which can raise you higher, to higher altitudes. Love something beyond you.
                That is the whole effect of religion: to give you a love-object like God so that there is no way to
           fall down. One has to rise.
                One sort of 'I' exists as 'I-it'; another sort of 'I' exists as 'I-thou'. When you love a person, another
           type of 'I' arises in you: 'I thou'. You love a person, you become a person.
                But what about self-love?. -- there is no 'it' and there is no 'thou'. 'I' disappears because 'I' can
           exist only in two contexts: 'it' and 'thou'. 'I' is the figure, 'it' and 'thou' function as the field. When the
           field disappears the 'I' disappears. When you are left alone, you are, but you don't have an 'I', you
           don't feel any 'I'. You are simply a deep AMNESS. Ordinarily we say 'I am'. In that state, when you
           are deep in love with yourself, 'I' disappears. Only amness, pure existence, pure being remains. It
           will fill you with tremendous bliss. It will make you a celebration, a rejoicing. There will be no
           problem in distinguishing between them.
                If you are getting more and more miserable, then you are on the trip of being an egomaniac. If
           you are becoming more and more tranquil, silent, happy, together, then you are on another trip -- the
           trip of self-love. If you are on the trip of ego you will become destructive to others -- because the ego
           tries to destroy the 'thou'. If you are moving towards self-love, the ego will disappear. And when the
           ego disappears, you allow the other to be himself or herself; you give total freedom. If you don't
           have any ego you cannot create an imprisonment for the other you love; you cannot create a cage.
           You allow the other to be an eagle in the high heavens. You allow the other to be himself or herself;
           you give total freedom. Love gives total freedom. Love IS freedom -- freedom for you and freedom
           for the object of your love. Ego is bondage -- bondage for you and bondage for your victim.
                But ego can play very deep tricks with you. It is very cunning, and subtle are its ways: it can
           pretend to be self-love.
           Let me tell you one anecdote.
                Mulla Nasrudin's face lit up as he recognized the man who was walking ahead of him down the
           subway stairs. He slapped the man so heartily on the back that the man nearly collapsed, and cried,
           "Goldberg, I hardly recognized you! Why, you have gained thirty pounds since I saw you last. And
           you have had your nose fixed, and I swear you are about two feet taller."
                The man looked at him angrily. "I beg your pardon," he said in icy tones, "but I do not happen to
           be Goldberg."
           "Aha!" said Mulla Nasrudin, "so you have even changed your name?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The ego is very cunning and very self-justifying, very self-rationalizing. If you are not very alert
           it can start hiding itself behind self-love. The very word 'self' will become a protection for it. It can
           say, "I am your self." It can change its weight, it can change its height, it can change its name. And
           because it is just an idea, there is no problem about it: it can become small, it can become big. It is
           just your fantasy.
               Be very careful. If you really want to grow in love, much carefulness will be needed. Each step
           has to be taken in deep alertness so ego cannot find any loophole to hide behind.
               Your real self is neither I nor thou; it is neither you nor the other. Your real self is altogether
           transcendental. What you call 'I' is not your real self. 'I' is imposed on reality. When you call
           somebody 'you', you are not addressing the real self of the other. Again you have imposed a label on
           it. When all the labels are taken away, the real self remains -- and the real self is as much yours as it
           is others. The real self is one.
               That's why we go on saying that we participate in each other's beings, we are members of each
           other. Our real reality is God. We may be like icebergs floating in the ocean -- they appear to be
           separate -- but once we melt, nothing will be left. Definition will disappear, limitation will disappear,
           and the iceberg will not be there. It will become part of the ocean.
               The ego is an iceberg. Melt it. Melt it in deep love, so it disappears and you become part of the
           ocean.
           I have heard....
               The Judge looked very severe. "Mulla," he said, "your wife says you hit her over the head with a
           baseball bat and threw her down a flight of stairs. What have you got to say for yourself?"
               Mulla Nasrudin rubbed the side of his nose with his hand, and meditated. Finally he said, "Your
           Honor, I guess there are three sides to this case: my wife's story, my story, and the truth."
           Yes, he is perfectly right.
           "You have heard about two sides of a truth," he said, "but there are three sides" -- and he is exactly
           right. There is your story, my story, and the truth; I and you and the truth.
               The truth is neither I nor you. I and you is an imposition on the vastness of the truth. 'I' is false,
           'you' is false; utilitarian, useful in the world. It will be difficult to manage the world without 'I' and
           'you'. Good -- use them, but they are just devices of the world. In reality, there is neither 'you' nor 'I'.
           Something, someone, some energy exists with no limitations, with no boundaries. Out of it we come,
           and into it we disappear again.

           The sixth question:

              EVEN IF SOMETIMES LOVE-LIKE FEELINGS ARISE IN MY HEART, IMMEDIATELY THE NEXT
              MOMENT I START FEELING 'THIS IS NOT LOVE, THIS IS NOT LOVE AT ALL: IT IS ALL MY
              HIDDEN CRAVINGS FOR SEX AND ALL THAT'.


                So what is wrong in it? Love has to arise out of lust. If you avoid lust, you will be avoiding the
           whole possibility of love itself. Love is not lust, true; but love is not without lust -- that too is true.
           Love is higher than lust, yes, but if you destroy lust completely, you destroy the very possibility of
           the flower arising out of the mud. Love is the lotus, lust is the mud the lotus arises out of. Remember
           it; otherwise you will never attain to love. At the most, you can pretend that you have transcended
           lust. Because without love, nobody can transcend lust; you can repress it. Repressed, it becomes
           more poisonous. It spreads into your whole system, it becomes toxic, it destroys you. Lust
           transformed into love gives you a glow, a radiance. You start feeling light, as if you can fly. You
           start gaining wings. With lust repressed you become heavy, as if you are carrying a weight, as if a
           big rock is hanging around your neck. With lust repressed, you lose all opportunities to fly in the
           sky. With lust transformed into love, you have passed the test of existence.
                You have been given a raw material to work, to be creative. Lust is raw material.
           I have heard....
                Berkowitz and Michaelson, who were not only business partners but life-long friends, made a
           pact: that whichever one died first would come back and tell the other what it was like in heaven.
                Six months later, Berkowitz died. He was a very moral man, almost saint-like, a puritan who had
           never done anything wrong, who had always remained afraid of lust and sex. And Michaelson
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           waited for his dear departed holy friend to show some sign that he had returned to earth. Michaelson
           passed the time impatiently hoping for and eagerly awaiting a message from Berkowitz.
                Then one year after the day of his death, Berkowitz spoke to Michaelson. It was late at night;
           Michaelson was in bed.
           "Michaelson, Michaelson," echoed the voice.
           "Is that you, Berkowitz?"
           "Yes."
           "What is it like where you are?"
           "We have breakfast and then we make love, then we eat lunch and we make love, we have dinner
           and then we make love."
           "Is that what heaven is like?" asked Michaelson.
           "Who said anything about heaven?" said Berkowitz. "I am in Wisconsin, and I am a bull."
                Remember, this happens to people who repress sex. Nothing else can happen because that whole
           energy repressed becomes a load and pulls you down. You move towards lower stages of being. If
           love arises out of lust, you start rising towards higher being.
                So remember, what you want to become -- a Buddha or a bull -- depends on you. If you want to
           become a Buddha, then don't be afraid of sex. Move into it, know it well, become more and more
           alert about it. Be careful; it is tremendously valuable energy. Make it a meditation and transform it,
           by and by, into love. It is raw material, like a raw diamond: you have to cut it, polish it; then it
           becomes of tremendous value. If somebody gives you an unpolished, raw, uncut diamond, you may
           not even recognize that it is a diamond. Even the Kohinoor in its raw state is worthless.
                Lust is a Kohinoor: it has to be polished, it has to be understood.
                The questioner seems to be afraid and antagonistic: "It is all my hidden cravings for sex and all
           that." There is a condemnation in it. Nothing is wrong; man is a sexual animal. That's how we are.
           That's the way life means us to be. That's how we have found ourselves here. Go into it. Without
           going, you will never be able to transform it. I'm not speaking for mere indulgence. I'm saying move
           into it with deep meditative energy to understand what it is. It must be something tremendously
           valuable because you have come out of it, because the whole existence enjoys it, because the whole
           existence is sexual. Sex is the way God has chosen to be in the world, notwithstanding what
           Christians go on saying -- that Jesus was born out of a virgin woman -- all foolishness. They pretend
           that sex was not involved in Jesus' birth. They are so afraid of sex that they create foolish stories like
           this: that Jesus is born out of a virgin Mary. Mary must have been very pure, that's true; she must
           have been spiritually virgin, that is true -- but there is no way to enter into life without passing
           through the energy that sex is. The body knows no other law. And nature is all-inclusive: it believes
           in no exceptions, it allows no exceptions. You are born out of sex, you are full of sex energy. But
           this is not the end; this may be the beginning. Sex is the beginning but not the end.
                There are three types of people. One thinks that sex is the end also. They are the people who live
           a life of indulgence. They miss, because sex is the beginning but not the end. Then there are people
           who are against indulgence. They take the other, the opposite extreme: they don't want sex even to
           be the beginning, so they start cutting it. Cutting it, they cut themselves. Destroying it, they destroy
           themselves, they wither away. Both are foolish attitudes.
                There is the third possibility: the possibility of the wise man who looks at life, who has no
           theories to enforce on life, who just tries to understand. He comes to see that sex is the beginning but
           not the end. Sex is just an opportunity to grow beyond it, but one has to pass through it.

           The last question:

              OSHO, I USED TO THINK I KNEW WHAT SUBMISSION WAS. NOW I SEE IT -- IT WAS A
              POLITICAL MIND-TRIP TO BUY RELATIONS. NOW THAT THERE IS NO PLACE TO STAND BUT
              WHERE I AM, BLISS HAS ENTERED. THANK YOU FOR TURNING ME ON MYSELF.


                It is from Anup.
           It is significant to have come to an understanding of what surrender or submission is. It is one of the
           keys, but people are very afraid to use it -- because if you surrender, submit, you are lost. It is
           death-like. It is as if one is committing suicide. So people go on doing other things and they call it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           submission, surrender.
               To have this understanding, this glimpse that all that you have up to now been thinking of as
           surrender, as submission is not the real thing, is a great step towards transformation. Once you
           understand the false as the false, you are becoming capable of knowing the real as the real. To
           understand the false as the false is the beginning of understanding the real as the real. The lies have
           to be exposed. Once lies are exposed, truth stands nude, naked, revealed.




                                         The Beloved, Vol 2
                                              Talks on the Baul Mystics
                                    Talks given from 01/07/76 am to 10/07/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1976




                                               The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                Chapter #1
                             Chapter title:The Roots And The Flowers Are One
           1 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607010
              ShortTitle: BELOV201
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              THE MILK OF THE LIONESS
              IS SEEN AT ITS BEST
              WHEN STORED
              IN A GOLDEN CUP.



              WORSHIPPING PROSPERS
              IN A PROPER CONTAINER.
              THE LOVER WHO WHOLLY LOVES,
              CAN REACH REALITY,
              COMPREHENDING THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.
              THE SECRETS OF DEATH
              ARE REVEALED TO HIM
              WHILE HE IS FULLY ALIVE.
              WHAT DOES HE CARE
              FOR OTHER SHORES OF LIFE...?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Humanity is split. The very human mind is split because of two extremist life philosophies. Both
           are exaggerations; both are logical extremes.

               One is what people call the philosophy of `eat, drink and be merry', the materialist standpoint
           that life is just an accident. It is not going anywhere. There is no meaning in it, no significance, no
           coherence. You are not preparing for something. Nothing is going to happen, so you are left in the
           moment; make the most of it. Death is going to destroy utterly, nothing will survive, so don't be
           bothered about the other shore. Don't think in terms of goals. Don't think that God, truth, liberation,
           MOKSHA, NIRVANA have to be achieved. These are all just illusions; they don't exist -- empty,
           dreams of the human mind. They are not substantial, so squeeze out of the moment whatsoever you
           can. But there is no undercurrent of meaning in life. Life is accidental: you are not created for any
           purpose.
               Many live that way and miss much -- because there IS purpose, because life is not an accident,
           because there is a running thread in each moment of eternity, because life is an unfoldment.
           Something is going to happen. The future is not barren, it is going to be creative. Preparation is
           needed so that you can unfold, so that your seed can become manifested, so that your essence is
           achieved, so you can know who you are and what this existence is.
               Life is not just a madman's thought. It is very systematic. It is not chaos, it is a cosmos. There is
           order. Even behind disorder there is order; only eyes are needed to penetrate to that depth. On the
           surface maybe you can see only a sequence of moments and you cannot see eternity. On the surface
           maybe you can see only the body and nothing more. Just as when you go to the ocean, standing on
           the beach you cannot see the depth of the ocean, only the waves. But the ocean is not just waves. In
           fact, waves cannot exist without the ocean; the ocean can exist without the waves. Waves are not
           separate from the ocean. Waves are nothing but ocean waving, and ocean has tremendous depth. But
           to know that depth one has to go into that depth, one has to dive deep.
               The materialist standpoint makes life absolutely empty of meaning. Then whether you live or
           you commit suicide makes no difference, because life and death are just the same. Life is nothing but
           a way of dying. You are going to die; how you die does not matter, when you die does not matter.
           How long you live and then die does not matter. Nothing matters. This standpoint is a half-truth --
           and half-truths are dangerous, more dangerous than lies because they have something of truth in
           them. That something can be very, very deceiving. A complete lie is not so dangerous because it
           cannot deceive for long. Sooner or later you will come to know that it is a lie. Half-truths are very
           dangerous because something is true, and that something true may keep you hooked and you may
           never be able to know the lie.
               The other extreme is that of the spiritualist. He says, "This moment is useless. Time is useless,
           only eternity has meaning. So don't waste this moment in rejoicing, delighting. Don't waste this
           moment, prepare for the future. Sacrifice the present for the future. Sacrifice all that you have for
           that which the future holds in itself as a promise. Make life a constant approach towards truth. Make
           life a constant effort to realize oneself, or God, or NIRVANA. This is not significant, but THAT.
           HERE is not significant, but THERE. The other shore is significant. This shore is to be used only as
           a jumping board. But you have to go to the other shore. Real life is on the other shore. On this shore
           there is only illusion, MAYA, so don't waste your time in anything that keeps you on this shore.
           Don't be happy on this shore, because if you are happy on this shore, how will you be able to leave
           it? Become sad, become serious. This shore is the shore of sorrow. This shore is not the shore of life,
           but death. This shore is nothing but accumulated sin, so be sad that you are here, be indifferent to
           whatsoever this shore can give to you. Don't be attached to anything here. Don't fall in love with
           someone. Don't fall in love with the beauty of this shore. Be alert and remember the other shore,
           keep your eyes on the other shore."

               This too, is another extreme. It also carries half of the truth, and is as dangerous as the first
           extreme.
               This moment is also part of eternity, and this shore belongs to the river as much as the other
           shore. And the beauty on this shore, and the song and the poetry of this shore is as divine as the song
           and the poetry of the other shore. This very moment is eternity available to you. So just sacrificing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this moment for the future is foolish, because the future will always come as this moment. The other
           shore will always come as this shore. And, if you have learned a trick that spiritualists have learned,
           and that they have taught to the whole humanity and corrupted the mind -- how to destroy this
           moment, how to be negative on this shore -- then you will be negative anywhere. Wherever you are
           you will be negative. Wherever you are you will be destructive. Wherever you are you will remain
           sad and sorrowful. This is not religion.

               THE BAUL attitude is a great synthesis between these two polarities. The Baul understanding
           uses both half-truths and makes a whole truth out of it. The Bauls say, "This moment is not all, right;
           but to say that this moment is nothing is wrong." The Bauls say, "Life is a preparation, but the
           preparation is nothing but to be blissful in this moment." They are not materialists and they are not
           spiritualists. They are religious people. Religion is a great synthesis. And if you don't understand
           this, you will be a victim of either this extreme or that. Or, you can be a victim of both, half-half.
           That's how schizophrenia arises.
               Schizophrenia is not a disease that happens to a few people -- it is the normal state of humanity.
           Everybody is divided, split. You can watch it in your own life. When you are not with a woman,
           with a man, not in love, you think, you fantasize about love. Love seems to be the goal. That seems
           to be the very meaning of life. When you are with a woman or with a man and in love, suddenly you
           start thinking in terms of spiritualism: "This is attachment, this is possessiveness, this is lust." A
           condemnation arises.
               You cannot be alone and you cannot be with somebody. If you are alone you hanker for the
           crowd, for the other. If you are with somebody you start hankering to be alone. This is something to
           be understood, because everybody has to face this problem. You are born in a schizophrenic world.
           You have been given double standards. You have been taught materialism, and you have been taught
           spiritualism, together. The whole society goes on teaching you contradictory things.

               I was staying with a Vice Chancellor, and he told me that he was very worried about the new
           generation. He has two young boys and he was worried about them. He wants them to be humble. He
           wants them to be true, honest; he wants them to be religious, prayerful.
               I said, "That's okay. What else do you want them to be?"
               He said, "Of course, I would like them to succeed in life."
           I insisted, "What do you mean by success?"
               He said, "At least I have become a Vice Chancellor. I would like them to be well-educated, to
           reach to high posts, to succeed materially as far as wealth is concerned: a good house, a good car, a
           good wife, respect in the society." And then he became a little uneasy, and he said, "But why are you
           asking this?"
               I said, "I am asking this because both are contradictory. On the one hand you want your son to be
           humble, on the other hand you want him to be ambitious. Now both will make him just split. On the
           one hand he will try to carry the ideal of humility, humbleness, simplicity; on the other hand, the
           ideal to succeed, to be ambitious, to achieve. An ambitious man cannot be humble; a humble man
           cannot be ambitious. And you want him to be prayerful? And you want him to be true and honest? A
           man who is trying to succeed in the world HAS to be dishonest. Of course, he has to be dishonest in
           such a way that nobody ever discovers it. He has to be very cunningly dishonest. He has to pretend
           to honesty and remain dishonest. He has to pretend to humbleness and remain egoistic. But these are
           such different, diametrically opposite goals, and you put them inside one person -- that person will
           always remain divided. If he succeeds he will think,'What happened to my humbleness, what
           happened to my prayer, what happened to my compassion?' If he becomes humble he will
           think,'What happened to my ambition? I am nowhere'."
               You are born in a schizophrenic world. Your parents were schizophrenic, your teachers were
           schizophrenic, your priests, your politicians are schizophrenic. They go on talking about two
           diametrically opposite goals, and they go on creating the split m you.

              The Bauls are very healthy people -- not schizophrenic, not split. Their synthesis has to be
           understood; the very understanding will help you tremendously.
              They say, "This world and the other world are not opposite." They say, "To eat, drink and be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           merry, and to be prayerful, are not opposite." They say, "This shore and the other shore belong to the
           same river of God." So they say that each moment has to be lived as a materialist, and each moment
           has to be given a direction as a spiritualist. Each moment, one has to be delightful, rejoicing,
           celebrating, and at the same time, remaining alert and conscious, remaining fully aware about the
           future unfoldment. But that unfoldment is not against this moment's rejoicing. In fact, because you
           rejoice in this moment, the next moment your flower opens more. The more you are happy m this
           moment, the more you will become capable of being happy in the next moment. If today has been a
           heaven, tomorrow cannot be a hell because it will be born out of today. If today has been
           tremendously beautiful, a day of song, a day of dance and laughter. then how can tomorrow be a day
           of sorrow? From where can sadness enter in? It is going to be YOUR tomorrow. And whenever it
           will come, it will come as today, and you have learned the secret of how to live today.
               The Bauls say, "Learn from the materialist the way to live. "Learn from an Epicurean, a
           CHARVAK; learn from him the way to live this moment. Learn the direction from real spiritual
           people -- a Buddha, a Mahavir, a Krishna -- and make a synthesis out of both. Don't divide time and
           eternity; don't divide matter and mind; don't divide earth and sky. Don't divide the roots and the
           flowers; they are together.
               This togetherness is the goal of the Baul. And when inside you divisions disappear, and inside
           you there is no conflict, and inside you you are one, you become luminous. A great grace arises in
           you. Then you will be as happy as Epicurus and as silent as Buddha.

               IN the soul of a Baul, Buddha and Epicurus embrace each other. And this is my goal also, and
           this is my teaching also. If somehow you can become a Buddha without becoming an Epicurus
           simultaneously, you will miss much. You will become a stone Buddha; you will not be alive. Or if
           you can become an Epicurus without becoming a Buddha, you will miss much. You may enjoy a few
           fleeting moments of life, but that's not enough. Life has more to give and you live only on the waves,
           you never reach the depths.
               I would like you to become capable of living on the waves, with the sun shining and the storm
           raging and great winds blowing, and to go into the depth also, where all storms cease, where deep
           darkness exists without any penetration from the sun, where everything is silent and peaceful and
           tranquil, and there is no disturbance. But, I would like you to become capable of both. If one makes
           you incapable of the other, then you are not a very rich human being. Then you are half-human.
           Then half of your being is dead. Then you are paralyzed; then you are not fully alive.
               You must have heard what the existentialists say. They have a very basic dictum: that existence
           precedes essence. They say that man is born first, and then, by and by, he creates his own essence,
           his own soul. Man is born empty, with no content in him, just a blank paper. Then, by and by, he has
           to write his own autobiography on it. He has to make his own signature; he brings none. He comes as
           an emptiness.
               The Bauls say just the opposite thing. They say: Man is born with essence, the ADHAR
           MANUSH. The essential man is always there, maybe manifest or not manifest. The tree is already in
           the seed. Essence precedes existence, not otherwise. The Bauls say that life is not a creation of
           something new, it is just unfoldment. You already have it; it just has to be unfolded, barriers just
           have to be removed. Obstacles just have to be put aside and your life starts unfolding. You are like a
           bud: when obstacles are no more there, you start flowering, your lotus opens.

               BUT that which you are going to become you already are, in essence -- "Because if you are not
           already," the Bauls say, "then you cannot become." You can become only that which you are. You
           can become only your being. There is no other way of becoming, there is nothing else you can
           become. A rosebush will grow roses, a lotus plant will grow lotuses. You are already carrying your
           destiny; just obstacles have to be removed.
               This is what Bauls call preparation. To prepare oneself means to remove the obstacles on the
           path. If you remove hate, love starts flowing. You are not to create love; nobody can create love. If
           you were to create love then it would be impossible. Just remove the hate and you will see love
           streaming. Remove unconsciousness, and you will see knowing arising in you. Remove the negative,
           and the positive starts unfolding itself. Then the whole preparation is just negative. It is almost as if a
           rock is blocking a small stream: you remove the rock and the stream starts moving. With the rock
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           blocking her path, it may not ever have been possible for her to come and be manifested.
               We are carrying many rocks within our beings -- call them blocks in your energy -- but those
           blocks have to be dissolved and removed.
               The methods of the Bauls are very simple. They say that if you can dance, many blocks will
           disappear from your being -- because when a person dances and really moves into dance, and
           becomes movement, then he becomes liquid. Have you not seen it? If you have seen somebody lost
           in dancing, can't you see it? that he is no longer solid? He is flowing. The solidity is gone; he has
           become liquid. This liquidity melts the blocks. So dancing is the Yoga of the Baul; he dances for
           hours together. When the moon is in the sky in the night, the Bauls will dance the whole night --
           because for them the moon is a symbol of their Beloved, Krishna. They call Krishna 'the moon'.
           When the moon is there they will dance, and they will dance madly. And this dance is not a
           performance. It is not for somebody else to see. If somebody sees it and watches, that's another thing.
           The Baul dances for himself, for his own pleasure.
               Somebody asked Tulsidas, a great poet, "Why have you written RAMAYAN? Why?" -- because
           he devoted his whole life to it. Said Tulsidas, "SWANTAHSUKHAI TULSI RAGHUNATH
           GATHA": for my own pleasure I have been singing the story of Ram -- SWANTAHSUKHAI; for
           my own pleasure, for my sheer pleasure, but for my own pleasure. It is not a performance, it is not
           for somebody else.
               The Bauls dance SWANTAHSUKHAI, for their own pleasure.
               Singing is another of their methods, They have chosen very aesthetic methods, not hard, but very
           soft methods, feminine methods, Taoist methods. They sing and they are lost completely in their
           singing. Singing is chanting for them; singing is prayer for them. And they sing about their Beloved,
           and they sing about their Lord, about their God. If you are lost in your singing you are lost in
           NADABRAHMA, you are lost in 'the soundless sound'. And their singing and dancing is not a
           ritualized thing. There is no ritual. Each Baul is individual. You will not find two Bauls singing the
           same song or singing in the same way. And you will not find two Bauls dancing the same dance or
           dancing the same way. They don't follow any ritual.
               This has to be understood, because this is very, very fundamental for them. And this I would like
           you to remember: if anything becomes a ritual, then drop it; it is useless now -- because a ritual
           means a repetition. Mohammedans do their NAMAJ in a certain way every day; it becomes a ritual.
           Christians do their prayer. the same prayer again and again. They become so habitual with it that no
           consciousness is required. They can do it and they can think many thoughts in the background. It has
           become robot-like. They can repeat the words. They know the words, they have repeated them so
           many times. It is a dead ritual.
               Bauls say, "Let your prayer arise in each moment. What is the need to carry the past? Can't you
           talk to your God directly? What is the point of repeating the same thing again?" Today is different
           from yesterday -- the prayer has to be new, as new as the morning sun or the morning dewdrop. Say
           something that arises in your heart. If nothing arises, bow down in deep silence, because He knows.
           He will understand your silence. Some day you feel like dancing -- dance. Now that is the prayer for
           that moment. Some day you want to sing -- but don't repeat anybody else's song, because that is not
           your heart, and that is not the way you can pour your heart into the divine feet. Let your own song
           arise. Forget about metre and grammar. God is not too much of a grammarian, and He is not worried
           about what words you use. He is more concerned about your heart; He is more concerned about your
           intention. He will understand.
               So Bauls make their own songs on the spur of the moment. It is spontaneous. They just relax in
           the moment: they let the dance happen, they let the singing happen. That's why they are known as
           mad people, because on some day they may be quarrelling with God! It has to be so. When you love
           God you can quarrel also. Some day they may be very angry and they will say, "No, I'm not going to
           pray to you today. What have you done to me? I am very angry." But this is beautiful; this is prayer.
           This will be heard. This will reach to the very core of existence. When you love, sometimes you are
           annoyed also. When you love, sometimes you are angry also, sometimes you dance also, sometimes
           you complain also. Man is very helpless, and a Baul lives in total helplessness. That's why he leaves
           all possessions and becomes a beggar on the road. He leaves himself in the hands of God. He says, "I
           will trust you."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               JUST the other day I was reading one prayer of a Baul, and the Baul says, "Okay, if you want to
           test me, test. And if you want to give me pain, give. I will try to tolerate as much as I can. Okay."
           But his talk is not mere talk; it is a communication. And he's not repeating scripture. He creates his
           scripture. And when you CREATE your scripture, only then do you live it. If it is borrowed you
           cannot live it. A borrowed song is not a song, and a borrowed dance is not a dance. Let it arise in
           you. Don't be worried about performance, because we do performance because we are too concerned
           about the opinion of others. The Baul is not performing anything; his approach is direct. He talks to
           God as a small child talks to his father or to his mother, or a lover talks to his beloved: it is alive.
           The song for today:

              THE MILK OF THE LIONESS
              IS SEEN AT ITS BEST
              WHEN STORED IN A GOLDEN CUP.



              WORSHIPPING PROSPERS
              IN A PROPER CONTAINER.


               So Bauls say, "Prepare yourself." But when they say to prepare yourself, they don't mean to be
           against the world. Their preparation is life-affirmative. When they say 'prepare', they don't mean it as
           other spiritualists mean it. The other spiritualists say, "Prepare"; they are saying: drop enjoying, drop
           delighting in life, move against life. Start destroying all attachment, all love, all celebration. These
           spiritualists seem to be, in some deeper way, very masochistic. Suffering becomes a very great value
           for them. They start creating suffering for themselves.
               No, a Baul is a lover of life. When he says prepare, he says to enjoy this moment so you are
           ready for the next moment. Make this moment golden. Let all your moments be a series of golden
           moments, and you will become a golden cup.

              THE MILK OF THE LIONESS
              IS SEEN AT ITS BEST
              WHEN STORED IN A GOLDEN CUP.


               BECOME a golden cup before you invite God to pour Himself into you. Enjoy, delight, rejoice,
           so that you can become capable of higher rejoicings. Celebrate this shore so that you can learn the
           ways of celebration and you can be called to the other shore. Only those who are ready will be
           called. If you are sad, gloomy, masochistic, torturing yourself, you are putting the other shore farther
           away. Because that shore belongs to those who can penetrate. That shore comes closer the more you
           celebrate. In fact, if your celebration comes to a peak, this shore turns to be that shore. When you are
           really at the peak of your celebration, when your dance is at the ultimate climax, immediately this
           shore is no more this shore; you are on the other shore. You are no more in the world, you are in
           God.

              WORSHIPPING PROSPERS
              IN A PROPER CONTAINER.


               A right container is needed. If you are desiring to become a container for God, if you have
           invited Him to be your guest and you want to be His host, then you will have to learn the ways of
           paradise. You will have to live in such a way, herenow, that this very moment becomes a paradise,
           Only then can you invite God. Many people go on inviting without ever thinking if they are ready to
           receive.
               If He comes, will He find you ready? If He comes, will you be able to welcome Him? Have you
           the golden cup ready if He pours down upon you? Where will you collect Him? Is your heart ready,
           open to receive Him? Are you receptive, sensitive? Nobody asks this.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Many people come to me and they say, "Where is God?" -- as if it is God's duty to prove
           Himself, to prove where He is. And if He cannot prove Himself, then they cannot trust. God is
           surrounding you herenow. He is within and without. Nothing else is; only God is. But you are not
           ready. The golden cup is missing. You don't have the eyes to see Him, and you don't have the ears to
           listen to Him, and you don't have the hands to touch Him. You are not ready, and you can receive
           only that for which you are ready. Not even a single moment is lost. Once you are ready,
           immediately -- not even a single moment's gap, immediately the moment you are ready -- He
           happens. Because He has already happened; only your readiness has to happen.
                Even if sometimes we try to be ready, our efforts are very half-hearted.

               THE songwriter, Bob Dylan, gives us a modern parable that expresses quite well what I wish to
           say to you. On the backside of his album, JOHN WESLEY HARDING, we read of three kings who
           visit a man named Frank. The first king explains their mission to Frank:
           "Mr. Dylan has come out with a new record. This record, of course, feature's none but his own songs,
           and we understand that you are the key."
           "That's right," said Frank, "I am."
           "Well then," said the king in a bit of excitement, "could you please open it up for us?"
               Frank, who all this time had been reclining with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them both as
           wide as a tiger. "And just how far would you like to go in?" he asked.
               The chief of the kings replied, "Not too far, but just enough so we can say that we have been
           there."
               Even when people are seeking God, they want only to go this far -- so that they can say to the
           world that they have seen Him. But they don't want to go far enough -- because if you go far enough
           into God, you never come back. They don't want to take another step -- because if you go deep, then
           there comes a point of no return. They only want to go a little bit, so that they can come back into the
           world and say to people that, "We have seen God also." But their whole interest is in the world and
           the respectability that the world can give to them. They have a big bank balance, they have a big
           palace today; now they even possess God in their homes.
           This parable is beautiful.
               Replies the chief of the kings, "Not too far, but just enough so we can say that we have been
           there."

               WHEN you go to the temple you are still not going; your face is towards the marketplace. Have
           you seen it sometimes in you or in others? -- if you are alone in the temple, you don't enjoy your
           prayer very much. If there are many people watching, then there is great enthusiasm. Then you are so
           full of spirit. Then your prayer is great, you feel very high -- not because of the prayer, but because
           the whole town is watching you. And they will think how religious, how virtuous, how close to God
           you are. You would like them to feel jealous. It is a performance. But your performance is before the
           people; God is out of it. You are not contacting Him.
               Contact Him alone, because it is not a performance. You are not to prove anything to anybody,
           you are just to open your heart.
           The Bauls say,


                  As you wonder, sitting alone,
                  the time approaches for death.
                  Heedless of all, O my insane heart,
                  you have travelled eight million times
                  the painful ways of life to death,
                  to find the measured land,
                  the body of the man.



                  Why did you let such human
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  earth turn to wasteland?
                  Cultivated, it could have yielded
                  a harvest of gold.
                  Take up, my heart, the spade of devotion,
                  wrench out the weeds of sin;
                  the seed of faith will grow.

                  Just destroy obstacles.



                  Take up, my heart, the spade of devotion,
                  wrench out the weeds of sin;
                  the seed of faith will grow.


               You are carrying the seed within you. It is already treasured in the deepest core of your being,
           waiting and waiting and waiting for obstacles to be removed so that it can unfold. God is your
           intrinsic quality; God is your destiny. You are the seed and God is going to be the flower out of this
           seed.


                  Human limbs are held together
                  by a pair of lotus blossoms
                  growing in the lower
                  and the upper regions of the body.
                  But the lotuses burst open
                  in search
                  as the sun in the body
                  rises and sets.


               As your awareness rises and sets, your innermost lotuses open and close. Just as in the morning
           the sun rises in the sky on the horizon in the East, and the lotuses bloom, when night comes and the
           sun sets in the West, the lotuses close again. The Bauls say,


                  Human limbs are held together
                  by a pair of lotus blossoms...

             ... What the yogis call CHAKRAS: the vortexes of energy, the wheels of energy, the seven
           CHAKRAS. Bauls call them the seven lotuses.


                  ...growing in the lower
                  and the upper regions of the body.
                  But the lotuses burst open
                  in search
                  as the sun in the body
                  rises and sets.



                  On which of these blooms
                  is the full moon born,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  and on which
                  the darkest night of the month?

               The lowest lotus is the sex lotus. If you remain there you will remain in a dark night. The last
           lotus, the seventh, SAHASRAR, is the lotus where the moon becomes full. Move from sex to love.
           Love is the quality or the function of the man who has come to SAHASRAR; sex is the quality and
           the function of the man who lives at the lowest lotus.
           And don't be worried, the Bauls sing,.


                  My worries continue
                  for my crumbling boat
                  that can no longer carry.
                  Water rushes through her hulk
                  and salt eats at her keel.
                  My boat can bear no more
                  the burden of water.
                  O Master of my life,
                  open your eyes.
                  Show me your kindness
                  and hold me as I die.



                  Passions like bandits raided my boat
                  and went off with the spoils.
                  They cut the mooring rope
                  and left me adrift.
                  The Master says:
                  Wash away the stains of your heart
                  and your boat will thrive
                  in tranquility.


               Just the stains on your heart have to be washed away. The heart just has to drop doubts, the heart
           has to drop suspicions. Once trust arises, you are washed clean. Trust is a tremendous cleansing of
           the heart. Then the lotuses open.


                  Sown on a slab of stone,
                  the seed of faith dries day by day,
                  never sprouting.
                  You may cultivate the arid earth,
                  but the hardened seed
                  will yield no harvest.



                  Great is the woodland where the sandal grows,
                  and the breeze, bearing the scent of sandal
                  perfumes the neighboring trees
                  turning them into sandalwood.


              If on a very hard heart you want to sow the seed of God, it will not grow. Let your heart be soft,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           let it become receptive. Then it will be like the soft soil of the woodland where sandals grow. And
           these lines are beautiful:


                  Great is the woodland where the sandal grows,
                  and the breeze, bearing the scent of sandal
                  perfumes the neighboring trees
                  turning them into sandalwood.


               AND when one man's seed flowers not only is he perfumed, all those who come in contact with
           him become sandalwood. Hence, the glory of SATSANG, the glory of the presence of a Master. He
           has become a sandalwood. Just coming in contact with him you will be perfumed, and your own seed
           will start sprouting.


                  Gathering planks and pieces of metal
                  you build a boat to float on the sea,
                  but the elements are alien to water.
                  The boat sails and the boat sinks
                  but the tie of love is never torn.


               If the vehicle is not right, if the preparedness is not right, then the whole effort will be lost. You
           can make a heavy boat, but then it will sink. It will not float in the sea. The Bauls say that only in the
           boat of love, in soft, feminine passivity, in the boat of songs and dances, does one reach to the other
           shore. Become more feminine, more soft, like soft soil, and throw out all hard stones from your
           heart. We ordinarily do just the opposite: we go on gathering doubts and suspicions. We go on
           destroying our own soil.

              WORSHIPPING PROSPERS
              IN A PROPER CONTAINER.
              THE LOVER
              WHO WHOLLY LOVES,
              CAN REACH REALITY,
              COMPREHENDING THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.



                  "The lover who wholly loves, can reach reality, comprehending the unattainable man...."
              Love is the path of the Baul; love, and nothing else -- wholly in love, totally in love, total trust.


                  To find nectar,
                  stir the cauldron on the fire,
                  and unite the act of loving
                  with the feeling for love.


              ORDINARILY people love, but they don't have a FEELING for love. They exploit love. They
           even act like lovers, but their love is in the service of gratification. They don't have a feeling for
           love. They don't love love. They don't have respect, reverence for love. Love remains a lust; it never
           becomes worship, prayer.

              TO FIND NECTAR,
              STIR THE CAULDRON ON THE FIRE,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND UNITE THE ACT OF LOVING
              WITH THE FEELING FOR LOVE.
              DISTILL THE SWEETNESS
              OF THE HEART
              AND REACH THE TREASURES,
              DEVOTING YOURSELF
              TO THOSE WHOLLY DEVOTED.


               If you can find a person who is wholly devoted to God, then devote yourself to that person --
           because love cannot be taught, it can only be caught. Nobody can teach you the ways of love; you
           will have to live in close vicinity of a lover. Nobody can teach you how to pray: you will have to live
           in close vicinity of one who is in prayer. Watching him, feeling him, moving around him, tasting the
           flavor of his being, will teach you what prayer is. Then prayer will not become a ritual. Then prayer
           will be a flowering within you, a spontaneous arising of a new vision.


                  Distill the sweetness
                  of the heart
                  and reach the treasures,
                  devoting yourself
                  to those wholly devoted.


               That is the relationship between a Master and a disciple. Bauls move in search of a Master.
           Whenever they find somebody whose song, whose dancing is prayerful...and there is no intellectual
           criterion for knowing it; you have just to be with someone. How do you know that a person is in
           love? What is the criterion? Just be with him and see: see how he behaves, see how he responds. See
           his tears and his songs. Watch his moods in different moments. By and by, you will be able to feel
           what worship, what love, what prayer is. Yes, it cannot be taught, but it can be caught.


                  Will the day ever dawn
                  when the treasured man of my heart
                  will become my own?
                  Though not cast in any shape,
                  the man is evidenced
                  in the ways of love.

               There is no proof for God, but there is enough proof in those people who have loved Him. There
           is no proof that God exists, but there is enough proof that a Meera existed, that Chaitanya existed.
           There is enough proof because we have seen a transfiguration happening in Meera, we have seen the
           transmutation happening in Chaitanya. We have seen. They were ordinary metal suddenly becoming
           gold. We don't know God exists; there is no proof -- but is it not enough proof? The Bauls say, "The
           man is evidenced in the ways of love." That is the only evidence.

                VIVEKANANDA went to Ramkrishna. He wanted a proof for God, and Ramkrishna started
           laughing in his mad way. And suddenly, he touched Vivekananda's heart with his feet. Vivekananda
           fell into a swoon, a trance. The friends that had come with Vivekananda were all worried: "What has
           happened?" And Vivekananda was not the sort to fall easily into a trance. He was an intellectual,
           atheistic, skeptical, well trained in logic and philosophy. What had happened? What had this man
           done? And when Vivekananda came back, he was a totally different man. Then Vivekananda tried in
           thousands of ways to escape from this man Ramkrishna, but it was impossible. It was as if a great
           magnet was pulling him. He would escape for a few days and then come back, almost against his
           will. One day he would again find himself sitting before Ramkrishna, and he would tell Ramkrishna,
           "Leave me alone. Why are you haunting me?" Ramkrishna said, "What can I do? You asked,'Is there
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any God, is there any proof?' I don't know any proof. All that I know is that He is in me, so I allowed
           Him to touch you. What else can I do? Now it is for you to decide whether God is or not."
              There is no proof, but there are enough proofs; no direct proof, but many indirect evidences.


                  Will the day ever dawn
                  when the treasured man of my heart
                  will become my own?
                  Though not cast in any shape,
                  the man is evidenced
                  in the ways of love.
                  Those who are absorbed
                  by the flavours of feelings
                  and are wholly living
                  with the knowledge of death
                  have won their foes --
                  pride and envy,
                  lust and anger,
                  ignorance and greed.
                  If your life,
                  flowing with life,
                  longs for the man,
                  the man will come with kindly steps.
                  Look at the worlds of gods, demons and man --
                  all held in your body.
                  He is already there.


                God has already penetrated you: the news may not have reached yet, the gospel may not have
           been heard yet.
                The English word 'gospel' is very beautiful. In the old English it was 'godspell', then it became
           'gospel'. Godspell is even better.
                He has already penetrated you. He is already there but the news has not reached you. Your head
           is too far away from your heart. Bring your head a little closer.
                The man is evidenced in the ways of love, and the worlds of gods, demons and man -- all are
           held in your body. He is already there, holding all together. The Bauls go on crying and weeping;
           their tears are the proof. Their weeping is so authentic, their crying is so authentic that once coming
           in contact with a Baul, you will never ask whether God exists or not.


                  I shall not open my eyes again
                  if I don't see Him at first sight.
                  Can you then tell me
                  through the sense of smelling
                  and through my listening ears
                  that He has come --
                  that He has come to the sky in the East --
                  that your friend has come to the sky of the East?

                  "I shall not open my eyes if I don't see Him at first sight": they go on singing, praying. Their
                  song is so true, their prayer is so penetrating. How it is possible without God? Yes, God is
                  evidenced in the ways of love.


              THE LOVER
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHO WHOLLY LOVES,
              CAN REACH REALITY,
              COMPREHENDING THE UNATTAINABLE MAN.


               The emphasis is on wholly, totally, utterly, completely. Immediately, when you are total you are
           ready, the golden cup is ready.

              THE SECRETS OF DEATH
              ARE REVEALED TO HIM
              WHILE HE IS FULLY ALIVE.
              WHAT DOES HE CARE
              FOR THE OTHER SHORES OF LIFE...?



                  "The secrets of death are revealed to him while he is fully alive"...and the lover knows what
                  death is. The lover knows that death is not. Only the lover knows that death is the most false
                  thing in existence. Why? How does the lover come to know that death is not? -- because the
                  lover has already died in his love. And he finds himself, he is still there -- not only there but
                  more so, so much so that he has never been before. Dying, he is for the first time living
                  totally. He dies in the love of God, in the love of the Beloved. He surrenders himself utterly,
                  unconditionally.


               JUST a few days ago Girisha wrote me a letter. She thinks she has too much work in the ashram.
           Maybe that's true, maybe it is not true. But in the letter she wrote something which is very
           meaningful. She wrote in the letter, "I have too much work and it is not surrender, it is sacrifice."
           Now surrender knows nothing about sacrifice.
               If you have known surrender, you are sacrificed already. You are no more there to be sacrificed.
           Surrender means you have died already. If you have surrendered to me, then there is no problem.
           Then, more work or less work -- it has nothing to do with you. It is irrelevant. Then I have to look
           after it, I have to decide what work is more and what work is less. And I have to decide how much
           you have to be put into work and how long, and how much you have to be forced and pushed in a
           certain direction. But for you, it is not any longer a problem -- you are surrendered. But if you think
           that it is becoming a sacrifice and not a surrender, then you are not surrendered at all. Then anything
           will look like sacrifice. A lover knows nothing of sacrifice. When you are surrendered, you are dead
           as far as your ego is concerned. Then whatsoever happens, you not only accept it, you accept in deep
           gratitude.
               The lover knows the secrets of death, because he has moved into death already through his love.
           There are two deaths: one that happens at the end of your life, and the other that can happen between
           death and birth -- the death of love, lovedeath. One who dies in love never dies again. Then all
           deaths are finished for him. He's already resurrected. He has come to know that only the ego dies. If
           you drop the ego then you are deathless.

              THE SECRETS OF DEATH
              ARE REVEALED TO HIM
              WHILE HE IS FULLY ALIVE.
              WHAT DOES HE CARE
              FOR THE OTHER SHORES OF LIFE...?


               In that tremendous moment of surrender -- this shore turns to be the other shore, this world
           becomes the other world -- what cares he for the other shore?
           I have been reading a very significant story:
               Four hundred years ago a gardener planted a small pine in one inch of soil in a shallow dish. He
           trimmed each root and branch as the tree grew. When he died, his son took up the task, and so on
           down through nineteen generations. Today that tree stands, never having outgrown the original dish,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the Kovala Gardens of Tokyo. After four hundred years it is only twenty inches high, and a
           twisted top some thirty-six inches across.
               That little tree shouts a warning to everybody. The mind and soul can be cut back just like the
           tree, always with the same result -- a dwarf.
               If you are not growing your roots into life, if you are not growing your roots and spreading your
           roots in love, in trust, you will remain a dwarf. You will never become the essential man, ADHAR
           MANUSH. Grow, grow towards depth -- because when your roots grow towards depth, your
           branches grow towards height. Depth and height grow together. The deeper you go into the earth, the
           higher you go into the sky. The deeper you go into this shore, the closer you reach to the other shore.

               LOVE, love life, love all that surrounds you, and let your roots spread as far and as wide as
           possible. You will start touching the feet of God. Your flowers will start being offered to the divine
           feet. Otherwise, remember -- you will remain a dwarf.
               Love is a must. It is the only nourishment for the soul. The body can exist with food; the soul can
           exist only with love. Let it not remain just a word; allow it to become a penetrating experience.
               Love is worship for the Bauls, love is prayer for the Bauls, love is God for the Bauls.




                                                The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: When Doubt Is Not, Trust Is
           2 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607020
              ShortTitle: BELOV202
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 73 mins




              THE FIRST QUESTION:
              WHY DOESN'T TRUST ARISE OUT OF THE DECISION TO TRUST?


               TRUST IS NOT A DECISION ON YOUR PART. You cannot decide for it. When you are
           finished with doubting, when you have come to see doubt through and through and you are
           completely convinced of the futility of the doubt, trust arises. You have to deal with the doubt, you
           are not to do anything about trust. Your trust will not be of much importance because your trust,
           your decision, will always be against doubt. And trust is not contrary to doubt; trust is simply the
           absence of doubt. When doubt is not, trust is.
               Trust is not the opposite, remember. Notwithstanding what the dictionaries say, trust is not
           opposite to doubt, just as darkness is not opposite to light. It appears opposite, but it is not -- because
           you cannot destroy light by bringing darkness in. You cannot bring darkness in. There is no way to
           destroy light by throwing darkness on it. Darkness has never been able to destroy the small flame of
           a very small candle. The whole darkness of the existence is impotent before a small candle.
               Why is it so? If darkness is opposite, inimical, antagonistic, then it should be capable sometimes
           of defeating light. It is sheer absence. Darkness is because light is not. When light is, darkness is not.
           When you put a light on in your room, have you watched what happens? Darkness does not go out of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the room; it is not that darkness escapes out of the room. It is found simply not to be there. It never
           was -- it is pure negativity.
                Doubt is like darkness, trust is like light. If you have doubt, then you will decide for trust.
           Otherwise there is no need to decide for trust. Why decide for it? You must be having tremendous
           doubt. The greater the doubt, the greater the need is felt to create trust. So whenever somebody says,
           "I trust very strongly," remember that he is fighting against a very strong doubt. That's how people
           become fanatics. The fanaticism is born because they have created a false trust. Their doubt is alive,
           their doubt is not finished. The doubt has not disappeared, the doubt is there. And to fight with the
           doubt they have created a trust against it. If the doubt is very strong, they have to cling fanatically to
           their trust. Whenever somebody says that, "I am a staunch believer," remember, deep down in his
           heart he is carrying disbelief. Otherwise, there is no need to be a strong believer. Simple trust is
           enough -- why strong? When you say to somebody, "I love you VERY strongly," something is
           wrong. Love is enough.
                Love is not a quantity. When somebody says, "I love you very much," something is wrong,
           because love is not a quantity. You cannot love less and more. Either you love or you don't love. The
           division is very clear-cut.
                Just a few days ago a new book had come, and the first copy I always give to Vivek. I wrote
           'With love to Vivek'. She told me, "Why not MUCH LOVE?" I said, "That is impossible. I cannot
           write that" -- because to me, more or less is not possible. I can simply write 'love';'much love' is
           absurd. Quantity is not a question, but simple quality. When you say 'much', you must be hiding
           something behind that 'much'; something of hatred, something of anger, something of jealousy, but
           something which is not love. To hide that, you have to show your over-enthusiasm, what you call
           'gung-ho': MUCH love, STRONG trust, STAUNCH belief. Whenever you are too much of a
           Christian, you are not a Christian at all. If you are too much of a Hindu, you have not understood at
           all.
                Just the other night a young girl was saying to me that she was afraid. She wants to take
           SANNYAS but she is afraid, "Because it will be putting Christ as number two; you will become the
           first." She was very puzzled. "It will be putting Christ behind you," she told me. I told her, "Just look
           into my eyes. If you really love? Christ then you will find Christ in me. You will not find two
           persons. But if you are a Christian, then it is difficult. Then forget all about SANNYAS."
                One who loves Christ can love me; there is no conflict. One who loves Krishna can love me;
           there is no conflict. But if one is a Hindu, one is a Mohammedan, one is a Christian, then it is
           difficult. A Christian is not a lover of Christ. To be a Christian is a decision on your part; doubt has
           not disappeared, doubt has been repressed.
                Don't repress doubt. Rather, just on the contrary, watch, look deeply into it, analyze it. Don't
           leave any part of it unanalyzed, unknown. Become acquainted with all the layers of the doubting
           mind. That very acquaintance, the penetration into doubt, will dissolve doubt. One day suddenly you
           will awake one morning full of trust -- not as your decision. It cannot be a decision because trust is
           something you are born with; doubt is a learned thing. Trust is tacit, inborn.
                Every child trusts. As he grows, doubt arises. Doubt is learned. So trust is there always as an
           undercurrent in your being. You just drop doubt, trust will arise. And then trust has a tremendous
           beauty because it is pure. It is not against doubt, it is simply absence of doubt. The rock has been
           removed and the stream has come bubbling up, flowing.
                So please, don't try to make a decision about it. Your decision will be a delay; and the more you
           decide, the more you will find, deep inside, the worm of doubt increasing. Then you will be divided
           in two and you will never be at ease, and there will be continuous agony.
                So many people believe in God, and deep down is doubt -- throbbing, alive, waiting for its
           opportunity to destroy the trust. And the trust is bogus because the trust is on the periphery, and the
           doubt has reached almost to the very core of your being. Never decide about love, about trust, about
           God. These things are not your decisions. They are not arguments, they are not conclusions.
                When doubt is no more there, trust is. It happens. It flows. It arises out of your innermost core,
           from the innermost shrine. You start listening to a new music of being, a new style of being, a new
           way of being. It is not of the mind, it is of the being.

           The second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              WHAT REALLY IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BAUL, A TANTRIKA, A BHAKTA, AND A SUFI?
              DO THEY ALL BELONG TO THE PATH OF LOVE? THEY SEEM TO BE INTERMINGLED. PLEASE
              ENLIGHTEN.


               THE boundaries are overlapping. They are all on the path of love, but still there are subtle
           distinctions. Even with overlapping boundaries they have something special: a Tantrika, a Baul, and
           a Bhakta. Sufi is not different from Bhakta. Sufi is the Bhakta on the Mohammedan path; Bhakta is
           the Sufi on the Hindu path. There is no difference between a Bhakta and a Sufi, so we will not
           discuss that The difference is only of terminology. The Sufis use the Mohammedan terminology, the
           Bhakta uses the Hindu terminology. The difference is not of any importance; it is just language. But
           these three: a Baul, a Tantrika and a Bhakta have to be understood.
               Love has three possibilities: sex, the lowest; love, higher than sex; and prayer, the highest.
               The Tantrika remains sex-oriented. The Tantrika in fact avoids love, because love will become
           an entanglement. He remains a pure technician of sex. With the sex energy he works like a scientist:
           aloof, detached. He does not bring love into it. He transforms the energy. Love arises in him, prayer
           also, but those are consequences. They follow like shadows, but the orientation is sex energy. His
           whole work, his whole lab, is there at the sex center. He works there, unattached, aloof, almost
           indifferent to the person. With whomever the Tantrika is making love, he remains completely aloof,
           far away. That is part of the Tantra methodology: that you should not be attached to the person.
           That's why Tantrikas say: "Don't do Tantra techniques with your wife or with your beloved. No, find
           somebody with whom you are not attached at all, so that you can become a pure technician." It is
           scientific.
               It is just like this: you may be a great surgeon and you may have done thousands of surgeries, but
           when it comes to operating on your own wife your hands will start trembling. If it comes to
           operating on your own child you will have to call another surgeon. He may be not so expert as you,
           but still you will have to call somebody else -- because the surgeon needs to be completely aloof, not
           concerned. Only then can surgery be perfectly scientific.
               The Tantrik is absolutely of the scientific attitude. He will find a woman or a man with whom he
           is not attached at all. And before he even moves into a Tantric relationship with somebody, months
           are needed to prepare. And the whole preparation is: how to avoid love, how not to fall into deep
           contact with the other person. Otherwise, the whole method will not be of any use.
               The Baul is love-oriented. If sex comes into a Baul's life, it is just like a shadow. It is part of his
           love. He's not afraid of sex, but he is not sex-oriented. He loves a woman: because he loves the
           woman he wants to share all that he has, sexual energies included. But sex is not his lab; his lab is
           love, deep contact, care for the other person -- so much so that you become less important and the
           other becomes more important. That which is a hindrance on the path of the Tantrika is the path of
           the Baul. If sex comes, it is okay. If it doesn't come, that too is okay. Sex is not the goal. And he is
           not working on the crude energy of sex, he is working on the subtle energy of love. As the Tantrika
           is working on a seed, the Baul is working on the flower, the Bhakta or Sufi is working on the
           fragrance. They become more and more subtle.
               Prayer is the highest form of sex energy, higher than love. It is the fragrance; very subtle, all
           grossness gone. The Bhakta or the Sufi works on prayer. If, following prayer, love enters, it is
           allowed. There is no problem about it. Even if, following love, sex enters, it is allowed -- but the
           whole attention is focused on prayer. So if a Bhakta falls in love with somebody, it is a form of
           prayer. The other is divine, the other is a god or goddess. He makes love sacred. The Baul is just in
           the middle of the Tantrika and the Bhakta or Sufi. He is a bridge.
               There are difficulties with the Tantrika. The difficulty is: it is very gross, and the possibility is
           that you may be lost in that grossness. It may overpower you. Sex is tremendous energy, wild
           energy, very stormy, and you are moving in an ocean. The ocean is in deep storm, and you have a
           very small boat, and it is very dangerous. It is very easy to enter on the path of Tantra, it is very
           difficult to come out of it. If a hundred enter, only one may survive -- because you are playing with
           wild energy. The energy is so great that you may be overpowered by it; the very possibility is there.
               Prayer is very difficult -- fragrance -- you cannot see it, it is very elusive. It is very difficult to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enter on the path of prayer. If you enter, you. come out of it. It is very easy to enter on the path of
           Tantra, but going is easy, coming is very difficult. On the path of prayer entering is very difficult,
           coming out is very easy. The entry is almost impossible -- you don't even know anything about love;
           what to say about prayer? It is just a word with no content. It is too abstract, it is too far away. You
           cannot make any contact with it, with what prayer is. So, at the most, you can become a victim of a
           certain ritual. You can repeat a prayer: that will be just verbal, mind-stuff, a mind game. It will not
           be possible ordinarily to enter on the path of prayer.
               The path of the Baul is just in the middle. Entry is not as easy as on the path of Tantra, and not as
           difficult as on the path of prayer. It is humanly possible. The Baul is very realistic, very
           down-to-earth, and it seems to be the safest path possible. Just in the middle, balancing both -- on the
           one hand sex, on the other hand prayer, and the Baul walks just in the middle.

           The third question:


              YOU TELL ME TO FOLLOW MY FEELINGS, AND WHEN I FINALLY DARE TO AND AM FEELING
              MUCH FREER AND SIMPLER AND HAPPIER, YOU SAY I AM IMMATURE. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?


                IT is from Madhuri.
           It means exactly what it says: you are immature. What is immaturity? Whatsoever you are doing,
           you are doing almost unconsciously. Yes, I say be spontaneous, but I don't mean be unconscious. I
           mean be alert and spontaneous. By 'being spontaneous' you immediately understand to become a
           driftwood; so whatsoever happens, whatsoever and wheresoever the mind leads you, you are led by
           it. You become accidental. Immaturity makes a man accidental; maturity gives man a direction.
                Maturity comes from a Latin root, MATURAS, which means: to be ripe. A fruit is mature when
           the fruit is ripe, when it has become sweet and is ready to be digested, can be eaten, can become part
           of anybody's life. A mature person is one who has come to know what love is, and love has made
           him sweet.
                Now what Madhuri is doing is not love, it is just sexual fantasy -- so one day moving with one
           man, another day moving with another man. This can be very destructive. Remember, what I say has
           to be understood very accurately, otherwise my sayings will not be helpful. They will become
           harmful.
           It happened:
                Mulla Nasrudin came home. His wife asked him, "What happened, Nasrudin, when you asked
           your boss for a raise today?"
           "He was like a lamb," said Mulla Nasrudin.
           "Really? What did he say?"
           "Bah!"

               Please listen to what I say carefully, and don't give it your own interpretation. Don't distort its
           meaning. Be spontaneous, but you can be spontaneous only when you are very aware. Otherwise you
           will become an accident -- one moment going to the north, another moment going to the south. You
           will lose all direction. A spontaneous man is ready to respond to each moment. Sometimes some
           may see that he is moving to the north, and sometimes others may see that he is moving to the south,
           but his inner direction remains absolutely certain. His inner direction remains arrowed. He may have
           to adjust to circumstances, but once adjusted, he again gains energy, momentum, and starts moving
           towards his direction. He has a feel for the direction, but that feel comes only when you are very,
           very alert. Otherwise, just spontaneity will reduce you to being animals.
               Animals are spontaneous, but they are not Buddhas. So just spontaneity cannot make one a
           Buddha -- something more, something plus is needed: spontaneity plus awareness. Then you are not
           a mechanism, and you are not a driftwood either.

               The doctor on an ocean liner notified the steward that a man had died in the stateroom number
           forty-five. The usual instructions to bury the body were given. Some time later the doctor peeped
           into the cabin and found the body still there. He called the steward's attention to the matter, and the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           latter said, "I thought you said cabin forty-nine. I went to that cabin and noticed that one of them was
           in the bunk.'Are you dead,' says I?'Pretty nearly,' says he; so I buried him."

               Even if a person says that he is pretty dead, he is alive. Don't be too linguistic, don't be too literal.
           I say listen to your feelings, but I don't mean that you should become fragmented. I mean: listen to
           your feelings, but your feelings have to become a garland. Your feelings should not be like a heap of
           flowers. Your feelings should be like a garland, a thread running inside the flowers. Maybe nobody
           is able to see it, but a thread is joining them in a continuity: that continuity is the direction. Unless
           your feelings are a garland, you will disperse into fragments, you will fall into pieces, you will lose
           your togetherness.
               Yes, I had told Madhuri to be spontaneous, to move according to her feelings. But I have been
           insisting continuously to do everything, but always remember that awareness is a requirement, a
           basic requirement -- then do whatsoever you want to do. If there is something you are doing for
           which awareness becomes a hindrance, then don't do it. If there is something you are doing and
           awareness does not become a hindrance to it but on the contrary helps it, do it.
               That is the whole definition of the right and the wrong. The wrong is that which cannot be done
           with awareness, for which unawareness is a must. The right is that which can be done only with
           awareness, for which unawareness has to be dropped; otherwise it cannot be done. Awareness is a
           must. The right is that for which awareness is a must, the wrong is that for which unawareness is a
           must. That is my definition of sin and virtue. And YOU are to decide; the responsibility is yours.
           It happened:
               A worried woman went to see her doctor and told him that her husband appeared to have no
           virility, and had no interest in her whatsoever.
               He gave her a prescription, saying "These will help him. Next time you and your husband are
           having a quiet meal together, just slip a couple of these pills into his coffee and they will make him
           spontaneous. And then come and see me again."
               Two weeks later she went to see her doctor again, and he asked her if his remedy had been
           successful.
           "Oh yes, doctor," she said. "Absolutely marvelous. I slipped the pills into my husband's coffee and
           after two sips he began making love to me."
           The doctor smiled. "Fine. No complaints then?"
               She said, "Well, there is one. My husband and I can't ever show ourselves in that restaurant
           again."
               Now remember, Madhuri, what I say has to be understood, because finally, you will decide
           where to slip those pills. I cannot follow you. You will decide where to be spontaneous, how to be
           spontaneous -- and unconsciousness is not spontaneity, Spontaneity is very alert, very responsible,
           very caring. You are simply fooling around.
           "You tell me to follow my feelings and when I finally dare to and am feeling much freer and simpler
           and happier, you say I am immature. What does it mean?"
               I give you a certain rope to see what you do with my assertions, with my statements. I give you a
           certain rope, but when I see you are going crazy, then I have to pull you back. I have been watching,
           waiting to see what Madhuri is doing, but enough is enough.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:
               Abdul the Arab was marooned in the desert. His camel had sat down and flatly refused to get up.
           At long last another Arab dropped by, and Abdul told him his problem.
           "I can fix that," said the second Arab, "only it will cost you five shekels."
           "That's cheap at the price," said Abdul, "so you go ahead."
               So without further ado the Arab crouched down by the side of Abdul's camel and whispered a
           few words in its ear. Suddenly the camel leapt to its feet and took off across the desert like a
           greyhound.
               Abdul was amazed and delighted. "That trick is worth more than five shekels," he said.
           "I know," said the second Arab, "and I want five hundred shekels from you before I tell you the
           magic words -- you have got to catch him."
               That is only half the story: now you will have to catch him...now five hundred shekels are
           needed. Unless the second Arab utters the same mantra into Abdul's ear, he cannot catch the camel.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Madhuri, your desires are running like greyhounds. It was easy; it cost you only five rupees, but
           now you will have to catch your camel and it will cost five hundred rupees. It will be more arduous.
                To just move with desires one always feels simple, because one becomes almost like an animal.
           It is almost felt like happiness because there is no tension, no responsibility. You don't care a bit
           about the other person. Now the camel has to be caught.
                Oh yes, I told you to be free with your feelings; now I tell you to be aware. It will be more
           arduous, but if you can be aware, then you will REALLY become simple. This simplicity is nothing:
           this is just regression into childhood, or regression into animality. The simplicity I want you to attain
           is the simplicity of a Buddha; not a regression, but the very climax of life. This simplicity is not
           going to help much. It has not helped anybody. This simplicity is very primitive, childish, immature.
                But I wanted to see what you do, and I have seen what you are doing. Now become more alert.
           Bring a discipline to your life, a direction. Become more caring, more loving, more responsible.
           Your body has to be respected; it is the very shrine of God. You are not to treat it the way you are
           treating it; it is disrespectful. But it will be hard, I know. But I create situations in which hard things
           have to be done, because that is the only way to grow.

           The fourth question:


               WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PATIENCE, POSTPONEMENT, AND SHEER STUPIDITY?


                YES, the question is significant because people can get confused about these three.
                Patience is very alert, patience is very active, patience is very expectant. If you are waiting for
           somebody -- a friend is to call -- you may be sitting just by the door, but you are very attentive, alert.
           Any noise on the road, any car passing by, and immediately you start looking: maybe the friend has
           come? The wind on your doors, and suddenly you are alert: maybe he has knocked.... Dead leaves in
           the garden moving hither and thither, and you come out of your home; maybe he has come....
           Patience is as active as that. It is a waiting. It is not dull, it is very radiant. It is not unconscious; it is
           not like a stupor. It is like a flame burning bright. One waits. One can wait infinitely, but one waits,
           expectant, active, alert, watchful.
                Just the opposite is sheer stupidity. You can just be dull, idiotic, stupid, in a stupor, and you can
           think that you are waiting, you are patient. And you can enjoy that others who are working hard to
           reach somewhere are impatient people; you are very patient. But remember, patience needs work.
           Patience is not inactivity. A patient person works patiently. He does not demand, he does not
           demand too much, he does not demand in a hurry, he does not demand for instant SATORI or
           SAMADHI. He knows it is arduous, the path is hard. He knows it is difficult; a thousand and one are
           the pitfalls. To be lost is easy, to achieve is difficult. It is almost impossible to achieve, and he knows
           it -- but that is the attraction, that is the challenge, God is impossible, but that's the beauty of it, that's
           the challenge. The challenge has to be accepted. He works hard at it and yet remains patient,
           knowing well his limitations, knowing well the very impossibility of the desire.
                It is an impossible passion: to know God, to be God. It is unbelievable that it happens. That's
           why people go on denying that Buddha ever existed -- that Jesus is a myth, that Krishna is just the
           imagination of the poets. Why do so many people insist that Buddha is just a myth, that Jesus and
           Krishna never existed? Why? They are simply saying that the whole thing seems to be impossible; it
           cannot happen.
                In a way they are right: it cannot happen; but still it happens. It happens very rarely. It happens
           so rarely that you can say that it does not happen at all. Once in a while, thousands of years pass,
           then somebody becomes enlightened -- ALMOST as if it never happens.
                Knowing this, one waits; but one does not wait in inactivity, because then the waiting will be
           futile. The waiting has to be just like the farmer waiting. He sows the seeds; they will come in
           season. It cannot be hurried. There is no point in going again and again to the field, digging and
           seeing whether the seeds have sprouted yet or not, because that will be very destructive. That will
           not allow the seeds to sprout at all. That impatience will destroy the seeds. He waits, he waters --
           nothing is seen for months. Nothing comes above the earth, but he waits with deep patience, goes on
           working, caring about the field, praying and expectant that they are coming, that they are on the way.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And one day, they are there.
               Sheer stupidity is hiding your inactivity, your inertia, your lethargy, in beautiful terms. A
           lethargic person can say, "I'm not in a hurry, I'm waiting," and he will not do anything. Then you are
           waiting in vain; it is not going to happen. Yes, the seeds will sprout in season, but the seeds have to
           be sown; otherwise they will not sprout.
               So watch inside you. These distinctions are not distinctions of one man, these distinctions exist in
           each man. These are not categories, that somebody is 'sheer stupid' and somebody is 'very patient'.
           No, these moods exist together in everybody. There is a stupid moment in your life, there is a patient
           moment in your life, and postponement is just in the middle of these two. Postponement is very
           cunning.
               Patience is alert, stupidity is inactive, unconscious. Patience is conscious, postponement is
           subconscious. Postponement has a double-bind in it: you want to do something and yet you are not
           ready to do anything for it. It is a very cunning state of affairs. You want to meditate, but you say,
           "Tomorrow." If you really want, then today is the right time, because tomorrow never comes. If you
           really want, then meditate right now, because there is no point in postponing it. How can you be
           certain that tomorrow will ever come? It may never come. And if it is really important to you and
           your desire is intense for it, then you will not waste a single moment in postponing it. You will
           postpone everything else, but you will meditate. You postpone only that which is not significant to
           you, or, you are playing with yourself, being cunning with yourself. One part of your mind says,
           "Yes, it is important." Another part of mind says, "Yes, it is important, I know; that's why tomorrow
           we will start." You are satisfied.
               A man challenged by his good friend as to who was the more energetic person: the first said he
           got up at six, went for a walk, breakfasted at eight, did an hour's work, then to the office, half an
           hour for lunch, and so on. The detailed work and alternating exercise stretched out till eleven p.m.
           "Well," said the friend, "how long have you been doing this?"
           "I start on Monday."
               God is always postponed, love is always postponed, meditation is always postponed. Anger,
           greed, hatred, never; the devil, never. When the devil invites you, you are IMMEDIATELY ready.
           Immediately, instantly you stand up. You say, "I'm coming!" When somebody insults you, you don't
           say that "Tomorrow I will be angry"; but for love you always go on postponing. For prayer you say,
           "Yes, it has to be done." This is a very cunning state.
               You don't want to recognize the fact that you don't desire prayer, you don't desire love, you don't
           desire meditation. You don't want to recognize the fact that you don't have any passion for God, so
           you postpone in this way. You manage well -- you go on doing that which you really desire, and you
           go on postponing that which you don't desire at all, but you are not courageous enough to recognize
           the fact. At least be honest. Postponement is dishonest, very dishonest. Watch inside yourself, at
           what you have been postponing, and you will find that all that is beautiful you have been postponing.
               It is a double-bind; you are divided, or you are playing very devilry with yourself.
           I have heard....
               A rabbi had the misfortune to run his car into the side of Father Murphy's car. He jumped out and
           went to the other's door, loud with apologies.
           "My dear Father Murphy, so sorry I am. Oi vay! that I should be so silly as to do this to you of all
           people, a fellow man of God! Are you all right?"
           "Oh yes, no injuries, Rabbi," said Father Murphy. "But I am a bit shaken up."
           "Of course you are," said the Rabbi, solicitously. "Here, have a sip of this -- it is good whiskey." And
           he handed a hip flask to the priest who drank heartily. "Go on, Father, have another. It is all my fault.
           Drink deeply, don't worry about the cost."
               The priest needed no second bidding, and took another deep swig. "Won't you have one, Rabbi?"
           he asked.
           "With the police already arriving!" exclaimed the Rabbi.
               The mind is very cunning. Everybody's mind is the mind of the Jew.'Jew' is not a race; it is the
           innermost core of all minds. And when you are playing cunning games with others, by and by you
           learn the trick of playing with yourself. This is the greatest problem that every human being has to
           face. You have been cunning with others; that pays in the world. By and by, you have learned the
           trick so deeply that you forget that now you are playing the cunningness with yourself. The mind is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very worldly, very Jewish. It knows no other business than business.
           I have heard....
                Abe had reached retirement a very worried man. Most of his life he had enjoyed to the full and
           his savings left a lot to be desired. On the morning of his retirement he turned to Rachel with a
           worried frown: "I don't know how we are going to afford it. I don't know how we can retire."
                Rachel reached for a bottom drawer and pulled out a bankbook which showed regular deposits
           over the last forty years. Not only could they retire, but they were rich.
           "But how did you do it?" said Abe.
                Rachel said shyly, "Well, every time you made an advance to me in our married life, I put ten
           shillings away, and look how it has mounted up."
                Overjoyed, he put his arms around his wife, "Oi vay, this is wonderful! But Rachel, why on earth
           did you not tell me before? If only I had known I would have given you all my business."
           Get it?
                The mind is always thinking in terms of business. Even when it is love, it is business. Even when
           it is prayer, it is business. Even when it is God, it is business. And once you have become too
           accustomed to the business world, you start playing games with yourself. Be alert. Postponement is
           one of the most dangerous games that a man can play with himself. If you want, do it. If you don't
           want, be honest; who is forcing you? Just be honest. Don't do it, but know well that you are not
           going to do it because you don't want to do it. Why be deceptive? This sincerity will help.
                As I see, no man can live without love if he is sincere. But many millions of people live without
           love because they go on postponing. One day they die, their lives completely dry and desert-like.
                As I see it, no man can live without God -- but millions live because they have created a false
           God, a substitute God, a God which is always postponed. It is easy now; you can live without God
           because you have a false feeling that God is there, you believe in Him, and one day you are going to
           devote your whole life to Him. That 'one day' will never come. If you want that one day to come, it
           has already arrived -- it is today. This moment is that moment of transformation.

           The fifth question:


              SOMEONE HAS DARED ME TO ASK YOU THIS IMPERTINENT QUESTION -- WHAT DO YOU DO
              WITH VIVEK? ANYTHING I COULD POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND THROUGH TELLING?


               IT will be difficult.
           Vivek is so close to me that she is constantly on the cross. She has to be; it is difficult. To be so close
           to me is arduous. The more you are close to me, the more the responsibility. The more you are close
           to me, the more you have to transform yourself. The more you feel the unworthiness, the more you
           start feeling how to become more worthy -- and the goal seems almost impossible. And I go on
           creating many situations. I have to create them because only through friction does integration
           happen. Only through harder and harder situations does one grow. Growth is not soft; growth is
           painful.
           You ask me, "What do you do with Vivek?"
               I am killing her slowly. That is the only way for her to get a totally new being, to be reborn. It is
           a cross to be with me, and hard is the task.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:
               An unruly, problem son of a Jewish family was causing his parents much heartache by his
           behavior. He had been expelled from a state school, so finally, in desperation, they sent him to a
           Roman Catholic school. On his return from his first day, he went straight to his room and began to
           do his homework.
               His father came back from work and asked, "Momma, well, tell me the bad news."
           "No bad news, Poppa," said momma. "He came in as quiet as a lamb, and is now in his room doing
           his homework yet."
           "Homework?" exclaimed Poppa. "He has never done homework in his life! He must be ill!" So
           Poppa went to the boy's room and said, "What is this Momma telling me, that you are doing
           homework? Why this change of heart, all of a sudden?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the boy replied, "Poppa, I am the only Jewish boy in that school. On the wall opposite my
           desk is a picture of the last Jewish boy they had there. Oi, you should see what they did to him!"....
           Jesus crucified.
               To be very close to me is to be on the cross. So Vivek has to do her homework, that's all. That's
           what I go on doing to her. Of course, she has to do more homework than ANY of you.

           The sixth question:


              IN A RECENT LECTURE YOU WERE SAYING,'ON THE PATH OF LOVE, FORGET ALL ABOUT
              MEDITATION; ON THE PATH OF MEDITATION, FORGET ALL ABOUT LOVE.' I BELIEVE MYSELF
              TO BE RATHER ON THE PATH OF MEDITATION, AND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING NOW ABOUT
              THE INDISPENSABLE VALUE OF LOVE IS CONFUSING TO ME. I UNDERSTAND THAT
              SPEAKING OF THE BAULS YOU HAVE BECOME A BAUL, AND ARE FULLY IN THE PATH OF
              LOVE. HOW SHOULD I THEN HEAR THOSE LECTURES? AND WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF
              LOVE, EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS ON THE PATH OF MEDITATION?


                IF I am talking about the Bauls and love and devotion and prayer, and you are on the path of
           meditation, listen to me meditatively, that's all. Just listen to me meditatively; then you will be
           growing in meditation through listening. Don't listen through the intellect. There is no need because
           you are on the path of meditation, so you need not worry about the details of what I am saying. You
           can listen very silently without being at all worried about what I am saying, what the details are. You
           can simply listen in deep meditation. Let listening be your meditation, and that will do. But if you
           listen from the intellect that will create confusion. If I am talking on the path of meditation and you
           are on the path of love, listen to me lovingly. You don't lose track of your path. And then, whether I
           am talking on love or on meditation, you will be fulfilled. Your own path will be strengthened. Your
           will will be made stronger.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO, PLEASE HELP ME. SHOW ME MY PATH: LOVE OR MEDITATION. GIVE ME
              ONE SUTRA SUITABLE TO MY NATURE.


               It is from Neelam. I know her. I have known her long enough, not only in this life, but in other
           lives also. Her path is absolutely certain: it is love. Through love she is going to achieve. Through
           love she is going to be. Through love all that can happen will happen to her, and I can say it
           absolutely. I may not be so certain when others ask me. Somebody who has come very recently, I
           have to know better, to penetrate him more, to watch him in different situations, to watch his moods,
           subtle layers upon layers of being, then... but about Neelam it is absolutely certain. I have known her
           in this life, I have known her in other lives. Her direction is absolutely clear: love is her meditation.




                                                The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                 Chapter #3
                           Chapter title: Close Your Eyes And Try To Catch Him
           3 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607030
              ShortTitle: BELOV203
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 84 mins




              NEVER PLUNGE INTO THE RIVER OF LUST,
              YOU WILL NOT REACH THE SHORES.
              IT IS A RIVER OF NO COASTS WHERE TYPHOONS RAGE.



              GO TO THE HOME OF BEAUTY AND FORM,
              SHOULD YOU WISH TO SEE THE MAN WITHIN.
              HIS WAYS CROSS THE SPHERE
              WHERE LIFE LIVES WITH DEATH,
              AND SENSE WITH INSANITY.



              CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO CATCH HIM.
              HE IS SLIPPING BY.


               JEAN-PAUL SARTRE says that man is a useless passion. Meaningless. Futile. He is right if
           there is nothing beyond man; if there is nothing transcendental to man, he is right because the
           meaning always comes from a higher source. The meaning is never in the thing in itself; it always
           comes from the beyond.
               For example, you can watch a seed; in itself it is meaningless unless it sprouts. Once it sprouts it
           becomes meaningful. The tree is the meaning for the seed. Now the seed exists for a certain reason.
           Its existence is not accidental, it is meaningful. It has to give birth, it has to create something;
           something that is beyond it, something that is bigger than it, something that is more comprehensive.
               But then, what is the meaning of the tree in itself? Again meaning disappears unless the tree can
           flower. The meaning of the tree is in the flowering. When it flowers, yes, there is meaning: the tree
           has become a mother, the tree has given birth, the tree has become significant. It was not there
           without any purpose; the flower is the proof. It was there meaningfully, it was there waiting for the
           flower.
               But what is the meaning of the flower in itself unless the fragrance is released to the winds?
           Once the fragrance is released the flower is meaningful, and so on and so forth.
               The meaning is always in a higher state. The meaning is always of the beyond. The meaning is
           transcendental. If there is nothing beyond man, Sartre is absolutely right: then man is a useless
           passion running here and there, but doomed to failure. He cannot reach, cannot arrive, because there
           is nowhere to arrive. He cannot become, because there is no beyond to become. He cannot spread,
           cannot flower, cannot release the fragrance. If man ends with himself, then man is certainly useless.
               But man doesn't end with himself; he is a growth. Man is a becoming, a growing, a continuous
           transcendence. Friedrich Nietzsche has said, "That day will be the most unfortunate day when man
           will not aspire to become higher, when man will not aspire to transcend himself. That day will be the
           most unfortunate when the arrow of man's desire will not be moving higher than man, when there
           will be no target to reach, when man will be confined, closed in himself. That day will be the most
           unfortunate day."
               It seems the modern man is coming closer and closer to that unfortunate day. That doomsday is
           coming closer and closer every moment, and Sartre is going to be true if you allow him to be true. If
           you allow him and you remain a seed and don't sprout, if you allow him and you remain a tree and
           don't flower, if you allow him and you remain a flower and don't release your fragrance, then, of
           course, life is hell -- just absurd, not worth living. Then to be born is to be born in misery. Then
           death is a blessing and life is a curse.
               But it is not so; it depends on you whether your life will be meaningful or meaningless. It
           depends on you. That is the whole point of religion: that meaning is not already given, it has to be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           created. That meaning is not already transferred to you; only the potentiality, only the possibility,
           only the opportunity is there. You can flower into a meaningful existence, or you can wither away,
           useless. Great is the responsibility. If you don't do it, nobody else can do it for you. You cannot rely
           on servants. Life is so valuable; you cannot rely on anybody else. You will have to take control of
           the whole situation, and you will have to take the responsibility on your shoulders.

               YOU become a man really, the day you become responsible for your growth. You become a man
           really, the day you decide that you have to create meaning in your life. You are given a blank page:
           you will have to sign it, and you will have to write your song on it. The song is not already there.
           You are there; the possibility is there -- but the song has to be sung, the dance has to be danced. The
           dancer is there, but what is the meaning of a dancer if he has not danced yet? Even to call him a
           dancer is meaningless, because unless he dances how can you call him a dancer? Unless a seed
           becomes a tree it is just a name, it is not a seed. And unless a tree flowers it is just a name, it is not a
           tree. And unless a flower releases its fragrance, it is just a name, it is not yet a flower.
               You create your being continuously. And if you don't create, you will be just a driftwood,
           accidental, moving here and there with no direction.
               The Bauls start from the first step. They have a whole vision, a whole perception of all the
           possibilities of man, of all the rungs of the ladder. The first rung is libido, lust, sex-energy. And
           sex-energy has continuously puzzled man. If it remains just sex, it will become meaningless. Then
           you will be in a rut.

               SEX is meaningful only when out of lust, love is born. Love is meaningful only when out of
           love, prayer is born. If your sex remains just sexuality, a circular repetition, a mechanical thing that
           you go on doing, then you will remain meaningless. Because sex is your energy; it has to be
           transformed. It is very crude, it is raw material. Much has to be done on it. It is a raw diamond. you
           have to cut it, you have to polish it, you have to give it a shape and a form. You have to give it
           beauty. It depends on you. If you go on carrying the raw stone, it is valueless -- not only that, it will
           be a burden on you. It is better to throw it, better to throw it than to carry it. Why carry it unless
           something higher can be evolved out of it?
               Always remember this: Bauls are not against sex, against lust. But they say that if you remain
           confined to lust, you will be lost.

              NEVER PLUNGE INTO THE RIVER OF LUST,
              YOU WILL NOT REACH THE SHORES.
              IT IS A RIVER OF NO COASTS
              WHERE TYPHOONS RAGE.


                What do they mean? -- 'the river of lust, it has no shores, and if you plunge into it you will be
           lost'. One has to rise above it. It is not that something is wrong in it, remember this point. Don't
           conclude that Bauls are saying that something is wrong with sex. They are simply saying that the
           wrong arises when you are confined to it. If you can use it, if you can make a stepping-stone out of
           it, if you can go higher than it, then it is beautiful. It has been a great help. Without it, it would have
           been impossible to rise above it.
                Lust in itself is like a seed: just pure possibility waiting for the right soil, waiting for the right
           season, waiting for the gardener, the skillful man who can help it to sprout. A seed is not actual, just
           potential. There is no necessity for it to become a tree. It may not ever become; it may be lost
           completely. If you put that seed on a stone, it will remain a seed. Ages can pass and the seed will not
           sprout. Many people are like that seed: those who have not found their soil yet, who have not found
           their right season yet. These are the worldly people. A religious person is one whose seed has
           reached to the right soil, and is disappearing. When the seed disappears, the tree is born. When you
           disappear, then the soul is born. When the soul disappears, the God is born.
                You exist like the hard shell of a seed -- that is the ego of man. The worldly man is the egoistic
           man; the non-worldly man is the humble man. By 'humble' a very simple thing is meant: he is
           disappearing as a seed, he is ready to die into the earth. The word 'humble' comes from HUMUS.
           HUMUS means 'the earth'. The humble man is one who is ready to disappear into the earth. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           humble man is one who is ready to lose himself.
                Jesus says again and again that if you don't lose yourself you will not regain, if you don't lose
           yourself you will never be: "Blessed are those who are ready to lose." What does he mean? He
           means, blessed is the seed that loses its hard shell, becomes vulnerable, opens its soft heart to the soil
           so the soil can work on it, and moves into the unknown; drops the confinement with the known,
           drops the commitment with the known, and becomes committed with the unknown. Dangers are
           there -- storms will be there, clouds and thunder and lightning.
                For a small plant the whole world is a crisis, a thousand and one risks. For the seed there is no
           danger. The seed is closed, windowless. It is in an imprisonment -- protected, well-protected. But a
           small plant is very fragile. Watch it: a seed is very hard, secure; the plant is fragile and soft, and can
           be destroyed very easily. And the flower is still more fragile -- as fragile as a dream, as fragile as a
           poem. And the fragrance is still more fragile -- it almost disappears, becomes indefinable. All growth
           is towards the unknown, towards the soft, towards the fragile, towards the indefinable.

              GROWTH is towards disappearance. Only the gross appears; God is invisible. Only matter
           appears; mind is invisible. Only the gross can be touched, is tangible, but the subtle is intangible.
           That's why God cannot be seen -- because God is the fragrance of the flower -- very subtle, very,
           very subtle.
              Remember, with the gross there is more security. Lust is more secure than love; love is more
           secure than prayer. And if you are looking for security you will remain confined in lust.
              Many people are born in sex. Nothing is wrong with that; everybody has to be born in sex. The
           problem arises when many people live only in sex, and die also in sex. That means that there has
           been no growth, no evolution. Being born in sex is perfectly natural, but to die in it? Then what is the
           point? Then what is the meaning of being born? Then you have not grown; then nothing has
           happened to you.

               I was reading about one old man, an old man of almost eighty-five years. He went to his doctor,
           and he said, "Doctor, I am becoming impotent."
               The doctor looked at him and said, "Oh? And when did you first notice this?"
               The old man said, "Last night and again this morning."
               People live... the longer you live in lust, the uglier becomes your being. And if you have to also
           die in it, then the whole life was a wastage. You never even went a step further than your birth. Birth
           is of course natural; it has to be in sex. But death need not be.
           I have heard....
               Little Sammy was busy doing his homework while waiting with his Mummy in the baby clinic.
           He turned to his Mum and said, "Mummy, where did I come from?"
               She said, "Ach...ah, the stork brought you, darling."
           "Where did you come from?"
           "Oh, the stork brought me too."
           "And where did Grandmamma come from?"
           "Why, Grandmamma was found under a gooseberry bush."
               So he continued his essay and wrote, "It seems that there has not been a natural birth in our
           family for three generations!"
               To be born in sex is natural; one need not be defensive about it. But to die in sex is unnatural.
           From sex one should step higher. From the seed to the fragrance is the evolution.
               But many people live a repetitive cycle: they go on moving in a routine. They go on doing
           things, not even aware of what they are doing, not even aware of how many times they have done the
           same thing, not being aware that it brings nothing. But they go on doing it, not knowing what else to
           do. They remain occupied in the same circular way. That's why in the East we call it SAMSAR, the
           wheel. The world is called 'the wheel'. Just as when a wheel goes on moving and the same spokes go
           on turning up and down, up and down, up and down: if your life is like a wheel and the same spokes
           go on moving, your life will not have any meaning -- because meaning arises only when you take a
           step beyond yourself. And remember this too: if you take a step beyond and then you are stuck there,
           again meaning disappears.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               SO meaning is in the new. And if you want to be constantly meaningful, eternally meaningful,
           then you have to go on growing and growing and growing. If you are stuck anywhere, meaning
           immediately disappears. Meaning is not in being stuck, meaning is in flow, meaning is in evolving --
           so remember it. You can get stuck at love; then again meaning disappears, then again you become
           stale. Then the river is moving no more. Again you will become dirty; flow is lost. And when the
           river is flowing it is fresh; when the river is not flowing it becomes stagnant.
           The same is true about life.
               If you get stuck at love, again flow is lost. Again you are in a rut. Prayer is needed...and there are
           higher things than prayer. Prayer is the last that can be defined; prayer is the last that can be talked
           about -- that too, not adequately, but very inadequately. But prayer is the last, the horizon. Not that
           on the horizon the earth stops; not that on the horizon the sky finishes. The horizon simply shows our
           limitation: our eyes cannot go beyond it, that's all. Prayer is the horizon of the libido energy, but it is
           not the end. There are higher things than prayer, but words don't exist for those things. When you
           reach to prayer then you will know that there are higher things than prayer, and growth is eternal.
               People are almost dead because they are stuck. They go on seeking the same thing again and
           again. Watch it.
               One should be in search of the new. The very search renews you, rejuvenates you. If you have
           some beautiful experience today, don't ask again for it tomorrow because now it is meaningless --
           you have known it, it is finished. Ask for something more, seek for something new, grope for the
           unfamiliar and the unknown. Go beyond it. It was beautiful but don't try to repeat it, because
           repetition kills beauty. Repetition makes everything boring. And once you become accustomed to
           boredom you will become dead. Then you will go on revolving.

           I have heard....
               It was a gay party. Wine, whiskey and wit flowed freely. An obsequious waiter offered a tray
           with drinks to a solemn, stern-looking man, obviously a clergyman. The Father looked sternly at him
           and said, "No thanks, I do not drink."
               The waiter left, but soon enough another appeared on the scene with a second tray. The God's
           good man gave him a withering glare. "Don't you know I do not drink at all?" And he added as an
           afterthought, "I would rather commit adultery than imbibe alcohol.
               Mulla Nasrudin, his neighbor, leisurely sipping his scotch, got up with alacrity, put down the
           glass and exclaimed, "Good heavens, I had no idea there was a choice!"
               People are continuously obsessed with sex. And there are two ways to be obsessed with sex: one
           is the ordinary man's way. But both remain obsessed with lust -- one for, the other against. Their
           constant fixation is sex; neither goes beyond it.
               Bauls don't belong to either category. They don't belong to the worldly man because they go
           beyond sex. They don't belong to the austere man because they are not against sex. They don't
           belong to the so-called religious man, the monk, because they say, "Sex is your energy; it has to be
           used. Of course, it has to be refined, but it has not to be condemned." How can you refine a stone and
           make a diamond of it if you are condemnatory about it, if you throw it? And if you start escaping
           from it, how can you refine it, how can you polish it, how can you make a valuable thing out of it?
           So there are two types of fixations in the world: the people who think sex is life, and the people who
           think to fight with sex is life -- and both are wrong. To use sex creatively; that is the goal of the
           Baul.

               MULLA NASRUDIN constantly irritated his friends with his eternal optimism. No matter how
           bad the situation, he would always say, "It could have been worse." To cure him of this annoying
           habit his friends decided to invent a situation so completely black, so dreadful that even Nasrudin
           could find no hope in it.
               Approaching him at the club bar one day, one of them said, "Mulla, did you hear what happened
           to George? He went home last night, found his wife in bed with another man, shot them both, then
           turned the gun on himself."
           "Terrible," said the Mulla, "but it could have been worse."
           "How in the hell," asked his dumbfounded friend, "could it possibly have been worse?"
           "Well," said Nasrudin, "if it had happened the day before, I would be dead now."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               People are in a rut, repeating the same again and again and again and again. It seems their eyes
           are completely closed. It seems they have no idea of what is possible. It seems nobody has given
           them even a glimpse of the beyond. It seems that they have never looked towards the heights. They
           have not seen the sky; they go on crawling in the mud. Nothing is wrong essentially in the mud; it is
           beautiful if you can stand in it, rooted, grounded, and your eyes can move towards the heights. Then
           the very quality of the mud is transformed.

              NEVER PLUNGE INTO THE RIVER OF LUST,
              YOU WILL NOT REACH THE SHORES.
              IT IS A RIVER OF NO COASTS
              WHERE TYPHOONS RAGE.


              And you all must have felt that whatsoever you call love brings misery and nothing else: conflict,
           agony, suffering. Whatsoever you have called love gives you hell and nothing else. But still,
           somehow you manage to remain in it, you manage not to see beyond it.

               It happened: A very wise old man was approached by his son. "Father," said the son, "I want to
           get married."
           "No, my boy. You are not wise enough," said the old man.
           "When will I be wise enough?" asked the lad.
               The old man said, "When you get rid of the idea that you want to get married, then you will be
           wise enough, and then you can get married."

               IT seems paradoxical; it is true: when you are no longer occupied with sex, when it is no longer
           an obsession, a neurosis, you are wise enough to go into it -- because then you can use all the
           possibilities that become available through it. Then it is not just fun; then it is not just passing time;
           then it is not just a search for oblivion. Then it becomes a creative act on your part. Then you are
           creating something out of this tremendous energy. It is God's gift. Bauls call it lust -- if you remain
           confined in it. If you can go beyond it, it starts changing its form, it starts changing its quality.
           The Bauls sing,


                  Plough-man, are you out of your wits
                  not to take care
                  of your own land?
                  A squadron of six birds
                  is picking at the rice,
                  grown golden and ripe,
                  in the field of your limbs.
                  Farming the splendid
                  measured land
                  of this human body,
                  you raise the crop,
                  the devotion to God.
                  But passions eat at it
                  like sparrows.



                  The fence of consciousness
                  is down to dust,
                  leaving open gaps.
                  Cattle clamber up
                  and feast on your harvest....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                  Shame to you,
                  my shameless heart,
                  what now can I say?
                  You have gathered a piece of glass
                  at the price of gold.
                  In spite of a pair of eyes
                  you miss the valuable jewels,
                  caring only for artificial stones.
                  Wandering blindfolded,
                  you could not see
                  that the house overflowed
                  with the choicest rubies,
                  and diamonds,
                  and gems of fire.



                  Hugging a sickle
                  in your waistband,
                  what do you search
                  from field to field?
                  What is the use?
                  My heart,
                  will you not explode for once
                  the home of beauty...?


               Whatsoever you go on seeking in the mechanical ways of sexuality is not the search for beauty. It
           is not the search of love, it is not the search of God. At the most, it is a natural device, a biological
           device to drown yourself in forgetfulness. It is a natural arrangement in your body: you can drown
           yourself in it. It can become your alcohol, it can become your drug, it can become your acid.
               Sex is chemical; it releases certain hormones in your body. It gives you a certain illusory
           euphoria. It gives you a few moments when you feel at the top of the world. But then again you are
           back in the valley, and the valley is darker than before, and the valley is uglier than before -- as if
           you have been tricked, cheated. Sex gives you an illusion as if something is happening. If you remain
           confined to sex, then you will simply waste your energy. By and by, the energy will ooze out of you,
           and you will remain just a dead shell.
           The Bauls say,


                  What color is your cottage?
                  On the shore of this bogus world
                  the frame of your home is made of bones,
                  and the roof is thatched with skin.
                  But the pair of peacocks
                  on the landing pier
                  hardly know that they will end one day.
                  As the childhood passed in play,
                  passion, the age of passionate sport passes.
                  The old age, too, is going away,
                  calling, calling
                  for the Master and the Lord.
                  Your teeth are dropping down,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   and the hair is growing gray,
                   the age of manhood is at a low ebb,
                   the plaster of your painted house will be
                   crumbling now
                   softly, softly....


               The energy oozes out, by and by. Very few are in the world who use this tremendous opportunity
           for growth. Watch your steps. You are given a certain opportunity to grow. If you don't grow you
           will simply waste; life will be just a vegetation. You cannot call yourself alive if you are not aware.
           If awareness is not crystallized in you, you are fast asleep, in a stupor -- a somnambulist, a
           sleepwalker. And sex is one of the great tranquilizers. Many people use it exactly like a tranquilizer:
           they make love and then they go to sleep. Then they sleep better. Energy released, empty, they fall
           into deep stupor. That sleep is not real sleep -- it is just exhaustion, it is just emptiness. It is not full
           of energy. That sleep is like death, not like life.


                   The ways of the tortuous river
                   slip from your grasp.
                   Beware, brothers,
                   do not step into the stream.
                   The water rushes down,
                   wrecking the blackened hills.
                   Brothers, beware
                   of the tortuous stream.
                   The river was dry
                   when the waters of the flood
                   surged down the tortuous stream.
                   How can we cross the river now?


               Even when you are silent and not preoccupied with sex, it is very difficult to cross the river.
           Even when the river is not flooded, even when the river is a summer stream -- very thin, very small,
           very shallow -- then too it is difficult to pass and go beyond it. And when the rains come and the
           river is flooded and when you are so full of lust, it becomes impossible to cross it.


                   The river was dry
                   when the waters of the flood
                   surged down the tortuous stream.
                   How can we cross the river now?
                   Be on your guard,
                   O boatman,
                   and hold tight to the oars,
                   and if the boat tends to turn over,
                   remember the Master.


               BAULS say that there is only one way to come out of the stupor man lives in, and that is
           remembrance of God: NAM-SMARAN, remembrance of His name. That has always been part of the
           basic techniques on the path of love -- to remember Him. And when a devotee, with deep reverence,
           remembers the name of God, his whole being is thrilled, his energy starts rushing upwards.
           Ordinarily the energy is rushing downwards; that is the way of sex. If you really cry the name of
           God, whatsoever it is -- Ram, Allah, or whatsoever, all names are His -- the very cry, the very
           remembrance hits somewhere near the SAHASRAR, the seventh chakra, in the head. If
           remembrance is not just ritual, if with deep love and reverence and devotion and surrender you have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           called the name of God, suddenly there comes a change in your body energies. The energy that was
           going to the sex center starts rising high.
           The Bauls say,


                  God has reversed
                  the acts of the play.
                  The land talks in paradox
                  and the flowers devour the heads of fruits,
                  and the gentle vine, roaring,
                  strangles the tree.
                  The moon rises in the day,
                  and the sun at night with shining rays.



                  The blood is white,
                  and on the lake of blood
                  float a pair of swans,
                  copulating continuously
                  in a jungle of lust and love.


               All the great mystics have described it: when the energies start rushing upwards, when
           gravitation no longer affects your energy, when your energy is functioning under another Law, the
           law of grace; when you are pulled up, when you are falling up, when you are rushing upwards as if
           the sky is pulling you, then man comes to know a totally different world. Everything is upside-down
           -- or maybe it is really rightside-up -- but everything changes.
               Kabir has said that when it happened to him, he saw the ocean burning, and the fire very cold. He
           saw fishes running on dry land, and he saw trees whose roots were in the sky and whose branches
           were coming to the earth. These are just symbolic sayings.

               EVERYTHING we had known while sex-energy was running downwards is affected by it. When
           the sex-energy rushes up, a TOTALLY different world is revealed. Then you don't see this world
           because your eyes are no more the same. You are in a new dimension, just diametrically opposite to
           the old.
               But ordinarily our whole concept of life is centered on sex. Whatsoever we do: we earn money,
           we earn money for sex; we try to earn fame, but we earn fame for sex. Even sometimes very
           innocent activities which you cannot connect with sex are connected with sex if the person is still
           infatuated with lust. It is difficult to see how a person who is running after fame is running after sex.
               Ask the psychologists. They say women are more attracted by fame than by anything else. They
           are not so attracted by the face, handsomeness, as they are attracted by achievement. An achiever,
           one who has much money, power, prestige, is more attractive to women than anybody else,. because
           a woman is constantly in search of somebody to lean upon. You may be beautiful, but if you have no
           power you cannot give any guarantee and security to the woman. If you are powerful, maybe you are
           not beautiful, you are not intelligent, but that doesn't matter. But it you are powerful, reliable, the
           woman can lean on your shoulders. There is a certain guarantee in you.
               Men are attracted by physical proportions, body-beauty; a woman is more attracted by fame,
           prestige, power, achievement. So if men are too mad after power, the arithmetic is simple. Even in
           the face of death or in the face of danger people go on lusting.
           Jeevan has sent me a beautiful joke.
               Isador Ginsberg was instructed by his physician to take a holiday after years of hard work
           building up his clothing business. On his holiday he met a young blonde who spent much time with
           him. Returning to his office, he felt and looked like a new person; love had entered his life.
           A few weeks later a distinguished gentleman asked to see Mr. Isador Ginsberg alone. Smilingly,
           excitedly, Isador read the card handed to him. His caller was attorney-at-law of a very reputable law
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           firm.
           "I represent Miss Mamie Lottery. You remember her, from Hotel Carleton?"
           "Yes, yes," Isador panted excitedly.
           "Well, Mr. Ginsberg, what do you think of these?" And he lays out on the desk a number of
           photographs of Isador and Mamie in decidedly compromising positions.
           Isador was absolutely flabbergasted. He stared wide-eyed at each of the pictures in turn. Many
           minutes of silence gripped the air. Finally he turned to the lawyer and said with a firm order in his
           voice, "Well, I will take two of this, three of that one, and four copies of each of the other pictures."

               THE grip of lust is such that you cannot see the danger ahead. The grip of lust is such that you
           cannot even see death ahead. In fact, a very strange phenomenon happens: the more a person comes
           close to his death, the more lustful he becomes. Because sex gives a feeling of life, one clings more
           to sexuality. Old people may not be physically able to move into sexuality, but then they start
           moving in their fantasies. It almost always happens.
               I have watched many people die. It rarely happens that a person dies with God on his mind.
           Almost always, nine out of ten people die with sex on their minds when they die, and that becomes
           the beginning of another life. Sex on the mind becomes the beginning of another sex life.
               But it has to be so if you have not been working hard to go beyond it, to go beyond its grip. If
           you have not been struggling hard to release yourself from its clutches, then it is going to be so --
           because at the moment of death you start thinking more of sex, because sex seems to be just the
           opposite of death. Sex is birth; mind fantasizes about sex. And when the last moment has come when
           the body is going to disappear, a bout of energy, the last bout, streams into your head, overpowers
           you. If you die with sex on the mind, you will be moving again into the wheel of life, what the
           Hindus call ANAGAMIN, coming and going, coming and going; a repetitious circle.

              GO TO THE HOME OF BEAUTY AND FORM,
              SHOULD YOU WISH TO SEE THE MAN WITHIN.


               The Bauls say, "Go to the home of beauty and form, should you wish to see the man within."
           Love is more aesthetic; lust is almost non-aesthetic. Lust is ugly, and you can observe it. When
           somebody looks at you with lust in his eyes, have you watched the face? -- it becomes ugly. Even a
           beautiful face becomes ugly when lust is there in the eyes. And just the opposite also happens: even
           an ugly face becomes beautiful when there is love in the eyes. Love in the eyes gives a totally
           different color to the face; a different aura arises. Lust gives a black aura, a very evilish aura around
           you. To look at somebody with lust is ugly. It is not the search for beauty.
               One of the greatest Indian poets, Rabindranath, has said that, "Beauty is truth," and he is right.
           And he was very impressed by the Bauls. In fact, he was the first man to introduce Bauls to the
           West; he was the first man to translate a few Baul poems into English. He was a sort of Baul himself:
           he says, "Beauty is truth." If you seek beauty you will become truthful. The more aesthetic you
           become, the more sensitive you become towards beauty, the more balanced and harmonious you will
           become -- because finally, beauty belongs to God.

           LET me explain it to you.
               You see a woman: if you see with lustful eyes, you see only the body, the matter, the matter part;
           if you see with love, you see something that is not matter, that is spiritual; and if you see a woman
           with prayer, then you see something absolutely divine. It depends on your eyes. With lustful eyes
           you see only the body part of the woman; with loveful eyes you see the spiritual part of the woman;
           with prayerful eyes you see the divine, God himself. Wherever your sensitivity towards beauty is
           perfect, the divine is revealed.

              GO TO THE HOME OF BEAUTY AND FORM,
              SHOULD YOU WISH TO SEE THE MAN WITHIN.
              HIS WAYS CROSS THE SPHERE
              WHERE LIFE LIVES WITH DEATH,
              AND SENSE WITH INSANITY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                  "His ways cross the sphere where life lives with death, and sense with insanity..."
               God's ways are paradoxical. The Bauls say that in God all the opposites meet, all the polarities
           become one. In God, death and life are not two things. In God, darkness and light are not two things.
           In God, the beginning and the end are not two things. God means the totality; God comprehends all.
           So when you reach towards God you will not be losing anything, you will be simply gaining all. In
           the beginning it may appear that you are losing something, but God is all-inclusive. Lust remains in
           God, of course, but absolutely transformed. Matter remains in God, but becomes sacred, is holy. One
           remains in the world but no more of it. God Himself is in the world, but not of the world. The world
           belongs to Him but He does not belong to the world.
               This polarity has to be understood. The Bauls' God is a greater God than the Christian God, the
           Jewish God or the Mohammedan God, because those Gods are of the theologians. The Bauls' God is
           more poetic; those Gods are more logical. The Bauls' God is more illogical, but more true. Christians
           say, "God is only good." The very word 'God' is derived from the root 'good'. God is good; then what
           happens to bad? Then where does the bad exist? To explain that they have to create a devil. But the
           Bauls laugh about such theoretical cunningness. They say that God creates the devil, so He remains
           the creator of the devil. And if you say the devil has gone against God, then there are only two
           possibilities: one, that God is not omnipotent, and the devil can go against Him -- then God is not
           all-powerful; the other, that God Himself provokes him to go against -- then He is all-powerful, but
           then He is the cause of the devil.
               Bauls say that God is both, and when they say God is both, they mean that God is
           incomprehensible, He is paradoxical. God is all. In Him, everything is transfigured, all opposites
           become a harmony. God is the orchestra. He is one in the many. He's the unity of all.

              HIS WAYS CROSS THE SPHERE
              WHERE LIFE LIVES WITH DEATH,
              AND SENSE WITH INSANITY.


                Bauls say, "He is the supermost reason and the supermost irreason also." They say that God is
           reason and God is madness also. For a logical mind it becomes difficult to figure out. But Bauls say
           life is not of logic. The Bauls say, "We are simply describing what is the case. We are not saying
           what should be, we are simply describing what is the case. This is the way we have known God: He
           is very rational and very irrational, both. He is infinite compassion and infinite justice, both. In Him,
           all the polarities have become one."
                To understand this, one has to understand with one's totality. You cannot understand this
           assertion, this statement, through your intellect. Then it looks absurd. But watch... Look at life: all
           that is alive must be somehow His, and all that dies must be somehow dying in Him. Yes, He lives in
           very reasonable people, but who lives in mad people then? In mad people also He lives, and He
           loves all ways.

               SO Bauls say, "Don't be afraid; you just be yourself and you will find Him. You need not
           become somebody else to find Him. You just be yourself. If you are mad, then just be mad; then that
           is your way to find Him. If you are a singer, then go on singing. He's all-inclusive; your singing will
           become a prayer and a way. If you cannot sing, don't be worried; there is no need. If you feel that
           just being silent and sitting silently you enjoy your being perfectly, then that is your way. All ways
           are His. Bauls say, "Wherever you are, from wherever you travel, you travel towards Him. Just don't
           get stuck; go on travelling. Go on moving, don't allow movement to die. Wherever you are stuck,
           then the distance arises. Just go on moving and be yourself." They don't give you a certain morality;
           they don't give you a certain ideal; they don't give you any shoulds. They are not worried about the
           ought. They say, "This is the case -- He loves all as they are." Just you go on moving, don't get
           frozen.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO CATCH HIM,
              HE IS SLIPPING BY.


               Beautiful..."Close your eyes and try to catch Him, He's slipping by." If you are stuck somewhere
           you will miss Him. You be on the move because He is on the move. He's always slipping, He's
           always moving into the new and into the unknown. If you cling with the known you will miss Him.
           Close your eyes and watch how swiftly He moves, how dancingly He moves. He is continuously
           slipping out of the old. He is the constantly new. He is like the snake who comes out of his old skin,
           leaves the old skin and slips by. God is continuously slipping out of history, because He is eternity.
           God is continuously slipping out of that which has already happened, because He is not repetitive.
           And if you are clinging to history then you will miss Him, because then you will be looking at the
           past and He is always moving into the future. God is future and mind is past; then the distance arises.

               A real religious man is one who has no past, who has no autobiography, who is continuously
           new, each moment slipping with God. He does not bother; what has happened has happened --
           finished! Put a full stop on it, and never look back. Go on...He is always calling you ahead, and
           ahead. He is always persuading you to move into new territories of being: from lust to love, from
           love to prayer -- and there are higher realms than prayer. And He is constantly on the move. If you
           follow Him, the only way is to be constantly on the move.
           Be a river.
           Yes, they are right...

              CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO CATCH HIM,
              HE IS SLIPPING BY.


               Why close your eyes? -- because in the beginning it will be difficult to see Him from without.
           There are so many forms, you may get lost. There is so much all around, so complicated is the world
           that you may get lost. Start from the simple -- start from yourself. Close your eyes; then there is only
           one -- you! It is simple to become acquainted that way. Close your eyes and see Him; He is
           continuously slipping by. It is your consciousness, the essential man. The Bauls call him the
           ADHAR MANUSH. He is in you, in your essence, but He is continuously slipping by, going ahead.
           That's how He evolves.
               God is evolution and God is revolution also, because sometimes He moves slowly, and
           sometimes He moves very fast. One has to be very alert to keep pace with Him. If you lose your
           alertness, He is gone. Then one never knows when one will come across Him again. One moment
           lost in unawareness and He will be at the farthest end of the world. One has to remain constantly
           alert, aware.
               But first watch Him inside. Not that He's not outside; He's there also -- because all is His, within
           and without. But first it is easier to understand Him within yourself. Once seen there, you will be
           able to see Him everywhere. Once understood there, open your eyes, and He is standing all around
           you: in the trees, in the birds, in the man, in the woman, in the rocks, in the rivers, in the mountains,
           in the clouds. But first, get introduced to Him. And the best introduction, and the easiest possible, is
           to close your eyes and look, watch there. You will find the snake always moving and leaving its old
           skin. This is the flow of life-energy.
               The Bauls' God is not a dead, stagnant concept. It is not a God sitting somewhere on a golden
           throne in the seventh heaven. The Bauls' God is a very alive God, kicking in you, streaming in you.
           The Bauls' God is nothing but a synonym for life. LIFE written with capital letters is what the Bauls'
           God is all about.
           The Bauls say,


                  My heart is saturated,
                  but I wish I knew with what --
                  joy or death.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              Strange is the feeling when you become acquainted with God: you cannot say what it is, you
           cannot describe it. It is so contradictory, so paradoxical.


                  My heart is saturated,
                  but I wish I knew with what --
                  joy or death.


              He is both: death and resurrection, cross and rebirth.


                  A sense of wonder
                  has overtaken all.
                  Where is that ocean
                  and where are the rivers?
                  And yet still
                  the waves are there for you to observe,
                  only if you unite
                  your eyes with your heart.


               That is the meaning of 'close your eyes' -- so that you can bring your heart and your eyes parallel,
           united. Only if you unite your eyes with your heart, then suddenly you will see the God of all
           paradoxes, the mad and the source of all reason, life and the source of all death.
           The Bauls say,


                  There is no patience
                  in the core of my heart.
                  Shivering with tears
                  it cries with the eyes,
                  and in the silence
                  of lovely sound forever calls,
                  Come Beloved, come,
                  come, please come!

               The Bauls' path is not the path of the austere man, of the monk, no. It is the path of the dancer,
           the singer, the aesthetic man. His prayer is full of beauty, and God is not a concept of philosophy,
           but Beloved.


                  Free impulses live together
                  with the forces of abstinence,
                  and the feminine energy
                  entwined with the spirit of man,
                  resembles the tuned strings
                  of the lute, wholly invisible.
                  The heart is the home
                  of no separation.


              When you reach deep within yourself, when you touch your own core, your heart, you have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come to the land of no separation. There, not only are you with God, you are one with Him --
           because you are also part of Him. It is He who has expressed Himself like you. Feel fortunate, feel
           blessed; He has also chosen you to be one of His forms.

              CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO CATCH HIM,
              HE IS SLIPPING BY.




                                               The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                 Chapter #4
                               Chapter title: Remember To Stop In The Middle
           4 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607040
              ShortTitle: BELOV204
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED OSHO, I HAVE HEARD....
              A PSYCHOLOGIST WANTS TO EXPERIMENT WITH HIS TWIN SONS. HE TAKES THEM DOWN
              TO HIS GROUP ROOMS AND PUTS EACH IN A ROOM BY HIMSELF. IN IKE'S ROOM HE LOADS
              IN A PILE OF TV-ADVERTISED, HARD-SELL TOYS. IKE IS DIAGNOSED AS A COMPLAINING,
              NEGATIVE PESSIMIST. IN MIKE'S ROOM HE LOADS IN AN ENORMOUS PILE OF MANURE.
              MIKE IS THE OPTIMIST.
              AN HOUR AFTER THEY ARE LOCKED IN, HE ENTERS IKE'S ROOM. THERE IS IKE TOSSING
              OUT TOY AFTER TOY, COMPLAINING, "THIS IS NOT ANY GOOD, THAT ONE WON'T WORK."
              AS HE OPENS THE DOOR INTO THE SECOND ROOM HE IS UNABLE TO FIND HIS SON FOR A
              FEW MOMENTS. BUT HE HEARS HIS VOICE; IT IS SAYING, "THERE'S GOTTA BE A PONY,
              THERE'S GOTTA BE A PONY." AND AS HE APPEARS HE IS SHOWN FRANTICALLY DIGGING
              THROUGH THE MANURE, LOOKING FOR THE PONY.
              I HAVE CHANGED ROOMS; I HAVE GOT MY EYE OUT FOR THE PONY.


               THE QUESTION IS FROM PREM JEEVAN.
               The first thing to be understood about pessimism and optimism is that they are not different.
           They look different, but don't be deceived by their appearances. They are just two polarities of the
           same phenomenon. A pessimist can become an optimist; an optimist can become a pessimist. A
           pessimist is just an optimist standing on his head, and vice versa. They are not two different people,
           they are not two different dimensions. Remember, it is not worth changing rooms. Get out of both
           the rooms, under the sky where neither pessimism nor optimism exist. You can be at ease only when
           both are gone, because both are wrong.
               Analyze the situation. The pessimist goes on looking at the darker side of things and goes on
           denying the whiter side; he accepts only half of the truth. The optimist goes on denying the darker
           side of things and accepts only the whiter side; he is also half true. Neither of them accepts the whole
           truth, because the whole truth is both summer and winter, God and devil, darkness and light, good
           and evil, life and death. The whole truth is both. Both are doing the same exercise -- they are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           denying the half and accepting the other half. The other half is as much half as the first; there is no
           difference. If th!e pessimist is wrong, the optimist is also wrong. Both are not ready to accept the
           truth as it is. They choose.
               Move out of both the rooms under the open sky of choicelessness. Don't choose. Let truth be as it
           is. Don't try to paint it in your own mood. Try to see the facility of it; don't bring your mood in. Don't
           look through hope, don't look through frustration. Don't be positive and don't be negative -- that is
           the highest consciousness possible.
               But optimism appeals because the world is more or less pessimistic. People have long faces; they
           are always complaining and grumbling. It is beautiful to come across the optimist. People are always
           talking about the thorns; it is fortunate to meet somebody who talks about flowers and fragrances.
           But he is also wrong.
           Let me tell you another anecdote.
               Once I went to visit the hospital where Mulla Nasrudin was confined as a result of an automobile
           accident. The Mulla had been seriously injured: a broken leg, both arms broken, a broken collarbone,
           terrible cuts over his face and head, and several broken ribs. He was so thoroughly bandaged and
           taped and strapped up that only his two eyes and mouth were showing.
               I was at a loss for words, but I realized that I must say something. So I asked the Mulla, "How do
           you feel today, Nasrudin? I suppose all of those broken bones and cuts cause a great deal of pain. Do
           you suffer very much?"
           "No, not much," said Nasrudin. "Only when I laugh."
               It is good to meet such a person. It is rare, but it is as wrong as the common variety The pessimist
           is the common variety. Out of a hundred persons, ninety-nine are pessimists. They are looking for
           misery, they are waiting for misery. They are convinced that something is going to happen which is
           going to be wrong. They are ready for it. If it doesn't happen they will be very disappointed, but they
           are waiting for the negative, for the dark side. These people are certainly wrong, but then because of
           these people -- and they are in the majority -- the other rarity becomes very valuable: a person who is
           looking for the morning, who looks for the white lightning in the darkest of clouds. When the night
           is very dark he waits, because he knows now the morning is very close. He is always hopeful. But I
           again insist that both are wrong because life is both black and white. In fact, life is grey. On one
           extreme end it looks white, on the other extreme end it looks black, but just in between the two it is
           nothing but shades of grey.
               One who understands both becomes choiceless. He is neither pessimist nor optimist. You will not
           find him in either of the rooms. You will not find him unhappy, you will not find him over
           enthusiastic about happiness. That is the goal of the Buddhas: they are not in agony and they are not
           in any ecstasy. They don't know any excitement; they are simply peaceful, silent. That is what bliss
           is, satchitananda. Bliss is not happiness, because happiness has a certain excitement in it -- it is
           feverish. Sooner or later you will be tired of it; it is unnatural. Sooner or later you will have to
           change, you will have to become unhappy. Bliss is neither; it is neither negative nor positive -- it is
           transcendental, it is beyond duality. One remains tranquil, calm, quiet, centered. Whatsoever
           happens, good or bad, one accepts both because one knows life is both.
               This is the real man. He is completely without any attitude. It is very easy if you have been a
           pessimist for long: one day you realize that you are unnecessarily being unhappy, miserable, so you
           change the role. You slip into the role of an optimist. But now, from one extreme to the other you
           have moved.
           Let me tell you one anecdote.
               One day Mulla Nasrudin visited a large department store to buy his wife some nylon hose.
           Inadvertently he got caught in the mad rush of a counter where a bargain sale was going on. He soon
           found himself being pushed and stepped on by frantic women. He stood it as long as he could, then
           with head lowered and elbows out, he plowed through the crowd.
           "You there!" said a woman. "Can't you act like a gentleman?''
           "Not anymore," said Nasrudin. "I have been acting like a gentleman for an hour. From now on I am
           acting like a lady."

             There is a point where one gets fed-up with one role. The pessimist one day realizes that, "Why?
           Why go on seeing the darker side? Why go on counting the thorns on the rosebush?" He forgets
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about thorns; he starts counting the roses -- but both are half. From one half to another half he has
           moved. The totality remains as far away as before.
               The rosebush is both the thorn and the rose. They are both joined together there. They are not
           against, they are not enemies. In fact the thorns protect the flower. They are part of the whole
           organic being of the rosebush. And so is life. Good and bad are joined together; sinners and saints
           are joined together; birth and death are joined together. A real understanding is when you have
           understood this, this polarity. And by understanding it, you have gone beyond it. Then you become
           tranquil -- because there is nothing to be happy about and there is nothing to be unhappy about.
               Remember, if you are happy, somewhere deep in the unconscious you are still carrying the
           possibility of unhappiness, because you can be happy only if you can be unhappy. Both possibilities
           exist together. They cannot be separated, they are two aspects of the same coin. So if you throw one
           aspect the other is also thrown. If you keep one aspect the other is also kept. If you become a
           pessimist in the conscious mind, you will be an optimist in the unconscious. If you are an optimist in
           the conscious mind, you will be a pessimist in the unconscious.
               Happiness, unhappiness, exist together. You can change the role anytime you like. In fact, people
           go on changing: in the morning you are an optimist, by the evening you have become a pessimist.
           That's why beggars come to beg in the morning -- because morning makes many more people
           optimistic. By the evening, knowing the whole life and the nastiness of it, people become
           pessimistic, tired, angry, frustrated. In the evening beggars don't come to beg because who is going
           to give? In the morning people are more open; the morning sun again brings hope. The night is gone:
           "Maybe today something is going to happen." People are more positive. By the evening, people
           become negative.
               In the day you change your roles many times. If you are a little alert, you will see. A moment
           before you were an optimist, a moment afterwards you have become a pessimist. Small things:
           changes in the climate, changes in the relationship, a small gesture on somebody's part can make,
           you change your role. Have you watched it? You are sitting, sad, and somebody comes, and he is a
           man of laughter, and he laughs and he jokes -- you forget that you were sad and you start laughing.
           You were laughing and a few friends come and they are all sad; they bring a climate of sadness, and
           you relapse into it.
               As I see it, every man is born with both possibilities. You have to go beyond it; you have to see
           the futility of both. That's what silence is: it is complete absence of duality. So please avoid being
           extremists. Excess should always be avoided, because excess is the root of all untruth. In fact, there
           are no lies in the world, only half-truths and truth. All half-truths are lies; and the truth is not half, it
           is whole.
               The mind tends to be always moving towards the extreme -- so you are moving towards the
           height, then you are moving towards the valley, going up then coming down. Like a yo-yo you go
           on, and you never become aware that both are useless. Like a pendulum of an old clock you move
           from one extreme to another. Once the pendulum stops in the middle, the clock stops. Once you stop
           in the middle, time disappears. Then you are no more part of this world. The clock stops...then you
           are part of eternity.
               Watch the pendulum moving from left to right, from right to left. A very strange thing is
           happening. When the pendulum is going to the right, you see it as going to the right. Ask the
           mechanic: he will say that when the pendulum is going to the right it is gaining momentum to go to
           the left; when it is going to the left it is gaining momentum to go to the right. So when you are
           unhappy, you are gaining momentum to be happy. When you are happy, you are gaining momentum
           to be unhappy. When you are loving you are gaining momentum to be hateful, and when you are
           hateful you are gaining momentum to be loving.
               Once you understand this subtle mechanism, that mind tends to be always moving towards
           extremes, you stop cooperating with the mind. Pessimist or optimist, both are within mind, and the
           real man of understanding is beyond it.
               It happened: Mulla Nasrudin was getting ready to apply to a local department store for a job. A
           friend told him that it was the policy of the store to hire nobody but Catholic Christians, and that if
           he wanted a job there he would have to lie about being a Catholic Christian.
               Nasrudin applied for the job, and the personnel man asked him the usual questions. Then he said
           to the Mulla, "To what church do you belong?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I am a Catholic," said Nasrudin, "and all my family are Catholics. In fact, my father is a priest and
           my mother is a nun, sir."
           To the whole way!
               Remember to stop in the middle. That will bring balance, that will bring centering. For the first
           time you will feel unperturbed, undistracted, and you will be able to accept both. Your acceptivity
           will become total. You will not be angry because there are thorns, and you will not be ecstatic,
           exhilarated, excited, because there are roses. You will see that both are, and both are good, both are
           needed. But you remain unaffected, untouched, unscratched -- unscratched by the thorns and
           unscratched by the flower also. This is the goal.

           The second question:

              I NEED TO TRUST SO BADLY, AND I SUFFER BECAUSE I DON'T. FROM WHERE AM I TO FIND
              THE COURAGE TO TRUST MY KILLER?


               PEOPLE who trust themselves can trust others. People who don't trust themselves cannot trust
           anybody. Out of self-trust, trust arises. If you are distrustful about yourself, then you cannot trust me
           -- you cannot trust anybody. Because if you don't trust yourself, how can you trust your trust? It is
           going to be your trust. Maybe you trust in me, but it is your trust -- you trust in me and you don't
           trust yourself. So it is not a question about me, it is a deep question about yourself.
               And who are these people who cannot trust themselves? Something has gone wrong somewhere.
               First, these are the people who don't have a very good self-image; they are condemnatory
           towards themselves. They always feel guilty and always feel wrong. They are always defensive and
           always trying to prove that they are not wrong, but they feel deep down that they are wrong. These
           are the people who have missed, somehow, a loving atmosphere.
               Psychologists say that the person who cannot trust himself is bound to have some deep-rooted
           problem with the mother. The mother-child relationship somewhere did not happen as it should.
           Because the mother is the first person in the child's experience; if the mother trusts the child, if the
           mother loves the child, the child starts loving the mother and trusting the mother. Through the
           mother the child becomes aware of the world. The mother is the window from where he enters
           existence. And by and by, if there exists a beautiful relationship between the child and the mother, a
           response, a deep sensitivity, a deep transfer of energies, a flowering... then the child starts trusting
           others also. Because he knows the first experience was beautiful, there is no reason to think that the
           second is not going to be beautiful. There is every reason to believe that the world is good.
               If in your childhood there was a deep milieu of love around you, you will become religious, trust
           will arise. You will trust, trust will become your natural quality. Ordinarily, you will not distrust
           anybody unless somebody tries hard to create distrust in you -- only then will you distrust. But
           distrust will be exceptional. One man deceives you and tries hard to destroy your trust. Maybe trust
           in that man is destroyed, but you will not start distrusting the whole humanity. You will say, "This is
           one man, and there are millions of men. Just for one man, why distrust all?" But if the basic trust is
           lacking, and something has gone wrong between you and your mother, then distrust becomes your
           basic quality. ]Then ordinarily, naturally, you distrust. There is no need for anybody to prove. You
           distrust man, and then if somebody wants you to trust him he will have to work hard, very hard. And
           even then, you will trust him conditionally. And even then, that trust will not be very comprehensive.
           It will be very narrow; it will be arrowed at one person.
               That is the problem. In the old times people were very trusting. SHRADDHA, trust, was a simple
           quality. There was no need to cultivate it. In fact, if somebody wanted to become a great skeptic,
           doubting, then great training was needed, great conditioning was needed. People were simply trustful
           because love relationships were very, very deep. In the modern world love has disappeared, and trust
           is nothing but the climax of love, the cream of love. Love has disappeared. Children are born into
           families where the father and mother are not in love. Children are born -- the mother does not care, is
           not bothered about what happens to them. In fact, she is annoyed because they are a disturbance, and
           they are disturbing her life. Women are avoiding children, and if they happen it seems like an
           accident. And there is a deep negative attitude. The child gets that negative attitude; he is poisoned
           from the very beginning. He cannot trust the mother.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Just three or four days ago a sannyasin told me that during Primal Therapy here in the ashram, he
           came across a childhood memory. He remembered, he could see it, that his mother had tried to kill
           him by suffocating him. He could see the whole memory, again relived. Now his whole being is
           wavering, trembling. And he's not an ordinary man; he himself is a psychotherapist. Now, he
           understands many things that he had never understood before: why he seems to be so dead,
           stone-like, rock-like, unflowing, why he cannot trust anybody, why he cannot move into love easily,
           why it is such a great effort, and even then, something, somewhere goes wrong. He is not streaming
           -- the mother tried to suffocate him.
                The basic trust lost, the tacit trust lost: "Even mother tried to kill me? Then who can be trusted?"
           -- impossible. Now this world is just inimical. One has to struggle; it is a survival of the fittest.
                Many times I have wondered: somebody should try a psychoanalytical study of Charles Darwin.
           Nobody has tried yet. There must have been something gone wrong between him and his mother,
           hence the hypothesis of the survival of the fittest. In the same way one can have a psychoanalytical
           study of Prince Kropotkin. There must have been a deep love relationship between him and his
           mother, so deep that he contradicted Charles Darwin and tried to replace his theory of survival of the
           fittest with the theory of cooperation. He said, "There is no conflict in life, but there is cooperation.
           In fact, when a tiger jumps on an animal and eats the animal, this too is cooperation." How does he
           explain it? He says, "In fact, the moment the tiger jumps on his prey, the prey relaxes, dies easily.
           There is no conflict. The prey becomes food for the tiger."
                There must be a cooperation when you pick an apple from the tree and you eat it; there must be a
           deep cooperation between the apple and you. Otherwise, the apple would create trouble in your
           body. It would go on fighting you if there were a conflict. It would never allow itself to be absorbed
           by your body; it would remain inimical. But it simply dissolves into you, becomes your blood,
           becomes your bones, becomes your flesh. Kropotkin says, "There is tremendous cooperation in life."
           Even when a tiger jumps and kills the prey, he says there is cooperation. Ask Charles Darwin: even
           when there are two friends deep in love, and they are ready to die for each other, Darwin says that
           these are just pretensions. Deep inside there is conflict, struggle, competition, jealousy.
                A philosophy is not born out of the blue. A philosophy comes from your own existence, your
           own lived experience. If the child has been deep in love with the mother and the mother has
           showered her love, that is the beginning of all trust for the future. Then the child will make more
           loving relationships with women, will make more loving relationships with friends, one day will be
           able to surrender to a Master -- and finally, will be able to dissolve himself completely into God. But
           if the basic link is missing then the foundation is missing. Then you try hard, but it becomes more
           and more difficult. That's what I feel about the questioner.
           "I need to trust so badly"...yes, because trust is nourishment. Without trust you remain hungry, you
           remain starved. Trust is the most subtle nourishment for life. If you don't trust you cannot really live.
           You are always in fear; you are surrounded by death, not by life. With a deep trust inside, the whole
           view changes. Then you are at home and there is no conflict. Then you are not a stranger in the
           world. Then you are not an alien, you are not a foreigner. You belong to the world, the world
           belongs to you. The world is happy that you are -- the world is protecting you. This feeling of a deep
           protection gives courage, and gives courage to move into unknown paths.
                When the mother is in the home the child has courage. Have you watched it? He can go out on
           the road, he can move into the garden, and he can do a thousand and one things. When the mother is
           not there he simply sits inside, he is afraid. He cannot go out; the protection is not there, the
           protective aura is not there. The atmosphere is totally alien.
           It happened once....
                I was staying with a friend. The couple had gone to attend some marriage ceremony and they had
           left their small kid to play, and they said to me, "Just you watch." I was watching -- he was playing
           just outside the porch. He fell, he looked all around, he looked at me. I looked at him very silently.
           He waited for a single second to feel whether it was worth crying or not. But I was so neutral, as if I
           was not there, so he shrugged his shoulders: "This fellow is useless." He started playing again. After
           half an hour when the mother and the father arrived, he started crying. I said, "This is illogical. Half
           an hour has passed, now it can't be hurting." He said, "That is not the question. But you looked
           towards me with such stoney eyes, so I thought,'What is the point? Even if it hurts, it hurts. Crying is
           useless.' Now my mother has come." Now he is in a different atmosphere -- now he can cry because
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he knows somebody is there to console, somebody is there to feel for him, somebody is there who
           cares.
                If you have lived a childhood of a deep showering of love and trust on you, you gather a
           beautiful self-image about yourself. And if your parents have been really in deep love with each
           other, and they were very happy in you because you were the culmination of their love, the
           crescendo of their love, the actualization of their love; if they were deep in love, then you are the
           song that is born out of their love. You are the proof, the evidence that they loved each other. You
           are their creation: they feel happy about you, they accept you, and they accept the way you are. Even
           if they try to help you, they try to help you in a very loving way. Even if they say sometimes, "Don't
           do this," you don't feel offended and you don't feel insulted. In fact, you feel cared about.
                But when the love is missing and the father and mother go on saying, "Don't do this," and, "Do
           this," by and by the child starts learning that, "I am not accepted as I am. If I do certain things, I am
           loved. If I don't do certain things, I am not loved. If I do some other things, I am hated."
                So he starts shrinking. His pure being is not accepted and loved. The love is conditional; trust is
           lost. Then he will never be able to have a beautiful self-image. Because it is mother's eyes which
           reflect you for the first time, and if you can see happiness there, a bliss, a thrill, a great ecstasy just
           watching you, you know you are valuable, you know you have intrinsic value. Then it is very easy to
           trust, very easy to surrender, because you are not afraid. But if you know that you are wrong, then
           you are always trying to prove that you are right. People become argumentative. All argumentative
           people basically are people who don't have good images of themselves. They are very defensive,
           very touchy. If there is some argumentative person, and you say that, "This thing you have done
           wrong," he immediately jumps on you, becomes very angry. He cannot even take a small friendly
           criticism. But if he has a good image about himself he is ready to listen, he's ready to learn, he's
           ready to respect others' opinions. Maybe they are right, and even if they are right and he is wrong, he
           is not worried because that doesn't matter. He remains good in his eyes.
                People are touchy -- they don't want criticism, they don't want somebody to say to them to do
           this; they don't want somebody to say to them not to do that. And these people think they cannot
           surrender because they are very powerful. They are just ill, neurotic. Only a powerful man or woman
           can surrender -- weaklings, never. Because in surrender they think their weakness will be known to
           the whole world. They know they are weak, they know their inferiority complex, so they cannot bow
           down. It is difficult for them, because bowing down will be accepting that they are inferior. Only a
           superior person can bow down; inferior persons can never bow down. They cannot respect anybody
           because they don't respect themselves. They don't know what respect is, and they are always afraid
           of surrender because surrender means weakness to them.
                Remember it: surrender is possible if you are tremendously powerful; you are not worried about
           surrender, you know that you can surrender and still you will not be weak. You can surrender and
           you will not lose your willpower. In fact, by surrendering you are showing the greatest willpower
           there is.
                So if you feel it difficult to trust, then you have to go back. You have to dig deep into your
           memories. You have to go into your past. You have to clean your mind of the past impressions. You
           must be having a great heap of rubbish from your past; unburden it.
                This is the key to do it: if you can go back not just as memory, but as a reliving. Make it a
           meditation. Every day, in the night, for one hour just go back. Try to find out all that has happened in
           your childhood. The deeper you can go the better -- because we are hiding many things that have
           happened, but we don't allow them to bubble up into consciousness. Allow them to surface. Going
           every day, you will feel deeper and deeper. First you will remember somewhere when you were at
           the age of four or five, and you will not be able to go beyond that. Suddenly, a China Wall will face
           you. But go -- by and by, you will see that you are going deeper: three years, two years. People have
           reached to the point where they were born from the womb. There have been people who have
           reached into the memories of the womb, and there are people who have reached beyond that, into the
           other life when they died.
                But if you can reach to the point where you were born, and you can relive that moment, it will be
           of deep agony, pain. You will almost feel as if you are being born again. You may scream as the
           child screamed for the first time. You will feel suffocated as the child felt suffocated when for the
           first time he was out of the womb -- because for a few seconds he was not able to breathe. There was
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           great suffocation: then he screamed and the breath came, and his passages became open, his lungs
           started functioning. You may have to move to that point. From there you come back. Go again, come
           back, every night. It will take at least three to nine months, and every day you will feel more
           unburdened, more and more unburdened, and trust will arise simultaneously, by the side. Once the
           past is clear and you have seen all that has happened, you are free of it. This is the key: if you
           become aware of anything in your memory, you are freed from it. Awareness liberates,
           unconsciousness creates a bondage. Then trust will become possible.
               When you are here with me, you are again in another womb, you are again waiting for another
           birth. That is the function of a Master -- to give you another birth, to make you DWIJA, twice born.
           One birth is from mother and father, another birth is from the Guru, the Master. You are again in
           another womb, a spiritual womb. You have to close accounts with your physical womb completely.
           You have to drop all hang-overs with your physical birth so you can be totally herenow with me.
           "I need to trust so badly..." Yes, that is the point: a person who cannot trust needs to trust very badly.
           And a person who can trust is not even aware that he needs. The need arises when you are starving.
               Psychologists have come across this -- that love is food. Just twenty years ago, if somebody had
           said that love was subtle vitality, then scientists would have laughed. They would have thought,
           "You are a poet, you live in illusion and dreams. Love and food? -- all nonsense." But now scientific
           researchers say, "Love IS food." When a child is given food, that nourishes his body; and if love is
           not given, then his soul is not nourished. His soul remains immature. Now there are ways to measure
           whether a child is being loved or not, whether the warmth he needs is being given to him or not. You
           can give a child all the nourishment he needs, all medical care he needs, in a hospital. Just remove
           the mother -- give him milk, medicine, care, everything, but don't hug him, don't kiss him, don't
           touch him. Many experiments have been done. The child, by and by, starts shrinking into himself.
           He becomes ill, and in most of the cases he dies, for no visible cause at all. Or, if he survives, he
           survives at the minimum: he becomes an imbecile, an idiot. He will live, but he will live just on the
           fringe. He will never be deep in life; he has no energy. To hug the child, to give your body's warmth
           to him is food, is very subtle food. Now this is being recognized, by and by.
               Let me make you one prediction: after twenty or thirty years, psychologists will come to reveal
           that trust is even a higher food, of a greater potency -- higher than love... Like prayer. Trust is
           prayerfulness, but it is VERY subtle. You can feel it. If you have trust, you will suddenly see that
           with me you are going on a great adventure, and your life starts immediately changing. If you don't
           have trust, you will stand there. I go on talking, I go on pulling you; you are stuck -- somehow you
           go on missing me. Let your trust arise. That trust will be a bridge between me and you. Then
           ordinary words become luminous, then just my presence can become a womb, and you can be
           reborn.
           "I need to trust so badly, and I suffer because I don't. From where am I to find the courage to trust
           my killer?"
               Yes, I am a killer, in a way. I have to kill you because that is the only way for you to be reborn. I
           have to cut you completely from your past, I have to destroy your biography. Then only, the new can
           arise.
               But if you have trust, you will be ready to die. If you have trust, you know resurrection is certain.
           I cannot guarantee it; there is no way to guarantee it. Only trust is the guarantee. I can talk about it, I
           can 'poetize' about it, but that will create only dreams in you, not guarantees. I can tell what has
           happened to me, I can allure you towards it, but it will not be a guarantee. "Who knows -- this man
           may be just Lying, or this man may not be Lying, he may be just in illusion?" How to prove it? It is
           not a thing that I can show to you. If you trust, then there is guarantee. In your trust is your
           guarantee.
               You can trust me in two ways. That too has to be understood, because one way is a wrong way.
               You can trust me because you feel insecure, alone. You can force trust because you can feel
           more secure with me. That's how many people live in churches, organizations, religions. Somebody
           is a Christian, somebody is a Hindu; it gives a certain security. You are not alone -- millions of
           Hindus, millions of Christians -- you are not alone. "How can so many people be wrong? They must
           be right" -- so you hold, hang with the crowd, just because you are afraid. Trust can arise because of
           fear -- then it is negative; it will not give you a new birth. In fact, it will obstruct new birth. Trust can
           arise out of love; then it is right.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               People who trust because they are afraid, because they want somebody to hang to, to cling to,
           they are afraid and they want somebody's hand, they look at the sky and they pray to God just to feel
           unafraid. Have you watched? Sometimes passing through a dark street in the night you start
           whistling, or you start singing -- not that it is going to help. But it helps in a way. Singing, you
           become warmer. Singing, you become occupied; fear is repressed. Whistling, you start feeling good.
           You forget that it is dark and it is dangerous, but it makes no real change in reality. If there is fear
           and danger it is still there. In fact, it is more, because a person who is engaged in singing can be
           robbed more easily because he will be less alert. He will be less cautious while whistling. He is
           creating an illusion around him with whistling. If your trust arises out of fear, it is better not to have
           that trust. It is false.
           I have heard...

               Mulla Nasrudin climbed into a barber's chair and asked, "Where is the barber who used to work
           on the next chair?"
           "Oh, that was a sad case," the barber said. "He became so nervous and despondent over poor
           business, that one day when a customer said he did not want a massage, he went out of his mind and
           cut the customer's throat with a razor. He is now in the state mental hospital. By the way, would you
           like a massage, sir?"
           "Absolutely!" said Mulla Nasrudin.
               Out of fear you can say 'absolutely', but that will not be trust. Trust is born out of love, and if you
           find that you cannot trust, then you have to work hard. You have a very loaded past, wrongly loaded.
           You have to clean it, clear it.

           The third question:


              I BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD. THERE MUST BE SOMETHING KEEPING THE UNIVERSE
              TOGETHER. BUT DEEP IN MYSELF I DON'T FEEL THAT GOD IS THERE OR YOU ARE THERE,
              OR THAT GOD IS WITH ME. I EXPERIENCE MYSELF AS LOST AND UNPROTECTED IN A
              THREATENING WORLD. IF FEEL ONLY COMFORTABLE WHEN I AM ALONE. I MISS THAT
              BASIC TRUST. THE KNOWLEDGE I GATHERED, THE FEELINGS I HAVE FELT, THE
              EXPERIENCES I HAVE HAD, DID NOT LEAD ME TO AN INNER TRUST.
              CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME?


               FIRST, belief is a pretension. Never believe in anything. Belief is pseudo-trust. It gives you a
           feeling as if you trust. It is 'as if' trust; it is very dangerous. If you have not experienced anything of
           the divine, please be honest. There is no need to trust, there is no need to believe in God. Don't make
           God a logical exercise. The questioner says, "I believe there is a God. There MUST be something
           keeping the universe together." This is a logical thing: the universe is there and things are really
           going together, everything is going beautifully together, so the logical mind says, "There must be
           somebody who is keeping it together. Existence is there, so somebody must have created it."
               But God cannot be approached through logic. God can be approached only through love. God is
           not a syllogism; it is not a conclusion. That's why scientists can never reach to God's truth. And
           people who were real thinkers have always denied God -- because if you are REALLY thinking, you
           cannot believe in God. God seems to be improbable, impossible, absurd. But logic can give you a
           false notion. It simply says that when you see that the world is going together, you infer that
           somebody is keeping it together. Just say that the world is going so tremendously together, that's all
           -- "I don't know why, I don't know who is keeping it or whether anybody is keeping it. " The
           conclusion is not right; remember that you don't know. That ignorance will be very, very helpful,
           because that ignorance will be sincere, authentic, true.
               Now let me tell you -- you think that the world is going so together, that's why there must be a
           God. There have been philosophers who say that just because the world is going so together, there
           cannot be a God. Because if God is there, then sometimes He will get bored -- just the same
           repetitive world. Then there will be some personality in the world. It is so mechanical: the stars go
           on moving, the sun goes on rising, the earth goes on moving, the people are born, the fruits and the
           seeds and again the trees and the seasons. It seems so mechanical, many philosophers say, because
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the world is going so absolutely correctly that there cannot be a person behind it. Because sometimes
           a person changes also, and sometimes he gets fed-up also. One day he thinks, "No more sunrise
           today. Enough is enough." One day he thinks, "Now, out of mango seeds apples will arise. "
                If there is a personality in the world, just think -- a Picasso painting the same painting every day.
           If out of Picasso's house the same painting came every day, would it prove that there is a person
           inside, or there is a mechanism? You never go inside the house. You don't know who is inside; just a
           painting is coming every day on an assembly line. The same painting, everything perfect, accurate --
           will it prove that there lives inside a great painter, Picasso? or will it simply prove that there is a
           mechanism which goes on reproducing? There are philosophers who say because the world is
           running so mechanically there cannot be a personality behind it. Now what to do?
                You say, the world is there: there must be a creator. There are philosophers who say that if the
           world needs a creator, then the creator will also need a further creator. Who will create the creator?
           And if you say that the creator needs no creator -- don't be foolish. Then they say, "Then what is the
           point? Then the world can be without a creator, if the creator himself can be without the creator." So
           you have accepted the principle basically that something can be without being created -- so the world
           can be without a creator. If you go into logic you will be in trouble.
           Let me tell you one anecdote.
           "This is a lesson in logic," said the old professor in the teahouse. "If the show starts at nine and
           dinner is at six, and my son has the measles, and my brother drives a Cadillac, how old am I?"
           "You are eighty-four," replied Mulla Nasrudin promptly.
           "Right," said the professor. "Now tell the rest of the fellows here how you arrived at the correct
           answer."
           "It is easy," said Nasrudin. "I have got an uncle who is forty-two, and he is only half nuts. You must
           be eighty-four."

                If you make God an exercise in logic, you will go nuts. Nobody has ever come out of the logical
           inquiry sane. Nobody has ever come back sane, because the dimension is totally different -- it has
           nothing to do with logic. It has something to do with the heart, something to do with love.
           "I believe there is a God"; please don't believe, because that belief will become a rock and it will not
           allow you to move deeper. Simply know that you don't know. Accept your ignorance. Don't hide
           behind a belief -- because there is possibility from ignorance, but there is no possibility from false,
           borrowed, logical knowledge. Logical knowledge is barren, love is fertile.
           "I believe there is a God. There must be something keeping the universe together" -- this is not the
           way to approach God -- "but deep in myself I don't feel that God is there." Of course...how can you
           feel, how can you feel a logical proposition in the heart? Two plus two are four, certainly true -- but
           can you love this proposition? Can you fall in love with two plus two is four? And if somebody
           denies it, will you be ready to become a martyr for it because it is true? You will say, "Forget all
           about it. If you want to make two plus two equal five, make it. Why should I lose my life for it?"
                Nobody dies, stakes his life, for a logical proposition. It is not worth it. If somebody denies it, let
           it be so. Two plus two is perfectly true, but not a truth of the category of God, not even a truth of the
           category of Laila or Majnu. If your logic is proved wrong, nothing is proved wrong. You can change
           your logic. But if your love is proved wrong, you can never be the same person again. If your love is
           proved wrong, you are proved wrong. If your logic is proved wrong, nothing is proved wrong. You
           can change the logic; you remain unaffected by it. "Deep in myself I don't feel God" -- because there
           is no way from belief to feeling. They are not connected, so forget about belief. Otherwise there is a
           dangerous possibility: you may pretend that you feel.
                Many people pretend. They go to the church, to the temple, to the mosque and they pretend that
           they are feeling for God. Their feeling is not feeling at all. In the temple you can see tears flowing
           down their eyes. Outside the temple you never come across that man again, that man you had seen in
           the temple. You never see him the same in the marketplace. That was just a mask: he was trying hard
           to feel. He was even ready to cry and shed false tears, what you call the 'crocodile tears'. You can see
           him praying, but nothing is arising out of his heart -- there is no fire inside, no passion -- the prayer
           is just verbal. He goes on repeating something which he has been told to repeat; it is just parrot-like.
           Feeling arises only when you live in tremendous, austere sincerity.
                Forget about belief in God; there is no need. Just know that you don't know. This should be the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beginning: I don't know. Maybe God is there, maybe God is not there; I have to inquire. Now where
           to find, how to find? If God is there, He must be the God of the trees and the birds and the animals
           also, not only of man. Trees don't know any logic, birds don't know any logic, animals don't know
           any logic. If there is God He must be the God of all. Logic is very local -- just a part, a very small
           part of the world. Humanity has a small corner of the mind for mathematical and logical thinking.
                The God must be the God of all, so forget about logic. Start approaching as the trees approach.
           Start approaching as the rivers run towards the sea, start approaching as the birds approach, start
           approaching through your being, your totality. Dance deeply. Forget about God, just dance deeply --
           because in a great dancing mood, in a moment, mind disappears; you become total. When you are
           really dancing and the movement is fast, mind cannot function. Mind stops; you become a no-mind.
           You are, but you are not a mind, and you don't think in terms of logic. You become a tree, a tree in a
           strong wind, a flower, a river, a rock, a star, but you lose that small territory that is dominating you,
           the territory of logic. Suddenly you will start a contact. You will feel you have been contacted by
           someone and you have contacted someone. A dancer becomes religious, has to become. Sing -- and
           I'm not saying sing a religious song. If singing is true, it is religious. What the words are does not
           matter. Run, swim, do something, and be lost in doing it.
                Hence, I emphasize dynamic methods of meditation: dancing, singing, music, T'ai Chi, karate.
           Do something, because when you do, you are part of the greater world of the trees, of birds, of
           animals. They are doers, they are not thinkers. When you do something, suddenly you fall into the
           oceanic unity of existence.
                There is then a feeling that God is. But that God is not the God of Christians and Hindus and
           Mohammedans. That God is your God. That has nothing to do with the Bible and Gita and Koran.
           That God is YOUR God; that God has nothing to do with logic, syllogism, philosophy, dogma. That
           God is a felt, lived experience. Then...then you will know, and there is no other way to know.
                People are learning from scriptures, and the greatest scripture that has been given to you by
           existence remains unopened. And through scriptures you get notions.
           I have heard....
                Mulla Nasrudin went to see his lawyer about a divorce.
           "What grounds do you think you have for a divorce?" the lawyer asked.
           "It is my wife's manners," said the Mulla. "She has such bad table manners that she is disgracing the
           whole family."
           "That's bad," the lawyer said. "How long have you been married?"
           "Nine years," said the Mulla.
           "If you have been able to put up with her table manners for nine years, I can't understand why you
           want a divorce now," the lawyer said.
           "Well," said Nasrudin, "I did not know it before. I just bought a book on etiquette this morning."
                You first read the books, then you decide about life.
                First move into life and then decide about books. And then you will be surprised that the Gita
           and the Koran and the Bible are not three books, they are one book. Then Buddha and Christ and
           Krishna are not three persons, but three voices of the same person. But if you are first caught up in
           the logical structure of books, then you will never be able to know life. Try to become more natural.
           Forget all about God, the God that is discussed in the universities and in the churches and the
           temples. Forget about that God. Be with the God that is already surrounding you, that is your
           surround. This moment the cuckoo goes on doing her prayer, the birds go on doing THEIR prayer.
           Look at the trees, at how prayerful they are. The whole existence is in prayer, and what are you
           doing sitting inside your skull thinking about whether God exists or not?
           "He must exist because the world is going so beautifully together. "
                The world IS going beautifully together. Become part of this togetherness, dissolve into this
           togetherness! When the river is flowing by, why not jump into it? What are you doing sitting on the
           bank with closed eyes thinking the river must be there because...? Drop all these 'becauses'.
                The inner trust arises only when you have a live contact with God. Do whatsoever you can do,
           but please don't become just heads. Nothing is wrong with the head if it goes together with your
           totality. The wrongness enters when it becomes a part, apart, and it starts dominating the whole. Get
           back down into your belly from the head! Come back to your senses, become more earthly.
                That's the message of the Bauls: become more true and real. When you are real, God is real;
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when you are true, God is true -- because when you are true you are capable of contact with the truth
           of existence. When you are real you are suddenly in harmony with the whole. When you are false,
           then the problem arises of whether God exists or not. When the problem arises of whether God exists
           or not, that simply shows that you have lost your harmony with the whole. Get into harmony, get
           into line, fall into line again. Come back, be more real and true.
               That is the whole message of all religions, of religion as such. That's why Buddha and Mahavir
           don't talk about God they say, "There is no need." Mahavir talks about truth: "Be true, be authentic,
           and you will be Gods." Just by being true you come closer to truth. It's simple. Can't you see such a
           simple point: that by being true, you come closer to truth?
               Belief is false, borrowed knowledge is false. Drop all that is borrowed. You may feel poorer for
           the time being, because your knowledge gives you very great ego, that'I know'. Knowing that you
           don't know, you may feel poor for a few days, you may feel like a beggar. But If you are ready to be
           true, suddenly one day the conversion happens. When you have lost all borrowed knowledge,
           something arises in you which was waiting and waiting. Something arises in you and fills your
           whole space of consciousness. That is what God is.
               God is nothing but life. God is not a person; God is the energy you are, God is the energy the
           trees are, God is the energy the stars are. Everything is made of the stuff -- God. God is not the
           creator, God is this creation. This very moment you are in the ocean of God, but He is so close and
           you are so far away in your head that bridges are missing.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO, HOW COME I'M SO CRAZY ABOUT YOU?


              I attract crazy people; I am crazy, that's why.
              But crazy people are beautiful people. They are the only sane people is the world. That is the
           meaning of the word 'Baul'. Baul means crazy, mad. I am a Baul, and I attract Bauls -- that's why.




                                              The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                   Chapter #5
                                              Chapter title: Die Living
           5 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607050
              ShortTitle: BELOV205
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 97 mins




              THE MAN THAT BREATHES
              LIVES ON THE AIR,
              AND THE OTHER, UNSEEN,
              RESTS ABOVE REACH.
              BETWEEN THE TWO
              MOVES ANOTHER MAN
              AS A SECRET LINK.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WORSHIP KNOWINGLY.



              IT IS A SPORT
              AMONGST THE THREE OF THEM.
              MY SEARCHING HEART,
              WHOM DO YOU SEEK?



              BETWEEN THE DOORS
              OF BIRTH AND DEATH,
              STANDS YET ANOTHER DOOR,
              WHOLLY INEXPLICABLE.
              HE WHO IS ABLE
              TO BE BORN
              AT THE DOOR OF DEATH,
              IS DEVOTED ETERNALLY....



              DIE BEFORE DYING,
              DIE LIVING.


                RELIGION is a very complex phenomenon. Its complexity has to be understood.
                There are seven types of religions in the world. The first type is ignorance-oriented. Because
           people cannot tolerate their ignorance, they hide it. Because it is difficult to know that one does not
           know, it is against the ego, people believe. Their belief systems function to protect their egos. They
           are helpful, but in the long range they are very harmful. In the beginning they seem to be protecting,
           but finally they are very destructive. The very orientation is in ignorance.
                Religion is light, religion is understanding, religion is awareness, religion is authenticity. But a
           major part of humanity remains in the first type of religion. It is simply to avoid the reality, to avoid
           the gap that one feels in one's own being, to avoid the black hole of ignorance.
                The people of the first type are the fanatics. They cannot even tolerate that there can be other
           sorts of religions in the world. Their religion is THE religion. Because they are so afraid of their
           ignorance, if there is some other religion also then they will become suspicious, then doubt will
           arise. Then they will not be so certain. To gain certainty they become very stubborn, madly stubborn.
           They cannot read others' scriptures, they cannot listen to other nuances of truth, they cannot be
           tolerant to other revelations of God. THEIR revelation is the only revelation, and their prophet is the
           only prophet. Everything else is absolutely false. These people talk in terms of absolute, while a man
           of understanding is always relative.
                These people have done great harm to religion. Because of these people, religion itself looks a
           little stupid. Remember not to be a victim of this first sort. Almost ninety percent of humanity lives
           in this first sort of religion, and that is in no way better than irreligion. Maybe it is worse -- because
           an irreligious person is not fanatic. An irreligious person is more open, at least ready to listen, ready
           to talk things out, ready to argue, ready to seek and inquire. But the first type of religious person is
           not even ready to listen.
                When I was a student in the university I used to stay with one of my professors. His mother was
           a very devout Hindu; completely uneducated, but very religious.
                One day on a cold winter night, fire was burning in the room in the fireplace, and I was reading
           RIG VEDA. She came by the way and she asked, "What are you reading so late in the night?" Just to
           tease her, I said, "This is the Koran." She jumped over me, took away the RIG VEDA and threw it in
           the fireplace and said, "Are you a Mohammedan? How do you dare to bring the Koran in my house!"
                Next day I told her son, my professor, that, "Your mother is a Mohammedan" -- because this sort
           of thing has only been known to be done by Mohammedans.
                Mohammedans burnt one of the greatest treasures of the world, the library of Alexandria. The
           library was the greatest in the ancient world. The fire continued for almost six months, the library
           was so big. It took six months for it to be burnt down completely. And the man who burnt it was a
           Mohammedan, Calipha. His logic is the logic of the first type of religion. He came with a Koran in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one hand and with a burning torch in the other, and he asked the librarian, "I have a simple question.
           In this big library, millions of books are there...."
               Those books contained all that humanity had learned up to that time, and it was really more than
           we know now. That library contained every information about Lemuria, Atlantis, and all the
           scriptures of Atlantis, the continent that disappeared into the Atlantic. It was the ancient-most
           library, a great preserve. Had it still been, humanity would have been totally different -- because we
           are rediscovering many things which had already been discovered.
               This Calipha said, "If this library contains only that which is contained in the Koran, then it is not
           needed; it is superfluous. If it contains more than is contained in the Koran, then it is wrong. Then it
           has to be destroyed immediately. Either way it has to be destroyed. If it contains the same as the
           Koran, then it is superfluous. Why manage such a big library unnecessarily? The Koran is enough.
           And if you say that it contains many more things than the Koran, then those things are bound to be
           wrong, because the Koran is THE truth."
               Holding the Koran in one hand, he started the fire with the other hand -- in the name of the
           Koran. Mohammed must have cried and wept that day in heaven, because in his name, the library
           was being burnt. This is the first type of religion. Always remain alert, because this stubborn man
           exists in everybody.
           I was reading just the other night....
               The two old codgers had equal reputations for being stubborn. When they encountered each other
           in situations where one had to give in, a third party usually had to settle the issue. One day the old
           fellows, each driving a large load of hay, met on a narrow lane. Both determined not to give an inch.
               Finally one said to the other, "I am prepared to stay here as long as you want to wait." He took
           out his newspaper and began to read. The other filled his pipe and smoked contentedly. After half an
           hour of silence he leaned forward and called out to his neighbor, "Would you mind letting me read
           the paper when you are through?"

                THIS stubborn man exists in everybody, and this is the lowest type of man. It exists in Hindus, it
           exists in Mohammedans, it exists in Christians, Buddhists, Jains -- it exists in everybody
                And everybody has to be aware not to get caught. Only then can you rise to higher sorts of
           religion.
                The problem with this first type of religion is that we are almost always brought up in it. We are
           conditioned in it, so it becomes almost normal. It looks normal. A Hindu is brought up with the idea
           that others are wrong. Even if he is taught to be tolerant, that tolerance is of one who knows towards
           others who don't know. A Jain is ABSOLUTELY brought up with the belief that only he is right;
           others are all ignorant, stumbling, groping in darkness. This conditioning can become so deep that
           you may forget that this is a conditioning, and that you have to go above it.
                Mulla Nasrudin was telling a friend his future through palmistry. He said, "You will be poor and
           unhappy and miserable until you are sixty."
           "Then what?" asked the man hopefully.
           "By that time," said Nasrudin, "you will be used to it."
                That's the problem: one can become used to a certain conditioning, and one can start thinking as
           if it is one's nature, or as if it is the truth. So one has to be very alert and watchful to find this lowest
           possibility in oneself and not get caught in it.
                Sometimes we go on working hard in transforming our lives, and we go on believing in the first
           type of religion. The revolution is not possible -- because you are trying something which is so low
           that it cannot be really religious. The first type of religion is just religion in name; it should not be
           called religion.
                One man was saying to another, "My son-in-law, the doctor, has been treating a patient for
           yellow jaundice for twenty years. He just found out the man was Chinese."
           "Ain't that something?" said the other man.
           "What is terrible is, he cured him."
                Twenty years treating a man for yellow jaundice -- he may be a Chinese, but how long can he
           protect himself? If continuously you work on yourself with a wrong attitude, your nature starts
           yielding. You start functioning the way you want to function. Yes, the habit can become second
           nature. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes first nature, and nature is completely forgotten.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The characteristic of the first sort of religion is imitation. It insists on imitation: imitate Buddha,
           imitate Christ, imitate Mahavir, but imitate. Imitate somebody. Don't be yourself, be somebody else.
           And if you are very stubborn you can force yourself to be somebody else.
                You will never be somebody else. Deep down you cannot be. You will remain yourself, but you
           can force so much that you almost start looking like somebody else.
                Each man is born with a unique individuality, and each man has a destiny of his own. Imitation is
           crime, it is criminal. If you try to become a Buddha, you may become an imitation Buddha. You may
           look like Buddha, you may walk like Buddha, you may talk like Buddha, but you will miss. You will
           miss all that life was ready to deliver to you. Because Buddha happens only once. It is not in the
           nature of things to repeat. God is so creative that He never repeats anything. You cannot find another
           human being in the present, in the past, or in the future, who is going to resemble you exactly. It has
           never happened. Man is not a mechanism. He is not like Ford cars on an assembly line; you can
           produce millions alike, exactly alike. Man is a soul, is individual. Imitation is poisonous. Never
           imitate anybody, otherwise you will be a victim of the first sort of religion, which is not religion at
           all.
                Then there is the second type. The second type is fear-oriented.
                Man IS afraid, the world IS a strange world, and man wants to be secure, safe. In childhood the
           father protects, the mother protects. But there are many people, millions of them, who never grow
           beyond their childhoods. They remain stuck somewhere, and they still need a father and a mother.
           Hence God is called the Father or the Mother. They need a divine Father to protect them; they are
           not mature enough to be on their own. They need some security.
                One psychologist, Winnicott, has been working with a particular problem with small children for
           many years, and he has discovered many beautiful things. They are pertinent.

                You may have watched small children with their teddy bear, or their toy, their special toy, or
           their blanket, or something that has a special personality to the child. The teddy bear...you cannot
           replace the teddy bear. You may say that you can find a better one, but that doesn't matter. There is a
           love relationship between the child and HIS teddy bear. His teddy bear is unique; you cannot replace
           it. It becomes dirty, it becomes smelly, rotten, but the child goes on carrying it. You cannot find a
           new one, a fresh one. Even parents have to tolerate it. Even they have to respect, because a child
           feels offended. If the parents are going to travel, they have to tolerate the teddy bear also; they have
           to treat it almost as a member of the family. They know this is foolish, but for the child it has
           significance.
                What significance does the teddy bear have for the child? It is objective in a way. It is there,
           outside the child; it is part of reality. Certainly it is not just imagination, it is not just subjective; it is
           not a dream, it is there. But it is not totally there; many of the child's dreams are involved in it. It is
           object, objective, but much subjectivity is involved in it. For the child it is almost alive. The child
           has projected many things onto the teddy bear. He talks to the teddy bear, sometimes he becomes
           angry and throws it away, then says'I am sorry' and takes it back. It has a personality, almost human.
           Without the teddy bear he cannot go to sleep. Holding, hugging, he goes to sleep; he feels secure.
           With the teddy bear the world is okay, everything is okay. Without the teddy bear he is suddenly
           alone.
                So the teddy bear exists in a totally new dimension which is neither subjective nor objective.
           Winnicott calls it 'the transitory realm': a little objective and a little subjective. Many children grow
           physically, but they never grow spiritually, and they need teddy bears all their lives. Your images of
           God in the temple are nothing but teddy bears.
                So when a Hindu goes into the Hindu temple, he sees something which a Mohammedan cannot
           see. The Mohammedan can only see a stone statue. The Hindu sees something which nobody else
           can see; it is his teddy bear. It is objectively there, but not totally objective. Much subjectivity of the
           worshipper is projected on it; t functions as a screen.
                You go to a Jain temple. You may be a Hindu, but in a Jain temple you will not feel any
           reverence arising in you. Sometimes you may even feel a little offended, because Mahavir, his
           statue, is nude, naked. You may feel a little offended. You may like to go out as soon as possible;
           you may not feel any respect. But then there comes a Jain with tremendous respect; it is his teddy
           bear, and he feels very protected.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

             So whenever you are in fear, you start remembering God. Your God is a by-product of your fear.
           When you are feeling good, unafraid, you don't bother. There is no need.

                THE second type of religion is fear-oriented. It is very ill.
                It is almost neurotic -- because maturity only comes to you when you realize that you ARE alone,
           and you have to be alone, and you have to face the reality as it is. These transitory teddy bears are
           just of your imagination; they are not going to help. If something is going to happen, it is going to
           happen; the teddy bear cannot protect you. If death is going to happen, it is going to happen. You go
           on calling to God, but protection cannot come to you. You are calling nobody, you are simply calling
           out of fear. Maybe calling loudly gives you a certain courage.
                Maybe praying...prayer gives you a certain courage, but there is no God to respond to it. There is
           nobody who is going to respond to your prayer. But if you have an idea that somebody is there to
           respond to your prayer, you may feel a little relieved, relaxed.
                Once I saw Mulla Nasrudin praying very devoutly. When he had finished his NAMAJ, I asked
           him, "Mulla, there must be some problem; you were praying so deeply. Please answer my one
           question: is your prayer ever answered?"
           He said, "Yes, one way or the other."
                But if the prayer is answered one way or the other, what is the point of it? Yes, sometimes it
           coincides with facts, sometimes it does not coincide with the facts, but your prayer makes no
           difference to the facts. It may make a little difference in your mind, but it makes no difference in
           reality.
                The fear-oriented religion is the religion of 'don't': don't do this, don't do that -- because fear is
           negative. The Ten Commandments are all fear-oriented -- don't do this, don't do that -- as if religion
           is nothing but avoiding -- don't do this, don't do that -- closing oneself in safety and security, never
           taking any risk, never moving on the dangerous path, in fact not allowing yourself to be alive. Just as
           the first type of religion is stupid, fanatic, the second type of religion is negative. It gives a certain
           stiffness, up-tightness. It is childish. It is a search for security which is nowhere possible, because
           life exists as insecurity. God exists as insecurity, danger, and risk.

               THE key word for the fear-oriented religion is "hell', and of course, repression, continuous
           repression: don't do this. The second type of person is always afraid -- what to eat, what not to eat,
           whether to love a woman or not to love a woman, whether to make a house or not to make a house.
           And whatsoever you repress, you are never free of it; in fact, the more and more you are in its power.
           Because when you repress a thing it goes deeper into your unconscious. It reaches to your very roots
           and poisons your whole being.
           I have heard....
               An old-timer was seeing a movie for the first time. He was known to be a very religious man, a
           man who used to do his prayer regularly, fulfill all the duties, had never been known to get involved
           in any sort of problematic situations. He was, in short, a very simple man -- but not so simple inside.
           At one point in the feature, a bevy of shapely girls dashed across the screen. They crossed a railroad
           track, reached a swimming pool and began to disrobe for the plunge. They had taken off their shoes,
           stockings, shirts, skirts, and were beginning on...and a passing freight train sped across the screen
           and obscured the view. When it had passed, the next scene showed the girls frolicking in the water.
               The old-timer saw the show again and again and again. At length an usher tapped him on the
           shoulder. "Are you not ever going home?" he asked.
           "Oh, I reckon not yet for awhile," said the old-timer. "One of these times that darned train is going to
           be late."
               Deep inside you will always carry whatsoever is repressed. You may follow the religion as ritual,
           but it will never become your heart.
           I have heard an anecdote:
               For centuries European Jews were the victims of organized persecution, called pogroms. These
           pogroms took place so often that Jews developed a sense of humor about them.
               In a small town in Poland, soldiers broke into the house of Ostrovoski and his family. Living
           with him were his wife, three daughters, two sons, and his very aged and religious mother. She was
           known around almost as a saint.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Line up!" shouted the sergeant in charge. "We are gonna beat up all the men and rape all the
           women!"
           "Wait," pleaded Ostrovoski. "You can wallop me and my sons, abuse my wife and daughters, but
           please sir, I beg you, don't rape my mother. She is seventy-five years old and very religious."
           "Shut up!" yelled the old woman. "A pogrom is a pogrom!"
                Remember, repression is not a way towards freedom. Repression is worse than expression,
           because through expression a person is BOUND to become free one day or other. But through
           repression, one always remains obsessed. Only life gives you freedom. A lived life gives you
           freedom, an unlived life remains very attractive, and the mind goes on roaming around whatsoever
           you have repressed.
                Smulovitz, aged eighty-three and widowed, refused to be placed in just any Miami Beach old-age
           home. "I won't eat anything," he declared to his son, "unless it is strictly kosher."
                The son searched for weeks and finally found a place that served meals in accordance with the
           Jewish dietary laws. He placed his old father in the home, secure in the knowledge that his father
           would be eating only kosher food.
                Three days later he came for a visit and learned that the old man had left and checked into the
           Fontainbleau Hotel. The boy rushed over to the hotel, got a key, went upstairs, opened the door, and
           there was his father in bed with a blonde. They were both stark naked.
           "Poppa, how could you?" asked the bewildered boy.
           "But look," said the old man, "I'm not eating."
                People who live through rituals out of fear may avoid one thing, but they will fall into another --
           because the understanding is not their own. It is just fear-oriented. It is hell they are afraid of.
                A real religion gives you fearlessness: let that be the criterion. If religion gives you fear, then it is
           not really religion.
           The third type of religion is out of greed.
                It is a 'do' religion. Just as the fear-oriented is a 'don't' religion, the greed-oriented is a 'do'
           religion: do this. And just as the fear-oriented religion has the key word 'hell', the religion of greed
           has the key word 'heaven'. Everything is to be done in such a way that the world -- the other world --
           is completely secure and your happiness beyond death is guaranteed.
                'Do' religion or greed religion is formal, ritualistic, ambitious, desire-oriented. It is full of desires.
           See the Mohammedan concept of paradise, or the Christian concept of paradise, or the Hindu
           concept of paradise. Degrees may be different, but this is a very strange thing: all that these people
           say one has to deny oneself in this life, they go on providing in heaven in great quantities. You are to
           be celibate here just to achieve heaven where beautiful APSARAS, always young, stuck at the age of
           sixteen, are available. Mohammedans say, "Don't take any alcoholic beverage. But in heaven, rivers
           of wine! No need to be worried."
                But this seems to be absurd. If something is wrong, it is wrong. How can it become good and
           right in heaven? Then Omar Khayam is right. He says, "If in heaven rivers of wine are available then
           let us practice here, because if we go unpracticed, it will be difficult to live in paradise. So let this
           life be a little rehearsal, so that we have the taste, and we have the capacity." Then Omar Khayam
           seems to be more logical. In fact, he is joking against the Mohammedan concept of paradise. It is
           foolish; the whole concept is foolish. But people become religious out of greed.
                One thing is certain: that whatsoever you accumulate here will be taken away; death will take it
           away. So the greedy person wants to accumulate something which cannot be taken by death. But the
           accumulating idea, the desire to accumulate, remains there. Now he accumulates virtue. Virtue is the
           coin of the other world. He goes on accumulating virtue so he can live in the other world forever and
           forever, in lust.
                This type of man is basically worldly. His other world is nothing but a projection of this world.
           He will do because he has desires, and he has ambition, and he has a power-lust, but his doing will
           not be of the heart. It will be a sort of manipulation.
                Mulla Nasrudin and his young son were driving in the country one winter. It was snowing; their
           bullock-cart broke down. They finally reached a farm-house and were welcomed for the night. The
           house was cold and the attic in which they were invited to spend the night was like an icebox.
           Stripping to his underwear, the Mulla jumped into a featherbed and pulled the blankets over his
           head. The young man was slightly embarrassed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Excuse me, Dad," he said. "Don't you think we ought to say our prayers before going to bed?"
                The Mulla stuck one eye out from under the covers. "Son," he said, "I keep prayed up ahead for
           situations just like this one."
                Then things are just on the surface. Greed and fear and ignorance are just on the periphery.
                These are three sorts of religions -- and they are all mixed together. You cannot find a person
           who is absolutely, purely of the first type or the second type or the third type. Wherever greed is,
           there is fear; wherever fear is, there is greed; and wherever greed and fear exist, there is ignorance --
           because they cannot exist without them. So I am not talking about pure types. I am classifying
           simply so that you can understand well. Otherwise they are all mixed.
                These three are the lowest types of religion. They should not be called religions.
                Then there is the fourth type: the religion of logic, calculation, cleverness.
                It is 'do' plus 'don't' religion: worldly, materialistic, opportunistic, intellectual, theoretical,
           scriptural, traditional. This is the religion of the PUNDITS, the learned scholar who tries to prove
           God through logic, who thinks that the mysteries of life can be understood through the head.
                This type of religion creates theology. It is not really religion but just a very faint carbon copy of
           it. But all the churches are based on it. When a Buddha exists in the world, or a Mohammed, or a
           Krishna, or a Christ, then pundits and scholars and learned people, intellectually clever and cunning
           people, gather together around them. They start working hard: "What does Jesus mean?" They start
           creating a theology, a creed, a dogma, a church. They are very successful people because they are
           very logical people. They cannot give you God, they cannot give you truth, but they give you great
           organizations. They give you the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church. They give you great
           theologies, just clevernesses, nothing of the real experience; just intellectual, head-oriented. Their
           whole edifice is as if one is making a house of cards: a small breeze and the house is gone. Their
           whole edifice is such, as if one is trying to sail in a boat of paper. It looks like a real boat, the form is
           of a boat, but it is a paper boat. It is doomed, it is already doomed. Logic is a paper boat. And life
           cannot be understood through logic.
           I have heard about one American:
                A very wealthy American was convinced that an atomic war was just around the corner, and
           determined that he would survive it. He bought an acre of land in the middle of the Arizona desert
           and employed a labor force to build him a home five miles underground. It was to be encased in lead
           fifty yards thick, and equipped with its own power plant which would supply sufficient electricity to
           give him light, heat, and purified air for at least ten years. Frozen food, water, cigars, alcoholic
           refreshment, for the same period of time had to be provided, together with every conceivable aid to
           luxurious living. The job was completed in three years at a cost of five hundred thousand million
           dollars.
                The proud owner went to the desert to inspect it, and a red Indian shot him in the back with an
           arrow.
                That's how life is: you make all the arrangements and just one arrow is enough to finish you.
           Man is very fragile. How can man's logic understand reality? Man is so limited, his understanding is
           so short-sighted. No, there is no way through logic. Through logic a philosophy is born, but not real
           religion.

           THESE four are ordinarily known as religion.
               The fifth, sixth and seventh are the real religions. The fifth is the religion based on intelligence;
           not on logic, not on intellect, but on intelligence. And there is a lot of difference between intellect
           and intelligence.
               Intellect is logical; intelligence is paradoxical. Intellect is analytical; intelligence is synthetical.
           Intellect divides, cuts into pieces to understand a thing. Science is based on intellect, dissection,
           division, analysis. Intelligence joins things together, makes a whole out of parts -- because this is one
           of the greatest understandings: that the part exists through the whole, not vice versa. And the whole
           is not just the sum of the parts, it is more than the sum.
               For example, you can have a rose flower, and you can go to a scientist, to a logician. You can ask
           him, "I want to understand this rose flower"; what will he do? He will dissect it, he will separate all
           the elements that are making it a flower. When you go next you will find the flower gone. Instead of
           the flower there will be a few labelled bottles. The elements have been separated, but one thing is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certain -- there will not be any bottle on which will be the label 'beauty'.
               Beauty is not matter and beauty does not belong to parts. Once you dissect a flower, once the
           wholeness of the flower is gone, beauty is also gone. Beauty belongs to the whole, it is the grace that
           comes to the whole. It is more than the sum. Then only parts are there. You can dissect a man; the
           moment you dissect, life disappears. Then you know only a dead body, a corpse. You can find out
           how much aluminium is there and how much iron and how much water (eighty percent or
           something); you can find the whole mechanism the lungs, the kidneys, everything -- but one thing is
           not there: life. One thing is not there that was the most valuable. One thing is not there that we
           wanted to understand really, and everything else is there.

                Now even scientists are becoming alert that when you take blood out of a man's bloodstream and
           you examine it, it is no longer the same blood. Inside the bloodstream of the man it was alive,
           throbbing with life. Now it is just a corpse. It cannot be the same because the gestalt has changed.
           You can take the color of the rose flower from it, but is it the same color? It looks the same but it
           cannot be the same. Where is that fragileness? Where is that aliveness, that throb of life? When it
           was in the rose flower it was in a totally different arrangement and life was present. It was full of
           presence; God was there beating in its heart. Taken out, the part is there but you cannot say the part
           is the same. It cannot be because the part exists in the whole.
                Intellect dissects, analyzes. It is the instrument of science. Intelligence is the instrument of
           religion; it joins together. Hence, the greatest science of spirituality we have called Yoga. Yoga
           means the methodology to join. Yoga means to put things together. God is the greatest totality, all
           things together. God is not a person, God is a presence, the presence when the total is functioning in
           a great harmony -- the trees and the birds and the earth and the stars and the moon and the sun and
           the rivers and the ocean -- all together. That togetherness is God. If you dissect, you will never find
           God. Dissect a man; you cannot find the presence that was making him alive. Dissect the world; you
           cannot find the presence that is God.
                Intelligence is the method to join things together. An intelligent person is very synthetical. He
           always looks for a higher whole, because the meaning is always in the higher whole. He always
           looks for something higher in which the lower is dissolved and functions as a part, functions as a
           note in the harmony of the whole, gives its own contribution to the orchestra of the whole but is not
           separate from it. Intelligence moves upwards, intellect moves downwards. Intellect goes to the cause.
           Please follow it; the point is delicate.
                Intellect goes to the cause; intelligence goes to the goal. Intelligence moves into the future,
           intellect moves in the past. Intellect reduces everything to the lowest denominator. If you ask what
           love is, intellect will say it is nothing but sex -- the lowest denominator. If you ask what prayer is,
           the intellect will say it is nothing but repressed sex.
                Ask intelligence what sex is, and intelligence will say it is nothing but the seed of prayer. It is the
           potential love. Intellect reduces to the lowest; it reduces everything to the lowest. Ask intellect what
           a lotus is, and it will say it is nothing, just an illusion; the reality is the mud -- because the lotus
           comes out of the mud and again falls back into the mud. The mud is the real, the lotus is just an
           illusion. Mud remains, the lotus comes and goes.
                Ask intelligence what mud is, and intelligence will say, "It is the potentiality of being a lotus."
           Then mud disappears and millions of lotuses flower.
                Intelligence goes to the higher and higher and the higher, and the whole effort is to reach to the
           ultimate, to the pinnacle of existence. Because things can be explained only through the higher, not
           through the lower. You don't explain through the lower, you explain away. And when the lower
           becomes too important, all beauty is lost, all truth, all good. Everything that has any significance is
           lost. Then you start crying, "Where is meaning in life?"
                In the West, science destroyed every value and reduced everything to matter. Now everybody is
           worried about what is the meaning of life, because meaning exists in the higher whole. See, you are
           alone; you feel, "What is the meaning of life?" Then you fall in love with a woman; a certain
           meaning arises. Now two have become one -- a little higher. A single man is a little. Lower than a
           couple. A couple is a little higher. Two things have joined together. Two opposite forces have
           mingled, the feminine and the male energies. Now it is more of a circle.
                That's why in India we have the concept of ARDHANARISHWAR. Shiva is painted as half
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           woman and half man. The concept of ARDHANARISHWAR says that man is half, and woman is
           half. When a man and woman meet in deep love, a higher reality arises: certainly greater, more
           complex, because two energies are meeting.
                Then a child is born; now there is a family -- more meaning. Now the father feels a meaning in
           his life: the child has to be brought up. He loves the child, he works hard, but work is now no longer
           work. He is working for his child, for his beloved, for his home. He works, but the hardness of the
           work has disappeared. He is not dragging it. Tired of the whole day, he comes home dancing. Seeing
           the smile on his child's face, he is tremendously happy. A family is a higher unit than the couple, and
           so on and so forth. And God is nothing but the communion of all, the greatest family of all.
                That's why I go on calling these orange people my family. I would like you to disappear in the
           whole. I would like you to be so absorbed in the whole that you remain individual, but you become
           part of a greater unity, bigger than you. Meaning arises IMMEDIATELY whenever you become part
           of a greater unity.
                When a poet writes a poem, meaning arises -- because the poet is not alone; he has created
           something. When a dancer dances, meaning arises. When a mother gives birth to a child, meaning
           arises. Left alone, cut from everything else, isolated like an island, you are meaningless. Joined
           together you are meaningful. The bigger the whole, the bigger is the meaning. That's why I say God
           is the biggest conceivable whole, and without God you cannot attain to the highest meaning. God is
           not a person; God is not sitting somewhere. Those ideas are just stupid. God is the total presence of
           existence, the being, the very ground of being.

               GOD exists wherever there is union; wherever there is Yoga, God comes into existence. You are
           walking alone; God is fast asleep. Then suddenly you see somebody and you smile; God is
           awakened, the other has come in. Your smile is not isolated, it is a bridge. You have thrown a bridge
           towards the other. The other has also smiled, there has been a response. Between you both arises that
           space I call God -- a little throb. When you come to the tree and you sit by the side of the tree,
           completely oblivious to the existence of the tree, God is fast asleep. Then suddenly you look at the
           tree, and an upsurge of feeling for the tree and God has arisen.
               Wherever there is love, God is; wherever there is response, God is. God is the space; it exists
           wherever union exists. That's why I say love is the purest possibility of God, because it is the subtlest
           union of energies.
               Hence the insistence of the Bauls that love is God. Forget God, love will do. But never forget
           love, because God alone won't do.
               Intelligence is discrimination, understanding. Truth is the key word, sat. The man who moves
           through intelligence moves towards SAT, truth.
               Higher than intelligence is the sixth type of religion. I call it the religion of meditation.
               Meditation is awareness, spontaneity, what the Bauls call SAHAJA MANUSH, the spontaneous
           man. Freedom -- it is non-traditional, it is radical, revolutionary, individual. The key word is CHIT,
           consciousness. Intelligence is still the highest form of intellect, intelligence is the purest form of
           intellect. The ladder is the same. Intellect is going downwards on the same ladder, intelligence is
           going upwards, but the ladder is the same. In meditation the ladder is thrown. Now, no more
           movement on the same ladder, neither upwards nor downwards. Now, no more movement, but a
           state of no-movement inside, a drowning into oneself, a sinking in.
               Intellect is other-oriented; intelligence is also other-oriented. Intellect cuts the other, intelligence
           joins the other, but both are other-oriented. So if you understand rightly, the first four types of
           religion I don't call religion. They are pseudo-religions. Real religion starts with the fifth type, and
           that is the lowest, but REAL. The sixth type of religion is that of meditation, consciousness, CHIT.
           One simply moves into oneself. All directions are dropped, all dimensions dropped. One simply tries
           to be oneself, one simply tries just to be. That is where Zen exists, in the sixth type of religion. The
           very word 'Zen' means DHYANA, meditation.
               Then comes the highest type of religion, the seventh: the religion of ecstasy, SAMADHI.
               Just as the fifth type has the key word SAT, truth, and the sixth type, the religion of meditation,
           has the key word CHIT, consciousness, the seventh. the highest, has ANAND, bliss, ecstasy. That is
           the key word: SAT-CHIT-ANANDA, truth, consciousness, ecstasy.
               The Bauls belong to the seventh type -- joy, celebration, song, dance, ecstasy -- ANAND. They
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           make meditation tremendously joyful -- because a person can be meditative and can become sad. A
           person can be meditative and can become very silent and may miss bliss. Because meditation can
           make you silent, absolutely still, but unless dance happens in it, something is missing. Peace is good,
           peace is very beautiful, but something is lacking in it; bliss is lacking. When peace starts dancing it
           is bliss. When peace becomes active, overflowing, it is bliss. When bliss is enclosed in a seed it is
           peace. And when the seed has sprouted, not only that, but the tree has bloomed and the flowers have
           come and the seed has become a bloom, then it is SAMADHI. That is the highest type of religion.
               Peace has to dance and silence has to sing. And unless your innermost realization becomes a
           laughter, something is still lacking. Something still has to be done.
               That's where the Bauls enter. Their religion is that of ecstasy. Now the song for today:

              THE MAN THAT BREATHES
              LIVES ON THE AIR,
              AND THE OTHER, UNSEEN,
              RESTS ABOVE REACH.
              BETWEEN THE TWO
              MOVES ANOTHER MAN
              AS A SECRET LINK.
              WORSHIP KNOWINGLY.


                The man that breathes, and the man that lives beyond... between these two there is a third man,
           the link: body, psyche, and soul. Or, you can use the Christian Trinity -- God, the Son, and the Holy
           Ghost.
                Body is THE MAN THAT BREATHES. By breathing, the body is alive. The breath goes into
           your body; it gives PRANA, vitality, to your body. Without breath the body would disappear,
           because without breath the body would be disconnected from the atmosphere. The atmosphere is
           continuously pouring its own being into your being. Exhaling, inhaling -- atmosphere is continuously
           keeping you alive, flowing, streaming. "The body," Bauls say, "is the first man."
                Then there is a beyond which needs no breathing, which is eternally there, which needs nothing.
           That is the God of the Bauls. They call the essential man ADHAR MANUSH. And between the two
           is the psyche, the mind, or call it heart. Bauls call it heart; the Holy Ghost. It exists as a link.
                The whole work has to be done in the psyche. On one pole of it exists the body, on the other
           pole, God. The whole work of discipline, of SADHANA, has to be done in the psyche. That is what
           meditation is all about.

              THE MAN THAT BREATHES
              LIVES ON THE AIR,
              AND THE OTHER, UNSEEN,
              RESTS ABOVE REACH.
              BETWEEN THE TWO
              MOVES ANOTHER MAN
              AS A SECRET LINK.
              WORSHIP KNOWINGLY.


               The Bauls say that just worship won't do, but WORSHIP KNOWINGLY. The body has to
           worship the psyche, and the psyche has to worship the unseen. This is what they mean by 'worship
           knowingly'. Let your body follow your psyche, your heart, let your body follow your feelings, and
           let your feelings follow the unknown, the unseen. Then you are a worshipper. Then worship is not an
           ordinary ritual that you do in the temple; then worship is something that you do in your own being.
           That is your real temple.

              IT IS A SPORT
              AMONGST THE THREE OF THEM.
              MY SEARCHING HEART,
              WHOM DO YOU SEEK?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               And the Bauls say it is a LEELA, a sport. These three are running, chasing each other: the body,
           the psyche, and the soul.

              MY SEARCHING HEART,
              WHOM DO YOU SEEK?


               This word LEELA, sport, has to be understood. It is uniquely Eastern. In the West never has a
           concept like that ever arisen. In the West the concept of God is that of a worker, not of a player. The
           concept of God is of a creator, and the creation seems to be very serious. But the concept of LEELA
           is of fun, play. In the East we have known that God is not serious, and religion need not be serious.
           God is the greatest player; He is in a great play.
               As a painter plays with the brush and the paint and the color on the canvas, out of play something
           arises. The painting can be done in two ways: you can be very serious about it -- but then you will be
           just a technician. You may do it perfectly well, but it will lack something: it will lack spirit. That is
           the difference between a technician and an artist. An artist has no plan. He simply sits before the
           canvas and starts playing. He is more childlike. Out of his play something arises. That is the best
           way to understand modern painting.
               Modern painting is more Eastern than Western. Picasso is more Eastern than Western, because
           he is playing. That's why it is very difficult to understand modern painting. Classical painting is very
           simple to understand. It reproduces life exactly, it is a replica. It is more like photography --
           mechanical. Modern painting is very difficult to understand. It is as difficult to understand as the
           flowers. Somebody asked Picasso -- seeing his painting he asked, "What does it mean?" Picasso said,
           "Nobody goes to the plants and asks, and nobody goes to the birds and asks,'What do you mean?'
           Why do you come to me, and me alone? Go to the plants and ask the flowers 'why?'"
           A great LEELA goes on.

               BOTANISTS have become aware of something very rare and meaningful. They have become
           aware that insects play with flowers and imitate flowers; they deceive flowers. Butterflies imitate
           flowers and deceive flowers. And on the other hand, flowers imitate insects and butterflies, and the
           play goes on. Lizards imitate rocks, and rocks imitate lizards. The great play continues,
           hide-and-seek.
               LEELA is a beautiful concept. It relaxes you tremendously, absolutely. If God is in LEELA, then
           don't be serious and don't keep long faces; there is no need. Become more playful. Life is a sport.
           Look at life with the eyes of play, non-seriously. The difference is tremendous.
               You go on a street to your office; then you have a totally different mind -- tense, ambitious,
           worried, stressed. On the same route you go for a morning walk -- the road is the same, the trees are
           the same, the birds are the same, the sky is the same, you are the same, the people passing are the
           same. But when you go for a morning walk you have no stress, no tension, because you are not going
           anywhere in particular. It is just a morning walk -- you are enjoying it, you are playful.
               Prayer is a play. So if you go to the temple and you become very serious, you will miss the
           temple. Go to the temple to laugh, go to the temple to enjoy, go to the temple to celebrate.
           The Bauls sing,


                  I have no knowledge
                  of my own self.
                  If for once
                  I could know what I am,
                  the unknown would be known.
                  God is nearby
                  and yet far away --
                  like the mountain hiding
                  behind my streaming hair.
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  I travel distant towns
                  of Dakar and Delhi
                  constantly searching,
                  but circling round my own knees.



                  God is alive
                  in my living form.
                  Only purity of heart
                  will lead me to Him.
                  The more I study
                  the wisdom of the Vedas,
                  the more I am bewildered.
                  I am blind
                  in spite of my eyes.
                  Only purity of heart
                  will lead me to Him.



                  God is alive
                  in my own living form.
                  Never in my life
                  did I once face the man
                  who lives in my own little room.
                  My eyes blinded
                  by the weight of storms
                  can see nothing, even when He stirs.
                  My hands fail
                  to reach His hands
                  as He is forever engaged
                  with the world.
                  I keep silent when they call Him
                  the word of life,
                  and the water
                  and the fire
                  and the earth
                  and the air,
                  while no one is sure.



                  Could I ever wish to know
                  anyone else?
                  I do not yet know
                  my own little room....


               THE Bauls say if you can know your own little room, you will know all -- because He is there.
           He is in the body as the breathing man. He is in the psyche as your intelligence, awareness,
           meditation. And He is beyond you. Move slowly: let the body follow feeling, let the feeling follow
           the unknown. Don't move through knowledge, move through feeling, and then you will be in tune
           with God.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                  He does not dwell
                  in the complex of stars,
                  nor in limitless space.
                  He is not found
                  in the ethical scriptures
                  or in the texts of the Vedas.
                  He lives beyond
                  the existence of all.
                  The man is here,
                  in his form without form
                  to adorn the hamlet of my limbs
                  and the sky above
                  in the glow of his feelings,
                  the platform of spontaneous matter.


              Even matter, the body, is spontaneous. That is his platform. The man is here!


                  If you fail to recognize
                  your own heart,
                  can you ever come to know
                  the great unknown?
                  The farthest away
                  will be nearest to you
                  and the unknown within your knowing.
                  Fill up your home
                  with the world abroad,
                  and you will attain
                  the unattainable man.


               Open your heart to the skies, to the unknown, to the unfamiliar. Don't move with knowledge,
           because knowledge means that which you have already known. That's why the Vedas won't help.
           Veda means knowledge; the very word 'veda' means knowledge. It comes from a root VED, which
           means 'to know'. Hence, the Bauls' continuous criticism of the Vedas. Knowledge is not going to
           help.
               Move into the unknown, wait for the unknown to knock at your door. You simply wait -- alert,
           expectant, ready to receive, with a feeling heart, and being playful.

              BETWEEN THE DOORS
              OF BIRTH AND DEATH,
              STANDS YET ANOTHER DOOR,
              WHOLLY INEXPLICABLE.
              HE WHO IS ABLE
              TO BE BORN
              AT THE DOOR OF DEATH,
              IS DEVOTED ETERNALLY....



              DIE BEFORE DYING,
              DIE LIVING.


              A very significant secret: between the doors of birth and death, stands yet another door... that
           door is what we call love. Have you watched? Between birth and death there is nothing else to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happen but love. If you miss love between birth and death, you have missed the whole opportunity of
           life. You may gather knowledge and you may gather valuable stones, and you may gather money and
           prestige and power, but if you have missed love, then you have missed the real door.
                The first door, the door of birth, is simply an opportunity to move through the second door, the
           door of love. Between birth and death is love. In fact, life exists only to give an opportunity to love
           and be loved. If that is missed, all is missed. If that is not missed, then even if you have missed all,
           nothing is missed. And this door of love is REAL death. The other death that will come in the end is
           not real, because you will survive it. You will be reborn again. As death follows birth, so birth
           follows death. They are two aspects of the same coin. But if you move into the door of love, then
           you die, and you die so totally that then there is no birth for you, and of course, no death. Love is the
           real death because the ego disappears completely.
                In ordinary death the body disappears, ego remains, and that carries you into new lives. That is
           the whole thread of rebirth. Once that thread is broken and the root is cut, you disappear from the
           world of matter, from the world of the visible into the world of the invisible, the beyond, the other
           shore.

              BETWEEN THE DOORS
              OF BIRTH AND DEATH,
              STANDS YET ANOTHER DOOR,
              WHOLLY INEXPLICABLE.
              HE WHO IS ABLE
              TO BE BORN
              AT THE DOOR OF DEATH,
              IS DEVOTED ETERNALLY....


              That is what Bauls call the real door of death.

              DIE BEFORE DYING,
              DIE LIVING.


               If you can die before dying, that is, if you can pass through the door of love, if you can die living,
           then there is no death for you. Then you have become deathless, then you are immortal, then you are
           a God. Then you are no more part of the material world where bodies are formed and where bodies
           are de-formed. Then you are no more into the world of forms, of creation, destruction; you are
           beyond. That beyond is already in you.
               The man is here. It is right now, in this moment, here. But you will have to pass through the
           alchemy of love, otherwise you will never know it.
           The Bauls sing,


                  Reaching for reality
                  is lame talk
                  to describe the goal
                  of the lover-worshipper.
                  He will attain
                  the great unattainable.
                  Stare at the face
                  of the invisible one
                  bearing the nectar of love.



                  How can I capture the man
                  who is not to be caught?
                  He lives on the other bank
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  of the river,
                  and the skin of my eyes
                  screens my sight.


               The body screens your sight. If you become too identified with the body, it becomes a barrier,
           Reverse the process: let the body follow the heart, not the heart the body. If the heart has to follow
           the body, body becomes a barrier. Then you cannot reach the other shore. If the body follows the
           heart, the body becomes the boat.


                  Where is the home
                  of the moon?
                  And what makes
                  the cycle of the days
                  wander, encircling
                  the moving nights?
                  The lunar eclipse
                  in the night of the full moon
                  is known to all.
                  But no one enquires
                  about the blackened moon
                  on the darkest night
                  of the month.



                  He who is able
                  to make the full moon rise
                  in the sky
                  of the darkest night,
                  has a right to claim
                  the glory of the three worlds --
                  the heaven, the earth and the other spheres.

                  "He who is able to make the full moon rise in the sky of the darkest night"...that is their
                  description of love.

               A LOVER is capable of creating life out of death; he can do the miracle. He can make the moon
           rise in the darkest night. That's why there is a fear about love. I have observed thousands of people
           trembling whenever they are on the threshold of love, afraid. Why does so much fear come out of
           love.
               Erich Fromm has written a beautiful book in which he says that love seems to be one of the most
           risky things, one of the most dangerous. And there is tremendous fear in humanity about love.
           People talk about love; they may be talking just to deceive themselves. Their talk may be just a
           substitute to give them a feeling that they are lovers. But people are afraid of love. It gives fear,
           because love is death. Your ego has to be dropped completely, utterly effaced. It is suicide. Fear is
           natural, but if you are courageous enough and you can pass through it, if you can carry the cross of
           love on your shoulders, resurrection is certain. The moment ego is dropped, you are born.


                  He who knows
                  the essence of love,
                  fears none.
                  Devoted only
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  to love's own form,
                  alive before his eyes,
                  his home is in
                  happiness itself.
                  Lulling lust
                  by lust alone
                  he raids the heart of the God
                  that churns all hearts,
                  finding himself
                  in perennial love.



                  Let your heart be a caring home
                  for the man of your heart.
                  Focus your vision
                  through the eye-black of loving.
                  He will be floating
                  on the mercurial mirror.



                  Hours wither like broken games
                  on the playground of the earth.
                  Abandon search
                  and join the carnival of love.
                  Abandon search
                  and join the carnival of love....


               The Bauls say just intellectual search, seeking, is not going to help. "Join the carnival of love":
           that is what prayer is, that-is what worship is.
               Be ecstatic, joyful, celebrating, singing, dancing. Let God be allowed to be playful through you.
           Let playfulness be your only prayer. Let joy be your only worship.




                                               The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #6
                                     Chapter title: Now Is Not Part Of Time
           6 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607060
              ShortTitle: BELOV206
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 85 mins




              The first question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               HOW SHOULD I PRAY? I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY EXPRESS THIS LOVE THAT I FEEL
               INTO PRAYER.


                PRAYER is not a technique, it is not a ritual, it is not a formality. There is no pattern to it. It is a
           spontaneous outpouring of the heart, so don't ask how, because there is no how and there cannot be
           any how to it. Whatsoever happens in the moment is right. If tears come, good. If you sing, good. If
           you dance, good. If nothing comes and you simply remain silent, good. Because prayer is not in the
           expression; it is not in the container, it is in the content. Sometimes silence is prayerful, sometimes
           singing is prayerful. It depends on you, it depends on the heart. So if I say sing, and you sing because
           I have told you to sing, then the prayer is false from the very beginning. Listen to your heart, feel
           your moment, and let it be. And whatsoever happens is good.
                Sometimes nothing will happen, but that is what is happening. You allow it, you don't impose
           your will on it. When you ask how, you are trying to impose your will, you are trying to plan. That's
           how prayer has been missed. That's how all the churches and religions have become rituals. They
           have a set prayer, a set form: the authorized version, the approved. But how can anybody approve
           prayer? How can anybody give you an authorized version?
                Prayer has to arise in you, it has to flower in you. And each moment has its own prayer, and each
           mood has its own prayer. Nobody knows what is going to happen to your innermost world tomorrow
           morning. How can it be fixed? A fixed prayer is a false prayer: this much can certainly be said. A
           ritualized prayer is no longer prayer: this can be said in absolute terms. An unritualized, spontaneous
           gesture -- that's what prayer is.
                Sometimes you may feel very sad, because sadness also belongs to God. Sadness is also divine.
           There is no necessity to always be happy. Then sadness is your prayer. Then let your heart cry and
           let your eyes pour down tears. Then let sadness be offered to God. Whatsoever is there in your heart,
           let it be offered to the Divine Feet -- joy or sadness, sometimes even anger.
                Sometimes one is angry with God. If you cannot be angry with God, you have not yet known
           love. Sometimes one is really in a deep rage. Then let anger be your prayer. Fight with God -- He is
           yours, you are His, and love knows no formality. Love can survive all fights. If it cannot survive a
           fight, then it is not love. So sometimes you don't feel like praying; then let that be your prayer. You
           say to God, "Wait! I'm not in the mood, and the way you are doing things, it is not even worth
           praying." But let it be a spontaneous pouring of your heart.
                Never be inauthentic with God because that is the way of not being with Him. If you are
           insincere with God -- deep down you are complaining, and on the surface praying? -- then God will
           see the complaint, not the prayer. You have been false. He can look directly into your heart. Whom
           are you trying to deceive? The smile on your face is not going to deceive God; your truth will be
           known to Him. He can only know your truth; lies don't exist for Him. So let the truth be there. You
           simply present your truth to Him and say that today you are angry, you are angry with His world,
           you are angry with Him, you are angry with your life: "I hate it! And I cannot pray, so you will have
           to remain without my prayer today. I suffer much; now you suffer."
                Talk to Him as one talks to one's lover, one's friend, one's mother. Talk to Him as one talks to a
           small child.
                I was staying with a family, and the mother ordered the small child to pray. He was very
           interested, and he was not ready to go to sleep, and he wanted to be with me a little longer. But the
           family was very disciplinarian, so they said, "Now it is nine o'clock. You go and sleep, and don't
           forget your prayer." He was angry; I could see it. He went into his room. I followed just to listen to
           what he was going to pray. In the darkness I heard him say, "God, make bad people good and good
           people nice." He knows his mother is good, his father is good, but not nice.

               I have heard about another child. He was staying in a guest house with the family. The first night
           he prayed. He always used to sleep with a small light on, but there was no light and the electricity
           had gone. Suddenly, as he prayed the electricity disappeared. He was just getting into his bed, and he
           told his mother, "Let me get up again and let me pray again more carefully, because the night is
           going to be dark." First he had just prayed by the way, but now the night was going to be dark and
           there was no light and he was more afraid. He said, "Let me pray again. Let me get out, and let me
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pray more carefully, because now there is more danger."
           Listen to children's prayer and become a child.
               All the religions say that God is Father. In fact, the emphasis should be that man is the child.
           That is the real meaning when we call God 'the Father'. But we have forgotten; God is the Father but
           we are not His children. Forget whether He is Father or not. You just be a child -- spontaneous, true,
           authentic. Don't ask me and don't ask anybody how to pray. Let the moment decide, let the moment
           be decisive, and the truth of the moment should be your prayer.
               That's my answer: the truth of the moment, whatsoever it is, unconditionally, should be your
           prayer. And once you allow the truth of the moment to possess you, you will start growing, and you
           will know tremendous beauties of prayer. You have entered on the path. But if you simply go on
           repeating a certain prayer, a technique, then you will miss. You will never enter on the path, you will
           just remain outside.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO, TO STEAL YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT I AM INCESSANTLY PRAYING. PLEASE
              OSHO, AT LEAST BLESS ME, SO THAT MY PRAYER MAY BECOME MORE INTENSE AND
              ALIVE.


                THAT'S BEAUTIFUL.
           A disciple has to steal much from the Master, because there are a few things which cannot be given;
           only you can take, I cannot give. The nature of the thing is such that it cannot be given, but you can
           take. A disciple has much to steal from the Master. The question is very significant, and I bless you.
                But prayer alone won't do, because prayer belongs to one path, and enlightenment belongs to
           another path. Prayer is part of the path of the devotee, the BHAKTA, the Sufi. He says, "I don't want
           any enlightenment. I just want to be playing with you continuously my Lord -- a thousand and one
           games in a thousand and one worlds in a thousand and one lives. I don't want to get out of the game,
           I don't want to get out of this LEELA; it is beautiful. I want to remain a part of it. Make me worthy
           so I can remain always here and now, playing the game of hide-and-seek with you."
                Prayer is part of the path of the devotee, the lover. The lover loves the bondage of love; he's not
           in any way trying to get out of it. In fact, his only prayer is that he should be thought worthy so that
           God continues the game He is playing. The play is beautiful; he's not asking for freedom from it.
                The word 'enlightenment' belongs to the path of meditation. The meditator says, "Enough is
           enough. Long have I suffered; now let me be free." In fact, he cannot ask. He tries, but he cannot
           pray -- because to the man on the path of meditation, even prayer is a bondage. Mahavir never
           prayed, Buddha never prayed. Prayer was meaningless for Buddha; he made all efforts to get out of
           it. So if you want enlightenment then don't pray because prayer will create a bondage. It is a most
           refined love. The bondage is very golden, but it is a bondage. If you choose it that way, then it's
           okay. But then enlightenment is not the right word.
           I have heard....
                The indignant mother asked her young son, "Why didn't you tell me you wanted to go fishing?"
           "Because I wanted to go fishing," said the small boy.
                If you really want to go fishing, don't ask, go. Asking won't help. Then you are alone if you want
           to be enlightened. Then there is no God; then there is nobody who can help you. Because if you need
           anybody's help, that very help becomes a bondage. If I help you to become free, you will start
           depending on me. Then without me you will not be able to be free. No help is possible on the path of
           meditation, only indications. Buddha has said, "Buddhas only show the path. They cannot help in
           any substantial way. You have to go on your own, you have to be your own light."

           I have heard an anecdote:
           "I am going away for a few days, Nasrudin," said the master of the house. "And I am going to leave
           with you all my keys. They're to my closets as well as those to my chests and jewel boxes. I know
           they will be safe with you but of course, I expect you not to touch them."
               When the master returned, the Mulla said to him, "Master, I am going to leave you."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Why, Nasrudin?"
           "Because you don't trust me."
           "How can you say that when I left you with all my keys?"
           "That you did, master, but not one of them fits."
                If you really want to steal enlightenment from me, no key is going to fit -- not because I am
           giving you wrong keys, but because the door is open and there is no lock...and you are looking for
           the lock. Because you have a key you are looking for a lock, and the lock does not exist. So you can
           go on looking for the lock because of your key, and you will miss. The door is open; you just enter
           me and it is there. Nobody is barring the path.
                But prayer will not be helpful, meditation will be helpful. Meditation will give you the clarity to
           see.
                There is a very beautiful incident in the life of Houdini, the great magician. His whole life was a
           tremendous success; he was a miracle-monger. He did so many miracles that if he was a man to
           cheat humanity, he could have cheated very easily. But he was a very sincere man. He would say,
           "Whatsoever I am doing is nothing but skill; there is no miracle in it." No magician has ever done as
           much as Houdini has done. His power was almost impossible to believe. He was thrown in almost all
           the great prisons of the world, and within seconds he would be out. He was chained, locked, and
           within seconds -- the chains wouldn't work, locks wouldn't work -- something would happen, and he
           would be out. He would be out almost within seconds, not even a minute.
                But in Italy he failed -- only once in his life. He was thrown in the central prison of Rome, and
           thousands of people had gathered to see him come out. Minutes passed and there was no sign of him.
           It was almost half an hour, and people started getting restless because it had never happened: "What
           has happened? Has he gone mad, or died, or what happened? Or has the great magician failed?"
           After one hour he came out perspiring and laughing loudly. And the people asked, "What happened?
           One hour? We were thinking that you had either gone mad or you were dead! Even the authorities
           were thinking to go in and see. What happened?"
                He said, "They tricked me; they made me a fool. The door was not locked! All my skill is to open
           the lock, and I was trying to find out where the lock is, and there was no lock. The door was not
           locked at all, it was already open. Tired, exhausted, worried, puzzled, I fell, and when I fell and
           struck the door, the door opened. That's how I am out; not because of my skill."
           Exactly the same is the case with me.
                The question has been asked by Bodhidharma; he has many keys. Nothing will fit, and he is
           collecting more and more keys. He is very calculating, clever. Now that those keys are not fitting he
           is asking for my blessings. My blessings are there whether you ask or not, but keys are not going to
           fit. Throw the keys! The door is open. Nobody is barring the path. But if you seek enlightenment, the
           path is of meditation. If you seek eternal play, then there is no need to think in terms of
           enlightenment.
                These two terms are different, totally different. The ultimate result is the same. The BHAKTA,
           the devotee, finds his enlightenment in this beautiful play of God, and the meditator finds this game
           beautiful when he reaches his enlightenment. But they approach in different directions with different
           methodology, with different attitudes. One has to decide it very clearly, otherwise you can get
           confused. Love or meditation has to be chosen very clearly, and then stick to the path. Finally,
           everything that has happened on the other path will also happen to you, so don't be worried. But it
           will happen only on the peak. All the paths meet when they reach to the peak of the mountain, but all
           the paths move differently.

           The third question:


              HOW TO RECOGNIZE PAST LIFE EXPERIENCES FROM ILLUSION, MADNESS?


               THERE is no need: all that is past is already illusion. There is no difference between illusion and
           the past. All that is gone is no longer real. Now this is something to be understood very deeply.
               Yesterday is no more. Now what is the difference between a real yesterday and an imagined
           yesterday? There is no difference because both will exist only in your mind -- the real and the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           imagined. Both will be imaginations of a sort. What will be the difference between a real yesterday
           and an unreal yesterday? There is no difference because both are unreal. They both exist only in your
           mind and nowhere else. All past is illusory; all future is illusory because it is not yet; and between
           the two is the present. Hence in the East we call the whole existence illusory, MAYA -- because
           between two illusions how can reality exist? And today is also going to be yesterday; today is
           continuously passing into yesterday. The present is continuously becoming past. How can the real
           become illusory? The future is passing into past, and the present is just a gate, nothing else. Future is
           illusory, past is illusory; just on the gate things appear, for a single moment, to be real. What type of
           reality can this be? That too is illusory. Hindus say it is only appearance, not real.
               Real is that which subsists. Real is that which is always eternally there. Real is that which is
           beyond time. Unreal is that which is within time. The past is within time. It will be difficult to think
           of the present as unreal, but start from the past. It is easy to think of the past as unreal, because
           whether it happened or not, what difference does it make? It may not have happened at all. It may be
           just in your mind, it may be just your idea that it happened. It is very easy to think about the past as
           unreal, and about the future also. Between the two is the narrow bridge of the present. How can
           something real be between two unrealities? How can the middle be real when the two ends are
           unreal, and when this real also is continuously turning into unreality and illusion? No, all that is
           experienced is imagination; it is dream stuff. Only the experiencer is real, only the observer is real.
           The observed is dream; the observer, the witness, is real.
               That is one of the greatest discoveries of human consciousness in the whole of human history.
           There is nothing to compare with it. All other discoveries are just childish. This one discovery is the
           base of all religion: that you are -- you as a witness. Even for a dream to exist, a dreamer is needed.
           The dream may be a dream, but the dreamer cannot be a dream. Even to be deceived I would have to
           exist; even to fall into error, I will be needed. Without me the error cannot exist. This witness is the
           search of meditation.
               So don't be bothered about how to recognize past life experiences from illusion, madness. There
           is nothing to recognize. There is no need.
           I have heard....
               Mulla Nasrudin was telling his wife about a dream he had experienced the night before. "It was
           terrible," he said. "I was at a birthday party at Joe's house. His mother had baked a chocolate cake
           three feet high, and when she cut it everybody was given a piece that was so large that it hung over
           the sides of the plate. Then she dipped up some homemade ice cream. She had so much of it that she
           had to give each one of us our share in a soup bowl.
           "What was so terrible about that dream?" asked his wife.
           "Oh," said Nasrudin, "I woke up before I could get the first taste."
               We are continuously waking up from the past. Each moment is a wakening. But we are
           continuously falling asleep into the future, so each moment is again a moment of stumbling into
           darkness and sleep. So the real distinction that has to be made is between waking and sleeping. No
           other distinction is of any value.
               Try to be so wakeful that you don't fall asleep again. Remain so alert that the future is not
           allowed to deceive you again as you had allowed it before. What has become past is nothing, but
           once it is your future then you get deceived by it. Now it is past; now another future is arriving.
           Every moment future is arriving, and future can deceive you only if you are asleep. Then again it
           will become past. Now let me tell you one thing: if you remain alert and you don't allow the future to
           deceive you in the present, the past disappears. Then there is no memory left of it, no trace of it.
           Then one is just a clean slate, a sky without any clouds, a flame without smoke.
               That's what the state of enlightenment is -- so alert that only the witness is real and everything
           else is nothing but ripples on the surface of the water. Everything is passing, everything is a flux.
           Only one thing remains and remains and remains, and that is your consciousness, your awareness.
               But we are caught in the net of the past. That which passes somehow remains in the mind. It
           passes, it is no longer there, but somehow the mind clings to it.
           I have heard....
               A man in the upstairs apartment yelled to Mulla Nasrudin downstairs, "If you don't stop playing
           that clarinet I will go crazy!"
           "Too late now," said Nasrudin. "I stopped an hour ago."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                People are continuously worried about things which have almost gone and disappeared. The past
           makes you crazy. You go on brooding, you go on playing with the wounds, you go on hurting
           yourself again and again. You go on feeding your ego again and again. The past seems to be your
           treasure. It is nothing -- just bubbles, air bubbles. And the same is the future; and between the two is
           this moment of the present. BE ALERT, be awake. No other distinction is of any significance. Only
           one distinction is of significance, and that is of being alert or unalert.
                Now I can tell you this: if you are unalert, then whatsoever happens is imaginary. If you are alert,
           then whatsoever happens is real. Were you alert in the past? If you were alert, then it was real. Are
           you alert right now? If you are alert then whatsoever is happening before you IS real. Will you be
           alert tomorrow? Then whatsoever will happen will be real. So forget about reality and unreality; just
           try to become more and more alert.
                Reality and unreality are not qualities of the objective world, they are qualities of subjective
           consciousness. For Buddha everything is real. For you, fast asleep, snoring, everything is unreal. Just
           think of it in this way: you are sleeping in a room and somebody is sitting by your side alert and
           awake. The room is the same. Both are in the same room, in the same space. One is fast asleep, the
           other is sitting by the side. Are they in the same room? Can they be in the same room? Because one
           who is asleep is dreaming, dreaming of a thousand and one other rooms except this one. Have you
           ever dreamed about the same room in which you were sleeping? -- no, never. A dream is always
           somewhere else. That's the function of the dream: to take you somewhere else. The man who is
           asleep is dreaming. He is not aware of this room and the reality of THIS room. He has his own
           imaginary reality. The man who is awake and sitting by his side is in this room. His alertness gives
           him a totally different quality of reality.
                Buddha, walking, moving from one village to another village, and by his side is his disciple,
           Anand; both are in two different worlds. Anand is fast asleep, dreaming; Buddha is awake,
           non-dreaming. When you are not dreaming, you are encountering reality. When you are dreaming,
           you are encountering only your dream, unreality. What is the criterion for reality, alertness?
                Become more alert; the world becomes more real. Become even more alert; the world becomes
           even more real. When you are at the peak of your awareness, the world is so radiantly real that it is
           difficult to call it matter. One has to call it God; nothing else will do. It is so radiantly real, it is so
           eternally real that one has to say that time has ceased. Reality is neither past, nor present, nor future;
           it simply is. It is herenow. Now is not part of time. In fact, you should not use the word 'now'. Only
           enlightened people should be allowed to use it, because your now is just not there.
                What do you call 'now'? The moment you call it 'now' it is already past. Or, if you call it 'now'
           before it is past, then it is in the future. You are so asleep that by the time you come to recapture it, it
           is already gone. It is very slippery. Now is possible only when you are so alert that there is not a
           single dream in your mind, not a single thought, no ripples arising. Then you are totally present.
           When you are present then reality is present. It is your presence that reveals the presence of reality.
           Then you are in the now, and the now is eternal. Then it never comes and goes, it is simply there.
           Then nothing comes and nothing goes.
                One of Buddha's great disciples, Bodhidharma, used to say that, Buddha never existed; he was
           never born, he never walked on the earth, he never talked. One of his disciples told him that what he
           was saying seemed simply absurd. "Buddha was born in Kapilvastu to a certain king, to a certain
           woman. He renounced the world. These are historical facts, and you go on denying them? And you
           yourself are a follower of Buddha. If he never existed, if he was never born and he never walked on
           the earth, then whom do you follow?"
                Bodhidharma said, "I follow that one who was never born, never walked on the earth, never
           uttered a single word, never died. I follow that. He is the real Buddha. And all else which you call
           history is nothing but dreams seen by sleepy people."
                Now this has to be understood. I am talking to you; it is a fact. I am talking to you, you are
           listening to me, but still Bodhidharma is perfectly true: it is still a dream because you are not awake.
           If you are awake you will see that I have not uttered a single word. Then you will see a totally
           different reality where words are not uttered, where silence reigns, where wordless reality is
           encountered. If you are awake you will see me directly, and you will see total stillness, but that will
           depend on your silence, that will depend on your non-dreaming state, that will depend on your
           awakening. Then you will see that this man who is sitting in front of you is not the real man. Then
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something else, something totally different, diametrically different, will be revealed to you.
                That's the meaning when we call Buddha 'Bhagwan'. It is not a reality for everybody, but only for
           those who became alert; they recognize. That's what we mean when we call Jesus 'Son of God'. It
           was not revealed to all, because everybody knew that this man was nobody else but the son of Joseph
           the carpenter. And he was just claiming nonsense, that he is the Son of God. But those who loved
           him and those who were tremendously alert about his reality became aware that the son of Joseph the
           carpenter was just a reflection in the world of unreality, in the world of dreams.'Son of God' is the
           reality. But you can see that reality only to that extent to which you have become real. More than
           that you cannot do.
                Facts are not truths. Something may be a fact and may not be true, and something may be true
           and may not be a fact. This word 'fact' is derived from a Latin root which means 'to do', FACERE.
           This is beautiful. A fact is that about which you can do something. But our doing is nothing but
           dreaming. You can do many things in your dream also; they are facts. You become so obsessed with
           your dream that sometimes it has happened that you had a nightmare, and then you awake, but you
           still go on trembling, you still go on perspiring. The fear is still there, the heart beats faster. Now you
           know that it was a dream, now you know that it was just a nightmare, nothing to be worried about,
           but still you are trembling. The dream has affected you so much that it even penetrates your reality --
           your body, your mind.
                But we go on living in two sorts of sleep: one is in the night which we call sleep, and the other is
           in the day which we call waking. It is a waking sleep, just for name's sake. Our eyes are open, but
           unless thinking stops completely, your real eye remains closed.
           "How to recognize past life experiences from illusion?"
                There is no way and there is no need, and one should not waste time in foolish things. The gone
           is gone; the gone is already illusion. Only one thing remains and that is your witnessing. Catch hold
           of it, don't lose track of it. It will be difficult to catch hold of it; again and again you will lose track,
           but again and again remind yourself to catch hold of it. Many times you will miss the goal, many
           times you will have glimpses. But by and by, more and more possibility will open. And if you can
           remain alert even for a few minutes together, a new man will be born unto you. You will be totally
           different. The old will be gone, and then you will not be worried with past, or future, or present. You
           will simply live in a different dimension, the dimension of eternity -- where nothing passes, nothing
           is born, nothing dies, everything remains.

           The fourth question:


               I AM FULL OF ENERGY, FEELING PLAYFUL AND MORE AND MORE FRIENDLY, BUT I TALK
               TOO MUCH. WHAT TO DO?


                BE playful about that too. Don't make it a serious thing. Talk playfully, and if nobody is
           listening, take it playfully -- because there is no necessity that somebody should listen. Don't feel
           offended. If it comes easy for you to talk, talk. If the other is not in the mood to listen, that is his
           problem. But don't feel offended. Just remain alert to what is happening in you, that you want to talk.
           It will happen to many people.
                When meditation releases energy in you, it will find all sorts of ways to be expressed. It depends
           on what type of talent you have. If you are a painter and meditation releases energy, you will paint
           more, you will paint madly. You will forget everything, the whole world. Your whole energy will be
           poured into painting. If you are a dancer your meditation will make you a very deep dancer. It
           depends on the capacity, talent, individuality, personality. So nobody knows what will happen.
           Sometimes sudden changes will happen: a person who was very silent and was never talkative
           suddenly becomes talkative. He may have been repressed. He may not have been allowed ever to
           talk. When the energy arises and flows, he may start talking.
                But there is nothing to be worried about. Don't repress it. If you feel it is getting too heavy for
           others, then just sit in your room and talk alone. There is no need for somebody else to listen to you.
           In fact, who listens? You can talk to the wall and it will be more human, because you will not be
           creating any suffering for anybody. You will not torture, you will not bore anybody.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Somebody has sent me a beautiful anecdote.
                Pat Reilly was confessing his sins. "Sure, Father, I had sex seven times last night."
           The priest asked, "How many women?"
           "Ah, Father, there was only one woman," answered Pat.
                To which the priest said, "Well, it is not as bad as I thought. Who is the woman?"
           "My wife, Father."
           "Well," said the priest, "there is nothing wrong with that, son."
           "I know, Father, but I just had to tell someone," replied Pat.
                There are moments when you just have to tell someone. If you don't tell, it becomes heavy on
           you. If you tell, you are released and relaxed. If you can find a sympathetic listener, good; otherwise
           just talk to yourself. But don't repress it. Repressed, it will become a burden on you. Just sit in front
           of the wall and have a good talk. In the beginning you will feel it a little crazy, but the more you do
           it, the more you will see the beauty of it. It is less violent. It does not waste somebody else's time,
           and it works the same way, it does the same: you are relieved. And after a good talk with the wall
           you will feel very, very relaxed. In fact, everybody needs to do it. The world would be better and
           more silent if people started talking to the walls.
                Try it. It will be deep meditation -- knowing well that the wall is not listening. But that is not the
           point.
                I have heard about a great psychoanalyst who became very old but still continued to practice six,
           seven, eight hours per day, listening to the patients. He had a young disciple, an apprentice, who
           became tired after three or four hours -- listening to nonsense, neurotic obsessions, fixations, the
           same thing again and again. He asked his old master one day, "How do you manage? Because I see
           you as fresh in the evening as in the morning when you come to the clinic. You are as fresh as when
           you go -- seven, eight hours of nonsense. You never get tired. I get tired after two, three hours -- and
           I am a young man!"
           The old man laughed and said, "Who listens?"
                Freud arranged it very well. He did not even face the patient. He would tell the patient to lie on a
           couch, and there would be a curtain, and behind the curtain he would sit. And the patient lying on the
           couch looking at the ceiling, had to talk. It was really very meaningful. One: when a person is Lying
           down he is more relaxed. He talks of deeper things than when he is sitting. He goes deeper into his
           unconscious. Talk to a man standing, and he will be very superficial. Sit down, and he goes a little
           deeper. Let him lie down and then listen to him; he goes very deep.
                And then: he was not facing anybody. When you are facing somebody the very presence of the
           other functions as a repressive force. Then you start saying things which he would like. Then you
           start saying things in such a way that he is not offended. Then you manage somehow to say things
           which will be approved by him. Then there is much repression; then the truth never comes out.
           When the man is not facing you and you are just facing the ceiling, you have nothing to manage. The
           ceiling will never be offended, you can say anything you like. By and by, one goes deep into
           associations.
                There is no need for the Freudian couch, simply your bedroom will do. And there is no need for
           anybody to sit there, you can just talk and listen to yourself. Talking and listening to yourself will
           give you a depth, a great understanding about your own mind.
                So talk to the wall, and listen. Be both the talker and the listener. Don't analyze, don't judge, don't
           say 'this is good and that is bad','that should not be said and this should be said', no. And don't make
           any refinement, don't polish. Simply blurt out whatsoever comes to the mind -- ugly, absurd,
           irrelevant. Let the mind have full play and you simply watch. It will be a very great meditation.
                The new groom was pushing the praises of married life to his bachelor friend. "Yes, it is
           wonderful. Breakfast before I go to work is large and delicious. When I go off after that the little
           woman gives me a big hug and kiss at the door. I return home at night, supper is on the table. After
           that I sit in the living room reading the paper while the missus cleans away the dishes. Then she
           changes into something more comfortable and sits down beside me, and talks to me. And she talks,
           and talks, and talks, until I wish she would drop dead."
                Don't give such an opportunity to anybody that he starts thinking, "When are you going to drop
           dead?" It is your problem. Or, you can make a good arrangement if somebody has the same problem.
           This is Amida's problem. In this ashram there are so many mad people; you can find somebody else
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who has the same problem. Then you can make a good arrangement: one hour you talk, one hour you
           listen to him. No need to be connected with each other, no need to be relevant, and no need to follow
           any rules of conversation. It is not a conversation. One hour you blurt whatsoever comes to your
           mind, and of course, then you have to pay -- one hour you have to listen. And it will be valuable for
           both.
                But one thing should be remembered: don't repress it. Anything repressed becomes poisonous.
           And talking is just innocent; the wall will do. Go to the trees and they will feel very happy; nobody
           talks to them. They are always waiting. They will feel grateful. Or go to the river or to the rocks, but
           don't repress. By and by, things will clear up and talking will disappear. It is just the beginning. Then
           deeper layers of being will be touched. Talk is the most superficial layer of your life, just a very
           superficial layer. When energy is flowing deep, that layer starts trembling, ripples arise. Allow them.
           Soon, when the talk is exhausted and you have thrown out all the rubbish that you have been
           carrying for your whole life, silence will come. And that silence will be completely uncorrupted,
           virgin. You can force your talking, you can repress it and you can look silent, but your silence will
           not be real silence. Deep down the tremor will continue; deep down the volcano is getting ready to
           erupt any moment. You are sitting on top of it.
                People look silent but they are not silent. I would like you to become really silent, and the way is
           a deep catharsis.
                I know Amida is feeling great energy. Her energy sources are tapped, and she is getting
           connected with her very ground of being. So in all ways she will feel too powerful. Talk also is one
           of the most basic ingredients of a human being. A human being is a human being because he can
           talk. No other animal has that capacity. And then Amida is a woman, not even a man.
           I have heard....
                A woman was saying to her husband that the new priest was a great talker. And she said, "I have
           never known a man to talk so fast. It is almost impossible to understand what he is saying. His words
           overlap."
                The husband said, "I know the reason for it. His father was a politician and his mother was a
           woman."
                Now, the perfect combination. So Amida is a woman; talking is easy. There are many reasons for
           it.
                Have you watched? -- small girls start talking before boys. Boys lag behind. In colleges, schools,
           universities also, as far as language is concerned, girls are always better than boys. They always get
           higher marks, they are more articulate.
                Something seems to be different between the feminine mind and the male mind: the male mind is
           a better doer, the female mind is a better talker. Maybe because much energy is taken by doing as far
           as man is concerned; no energy is taken by doing as far as woman is concerned, so the whole energy
           pours into one direction.
                But there is nothing wrong about it. A good talker has something valuable: he can communicate
           better. To be articulate is beautiful because communication is more possible. And a good talk is an
           aesthetic value in itself. But first, let the flood be thrown out. Then things will sort themselves out,
           then things will settle.
                After this flood is gone, Amida will find very small sentences coming into her consciousness, but
           diamond-like, each sentence a value in itself. But first this flood has to go. If the flood is repressed,
           then those diamonds will be lost forever. That's why all the great scriptures of the world are written
           in sutras, aphorisms: because the people who wrote them went through this flood of catharsis. When
           the catharsis was complete, then diamond-like, small sentences -- simple, aesthetic, beautiful,
           complete -- started bubbling in the consciousness. It is from that consciousness that the Vedas were
           born, and the Koran. And it is from that consciousness that the beauty of the language of the Bible
           arises. Never again has it been surpassed.
                Jesus was illiterate, but nobody has ever surpassed that clarity, that penetrating reality of his
           assertions. Behind it is great meditation. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or the Brahma Sutras of
           Badraina or the Bhakti Sutras of Narad -- small sentences, the smallest you can conceive, almost
           telegraphic -- but so much is pressed into them that each sentence has atomic energy. If it explodes,
           if you lovingly take it into yourself, to your heart. It will explode and you will become luminous
           through it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              But first the flood has to go. It is a good symbol that the flood has come. Allow it. If you can find
           some sympathetic ears, good. Otherwise, trees, rocks, but don't repress it.

           The fifth question:


              I AM CONFRONTED BY DEATH. I ACCEPT, OR SO I THINK, AND THEN MANY PEOPLE GET
              SICK AND DEATH HAPPENS AND HOSPITALIZATION AND I GET THIS ENORMOUS KNOT OF
              FEAR IN MY STOMACH. I AM SO SCARED OF DEATH AND DYING. I GET SO FREAKED OUT.


                DEATH is a problem. You can avoid it, you can postpone it, but you cannot completely dissolve
           it. You have to face it. It can be dissolved only by going through it to the very end, all the way. It is
           very risky and it will give you great fear. Your whole being will start shaking and trembling; the
           very idea of dying is unacceptable. It looks so unjust and it looks so meaningless. If a person is to die
           then what is the meaning of life? Then why am I living, for what? If only death is finally to happen,
           then why not commit suicide now? Why get up every day, work hard, go to bed, get up again, work
           hard, go to bed -- for what? Just to die in the end?
                Death is the only metaphysical problem. It is because of death that man starts thinking. It is
           because of death that man became a contemplative, a meditator. In fact, it is because of death that
           religion was born. The whole credit goes to death. Death stirred everybody's consciousness. The
           problem is such; it has to be solved. So nothing is wrong with it.
           The question is from Vidya.
           "I am confronted by death"...everybody is confronted by death. Martin Heidigger has said, "Man is a
           being towards death." And that is the priority of man. Animals die but they don't know that they die
           or that they are going to die. Trees die, but there is no confrontation with death. It is the priority of
           man that only man knows that he is going to die. Hence, man can grow beyond death. Hence, there is
           a possibility to penetrate into death and overcome it.
           "I accept or so I think"...no, acceptance is not possible. You can deceive: you can think that you
           accept because it is so troublesome even to look at it. Even to think about it is so troublesome that
           one thinks, "yes, okay, I'm going to die -- so what? I'm going to die, but don't raise the question.
           Don't talk about it." One keeps it away, goes on putting it by the side so it does not come in the way,
           keeps it in the unconscious.
                Acceptance is not possible. You will have to face death, and when you have faced it you need not
           accept, because then you know there is no death.

           "And then many people get sick and death happens and hospitalization and I get this enormous knot
           of fear in my stomach"...that is where the problem has to be solved. That enormous knot in the
           stomach is exactly the place where death happens. The Japanese call it HARA. Just below the navel,
           two inches below the navel is a point where body and soul are connected. It is there where
           disconnection happens when you die. Nothing dies, because body cannot die, body is already dead.
           And you cannot die because you are life itself. Just the connection between you and the body
           disappears.
                That knot is exactly the place where the work has to be done, so don't try to avoid that knot. I
           would like to say to Vidya that whenever you feel that knot, it is such a valuable moment. Close your
           eyes, go deep into the knot. That is hara. Feel it, allow it; it has some message for you, it wants to
           say something to you. If you allow it, it will give you the message. If you relax into it, if you go into
           it, by and by, you will see the knot has disappeared and there is, instead of a knot, a lotus flower,
           something flowering there. It is a very beautiful experience. And if you go still deeper you will see
           that it is a bridge, that flower is a bridge. On this side is the body, on the other side is your reality,
           your soul. And that flower is connecting both; the flower is the bridge.
                The flower's roots are in the body, and the flower's fragrance and the petals are in the soul. It is a
           link. But if you are afraid and you don't go there, it feels like a knot, a tension, a stress.
           "I am so scared of death and dying. I get so freaked out"...There is no need to freak out; freak in. It's
           perfectly natural that when somebody dies, somebody is hospitalized again and again, again and
           again, you remember your death. Nothing is wrong in it.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have heard....
                A beatnik visited a psychiatrist and pleaded, "You have got to help me."
           "What is your problem?" asked the head-shrinker.
           "Lately," said the beat, "I have had the most compelling desire to shower and shave."
                Now if you don't shower and you don't shave, one day or other there is going to be a very
           compelling desire to shower and shave. It is not a problem; just go and take a shower.
                You are avoiding death. It has to be faced, it is part of life's work. It is one of the greatest lessons
           one has to learn. There is no need to be freaking out; that is not going to help. Go in, face it.
           Remember that yes, one day or other you will be hospitalized, one day or other you will be ill, and
           one day or other, you are going to die. So there is no point in postponing it. It is better to understand
           it before it is too late.
                Mulla Nasrudin got sick and worriedly sent a hurried call for the priest, and insisted that he call
           on him every day to groom his neglected soul for the hereafter. One day when the priest made his
           daily call, he found Mulla Nasrudin in high spirits.
           "I am getting along fine, sir," chortled Nasrudin. "My doctor says I will live for ten years yet, so you
           don't need to come back for a while. But how about dropping in again in about nine years, eleven
           months and twenty-nine days?"
                One day it has to be faced. Don't be foolish; don't postpone it. Because if you postpone it to the
           very end, it will be too late. It is not certain when the last day will happen. It can happen today, it can
           happen tomorrow, it can happen any moment. Death is very unpredictable.
                We live in death, so any moment it can happen. Face it, encounter it, and that knot in the stomach
           is the right place to encounter it. That is the very door from where you enter into life and from where
           you go out of life.

           The last question:


               BELOVED OSHO, BEING IN LOVE WITH YOU IS SCARY, AND I SURRENDER.


              IT is from Prem Purnima. My answer is: being in love with you, Purnima, is even more scary,
           and I accept.




                                                 The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #7
                                       Chapter title: They Kill Lust With Lust
           7 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607070
              ShortTitle: BELOV207
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins




               THOSE WHO ARE DEAD
               AND YET FULLY ALIVE
               AND KNOW THE FLAVORS
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND FEELINGS
              IN LOVING;
              THEY WILL CROSS THE RIVER.
              GAZING AT
              THE STREAM OF LIFE AND DEATH,
              THEY SEEK INTEGRITY.
              THEY HAVE NO WISH
              FOR HAPPINESS AT ALL,
              WALKING AGAINST THE WIND.



              THEY KILL LUST
              WITH LUST
              AND ENTER THE CITY OF LOVE
              UNATTACHED...


               MAN IS ENERGY, A DYNAMISM, A PROCESS, A VERY CREATIVE PROCESS with a
           thousand and one potentialities, with infinite alternatives open. Man is an opening, an evolution, and
           with all the possibilities that the existence has. Man is a miniature existence; a drop, of course, but a
           drop has all that the ocean has; a drop, of course, but a conscious drop. And the consciousness is
           oceanic; it knows no boundaries. But the man I am talking about is the essential man of the Bauls,
           ADHAR MANUSH. You can be that, but you are not that. You are the seed. You can open and
           blossom and release your fragrance to the winds, but you are not yet that. It has to be remembered.
               Gurdjieff used to say that man is not born with a soul; he has to create it through effort. A man is
           born only with an opportunity. It can be used, it can be wasted, so all depends on you. One has to
           become a creator of oneself. The parents have given you a body and a possibility, but the real birth
           has yet to happen. And for that real birth you will have to become your own mother, your own
           father. That real birth is an inner creativity. You have to move withinwards to find your own source
           of energy, and not only that, but to change the mechanical channels of that energy,, to make
           conscious channels for it.
               Ordinarily, energy flows downwards. That's what Bauls call lust. When they call it lust they are
           not denouncing it, condemning it. It is just a fact, just as water flows downwards. It is natural for
           water to flow downwards, down the hill. But water can rise upwards; just a little heat is needed. The
           water has to be heated; it can evaporate. At a certain degree of heat, a hundred degrees, it starts
           rising towards the heavens. The same water that was always going downhill starts going uphill. A
           conversion has happened; just heat was needed. In the East this heat is known as TAP. The word
           TAP means heat; the word TAP means 'heating yourself'.
           The Bauls sing,


                  While desire burns in the limbs
                  still there is time.
                  Boil the juice
                  on the fire of longing
                  to condense the fruit.
                  The sweetness of syrup
                  will ferment and sour
                  unless it is stirred
                  on controlled heat.
                  Feelings evolve from desire,
                  and love shoots forth from lust.


               Lust is the same energy as love; the difference is only of direction. Lust moves downwards, love
           has started the uphill task. Lust is like roots of a tree, love is like wings of a bird -- but the energy is
           the same. All energy is the same.
               Energy as such is neutral. Unless you become conscious about it you cannot be creative. And the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           downhill movement is very destructive: you are simply dissipating yourself. You are not getting any
           integration through it -- what Gurdjieff used to call crystallization.
                Every moment you are poured with energy. Existence goes on pouring energy into you, through
           air, through water, through food, through the sunlight, through the moonlight, and a thousand and
           one other subtle influences. The universe goes on pouring its energy into you. What are you doing
           with that energy? Are you doing anything or simply wasting it? Are you creating something out of
           it? Are you getting a certain integrity, crystallization out of it? Or does it just come through one end
           and is lost through the other end?
                There are many people who are just like a pipe: you pour one thing through one end, through the
           other end it goes out. Don't be a pipe. When the energy is in you, do something with it so that
           something of it becomes a permanent part of you. Otherwise the whole life will be just a pipe: eating,
           defecating, drinking, urinating -- just a pipe. Subtle juices are created by your energy. That's what
           sex is; a very subtle juice. Now what are you doing with it? Are you doing anything with it, or just
           wasting it?
                Lust is the lowest form of sex energy; love, the highest form. Unless your lust becomes love you
           will be missing your goal.

               GURDJIEFF used to say that there is a certain mechanism in man; he called it
           'KUNDABUFFER', just parallel to KUNDALINI: Kundalini is a center, but it functions only when
           the energy rises upwards. Kundabuffer is that center which functions in you when the energy goes
           downwards. Kundabuffer has to be destroyed, melted, destructured. It is a mechanism out of the
           continuous practice of many lives. A certain mechanism has arisen in everybody, a channel. The
           moment energy is ready it simply moves through that channel. That channel is already there to take
           it out of your being. If this is the truth and nothing else is possible, then Jean-Paul Sartre is right: that
           man is a useless passion. Then for a few days you are alive on the earth, doing nothing -- eating
           things, throwing things, absorbing things, throwing things. Then what is the point of it all?
               But this is not all. The kundabuffer can be melted; that channel can be broken. And once that
           channel is broken another channel starts functioning. It is already there waiting for you. Not that it
           does not exist; it exists. It has come with you but you have not used it yet. You have not allowed
           energy to flow into it. Of course, it is an uphill task, it is arduous. Going downward is very easy;
           going uphill, strength, awareness, a certain will, courage, trust...many things will be needed.
           The Bauls sing,


                   The act of loving
                   is not an ideal dream.
                   Loving grows
                   from the grilling of lust --
                   like feeling death,
                   being wholly alive.
                   The clay-beetle buried
                   in the earth lives on clay,
                   nestling in it.
                   Lovers who know
                   how love can overcome lust
                   though an uphill walk,
                   even for a man of strength...


                THE very courageous, the really strong people, the really adventurous, become attracted towards
           paths of self-realization or paths of self-transformation. Religion is the greatest adventure there is.
           Going to Everest is nothing, going to the moon also is nothing; going to the highest peak of your
           being is the real task. Because in the first place, we are not even aware that the peak exists. In the
           first place, we are so unconscious that we don't know what we are doing. We don't know what we are
           doing with our lives.
           I have heard....
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The manager of a small power plant was electrocuted while on the fob. The assistant manager
           informed the police chief, the coroner, and the workmen in the plant. They gathered, horror-stricken,
           about the body of the dead manager stretched out on the floor, and began to speculate how an
           experienced man could commit so fatal an error.
           "The only thing I can think of," said the assistant manager, "is that poor Joe must have picked up this
           terminal in one hand.... "
               The assistant manager picked up the terminal and then without thinking reached out with his
           other hand and came into contact with... Bang!
               The assistant manager was stretched out next to the manager, but the mystery was resolved to
           everyone's satisfaction.

               Man is unconscious. You go on doing things, not knowing why. You go on doing things you
           could not do if you were even a little conscious.
               What we are doing with our life is just sleeping through it. Consciousness has to be evolved. The
           more consciousness you have, the more energy starts flowing upwards on its own accord.
           Consciousness is the clue, the key, the master key. Lust becomes love through consciousness, so
           love cannot be an unconscious thing.
               When Bauls say that love is the door, they don't mean the love that you call love. Your love is as
           unconscious as anything else. It is unconscious, that's why we use the expression 'falling in love'.
           Yes, it is a 'falling in'. The love Bauls are talking about is a rising in love, not falling in love. It is not
           a fall, it is a rise. So don't misunderstand that your love is what Bauls are talking about. Your love is
           just a name for lust -- a good name, a beautiful, nice name. And beware of nice words because they
           can be very deceptive. If you label lust as love, you will be deceived by your own labelling.

                LUST is when you are unconscious. You see a woman or a man and you fall in love, and you
           don't know why; sometimes even against yourself, in spite of yourself.
                People come and say to me, "What can we do? We are helpless; love has happened." This love is
           not the love of the Baul; this is lust. What a Baul calls lust is this: unconscious love is lust. Then it
           flows downwards. Then it moves through the sex center into the world again. Upwards lust is love,
           but then it is conscious. Consciousness is the staircase: step by step you become more and more
           conscious. Whatsoever you do, you do it with full consciousness -- even walking, eating, going to
           bed, talking, listening -- small things of life, but you do them with consciousness. And when you are
           in love, you are in love with full consciousness. It is not against yourself. It is not that you are
           possessed, it is not that you are a victim, it is not that you are being pulled by somebody like a
           magnet. No, you are moving on your own.
                The Bauls' love is very cool. It has the coolness of awareness. Your love is very hot; it has the
           fever of unconsciousness.
                We are functioning through kundabuffer. This mechanism exists just at the center of sex. People
           who are living through kundabuffer can live two sorts of lives: one, of indulgence, and the other, of
           repression -- but both are the same. Ordinarily the people who live a life of repression are thought to
           be saints. That's simply foolish. They are the same people in a different garb. People who live a life
           of indulgence are as unconscious as the people who live a life of repression. In fact, the more strong
           the kundabuffer is, the more people become repressive, because they want to control it. They are
           afraid. They are afraid because they are losing the ego control over their sex desire. They try to
           control it, but their control is like forcing the sex desire deep into the unconscious. They sit on top of
           it; they have to continuously fight with it.
                And remember: if you have to fight with something you can never leave it and you can never go
           beyond it. To fight with it you have to remain on the same level. To fight with it you have to remain
           sitting on top of it for twenty-four hours. There is no holiday. You leave it even for a single moment
           and it is again there, forcing you towards indulgence.
                Indulgence and-repression are the two faces of the same type of person. In your monasteries you
           will find the repressive type, in the world you will find the indulgent type. The playboy and the
           so-called saint may look opposite to each other, but they are complementary. Their obsession is the
           same, their fixation is the same, their neurosis is the same. Kundabuffer has to be melted down.
           What to do?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               ONE small technique will be of tremendous help. Whenever you feel sex desire arising, there are
           three possibilities: one, indulge in it -- ordinary, everybody is doing that; second: repress it, force it
           down so it goes beyond your consciousness into the darkness of the unconscious, throw it into the
           basement of your life. That's what your so-called extraordinary people are doing -- MAHATMAS,
           saints, monks. But both are against nature. Both are against the inner science of transformation.
               The third -- a very rare minority ever tries it -- is when the sex desire arises, close your eyes. It is
           a very valuable moment: desire arising is energy arising. It is like the sun rising in the morning.
           Close your eyes; this is the moment to be meditative. Move downwards to the sex center where you
           are feeling the thrill the vibration, the kick. Move there and just be a silent onlooker. Witness it, don't
           condemn it. The moment you condemn you have gone far away from it. And don't enjoy it, because
           the moment you enjoy you are unconscious. Just be alert, watchful, like a lamp burning in a dark
           night. You just take your consciousness there, unflickering, unwavering. You see what is happening
           at the sex center. What is this energy?
               Don't call it names because all words have become contaminated. Even if you say it is sex,
           immediately you have started condemning it. The very word has become condemnatory. Or, if you
           belong to the new generation, then the very word has become something sacred. But the word is
           always loaded with emotion. Any word which is loaded with emotion becomes a barrier on the path
           of awareness. You just don't call it anything. Just watch the fact that an energy is arising near the sex
           center. There is a thrill -- watch it. And watching it, you will feel a totally new quality of energy.
           Watching it, you will see it is rising upwards. It is finding a path inside you. And the moment it starts
           rising upwards you will feel a coolness falling on you, a silence surrounding you, a grace, a
           beatitude, a benediction, a blessing all around you. It is no longer like a thorn, painful. It no longer
           hurts; it is very soothing, like a balm. And the more you remain aware, the higher it will go. If it can
           come up to the heart, which is not very difficult -- difficult, but not very difficult.... If you remain
           alert you will see it has come to the heart. When it comes to the heart you will know for the first time
           what love is.

                UP to now you have been carrying a counterfeit in the name of love. When the energy comes to
           the heart chakra, then it is transformed into love. Once it is transformed into love, once you have felt
           it, once it has penetrated you, your whole being will feel purified. You will feel virgin, you will feel
           so pure, so holy, that you cannot think that heaven is anywhere else. You will know it is within you,
           within your heart. And heaven will become a truth; it will not be theology then, it will become
           almost a geography. You will know exactly where it is, and God will no longer be a hypothesis. In
           that purity, in that silence, in that fulfillment of love you will see, God is -- not as a theory, but as a
           self-evident truth; not as an argument, not as a proof, not as a conclusion, not as a syllogism, but
           simply it is there. There is no way to deny it. It is there so much that you can deny yourself, but you
           cannot deny God. You yourself look so faint before the reality of God that you can say, "I may not
           be, but He is."
                That will be the first glimpse. Energy can rise still higher. When it comes to the center of the
           throat, it becomes prayer. People have been doing prayer, but they don't know what prayer is --
           because prayer is the most subtle and refined form of love. If you have not moved through the heart
           center you cannot go to prayer; there is no way. One has to go via the heart. Because of the throat
           center, because it exists at the throat center and happens at the throat center, people have started
           doing rituals. People have made prayers: they assert, they say something. But just by using the throat
           center and saying something to God you are not praying. Prayer is concerned with the throat center,
           but not as verbalization. It is an experience at that center, and the experience is exactly like when a
           child sucks at his mother's breast for the first time. It is not that you say something, but you receive
           something.
                Prayer is not saying something to God, but receiving something from God. God becomes the
           mother, the mother's breast. Prayer is a nourishment. Yes, it exists and happens at the throat center
           because the throat center is the center to receive. The throat center is the first center which starts
           functioning because the child has to suck air; that happens through the throat center. And then he has
           to suck milk; that happens through the throat center. Prayer is just like sucking air, vitality, or
           sucking milk at the breast of your mother.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Hence, Jesus says, "Unless you become like small babes, you will not enter into my kingdom of
           God." He is talking about the throat center. But Christians have completely lost track of it. He is
           saying in a symbolic way to again become a babe, again start sucking from the throat center the
           energy that life is. Now, of course, the breast is invisible and the milk is invisible.
               Have you watched a man in prayer? -- how diffused with grace he looks, how peaceful, how at
           home, how relaxed. Watch a small babe sucking milk, fallen asleep with the nipple of the breast still
           in his mouth, resting on his mother's breast, fallen asleep. Watch the face of the child; that is the face
           of the saint also when he arrives at the throat center and prayer arises.

                PRAYER is not something that you do with God; prayer is something that you allow God to do
           with you. Prayer is receptive. It is not an action on your part, it is a passive welcome.. Prayer is not
           saying something to God. On the contrary, it is listening to God. It is being ready to receive His gift.
           It is very difficult to receive His gift because you have your own ideas, you have your own plans.
           You go on telling Him, showing Him the right path: "Do this, then I will be happy."
                We have the adage that man proposes and God disposes. This is simply stupid, sheer stupidity.
           Just the other way round is the case: God proposes and man goes on disposing -- because you have
           your own plans. You never listen to Him, you think you are wiser than Him. You go on advising
           Him: "Do this, don't do that" -- that's what you do in your prayer.
                A real prayer has nothing to suggest to God except a deep gratitude, thankfulness. It simply
           accepts whatsoever God is pouring. Prayer is receiving the gift.
                But it happens at the throat center. It is the highest form of love. And when you go still higher,
           then at the seventh center, SAHASRAR, happens SAMADHI, the ultimate ecstasy, where the seeker
           is lost in the sought, where you are no more yourself, where God and you lose boundaries and
           become one.
                Overlapping starts at the throat center; boundaries become dim, not very clear-cut. But still, you
           exist separately. You have a separate center and God has a separate center. In prayer you two are
           meeting, overlapping. In some way peripheries are merging into each other, but still centers are
           different. The higher you go, the more centers come closer and closer. At the SAHASRAR, the
           seventh chakra, your centers become one. Then there is only one center. That's what is meant when
           Jesus says, "Not I, but my Father lives in me." Now the seeker and the sought are not two. The
           ultimate meeting has happened, the ultimate love has flowered, has come to fruition and fulfillment.
                If you become aware and a witness when the sex center is throbbing with energy, vibrating,
           streaming -- without choosing indulgence or repression -- if you can remain just in the middle, a
           watcher, an observer, this tremendous transformation happens on its own.
                So next time you feel full of passion, don't move into these two easily available alternatives:
           indulgence or repression. Just remain in the middle, and you are at a point where the door can open.
           It always opens in the middle.
                Buddha used to call his path 'the middle path', MAJJHIM NIKAYA, because he said,
           "Everywhere, excess is prohibited. Always choose the middle." The exact middle is the point
           beyond. If you can find the exact middle ground between two opposites, two rivals, you have gone
           beyond them, you have reached a transcendence. The transcendence opens just in the middle; the
           middle is the beyond.
                When you are watching, standing like a witness at the sex center, energy moves upwards.
           Kundabuffer starts melting, and kundalini starts functioning. Kundalini is the right path, kundabuffer
           the wrong path. And kundabuffer is functioning because we have lived so unconsciously for many
           lives that kundalini cannot function. Kundalini needs the fuel of consciousness. If that gas is missing,
           kundalini cannot function. Kundabuffer functions with unconsciousness.
                So it depends on you: if you go on supplying unconsciousness, kundabuffer will go on
           functioning; if you supply consciousness, suddenly your life turns. You start moving towards the
           interior of your being; a deep interiority.
                A man who was extremely successful with muleteams was asked how he managed the stubborn
           creatures.
           "Well," explained the man, "when they won't move, I pick up a handful of soil and put it in their
           mouths. Of course, they spit it out, but as a rule they start on."
           "Why do you think it has that effect?" asked the person.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I'm not sure, but I think it changes the current of their thoughts."
               If you start witnessing, nobody knows exactly HOW your energy starts moving, but somehow it
           happens. Maybe it changes your current of thought. It is a great shock.
               You try -- you are angry, you are getting into anger; suddenly become alert. Shake and jerk your
           body and become alert, and see what happens. Suddenly you will see that something has slipped out
           of your hands; you are no longer angry. Somehow anger looks foolish now. Or, slap your face when
           you are getting angry rather than slapping somebody else's face -- that is not going to help. Slap your
           own face when you are getting angry and see what happens. Suddenly, the mechanism that was
           going to function in a routine way cannot function; you have shocked it.
               A consciousness arises if you slap your own face, a consciousness which breaks the unconscious
           pattern. So wherever you want to change, remember consciousness is the key. Otherwise, we are
           almost living in a sort of insanity. A few mad people are in the madhouses, the remainder are
           outside. But it is very difficult to find a sane man. The differences are only of degrees. Have you
           watched the fact, have you ever become afraid of it? -- that the person who has become mad was also
           just like you a few days before? Nobody had ever thought that he would become mad; he is mad.
           Can't the same happen to you?

               IT is told about William James, the greatest American psychologist, that when he went to visit a
           madhouse for the first time, he went back home very sad. He had fever. The wife was worried. She
           said, "What has happened? You went, and you were perfectly okay." He said, "Don't talk to me. I'm
           in no mood to talk." He slipped under the blankets and remained ill for two or three days. Everybody
           was worried. The doctor said, "Nothing is wrong." Then he said what had happened.
               Seeing many mad people in the madhouse, suddenly a thought occurred to him: "The same can
           happen to me." That gave him a trembling; he was never the same man again. But that made him
           very alert.
               Inside your mind, continuous madness exists -- and you know it. How can you manage not to
           know it? But it goes on like an undercurrent. On the surface you manage well.
           I have heard....
               A clergyman had occasion to preach to the inmates of an insane hospital. During his sermon he
           noticed that one of the patients paid the closest attention, his eyes riveted upon the preacher's face,
           his body bent eagerly forward. This interest was most flattering. After the service, the speaker
           noticed that the man spoke to the superintendent. So as soon as possible, the preacher inquired,
           "Didn't that man speak to you about my sermon?"
           "Yes."
           "Would you mind telling me what he said?"
               The superintendent tried to sidestep, but the preacher insisted. "Well," he said at last, "what the
           man said was,'Just think...he is out and I am in.'"

               You may be out and somebody may be in, but the difference is only of degree. Unless you
           become conscious, you are always on the verge of madness, always boiling, always ready. Any small
           thing can prove the last straw on the camel. Any small thing, any small incident, and you may cross
           the boundary.

               TO live unconsciously is not to really live. To become conscious, to move consciously, to be
           conscious of all that happens in your mind, to be separate from your mind -- because consciousness
           becomes separate; whenever you watch something you become separate from that thing -- this is the
           secret. If you watch your thoughts you become separate from your thoughts; you are no more
           identified. And when you are not identified, you are not cooperating, and you don't go on giving
           energy to your thoughts -- by and by, they disappear. When the host is not interested, the guests
           disappear. They don't come so often; or even if they come they don't stay so long. Gaps arise -- one
           thought comes, then minutes pass and another thought does not come. In that gap you face reality.
           Then there is no screen between you and reality. Unscreened reality is what God is.
           The song for today:

              THOSE WHO ARE DEAD
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND YET FULLY ALIVE
              AND KNOW THE FLAVORS
              AND FEELINGS
              IN LOVING;
              THEY WILL CROSS THE RIVER.
              GAZING AT
              THE STREAM OF LIFE AND DEATH,
              THEY SEEK INTEGRITY.
              THEY HAVE NO WISH
              FOR HAPPINESS AT ALL,
              WALKING AGAINST THE WIND.



              THEY KILL LUST
              WITH LUST
              AND ENTER THE CITY OF LOVE
              UNATTACHED....


               Tremendous sutras, tremendously significant sutras.... "Those who are dead and yet fully
           alive".... How can you be dead and yet fully alive? If you become a witness to your body, then you
           know you are not the body. The body is born and the body is going to die; the moment you know
           you are not the body, you know that you were never born and you will never die. So in a sense you
           become wholly alive, eternally alive -- what Jesus calls 'abundance of life', overflowingly alive. You
           cannot be exhausted then. Then you are not caused: you don't have any beginning and you cannot
           have any end; you are perpetual energy, eternal energy. Then you are wholly alive on the one hand,
           and because you know you are not the body, then the life that you used to think consisted in body is
           no longer there.
               The body is already dead. You use it, you live in it, but you are no longer identified with it.

              THOSE WHO ARE DEAD
              AND YET FULLY ALIVE
              AND KNOW THE FLAVORS
              AND FEELINGS IN LOVING;
              THEY WILL CROSS THE RIVER.


               And when you are fully alert and no longer attached to the body, no longer identified with the
           body, no longer does the idea exist in you that you are the body, then love arises. The moment you
           are no longer the body, the kundabuffer is broken -- because the kundabuffer can exist only when
           you are identified with the body. The kundabuffer is a part of the body.

               NOW be careful about what I am saying; be attentive.
               The kundabuffer is part of the body and kundalini is not part of the body. Kundalini is part of
           YOU, it is part of your consciousness. So people, there are many...even a few doctors have tried to
           find out where the kundalini exists in the body. A few have even been foolish enough to prove that it
           exists here or there, at this center or that.
               Kundalini is not part of the physical body at all. And Gurdjieff was right: if people are trying to
           prove that kundalini is part of the body, then whatsoever they prove is kundabuffer, not kundalini.
           Nobody was there to say to Gurdjieff that kundalini is part of the soul, not of the body. And all the
           so-called Hindu yogis, particularly the modern ones, try in every way to imitate science when they
           write. They try to show and prove that Yoga is scientific. Of course, then they start falling victim to
           the same attitude, the same standpoint as the scientists have become victims of: the standpoint that
           starts with the body and thinks the body is all. So they try to prove that kundalini exists somewhere
           in the physical body, that it is physiological.
               Gurdjieff used to say that these people were talking about kundabuffer: "Their kundalini is not
           kundalini, but kundabuffer; a false entity." When you are too attached to the body, this false entity
           arises. It arises in the body, not in you. When you are no longer identified with the body kundabuffer
           disappears. It is, in fact, the kundabuffer from where you are identified with the body. That's why sex
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becomes almost synonymous with love. When a woman has come to her menopause she starts
           thinking-that her life is finished. When a man comes to know that he is no longer sexually potent, he
           starts feeling that now he is useless. These wrong attitudes exist because we are too identified with
           the sex center.
               If witnessing arises and you are separate, and you KNOW that you are separate -- not that you
           repeat it, not that the Vedas say that you are separate from your body so you repeat it, you chant it,
           and constant repetition gives you an illusory idea that, yes, you are separate from the body. That is
           not going to help. Your own knowing, experiential, existential, can be of help, nothing else. If you
           know you are not the body, suddenly love arises; energy starts moving towards the heart center.
               The heart does not exist in the lungs. The heart is not part of the body, lungs are a part of the
           body. And whatsoever you have been thinking of as your heartbeat is not a heartbeat, it is just lungs
           beating.
               Hidden behind this beat is another beat. You can think of it in this way: the lungs and heart are
           parallel. Lungs belong to the body, and heart belongs to the soul. Kundabuffer and kundalini are
           parallel: kundabuffer belongs to the body, kundalini belongs to the soul. Sex and love are parallel:
           sex belongs to the body, love belongs to the soul. The world and God are parallel: the world belongs
           to the body, God belongs to the soul. Body and soul exist parallel, like two parallel lines always
           together and yet meeting nowhere; always together, running together for thousands of lives and
           meeting nowhere. They affect each other, but meeting never happens. They color each other. When
           you become too obsessed with the body, your body almost possesses the soul. When you become too
           detached from the body, your soul starts possessing your body.
               Ordinarily the soul remains a slave and the body becomes the master. But when the conversion
           happens, understanding arises. The soul regains its mastery and body comes to its right place --
           becomes a slave, an obedient slave.

              THOSE WHO ARE DEAD
              AND YET FULLY ALIVE
              AND KNOW THE FLAVORS
              AND FEELINGS IN LOVING;
              THEY WILL CROSS THE RIVER.
              GAZING AT
              THE STREAM OF LIFE AND DEATH
              THEY SEEK INTEGRITY.


              Integrity, Yoga -- integration, crystallization, centering, or whatsoever you like to call it -- is the
           goal.
              GAZING AT...that is the key; what I was calling witnessing.

              GAZING AT
              THE STREAM OF LIFE AND DEATH,
              THEY SEEK INTEGRITY.


               INSIDE you there is one stream of life and one stream of death. Body is the stream of death, soul
           is the stream of life. Soul never dies, body is never alive. With the soul-body together, the body
           reflects the life of the soul. It is simply luminous with the life of the soul. The life is borrowed; it is
           like the moon. The moon has no rays of its own, it reflects the sun. The rays come from the sun, are
           reflected from the moon, but you see them as if they are coming from the moon.
               It is as if you burn a small lamp in a room and somebody passing outside looks inside through
           the glass window. The glass window spreads the light of the lamp outside also, but the light is not
           coming from the glass window, it is coming from an interior place.
               Your body reflects life -- your body is luminous with the life of the soul. That's why when the
           soul disappears the body is dead. The body was always dead. Go and put off the light inside the
           room and the window will be dark. It was always dark because it has no light of its own.
               Body is the stream of death, and if you continue to be attached to the body, you will again and
           again be falling into the stream of death. You will be born and you will be dying, and you will be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           born and you will be dying -- this is what the Hindus call 'the wheel of life and death'. Go in,
           withinwards, and find the source of life. It is totally different from the body. It has made its abode in
           the body, but it is not the body. That is the stream of life. Watching, gazing, witnessing these
           two...THE STREAM OF LIFE AND DEATH, THEY SEEK INTEGRITY. And once your
           understanding has become perfect about what death is and what life is, you become integrated, you
           become centered. Because then no more is your center in the body. Then there is no longer any
           illusion that you are in the body. Then you are suddenly aware of the real center of your being, of
           your innermost shrine.

              THEY HAVE NO WISH
              FOR HAPPINESS AT ALL,
              WALKING AGAINST THE WIND.


               The Bauls say the real seekers have no wish for happiness at all, walking against the wind. They
           simply float with life. They don't ask anything from life, they simply receive. Whatsoever life gives,
           they enjoy, they delight in it, but their demand has ceased. They don't swim, and they never swim
           against the stream; they simply float with the stream. That's what surrender is.
           There is a beautiful song....


                  Oh cruelly eager,
                  are you going to fry on fire
                  your heart's flower-bud?
                  Are you going to force it to blossom
                  and let the scent escape
                  without biding your time?



                  Look at my Master, God,
                  eternally opening the buds
                  to bloom
                  but never in a hurry.



                  You are dependent
                  on the hours of the day
                  because of your terrifying greed.
                  What else can you do?
                  Listen to
                  the Beloved's appeal
                  and do not hurt
                  the Master at heart.
                  The stream spontaneously flows,
                  lost in itself,
                  listening to His words,
                  O my eager one.


               The Bauls say, "Don't try to force anything." Let life be a deep let-go. See God opening millions
           of flowers every day without forcing the buds, waiting, never in a hurry, giving their time to them.
           The Bauls say, "Everything happens at its right time, everything happens in its own season. Wait,
           don't be impatient, don't be in a hurry. All hurry is greed, and all hurry is a subtle fight." That which
           is going to happen will happen. Whenever it is going to happen it will happen; you need not fight
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existence. You can surrender, you can trust.

           THIS has to be understood.
               If this becomes part of your inner climate, it will give you tremendous joy. Then you are no
           longer proposing anything, and then nobody can frustrate you. You don't have any plan and you
           don't have any goal. You are not going somewhere, you have simply left yourself in His hands, and
           He takes you wherever he wants. "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done...." Let His will be done:
           that is the Bauls' method. It is of surrender and love and trust. The Baul is not a yogi, certainly not a
           Hatha yogi; the Baul is a lover, a devotee. He trusts that God is taking him into some unknown
           world, but it must be beautiful because He is taking him. The river is going to the ocean; it must be
           going, because it is His river. This childlike trust is his only method.

              THEY HAVE NO WISH
              FOR HAPPINESS AT ALL,
              WALKING AGAINST THE WIND.



              THEY KILL LUST
              WITH LUST
              AND ENTER THE CITY OF LOVE
              UNATTACHED....


               That's why Bauls say, "Even if lust has to be transcended, it is through lust." If anger has to be
           transcended, it is through anger. They know the alchemy of how to change poison into nectar. They
           don't say to throw it, it is poison. They say to transform it, nectar is hiding behind it. The poison is
           only just the shell. Find the inner content of it; love is hiding behind lust. Soul is hiding behind the
           body, God is hiding behind the world. Don't throw it. It will be throwing something tremendously
           valuable. Maybe you are not yet aware of what value is there. You think it is just a stone. Become a
           jeweller. It is what Bauls call to become a RUSIK, a connoisseur. Know the taste of it, find out the
           ways, what it is. Become alert to the hidden reality, open the doors and go into it. It may be a
           Kohinoor; don't throw it. If God has given you the stone, it must be a Kohinoor -- otherwise why
           should He give it to you? Don't think yourself wiser than Him. Let His wisdom be the supreme. You
           trust. If He has given you a stone it must be a Kohinoor, it must be a great diamond. It is His gift; it
           cannot be otherwise.
               So even in lust they are not like ordinary ascetics. They don't fight, they search deep in it, they
           try to find the chemistry of it. Something is bound to be there, otherwise why should God give so
           much sex energy to everyone? And to man he has given more than to any animal. In animals, sex is
           seasonal. Once a year or twice a year they become sexual, otherwise sex disappears. Man is sexual
           for twenty-four hours, twelve months a year, year in and year out. Something is bound to be there.
           Why has so much sex energy been given to man? It cannot be only for generative reasons -- because
           animals are doing perfectly well. If man were only seasonally sexual, things. in a way, would have
           been better: once a year for a month, and for eleven months you are free. You can do a thousand and
           one things and not be worried about it. One month in a year would be enough.
               But why has man been given so much sex energy? It cannot be only to generate children. This
           great treasure has been given for some other reason: it carries a hidden possibility for becoming
           tremendously alert and aware. This energy has to become love, and this love has to become prayer,
           and this prayer has to become ecstasy.
               The generative part is very minor as far as man is concerned. Something of greater value is
           hiding in it. God cannot give you something without a particular reason in it.

              THEY KILL LUST
              WITH LUST
              AND ENTER THE CITY OF LOVE
              UNATTACHED....
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When lust is transformed and you enter into the city of love, you enter unattached. Remember,
           that is their definition of love. If love has attachment in it, it is lust, If love has no attachment in it,
           only then is it not lust. When you are in lust you are not really thinking of the other, thinking of your
           beloved or lover. You are simply using the other for your own ends. And of course, attachment is
           bound to be there, because you would like to possess him, and you would like to possess him or her
           forever. Because tomorrow also you may need, the day after tomorrow also you may need. You need
           a lover and you want to possess him.

                LOVE is a gift. You give; you need not be worried about whether tomorrow he will be there to
           receive or not. Because a lover can give to the trees, to the rocks. A lover can give to the emptiness
           of the sky. A lover can simply flower and send his fragrance to the winds, even if nobody is there.
           Just think: Buddha sitting under his Bodhi tree, alone, full of love, overflowing.... Not that somebody
           is there to receive, but God is always there to receive, in so many forms, in so many ways.
                Lust is greed, lust is attachment, lust is possessiveness. Love needs no possession, love knows no
           attachment, because love is not greed. Love is a gift. It is a sharing. You have found something; your
           heart is full, your fruits are ripe. You hanker that somebody should come and share. It is
           unconditional; who shares does not matter. But you are so full of it that you would like to be
           unburdened -- as when clouds are full of rainwater, they rain. Sometimes they rain in a forest,
           sometimes they rain on a hill, sometimes they rain in a desert, but they rain. The fact of where they
           rain is irrelevant. They are so full they have to rain.
                A lover is so full he becomes a cloud, full of lovewater; he has to rain. That raining is
           spontaneous.


                  The so called lovers
                  rarely know
                  the flavors of loving.
                  A lover lives
                  for love alone
                  as the fish in the water.
                  Great is the lover
                  who can love day and night
                  and is wholly devoted
                  to love's intercourse.
                  Worship with prayers.



                  The man or the woman
                  is still alone,
                  but a lover is formed
                  when the souls conjoin.


               Ordinarily a man is alone, a woman is alone. Loneliness is there. Even if you are attached to a
           man or woman or a friend, and it is only the attachment of lust, you will remain lonely. Have you not
           watched it? Attached to a woman, attached to a man, but still you remain lonely. Somewhere deep
           down there is no communication with the other; you are cut off, like islands. Even dialogue seems to
           be impossible. Lovers ordinarily never talk to each other, because each talk creates argument, and
           each talk brings conflict. By and by, they learn to be silent; by and by, they learn somehow to avoid
           the other, or at the most, tolerate. But they remain lonely. Even if the other is there, there is space;
           the inner space remains unfulfilled.
           The Bauls say,
               The man or the woman is still alone, but a lover is formed when the souls conjoin.
               It is not a question of two bodies; it is not a question of two bodies meeting and embracing and
           penetrating each other. The question is of two souls penetrating each other. When two souls
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           penetrate each other, then loneliness disappears forever. Then a totally new world arises where you
           are never, never lonely. You have become a whole.
               Man is half, woman is half. When love happens, wholeness happens.

           Poison and nectar
           are mingled in one
           like music played and heard
           in one single act.
           The human heart
           free from flaw,
           forever enlightened,
           sees good and evil --
           same time, same space.
           A child sucking his mother
           draws milk;
           a leech at the breast of a woman
           draws blood.

               "Poison and nectar are mingled in one...." Love and lust are mingled in one, life and death are
           mingled in one. It depends on you what you are going to choose of it. A child sucking his mother
           draws milk; a leech at the same breast draws blood. It depends on you. Lust is not bad, but love and
           lust are mingled together.

               CHOOSE love; bring love out of lust. Let your life be a life of alertness, so whatsoever you do is
           done in such awareness that only that which is valuable is chosen, and the valueless is left.
               The whole life is nothing but a great effort to choose life against death, to choose love instead of
           lust, to choose God instead of the world, to choose beauty, good, truth, instead of falsities.


                  My heart!
                  You are in a muddle.
                  As the days go,
                  your inherited riches,
                  plundered, fly.
                  You only doze around the clock
                  drinking dreams
                  and living in five homes
                  with no control.
                  The robber rests with you,
                  my heart,
                  in your own room.
                  But how can you know?
                  Your eyes are shut in sleep.


               This is unawareness: "Your robber rests with you, my heart, in your own room. But how can you
           know? Your eyes are shut in sleep." Open your eyes. Watch what is happening inside, outside. Be
           alert to the death and life stream, and by and by, fall into the life stream and be integrated.


                  Love springs
                  as feelings merge.
                  Divided forms
                  assume a single way.
                  A pair of hearts
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  running in parallel streams
                  long to reach
                  the God of loving.


              Bauls say, "Love a man, love a woman, but let this love be nothing but an offering to the ultimate
           love, the love of God."


                  Love springs
                  as feelings merge.
                  Divided forms
                  assume a single way.
                  A pair of hearts
                  running in parallel streams
                  long to reach
                  the God of loving.


               If your love is love and not lust, then, by and by, you will find that you and your beloved are
           both moving together, singing, dancing towards the Ultimate Lover, the Ultimate Beloved where,
           and only where, one can find rest. Then you are moving towards the ultimate home. If lust is there,
           then you are moving nowhere.
               Lust is like dead, stagnant water -- a pond; love is like a river. And if you love somebody, your
           rivers move parallel towards the ocean. It is good to go dancing with your beloved, good to go hand
           in hand, good to go singing, with laughter in the heart. But remember, if your life becomes a pool,
           stagnant, then it is lust. Love is always flowing. Love is dynamic, lust is stale and stagnant.


                  The essence of beauty
                  in the mirror of love
                  stares at his face;
                  the formless
                  within the visual form.
                  The fire cools
                  in his hands
                  and quicksilver roasts on flames.

               Love is a miracle. Once love has happened, miracles happen continuously: fire cools in his hands
           and quicksilver roasts on flames.
               Love has a different world. Lust lives under a different law. The mystics have called the law of
           lust the law of gravitation: one is pulled downwards. And the law of love is the law of grace: one is
           pulled upwards.

           I have heard....
               A Sufi mystic was staying in somebody's house and he was thought to be a madman, so the
           family was a little afraid. The man was not reliable; he might do anything. But he was also known as
           a great mystic so they could not throw him out; they were also afraid of that. In the night -- "Where
           to put him? Where is he going to sleep?" So they put him in the basement.
               In the middle of the night they suddenly heard laughter coming from the terrace. They could
           recognize the laughter; it was that madman's. But how did he reach the terrace? He had been put in
           the basement. They ran upstairs; he was laughing madly, he was rolling on the terrace.
               They said, "What has happened? How have you come here?"
               He said, "That's why I am laughing. I was sleeping in the basement, and a miracle of miracles
           happened: suddenly I fell upwards. Hence, I am laughing!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The story is beautiful. Mystics fall upwards, love falls upwards. It is a part of another world, of
           another law: the law of grace.


                  Light has burst
                  on the walls of the sky.
                  The kind one
                  has blossomed at last.
                  Waking in the morning,
                  I saw him present,
                  appearing close to my face.
                  Flowers wither
                  and birds flutter
                  and the dew forms on the leaves.
                  The glow of the night
                  is melting away
                  with the rising heat
                  of the sun.


              Love is rising sun, lust is the dark night of the soul.


                  Explore the nature
                  of your own body,
                  my unfeeling heart.
                  Unless you know
                  your very substance,
                  worshipping God is of no avail.
                  The body is the home
                  of seven heavens
                  for you to voyage.
                  You will blunder
                  as you never learned to know
                  the friends and the foes
                  alive in your body.


               So the basic work is to know the foe and the friend in the body. To know that which you are and
           that which you are not is the basic work, to discriminate between death and life, lust and love,
           kundabuffer and kundalini.
               There is no need to go anywhere. All that is going to happen is going to happen within you. All
           is given there, all is already given. Just a little discrimination, a little awareness is needed. Bring
           light unto your own being. Close your eyes from the outside and open your eyes withinwards. The
           whole world is there in miniature.
           The mystics say: As above, so below.
               The Hindus say: Whatsoever is in Brahman, whatsoever is in the universe, is also in man.

              MAN is a small map of the whole cosmos. The limited and unlimited both exist in you; matter
           and consciousness both exist in you; the lowest and the highest both exist in you.
              Nietzsche used to say that man is a rope stretched between two abysses, two eternities.
              Yes, man is a rope, a bridge. You are a ladder: one part is resting on the earth, the other part --
           you cannot even see it -- is resting at the feet of God. Watch it, recognize it, feel the direction. And
           move. Start moving.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                               The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #8
                                       Chapter title: I'm Just Being To You
           8 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607080
              ShortTitle: BELOV208
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              The first question:


              WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEBODY HATES YOU?


               WHETHER SOMEBODY HATES YOU OR SOMEBODY LOVES YOU SHOULD NOT
           MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IN YOU. If you are, you remain the same. If you are not, then you are
           immediately changed. If you are not, then anybody can pull you, push you; then anybody can push
           your buttons and change you. Then you are a slave, then you are not a master. Your mastery begins
           when whatsoever happens outside does not change you; your inner climate remains the same.
               A psychoanalyst was attending a convention. At one of the lectures one ugly woman sitting next
           to him began to pinch him. Annoyed, he was about to give her an angry retort, when he changed his
           mind: "Why should I get angry," he decided. "After all, it is her problem."
               Whether somebody loves you or hates you, it is his or her problem. If you are, if you have
           understood your being, you remain in tune with yourself. Nobody can disturb your inner harmony. If
           somebody loves, good; if somebody hates, good. Both remain somewhere outside you. This is what
           we call mastery. This is what we call crystallization -- becoming free of impressions, influences.
               You ask me, "What do you do when somebody hates you?"
               What can I do? It is that person's problem; it has nothing to do with me. If I was not here he
           would have hated somebody else. He would have hated. If there were nobody and he were alone, he
           would have hated himself. Hatred is his problem. It has nothing to do with me, not in the least.
           Basically it does not even refer to me; I am just an excuse. Somebody else would have done as well,
           would have functioned as an excuse for him.
               Have you not watched it? that when you are angry, you are simply angry. It is not that your anger
           is addressed to somebody. That 'somebody' is nothing but an excuse. Angry, you come home from
           the office; you jump on your wife. Angry, you go from your home; you are angry in the office with
           the peon, with the clerk, with this and that. If you analyze your states of mind, you will come to see
           that they belong to you. You live in your own world, but you go on projecting it on others.
               When you are angry, YOU are angry -- not at me. When you are full of hate, you are full of hate
           -- not at me. When you are full of love, you are full of love -- not at me. Once you understand it, you
           remain like a lotus leaf in the world. You remain in the water but the water does not touch; it touches
           you not. You remain in the world and yet aloof, not of it. Then nobody can disturb your silence, and
           nobody can distract you. Your compassion goes on flowing. If you love me, you receive my
           compassion. If you hate me, you will not receive my compassion -- not because I will not give to
           you. I will be continuously giving to you, as much as I give to those who love me, but you will be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           closed and you will not receive it.
                Once being is attained, one is compassion, unconditional compassion. Not that in some moments
           he becomes compassionate and some moments he is not compassionate. Compassion then is his
           natural climate, compassion is his permanent mood, compassion is his integrated being. Then
           whatsoever you do, his compassion goes on showering on you. But there are moments when you will
           receive it, when you will be open, and there are moments when you will not receive it because you
           will be closed.
                So in hate you will not receive that, in love you will receive that. And you may even feel the
           difference -- because one who loves me will start growing, one who hates me will start shrinking.
           Both will become so totally different that you may start thinking that I must be giving more to the
           one I Love, or one who loves me, and I'm not giving to one who hates me or is angry at me or is
           closed towards me. But I am not doing that. The clouds are there and they are showering: if your pot
           is not broken it will be filled. Or even if your pot is not broken, but is upside-down, then you will
           miss. Hate is a state of upside-downness. Then rains can go on showering but you will remain empty,
           because your opening is not there.
                Once you are put rightside-up, that's what love is. Love is nothing but an opening, a receptivity, a
           welcome, an invitation, that "I am ready; come, please."
                The Bauls go on singing, "Come Beloved, come." They go on sending their invitations. Love is
           inviting, hate is repelling. If you love me you will receive much -- not because I am giving you more
           especially; but if you hate me you will not receive at all -- not because I am not giving you, but
           because you are closed. But I remain myself.
                I am not identified with my body, I am not identified with my mind. I have come home.
                If you are identified with your body and somebody hurts your body, you will be angry; he is
           hurting YOU. If you are identified with your mind and somebody insults you, you will be angry,
           because he is hurting your mind. Once you are identified with your being nobody can hurt, because
           nobody has yet invented any way to hurt being.
                The body can be hurt, can be killed. The mind can be hurt...but the being cannot be touched.
           There is no way to hurt it, there is no way to create pain. It's VERY nature is blissfulness. You can
           hurt my body; simple. If I am identified with the body I will be angry because I will think you have
           hurt me. If you insult me then the hurt goes into the mind. If I am identified with the mind, again you
           are my enemy. But I am neither identified with the body nor with the mind. I am the witness. So
           whatsoever you do never reaches to my witnessing center. It goes on witnessing it; it remains utterly
           unaffected. Once false identifications fall, you are unperturbed. Then you become the center of the
           cyclone, and storms can go on raging all around you, but deep inside you remain at the still, small
           center of your being, completely transcendental to whatsoever is happening.
           I have heard....
                A philosopher, a barber and a bald-headed fool were travelling together. Losing their way they
           were forced to sleep in the open air, and to avoid danger it was agreed to watch by turns. The first lot
           fell on the barber, who for amusement shaved the philosopher's head while he was sleeping. He then
           awoke him, and the philosopher, raising his hand to scratch his head, exclaimed, "Here is a pretty
           mistake! You have awakened the old bald-headed fool instead of me."
                Your identification is the BASIC problem. If you are identified with the body, then you are going
           to remain in constant trouble. Because body is continuously changing, your identity will never be at
           a point where you can settle and relax. One day the body is young, another day it is old. One day it is
           healthy, another day it is ill. One day you are so radiant with youth, another day just a dilapidated
           structure, a ruin. Continuously, body is in a flux.
                That's why people who are identified with the body will remain constantly puzzled, confused, not
           knowing who they are. You are identifying with something which is not reliable. One day it is born,
           another day it dies. It is continuously dying and continuously changing. How can you rest with it?
                If you are identified with the mind then there will be even more trouble. Because the body at
           least has a certain structure: it changes, but changes very slowly. You never feel the change. It
           changes very silently, and it takes years really, to feel a certain change happening. A child does not
           become a young man overnight, and a young man does not become an old man overnight. It takes
           years, and very slow is the change; and such minute, minor changes happen that one is never aware.
           But with the mind you are constantly in turmoil; every single moment there is change. One moment
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are happy, another moment you are sad. One moment you were at the top of the world, feeling
           so fortunate, another moment you are in hell, thinking to commit suicide. How can you identify with
           the mind?
                Being is that which remains always the same, eternally the same. It has no form so it cannot
           change, and it has no content so it cannot change. The being is contentless, formless. It has no name,
           no form -- what in the East we call NAMARUPA. These two things change: the name and the form.
           It is neither. It is simple, sheer existence, empty of all content and all form Once you have entered
           this emptiness nothing can disturb you, because there is nothing to be disturbed. Nothing can hit you,
           because there is nobody inside to be hit.
                Then if you hate me, your arrow will pass through me. It cannot strike because there is nobody.
           You cannot make a target of me. Whether you love me or hate me, you cannot make a target of me.
           So it makes no difference. And I don't do anything, I just remain myself.
                One day Mulla Nasrudin was saying to me, "Yes, I used to be in politics myself. I was a
           dog-catcher in my town for two years, but finally lost the job."
           "What was the matter?" I asked him. "Change of mayors, or something else?"
           He said, "No, I finally caught the dog."
                And that's what I would like to say to you: I finally caught the dog. Now there is no work left for
           me. I am jobless. I'm not doing anything: all desires have gone, all doing has left. I'm just here. I'm
           just being to you. If you love, you will receive me with great welcome, and you will be tremendously
           benefitted. If you hate you will miss, and the responsibility will be yourS. Now it is for you to
           choose. But I don't do anything.

           The second question:


              YOU ARE RECOMMENDING MEDITATION OR DEVOTION. I FIND THEM BOTH HELPFUL; BOTH
              LEAD TO THE SAME GOAL: BLISS, ANANDA. SOMETIMES I FEEL I AM THAT, OR RATHER THIS,
              THE ESSENTIAL MAN, AND SOMETIMES I FEEL ECSTATIC IN BEING A DEVOTEE -- SINGING,
              PRAYING, DANCING, TALKING OF HIM, PLAYING LEELA WITH THE DIVINE. CAN I BE BOTH?
              WHAT IS MY REAL NATURE? WHICH WOULD YOU SUGGEST FOR MY GROWTH? IN FIFTEEN
              MONTHS OF SANNYAS WITH YOU, THE FEAR OF DEATH IS GONE, BODY HAS BECOME THE
              TEMPLE DIVINE, MIND HAS BECOME AN INSTRUMENT FOR HIS USE. ALL YOUR WORDS ARE
              SWEET, BUT SWEETER IS YOUR SILENCE FROM WHICH I HAVE RECEIVED MY LIFE'S
              DIRECTION: DO NOTHING, ACCEPT, ACT, WHICH IS WORKING VERY WELL FOR MY GROWTH.
              KINDLY ENLIGHTEN.


                THE question is from Krishnananda Bharti.
           If things are going so beautifully, why make a problem? Can't you accept your own insight? Do you
           always need a witness? Do you always need somebody else's approval? If I am gone, you will be in a
           mess. When you are feeling so happy, is not that happiness enough proof that you are on the right
           track?
                But in life you have been wrong so many times that you have lost trust in your own self.
                This is one very basic thing to be understood and relearned: trust in yourself. When everything is
           going beautifully and you are feeling happy and blissful, forget what I am saying. Don't be worried
           about it. You know well that things are going well. Why create suspicion about your own
           experiences?
           I have heard....
                Mulla Nasrudin was going on a sight-seeing tour of Detroit. Going up Jefferson Avenue, the
           driver of the bus called out all the places of interest.
           "On the right," he announced, "we see the Dodge House."
           "John Dodge?" the Mulla asked.
           "No, sir, Horace Dodge." Continuing on further, he called out, "On the far left corner we have the
           Ford House."
           "Henry?" the Mulla suggested.
           "No sir, Edsel." Still further out on Jefferson: "On the near left crossing you will see Christ's
           Church."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Jesus? or am I wrong again?" Mulla Nasrudin asked sheepishly.
               I understand that life is such that you have been found wrong so many times that you have lost
           your inner feel. You have lost trust in yourself. You have lost confidence, so you have to ask
           somebody. Even if you are feeling blissful you have to ask somebody, "Am I going right?" Bliss is
           the indication.
               So now, two are the possibilities: either you are-really feeling blissful as you write in your
           question -- then there is no need to ask me; or you are just imagining and you know it -- hence you
           have asked. That too has to be decided deep inside you. Because an imagined bliss is no bliss at all.
           You can imagine. Man has imagination in abundance. You can imagine things -- because I am
           talking about bliss continuously: about love, about meditation, ecstasy. You can catch those words
           and your greed can start playing LEELA with you, rather than you playing LEELA with the divine.
           Your greed can start playing LEELA with you, and it can give you ideas. But if they are imaginary
           you will always be suspicious because deep down you will know that this is just fantasy. If that is the
           case, then asking is perfectly meaningful.
               You have to decide. If it is really happening, you are really happy, it is a fact and you are not
           imagining it, then you are on the right track -- because there is no indication other than blissfulness.
               When you feel blissful you are right, moving in exactly the way you should move. Because bliss
           increases only when you are approaching closer to God, and in no other way. If you are going away
           from God, anguish arises. You feel more and more frustrated, more and more bored, more and more
           miserable. Misery is an indication that you are going astray, a natural indication that you have lost
           track of truth. Bliss simply says that you are falling in line with the whole. Things are becoming
           harmonious, the garden of the Beloved is coming closer: the air feels cooler, winds bring the
           fragrance of the flowers, freshness, a new thrill, a new enthusiasm. Then you are moving towards the
           garden of the Beloved. Maybe you cannot see yet, but the direction is right.
               So trust yourself. But if you are imagining, then drop all your imagination.

           The third question:


              AT DARSHAN, FROM THE WAY YOU TALKED TO ME IT SEEMS CLEAR MY MEDITATION IS TO
              LIVE TOTALLY IN THE HERE AND NOW. YOU MADE IT CLEAR I WAS NOT TO LIVE IN HOPE.
              T.S. ELIOT SAID, "I SAID TO MY SOUL, BE STILL, AND WAIT WITHOUT HOPE, FOR HOPE
              WOULD BE HOPE FOR THE WRONG THING. WAIT WITHOUT LOVE, FOR LOVE WOULD BE
              LOVE OF THE WRONG THING. THERE IS YET FAITH, BUT FAITH AND THE LOVE AND THE
              HOPE ARE ALL IN THE WAITING." ANYTHING MORE TO SAY OSHO?


               THE question is from Pradeepa.
           She understood perfectly what I was trying to show her. Maturity happens when you start living
           without hope. Hope is childish. You become mature when you don't project hope into the future. In
           fact, you are mature when you don't have any future; you just live in the moment -- because that is
           the only reality there is. In the past, religion used to talk about the hereafter. Those were the childish,
           immature days of religion. Now religion talks about herenow; religion has come of age.
               In the Vedas, in the Koran, in the Bible, hereafter is the basic goal. But now man is no longer
           that childish. That sort of God and that sort of religion is dead. It was a religion of hope, it was a
           religion of future.
               Now another sort of religion is asserting itself all over the world, and this religion is about
           herenow, the present. There is nowhere else to go and there is no other space and no other time to
           live, only this space and this time, here and now. Life has to become very intense in this moment. A
           man who lives in hope dissipates life. He spreads life; it becomes too thin. And when it becomes too
           thin, it is never happy. Happiness means intensity, tremendous depth. If you spread your hope into
           the future, life will become very thin. It will lose depth.
               When I say drop all hope, I mean be so intense in the moment that there is no need for the future.
           Then there is a turning, a transformation. The very quality of time changes for you it becomes
           eternal. What can you do with hope? In fact, what can you hope? You cannot hope for the new. You
           can only hope for the old, that which has happened before -- maybe with a little modification here
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and there, a little more decorated. But hope is nothing but past: you have lived something, you have
           experienced something, and you again and again hope for it. It is a repetition; it is circular.
                Hope means simply projecting the past into the future again: you loved a man yesterday, you
           want to love the man tomorrow also. And you know that yesterday was not a fulfillment, hence the
           hope. Yesterday was not enough, hence the hope. You missed something yesterday. Now that missed
           gap is torturing you; it is creating agony. You hope that again tomorrow that man will be available to
           love you, and tomorrow you will really love.
                But between yesterday and tomorrow is today. If you really want to love, then why not be
           herenow, today? Otherwise, when today will have become yesterday you will again start projecting
           it. Incomplete experiences are projected. Uncompleted desires are projected. If you really love
           totally this moment, you will never think about this moment again. It is finished, it is complete, it is
           perfect. It disappears, it leaves no trace on you.
                This is what Krishnamurti calls 'total act'. Total act creates no KARMA: it creates no chain, it
           creates no bondage. If it is total, you never remember it again; there is no point.
                We remember only something which has remained incomplete. Mind tends to complete things.
           And you have so many incomplete experiences; they go on being projected into the future. The past
           is gone -- now there is no way to complete them in the past; and the present is going out of your
           hands fast, slipping, so you don't see any point, any possibility to complete them in the present. The
           future is long: you can project -- this life, another life, this world, another world -- you can project
           eternity. Then you are at ease. You say, "I am not at a loss; tomorrow is there. There will be another
           life." But by and by, you are getting trapped in a wrong pattern.
                No, hope is not the right thing. Live in the present so deeply, so completely, that nothing is left.
           Then there will be no projection. You will move very smoothly into the tomorrow without carrying
           any load from today. And when there is no yesterday haunting you, then there is no tomorrow. When
           the past is not hanging around you, there is no future.
                Pradeepa has understood rightly. That's what I was trying to show her: hope is an illness, a
           disease of the mind. It is hope that is not allowing you to live. Hope is not the friend, remember; it is
           the foe. It is because of hope that you go on postponing. But you will remain the same tomorrow
           also, and tomorrow also you will hope for some future. And this way it can go on for eternity, and
           you can go on missing. Stop postponing. And who knows what the future is going to reveal to you?
           There is no way to know about it. It is an opening; all alternatives are open. What is really going to
           happen, nobody can predict. People have tried.
                That's why people go to astrologers, to I CHING, and to other sorts of things. I CHING goes on
           fascinating people, astrologers go on influencing people. Astrology still seems to be a great force.
           Why? -- because people are missing and they are hoping for the future. They want some clue to
           know what is going to happen so they can arrange it that way.
                These things will persist, even if scientifically it is proved that it is all nonsense. They will
           persist because it is not a question of science, it is a question of human hope. Unless hope is
           dropped, I CHING cannot be dropped. Unless hope is dropped, astrology cannot be dropped. It will
           have great power over man's mind because hope is gripping you. You would like to know little clues
           about the future so you can move more confidently, you can project more confidently, and you can
           postpone many more things.
                If you know something about tomorrow, I think you will not live today. You will say, "What is
           the need? Tomorrow we will live." Even without knowing anything about tomorrow you are doing
           that. And tomorrow never comes... and when it comes, it is always today. And you don't know how
           to live today.
                So you are in a great trap. Drop that whole structure. Hope is the bondage of man, hope is
           SAMSAR, hope is the world. Once you drop hope you become a SANNYASIN; then there is
           nowhere to go.
           I have heard....
                One day Mulla Nasrudin was in a very deep meditative mood. Sitting by the side of his dog he
           delivered a monologue:
           "You are only a dog, but I wish I was you. When you go to your bed you just turn around three times
           and lie down. When I go to bed I have to lock up the place, and wind up the clock, and put out the
           cat, and undress myself, and my wife wakes up and scolds and then the baby wakes and cries and I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to walk him around the house and then maybe I get myself to bed in time to get up again. When
           you get up, you just stretch yourself, stretch your neck a little, and you are up. I have to light the fire,
           put on the kettle, scrap some with my wife, and get myself breakfast. You be laying around all day
           and have plenty of fun; I have to work all day and have plenty of trouble. When you die, you are
           dead; when I die I have to go somewhere again."
               This 'somewhere again'...call it hell, call it heaven, but somewhere; and God is here and you are
           always going somewhere.
               God is your surround, and you are always missing Him because you are missing the present. God
           has only one tense -- that is present. The past and future don't exist. Man exists in the past and future,
           not in the present; God exists in the present, not in the past and future. So how is the meeting going
           to happen? We live in different dimensions. Either God starts living in the past and future -- then
           there can be a meeting, but then He will not be a God, He will be just as ordinary a man as you are;
           or you start living in the present -- then the meeting happens. But then too you will not be human,
           you will become divine. Only the divine can meet with the divine; only the same can meet the same.
           Drop hope.
               Hope is the cause of why you are missing God. And the problem is, the vicious circle is: the
           more you miss God, the more you hope; the more you hope, the more you miss. Once you look deep
           down into hope, its structure, its grip on you -- the very vision, and the hope drops on its own accord.
           Suddenly you are here and now, and you will see as if a curtain had dropped from your eyes, a
           curtain has dropped from your senses. You will become TREMENDOUSLY fresh and young, and
           you will see a totally luminous world all around you. The trees will be green but in a different way:
           tremendously green -- and the green will be luminous. The world will immediately turn into a
           psychedelic world. It is -- your eyes are just so covered with dust that you cannot see the psychedelic
           that is surrounding you from everywhere.
           Drop hope.
               But whenever I say to somebody to drop hope, he thinks that I am telling him to become
           hopeless. No, I'm not doing that. When you drop hope there is no possibility of becoming hopeless,
           because hopelessness exists only because of hope. You hope and it is not fulfilled; hopelessness
           arises. You hope, and you hope again and again in vain; hopelessness arises. Hopelessness is
           frustrated hope. The moment you drop hope, hopelessness is also dropped. You are simply without
           hope and without hopelessness. And that is the most beautiful moment that can happen to a man,
           because in that very moment one enters into the shrine of God.

           The fourth question:


              DESPITE ALL YOU HAVE SAID, L AM STILL UNWILLING TO MAKE A CHOICE BETWEEN THE
              PATH OF MEDITATION AND THE PATH IS LOVE. MY HEART LOVES THE WORLD TOO MUCH
              TO SAY'ENOUGH', AND MY MIND IS TOO CYNICAL TO SURRENDER. GURDJIEFF SPEAKS OF
              A FOURTH WAY WHICH INVOLVES SIMULTANEOUS WORK ON BODY, HEART AND MIND. IS
              THERE NO POSSIBILITY OF FOLLOWING THIS PATH?


               BE alert of your own cunningness. You cannot surrender here, and you think you will be able to
           surrender to Gurdjieff? The problem is not with me or Gurdjieff, the problem is that with me you
           cannot surrender. And Gurdjieff was a hard taskmaster, one of the most dangerous Masters ever.
           after Bodhidharma. The problem is with you. See the point of it. The point is, if I talk about love,
           people come to me and they say, "It is difficult for us; can't we meditate?" And if I tell them to
           meditate they say, "It is so difficult. Is there not some other way?" They want to postpone.
               Now you are asking, "Can't we follow Gurdjieff?" Ask one thing: are you ready to follow?
           Following is difficult. Following MEANS surrendering. Following means that now you put your
           mind aside. Gurdjieff is now an excuse so you can think inside yourself, "If I am not surrendered to
           this man, at least I am ready to surrender to Gurdjieff." But where are you going to find Gurdjieff?
           And if you ever come across him, you will start thinking of other Masters, because there are many
           possibilities. You will ask the same question of Gurdjieff...that it is difficult for me to surrender to
           you, and it is very difficult to work on body, mind and soul together -- because even to work on one
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing separately is difficult. To work on three things together is, of course, going to be more
           complex, more arduous. So then you can say, "Can't I follow the path of the Bauls?"
               This is how you have been travelling in your many lives. Remember, you are not new on this
           earth. And remember, you have been with many Masters -- otherwise you would not be here. You
           have forgotten completely, but you have missed many times. It is not for the first time that you are
           missing. You may have walked with Buddha, you may have walked with Jesus. There are people
           who I know for certain have walked with Jesus, but they missed. There are people who walked with
           Buddha and they missed.
           But the search goes on....
               The first thing that I try to find out whenever a person wants to be initiated by me is whether he
           is new, or an old sinner. Up to now, I have not come across a fresh man who is getting interested in
           religion for the first time. No, one has been with many Masters, has travelled on many paths, but
           never has been totally anywhere.
           Now you can miss this opportunity also.
           I have heard....

               A couple in their sixties had somehow managed to survive forty-five years of married life filled
           with as much fighting as love. When hubby came home from his office on his sixty-fifth birthday,
           his wife lovingly presented him with two beautiful ties. He was so touched that he would not let her
           cook dinner. He would take her out as soon as he had time to clean up and change his shirt. It was a
           rare moment of tenderness. A few minutes later hubby came downstairs dressed for an evening on
           the town and wearing one of his gift ties. His wife stared at him for a moment before the force of
           argumentative habit took command.
           "What is the matter?" she snarled. "The other one is no good?"
               But now, a man can wear only one tie: "What is the matter? The other one is no good?"
               If you just want to be argumentative, then you can follow Gurdjieff. But that will be just
           avoiding the opportunity that is here, available to you. DO something. If you want to follow
           Gurdjieff, follow. Follow Gurdjieff, but please follow. Don't go on playing games with yourself. One
           can be very clever, one can deceive oneself. It is not very dangerous when you deceive others,
           because sooner or later they will find out that you are deceiving. It cannot go on for long. But when
           you are deceiving yourself, it is very difficult. Who is going to find out? You are alone there, and if
           YOU are deceiving....
               I have heard about one man travelling on a train. He was playing solitaire. A man in the
           compartment was watching it, but he became aware that the other man was deceiving himself. He
           was the only player. The other man watching became aware that he was deceiving himself.
               He said, "What is the matter? What are you doing? Can't you see that you go on deceiving
           yourself?"
               The man said, "I have been doing it for my whole life."
               The other man asked, "Can't you catch yourself deceiving?"
           He said, "I am too clever."
               Cleverness can become a great obstacle because cleverness is not intelligence. Cleverness is a
           good name for cunningness. Be aware of it.
               Follow if you want to follow on Gurdjieff's path. Perfectly good; that path is perfectly good. But
           then what are you doing here wasting your time? Follow that path. For what are you waiting? If you
           are here, then forget Gurdjieff and everything else. If you want to be here with me, then be here with
           me so something actually happens.
               But this is very common, it is not unusual: people go on changing their Masters, from one place
           to another. Whenever they feel that now it is getting too much, and they may get committed and
           involved, they change. Again they start playing the same game somewhere else. When they feel that
           now the moment is coming -- they will have to do something -- they again change.
               It is a marriage... to be with me is to be married with me. People stay with me up to the point
           where the courtship continues. Once the problem arises of getting committed, involved, then they are
           scared. Then they start thinking of some other path. Any path will do -- because really it is not a
           question of paths, it is a question of surrendering. Surrender on any path, and truth will happen to
           you -- because it happens not because of any path, it happens because of surrender.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Some years ago a politician was being driven by a farmer in a buggy. A winged insect kept
           circling about the horse's head and then about the politician's head. "Uncle, what kind of insect is
           that?" asked the politician.
           "Just a horsefly," said the old man.
           "Horsefly? What is that?"
           "Just a fly that flies around the heads of horses and mules and jackasses."
               As the insect was still buzzing about the politician's head he saw a chance for a little banter, and
           said, "Uncle, you don't mean to say I am a horse?"
           "No, you certainly ain't no horse."
           "Well, you don't mean to call me a mule do you?"
               The farmer, irritated, said, "You ain't no mule, either."
               Then the politician spoke emphatically, "Now look here, Uncle, do I look like a jackass to you?
           Surely you don't mean to call me a jackass?"
           "No, sir, I ain't calling you no jackass and you don't look like a jackass to me. But you see, you can't
           fool the horsefly."

               Don't be very cunning, don't be clever, because you can't fool existence. You can fool only
           yourself. In the final analysis you cannot fool anybody else except you. So watch each step that your
           mind takes. I'm not saying, "Follow me"; I'm saying, "Follow." Anywhere, wherever your heart leads
           you, wherever you feel a certain harmony between you and the Master, go there and follow. But
           follow. Just thinking is not going to help.
           You cannot befool existence.

           The fifth question:


              BEING OUTSIDE THE ASHRAM IS SOMETIMES HARD FOR ME, FOR I SEE HOW HARD PEOPLE
              ARE AND STEP ON EACH OTHER. THIS HURTS ME MUCH, SOMETIMES EVEN BODILY, AND IF
              EEL VULNERABLE LIKE A SMALL CHILD. PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO DEAL WITH IT.


               THERE are always problems in the world, and the world has always been there, and the world
           will remain there. If you start working out: changing circumstances, changing people, thinking of a
           utopian world, changing the government, the structure, the economy, the politics, the education, you
           will be lost. That is the trap known as politics. That's how many people waste their own lives. Be
           very clear about it: the only person you can help right now is you yourself. Right now you cannot
           help anybody. This may be just a distraction, just a trick of the mind. See your own problems, see
           your own anxieties, see your own mind, and first try to change it.
               It happens to many people: the moment they become interested in some sort of religion,
           meditation, prayer, immediately the mind tells them, "What are you doing sitting here silently? The
           world needs you; there are so many poor people. There is much conflict, violence, aggression. What
           are you doing praying in the temple? Go and help people." How can you help those people? You are
           just like them. You may create even more problems for them, but you cannot help. That's how all the
           revolutions have always failed. No revolution has yet succeeded because the revolutionaries are in
           the same boat.
               The religious person is one who understands that "I am very tiny, I am very limited. If with this
           limited energy, even if I can change myself, that will be a miracle". And if you can change yourself,
           if you are a totally different being with new life shining in your eyes and a new song in your heart,
           then maybe you can be helpful to others also, because then you will have something to share.
               Just the other day Shiva sent me a very beautiful incident in the life of Basho. Basho is the
           greatest haiku poet of Japan, the Master haiku poet. But he was not just a poet. Before becoming a
           poet he was a mystic; before he starting pouring out with beautiful poetry, he poured deep into his
           own center. He was a meditator.
               It is said that Basho was entering upon a journey when he was a young man. The journey was an
           endeavor to find himself. Not long after he had begun he heard a small child crying alone in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forest -- maybe he was sitting under a tree, meditating, or trying to meditate; he heard a small child
           crying alone in the forest. He meditated for a long time on what to do. He then picked up his pack
           and continued on his way, leaving the child to its own fate.
               In his journal he recorded: "First one has to do what one needs for oneself before one can do
           anything for another."
               Looks hard...a child alone in the forest, crying, and this man meditates on whether to do anything
           or not, whether he can help the child, whether it will be right to help him or not. A child, a helpless
           child crying in the wilderness, alone, lost -- and Basho meditates over it and finally decides that how
           can he help somebody else when he has not even helped himself yet. He himself is lost in a
           wilderness, he himself is lonely, he himself is childish. How can he help anybody?
               The incident looks very hard, but is very meaningful. I'm not saying don't help a child in the
           forest if you find him crying and weeping. But try to understand: your own light is not burning and
           you start helping others. Your own inner being is in total darkness and you start helping others. You
           yourself are suffering and you become a servant of the people. You have not passed through the
           inner rebellion and you become a revolutionary. This is simply absurd, but this idea arises in
           everybody's mind. It seems so simple to help others. In fact, people who really need to change
           themselves always become interested in changing others. That becomes an occupation, and they can
           forget themselves.
               This is what I have watched. I have seen so many social workers, SARVODAYIS, and I have
           never seen a single person who has any inner light to help anybody. But they are trying hard to help
           everybody. They are madly after transforming the society and the people and people's minds, and
           they have completely forgotten that they have not done the same to themselves. But they become
           occupied.
               Once an old revolutionary and social worker was staying with me. I asked him, "You are
           completely absorbed in your work. Have you ever thought if what you really want happens, if by a
           miracle, overnight, all that you want happens, what you will do the next morning? Have you ever
           thought about it?"
               He laughed -- a very empty laughter -- but then he became a little sad. He said, "If it is possible, I
           will be at a loss as to what to do then. If the world is exactly as I want it, then I will be at a loss for
           what to do. I may even commit suicide."
               These people are occupied; this is their obsession. And they have chosen such an obsession
           which can never be fulfilled. So you can go on changing others, life after life. Who are you?
               This is also a sort of ego: that others are hard upon each other, that they are stepping on each
           other. Just the idea that others are hard gives you a feeling that you are very soft. No, you are not.
           This may be your way of ambition: to help people, to help them to become soft, to help them to
           become more kind, compassionate.
           Kahlil Gibran has written a small story:
               There was a dog, a great revolutionary one might say, who was always teaching other dogs of the
           town that "Just because of your nonsense barking we are not growing. You waste your energy by
           barking unnecessarily." A postman passes, and suddenly...a policeman passes, a sannyasin passes....
           Dogs are against uniforms, any sort of uniform, and they are revolutionaries. They immediately start
           barking.
               The leader used to tell them, "Stop this! Don't waste energy, because:this same energy can be put
           into something useful, creative. Dogs can rule the whole world, but you are wasting your energy for
           no purpose at all. This habit has to be dropped. This is the only sin, the original sin."
               The dogs were always feeling that he was perfectly right; logically, he was right: why do you go
           on barking? And much energy is wasted; one feels tired. Again the next morning one starts barking,
           and again by the night one is tired. What is the point of it all? They could see the leader's meaning,
           but they also knew that they were just dogs, poor dogs. The ideal was very great and the leader was
           really a revealer -- because whatsoever he was preaching he was doing. He never used to bark. You
           could see his character: that whatsoever he preached he practiced also.
               But by and by, they got tired of his constant preaching. One day they decided -- it was the
           birthday of the leader -- and they decided, as a gift, that at least on that night they would resist the
           temptation to bark. At least for one night they would respect the leader and give him a gift. He could
           not be more happy than this. All the dogs stopped that night. It was very difficult, arduous. It was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just like when you are meditating, how difficult it is to stop thinking. It was the same problem. They
           stopped barking, and they had always barked. And they were not great saints, but ordinary dogs. But
           they tried hard. It was very, very arduous. They were hiding in their places with closed eyes, with
           clenched teeth, so they would not see anything, they would not listen to anything. It was a great
           discipline. The leader walked around the town. He was very puzzled: "To whom to preach? Whom
           to teach now? What has happened?" -- complete silence. Then suddenly when midnight had passed,
           he became so annoyed, because he had never really thought that the dogs would listen to him. He
           had known well that they would never listen, that it was just natural for dogs to bark. His demand
           was unnatural, but the dogs had stopped. His whole leadership was at stake. What was he going to do
           from tomorrow? because all he knew was just to teach. His whole ministry was at stake. And then
           for the first time he realized that because he was constant}y teaching from the morning till the night
           that's why he had never felt the need to bark. The energy was so involved, and that was a sort of
           barking.
               But that night, nowhere, nobody was found guilty. And the preacher-dog started feeling a
           tremendous urge to bark. A dog is, after all, a dog. Then he went into a dark lane and started barking.
           When the other dogs heard that somebody had broken the agreement, then they said, "Why should
           we suffer?" The whole town started barking. Back came the leader and said, "You fools! When are
           you going to stop barking? Because of your barking we have remained just dogs. Otherwise, we
           would have dominated the whole world."
               Remember well that a social servant, a revolutionary, is asking for the impossible -- but it keeps
           him occupied. And when you are occupied with others' problems, you tend to forget your own
           problems. First, settle those problems, because that is your first, basic responsibility.

               A famous psychologist had bought a farm just for fun. Every time he threw grain into his plowed
           furrows an army of black crows would swoop down and gobble up his grain. Finally, swallowing his
           pride, the psychologist appealed to his old neighbor, Mulla Nasrudin.
               The Mulla stepped into the field and went through all the motions of planting without using any
           seed. The crows swooped down, protested briefly and flew away. The Mulla repeated the process the
           next day and then the next, each time sending the birds off befuddled and hungry. Finally, on the
           fourth day, he planted the field with grain; not a crow bothered to come.
               When the psychologist tried to thank Mulla, the Mulla grunted. "Just plain ordinary psychology,"
           said he. "Ever heard of it?"
               Remember, this is very plain, ordinary psychology: not to poke your nose into others' affairs. If
           they are doing something wrong, that is for them to realize. Nobody else can make them realize.
           Unless they decide to realize it there is no way, and you will be wasting your valuable time and
           energy. Your first responsibility is to transform your own being. And when your being is
           transformed things start happening of their own accord. You become a light and people start finding
           their paths through your light. Not that you go, not that you force them to see. Your light, burning
           bright, is enough invitation; people start coming. Whosoever is in need of light will come to you.
           There is no need to go after anybody because that very going is foolish. Nobody has changed
           anybody against his will. That is not the way things happen. This is plain, ordinary psychology; ever
           heard of it?... just keep to yourself.

           The sixth question:

              L AM DESPERATE. IF FEEL MORE AND MORE ENERGY AND A DEEP LET-GO WANTING TO
              HAPPEN. IN THE LAST WHILE I OFTEN HAVE A FEELING OF LETTING MYSELF FALL INTO
              SOMETHING, LIKE INTO THE SEA, OR INTO THE INCREDIBLE BEAUTIFUL VAST CLOUDS OF
              THE SKY. BUT THE STRONGER THIS BECOMES, THE STRONGER ANOTHER PART, MY EGO,
              IS TRYING TO KEEP ME DOWN, TO PUT ME TO SLEEP AGAIN, TO TELL ME THAT
              EVERYTHING IS JUST BULLSHIT AND FANTASY. THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY STRONG, AND
              THERE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE ANYTHING LIKE WILLPOWER. I FEEL TOTALLY POWERLESS;
              THAT MAKES ME FEEL DESPERATE, HELPLESS, AND SOMETIMES FRUSTRATED. PLEASE
              HELP ME.


              THE question is from Anand Maria. Maria, there seems to be some misunderstanding in your
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind. It is not the ego that is trying to give you a message that you are moving in fantasies; you are
           moving in fantasies. But fantasies are beautiful. You are dreaming sweet dreams. It is not the ego
           that is pulling you down, it is the ego that is dreaming and that is going into fantasies. The part that
           wants to pull you down is your awareness. You are in a total confusion about it.
                Awareness always brings you back to reality. Ego is, in fact, a dream; it is a false entity. Ego
           never stops anybody from going into fantasies, because ego feeds on fantasy. Ego is the greatest
           fantasy. How can it prevent you from going into fantasies? It wants you to dream, it wants you to
           dream great dreams of the other world.
                It is not the ego that is pulling you down to the earth. The part that is pulling you down to reality
           is awareness, but you are condemning awareness, and you would like to go into the fantasies more
           and more. No, you are in a complete mess, Maria.
           "I feel more and more energy and a deep let-go wanting to happen. In the last while I often have a
           feeling of letting myself fall into something, like the sea, or into the incredible beautiful vast clouds
           of the sky.... " They are nowhere, they are just in your imagination.
           "But the stronger this becomes, the stronger another part, my ego, is trying to keep me down, to put
           me to sleep again, to tell me that everything is just bullshit and fantasy.... " It is; it is bullshit. It will
           be hard for you.
           Let me tell you one anecdote.
                A schoolteacher in London had a mixed class containing children of all religions, of all
           nationalities. One day she asked her class who was the greatest man who ever lived, and said that the
           child who gave the correct answer would receive a shilling.
                The first child was American and answered, "George Washington." Patrick O'Kelly was next and
           he said that St. Patrick was the greatest man who ever lived. Then there was an Indian child who said
           Gautam Buddha, and a Chinese who said Lao Tzu. Then little Abe was next in line and without
           hesitation he answered, "Jesus."
                The teacher promptly gave him the shilling and said, "Now tell me how it is that you, being a
           little Jew, and not believing in Jesus as the Christ, mention his name as the greatest man who ever
           lived?"
           "Well," replied Abe, "deep in my heart I know it was Moses, but business is business."
                Deep in your heart you also know it is bullshit. That's why you are pulled back to the earth again
           and again. Come back to the earth; imagination won't help.
                There is a poetry, a different type of poetry-which arises out of reality. Yes, there are beautiful
           clouds and there are vast oceans of beatitude, but that arises by being rooted in the earth. There is no
           conflict between that beauty and reality. That beauty is nothing but reality itself manifested in its
           total grandeur. But right now, whatsoever you are doing is just a fantasy. So change your emphasis.
           It is the ego which is fantasizing, and it is awareness which is pulling you down.
                Allow awareness to work more and more, and don't waste time in dreams.
           I have heard....
                Two fishermen were exchanging their experiences of the previous day. One man said he had
           caught a three-hundred-pound salmon.
           "But salmon never weighed as much as three hundred pounds," said the other man.
           "Nevertheless, I caught one weighing three hundred pounds. What did you catch?"
           "Not much," answered the second man. "Only a rusty old lamp. But on the bottom of it was
           inscribed: Property of Christopher Columbus, 1492. When I opened the lamp I was surprised to find
           it still held a candle in it, and you know that the candle was still lit?"
           "Now let us get together on these stories," urged the first fisherman. "If you will put out that damned
           candle, I will take a couple of hundred pounds off that salmon."
                One wants to have sweet experiences, one desires to have beautiful experiences. But just by
           desiring you cannot have them, you can only dream about them. You can have them not by desiring,
           but by working hard on your being. Tremendous effort is needed. Then one day reality comes, is
           revealed. And then it has a splendor which no dream can ever have. Because dream is just a dream, a
           thought in the mind -- a colorful thought, but still a thought. When reality is revealed, it is totally
           different; it is millions of times more beautiful than any dream. Don't waste time in dreaming. Walk
           on earth, be in the body, come back to your senses.
10/28/07                                        Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The last question:
           It is from Divya.

              BELOVED MASTER, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE ABOUT LOVE OR MEDITATION; THEY
              ARE ONE TO ME. I SEEK TRUTH AND YOU ARE THE MEANS. MY DEVOTION AND MY
              PRAYERS ARE AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE. LOVE IS NOT THE ASKING, AND LOVE IS
              NOT THE OTHER. LOVE IS, I AM. SOMETIMES I WONDER WHETHER YOU EXIST OR WHETHER
              I AM PERPETUALLY CREATING YOU, OR WHETHER I EXIST SEPARATE FROM YOU. I TRULY
              MUST BE A GOD IF YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. MY LOVE, MY GRATITUDE FOR YOU IS THE
              ONLY CERTAINTY THAT REMAINS, THE ONLY REALITY. I AM THE KNOWING, AND YET EACH
              TIME I HEAR YOU SAY'LOVE OR MEDITATION' YOU CATCH ME AGAIN OFF CENTER, FIDDLING
              WITH CATEGORIES: "AM I THIS OR THAT? LET US SEE.'
              WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TRIP YOU ARE.

              Thank you, Divya.




                                           The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                   Chapter #9
                                    Chapter title: Be The Formless In You
           9 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607090
              ShortTitle: BELOV209
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              MY HEART
              DRESS YOURSELF IN THE SPIRIT
              OF ALL WOMEN
              AND REVERSE YOUR NATURE AND HABITS.
              MILLIONS OF SUNS
              WILL BURST OPEN WITH BRILLIANCE
              AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.



              YOU WILL SEE
              WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN
              ONLY IF YOU CAN BE
              THE FORMLESS IN YOU.


              The song for today:

              MY HEART
              DRESS YOURSELF IN THE SPIRIT
              OF ALL WOMEN
              AND REVERSE YOUR NATURE AND HABITS.
              MILLIONS OF SUNS
              WILL BURST OPEN WITH BRILLIANCE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.



              YOU WILL SEE
              WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN
              ONLY IF YOU CAN BE
              THE FORMLESS IN YOU.


               THE SONG IS TREMENDOUSLY IMPORTANT, IS VERY BASIC TO THE BAUL
           ATTITUDE. There are two approaches towards God: one is of the male mind -- aggressive, active;
           the other is of the feminine mind -- passive, receptive. Bauls belong to the second approach. Just as
           Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu belong to the second approach, Mahavir and Patanjali belong to the first
           approach.
               The male mind seeks and searches God as if God is somewhere else and has to be discovered.
           The feminine mind simply prays and waits. The feminine mind trusts that "When I am ready, God
           will come to me." It is God who comes, not the seeker who goes to God. And in fact, how can you
           seek God? You don't know Him, you don't know His address, you don't know the direction, you
           don't know the definition. And even if you come across Him, how are you going to recognize Him?
           because recognition is possible only if you have known Him before.
               All search in a way is futile. And because of the male mind, atheism has become very
           predominant in the world. It is the failure of the male mind that atheism has become so prevalent. In
           the West atheism has become really the greatest religion -- because the West is male-oriented. The
           very orientation is of conquering -- as if there is a fight between man and God, as if there is a tussle,
           a wrestling. In the West the result of this effort has been only that God has completely disappeared.
           Nietzsche declared, "God is dead." Nietzsche is the very essence of the male mind: will to power,
           will to dominate, will to possess.
               If you search for Him too much, your very search will become a barrier.
               There have been a few people who have attained through that approach also -- a Mahavir, a
           Patanjali -- but those cases are rare, and the struggle is very long and unnecessary. God comes to
           you. God is always coming to you. The Bauls say, "It is not you who seek Him, it is He who is
           seeking you. It is not that you pray to Him, He is praying to you. Listen! Be passive, accept. He is
           knocking on the door, and inside the room you are so occupied in searching and seeking that you
           cannot listen to the knock." Man cannot seek God; only God can seek man. This is a profound truth
           to be understood, because how can you seek God? How can you relate? You are so dark, so dull, so
           asleep, so unconscious, so ignorant -- how are you going to seek? And whatsoever you seek will
           never be bigger than you, cannot be. Your God will be your God.
               If horses seek God, they will make an image of God, but the image will be of a horse, not of a
           man -- because man has never done anything good to horses. In fact, if they had some mythology
           about the devil, man's image would be the image of the devil. If trees are seeking God, they will seek
           in the form of trees -- because we cannot go beyond our form. Our form will be the limitation. So if
           you seek, the God is going to be yours, and your God is almost no God.
               Let Him seek you. Allow Him. His hand has been reaching for you continuously; just be in a
           let-go. Don't escape from Him, that's all. There is no need to seek Him positively, just don't escape
           from Him. Let Him be, listen, be receptive, welcome. In that listening, in that receptivity, He will
           penetrate you. Become feminine, become a woman.
           A Buddha is a woman.
               He was seeking for six years; he tried the male-oriented approach. He was a warrior, the son of a
           great king, trained in the ways of war and fight and struggle. It was natural for him to seek God. He
           tried, he tried hard. He went from one Master to another, and he was so sincere that no Master could
           say to him, "You are not doing right, that's why you are not reaching." He was so sincere in his effort
           that all the teachers told him, "This is all we can say to you. And if it is not happening, then find
           some other Master. We are incapable. We cannot do more than this."
               One day he had renounced the whole world, then came the ultimate renunciation -- one day he
           renounced the searching and seeking also...seeing the futility of it, just groping in the dark. That
           night when he dropped search also, he became a woman. That night he relaxed under the Bodhi tree;
           there was nothing to do now.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Man is a doer. Woman is a lover, not a doer. Man is the mind, woman is the heart. Man can
           create things, but cannot give birth to life. For that, receptivity is needed, receptivity of the earth.
           The seed falls into it, disappears underground, and one day a new life arises. That's how a child is
           born.
               A womb is needed to give birth to God, OR, to give birth to yourself. You have to become a
           womb.

               BUDDHA became a womb that night, renounced all. Now there was nothing to do. Just meditate
           over it: nothing to do. The world was finished, there was nothing to find. Now even the spiritual
           search was gone. Everything became absolutely calm and quiet. When there is nothing to seek there
           is no desire; when there is no desire there is no thought; and when there is no desire, no thought, no
           search, the ego cannot exist. It exists as the doer. In that moment, future disappeared. When you are
           not going to do something, what is the point of having a future? The future is needed as a space to
           project your desires. To project, future is needed.
               That night, future disappeared; in fact, time disappeared. When you are not a doer what is the use
           of time? Buddha relaxed. This relaxation was absolute, total, whole. He relaxed into himself --
           nowhere to go, one has to relax into oneself; no desire, no thought, everything has proved futile. In
           fact, what proved futile was the male-oriented mind, the mind of the doer. In the morning when the
           last star was disappearing, he opened his eyes. The whole night had been a night of dreamless sleep,
           because dreams are by-products of desires. Have you watched? When you want to do something, it is
           very difficult to sleep in the night; the morning is too exciting. The tomorrow is too exciting, you
           have to do something. Even if you are going for a holiday to the Himalayas, you cannot sleep in the
           night; planning continues. You have to do this and that, and rehearsal continues. Sleep becomes
           difficult... dreams.
               Buddha slept for the first time. That sleep was SAMADHI: no thought, no dream, no desire. He
           relaxed into his center, and when he opened his eyes he was like a small babe -- fresh, young. He
           looked at the last disappearing star, and as the star disappeared, he also disappeared. He became
           enlightened. But enlightenment happened in a deeply feminine state of mind.
               Hence, Jains and Buddhists are always in conflict -- because Mahavir is a male-oriented mind, a
           warrior, a conqueror. That is the meaning of the word 'mahavir'. That is not his real name; his real
           name was Vardhman. But he conquered truth. And he was so brave and the adventure was so great
           that he is remembered as Mahavir: the great courageous one. There is a very subtle conflict between
           Jains and Buddhists. Down through the centuries they have been arguing against each other. That
           can be understood. The reason is male-mind, female-mind, yin and yang, active and passive, day and
           night. The day is the symbol of the man; the night is the symbol of the woman. The day is full of
           activity, the night is simply rest. The day is bright, light -- the sun is there. You can see things
           clear-cut. You can define things: you can know what is what and who is who. In the night darkness
           surrounds. The whole existence is enveloped in darkness. You cannot distinguish what is what; you
           cannot see where you are, who you are. It is a tremendous relaxation of all definitions, of all
           limitations, Woman is always known as the dark one, the night, the earth.
               Buddha became a woman that night; he became enlightened.
           Bauls say,

              MY HEART,
              DRESS YOURSELF IN THE SPIRIT
              OF ALL WOMEN...


               Become a woman. They mean of course, psychologically, spiritually. It has nothing to do with
           your body, but your attitude. Woman is patient. Just think of a man having a child in his belly for
           nine months. You cannot conceive that a man will be able to tolerate it -- impossible. A woman is
           very patient, accepting. The woman's resistance is much stronger than man's. Man in fact is the
           weaker sex. He may be stronger as far as muscles are concerned, but muscles are no criterion of
           strength. One hundred fifteen boys are born to a hundred girls. By the time they reach the age of
           marriage, fifteen boys have died. Nature has to give birth to more males because a few of them are
           going to die. Women live longer than men, almost five years more; that's why you see so many
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           widows in the world. And women are more resistant to illness, disease. Women are more tolerant,
           more accepting. From where comes this strength? -- it comes from their receptivity.

           When you are a doer you exhaust yourself.
                A woman and a man making love...man exhausts himself; woman is enriched, nourished,
           because she is a receptive end. Making love, a man loses energy, a woman gains it. That's why
           women have been suppressed all over the world. If they were not suppressed the man would be
           killed: it would become impossible for any man to satisfy any woman. Now, modern researchers say
           that woman have multiple orgasms. A woman can make love to one dozen people in one night and
           still feel fresh, full of energy. A man can make love only once, and then he is exhausted. Man throws
           energy out, woman takes energy in.
                The same has to happen with God. The Bauls say, "Become feminine, become passive." But
           remember, when they say become passive they don't mean to become lazy. To be lazy is also the
           same as-to be active. Lazy is not passive. He may not be doing anything, but in his mind he goes on
           doing. He may not be actually doing anything, but he goes on doing many things in the mind -- even
           more so, because the whole energy is available and he has nothing do. He goes on thinking and
           doing things in the mind; that activity remains. Passivity does not mean inactivity, it means a very
           expectant patience, a very active patience, alive patience. The lazy man is dull; the lazy man is
           simply dead. Passivity is not deadness. It is fully alive: the reservoir is full of energy, but not going
           anywhere, not going. in any search, just waiting for the Beloved to come.
                That's why women never take any initiative in love affairs -- they cannot. And if a woman takes
           initiative in the love affair, then she must be a part of the 'lib movement'. Then she is losing her
           womanhood somehow. They wait: the initiative has to come from the man. The woman waits -- not
           that she doesn't love, she loves tremendously; no man can love that deeply -- but she waits. She
           trusts that things will happen in their right time, and hurrying is not good. A woman is non-tense but
           full of energy, hence the feminine beauty. The roundness of the feminine body is not only a physical
           thing -- the same is so in her psychology also. She has a round shape, smooth, warm, ready to
           dissolve, but not aggressive. Passivity means non-aggressiveness, non-violence. It is not laziness.
           I have heard....
                The Swiss people, especially those from their capital, Berne, are said to be as slow as snails. So
           one day two Berner friends went out for a walk. After one hour one said, "Christmas is beautiful."
                Another hour passed when his friend answered, "Yes, and love is beautiful too."
                After a long while the first answered, "You are right but Christmas is more often."
                One can be so lazy that Christmas is more often than love-making.
                Laziness is a sort of stagnancy. Laziness is lustlessness; laziness is suicide -- slow, very slow. So
           remember, passivity is not negation of energy. Passivity is a reservoir of energy -- vibrant, throbbing
           streaming, ready to receive, but non-aggressive.
                It happened: A sufi mystic was sitting under a tree. A passer-by told him, "What are you doing
           here? Your house is on fire." Just in front of him the house was on fire.
           "I know it, stranger," said the so-called mystic.
           "Then why are you not doing something about it?" cried the excited stranger.
           "I am," said that mystic. "ever since the fire started, I have been praying for rain."

               THE Baul is not lazy. He is full of action, but he is not active. This distinction has to be
           understood.
               You can sit, for all practical purposes, not doing anything, and your mind can go on being active,
           occupied, engaged. You can be engaged in much activity and your mind can remain inactive,
           passive, aloof, detached. They are not against being active, they are against being continuously
           occupied inside, because then you don't give space for God to enter into you. You don't allow Him
           enough door. Your inner world is so full of rotten furniture that He cannot find a place to stay there.
           A deep inner emptiness is needed; that inner emptiness becomes the womb.
               So I'm not saying stop doing, stop action; I'm not saying that. I am saying that whatsoever you
           are doing, let it be just an outside activity. Inside become feminine, silent, doors opened, empty,
           waiting.
               In the mother's womb the feminine egg simply waits. It does not go anywhere. The male sperm
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           travels, and it travels with fast speed. It is really a tremendous distance for the male sperm to travel
           to the woman's egg; great competition starts. Men are competitive from the very beginning, even
           before they are born. While making love to a woman a man releases millions of sperm, and they all
           rush towards the egg. Great speed is needed because only one will be able to reach the egg, not all.
           Only one is going to be the Nobel Prize winner. The real Olympics start there! And it is a life and
           death question, it is not ordinary. And great is the competition -- millions of sperms fighting, rushing
           -- one will reach. Sometimes it happens that two reach at the same time, hence twins are born.
           Because once one sperm has entered, then the door is closed. Sometimes two sperms reach exactly at
           the same time, or three sperms reach exactly at the same time; the door was open, so all the three
           enter in. Then there are three children born, or two children, or four, or even six. But that rarely
           happens. Ordinarily one reaches just a split second before the others. The door is open; once one
           guest has entered, the door closes. But the feminine egg simply waits there...great trust.
               That's why women cannot be competitive: they cannot fight, they cannot struggle. And if you
           find a woman somewhere who struggles and fights, who is competitive, then something of
           womanhood is missing in her. Physically she may be a woman, psychologically she is a man.
               So remember, passivity is not laziness. Passivity has its own kind of activity. It is non-tense,
           relaxed.
               Two turtles were dragging through the desert, very thirsty. After a while they discovered a big
           bottle of Coca-Cola (must have been Americans). They jumped with joy, but soon realized they had
           no opener. They tried hard but there was no chance to open the bottle, so they decided one would go
           back to the village and the other would watch the bottle. A long time passed -- five hours, ten hours,
           one day, two days, five days, seven days. Then the one turtle again tried to open the bottle.
           Immediately, the other one came running from the nearby sand dune and shouted, "If you start like
           this, I will never go."

               BAULS are very active people, whirlwinds -- dancing, singing, and yet very inactive people as
           far as God is concerned. They say, "Whenever YOU think is the right time, come; you will find me
           waiting. I am helpless, I don't know where you are. I am helpless, I don't know how to find you. My
           only prayer is that you help me to allow you to find me." They simply dance and wait, they sing and
           wait. This waiting for God is their prayer.
               If you can wait you will pass through a great transformation. Nothing is needed to be done;
           simple waiting -- but it needs great trust. Otherwise the mind will say, "What are you doing? If you
           are not going to seek Him, you will never find Him."
               Bauls say, just like Lao Tzu, "Seek and you will miss. Seek not and find." He is here; your
           seeking takes you somewhere else. He has already come. The guest is at the door; He is knocking.
           But you are so occupied inside the mind -- maybe occupied for Him, thinking about Him, but so
           occupied -- that you cannot listen to the moment, and you cannot be open to the herenow.

              MY HEART,
              DRESS YOURSELF IN THE SPIRIT
              OF ALL WOMEN
              AND REVERSE YOUR NATURE AND HABITS.


                Patanjali calls his reversal PRATYAHAR -- go back to the source. Mahavir calls this reversion
           PRATYA KRAMAN -- come in, don't go without; fall withinwards. Ordinarily your mind is
           future-oriented, always moving somewhere else, looking for God somewhere in the future. Bauls say
           He has been here from the very beginning. He is not in the future. He is the very cause, the source of
           all, so no need to seek Him in the future. Just fall deep down into your own being and you will find
           Him waiting for you to come home. He is already there, He is already the case.

              ... AND REVERSE YOUR NATURE AND HABITS.


              What do they mean by reversing your habits and your nature? Ordinarily man is upside-down.
           Non-essential things have become very important to you, and you go on losing the essential. You go
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on gathering seashells and colored stones, not for a single moment becoming aware that you are
           losing your life. That is the only precious thing.
           I have heard....
               Mulla Nasrudin was stabbed by burglars, but before dying he wrote a note to his wife from the
           hospital. The last paragraph of it read, "I have been very fortunate because only the day before I had
           put all my money and negotiable bonds in my safety deposit box at the bank, so that I am losing
           practically nothing but my life."
               But life is all. What else is there? If you lose life and gain the whole world, what are you
           gaining? And if you gain your life and lose the whole world, nothing is lost.
               The Bauls say, "You will have to change your habits, you will almost have to reverse your
           nature." Right now you are going outward; you will have to go inward. Right now you are seeking
           God; you will have to allow Him to seek you. Right now you are attached to material things which
           have no intrinsic value; you will have to attach yourself to spiritual values which are really eternally
           valuable. Right now you go on fighting with life, struggling. Almost everyone believes in the
           survival of the fittest, so one goes on fighting and fighting and fighting. The Bauls say; "Love, don't
           fight. God is never known through fighting. Nothing is achieved through fighting; only love opens
           the door."
               Right now we go on thinking that someday in the future we are going to be happy, joyful,
           celebrating, Bauls say, "You are fools! If you want to be happy, joyful, celebrating, nothing is
           lacking. Right now, this moment, dance; this moment, laugh. This moment is all there is; celebrate it.
           " People come to me and if I say to them, "Celebrate your life," they say, "Yes, that's why we have
           come here: to learn how to create situations in which we can celebrate." The situation is already
           there: trees go on celebrating, birds go on singing. What do they have? -- no bank balance, no
           prestige, no power. They are not presidents or prime ministers. But have you ever seen trees or birds
           brooding, worried, thinking of the future? No, they simply live. What has happened to man?

           BAULS say, "Celebrate this moment."
               This is what Christ called conversion: a one hundred and eighty degree turn -- less will not do.
           That's what I call SANNYAS: a hundred eighty-degree turn -- less will not do. It is not a question of
           renouncing life, it is just a question of renouncing old habits. It is just a question of becoming more
           alert and seeing what is essential and what is not. If you go on choosing the essential, sooner or later
           you will reach to the essential man, what Bauls call ADHAR MANUSH. And the way to reach to the
           essential man is to be SAHAJA MANUSH, spontaneous man. Spontaneity should be the prayer, but
           we are so cunning and so clever.
               I stayed once with an efficiency expert. When we were going to sleep, he sat in his bed and he
           said, "Now I will pray." So I watched him to see what prayer he was doing. He looked at the sky and
           said, "Ditto."
               I was surprised: "What type of prayer is this?" So I asked him, "If you are not offended, if you
           don't mind, please tell me. I have heard many types of prayers, but 'ditto'? This is something
           absolutely new."
               He said, "I say a prayer only once in a year, the first day of the year. And then what is the point
           of repeating the same prayer every day? I say 'ditto', and God must understand."

                Even prayer is calculation. Even in prayer people are so miserly. They cannot say something to
           God today. In fact, their cleverness is the basis of their stupidity; their cunningness is the cause of
           their idiocy. They are not intelligent. An intelligent person lives in the moment -- very responsive.
           He allows his heart to move into prayer. He does not force anything upon the heart, he simply allows
           it to flow towards God. In fact, you should always remember that prayer is not to change the heart of
           God, prayer changes YOU. But people pray in such a way, as if they are giving advice to God:
           "Don't do this, do this!" All prayers, if reduced to the bare minimum, will mean that people are
           saying to God, "Please God, don't let two plus two be four. Have compassion on me. This time at
           least make two plus two be five." Prayers are complaints, grumblings. Then the prayer does not
           exist.
                Prayer is not to change God; He needs no change. Prayer is to change yourself. But how can
           saying 'ditto' change you? If you say 'ditto', you remain ditto; there is no possibility. Let it be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remembered always that prayer never changes God. There is no need to change Him. He is as He
           should be, and His existence is as it should be -- perfect. The only change needed is within your own
           heart. Your prayer changes you. When you cry, tears come, or you sing and you dance, it changes
           YOU.
                Of course, when you are in a different mood, a feminine mood, God can come closer to you; you
           attract Him, you allow Him, you become an opening towards Him. Prayer is an opening towards
           God. It is putting your heart before Him so His presence can transform you. And this should be the
           way of the whole of your life. It is not a question of praying once a day or once a year or once in a
           lifetime. Prayer should become like breathing; it should be there each moment.
                The Baul never goes to the temple or to the mosque or to the gurudwara. Wherever he is, he is in
           prayer.
                People who live unspontaneous lives become too crowded by thoughts -- of course, borrowed.
           All thoughts are borrowed. Knowledge as such is borrowed. KNOWING is pure and yours, but
           knowledge is not. People who are not spontaneous become mechanical. They don't see what is the
           case, they go on seeing what their expertise allows them to see; they see through blinkers.
           I have heard....
                Mulla Nasrudin's wife was carried to the hospital in an unconscious condition after a terrible fall.
           The surgeon made a brief examination, but shook his head significantly and turned sympathetically
           to the anxious husband. "Mulla," he said, "I'm sorry to tell you that your wife is dead."
           "No, I ain't," said the supposed corpse, opening one eye.
           "Hush up you!" said Nasrudin. "Doesn't the doctor know better than you?"

               EXPERTS are everywhere. It is good as far as worldly thing are concerned, but in the spiritual
           dimension there are no experts -- because the spiritual dimension does not allow itself to be defined,
           to be reduced to theorems. It is not geometry and it is not mathematics, it is sheer poetry. It knows no
           limitations, hence the spontaneous songs of the Bauls. They are not philosophers, not
           metaphysicians; they are simple singers, poets. And their poetry is not according to the rules, and
           their poetry is not what people know of as poetry. They don't know any metro, they are not worried
           about language; they are simple people. Their poetry is their overflowing heart.

              ... AND REVERSE YOUR NATURE AND HABITS.


               The key to this sutra is: become conscious, because all your habits are unconsciously dominated.
           You do things like a sleepwalker. Become conscious and your habits will change, and the conversion
           will happen. Do whatsoever you are doing but become more conscious while doing it. Don't become
           a robot, be a man.
               Bauls say that once consciousness enters into your being, a new climate arises. In that new
           climate, new flowers open; in that new climate, new birds come and nestle around you; in that new
           climate, God is the closest reality. He is within and He is without. But God is not a theory to be
           discussed; it is something to be lived. It is an experience.
           They sing,


                  He talks to me
                  but He would not let me see Him.


              Listen to each single word very attentively...


                  He talks to me
                  but He would not let me see Him.
                  He moves close to my hands,
                  but away from my reach.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  I explore the sky and the earth
                  searching Him,
                  circling round my error
                  of not knowing me:
                  who am I, and who is He?


               "He talks to me but he would not let me see him...." These are symbols. I am talking to you; then
           you are passive because you have only to listen. When I am talking to you you become feminine,
           you become the receiving end. But if you want to see me you become male, because then you have
           to do something.

               THE Bauls say: God talks to me but He would not let me see Him. He allows me to be passive
           but he won't allow me to be active. He moves close to my hands, I can almost touch Him, but the
           moment I try to touch He is far away. He moves close to my hands but away from my reach, because
           reaching for Him is again active. He comes close to you when you are simply waiting. Don't try to
           grab Him, He is very elusive. The moment you become male, He is gone; the moment you become
           female, He is there.


                  Attested by your own heart,
                  oh my Master,
                  lead me the right way.
                  As you play the melody
                  on the lute,
                  the lute could never sing on its own
                  without you to play it.


               "... Attested by your own heart, oh my Master, lead me the right way" The Baul says, "I don't
           know which is the right way; you lead me. And I have nothing to say about the goal. Let your heart
           decide it. Whatsoever you decide is my destiny. Lead me the right way as you play the melody on
           the lute. The lute could never sing on its own without you to play it." The Baul becomes a hollow
           bamboo, a flute. This is what passivity is. If God is ready to sing, the Baul is ready to take His song
           as far as he can -- but he himself cannot sing. All song is His, all energy is His. At the most we can
           be hollow bamboos, not obstructing the way. If this is achieved, everything is achieved. If you are
           not obstructing the way of His song, enough. Humanity cannot do more than that.


                  How could he stand
                  in a normal upright way?
                  The man without a heart in him,
                  the roots of his tree
                  are planted in the sky
                  and the branches lie on the earth.
                  Flowers are in blossom
                  on the tree,
                  but it never bears fruit.
                  For him
                  the river is dying of thirst
                  and the fire perishes, freezing,
                  and birds nestle in the water.
                  He is meeting his Master
                  in the cremation ground.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               ORDINARY life is a chaos. Things are not where they should be. Everything is misplaced. Roots
           are in the sky and branches are coming to the earth. The tree has flowered, but it never comes to
           fruit. The river is there and one is dying of thirst. God is there but you are standing on your head, so
           you cannot see Him. Or, even if you see Him, you see Him very distorted.
               Mind is a mechanism to distort. Hence, whether you are on the, path of love or on the path of
           meditation, one thing is needed on both the paths as a basic requirement: that the mind should be put
           aside. Mind goes on distorting.

              MILLIONS OF SUNS
              WILL BURST OPEN WITH BRILLIANCE
              AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.


              God is a tremendous experience of light, of beauty, of splendor. God is not a word, it is a
           dimension. It is a vast ocean in which you disappear like a small drop.

              MILLIONS OF SUNS
              WILL BURST OPEN WITH BRILLIANCE
              AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.


               And once you have tasted Him, then every form becomes His form. Then the formless is bursting
           all around. But first, one has to have the taste. If I tell you that in these green trees it is He who is
           green, words will reach you but meaning will not. You will understand what I am saying, and yet
           you will not understand. Words you will understand: the container you will carry, but the content
           will be lost unless you have tasted Him. Then, everything is His form. In a rock, He is a rock; in a
           tree, He is the tree; in a flower, He is a flower; understand: the container you will not understand.
           Words you will in the star, He is a star. Then all forms are His. In tremendous forms, in millions of
           forms, He is expressing Himself. God is expression, manifestation, revelation. If you watch your
           own being you will be able to understand it.
               If you have some talent -- if you can paint, or if you can sing, or if you can compose poetry --
           then unless you have done it you will not feel happy, you will not feel fulfilled. Unless your destiny
           is fulfilled, unless your innermost core has become creative, you will feel something is missing
           somewhere. You may know it, you may not know it, but you will feel a gap, a big gap in your life.
           You may have all that life can give to you, but if you have not found the right thing that allows your
           being to express itself, then you will be like a rosebush on which flowers have never happened. Then
           the rosebush will be sad, because the rosebush will be just futile. What is the point of being there?
           Once flowers bloom, the rosebush has attained to meaning, significance; the rosebush has become
           creative. Her soul is released, she is no more in bondage.
               If you ask me what is MOKSHA, liberation, this is MOKSHA for me: to release your soul from
           bondage. I'm not telling you to go to the monasteries, or to the Himalayas and sit in a cave and just
           waste your life. I am saying that you move into the creative dimension because that is the dimension
           of God. Sing if you have a song to sing, and that will be your MOKSHA. Paint if painting is
           somewhere hidden in you and wants to assert -- that will be your MOKSHA. Dance! If dance is
           throbbing within your heart, then let it be manifested. Once manifested, your soul will be free.
               As I see it, the so-called religious people are less religious than the creative people. A poet is
           more religious to me, a painter more religious, a dancer more religious than your so-called
           MAHATMAS -- because they are not creative at all. They are almost stupid people; they are simply
           withering away. They are rosebushes that have stopped growing rose flowers: now even to call them
           rosebushes is not right. They are simply vegetating.

               IN India a great calamity has happened: these people are respected. Uncreative people are
           respected, and the reasons to give them respect are simply foolish. Somebody can fast -- now this is
           uncreative activity; or somebody can stand for hours in the hot sun -- now this is good in a circus,
           but life is not enriched by it; or somebody can lie on a bed of thorns. What is the point in it? What
           are you creating? One can become very insensitive and lie down on thorns. And the body has dead
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spots on it, so if you try to find out you will be able to find out. Just tell your wife or your husband to
           take a thorn or a needle and push many spots on your back. You will see that a few spots you will
           feel, and a few you will not feel; those are the spots. There are dead spots on the back. One has just
           to find where they are, then you can lie down on a bed of thorns. And by and by, the body becomes
           immune, resistant, hard. But these people lose all sensitivity: they have never produced a song, they
           have never danced. But in India they are thought to be great souls. It is ugly, it is stupid, it is very
           dangerous -- because the whole country has been worshipping uncreativity.
               Worship dancers, singers; worship poets, painters; worship creative people -- because God's only
           definition is creativity. He's the creator, so be a creator in your own right. Then your stream runs
           parallel to His stream. And if you become really creative, totally creative, you fall into His stream.
           He starts functioning through you. All creativity is His, so whenever you are creative, you are
           prayerful. Whether you go to the mosque or the temple is irrelevant.
               Bauls are very creative people, simple, but very creative. This I call the great calamity that
           happened in India. Because of this many things disappeared: the genius of this country disappeared.
           You don't need a genius to fast, you need only a stubborn, muletype mind, that's all; just a cruel,
           masochistic mind, that's all. So your MAHATMAS are nothing but super-masochists, destructive
           people. If you starve somebody else you will be caught by the police; if you starve yourself you will
           be respected as a MAHATMA. But in both cases you are creating pain, misery.
               I have been in contact with thousands of monks -- Jain monks, Buddhist monks, Hindu monks.
           Rarely has it happened -- I was simply surprised -- rarely did I come across somebody who was
           intelligent. But they are doing certain things which have become respectable, and nobody
           re-evaluates that if you honor and respect uncreative things, the country will become, by and by,
           more uncreative.
               Bow your head down wherever you find creativity, because God is nothing but creativity. So
           wherever there is a sign of creativity, God has a signature there. He has already been there. Maybe
           even the poet does not know, but he has been touched by something from the beyond.
               Rabindranath used to close his doors whenever he would be in a poetic mood -- sometimes for
           one day, two days, three days he would not come out. He would forget about food, he would not go
           to the bathroom, he would forget about everything. The whole family and his disciples would be
           worried too: "How long is this going to be?..." And he had told them never to disturb him, because
           whenever he was in a poetic mood, God is there. So disturbing him would be disturbing God. He
           would cry and tears would fall from his eyes, and he would be almost transfigured.
               Once it happened that a group of people had come to meet him, and they were drinking tea.
           Suddenly the cup slipped from Rabindranath's hand, and he closed his eyes. People knew... they
           watched this beautiful phenomenon for a single moment. His face changed -- a new radiance, a new
           grace, something of the invisible entered. They, without disturbing him, slowly, slowly disappeared.
           Only one man remained, hiding behind a tree to see what was happening. He had come for the first
           time. That man himself has told me, "I have never seen such a transfiguration. By and by,
           Rabindranath was no more human -- something superhuman, a great ecstasy. And I could see the
           luminousness, and he started swaying, and he started singing. And those words were not coming
           from him; he was just instrumental. For three days he remained in that state."
               Poetry is always born when the poet is just instrumental. Painting is born when the painter is not
           painting his ideas, but is possessed by God. Remember it: I would like my sannyasins to be creative,
           because I don't know of any other way to come close to God.

               THESE uncreative religions and uncreative religious people have done nothing but harm --
           quarrelling, argumentative, killing each other. And with the problem about the transcendental, one
           thing is very complex: you cannot prove anything. The experience is transcendental. Christians
           cannot prove they are right. Hindus cannot prove they are right. No, no decision can be decisive, so
           they go on fighting and quarrelling. The whole energy that should become creative becomes
           destructive.
               This also has to be noted down: if you don't use your energy in a creative way, if it doesn't
           become a dance and a laughter and a delight, then the same energy will become harmful and
           poisonous. It will be destructive.
               It is said that Adolf Hitler wanted to become a painter, but he was refused admission. Just think:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the whole world would have been totally different if he had been accepted in the academy. There
           would have been no Second World War. The whole humanity would have been totally different. But
           this man could not be creative. He wanted to be creative, he had the energy; certainly he had
           tremendous energy: he dragged the whole world towards destruction as no other man has ever been
           able to do. But it was the same energy; it could have become creative, but became uncreative.
           I have heard....
               The father lectured his son on the evils of fisticuffs as a way of settling disputes. "Don't you
           know that when you grow up you can't use your fists to settle an argument?" the father began. "You
           must begin to use peaceful and amicable means of arriving at a decision. Try to reason things out, try
           to discover by logic and evidence which is right and abide by the right. Remember that might does
           not make right. Though the strong may win over the weak, that still does not prove that the weak is
           wrong."
           "I know, Dad, "said the boy, kicking at the grass. "But this was different."
           "Different? What different? How different? What were you and Johnny arguing about that you had
           to fight over it?"
           "Well, he said he could whip me and I couldn't whip him, and there was only one way to find out
           which of us was right."
               It cannot be decided by amicable means. If this is the question: who can whip whom? then only
           whipping can decide. Destructive people are always very egoistic because they don't know how to
           drop their egos. The creative person knows glimpses of no-ego of egolessness. He knows states of
           no-ego. In moments of creativity, he becomes so possessed that he has a taste of something of the
           beyond. But a destructive person knows no non-ego states; he becomes a crystallized ego. And then
           the whole world goes on fighting: Hindus fighting Mohammedans, Mohammedans fighting Hindus,
           Christians fighting Jews, Jews fighting Christians -- and the whole world is just a conflict. It could
           have been a great orchestra, but it is simply a war.
               Religion has to become creative. To be uncreative should be thought as the original sin, and to be
           creative should be thought as the only and the super-most virtue.

              MILLIONS OF SUNS
              WILL BURST OPEN WITH BRILLIANCE
              AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.


               If you are moving in the right direction -- receptive, creative, happy, celebrating, loving --
           millions of suns will burst open. One day you come to your innermost shrine...

              ... AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.



              YOU WILL SEE
              WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN
              ONLY IF YOU CAN BE
              THE FORMLESS IN YOU.


               Remember it: you can see only if you can be the formless in you. If you want to see the formless
           you will have to become formless within. Because only when the wavelengths are the same, is there
           communion. When you are also formless within you, suddenly something clicks and you are one
           with God. He is formless, you are formless; there cannot be two formlessnesses. There can be
           millions of forms, but formlessness can only be one.

               HOW to attain to this inner formlessness? -- drop the ego. That is giving you a limitation. Drop
           the very word'1'. Use it, it is utilitarian in the outside world, but never bring it home. Never say'I'
           inside because that makes a limitation, and because of that barrier you will never be able to move
           into the Beloved, and you will never be able to allow the Beloved to move into you. If you want to
           see God, become something like God. Be creative -- one thing; be formless -- another thing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                  Have you tallied,
                  my heart,
                  the number of ways of finding Him
                  in the city of love?
                  The treasure of life,
                  sans bogus reckonings,
                  the world is a carnival
                  where lovers meet
                  like children of games.
                  Figure out the nature of your feelings
                  for the jewel of your life.
                  He is reached in the way
                  each seek to reach Him.

                  He is reached in the way each seek to reach Him....



                  Through tender passion or servitude,
                  through loyalty or parental care,
                  or through the love
                  of tranquility, peace,
                  find the feelings
                  which are born with you
                  and then worship Him
                  with your own strength.


               Bauls say that there are no fixed laws and rules to reach Him. There is no methodology. There
           are no super highways to reach to Him, only small footpaths. And each has to seek Him in his own
           way. Of course, a poet has to seek in his own way, a dancer has to seek in his own way, a lover has
           to seek in his own way, a meditator has to seek in his own way. So you should never listen to what
           others are saying; listen to your feelings. Remain true to yourself and you will remain true to God.
           He has already given you the key -- the key is in your feelings. Never imitate, because there is no
           one way for all. If you understand me rightly, then the really religious world will be a world of no
           religions -- no Hindu, no Mohammedan, no Christian, no Jain. A real world which is religious will
           be of religious people: everybody seeking and searching in his own way. And God is not limited.

               JESUS says, "In my God's house there are many mansions." Yes, there are millions of doors. In
           fact, for each individual there is a separate door, special; nobody else can enter through that door but
           you. So don't imitate: imitation creates falsity, pseudo-ness, inauthenticity. Just feel your own way
           and don't bother about what others say. It is nobody else's business. Don't bother about what
           churches say, organizations say -- listen to your own heart.
               Bauls are very individualistic. Religion has to be individualistic because it is a process of
           individuation. But what other religions have done up to now is to destroy individuality and try to
           make everybody a part of the crowd. They have created mobs, and they have destroyed individuals.
           Bauls are rebellious about it.


                  He who has seen the beauty
                  of the Beloved friend
                  can never forget it.
                  The form is for seeing
                  but not for discourse,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  as beauty has no comparison.
                  He who has seen that form
                  flashing on the mirror,
                  the darkness of his heart
                  is gone.
                  He lives with his eyes
                  focused on the form,
                  careless of the river
                  between life and death.
                  His heart
                  forever devoted to the beauty
                  dares the gods.


               Each one has to come to his own vision, each one has to look through his own eyes. You cannot
           see through my eyes, and you cannot touch Him through my hands. Even if I hold your hand and put
           it on Him, it will never reach to Him -- because you are not ready. If you are ready, He is always
           reaching you. And what is readiness in the eyes of the Bauls? -- become individual.
               Remember, God is very original; He never makes the same model again. A Buddha is a Buddha,
           a Krishna is a Krishna -- never again does He repeat. So don't go on carrying Gitas and
           Dhammapadas. Read them as beautiful pieces: read them as poetry, but not as religion. Read them as
           great art, literature, but not as religion. Listen to the Koran recited -- it is tremendously beautiful
           whether you understand it or not, whether you know the language or not. The very word 'koran'
           means recite. There is no comparison; no other scripture can be recited so beautifully. It is aesthetic,
           it has a tremendous beauty of sound; listen to it. Read the Bible -- never has literature ever been able
           to transcend the simple assertions of Jesus -- but never as religion. Religion you will have to find
           yourself. Poetry you can find, beautiful assertions you can find. And I'm not saying don't read them,
           because they are your heritage. They make you rich. A man who has not read about Buddha and who
           has not read his assertions cannot be contemporary. Something will be missing. If you have not read
           the Koran and the Bible and Mahavir's statements, then you will lack something very essential. You
           will be poorer for that. Read, but read as great literature. Enjoy it, delight in it, but don't believe. A
           poem is not to be believed, it is to be delighted in.

               BELIEF is borrowed. You will have to find your own trust, you will have to find your own faith.
           Hard is the path, arduous are the ways. In the beginning it looks almost impossible to reach, but I say
           to you, it is only in appearance. If you start moving: if you start praying, if you start dancing, if you
           start singing in His name, He arrives.


                  Do you wish to visit
                  my inner home
                  and drink nectar,
                  my heart?
                  Will you not fail to enter
                  where lovers march
                  in a joyous carnival
                  singing of love?
                  Then walk the way
                  with a lamp of beauty,
                  leaving behind this greed,
                  that lust,
                  the ways of the world,
                  and all qualities.
                  Blames and violence,
                  old age and death,
                  dawn and dusk
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  do not live there.
                  Only rays of color
                  brilliantly shine.


               What cannot be seen you will see. The impossible will happen. Religion is the impossible
           revolution. It happens -- it is almost impossible to believe that it happens. It is so beyond the
           ordinary mind: it is so beyond logic, it is so beyond intellect, that it is difficult to believe that it
           happens -- but it happens. Look into my eyes, look into ME, watch and feel; it has happened. It can
           happen to you.

              YOU WILL SEE
              WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN
              ONLY IF YOU CAN BE
              THE FORMLESS IN YOU.


               BUT the only art that you have to learn is how to be formless within you. How to drop the ego is
           the very core of all religions; how to efface yourself utterly, so utterly that your room is just an
           emptiness, that you are just a room and nothing else, just space, pure space. In that pure space one
           starts seeing that which cannot be seen, and one starts hearing that which cannot be heard, and one
           starts touching what cannot be touched, and one arrives to the point where all seeking, searching,
           desiring disappears. One is fulfilled.
               That benediction is your birthright. And if you are missing, nobody else is responsible. Only you,
           and ONLY you are responsible if you miss. There is no need to miss even for a single moment
           anymore. Once understood, what is the problem? Why cannot you put yourself aside? Why cannot
           you be in a state where no'I' exists?
               Sometimes it happens accidentally. Listening to great music, sometimes it happens that you
           forget that you are. You ARE, more so than ever before -- more grounded, more centered -- but still
           you forget that you are. It disappears in great music. Watching a Himalayan peak, it disappears
           sometimes. It is so wonderful, so surprising, so pure... the untouched Himalayan snow... that for a
           moment you touch an altitude of your own being, and the ego is left, deep down.
               Sometimes, if in the night you are suddenly awakened, for a single moment you are puzzled
           about who you are and where you are. Have you not watched it? Otherwise, ask your wife or
           husband one day to wake you suddenly in the night, to shake you, and see: for a few seconds you
           are, but there is no feeling of who you are. The name, the form, the identity is not there. You are
           coming from such deep sleep that it will take a little time to take back the garb of the ego.

               IT happens in love. Two lovers sitting are not two -- something between them has fallen,
           disappeared. Barriers gone, they are overlapping. It happens accidentally also, but if you understand
           it you can, by and by, allow it to grow in you. That's all that religion is about.

              MY HEART,
              DRESS YOURSELF IN THE SPIRIT
              OF ALL WOMEN
              AND REVERSE YOUR NATURE AND HABITS.
              MILLIONS OF SUNS
              WILL BURST OPEN WITH BRILLIANCE
              AND THE FORMLESS IN VISUAL FORMS.



              YOU WILL SEE
              WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN
              ONLY IF YOU CAN BE
              THE FORMLESS IN YOU.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                The Beloved, Vol 2
                                                   Chapter #10
                                             Chapter title: Love Is Death
           10 July 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7607100
              ShortTitle: BELOV210
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 81 mins




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO, THERE IS NO MORE SEARCHING AND SEEKING. THAT HAS ALL STOPPED. I
              HAVE FOUND NOTHING IN PARTICULAR, BUT I FEEL FREE, FREED. I GO ABOUT MY
              BUSINESS WITHOUT ANXIETY. THIS FOR ME IS BLISS, AND I FEEL SUCH A FLOOD OF
              GRATITUDE FOR YOUR PRESENCE HERE. GIRISHA.


               THERE IS NOTHING TO BE FOUND IN PARTICULAR. The search for the particular is
           illusory, utterly illusory. The mind seeks something in particular; that is the problem with the mind.
           God is not a particular thing or a particular being; God is sheer existence. All that is is God. God is
           the greatest generality. You cannot find Him somewhere because He is everywhere. You cannot find
           Him in any place because He is the whole, the total. You cannot indicate Him; whatsoever the
           indication, it will be wrong: He is in all directions, within and without.
               Mind is narrow; it goes on seeking in a very concentrated way. Concentration is not the approach
           towards God. Concentration is a mind approach. God is everywhere, so you have to relax, you have
           to be meditative. That's the difference between concentration and meditation. Concentration is a
           focusing of the mind exclusively on something. That's what desire is: a concentrated mind, a mind
           intent to reach somewhere, to reach something, a great seeking -- but it has to be narrow. And God is
           the infinite.
               You have to relax, and you have to drop all searching -- only then you'll find Him. Seek, and you
           will never find Him. Just be, and He has always been there surrounding you. He has never left you
           for a single moment, because you cannot exist without Him. It is impossible to be without Him for a
           single split moment. He is your life. He is your being. You can exist without food for months, you
           can exist without water for a few days, you can exist without air for a few seconds, but you cannot
           exist without God even for a split second. It is impossible.
               This is my whole effort here: to help you to relax. I am not here to make you tense, ambitious,
           desiring to find God. One who is searching is still in the world. The searcher is part of the world.
           One day he was seeking money, power, prestige; now he is seeking God, bliss, heaven, but the
           search continues. He has only changed the objects of the search, but he remains the same. I am here
           to help you to see the point that God is already the case. You are just like a fish already in the ocean.
           Maybe the ocean is so obvious that you can't see: you are born in it, you are made of it, you will
           dissolve in it. It is a question of recognition, not of search.
               A searching mind becomes concentrated. Relax and just recognize.
               So I don't say to you to seek God, I say to you to live Him right now. There is no need to seek --
           enjoy Him right now, celebrate! Let it be a festival. He has already happened. He is just waiting for
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you to dance with Him, to delight with Him.
                Good. Girisha is perfectly right: "I have found nothing in particular"...right, precisely. That is the
           point; nothing is to be found in particular..."but I feel free, freed"...exactly, that is the point to be
           understood. A great freedom is needed -- freedom from desire, freedom from search, freedom from
           seeking, freedom from the narrow mind. One simply relaxes in all directions. When you relax, you
           are all-dimensional; when you seek, you are one-dimensional. When you relax you become part of
           the whole; when you seek you remain an ego.
                This 'nothing' is what God is; and this freedom, this tremendous freedom -- that there is no longer
           any desire to bind you, no bondage exists -- this is what MOKSHA, liberation is. MOKSHA or
           liberation is not a geographical thing. It is not somewhere: it is not after you die, it is a recognition, a
           recognition of here and now. Be free of all seeking.
                There are only two types of people in the world: one, who are continuously seeking. They seek
           and they never find, because seeking is not the way to find. They seek one thing, then another thing,
           then another thing; they continuously change their objects, but they continue seeking. They are
           one-dimensional people. They miss God because God is all-dimensional. They are linear people;
           they move in a line -- and God is all. You cannot find Him through linear logic.
                Then there is another type of person -- very rare -- who doesn't seek, who enjoys, who delights in
           whatsoever is available, who dances, who sings. These are the Bauls, these are the really
           authentically religious people.
                God is not somewhere in the future. If you delight, He is here. If you celebrate, you will find
           Him just by your side, beating in your heart. But if you seek Him you will never find Him anywhere.
           The seeking mind never reaches to reality. And one becomes too much of a seeker, by and by: too
           much practice, conditions, so you go on seeking. Today you will seek, yesterday you were seeking,
           tomorrow also you will seek; past lives you were seeking, this life you are seeking, in the future lives
           also you will seek. Seeking has become habitual. It has become a structure. Drop that structure!
                This is my message: He is here, right THIS very moment. Don't miss Him.
                There is no point in seeking; you just also be here, as He is here, and the meeting, and the
           communion, and the orgasm... you become one.
           "I go about my business without anxiety" -- beautiful! Because then everything is His, business also.
           Ordinary day to day activity becomes religious, because all is His. When you are taking a bath, you
           are giving Him a bath. When you are standing under a shower, He is showering on you. When you
           are eating He is eating, and when you feel satisfied He feels satisfied. When you are singing He is
           singing within you, and He is the audience also; He is listening to you. Every moment and every act
           becomes luminous with His presence. When the whole life becomes luminous -- waking, He wakes
           in you; sleeping, He goes to sleep and takes a rest -- then there is no distraction. Then you are
           continuously in tune with Him. Then the harmony has happened. This is what a religious life is all
           about.
                Religious life is not something separate from life. It is not the life of the temple or of the
           monastery; it is the life offered to God -- totally, unconditionally, utterly. And now one lives because
           He wants you to live. And one lives happily, because He has chosen you, because He has chosen you
           to be an instrument to Him. Then you become a flute on His lips...then everything is tremendously
           beautiful. This is what the Bauls want to say....
           '...and I feel such a flood of gratitude for your presence here."
                Gratitude arises whenever you start feeling God's presence around you; then only gratitude is
           left. Then your whole energy becomes gratitude, then your whole being becomes a thanksgiving, it
           becomes a prayer -- because nothing is missing, and the world is so perfect, and everything is as it
           should be. Gratitude is natural. Gratitude is not something that can be practiced. You have been
           taught to be grateful; you cannot be. Gratefulness is a consequence: when you feel God close by,
           gratitude arises. It is a by-product. Respect arises. This respect is not something that you manage, it
           is something beyond you. You have been taught to be grateful to your parents, taught to be grateful
           to your teachers, taught to be grateful to your elders, but those are all just conditionings. When real
           gratitude arises, then you see what a tremendous difference there is. The gratitude that was taught
           was just a concept, a dead ritual. You were following it like a mechanism. When the real gratitude
           upsurges in your being, you feel for the first time what prayer is, what love is.
                Good, Girisha. Continue to remember, continue to relax, continue not to lose this experience that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is happening to you, because this experience is the only experience that makes life meaningful,
           which gives life a glow, a benediction. You are blessed, Girisha, but don't lose track of it. It is very
           difficult to get, and it is very easy to lose -- because mind has a long history, and it is very strong,
           and this new experience is just a small sprout, very soft, fragile. The mind's heavy rock can crush it
           at any moment, so be very alert.
               People who have not known anything like a spiritual experience of ecstasy, elation, who have
           never felt any presence of God, need not be very alert, because they have nothing to lose. But a
           person who has had an experience, a glimpse, a mini-SATORI, has much to lose. He'll have to be
           more cautious. Be more cautious. Allow what has happened to you to happen more and more. Go
           deeper into it so that that which is fragile becomes strong, that which is new becomes deeply rooted
           in your being.
               It fact, people who are searching and seeking and making much fuss about it are completely
           unaware that finally, when they reach, they will find there is nothing.

           I have heard....
                A lawyer was cross-examining Mulla Nasrudin, a witness. He asked, "And you say you called on
           Mrs. Sultana on May 2nd? Now will you tell the jury just what she said?"
           "I object to the question," interrupted the lawyer on the other side. There was nearly an hour's
           argument between counsel, and finally the judge allowed the question. "And as I was saying," the
           first lawyer began again, "on May 2nd you called on Mrs. Sultana. Now what did she say?"
           "Nothing," replied Nasrudin. "She was not at home."
                One day, when you arrive, you simply are amazed that for so many lives you were seeking
           something which had never been there, and that which has been there was so close to you, and there
           was no need to seek it.
                Delight, enjoy. God is not a thing, it is an attitude, an attitude of celebration and festivity. Drop
           sadness. He is so close by; dance! Drop long faces, it is sacrilege -- because He is so close by. Forget
           your childish miseries and worries; He is so close by. Don't go on brooding about immaterial things;
           He is so close by. Allow Him to hold your hand. He has been waiting for you for long.

           The second question:


              IF YOU HAPPENED TO MEET A BAUL, A TANTRICA, AND A YOGI, WITH WHOM WOULD YOU
              LIKE TO TAKE A CUP OF TEA?


               IT is a very complex question. The answer is not easy, but still I will try.
               I will tell the Yogi to prepare the cup of tea, because those are the most hygienic people! And I
           will tell the Tantrica to bring it, because they know how to present a thing; they know what ritual is.
           But I am going to take tea with the Baul.

           The third question:


              WHEN ONE BECOMES EMPTY OF ALL THOUGHTS, EMPTY OF ALL PLANNINGS, EMPTY OF
              ALL DESIRES, WHAT TRANSFORMATION WILL HAPPEN IN ONE'S OUTER LIFE AND ONE'S
              INNER LIFE? HOW WILL HE BEHAVE? HOW WILL HE SEE THINGS? HOW WILL HE LIVE IN THE
              WORLD? PLEASE SAY.


               IT depends, it depends on the individual. There cannot be any dogmatic statement about it
           because each individual is so unique. When Basho becomes enlightened he starts singing poetry,
           poems; Buddha has never done that. When Krishna becomes enlightened he starts dancing, singing;
           Mahavir has never done that. When Mahavir becomes enlightened he keeps silence for many years,
           remains absolutely silent, not a ripple is allowed; Meera has not done that. When she becomes
           enlightened, she dances from village to village, she sings the glory of God. It is very difficult to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           make a dogmatic statement.
               There have been people who renounced life when they became enlightened and went to the
           Himalayas, moved as far away from the society as possible. There have been people who became
           enlightened and came back to the world, even if they had been in the Himalayas, and started living
           with people again. There have been people who remained emperors even when they became
           enlightened. Zen Masters go on living very ordinary lives; it is very difficult even to recognize. If
           you don't have eyes to penetrate them, you will not recognize them.
               It is said about a great Zen Master, Rinzai.... The emperor came to see him. He was cutting wood
           just in front of the ashram. The emperor asked, "Where is your Master?" Rinzai said, "He is inside."
           Now of course, the emperor thought he must be inside the ashram, so he went inside the ashram.
           Rinzai ran in another door and sat on the Master's chair with closed eyes. When the emperor reached,
           he recognized: "This man seems to be exactly like... just like the woodcutter." He said, "What is the
           matter? Who are you? Are you trying to befool me, or are you a madman?" Rinzai said, "But I have
           told you, he is inside, and you didn't understand me. Because you did not understand me, I had to run
           and I had to sit on this chair. Maybe you can understand only superficials. I was ready then and there
           to reveal myself, but you didn't wait. Yes, I am the Master, now what do you want? And don't waste
           much time, because much wood is still left to be cut and chopped."
               Zen Masters live very ordinary lives: they chop wood, they carry water from the well, they
           prepare food in the kitchen. It is very difficult to see them unless you have eyes. They don't live any
           sort of extraordinary life, because they say, "The very search to be extraordinary is egoistic." Just to
           be ordinary is the real attitude of a religious man. And remember, the urge to be extraordinary is
           very ordinary. There is nothing extraordinary about it because everybody wants to be extraordinary.
           To be ordinary is very extraordinary -- because who wants to be ordinary?
               So it is very difficult, and I will not give you a criterion to judge by because those criteria have
           been very destructive and harmful. Once you have a dead criterion with you, you will miss many real
           people, and you will be deceived by many pseudo people. Whosoever can fulfill that criterion will
           look like he is enlightened.
               For example: Mahavir became enlightened; he became naked. Now, anybody can stand naked;
           there is nothing special about it. Any madman can do that. And you can go to visit a nudist club --
           they are not all Mahaviras. Buddha became enlightened; he was sitting in a particular posture, the
           lotus posture. You can sit in a lotus posture. If you are Eastern, then it is very simple; if you are
           Western, then six months' practice, but that's all. You can sit in a lotus posture, but that will not
           make you a Buddha. You can imitate very easily; that's how imitators are there all over the world.
           Go and see a Jain monk: he imitates perfectly, but nothing else is there.
               Enlightenment is always new, fresh -- it is not an imitation, it is not a carbon-copy; it is
           ALWAYS original. So I cannot tell you exactly how he will behave, but I can tell you how to
           imbibe. If there is somebody who has something of the unknown around him -- a mystique -- then,
           how to imbibe? Drop all considerations, all mental considerations. Don't ask that he should be 'like
           this'; just be with him. Just sit with him in silence. be open to him. If he has become enlightened,
           suddenly you will see a throb within you that you have never known before: your energy will start
           rising. You will see a great silence arising in you, and a great bliss, drop by drop, reaching your
           innermost core of being.
               An enlightened person, if allowed to enter into you, will give you self-evident proofs. But those
           are not intellectual proofs; they are not arguments of mind. He argues with his whole being. His
           argument is that of his presence -- so allow his presence and don't carry any criterion. If you are a
           Jain you will miss Buddha; if you are a Jain you will miss Krishna; if you are a Jain you will miss
           Christ. If you are a Christian you will miss Mahavir. You will carry an idea, a fixed pattern. Don't
           carry any fixed pattern. If you feel that somebody is there who is livelier than you, more radiant than
           you, more understanding than you, more compassion overflowing from his being, then just be in his
           presence. That's what we call SATSANG: just be in his presence. If he has arrived, you will feel a
           sudden pull in your being -- you are being pulled towards some unknown center. And you will feel
           tremendous beauty, bliss. blessings showering on you. That will be the only criterion; but for that
           you have to be ready.
               Ordinarily, people ask, "Give us some objective criterion." There is none. The criterion can only
           be if you are open. What is the criterion to know whether this flower is a rose or not? The only
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           criterion is to open your eyes, open your nostrils, smell it, let it reach your being; only that will
           reveal. But if you don't have eyes and you have lost your sense of smell, then it will be very, very
           difficult for you to know whether it is a rose or something else. It may be just a plastic rose or a
           paper rose; it can deceive you.
                So I will not give you any description of the objective reality, of what happens -- it is individual,
           unique, always different, never the same -- but I can give you a subjective way to feel.
           I have heard....
                A maddened Roman swordsman came into the village cutting down men, women, and children,
           and terrifying everyone. Arriving at the doors of a Zen monastery, he smashed down the door with
           the hilt of his sword. Striding up to the Master who was sitting in ZAZEN, he raised his sword and
           was just about to kill him, when something of the Master's stillness reached him. And angrily he
           shouted, "Don't you realize that standing in front of you is a man who can cut you in two without the
           blink of an eye!"
                The Master quietly said, "Don't YOU realize that sitting in front of you is a man who can be cut
           in two without the blink of an eye? So go ahead. Don't be restricted by my silence; do whatsoever
           you have decided to do." But the silence had reached the madman. The silence of the Master had
           touched his heart; now it was impossible.
           So just be open.
                Even if you are a madman, and open, you will recognize enlightenment wherever it is, in
           whatsoever form it has taken. And even if you are a great philosopher, intellectual, very rational to
           the core, if you don't allow yourself to imbibe the spirit of silence and bliss, you will miss. You have
           to be very, very open. You have to be in a let-go -- and then the evidence comes so strongly. It is so
           certain that you can deny everything, but you cannot deny a man of enlightenment -- it is impossible.
           You may not be able to prove it to others -- because there is no way to prove -- but for you, the thing
           is settled. And once it is settled for you, once you have been in contact with an enlightened man, a
           bridge has been created. Now you can never be the same again. The VERY phenomenon that you
           could recognize a man of enlightenment is enough to start the foundation of you own enlightenment.
           It is enough to give you a new direction, a new being, a new birth.

           The fourth question:


               ANYTHING I SEE HAPPENING IN MYSELF IS FALSE, ILLUSORY, AND A MIND TRIP, RIGHT?
               AND MY RECOGNITION OF THE MIND TRIP IS A MIND TRIP TOO?


               RIGHT.
           As far as thoughts go, everything is a mind trip. When thoughts cease and you see without any
           thoughts crowding in your mind, when you see clearly with no smoke of the thoughts surrounding
           you, when your look is simple, innocent, uncorrupted by thoughts, then it is not a mind trip. Only
           meditation is not a mind trip; everything else is a mind trip. Or, love is not a mind trip; everything
           else is a mind trip. If love or meditation has happened to you, you will know what I am indicating
           towards. In a deep moment of love, thinking stops. The moment is so intriguing, the moment is so
           tremendously powerful, the moment is so intensely alive, that thinking stops. You are simply in awe,
           a great wonder surrounds you. Or in deep meditation, when the moment of silence has come and you
           are absolutely silent, still -- no flickering, no wavering, no trembling, the flame of your
           consciousness is straight -- then thinking stops. Then you are outside the grip of the mind.
           Otherwise, everything is a mind trip.
               Remember it: one has to go beyond the mind because the mind is SAMSAR, the mind is the
           world. It is because of your thinking that you are missing the truth. Once thinking is stopped you are
           face to face with the reality. It is the continuous screen of thinking that is distorting reality. It is as if
           you are looking in a lake full of ripples. It is a full moon night, and the lake is reflecting the beautiful
           moon -- but it is full of ripples. You cannot gather it together; the moon goes on splitting into a
           thousand fragments. The whole lake seems to be spread over by the moon, silvery, many fragments
           of the moon all around. Then the wind stops, the ripples disappear: those fragments start falling into
           one moon. The silver that was spread all over the lake becomes more concentrated in one place.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When the lake is completely without ripples, the moon is reflected perfectly.
                When the mind is with thoughts, the lake is with ripples; when the mind is without thoughts, the
           lake is without ripples. God is reflected perfectly when there is no ripple in you. Forget all about
           God -- the only thing to be done is how to become ripple-less, how to become thoughtless, how to
           drop this constant obsession with thinking. It can be dropped -- it is because of your cooperation that
           it continues. It is your energy that you go on giving to it that keeps it alive. It is just like a man on a
           bicycle: he goes on pedaling -- it is his energy that keeps the cycle going on. Once he stops pedaling,
           the cycle may go a little further because of the past momentum, but then it has to stop.
                Don't give energy to your thoughts. Become a witness -- indifferent, aloof, distant. Just see the
           thoughts, and don't be in any way involved in them. Note the fact: the thoughts are there; but don't
           choose this way or that, don't be for or against, don't be pro or con. Just be a watcher. Let the
           mind-traffic move, just stand by the side and look at it, unaffected by it, as if it has nothing to do
           with you.
                Sometimes try it: go on the busiest street where the traffic rush is too much. Stand by the side of
           the road and see the traffic -- so many people going hither and thither, and cars and bicycles and
           trucks and buses. You just stand by the side and look, and do the same inside: close your eyes and
           see -- the mind is a traffic of thoughts, thoughts rushing here and there. You watch, you just be a
           watcher. By and by, you will see that the traffic is becoming less and less. By and by, you will see
           that the road is empty, nobody is passing. In those rare moments, first glimpses of SAMADHI will
           enter in you.
                There are three stages of SAMADHI. First, when you achieve glimpses through gaps -- one
           thought comes, then it has gone and another has not come for the time being. There may even be a
           gap for a few seconds; in that interval reality penetrates you -- the moon becomes one. The reflection
           is there only for a single moment, but you will see the first glimpse.
                This is what in Zen they call SATORI. By and by, the gaps will become bigger, and when the
           gaps become bigger and you can see reality more clearly, that vision of reality changes you. Then
           you cannot be the same because your vision becomes your reality also. Whatsoever you are seeing
           affects your being. Your vision, by and by, is absorbed, digested. That is the second stage of
           samadhi.
                And then comes the last stage: when suddenly the whole traffic disappears, as if you were fast
           asleep and dreaming and somebody has shaken you and awakened you, and the whole traffic of
           dreaming has stopped. In that third stage you become one with reality, because there is nothing to
           divide. The fence that was dividing you has disappeared. The wall is no more there. The wall is
           made of the bricks of thoughts, desires, feelings, emotions; once it disappears -- it is a China wall,
           very ancient, and every strong -- but once it disappears, there is no fence between you and God.
           When for the first time the third stage happens, that is where the Upanishads announced, "AHAM
           BRAHAMASMI" -- I am God, I am the Brahma. It is where the Sufi mystic, Mansur, declares,
           "ANA'L HAQ" -- I am the truth. It is there when Jesus declares, "I and my God are one, I and my
           Father are one."

           The fifth question:


              ON THE ONE HAND YOU ARE GIVING ULTIMATE FREEDOM TO DO WHATSOEVER WE WANT
              TO DO, AND ON THE OTHER HAND YOU ARE GIVING RESPONSIBILITY. WITH
              RESPONSIBILITY, I CANNOT USE THE WORD 'FREEDOM' AS I WANT, HENCE I HAVE TO WAIT
              FOR THE RIGHT MEANING OF FREEDOM. THE MOMENT I GET IT, I GET IT WITH
              RESPONSIBILITY. OSHO, WHEN I UNDERSTAND I FEEL'THANK YOU'. OTHERWISE, I WOULD
              LIKE TO USE, AND I HAVE ALREADY USED IT AS A LICENCE.


               IT is one of the perennial questions of humanity: the question of freedom and responsibility. If
           you are free, you interpret it as if now there is no responsibility. Just a hundred years ago Friedrich
           Nietzsche declared, "God is dead, and man is free." And the next sentence he wrote is, "Now you can
           do whatsoever you want to do. There is no responsibility. God is dead, man is free, and there is no
           responsibility." There he was absolutely wrong; when there is no God, there is TREMENDOUS
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           responsibility on your shoulders. If there is a God, he can share your responsibility. You can throw
           your responsibility on Him: you can say, "It is YOU who have made the world; it is YOU who have
           made me in this way; it is YOU who is finally, ultimately, responsible, not me. How can I be
           ultimately responsible? I am just a creature, and you are the creator. Why have you put seeds of
           corruption in me and seeds of sin in me from the beginning? You are responsible. I am free." In fact,
           if there is no God, then man is ABSOLUTELY responsible for his acts, because there is no way to
           throw responsibility on anybody else.
                When I say to you that you are free, I mean that you are responsible. You cannot throw
           responsibility on anybody else, you are alone. And whatsoever you do, it is your doing. You cannot
           say that somebody else forced you to do it -- because you are free; nobody can force you! Because
           you are free, it is your decision to do something or not to do something. With freedom comes
           responsibility. Freedom IS responsibility. But the mind is very cunning, the mind interprets in its
           own way: it always goes on listening to that which it wants to listen to. It goes on interpreting things
           in its own way. The mind never tries to understand what really is the truth. It has taken that decision
           already.
           I have heard....
           "I am a respectable man, doctor, but lately life has become intolerable because of my feelings of
           guilt and self-recrimination." The patient gulped miserably before continuing. "You see, I have
           recently fallen victim to an uncontrollable urge to pinch and fondle girls in the underground."
           "Dearie me," tutted the psychiatrist consolingly, "we must certainly help you to rid yourself of this
           unfortunate urge. I can quite see how distressing.... "
                The patient broke in anxiously, "It is not so much the urge I wanted you get rid of for me, doctor,
           it is the guilt."
                People go on talking about freedom, but they don't want freedom exactly, they want
           irresponsibility. They ask for freedom, but deep down, unconsciously, they ask for irresponsibility,
           licence.
                Freedom is maturity; licence is very childish. Freedom is possible only when you are so
           integrated that you can take the responsibility of being free. The world is not free because people are
           not mature. Revolutionaries have been doing many things down through the centuries, but
           everything fails. Utopians have been continuously thinking of how to make man free, but nobody
           bothers -- because man cannot be free unless he is integrated. Only a Buddha can be free, a Mahavira
           can be free, a Christ, a Mohammed can be free, a Zarathustra can be free, because freedom means
           the man now is aware. If you are not aware then the state is needed, the government is needed, the
           police is needed, the court is needed. Then freedom has to be cut from everywhere. Then freedom
           exists only in name; in fact it doesn't exist. How can freedom exist when governments exist? -- it is
           impossible. But what to do?
                If governments disappear, there will simply be anarchy. Freedom will not come in if
           governments disappear, there will simply be anarchy. It will be a worse state than it is now. It will be
           sheer madness. The police are needed because you are not alert. Otherwise, what is the point of
           having a policeman standing on the crossroad? If people are alert, the policeman can be removed,
           will have to be removed, because it is unnecessary. But people are not conscious.
                So when I say 'freedom', I mean be responsible. The more responsible you become, the more free
           you become; or, the more free you become, the more responsibility comes on you. Then you have to
           be very alert to what you are doing, what you are saying. Even about your small unconscious
           gestures you have to be very alert -- because there is nobody else to control you, it is only you. When
           I say to you that you are free, I mean that you are a God. It is not licence, it is tremendous discipline.

           The sixth question:


              AFTER HEARING YOU FOR THE LAST NINE DAYS AND UNDERGOING MORNING AND
              EVENING MEDITATIONS IN YOUR ASHRAM, I CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT I ENVY
              VIVEK, BUT I AM NOT JEALOUS OF HER. I FEEL SHE IS HOLDING THE'PARAMPADA' OF
              BELOVED DISCIPLE IN THE ASHRAM. HOW TO REACH THAT STAGE?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                MIND functions in such strange ways. You have been here to meditate; it has nothing to do with
           anybody else. In fact, a real meditator will not look at what is happening to others. A real meditator
           will be going inwards.
                It is said about Bayazid that he lived with his Master for twelve years, and he passed the same
           hall every day to come to the Master. One day the Master said to Bayazid, "You go back to the hall.
           There, in the cupboard, one book is Lying -- you bring that book." Bayazid said, "I will go, because I
           have never seen that there is a cupboard." The Master said, "You have been coming to see me
           continuously, every day, for twelve years, and you have to pass that hall every day; you have not
           looked around?" He said, "I was coming to you, Master. I am not here to look at what is in the hall,
           whether there is a cupboard or not, and whether there is a book in it or not. I am not here for that. My
           whole intent, my whole being is just for you. I am open towards you. I will go and see." The Master
           said, "There is no need; the book is not needed. In fact, there is no book and there is no cupboard. It
           was just a test to see whether you are distracted. I am happy that you are not distracted."
                Now, this question is a question of distraction. How are you related to anybody? You should be
           meditating, or, at the most, you should be open towards me. But mind goes on creating new
           complexities and troubles.
                The question is from a woman, so that shows something about the feminine mind also. She is
           more interested in Vivek than in me. If you are to feel envious, feel envious of me! But a woman is a
           woman; even if she has come to meditate, it makes not much difference. And then she says, "I am
           not jealous of her, but I envy." This is always happening in the mind: if somebody is envious we call
           him jealous; if we are jealous we say this is just envy. There is a double-bind.
                What is envy? It is nothing but passive jealousy. Maybe jealousy is too strong a phenomenon;
           envy is a little passive. The difference may be of degrees, but it is not of quality, it is only of
           quantity. Envy can become jealousy at any moment; envy is just jealousy in progress. Mind has to
           drop all envies and jealousies.
                She has asked, "How to reach that stage?" The first thing is to drop envy and jealousy, otherwise
           there is no possibility -- because love cannot exist where envy and jealousies exist. Then your search
           is only for a certain type of power: that in the name of love you are just trying to fulfill the ego. And
           it is arduous to drop, because love exists only when all the negative elements of the mind are
           dropped. It is very arduous. You can ask Vivek how arduous it is.
                Just a few days ago she was saying to me, "You are worse than Gurdjieff!" Now that is a great
           compliment. Gurdjieff was really very hard on his disciples, and she says, "You are worse than
           Gurdjieff!" But I can understand: I am hard, I HAVE to be hard. The closer you come to me, the
           harder you will find me. When you come just as a visitor, then it is okay; I am not hard. I have to be
           very, very polite when you come as a visitor -- that is the trap. Once you are trapped, then I become
           hard.
                The woman has not taken sannyas yet; she should take sannyas and see.
                Come closer to me... you will be coming closer to your own death. Love is death. You will have
           to die; only then can you comeclose to me. You will have to efface yourself utterly; only then can
           you come close to me.
                But people think that love is the promise of a rose garden. Yes, ultimately yes, but on the way it
           is a lot of hell.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:
                A great philosopher, feeling the absolute meaninglessness of life, decided to commit suicide by
           hanging himself. A friend came into the room and discovered him standing with a rope around his
           waist, and he enquired what he was trying to do. The philosopher told him he was taking his own
           life. "But," said the friend, "why have you the rope round your waist?"
           "Well," said the philosopher, "when I tied it round my neck, it was choking me."
                Love is a rope round the neck -- it will choke you, it will kill you. Only those who are
           courageous enough to commit suicide -- a spiritual suicide -- who are ready to die, only they can be
           reborn, and only they can be close to me. It has nothing to do with me. I am there, available to
           everybody. My invitation is there for you to come. It depends on you. But if you come just to
           become close to me, envious of others who are close, you are coming close for wrong reasons. Then
           your rope will be just around your waist, and you will say, "I cannot put it on my neck, it is
           choking."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                People can come close also for wrong reasons, for political reasons. Now this woman has a
           political mind: she thinks Vivek is in a PARAMPADA, in the highest power position. This is a
           search for power.
                Those who are close to me are close because they have effaced themselves. At least they are
           sincerely trying. It is hard, it is difficult, but they are trying.
           I was reading a small anecdote:
                There was a small camp of little boy scouts. The camp counsellor was explaining the rules of a
           new game: "If your enemy calls your number from his side of the battlefield," he said, "you must be
           a dead man, immediately. Drop just where you are. Lie still as if you are dead, become completely
           dead."
                Ten minutes later came an agonized whisper from the youngest camper, "Please may I move
           now? I am a dead man, but I am on an ant hill."
                You can pretend that you are effacing yourself, you can pretend that you are humble, you can
           pretend that you are ready to drop your ego, but pretensions won't help. Sooner or later truth comes
           out. And one should not become interested for wrong reasons.
                The girl was rich and the young man, Mulla Nasrudin, was very poor. She liked him but that was
           all, and Nasrudin knew it. One night he had been a little more tender than usual:
           "You are very rich," he ventured.
           "Yes," she replied frankly. "I am worth one million rupees."
           "And I am poor."
           "Yes."
           "Will you marry me?"
           "No."
           "I thought you would not."
           "Then why did you ask me, Nasrudin?"
           "Aw," said Nasrudin, "just to see how a man feels when he loses one million rupees."
                Don't ask such questions, because they come out of wrong desires. First watch from where they
           are coming and be very, very alert. See as clearly as possible. Don't hide behind words. Don't call
           your jealousy envy. Be very hard with yourself. Only then will your diagnosis be helpful, and right
           questions will arise. If you ask a wrong question, you waste time.

           The last question:


              WHO IS A BAUL? PLEASE TELL US THE DEFINITION.


               IT should have been asked in the beginning; now this is going to be last. But in a way, it is good.
           If in the beginning you had asked about the definition of a Baul, it would have been almost
           impossible to say anything. Not that now I can define, but at least now I can say it is indefinable.
               The Baul is not a metaphysics, the Baul is a mystique. I can invite you to participate in that
           mystery, but definition is not possible. So I am not going to define. Instead, I will tell you a story.
           Maybe that will give you a definition; but you will have to find it yourself.
           I have heard....
               Once upon a time, an angel came to earth to see man and his world, because he had heard so
           many stories of man's splendor that he could not resist his curiosity. The beauty of the world
           overwhelmed him: the sunlit mountain peaks and dark forests, the whining winds and tossing,
           rainbow-colored valleys, the dew-kissed soil, the soil's lusty smell, the animals, fierce and gentle.
           Everywhere there was such beauty. But when the angel saw man he was awed, for he heard the
           music of the human heart and the song of the human soul. He fell in deep love with human mystery.
           Dusk came, but he lingered on. Man and man's earth had so moved the angel that he hesitated to
           leave. But finally, his time finished, he had to go with tears in his eyes. And tremendously encircled,
           enriched by this adventure on the earth, by this experience, before going out, before going back to
           his own world, just out of sheer joy he wanted to help some of us on our way. He looked about, saw
           four persons walking together. He approached them and said, "I have come to grant you each one
           wish." As luck would have it, they all were spiritual aspirants.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The first one spoke up, "I have striven incessantly after distant divine truth -- nothing but
           struggle, struggle, struggle. Give me spiritual peace!"
           "But struggling is one of the joys of life," said the angel, not understanding the first seeker's wish.
           "I would like peace!" insisted the man.
               This being his wish, the angel changed the youth into a cow that chewed the grass of a distant
           pasture quite contentedly.
               A bit disturbed, the angel turned to the other aspirant.
           "God is pure but I am not," said the other. "Please rid me of all impurities, of passions, emotions,
           desires."
           "Are not they the very fount of life?" asked the angel.
           "But I don't want life, I want purity!" insisted the second man. He then closed his eyes and waited for
           his transformation. In a split second he disappeared, and in a faraway temple, a marble statue
           appeared in his likeness.
               Then the third one said, "Make me perfect; anything less will simply not do." He vanished but
           did not reappear anywhere, for nothing on earth is perfect or can be perfect.
               The angel turned to the fourth, "And what is your wish?"
           "I have no wish," replied this happy man.
           "No wish at all?"
           "None -- except to be human, fully human and alive."
               A near-smothered joy began again to stir within the angel. He looked longingly upon this blessed
           man, and then leaned over and embraced him with a deep love. The fourth man continued on his way
           singing the glory of life, dancing the joy of life.
           This fourth man is the Baul.
               There is no other way to define a Baul. The Baul is tremendous love for life, tremendous love for
           this earth, tremendous love for all that is. The Baul is not an idealist, he is a realist -- down to earth.
           The Baul does not ask for any paradise somewhere else, he is already in paradise, herenow. The Baul
           is not a seeker, the Baul is one who has found. the Baul is a SIDDHA: one who has looked into life
           and realized that all is available and there is no need to seek. One has just to participate in this
           mystery called life. He dances, he sings, he enjoys, he is blissful for no reason at all. This is half the
           story; the other half is still there.
               The angel reached heaven. God called him and asked him, "What were you doing on the earth?
           Tinkering with my creation?"
               The angel said, "I am sorry, but those people desired; those were their wishes. I simply helped
           them to fulfill."
               God said, "That's right. I am not angry, I was just enquiring. Have you any wish to be fulfilled?"
               The angel said, "Make me the fourth man back on the earth. Send me back and make me the
           fourth man."
               Let that be your wish also. And there is no need to ask? because that is already fulfilled. You are
           a man on the earth, a woman on the earth; enjoy this gift of God! In deep gratefulness, sing the song,
           dance the dance that is waiting deep inside your being to be expressed. Be creative. Flower.
               A Baul is a flowering. A Baul is a flowing energy. A Baul is not the ordinarily so-called
           religious, a Baul is really religious. He is not against the world, because he is not against God. It is
           His creation; he is not against anything because all is God's. He finds the temple of God everywhere.
           Every presence is full of His presence. A Baul is a madman; that is the meaning of the word 'baul'. It
           comes from a Sanskrit word, vatul, which means mad.
               Become mad in the name of God! Become mad in sheer joy! and then you will know what a Baul
           is. There is no way to define; I can only indicate. There is no way to even describe, but I am here,
           present -- I am a Baul. You look into me, taste me a little, eat me, drink me; that may give you some
           definition. And if you really want, if you really desire the definition, then become a Baul. There is no
           other way to know it. To know God one has become a God, because you can know only that which
           you have become. Only existence, and the experience of existence, can enlighten you, nothing else.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                                      Beyond Enlightenment
                                     Talks given from 03/10/86 pm to 04/11/86 pm
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     32 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1980




                                              Beyond Enlightenment
                                                Chapter #1
                          Chapter title: Beyond Enlightenment is only beyondness
           3 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610035
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 123 mins




               BELOVED OSHO,
               WHAT IS BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT?


                Maneesha, beyond enlightenment is only beyondness. Enlightenment is the last host. Beyond it,
           all boundaries disappear, all experiences disappear. Experience comes to its utmost in
           enlightenment; it is the very peak of all that is beautiful, of all that is immortal, of all that is blissful
           -- but it is an experience. Beyond enlightenment there is no experience at all, because the
           experiencer has disappeared. Enlightenment is not only the peak of experience, it is also the finest
           definition of your being. Beyond it, there is only nothingness; you will not come again to a point
           which has to be transcended.
               Experience, the experiencer, enlightenment -- all have been left behind. You are part of the
           tremendous nothingness that is infinite. This is the nothingness out of which the whole existence
           comes, the womb; and this is the nothingness in which all the existence disappears.
               Science has something parallel; there is bound to be something parallel. The spiritual experience
           is of the interior world, and science is the exploration of the exterior. But both are wings of the same
           existence -- the inwardness and the outwardness -- they always have similar points.
               Scientists have come to a strange conclusion in this century, that a few stars suddenly disappear...
           and stars are not small things; they are not so small as they look to you. They look small because
           they are so far away, millions of light years away, but they are huge.
               Our sun is a star, but of a mediocre size, medium size. In comparison to the earth it is vast, but in
           comparison to other stars it is a small, medium-sized star. There are stars which are a thousand times
           bigger than the sun.
               And in this century, for the first time we had the instruments of observation and we were very
           much puzzled: suddenly a star disappears, not even leaving a trace behind of where it has gone. Such
           a huge phenomenon, and not even footprints -- in what direction has it gone? It has just moved
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           simply into nothingness. This was happening continually.
               It took almost twenty years to figure out this new phenomenon: that in existence there are black
           holes. You cannot see them, but they have tremendous gravitation. Even the biggest star, if it comes
           within their radius of magnetism, will be pulled in. And once it is pulled into a black hole, it
           disappears. It is the ultimate death. We can only see the effect; we cannot see the black hole, we only
           see that one star is disappearing.
               After the black hole was almost an established theory, scientists started thinking that there must
           be something like a white hole -- there has to be. If it is possible that in a certain gravitation,
           magnetic force, a big star simply disappears out of existence.... We have been aware that every day
           stars are born. From where are they coming? -- nobody has asked it before.
               In fact, birth we always take for granted; nobody asks from where the babies are coming.
               Death we never accept, because we are so much afraid of it.
               There is not a single philosophy in the whole history of man which thinks about where the babies
           come from, but there are philosophies and philosophies thinking about what is dead, where people
           go on disappearing to, what happens after death.
               In my whole life I have come across millions of people, and not a single person has asked what
           happens before birth -- and thousands have asked what happens after death. I have always been
           thinking, why is birth taken without any question? Why is death not taken in the same way?
               We were aware for centuries, almost three centuries, that stars are being born every day -- big
           stars, huge stars -- and nobody raised the question, "From where are these stars coming?" But when
           we came to know about the black holes and we saw the stars disappearing, then the second question
           became almost an absolute necessity. If black holes can take stars into nothingness, then there must
           be something like white holes where things... stars come out of nothingness.
               I am reminded.... Mulla Nasruddin had applied for a post on a ship. He was interviewed. The
           captain and the high officials of the ship were sitting in a room. Mulla entered. The captain asked, "If
           the seas are in a turmoil, winds are strong, waves are huge and mountainous, what are you going to
           do to save the ship? It is tossed from here to there...."
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "It is not much of a problem: I will just drop a huge anchor to keep the
           ship stable against the winds, against the waves. It is not much of a problem."
               The captain again said, "Suppose another mountainous wave comes and the ship is going to be
           drowned; what are you going to do?"
           He said, "Nothing -- another huge anchor."
               The captain looked at him and asked a third time, "Suppose it is a great typhoon and it is
           impossible to save the ship. What are you going to do?"
               He said, "Nothing, the same -- a huge anchor."
               The captain said, "From where are you getting these huge anchors?"
               He said, "From the same place. From where are you getting these great, mountainous waves,
           strong winds? -- from the same place. You go on getting them, I will go on getting bigger and bigger
           anchors."
               If there are holes in existence where things simply disappear into non-existence, then there must
           be holes from where things appear from nothingness -- and just a little imagination is needed.
           Scientists have not worked on it yet.
               My suggestion is that a black hole is like a door: from one side it is a black door, a black hole --
           things go into it and disappear into nothingness. And from the other side of the tunnel -- it is the
           same door, just from the other side -- it is a white hole; things are born again, renewed. It is the same
           womb.
           Beyond enlightenment you enter into nothingness.
           Experience disappears, experiencer disappears.
           Just pure nothingness remains, utter silence.
               Perhaps this is the destiny of every human being, sooner or later to be achieved.
               We don't know yet whether there is a white hole or not -- there must be.
               Just as you enter beyond enlightenment into nothingness, there must be a possibility of coming
           out of nothingness back into form, back into existence -- renewed, refreshed, luminous -- on a totally
           different plane. Because nothing is destroyed, things can only go into a dormant state; things can go
           only into deep sleep. Then in the morning they wake up again. This is how the existence goes on.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In the West, this idea has never happened in the two thousand years' history of philosophy. They
           only think of this creation: "Who created this?" and they get into troubles because whatever the
           answer is, it is going to create more questions.
               In the East we have a conception of circles of existence and non-existence, just like day and
           night. Creation is followed by de-creation, everything goes into nothingness, just as day is followed
           by night and everything goes into darkness. And the period is going to be the same: as long as the
           creation is, so is the resting period going to be; and again there will be a creation of a higher order.
               And this will go on from eternity to eternity -- creation, de-creation, creation, again de-creation --
           but each time the morning is more beautiful. Each dawn is more colorful, more alive; the birds are
           singing better, the flowers are bigger, with more fragrance.
               And the East has a tremendous courage of accepting the idea that this will go on forever and
           forever. There has never been any beginning, and there will be no end.
               After enlightenment, you have to disappear. The world is left behind, the body is left behind, the
           mind is left behind; just your consciousness, as individuality, is still there.
               To go beyond enlightenment is to go beyond individuality and to become universal. This way,
           each individual will go on moving into nothingness. And one day, the whole existence moves into
           nothingness and a great peace, a great night, a deep, dark womb, a great awaiting for the dawn....
           And it has been happening always, and each time you are always born on a higher level of
           consciousness.
               Enlightenment is the goal of human beings. But those who are enlightened cannot remain static;
           they will have to move, they will have to change. And now they have only one thing to lose --
           themselves.
               They have enjoyed everything. They have enjoyed the purity of individuality; now they have to
           enjoy the disappearing of individuality. They have seen the beauty of individuality; now they have to
           see the disappearance and its beauty, and the silence that follows, that abysmal serenity that follows.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER NIGHT WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THE EGO AND HOW, WITH AWARENESS, ONE
              CAN SEE THAT IT DOES NOT EXIST, I REALIZED THAT I NEVER PUT MUCH EMPHASIS ON
              AWARENESS. FOR ME, BEING WITH YOU ALWAYS MEANT LOVING YOU AS MUCH AS I CAN,
              LONGING FOR YOU AND TRYING TO BE AS CLOSE TO YOU AS POSSIBLE.
              BELOVED OSHO, CAN YOU PLEASE SHOW THE WAY FOR A FEMALE GERMAN LOVER TO
              BECOME MORE AWARE?


               Latifa, love is enough unto itself.
           If your love is not the ordinary, biological instinctive love, if it is not part of your ego, if it is not a
           power trip to dominate someone; if your love is just a pure joy, rejoicing in the being of the other for
           no reason at all, a sheer joy, awareness will follow this pure love just like a shadow. You need not
           worry about awareness.
               There are only two ways: either you become aware, then love follows as a shadow; or you
           become so loving that awareness comes on its own accord. They are two sides of the same coin. You
           need not bother about the other side; just keep one side, the other side cannot escape. The other side
           is bound to come.
               And the path of love is easier, rosier, innocent, simple.
           The path of awareness is a little arduous.
               Those who cannot love, for them I suggest the path of awareness. There are people who cannot
           love -- their hearts have become stones. Their upbringing, their culture, their society has killed the
           very capacity to love -- because this whole world is not run by love, it is run by cunningness. To
           succeed in this world you don't need love, you need a hard heart and a sharp mind. In fact, you don't
           need the heart at all.
               I have heard about one great politician who was in the hospital and who had some great
           complications with his heart. So they put him on a plastic heart and took out his real heart, because it
           was going to take hours to clean it. And certainly a politician's heart -- even if you can clean it in
           hours, it is too soon. The surgeons were working in the other room -- it was a disgusting job -- and
           the politician was lying down.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A man came into the room and shook the politician; he opened his eyes and the man said, "What
           are you doing here? You have been chosen the prime minister of the country."
                He jumped out of the bed. The doctors looked from the other room, "What is happening?" The
           politician was going out. They said, "Wait! Your heart, we are cleaning it."
                The politician said, "Now, at least for five years I won't need it. You can clean it as much as you
           want. Take your time. What does a prime minister need a heart for? But keep it safe in case
           something goes wrong; then I will come back. But if things go well, I may perhaps never need it."
                In this world the heart is not needed. The people of the heart are crushed, exploited, oppressed.
           This world is run by the cunning, by the clever, by the heartless and the cruel. So the whole society
           is managed in such a way that every child starts losing his heart, and his energy starts moving
           directly towards the head. The heart is ignored.
                I have heard an ancient parable from Tibet, that in the beginning of time the heart used to be
           exactly in the middle part of the body. But because of continuously being pushed aside, out of the
           way, now it is no more in the middle of the body. The poor fellow waits by the side of the road: "If
           some day you need, I am here" -- but it gets no nourishment, no encouragement. It gets all kinds of
           condemnation.
                If you do something and you say, "I did it because I felt like doing it," everybody is going to
           laugh: "Felt? Have you lost your head? Give your reason, logic. Feeling is no logic."
                Even if you fall in love, you have to find reasons why you have fallen in love -- because the
           woman's nose is very beautiful, her eyes have such depth, her body is so proportionate. These are not
           the reasons. You have never calculated all these reasons on your calculator and then found that this
           woman seems to be worthy of falling in love with: "Fall in love with this woman -- exactly the right
           length of nose, the right kind of hair, the right color, the right proportion of the body. What more do
           you want?"
                But this is not the way that anybody ever falls in love. You fall in love. Then just to satisfy the
           idiots around you that you are not a fool, you have calculated everything and only then you have
           taken the step. It is a reasonable, rational, logical step.
           Nobody hears the heart.
                And the mind is so chattering, so continuously chattering -- yakkety-yak, yakkety-yak -- that
           even if the heart sometimes says something, it never reaches to you. It cannot reach. The bazaar in
           your head is buzzing so much that it is impossible, absolutely impossible for the heart.
                Slowly slowly, the heart stops saying anything. Not heard again and again, ignored again and
           again, it falls silent.
                The head runs the show in the society; otherwise, we would have lived in a totally different
           world -- more loving, less hate, less war, no possibility of nuclear weapons. The heart will never give
           support for any destructive methods to be evolved. The heart will never be in the service of death. It
           is life -- it throbs for life, it beats for life.
                Because of the whole conditioning of the society, the method of awareness has to be chosen,
           because awareness appears to be very logical, rational.
                But if you can love, then there is no need to go on a long, arduous route unnecessarily.
                Love is the most shortcut way, the most natural -- so easy that it is possible even for a small
           child. It needs no training. You are born with the quality of it, if it is not corrupted by others.
           But love should be pure. It should not be impure.
                You will be surprised to know that the English word `love' comes from a very ugly root in
           Sanskrit. It comes from lobh. Lobh means greed.
                And as far as ordinary love is concerned, it is a kind of greed.
                That's why there are people who love money, there are people who love houses, there are people
           who love this, who love that. Even if they love a woman or a man, it is simply their greed; they want
           to possess everything beautiful.
                It is a power trip. Hence, you will find lovers continuously fighting, fighting about such trivia
           that they both feel ashamed, "About what things we go on fighting!" In their silent moments when
           they are alone, they feel, "Do I become possessed by some evil spirit? -- such trivia, so
           meaningless." But it is not a question of trivia; it is a question of who has power, who is more
           dominant, whose voice is heard.
           Love cannot exist in such circumstances.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have heard a story.... In the life of one of the great emperors of India, Akbar, there is a small
           story. He was very much interested in all kinds of talented people, and from all over India he had
           collected nine people, the most talented geniuses, who were known as the "nine jewels of Akbar's
           court."
               One day, just gossiping with his vice-councillors, he said, "Last night I was discussing with my
           wife. She is very insistent that every husband is henpecked. I tried hard, but she says, `I know many
           families, but I have never found any husband who is not henpecked.' What do you think?" he asked
           the councillors.
               One of the councillors, Birbal said, "Perhaps she is right, because you could not prove it. You
           yourself are a henpecked husband; otherwise, you could have given her a good beating, then and
           there proving that, `Look, here is a husband!'"
               He said, "That I cannot do, because I have to live with her. It is easy to advise somebody else to
           beat his wife. Can you beat your wife?"
               Birbal said, "No, I cannot. I simply accept that I am a henpecked husband, and your wife is
           right."
               But Akbar said, "It has to be found.... In the capital there must be at least one husband who is not
           henpecked. There is no rule in the world which has no exception, and this is not a rule at all."
               So he said to Birbal, "You take my two beautiful Arabian horses" -- one was black, one was
           white -- "and go around the capital. And if you can find a man who is not henpecked, you can give
           him the choice: whichever horse he wants is a present from me." They were valuable. In those days
           horses were very valuable, and those were the most beautiful horses.
               Birbal said, "It is useless, but if you say, I will go."
               He went, and everybody was found to be henpecked. It was very ordinary: He would just call the
           person and call his wife, and ask, "Are you henpecked or not?"
               The man would look at the wife and say, "You should have asked when I was alone. This is not
           right. You will create unnecessary trouble. Just for a horse I am not going to destroy my life. You
           take your horses, I don't want any."
               But one man was sitting in front of his house and two persons were massaging him. He was a
           wrestler, a champion wrestler, a very strong man. Birbal thought, "Perhaps this man... he can kill
           anybody without any weapons. If he can hold your neck, you are finished!" Birbal said, "Can I ask
           you a question?"
           He said, "Question? What question?"
           Birbal said, "Are you henpecked?"
               That man said, "First, let us greet each other, a handshake." And he crushed Birbal's hand and
           said, "Unless you start crying and tears start coming from your eyes, I will not leave your hand. Your
           hand is finished. You dared to ask me such a question?"
               And Birbal was dying -- he was almost a man of steel -- and tears started coming, and he said,
           "Just leave me. You are not henpecked. I have just come to a wrong place. But where is your wife?"
               He said, "Look, she is there, cooking my breakfast." A very small woman was cooking his
           breakfast.
               The woman was so small and the man was so big that Birbal said, "There is a possibility that
           perhaps this man is not henpecked. He will kill this woman."
               So he said, "Now there is no need to go further into investigation. You can choose either horse
           from these two, black and white, a reward from the king for the one who is not henpecked.
               And at that time that small woman said, "Don't choose the black! Otherwise I will make your life
           a hell!"
               The man said, "No, no, I will choose the white. You just keep quiet."
               Birbal said, "You don't get either, neither white nor black. It is all finished, you lost the game.
           You are a henpecked husband."
               There is a continuous fight for domination. Love cannot blossom in such an atmosphere.
               The man is fighting in the world for all kinds of ambitions. The woman is fighting the man
           because she is afraid: he is out of the house the whole day -- "Who knows? He may be having affairs
           with other women." She is jealous, suspicious; she wants to be sure that this man remains controlled.
           So in the house he is fighting with the wife, in the outside he is fighting with the world. Where do
           you think the flower of love can blossom?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Latifa, the flower of love can blossom only when there is no ego, when there is no effort to
           dominate, when one is humble, when one is trying not to be somebody but is ready to be nobody.
               Naturally, in the ordinary world it cannot happen, but with a master it is a possibility. The love
           for the master is not biological. Biology has nothing to do with masters and disciples. The love for
           the master has nothing to do with domination.
           The flower can blossom because love is pure of ego.
               You are simply rejoicing in the presence, in the fulfillment of the master, in the contentment of
           the master. You are rejoicing as if it is your contentment, it is your fulfillment. In the radiation of the
           master you are feeling it is your radiation. You are part of the master; you have become so
           harmonious with him that his heart and your heart are no more two.
               Awareness will come on its own accord, and this is the most beautiful way, the most innocent
           way -- a path full of flowers, a path that passes through beautiful lakes, rivers, groves, greenery.
               The path of awareness is the path that passes through a desert. It is only for those who cannot
           manage to get back into their hearts.
               If you can easily be heartful, forget all about awareness; it will come on its own accord. Each
           step of love will bring its own awareness. This love will not be falling in love; I call it rising in love.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE ARE ALWAYS TWO PARTS IN ME RELATED TO YOU. ONE PART OF ME HAS THE
              DRIVE TO WORK, RUN AROUND, ORGANIZE, JUMP UP AND DOWN, FIGHT, TALK TO PRESS
              AND POLITICIANS, JUST SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS. THE OTHER PART, WHICH HAS
              BECOME SO MUCH STRONGER OVER THE LAST YEARS, JUST WANTS TO SIT AT YOUR SIDE
              AND ABSORB EVERYTHING -- YOU, YOUR SILENCE AND YOUR WORDS.
              WAS IT THAT I HAD TO BE SO ACTIVE JUST TO BE ABLE TO SIT SILENTLY NOW?
              OSHO, PLEASE CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR OUTER AND YOUR INNER WORK?


               There is no split in you.
           If a part fights in the outer world for my message to be spread to all nooks and corners, and the other
           part simply wants to sit close to me, drinking my silence, my presence, my peace, rejoicing in my
           blissfulness, being ecstatic just without doing anything....
               Ordinarily it may seem that these two parts are against each other. They are not. The more you
           shout from the housetops, the more you will be able to sit silently, close to me; and the more you can
           sit silently, close to me, the more you will have something to share with the world, something to
           fight for.
               Man is both the inner and the outer, and it has been a fallacy, a very ancient fallacy, to condemn
           one in favor of the other.
               In the East, people renounce the outer in favor of the inner. They escape from the world into the
           caves in the Himalayas so that they can devote their whole life and their whole time and their whole
           energy to the inner journey -- but they don't understand the dialectics of life.
               In the West, just the opposite has been done. They have renounced the inner so that they can put
           their whole energy into the outer world and the conquest of the outer world.
           Both have been wrong, and both have been right.
               Both have been wrong because both remained halves; one part grew bigger and bigger, and the
           other part remained retarded. You can see it.
               In the East there is so much poverty, so much disease, so much sickness, so much death. Still,
           there is a certain contentment. With all this, there seems to be no revolutionary approach that "We
           should change the whole world. We cannot go on living in this poverty, and we have lived in this
           poverty for centuries, in slavery for centuries. And we have accepted everything -- poverty, slavery,
           disease, death -- without any resistance, because these are outer things. Our whole effort has been
           inner."
               In the West they have destroyed poverty, they have destroyed much disease, they have made
           man's life longer. They have made man's body more beautiful, they have made man's existence more
           comfortable, but the man himself -- for whom all these comforts, all these conquests of science and
           technology have been done -- is missing. They have completely forgotten for whom it was done. The
           inside is hollow. Everything is there, all around, and in the middle there is a retarded consciousness,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           almost non-existential.
               So both have succeeded in what they were doing, and both have failed -- because they have
           chosen only half of man's life.
               My attitude is that of accepting man in his totality, in his wholeness.
               And it has to be understood that once you accept the totality of man, you have to understand the
           law of dialectics.
               For example, the whole day you work hard -- in the fields, in the garden -- you perspire. In the
           night you will have a beautiful sleep. Don't think that because the whole day you have been working
           so hard, how can you sleep in the night? -- it is so against your whole day's work. It is not against.
           The whole day's hard work has prepared you to relax; the night will be deep relaxation.
               Beggars sleep the best. Emperors cannot sleep because the emperor has forgotten the dialectics
           of life. You need two legs to walk, you need two hands, you need two hemispheres in your brain.
               It has now become an accepted psychological truth that you can do hard mathematical work --
           because it is done by one part of the mind -- and then you can do the same hard work on your
           musical instrument, and because it is done by another part of the mind, it is not continuous labor. In
           fact, when you are working hard on mathematics, the musical part of your mind is resting; and when
           you are working hard on the musical part, your mathematical mind is resting.
               In the universities, in the colleges all over the world, we change the class period every forty
           minutes because it has been found that after each forty minutes, the part that you have been working
           with gets tired. Just change the subject; that part goes into rest.
               Sitting with me, fill your cup with as much juice as possible. Feel silence to its uttermost depth,
           so that you can shout from the housetops.
               And there is no contradiction: your shouting from the housetops is simply part of a dialectical
           process. Your silence and your shouting are just like two hands, your two legs, your day and night,
           your work and rest period. Don't divide them as antagonistic to each other; that's how the whole
           world has suffered.
               The East has created great geniuses, but we are still living in the bullock cart age because our
           geniuses simply meditated. Their meditation never came into action. If they had meditated for a few
           hours and used their silence and peace and meditativeness for scientific research, this country would
           have been the richest in the world -- outer and inner, both.
               The same is true about the West: they created great geniuses, but they were all involved with
           things, objects. They forgot themselves completely. Once in a while a genius remembered, but it was
           too late.
               Albert Einstein, at the time of death, said his last words -- and remember, the last words are the
           most important a person has ever spoken in his life, because they are a conclusion, the essential
           experience. His last words were, "If there is another life, I would like to be a plumber. I don't want to
           be a physicist. I want to be something very simple -- a plumber."
               A tired brain, a burned brain... and what was his achievement? -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
               This man was capable of becoming a Gautam Buddha. If he had looked inwards, he had such an
           insight that perhaps he would have gone deeper than any Gautam Buddha, because he looked
           towards the stars and went further than any astronomer has ever done. It is the same power; it is only
           a question of direction.
               But why get fixed? Why not keep yourself available to both dimensions? What is the need of
           getting fixed? -- "I can only see outwardly, I cannot see inwardly, or vice-versa." One should only
           learn how to see deeply, and then use that insight in both dimensions. Then he can give better
           science and better technology to the world and he can give better human beings, a better humanity, at
           the same time.
               And remember, only in a better human being's hands is a better technology right; otherwise, it is
           dangerous.
               The East is dying with poverty. The West is dying with power. Strange.... They have created so
           much power that they can only kill. They don't know anything about life because they have never
           looked in.
               The East knows everything about life, but without food you cannot meditate. When you are
           hungry and you close your eyes, you can see only chappattis just floating all around.
               It has happened in the life of a poet, Heinrich Heine. He was lost in a jungle for three days,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hungry, tired. Out of fear, he could not sleep; wild animals were staying in the tops of the trees in the
           night. And for three days continuously he did not come across a single human being to ask whether
           he was moving right or wrong, where he was going or if he was moving in a roundabout. Three days
           continuously... and then came the full moon night.
               Hungry, tired, hanging onto a tree, he looked at the full moon. He was a great poet, and he was
           surprised, he could not believe it. He himself had written about the moon, he had read about the
           moon. So much is written about the moon -- so much poetry, so much painting, so much art is
           around the moon. But Heinrich Heine had a revelation: before, he used to see his beloved's face in
           the moon; today he saw only a bread floating in the sky. He tried hard, but the beloved's face did not
           appear.
               It is perfectly good to be dialectical. And always remember to try the opposites as
           complementaries. Use all the opposites as complementaries and your life will be fuller, your life will
           be whole.
               To me, this is the only holy life: a whole life is the only holy life.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              TODAY I OBSERVED A TIGHTROPE WALKER AND HOW HE TRAINED A YOUNG GIRL
              PARTNER TO WALK ON THE ROPE. HE WAS SOMETIMES HITTING HER, SOMETIMES
              PERSUADING HER, BUT IT SEEMED TO ME THAT SHE WAS MAINLY ENCOURAGED TO TRY IT
              AGAIN AND AGAIN BECAUSE SHE FELT HIS TRUST IN HER POTENTIAL TO BE ABLE TO WALK
              THE ROPE ALONE.
              CAN YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE MASTER'S TRUST IN THE DISCIPLE?


               The very fact that the master accepts a disciple shows his trust in the potential of the disciple.
           Otherwise, he would not have been accepted.
               Every man has the potential, but the right time, the right place, the right experience make all the
           difference. Otherwise, every human being is capable of being enlightened, will be enlightened, but
           when, at what time -- whether in this life or in another life -- depends on many things: how much
           your experience is, your experience of being frustrated in the world, how much you are in misery.
               Are you still hoping that tomorrow things will be better, or have you lost all hope? Is your
           despair ultimate, or only momentary? Have you come to the master because you have fought with
           your wife today, but after fifteen minutes things will be different -- anger will be gone?
               I used to live on a university campus. The first day, I entered into my bungalow. I was alone, and
           the attached bungalow was occupied by a Bengali professor. And the walls were so thin that even if
           you plugged your ears, still you would be able to hear what was going on on the other side of the
           wall.
               Because the husband and wife were fighting so badly, I thought that there was going to be some
           blood. I could not sleep. It was one o'clock in the night and they were fighting and fighting and
           fighting. And I could not understand what they were saying either, but things must have been serious
           because finally the professor said, "I am going to commit suicide" -- that he said in English.
               I said, "This is something good; at least I can understand this much." So I came out of my house
           to prevent him -- "Just wait. In the middle of the night, where will you go to commit suicide? In the
           morning it will be better" -- but by the time I was out he was gone, fast.
               I asked his wife -- who had not come out even to say goodbye! I said, "What am I supposed to
           do? Should I go to the police station? Somebody has to be informed by phone? What has to be
           done?"
               She said, "Nothing has to be done. Do you see his umbrella is here? Without his umbrella he
           cannot go anywhere. He will be coming soon -- the moment he remembers the umbrella. In anger, he
           has forgotten the umbrella. A Bengali without an umbrella?"
               I said, "But suicide is such a serious matter, and an umbrella is not needed at all."
               She said, "You just wait. You sit here. I will make coffee for you because you have been... I
           knew that you must be hearing all this."
           And within fifteen minutes he was back.
           And I said, "What happened?"
               He said, "What happened? I forgot my umbrella! And now it must be at least two o'clock in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           morning."
               I said, "That's the right thing to do. In the morning, take your umbrella and go out, find a right
           place." But who goes in the morning?
               In the morning I reminded him, "You are still here? The sun has risen. You should go now and
           search for the right place."
               He said, "I was thinking to go, but when I opened the umbrella it was not repaired because the
           rains have not come."
               I said, "I see you with that umbrella every day, going to the university."
               He said, "That is just habitual. Because there are no rains, nothing, so there is no question of
           opening it; one just carries it. Now I tried and opened it -- it is not repaired. And I have been telling
           my wife that my umbrella should be kept repaired in case some emergency arises. Now I wanted to
           commit suicide and the umbrella is not ready."
               I thought, "This is really great of you, and every person who commits suicide should learn
           something from you."
               One day, it must have been afternoon, three o'clock or something, I again heard that he is going
           to commit suicide. But this time I was not so much excited, because I thought that this is the usual
           business. Still, I came out to say goodbye.
               He looked at me with a very strange face. He said, "What do you mean by goodbye?"
               I said, "You are going to commit suicide, and I don't think that we will be meeting again so I am
           saying goodbye. But what are you carrying?" He was carrying a tiffin.
           I said, "Where are you taking the tiffin?"
               He said, "You know these Indian railway trains -- sometimes they are ten hours late, twelve
           hours late. And I cannot tolerate hunger at all, so I will lie down by the line and wait for the train. If
           it comes, good; otherwise, I am taking my supper with me."
               I said, "You are a clever and intelligent person -- anybody looking at you would think you are
           going on some picnic."
               And when he was gone, his wife came. She said, "Has he gone?"
           I said, "He has gone."
               She said, "He will be coming soon. This idiot," she said, "whenever he wants to go for a picnic....
           But he is such a miser that he will not take even me with him, so he says that he is going to commit
           suicide. He must be eating just near the railway station; you can go and see right now."
               The railway station was not very far away, so I went and I saw him. He was enjoying all Bengali
           sweets and things.
               I said, "Chatterji, the train is standing on the platform. Leave your tiffin, run! Just lie down ahead
           of the train!"
               He said, "It is too late. First I have to finish everything that I brought, and today I have missed.
           And the train comes to this station only once in twenty-four hours" -- because it was not a big
           station, it was a small station, and the train used to stop only once for the university because the
           university was outside the city. So he said, "Today it is finished."
               But I said, "You were first saying, `I am going to wait.' And this is not suppertime; it is only
           three o'clock."
               He said, "When you have such sweets in your hand, you cannot wait. And I am just coming back
           home with you."
               There are people who would like to become sannyasins, who would like to become disciples. It
           may be just an emotional, sentimental, temporal thing, and within two minutes it has come and it is
           gone. They had the potential, but it was not the right time.
               Even if they take sannyas, even if they become disciples -- because no master is so unkind as to
           say no to somebody who wants to become a disciple -- they are going to betray. They are going to
           leave sooner or later because it was not something very deep, coming from their very heart. It was
           something very superficial, something so superficial that if they had waited for a few minutes more,
           they would have changed their minds. It was a mind thing, and mind is never stable, it is
           continuously changing.
               You cannot stay with one thought in the mind even for a few seconds. Sometimes, try: just one
           thought, and you try to stay with it, and you will be surprised that in not more than thirty seconds
           you have forgotten about it and your mind has moved somewhere else. And then suddenly you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remember that you were trying to stay with one thought, and you could remain only thirty seconds.
               Gurdjieff used to give this experiment to everyone who had come to become a disciple. He
           would give him his own pocket watch and tell him, "Keep it in front of you, watch the second hand
           and choose any word -- your name. Keep just that name in your mind, and just tell me how long you
           can keep it" -- fifteen seconds, thirty seconds, at the most, forty seconds, not even one whole minute.
           Mind is in a flux.
               So those who want to become disciples because of some mind thing are not going to stay. There
           is no need to say no to them, they will be going themselves.
               But the master knows perfectly well when somebody comes with an urge from the heart, with an
           urge that he can stake his whole life for but he will not turn back. Only these few people attain to the
           fulfillment.
               Everybody has the potential, but everybody is not ripe at this moment -- perhaps at some other
           time, in some other life, with some other master.
               But one day is going to come in everybody's life that becomes a turning point, a 180 degree turn,
           and then disciplehood is a beautiful growth.
               Then the whole energy is moving in one direction, with one intention, with no diversions. Then
           the distance from the goal is less.
               The more intense is your urge, the smaller is the distance. If your intention is total, then there is
           no distance at all.
               Then you need not go to the goal, the goal comes to you.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                    Chapter #2
                                  Chapter title: Innocence is a light unto itself
           4 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610045
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 125 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE QUESTIONS, BUT THEY ARE NEVER COMPLETE, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ASK.


               No question is ever complete, because the completion of a question will mean it has its answer in
           itself.
               A question by its very nature is incomplete. It is a desire, a longing, an inquiry, because
           something needs to be completed.
               It is part of human consciousness that it demands completion. Leave anything incomplete and it
           becomes an obsession; complete it and you are free of it. Completion brings freedom.
               Hence, it is not only your questions that are incomplete. You are more alert that you have seen
           the incompleteness of each question.
               Secondly, you don't know what to ask. Nobody knows. All of our questions are out of our
           ignorance, out of our unconscious, out of our dark soul. Nobody knows exactly what his question is,
           what is essential to be asked -- because the moment you know what your question is, you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately find the answer within yourself.
               To be absolutely confident about the question means the answer is not very far. It is very close,
           because confidence comes from the answer, not from the question.
           But still, man has to ask.
               Although all questions are incomplete and you do not know what to ask, still man has to ask
           because man cannot remain silent. It is possible not to ask -- that does not mean you don't have
           questions, that simply means you are not bringing them out. Perhaps you are afraid to be exposed,
           because each question will indicate towards your ignorance.
               There are millions of people who never ask for the simple reason that to be silent at least appears
           to be wise. To ask the question is to show your wounds, is to show all the dark spots in your being. It
           needs courage.
               Secondly, there are questions which are not out of your ignorance but out of your borrowed
           knowledge -- which are the worst questions possible.
               A question that comes out of ignorance is innocent, has purity. It is unpolluted, uncorrupted; it
           shows your courage, your trust.
               But there are questions which come out of your borrowed knowledge. You have heard much, you
           have read much, you have been informed from the parents, teachers, priests, politicians, all kinds of
           demogogues, all kinds of pretenders to knowledge -- and you have been collecting their whole
           garbage.
               Purna has sent me a beautiful present: a very artistic, beautiful wastepaper basket with a note --
           "Osho, if you feel my questions are just garbage, throw them in this wastepaper basket. You need not
           answer them."
           Questions coming out of knowledge are garbage.
               You don't know anything about God, the universe; you don't know anything about the soul,
           reincarnation, future lives, past lives. All that you know is simply hearsay. People have been
           chattering around you and you are collecting all kinds of information that seems to be important to
           you. Why does it seem important? -- it seems important because it covers your ignorance. It helps
           you to feel as if you know. But remember, it is a very big `as if.' You do not know, it is only as if.
               All holy scriptures, all books on philosophy, theology should be categorized into one category:
           as if. They are talking about every possible impossible thing they know nothing of, but they are
           articulate, imaginative intellectuals who can create systems out of nothing.
               That's why no philosopher agrees with any other philosopher. And every philosopher thinks that
           he has found the whole system that explains everything in the world -- and all other philosophers
           laugh at him; they find thousands of loopholes in his system. But as far as they themselves are
           concerned, they commit the same mistake: they claim that their system is complete and now there is
           no question of further inquiry.
               And the strangest thing is that these are the people who are very insightful in seeing the
           loopholes of others, but they cannot see the loopholes of their own system. Perhaps they don't want
           to see. They are there, everybody else can see them; it is impossible that they themselves are not
           seeing them. They are ignoring them, hoping that nobody sees them.
           Every philosophy has failed.
           Every religion has failed.
               You are carrying the ruins of all the philosophies and all the religions in your mind, and out of
           those ruins, questions arise. Those questions are meaningless; you should not ask them. They really
           show your stupidity.
               But questions arising out of your ignorance -- just like a child asking -- those questions are
           incomplete, not very great questions, but tremendously important.
               One day a small child was walking with D.H. Lawrence in a garden, and was continuously
           asking questions of all kinds. And D.H. Lawrence was one of the most sincere men of this century,
           condemned by governments, by priests because of his sincerity, because he would say only the truth,
           because he was not ready to be diplomatic, a hypocrite, because he would not compromise. Even
           before this small child he showed such authentic sincerity, which even your great saints have not
           shown.
               The child asked, "Why are the trees green?" -- a very simple question, but very profound. All the
           trees are green -- why? What is the matter with the trees? When there are so many colors, when the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole rainbow of colors is available -- some tree can be yellow, some tree can be red, some tree can
           be blue -- why have all the trees chosen to be green?
                In D. H. Lawrence's place, any parent, any teacher, any priest, anybody -- x, y, z -- would have
           told some lie, that "God made them green because green is very soothing to the eyes." But this would
           have been deceptive, a lie, because D.H. Lawrence does not know anything about God, does not
           know why the trees are green.
                In fact, no scientist who has been working with the trees knows, although he can show that it is
           because of a certain element, chlorophyl, that trees are green. But that is not the answer for the child.
           He will simply ask, "Why have they chosen chlorophyl -- all the trees?" It is not a satisfactory
           answer.
                D.H. Lawrence closed his eyes, waited for a moment in silence... what to say to this child? He
           did not want to be a deceiving person to an innocent child -- although the question is ordinary, any
           answer would do. But the question has come from innocence; hence it is very profound.
                And D. H. Lawrence opened his eyes, looked at the trees and said to the child, "The trees are
           green because they are green."
           The child said, "Right. I was also thinking that."
                But D.H. Lawrence remembered it in his memoirs: "To me it was a great experience -- the love
           and the trust the child showed towards me because of sheer sincerity. My answer was not an answer;
           according to logicians, it was a tautology. `The trees are green because they are green' -- is this an
           answer?"
                In fact, D.H. Lawrence is accepting that: My child, I am as much ignorant as you are. Just
           because there is a difference of age does not mean that I know and you do not know. The difference
           of age is not the difference between ignorance and knowledge.
                Trees being green is part of the mystery of the whole existence.
           Things are what they are.
                A woman is a woman, a man is a man. A rose is a rose; call it by any name, it still remains the
           rose.
                That morning, in that small incident, something tremendously beautiful is hidden.
                Ask questions -- not out of knowledge because all that knowledge is borrowed, unfounded, pure
           rubbish.
           Ask out of your ignorance.
           Remember, the ignorance is yours -- be proud of it.
                The knowledge is not yours. How can you be proud of it?
                And the question is not to cover the ignorance. The question is to bring some light, so that the
           ignorance, the darkness, disappears.
                I cannot give you any better answer than D.H. Lawrence, but I can give you something else
           which Lawrence has no insight about.
                I can give you a space, a silence in which you can realize the mystery on your own.
                You ask the question, whatever the question is. Just remember: don't ask out of knowledge, ask
           out of your own authentic ignorance.
                And my answers are not answers, in fact. My answers are killers -- they simply kill the question,
           they take away the question, they don't give you any answer to hold on to.
                And that is the difference between a teacher and a master: the teacher gives you answers so that
           you can hold those answers and remain ignorant -- beautifully decorated on the surface, libraries full
           of answers, but underneath, below the surface, an abysmal ignorance.
           The master simply kills your questions.
                He does not give you an answer, he takes away the question.
                If all your questions can be taken away... listen carefully to what I am saying:
                If all your questions can be taken away, your ignorance is bound to disappear, and what remains
           is innocence.
           And innocence is a light unto itself.
                In that innocence you don't know any question, any answer, because the whole realm of
           questions and answers is left behind. It has become irrelevant, you have transcended it.
           You are pure of questions and pure of answers.
                This state is enlightenment. And if you are courageous enough, you can go even beyond it.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This will give you all the beautiful experiences described by the mystics down the ages: Your
           heart will dance with ecstasy, your whole being will become a beautiful sunrise... thousands of
           lotuses blossoming in you.
           If you want, you can make your home here.
               In the past, people have stopped here, because where can you find a better place? Gautam
           Buddha has called this place the "Lotus Paradise."
           But if you are a born seeker....
               I will suggest: have a little rest, enjoy all the beauties of enlightenment but don't make it a
           full-stop.
               Go beyond, because life, its journey, is unending and much more is going to happen which is
           absolutely indescribable.
               The experience of enlightenment is also beyond description, but it has been described by all who
           have experienced it. They all say it is beyond description and still they describe it -- that it is full of
           light, that it is full of joy, that it is the ultimate in blissfulness. If this is not description then what is
           description?
               I am saying it for the first time: for thousands of years the people who have become enlightened
           have been saying that it cannot be described, and at the same time have been describing it, have been
           their whole lives singing it.
               But beyond enlightenment you certainly enter into a world which is indescribable. Because in
           enlightenment you still are; otherwise who is feeling the blissfulness, who is seeing the light? Kabir
           says, "... as if thousands of suns have risen." Who is seeing it?
               Enlightenment is the ultimate experience -- but still it is experience, and the experiencer is there.
           Going beyond it, there is no experiencer.
           You dissolve.
               First you were trying to dissolve your problems; now you dissolve -- because existentially you
           are the problem. Your separation from existence is the only question which has to be solved.
               You lose your boundaries, you are no more. Who is there to experience?
               You need tremendous courage to drop the ego to achieve enlightenment.
               You will need a million times more courage to drop yourself to attain the beyond -- and the
           beyond is the real.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I AM FAMILIAR WITH THE MASTER-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP AFTER YEARS OF BEING
               AROUND YOU.
               COULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON THE DISCIPLE-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP?


               There is no such thing.
           Disciples in the past have created organizations. That was their relationship, that "we are Christians,"
           that "we are Mohammedans," that "we belong to one religion, to one faith and because we belong to
           one faith, we are brothers and sisters. We will live for the faith and we will die for the faith."
               All organizations have arisen out of the relationships between disciples.
               In fact, two disciples are not connected with each other at all.
               Each disciple is connected with the master in his individual capacity.
               A master can be connected with millions of disciples, but the connection is personal, not
           organizational.
               Disciples don't have any relationship. Yes, they have a certain friendliness, a certain lovingness.
               I am avoiding the word `relationship' because that is binding. I am not calling it friendship even,
           but `friendliness' -- because they are all fellow travelers walking on the same path, in love with the
           same master, but they are related to each other through the master.
           They are not related to each other directly.
               That has been the most unfortunate thing in the past: that disciples became organized, related
           amongst themselves, and they were all ignorant.
               And ignorant people can only create more nuisance in the world than anything else. All the
           religions have done exactly that.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My people are related to me individually. And because they are on the same path, certainly they
           become acquainted with each other. A friendliness arises, a loving atmosphere, but I don't want to
           call it any kind of relationship.
               We have suffered too much because of disciples getting directly related to each other, creating
           religions, sects, cults, and then fighting. They cannot do anything else.
               At least with me, remember it: you are not related to each other in any way at all.
               Just a liquid friendliness, not a solid friendship, is enough -- and far more beautiful, and without
           any possibility of harming humanity in the future.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              SINCE I HAVE BEEN HERE, I HAVE BEEN TORN APART BETWEEN WANTING TO ASK YOU A
              QUESTION -- WANTING TO EXPOSE MYSELF -- AND TRYING EVERYTHING TO AVOID THAT. IT
              FEELS AS IF I HAVE BEEN STUCK IN THIS POSITION FOR YEARS.
              WHAT IS THIS FEAR, OSHO?


               There is only one basic fear.
           All other small fears are byproducts of the one main fear that every human being carries with
           himself.
               The fear is of losing yourself. It may be in death, it may be in love, but the fear is the same: You
           are afraid of losing yourself.
               And the strangest thing is that only those people are afraid of losing themselves who don't have
           themselves. Those who have themselves are not afraid.
           So it is really a question of exposure.
               You don't have anything to lose; you just believe that you have something to lose.
               I was traveling with Mulla Nasruddin... and the ticket checker came. I showed him my ticket, and
           Mulla started searching for his ticket. He opened one of his suitcases, then another suitcase, went
           through all his pockets -- coat, pants, shirt -- but I saw that he was avoiding one pocket.
               Watching him, even the ticket checker said, "Don't be worried. You are a well-known person.
           You can't travel without a ticket, it must be somewhere. You have so much luggage," he said, "I will
           be coming back in the second round. By that time you may have found it."
               He went away, and Mulla was still perspiring and searching for the ticket.
               I said, "Mulla, I can see only one thing -- that you are looking into everything but you are not
           looking into one pocket."
               He said, "Just don't raise that question, because I am already in such trouble."
               But I said, "What has that pocket to do with trouble?"
               He said, "It has everything to do with it. That is the only place I am hoping that the ticket may
           be, and I don't want to lose that hope. First let me look in everything else. That is my last resort; I
           also know that I am avoiding it. The ticket checker was looking at that pocket, you are also looking
           at that pocket. It is not that I am not aware. Fully consciously I am avoiding it, because if it is not
           there then the ticket is nowhere."
           The fear of coming close is the fear of exposure.
               Who knows? -- as you come close to the master, in his presence, in his light you may find that
           you don't exist. And that will be almost a death... bigger than death. So people keep at a certain
           distance.
               Watching the wild animals in the jungles, in the mountains, scientists have come to discover a
           certain idea: that they have a territorial imperative, that each animal has his own territory. If you
           don't enter his territory, he will not bother you, but if you enter his territory you are in danger, he can
           attack you. In fact, he feels the danger: you are in his territory, coming too close, and who knows if
           you are a friend or a foe?
               And they have a very strange way of creating the demarcation line of their territory. You see the
           dogs pissing? -- they are creating their territory. Each dog has his own territory; he creates it not by
           visible walls and fences but by the smell. Other dogs immediately smell it: "This territory belongs to
           some dog -- be careful."
               And the same is done even by lions; they will go pissing around a large territory. And their urine
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has a very strong smell; no animal is so insensitive that he will not sense it. And once he senses the
           smell, he will avoid that place -- that is a prohibited area.
               The scientists studying the whole thing came to a conclusion: Why are these animals so much
           interested in keeping a certain space of their own and not allowing anybody else to enter? -- they
           found that it is fear. The other animal can be death. It is better to warn him, and before he attacks the
           best way to defend yourself is to attack. So if anybody enters your territory, you attack him before he
           attacks you; and whoever attacks first has more chances to be victorious.
               In zoos, where man has kept animals in small spaces...
               Psychologists have been shocked to learn that in the wild, animals never go mad, never commit
           suicide, never become homosexuals, never attack their own species. But in a zoo they start doing
           strange things: they become homosexuals, they start attacking their own species. Otherwise, except
           man, no animal attacks his own species. It is a prerogative of humanity -- only a man kills another
           man. No lion kills another lion.
               But in a zoo it happens that they lose all their natural instinctive intelligence; they start becoming
           crazy, mad. And strangely enough, they even start committing suicide, and the reason is that their
           territory has been taken away and they are living in constant fear. So many animals so close -- they
           cannot sleep, they cannot relax, the other animal may attack.
               They have lost their freedom, they have lost their sleep, they have lost their sanity. And to live in
           such conditions, a point comes when it is better to commit suicide rather than live in such torture.
           You don't see the torture because you don't know that they are suffering from a special cause: they
           need space.
               And as humanity has grown in population, murders have grown, crimes have grown,
           homosexuality has grown, lesbianism has grown. People are committing suicide like anything. War
           seems to be the only thing we are preparing for; it seems war is the only thing we are born for.
               Perhaps it is the territorial imperative. Perhaps man has lost his feeling of space.
               Just see what territorial imperative is possible in a local train. Look at what territorial imperative
           is possible on the road. Still, if you watch carefully, even in a local train people are standing in such
           a way that nobody touches them, still making their last effort to keep a certain distance. It may be
           just inches, but just a little distance will give them breathing space.
               Psychologically, man is afraid to come close to anybody whose presence can become an
           exposure, whose eyes can be so penetrative, like x-rays, who can see you through and through.
               And you are afraid that perhaps nothing will be found -- there is nobody, the house is empty.
               The same is true about questions: you are afraid to ask authentic questions coming out of your
           ignorance because you will be allowing yourself to be exposed as an ignorant person.
           Everybody is pretending to be knowledgeable.
               In my village there was a certain man... a little loose in the head, so I was very much interested in
           him. I am always interested in people who are a little loose; they are special people.
               His name was Sunderlal, but I used to call him Doctor Sunderlal. At first he could not believe it
           -- why am I calling him doctor? He asked me, "You said DOCTOR?"
               I said, "You are `doctor'. In this village, nobody is more knowledgeable than you are."
           He said, "That's true."
               I said, "In this village, you are a D.Litt., a doctor."
           He said, "Are you joking?"
               I said, "Why should I joke? A fact is a fact. If you want, I can bring a few people as witnesses."
               He said, "No, no, there is no need. I trust in you; if you are saying it, then it must be so."
               The next day I saw that he had hung a board on his house: Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt.
               The whole town was agog... suddenly this crazy man... "Which university has given him a
           D.Litt.?"
               I reached his home and I said, "You have done the right thing. It is not a question of any
           university -- what rights do they have to give you a D.Litt.? -- it is your declaration."
               He said, "That's right. Because my father was saying, `You idiot, you are writing Doctor
           Sunderlal, D.Litt. -- the police will come! You will be caught in some trouble; don't listen to that
           man.'"
               I said, "There is no question; it is your declaration that `In this village I am the most
           knowledgeable person. If anybody has any doubts... open challenge!'"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He said, "Should it be written underneath the board?"
                I said, "It should be written underneath the board."
                So a certain board was made on which he wrote, "This is a declaration that in this village I am
           the most knowledgeable person. And if somebody has any doubts, that means an open challenge for
           a discussion."
                Now, who wanted to discuss with that fellow? He was so crazy; nobody turned up. And he was
           sitting in a chair just by the side of the board waiting for somebody to come.
                I inquired two or three times, "Has anybody turned up?"
                He said, "Nobody... people come, they read and they go again! Even my father said that there
           seems to be something in it, because nobody is making any objection. Even the police inspector
           came, read the whole thing and went away: `If it is a declaration....'"
                Just a few years ago the man died, and he died as "Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt." In the newspapers it
           was printed, "Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt. has died." And nobody ever asked or bothered, because
           nobody was ready to accept the challenge. Everybody was afraid, because to discuss with that crazy
           fellow... he could say anything. He could raise questions that you could not answer, he could
           criticize anything.
                And they all knew that I was supporting him. I had told him, "Don't be worried. If somebody
           accepts the challenge I will be there by your side to help you."
                He said, "I am not worried. I have defeated my wife, my cousin, my brother. I have defeated my
           family completely, and I know that in this village they are the average people, so I have defeated the
           village. Should I try to make the territory a little bigger?"
                I said, "No, you should keep the territory just as the village. It is enough -- because you have the
           D.Litt., you have declared it. Now, no need to make the territory bigger, because that may create
           trouble. In this village you are the only one whose head is loose. In other villages there may be
           somebody who has the same kind of loose head -- unnecessary trouble will arise. You just remain
           silent."
                And people started calling him "Doctor Sunderlal." And by and by, people forgot all about... he
           was accepted as Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt. That almost became his name.
                Your knowledge... whether you have declared it or not, deep down you believe that you know so
           much. And all that you know is not yours.
                Coming closer to a person in whose light your knowledge will start melting, disappearing,
           evaporating, leaving you naked in your ignorance, you are afraid even to ask a question.
                I have seen people, thousands of people in my life, asking me questions and saying that "This is a
           question from one of my friends." And when I used to see people personally, I would tell them, "The
           best way will be that you send your friend. And he can say the same thing: `This is a question from
           one of my friends.'"
           He said, "What do you mean?"
                I said, "You have understood... this is your question. But you don't even have guts to say `This is
           my question.' Knowledge, which you claim as yours, is all from others. And the question -- which
           you are saying is some friend's question -- is yours." I said, "Bring your friend. Tomorrow, come
           with your friend. I would like to see the friend, because the question is very important."
           He said, "The question is important?"
                I said, "It is a very important question, and I would like to see the person."
           He said, "Forgive me... really it is my question."
           People are afraid to expose themselves.
                But to be with a master, one of the basic rules is that you will drop your fears and you will stand
           naked in your ignorance, because from that ignorance your innocence can be achieved.
           From your knowledge, no route goes to innocence.
                Only from your ignorance is there a pathway to innocence.
                Hence I repeat again: a vast knowledge which is borrowed is of no meaning. But a small
           ignorance that is yours is a treasure, because from that ignorance opens the door to your innocence.
                And it is innocence that becomes the light, that becomes the incense and the fragrance.


              BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ONCE YOU TOLD ME THAT THE SPRING HAD COME, BUT MY ANXIETY IS THAT I HAVE LOST
              EVERYTHING, THAT THE GARBAGE HAS TAKEN OVER COMPLETELY, AND THAT I CANNOT
              KEEP MYSELF OPEN TO YOU AS A DISCIPLE UNLESS I AM CONTINUALLY IN YOUR
              PRESENCE.
              CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE SEED OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH WHICH YOU PLANT IN
              US AND WHETHER IT CAN DIE?


               Pankaja, the seed is immortal, it cannot die.
           But it can remain dormant; it can remain dormant for lives.
               If the right soil is not provided, if the right water is not provided, if the right exposure to the
           sunlight is not provided, it will remain dormant, a potentiality, a waiting -- but it cannot die. You
           may die many times, but the seed, once planted in you, will go on following your consciousness
           wherever you are.
               Unless you give it your attention, nourishment, your care, your love, it cannot become a living
           sprout. Small, fresh green leaves cannot come out of it.
               Only your love and your consciousness can create the miracle... and the day will not be far away
           when there will be flowers.
               There are people here who have been carrying seeds from other masters. I do not need to sow
           new seeds in them; all that I need is to help their dormant seeds to open up.
               You are not here for the first time. You have been here always -- perhaps with Zarathustra,
           perhaps with Pythagoras, perhaps with Heraclitus, perhaps with Gautam Buddha.
               It is very rare that a person comes to me who needs a new seed -- because you are all ancient
           people. It is almost impossible not to have come in contact with one of the magicians of the soul;
           those people are magnets. So in some life, somewhere, you may have met al-Hillaj Mansoor,
           Jalaluddin Rumi, Kabir or Nanak.
               Very rarely do I find a person who is not already pregnant -- but the seed has remained the seed,
           you have not been a gardener to it. Somebody, with great compassion, must have sown the seed, but
           you have not been kind enough to yourself.
           The seed never dies.
               And Pankaja, you understand perfectly well that your mind is full of garbage. This very
           understanding is enough to get rid of it.
               But it seems the problem is that this garbage is paying you; it is in some way fulfilling your ego.
           Pankaja is a novelist, is well known as a novelist.
               I have worked with many kinds of celebrities; they are the most third-rate people to work with
           for the simple that their celebrity has become part of their ego. They cannot drop the ego, because if
           they drop the ego the celebrity disappears. And the celebrity, the famousness, their name, has
           become so important to them... it has become their identity in the world. Where millions of people
           are without any identity, they have an identity. For them, to drop the ego is very difficult -- and
           understandably; it is arduous.
               A person who is not a celebrity has a small ego. In fact, to have it or not to have it does not make
           much difference; he is already nobody. He can drop it, and by dropping it he can gain the whole
           beautiful existence and all its benediction. By becoming nobody, he can open the doors to the
           universe and its blessings.
               But all the celebrities that have come to me from different fields, have all proved to be failures.
           They take the most time, but they have a problem because their ego is involved with their name and
           fame. Even if they understand that it is garbage, the garbage is paying them so much that they want
           to cling to it a little more -- perhaps tomorrow or the day after tomorrow they will drop it. They have
           understood the point, but just to drop it right now seems too much.
               I am reminded of a very great thinker, Voltaire. He was famous in his country, and it was a
           convention in the country that if you could get a small piece of cloth from a famous man like
           Voltaire, you could make a beautiful locket out of it. It was a great security, safety against dangers,
           disease, sickness, death.
               When Voltaire used to go out of his house, he would come home almost naked, because crowds
           would follow him, tearing his clothes -- and not only his clothes, he would get scratched on the body.
           He had to ask for police protection if he wanted to go to the railway station or to go to some other
           place. Without police protection it was impossible, because to reach the railway station naked,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scratched all over, blood all over, would not look right... although he deeply enjoyed it, because he
           was the only man in the whole country who was so much respected. This was a respect given by
           people.
               But in the world, everything goes on changing. The name and the fame is just a soap bubble. It
           may become very big -- the bigger it becomes, the more dangerous, because it is going to burst soon.
               And the day came when Voltaire was forgotten; somebody else had become the celebrity. Now
           there was no need for police protection. People even forgot that he was alive. In his notebooks he has
           written, "I enjoyed those days. But at that time I used to think that it would be better not to be known
           at all, just to be a nobody, to live silently, because life had become a nightmare. But when I became
           nobody, then I started feeling great despair that I had lost my respect, my name, my fame."
               And he does not say in his notes that this was what he wanted, to be nobody. He had become
           nobody now, but it was not a joy, it was a defeat.
               He wrote, "I'm dying a defeated man." And the day he died, only four persons carried his body to
           the graveyard. Of the four persons, one was his dog and three were his neighbors -- and those three
           had to carry the body because otherwise it would start rotting and the neighborhood would become a
           hell to live in. Somehow he had to be thrown into a grave. So in fact the only person who lovingly
           followed was the dog.
               And this was the man who was followed by thousands of people wherever he went.
               Pankaja, your garbage is paying you. You can choose it, there is no problem. But choose
           consciously, that you choose garbage because it is paying you. Consciously chosen, it won't last
           long. Don't fight with it; fighting will not help.
               Or if you are courageous enough, see a simple point: even if you write hundreds of novels and
           inside you remain just a wound which is hurting twenty-four hours a day, your whole life is wasted
           in misery just to fulfill a non-existential ego. Tomorrow you will die, and the day after tomorrow
           nobody will remember you. How many novelists have been in this world? And who cares about
           them today? And they all must have suffered in the same way, because what they were doing was
           garbage.
               You may be a big garbage truck. It does not matter -- big or small -- if you can have a little
           courage and throw away all this garbage and clean yourself, perhaps something beautiful may come
           out of you which may be helpful to humanity, which may be remembered for centuries; not only
           remembered, but may have a certain transforming effect on people.
               But the garbage that you are writing is just journalistic. Nobody bothers tomorrow about today's
           newspaper.
               I used to live in a place where a retired man, who was a little eccentric.... Retired people become
           eccentric, having nothing to do. And nobody wants to become useless -- it hurts. Nobody wants to be
           just a burden.
               And in the family, nobody cares about the old man. In fact, they want to get rid of these people
           because they are unnecessarily a nuisance. Young people have their own life, their own enjoyment,
           their own entertainment, and these old fellows are continually interrupting, condemning, making
           them feel guilty or constantly irritable. And they have nothing to do; twenty-four hours a day they
           are sitting there. Naturally, they need some work; they become great critics about everything.
               He used to come to me. I was in the university -- for just one or two hours I was teaching in the
           university and then I was back. He used to come to me, and I loved to listen to him. He was very
           happy with me, because he said "You are the only man who has patience to listen; otherwise, nobody
           bothers. I am saying such significant things and nobody cares." But how long could I tolerate him?
               So I used to give him the newspapers, magazines, so he would read them and he would get into
           them and leave me alone. Sometimes it would happen that I would give him an old newspaper just
           by mistake. He would start reading it -- so deeply engrossed -- and then I would look at the date. I
           would say, "My God, I have given him an old newspaper." And I would tell him, "This is an old
           newspaper. I will give you the new, the fresh."
               He said, "It doesn't matter -- almost ninety percent of it is the same news. Just for ten percent,
           who cares? To me, it is all the same. When you are not in the house I come and ask the gardener. He
           does not allow me into your study, but he brings newspapers and I sit in the garden. And sometimes
           he brings one-year-old newspapers! But I say it does not matter; the same things go on happening, so
           I read. Even your gardener says to me, `My God, this is one year old. You wait, my master will be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           coming soon; then I will bring the fresh newspapers.' And I say, `Don't be worried, I just enjoy
           reading.' And it is the same -- somebody has been killed, somebody has been murdered, somebody
           has committed suicide, somebody has been assassinated, somewhere some government is changed. It
           does not matter to me who rules in Brazil -- what does it matter?"
                My gardener told me, "That old fellow is a philosopher."
                I said, "How have you discovered that he is a philosopher?"
                He said, "He has a very philosophical attitude; he reads a year-old newspaper and he reads it with
           such concentration. And when I ask, he says, `What does it matter? Time passes on. Just one year
           ago this was new, and what is new today will be old one year afterwards. And as far as I am
           concerned, it is only a question of passing time, so what I am reading does not matter.'"
                Pankaja, I would like you first to be clean, innocent, silent. And then if out of that silence
           something is born, that will be a contribution to the universe. Otherwise, out of the garbage you can
           go on writing novels, and they will sell, because people need something to read and throw away. But
           they don't know that somebody has put his life, wasted his life in writing these novels. Somebody
           has missed his buddhahood.
           It is up to you to choose.
           It cannot be forced upon anybody.
                I can just give you a hint -- that it is time.
                And you are mature enough: you have written your novels, and you know all that is garbage.
                It shows, because people love to read anything. Railway bookstalls need garbage, airport
           bookstalls need garbage; everywhere garbage is also needed because people need garbage. But why
           should you waste your life?
                And you have the possibility to give birth to something really significant -- but a breakthrough is
           needed. You need a discontinuity.
                You forget what you have been doing, forget the name and the fame and anything that it brings
           to you.
           Just be a nobody, enjoy being nobody.
                And I tell you that in being nobody there is a freedom.
                And then one day you will find that the seed that is within you has started growing. And then if
           something out of your own experience comes to be written by you, it will be significant for you, it
           will be significant for others. Anything that can really make life a little more beautiful, a little more
           musical, a little more poetic, is going to help you too. It is possible only because of your growth.
                You can collect all kinds of information -- read ten novels, and the eleventh is born -- that is one
           way that is being followed by all writers, poets, painters. But they are third-rate, and they will be
           forgotten.
                Something meaningful only comes from your very innermost being.
                But before that, you have to throw all the rubbish off; otherwise, the rubbish is so much and the
           seed is so small, it is lost in the rubbish.
                I hope that you will be able to do what I am saying; otherwise, I would not have said it.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                     Chapter #3
                                        Chapter title: No other path but life
           5 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610055
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 122 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW COME EVERYTHING IS GOING SO WELL?


                Gandharaj, the question is not a laughing matter.
           It touches something of tremendous value in human misery, in human anguish, in human reality. It
           creates laughter because it looks absurd to ask why things are going so well.
                We have become accustomed to things never going so well.
                We are well acquainted with the misery, the pain, the darkness, the meaninglessness, the whole
           tragedy of human existence. It has gone to our very bones, blood and marrow; we accept it as if it is
           our nature.
           If things are going wrong, it seems natural.
                If things are not going wrong, then something must be wrong -- how come things are going so
           well? We have forgotten the language of well-being, we have forgotten the taste of blissfulness.
           We have forgotten our own nature.
                The natural thing is that things should go well; for their going well, no reason is needed.
                You are healthy -- you don't go to the doctor to ask him, "What is the matter with me? I am
           healthy." You go to the doctor when you are not healthy, when you are sick.
                When people are young, they don't ask, "What is the meaning of life?" Their youth, their
           overflowing energy, is enough meaning, is enough significance. They are still capable of love. They
           are still capable of a dance, a song, a celebration. Death has not overshadowed their lives yet.
                The moment a person starts asking, "What is the meaning of life?" it means he has become old --
           it does not matter at what age. His question emphatically shows that he has lost touch with life, lost
           touch with love, lost touch with vitality, and wherever he looks it is all emptiness. The question has
           become significant to him -- why is he living? In fact, he has died; his life is posthumous.
                The moment a person asks, "What is the meaning of life?" it is the question of a dead man -- who
           still breathes, whose heart still beats, but it is all like a robot. All poetry, all rainbows have
           disappeared ... no sunrises at all. It seems the night is eternal. It seems that he must have dreamt
           about the days when he had seen the light; they were not real.
                Old age, when death is just standing close to you, creates the question, "What is the meaning of
           life?"
                But when you are alive, when death is far away beyond the horizon of your vision, who cares
           about the meaning of life? -- you live it, you have it, you sing it, you dance it. It is in every breath, it
           is in every beat of your heart.
                One thing has to be understood clearly: that the people who have asked so-called great questions
           about the meaning of life, about the meaning of the very existence, about the meaning of love, about
           the meaning of beauty, are thought to be great philosophers but they have one foot in the grave. Just
           before slipping into their graves, they are raising all these questions.
                One of the great aestheticians, a great philosopher of aesthetics, Croce, devoted his whole life to
           a single question: What is beauty? In this century he stands alone as a high peak, incomparable to
           anybody else. His dedication to the question of beauty is total. He wrote about it, he talked about it,
           he taught about it, he dreamt about it; his whole life was woven around the question: What is beauty?
                I have gone through his writings, and on each step I have felt that this man must have been blind
           -- only a blind person can ask, "What is beauty?"
                And for almost one century, nobody has raised the question of whether Croce was blind or not. I
           say he was definitely blind. He may have had eyes, just as you have, but he had no perception, no
           sensitivity. He was asking the question what is beauty? and went on inquiring about it -- and the
           whole existence is full of beauty.
                Even the smallest blade of grass is beautiful. All around there are flowers and stars, birds and
           trees and rivers and mountains, and beautiful human beings.
                Why could a man of the intelligence of Croce not see a simple thing -- that beauty has to be felt,
           not thought about? You have to see it, you have to experience it. You are capable of creating it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But it is such a mystery that it is beyond explanation.
           You cannot confine it in a definition.
                But his whole lifelong effort shows only one thing: the poor man never experienced even a single
           moment of beauty; otherwise, his whole questioning would have changed. He would rather have
           devoted his life to creating beauty, to experiencing beauty, to rejoicing with the stars and with the
           moon and with the flowers and with the birds. But he wasted his whole life.
                And to what conclusion did he come in the end? -- that beauty is indefinable. This could have
           been told to him by anybody in the very beginning. There was no need to waste a beautiful life, a
           precious gift of existence.
                And one cannot be certain that it will be given to you again; you cannot even be certain why it
           has been given to you this time. Do you deserve it? Have you earned it? Does the existence owe it to
           you? It seems to be a sheer gift, a gift of an abundant existence, not bothering about whether you
           deserve it or not. Not asking for your qualifications, not inquiring about your character, your
           morality ... making no demands on you, just giving it without any conditions attached to it. Giving it
           not as a business, but without any expectations from you in return; giving it and allowing you total
           freedom to do whatever you want to do with it.
                Gandharaj, everything should go beautifully, easily, with a well-being. It is natural.
                If something is not going well that means something is sick, something is ill.
                But all the great moralists of the world, all the theologians, all the prophets and messengers of
           God have really messed you up. They have made such demands on you. They have taken away all
           your freedom. They have asked you to do impossible things, and naturally you have failed in doing
           them. It has left wounds in you -- wounds of failure, inferiority, wounds of unworthiness -- and you
           are living with all those wounds. Naturally, everything goes wrong.
                It is not nature, it is your great benefactors -- the people who have been promising you that "We
           are the saviors." In fact, they are the people who have created a sick humanity, a diseased human
           mind, a psychology that is not sane.
                Demanding anything unnatural is bound to create guilt. If you do not do it, you feel guilty that
           you are not really a human being, that you are behaving like subhuman beings, animals; that you are
           a sinner, that you are doing things against the prophets and the messengers who represent God.
                And if you try to follow them, you get into a trap. If you follow them you have to go against
           nature, and nature is all that you are.
                You cannot go against yourself, so on each step there is failure.
                On each step you become more and more schizophrenic: a small part becomes the priest,
           condemning your whole nature.
           Whatever you do is wrong.
           Life becomes a nightmare.
                And that's how man has lived for thousands of years: a life which could have been a beautiful
           experience has been turned into an unbearable torture, a nightmare.
                Even if you want to wake up you cannot. The nightmare is heavy and long -- it is not only yours,
           it is coming from your forefathers; generation after generation has cultivated it. It has roots as
           ancient as man; you cannot fight with it.
                You are torn apart. You cannot fight with your nature, you cannot fight with your sick heritage.
                And I say that on the whole earth every man is living under the burden of a sick heritage. It does
           not matter whether he is Christian or Hindu or Mohammedan -- those are different names for the
           same sickness.
                If you follow your nature, you yourself condemn yourself. The whole society condemns you. The
           whole world is against you, and you are also against yourself.
           But you have to live your nature.
                Friedrich Nietzsche has a beautiful insight. He says that all the religions of the world have been
           against sex, but they have not been successful in destroying sex; otherwise, from where do these
           people go on coming? This whole population explosion ... if your priests had succeeded, churches
           would be empty. But there are seven hundred million Catholics -- certainly the Catholic priests have
           failed utterly.
                Nietzsche is right. The religions have not succeeded in destroying sex. But they have succeeded
           in one thing: they have made sex poison, poisonous. It is no more a joy, it is no more a thing of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beauty, it is no more sacred. They have been able to create a great guilt out of it. And what is right
           about sex is right about all your natural instincts, but everything has been poisoned.
               So when things are not going right, you are perfectly at ease.
               When things are going right, you start feeling uneasy: "What is the matter?"
               If there are wars, it is perfectly right. If there are riots between Hindus and Mohammedans, if
           Mohammedans and Jews are killing each other, it is perfectly right. But if suddenly Jews and
           Mohammedans start dancing and singing and rejoicing together, the whole world will be shocked:
           "What is going on? Have these people gone mad?"
               We are suffering a wrong heritage, and unless we get ourselves free from the past we cannot live
           peacefully.
               Gandharaj, the people who are gathered here with me and the people around the earth who are
           with me have dropped the past. They are no more Hindus, no more Christians, no more Buddhists;
           they are simply human beings. And they are trying to live their nature fully, authentically, without
           any guilt and without any feeling of sin.
           Things are going beautifully well.
           They are living in freedom.
               The past is our slavery, and if the past is too much, then it is going to create our future. We are
           crushed between past and future, and the future is nothing but a reproduction of the past.
               And a small moment of present is almost powerless against two eternities pressing it from both
           sides.
               Once you are free of past a tremendous realization happens: you are free of future also.
               And your being free of future means that now you are free to make your future, it will not be
           made by the past. It will be made by your nature, by your intelligence, by your meditation, by your
           silence, by your love.
               Gandharaj, around my sannyasins things are bound to go easy, because there is no sin, no guilt,
           no imposed morality.
           I corrupt people so much that they become innocent.
               People are living innocently. They don't have any moral codes, any ten commandments, any holy
           bibles. They have only their own insight and a freedom to create their future, to live according to
           their nature without any fear. Because there is no hell, and there is no God to decide whether you are
           right or wrong.
               If you are right, your life will be a life of joy; if you are wrong, your life will be a life of misery.
               There is no need for any God. Each act is decisive, intrinsically.
               So you can feel your way: if you are moving rightly, your life will go on growing more and more
           flowers, will go on growing bigger and bigger wings. Your reach towards the stars will become
           easier.
               And if you are doing something wrong, your very nature will say it is wrong because you will be
           suffering the consequences of your wrong acts here and now. You will not have to wait for the last
           judgment day.
               What a stupid kind of hypothesis, `the last judgment day' -- one day everybody will be awakened
           from his grave. Just visualize what will happen: all skeletons, and there is going to be such a crowd.
           At the place where you are sitting there are at least ten skeletons underneath you. When all the
           skeletons stand up there is not going to be elbow room, and there is going to be such shrieking,
           shouting, moaning. Even for poor God, it is going to be very difficult to recognize who is who --
           because there will only be skeletons.
               Then to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell ... and do you think in just one
           day? Each person has millions of acts, good and bad, which have to be balanced, and there is only
           one God -- and not very intelligent either.
               George Bernard Shaw used to say, "Just the very crowd makes me feel that it will be difficult to
           make judgments. Moreover, half of the crowd will be women ... who will make it almost
           impossible!"
               Perhaps that's why the last judgment day has not happened and is not going to happen. Because
           Jesus used to say to his disciples, "Soon, in your life, you will see the last judgment day happen" --
           in his disciples' lives. That means, at the most, seventy years.
               Two thousand years have passed, and as the days go by the skeletons go on growing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I think God has changed his mind.
           Judgment is not possible anymore.
                As far as I am concerned each act brings its own judgment, and that is more scientific. Why go
           on collecting acts for a certain day and then deciding? And why decide from outside when there is a
           possibility to decide from inside? Each act has its intrinsic consequence.
                You can figure it out: if your life is miserable then you are doing something wrong; and if your
           life is a merry-go-round then you are doing everything else that should be done perfectly. So it is up
           to you whether you make your life a merry-go-round or a sorry-go-round; there is nobody to decide
           it. You are the act and you are the judge. And this seems to be more scientific, simple.
                Gandharaj, if everything is going well, be happy. And remember why things are going well so
           they can continue to go more and more well, because wellness also has depth. Just find out what it is
           that is making your life blissful, peaceful, silent, happy -- simple arithmetic -- and your life can
           become a holy life.
                According to me, if you are living joyously, you are a holy man.
                Only one thing you have to do: die to the past so that you can be reborn in a fresh present and a
           free future.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS THERE ANOTHER WAY WITHOUT DEATH AND INSECURITY?


                There is no death in the first place.
           Death is an illusion.
           It is always somebody else who dies; you never die. It means death has always been seen from the
           outside, it is the outsider's view.
                Those who have seen their inner world are unanimous in saying that there is no death. Because
           you don't know what constitutes your consciousness; it is not constituted of breathing, it is not
           constituted of heartbeats, it is not constituted of blood circulation. So when the doctor says that a
           man is dead, it is an outsider's conclusion; all that he is saying is, "This man is no longer breathing,
           his pulse has stopped, his heart is not beating." Are these three things equivalent to death? They are
           not.
                Consciousness is not your body, nor your mind, nor your heart.
                So when a person dies, he dies for you, not for himself. For himself he simply changes the house,
           perhaps moves into a better apartment. But because the old apartment is left, and you are searching
           for him in the old apartment and you don't find him there, you think the poor guy is dead. All that
           you should say is, "The poor guy escaped. Now where he has gone, we don't know."
                In fact, medical science is going beyond its limits when it says that some person is dead. Medical
           science has no right yet, because it has no definition yet of what constitutes death. It can simply say
           that "This man is no longer breathing. His heart has stopped. His pulse is no longer functioning." To
           conclude that he is dead is going beyond what you are seeing. But because science does not have any
           idea of consciousness, the death of the body becomes the death of the being.
                Those who have known the being ... and it is not necessary for it that you should die and then
           you know; you can just go inside. That's what I call meditation -- just go inside and find out what is
           your center, and at your center there is no breathing, there is no heartbeat, there is no thought, no
           mind, no heart, no body, and still you are.
                Once a person has experienced himself -- that he is not the body, not the mind, not the heart, but
           pure awareness -- he knows there is no death for him, because he does not depend on the body.
                Awareness has no dependence on blood circulation. It does not depend on whether the heart
           beats or not, it does not depend on whether the mind functions or not. It is a totally different world; it
           is not constituted of any material thing, it is immaterial.
                So the first thing to understand is that there is no death -- it has never been found.
                And if there is no death, what insecurity can there be?
                For an immortal life there can be no insecurity. Your immortality is not dependent on your bank
           balance; the beggar is as immortal as the emperor.
                As far as people's consciousnesses are concerned, that is the only world where true communism
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exists: they all have equal qualities, and they don't have anything that can be lost or taken away.
           They don't have anything that can be destroyed, burned.
           There is no insecurity.
           All insecurity is a shadow of death.
                If you look deeply, then every insecure feeling is rooted in the fear of death. But I am saying to
           you that there is no death; hence there cannot be any insecurity. You are immortal beings, amritasya
           putrah.
                That's what the seers in the ancient East have said: You are the sons of immortality.
                And they were not misers like Jesus Christ, that "I am the only begotten son of God." A strange
           idea ... even to say it one should feel ashamed. "I am the only begotten son of God" ... what about
           others? Are they all bastards? Jesus is condemning the whole world! He is the son of God, and
           whose sons and daughters are all these people? And it is strange -- why should God stop by giving
           birth to only one child? Is he spent just with one child? Or was he a believer in birth control?
                I have been asking the pope and Mother Teresa, "Your God must be a believer in birth control,
           must be using things which you are prohibiting to people -- condoms and all; otherwise, how is it
           possible? Once he created a son, then at least one daughter -- that's a natural tendency."
           And in the whole eternity ... having no fun.
                The psychologists say that poor people create more children for the simple reason that they don't
           have any other fun. To go to the cinema you need money, to go to the circus you need money, to go
           to Chowpatty Beach you need money. Wherever there is fun, you need money. So just go to bed --
           that is the only fun without money, nobody asks for money.
                What is God doing? -- neither can he go to Chowpatty nor can he go to a circus nor to a cinema
           hall. Sitting eternally bored.... Just created one son? It has many implications: perhaps he was so
           frustrated with this one son that he became a celibate -- "I am not going to create any more idiots."
                Jesus was teaching on the earth for just three years. His age was only thirty-three, and he was
           crucified -- a great savior who could not save himself. God must have felt tremendously let down:
           "Be finished! No more sons, no more daughters."
                But the reality is that there is a certain element of egoism in being the only one, with no
           competitors.
                Krishna may be the incarnation of God but he is not the son -- just a photocopy.
           Mohammed may be a messenger -- just a postman.
                But Jesus is special, he is the only begotten son of God. There is a certain egoism in it.
                The ancient seers were not so egoistic. They called the whole humanity -- past, present, future --
           amritasya putrah: You are all sons of immortality. They are not putting themselves higher than you,
           they are not pretending to be holier than you. They are making every human being, as far as
           consciousness is concerned, absolutely equal, eternal.
           There is no insecurity.
                There is no need for any other path -- and anyway, there is no other path.
                Life is the path which passes through the illusory gate of death.
                You can pass the gate consciously. If you are meditative enough, then you can go through death
           knowing perfectly that you are changing the house; you can enter another womb knowing perfectly
           that you are entering the new apartment -- and it is always better, because life is always evolving.
           And if you can die consciously, then certainly your new life will be on a very high level, from the
           very beginning.
           And I don't see any insecurity.
                You come into the world without anything, so one thing is certain: nothing belongs to you.
                You come absolutely naked, but with illusions. That's why every child is born with closed hands,
           fists, believing that he is bringing treasures -- and those fists are just empty. And everybody dies
           with open hands. Try to die with fists -- nobody has been successful up to now. Or try to be born
           with open hands -- nobody has been successful in that either.
                The child is born with fists, with illusions that he is bringing treasures into the world, but there is
           nothing in the fist. Nothing belongs to you, so what insecurity? Nothing can be stolen, nothing can
           be taken away from you.
           Everything that you are using belongs to the world.
           And one day, you have to leave everything here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You will not be able to take anything with you.
               I have heard about a rich man in a village who was such a miser that he had never given anything
           to any beggar. The whole community of beggars knew about it, so whenever they saw some beggar
           standing before his house they knew -- "This man seems to be new, from some other village. Tell
           him, `You won't get anything from there.'"
               The man's wife was dying, but he wouldn't call the doctor. He had one friend only, because to
           have many friends means unnecessary insecurity -- somebody may ask for money, somebody may
           ask for something. He had only one friend, and that one was also such a miser that there was no
           problem between them. They both understood each other's psychology -- no conflict, no asking, no
           question of creating any embarrassment.
               The friend said, "But this is the time that the doctor should be called -- your wife is dying."
               The man said, "It is all in the hands of God. What can a doctor do? If she is going to die, she is
           going to die. You will unnecessarily put me in trouble ... paying the fee to the doctor for the
           medicine, this and that. I am a religious man, and if she is not going to die she will recover without
           any doctor. The real doctor is God, nobody else. And I believe in God because he never asks for a
           fee or anything."
           The wife died.
               His friend said, "Look, just for a little money you didn't call a doctor."
               He said, "Little money? Money is money; it is never a question of a little. And death comes to
           everybody."
               The friend was a little angry. He said, "This is too much. I am also a miser, but if my wife is
           dying at least I will call a pharmacist -- but I will call somebody. But you are really hard. What are
           you going to do with all this money?"
           He said, "I am going to take it with me."
           The friend said, "Nobody has ever heard of it."
               He said, "But nobody has ever tried." That too was true. He said, "Just see. I have my own plan --
           I will take everything with me."
               The friend said, "Just tell me your secret, because some day I will have to die also, and you are
           such a friend."
               He said, "Friendship is one thing, but this secret I cannot tell. And the secret is such that you
           cannot use it when you are dying -- it has to be used before, because you have to carry all your
           money and all your gold and diamonds and everything to the river."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               He said, "Yes, and go into a small boat in the middle of the river and jump with all your money
           and be drowned -- so you have taken it. Try! Nobody has tried. If you don't succeed there is no harm,
           because everybody goes without it. If you succeed, then you will be the pioneer, the first one who
           reaches paradise with his whole bag of money. And all those saints will be looking with wide-open
           eyes -- `This man has done something!'"
           But the friend said, "That means you have to die."
               He said, "Naturally, and you have to be in good health. When you are dying, then it will be very
           difficult to carry that heavy load. I am going to do it soon, because my wife is gone, now nobody is
           there."
               But even if you jump in the ocean with all your money, the money will remain in the ocean, your
           body will remain in the ocean.
               You will have to go alone, alone just as consciousness.
               Nothing belongs to you, because you bring nothing here and you can take nothing from here.
           Life is the only way.
           Death is the only illusion to be understood.
               If you can live fully, totally, understanding death as an illusion -- not because I am saying it, but
           by your own experience in deep meditation -- then live life fully, as totally as possible, without any
           fear. There is no insecurity, because even death is illusory.
           Only the living being in you is real.
               Clean it, sharpen it, make it fully aware so that not even a small part of it is drowned in darkness,
           so that you are luminous all over, you become aflame.
               This is the only way; there is no other alternative.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And there is no need.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               TO BE OPEN AND TO BE WITNESSING ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. IS IT SO, OR IS THIS A
               DUALITY CREATED BY MY MIND?


                Mind always creates duality; otherwise, to be open or to be witnessing are not two things.
           If you are open, you will be witnessing.
                Without being a witness, you cannot be open; or if you are a witness, you will be open -- because
           being a witness and yet remaining closed is impossible. So those are only two words.
                You can either start with witnessing -- then opening will come on its own accord; or you can
           start by opening your heart, all windows, all doors -- then witnessing will be found, coming on its
           own. But if you are simply thinking, without doing anything, then they look separate.
                Mind cannot think without duality. Duality is the way of thinking.
           In silence, all dualities disappear.
           Oneness is the experience of silence.
                For example, day and night are very clear dualities, but they are not two. There are animals who
           see in the night. Their eyes are more sensitive, capable of seeing in darkness. For them, there is no
           darkness. Those animals cannot open their eyes in the day, because their eyes are so delicate that the
           sun hurts. So while it is day for you, for those animals it is night; the eyes are closed, all is darkness.
           When it is night for you, it is day for them. The whole day they sleep, the whole night they are
           awake.
                And if you ask a scientist and a logician, you will see the difference. If you ask the logician,
           "What is day?" he will say, "That which is not night." And what is not night? It is a circular game. If
           you ask, "What is night?" the logician is going to say, "What is not day."
                You need day to define night, you need night to define day. Strange duality, strange opposition....
           If there is no day, can you think of night? If there is no night, can you think of day? It is impossible.
                Ask the scientist, who is closer to reality than the logician. For the scientist darkness is less light,
           light is less darkness. Now it is one phenomenon, just like a thermometer. Somebody has a
           temperature of 110 degrees, just ready to move out of the house. Somebody has a temperature of 98
           degrees, the normal temperature for human beings, but somebody falls below 96 degrees, again
           ready for a move.
                Your existence is not very big, just between 96 and 110 degrees. Sixteen degrees ... below is
           death, above is death; just a small slit in between, a small window of life.
                If we could have a thermometer for light and darkness, the situation would be the same, just as it
           is between heat and cold -- the same thermometer will do for both. The cold is less hot and the hot is
           less cold, but it is one phenomenon; there is no duality.
           It is the same with darkness and light.
                And the same is true about all oppositions that mind creates. Openness, witnessing ... if you think
           intellectually, they look very different. They seem to be unrelated, how can they be one? But in
           experience they are one.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I HAVE BEEN YOUR DISCIPLE FOR TWO AND A HALF YEARS NOW, AND ALL THE TIME I HAVE
               LONGED TO BE IN YOUR PRESENCE. NOW I HAVE MET YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND
               EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED. I WANT TO RUN AWAY FROM YOU. I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED.
               PLEASE COMMENT.


               It is almost normal.
           You fall in love with me. Just hearing my words, it appeals to your intellect. Your reason feels
           satisfied, and then a desire arises to be, at least for some time, with me.
               And then a great shock ... because I am not a man of words. Although I have spoken more words
           than anybody else in the whole world, but still I say I am not a man of words.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           My words are just like nets thrown to catch fish.
           My message is wordless.
               When you come close to me, then you see the point: that I am not a reasonable, rational, logical
           person; that you have come to an irrational mystic.
               You had come with a certain rational conviction, and here you find that reason has to be
           abandoned. You have to take a jump into the unknown, for which I cannot provide any logic, any
           evidence ... except my own presence.
               Anybody who has come here, caught by my words, will feel like escaping. Because he had come
           for a different reason, and here he finds a totally different situation -- not only different, but
           diametrically opposite.
               I am not a teacher. I am not a philosopher. I am not interested in creating systems and
           hypotheses.
               My interest is in destroying you as you are, so that you can be reborn in your existential
           potential.
               I am here to destroy your personality, to give birth to your individuality.
               It is a natural reaction, it happens to everybody. But you cannot escape either. At the most, you
           may go up to Dardar Station and come back again. You can try, and exactly from Dardar you will
           come back; that is the radius.
           Once you are caught up with me, you cannot escape.
               But I will not prevent you; trying to escape will be helpful. If you try to escape and then you
           have to come back, the next time the desire will arise but it will not have any effect on you. You will
           simply drop it, because it does not work.
               Now you have to go the whole way, whatever it means. It may mean the death of the ego, of the
           personality; then you have to take the risk.
               If you had not come to me you would have continued to enjoy my words, because it was just
           borrowed knowledge for you. And here I want you to drop all borrowed knowledge, including that
           which you have gathered from me.
           I want you to become a knower, a seer.
               Certainly, you have to pass through fire. But the fire only looks like fire from afar. The closer
           you come, the cooler you will find it. And the moment you pass through the fire you will be
           surprised that fire can also be so cool, so refreshing.
               There is a story in Moses' life that Jews have not been able to explain in four thousand years.
               On Mount Sinai, Moses encountered a strange phenomenon that he thought was God. Certainly,
           it was very mysterious: a bush was afire but it was not burning; it was as green as any bush. Its
           flowers were as juicy and young as any flowers, and yet there was fire in the bush. Naturally
           attracted, curious, he wanted to look from close quarters at what was happening. He had never
           thought that fire could be there, flames were rising above the bush -- and the bush was green!
               He came close, and just as he was coming very close a voice shouted, "Leave your shoes behind,
           Moses! You are entering into the holy land, into a sacred place." Trembling, he left his shoes. He
           could not see anybody, but it was certainly a miraculous experience. He thought it was God's voice.
               My own explanation of the story is that everybody who goes through a transformation comes to
           the same bush which is afire, but the fire is cool. It is nourishing the bush, not destroying it. It only
           looks like fire; it is cool flames of life. For life, Moses' word is `God' -- that's the only difference.
           That is a difference of language, nothing much.
               You have come here, you have seen the flames. And the first idea will be, "Escape as quickly as
           possible; otherwise you will be burned."
               Don't be worried. If I am not burned, if all these people here are not burned, you also are not
           going to be burned.
           The fire is cool; it transforms.
               It takes away your mask and helps you to discover your original face.
               But still, freedom is available to you up to Dardar Station.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HEARD YOU TALKING ABOUT THE SRI LANKAN MYSTIC ASKING HIS FOLLOWERS TO STAND
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              UP IF THEY WANTED TO GO THE SHORTCUT TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT.
              I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I'M WAITING FOR THE CHANCE TO STAND UP AS SOON AS I
              HEAR YOU ASKING -- KNOWING THAT MY LEGS WILL MOST LIKELY BE TREMBLING, MY
              BODY PERSPIRING, AND MY HEART BEATING LIKE MAD.


               Deva Prem, it is necessary that I should repeat the story first:
               A mystic in Sri Lanka is dying. He has thousands of followers; they have all gathered. Just
           before closing his eyes he says, "If anybody wants to come with me, I can take him with me -- and
           this is the most shortcut way. You will not have to do anything. I don't have much time. Anybody
           wanting to go the most shortcut way ... otherwise, it takes so many lives to achieve enlightenment. I
           can take you with me from the back door. Just stand up!"
               There was absolute silence, pin-drop silence. People looked at each other thinking, "This man
           has been listening to him for forty years, perhaps he may be ready." But he was looking at somebody
           else, because he had so many problems still to solve -- "Business is not good."
               Everybody has problems: somebody has a girl to marry, somebody has a boy who is a
           troublemaker; somebody has a case in the court and this is not a time to become enlightened, first the
           court case has to be finished, and so on, so forth.
               But one man raised one hand. He said, "I cannot stand up because I am not ready to go yet, but I
           cannot resist the temptation to know where the back door is -- because if sometime I am ready, I can
           follow the shortcut. Right now, I am not ready -- let it be completely clear to you that I am not
           coming with you -- but just tell us where the back door is."
               The old man said, "The back door is such that you can enter only with your master, not alone. It
           is a very narrow gate; only one can enter at a time. If you are ready to dissolve yourself in the being
           of the master, then there is no problem -- one or one thousand, they will all enter through the door as
           one being. Alone, you will not be able to find it."
               Now, Deva Prem wants me to ask him some day to come along from the back door. And he
           thinks he is ready and he will stand up -- although even thinking, he perspires and his legs tremble
           and his heart beats faster.
               My feeling is, Deva Prem, you are the man who had raised his hand!
               And one day I will ask, and I know that this time also you will only raise your hand ... or perhaps
           you may not even raise your hand. Because I am a different type of man. That old man was very
           compassionate.
               I would have taken even this man -- at least he has raised his hand. That is enough -- what is the
           need of making him stand up? Just raising the hand is enough.
               So when I will ask, remember: I will ask you to simply raise the hand. This time be alert, and get
           prepared -- because with trembling legs and perspiring it will be difficult to enter that back door.
               That back door needs people who can disappear into nothingness dancing, singing, celebrating.
               So learn to sing, learn to dance, learn to celebrate.
           Any day, I can ask.
               And I hate perspiration. I am very allergic -- perspiration you will have to stop.
               And trembling, that gate won't allow you in; it will immediately see that there are two persons.
           You have to be absolutely still and one with me ... no trembling.
               And this time I will not ask you to stand up. The last time, it was my fault.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                    Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: In the end there is no word
           6 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610065
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: ENLIGH04
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video: Yes
                Length: 133 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              SITTING BEFORE YOU, FEELING YOUR WORDS FLOWING TOWARDS ME FROM YOUR GREAT
              HEART, I FOUND MY OWN HEART BURSTING OPEN AND RECEIVING THE SUN AND MOON OF
              YOUR BEING. SOON A GREAT PEACE FELL OVER ME, FOLLOWED BY A NEVER-KNOWN
              CALMNESS SO THAT I FEEL THAT I AM RESTING IN THE ARMS OF EXISTENCE ITSELF.
              I BOW DOWN BEFORE YOU IN GRATEFULNESS TO KISS THE EARTH THAT GAVE YOU LIFE. I
              LIFT MY ARMS TO THE STARS AND SING HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH.
              BELOVED MASTER, BECAUSE OF YOU I AM ALIVE TO REALIZE THE BEAUTY, THE JOY, THE
              PURITY OF LOVE THAT IS THE VERY EXPANSE OF EXISTENCE. THESE WORDS SEEM
              UNABLE TO EXPRESS THE TRUEST FEELINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE DEPTH OF MY BEING.
              BUT I BOW DOWN BEFORE YOU NOW, AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN TO DANCE, TO
              SING, TO SHOUT: THANK YOU, BELOVED MASTER, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
              HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!


                Jivan Mary, there is much more yet to happen.
           What has happened to you is immense.
           What will happen to you will be greater, but remember one thing: it is never enough.
                Existence is such an abundance -- we cannot exhaust it. It is inexhaustible in its beauty, in its
           blissfulness, in its benediction.
                You are feeling difficulties to express what is happening to you. And this is only the beginning --
           just think of the difficulties of those who have gone far ahead of you. There comes a moment when
           even to say that this cannot be said is not possible -- because to say that this cannot be said is still
           saying something about it. It is still defining it in a very negative way.
                There comes a moment when only silence, utter silence, remains your expression.
                That is your thankfulness, that is your gratitude, that is your hallelujah... a dance which is
           invisible, a song which is not heard, a beauty which cannot be painted, described.
                And only when we have come to the point where words are to be left behind does what I call
           `religiousness' begin.
                I do not say renounce the world, but I certainly say move towards the moment when you will
           have to renounce the word.
                THE BIBLE says, "In the beginning was the word." Nobody knows about the beginning. Nobody
           can know about the beginning, because nobody can be the witness about the beginning. If somebody
           had been witnessing the beginning then it would not have been the beginning, because somebody
           was already there.
                THE BIBLE may be right, may be wrong about the beginning, but I say unto you: In the end
           there is no word, and that has been witnessed by thousands of mystics in thousands of years past.
                And the moment you come to realize that words are slipping out of your hands, that the boundary
           line of language is crossed... a tremendous innocence, a new childhood. For the first time you can
           understand that which cannot be spoken. You can understand the message of the wind blowing
           through the pine trees, you can understand the poetry of the sound of running water.
                To be freed from language is to be freed from all human limitations.
           Language is the greatest imprisonment.
                I am happy that you are feeling a great difficulty to express something that you are experiencing.
           Slowly, it will become more and more clear that there is no word, no language, no concept to explain
           it, to express it.
                Just silence is the only answer to all your questions, the only meeting with existence without any
           barrier, any wall.
                As the language disappears, the mind is no more of any use. For the first time you contact
           existence directly, without the mediation of the mind -- and that experience is enlightenment. And
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nobody is far away from it, it is within everybody's reach.
               But people are searching for their happiness where it does not exist. They are looking for living
           waters in deserts. And when frustration comes, failure comes, despair comes, they are angry at life,
           not angry at themselves.
               What can life do? It is available, but somehow you manage to search in the wrong direction.
           Perhaps you are afraid, deep down, that life may be too much, love may be too much, existence may
           drown you.
               And in a way, your fear is right: the closer you come to reality, the less you will be. The moment
           you encounter reality face to face, you will not be at all.
               I have said many times that nobody has seen God -- neither Moses nor Jesus nor Krishna. And
           naturally, people have misunderstood me. Whenever I have said that nobody has seen God, I was not
           saying there is no God; I was simply saying the moment you come close enough to God to see, you
           are no more. Who is going to see God? As long as you are -- to see, to feel, to say, to question, to
           inquire -- God is not.
               And God is another name of reality. It is not a person, it is only a quality, a fragrance, a
           sweetness, a music.
               Jivan Mary, one day will come when you will be in the state of hallelujah but you will not be
           able to say the word, because the word will fall short of the experience.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN THESE FIVE YEARS OF RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU, I HAVE NEVER FELT THINGS GOING AS
              FAST AS NOW! WHEN I FINISH WRITING A LETTER OR A QUESTION TO YOU, I IMMEDIATELY
              KEEP IT, FEELING IT TO BE RIDICULOUS.
              SOMETIMES I ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE AND DELIVER IT, AND THEN I FEEL AS IF I HAVE AN
              IDIOTIC FACE: WORRY, REPENTENCE, SHYNESS... I FEEL THAT IT IS NOT WORTH COMING
              TO YOU BEING "DRESSED UP" WITH INTELLIGENCE, HUMBLENESS, MEDITATIVENESS, OR
              WHATSOEVER I COULD DRESS IN TO SHOW TO YOU. IN SPITE OF ALL MY EFFORTS, I STILL
              HAVE THE FEELING OF DRESSING UP, OF USING A KIND OF MASK.
              PLEASE TELL ME, MASTER: HOW TO BE TOTALLY SINCERE TO YOU AND "UNDRESSED"?


               The problem is not only of one person -- everybody is dressed up.
           Everybody is showing his best side to the world.
               The heart may be full of tears, but people are smiling.
               This is how we have been brought up by a hypocritical society. We are children of a hypocritical
           society. Rather than teaching every child to be just himself -- sincere, honest, naked -- we are
           helping every child to be exactly the opposite.
               Just two days ago, one of my old friends had come to see me. He has a son who is thought by
           everybody to be crazy, insane, except by me. So the first thing I inquired about was his son, and he
           said, "Leave that subject. It makes me so sad, because now he is eighteen years old and he still goes
           naked all over the town. He is such a shame to the family."
               I said, "In what way is he hurting anybody? He is not violent. He simply enjoys being naked."
               They force clothes on him, and he throws them away on the street and goes towards the market.
           And they are running after him -- "Please, at least take the underwear."
               And he says, "No underwear... the breeze is so cool."
               And the boy is very intelligent. Of course, he is in a crowd which cannot accept him. He never
           lies; he is always utterly honest. Whatever he does, he does with totality. He has never gone to
           school because he asks those who have gone what they have gained. His father is a post-graduate; he
           asks him, "What have you gained? -- just a certificate." He says, "I want to live my life. I don't want
           to be dictated to by anybody, wrong or right. I simply want to be myself."
               He is a hard worker. He will be working in the garden, and you can see how hard he works, but
           he works at only what he feels like working at. He plays beautiful flute, but the whole town thinks
           that he is mad.
               And I have tried my best to find where his madness is. I have not been able to find his madness
           anywhere. He is just not willing to be part of the mob psychology. The crowd cannot accept that he
           is sane, because if he is sane, then what about the whole crowd?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Even his parents, my friend his father, cannot accept him. He said, "Except for you, nobody
           accepts that he is sane."
                I said, "You are his father, you love him. Have you seen any madness in him?"
                He said, "What more do you want? You want more madness? -- going naked in the streets. And
           he is now eighteen years old, and he will approach a woman and he will say `You are so beautiful.
           Can I kiss you?'"
                Naturally, the society cannot accept such a person -- although he is absolutely honest. And he has
           honored the woman, he has praised her beauty, he has asked her permission. Otherwise he is very
           strong -- living naked, doing hard work, never going to school; he is really strong -- he could have
           kissed any woman without any permission.
                But a crowd gathers, and the woman starts shouting that he is being nasty to her, misbehaving
           with her.
                Many times when I was there, I had to go inside the crowd and tell them, "You are making
           unnecessary fuss. The boy is alone, that's true, but he is not insane. He is a minority of one, and you
           are the majority of many -- but just because you are many, do you think you are right?"
                Nobody has been ever able to point out to me that something is wrong with him. And he is being
           dragged to this doctor and to that doctor.
                And he says, "What is wrong with me? I am not sick. The doctor cannot make any difference in
           me."
                The truth is, the doctor is sick. The doctor is not honest.
                The boy is very intelligent in seeing things. He has a strange clarity. He says, "I have been
           watching this doctor" -- because the doctor lives just in front of his house; his dispensary is there --
           "and seeing that poor people get well quickly, and rich people linger on for months. And I am sitting
           there outside and enjoying the whole scene -- what kind of society is this? The poor man gets well
           because the doctor wants to get rid of him; you cannot get much money out of him. Instead the poor
           man starts asking, `Give me some money; I will return later on for the medicine. You are suggesting
           fruits and milk, but you will have to give me some money.'
                "But the rich man, once he falls sick, is kept sick; he is sent to this expert for x-rays, to that
           expert for something else. It seems to be almost a conspiracy of experts exploiting the rich sick
           man."
                I asked him how the boy is doing. He said, "Because of him, I feel so ashamed to go out of the
           house. And I always wanted you to help me, but you think he is right and we are wrong. You want
           me also to go naked, so I cannot raise the question, `What should be done with him?'"
                I said, "He needs nothing to be done, he is no harm to anybody. Give him work; he is always
           ready to work, he enjoys working. But he is not ready to have a mask. He is not ready to be
           continuously an actor, dressed up."
                But the whole society that we have created is almost a drama. Here, everybody is repeating
           dialogues from books, from films, from stories. Nobody is opening his own heart.
                I can understand your problem: you are afraid to ask authentic questions because they will
           expose you.
                People ask questions which make them feel very knowledgeable. They want to ask questions not
           to get the answer, but just to show their knowledge.
                Whenever you ask a knowledgeable question, you will not feel guilty, you will feel great.
                But I am a crazy person: I never answer those questions which come out of your knowledge. I
           simply throw them away.
                I only answer questions which open up your wounds, because once your wounds are open there
           is a possibility of healing. Once you expose yourself, you are on the way of transformation.
                Once you are sincere in asking a question, you will listen to the answer because it is your need, it
           is your food. Your question was your thirst, and the answer can quench it.
                So always remember: this is not a philosophical association, not a theosophical society where
           everybody is trying to prove that he knows more than you know. This is a place of transformation, of
           going through a revolution. And unless you show your real face, it is impossible to make any
           changes in your life, any transformations in your consciousness.
                At the most, I can paint your mask, but I cannot change your real face by painting the mask. The
           mask has to be put aside. Hence, a love and a trust is needed -- that you can be utterly nude, without
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any fear.
               You are not going to be condemned here. You will be accepted as you are, and we will begin
           from that acceptance to reach for a higher stage, for growth.
               But that growth is not a condemnation of your present state. That growth is based on your
           present state of being; it has to be accepted.
               But the religions of the world have really poisoned people's minds. Nobody is ready to open up
           and show who he is, because for centuries things have been condemned, you have to hide them.
           Nobody wants to be condemned. And there are things which have been praised, so you have to show
           them -- whether you have them or not does not matter.
               It is very human and very natural; you want to be loved and to be accepted.
               And the society has made the rules of the game, that these are the things to be condemned, so if
           you have those things hide them, repress them so deeply that even you become unaware of them.
           And if you don't have those things which society praises, honors, then pretend, and pretend so
           cleverly that it seems almost real.
               Sometimes it is possible that the pretender may look more real than the real person, because the
           real person never goes through rehearsals. The pretender practices, disciplines himself.
               I have always liked a beautiful incident in the life of Charlie Chaplin. It was his birthday, perhaps
           the fiftieth birthday, and all his fans and friends wanted to celebrate it in a special way. And they
           found a special way -- all over England, in every place, there would be competitions, and people
           would be invited to play the part of Charlie Chaplin. And in those competitions there would be
           selections, and then there would be other competitions from district to district. Then the semi-finals
           would be in London and there would be the final decision about who gets the first prize.
               Just to give his friends a great surprise, Charlie Chaplin himself entered into the competition
           from a nearby district. He came to the semi-finals, but rather than surprising his friends he was
           surprised himself: he got second prize. Somebody played his act better than him; he had never
           thought about the possibility.
               But it happened because the other person was practicing it, rehearsing it, and Charlie Chaplin
           simply appeared as he was. There was no need for him to rehearse -- he WAS Charlie Chaplin. But
           getting the second prize....
               And when the people came to know that he had got the second prize, he was so ashamed of
           himself. He said, "I have been such an idiot to enter into it in the first place. I entered because I
           thought that I was going to be the first, without question."
               So you have the possibility of pretenders posing qualities, values, characters, which are not real.
           Inside they are just the opposite kind of people. Criminals become saints -- it is easy: you just have
           to practice certain values, certain disciplines which are expected from a saint. Who cares that you are
           carrying a thousand and one criminal tendencies within you? People only see your face, nobody
           dives deep in you.
               So the whole society has become a very strange phenomenon, almost weird, and everybody is
           suffering.
               The person who is pretending to be a saint cannot enjoy it because his whole being is against it,
           his whole nature is against it. He is continuously fighting a battle with himself, and there is no
           greater misery than to be continuously in a fight with yourself. So those who are honored, respected
           citizens, you will never see them joyful, cheerful, rejoicing. They are always sad, and to hide the fact
           of sadness they call it `seriousness' -- that they take life very seriously.
               And the other part of humanity which has decided to go with its natural feelings is condemned;
           they become criminals. In the eyes of the religions they are sinners; they will fill the space in hell
           reserved for them. In life nobody will respect them, and after life also. Even their God is not capable
           of accepting his own creation.
           If anybody is responsible, God is responsible.
               Only one person is responsible for all the sinners. There is no need to send everybody into hell --
           just throw God into hell and that will do, because he is the sole cause.
               And these hypocrites, these phony people who are showing something but are not what they are
           showing, can they cheat existence also? Can they cheat God also? Here they will be respectable, but
           will they also be in paradise after life, enjoying all the pleasures?
               We have put such tremendous pressure on poor human beings to destroy their integrity, to create
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a split in them.
           My approach is totally different.
           First, I want you to accept yourself as you are.
               That's how existence wanted you to be. You have not created yourself; naturally the whole
           responsibility goes to existence. And there must be a need for a person like you; otherwise, you
           would not exist.
           Existence needs you as you are.
               The first principle of an authentic religious man is to accept himself as he is, without any
           judgment -- and only from there does your authentic pilgrimage begin.
               Ask me questions without any fear, because I have never condemned anybody.
               My whole love and respect is for the person who accepts himself totally, as he is. He has
           courage. He has courage to face the whole pressure of the society which is bent upon splitting him
           into divisions -- into good and bad, into saint and sinner. He is really a brave, courageous being who
           stands against the whole history of man, of morality, and declares to the skies his reality, whatever it
           is.
               And at least with the master, the disciple has to be absolutely clean and clear so the master can
           start working with your reality, not with your phoniness. Because everything done with your
           phoniness is a sheer wastage.
               Only the real you is capable of growing, of coming to a flowering.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I ALWAYS WANT A TOTAL CHANGE IN MY LIFE BECAUSE I FEEL SO DISCONTENTED, SO
              LIMITED, SO FRUSTRATED.
              WHEN I HEARD YOU SAYING, "COME CLOSER," IT TOUCHED MY HEART DEEPLY. I SAW THAT
              I AM ALWAYS MANAGING MY LIFE REASONABLY AND OUT OF MY MIND, THAT I LIVE A LIFE
              FULL OF LIES AND GO ON POSTPONING BEING REALLY ALIVE.
              I DECIDED TO STAY HERE WITH YOU LONGER THAN I INTENDED TO, IN SPITE OF ALL
              REASONS AND PROBLEMS THAT MAY COME. BUT I DON'T FEEL AT EASE, AND I DON'T
              KNOW IF IT IS NOT AGAIN SOMETHING COMING FROM MY MIND.
              WILL YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE MIRACLE OF TRANSFORMATION AND HOW
              TO LIVE MORE OUT OF THE HEART?


               The first thing to remember is, never ask for the impossible.
           Begin slowly, bit by bit, step by step.
               Just by walking step by step, you can cover ten thousand miles easily. But if you start thinking
           from the very beginning that "I want to cross ten thousand miles" your legs may start wavering, your
           heart may start feeling tremendously afraid.
               Your mind will say, "You are asking too much; it is unreasonable. You are a small human being.
           Ten thousand miles... just walking one step each time -- because nobody can walk two steps at one
           time. Ten thousand miles looks too big."
           Make small goals.
               You are asking for total change. You don't see the impossibility of it at this point. At some other
           point it will not be impossible, but at this point it will be impossible to ask for a total change,
           because there will be so many implications in it.
               Why not go a little slowly? Why not take one part of your being and clean it? Put your total
           energy into cleaning one part of your being, then move to the second part. And of course, finally you
           will be able to have a total change.
               But mind is very cunning: whatever it wants to avoid, from the very beginning it creates such a
           situation -- it asks for the impossible. So you remain where you are, more frustrated, more in despair
           because the total change is not happening.
           The mind has given you a goal and deceived you.
               Total change certainly is the goal, but don't try to have it in a single step.
           Go in a more human way, changing small parts.
               I used to live with a man for many years. He was a rich man, and he loved me very much. I had a
           bungalow in the university but he wouldn't allow me to live there. He had a beautiful mansion in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           city. He said, "If you want, you can have the whole mansion. I will move to another house." He had
           many houses.
               I said, "No, there is no need. What will I do? I need only one room. You can live and take care of
           the whole mansion and the garden and my room, because I am a lazy man. This big mansion -- who
           is going to clean it?"
               In my university days I used to keep my bed just near the door and all my books around my bed,
           so I had not to enter into the room -- because there was such thick dust gathering, for two years. I
           had never entered -- why unnecessarily disturb settled things? So from the door I would directly
           jump into my bed, and all my books were around my bed so I could find them. This was a perfect
           arrangement: neither did the dust disturb me nor did I disturb the dust.
               So I told him, "I don't need the whole mansion. Just one room is enough for me."
           So he lived with me.
               He was very rich but very miserly. Perhaps the word `miserly' is not enough to describe it.
               He used to go for a walk in the morning with me, and anything he would find by the side of the
           road here and there, he would grab it. I said, "What will you do with it? -- just a handle of a bicycle;
           somebody had thrown it away.
               He said, "You don't know. Just come with me, I will show you."
               So I went into his house, in his part of the mansion, and he showed me. And I was really amazed!
           He said, "All these parts of the cycle I have found on the street. Just a few things are missing... and I
           hope I have enough life left; I have not yet found a chain. Two wheels are there, the seat is there, the
           handlebars I have found today. Mud guards are not necessary, just a chain. And I am not asking for
           too much. What do you think I go walking with you for?"
               I said, "I never thought that you were going in search of a chain!"
           He said, "A chain, or anything...."
               His house was full of strange things... just one shoe. I said, "Where is the other?"
               He said, "Some day I will find it, because the other one must be somewhere."
               And he himself was so clever that he would go to the temple and he would put one shoe in one
           corner, the other shoe in another corner so nobody could steal them -- because who will steal one
           shoe? And in a crowd of shoes who is going to search for the other? Where is the other? -- because a
           thief is in a hurry.
               He said, "I am the only progressive person who, when he is worshipping never looks back.
           Otherwise, everybody is looking back: What is happening to the shoes? Their worship is false! Are
           they bowing down to God or to their shoes? I am the only person who does not look back at all. I
           have figured it out -- that this way nobody can and nobody has ever been able.... And I go every day
           to the temple because I am looking for the other shoe. This shoe... the other must be somewhere."
               And there were many things that he had found; people had thrown them and he would collect
           them.
               But when I saw his bicycle, I was really amazed that he had managed... ALMOST managed; just
           a chain was missing. That could even be purchased. But he was such a miser, he was not going to
           purchase it; he was waiting. He said, "Just as you say... trust! -- I trust that the chain will be found
           one day."
               Jabalpur had the largest number of cycles in India. So he said, "This is the place where it is
           impossible to miss a chain. I will find it." And one day he found it.
               In the middle of the night he woke me. I said, "What is the matter? Has something gone wrong?"
           He said, "No, I have found the chain!"
           "In the middle of the night? Where have you been?"
               He said, "I was just not feeling sleepy, so I thought why not have a look for the chain around the
           park? And it is a miracle -- I found it. Perhaps that's why I was not feeling sleepy. Now I can sleep
           with ease. One tension was always there on my mind, that death might come before the chain
           comes."
               And I saw him within three days sitting on the bicycle without mud guards, without any carrier,
           going to his shop. I said, "I have been telling people to trust -- but it seems that trust works! You
           have proved me right."
               And he said, "One thing more is good about this: there are no brakes on it. And it makes so much
           noise that you can hear it from almost half a mile away. So when I am coming home my wife knows
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that I am coming, so she starts preparing things for me. By the time I reach the house everything is
           ready; no need for wasting time in waiting. And nobody else can sit on my bicycle."
           I said, "Why?"
               He said, "Its seat is such -- it hurts so much. So there is no question of its ever being stolen. I
           leave it anywhere, and I go and do my work and I always find it in its place. People have tried -- I
           have come to know that people have tried to steal it -- but they come back and put it in its place,
           because it is unnecessary trouble. First, it makes so much noise that everybody will know who has
           stolen it. Secondly, it hurts so much, and thirdly, it has no brakes, so any time, any accident...."
           I said, "But how do you manage?"
               He said, "There is no problem. Just in front of my shop there is a big mango tree. I just go there;
           it needs a tree to stop."
               And in the mansion where I was living with him there were very big trees, ancient trees all
           around, so there was no question, no need. He said, "There is no need -- I go to my shop, there is a
           tree; I go to my home, there is a tree. Unless you have a very ancient tree, you cannot have my
           bicycle."
               Just go slowly... part by part... and trust. Total change will also happen, but don't ask too much
           from the very beginning.
               Always be alert that mind is cunning and gives you impossible goals, so you go on running after
           them.
               Nothing is impossible if you go slowly, if you make many stopovers and you are not in a hurry.
           Whether the total change happens or not is not important. Even small changes in life are precious,
           because the total change will be simply the accumulated effect of all the small changes. Total change
           is not one whole; it is simply the effect of all the small changes, the accumulated revolution that
           happens in you.
           So always remain human.
               The past of man has been concentrated on giving you goals which are impossible. That is just to
           make you humiliated, because you cannot fulfill them -- you feel too tiny, too small, too fragile, with
           so many weaknesses.
               I don't want you to think about impossible things. I want you to go very slowly, changing small
           parts of your life -- which is not difficult.
               One day, you will suddenly find that total change has happened.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I USED TO BE SO SCARED OF BEING HIT OR EXPOSED. SINCE I HAVE BEEN HERE WITH YOU
              AND MELTING INTO YOU, I'M LONGING FOR IT WITH AN UNKNOWN IMPATIENCE. I LONG TO
              GET THE OBSTACLES OUT OF THE WAY, TO BE OVER AND DONE WITH `THIS ONE' SO THAT I
              CAN MOVE ON THE JOURNEY TO THE NEXT ROCK ON MY PATH. FEAR SEEMS TO BE JUST A
              QUITE UNIMPORTANT, OLD HABIT.
              I AM EXPERIENCING YOU AS A BOUNDLESS INVITATION. NO BARRIERS ARE THERE WHICH I
              COULD USE TO RATIONALIZE A LACK OF COURAGE. I FEEL THANKFUL ABOUT THE LACK OF
              ORGANIZATION AROUND YOU; THERE IS NO MORE FEAR THAT GETTING A HIT FROM YOU
              MAY BE USED BY PEOPLE WHO ARE IN POWER TO FEED THEIR OWN JUDGMENTS, TO PUT
              ME DOWN OR TO MAKE ME FEEL GUILTY.
              BELOVED OSHO, I AM SO TIRED OF ME AND ME AND ME.
              IS THIS A HEALTHY OR UNHEALTHY IMPATIENCE?


               It is the case with most of the sannyasins: if they get a hit they feel bad about it, their ego feels
           hurt. Rather than understanding the hit, they become resentful, angry.
               If they are not hit, then they start feeling that I am not taking care of them, that I am not paying
           attention to them, that while others are being hit, they are being left out. They feel as if they are not
           important enough.
               This is how human mind creates misery out of every situation. If you get the hit, you are hurt; if
           you don't get the hit, you are hurt all the same.
               But as far as I am concerned, I am not interested in hitting you or hurting you or ignoring
           anybody.
           To me, all are equally important.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A same longing has brought them to me, a same thirst has brought them to me.
                It will be very kind of you all to leave it to me that whenever a hit is necessary you will get it --
           because a hit is medicinal, it is a kind of surgery.
                But don't feel that because surgery is not being done on you, you are being ignored. If somebody
           else is hospitalized and nobody is taking care of you.... No, whenever you need to be hospitalized
           you will be hospitalized, each according to his need.
                Whenever a hit is necessary to help your growth, you will not miss it. And whenever it is not
           necessary, then unnecessarily hitting you will only make your skull thick. Then when the time comes
           to hit you, you will have already been so disciplined in getting hits....
                In my high school days, I was almost always late because I was interested in so many things on
           the way. I always started from home to reach the school at the right time, but I never reached
           because so much was going on along the way -- some magician was doing his tricks, and it was
           irresistible. Just to leave that magician and go to study... some stupid teacher talking about
           geography....
                So I was punished continually, but soon my teachers realized that it was useless to punish me.
           Their first punishment was to tell me to go around the high school building seven times. I would ask,
           "If I go eleven times will it do?"
                They would say, "Are you mad? This is a punishment."
                I said, "I know this is a punishment, but I have missed my morning exercise. So if I make it my
           morning exercise, you are not losing anything. Your punishment is covered, my morning exercise is
           complete; nobody is losing anything, both are gaining."
                So they stopped that, because this wouldn't do. They would tell me to stand outside the class. I
           said, "That's good, because I love the open air. The class is dark and dirty, and outside it is so
           beautiful. And in fact, sitting inside I am always looking outside. Who cares what you are teaching?
           -- the birds are singing, the trees are blossoming... it is so beautiful outside."
                The headmaster would come on his round, and every day he would find me standing outside.
           And he would say, "What is the matter?"
                I said, "Nothing is the matter. I love to stand outside; it is healthier, hygienic. And you can see
           how beautiful it is."
                But he said, "I will see your teacher. How is it that he allows you to stand outside?"
                I said, "I don't know, but he tells me himself, every day, `Stand outside.' So now I don't even ask
           him. It has become a routine, so I simply come and stand here."
                He asked the teacher. The teacher said, "It must have been thirty days ago! I told him only once
           to stand outside -- since then he has not entered the class. I was thinking it was a punishment, and he
           is enjoying it. Not only that, he is spreading the rumor among the students that it is hygienic, it is
           healthy. And they are asking me, `Sir, can we also stand outside?' Then what am I to do here? Then I
           will also go and stand outside."
           It is a question of how you take things.
                So first, don't be worried. If you are not getting a hit, perhaps you don't need it, or perhaps it is
           not the right time. Or if you are getting the hit then don't feel hurt, because I am not hitting you, I am
           always hitting your ego -- something that is your disease, something that has to be dropped.
                But leave it to me. I will not follow your expectations that because you want a hit -- the biggest
           hit, so you can show everybody, "Look, I have got the biggest hit".... Then the ego has used the hit.
           Rather than destroying the ego, the ego has taken the hit as a nourishment.
                So leave it completely to me. It is none of your business.
                Whenever I feel that you need a hit, you will get it -- and you will get it in the right quantity that
           you need. Don't brag about it, and don't feel sorry for it; just try to understand it.
           It is a school of understanding.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              TWENTY-FIVE YEARS TO GET TO YOU, THREE YEARS TO HANG AROUND YOU, FOUR YEARS
              TO RUN AWAY FROM YOU IN A ROLLER-COASTER RELATIONSHIP. FOUR YEARS TO
              STAGGER BACK TOWARDS YOU, ELEVEN YEARS TO GET A QUESTION THROUGH TO YOU --
              AND YOU GIVE THE ANSWER TO THIS GERMAN FELLOW, GUNAKAR AND WANT TO SEND ME
              BACK TO HELL AND SOME DIFFICULT WOMAN. AND IN TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS' TIME, MAYBE
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               YOU HAVE ESCAPED WHEN I CRAWL BACK TO ASK YOU, "WHAT'S NEXT?"
               OSHO, DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME OR SOMETHING?


                Gunateet, you are right.
           The question was yours -- at least written by you -- but Gunakar needed the answer more. There has
           not been any misunderstanding.
                He was also surprised, because he had not asked the question. But it was his question. And he
           could not believe how somebody else had written exactly the question that he was going to ask.
                And it was not time for you, for that question. Perhaps you got the vibration of the German
           Gunakar, and wrote down the question; it was not your question.
                And I can understand your difficulty: it took eleven years for you to ask the question and now
           you are worried that I am sending you back to your old life and the hard woman.
                About that you are wrong. Once you get a woman, it is always hard. If you miss a woman, it is
           just ice cream. Once you get a woman, suddenly she is steel hard.
                But without women there would have been no enlightenment in this world.
                Just think... a world without women. Then you cannot find any Gautam Buddha, because there is
           nobody to run away from. If there is no woman, there is no problem. Women are the real incentive.
                They say that behind every great man there is a woman; it may be true, it may not be true. But
           behind every enlightened man there are many women -- one won't do.
                Enlightenment is a little difficult subject. When many women go on making a football of you,
           then at last you become enlightened. You will say, "Enough! Stop the game, I am going home."
                Women are a blessing in the world. Without them, there is nothing.
                So just be thankful to your hard woman; perhaps you are here because of her.
                And you are saying that next time you come it will be in twenty-eight years, and you will ask,
           "What next?"
           I am reminded of two stories.
                Mulla Nasruddin was on Chowpatty Beach with his wife, and suddenly he said, "Would you like
           bhelpuri once more?"
                The wife said, "Once more? But we have not had any bhelpuri."
                He said, "Beloved, it seems you are losing your memory. Just fifty years ago when we got
           married and we had come here for the first time, we had bhelpuri. That's why I am saying, `Would
           you like it once more?'"
                Going back to your life, to your wife, to your work... but you will not be the same man. You will
           be taking something of me with you. I may not have answered you, but you have felt me.
           Answers and questions are superficial.
           You have tasted my love, my presence.
                So if by chance, after twenty-eight years, we meet again I will ask, "Do you want it once more?"
                Most probably, you will not need to ask me again because the seed is sown. You know exactly
           what has to be done -- you have to slip your energies from the mind towards the heart. Those
           energies falling towards the heart are just like rain falling, and the seed will start sprouting.
                Perhaps after twenty-eight years, if existence allows it, it will not be you who asks what is next. I
           will ask you, "What is next?" You will have come to flowering. You will have come just to show
           your gratitude.
           It is good that you are not German.
                The German soil is a little hard. It has its negative points and its positive points, its pros and
           cons. It is hard, it is very difficult for the seed to settle in it -- but once a seed settles in it, then it is
           very hard not to grow.
                Your question was a mind question, and Gunakar needed it.
                You don't need it. You have a soft heart. And the seed is already in your heart, and you know it is
           growing.
                It is almost like a pregnant woman: when the child starts growing she knows that the child is
           growing. An experienced mother of two or three children even knows whether the child is a boy or a
           girl -- because the boy starts kicking, and the girl remains very centered, calm and quiet.
                Boys are, after all, boys. From the very beginning, they are trouble.
                An experienced mother can say after the third or fourth month whether the child will be a boy or
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a girl because the boy is doing all kinds of gymnastics, and the girl is simply sitting silently, waiting
           for her own chance. Later on, she will do the gymnastics and the boy will sit and read the newspaper.
           Everybody has his own chance.
               The second story I was going to tell you is about a very rich American, a billionaire. He becomes
           fed up with money, fed up with all kinds of luxuries, fed up with all pleasures. And naturally he
           starts searching -- is there something more, or is this all? Because if this is all then there is no point
           anymore for him to live; he has had enough of it. It is a question of life and death.
               And he moves, and goes from one master to another -- some Tibetan lamas, some Sufi mystic,
           some Zen master. And then he comes to India and meets many saints. They all say, "There is one
           very wise old man in the Himalayas; only he can help you."
               So he travels to the Himalayas, then by foot carries his luggage. He has never carried luggage in
           his life. He has never walked uphill in the mountains. It is too cold, but somehow he manages. Tired,
           he falls at the feet of the old man, who looks very ancient, and he says, "I have found you after all! I
           want to know -- what is the meaning of life?"
               The old man said, "First things first. Have you got a Havana cigar?"
               The man said, "What kind of question... Havana cigar? Yes, I have got one. In fact, I am a chain
           smoker, and I have been keeping one in case you make me enlightened. Before enlightenment, the
           last Havana cigar... I would like just a few minutes more to enjoy it, and then make me enlightened
           and do whatsoever you want. After enlightenment, I was thinking Havana cigars would not be
           allowed, because I have not seen Buddha smoking, or...."
               He said, "Forget all about those old fellows. Bring the Havana cigar." And the old man started
           smoking.
               The tired American watched, and said, "But what about my question?"
               He said, "The time is not right. You go back. Come again after few years."
           The man said, "This is strange. Any message?"
               He said, "When you come, bring as many Havana cigars as you can because once you are
           enlightened we will both be smoking. On this hill there is nothing else to do. Just go fast and come
           back -- but bring them. I am sending you especially for Havana cigars. Enlightenment is a very
           simple thing, but to get Havana cigars in the Himalayas is very difficult."
               Don't be worried, I am not a smoker! You need not bring any Havana cigars; just come. Don't
           wait for twenty-eight years. Whenever you feel the flower has opened its petals in you, come back.
               I would just like to see you luminous, radiant, ecstatic.
               And I say it is possible because you have a heart, Gunateet, that is ripe to grow any moment. No
           hard woman can prevent it; she can only help it.
               So just go back, and whenever the spring comes and the flower is there, come back so I can see
           that the flower has lived to its potentiality and you have become fragrant.
               And meanwhile, you can smoke as many Havana cigars as you want.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                             Chapter #5
              Chapter title: Questions: Exposing your way from ignorance to innocence
           7 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610075
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 121 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE FIRST TIME I MET YOU, I SAID "NO" TO YOUR QUESTION AS TO WHETHER I HAD A
              QUESTION, AND IN ALL THESE EIGHT YEARS I HAVE NEVER ASKED ANY.
              NOW MY MIND SEEMS TO BE EXPLODING WITH QUESTIONS, OUT OF WHICH IT IS HARD TO
              CHOOSE ANY SATISFYING TO A GERMAN PERFECTIONIST; YET I FEEL ALMOST IN PANIC -- I
              DON'T WANT TO MISS THAT CHANCE.
              OSHO, WHY IS THERE THAT CONSTANT FEAR OF MISSING THE TRAIN?


                There are people who really do not have questions.
           They have a quest, but not questions. They have a thirst, a deep hunger for being and more being, but
           no desire for gathering and accumulating knowledge. Hence they don't have any questions.
           They are the best kind of disciples.
                There are other people who do not ask questions, but that does not mean that they don't have
           questions. They do not ask because asking a question goes against their ego.
                And if the ego is German, then the problem becomes more difficult.
                It is not coincidental that Germany has produced great philosophers, philosophers who are ready
           to give answers to every question. But Germany has not produced sincere inquirers, seekers, who are
           thirsty for the answer. It has not created disciples; it creates only masters, and these masters are only
           great intellectuals, not mystics.
                Germany has contributed much as far as knowledge is concerned -- Hegel, Kant, Feuerbach, Karl
           Marx -- but it has not contributed a single mystic. In the whole of history, not a single Kabir, not a
           single Nanak, not a single Farid -- very strange, but it is not coincidental.
                The German ego is ready to give the answer, whether it knows or not; but it is very reluctant to
           ask the question, whether it has the question or not.
                The same is your situation. For eight years you have been repressing, perhaps unconsciously, and
           there is a limit to everything. You can repress only so much, and then a point comes when you are
           sitting on a volcano. Now your mind is exploding with questions. From where they have come? For
           eight years they were not there, and suddenly out of nowhere they are creating in you almost a state
           of insanity -- so many questions that you cannot even find which one is worthy to be asked.
                You will have to look backwards: those eight years that you kept them repressed are your
           responsibility. If you had allowed them to come, in those eight years you might have been
           completely cleansed of all questions; you might have become a tabula rasa, an innocent child.
                But because to ask is to show one's ignorance, you went on repressing. And there is always a
           hope: somebody else here may ask it, so why expose yourself?
                But remember, each person's question has a personality of its own. Even though the words may
           be the same, the language exactly the same, the phrasing of the question not a bit different, but
           because the questioner is different, it makes such a difference that it is almost unbridgeable. Each
           person has grown in a different way, has lived a different life, has passed through different ups and
           downs. You cannot find another person who has gone through the same experiences. Hence, the
           question may appear to be the same, but it cannot be the same.
                So never wait, thinking that somebody is bound to ask the question and save you the trouble of
           exposing yourself as ignorant, so you can remain silent, looking wise.
                Just not asking the question does not mean that you know. It only means that you are not
           courageous enough, it only means that you are afraid to show your darker side. But unless you show
           your disease, unless you say something about it, the physician cannot do anything.
                I had a professor friend. He was a great scholar of ancient Sanskrit. Not only was he a scholar of
           ancient Sanskrit, his mind was also very old and rotten.
                He was feeling sick, and as I was coming out of my classroom he told me, "I am feeling very
           weak and very sick. I don't know what the problem is, but you have to give me a lift and take me to
           the nearby doctor." So I took him to a friend who was one of the best doctors near the university
           campus.
                Now, in the ancient Indian medicine the patient does not say anything to the physician; that is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thought to be insulting. The physician takes the wrist of the patient, checks his pulse; that's all. And
           he decides what the disease is and he decides what the medicine is going to be.
               And the Indian medicine ayurveda has been very proud about it.
               So this ancient Sanskrit scholar would not say to the doctor what the problem was. He said, "You
           are a doctor, you have studied in England, you have got the best education -- you have to find out
           what my disease is."
               The doctor said, "This is strange. I am not a doctor of animals, I am a doctor of human beings. Of
           course as far as animals are concerned they cannot say what the problem is, so the vet has to find
           out, to figure out what the donkey is suffering from...."
           And sometimes things go very wrong.
               I remember one case. One of my neighbors in my village had a donkey, a very good donkey. And
           suddenly there was some epidemic among donkeys and many donkeys in the town died. The
           veterinary hospital and its doctors were at a loss what to do because the donkeys could not say what
           was happening. And they were unable to find out. The disease seemed to be something very new.
               My friend was very much afraid for his donkey. He said, "Before anything happens, I want to
           take all the precautions."
               So we both took his donkey -- because I used to sit on his donkey; he was the best in the town --
           to the doctor. And the doctor said, "He is not sick at all."
               We said, "We know -- and he knows too -- because he was not willing to come this way; we have
           brought him forcibly. But we want to take precautions. Other donkeys are dying, and this is such a
           beautiful fellow. So if you can just help; as a precaution give him some medicine so that he is not
           affected by the epidemic."
               He gave us some solution, and also a small bamboo pipe, and he told the man whose donkey it
           was, "You have to put this medicine in your mouth."
               The man said, "What are you saying? A donkey's medicine? -- should I put it in my mouth?"
               The vet said, "This is the way it has to be given to the donkey, because the donkey will create a
           thousand and one troubles. Put the other end of the pipe in the donkey's mouth and blow the
           medicine into his mouth."
           He said, "Strange way...."
               But the vet said, "You don't know how to deal with animals."
               But an accident happened. When he was about to give the medicine, the donkey did such a great
           job.... He blew such a forceful breath from his mouth that the man drank all the medicine! And he
           said, "Now what is going to happen? This was a freak accident, and this idiot... at the right time, just
           as I was going to give the medicine, he managed to force it into my body. Now let us go back to the
           doctor. It may have some bad effects on me -- it was a precaution for the donkey, not a precaution
           for me."
           I said, "Now I cannot go, you can go."
               This Sanskrit scholar wanted to be told by the doctor what was wrong just by having his pulse
           checked.
               The doctor said, "I know that in ayurveda this has been the ancient method, but at that time there
           were no other instruments. At that time people were not so intelligent and aware and sensitive to
           their own bodies, feelings. They were coming almost from the world of animals. When ayurveda was
           born, human beings were just emerging out of the animal kingdom; that's why feeling the pulse was
           the only way."
               But the scholar was not satisfied. He said, "The reality is that you are not so proficient in the
           subtle vibrations of the pulse rate. You are not ready to acknowledge your ignorance."
               I said to him, "You have not come here to discuss whether ayurveda is a better medical system
           than modern medicine. You have come here for your own sickness. Don't waste my time, and don't
           waste the time of the doctor -- he is not ignorant. No modern medical practitioner is going to tell you
           your disease, you have to tell him. And man has come of age."
               You can sit here silently for eight years without asking a question, just hiding yourself behind
           silence -- which is not true silence, because inside the questions are boiling.
               But the German mind is not ready to accept easily that it is ignorant.
               It is good that now you are ready -- because your mind is exploring its questions -- that you are
           not afraid you will be understood as ignorant.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nobody is going to understand you as ignorant.
                Ignorance is our natural state, there is nothing wrong with it. Just as everybody is naked behind
           the clothes -- however thick your clothes are, however many layers of clothes you have, your
           nakedness is still there. There is nothing in it to be ashamed of.
           Naked we are born, ignorant we are born.
                And it will be helpful to recognize the fact of ignorance sooner, so that you will not die ignorant.
                Ignorant we are born, but if we can die innocent, life has been a successful journey.
                And the only way to be innocent is to get rid of all your questions.
                Don't hide anything, because whatever you are hiding will come up sooner or later, will surface.
           It is better to bring it out yourself into the open, into the light.
                And the function of a master is not to give you an answer, but to destroy your question.
           Nobody can give you the answer.
                The answer will arise in you, will grow in you. It will be your growth, your enlightenment. It
           cannot be given from outside.
           But questions can be destroyed.
                So it is good that you have started, even though you have wasted eight years unnecessarily. And
           that's why your mind is continuously worried and scared of only one thing: Am I going to miss the
           train this time? Eight years you have been missing, every day, every moment.
                But there are a few people who are very expert in missing trains.
                I have heard that three persons, all professors of a university, were standing on the platform. The
           train was getting ready to leave -- two had come to see one off -- and they were involved in deep
           discussion.
                Suddenly, the conductor shows the flag and the train starts, and they are so absorbed that they
           don't notice. They notice only when the train has almost left the platform. So they all three run to
           catch it -- two succeed, and one fails. And the one who fails starts laughing.
           A crowd gathers; they say, "What is the matter?"
                But he is laughing so much, a belly laughter, that he cannot contain himself.
                He says, "Just wait a minute.... I have missed the train."
                They say, "But missing a train does not mean that you have to laugh."
                He said, "You don't know the whole story -- just wait: the two who have caught the train came to
           see me off! But in a hurry...."
                There are people who are always missing. Missing becomes their habit for their whole life.
           Each moment -- you have to be alert not to miss it.
                But you are not there, you are somewhere else. Naturally you go on missing.
                You will think of this moment when it is gone. You will say, "My God, I missed that
           opportunity."
                Henry Ford was asked by a journalist, "What is the secret of your success?" -- because he was a
           poor man, born poor, and became the richest man in the world.
                Ford said, "My secret is simple, it is an open secret: I never miss an opportunity."
                But the journalist said, "It still remains a mystery. Nobody wants to miss an opportunity, but
           people go on missing. So tell me just in a little detail how you manage -- because people become
           aware of an opportunity only when it is gone, but by that time it is too late."
                Henry Ford said, "The way not to miss an opportunity is just to keep jumping. So whenever it
           comes, it doesn't matter, you will jump and ride on it. Don't stand and wait; otherwise you will get
           engaged in other thoughts and other things.
                "I keep on jumping. Let the opportunity come whenever it comes -- I am not going to miss it."
                In a London museum there is a beautiful painting titled "Opportunity." A very strange painting....
           When for the first time, a century ago, it was acquired by the museum, the painter himself was alive
           and he was present there for the opening ceremony. The museum had asked him to be there to
           explain it to people -- because it is a beautiful painting but a little difficult, a little strange.
                There is the face of a man, but you have never come across such a face: all the hairs are growing
           not on the head but on the forehead, and the head is clean-shaven. And the title is "Opportunity."
           "What kind of man... where have you found this man?"
                He said, "This is the opportunity. When it comes you cannot see it, because the face is covered
           with hair. When it is just passing by, you cannot see it because the face is covered and by the time
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you recognize it and say, `Jesus!'... your hand slips! -- because the head is clean-shaven. It has gone.
           And no moment comes back; once gone, it is gone forever."
           You are afraid of missing the train.
               Whether you are afraid or not, everybody is missing the train. It is good that you are afraid,
           because that may help you to understand why you are missing.
               You are not in the moment. You are either in the past or in the future -- both are non-existent.
           Neither can you do anything with the past, nor can you do anything with the future. All that you can
           do is with the present, and the present is such a small, split second that if you are engaged
           somewhere else, it simply slips by and you have missed the train.
           Learn to be in the present.
               Withdraw your energy from the past. Don't waste your time in memories; what is gone is gone --
           say goodbye to it and close the chapter.
               What has not come yet has not come yet; don't unnecessarily waste your time and energy in
           imagination, because no imagination is ever fulfilled. It is because of this that the proverb exists in
           every language: "Man proposes, and God disposes" -- because you imagine a certain thing in the
           future, and it is never so.
               Withdrawing yourself from past and future, you will become a tremendously intense energy,
           focused in the present, concentrated in the present like an arrow. No train could manage to leave the
           platform without you.
               Each moment being aware, alert, watchful, in the herenow, is the way not to miss the train. Every
           experience needs your presence here, this moment.
               And this is a simple secret, but it opens the doors of existence, of all the mysteries, of all that is
           worth knowing, worth tasting, worth feeling, worth being.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT IS SUCH A JOY SEEKING OUT A QUESTION -- IT COMES WORD BY WORD AND SURPRISES
              ME AS IT APPEARS ON THE PAPER.
              BEING HERE WITH YOU HAS BEEN MORE MOMENT-TO-MOMENT AND LESS PLAN-FILLED
              THAN ANY OTHER TIME IN MY LIFE.
              THE QUESTION IS: WHERE DO THESE QUESTIONS COME FROM? HOW DOES SEEKING
              THEM OUT EMPTY OUR MINDS AND CLEANSE OUR BEINGS?
              I LOVE YOU BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING. THANK YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN.


               We are born not knowing anything.
           Questions don't come from outside.
           As you grow, as you face different situations, as you move into different moments, encountering
           different circumstances, your ignorance goes on and on becoming questions.
           These are the right questions.
               And if you insist on asking only the right questions, which come out of your ignorance in
           encountering existence, you will be able to get rid of them without any difficulty.
               The problem arises because you have many questions which are not right questions, which have
           not arisen out of your ignorance but which have arisen out of your borrowed knowledge. You read
           something in a book and a question arises; if you had not read the book, the question would have
           never arisen, you may have lived from eternity to eternity.
               For example, I have been around the world, but except for a follower of Jainism -- who are not
           many, only three and a half million, and confined only to India -- nobody can ask a question that a
           Jaina can ask. Only a Jaina can ask it, because his scriptures give him the question. The question is
           not a right question; otherwise, if it was a natural question, it would arise in every human being.
               For example, you may never have wondered what nigod is. Only a Jaina will ask what nigod is.
           And for Jainism it is a very important question; it is as important as God is to other religions -- in
           fact, it is a replacement for God, because Jainism does not believe in God. Then the question arises:
           from where does this universe come?
               Jainism has a simple, scientific answer to it: the universe does not come from anywhere, it is
           always here. But one problem gets them into trouble, because the population goes on growing: From
           where do these people come if nobody is creating them?
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In Mahavira's time, there were only two million people in India -- just in India. Now there are
           seven hundred million people in India. From where are these people coming? Where have they been
           hiding all this time? Who is managing the whole circus? -- when they should come and not come,
           why they should come at a particular time and not come at a particular time.
                Jainism has to invent a hypothesis. The hypothesis is called nigod; nigod is a dormant state of
           human souls. Just as you go to sleep and in the morning you wake up, there are millions of souls who
           are sleeping for eternity; from those dormant souls a few wake up and start moving into existence.
           But all such hypotheses are as dubitable as God.
                I have asked Jaina monks how many souls are dormant -- because there will be one day when
           nigod is empty, all souls will have awakened. Then the population will remain static; there will be no
           need for any birth control. Whatever you do, you cannot produce a child. But they don't have any
           answer. They say, "We don't know. The scriptures say an infinite number of souls."
                I said, "This is just befooling people. Who has counted them? Who has the right to say that they
           are infinite? This can be said only when they have been counted. If they have been counted, they are
           not infinite. Do you see a simple logic? If you say they have been counted, then they may be many
           but they cannot be infinite. And if you say they have not been counted, you cannot say they are
           infinite."
                But nobody in the whole world is ever going to ask, "What is nigod?" This is a false question, it
           is a bookish question.
                Now, Jainas never ask about God. All over the world, every other religion will ask about God
           because they have been told about God from their very childhood. And naturally, curiosity arises:
           What is God? How does he look?
                Strangely enough, different religions have different ideas of God, and nobody bothers that God
           cannot have so many appearances unless he has many masks. He shows one face to the Christians,
           another face to the Jews, another face to the Hindus... but why should he take such trouble? And
           none of these fellows who are talking about God have seen him.
                But centuries have passed, and people are discussing and inquiring and questioning, and all
           questions concerned with such things are absolutely futile.
                "How many hands does God have?" Now, is this a question that really means anything to you? --
           whether he has two hands or four hands or one thousand hands? What does it matter to you? But
           there are people who believe that God has one thousand hands, because to take care of this big
           world, two hands are not enough. But who says to you that one thousand hands will be enough? The
           world is still big. If two hands are too few, one thousand hands are also too few.
                And just think of a god who has one thousand hands....
                I think two hands can do things in a better way than a person who has one thousand hands. He is
           bound to get confused.
                And to carry one thousand hands... the weight of one thousand hands will be too much.
                There was one very famous Hindu monk, Swami Shivananda, who became world famous. Seeing
           him, I dropped the idea of one thousand hands -- because he was not able even to carry his two
           hands. His hands became so fat that he was not able to raise them. Two persons used to raise his
           hands, then he would be able to move; otherwise those hands were so much of a weight.... And
           nobody even thinks -- because he was a medical doctor before he became a mahatma -- first,
           medically he is living a wrong life; otherwise how have these hands become so heavy? Secondly --
           he is thought to be a great yogi -- according to yoga he is living a wrong life; otherwise how have
           these hands gone out of proportion? And still he is worshipped as a great saint.
                When I saw him, I said to him, "One thing is settled in my mind, that God cannot have one
           thousand hands. Seeing you... you need two persons to carry you from one place to another place. If
           you had one thousand hands, it would really be a great trouble."
                Perhaps trucks would have been needed; Suraj Prakash would have to be called -- "Bring all your
           transport, Swami Shivananda is going to the bathroom" -- because how would he go? One hand in
           one truck... at least one thousand trucks would be needed. And for the transport company it would be
           a problem: how to manage one thousand trucks around him? There would be a parking problem....
                But just hypotheses... and there are thousands of things which have kept human beings engaged
           in creating questions.
                And there are always so-called wise people who are ready to answer them. They are the enemies
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of humanity. Rather than saying that your question is wrong because it has no relevance to your
           growth, it has no relevance to your own spirituality, that whether God exists or not does not matter,
           or how many heads he has....
               The Hindu god has three heads. No other god in the world has three heads; naturally he is
           superior. He can look in three dimensions; a three-dimensional god, in all dimensions he is looking.
           Other gods are one-dimensional.
               You cannot cheat a Hindu god, but a Mohammedan god or a Christian god -- you can hit him
           from the back, he cannot see. The Hindu god you cannot hit. Three heads, one thousand hands... if
           you got caught in his hands, it would take eternity to get out of the jungle.
               All useless, fictitious, meaningless things are in the air, and they have been there for centuries.
           They create many questions in you.
               So you have to remember one very basic thing: that any question that is not concerned with your
           individual growth has no meaning, no substance for you. Only then can you sort out those few
           questions which can be of help.
               And then ask them, then expose yourself. Then don't wait a single moment -- and don't hesitate,
           don't feel embarrassed. It is your right to ask the question. It is nature demanding that you ask the
           question, because once the question is solved -- or better, DISsolved -- you will feel light, your
           heaviness will be gone.
               The day you don't have any question will be a day of great celebration, because you will be as
           light as you can conceive.
               And then existence becomes just a pure dance -- no more questions.
           Existence becomes a trust -- no more questions.
               There are no more tensions in the mind -- life becomes a let-go, a tremendous relaxation.
               You become part of the trees and the mountains and the ocean and the river and the stars; you are
           no longer separate -- your questions keep you separate.
               Your unquestionable trust in existence allows you to merge into it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              GOVIND SIDDHARTH'S ENLIGHTENMENT SHOWED ME THAT I AM NOT CONNECTED WITH
              ENLIGHTENMENT AT ALL. I CANNOT IMAGINE HOW I WOULD FEEL BEING ENLIGHTENED. I
              REALIZED HOW FAR AWAY IT IS FOR ME, AND THAT I AM NOT REALLY SEEKING IT.
              CONCERNING MYSELF, I HAVE MOSTLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE STATE CALLED
              ENLIGHTENMENT. I SEE THAT I AM ONLY LONGING FOR IT WHEN I AM IN A STATE OF PAIN,
              AND FEEL LOST, AND DON'T KNOW ANY MORE WHAT TO DO. BUT IN MOMENTS OF
              HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT, ENLIGHTENMENT DOES NOT EXIST AT ALL.
              WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS?


               Lokita, enlightenment is absolutely un-Germanic.
           I have gone through all the great philosophers of Germany; nobody has any idea of enlightenment.
               So you need not be worried. It simply shows you are a pure Nordic German, stuck with another
           German, Niskriya. One German is enough of a hindrance towards enlightenment, and two Germans
           together... it is impossible. You both will tug at each other's legs and will not allow anybody to
           become enlightened!
               And the idea of enlightenment has arisen because of Govind Siddharth's enlightenment. It is not
           your longing or your search.
           This is what I have been calling borrowed.
               If it is not nature that is desiring something in you, a longing coming out of your very soul, out of
           your very roots, then don't waste time on it.
               That's why when you are in pain, in misery, in anguish, you think of enlightenment and when
           you are happy and contented and enjoying yourself, you never think about it.
               In fact, if you are contented, happy and pleasurable and I offer you enlightenment, you will
           refuse it. You will say, "Bhagwan, when I am in pain I will come myself. Don't disturb my happiness
           at this moment. It is so difficult to be happy with Niskriya, and now you have come with
           enlightenment...."
               Remember: anything that comes out of pain and anguish and anxiety is at the most an effort to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           escape from all these painful experiences.
               Hearing again and again that enlightenment is blissful, you think that rather than suffering pain it
           is better to be enlightened. But when you are contented and feeling happy, joyful, no fight with
           Niskriya -- because I know perfectly well that two Germans in one room must be fighting
           twenty-three hours a day at least. For one hour, naturally, they need rest and contentment. At that
           time if somebody comes and says, "Come on -- and this is enlightenment," you will say, "No, not at
           this time; I have hardly got one hour of peace and you have come to disturb that peace also."
               You have to understand one thing: that enlightenment is not an escape from pain but an
           understanding of pain, an understanding of your anguish, an understanding of your misery -- not a
           cover-up, not a substitute, but a deep insight: "Why am I miserable, why is there so much anxiety,
           why is there so much anguish, what are the causes in me that are creating it?" And to see those
           causes clearly is to be free from them.
               Just an insight into your misery brings a freedom from misery. And what remains is
           enlightenment.
               Enlightenment is not something that comes to you. It is when pain and misery and anguish and
           anxiety have been understood perfectly well and they have evaporated because now they have no
           cause to exist in you -- that state is enlightenment.
               It will bring you, for the first time, real contentment, real blissfulness, authentic ecstasy. And
           only then can you compare.
               What you used to call `contentment' before was not contentment. What you used to call
           `happiness' before was not happiness.
               But right now you don't have anything to compare it with.
               Once enlightenment gives you a taste of the real, you will see that all your pleasures, all your
           happinesses were simply the stuff dreams are made of; they were not real. And what has come now,
           has come forever.
               That is the definition of the real: a contentment that comes and never leaves you again is real
           contentment. A contentment that comes and goes again is not contentment, it is simply a gap
           between two miseries.
               Just as we call a gap between two wars `peace time' -- it is not a peaceful time, it is simply
           preparation for another war. If the war is a positive war, the time between two wars is a negative
           war, a cold war. It goes on underground, you are getting ready for a hot war.
           Anything that comes and goes is a dream.
           Let that be the definition.
           Anything that comes and never goes is reality.
               Don't be bothered about the word `enlightenment.' What you call it does not matter; you can call
           it illumination, you can call it blissfulness, you can call it self-realization, you can call it
           actualization of all your potentials -- whatever you want to call it.
               But remember one quality: that it knows only a beginning, it knows no end. Anything that comes
           and goes, beware -- that is simply illusory, it is only a gap, because one gets tired.
               Niskriya also gets tired, and when one is tired one thinks, "Just be loving, be peaceful." So for an
           hour or two hours there is love, but it does not last long; just a small thing, anything, and the quarrel
           begins. And every other day you are ready to separate. Just look in one week how many times you
           decide to separate.
               You don't know, I have been keeping you together. Niskriya is a very obedient follower. I tell
           him, "Niskriya, just let things be as they are. One woman is absolutely needed for your
           enlightenment; just remain...."
               And the same is true for you: he is needed for your enlightenment.
               Separately -- because there will be no fight, no anxiety, no pain -- you may start thinking that life
           is perfectly peaceful, what is the need of enlightenment? And it will not be peace; it will be the peace
           of the graveyard.
               I want the peace of the garden, not of the graveyard. The birds should be singing, because their
           songs deepen the peace. The flowers should be blossoming because their colors, their fragrance
           make the peace alive -- the foliage, the greenery, everything is overflowing with life.
               In a graveyard also there is silence and there is peace, because everybody is dead. They are
           waiting for the last judgment day; then they will come out of their graves and you will see such a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           quarrel as you have never seen, not imagined. Because lying in their graveyards, they are repressing
           everything, and when they come out... just skeletons hitting each other!
                You will see the scene, the last judgment day: nobody will bother who is hitting whom, just
           hitting will be such a joy. So much is repressed -- because somebody has been in the grave for
           thousands of years. Just think of yourself in a grave for thousands of years: how much anger you
           must be gathering! -- it will explode in just one day, in twenty-four hours. More time is not given;
           perhaps God is afraid to give more time. Because if you give more time, that quarrel will never end;
           it will continue. So finish it in twenty-four hours.
                And in twenty-four hours in that crowd you cannot find your enemy or where your wife is, where
           your neighbor is. So don't waste time -- whoever you meet, hit him hard! Somebody must be hitting
           your wife, so you hit somebody else's wife; it does not matter, the question is of hitting.
                There is a peace in the graveyard. If people live separately.... And that's what religions have
           thought: renounce the world and go into the caves, and there will be peace. It will be the peace of the
           graveyard, your cave will be your grave. Because there is nobody to provoke you, nobody to insult
           you. Just being alone, what can you do except be silent? But that is not the peace that passeth
           understanding, that is a deadness, a suicide.
                Try to understand your misery. Live it, go to the very depth of it, find out the cause, why it is
           there.
           Let understanding be your meditation.
                And try to understand your contentment also, your happiness also, and you will see their
           superficiality.
                Once you know that your happiness is superficial and your anguish is very deep -- and it is in
           your hands -- you can change your whole style of consciousness.
                Your contentment can become your whole being; not even a small space is left for
           discontentment.
                Your love becomes your very life. And it remains. Time passes, but what you have achieved
           goes on deepening. More and more flowers, more and more songs are born out of it.
           That's what we call enlightenment.
                The word is Eastern, but the experience has nothing to do with East or West.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE A STORY TO TELL:
              IT HAPPENED IN THE EARLY SECOND HALF OF THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1985, WHEN I WAS
              LIVING IN RAJNEESHPURAM.
              ONE MORNING, SOON AFTER I WOKE, I TOOK A PEE IN THE BATHROOM, AND FELT A TIDAL
              WAVE OF RELAXATION DESCENDING ON ME AS IT SOMETIMES HAPPENS IN THE LAST
              STAGE OF YOUR MEDITATION TECHNIQUES. THE RELAXATION WAS ALL OVER ME, AND MY
              EYELIDS CLOSED GENTLY AND INSTANTLY. I COULDN'T MOVE OR STOP THIS TIDAL WAVE
              FEELING.
              AS MY EYES CLOSED, YOU APPEARED IN ALL YOUR BEAUTY. YOUR PHYSICAL PRESENCE
              WAS SO REAL AND INTOXICATING -- AS ONE SEES AND FEELS YOU IN A DARSHAN, SITTING
              IN THE FIRST ROW. BUT IN A MOMENT YOU STARTED DISAPPEARING, BEGINNING FROM ALL
              SIDES OF YOUR BODY, AND A DEEP BLACKNESS STARTED TAKING YOUR PLACE. SOON ALL
              THAT WAS LEFT WAS A DEEP, DEEP BLACKNESS OF A KIND I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
              IT GAVE A FEELING OF TERROR, AND LASTED FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES.
              AS I CAME OUT OF THIS EXPERIENCE I WAS STUNNED, DAZED, ALMOST DRAINED. I WAS
              FULL OF A DEEP INNER PAIN; I WAS VERY SHAKY AND UPSET, AS THE MEANING THAT
              SOMEHOW HAD REVEALED ITSELF TO ME WAS IN THE IMPACT OF THE EXPERIENCE. IT
              MEANT PHYSICAL DEATH TO YOUR BODY, OR AT LEAST A DEATH-LIKE CALAMITY.
              I TRIED TO FORCE MYSELF TO BE NORMAL, BUT COULDN'T TALK TO PEOPLE. WHEN MY
              FRIEND NOTICED I WAS DISTURBED, AND ASKED ME THE REASON, I TOLD HER OF THE
              INCIDENT. I CONTINUED TO FEEL THAT SOMETHING GRAVE WAS PEEPING OVER THE
              HORIZON.
              IN THE LATE AFTERNOON WHEN I WAS WORKING, SUDDENLY OUT OF NOWHERE A DEEP
              TIDAL WAVE OF RELAXATION OVERPOWERED ME AGAIN. MY EYES CLOSED AND A BRIGHT
              PURPLE COLOR APPEARED ALL OVER IN FRONT OF ME, AMIDST WHICH YOU APPEARED
              AGAIN IN YOUR FULLEST GLORY, BEAMING. BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS WERE POPPING OPEN
              ALL AROUND YOU LIKE BUBBLES -- IT WAS PSYCHEDELIC! I FELT NOW FULLY ASSURED
              THAT NO REAL HARM WAS GOING TO COME TO YOUR BODY. WHATEVER CALAMITIES CAME
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WOULD PASS AWAY, AND A MORE-GLORIOUS-THAN-EVER PHASE FOR YOU AND YOUR
              PEOPLE WOULD FOLLOW.
              IN THE LATER MONTHS A GREAT CALAMITY DID COME TO YOUR BODY IN THE FORM OF
              YOUR ILLEGAL ARREST BY THE POWER-BLINDED U.S. GOVERNMENT -- WHICH WAS A
              PHYSICAL THREAT TO YOUR LIFE. NOW, IN THE LIGHT OF THE FIRST PART OF MY STORY
              TURNING INTO A REALITY, IT IS QUITE NATURAL FOR ME TO FEEL THAT THE SECOND PART
              OF THE STORY HAS ALREADY STARTED TURNING INTO A REALITY, SLOWLY SLOWLY.
              BELOVED MASTER, WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMMENT?


               Pratap, you have related your story with absolutely the right interpretation.
           It needs no comment.
               This is a good sign. Slowly slowly, to other sannyasins also, the same is going to happen. They
           will come to feel an experience, and they will also be able to interpret it correctly.
               I can only say you are blessed that your mind has not interfered, has not misled you, and your
           heart has been in complete control seeing the experience and interpreting it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              A GLIMPSE OF YOUR EYES, A FLASH OF TOTAL LOVE -- IT HAPPENS IN A SECOND BUT
              STAYS FOREVER.
              OSHO, HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?


               It is a simple phenomenon.
           A moment of love is a moment of eternity. The depth of it is so great that time cannot erase it.
               Although the happening was in a single moment, it is like a woman becoming pregnant: the
           happening is in a single moment, but it gives birth to a child who may live seventy, eighty years,
           who may give birth to many more children. It may become a tree: many branches, and each branch
           bifurcating into new branches.
               I am reminded.... If you go to Bodh Gaya, where Gautam Buddha became enlightened, the tree
           under which he was sitting is still there, although it is not the same tree but the continuity of the
           same tree, a child of the same tree.
               When Ashoka was the emperor of India, he sent his daughter Sanghamitra, who had become a
           sannyasin, to Sri Lanka with a branch of the original tree. Sri Lanka was converted by Sanghamitra
           to the ideology of Gautam Buddha, and the branch was planted there and became a big tree.
               Here, after Gautam Buddha, a strange tragedy happened: Buddhism disappeared from India, and
           Hindus burned the tree under which Gautam Buddha had become enlightened. It was only when
           India became independent just forty years ago that a branch from Sri Lanka was brought back.
               Now you see a beautiful tree again flourishing in Bodh Gaya -- although it is not the same tree,
           but it is the same tree.
               A moment of deep love goes so deep in your being that time cannot erase it. It goes on and on
           giving birth to itself within you.
               Hence I say that a moment of love is a moment of eternity.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              MOST OF HUMANITY LIVES TO EAT AND SLEEP, WORK, ACCUMULATE POWER AND MONEY,
              OR TO PROPOGATE ITSELF.
              BELOVED MASTER, WHAT DO YOU LIVE FOR?


               Milarepa, I will tell you a real historical fact:
           In Greece, there was a great philosopher, Xeno. He lived a long life -- in those days it was really
           very long, because the average life in those days was not more than twenty-five years. Xeno lived
           ninety years.
               And he is a strange philosopher, unique in a sense, because his teaching is that life is
           meaningless; so meaningless that any man of intelligence would commit suicide, that is the only
           intelligent act you can do.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So many of his disciples committed suicide, went on committing suicide. Ninety years long,
           thousands of disciples -- and he was a very convincing man. What he was saying was so accurate,
           because ordinary life is certainly so meaningless -- unless you know to change it into a divine
           phenomenon, it is meaningless.
                And he was a great logician; he argued and convinced people, and people committed suicide,
           young people committed suicide.
                When he was dying, somebody asked, "Xeno, one thing has always disturbed us. According to
           your philosophy, thousands of people have committed suicide. Why have you gone on living?"
                He said, "It was just to teach people to commit suicide; otherwise who will do my job? I had to
           live."
                Milarepa, people are living absolutely meaningless lives.
                I also teach them a kind of suicide -- not exactly the same as Xeno. I teach them a suicide in
           which they are reborn in a more luminous life, of a greater glory, of a divine ecstasy.
                I have to live because it would be absolutely unkind, knowing the path of transformation and not
           telling it to the people who need it.




                                           Beyond Enlightenment
                                                   Chapter #6
                                     Chapter title: Truth knows no fifty-fifty
           8 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610085
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 118 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM REQUESTING YOUR GUIDANCE ON MY ANSWER TO SOMETHING I HEARD YOU SAY TO
              ME -- WHICH YOU NEVER ACTUALLY SAID.
              DURING MY SANNYAS DARSHAN YOU SPOKE TO ME AT LENGTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED
              TO BUDDHA'S TEACHINGS AFTER BUDDHA LEFT HIS BODY. I HEARD YOU SAY THAT
              BUDDHA'S DISCIPLES COMPROMISED BUDDHA'S TEACHING. THEY CREATED SAFE
              RELIGIONS, AND THUS COMPROMISED. YOU TOLD ME, "DO NOT COMPROMISE."
              WHILE YOU WERE SPEAKING THESE WORDS TO ME, I HEARD ANOTHER COMMUNICATION.
              THE REQUEST THAT I SILENTLY HEARD SPOKEN WAS, "DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN TO ME."
              SINCE THAT DAY I HAVE CONTINUALLY LOOKED FOR WHAT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO TO
              FULFILL THIS REQUEST. MUCH TO MY WONDER, I KNOW WHAT TO DO, I KNOW HOW TO
              FULFILL THE UNSPOKEN REQUEST -- BUT I WANT YOUR GUIDANCE.
              WILL YOU PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR SPECIFIC GUIDANCE?


               What happened to Gautam Buddha and his teachings is almost the rule, not the exception.
               The moment the master leaves his body, the disciples start compromising with the surrounding
           world to survive, to continue to exist.
           And truth is something that cannot be compromised.
               Just Gautam Buddha's teachings... five hundred years afterwards, there was not a single Buddhist
           in the whole of India. The greatest man who has ever walked on the earth, and the most refined
           teaching and the most clear perception of truth simply disappeared like a dream.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                One wonders -- it has not happened to Christianity, it has not happened to Mohammedanism, it
           has not happened to Jainism. So the complexity of the phenomenon has to be understood.
                The people who had followed Gautam Buddha refused to compromise. That was the cause of the
           disappearance of Buddhism from India. The Buddhists were either killed, burned alive or forcibly
           converted into Hinduism, or the fortunate ones escaped to the neighboring countries.
                In a way, it was a blessing in disguise because the Buddhists who escaped India spread all over
           Asia and converted the whole continent to the teachings of Gautam Buddha.
                But the problem was, they had learned something that a disciple should never learn: they had
           learned in India that if you insist for truth, crucifixion is the result. If you want to survive, you have
           to compromise with all kinds of lies which are prevalent.
                What they did not do in India they did in China, they did in Japan, they did in Korea, they did in
           Ceylon. All over Asia they compromised with the local population, its superstitions, its ancient
           ideologies unfounded on truth, just created out of fear. But because they compromised with them,
           they survived. And it was not only that they survived, they became very respectable. Buddhism
           became the religion of the whole of Asia except India.
                It is a very strange phenomenon, because Buddha was born here; all his great disciples were born
           here. Hundreds of people became enlightened under his guidance. The consciousness of this country
           reached the highest point in the presence of Gautam Buddha. And yet the moment Buddha was gone,
           the tremendous experience disappeared, evaporated -- because the people who remained behind were
           still not ready to betray their master. They were ready to die, but not to betray; they were not going
           to compromise.
                And Hinduism took revenge with great vengeance -- because in the presence of Gautam
           Buddha.... Hinduism did not have the guts to encounter this man. Efforts were made. Hindu pundits,
           scholars had gone to argue, but they were mere parrots. In the presence of Gautam Buddha, their
           borrowed knowledge proved completely inadequate for human growth.
                The very presence of Gautam Buddha was enough to convince them that this man had
           experienced something that they had not experienced. What they were saying was simply repetition
           of old scriptures. What he was saying was a valid individual experience -- his own. And when the
           experience is your own, it has an authority.
                Hinduism had to wait for Buddha's death. In his presence, it was impossible to argue in favor of
           superstitions. They had to wait for five hundred years; because after Buddha, his immediate disciples
           -- Sariputta, Moggalayan, Mahakashyap, Ananda -- and hundreds of others were filled with the same
           light, with the same silence. They created more living enlightened people. This continued for five
           hundred years.
                Slowly slowly, it died out. Instead of the enlightened man, slowly slowly the scholar, the pundit
           became more important.
                That was the time when Hinduism came with vengeance -- and certainly Hinduism is a far older
           religion. It had great scholars. The Buddhist scholars were amateurs, they could not withstand Hindu
           scholarship; they were defeated very easily.
           Now, it was not their own experience.
                These were the people who have written Buddhist scriptures. You will be surprised to know that
           every Buddhist scripture begins with the words `I have heard.' These people had not seen, these
           people had not experienced. These people had simply heard from others about the innermost reality,
           but it was only hearsay.
                Hindus were more proficient scholars, almost ten thousand years old; very refined logicians,
           rationalists.
                The poor Buddhist scholars could not manage to prove anything. They were defeated so utterly
           that they had to move back into the Hindu fold.
                The Buddhist monks who had escaped from India learned a lesson: "If you don't have your own
           experience, then it is better to compromise to survive." They had burned their fingers in arguing for
           somebody else's experience.
                They dropped argument. They started talking of the synthesis of all religions; they started
           spreading the idea that all religions are right. Nobody is wrong, the question of discussion does not
           arise.
                And they were the first in the world to bring this idea that all religions are right. Naturally all
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religions respected these people -- they were not quarrelsome. Up to now every religion had been
           quarrelsome, arguing, proving that "We have got the truth; we are right and you are wrong."
                And these were the first people who were saying, "Everybody is right. There are millions of
           paths, but the goal is one. There is no need for any argument. We may be moving on different paths,
           but we are moving towards the same goal."
                The same has happened with Jainism in India, which was a contemporary religion to Buddha.
           Jainas are still in existence in India.
                It is also a strange fact that Mahavira, their greatest teacher, and Buddha were contemporaries. In
           the presence of Gautam Buddha, Mahavira could not make any impact on the country. Yes, he had a
           small following, but Buddha loomed so large, he was such a huge tree that for three hundred years
           British scholars, historians, philosophers, thought that Mahavira was not separate from Gautam
           Buddha, that Mahavira was another name of Gautam Buddha. Because it is a title, just as `buddha' is
           a title. `Buddha' means the awakened one; `Mahavira' means one who has conquered. And they both
           had the same title of `Jaina' -- `Jaina' also means one who has conquered. Because the same title
           belonged to both, it was thought that Mahavira was not somebody separate.
                It was just recently that scholars started feeling that this was not right, that these were two
           different people.
                Buddha created so much impact, he overshadowed everybody -- but within five hundred years he
           disappeared.
                Mahavira's followers are still in existence because Mahavira's followers compromised with the
           Hindus. They were not burned, they were not killed. They compromised so much that you cannot
           find much difference.
                And they had to compromise because they are dependent on the Hindus for everything. They are
           not a whole culture. If they need shoes -- they cannot make shoes and certainly they need shoes --
           they will have to depend on the Hindus. They need their toilets to be cleaned; they cannot do that,
           they have to depend on Hindus.
                It is a strange phenomenon that Jainism and Buddhism both arose as a revolt against Hinduism.
           Mahavira is very strongly against Hinduism, but Jainas compromised on every point -- because from
           where are you going to get your clothes? The weavers are either Hindu or Mohammedan. Who is
           going to make your houses? Who is going to cultivate food for you? -- because Jainas cannot even
           cultivate. It is against their religion, because plants have life, and if you cultivate you will have to cut
           plants and you will be doing violence.
                So all the violence has to be done by Hindus; then naturally you have to be dependent on them,
           and you cannot argue, and you cannot insist that you have the truth. You have to say that everybody
           has the truth; just the languages are different, paths are different, ways are different, but the basic
           experience is the same.
           Jainism survived.
                The same is true about Mohammedanism, Christianity -- they have all compromised with the
           existing people.
                Just a few months ago, the present pope visited India.
                The Indian Christians are the low caste Hindus, converted to Christianity because of poverty.
           There is no other reason for their conversion -- they are poor, uneducated, and Christianity promises
           them....
                But the pope was faced with great difficulties because the Hindus who have become converted
           cannot simply drop their habits of thousands of years. In the church they bring incense before Jesus
           Christ. And it was reported to him by the bishops and the cardinals..."What should be done? We try
           to prevent them but they don't listen. They bring flowers, they bring incense... not only that, in the
           church they repeat the mantra omkar."
                And the pope agreed that they should be allowed; otherwise, they will desert.
                This is something so deep in them... they cannot think that OM, the sound of OM can be
           anything other than the most spiritual thing. They are Christians, and OM has nothing to do with
           Christianity -- but basically they are Hindus. And the pope's concession is a compromise, it is
           cunning.
                Tomorrow these people will start painting Jesus Christ in the color red, and you will have to
           accept it because without the red color no stone can become God. It has never happened in India.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When for the first time the British government made roads and milestones, they had no idea what
           they were doing. They painted the milestones red, because red shows from far away, it stands out
           against the greenery, is more clear. So they painted them red, and they were surprised that every
           milestone was being worshipped! The villagers came with flowers, incense... every milestone had
           become the monkey god Hanuman.
                Their engineers tried to explain, that "These are not gods, these are milestones."
                They said, "You don't know. We have been doing this for thousands of years. Any stone painted
           red becomes divine." They were very happy -- not happy because of the roads, they were happy
           because of the milestones.
                Christianity has been compromising from the very beginning in every country. That has been its
           way of survival.
                You will be surprised to know that Indian Christianity is older than the Vatican. Indian
           Christianity is the oldest in the world, because one of Jesus' closest disciples, Thomas, came to India.
                It was difficult to convert Indians to any other religion. They have seen so much, they have heard
           so much about religion, they have so many beliefs... Thomas was at a loss in the beginning, but
           finally he managed to compromise.
                He started dressing like a Hindu. If you see the pictures of Thomas, you will be surprised that he
           shaved his head just like a Hindu shankaracharya. And he started using the thread that Hindus use,
           and he also used the wooden sandals that Hindu monks were using to avoid leather. And he would
           wear just a small dhoti with no shirt on top, just like the old brahmins. He learned Sanskrit.
                And seeing him, that he was just like a brahmin, so whatever he was saying must be right, many
           people started following. They were the first Christians.
                But this is more businesslike, it is salesmanship. It is not real conversion; it is tricky, it is
           exploiting innocent people.
                In every country Christianity has compromised with the local population. Whatever its religion
           was, Christianity has compromised with it, taken its principles, its behavior. It is because of this
           compromising attitude that Christianity has become the biggest religion in the world -- almost half of
           the world is Christian.
                Truth cannot be so cheap. And truth cannot be so appealing to such a big mob.
                The crowd psychology is, that whatever it believes should be accepted as true; then there is a
           possibility of fifty-fifty: "You believe something from us, we will take something from you."
           But truth knows no fifty-fifty.
                It has to be a hundred percent pure; otherwise it is worse than a lie.
                So when I said to you, "Don't compromise" I was saying many things in that.
                First, to compromise means that convenience and survival are more important to you than truth.
                Secondly, it means that truth is not a revolution but a business, that it is not a transformation of
           your being but a social conformity.
                Thirdly, it means that you will never find yourself on the path. Once you have learned to
           compromise, you have started going astray.
                Not to compromise is one of the basic, essential principles to follow if you want to find truth in
           its purity and full glory.
                And when I said this to you, certainly you heard rightly something more which was not said:
           "Please don't do it to me."
                My whole effort is to make you individuals, courageous enough even to stand against the whole
           world. If you feel that you are right and you are experiencing the truth in your innermost core, then
           the whole world may be against you -- it does not matter. Then even crucifixion is nothing but a seal
           of validity.
                A man who can go to his crucifixion laughing has proved beyond doubt that he knows something
           more than the mortal body.
                Jesus seems to be wayward. At the crucifixion, on the cross, he was not joyous, he was not
           smiling, laughing. On the contrary, he was complaining. He was shouting at God, "Have you
           forsaken me?" Because his expectation was not crucifixion; his expectation was crowning. He is the
           only begotten son of God, how can God allow him to be crucified? A miracle is bound to happen.
                But the miracle did not happen, because miracles don't come from outside. The miracle would
           have happened if he had smiled and laughed because he knew, that "You can only crucify a dead
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           body, you cannot crucify my consciousness."
               It has happened in the case of al-Hillaj Mansoor. He was laughing -- and his crucifixion was
           more cruel than Jesus' because Mohammedans are more violent, more fanatic than any Jew. They cut
           him piece by piece, it was not a single stroke. First they cut his legs, then they cut his hands, then
           they made him blind, then they made him deaf. They killed him piece by piece and still, to the very
           last, he was smiling.
               And somebody asked, "Before they cut your tongue, we want to know -- why are you smiling?"
               He said, "I am smiling because they are punishing somebody else. The body that they are
           punishing is not me."
           This is the miracle.
               It does not depend on God, it does not depend on anybody else. It depends on your experience.
               al-Hillaj proves himself to be far closer to truth, just by his simple action. He is not grumbling,
           he is not saying to God that "This is not right that they are behaving in this primitive way with me
           and you are simply silent." He is not talking about God at all.
               He is simply enjoying the whole thing and laughing at the stupidity of people. "You are
           punishing somebody else. And I have always been telling you that you cannot punish me, you cannot
           even touch me. Punishment is not the question at all."
               When you heard, although I did not say it to you, "Don't do it to me" you heard rightly. I was just
           going to say it, but seeing that you heard it, I did not say it.
               All these years it has haunted you that you heard it and I have not said it -- was it your
           imagination or was I really saying something without saying it?
               No, it was not your imagination. I was saying it without saying it.
               I say many things to you without saying them. I simply create the atmosphere by saying many
           other things in which you can hear the unsaid.
               Because there are a few things which can only be whispered, not shouted. And there are a few
           things which cannot even be whispered but only indicated indirectly, only then are they beautiful.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              RECENTLY IT HAS STARTED HAPPENING THAT AS I BEGIN TO OPEN MY EYES FIRST THING
              IN THE MORNING I CAN SEE A VISION, LIKE A SCENE FROM A MOVIE -- AND THAT SCENE
              HAPPENS DAYS AFTER IN REALITY, JUST LIKE A REPETITION.
              BEFORE I ARRIVED HERE IN BOMBAY, I HAD A VISION OF THE GOLDEN MANOR HOTEL --
              THE SETTING, THE GARDEN, THE PEOPLE -- AND WHEN I ARRIVED HERE, IT WAS EXACTLY
              THE SAME AS MY VISION. I WROTE YOU A LETTER ABOUT THIS EARLIER, BUT DID NOT
              HAVE THE COURAGE TO DELIVER IT. NOW IT HAS BEEN HAPPENING OFTEN, AND I DON'T
              KNOW IF IT IS GOOD OR BAD.
              ALSO, WHEN YOU WERE IN URUQUAY AND I WAS IN BRAZIL, I HAD THE SUDDEN
              COMPULSION TO GO TO MY ROOM, TO SIT ON THE FLOOR AND CLOSE MY EYES. I DID SO,
              AND LIKE A FLASH, I SAW YOU SITTING AT A TABLE, LAUGHING JOYOUSLY. I COULD ONLY
              SEE THE BACK OF ANOTHER MAN WHO SEEMED A LITTLE BIT SERIOUS OR SAD. THEN YOU
              SAW ME AND INVITED ME IN, AND THE MAN TURNED HIS FACE TO SEE ME. HE WAS
              BEAUTIFUL, VERY BEAUTIFUL... THE SCENE WAS SO FULL OF LIGHT! I'M SURE HE WAS NOT
              JESUS -- THE BEARD WAS DIFFERENT AND THE EYES WERE MORE DEEP AND DIRECT.
              HOURS LATER, THE RADIO GAVE THE NEWS THAT KRISHNAMURTI HAD DIED HOURS
              BEFORE.
              OSHO, FROM THAT DAY ON, I WAS TOTALLY SURE THAT YOU LIVE ON TWO LEVELS
              SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND I DON'T KNOW ON WHICH LEVEL YOU ARE FOR MOST OF THE TIME
              DURING YOUR DAILY LIFE.
              YOU ANSWERED TURIYA THAT YOU DON'T COME INTO OUR DREAMS.
              BUT ISN'T IT TRUE THAT YOU ARE SO CLOSE TO THE DISCIPLE THAT WE ARE ONE WITH
              YOU ALL THE TIME, NOT ONLY IN OUR DREAMS?


               One very fundamental thing has to be understood: a dream and a vision look alike, but they are
           two totally different phenomena.
               A dream is a mind projection. It has no validity of its own. It is only a thought in picture form.
               Small children cannot think in thoughts, but they can understand pictures; hence, in their books
           you will see big pictures, beautiful colors, and very little writing. Slowly slowly, as the child grows
           up, the pictures go on becoming smaller and the writing in his books increases. Finally, when he is in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the university, pictures disappear and only writing remains. You may not have inquired why this is
           so....
               If you give a child in a kindergarten school a book which has no pictures, he will not be
           interested at all, because he has not yet learned to think in words. But he can dream more perfectly
           than you can dream; he dreams so perfectly that once in a while you will find a child waking up in
           the morning and crying -- "Just now I had my bicycle. Where has it gone?" He was dreaming of
           riding on his bicycle, and as he opens his eyes he is in his bed and the bicycle is gone. And his dream
           is so clear that it is very difficult for him to make a distinction between the real bicycle and a dream
           bicycle; they look almost alike.
               We are grown up, but our unconscious never grows, it remains a child.
               So in sleep, when your conscious mind -- which has learned language, concepts, words -- is fast
           asleep, your unconscious starts dreaming. It is a child, so every thought form has to be translated by
           the unconscious mind into a picture form.
               This is one of the great discoveries of Sigmund Freud, listening to your dreams. And he does the
           opposite process, translates your dream back from picture form into language, into concepts, into
           words. It needs a tremendous expertise. Still, nobody can be certain about it.
               If you go to Sigmund Freud, each dream will end up as something sexual -- because that is his
           idea, that all sex is repressed.
               It is true that much sexuality is repressed, but there are many other things also which are
           repressed. It is not only sex.
               But it is a problem with inventors and pioneers particularly; they become so obsessed with their
           findings that they don't take note of other possibilities.
               Freud's own disciple, Adler, went away from him just because Adler said that sex can be a part of
           repression, but that is not all. His own idea was that ambition, will to power, is far more important,
           and that a major part of your dreams concerns will to power.
               For example, you dream that you have become a bird and you are flying. To Sigmund Freud it
           will symbolize only that you want the same sexual freedom as the birds and the animals, nothing
           else. But to Adler it will mean that flying upwards means you are ambitious, you want to become the
           prime minister.
           But this is all guesswork.
               Another disciple, Carl Gustav Jung, also went away from Freud because he was more interested
           in the ancient mythologies, and he thought that our dreams are part of our previous lives. So if you
           are a bird flying, he will interpret it that in some of your past lives you have been a bird.
               Now what to do with these people, and how to decide?
               The language of pictures cannot be precise. It is almost like a painting: many people can see and
           can decide its meaning in different ways.
               Just as the child has a picture language, your unconscious has a picture language.
               I am not interested in interpreting your dreams because it is such a rubbish job. You can go on
           interpreting for years and years, and the dreams will not come to an end -- every day, six hours every
           night you have to dream. And you have inexhaustible sources of dreaming.
               And it is very quick -- the dream time is not the same as your ordinary time. Just reading your
           newspaper, you may fall asleep for a minute and you may see a dream which spreads for years; and
           when you wake up you look at your watch and just one minute has passed. You say, "My God, in
           one minute I saw a dream which is spread for a whole year, or even for years."
           Dream time is totally different.
               Up to now there has been no way to invent dream wristwatches, and perhaps there never will be
           a possibility, because there are lazy people and there are speedy people; some people are running
           fast, some people are simply sitting. In dreams also, the same differences exist: lazy people dream in
           a lazy way, speedy people dream in a speedy way; your dream reflects you. So I don't think there is
           any possibility of making a watch which can function for everybody. It is not possible, because
           everybody's dream speed is different.
               Vision also appears to be just like dream, but it is not dream.
               A vision is an objective phenomenon, it is not projected by your mind. You are seeing
           something, you are not projecting. In a certain clarity, your mind is capable of seeing things.
               For example, I was traveling with one of my friends. He is a poet. We were in an air-conditioned
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bus, and it must have been nearabout ten o'clock in the night. And he suddenly heard, "Munna,
           Munna." Nobody else heard. I was sitting by his side, and he asked me, "Have you heard? Somebody
           is calling `Munna, Munna.'"
                I said, "I have not heard anything. You must be dreaming."
                He said, "No, I am awake. I was smoking, I was not dreaming. And only my father calls me
           `Munna'. Nobody else calls me Munna, that is my childhood name. My mother, who used to call me
           Munna, has died. My father is the only person alive who calls me Munna; and nobody else even
           knows. And the voice was exactly like my father's."
                I said, "Let us reach the destination and we can phone your house from there, to see what is the
           matter."
                We reached Nagpur nearabout twelve o'clock, and we phoned and we found that the father had
           died at exactly ten o'clock. Perhaps at the time of death he remembered his only son, and
           remembered the name that he always used.
                Now, this is not a dream. He had not seen anything, but he had heard; it is objective. And the
           father was almost sixty miles away, and a dying man cannot shout to reach sixty miles. And if he had
           shouted that loudly, then everybody in the bus would have heard it. But only he heard it. Even I was
           not aware that his father called him `Munna'.
                This is a vision... not visual, this is audio vision -- not video, Niskriya!
                I may not come into your dreams -- and if I come it is your projection, I am not responsible for it.
           If I do anything, I am not responsible for it!
                But I can come into a vision, and then the whole responsibility is mine.
           The difference is very delicate.
           The dream always happens when you are asleep.
           The vision always happens when you are not asleep.
                This is the first distinction: you are fully awake. And the vision always appears to be coming
           from outside, reaching to you. And sooner or later, you will find its validity, its reality.
                The reality of dream you will never find. It is simple garbage, it is really the unwinding of the
           mind. The whole day the mind has to work, and it gets wound up, and needs unwinding to be fresh
           for tomorrow. So it is unwinding. Inconsistent things go on coming: you had been talking to
           somebody, you wanted to say something but you did not say it. Now that is hanging, it needs to be
           released -- in the dream it will be released.
                The dream is a great help, a cleaning. It is not against you, it keeps you sane; otherwise,
           everybody will go insane. For six hours your mind goes on cleaning itself of every impression that
           has remained incomplete in the mind -- throws it off, prepares itself for tomorrow's work. But
           dreaming has no other significance.
           Vision is a reality.
           The dream is of the mind.
           And the vision has a connection with the heart.
                These things you will have to feel, because the differences are very very fine.
                Whenever you are feeling something coming as a vision to you, be in a meditative mood, silent.
           Allow it to happen, be receptive; don't interfere, don't interpret. Just first let it be complete so that
           you can see it from the very beginning to the very end.
                Most probably there will be no need of interpretation. Just seeing it in its completion will be
           enough; you will have the understanding. And then, soon some events will follow which will
           validate your vision.
                Your dreams will never be validated by existence. So whatever you have seen was a vision --
           you were awake.
                And if you are silent, you can see things happening thousands of miles away. Space makes no
           difference. And you can see things which do not happen on the material level but happen on the level
           of consciousness. That's what you are mentioning, two levels.
                Yes, it is true. I have to work on two levels: one is the level where you live, where you are, and
           one is the level where I am and I want you also to be.
                From the top of a hill I have to come into the valley where you are; otherwise you won't listen,
           you won't believe the sunlit top. I have to take your hand in my hand and persuade you -- and on the
           way, tell stories which are not true! But they keep you engaged, and you don't create any trouble in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           walking; you go on, engaged with the story. And when you have reached the hilltop, you will know
           why I was telling long stories, and you will feel grateful that I told those stories; otherwise you
           would not have been able to travel that long, that far uphill.
                It is something to be remembered: all the masters of the world have been telling stories, parables
           -- why? The truth can be simply said, there is no need to give you so many stories. But the night is
           long, and you have to be kept awake; without stories you are going to fall asleep.
                Till the morning comes there is an absolute necessity to keep you engaged, and the stories the
           masters have been telling are the most intriguing things possible.
                The truth cannot be said, but you can be led to the point from where you can see it. Now, the
           question is how to lead you to the point from where you can see it.
                There is a story in Sarmad's life. He was teaching his students, his disciples, and suddenly he
           said, "Come on out of the class, something is happening." So they all came out.
                A man was dragging a bull, but the bull was very powerful. The man was also powerful, but a
           bull is a bull. So although the man was dragging the bull... the man was being dragged!
                Sarmad showed his disciples, "Look, this is the situation."
           They said, "What do you mean?"
                He said, "This is the situation between me and you, but I am not so stupid as this man."
                And he said, "Listen! Are you taking the bull for the first time?"
                The man said, "I am a new servant, and I come from the city and I don't know what to do...
           because I drag him one foot and he drags me four feet! It has been going on for hours, and I don't
           think that it is going to end."
                Sarmad said, "You drop it! You don't understand the ways of the village, and particularly the
           language of bulls."
                And he took a little grass, green and beautiful, and just walked ahead of the bull, without even
           touching the bull -- and the bull followed him. And Sarmad started walking faster, and the bull
           walked faster.
                The man said, "This is great! He is not even dragging him, the bull is going on its own."
                And Sarmad said, "You take this grass. Don't let him eat; otherwise, you will be in trouble. If he
           creates trouble, start running -- he will run with you, but you will reach home."
                And he said to his disciples, "This is what I have been doing with you. All the parables, all the
           stories are nothing but green grass."
                Visions should not be made an object of thinking. You should just wait, and life will provide you
           the right validity. Then accept it with gratitude.
                Whatever you have seen was a vision, and it has been validated by life itself. Now there is no
           need to think about it.
                If you start thinking, you will create a mess. And if you don't think, you will allow more visions
           to happen to you.
                And a man of visions starts moving from the lower plane, from the valley, to the higher plane,
           towards the top, without much effort.
           It is a good indication that you are ready.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE LONGER I AM YOUR DISCIPLE, THE LESS I KNOW AND UNDERSTAND.
              A MAGIC PULL BROUGHT ME TO BOMBAY, AND SITTING IN YOUR PRESENCE HAS BEEN LIKE
              COMING HOME AGAIN -- GLIMPSES OF TWO HEARTS BEATING TOGETHER, MOMENTS OF
              LOVE AND WONDER, DAYS OF JOY AND PLAYFULNESS.
              BEING BACK IN HOLLAND THERE IS ONLY THIS BIG LONGING LEFT INSIDE MY HEART: TO SIT
              AT YOUR FEET AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
              BELOVED MASTER, MY MIND IS LOSING CONTROL, AND MY HEART STARTS SINGING. WHAT
              IS HAPPENING?


              The mind is a habit.
           Even if there are moments when the heart is singing and the whole being is full of joy, the mind
           cannot leave its old habits. It will certainly ask what is happening.
              Can't you allow things to happen without asking why? what?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Do you understand why we ask such questions?
               The mind asks these questions because it wants to control your lifestyle, it wants to know
           everything that is going on. Nothing should happen which is beyond it; everything should be in its
           control. The mind is a great controller. And if everything remains in its control, it will be a tragedy
           because nothing great can happen to you.
               Everything that is great, magnificent, is beyond mind.
           And mind can never get the answer why, what, how.
               You have to learn one thing: that it is not necessary to satisfy the mind about every experience.
               Experiences of the heart, experiences of the being, experiences of the transcendental should not
           be made a point of inquiry. You should not ask why, you should enjoy them.
               You should not ask what is happening, because if you insist on these questions the happening
           will stop. These questions are not your friends. Let the mind ask questions only when something is
           going wrong. You are sick, you have a headache, your stomach has cramps -- let the mind ask; that is
           the right realm for the mind.
               But your heart is dancing -- what has the mind to do with it?
               Just tell the mind, "Keep quiet, this is not your world. You look at your affairs. You should not
           go on poking your nose everywhere."
           The heart is a higher reality.
               The being is still higher, and there are realities higher than the being. Mind cannot ask questions
           about them, and no answer is possible.
               You will have to learn some new ways, and you will have to drop some old habits.
               So just make it a point, simple: if there is something wrong, you are miserable... misery is
           perfectly the right terrain where mind is needed. Without mind, you cannot create misery; it is the
           world of mind -- then ask why.
               But it is strange: nobody comes to ask, "Why am I miserable?" But when the heart is dancing,
           people ask, "Why? What is happening?"
               The reason is because your heart has not danced for centuries, so the experience is so new that
           you get scared. You start feeling perhaps you are a little bit crazy, getting old, senile. What is
           happening? -- because the experience is new.
               But remember, the mind's area of concern is only with anything going wrong. The mind has the
           right to ask and to find the right cause and to put things right.
               But celebration, rejoicing, ecstasy -- mind has nothing to do with them. Just tell the mind, "You
           rest. Everything is going fine, you need not worry."
               If you can teach the mind to ask the right questions and not to interfere in realms which are
           beyond it, you will have disciplined yourself for more and more, greater and higher experiences.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT SEEMS THAT MY PROBLEMS ARE GETTING MORE AND MORE SINCE I HAVE BECOME
              YOUR SANNYASIN. IS THAT YOUR WORK?


               It is my work.
           My work is to make you more and more aware, and when you become more aware you become
           aware of more problems.
           Those problems were there before.
               I don't create your problems, it is just that you were unconscious, you were not taking any note.
           Those problems were there.
               It is just like a house which is in darkness, and many spiders are weaving their nests and
           scorpions are living and snakes are enjoying, and suddenly you bring light there. The light does not
           create the spiders or the scorpions or the snakes, but it makes you aware of them.
               And it is good to be aware, because then the house can be cleaned; then you can avoid the
           snakes.
               You have many problems which you are not seeing -- which in fact, you do not want to see. You
           go on postponing. You are so afraid of seeing those problems, because then you will have to solve
           them. But by postponing they are not solved; it is not so easy.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Problems are not letters written to George Bernard Shaw.
                George Bernard Shaw used to collect letters; he would not open them. He would open them on
           the first of every month, so for thirty days he would collect thousands of letters from all over the
           world. His date was fixed: on the first of every month he would open them. And he would go on
           throwing them, because most of them had already been answered. It was rarely that some letter was
           left that had not answered itself.
           Somebody asked him, "This is a strange way...."
                He said, "It is not strange, it is the simplest way. When somebody does not get an answer for two
           weeks, three weeks, he gets the answer that `This man is not going to answer.' He drops the hope.
                "And most of those letters are useless anyway. I am not going to waste my whole month. I have
           given them just one day -- and any really authentic letter that needs my attention, I answer. This way,
           I save my time, I save their time; otherwise they would have to read... and this is such a difficult
           world that they would not only read they would reply also... again you have to read it.
                "It is better to finish it from the very beginning. It is a chain phenomenon, it can go on endlessly.
           And the more you allow it and then stop, the more it hurts. The first letter and it is finished -- it does
           not hurt. The man just understands that this man is not the type who answers letters."
                But problems are not letters, and life is not George Bernard Shaw. You cannot postpone.
                But people are postponing. They go on pushing them this way and that way, everywhere hiding
           them, thinking that some miracle... and things will settle down and problems will be solved. This is
           not going to happen. On the contrary, those problems will create their children. They will start
           finding boyfriends, girlfriends -- two problems meeting together and a third problem is produced,
           and you will be in more difficulty.
                It is better to go on facing each problem as it comes by.
                It is not sannyas that has created your problems. Sannyas has simply given you a little more
           awareness.
           Your problems have always been there.
                Sannyas has given you the opportunity to solve them.
                And one should enjoy solving one's problems. It sharpens your intelligence. Each problem is a
           challenge. Each problem makes you more intelligent.
                And the day you will not have any problems, your mind will come to its utmost clarity -- because
           no dust, no problem. Your mind becomes a mirror, so pure that it reflects reality.
           Yes, it is my work.
           But don't think that I am creating your problems.
                I am just giving you insight, awareness, silence, so that you can see your problems and solve
           them.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                              Chapter #7
                   Chapter title: Zorba and Buddha: Their split is your social disease
           9 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610095
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 122 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I CAME TO GREECE TO SEE YOU, EVERYTHING REFLECTED MORE AND MORE OF
              THE ZORBA.
              NOW, BEING HERE IN INDIA, EVERYTHING AROUND YOU IS REFLECTING MORE OF THE
              BUDDHA.
              OSHO, DOES THIS DEPEND ON BEING IN GREECE OR INDIA?


                Human history has been a tragedy.
           And the reason for it being a tragedy is not very complex. You have not to go very far to find it out,
           it is in everybody.
                The whole past of man has created a split in man; there is a constant civil war in every human
           being.
                If you do not feel at ease, the reason is not personal. Your disease is social.
                The strategy that has been used is to divide you into two enemy camps: the zorba and the
           buddha, the materialist and the spiritualist.
                You are not divided in reality. In reality you are a harmonious whole. But in your mind the
           conditioning is that you are not one whole, one piece: you have to fight against your body. If you
           want to be a spiritual being, the body has to be conquered, defeated, destroyed, tortured in every
           possible way.
                This has been the accepted ideology all over the world. In different cultures, different religions,
           the formulations may be different, but the basic rule is the same: divide man, create a conflict in him
           so one part starts feeling higher, becomes holy, starts condemning the other part as the sinner.
                And the trouble is that you are one, there is no way to divide you.
                Every division is going to create misery in you, every division will mean that half of your being
           is fighting with the other half. And if you are fighting within yourself, how can you be at ease?
                The whole humanity up to now has lived in a schizophrenic way. Everyone has been cut into
           pieces, fragments. Your religions, your philosophies, your ideologies have not been healing
           processes, they have been root causes of inner conflict and war. You have been wounding yourself.
           Your right hand wounds the left hand, your left hand wounds the right hand; both your hands
           become wounded.
                The West finally chose to go with the zorba. There was no other way to remain sane -- one part
           had to be completely destroyed, ignored, forgotten. The West denied the inner reality of man, his
           consciousness: man is only body -- there is no soul -- and eat, drink and be merry is the only
           religion. This was simply a way to find some peace of mind, to get out of the conflict, to come to a
           decision and a conclusion -- because this is accepting that you are one: just matter, just body.
                The East has chosen the other way, but the basic problem is the same: the East has chosen that
           you are the soul and the body is an illusion.
                Matter does not exist, the world is made of the same stuff as dreams are made of, so don't be
           bothered about it. Renounce it, forget all about it -- it is not worth taking note of.
                On the surface it seems that East and West are doing different things, but essentially they are not
           doing different things. Essentially they are trying to find a rational way to be one. Because to be two
           means a constant dis-ease, a conflict -- it is better to drop the idea of the other.
                The East says that the body is illusory, it is only an appearance, a shadow, it has no reality.
                The West says that consciousness is a byproduct -- it does not exist in itself, it is an appearance.
           When the body dies nothing remains, the body is all, and the consciousness that you feel is just the
           combination of all the elements of the body.
                For example, if you take all the parts of your car separately, or all the parts of your watch
           separately, do you think something like a soul will be released out of the watch? Who was running
           the watch? It was just because of the combination of the parts in a certain way that the watch was
           running, the car was running, that all machines are working; it is a byproduct. Put all the parts
           together again and the watch will start ticking -- the soul has not gone anywhere, there has been no
           soul in the first place.
                As far as I am concerned, I see that the fundamental reason is to somehow choose one and decide
           that the other is illusory, so that you can be at peace, so that there is no need to fight, torture, and be
           in constant fear of being defeated.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Why have the East and the West chosen differently? That also has to be understood.
               The Eastern mind, in search of a unitary being, tried to find out: what exactly is this inner
           consciousness that the Eastern mystics, saints and sages have been talking about, and calling the
           body illusory? To us the body seems to be real, and consciousness is just a word. But because all the
           saints in the East were insisting that this word `consciousness' is your reality, the East has tried to
           find out what this reality is before deciding in favor of the body.
               The natural tendency will be to decide in favor of the body, because the body is there, already
           appearing real -- consciousness you have to search for, you have to go into an inner pilgrimage.
               The East, because of people like Gautam Buddha and Mahavira, could not deny that these people
           were sincere. Their sincerity was so clear, their presence was so impressive, their words were so
           authoritative... it was impossible to deny. No argument was enough, because these people were their
           own argument, their own validity.
               And they were so peaceful and so joyful, so relaxed, so fearless. They had everything that every
           human being desires... and in a way they had nothing. Certainly they had found a source within
           themselves, a treasure. And you cannot just deny it without giving enough time to the search. Unless
           you find that there is no consciousness, you cannot deny it.
               We had people so fragrant... we could not see their roses, but the fragrance was so much that the
           East tried to look inside, and found that the soul is far more real. The body is just an appearance.
               And just by the way, it will be significant to remind you that modern science has come to the
           conclusion that matter is illusory, that matter does not exist, it only appears. They have come to the
           conclusion from a very different route. By searching deeply into matter, they have found that, as they
           reach deeper into matter, it is less and less substantial. And at a point after the atom, there is no
           matter at all: there are only electrons, which are particles of electricity -- which is not matter but
           energy.
               Just a hundred years ago, Nietzsche declared "God is dead" not knowing at all that within a
           hundred years the whole of science would agree that perhaps God may be alive, but matter is dead.
               The East has moved inwards and found that the body, matter, is relatively non-substantial. The
           ultimate reality belongs to consciousness.
               In the West, development happened in a different way. And there are reasons why it happened in
           that way.
               The East is ancient. At least ten thousand years of a constant, consistent search of the inner
           reality of man -- and all the genius of the East has been devoted to it.
               When the UPANISHADS were being written in the East, nearabout five thousand years ago, the
           West did not exist as a human society at all.
               In India we have Mohenjo daro, Harrapur -- cities that existed seven thousand years ago, with
           such refined development... they have streets as wide as those in Bombay. They have bedrooms with
           attached bathrooms.
               And you will be surprised at why I am saying this: because just a hundred years ago in America,
           there was a court case against bathrooms which went up to the Supreme Court. The first man who
           made a bathroom attached to his bedroom... Christianity was against it because this is dirty -- making
           your bathroom attached to your bedroom. This is un-Christian; cleanliness is next to God. And here
           is the bathroom next to the bedroom! Just a hundred years ago... and the Supreme Court had to
           decide that there is nothing unclean in it, and if somebody wants to have a bathroom attached to his
           bedroom it is nobody else's business to interfere and it has nothing to do with your religion.
           But the church was fighting.
               In Harapur, seven thousand years ago, they had bathrooms attached to their bedrooms, they had
           bathtubs, and they had a very special arrangement for circulation of water in the city. The hot and
           cold water in your bathroom is not a new thing; it was available in Harapur, in Mohenjo daro. They
           had swimming pools. It must have been a very highly cultured society.
               At the time of Gautam Buddha, just twenty-five centuries ago, even then the West was not very
           evolved. And you can see it. We did not crucify Gautam Buddha, and the West crucified Jesus Christ
           five hundred years after Gautam Buddha.
               And what Jesus was saying was nothing compared to Gautam Buddha. Gautam Buddha was
           saying that there is no God; still, nobody thought of crucifying him. Jesus Christ was not saying
           anything against Judaism; on the contrary, he was simply saying that he was their lost prophet. And
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he was repeating everything written in the Old Testament -- he was not saying anything that was
           contradicting the old religion. And Gautam Buddha was contradicting everything in Hinduism: he
           said that the VEDAS are idiotic, he said that there is no God, he said that all priests are the most
           cunning people in the world. And priests in India, the brahmins, are the highest caste. But nobody
           thought of crucifying him.
               People challenged him for discussions, people discussed, and because they could not defeat him
           in argument.... They could not defeat him.
               When they came in front of him, they were sincere enough to realize and recognize that he knew
           better, that their knowledge was only bookish, and his knowledge was authentic experience.
               Western development is childish compared to Eastern development. It begins in Greece.
               But even a man like Socrates, who was neither denying God nor affirming God, who was simply
           saying that, "I have not come to experience, hence, I cannot be untruthful -- I cannot say whether
           God exists or not. And I would like everybody to be sincere about it. Unless you encounter, don't say
           yes, don't say no; remain agnostic, keep your conclusions suspended."
               A very reasonable man, but he was also poisoned. He has not denied your tradition, he has not
           denied your past, he has not denied anything -- he simply argued for a more rational approach, a
           more logical approach. It is not a crime. And this is the reward that he gets: he is poisoned, society
           decides that he is a dangerous man.
               Those people who could have changed Western society towards inner reality are being crucified
           or poisoned.
               Naturally, the talented people became afraid even of talking about inner things, mysteries. They
           started talking only about objective things, matter, because matter cannot be denied. And there is no
           problem with going into a deep search into matter.
               The crucifixion of Jesus and the death of Socrates closed the door for Western genius to move
           inwards. Anybody who had any intelligence became aware that it is simply inviting your death; it is
           better to use your talents and genius in such a way that the society cannot condemn it.
               So the whole genius of Western humanity became a servant for creating more comforts for the
           body, more technology, more machines, more knowledge about matter -- and everybody was happy.
               Even in these matters, if there was something that went against religion, immediately the church
           was there to stop it.
               For example, when Galileo wrote that the sun does not go around the earth as it appears, but that
           in actuality the earth goes around the sun, as it does not appear, he was called by the pope to his
           court and asked -- and he was old, seventy-five years old, sick and almost on his deathbed -- "You
           have to change your book because it goes against the BIBLE. In the BIBLE the statement is that the
           sun goes around the earth, and we are not ready to listen to any argument. You simply change it;
           otherwise, death will be your punishment."
               Such an idiotic church, which is not even ready to listen to any argument, which only knows to
           dictate: Do it or be ready to die!
               Galileo must have had a great sense of humor. He said, "There is no need for you to take so much
           trouble to kill me. I am going to die anyway. As far as the book is concerned, I will change it, but I
           want you to remember that by my changing the book, neither is the earth going to change nor is the
           sun going to change. The earth will still go around the sun, because they don't read my book and they
           don't care what I write."
               So he cancelled the statement in his book. And in the footnote he wrote, "I am canceling the
           statement, knowing perfectly well that it makes no difference. The reality remains the same."
               When Copernicus found that the earth is not flat as it is said in the BIBLE, but round, he was
           immediately in trouble.
               Now, these matters have nothing to do with religion. What has religion to do with whether the
           earth is round or flat? It can have any geometrical shape -- religion does not have anything to do with
           it.
               But Christianity, Mohammedanism, are very primitive religions. They don't have the cultured,
           sophisticated attitude of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism. They don't know how to argue, they
           only know how to fight. Their only argument is the sword; at the point of the sword is to be decided
           who is right.
               It is the church -- you will be surprised to know -- that has prevented the West from going in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           direction of inwardness. It forced Western humanity to go towards matter.
               The inner was absolutely the church's monopoly, and they decided everything about it: there was
           no need to search, there was no need to discover, there was no need to meditate. You were only
           supposed to believe in God. But if you could do something as far as matter is concerned, there would
           be no problem; as long as it did not come in conflict with the BIBLE.
               Copernicus said to the pope, "It is just a small thing, and I have every proof that the earth is
           round. It is my lifelong work, and it does not affect your religiousness."
               The pope said, "You don't understand. The question is not whether it affects our religiousness or
           not; the question is that the BIBLE is God's book, the holy book. If one statement in the BIBLE is
           proved wrong, that has great implications: first, that God can be wrong. We cannot accept that."
               They cannot even accept that the pope can be wrong, what to say about God? The pope is a
           faraway representative. Jesus represents God, and the pope represents Jesus -- not directly, but
           through hundreds of popes who have died before him. He is connected through them to Jesus, and
           Jesus has a direct telephone line to God.
               Just one statement against the BIBLE, if it is proved valid, makes God fallible. And it cannot be
           accepted -- that's one thing.
               Secondly, if one statement is proved wrong, what is the guarantee about other statements? It
           creates suspicion. It destroys the very foundation of belief and faith -- "So we cannot accept anything
           in the BIBLE as wrong. You can do everything that does not go against the BIBLE."
               Naturally only matter was left. You can do research in physics, in chemistry, in biology, in
           zoology, in geology. You can do all these things, you are free.
               The church has been a great China Wall, preventing people from going inwards.
               It looks strange, but it is a fact: the Christian church has proved the greatest enemy of religion on
           the earth. Other religions have also proved enemies, but not that great.
           Genius was left to work only with matter.
               In the East, the genius had first preference for the inner journey.
               Only second-class, mediocre people would work for the outer, material things; real intelligence
           would always move into meditativeness.
               Slowly slowly, the distance became bigger. The West became materialist -- and the whole
           responsibility goes to the Christian church -- and the Eastern humanity became more and more
           spiritualist. The division, the split that was created in each man, became a split on a wider scale: as
           East and West.
               One great poet has written, "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." And
           this man, Lord Kipling, was very much interested in the East. He lived in India for years, he was in
           the government service. But seeing the difference... that the whole Eastern consciousness moves
           inwards and the Western consciousness moves outwards -- how could they meet?
           My whole work is just to prove Lord Kipling wrong.
               I would like to say -- neither West is West nor East is East, and the twain have already met.
               What do you mean by `East'? In Bombay, Calcutta is east; in Calcutta, Bombay is west. This is
           nonsense, these words are relative words. You cannot say that a certain place is east and a certain
           place is west; they are all relative. For the people of Calcutta, Tokyo is east -- and that's what the
           Japanese think. They call their land "the land of sunrise" and they call their king "the only begotten
           son of the sun god." The sun god is the real god, and Hirohito, the king of Japan, is his only son.
               In fact, in the second world war when the Japanese were defeated, they could not believe it.
           Thousands of soldiers committed suicide just out of shame -- "How can it happen that God's son
           should be defeated? Now there is no point in living, everything has gone wrong."
           They believe that they are the real East.
           Nobody is East and nobody is West.
               But the attitudes can be understood, and they are very prominent. And my whole approach is to
           bring a bridge into each individual, so that you are one whole.
           Don't be against your body; it is your home.
               Don't be against your consciousness, because without consciousness your house may be very
           decorated but it won't have any master, it will be empty. Together they create a beauty, a fuller life.
               Symbolically, I have chosen Zorba for the body and Buddha for the soul.
               Your question is that when I was in Greece I was talking more about Zorba, and here in India the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           atmosphere seems to be closer to Buddha. Your observation is true.
               In Greece I was talking about Zorba. Still they deported me.
               If I had been talking about Buddha, you would not have seen me again!
               I was talking about Zorba because that is the foundation. But I was making it clear that Zorba
           alone is only the foundation of the house, it is not the house itself.
               In India I am talking about Buddha, but I have not forgotten Zorba.
               Each statement that I make -- whether it is about Zorba or about Buddha -- implies the other
           automatically, because to me they are inseparable. It is only a question of emphasis.
               To make the Greek mind understand, I emphasized Zorba.
               The ambassador of Sri Lanka to America wrote me a letter saying that "Your followers around
           the world are making restaurants, discos, and calling them ZORBA THE BUDDHA. It is very
           insulting to Buddha. And if you do such thing in a country like Sri Lanka, there can be violence. I
           advise you to drop this name."
               I told my secretary to write to him, that "In the first place, nobody has the monopoly on Zorba or
           on Buddha. Secondly, we are not concerned with Gautam the Buddha; `buddha' is not a personal
           name, it is a quality. It means the awakened one. Anyone who is awakened can be called the buddha.
           Gautam Buddha is only one of the millions of buddhas who have happened and who will happen.
           And you cannot prevent Zorba becoming a buddha. In fact, you should help me to make zorbas into
           buddhas, because that is the only real revolution -- that a materialist, a zorba, who knows nothing of
           higher consciousness, becomes a buddha."
           He never replied.
               Zorba has his own beauty. And the island in Greece where I was staying is the place where
           Kazantzakis, the novelist who created the novel ZORBA THE GREEK.... Zorba is a fictitious name,
           he is not a historical person. But the island where I was staying was the island where Kazantzakis
           was born.
               And Kazantzakis is one of the best novelists of this century, and he suffered tremendously at the
           hands of the church. Finally, when he wrote ZORBA THE GREEK he was expelled from the church.
           By writing ZORBA he was forced: "You withdraw your book ZORBA; otherwise you will be
           expelled." Because he did not withdraw the book, he was expelled from Christianity and condemned
           to hell.
               Zorba is really Kazantzakis' own individuality, which Christianity had repressed, which he could
           not live, which he wanted to live. He expressed that whole unlived part of his life in the name of
           Zorba.
               Zorba is a beautiful man -- no fear of hell, no greed for heaven, living moment to moment,
           enjoying small things... food, drink, women. After the whole day's work, he will take his musical
           instrument and will dance on the beach for hours.
               And the other part of Kazantzakis which he lived in ZORBA THE GREEK... Zorba is the
           servant. The other part is the master who employed Zorba as his servant. He is always sad and sitting
           in his office, doing his files, never laughing, never enjoying, never going out and always feeling
           deep down jealous of Zorba because he earns a little, not much, but he lives like an emperor, not
           thinking of tomorrow, of what will happen. He eats well, he drinks well, he sings well, he dances
           well. And his master, who is very rich, is just sitting there sad, tense, in anguish, in misery, suffering.
               One day Zorba says to his master -- which is Kazantzakis himself -- "Master, there is only one
           thing wrong with you: you think too much. You come with me." It was a full-moon night.
           Kazantzakis tried -- "No, no. What are you doing?"
               But Zorba pulled him out to the beach and he started dancing, playing his instrument. And he
           told Kazantzakis, "Try. Jump! If you cannot dance, do SOMETHING." And with Zorba's energy and
           his vibe, Kazantzakis also started dancing. For the first time in his life he felt that he was alive.
               Zorba is the unlived part of every so-called religious person.
               And why was the church so much against it when ZORBA was published? It was just a novel;
           there was nothing for the church to be worried about. But it was so clear that it is the unlived
           Christian in every Christian, this book could be a dangerous book. And it is a dangerous book.
               But Zorba is tremendously beautiful. Kazantzakis sends him to purchase some things from the
           city, and he forgets all. He drinks and goes to the prostitutes and enjoys, and once in a while he
           remembers that it seems many days have passed but still, the money is with him. Unless all the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           money is finished, how can he return? The master will be very angry, but nothing can be done about
           it -- it is his problem.
                And after three weeks he comes back -- and he had gone only for three days -- and he does not
           bring anything that he was sent for. And he comes with all the stories -- "What a great journey it
           was, you should have been there. I met such beautiful bubalinas... and such good wine."
                And the master said, "But what about the things? For three weeks I have been sitting here
           boiling."
                He said, "When there are so many beautiful things available, who bothers about such small
           things? You can cut my salary every week, by and by, slowly, and take your money back. I am sorry
           I could not come earlier. And you should be happy that I have come -- because the money was
           finished I had to come. But next time when I go, I will bring all the things."
                He said, "You will never go again. I will send somebody else."
                Zorba's whole life is a life of simple, physical enjoyment, but without any anxiety, without any
           guilt, without any botheration about sin and virtue and....
                I would like this man Zorba to be alive in everybody, because it is your natural inheritance. But
           you should not stop at Zorba.
                Zorba is only the beginning. Sooner or later, if you allow your Zorba full expression, you are
           bound to think of something better, higher, greater. It will not come out of thinking; it will come out
           of your experiences -- because those small experiences will become boring.
                Buddha himself had come to be Buddha because he had lived the life of a zorba. That thing has
           not been noticed by the East -- that for twenty-nine years Buddha lived as no Zorba could ever live.
           Zorba was so poor.
                Gautam Buddha's father had arranged for all the beautiful girls to be picked from the whole
           kingdom for Buddha's enjoyment. He made three beautiful palaces in three different places for
           different seasons. He had beautiful gardens and lakes. Buddha's whole life was just luxury, pure
           luxury. But he got bored.
                One of the most significant experiences that he comes across was when one night beautiful girls
           were dancing... he was drinking, they were drinking, and then everybody fell asleep drunk. In the
           middle of the night he woke up and looked around, and he was shocked; and that shock was one of
           the turning points in his life. Some girl was snoring -- she was a beautiful girl, but her mouth open
           and snoring... she looked so ugly, the saliva was coming out... somebody's nose was flowing. And he
           said, "My God, this is what beauty is!" He was finished. Those girls were dispersed the next
           morning. "I don't want any girls in my palaces. Enough is enough."
                In fact, it was too much. In twenty-nine years he lived almost the equivalent to four or five lives
           of an ordinary man. With all that luxury, soon he found himself tired and bored, and a question
           became very prominent in his mind: Is this all? Then what am I going to live tomorrow for? Life
           must mean something more; otherwise, it is meaningless.
                It was out of the zorba that the search, for Buddha, started.
                Not everybody becomes a buddha; and the basic reason is that the zorba remains unlived.
                Do you see my argument? My argument is: live Zorba fully, and you will naturally enter into the
           life of a buddha.
                Kazantzakis has written ZORBA THE GREEK. He's dead. If he had been allowed to live more....
           He was sick, he was very tense, he remained very miserable because he was always afraid of sin.
           And then when he was expelled from the Christian church -- that means condemned to hell; only
           Christians can go to paradise -- that was such a shock that he could not survive. He was really killed
           by the Christian church expelling him.
                If he were alive, I would have told him: "Your book is half. You need to write another book,
           ZORBA THE BUDDHA. Then it will be a complete phenomenon. But you can write the other book
           only if you live your zorba. You have not even lived zorba; how can you live the buddha?"
                Enjoy your body, enjoy your physical existence. There is no sin in it. Hidden behind it is your
           spiritual growing, is your spiritual blissfulness. When you are tired of physical pleasures, only then
           will you ask, "Is there something more?" And this question cannot be only intellectual, it has to be
           existential: "Is there something more?"
                And when the question is existential, you will find within yourself something more.
                There is something much more. Zorba is only the beginning.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Once the buddha, the awakened soul, takes possession of you, then you will know that pleasure
           was not even a shadow. There is so much bliss.... That bliss is not against pleasure. In fact, it is
           pleasure which has brought you to bliss.
                There is no fight between Zorba and Buddha. Zorba is the arrow -- if you follow it rightly, you
           will reach the Buddha.
                Certainly in Greece there is an atmosphere different from India. The Greek personality has
           remained materialistic.
                In India, the basic and the essential atmosphere is that of the awakened soul.
                Whether you go on sleeping, it doesn't matter, but the atmosphere around you is that of the
           sunrise. The birds are singing, the flowers are blossoming, and from everywhere the indication is for
           you to wake up.
                I will go to Greece again because I have been enjoying all these deportations. And next time I
           have to talk about Buddha -- because I have talked only about Zorba, and I never leave anything
           incomplete.
                And already, the minister of interior in Greece has invited me: "We will make arrangements, you
           come."
                I said, "I will come, but at least for three weeks don't deport me" -- because no country seems to
           be able to have me for more than three weeks. A few countries are so stupid that they cannot even
           have me for thirty-six hours.
                England proved to be the worst. They would not allow me six hours to sleep at the airport -- not
           even entering England, but just the airport lounge. They wouldn't allow me to sleep there for six
           hours.
           I said, "What reasons have you got?"
                And the airport officer said, "We have no reasons. This is the file, the information from the prime
           minister is that `This man is dangerous and should not be allowed.'"
                But I said, "I am not entering England, and from the lounge there is no way to enter into
           England. And you have checked me well -- I am not carrying any bombs or anything. And sleeping
           six hours in the airport, what danger can I do? You just think...."
                He said, "Don't put me into trouble, because tomorrow it is going to be in parliament and then I
           will be answerable -- `Why did you allow him?'"
                So I had to go to jail for six hours. They said, "The only place we can allow you to remain is in
           jail."
                And the next day in parliament the question was there, and I am always surprised that the
           question is asked and the same answer is given, that "The man is very dangerous," but nobody in the
           parliament has the intelligence to ask, "What danger could he have been just sleeping in the lounge
           at the airport? He may be dangerous, but what danger could he have been?" Nobody in the
           parliament asked.
                So I have informed the minister in Greece that I will go. I have to go.
                I was really thinking to stay longer, and I had fifteen more days on the visa to stay, but the
           archbishop of Greece threatened the government that if they didn't deport me immediately then they
           were going to burn my house where I was staying, burn me alive and all the people who were staying
           with me, dynamite the house. And the government became threatened, and they thought that "Some
           problem may arise, it is better to send this man away immediately."
                I was asleep when I was arrested. You don't arrest people when they are asleep.
                And they had no reason, because I had not gone out of the house for fifteen days. I said, "You
           have to show some reason why you are deporting me."
                They said, "We don't have any reason, just orders from above." And all the orders were based on
           the threat of the archbishop.
                It is the same archbishop that expelled Kazantzakis.
                And these people are living almost out of date, out of time. They are not contemporaries.
                Because the day they deported me from the island, the people of the island, who had no idea
           about me, just rumors.... But seeing the threat of the archbishop they all felt ashamed. And they
           asked me, "What we can do? We are poor people."
                I said, "You all go to the airport to show the archbishop how many people are with him and how
           many people are with me -- although I have been here for only fifteen days and they have been here
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for two thousand years." And there were only six old women with the archbishop in the church, and
           three thousand people, the whole island, at the airport.
               Still they don't understand that they are no longer needed, that their time is finished. And they
           talk about loving your enemy and loving your neighbor, and God is love -- and they threaten a man
           who has not done anything that they will burn him alive, with all his friends. At least twenty-five
           people were staying in that big mansion.
               This shows that somehow the Western mind has not grown towards inwardness, towards love,
           towards non-violence. Their whole approach is materialistic.
               Two thousand years after Jesus is crucified, and this man is threatening me -- Jesus Christ's
           representative in Greece is threatening me -- that he will burn me alive. Does he represent Jesus
           Christ or was he also one of the rabbis who crucified Jesus Christ?
               The mind of the priest in the West has been a hindrance to Western growth towards meditation.
           But a strange time of revolution has come -- at least for the new generation, because the new
           generation is not with these old priests and these old churches.
               And the new generation in the West is looking towards the East. That's a great hope.
           That is Zorba searching for Gautam Buddha.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THOUGHTS OF DEATH HAVE BEEN A FREQUENT VISITOR DURING MY DISCIPLEHOOD. HOW
              CAN A DISCIPLE DIE IN A MASTER'S PRESENCE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE MASTER IS
              PHYSICALLY DISTANT?
              OSHO, IS MAHAKASHYAP THE ONLY ANSWER?


               The question is not whether or not you are in the presence of the master, but whether or not you
           are filled with love and trust for the master.
               Physical closeness means nothing. Only spiritual closeness is significant.
               Your love, your trust is enough. You can be on the moon and the master will be by your side --
           really, the master will be inside you -- because as your love deepens, something of the master, his
           energies, start melting and merging with you.
               The fear of physical distance is the fear of lack of love and trust.
               Mahakashyap alone is not the answer. Everybody has to be an answer unto himself.
               Mahakashyap remained with Buddha, and after Buddha's death he died; he could not survive
           separately.
               But that is Mahakashyap's uniqueness. It is not the only answer.
               I will tell you a few other stories around Buddha so you can understand.
               Ananda lived with Buddha for forty-two years. Nobody else lived with Buddha so long, nobody
           was allowed to live with him so long. But there was a problem. Ananda was Buddha's
           cousin-brother, and older than him, and just the Eastern tradition.... Before taking initiation --
           Ananda was the elder brother -- and he said to Gautam Buddha, "Siddharth" -- Siddharth was his
           family name -- "Listen: after initiation, whatever you say I will have to do. I will be your disciple,
           you will be my master. Right now I am your elder brother, you are my younger brother; whatever I
           say you have to do. Three things you have to remember -- don't forget them when I become a
           disciple." It is a beautiful story.
           Buddha said, "What are the three things?"
               Ananda said, "First, I will always live with you; you cannot send me anywhere else to spread the
           message. Second, if I want anybody to meet you -- even in the middle of the night -- you cannot say
           no; that is my personal privilege. And thirdly, I will sleep in the same room where you sleep. Even in
           sleep, you cannot make me stay in a different place."
               Buddha promised, and these three conditions were followed for forty-two years.
               But Ananda did not become enlightened. You can understand his pain and his anguish -- people
           who had come long after him became enlightened, and he remained in his ignorance just the same as
           before. The day Buddha died he said, "What will happen to me? I could not become enlightened
           even though I was with you for forty-two years, day in, day out, twenty-four hours a day. Without
           you, I don't see any hope."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha said, "You don't understand the dynamics of life. Perhaps you will become enlightened
           only when I am gone; I am the barrier. You take me for granted. The day you had asked those three
           conditions, I had thought that those conditions were going to be a barrier for you. You cannot forget
           that you are my elder brother, even now. You cannot forget that you have certain privilege over
           others. You cannot forget that I have agreed on three conditions only for you, for nobody else.
           Perhaps my death will help."
               Buddha died. And after twenty-four hours, there was a great meeting of all the enlightened
           disciples to write down whatever Buddha had said in these forty-two years. But the problem was that
           nobody had been with him continuously for forty-two years except Ananda -- but he could not be
           allowed in the meeting because he was not enlightened. An ignorant man, unenlightened -- you
           cannot rely on what he is saying, whether he heard it or imagined it, whether he has forgotten
           something, whether he has put his own interpretation in it. It is difficult.
               And the scene is really tragic. The conference is inside a hall and Ananda is sitting outside on the
           steps crying, because he lived with Buddha for forty-two years; he knows more than anybody else.
           Each single moment he remembers, but he is unenlightened. Crying, sitting there outside the hall,
           something transpired. He had not cried his whole life. With those tears, his ego disappeared; he
           became like a child.
               They opened the door to see whether Ananda was still sitting outside -- because they had told
           him, "You sit outside. If we need some confirmation from you, we will ask you, but you cannot enter
           the conference."
               They saw a transformed being. The old Ananda, the old egoist was gone. An innocent being with
           tears of joy... and they all could see the light surrounding him.
               They invited him -- "You come in. Now there is no need for us to be worried. But it is strange...
           you could not become enlightened for forty-two years, and just after twenty-four hours you have
           attained that state" -- and this was continuously emphasized by Gautam Buddha.
               Ananda said, "It was my fault. His death became the death of my ego too."
               All the scriptures that are in existence are related by Ananda.
               There were other enlightened disciples who did not die with Gautam Buddha. It was asked --
           when Mahakashyap died, it became a very significant question -- it was asked to other enlightened
           disciples, "If Mahakashyap has died, how are you living?"
               One of the disciples, Moggalayan, said, "I have to live now for my master's message. I am not
           living anymore -- I died with him; now he is living in me. That was one way, the way of
           Mahakashyap -- to dissolve in Gautam Buddha. This is another way. I have also dissolved, but dying
           is not going to help anybody. And there are so many blind people in the world who need eyes, there
           are so many people in darkness who need light. I will live. I will live as long as it is possible; I will
           live for Buddha."
               So it is not a question of one person being decisive. Each person has to be unique in his own
           way. Somebody dies for the master, somebody lives for the master, and you cannot say who is
           greater -- perhaps no comparison is right. Both are themselves.
               Just remember one thing -- your love. Then wherever you are, space and the distance in space
           does not matter. And at a certain depth, even time does not matter.
               And when time and space both are immaterial, then you have really touched the feet of the
           master.
               Then whatsoever transpires in you -- to live for the message or to die, whatever comes naturally
           and spontaneously -- let it happen.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                   Chapter #8
                             Chapter title: Indifference to the mind is meditation
           10 October 1986 pm in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 8610105
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I OFTEN WANTED TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS, BUT AFTER WAITING FOR A WHILE, I
              ALWAYS FOUND MY QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY YOU. AND AT THE SAME TIME I FOUND OUT
              THAT ALL THOSE QUESTIONS WERE JUST SILLY QUESTIONS, COMING FROM MY MIND
              WITHOUT ANY CONNECTION TO MY HEART. MY HEART ONLY WANTS TO CRY, AND MY MIND
              ONLY WANTS TO KNOW, DESPITE ANY ANSWER.
              COULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON HOW TO DEAL WITH A CONTINUOUS QUESTIONING
              MIND THAT IS NOT INTERESTED IN ANY ANSWER ANYWAY? OR AM I JUST A GREEK
              DONKEY?


               The disciple who can wait will find all his questions answered at the right moment.
               But waiting is a great quality: it is deep patience, it is great trust.
               The mind cannot wait, it is always in a hurry. It knows nothing about patience; hence it goes on
           piling questions upon questions without getting the answer.
               It is something very delicate to understand: that it is not the answer that is significant but the
           right timing, your readiness to receive it; otherwise it will just go above your head. The impatient
           mind is too much occupied in questioning. It forgets that questioning in itself is a meaningless
           activity -- the real thing is the answer, but for the answer you need a certain silence, peace, openness,
           receptivity. The mind is incapable of these qualities; hence, for thousands of years the mind has been
           asking and asking but it finds no answer.
           In the world of the mind there are only questions.
               And in the world of the heart there is only the answer, because the heart knows how not to ask,
           how to wait: let the spring come by itself; wait like a thirsty earth... the rainclouds will come; they
           have always been coming. There is no need to distrust, because there is not even a single exception
           where trust has failed, where waiting is not fulfilled, where patience is not immensely rewarded.
               The functioning of the heart and the mind are totally different; not only different, but
           diametrically opposite. The mind creates philosophies, theologies, ideologies -- they are all questions
           that don't have any answer. The heart simply waits. At the right moment, the answer blossoms by
           itself.
               The heart has no question, yet it receives the answer.
               The mind has a thousand and one questions, yet it has never received any answer because it does
           not know how to receive.
               Your mind is full of questions yet you have been observing that by and by, they are being
           answered. This should create in you a new insight, a new trust. A new dimension is opening: that
           you have just to wait, alert and awake, and if it is needed the answer will come to you.
               You are also seeing that most of the questions that the mind is filled with are silly.
               They are -- not most of them, all of them are silly for the simple reason that mind does not go
           through the discipline of asking receptively. It is more concerned with questions. Even while the
           answer is being given, it has moved on to another question. Perhaps, listening to the answer, it has
           created ten more questions out of the answer itself.
               Questions arise out of the mind just like leaves grow on the trees. And slowly slowly, they
           become more and more silly -- because it is very difficult to find many significant questions, and the
           mind is not satisfied with a small quantity of questions. It is greedy. It wants to ask everything; it
           wants to know everything without being ready to understand anything.
           There are few significant questions.
           And there is only one really fundamental question.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But that small quantity does not satisfy the greed of the mind.
                You will be amazed to know that the English word `greed' comes from a very strange word in
           Sanskrit -- and if you want to see those people from where this word has come, Bombay has most of
           them. In Sanskrit the vulture is called giddha, and from `giddha' comes greed. And Bombay has the
           greatest number of vultures in the whole world, because Bombay has the greatest number of Parsees.
           There is a certain relationship between Parsees and vultures.
                Parsees have a very strange way of disposing of their dead: they don't burn them like the Hindus,
           Buddhists, Jainas; they don't bury them like the Christians and the Mohammedans and the Jews.
           They have a unique way of their own, and they have a certain rationale for it. In their cemetery... and
           Bombay has the biggest, because Bombay has the biggest population of Parsees.
                In their cemetery they have a big well. There are steel rods on top of the well. The dead body is
           put on those steel rods, and between the steel rods there are gaps. All around, there are big, ancient
           trees and thousands of vultures are sitting there, waiting for some poor Parsee to die -- the vultures
           need food every day; Parsees supply the food. The dead body of the Parsee is put on those rods on
           top of the well and the vultures eat whatever is edible. And whatever is not edible -- bones, et cetera
           -- goes on falling through the gaps between the rods into the well.
                On the surface it looks very strange -- "What are you doing?" -- but the Parsees have their
           rationale. In this world everybody has some reasonable grounds for every superstition. They say,
           "Because we have been eating everything, now it is our duty to be eaten." A beautiful logic: you
           have been eating for your whole life. If you are a meat-eater you have been eating animals. If you are
           a vegetarian, then you have been eating vegetables; that too is life. For your whole life you have
           been eating, and it is natural to be part of the same circle by being eaten. According to the Parsees,
           this is the most natural thing.
                And I think people who believe in nature will support their idea -- because to burn a body is to
           destroy food, is to unnecessarily kill a few vultures, or to keep them hungry.
                In a Hindu village, vultures don't exist. What will they do there? At the most, once in a while a
           cow dies, or a buffalo, and they can eat that.
                Now there is a widespread movement amongst intellectuals around the earth that we should not
           break natural cycles anywhere. For our whole lives we have been eating -- now it is time that we
           should be eaten. And anyway you are dead; why unnecessarily destroy good food for the vultures?
                Just go here in Bombay, you will see a beautiful scene -- you will not see it anywhere else in the
           whole world -- so many vultures together just waiting for poor Parsees to die, praying to God,
           "Finish someone today." And God seems to listen to the vultures; some Parsee is bound to come.
                The English word `greed' comes from the same root as `giddha', the vulture.
                The vulture is one of the ugliest birds you can conceive of.
                And greed is certainly one of the ugliest things in man that you can think of.
                But the mind is a vulture. It is never satisfied with anything. You go on giving to it, it goes on
           taking, and it goes on asking for more. It never feels grateful; it is always complaining that it is not
           enough. Nothing is enough to the mind.
                Question after question -- meaningful, meaningless, relevant, irrelevant -- and not even a small
           space for any answer to enter into your mind. It is so crowded with questions.
           The heart knows no questions.
                And this is one of the mysteries of life: that the mind questions the whole life long and never
           receives any answer, and the heart never asks but receives the answer.
                But there is one thing to be remembered: the mind is noisy, there is maddening noise. The heart
           may be receiving the answer, but because of the noise of the mind you may not come to feel that the
           answer has been received, that you are carrying it with you, that you are pregnant with it.
                Not only does the mind disturb your peace, your silence; it disturbs it to such an extent that the
           heart -- which is capable of listening to silence, waiting, receptive -- is denied all connection with
           your being. The mind monopolizes your being; it simply puts the heart aside. And because the heart
           is silent, and a gentleman, it does not quarrel; it simply goes down the street, waits by the side of the
           road.
           Mind wants to occupy the whole space.
                The disciple has to understand this whole situation -- that the dictatorship of the mind has to be
           destroyed, that the mind is only a servant, not a master. The master is the heart, because all that is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beautiful grows in the heart; all that is valuable comes out of the heart -- your love, your compassion,
           your meditation.
                Anything that is valuable grows in the garden of the heart.
                Mind is a desert, nothing grows there -- only sand and sand and barren land. It has never given
           any fruit, any flower. You have to understand it: mind should not be supported as much as you have
           been supporting it up to now. Mind has to be put in its right place.
           The throne belongs to the heart.
                And this is the revolution through which the disciple becomes a devotee: when the heart becomes
           the master, and the mind becomes a servant.
                This has to be remembered: that as a servant, the mind is perfect. As a master... it is the worst
           master possible; as a servant, it is the best.
                And the heart -- wherever it is, either on the throne or on the street -- is your only hope, the only
           possibility for you to be bridged with your being, to be bridged with existence. It is the only
           possibility for songs to arise in you, stars to descend in you, for your life to become a rejoicing, a
           dance.
                You are asking me how to stop this mind, its constant questioning, its silly crowd of questions.
                That is where everybody takes the wrong step. If you try to stop it, you will never be able to stop
           it. Ignore it. Be indifferent to it. Let it chatter.
                Be aloof, unconcerned -- as if it does not matter whether it chatters or not, whether there are
           questions or not. Only this aloofness, this ignoring -- Buddha has given it the right name, upeksha --
           this indifference slowly, slowly makes the miracle happen.
                What you want to achieve by fighting is not possible, because when you fight with someone you
           are giving energy to the enemy. You are giving attention, and attention is food; you are getting
           entangled with the mind, and mind enjoys a good fight. It has never happened that anybody has been
           able to stop the mind by fighting with it. That is the most important thing to understand: don't take
           any step towards fighting.
                Just ignore, just be aloof, just let the mind do whatever it wants to do. When the mind feels
           unwelcomed, when the mind sees that you are no more interested in it, that it is pointless to go on
           shouting; you are not even hearing it, that you are not even curious about what is going on in the
           mind -- it stops.
                It happened... and I have remembered it because the boy is here today. He is my sister's son.
                He was very young, six years old. We had gone to see the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and
           his father was driving. His father went to make inquiries, to say that I had come, and ask whether the
           chief minister was in the house or not.
                At that very moment -- the boy must have been feeling sleepy in the jeep; we had come a long
           distance -- he fell asleep and hit his head on the dashboard in front of him. He looked at me. I didn't
           pay any attention, I looked outside the jeep. He was going to cry and create trouble -- he looked
           again and again I looked outside.
                Then his father came out. I went in for a half-hour meeting. Then we went home. It was almost
           two hours later, as we arrived home, that he started crying. As soon as he saw his mother he
           immediately started crying. I said, "What happened?"
           He said, "I hit my head on the jeep."
           I said, "That happened two hours ago!"
                He said, "I know, but there was no point in crying because twice I looked at you and you looked
           outside the window. What is the point in crying with such a man? You did not even ask what had
           happened... you had seen that I had hit my head. Now my mother is here; now I can cry."
                Even that small child could understand that when there is indifference, it is pointless to make any
           fuss; it is as if there is nobody in the jeep.
                When you are indifferent, the mind starts feeling as if there is nobody -- what is the point of all
           the questions? Because you are interested, curious, you get involved, you are giving juice to the
           mind.
           Indifference to the mind is meditation.
                And all those questions will disappear, because they are absolutely meaningless. And when the
           chattering of the mind has disappeared, there is a silence, a peace, so that you can hear the still, small
           voice of your heart.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Only the heart knows the answer... it already knows it.
               And if you are with a master, the heart simply says yes to the master, because the heart knows
           the answer already. Perhaps the master is putting it in a better way, more articulate, but the heart is in
           complete agreement. And that agreement dissolves all distances between the master and the disciple.
               Then silence is not only silence, it is also communion.
               Then things are not said but heard; then things are not said but shown.
               And when the heart is totally willing, life is such a simple, uncomplicated phenomenon that you
           cannot conceive of anything more simple.
               It is the mind which creates complications, goes on creating complications and questions. Mind's
           whole expertise is to create complications.
               If you want to live a simple, a beautiful, a silent, a joyful, a blissful life, let the mind be ignored
           and let the heart be restored to its status as master. This is the whole work of a religious seeker;
           nothing more is needed.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE NEVER BEEN GOOD AT REMEMBERING MY DREAMS. THEY SEEM TO BE THERE
              ONLY IN TIMES OF EMOTIONAL CRISIS. ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR I HAVE A `BIG' DREAM
              WHICH IS MORE LIKE A VISION -- AND THAT'S IT.
              DURING THE LAST YEARS IT HAS BECOME WORSE, AND NOW IT'S DOWN TO ZERO.
              CONSIDERING DREAMS AS IMPORTANT FOR MY WORK AS A THERAPIST, I TRIED HARD
              WITH ALL KINDS OF METHODS BUT HAD NO SUCCESS.
              RECENTLY I MADE PEACE WITH IT. AS LOTS OF FLASHES AND INTUITIONS COME UP IN THE
              DAYTIME, OR BEFORE I'M FALLING ASLEEP, I THOUGHT THIS MIGHT BE FINE TOO. AFTER
              YESTERDAY'S DISCOURSE WHERE YOU SAID THAT TO UNBURDEN THE SUBCONSCIOUS IS
              THE WAY TO THE SUPERCONSCIOUS, I STARTED WORRYING AND WONDERING AGAIN. AM I
              SO REPRESSIVE? WHAT AM I SCARED OF THAT MAKES ME INCAPABLE OF REMEMBERING
              MY DREAMS?


               Purna, the process of dreaming and the process of remembering the dream are two things.
               Very few people remember dreams; that does not mean that they don't have dreams.
               Everybody has dreams -- but remembering a dream is a totally different thing. Even the people
           who remember dreams remember only the last dreams, the dreams of the early morning when you
           are just waking up, because the mechanism of memory is part of the conscious mind. Dreams happen
           in the unconscious; the unconscious doesn't have any memory mechanism. Only the conscious mind
           has the memory mechanism.
               So if a dream is happening in the unconscious mind but very close to the conscious mind, then it
           remembers it faintly, vaguely.
               In the morning when you are waking up you are coming closer to the conscious mind -- from the
           unconscious, back to the conscious mind. The last dream, the tail end, will be remembered, because
           it will be very close to when you wake up. So even people who remember, remember only the last
           dreams. They have been dreaming for almost six hours through the whole night; if they are sleeping
           for eight hours, they are dreaming for six hours. You can catch hold of just a faint reflection of the
           last dream, but if you don't catch hold of it for a few seconds, it will be gone. As you become more
           awake, you are farther away from the unconscious.
               So to different people, different things will be happening.
               There are people who wake up very slowly; they don't wake up quickly, in a jump.
               The people who wake up quickly, in a jump, will have a different kind of memory from the
           people who wake up very slowly. They will have another kind of memory.
               It also depends on what kind of dreams you are having.
               Because you are a therapist -- and not only a therapist but my therapist -- your repression cannot
           be superficial. Because my whole teaching is: Don't repress; live out every instinct, every feeling,
           every emotion. If you are living out your emotions, your feelings, then you will not have superficial
           dreams; your dreams will be very deep. They will be less in the unconscious and more in the
           collective unconscious -- so deep that you will not be able to remember them. Unless a special effort
           is made, they cannot be remembered. And the only effort that is possible is hypnosis.
               If you are hypnotized and led by your hypnotist deep into your unconscious and asked, "What is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happening there? What kind of dream is going on?" only then will you be able to express it to him.
           When you wake up, you will not be able to remember what you have said either. It will take a long
           training between you and the hypnotist: after each hypnosis he has to suggest to you that you will
           remember it when you wake up. He has to emphasize it every time so much that it becomes a
           deep-rooted impression. Then you may be able to remember your dreams.
               But there is no need. Unless you are especially working on dreams, for some specific purpose,
           there is no need.
               I am emphasizing that you should ignore the mind. Now the unconscious, collective unconscious,
           cosmic unconscious -- these are all parts of the mind, and you are trying to remember them. Just the
           conscious mind is enough to torture you -- why do you need to remember the unconscious mind?
               In the East we have been aware that the conscious mind is not the only mind. Below it, there is
           the unconscious mind; then below that is the collective unconscious mind; then below that is the
           cosmic unconscious mind. Above it, there is the superconscious mind; above that there is the
           collective superconscious mind; above that there is the cosmic superconscious mind. And when I say
           `mind' I mean this whole range -- they are one entity, one rainbow.
           Ignore them all. There is no need to remember.
               Many people are in madhouses because by some accident their collective unconscious has
           broken up and released its memories. Now their conscious mind is not capable of holding those
           memories, the weight is too much; that's what is driving them mad.
               For example, in your collective unconscious mind, the woman who is your wife now may have
           been your mother in your past life. If this memory comes to your mind then you are going to be in
           trouble. Then how are you going to behave with your wife, as your mother or as your wife? Just
           being your wife was enough; just being your mother was enough too -- now she is both. And you
           will be crushed, because you cannot have a sexual relationship with a woman who is your mother...
           the whole inhibition of thousands of years. And how will you manage your wife? Because she has no
           remembrance; she is going to say, "You are crazy, just forget all about it" -- but you cannot forget
           about it.
               Nature has a beautiful arrangement: with each death, a thick layer of forgetfulness comes over
           your memories. You are carrying all the memories of all your lives. But a small human being finds it
           so difficult to live with a small conscious mind of one life -- if so many lives burst upon him, he is
           bound to be insane. It is a natural protection.
           It happened....
               I was in Jabalpur and a girl was brought to me. She must have been, at that time, nine years of
           age. She remembered her past life completely -- so realistically that it was not a memory for her, it
           was a continuity. It was just some accidental error in nature that there was no barrier between the
           past life and this life.
               There is a place just eighty miles away from Jabalpur, Katni. She was born in Katni and she
           remembered that she had her family in Jabulpur. She remembered the names, she remembered her
           husband, she remembered her sons, the house -- she remembered everything. One of my friends
           brought them to me.
               I said, "This is strange, because the people she is remembering are living just three or four blocks
           away from my house." They had a petrol pump, so I used to go for petrol at their petrol pump every
           day. But I said, "You wait. You wait in my house and I will call them -- the Pathak brothers -- I will
           call them and we will see whether this girl remembers them or not."
               So they came with their servants and a few other neighbors. There were twelve, thirteen people
           in the crowd, so that they could see whether she could find out.... She immediately jumped, and said,
           "Brother, have you recognized me or not?" She caught hold of both brothers, among thirteen people,
           and she inquired about the mother and the children... and father had died, and she was crying. It was
           not a memory, it was a continuity. They took her to their home and then it was a problem: the girl
           was torn apart about whether to go to this family's house in Jabalpur and live there, or to go back to
           Katni to the new family where she had been born.
               Of course, in this family she had lived for seventy years, so the pull was more towards the
           past-life family. And in the new family she had been born only nine years before; there was no pull
           -- but that was her family, her real family. This other family was only a memory, but to her, it was
           such a heart-rending problem.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And both the families were disturbed about what to do: if she remained in Jabalpur, she would
           remember the other family continuously, worry about what was happening to them and feel, "I want
           to go there." If she was there, she would be thinking that she wanted to be in Jabalpur.
                Finally I suggested that the only way -- it was a freak case, there was nothing spiritual in it -- was
           that she needed a deep hypnosis for a few days, so the barrier could be created. She had to be
           hypnotized to forget the old and the past. Unless she could forget the past, her whole life was going
           to be a misery.
                Both families were ready to accept that something had to be done. She was hypnotized
           continually for at least ten days, to forget. It took ten sessions to create a small barrier so that the old
           life's memories didn't float into the new life.
                I have been inquiring about her. She is now perfectly okay -- married, has children, has forgotten
           completely. Even when those people come to see her, she does not recognize them. But her barrier is
           very thin and artificial. Any accident, and the barrier could be broken, or any hypnotist could break it
           very easily within ten sessions; or some great shock, and the barrier could be broken.
                There is no need for you to remember. It is perfectly good.
           We have to get free from the mind.
                The East has known all the layers of the mind, but the East has emphasized a totally different
           aspect than the West: ignore it -- you are the pure consciousness behind all these layers.
                Western psychology is just childish, just born at the end of the last century. It is not even a
           hundred years old. They have taken up the desire to enter into dreams and to find out, to dig deeper
           into what is there in the mind.
                There is nothing. You will find more and more memories, more and more dreams, and you will
           destroy the person because you will make him vulnerable to an unnecessary burden which has to be
           erased.
           One has to go beyond mind, not within the mind.
                And you don't have any memory as far as the state of beyond mind is concerned.
                Just drop the idea of the mind. Don't meddle with it; it is getting into an unnecessary trouble and
           nightmare. You have to surpass the mind, you have to transcend the mind.
                Your whole effort should be one-pointed, and that is how to be a no-mind: no dreams, no
           memories, no experiences.
           Then you are at the very center of your being.
                Only then do you taste something of immortality. Only then, for the first time, do you know what
           intelligence is.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ONLY JUST NOW I DISCOVERED THAT A MASTER-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP IS REALLY A
              TWO-WAY AFFAIR, IN WHICH THE DISCIPLE NEEDS TO RESPOND OPENLY TO THE MASTER
              IN ORDER FOR THE MASTER TO BE ABLE TO DO HIS WORK.
              I MYSELF, ON THE CONTRARY, HAVE ALWAYS WATCHED PASSIVELY, KEPT A DISTANCE
              AND DRAWN MY OWN CONCLUSIONS.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               The master never does anything.
           And if you are remaining aloof, nothing will ever happen to you.
               Your receptivity and openness is not needed for the master to do something; your openness and
           receptivity are needed so that the very presence of the master can provoke something to happen in
           you -- and these are two different things. Doing something is a very positive effort, and just allowing
           your presence for something to happen in you is a totally different thing. There is no positive effort.
           The effort is on the side of the disciple.
               So what you have discovered, you have discovered wrongly: it is not a two-way affair, not a
           two-way road; it is a one-way street. It is up to you to be open, ready, available.
               The presence of the master is there, just like the light -- you open your eyes and the light is there.
               The light does not travel to your eyes in particular. You can keep your eyes closed and the light
           will not knock on your eyelids: "Please open your eyes." You can keep your eyes closed; the light is
           very democratic, it will not interfere. But if you open your eyes you will see the light; not only the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           light, but in the light you will see many other things too -- the flowers, the people, the whole world.
           Still, you cannot say that light has been doing something to you. Something is transpiring in you. It
           will not transpire without the light, so certainly the presence of the light is needed -- but just the
           presence is needed, not the action.
               Action is needed on your part, not just presence, because you can be present here and closed --
           nothing will evolve out of it.
           The disciple has to do everything.
               And this is the beauty of the whole phenomenon. Otherwise, you will become a puppet in the
           hands of the master. Then he will do things that he wants to do; then he will make you the way he
           wants to make you -- the ideal, the mold. He will destroy your individuality, he will destroy your
           freedom. No master worth the name can do that.
               The master can give his whole being to you, can make it available -- but only as a presence, not
           as an action.
               The doing is on the part of the disciple. You have to be receptive, you have to be silent, you have
           to be meditative, you have to be trusting everything, because it is your life and you should be
           responsible for it. You are not a painting that the master painter can change in whatever way he
           wants.
               I have heard that in a small school, a beautiful painting was shown that had been made by the
           drawing teacher of the school. He was showing the students the art and the craft of painting. And he
           said, "It is such a delicate phenomenon. You look at the painting."
               And they said, "Yes, we can see a man with a sad face."
               The painter went to the painting and just gave one or two touches with his brush and the whole
           painting changed -- the face was smiling. And because the face was smiling, the whole complex of
           trees and flowers and stars now had a different effect. Everybody was impressed: the teachers were
           impressed... parents had come; they were very much impressed. Just one small boy was not
           interested.
           The painter asked, "Are you not interested?"
               He said, "I am interested. But this is not something great; my mother does it every day."
           He said, "What do you mean? Is she a painter?"
               He said, "She is not a painter. But I go home smiling, and with one slap the whole world changes
           into tears and tears and crying. And if you want me to show you, I can show you here, because I
           have also become an expert. Every day it is happening."
               He simply went and hit a small girl sitting there, and the girl started crying. And she had been
           smiling and enjoying, but suddenly the hit, and tears came to her eyes and she started crying. And
           because of her crying and this boy's craftsmanship, the whole crowd fell silent.
               And even the drawing teacher said, "This is right. I was thinking that I had some great art. Your
           mother knows better. Without brush, without color, just a hit and everything changes; the whole
           world changes."
               The master can change you, but that change is very costly. He can do many things, but you are
           becoming more and more of a slave. You had come to be liberated, and it is going the wrong way.
               No authentic master has ever done anything. He has made himself available in many ways. He
           has taught you how to be available, how to be open, how to be receptive -- and then, whatever your
           potential is will start growing. In the blissful showering of the presence of the master your potential
           will grow, but it will grow according to its own intrinsic qualities. Nothing is imposed from outside.
               So please note it down: your observation is not right, it is not two-way traffic. From the master's
           side there is no traffic at all.
               You have to do something. Certainly the master is present and available, his love is available. In
           his shadow, in his loving radiation, you will start growing. But he will not touch you; he will let you
           be whatever you can be. Whatsoever is your destiny, you should not be carried away from it.
               He is just a silent help: without touching you, he transforms you. That is the miracle of the
           master.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              SITTING IN YOUR PRESENCE, MEDITATION IS REALLY AT ITS BEST. IF ASKED WHY, I WOULD
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SAY THAT IT IS BECAUSE YOUR BLISSFUL PRESENCE IS CONTAGIOUS AND SOMEHOW
              MOTIVATES ME TO BE AS TOTAL AS POSSIBLE.
              BELOVED OSHO, WOULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN AGAIN HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE IN SUCH
              A NICE MEDITATION WHEN NOT BEING IN YOUR PRESENCE?


               My presence has to be only a lesson.
           Once you have learned the art of opening, the art of being silent, it does not matter whether I am
           present or not. If you have really learned it, it will happen anywhere. It may be a little difficult in the
           beginning, but soon you will get the knack of it.
               It is almost like swimming. The teacher who teaches swimming just gives you courage and trust,
           and is there so that nothing goes wrong. Just in three or four days' time, one hour each day, you start
           swimming. And the moment you start swimming you are surprised -- why didn't you start it from the
           very beginning? There is nothing to it. It's just that in the beginning you were not moving your arms
           artfully, it was haphazard. Just in three or four days you have learned to move your arms more
           smoothly, more harmoniously; now the teacher is not needed. Now you can go anywhere, for any
           distance, because the depth of the bottom does not matter; you are swimming on the surface. The
           depth can be one thousand feet, ten thousand feet, five miles deep; it does not matter, because you
           are always swimming on the surface.
               And once you have learned... it has not been heard of in the whole history of humanity that
           anybody who has learned swimming has forgotten it. You may not swim for fifty years, and when
           again somebody pushes you into the swimming pool, you start swimming. You cannot say, "For fifty
           years I have not practiced" -- it is not a question of practice at all. It is a knack: once you have
           known it, you have known it; there is no way not to know it anymore.
           Meditation is also a knack.
               You are not to become attached to the presence of the master, because that will be learning
           something wrong. You have to learn how you are opening. Forget about the master; that is his
           business, to be present or not to be present. Your business is to see how you are opening, what
           happens in your opening, and then try on your own, when you are alone to see whether it can happen
           or not. It is bound to happen.
               Maybe in the beginning you will feel that it is a little difficult; a certain attachment grows,
           unconsciously. But you cannot say that the teacher has to follow you everywhere, wherever you go
           swimming. That will not do. Then each swimmer will need one teacher; it will be too much. Each
           meditator will need one master with him; it will be too costly, and there is no need at all. You just
           have to see what is happening in you, and let the same happen when the master is not present.
               Or, you can visualize. He will be present somewhere, a few miles away. Here, it is a few feet
           away. It is only a question of visualizing -- just visualize that your master is a few feet away....
               Space makes no difference, but you have to learn what happens in you so that you can repeat it in
           the absence of the master. Otherwise, one can become attached to things which were to help you...
           but now they will hinder you. The presence of the master was to help you; now it has become a
           hindrance -- because the master is not there, so you cannot meditate.
               Remember: no attachment should grow, no clinging should grow. They are all against your
           independence, your freedom, your individuality. And whatever is happening here can happen
           anywhere; it just needs a little understanding of how it happens here.
               Just try. Even if you fail a few times, don't be worried. It is a knack which will come to you.
               And once it happens without any support from outside -- even the smallest support, such as the
           presence of the master -- you will feel a great joy, because a great freedom has happened.
               Now there are no barriers for you. Wherever you are you can be in meditation, you can be in
           silence, you can be peaceful. Now you can carry your paradise within you.
               And unless that happens, a disciple has not matured.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                    Chapter #9
                                       Chapter title: The Master is a mirror
           11 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610115
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS IT THAT REDUCES ME TO A HYSTERICAL, INCOHERENT CHILD IN YOUR PRESENCE
              OR EVEN AT THE THOUGHT OF BEING IN YOUR PRESENCE?
              IS IT SOMETHING INHERENT IN THE MASTER-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP, OR MY
              PSYCHOLOGICAL IMMATURITY, OR BOTH?


               Pankaja, humanity is not yet mature. We have the faces of human beings, but our minds are
           lagging far behind.
               In the ordinary world, it is easy to manage your mask, your pretension, your hypocrisy. But when
           you come to a master... the very urge to come to a master shows a tremendous desire in you to know
           your original face, to know yourself.
               The face that you are carrying now is not your original face, it is not you.
               I am saying you are not you, and you know it.
               The master is only a mirror. You cannot deceive the mirror, it simply reflects your reality.
               There is an ancient parable of a very ugly woman who was very antagonistic towards mirrors
           because she thought, just as you all think, that it was the mirror that created the ugliness in her --
           because when the mirror was not there, she was no longer ugly. She was so madly against mirrors
           that whenever she would see a mirror, she would immediately break it.
               The parable is signficant. That's what we are all doing in our lives in many ways. Whatsoever
           reflects our reality we want to escape from because it is not gratifying.
               Pankaja, here in my presence, or even when you think of me, if you feel yourself as immature, a
           retarded child, don't try to explain it away in any way. This is the truth. And this is not only your
           truth; this is the truth of the whole of humanity. You are just fortunate that you have become aware
           of it.
           You have come across a mirror.
           Breaking the mirror is not going to help.
               Poisoning Socrates has not helped the Greeks -- he was a mirror.
               Crucifying Jesus has not helped the Jews -- he was a mirror.
               Killing al-Hillaj Mansoor has not helped the Mohammedans -- he was a mirror.
               On the contrary, they have remained retarded, childish, because there is no one to show them
           where they are, who they are. They are in a crowd of similar kinds of retarded children.
               After the first world war, for the first time in Germany they tried to figure out the average mental
           age of a soldier. Thousands of soldiers went through the process, through many experiments, and the
           result was shocking and shattering to the whole of human pride. The result was that the average
           mental age of the soldiers was only fourteen years.
               And the average age of those who are not soldiers cannot be much more. A man may be seventy
           years old -- his body has aged, but his mind has remained at the age of fourteen. And once in a while
           you can see it in yourself; you can see it in others in certain situations.
               Every woman knows moments when she starts throwing tantrums; they cannot be coming out of
           maturity.
               Every man knows that whenever he feels nervous, he starts smoking. Now, smoking cannot help
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in any way, but it diverts your mind from nervousness.
                Only nervous people smoke. And you can watch... some days you smoke more, some days you
           smoke less. The days you smoke more are the days when you are very tense, worried, very much in
           anguish. The world is too much. You are feeling so nervous that you want to divert your mind to
           something, something uncomplicated, something not involving anybody else -- because that could
           bring more complications.
                The cigarette is very innocent -- and very soothing, because it has the same chemical as tea has,
           as coffee has, which gives a certain soothing effect for the moment.
                And more specifically, smoking has a resemblance to... a deep-rooted remembrance of drinking
           milk at your mother's breast. The breast has almost the same warmth, the milk is warm just as the
           smoke from your cigarette or cigar is warm. The cigarette or cigar have the same feel on your lips as
           the nipples of your mother, and the smoke is flowing inside you just like the milk through the nipple.
           You have fallen back into childhood -- those golden days when there were no anxieties, no
           problems, no worries. So whenever you feel nervous, you start looking for your cigarette.
                When you are not nervous -- when you are feeling happy and blissful and joyous -- you
           completely forget all about cigarettes.
                All smokers are retarded people, so the retarded people are in the majority in the world.
                And there are other substitutes. You may not be smoking and you may think, "I'm not retarded
           because I use chewing gum." And it is worse than cigarettes -- chewing gum! You are not only
           retarded, you are stupid, engaged in an activity which is absolutely useless, uncreative, unnecessarily
           tiring your mouth and your teeth. But it proves Charles Darwin was right.
                Although scientists have tried in many ways to disprove the theory of evolution proposed by
           Charles Darwin, the theory has such psychological significance that even if it is proved wrong, its
           significance cannot be destroyed.
                Just watch a monkey. He cannot sit in one posture, he cannot sit on one branch. He is
           continuously chewing this or that, eating this or that -- the whole day. From the time he wakes up in
           the morning till he goes back to sleep, he is chewing something.
                Perhaps man is not yet completely free from his animal heritage -- although he walks on two
           legs, that does not make much difference.
                As far as I know, monkeys don't think that you have evolved, developed, gone forward more than
           them. They laugh at the very idea.
                They think you have fallen from the trees. And they have substantial reasoning behind it. You
           are no longer as strong as a monkey; you cannot live in trees, you cannot go on jumping from one
           tree to another tree for miles. You have lost the beauty of the body that the monkey has. Just because
           you started walking on two legs....
                Monkeys think, "Poor fellows... those few monkeys can't make it living in the trees" -- because it
           is a very challenging life, risky, full of danger -- "those cowards have got down onto the earth and
           started walking on two legs! Not only that, to hide their cowardice, they are proposing a theory of
           evolution!"
           No monkey agrees with the theory of evolution.
                Pankaja, if in my presence you feel a childishness in yourself, a mind which has not become
           mature, this awareness has to be welcomed.
                Once you become aware that you are retarded somewhere, that something is blocking your
           consciousness, then those blocks can be removed. In fact, to be aware that there are some blocks...
           the very awareness removes them.
                There are things which one has just to be aware of. The very awareness brings the
           transformation; it is not that after being aware you have to do something to make the change.
                Seeing your mind as childish, you can also see that you are not the mind -- otherwise, who is
           seeing the mind as childish? There is something beyond the mind -- the watcher on the hills.
           You are only looking at the mind.
           You have completely forgotten who is looking at it.
                Watch the mind, but don't forget the watcher -- because your reality is centered in the watcher,
           not in the mind. And the watcher is always a fully grown-up, mature, centered consciousness. It
           needs no growth.
                And once you become aware that the mind is only an instrument in the hands of your witnessing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           soul, then there is no problem; the mind can be used in the right way. Now the master is awake, and
           the servant can be ordered to do whatever is needed.
                Ordinarily the master is asleep. We have forgotten the watcher, and the servant has become the
           master. And the servant is a servant -- it is certainly not very intelligent.
                You have to be reminded of a basic fact: intelligence belongs to the watching consciousness;
           memory belongs to the mind.
                Memory is one thing -- memory is not intelligence. But the whole of humanity has been deceived
           for centuries and told indirectly that the memory is intelligence. Your schools, your colleges, your
           universities are not trying to find your intelligence; they are trying to find out who is capable of
           memorizing more.
                And now we know perfectly well that memory is a mechanical thing. A computer can have
           memory, but a computer cannot have intelligence.
                And a computer can have a better memory than you have. The day is not far off when people will
           be carrying small computers in their pockets rather than unnecessarily going through years of
           studying history and geography and chemistry and physics. All that can be contained in a small
           computer which you can carry in your pocket, and whatever information you want, the computer can
           supply it immediately -- and it is going to be absolutely correct.
                Man's memory is not so reliable. It can forget, it can get mixed up, it can get blocked. Sometimes
           you say that "I remember it, it is just on the tip of my tongue." Strange, it is on the tip of your
           tongue, then why don't you speak?
                But you say it is not coming, "It is on the tip of my tongue... I know that I know, and it is not
           very far -- it is very close." But still some block, some very thin block -- it may be just a curtain -- is
           not allowing it to surface.
                And the more you try, the more tense you become, the less is the possibility of remembering it.
           Finally, you forget all about it, you start doing something else -- preparing a cup of tea or digging a
           hole in the garden -- and suddenly it is there because you were relaxed, you had forgotten all about
           it, there was no tension. It surfaced.
                A tense mind becomes narrow. A relaxed mind becomes wide -- many more memories can pass
           through it. A tense mind becomes so narrow that only very few memories can pass through it.
                But for thousands of years a misunderstanding has continued, and it continues still, as if memory
           is intelligence. It is not.
                You will find people who have a great memory but no intelligence, and you can also find people
           who have great intelligence and no memory at all.
                It is said about Thomas Alva Edison... perhaps he is the only man who is credited with at least
           one thousand inventions, but his memory was nil.
                In the first world war he was standing in a queue to receive his ration card. Ration cards had
           come into existence for the first time. By and by the queue became smaller and smaller, and finally
           he came to the front and the clerk shouted, "Thomas Alva Edison!" -- he looked here and there,
           because he had forgotten his name. Because it was long, long ago... when his father and mother were
           alive, they used to call him by name. Now he was so well known, such a great scientist, a great
           professor -- nobody used his name, people called him `Professor'. He himself had forgotten.
                Fortunately, one man in the queue behind him recognized that this fellow looked like Thomas
           Alva Edison, who was standing in front and looking here and there.
           And the man said, "What is your name?"
                Edison said, "My God, I will have to go home and ask my wife."
                The man said, "As far as I know, you are Thomas Alva Edison."
                Edison said, "It seems I have heard this name somewhere before. Perhaps I am. If nobody else
           claims it, then that card is mine."
                He was such a great intelligence. You cannot find many more people of that intelligence.
                But, going for a lecture tour, before getting into the car, he said goodbye to his wife and kissed
           her and waved at her maidservant. And the wife said, "You are absolutely wrong; I am your
           maidservant and she is your wife!"
                He said, "The whole day I am so engaged in the experiments -- I only come home at night. It is a
           long time since I have seen my wife in the sunlight, so please forgive me -- whichever is my wife, I
           kiss her, and whichever is my maidservant, I wave to her. But let me go, because the train is standing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           at the platform."
           Absolutely no memory.
                His wife used to keep notes of his thoughts... because sometimes he would come to a thought,
           but it was incomplete. And before he forgot it, he would tell somebody, whoever was close by,
           "Please write it down and keep it for me. Whenever I need it, just remind me -- because half is
           missing. It will come, but my fear is that when the other half comes, this half may be lost."
                Somebody suggested, "You are behaving strangely. Why don't you keep a notebook?"
                He said, "That is the trouble. I have been keeping notebooks, but then I go on forgetting where I
           have put them. Then the notebook becomes the problem! This is far better. At least somebody is
           responsible for the half thought and he will remind me: `This is half your thought. If the other half
           has come to your mind, take this and relieve me of the burden.'"
                In India -- as in Arabia, China, Greece, Rome, in all old countries -- all the old languages depend
           on memory, not on intelligence. You can become a great Sanskrit scholar without a bit of
           intelligence -- no need for intelligence, just your memory has to be perfect. Just like a parrot... the
           parrot does not understand what he is saying, but he can say it absolutely correctly, with the right
           pronunciation. You can teach him whatever you want. All old languages depend on memory.
                And the whole educational system of the world depends on memory. In the examinations, they
           don't ask the student something that will show his intelligence but something that will show his
           memory, how much he remembers from textbooks. This is one of the reasons for your retarded mind.
           You have used the memory as if it were your intelligence -- a tremendously grave misunderstanding.
           Because you know and remember and you can quote scriptures, you start thinking that you are
           grown up, you are mature, that you are knowledgeable, you are wise.
           This is the problem, Pankaja, that you are feeling.
                I am not a man of memory. And my effort here is to provoke a challenge in you so that you start
           moving towards your intelligence.
           It is of no use how much you remember.
                What is significant is how much you have experienced yourself.
                And for experiencing the inner world, you need great intelligence -- memory is of no help. Yes,
           if you want to be a scholar, a professor, a pundit, you can memorize scriptures and you can have a
           great pride that you know so much. And other people will also think that you know so much, and
           deep down your memory is nothing but ignorance.
           In front of me, you cannot hide your ignorance.
                In every possible way, I try to bring your ignorance in front of you because the sooner you get
           hold of your ignorance, the sooner you can get rid of it. And to know is such a beautiful experience
           that the borrowed knowledge, in comparison, is just idiotic.
                I have heard about the archbishop of Japan. He wanted to convert a Zen master to Christianity.
           Not knowing, not understanding anything of the inner world, he went to the master. He was received
           with great love and respect.
                He opened the BIBLE he carried with him and started reading the Sermon on the Mount. He
           wanted to impress upon the Zen master that..."We follow this man. What do you think about these
           words, about this man?"
                He had read only two sentences and the Zen master said, "That will do. You are following a good
           man, but he was following other good men. Neither you know nor does he know. Just go home."
                He was very much shocked. He said, "You should at least let me finish the whole thing."
                He said, "No nonsense here. If you know something, you say it. Close the book! -- because we
           are not believers in books. You are carrying the very truth in your being, and you are searching in
           dead books. Go home and look within. If you have found something inside, then come. If you think
           these lines that you have repeated to me are from Jesus Christ, you are wrong."
                Jesus Christ was simply repeating the Old Testament. He was trying his whole life to convince
           people that "I am the last prophet of the Jews." He had never heard the word `Christian', he had
           never heard the word `Christ'. He was born a Jew, he lived a Jew, he died a Jew. And his whole
           effort was to convince the Jews that "I am the awaited prophet, the savior which Moses has
           promised. I have come."
                The Jews could have forgiven him... Jews are not bad people. And Jews are not violent people
           either. Nobody who is as intelligent as the Jews are can be violent. Forty percent of Nobel prizes go
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to Jews; it is simply out of all proportion to their population. Almost half the Nobel prizes go to
           Jews, and the other half to the rest of the world.
                Such intelligent people would not have crucified Jesus if he was saying something which was of
           his own experience. But he was saying things which were not his experience -- all borrowed. And
           yet he was pretending that they were his. Jews could not forgive that, that dishonesty.
                Otherwise, Jesus was not creating any trouble for anybody. He was a little bit of a nuisance. Just
           like the Witnesses of Jehovah or the Hare Krishna people; they are a little bit of a nuisance. If they
           catch hold of you they will not listen to you at all and they will go on giving you all kinds of
           wisdom, advice -- and you are not interested; you are going for some other work, you want to be left
           alone. But they are determined to save you. Whether you want to be saved or not does not matter --
           you have to be saved.
                It happened that I was sitting near the Ganges in Allahabad, and it was just as the sun was
           setting. A man started shouting from the water, "Save me! Save me!"
                I am not interested in saving anybody. So I looked all around... if somebody is interested in
           saving him, let him have the first chance. But there was nobody, so finally I had to jump.
                And with difficulty... he was a heavy man, fat. The fattest men in India you will find in
           Allahabad and Varanasi -- the brahmins, the Hindu priests, who do nothing except eat.
                Somehow I pulled him out. And he started being angry -- "Why did you pull me out?"
                I said, "This is something! You were asking for help, you were shouting, `Save me!'"
                He said, "It was because I was becoming afraid of death. But in fact I was committing suicide."
                I said, "I am sorry, I had no idea that you were committing suicide."
                I pushed the man back! And he started shouting again, "Help!"
                I said, "Now wait for somebody else to come. I will sit here and watch you commit suicide."
           He said, "What kind of man are you? I am dying!"
           I said, "Die! That is your business!"
           But there are people who are bent upon saving you.
                The Zen master said to the archbishop, "Jesus was repeating old prophets. You are repeating
           Jesus. Repetition is not going to help anybody. You need your own experience -- that is the only
           deliverance, the only liberation."
                Pankaja, it is good that you are understanding that your mind starts behaving like a child,
           immature. Remember also who is watching the child, the immature mind, and be with the watcher.
           Pull out all your attachments from the mind -- because the mind is only a mechanism -- and the mind
           will start functioning perfectly well. Once your watcher is alert, your intelligence starts growing for
           the first time.
                Mind's work is memory, which the mind can do very well. But the mind has been burdened by
           the society with intelligence, which is not its work. It has crippled its memory. It has not made you
           more intelligent, it has simply made your memory erroneous, fallible.
                Always remember: your eyes are for seeing, don't try to listen with the eyes. Your ears are for
           listening, don't try to see with the ears. Otherwise, you will get into an insane state. While your eyes
           are perfectly alright, your ears are perfectly alright, you are trying to do something with a
           mechanism that is not meant to do it.
                If your watcher is clear, then the body does its own functions, the mind does its own functions,
           the heart does its own functions. Nobody interferes in each others' work.
           And life becomes a harmony, an orchestra.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DO I ALWAYS FEEL SO MISERABLE? HAVE I EVER REALLY LET YOU IN? THE MOMENT I
              SIT IN FRONT OF YOU, ALL IS GONE. WHAT IS HAPPENING? CAN'T YOU TAKE IT ALL AWAY?


              The answer is in your question. You don't want to take responsibility for your own being,
           somebody else should do it.
           And that's the sole cause of misery.
              There is no way that anybody else can take away your misery. There is no way that anybody else
           can make you blissful. But if you become aware that you are responsible for whether you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           miserable or blissful.... Nobody else can do anything. Your misery is your doing; your bliss will also
           be your doing.
               But it is hard to accept -- misery is my doing?
               Everybody feels that others are responsible for his misery. The husband thinks the wife is
           responsible for his misery, the wife thinks the husband is responsible for her misery, the children
           think the parents are responsible for their misery, the parents think the children are responsible for
           their misery. It has become such a complexity. And whenever somebody else is responsible for your
           misery, you are not aware that by giving the responsibility you are losing your freedom.
               Responsibility and freedom are two sides of the same coin.
               And because you think others are responsible for your misery.... That's why there are charlatans,
           so-called saviors, messengers of God, prophets who go on telling you, "You have not to do anything,
           just follow me. Believe in me and I will save you. I am your shepherd, you are my sheep."
               Strange, that not a single person stood up against people like Jesus Christ and said, "This is
           utterly insulting to say that you are the shepherd and we are sheep, and you are the savior and we are
           just dependent on your compassion, that our whole religion is just to believe in you." But because we
           have been throwing the responsibility for our misery on others, we have accepted the corollary that
           bliss will also come from others.
               Naturally, if misery comes from others, then bliss has to come from others. But then what are you
           doing? You are neither responsible for misery nor are you responsible for bliss -- then what is your
           function? What is your purpose? -- just to be a target for a few people to make you miserable and for
           others to help you and save you and make you blissful? Are you just a puppet?
               All the strings are in the hands of others. You are not respectful of your humanity; you do not
           respect yourself. You don't have any love for your own being, for your own freedom.
               If you are respectful of your life, you will refuse all the saviors. You will say to all the saviors,
           "Get lost! Just save yourself, that's enough. It is our life and we have to live it. If we do something
           wrong, we will suffer the misery; we will accept the consequences of our wrong action without any
           complaint."
               Perhaps that is the way one learns: by falling, one gets up again; by going astray, one comes back
           again. You commit a mistake. But each mistake makes you more intelligent; you will not commit the
           same mistake again. If you commit the same mistake again, that means you are not learning. You are
           not using your intelligence, you are behaving like a robot.
               My whole effort is to give back to every human being the self-respect that belongs to him --
           which he has given to just anybody.
               And the whole stupidity starts because you are not ready to accept that, for your misery, you are
           responsible.
               Just think: you cannot find a single misery for which you are not responsible. It may be jealousy,
           it may be anger, it may be greed -- but something in you must be the reason that is creating the
           misery.
               And have you seen anybody in the world ever making anybody else blissful? That too depends
           on you, on your silence, your love, your peace, your trust. And the miracle happens -- nobody does
           it.
               In Tibet, there is a beautiful story about Marpa. It may not be factual, but it is tremendously
           significant.
               I don't care much about facts. My emphasis is on the significance and the truth, which is a totally
           different thing.
               Marpa heard about a master. He was searching and he went to the master, he surrendered to the
           master, he trusted totally. And he asked the master, "What am I supposed to do now?"
               The master said, "Once you have surrendered to me, you are not supposed to do anything. Just
           believe in me. My name is the only secret mantra for you. Whenever you are in difficulty, just
           remember my name and everything will be all right."
               Marpa touched his feet. And he tried it immediately -- he was such a simple man. He walked on
           the river. Other disciples who had been with the master for years could not believe it -- he was
           walking on the water!
               They reported to the master that, "That man, you have not understood him. He is no ordinary
           man, he is walking on water!"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The master said, "What?"
                They all ran towards the river and Marpa was walking on the water, singing songs, dancing.
           When he came to the shore, the master asked, "What is the secret?"
                He said, "What is the secret? It is the same secret that you have given to me -- your name. I
           remembered you. I said, `Master, allow me to walk on water' and it happened."
                The master could not believe that his name.... He himself could not walk on water. But perhaps...
           he had never tried.
                But it would be better to check a few more things before he tries. So he said to Marpa, "Can you
           jump from that hill?"
                Marpa said, "Whatever you say." He went up on the hill and jumped, and they were all standing
           in the valley waiting -- just pieces of Marpa will be there! Even if they can find pieces of him, that
           will be enough -- the hill was very high.
                But Marpa came down smiling, sitting in a lotus posture. He came just under a tree in the valley,
           and sat down. They all surrounded him. They looked at him -- not even a scratch.
                The master said, "This is something. You used my name?"
           He said, "It was your name."
                The master said, "This is enough, now I am going to try," and the first step in the water, he sank.
                Marpa could not believe it when he sank. His disciples jumped in and somehow pulled him out.
           He was half dead. The water was taken out of his lungs... somehow he survived.
           And Marpa said, "What is the matter?"
                The master said, "You just forgive me. I am no master, I am just a pretender."
                But Marpa said, "If you are a pretender, then how did your name work?"
                The pretender said, "My name has not worked. It is your trust. It does not matter who you trust --
           it is the trust, the love, the totality of it. I don't trust myself. I don't trust anybody. I cheat everybody
           -- how can I trust? And I am always afraid to be cheated by others, because I am cheating others.
           Trust is impossible for me. You are an innocent man, you trusted me. It is because of your trust that
           the miracles have happened."
           Whether the story is true or not does not matter.
                One thing is certain, that your misery is caused by your mistakes and your bliss is caused by your
           trust, by your love.
                Your bondage is your creation and your freedom is your declaration.
           You are asking me, "Why am I miserable?"
                You are miserable because you have not accepted the responsibility for it. Just see what your
           misery is, find out the cause -- and you will find the cause within yourself. Remove the cause, and
           the misery will disappear.
                But people don't want to remove the cause, they want to remove the misery. That is impossible,
           that is absolutely unscientific.
           And then you ask me to save you, to help you.
                There is no need for you to become a beggar. My people are not to become beggars. My people
           are not sheep, my people are emperors.
                Accept your responsibility for misery, and you will find that just hidden inside you are all the
           causes of bliss, freedom, joy, enlightenment, immortality.
                No savior is needed. And there has never been any savior; all saviors are pseudo. They have been
           worshipped because you always wanted somebody to save you. They have always appeared because
           they were always in demand, and wherever there is a demand, there is a supply.
                Once you depend on others, you are losing your soul.
                You are forgetting that you have a consciousness as universal as anybody else's, that you have a
           consciousness as great as any Gautam Buddha's -- you are just not aware of it, you have not looked
           for it. And you have not looked because you are looking at others -- somebody else to save you,
           somebody else to help you. So you go on begging without recognizing that this whole kingdom is
           yours.
                This has to be understood as one of the most basic principles of sannyas -- a declaration of
           self-respect and freedom and responsibility.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE SADHANA BASED ON HOLDING AS MUCH AS
              POSSIBLE TO THE "I" THOUGHT OR THE SENSE "I AM" AND ON ASKING ONESELF THE
              QUESTIONS, "WHO AM I?" OR "FROM WHERE DOES THIS `I' ARISE?" IN WHAT WAY DOES
              THIS APPROACH TO MEDITATION DIFFER FROM THAT OF WATCHING THE GAPS BETWEEN
              ONE'S IN-BREATH AND OUT-BREATH? DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE WHETHER ONE
              WITNESSES THE BREATH FOCUSING ON THE HEART CENTER OR ON THE LOWER BELLY
              CENTER?


                It is an ancient method of meditation, but full of dangers.
                Unless you are alert, the greater possibility is that you will be led astray by the method rather
           than to the right goal.
                The method is simple -- concentrating yourself on the concept of I, closing your eyes and
           inquiring, "Who am I?"
                The greatest problem is that when you ask "Who am I"... who is going to answer you? Most
           probably the answer will come from your tradition, from your scriptures, from your conditioning.
                You have heard that "I am not the body, I am not the mind. I am the soul, I am the ultimate,
           brahma, I am God" -- all these kinds of thoughts you have heard before.
                You will ask a few times, "Who am I? Who am I?" -- and then you will say, "I am ultimate,
           BRAHMA." And this is not a discovery, this is simply stupid.
                If you want to go rightly into the method, then the question has not to be verbally asked. "Who
           am I?" has not to be repeated verbally. Because as long as it remains a verbal question, you will
           supply a verbal answer from the head.
                You have to drop the verbal question. It has to remain just a vague idea, just like a thirst. Not that
           "I am thirsty," -- can you see the difference? When you are thirsty, you feel the thirst.
                And if you are in a desert, you feel the thirst in every fiber of your body. You don't say, "I am
           thirsty, I am thirsty." It is no longer a linguistic question, it is existential.
                If "Who am I?" is an existential question, if you are not asking it in language but instead the
           feeling of the question is settling inside your center, then there is no need for any answer. Then it is
           none of the mind's business.
                The mind will not hear that which is non-verbal, and the mind will not answer that which is
           non-verbal.
                All your scriptures are in the mind, all your knowledge is gathered there.
                Now you are entering an innocent space. You will not get the answer. You will get the feel, you
           will get the taste, you will get the smell.
                As you go deeper, you will be filled more with the feeling of being, of immortality, blissfulness,
           silence... a tremendous benediction.
                But there is no answer like, "I am this, I am that." All that is from the scriptures. This feeling is
           from you, and this feeling has a truth about it.
           It is a perfectly valid method.
                One of the great masters of this century, Raman Maharshi, used only this method for his
           disciples: "Who am I?" But I have come across hundreds of his disciples -- they are nowhere near the
           ultimate experience. And the reason is because they know the answer already.
           I have asked them, "Do you know the answer?"
           They said, "We know the answer."
                I said, "If you know the answer, then why are you asking? And your asking cannot go on very
           long -- do it two or three times and the answer comes. The answer was already there, before the
           question."
                So it is just a mind game. If you want to play it, you can play it. But if you really want to go into
           it as it was meant by Raman Maharshi, and by all the ancient seers, it is a non-verbal thirst.
                Not knowing oneself hurts, it is a wound. Not knowing oneself makes the whole of life
           meaningless. You may know everything, only you do not know yourself -- and that would be the
           first thing to know.
                So if you can avoid the danger of falling into a verbal question, it is perfectly good, you can go
           ahead.
                You have also asked about witnessing, watching the breath and where one should watch.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Anywhere -- because the question is not where you are watching, the question is that you are
           watching.
               The emphasis is on watching, watchfulness. All those points are just excuses. You can watch the
           breath at the tip of the nose where the breath goes in, you can watch it while it is going in, you can
           watch it when it returns -- you can watch it anywhere. You can watch thoughts moving inside. The
           whole point is not to get lost in what you are watching, as if that is important. That is not
           important....
               The important thing is that you are watchful, that you have not forgotten to watch, that you are
           watching... watching... watching.
               And slowly slowly, as the watcher becomes more and more solid, stable, unwavering, a
           transformation happens. The things that you were watching disappear.
               For the first time, the watcher itself becomes the watched, the observer itself becomes the
           observed.
           You have come home.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE NOT EXPECTED ANYTHING FROM YOU, YET YOU HAVE TRICKED ME AND GIVEN ME
              SOME BEAUTIFUL THINGS. IS THERE ANYTHING A SANNYASIN HAS TO ASK, OR DOES
              EVERYTHING HAPPEN ON ITS OWN?


               Everything happens on its own, but a sannyasin has to be alert not to miss the train.
               The train comes on its own, but you have to be alert. All around you so much is happening; in
           twenty-four hours... awake, asleep... you have to be watchful of what is happening. And the more
           you are alert, you will be surprised... the same things are happening that were happening before, but
           the meaning has changed, the significance is different.
               The roseflower is the same, but now it is radiant, surrounded by some new energy that you were
           not aware of before -- a new beauty. It seems you used to see only the outer side of the rose; now
           you are able to see its inner world. You used to watch the palace from the outside; now you have
           entered into its innermost chambers. You have seen the moon hundreds of times, but when you see it
           silently, peacefully, meditatively, you become aware of a beauty that you were not aware of before, a
           beauty that is not ordinarily available, for which you need to grow some insight.
           And in silence, in peace, that insight grows.
               It happened... a very significiant incident. One of the Indian poets, Rabindranath Tagore,
           translated one of his small books of poems, GITANJALI, "Offering of Songs." He was awarded the
           Nobel prize for that small book.
               In India it was available for at least fifteen years. But unless a book meets the international
           standards of language and gains international appreciation, it is difficult for it to get a Nobel prize.
               Rabindranath himself was a little worried, because he translated it and to translate poetry is
           always a very difficult affair. To translate prose is simple; to translate poetry is immensely difficult,
           because prose is of the marketplace and poetry is something of the world of love, of the world of
           beauty, of the world of moon and stars. It is a delicate affair.
               And every language has its own nuances which are almost untranslatable. Although the poet
           himself translated his own poetry, he was doubtful about the translation. So he showed it to one of
           the Christian missionaries, a very famous man of those days, C.F. Andrews -- a very literate,
           cultured, sophisticated man.
               Andrews suggested four changes. He said, "Everything else is right, but in four places it is not
           grammatically right."
               So Rabindranath simply accepted his advice, and changed those four places.
               In London, his friend, the Irish poet Yeats, called a meeting of English poets to hear the
           translation of Rabindranath. Everybody appreciated it. The beauty of it was something absolutely
           new to the Western world.
               But Yeats, who was the most prominent poet of England in those days, said, "Everything else is
           right, but in four places it seems that somebody who is not a poet has made some changes."
               Rabindranath could not believe it. He said, "Where are those four places?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Yeats pointed out the four places exactly.
           Rabindranath said, "What is wrong?"
                He said, "There is nothing wrong, they are grammatically correct. But poetically... whoever
           suggested them is a man who knows his grammar but does not know poetry. He is a man of the mind
           but not a man of the heart. The flow is obstructed, as if a river had come across a rock."
                Rabindranath told him, "I asked C.F. Andrews; these are his words. I will tell you the words that
           I put there before."
                And when he put his words in, Yeats said, "They are perfectly right although grammatically
           wrong. But grammar is not important. When it is a question of poetry, grammar is not important.
           You change it back, use your own words."
                I have always been thinking that there are ways of the mind, there are ways of the heart; they
           need not be supportive of each other. And if it happens that the mind is not in agreement with the
           heart, then the mind is wrong. Its agreement or disagreement does not matter. What matters is that
           your heart feels at ease, peaceful, silent, harmonious, at home.
                We are trained for the mind, so our mind is very articulate. And nobody takes any care of the
           heart. In fact, it is pushed aside by everybody because it is of no use in the marketplace, it is no use
           in the world of ambitions, no use in politics, no use in business.
                But with me, the situation is just the opposite -- the mind is of no use. The heart....
                Everything happens, just your heart has to be ready to receive it.
                Everything comes, but if your heart is closed.... The secret laws of life are such that the doors of
           your heart will not even be knocked on.
                Existence knows how to wait; it can wait for eternity.
           It all depends on you.
                Everything is ready to happen any moment. Just open all your doors, all your windows, so that
           existence can pour into you from every side. There is no other god than existence, and there is no
           other paradise than your very being.
                When existence pours into your being, paradise has entered into you -- or you have entered into
           paradise, just different ways of saying the same thing.
           But remember: nothing is expected of you.
                All the religions have been telling you for centuries that you have to do this, you have to do that.
           That you have to be a torturer of yourself, you have to renounce pleasures, you have to fight with
           your body, you have to renounce the world.
                The Buddhist scriptures have thirty-three thousand principles that a sannyasin should follow. It is
           almost impossible to remember them -- following them is out of the question.
                I don't have a single principle for you to follow; just a simple understanding that it is your life --
           enjoy it, allow it to sing a song in you, allow it to become a dance in you. You have nothing else to
           do but simply to be available.
           And flowers are going to shower on you.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                                 Chapter #10
                            Chapter title: I answer your questions just to kill them
           12 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610125
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 116 mins
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OBEYING THE MASTER AND FOLLOWING HIS
              GUIDANCE?


               The question is complex.
           In the first place, the master does not expect to be obeyed but to be understood.
           He does not give you guidelines either.
           In his presence, your loving heart finds them.
               It means that those who order and expect that their orders should be followed, complied with, are
           not authentic masters.
               The master is not a commander. He does not issue things like `Ten Commandments.' Certainly,
           he explains to you his experience, his realization, and then it is up to your intelligence to do
           whatever is right. It is not a direct order, it is an appeal to your intelligence.
               An order never cares about your intelligence, an order never wants you to understand anything.
           The basic purpose of all ordering of people is to reduce them into robots.
               All over the world, in every army, they are turning millions of people into machines -- of course,
           in such a way that you don't understand what is going on. Their methodology is very indirect.
               What does it mean that thousands of people every morning are marching, following orders --
           "Right turn, left turn, move forward, move backward" -- for what is all this circus going on? And for
           years it goes on. This is to destroy your intelligence.
               The strategy is that if for years continuously you go on following any kind of stupid thing,
           meaningless, every day in the morning, every day in the evening... And you are not supposed to ask
           why. You just have to do it, to do it as perfectly as possible; there is no need for you to understand
           why. And when a person goes through such a training for years, the natural effect is that he stops
           asking why. And why? -- because the questioning attitude is the very base of all intelligence.
               The moment you stop asking why, you have stopped growing as far as intelligence is concerned.
           It happened in the second world war....
               A retired army man... he had fought in the first world war, and he was honored well; he was a
           brave man. And now almost twenty-five years had passed. He had a small farm and lived silently.
               He was going from the farm to his house with a bucket full of eggs, and a few people in a
           restaurant, just jokingly, played a trick on the poor old army man. One of the men in the restaurant
           shouted, "Attention!" and the man dropped the bucket and stood in the position of attention.
               It had been twenty-five years since he had gone through the training. But the training had gone
           into the bones, into the blood, into the marrow; it had become part of the unconscious. He
           completely forgot what he was doing -- it happened almost autonomously, mechanically.
               He was very angry. But those people said, "Your anger is not right, because we can call out any
           word we want. Who is telling you to follow it?"
               He said, "It is too late for me to decide whether to follow it or not to follow it. My whole mind
           functions like a machine. Those twenty-five years simply disappeared. `Attention' only means
           `attention'. You destroyed my eggs. I am a poor man."
               But this is being done all over the world. And not only today; from the very beginning armies
           have been trained not to use intelligence, but to follow orders.
               You have to understand one thing very clearly: that to follow an order and to understand a thing
           are two diametrically opposite things. If, by understanding, your intelligence feels satisfied and you
           do something out of that, you are not following an order from the outside; you are following your
           own intelligence.
               And an authentic master is not your commander. He loves you, and he wants you to be more
           understanding, more intelligent, more capable of finding your way, more insightful, more intuitive.
           This cannot be done by orders.
               I am reminded of another incident in the first world war. In Berlin, one German professor of
           logic was recruited into the army. There was a shortage of soldiers, and everybody who was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           physically able was asked to volunteer. Otherwise, they were forcing people to go to the army....
               Because all the societies, all the nations, all the cultures, have taken it for granted that the
           individuals exist for them, not vice-versa. To me, just the opposite is the case: the society exists for
           the individual, the culture exists for the individual, the nation exists for the individual. Everything
           can be sacrificed, but the individual cannot be sacrificed for anything.
               Individuality is the very flowering of existence -- nothing is higher than it.
               But no culture, no society, no civilization is ready to accept a simple truth.
               The professor was forced. He said, "I am not a man who can fight. I can argue, I am a logician. If
           you need somebody to argue with the enemies, I am ready, but fighting is not my business. It is
           barbarous to fight."
               But nobody listened, and finally he was brought to the parade grounds. The parade started, and
           the commander said, "Left turn." Everybody turned left, but the professor remained standing as he
           was standing.
               The commander was a little worried: "What is the matter? Perhaps the man is deaf." So he
           shouted loudly, "Now turn to the left again!" All the people turned to the left again, but that man
           remained standing as if he had not heard anything.
               Forward, backward... all the orders were given and everybody followed. That man remained just
           standing in his place.
               He was a well-known professor; even the commander knew him. He could not be treated just like
           any other soldier, he had a certain respect. Finally, when the parade ended and everybody came back
           to the same line from where they had started, the commander went to the professor and asked, "Is
           there some problem with your ears? Can't you hear?"
           He said, "I can hear."
               "But then," the commander said, "why did you remain standing? Why did you not follow the
           orders?"
               He said, "What is the point? When everybody finally has to come back to the same state, after all
           this movement going forward and backward, left and right, what have they gained?"
               The commander said, "It is not a question of gaining, it is a training!"
               But he said, "I don't need any training. This kind of stupid thing... You come to the same place
           after doing all kinds of stupid things, which I don't see any point in. Can you explain to me why I
           should turn left and not right?"
               The commander said, "Strange, no soldier asks such questions."
               The professor said, "I am not a soldier, I am a professor. I have been forced to be here, but you
           cannot force me to do things against my intelligence."
               The commander went to the higher authorities and said, "What to do with this man? He may
           spoil other people -- because everybody is laughing at me, and everybody is saying, `Professor, you
           did great!' I cannot tackle that man. He asks... each thing has to be explained: `Unless I understand it,
           unless my intelligence supports it, I am not going to do it.'"
               The commander in chief said, "I know the man. He is a great logician. His whole life's training is
           in questioning everything. I will take care of him, you don't be worried."
               He called the professor to his office and said, "I am sorry, but we cannot do anything. You have
           been recruited; the country needs soldiers. But I will give you some work which will not create any
           difficulty for you and will not create any difficulty for others. You come with me to the army mess."
               He took the professor there, and showed him a big pile of green peas. He told the professor, "You
           do one thing: sit down here. You have to sort out the big peas on one side, the small peas on the
           other side. And after one hour I will come to see how things are progressing."
               After one hour he came back. The professor was sitting there and the peas were also sitting there,
           in the same place. He said, "What is the matter? You have not even started."
               He said, "For the first and for the last time, I want you all to understand that unless you explain
           to me... Why should I sort out the peas? My intelligence feels insulted by you. Am I an idiot, to sort
           the peas? What is the need? Moreover, there are other problems. Sitting here, I thought that perhaps
           there is some need, but there are questions which have to be decided: there are peas which are big
           and there are peas which are small, but there are peas of many other sizes. Where are they going to
           go? You have not given me any criterion."
               A mystery school, a spiritual path, is not the path of a soldier.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Here, orders are prohibited.
               Here, only intelligence is appealed to. The decision is always on your part.
               It is only the phony masters who give you orders, because they cannot satisfy your intelligence.
           An authentic master is perfectly capable to satisfy your intelligence, and then leave it up to you. It is
           your life, and the final decision has to be made not by anyone else other than you. You have to take
           the responsibility on your own shoulders. So there are no orders as far as true masters are concerned.
           You have also asked about guidelines.
               People have been told such nonsense for centuries -- as if spirituality is a kind of geography, so
           that maps are given to you, guidelines are provided to you: Follow the right guidelines and you will
           reach the goal.
           Alas, things are not so cheap.
               There are no maps in existence; no solid guidelines either, because each individual is so unique
           that what may be a guideline for one may prove a distraction for another; what may be medicine to
           one may prove poison to another.
           Individuals are so different.
               And if a master cannot understand the difference of individuals, their unique qualities, talents,
           geniuses, then who is going to understand?
           No general guidelines can be provided.
               The master simply goes on dropping all kinds of hints. Remember my word `hints' -- not
           guidelines. And you have to choose whatever suits you, and you have to experiment to see whether it
           is workable for you or not. If it works, go on deeper into it; if it does not work, don't feel guilty. You
           have not committed any sin, you have simply failed in an experiment.
               With a master, life becomes a scientific experiment. It is no more a question of heaven and hell,
           punishment and reward. It is a question of exploration.
           And each individual has to explore in his own way.
               There are no golden rules: this is the only golden rule there is.
               There is no superhighway with milestones telling you how far you are from the goal. In the
           spiritual exploration, you have to walk and create your path by your walking; there is no ready-made
           path so that you have simply to walk on it.
               And my feeling is that this is tremendously blissful and ecstatic. You are not like railway trains.
           Running on rails, you cannot run into the jungles, into the mountains, anywhere you like. The
           railway train is a prisoner.
               But a river is not a prisoner. It also travels long. It may be coming thousands of miles, from the
           Himalayas, and it reaches finally to the ocean -- with no map, with no guidelines, with no guides,
           and nobody on the way to whom the river can inquire, "Which way am I to go now?"... because each
           step is a crossroad.
               But strangely enough, every river reaches to the ocean with great freedom, finding its own path.
               The master can only give you certain hints about how to find your path. He can give you certain
           indications whether you have found it or not, can give you certain criteria to judge whether you are
           moving towards the goal or away from the goal. But he does not give you guidelines. In the very
           nature of things, it is not possible.
               The moment you have found a master, you have found the path.
               And who is the master? -- not one who fulfills your mind expectations. A Christian mind has
           Christian expectations, a Hindu mind has Hindu expectations, a Buddhist mind has Buddhist
           expectations.
               A master is one who fulfills the longing of your heart.
               It has nothing to do with the mind. It is a love affair.
               You simply find that you are in love. You simply find that your heart feels at home, at ease, that
           your heart has found a treasure, feels a tremendous benediction. And as you come closer to the
           master -- in your love, in your trust -- your peace deepens; your silence becomes not something dead,
           the silence of a graveyard, but something singing and dancing, alive.
               The more you are moving towards your life's fulfillment, the more your life becomes a rejoicing,
           a deep joy for no reason at all, a blissfulness so deep and so abundant that you can start sharing it
           with others. In fact, you have to share it with others because it is overflowing, you cannot contain it.
               For the first time, you are small and your bliss is infinite.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               These are the indications that you are moving towards home.
           Your ecstasies go on growing deeper and higher.
               And if you are moving away, you will become more miserable, more sad, more saintly, more
           Christian, more Hindu, more Jaina -- all kinds of diseases. More knowledgeable... but inside, more
           and more empty; a beggar living by a thin thread of hope that somewhere in the other life,
           somewhere in the other world, you will be rewarded for all your sadness, your long British faces.
               Saints don't laugh. They have fallen below humanity, because only human beings laugh.
           Buffaloes don't laugh, donkeys don't laugh -- they all belong to the categories of the saints and sages.
           Perhaps these fellows -- donkeys and buffaloes -- may have been great sages in their past lives and
           now they are getting their reward. Don't misbehave with them. Be respectful. One never knows.
               But as far as I am concerned, your sense of humor, your laughter will become deeper as you
           grow in consciousness. You will become more playful in life.
               So there are neither orders nor guidelines, but only vague hints, indications, and a constant effort
           to sharpen your intelligence so that you can find your way. And when you have found, you have the
           courage to burst into songs, into dances, into rejoicings.
               That's the function of the master: to make you more intelligent and more courageous, more
           loving, more understanding. But there are no orders, no disciplines, no guidelines.
               Orders, disciplines, guidelines -- these have been used by people who wanted to dominate you,
           by people who wanted to dictate their terms, to enforce their ideas on other people's lives. I call all
           such people great criminals. To impose your idea on somebody, to give some ideal, some mold, is
           violence, sheer violence. You are being destructive, and a master cannot do that.
           A master is always creative.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM HAVING QUESTIONS COMING TO ME. I WRITE THEM DOWN AND READ THEM OVER.
              MEDITATING AGAIN, I OFTEN GET THE ANSWER, AND COINCIDENTALLY, MANY TIMES THE
              SAME QUESTION IS READ OUT TO YOU IN THE DISCOURSE OR AT THE VIDEO THAT NIGHT.
              EVEN IF IT IS FROM SOMEONE ELSE, I FEEL THAT IT IS MY QUESTION, AND I FEEL AS IF I AM
              BEING ANSWERED.
              BELOVED MASTER, CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


                It is a fallacy that any question is yours.
           It is just an old habit of possessiveness -- the house is mine, the wife is mine, the child is mine, even
           the question is mine.
                All human beings are potentially capable of all the questions that any one of you can ask,
           because all questions come out of your insane mind and you are all equally insane.
                There are only a few things in which you are equal -- insanity is one of them. Only once in a
           while somebody is more insane than others; then he is caught.
                And the whole function of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists is not to destroy insanity
           -- they cannot; they don't have any understanding about what sanity is. All that they can do is that
           when somebody has gone a little ahead of the average insane humanity, they can pull him back: "Just
           be normal." "Just be normal" means "Just be normally insane; don't try to be abnormal."
           Abnormally insane people are thought to be mad.
                Normally insane people -- because they are the only kind of people there are -- raise no
           questions, no problems, although they are full of the same problems as the mad people. But the
           difference is of quantity.
                Just sit down in your room, close all the doors and lock them from inside and write down on your
           pad anything that goes on in your mind. Don't do any kind of editing work; simply go on writing
           whatever comes into your mind. And you will be surprised -- after ten minutes, read it, and you will
           be shocked -- is it written by you or by some insane person? What kind of nonsense, what rubbish
           goes on and on in your mind?
                It is said that God made the world. There are many people who prove that there are so many
           mistakes in the world... it cannot be made by God. A perfect God cannot make such an imperfect
           world.
                But on one point I have a soft spot for him: he has not made small windows in your head through
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           which others can look inside at what is going on. Otherwise, it would have been such a perfect world
           -- just little windows, so at least your friends can just have a look at what is going on. And they will
           be surprised that on the face nothing shows, and inside this man is carrying such garbage. And it
           goes on, round and round, twenty-four hours a day.
                In my meditation camps I used to have a special meditation: the meditation was that for one hour,
           everybody was to sit relaxed and say whatsoever came to his mind -- just to become a spokesman of
           his own mind, just a loudspeaker -- and to do whatever he felt like doing, no inhibition, for one hour.
           And it was such a joy, and people were doing such great things! Such good people... you would have
           never imagined.
                One man... I would never have thought that he would do this: he was continuously phoning, just
           sitting in front of me. And he was a man of the age of nearabout sixty, a rich man, continuously
           phoning -- "Hello, hello!" Later on I discovered that that's what he did; his whole business was the
           share market.
                And he used to sit just in front of me, so once in a while he would look at me and smile because
           he would see that what he was doing was not right, what he was talking was nonsense. But what to
           do? -- this was the meditation one had to do!
                Jayantibhai is sitting here. One of his friends -- they are old friends, they are still friends, and
           very deeply related -- simply stood up and started pushing his car down the hill. It was the car in
           which I used to come to the camp, and he was going to push Jayantibhai's car down the hill -- it
           would be finished! And he was his great friend. I had to tell a few people, "Stop your meditation.
           Just catch hold of that man; otherwise that car is finished. And he knows it is his friend's car, and he
           knows that I will need it, that I have to go..."
                Somehow he was taken away from the car, but he was so angry that in his anger he climbed up
           the tree that was just in the middle where all the meditators were sitting, and he started throwing his
           clothes from there, became naked. He is such a serious, silent person -- you cannot imagine that he
           can do such things. And it was such a difficulty to bring him down: "The meditation is finished, you
           come down," but he wouldn't listen, it was too difficult for him to come out of the meditation.
                These things go on in the mind, but you don't do them.
                Finally I had to stop that meditation, because it was dangerous. It was very beautiful to throw out
           your garbage, it was very cleansing, but it was dangerous -- people may start hitting each other.
                It happened in one place. People were meditating, and one sardarji started hitting... not that
           anybody was his enemy or anything. He made such long jumps to hit people that the whole of the
           grounds were empty; all the meditators were standing around the edge of the grounds, and the
           sardarji was alone inside.
                I said, "Sardarji, now sit down. Everybody is gone."
                He said, "What came over me? -- because I am not a violent man." And the people of his town
           also reported, that "He is a very good man. What came to his mind?"
                I said, "It must have been coming to his mind every day; it is just that the chance was not there.
           Today he got a chance. He alone finished all the meditators!" and there were at least five hundred
           people.
                I asked him later on, "Did you not realize what you were doing?"
                He said, "I realized that what I was doing was not right, and that these people have done no harm
           to me. Most of them are unknown to me. But from my very childhood, I have had dreams of beating
           people, cutting their heads. Even in the day, when I close my eyes I have always had this: that I
           alone am enough for hundreds of people. You have seen it yourself -- five hundred people, great
           meditators, all forgot their meditation."
           I said, "And do you think you are sane?"
                He said, "That's what I have been asking after your meditation! This thing is in my mind... any
           day, something goes wrong, goes beyond my control and I will be insane. Insanity is there, it is just
           repressed."
                There are only two kinds of people in the world: normally insane people and abnormally insane
           people.
                One man became mad... and mad people are very inventive because they don't have any fear of
           anybody; no question of respectability, no question of what others will think about them. They
           become very fearless, and they start doing their thing, what they had always wanted to do but were
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suppressing.
                This man had this idea that some strange, slimy creature was rolling all over him, and the whole
           day he was throwing it off of himself. His family said, "What are you doing? -- because we don't see
           any slimy creature or anything."
                He said, "You cannot see it. I was also in your situation before; I had suspicions about it but I
           had never seen it. Now it seems my third eye has opened. I can see it!" and he would go on throwing
           it off.
                They said, "You are just... are you going to the business, to the office, or not?"
                He said, "How can I go? And it is so disgusting -- it crawls on my face, it goes on into my hair...
           I cannot go anywhere."
                So finally they took him to the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said, "Don't be worried, I have seen
           such cases. You come here and sit."
                He sat there, and he was continuously throwing off the creature. The psychiatrist said, "There is
           nothing; you just have an idea, you have become obsessed with an idea."
           He says, "Obsessed? I will show you."
                He took his chair close to the psychiatrist. And the psychiatrist said, "What are you doing?"
                And the man started throwing his creatures onto him, and the psychiatrist said, "Stop! Don't
           throw those creatures on me! What kind of fellow are you? Have you come here for treatment or
           have you come here to make me sick also? What a disgusting fellow!"
           He said, "Now you see, it is not an idea."
                He said, "I do understand, it is not an idea. I can see them; it seems my third eye is also opening!
           You just don't come again. You can try another psychiatrist; he lives just opposite me. He is my
           enemy, and when I find cases like you, I send them to him. But you forgive me -- this is your fee,
           you take it back. But don't drop your creatures here! Take them to the other psychiatrist -- that is the
           office -- every day. And if you want something, I will pay your fee. Whatever fee you have to give to
           the psychiatrist, I will give to you. But open his third eye just the way you have opened mine. You
           are great -- there are yogis who are trying hard to open their third eyes and nothing opens, and within
           minutes you have opened my third eye."
                And as the man was going out, he looked back. The psychiatrist was throwing off those
           creatures.
                Everybody is in the same boat. Just a few are sitting in the middle, a few are sitting at the very
           edge, can fall into the river easily.
           It is not your question. No question is yours.
                Remember, all questions come out of your normal insanity.
                So when you hear that somebody else has asked your question, don't be puzzled.
                These are the same slimy creatures -- it is not your monopoly. They also have their own.
                If you remain silent, you will find that every question that has ever bothered you is being asked
           by somebody else, by someone else -- because we are not islands; we are all connected, we are one
           continent. And we are continuously broadcasting our ideas, even without saying anything to anybody
           sitting by our side. Neither are you trying to say something to him, nor is he trying to listen to you,
           but those ideas are radiating.
                It is something to be understood: that most of your ideas are just uninvited guests which you pick
           up just from anywhere. They are in the air, and once they get into your head you think, "It is my
           idea."
                And if you listen carefully, every answer is for you. Even if the question was not yours, even if
           you were not able to recognize any resemblance of the question to any question in your mind, the
           answer is certainly for you -- as it is for everybody else.
                Because my work is not what you call retail; it is wholesale.
                Now, if I go on doing retail work, it will be too big a job in too small a life; I cannot help many
           people.
                I do a wholesale job. My answer is for you, whether you have asked or not. Perhaps you may ask
           tomorrow or the day after tomorrow; just wait -- but remember the answer. The question will come.
           The question may be coming, already arising from your unconscious layers; it has just not reached in
           time. So you keep the answer; the question is bound to come.
                I am answering your questions just to kill them, just to destroy them, so that I can help you to go
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beyond questions and beyond answers into a state of silence where there is no question and no
           answer.
              That space is the space of all miracles, of all mysteries.
           That magical space I call true religion.
           To enter into it is to be a religious person.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN SITTING HERE WITH YOU, I TRY TO WATCH AND TO BE AS AWARE AS POSSIBLE. MY
              MIND RUNS ON, WONDERING IF THIS SPACE IS RIGHT, WHETHER I SHOULD BE THE
              WATCHER OR BE LOST INTO YOU. AT THE SAME TIME, I TRY TO RELAX AND IGNORE ALL
              THIS.
              SOMEHOW, DESPITE ALL THESE GYMNASTICS, A MOMENT COMES WHEN MELTING
              HAPPENS, AND I BECOME SO SOFT AND RECEPTIVE, SO VERY SIMPLE AND FLOWING.
              BELOVED MASTER, HOW CAN I GET OUT OF MY OWN WAY SO THAT I DON'T WASTE SO
              MUCH OF THIS PRECIOUS TIME WITH YOU?


                There are things which are really simple, but become very complicated because of you.
                Now sitting here, you can simply relax and enjoy -- but no, you make a problem out of it:
           whether to relax or to merge or to watch. And in all this, you are missing the train.
           There is no need to do anything here.
                Just relax and listen, and out of that listening a few insights will come to you. Use those insights
           in your life.
                When somebody insults you, watch it -- as if you are just the watcher, he is insulting somebody
           else. That's truly the case.
                Or you are sitting by the side of the ocean -- merge with the beauty of the sunrise, don't bring the
           watcher in, because beauty is something which has to be enjoyed.
           And anger is something which has to be dropped.
                So different methods have to be used in different situations.
                Lying on your bed, you have nothing to do -- just relax. The whole day you have been active,
           you have been doing a thousand and one things. Now is the time to forget it all and just let your
           whole energy relax and be refreshed.
                Relaxation, merging, watching -- all are different techniques for different situations. And if you
           are trying all the techniques in a single situation, you will simply miss the whole point and you will
           not be able to do either this or that.
                Still, you are fortunate that doing such a stupid thing you finally find relaxation. Perhaps you get
           tired, because enough is enough -- merging, watching, relaxing.... You get tired, so relaxation comes
           on its own; you feel soft.
           It is good.
                In India we have a proverb that if a person gets lost in the morning and comes home by the
           evening, he should not be called `lost'. At least he has come back -- for the whole day he has been
           wandering and doing all kinds of stupid things.
                But when you see that relaxation comes and you are soft and things become beautiful, why not
           do it from the very beginning? Or is that introduction a necessity?
                If you have seen George Bernard Shaw's dramas, his introductions are very long, longer than the
           drama. The drama is very small, and the introduction is three times bigger. Every friend,
           well-wisher, told him, "This is unnecessarily tiring. If we miss the introduction and just read the
           drama, then it feels that perhaps we are missing something: the man has written such a big
           introduction, there must be something in it. And if we read your introduction, it is so tiring that by
           the time we come to the drama we feel like throwing the book away -- you have tortured us so
           much."
                There is no need of long introductions, just a preface.
                So it is okay if for a minute or two you do merging, relaxation, watching; finish it quickly so you
           feel satisfied that the introduction part is done. Then come to the real drama -- relax and enjoy.
                Things are simple. But somehow the mind wants to make them unnecessarily complicated,
           because unless they are complicated, the mind is not of any use.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The mind is useful only when something is complicated -- then the mind is needed. When the
           thing is simple, the mind is not needed at all.
                And life is so simple that if one is courageous enough to live it, mind can be abandoned
           completely. And to abandon the mind and to live life spontaneously is what I call sannyas.
           Moment to moment, we will see.
           Why go on doing rehearsals?
                When the moment comes, your consciousness will face it and respond to it.
                But people are preparing so much that almost their whole lives are used up in preparations.
                I have heard about a German professor. He wanted to have the biggest collection of
           philosophical, religious, spiritual literature. And he was a very rich man too, so he wandered around
           the earth collecting all kinds of scriptures. There are three hundred religions in the world, and there
           are hundreds of philosophies, and each philosophy has hundreds of books in different languages.
           And he had translators translating them all into German. This was all preparation for when he would
           start reading.
                But by the time he was ninety, he was still collecting books.
                Somebody told him, "Now it is time that you should start reading. The preparation has gone on
           too long, and you have thousands and thousands of books -- we don't think you will be able to read
           all of them. Your life is just at the very end, maybe a year or two more."
                But the man said, "But my collection is not complete yet."
                So he started collecting more forcibly, put more men into collection, into translation. Finally he
           fell sick, and the doctor said, "He is not going to survive more than seven days."
                He called all the scholars who were translating his books: "Now stop translating. You just try to
           find small summaries from every scripture, because I have got only seven days and I want to know
           what is written in all the scriptures. So just prepare small summaries of all the scriptures."
                But the scholars said, "You have collected so many scriptures, even summaries will not be
           possible. We will try, but in seven days all the summaries will not be ready."
                The last day came. He inquired again, "What has happened?"
           They said, "We are trying."
                He said, "Forget all about it. You do one thing: just make one small note summarizing all the
           scriptures. Because there is no more time; I feel that I am going. So be fast and be quick."
                They said, "How can we be fast and quick? We have to look into scriptures to find the very gist,
           the very essential center of all of them. It will take a little time."
                The whole day passed, and by the evening when they had come to a conclusion, a small summary
           of a few pages.... They reached; the man was almost drowning. He said, "That many pages won't do.
           You just make it half a page, just a small summary that can be printed on a postcard. I don't have
           time for all these pages."
                So they rushed back, again they summarized. Now it meant nothing, because all those scriptures,
           summaries and summaries... and by the time they came back, the man was dead.
                His wife said, "It is a very sad thing. You can at least shout loudly in his ear; perhaps he may be
           able to hear. He is just going down."
                The doctor said, "Now it is useless. But you can try, there is no harm in it." So one scholar
           shouted the summary of all the scriptures. But the man was dead already, and the doctors were
           saying, "Now he cannot hear."
           His whole life went into preparation.
                And this is not the story of one strange, weird man. This is the story of all normal people:
           preparation, preparation, preparation. They forget completely, that... preparation for what?
           We are not certain even of the next moment.
           Preparation for what?
           Either live or prepare.
           If you want to live, live now.
                Or prepare for tomorrow -- and remember, tomorrow never comes. What comes in place of
           tomorrow is death. An intelligent person lives his life. He does not bother about preparations,
           disciplines.
                You are here with me. Live this moment to its totality, to its very intensity. Perhaps out of that
           totality and intensity, you may get the taste that will go on lingering with you into the next moment.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And once you have known that a moment can be lived with totality and intensity, you know the
           secret, the very secret of life.
                You are always given a single moment; you are not given two moments together.
                If you know the secret of living one moment, you know the whole secret of life. Because you
           will always get one moment -- and you know how to live it, how to be totally in it.
                Your question reminds me about one of my old friends, a centipede. A centipede has one
           hundred legs; hence, the name `centipede'. The name comes from ancient Sanskrit, shattpadee.
                Just one morning, early in the morning as the sun was rising, the centipede was going for a
           morning walk. A philosophical rabbit, watching the legs, could not believe -- he said, "My God, this
           centipede is going to be in trouble soon. How is he going to remember which foot first, which foot
           second... one hundred legs! He is bound to be in trouble."
                The rabbit came close and said to the centipede, "Uncle, I am a philosophical rabbit -- just a
           student, an inquirer about truth."
                The centipede said, "That is all right, but what is the problem?"
                He said, "The problem is: how do you manage one hundred legs?"
                So the centipede said, "I never thought about it. And no centipede has ever thought about it; there
           is no mention of it in our scriptures. We have been managing perfectly well. But your question is
           valid. Just sit. I will try," and he could not go even two feet. Puzzled, he fell down.
                And he was very angry at the rabbit. He said, "You rascal, never again ask any centipede your
           philosophical question, because now I am in trouble. And the question has got into my head; now I
           cannot walk without thinking about how it is happening -- which one? And one hundred legs... my
           life is finished. But be kind enough not to ask such questions to anybody else. I will try to forget this
           question. I don't know.... If I can forget it I can live; if I cannot forget it, I am finished."
                Now you are trying to be in my presence, relaxing, merging, watching... you will get into trouble.
                Forget all nonsense, forget all philosophical questions.
           Here, just be.
                Simply be, and out of that being grows an understanding that will give you the insight into where
           to merge, where to watch, where to relax.
                Here, you are to just get a taste of being -- of being fully alive, silent, joyous -- and everything
           else will come out of it.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                  Chapter #11
                                Chapter title: Harmony... The birthplace of love
           13 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610135
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 136 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE FRUIT FALLS ON THE GROUND WHEN IT IS RIPE. ONE DAY, YOU WILL LEAVE US, AND IT
              WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE ANOTHER MASTER IN YOUR PLACE.
              HOW CAN ANYBODY ELSE BE THE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE MASTER OF MASTERS?
              OSHO, WHEN YOU LEAVE THE PHYSICAL BODY, WILL YOUR MEDITATION TECHNIQUES
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HELP OUR INNER GROWTH AS THEY DO NOW?


               My approach to your growth is basically to make you independent of me.
               Any kind of dependence is a slavery, and the spiritual dependence is the worst slavery of all.
               I have been making every effort to make you aware of your individuality, your freedom, your
           absolute capacity to grow without any help from anybody. Your growth is something intrinsic to
           your being. It does not come from outside; it is not an imposition, it is an unfolding.
               All the meditation techniques that I have given to you are not dependent on me -- my presence or
           absence will not make any difference -- they are dependent on you. It is not my presence, but your
           presence that is needed for them to work.
               It is not my being here but your being here, your being in the present, your being alert and aware
           that is going to help.
               I can understand your question and its relevance. It is not irrelevant.
               The whole past of man is, in different ways, a history of exploitation. And even the so-called
           spiritual people could not resist the temptation to exploit. Out of a hundred masters, ninety-nine
           percent were trying to impose the idea that, "Without me you cannot grow, no progress is possible.
           Give me your whole responsibility."
               But the moment you give your whole responsibility to somebody, unknowingly you are also
           giving your whole freedom.
               And naturally, all those masters had to die one day, but they have left long lines of slaves:
           Christians, Jews, Hindus, Mohammedans. What are these people? Why should somebody be a
           Christian? If you can be someone, be a Christ, never be a Christian. Are you absolutely blind to the
           humiliation when you call yourself a Christian, a follower of someone who died two thousand years
           ago?
               The whole of humanity is following the dead. Is it not weird that the living should follow the
           dead, that the living should be dominated by the dead, that the living should depend on the dead and
           their promises that `We will be coming to save you.'?
               None of them has come to save you. In fact, nobody can save anybody else; it goes against the
           foundational truth of freedom and individuality.
               As far as I am concerned, I am simply making every effort to make you free from everybody --
           including me -- and to just be alone on the path of searching.
               This existence respects a person who dares to be alone in the seeking of truth. Slaves are not
           respected by existence at all. They do not deserve any respect; they don't respect themselves, how
           can they expect existence to be respectful towards them?
               So remember, when I am gone, you are not going to lose anything. Perhaps you may gain
           something of which you are absolutely unaware.
               Right now I am available to you only embodied, imprisoned in a certain shape and form. When I
           am gone, where can I go? I will be here in the winds, in the ocean; and if you have loved me, if you
           have trusted me, you will feel me in a thousand and one ways. In your silent moments you will
           suddenly feel my presence.
               Once I am unembodied, my consciousness is universal. Right now you have to come to me.
               Then, you will not need to seek and search for me. Wherever you are... your thirst, your love...
           and you will find me in your very heart, in your very heartbeat.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              BEING ON MY OWN IN THE MARKETPLACE, I FELT MYSELF BECOMING VERY MECHANICAL
              AND UNAWARE IN MY ACTIVITIES. NOW, BEING IN YOUR PRESENCE AND GOING INSIDE, MY
              BODY-MIND SPEED IS SLOWING DOWN, AND SELF CONSCIOUSNESS IS ARISING. THIS
              STATE OF SELF COSNCIOUSNESS GIVES A LIGHTNESS, AND ONE WANTS TO STAY IN IT
              MORE AND MORE. WHEN I LOOK AT YOU, I SEE A GRACE THAT IS POINTING FAR BEYOND.
              OSHO, CAN YOU SPEAK ON THE SELF CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DISCIPLE, AND THE GRACE
              OF THE MASTER?


              It is good that you are becoming aware of a very essential phenomenon: that in the marketplace
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you had become mechanical, robot-like.
           Coming here, you are more relaxed.
               The speed of the mind is slowly, slowly getting less. And as your awareness is becoming clear,
           your mechanicalness is disappearing. You have to see that awareness and mechanicalness cannot
           exist together; there is no coexistence possible between those two factors.
               In the marketplace you are not expected to be aware -- you are expected to be efficient.
           Efficiency is a quality of machines; machines are more efficient than human beings. Because
           efficiency is required, you become more mechanical, and as you become more mechanical your
           awareness disappears.
               And your awareness is your real being. By efficiency and mechanicalness, you may succeed in
           earning more money, more power, more prestige, more respectability, but you will lose yourself.
           And you are losing yourself very cheaply; what you are gaining in return is worthless.
               Do you know how many people have lived before you on this earth? Do you realize the fact that
           millions of them were successful people? Millions of them were famous in their time, and now
           people don't even remember their names. They have disappeared like dreams, without leaving any
           trace behind.
               We are also going to disappear in the same way. The only few people who have died and yet
           continue to live on in people's love, in people's trust, are not the very successful -- the emperors, the
           world conquerors, the richest. These few people who, in spite of their deaths, still beat in the hearts
           of man belong to a totally different category: they were the people of awareness, people with soul.
           Their impact has been so deep that it will remain unto the last man.
               Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu, Kabir, Christ, al-Hillaj Mansoor -- these people cannot be forgotten.
           They will go on living in the deepest parts of your being for the simple reason that they never
           compromised their awareness for the expectations of the marketplace.
               So the first thing -- you have become aware. Make your awareness more sharp, and next time
           when you go to the marketplace there is no need to become robot-like. Perhaps you will not be as
           efficient as robots -- so what? Perhaps you will not be as successful as the mechanical ones -- so
           what? Let them have their day, and then they will disappear like soap bubbles. Don't feel jealous of
           them. Be compassionate towards them, and remain contented with your awareness.
               Risk everything for awareness, but never risk awareness for anything. This is the commitment of
           a sannyasin: that he is ready to lose his life but not his awareness; he has found a value which is
           higher than life.
               There is no other value which is higher than awareness.
           Awareness is the seed of godliness in you.
               When it comes to its full growth, you have come to the fulfillment of your destiny.
               As your awareness goes deeper, your actions may not be efficient but they will have a new
           quality -- the quality of grace -- which is far more valuable. No machine can have the quality of
           grace. Your actions, your words will have a beauty of their own.
               The way a man of awareness lives, each moment is filled with tremendous grace and beauty. It is
           reflected in his actions, even in the smallest actions -- just in the gesture of his hand or just the way
           he looks; in the depth of his eyes or the authority of his words or the music of his silence. His very
           presence is a celebration.
               In comparison to such a man, emperors are beggars; they have everything of the world, but inside
           they are empty. The temple may be made of gold, but inside the master of the temple is missing.
               The disciple becomes every day more and more graceful, more and more alert -- and with all
           these qualities, a deep gratefulness towards the master is a necessary outcome.
               It is not that you have to do it. If you do it, it is phony.
               If it comes on its own accord, then it has authenticity.
               And as your gratefulness grows, you become more available, more open. The master can pour his
           whole being into you, all his blessings, his whole benediction.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I SENSE SOMETHING WONDERFUL, SOMETHING INCREDIBLE HAPPENING TO YOU OVER
              THERE IN YOUR CHAIR. AND MORE AND MORE OVER THE YEARS, I SENSE SOMETHING
              REALLY WONDERFUL HAPPENING WITHIN ME OVER HERE. FOR ME, IT IS NOT
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ENLIGHTENMENT -- I KNOW THAT. BUT IT IS LIKE A HARMONY WITH YOU.
              OSHO, CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HOW I CAN REACH THROUGH THE SMOKE OF
              THE MIND TO BRING THIS WONDROUSNESS, THIS BEAUTIFUL FEELING OF GIFTEDNESS
              OUT INTO THE OPEN SO THAT IT CAN GROW?


                The phenomenon of harmony is one of the most mysterious experiences possible.
                It means that two bodies are still two bodies, but the two souls within them are no more two.
           One soul within two bodies:
           That's exactly the meaning of harmony.
           It is the most exquisite experience.
                Ordinarily we are living in conflict, in disharmony. The husband is living in disharmony with the
           wife -- they call it living together. But unless this oneness arises, their togetherness is nothing but an
           underground conflict, erupting at any moment for any meaningless, silly reason. Both are sitting on
           volcanoes.
                Parents are feeling a generation gap between themselves and their own children. There seems to
           be no common ground of understanding; harmony is a faraway goal. They don't even understand
           each other's language -- not that they speak different languages, but their visions are different, their
           attitudes are different, their approach towards life is different -- and there seems to be no way to
           come to any conclusion. Parents and children are no more on speaking terms because each time they
           speak it turns out to be a fight.
                The same thing happens with husbands and wives. When they are newly wed, things are hot --
           they fight, the wives throw things, break plates, cups and glasses, throw pillows. The husbands
           behave in the same way -- they beat the same woman they used to think they could not live without.
           They not only beat her, they even imagine many times killing her; otherwise, the wife is going to kill
           him. It is only a question of who takes the initiative; it is a cold war.
                Slowly slowly, things get cooler: no more pillow fights, no more breaking of cups and glasses
           and saucers. But that does not mean that they have come to a harmony. That simply means they have
           understood the stupidity of it all; it is better to be silent. The husband simply goes on reading the
           same newspaper. On Sunday it is a little difficult; they avoid each other, they don't want to be left
           alone together.
                One of my friends -- a very rich man -- asked me when he became fifty, "I have enough money. I
           had only two girls, who are married. And it is very difficult... because only my wife and I are left in
           the house."
                But I said, "You should be happy. I thought this was a love marriage."
                He said, "Now I don't use that word `love' at all; it is that word that destroyed my life. So just
           because of the wife, I continue with the business and the industries -- just to avoid her, because
           otherwise there would be no need."
                I said, "Then find a beautiful hill station, and move there and live peacefully."
                He said, "But... alone with this woman on a hill station? You are suggesting a murder!"
                I said, "What are you talking about? Who is going to murder whom?"
                He said, "That depends on who takes the initiative first. With this woman alone? -- no! If you are
           willing to stay with us, I could be safe, I could go to any hill station. Without a friend, we don't even
           go to see a movie. The friend has to sit between the two of us; otherwise, something... and anything
           is enough to begin a quarrel."
           I said, "I never see you fighting."
                He said, "That's true; for years, everything has gone underground. But we are fighting. Inside
           myself, I am beating her; inside herself she is beating me -- but not to make a show. What will
           people think, what will the servants think?"
                They were not sleeping in the same room. I asked the wife why. She said, "No, there is not much
           of a problem... it is because he snores."
                I said, "I have slept in the same room with him many times. I have never heard him snoring."
                I asked my friend, "What is the matter? Your wife says you snore."
                He said, "Yes, I snore -- just to keep her in the other room. I never snore in my sleep! That's why
           you have not heard it. I have to make an effort to snore -- it is a very difficult art, one has to learn it
           -- just to give her an excuse. She wanted to sleep in the other room, but some excuse was needed.
           And it is perfectly peaceful to be here. She is there, and I lock the door from inside, because she may
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come in the middle of the night; some idea may come to her and a quarrel will start."
           People are not living in harmony.
               Harmony is an empty word, and for most of the people, unfortunately, it remains empty. They
           know only fight, anger.
               Harmony means you are dropping your ego, you are saying, "I would like to be with you, so
           deeply one, that this very idea of `I' is no more needed."
               A few people have lived in harmony; and particularly the master and the disciple cannot have
           any kind of relationship without harmony. The master is without ego; the disciple just has to drop his
           ego, and two consciousnesses become one, and a great music vibrates -- in both persons, one music.
               It has happened in other relationships too, but very rarely. I am reminded of a strange book in
           Sanskrit. It's name is bhamiti. It is a strange name because it is a commentary on one of the most
           philosophical treatises ever written, the BRAHMASUTRAS of Badarayan.
               Badarayan is perhaps the greatest philosopher the world has produced, and he has written these
           small maxims, BRAHMASUTRAS, maxims about the ultimate.
               There is no other book in the whole world on which so many commentaries have been written --
           thousands and thousands of commentaries, because the maxims are so small, so condensed that
           unless somebody opens them, explains them, interprets them, you will not be able to find their
           meaning.
               BRAHMASUTRA is a strange book. No other book has the same fate as Badarayan's
           BRAHMASUTRA. Commentaries were written, but the commentaries were also very difficult to
           understand, so commentaries upon commentaries were written. But still these were not so simple
           either, so commentaries on those commentaries.... This is the only book in which you will find a
           series of commentaries; the original is lost. And for thousands of years in India, people have been
           writing commentaries on the commentaries to bring its meaning to the masses.
               One of the commentaries, one of the best commentaries on the BRAHMASUTRAS, is bhamiti,
           and it is strange, because bhamiti is a weird name for a commentary. `Bhamiti' is the name of a
           certain woman, and to give that name to the commentary....
               The commentary was written by a great philosopher, Vachaspati, whose wife's name was
           Bhamiti. It took him twelve years to write the commentary, and he decided that the day the
           commentary was complete, he would renounce the world and go to the Himalayas.
               One day, in the middle of the night, the commentary was completed. He took the candle, in
           whose light he had been writing the commentary, to go to his room. And on the way there, he found
           a woman and he asked, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
               She said, "My lord, you were so much immersed in writing the commentary, you forgot
           completely that you had married me. I am your wife."
               Vachaspati said, "I remember. And I also remember that every day... just show me your hand,
           because I can recognize your hand. You were the one who was putting the candle by my side every
           day as the sun was setting. I know this hand. But it is too late; I have decided that the day the
           commentary is complete I will leave the house. You should have reminded me."
               Bhamiti said, "It would have been very unloving to disturb you; I was waiting. And don't be
           worried -- if you have decided to leave, you leave without any worry. I will not come as a hindrance
           to your decision. It is enough that I can see that you are worried for me. This will be enough for my
           whole life, that you had a certain love."
               Vachaspati said, "You are a great woman. It is very rare to find such a woman. It is easy to find
           many commentators of my quality, but to find a woman of your quality -- such love, such trust, such
           waiting, such patience. And such greatness of heart -- just your concern that it is getting late is
           enough for you -- as if there is no expectation. I will call my commentary Bhamiti, so that whoever
           reads this commentary is bound to be surprised by the name" -- because it has no relevance; the
           commentary is on the BRAHMASUTRAS.... And, Bhamiti?
               "But without you, and without your love, and without your patience, and without your silent
           waiting.... You never came in front of me, and you are so beautiful that it is certain: if you had come
           in front of me, it would have been a disturbance. I may have forgotten about the commentary; I may
           have delayed in completing it just to remain with you."
               But Bhamiti said, "I have received more than I deserve. You should not wait in the house any
           longer. Let me have the pride of having a husband who followed his decision... even though now I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can see you are hesitating. Don't hesitate. I will not allow you to remain in the house; you have to go
           to the Himalayas -- because if you remain in the house, I will not be able to give you the same
           respect."
           This is a tremendous, unbelievable story.
               Vachaspati left for the Himalayas, but he could not forget Bhamiti... such a quality, such grace
           and such beauty... something beyond human qualities. Only such people have given proof that there
           is something more than human qualities, something which can only be called divine.
               Vachaspati remains a great scholar, but Bhamiti proves to be a far more divine personality.
               So once in a while there have been, in other relationships, people who have felt harmony with
           each other, but that is extremely rare -- accidental and exceptional.
               But as far as the master and disciple relationship is concerned, it is a basic necessity; without it,
           there is no relationship.
               A musical oneness... such a deep love that it consumes your ego. There are not two persons in
           relationship but only a harmonious whole, an energy field.
               And once you have experienced it with a master, you can experience it in your other
           relationships too, because the principle is the same. And if you can experience it in all your
           relationships, many harmonies around you, your life becomes truly a divine gift, an orchestra. Then
           the master-discipleship was just the learning of a certain knack: you can use it with your wife, with
           your husband, with your children, with your parents, with your friends. You can spread it all over the
           world. You can feel it with the trees, with the stars; it is only a question of knowing the knack.
               The secret is: how not to be, how to disappear as an ego.
               Then whatever you touch creates music, whatever you touch becomes gold.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              AFTER LEAVING RAJNEESHPURAM IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR, I EXPERIENCED THAT IT
              BECAME NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO FIND OUT WHAT I WAS GOING TO DO. IN THE
              BEGINNING IT WAS A BIT FRIGHTENING, BUT VERY SOON I SAW MORE AND MORE THAT
              JUST WAITING WAS ENOUGH, AND MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS STARTED HAPPENING TO ME,
              WITHOUT MY GOING FOR IT.
              IS THIS HOW BEING WITH YOU WORKS?


                It is not only the way things happen around me.
           It is the way of the whole existence.
           You just wait, and everything happens at its right moment.
                Wait and watch. Don't fall asleep -- because in waiting that is very natural, to fall asleep. Nothing
           to do, one falls asleep. Then things will be happening but you will not know. So wait and watch.
                Life has been disturbed by the so-called do-gooders, who are continuously preaching around the
           world, "Do this, do that, do service to the poor." Doing has been raised so high that we have
           completely forgotten the art of waiting.
                And, certainly, there are things which can happen only if you do them.
           For example, you cannot simply wait and grow rich.
                There are people who even teach that. One American thinker, Napoleon Hill, has written
           beautiful books, a master writer. I have always liked one of his books, THINK AND GROW RICH,
           although it is absolute nonsense. But he writes well. And there are people who believe that all that
           you have to do is simply wait; sow the seeds of thinking that a Cadillac car should come into your
           garage, and just wait. And one day, suddenly a Cadillac car comes, delivered to you. There are
           people who believe this -- that thinking has so much power.
                In America there is still a Christian sect... half a century ago it was very important because a
           large majority believed in it. The sect calls itself `Christian Science'. And the science is that you
           need not do anything, you have just to think. God is the doer. You think, pray, wait; just give time to
           God. And what do you think, that a Cadillac is a bigger thing than the whole universe? God can
           create the whole universe and he cannot create a Cadillac car?
                I have heard a story that a young man was going to college and was met by an old woman. She
           asked, "What happened to your father? He is not coming to our Sunday meetings." They were
           Christian Scientists.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The boy said, "He is sick."
               The old woman laughed. She said, "Nonsense, he must be thinking he is sick. It is thinking that
           matters. Just tell that old man, that `For your whole life you have been a member of Christian
           Science and still you have not understood a simple thing. Stop thinking that you are sick, and you
           will not be sick.'"
           The boy said, "I will deliver the message."
               After a week, again the old woman met the boy and said, "What happened? -- because he has not
           come even this week to the weekly meeting of the Christian Scientists."
               The boy said, "Madam, now he thinks he is dead. And not only does he think he is dead, the
           whole neighborhood thinks he is dead, so they have put him in the grave. I tried to persuade them,
           `Wait. He may be thinking... but they think that I am mad."
               There are things which will go on happening without your doing; you have just to wait -- and
           there are things which you have to do; only then will they happen. And slowly slowly, the things that
           happen by doing became more important: they are your material possessions, your money, your
           power, your prestige, your palaces, your empires. They won't happen just by waiting. By waiting,
           you will not become Alexander the Great. So because things which happen only by doing became
           important, humanity has completely forgotten the whole area of things which happen.
               Love happens, you cannot do it -- although all over the world people have been trying to do that.
           And it is so strange that the world has not yet recognized the utter failure....
               Parents, for centuries, have been arranging marriages for their children. Astrologers are asked,
           palmists are asked, everything else is inquired about -- the family, the wealth, the character of the
           people -- but nobody asks the boy and the girl whether they love each other. Love is not a subject of
           inquiry at all. It is taken for granted that once they are married, they will love.
               For thousands of years humanity has been doing that, and certainly when a small boy and girl are
           married, they start being like brothers and sisters also -- fighting, playing with each other, quarreling.
           They never come to know what love is; they think this is love. They produce children, they buy
           ornaments for their wives, the wives try to make the life of the husband as difficult as possible -- in
           every way, they help each other.
               It is only just in this century that people started saying, "Unless we are in love, we will not
           marry" -- and that, too, only in a few advanced countries.
               But love is a question about which you cannot do anything. Either it happens or it does not
           happen. It is not within your control.
               `Love marriage' came into existence but is not going to survive, for the simple reason that love
           comes, happens, and one day suddenly goes. It was not in your hands to bring it; neither is it in your
           hands to keep it.
               The old marriage failed because the insistence was that you should love your wife, you should
           love your husband. It was a `should'. And you could not even conceive how you could love; at the
           most you could pretend, you could act.
               But love is not a pretension, is not an acting. You cannot do anything. You are absolutely
           powerless as far as love is concerned.
           The old marriage failed.
               The new marriage is failing because the new marriage is simply a reaction to the old marriage. It
           is not out of understanding, but only out of reaction, revolt -- `love marriage.'
               You don't know what love is. You simply see some beautiful face, you see some beautiful body
           and you think, "My God, I am in love!" This love is not going to last, because after two days, seeing
           the same face for twenty-four hours a day, you will get bored. The same body... you have explored
           the whole topography; now there is nothing to explore. Exploring the same geography again and
           again, you feel like an idiot. What is the point?
               This love affair, this love marriage is failing, it has already failed. The reason is that you don't
           know how to wait so that love can happen.
               You have to learn a meditative state of waiting. Then love is not a passion, it is not a desire. Then
           love is not sexual; then love is a feeling of two hearts beating in the same rhythm. It is not a question
           of beautiful faces or beautiful bodies. It is something very deep, a question of harmony.
               If love arises out of harmony, then only will we know a successful life, a life of fulfillment in
           which love goes on deepening because it does not depend on anything outer; it depends on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something inner. It does not depend on the nose and the length of the nose; it depends on an inner
           feeling of two hearts beating in the same rhythm. That rhythm can go on growing, can have new
           depths, newer spaces. Sex can be a part of it, but it is not sexual. Sex may come into it, may
           disappear in it. It is far greater than sex.
               So whether the person you love is young or old does not matter. Every woman has thought once
           in a while... many women have been asking their lovers, "Will you also love me when I become
           old?"
               I know about one of my friends -- he asked me, that's why I know -- that the girl he loves is
           continually asking him, "Will you love me when I am old?" He asked me, "What should I say?"
               I said, "Why are you bringing me unnecessarily into this trouble? This is your business. You say
           anything. What do you feel?"
               He said, "If she becomes like her mother, I cannot love her. And most probably she will become
           like her, so that is the only fear."
               So I said, "Say it clearly, that `Your old age is not the question; but if you become like your
           mother then just forgive me, I will not be able to love you.'"
               He said, "But then everything will be finished, because then her mother will be angry, and the
           whole thing depends on her. I am persuading her mother. The father is dead; she is the only one to
           decide about the marriage. Secondly, the girl will also get angry, because she also knows that she
           will become like her mother. All the symptoms are there."
               I said, "Then keep quiet. Then when the difficult times come, see me again."
               He said, "But that girl is so insistent. She wants to know before marriage."
               I said, "It is simple. You start asking her, `When I become old, will you love me?'"
               He said, "That's good, because I am going to become old just like my father, and she hates my
           father just like I hate her mother. That's absolutely right."
               And he told her, and she said, "Never! If you become like your own father, I am not going to
           love you. I will divorce you immediately."
               The boy said, "Then when the difficult times come, we will see what to do. But why bring in
           these questions from the very beginning?"
               But all your love is dependent on such small things -- the size of the nose, the eyes, the color of
           the hair, the proportions of the body. These things have nothing to do with love.
               Love is a feeling of harmony with an individual, of accordance.
               So it is not only with the relationship of the master and the disciple; in all your relationships, if
           you wait and watch for a harmonious moment with existence, you will find that things are happening
           that you could never have been able to do.
               Many flowers are possible, many poems and songs are possible.
               Many stars are born out of harmony, waiting, and being alert.
               Things are happening, but you have to be conscious. Many times things are happening but you
           are not conscious. You miss what was your very right, just by being sleepy.
               My teaching is basically of let-go. Things that happen only by doing are mundane. I am not
           against them, but they are not the essential part of your life. If you want to have a beautiful house,
           you will have to build it, it is not going to happen. Whether you are a Christian Scientist or you
           believe in THINK AND GROW RICH, nothing is going to help. But these are non-essential things.
               Essential things... love, joy, cheerfulness, a sense of humor, peace that passeth understanding, an
           inward journey to find yourself... these are the essential things which you cannot do, which you have
           to learn to allow to happen.
               So keep a clear-cut idea: what has to be done should be done, and what has to be allowed to
           happen should be allowed to happen; never interfere with it.
               And also remember: the essential is that which happens on its own, and the non-essential is that
           which you do.
           Your doing cannot be anything sacred.
               That's why I say that all the temples and all the churches, all the statues of God made by man are
           mundane. Whatever is made by man cannot be higher than man.
               It is a simple arithmetic: What is higher than man always happens, it is beyond your doing. You
           are always at the receiving end. You have to be just open, receptive, grateful to existence.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED OSHO,
               BEING WITH YOU IN DISCOURSE, I FEEL SO NOURISHED, AND HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE
               REST I HAD LONGED FOR.
               BEING IN THE WEST, I DIDN'T EVEN FEEL HOW MUCH I WAS MISSING BEING IN YOUR
               PRESENCE. HOW COULD I FORGET THE BEAUTY OF BEING WITH YOU?
               PLEASE COMMENT.


                Man's memory is not very great. He forgets easily.
           Just a few examples will help you.
           You all have been children. How much do you remember the innocence that you had? In fact, a
           strange fact is discovered by the psychologists: that if you go backwards trying to remember, you
           reach only to the age of four, at the most to the age of three. But those three or four years in the very
           beginning were the best -- no responsibility, no worry, no tension. Life was simply a romance, a
           sheer joy, but people don't remember it.
                And it is very strange that everybody's memory stops nearabout the age of three or four. It seems
           the best in us is not recorded. Perhaps it is a biological strategy that you should forget it; if you
           remember it, then for your whole life you will feel you are missing. You are missing because you
           have seen the most beautiful moments, and now everything will be dull, pale, dead. It will not have
           that luster, that joy, that liveliness. Perhaps it is a strategy of biology not to record those beautiful
           moments.
                Even in later life.... You will be surprised to know that the mind functions in a very strange way:
           it records everything that is miserable very quickly. Somebody has insulted you -- you will never
           forget it for your whole life. So many people have respected you, you have forgotten. One person has
           insulted you and you cannot forget.
                It seems that the ugly, the dark, the humiliating, the tragic have a priority as far as remembrance
           is concerned. All that is good, all that is beautiful is simply forgotten; they leave no marks on your
           memory.
                Politicians have been using it, priests have been using it in exploiting humanity from the very
           beginning.
                They say that in a democracy two parties are needed. Democracy has nothing to do with two
           parties. Two parties are needed for a totally different reason, which is psychological. One party is in
           power for five years; in those five years everybody goes against that party -- because it has promised
           paradise and you are living in hell, and it has forgotten all those promises.
                The opposition party goes on provoking you: "What happened to the promises of these people?
           We could have fulfilled your promises." In the next election, those who were in power lose power
           and the other party that was powerless comes into power. In five years' time, they are finished. But in
           five years, people have forgotten the first party, and the first party is again promising a paradise, and
           they are listening to them and believing them.
                It has been found that the masses have a memory of five years at the most. That's why elections
           have to be decided every five years; there is no other reason. So in five years' time the masses forget
           the first party's crimes, the first party's stupidities, the first party's lies; they all become saints again.
                That's why two parties are needed. One party will be in difficulty, because if they are
           continuously in power you cannot forgive them. People will start revolting, killing those who are in
           power. So this is a very psychological way of keeping people satisfied: "Don't be worried, it is only a
           question of two years more. Then these people will be gone and the good people will be coming" --
           and they all belong to the same category.
                I have never voted in my life for the simple reason that I could not see any difference between
           two idiots, who is a lesser idiot. I could not find a way, so I thought it was better not to get involved
           in it. At least nobody can blame me -- "You have chosen this idiot." I have never chosen anybody.
           Choose anyone and you have chosen the wrong person.
                Just look forty years back in India: whoever you choose, you always choose the wrong person,
           and whoever you choose again you will choose the wrong person -- because they are the same
           people. It is just like a football match: two parties, two groups are playing football, and you are the
           football. You are going to get kicks from everywhere. Wherever you go, you will get a good kick.
                You are asking me why we tend to forget the beautiful moments. It is natural, because the mind
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not interested in taking note of the flowers, it is interested in taking note of the thorns. Anything
           that hurts, it immediately takes note of.
                Who cares about a flower? You remember your enemies better than your friends. Just watch your
           mind and you will be surprised that you remember your enemy more than you remember your
           friends. You can forget your friends, but you cannot forget your enemies.
           This is your insane mind.
                A saner mind will look at things from just the opposite direction: it will count the blessings, it
           will count all that is beautiful, it will keep note of all it has to be grateful for. And then, naturally the
           life of such a person will become a life of blessings, surrounded by all beautiful experiences.
                It is only a question of changing a small structure in your mind.
           I have always loved a story.
                It happened in a synagogue. The synagogue was also a monastery for the Jews, and the chief
           rabbi was a very strict person. Two young Jews were walking in the garden of the monastery. They
           used to get one hour in the morning, and one hour in the evening to go into the garden. Other times,
           they had to study the scriptures and do other disciplines. They both were thinking, "Should we ask
           the chief if we can smoke while we are in the garden?" Both were chain smokers, but in the
           monastery, inside the synagogue, smoking was impossible. It was a crime. They were suffering, so
           both decided that although it was putting your hand in a lion's mouth, one effort should be made:
           "That chief rabbi is a dangerous man; how he will react, only God knows!"
                The next day, one of the two was coming out of the synagogue with tears in his eyes, both angry
           and sad. And then he saw the other fellow, who was sitting by the side of a beautiful rose bush --
           smoking! He said, "My God, have you started without asking?"
           The other man said, "No, I have asked."
                He said, "What kind of man is this? I asked him also, and he shouted at me so loudly -- `You
           rascal! What do you think, this is a synagogue or hell? If you want to smoke cigarettes, go to hell!'
           So how is it that he allowed you?'"
                The other man smiled and he said, "What was your way of asking?"
           He said, "What has that to do with it?"
                The other man said, "Just tell me, how did you ask?"
                He said, "I simply asked..." because these two hours were called `hours of prayer.' They were
           allowed to go into the garden for two `hours of prayer'.
                So he answered, "I simply asked, `Can I smoke while praying?' And he shouted so loudly and it
           seemed he was going to hit me!"
                The other man said, "Calm down. You asked in the wrong way. I asked him also; I asked him,
           `Sir, can I pray while smoking?' and he said, `That's perfectly good, there is no harm in that.'"
                Just a slight change, but it makes lot of difference.
                Start collecting all that is happening to you that is beautiful. And it is happening to everybody.
           And anything that is not beautiful is not worth remembering, not worth collecting. Why make
           yourself burdened with rubbish when you can be full of flowers and fragrance?
                You have to make a little change in your natural biological mind.
           Meditation can do it very easily.
                One of the essential parts of meditation is to look at the good side of things, to look at the good
           side of people, to look at the good side of incidents, so that you are surrounded with everything
           good.
                Surrounded with all beautiful things, your growth is easier.
                But people are strange.... You may do one thousand favors for a person and just do one
           unfavorable thing -- he will forget one thousand favors and he will remember that one unfavorable
           thing that you did. That he will carry for his whole life. This is how people are living: in revenge, in
           anger, in despair, feeling rejected by life, feeling like outcasts of existence.
                But the whole thing is that you are collecting the wrong things.
                Life is full of both. You can see that one day is sandwiched between two nights, and you can also
           see two beautiful days sandwiching one small night. Choose how you want to feel -- to be in heaven
           or hell. It is your choice.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                                Chapter #12
                       Chapter title: The three initiations: Student, disciple, devotee
           14 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610145
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 142 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS IT TRUE THAT TO BE IN COMMUNION WITH THE MASTER IS THE INITIATION?


                The word `initiation' is very significant and profound.
                There are three initiations: first, when a student becomes a disciple; second, when a disciple
           becomes a devotee; and third, when the devotee disappears in the master.
                To understand the whole process, all three steps have to be understood.
                Everyone begins as a student, as an inquirer into what this life is all about, with a curiosity to
           know the mysteries that surround us. But the desire is for knowledge; hence, superficial. Because the
           desire is for knowledge, it is of the mind. And mind is the periphery of our being, the most
           superficial part of our individuality.
                The student has questions, but he has no quest. His questions are easily answerable, he is easily
           satisfied -- just borrowed knowledge is enough for him. He does not yet need a master; he only needs
           a teacher. He accumulates answers, becomes an intellectual, but does not become intelligent. The
           accumulation of answers happens in the memory part of the mind, and the part that functions in
           accumulation is mechanical, it has nothing to do with intelligence.
                It is possible to find very educated, cultured, sophisticated intellectuals behaving in life in a very
           unintelligent way. They are very efficient whenever some question is asked for which they are
           already prepared. But if life raises a new question for which they are not prepared, they are
           completely at a loss, they are as ignorant as one can be. And the problem is, life goes on posing new
           questions, new challenges.
                Memory is good in the marketplace; memory is not good as a lifestyle.
                And all your universities only teach you how to memorize.
                It has been found that the people of very great memory are generally unintelligent people.
                In the life of one of the British viceroys, Curzon, there is mention of a very significant incident --
           and it is a historical fact.
                Curzon had heard that there was a man in Rajputana whose memory was just unbelievable. The
           man knew only his local dialect, Rajasthani, a dialect of Hindi; he did not know any other language.
           But that did not prevent him from memorizing any statement in any language, and in such a way that
           it seemed almost superhuman.
                He was called to the court of the Viceroy Curzon; a special meeting was arranged. Thirty
           scholars, knowing thirty languages, were to examine the man and his memory. Among those thirty
           scholars, there was not a single one who understood the man's mother tongue, and all those thirty
           languages were foreign languages for him.
                And the arrangement was so strange -- it had never been made before and I don't think it will be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ever made again.
                The arrangement was such that each of those thirty scholars was to deliver one sentence in his
           own language to the poor villager from Rajasthan. But the sentence was not to be delivered to him in
           one piece. The villager would go to one person who would give him the first word of his sentence.
           Then a bell would be rung. Then the villager would move to the next person, who would give him
           his first word. In this way he would go round and round. After thirty persons, he would come again
           to the first person to get the second word of his sentence... and after each word a big bell would ring
           to confuse him.
                The scholars were not certain that they would be able to remember their whole sentence for the
           whole time, because it was going to take so much time. They all had their sentences written in front
           of them, and they were marking off each word they had given. And this man went on and on, round
           and round, taking their words, and accumulating in his memory system the sentences which were
           given to him in pieces.
                After all the scholars had given their sentences, he repeated thirty statements in thirty languages,
           of which he knew nothing. He knew nothing about what they meant. He was so correct that all the
           intellectuals were puzzled. They could not remember their own sentences, they had had to write
           them down. They could not remember whether they had given the fifth word or the sixth -- they had
           had to mark it. And this man was uneducated -- he could not even write.
                Curzon was amazed. He praised the man, and rewarded him.
                But it was found by talking with his fellow villagers that he was an idiot. Just as far as his
           memory was concerned, he was simply great -- but any simple question in life, any simple situation
           in life, and he was not able to solve it, he was not able to answer it. They said, "He is known in our
           village as `the great intellectual idiot'."
                It is a well-known fact that a student is interested in collecting knowledge. His questions are
           easily satisfied. His mind functions like a computer.
                But once in a while, a student falls into the trap of a master. He is not in search of a master, he
           does not know any difference in the words `master' and `teacher'. In the dictionaries both words
           mean the same.
                But in actual life, a teacher simply transfers knowledge from one generation to another
           generation -- it is not his own experience. The master does not transfer knowledge from one
           generation to another generation; what he gives out is his own realization.
                But if the student is caught in the trap of a master, then it is very difficult to get out of it because
           soon it becomes clear that knowledge and knowing are two different things.
           Questions and quest are two different things.
           Questions are simply curiosities.
           Quest is a risk, is a pilgrimage, is a search.
                A question is easily satisfied by any logical, rational answer. The quest is not satisfied by logical
           or rational answers; the quest is like thirst.
                You can go on repeating that scientifically, H2O means water, but that is not going to quench the
           thirst. It is an answer, and a perfectly right answer. If somebody is asking what water is, as a
           question, it is very simple to answer it. But if somebody is asking about water because he is thirsty,
           then H2O is not going to help. Then, only real water will do.
                Quest means thirst, hunger. No borrowed knowledge can satisfy it.
                And the master slowly makes the student aware that if you are really a man, then just to be
           curious is childish. Maturity demands that you should go on a quest, that you should not ask only for
           knowledge, you should ask for ways and means and methods so that you can know -- not knowledge
           that has come from generation to generation. No one knows whether somebody invented it, whether
           it is fiction, whether somebody realized it or not, how much is lost in transferring it, how much is
           added, how much is edited out. Knowing means "I want a personal experience."
                A genuine seeker has no questions, but a tremendous thirst.
                This is the first initiation -- when the master changes the student's focus from knowledge towards
           knowing, from memory towards intelligence.
                And it is not an ordinary phenomenon, it happens to only a very few fortunate ones.
                Millions of people simply remain curious, childish, immature for their whole life.
                Once the emphasis has moved from knowledge to knowing, your concern is no more with the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           past, your concern is with the present. Your concern is no more with the great philosophers, wise
           people; your concern is about your own consciousness. For the first time you become interested not
           in objects but in your subjectivity, not about other things but about the one who wants to know: Who
           is this who wants to know?
                This is the first initiation: the student dies, and the disciple is born.
                The second initiation is when the disciple also disappears, into a devotee.
                A disciple is still interested in gaining methods, disciplines, ways to know himself. The master
           has to be used; hence, he is grateful. But he is the end, and the master is the means; he is using the
           master for his own ends.
                As he comes closer to the master, the master takes him into the second initiation. And the second
           initiation is that unless you drop this obsession with yourself you will never know yourself.
                It appears contradictory; it is not. Your very obsession is preventing you; it is egoistic. You drop
           the ego, surrender the ego; you forget yourself, and in the very moment you forget yourself you will
           find yourself.
                From knowledge to knowing, the student was never interested in himself. He was interested in
           things, objects, the whole world. The first initiation brought him into a new world of interest about
           himself.
           The second initiation takes away the ego.
                The second initiation teaches him love. Because knowing oneself is a byproduct -- if you can
           love, you will know yourself without any difficulty.
                Only in loving light does the darkness within you disappear.
                Love is light, and the flame of love has to be taught.
                The master loves, his presence is love. His very presence is magnetic. Without saying a word...
           just to be close to him, you will feel a certain pull, a certain love, a trust.
                And you don't know the man, you don't know whether he is trustworthy or not. But you are ready
           to risk. The presence of the master is so convincing that there is no need of any argument to prove it.
                I have been a teacher in the university, and each year on Teacher's Day the university professors
           used to have an intimate meeting to discuss problems that they were facing. And every year the basic
           and the most troublesome problem was that the students don't respect them. When I joined their
           meeting for the first time, it was my first year in the university. They were all condemning the
           students, they were condemning modern society, the Western world, because they have taken away
           all respect. One of the professors -- an old man, a very respected professor, he was the dean of the
           faculty of arts -- said, "It is so shameful, particularly in a country where there have been students like
           Ekalavya."
                I will have to tell you the story so you can understand. It is an ancient Indian story.
                There was a great master archer, Dronacharya. Princes, rich people, high caste Hindus, warriors
           used to come to him from faraway places to learn archery.
                The Hindu society is divided into four classes. It is the ugliest division that exists in the whole
           world, and it has existed for five thousand years. One fourth of the Hindu society are not treated like
           human beings; they are called sudras, untouchables. They are not even worthy to be touched. If by
           accident you touch a sudra, you have to immediately take a shower to clean yourself. Not only the
           sudra, even the shadow of the sudra is untouchable. If a sudra passes by and his shadow touches you,
           you have to take a bath.
                This young man, Ekalavya, was born a sudra. But he wanted to become an archer, and he started
           learning archery on his own. He knew perfectly well -- his elders told him, "No teacher is going to
           accept you."
                He said, "Before I go to any teacher, I will learn so much that it will be almost impossible for
           him to reject me." And he disciplined himself, and when he thought that now he knew enough, he
           went to the greatest archer of those days, Dronacharya.
                Dronacharya was amazed, seeing that the young man had learned on his own tremendously well.
           But still, Dronacharya was a brahmin, the highest Hindu caste, and it was impossible to accept
           Ekalavya as a disciple. He rejected him.
                But Ekalavya was made of a different kind of mettle than ordinary human beings are made of. He
           went into the forest and made a statue of Dronacharya. And just in front of the statue, he continued
           learning on his own. Soon the word started spreading all over the country that Ekalavya had become
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a master archer, just by the side of the statue of Dronacharya.
               Dronacharya had an ambition, and that ambition was that one prince who was his disciple,
           Arjuna -- and he was a great archer -- should become the greatest archer in the history of man.
               But this Ekalavya was disturbing everything, he was becoming more famous.
           Dronacharya went into the forest....
               And this is the point to be noted -- that's why the dean of the faculty of arts had quoted the name
           of Ekalavya.
               He had been rejected by Dronacharya. Any ordinary human being would have felt insulted,
           humiliated. But on the contrary, he made a statue of Dronacharya -- because he has chosen him as
           his master. It does not matter whether Dronacharya accepts him as his disciple or not -- he will have
           to accept him. What matters is how deep his acceptance is of Dronacharya as his master.
               And when Dronacharya came, he fell at his feet. And Dronacharya saw what he had learned.
           Certainly he was far ahead of Arjuna, and Arjuna was not going to be the greatest archer, which was
           the deep ambition of Dronacharya. This man had rejected Ekalavya, and now he said to him, "You
           have been learning here in front of my statue. You have accepted me as your master."
               Ekalavya said, "I have always thought of you as my master, even when you rejected me. I have
           not taken any note of your rejection."
               Dronacharya said, "I accept you as my disciple, but then you will have to pay the fee. Every
           disciple has to pay the fee to the master -- and you have not given even the entrance fee, and you
           have already become such a great archer."
               Poor Ekalavya said, "Whatever you ask, if I have it I will give it to you. I can give my life. You
           are my master, you just say it. But I am a poor man, so just ask for that which I have."
               Dronacharya said, "Yes, I will ask only that which you have. I want your right-hand thumb. You
           cut it, and give it to me."
               This is an ugly story. The strategy is that once his right-hand thumb is cut, his archery would be
           finished, he would no longer be a competitor to Arjuna. Dronacharya accepted him as his disciple
           just to get his thumb.
               And Ekalavya, without saying a word, simply took his sword and cut his thumb. He gave it to the
           master and said, "If you want anything more, you just tell me."
           This story, you have to remember in the background.
               The dean was saying: "This country, which has produced students like Ekalavya -- who
           respected a master like Dronacharya who rejected him, insulted him -- has fallen so low that students
           are not respecting teachers at all. Something has to be done."
               I was very new. It was my first meeting with all the professors from all the departments. I had to
           stand up, and I said to the old man, "You have raised a few questions. One: this is certainly the
           country of students like Ekalavya, but this is also the country of teachers like Dronacharya -- ugly,
           cunning, inhuman. This man has behaved in the most inhuman way possible. Why do you go on
           forgetting about him?
               "First, you are rejecting a poor young man because he is condemned by you as an untouchable.
           Secondly, when he achieves on his own, you are willing to accept him as your disciple -- in the
           forest, where nobody knows what is happening. And that too for a certain reason, so that you can
           cripple his right hand to destroy his archery, so that your ambition of making Arjuna the greatest
           archer in the world can be fulfilled."
               I said, "You should not forget that it is because of teachers like Dronacharya that teachers in
           India have lost their respect. You represent Dronacharya -- on what grounds do you want students to
           respect you? And you are not even conscious of the fact you are mentioning Ekalavya. As far as I am
           concerned, I don't see... I also have students, and I am a new professor. I have not seen a single
           student being disrespectful towards me. I love them, I respect them. Love resonates love in the other,
           respect creates respect in the other -- these are resonances. If I had been in the place of Ekalavya, I
           would have cut off the head of Dronacharya! That's exactly what he deserved."
               The old man was in such a shock and so shattered, he was almost trembling.
               I said, "You sit down because you are trembling, and if some heart attack or something happens I
           will be responsible for it. Please sit down. I am not going to cut your head -- although you also need
           to be treated in the same way. You want students to be Ekalavya's -- what about the teachers?"
               The master is not a teacher. He loves; it will be better to say he is love. He respects; it will be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           better to say he is respectfulness.
                Naturally he creates a gravitational field of love, respect, gratitude.
                In this gravitational field, the second initiation happens.
                The disciple is no longer interested in knowing about himself. His only interest is in how to be
           dissolved into the master, how to be in harmony with the master. And the day the harmony comes to
           its peak, the disciple disappears; the devotee is born.
                The devotee is miles away from the student. The whole journey has taken such revolutionary
           changes. The devotee is on the verge... the life of the devotee is not long.
                The longest life is that of the student. In the middle is the disciple. And the life span of the
           devotee is very small.
                It is something like a dewdrop on a lotus petal in the early morning sun, slipping slowly, slowly
           towards the sun into the ocean. The dewdrop is just that small fragment of time that it takes to slip
           from the lotus leaf into the ocean.
                The devotee's life is not long, it is very short -- because once you have tasted the harmony, you
           cannot wait to taste oneness. It is impossible to wait. The dewdrop runs fast, drops into the ocean,
           becomes one with the ocean.
           There are two ways to say it.
                Kabir, one of the great mystics of India, is the only one who has used both ways.
                When for the first time he slipped into the ocean, he wrote a small statement in which he said, "I
           had been searching for myself, but, my friend, instead of finding myself, I have disappeared into the
           ocean. The dewdrop has disappeared into the ocean."
                After almost twenty years, when he was on his deathbed, he asked his son, Kamal, "Bring the
           notes you have been taking of my statements. Before I die, I have to correct one thing." He said, "I
           have said at one place that the dewdrop has disappeared into the ocean. Change it. Write down, `The
           ocean has disappeared into the dewdrop.'"
                His own words are tremendously beautiful. The first words are, HERAT HERAT HEY SAKHI
           RAHYA KABIR HERAYI; BUNDA SAMANI SAMUNDA MEN SO KAT HERI JAYI. And the
           second: HERAT HERAT HEY SAKHI RAHYA KABIR HERAYI; SAMUNDA SAMANA
           BUNDA MEN SO KAT HERI JAYI. In the first, the dewdrop has disappeared in the ocean. In the
           second, the ocean has disappeared into the dewdrop. Perhaps two sides of the same coin....
                This is the third initiation, and only after the third initiation is there communion -- because there
           is union, there is no more separation, there is at-oneness.
                The path of a mystic begins as a student, ends as a master... begins as a dewdrop, ends as an
           ocean.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE CLOSER I AM TO YOU PHYSICALLY, THE MORE I GET LOST IN YOUR PRESENCE AND
              FORGET ABOUT THE PERSON THAT I THINK I AM. IT FEELS AS IF MAGNETIC ENERGY IS
              COMING FROM YOU THAT PULLS ME STRONGLY TOWARDS YOU.
              WHAT IS HAPPENING?


               That which should be happening is happening.
           You are coming closer to my presence. You cannot keep your person intact.
               You cannot have both my presence and your person. If you want your person, you will have to
           lose my presence; if you want my presence, you will have to lose your person -- they cannot coexist.
               But what is your person? Have you ever thought about it? It consists of all your miseries,
           anxieties, despairs, nightmares; it is your hell.
               Have you ever given thought to a simple phenomenon? Since the very beginnings of man, why
           have human beings been so much interested in intoxicating drugs?
               In RIG VEDA, the oldest book in the world... even the so-called seers of the VEDAS are
           interested in a certain drug called somras.
               One of the most intelligent persons of this century, Aldous Huxley -- who was very well
           acquainted with the East, particularly Eastern mystics -- finally ended up experimenting with LSD.
           He wrote that in the coming century, the finest form of LSD will be called `soma' in remembrance of
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the RIG VEDAS' somras.
                He was absolutely convinced that LSD has come very close to somras. And perhaps he is right,
           because the rishis, the seers of the VEDAS, after drinking somrasa, the juice of a plant called som,
           have described their experiences and what happens to them... how much peace, how much serenity,
           how much joy. All their experiences are exactly the same as those Aldous Huxley described when he
           came out of his first LSD trip.
                All the cultures, all the religions have been condemning alcohol, opium, hashish, marijuana --
           but their condemnation seems to have no effect. Humanity goes on taking drugs, and nobody bothers
           to ask, if so many wise people are against it, why are people taking these drugs? And the strange
           thing is that so many of these wise people who are against it are taking drugs themselves -- perhaps
           in different ways.
                In one country, marijuana may be illegal, hashish may be illegal, LSD may be illegal, but alcohol
           is not. And alcohol is more dangerous than any of the other three. Why isn't alcohol illegal? --
           because Jesus used to drink it. Christianity cannot make it illegal; otherwise Jesus would be proved a
           criminal -- and not an ordinary criminal, because he was even making water into alcohol.
                And the countries who have tried.... For example, India, which is not a Christian country, has
           tried hard to prohibit alcohol, but has failed. Prohibition makes things even worse. People start
           making alcohol on their own, in their own homes. And thousands of people have died from
           poisoning because they don't know what they are drinking. It is being sold underground, and they
           don't know how it is being prepared. And finally those prohibitions have to be withdrawn.
                One thing that I want to make clear to you is that all the people who have been against the laws
           and governments and religions and who are still going for drugs have a certain argument. And that is
           that they want their personality to be forgotten. Their person is so painful, so ugly, that they are
           ready to commit any illegal act, just to forget it for a few hours.
                The influence of intoxicating drugs proves only one thing: man, in his ordinary personality, is
           living in despair. He wants for a few hours at least to forget all about the worries and the problems
           and the anxieties, and there seems to be no other way.
                What do you want to protect your person for? Your person is your problem.
                And if you are intelligent enough, and you can find some presence where your person starts
           melting and disappearing -- without any intoxication, without any drugs -- then can you conceive of
           a greater blessing? Let the person disappear; it is simply a burden, a torture, a pain in the neck for
           which there is no medicine.
                What do you think, Amrito -- is there any medicine for a pain in the neck? I have never heard of
           it. I am asking my physician -- and he is a knowledgeable physician; he is a member of the Royal
           Society of England.
           Let the person disappear, evaporate.
                The disappearance of your person is not your disappearance, remember; on the contrary, it is
           your appearance. As your person disappears, your personality falls away; your individuality, your
           individual arises.
           To have a personality is hypocrisy.
           To be an individual is your birthright.
                And the function of the master is to take away everything that is not you, and leave only that
           which is essentially yours, given by existence itself.
                I can understand, there arises a fear. You have lived with the person for so long, you have
           become identified with it. When it starts disappearing, a fear arises: "What is happening? Am I going
           to disappear?"
                Now, what is true is not going to disappear, and what is untrue needs to disappear. So be
           courageous.
                And when your personality leaves you, say goodbye to it forever...
                "Don't come back. Find somebody else; there are so many people all around." Because there are
           people who are not so poor as to have only one personality. They are rich people, they have many
           personalities -- when they are with their wife they have one personality, when they are with their
           girlfriend they have another personality -- the same personality won't do. They go on changing
           constantly. It becomes almost an autonomous process.
                George Gurdjieff, one of the great masters of this age, used a few techniques. One of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           techniques was to make you aware of your personalities. He himself was such an expert that you
           could be sitting on his left side and your friend could be sitting on his right side, and to one he would
           show an angry face and to the other his face would appear really blissful, peaceful, very loving.
                And when you meet, one will say, "What a man! I was so afraid; he was so angry the whole
           time." And the other will say, "What are you saying? He was so loving, and smiling." And only later
           on would you discover that he has been playing a game. He learned the art of changing personalities
           to such an extent that he could use two personalities at the same time. Gurdjieff could show half of
           the personality to the wife, and half to the girlfriend! But a long training....
                There is no need. Whether you have one personality or many, they are all junk. Just leave them,
           just be simply yourself. In the beginning it may feel a little awkward, as if you are naked -- in a
           certain way it is a kind of nakedness. But soon you will understand the beauty and innocence of
           simply being yourself.
                My grandfather died. We were great friends; in my whole family we were the only friends. No
           one was at ease with me, and no one was at ease with him. He was very old, but a troublemaker. But
           with me he was perfectly happy.
                We used to go together to the river, to the temple, to public meetings, and he would tell me,
           "Create trouble. Ask some question just to make that leader feel embarrassed."
                He was a nice, beautiful man. He died. So the whole family was sad, people were crying.
                I went to a nearby sweet shop, and I asked the owner, "You give me all the beautiful sweets that
           you have prepared today -- the whole lot."
                He said, "Are you mad? Your grandfather has died. Haven't you heard?"
                I said, "That's why! In death -- celebration! We were great friends, you know?"
                He said, "I know, but your father, your uncle and the others will kill me. They will say, `HE is a
           rascal, but YOU... why did you give him sweets? Is this a time for celebration?'"
                I said, "Are you going to give them to me, or should I create some trouble?"
                He said, "No, I don't want any trouble. You can take them, but it is your responsibility."
                I said, "I always do everything on my own responsibility."
                By that time a few people had gathered. I said, "All these people are witnesses; I am taking these
           sweets on my responsibility. This man is absolutely innocent. In fact, he has been trying to prevent
           me because he does not understand at all that my grandfather has gone to heaven and this is the time
           to celebrate."
                And I sat in front of my house distributing sweets. My whole family gathered and they said,
           "What are you doing?"
           I said, "Simply celebrating."
           They said, "Is this a time for celebration?"
                I said, "To be sincere, you are all feeling good that that old fellow is dead. Except me, nobody is
           sad. But you are all hypocrites."
                My father said to them, "Don't talk so loudly, you will gather a crowd; and if you gather a crowd,
           he is always the winner." He told me, "You do whatsoever you want to do. He was your grandfather,
           and if you want to celebrate, celebrate."
                But whoever I gave the sweets to would say, "But this is not the time."
                I said, "This is the time, because my whole family is celebrating except me -- and they are all
           sitting sad, with crocodile tears. That is all nonsense. I know them, and because they have to hold on
           to their hypocrisy they cannot celebrate. So I have to do this job -- although I am the only person
           who is sad, because he was my friend. And everybody is saying that he has gone to heaven -- then
           why not make it a celebration? If he had gone to hell, then it would be perfectly okay. Sit with long
           faces and tears, and don't eat for two or three days, and make as much fuss as you can. But if he has
           gone to heaven, then why are you feeling jealous? Just celebrate, enjoy."
                Late in the night my father told me, "The whole day I have been thinking that perhaps you are
           right. We were not sincere. We all were feeling relieved because he was always a trouble -- in
           everything he created trouble."
                In the shop they avoided him. He would come into the shop, and they would send him
           somewhere else because he will tell the customers, "He is cheating you" -- his own son -- "He is
           cheating you. That cloth is not worth twelve rupees, it is just worth eight rupees. If you wait a little, I
           will give it to you for eight rupees. Otherwise, it is... if you have too much money to throw away,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           throw it."
               So in the shop, all my uncles, my father, everybody tried to get rid of him -- "Customers are
           coming, send him away -- anywhere, whatever he wants to do. But if he stands here, he will tell the
           truth."
               And if I was there, I would tell the customers, "Just wait a little, my grandfather is coming. Then
           you will get the same thing for four or five rupees less."
               So not only were they getting rid of him, as I would enter the shop they would tell me, "Just go to
           the post office."
               I said, "You harass me unnecessarily. Collect all your post in the evening and I will go every
           day. But I cannot do this the whole day long. Whenever I come: `Go to the post office, just one
           postcard... drop it at the post office.' And this is just a trick, nothing else. I will go only when my
           grandfather is in the shop. At least one of us has to be here; otherwise the customers are going to be
           cheated, exploited."
               So my father said, "You were right. We were all feeling relieved, and all our tears were false. But
           you made it too open a secret, distributing sweets to the whole town and telling people that `My
           whole family is celebrating.'"
               I said, "If I was right, then you should drop these masks. Even at the death of your own father,
           you cannot drop your false faces. When are you going to be true?"
               All your personalities are absolute cover-ups, hiding your individuality.
               So it is perfectly good if it is happening that you are coming closer and you feel a magnetic pull.
           Don't resist; help it. Let those personalities die. Their death is going to become your new life, a life
           which will be a joy, an innocence, a luminosity, a constant dance of the heart. Just a little courage....
               Don't ask what is happening. Let it happen, and see. What I am saying is nothing; what will
           happen will be a thousandfold more.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, AND STILL -- HOW CAN IT BE THAT SO MANY QUESTIONS WHICH
              COME TO MY MIND ARE REFLECTING THE DARK SIDE OF ME? I AM AFRAID TO BORE YOU,
              BUT SOMEHOW THESE QUESTIONS OFTEN FEEL AS IF THEY ARE THE MOST HONEST AND
              AUTHENTIC TO ME.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                Latifa, one thing to be constantly remembered is not to judge what is dark and what is light, what
           is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil -- because the moment you judge, you start
           repressing. You don't want to show anything that you judge as dark, as evil, as bad. Then you have
           chosen only half of yourself; it is as if you have chosen only the day and you have denied the night.
                But the night has its own beauties. Its darkness is also a beauty -- it has a depth, a silence, a
           serenity, the stars. If the day has its beauty, the night has its own beauty; they are both unique -- and
           they are complementary.
                What you have been doing is to ask questions which look good -- and you repress those
           questions which you feel and judge to be bad. Naturally, your so-called good side is exhausted by
           and by, and only the side which, according to you is bad, remains inside. Then you are boiling with
           all that is black. Days are finished; only nights remain, and now you feel very much afraid to open
           yourself because anybody will see simply darkness and nothing else. And at the same time, you feel
           that it is absolutely sincere, it is part of you.
                It is not something insincere, but the whole problem begins in your judgment.
           Judgment is one of the crimes.
                We go on judging other people, and we do the same with ourselves. We go on judging our
           thoughts, our actions, what is good, what is bad, what should have been done, what should not have
           been done; and we are constantly creating conflict and duality.
                Here with me you have to create a oneness, a beautiful harmony between day and night, between
           life and death. Between any things that seem to be polar opposites you have to create a wholeness.
           And then you will not feel, bringing out anything, that it will expose you; it will simply show your
           wholeness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Just think of a rosebush. If the rosebush starts worrying about the thorns and starts suppressing
           them, the whole energy of the rosebush will be involved in suppressing the thorns. It may not be able
           to bring roses -- or even if it does they may not be worth bringing; they may be crippled, almost
           dying from the very beginning.
                But once you accept that thorns are part of the rosebush, as roses are...
                From my very childhood I have seen thorns in the rosebushes as the bodyguards of the roses.
           And they are bodyguards -- they protect them. They are coming from the same roots; they are part of
           the same bush, they live on the same juice. They are brothers and sisters; they live in deep harmony,
           there is no conflict. Have you seen the thorns and roses fighting with each other? Have you seen any
           rosebush being embarrassed that it has thorns?
           Thorns have their own beauty.
                The mind that continuously goes on judging creates anguish in you.
           But we are taught to judge.
                Even those with whom we have no concern, we go on judging: this man is good, that man is bad.
           What business is this, what concern is it of yours? And if you knew the whole story of the man,
           perhaps you would have said that this act you had thought was bad was absolutely inevitable.
           Without this act there would have remained something incomplete in the whole story.
                You know only parts -- as if you take out a page from a novel, and you judge the whole novel
           from the page. It is sheer stupidity. First, go through the whole novel.
                And as far as human life is concerned, nobody can go through the whole of a single human life.
           It is so vast, compressed in such a small time... seventy or eighty years, with so many complexities,
           complications that if you could see it as a whole you would not say that something was bad; it fits
           perfectly in the whole pattern of the person's life.
           And anyway, who are we? Who has made us judges?
                Once the mind learns the trick of judging, it goes on. Then you are continuously judging inside:
           This is good, this is bad. Then show the good side always, and keep the bad side to yourself. Slowly
           slowly, the good side is shown so much, everybody is bored with it. You are bored with it. And you
           cannot show the bad side, because it is bad.
           Show your wholeness.
                Just your good side is bound to be boring, too flat.
                With your black parts, it becomes juicy, it becomes more interesting.
                It is said that "a good man has no life" -- and I agree with this statement, whoever made it. What
           can a good man have? A bad man has a life!
                If you are whole, you will have more alive expressions... not flat, not boring, but always full of
           surprises. Not only surprising others but even surprising yourself -- "My God, I was able to do this
           too?"
                Life should be lived with as much wholeness as possible.
                That's the only way to live, to love, and to have a good laugh in the end.
                And don't be worried about what is right and what is wrong.
                Just for example, God created the world. Of course, if there was no devil, there would have been
           nothing at all in the world. Although the whole credit goes to God, it should go to the devil who
           persuaded Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. He is the first revolutionary, the
           first rebel, the first man to bring some aliveness into the world; otherwise, Adam and Eve would be
           chewing grass, still. In the Garden of Eden what else will you do? God has said not to eat from the
           tree of knowledge, not to eat from the tree of eternal life -- what is left? Knowing is prohibited,
           living is prohibited -- just sit silently like buffaloes and chew grass.
                It is by the mercy of the devil that you see this whole world.
                God has not created it. God created a world which consisted of Adam and Eve just like animals.
           This whole humanity, these great people -- Gautam the Buddha, Jesus Christ and Moses,
           Mohammed and Mahavira -- you would never have heard of them; they're all because of the devil.
                It is significant to remember: `devil' comes from a Sanskrit root which means divine. It comes
           from dev -- from the same root comes `divine,' from the same root comes `devil.'
                The devil has done such a divine work. This whole creation is a deep partnership between God
           and the devil. Neither can God do it alone -- because he can only create flat things -- nor can the
           devil do it alone, because he can only revolt, he is a revolutionary. First something has to be there to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be revolutionary against. God is needed for the devil to revolt against, and then the dynamics start
           turning, and the wheel of life and death, day and night, good and bad.
           But life consists of opposites, remember.
                And don't try to judge; just live the whole, whatever it is.
                I teach you wholeness, and you go on judging parts. Parts are not of any use. It is the whole,
           where parts lose their personalities and function in the way an orchestra functions.
                I myself have never thought that anything is good or anything is bad. Not for a single moment
           have I thought that anything is bad or good; they are both together and they can exist only together.
           If you want to live, live them in their togetherness.
                The people who are afraid of their togetherness started teaching, "Renounce life, escape from
           life, because here you cannot avoid the bad. Whatever you do, even if you do good, you cannot avoid
           the bad."
                You will be surprised to know that in India, Jainism has a sect called terapanth. Bombay has
           many followers of the Terapanth. It is a very logical but very strange ideology.
                It says that if somebody falls into a well you should not take him out. He may be shouting and
           you are by the side of the well and there is nobody else there -- you simply go on as you are,
           unconcerned. It seems strange. A philosophy of non-violence... and a man is dying and they are
           saying that you go on, unconcerned. But their reasoning is worth noting: they say you can save the
           man but if tomorrow he murders somebody, then you will be responsible too. And what is the
           guarantee about his tomorrow? -- it is better not to get involved.
                In the first place he has fallen in the well. It must be because of some evil act in his past life;
           otherwise why should he fall into the well? Now, he is receiving the punishment for his action, and
           you interfere in it; you interfere in the great law of action. Secondly, if he murders somebody
           tomorrow, then you will share the evil act. It is better to move on silently, not to bother about what is
           happening to him.
                These are the people who have been judging. Now, judgment has gone to the extreme. Somebody
           is thirsty; don't give him water. Somebody is hungry; don't give him food -- because you don't know
           what he is going to do. You get involved in his life by giving him water; otherwise he may have
           died. By giving him water you keep him alive. Now whatever he does, you are going to share in it.
           You have not done a bad act, but life is not so simple -- it may turn into a bad act.
                It looks very logical, but very inhuman; it looks very rational but very uncompassionate, without
           any love. But this is the logical end of judging things.
                I want you to drop judgment and live a life without judgment, in its wholeness. And you will be
           surprised that wholeness is neither good nor bad.
                Wholeness is transcendental; it is beyond good and evil.
                There is only one man in the whole history of humanity, Friedrich Nietzsche, who has written a
           book, BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL. And my insight and understanding is that he is the only man
           who has seen judgment to its logical end.
                An authentic person should live beyond good and evil.
           He does not care what is good, what is bad.
                He lives with intensity and totality, and whatever the moment allows him and he feels to do, he
           does it.
                But all the religions and all the theologians and all the saints are sitting and thinking about
           whether this is right or wrong. And if you listen to them, you will find it impossible to live;
           everything seems to be wrong.
                I have looked into all the scriptures of the world just trying to find out -- perhaps there may be
           one thing which is not condemed by somebody. But there is not, somebody or other is against
           everything. And there are things that somebody or other is for. There is no ultimate criterion to
           decide what is right and what is wrong.
                As far as I am concerned and my people are concerned, they should live wholeheartedly -- live
           the day and live the night too. Don't miss anything.
                Make your life such a complementary whole that everything fits together and makes it a piece of
           art, a beautiful phenomenon.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                   Chapter #13
                                      Chapter title: The only holy approach
           15 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610155
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 132 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES, I FEEL SUCH AN ENORMOUS PRESENCE, SUCH A VAST ISNESS,
              SUCH A BEATITUDE. BUT IT IS A FULLNESS, NOT AN EMPTINESS.
              COULD YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS FULLNESS,
              AND THE EMPTINESS OR NOTHINGNESS WHICH YOU ARE SPEAKING OF?


               Maitri, the fullness that you are experiencing and the nothingness that I have been speaking
           about are just two names for the same thing seen from two different perspectives.
               If you look at it from the world of miseries, anxieties, darkness and death, it is nothingness --
           because all these things are absent. Your whole so-called world and its experiences are no more in it.
               But if you look at what is left, or at what is revealed because of the absence of misery and
           darkness, then you are full of blissfulness, full of light, of enormous presence and beatitude, a great
           benediction. It is fullness. It is empty of the world and full of God, it is empty of all your falsities
           and full of your essential reality.
               Those two words are not contradictory; they are indicating the same experience from two
           different perspectives.
               It is significant to understand that there is only one person, Gautam Buddha, who has used
           nothingness, emptiness, for the ultimate experience. All other mystics of the world have used
           fullness, wholeness, as the expression, the indication of the ultimate experience.
               Why did Gautam Buddha have to choose a negative term?
               It is significant to understand -- for your own spiritual growth, not for any philosophical reasons.
           I do not speak for philosophical reasons. I speak only when I see there is some existential relevance.
               The idea of fullness, the idea of God, the idea of perfection, the idea of the absolute, the ultimate
           -- all are positive terms. And Gautam Buddha was amazed to see the cunningness of human mind.
               The innocent mystics have simply used the positive words because that was their experience.
           Why bother about the misery which is no more? Why not say something about that which is now?
           The innocent mystics have spoken out of their isness. But throughout the centuries the cunning
           minds of people around the world have taken advantage of it.
               To the cunning mind, the idea of fullness and the positive terms indicating it became an ego trip:
           "I have to become God. I have to attain the absolute, the brahma; I have to achieve the ultimate
           liberation." The I became the center of all our assertions.
               And the trouble is that you cannot make the ultimate experience a goal for the ego.
           Ego is the barrier; it cannot become the bridge.
               So all the positive terms have been misused. Rather than destroying the ego, they have become
           decorations for the ego. God has become a goal, you have to achieve the goal. You become greater
           than God.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Remember, the goal cannot be greater than you. The achieved cannot be greater than the
           achiever. It is a very simple fact to understand.
                And all the religions have fallen because of this simple innocence of the mystics.
                Gautam Buddha was the most cultured and the most educated, the most sophisticated person ever
           to become a mystic. There is no comparison in the whole of history. He could see where the innocent
           mystics had unknowingly given chances for cunning minds to take advantage. He decided not to use
           any positive term for the ultimate goal, to destroy your ego and any possibility of your ego taking
           any advantage.
                He called the ultimate, nothingness, emptiness, shunyata, zero. Now, how can the ego make zero
           the goal? God can be made the goal, but not zero.
                Who wants to become zero? -- that is the fear. Everybody is avoiding all possibilities of
           becoming zero, and Buddha made it an expression for the ultimate.
           His word is nirvana.
                He chose a tremendously beautiful word, but he shocked all the thinkers and philosophers by
           choosing the word `nirvana' as the most significant expression for the ultimate experience.
           Nirvana means blowing out the candle.
                The other mystics have said that you are filled with enormous light, as if thousands of suns
           together have suddenly risen inside you, as if the whole sky full of stars has descended within your
           heart.
                These ideas appeal to the ego. The ego would like to have all the stars, if not inside the chest then
           at least hanging on the coat outside the chest. "Enormous light"... the ego is very willing.
                To cut the very roots, Buddha says the experience is as if you were to blow out a candle. There
           was a small flame on the candle giving a small light -- even that is gone, and you are surrounded
           with absolute darkness, abysmal darkness.
                People used to come to ask him, "If you go on teaching such things, nobody is going to follow
           you. Who wants darkness, enormous darkness? You are crazy. You say that the ultimate experience
           is ultimate death. People want eternal life, and you are talking about ultimate death."
                But he was a very consistent man, and you can see that for forty-two years he hammered on the
           genius of the East without ever compromising with the ego.
                He also knows that what he is calling darkness is too much light; that's why it looks like
           darkness. If one thousand suns rise in you, what do you think? -- that you will feel enormous light?
           You will feel immense darkness, it will be too dazzling. Just look at one sun for a few seconds -- and
           you will feel your eyes are going blind. If one thousand suns are within you, inside the mind, the
           experience will be of darkness, not of light.
                It will take a long time for you to get accustomed, for your eyes to become strong enough to see
           -- slowly slowly -- darkness turning into light, death turning into life, emptiness turning into fullness.
                But he never talked about those things. He never said that darkness would ever turn into light.
           And he never said that death would become a resurrection at some later point, because he knows
           how cunning your ego is. If that is said, the ego will say, "Then there is no problem. Our aim
           remains the same; it is just that we will have to pass through a little dark night of the soul. But
           finally, we will have enormous light, thousands of suns."
                Gautam Buddha had to deny that God existed -- not that he was against God, a man like Gautam
           Buddha cannot be against God. And if Gautam Buddha is against God, then it is of no use for
           anybody to be in favor of God. His decision is decisive for the whole of humanity, he represents our
           very soul. But he was not against God. He was against your ego, and he was constantly careful not to
           give your ego any support to remain. If God can become a support, then there is no God.
                One thing becomes very clear: although he used, for the first time, all negative terms, yet the man
           must have had tremendous charismatic qualities. He influenced millions of people. His philosophy is
           such that anyone listening to him would freak out. What is the point of all the meditations and all the
           austerities, renouncing the world, eating one time a day... and ultimately you achieve nothingness,
           you become zero! We are already better -- we may be miserable zeros, but we are at least. Certainly,
           when you are completely a zero there cannot be any misery; zeros are not known to be miserable --
           but what is the gain?
                But he convinced people -- not through his philosophy, but through his individuality, through his
           presence. He gave people the experience itself, so that they could understand: it is emptiness as far as
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the world is concerned, it is emptiness for the ego. And it is fullness for the being.
                There are many reasons for the disappearance of Buddha's thought from India, but this is one of
           the most significant. All other Indian mystics, philosophers, and seers have used positive terms. And
           for centuries before Buddha, the whole of India was accustomed to thinking only in the positive; the
           negative was something unheard of. Under the influence of Gautam Buddha they followed him, but
           when he died his following started disappearing -- because the following was not intellectually
           convinced; it was convinced because of his presence.
                Because of the eyes of Gautam Buddha they could see: "This man -- if he is living in nothingness
           then there is no fear, we would love to be nothing. If this is where zeroness leads, if by being nothing
           such lotuses bloom in the eyes and such grace flows, then we are ready to go with this man. The man
           has a magic."
                But his philosophy alone will not convince you, because it has no appeal for the ego.
                And Buddhism survived in China, in Ceylon, in Burma, in Japan, in Korea, in Indochina, in
           Indonesia -- in the whole of Asia except India -- because the Buddhists who reached there dropped
           negative terms. They started speaking in positive terms. Then the ultimate, the absolute, the perfect
           -- the old terms returned. This was the compromise.
                So as far as I am concerned, Buddhism died with Gautam Buddha.
                Whatever exists now as Buddhism has nothing to do with Buddha because it has dropped his
           basic contribution, and that was his negative approach.
                I am aware of both traditions. I am certainly in a better position than Gautam Buddha was.
           Gautam Buddha was aware of only one thing -- that the ego can use the positive. And it is his great
           contribution, his courageous contribution, that he dropped the positive and insisted on the negative,
           emphasized the negative -- knowing perfectly well that people were not going to follow this because
           it had no appeal for the ego.
                To me, now both traditions are available. I know what happened to the positive -- the ego
           exploited it. I know what happened to the negative. After the death of Gautam Buddha, the disciples
           had to compromise, compromise with the same thing which Gautam Buddha was revolting against.
                So I am trying to explain to you both approaches together -- emptiness as far as the world is
           concerned and fullness, wholeness as far as the inner experience is concerned. And this is a total
           approach, it takes note of both: that which has to be left behind, and that which is to be gained.
           I call my approach the only holy approach.
                All other approaches up to now have been half-half. Mahavira, Shankara, Moses, Mohammed, all
           used the positive. Gautam Buddha used the negative. I use both, and I don't see any contradiction.
                If you understand me clearly, then you can enjoy the beauty of both viewpoints, and you need
           not be exploited by your ego or be afraid of death and darkness and nothingness.
                Maitri, they are not two things. It is almost as if I were to put a glass of water in front of you, half
           full and half empty, and ask you whether the glass is empty or full. Either answer would be wrong,
           because the glass is both half full and half empty. From one side it is empty, from another side it is
           full.
                Half of your life is part of the mundane world, the other half is part of the sacred. And it is
           unfortunate, but there is no other way -- we have to use the same language for both the mundane and
           the sacred. So one has to be very alert. To choose the mundane will be missing; if you think of the
           mundane, you will find the sacred life empty. If you think of the sacred, you will find it
           overflowingly full.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               AS YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT INDIAN AND WESTERN SANNYASINS, I FELT WHAT YOU
               WERE SAYING WAS TRUE -- SOMETIMES THE INDIANS ARE TOO MUCH OF THE HEART. IT IS
               HARD TO SAY NO TO THEM, YET YOU CANNOT SAY YES TO THEIR EXPECTATIONS AND
               THEORIES. THEY ARE DEAF.
               WILL YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS SO?


              The question has many parts.
           The first part, that the Indians are sometimes too much of the heart... that statement is wrong. One
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can never be too much of the heart; that is existentially impossible.
                The heart and its qualities are such that you can always have more of them. And there is no limit
           -- not even the sky is the limit.
                But I understand your problem. You are saying that you are finding it difficult in certain
           moments, the people of the East are much too loving; you cannot say no to them and you cannot say
           yes either.
                I am reminded of when I came to Bombay for the first time, I was invited for lunch... I was new,
           and the people who had invited me here were new. None of us knew each other.
                The man had come to Bombay just two or three days before. He is one of the most beautiful men
           I have met in my life. Along with me, he had invited at least twenty more people. It was beautiful
           food, but the way they were forcing everybody to eat was just unimaginable. They were three
           brothers; two of the brothers would hold the person, and the third one would force him -- "One laddu
           more."
                And the person would be trying to say, "I will die! Leave me!"
                They would say, "Just one..." And this was something unending.
                Even the women of the house were helping. People were trying to run out of the room and the
           women were standing in the doorway.
                I asked the man, "Your love is good, and your sweets are good, but there is a limit. That man is
           saying he will die -- and you are not concerned about his death, you are concerned about forcing
           more food on him."
                What he said to me I have not forgotten. He said, "If we don't do this, my father's soul will be
           very unhappy."
                I said, "My God! Is your father's soul also present here?"
                He said, "No, that is not the question. This is our heritage. In my father's day, this was the
           routine: unless the guest starts fighting and beating you, don't leave him alone. Things have to come
           to that end."
                I said, "Listen, don't do this thing to me -- because I cannot beat you, and neither do I want to
           fight."
           They said, "But our father's soul..."
                I said, "You are idiots! Your father's soul must have been born again by now. When did your
           father die?"
           They said, "It must be twenty years."
                I said, "He must be in a college somewhere studying. Forget about him, he has nothing to do with
           it."
                He said, "If you say so... But we will feel very guilty."
                I said, "If you force anything on me, I am not going to come to Bombay again."
                With tears in his eyes, he took hold of my legs. He said, "That's perfectly good. I will not force
           you. Just one laddu, no fight, but please continue to come. And promise me that at least whenever
           you come... one lunch at my house, and we will never force you. Just have one more laddu."
                I said, "But you are forcing me! This is another strategy -- tears, holding my leg; it is no different
           from holding my neck. It is even worse, because I feel that although it will create trouble for me --
           you have forced so many sweets on me -- looking at your tears..."
                He said, "What can I do? Just thinking of my father's soul..."
                I said, "Drop your father's soul! Do you promise me that if I take this laddu you will not ask
           anything?"
           He said, "I absolutely promise."
                But I was not aware of the strategy. It was one brother's promise -- they were three brothers, with
           three wives....
                I said, "My God, it seems soon my soul is going to meet your father's soul! If you have any
           message, I will deliver it to him. And I will never come again."
                And they were all sitting on the floor, holding my leg -- "You have to come."
           Love is one thing... this is not love.
                Because love would take care of me, see that I don't fall sick. They are taking care of their
           father's soul, they are not concerned with me.
                So I can understand your question, that sometimes their love is too much, their heart is too much.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You cannot say no and you cannot say yes either.
               But you have to be very clear with the people in the East. Accept their love, be grateful for their
           love, but when it goes against your reason, "no" is not something that cannot be said. It is not
           necessarily against love. You are simply protecting yourself, and you have the right to protect
           yourself. And if you cannot say yes, don't say yes.
               And remember: what they are doing is not love, but some formality, some tradition, some
           convention. This is not part of love. They are fulfilling their own traditional, conventional, orthodox
           views.
               If it were love then food would not be forced; then the guest would be served and allowed to eat
           whatever he feels like eating, and however much he wants to eat. Love will give that freedom.
               It is not heart. The dividing line is very fine -- that's why you cannot understand how to say no.
           He is so loving that it seems better to suffer a little, but not to say no. But this is not his love.
           Love never enforces anything on anyone.
           Love never tries to dominate, to dictate.
               You call this love? -- two persons are holding onto the man's hands and the third person is
           forcing a laddu into his mouth, and the man is saying, "I will die! What are you doing? If you had
           told me that this was going to happen I would have never come."
               But they have a certain idea. It has been happening in their family for centuries -- unless a guest
           starts beating you, you are not a host, not worth the name. A strange idea!
               You have to say no. And if they need beating, then it is better that before they force the food, you
           start beating them. If that is the only thing that will stop them and satisfy them and their father's soul,
           then beat them before they make you sick.
               Be alert, and understand clearly the idea of love. It is non-interfering. It is non-enforcing -- about
           anything.
           Love is authentic only when it gives you freedom.
               I am reminded of a strange Eastern story that will show you what love is.
               A man is in great love with a woman. The woman says, "I am ready to marry you, but there is
           one condition."
               If the man had been aware of a simple fact, that love never makes conditions, he would have said
           goodbye to the woman at that very point. But he was mad, really blindly in love. He was ready to do
           anything. He said, "Any condition, and I am ready to do it."
           The woman said, "My condition is difficult."
               The man said, "Whatever the condition is, don't be worried. You just say it."
               The woman said, "Go home and kill your mother. Bring her heart on a plate and present it to me.
           Only on this condition will I marry you, because only this will give me proof that you really love
           me."
               Blind lovers can do anything. They are, not only in this story but all over the world.
               He went home, he killed his mother, and he put her heart on a plate... he rushed. He was in such a
           hurry to reach the woman that he stumbled on the road and fell. The plate broke and the heart was all
           over the street in small pieces.
               And a voice came from those pieces: "My son, are you hurt? I am sorry, but it wasn't my fault.
           Try to gather the pieces; go home and get another plate, and go to your sweetheart."
               Listening to this, it was as if he suddenly awoke from a dream. What was he doing? What had he
           done? And his mother has not still complained, is not even angry. On the contrary, she had inquired,
           "Are you hurt? -- because you've fallen on the ground. I have always been telling you to go slowly,
           but you never listen to me. Now collect all the pieces and go back home."
               He collected the pieces, went home, and forgot all about that woman.
               The woman waited and waited. One day passed, another day passed. She said, "What happened?"
           She went to the man's house, found that he had killed his mother. She said, "What happened then?
           Where is the heart?"
               It was on a plate, in fragments. He said, "This is the heart, but something happened on the road
           that made me turn back. I knew for the first time what love means. I am grateful to you; otherwise I
           would have never understood that my mother was so much concerned about my welfare. And I
           cannot forgive myself, that I killed the woman with my own hands. As for you, who asked such a
           condition...!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Love makes no conditions.
               Love gives you freedom to be yourself, helps you to be yourself.
               Even if it goes against his own interest, still, a loving person will suffer himself rather than make
           the loved one suffer.
           Another ancient story...
               A woman loved her husband, but the husband never paid any attention to her. He was in love
           with a prostitute, knowing perfectly well that prostitutes don't love -- because there were many other
           customers. He was only a customer, not a lover. And in his life he had seen that the day the
           customer's money is finished, the prostitute's door is closed for that man.
               He had destroyed his health, he had destroyed his money, now he was dying. Just as he was
           dying, his wife asked him, "If you have any last wish so that you can die contented..."
               He said, "Yes, I have a wish, but I am ashamed to say it to you."
               She said, "Don't be ashamed. This is not the time to be ashamed. I love you as you are -- there is
           no question of feeling ashamed."
               He said, "My only wish is to see the prostitute just once more before I die."
           The woman said, "There is no problem."
               He had lost all their money, there was no money in the house. She had to carry the dying man on
           her shoulders to the prostitute's house. She knocked on the door.
               The prostitute opened the door and could not believe it. She said, "Am I hallucinating? Is this
           real? You are the wife of the man..."
               The wife said, "Yes, I am the wife and also the lover of the man."
               The prostitute said, "Then why have you brought him here? He destroyed your life, he spent all
           your money and he was mad after me. And to me, once the money is finished, all relationship is
           finished. He was only a customer. This is a marketplace and he knows it. You are a strange woman!"
               She said, "But this was his dying wish. He wanted to see you, and I love him so much that I
           could not say no. In his happiness is my happiness, and if he can die contented I will feel I have
           fulfilled my duty, my love."
               No complaint about the man, about his whole behavior. No jealousy against the woman.
           Love knows no jealousy, love knows no complaint.
           Love is a deep understanding.
               You love someone -- that does not mean that the other should love you also. It is not a contract.
           Try to understand the meaning of love.
               And you will not be able to understand the meaning of love by your so-called love affairs.
               Strangely enough, you will understand the meaning of love by going deep into meditation, by
           becoming more silent, more together, more at ease. You will start radiating a certain energy. You
           will become loving, and you will know the beautiful qualities of love.
               It knows to say yes, it also knows to say no. It is not blind.
               But it has to come out of your meditation -- only then does love have eyes; otherwise love is
           blind.
               And unless love has eyes, it is worthless. It is going to create more and more trouble for you --
           because two blind persons with blind expectations are not only going to double the troubles of life,
           they are going to multiply the troubles of life.
           So be silent and be alert. Be loving.
               And you can say no with great love. No does not mean that you are unloving; yes does not mean
           that you are loving. Sometimes yes may mean that you are simply afraid, it is out of fear. So it is not
           necessarily that love means yes and you cannot say no.
               Love with eyes knows when to say no, when to say yes.
               Love neither interferes in anybody's life nor allows anybody else to interfere into one's own life.
           Love gives individuality to others, but does not lose its own individuality.
               And it is not a question of Western or Eastern -- what I am saying is applicable to all. Just
           because you have asked the question as if the problem is because you come from the West...
               It has to be understood well: it is not a question of your coming from the West; it is a problem
           because reason and heart are always in conflict. And the West is more rationalist, but the West has
           spread all over the world through its empires and through its educational systems. Now it is very
           difficult to find a purely Eastern man. The West has poisoned everybody.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Reason has become supreme.
                So try to understand it in terms of reason and heart, not in terms of West and East. Because even
           in the East, for the people who are living in their reason -- and all people who are cultured, educated,
           are living in their reason -- the problem is the same.
                The heart has its own language, reason has its own language, and they are not necessarily always
           in agreement. Most probably they are in disagreement, because reason thinks in a different
           dimension.
                I am reminded of Albert Einstein and his wife, Frau Einstein.
                His wife was a poet. And he was just the wrong person to be married to -- a mathematician, a
           physicist. In mathematics, one plus one is always two. In love, one plus one is always one.
           Languages are so different.
                And Frau Einstein was a talented woman; naturally she wanted to show a few of her poems to
           Albert Einstein, and would have enjoyed being appreciated by the world's most famous
           mathematician, physicist, scientist.
                But she could not see any emotion moving on Albert Einstein's face, or any changes in his eyes.
           He listened to her poems as if he were a stone statue.
                She had written a beautiful piece, talking about the beloved and comparing the face of the
           beloved with the moon. At that point, Einstein said, "Enough! Stop! This is too much. You don't
           understand anything about the moon. Do you know its proportions? If a moon were put on a man's
           body as a head, your beloved would not be found again, he would be crushed to pieces. And who
           told you that the moon is beautiful? It is a dead rock, with no water, no greenery, no flowers, no
           trees, no birds. Who told you that the moon is beautiful? What do you mean by beauty?"
                The wife was shocked, she could not believe that such a great scientist would talk in such a way.
           But he was not joking -- that's how reason thinks.
           Reason cannot understand poetry; it is not its way.
           It is very prose.
                Frau Einstein has written in her memoirs, "That was the first and the last time I ever mentioned
           poetry to him. It would be better to talk to a rock; perhaps the rock might respond better than this
           man."
                The question is not of East and West. The question is between the heart and the reason.
                In the East, the heart has been predominant, but it has created a problem which nobody has
           discussed. I have been looking through ancient scriptures, literature, commentaries -- has anybody
           ever thought about this problem or not? -- because it is so significant it cannot be ignored.
                Because the East is leaning too much towards the heart, it has not developed rationality to its
           fullest -- but still it goes on talking about theories, reincarnation, heaven and hell. If you were to say
           that these are mythological, there would be no problem, but people insist that these are rational
           hypotheses.
                And your question is relevant: it becomes so difficult to talk with the Eastern person because he
           goes on talking about theories which look absurd, stupid, illogical. But to him they seem absolutely
           valid because he has never been trained in reason. His validity is of the heart.
           I will give you few examples so you can understand.
                Jainas say that once a snake bit Mahavira on his foot, and instead of blood coming out, milk
           came out. Now, if you say it is a myth, a parable, a poetry, there is no problem....
                The first time I spoke in Bombay, one Jaina monk, Chitrabhanu, had spoken ahead of me. And he
           mentioned this fact, and gave the reason why milk came out: because Mahavira is so full of love that
           even when a snake bites him, it is because of his love and compassion that milk comes out -- just a
           little breakfast for the snake. No anger, no violence...
                And for twenty-five centuries Jainas have been writing in their books that this is factual.
                I was to speak after Chitrabhanu, and I said, "If it is factual then many things have to be
           explained: it means that Mahavira's body was filled with milk instead of blood. And the snakebite
           happened when he was nearabout fifty, so for fifty years... all the milk would have certainly turned
           into curd. And he used to walk naked, on foot... in fifty years' time, the curd would have turned into
           butter! And in such heat, in such a hot country, butter is going to become GHEE."
                So if ghee had come out of his foot instead of blood, there would be some rationality to it -- but
           milk? And this is so stupid, that a man is full of curd... he would stink of curd! Fifty years filled with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           curd and butter and ghee -- just think of that poor man. In the hot season, he wouldn't perspire, he
           would start flowing with ghee!
                So I said, "This is nonsense. The only possibility is: milk comes out of a woman's body, and she
           has a certain mechanism in her breast to transform the blood into milk. A rational mind could accept
           it, that Mahavira had the same mechanism in his feet. His feet were nothing but breasts. And
           strangely... was he expecting that the snake was going to bite him on the foot? Most probably he had
           breasts all over, so that wherever the snake bit, milk would come out."
                And even a woman's breast will not give milk unless she has given birth to a child. So I said,
           "This goes on and on into difficulties. It is better to simply accept that this is poetry. Don't make it
           history. Don't try to theorize it, don't try to make it scientific. Simply say that it is a poetic way of
           saying that he was so loving... how to say it in poetry? So we have expressed it by saying that milk
           came out, just as the milk comes out of the mother's breast, in love."
                Milk has a certain association with love, because the child receives the milk and love from the
           same breast -- that is his first experience in the world. And that's why humanity is so obsessed with
           the breast. Painters go on painting breasts and breasts, sculptors go on making breasts and breasts.
                Poets, novelists, all kinds of creative people are obsessed only with one object, and that is the
           woman's breast. The reason is clear: it is the child's first experience of love, of warmth, of the human
           body, of the other, of the world. It contains so much. So just to give expression to a feeling of love
           and warmth, milk has been used as a symbol.
                But no Jaina is going to agree with me, because then the miracle is lost. Poetry is not a miracle.
           The miracle is in the historicity of the fact.
                So you are right in questioning how to deal with these people. They are so loving, they are so full
           of heart, but they go on talking about such nonsense... esoteric, occult.
                And everybody in the East knows so much that it seems that all are realized souls! Where to stop
           these people, and where to say no to these people?
                You have to be very clear, very loving, but without any compromise. The moment you see that
           these people are going into fictions and creating stupid theories -- and their scriptures are full of
           them -- you have to stop them.
                That is one of the misfortunes of the East, that people have forgotten completely that poetry is
           not history, that poetry is far more significant than history. Then theorizations, rationalizations are
           meaningless, and the effort to prove them as if they are scientific truths makes the whole East a
           laughingstock.
           My own approach is very simple:
                You have to be alert not to allow the heart to start overpowering your reason, just as you have to
           be alert that your reason does not overpower your heart. Their functions are separate. Reason should
           function in the world of objects, and the heart should function in the world of human consciousness.
           And the moment they overlap, there is going to be a certain kind of mess.
                And whenever you feel it, that the man is so loving, how to say no to him? don't be worried. It
           has been my whole life's difficulty -- because everybody in India is so full of knowledge, and all that
           knowledge is simply holy cow dung, there is nothing in it.
                But these people are good, this is the problem. The people are good: very generous, very loving,
           very helpful. Only their hearts have overrun their heads, so whatsoever they are saying... you have to
           be a little alert.
                And when you say no to them, they feel hurt; they think their love is rejected. So you have to be
           very careful and very articulate. It is a difficult task -- it was for me, because with my family, my
           teachers, my professors... everywhere I was in difficulty. Because I could not see how a
           well-educated professor could be talking such nonsense, without even being aware at all that what he
           is saying is nonsense. And he is a good man, there is no doubt about his sincerity. It is simply that
           his reason is retarded. Only the heart has grown, and it has its beauty. But the heart is leading the
           reason, so they are talking all kinds of nonsense.
                I had to stop them -- "Wait a minute. You cannot say this rationally. Either accept it as a poetry
           or withdraw it."
                But the result was that I was expelled from this college, from that university -- and they had no
           reason. The vice-chancellor said to me, that "We don't have any reason to expel you, you have not
           done anything that demands such punishment as to expel you. But you should understand our
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficulty: you are creating such trouble to so many professors that they are threatening to resign if
           you don't leave this university. And we cannot afford it, those are our very respected professors."
               And I said, "First you should call them and ask them what the problem is, why they are so angry
           with me."
               And the professors said, "It is not a question of being angry with you. You simply raise questions
           which make us feel embarrassed before the whole class. And people laugh, and we cannot answer.
           You are destroying the respectability we have established over thirty years, forty years -- you, within
           half an hour, destroy the whole of it. People lose all respect for us."
               And I said, "Have I ever shown any disrespect to you?"
               They said, "You never show any disrespect. That is not the question, the question is that we
           cannot change now. Our whole lives we have lived with certain theories. And we have believed them
           to be scientific, we have never suspected them. Suddenly you come here, and on each point you
           create a question and we are at a loss."
               One of the professors was a celibate, and he was continually preaching celibacy, that the only
           spirituality is to be celibate.
               I asked him, "I have been in your home, and I see Rama there with Sita, the Hindu god Rama
           standing with his wife, Sita. What kind of celibacy is this fellow following? And out of this celibacy
           two children are born -- you should throw this fellow out of your house! But you worship him, and in
           the university you talk about celibacy. Do you see the contradiction or not? All your Vedic seers
           were married people, all your Upanishadic seers were married people. You read SHRIMAD
           BHAGAVADGITA every day, and this fellow Shri Krishna had sixteen thousand wives -- what kind
           of celibacy is this?"
               Now this man took my hand and told me, "Come with me to the vice-chancellor. This is too
           much -- now either you are going to remain in the university or I am going to remain in the
           university."
               But I said, "I have simply asked a question. You can satisfy me by giving a satisfying answer.
           Or, you can say that you are greater than all these people because you are celibate and they were not.
           But why are you worshipping them? They should worship you."
               On the way, he asked me, "Should we go to the vice-chancellor or not?"
               I said, "It is up to you. Because the whole question will be discussed, and I will insist that the
           vice-chancellor have a look in your house. You have made a temple where Rama is standing with
           Sita and Krishna is standing with Rukmani -- which is absolute hypocrisy; he was married to this
           woman Rukmani but he never lived with her. How could he manage it? Sixteen thousand wives
           stolen from other people's houses... he was married to only one woman; the remaining ones were all
           stolen, forcibly taken. Whenever he saw a beautiful woman, his soldiers would take her -- no
           consideration of the husband or the children or the old parents, no consideration at all. And still, the
           hypocrisy is that you are putting poor Rukmani next to Krishna. I will take the vice-chancellor to
           have a look in your house and things can be decided then and there."
               I said, "There is no need for you to resign. You simply don't be celibate, get married! The
           problem will be solved -- neither I will have to be expelled from the university nor will you have to
           resign. And if you feel shy, I will find a good wife for you."
               He said, "You stop! Don't talk like this, you are almost persuading me. This is seduction!"
           I said, "Then come on and see the vice-chancellor."
               And we went, and the vice-chancellor listened, and he told me, "You are not wrong, but what can
           we do? As far as Indian logic is concerned, this man is the best in the whole of India. We cannot...."
               I said, "You just think -- this man is absolutely illogical. How can he be an expert in Indian
           logic? His behavior is so illogical... a celibate worshipping married people."
               But the vice-chancellor said, "You had better choose some other university. I will recommend
           you. I will not expel you, I will recommend you as highly as possible." But no university was ready
           to accept me, because my fame had reached ahead of me already -- that that fellow is coming to be
           admitted to the university or the college.
               In India it is a problem -- people are not rational. Even those who pretend to be rational, their
           behavior is very irrational.
               They will be very loving, but don't allow them to destroy your reason. The heart has to grow,
           reason has to become sharp -- because both have to fulfill their functions in the totality of your
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           growth.
               A man with a great heart and a great intelligence, without any conflict between them, is truly a
           genius.
               And everybody has the possibility, but everybody is either dominated by logic or dominated by
           the heart. Everybody is living a lopsided life.
               Have you seen any advertisements for circuses? When a circus comes to a town -- I have seen it
           in many towns -- they have bicycles, with one wheel small and one wheel big. And the big wheel's
           center is not in the center, it is off-center. So the man riding on the bicycle comes up, goes down,
           comes up, goes down -- naturally he attracts everybody's attention -- "What is happening?" A man
           suddenly comes up and goes down... and he is a joker, wearing the joker's dress... and the name of
           the circus, and the timings and the tickets and everything... A single man will attract everybody -- a
           simple device.
               But seeing that kind of advertisement, I saw that this is the situation of almost every man.
           You have two wheels, the reason and the heart.
               Somebody's heart is big and their reason is small -- then he goes up and down.
               Somebody's reason is big and his heart is small -- then he goes up and down.
               Everybody is going up and down -- and for whom are you advertising?
               And it is not easy to sit on that bicycle, I have tried it. It is a very difficult job.
           But people are living this way -- unbalanced.
               You need a balanced life in which reason and heart move in harmony, supporting each other,
           helping each other. So whenever you see that anybody -- either from the East or from the West -- is
           disturbing your harmony, stop him.
           Stop him lovingly, there is no need to be rude.
               But don't be silent, because to be silent is to be rude. You have allowed that man to move in a
           wrong way, you were not compassionate enough.




                                           Beyond Enlightenment
                                                  Chapter #14
                             Chapter title: Don't be a missionary, be a message
           16 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610165
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 131 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU HEARD MY PRAYER AND CALLED ME TO YOU ON THE 8TH OF AUGUST.
              AS I ENTERED YOUR ROOM, I EXPERIENCED YOU AS A LARGE OCEAN, AN EMPTINESS THAT
              I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE. I SAW YOUR BEAUTIFUL BEING, AND I WAS
              IMMERSED IN THAT EMPTINESS AND BEAUTY. I FELT THAT THE OCEAN'S EMPTINESS WAS
              FLOWING INTO ME FROM YOU.
              AFTER THAT DAY, NEW SONGS AND MELODIES ARE COMING FROM THAT EMPTINESS OF
              YOURS, AND I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.
              BELOVED OSHO, PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW THIS CAN HAPPEN SO EASILY IN THE MASTER'S
              PRESENCE. IS IT SO SIMPLE? IT DOESN'T FEEL POSSIBLE FOR ME TO EXIST IN THIS LIFE
              WITHOUT HAVING HAD THAT MEETING -- IS THAT SO? I FEEL THAT SUCH A FEELING MIGHT
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              NOT HAVE OTHERWISE HAPPENED TO ME FOR MANY LIVES.
              PLEASE EXPLAIN THE MEETING OF THE MASTER AND THE DISCIPLE.


               Ashok Bharti, the most obvious in life seems to be the most difficult; the most simple seems to
           be the most complicated.
               The reason why it happens so, is because the mind is not interested in the obvious. It wants the
           challenge of the impossible; only with the challenge of the impossible can the mind fulfill its ego.
           With the obvious, there is no space for the ego to grow or even to exist.
           The obvious is the grave of the ego.
               The simple we take for granted, because it is so simple.
               Only the far away, the distant, catches our eye, invites us for a journey. Because of this, people
           have gone around the earth -- people like Columbus. People have gone to the moon, people are
           trying to go to Mars, people are thinking to reach some day to the most distant stars.
               Nobody bothers to enter into himself, and to see the most miraculous, the most mysterious, the
           most fundamental principle of life, the very source of life -- it is so close, so obvious, so simple.
               People may not find anything on the moon; they have not found anything, but they have become
           great historical figures.
               Edmund Hillary has not found anything on Everest, but his name will remain a landmark forever.
               I have always been surprised that for at least one hundred years people from all the Western
           countries have been coming to climb the highest peak of the Himalayas, Everest. No Indian has
           bothered about it; for the Indian it is so obvious.
               The more difficult a thing is, the more attractive it is; the more unattainable, the more mind
           becomes obsessed.
               I have heard, a great psychologist was visiting a madhouse. The superintendent of the madhouse
           was taking him on a tour, satisfying his curiosities and questions about the inmates.
               He became immensely interested in one inmate; behind the bars, in his cell, he was standing
           naked. On the wall there was a small picture of an ordinary woman, and he was standing in a
           worshipful mood, tears flowing from his eyes. The psychologist asked, "What is the matter with this
           man?"
               The superintendent said, "Don't disturb him," took him a little away, and said, "He does not like
           to be disturbed in his prayers, and he is praying almost the whole day."
           The psychologist said, "Whose picture is that?"
               The superintendent started laughing. He said, "It is nobody, it is just an ordinary woman. He was
           in love, but because they belonged to different castes, the father of the woman refused; he became
           mad and the woman became a goddess. Unattainable, one ordinary woman became a goddess. Now
           he worships and prays that, `What has not happened in this life, perhaps through prayer and worship
           may happen in the next.'"
               The psychologist said, "I have never come across such a case."
           The superintendent said, "Just wait a little more."
               In the next cell there was another man who was hitting his head against the wall, and two guards
           were holding him. The psychologists said, "What has happened to him? Why does he want to hit his
           head on the wall?"
               The superintendent said, "He has gone mad. He wants to commit suicide, and it is such a
           problem to watch him continuously -- he hurts himself."
           "But what is the cause of his madness?"
               The superintendent said, "That's why I was telling you to just wait a little. He got married, and
           the marriage has been such a disaster that he is in the madhouse. He wants to commit suicide.
           Because sooner or later he will be sent out of the madhouse, and again be in the hands of that
           woman. But it is the same woman! And to avoid her, he wants to commit suicide."
               The psychologist said, "My God, it is the same woman the other man is praying to get in his next
           life? -- because he missed the train this time! And this poor fellow did not miss this time -- now he
           wants to jump out of the train. He can't even wait for the station to come."
           Life is not logic. Life is love.
           Logic is a complicated phenomenon.
           Love is simple, innocent communion.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Life is closer to music than to mathematics, because mathematics is of the mind, and life throbs
           in your heartbeats.
               Ashok Bharti, you love me and that opens the door for all the mysteries possible.
               People say love is blind because they do not know what love is.
               I say unto you, only love has eyes; other than love, everything is blind.
               Once your eyes of love are opened, things which you have never dreamed of start becoming
           realities; new songs that you had never thought yourself capable of, new poetries, with such insights
           that you cannot believe that you have written them.
               This is the reason why all the ancient scriptures don't have the names of their authors -- because
           the authors could not believe that they were the writers of the UPANISHADS, of the VEDAS. They
           could not believe it. At the most, they have been vehicles; they were possessed. Some universal
           energy has taken possession of them, and what they have written has nothing to do with them. They
           have not signed the scriptures that they have written.
               It is very difficult to find out who are the sculptors of the most beautiful ancient statues of
           Gautam Buddha, which have never again been paralleled.
               The grand architectures of the caves of Ajanta, Ellora... it seems almost superhuman work, and
           the people have not even signed their names because they never believed that they were doing it.
           They experienced that existence was using them as instruments, and they were blessed and grateful
           that they had been chosen to be instrumental. Existence has been compassionate towards them; they
           are enough rewarded.
               Ashok Bharti is a poor man, but has a very rich heart; and to have a rich heart is the only real
           richness in the world. He has the potentiality of becoming a great singer, a great poet, a great
           composer, but he was not aware of it. He had come just to see me; he's my old sannyasin. And
           knowing that to me, religion means celebration, he brought his khanjhari -- just to sing a song to me;
           what else to bring as an offering? He was very shy in asking, "Can I sing a song in Your presence?"
               I said, "This is the most beautiful present anyone could have brought to me. You can sing every
           day." And I have been watching him for almost one month -- the depth, the significance, the meaning
           of his songs has been deepening. His courage is growing, he is no more hesitant, he is not worried
           that so many people are watching. He is not a public singer -- he's just like everybody else, a
           bathroom singer.
               It is strange -- in bathrooms you will find the great singers of the world, but the moment you
           bring them out of the bathroom they become dumb. Everybody is a good conversationalist. The
           whole world is agog with people talking to each other, but just put somebody on a pedestal, and he
           looks at the crowd watching him and his heart starts sinking. These are the same people he has been
           talking to separately, privately. But to be observed with thousands of eyes... a fear arises that, "If
           something goes wrong, I will become a laughingstock before so many people."
               I have been watching Ashok. The first day there was that fear. Slowly slowly, the fear has
           disappeared; on the contrary, a fearlessness, a strength.... And he has been creating his own songs,
           tremendously beautiful -- not composed by the mind, but arising out of his love and out of his heart.
           They have a totally different beauty.
               It is true, Ashok, that if you love me you will feel in my presence as if you are disappearing into
           a vast emptiness, or into a vast fullness.
               Beyond human mind, emptiness and fullness mean the same thing.
               Love makes you empty -- empty of jealousy, empty of power trips, empty of anger, empty of
           competitiveness, empty of your ego and all its garbage.
               But love also makes you full of things which are unknown to you right now; it makes you full of
           fragrance, full of light, full of joy.
               An ancient story is, a king is getting old.... He has three sons, and all are intelligent. They are
           triplets, born together, so there is no question of who is the eldest; otherwise, there would have been
           no problem, the eldest son would have been the successor. The problem was, who out of the three is
           going to be the successor? They are all of the same age. In horse riding they are all of equal
           efficiency; in archery they are equally great. In every field it is impossible to decide who is the best
           of the three.
               He asked his master, an old wise man living in the forest: "I am getting old, and somebody has to
           succeed me and take care of the kingdom. And I am in great difficulty: can you give me some idea
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how to choose the right person?" And the wise man gave him some advice.
                The king came back, and he gave an equal amount of money to all three sons and told them --
           because they all had their own palaces -- that, "With this money, you have to manage to fill your
           palaces completely. And after seven days I will come to see: whoever succeeds in filling the house
           totally, better than the other two, is going to succeed me as the king of the kingdom."
                They were puzzled, because the money was not that great. They thought of many things, but the
           palaces were big -- how to fill them completely?
                The first prince went to the municipal corporation and asked, "From today, all the trucks that
           throw the garbage of the town outside the city should throw it into my palace -- because with that
           money only this much is possible, to fill the palace completely."
                He filled the palace completely. The whole neighborhood was angry; even the traffic on the road
           stopped -- because it was stinking. But they could not do anything -- he was the prince, and it was a
           question of a certain test. The king himself has asked.
                The second prince was very much worried... asked many people. But they said, "With such a
           small amount of money it is very difficult. What your brother has done... he has filled the house; you
           can do something similar. Just purchase cheap grass, fill the house." He purchased cheapest quality
           of grass, which even animals were not ready to eat, but still the house was not full; it was only half
           full.
                They were both worried about what the third brother was doing, because he looked absolutely
           unconcerned. Six days had passed and he had not done anything. And the seventh day came, and by
           the evening, as the sun set the king came with the wise old man.
                It was impossible to come close to the first son's house. The king said, "This idiot, he has really
           filled the house -- but with garbage! It is disgusting, I am feeling sick."
                But the old man said, "You had asked... and we have to go and see. Just have a little patience.
           You need not stay long; just have a look to see whether he has filled the house or not."
           They saw it.
                They went to the second son's house.... It was not better, but it was not worse either. It was rotten
           grass, but the house was half full.
                The king was very much disappointed -- so much so that he thought that it would be better not to
           go to house of the third prince. Because these idiots... what they have done is not worth seeing.
                But the wise man said, "You have to go, because the decision has to be taken."
                They went to the house of the third young man. They entered the house, and they were puzzled --
           because it was absolutely empty. He had even removed the furniture, the paintings, the statues, other
           things of the house... everything was removed. The house was utterly empty.
           They asked the son, "What have you done?"
           He said to the father, "You just see, it is full."
                He looked around. He said, "It is absolutely empty, you are befooling us."
                The wise old man said, "Don't be angry with him; it is full, but it is full with something that you
           are not acquainted with. What he has done is that he has just purchased candles and put the candles
           all over the house -- it is full of light." Light is not material, it is not objective.
                The word `objective' is beautiful; it means that which objects to you. You want to go through the
           wall. The wall will object, will prevent you; the wall is objective.
                Light is immaterial. It is a strange phenomenon on the earth. In a sense it is outside you, can be
           called objective, but in another sense it is not creating any objection -- you can pass through it, it is
           immaterial.
                It was thought for centuries that light had no weight; just recently they have discovered that it
           has weight, but it is almost neglible. When the sky is without clouds and the sun is burning hot, all
           the rays that fall on five square miles will have some weight that can be detected. If we could collect
           all those rays, they would give you a little sense of weight.
                So in a way, light is part of the objective world, and in a way it is part of the non-objective
           world.
           The old man said, "You don't understand the boy."
                And the boy returned most of the money. He said, "This was too much. I could have filled the
           house in many other dimensions also. I could have brought music into the house, which has no
           weight. I could have brought incense into the house -- the fragrance has no weight, and it would fill
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the house. But I thought that would be doing too much. This is enough -- and why waste your
           money? You take your money back; a small part of your money was enough."
               Ashok, when you are in love, in a way you feel as if you are disappearing into an emptiness as
           far as the material world is concerned. But on the other hand, you are entering a new kind of fullness
           -- immaterial, spiritual, not of this world.
               But this is not the only world. Something transcendental, something from the beyond....
               And I can see your love. This whole month it has been growing, as if spring has come to you,
           new green leaves, new flowers, a new perfume, and your heart is full of new visions.
           Just continue dissolving into love.
               That's the meaning of disciplehood: dissolving into the love, dissolving into the presence of the
           master; just becoming one with his heartbeats. And songs will shower on you, and flowers of
           unknown, unexperienced fragrances will grow in you.
               You are on the right track. Just don't look back -- and don't stop anywhere, because this is a
           journey that only begins but never ends.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I WONDER WHETHER AS YOUR DISCIPLE I CAN BE UTTERLY SELFISH, TO FIND MY WAY TO
              ENLIGHTENMENT WHATEVER I AM DOING, OR DO I HAVE TO FULFILL A CERTAIN FUNCTION
              FOR YOU TO SPREAD YOUR VISION?


               It has to be understood very clearly that nobody has a duty to spread my vision, my message to
           the people.
               I hate the very word `missionary'. These are the ugliest creatures on the earth.
           I don't want to create missionaries.
               You have to be utterly selfish, concentrated on only one aim: becoming enlightened.
               Of course, as you become enlightened, your light will start reaching to others. My message will
           start vibrating through you, through your love, without any effort on your part.
               It has never been said: "Be utterly selfish." All the religions of the world have been teaching, "Be
           altruistic," and they all have failed, because their very foundation was wrong.
               You don't know what truth is, and you start spreading the message about truth. You are lying.
               I have asked Christian missionaries, "What is your experience?" They don't have any experience.
           What they have is degrees from theological colleges. Somebody is a D.D., a doctor of divinity.
           Because he has written a thesis, he has become a doctor of divinity -- and he knows nothing about
           divineness, he has never tasted anything that he can call divine. He has never had a single moment in
           his life when he has touched the beyond; he had no time -- he was reading books and writing his
           doctoral thesis. He was concerned with words, not with experiences.
               I lived in Jabalpur for at least twenty years, and Jabalpur has Asia's biggest Christian theological
           college. It prepares missionaries -- that's its function.
               The principal was very much interested in me. I asked him, "Be sincere: do you really feel that
           you have something more than the body and the mind? Have you experienced anything of the soul?"
               He said, "I have read about it, and I trust that the people who have written about it are not lying."
               I said, "It is possible they were also in the same position as you are, that they had read other
           people whom they believed could not lie -- but you cannot be certain unless you experience. And
           what about your professors? And you are preparing three thousand missionaries per year; you are
           giving them degrees to go all over Asia to convert other people to Christianity. This whole game is
           hypocrisy. None of your teachers, none of your students has any taste of meditation; none of them
           has encountered God. And I think none of them is ready to be crucified like Jesus Christ."
               I asked him, "Are you ready to be crucified like Jesus Christ?"
               He said, "What kind of question are you asking? I have children, I have my wife, I have my old
           parents."
               I said, "Jesus also had his old parents. And you are almost sixty; he was only thirty-three. Then
           why are you hanging a golden cross on a golden chain around your neck? Because as far as I
           understand, the neck has to be put on the cross -- not that the cross is golden, hanging around your
           neck on a gold chain."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He said, "I was thinking that one day I would ask you to speak to my college students" -- they
           had almost five thousand students -- "but now, I have dropped that idea. You can disturb the whole
           thing."
           And the same question, you are asking me.
                I am not converting you. I am trying to explain to you how to transform yourself, how to become
           more luminous, how to become more alert, more conscious. And if that consciousness brings you
           experiences which are not available ordinarily, and those experiences have an intrinsic quality that
           they have to be shared, then share them. But don't try to impose any ideology on anyone.
                You love me. Naturally the desire arises that others should also love me.
                But the only right way is that you should come to a state that others start loving you.
                I can be connected through you to others; not by your words, but by your life.
           You are not to be a missionary.
           You have to become a message yourself.
                People should ask you, "What has happened to you? Why do we feel such a magnetic attraction
           towards you? Why do we feel that you are hiding some treasure from us? Why do we feel that you
           have moved far above our ordinary visions?"
                Then share your experience; there is no need to convert anybody.
                And when somebody comes on his own accord to be transformed, to learn the whole science of
           living in a new way, it is totally different. When you go to people to somehow convince their minds
           that your ideology is better than their ideology, it is possible that you may convince a few people
           with your ideology, but it is not conversion. They remain the same.
                The Catholic, the Protestant, the Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Jew, the communist -- what is the
           difference in their lifestyle? If you insult any of them, they are going to react in the same way.
           I am reminded of a beautiful story.
                Gautam Buddha is passing near a village which consists of high caste brahmins only. They are
           very much against Gautam Buddha, they have all gathered outside the village to condemn him, to
           abuse him. He stands there listening to their abuse, their allegations, their lies. Even Ananda -- who
           has been with him all these years -- feels angry. Because they were born into a royal family: they
           were warriors, their whole training was to fight. But because Gautam Buddha is present, he controls
           himself; otherwise he would have killed one or two people then and there.
                Gautam Buddha said to them, "You see that the sun is going to set soon, and we have to reach
           the other village before the sun sets. If you have not finished all that you wanted to say to me, I will
           make a point that when I return I set aside enough time to listen to you again. And in two days, I will
           be returning along the same route -- so it will be very kind of you if you can wait just two days."
                One man from the crowd said, "You don't seem to be disturbed at all. And we are not just saying
           things to you -- we are abusing you, insulting you."
                Gautam Buddha said, "You have come a little late. If you had come ten years before, you would
           not have gone back alive. I am also a warrior. There would have been bloodshed here; not a single
           man in this crowd would have gone back alive. But you have come a little late.
                "In the village just before this village, people came with sweets and fruits. And we said, `We eat
           only once a day, and we have taken our food, so it would be very kind if you would take these things
           back with you. We are grateful.' What do you think they did with those sweets and those fruits?"
                Somebody said, "They must have distributed them amongst themselves; they must have eaten
           them."
                Buddha said, "You are intelligent. Do the same: whatever you have brought, I don't accept; take
           it back. Because unless I accept your insult, you cannot insult me; it is a two-way affair. It is your
           mouth, you can say anything -- but unless I accept it, you are just talking into the air. Just go home
           and say all these things to each other; enjoy. And I will be coming again after two days, so be
           ready."
                They were shocked, and they could not believe -- what kind of man is this? When they moved
           on, Ananda said to Buddha, "This is too much. There were moments when I was going to jump and
           hit the man! Just because of you, I tried to control my temptation."
                Buddha said -- and remember it -- he said: "What those people were saying has not hurt me.
           What you are saying hurts me. You have been with me for so many years, and yet you are not aware
           enough to know what to take and what not to take? Can't you discriminate?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I want you not to become missionaries, I want you to become messages.
              And that is possible only if you are utterly selfish, so that before you start helping others, you
           have helped yourself; before you start enlightening other people, you are enlightened yourself.
           That's what I mean by being selfish.
              Whatever you want to spread must be your living experience.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THESE DAYS HERE WITH YOU ARE CERTAINLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL. DOING NOTHING, SO
              MUCH TIME TO SIT SILENTLY IN THE GARDEN, IN MY ROOM, AND WATCH THE TREES
              DANCING IN THE WIND, SPARKLING IN THE SUN... SO MUCH BEAUTY.
              MY MIND IS FINALLY GETTING USED TO THE IDEA OF BEING TURNED OFF. I AM SO
              PEACEFUL, SO HAPPY. NOW, TODAY, AGAIN GOING INSIDE ON THIS PATH OF SILENCE,
              WITH THOUGHTS DRIFTING AWAY AND EMPTINESS SURROUNDING ME, I AM AWARE OF A
              TENSION INSIDE ME AS IF I AM HOLDING ON TO SOMETHING.
              MY BELOVED MASTER, WHAT AM I HOLDING ON TO, AND HOW DO I LET GO?


               It is not difficult to find out what you are holding on to, what your subtle tension is inside.
               You are feeling peaceful, you are feeling silent, you are feeling blissful as you have never felt.
           Hence, side by side a fear must be lurking inside: soon you will be going from here -- will this peace,
           this silence, this blissfulness remain a part of you? Or the moment you are away from me, will this
           disappear?
               This fear is not only within you, it is in every disciple's mind, that when you are here it is one
           thing and when you go back to the marketplace, into the world, you will find it more miserable, more
           saddening than before because now you have something to compare it with.
               Have you seen? -- by the side of the road you are standing in darkness, and a car passes with its
           headlights on. The darkness disappears for a moment. The car is gone, but strangely enough after the
           car is gone the darkness is greater than it was before the car had come. You have seen the light. Now
           there is a comparison.
           This fear is natural.
               Only one thing can be done about it, and that is not to repress it but let it surface. You are
           repressing; that's why you are not finding what it is that is troubling you somewhere inside. Allow it
           to surface. Experience that fear also.
               Accept the fear, and accept the challenge of the fear. Tell your mind that "It does not matter
           where I am. Whatever I have experienced, it is my experience and I can create it again."
               It may have been triggered in my presence, but it is not my experience, it is your experience.
               Let it be settled deeply in you that it is your experience, it has nothing to do with me. I may have
           been a catalytic agent, but the experience is yours.
               And now, once it has happened, you can create it again anywhere in the world. Maybe in the
           beginning you will find it a little difficult, because you have become accustomed and associated it
           with my presence. But it is not dependent on my presence.
               It is just as if you light a candle with another candle -- but once the candle is lit, it has its own
           flame. Perhaps in the beginning it needed to be close enough to another flame, but once it catches the
           flame, it has its own, it is no longer dependent.
               And when you go away, you will experience what I am saying -- but give it a chance. Don't
           decide that "Now it cannot happen because the master is not here."
               The master was needed to make you aware that it is something within you.
               Now you have seen it. Close your eyes anywhere, and you can recreate the silence, the beauty,
           the bliss. You can even recreate the presence of the master -- that is the most difficult part, but not
           impossible. It depends on how intense is your love, how deep is your trust.
           But no need to try it.
               First try those things which you can create within yourself. And once you have created all those
           things then you can try the tremendously beautiful experiment of creating the presence of the master.
               So don't be worried; just bring your fear to the surface.
               And it is not only in you, it is in everyone. It is something in the nature of things. So don't give it
           too much importance either; just accept it as a natural phenomenon which will disappear by your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           little experiments away from me.
                I guarantee it will disappear, because I have guaranteed it to thousands of my sannyasins and it
           has disappeared from their lives. There is no reason why it should not disappear from your life. The
           principles are the same, there are no exceptions.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I SEEM TO BE SO UNCONSCIOUS SO MUCH OF THE TIME, SO VERY UNAWARE AND JUST
              SIMPLY INVOLVED IN LIFE AND LOVING LIVING IT.
              WHEN YOU SPEAK ABOUT THE TOTALITY AND INTENSITY OF THE SEARCH, AND HOW
              NOTHING ELSE REALLY MATTERS, AND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LET NOTHING BECOME A
              DISTRACTION, I FEAR I WILL NEVER MANAGE IT.
              IN MY HEART I FEEL NOTHING ELSE DOES MATTER, YET I AM NOT LIVING IN THIS
              AWARENESS ALL THE TIME AND IN EVERY SITUATION.
              WOULD IT BE GOOD FOR ME TO TRY TO BRING THIS AWARENESS TO EACH AND EVERY
              MOMENT, EVEN IF IT REQUIRES INTENSE EFFORT? IF YOU FEEL THIS IS GOOD FOR ME, I
              WILL TRY IT EVEN THOUGH I AM AFRAID I MAY LOSE SOME OF THE FUN AND SPONTANEITY
              AND EASE OF JUST LIVING, AND EVEN THOUGH I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN MANAGE IT.


                Maitri, the question is significant for everybody. Because I am speaking to so many people -- not
           only those who are present here, but also to those millions who are not present here but will be
           hearing my words or reading my words.
                It becomes a very difficult affair, because people are different in many ways. And certainly no
           two persons are the same. And the danger is that you may start doing something which is not meant
           for you.
                A simple criterion should be remembered: whatever feels good for you -- blissful, peaceful,
           spontaneous, happening on its own accord -- that is your path.
                But I have to speak also to those people for whom nothing is spontaneous, for whom the most
           difficult thing is to relax, for whom the most impossible thing is just to sit and not to do anything.
           They also need every help. To them I say, "Live with total intensity, with total effort" -- because that
           is the easiest thing for them. And whatever is easy is close to truth.
                Maitri, for you that would not be the easiest thing. You would have to make effort against
           yourself; it would not be natural, it would not be spontaneous. You would be forcing yourself, and
           this will destroy the whole beauty and the peace and the silence that you are already feeling.
                If you are feeling silence, peace, a beautiful energy through spontaneity, through relaxation,
           through let-go, then that is your way.
                Everybody has to find out what is close to his heart.
           I am speaking for many people of many types.
                You have to find out what is right for you. If you start doing everything that I am saying, you
           will get in a mess.
           You simply do that which your heart supports.
                And the heart is never wrong, remember. The mind can be right, can be wrong. The heart is
           always right, there is no question of its being wrong.
                So whenever your heart feels at ease with something, then go with it -- root and all. Then don't
           look back and don't bother about what others are doing. Let them do their thing; you do your thing.
                Because the religions of the past emphasized only one method, naturally that religion became
           only for one type of people. It is because of this that there are three hundred religions on the earth.
           And I want only one religiousness.
                All those three hundred religions have some kind of truth and some kind of validity to them. But
           they are specializations of a certain method, applicable to certain people -- and that has made the
           whole world irreligious.
                For example, effort is the way for Mahavira. Even to mention the word `let-go' is to support
           laziness. `Mahavira' is not his name; his name was Vardhamana. He is called Mahavira because his
           attitude and approach is that truth has to be conquered. It is not a love affair, it is a war. And
           Mahavira has won the war; that is why he is called the great warrior. `Mahavira' means the great
           warrior.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now, it creates trouble. His method is suitable only to a certain type of person -- the warrior type.
           But because of his own teaching, his followers -- who all came from the chhatriyas, the warrior race
           in India -- had to drop their profession of being warriors, because that is violence.
                Now they were in trouble -- what to do? They could not be brahmins because a brahmin is only
           born. You cannot become a brahmin by studying or by doing anything, there is no way. A brahmin is
           only born, you cannot be converted into a brahmin. So these people could not be brahmins.
                These people could not be sudras, untouchables, because they were high caste Hindus, second
           only to brahmins. They had their own pride.
                The only way for them was to become businessmen. So all the Jainas in India are businessmen.
           They could not become cultivators, gardeners, because in cultivation or gardening you will have to
           cut trees -- and that is violence, because trees have life. So all other areas are rejected.
                And these business people are not trained like Mahavira. He was trained in his youth as a
           warrior, as a fighter, and he brought his fighting qualities to his search for truth. Now, these business
           people are not trained for fighting.
                If somebody comes and says that truth can be purchased, they will be ready! But "truth has to be
           conquered"? -- that just seems to be out of reach. `Conquered'... that is beyond their scope.
                All they can do is worship Mahavira. Twenty-five centuries have passed, and Jainas have not
           been able to produce another man of the same caliber as Mahavira. What is the reason?
                He represented one type, and he preached for one type, but it was an accident that the people
           who followed him were not of that type and cannot be of that type. So they have remained in a
           limbo, they cannot move anywhere.
                Business they can do. And they have created the most beautiful temples in India, the most
           beautiful statues. Worship they can do. But fighting? That is simply not possible.
                So a strange phenomenon... the teacher they followed was of a different type. They were
           impressed by his unique quality, he was a man of steel. But his followers can simply praise him; they
           cannot do what their teacher has done. And this is not only with Jainas, this is the situation with
           every religion.
                And there is no necessity that your child will be of the same type as you are. But by a certain
           calamity we have accepted the idea that religion comes by birth. This is simply stupid. It is as if a
           doctor's son becomes doctor because he is born to a doctor. He need not go to the medical college --
           what is the need? And if he is the son of a doctor whose wife is also a doctor, then there is no
           question -- in his very blood and bones he is a born doctor, he needs no certificate.
           It is good that we don't do this.
           But in religion we have been doing it.
                I have seen people who are born into a religion where devotion is not allowed. It is not for the
           devotional type, but the person is of the devotional type. Somebody is the type who can easily move
           with a negative approach, and for somebody else a negative approach is simply impossible; unless
           something positive is there, he cannot take a single step.
                My own suggestion is that religion should not be something decided by birth; a religion should
           be decided by the person himself according to his feelings. Wherever he feels good, growing,
           wherever he feels joyous, wherever he feels a certain magnetic attraction, that is his path. It does not
           matter whether that is the religion he is born into or not; that is the religion he is born for.
                But that is possible only if everybody is freed from religious slavery, and we allow our children
           to be acquainted with all kinds of religions, all kinds of methods. And if we tell them to feel, to move
           with different kinds of people: "Go to different temples, go to different schools, go to different
           masters, and feel your way." And wherever he feels that this is his nourishment, then the parents
           have to bless him to go on that way.
                It does not matter if you feel nourished in the company of a Mohammedan Sufi, it does not
           matter if you feel nourished in the company of a Buddhist monk; the whole question should be
           decided by your own heart.
                And the heart never leads you wrong. If you allow it, it will give you clear-cut indications that
           you are on the right path. Peace, silence, bliss, benediction -- all will be coming more and more, and
           the scope will become wider and wider.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHO IS THE BLESSED ONE?


                The one who is asleep in you is the blessed one, but unfortunately he is sleeping and snoring.
                He has to be awakened, and the moment your sleeping consciousness becomes wakeful you start
           feeling blissfulness. The highest peak of your bliss makes you feel to go beyond humanity. That is
           the moment of being the blessed one; you have become part of the universal blissfulness.
           But people are so asleep.
                I have suffered so much from people's sleep. Because I used to travel continually in India; mostly
           I was in an air-conditioned coupe, but sometimes there was another person in the coupe also. And
           sometimes a coupe was not available so there were four persons.
                Once it happened, I was coming from Calcutta in a four-person room. And I have seen many
           snoring people, but I will not forget those three fellows. They had a certain harmony: one would
           snore and the other two would remain silent, and then as he would stop, the second would snore
           louder than the first and the other two would remain silent. And as the second would stop, the third
           would snore loudest of all, and the other two would remain silent. And the circle went on.
                I heard this for one hour and then I said, "This is impossible. I don't want to interfere in
           anybody's life, but these three people are interfering in my life."
                So as the third stopped, I snored so loudly that all three became awake. And they saw me snoring
           with open eyes, so they could not believe... they could not believe it. They looked at each other like,
           "What kind of man is this? His eyes are open." And I was not blinking my eyes. All three got up
           from their seats and came close to me.
                I said, "Listen, if you want to sleep, stop this harmony that is going on. Otherwise, I will not
           allow any of you to sleep."
           One said, "But you are awake and you are snoring?"
                I said, "What else to do? -- because I cannot sleep, so the question of sleeping and then snoring
           does not arise. You don't allow me to sleep! First let me sleep. Then perhaps I may fall into the
           harmony, something may happen; but first let me sleep. And how are you managing?"
           They said, "We three are brothers."
           I said, "You are great brothers."
                They said, "What to do? -- it is such a difficult matter, even in our family. Our wives don't sleep
           in our rooms; we three brothers have to sleep in one room. So, slowly slowly, a certain harmony has
           arisen."
                I said, "That's perfectly good, but in just one night it will be very difficult for me to get into the
           harmony. Something has to be done."
                So we had to come to a conclusion that those three fellows would play cards while I slept for a
           few hours, and then they would have their harmony and I would sit and listen. But listening to them
           was also beautiful, because... how were they managing any sleep?
                Everybody is carrying the blessed one, but it needs to be awakened.
                The blessed one is not a certain talent. It is not like being a musician: a few people are musicians
           but EVERYbody cannot be; a few people are painters but everybody cannot be; a few people are
           poets, dancers, actors, writers -- these are talents.
                The blessed one is not a question of talent. It is your very nature.
                It is your self-nature, it is your intrinsic quality.
                It is up to you how long you want to be miserable and asleep -- you are free. The moment you
           decide that enough is enough, you will have the same experiences as any Gautam Buddha or
           Ramakrishna or Raman Maharshi -- these are not talented people. Kabir or Raidas or Farid -- these
           are not talented people, they are just ordinary human beings.
                But as far as their blissfulness is concerned, they have reached to the same peak as Gautam
           Buddha.
           It is your birthright.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                               Chapter #15
                     Chapter title: Master and Disciple: A mystery beyond explaining
           17 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610175
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 116 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              EVERY TIME WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME, "WHAT IS OSHO IN YOUR LIFE?" -- I ANSWER THAT YOU
              ARE MY MASTER. BUT THE PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND, EVEN IF I TRY TO EXPLAIN. WHAT
              IS THE REASON FOR IT? WHY CAN'T I EXPLAIN IT WITH SUCCESS?


                Life is beautiful because there is so much which cannot be explained.
                It would have been a disaster if life consisted only of things which can be explained.
                Just think for a moment: if everything could be explained, then there would be no mystery, then
           there would be no poetry, then there would be no secret. Then everything would be utterly flat and
           boring.
                Life is not a boredom because there are dimensions in it that you can go on exploring, yet you
           can never come to explanations. You can experience much, yet even that which you have
           experienced cannot be translated into words.
                You fall in love. Since the very first man, millions of people must have fallen in love; yet love is
           still a mystery, you cannot reduce it to knowledge. The moment you try to reduce to knowledge, it
           slips out of your hands. And it is good that it is so miraculous that generation after generation,
           millions of people go through the experience; they know what it is, yet they cannot say what it is.
                All that can be experienced is not necessarily explainable, and all that can be explained is not
           necessarily experienceable.
                Mathematics can be explained easily, but there is no corresponding experience. Science can be
           explained easily, but even the greatest scientist is not transformed by his knowledge. But an
           anonymous poet not only gives birth to poetry, he also goes through a deep revolution, a rebirth. His
           poetry is not just a composition of words; it is the juice of his very life.
                The greatest poets have not been able to explain their own poetry.
                Once Coleridge was asked by a professor of literature.... The professor was teaching at the
           university and he came across a point in one of Coleridge's poems where he was doubtful about the
           meaning. He was a sincere man. He told the students, "You will have to wait at least one day.
           Coleridge lives in my neighborhood; I can ask him exactly what he means."
                The professor went to Coleridge that evening. Coleridge said, "You have come a little late."
                He said, "What do you mean a little late? You are still alive."
                Coleridge said, "It is not a question of my being alive or not. When I wrote these lines, two
           persons knew the meaning; now only one knows."
                Naturally, the professor inferred that that one person could not be anyone else but Coleridge. He
           said, "So I have not come too late. Tell me what the meaning is."
                Coleridge said, "You have not yet got the point. When I wrote these lines, two persons knew the
           meaning -- Coleridge and God. Now only God knows!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                "I myself have been wondering. Many times I have read it and wondered -- what is the meaning?
           It is groovy! -- but very slippery. You feel that you are just about to catch it and it is gone just like a
           breeze. I am sorry. I have certainly written these lines, and I know there is some meaning, and I feel
           it, but you will have to forgive me. I cannot even explain it to myself, how can I explain it to you?"
                It is not only so about poetry. Anything significant in life....
                Picasso used to get very angry whenever anybody would ask the meaning of his paintings. And
           he was not an angry man. He was a very beautiful, loving person. But the moment you ask the
           meaning of his painting, you have touched him from the wrong side.
                He would immediately get very angry. He would say, "This is strange. Nobody asks a roseflower
           what its meaning is. Nobody asks the stars what their meaning is. Nobody asks a bird on the wing
           what its meaning is. Nobody asks a sunrise or a sunset what its meaning is. People simply enjoy the
           beauty; nobody bothers about the meaning. Why are people after me? I am a poor painter. All that I
           can say is that it is beautiful. But that is not its meaning, it is its impact on a sensitive being."
                Meaning is rational. And the experience of mystery is supra-rational.
                Your question is significant, and it must be the question of many other disciples.
                People ask you what the relationship is between you and me. Just to say that I am your master
           neither satisfies them nor satisfies you. How can it satisfy them when it does not satisfy even you? --
           because it is not just a relationship like somebody is your father and somebody is your mother and
           somebody is your brother. Once you have said that somebody is your father, everything is explained.
           Nobody bothers you anymore, that `What do you mean by father?' and....
                The relationship with the master is not of the same category as all other relationships. It is
           intrinsically different.
           It is love, but not only love.
           It is love with a center of trust.
                Love alone is unexplainable, and now it has joined hands with an even greater mystery. Trust is
           absolutely something of another world.
                In this world, there is distrust in everybody. Even in people who love each other, there is no trust.
           There are friends who can, if there is need, die for each other -- but there is no trust.
           In the Middle Ages it used to happen....
                A very strange and ugly thing was in existence in Europe. Whenever a warrior would go to war,
           he would put a lock on his wife so that she could not make love to anybody, and take the key with
           him. A strange device it was... those locks are still exhibited in the museums of Europe.
                You cannot even trust your wife! And if you cannot trust your wife, do you think a master key
           cannot be found? The goldsmiths who made the locks also made extra keys!
                One prince was going to war. His only fear was about his beautiful wife. He was afraid that if the
           key were lost in the war then for the rest of his life he wouldn't be able to make love to his own wife.
           So he thought it would be better to give the key to one of his best friends. They were so close that
           they would have died for each other, so there was no question of distrust.
                He gave his friend the key and told him, "When I come back I will take it back. So keep it safe."
                He had gone not more than a half mile out of the town on his horse when he heard a fast horse
           approaching him from behind. He looked back, and his friend was coming, shouting, "Wait!"
                He said, "What has happened?" Just five minutes ago he had left him perfectly healthy, and there
           had been no problem.
           The friend said, "You gave me the wrong key!"
           In this world, there is no trust at all.
                When love is joined with trust, it becomes even more difficult to explain it. It becomes more
           mysterious.
                And thirdly, as love and trust grow to their optimum, something comes which can only be called
           `surrender'. It is not a good word, but there is no other word as a substitute.
                Surrender makes the whole thing absolutely not of this world. You cannot give any reason, you
           cannot give any explanation. The only way is: whoever asks, tell him that it is something like a
           thirsty man finding water in the desert. His every fiber is just thirst, and the water quenches all thirst.
           A great peace descends.
           The master is not a person.
           The master is only a presence.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you are thirsty enough for the unknown, you can drink out of this presence and be quenched.
               Anybody who asks you the question, tell him, "Come with me. There are a few things which
           cannot be explained, but I can take you to the place where perhaps you may also experience them.
           Your question itself shows that there is some interest in you -- perhaps a deep, hidden desire. Who
           knows? -- it may become aflame in the presence of the master. Who knows? -- surrounded by
           disciples and their love and their trust and their surrender, and the presence of the master, something
           may transpire in you. One thing is certain: if something transpires in you, you will become dumb the
           way I am dumb."
               Accept your dumbness, but create a quest in the person who is asking only for a verbal answer.
           Use that situation. A verbal answer is of no use. You just say, "I have experienced something, which
           is untranslatable into any language, but I can take you to the river. You yourself can drink. Your
           experience will be the only explanation."
               And I repeat again: Life is beautiful because there are so many unexplainable dimensions to it.
           That is its richness. If everything is explained, all juice will be lost; you will be fed up, bored to
           death with a life which is explained.
               What transpires between a master and a disciple is one of the peaks of unexplainable
           experiences. Don't destroy it with any explanation.
               It is a crime to destroy the unexplainable by bringing it to the level of explanations, because you
           have killed. It is almost like a bird on the wing in the sky... it is so beautiful in its freedom; the whole
           sky belongs to him, all the stars belong to him... no limits, no barriers. You can catch hold of the
           bird; you can make a beautiful golden cage and you can put the bird in the cage. But remember, it is
           not the same bird that was flying in freedom in the sky under the stars. Factually it is the same bird,
           but spiritually no -- because where is the freedom and where are the stars? Where is the sky? Your
           golden cage cannot replace what you have taken away from the bird. It has lost its soul.
               The same happens when you try to explain something which is unexplainable. You bring it into
           the cage of language, of words -- beautiful words, but the soul has disappeared.
               Don't do it. I know it feels a little awkward when somebody asks and you cannot answer -- you
           feel embarrassed.
               It is better to feel embarrassed. But don't commit a crime against the mysteries of life. Tell the
           person, "I am feeling embarrassed because I cannot say it. Not that I don't want to say it -- I would
           have loved to say it to you but I cannot, because saying it means killing it. I can take you to the
           window from where you can see the open sky, I can take you to the man. Perhaps your heart will
           start dancing in the same way my heart dances within me. And in deep silence, you will understand
           what it means to me.
           But only when it starts to mean something to you."
               People will be asking you many questions. Use their questions to invite them towards the same
           light, towards the same bliss, towards the same truth.
               Don't answer -- because you cannot answer, and whatever you say will fall flat.
               Resist the temptation of being knowledgeable. Accept your inarticulateness. But invite the
           person.
               Perhaps out of ten, one may turn up. And one never knows -- by coming here, he may turn on!


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM OLD, AND HAD BEEN A BUDDHIST FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS BEFORE I CAME TO
              POONA. BUT STILL I FEEL AS IF I AM AT THE BEGINNING, CONFUSED WITH LOTS OF
              DOUBTS.
              ON THE OTHER HAND, SOMETHING INSIDE ME KNOWS ABOUT YOUR SILENCE, AND THAT
              SOMETHING IS NOT IRRITATED AT ALL. IT IS LIKE A ROBE OF TRUST. BUT I AM NOT ABLE TO
              BELIEVE.
              COULD YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUST AND
              BELIEF?


              Trust and belief have a very similar appearance, but they are diametrically opposite realities.
              Belief is a false coin. It pretends to be real; it tries to play the role of trust.
              Millions of people are caught in the net of belief, because it is cheap. Trust is costly, very costly.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Trust is costly because it is risky, it is dangerous. It means you are opening yourself, becoming
           vulnerable to somebody who can do you harm. You are dropping all your defense measures. You
           will be defenseless -- you can be exploited, cheated, destroyed.
               Everybody has a defense system around himself, just to protect himself from others.
               Life is competitive. Everybody is running after the same goals, and you cannot remain loving,
           compassionate, kind, in a competitive world or you are going to be a failure. In this competitive
           world, the people who succeed are the people who are ready to sacrifice anybody, to destroy
           anybody. They go on climbing on people as if people were stepping stones. They care about only
           one thing, and that is success.
               Naturally, everybody has to be ready not to be trampled, killed.
               Trust means going against the current of the competitive world. In the competitive world, trust is
           simply impossible.
               Machiavelli, wrote one of the most significant treatises on diplomacy, THE PRINCE. Strangely
           enough, his great great granddaughter is a sannyasin -- Machiavelli would have never dreamed that
           his blood would one day trust somebody.
               Machiavelli has written in THE PRINCE -- it is a small treatise for every politician, maxims to
           be followed if you want to succeed -- "Don't trust anybody, but let everybody believe that you trust
           them. Don't say anything to a friend that you would not say to an enemy -- because no one knows,
           the friend may turn into your enemy tomorrow. Don't say anything against your enemy that you
           would not say against your friend -- because in this competitive world, the person who is an enemy
           may become a friend, the person who is a friend may become an enemy. Basically, keep yourself
           completely closed and secretive. If you say something, say it in such a way that it can be interpreted
           either way, for or against. Don't say anything which has only a single meaning, because every day
           you will have to face a new reality and you will have to change your meaning."
               Machiavelli is the real leader of the world -- not Jesus Christ or Gautam Buddha. It is a strange
           world. Here, the real leaders are not worshipped, but they are followed. Here, the unreal leaders are
           worshipped... but not followed.
               When love and trust meet, their ultimate byproduct is surrender. You relax into the master, into
           his being, without holding anything.
               It is certainly only for those who are ready to take a risk.
               But belief is very cheap. Everybody is a believer -- somebody is a Hindu, somebody is a
           Mohammedan, somebody is a Christian. Belief comes in all sizes, all shapes, all colors -- you can
           choose. And you don't have to pay anything for it. Generally you get it with your mother's milk, free
           of charge.
               Secondly, belief is always in an idea, and trust is always in a presence.
           That is a very delicate difference.
           Belief is theoretical.
           Trust is existential.
               You can change your belief without any trouble; it is just like changing your clothes. From a
           Hindu, you can become a Christian; from a Christian, you can become a Mohammedan; from a
           Mohammedan, you can become a communist. There is no problem, because belief is only of the
           mind. If anything is more convincing, more logical, you can change it. It has no roots in your heart.
               Belief is like plastic flowers, which look like flowers from far away. They don't have any roots,
           they don't need any care -- no manure, no chemicals, no watering, no gardening, nothing is needed.
           And they are permanent people, they can remain with you your whole life long -- because they were
           never born, so they will never die. They are manufactured. Unless you destroy them, they will
           remain.
               Trust is a real rose. It has roots, and roots go deep into your heart and into your being.
           Belief is just in the head.
               Trust is in the heart, in your deeper world of being. To change trust is almost impossible -- it has
           never happened, it is not known to have happened in the whole of history. If you trust, you trust;
           there is no possibility of its changing. And it goes on growing because it has roots. It never remains
           static; it is dynamic, it is a living force, it goes on growing new foliage, new flowers, new branches.
               Belief is a dead thing, a plastic flower -- it never grows.
               Hindus may have believed in a certain thing for ten thousand years -- it is still there, the same; it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never grows.
               "The cow is the mother." Hindus have believed it for ten thousand years. The belief has not
           grown even to include the fact that the bull is your father. It is static. And if you mention to any
           Hindu that the bull is his father then he will become a bull, and prove that certainly the bull is his
           father! -- but he will not believe it. He will behave exactly like a bull, but he will not accept the fact.
               All beliefs are old, all beliefs are dead. No belief grows even a single leaf.
               Belief is ideological, philosophical, but it is not a force that transforms your being. It can make
           you a great scholar, it can make you a great philosopher, theologian -- but it can never make you a
           new man, young and fresh; it cannot give you any experience. It can bring you degrees from the
           universities and awards and Nobel prizes; it can do everything. But it will not change anything in
           your interior; it will remain empty.
               The question is even more important because it is coming from a person who has been a
           Buddhist for thirty years.
               After being a Buddhist for thirty years, the person comes to me, feels a certain trust in me, falls
           in love. Naturally, there is a conflict which is bound to happen. His mind is full of thirty years of
           Buddhist ideology -- that is the belief system -- and the heart is growing fresh sprouts of trust. The
           person is bound to be in a great difficulty. The beliefs are pulling in one direction and the trust is
           moving in another direction.
               The beliefs have a certain weight because they are thirty years old, but the trust -- although it is
           new -- has a force of its own because it is alive. The beliefs are thirty-year-old corpses. They have
           weight, but they don't have any force. The person is bound to be split.
           Things can be solved very easily.
               The first thing to remember is: if Buddhism was enough, there would have been no need to come
           to me. Being a Buddhist for thirty years has not done anything to you. You can be a Buddhist for
           thirty lives, but a belief never changes your reality. The length of time makes no difference.
               So the first question you have to ask yourself is why, after thirty years, you had to seek and
           search for some new source, for some new light, for some new indication.
               If you are courageous, you need not get into a conflict; you can simply see that those thirty years
           have gone to waste. But what is gone is gone; now don't waste any more time on it.
           And remember: I am not saying that Buddha is wrong.
               I am simply saying that Buddha was right only to those people who could drink out of his
           presence, for whom he was a master.
           But for you, he is only a belief.
               It is better to get rid of those thirty years and whatever information you have collected in you,
           because that is a burden and a hindrance in your spiritual growth.
               If you can dare not to be a Buddhist, I promise you that there is a possibility of your being a
           buddha. Why be a Buddhist when there is a possibility of being a buddha? Why settle for such dead
           theories when living waters are available?
           To be a buddha is a beauty.
           To be a Buddhist is stupidity.
               Buddha was not a Buddhist, remember; he never heard the word. Nobody called him a Buddhist.
               Jesus was never a Christian. So one thing is certain, that no Christian remaining a Christian can
           find the experience that Jesus found. If any Christian wants to experience what Jesus experienced,
           the first thing to do is to get rid of Christianity -- because Jesus was not a Christian.
               Your belief system has to be completely thrown out, so that your juices are not divided and your
           whole energy moves into your trust.
               Your trust is growing, but under a heavy burden, under a tension. It can grow in a relaxed way,
           under open sky. Just say goodbye to those beliefs that you have been carrying, and let your trust
           grow.
               What Buddha has been to his disciples, his theories cannot be.
               Theories are mere words. They don't have the charm and the grace and the charisma; they don't
           have that magnetism.
               And when you are here and the possibility is available for you to become awakened, to become a
           buddha, I don't think that it is a bad bargain... dropping Buddhist theories in favor of becoming
           Gautam Buddha himself.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In twenty-five centuries, how many buddhas have been produced by the Buddhists?
                One English Buddhist -- Bhikku Dharm Rakshita, a very devoted man -- dropped Christianity,
           was converted to Buddhism and became one of the topmost scholars of Buddhist literature. He had
           an ashrama in Kalimpong. He used to go once in a while to attend Buddhist conferences, and he
           made it a point that whenever he came down from the Himalayas he would find me and come to be
           with me for a day or two.
                He was an internationally known Buddhist scholar. His books are rare as far as the accuracy of
           his translations is concerned.
                I used to ask him, "Dharm Rakshita, you have devoted almost fifty years to learning Buddhist
           theology, translating Buddhist literature -- but have you got any taste of buddhahood?"
                And tears would come to his eyes. He would say, "Please, don't ask that question. You are the
           only person who asks that. Nobody else seems to be interested. They ask about literature, they ask
           about principles, philosophies and everything, but nobody asks, `Has fifty years' concentrated effort
           brought anything to your being? -- or has it brought only a dozen books and world fame? Are you
           satisfied?'"
                One night he said to me, "You met me too late. I am old, I have wasted my whole life. And now
           it is very difficult for me to drop all that garbage that I learned with great effort, and to begin from
           ABC, from the very scratch. But whenever I can manage it, I just come to be near you. And
           whenever I am near you.... I don't know how it would have been to be with Gautam Buddha, but I
           feel it must have been something like this -- the same taste. Now it is too late for me to change, but at
           least at the very end of my life I will not be dying just a scholar, I will be dying as a seeker. I could
           not do that in this life, but you have created a thirst. Perhaps in my next life I may not get lost in the
           jungle of theories, and I may try to enter into myself."
           You have a rare opportunity here.
                Nothing like this has ever existed in the world before. Because I don't have any prejudice -- you
           can become a Christ here, you can become a Buddha here, you can become a Mahavira, you can
           become a Lao Tzu. I don't have any prejudice because I know these are only different names. Behind
           them is the same universal consciousness.
                So don't be bothered about your beliefs; just drop them.
                Trust is enough, more than enough. For your pilgrimage, it is enough nourishment.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              INSIDE OF ME THERE SEEM TO BE SO MANY QUESTIONS, BUT WHEN I TRY TO ASK YOU
              ONE OF THEM, THEY ALL SEEM TO BE GONE, AND I DON'T KNOW EVEN IF I REALLY WANTED
              TO ASK YOU SOMETHING. BUT STILL THE FEELING OF QUESTION REMAINS.
              PLEASE, CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHERE THIS FEELING COMES FROM?


               It is very simple.
           You don't have a question; you have a quest. And you are not aware of the distinction.
               Your quest is not clear to you, it is clouded. You think perhaps there is some question -- so you
           make many questions and they disappear but you are left with a vague feeling that something similar
           to a question is still there. What is it?
           All questions are like leaves.
           The quest is like the roots.
               You are fortunate, because at first people have to ask thousands of questions; then, by and by,
           one by one, the leaves disappear. Then branches come, then the trunk, and then finally they realize
           that the real thing is the quest.
               You are fortunate that you have only roots. But with roots the difficulty is that they are always
           underground, so you don't see where they are. You try somehow to make questions, but they
           disappear because they are not connected with your roots.
           A quest is the most significant thing for a seeker.
               A quest means you want to know, you want to experience, you want to be the truth itself.
           A question wants to be answered.
           A quest wants to become the answer itself.
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Questions are many; the answer is one.
              And you are in a position... if you simply meditate, you will not come across a question, you will
           come across the answer. And the answer is not something separate from you.
           You are the answer.
              Just go to your very center. It is there for you, waiting for thousands of lives. Don't let it wait
           anymore. Sometimes it also gets impatient. Because of that impatience, it starts creating questions.
           Questions only show impatience.
              But your position is very clear: you don't need to ask anything; you simply have to go deeper and
           deeper into silence, and you will find it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              BEFORE COMING INTO CONTACT WITH YOU, PROFESSOR JOSHI OF KATHMANDU WAS
              SPIRITUALLY GUIDED BY A BUDDHIST LAMA. THIS LAMA LEFT HIS FAMILY AND VILLAGE
              WHEN HE WAS YOUNG AND TRAVELED FOR FORTY YEARS IN TIBET, BURMA AND
              THAILAND, MEDITATING AND SEEKING TRUTH.
              AT THE AGE OF SIXTY, ONE EVENING THE LAMA QUIETLY RETURNED TO HIS VILLAGE AND
              JOINED THE FAMILY AND HIS OLD LIFE. BUT HIS GRACE AND SILENCE ATTRACTED MANY
              SEEKERS, AND NOW HE IS FAMOUS AS AN "AVATARI LAMA."
              THE PROFESSOR WAS HIGHLY IMPRESSED BY THE LAMA, AND OUT OF LOVE PRESENTED
              HIM WITH YOUR BOOK, Anta Yantra. THE LAMA COULD NOT READ HINDI OR ENGLISH, SO HE
              REQUESTED MR. JOSHI TO READ SOME PASSAGES TO HIM AND TO SHOW HIM YOUR
              PICTURE.
              WHEN HE SAW YOUR PICTURE, THE LAMA SAID: "OSHO COMES FROM THE LAND WHERE I
              GO EVERY DAY IN MY MEDITATION. THIS TIME HE HAS COME WITH FULL GLORY, (SIXTEEN
              kalas) -- WHICH HAPPENS ONLY IN THE INCARNATION OF KRISHNA OR BUDDHA. NOW
              THERE IS NO NEED TO COME TO ME FOR GUIDANCE; FOLLOW OSHO, HE IS THE RIGHT
              MASTER."
              OSHO, HOW CAN PEOPLE SEE SO MUCH JUST IN YOUR PICTURE, WHICH WE DISCIPLES
              CANNOT REALIZE EVEN AFTER SUCH A LONG ASSOCIATION?

              Arun, it is not a question of long association.

               It is a question of deep insight. You don't have that meditative perspective. You can see only
           what the ordinary eyes can see.
               But as a person becomes more meditative, he starts growing his sensitivities to such depth and
           such height that he is able to see things which are invisible to us.
               Life is not only what is available to our five senses.
               Just think.... For example, if you were all blind, you would never come to know that there is
           something like light -- although the light will be all around you. But just the existence of light is not
           enough; you need something to perceive it.
               One fact scientists have been concerned about is that on at least fifty thousand planets there is a
           possibility of life. One thing is certain: that on these different planets, life must have grown in
           different ways -- because the climate would be different, the whole situation would be different.
               It is possible that on some planet there may be animals who have more than five senses. Right
           now it is only a hypothetical question, but it is significant; the possibility is there. If there are
           animals on some planets who have seven senses or eight senses, then they must be able to perceive
           two or three things more than we can perceive. And we cannot even imagine what those things might
           be -- because even in imagination, we can only imagine that which we have seen. We cannot even
           dream about it, because our dreams are only reflections. You cannot be so creative in your dreams to
           create something new: all that will be reflected are those five senses.
               Before x-rays were developed, we had no idea that there are rays which can enter into your body
           and photograph your insides.
               The people who have been working on meditation for centuries have come to know many things,
           but because they are not scientists they have never tried to prove them objectively.
               For example, in the East it has been known for centuries that a man of meditation can see if
           somebody is going to die within six months or not. And the thing is so simple that it need not be
           even a question of meditation; you yourself can know whether you are going to die within six
           months or not. The day you stop seeing the tip of your nose, that means only six months are left --
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because at the time a person dies, his eyes turn up, and they start turning up six months before that,
           very slowly, very slowly. From six months beforehand till his death, he cannot see the tip of his
           nose. Now, that is known to villagers who have no meditation or meditative understanding.
           The lama has been meditating for forty years.
               He can see in my picture things which you cannot see.
               I am reminded of Ramakrishna. A painter made his portrait, and he brought the painting to show
           Ramakrishna -- to see whether he liked it or not. The disciples were also gathered there.
               Ramakrishna looked at the painting and touched the feet of the painting. His disciples --
           Vivekananda and others -- felt embarrassed -- "What to do with our master? -- because he does such
           things that even we look like fools. Now it is his own picture, and he is touching its feet. We had no
           idea that he would do this; otherwise, we would have prevented him. And now he has done it, and
           people are laughing and smiling and looking at each other."
               There were many observers there who were not disciples. They said, "They think this man is a
           realized soul? He seem to be insane! Even an insane person will not touch his own feet; at least he
           will recognize that `This is my own portrait; I cannot touch its feet.'"
               The painter was also shocked, but he was not a disciple. So he gathered courage and asked
           Ramakrishna, "I cannot believe my eyes. This is your own portrait and you are touching your own
           feet! It looks a little awkward."
               And Ramakrishna's eyes were full of tears of joy. He said, "It is my picture, I know, but I am not
           touching the feet because it is my picture. I am touching the feet because you have caught my state
           of samadhi in the picture. And when I see a picture of someone in samadhi... it does not matter
           whether that picture is of me or somebody else -- that is irrelevant. What matters is that the picture is
           of a self-realized consciousness, then I have to touch its feet. And I cannot see why you are all
           looking so embarrassed."
               Now they all felt more embarrassed: "We are such idiots. We don't understand; we should at least
           keep quiet. If we don't understand, then it is better not to show any emotion. He has done something
           which nobody has done before, but his reason is so valid."
               Arun, the lama must be going well in his meditations. If he can see what he has seen in my
           picture, that validates that he is on the right path, that his meditation is bringing flowers, that he is
           very close to the home.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I HAVE HEARD YOU SAYING, "I LOVE:" I HAVE HEARD YOU SAYING "I HATE." WHAT DO YOU
               MEAN?
               OSHO, TELL ME THE TRUTH, FOR MY FEELING IS THAT THERE IS NOTHING UP THERE -- NOT
               EVEN LOVE, NOT EVEN COMPASSION.


                Do I have to tell you the truth?
           It is a little bit difficult for me because it is not my habit... but the truth is there is no love, no hate.
           Up there is absolute silence.




                                               Beyond Enlightenment
                                                   Chapter #16
                           Chapter title: Rising in love... a partnership in meditation
           18 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610185
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH16
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 122 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I'M EXPERIENCING MORE AND MORE A HARMONY, A QUIETNESS, AN EASE, AN ABUNDANCE
              IN MYSELF, MOMENTS IN WHICH I FEEL SO VAST AND RICH, LIKE THE UNIVERSE, AND SO
              CLOSE TO YOU. I DIVE INTO IT AND DISAPPEAR, AND SEE THAT THIS AGAIN WAS JUST AN
              OPENING, A DOOR TO ANOTHER DIMENSION ON THIS ONGOING, NEVER-ENDING JOURNEY
              YOU ARE TAKING ME, MY BELOVED MASTER.
              AND I CAN FIND NO WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW MUCH I FEEL, THAT I CAN BE WITH YOU.
              BEING TOGETHER WITH A MAN I FIND THESE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND PRECIOUS MOMENTS
              SO RARELY; IT SEEMS MOST OF THE TIME IS WASTED IN LOVING AND FINDING OURSELVES
              AND EACH OTHER. WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR ME TO BE IN THIS HARMONY TOGETHER
              WITH A MAN, AND EVEN TAKE HIM WITH ME INTO THIS UNKNOWN?
              OR IS IT SOMETHING WHICH CAN HAPPEN JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME?


               There are a few very fundamental things to be understood.
               First, a man and a woman are on the one hand halves of the other, and on the other hand,
           opposite polarities.
               Their being opposites attracts them to each other. The farther away they are, the deeper will be
           the attraction; the more different from each other they are, the more will be the charm and beauty
           and attraction. But there lies the whole problem.
               When they come close, they want to come closer, they want to merge into each other, they want
           to become one, a harmonious whole -- but their whole attraction depends on opposition, and the
           harmony will depend on dissolving the opposition.
               Unless a love affair is very conscious, it is going to create great anguish, great trouble.
           All lovers are in trouble.
               The trouble is not personal; it is in the very nature of things.
               They would not have been attracted to each other... they call it falling in love. They cannot give
           any reason why they have such a tremendous pull towards each other. They are not even conscious
           of the underlying causes; hence a strange thing happens: the happiest lovers are those who never
           meet. Once they meet, the same opposition that created the attraction becomes a conflict. On each
           small point, their attitudes are different, their approaches are different. Although they speak the same
           language, they cannot understand each other.
               One of my friends was talking to me about his wife and their continuous conflict. I said, "It
           seems you cannot understand each other."
               He said, "What to say about understanding her, I cannot even stand her!" And it was a love
           marriage. The parents of both were opposed to it; they belonged to two different religions, their
           societies were opposed. But they fought against everybody and got married -- just to find that they
           had entered into a constant struggle.
               The way a man looks at the world is different from a woman.
               For example, a man is interested in faraway things -- in the future of humanity, in the faraway
           stars, whether there are living beings on other planets or not.
               A woman simply giggles at the whole nonsense. She is only interested in a very small, closed
           circle -- in the neighbors, in the family, in who is cheating his wife, whose wife has fallen in love
           with the chauffeur. Her interest is very local and very human. She is not worried about reincarnation;
           neither is she concerned about life after death. Her concern is more pragmatic. She is concerned with
           the present, here and now.
               Man is never here and now. He is always somewhere else. He has strange preoccupations --
           reincarnation, life after death.
               If both partners are conscious of the fact that it is a meeting of opposites, that there is no need to
           make it a conflict, then it is a great opportunity to understand the totally opposite point of view and
           absorb it. Then the life of a man and woman together can become a beautiful harmony. Otherwise, it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is continuous fight.
               There are holidays. One cannot continue to fight twenty-four hours a day; one needs a little rest
           too -- a rest to get ready for a new fight.
               But it is one of the strangest phenomena that for thousands of years men and women have been
           living together, yet they are strangers. They go on giving birth to children, but still they remain
           strangers. The feminine approach and the masculine approach are so opposed to each other that
           unless a conscious effort is made, unless it becomes your meditation, there is no hope of having a
           peaceful life.
               It is one of my deep concerns: how to make love and meditation so involved in each other that
           each love affair automatically becomes a partnership in meditation -- and each meditation makes you
           so conscious that you need not fall in love, you can rise in love. You can find a friend consciously,
           deliberately.
               You feel a deep harmony with me, moments of peace, love and silence, and naturally the
           question has arisen in you that if this is possible with me, why is it not possible with the man you
           love?
               The difference has to be understood. You love me, but you don't love me in the same way you
           love your husband, your wife. Your love towards me is not biological; with me your love is a totally
           different phenomenon -- it is of the spirit, not of the body.
               And secondly, you are connected with me because of your search for truth. My relationship with
           you is that of meditation.
           Meditation is the only bridge between me and you.
               Your love will deepen as your meditation deepens, and vice-versa: as your meditation blossoms,
           your love will also blossom. But it is on a totally different level.
               With your husband, you are not connected in meditation. You never sit silently for one hour
           together just to feel each other's consciousness. Either you are fighting or you are making love, but in
           both cases, you are related with the body, the physical part, the biology, the hormones. You are not
           related with the innermost core of the other. Your souls remain separate.
               In the temples and in the churches and in the courts, only your bodies are married. Your souls are
           miles apart.
               While you are making love to your man -- even in those moments -- neither are you there, nor is
           your man there. Perhaps he is thinking of Cleopatra, Noorjahan, Mumtaj Mahal. You are also
           thinking.... And perhaps that's why every woman keeps her eyes closed -- not to see her husband's
           face, not to get disturbed. She is thinking of Alexander the Great, Ivan the Terrible. And looking at
           her husband, everything falls apart. He looks just like a mouse.
               Mulla Nasruddin and his wife were quarreling one morning. She said, "Outside the house you
           walk as if you are a lion, and inside the house you look just like a mouse."
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "That is absolutely wrong. Put yourself right: I am not a mouse, I am a
           mousetrap. You are a mouse. Mousetraps don't run after mice to catch hold of them. The mice
           themselves come and get caught, and that's how it happened with us."
               Mulla Nasruddin was not courageous enough to approach this woman. He was afraid from the
           very beginning.
               Every man is afraid because he has seen what has happened to his father, what has happened to
           his grandfather. He has seen what is happening to every neighbor. Every man is afraid.
               Mulla was very much afraid; he never approached any woman. It was this woman who caught
           him. So he said, "Remember -- I am a mousetrap, that is true, but I was just sitting in my place. You
           got into me, it is your responsibility."
               But it does not matter who catches who, who takes the initiative.
               Even in those beautiful moments which should be sacred, meditative, of deep silence... even then
           you are not alone with your beloved. There is a crowd. Your mind is thinking of somebody else,
           your wife's mind is thinking of somebody else. Then what you are doing is just robot-like,
           mechanical. Some biological force is enslaving you, and you call it love.
               I have heard that early in the morning, a drunkard on the beach saw a man doing pushups. The
           drunkard walked around him, looked very closely from here and from there, and finally said, "I
           should not interfere in such an intimate affair, but I have to tell you that your girlfriend has gone.
           Now don't exercise unnecessarily -- first get up and find where she is!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That seems to be the situation. When you are making love, is your woman really there? Is your
           man really there? Or are you just doing a ritual -- something which has to be done, a duty to be
           fulfilled?
                If you want a harmonious relationship with your man, you will have to learn to be more
           meditative. Love alone is not enough.
                Love alone is blind; meditation gives it eyes. Meditation gives it understanding.
                And once your love is both love and meditation, you become fellow travelers. Then it is no
           longer an ordinary relationship between husband and wife. Then it becomes a friendliness on the
           path towards discovering the mysteries of life.
                Man alone, woman alone, will find the journey very tedious and very long... as they have found it
           in the past. Because seeing this continuous conflict, all the religions decided that those who wanted
           to seek should renounce the other -- the monks should be celibate, the nuns should be celibate. But in
           five thousand years of history, how many monks and how many nuns have become realized souls?
           You cannot even give me names enough to count on ten fingers. And millions of monks and nuns of
           all religions -- Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan.... What has happened?
                The path is not so long. The goal is not that far away. But even if you want to go to your
           neighbor's house, you will need both your legs. Just jumping on one leg, how far can you go?
                I am introducing a totally new vision, that men and women together in deep friendship, in a
           loving, meditative relationship, as organic wholes, can reach the goal any moment they want.
           Because the goal is not outside you; it is the center of the cyclone, it is the innermost part of your
           being. But you can find it only when you are whole, and you cannot be whole without the other.
           Man and woman are two parts of one whole.
                So rather than wasting time in fighting, try to understand each other. Try to put yourself in the
           place of the other; try to see as a man sees, try to see as a woman sees. And four eyes are always
           better than two eyes -- you have a full view; all four directions are available to you.
                But one thing has to be remembered: that without meditation, love is destined to fail; there is no
           possibility of its being a success. You can pretend and you can deceive others, but you cannot
           deceive yourself. You know deep down that all the promises love had given to you have remained
           unfulfilled.
                Only with meditation does love start taking on new colors, new music, new songs, new dances --
           because meditation gives you the insight to understand the polar opposite, and in that very
           understanding the conflict disappears.
                All the conflict in the world is because of misunderstanding. You say something, your wife
           understands something else. Your wife says something, you understand something else.
                I have seen couples who have lived together for thirty or forty years; still, they seem to be as
           immature as they were on their first day together. Still the same complaint: "She doesn't understand
           what I am saying." Forty years being together and you have not been able to figure out some way
           that your wife can understand exactly what you are saying, and you can understand exactly what she
           is saying.
                But I think there is no possibility for it to happen except through meditation, because meditation
           gives you the qualities of silence, awareness, a patient listening, a capacity to put yourself in the
           other's position.
                It is possible with me: I am not concerned with the trivia of your life.
           You are here basically to listen and understand.
           You are here to grow spiritually.
                Naturally there is no question of conflict, and the harmony arises without any effort.
                You can love me with totality, because with me your relationship is of meditation. With any
           other man or with any other woman, if you want to live in harmony you will have to bring the same
           atmosphere and the same climate that you have brought here.
                Things are not impossible, but we have not tried the right medicine.
                I would like you to be reminded that the word `medicine' comes from the same root as
           `meditation'. Medicine cures your body; meditation cures your soul. Medicine heals the material part
           of you; meditation heals the spiritual part of you.
                People are living together and their spirits are full of wounds; hence, small things hurt them so
           much.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mulla Nasruddin was asking me, "What to do? -- whatever I say I am misunderstood, and
           immediately there is trouble."
               I said, "Try one thing: just sit silently, don't say anything."
               The next day, I saw him in more despair than ever. I said, "What happened?"
               He said, "I should not ask you for advice. Every day we used to fight and quarrel, but it was just
           verbal. Yesterday, because of your advice, I got beaten!"
           I said, "What happened?"
               He said, "I just sat there silent. She asked many questions, but I was determined to remain silent.
           She said, `So you are not going to speak?' I remained silent. So she started hitting me with things!
           And she was very angry. She said, `Things have gone from bad to worse. At least we used to talk to
           each other; now even we are not on speaking terms!'"
           I said, "This is really bad."
               He said, "You are saying bad? The whole neighborhood gathered, and they all started asking,
           `What happened? Why aren't you speaking?' And somebody suggested: `It seems he is possessed by
           some evil spirit.'
               "I thought, my God, now they are going to take me to some idiot who will beat me and try to
           drive the evil spirit out. I said, `Wait! I'm not possessed by any evil spirit, I'm simply not speaking
           because to say anything triggers a fight: I say something, then she has to say something, and then I
           have to say something, and nobody knows where it is going to end.' I was simply meditating silently,
           doing no harm to anybody -- and suddenly the whole neighborhood was against me!"
           People are living without any understanding.
               Hence, whatsoever they do is going to end in disaster.
               If you love a man, meditation will be the best present that you can give to him. If you love a
           woman, then the Kohinoor is nothing; meditation will be a far more precious gift -- and it will make
           your life sheer joy.
               We are potentially capable of sheer joy, but we don't know how to manage it.
           Alone, we are at the most sad.
           Together, it becomes really hell.
               Even a man like Jean-Paul Sartre, a man of great intelligence, has to say that the other is hell,
           that to be alone is better, you cannot make it with the other. He became so pessimistic that he said it
           is impossible to make it with the other, the other is hell. Ordinarily, he is right.
           With meditation the other becomes your heaven.
           But Jean-Paul Sartre had no idea of meditation.
               That is the misery of Western man. Western man is missing the flowering of life because he
           knows nothing about meditation, and Eastern man is missing because he knows nothing of love.
               And to me, just as man and woman are halves of one whole, so are love and meditation.
           Meditation is man; love is woman.
               In the meeting of meditation and love is the meeting of man and woman. And in that meeting, we
           create the transcendental human being -- which is neither man nor woman.
               Unless we create the transcendental man on the earth, there is not much hope.
               But I feel my people are capable of doing the apparently impossible.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              EVEN IN MY CHILDHOOD I NEVER REBELLED WHEN SOMETHING WASN'T AUTHENTIC. I
              LEARNED TO WEAR A MASK. I LEARNED IT SO WELL THAT IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO
              SEE WHETHER I'M AUTHENTIC OR PHONY.
              TOMORROW I AM GOING TO TAKE SANNYAS.
              IS IT ALRIGHT WITH YOU TO HAVE A DISCIPLE WHO HAS SO LITTLE AUTHENTICITY AND
              WHO HARDLY KNOWS WHAT LOVE IS?


               The question is such... it is as if you are sick and you go to a physician and ask him, "Is it alright
           for you to accept a sick man as a patient, or do you accept only the healthy people?"
               My whole business is to accept all kinds of people -- hypocrites with all kinds of masks...
           insincere... obedient against their own intelligence. But these are the people who need me, and these
           are the people I need too.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bring all your sicknesses.
              Don't be worried, I have even initiated a few dead people in the hope that resurrection is
           possible!


              BELOVED OSHO,
              SOMETIMES LIFE SEEMS TO BE SUCH A DRAG THAT I WOULD RATHER LIKE TO DIE. ANY
              ADVICE?


                There are many methods to die, but one thing: anybody who really wants to die never asks for
           advice. Living may be a drag, but death is very quick. All around you, there are so many ways....
           But you don't want to die.
                In fact, even the people who commit suicide don't want to commit suicide. They commit suicide
           because they expected too much from life and they could not get it. The failure was so great, that to
           live shamefully became difficult. They committed suicide not against life; they committed suicide
           because they could not manage to learn the art of life.
                They wanted life to be a great benediction, and it was a drag.
                It seems to be a fallacy all over the world that just because you are born you know how to live.
           This is not right. To be born is one thing. To know the art of living and of living fully is totally
           different.
                Birth is only an opportunity -- you can make it or mar it. Birth is not equivalent to life. Almost
           everybody thinks that birth is equivalent to life; so it is bound to become a drag -- just breathing,
           eating every day, going to sleep, waking up in the morning, going to the same office, the same files
           and the same routine. For idiots it is perfectly okay, but for anybody who has some intelligence it is
           bound to become drag. Because he can see -- what is the point? Why after all am I living? If
           tomorrow is again going to be just a repetition of today, as today has been a repetition of yesterday,
           then why go on living? What is the point of unnecessarily repeating the same circle, the same
           routine, the same happenings?
                But the fallacy is in the fact that you have accepted a wrong concept, that birth is life.
           Birth is only an opportunity.
                Either you can learn to live a beautiful life or you can just drag yourself towards the graveyard.
                It is up to you. There are people for whom life is a drag, and there are people for whom even
           death is a dance.
                I want to say to you that if you make your life an art, your death will be the culmination of the art
           -- the highest peak, a beauty in itself.
                Millions are there, who are in the same position as your question.
                They don't know why they are living and they don't know if there is any point in dying either.
           Life is futile -- how can death appear to be significant? So they are afraid of suicide also, because if
           life is such -- just a dark hole -- death is going to be even worse.
                One day I saw Mulla Nasruddin with his gun, a rope, and a tin of kerosene oil. I said, "Where are
           you going, Mulla?"
                He said, "Enough is enough. I was just coming to say goodbye to you. I am going to commit
           suicide."
           I said, "But so many arrangements?"
                He said, "You know me, I am a perfectionist. I don't take chances. I have made every
           arrangement."
                I said, "Can I come just to watch, and just to wave when you are disappearing in smoke?"
           He said, "You can come."
                So I went with him and sat on a rock by the side of a river. He made the arrangements very
           efficiently. On a branch of a tree which was hanging over the river, he tied the rope by which he was
           going to hang himself.
           I said, "Mulla, that's enough."
                He said, "I don't believe it.... Unless I have done everything... no loopholes should be left."
                He put his neck into the rope, poured the kerosene oil over himself.
           I said, "Mulla, is it going to be real?"
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "What do you think?"
               He lit a match, set fire to himself, and before jumping from the tree, he fired the gun -- the last
           resort -- at his head. But that's where everything went wrong -- the gun missed the mark and cut the
           rope and he fell into the river... naturally, the fire was finished, and he started swimming!
           I said, "Mulla, what are you doing?"
           He said, "What to do? I know how to swim."
               I said, "This is strange. You arranged everything so well, but still there was a loophole, the
           swimming. You should not have started to swim. You should have remained there and died."
               He said, "That's just it -- dying is not so easy. When I saw the gun had misfired, when I saw the
           water had put the fire out, it became clear: God wants me to live. And moreover, I know how to
           swim! It is impossible when you know swimming not to swim. Next time, some other
           arrangement...."
           Nobody wants to die.
           And it is true that life is a drag.
               But it is not life that is a drag, it is you -- you have not learned the art of making life a joy, a thing
           of beauty, a piece of art.
               Unless a man is creative, he cannot find much joy in life.
           So the first principle is: Be creative.
               Don't bother whether you become a world-famous artist or not; that is not the significant thing.
           But create something -- a beautiful song, a little music, a dance, a painting, a garden. And when the
           roses blossom... you cannot say that life is a drag with so many roses blossoming. A beautiful
           painting... you cannot say life is a drag, because this painting has been created for the first time in the
           world and for the last time. Nobody has done it before, and nobody will do it again; only you were
           capable of doing it.
           Express your uniqueness in whatsoever you do.
           Express your individuality.
           Let existence be proud of you.
               Life will not be felt like a drag; it will become a fragrance.
               Not only will life be a joy and a dance -- for a creative person, for a meditative person, even
           death will be transformed.
               I have always loved a story about Bokoju, a Zen master.
               He was ninety years old when he died. Three days before, he informed all his disciples: "If you
           want to come for the last goodbye, then come. In three days' time I am going to leave the world."
               So thousands of his disciples came -- and he was one of the most unique masters Zen has
           produced. On the third day, in the morning there was a great gathering in his garden, and he was
           lying under his most beautiful tree.
               He suddenly asked, "Just tell me one thing: In what way should I die? -- because I don't want to
           die like everybody else. Ninety-nine percent of people die in their beds." He said, "That is out of the
           question. Remove the bed from here!"
               The bed is the most dangerous thing. Ninety-nine percent of people die there, and every night
           you go to bed without thinking of the danger. When the light is turned off, just put your mattress
           down on the floor. Then there is some chance of surviving -- death may try to search for you on the
           bed and may not be able to find you.
               Bokoju said, "Take this bed away from here, and suggest something, something unique, worthy
           of Bokoju."
               The disciples thought what to suggest? Somebody said that, "You can die sitting in a lotus
           posture. Many masters have died in the lotus posture."
               But Bokoju said, "That is not very unique, because many people have died in that posture."
           Somebody said, "You can die standing."
           He said, "That seems to be appealing."
               But one man objected; he said, "That's not right, because I know of a Zen master who died
           standing. It will not be unique."
               Bokoju said, "It is very difficult. Find out quickly because my time is running out, and I cannot
           delay any more. So many idiots are here, and you cannot find just one unique way of dying for your
           beloved master?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                One man suggested, "Nobody has ever died standing on his head. You can do a headstand and
           die."
           Bokoju said, "Perfectly right!"
           He stood on his head and died.
                Now the problem was... The disciples said, "What to do?" -- because they know what has to be
           done when a person dies in his bed. But what to do with this fellow who has died standing on his
           head?
                Somebody said, "His elder sister, who is also a great master, lives just close by. It is better to call
           her and not to interfere, because this is a strange thing. We will be condemned later on if we don't do
           the right thing, so it is better to call somebody who can take responsibility."
                The sister came and she said, "Bokoju! From your very childhood you have been mischievous --
           and this is no time to be mischievous! Just lie down!"
                And Bokoju laughed and said, "Okay sister -- because I cannot disobey you. I was almost dead. I
           was just waiting to see what these people would do trying to work out what to do with me after
           death. But these idiots have brought you here! And you always were a killjoy. You've destroyed the
           whole fun! Now I will die in the ordinary, orthodox way." And he died.
                And his sister did not even look back, she just went away.
           People said, "But he has died!"
                She said, "It was time. He was delaying it. And it is not right to play jokes on existence. At least
           at the time of death one should be serious! Now he is dead, you do whatever you want to do. Even if
           he is not dead, finish him off -- his time is up!"
           Make your life...
           Find out why you are feeling bored. Change.
           It is such a small life.
           Take risks, be a gambler -- what can you lose?
                We come with empty hands, we go with empty hands. There is nothing to lose. Just a little time
           to be playful, to sing a beautiful song, and the time is gone.
           Each moment is so precious.
                If you are silent, if you are creative, if you are loving, if you are sensitive to beauty, if you are
           grateful to this vast universe... There are millions of stars, which are dead -- and you are so small, yet
           you have the most precious thing in existence... life. And not only life, but the possibility of
           becoming a consciousness, of becoming enlightened, of coming to a space where death has never
           entered.
                If Bokoju is not serious, the reason is because he knows there is no death, it is only changing
           houses, or changing clothes at the most. It is excitement -- even death is a great excitement and
           ecstasy.
           It is just your wrong approach.
                Drop it, and don't drop it slowly slowly, piece by piece. Drop it totally, instantly.
                When you go out of this place, go dancing and singing. Let the whole world think you are insane,
           that is far better.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN 1980 YOU GAVE ME SANNYAS. I WAS NOT EVEN LOOKING FOR A MASTER. SINCE THEN I
              HAVE EXPERIENCED THE JOY AND FUN OF BEING ONE OF YOUR DISCIPLES.
              BUT NOW I START FEELING THE PAIN: YOU ARE SO VAST -- WHERE IS THE WAY? IS THERE
              A WAY? JUST TO BE TRUE IS SO DIFFICULT.
              AND IS THAT ALL?


               You have asked three questions in one question.
           First, you found me although you were not looking for a master.
               Let me make it clear to you that I was looking for a disciple, and that is far more important.
               Your looking for a master is not so important because you are asleep and dreaming. So whenever
           I see some sleepwalker passing by, and see some possibility that he can be awakened, I just turn his
           way -- and he is a sleepwalker so there is no problem. It does not matter where he is going. I give
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him sannyas, he takes sannyas -- because in sleep it does not matter.
           I create a beautiful dream for him.
                I am not a hard taskmaster. First I create a beautiful dream, and then slowly slowly I take you out
           of it.
                Now you are out of the dream, so the second problem arises -- where is the path?
                In fact, it is my doing. While you were asleep I was talking about the path..."the path... the
           mystic path..." to wake you up. Now you are awake so you are asking, "Where is the path?"
           There is no path.
           It was just a device to wake you up.
                You are not to go anywhere. You are exactly at the place where you have to reach. You are
           exactly that which you have to become.
           There is no path, there is no goal.
           Your isness is your realization.
                And thirdly: waking up, you see me vast like an ocean. While you were asleep, you were not
           aware of where I was leading you. Now you are fully awake, and you see the vast ocean.
                It is not me. It is the reality -- and it is your reality.
                And the ocean that you are seeing outside you will remain outside till your dewdrop disappears
           into it. And the dewdrop is slipping from the lotus leaf. Any moment it will be part of the ocean and
           you will know that no man is an island; we all belong to one reality, one consciousness, one
           continent.
           It is only in our sleep that we are separate.
           The moment we are awake we are one.
                There will be a little fear. It is said that even before a river falls into the ocean, it trembles with
           fear. It looks back at the whole journey, the peaks of the mountains, the long winding path through
           the forests, through the people, and it sees in front of it such a vast ocean that entering into it is
           nothing but disappearing forever. But there is no other way.
           The river cannot go back.
           Neither can you go back.
                Going back is impossible in existence; you can only go forward. The river has to take the risk
           and go into the ocean. And only when it enters the ocean will the fear disappear because only then
           will the river know that it is not disappearing into the ocean; rather, it is becoming the ocean. It is a
           disappearance from one side and it is a tremendous resurrection on the other side.
                So don't be worried. Things are happening perfectly right for you.
                You had not come in search of a master, but what to do? A master was in search of you. And
           now there is no going back. Even if you try to close your eyes, that sleep in which you were living
           cannot be recalled.
                And the vastness is not something to be afraid of. It is very friendly, it is very loving.
           Disappearing into it is almost like finding the womb and its warmth and its nourishment again.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DO YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM WHICH YOU HAVE NOT SOLVED YET?


               I don't have any problem.
           I used to have problems, but I never solved them.
           My procedure is totally different. I dissolve the problem; I never solve it -- because solving does not
           help. You solve a problem, and you will find that ten other problems have arisen out of your
           solution.
               I have been dissolving, I have been getting rid of -- because no problem is significant. All
           problems are barriers between you and existence.
               Now I have only mysteries -- no problems, no questions.
           In that way I am a very poor man.
               No problem, no question; I am utterly silent. But silence has a richness that millions of problems
           cannot give to you. Silence has a richness that all the philosophies of the world and all the answers
           together cannot give you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              When I answer your questions, it is not that I have got an answer and I simply give it to you. I
           don't have any answer.
              I simply listen to your question and let my silence respond to it; hence, you can find many
           contradictions in my answers. But I am not responsible, because I have never answered.
              It is the silence that goes on responding at different moments in different times to different
           people in different ways. Just as you listen to the answer, I also listen to it.
           There is no speaker here.
           Here, there are only listeners.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE LAST QUESTION WE SHOULD ASK YOU, OSHO?


                There is not even a first question, so the question about the last question does not arise.
                You should learn to be silent, to be at ease with me, to be in tune with me. In that silent harmony
           all is achieved: all the treasures that existence has been keeping safe for you, so that when you wake
           up you can claim your portion.
                And everybody's portion of the treasure is infinite. It is not that because it is a portion, it will be
           limited.
                The upanishadic seers have said: You can take out even the whole from the whole, yet the whole
           remains behind.
                Existence is such a mystery that it can give to each person infinite treasure, eternal life,
           unbounded beauty.
                So don't be worried about the last question. There is not even a first question.
                Be innocent and silent, and just be open and receptive to my heartbeats. The moment your
           heartbeats are also dancing to the same tune, you have come home.
                In fact, you have never gone anywhere. You have just forgotten that this is your home.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                                    Chapter #17
                                        Chapter title: The point of no return
           19 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610195
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH17
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 123 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              SRI AUROBINDO DECLARED THAT THERE IS SOMETHING BEYOND THAT WHICH BUDDHA
              CALLS ENLIGHTENMENT. HIS WHOLE ASPIRATION WAS DEDICATED TOWARDS OPENING A
              DOOR FOR THIS NEW STEP IN HUMAN EVOLUTION.
              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT COULD NOT HAPPEN WITH AUROBINDO, IS IT HAPPENING WITH
              YOU?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sri Aurobindo is a strange case. He knows everything about enlightenment, but he is not
           enlightened.
                He is one of the greatest scholars of this age, a genius; vast is his knowledge. But his knowing is
           nil. He knows about the scriptures, and he knows better than anybody else. His interpretation is
           profound, very logical, but heartless. It is dead; it is not coming out of his own realization.
                This is one of the great problems for all seekers of truth: one can get lost in knowledge without
           knowing anything about the reality.
                He knows all the theories, all the philosophies, but he is just a blind man who knows everything
           about light but has not seen the light himself. And it is possible to remain in a deception for your
           whole life -- because you know so much, and people start worshipping you, people start believing
           you. And belief has its own psychology: if many people believe in you, you are bound to believe in
           yourself.
                I have often told a small story about a great journalist who died and reached the doors of heaven.
                The doors of heaven and hell are not far apart; they are just opposite each other. The distance is
           not much, and naturally one would like to enter heaven. So he knocked on the door. The doorkeeper
           opened a small window in the door and asked, "What do you want?"
                He said, "I am a great journalist. I have just died, and I want to enter."
                The doorkeeper said, "I am sorry but I have to refuse you -- because we have a quota; we can
           have only twelve journalists in heaven. That quota has been filled for centuries -- for centuries, no
           new journalist has entered. And anyway, even those twelve are utterly useless because nothing
           happens in heaven. They tried to publish a newspaper, but only one issue appeared -- because there
           are only saints here -- no murder, no suicide, no crime, no politics, no struggle for power... no
           change ever happens; everything is eternally the same. From where can you get news?"
                "And," the doorkeeper said, "you must have heard the definition of news: when a dog bites a man
           it is not news, but when a man bites a dog it is news. So nothing sensational happens here, no love
           affair... When people get bored, they read the first issue that was published centuries ago.
                "You should go to hell. Every moment tremendous things happen there. All the active people of
           the world, all the creative people of the world are there -- painters, musicians, poets, actors, dancers,
           thieves, murderers, rapists, psychoanalysts, philosophers -- you will find every variety.
                "Heaven is monotonous. Only dull, dead saints -- skeletons. Their only quality is that they don't
           do anything. So just go to hell and enjoy. You will find everything that you may have missed on
           earth -- because for centuries upon centuries, all the juicy people have collected there. In fact, I
           myself want to go... but once you get into heaven, you cannot escape. So I am stuck here. My
           suggestion is that you just go."
                But journalists are stubborn people. He said, "I have a suggestion, and I think you must be
           compassionate enough to do it for me. Just give me twenty-four hours' entry. If I can convince one of
           the journalists inside to go to hell then you can put me in the quota; twelve journalists will remain
           twelve."
                The gatekeeper said, "It is unheard of, there is no precedent. But I cannot say no to you. Go in,
           have a try. But remember, after twenty-four hours.... I am taking a risk. After twenty-four hours,
           come back."
                After twenty-four hours he came back. In those twenty-four hours he had created a rumor among
           all the journalists: "A big newspaper is going to be started in hell and there is great need for editors,
           sub-editors, story writers, all kinds of journalists. The salaries are great. So what are you doing
           HERE?"
                After twenty-four hours when the journalist came to the gate, the gatekeeper said, "Go back. You
           cannot go out now."
           The journalist said, "Why not?"
                The gatekeeper said, "I have kept my word, and you have to keep your word. You were very
           convincing. All twelve journalists have gone. I tried hard to explain that `This is just a rumor; don't
           spoil your heaven.' But they wouldn't listen."
                The man himself had created the rumor, but he had started thinking perhaps there was something
           in it; otherwise twelve persons wouldn't go to hell for no reason.
                He said, "Just open the door!" He was convinced by others being convinced.
           And this happens to millions of people.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When you see that seven hundred million people are convinced that Catholic Christianity is the
           only religion, it is difficult to say that those seven hundred million people can be wrong. The sheer
           number has such weight.
                That's why all the religions go on trying to increase their numbers. They have their methods to
           increase their numbers because the more you increase the numbers the more you convince those who
           are not in your fold that they are wrong and you are right. Your sheer majority is an argument; it
           validates anything you say.
                Sri Aurobindo was a great intellectual, a very convincing, rational philosophical genius. He
           convinced many people, and those many people convinced him that he was enlightened.
                He knows nothing of enlightenment. It is true that there is something more in existence than the
           enlightenment Gautam the Buddha achieved. But it is Gautam the Buddha himself who, for the first
           time in the world, indicated the possibility of the beyond. Naturally, nobody else can say that there is
           something beyond -- unless they reach that boundary.
                So when Sri Aurobindo says there is something more than the enlightenment of Gautam Buddha,
           he is hiding the fact that it was Gautam Buddha himself who was the first man in the whole of
           history to say that "This is not all; there is something beyond."
                Buddha says -- and you can see the sincerity of the man -- that "A man who has entered the path,
           srotapanna, who has entered the stream that leads to the ocean, is millions of times more respectable
           than anybody else, just because he has entered the path in search of the truth. He has not found, but
           just the urge, just the effort, the first step, and he has become millions of times more honorable than
           all your respectable generals, kings, emperors and world conquerors.
                "The person who has reached the point from which he will not turn back, anagamin, is millions
           of times more honorable than the srotapanna, than the one who has entered the stream. And the man
           who has become enlightened, who has become a buddha, is millions of times more honorable than
           the person who has reached the point of no return."
                The point of no return is something worth understanding.
                Many people start the search and then drop out. It is arduous, it is moving into the unknown;
           nobody knows whether there is anything like enlightenment or just a fiction created by a few people
           like Gautam Buddha. Perhaps they are not lying, perhaps they themselves are deceived -- who
           knows? There is no guarantee.
                So many start, but very few remain. Most of them return to the world. Sooner or later, finding
           that they are going into an unknown territory without a map, without any guide, they start feeling
           crazy. Because the whole world is going in a totally different direction, and they are left alone. Their
           whole strength was in the crowd. Alone, a thousand and one doubts arise. Alone, one starts feeling
           that millions of people cannot be wrong, "And I am alone, thinking that I am right -- I must be
           getting crazy."
                Anagamin is one who has come to a point from where he cannot return. He is not enlightened but
           he has seen, from far away, the possibility. He has not reached the peak; he is still in the dark valley.
           But he can see the sunlit peak; it is a reality, it is not a fiction. Now there is no force in the world
           which can make him go back.
                Buddha says, "But the one who has become enlightened is millions of times more honorable than
           the person who has reached the point of no return."
                And here is the sincerity of the man -- he says: "The man who has transcended buddhahood, who
           has gone beyond enlightenment, is millions of times more honorable than anyone who is
           enlightened." He is not claiming that he has gone beyond; he is simply saying "I can see from my
           place that faraway star."
                And he was the first to see that faraway star: beyond enlightenment.
                Sri Aurobindo is not sincere. He never quotes this passage, which was his duty to quote. He tries
           to convince his readers and followers that he is working to open the door beyond enlightenment. He
           is not even courageous enough to declare himself... to say that he is enlightened. He never declared
           that. But only indirectly... he is assuming that you will understand that he is enlightened because he
           is trying to open the door beyond enlightenment. Naturally he must be enlightened, but he is not
           saying it.
           To declare it needs courage, not scholarship.
                He gives a hint, as if he is enlightened and he is working for others so that they can also go
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beyond enlightenment. They have not even reached enlightenment. It is hilarious, the very idea that
           he is trying to open the door... his whole life's aspiration.
           All his aspirations were stupid.
               This is stupid because others will need that door only if they have become enlightened. First help
           people to become enlightened! Rather than helping people to become enlightened, you are devoting
           your whole energy to opening the door beyond enlightenment.
               And it is not only on this point that he was talking nonsense, he was talking nonsense on many
           points.
               Another of his aspirations was physical immortality; he was working so that man can become
           physically immortal. Naturally you will think he has become physically immortal -- these are natural
           assumptions. And his followers all over the world started spreading the great news, the good news,
           that Sri Aurobindo had become physically immortal: "Now he is trying to find the right techniques
           so that every human being can become physically immortal." And then one day he died.
               One of my friends was living in Sri Aurobindo's ashram. I phoned him immediately and asked
           him, "What happened?"
               But such is blindness... he said, "Here in the ashram everybody was shocked. But the mother of
           the ashram told us that he has simply gone into a long samadhi. He is not dead; it is part of his
           project to find immortality. He has found all, but just for the last, missing link he has to go into deep
           samadhi, to dive deep into the ocean." And he told me that everybody believed it!
               For three days they did not cremate his body or bury his body because they believed that he
           would be coming back. But in three days the body started stinking. Then they became afraid that if
           the news spread that the body was stinking...
               The man was dead, he was not going to come back. After three days they put his body into a
           marble grave.
               Still they did not burn his body because he might come back at any moment. The really faithful
           ones still believe that one day he will come back. And the whole belief shifted towards the mother --
           she was the co-partner in the business of finding immortality for humanity. And it looked as if she
           had found it, because she lived for almost a century. It seemed probable; perhaps she had found it.
           And she was saying that she was going to live forever.
               Now this is the beautiful thing about spirituality: I can say to you that I am going to live forever
           and tomorrow I can die -- who are you going to argue with?
               And one day the mother died. Again the same thing: they waited for three days, and when the
           body started stinking, she was put into another marble grave next to Sri Aurobindo. And the faithful
           ones still sit beside the graves every day, waiting for them to return. Slowly slowly, the number of
           faithful ones is lessening. The hope is turning into hopelessness, into despair. Perhaps they have not
           yet found the missing link together.
               It is enough that man has an immortal soul, an immortal consciousness, an immortal life
           principle.
               But Sri Aurobindo was obsessed with the idea that he had to bring some original contribution to
           the spiritual progress of humanity. That the human soul is immortal is as ancient an experience as
           humanity itself. Even the VEDAS, five thousand years old, declare man as amritasya putrah -- "you
           are sons of immortality." Something new, something original... and this was a great original idea,
           that your body can be immortal.
               One cannot conceive how intelligent people can get caught up in such absurd ideas.
               Sri Aurobindo was a child, he became a young man, he became old. If the human body is
           immortal, then you will have to say at what age it is going to be immortal. As a child? As a young
           man? As an old man? Or as a dead man? The last seems to be the only possibility.
               "As a dead man, the human body is immortal" -- and certainly it is, because all the elements of
           the human body disperse into nature. Nothing is going to die, everything is going to merge -- the
           earth into earth, the water into water, the air into air... all the elements will go to their sources. In that
           sense the human body has always been immortal. Not only the human body -- buffaloes, donkeys,
           monkeys, everybody is immortal. It does not need a Sri Aurobindo to declare that his body is
           immortal.
               Gautam Buddha is the rarest human being in that he recognizes that there is still something more,
           he has not reached the end of evolution.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In Japan, they had a beautiful collection of paintings called "Ten Zen Bulls." It is a series of
           paintings depicting the whole story of the search.
                In the first, a man is looking here and there... his bull is lost. You see forest all around, ancient
           trees, and the puzzled man standing there looking, and he cannot see the bull.
                In the second painting, he looks a little happier because he has seen the bull's footprints. It is the
           same painting, the same forest. Just one thing he has discovered in this painting and that is, he has
           seen the bull's footprints, so he knows where he has gone.
                In the third painting he moves and sees the backside of the bull -- because it is standing by the
           side of a tree, and the man is behind him -- so he looks... and just the backside is shown in the
           painting.
                In the fourth he has reached the bull; he sees the whole bull.
                In the fifth he has caught hold of the bull by the horns.
                In the sixth he is riding on the bull. It is difficult, the bull is trying to throw him off.
                By the eighth he is returning home, the bull is conquered.
                In the ninth the bull is back in the stall and the man is playing on a flute.
                In the tenth, there is no question of the bull at all. The man is seen in the marketplace with a
           bottle of wine, drunk.
                Buddhists were very much embarrassed about the tenth painting. It does not seem to be Buddhist
           at all -- and there is no connection, because nine seems to be perfect; there is no need for the tenth.
                So in the Middle Ages they dropped the tenth painting, and they started talking of the nine
           paintings. Only recently has the tenth painting been discovered again in the ancient scriptures with
           its description -- because each painting has a description of what is happening. The bull is lost, your
           soul is lost -- the bull represents your soul, your energy, your spirit. When the bull is found, you have
           become a realized soul. You are singing a song on the flute -- that is the stage of enlightenment.
                What about the tenth? That is the stage when you go beyond enlightenment; you become
           ordinary again. Now there is no split between this world and that, now there is no split between good
           and bad. Now all opposites have joined together into one single harmony; that's what is represented
           by the bottle of wine, a bottle of wine in the hands of a buddha.
                Sri Aurobindo never talked about the Ten Bulls because that again would have destroyed his
           originality. The paintings of the Ten Bulls are at least fifteen centuries old.
                The Buddhists in the Middle Ages were cowardly; they could not understand the tenth.
                But as far as I am concerned, I can see a natural growth from the ninth to the tenth, from
           enlightenment to beyond enlightenment.
                Enlightenment makes you special. That means something of the ego in some subtle form still
           remains. Others are ignorant, you are a knower; others are going towards hell, your paradise is
           guaranteed. These are the last remnants of a dying ego. And when this ego also dies the buddha
           becomes an ordinary human being, not knowing at all that he is holier than thou, higher than thou,
           special in any sense -- so ordinary that even a bottle of wine is acceptable. The whole of life is
           acceptable; the days and the nights, the flowers and the thorns, the saints and the sinners -- all are
           acceptable, with no discrimination at all.
                This ordinariness is really the greatest flowering of human reality.
                Sri Aurobindo will be remembered as a great philosopher -- should be remembered as a great
           philosopher -- a man of tremendous insight into words, scriptures; immensely articulate in bringing
           meanings, interpretations to them; novel, original.... But he was not a man of realization. And he is
           not sincere, he is not an authentic man.
                He had a great desire to prove himself, to prove that he is greater than Gautam Buddha. That was
           his ego.
                To go beyond enlightenment is not to become greater than Gautam Buddha.
                To go beyond enlightenment is to become an ordinary human being. To forget all about
           enlightenment and all about great spiritual aspirations and to live simply joyously, playfully... this
           ordinariness is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the world.
                But you will not be able to recognize him. Up to Gautam Buddha you will be able to recognize,
           but as a person moves beyond Gautam Buddha, he will start slipping out of your hands. Those who
           have recognized him as an enlightened being may remain aware of who he is, but those who come
           new will not be able to recognize him at all, because he will be simply a very innocent, ordinary
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           human being -- just like a child collecting seashells on the beach, running after butterflies, gathering
           flowers. No division of body and soul, no division of matter and spirit, no division of this life and
           that -- all that is forgotten; one has relaxed totally.
               If Sri Aurobindo had known even the meaning of what it is to go beyond realization, beyond
           enlightenment, he would not have even thought about it. He was thinking that going beyond
           enlightenment is something greater than Gautam Buddha. He was continuously in a inner jealousy,
           and of course the jealousy was of Gautam Buddha.
               And he wanted to come up with some original ideas so that he could prove them, but he has not
           proved anything.
               I respect Sri Aurobindo as a scholar -- but scholars are just scholars, a dollar a dozen.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER NIGHT YOU TALKED ABOUT THE MASTER AND THE MYSTIC.
              MY QUESTION IS ABOUT THE MYSTIC AND THE SKEPTIC. IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A SKEPTIC TO
              BECOME A MYSTIC? SO MUCH OF THE ESOTERIC AND MYSTICAL SEEMS TO BE A PROCESS
              OF AUTOSUGGESTION, IMAGINATION AND WISHFUL THINKING. I SOMETIMES FEEL VERY
              DISCOURAGED AND WANT TO GIVE IT ALL UP AS NONSENSE. YET THERE IS ALSO AN INNER
              VOICE LEADING ME ON. THE BIGGEST RELIEF FOR ME SEEMS TO BE IN YOUR CONTINUAL
              ENCOURAGEMENT TO LET GO AND TRUST.
              BELOVED MASTER, DO YOU SEE ANY POSSIBILITY FOR A SKEPTIC TO GET THROUGH THIS
              CONGLOMERATION OF MIND FABRICATIONS?


               The skeptical mind is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
               It has been condemned by the religions because they were not capable of answering skeptical
           questions; they wanted only believers.
               And the skeptical mind is just the opposite of the believer.
               I am all in favor of the skeptical mind. Do not believe anything unless you have experienced it.
           Do not believe anything -- go on questioning, however long it takes.
               Truth is not cheap. It is not available to the believer; it is available only to the skeptical.
               Just remember one thing: don't be skeptical halfheartedly. Be a total skeptic. When I say be a
           total skeptic, I mean that your skeptical ideas should also be put to the same test as anybody else's
           beliefs. Skepticism, when it is total, burns itself out because you have to question and doubt your
           skepticism too. You cannot leave your skepticism without doubt; otherwise that is the standpoint of
           the believer.
               If you can doubt the skeptic in you, then the mystic is not far away.
               What is a mystic? -- one who knows no answer, one who has asked every possible question and
           found that no question is answerable. Finding this, he has dropped questioning. Not that he has found
           the answer -- he has simply found one thing, that there is no answer anywhere.
               Life is a mystery, not a question. Not a puzzle to be solved, not a question to be answered but a
           mystery to be lived, a mystery to be loved, a mystery to be danced.
               A totally skeptical mind is bound to finally become a mystic; hence, my doors are open for all. I
           accept the skeptic because I know how to turn him into a mystic. I invite the theist because I know
           how to destroy his theism. I invite the atheist because I know how to take away his atheism. My
           doors prevent nobody, because I am not giving you any belief. I am giving you only a methodology,
           a meditation to discover for yourself what in reality is the case.
               I have found that there is no answer. All questions are futile, and all answers are more futile.
           Questions have been asked by foolish people, and great philosophies have arisen because of their
           questions. These philosophies are created by the cunning and the shrewd.
               But if you want to have a rapport with reality, you have to be neither a fool nor shrewd. You
           have to be innocent.
               So whatever you bring -- skepticism, atheism, theism, communism, fascism, any type of
           nonsense you can bring here -- my medicine is the same.
               It does not matter what kind of nonsense is filled in your head when you come here. I will chop
           your head without any distinction. Who is sitting on your head does not matter -- my concern is
           chopping!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I am just a woodcutter.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I CANNOT FIND THE QUESTION, BUT MY HEART NEEDS AN ANSWER. WHAT IS IT?


                It is a very profound inquiry.
           Anybody who is sincere will have the same inquiry.
           All questions are foolish, silly at the most. But still, there is some existential need for an answer.
           The question is not known.
                I have told you about one of the most beautiful woman poets, Gertrude Stein. She was dying, and
           a small circle of friends had gathered around her. Just before her death she opened her eyes and
           asked, "What is the answer?"
                They were all puzzled because this is not the way... first you have to ask the question. She is first
           asking what the answer is -- answer to what? But you cannot be hard to a dying woman -- and no
           ordinary woman, a really great poet.
                And even in this statement her greatness is absolutely present.
                For a few seconds there was silence. Then one person gathered courage and said, "Stein, you
           have not asked the question. This is strange that you are asking what the answer is."
                So the dying woman opened her eyes and said, "Okay. So tell me what the question is." And she
           died.
           This is something truly mystic.
                There is no question, but there is an existential thirst which appears to the mind as a search for an
           answer. But there is no answer.
                Existence is, and it is tremendously beautiful, psychedelically colorful. It is song and dance and
           celebration all over.
           But please don't ask any question or any answer.
                It is a mystery. Mystery means there is no way to solve it, whatever you do is going to fail.
           Rather, live it -- drop solving. Perhaps through living you will come to an understanding. But that
           will not be the answer, it will be more than the answer; it will be an alive experience. You will have
           become part of the mystery itself.
                Even the greatest philosophers have been behaving like children. They go on representing life as
           if it is a puzzle, a crossword puzzle.
                It is not a puzzle. It is simply an unanswerable but experienceable phenomenon.
           That's what I mean by `mysticism'.
                Philosophers miss it completely because they try to find questions, and then answers.
           Questions are man-made.
                A rosebush never asks a question, a cloud never bothers about a question, a mountain never
           raises a question. It does not mean that they have the answer; it simply means they are beyond the
           question-answer game.
                And when I say `going beyond enlightenment' I am saying the same thing in other words -- going
           beyond the question-answer game and just accepting reality as it is, whatsoever it is.
                Otherwise, there are troubles upon troubles. First you create the question, then you create the
           answer. Then the answer creates ten more questions; you create ten more answers and then each
           answer creates ten more questions. It is like a tree; it goes on growing and becoming bigger and
           bigger and there is no end.
                Just live your life simply, without putting a question mark behind every experience.
                People may think you are crazy, but if you are crazy then the whole of existence is crazy -- what
           to do? It is out of our hands.
                Why does the sun rise in the morning every day? Not even a single day is a holiday. Not even for
           a single day does it rise from the West -- just for a change: "I am getting tired of rising from the
           East..."
                No, things are simply going so smoothly... just man is in trouble.
                The moment you also start living like a rosebush, rising like a sun, floating like a white cloud,
           you have come to a profound understanding of the mysterious, of the miraculous truth of existence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              A WOMAN FRIEND OF MINE OFTEN USES THE WORDS "MALE EGO" ABOUT ME, WHICH I
              FEEL IS NOT TRUE ABOUT ME.
              FROM THE VERY BEGINNING I HAVE BEEN OPEN AND VULNERABLE TO FEMININE ENERGY,
              WHICH IS TEACHING ME TO BECOME A DISCIPLE EVERY DAY. MOREOVER, I HAVE FELT
              THAT WHEN SHE USED THIS WORD THERE WAS SOME KIND OF HATRED TOWARDS MEN.
              OSHO, CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THE "MALE EGO" IS, AND WHAT IT MEANS WHEN A WOMAN
              USES THIS EXPRESSION ABOUT A MAN?


               The ego is simply the ego, it is neither male nor female.
               But man has been very inhuman towards women for centuries, continuously. And the strange
           thing is that the man has been so cruel and inhuman towards women because he feels a deep
           inferiority complex in comparison to them.
               The greatest problem has been that the woman is capable of becoming a mother; she is capable
           of giving birth to life, and man is not. That was the beginning of the feeling of inferiority -- that
           nature depends on woman, not on man.
               Moreover, he has found that she is in many ways stronger than him.
               For example, for every one hundred and fifteen boys that are born, only one hundred girls are
           born -- because fifteen boys will pop off by the time they become sexually mature, but the girls will
           remain; they have a certain stamina. Women fall sick less than men. Women commit suicide less
           than men -- although they talk about suicide more, they simply talk. At the most they take sleeping
           pills, but always in such a small quantity that they never die. Men commit suicide in almost double
           the numbers. Women live five years longer than men.
               Women are more patient, more tolerant than men. Men are very impatient and very intolerant.
           Women are less violent than men. Women don't commit murders; it is the man who commits
           murders, who wages crusades, who is always getting ready for war, who invents all kinds of deadly
           weapons -- atomic bombs, nuclear weapons.
               The woman is completely out of this whole game of death.
               Hence it was no coincidence that man started feeling somehow inferior. And nobody wants to be
           inferior; the only way was to force the woman in artificial ways to become inferior. For example, not
           to allow her education, not to allow her economic freedom, not to allow her to move out of the
           house, but confine her to an imprisonment.
               It seems almost unbelievable what man has done to woman just to get rid of his inferiority. He
           has made the woman artificially inferior.
               In China, for five thousand years it was thought that women had no soul. Of course all the writers
           were men; they proposed the idea that a woman is only a machine, a reproductive machine. And the
           idea gained so much influence that it even entered the justice system of China. If a man murdered his
           wife, he was not a criminal -- because he had simply broken a chair, a table... at the most a
           television. But it was his property, and he had the right to destroy it.
               So in China, thousands of women were killed by their husbands. But the husbands could not be
           punished by the government or the courts, because the basic principle that the woman had a soul was
           denied.
               In India for ten thousand years the woman was told that even to dream of some other man is a
           sin. The same was not said to the man. The woman had to live a very virtuous life while for the man
           there was freedom. Man created prostitutes for his freedom.
               And this possessiveness in India took on almost insane proportions. When a man died, his wife
           had to die with him. She had to jump alive onto the funeral pyre -- and for ten thousand years that
           continued. If some woman was afraid -- anybody would be afraid to jump alive into a funeral pyre --
           then she was condemned as immoral. The husband's wish was that she should die with him because
           he could not trust her -- when he is gone, she may start having some love affair with somebody else,
           and this cannot be tolerated.
               But the strange thing is that the same rule was not applicable to men, that when the wife dies the
           husband should jump into the funeral pyre. No, man was a higher quality of being.
               The way they used to do it brings tears... because to burn a woman alive is not an easy task. First
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they would make the funeral pyre, put the dead body of the husband on it, force the woman to lie
           down next to the dead body. Then they would put more wood on top of both of them and pour
           refined butter all over the funeral pyre, so that the fire would get going fast, strong -- and not only
           fast and strong, but it would create so much smoke that nobody could see what was happening there,
           because sometimes the woman would try to jump out of the funeral pyre.
               There were priests standing around the funeral pyre with burning torches in their hands. If the
           woman tried to jump out, they would force her, with the burning torches, back into the funeral pyre.
           Hence so much smoke was needed, so nobody could see what the priest was doing.
               The woman was bound to cry and scream. Her screams should not be heard, so there was an
           arrangement: behind the priests, there was another row of thousands of people playing music,
           dancing, singing, shouting as loudly as possible just to drown out the screams of the woman coming
           from the funeral pyre. And they were celebrating, because one woman had proved her love, her trust
           by committing suicide.
               She was forced; she did not come to do it willingly, she was brought there.
               And the same situation has happened all over the world. In different ways, they have been
           cutting woman's wings, her abilities, her talents, her genius.
               It is not only a question for you. When your woman is telling you that you have a male ego, she
           is simply representing all women, and you are nothing but a representative of all men. Your
           forefathers have done so much harm that there is no way to come to a balance.
               So when your woman says that this is male ego, try to understand -- perhaps she is right. Most
           probably she is right -- because the male has accepted himself as superior for so long that he does not
           feel that it is his ego. It is the woman who feels it.
               Don't deny her feeling. Be grateful to her, and ask her where she feels the ego so that you can
           drop it. Take her help.
               You are simply denying it; you don't feel that you have any male ego. But it is simply a
           traditional heritage.
               Every small boy has a male ego -- just a small boy, if he starts crying you immediately say,
           "Why are you crying like a girl? A girl is allowed to cry because she is subhuman. You are going to
           be a big male chauvinist; you are not supposed to cry or weep." And small boys start stopping their
           tears. It is very rare to find men who are as ready to cry and allow tears to flow as women are.
               Remember, you both have the same size tear glands in your eyes, so nature does not make any
           difference. Listen to the woman. You have suppressed the woman and oppressed the woman so
           much, it is time that she should be listened to and things should be corrected. At least in your
           personal life do as much as you can to allow the woman as much freedom as possible -- the same
           freedom that you allow yourself. Help her to stand up so that she can blossom again.
               We will have a more beautiful world if all women -- and women are half of the world -- are
           allowed to grow their talents, their genius. It is not a question at all... nobody is higher, nobody is
           lower. Women are women, men are men; they have differences, but differences don't make anybody
           higher or lower. Their differences create their attraction.
               Just think of a world where there are only men. It will be so ugly, everywhere Morarji Desai...
           Morarji Desai... all drinking their urine, nothing else to do.
               Life is rich because there are differences, different attitudes, different opinions. Nobody is
           superior, nobody is inferior. People are simply different.
               Accept this, and help your woman to be free from ten thousand years of repression. Be a friend to
           her. Much harm has been done; she has been wounded so much that if you can do some healing with
           your love, you will be contributing to the whole world, to the whole world consciousness.
               Don't feel bad if your woman says "this is male ego." It is there in a subtle form, unrecognizeable
           because it has been there for so long; you have forgotten that this is ego. Take her help so that you
           can recognize it and destroy it.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                Chapter #18
                       Chapter title: Meditation -- the courage to be silent and alone
           20 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610205
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH18
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 113 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM ALWAYS AFRAID OF BEING ALONE, BECAUSE WHEN I AM ALONE I START TO WONDER
              WHO I AM. IT FEELS THAT IF I INQUIRE DEEPER, I WILL FIND OUT THAT I AM NOT THE
              PERSON WHO I HAVE BELIEVED I WAS FOR THE PAST TWENTY-SIX YEARS, BUT A BEING,
              PRESENT AT THE MOMENT OF BIRTH AND MAYBE ALSO THE MOMENT BEFORE.
              FOR SOME REASON, THIS SCARES ME COMPLETELY. IT FEELS LIKE A KIND OF INSANITY,
              AND MAKES ME LOSE MYSELF IN OUTSIDE THINGS IN ORDER TO FEEL SAFER.
              OSHO, WHO AM I, AND WHY THE FEAR?


               Surabhi, it is not only your fear, it is everybody's fear. Because nobody is what he was supposed
           to be by existence.
               The society, the culture, the religion, the education have all been conspiring against innocent
           children. They have all the powers -- the child is helpless and dependent. So whatsoever they want to
           make out of him, they manage to do it. They don't allow any child to grow to his natural destiny.
           Their every effort is to make human beings into utilities.
               Who knows, if a child is left on his own to grow, whether he will be of any use to the vested
           interests or not? The society is not prepared to take the risk. It grabs the child and starts molding him
           into something that is needed by the society. In a certain sense, it kills the soul of the child and gives
           him a false identity, so that he never misses his soul, his being.
               The false identity is a substitute. But that substitute is useful only in the same crowd which has
           given it to you. The moment you are alone, the false starts falling apart and the repressed real starts
           expressing itself.
           Hence the fear of being lonely.
               Nobody wants to be lonely. Everybody wants to belong to a crowd -- not only one crowd, but
           many crowds. A person belongs to a religious crowd, a political party, a rotary club... and there are
           many other small groups to belong to.
               One wants to be supported twenty-four hours a day because the false, without support, cannot
           stand. The moment one is alone, one starts feeling a strange craziness.
               Surabhi, that's what you have been asking about -- because for twenty-six years you believed
           yourself to be somebody, and then suddenly in a moment of loneliness you start feeling you are not
           that. It creates fear: then who are you?
               And twenty-six years of suppression... it will take some time for the real to express itself.
               The gap between the two has been called by the mystics "the dark night of the soul" -- a very
           appropriate expression. You are no more the false, and you are not yet the real. You are in a limbo,
           you don't know who you are.
               Particularly in the West -- and Surabhi comes from the West -- the problem is even more
           complicated. Because they have not developed any methodology to discover the real as soon as
           possible, so that the dark night of the soul can be shortened.
               The West knows nothing as far as meditation is concerned.
               And meditation is only a name for being alone, silent, waiting for the real to assert itself. It is not
           an act, it is a silent relaxation -- because whatever you do will come out of your false personality. All
           your doing for twenty-six years has come out of it; it is an old habit.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Habits die hard.
                There was one great mystic in India, Eknath. He was going for a holy pilgrimage with all his
           disciples -- it was almost three to six months' journey.
                One man came to him, fell at his feet and said, "I know I am not worthy. You know it too,
           everybody knows me. But I know your compassion is greater than my unworthiness. Please accept
           me also as one of the members of the group that is going on the holy pilgrimage."
                Eknath said, "You are a thief -- and not an ordinary thief, but a master thief. You have never
           been caught, and everybody knows that you are a thief. I certainly feel like taking you with me, but I
           also have to think about those fifty people who are going with me. You will have to give me a
           promise -- and I am not asking for more, just for these three to six months' time while we are on the
           pilgrimage: you will not steal. After that, it is up to you. Once we are back home, you are free from
           the promise."
                The man said, "I am absolutely ready to promise, and I am tremendously grateful for your
           compassion."
                The other fifty people were suspicious. To trust in a thief.... But they could not say anything to
           Eknath. He was the master.
                The pilgrimage started, and from the very first night there was trouble. The next morning there
           was chaos -- somebody's coat was missing, somebody's shirt was missing, somebody's money was
           gone.
                And everybody was shouting, "Where is my money?" and they were all telling Eknath, "We were
           suspicious from the very beginning that you were taking this man with you. A lifelong habit...."
                But then they started looking, and they found that things were not stolen. Somebody's money was
           missing, but it was found in somebody else's bag. Somebody else's coat was missing, but it was
           found in somebody else's luggage. Everything was found, but it was an unnecessary trouble -- every
           morning!
                And nobody could conceive -- what can be the meaning of it? And now certainly it is not the
           thief, because nothing is stolen.
                The third night, Eknath remained awake to see what goes on. In the middle of the night, the thief
           -- just out of habit -- woke up, started taking things from one place to another place. Eknath stopped
           him and said, "What are you doing? Have you forgotten your promise?"
                He said, "No, I have not forgotten my promise. I am not stealing anything, but I have not
           promised that I will not change things from one place to another place. After six months I have to be
           a thief again; this is just practice. And you must understand -- it is a lifelong habit, you cannot drop it
           just like that. Just give me time. You should understand my problem also. For three days I have not
           stolen a single thing -- it is just like fasting! This is just a substitute, I am keeping myself busy. This
           is my business time, in the middle of the night, so it is very hard for me just to lie down on the bed
           awake. And so many idiots are sleeping... and I am not doing any harm to anybody. In the morning
           they will find their things."
                Eknath said, "You are a strange man. You see that every morning there is such chaos, and one or
           two hours unnecessarily are wasted in finding things -- where you have put them, whose thing has
           gone into whose luggage. Everybody has to open everything and ask everybody... `To whom does
           this belong?'"
                The thief said, "This much concession you have to give to me."
                Surabhi, twenty-six years of a false personality imposed by people who you loved, who you
           respected... and they were not intentionally doing anything bad to you. Their intentions were good,
           just their awareness was nil. They were not conscious people -- your parents, your teachers, your
           priests, your politicians -- they were not conscious people, they were unconscious.
                And even a good intention in the hands of an unconscious person turns out to be poisonous.
                So whenever you are alone, a deep fear -- because suddenly the false starts disappearing.
                And the real will take a little time. You have lost it twenty-six years back. You will have to give
           some consideration to the fact that twenty-six years' gap has to be bridged.
                In fear -- that "I am losing myself, my senses, my sanity, my mind -- everything" because the self
           that has been given to you by others consists of all these things -- it looks like you will go insane.
           You immediately start doing something just to keep yourself engaged. If there are no people, at least
           there is some action. So the false remains engaged and does not start disappearing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Hence people find it the most difficult on holidays. For five days they work, hoping that on the
           weekend they are going to relax. But the weekend is the worst time in the whole world -- more
           accidents happen on the weekend, more people commit suicide, more murders, more stealing, more
           rape. Strange... and these people were engaged for five days and there was no problem. But the
           weekend suddenly gives them a choice, either to be engaged in something or to relax -- but relaxing
           is fearsome; the false personality disappears.
                Keep engaged, do anything stupid. People are running towards the beaches, bumper to bumper,
           miles-long traffic. And if you ask them where they are going, they are getting away from the crowd
           -- and the whole crowd is going with them. They are going to find a solitary, silent space -- all of
           them.
                In fact, if they had remained home it would have been more solitary and silent -- because all the
           idiots have gone in search of a solitary place. And they are rushing like mad, because two days will
           be finished soon, they have to reach -- don't ask where!
                And on the beaches, you see... they are so crowded, not even marketplaces are so crowded. And
           strangely enough, people are feeling very much at ease, taking a sunbath. Ten thousand people on a
           small beach taking a sunbath, relaxing.
                The same person on the same beach alone will not be able to relax. But he knows thousands of
           other people are relaxing all around him. The same people were in the offices, the same people were
           in the streets, the same people were in the marketplace, now the same people are on the beach.
                The crowd is an essential for the false self to exist.
           The moment it is lonely, you start freaking out.
                This is where one should understand a little bit of meditation.
                Don't be worried, because that which can disappear is worth disappearing. It is meaningless to
           cling to it -- it is not yours, it is not you.
                You are the one when the false has gone and the fresh, the innocent, the unpolluted being will
           arise in its place.
                Nobody else can answer your question "Who am I?" -- you will know it.
                All meditative techniques are a help to destroy the false. They don't give you the real -- the real
           cannot be given.
           That which can be given cannot be real.
                The real you have got already; just the false has to be taken away.
                In a different way it can be said: the master takes away things from you which you don't really
           have, and he gives you that which you really have.
                Meditation is just a courage to be silent and alone.
                Slowly slowly, you start feeling a new quality to yourself, a new aliveness, a new beauty, a new
           intelligence -- which is not borrowed from anybody, which is growing within you.
           It has roots in your existence.
                And if you are not a coward, it will come to fruition, to flowering.
                Only the brave, the courageous, the people who have guts, can be religious. Not the churchgoers
           -- these are the cowards. Not the Hindus, not the Mohammedans, not the Christians -- they are
           against searching. The same crowd, they are trying to make their false identity more consolidated.
                You were born. You have come into the world with life, with consciousness, with tremendous
           sensitivity. Just look at a small child -- look at his eyes, the freshness. All that has been covered by a
           false personality.
           There is no need to be afraid.
                You can lose only that which has to be lost. And it is good to lose it soon -- because the longer it
           stays, the stronger it becomes.
           And one does not know anything about tomorrow.
           Don't die before realizing your authentic being.
                Only those few people are fortunate who have lived with authentic being and who have died with
           authentic being -- because they know that life is eternal, and death is a fiction.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS SITTING SILENTLY, DOING NOTHING, WATCHING THE GRASS GROW -- AND MAYBE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FALLING ASLEEP -- REALLY ENOUGH?
              I ONCE HEARD YOU SAY ABOUT FREUD THAT HE PROBABLY WAS NOT ABLE TO CREATE
              HIMSELF. OR I HEARD YOU SAY THAT WE CREATE OUR OWN LIVES, OUR OWN HELLS AND
              MISERIES, AND THAT WE ARE RESPONSIBLE.
              IF SITTING SILENTLY REALLY IS ENOUGH, WHERE DOES THE WORD `EFFORT' OR
              `DISCIPLINE' COME IN? THEN, IF WE ARE DOING SOMETHING, WHAT ARE WE `DOING'? CAN
              WE DO ANYTHING AT ALL, OR AM I DREAMING THAT I AM DOING SOMETHING?
              SOMEWHERE I AM SO TIRED OF IT. BUT THEN ALSO AM I GOING TO END UP IN A STATE OF
              LETHARGY AND INDIFFERENCE, IN WHICH I CANNOT SEE ANY LOVE OR BEAUTY?


                The people who have been exploiting humanity have created great philosophies, theologies,
           disciplines. Without the support of all this philosophical, theological, religious framework, it would
           be impossible to create the false personality.
                The word `discipline' comes from these people, and the word `effort' also comes from these
           people.
                They have created such a world emphasizing work, effort, endeavor, struggle, achievement, that
           they have turned almost everybody into a workaholic -- which is worse than an alcoholic, because
           the alcoholic at least feels that he is doing something wrong. The workaholic feels he is doing the
           right thing, and those who are not workaholics are lazy people, worthless; they don't have any right
           even to exist, because they are a burden.
                They have destroyed beautiful words, given them new connotations, new meanings.
                For example, `discipline'. Discipline does not mean what you have heard that it means. The word
           `discipline' comes from the same root as disciple. Its root meaning is: capacity to learn, learning -- to
           be more sensitive, to be more aware, to be more sincere, to be more authentic, to be more creative.
                Life is a beautiful journey if it is a process of constant learning, exploration. Then it is
           excitement every moment, because every moment you are opening a new door, every moment you
           are coming in contact with a new mystery.
                The word `disciple' means one who learns, and `discipline' means the process of learning.
           But the word has been prostituted.
                `Discipline' means obedience. They have turned the whole world into a camp of boy scouts. High
           above there is somebody who knows -- you need not learn, you have simply to obey. They have
           turned the meaning of `discipline' into its very opposite.
                Learning automatically consists of doubting, of questioning, of being skeptical, of being curious
           -- not of being a believer certainly, because a believer never learns.
                But they have used the word for thousands of years in this way. And it is not only one word that
           they have prostituted, they have prostituted many words. Beautiful words have become so ugly in the
           hands of the vested interests that you cannot even imagine the original meaning of the word...
           thousands of years of misuse.
                They want everybody to be disciplined the way people are disciplined in the army. You are
           ordered -- you have to do it without asking why.
           This is not the way of learning.
                And even from the very beginning they have imposed stories on the minds of people, that the
           first sin committed was disobedience. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden
           because they disobeyed.
                I have tried in thousands of ways, but I don't see that they have committed any sin or any crime.
           They were simply exploring. You are in a garden and you start exploring the fruits and flowers and
           what is edible and what is not edible.
                And God is responsible, because he prohibited them from two trees -- he indicated the trees:
           "You should not approach these two trees. One is the tree of wisdom, and the other is the tree of
           eternal life."
                Just think, if you were Adam and Eve -- was not God himself tempting you to go to these two
           trees? And those two trees were of wisdom and of eternal life. Why should God be against them?
                If he was really a father, one who loves you, he might have pointed to them, saying that "This is
           a poisonous tree, don't eat from it" or, "This is the tree of death; if you eat anything, you will die."
           But these two trees are perfectly right -- eat as much as you can, because to be wise and to have
           eternal life is absolutely right.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Every father would wish his children to have wisdom and eternal life. This father seems to be
           absolutely loveless. Not only loveless, but as the devil said to Eve, "He has prevented you from these
           two trees. Do you know the reason? The reason is that if you eat from these two trees you will be
           equal to him, and he is jealous. He does not want you to become divine. He does not want you to
           become gods, full of wisdom and eternal life."
                I cannot see that the devil's argument has any flaw in it. It is absolutely right. In fact, he is the
           first benefactor of humanity.
                Without him, perhaps there would have been no humanity -- no Gautam Buddha, no Kabir, no
           Christ, no Zarathustra, no Lao Tzu... just buffaloes, donkeys, and yankees, all eating grass, chewing
           grass contentedly. And God would have been very happy, that his children are very obedient.
           But this obedience is poison, pure poison.
                The devil must be counted as the first revolutionary of the world, and the first man to think in
           terms of evolution, of wisdom, of eternal life.
                And God said -- so the priests have been saying, the Jewish rabbis, Christian priests,
           Mohammedan maulavis, ayatollas.... They all have been saying for centuries that it was the original
           sin.
           Again, another prostitution of a beautiful word.
                The word `sin' in its roots means forgetfulness. It has nothing to do with sin as we have come to
           understand it.
           To forget yourself is the only sin.
           And to remember yourself is the only virtue.
                It has nothing to do with obedience, nothing to do with discipline.
                But the people who want to exploit... their very effort is that of a parasite, taking every drop of
           blood out of you. They say, "Work. Work hard, be disciplined, obey the orders -- there is no need to
           question because the orders are coming from a higher intelligence than you have." They are in such a
           mind that they don't even want you to sleep.
                In the Soviet Union, they are now developing a whole educational system. Every child will be
           educated during the day in school -- but why waste his whole night? People, after a while --
           twenty-five years -- have to come out of the university and work in the world. But they work only
           five hours, six hours, and their whole night is sheer wastage -- it can be used. Now they are
           developing methods and means to use it.
                For example, it can be used for teaching. The child's ears are plugged with a very subtle
           mechanism controlled by the central system in the town, and what they call "subliminal education"...
           it does not disturb your sleep. Very slowly, so quietly that it cannot even be called whispering,
           because even whispering may disturb your sleep.... Its range is lower than a whisper. And the
           strangest thing is -- which was known long before about women, but it was not known that it could
           be used in such a way....
                About women it has been known for centuries, that if you want them to hear what you are saying,
           whisper. If you just start whispering with someone, any woman around is going to hear exactly what
           you are saying.
                If you are talking loudly, nobody cares. Whispering means that you are trying to hide, something
           is secretive. The woman becomes alert with her more sensitive being, and she catches everything
           that you are saying. So if you want to say anything to any woman, just whisper it to somebody else
           and she will get the message absolutely correctly -- and no argument!
                Subliminal education is a lower range whispering. They have found that it does not disturb sleep,
           it does not even disturb dreams. Dreams are here... sleep is lower than dreams, and subliminal
           whispering is lower than sleep -- so it simply goes underground.
                For eight hours in the night you can teach continuously whatever you want to teach, and the most
           wonderful thing about it is that the child will remember everything -- there is no need for him to
           memorize it, there is no need for him to do homework for it. It has simply entered into his memory
           system from an underground source. Now they have captured your twenty-four hours.
           Even freedom to dream may be taken away one day.
                It is possible that the government could decide what to dream and what not to dream. Dreams
           could be projected just like projecting pictures on a screen, and you would not be able to tell the
           difference, whether you are dreaming or the government agency is projecting some idea.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Subliminal teaching is really one of the most dangerous things discovered by the psychologists.
           It has been tried in many countries and found to work immensely well.
           For example, you go into a movie....
                You see advertisements -- they work, but they need constant repetition. A certain brand of
           cigarette... you have to read it in the newspaper, you have to see it on television, you have to hear it
           on the radio, you have to see it on the street on the billboards, you have to see it in the movie house,
           it has to be repeated continually. A certain brand... you don't take any note of it. You simply read it
           and you forget about it, but it is going to make a mark inside you. And when you go to purchase
           cigarettes, suddenly you will find yourself asking for that brand.
                But it is a long process. Up to now, advertising has been a lengthy process.
                With subliminal teaching, it becomes very shortcut and very dangerous.
                They have tried in a few movies, experimentally, between two frames. You are watching the
           movie and you will not be aware that something has happened; you will go on seeing the movie. The
           story is going on and in just a flash -- so short that you will not be able to detect with your eyes that
           something has passed on the screen -- you feel very thirsty and you need a Coca Cola. You have not
           read "Coca Cola", but even though you have not read it, your memory has simply got the idea.
                And they have found that on that night, in that movie house the sales of Coca Cola rose by
           seventy percent. The people who ask for Coca Cola don't know why they are asking for Coca Cola --
           they feel thirsty. They are not feeling thirsty, they don't need Coca Cola, but a subliminal impact....
                This is dangerous. It is taking away your freedom. You are not even free to choose, you are
           simply being ordered -- and in such a way that you are not even aware that you have been ordered to
           purchase Coca Cola.
                Political parties are going to use it -- vote for Ronald Reagan. There is no need to destroy all the
           walls and write everywhere "Vote for Ronald Reagan" -- just subliminal... on television, in the
           movies.
                And in the Soviet Union, the educationalists are thinking that everybody's night can be used for
           further training, refresher courses.
                For example, a doctor comes out of the university.... But medical science goes on growing, and
           the doctor is always lagging far behind. He uses medicines which are no longer valid; science has
           gone farther ahead, has found better medicines. But the doctor has no opportunity to read all that
           literature -- his night can be used. During the day he can look at the patients; at night he can be given
           the latest information.
                But that means you have made man a robot, twenty-four hours a day geared to work, and geared
           to do whatever kind of work you want. It is not his free will.
                These people have brought these beautiful words like discipline, work, obedience, to such a
           distasteful state that it is better for a few days to abandon them completely.
                Work is beautiful if it comes out of your love, if it comes out of your creativity. Then work has
           some spiritual quality.
                Discipline is good if it comes out of your learning, your disciplehood, your dedication, your
           devotion -- then it is something that is growing in you like a beautiful flame, directing your life in its
           light.
                If obedience comes out of trust... not that somebody is more powerful and if you don't listen you
           will be punished.
                Even God could not forgive just one act of disobedience. The poor fellows... Adam and Eve had
           eaten one apple!
                For five years continuously I lived on apples. My mother used to say, "You should think about it
           -- just one apple and Adam and Eve were turned out of the Garden of Eden. And you are simply
           living on apples!" For five years I didn't eat anything else.
                I said, "That's what I want to see... where? -- now at the most he can drive me into the Garden of
           Eden. There are only two places, the Garden of Eden and the world. There is no other world he can
           drive me to."
                Naturally God remained silent. "What to do now? He is committing sin from morning to night,
           sin upon sin" -- because that was my whole food.
           He could not forgive a small thing.
                No, it is not the question that they had committed a great sin. The question is that God's ego is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hurt; it is a revenge. With great vengeance... It is unbelievable that even now you are suffering
           because of the sin committed by Adam and Eve. We don't know these people -- when they existed,
           whether they existed or not; we have no part in their act -- still, we are suffering.
               Every human child is going to suffer such vengeance? -- it doesn't seem to be divine. God seems
           to be more evil than the devil. The devil seems to be more friendly, more understanding.
               The people who have brought these words -- work, discipline, obedience -- are the priests of this
           God, they represent him. They have destroyed the beauty of simple words.
           Obedience can also be of tremendous beauty.
               But it should come out of your commitment -- not out of an order from somebody.
           It should come out of your heart.
               You love and you respect and you are dedicated to someone so deeply that your heart always
           says yes; it has forgotten how to say no. Even if you want to say no, you have forgotten the word.
           Then, obedience is religious, spiritual.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN NINE YEARS OF BEING WITH YOU, I FEEL THAT I HAVE DONE ALL I CAN AS FAR AS
              INTELLIGENCE GOES TO BE WITH YOU. AND YET NOW I FEEL IN MORE CHAOS AND
              CONFUSION, AND MORE IGNORANT THAN EVER. I EVEN FEEL ON THE POINT OF GIVING UP.
              IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD BE DOING? IS THERE SOME WAY TO BE MORE
              INTELLIGENT AND MORE WAKEFUL? -- BECAUSE I AM SURE THAT I HAVE ALREADY MISSED
              A THOUSAND TIMES.


               It will be great if you can give up. That is the trouble.
               I have been telling you to give up. From the very beginning -- don't start! But you don't listen.
               Nine years of great work, hard work, and still you are asking "Should I bring more intelligence
           and more work?" And you think you have been missing the train because you are not working hard
           enough! Just the opposite is the case.
               You are missing the train because you are working too hard.
               You are so involved in your work that you don't see that the train has come and passed. By the
           time you see other passengers getting out on the road... THEN you become aware that the train has
           come and passed.
               You simply give up and rest on the platform. So whenever the train comes.... What is the need to
           miss the train?
               But you cannot rest, you cannot relax, you cannot let go. You have made it a project. You are
           aggressive, goal oriented, always trying to achieve something.
               And here you are with a man who is saying to you that all that you want to achieve is already
           within you -- just relax, because only in relaxation will you realize what is hidden in you.
               But you are running so fast. You don't stop, you are putting your whole intelligence... nine years!
               You could have made it the very first day you had come to me. And you can make it right now --
           because the train is always standing on the platform.
           It never leaves because there is nowhere to go.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              BEFORE BECOMING YOUR SANNYASIN, I WAS DESPERATELY SEEKING SPIRITUAL TRUTH.
              DESPITE WHAT I FELT TO BE MANY GENUINE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES, I REMAINED
              DISCONTENTED AND DESPERATE.
              AFTER SANNYAS I BEGAN TO LIVE WITH YOUR PEOPLE, WORK IN YOUR COMMUNES AND
              MOST OF ALL, FEEL YOUR BEAUTY AND PEACE GROW IN MY HEART. IN THIS TIME, MY
              BURNING DESIRES FOR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE AND THE FRUITS OF THOSE EXPERIENCES
              HAVE BEEN SLOWLY DISAPPEARING.
              NOWADAYS I SIMPLY ENJOY EVERYDAY LIFE, AND EVERYTHING THAT GOES WITH IT -- A
              TASTY MEAL, A WALK IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, A GOOD LAUGH WITH A LOVED ONE, AND SO
              ON.
              BELOVED MASTER, AM I GETTING LAZY ON THE WAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT?
              CAN YOU PLEASE TALK ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FALLING ASLEEP AND LETTING
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GO?


               You are doing perfectly well. Just forget all about enlightenment.
           Enjoy simple things with total intensity.
           Just a cup of tea can be a deep meditation.
               If you can enjoy it, the aroma of it, slowly sipping it, the taste of it... who cares about God?
               You don't know that God is continuously feeling jealous of you when he sees you drinking a cup
           of tea and the poor fellow cannot have it. Instant coffee... these things are not available in the Garden
           of Eden.
               And since Adam and Eve left, there is no human company at all -- just living with animals, who
           don't know how to make tea.
               God is very jealous of you and very repentant that he drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of
           Eden, but now nothing can be done about it. The sons and daughters of Adam and Eve are living far
           more beautifully, far more richly.
               Enlightenment happens when you have forgotten all about it.
               Don't look even out of the corner of your eye, just in case enlightenment is coming and you will
           miss it. Forget all about it. You just enjoy your simple life.
               And everything is so beautiful -- why create unnecessary anxiety and anguish for yourself?
           Strange problems of spirituality.... Those things are not something you can do anything about.
               If you can make your ordinary life a thing of beauty and art, all that you had always desired will
           start happening of its own accord.
           There is a beautiful story....
               There is a temple in this state, Maharashtra. It is a temple of Krishna, and a strange story is
           connected with the temple because the statue of Krishna -- in Maharashtra he is called Bitthal -- is
           standing on a brick. Strange, because nowhere in any temple is any god standing on a brick.
               The story is that one beautiful man, enjoying life, every bit in its totality, was so contented and so
           fulfilled that Krishna decided to appear before him. Ordinarily there are people who are singing and
           dancing their whole life, "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama" and neither Rama appears nor Krishna appears
           -- nobody appears. And this man was not bothering about Krishna or Rama or anybody. He was
           simply living his life, but living it the way it should be lived -- with love, with heart, with beauty,
           with music, with poetry. His life was in itself a blessing, and Krishna has to decide that "This man
           needs a visit from me."
               You see the story -- the man is not at all thinking of Krishna -- but Krishna, on his own part, feels
           that this man deserves a visit. He goes in the middle of the night, not to create any trouble in the
           whole town. He finds the door open and he goes in.
               The man's mother is very sick, and he is massaging her feet. Krishna comes behind him and says,
           "I am Krishna and I have come to give you an audience, a DARSHANA."
               The man said, "This is not the right time; I am massaging my mother's feet."
               Meanwhile, just by his side there was a brick; he pushed the brick back -- he did not even look
           back to see who this Krishna is -- he pushed the brick and told him to stand on it, and that when he is
           finished with his work he will see him. But he was so much absorbed in massaging the mother's feet
           -- who was almost dying -- that the whole night passed, and Krishna remained standing there.
               He said, "This is a strange stupidity. People are singing their whole life, `Hare Krishna, Hare
           Rama' and I never go there. And I have come here and this fool has not even looked back, has not
           even said to me, `Sit down' but tells me to stand on the brick!"
               And then it was getting light, the sun was rising, and Krishna became afraid, because people
           would be coming in. The road was just by the side of the house, and the door was open -- and if they
           saw him standing there, soon there would be trouble, great crowds would come. So he disappeared,
           leaving just a stone statue of himself on the brick.
               When the mother went to sleep, then the man turned and said, "Who is the fellow who was
           disturbing me in the night?"
           And he found just a statue of Krishna.
               The whole village gathered -- this was a miracle, what had happened? He told the whole story.
           They said, "You are a strange fellow. Krishna himself had come, and you are such a fool! You could
           have at least told him to sit down, offered him something to eat, something to drink. He was a guest."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man said, "At that time there was nothing by my side except this brick. And whenever I am
           doing something, I do it with totality. I don't want any interference. If he is so much interested in
           being seen, he can come again, there is no hurry."
               That statue remains in the temple of Bitthal, still standing on a brick. But the man was really a
           great man -- not bothering about rewards or anything, absorbed so fully in every action that the
           action itself becomes the reward. And even if God comes, the reward that is coming out of the
           totality of action is bigger than God.
               Nobody has interpreted the story the way I am interpreting it, but you can see that any other
           interpretation is nonsense.
               So just forget about spirituality, enlightenment, God -- they will take care of themselves. That is
           their business. They are sitting there without customers.
               You need not worry; you do the best you can do with life -- that is your test, that is your worship,
           that is your religion. And everything else will follow on its own accord.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IF THE MASTER IS THE ONE WHO CHOOSES THE DISCIPLE AND DROPS HIM -- THOUGH IT
              MAY APPEAR TO THE DISCIPLE THAT HE HAS CHOSEN THE MASTER, AND IN THE COURSE
              OF TIME, HAS DROPPED HIM -- BELOVED OSHO, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TELL US?
              NOW I HAVE THE FEELING AND FEAR THAT YOU MIGHT DROP ME AT ANY TIME. BELOVED,
              PLEASE DON'T DO THAT TO ME. IT HURTS VERY MUCH TO THINK OF IT BECAUSE IF A MAN
              LIKE YOU CANNOT HELP ME, THEN WHO WILL? I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LET DOWN, AND IT
              HURTS. AND TO THINK OF YOU LETTING ME DOWN IS TOO MUCH.
              BELOVED OSHO, PLEASE PROMISE THAT YOU WON'T LET ME DOWN EVEN IF I AM OF NO
              USE TO YOU. I KNOW YOU WON'T, BUT STILL THAT FEAR IS THERE. PLEASE BE WITH ME
              ALWAYS, WILL YOU?


                It is a tricky question.
           I can promise I will not drop you. The only problem is that if you want to drop me, then you will find
           it very difficult to drop -- I won't let you drop!
                So now this will be your fear: I will fulfill my promise in any case -- whether you want it or not!
           So if this dispels your fear, perfectly good.
           It is not a problem for me, I can promise.
                I just don't want to interfere with anybody's freedom. I want to keep the door open; if you want to
           go out, I don't want to close it.
                But if that is what you want, the door is closed -- and locked!
                Now don't come next time saying that you are now fearing that if you want to get out, now there
           is no way.
           A promise is a promise!


              BELOVED OSHO,
              MY BEAUTIFUL MASTER! FIRST I WANTED TO RUN AWAY; NOW I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE
              YOU. WHAT HAPPENED?


              I changed my mind.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                 Chapter #19
                            Chapter title: The future belongs to the creative man
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           21 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610215
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH19
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 125 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM A TWO-YEAR-OLD CHILD IN SANNYAS AT THE AGE OF SIXTY!
              I CONSIDER MYSELF BLESSED TO HAVE COME INTO THE FOLD OF YOUR GRACE.
              WAS THIS DESTINED TO BE SO? THEN WHY WAS IT SO LATE IN LIFE? CAN THE CHILD IN ME
              BECOME MATURE IN WHAT REMAINS OF MY LIFE? HOW? KINDLY HELP.


                Anand Yeshwant, the question you have asked has many implications. It is many questions in
           one.
                First, you say that at the age of sixty you are a two-year-old child as far as sannyas is concerned.
           This reminds me of an ancient tradition in the East. We used to count life from the day a man was
           initiated into sannyas, not from the day he was born. Because birth does not necessarily turn into life;
           more often it only turns into vegetation.
                There are cabbages and there are cauliflowers, but the difference is not much. The experts say
           that cauliflowers are cabbages with university degrees.
                But most people simply vegetate; they do not live, they do not come into contact with the living
           waters of life. They breathe, they grow old, but they never grow up. Between their birth and their
           death is a horizontal line. There are no peaks of delight, no sunlit peaks of ecstasy. There are no
           depths of love, of peace, of silence. There is just a horizontal, flat routine from the cradle to the
           grave.
           Nothing happens. They come and they go.
                It is said that most of the people realize that they were alive only when they die -- because life
           was so flat, so colorless. It was not a dance, it was not beauty, it was not a blessing; there was no
           gratitude in the heart, that "Existence has chosen me, and not anybody else in my place," that
           "Without me existence will be a little less. There is nobody else who can replace me; I am occupying
           a unique position and I never asked for it, I never deserved it. It is a sheer gift out of the abundance
           of existence."
                It happened that Gautam Buddha was having a meeting with one of the most intelligent emperors
           of those days. Just in the middle of their dialogue an old sannyasin -- must have been seventy-five
           years old -- came to touch the feet of Buddha. He asked the emperor to forgive him because he was
           interfering in their conversation, but it was out of necessity.
                No Buddhist monk can travel in the night; they can move between sunrise and sunset, but at
           night they have to remain in one place.
                "I have been ordered to go to the nearest village, and I cannot go without touching the feet of my
           master. The sun is going down every moment, and your dialogue seems to go on and on -- so please
           just forgive me."
                Gautam Buddha asked the sannyasin, "How old are you?"
                The emperor was very much puzzled: what was the need? -- just bless him and let him go.
                And the old sannyasin said, "Forgive me, I have come very late. My age is only four years."
                The emperor was even more puzzled, and he could not contain himself. He said, "This is too
           much! This man might be seventy-five, might be eighty, might be seventy, but not four years of age.
           Absolutely not!"
                Gautam Buddha said, "Perhaps you do not know about the way we count age. This man became
           a sannyasin four years ago. Hence, the real brahmin, the one who has known the divine, the brahma
           is called dwij, `twice born'. The first birth is only an opportunity for the second birth. If the second
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           birth does not happen your first birth is meaningless.
                And to the sannyasin Buddha said, "Don't be worried. We have an ancient proverb." He quoted
           it: "The man who gets lost in the morning, if he comes back home by the evening he should not be
           called `lost'. Four years are plenty. Even one minute of awareness is equal to eternity."
                So the first thing, Anand Yeshwant: Don't be worried about the fifty-eight years that have passed
           in sleep. Whether they existed or not does not matter; they were like signatures made on water -- you
           go on making them, and they go on disappearing.
                These two years you have been a sannyasin are immensely significant -- and the significance
           does not require time, it requires depth. You can have the whole eternity superficially. And you can
           have one single moment of abysmal depth or of the height of Everest and you are fulfilled.
                So the first thing I want to say to you: don't be worried about the fifty-eight years that were lost
           wandering in the desert. Be grateful for the two years that you have entered into the garden of God.
           Now it is up to you to make each moment a deep contentment, a profound silence, a joyful dance...
           an eternity of rejoicing, a fragrance that is not of this world... that is not of time and space but
           belongs to the beyond.
                And as I see it, you are growing on the right path with a sincere heart... I have been listening to
           your songs; they have a sweet pain, a heartfelt thankfulness. Sweet because nothing can be sweeter
           than to come in contact with the immortal, timeless, deathless source of life.
                To be in touch with a master is, in an indirect way, to be in touch with the godliness of existence.
                There is sweetness in your songs, and there is a certain pain too. Pain because whatever you want
           to express, words are impotent to express it. What you want to sing... your heart is overflowing with
           it, but the language is not capable of translating it. Your musical instruments, howsoever refined, are
           not able to bring the music of silence into the world of sound. They are two diametrically opposite
           dimensions.
                But your pain does not destroy the beauty of your sweetness; it makes it even more beautiful,
           gives it depth. It shows your experience and at the same time the inability to express it.
           That which can be expressed is mundane.
           That which cannot be expressed is sacred.
                And every artist -- musician or poet, painter or dancer -- all have been trying in different ways
           for millions of years to give expression to the inexpressible. Even if they can give an indirect hint,
           just a finger pointing to the moon, that is success enough.
           And you are successful.
                Sing without any hesitation, without being worried that you will be thought crazy. Unless a
           singer is thought by the world to be insane, he is not a singer at all; if a dancer is not forced into a
           madhouse, the world has not given him the certificate.
                All geniuses are bound to be thought of by the world in this way... "Something has gone wrong
           with these poor people."
                Vincent Van Gogh, one of the Dutch painters, could not sell a single painting in his whole life.
           Now only two hundred paintings have survived out of thousands that he painted, because nobody
           took care of them. He was simply distributing them to friends; nobody would purchase them. People
           were afraid even to hang his paintings in their sitting rooms because whoever would see them would
           think that they were crazy: what kind of painting are you hanging here? People were taking them --
           not to hurt him -- thanking him, and throwing his paintings into their basements so nobody would
           see.
                Now each of his paintings is worth a million dollars. What happened in one hundred years?
                The man himself was forced into a mad asylum when he was only thirty-two. And he was forced
           because of his painting -- he was not harmful, he was not violent, he was not doing anything to
           anybody. But anybody who looked at his paintings was absolutely certain that this man was mad and
           unreliable. He should be put in a madhouse. If he could paint these things, he might do anything...."
                For example, he always painted stars as spirals. Even other painters told him, "Stars are not
           spirals!"
                He said, "I also see the stars. I see that they are not spirals, but the moment I start painting them
           something in me says so strongly that they are spirals. The distance is so vast... that's why your eyes
           cannot see exactly what their shape is. And the voice is so strong. I am simply unable to do anything
           else but what my inner being says to do."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And now physicists have discovered that stars are spirals. It has gone like a shock throughout the
           world of painters, that only one painter in the whole history of man had some inner contact and
           communication with the stars -- and that was a man who was thought to be mad. And because he was
           thought to be mad, nobody was ready to give him any service.
                Every week, his brother used to give him enough money to last for seven days. And he was
           fasting three days in a week and eating four days -- because that was the only way to purchase
           canvas and colors and brushes to paint. Painting was more important than life.
                He committed suicide at the age of thirty-three. Just after his release from the madhouse, he
           painted only one painting, which they had prevented him from painting in the madhouse. He wanted
           to paint the sun. It took him one year. He lost his eyes... the burning sun, the hot sun, and the whole
           day long he would be watching all the colors, from the morning till the evening, from the sunrise to
           the sunset. He wanted the painting to contain everything about the sun, the whole biography of the
           sun.
                Everybody who was sympathetic to him told him, "This is too much. Just studying it one day is
           enough; it is the same sun."
                Van Gogh said, "You don't know. It is never the same. You have never looked at it. I have never
           seen the same sunrise twice, never seen the same sunset again. And I want my painting to be a
           biography."
                One year... the whole day watching the sun... He lost his eyes, but he painted.
                And when the painting was complete, he wrote a small letter to his brother: "I am not committing
           suicide out of any despair -- because I am one of the most successful men in the world. I have done
           whatever I wanted to do in spite of the whole world condemning me. But this was my last wish, to
           paint the whole biography of the sun in one painting. It is completed today. I am immensely joyful,
           and now there is no need to live. I was living to paint; painting was my life, not breathing."
           And he shot himself dead.
                You cannot categorize him with ordinary suicides. It is not a suicide -- out of despair, out of
           sadness, out of failure -- no. Out of immense success, out of total fulfillment, seeing that now, why
           unnecessarily go on living and waiting for death?... "I have done the work that I wanted to do."
                Every creative artist has to understand this: the moment people start thinking about him that he is
           a little bit off center, that something is loose in his head, he should rejoice that he has crossed the
           boundary of the mundane and the mediocre. Now he has grown the wings which others don't have.
                And I can see in you the possibility, the potential.
                Meditate, and let music become your meditation. Sing and let singing become your life, your
           very breathing, your very heartbeat.
                A very stupid idea has prevailed in the world, that only saints are religious. In fact, almost 99.9
           percent of saints are not religious. The real religious people will be found in creative dimensions --
           dancers, poets, painters, singers, musicians, sculptors.
           The future belongs to the creative man.
                The past belonged to the uncreative saints. They have not created anything; their only quality
           was self torture. They were really all masochists. In a better world they would have been treated, not
           worshipped. They were not saints, they were psychologically sick. But because the uncreative was
           on the heights, was dominant, creative people suffered very much. They were thought to be sick.
                The future is going to be totally different. Now nobody can be a saint just because he is capable
           of torturing himself. He may be good in a circus.
           There is a beautiful story by Turgenev.
                In a circus there was a man whose sole qualification was that he could fast continuously for forty
           days, fifty days -- and that was the longest time the circus would remain in one town. So for the
           whole time the circus was in one town, he would be on a fast. Doctors are checking, people are
           watching, but he will not eat.
                The circus moved from one town to another town, and then it came to the capital, where it
           remained longer than forty days. And what is there in a man who is fasting? You can go to see him
           one time -- after that there is nothing intriguing, nothing interesting about it. So after a few days,
           people forgot all about him.
                There were many stalls, but because nobody was coming to visit his stall, it was placed at the
           end. Finally, people completely forgot about him. Even the circus management forgot about him,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because there was no need. And after forty days, he continued his fasting -- because he had forgotten
           to count the days. He knew only that when the circus moved from one town to another town, on the
           way they would give him food.
                He was dying. And then somebody remembered -- what happened about the great fasting man?
           The manager rushed. The man was almost dying; it had been ninety days. Ninety days is the limit to
           how long a man can fast if he is healthy.
                They asked him, "Are you mad or something? After forty days you should have reported, you
           should have called somebody."
                He said, "There were two reasons: One, I have never counted the days. Second, I slowly became
           aware that the time seemed to be longer this time, but fasting has become a habit. Now, eating is
           troublesome. So whenever you change towns, it is very hard for me. Forty days I am hungry... for
           seven days while you are changing towns, for me to put the whole mechanism back into eating and
           digesting is such a torture. I felt relieved that the time had become longer."
                And with hunger there are few points to remember. If you fast, you will feel hunger for only
           three days. After the third day, hunger will start disappearing because the body has an emergency
           arrangement: for three days it waits for food -- it cannot wait longer. After the third day it starts
           eating itself. That's why you start losing weight.
                Have you ever wondered where that weight disappears to?
                Fasting is a kind of cannibalism, eating yourself. The worst kind of cannibalism -- eating
           somebody else one can understand, but eating yourself?
                But these were your saints. Their qualities were all in the service of death, not in the service of
           life.
                I want my sannyasins, Anand Yeshwant, to be saints with a new quality: the quality that serves
           life, the quality that nourishes life, affirms life, that makes life a little more beautiful, brings a few
           more flowers to it.
                Meditation in the past has been life negative: renounce life and everything that makes life worth
           living.
                To me, meditation is just the opposite of what it has been up to now.
                Meditation is a silent heart, a peaceful mind which can make life more lovable, more livable,
           which can make life richer in every dimension.
           I don't want you to renounce anything.
                I want you to rejoice in everything, whatever you are doing.
                You are a musician. Let music be your meditation. This is your religion -- not Mohammedanism,
           not Hinduism, not Christianity. Music is your religion. If you are a dancer, then dancing is your
           religion.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT TO PRETEND TO BE WHAT THEY ARE NOT? WHAT IS THE
              PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND IT?


               Narendra, everybody is condemned from his very childhood.
               Whatever he does on his own accord, out of his own liking, is not acceptable. The people, the
           crowd in which a child has to grow has its own ideas, ideals. The child has to fit with those ideas and
           ideals. The child is helpless.
               Have you ever thought about it? -- the human child is the most helpless child in the whole animal
           kingdom. All the animals can survive without the support of the parents and the crowd, but the
           human child cannot survive, he will die immediately. He is the most helpless creature in the world --
           so vulnerable to death, so delicate.
               Naturally those who are in power are able to mould the child in the way they want.
               So everybody has become what he is, against himself. That is the psychology behind the fact that
           everybody wants to pretend to be what he is not.
               Everybody is in a schizophrenic state. He has never been allowed to be himself, he has been
           forced to be somebody else that his nature does not allow him to be happy with.
               So as one grows and stands on his own legs, one starts pretending many things which he would
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have liked in reality to be part of his being. But in this insane world, he has been distracted. He has
           been made into somebody else; he is not that. He knows it. Everybody knows it -- that he has been
           forced to become a doctor, to become an engineer; he has been forced to become a politician, to
           become a criminal, to become a beggar.
           There are all kinds of forces around.
                In Bombay there are people whose whole business is to steal children and make them crippled,
           blind, lame, and force them to beg and each evening to bring all the money that they have gathered.
           Yes, food will be given to them, shelter will be given to them. They are being used like commodities,
           they are not human beings. This is the extreme, but the same has happened with everybody to a
           lesser or greater extent.
           Nobody is at ease with himself.
                I have heard about a great surgeon who was retiring, and he was very famous. He had many
           students and many colleagues. They all gathered, and they were dancing and singing and drinking --
           but he was standing in a dark corner, sad.
                One friend came up to him and asked, "What is the matter with you? We are celebrating and you
           are standing here so sad -- don't you want to retire? You are seventy-five; you should have retired
           fifteen years ago. But because you are such a great surgeon, even at seventy-five nobody can
           compete with you, nobody comes even close to you. Now, retire and relax!"
                He said, "That's what I was thinking. I am feeling sad because my parents forced me to become a
           surgeon. I wanted to be a singer, and I would have loved it. Even if I was just a street singer -- at
           least I would have been myself. Now I am a world-famous surgeon, but I am not myself. When
           people praise me as a surgeon, I listen as if they are praising somebody else. I have been given
           awards, doctorates, but nothing rings a bell of joy in my heart -- because this is not me. This being a
           surgeon has killed me, destroyed me. I wanted to be just a flute player, even if I had to be a beggar
           on the streets. But I would have been happy."
                In this world, there is only one happiness and that is to be yourself.
                And because nobody is himself, everybody is trying somehow to hide -- masks, pretensions,
           hypocrisies. They are ashamed of what they are.
                We have made the world a marketplace, not a beautiful garden where everybody is allowed to
           bring his own flowers. We are forcing marigolds to bring roses -- now from where can marigolds
           bring roses? Those roses will be plastic roses, and in the heart of hearts the marigold will be crying,
           and with tears, feeling ashamed that "We have not been courageous enough to rebel against the
           crowd. They have forced plastic flowers on us, and we have our own real flowers for which our
           juices are flowing -- but we cannot show our real flowers."
                You are being taught everything, but you are not being taught to be yourself. This is the ugliest
           form of society possible, because it makes everybody miserable.
                I have heard of another great man, a great professor of literature who was being retired from the
           university. All the university professors had gathered, all his friends had gathered, and they were
           rejoicing. But suddenly they became aware that he was missing. One of his friends, an attorney, went
           out... perhaps he in was the garden. But what was he doing there? He was sitting under a tree.
                The attorney was his closest friend, a boyhood friend. The attorney said, "What are you doing
           here?"
                He said, "What I am doing here? Remember fifty years ago? -- I came to tell you that I wanted to
           kill my wife. And you said, `Don't do any such thing. Otherwise -- fifty years in jail.' I am thinking
           that if I had not listened to you, today I would have been out of jail, free. He said, "I am feeling so
           angry that a desire comes to me -- why should I not at least kill you! Now I am seventy-five. Even if
           they put me in jail for fifty years they cannot keep me there for fifty years. Within five, seven years I
           will be dead. But you were not a friend; you proved to be my greatest enemy."
                To be what you don't want to be, to be with someone you don't want to be with, to do something
           you don't want to do is the basis of all your miseries.
                And on the one hand the society has managed to make everybody miserable, and on the other
           hand the same society expects that you should not show your misery -- at least not in public, not in
           the open. It is your private business.
                They have created it -- it really is public business, not private business. The same crowd that has
           created all the reasons for your misery finally says to you: "Your misery is your own, but when you
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come out, come out smiling. Don't show your miserable face to others."
               This they call etiquette, manners, culture. Basically, it is hypocrisy.
               And unless a person decides that "Whatever the cost, I want just to be myself. Condemned,
           unaccepted, losing respectability -- everything is okay but I cannot pretend anymore to be somebody
           else"... This decision and this declaration -- this declaration of freedom, freedom from the weight of
           the crowd -- gives birth to your natural being, to your individuality.
               Then you don't need any mask. Then you can be simply yourself, just as you are.
               And the moment you can be just as you are, there is tremendous peace that passeth
           understanding.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUSTING EXISTENCE AND
               FATALISM?


               The difference between trust and fate is very subtle.
               On the surface it seems they mean exactly the same thing, but in reality they are diametrically
           opposite experiences.
               Fate is a consolation. You are poor, and you see others getting richer and richer -- some
           consolation is needed. You do everything and you do it honestly, truthfully, morally. You never use
           wrong means; still you are a failure. And you see others being dishonest, cunning, insincere,
           immoral, criminal, using all kinds of wrong means and succeeding, becoming richer, attaining
           power, prestige. How to explain it?
               It is not new. Since the very beginning man has been puzzled by it. And he had to create some
           idea as a consolation. Fate, kismet, destiny, God -- everything is written in the lines of your hand, in
           the lines of your forehead; everything is predetermined in your birthchart, you cannot do anything
           against it. The forces that have determined your life are too big. You are going to fail; it is better to
           accept your failure as destiny. It hurts less to say it is fate; it gives consolation. It is not your doing, it
           is not your failure -- what can you do against the stars? You cannot determine your birth time and the
           day and the year.
               You come into the world just like an actor, comes onto the stage fully prepared. He cannot
           change anything.
               Once in a while actors can change things, because a drama is a drama....
               I have heard that in a village... All over India, every year at this time every village is playing the
           drama of the life of Rama, the Hindu god. And in the beginning... it is just like any film story: a
           triangle -- two lovers, one woman. Sita is the woman, and Rama and Ravana are the two lovers.
           Rama is a young man. Ravana is very strong.
               In those days, the daughters of kings particularly had the right to choose any device for selecting
           their husbands. Sita had asked... because in their family they had the bow that had belonged to the
           god, Shiva. It was such a big strong bow that even to pick it up needed a great wrestler; it was not
           easy for one person to raise it. As a device Sita chose that anybody who could raise the bow, and not
           only raise it but break it with his hands alone -- it was a steel bow -- that man she would choose as
           her husband.
               Hundreds of kings, great wrestlers, archers... Rama was also present there. But nobody thought
           he would be of any use; he was too young. Everybody was worried that Ravana -- who was a huge
           man, dangerous, had ten heads -- was going to win. And everybody was worried -- Sita's father was
           worried, everybody concerned was worried that Sita would fall into the hands of this idiot. Somehow
           she had to be saved.
               So just as the others were coming forward -- and they could not even move the bow, raising it
           was out of question; they were becoming laughingstocks....
               Before Ravana stood up, a man came running... it was a device to send Ravana back to his
           kingdom. He was the king of Sri Lanka. And the man said, "What are you doing here? Sri Lanka is
           on fire. Your whole kingdom is burning."
               Ravana forgot all about getting married to Sita. He rushed off to see what was happening in the
           kingdom first. It was a false strategy; there was no problem, Sri Lanka was perfectly okay. But by
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the time he came back, Rama had broken the bow, married Sita, and gone.
               This was a conspiracy, and Ravana could not forgive it. He was continuously in search of Sita, to
           steal her. Finally he stole her, and for three years he kept her imprisoned. That's how the whole story
           goes.
           In every village it is enacted every year.
               In this particular village, the man who played the part of Ravana was really in love with the girl
           who was playing the part of Sita. But they belonged to different castes; marriage was not possible.
               Every year it was happening: the moment he would stand up, the man would come out shouting:
           "Sri Lanka is on fire!"
               This time he was determined -- because outside the drama they wouldn't allow the marriage.
           They were not of the same caste and in India you cannot marry in another caste. And the man who
           played Ravana was in a lower caste; the girl was a brahmin. This time he thought, something has to
           be done.
               The man came running and he said, "Sri Lanka is on fire!"
               Ravana said, "Let it be. This year I am not coming!" Everybody laughed, nobody could believe
           it.
               The prompter was behind the curtain: "What are you saying?"
               And he said, "This year I am going to marry Sita!" And he went up -- and it was just an ordinary
           bow, everybody had just pretended that it was so heavy that nobody could pick it up; it was just
           ordinary bamboo. He took it up, showed it to the audience, broke it, threw the pieces into the
           audience and told Sita's father, "Bring your daughter! Enough is enough, and the story is finished!"
               Even people who had fallen asleep woke up -- "What is happening? Something new!" The
           director didn't know what to do. For a moment there was silence.
               And Ravana was shouting, "Where is Sita? Now fulfill the promise!"
               And nobody could say to him, "You are not following the part that has been given to you" --
           because that would not be right to say in front of the public.
               But the king -- Sita's father -- was a very wise man. He said to his servants, "You idiots, this is
           not Shiva's bow; this is the bow my children play with. Take it away. Bring the real bow."
               So the servants took away the broken parts. The curtain was pulled down, and they all jumped on
           Ravana and said, "You idiot, you are going to destroy the whole story."
           He said, "This time I am determined."
               So the police had to be called, and Ravana was sent to the police station: "Take him, because he
           is destroying our whole drama."
               In a drama it is possible that you can change things. But in life you don't know exactly what is
           written in your fate, so whatever happens has to be accepted -- "This must be written in my fate."
               The belief in fate is simply a consolation because we cannot accept our failure as failure.
               And we cannot accept our failure for another reason -- because it has implications for all our
           moral values: "We were honest, we were moral, we followed right means, we were truthful, and yet
           we failed. And the other person was dishonest, cunning, insincere, immoral, criminal, and yet he
           succeeded."
               Now, the whole moral system teaches that truth is going to win, that morality is going to win,
           that honesty is going to win. But in life we see that all the honest people are losing and immoral
           people are gaining. The cunning, the clever become powerful. The simple and the innocent are
           crushed. Our whole value system is at stake.
               So it was necessary for the priests and the prophets to find a way in which your failure would not
           be your failure. "You cannot do anything, it is written in your fate. Your failure is not the failure of
           your sincerity, morality, honesty. And the other person's success is not the success of wrong means,
           dishonesty, cunningness -- it is his fate. And as far as fate is concerned, nothing can change it --
           neither honesty nor dishonesty. Yes, because you have been honest you will have a better fate in
           your future life. Because he has been dishonest, he will have a bitter fate in his future life.
               So this was a beautiful consolation, and a beautiful defense -- rational -- for our moral system.
           But it is all bogus.
               The truth is, the man has succeeded because of dishonesty, not because of his fate. He has
           succeeded because of his immorality, he has succeeded because he does not care what kind of means
           he is using.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Existence gives you birth as tabula rasa. No fate is written; there is no destiny such that
           whatever you do, it has to happen.
           Existence is freedom. Fate is slavery.
               Freedom means it is up to you to decide what is going to happen.
           Fate is a bogus hypothesis.
           But trust is a totally different thing.
               Trust is not fate. Trust simply means that "Whatever happens, I am part of existence and
           existence cannot be intentionally inimical to me. If sometimes that it feels it is, it must be my
           misunderstanding."
               I have always loved to remember a Sufi master Junnaid. He was the master of al-Hillaj Mansoor.
           He had a habit: after each prayer... and Mohammedans pray five times a day. After each prayer he
           would say to the sky, "Your compassion is great. How beautifully you take care of us, and we don't
           deserve it. I don't even have words to show my gratefulness, but I hope you will understand the
           unexpressed gratitude of my heart."
               They were on a pilgrimage, and it happened that for three days they passed through villages
           where orthodox Mohammedans would not allow them even to stay in the villages; there was no
           question of giving them food or water.
               For three days without food, without water, without sleep -- tired, utterly frustrated... The
           disciples could not believe that this man Junnaid, their master, still goes on saying the same things.
           Before, it was okay -- but still he goes on saying, "You are great, you are compassionate, and I don't
           have words to express my gratitude."
               On the third evening when he had finished his prayer, his disciples said, "Now it is time for an
           explanation. For three days we have been hungry, we have not had water, we are thirsty; we have not
           slept, we have been insulted continually, no place has been given to us, no shelter. At least today you
           should not say, `You are great, you are compassionate.' For what you are showing your gratitude?"
               Junnaid laughed. He said, "My trust in existence is unconditional. It is not that I am grateful
           because existence provides this and that and that. I am -- that's enough. Existence accepts me -- that's
           enough. And I don't deserve to be, I have not earned it. Moreover, these three days have been of
           tremendous beauty because I had an opportunity to watch whether anger would arise in me, and it
           didn't arise; whether I would start to feel that God had forsaken me, and the idea did not arise.
               There has been no difference in my attitude towards existence. My gratitude has not changed,
           and it has filled me with more gratitude than ever. It was a fire test, and I have come out of it
           unburned. What more do you want? I will trust existence in my life and I will trust existence in my
           death. It is my love affair.
               "It is not a question that somebody is rich and somebody is poor, that somebody is successful and
           somebody is not. It has nothing to do with anybody. It is my personal, intimate contact with reality.
           And there is great harmony. I am completely at ease and at home."
           Trust is the outcome of deep meditation.
               Fate is the outcome of your failures, and a mind consolation.
           They are totally different.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DO I LIKE SO MUCH TO CRITICIZE PEOPLE AND COMPLAIN AGAINST LIFE?


              Everybody likes it.
           To criticize people, to complain against people, gives you a good feeling. Criticizing others, you feel
           you are higher; complaining about others, you feel you are better. It is very ego fulfilling.
              And I am saying almost everybody does it. A few people do it out loud, a few people do it just
           within themselves, but the enjoyment is the same.
              Only rarely are there people who don't criticize, who don't complain; those are the people who
           have dropped their egos. Then there is no point -- why should you bother about it? It is none of your
           business, it no longer pays you. The ego was helped, nourished.
              Hence my emphasis is: drop the ego. With the dropping of the ego, you will find almost a whole
           world disappearing. The whole world that was knit around the ego falls away completely, and you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           start seeing people in a new light. Perhaps the same person that you might have criticized in the same
           situation... instead of criticizing him you feel a great compassion for him, a great love, a deep desire
           to help. The same person and the same situation you would have complained against, now your eyes
           are different; you see things differently. Perhaps you will see that in his place in this situation you
           would have behaved in the same way, there is nothing to complain about.
                Your outlook will become more human, more friendly... a deep acceptance of people as they are.
                You know only some part of them; you don't know their whole life. And it is not good to decide
           from a small fragment about the whole person. That small fragment may be absolutely fitting and
           right in the whole context.
                But the situation is this: it is very easy to criticize. It does not need much intelligence.
                I have often told a story of Turgenev's, THE FOOL. In a village, a young man is very much
           disturbed because the whole village thinks he is an idiot. A wise man is passing through the village
           and the young man goes to him and says, "Help me! For twenty-four hours a day I am criticized;
           whatever I do I am criticized. If I don't do anything I am criticized. If I speak I am criticized, if I
           don't speak I am criticized. I don't know any way out."
                The wise man said, "Don't be worried...." He whispered the secret in his ear, and told him, "After
           one month I will come back. Meet me then and tell me how things are going."
                The young man went to the marketplace and started working on the formula given by the wise
           man.
           Somebody said, "What a beautiful sunset!"
                And he said, "What is beautiful in it? Prove what is beautiful in it!"
                The man who had said it was a beautiful sunset was shocked. It was a beautiful sunset, but what
           was the proof? Is there any evidence? Do you know what beauty is? Everybody knows, but nobody
           can prove it.
                The man remained silent. Everybody started laughing.
                And everybody said, "Strange, we used to think this man was an idiot. He is a great intellectual."
                This was the formula given by the old man: criticize anything; just roam about the village
           watching and when anybody says anything, does anything, criticize it. And particularly criticize
           things which are taken for granted and nobody questions. Somebody uses the word `God' --
           immediately catch hold of him: "Where is God? What nonsense are you talking about?" Somebody
           talks about love -- catch hold of him: "What is love? Where is love? Put it here in front of
           everybody!"
           Somebody would say, "Love is in the heart."
                And he would say, "No, there is nothing in the heart. You can go and ask any surgeon -- in the
           heart there is nothing like love. There is only a blood-circulating system which just pumps blood and
           purifies it. What does it have to do with love?"
                After one month the old man came back. By that time the idiot had become a wise man. He
           touched the old man's feet and he said, "You are great! That trick worked; now the whole village
           thinks I am a wise man."
                The old man said, "Just remember one thing: don't assert anything from your side, so nobody can
           criticize you. Let them assert things; you just criticize and complain. And always be aggressive,
           never be defensive. Don't take a defensive attitude. Attack, be aggressive, criticize each and
           everybody, and they will all worship you."
           And the idiot becomes the wise man.
                It does not need much intelligence to criticize or to complain. And cheaply you become wise;
           cheaply you become very intelligent.
                One of my professors... He used to teach me logic. Within a few days I found out that even if I
           mentioned the name of a book which did not exist, a fictitious writer, he would immediately criticize
           it: "I have read that book, and there is nothing in it."
                I went to the vice-chancellor and I told him the whole thing. I said, "This is sheer dishonesty,
           because first he criticized those who have really written books. And seeing his attitude -- that he
           criticizes everybody, I suspected that he had not read them but was just trying to show that he is so
           well-read, so wise, so intelligent. So I tried a few fictitious names and he criticized them also. He
           said: `There is nothing in those books. Those writers know nothing.'" And I said, "Those writers
           don't exist. Those books don't exist!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The vice-chancellor said, "This is strange. I used to think that man was a responsible man."
                I said, "Call him in sometime, and I will drop in casually, by the way." I wrote down three or
           four names of books which don't exist, have never existed and will never exist, with writers who are
           just fictitious. I gave those names to the vice-chancellor and I told him, "I will come when he is here
           and we will talk, and just by the way you bring up these names and see what his reaction is."
                And he brought up those names and the professor immediately said, "Don't waste time. Those are
           all ordinary, mediocre writers, and the books they have written have nothing original in them."
                The vice-chancellor could not believe his eyes. He said, "Do you know that these four books do
           not exist at all? Neither have these four men ever existed. Why are you criticizing them?"
                And before the vice-chancellor, he became afraid. He said, "Never existed? How did I get the
           idea that...."
                I said, "Don't try to befool anybody, because I have been asking you about other books which
           have not existed. This was only a proof. I wanted to show the vice-chancellor that a professor should
           at least be sincere enough to acknowledge that he has not read a particular book."
                I said to the vice-chancellor, "What kind of respect does this man want from us? My feeling is
           that he has not read anything; he has simply read Turgenev's story, THE FOOL."
                I had brought the book, and I read the story to the vice-chancellor. And I said, "This man is the
           idiot from this story. You should make him alert that if it happens again in the class, we are going to
           boycott him completely. Either he will have to find the book and prove.... He never even goes to the
           library!"
                I had looked into all the records before I went to the vice-chancellor. The professor had never
           been to the library. Under his name -- and he had been in the university for ten years -- not a single
           book was issued. And this man was ready to criticize anybody.
                I said, "A wise man, an intelligent man is always humble."
                Your question about why we are so ready to criticize, to complain is very simple. The
           psychology behind it is that this is the simplest way, the cheapest way to prove that you are
           somebody special, that you know more. But in fact you are simply proving that you are the idiot of
           Turgenev and nobody else.
           Be humble in the world of wisdom.
                Before criticizing anybody, look into the fact from all directions, from all angles, from all
           possible viewpoints, and you will be surprised: there is very little that can be criticized or
           complained about. And if you pay that much attention, then whatever you criticize will be accepted,
           and accepted with gratitude because it is not to fulfill your ego; it is just to help the other person on
           the path.
           But you have to do so much work.
                One of my professors had written his doctoral thesis on Shankara and Bradley. I told him, "I have
           read the thesis, and now I am studying everything possible about Shankara and Bradley before I say
           anything about your thesis."
                He said, "You are strange, because I have given my thesis to many professors and they have all
           given their opinions."
                I said, "I cannot give you my opinion in such a cheap way. I will look at all the sources you have
           looked into; I will look into other sources that you have not looked into." And it took me almost six
           months to study Shankara and Bradley.
                When I gave my opinion to him he said, "My God, it is good that you were not one of my
           examiners; otherwise, I would never have been able to get the doctorate. I worked on it for six years,
           and in six months you have gone through all the sources that I have referred to. You have even gone
           to other sources which I have not even heard of...."
                I said, "Your treatise is juvenile, it is written by an amateur. Shankara and Bradley are very
           mature philosophers of the East and West. You have not paid enough respect to these two geniuses.
           You have done a clerical job. You have looked at a few books of Shankara, a few books of Bradley,
           taken a few pieces from here, from there, and your thesis was ready. Your thesis does not contribute
           a single original point. And unless a thesis contributes an original point, it does not deserve a
           doctorate; it is at the most a beautiful essay. You can publish it as a book, but not for a doctorate."
           But he was a humble man; he accepted it. He said, "You are right. I myself was feeling that I had not
           done them justice. Six years were not enough to cover Bradley's whole life and Shankara's whole
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life. These two are the very highest peaks of genius; six years are not enough. But nobody pointed it
           out to me, not even my examiners. The examiners will not point it out because to do that they would
           have had to read it, they would have had to go through the whole thing. Who bothers? In fact,
           perhaps some of their students gave me the marks and the examiners have not even looked at the
           thesis." Nobody is interested in praising anybody, in finding those qualities which everybody has...
           Nobody is ready to help those qualities grow; everybody is afraid -- if all are growing, what about
           him? His whole concern is that his ego should go on becoming bigger, and the easier way is to
           criticize everybody, to complain against everything: Be negative, make negativity your very
           approach. And for this you don't need intelligence, any idiot can do it. But to be really critical, one
           has to be very compassionate, very loving. And one has to be ready to devote time and energy and
           intelligence. Then it is not criticism, then it is not inimical, it is not antagonistic; it is a friendly
           suggestion, a sympathetic approach. Everyone here should learn to be sympathetic. Your meditation
           should help you, not to criticize but to appreciate. And if you are intelligent enough, you can
           appreciate in such a way that whatever you wanted to criticize will be understood without being said.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE BUDDHA IN ME CONDEMNS THE ZORBA, AND THE ZORBA ENVIES THE BUDDHA. HOW
              CAN THESE TWO BELOVEDS WITHIN ME BECOME FRIENDS?


              Just let them fight one day more. Tomorrow we will settle it!




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                  Chapter #20
                        Chapter title: Let go... the cure for the disease of becoming
           22 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610225
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH20
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 113 mins



                I have first to reply to the question that I had before.
           The question was important.
           I never postpone a question because one never knows what is going to happen tomorrow. I may be
           here to answer it or not. You may be here to listen to it or not.
                But I had to postpone, because the question was important, and the time was already 9:30.
                I never want to do an imperfect job, so I took the risk. I hoped for the best -- that tomorrow we
           will be meeting -- and by chance it has come true.
                The questioner said that within his personality, the buddha and the zorba are in constant conflict.
                My whole philosophy is to bring a harmonious unity between the zorba and the buddha within
           every human being. But the questioner is asking only from the mind. In reality, in actual experience,
           zorba and buddha can never be in conflict. This has to be underlined -- because in reality the zorba is
           completely asleep, he does not know anything about the buddha, and you cannot fight with
           something you know nothing about. The zorba is not even suspicious that there is anything more in
           life than to eat, drink and be merry. That is his whole philosophy of life, there is nothing beyond it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           How can he be in conflict with the buddha? Both have to be present simultaneously to be in conflict.
           This is very simple arithmetic.
                If the buddha has arisen in you, if that awakening has happened in you, zorba disappears.
                It is just like you were asleep, and now you are awake. When you are awake, sleep is no more.
           Zorba is the name of your spiritual sleep. They cannot co-exist. The moment you are conscious,
           alert, aware, the darkness of the unconscious disappears. Either there is zorba, and buddha is
           dormant.... Buddha is just a seed as far as zorba is concerned, it is non-existential. When buddha has
           blossomed, zorba disappears, just as darkness disappears when you bring the light in.
           You cannot have light and darkness together.
           I have always loved an ancient story.
                God made the world, and from that very day the sun went running after darkness. And darkness
           could not understand: it has not harmed the sun, it has not even talked with the sun, it has not even
           met the sun, yet the sun is continuously harassing her.
                After millions of years of harassment, she finally got tired and went to God and said, "It is
           ungrateful to complain, but there is a limit to everything. I have been harassed for millions of years,
           and I cannot conceive of any fault on my part. The sun goes on expelling me from everywhere. It is
           even difficult to take a rest without anxiety -- the sun may be coming, the sunrise may be close. I
           have not slept for millions of years -- the anguish would not allow it. The sun has been almost a
           continuous torture, and without any reason. I simply want to know: what have I done wrong?"
                God said, "You should have come earlier. There was no need to wait so long. This is very
           ungentlemanly on the part of the sun. The sun should be called immediately."
                The sun was called. He asked the messenger, "What is the problem? -- because I have never done
           anything wrong. I simply go on doing the same routine every day. Since God made me, I have not
           done anything else."
                But the messenger said, "God is very angry. You have been hurting, harassing a poor woman --
           darkness."
                He said, "My God, I have never heard of her. I have never met her. I am not interested in women
           at all -- I am a born celibate. I am coming, I want to see who this woman is."
                And as the sun came to the house of God, darkness disappeared.
                God said, "Where has that woman gone?" They searched everywhere; darkness was not found.
                Millions of years passed again, and one day the woman appeared and she said, "You have not
           done anything; it is still continuing, the same torture."
                God said, "You are strange. When the sun was here, where did you go?"
                She said, "You are behaving like a simpleton. If the sun is here, I cannot be here; if I am here, the
           sun cannot be here. We cannot stand each other. You will have to hear our story separately and then
           decide."
                God said, "That is not my way. You both have to be present here so I can be certain that nobody
           is lying."
                The woman said, "Then it is better I take my complaint back."
                Since then, the woman has not appeared again. Once in a while the sun comes to inquire, "What
           happened to the woman -- because I want to clear it up, it has become a worry on my head that
           somebody is being hurt by me, perhaps unknowingly."
                God said, "You need not be worried. The problem is such that it cannot be solved. I cannot give
           any decision unless you are both present in my court together and I have listened to both sides in the
           presence of each other. But by the very nature of things, you cannot both be present. That woman is
           your absence. So of course you cannot be present and absent simultaneously. Drop your worry. You
           are doing perfectly fine, and that woman is not going to report against you again. The file in your
           case is closed."
           Exactly the same is the case with zorba and buddha.
                The moment buddha arrives with all his light and beauty, with all his awareness, with all his joy,
           zorba disappears, dissolves. Conflict is impossible.
           Conflict is possible only in your mind.
                You have been listening to me so you have made a concept of zorba and a concept of buddha;
           neither have you lived zorba nor have you lived buddha. These are only words in your mind.
                Then conflict is very easy; then you can go on arguing within your mind: "How can zorba and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           buddha become one? They are antagonistic, they are enemies; harmony is not possible."
           Yes, in the mind it is not possible.
                That's why I am telling you constantly to go beyond mind, where it is possible -- not only
           possible, it is already happening.
                Beyond mind, zorba is the buddha; there is no dividing line. All that is beautiful in zorba
           becomes even more beautiful when buddha arrives, everything becomes a thousandfold more
           glorified. And all that is wrong and ugly in zorba disappears like darkness. That which can be
           absorbed is absorbed, and that which is not worth absorbing is dissolved.
           But don't make it a mental problem.
                My approach is not of the mind, it is of meditation. It is an existential approach.
                The zorba loves singing, playing on his musical instruments, dancing.
                Buddha will make it perfect, absolute. Even silence will become a song, even stones will become
           sermons, and whatever you touch will become a musical instrument because your hands will now
           have the magic of the whole existence; they will have the grace, the beauty, the poetry....
                Your life will not be a struggle between zorba and buddha, but a love affair -- so deep that two
           lovers disappear into each other, never to separate again. The union, the harmony, the accordance is
           going to be eternal.
           But avoid the mind.
                Mind knows only conflict. Even where there is no conflict, mind creates it; even where there is
           no problem, mind creates it.
                Mind cannot exist without problems; problems are its nourishment. Conflict, fight, disharmony --
           and the mind is perfectly at ease and at home. Silence, harmony -- and the mind starts becoming
           afraid, because harmony, silence and peace are nothing but death to the mind.
                So just shift your problem from the mind. Start living. And with me, it is easy; it has never ever
           in history been so easy, because I am not telling you to disown the zorba, I am telling you to live the
           zorba to its utmost. There is nothing to be afraid of. Only add one more thing, and that is meditation.
                Meditation is the bridge between zorba and buddha. Once the bridge is complete and the buddha
           descends there will be a tremendous change in your zorba -- all that is ugly will be gone, and all that
           is beautiful will be beautified tremendously.
                The zorba is not going to lose anything. Without buddha, zorba is just a mundane existence.
           Without zorba, the buddha has no roots -- only flowers. But how long can flowers live without roots?
                Roots are ugly; that's why they remain hiding underneath the ground -- but they are the source of
           life and juice. Those beautiful flowers cannot exist without those ugly roots underneath the ground;
           those roots are continuously nourishing them, giving their life to the flowers.
                And this miracle is happening everywhere. But we are so blind that we cannot see.
                When you see a roseflower, you don't see that in that roseflower is hidden the whole philosophy
           of life -- the leaves are not red, nor are the thorns red nor are the roots red. Yet out of this green
           foliage comes a beautiful red rose. It is nourished by everything: by the roots, by the leaves --
           because the leaves are breathing constantly; otherwise, the rose would die. Branches are constantly
           doing a miracle -- bringing juice and water from the depths in the earth upwards, against gravitation.
           And there is no pumping system.
                In the beginning scientists were puzzled at how trees one hundred and fifty feet high managed to
           keep their leaves green -- lush green, at a hundred and fifty feet high. Water goes against gravitation
           with no apparent mechanism.
                Miracles are all over; one just needs a sensitive heart, a perceptive eye, and you will see matter
           and spirit dancing together everywhere.
                Zorba and buddha are never separate. There is just one possibility: buddha can be asleep; then
           zorba has to live a mundane life. Or, under the stupid influence of the past, you can disown your
           body, become destructive of your body and try to achieve the impossible -- living like a buddha
           without having anything to do with zorba.
                Thousands of saints have done that, but you will not find in their life roses flowering; you will
           not find in their life the lush greenery of existence; you will not find in their life songs and dances.
           They are almost the living dead.
           I am fighting against that whole past.
                I want you to be a zorba and a buddha together; then whatever is ugly in zorba will disappear on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           its own accord -- you are not to renounce it. And whatever is beautiful will be absorbed in the new
           consciousness, in the new awakening.
           But don't make it a mind problem.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              BEFORE MEETING YOU AND TAKING SANNYAS IN 1980, I USED TO ACHIEVE WHATSOEVER
              TARGETS AND GOALS I MADE. BUT SINCE THEN I HAVE BEEN RELAXING AT THE PLATFORM,
              WAITING FOR THE WHISTLE OF THE INCOMING TRAIN. RELAXING AND WAITING HAS
              INCREASED TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT SOMETIMES DURING YOUR DISCOURSES THE
              SOUND OF MY OWN SNORING MAKES ME GET UP, FEELING AS IF THE TRAIN HAS ARRIVED
              -- BUT THE TRAIN NEVER ARRIVES.
              BELOVED MASTER, WHAT NEXT?


               Suraj Prakash, learn to snore totally.
           This is not right -- that your own snoring wakes you up. Be a real authentic snorer, so that it wakes
           up everybody but you.
           Snoring is an art.
               And as far as the platform is concerned, you are not on the platform. You are sleeping on the
           train. So no need to worry. The train is taking you; that's why you don't hear the whistles of
           incoming trains.
           Snore fully, sleep well; the train is going fast.
               This is one of the problems for those who in their life have been achievers -- whatever they
           wanted, they achieved; whatever the target, whatever the goal, they managed it.
           But enlightenment is not a goal.
           And God is not an achievement.
               God is your very reality. All that you need is to relax completely. That's why I am saying snore
           perfectly. This getting up again and again and watching whether the train is coming in or not
           unnecessarily disturbs your sleep, disturbs your relaxation.
           My sannyasins are not goal oriented.
               My whole approach is that of let-go; it is not of effort. You just relax and enjoy. Even in the
           discourse sleeping is not prohibited, nor is snoring prohibited.
               Just snore a little musically so everybody can enjoy it.
               You do not have to do anything -- so don't ask what next. You just have to relax so totally that
           you can feel your being in its ultimate glory, its blissfulness and benediction.
               I am telling you that you are already where you want to be, you are already that which you are
           thinking to become.
           Becoming is a disease.
               You are a being. You are not to become anything. But because in your whole life you have been
           a hard worker, achieving everything that you wanted, it is just the old habit that makes meditation
           also an effort, enlightenment also a goal, God also somewhere else.
               In this wide world, why do so many people go on missing? And why do only so few people
           realize the truth, the beauty, the bliss? The reason is simple: everybody is thinking in terms of goals.
           And those who are thinking in terms of goals are going to fail -- because it is not a goal. It is already
           within you. So the more you run to get it, the farther you go away from it.
               Coming to oneself is not a journey; it is just renouncing all effort, all goals, all becoming. Just
           start enjoying wherever you are whatever you are. This is the most simple thing but it appears very
           difficult because we have been trained for goals.
           There is nothing that you have to do.
               All that is needed is for you to sit silently doing nothing -- the spring comes, and the grass grows
           by itself.
               Naturally, the grass never gives any whistles, it simply grows; it is not a railway station.
           And the grass is growing.
               But if you see it every day, you will not feel that it is growing.
               You are all growing. You will realize it only when the growth has come to such an explosion that
           you cannot conceive that it is possible without growth. You are growing every day -- from a child
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you become young, from being young you become old; but you cannot find the point at which you
           started becoming young, at what point you started becoming old -- because you are so close to your
           growth and it happens slowly every day.
               Being close to me, you are not aware of the fact that you are no more part of the world in which
           you are living. Superficially you are living in the same world, but deep down you have entered a
           different world with me -- a world of no effort, a world of non-doing, a world of no goal, a world of
           isness, of here, of now.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DO I FEEL THAT I HAVE FAILED? IS IT BECAUSE I STILL HANKER TO BE PERFECT,
              SUPERHUMAN, SPECIAL? OSHO, PLEASE DON'T SPARE ME ANYTHING!


               Surabhi, the answer that I gave to Suraj Prakash is also the answer for you.
               Only people who want to be somewhere, somebody, have to suffer the sadness of failure.
               But a person who never wants to be anybody, never wants to be anywhere else, cannot suffer the
           sadness of failure -- he is always successful, just like me.
               From my very childhood, my parents, my well-wishers, my neighbors, my teachers, everybody
           was saying that, "You are going to be utterly worthless, a good-for-nothing."
               I said, "If that is my destiny, I am perfectly happy. Why should I try to be somebody else?
           Utterly useless? -- perfectly good! Good for nothing? I don't see anything wrong in it."
               And they would say, "Can't you ever talk reasonably?"
               I said, "It is just a question of reason. Whatever is going to happen, I am going to be successful....
           Because I have not made a criterion that this has to happen, only then will I be successful. Just
           vice-versa: I am successful. Whatever happens, that does not matter; my successfulness is certain."
               One of my professors was so concerned.... He loved me so much that he said, "You could top the
           university with your left hand, but your behavior is such that even if you manage to get a third class
           that would be a miracle -- because I never see you reading any textbook."
               He used to come to the hostel to check. He never found a textbook in my room. I had never
           purchased one.
               "When the professors are lecturing, you are sleeping. And the professors don't disturb you
           because when you are awake, you are arguing. It is better that you remain asleep so there is no
           disturbance."
               He was so worried: I may go to the examination hall -- but I may not go. Just before my
           post-graduate final examination, he came in the evening and said, "Give me a promise."
               I said, "I can give you a promise, but I lie. So, it is not of much use."
           He said, "You lie?"
               I said, "Yes, I lie; whatever suits the purpose, I do it. You want a promise? -- I'll give you a
           promise. If somebody else comes and asks for a promise, I'll give him a promise also."
               He said, "That means you will torture me. Tomorrow morning, be ready at seven; I will pick you
           up and leave you at the examination hall -- every day."
               And it was really a torture for him, because he was a drunkard, a really good man. He never used
           to get up before one o'clock. To get up at six o'clock and get ready, and.... And he had perhaps the
           oldest model car -- it would take hours to start it. The whole neighborhood would be pushing it.
           Somehow he would manage once it had started.
               But he would reach there exactly at seven. All these difficulties.... And he would find me
           sleeping, and he would wake me and say, "This is too much. I never get up before one, I am getting
           up at six. And you know my car, she is lazier than me. At six o'clock to start it in the cold is so
           difficult -- the whole neighborhood has to help. And you are sleeping."
               I said, "When you told me that you would be coming, I trusted." I said, "Then why bother to get
           up early? When you come, I will get out of bed and sit in your car."
               He said, "You are not going to take a bath or anything?"
           I said, "Everything after the examination."
           "Any preparation?"
           I said, "Who bothers about preparation?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           On the way to the examination hall, he would try to tell me, "Listen, remember a few things: this is
           your roll number. Don't forget." He would force me to write the roll number on my hand, so that I
           wouldn't forget it. I would write the roll number on my hand, and he would say, "Write your name;
           otherwise you will wonder what this is, whose roll number it is."
           I said, "You should trust me just a little bit."
           He said, "I don't trust you. First you do this examination. You have to top the university."
           I said, "Whatever happens, I am happy."
           And he would tell the superintendent, "Don't let him out of the hall for three hours." Three hours was
           the time -- because he was worried that once he is gone, I may go back to my bed. And the
           superintendent came to me and said, "Remember, there is no hurry for you to finish the paper. Take
           your time. You cannot get out of here for three hours. Your professor has ordered me, and I respect
           that old man."
           I said, "This is strange."
           I would finish the paper in two hours or one and a half hours, and I would ask the superintendent,
           "You can see I have finished the paper. Now don't bother me, because I have not even taken a bath
           yet. I have to go and wash my mouth, take a bath and change my clothes. I have come directly from
           bed."
           He said, "Directly from bed? But who forced you?"
                I said, "The same professor who forced you." And I said, "I will not report against you. Nobody
           is going to report it; everybody is so engaged in writing."
                He said, "If this is the situation, you can go. But have you answered all the questions?"
                "I... You can see!" He saw that I had answered, but he would look. He would say, "This is
           strange. In a post-graduate examination, your answer to the question is just one page, half a page. Do
           you hope to pass?
                I said, "I never hope anything. This much I enjoyed; more than that.... I never do anything that I
           don't enjoy."
                And by chance it happened that one of the retired professors, Professor Ranade of Allahabad
           University -- he was a world-famous authority -- he got my examination papers, my answers. So my
           professor was going completely mad.
                He said, "First I did not think that you would even get a third class -- although you deserve to top
           the university. But now you are in a very dangerous man's hands: it is known for years, he has not
           given a first class to anybody in his whole life. He is retired now, but he still gets the examination
           papers. And by chance he is going to examine your papers. You are finished."
                I said, "Don't be worried. That makes me happy: I will be staying one more year with you."
           He said, "Don't talk nonsense."
                I said, "I am not talking nonsense. You will have another chance to take me to the examination
           hall, to torture me. You should be happy.
                But this is what I call... strange things happen: Ranade gave me ninety-nine percent marks, with
           a special note saying that, "I wanted to give a hundred percent but that might look a little prejudiced.
           The reason I am giving him ninety-nine percent -- and for the first time in my whole life a first class
           -- is because I always wanted the answers to be to the point. And I have never seen a man who would
           answer a whole question in just one paragraph. I loved the boy!"
                He had written the note to the vice-chancellor saying, "Tell the boy from me -- show him my
           note" -- he was very old, seventy-five years -- "that he is the first in my whole life to whom I am
           giving a first class."
                I topped the university. My professor -- who was so anxious -- now could not believe it. When
           the results came, he asked me, "What is the matter? There must be some mistake. You, and topping
           the university? Just go to the vice-chancellor's office, find out -- there is some mistake in the
           newspaper."
                I said, "Don't bother. If there is some mistake, that is perfectly good."
                But he himself was so anxious that I had to push his car, start his car, and take him to the
           vice-chancellor's office. Till he saw the note, he did not believe it.
                And coming out of the office he looked me up and down, and he said, "This is the strangest thing
           that I have seen in my life, that you have been getting out of bed -- no preparation, nothing -- and
           now you are the gold medalist. For the first time," he said, "I have started believing in God --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because you could not have managed it. God must be behind you."
               I said, "That is absolutely clear. That's why I was so relaxed. You were unnecessarily worried.
           God is just exactly behind me the way I am behind your car to start it. He starts me, and once I am
           started everything goes well."
               Surabhi, there is no failure in life. It all depends how you take things. If you are desiring too
           much -- you want to reach too high, and you cannot -- then there is frustration and failure. But if you
           are not desiring anything and you are perfectly happy wherever you are, life is moment-to-moment
           victory.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS THE MIND RUNNING LIKE CRAZY WHEN THE HEART WANTS TO SAY SOMETHING?


               Mind is always afraid -- only of one thing, and that is your heart -- because mind is basically
           meant to be a servant but has managed to become the master.
               And the heart -- which was going to be the master -- has not even bothered to interfere, and has
           allowed the mind to remain the master.
               But the mind is aware that if at any moment the heart wants it, his mastery will be gone.
               So whenever the heart wants to say something, a fear arises in the mind.
           Mind is very much afraid of love.
           Mind is very much afraid of trust.
               Mind is very much afraid of anything that has to do with the heart. Because the mind's mastery is
           not part of nature. Heart is naturally the master.
               But this is the problem: Because the heart feels its mastery so definitely, with such a certainty, it
           never asserts itself -- there is no need. It is an intrinsic knowing in the heart that the mind can be
           pushed aside at any moment. And the mind knows perfectly well that he is just a servant. Because
           the master is so gentlemanly, he has allowed even the servant to pretend to be the master.
           But a servant is a servant.
               So whenever your heart wants to say something, the mind starts feeling shaky -- it wants the
           heart to remain completely dead, it wants man to become completely heartless. And it has succeeded
           all over the world in making people heartless.
               But once in a while a few people escape from the slavery of the mind and start asserting the
           rights of their heart. This is the greatest revolution there is, the revolution of the heart against the
           mind.
           I call it the essential sannyas.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ALWAYS WHEN I WALK ACROSS TO YOUR HOUSE I WOULD LIKE TO DANCE AND SING, BUT
              THEN TEARS COME INTO MY EYES AND STRONG FEELINGS OVERWHELM ME AND I WOULD
              LIKE TO SHOUT TO EVERYBODY, "WAKE UP! HERE IS OSHO. HE IS AVAILABLE FOR
              EVERYBODY!" I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL I HAVE GOT FROM YOU, AND SOMETIMES IT IS
              SO DIFFICULT TO KEEP ALL THIS TO MYSELF -- BUT I WON'T GO ON A MISSIONARY TRIP.
              WHAT CAN I DO?


               To have a mission and to be a missionary are two different things.
           The missionary is functioning from the mind.
               And to have a mission is the overflowing experience of the heart.
               The distinction is difficult, but not impossible. The missionary is trying to convince people about
           something of which he himself is not convinced -- because the things that he wants people to be
           convinced of are not things that he has experienced. A missionary is simply a computer transferring
           knowledge from one generation to another generation.
           But to have a mission is a totally different thing.
           Jesus is not a missionary.
           Pope the polack is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Jesus has a mission.
           Gautam Buddha has a mission.
                To have a mission means you have experienced something, and it is against human compassion
           and love not to share it. It is not a question of converting anybody; it is a question of sharing. So
           there is no harm. If it is your experience, shout it from the housetops. If it is coming from your heart,
           then don't prevent it -- because the more you spread it, the deeper will go its roots. It is just like a
           tree; the tree goes on spreading its branches far and wide in the sky, and underneath the earth the
           roots go on spreading.
                If you have an experience that you feel is capable of quenching the thirst of many, then take
           every risk -- shout it, sing it, dance it, do whatever you can do. Even if the whole world thinks you
           are insane, don't be worried. The more you share your experience, the deeper it will go into your own
           heart, and the stronger it will become; your individuality will become a tremendous force.
           Never become a missionary.
                A missionary is a servant, a poor servant -- just like any other servant. He gets a certain salary to
           spread the message of the BIBLE. He is not a bit concerned about the message; his whole concern is
           about his salary. If somebody else is ready to give him double his salary, he would be ready to speak
           against the BIBLE.
                I have heard that in a church.... A bishop was very much worried because one of the eldest and
           the richest members of the church used to sleep, just like Suraj Prakash -- but it was not a place like
           this, where even snoring is allowed, as long as you are a little musical. And the old man used to
           snore. The bishop was very much disturbed as the man was always sitting right in front of him.
                Finally, the bishop found a way -- because the old man would always come with a small boy, his
           great grandson. The bishop caught hold of the great grandson one day, took him to a corner and told
           him, "Can you do one thing for me? I will give you fifty cents every Sunday."
           The boy said, "Done. What do you want?"
                He said, "You don't have to do much. Whenever your old man starts snoring, you just nudge him,
           wake him. His sleeping is not a problem; the problem is that when he snores, he wakes up the whole
           congregation. And I don't have many sermons -- only three. So I don't want people to be awake,
           otherwise they will start getting bored."
           The boy said, "Advance me!"
                The bishop said, "Advance? You are something! Don't you believe me?"
                The boy said, "Business is business. It is not a question of belief -- it is not religion. You just
           give me fifty cents and then you will see my performance next Sunday."
                And the boy performed well. He did not allow the old man to sleep at all. Whenever he snored
           the boy would start hitting him. He looked many times at the boy: "What has happened to you?"
                But the boy would not look at him; he would listen to the sermon so religiously, unconcerned
           with what was happening.
                Outside, the old man said, "You rascal, why were you...? The whole night I cannot sleep because
           of my old age and this is the only time in the week that I have a good sleep, and you disturb me.
           What happened? What went wrong in your mind? And you looked so religious, listening as if you
           understood what was being said."
                He said, "It is not a question of religion. I get fifty cents for my performance. The bishop gave
           me an advance for today. And I am going to the bishop to get an advance for next Sunday."
                The old man said, "Wait. I will give you a dollar -- but don't disturb me!"
           He said, "Perfectly okay. Advance me!"
                Next Sunday, the bishop was very puzzled. Many times he inquired of the boy, but the boy
           looked everywhere else, but never at the bishop. "What happened to the boy? Perhaps I have not
           given him the advance after all so he is not bothering."
                He tried somehow, hoping that nobody would understand what he was trying to do... he made
           gestures. But the boy said, "What is the matter?"
                After the meeting he got hold of the boy saying, "What is the matter? Can't you even trust me for
           fifty cents? Here is fifty cents."
                He said, "It is not a question of your fifty cents. My old man is giving me a dollar not to disturb
           him. Now, if you want.... It is up to you."
                The bishop said, "I am a poor man. If I go on giving to you in this way, and your old man goes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on doubling it.... He is a rich man."
               The boy said, "Business is business. If you cannot go beyond a dollar, then not only will my
           grandfather snore, I am going to snore too; and then you will see real chaos. Then not only will you
           have to pay for my old man, you will have to pay for me -- separately: fifty cents for me and a dollar
           and a half for the old man. Only two dollars. But it will change every Sunday; it all depends on how
           business goes."
               A missionary is a poor servant. Christianity pays him; he believes in Christianity. If somebody
           else pays him more, he is ready for it.
               But a man of mission is a totally different thing -- you cannot change him. You can crucify him,
           but you cannot change him.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOUR FIRST SILENT MESSAGE TO ME WAS: "DON'T BE SO SERIOUS, ENJOY, CELEBRATE!"
              AFTER THREE YEARS I FINALLY GOT IT! WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG TO WAKE UP? AM I
              REALLY WAKING UP?


               Do you think three years is so long?
           What is your criterion? Time is eternal.
           Three years are not even equal to three seconds.
               If you can understand the message to celebrate, to rejoice, even in three lives, it is early, it is not
           late.
           You are fortunate that in three years you got it.
               How much time you take depends on you. You could have got it the very moment I gave it to
           you. You took three years -- postponing for tomorrow because so many other things have to be done,
           postponing for other reasons. Because, celebrating when the whole world is in misery? -- you will
           look insane -- "What are you doing? The world is facing a nuclear disaster and you are celebrating?"
               You have found many reasons to remain miserable, to remain sad, to remain serious; but you
           managed to come out of them in three years.
               If you ask me, you have come home quite early. It is not a long time.
               In fact, whenever you understand it, it is always early -- because thousands of times, for
           thousands of lives you have heard it and you did not get it. You went on postponing, you went on
           forgetting.
               I was refering in a talk to a beautiful book, WAITING FOR GODOT. The author certainly means
           waiting for God; but not to hurt anybody, he manages to create a fictitious name `Godot'. But reading
           the whole story -- and it is a small piece....
               Two persons are sitting underneath a tree, and they are saying, "He has not come, this is the time;
           he should have reached here by now." They are getting worried and they are talking, and.... And
           nobody says who this Godot is. Or when this Godot promised to come, or who has ever met him --
           nobody touches any sensitive points. It is taken for granted that Godot is coming. It is good when
           you have nothing to do, at least to wait -- something is going to happen!
               I thought perhaps Godot may be the German word for God, so I asked my oldest German
           sannyasin Haridas, "Haridas, is Godot a German word for God?"
           Haridas said, "No."
           I said, "What is German for God?"
           He said, "The German word is gott!"
               And I said, "That is really German? Gott!?"
               There is no question of getting it. In three years you got it!




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                  Chapter #21
                                  Chapter title: The watermelon and the knife
           23 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610235
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH21
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I'M SO GLAD AND HAPPY TO BE WITH YOU. MY BELOVED MASTER, I'M SO GRATEFUL TO
              YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE STILL AVAILABLE TO ALL OF US WHO WANT TO DRINK FROM YOUR
              NEVER-ENDING SOURCE. IT'S SUCH A BLESSING TO BE SHOWERED FROM YOUR LOVE AND
              COMPASSION THAT I'LL NEVER FIND THE WORDS ANYWAY TO SAY THANK YOU FOR
              EVERYTHING YOU GIVE TO US.
              SOON I'LL BE BACK IN THAT CRAZY WORLD OUT THERE, WHERE YOU WILL BE PRESENT
              ONLY IN MY HEART. SOMETIMES I WONDER IF IT'S STILL WORTH IT TO WORK OUTSIDE TO
              SPREAD YOUR TEACHINGS; I WONDER IF YOU STILL HAVE A DESIGN, A HOPE TO DO
              SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CRAZY WORLD, OR IF YOU JUST WISH TO STAY WITH YOUR
              SANNYASINS.
              CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?


                The question has many questions in it.
           First, the real gratitude can never find words to express itself.
                The gratitude that can find words to express itself is just a formality -- because anything heartfelt
           immediately goes beyond words, concepts, language. You can live it, it can shine from your eyes, it
           can come as a fragrance from your whole being. It can be a music of your silence, but you cannot say
           it. The moment you say it, something essential dies immediately.
                Words can only carry corpses, not living experiences.
                So it is understandable that you find it difficult to express your thankfulness. It is not your
           difficulty; it is the difficulty of the experience of thankfulness itself.
                And blessed are those who have such experiences which are beyond words.
                Cursed are those who know nothing except words and language.
                Secondly, you are saying that soon you will be going away from me and I will be only in your
           heart.
                If I am in your heart, there is no way to go away from me. You can go away from my physical
           presence, but my physical presence is no longer significant if you are already feeling my presence in
           your heart.
                You have become aware of my spiritual presence. The physical presence is only a triggering
           point -- if it can lead you to the spiritual presence, its work is done. Now I will be beating in your
           heart wherever you are, it does not matter whether you are here or on a faraway planet.
                Love is the only phenomenon which destroys space, distance, time.
                The chemistry of love has not been understood yet. The physicists are concerned about space and
           time, and they have not yet come to understand the point that there is something more in existence,
           where time and space both disappear.
                Love is a phenomenon which knows no time, space, distance. Perhaps science will never be able
           to understand it. Perhaps it is beyond the scope of science. But it is not beyond the scope of poetry,
           of religion. It is not beyond the scope of meditation.
                It is not beyond the scope of every individual who is ready to dissolve himself into love. Science
           then remains a faraway echo, and love becomes the only reality.
                People like Shankara, Bosanquet, Bradley, were not talking nonsense when they said that the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world is an illusion. The world consists of time and space -- but these people tried to argue that the
           world is an illusion. They made a philosophical system propounding the illusoriness of the world.
           Their very effort confutes them -- if the world is illusory, then what is the need to prove that it is
           illusory? If something is not, it is not.
               But if Shankara had to go out of this room, he would go through the door, not through the wall.
           The wall is real. If Bradley had to take his lunch, he would not eat stones. Because what difference
           can there be, when breads are illusory, and stones are also illusory? -- both are illusions.
               These people were trying to prove something which they had not experienced in their own
           beings. It was not the experience of love; it was mere logic. Hence, hundreds of philosophers have
           been trying to convince the world that all is illusory, but nobody is convinced. Even they themselves
           are not convinced.
           I am reminded of a story.
               One Buddhist philosopher was brought to the court of a king. People said that he was one of the
           greatest logicians they had ever heard about. And he propounded the theory that everything is
           illusory, all is made of the same stuff that dreams are made of.
               But the king was a very pragmatic, practical man. He said, "Wait. Announce that all people
           should go into their houses and close their doors, shops should be closed, because our mad elephant
           is going to come out on the road." And this Buddhist philosopher was left standing on the road, and
           he was crying and weeping and shouting, "Save me! Nothing is illusory -- at least this elephant is not
           illusory." And the elephant was really mad.
               Seeing his condition... the elephant was stopped from attacking him. The philosopher was
           brought back to the court and asked, "Now what do you say about your philosophy?"
           He said, "Everything is illusory."
           The king said, "And the elephant?"
               He said, "The elephant is illusory, the philosopher who was crying and and weeping is illusory,
           and the king who has saved him is illusory -- everything is illusory. But please don't put me out there
           again -- because it is a philosophy. I am ready to argue, but you cannot argue with a mad elephant. If
           you have any philosophers, you bring them and I will prove that everything is illusory."
               These philosophers were saying something which has a piece of truth in it. But they were trying
           to prove it. That's where they went wrong.
           Love cannot be proved.
           It can be only be experienced.
               And in love, all that consists of space and time appears to be made of the same stuff as dreams
           are made of. It is not an argument, not a philosophy.
               You can sit close to a person, your bodies are touching and yet you can be hundreds of miles
           away from each other.
               And you can be hundreds of miles distant from each other, and yet love can bring you so close
           that you can melt into each other.
               So remember: if you feel me in your heart, then I am coming with you. Wherever you go, I am
           coming with you -- and without a ticket, because they have not yet found a way to know whether a
           person is traveling with someone hiding in his heart.
               Thirdly: the world is certainly crazy. And it is not that it has suddenly become crazy -- it has
           always been so.
               I am not a pessimist; neither am I an optimist. I am simply a realist. I know that it is impossible
           to change this whole crazy world.
               Even if I can change my people, my sannyasins, that is hoping too much.
               So I don't want you to become a missionary, making efforts to change the crazy people.
               You change yourself, and you help the fellow travelers -- the sannyasins who are on the same
           path, in the same search -- encourage them, help them in every possible way. There are moments of
           darkness, there are moments of discouragement, there are moments one feels perhaps he should not
           have chosen this path because it goes against the whole crazy world.
               To be sane in this insane world is bound to be against it.
               So help those few people who are moving towards sanity, and never ask for the impossible. This
           is possible -- to change a few thousand sannyasins around the world. And perhaps if a few thousand
           sannyasins are changed that may create a certain magnetism, a certain gravitation, such that many
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more millions of people may be pulled into it.
               But you should begin with yourself. If you can change yourself, that is much; and if you can help
           those who are on the path, it is enough for your compassion and for your love.
               In the crazy world also there are many people who don't want to be the way they are, they want
           to be transformed. And if you find someone who has a deep longing to be transformed, help him. But
           never impose yourself on anybody, because if somebody wants to remain insane that is his birthright.
           Don't disturb him; he is already disturbed too much. Just leave him alone, and let him live his
           insanity. Bless him, that "Live it totally." Perhaps by living insanity totally he may come out of it.
               The problem with insane people is that they are always living it partially, they are always
           repressing, they are always not doing what they want to do. If they are allowed total freedom,
           perhaps they may come out of their insanity.
               At least my people should give everybody freedom to be himself, without any judgment, without
           any condemnation, without calling him insane, without calling him a sinner, without sending him to
           hell. Just accept.
               A loving person accepts the other as he is, without demanding any change.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ONCE I WAS HAPPILY WAITING TO GREET YOU ON YOUR WAY TO SANAI GROVE. I WAS
              JOYFULLY DANCING AND SINGING.
              WHEN YOU CAME CLOSER, MY BODY STARTED MOVING WITH THE MOVEMENT OF YOUR
              HANDS; SUCH WEIGHTLESSNESS AND JOY EXPLODING MORE AND MORE BEYOND
              BOUNDARIES INTO VASTNESS, AND THEN FALLING INTO A DEEP, SILENT ABYSS INSIDE
              MYSELF.
              AFTERWARDS I FELT GRATEFUL AND SO RELIEVED; I HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS
              EXPERIENCE BY BEING WITH MEN, AND IT HAD HAPPENED THROUGH BEING WITH YOU.
              IS SUCH GREAT BLISS OR ECSTASY OR ORGASM -- I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO CALL IT -- ONLY
              POSSIBLE WITH A MASTER, OR ALSO WITH A MAN?


               The experience of ultimate blissfulness, ecstasy or orgasm has nothing to do with the other.
           It happens within you; the other is only an excuse.
           It can be the master, it can be anybody else.
               With the master it is easier, because with the master you don't have any expectations. With any
           other man you have expectations. With any other man you want to dominate; with any other man
           your relationship is not a relaxed phenomenon. It has nothing to do with the man -- it is your attitude,
           your approach that is decisive.
               If your relationship with the master is full of expectations, then this experience cannot happen.
               The experience can happen even with a tree, or even with the stars, or even just sitting alone in
           your room. It has nothing to do with anybody else. You have to understand it clearly: it is an
           explosion of joy within you.
               But sitting alone in your room is the most difficult, because you don't have any excuse. You
           cannot even smile because you will think, "Am I going crazy? There is nobody and I am smiling."
               I was waiting on a railway station platform. The train was to come late in the night, and there
           were few other people. One man relaxing in an easy chair was attracting everybody's attention
           because sometimes he would make gestures as if he was throwing something away, and sometimes
           he would smile and sometimes he would laugh -- and the laughter would be so much that he would
           have to hold his belly, because the whole body was laughing.
               I was just sitting by his side. I don't want to disturb anybody -- he was enjoying so much -- but it
           was difficult to resist the temptation to know what was happening to the man.
               I asked him, "It is interference on my part, I am sorry, but I cannot resist anymore, and we have
           to sit here for a few hours still. What is going on? Sometimes you throw things away just by a
           gesture of your hand. And you make such faces, and sometimes you smile, and sometimes you have
           such a belly laughter that you have to hold your belly -- and you are alone."
               The man said, "I don't tell the secret to anybody. But you have been sitting by my side for three
           hours, and I can understand how difficult it must have been for you to resist the temptation of asking.
           I will tell you the secret. Just come close."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So I went close. I pulled my chair close to him. And he said, "It is nothing special. I am just
           telling jokes to myself."
           I said, "Jokes?"
                He said, "Yes, I am telling jokes, but sometimes old jokes that I have told many times start, so I
           throw them away. And sometimes the jokes are so juicy that I cannot contain myself from laughing
           loudly -- but people are sleeping, and there are so many people, so I have to hold myself and my
           laughter. A few jokes are such they don't create laughter, but just a very gentle smile."
                I said, "You are a great man. You have found a great secret."
                He said, "What do you mean by finding `a great secret'?"
                I said, "If everybody knew this secret, the world would be much nicer, less miserable; there
           would be more laughter, more joy. There is no need to wait for somebody else to tell you a joke.
           This is perfectly good -- you tell a joke to yourself, and if you don't like it you can simply throw it
           away. With somebody else telling a joke, if you don't like it you still have to smile, you have to be a
           hypocrite. Deep down you are saying, `Rotten!' but on the surface you are smiling and saying what a
           great joke it is. And you have found a tremendous freedom. You can choose your own jokes, and
           you can enjoy any juicy joke as many times as you want -- you can start telling it again."
                The scientists have discovered that all that happens to you, happens in the centers of your brain.
           Excuses may be outside, but the real happening is in the seven hundred centers in the brain.
                One of the most important men of this century was Delgado. For his whole life he worked on
           animals and how their brains function. And he was surprised to find that what you call sexual orgasm
           -- which the ordinary man finds to be the ultimate in pleasure -- can be managed without anybody,
           you can do it alone. It has nothing to do with anybody else. You can keep just a small remote
           controller in your pocket... because there is one center that controls your sexual pleasure.
                Delgado was working on white mice. He had opened the brain of one mouse, and planted an
           electrode at the sex center in the mind. According to his findings, sex has nothing to do with your
           genitals. Sex is centered in the head -- the genitals are only branches spreading out, connected with
           the center.
                He fixed the electrode with a remote controller, and as he would push the button the poor mouse
           would go into a thrilling experience, ecstasy, orgasm. Delgado could not believe it -- it had nothing
           to do with the genitals; it was direct.
                Then he made a small machine with buttons on it, and trained the mouse to push the button if he
           wanted a mild orgasm, or if he wanted a very strong one, or if he wanted the strongest.
                And you will be surprised: even mice are not so stupid -- when there is a choice, who will go for
           the mild orgasm? He had just to push the button and his whole body would go into a thrill. By his
           side was put his food, water, everything that he liked -- but he was not interested in anything. In one
           hour he had six hundred strong orgasms -- and of course he died, because you cannot survive that
           much, there is a limit to everything. Six hundred orgasms in one hour, ten orgasms per minute... and
           he forgot about drinking or food.
                Delgado says that whenever we think that our pleasure, our pain, our misery, our joy is
           dependent on somebody outside, we are wrong.
           Outside are only excuses.
                And this is the teaching of all the ancient mystics: that your bliss is within you, the kingdom of
           god is within you.
                These are different ways of saying it. Delgado speaks in scientific terminology. Jesus speaks in a
           religious way.
                You are saying that here with me, you feel ecstatic, orgasmic experiences.
                I want you to remember: I may be the excuse, but the whole doing is yours. You are absolutely
           independent. And it is better to remember it; then it can happen with any man, any tree, any beautiful
           sunset, any starry night -- or just sitting silently doing nothing in the darkness of your room. You just
           have to find out what happens in you.
                You are focused on the outside; that's why you go on missing what is happening inside. You
           think it is happening because of the master, so you are focused on the master. Then you become
           attached to the master -- that becomes your slavery.
                When something like this happens, close your eyes and see what is happening within you, and
           soon you will find small clues... how it happens, in what situations. You were silent, you were
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           relaxed, you were not thinking. Your mind was empty, and it came like a flood.
           Then try it alone.
               It is not happening with any other man because with any other man you are not silent. With any
           other man you are constantly quarreling, fighting, nagging.
               It is very difficult to find a woman who is not bitchy, and being bitchy do you think you will
           have ecstasy? You are bitchy, but the man will be the target. You think that he is the cause -- why
           did he come late? where has he been?
               One day Mulla Nasruddin's wife was crying. As I entered their house, she started crying even
           more loudly. I said, "What is the matter?"
               She said, "Now things have gone beyond control. This man" -- and she pointed towards Mulla
           Nasruddin, her husband -- "has been having affairs with women. There is no doubt about it, because
           many times I have found hairs on his coat which are not his hairs -- he is bald. The color is
           different."
           I said, "Have you found any today?"
               She said, "Not today -- that's why I am crying, because today I looked minutely and found that
           there was no hair. It means he has started having affairs with bald women. This is too much, I cannot
           tolerate this. With women who have hair it is okay, but with women who are bald...."
               It is you who are finding things which can make you joyous, which can make you miserable.
               It was not happening with the man for a simple reason: first, you were always quarreling, always
           demanding. And these experiences are not such that they can be produced on demand -- "Bring one
           ecstasy just now." Nobody can do that -- except Delgado. But for that you will have to go through a
           small operation. In your skull he will make a small hole and put in an electrode. And he can give you
           a remote control -- just a small size, you can keep it in your pocket. And there will be no need to ask
           anybody; you can give yourself as many orgasms as you want.
               But the danger is the same: what happened to the poor white mouse is going to happen to you,
           because the experience is so beautiful that you will not want to lose a single moment for anything
           else. Perhaps... the mouse is a small thing, died in one hour; you may take twenty-four hours. But
           more than that, you should not hope to survive.
           Man can survive in misery for seventy-five years.
               But in ecstasy... seventy-five years in ecstasy? Impossible.
               Your organism is not made of steel. It will have a breakdown.
               I can provide you an atmosphere in which it is easier to move into such spaces. If you are
           intelligent, you will start looking inside yourself for why these spaces are happening. And you will
           start on your own, alone, so that you can have those experiences without me.
               If you are unintelligent, then you will start clinging to me -- and that's how so many people in the
           world are being exploited. If you go to someone and say, "It is because of you, master... you are the
           lord of my heart," you are giving that man a chance to exploit you and others.
               Out of all the so-called spiritual teachers, masters, prophets, saviors, ninety-nine percent are
           simply frauds. But you are responsible. You have made them frauds.
               I don't want anybody to cling to me, to be attached to me in any way.
               My whole effort is to give you total freedom, and methods so that whatever you want, you can
           create it within yourself. Not even God is needed, nothing is needed -- you are enough unto yourself.
               This is the great blessing of existence to every human being. You are made with such perfection
           -- but you never explore it, it remains dormant.
               Just become an explorer of your own interiority, of your own subjectivity, and you will find
           thousands of ecstasies, immense blessings, unimagined, undreamt of.
               You are a paradise, but have you forgotten yourself.
               You are looking everywhere except within you, and that is the only place where you are going to
           find the treasure, the truth, the beauty.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN THIS PHASE OF YOUR WORK, ARE YOU GIVING THE FINAL TOUCH TO THE PAINTING OF
              YOUR WHOLE LIFE, FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE NEW HUMAN BEING?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                My work is not like a painter's work.
           It is not that I can complete the painting; it is one long painting. And I will be giving touches to the
           painting even when I am breathing my last -- still, the painting will be incomplete.
                In life, only mad people ask for perfection. The perfectionist is another name for someone who is
           getting ready to become mad.
                I was a guest in a maharaja's palace, and the maharaja was showing me around -- it was a
           beautiful palace. At a certain place he stopped and he said, "Do you see?" There was a wall,
           incomplete.
           I said, "Why have you left it incomplete?"
                He said, "The palace was made by my grandfather, and this is the tradition in our family that
           nothing should be made perfect. Some imperfection should be left so that the coming generation
           remembers that life does not allow perfection."
                Imperfection is not something bad. Imperfection is the root of all growth; perfection can only be
           death.
           Once something is perfect it is dead.
                The painting that I have started will remain imperfect -- although I will go on trying to make it
           perfect, but it is the very nature of existence that it cannot be perfect.
           And it is not my painting.
                Those who are with me... it is as much their painting too. When I am gone, you have to continue
           to paint it. The painting has to go on growing new flowers, new foliage. Don't let it be dead at any
           point.
           In other words, don't let it become perfect.
                Make every effort to make it perfect, but don't let it become perfect.
                Then there is tremendous beauty, and always flowing and growing, and there comes no full-stop.
           In life we are always in the middle.
                You don't know the beginning of life, you don't know the end of life. We are always in the
           middle and everybody has been always in the middle. It is a process, an ongoing process, a river that
           goes on flowing. That's the beauty of it, that's the glory of it. And not only with the painting -- with
           everything, remember it. Accept that imperfection is the rule, that something becomes perfect only
           when its death has come.
                To ask for perfection is to ask for death. Death is the full-stop.
                In life you can use commas, semi-colons, but never a full-stop.
                In one of the poems of Rabindranath Tagore... the critics all over the world criticized it because it
           suddenly begins and it suddenly ends; there is no beginning and no end. It seems as if it is a middle
           portion -- something in the beginning is missing, something in the end is missing.
                And Rabindranath was asked, "You have been criticized but why are you silent?"
                He said, "Those people don't understand life. Life is always in the middle, and my poetry
           represents life. Out of nowhere it begins, and suddenly it disappears and evaporates without giving
           you the feeling of completion."
           But mind is a perfectionist.
                Hence the mind always feels uneasy with the heart, with love, with life, with meditation, with
           beauty. With everything that grows, mind is always feeling uneasy.
                It is perfectly at ease with machines; they are complete.
           Machines are perfect.
                To me, imperfection is not something to be condemned; it is something to be rejoiced in,
           something to be appreciated -- because it is the principle of life itself.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              A STRANGE THING HAPPENED WHEN I LAST SAW YOU IN DISCOURSE: LOOKING AT YOU, I
              FELT AS IF I COULD NOT SEE YOU; I HAD TO CLOSE MY EYES TO BE CENTERED AGAIN. AND
              EVEN THEN I CANNOT SAY I FOUND YOU.
              ALSO, DURING THE DAY WHEN I GO INSIDE THERE IS SO MUCH LOVE AND GENTLENESS IN
              BEING WITH MYSELF. IT IS ALMOST LIKE: WHERE I USED TO FIND YOU BEFORE, THERE IS
              JUST A VAST, LOVING SPACE AND IT FEELS LIKE ME. YOU ARE SOMEHOW DISTANT AND
              COOL. THIS PUZZLES ME.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IS SOMETHING GOING WRONG? -- ALTHOUGH I FEEL RICH, AND YOU ARE MY MOST
              BELOVED MASTER.


               There is no need to be puzzled.
           Nothing has gone wrong.
           Everything is as it should be.
               The more you love me, the closer you come to me, the more you will find I am disappearing. At
           a certain point, you will find that where I used to be there is only love, a fragrance, a presence. And
           the strangest thing is that it will feel as if it is your center, it is you.
           This is one way of coming close to the master.
           People are different.
               Somebody may have just the opposite thing: as he comes closer to me, he starts disappearing.
           And as he comes very close, he finds he is no more. But it does not matter.
               The basic thing is that two are not allowed to enter into the door of heaven. The two should
           become one. Now who disappears and who remains is just a question of language, absolutely
           immaterial.
               And you are feeling love, you are feeling blissful, you are feeling rich; so certainly everything is
           going right. When things are going right, they give you indications. When things are going wrong,
           you are miserable, you are in despair, you are in anguish. There is no need to inquire; you can simply
           see your own state, and you can find out whether things are going right or wrong.
               If you are feeling loving, richer, fuller, contented, then everything is going right.
           You are blessed.
               And whether the master disappears in the disciple or the disciple disappears in the master is only
           a question of from where you are seeing it.
               My grandfather used to say... He was not educated, he was not a thinker. He was a very practical
           man. But once in a while he used to say things, just out of his practical life experiences, which had a
           tremendous validity.
               He was a cloth merchant. I used to sit by his side once in a while when he was dealing with
           customers -- his way of dealing with the customers was strange.
               But they loved him; if he was not there they would ask "Where is he? When will he be here? --
           then we will come."
               The first thing he would ask the customer was, "Do you want to be cheated? It is up to you. Do
           you want to pay the right price, or do you want to pay more? You can decide; just tell me. If you
           want to pay more, then haggling is going to happen. And remember one thing...."
               In my village there was a beautiful river, and very sweet watermelons used to grow by the side of
           the river. I have never come across such sweet watermelons in my whole life, moving around the
           world. The watermelons were so sweet that the name of the river became sakkar, sugar.
               So he used to say to customers, "Listen, whether the watermelon falls on the knife or the knife
           falls on the watermelon, in each case the watermelon is cut. You are the watermelon, I am the knife.
           So what do you decide? -- haggling or no haggling? In haggling you will pay more. I know the exact
           price. I cannot go below that, above that I can say yes at any moment. But if you don't want to be
           cheated, I will tell you the right price exactly. Just remember the watermelon and the knife."
               So whether the disciple disappears in the master or the master disappears in the disciple, it does
           not matter... it is just the watermelon gone!
               And you are the watermelon and I am the knife. So enjoy, and feel rich.
           Everything is going right.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I SIT IN YOUR LECTURE I FEEL YOUR SILENCE AND FEEL I BECOME PART OF IT. THIS
              IS A WORDLESS PROCESS IN MELTING MORE AND MORE INTO SILENCE.
              AT THE SAME TIME, THERE ARE WORDS FROM YOU. I HEAR THEM, AND SUDDENLY A
              CONNECTION HAPPENS FROM THE SILENCE TO THE WORDS, AND I FEEL GOLDEN, GOLDEN
              GRATEFULNESS ABOUT YOUR BELOVED, WONDERFUL WORDS. THE SILENCE AND THE
              WORDS ARE ONE.
              PLEASE CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PROCESS -- IF IT IS REALLY POSSIBLE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THAT WORDS CAN SAY THE WORDLESS.


                Yes, the word can say the wordless but only to the chosen few, only to those who are absolutely
           silent.
                The word coming out of silence carries around it the wordless silence.
                Now the question is at the receiving end -- if it is received by a mind full of words and
           chattering, then the silence and the wordlessness is destroyed, you only hear the word.
                But if you are silent, you hear the word and you also hear the wordless; you hear the sound, and
           you also experience the soundlessness.
                In Mahavira's life a strange thing is reported. It is very difficult to say that it can be factual,
           historical. Particularly in the outside world, it will look absolutely absurd and irrational.
                But here, I can tell you the story. And I can tell you that it may have happened -- because it is
           happening here, so there is no reason why it could not have happened in Mahavira's time. Time is
           irrelevant, but it can be told only to those chosen few people who have experienced something
           similar.
                It is said that Mahavira never spoke. Although there are scriptures -- but Mahavira never spoke,
           he just remained silent. He had eleven disciples who were deep in silence, and there was something
           transferred from Mahavira in silence to the disciples. And these eleven disciples have written the
           scriptures; they told the people what Mahavira was saying.
                So whenever it is said that Mahavira said this, remember, what he said is not a direct statement.
           Mahavira never spoke, he was silent. But something transpired between him and his chosen group of
           disciples, and those disciples became his spokesmen. They went around spreading his message.
                What is the guarantee that they heard the right thing? What is the guarantee that they did not
           imagine that they were hearing? What is the guarantee that they are not saying things of their own?
           There is a guarantee, and the guarantee is that all the eleven heard the same thing.
                All the eleven had to immediately write down what they heard, and because all eleven could not
           have imagined the same thing, it becomes an absolute guarantee: they have heard, silence has spoken
           to them. From silence to silence there has been a communion.
           The followers of Mahavira cannot prove this.
                I have asked many Jaina monks, "Can you prove this?"
                And they said, "Those were the days of truth, and this is the age of darkness. Now it cannot be
           proved; neither can it be experienced."
                To them it is simply a belief, and most often they don't mention it because it is embarrassing. If
           somebody raises a question, they don't have the right answer.
                But in this mystery school it is happening, so there is no question of the story about Mahavira
           being a fiction.
                As my sannyasins are growing in silence, moving deeper into meditation -- as their masks are
           falling down, as they are becoming more and more innocently connected with me -- first it will
           happen that they will hear my words, and along with my words, the wordless message.
                And at the second step, there will be no need for me even to use the word. I can simply sit here,
           and you can hear the wordless message.
                And before I leave this body, I want it to become an existential experience not only to eleven
           people but to thousands of people. Only that can give credibility to Mahavira's story. In twenty-five
           centuries Mahavira's disciples have failed, they have not been able to bring any rationality -- because
           it is not a question of reason, it is a question of meditation.
                And you will be surprised that Mahavira's whole life is the life of meditation, and in Jainism
           meditation is simply forgotten. The whole religion has become a ritual.
                So it is true: you can hear the wordless side by side with my words. And soon you will be able to
           hear the wordless even without the words. And that day will be a day of great celebration -- when I
           can speak to you without speaking.
                A silent meeting, a communion with no noise, a music with no sounds... nothing is said but
           everything is heard, understood, immediately experienced.


              BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GERMAN YOUNGSTERS SEEM TO CONTRADICT NIETZSCHE! I HAVE READ: "GOD IS NOT
              DEAD, IT'S JUST THAT HE CAN'T FIND A SPACE TO PARK HIS CAR." WHAT DO YOU THINK?


               The German young people are not wrong, neither are they right; they just don't know the whole
           thing.
               Frederick Nietzsche is also in the same position -- neither right nor wrong -- because he also does
           not know the whole thing. He says, "God is dead."
               That is true in a way but the fact is, God committed suicide. And why did he commit suicide? --
           because he could not find a parking place for his old, ancient Ford.
           So they are both right.
               It is that same old Ford -- the BIBLE describes it -- that God used when he drove Adam and Eve
           out of the Garden of Eden. Drove? -- in what? It was an ancient Ford Model-T. And it must be
           somewhere in Bombay, because I have been all around the world... you cannot find such ancient
           models as you can find in Bombay.
               And the Indian government is very protective of ancient models: it does not allow new cars to
           come in, and it does not allow the old cars to go out.
               Bombay is a great museum for old cars. If you search, you may find the first car in which God
           drove Adam and Eve. Where did he drive them? -- to Victoria Station!




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                 Chapter #22
                              Chapter title: The forgotten language of the heart
           24 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610245
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH22
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM AFRAID TO MEET YOU. TREMBLING, SHOCKED, ALONE... IT MEANS DEATH.


               The meeting with the master has always been a kind of death, death to all that you have been,
           death to your past, death to your ego, death to your personality. But it is not only death, it is also
           resurrection: the birth of the new, the birth of the fresh and the innocent, a new sunrise on the
           horizon, a new unfoldment of your being. But naturally, first you have to meet the death, you have to
           pass through it. Resurrection can only be afterwards.
               The death is what you pay for your resurrection; hence, your question is significant.
               You are feeling afraid coming closer to me. This is not new. This has nothing to do with you or
           me. This is as old as man.
               The ancientmost scriptures in the world are the VEDAS. They describe the master as death, but a
           death which opens the door to the divine, certainly a death which happens only to the blessed ones.
               It is no ordinary death, it is not the death of your body; it is the death that transforms you.
           Everything remains the same -- the body, the world -- yet nothing remains the same because your
           vision, your perspective, your way of looking has gone through such a deep mutation that although
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           superficially everything is the same, in depth everything has changed. You have entered a new
           dimension of life -- the dimension of eternity, the dimension of ecstasy, the dimension which is
           beyond time and space.
                But this much courage is needed: You will have to come close to the master, you will have to go
           through this fire which burns only that which is false in you. Out of it, you come as twenty-four karat
           gold.
                The function of a mystic school is to encourage you: "You need not be worried. We have passed
           through the test; the fire is cool and the death is a blessing."
                But if you don't have any guts, then perhaps the time is not ripe for you, perhaps in some other
           life with some other master the death will happen.
                But why postpone? What is possible right now should not be postponed for tomorrow. Why
           remain in misery even for one day, even for one minute, even for one second?
                The death of the ego, the death of your personality, the death of all that you have been thinking
           about yourself, immediately opens a door. New flowers start blossoming, new songs start stirring in
           your heart, new dances.
           You don't walk anymore, you simply dance; you fly.
                The ecstasy is such, the blissfulness is such... gather just a little bit of courage.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU ALWAYS SAID TO US THAT WE SHOULD REJOICE IN BEING ALIVE, BUT DEEP IN
              MYSELF I FOUND A VERY STRONG WILL TO DIE -- NOT THAT I WANT TO COMMIT SUICIDE,
              BUT TO DIE NATURALLY.
              SOMEHOW I KNOW THAT BY DYING I MIGHT FIND THAT WHICH I REALLY ENJOY, WHICH IS
              SILENCE. I CAN SAY THAT I AM UTTERLY BORED AND FED UP WITH THIS UGLY WORLD.
              THERE IS NOTHING THAT MAKES ME FEEL ATTRACTED TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN
              BEING WITH YOU.
              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?


                Nothing is wrong with you.
           Everything is wrong with the world.
           It is only the retarded people who don't feel bored.
                You are intelligent. You can see that there is nothing meaningful. Life is a drag, a repetition.
           There seems to be no adventure in it, no challenge; there seems to be no hope. Tomorrow will be
           again the same as yesterday.
                It is the prerogative only of human beings to get bored; no other animal gets bored in existence.
           Have you seen any animal in existence being bored?
                Boredom is a high quality of intelligence. It means you are perceptive; you can see that there is
           nothing but -- finally -- death. Empty handed you have come, and one day empty handed you will
           leave, and all that happens in between birth and death is simply tedious.
           So I cannot say there is anything wrong with you.
                Every intelligent person thinks that perhaps what is not available in life may be available in
           death. Psychologists have found that almost every intelligent person at least once in his life thinks of
           committing suicide -- he may not commit it, but the idea comes.
                Particularly in this century, the greatest philosophers -- Jean-Paul Sartre, Jaspers, Martin
           Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Marcel.... Almost all the topmost thinkers of the contemporary world
           are agreed on one thing -- they don't agree on many things, but on one thing they are all in absolute
           agreement -- that life is meaningless. And if this is so, then the question naturally arises, why go on
           living? If there is no meaning, no significance, then what is the need to be dragged from the cradle to
           the grave unnecessarily? This is the only contemporary philosophy: existentialism.
                There have been many philosophies born in different ages, but in this age there has been only
           one philosophy and that is existentialism. And its basic ground is so strange that one feels that all
           these people are mad. If they are not mad, then we are mad -- there is no other alternative.
                The whole philosophical movement called existentialism talks about life as meaningless,
           accidental, there is no purpose behind it; it is full of anxiety and anguish -- which are incurable. It is
           a nightmare.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is such a contrast.
               Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu, Nagarjuna, Bodhidharma, they talk of blissfulness, of tremendous
           possibilities of ecstasy, of growing into new dimensions of being.
           What has happened? Why this diametrical opposition?
               And Jean-Paul Sartre or Jaspers or Martin Heidegger are not unintelligent people; they are as
           intelligent as any Gautam Buddha. One thing is missing: they have depended only on reason. They
           are very rational people, they have completely forgotten the heart. They live in the mind and mind is
           a desert. Nothing grows there -- no flowers, not even an oasis.
               The modern man slowly slowly has forgotten the language of the heart. The possibilities that
           open only through the heart are completely forgotten. Only one thing has remained, and that is your
           reason, your rationality.
               And the trouble is, all that is beautiful belongs to the heart, all that is meaningful belongs to the
           heart, all that is significant is a fragrance of the heart.
               Reason is perfectly good as far as objects, dead objects are concerned; for scientific research it is
           the best instrument. For things, reason is the right method of discovery. But the moment the question
           arises about anything living, reason is impotent. And if you ask reason a question concerning life,
           love, peace, joy, blissfulness, it simply negates, as if these things don't exist.
               It is almost like a blind man. If you talk about light to the blind man, he is going to say that there
           is no light. Because to see light... your hands cannot do anything to see light, your ears cannot see it,
           you cannot taste it, you cannot smell it. All your senses are perfect, but only eyes have the capacity
           to see light and colors and rainbows.
               Reason has a limitation. It is a perfect tool for dead things.
               And this is one of the mistakes of this whole century: we have been asking blind people about
           light, or asking the deaf about music.
               Asking reason about love, meaning, significance, ecstasy is futile. Reason will simply say these
           things don't exist -- because reason has never come in contact with any of these things. Reason is not
           intentionally denying you anything, it is just not its capacity; you are stretching it beyond its
           capacity.
               It is good that at least in your life one thing is still significant: your love for me.
               But you cannot give any reason for it. Or can you? Is it something rational? Is there some
           arithmetic behind it? -- some scientific evaluation? Can your mind support it?
               It is not from the mind that you are related to me; it is that a part of your heart is still alive with
           me, is still dancing, is still singing.
               And that is the great hope: your heart is not dead, you have not completely denied it.
               This small loophole is enough. If I can enter through it, I can bring the whole of paradise behind
           me -- don't be worried.
               And you are such a nice man that you are not thinking of committing suicide. So there is time,
           you are waiting for a natural death. Don't be worried.
               Before natural death, I will give you the taste of natural life.
               And once you are drunk with natural life, death disappears; you become part of an eternal flow of
           life which knows no end. Every moment is a new discovery, every moment a new peak. Every
           moment you think, what can be more than this? -- yet the next moment something more becomes
           possible.
               This is an unending process. Just let me in. And the way to help me is to meditate.
           Sit silently....
               Life is boring -- so there is no harm in sitting with closed eyes, because there is nothing to see.
           Sit silently, peacefully. You have looked outside and you have found nothing but meaninglessness.
           Now give a chance to your inner world: look inwards.
               And I promise you that the same eyes which have not found anything outside will find inside
           everything, a constant hallelujah.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME? I AM OPENING MORE AND MORE, AND I HAVE THE FEELING
              THAT THE SHADOWS IN MY BODY ARE GRADUALLY DISAPPEARING. WHEN I CLOSE MY
              EYES I CAN SEE MORE LIGHT IN THE BODY. IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL, AND I FEEL SO MUCH FOR
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU -- MORE THAN I EVER FELT BEFORE.
              BELOVED OSHO, CAN THIS BE? IS THIS ME? WHY DO THESE DOUBTS STILL ARISE? WOULD
              YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


                Whatever is happening is the deepest longing of every seeker.
                You are here only for this kind of happening. It is the beginning.
                In the beginning it is very natural: the mind will create doubts. There is no need to be angry with
           the mind; mind cannot understand it, it is beyond the scope of mind. And naturally the mind wants
           you to remain rational, reasonable, sane.
                The mind creates doubts for the simple reason that it wants to protect you. It is not against you, it
           is trying to protect you so that you don't get into some crazy space. But it is only in the beginning
           that the mind creates doubts. And this is the time when the master and the school of the master helps
           you not to be bothered with what your mind is saying, but to explore the new that is arising.
                You are feeling light. All shadows are disappearing, and a luminous body is arising within you, a
           body of light.
                The mind can accept a skeleton; it cannot accept a body of light.
                Mind is very primitive; it still believes in matter.
                Physicists have come to the conclusion that there is no matter at all; only energy exists. But the
           energy particles are moving so fast that they create the illusion of solidness.
                It is just like a fan moving fast: you cannot see the three wings separately, it becomes a circle. If
           it moved with the speed of light, the way electrons move in a pillar, then you could sit on the fan and
           you would not fall, and you would not feel that something is changing beneath you and there are
           gaps. Because before you could feel the gap, the other wing of the fan would have come in and you
           would not feel anything, the fastness of speed would make it a solid thing.
           All that looks solid only looks solid.
           But mind is very primitive.
                The heart is neither primitive nor contemporary. The heart is eternal; it knows no divisions of
           time. So the heart can see without any doubt the body of light. In fact, that body is truer than the
           solid body that we see -- because the body of light means the body of electrons, pure electricity.
                It happened after the second world war: a soldier came back home. He had been away from home
           for five years, and naturally he was in a hurry to meet his wife. As he hugged his wife he got a shock
           -- such an electric shock, he fell flat on the ground. He said, "My God, what has happened?"
                For five years the wife had been waiting and waiting and waiting with such intensity, her electric
           forces had been accumulating.
                Doctors were called. They could not even take her hand to check her pulse -- immediate shocks.
           Then the electrician was called, hoping that something... now it is no longer physical; something
           electrical has gone wrong. The electrician was very much afraid. He said, "First take this bulb in
           your hand." He gave the woman a five-candle bulb to put in her hand, and the bulb lit up.
                That was the first happening of its type. The whole woman was throbbing with electricity.
           Because of her, research started into human electricity, and now it is an established fact that every
           human body has electricity.
                If your eyes are very perceptive, you can see the electric aura around the body. As you have seen
           around the photos of Nanak, Kabir, Krishna, Rama, Buddha -- those circles around the faces are not
           fictions, they are not the imaginations of the painters; they have been seen by disciples, by
           meditators.
                And now in the Soviet Union, there is a photographer who even takes photographs.... He has
           developed very sensitive plates. His name is Kirlian, and because of his name, his photography has
           become known as Kirlian photography. He has become world famous. If he takes your photo, it will
           not just be you but also surrounding your whole body an aura of light.
                And strangely enough, if somebody's hand has been cut off in an accident and Kirlian takes a
           photograph, the hand is not there in the photograph but the aura of the hand is still there. The
           electrical body is still intact -- nothing has been disturbed, only the physical part has dropped. One of
           your fingers has been cut off for some reason, some accident; but in the photograph four fingers will
           show a darker photo of the physical finger with a lighter shade around it, and one finger will be
           simply the lighter electric shade. But the shade will still be there.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And this is not only with the human body. A roseflower: you can pluck a petal and Kirlian can
           say which petal has been taken out -- his photograph will show the missing petal's electric aura.
               So what is happening to you is that as you become silent, you start becoming aware of your inner
           being -- which is surrounded by a light.
               The ancients have called it the astral body, the body of light, the body made of starlight -- that is
           what `astral' means.
               Just remember that it is not in the area of mind, and tell the mind, "This is none of your business.
           You do your thing."
               And there are many more things. Existence is not limited to the mind, it is far bigger, far more
           mysterious.
               You have all the possibilities that any mystic has ever experienced anywhere in the world, but
           you will have to silence your mind; otherwise those doubts can go on disturbing you.
               That's why my insistence is: before entering the mysterious world, first silence the mind.
           Discipline the mind for silence, for no-thinking, so that when you enter the mysterious world the
           mind does not come in the way, does not raise awkward questions which you cannot answer -- and
           which even if you answer, the mind cannot understand.
               Mind has a limited scope. It is a bio-computer. It is not your whole being.
               The heart is far bigger. And beyond the heart is your being, which is bigger than the heart. And
           beyond your being is the universal being -- which is infinite.
               To enter into these mysteries you will need a silent mind that does not disturb you.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              LAO TZU DESCRIBED BUDDHA NATURE TO BE MORE LIKE A WOMAN THAN A MAN -- WHICH
              MAKES THE STORY OF MEETING THE BUDDHA ON THE PATH AND KILLING HIM HIGHLY
              SUSPECT.
              IN OTHER WORDS, SUPPOSE I MEET HER ON THE PATH? OSHO, THIS SURELY SPELLS
              TROUBLE. ANY SUGGESTIONS?


               Milarepa, as far as you are concerned, if a buddha -- as a woman -- meets you on the way, your
           job is easier. You are a great ladykiller. So kill her lovingly -- what is the problem in it?
           Lao Tzu has made things very easy for you.
               It is true that all great qualities are feminine -- love, compassion, sympathy, kindness. All these
           qualities have a flavor of the feminine.
               There are male qualities, qualities of the warrior, courage. They are hard qualities, one has to be
           like steel. Because man's qualities have developed through war, and female qualities have developed
           at home, in the garden of love, with the husband and children -- she has lived in a totally different
           world. Man has lived continuously fighting. In three thousand years there have been five thousand
           wars on the earth -- as if killing is man's only profession.
               Just the other day, Nirvano showed me Ronald Reagan kissing his wife. The way he is kissing
           her, it looks as if he will kill the woman! That photograph should be enlarged and hung everywhere
           all over the world -- because he looks exactly like a chimpanzee.
               Even kissing has some violence in it -- perhaps it is nuclear kissing.
               The world has lived in two parts. Man has made his own world while the woman has lived in a
           shadow -- she has created her own world in the shadow. It is very unfortunate because a man or a
           woman, to be complete, to be whole, must have all the qualities together. Both men and women
           should be as soft as a rose petal and as hard as a sword -- both together. So whatever the opportunity
           and whenever the situation demands it.... If the situation needs you to be a sword, you are ready; if
           the situation needs you to be just a rose petal, you are ready. This flexibility -- between the rose petal
           and the sword -- will make your life richer.
               And it is not only between two qualities, it is between all the qualities.
               Man and woman are two parts of one whole; their world should also be one whole, and they
           should share all the qualities without any distinction -- no quality should be stamped as feminine or
           masculine.
               When you make somebody masculine that person loses great things in his life. He becomes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           juiceless, he becomes stale, he becomes hard, almost dead.
               And the woman who completely forgets how to be hard, how to be a rebel is bound to become a
           slave, because she has only soft qualities. Now roses cannot fight with swords, they will be crushed
           and killed and destroyed.
               A total human being has not been born yet. There have been men and there have been women,
           but there have not been human beings.
               My whole approach, Milarepa, is to bring the whole man to the earth -- with all the beautiful
           qualities of woman and with all the courageous, rebellious, adventurous qualities of man. And they
           should all be part of one whole.
               But from the very beginning we start telling children... A small boy, if he wants to play with toys
           like girls, we immediately stop him -- "Be ashamed of yourself; you are a boy, you are a man, don't
           be girlish."
               And if a girl tries to climb a tree we stop her immediately: "This is not ladylike, climbing a tree,
           this is for the boys -- rough. You just come down!"
               From the very beginning we start dividing man and woman into parts. Both suffer -- because
           climbing a tree has a joy of its own, no woman should miss it. To be on top of a tree when the wind
           is strong, in the sun, with the birds singing... if you have not been to that point, you have missed
           something. And just because you are a woman. Strange...
               To be adventurous -- to climb the mountains, to swim the oceans -- should not be prevented just
           because you are a woman, because that thrill is something spiritual.
               A man should not be prevented when he wants to cry. He is prevented, he cannot bring tears --
           tears are only for women: "You are a man; behave like a man!" And tears are such a beautiful
           experience. In deep sadness or in great joy, whenever something is overflowing, tears give
           expression to it. And if tears are repressed, at the same time what they were going to express -- the
           deep sadness or the great joy -- is also repressed.
               And remember perfectly well that nature has not made any difference. It has given man and
           women the same tear glands, of equal size.
               But if you are a man and you are crying, then everybody condemns you, as if, "You are behaving
           like a woman."
               You should say, "What can I do? Nature itself has given me tear glands. Nature is behaving like
           a woman. It is not my responsibility, I am simply enjoying my nature. Tears are my right."
           All qualities should be available to everybody.
               There are men who become incapable of love because they are trained for certain qualities: "You
           have to be hard. You have to be competitive. You are not to show emotions. You must not be
           sentimental."
               Now how do you expect a man who is not emotional, not sentimental, who is not allowed to
           feel... how can you expect him to love? And when he misses love, his life becomes miserable. And
           the same is happening on both sides.
               I would like all distinctions to disappear. Everybody should be allowed everything that is
           naturally possible to the person whether he is a man or a woman.
               And we would have a richer world consisting of richer people.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              MAY I ASK YOU A TIBETAN QUESTION? LORD BUDDHA'S THIRD BODY HAS NOW
              DISAPPEARED INTO YOU. IS IT NOT CALLED THE MENTAL BODY? DOES IT MEAN THAT THE
              WHOLE MENTAL HERITAGE OF BUDDHA, ALL HIS TEACHINGS OF MEDITATION AND
              INITIATION -- HIS WHOLE SYSTEM -- HAS DISSOLVED INTO YOU? DOES IT ALSO MEAN THAT
              YOU FREE THIS EARTHLY GLOBE FROM ALL SYSTEMS, BY SWALLOWING THEM INTO YOUR
              LOVE AND FRIENDLINESS?
              PLEASE TELL A JOKE. JAYESH IS GOING MAD!


               First, Jayesh, the third body does not mean the mental body.
               The first body is the physical body. The second body is the mental body. The third body is the
           astral body.
               One becomes enlightened when one transcends the mental body.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The astral body consists only of pure light, just a flame with no smoke around it.
                Secondly, you are right: I am ready to take all the poison in the world that is driving people crazy
           and to drink it -- because that poison cannot make me crazy.
                I can relieve people from their poisons: their theologies, their religions, their political ideologies.
           These are all poisons, and since the beginning they have been driving mankind into constant
           madness. Christians killing Mohammedans, Mohammedans killing Hindus, Hindus killing
           Buddhists; it goes on and on... atheists killing theists, theists killing atheists. It seems we don't want
           anybody in this world to be free -- at least free to think.
                In the Soviet Union, my sannyasins are being persecuted, they are being continuously harassed
           by the government. They have done no harm. Just their being related to something which is not
           communism is enough to freak the communists out: Communism should be the only religion in the
           Soviet Union.
                They don't understand anything of what I am saying, they don't understand that my atheism is far
           more refined than their Karl Marx or their Engels or their Lenin, than any of their atheism is. They
           don't understand that I am for an authentic communism in the world.
           And in the Soviet Union there is no communism.
                Yes, the capitalists are no longer there and now poverty has been distributed equally.
                I am not in favor of poverty. I want richness to be distributed equally -- not poverty.
                And the basic idea in communism was to create a classless society -- which has not happened.
           There are no more capitalists, but the people who are in power have become the new class, the power
           elite. Capitalists have never been as powerful anywhere in the world as the power elite are in the
           Soviet Union.
                And it is now sixty years, seventy years after the revolution. The same group of people is running
           the country, no new blood can enter the power class. And they want to overrule the whole world.
                And America's intention is the same: to destroy freedom, to destroy individuality and to create an
           indirect imperialism all over the world. They have almost succeeded.
                I would like to take all these ideologies away and make people free of their cages, give them
           their wings again, give them their sky back.
                So you are right. That has been my effort my whole life. And to my last breath I will continue to
           do the same -- to free people from Hinduism, from Mohammedanism, from Christianity, from
           Judaism, from communism, from fascism, from nationalities, from distinctions and discriminations
           of man and woman, black and white.
                How many insanities have we been carrying on our shoulders?
           Because of that burden we cannot grow.
           I would like everybody to be unburdened completely.
                I understand Jayesh. He is saying that he is going mad... because for almost three months he has
           been away from me.
           His has been a strange story.
                He was a successful businessman; then he got tired. He heard about me, read about me and came
           from Canada to be with me in the commune in America with great expectations that "Now I will be
           sitting and meditating."
                And the next day he was arrested with me, and we were behind bars.
                He told me, "Bhagwan, this is too much. I came to meditate... But in a way I am fortunate that
           from the very beginning I am with you. Although it is jail, it does not matter."
                And then he was with me all around the world, being deported from this country to that country.
                For three months he has been away -- working for me. Certainly he must be going mad because
           he has been trying to find a headquarters for me. He works to the last -- everything is complete -- and
           then at the very end American pressure comes in. Because the American spies are continuously
           surrounding him. The American ambassador is continuously watching every move.
                At the last moment, as they are going to sign an agreement that I can have a commune in their
           country, the phone rings and the American president himself is on the phone. And such blackmail!
           He threatens that "If you allow Bhagwan to remain in your country more than thirty-six hours then
           you will have to return all the loans that you have taken in the past" -- which means billions of
           dollars. "And if you cannot return them, then your interest rate will be doubled. Secondly, whatever
           loan agreements there are for the future" -- which are again for billions of dollars -- "are cancelled
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately. You can choose, you are free; you can choose Bhagwan or you can choose American
           loans."
                Naturally no country is in a position.... They have to drop the whole idea.
                Jayesh has been working, working, working for almost the whole year. It takes a month or two
           months to negotiate with the politicians and everybody, and when the final decision is about to be
           taken then immediately American pressure comes in. And it is not pressure, it is simply blackmail; it
           is threatening them that "We will kill you."
                And certainly a country will be killed -- it cannot pay the loans, and it has all its future programs
           based on the loans that America is going to give. All those programs... bridges will remain half built,
           hospitals will remain half built, and there will be such a great unemployment that the whole
           economy will flop. This is economic imperialism: on the surface politically you are free, but deep
           inside you are not free, nobody is free.
                Naturally he needs a joke after three months, just to give him a laugh.
                Jayesh, I have heard that a certain man, Reagy -- no relation to Ronald Reagan -- worked in a
           circus, and he was the elephant trainer. He trained the elephant so that on his order, he would raise
           one of his legs up. Then he trained him to raise up two legs and then he trained him to raise up three
           legs. And he was such a perfectionist that he was trying to train the poor elephant to raise all four
           legs up. Until he realized it seemed difficult, that it was impossible, it could not happen.
                So he had a great idea: he declared in the newspapers that, "Anybody who can come and make
           my elephant raise all four of his legs simultaneously, I will give him a ten-thousand-dollar reward.
           Entry fee is one hundred dollars."
                Many people came and lost their one hundred dollars. How can the elephant raise.... They tried
           persuasion, hypnosis, meditation -- nothing worked.
           And Reagy was very happy; he was collecting money.
                And then one day a blue convertible car came in, and a small man came out. And he said to
           Reagy, "Are you the man who is going to give me ten thousand dollars if I can make your elephant
           raise all four legs simultaneously?"
                He said, "Yes. But before that you will have to give me one hundred dollars as an entry fee."
                He gave him one hundred dollars, went back. From the back of the car he pulled out a steel rod.
                Reagy could not imagine what he was going to do. People had come who had tried yoga... who
           had tried all kinds of things. "What he is going to do?" He waited.
                First the man went in front of the elephant and looked into its eyes. Then he went to the back of
           the elephant and gave it a good hit in the balls. The elephant jumped with all four of its legs.
                Reagy was in tears. He had accumulated only eight thousand dollars! And this man cheated! He
           had to give him two thousand dollars from his own pocket. The man took ten thousand dollars away.
                Then Reagy saw how to get those ten thousand dollars back.
                Elephants are known to move their heads up and down, but they are not known to move their
           heads from side to side.
                So he declared in another advertisement: "I will give ten thousand dollars to anybody who can
           make my elephant move his head from side to side."
                Again people started coming for a hundred-dollar entry fee. Again Reagy was very happy:
           people were coming -- yogis, Taoists, Zen masters, all sorts of magicians. But nobody could manage
           it, he would only move his head up and down and they would lose their hundred dollars.
                Then suddenly one day that blue convertible car came back again and out came out the small
           man. And Reagy started to tremble, that "This man.... Now let's see what he does."
                He said, "Are you the man who is going to give ten thousand dollars if I can move your
           elephant's head from side to side?"
           He said, "Yes, but first -- one hundred dollars!"
                He gave one hundred dollars. Then he went behind the car and took out the rod.
                Reagy said, "This idiot... with that rod again? How can he make his head move from side to side?
                And the man came to the front of the elephant carrying the rod, he looked into his eyes and said,
           "Do you recognize me?"
           And the elephant said, "Yes."
                The man said, "Do you want the experience once more?"
           And the elephant said, "No."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And he asked for another ten thousand dollars!




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                                    Chapter #23
                                       Chapter title: Ten Non-comandments
           25 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610255
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH23
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              TODAY, AFTER A YEAR, I AM COMING TO SEE YOU, TO BE WITH YOU. AND SINCE I AWOKE
              THIS MORNING I HAVE BEEN AWARE THAT MY HEART IS BEATING HARDER AND QUICKER
              THAN USUAL, AND THAT THERE IS A HOLLOW, STAGE FRIGHT FEELING IN MY BELLY. TEARS
              ARE CLOSE TO MY EYES, BUT THERE IS NO SADNESS. ON ONE HAND I CAN SEE IT AS FEAR,
              NERVOUSNESS. ON ANOTHER IT IS EXCITEMENT, ANTICIPATION, AND ON YET ANOTHER IT
              IS ENERGY, PURE AND SIMPLE -- LIFE, PULSATION.
              BELOVED FRIEND, IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T FEEL TO BE A PROBLEM, BUT COULD YOU SPEAK
              ABOUT THE PHENOMENON OF THE DISCIPLE COMING CLOSER TO THE PHYSICAL BODY OF
              THE MASTER?


                There are very few moments in man's life more magical than the feeling of love and trust from a
           disciple towards the master.
                It is a relationship not of this world, because it is a ladder to the beyond.
                Coming closer to the master certainly gives a new pulsation to the life energy, to your
           receptivity, to your openness. It gives you a dance, your heart starts singing a song. It is a moment of
           rejoicing.
                It is the same moment as when a river comes to the ocean, dancing, to disappear into the ocean --
           but the disappearance is only from the side of those who are standing on the bank. To the river itself,
           it is becoming bigger, vaster, oceanic.
                Coming closer to the master is a way of becoming a master -- and what can be more rejoicing,
           more joyful?
                There are many kinds of love, but the love that exists between the master and the disciple is the
           purest: unpolluted by any expectations, by any demands, by any conditions. The master accepts you
           as you are, with no desire to make something else of you. You love the master because he gives you,
           for the first time in your life, in all your relationships, freedom to be yourself -- without fear, without
           guilt.
           Your experience is natural.
                It has happened to every disciple, it is a cosmic experience.
                But it cannot happen if you are only a student. If you have come here only to learn, to
           accumulate knowledge, then this kind of miracle is not possible.
                If you have come here to expand your consciousness, to make your being more integral, then you
           have not come to increase your knowledge but to be reborn. You have come to become a child again;
           you have come to get back the purity, the fragrance, the beauty of your innocence.
                I am not a teacher, and this is not a place where knowledge is important. I am just a presence to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inspire in you that which is dormant, to allow you to recognize yourself.
                I am not here to impose any religion on you. I am here to make you completely weightless --
           without religion, without ideology -- just a profound silence, a serenity, a depth, a height that goes to
           the stars.
                This is a place of a master, and the function of this place is magic -- not ordinary magic, but
           magic that creates Gautam Buddhas.
                And naturally, when you are coming out of your darkness towards the light of becoming a
           Gautam Buddha, it is impossible not to be thrilled, not to be ecstatic, not to be in a dance.
                If you are alive, stars will be born out of you, flowers will be blossoming in you. But if you are
           dead, as most of the people on the earth are, then nothing will happen to you -- nothing happens to
           the dead.
           There is a beautiful story in Mahavira's life.
                Mahavira went to Vasali, one of the great cities of those days. In Vasali there was a great thief.
           He had only one young son whom he was training in his art. He said to him, "Listen, you are free to
           do everything, but don't go close to that man Mahavira. I am a master thief, but I also avoid him,
           because that man is dangerous. Something magical surrounds him, and once you are caught in it
           there is no way out. So remember, go everywhere else, but avoid the campus where Mahavira is
           staying."
                The son was very obedient. He avoided Mahavira's campus for many days, but the temptation
           was natural.... Here is a man who his father fears so much that just to be close to him seems to be
           dangerous.... It is worth testing.
                So one day he went just a little closer to the campus -- not inside the grove where Mahavira was
           staying with his ten thousand disciples, but outside the grove. And he heard only one sentence.
           Mahavira was saying that in paradise, the angels and the female angels are tremendously beautiful,
           but just one thing is wrong: their feet are pointing in the opposite direction. The angels are going one
           way, but their feet are going in the opposite direction.
                Being afraid that his father might come to know, the boy escaped. But he thought, "There was no
           danger there, and Mahavira was just telling a fictitious story."
                But that very night he and his father were both caught stealing. It was impossible to get any
           information from the father; hence, the king said, "Don't bother about the father, concentrate on the
           son. There is a possibility that we may be able to find out all the information that we need."
                And the strategy was that he was given intoxicating drugs, so he slept for hours, completely
           unconscious. He was taken to the most beautiful room in the palace, and all the beautiful girls were
           serving him, bringing food, drinks. As he came back to consciousness, he thought, "My God, I am
           dead. I am in paradise. This is the paradise that fellow Mahavira was describing, and the girls are
           really beautiful. Everything is great."
                But then he looked at their feet, and immediately he understood that there was some conspiracy
           -- "This is not paradise, because their feet are just like our feet."
                The women tried in every way to persuade him, "You are dead and you are in paradise." And
           they were saying, "This is just the reception. Before you enter the permanent paradise, you have to
           tell everything about your life. This is the rule. Everything will be written, recorded, and then you
           will enter permanent paradise."
                They wanted him to confess all the sins that he and his father had been committing, all the thefts,
           murders, and things for which they had never been caught. But now he would simply smile.
                He said, "Forget all about it; I have heard from Mahavira himself. Your feet have given me the
           clue that this is the palace of the king. And this is a strategy. Tell your king to try to befool
           somebody else. I am a disciple of Mahavira."
                They said, "Strange. When did you become the disciple of Mahavira?"
                He said, "Just passing by I heard one sentence, and that one sentence has saved me today."
                And because there was no proof, finally they had to be released.
                He told his father, "I am not going to listen to you at all. If I had not disobeyed you and had not
           listened to Mahavira, we would both be hanging on the gallows. Just one sentence -- and that too, a
           small part of a story -- has saved me. I am going to the man. His magic has caught me."
           He became a great disciple of Mahavira.
                He said, "You have saved me. Now give me a new life, because I don't want just to be saved and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           continue to be a thief and a murderer. It was good that I was caught, a discontinuity has happened.
           You start my life from scratch; accept me as a child."
               Coming to the master is coming in search of your innocence, in search of your lost childhood, in
           search of your originality... in search of your individuality, in search of freedom.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ONE DAY -- IT WAS FRIDAY, WHEN ORTHODOX JEWS ARE PREPARING FOR THE SABBATH --
              A MAN WHO DIDN'T LIKE JEWS MET AN ORTHODOX RABBI ON THE STREET. IN AN ATTEMPT
              TO TORMENT HIM, HE ASKED HIM TO EXPRESS THE ENTIRE PHILOSOPHY OF JUDAISM
              WHILE HE STOOD ON ONE FOOT.
              THE RABBI STOOD ON ONE FOOT AND SAID, "DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE
              THEM DO UNTO YOU. THAT IS THE LAW -- THE REST IS COMMENTARY."
              IF I WERE TO BE MET BY A TORMENTOR AND ASKED TO STAND ON ONE FOOT AND EXPLAIN
              IN ONE SENTENCE WHAT YOUR TEACHING IS, WOULD I BE CORRECT IN SAYING THAT IT IS
              FREEDOM FROM SUPPRESSION?


               It will not be so easy.
           First, you don't know the name of the rabbi. His name was Hillel. He is the most famous Jewish
           philosopher, and he certainly condensed the whole philosophy of Judaism into a single sentence.
               The incident is true. He was asked to stand on one foot and answer in the shortest way what the
           essence of Judaism is. And what he said is beautiful, but not without flaw. He said: Do unto others
           what you would like to be done to you by them. This is the essential Judaism, the rest is
           commentary. All great scriptures of the Jews, the TORAH, the TALMUD... all are just
           commentaries on the single, small, seedlike statement: Do unto others what you would like to be
           done to you by them.
               As far as Judaism is concerned, no Jewish thinker has raised any suspicion about it. Neither has
           any non-Jewish philosopher raised any question about it.
               But I am more concerned with human reality than just with philosophical arguments.
               And looking at human reality, the statement is not correct -- because my taste and your taste may
           be different.
               To do unto others what you would like to be done to you by them can be right only if
           everybody's taste is the same. And that is not the case.
               For example, somebody is a masochist; he likes to be beaten, he likes to be tortured. Now what
           should he do with you, torture you? According to the principle, he should beat you, he should torture
           you, because that's what he wants you to do to him.
               Perhaps Hillel or the Jewish philosophers were not aware that there are people who love to be
           tortured and there are people who love to torture.
               It is the latest contemporary psychological insight that there are sadists who like to torture, and
           there are masochists who like to be tortured; hence, it is said that the best couple in the world is if by
           chance a sadist and a masochist get married. Then they are living in paradise, because one wants to
           be tortured and the other wants to torture. Both are enjoying.
               But it is very difficult. No astrologer thinks about it, no parents think about it. In fact, whether
           somebody is a sadist or a masochist is not considered at all when people are thinking about marriage.
           Before you fall in love, remember the first basic inquiry: if you are a sadist, then find a masochist; if
           you are a masochist, find a sadist.
               The best places to find such people are the offices of psychoanalysts. Just sit outside there; you
           will find all kinds of people.
           But this statement will not be applicable.
               And you want to know if somebody asks you about my philosophical standpoint.... It is not going
           to be that easy, because I see man as a multi-dimensional being. You will be able to state it standing
           on one foot, there is no need for sentences, but you will have to state ten non-commandments.
           The first: freedom.
           The second: uniqueness of individuality.
           The third: love.
           The fourth: meditation.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The fifth: non-seriousness.
           The sixth: playfulness.
           The seventh: creativity.
           The eighth: sensitivity.
           The ninth: gratefulness.
           Tenth: a feeling of the mysterious.
               These ten non-commandments constitute my basic attitude towards reality, towards man's
           freedom from all kinds of spiritual slavery.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              AT RAJNEESHPURAM IN 1983 SOMETHING FROM THE BEYOND ENTERED INTO ME. SINCE
              THEN I HAVE NOT BEEN THE SAME PERSON ANYMORE. MY OLD GOALS AND DESIRES HAVE
              FADED AWAY. THINGS WHICH WERE MEANINGFUL TO ME BEFORE HAVE LOST THEIR
              IMPORTANCE.
              BUT WHEN I TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT MEDITATION, SILENCE, AND WHAT KEEPS US AWAY
              FROM IT, A GREAT NEW ENERGY AND CLEARNESS STARTS RISING IN ME. EVERY CELL OF
              MY BODY BECOMES ALIVE. I MYSELF BECOME A LISTENER TO WHAT IS SAID THROUGH ME,
              AND I FEEL GRATEFUL AND VERY LOVING TOWARDS THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM I CAN
              SHARE.
              BELOVED MASTER, HAVE I BECOME A FLUTE, AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE BEYOND? OR IS
              MY EGO PLAYING A HORRIBLE JOKE ON ME? PLEASE COMMENT.


               It certainly has changed your life. You have become a flute to the divine -- because if it was a
           projection of the ego, the ego would not have allowed you to ask the question.
               And the ego never becomes a vehicle, a medium, a flute. It is not a hollow bamboo. The ego is
           very solid, does not allow itself to be used by higher forces. It can exist only in the very mundane
           world.
               To allow the higher forces means you are entering into the sacred, going beyond the mundane.
           The ego cannot go outside the mundane world. And its very fabric is to praise itself, to brag about
           itself even when it is not valid.
               For example, a poetry descends in you but the ego grabs it and proclaims to the whole world that
           "I have written it."
               No great poetry has been written by any ego; nothing great can come out of it. The great comes
           only when the ego gives way, when it is not obstructing, when it is absent, on leave.
               It is said about Rabindranath that whenever he would be writing, he would close his door and
           inform the house that unless he opens the door, nobody is allowed even to knock on it.
               It was a big family. Rabindranath's grandfather was given the title of raja by the British
           government, although he was not a king -- but he was so rich and he had so much land that he could
           have purchased a few maharajas. His family was very big; almost one hundred members were living
           in the palace.
               And it was a very strange family. Rabindranath has written in his memoirs, "We have seen
           strangers coming into the family as guests and then never leaving. And my grandfather was such that
           he would say, `It does not matter. He must be some distant relative. Perhaps we have forgotten, he
           has forgotten, but destiny has brought us together. Let him live here.'"
               So the family went on growing. Anybody could come and say, "I am related to you, a far off,
           distant relation." And he was received not only as a guest, but... once he entered the house it was
           against the culture to ask him, "When are you going to leave?" It was not asked.
               It is not the culture of Bombay. In Bombay, the first thing people ask is, "When are you going to
           leave?" You have not even settled in the chair, your luggage is still in the taxi, and they are asking
           when you are going to leave -- because tickets have to be advance-booked.
               Those were different days, and a different kind of people.
               So nobody ever asked when you were going to leave. And why should one leave? -- living in the
           palace of a king, living like kings... every need was fulfilled.
               So a man used to go with a bell, all over the palace, announcing that nobody is to disturb
           Rabindranath. And all his brothers, his mother, father, grandfather, they were all concerned while he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was inside his room -- sometimes it would be three days, four days, and he has not eaten, he has not
           come out.
               They asked him, "What is the matter? You can come out, you can eat, you can go back again.
           Nobody is going to prevent you, nobody is even going to ask you any question."
               He said, "It is not a problem for me to come out. The problem is that when something is
           descending in me, if I leave the room just to take a shower or just to drink a cup of tea, the process
           stops. And it is not in my hands to start it again. Then I don't know when it will start again; it is
           something falling upon me, falling through me. I am just a passage. I don't want anybody to disturb
           me because I don't want to disturb the process."
               Every great poet, painter, singer, dancer has been aware of the fact that he has been great only in
           the moments when he has not been. It is not a contradiction.
               The greatest dancer of this age was Nijinsky. He went mad because he was born in the West; in
           the East, he would have become a Gautam Buddha. In the West there was no background to explain
           what was happening to him, and it was a weird experience -- while dancing... once in a while when
           he would forget himself completely, would become so much absorbed in the dance that there was
           only the dance and no dancer -- he would jump so high that it was against gravitation. No scientist
           had any explanation. Man cannot jump that high, it is simply not possible.
           And that was not the whole story.
               When he would come back down... anything when falling, the gravitation of the earth pulls it
           forcibly. But when Nijinsky would be coming back down, he would come so slowly... just like a
           dead leaf falling from the tree, moving slowly, or like a feather. That was even more difficult to
           explain.
               And when people asked him, "What you do?" he said, "Whenever I try to do it, it never happens.
           Finally I give up, and then one day suddenly it happens -- but it happens only when I am not, when I
           am not the doer. It is something of the beyond."
           So don't be worried.
               If you are feeling silent, peaceful, loving... these are not the ways of the ego. The ego cannot feel
           silent, the ego cannot feel peaceful, the ego cannot feel loving.
           Your meditation has ripened.
           You have come to a maturity.
           Rejoice, and be grateful.
               Existence is very compassionate. If we are ready to open our hearts without holding anything
           back, then immense treasures become available to us.
               In the beginning such doubts may arise: "Perhaps it is ego." Don't give a place to such doubts.
               Remember: ego can create misery, ego can create anguish, ego can create hate, ego can create
           jealousy. Ego can never become a vehicle for the divine, it can never become the passage for the
           beyond.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DO I ALWAYS COMPROMISE?


              One compromises because one is not certain about one's truth, one is not certain about one's own
           experience.
              The moment you have experienced something, it is impossible to compromise. There is no
           possibility at all. You compromise only because your idea is only a mind thing, a borrowed thought.
           You don't know whether it is right or wrong, so even if half proves to be right, it is not a bad bargain.
              There is an ancient story in Egypt. Two women came to the court of the king with a small child.
           They contended -- both of them -- that, "The child belongs to me, he is my child." And each woman
           was persistent -- "The child is mine."
              The king had to decide, and it was very difficult -- how to decide? The husbands of both women
           had died in war, in the service of the king.
              Finally he asked his master, an old wise man. The master came and he said, "It is very simple.
           Bring the child."
              The child was brought to the master, who asked the king to cut him in two, and give half to each
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           woman. "What is the problem? They both say the child is theirs. There being no other evidence, no
           witness, justice demands that the child should be divided into two."
                The king was shocked. He said, "What are you saying?"
                But before the king could say anything more, the master drew the king's sword out of its sheath.
           And one woman ran forward and said, "No! Give the child to the other; he is not mine."
                The master gave the child to the woman who had run forward and said he was not hers. The king
           said, "What is happening? I don't understand. The woman is saying the child is not hers."
                The master said, "Only the mother couldn't stand to see the child cut in two. The other woman is
           withstanding it perfectly well, without any difficulty -- if the child is cut in two, it is cut, there is no
           harm, it is not her child. She is ready to compromise, even if half a dead child is given to her. But the
           other woman is not ready to compromise -- either the whole child or no child."
                When you have a truth, you are almost like a mother -- you have given birth to an experience.
           Either you would like to have it total, or you would not like to have it at all. But you cannot be ready
           to cut it in two, because any living experience cut in two becomes dead.
           All compromises are dead.
                Nobody in the whole history of man who has known anything about truth has ever compromised.
           Rather, he has been ready to die for it.
                It happened with al-Hillaj Mansoor. His master Junnaid loved him very much -- he was a man
           worthy to be loved -- and he tried to persuade him for years, "In your room you can shout Ana'l hag
           -- `I am God' -- but don't do that in the streets. You know that the people are fanatic, I also know the
           fact."
                But al-Hillaj said, "You only know the fact. I have experienced it. You have compromised with
           the society, you are a respected teacher. I don't want any respectability, but I will not hide my truth.
           Truth is like fire, you cannot hide it. I have to shout it from the housetops."
                And in a Mohammedan country -- where fanaticism is the rule, not the exception -- he was
           immediately caught, and brought before the caliph because "This is against our religion; there is only
           one God, and he is in the heavens. You are just a mortal being. Even Mohammed has not said, `I am
           God.' He simply says, `I am the messenger of God.' And you are saying that you are God. Are you
           mad? Either stop it, or death is the only punishment for it."
                al-Hillaj said, "Death is accepted, but I cannot compromise on this point. It is my experience, I
           am god. And I say you are also god -- but your god is asleep and my god is awake."
                Junnaid again came into the jail to persuade him, "This is foolish. You are such a beautiful young
           man, with a great future. You can become a great teacher. I know that what you are saying is right,
           but can't you compromise?"
                al-Hillaj said, "With all honor I want to say to you, you don't know. That's why you have
           compromised. You have heard -- I have seen. You have read -- I have been. Death does not matter,
           but compromise is simply out of the question."
                And the day he was crucified, thousands of people came to throw stones, to condemn him.
           Junnaid also came; he loved him, he was his student, and he knew that he had immense possibilities
           of growth. And he had understood perfectly well that he himself was only knowledgeable, and
           al-Hillaj had experienced.
           But this is how compromise works.
                Everybody was throwing stones -- not to throw a stone was to risk that people may think, "This
           man is in favor of al-Hillaj." So he brought a roseflower so that when so many people in the crowd
           are throwing stones he could throw the roseflower; people will see that he has thrown something, but
           who knows that he has thrown the roseflower?
                The mind of compromise... nobody should suspect that he has not thrown a stone. So he is
           compromising on two grounds: one with the people, that he has thrown a stone... and he is
           compromising with al-Hillaj also. Because al-Hillaj must be looking out for Junnaid, to see whether
           he has come or not, and it would be very cowardly not to go.
                al-Hillaj was smiling when stones were showering on him, hurting him, and blood was flowing
           all over the body. But when the roseflower of Junnaid hit him, he started crying. Tears came to his
           eyes.
                Somebody asked, "What happened? So many stones and you continued to smile, and somebody
           has thrown a roseflower and tears have come to your eyes."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               al-Hillaj said, "Yes, because the people who are throwing stones don't know me. And the person
           who has thrown the roseflower knows me, knows my truth. But he is a coward, and I am ashamed
           that I have been a student of this man. Stones don't matter. But this roseflower has hit me hard."
               Compromise simply means you are on uncertain ground.
               Rather than compromising, find grounding, roots, individuality. Find a sincerity of feeling, the
           support of your heart. Then whatever the consequence, it does not matter.
               The man who knows, knows perfectly well that no harm is possible. You can kill him, but you
           cannot harm him.
               And the man who does not know is always trembling, always worried. In that worrying and
           trembling, that anguish, he goes on compromising with everybody -- just to be safe, not to be
           harmed.
               But what are you trying to save? You don't have anything to save.
           Those who have something to save don't compromise.
               A man like Socrates is given an opportunity by the judges, that if he leaves Athens... he can live
           outside of Athens and in this way he can avoid the death penalty. Anybody would suggest that "This
           is a simple compromise, you can just live outside the boundary lines of Athens" -- because in those
           days in Greece there were only city-states; every city was a state. Just outside the boundary you were
           outside the state. He could have lived almost in the suburbs.
           But men like Socrates are impossible.
               He said, "I would rather die than escape. And anyway, I am old. How long I am going to live?
           And if the most cultured city of these days cannot tolerate me, who is going to tolerate me? It is
           better to die in Athens than anywhere else -- at least I have the consolation that I am being killed by
           the most cultured people."
               The judges were really trying hard somehow to save him, because he had not committed any
           crime. It was just that the mob wanted him to be killed -- he was corrupting the youth.
               Now, anybody who brings new thoughts to the world can be blamed because he is corrupting the
           youth -- because he is bound to be against the old ideas, he is bound to fight against the old. You can
           call it corruption: "He is corrupting our tradition, our religion, our culture."
               The judges said, "We have another suggestion: you can live in Athens, but stop talking about
           truth."
               Socrates says, "You are asking me to do the impossible. I will speak about truth and truth alone
           until my last breath. Do you want me to start speaking lies? Do you want me not to speak at all? --
           that too is a lie, because I know the truth and I am not speaking it, and the lie is spreading in people's
           minds. No, I will be here, and I will speak the truth. It is up to you -- you can kill me. But no
           compromise on any ground."
               Try to find your individuality, your integrity, and make the effort of not compromising. Because
           the more you compromise, the less you are an individual. You are only a cog in the wheel, just a part
           in the vast mechanism, just a small part of the mob -- not an individual in your own beauty, in your
           own right.
               I am absolutely against compromise. Death is far more beautiful than a life of compromise.


              THIS IS A JOKE FOR MY BELOVED MASTER:
              IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST PROFOUND QUESTIONS THROUGHOUT THE AGES
              -- WAS JESUS CHRIST A JEW OR NOT? RECENTLY, SCIENTISTS HAVE MADE SUBSTANTIAL
              PROGRESS TOWARDS FINDING THE ANSWER. THE RESULTS OF THEIR RESEARCH WERE
              FIRST MADE PUBLIC A FEW MONTHS AGO.
              JESUS WAS A JEW FOR THREE IMPORTANT REASONS:
              (1) HE LIVED WITH HIS MOTHER ALL HIS LIFE;
              (2) HIS MOTHER ALWAYS CALLED HIM `THE BEST'; AND
              (3) STARTING OUT WITH A GIFT OF JUST TWO PIECES OF WOOD, HE MANAGED TO SET UP
              AN INTERNATIONAL COMPANY....


              Jews have never been able to forgive themselves for crucifying Jesus for the simple reason that
           he was their best boy.
              They could not conceive that he would create the greatest and the richest international company.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Almost half of the population of the world is Christian.
               And he certainly created this whole big show out of two pieces of wood -- that's how the cross is
           made. I never call Christianity `Christianity' -- I call it `crossianity' because it is really based on the
           cross. The findings seem to be perfectly true.
               And he created a company that has lasted for two thousand years and is still growing.
           And the commodity that he produces is invisible.
               As far as salesmanship is concerned, Jesus is the best salesman ever. His commodity is not great.
           Christianity is not a great religion, it is very primitive and third class. But he managed to sell the
           product to almost half of the world.
               And because the product is invisible, it is very difficult to decide its quality.
               I have heard that in a New York shop they were selling invisible hairpins for women, and women
           were certainly excited -- invisible hairpins! And they were charging a lot for nothing. One woman
           opened the box -- of course invisible pins you cannot see -- and she asked the salesman, "Are you
           sure that there are invisible hairpins in it?"
               He said, "Don't be worried. We have been out of stock for almost three months, but they are still
           selling -- so we have stopped purchasing, because there is no point. They are invisible -- we cannot
           see them, you cannot see them, nobody can see them. And people are purchasing them, standing in
           queues for invisible pins."
               God is an invisible commodity which you cannot see. Not for a few months, but for eternity it
           has been out of stock. Heaven and hell... all invisible things -- and Jesus managed to create a bogus
           religion on these things like god, heaven and hell.
           The religion has nothing in it.
               One can argue against Gautam Buddha. At least there is something in it -- you may agree, you
           may not agree.
               But Christianity has nothing in it -- you cannot even argue against it, it is simply baseless. It is a
           great hypocrisy. The pope, the archbishops, the bishops, the cardinals and the priests -- none of them
           have experienced anything; none of them have ever said that they have experienced anything. And
           they are millions in number, and they are converting others to their religion.
           They don't know anything of what religion is.
               Perhaps that's why they have such a great appeal for all the idiots. The mediocre mind does not
           want to experience or even at least to be intelligently convinced. It simply wants to believe, the
           cheapest thing in the world.
               Christianity provides belief. You believe and you are saved.
           And who are these saviors?
               Just the other day, Neelam brought news from a monastery in Europe. It is an old monastery, and
           now it is divided in two parts. Half of the monks have declared that they are homosexuals -- so they
           are worshipping separately and they have occupied almost half the grounds and the church.
               And you should not think that the other half are celibate; most probably they are not courageous
           enough to say what the other brothers have said.
               When I was in America, in Texas the government passed a law against homosexuality. Now,
           Texas is a backward state in America: homosexuality becomes illegal, criminal, and one million
           people protested against the law. If there are one million homosexuals in Texas, what about
           California?
               In parliament in Holland they discussed why they have not allowed me entry into Holland. And
           the minister concerned said strange things... but nobody in parliament raised the question: "What
           nonsense are you talking?"
               One can understand.... He said it was because I have been speaking against the pope. To speak
           against the pope is not a crime -- in no country's constitution, and in no country's law is it a crime to
           speak against the pope.
           But it can be understood.
               Secondly he said that I have been speaking against Mother Teresa.
           But are these crimes?
               And thirdly -- the most important -- is that I have been speaking against homosexuality. Has the
           whole of Holland gone homosexual? Then change the name from Holland to `Homosexual-land' --
           because in parliament nobody raised the simple question that "This is nonsense; we are not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           homosexuals." They may be Catholics, they may believe in the pope...
                Christianity teaches celibacy, and celibacy is unnatural.
           It creates homosexuals, lesbians.
                And finally it has brought the disease AIDS, which is another name for death -- because there is
           no medicine, no medical cure for it.
                The pope who served just before this pope was a world-famous homosexual. Before becoming a
           pope, he was the archbishop of Milan, and all of Milan laughed because he was continuously moving
           around with his boyfriend. When he became the pope, he took his boyfriend also to the Vatican; he
           became his secretary. And everybody knew -- the whole of Milan knew, the whole Vatican knew,
           but nobody raised the question.
                It seems Christianity has created the most unintelligent people in the world.
                I have heard: a man and woman were making love in their bed, and suddenly a car drove into the
           garage. The woman said to the man, "Wake up, wake up! My husband is coming, it is certainly his
           car. Just get in the closet."
           So the man jumped into the closet.
                The husband came in; he had come just for half an hour because he was on his way to some other
           duty. And the man inside the closet heard a small voice... somebody said, "It is very dark in here."
           He said, "My God, who is there? Keep quiet!"
                The voice said, "Give me something." So the man gave him fifteen dollars.
           The voice said, "I am going to scream."
                He said, "You seem to be a very strange fellow," and he gave him fifteen dollars more.
                The voice said, "No! It is so dark!" So the man gave him all he had, fifty dollars. He said, "This
           is all I have; now you do whatever you want to do -- whether it is dark or not, screaming or not, I
           don't have anything more."
                The next day, the boy said to his mother, "I want to purchase a bicycle."
                The mother said, "Bicycle? But a bicycle costs fifty dollars at least."
           He said, "Don't be worried, I have got it."
           She said, "Where did you get it from?"
           About that he remained silent.
                The mother said, "You will have to tell me where you got it from. Have you stolen it?"
                He said, "No, I have not stolen it. And I am not going to say where it came from. But it is certain
           that I have not stolen it, and my source of getting it is absolutely moral."
                Mother said, "You first go to the church and confess to the priest. If you cannot tell me, you tell
           the priest where you got the money."
                So he went to the confession booth, and the priest came. The boy said, "It is very dark in here."
                And the priest said, "You sonofabitch! Don't start it again!"




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                Chapter #24
                        Chapter title: Eastern psychology: The science of the soul
           26 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610265
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH24
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY CAN MODERN PSYCHOLOGISTS NOT THINK OR WRITE ABOUT OR EVEN CONCEIVE OF
              ENLIGHTENMENT? IS ENLIGHTENMENT A NEW PHENOMENON BEYOND THEIR
              CONCEPTION? WILL THEY EVER UNDERSTAND A PHENOMENON "BEYOND
              ENLIGHTENMENT"?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                Narendra, modern psychology is in its very childhood. It is just one century old.
                The concept of enlightenment belongs to Eastern psychology, which is almost ten thousand years
           old.
                The modern psychology is just beginning from scratch, it is at the ABC stage.
                Enlightenment and beyond enlightenment are the very end of the alphabet of human endeavor --
           XYZ.
                Modern psychology is a misnomer because the word `psychology' originates from the word
           `psyche'. Psyche means the soul. The exact meaning of the word `psychology' would be the science
           of the soul. But it is a very weird word.
                Psychology denies the existence of the soul and still goes on calling itself `psychology'. It
           accepts only the physical body and its byproduct, the mind. As the physical body dies, the mind also
           dies; there is no rebirth, there is no reincarnation. Life is not an eternal principle, but just a byproduct
           of certain physical material things put together.
                You have to understand the word `byproduct'. Even the idea of a byproduct is not very original.
                In India, there has been a school of materialists, at least five thousand years old, called
           charvakas. They describe mind as a byproduct of the body. Their example is very fitting. Remember,
           it is a five thousand year-old example. We can find modern contemporary parallels to it.
                In India you must have seen people chewing betel leaves, pan. It consists of four or five things --
           the betel leaf and three or four things more. You can eat them separately and they will not give the
           color red to your lips; but if you eat them together they will create the color red as a byproduct. That
           red color has no existence of its own, it is a byproduct.
           In a contemporary example, look at a watch working.
                I have heard that Mulla Nasruddin, when he retired, was presented with a gold pocket watch by
           his friends. It was automatic, and from the very beginning he was surprised, he thought what a
           miracle it was that it went on and on. But after three or four days it stopped. He was very much
           surprised: what had happened?
                When it stopped he opened it up and found a small dead ant inside.
                He said, "Now I know the secret! This ant is the driver, and now he's dead how can the watch
           continue? But those idiots should have told me that there is a driver! -- it needs food, it needs water.
           And sometimes you even have to change a driver!"
                When a watch is running, and if it is automatic, what makes it tick? Is there some immaterial
           entity like a soul? Open the watch and take the parts apart, and you will not find any soul.
                That's what charvakas said five thousand years ago: that if there is a soul, then cut a man open
           and you should find it. Or when soldiers are cut open in the war -- so many souls would be flying
           upwards. Or when ordinarily a death happens naturally in your house, the soul must leave the body.
                Charvakas were very stubborn materialists. In five thousand years materialism has not gone even
           a step further than charvakas. They weighed a dying person, and when he was dead they weighed
           him again and the weight was the same -- it proves that nothing left the body. Then what was ticking
           in the body? It was something: a byproduct of the constituents of the body.
                And the materialists of all ages -- Epicurus in Greece, Karl Marx and Engels in Germany and
           England -- continued to repeat the same idea: that consciousness is a byproduct. And modern
           psychology has accepted it as their basic foundation: there is no soul in man; man is only a body.
                Joseph Stalin was able to kill almost one million Russians after the revolution. Anybody who
           was unwilling to give up his rights to his property was killed mercilessly. The whole family of the
           czar which had ruled for hundreds of years -- one of the oldest empires in the world, and one of the
           biggest -- nineteen persons in that family were killed so mercilessly that they did not even leave a
           six-month-old baby, they killed that baby too. Killing was easy: because of the philosophy, nothing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is killed, it is almost like breaking a chair.
                Otherwise it would be difficult for any man to kill one million people and not feel any prick in
           his conscience. But the philosophy was supportive of all these murders -- because nothing is
           murdered, only the physical body. There is no consciousness which is separate from the body.
                Modern psychology is still behaving stupidly because it is still clinging to the five thousand
           year-old primitive idea of charvaka, that consciousness is a byproduct. Hence, all that modern
           psychology can do is a mechanical job.
                Your car is broken down. You go to the workshop and a mechanic fixes it.
                The psychologist is a mechanic, no different from a plumber. He simply fixes nuts and bolts in
           your mind which get loose once in a while; he tightens them here and there... somewhere they are
           too tight, somewhere they are loose. But it is a question of nuts and bolts.
                The question of enlightenment does not arise for the modern psychologist because enlightenment
           is based on the experience that mind is not your whole reality.
                Beyond mind there is your consciousness, and going beyond mind is what enlightenment is all
           about.
                At the moment you cross the borders of the mind, there is enlightenment, a world of tremendous
           light, awareness, fulfillment, rejoicings.
                But there is a possibility to go even beyond that -- because that is your individual consciousness.
           If you can go beyond it, you enter into the cosmic consciousness.
                We are living in the ocean of cosmic consciousness, just as a fish lives in the ocean and is not
           aware of the ocean. Because it is born in the ocean, it lives in the ocean, it dies in the ocean, the fish
           knows only the ocean. If a fisherman pulls it out of the ocean, throws it in the sand on the beach,
           then for the first time it becomes aware that something had been surrounding it, nursing it, and
           giving it life -- and that without it, it cannot remain alive.
                It is easy to give a fish the experience of being out of the ocean. It is very difficult to give man
           the experience of being out of the cosmic consciousness. Because the cosmic consciousness is
           everywhere -- there is no beach, there are no boundaries to the cosmic consciousness. So wherever
           you are, you are always in an invisible ocean of consciousness.
           Modern psychology stops at the mind.
                Mind is only an instrument, and it is a instrument of the physical body -- so they are not wrong in
           saying that it is a byproduct. But mind is not all. Mind is only a biocomputer, and the day is not far
           away when the function of the mind will be almost taken over by computers.
                You will be able to keep just a small computer in your pocket containing the whole
           ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA. Any information about any subject will be immediately available
           -- there is no need to remember it, there is no need to read it, there is no need to study it.
           Your mind is going to lose its job very soon.
                But the psychologist is concerned only with the mind. And there are people called `behaviourists'
           who say there is no mind either, that man is only a physical organism.
                In the Soviet Union they don't accept the mind. The Soviet psychology is even more primitive; it
           accepts only the behavior of your body. There is nothing which you can call mind; hence in the
           Soviet Union there is nothing parallel to pscyhoanalysis. There is no question: if somebody's mind is
           behaving in an abnormal way then medicine is needed, not psychoanalysis. Then he has to be
           hospitalized; he is suffering from a sickness just like any other sickness.
                At least in the West they have taken the first step beyond the body -- not a very big step, very
           small, very negligible, but still a step accepting that there is something like mind, that although it is a
           byproduct, it functions on its own as long as the body is alive.
                And now it is a great profession: psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists; they are all
           fixing people's minds -- because everybody's mind is in trouble.
                There are only two kinds of people in the world: normally mad, and abnormally mad. Normally
           mad means you are mad, but not beyond limits. You are mad just like everybody else.
                You can see these normally mad people watching a football match. Now can a sane person watch
           a football match? They need some nuts and bolts... Because with a few idiots on this side and a few
           idiots on that side throwing a ball, and millions of idiots so excited in the stadium and at their
           television sets, glued to their chairs for six hours so they cannot move... as if something immensely
           valuable is happening because a ball is being thrown from this side to that side. And millions more,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who are not so fortunate to be able to see, keep a transistor at their ears, at least listening to the
           commentary.
           You call this world sane?
               There are boxing matches: people are hitting each other, and millions of people are so excited.
               In California, the University of California has been researching... whenever a boxing match
           happens in California the crime rate immediately rises by thirteen percent; and it remains thirteen
           percent higher for seven to ten days afterwards -- rape, murder, suicide. And now it is confirmed by
           other studies that boxing is simply our animal heritage.
               The one who gets excited in you is the animal -- it is not you. You also want to kill somebody --
           many times you have thought of killing somebody -- but you are not ready to take the consequences.
               In a boxing match there is a psychological consolation; you get identified. Every boxer has his
           own fans. Those fans are identified with him. If he hits the opponent and the opponent's nose is
           dripping blood, they are rejoicing. What they have not been able to do, somebody else is doing on
           their part, on their behalf.
               In any world which is sane, boxing would be a crime.
               It is a game, but all your games seem to be primitive... nothing of intelligence, nothing of
           humanity.
               These normally mad people are always just on the boundary line. At any time they can slip. A
           small accident -- the wife dies or goes away with somebody else -- and you forget the normal
           boundary, you cross it. Then you are declared mad, insane, and immediately you have to be taken to
           the psychiatrist or the psychoanalyst.
               And what is his function? His profession is the highest paid profession in the world. Naturally he
           makes people normal again, he pulls them back, he keeps them from going farther away from the
           normal line.
               His whole expertise is how to put you back and make you normally mad.
               Naturally the people who are functioning as psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists are
           in danger because they are constantly dealing with mad people. Naturally more psychologists go
           mad than any other profession -- the number is twice as many. More psychologists commit suicide
           than any other profession -- the number again is twice as many. And once in a while every
           psychologist goes to another psychologist to put himself back into the normal world, because he is
           slipping out.
               One would expect that at least the psychologist should be a sane person; he is trying to help other
           insane people. But this is not the case. They behave more insanely than anybody else, for the simple
           reason that from morning till night they are constantly coming in contact with all kinds of weird,
           strange people with weird ideas.
               One man was brought to a psychoanalyst... The man was convinced that he was dead. Everybody
           had tried to tell him: "Don't be foolish, you eat perfectly well, you sleep perfectly well, you talk
           perfectly well, you go for a morning walk -- and you say you are dead?"
               He said, "Who says that dead people don't go for a morning walk? Every day I meet many dead
           people going for a morning walk."
               The family was very much puzzled -- what to do with the man?
               When they found it impossible to convince him... Because he wouldn't go to the shop. His
           argument was clear: "Dead people don't run businesses. I have never come across a single dead man.
           If you can convince me by bringing a dead man who runs a business, I will go to the shop. I will do
           only things which dead people are supposed to do -- nothing else."
               They told the psychoanalyst the whole story: "This man is in a poor state."
               The psychologist said, "Don't be worried, I will fix him."
               He took a needle and asked this madman: "What do you think about the proverb that `Dead
           people don't bleed'?"
               He said, "It is absolutely right. I heard it when I was alive: `Dead people don't bleed.'"
               The psychologist was very happy. The family was very happy also -- listening, thinking that the
           psychologist is really great: he is catching him on the first point.
               The psychologist pushed the needle into the dead man's hand and blood came out. He looked at
           the dead man and said, "What do you say now?"
               The man said, "That means that proverb is wrong -- dead people do bleed. I had only heard it;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now it is my own experience."
                If you come across such people the whole day long, in the night you will dream of the same
           people. Naturally, psychologists don't live a very sane life.
                And they cannot live a sane life until and unless they accept that there is something beyond
           mind.
                The beyond is the rest, the shelter. Mind is a continuous chattering, it is twenty-four hours
           chattering. Only beyond mind is peace and silence. In that peace and silence sanity is born.
                Enlightenment is the ultimate peak of sanity -- when one becomes perfectly sane, has come to a
           point where silence, serenity, consciousness are twenty-four hours his, waking or sleeping. There
           runs a current of tranquility, blissfulness, benediction which is a nourishment, food from the beyond.
                Eastern psychology accepts mind as the lowest part of human consciousness -- dismal and dark.
           You have to go beyond it.
                And enlightenment is not the end, because it is only individual consciousness. Individuality is
           still like two banks of a river. The moment the river moves into the ocean, all banks disappear, all
           boundaries are annihilated. You have gone beyond enlightenment.
                Modern psychology has to learn much from the Eastern experiment. It knows nothing. All that
           modern psychology is doing is analyzing dreams, fixing people to somehow carry on their normal
           business and repressing their abnormalities. But it brings no transformation.
                Even the founders of modern psychology -- Freud or Jung or Adler or Assagioli -- are not people
           who you can put in the category of Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu. You cannot put these
           people with the seers of the UPANISHADS, with Kabir and Nanak and Farid. These are the sanest
           people humanity has produced, and they have not bothered about dreams, they have not gone
           through psychoanalysis for years together.
                It is such a strange phenomenon: in the whole world there is not a single person who has
           completed psychoanalysis -- because it goes on and on, ten years, twelve years. There are people
           who have been in psychoanalysis for twenty years, wasting millions of dollars.
                In fact, just as everywhere ladies talk about diamonds and emeralds and rubies, in America ladies
           say: "How long have you been in psychoanalysis? I have been in it for thirteen years!"
                It is a criterion of wealth: it shows you can afford to pay millions of dollars.
                The poor man, the psychoanalyst, has to listen to all kinds of garbage. No wonder that they start
           going mad, they start committing suicide, they jump from the window of a thirty-story building or
           hundred-story building! Just listen to a woman's dreams for twenty years.... It is a great relief for the
           husband, he is perfectly happy that she throws all her garbage and tantrums and everything on the
           psychoanalyst -- it is not too costly, he can manage to pay -- but for the poor psychoanalyst...
           Twenty years of listening to one woman and her stupid dreams? If one day he suddenly jumps out of
           the window, you cannot condemn him -- he needs everybody's sympathy.
           But it is big business.
                Just the other day I was telling you that Jesus founded a big business, Christianity. Another Jew,
           Sigmund Freud, founded another business, psychoanalysis. Another Jew, Karl Marx founded another
           business, communism.
                Jews are strange people. Whenever they do something, nobody can compete with them. Now half
           the world is communist in one Jew's hands; the other half is Christian, in another Jew's hands. And
           who knows? -- maybe both are partners.
                Jews are always business minded; they don't bother about Christianity, they don't bother about
           communism. Sigmund Freud is dead, Karl Marx is dead. Wherever they are -- in hell or in heaven --
           they may be enjoying the fact that their businesses are going well; they may have even joined with
           Jesus. This would be the real trinity: three Jews running the whole world.
                Modern psychology will not accept meditation because meditation will destroy their business.
                A man of meditation needs no psychoanalysis. The deeper his meditation goes, the saner he
           becomes and the further beyond the mind is his flight.
                Meditation is the greatest danger for psychoanalysis, for psychologists. They have to insist that
           there is nothing beyond mind because if there is something beyond mind, then their whole business
           can flop.
                The East has to assert itself: show that what they are doing is simply foolish.
                In a Zen monastery in Japan the same kind of psychological case is treated within three weeks; in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the West he would not be treated in twelve years. And in the Zen monastery in those three weeks
           there is no psychoanalysis. You will be surprised: nothing is done; the person is put in an isolated
           place -- a beautiful garden, pond. In time food will be provided, in time tea will be sent; but nobody
           will talk with him, he has to remain silent. You can see the difference.
                In psychoanalysis he has to talk about his dreams continuously, for years, one hour every day,
           two hours, two sessions a week, three sessions a week -- as much as you can afford.
                And here in a Zen monastery they simply put the man in a beautiful, comfortable place. There
           are musical instruments available, painting material is available, or if there is anything special he
           wants to do that is made available; but it has to be something to do -- not talking. And for three
           weeks nobody will to talk to him.
                During the three weeks, people paint, people play music, people dance, people work in the
           garden, and after three weeks they are perfectly normal, they are ready to go back home.
                What has happened? If you ask the Zen master, he would say, "Nothing; these people were
           working too hard, and their mind got wound up too much. They needed unwinding. So just three
           weeks rest and their mind was unwound. They needed physical work so that the whole energy goes
           into the body, not in the mind." And these people certainly become interested... without doing
           anything all the strange and weird things that they had been thinking had disappeared. This is a
           simple way for sick people to unwind the overloaded mind.
                For those who are healthy -- not sick people -- the way is meditation. There are different methods
           for different types. And thousands of people have achieved such luminosity, such glory, such
           godliness, that all the psychologists of the world should be ashamed. They have not been able to
           produce a single person. Even their founders are just very ordinary -- worse than ordinary.
                Sigmund Freud was so afraid of death that even the word `death' was prohibited. In his essence
           nobody should mention the word `death' because just hearing the word he would fall into a fit, he
           would go unconscious. These are the founders of modern psychology; they are going to give
           humanity sanity!
                And on the other hand.... A Zen monk, just before dying, said to his disciples: "Listen, I have
           always lived in my own way. I am an independent person and I want to die in my own way also.
           When I am dead I will not be here, so I will give you the instructions to be followed."
                Just as in India, it happens in exactly the same way in Japan too; before he is taken to the funeral,
           the person's clothes are changed, he is given a bath and new clothes are put on him.
                He said, "I have taken the bath myself, I have changed my clothes, you can see. So when I am
           dead, there is no need for any bath or changing of clothes. And these are the orders from your
           master, so remember: at least a dying man's wishes should not be denied -- and I am not asking
           much."
                His disciples said, "We will do as you say. There is nothing much in it."
                He died, and thousands of disciples were there. When his body was put on the funeral pyre, they
           all started laughing and giggling -- he had hidden firecrackers inside his clothes. He had made it into
           a divali, just to make everybody laugh -- because that was his basic teaching, that life should be a
           dance, a joy, and death should be a celebration.
                And people said that even after death he managed it so that nobody should stand around him with
           a long face, so that everybody was laughing. Even the strangers who had come started laughing; they
           had never seen such a scene.
                These are the people who have understood life and death. They can make death a joke.
                Not Sigmund Freud, for whom the word `death' becomes a fit.
                And the same is the case with other great psychologists. Jung wanted to go to Egypt to see the
           old mummies of kings and queens, dead bodies preserved for three thousand years old. But he was
           very much afraid of death and dead bodies. He was a disciple of Freud. He booked the ticket twelve
           times, and each time he would find some excuse: "I am feeling feverish," or, "Some urgent work has
           come."
                And he knew. He wrote in his diary: "I knew it was all an excuse. I was avoiding going to Egypt,
           but the more I avoided it the more I was attracted -- as if I had to go, it was a challenge to my
           manliness. Am I such a coward? So I would book again, and I would gather courage, and I would try
           to convince myself that there is nothing to be worried about -- they are dead bodies, they cannot do
           anything to you. And so many people go to see them. They are there in the museums. Thousands of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people see them every day. Why are you afraid?" -- but arguments won't do.
               Finally, the twelfth time he booked, he managed to get to the airport, but when the plane came on
           the airstrip all his courage, arguments and everything disappeared. He said, "I am feeling very sick
           and nauseous. I want to go back home. Cancel the trip." And after that, he never dared book again;
           twelve times was enough. He never managed to reach Egypt -- which was only a few hours' flight.
               He came to India, and he went to all the universities of India. He was here for three months. But
           he would not go to one man, where he needed to go: He would not go to Shri Raman Maharshi. And
           in every university it was suggested that he was wasting his time: "You have come to understand the
           Eastern approach, but we are all Western-educated psychologists in the Indian universities'
           psychological departments. You are just wasting your time. These people may be educated in the
           West or in the East but their education is Western; they know nothing of the East. But by chance
           there is a man -- he knows nothing of psychology, he is absolutely uneducated, but he represents the
           East. This man has experienced the ultimate flights of meditation. You just go and sit by his side."
               He went up to Madras, but he would not go to see him. It was only a two-hour journey from
           Madras, but he would not go. And he had come to India to understand what the Eastern attitude to
           psychology was.
               Western psychology -- which is the contemporary psychology -- is very childish.
               The East has a ten thousand year-old inquiry into human consciousness. It has touched every
           nook and corner of human being, within and without, as individual and as universal.
               But it is unfortunate that even the Eastern psychologists and professors of psychology have no
           idea about the Eastern approach. They are just parrots repeating Western psychology secondhand.
           That too is not their own original contribution. Sometimes even parrots are better and more
           intelligent.
               I have been a professor in the university, and I have been in constant conflict with the professors:
           "You are parrots and you are agents of the West without your knowing. You are corrupting the
           Eastern mind because you don't know what you are doing. You are not even aware of what the East
           has already discovered. You are just carbon copies carrying certificates from Western universities."
           I have often told a story in the universities.
               A bishop was looking for a parrot. His own parrot had died. He had been a very religious parrot
           -- religious in the sense that he was able to repeat the Sermon on the Mount accurately, word for
           word. And whoever heard him was simply amazed. And the parrot had died and the bishop was
           missing his parrot.
               So he went to a very big pet shop, and he looked around. There were many parrots there with
           many qualities. But he said, "No, my parrot was almost a saint, I want a very religious parrot."
               The pet shop owner said, "I have a special parrot -- but the price may be too much. He is no
           ordinary saint, he is a very special saint. Come inside with me. I keep my special parrots in my house
           behind the shop, not in the shop itself.
           There in a golden cage was a beautiful parrot.
               The pet shop owner said, "This is the religious parrot. You have talked so much about your
           parrot, but this parrot is unique -- you will forget all about him. Come close and see: on its right leg
           there is a small thread; if you pull that thread, he will repeat the Sermon on the Mount. There is also
           a small thread on its left leg; if you pull that, it will repeat the Song of Solomon. So if you have a
           Jew for a guest, you can make the parrot repeat the Song of Solomon from the Old Testament; or if
           you have a Christian guest, then the Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament."
               The bishop said, "Great; this is really great. And what will happen if I pull both threads
           together?"
               Before the owner could say anything, the parrot said, "Never do that, you idiot. I will fall on my
           ass!"
           Even parrots have some intelligence.
               Sooner or later psychology has to inquire into the states created by meditation, into spaces which
           are beyond mind. And unless it dares to penetrate the innermost core of human beings, it will not
           become a science. Right now its name is wrong; it has to prove that it is psychology -- the science of
           the soul.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              DURING DEEP RELAXATION I HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME STRANGE THINGS. ONE IS THAT I
              FELT LIFTED FROM THE EARTH, AND THE SECOND THAT I FELT TOUCHED BY HANDS
              TRYING TO HELP ME.
              EVERY TIME IT HAPPENED I FELT TOTALLY SCARED, DIDN'T DARE TO OPEN MY EYES, AND
              DID EVERYTHING I KNOW TO GROUND MYSELF.
              OSHO, CAN I TRUST AND JUST LET GO, OR IS THERE DANGER? "I" DON'T MAKE MYSELF
              FLY. I DON'T KNOW HOW FAR IT WOULD GO, AND WHETHER I WOULD EVER BE ABLE TO
              COME BACK.
              CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


                First, can't you recognize my hands? Open your eyes, and just take a good look! You see my
           hands every day.
                If in meditation you feel two hands appearing, don't close your eyes. And you will be able to
           recognize my hands.
           There is nothing to fear.
                In fact, the feeling that you are uplifted from the earth is tremendously valuable. You are not
           really lifted up, you are on the earth; it is not that your body is really lifted up.
           But you have three bodies.
           Your physical body will remain on the earth.
                And because of meditation your mental body is silent, relaxing.
                Only the astral body is capable of rising upwards; it is beyond gravitation. Gravitation has no
           power over it.
                Light is not under the control of gravitation. That's why the flame of a candle can go upwards.
           Even if you put the candle upside down, the flame will immediately turn upwards. The flame cannot
           go downwards because the gravitation has no pull on light.
                Your astral body is made only of light, of electrons.
                It is very indicative that you feel that your body is uplifted. Naturally in the beginning you will
           be gripped by fear: What is happening?
           But open your eyes.
                These are the moments when I am really with you in case you need me; hence, you feel two
           hands because it is a very delicate moment. Any accident is possible.
                Open your eyes and see. You will be surprised, because it will seem as if you are floating above
           your body and your body is lying down on the floor. But you will see a thin cord as if made of silver,
           shining, joined with the body lying down on the floor. The point the silver cord is joined to is your
           navel -- and it is very flexible. You can fly higher, and it will stretch without any difficulty. You can
           come closer.
                But don't be afraid. Don't start thinking, "How am I going to get into my body again?"
                You have not come out of the body with your effort. It is your silence, your peace that has helped
           your astral body move out. The moment you feel like getting back into the body, you will
           immediately find yourself back in the body. And those two hands that were close to you will
           disappear the moment you are back in the body.
                And just watch my hands closely because these will be the same hands, and naturally you need
           not be afraid of my hands. My hands have never done any harm to anybody.
                In fact, I cannot do anything with my hands -- these must be the laziest hands in the whole world.
                But your experience is immensely significant, impeccably beautiful.
                And the fear that if you go on and on, how far and where it will lead.... Don't be worried.
           Wherever it will lead you is the right place, the right space.
                Relax and remain in a let-go. You are not to control its movements because you are far smaller
           than the energy that you are trying to control. The best way is to simply surrender to existence and
           allow it to take you wherever it takes you; it has never taken anybody into any wrong space.
           It always takes you back home.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              OUT ON THE SPARKLING SEAS OF ONENESS, A MYSTERIOUS WIND FILLS MY SAILS, GIVING
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DIRECTION TO MY JOURNEY AND BECKONING ME ONWARDS INTO UNKNOWN WATERS.
              MY BELOVED CAPTAIN, WHEN DOES THE UNKNOWN BECOME THE UNKNOWABLE?


                Milarepa, your question is very simple.
           The mind can be divided into two parts: the known and the unknown.
                The known is your knowledge; the unknown is your ignorance. And all your universities and
           educational systems are trying to do only one thing: to put your mind completely in the field of the
           known, to dispel the unknown, to dispel ignorance.
                Beyond the known and the unknown is what I call `the unknowable'. That is beyond mind. That
           is the world of the mysterious, the world of the miraculous.
                The moment you pass beyond mind, the unknown is left behind, the known is left behind, and
           you enter into the unknowable. And the unknowable is the field of true religion. You experience it,
           you live it, you feel it, it becomes your heartbeat, but you can never say you know it.
           Knowledge seems to be a much lower category.
                The unknowable belongs to the category of being, not to the category of knowing.
                The mystics of all the ages, of all countries, are making every effort to push you from the known
           and unknown into the unknowable, to push you from the mind into the ocean of the mysterious.
           There you will experience much -- much that you can imagine, much that you can dream about -- but
           you will not be able to bring anything from it into the world of knowledge, you will not be able to
           translate it into words, into language, into anything that can become a symbol for it.
                I am reminded of a small child.... And a mystic is almost like a small child. The child was sitting
           with a canvas with all his colors and brushes, and his father was reading the newspaper. Again and
           again the father looked at the child... he's not doing anything, just sitting there. He said, "What are
           you doing?"
           The child said, "I am painting."
                After half an hour the father said, "But I don't see any painting on your canvas. Haven't you
           decided what you are going to paint yet?"
                The boy said, "No, that's not the point. I have painted it."
                The father came close to see. He said, "Painted it? I never thought that you would befool me. A
           plain canvas; you have not even touched it!"
                He said, "No, father; I have done my painting: a cow is grazing the grass."
                The father said, "A cow grazing in the grass? Where is the cow?"
                The boy said, "After grazing the grass, she has gone. What would she do here now?"
           The father said, "Okay, where is the grass?"
                The boy said, "You are strange; the cow has eaten the grass and gone."
                The father said, "How did you make this idea up? To befool me?"
                The boy said, "No, I am not befooling you. I saw the grass, I saw the cow, I saw the grass
           disappearing and I saw her go away."
                The child is innocent. Perhaps his imagination... And a child's imagination is really powerful --
           they cannot make any distinction between the dream and the real. He may have seen a cow and the
           grass, and when the cow was there and the grass was there he did not paint anything. What is the
           point of painting on a canvas when there is a cow and grass and everything is already there? But then
           the cow eats the grass and the cow goes....
                The father said, "Stop painting from today, and you stop all kinds of imaginations; otherwise you
           will go mad."
                That's what we are doing with every child. We are not allowing the child's imagination to be
           refined to such a point that it becomes almost real; otherwise, every person would carry a poet in
           him, a painter in him, a singer in him, a dancer in him.
                And finally, the culmination of all that is creative is the mystic.
                When you have sung the best of your songs, then silence is the song.
                When you have danced the best dance, the dancer disappears. And without the dancer, how can
           the dance remain?
                When your poetry is perfect, there is no poet. The poetry has immense significance but no
           meaning.
                In ancient China a Taoist proverb says: "When the archer is perfect, he throws away his bow and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his arrows. When the musician is perfect, he forgets all about his instruments."
               There is a mysterious world -- illogical to the mind, supra-logical to those who understand the
           world of the mystic. It surrounds us; we just need the right perception, clear eyes unburdened with
           knowledge -- innocent, weightless.
           We need wings -- wings of love, not of logic.
               Logic pulls you downwards. It is under the rule of gravitation.
           Love takes you towards the stars.
               Allow the mystic in you, and you have found all that is worth finding.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                  Chapter #25
                                  Chapter title: You are what you are seeking
           28 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610285
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH25
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 125 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              FROM TIME TO TIME A BEAUTIFUL STORY YOU TOLD US MORE THAN A YEAR AGO COMES
              TO MY MIND.
              IT IS ABOUT A YOUNG MAN WHO SET OUT TO LOOK FOR TRUTH, AND AFTER SOME
              FAILURES WAS GIVEN THE TASK OF LOOKING AFTER SOME COWS. STARTING WITH JUST A
              FEW OF THEM ON THE MOUNTAINS, HE WAS NOT TO COME BACK UNTIL HE HAD
              SUCCEEDED IN RAISING ONE THOUSAND OF THEM. YEARS WENT BY, UNTIL ONE DAY THE
              MAN HEARD THE COWS TALKING TO HIM, SAYING, "WE ARE ONE THOUSAND!" EVENTUALLY
              HE RETURNED TO THE VALLEY, WHERE PEOPLE COULD HARDLY DISTINGUISH THE MAN
              FROM THE ANIMALS.
              OFTEN, SIMPLY BY RECALLING THIS STORY, TEARS COME TO MY EYES. THERE IS SO MUCH
              BEAUTY AND FRESHNESS IN THE END OF THE STORY, THAT FOR A FEW MOMENTS IT
              BRINGS MY BEING TO A STANDSTILL.
              OSHO, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOU TELLING THIS STORY AGAIN AND AGAIN: "WE ARE ONE
              THOUSAND! WE ARE ONE THOUSAND!"
              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS THE MEANING THIS SMALL TALE IS CARRYING? WHY DO THESE
              FEW WORDS FILL ME WITH AWE AND TEARS? WOULD YOU KINDLY COMMENT?


                The story is one of the most ancient stories of the heart, of the world beyond words -- of
           knowing, not of knowledge; of utter innocence as the door to the divine.
                The story contains the very essence of meditativeness.
                It has many dimensions, many implications, and it is no wonder that it fills you with tears of joy.
           Those tears are indicative that the story has touched your heart, your very being; that you have tasted
           it although you don't understand what it is. You have felt its beauty, its glory, its depth -- but you
           find it hard to explain to yourself what it is that you have found.
                You have found a world of magic, mystery and miracles.
                I would love to tell you the whole story. It needs to be told thousands and thousands of times
           because each time you will find some new fragrance, some new sweetness, some new height, some
           new door opening, some new sky with new stars. And there are skies beyond skies.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I used to live in a place... I lived there for twenty years, in Jabalpur. Its ancient name was
           Jabalpur; it was named after a great mystic and seer of the UPANISHADS, Satyakam Jabal. And
           this story is concerned with Satyakam Jabal.
               Satyakam was a very inquiring child. He did not believe in anything unless he had experienced
           it. As he became a young man -- he must have been nearabout the age of twelve -- he asked his
           mother, "Now it is time. The prince of the kingdom has gone to the forest to join the family of a seer.
           He is my age. I also want to go, I also want to learn what this life is all about."
               The mother said, "It is very difficult, Satyakam, but I know that you are a born seeker. I was
           afraid that one day you would ask me to send you to a master. I am a poor woman, but that is not a
           great difficulty. The difficulty is that when I was young I served in many houses -- I was poor, but I
           was beautiful. I don't know who your father is. And if I send you to a master, you are going to be
           asked what the name of your father is. And I am afraid they may reject you.
               But there is no harm in making an effort. You go and tell the truth, in the same way I have told
           the truth to you. Many men have used my body because I was poor. Just say that you don't know
           who your father is. Tell the master that your name is Satyakam, your mother's name is Jabala, so
           they can call you Satyakam Jabal. And as far as the search for truth is concerned, who your father is
           does not matter."
               Satyakam went to an ancient seer in the forest, and sure enough the first question was, "What is
           your name? Who is your father?"
           And he repeated exactly what his mother had said.
               There were many disciples -- princes, rich people's sons. They all started laughing.
               But the old master said, "I will accept you. It does not matter who your father is. What matters is
           that you are authentic, sincere, unafraid -- capable of saying the truth without feeling embarrassed.
           Your mother has given you the right name, Satyakam. `Satyakam' means one whose only desire is
           truth. You have a beautiful mother, and you will be known as `Satyakam Jabal'. And the tradition is
           that only brahmins can be accepted as disciples. I declare you a brahmin -- because only a brahmin
           can have the courage of such truth."
               Those were beautiful days. The old seer's name was Uddalak.
               Satyakam became his most loved disciple. He deserved it, he was so pure and so innocent.
               But Uddalak had his own limitations. Although he was a man of great learning, he was not an
           enlightened master. So he taught Satyakam all the scriptures, he taught him everything that he was
           capable of, but he could not deceive Satyakam as he had been deceiving everybody else. Not that
           Satyakam was raising any doubts; it was just that his innocence had such power that the old man had
           to confess, "Whatever I have been telling you is knowledge gathered from the scriptures. It is not my
           own. I have not experienced it, I have not lived it. I suggest that you go deeper into the forest. I know
           a man who has realized, who has become an embodiment of truth, love, compassion. You go to
           him."
               Uddalak had heard about the man, but did not know the man personally. Uddalak was far more
           famous, he was a great scholar....
               Satyakam went to the other man. This man taught him many new scriptures, and all the VEDAS,
           the most ancient scriptures of the world. And after years he told him, "Now you know everything;
           there is nothing more to know. You can go back home."
               First he went to see Uddalak. From his window, Uddalak saw Satyakam coming on the footpath
           through the forest. He was shocked. Satyakam's innocence was lost; in place of innocence there was
           pride -- naturally, because now he thought he knew everything in the world that is worth knowing.
           The very idea was so ego fulfilling.
               He came in. As he started to touch the feet of Uddalak, Uddalak said, "Don't touch my feet! First,
           I want to know where you have lost your innocence. It seems I have sent you to the wrong man."
               Satyakam said, "To the wrong man? He has taught me everything that is worth knowing."
               Uddalak said, "Before you touch my feet, I would like to ask you -- have you experienced
           anything or it is just information? Has any transformation happened? Can you say that whatever you
           know is your knowledge?"
               Satyakam said, "I cannot say that. What I know is written in the scriptures; I have not
           experienced anything."
               Uddalak said, "Then go back, but now go to another person I have come to know about while
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you were gone. And unless you have experienced, don't come back. You have come here not more
           than when I sent you but less. You have lost something of immense value. And what you call
           knowledge -- if it is borrowed, it only covers your ignorance; it does not make you a knower. Go to
           this man and tell him that you have not come for more information about truth, about God, about
           love. Tell him you have come to know truth, to know love, to know God. Tell him, `If you can fulfill
           the promise, only then waste my time; otherwise I will find another master.'"
           Satyakam said exactly this.
               The master was sitting under a tree with a few of his disciples. After listening to the request, he
           said, "It is possible, but you are asking something very difficult. There are so many disciples here --
           they all want more knowledge. They want to know about and about. But if you insist that you are not
           interested in information, that you are ready to do anything, that your devotion to truth is total, then I
           will find a way for you."
               Satyakam said, "I am ready to sacrifice my life, but I cannot go without knowing the truth.
           Neither can I go to my teacher nor can I go to my mother, who has given me the name `Satyakam'.
           And the teacher accepted me without knowing whether I was a brahmin or not, just on the simple
           grounds that I was truthful. Tell me what has to be done."
               The master said, "Take all these cows that you see here deep into the forest. Go as deep as
           possible, so you don't come in contact again with any human being. The purpose is that you forget
           language, words. Live with the cows, take care of the cows, play on your flute, dance -- but forget
           words. And when the cows have grown to one thousand, come back."
               The other disciples could not believe what was happening -- because there were just a dozen or
           two dozen cows. How long is it going to take for them to become one thousand?
               But Satyakam took the cows, went as deep as possible into the forest, beyond human contact,
           beyond human context. For a few days it was difficult but slowly slowly, the cows were his only
           company. And they are very silent people. He played on the flute, he danced alone in the forest, he
           rested under the trees.
               For a few years he continued to count the cows. Then by and by he dropped it, because it seemed
           impossible that they would become one thousand. And moreover he was forgetting how to count;
           language was disappearing.
           Words disappeared; counting could not be saved.
           And the story is so immensely beautiful....
               The cows became worried when they became one thousand -- because they wanted to go back
           home, and this man had forgotten how to count! Finally the cows decided, "We have to speak;
           otherwise this lonely forest is going to become our grave."
               So one day the cows caught hold of him and told him, "Listen, Satyakam, we are now one
           thousand and it is time to go back home."
               He said, "I am very grateful to you. If you had not told me.... I had even forgotten about home or
           about returning. Each moment was so tremendously beautiful... so many blessings. In the silence,
           flowers went on showering. I had forgotten everything. I had no idea why I had come here, who I
           am. Everything had become an end in itself -- playing the flute was enough, resting under the trees
           was enough, seeing the beautiful cows sitting silently all around was so beautiful. But if you insist,
           we should return."
               The disciples of the great master saw him coming with one thousand cows. They reported to the
           master, "We had never believed that he would come back. He is coming, and we have counted
           exactly one thousand cows. He is coming!"
               And when he came, he stood there... just in the crowd of cows.
               The master said to the other disciples, "You counted wrong. There are one thousand and one
           cows; you forgot to count Satyakam! He has moved beyond your world, he has entered into the
           innocent, the silent, the mysterious. He is not saying anything, he is just standing there as the cows
           are standing there ."
               The master said, "Satyakam, you come out. Now you have to go to your other master who sent
           you here. He is an old man and he must be waiting. Your mother must be waiting."
               And when Satyakam came to Uddalak, his first teacher -- who had not allowed him to touch his
           feet because he had lost his innocence, he was no more a brahmin, he had fallen, he had become just
           a knowledgeable parrot... As Uddalak saw him from the window again, he ran out the back door --
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because now Satyakam cannot be allowed to touch his feet; now Uddalak would have to touch his
           feet. Because Uddalak is still a scholar, and Satyakam is coming not as a scholar but as one who is
           awakened.
               Uddalak escaped from the house: "I cannot face him. I am ashamed of myself. Just tell him," he
           told his wife, "that Uddalak is dead and he can go now to his mother. Tell him I died remembering
           him." These were people made of different mettle.
           Satyakam went back home.
               The mother had become very old, but she had waited and waited and waited. And she said, "You
           have proved, Satyakam, that truth is always victorious. And you have proved that a brahmin is not
           born, a brahmin is a quality to be achieved. Everybody by his birth is a sudra -- because everybody's
           birth is the same. One has to prove by purifying himself, by crystallizing himself, by becoming
           centered and enlightened, that he is a brahmin. Just to be born into the family of a brahmin does not
           make you a brahmin."
               If you meditate on the story, you will see: the very essence of meditation is to be so silent that
           there is no stirring of thoughts in you, that words don't come between you and reality, that the whole
           net of words falls down, that you are left alone.
               This aloneness, this purity, this unclouded sky of your being is meditation.
               And meditation is the golden key to all the mysteries of life.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MASTER EVER -- LIFE HAS GIVEN ME SO MUCH SINCE I HAVE
               BEEN WITH YOU -- BUT STILL, EXCEPT FOR MOMENTS OF BEATITUDE WITH YOU OR IN MY
               MEDITATION, DEEP DOWN IN MYSELF THERE IS ALWAYS A DEEP-ROOTED SADNESS AND A
               LONGING FOR SOME SPACE THAT I HARDLY CAN REMEMBER.
               CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


                Meditation always opens doors, different doors to different people.
                Sadness is not necessarily something bad. Don't judge it as a bad or negative quality.
                When a person who has never been silent, for the first time becomes silent, the very silence feels
           sad because there is no excitement, no firecrackers.
                You can misunderstand your first acquaintance with silence as sadness, but it is not sadness. It is
           just that you have been always engaged in a thousand and one things and now they have all
           disappeared. You feel a little lost. Before silence becomes a song, a small period, a transitory period,
           is absolutely necessary.
                You know sadness. And sadness has something of silence in it -- whenever you are sad, you are a
           little silent. So there is an association between your sadness and silence. When you become silent for
           the first time, the only thing you can feel from your past experience is sadness.
                Allow it to deepen. Don't judge it as sadness, because that very judgment may become a barrier.
           The moment you say something negative you are trying to get rid of it. Don't say anything negative
           about it.
                Just accept it as a bridge between silence and song.
                Just wait a little, and you will start feeling that this silence is not dead, it is not the silence of the
           graveyard. It is a silence which is very much alive, a silence which is not empty but too full,
           overflowing....
                Overflowing with what? Again, a new experience is waiting for you. You have known only
           songs with words. You have never known a pure song without words, music without sound.
                Just a little waiting, and the sadness will start turning into a song with no words, into a music
           with no sounds, into a dance with no movements.
                Everything is going perfectly right, just a little bit of patience is needed.
                When you are sick, in the hospitals you are called `patients'. Have you ever thought about why?
           -- because healing takes time, and you have to be patient.
                This is inner healing, and you need a deeper patience.
                But if silence is there and meditation is happening, then there is no problem at all. Spring will be
           coming soon with all its colors and all its flowers and all its beauty.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Just wait a little.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I WAS BORN IN THE MOUNTAINS, AND THROUGHOUT MY CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH I WAS
               PULLED TO EXPLORE, CLIMB, OR JUST SIT ON THE PEAKS, ON THE STEEP WALLS, OR BY
               THE SIDE OF A GLACIER STREAM. I LIVED IN THE MOUNTAINS, AND THEY FED ME, LIKE A
               MOTHER, WITH SOMETHING VERY PRECIOUS.
               SOMEWHERE I READ THAT THE MOUNTAINS, THE HIGH, SNOW-CAPPED PEAKS ARE THE
               VERY ESSENCE OF BUDDHA.
               OSHO, THE BEAUTY THAT SURROUNDS YOU, THE COOL BREEZE THAT HOVERS AROUND
               YOU, IS LIKE THE ONE COMING FROM THE HIGHEST, THE WILDEST PEAK IN THE WORLD.
               I'VE BEEN WITH YOU FOR SEVEN YEARS, AND IN THIS LAST PERIOD OF TIME I FELT THAT I
               WAS PASSING THROUGH THE SAME PASTURES, THE SAME PLAINS I REMEMBER LEAVING
               FOR THE HEIGHTS SEVEN YEARS AGO. I SEE THE STARTING POINT AS COMPLETELY
               DIFFERENT NOW: IT IS SWEET AND BEAUTIFUL, ENOUGH UNTO ITSELF, NO LONGER AWFUL
               AND DISGUSTING AS IT USED TO BE.
               BELOVED OSHO, I HAVEN'T COME TO KNOW ANYTHING; THE THOUSAND SUNS DID NOT
               SHINE IN MY HEAD. ALL I'VE GOT NOW IS MYSELF, CONTENTED, AT THE SAME POINT FROM
               WHERE I STARTED MY JOURNEY SEVEN YEARS AGO.
               HAVE I BEEN DREAMING ALL THESE YEARS OF TRAVELING FAR AWAY WHEN MY FEET DID
               NOT LEAVE THE BASE CAMP? OR WAS ALL THIS TO REALIZE THAT WHERE I STARTED FROM
               IS WHERE I BELONG?
               OSHO, PLEASE TELL ME: SOMETIMES THIS DREAM SEEMS TO BE REAL, BUT NOW MY BEING
               DOES NOT FEEL AS IF IT IS PULLED TO GO ANYWHERE. HAVE I BEEN CHEATING MYSELF?
               OR IS THIS AS FAR AS IT IS ALLOWED FOR ME TO GO IN THIS LIFE?
               WILL YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH? I'M TIRED NOW; BE MERCILESS, BUT PLEASE SAY WHAT IS
               REALLY HAPPENING TO ME.


               It is not only with you but with everybody, exactly the same.
           You are what you are seeking.
               You are standing at exactly the place towards which you have been traveling -- for seven years or
           seventy years or seven hundred years.
               Your reality is within you, it is not somewhere else. But to understand the point, sometimes it
           takes years. You knock on many doors before you come to your own door... and then you are
           puzzled, because this is the house you had left and this is the house you have been searching for.
               But the search has not been useless; it has given you the eyes to recognize.
               I have often told a Sufi story. A man renounces the world, his wife, his home. He is young and he
           is going in search of a master.
               Just outside his village under a tree, an old man is sitting. The sun is just setting, and darkness is
           descending. The young man asks the old man, "You look as if you are a traveler; you certainly don't
           belong to my village. I am a young man and I am in search of a master. You are old; perhaps you
           have come across a master in your journeys, and will be kind enough to help me with some
           directives, some guidelines -- because I am feeling at a loss, where to go."
               The old man said, "I will give you exact details. The master looks like this" -- and he described
           the face of the master, the eyes of the master, the nose of the master, the beard of the master, his
           robe. "And he sits under a certain tree" -- and he described the tree.
               And he said, "You will find him; just remember these details. Whenever you find a man who
           fulfills these criteria, you have found your master."
               Thirty years passed. The young man became old, tired. He never came across anybody fitting the
           description given by the old man. Finally he gave up the whole idea of finding a master: "Perhaps
           there is no master anywhere."
               He went back to his village. And as he was entering the village, under the same tree... It was
           sunrise, there was more light. The old man had become very old. The last time they had met he must
           have been sixty; now he was ninety. And because for thirty years the man had been looking for
           certain eyes, a certain nose, a certain beard, a certain robe, a certain tree.... As he saw the tree and he
           saw the old man he said, "My God, so you were describing yourself! Why didn't you tell me? Why
           did you force me to travel unnecessarily around the world for thirty years searching for you, while
           you were sitting here?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The old man said, "First throw out all your tantrums and your anger; then I will tell you the truth.
           Thirty years ago you were too young. The time was not right; it was sunset, darkness was
           descending. And you were in such a hurry to go in search, that if I had told you that I was the master
           you would have laughed and said, `This is strange that you are sitting just outside my village!' And
           you cannot blame me because I explained every detail, but your eyes were looking far away. You
           were listening to me, but you were not looking to see that I was describing my eyes, my nose, my
           beard, my robe, that I was describing the tree under which I was sitting. You were not ripe.
                "These thirty years have not gone to waste; they have matured you. Now you can recognize me.
           Just look; it is sunrise, the right time. And it is not the beginning of your journey, you had already
           given up. I am meeting you at the end of thirty years of long, arduous effort. That which you can get
           cheap you cannot recognize. You had to pay these thirty years and all the troubles that you went
           through just to be mature enough to recognize me.
                "I could have told you on that day too -- but it would have been pointless, and you would have
           missed me.
                "And you think you have been in trouble for thirty years? Just think about me -- for thirty years I
           have been sitting under the same tree, because I described this tree. I have not left it for a single day
           because I was aware that any moment you might come, and if you didn't find me here I would have
           been proved to have spoken lies. I have been sitting here for thirty years continuously -- day in, day
           out; summer, winter, rain, but I have been sitting here. And you see I am old. I was worried that if I
           died before you came back, it would be a tragedy. So I have been trying to somehow cling to life --
           because as far as I am concerned there is nothing left; I have realized myself. Life has given
           everything that it can give. I have been sitting just for you."
           The story is strange, but significant.
           It takes time to realize that which you are.
                Basically there is no need: you can realize just now, this very moment. But to realize it you will
           need a certain maturity, a certain centering, a certain awareness, a certain silence.
                Seven years are not long. And don't be worried that you have not seen a thousand suns rising in
           you; it is not necessary. Everybody experiences his innermost being in his own way.
                Somebody experiences it as light, but that is his type.
                There are people who have realized it as immense darkness.
                You are hearing the firecrackers all around. Two religions in India, Hindus and Jainas, celebrate
           this festival, the festival of lights. They have different reasons; it is just a coincidence that something
           has happened on the same day in the history of both religions.
                Hindus celebrate it because Rama, one of the Hindu incarnations of God, was victorious over
           Ravana. He came back after fourteen years of wandering in the forest and the mountains to his
           capitol, Ayodhya. And because he was coming back after fourteen years, the capitol celebrated with
           lights and firecrackers and rejoicings. That is the Hindu reason.
           For Jainas this is not the reason.
                Mahavira became enlightened on the same day, and Mahavira is the most important individual in
           the history of Jainism. Jainas are celebrating because Mahavira attained liberation. And he attained
           liberation in a unique way....
                Gautam Buddha became enlightened on a full-moon night. And except for Mahavira, anybody
           who has become enlightened has become enlightened either on a full-moon night or close to it.
           Mahavira is unique in that he became enlightened on the night of amawas, no moon, complete
           darkness. He is alone; there is nobody else who has become enlightened on the night of amawas.
           Individual types...
                Gautam Buddha was born on a full-moon night. He became enlightened on a full-moon night. He
           died on a full-moon night. This cannot be just coincidence. His type has something to do with a
           synchronicity with the full-moon night.
                There are saints, mystics... when they become enlightened, they smell some perfume which is not
           of this world. Because of this experience, among Sufi mystics perfume has become very significant,
           and Sufi mystics of different schools use different kinds of perfumes. Because their master
           experienced a certain perfume, they use something parallel to it. It cannot be exactly the same, but
           something parallel, on the lowest rung of the same ladder which the master experienced on the
           highest rung. They use that perfume as a remembrance of their master.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Some have heard unworldly music, anahat nad.
                Because people are of different types, their ultimate experience is also going to be of a different
           type; it is going to have their signature on it.
                So don't be worried if you are not seeing a thousand and one suns rising in you.
                Kabir has seen them. Gautam Buddha has not seen them. Mahavira has not seen them. But there
           are a few other mystics who have seen them.
                Just as you are unique in your ordinary life... You know people who have a sensitivity for music,
           and there are others who don't have any ear for music.
                Mulla Nasruddin's wife bought two tickets for a classical concert. Mulla tried hard, but could not
           escape; he had to go to the concert. It was classical Indian music. So when the musician started
           doing his aalap, tuning his instrument, Mulla Nasruddin's eyes became full of tears. His wife said, "I
           never thought you loved classical music so much."
                He said, "It is not the classical music. I am crying because this man is going to die!"
                The wife said, "What gave you the idea this man is going to die?"
                He said, "You wouldn't understand. One night one of my goats started doing exactly what this
           man is doing. And I said, `What is the matter?' I tried hard to stop her but she wouldn't listen, and in
           the morning she was dead. I can guarantee that by morning this man is going to be dead; this is the
           beginning of the disease. This is not music."
                He had never heard classical music. Poor fellow had one similar experience... a natural
           conclusion.
                There are people who are sensitive to certain things, for example paintings, and there are a few
           who are not at all sensitive to paintings.
                In the life of Michelangelo there was one incident....
                Just a few years ago, you may have read in the newspapers: a man, a madman destroyed one of
           the most beautiful statues in the Vatican. It was of Jesus Christ lying in his mother's lap after he was
           taken down from the cross. That statue was thought to be the best statue in the whole world, and
           certainly it was so alive. Michelangelo had put all his art into it, it was his masterpiece. And this man
           simply destroyed it with a hammer because he wanted to become world famous. He became world
           famous.
                This incident in Michelangelo's life concerns the same statue.
                Michelangelo went into a shop in the market where there were shops selling marble. Just in front
           of the shop on the open ground there was a big rock -- a huge marble rock that had been lying there
           for years. And he asked, "How much is the price?"
                The owner said, "There is no price; it has been lying there for almost ten years, and you are the
           first person even to ask about it. If you can take it away, it is yours. It will be enough payment that
           our grounds are cleared and we can put out other rocks for show. That rock is taking so much space.
           And every artist comes here; no artist has ever seen any possibility for that rock."
                And Michelangelo cut from that same rock this statue that was destroyed a few years ago.
                When the statue was ready, he invited the shop owner. The man could not believe it. He said,
           "Where did you get such a beautiful piece of marble?"
                Michelangelo said, "This is the same rock that you gave me at no charge."
                The man said, "My God, but you have created the most beautiful statue I have ever seen. How
           could you manage to think, looking at that ugly rock, that you would be able to do it?"
                He said, "I have not done anything. It was just that Jesus cried out to me, `Michelangelo, I am
           encaged in this rock. Make me free.'"
           This is genius.
                Jesus was there, Mary was there. But to see the possibility in that ugly rock, you need a certain
           insight.
                Now, if Michelangelo becomes enlightened, his experience will have something to do with his
           genius. If Yehudi Menuhin becomes enlightened, his enlightenment will have something to do with
           his musical genius.
                Each individual is unique in ordinary life. The uniqueness becomes even more sharp and clear,
           crystal clear, when the person becomes enlightened -- because only then his pure genius, his pure
           individuality, uncontaminated, unpolluted, is revealed.
                So never be concerned that what has happened to others should happen to you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sometimes it can happen because in this big world, millions of people have lived before and
           thousands of people have become enlightened; you may have something similar. You may have
           something which will look strange to others.
                Ashok Bharti has asked a question which is unique -- because it happened only once before.
           Since he has been here -- and he has been singing songs; those who have been here can see that the
           quality, the joy, the celebration has been growing -- but something else has been happening that you
           cannot see.
                He has written in his question, "Bhagwan, my breasts are growing like women's breasts. And
           feminine qualities which I was not aware of before are becoming more and more expressive." If he
           says this to anybody else, they will think he is mad: "You just go to some doctor, you have some
           hormonal disturbance."
                But it happened in Ramakrishna's life, and something much more... because after his
           enlightenment Ramakrishna tried whatever methods were available. He wanted to see whether he
           could reach the same experience through other methods, because he wanted there to be only one
           religion in the world. Every religious person should have that desire.
                It is ugly to see that there are three hundred religions in the world, continuously fighting and
           continuously destroying each other; talking about love and killing each other.
                In Bengal, there is a small religion which believes that Krishna is the only man and everybody
           else is a woman. It is a strange kind of idea, and everybody else laughs about it, and particularly at
           the behavior of those people because they sleep with a statue of Krishna close to their bosom at
           night, just like a woman sleeps with her husband or her lover.
                Ramakrishna tried their ideology also, and in six months time his breasts became just like those
           of women. But what was even more strange was that he started having a menstrual period. The
           sincerity of the man, the totality of the man... whenever he followed anything, whenever he did
           anything he did it completely.
                So it is possible: singing songs of love... your mind is the creator of your body, it affects your
           body.
                You can see it happening in the West in the women who are concerned with the liberation
           movement. Their breasts slowly disappear because they don't want to be women, they want to be
           men. And they want in every possible way to be exactly like men -- in their dress, in their behavior,
           in their language.
                For example, nowhere in the East will any woman use a four-letter word; that is simply
           ungraceful. But in the West, that is part of the liberated woman -- to smoke cigarettes and to use
           four-letter words. One is just waiting for the day when they start pissing standing up. They may start!
           Equality is equality. One can go to stupid lengths.
           But in the West, the breast has suffered immensely.
                The Eastern woman is still rich as far as breasts are concerned.
                Your mind has immense power over your body. If your mind takes up a certain idea, sooner or
           later the body will follow it. The body is slow, but it will follow it.
                But even beyond the mind, your individuality is intact. No two individuals' experience is exactly
           the same. That has been the cause of a great tragedy, because Mohammed experiences something
           which Mahavira does not experience, and then the followers start making criteria: if they follow
           Mahavira then Mahavira's experience becomes the criterion; unless somebody experiences the same,
           his experience is not right. The same is true of the followers of Mohammed or Moses or Zarathustra.
                But the truth is -- and nobody has been insisting on it -- that all are unique people, they all grow
           different flowers. The similarity is in blossoming but not in the color of the flowers or in the
           fragrance of the flowers. The color and the fragrance is going to be unique -- and it is good, because
           it makes spiritual life rich; otherwise it will be very monotonous.
           So don't be worried about anybody's experience.
                And if you are fed up with the journey, perhaps you are coming back to your village and I am
           sitting there under the tree.
                Just recognize me! I have been telling you in every possible way who the master is.


              BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU DESCRIBED IN "THE MUSTARD SEED" HOW RAMAKRISHNA WAS ADDICTED TO FOOD,
              AND PEOPLE WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT THAT A LIBERATED MAN COULD BE
              ADDICTED TO FOOD. BEFORE HE DIED, HE SAID HE WAS CLINGING TO SOMETHING
              IMPERFECT IN HIM SO HE COULD BE HERE AND SERVE PEOPLE.
              YOU SAY MANY MASTERS HAVE DONE THIS. THE MOMENT THEY FEEL THAT SOMETHING IS
              GOING TO BECOME COMPLETELY PERFECT IN THEM, THEY WILL CLING TO SOME
              IMPERFECTION JUST TO STAY HERE.
              NOW OSHO, WHAT ARE YOU CLINGING TO, OR PLANNING TO CLING ONTO?


              I am addicted to you!




                                           Beyond Enlightenment
                                                  Chapter #26
                                 Chapter title: The alchemy of enlightenment
           29 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610295
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH26
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              SINCE MY CHILDHOOD, I HAVE SEEN YOU AS A BUDDHA, EVEN BEFORE YOUR
              ENLIGHTENMENT I SAW YOU AS A BUDDHA -- THE SAME SERENITY, THE SAME NATURAL
              GLOW, THE SAME SPONTANEITY, THE SAME LOVE, THE SAME COMPASSION, THE SAME
              CAREFREENESS, THE SAME BLISSFULNESS AS IT IS TODAY.
              I HAVE SEEN MANY OF YOUR PHASES, AND I SAY AGAIN AND AGAIN THAT YOU WERE A
              BUDDHA BEFORE YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT.
              THE STORY OF YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT IS A DEVICE FOR US, IS A BEAUTIFUL ASSURANCE
              FOR US.
              I AM IMMENSELY GRATEFUL. I FEEL FORTUNATE THAT YOU SHOWERED YOUR LOVE AND
              COMPASSION ON ME FROM THE BEGINNING. YOU HAVE HELPED ME AT EACH STEP, AT
              EACH TURNING POINT OF MY LIFE. YOU CHANGED MY LIFE, YOU FILLED MY LIFE WITH LOVE
              AND JOY, YOU GAVE ME IMMENSE CLARITY, YOU MADE ME FREE.
              I BOW DOWN TO YOU. BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI, BUDDHAM SHARANAM
              GACHCHHAMI, BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI.


               Narendra, you are almost right. But remember my emphasis on the word almost.
               And this is true not only about me, this is true about everybody else too: Everybody is by nature
           a divine being, an awakened soul, a Gautam Buddha, who has just fallen asleep for a while, has just
           forgotten himself for a moment and is lost in dreams, beautiful dreams of ambition, desire, success...
           to be someone special in the world, to leave footprints behind.
               The moment your dream is broken, your sleep is gone, suddenly you are in for a great surprise,
           perhaps the greatest surprise: that the treasure you have been looking for is within you, that the
           paradise you have been searching for is within you, that there is no God who can drive you out of the
           Garden of Eden because the Garden of Eden is your very being. At the most you can forget it but
           you cannot lose it. And once you recognize it, then life becomes really hilarious; you can laugh at
           your own efforts and endeavors, at your whole past that you have spent in searching for it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the goal of your search was not away from you, not even close to you. You were the goal,
           the seeker was the sought.
               And everything that you have done before you became enlightened, everything that you have
           been before you became aware of your tremendous beauty, of your eternal life, will take a different
           meaning after your enlightenment. To you and to those who are close to you, the enlightenment will
           make such a great difference.
               Narendra has known me since he was a child. But if I had not become enlightened he would not
           have asked me this question or raised this question to himself. Even the very idea of buddhahood
           might not have happened to him; he would have known me as a friend, he would have known me as
           a loving companion.
               It is the enlightenment that changes the meaning of all his experiences, gives them a new color, a
           new light, a new luminosity. The same incidents start having a totally new meaning.
               I can understand your question, Narendra. Now you look backwards, but because now you know
           my enlightenment you can easily conclude that I was always enlightened, that I was born
           enlightened; otherwise those incidents of love, care, understanding would not have taken such a
           colorful and meaningful significance. That's why I say you are almost right.
               I myself can look retrospectively... then everything starts taking on a new meaning. It would not
           have had the same meaning. It is the alchemy of enlightenment that everything has become pure
           gold, that small and meaningless things have taken wings and have become great.
               I will give you a few examples which could not have been understood in the same way they have
           been understood; there was no possibility, no hope.
               One of my teachers was very perfectionistic, a great disciplinarian, a very beautiful man. Every
           year he started his class with the same introduction, because the students were new; he introduced
           himself by saying that, "It is better that I should make clear to you what kind of man I am, so you are
           not in the dark and you don't do anything without understanding the nature of the teacher. First: I
           don't believe in headaches, stomachaches, no. Anything that you cannot prove and anything that I
           cannot check by myself will not be an excuse to take a holiday or to go home. You can have a fever,
           I can feel your fever. So remember it -- I simply don't believe in headaches and stomachaches
           because there is no proof. Even a physician has to rely upon the patient, that he has a headache -- he
           may be lying, or he may be in illusion. What is the guarantee? How do you know that you are right?"
               I said, "This is strange; this is going to be difficult" -- because those were simple excuses to
           escape from any class, to say that "I have a strong headache and I want to go home."
               He used to go every evening for a walk. Just by the side of the school there was a beautiful road,
           covered from both sides with big trees, mango trees.
               I said, "Things have to be settled from the very beginning."
               So I climbed up into a tree, high up, and waited for this teacher -- he was a Mohammedan, his
           name was Rahimuddin. He came exactly on time... He was very precise in everything; at exactly the
           same time each day he used to pass by that tree.
               I dropped a big mango on his head. He said, "Ahhhh!" and looked up. And he saw me there.
           I said, "What is the matter? What has happened?"
               For a moment there was silence. He said, "Come down."
           I came down.
               He said, "You have proved that there is something like a headache, but don't tell anybody. If you
           have a headache, you just raise one finger and I will give you a holiday. If you have a stomachache,
           you need not prove it to me -- you just raise two fingers, because you seem to be dangerous!"
               He was a bachelor, an old man; he had never married. He lived a very beautiful life, had a small
           cottage, a garden.
               And he was very famous for one strange thing -- because he had enough money, unmarried, no
           children, no wife.... He had three hundred and sixty-five suits of clothes, one for each day; then for
           the whole year that suit of clothes would not be used again. Naturally every husband was jealous.
               He said, "I live alone. I sleep outside in the garden, and I don't want any proof for stomachache!
           -- so one is enough. You have given me the proof that you are capable, so when you have a
           stomachache raise two fingers and I will understand. But this is an agreement between us: that you
           will not tell anybody else that headaches or stomachaches exist."
               I said, "I am not worried about anybody else. My problem is solved because I want things from
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the very beginning to be clear, just like you do."
               He said, "You have made it very clear -- it is still hurting! I have been a teacher thirty years and
           nobody ever thought of this idea. I will remember you for my whole life."
               It was a small incident, and would have been forgotten -- but when people started coming to me
           many years after this incident he started telling people, "I knew beforehand that this boy was going
           to be someone extraordinary."
               People asked, "How did you come to know? -- and you never mentioned it before."
               He said, "I had almost forgotten it; just now, as his name is becoming known around the world
           and people are coming to him from all over the world, I remembered. And now that incident has a
           totally different meaning. Because for my whole life I was introducing every class in the same way
           and nobody ever tried anything. And this was the only one -- a singular instance -- who proved to me
           that a headache had to be accepted. I knew it that very day."
               In 1970 I went to that village for the last time. He had become very old. Hearing that I was there,
           he came to see me. I said, "I was going to come to you. You are too old, you should not have
           bothered to walk almost two miles."
               He said, "I am feeling so happy. Seeing you it still hurts, but now I feel a certain pride that you
           were my student."
               Now the whole thing takes a different color, it becomes a pride. Otherwise, if I had turned out to
           be a thief or a criminal, then the same incident would have been a proof: "I knew from the very
           beginning that this boy was going to be a criminal, that sooner or later he would murder somebody."
               Retrospectively you always look at things in a way you would not have looked at them if life had
           moved in a different direction -- the same things. The same things would not have given you the
           same indications.
               By the way, I would like to remind you that all autobiographies are false because they are all
           written retrospectively. A man becomes a Mahatma Gandhi and then he writes his autobiography in
           the light what he has become. He starts looking at things in the past when he was not Mahatma
           Gandhi, and everything now has to fit with Mahatma Gandhi. There has to be a logical connection, a
           coherence. So it is as if you are reading a novel backwards -- things will be totally different.
               All autobiographies are fictions. They should not be categorized separately in any library. The
           science of librarianship should understand a simple fact: that every autobiography is a fiction.
               For example the day Mahatma Gandhi's father died he was with his father massaging his feet,
           and the doctors had said that this was going to be the last night; there was no hope that this man
           would ever see the sunrise, before sunrise he would be gone. In the middle of the night, Mahatma
           Gandhi was massaging his father's feet, but he was thinking of his wife.
               The father was dying. It was an absolute certainty that this was his last night, and he had fallen
           asleep. Seeing that he was asleep, Mahatma Gandhi slipped silently into his wife's room, and while
           he was making love to his wife, his father died. And suddenly the whole house was awake. He heard
           the noise -- "What is the matter?" And he could not forgive himself, that even for one night he could
           not remain away from his wife when the death of his father was absolutely certain.
               If he had not become a famous man, a world-famous man, this incident would not have carried
           any importance; perhaps he himself would have forgiven it, forgotten it -- just an ordinary incident.
               But writing his autobiography, he connects it with the great mahatma that he became. And this is
           all fiction -- he says that he became concerned about celibacy because of this incident. He started
           thinking of brahmacharya, celibacy, because of this incident. This is not true, but he has to fit the
           incident into the life of a mahatma. And it fits perfectly well; anybody reading it will feel that there
           seems to be a certain connection. But it is not true, because all his four sons were born after this
           incident. So he cannot deceive me. He is deceiving himself, he is deceiving his followers, he is
           deceiving the historians. But if this was the cause of his becoming a celibate, then he would have
           remained without any children. All four sons were born after this incident, so this incident has
           nothing to do with celibacy.
               But in his mind -- and in anybody's mind who is reading Mahatma Gandhi -- it seems relevant,
           that perhaps the shock was too much, as if "I am guilty of the death of my father. I could have stayed
           a few more minutes, but my lust, my sexuality proved to be more powerful than my love and respect
           for my father. And my wife was going to remain with me for my whole life, but my father was going
           to disappear that very night into darkness and into the unknown and there would not be another
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meeting again."
               I have read many autobiographies, and I have seen how people when they look backwards look
           with the eyes that they have now, and with all the experience they have accumulated meanwhile.
           With all this experience, with these new eyes, the meaning of the incidents starts changing.
               Narendra, you have been with me from your very childhood.
               If I had not become what I have become, you would have remembered me as loving, as friendly,
           but you would have never thought I was born as a buddha -- that idea arises now. It is my
           enlightenment that gives you the feeling that, "My God, he was always loving." But it was not the
           same love.
               In a sense, the dewdrop and the ocean are both water. But a dewdrop is a dewdrop, and an ocean
           is an ocean.
               What you had seen in me was only a dewdrop. Now that dewdrop looks like an ocean because
           now you are seeing the ocean. It is exactly as if you see the Ganges in the Himalayas at Gangotri -- it
           is just a small stream. You could not even hope that it would ever reach the ocean, it is so small.
           Hindus have placed a marble face of a cow there, and the Ganges falls from the mouth of the cow, it
           is such a small stream. You will find millions of streams in the Himalayas which are far bigger.
               But if you see the same Ganges near Calcutta, in Gangasagar -- Gangasagar means the `ocean of
           Ganges' -- it has become so big, so vast, so immense that it is difficult to think of it as a river; it
           looks oceanic. To connect the two is very difficult. The Ganges in Gangotri could have been one of
           those millions of streams which disappear in the forest, in the desert, and nobody would have
           remembered it. But because this stream became Gangasagar... retrospectively, looking backwards,
           even standing at the source where the stream is so small, you have the feeling of vastness, of
           potentiality, of all the possibilities that it is going to become. You cannot see it just like a small
           stream; it is the stream that is going to become Gangasagar.
               Each autobiography is fictitious; small incidents with no meaning in themselves suddenly start
           having meaning in the context of the person that has come to be.
               Essentially it is true: everybody is a buddha, and naturally I am not an exception. Please don't
           exclude me out. But this buddhahood is only a seed, and out of millions of seeds perhaps one seed
           comes to blossom. It indicates that every seed can come to blossom. It is a tremendous
           encouragement to every human being.
               In this sense your seeing me as a born buddha is right, but don't forget your responsibility. It
           means you have to prove it too -- that you are also a born buddha. Maybe you started growing a little
           late.
           And in the eternity of time, what is "late"?
               There are only seven days. Choose any day, but start.
               I am not interested at all to convert anybody to my ideology -- I don't have any. Secondly, I
           believe that the very effort to convert anybody is violence, it is interfering in his individuality, in his
           uniqueness, into his freedom.
               So my function is not that of a teacher, not that of a prophet, not that of a savior, not that of a
           messenger. My function simply is that of a reminder. I want just to be a mirror to you so that you can
           see your original face.
               And if you can see a buddha in me, there is no difficulty in seeing the buddha in you too --
           maybe a little lazy, a little sleepy, a little gone off the track.
               But a buddha is a buddha. It does not matter whether his nuts and bolts are a little loose, we will
           fix them.
           One's buddhahood is one's essential nature.
               I don't want you to worship buddhas, I want you to become buddhas.
           That is the only right worship.
           If you love, become it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              GAUTAM BUDDHA, MAHAVIRA, J. KRISHNAMURTI WERE TRAVELING FROM ONE PLACE TO
              ANOTHER FOR THEIR WHOLE LIVES. IT WAS REPORTED ABOUT J. KRISHNAMURTI THAT
              BEFORE HE LEFT INDIA FOR CALIFORNIA FOR THE LAST TIME HE TOLD SOMEONE THAT IF
              THE DOCTOR IN CALIFORNIA SAID, "NO MORE TRAVEL, NO MORE TALK," THEN ALL WOULD
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BE FINISHED; HE WOULD BE GONE IN FOUR WEEKS -- AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT
              ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
              OSHO, WHAT IS THE INSIGHT OF ALL THE MASTERS WHO WERE TRAVELING ALL THE TIME
              AND DIDN'T STAY IN ONE PLACE LIKE RAMAN MAHARSHI?


               Raman Maharshi is a mystic, but not a master.
           The mystics have never traveled because the mystics are not making any effort of any kind to
           transfer their experience to others. They have decided that what they have experienced is
           untransferable, that it cannot be communicated.
               So the mystics all through the ages have remained in one place. What is the point of moving
           around, going from village to village or country to country -- for what?
               The mystic's experience is expressed in the ancient saying that "The well remains in its own
           place; it is the thirsty who should go to the well, the well cannot go to the thirsty."
               Buddha, Mahavira, Bodhidharma, Shankara, Nagarjuna, Mohammed, Jesus, J. Krishnamurti,
           they were all traveling, going continuously....
               Mohammed has countered the proverb about the well and the thirsty, and countered it in such a
           beautiful way. He says, "If the mountain cannot come to Mohammed, then Mohammed will go to the
           mountain."
           These are masters....
               Not that they are against the mystics; basically they agree that it is difficult, almost impossible to
           communicate, to say anything about the truth, about self-realization. It is beyond words, beyond
           language; they agree on that point.
               But still the masters say that some indirect ways can be always tried, and there is no harm.
               There is no direct way of translating the inner experience into the outer languages, but ways can
           be found, devices can be created in which something may be said, may not be said, but may be
           heard.
               The emphasis is not that the truth can be said. On that, the mystics and the masters agree: it
           cannot be said.
               But the masters disagree with the mystics on one point: that it may not be said but it can be heard
           -- through the eyes of the master, through the presence of the master, through his love, through his
           compassion, through his silence, just being with him. Nothing is said, but somebody's heart may start
           dancing, a song may arise.
               In the presence of the master, the disciple may become aware that the ordinary human life is not
           all there is; there is something more. Even to make them aware that there is something more --
           greater peace, deeper silence, overflowing ecstasy -- perhaps they may start searching for it, perhaps
           they may become seekers. And what is the harm? If nobody listens, then too the effort is worth
           making.
               The mystic and the master both have the same experience, but they have different views about its
           transfer -- and both seem to be right.
               My own understanding is this: that the mystics are of a more ordinary variety. They come from
           the categories of human beings who are not articulate, who are not poets, who are not painters, who
           are not musicians, who are not dancers. They come from the common masses.
               And the master is more articulate, more talented. If he cannot say, he will paint; if he cannot say,
           he will sculpt; if he cannot say, he will dance; if he cannot say, he will sing -- and singing, dancing,
           painting or any other creative art may become a vehicle for that which language is not capable of.
               And there are people who are articulate with language too; they can speak in such a way that
           through the words they can send the wordless message to you. The words will be only the packages;
           the content will be the wordless. The words will be only the containers. But for that, a very articulate
           person is needed, who can use language in such a way that it becomes music, that it becomes poetry,
           that it becomes silence... that it becomes not only that which it says but also that which remains
           unsaid.
               Language can become a vehicle -- now the emphasis will be on those who are listening. Much
           will depend on those who are listening.
               So the basic function of the master is first, to create disciples who can understand the wordless
           through the words... who can sit in silence but can become filled with immense serenity. Just in the
           presence of the master, something can start opening up in them -- as if the sun has risen and the birds
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           start singing; nobody informs the birds that it is sunrise. There are no alarm clocks for poor birds, but
           just the light... the darkness is gone, the night is over, and there is a celebration all over nature.
           Flowers suddenly start opening, there is fragrance all over.
               The mystic has achieved, is fulfilled, has completed his journey. But he is not a very talented
           genius.
               The master is doing overtime. His work is finished, but his genius, his talents demand
           expression.
               J. Krishnamurti said, "If I have to follow the doctor's advice and not speak and not travel then I
           cannot live more than four weeks." And within exactly four weeks he died. His work was complete;
           now he was living only for others. And if even that cannot be done then what is the point of being
           here unnecessarily? His boat had arrived long ago. He had been delaying his departure -- somebody
           may listen, somebody may hear, somebody may be touched. But if he cannot speak and cannot
           travel, then there is no reason at all for him to go on breathing. He is not an idiot.
               Why did he say four weeks? -- because it is just the old momentum. For breathing and heartbeats
           to slow down and disappear, it takes nearabout three to four weeks. And the older the man, the
           longer time it takes. If he had been younger, it may have been just one week.
               It is a very strange phenomenon -- it is because the younger person's heart runs fast, it can
           exhaust the momentum quickly. The older man is already slow; his heart has become accustomed to
           a slow pace so it will take three to four weeks.
               To be a mystic is rare, but to be a master is very rare.
               And to be a successful master... you will have to come to me!


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHENEVER I AM IN A SILENT SPACE I HEAR A SOUND -- SOMETHING LIKE `AUM' OR
              HUMMING. I LOVE THIS RHYTHMIC, SWEET, UNENDING SOUND. IN CERTAIN ACTIVITIES
              TOO, WHEN I AM TOTAL AND SILENT, THIS LISTENING HAPPENS.
              IS IT OKAY TO LISTEN AND ENJOY THIS SOUND, OR IS IT A PROJECTION OR DAYDREAMING?
              PLEASE GUIDE ME.


               First thing to remember: you should not repeat any sound as a mantra, as a chanting, because
           when you repeat you create -- then it is your mental projection.
               If you are simply silent and you hear a certain humming, then it is the sound of existence.
               That humming has been heard for centuries by meditators. That humming has been given a
           special name in the East, OM. It is not exactly OM but it is something similar.
               It has to be remembered that in Sanskrit -- which is the oldest language in the world, the mother
           language of all civilized languages in existence -- they don't write OM in letters. They have made a
           special symbol for it just to create a distinction, to indicate that it is not something to do with
           language, it is beyond language, and it is not part of the Sanskrit alphabet.
               The way it is written is only with a symbol, and that symbol can be used by any language.
           Sanskrit has no monopoly over it because it is not part of the alphabet of Sanskrit. It has been
           heard....
               Jainas, Buddhists, Hindus -- they differ in their theology on every single point, but they all have
           heard the sound OM. There is no question of differing; it is not a hypothesis and it is not a theory
           propounded by somebody.
               Anybody who becomes utterly silent... it is the silence itself singing, it is the song of silence.
               Hence about OM Hindus, Jainas and Buddhists all agree. They begin their scriptures with "om,"
           they end their scriptures with "om" because that is the universal sound.
               This has created a problem -- and there are many problems of a similar type -- because all the
           mystics in this country and in the far East have heard the sound OM. The people who read the
           scriptures start thinking that, "If OM is the sound of the nature of existence itself, then if we repeat
           `om' we will be able to hear it soon." It is logical, but it is not realistic. If you repeat it, you will
           never hear the real thing; you will go on repeating, and you may start hearing your own repetition.
               In Tibet, where the greatest work has been done on this "soundless sound," as they call it, they
           have made a special instrument. It is a certain kind of metal pot made with special proportions of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           different metals, and a small rod -- again made of different proportions of different metals. You put
           the rod against the rim of the pot, and you move it fast and it creates a certain humming. That is
           something closer to the existential sound than OM.
               In every lamasery in Tibet you will hear that sound -- somebody, some lama is continuously
           making it. When he leaves, then somebody else... twenty-four hours a day that sound is created, but
           that is a man-made sound. It is similar, but it is not the same.
               Hindus in India have fallen into the same fallacy. They have made `om' their most significant
           mantra; just repeat it continuously inside so your whole being is filled with the sound of "om, om,
           om." You are deceiving yourself; this is your sound.
               So if you are not creating it, then there is no need for any anxiety.
               If the moment you become silent you hear it, then it is a tremendous blessing. It means you have
           gone very deep into the existential world of serenity.
               But don't try to deceive existence. You can go on chanting "om" your whole life; it is
           meaningless, it has nothing to do with existence. With existence you have to be a listener, absolutely
           passive, relaxed, in a let-go. Don't impose yourself. You are the only barrier, your impositions are
           your only sins. Just remain utterly passive in a non-doing witnessing, listening to whatever is
           happening, allowing it to happen.
               It is perfectly good, and of great significance. On the path, if you start hearing OM, you are
           accepted, you are welcomed. You need not seek anywhere, you have found the door.
               Just relax more, and leave everything in the hands of existence... a total trust and a complete
           passivity.
           Your absence is the presence of godliness.
           The moment you are not, the miracle has happened.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER NIGHT YOU POINTED OUT THAT JESUS, MARX AND FREUD WERE PERHAPS
              THE WORLD'S GREATEST BUSINESSMEN.
              ON OCCASION I HAVE HEARD YOU CALL YOURSELF AN OLD JEW.
              OSHO, WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS?


              Milarepa, I am a silent partner.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              SINCE SANNYAS IN 1981 PEOPLE HAVE CONTINUALLY BEEN SEEING JESUS CHRIST IN ME!
              WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THIS GUY?


               Satsanga, it is dangerous. You cut off your beard! Otherwise, they will cut off your head!
               Jesus! -- they see Jesus Christ in you? Then crucifixion is not far away. The first thing out of this
           hall you cut your beard, and if they recognize you even then, keep a small board hanging on your
           neck that says, "I am not Jesus Christ."
               You have to make it clear; otherwise your life is in danger.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                               Chapter #27
                        Chapter title: Whatsoever happens in silence is your friend
           30 October 1986 pm in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8610305
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH27
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 105 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THIRTEEN YEARS AGO I LEFT THE WORLD, DEADLY WOUNDED, AND CAME TO YOU. YOU
              HEALED ME AND GAVE ME BACK EVEN MORE THAN LIFE.
              THEN ONE YEAR AGO I WENT BACK TO THAT SAME WORLD I HAD ESCAPED FROM, FEELING
              LIKE A CHILD JUST OUT OF KINDERGARTEN, WHO BARELY KNOWS THE ABC. NATURALLY
              THERE WERE DARK MOMENTS. DURING THOSE MOMENTS AN INNER VOICE -- WAS IT YOUR
              VOICE, OSHO? -- KEPT HAMMERING AT ME, "DON'T GET LOST IN YOUR EMOTIONS --
              WATCH!" FOR MONTHS THIS VOICE BECAME MY CONSTANT COMPANION UNTIL SUDDENLY
              A REALIZATION HAPPENED TO ME: THAT THE DARKNESS AND THE CONFLICT WERE
              CREATED BY MY OWN FEARS, DESIRES, JUDGEMENTS. THIS GLIMPSE WAS SURROUNDED
              BY A CALM, RELAXED FEELING OF FREEDOM AND ACCEPTANCE.
              NOW, EXPERIENCING AGAIN THE OVERWHELMING BEAUTY OF SITTING AT YOUR FEET, I
              CAN SEE THAT NO MATTER HOW LONG I WATCH, THIS DESIRE TO BE IN YOUR PRESENCE
              WILL REMAIN WITH ME.
              BELOVED OSHO, IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE NOT TO LONG FOR SOMETHING SO UNIQUE AND
              BEAUTIFUL?


               Lalita, the spiritual path has many crossroads.
           On each crossroad, one feels as if one has arrived. In a certain way it is true, too. It is a certain
           blessing which was never known before, a peace that is absolutely new, a silence undreamt of, and a
           love, the fragrance of which one has desired, longed for for lives and has never found. Naturally one
           feels the home has come.
               This is one of the most difficult tasks for the master -- to push you on, to say to you, "This is only
           the beginning; there is much more waiting for you." And although it is inconceivable to you that
           there can be anything more than this, the trust, the love, the devotion towards the master helps you to
           move.
               These moments come again and again. Each time it becomes in a way more difficult, in a way
           easier. It is difficult in the sense that each new realization, new achievement, new revelation is so
           vast, so absorbing, that everything you have known before simply fades away -- so it becomes more
           difficult to move on. But on the other hand, it becomes easier to move on because each time the
           master has said to you, "Move on" you have always gained more; it has never been a loss, it has
           always been a new door to a new mystery, a new sky beyond the old one.
               So the trust also has increased. It is easier now to listen to the master and move on.
               An ancient story... I have always loved it. An old woodcutter, poor, alone, had only one way to
           earn his everyday bread and that was by cutting wood and selling it. As he came into the forest, just
           near the entrance under a beautiful bodhi tree -- the same tree under which Gautam Buddha became
           enlightened; hence the name of the tree has become `bodhi tree'. Bodhi means enlightenment.
               By the way, you will be surprised to know, scientists have found that the bodhi tree has a certain
           chemical which no other tree has, and that chemical is absolutely necessary for the growth of
           intelligence. Perhaps it is a very intelligent, sensitive tree. It may not have been just a coincidence....
               The woodcutter would see this old man sitting silently, always there -- summer, winter, rain. He
           would touch his feet before entering the forest, and every time he would do that the old man would
           smile and say, "You are such an idiot."
               The woodcutter would be shocked: "Why? -- I touch his feet, but rather than giving me a
           blessing, he simply smiles and says, `You are such an idiot.'"
               One day he gathered courage and asked, "What do you mean?"
               The old man said, "I mean that you have been cutting trees in this forest for your whole life, and
           if you go just a little deeper into it you will find a copper mine. Only an idiot could miss it! Your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole life you have been in this forest... you can collect the copper and that will be enough for seven
           days' comfortable living, no need to cut wood every day in your old age."
               The man could not believe it because he knew the whole forest -- "He must be joking!" But
           perhaps he was right... and there was no harm in going a little further and being alert and watching to
           see whether there was some copper mine.
               And he went in, and he found a copper mine. He said, "Now I know why he was continually
           saying, `You are such an idiot, working every day in your old age.'"
               Now he was going only once every week. But the old tradition continued: he would touch his
           feet, and the old man would smile and say, `You are such an idiot!'"
               "But," he said, "now this is not right! Because I have found the copper mine."
               The old man said, "You don't know. If you go a little further, you will find a silver mine."
           He said, "My God, why didn't you tell me before?"
               The old man said, "You didn't believe me even about the copper mine -- how could you have
           believed about the silver mine? Just go a little further."
               This time there was suspicion but not so much; there was a certain trust arising. And he found the
           silver mine.
               He came back and he said, "Now I have found silver enough that I will be coming only once in a
           month. I will miss you very much. I will miss your blessing very much. I have started loving to hear
           from you, `What an idiot you are.'"
               But the old man said, "You are still an idiot, it makes no difference."
               The woodcutter said, "Even though I have found the silver mine?"
               He said, "Yes, even then. You are just an idiot and nothing more -- because if you go just a little
           deeper there is gold. So don't wait for a month, come tomorrow."
               Now he thought he must be joking. If there is gold, why should he be sitting here under this tree
           in old rags, with no shelter from the rain, no shelter from the sun, depending on people who bring
           food to him... sometimes they bring it, sometimes they don't..." And if he knows where the gold is, I
           don't think... this time he is certainly joking! But there is no harm. He has always been right. Who
           knows? This old guy is a little mysterious."
               He went further and found a big gold mine. He could not believe his own eyes -- this is the forest
           he has been working in for his whole life, and this is the forest where that old man is sitting....
               He brought much gold, and he said, "I think you will not say anymore that I am an idiot."
               He said, "I will continue. Come tomorrow because this is not the end; this is only the beginning."
           He said, "What? Gold is just a beginning?"
               He said, "Come tomorrow. Just a little deeper in the forest you will find diamonds -- but that too
           is not the end. But I will not tell you too much; otherwise you will not be able to sleep tonight. Just
           go home. Tomorrow morning, first you find the diamonds, and then come to me."
               He really could not sleep the whole night. A poor woodcutter... he could not imagine that he was
           going to become the owner of all these mines -- gold and silver and copper, and now diamonds! And
           the old man was saying this was only the beginning. He thought and thought... what can be more
           than diamonds?
               In the morning he went very early -- the old man was asleep. He touched his feet. The old man
           opened his eyes and said, "Have you come? I knew you would come, you couldn't sleep. First go and
           see the diamonds."
               The woodcutter said, "Can you tell me what can be more?"
               He said, "First find the diamonds -- step by step; otherwise, you will go crazy."
               He found the diamonds and he came dancing to the old man. He said, "Now you cannot say that
           `I am an idiot. I have found the diamonds!"
           But the old man said, "Still, you are an idiot."
               He said, "Now I will not leave you unless you explain it to me."
               The old man said, "You can see that I know all about these mines -- silver, gold, diamonds -- and
           I don't care about them. Because there is something more which is not in the forest but within you,
           just a little deeper -- not outside but inside. And because I have found that, I don't care about all
           these diamonds. Now it is up to you: you can stop your journey at the diamonds but remember, you
           will remain an idiot. And I am a proof -- because I know about all these mines and I have not
           bothered with them. This can make you understand that there is something more which is never
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           found outside however far you go; it is found inside you."
                The man dropped the diamonds. He said, "I am going to sit by your side. Unless you drop this
           idea that I am an idiot, I am not going to move from here!"
           He was a simple, innocent woodcutter.
           It is difficult for knowledgeable people to go in.
                It was not difficult for the woodcutter. Soon he was entering into a deep silence -- a joy, a
           blissfulness, a benediction.
                And the old man shook him and said, "This is the place. Now you need not go into the forest.
           And I withdraw my word `idiot` about you, you have become a wise man. You can open your eyes.
           You will see the same world but not in the same light; the same colors, but now they have become
           psychedelic; the same people, but they are no longer just skeletons covered with skin, they are
           luminous spiritual beings... the same cosmos, but for the first time it is an ocean of consciousness."
           The woodcutter opened his eyes.
                He said, "You are a strange fellow. Why did you wait so long? I have been coming here almost
           my whole life and I have seen you sitting under this tree. You could have said this any day."
                The old man said, "I was waiting for the right moment... for the ripe moment, for the time when
           you would be able not only to hear but to understand it. The journey is short, but you should not stop
           at every achievement. Because every achievement is so fulfilling that your imagination cannot think
           there can be more than this."
                Lalita, you are asking me what can be more beautiful than to be in the presence of the master.
           Why not dissolve in the presence? To be in the presence of the master, there is still separation. Why
           be in the presence? Why not become the presence itself? And only then you will know that to be in
           the presence was only the beginning of a journey that ends in becoming the presence.
                I know you, and I know your heart. I have not told the story of the woodcutter without
           remembering the fact that you have such an innocent heart yourself.
           Just don't stop anywhere.
                It is possible... make it your realization. Become the light yourself, and then whatever is
           experienced is inexpressible.
                In your dark moments, while you have been away for one year, you have heard the word `watch'.
           With your innocent mind, it is very simple for me to speak to you from any distance, a heart-to-heart
           communion. Those words were mine, and you have recognized them. Because there are things you
           need not bother about, you simply have to watch and they pass on -- anger, greed, jealousy. All the
           components of darkness have one quality in common: that if you can watch them they start
           dispersing. Watching is enough; you are not supposed to do anything with them.
                In the life of one of the great mystics, Baal Shem, there is an incident. He used to go towards the
           river in the middle of the night just to be in absolute silence, alone, to enjoy the peace and the beauty
           of the night. Just on the bank of the river was a rich man's mansion, and a watchman was there who
           was puzzled about this man, Baal Shem. Every night, exactly as the tower bell was tolling twelve,
           Baal Shem would appear out of the darkness.
                The poor watchman could not contain the temptation to inquire, "Why do you come here every
           night and sit next to the river in the darkness? What is the purpose of it?"
                Rather than answering him, Baal Shem asked, "What is your work?"
           He said, "I am a watchman."
                Baal Shem said, "Exactly -- that is my work. I am a watchman."
                The watchman said, "That is strange. If you are a watchman, then what are you doing here? You
           should be watching the house where you are the watchman."
                Baal Shem said, "There is something to be explained to you: You watch somebody else's house; I
           watch my own house. This is my house. Wherever I go, I go with my house -- but I am continuously
           the watchman."
           I love the story.
                Be continuously a watchman of all dark moments. They will pass away. In fact, that is the
           definition: anything you watch, if it disappears by watching that means it was something wrong. If
           by watching it becomes more clear, closer, that means it was something to be absorbed.
           There is no other definition of good and bad.
                It is watching that decides -- the only criterion. What is sin and what is virtue? That which
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappears is sin, and that which comes closer, becomes clearer, wants to become part of you, is
           virtue.
               Watching is certainly the golden key of spiritual life.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               THE OTHER DAY YOU TALKED SO BEAUTIFULLY ABOUT THE SADNESS WHICH FOLLOWS
               THE FIRST EXPERIENCE OF OUR INNERMOST SILENCE.
               IS IT NECESSARILY SO, THAT WHEN I FIRST EXPERIENCE THIS SILENCE, I ALSO FEEL WITH
               MY WHOLE BEING THAT I AM ABSOLUTELY ALONE ON MY JOURNEY?


               Aloneness is also one of the fundamental experiences as you enter silence.
               In silence there is nobody else, you are simply alone.
               The deeper your silence will be, thoughts will be gone, emotions will be gone, sentiments will be
           gone -- just pure being, a flame of light, burning alone.
               One can get scared because we are so much accustomed to living with people -- in the crowd, in
           the marketplace, in all kinds of relationships.
               You may not be aware that in all these relationships -- with friends, with your husbands, with
           your wives, with your children, with your parents -- you are basically trying to avoid the experience
           of aloneness. These are strategies so that you are always with somebody.
               It is a well-known fact, psychologically established, that if a person is left alone in isolation, after
           seven days he starts talking... a little like whispering. For seven days he keeps talking inside, keeps
           himself engaged in the mind, but then it becomes too much -- things start coming out of his mind
           through his mouth and he starts whispering.
               After fourteen days you can hear him clearly, what he is saying. After twenty-one days he does
           not bother about anybody, he has gone insane; now he is talking to walls, to pillars, "Hello friend,
           how are you?" -- to a pillar, hugging a pillar! And this is true not about somebody special, it is true
           about everybody. He is trying to find some relationship. If he cannot find it in reality, he will create a
           hallucination.
               You will see: just stand by the side of the road and watch people going from the office to the
           house, and you will be surprised. They are alone -- although there is a crowd all around -- but they
           are talking to themselves. They are making gestures, they are telling somebody something... because
           the crowd around them is not related to them. They are alone in the crowd, so they are trying to
           create their own illusion. Maybe they are talking to their wife, to their boss -- there are many things
           which cannot be said but right now they can say them. In front of the wife they cannot say it, but in
           this crowd, where everybody is engaged in his own thing, everybody is doing his own thing, they
           can say things to the wife. Nobody is listening, and at least one thing is certain -- the wife is not
           there! But they need the wife, they need someone to talk to.
               And after thirty days of isolation, a dramatic change happens: it is not only one-sided; it is not
           only that they are talking to the pillar, the pillar also starts talking to them! They do both things: first,
           "Hello, how are you?" and then, "I am good. I am fine, doing well." They answer from the side of the
           pillar too -- in a different voice. Now they have created a world of their own, they are no longer
           alone. No madman is alone.
               Either you are mad or not. If you don't know aloneness, there is something of madness in you.
               Only pure aloneness gives you a clean sanity. You don't need the other; the dependence on the
           other is no more there, you are enough unto yourself. Language is meaningless because language is a
           medium to relate with the other. The moment you are no longer dependent on the other, language is
           meaningless, words are meaningless.
               In your silence -- when there are no words, no language, nobody else is present -- you are getting
           in tune with existence. This serenity, this silence, this aloneness will bring you immense rewards.
               It will allow you to grow to your full potential. For the first time you will be an individual, for
           the first time you will have the touch and the taste of freedom, and for the first time the immensity,
           the unboundedness of existence will be yours with all its blissfulness.
               So whatever happens in silence -- either sadness or aloneness -- remember, in silence nothing
           wrong can ever happen. Whatever happens is going to enhance the beauty of it, deepen the charm of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it; anything that happens will bring more and more flowers, more and more fragrance to it.
                Rejoice! Whatever happens in silence is your friend, it is really your bosom friend. It is going to
           take you to the ultimate peak of ecstasies.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I DON'T REALLY HAVE A QUESTION TO ASK YOU -- EVERYTHING IS VERY GOOD. ONLY ONE
              THING IS CONFUSING ME A LITTLE. YOU HAVE OFTEN SPOKEN ABOUT THE "CHOSEN FEW."
              PLEASE, WHO IS DOING THE CHOOSING?


               It is a very difficult question.
           In the beginning, God used to do it! But there are many hypotheses about what happened to God:
           some say he died a natural death, some say he committed suicide, some say he got into an accident.
           Some say he was murdered by man -- because without murdering him, man could not really be free.
           I will not go into what happened to God.
           One thing is certain: he is missing.
               In the beginning, he had chosen the Jews to be the chosen few -- "God's own people." But since
           then, he has had no opportunity. Although Jews have been praying continuously in every synagogue
           all over the world, "Now it is time for you to choose somebody else; we have suffered enough!"
               And it is true. If God had not chosen them they would have lived just like everybody else. But
           because he chose them, he made everybody else their enemies -- great jealousy and competition.
               I remember that once, India's first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was asked, "Who are
           you going to choose as your successor?"
               He said, "I am not going to choose anyone, because whoever I choose would have to face
           immense difficulties. Everybody else who is ambitious and wants to become the prime minister
           would all be together against one single person, and there would be no possibility for that person I
           have chosen to succeed me. So I will keep my mouth shut."
           And you are asking who is choosing here?
               Here, it is a very different process. Here, the moment you become a sannyasin you have chosen
           yourself.
               Every sannyasin belongs to the chosen few, and nobody is doing the choosing -- it is you who are
           doing it; hence there is a freedom. If you feel difficulties, you can drop out of it. Nobody prevents
           you from becoming a sannyasin, nobody prevents you from dropping sannyas. Your freedom is
           intact.
               So remember: here, nobody is choosing. Everybody is choosing by becoming a sannyasin. So no
           need to kill me; I have learned from the lesson of God -- I will never choose anybody, because it is
           dangerous! And to choose anybody is to put him in difficulty.
               Now Jews have suffered so much in four thousand years for the single reason that they were the
           chosen few. All over the earth, nobody else has suffered so much. It gave them a superiority
           complex, a feeling that they are holier than thou -- and naturally nobody likes people who think
           themselves holier than thou.
               So in every country, in every place, they have been put down and given evidence that they are
           not holier or higher.
               Just in Germany alone Adolf Hitler killed six million Jews. The responsibility lies with God,
           because the reason these Jews were coming into conflict with Adolf Hitler was that he was saying
           that the nordic Germans were the highest race. Jews have to be completely eradicated from the earth
           because as long as the Jews remain, you cannot proclaim that nordic Germans are the highest. Jews
           are an old race, with a four-thousand-year history, and they have proved in every way that they are
           more intelligent. No Jew is a beggar; they are all rich, they know how to produce wealth. They are
           all cultured and well educated. Forty percent of Nobel prizes go to Jews, and the other sixty percent
           to the rest of the world -- it is simply unimaginable.
               It was difficult for Adolf Hitler in the presence of Jews, because they had all the intelligence, all
           the riches, everything that proved that they were somehow more intelligent than others.
               To make the nordic Germans a superior race, Jews had to be completely eradicated from the
           earth.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The fault lies with God; he should not have chosen the poor Jews. And even if he had chosen
           them, he should have whispered in the ear of Moses and told him, "Please don't tell anybody. Just
           keep it in your mind that you are the chosen few -- but it should not leak out, it is a secret."
               But there is no joy if it is a secret. The joy is when you proclaim it.
               Here I am not proclaiming anybody as chosen, but I am giving you an opportunity. If you want to
           be chosen, there will be difficulties. My sannyasins everywhere are going through all the difficulties.
               One has to pay for everything. You want to be the chosen few for free? -- it is not possible. You
           will have to pay for it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              OFTEN, IN THE PAST, YOU HAVE SPOKEN ON DOUBT AND THE VALUE OF DOUBTING
              EVERYTHING.
              ON THE LEVEL WHERE YOU ARE MY MASTER AND I, THROUGH YOUR GRACE, HAVE
              BECOME YOUR DISCIPLE, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANY DOUBT. FORGETFULNESS ON MY
              PART, YES; UNAWARENESS ON MY PART, YES -- BUT NEVER THE TORMENT OF DOUBT.
              BELOVED MASTER, COULD YOU SPEAK ON DOUBT IN THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE DISCIPLE
              WITH THE MASTER?


               There is no possibility.
           A disciple becomes a disciple only when he drops all doubts. So in the very nature of things, a
           disciple cannot doubt.
           If he doubts, he is not a disciple.
               As a student he can doubt as much as he wants. When all his doubts are finished and a trust
           beyond doubt has arisen, he enters into the world of disciplehood; now there is no possibility of
           doubt arising. If it arises, the disciple immediately falls back into the category of student.
               So as far as the master and discipleship is concerned, doubt is an impossibility.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DO YOU ALWAYS LOOK IN YOUR HAND BEFORE YOU START ANSWERING THE FIRST
              QUESTION? DO I SEE IT WRONGLY, OR DO YOU FIND THE ANSWER THERE?


               My hands are empty.
           I don't have any answer.
           You have questions; I don't answer you, I simply destroy your questions. And before destroying your
           questions I have to look at my hand because it is not only with my language that I destroy your
           questions, it is also with my hands.
           So I have to prepare them, to ask "Are you ready?"
           When they say, "Yes, master, go ahead" I start!
               Without my hands, I cannot answer you. They do almost most of the work. My words keep you
           engaged, and they go on doing the real work.
               So you are not seeing wrongly; you are seeing absolutely right.
               I look at them -- not for answers, but just to see whether they are ready or not.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT IS FOR THE FIRST TIME I HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE TO YOU. WHEN I AM SITTING HERE WITH
              YOU I FEEL MY HEART IN TUNE WITH YOUR HEART, I FEEL A DEEP LOVE FOR YOU. BUT I
              ALSO FEEL MY OUTER SERIOUSNESS.
              WHY IS LAUGHTER SO DIFFICULT FOR ME?


               Laughter is one of the things most repressed by society all over the world, in all the ages.
               Society wants you to be serious. Parents want their children to be serious, teachers want their
           students to be serious, the bosses want their servants to be serious, the commanders want their
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           armies to be serious. Seriousness is required of everybody.
           Laughter is dangerous and rebellious.
                When the teacher is teaching you and you start laughing, it will be taken as an insult. Your
           parents are saying something to you and you start laughing -- it will be taken as an insult.
           Seriousness is thought to be honor, respect.
                Naturally laughter has been repressed so much that even though life all around is hilarious,
           nobody is laughing. If your laughter is freed from its chains, from its bondage, you will be surprised
           -- on each step there is something hilarious happening.
           Life is not serious.
           Only graveyards are serious, death is serious.
                Life is love, life is laughter, life is dance, song.
                But we will have to give life a new orientation. The past has crippled life very badly, it has made
           you almost laughter blind, just like there are people who are colorblind.
                There are ten percent of people who are colorblind -- it is a big percentage, but they are not
           aware that they are colorblind.
                George Bernard Shaw was colorblind, and he came to know it when he was sixty years old. On
           his birthday somebody sent a present, a beautiful suit, a coat, but the person forgot to send a tie. So
           Bernard Shaw went with his secretary to find a matching tie. He liked the suit very much. He looked
           at ties and he chose one, and the secretary was surprised; she could not believe it -- because the suit
           was yellow and the tie was green. She said, "What are you doing? This will look very strange."
                He said, "Why will it look strange? It is the same color."
                The manager, the salesman... they all gathered, and they tried in many ways to find out.... He
           could not distinguish between yellow and green; they both appeared the same to him. He was
           colorblind.
           But for sixty years he was not aware of it.
                And there are ten percent of people in the world who are colorblind. Some color they are
           missing, or maybe they are mixing it up with some other color.
                The constant repression of laughter has made you laughter blind.
                Situations are happening everywhere, but you cannot see that there is any reason to laugh. If your
           laughter is freed from its bondage, the whole world will be full of laughter. It needs to be full of
           laughter; it will change almost everything in human life.
                You will not be as miserable as you are. In fact, you are not as miserable as you look -- it is
           misery plus seriousness that makes you look so miserable. Just misery plus laughter, and you will
           not look so miserable!
                In one apartment house... And modern apartments have such thin walls that whether you want to
           or not, you have to hear what is going on on the other side of the wall. In a way, it is very human.
                The whole apartment house was puzzled about one thing.... Every couple was fighting, throwing
           pillows, throwing things, breaking cups and saucers, shouting at each other, husbands beating wives,
           wives screaming -- and they don't need any loudspeaker systems or anything, and the whole
           apartment house enjoyed.
                The only problem was with one sardarji. From his flat they never heard any fight; on the
           contrary, they always heard laughter. The whole crowd was puzzled: "What is the matter? These
           people never fight. There is always laughter -- and both are laughing so loudly that the whole
           building can hear it!"
                One day they decided that it had to be looked into: "We are missing so much, and they are
           enjoying so much. What is their secret?"
                So they caught hold of the sardarji as he was coming from the market, carrying vegetables and
           other things. They all caught hold of him and they said, "First you have to tell us that what the secret
           is -- why do you laugh when everybody fights?"
                The sardar said, "Don't force me, because the secret is very embarrassing."
                They said, "Embarrassing? But we thought you are doing great. We always hear laughter -- either
           you laugh or your wife laughs... no fight."
                The sardar said, "What happens is, she throws things at me. If she misses, then I laugh; if she hits
           me then she laughs. The same things are going on, but it is just that we have made a different
           arrangement -- what is the point? So I have learned how to dodge her, and she is learning how to...."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               After twenty years the same sardar wanted to divorce his wife. The magistrate had heard about
           them, that this was the only couple in the whole city who had never been known to fight. They
           simply laugh -- the whole city knows them as the laughing couple.
               The magistrate said, "What has gone wrong? You are so famous."
               The sardar said, "Forget all about that -- just give us permission to divorce."
               But the magistrate said, "I have to know the reason."
               He said, "The reason is very clear -- she hits me. And it is too much; I have been getting those
           hits for years."
               The magistrate asked, "How long have you been married?"
           He said, "Almost thirty years."
               The magistrate said, "If you have been able to cope with the woman for thirty years, then just ten,
           twenty years more...."
               He said, "That is not the point. At first I used to dodge, but now she has become such a good...
           there is no way that I can dodge! So only she laughs, I have not laughed for ten years. This is
           unbearable. In the beginning it was perfect; it was almost fifty-fifty, there was no problem. I was
           laughing, she was also laughing. But now a hundred percent of the time she laughs, and a hundred
           percent I am just standing there, looking like a fool. No, I cannot tolerate it any more."
               Just look around at life and try to see the humorous side of things.
               Every event that is happening has its own humorous side, you just need a sense of humor.
               No religion has accepted the sense of humor as a quality.
               I want a sense of humor to be a fundamental quality of a good man, of a moral man, of a
           religious man. And it does not need much looking; you just try to see it, and everywhere....
               Once I was traveling in a bus when I was a student. The bus conductor was in trouble because
           there were thirty-one passengers and he had money only for thirty tickets. So he was asking, "Who is
           the fellow who has not given his money?"
           Nobody would speak.
               He said, "This is strange; now how am I going to find out?"
               I said to him, "Do one thing: tell the driver to stop the bus, and tell the people that unless the
           person who has not given the money confesses, the bus will not move."
           He said, "That's right."
               The bus was stopped. Everybody looked at each other, now what to do? Nobody knew who the
           person was....
               Finally one man stood up and said, "Forgive me, I am the person who has not given the money.
           Here it is."
           The bus conductor asked, "What is your name?"
               He said, "My name is Achchelal." Achchelal means "a good man."
               And I was surprised that out of thirty people, nobody laughed! When he said "Achchelal" I could
           not believe it -- a "good man" doing such a thing... and nobody seemed to see the humor in it.
               Seriousness has become almost part of our bones and blood. You will have to make some effort
           to get rid of seriousness, and you will have to be on the lookout -- wherever you can find something
           humorous happening, don't miss the opportunity.
               Everywhere there are people who are slipping on banana peels -- just nobody is looking at them.
           In fact, it is thought to be ungentlemanly. It is not, because only bananas slip on banana peels.
               Laughter needs a great learning, and laughter is a great medicine. It can cure many of your
           tensions, anxieties, worries; the whole energy can flow into laughter. And there is no need that there
           should be some occasion, some cause.
               In my meditation camps I used to have a laughing meditation: for no reason, people would sit
           and just start laughing. At first they would feel a little awkward that there was no reason -- but when
           everybody is doing it... they would also start. Soon, everybody was in such a great laughter, people
           were rolling on the ground. They were laughing at the very fact that so many people were laughing
           for no reason at all; there was nothing, not even a joke had been told. And it went on like waves.
               So there is no harm... even just sitting in your room, close the doors and have one hour of simple
           laughter. Laugh at yourself.
           But learn to laugh.
           Seriousness is a sin, and it is a disease.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Laughter has tremendous beauty, a lightness. It will bring lightness to you, and it will give you
           wings to fly.
              And life is so full of opportunities. You just need the sensitivity. And create chances for other
           people to laugh. Laughter should be one of the most valued, cherished qualities of human beings --
           because only man can laugh, no animals are capable of it.
              Because it is human, it must be of the highest order. To repress it is to destroy a human quality.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                  Chapter #28
                                  Chapter title: Unless the whole existence...
           31 October 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8610315
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH28
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 119 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU HAVE RECENTLY SAID THAT MOST OF HUMANITY IS VEGETATING, NOT LIVING. PLEASE
              EXPLAIN TO US THE ART OF LIVING SO THAT DEATH MAY BECOME ALSO A CELEBRATION.


               Suraj Prakash, man is born to achieve life, but it all depends on him.
               He can miss it. He can go on breathing, he can go on eating, he can go on growing old, he can go
           on moving towards the grave -- but this is not life. This is gradual death from the cradle to the grave,
           a seventy-year-long gradual death.
               And because millions of people around you are dying in this gradual, slow death, you also start
           imitating them. Children learn everything from those who are around them, and we are surrounded
           by the dead.
               So first we have to understand what I mean by `life'.
           It must not be simply growing old.
           It must be growing up.
           And these are two different things.
               Growing old, any animal is capable of. Growing up is the prerogative of human beings.
           Only a few claim the right.
               Growing up means moving every moment deeper into the principle of life; it means going farther
           away from death -- not towards death. The deeper you go into life, the more you understand the
           immortality within you. You are going away from death; a moment comes when you can see that
           death is nothing but changing clothes, or changing houses, changing forms -- nothing dies, nothing
           can die.
           Death is the greatest illusion there is.
               For growing up, just watch a tree. As the tree grows up, its roots are growing down, deeper.
           There is a balance: the higher the tree goes, the deeper the roots will go. You cannot have a tree one
           hundred and fifty feet high with small roots; they could not support such a huge tree.
               In life, growing up means growing deep within yourself -- that's where your roots are.
               To me, the first principle of life is meditation. Everything else comes second. And childhood is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the best time. As you grow older, it means you are coming closer to death, and it becomes more and
           more difficult to go into meditation.
               Meditation means going into your immortality, going into your eternity, going into your
           godliness.
               And the child is the most qualified person because he is still unburdened by knowledge,
           unburdened by religion, unburdened by education, unburdened by all kinds of rubbish. He is
           innocent.
               But unfortunately his innocence is being condemned as ignorance. Ignorance and innocence have
           a similarity, but they are not the same. Ignorance is also a state of not knowing, just as innocence is.
           But there is a great difference too, which has been overlooked by the whole of humanity up to now.
           Innocence is not knowledgeable -- but it is not desirous of being knowledgeable either. It is utterly
           content, fulfilled.
               A small child has no ambitions, he has no desires. He is so absorbed in the moment -- a bird on
           the wing catches his eye so totally; just a butterfly, its beautiful colors, and he is enchanted; the
           rainbow in the sky... and he cannot conceive that there can be anything more significant, richer than
           this rainbow. And the night full of stars, stars beyond stars....
           Innocence is rich, it is full, it is pure.
               Ignorance is poor, it is a beggar -- it wants this, it wants that, it wants to be knowledgeable, it
           wants to be respectable, it wants to be wealthy, it wants to be powerful.
           Ignorance moves on the path of desire.
           Innocence is a state of desirelessness.
               But because they both are without knowledge, we have remained confused about their natures.
           We have taken it for granted that they are both the same.
               The first step in the art of living will be to create a demarcation line between ignorance and
           innocence. Innocence has to be supported, protected -- because the child has brought with him the
           greatest treasure, the treasure that sages find after arduous effort. Sages have said that they become
           children again, that they are reborn.
               In India the real brahmin, the real knower, has called himself dwij, twice born. Why twice born?
           What happened to the first birth? What is the need of the second birth? And what is he going to gain
           in the second birth? In the second birth he is going to gain what was available in the first birth but
           the society, the parents, the people surrounding him crushed it, destroyed it.
               Every child is being stuffed with knowledge. His simplicity has to be somehow removed,
           because simplicity is not going to help him in this competitive world. His simplicity will look to the
           world as if he is a simpleton; his innocence will be exploited in every possible way. Afraid of the
           society, afraid of the world we have created ourselves, we try to make every child be clever,
           cunning, knowledgeable -- to be in the category of the powerful, not in the category of the oppressed
           and the powerless.
               And once the child starts growing in the wrong direction, he goes on moving that way -- his
           whole life moves in that direction.
               Whenever you understand that you have missed life, the first principle to be brought back is
           innocence. Drop your knowledge, forget your scriptures, forget your religions, your theologies, your
           philosophies. Be born again, become innocent -- and it is in your hands. Clean your mind of all that
           is not known by you, of all that is borrowed, all that has come from tradition, convention, all that has
           been given to you by others -- parents, teachers, universities. Just get rid of it.
           Once again be simple, once again be a child.
           And this miracle is possible by meditation.
               Meditation is simply a strange surgical method which cuts you away from all that is not yours
           and saves only that which is your authentic being. It burns everything else and leaves you standing
           naked, alone under the sun, in the wind. It is as if you are the first man who has descended onto earth
           -- who knows nothing, who has to discover everything, who has to be a seeker, who has to go on a
           pilgrimage.
           The second principle is the pilgrimage.
               Life must be a seeking -- not a desire, but a search; not an ambition to become this, to become
           that, a president of a country or a prime minister of a country, but a search to find out "Who am I?"
               It is very strange that people who don't know who they are, are trying to become somebody.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They don't even know who they are right now! They are unacquainted with their being -- but they
           have a goal of becoming.
           Becoming is the disease of the soul.
           Being is you.
                And to discover your being is the beginning of life. Then each moment is a new discovery, each
           moment brings a new joy; a new mystery opens its doors, a new love starts growing in you, a new
           compassion that you have never felt before, a new sensitivity about beauty, about goodness.
                You become so sensitive that even the smallest blade of grass takes on an immense importance
           for you. Your sensitivity makes it clear to you that this small blade of grass is as important to
           existence as the biggest star; without this blade of grass, existence would be less than it is. And this
           small blade of grass is unique, it is irreplaceable, it has its own individuality.
                And this sensitivity will create new friendships for you -- friendships with trees, with birds, with
           animals, with mountains, with rivers, with oceans, with stars. Life becomes richer as love grows, as
           friendliness grows.
                In the life of St. Francis, there is a beautiful incident. He is dying, and he has always traveled on
           a donkey from place to place sharing his experiences. All his disciples are gathered to listen to his
           last words.
                The last words of a man are always the most significant that he has ever uttered because they
           contain the whole experience of his life.
                But what the disciples heard, they could not believe....
                St. Francis did not address the disciples; he addressed the donkey. He said, "Brother, I am
           immensely indebted to you. You have been carrying me from one place to another place with never a
           complaint, never grumbling. Before I leave this world, all that I want is forgiveness from you; I have
           not been humane to you."
                These were the last words of St. Francis. A tremendous sensitivity to say to the donkey, "Brother
           donkey" and ask to be forgiven.
                As you become more sensitive, life becomes bigger. It is not a small pond, it becomes oceanic. It
           is not confined to you and your wife and your children -- it is not confined at all. This whole
           existence becomes your family, and unless the whole existence is your family you have not known
           what life is -- because no man is an island, we are all connected.
                We are a vast continent, joined in millions of ways.
                And if our hearts are not full of love for the whole, in the same proportion our life is cut short.
                Meditation will bring you sensitivity, a great sense of belonging to the world. It is our world --
           the stars are ours, and we are not foreigners here. We belong intrinsically to existence. We are part of
           it, we are heart of it.
                Secondly, meditation will bring you a great silence -- because all rubbish knowledge is gone.
           Thoughts that are part of the knowledge are gone too... an immense silence, and you are surprised:
           This silence is the only music there is.
                All music is an effort to bring this silence somehow into manifestation.
                The seers of the ancient East have been very emphatic about the point that all the great arts --
           music, poetry, dance, painting, sculpture -- are all born out of meditation. They are an effort to in
           some way bring the unknowable into the world of the known for those who are not ready for the
           pilgrimage -- just gifts for those who are not ready to go on the pilgrimage. Perhaps a song may
           trigger a desire to go in search of the source, perhaps a statue.
                The next time you enter a temple of Gautam Buddha or Mahavira just sit silently, watch the
           statue. Because the statue has been made in such a way, in such proportions that if you watch it you
           will fall silent. It is a statue of meditation; it is not concerned with Gautam Buddha or Mahavira.
                That's why all those statues look alike -- Mahavira, Gautam Buddha, Neminatha, Adinatha....
           Twenty-four tirthankaras of Jainas... in the same temple you will find twenty-four statues all alike,
           exactly alike.
                In my childhood I used to ask my father, "Can you explain to me how it is possible that
           twenty-four persons are exactly alike? -- the same size, the same nose, the same face, the same
           body...."
                And he used to say, "I don't know. I am always puzzled myself that there is not a bit of
           difference. And it is almost unheard of -- there are not even two persons in the whole world who are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           alike, what to say about twenty-four?"
                But as my meditation blossomed I found the answer -- not from anybody else, I found the
           answer: that these statues have nothing to do with the people. These statues have something to do
           with what was happening inside those twenty-four people, and that was exactly the same.
                And we have not bothered about the outside; we have insisted that only the inner should be paid
           attention to. The outer is unimportant. Somebody is young, somebody is old, somebody is black,
           somebody is white, somebody is man, somebody is woman -- it does not matter; what matters is that
           inside there is an ocean of silence. In that oceanic state, the body takes a certain posture.
                You have observed it yourself, but you have not been alert. When you are angry, have you
           observed? -- your body takes a certain posture. In anger you cannot keep your hands open; in anger
           -- the fist. In anger you cannot smile -- or can you?
                With a certain emotion, the body has to follow a certain posture.
           Just small things are deeply related inside.
                So those statues are made in such a way that if you simply sit silently and watch, and then close
           your eyes, a negative shadow image enters into your body and you start feeling something you have
           not felt before.
                Those statues and temples were not built for worshipping; they were built for experiencing. They
           are scientific laboratories. They have nothing to do with religion. A certain secret science has been
           used for centuries so the coming generations could come in contact with the experiences of the older
           generations -- not through books, not through words, but through something which goes deeper --
           through silence, through meditation, through peace.
                As your silence grows; your friendliness, your love grows; your life becomes a
           moment-to-moment dance, a joy, a celebration.
                Do you hear the firecrackers outside? Have you ever thought about why, all over the world, in
           every culture, in every society, there are a few days in the year for celebration? These few days for
           celebration are just a compensation -- because these societies have taken away all celebration of your
           life, and if nothing is given to you in compensation your life can become a danger to the culture.
                Every culture has to give some compensation to you so that you don't feel completely lost in
           misery, in sadness. But these compensations are false.
                These firecrackers outside and these lights outside cannot make you rejoice. They are only for
           children; for you they are just a nuisance. But in your inner world there can be a continuity of lights,
           songs, joys.
                Always remember that society compensates you when it feels that the repressed may explode
           into a dangerous situation if it is not compensated. The society finds some way of allowing you to let
           out the repressed. But this is not true celebration, and it cannot be true.
                True celebration should come from your life, in your life.
                And true celebration cannot be according to the calendar, that on the first of November you will
           celebrate. Strange, the whole year you are miserable and on the first of November suddenly you
           come out of misery, dancing. Either the misery was false or the first of November is false; both
           cannot be true. And once the first of November is gone, you are back in your dark hole, everybody in
           his misery, everybody in his anxiety.
                Life should be a continuous celebration, a festival of lights the whole year round. Only then you
           can grow up, you can blossom.
           Transform small things into celebration.
                For example, in Japan they have the tea ceremony. In every Zen monastery and in every person's
           house who can afford it, they have a small temple for drinking tea. Now, tea is no longer an ordinary,
           profane thing; they have transformed it into a celebration. The temple for drinking tea is made in a
           certain way -- in a beautiful garden, with a beautiful pond; swans in the pond, flowers all around...
           guests come and they have to leave their shoes outside. It is a temple.
                And as you enter the temple, you cannot speak; you have to leave your thinking and thoughts and
           speech outside with your shoes. You sit down in a meditative posture. And the host, the lady who
           prepares tea for you -- her movements are so graceful, as if she is dancing, moving around preparing
           tea, putting cups and saucers before you as if you are gods. With such respect... she will bow down,
           and you will receive it with the same respect.
                The tea is prepared in a special samovar which makes beautiful sounds, a music of its own. And
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is part of the tea ceremony that everybody should listen first to the music of the tea. So everybody
           is silent, listening... birds chirping outside in the garden, and the samovar... the tea is creating its own
           song. A peace surrounds....
                When the tea is ready and it is poured into everybody's cup, you are not just to drink it the way
           people are doing everywhere. First you will smell the aroma of the tea. You will sip the tea as if it
           has come from the beyond, you will take time -- there is no hurry.
                Somebody may start playing on the flute or on the sitar.
                An ordinary thing -- just tea -- and they have made it a beautiful religious festival, and everybody
           comes out of it nourished, fresh, feeling younger, feeling juicier.
                And what can be done with tea can be done with everything -- with your clothes, with your food.
                People are living almost in sleep; otherwise, every fabric, every cloth has its own beauty, its own
           feel. If you are sensitive, then the clothing is not just to cover your body; then it is something
           expressing your individuality, something expressing your taste, your culture, your being.
                Everything that you do should be expressive of you; it should have your signature on it. Then life
           becomes a continuous celebration.
                Even if you fall sick and you are lying in bed, you will make those moments of lying in bed
           moments of beauty and joy, moments of relaxation and rest, moments of meditation, moments of
           listening to music or to poetry. There is no need to be sad that you are sick. You should be happy
           that everybody is in the office and you are in your bed like a king, relaxing -- somebody is preparing
           tea for you, the samovar is singing a song, a friend has offered to come and play flute for you....
           These things are more important than any medicine. When you are sick, call a doctor. But more
           important, call those who love you because there is no medicine more important than love. Call those
           who can create beauty, music, poetry around you because there is nothing that heals like a mood of
           celebration.
           Medicine is the lowest kind of treatment.
                But it seems we have forgotten everything, so we have to depend on medicine and be grumpy
           and sad -- as if you are missing some great joy that you were having in the office! In the office you
           were miserable -- just one day off, and you cling to misery too; you won't let it go.
                Make everything creative, make the best out of the worst -- that's what I call `the art'. And if a
           man has lived his whole life making every moment and every phase of it a beauty, a love, a joy,
           naturally his death is going to be the ultimate peak of his whole life's endeavor. The last touches...
           his death is not going to be ugly as it ordinarily happens every day to everyone.
                If death is ugly, that means your whole life has been a wastage.
                Death should be a peaceful acceptance, a loving entry into the unknown, a joyful goodbye to old
           friends, to the old world. There should not be any tragedy in it.
                One Zen master, Lin Chi, was dying. Thousands of his disciples had gathered to listen to the last
           sermon, but Lin Chi was simply lying down -- joyous, smiling, but not saying a single word.
                Seeing that he was going to die and he was not saying a single word, somebody reminded Lin
           Chi -- an old friend, a master in his own right.... He was not a disciple of Lin Chi. That's why he
           could say to him, "Lin Chi, have you forgotten that you have to say your last words? I have always
           said your memory isn't right. You are dying... have you forgotten?"
                Lin Chi said, "Just listen." And on the roof two squirrels were running, screeching. And he said,
           "How beautiful" and he died.
                For a moment, when he said "Just listen," there was absolute silence. Everybody thought he is
           going to say something great, but only two squirrels fighting, screeching, running on the roof.... And
           he smiled and he died.
                But he has given his last message: don't make things small and big, trivial and important.
           Everything is important. At this moment, Lin Chi's death is as important as the two squirrels running
           on the roof, there is no difference. In existence it is all the same. That was his whole philosophy, his
           whole life's teaching -- that there is nothing which is great and there is nothing which is small; it all
           depends on you, what you make out of it.
                Start with meditation, and things will go on growing in you -- silence, serenity, blissfulness,
           sensitivity. And whatever comes out of meditation, try to bring it out in life. Share it, because
           everything shared grows fast. And when you have reached the point of death, you will know there is
           no death. You can say goodbye, there is no need for any tears of sadness -- maybe tears of joy, but
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not of sadness.
           But you have to begin from being innocent.
               So first, throw out all crap that you are carrying. And everybody is carrying so much crap -- and
           one wonders, for what? Just because people have been telling you that these are great ideas,
           principles...
               You have not been intelligent with yourself. Be intelligent with yourself.
               Life is very simple; it is a joyful dance. And the whole earth can be full of joy and dance, but
           there are people who are seriously vested in their interest that nobody should enjoy life, that nobody
           should smile, that nobody should laugh, that life is a sin, that it is a punishment. How can you enjoy
           when the climate is such that you have been told continuously that it is a punishment? -- that you are
           suffering because you have done wrong things and it is a kind of jail where you have been thrown to
           suffer?
               I say to you life is not a jail, it is not a punishment. It is a reward, and it is given only to those
           who have earned it, who deserve it. Now it is your right to enjoy; it will be a sin if you DON'T enjoy.
               It will be against existence if you don't beautify it, if you leave it just as you have found it. No,
           leave it a little happier, a little more beautiful, a little more fragrant.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              AS A DISCIPLE OF YOUR MYSTERY SCHOOL, I WANT TO ASK YOU THE FOLLOWING
              QUESTION: WHEN I HEARD YOU SAY THAT YOU WERE BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT NOW, IT
              FELT LIKE A RELAXATION IN MY HEART. THAT VERY MOMENT A PICTURE AROSE IN ME
              SHOWING ME THAT YOU ARE EVEN CLOSER TO US NOW, AND IT FEELS TO ME AS IF I CAN
              SOMEHOW UNDERSTAND "BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT" BETTER THAN ENLIGHTENMENT
              ITSELF.
              CAN YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?


                Adima, it raises a few fundamental questions.
           First, if you cannot understand enlightenment, how can you understand that which is beyond it?
           You are MISunderstanding.
                Your misunderstanding is that perhaps beyond enlightenment means below enlightenment.
                And you are feeling happy, but I cannot feel happy with your happiness. I feel sorry for it. You
           are feeling happy that I have come close to you. You should feel happy when you come close to me.
                Just think: if I say that I have dropped even "beyond enlightenment," that it was all fiction --
           enlightenment, beyond enlightenment... I am just one of you who had a few imaginative, fictitious
           ideas -- you will feel even happier. Now there is nothing for you to worry about, nowhere to go,
           nothing to achieve, you are perfectly okay.
                Your question makes me understand why Gautam Buddha remained with enlightenment --
           although he was seeing it, the stars beyond were calling him. He was the first man to see beyond
           enlightenment, but he didn't go beyond; he remained at the stage of enlightenment.
                Perhaps it was for people like you. Because you will not be able to understand the person who
           goes beyond enlightenment; in a way he will become almost ordinary -- and there is the danger.
           Your ordinariness and his ordinariness are poles apart -- but both are ordinariness, and the danger is
           that you will misunderstand. He has come back home. You have not even started the journey.
                It is almost like meeting someone on a staircase -- you are both standing on the same step; one is
           going, one is coming. Both are on the same step -- in a way equal -- but one is going up, one is going
           down. Hence, they are not equal, their equality is illusory.
                I thought perhaps that in the twenty-five centuries after Gautam Buddha man might have become
           a little more intelligent -- and someone some day has to try going beyond and see what happens, how
           people take it.
           The way you have understood it is absolutely wrong.
                I have not come closer to you, I have gone farther away.
                And you cannot avoid enlightenment; if you avoid it, you cannot reach beyond it. It is simple
           arithmetic. That's what is making you happy, that perhaps enlightenment can be avoided -- when one
           has to go beyond it, what is the need to first go to enlightenment and then go beyond it? We are
           already beyond it!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are not beyond it.
           You are behind it.
               And in any case enlightenment cannot be avoided. One has to pass through that fire, through that
           great experience.
           So drop that idea that I have come closer to you.
               My being closer to you is not significant. What is significant is your being closer to me.
           You say, "Now you are a friend to us."
               I have always been a friend to you. The question is from your side: are you a friend to me? And
           my friendship will enhance and enrich my life, not your life. It is your friendship that is going to
           enhance and enrich your life. And if you can be a friend to one who is enlightened you have taken a
           long jump, you have extended your hands for a faraway star, you have stretched your being to its
           fullest. This will give you an evolution.
               And only after you have reached the point of enlightenment can you see that there are skies
           beyond skies, that enlightenment is not the end. Existence is not exhausted yet; there is still much
           more ahead, the journey continues.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              NOW THAT I AM SLOWLY, SLOWLY TURNING INWARD, I FIND THIS LONGING MIXED WITH
              SADNESS WELLING UP FREQUENTLY. IT SEEMS CONNECTED WITH THE FEELINGS THAT
              ARISE WHEN I SEE YOU OR DREAM ABOUT YOU.
              IS IT THE REALIZATION THAT I REALLY DON'T KNOW MUCH LOVE AND BLISS IN MY LIFE, OR
              IS IT THE LONGING FOR HOME?
              WOULD YOU PLEASE SPEAK TO ME ABOUT THIS?


               It is good and fortunate that nothing satisfies you completely and entirely. That means you don't
           become stagnant, that means you have to keep moving.
               Slowly slowly, you will understand that there is no home, that movement itself is the home; that
           there is no end to the pilgrimage but the pilgrimage itself is the end.
               It is very difficult to understand because we are accustomed to a certain logic: if we want to go
           somewhere, going is always just a means, reaching somewhere is the end.
               But as far as the universal life is concerned, there cannot be a place where you can say "I have
           come and now there is nothing further."
               It is inconceivable that you will find a place which will be the end and there will be a fence and a
           board saying, "Here ends the world." And even if you can find such a place, I would like you to
           jump the fence -- because there must be something beyond the fence. If the fence cannot just stand
           by itself, there must be something beyond it. Somebody is playing a joke by putting up a board --
           "Here ends the world" -- and fixing a fence there. Don't be deceived.
               You will come to many places where you would like to make your home -- because it is so
           blissful, so peaceful, you feel so fulfilled; you don't see the point... why should you continue?
               But I say unless you continue, you will never know that there is much more. But if you stop,
           nobody is going to prevent you.
               You need a master to go on goading you, to go on destroying every home you make, so finally
           you decide not to make any home -- it is better to be homeless under the sky and continue the
           journey.
               In the life of al-Hillaj Mansoor, a beautiful incident is related. He was a poor man. He collected
           money from people because he wanted to go to Kaaba, the sacred place of pilgrimage for the
           Mohammedans. And everybody contributed because he was going to Kaaba, and whoever
           contributes also gets a share in the virtue that he will get by reaching there. It is according to how
           much you give. So people gave him money -- those who could give more, gave more. People even
           gave beyond their capacity; they borrowed and gave him money.
               The next day he was back. And they said, "So soon?" -- because in those days the journey from
           his place to Kaaba and back used to take three to six months. "What happened? And where is the
           money?"
               He said, "A strange man met me on the way just as I was going out of town. He said, `Listen,
           where are you going?' I said, `I am going to Kaaba.' He said, `There is no need.' I said, `But every
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scripture says there is a need.' He said, `I am a living master, and I am saying there is no need. You
           just go around me seven times and put all the money in front of me. I am Junnaid, the great master.
           Give the money first.' So I said, `If you are Junnaid, then...'"
                Junnaid's name was known all over the country. So al-Hillaj said, "If Junnaid says something he
           cannot be wrong. I gave given the money to Junnaid, went around him seven times, and he told me
           to go back home."
                Those people said, "You idiot. First, have you inquired whether he is Junnaid or not? It seems
           some cheat has deceived you. Let us go and find out. If he was really Junnaid, he will be sitting
           there."
                They reached, and Junnaid was sitting there. Junnaid said, "So you all have come. Put your
           money here, whatever money you have. Take seven rounds -- I am a living Kaaba -- and then go
           home. And whenever you have money you can come again."
                So the poor fellows had to put their money there and took seven rounds, sadly. "This is strange,
           we never thought that Kaaba would come just outside our village."
                But the news spread. People started coming from other villages. They said, "If Junnaid says so, it
           must be right. That is a dead stone in Kaaba, and this is a living master."
                Somebody asked him, "We have come. We heard that you were here, so we have come for the
           pilgrimage."
                He said, "Just give the money and do the pilgrimage."
                But the man said, "I have a question: After taking seven rounds around you, is the journey
           finished? Is the pilgrimage over?"
                He said, "No, whenever you have money again, you can come. This pilgrimage is never going to
           end. And if you don't find me here, you will find somebody else. You can do this pilgrimage around
           anybody -- you just have to be sensitive to see the real, the living god within. It is not only within
           me, it is within you also. If you are alert, you can take seven rounds around yourself -- no need to
           waste the money and no need to go anywhere. Remember, there is no home. Or, the home is
           everywhere -- both are true."
                I will not say to you that the home is everywhere -- although it is true.
           I will say there is no home.
                If you can continue your pilgrimage with this sincerity -- that there is no home and there is no
           place you are going to, that just the going is in itself the beauty, the joy, the blissfulness,
           everything... the going itself -- then the second will also be true: that wherever you are, it is home.
           But the second can be deceptive -- because people are very cunning, even cunning with themselves.
           They have misused all truths, they have managed to give them meanings which support their own
           ideas. If I say "Everywhere is home" then they will relax wherever they are, then there is no need.
                So I say: There is no home, and the journey has to be continued. It has to be a dance. Take your
           guitars and go on, and never stop anywhere.
                That does not mean that you cannot rest for a while. There are caravanserais but no homes -- stay
           over for the night, but in the morning we have to go.
           This ongoing process is what life is.
                The moment it stops, it is death -- and there is no death.
                And why do people hanker for the home? -- security, safety. But in the name of security and
           safety, they don't make homes, they make prisons -- and they are the jailed and they are the jailers,
           but because they have the keys in their own hands, they think they are free.
                They are not free. Only a constantly moving river... sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes
           falling from the mountains, sometimes moving very slowly on the plains... but moving all the time....
           Movement is life, change is life.
                Stay for a while if you feel tired, but stay only to regain enough energy so that tomorrow
           morning you can move again.
                The home is everywhere -- but that home is just a caravanserai.
                Never make anything in life stable. That's how things die, that's how things start stinking.
                Allow movement -- it keeps things fresh, it keeps things alive. It keeps the adventure alive, the
           excitement, the ecstasy of the discovery of the unknown and finally the unknowable.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              EVER SINCE I HAVE BEEN WITH YOU LISTENING, LISTENING, I WAS NEVER ABLE TO
              REMEMBER ANYTHING YOU SAID. AS SO OFTEN BEFORE, YOU ARE SPEAKING FROM MY
              OWN HEART, BUT THE MOMENT THE WORDS ARE HEARD, THEY ARE FORGOTTEN TOO.
              CAN YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING? AM I NOT REALLY LISTENING?


               It is perfectly good. It is as it should be, because this is not a kindergarten school where you have
           to remember every word spoken by me.
               Here the emphasis is not on remembering; the emphasis is on listening. If you have listened in
           silence, then whatever is significant will be absorbed by the heart. You may forget the words....
               Words are only containers, not the content. The content will be absorbed in the heart, and the
           containers have to be thrown away. You cannot carry all the containers always.
               Listen perfectly. Never bother about remembering -- because that is a disturbance. Doing the two
           things together, then one starts taking notes -- if not visibly, then inside in the mind. No, don't create
           disturbance; just listen. If something is true, your heart will simply absorb it.
           And the heart has no memory system.
           The memory system is in the head.
               But whatever the heart absorbs will be changing your actions, will be changing your behavior,
           will be changing you. It will bring a transformation.
               It will not bring you knowledge, it will bring you transformation. It will make you a new man.
           So don't be worried about memory at all.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS THERE ANY WAY TO TRANSCEND BEING A GERMAN?


               Latifa, there is only one way. And you have done it -- you have become a sannyasin.
               A sannyasin is neither German nor Indian, neither Chinese nor Japanese. A sannyasin declares
           that he is simply a human being. He drops all boundaries, all limitations of nations, of religions, of
           ideologies. And that you have done; now don't be worried.
           Now the whole of Germany is afraid of sannyasins.
               You need not be worried about being a German. You just be a sannyasin and make more and
           more sannyasins, and Germany will disappear!
               We are going to make Germany the first sannyas land.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                                    Chapter #29
                                  Chapter title: I am crazy but you are crazier!
           1 November 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8611015
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH29
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 122 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED OSHO,
               RESEARCH OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS HAS SUGGESTED THAT CERTAIN STATES OF
               CONSCIOUSNESS BROUGHT ABOUT BY MEDITATION TECHNIQUES APPEAR TO EVOKE
               SPECIFIC BRAINWAVE PATTERNS. THESE STATES ARE NOW BEING CREATED BY
               ELECTRONIC AND AUDITORY STIMULATION OF THE BRAIN, AND THEY CAN BE LEARNED
               THROUGH BIOFEEDBACK.
               THE TRADITIONAL `MEDITATIVE STATE' -- SITTING SILENTLY (OR AT LEAST QUIETLY ALERT)
               IS COMPOSED OF BILATERAL, SYNCHRONOUS ALPHA WAVES. DEEPER MEDITATION ALSO
               HAS BILATERAL THETA WAVES. A STATE CALLED `LUCID AWARENESS' HAS THE BILATERAL
               SYNCHRONOUS ALPHA AND THETA WAVES OF DEEP MEDITATION, PLUS THE BETA WAVES
               OF NORMAL THOUGHT PROCESSES. `LUCID AWARENESS' CAN BE LEARNED THROUGH
               BIOFEEDBACK, USING THE MOST MODERN EQUIPMENT.
               ARE THESE KINDS OF STIMULATION AND BIOFEEDBACK USEFUL TOOLS FOR THE
               MEDITATOR? WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF THESE TECHNOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES TO
               THE MEDITATION BEYOND TECHNIQUE? IS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF BRINGING SCIENCE
               TOGETHER WITH MEDITATION?
               I WOULD LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH THESE NEW TECHNOLOGIES -- BOTH PERSONALLY IN
               MY OWN MEDITATION, AND PROFESSIONALLY IN MY WORK AS A PHYSICIAN. DO I HAVE
               YOUR BLESSINGS?


                It is a very complex question.
           You will have to understand one of the most fundamental things about meditation -- that no
           technique leads to meditation.
                The old so-called techniques and the new scientific biofeedback techniques are the same as far as
           meditation is concerned.
           Meditation is not a byproduct of any technique.
                Meditation happens beyond mind. No technique can go beyond mind.
                But there is going to be a great misunderstanding in scientific circles, and it has a certain basis.
           The basis of all misunderstanding is: When the being of a person is in a state of meditation, it creates
           certain waves in the mind. These waves can be created from the outside by technical means. But
           those waves will not create meditation -- this is the misunderstanding.
                Meditation creates those waves; it is the mind reflecting the inner world.
                You cannot see what is happening inside. But you can see what is happening in the mind. Now
           there are sensitive instruments... we can judge what kind of waves are there when a person is asleep,
           what kinds of waves are there when a person is dreaming, what kinds of waves are there when a
           person is in meditation.
                But by creating the waves, you cannot create the situation -- because those waves are only
           symptoms, indicators.
                It is perfectly good, you can study them. But remember that there is no shortcut to meditation,
           and no mechanical device can be of any help. In fact, meditation needs no technique -- scientific or
           otherwise.
           Meditation is simply an understanding.
                It is not a question of sitting silently, it is not a question of chanting a mantra. It is a question of
           understanding the subtle workings of the mind. As you understand those workings of the mind a
           great awareness arises in you which is not of the mind. That awareness arises in your being, in your
           soul, in your consciousness.
                Mind is only a mechanism, but when that awareness arises it is bound to create a certain energy
           pattern around it. That energy pattern is noted by the mind. Mind is a very subtle mechanism.
                And you are studying from the outside, so at the most you can study the mind. Seeing that
           whenever a person is silent, serene, peaceful, a certain wave pattern always, inevitably appears in the
           mind, the scientific thinking will say: if we can create this wave pattern in the mind, through some
           biofeedback technology, then the being inside will reach the heights of awareness.
           This is not going to happen.
           It is not a question of cause and effect.
                These waves in the mind are not the cause of meditation; they are, on the contrary, the effect. But
           from the effect you cannot move towards the cause. It is possible that by biofeedback you can create
           certain patterns in the mind and they will give a feeling of peace, silence and serenity to the person.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Because the person himself does not know what meditation is and has no way of comparing, he may
           be misled into believing that this is meditation -- but it is not. Because the moment the biofeedback
           mechanism stops, the waves disappear, and the silence and the peace and the serenity also disappear.
               And you may go on practicing with those scientific instruments for years; it will not change your
           character, it will not change your morality, it will not change your individuality. You will remain the
           same.
               Meditation transforms. It takes you to higher levels of consciousness and changes your whole
           lifestyle. It changes your reactions into responses to such an extent that it is unbelievable that the
           person who would have reacted in the same situation in anger is now acting in deep compassion,
           with love -- in the same situation.
               Meditation is a state of being, arrived at through understanding.
           It needs intelligence, it does not need techniques.
               There is no technique that can give you intelligence. Otherwise, we would have changed all the
           idiots into geniuses; all the mediocre people would have become Albert Einsteins, Bertrand Russells,
           Jean-Paul Sartres. There is no way to change your intelligence from the outside, to sharpen it, to
           make it more penetrating, to give it more insight. It is simply a question of understanding, and
           nobody else can do it for you -- no machine, no man.
               For centuries the so-called gurus have been cheating humanity. Now, in the future instead of
           gurus, these guru machines will cheat humanity.
               The gurus were cheating people, saying that "We will give you a mantra. You repeat the mantra."
           Certainly by repeating a mantra continuously, you create the energy field of a certain wave length;
           but the man remains the same, because it is only on the surface.
               Just as if you have throw a pebble into the silent lake and ripples arise and move all over the lake
           from one corner to the other corner -- but it does not touch the depths of the lake at all. The depths
           are completely unaware of what is happening on the surface.
               And what you see on the surface is also illusory. You think that ripples are moving -- that's not
           true. Nothing is moving.
               When you throw a pebble into the lake, it is not that ripples start moving. You can check it by
           putting a small flower on the water. You will be surprised: the flower remains in the same place. If
           the waves were moving and going towards the shore, they would have taken the flower with them.
           The flower remains there. The waves are not moving, it is just the water going up and down in the
           same place, creating the illusion of movement. The depths of the lake will not know anything about
           it. And there is going to be no change in the character, in the beauty of the lake by creating those
           waves.
           Mind is between the world and you.
               Whatever happens in the world, the mind is affected by it; and you can understand through the
           mind what is happening outside.
               For example, you are seeing me -- you cannot see me; it is your mind that is affected by certain
           rays and creates a picture in the mind. You are inside, and from inside you see the picture. You don't
           see me; you can't see me.
               The mind is the mediator. Just as when it is affected by the outside, the inner consciousness can
           read it -- what is happening outside -- what the scientists are trying to do is just the same: they are
           studying meditators and reading their wave lengths, the energy fields created by meditation. And
           naturally, the scientific approach is that if these certain patterns appear without any exception when a
           person is in meditation, then we have got the key; if we can create these patterns in the mind, then
           meditation is bound to appear inside.
           That's where the fallacy is.
           You can create the pattern in the mind....
               And if the person does not know about meditation, he may feel a silence, a serenity -- for the
           moment, as long as those waves remain.
               But you cannot deceive a meditator because the meditator will see that those patterns are
           appearing in the mind....
               Mind is a lower reality, and the lower reality cannot change the higher reality. The mind is the
           servant; it cannot change the master.
           But you can experiment.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Just remain aware that whether it is a biofeedback machine or a chanting of OM, it does not
           matter; it only creates a mental peace, and a mental peace is not meditation.
           Meditation is the flight beyond the mind.
           It has nothing to do with mental peace.
               One of America's great thinkers, Joshua Liebman, has written a very famous book, PEACE OF
           MIND. I wrote him a letter many years ago when I came across the book, saying that "If you are
           sincere and honest, you should withdraw the book from the market because there is no such thing as
           peace of mind. Mind is the problem. When there is no mind then there is peace, so how there can be
           peace of mind? And any peace of mind is only fallacious; it simply means the noise has slowed
           down to such a point that you think it is silence. And you don't have anything to compare it with."
               A man who knows what meditation is cannot be deceived by any techniques, because no
           technique can give you understanding of the workings of the mind.
               For example, you feel anger, you feel jealousy, you feel hatred, you feel lust. Is there any
           technique that can help you to get rid of anger? of jealousy? of hatred? of sexual lust? And if these
           things continue to remain, your lifestyle is going to remain the same as before.
               There is only one way -- there has never been a second. There is one and only one way to
           understand that to be angry is to be stupid: watch anger in all its phases, be alert to it so it does not
           catch you unawares; remain watchful, seeing every step of the anger. And you will be surprised: that
           as awareness about the ways of anger grows, the anger starts evaporating.
               And when the anger disappears, then there is a peace. Peace is not a positive achievement.
               When the hatred disappears, there is love. Love is not a positive achievement.
               When jealousy disappears, there is a deep friendliness towards all.
           Try to understand....
               But all the religions have corrupted your minds because they have not taught you how to watch,
           how to understand; instead they have given you conclusions -- that anger is bad. And the moment
           you condemn something, you have already taken a certain position of judgment. You have judged.
           Now you cannot be aware.
           Awareness needs a state of no-judgment.
               And all the religions have been teaching people judgments: this is good, this is bad, this is sin,
           this is virtue -- this is the whole crap that for centuries man's mind has been loaded with. So, with
           everything -- the moment you see it -- there is immediately a judgment about it within you. You
           cannot simply see it, you cannot be just a mirror without saying anything.
               Understanding arises by becoming a mirror, a mirror of all that goes on in the mind.
               There is a beautiful story -- not just a story, but an actual historical fact.
               One disciple of Gautam Buddha is going on a journey to spread his message. He has come to see
           Gautam Buddha and to get his blessings, and to ask if there is any last message, any last words to be
           said to him.
               And Gautam Buddha said, "Just remember one thing: While walking, keep your gaze just four
           feet ahead, looking four feet ahead of you."
               Since that day, for twenty-five centuries, Buddhist monks have walked in the same way. That
           was a strategy to keep you from seeing women in particular. Those disciples were monks. They had
           taken the vow of celibacy.
               Ananda, another of Gautam Buddha's disciples, could not understand what the matter was, why
           the monk should keep his eyes always focused four feet ahead. He inquired: "I want to know, what is
           the matter?"
               Buddha said, "That's how he will avoid looking at a woman, at least a woman's face -- at the
           most he will see her feet."
               But Ananda said, "There may be situations when a woman is in a danger. For example, she has
           fallen into a well and is shouting for help. What is your disciple supposed to do? He will have to see
           her face, her body."
               Buddha said, "In special situations he is allowed to see her, but it is not the rule, it is only the
           exception."
               Ananda said, "What about touching? -- because there may be situations when a woman has fallen
           on the road. What is your disciple supposed to do? Should he help her to get up or not? Or an old
           woman wants to cross the road -- what is your disciple supposed to do?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha said, "As an exception -- but remember it is not a rule -- he can touch the woman with
           one condition, and if he cannot fulfill the condition he is not allowed the exceptions. The condition is
           that he should remain just a mirror, he should not take any judgment, any attitude. `The woman is
           beautiful' -- that is a judgment. `The woman is fair' -- that is a judgment. He should remain a mirror,
           then he is allowed the exceptions. Otherwise, let the woman drown in the well -- somebody else will
           save her. You save yourself!"
                What he is saying is this: in every situation where mind starts any kind of desire, greed, lust,
           ambition, possessiveness, the meditator has to be just a mirror. And what is that going to do? To be
           just a mirror means you are simply aware.
                In pure awareness the mind cannot drag you down into the mud, into the gutter. In anger, in
           hatred, in jealousy, the mind is absolutely impotent in the face of awareness. And because the mind
           is absolutely impotent, your whole being is in a profound silence -- the peace that passeth
           understanding.
                Naturally that peace, that silence, that joy, that blissfulness will affect the mind. It will create
           ripples in the mind, it will change the wave lengths in the mind, and the scientist will be reading
           those waves, those wave patterns and he will be thinking, "If these wave patterns can be created in
           someone by mechanical devices, then we will be able to create the profoundness of a Gautam
           Buddha."
           Don't be stupid.
                All your technical devices can be good, can be helpful. They are not going to do any harm; they
           will be giving some taste of peace, of silence -- although very superficial, still it is something for
           those who have never known anything of peace.
                For the thirsty, even dirty water does not look dirty.
                For the thirsty, even dirty water is a great blessing.
                So you can start your experiments with all my blessings, but remember it is not meditation that
           you are giving to people -- you don't know meditation yourself. You may be giving them a little rest,
           a little relaxation -- and there is nothing wrong in it.
                But if you give them the idea that this is meditation then you are certainly being harmful --
           because these people will stop at the technical things, with the superficial silence, thinking that this
           is all and they have gained it.
                You can be helpful to people. Tell them that "This is just a mechanical way of putting your mind
           at peace, and mind at peace is not the real peace -- real peace is when mind is absent. And that is not
           possible from the outside, but only from the inside. And inside you have the intelligence, the
           understanding to do the miracle."
                It is good for people who cannot relax, who cannot find a few moments of peace, whose minds
           are continuously chattering -- your technical devices are good, your biofeedback mechanisms are
           good. But make it clear to them that this is not meditation, this is just a mechanical device to help
           you relax, to give you a superficial feeling of silence. If this silence creates an urge in you to find the
           real, the inner, the authentic source of peace, then those technical devices have been friends, and the
           technicians who have been using them have not been barriers but have been bridges. Become a
           bridge.
                Give people the little taste that is possible through machines, but don't give them the false idea
           that this is what meditation is. Tell them that this is only a faraway echo of the real; if you want the
           real, you will have to go through a deep inner search, a profound understanding of your mind, an
           awareness of all the cunning ways of the mind so that the mind can be put aside. Then the mind is no
           longer between you and existence, and the doors are open.
                Meditation is the ultimate experience of blissfulness.
                It cannot be produced by drugs, it cannot be produced by machines, it cannot be produced from
           the outside.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE COMMUNES OF MAHAVIRA AND BUDDHA SURVIVED EVEN AFTER THEIR LIFETIMES,
              BUT YOUR COMMUNES ARE NOT SURVIVING IN YOUR LIFETIME ALTHOUGH THEY ARE
              SELF-SUFFICIENT.
              DOES SURVIVAL OF COMMUNES DEPEND ON SOCIAL STRUCTURE, AFFLUENCE OF THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SOCIETY, PREVALENT RELIGIONS, OR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS? PLEASE
              COMMENT.


                The first thing to understand: Gautam Buddha and Mahavira had no communes.
                Their disciples were wandering monks; they were not living a commune life in one place, they
           were always on the move -- except for the rainy season. And even in the rainy season they used to
           stay in different places.
           My commune was an alternative society.
                Gautam Buddha and Mahavira did not provide an alternative society; hence they were not in
           conflict with the society. On the contrary, they were dependent on the society for food, for clothes,
           for shelter -- their disciples were dependent on the society for everything.
                They could not be rebellious. How can you be rebellious against a society which gives you food,
           which gives you clothes, which gives you shelter, which gives you everything that you need? You
           cannot go against its morality -- it may be rotten, but you have to support it. You cannot go against
           its traditions.
                My commune was a totally new experiment. It has never happened before. There is no
           comparison in the past because my people were not dependent on anybody, and they were against
           the society, the culture, the civilization, the religion, the politics, the education -- everything that
           constitutes the world.
                We were fighting an impossible fight -- a small group trying to live in a totally different way
           from the whole of humanity.
           Mahavira was not against marriage; I am.
           Mahavira was not respectful towards women; I am.
                Buddha was as much a male chauvinist as anybody else. For twenty years continuously, he
           refused to initiate any women into Buddhism. He never accepted the idea that they are equal to men.
           I say they are not only equal but in some respects superior.
           My commune was a revolt.
                Their religions -- Gautam Buddha's and Mahavira's religions -- were simply offshoots of the
           same civilization, the same society, the same morality, the same superstitions.
                Yes, they were arguing about invisible things which nobody bothers about -- whether God is
           seven feet high or six feet high is nobody's business. Whether God has three faces or only one face, it
           is God's problem, it is nobody else's problem. Maybe if he has three faces then God's tailor might
           have a problem!
                They were disagreeing on many points, but all those points were immaterial, not substantial, not
           concerned with the life that man is living here and now -- about that they were all in absolute
           agreement.
                Hence it was absolutely to be expected that my commune would be destroyed.
                It was against the church, it was against the state, it was against all that your so-called
           civilization stands for -- because I don't believe man has yet become civilized.
                If man has become civilized, then there is no need for wars; if man has become civilized, then
           there is no need for discrimination between blacks and whites, men and women; if man has become
           civilized then there is no need for people to die because they have nothing to eat -- and there are
           people who are dying because they have too much to eat.
                In America, thirty million people are dying from overeating, and thirty million people are dying
           because they have nothing to eat.
                And you call this world a civilized world? It is not even sane. And it cannot be just coincidence:
           exactly thirty million people overeating, knowing perfectly well that they are eating themselves to
           death, knowing perfectly well that thirty million people are on the streets dying without food.
           Strange... sixty million people can be saved within a second, but these sixty million people will die.
                I have heard.... A man was very much worried because his wife was getting fatter and fatter and
           fatter.
                And women have greater capacity for becoming fat than men -- it is a biological privilege,
           because the woman has to be able to become pregnant, to become a mother; then for nine months she
           cannot eat well, she throws up, she is carrying such a load in her belly. And every day the child
           needs more and more food. It is a very strange situation: the woman cannot eat, and the child wants
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more food because he is growing. Hence nature has made woman's body capable of collecting more
           fat for emergency measures. So even if she does not eat, the child can get as much as he needs from
           the reserve fat the woman has; and the woman can also go on eating her own fat -- and nine months
           is a long time. So the woman has immense capacity. If she uses her full capacity, then man is no
           competitor.
               And women are thinner while they are not married. Once they are married they start becoming
           fat -- because now there is no problem. They have got hold of a man who cannot escape so it does
           not matter what happens to their body proportions; they are no more interested in any beauty
           competition.
           The man asked his doctor, "What has to be done?"
               The doctor said, "You do one thing: take a beautiful picture of a naked woman and paste it inside
           the fridge, so whenever your wife opens the fridge for more ice cream she will think, `What a
           beautiful body!' And she may start thinking about herself, that this is not good."
           The man said, "That idea is very good."
               After two months the doctor met the man, and he could not believe it. He said, "What happened?
           I have not seen you for two months, and you have become so fat!"
               He said, "Everything went wrong because of your suggestion, you idiot! Are you my doctor or
           my enemy? I pasted a beautiful woman, naked, inside the fridge. Since then my wife does not open
           the fridge, but I cannot remain more than fifteen minutes away before a desire arises to see the photo.
           But when one opens the fridge, it is not just the photo one sees -- the ice cream, the cake... You have
           destroyed my life. So my wife has become slimmer, beautiful, and I have become ugly. And the
           whole credit goes to you!"
               This society, this world is based on insane superstitions.
               My commune was a revolt. It survived five years -- it was a miracle, because the whole fascist
           and imperialist government of America tried everything to destroy it. Legally they could not do it
           because we had four hundred legal experts in the commune -- the commune had the biggest legal
           firm in the whole world. Four hundred sannyasins, a few of them very well-known legal experts;
           others, new graduates from the universities -- four hundred legal experts continuously fighting the
           American government on every legal point. Finally the government decided that legally it was
           impossible to destroy us, and then they started doing illegal things.
               And when a world power -- the world's greatest power -- starts being criminal and illegal, what
           can four hundred people do?
               We were ready to fight legally, rationally, logically, in every possible way. But illegally it was
           impossible to fight.
               I was arrested illegally, without any arrest warrant -- because they could not find a reason to
           arrest me, so how to issue an arrest warrant?
               In the middle of the night at the point of twelve loaded guns, I was arrested. And I asked them,
           "Where is the arrest warrant?"
           They said, "There is no arrest warrant."
               I said, "You can at least tell me verbally what the reason is, why I am being arrested."
           They said, "We don't know."
               I asked them, "Then give me the opportunity to inform my attorney."
           And they refused.
               That is every citizen's right everywhere in the world -- to inform his attorney if the government is
           doing such an illegal act. But they were worried that if the attorney comes, the first thing he is going
           to ask is, "Where is the arrest warrant?"
               They destroyed the commune in such a way that the world would think nothing criminal had
           been done, but everything criminal....
               In court they produced one hundred and thirty-six crimes against me.
               I was silent for three and a half years, never going out of my room. And if a man remaining silent
           -- not meeting anybody, not talking to anybody, not going out of his room -- can manage to commit
           one hundred and thirty-six crimes, then I thought there must be miracles, I must be doing miracles!
           And they had no proof of anything.
               They asked for negotiations. The government attorney made it clear to my attorneys that the
           government could not accept defeat. They themselves had foolishly called the case "The United
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           States of America versus Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh," they themselves had called the case that; there
           was no need to give it such a name. Now they were in trouble: if I had won the case that would mean
           the United States of America would have been defeated in their own courts under their own law, by
           their own constitution.
                So they said, "We cannot -- the government cannot accept defeat. And you know and we know
           that we don't have any proof. So the best way will be not to go to trial. We are ready for negotiations.
           And the negotiating agreement is that Bhagwan should accept any two charges, should admit that he
           has committed two crimes -- just to show the world that we have not done anything wrong by
           arresting him -- and pay a nominal fine. Then on the surface everything looks legal."
                But my attorney said, "It will be very difficult to convince him to accept."
                They said, "We should make you aware of the fact that if he does not accept -- and if the case
           goes to trial -- then the trial can be prolonged for ten years, twenty years. It is a case against the
           government, and you should be aware that government is not ready to lose the case. So we will go on
           postponing it, and bail will be cancelled and Bhagwan will have to remain in jail. His whole
           movement will be destroyed, and all his sannyasins all over the world will be in immense torture."
                And he suggested -- whispered into my chief attorney's ear: "You should be aware that he can be
           killed too. If we see that the case is going to be lost, he can be killed too."
                My attorneys came to me crying -- and they were the topmost attorneys of America. I asked
           them, "Why you are crying? What is the matter? -- because there is nothing in those hundred
           thirty-six charges. We are going to win."
                They said, "We are going to win, but your life is at risk and we don't want your life to be at risk."
           And they were right.
                Because they had already planted a bomb under my seat, so if something went wrong then they
           could finish me on that very day. It was just a coincidence that I reached the jail earlier than they
           expected -- and the bomb was a time bomb, so it did not explode.
                After I left America, the attorney general told the press, "Our first priority was to destroy the
           commune."
                Why? -- because the commune had done no harm to America in any way. But deep down it has
           hurt America's ego, its pride -- because we have shown them that a dream can be realized, that five
           thousand people can live without any law enforcement authority, without any court, without any
           fight, without any drugs, without any murder, without any suicide, nobody going mad. And people
           were living so joyously and so beautifully that the whole of America was starting to feel jealous.
                The very existence of the commune was dangerous to the American politicians because it
           showed that they don't have any intelligence; otherwise they could have done what we had done very
           easily -- they had all the power, all the money.
                This small commune of five thousand people had everything that man needs, and all the freedom,
           all the love. And everybody was working seven days a week, twelve to fourteen hours a day, and still
           were not tired -- because it was not something forced, it was something they wanted to do, they
           wanted to create. It was such a creative act that after working fourteen hours they were still dancing
           in the streets; late in the night they were playing on their guitars, singing, dancing.
                The commune was destined to be destroyed. It was too good not to be destroyed. It was the
           alternative society.
                Mahavira and Buddha did not create any alternative society. They were part of this society, they
           remained dependent on this society.
           Their revolution was intellectual, verbal.
           My revolt was actual and existential.
                And the destruction of the commune in America does not mean that the idea of the commune will
           disappear. There are still communes around the world flourishing in many countries. More and more
           communes will be coming up.
                America is going to repent; it has missed an opportunity. It could have supported the commune
           and made it clear to the world that it stands for freedom, that it stands for a new man, that it stands
           for a future humanity.
           It missed a great opportunity.
                By destroying the commune, it has destroyed its own credibility, its own democracy. It has
           proved itself simply nothing but a hypocritical society.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE MOST POWERFUL EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE IS THE LOVE THAT I FEEL FOR YOU. IT'S
              LIKE A SHOWER THAT CLEANSES MY SOUL AND FILLS MY HEART WITH GRATITUDE.
              BUT STILL I KEEP SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING ELSE, AS IF THERE IS A SECRET YOU
              HAVEN'T SHARED WITH ME YET. IS THIS CRAZY LOVE AFFAIR BETWEEN US REALLY AND
              TRULY ALL THAT IS NEEDED? WHY AM I NOT SATISFIED WITH THIS EXPERIENCE?


                Love can never be satisfied.
           If it is satisfied, it is not much of a love. The greater and deeper it is, the more dissatisfaction there
           will be. That is not against love; it simply shows the vastness, that your heart wants to love in a way
           which is infinite, that it will never be satisfied.
                And it is good that it is not satisfied. The moment it is satisfied, it is dead.
                The love between the master and the disciple can never be satisfied. It will always remain a thrill,
           a new excitement, a new ecstasy. It will always go on opening doors upon doors -- disciplehood will
           become devotion; one day devotion will become a merger, just as the river merges in the ocean. But
           that too is not going to satisfy.
                Satisfaction is not a great quality. It belongs to the little minds, to the little hearts which are
           satisfied with small things.
                There are people who are satisfied with a little money, there are people who are satisfied with a
           house, there are people who are satisfied with a little name, a little fame -- these are pygmies.
                Giants are never satisfied. On every new step they find the journey is becoming deeper, more
           miraculous, more mysterious -- and the longing is growing and the heart is full of a sweet ache.
                To be in a love affair with a master is to be in a love affair with existence itself; the master is
           only an arrow pointing towards the unknowable, the miraculous, the mysterious.
                The master is not the end, the master is only the beginning.
                The whole function of the master is to push you the same way a mother bird pushes a small bird,
           a new bird who has never opened his wings into the sky. Naturally he is afraid -- a vast sky. He has
           lived in a small cozy nest, safe and secure, the mother has been taking care -- and now she wants him
           to take a jump and fly. And one day she pushes him. And the moment he is pushed out of the nest --
           for a moment it feels as if he is going to fall down on the earth, but before he falls on the earth his
           wings open and the whole sky is his.
           And there are skies beyond skies.
                The function of the master is nothing but to push you into a more divine discontentment, into a
           discontentment that knows no satisfaction.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU ARE REALLY SOMETHING -- TALKING ABOUT "BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT" WHEN MOST
              OF US ARE NOT BEYOND PETTINESS, FUTILITY AND POSTPONEMENT!
              DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES OR SOMETHING? (PERHAPS LOVE?)


               It is true, I am something!
           I know you are not beyond pettiness, beyond jealousy, beyond greed, beyond anger. But I don't talk
           about going beyond them for the simple reason that if you start struggling with your pettiness, you
           will remain petty; if you start struggling against your jealousy, you will remain jealous.
               An ancient proverb is: "Always choose the enemy very carefully."
               A friend can be chosen without much care, but an enemy has to be chosen very carefully because
           you will be fighting with him -- and in fighting you will become just like the enemy because you will
           have to use the same methods, the same means.
           Enemies are very precious.
               I don't want you to fight with small things. Rather than looking down at the earth, and all around
           is your pettiness and jealousy and anger, my effort is to show you the stars and help you to know that
           you have wings. And once you start moving towards the stars, those small things will disappear on
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           their own accord.
               It is better to look at a star and to strive to get to it because the journey is beautiful, the heart is
           throbbing with excitement.
           Rather than fighting with small things...
           You will remain small, fighting with small things.
               All your religions teach you to fight with small things, and that's why the whole of humanity has
           remained small -- fight with small things.
           I insist: Don't fight with small things.
               Fight for something great, and as you move towards the great the small ones will disappear.
           I am crazy, but you are crazier!
               And that is the only bond between us -- I am crazy, you are crazier. That is the only commitment.
           We will reach to the stars -- we will not bother about small things. Leave them here for other people,
           they will fight with them.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS NEEDED TO NOT MISS YOU?


                Prasad, only one thing is needed not to miss me, and that is: You have to remember constantly
           that in every mind, in every person who comes in search of truth, the ego plays a very cunning game.
           I will tell you one story.
                It is said that one of the great Zen masters Bokoju used to ask every newcomer: "Have you
           realized that the path of disciplehood is very difficult? Before you enter on the path, it is my duty to
           make you alert to all the difficulties, arduousness, hostilities; it is an uphill task. Are you ready, or
           you have come here just out of curiosity?"
                The man said, "No, I have come here to find the truth, but if it is too difficult to be a disciple then
           what about making me a master?"
           It is a very strange story.
                But that is the only thing that can prevent you coming closer to me -- the desire in the ego
           somewhere to become a master. You have to become something bigger, something greater.
                The master is just a finger pointing to the moon. Don't be bothered to become a master; while
           you can become the moon, why become the finger?
           You are asking what can keep you missing me.
           Only one thing: the desire to be a master.
                It is one of the mysteries of life that only those who don't have any desire to be a master become
           masters, and those who have the desire even fall from the status of being a disciple -- because the
           desire to be a master is nothing but a subtle ego.
           So just watch your mind.
                From disciple become a devotee; from devotee take a quantum leap, a merger with existence.
                Never think for a moment of becoming a master. Leave it to existence: if existence wants you to
           become a master -- that means if existence wants to use you as a master, you will be used. If
           existence thinks you have done enough and wants you to relax, disperse into eternity -- leave it to
           existence. You should not be desirous of anything.
                The moment you come to the state of desirelessness, then existence uses you in whatever way is
           needed: as a mystic, as a master, as a singer, as a dancer, as a flute player -- or just as nobody; but
           everything is a benediction.
                That which comes to you from existence without your desiring it is always the greatest ecstasy
           there is.




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                 Chapter #30
                               Chapter title: You are the watcher not the actor
           2 November 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8611025
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH30
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 131 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SPEAK FOR THE PAST MONTH ON "BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT" -- AND I
              DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SPEAK FOR THE PAST TWELVE YEARS ON ENLIGHTENMENT -- AND I
              DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.
              ALL I KNOW IS THE MOMENT WHEN I SIT BEFORE YOU: YOU FEEL LIKE BLOOD TO MY BODY;
              YOUR VOICE, MORE FAMILIAR THAN MY OWN HEARTBEAT.
              OSHO, HAVE I LET YOU DOWN?


               Maneesha, there are things which are beyond understanding.
               Enlightenment is beyond understanding, and of course beyond enlightenment is going to be more
           miraculous, more mysterious.
               Understanding itself is not the heart of human beings, it is not their very being. It is useful only
           as far as the outside world is concerned. The moment you start moving inwards, you have to learn
           new ways of feeling, of loving, of knowing, and finally of being.
               Understanding is perfectly right for the mind, for intelligence, for the objective world; but life
           does not consist only of those things which you can understand. In fact, the things that you can
           understand don't make life a celebration, they don't give life a meaning, a significance, they don't
           allow life to become love.
               Understanding is the demarcation line between the mundane and the sacred.
               The mundane can be understood and should be understood. And the sacred cannot be understood
           and should not be understood. Its sacredness is basically a secret that you experience, just the way
           you feel the heartbeat, the way you feel your breathing.
               The sacred gives color to existence, gives music to that which is mundane. It transforms all prose
           into poetry and makes everything a mystery unto itself so that the whole existence becomes a
           constant challenge to discover. You go on discovering, but the discovery is never finished; hence
           you can never say you have understood. On the contrary, the deeper you enter into the sacred
           dimension of life the more you feel you don't understand, you don't know.
               Socrates had become very old, and before he was given poison the oracle of the temple of Delphi
           declared him to be the wisest man in the whole world. A few people who knew Socrates were
           immensely glad, they rushed to Athens to inform Socrates: "It has never happened before, it is
           unprecedented that the oracle of Delphi should declare anybody as the wisest man in the world. You
           are the first."
               Socrates said, "You will have to go back to the temple of Delphi and tell the oracle that although
           it has always been right, this time it has missed -- because I know nothing."
           The people who brought the news were shocked.
               They went back and told to the oracle: "Socrates refuses. Not only does he refuse to be the wisest
           man in the world, he says, `I know NOTHING.'"
               And here is the beauty of the incident: The oracle said, "That's why he is the wisest man in the
           world, there is no contradiction."
               Maneesha, if you had understood what I was saying for twelve years about enlightenment, you
           would have missed. If you had understood what I have been saying for one month continuously
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about beyond enlightenment, you would have missed.
               Because you are aware that you have not been able to understand anything, you have not missed.
               And your feeling that sitting close to me you feel as if I have become your heartbeat, your
           breathing, your circulation of blood -- this is true understanding. This is not knowledge; this is the
           same understanding as when Socrates says, "I know nothing." This is closer to love, this is closer to
           music, this is closer to feeling beauty.
               You don't understand beauty, you don't understand music, you don't understand dance -- you
           enjoy, you rejoice, you feel. It enters into your being. It becomes part of you, but you cannot say it is
           knowledge.
               Listening to the music of the winds as they pass through the pine trees, what can you understand?
           Or listening to the sound of running water, what can you understand? Or looking at a beautiful
           sunset and all the colors spread over the horizon, what can you understand? What do you
           understand?
               But something happens which is far more precious than understanding.
           You fall in love, you feel it, you become it.
               This is how it should be -- aes dhammo sanantano. This is how religion has always been, this is
           the eternal mystery I call `religion' -- not the religion of the mind, but the religion of the heart, of the
           being; not the religion of knowing, but the religion of innocence.
               Whatever is happening to you is exactly what should happen to everybody.
               Those who go from here understanding things, knowing things, becoming more knowledgeable,
           it would have been better that they had not come -- because I have not been a help to them, I have
           burdened them; I have not been able to unburden them. And my whole effort is to take all weight of
           knowing, knowledge, wisdom from you and to make you innocent children again -- again collecting
           flowers in the garden, running after butterflies, collecting seashells, making houses of sand on the
           beach... utterly absorbed in whatsoever you are doing, utterly blissful -- so the whole existence
           around you is a fairyland because everything is mysterious.
               If I can take away your knowledge and give you back the sense of mystery, then I have done my
           job, I have fulfilled my function.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              READING A SCIENTIFIC REPORT ABOUT BRAIN MANIPULATION, QUESTIONS AROSE IN ME.
              FOR INSTANCE, IF EVERY FEELING -- LIKE HAPPINESS, SADNESS, SEXUALITY,
              AGGRESSION, AND SO ON -- CAN BE STIMULATED BY ELECTRODES, OR INDIRECTLY BY
              CHEMISTRY, CAN BE MANIPULATED FROM THE OUTSIDE, THEN THESE FEELINGS ARE NOT
              MY OWN; THEY ARE JUST PUPPETS IN SOMEONE'S HANDS. THEY ARE EITHER
              MANIPULATED FROM THE OUTSIDE OR FROM THE INSIDE AS AUTOMATIC REACTIONS TO
              SITUATIONS -- THEY ARE NOT ME. THIS IS ABOUT FEELINGS.
              MAYBE SOME DAY THOUGHTS CAN BE MANIPULATED EQUALLY EASILY. THEN WHAT IS
              REALLY MINE? THEN WHAT IS LEFT? THEN WHO AM I?
              QUESTIONING AND THINKING IN THESE DIRECTIONS, I CAME TO RECOGNIZE THAT I OFTEN
              THINK ABOUT MYSELF, ABOUT LIFE, ABOUT TRUTH IN THESE WAYS. AND THEN THE
              QUESTION AROSE: IS THIS WAY OF QUESTIONING AND THINKING THE WAY THE MIND TRIES
              TO KNOW SOMETHING? IS IT ABLE TO REACH ANY TRUTH AT ALL? IF NOT, IS THIS THINKING
              OR QUESTIONING JUST A FUTILE EFFORT, JUST A WASTE OF TIME? OR IS IT NOT THE MIND,
              NOT THE INTELLECT, BUT A DEEPER INTELLIGENCE, A DEEPER INSTRUMENT THAT IS ABLE
              TO COME TO SOME TRUTH?
              WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


                It is absolutely true: your emotions, your sentiments, your thoughts -- the whole paraphernalia of
           the mind -- is from the outside, is manipulated by the outside.
                Scientifically it has become more clear. But even without scientific investigation, the mystics, for
           thousands of years, have been saying exactly the same thing -- that all these things that your mind is
           filled with are not yours, you are beyond them. You get identified with them, and that's the only sin.
                For example, somebody insults you and you become angry. You think you are becoming angry --
           but seen scientifically, his insult is only a remote controller. The man who has insulted you is
           managing your behavior. Your anger is in his hands, you are behaving like a puppet.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now scientists are able to put electrodes in the brain at certain centers -- there are seven hundred
           centers. And it is almost unbelievable: the mystics have been talking about these seven hundred
           centers in the brain for almost seven, eight thousand years. Science has just now discovered that
           there are exactly seven hundred centers controlling all your behavior.
               An electrode can be put at a particular center -- for example, anger -- with a remote control so
           you cannot see that anybody is doing anything to you. Nobody insults you, nobody humiliates you,
           nobody says anything to you; you are sitting silently, happily, and somebody pushes the button of
           the remote control and you become angry. It is a very strange feeling because you cannot see the
           reason anywhere, why you are becoming angry. Perhaps you will rationalize somehow: you see a
           man passing down the street and you remember that he insulted you -- you will find some
           rationalization just to console yourself that you are not going mad. Sitting silently... and suddenly
           feeling so angry without any provocation?
               And the same remote controller can work to make you happy: sitting in your chair you start
           giggling, and you look all around in case somebody sees you -- he will think you are going crazy!
           Nobody has said anything, nothing has happened, nobody has slipped on a banana peel, so why are
           you giggling? But you will rationalize it, you will give some apparently rational grounds for
           giggling.
               And the strangest thing is that when the next time the same button is pushed and you giggle, you
           will again have the same rationale, the same consolation, the same explanation -- that too is not
           yours. It is almost like a gramophone record.
               And the scientists have come to discover a tremendously meaningful thing: the moment the
           remote controller releases the center, it rewinds itself immediately. For example, your speech center:
           the remote control can force you to speak. There is no audience, you will feel awkward -- but you
           cannot do anything, you have to speak. It is just like a recording. When the remote controller
           releases the button, the pressure on the electrode, you become silent. Press the button again... and the
           strange thing is, you start your speech again from the very beginning!
               When I was reading about the scientific investigations into these centers, I was reminded of my
           student days. I was a competitor in an inter-university debate; all the universities of the country were
           participating. The Sanskrit University of Varanasi was also participating, but naturally the students
           from the Sanskrit University were feeling a little inferior compared with competitors from other
           universities. They knew ancient scriptures, they knew Sanskrit poetry, drama, but they were not
           familiar with the contemporary world of art, literature, philosophy or logic.
               And the inferiority complex works in very strange ways.
               Just after I had spoken, the next person was the representative from the Sanskrit University. And
           just to impress the audience and to hide his inferiority complex he started his speech with a quotation
           from Bertrand Russell -- he had crammed it, and Sanskrit students are more capable of cramming
           things than anybody else. But his stage fright....
               He knew nothing about Bertrand Russell, he knew nothing about what he was quoting. It would
           have been better to have quoted something from Sanskrit because he would have been more at ease.
               In the middle he stopped -- just in the middle of a sentence. And I was sitting by his side,
           because I had just finished. There was silence, and he was perspiring. And just to help him, I said,
           "Start again" -- because what else to do? he was simply stuck. "And if you cannot go ahead, you start
           again; perhaps it may come back to you."
               So he started again: "Brothers and sisters..." and at exactly the same point he got stuck again.
           Now it became a joke. The whole hall was shouting, "Again!" and he was in such a difficult
           situation. Neither could he go ahead nor could he keep standing there silent -- it looked very idiotic.
           So he had to start again. But he would start again, "Brothers and sisters..."
               For a whole fifteen minutes we heard only that portion: "Brothers and sisters..." up to the point
           where he got stuck, again and again.
               When his time was finished he came and sat next to me. He said, "You destroyed my whole
           thing!"
           I said, "I was trying to help you."
           He said, "This is help?"
               I said, "You were going to be in difficulty anyway. This way at least everybody enjoyed it except
           you -- that I can understand, but you should rejoice that you made so many people happy. And why
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           did you choose that quotation? When I was saying to you, `Start again' there was no need to start
           over -- you could have dropped that quotation, there was no need to begin again from the very
           beginning."
               But I came to know through reading the scientific research that the speech center is exactly like a
           gramophone record, but with one thing very strange and special: the moment the needle is taken
           away from the record you cannot put the needle back where you took it from. Once it is taken away,
           it will have to begin again exactly at the beginning. The center instantly goes back to the beginning.
               And if this happens, can you say you are the master of what you are saying? Are you the master
           of what you are feeling? Certainly there are no electrodes scientifically put into you, but biologically
           exactly the same work is going on.
               You see a certain woman, and immediately your mind reacts: "How beautiful!" This is nothing
           but remote control. That woman functioned like a remote control and your speech center simply
           went into a recorded speech: "How beautiful!"
           Mind is a mechanism. It is not you.
               It records things from outside, and then reacts to outside situations according to the recordings.
           That's the only difference between a Hindu and a Mohammedan and a Christian and a Jew -- they
           have just got different gramophone records. Inside it is one humanity. And do you think when you
           play a gramophone record... it may be in Hebrew, it may be in Sanskrit, it may be in Persian, it may
           be in Arabic, but it is the same machine that plays the record. To the machine it does not matter
           whether it plays Hebrew or Sanskrit.
               All your religions, all your political ideas, all your cultural attitudes are nothing but recordings.
           And in certain situations certain recordings are provoked.
               There is a beautiful incident in the life of one of the very wisest kings of India, Raja Dhoj. He
           was very much interested in wise people. His whole treasury was open only for one purpose -- to
           collect all the wise people of the country, whatsoever the cost. His capital was Ujjain, and he had
           thirty of the country's most famous people in his court. It was the most precious court in the whole
           country.
               One of the greatest poets of the world, Kalidas, was one of the members of the court of Raja
           Dhoj.
               One day a man appeared at the court saying that he spoke thirty languages with the same fluency,
           the same accuracy and accent as any native person could, and he had come to make a challenge:
           "Hearing that you have in your court the wisest people of the country, here are one thousand gold
           pieces..."
               The rupee used to be golden. We should stop calling it the rupee now, because the word `rupee'
           comes from the word rupya. `Rupya' means gold. It went on falling from gold to silver, from silver
           to something else. Now it is just paper and you go on calling it `rupee'. The very word means gold.
               And he said, "Anybody who can recognize my mother tongue, these one thousand gold pieces
           are his. And if he cannot recognize it, then he will have to give me one thousand gold pieces."
               There were great scholars there, and everybody knows that whatever you do, you can never
           speak any language the way you can speak your own mother tongue because every other language
           has to be learned by effort. Only the mother tongue is spontaneous -- you don't even learn it, just...
           the very situation and you start speaking it. It has a spontaneity.
               That's why even Germans who call their country `fatherland'.... That is the only country which
           calls itself `fatherland'. All other countries call their land `motherland'. But even the Germans don't
           call their language `father tongue'. Every language is called a mother tongue because the child starts
           learning from the mother, and anyway the father never has the chance to speak in the house. It is
           always the mother who is speaking -- father is listening.
               Many took the challenge. He spoke in thirty languages -- a few pieces in one language, a few
           pieces in another language -- and it was really hard; he was certainly a master artist. He was
           speaking each language the way only a native can speak his own mother language. All of the thirty
           great scholars lost. The competition continued for thirty days, and every day one person took the
           challenge and lost it. The man would say, "This is not my mother tongue."
               On the thirty-first day.... King Dhoj had been continually saying to Kalidas, "Why don't you
           accept the challenge? -- because a poet knows language in a more delicate way, with all its nuances,
           more than anybody else."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But Kalidas remained silent. He had been watching for thirty days, trying to find out which
           language the man spoke with more ease, with more spontaneity, with more joy. But he could not
           manage to find any difference, he spoke all the languages in exactly the same way.
                On the thirty-first day, Kalidas asked King Dhoj and all the wise people to stand outside in front
           of the court. There was a long row of steps and the man was coming up; as he came up to the last
           step, Kalidas pushed him down. And as he fell rolling down the steps, anger came up -- he shouted.
                And Kalidas said, "This is your mother tongue!" Because in anger you cannot remember, and the
           man had not been expecting this to be a challenge.
           And that actually was his mother tongue.
                Deepest in his mind, the recording was of the mother tongue.
                One of my professors used to say -- he lived all over the world, teaching in different universities
           -- that "Only in two situations in life have I been in difficulty in different countries -- fighting or
           falling in love. In those times one remembers one's mother tongue. However beautifully you express
           your love, it is not the same, it seems superficial. And when you are angry and fighting in somebody
           else's language, you cannot have that joy...."
                He said, "Those are two very significant situations -- fighting and loving -- and mostly they are
           together with the same person. With the same person you are in love, with that same person you have
           to fight."
                And he was right, that everything remains superficial -- you can neither sing a beautiful song nor
           can you use real four-letter words of your language. In both cases, it remains lukewarm.
                Mind certainly is a mechanism for recording experiences from the outside, and reacting and
           responding accordingly. It is not you.
                But unfortunately the psychologists think mind is all, beyond mind there is nothing. That means
           you are nothing but impressions from the outside. You don't have any soul of your own. The very
           idea of the soul is also given by the outside.
                This is where the mystics are different: they will agree absolutely that about the mind, the
           contemporary scientific research is right. But it is not right about man's total personality.
                Beyond mind, there is an awareness which is not given by the outside and which is not an idea --
           and there is no experiment up to now which has found any center in the brain which corresponds to
           awareness.
                The whole work of religion, of meditation is to make you aware of all that is mind and
           disidentify yourself with it. When the mind is angry, you should think, "It is simply a gramophone
           record." When the mind is sad, you should simply remember: it is only a gramophone record.
                A certain situation is pressing the remote controller, and you feel sad, you feel angry, you feel
           frustrated, you feel worried, you feel tense -- all these things are coming from the outside, and the
           mind is responding to them.
           But you are the watcher.
                You are not the actor. It is not your reaction.
                Hence the whole art of meditation is to learn awareness, alertness, consciousness.
                While you are feeling angry, don't repress it; let it be there. Just become aware. See it as if it is
           some object outside you.
                Slowly slowly, go on cutting your identifications with the mind. Then you have found your real
           individuality, your being, your soul.
                Finding this awareness is enlightenment -- you have become luminous.
                You are no more in darkness, and you are no more just a puppet in the hands of the mind.
                You are a master, not a servant. Now the mind cannot react automatically, autonomously -- the
           way it used to do before. It needs your permission.
                Somebody insults you, and you don't want to be angry....
                Gautam Buddha used to say to his disciples that, "To be angry is so stupid that it is inconceivable
           that intelligent human beings go on doing it. Somebody else is doing something and you are getting
           angry. He may be doing something wrong, he may be saying something wrong, he may be making
           some effort to humiliate you, to insult you -- but that is his freedom. If you react, you are a slave."
                And if you say to the person, "It is your joy to insult me, it is my joy not to be angry," you are
           behaving like a master.
                And unless this master becomes crystal clear in you, crystallized, you don't have any soul. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are just a phonograph record.
               As you grow older, your recording goes on becoming more and more. You become more
           knowledgeable. People think you are becoming wiser -- you are simply becoming a donkey loaded
           with scriptures.
               Wisdom consists only of one thing, not of knowing many things but of knowing only one thing:
           that is your awareness and its separation from the mind.
               Just try watching in small things, and you will be surprised. People go on doing the same things
           every day. They go on deciding to do something, and they go on repenting because they have not
           done it; it becomes a routine.
               Everything you do is not new. The things which have been giving you misery, sadness, worries,
           wounds, and you don't want -- somehow mechanically you go on doing these things again and again
           as if you are helpless. And you will remain helpless unless you create a separation between mind and
           awareness.
               That very separation is the greatest revolution that can happen to man. And from that very
           moment your life is a life of continuous celebration -- because you need not do anything that harms
           you, you need not do anything that makes you miserable. Now you can do and act on only that which
           makes you more joyous, fulfills you, gives you contentment, makes your life a piece of art, a beauty.
               But this is possible only if the master in you is awake. Right now the master is fast asleep, and
           the servant is playing the role of master.
               And the servant is not your servant; the servant is created by the outside world, it belongs to the
           outside world, it follows the outside world and its laws.
               This is the whole tragedy of human life: you are asleep, and the outside world is dominating you,
           creating your mind according to its own needs -- and the mind is a puppet.
               Once your awareness becomes a flame, it burns up the whole slavery that the mind has created.
               And there is no blissfulness more precious than freedom, than being a master of your own
           destiny.
               Mind is not your friend. Either the mind is pretending to be the master or it has to be put into its
           right place as a servant -- but mind is not your friend.
               And the struggle for freedom, for bliss, for truth is not with the world; it is a fight with this
           puppet mind. It is very simple.
           Kahlil Gibran has a beautiful story.
               The farmers in the villages, to protect their cultivated farms, create a false man: just a stick,
           another stick... it looks almost like a cross. And then they put a kurta on it, and a mud pot in place of
           the head. That's enough to make poor animals afraid that somebody may be standing there. The
           white kurta and two hands, in the night... somebody is watching. For the animals it is enough, they
           keep away from the farm.
               Gibran says, "Once I asked such a false man, `I can understand the farmer who made you, he
           needs you. I can understand the poor animals, they don't have great intelligence to see that you are
           bogus. But in rain, in sun, in hot summer, in cold winter you remain standing here -- for what?'
               "And the false, bogus man said, `You don't know my joy. Just to make those animals afraid is
           such a joy that it is worth suffering rain, suffering sun, suffering heat, winter -- everything. I am
           making thousands of animals afraid! I know I am bogus, there is nothing inside me -- but I don't care
           about that. My joy is in making others afraid.'"
               I want to ask you: would you like to be just like this bogus man -- nothing inside, making
           somebody afraid, making somebody happy, making somebody humiliated, making somebody
           respectful?
           Is your life only for others?
           Will you ever look inside?
           Is there anybody in the house or not?
               The people who are with me, their search is to find the master of the house.
               I say to you the master is there -- perhaps asleep, but he can be awakened. And once the master is
           awakened within you, your whole life takes new colors, new rainbows, new flowers, new music, new
           dances.
               For the first time you become alive. Before, you were only vegetating.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              I LOVE BEING HERE. I WANTED AND FELT TO BE WITH YOU EVEN IF IT WERE JUST FOR TWO
              DAYS.
              AT YOUR BIRTHDAY IN 1981 WE MET FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE REASON WAS THAT I HAD
              JUST READ A BOOK ABOUT GURDJIEFF AND THE PHENOMENON OF baraka. THIS GAVE ME
              SUCH A HIT THAT I MADE IT TO COME TO THE RANCH.
              THESE DAYS I AM WORKING WITH MANAGERS AND TEACHING THEM MEDITATION
              TECHNIQUES. I'M ALSO PREPARING A WORLDWIDE MEDITATION PROJECT. AGAIN I FEEL I
              NEED `BARAKA'!
              PLEASE CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT BARAKA?


                Baraka is a Sufi word meaning grace.
           George Gurdjieff was trained in Sufi schools. He has carried many ideas of the Sufis into the West.
                The Sufi master -- just like any other master in the world -- is full of grace. If you are receptive,
           if you are open, just coming close to the master something invisible, some vibe of the divine, some
           rays of the unknowable start penetrating you.
           It also has the meaning of blessing.
           People come to the masters and ask for blessing.
                In English there is no exact word to translate `baraka', but in Sanskrit, in Hindi, we have the
           word prasad. Blessings carry a faraway echo of it. If you are receptive... And unless one is receptive
           one never goes to a master.
                That has been the Eastern tradition. Why waste your time and why waste the master's time? You
           go only when you see that your heart is opening, it needs a ray of light, as if your being is just like
           thirsty earth which needs a raincloud to shower on you. Only in such moments people go to a master,
           they touch the feet of the master, they sit with the master.
                Nothing is said and everything is heard; nothing is asked and everything is given.
                Baraka is a mystical principle that happens between the receiving disciple and the overflowing
           master.
                It is possible to pass a master without even noticing him -- if you are not open.
                Sufis are very careful. It is not easy to find a Sufi master; he may take months or sometimes
           years to find -- and perhaps the master is just living in front of your house.
           The Sufis wait for the right moment.
                They have their disciples who come to know that a certain man is asking if this village has a Sufi
           master. And the disciples go on telling him, "Yes, the Sufi master is here, and you will be called only
           when you are ready -- because the real thing is your openness. The master is ready, but what will you
           be doing? Even if we take you to the master, you will not be able to recognize him."
                So the disciples will keep the person hanging around, giving him hope, giving him time -- "Next
           month we will try" -- making him more and more thirsty. And when they see that he has become a
           longing, that now it is no longer an ordinary inquiry, it is not just a curiosity to see a Sufi master, but
           a deep longing, a question of life and death; that if this man does not get in contact with a master he
           may die, only then will he be introduced into the company of the master. And he will be surprised:
           the master is a man he has passed in the village many times, he sells vegetables -- because Sufis keep
           themselves hiding in very ordinary life. Somebody is a shoemaker, somebody is a weaver, somebody
           sells vegetables -- ordinary things, nothing special about it. And they meet in the middle of the night.
                Then the same man sits with the dignity of an emperor. It is called `the court of the master'. The
           same man who was selling vegetables the whole day long in the marketplace -- now even the
           emperor comes to touch his feet.
                But nobody can come to the Sufi master unless somebody from his company introduces him,
           unless somebody takes the responsibility that the person is ready, somebody brings him, introduces
           him: "He is ready. He needs your grace."
                When Gurdjieff entered into a Sufi circle for the first time -- it took him three years to enter the
           circle.... When he entered, almost a dozen people were sitting there silently with their eyes closed.
           He was brought close to the master.
                The friend who brought him told him, "Just sit down. Nothing is needed on your part except a
           silent opening, and the rain will come. And then don't close yourself. Drink of the master as much as
           you can -- this is his blessing; this will keep you on the path, on the right track. It will keep you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           courageous enough to pass all the dark nights, it will keep you trusting that the morning is going to
           happen. The face of the master, the eyes of the master, the gestures of the master, the silence of the
           master -- everything has to be soaked up so it becomes part of you."
                When the master is no longer outside you only, but inside you too -- that is real blessing. Then
           the disciple is pregnant, the master has come into his womb, and it will help him in times of danger,
           in times of discouragement, in times of darkness.
                It will always keep him together, remembering that if truth can happen to one man, if God can
           happen to one man, then it is everybody's birthright.
                Remembering..."It may take a little time for me, I have joined the path a little late. But the dawn
           is not far away."


              BELOVED OSHO,
              RAJNEESHPURAM WAS A RARE EXPERIMENT IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
              WHERE FOR THE FIRST TIME SEEKERS OF TRUTH FROM THE WHOLE WORLD GATHERED
              AROUND A MASTER. IT WAS AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNE FOR THE MOST INTENSE AND
              THE FASTEST GROWTH OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS.
              THE RAJNEESHPURAM COMMUNE COULD NOT SURVIVE BECAUSE OF ORTHODOX
              RELIGIONS AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS.
              IS THERE ANY HOPE OF SUCH A RARE EXPERIMENT HAPPENING AGAIN AROUND YOU? OR
              IS THERE ANY ALTERNATIVE EXPERIMENT POSSIBLE ON AN INDIVIDUAL SCALE IN THE
              PRESENT SITUATION? OR IS IT DESTINED THAT SUCH A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR HUMAN
              CONSCIOUSNESS TO FLOWER TO ITS OPTIMUM SHOULD BE MISSED?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               The commune in America was only a beginning; a beginning of many communes around the
           world.
               They will go on spreading -- because it is not only a question of orthodox religions and dirty
           politics, it is also a question of the future of humanity. And the future is always more important than
           the past.
               The past is heavy and long. The future is light, unknown. But the past is dead, and life belongs to
           the future -- and death cannot win over life.
               One commune can be destroyed. Thousands of other communes will arise.
               Of course my way of functioning will be different because the experiment in Rajneeshpuram
           needed me to be there, it was the first commune.... Every step had to be taken carefully. And within
           five years, so much was done that is not possible to do even in fifty years. But now the basic rules
           are clear.
               And my being in any commune is going to be dangerous for the commune.
               It was absolutely necessary for the first commune that I should be present. I took the risk, and the
           commune has succeeded. Now there are communes all around the world. More communes will be
           arising. I am just waiting for the right moment to trigger a new kind of process.
               I will not be part of any commune because my presence will be dangerous for the commune. So
           now I will be just wandering from one commune to another. Before my presence becomes dangerous
           in one commune, I will move to another -- so the commune is saved, and whatever I can give and my
           presence can give, can be given on a much bigger scale around the globe.
               There is no need for people to come to me. I can move from commune to commune. This way,
           many more communes can flourish.
               I am just waiting for the right moment. Preparations are being made, and soon I will start
           working on a series of communes -- because the movement has to become worldwide, it is already
           worldwide.
           The commune is the lifestyle of the future.
               The family is gone and the commune is going to take its place. Much depends on the success of
           commune life, and we have to make the commune life such a celebration that it starts spreading like
           wildfire, that others start communes of their own.
               Each village can become a commune, there is no need to establish different villages. We just
           have to prove that life in a commune is much richer, much more lovely, much more meditative, that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is a possibility of living in a different way, different from the way humanity has lived up to
           now.
           We have proved it in Rajneeshpuram.
               It was our success that forced America to destroy the commune. If we were not successful,
           nobody would have bothered about us. Remember this: it was not a failure that we were destroyed; it
           was our success which could not be tolerated.
               And if we have been successful in one place.... We are successful in Germany, in Italy, in
           Holland, in Japan, in Australia, in different other countries. Because I am not there, the politicians
           are not worried, the theologians are not afraid.
               So I want the communes to become more consolidated before I start my world tours, because
           now it will not be A world tour, it will be just the beginning of world tours. I will be continuously
           rotating like a satellite around the earth, creating as much trouble as possible. Only then these
           traditional vested interests can be destroyed.
               But if the truth is with us, the victory is also with us.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DO THOSE CELLS NEEDED FOR A LIVELY AND GROWING INTELLIGENCE HAVE ONLY A
              `LIMITED' LIFE SPAN, SO THAT THERE IS A POINT BEYOND WHICH ONE EITHER BECOMES
              SENILE OR SIMPLY STAGNATES?
              OR, GIVEN THE NECESSARY STIMULUS, IS IT POSSIBLE FOR INTELLIGENCE TO CONTINUE
              TO GROW RIGHT UP TO THE MOMENT OF ONE'S DEATH?


               The ordinary human being stops his growth of intelligence at the age fourteen because the
           biological purpose is complete.
               At the age of fourteen, the person is mature enough to give birth, to reproduce. Biology is no
           longer interested beyond this point.
               This is the reason why the average human being is stuck at the age of fourteen as far as his
           mental age is concerned. People go on growing physically up to seventy, eighty, ninety, a hundred
           years -- in some places like Caucasia, up to one hundred and fifty, even one hundred and eighty. But
           their mental age remains stuck at fourteen. This has been the routine up to now.
               This can be changed. And this should be changed because there is infinite potential for growth,
           but the change will come only if you have some goals beyond biology. If your life remains
           concerned only with sex, children, family, food, house, then there is no need; that much intelligence
           is enough. But if your interest is that of an Albert Einstein then your intelligence starts moving
           sometimes even ahead of your physical body.
               Emerson is reported to have said -- and rightly so -- when asked how old he was: "Three hundred
           and sixty years."
               The journalist who was asking said, "Three hundred and sixty? You don't look more than sixty."
               Emerson said, "That's right. From one point of view, I am sixty years old. But I have done so
           much work as far as my intelligence is concerned that either six people would be needed to do it or I
           would need three hundred and sixty years. My intelligence is so far ahead of my physical body."
           Intelligence depends what you are doing with it.
               The person who is meditating has the greatest possibility of reaching the highest peaks of
           intelligence because in meditation he is doing the greatest possible work that a man is capable of --
           and that is realizing oneself, knowing "Who am I." Entering into the deepest interiority of one's
           subjectivity is the greatest work for intelligence. Then you cannot even count -- you cannot count
           Gautam Buddha's intelligence, it is beyond calculations, beyond measurements.
               And if you are a meditator, as your meditation goes on becoming more and more luminous, your
           intelligence will be growing to the last breath of your life. Not only that, even after the last breath
           your intelligence will continue to grow -- because you are not going to die, only your body will be
           dying. And the body has nothing to do with intelligence, mind has nothing to do with intelligence.
               Intelligence is the quality of your awareness -- more aware, more intelligent.
               And if you are totally aware, you are as intelligent as this whole existence is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                             Beyond Enlightenment
                                                Chapter #31
                      Chapter title: Discarding the container, discovering the content
           3 November 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8611035
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH31
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 130 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM AFRAID TO JUMP FROM A THREE-METER TOWER INTO A SWIMMING POOL.
              WILL I STILL BE ABLE TO JUMP INTO ENLIGHTENMENT?


               The first basic thing to understand is that you are not expected to jump into enlightenment. You
           have to climb for it -- it is higher than you, not lower than you.
           So at least one fear you can drop!
               And climbing to enlightenment is a simple process. It is not something tortuous, arduous. It is
           something like peeling an onion; after one layer there is another layer -- fresher, younger, juicier,
           after that layer there are still more, juicier layers. And if you go on peeling, finally nothing is left in
           your hands -- because the onion was nothing but layers upon layers.
           Enlightenment is a kind of peeling of the ego.
               It is parallel to the onion because it has no inner substance, only layers. And those layers
           sometimes slip by themselves -- they become old sometimes by accident. If you watch your life, you
           can see it happening. It is not a theorization.
               Sometimes you can see that you are not wearing the right mask for the right occasion. When you
           are expected to smile, you are not smiling; when you are expected to weep, you are not weeping.
               I used to live with a distant uncle's family. His wife died. In fact it is very difficult to find a
           husband who never thinks that if his wife died it would be good, a good riddance. And my uncle's
           wife was certainly a nightmare. In fact everybody was happy that she died, and everybody knew that
           the husband was happy that she had died, but still the convention, the tradition....
               I used to sit in the garden. He told me, "I cannot remain in a miserable posture the whole day
           long because really I am not miserable. You know it. I cannot hide it from you -- twenty-four hours a
           day you are in the house -- but when relatives come, I have to show that I am very miserable." Not to
           be caught being happy and at ease, he told me, "You mostly sit in the garden reading, so you can just
           give me a signal from there that somebody is coming." So I had to give him signals.
               And the miracle was that the moment I would give him the signal, immediately he would become
           miserable. Sometimes I would play a joke: I would give the signal and nobody would turn up. And
           he would be very angry: "This you should not do, because this is a dangerous joke. Sometimes I may
           think you are joking and somebody may turn up. You have to understand that I should not be caught
           enjoying myself. In fact I have never enjoyed myself -- because of this woman! She was such a pain
           in the neck. And even today, although she is dead, she is torturing me through these relatives --
           relatives I have not seen for years, relatives I don't even recognize as relatives. They come and I have
           to be miserable -- whether the relative is real or false, I have to bring tears to my eyes.
               "I am surprised myself that I am capable of it -- being miserable, tears flowing. And I pray to you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that when I am acting this way, please don't stand so close. You just be out in the garden; you don't
           have to be present to watch the whole scene, because then it becomes more difficult for me to do the
           performance."
                One day a man came. He was known to me, he was a bookseller. And I told him, "Can you
           pretend just for two minutes to be a far-off relative of a dead wife?"
           He said, "What?"
                I said, "I will explain it to you later on when I come to your shop. But remember, it has to be
           done in a certain way: First, I will introduce you as the best shopkeeper in town, who is not only a
           shopkeeper but who loves books and has a collection of rare books. `It is not just a business for him,
           it is his love affair.' I will introduce you first in this way. And then in the middle I will tell him, `He's
           also a relative of your dead wife.' I just want to see how he changes his mask."
                I introduced the man. My uncle was perfectly happy. He said, "Very good, I will come some
           time. I don't have much time to read, but if you can suggest some rare books I will try to find the
           time."
                And then I said, "But I forgot one thing. He has not come here to sell books; he is a relative of
           your dead wife." And immediately my uncle started crying, tears came to his eyes and he was so
           miserable....
                The bookseller was also amazed at how quickly he changed. He had just been laughing and there
           had been no question of misery or anything.
                And then I said, "Just don't harass yourself. He is not related to your wife, it is just a
           misunderstanding."
           He said, "What kind of misunderstanding?"
                I said, "Another woman in the neighborhood has also died; he is related to that woman."
                And immediately all the tears were gone and he started laughing. He said, "This is a great joke!
           Why didn't you tell me?"
                The bookseller said, "I am very new to this locality, I have never been here, and he misled me.
           He told me that my relative used to live here, and she has died. I came because of my relative who
           has died -- but I am not acquainted with this locality and I have never seen the husband of my
           relative, so just forgive me. But it has been a great experience! You could have been a great actor --
           within minutes, from laughter to misery, from misery back to laughter."
                I said, "This is nothing. If I tell him the reality, he will be back again to tears and misery."
           He said, "What reality?"
                I said, "No other woman has died. He is a relative of your wife."
                He said, "Listen, I have told you this is a serious affair." And again misery and tears.
                And that man felt so sad for this miserable creature... he told me, "Don't torture him this way."
                I said, "I am not torturing him. He is torturing himself! What is the need? The wife is dead, she
           cannot come back. He need not be afraid of her, at least not now. While she was alive, it was
           difficult to say. I knew his wife, and he was perfectly right to be afraid of her. But now he need not
           be afraid, she cannot come."
                I said to my uncle, "You just be your natural self. If you are feeling pleasant, why change
           personalities? Why make your life a drama instead of a reality?"
           But we are all doing that in different measures.
                Your personality consists only of cultivated layers. Many masks are hanging around you --
           whichever you need, you put it on. In fact, humanity has developed, by and by, almost an automatic
           system -- you need not do anything, it happens by itself.
                The moment you see your boss, your face changes -- not that you change it. It is so unconscious
           that you start smiling, just like a dog wagging his tail.
                Even dogs are very clever. If they are not certain about a stranger who is coming towards their
           house -- he may be a friend, he may not be a friend -- they do both things: they go on barking, and
           they go on wagging their tail also. They are just waiting to see which direction the camel turns; if the
           man is received by the family as a friend, the barking stops and the tail continues. And if the family
           rejects the man, then the tail stops and barking continues.
                Poor dogs are being corrupted because of the company they keep with human beings; they have
           learned your tricks.
                A person meeting the boss has one face. The same person meeting his servant has a different
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           face. He behaves with the servant as if he does not matter at all, he is not human. You can pass him
           without taking any note of him, he is only a servant.
                But as far as the boss is concerned, you have to take a joyous attitude, an ear-to-ear smile -- a
           Jimmy Carter smile. And you are not doing it deliberately; now it is your autonomous, unconscious
           functioning.
                Enlightenment is simply the process of becoming aware of your unconscious layers of
           personality and dropping those layers. They are not you; they are false faces. And because of those
           false faces, you cannot discover your original face.
                Enlightenment is nothing but the discovery of the original face -- the essential reality you
           brought with you, and the essential reality you will have to take with you when you die. All these
           layers gathered between birth and death will be left here behind you.
                The man of enlightenment does exactly what death does to everybody, but he does it himself. He
           dies in a way and is reborn, dies in a way and is resurrected. And his originality is luminous because
           it is part of eternal life.
           It is a simple process of discovering yourself.
           You are not the container but the content.
                Discarding the container and discovering the content is the whole process of enlightenment.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I FEEL YOUR PRESENCE ALL AROUND ME, YOUR LOVE AND YOUR COMPASSION, BUT I
              MYSELF FEEL UNWORTHY OF IT. WHO AM I THAT I SHOULD DESERVE YOU? JUST BECAUSE
              OF THIS, I HAVE CLOSED A DOOR IN FRONT OF YOU. MY HEART IS SUFFERING, BUT I HAVE
              FORGOTTEN WHERE THE DOOR IS.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               It is one of the crimes that has been committed against everybody everywhere in human society:
           you have been continuously conditioned and told that you are unworthy.
               Because of this conditioning, the major part of humanity has given up even desiring any
           adventure, any pilgimage to the stars -- they are so convinced of their unworthiness. Their parents
           were telling them, "You are unworthy." Their teachers were telling them, "You are unworthy." Their
           priests were telling them, "You are unworthy." Everybody was forcing the idea on them that they
           were unworthy. Naturally they accepted the idea.
               And once you accept the idea of unworthiness, you naturally close. You cannot believe that you
           have wings, that the whole sky is yours, that you have just to open your wings and the sky is going to
           be yours, with all its stars.
               And it is not a question that somewhere you have forgotten to open one door. You don't have any
           doors, you don't have any walls.
           This unworthiness is simply a concept, an idea.
           You have become hypnotized by the idea.
               Since the very beginning, all cultures, all societies have been using hypnotism to destroy
           individuals -- their freedom, their uniqueness, their genius -- because the vested interests are not in
           need of geniuses, not in need of unique individuals, not in need of people who love freedom. They
           are in need of slaves. And the only psychological way to create slaves is to condition your mind that
           you are unworthy, that you don't deserve; that you don't even deserve whatever you have, you should
           not go for anything more. Already you owe too much for things which you are not worthy of.
               And hypnotism is a simple process of continuous repetition. Just go on repeating a certain idea
           and it starts settling inside you, and it becomes a thick wall, invisible -- there are no doors, no
           windows. There is no wall either.
               George Gurdjieff has remembered his childhood.... He was born in the Caucasus, one of the most
           primitive parts of the world. It is still at the stage where humanity was when it lived by hunting; even
           cultivation has not started. The people of the Caucasus are great hunters.
               And any society that lives by hunting is bound to be a nomadic society. It cannot make houses, it
           cannot make cities, because you cannot depend on animals -- today they are available here,
           tomorrow they are not available here. And certainly you will kill them, and because of your presence
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they will escape -- either they will be killed or they will escape.
               Cities are possible only with cultivation because trees cannot escape, and you have to be there to
           protect them, to water them, to take care of them -- so you have to live in villages near your fields.
               The Caucasus is still nomadic. They are on their horses, moving from one place to another place,
           hunting.
               Gurdjieff was brought up by a nomadic society, so he was coming from almost another planet.
           He knew a few things which we have forgotten. He remembers that in his childhood the nomads
           hypnotized their children -- because they cannot carry them continuously while they are hunting;
           they have to leave them somewhere under a tree, in a safe place. But what is the guarantee that those
           children will remain there? They have to be hypnotized. So they used a small strategy -- and they
           have used it for centuries.
               From the very beginning when the child is very small, they will make him sit under a tree. They
           will draw a circle around the child with a stick and tell him, "You cannot go out of this circle; if you
           go out of it, you will be dead."
               Now those small children believe, just like you. Why are you Christian? -- because your parents
           told you. Why are you Hindus? Why are you Jainas? Why are you Mohammedans? -- because your
           parents told you.
               Those children believe that if they go out of the circle they will die. They grow up with this
           conditioning.
               And you may try to persuade them: "Come out, I will give you a sweet." They cannot, because
           death.... Even sometimes if they try, they feel as if an invisible wall prevents them, pushes them back
           into the circle. And that wall exists only in their minds -- there is no wall, there is nothing. Unless
           the person who has put them in the circle comes and withdraws the circle, takes the child out, the
           child remains inside.
               And the child goes on growing, but the idea remains in the unconscious. So even an old man, if
           his father draws a circle around him, cannot get out of it.
               So it is not only a question of the child; the old man also still carries his childhood in his
           unconscious.
               And it is not a question of one child. The whole group of nomads have put their children under
           trees nearby, and all the children are sitting there the whole day long. By the time their parents come
           back, it has become such a conditioning that no matter what happens, the child will not leave the
           circle.
               Exactly the same kind of circles are drawn around you by your society. Of course they are more
           sophisticated. Your religion is nothing but a circle, but very sophisticated; your church, your temple,
           your holy book is nothing but a hypnotic circle.
               One has to understand that one is living surrounded by many circles which are only in your
           mind. They don't have a real existence, but they function almost as if they are real.
               One night it happened, it must have been nearabout twelve, a young man knocked on my door. I
           was still awake, writing a few letters. He fell on the ground, took hold of my feet, and said, "Just
           give me one glass of water with your hand."
           I said, "What is the purpose?"
               He said, "I have been sent by a Dr. S.C. Barat. I am his patient. I have been suffering from a
           stomachache for years. He has tried all kinds of medicines, nothing helps. And today he said, `Now
           medical science cannot help you; only a miracle can help you.' So I asked where I had to go for the
           miracle and he sent me to you. And he said, `Whatever happens, you go on holding his feet unless he
           gives you a glass of water -- just that water will be the cure."
               Dr. Barat was my friend. He had told me that he was going to send this young man. He said, "He
           is a hypochondriac. He has no stomachache, nothing -- just he is rich, too much money and nothing
           to do. So he is doing stomachache, headache... he gets any kind of disease. I have not found any
           disease in him, he is perfectly healthy. But every day he tortures me for hours. I know that no
           medicine is going to help because he is not sick. In fact, to give him any medicine is dangerous.
               "So I have been giving him just colored water, especially prepared for him. I have a whole
           cabinet full of colored water in bottles; I make a mixture from these bottles and give it to him. He
           says, `Yes, a little relief but the pain remains.' And if it disappears from one place, it starts appearing
           in another place. I am tired. And because of him, I am losing many patients. So you have to save me
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from this rich young man. His father has died and he has a big inheritance, enough money to throw
           away on anything. But he is destroying my business."
               I said, "I don't understand -- how is he destroying your business?"
               He said, "It is very simple -- because my other patients see him, and see that he has been coming
           for ten years and I have not been able to cure him. It creates a bad impression. So I am sending him
           to you, and you have to do the miracle."
               I said, "I don't do miracles, and miracles don't happen. But if you want, I will try."
               So when the young man came, I went on denying him: "Just water touched by me is not going to
           help. You should go to another doctor -- why are you after this Dr. Barat? If one doctor has failed, go
           to another doctor. If one `pathy' fails... change from allopathy: try ayurveda; if ayurveda fails, try
           homeopathy; if homeopathy fails, try naturopathy. And by that time you will be dead, don't be
           worried. Whether the disease goes or not, you will be gone!"
               He said, "But I want to live! I am too young to die right now." And he was not more than
           twenty-six. He said, "I am not even married. Because my father died, I have enough money -- many
           people are after me. They want me to marry their daughters, and I don't want to be encaged. And first
           I want to take care of my health. Getting married means bringing more sicknesses, more diseases
           into the house. You have to give me a glass of water!"
               I said, "It is very difficult, because miracles don't happen."
               I was staying in a friend's house. His wife was listening as this whole conversation was going on
           and on, and he was crying.... Finally the woman came out and said, "I never thought that you are so
           hard. Whether it helps or not, just give him a glass of water. Half of the night has passed; neither are
           you going to sleep, nor are you allowing anybody else in the house to sleep -- because we are all
           excited, waiting to see what happens, whether the miracle happens or not."
               I said, "Because you say so, and because I don't want to torture your family... Bring a glass of
           water."
               And I told the young man, "Remember, you are not to talk about it to anybody -- because I don't
           want it to happen that from tomorrow the whole day long a queue of patients is there. I don't have
           time for all this. So promise me that you will not talk."
               He said, "I promise that I will not talk, but you also have to promise me one thing."
           I said, "What is it?"
               He said, "You will have to promise me that once in a while I can come with a bottle of water and
           you will touch it."
           I said, "What you are going to do with it?"
               He said, "I will not say anything to anybody about you. But if the miracle happens and my
           stomachache disappears, there are many people who are suffering. I can distribute the water. But I
           promise I will not talk."
               So I said, "Okay, it is a promise. But don't bring anybody here!"
               I gave him a glass of water, and as he drank the water -- just drinking it, you could see his face
           changing. And he said, "My God, the pain is gone!"
               My friend's wife was standing behind me. She said, "You did it!"
               I said, "I have not done it -- and remember that you are not to talk about it to anybody."
               She said, "I may not talk, but everybody in the house knows -- everybody is hiding, all the
           children are there. Now...." She said, "If this was going to happen, why did you waste one hour?"
               I said, "Without wasting that hour, the water wouldn't have helped. It was not the water; it was
           my insistence that I wouldn't give it to him. He became more and more convinced that the water was
           going to work. And when I told him that he had to promise not to talk to anybody, he was absolutely
           convinced that the miracle was going to happen."
           He started distributing the water.
               And people told me -- even Dr. Barat told me, "It is strange. You cured my patient and now he is
           curing my patients. I was thinking I was finished with him -- now he comes with a bottle into my
           dispensary. He sits there and says, `Don't bother about this medicine, it won't help. Take the
           miraculous water.' That young man seems to be my enemy from a past life! And he has cured a few
           of my patients!"
               Seventy percent of sick people are only sick in their minds, they don't have a real sickness.
               Hence it has been found that all the pathies -- allopathy, ayurveda, yunani, naturopathy,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           homeopathy -- they all succeed in seventy percent of cases. In seventy percent of cases anybody can
           do miracles, one just has to make the right arrangement so the mind is convinced that the miracle is
           going to happen.
           It is simply a conditioning that you are unworthy.
           Nobody is unworthy.
           Existence does not produce people who are unworthy.
                Existence is not unintelligent. If existence produces so many unworthy people, then the whole
           responsibility goes to existence. Then it can be definitely concluded that existence is not intelligent,
           that there is no intelligence behind it, that it is an unintelligent, accidental materialist phenomenon
           and there is no consciousness in it.
                And this is our whole fight, our whole struggle: to prove that existence is intelligent, that
           existence is immensely conscious.
                It is the same existence which creates Gautam Buddhas.
           It cannot create unworthy people.
           You are not unworthy.
                So there is no question of finding a door; there is only an understanding that unworthiness is a
           false idea imposed on you by those who want you to be a slave for your whole life.
           You can drop it just right now.
                Existence gives the same sun to you as to Gautam Buddha, the same moon as to Zarathustra, the
           same wind as to Mahavira, the same rain as to Jesus -- it makes no difference, it has no idea of
           discrimination. For existence, Gautam Buddha, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Bodhidharma, Kabir, Nanak or
           you are just the same.
                The only difference is that Gautam Buddha did not accept the idea of being unworthy, he
           rejected the idea. It was easy for him to reject it -- he was the prince of a great kingdom, the only son
           of the king, and the king was thought to be almost a god. So he had no idea of unworthiness.
                But what about Kabir? What about Raidas the shoemaker? What about Gora the potter? These
           poor people were burdened by the society with the idea that they were unworthy, but they rejected it.
                In Kabir's life there were clearcut examples. Kabir lived his whole life in Kashi. For centuries
           Hindus have believed that to die in Kashi is the greatest thing you can do in life, because for one
           who dies in Kashi, his paradise is guaranteed. It does not matter what kind of man he was, whether
           he was a murderer, a thief, a saint or a sinner -- these things are all irrelevant. His dying in Kashi
           erases everything and he becomes qualified for paradise.
                So in Kashi you will find old people, old women who have come there just to die. They have not
           done anything in their life, but they don't want to miss paradise.
                And Kabir lived his whole life in Kashi, and when he was going to die he said, "Take me out of
           Kashi to the other side, to the small village." Just on the other side of the Ganges was a small village.
                His disciples said, "Are you mad or something? People come to Kashi, the whole of Kashi is full
           of people who have come here to die. You have lived your whole life in Kashi, what kind of
           nonsense is this? And the village you are pointing to is a condemned village; people say whoever
           dies there is born again as a donkey."
                But Kabir said, "I will go to that village, and I will die in that village. I want to enter paradise on
           my own worth, not because of Kashi. And I know my worth."
                They had to take him. Against their will they had to take him to the other side, and he died there.
           This man is so certain of his worth.
                He was a weaver. It is not certain whether he was Hindu or Mohammedan because his name,
           Kabir, is Mohammedan; it is one of the names of God. He was found on the Ganges -- a small child,
           just a few days old, abandoned by his parents.
                One great Hindu scholar, Ramananda, had gone for his early bath and he found the child. And he
           could not be so hard as to leave him there, so he brought him into his ashram -- he had an ashram
           and hundreds of disciples. So the child was brought up by a brahmin.
                But on his hand was written the name `Kabir'. He didn't change his name.
                It is still uncertain whether he was Mohammedan or Hindu. He never cared.
                Once there was a great conference in Kashi. It used to convene only after each twelve years to
           decide about certain spiritual matters, problems which may have arisen about scriptures. Naturally
           Kabir was not invited because it was not even certain that he was a Hindu, and only brahmins could
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be allowed.
               But about a certain point in the scriptures they could not come to a conclusion. One man said,
           "You have to forget about whether Kabir is Hindu or Mohammedan, it doesn't matter. He is the only
           man alive in Kashi who can immediately decide the meaning, the insight of this scriptural passage."
               I am telling you about this incident for a particular reason.
               At that very time Meera was also in Kashi, she had just come. She was traveling around India.
               Reluctantly, the scholars asked Kabir: "You are invited to the conference because we are stuck at
           a certain point, and nobody has the experience. And there are many people in the conference who
           say, `Kabir has the experience.' This passage needs to be interpreted only by one who has known
           himself; so although we are not certain whether you are Hindu or Mohammedan or brahmin, still we
           are inviting you, against all precedents."
               Kabir said, "There is a condition: I will come only if Meera is also invited."
               Now that was even more difficult for the male chauvinist mind -- a woman! What does a woman
           have to do with it? When wise scholars are deciding things, a woman's function is in the house.
               Kabir said, "Then Kabir is not coming. Kabir can come only if Meera is allowed to come. When
           you are ready to allow Kabir -- whose caste is not certain, whose religion is not certain -- what is the
           problem about Meera? -- because she can also decide. Even if I don't come, she also has the same
           experience as I have."
           And the scholars had to agree.
               This has happened only once, that a woman and a non-brahmin joined with the highest hierarchy
           of Hinduism to interpret their scriptures. And their interpretation was accepted.
               Kabir's disciples asked, "From where did you get such authority?"
               He said, "If existence accepts me, if existence gives me life, that is enough to prove that I am
           needed, that existence cannot do without me."
               So drop the idea of unworthiness, it is simply an idea. And with the dropping of it, you are under
           the sky -- there is no question of doors, everything is open, all directions are open. That you are is
           enough to prove that existence needs you, loves you, nourishes you, respects you.
               The idea of unworthiness is created by the social parasites.
           Drop that idea.
               And be grateful to existence -- because it only creates people who are worthy, it never creates
           anything which is worthless.
           It only creates people who are needed.
               My emphasis is that every sannyasin should respect himself and feel grateful to existence that he
           has been required to be here at this juncture of time and space.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE IS A SUFI SAYING THAT "NO HUMAN BEING CAN AVOID HIS FATE. THIS IS A WORLD
              OF LIMITATIONS -- BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO GAIN A TASTE OF THE LIMITLESS, DESPITE
              THIS FACT."
              A FAMOUS ASTROLOGER AND COMPOSER, DANE RUDHYAR, WHO WAS A FRIEND OF
              GEORGE GURDJIEFF, SAID, "THE OLD IDEA OF ASTROLOGY -- THAT EXPERIENCE HAPPENS
              TO HUMAN BEINGS -- IS NOT TRUE. ON THE CONTRARY, HUMAN BEINGS HAPPEN TO THEIR
              EXPERIENCE."
              MY OBSERVATION IS THAT EVERY ASTROLOGER WHO IS COURAGEOUS ENOUGH WILL
              FIND OUT THAT GURDJIEFF IS TRUE WHEN HE SAYS, "MAN IS A MACHINE."
              ON THE OTHER HAND, MY EXPERIENCE WITH YOU, CHRIST, AND BUDDHIST TEACHERS HAS
              REVEALED THE EXISTENCE OF THE LIMITLESS IN THE MIDST OF LIMITATIONS. WHILE
              RELIGIOUSNESS OPENS THE DOORS TO THE LIMITLESS, ASTROLOGY STUDIES THE WORLD
              OF FORMS AND LIMITATIONS. AND WITHOUT THE FIRST, THE SECOND COULD HAVE
              BECOME INTOLERABLE TO ME. NOW, SLOWLY SLOWLY, THE FORMLESS AND THE FORM
              SEEM TO MEET AND MARRY INSIDE OF ME.
              WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               George Gurdjieff is right when he says that man is a machine, but by `man' he means all those
           who are living unconsciously, who are not aware, who are not awake, who do not respond to reality
           but only react.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ninety-nine point nine percent of human beings come in the category of machines. With these
           machines, astrology is possible.
               In fact, predictions can be made, guarantees can be issued only about machines. A watch can be
           guaranteed for five years, a car can be guaranteed for a certain time -- because we know the capacity
           of the machine, how much it can work, how long it can go. Its scope is limited. And it cannot do
           anything on its own accord, it can only react to situations -- which are almost predictable.
               For example, at a certain stage a boy and a girl will become sexually mature, and their hormones
           and their biology will start forcing them towards each other. They will call it love because nobody
           wants to be categorized as a machine. But two machines cannot love, two machines can only be
           together, can struggle, can stumble against each other.
               And it is not coincidence that in every language, love is called `falling in love'. It is an
           unconscious process, it is a fall. You cannot answer why you love a certain person.
               And now the science of human biology, genetics, has grown much more mature. It is possible to
           inject hormones into you which can make all your love disappear, or which can make you a great
           lover. But these are hormones; it is chemical. You are not consciously involved in it.
               It happened in Bombay nearabout twenty years ago -- an astrologer came to see me. I told him,
           "You will be disappointed. Astrology won't work with me."
               He said, "It is not a question of you or anybody else, there are no exceptions in astrology."
               I said, "Then do one thing: Write down twelve things that I am going to do in one year. You keep
           one copy and I will keep one copy, I will write on both copies that these are the twelve things that I
           will not do. That's the only way to decide whether your astrology works or not."
               He got a little afraid because he had not thought of this possibility.
               I said, "Even to the extent... if you say that I will live, I will die -- just to make the point clear
           that astrology won't work with me."
               He said, "Now I now have to study more in depth. And after three days I will be coming back."
           Twenty years have passed; he has not come.
               And whenever I have been in Bombay, I have inquired, "Phone the astrologer and ask when that
           in-depth study is going to be complete -- because twenty years have passed. Has he dropped the
           idea?"
               If you are enlightened, then astrology cannot function for you. Then you can love, then you can
           do, then you can act, then you have a certain mastery over your own being.
               But unconscious, you are just moving hither and thither as the wind blows.
               And anybody who has studied human nature deeply.... There are many astrological schools
           which have studied for centuries how the mechanical man works. They have come to certain
           conclusions, and their conclusions are almost always correct. If they are incorrect, that means the
           astrologer is not well prepared, his studies in human nature and unconscious behavior are not
           complete.
               But the moment you start becoming conscious, you start becoming really a man -- not a machine.
               When Gurdjieff said for the first time that man is a machine, it shocked many people. But he was
           saying the truth. Only the truth is applicable just to 99.9 percent of people -- 0.1 percent of people
           have to be left out of it.
           Gautam Buddha was born....
               And in the East those were the days of the highest possibilities for human genius. In all
           directions in which the East was working, it reached the very peak, the climax... to such an extent
           that you cannot find a new Yoga posture; Patanjali exhausted all the possibilities of postures, the
           science is complete. Five thousand years have passed, and in five thousand years thousands of
           people have tried but there is no way to find a new posture.
               You cannot find a new sex posture; Vatsyayana has completed all the postures possible -- and a
           few which may even look impossible!
               Shiva completed all the techniques -- one hundred and twelve. You can play with new
           combinations, but nothing new is possible.
           Astrology was at its peak.
               And as Gautam Buddha was born, the son of a great king, the king immediately called the best
           astrologers. They all studied the birth chart and they all remained silent.
               Only one -- a young astrologer -- said to the king, "These people are silent because this is a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           strange boy, and we cannot be decisive about him. There are two possibilities" -- and astrology never
           speaks in that way. Astrology means you have to predict what is going to be; you are not there to
           predict all the possibilities -- that will not be prediction.
               But the young astrologer said, "These are old wise people, they will not even say this. I am
           young and I can stick my neck out, I can risk, because I don't have any reputation. There are two
           possibilities: either this boy will become an emperor of the world, a chakravartin, or he will become
           an enlightened, awakened liberated soul -- but then he will be a beggar. Either he will be the emperor
           of the whole world or he will be just a beggar with a begging bowl in his hands. And it is not in our
           power to say what the outcome will be."
               And all the old astrologers agreed. "The young man is right. We were silent because this is not
           the way astrology functions -- we say, `this is definitely going to happen.' But about this boy we
           cannot say. And the possibilities are so diametrically opposite -- either the emperor or the beggar."
           And that's what happened.
               The king asked all those wise astrologers, "Then tell me how to protect him so that he does not
           move towards becoming a beggar but becomes the world emperor. That has been my lifelong desire.
           I could not achieve it -- but he has the possibility. So just tell me how to prevent him from becoming
           a beggar."
               They gave all their advice, and their advice turned out to create just the opposite to what they
           intended. They had suggested, "Give him all the luxuries. Don't let him know about death, old age.
           Don't let him know about sannyas. He should not be given time to think, `What is the meaning of
           life?' Keep him engaged continuously in singing, in dancing, wine and women, drown him
           completely."
               And that's what created the trouble -- because for twenty-nine years he was kept so isolated from
           the world, so ignorant about the ordinary reality of the world where people become sick, people
           become old, people die, there are sannyasins, there are seekers of truth... If he had been allowed from
           the very beginning, he would have become immune -- from the very beginning he would have seen
           that people become old, people become sick, a few people become sannyasins. But for twenty-nine
           years he was kept completely aloof.
               And after twenty-nine years when he came into contact with the world -- one day, one has to
           come into contact with the world -- then it was a great shock. He could not believe his eyes that
           people become old; he could not believe that life is going to end in death. He could not believe that
           he had been kept in darkness while there were people searching to find the meaning of life, trying to
           find out whether there was something immortal in man or not.
               The shock would not have been so much. It is not such a shock for anybody else -- from the very
           childhood, everything... one becomes, slowly slowly, accustomed. But for him the shock was
           tremendous.
               That very night he left the palace as a sannyasin in search of truth.
               The father was trying to save him from the begging bowl, and that's what he adopted that night.
               It was possible he might have become Alexander the Great if he had not been kept in darkness.
           But in a way it was good, because Alexander the Great and his kind have not helped human
           consciousness.
               This man alone, with his begging bowl, raised humanity more than anybody else towards the
           stars, towards immortality, towards truth.
           About such a man, astrology is not possible.
               It is good to accept that you are functioning like a machine. Don't feel offended -- because if you
           feel offended, you will defend yourself and you will remain what you are. Try to understand your
           behavior -- is it mechanical or not?
               Somebody insults you -- how do you react? Is that reaction mechanical or conscious? Do you
           think before you become angry? Do you meditate for a moment before you respond? Perhaps what
           the man has said is right, and if you had not got angry immediately, instantly, without giving a small
           gap for meditation, you might have been grateful to the man rather than being angry -- "You are
           right."
           In fact, things which are right hurt you much more.
           Lies don't hurt you at all.
               Just the other day, Nirvano brought a newspaper cutting. A Western traveler coming from Tibet
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gave his first press conference, and in the press conference he said, "My greatest experience was
           meeting with Bhagwan in Tibet."
               Now people can lie like anything, and whoever reads it will believe it. The printed word has a
           certain impact on people.
               Just a few days before, there was another news item -- no ifs and no buts, a certainty -- that
           "Bhagwan is going to appear in Israel very soon. He has decided to become converted to Judaism,
           and after converting to Judaism, he will declare himself to be the reincarnation of Moses."
               Now what can you do with these people? You can laugh, but you cannot be angry. You can
           enjoy, you can thank them for their imagination. These are the people who keep the world going!
               Just watch your actions, and try not to be mechanical. Try to do something that you have never
           done before in the same situation.
               That's what the meaning is when Jesus says, "When somebody slaps your face, give him the
           other cheek too." The real meaning is, simply act non-mechanically -- because the mechanical thing
           would be when somebody slaps you, you slap him. Or if you are not capable of slapping him right
           now, then wait for the right moment. But to give him the other cheek is behaving non-mechanically,
           is behaving very consciously.
           But people can make anything mechanical.
               I have heard about a Christian saint who was continuously quoting the same thing: "Love your
           enemy, and if somebody slaps you on one cheek give him the other too."
               One day a man who was against Christianity found the saint alone, hit him hard on one of his
           cheeks, looked into the eyes of the saint.... For a moment the saint wanted to hit him back -- but
           being a saint, remembering all his teachings and remembering that this man sits in his congregation
           in the front, he gave him the other cheek, thinking that he would not hit it. The man hit him harder on
           the other cheek! -- and that very moment the saint jumped on the man, hitting him hard on the nose.
           The man said, "What are you doing? You are a Christian, you have to love your enemy."
               He said, "Forget all about it. Jesus only talked about two cheeks -- about the third, I am free.
           Now there is no third cheek to give you. And he has not said that when he hits you on the second,
           give him your nose too!"
           Because Jesus has not said why....
               Gautam Buddha in one of his sermons said, "Try to be non-mechanical as much as possible. If
           somebody hits you, insults you, humiliates you, forgive him seven times. Be conscious."
               Jesus was saying only one time -- because you have only two cheeks, and one he has hit already.
           Only one is left, so there is not much.... Buddha is saying seven times.
               One of the disciples stood up and said, "What about the eighth? Seven times we will keep
           patience, but what about the eighth?"
               Even Buddha was silent for a moment. So deep is man's mechanicalness.... He said, "Then
           change it, make it seventy-seven times."
               The man said, "You can make it any number, but the question will remain the same -- what about
           the seventy-eighth time? We can wait seventy-seven times...."
               You can behave in a saintly way, but if it is mechanical it doesn't change anything.
               Be alert and see that yesterday you have done the same thing. Today make a little difference --
           you are not a machine.
               You said the same thing to your wife, make a little difference -- you are not a machine.
               And if in twenty-four hours time you continually go on changing, slowly slowly you will slip out
           of the mechanical behavior and a consciousness will arise in you.
               That consciousness makes you really human. Before, you only appear human; in reality you are
           not.




                                            Beyond Enlightenment
                                                      Chapter #32
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                           Chapter title: Truth has to wait... but not to wait forever
           4 November 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8611045
              ShortTitle: ENLIGH32
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 133 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              MANY THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN YOUR WORLD DURING THE PAST FOURTEEN MONTHS
              THAT WERE VERY CONTROVERSIAL AND LOOKED STRANGE FOR A SPIRITUAL GROUP.
              JUST READING THE FACTS AND FIGURES SET FORTH IN THE 156-PAGE, TWO-SERIES
              ARTICLE IN RECENT ISSUES OF THE NEW YORKER COULD MAKE MOST PEOPLE ANGRY.
              THOUGH SOME SANNYASINS LEFT, I NOTICE THAT MANY OF US, INCLUDING MYSELF, WERE
              UNDISTURBED IN OUR INNER BEINGS. WITH NO REGRETS, MANY OF US JUMPED INTO THE
              NEW WAY, THE NEW ADVENTURE.
              FAMILY, FRIENDS, STRANGERS, ARE EITHER CURIOUS ABOUT THIS OR SUSPECT WE'RE
              BRAINWASHED DUMMIES, OR IRRESPONSIBLE. IS THERE ANY WAY TO EXPLAIN THIS INNER
              TRUST THAT HAPPENS TO A DISCIPLE WITH A MASTER? IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ANY OF US TO
              EXPLAIN ANYTHING BEYOND THESE FACTS AND FIGURES? -- THE LOVE, THE FUN, THE
              MYSTERY OF SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION THAT WE ARE SO FORTUNATE TO
              PARTICIPATE IN WITH YOU? SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER, OR JUST CONCENTRATE ON YOU
              AND THE INNER JOURNEY AND IGNORE THE CURIOUS AND THE SKEPTICS?


                It would have been very easy if life were only facts and figures -- easy but boring; easy but flat;
           easy but not worth living.
           And mind is concerned only with facts and figures.
                It is a great blessing of existence that mind is not all, that there is much more to life which cannot
           be confined to facts, explanations, theories. Something mysterious remains always unexplained, and
           that is the most valuable, the most significant part of life.
                It is impossible to explain love, trust, beauty, grace, gratitude, silence. All that is meaningful
           seems to be beyond mind, and all that is meaningless seems to be the boundary of the mind.
                I am reminded of a great Sufi master, Junnaid. One day one of his disciples -- who had managed
           somehow to trust in Junnaid, who had with effort remained unskeptical -- had gone hunting in the
           forest. And he saw Junnaid sitting by the side of a beautiful lake with a beautiful woman. From far
           away he saw, and from far away everything is beautiful -- and particularly a Mohammedan woman.
                No Mohammedan woman is ugly -- her face is veiled. It is a great strategy of ugly women
           against the beautiful; in this way the beautiful are lost.
                All his repressed suspicions and doubts arose, surfaced -- and it was not only that Junnaid was
           sitting with the woman; the woman was pouring wine from a flask into a cup for Junnaid.
                All his trust was shattered, all his love was finished: "There is a limit to everything. This is going
           too far. This man is a fraud!"
                And if he had returned without going to Junnaid to say something, he would have remained with
           the idea that the man was a fraud. He had all the facts, he had seen with his own eyes, he was a
           witness. He needed no other evidence, no other proof. No argument would have convinced him that
           he could have been wrong.
                But Junnaid shouted loudly, "Don't go back! Come close, because when you come close many
           facts prove to be fictions. The closer you come, the more fictitious they are. Just come close."
           A little bit afraid, but he came.
                Junnaid lifted the veil from the woman's face. She was Junnaid's mother, an old woman. And he
           said, "What about the beautiful woman you had seen? -- and you had seen her with your own eyes.
           Could you have imagined an old woman, my own mother? It was beyond your imagination.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "And take this flask and look closely, taste it; it is pure water, not wine. Just the flask is of the
           wine.
               "But you were going with absolute certainty: that this man is a fraud -- women and wine in
           privacy, in the forest -- and in public he has another face, of a great master."
               The disciple fell at his feet and said, "Please forgive me."
               Junnaid said, "It is not a question of forgiveness; it is a question of understanding. You have a
           trust which is forced, and a forced trust is bound to sooner or later go through a breakdown. Your
           love is an effort, and love cannot be an effort -- either you love or you don't, the question of effort
           does not arise. You were trying to imitate other disciples, and the path of the truth is not for
           imitators.
               "I had come to this place only for you, knowing that you were going hunting and you were bound
           to come to this lake. You have to start from the beginning, and this time your love has not to be an
           effort and your trust has not to be something forced. These things are beautiful when they grow
           naturally -- and when they grow naturally then no facts, no figures can destroy them. They have such
           tremendous energy of their own that all facts and figures simply evaporate."
               Facts are not truths, but just like soap bubbles. Yes, a soap bubble is -- but its existence or
           non-existence is almost equal.
               Truth has an eternity: it was true, it is true, it will remain true. There is no way for the truth to be
           otherwise.
               Facts go on changing. Facts depend on interpretations. The same fact can be interpreted in a
           thousand and one ways. And that's what we are all doing; otherwise, there would be no need of so
           many religions, so many philosophies, so many ideologies.
           Truth is one.
               The mystic has no philosophy, the mystic has no ideology -- because he has the truth itself.
               Just look at a few facts and how they can be interpreted not only differently but in a diametrically
           opposite way.
               The most important Jaina master, Mahavira, lived naked all his life. He renounced the world, his
           kingdom, he renounced everything -- clothes, shoes. He lived just as a child is born, naked, with
           nothing in his hands. He did not even carry a begging bowl. He used to make a begging bowl with
           his own hands. He would not use anything on which one becomes dependent.
           His ultimate goal was total freedom.
               And he was so logically consistent that even to use a small blade -- a razor blade to cut his hair or
           to shave his beard -- he was not ready. To use scissors or a blade would be a dependency, so he used
           to pull his hair out with his own hand. It was painful, but he managed.
               He lived eighty-two years... and he had to pull out the hairs because he was not taking baths.
           According to his approach, to take a bath is to decorate the body, is to believe in the body -- and the
           body is nothing but bones, blood, flesh, everything rotten, just covered with skin. What is the point
           of taking a bath? -- you are not the body. And consciousness needs no cleanliness because it cannot
           become unclean.
               In India he has been worshipped by the Jainas for twenty-five centuries as one of the most
           important mystics of the whole world. And even those who are not of his fold have immense respect
           for the man.
               But I bring Sigmund Freud to analyze Mahavira's attitude and character -- the same facts.
               It is strange that there are thousands of madmen in the insane asylums around the world, and
           there is a certain kind of madness in which nakedness and pulling out the hair happens together.
           Those mad people live naked and they pull out their hair -- they don't allow anybody to cut their hair
           or shave their beards. And the same mad people don't allow themselves to be given showers or baths.
           Strange....
           Is Mahavira a madman of the same category?
               Or are these mad people Mahaviras, great masters misunderstood by an insane world?
           Somewhere something has to be decided.
               Strangely enough, these mad people who live naked, pull out their hair, don't take any baths, are
           absolutely non-violent. They are not dangerous; they never hurt anybody, they never kill anybody.
           They are very harmless people. And that is the whole philosophy of Mahavira -- non-violence.
               Perhaps he was a madman with a genius, with such a talented intelligence that he made a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           philosophical standpoint out of his madness.
           Now, who is going to decide?
               The fact in itself is without any judgment; in itself it says nothing, it is simply a fact.
               At the moment you start thinking about it, you start creating interpretations, and those
           interpretations will depend on your attitude. They have nothing to do with the fact.
               Because I have brought Sigmund Freud in, I cannot allow him to go out so easily. He was the
           founder of psychoanalysis, and yet he remained a practicing Jew for his whole life, subscribing to all
           the superstitions of the Jews.
               For example, circumcision: Every Jewish child... as he is born, the male child is immediately
           circumcised. Mohammedans are also circumcised but after two or three years, not immediately.
               And Jews believe that they are the most intelligent people in the world because of circumcision.
           It is true that they are perhaps the most intelligent group of people in the world. The whole
           contemporary world is dominated by Jews: Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein -- these three
           figures stand out amongst billions of people. Their contribution to human well-being is immense.
               I have told you that forty percent of Nobel prizes go to Jews. That is simply out of all proportion
           -- forty percent to the small group of Jews, and sixty percent to the rest of the world. Naturally they
           have more intelligence, you cannot suspect it; it is a fact. And they have this idea that they are so
           intelligent because of circumcision, and they provide philosophical, logical, scientific proofs for it.
               And one never knows, they may be right -- because now many governments of the world are
           getting ready to pass resolutions that every child born in hospitals should be circumcised. It doesn't
           matter whether he is Jew or Hindu or Christian or Mohammedan, that is not a question; it is a
           question of hygiene.
               It is certainly hygienic. But Jews have a very far-fetched philosophical idea behind it: they say
           when the child is born... and the genitals are the most sensitive parts. This is recognized by science,
           by physiology, that the genitals are connected with a certain center in the mind. Strangely enough,
           the center in the mind that is connected with the genitals is absolutely close to the center for
           intelligence, they are neighbors. And they have to be very close because there are seven hundred
           centers in your brain, so they are very close knit.
               Jews say that when you cut the skin of the small child, the shock goes to the sex center. But the
           shock is so much and the child is so delicate that the shock does not remain confined to the sex
           center -- the shock goes to the nearby center, which is the center of intelligence. And intelligence
           gets a great impetus which other children are missing, so they are far ahead of anybody else.
               Now the rest of the world has looked upon circumcision as a superstition.
               The fact is the same, but now they are providing scientific fragments to support it. They also are
           not absolute proofs, that is why I say far-fetched. But Sigmund Freud also believed in them, and he
           had not all these facts that I have, because at that time it was not known that the centers of sex and
           intelligence are very close. Neither was it known that sex is really in the mind and the genitals are
           only extensions, they are not really the sex organs. They can be bypassed, and you can enjoy a
           sexual experience without your genitals even knowing about it.
               Sigmund Freud never inquired, never raised a question about the Jewish idea of circumcision --
           which he should have, because he was a Jew, and his whole work was with sexuality. His whole life
           was devoted to finding out everything about sexuality, but he bypassed circumcision, he did not talk
           about it. Others have laughed for centuries.
               I have heard that one bishop and one rabbi lived opposite each other, and naturally there was
           great competition in everything. One day the bishop purchased a beautiful Chevrolet. The rabbi
           came out and he said, "A beautiful car... whose car is this?"
               And the bishop came out with a bucket of water and poured the water on the car. He said, "I have
           purchased it."
           The rabbi said, "But what are you doing?"
               He said, "Baptism." He was a Christian Baptist. "Now the car is a Christian Baptist car --
           baptized."
           This was too much for the rabbi.
               Next day, as the bishop woke up, he saw a beautiful Cadillac sitting in the garage of the rabbi.
           He was shocked -- because the Chevrolet is a poor man's car in America. The poor peoples'
           neighborhoods are called "Chevrolet neighborhoods." It is a rich man's car in other countries, but in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           America the Chevrolet is a poor man's car. But the Cadillac is especially Jewish.
               The bishop came out and he said, "How could you manage it?"
               The rabbi said, "God looks after his chosen few." And he said, "Come on -- because there is
           going to be a ceremony."
           The bishop said, "What kind of ceremony?"
           He said, "You come inside."
               The bishop came into the garage, and the rabbi went into his house and brought out a big pair of
           garden scissors. The bishop could not believe -- what is happening? What kind of ceremony...? The
           rabbi started chanting some mantras in Hebrew, and then finally he cut the exhaust pipe.
           The bishop asked, "What are you doing?"
               He said, "Circumcision -- now the car is absolutely Jewish. If you can baptize, what do you
           think? -- can't we do something to make the car a Jew?"
           Everybody has been laughing about circumcision.
               But Sigmund Freud never even raised a question about it. He never raised a single question that
           goes against Jewish tradition. All his logic, all his reason was used to criticize everybody else.
               I have asked a Jaina saint: "Sigmund Freud would say these things about Mahavira, although he
           has not said them, because he knew nothing about Mahavira. But I am absolutely certain he would
           say these things. Have you something to say about Sigmund Freud, about Jews?"
               And the first thing he said was: "If the skin on the male genitals was not needed, then existence
           would not have given it to the child. Existence gives only that which is needed. To remove that skin
           is egoistic, it is an effort to prove that you are wiser than existence itself. And the very idea that man
           is wiser than existence is stupid."
               I asked him about Jesus -- because I had taken with me a Christian missionary, Stanley Jones, to
           meet the Jaina saint. And I said, "Stanley Jones is here, and his criticism against Jaina saints,
           Buddhist saints, Hindu saints, is that they don't do any service to humanity. On the contrary, they
           demand that they should be served, worshipped -- that it is their birthright.
               "People may be dying from starvation -- that is not their concern. Mahavira and Buddha have not
           opened a single hospital, not a single school for poor children, not a single orphanage, like Mother
           Teresa. But these people are thought to be great compassionate people. What compassion is there?
           What do you think about Jesus?"
               He said, "About Jesus? According to us, everything in life is a connected link of cause and effect,
           the theory of action."
               There are stories that if Mahavira is passing on the road and a thorn is there, the thorn will jump
           out of the road -- because Mahavira has finished all evil actions. Now no pain can be given to him by
           existence. It looks logical: if existence is deciding rewards and punishments, certainly the thorn must
           jump out of the road.
               Mohammedans say -- because Mohammed was in Arabia... hot sun, no clouds, no shade, no
           trees. But a beautiful cloud always moved over Mohammed, wherever he went -- because he was
           finished with all evil acts. That's why he was chosen by God as his best messenger; he had become
           so pure that he could be a vehicle. Now it is God's duty to protect him. In the hot burning sun, a cool
           breeze surrounds him, and a big cloud goes on keeping him in shadow.
               The Jaina saint said, "Jesus being crucified proves that he must have done some very evil acts in
           his past life. Crucifixion was the punishment."
               It has nothing to do with Jews crucifying him or the Romans crucifying him. Those are the
           visible facts, but the invisible truth is that he must have committed something really heinous --
           murder, rape -- and the result is crucifixion. So crucifixion is not something to be worshipped; it is a
           condemnation.
               Now for the Christian the same fact, the crucifixion of Jesus, makes him the greatest man on the
           earth because he suffered for humanity, he was crucified for you; to save you he gave his own life.
           That is their interpretation.
               But the Jainas, Hindus and Buddhists will all explain that "He is suffering from many past lives
           of crimes. He is not giving his life to save anybody -- because we don't see anybody saved. Who is
           saved? He could not even save himself."
               One thing should always be remembered: don't be bothered about facts. They can be interpreted
           this way or that way very convincingly, but facts belong to the mundane world.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Truth is the thing you should concentrate on.
               You have mentioned the New Yorker article about me and the commune. Perhaps they may not
           have ever written such a big article before -- one hundred and fifty-six pages. And what they call
           facts are only the facts that the government has supplied to them. They have not asked me; otherwise
           for every fact there is a counter-fact. But it is easy not to ask both parties.
               I have heard that Mulla Nasruddin in his old age became an honorary magistrate. His first case
           came up. He heard one side, and started writing the judgment.
               The court clerk could not believe what was happening. He whispered in his ear, "Honorable
           magistrate, what are you doing? You have not heard the other side yet. They are waiting."
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "I am not going to hear anybody, because right now I am absolutely clear
           what the situation is, and if I hear the other side also I will become confused. And out of confusion,
           judgment will be very difficult."
           The New Yorker is simply presenting one side.
               I will give you a few facts on the other side so you can see how facts should not be decisive.
               The land that we purchased for the commune had been for sale for almost half a century, and
           nobody had purchased it -- because it was a desert. Not a single flower ever blossomed there, no
           cultivation was ever done; it was just a useless wasteland. And it was big -- one hundred and
           twenty-six square miles, eighty-four thousand acres.
               We purchased the land. The man was very happy, because he had lost hope that the land could
           ever be sold.
               And the government was asking him to give it to them for three million dollars. It was almost a
           small country -- one hundred and twenty-six square miles, three times bigger than Manhattan. And
           the man was just going to say yes to the government as we entered the scene.
               We immediately offered him six million dollars. He could not believe it -- from three million to
           six million! Immediately everything was settled.
               And this was the beginning of conflict with the government.
               But if the government had really been interested, they could have offered more. They should not
           have felt offended, it was a simple business matter. And it is not their land either.
               The whole world has forgotten completely that the real Americans are the red Americans who
           are living in reservations in the forests. They have been forced to live almost in concentration camps,
           an American version of the German concentration camps -- far better, because the German
           concentration camp was barbed wire, guns all around, very crude.
               The American concentration camp is very sophisticated -- no barbed wire, no guards, you cannot
           say that this is a concentration camp. But this is a concentration camp -- of a higher order, of a more
           subtle and delicate quality.
               What they have done is to give every red Indian a pension -- because America belongs to them, it
           is their country. They don't have any work, but they get enough pension. All they do is to go on
           producing more children, because the more children they have, the more pension they will get. Each
           individual gets a pension.
               But you should understand that when you have no work and enough money, what are you going
           to do? They gamble, they are all drunkards, all kinds of drugs, prostitution, and no worries about
           anything -- every month the salary is there. Salary for nothing, salary for remaining silent about the
           fact that America belongs to them, that the people who are known as Americans are not Americans.
           Somebody is from England, somebody is from Italy, somebody is from France, somebody is from
           Holland, somebody is from Germany, somebody is from Switzerland -- from all the European
           countries, but nobody is an American. They are all foreigners.
               And my first conflict with the government was that I told it exactly the same way I am telling
           you: that the American president is as much a foreigner as I am a foreigner. The only difference is
           that he has been here perhaps for two generations, three generations -- he is a two hundred year-old
           foreigner. I am fresh.
               And the fresh is always better than the old and rotten.
               I told them: Neither does the land belong to you nor does the land belong to us.
               And we purchased the land, we paid money; you invaded the land, you killed people, innocent
           people. You are criminals.
               If anybody needs permission to live in America, it is you -- from the American president to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           last American beggar. And if you really mean what you say in your constitution -- that you are for
           democracy, for freedom -- if you are sincere and honest, then give the country back to the red
           Indians. It belongs to them. And apply for your green cards. If they want you here, you can be here;
           otherwise go home.
                And you have killed, you have invaded, you are criminals.
           We have simply purchased.
                Sometimes you have also purchased, but your purchase was simply a facade. For example, New
           York -- the whole New York area was purchased for thirty silver pieces. Is this business? Do you
           think it was done by people willingly, or was it just because at the point of the bayonet, at gunpoint
           they had to sign: "We sell the land for thirty silver pieces."
                The conflict started because I said: "Not one of you is any different from the people in my
           commune. We are newcomers; you came a little earlier. And you have committed all kinds of
           crimes; we have simply purchased the land. And you were there, you could have purchased it by
           offering more money -- it was a simple business matter."
           But the American government will not say this.
                And America must remain the only country in the world where people like the poor red
           Americans cannot revolt. It is such a cunning strategy that you are giving them money. They think,
           "Revolt? for what? We are getting money, enough money, no work... enjoy, dance, sing, take all
           kinds of drugs. No problems of worrying about poverty or anything -- why bother about revolution?"
           The very idea is not possible.
                And they are all drunkards, opium addicted, lotus eaters. They are not in a position to fight a
           revolution. Their revolution has been killed, their spirit has been killed by money.
           Because I said it clearly....
                And because the land we purchased had belonged to an ancient red Indian tribe which lived just
           nearby in a forest.... And they had a prophecy from the old days: that a man from the East, with his
           followers wearing red clothes, would come to this land and free them from the slavery imposed on
           them by the invaders.
                By coincidence, my people were wearing red clothes; by coincidence, I was coming from the
           East.
                And red Indians started coming, saying that "We have been waiting -- because this prophecy we
           have heard for generations."
                These were the fears the government would never talk about.
                I could have provoked the red Indians against the whole American government, I could have
           created a revolution -- this was their fear. They wanted to destroy me and the commune as quickly as
           possible.
                The land had never produced anything, but they said that it was farmland; hence, we could not
           make more than twenty houses, twenty farmhouses. And we fought and we said, "You have to come
           and prove -- in fifty years what has been produced? If it is farmland, then something must have been
           cultivated. Just because you have written in your papers... and we don't know when you have written
           it. You may have written it just now, just to harass us. You have to prove what kind of cultivation
           has been happening here. If this is farmland, we will cultivate it; but such a big land area cannot be
           cultivated by a small group living in twenty houses. This much land needs at least five thousand
           people to make it lush green, to make lakes, reservoirs -- because everything has to depend on the
           rainwater. And tremendous effort is needed to make roads, houses."
                But they would not change the zoning -- which was simply stupid, because we were not going to
           destroy their farmland. We were creating farmland from a desert, we were changing the desert into
           an oasis.
                So they went on creating legal problems, and for five years we went on fighting -- and we were
           winning in every court, because the facts were so clear.
                When they saw that they could not win legally, then they started behaving illegally.
                And when a government itself starts behaving illegally, then it becomes very difficult to fight -- a
           small minority of five thousand people. The government was fighting, the Christian church was
           fighting, and nobody could say what harm we were doing to them, what harm we had done.
                The nearest American town was twenty miles away from us. We were living and doing our own
           thing. But they became so much afraid....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The fear had unconscious reasons.
               America does not belong to them, and they are talking about democracy, they are talking about
           liberty, they are talking about freedom, they are talking about the rights of man. And they have taken
           all of the land from the poor natives, and they have destroyed them in such a sophisticated way as
           has not been done anywhere else.
               There is no hope for the red Indians for two reasons: one, they are not in their senses, they are
           continuously drunk, continuously unconscious -- fighting, murdering each other. Secondly, slavery is
           paying well -- without working you are getting a salary. To fight against this government means you
           will lose your salary and you will have all kinds of problems -- so why bother?
               And because I said things exactly... and I invited the president, the governor, the attorney general
           of America to come and see, to show us what cultivation they had done on this land. And we had
           transformed the whole land.
               Rather than praising us, they wanted us to destroy the commune and leave America.
               It seems they loved the desert so much that now they have made it desert again.
               Perhaps they need a third world war to make the whole of America a desert. If they love the
           desert so much, their wishes should be fulfilled.
               But these facts that they have produced after one year... Where was this New Yorker when I was
           there to reply? Now they are writing facts and figures.
               And they have not consulted the other party at all, to ask, "What are your facts and what are your
           figures? How has the government misbehaved with you? How has the government proved to be
           fascist, violent, crude, primitive, undemocratic...?"
               They should have asked us -- because we have suffered.
               But the press is either in the hands of the church or in the hands of a political party, or in the
           hands of the government, or in the hands of rich people.
               The man who came first into the conflict was the ex-vice-president Rockefeller -- because he was
           planning that the whole of Oregon should become a federal state. The federal government owns half
           of the land of Oregon, and their desire was to have all of the land in Oregon to create shelters in case
           of a nuclear war. And Oregon is perfectly the right place -- not very populated, could easily be
           converted into a vast shelter in case of nuclear war.
               When we entered the state, the first person who became annoyed was Rockefeller -- because now
           that one hundred and twenty-six square miles could in no way become federal land.
               It was he who said in a press conference that, "This commune is an independent country within a
           country, and this cannot be tolerated."
               If they had asked us... It was a simple thing. They could have given us land somewhere else, we
           would have moved the commune. Or from the very beginning they could have told us, "We are ready
           to give you another piece of land." There was no problem; to us it was the same.
               But these people have faces of one kind, they say one thing, and they do something else. And
           they are thinking still something else -- you never know exactly what is in their minds, what they are
           doing, what their purpose is.
               They accepted our right to be a city -- and it was accepted by the court, three judges.
               One judge was against us, was a fanatic Christian. But seeing that two of the judges were ready
           -- and his being against us would be useless, he also signed, and we became a city.
               Now that was the most difficult thing for them to swallow: that against the president, against the
           whole government, we won the case and we became a city.
               You will be surprised, in the twentieth century.... The one judge who was in our favor was a
           Mormon. They are very good people, a sect of Christians, but very honest and sincere. And they
           have suffered very much in America at the hands of other Christians because of certain of their
           ideologies....
               One idea they have is that the head of the Mormons is in direct contact with God, with no pope,
           no mediator in between. The Mormon head has a direct communication line with God. This is not
           acceptable to Christians -- you are bypassing the pope.
               They killed the first Mormon founder, and because they killed him they consolidated the
           Mormons, and they had to give them a city. The same story was being repeated again, so they
           became afraid. Now Mormons have a city -- one of the most beautiful in America -- Salt Lake City.
               This one judge was a Mormon. And a trick was played: the head of the Mormons informed him
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that he had been chosen by God to resign from his post and go to Nigeria to serve humanity.
               I informed that judge that, "This is simple politics. They want to remove you from the post
           because when you are removed... One person is against us, one person is half-half -- he will be on
           the side of whoever is in power. It was because of you and your sincerity, your fairness that we got
           the city. Now you are leaving us in the dumps!"
               And what a stupid idea. Billions of people in the world, and God has chosen this poor man to
           resign from his post and go to Nigeria for one year. But they are such simple people that they
           believed that it was God's order and they could not go against it.
               So he resigned, and immediately they appointed a fanatic Christian.
               The same court that had given us the sanction to be a city, after six months denied that we were a
           city.
               And the simple trick was that they removed the man who would not do anything wrong, and
           replaced him with a man who was an absolutely fanatical Christian. They completely forgot their
           own laws, their own constitution, and they did everything against their constitution.
               For two years continuously there was a rumor that they were going to arrest me, but they would
           not dare to enter the campus of the commune for the simple reason that they knew that unless they
           killed five thousand sannyasins they would not be able to arrest me. And they were not ready to take
           that risk -- killing five thousand people, most of them Americans, would condemn their democracy
           forever.
               They wanted me in some way to be out of the commune so they could find me alone. That's why
           they waited for two years.
               And we were hearing the rumor continuously, so by and by it became accepted that this was just
           a rumor, they didn't have the courage.
               They had their National Guard just twenty miles away in the American town, every day
           collecting more and more army forces, so that if there was a need they could be ready to kill five
           thousand people.
               But once they could get me out of the commune, things became easy for them.
               Without any arrest warrant, they arrested me and five sannyasins who were with me. That is
           absolutely illegal. They could not even show the cause; not even for three days in court could they
           prove anything to show why they had arrested me.
           Still they would not set bail.
               These are the facts and figures. The government was pressuring the magistrate: "If you want to
           be promoted to federal judge, don't give this man bail." So all five sannyasins were given bail; only I
           was retained.
               And the government attorney said in the court, "We have not been able to prove any charge; still,
           the government asks that bail should not be granted for this man because he is very intelligent" -- I
           heard for the first time that to be intelligent is criminal -- "and he has thousands of friends."
               I had never thought that these things were enough to be a criminal; if that is enough to be a
           criminal, then Jesus Christ must be the greatest criminal in the world -- because half of the world is
           Christian. And thirdly, that I had resources enough that I could jump bail -- even if it were ten
           million dollars' bail, I could jump it.
               And this shows the poverty and the weakness.... The greatest power of the world -- you have all
           your armies and all your nuclear weapons and all your police forces, and you cannot manage to
           prevent a man from crossing the country.... Then all your power is impotent.
               But the reality was that the woman magistrate was not interested in anything else, she was
           interested in becoming a federal judge.
               Even the jailer did not think that I would go back to jail, he thought that there would be no reason
           -- "They don't have an arrest warrant, they don't have any cause, so you will be released." So he
           brought my clothes and everything in his car so that "I can free you direct from court; there is no
           need to come back to the jail."
               When he had to take me back, he was annoyed. He said, "In my whole life I have not seen such
           unfairness. The attorney could not prove -- and he accepts that he has not been able to prove in three
           days of continuous arguing -- anything against this man. Still the government wants..."
               Who is the government? The government was only a part in the case.
               And against an individual, the government forces the magistrate -- bribes, blackmails....
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The jailer told me, "The reality is that that woman has been told that if she gives you bail --
           which is your right -- she will not be promoted to federal judge. And she wants to become a federal
           judge."
           And within just three days she was a federal judge.
                These journalists should think not only of those who have power, but also of those who don't
           have power, and they should be guards against injustice.
                They had formed one hundred and thirty-six crimes against me -- a man who never leaves the
           house. I have not gone out of this house for three months, not even into the garden; how can I
           manage one hundred and thirty-six crimes?
                But the government attorneys told my attorneys, "If you don't accept at least two crimes, then
           Bhagwan's life will be in danger." That was the last blackmail. "If you want to put his life in danger,
           you can go for trial" -- this is just when the court case was going to start, five minutes before. "It is
           better you accept and convince Bhagwan to accept any two counts" -- just to save the government's
           face, so that they can be right: I must have committed a crime, because I have accepted. And the
           threat was, "If you don't accept, then bail will be cancelled and the case can go on for ten to twenty
           years -- it is in the hands of the government. And there is every risk for the life of Bhagwan. So if
           you want to save him, you try some way to convince him to accept."
                My attorneys came with tears in their eyes, and they said, "We have never seen such blackmail --
           and the blackmail is being done by the government -- a clearcut threat. So you accept two counts.
           And they don't want you to be in America more than fifteen minutes longer. Accept two of the
           charges and your plane is ready at the airport, you immediately move out of America, and for five
           years you cannot re-enter." My whole idea was to refuse.
                But I looked at my attorneys and I looked at my sannyasins all over the world...
                And I had heard that a few sannyasins were not even eating. For the twelve days I had been in
           jail, a few sannyasins had not been eating at all, they were fasting.
                And I am not a rigid man. And I am not a serious man either.
                So I said, "There is no problem. Don't be worried -- I accept. And outside the court, just in front
           of the courthouse, I will announce to the world press that this is blackmail."
                And it was true that they were ready to kill me, because as I reached the jail to pick up my things,
           they had planted a bomb under my chair. It did not explode because it was a time bomb.
                And I reached there early -- because I had accepted immediately. I said, "There is no point." I
           said, "Whatever crimes they want, I have committed. I don't even need to know what those crimes
           are." So within five minutes the case was over.
                They were thinking I would reach there nearabout five, and I reached there just nearabout one
           o'clock. So the timing was not right. And as I left the jail, they had to remove the bomb. And they
           have to accept it -- now, in jail nobody can put a bomb except for the government, nobody else can
           reach there.
                The American jail... first you have to pass three big gates, which are all automatic, electric gates.
           You cannot open them, they open only with remote control buttons. When one gate opens, the other
           two remain closed. And the second opens only when the first is closed. After three gates, then there
           are offices.
                And the room where my clothes were to be given to me was in the most interior part of the
           building. It would be impossible for anybody from the outside to reach there and plant a bomb.
                The bomb was planted by the government. They must have thought that if I refused to accept the
           crimes, then it would be better to finish me rather than carry on for years with a case which they
           were going to lose -- because they don't have any evidence, they don't have any proof.
                All those one hundred and thirty-six crimes are their imagination, and nothing else -- and this has
           been accepted by the attorney general just now, a few days ago.
                In a press conference, he was asked, "Why has Bhagwan not been put into jail?"
                And he said, "Because he has not committed any crime, and we don't have any proof of any
           crime."
                This same man was standing in court with the list of one hundred and thirty-six crimes.
                And this man is the right-hand man of president Ronald Reagan; they are boyhood friends, they
           were both actors in Hollywood. And when Reagan became president he called him and made him the
           attorney general of America; now he is the highest legal authority in America. So it is not possible
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that whatever he is doing is not known to Ronald Reagan.
           It is a conspiracy in the White House.
                Journalists should gather a little courage, and when they start writing stories about facts and
           figures they should look at the other side also. Just put both sides; don't give your judgment. Let the
           people decide.
                And truth has a quality of its own: if both sides are placed before you without any prejudice, you
           will be able to figure out what is true and what is false.
                And it has helped the whole movement around the world. Those whose trust was forced, whose
           love was managed, naturally have to fall out of my world, from my people.
                But it has been a fire test for those who really love and trust me. Their trust has become stronger,
           their love has become deeper. And thousands of new people have come into the movement. Seeing
           that against a single man... the whole world and the whole worlds' governments are against him -- it
           is not possible that the man can be wrong.
                Otherwise, there is no need for so many governments to be against me. They can simply refute
           me, their theologians can refute me, their legal systems can prove me wrong. Because they cannot do
           anything, now they have come down to the lowest. Ronald Reagan and the people who are
           cooperating with him have sunk to the status of terrorists. Now, putting a bomb against a man who is
           under your protection in the jail -- this is pure inhumanity.
                And existence will not tolerate it, existence will not forgive it, existence will not forget it. And
           you will see every day these people disappearing from the scene.
                Truth has to wait, but not to wait forever. It is patient, it is patient because it knows its victory is
           certain.




                                         Beyond Psychology
                                     Talks given from 12/04/86 pm to 04/05/86 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     44 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1988
           Ch 6 appears in the book "Socrates Poisoned..." Ch 29




                                                Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #1
                                   Chapter title: Truth is the greatest offender
           12 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604125
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 86 mins




               BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IN THE POONA YEARS, I REMEMBER YOU SO OFTEN USING THE PHRASE, "BE IN THE
              MARKETPLACE, BUT NOT OF IT." I THOUGHT THIS MEANT THAT WHEN I WAS AWAY FROM
              YOU, I WOULD NEED TO CONSTANTLY REMIND MYSELF THAT I WAS NO LONGER PART OF
              THE MARKETPLACE MENTALITY -- I WAS A SANNYASIN.
              RECENTLY, DROPPED INTO THE SO-CALLED NORMAL REALITY OF BARGAIN-HUNTING AND
              FLAT-FINDING, OF SUPERMARKETS AND SKINHEADS, I REALIZED YOUR PEOPLE AREN'T
              PART OF THE MARKETPLACE; THAT NOW THERE IS NO NEED TO REMIND OURSELVES -- WE
              ARE VERY OBVIOUSLY AND IRREVOCABLY A RACE APART.
              ONLY WEEKS AGO, MY QUESTION WAS ABOUT HELPING YOUR VISION TO BE REALIZED.
              NOW, AFTER MY RECENT EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD, AND SEEING ITS TREATMENT OF
              YOU, I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE ENERGY TO TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT YOU. DOES THIS MEAN
              THEY ARE TOO FAR GONE -- OR AM I?


                The way the world has treated me is absolutely natural, you should not feel offended by it. If they
           had been respectful, understanding, and loving towards me, that would have been a shock. Their
           treatment is absolutely expected.
                You have not gone far away, they have gone far away and they have been going on and on for
           millions of years. The distance between the real man and the man that exists in the world has become
           almost unbridgeable. They are so far away from their own reality, they have forgotten the way back
           home.
                They have forgotten what was the purpose of their being here.
                There is an ancient parable... A very wise king wanted his son -- the only son, who was going to
           be his successor -- to be a wise man before he succeeded him and became the king of a vast
           kingdom. The old man chose a way which was very strange: he sent the son away from the kingdom,
           told him that he was abandoned, that he should forget completely that he was a prince -- "He is no
           longer a prince and I am not going to make him my successor."
                All his beautiful clothes, ornaments -- everything was taken away. He was given the clothes of a
           beggar and sent away in the middle of the night in a chariot to be thrown out of the kingdom. And
           there were strict orders that he should not be allowed back in the kingdom from anywhere.
                Years passed; the prince really became a beggar. He really forgot that he was a prince. In fact
           there had been no effort on his part to forget -- he was a beggar. He was begging for clothes, for
           food, for shelter, and he had slowly accepted the condition he was in.
                After many years, one day he was sitting outside a hotel, begging. It was hot summer and he
           wanted enough money to purchase a pair of shoes -- secondhand of course -- because the earth was
           almost like fire, and to walk without shoes was becoming impossible. He had wounds on his feet,
           and he was crying out for just a few coins. At that very moment a golden chariot stopped before the
           hotel, and a man descended. The man said, "Your father has called you back. He is very old and
           dying, and he wants you to be his successor."
                In a single split second the beggar disappeared. The man was totally different; you could see it in
           his face, his eyes... the clothes were of the beggar still, but the man was totally different. A crowd
           gathered -- the same crowd before whom he had been spreading his hands for a few coins -- and they
           all started showing great friendship. But he was not even paying attention to them. He went up to the
           chariot, sat in the chariot and told the man who had come to get him, "First take me to a beautiful
           place where I can have a good bath, find clothes worthy of me, shoes, ornaments... because I can go
           before the king only as a prince."
                He came home, and he came as a prince. He said to his father, "Just one thing I want to ask: Why
           did I have to be a beggar for so many years? I had really forgotten... If you had not called me back, I
           would have died as a beggar, never remembering that once I was a prince."
                The father said, "This is what my father did to me. It was not done to harm you, but to give you
           the experience of the extremes of life -- the beggar and the king. And between these two, everybody
           exists.
                "That day I told you to forget that you were a prince; now I want you to remember that being a
           prince or being a beggar are just identities given by others. It is not your reality, it is not you --
           neither the king, nor the beggar. And the moment you realize that you are not what the world thinks
           of you, you are not what you appear to be, but you are something so deeply hidden in yourself that
           except for you, nobody else can see you, then a man becomes wise. Knowing it, wisdom follows.
                "I was angry with my father and I know you must have been angry with me. But forgive me, I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           had to do it to make it clear to you: don't get identified with being a king, don't get identified with
           being a beggar, because in a split second these identities can be changed. And that which can be
           changed is not you. You are something eternal, something unchangeable."
               People have gone far away from their reality, and to remind them of their reality hurts them.
           Their treatment of me is nothing but an expression of their wounded heart. They don't want to see
           those wounds; they don't want to be reminded of anything else which they have tried so hard to
           forget, to forgive. Somehow they have managed a certain identity in the world... and here comes a
           man who shatters it completely.
               It is natural they should be angry with me. It is natural they will stone me. It is natural they will
           do everything that they have always done with people like me. That does not mean that you have to
           lose hope, that you have to become pessimistic, that you have to stop even talking about me. That
           way you are not helping them, and that way you are not helping yourself either.
               Their behavior should not be taken into account at all. They are absolutely asleep. We are trying
           something which goes against their sleep, and naturally they feel disturbed and react. This is
           absolutely acceptable. But how long can they react? It is a question of a great challenge.
           Losing hope means you have lost the game.
           I am not going to lose the game.
               To my very last breath I will go on doing the same, whatever their reaction. It is only by bringing
           their reaction to the surface that there is a possibility of change. It will take time, because millions of
           years have taken them away from themselves. You should have patience with them. They need your
           compassion, they need your patience.
               They will come home; they want to come home, but it goes against their ego to recognize that
           they are not at home already. It goes against their ego to recognize that they are false, that they are
           phony.
               But their reaction -- their throwing stones at me, or throwing knives at me, or putting me in jails,
           or crucifying me -- is going to change them. This is the only way that they will start thinking about
           what they are doing and why they feel offended. You feel offended only when something truthful
           about you is told, something which you have been hiding. You are never offended by lies.
           Truth is the greatest offender.
               Their very disturbance, their fear that I will destroy their morality, I will destroy their religion, I
           will destroy their tradition, shows one thing: they don't have religion, they don't have morality, they
           don't have any tradition. They are managing to believe that they have, but it is only a belief which
           can be easily destroyed; otherwise what happened in Greece?
               I was just a tourist for four weeks in a country thousands of years old. The Greek Orthodox
           church is the oldest church in the world -- the Vatican is not that old. Jesus and his sayings were first
           translated into Greek; that's why he became "Christ," and his followers became "Christians." These
           are Greek words.
               Now, this country -- which for two thousand years has been perpetually propagating Christianity,
           teaching every child a conditioning -- is afraid of a tourist who is going to be there for only four
           weeks. The archbishop was disturbed so much that he threatened that my house would be burned,
           that I would be stoned if I was not removed immediately from the country, because my presence
           would destroy the morality of the country, it would destroy the religion of the country, the family,
           the church, the tradition -- just in four weeks!
               If I can manage to do that in four weeks, then whatever I am destroying deserves to be destroyed.
           It simply means that it is phony. People are not really in it -- they are just pretending. Only
           pretensions can be destroyed in four weeks; realities cannot be destroyed. But the archbishop of the
           oldest church of Christianity is so much afraid, and he goes on saying things which are absolute lies.
           But that's what I have been telling you again and again -- that all your religions are based on lies, and
           hence they are afraid.
               The archbishop was sending telegrams to the president of the country, to the prime minister, to
           other ministers, and he was saying that I had been sent specially from hell to destroy the Christian
           Orthodox church in Greece. Can you believe a sane man saying something like that? And he holds
           the highest post, so even the president is afraid, the prime minister is afraid, and they have to do
           something criminal because that man can provoke the masses against them.
               But I enjoyed the whole thing for the simple reason that it shows that truth has really a strength
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and power of its own. Truth has an authority which lies cannot have. You may have been
           conditioning people with those lies for centuries, but just a ray of light, just a small truth, can destroy
           that whole structure.
               So there is no need to be hopeless. Talk to people -- and if they are offended, rejoice. It means
           whatever you have said has disturbed their conditioning, and they are trying to protect it. You cannot
           disturb an unconditioned man. You can say anything about him, but you cannot disturb him.
               Now my sannyasins are in the world, and I have told them to mix with the world so that they can
           spread the truth more easily. You are fortunate -- just our people, a small minority in the world of
           five billion people, is enough to create a wildfire. But don't be in a hurry and don't be impatient. And
           there is no need ever to be in a state of losing hope. Truth is intrinsically indefatigable, intrinsically
           impossible to defeat.
               It may take time, but there is no scarcity of time. And there is no need that the revolution should
           happen before our eyes. It is contentment enough that you were part of a movement that changed the
           world, that you played your role in favor of truth, that you will be part of the victory that is going to
           happen ultimately.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS MONEY SUCH A LOADED ISSUE? IT SEEMS AS THOUGH WHEN WE HAVE MONEY,
              EITHER WE FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT, AND THUS COMPELLED TO SPEND IT, OR INSECURE,
              AND THEREFORE WANT TO HOLD ONTO IT.
              OBVIOUSLY IT AFFECTS A MULTITUDE OF AREAS THAT REVOLVE AROUND THE PIVOT OF
              POWER AND FREEDOM. THE CURIOUS THING IS THAT EVEN TO DISCUSS THE SUBJECT OF
              MONEY IS SOMEHOW AS MUCH A TABOO AS DISCUSSING SEX OR DEATH AT THE DINNER
              TABLE. PLEASE COMMENT.


               Money is a loaded subject for the simple reason that we have not been able to work out a sane
           system in which money can be a servant to the whole humanity, and not the master of a few greedy
           people.
               Money is a loaded subject because man's psychology is full of greed; otherwise money is a
           simple means of exchanging things, a perfect means. There is nothing wrong in it, but the way we
           have worked it out, everything seems to be wrong in it.
               If you don't have money, you are condemned; your whole life is a curse, and your whole life you
           are trying to have money by any means.
               If you have money it does not change the basic thing: you want more, and there is no end to
           wanting more. And when finally you have too much money -- although it is not enough, it is never
           enough, but it is more than anybody else has -- then you start feeling guilty, because the means that
           you have used to accumulate the money are ugly, inhuman, violent. You have been exploiting, you
           have been sucking the blood of people, you have been a parasite. So now you have got the money
           but it reminds you of all the crimes that you have committed in gaining it.
               That creates two kinds of people: one who starts donating to charitable institutions to get rid of
           guilt. They are doing "good work," they are doing "God's work." They are opening hospitals, and
           schools. All they are doing is trying somehow not to go mad because of the feeling of guilt. All your
           hospitals, and all your schools and colleges, and all your charitable institutions are outcomes of
           guilty people.
               For example, the Nobel prize was founded by a man who earned money in the first world war by
           creating all kinds of destructive bombs, machines. The first world war was fought using the means
           supplied by Mr. Nobel. And he earned such a huge amount of money... Both the parties were getting
           war material from the same source; he was the only person who was creating war materials on a vast
           scale. So whoever was killed, was killed by him. It doesn't matter whether he belonged to this side or
           to that side; whoever was killed was killed by his bombs.
               So in old age, when he had all the money in the world a man can have, he established the Nobel
           prize. It is given as a peace award -- by a man who earned the money by war! Whoever is working
           for peace receives a Nobel prize. It is given for great scientific inventions, great artistic, creative
           inventions.
               And with the Nobel prize comes big money -- right now it is near about two hundred and fifty
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thousand dollars. The best award, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars with it; and it goes on
           increasing because money goes on becoming less and less valuable. And such a fortune that man
           must have created that all these Nobel prizes that are distributed every year are given only out of the
           interest. The basic money remains intact, will remain intact forever. Every year so much interest
           accumulates that you can give twenty Nobel prizes.
                All charitable work is really an effort to wash your guilt -- literally. When Pontius Pilate ordered
           the crucifixion of Jesus, the first thing he did was to wash his hands. Strange! The order for
           crucifixion does not make your hands dirty, why should you wash your hands? It is something
           significant: he is feeling guilty. It took two thousand years for man to understand this, because for
           two thousand years nobody even mentioned or bothered to comment on why Pontius Pilate washed
           his hands. It was Sigmund Freud who found out that people who are feeling guilty start washing
           their hands. It is symbolic... as if their hands are full of blood.
                So if you have money, it creates guilt. One way is to wash your hands by helping charitable
           institutions, and this is exploited by the religions. They are exploiting your guilt, but they go on
           buttressing your ego, saying you are doing great spiritual work. It is nothing to do with spirituality; it
           is just that they are trying to console the criminals.
                The first way is what religions have been doing. The other is that the man feels so guilty that
           either he goes mad or commits suicide. His own existence becomes just anguish. Each breath
           becomes heavy. And the strange thing is that he has worked his whole life to attain all this money,
           because the society provokes the desire, the ambition, to be rich, to be powerful. And money does
           bring power; it can purchase everything, except those few things which cannot be purchased by it.
           But nobody bothers about those things.
                Meditation cannot be purchased, love cannot be purchased, friendship cannot be purchased,
           gratitude cannot be purchased -- but nobody is concerned with these things. Everything else, the
           whole world of things, can be purchased. So every child starts climbing the ladder of ambitions, and
           he knows if he has money then everything is possible. So the society breeds the idea of ambition, of
           being powerful, of being rich.
                It is an absolutely wrong society. It creates psychologically sick, insane people. And when they
           have reached the goal that the society and the educational system have given to them, they find
           themselves at a dead end. The road ends there; there is nothing beyond. So either they become a
           phony religious person or they just jump into madness, into suicide, and destroy themselves.
                Money can be a beautiful thing if it is not in the hands of the individuals, if it is part of the
           communes, part of the societies, and the society takes care of everybody. Everybody creates,
           everybody contributes, but everybody is not paid by money; they are paid by respect, paid by love,
           paid by gratitude, and are given all that is necessary for life.
                Money should not be in the hands of individuals; otherwise it will create this problem of being
           burdened with guilt. And money can make people's lives very rich. If the commune owns the money,
           the commune can give you all the facilities that you need, all the education, all creative dimensions
           of life. The society will be enriched and nobody will feel guilty. And because the society has done so
           much for you, you would like to pay it back by your services.
                If you are a doctor you will do the best you can do; if you are a surgeon you will do the best you
           can do, because it is the society that has helped you to become the best surgeon, given you all the
           education, given you every facility, taken care of you from your very childhood. That's what I mean
           when I say that children should belong to the communes, and the commune should take care of
           everything.
                And all that is created by people will not be hoarded by individuals; it will be a commune
           resourcefulness. It will be yours. It will be for you, but it will not be in your hands. It will not make
           you ambitious; it will make you more creative, more generous, more grateful, so the society goes on
           becoming better and more beautiful. Then money is not a problem.
                Communes can use money as an exchange, because every commune cannot have all the things it
           needs. It can purchase from another commune; then money can be used as a means of exchange --
           but from commune to commune, not from individual to individual, so that every commune is capable
           of bringing in things which are not available there. So money's basic function remains, but its
           ownership changes from the individual to the collective. To me this is basic communism: the
           money's function changes from the individual to the collective.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But the religions will not want that. Politicians will not want it, because their whole game will be
           destroyed. Their whole game depends on ambition, power, greed, lust.
                It seems very strange to say that the religions exist almost on irreligious things, or it will be
           better to say, on anti-religious things. They use those things, but on the surface you don't see that.
           You see charity, but you don't see from where charity comes, and why. In the first place, why should
           there be a need for charity? Why should there be orphans, why should there be beggars? Why in the
           first place should we allow beggars to happen and orphans to happen? And in the second place, why
           are there people who are very willing to do charity work, to give money, to give their whole lives to
           charity and serving the poor?
                On the surface everything seems to be right because we have lived in this kind of structure for so
           long; otherwise it is absolutely absurd. No child is an orphan if the commune owns the children, and
           if the commune owns everything, then nobody is a beggar; we all share whatsoever we have. But
           then religions will not have their sources of exploitation. They will not have the poor to console,
           they will not have the rich to help get rid of their guilt. These are the reasons why they are so much
           against me.
                My work is almost like that of a gravedigger who goes on digging up beautiful marble graves
           and bringing out skeletons. Nobody wants to see them. People are afraid of skeletons.
                One of my friends was a student in a medical college, and I used to stay with him once in a
           while, while traveling. If I had to stay the whole night, rather than staying at the station I would stay
           in the hostel with this student. One day it happened that somehow, late in the night, the discussion
           went on about so many things, and came around to ghosts. And I was simply joking; I said, "They
           are a reality. It is strange that you have not come across them."
                Almost fifteen students were there in the room, and they said, "No, we don't believe in them. We
           have dissected so many bodies; we have never found any soul, and there is no ghost, nothing."
                So I prepared my friend... In their surgical ward they had many skeletons, and they also had
           another ward where autopsies are done, when beggars die or somebody is killed or commits suicide
           -- it was a big city, it was the capital of a state. The wards were joined together. On this side of the
           hall were the skeletons, and the other side of the hall many dead bodies used to wait. And who cares
           about the beggars and this and that? -- whenever there was time the professors would do the
           autopsies and decide.
                I told my friend, "You do one thing: tomorrow night, you lie down on a stretcher where the dead
           bodies are lying, and I will bring in your friends. You have to do nothing. In the middle of the
           conversation, when I am there with your friends, you just have to sit up. From the lying position you
           simply sit up."
                It was a simple thing, there was no problem. He said, "I will do it."
                But a problem arose... it became very complicated. We went into the surgical hall, and my friend
           was lying down. As we entered he got up, and all the fifteen people started trembling. They could
           not believe their eyes that a dead body...! But the problem became real because a real dead body got
           up! So my friend who was pretending jumped up and he said, "There are really ghosts! Just look at
           that body!"
                There had been some misunderstanding: that man was in a coma. Some servants had brought him
           in the night so they put him in with the dead bodies. Then he came back to consciousness, so he
           stood up. When he saw these people he thought it must be morning and now it is time to get up and
           ask what is going on. Even I could not manage at first to work out what had happened, because I had
           sent only one. This second man...! We closed the doors and started to leave. The man was shouting,
           "Wait, I am alive! Why I am being put here?"
                We closed the doors. We said, "It is not our business," and we left. It was difficult to convince
           my friend who had been lying there that it was not a ghost, that the other man was just a mistake. He
           said, "But never a next time! It was good that he stood up only when you all had come. If he had
           stood up when I was lying there alone I would have died! I could not have survived."
                If you go on digging at the roots -- which are ugly, which nobody wants to see.... That's why
           words like `sex' or `death' or `money' have become taboos. There is nothing in them that you cannot
           discuss at the dining table, but the reason is that we have repressed them deep down and we don't
           want anybody to dig them out. We are afraid.
                We are afraid of death because we know we are going to die, and we don't want to die. We want
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to keep our eyes closed. We want to live in a state as if "everybody else is going to die, but not me."
           That is the normal psychology of everybody: "I am not going to die."
               To bring up death is taboo. People become afraid because it reminds them of their own death.
           They are so much concerned with trivia, and death is coming. But they want that trivia to keep them
           engaged. It functions as a curtain: they are not going to die, at least not now. Later on... "whenever it
           happens, we will see."
               Sex they are afraid of because so many jealousies are involved. Their own life experiences have
           been bitter. They have loved and failed, and they really don't want to bring the subject up -- it hurts.
               And so is the case with money, because money immediately brings in the hierarchy of the
           society. So if there are twelve persons sitting around the table, immediately you can put them in a
           hierarchy; the similarity, the equality, for the moment is lost. Then somebody is richer than you,
           somebody is poorer than you, and suddenly you see yourself not as friends but as enemies, because
           you are all fighting for the same money, you are grabbing at the same money. You are not friends,
           you are all competitors, enemies.
               So at least at the dining table when you are eating you want no hierarchy, not the struggle of the
           ordinary life. You want for a moment to forget all those things. You want to talk only of good things
           -- but these are all facades.
               Why not create a life which is really good? Why not create a life where money does not create a
           hierarchy, but simply gives more and more opportunity to everybody? Why not create a life where
           sex does not make bitter experiences, jealousies, failures; where sex becomes just fun -- nothing
           more than any other game, just a biological game.
               A simple understanding... I can't conceive why... if I love some woman and she enjoys some
           man, it is perfectly okay. It does not disturb my love. In fact I love her more because she is being
           loved by more people; I have chosen really a beautiful woman. It will be really ugly to find a woman
           whom only I love, and she cannot find anybody else in the whole world to love her. That will be
           really hell.
               And what is wrong if she is happy sometimes with somebody else? An understanding heart will
           be happy that she is happy. You love a person and you want him to be happy. If she is happy with
           you, good; if she is happy with somebody else it is as good. There is no problem in it.
               Once we stop the old nonsense that has been poured into our minds continuously -- of
           monogamy, of one-to-one relationship, of fidelity -- which is all nonsense... When there are so many
           beautiful people in the world, why shouldn't they be intermixing? You play tennis; that does not
           mean your whole life you have to play tennis with the same partner, fidelity...! Life should be richer.
               So it is only that a little understanding is needed and love will not be a problem, sex will not be
           taboo. Nor will death be a taboo once your life has no problems, no anxieties; once you have
           accepted your life in its totality, death is not the end of life, it is part of it.
               In accepting life in its totality, you have accepted death too; it is just a rest. The whole day you
           have been working -- and in the night do you want to rest, or not?
               There are a few insane people who don't want to sleep. I have come across one person who was
           brought to me because he did not want to sleep. The whole night he made every effort to keep
           himself awake. The problem was that he was afraid that if he sleeps, then what is the guarantee that
           he will wake up? Now, who can give the guarantee? That is really a great problem -- who can give
           him a guarantee?
               He wants a guarantee that "I will wake up. What is the guarantee that I will not go on sleeping?
           -- because I have seen many people just go to sleep and... finished! People say that they are dead,
           and they take them to the burning place and burn those people. I don't want to be burned. So why
           take the risk? This sleep is risky!" Now sleep can become a problem.
               Death is a little longer sleep, a little deeper. The daily sleep rejuvenates you, makes you again
           capable of functioning better, efficiently. All tiredness is gone, you are again young. Death does the
           same on a deeper level. It changes the body, because now the body cannot be rejuvenated only by
           ordinary sleep; it has become too old. It needs a more drastic change, it needs a new body. Your life
           energy wants a new form. Death is simply a sleep so that you can easily move into a new form.
               Once you accept life in its totality, life includes death. Then death is not against it but is just a
           servant, just as sleep is. Your life is eternal, it is going to be there forever and forever. But the body
           is not eternal; it has to be changed. It becomes old, and then it is better to have a new body, a new
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           form, rather than dragging the old.
              To me, a man of understanding will not have any problems. He will have only a clarity to see --
           and the problems evaporate. And tremendous silence is left behind, a silence of great beauty and
           great benediction.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #2
                                       Chapter title: Your mind is the judas
           13 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604130
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 107 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HEAR YOU SAYING THAT WE ARE ALL LEAVES ON THE SAME TREE, AND THAT
              ENLIGHTENMENT IS ONLY POSSIBLE WHEN WE REALLY COME TOGETHER. ON THE OTHER
              HAND, I HEAR YOU SAYING THAT ONLY THE SINGLE INDIVIDUAL CAN FULFILL HIS BEING IN
              DEEP ALONENESS.
              I FEEL BOTH OF THESE ARE RIGHT, BUT STILL I HAVE NO REAL UNDERSTANDING OF IT.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                Both are right, but they appear to be contradictory; hence the confusion. On the one hand I am
           saying that when you are one with existence, you come to realization -- and to be one with existence
           means you disappear, you are no more. And on the other hand I am telling you to be yourself, to be
           authentically your original face; only then can you experience realization.
                I can see your dilemma. You feel that they are both right -- that is significant to remember -- that
           you feel that they are both right, but your mind is not convinced, your thinking is not convinced.
           Your thinking creates questions: How can they both be right?
                Mind functions in an either/or way: either this can be right or its opposite can be right. Both
           together cannot be right -- as far as mind, its logic, its rationality, is concerned.
                If mind is either/or, then the heart is both/and. The heart has no logic, but a sensitivity, a
           perceptivity. It can see that not only can both be together; in fact, they are not two. It is just one
           phenomenon, seen from two different aspects. And there is much more than the two -- that's why I
           say "both/and."
                And the heart is always right. If there is a question of choosing between the mind and the heart...
           because mind is a creation of the society. It has been educated. It has been given to you by the
           society, not by existence.
           The heart is unpolluted.
           It is pure existence:
           Hence it has a sensitivity.
                Look from the viewpoint of the heart, and the contradiction starts melting like ice.
                I say to you, be one with the universe; you have to disappear and let the existence be. You just
           have to be absent so that the existence can be present in its totality. But the person who has to
           disappear is not your reality, it is only your personality. It is just an idea in you. In reality you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           already one with existence; you cannot exist in any other way.
           You are existence.
               But the personality creates a deception, and makes you feel separate. You can assume yourself to
           be separate -- existence gives you total freedom, even against itself. You can think of yourself as a
           separate entity, an ego. And that is the barrier that is holding you back from melting into the vastness
           that surrounds you every moment.
               It has no closed doors, all its doors are open. Sometimes you do feel a certain door open -- but
           only for a fragment of a moment; your personality cannot afford more. Those moments you call
           moments of beauty, moments of ecstasy.
               Looking at a sunset, just for a second you forget your separateness. You are the sunset. That is
           the moment when you feel the beauty of it. But the moment you say that it is a beautiful sunset, you
           are no longer feeling it; you have come back to your separate, enclosed entity of the ego. Now the
           mind is speaking.
               And this is one of the mysteries, that the mind can speak -- and knows nothing; and the heart
           knows everything -- and cannot speak.
               Perhaps to know too much makes it difficult to speak.
               The mind knows so little, it is possible for it to speak. Language is enough for it, but is not
           enough for the heart.
               But sometimes, under the impact of a certain moment -- a starry night, a sunrise, a beautiful
           flower -- and just for a moment you forget that you are separate. And even forgetting it releases
           tremendous beauty and ecstasy.
               When I say you have to disappear for the realization of the ultimate, I do not mean you; I mean
           the you that you are not. I mean the you that you think you are.
               And the second statement, that only in feeling one with existence, totally dissolved in it, do you
           realize yourself, you realize truth... there is no contradiction for the heart, because this "you" that you
           realize when you are one with existence is not the old you. That was your personality, and this is
           your individuality. That was given by the society, and this is nature, reality, a gift of existence. You
           can forget it, but you cannot destroy it.
               The other you, the false you -- you can create it, but you cannot make it real. It will remain a
           shadow, a painted face. It will never become your original face.
               When I was a professor in the university, in the professors' campus there used to be a small
           street. Very few bungalows were there and those were the best bungalows -- for the deans and the
           vice-chancellor and the heads of the departments. So very silent, empty, no traffic... and the street
           was not long. It went just half a mile and then there was an end, a dead end, and a deep valley.
               Whenever there was rain... I loved to walk in the rain. The last house had made it a point...
           because they saw it happening again and again, that whenever it rains I am certain to appear on the
           street. And that was the last house; then the valley was there.
               They thought I must be mad -- without umbrella, soaking with water, with a beard, long hair, and
           walking so slowly and at ease... as if there is no problem of the rain. And then I used to stand by the
           side of a big bodhi tree, just at the very end of the street.
               The bodhi tree has many beauties. One of the beauties is that its leaves are such that when it is
           raining you can stand underneath it and save yourself from the rains: the leaves prevent the water
           from reaching to you. And it has very thick foliage, so the water goes on gathering on the leaves.
           And the leaves are like cups, so they hold much.
               So if you are suddenly caught in the rain, and don't want to spoil your clothes, the bodhi tree
           protects you longer than any other tree. But the other beauty is -- which was more important for me
           -- that when the rain has stopped, then under the bodhi tree, rain starts! -- because how long can it
           contain all that water? Sooner or later it becomes weightier, and leaves start... So when the whole
           world is silent, under the bodhi tree it is raining.
               So I used to go to the end of the street and rest under the bodhi tree. That was another madness to
           the people of the house. Only in the beginning few minutes of rain can the bodhi tree protect you;
           after, that is dangerous, the most dangerous. The rain has stopped, but it will not stop under the
           bodhi tree for at least one hour.
               The children of the house, the wife, daughters, sons -- they all will gather in the verandah and
           look at me. And it became an absolute thing to them, that both things happen together -- rain, and my
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           coming to their house.
               The house was given to one of the most important physicists, the head of the physics department.
           And he was very much interested in me, because once in a while I was making statements which
           were bringing physics and mysticism closer than ever. Perhaps the same statement can be made by
           the physicist as is being made by the mystics.
               He was a very humble man. He had been teaching all over the world in different universities.
           Whenever I was giving a lecture in the students' union -- because almost every week, once or twice...
           He was an absolute audience -- he would come, certainly. Many other professors used to come, but
           he was the most regular. And we became friends.
               He was very old. He had worked with Albert Einstein, and after Albert Einstein's death he came
           to America in his place -- because he was his closest colleague, and nobody could have taken that
           place except him.
               We became such great friends that he said, "Sometime I would like you to come to my house; I
           would like to introduce you to my wife and my children." I had no idea that those were the people
           who knew me already, and I knew them already.
               When I reached their house they all started giggling, and he was very angry. He said, "I have
           brought a friend. Accepted that he is very young and I am very old, and the friendship looks strange,
           but our conceptions about reality are very close, and you should not behave like this -- you have
           never behaved like this."
           But the wife said, "You don't know this man."
               And I said to him, "She is right: we have been well-acquainted for almost two years."
               He said, "What! You are acquainted with my wife and children?"
               I said, "Not actually, but a sort of acquaintance is there." And then I told him, "I come here on
           this street when it is raining; I love rains, and these people love to see me -- a madman. And don't
           think they are unmannerly -- that you are introducing me and they are laughing and giggling... even
           your wife cannot contain herself."
               This physicist met some sannyasin in America, and sent me a message: "The last person I want
           to see is you, and I am coming back to India as soon as possible just to see you. And the reason is
           that I feel you are perfectly right that the way of the heart in seeing things is far closer to reality than
           the way of the mind."
               But before he could come to India, he died. I feel that I must have been in his thoughts when he
           died.
           We are one as far as our reality is concerned.
               We look separate as far as our fabricated egos are concerned.
               So when I say dissolve your "you," I mean your own creation, or the creation of the society in
           you. And just feel the silence of the moment when you are not; then you will feel so much in tune
           with clouds and the ocean and the mountains.
               The day you drop it completely is the greatest day in your life, because this brings you the whole
           universe. You lose nothing -- you lose only a false idea -- and you attain everything: the whole
           universe, the infinite universe with all its beauties, with all its treasures.
               But before you can drop the false "I" you have to find your real "I"; otherwise dropping the false
           "I", you will feel you are becoming empty.
           That's why I say become an individual, be yourself.
               That simply means that, feeling your reality you will be -- without any trouble -- capable of
           dropping the false. In fact the false will drop itself. As the real comes in, the false goes out. And the
           real is from one standpoint, individual -- individual against personality. The personality was just
           hodgepodge; something was put by your mother, something was put by your father, something by
           your neighbors, friends, wife, teachers, priests, leaders... It was a patchwork, it was not indivisible.
               It was almost falling apart -- any moment, a small accident and it will fall apart -- it had no soul
           connecting all its parts. It had no wholeness, it was only parts.
               Against `personality' I use the word `individuality' in the meaning of indivisibility. Individual
           means indivisible: you cannot divide it, there are no parts -- it cannot fall apart. It is solid rock, it is
           one piece. Seen in comparison with personality... but that is only one aspect.
               Seen from the universal, you are no longer individual either. Even that much demarcation
           disappears. You are the whole. The winds, the trees, the moon are not separated anywhere; neither
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are you. You are breathing every moment. Existence is not separate from you, even when you think
           you are separate.
               And when you know that you are not separate, it is a tremendous realization. Then all fear of
           losing your face, all fear of losing your personality -- which is always slipping -- disappears. You
           have come to the origins. You have come to the eternal, to the universal.
           This is what I call enlightenment.
           You have become full of light and clarity.
           Now you live the whole mystery of existence.
               Seeing a roseflower, you become it. You don't see it from outside; you feel it from its innermost
           being. Its petals are yours, its perfume is yours. You are not an observer -- you are it.
               Krishnamurti used to say again and again -- his whole life he was saying it; I don't think the
           people who were listening were really listening to him. This is his most repeated observation: that
           the observed becomes the observer, or the observer becomes the observed.
               You don't see a sunset setting far away; you are in it, you are part of all those beautiful colors.
           And to live existence in such deep empathy is the richest experience man is capable of.
           Trust your feeling.
           Never trust your mind -- your mind is the Judas.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE MORE I MOVE INTO THE MEDITATION, THE MORE I FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR MYSELF
              AND FOR THE SITUATION IN THE WHOLE WORLD. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?


                It is the same thing -- just the same question.
           The more you become yourself, the more you will feel responsible for the world because the more
           you are becoming part of the world -- you are not separate from it. Your being authentically yourself
           means a tremendous responsibility -- but it is not a burden. It is a rejoicing that you can do
           something for existence.
                Existence has done so much for you, there is no way to pay it back. But we can do something. It
           will be very small compared to what existence has done for us, but it will show our gratitude. It is
           not a question of whether it is big or small; the question is that it is our prayer, our gratitude, and our
           totality is involved in it.
                Yes, it will happen: the more you become yourself, the more you will start feeling
           responsibilities which you had never felt before.
                I am reminded.... In the life of Mahavira, the most important Jaina philosopher.... He is going
           from one village to another village with his close disciple, Goshalak. And this is the question they
           are discussing: Mahavira is insisting, "Your responsibility towards existence shows how much you
           have attained to your authentic reality. We cannot see your authentic reality but we can see your
           responsibility."
                As they are walking, they come across a small plant. And Goshalak is a logician -- he pulls the
           plant and throws it away. It was a small plant with small roots.
                Mahavira said, "This is irresponsibility. But you cannot do anything against existence. You can
           try, but it is going to backfire."
                Goshalak said, "What can existence do to me? I have pulled this plant; now existence cannot
           bring it to life again."
                Mahavira laughed. They went into the town, they were going to beg for their food. After taking
           food, they were coming back, and they were surprised: the plant was rooted again. While they were
           in the town it had started raining, and the roots of the plant, finding the support of the rain, went back
           into the soil. They were small roots, it was windy, and the wind helped the plant to stand up again.
                By the time they had come back, the plant was back to its normal position. Mahavira said, "Look
           at the plant. I told you you cannot do anything against existence. You can try, but that will turn
           against you, because that will go on separating you from existence. It will not bring you closer.
                "Just see that plant. Nobody could have imagined that this will happen, that the rain and the wind
           together will manage that small plant back, rooted into the earth. It is going to live its life.
                "It seems to us a small plant but it is part of a vast universe, a vast existence, of the greatest
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           power there is." And Mahavira said to Goshalak, "From this point our paths separate. I cannot allow
           a man to live with me who is against existence and feels no responsibility."
               Mahavira's whole philosophy of non-violence can be better expressed as the philosophy of
           reverence for existence. Non-violence is simply a part of it.
               It will go on happening: the more you find yourself, the more you will find yourself responsible
           for many things you have never cared about. Let that be a criterion: the more you find yourself
           responsible for people, things, existence, the more you can be at ease that you are on the right track.
               One of my professors, Dr. Ras Biharidas -- he was a very old man -- has lived his life alone,
           because he was so contented, and so joyous in himself that he never needed anybody else. He was
           the head of the department, so he had a big bungalow -- living alone in it. And as we became
           acquainted with each other, he became very loving towards me, like a father.
               He said, "There is no need for you to live in the hostel -- you can come and live with me. I have
           lived all alone in my life..." He used to play the sitar -- perhaps better than anybody else I have
           heard, and I have heard all the best sitarists. But he never played it to entertain people; he just played
           out of his joy.
               And his timing was such, that nobody would have ever thought... three o'clock in the morning
           every day he will play his sitar. For seventy years he had been playing. The difficulty arose the first
           day, because I used to read up to three, and then I would go to bed -- and that was the time for him to
           wake up.
               And this was a disturbance for both of us, because I loved to read things that I liked, not silently
           but loudly. When you are just reading with your eyes there is only a partial connection. But when
           you read poetry loudly you are involved in it; for the moment, you become the poet. You forget it is
           somebody else's poetry; it starts becoming part of your blood and bones and marrow.
               Naturally it was difficult for him to sleep. And when I would go to sleep at three it was difficult
           for me to sleep. Just by my side, in the next room, he was playing his electric instruments -- the
           guitar, sitar, and other instruments. In two days we both were tired.
               He said to me, "You live in this house -- I am leaving!"
               I said, "You need not leave -- and where will you go? I have at least a place in the hostel. I will
           leave."
               But he said, "I cannot say to you to leave. I love you, I love your presence here. But our habits
           are dangerous to each other. I have never interfered with anybody; there has never been anybody
           with me to interfere with. And I know you -- you will not interfere with me. But this will kill both of
           us! You will not say, `Change your time.' I cannot say that you should leave the house; that's why I
           said that I am leaving -- you live in the house."
               I persuaded him, "I cannot live in the house. Once you leave, the university cannot allow me to
           live in this house -- this house is meant for you. I have to go to my hostel." With tears in his eyes he
           came to lead me to the hostel.
               I remembered him at this point because I have never seen anybody else in my life who was so
           responsive, so sensitive. Even if by mistake he had hit the chair, he will apologize -- to the chair. I
           told him, "Dr. Biharidas, this is going too far!"
               He said, "That's how I feel. I have hit the poor chair. She cannot speak; otherwise she would
           have been angry. And she is part of this whole cosmos, and she has served me, and I have not been
           friendly towards her; I have hit her. I have to apologize."
               People in the university thought that he was mad -- a man who asks forgiveness from a chair in
           this world cannot be thought to be sane. I have watched him closely; he was one of the sanest
           persons. But his responsibility was tremendous.
               He could not say to me... it was his house. He could have said to me, "You can read silently" or,
           "You can read at some other time" or, "You can read while I am playing my instrument." But that he
           would not do. It would have been easy -- that's what everybody else is doing in the world. But his
           sensitivity and deep respect for the other person... even his reverence for things was impeccable.
               People have looked at his behavior and have thought, "He is not in the right state of mind." But
           nobody bothered to think that the right state of mind makes people responsible, so responsible that
           they start looking -- to others -- mad.
               For example, Mahavira slept his whole life only on one side. He would not change his side in the
           night. Asked why, he said -- because he was living naked, having nothing, lying down on the bare
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           floor.... If he changes his side, some ant, some small insects may be crushed by his turning, and he
           will not do such a thing. His responsibility towards very small things simply shows his integrity with
           existence.
               His way of begging will explain to you what I mean. Nowhere else in the world has anybody
           done such a thing -- so much trust for existence! In the morning, after his meditations, he would
           visualize in what condition he was going to accept today's food. And sometimes it happened that
           thirty days would pass and he would not be able to receive food because what he has visualized, a
           particular condition, was not fulfilled. Strange things....
               For example, he thinks that he will accept food if a woman at the house where he stands begging
           comes out of the house with her baby still sucking milk from her breast. Then only will he accept
           food from that woman; otherwise that day is gone. Then next day he will try again.
               His people persistently said to him, "This is strange! There have been great ascetics... you can
           fast as much as you want, that is another thing."
               He said, "This is not a question of fasting. I am leaving it to existence, and I am making a
           condition so that I can know if existence wants me to eat today or not. It is between me and
           existence. If the condition is not fulfilled that simply means existence wants me to fast. It is not my
           fast, it is simply that existence does not want me to eat today, and the wisdom of the whole is
           bigger."
               And sometimes such strange conditions were fulfilled that nobody could have imagined that it
           would be possible. For example, one of the conditions was fulfilled.... After thirteen days remaining
           hungry, fasting, he continued: unless that condition was fulfilled he would not change the condition.
           He would change it only when it is fulfilled; then he would add the second condition.
               The condition was that a princess -- no ordinary woman, but a great princess -- chains on her
           legs, handcuffed... if she offers food to him, he will accept. Now, this is asking something absurd. In
           the first place, if she is a princess, why should she be handcuffed, with chains on her feet? And if she
           is handcuffed and with chains on her feet, she will be in jail! She may be a princess but she will not
           be able to offer food.
               But it happened that one of the kings got very angry with his daughter -- her name was Chandana
           -- and out of anger he ordered that she should be handcuffed and chained for twenty-four hours. She
           was not put in jail, but she was free in the home.
               And when Mahavira came... And that was the argument that created the whole problem: she
           wanted to offer food to Mahavira. She loved the man, she loved his way of thinking, and her father
           was absolutely against it. That's why she was handcuffed and chained -- she would not be able to go
           out of the house in that way because this would be so embarrassing. When Mahavira came, he came
           with thousands of his followers.
               But she went out with the food, and those thousands of followers could not believe their eyes.
           Because that very day, after thirteen days, they had insisted, "Mahavira, we would like to know:
           what is the condition? We are not going to tell anybody; we just want to see whether there is any
           meaning in your conditions. Is existence compassionate enough, is existence caring enough? Does it
           bother about you? Just for once, we want to know: what is your condition?"
           He said, "This is my condition..."
           They said, "My God, this may never be fulfilled!"
               Mahavira said, "That simply means existence does not need me. I have no complaint; perhaps my
           work is completed, and I am unnecessarily being a burden." But the condition was fulfilled.
               Such trust in existence, such unwavering trust, comes when you start taking responsibilities. As
           you feel more responsible towards small things around you, existence goes on responding in a
           thousand-fold way. You are not a loser.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              CAN A CHAIN-SMOKER BECOME MEDITATIVE? I HAVE SMOKED FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS,
              AND I FEEL THAT IN SMOKING I STOP GOING DEEPLY INTO MEDITATION.. STILL, I CAN'T
              STOP SMOKING. CAN YOU TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT IT?


              A meditator cannot smoke, for the simple reason that he never feels nervous, in anxiety, in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tension.
                Smoking helps -- on a momentary basis -- to forget about your anxieties, your tensions, your
           nervousness. Other things can do the same -- chewing gum can do the same, but smoking does it the
           best.
                In your deep unconscious, smoking is related with sucking milk from your mother's breast. And
           as civilization has grown, no woman wants the child to be brought up by breast-feeding -- naturally;
           he will destroy the breast. The breast will lose its roundness, its beauty.
                The child has different needs. The child does not need a round breast, because with a round
           breast the child will die. If the breast is really round, while he is sucking the milk he cannot breathe;
           his nose will be stopped by the breast. He will get suffocated.
                The child's needs are different from a painter's need, form a poet's need, from that of a man of
           aesthetic sensibility. The child needs a long breast so his nose is free and he can do both -- he can
           breathe and also feed himself. So every child will try to make the breast according to his needs. And
           no woman wants the breast to be destroyed. It is part of her beauty, her body, her shape.
                So as civilization has grown, children are taken away from the breast of the mother sooner and
           sooner. And the longing to drink from the breast goes on in their minds. And whenever people are in
           some nervous state, in tension, in anxiety, the cigarette helps. It helps them to become a child again,
           relaxed in their mother's lap.
                The cigarette is very symbolic. It is just like the nipple of the mother, and the smoke that goes
           through it is warm just like the milk is warm. So it has a certain symmetry, and you become engaged
           in it, and for the moment you are reduced to a child who has no anxieties, no problems, no
           responsibilities.
                You say that for thirty years you have been smoking, a chain-smoker; you want to stop it but you
           cannot stop it. You cannot -- because you have to change the causes that have produced it.
                I have been successful with many of my sannyasins. First they laughed when I suggested to
           them... they could not believe that such a simple solution could help them. I said to them, "Don't try
           to stop smoking, but rather bring a milk bottle that is used for small children. And in the night when
           nobody can see you, under your blanket enjoy the milk, the warm milk. It is not going to do any
           harm at least."
           They said, "But how is it going to help?"
                I said, "You forget about it -- how and why -- you just do it. It will give you good food before
           you go to sleep, and there is no harm. And my feeling is that the next day you will not feel so much
           need for cigarettes. So you count."
                And they were surprised... slowly, slowly the cigarettes were disappearing, because their basic
           need which had remained hanging in the middle was fulfilled: they are no more children, they are
           maturing, and the cigarette disappears.
                You cannot stop it. You have to do something which is not harmful, which is healthier, as a
           substitute for the time being so that you grow up and the cigarettes stop themselves.
                Small children know this -- I have learned the secret from them. If a child is crying or weeping
           and is hungry, and the mother is far away, then he will put his thumb in his mouth and start sucking
           it. And he will forget all about hunger and crying and weeping, and will fall asleep. He has found a
           substitute -- although that substitute is not going to give him food, at least it gives a sense that
           something similar is happening. It relaxes him.
                I have tried with a few of my sannyasins, even sucking the thumb. If you are too afraid to bring a
           bottle and fill it with milk, and if your wife comes to know about it, or your children see you doing
           it, then the best way is: you go to sleep with the thumb in the mouth. Suck it and enjoy it.
                They have always laughed but they have always come back and said, "It helps, and the number
           of cigarettes next day is less and it goes on becoming less." Perhaps it will take a few weeks, then the
           cigarettes will disappear. And once they have disappeared without your stopping them.... Your
           stopping is repression, and anything repressed will try to come up again with greater force, with
           vengeance.
           Never stop anything.
                Find the basic cause of it and try to work out some substitute which is not harmful. So the basic
           cause disappears -- the cigarette is only a symptom. So the first thing is, stop stopping it. The second
           thing is, get a good bottle, and don't be embarrassed. If you are embarrassed then use your own
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thumb. Your own thumb will not be that great, but it will help.
               And I have never seen anybody failing who has used what I am saying. One day suddenly he
           cannot believe that he was unnecessarily destroying his health rather than having pure and clean air,
           smoking dirty smoke and destroying his lungs.
               And this is going to become a problem more and more because as the women's liberation
           movement grows children will not be breast-fed. I am not saying that they should be breast-fed; but
           they should be given some substitute breast so that their unconscious does not carry some wound
           that will create problems for them -- chewing gum and cigarettes and cigars.... These are all
           symptoms. In different countries they are different.
               In India they go on chewing pan leaves, or there are many people who use snuff. These are all
           the same. The snuff looks far away, but it is not that far away. The people who are nervous, tense, in
           anxiety, will take a dose of snuff. It gives a good sneeze, clears their mind, shakes their whole being,
           and it feels good.
               But those anxieties will come back. The snuff cannot destroy them. You have to destroy the very
           base of your being nervous. Why should you be nervous?
               Many journalists have told me, "With you one of the greatest difficulties is that we feel nervous."
           And they have said, "This is strange because we interview politicians -- they feel nervous, we make
           them nervous. You make us nervous, and immediately the desire to smoke arises. Then you prevent
           us smoking: `You cannot smoke here.' You are allergic.
               "You have a great strategy! -- we cannot smoke, and you are making us nervous and tense, and
           this allergy you have which prevents us from smoking... so you have no way out for us."
               But why should they feel nervous before me? Those politicians are powerful people -- if they feel
           nervous before them, it can be understood. But the reality is those powerful people are just hollow
           inside, and that power is borrowed from others, and they are afraid for their respectability. Each
           word they have to speak, they have to think twice. They are nervous that these journalists may create
           a situation in which their influence over people is destroyed. Their image that they have created has
           to become better and better. That is their fear. Because of that fear, the journalist -- any journalist,
           who has no power -- can make them nervous.
               To me there is no problem. I have no desire for respectability. I am notorious enough -- they
           cannot make me more notorious. I have done everything that could have made me nervous; I have
           managed already. What can they do to me? -- I don't have any power to lose, and I can say anything
           that I want because I am not worried about being contradictory, inconsistent. On the contrary, I enjoy
           being contradictory, inconsistent.
               They start feeling nervous, and the nervousness immediately brings the idea to do something, to
           get engaged, so nobody feels that you are nervous. Just watch: when you start feeling that you need a
           cigarette, just watch why you need it. There is something that is making you nervous, and you don't
           want to be caught.
               I am reminded... One day in a New York church, as the bishop entered he saw a strange man, a
           perfect hippy-type. But he made the bishop nervous, because that man looked into his eyes, and said,
           "Do you know who I am? I am Lord Jesus Christ."
               The bishop phoned Rome: "What am I supposed to do?" he asked the pope, "a hippy-looking
           man, but he also looks like Jesus Christ. And I am alone here, early in the morning and he has come
           here. I have never been told what we have to do when Jesus Christ comes, so I want instruction.
           Clearly, so I don't commit any mistake."
               The pope was himself nervous. He said, "Do only one thing: look busy! What else can be done?
           Meanwhile give a phone call to the police station. And look busy so that man cannot see your
           nervousness."
               Cigarettes help you to look busy; your nervousness is covered by it. So don't try to stop it;
           otherwise you will feel nervous and then you will fall back to the old pattern. The desire is there
           because something is left incomplete in you.
               Complete it -- and there are simple methods to complete it. Just a baby's milk bottle will do. It
           will give you good food, it will make you healthier and it will take away all your desire for looking
           busy!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #3
                               Chapter title: Just counting other people's cows
           13 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604135
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 79 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE POPE AND HIS BISHOPS -- ARE THEY REALLY FULLY AWARE OF HOW THEY ARE
              CHEATING THEIR PEOPLE? I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT THEY ARE JUST A BIG HEAP OF
              CRIMINALS, WITHOUT ANY RESPECT FOR TRUTH.


               The religious leaders are as asleep as the people they are leading. The only difference between
           the leaders and the led is theoretical. The leaders have a great store of theological knowledge, all
           borrowed; nothing in it is of their own experience, but it gives them great authority over the people
           who don't have even borrowed knowledge. And these leaders are consistently emphasizing the fact:
           "You are sinners, you are ignorant. We are the saints, we are the knowers."
               The poor masses cannot make a distinction between authentic knowing and borrowed
           knowledge. Even these leaders -- popes, bishops, shankaracharyas, ayatollahs -- even they are not
           alert of the distinction. They know only one kind of knowledge, and that is borrowed knowledge.
           They have no awareness of a different dimension of knowing, so whatever they are doing is done in
           deep sleep. They are not cheating people consciously.
           You cannot cheat anybody consciously.
               Consciousness will prevent you from doing anything as ugly as cheating, deceiving, pretending,
           being a hypocrite, condemning people as sinners and fulfilling your own egos as great saints. No, it
           is not done consciously.
               I never suspect for a single moment their good intentions. Whatever these people are doing, they
           are doing with good intentions; but the questions is not of good intentions, the question is: what is
           the result?
               You may murder me with good intentions, but your good intentions cannot justify my murder.
               I have come into contact with almost all kinds of religious scholars, and on one point they are the
           same, whether Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Jew. That point is that they are perfectly at ease,
           feeling very good, in whatever they are doing -- they are doing God's work, and they are spreading
           wisdom. They don't even know the meaning of wisdom. They have never tasted anything like that;
           they have heard about it, they have read about it, they have crammed hundreds of scriptures.
               I am reminded of an historical event... When Alexander the Great invaded India, his master was
           no one other than Aristotle, the father of logic in the western hemisphere. And he had asked him,
           "When you come back, bring the four VEDAS of the Hindus. The rumors have been, for hundreds of
           years, that those four books contain all the knowledge that is in the world; if you know those four
           VEDAS, you know all. So bring those four VEDAS for me."
               Alexander said, "That is very simple." But in those days the VEDAS were not printed. Hindus
           resisted printing them for hundreds of years after the printing press was invented. They never wanted
           their sources of wisdom to be printed and sold in the market.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Knowledge cannot be sold, and you cannot purchase wisdom. And purchasing the four VEDAS
           from a bookstall, you will be deceiving yourself -- those words are dead.
               Alexander enquired because he was thinking he could get them easily, but it was difficult. Very
           few prominent brahmin families had copies of the VEDAS, and that was their whole treasure. But
           finally he found one old brahmin... people said, "He has one of the most authentic copies of the
           VEDAS. And he is old; you can get them from him."
               Alexander went to the old man. The old man said, "There is no problem, but traditionally we can
           give the VEDAS only when the sun is rising. You have come at the wrong time -- the sun is setting.
           Come tomorrow morning, just before sunrise, just as the sun is rising, and I will hand over all the
           four VEDAS to you."
               Alexander said, "I was not thinking that it is going to be so simple. You don't ask anything in
           return?"
               He said, "No, this is enough, that you will be taking the VEDAS into the wide world. Come early
           in the morning." But that old man was really clever....
               The whole night he and his four sons remained awake sitting around a fire. He told the sons,
           "Read one page of the book that I have given to you." He distributed the four VEDAS to the four
           sons, according to their age. The eldest got the RIGVEDA, the oldest scripture. "You read aloud one
           page so that I can hear that you are reading it rightly, and then remember it and drop it into the fire.
           By the morning all four VEDAS have to be burned, and by the morning all you four have to become
           my four VEDAS. I am going to present you to Alexander the Great."
               In ancient India, memory was particularly trained. Still, all universities, and colleges' educational
           systems depend on cultivating memory. They deceive you and themselves, thinking that this is
           intelligence. Memory is not intelligence, because memory can be part of a computer -- which has no
           consciousness, which has no intelligence. Your mind is also a natural bio-computer. Memory is
           simply remembering but not understanding; understanding is totally different. Memory needs a very
           mechanical mind, and understanding needs a very non-mechanical mind. In fact the ways are
           diametrically opposite.
               In the morning when Alexander appeared he was stunned. All the four VEDAS were burned, and
           the old man said, "Now you can take my four sons. They have perfect memory. They will repeat the
           VEDAS exactly. I could not give you the VEDAS -- that is never done -- but I can give my sons to
           you. My whole life I have trained them in memorizing. You just have to repeat something one time
           and it remains in their memory, as if written on a stone."
               Alexander was defeated by the old man. He could not take those four sons because they didn't
           know the meaning of what they were saying; they could not explain anything. The language was
           different, and they could not translate it -- they didn't know Greek. What purpose would be served by
           taking these people?
               But all your religious scholars and leaders are nothing but memories, trained memories. They
           don't know what they are saying, but they say it correctly. Their language is right, their grammar is
           right, their pronunciation is right, their accent is right, but all these are futile because they don't know
           the meaning, they have never lived it. That meaning comes through living, through experiencing. But
           they will remain in a deception, and they will spread the same deception to other people.
               So I say again: the popes, the bishops, the shankaracharyas -- they are not doing intentionally
           any crime. They are fast asleep; they cannot do anything intentionally! They are living an
           unconscious life. Their words are beautiful -- they have collected them from beautiful sources -- but
           the words have not grown within their being. The words are not part of their life. They are as
           ignorant as the people they are teaching.
               Socrates used to say that there is a knowledge which is ignorant, and there is an ignorance which
           is knowledge.
           Borrowed knowledge is ignorance.
               Experienced truth makes you not knowledgeable, but humble. The more you know it, the less
           you claim to know it. The day you know it perfectly, you can only say, "I am utter ignorance. I am
           just a child, collecting seashells on the beach. I know nothing."
               "I do not know," can only be said by a man who knows perfectly.
               The people who say, "We know," are utterly ignorant people -- but their memories are full. And
           those memories are dead, because they have not given birth to any experience of their own.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Gautam Buddha used to say, "I used to know a man -- he was my servant. Sitting by the door, he
           would count the cows that were going early in the morning to the pasture, to the river." He would
           count them -- it had become almost an automatic thing with him. His duty was to sit in front of the
           door of Gautam Buddha, in case he needs anything; otherwise he was sitting there the whole day.
           And by the time the cows returned... It is one of the most beautiful times. In Indian villages, which
           are still not modernized, the time when the sun is setting has got a special name, goadhooli. Goa
           means cow, and dhooli means dust: the cows are coming, raising dust. The sun is setting, the birds
           are returning to their trees -- it is a very peaceful moment.
               So at the time of goadhooli he would count again the cows that were returning home. And he
           would become very much worried if some cow was missing, if the count was not exactly as it should
           have been. Later, when Gautam Buddha became a great master, he used the story of that man and his
           habit to explain something immensely meaningful.
               He said, "I used to ask that poor fellow, `Do you have a cow?' And he would say, `I am so poor, I
           don't have a cow.' And I would say to him, `Then why do you unnecessarily go on counting
           thousands of cows in the morning, then in the evening again -- thousands of cows? And if one cow is
           missing -- or perhaps you have miscounted -- then you are worried, you cannot sleep. And it is not
           your cow, it is not your concern!'"
               Buddha used to say to his disciples, "All knowledge that is not yours is not your concern. You
           are counting other people's cows, unnecessarily wasting your time. It is better to have one cow of
           your own -- that will be nourishment."
               But all your scholars are just counting other people's cows. And they are doing immense harm
           without knowing it, because they are helping people to become knowers without knowing. This is
           the greatest harm that can be done to man, to give him a sense that he knows -- and he knows
           nothing. You have destroyed his whole life. You have destroyed the opportunity in which he may
           have known, experienced, lived. You have taken all his opportunities, all his possibilities of growth.
               I am against all these scholars, not because their intentions are bad but because the outcome of
           their very good intentions is disastrous. They have destroyed millions of people on the earth; they
           never allowed them to grow, they gave them a false notion that they know already. This is pure
           poison.
               George Gurdjieff used to tell a story... there was a magician who had many sheep. And it was a
           trouble to get them home from the forest every night -- wild animals were there, and he was losing
           many of his sheep. Finally the idea came to him, "Why do I not use my expertise, my magic?"
               He hypnotized all his sheep and told them different things. To one sheep he said, "You are a lion.
           You need not be afraid; you are the king amongst the animals." To another he said, "You are a tiger,"
           to another, "You are a man." And he told to everybody, to all the sheep: "You are not going to be
           butchered because you are not sheep, so you need not be afraid to come back home. You should
           come early, before nightfall."
               And from that day no sheep went missing. In fact, from that day no sheep was behaving like a
           sheep: somebody was roaring like a lion, somebody was behaving like a man, and nobody was afraid
           of being butchered, killed -- the very question was irrelevant. And the magician was butchering them
           every day for his food. They may have been roaring like lions -- that did not matter; they were sheep
           after all.
               But he managed very beautifully. Giving one sheep the notion of being a lion, there was no need
           now to be bothered that he would try to escape, seeing that other sheep are being killed. Still sheep
           were being killed, but this sheep will know, "I am a lion, I am not a sheep. Sheep are bound to be
           killed!" When he is killed, others will be thinking, "He was just a sheep, we are men. And he was not
           only a sheep, but a foolish sheep who used to think that he is a lion, and never listened to us. We
           argued many times, `You are a sheep. We are men, we know better. You stop roaring, that is not
           going to help.'" But the magician was in absolute control.
               The story Gurdjieff was telling was about your religious leaders. They have managed to tell you
           things which you are not. They have managed to convince you that you know things which you
           know not. And this is the greatest crime that can be committed. But you cannot call them criminals,
           because they are not doing it to harm you. They are trying to serve you, they are trying to help you.
               Just because all the religions have been doing the same thing, the whole world is under a certain
           hypnosis. And why have I created so many enemies? -- for the simple reason that I am telling you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that your knowledge is not knowledge, that it is a cover-up. You are utterly ignorant. You know
           nothing, and you believe that you know. It hurts!
               I am taking away your knowledge, I am taking away your virtue, I am taking away your
           morality. I am taking away everything that you used to think is a great treasure, everything that was
           cherished by you, nourished by you, protected by you, because you thought that you have got the
           real secrets of life, that you know the real mysteries of life. And to take away these things from
           people is naturally going to create enemies.
               It is a strange world. The enemies are popes, are archbishops, are shankaracharyas, are
           ayatollahs -- they are the respected people of the world, and the friend looks like the greatest enemy.
           The enemies appear to be friends, and the friends appear to be enemies. Humanity has misbehaved
           with its friends and given all its respect to its enemies. And that is the reason why the whole world is
           in misery: you have listened to the enemies and you have destroyed your friends.
           And the same story continues.
               I have talked to so many wise people, and found that all their wisdom is just memory. Not even a
           small bit is their own; all has come from others. And this is something fundamental to realize, that
           truth can only be your own experience. There is no other way to get it. Lies you can get in
           abundance. There are supermarkets all over the world, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Mohammedan,
           Buddhist -- all kinds of lies, all colors, all shapes and sizes, whichever you prefer. They are available
           and suitable to you. You are not to fit with them, they fit with you. It is very easy. They are made for
           you, they are tailored for you.
           Truth is a totally different matter.
           You will have to fit with it.
           Truth knows no compromise.
           You will have to change according to it.
           You will have to go through a transformation.
               So I am creating enemies, not without any reason. The reason is clear. I am creating a few friends
           also, but those few friends have to go through a deep fire test. They have to drop their false
           personalities, their egos, their knowledge -- everything they have. They have to be ready to be utterly
           naked and empty. Only then are they at the right point of the journey, the journey towards truth.
           Naked, empty, and alone....
               But it is such a joy, and each moment is such a glory, such a paradise that once you have tasted a
           single moment on the way towards truth, you will never look back on all that you had to leave. It is a
           great unburdening, a freedom.
           Now you can open your wings unto the sky.
           The whole sky now is yours.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU WERE SAYING THAT THE NEW WILL BE VICTORIOUS. WILL IT REALLY BE THE NEW, OR
              WILL IT BE THE OLD POLISHED UP HERE AND THERE. THERE ARE PUBLICATIONS NOW IN
              GERMANY THAT USE YOU. SOME MENTION YOU IN THE LIST OF LITERATURE AS THE
              SOURCE, BUT OTHERS USE YOU AND DON'T MENTION YOU -- OR THEY EVEN CONDEMN
              YOU. I AM REALLY AFRAID OF THOSE PEOPLE. WHAT IS THEIR INTENTION? CAN YOU
              PLEASE TAKE AWAY THAT FEAR?


               There is no need to be afraid of those people. That is happening in every language all over the
           world. People are taking my statements and not mentioning my name. There is no harm in it, because
           my name is not important; what is important is the statement. Even if these people are stealing, there
           is no harm. That statement may start something in somebody which these people cannot fulfill. That
           statement may trigger a process in somebody who will have to come to the original source.
               They are not mentioning my name for two reasons. One reason is, they would like to appear
           original. Secondly, they are afraid that if they mention my name they will be condemned -- then their
           book is not going to be praised, respected.
               But don't be afraid of these people, whatever their reason. Anything taken from me is fire, and it
           does not matter in what way the fire reaches to somebody's heart. These people who are doing such
           things cannot be great writers, poets, creative thinkers; otherwise they would not do such an act of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stealing. These people are third rate.
                So if they have stolen something from me it is going to stand out in their whole book as separate,
           unrelated, out of context. Anybody who has a little intelligence, will see that this part has not come
           from the same man who has written the book, because the book has a third class flavor; there is no
           originality, there is no understanding of the deeper problems of life, and there is no courage to say
           the truth as it is. So anything that they have stolen to decorate their books, to make their books
           valuable, unknowingly that very part is going to destroy their whole book. They have stolen fire and
           put it into their book.
                In India, one radio station was reading my statements every day, for ten minutes in the morning,
           without mentioning my name -- but passages from books, stories. Hundreds of letters came to me
           saying, "These people are stealing from your books."
                I said, "Don't be worried. My name is not significant, my message is. They are cowards, or
           perhaps they love me but they are government servants."
                In India radio is owned by the government, television is owned by the government. If they use
           my name, they may lose their jobs. And certainly during that series, which was continuing for six
           months, even ministers, cabinet ministers and the prime minister, were quoting from those
           statements, thinking that they have nothing to do with me. But the people who were listening knew
           that those statements were not coming from Indira Gandhi -- they could not be, they had no
           relevance with the person -- they were stolen. And they started searching for the place from where
           the statements had been stolen.
                Finally I met the person, the director of that radio station. He was a lover of me, and he said, "I
           have been condemned. Hundreds of letters are coming to me, saying, `You are stealing. You are not
           mentioning Osho's name. But if I mention your name then the series will be stopped that very day. I
           will continue as long as they don't discover...
                `"And the moment it was discovered, immediately the series was stopped and the man was
           removed. He told me, "It happened because of that series. People started writing letters to the prime
           minister saying, `This man is stealing passages from Osho.'"
                The prime minister herself had been stealing. Her lectures have been sent to me, and word for
           word, long passages have been stolen from me. But I have always taken the standpoint: let the truth
           reach to people by any means, by anyone.
                I have been thinking that if the great powerful governments of the world are so afraid that they
           will not allow me entry into their country -- just as a tourist for three or four weeks -- if they are so
           impotent with all their power that they will not even allow me an overnight stay at the airport, which
           is legally my right...
                In England my jet plane was standing at the airport, and the pilots had to rest. According to the
           law, after a certain period they cannot fly, so only in the morning would they be able to fly. I had
           every right to stay in the lounge at the airport, but they refused -- as if with me there are different
           laws!
                One of my friends who was traveling with me just happened to see the file of the man who was
           preventing me, because he went to the bathroom, leaving the file on the table. And my friend just
           looked and was surprised, because there were government instructions.... I had just arrived, but the
           file was ready, saying that if I try to stay even overnight I should not be allowed to stay in the first
           class lounge, but I should be put in jail; I am a dangerous person.
                In the airport lounge, from where I cannot get into the country... there is no way to get into the
           country from the lounge. Every instruction was there about how they had to treat me. In England we
           had to stay for one night in jail, without any crime -- just because the pilots could not fly overtime.
           And the government was ready beforehand. It was not a spontaneous decision, it was well-planned.
                Now there are countries who have decided in their parliaments that I should not be allowed into
           their country. And they have a certain European parliament... Just the other day I was informed that
           now they are considering in the European parliament -- which is just a combined body of all the
           parliaments of Europe -- a decision that I should not be allowed even to land my plane at any airport
           in Europe.
                Today they will be doing this in Europe -- America has done it already. Tomorrow they will be
           doing it in Asia, in Australia, in Africa. It is possible, very possible, that if they are so much afraid of
           me, they will start banning my books. And it may become necessary that my books go without my
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           name, or with any name -- like Holy Ghost!
           The name does not matter.
           But the message has to reach.
               It is unprecedented. The whole world against a single man -- a man who has no power, no
           nuclear weapons, who cannot do any harm to anybody. The whole world is at war with a single
           person. It simply shows that I am hitting at their very roots.
               You need not be worried. If somebody has taken some passage, that passage will prove more
           important than his whole book. And I would like more and more writers, poets, film makers to steal
           as much as they can, because truth is not my property, I am not its owner. Let it reach in any way, in
           anybody's name, in any form, but let it reach.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THESE WORDS "TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF," CONFUSE ME. I AM AN
              INDIVIDUALIST AND ENJOY BEING ON MY OWN. IF I DO WHAT FEELS GOOD TO SUPPORT
              MYSELF, IS IT NOT A WAY OF FEEDING MY EGO? WHERE IS THE LIMIT BETWEEN TAKING
              RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONESELF AND FEEDING THE EGO BY FULFILLING ITS TENDENCIES?


               There is no limit for taking responsibility for yourself. And the question has arisen... and not only
           this question, many questions arise because you only think about them; they are not your existential
           experiences. If you take responsibility for yourself you cannot be an egoist, because to be an egoist
           simply means you are fast asleep and you cannot take any responsibility.
           Responsibility comes with awareness, alertness.
               You are asking an intellectual question like, "When we bring light into the room, what are we are
           going to do with the darkness? Where have we to throw it?" Intellectually it is perfectly right. There
           is darkness in the room and you say, "Bringing light into the room, the question arises, `Where then
           has the darkness to be pushed? Where has it to be thrown? In what way?' But it is not existential.
           Just try to bring light in and there will be no question about darkness. There will be no darkness!
               Responsibility is awareness, alertness, consciousness.
           Ego is just unconsciousness.
           They cannot coexist.
               As you grow more conscious you grow more towards light, and anything belonging to the world
           of darkness starts disappearing. Ego is nothing but darkness.
               So remember one thing, try to ask questions which are existential. Intellectual questions may
           look logical, but are really absurd. You try responsibility, and by being responsible you will have to
           be conscious and alert.
               Remaining responsible, you will create the light that automatically dispels the darkness of the
           ego.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                     Chapter #4
                                        Chapter title: Dancingly, disappear
           14 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604140
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 102 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              OFTEN, WHEN I AM DEEPLY RELAXED, A STRONG FEELING TO DIE COMES UP IN ME. IN
              THESE MOMENTS I FEEL MYSELF AS PART OF THE WHOLE COSMOS, AND I WANT TO
              DISAPPEAR INTO IT. ON ONE HAND, IT IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL FEELING, AND I AM SO
              GRATEFUL FOR IT. ON THE OTHER HAND I MISTRUST IT: MAYBE I HAVE NOT SAID "YES" TO
              MYSELF, TO MY BEING, IF THE DESIRE TO DIE IS SO STRONG. IS IT A SUICIDAL DESIRE?


                It is not a suicidal desire.
           One basic thing about suicide is that it arises only in people who are clinging very much to life. And
           when they fail in their clinging, the mind moves to the opposite pole. The function of the mind is of
           either/or: either it wants the whole, or none of it. The lust for life cannot be fulfilled totally, because
           life as such is a temporal thing; it is bound to end at a point, just as it began one day at a point. You
           cannot have a line with only the beginning; somewhere or other there is bound to be an end.
                So the people who commit suicide are not against life; it only appears so. They want life in its
           totality, they want to grab it whole, and when they fail -- and they are bound to fail -- then out of
           frustration, out of failure, they start thinking of death. Then suicide is the only alternative. They will
           not be satisfied with whatsoever life gives them; they want more and more and more.
                Life is short, and the series of the desire for more and more is infinite, so the failure is certain.
           Somewhere or other there is bound to come a moment when they will feel they have been cheated by
           life. Nobody is cheating them -- they have cheated themselves. They have been asking too much, and
           they have only been asking, they have not been giving anything, not even gratefulness. In anger, in
           rage, in revenge the pendulum of the mind moves to the other end -- still they do not know with
           whom they are taking the revenge. They are killing themselves: it does not destroy life, it does not
           destroy existence.
                So this experience is not of a suicidal nature. It is something similar to suicide, but on a very
           different level and from a very different dimension. When you are relaxed, when there is no tension
           in you, when there is no desire, when the mind is as silent as a lake without any ripples, a deep
           feeling arises in you to disappear in this moment, because life has not given you anything better than
           this. There have been moments of happiness, of pleasure, but this is something far beyond happiness
           and pleasure; it is pure blissfulness.
                To turn back from it is really hard. One wants to go deeper, and one can see going deeper means
           disappearing. Most of him has already disappeared in relaxation, in silence, in desirelessness. Most
           of his personality has already gone, just a small thread of the ego is still hanging around. And he
           would like to take a jump out of this circle of the ego, because if relaxing even within the ego brings
           so much benediction, one cannot imagine what will be the result if everything is dissolved, so that
           one can say, "I am not and existence is."
                This is not a suicidal instinct. This is what basically is meant by spiritual liberation: it is
           liberation from the ego, from desire, even from the lust for life. It is total liberation, it is absolute
           freedom.
                But in this situation the question is bound to arise in everyone. The question is arising not out of
           your intelligence; the question is arising out of your cowardice. You really want some excuse not to
           dissolve, not to evaporate into the infinite. Immediately the mind gives you the idea that this is what
           suicide is: -- "Don't commit suicide. Suicide is a sin, suicide is a crime. Come back!" And you start
           coming back. And coming back means you become again tense, again full of anxieties, again full of
           desires. Again the whole tragic drama of your life...
                It is your fear of total dissolution. But you don't want to accept it as a fear, so you give it a
           condemnatory name -- suicide. It has nothing to do with suicide; it is really going deeper into life.
                Life has two dimensions. One is horizontal -- in which you are all living, in which you are
           always asking for more and more and more. The quantity is not the question; no quantity is going to
           satisfy you. The horizontal line is the quantitative line. You can go on and on. It is like the horizon --
           as you go on, the horizon goes on receding back. The distance between you and the goal of your
           more and more, the goal of your desire, remains always exactly the same. It was the same when you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           were a child, it was the same when you were young, it is the same when you are old. It will remain
           the same to your last breath.
               The horizontal line is exactly an illusion. The horizon does not exist, it only appears -- there,
           perhaps just a few miles away, the sky is meeting the earth... it meets nowhere. And out of the
           horizon comes the horizontal line -- unending, because the goal is illusory; you cannot come to make
           it a reality. And your patience is limited, your span of life is limited. One day you realize that it
           seems all futile, meaningless: "I am unnecessarily dragging myself, torturing myself, reaching
           nowhere." Then the opposite of it arises in you -- destroy yourself. It is not worthwhile to live,
           because life promises, but never delivers the goods.
               But life has another line -- a vertical line. The vertical line moves in a totally different dimension.
           In such an experience, for a moment you have turned your face towards the vertical.
               You are not asking -- that's why you are being given.
               You are not desiring -- that's why so much is made available to you.
               You don't have any goal -- that's why you are so close to it.
               Because there is no desire, no goal, no asking, no begging, you don't have any tension; you are
           utterly relaxed.
               In this relaxed state is the meeting with existence.
               The fear comes at the moment when you come to dissolve your last part, because then it will be
           irrevocable; you will not be able to come back.
               I have told many times a beautiful poem of Rabindranath Tagore. The poet has been searching
           for God for millions of lives. He has seen him sometimes, far away, near a star, and he started
           moving that way, but by the time he reached that star, God has moved to some other place. But he
           went on searching and searching -- he was determined to find God's home -- and the surprise of
           surprises was, one day he actually reached a house where on the door was written: "God's Home."
               You can understand his ecstasy, you can understand his joy. He runs up the steps, and just as he
           is going to knock on the door, suddenly his hand freezes. An idea arises in him: "If by chance this is
           really the home of God, then I am finished, my seeking is finished. I have become identified with my
           seeking, with my search. I don't know anything else. If the door opens and I face God, I am finished
           -- the search is over. Then what? Then there is an eternity of boredom -- no excitement, no
           discovery, no new challenge, because there cannot be any challenge greater than God."
               He starts trembling with fear, takes his shoes off his feet, and descends back down the beautiful
           marble steps. He took the shoes off so that no noise was made, for his fear was that even a noise on
           the steps... God may open the door, although he has not knocked. And then he runs as fast as he has
           never run before. He used to think that he had been running after God as fast as he can, but today,
           suddenly, he finds energy which was never available to him before. He runs as he has never run, not
           looking back.
               The poem ends, "I am still searching for God. I know his home, so I avoid it and search
           everywhere else. The excitement is great, the challenge is great, and in my search I continue, I
           continue to exist. God is a danger -- I will be annihilated. But now I am not afraid even of God,
           because I know His home. So, leaving His home aside, I go on searching for him all around the
           universe. And deep down I know my search is not for God; my search is to nourish my ego."
               I place Rabindranath Tagore as one of the greatest religious men of our century, although he is
           not ordinarily related with religion. But only a religious man of tremendous experience can write this
           poem. It is not just ordinary poetry; it contains such a great truth. And that's what your question is
           raising. Relaxed, you come to a moment where you feel you are going to disappear, and then you
           think, "Perhaps this is a suicidal instinct," and you come back to your old miserable world. But that
           miserable world has one thing: it protects your ego, it allows you to be.
               This is the strange situation: blissfulness does not allow you; you have to disappear. That's why
           you don't see many blissful people in the world. Misery nourishes your ego -- that's why you see so
           many miserable people in the world. The basic central point is the ego.
               So you have not come to a point of suicide. You have come to a point of nirvana, of cessation, of
           disappearance, of blowing out the candle. This is the ultimate experience. If you can gather courage,
           just one step more... Existence is only one step away from you.
               Don't listen to this garbage of your mind saying that this is suicide. You are neither drinking
           poison, nor are you hanging yourself from a tree, and you are not shooting yourself with a gun --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what suicide? You are simply becoming thinner and thinner and thinner. And the moment comes
           when you are so thin and so spread all over existence that you cannot say you are, but you can say
           that existence is.
           This we have called enlightenment, not suicide.
               This we have called realization of the ultimate truth. But you have to pay the price. And the price
           is nothing but dropping the ego. So when such a moment comes, don't hesitate. Dancingly,
           disappear... with a great laughter, disappear; with songs on your lips, disappear.
               I am not a theoretician, this is not my philosophy. I have come to the same borderline many times
           and turned back. I have also found the home of God many times and could not knock. Jesus has a
           few sayings. One of the sayings is, "Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you." If this sentence
           has any meaning, it is this meaning that I am giving you now.
               So when this moment comes, rejoice and melt. It is human nature -- and understandable -- that
           many times you will come back. But those many times don't count. One time, gather all courage and
           take a jump.
               You will be, but in such a new way that you cannot connect it with the old. It will be a
           discontinuity. The old was so tiny, so small, so mean, and the new is so vast. From a small dewdrop
           you have become the ocean. But even the dewdrop slipping from a lotus leaf trembles for a moment,
           tries to hang on a little more, because he can see the ocean... once he has fallen from the lotus leaf he
           is gone. Yes, in a way he will not be; as a dewdrop he will be gone. But it is not a loss. He will be
           oceanic.
           And all other oceans are limited.
           The ocean of existence is unlimited.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES I OFTEN HEAR THE SOUND OF A TINY BELL RINGING WITHIN.
              CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US ABOUT HEARING, MEDITATION, SOUND AND SILENCE?


               It is possible that hearing inside you a tiny bell when you enter into meditation may be related to
           your past life, particularly as a Tibetan, because for centuries in Tibet this has been the conditioning
           of the mind -- that when you enter meditation, you hear tiny bells. And if a conditioning has been
           continued too long, it is carried into new lives.
               But hearing the tiny bell is not meditation; it is just a conditioning. When you start entering into
           total silence where no bells are ringing, then meditation begins. The tiny bell rings in the mind, and
           meditation is a state of no-mind. Tiny or not tiny, no bell can ring there; it is utter silence.
               But many religions, particularly in the East... and the most prominent is the Tibetan religion
           which has used tiny bells. It is a significant technique but dangerous, as all techniques are: you can
           get attached to the technique. If you listen to a tiny bell for hours it will have a hypnotizing effect on
           your mind. Thinking will stop, only the bell will go on ringing. Even when in reality the bell has
           stopped, it will go on ringing in the mind. The idea behind the technique was that slowly, slowly the
           sound of the bell will fade away into silence. If it happens, good. But the greater possibility is that
           you will become attached to the bell. And it gives great peace, it will give you a feeling of great
           well-being, because the mind will not be thinking; it cannot do two things.
               It is not only the bell -- anything can be used. Lord Tennyson, the great poet, was embarrassed to
           recognize in his autobiography that from his very childhood... he does not know how -- perhaps
           sleeping in a separate room as a small child, he was afraid of the darkness. Just to make him feel that
           he is not alone, he started repeating his own name, "Tennyson, Tennyson..." Repeating his own name
           he forgot all about the darkness and the ghosts, and all kinds of creatures that humanity has invented
           for poor children to be tortured with. He would repeat a few times, "Tennyson, Tennyson,
           Tennyson..." and he would become silent and would fall into a deep sleep.
               Later on, as he grew up, it became his usual practice. Without it he could not fall asleep -- it
           became a necessary ritual. But it started giving him new insights: it not only brought sleep, but
           repeating, "Tennyson, Tennyson," his own name, he became silent, peaceful; he became somehow
           more than the body, somehow immaterial. And then, as he came to know about meditation... he had
           already developed a technique through his whole life. He tried it for meditation, and it worked. Just
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as it was leading him into deep sleep, it started leading him into deep relaxation, a great
           peacefulness.
                So it is not a question of what mantra, what chanting, what name of which God, or just the sound
           of a bell... it doesn't matter. All that matters basically is that you become concentrated on one thing,
           that the mind is so full of one thing that all other thoughts stop. And any one thing for a long time is
           going to give you a certain kind of hypnotic state.
                Just a few days ago, Anando brought me a press clipping. The man was authentic in writing it...
           he was puzzled, he could not understand what is happening. He had been listening to me -- he had
           come as a journalist to report -- he had never heard such long discourses, and on subjects which were
           not his area! So he reports on me: "What is striking," he reports, "is Osho speaks very slowly, with
           gaps -- sometimes with closed eyes, and sometimes he looks very intensely at you. He speaks so
           long that one feels bored, but the strange thing is that after this boredom one feels a deep serenity, a
           silence -- which is strange, because usually out of boredom one feels frustration, one feels angry."
                But he has observed well his own mind... one feels a certain serenity, silence, peacefulness, and
           finally it seems that a kind of hypnosis has happened: "Perhaps this is Osho's method -- to speak
           slowly, to speak with gaps, so that you start feeling bored. But out of that boredom comes a
           serenity."
                It is strange for him -- it is strange for Western psychology too -- that if boredom is used rightly
           it is going to create serenity, peacefulness and a state of hypnosis. And hypnosis is healthy: It is not
           meditation, but it still somehow reflects meditation. It is like the moon reflected in the water; it is not
           the moon, but this is still a reflection of the moon.
                So all the religions -- in the East particularly, but in the West also -- have used very similar
           techniques. Now a Buddhist monk in Tibet, in the silence of the Himalayas, goes on ringing a small
           bell for hours... no other sound -- the whole universe around him is silent -- the only sound is the
           bell. Naturally his mind starts getting bored, starts feeling disinterested. There is no excitement, it is
           just repetition, but that is the point: if the bell can be stopped -- and the bell has to be stopped -- the
           mind will go on listening to it for a little time longer.
                The monk has become so accustomed to listening to it that he will go on listening to it. And as
           the sound of the bell recedes, becomes thinner, becomes distant, more distant, the mind is left in a
           certain silence. This silence either can give you hypnosis... Hypnosis is another name for deliberately
           created sleep: it is deeper than your ordinary sleep, healthier than your ordinary sleep; it rejuvenates
           you within minutes, which your ordinary sleep can do only in eight hours. That is one line that it can
           move on, but that is not meditation.
                The other line is... listening to the bell inside you getting more and more distant, you become
           more and more alert so that you can listen to it, even though the sound is going away from you.
                Now you have to be more conscious to listen to it. First you were unconscious and you were
           listening to it; now it is getting distant so you have to be very alert, very conscious. And a moment
           comes when the sound disappears... you have to be perfectly conscious. You have taken a different
           route.
           This state of consciousness is meditation.
                I am not against hypnosis; what I am against is... hypnosis should not be understood as
           meditation. Hypnosis is of the mind, and good for the mind, good for the body. Meditation is neither
           of the body nor of the mind, but belongs to the third within you -- your being. It is good for the
           being, it is nourishment for the being.
                So it is possible that if sitting in meditation, you suddenly start hearing bells, you may have
           practiced this in your past lives. I don't talk about past lives for the simple reason that for you it will
           be just a belief. But the question was such that I had to bring the past life in, because it had nothing
           to do with this life. You had not practiced meditation on the sound of bells, so from where can it
           come into your mind? It can come only from the past conditioning, and a very deep conditioning.
                Nothing is wrong in it. Enjoy it, but remember not to go towards sleep. Go towards more
           consciousness. Sleep is unconsciousness, so they are diametrically opposite directions. And there
           comes a point from where you can move either way. When the sound of bells is receding,
           disappearing, that is the moment. Either you can fall asleep... which is good but this is not
           meditation, and it is not going to give you any spiritual experience. If you remain alert, aware, the
           sound disappears; only silence remains.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Consciousness and silence together is what meditation is all about.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I ONCE DREW A PICTURE OF A FLOWER BLOSSOMING. THE FLOWER WAS SIMPLE AND
              LOVELY; IT HAD A FAINT LIGHT COMING OUT OF THE JUST-OPENING BUD, AND THE LEAVES
              WERE STRONG AND HEALTHY. BUT THE ROOTS WERE UNDERDEVELOPED AND WEAK, AS
              IF THEY DIDN'T BELONG TO THIS FLOWER AT ALL. THIS PICTURE WAS TO SYMBOLIZE ME,
              AND I HAVE A DEEP ATTACHMENT TO IT. BUT I AM CONSTANTLY WORRIED BY THE ROOTS,
              AS THEY CONTRADICT THE PROMISE OF THE BLOSSOM.
              THERE ARE MANY QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH THIS PICTURE, BUT I WOULD BE VERY
              HAPPY IF YOU WOULD ANSWER ME SOMEHOW.


                This is not only your situation. This is the situation of almost all human beings: their roots are
           weak, and without strong roots the promise of a healthy blossoming of thousands of flowers is
           impossible. Why are the roots weak? They are kept weak.
                In Japan they have trees four hundred, five hundred years old, and six inches high. It is
           considered to be an art. To me it is simple murder. Generations of gardeners have been keeping those
           trees in this situation.
                Now, a tree which is five hundred years old... you can see its branches are old, although small; it
           is a very tiny old man, but it shows on the leaves, on the trunk, on the branches. And the strategy that
           has been used is this: they plant a tree in a mud pot which has no bottom, then they go on cutting the
           roots -- because the pot has no bottom. When the roots come out and try to reach the earth, they will
           cut them. They will not do anything to the tree; they will simply go on cutting the roots. Now for
           five hundred years a family has been continuously cutting the roots. The tree may live for thousands
           of years, but the tree never blossoms, it never comes to fruition.
                The same has been done to man all over the world. His roots have been cut from the very
           beginning, about everything.
                Every child has to be obedient. You are cutting his roots. You are not giving him a chance to
           think whether to say yes to you, or to say no. You are not allowing him to think, you are not
           allowing him to make a decision on his own. You are not giving him responsibility -- you are taking
           responsibility away, behind the beautiful word `obedience'. You are taking his freedom away, you
           are taking his individuality away, by a simple strategy -- insisting that he is a child, he does not
           know anything. The parents have to decide, and the child has to be absolutely obedient. The obedient
           child is the respected child.
                But so much is implied in it that you are destroying him completely. He will grow old, but he
           will not grow up. He will grow old, but there will be no blossoming and there will be no fruition. He
           will live, but his life will not be a dance, will not be a song, will not be a rejoicing. You have
           destroyed the basic possibility for all that makes a man individual, authentic, sincere, gives him a
           certain integrity.
                In my childhood... there were many children in my family. I had ten brothers and sisters myself,
           then there were one uncle's children, and another uncle's children... and I saw this happening:
           whoever was obedient was respected. I had to decide one thing for my whole life -- not only for
           being in my family or for my childhood -- that if I in any way desire respect, respectability, then I
           cannot blossom as an individual. From my very childhood I dropped the idea of respectability.
                I told my father, "I have to make a certain statement to you."
                He was always worried whenever I would go to him, because he knew that there would be some
           trouble. He said, "This is not the way a child speaks to his father -- `I am going to make a statement
           to you.'"
                I said, "It is a statement through you to the whole world. Right now the whole world is not
           available to me; to me you represent the whole world. It is not just an issue between son and father;
           it is an issue between an individual and the collectivity, the mass. The statement is that I have
           renounced the idea of respectability, so in the name of respectability never ask anything from me;
           otherwise I will do just the opposite.
                "I cannot be obedient. That does not mean I will always be disobedient, it simply means it will be
           my choice to obey or not to obey. You can request, but the decision is going to be mine. If I feel my
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intelligence supports it, I will do it; but it is not obedience to you, it is obedience to my own
           intelligence. If I feel it is not right, I am going to refuse it. I am sorry, but you have to understand
           one thing clearly: unless I am able to say no, my yes is meaningless."
               And that's what obedience does: it cripples you -- you cannot say no, you have to say yes. But
           when a man has become incapable of saying no, his yes is just meaningless; he is functioning like a
           machine. You have turned a man into a robot. So I said to him, "This is my statement. Whether you
           agree or not, that is up to you; but I have decided, and whatever the consequences, I am going to
           follow it."
               It is such a world... In this world to remain free, to think on your own, to decide with your own
           consciousness, to act out of your own conscience has been made almost impossible. Everywhere --
           in the church, in the temple, in the mosque, in the school, in the university, in the family --
           everywhere you are expected to be obedient.
               Just recently I was arrested in Crete. They did not show me my arrest warrant. I told them, "This
           is absolutely criminal."
           They said, "We have got it, but it is in Greek."
               And I said, "Do you have another warrant to search the house?" They had none -- they had never
           thought about it. I said, "You were allowed by your warrant to arrest me outside the house; you were
           not allowed to enter the house. You not only entered the house, but Anando, my secretary, was
           trying to tell you, `Just wait! Osho is asleep and I will go and awaken Him. It will take only five
           minutes.' You could not even wait five minutes.
               "You threw Anando from the porch, four feet high, onto the ground -- which was gravel and
           stone -- and dragged her away and arrested her with no warrant. And the only crime she had done
           was to tell you, `Just wait. We are bringing Osho down, then you can show your papers to Him.'"
               When I was awakened by John, they had already started throwing rocks at the windows, at the
           doors, trying to break into the house from all sides. I heard noises as if bombs were being thrown.
           They had dynamite bombs, and were threatening to dynamite the house.
               On the way to the police station they stopped in an empty, silent space and gave me a paper,
           describing all that had happened, that I should sign it. I said, "I would be happy to sign it, but it is
           not a true description. You have not mentioned anything about breaking the windows, the doors of
           the house, threatening that you will destroy the house with dynamite. You have not mentioned
           anything about Anando, that you threw her on the ground, dragged her along the stones without any
           arrest warrant for her... I will not sign it! You want to cover it up. If I sign it, that means I cannot go
           to the court because you can present this paper that I have signed already. You make it exactly
           factual, saying all that has happened; then I will be willing to sign it."
               They understood that I am not a person who can be threatened, and they took the paper away.
           And they never again asked me to sign it, because they were not in a position to write all those things
           that they had done; that would have been their condemnation. They wanted immediately to send me
           to India by boat, and I refused. I said, "Sailing by boat on the sea does not suit me. I will be seasick,
           and who will be responsible for it? So you have to give me a written document saying that you will
           be responsible for my sea-sickness and the damages." They forgot all about that boat!
               I said, "My jet plane is waiting in Athens. You have to take me on a plane from here to Athens,
           or you have to allow my plane to come here. I am not interested in living in such a country even for
           two weeks" -- because my visa was valid only for two weeks more -- "where government authorities
           behave in such a primitive, ugly, inhuman way."
               I told the police officer, "Wherever the pope goes, he kisses the ground after landing. I should
           start spitting on the ground, because that's what you deserve."
               The comment that he made to me reminded me of all this. He said, "It seems that from your very
           childhood, nobody has disciplined you in obedience."
               I said, "That's right, that's an absolutely right observation. I am not against obedience, I am not
           disobedient, but I want to decide my life in my own way. I don't want to be interfered with by with
           anybody else, and I don't want to interfere in anybody else's life either."
               Man can only be truly human when this becomes an accepted rule. But up to now the accepted
           rule has been to destroy the person in such a way that his whole life he remains servile, submissive
           to every kind of authority, to cut his roots so that he doesn't have enough juice to fight for freedom,
           to fight for individuality, to fight for anything. Then he will have only a small amount of life, which
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will enable him to survive till death relieves him from this slavery that we have accepted as life.
           Children are slaves of their parents; wives are slaves, husbands are slaves, old people become slaves
           of the younger people who have all the power. If you look around, everybody is living in slavery,
           hiding the wounds behind beautiful words.
               So that drawing of yours, of a flower with beautiful petals and a light aura, but with very weak
           roots... you felt that it describes you: it describes all human beings.
               The roots can be strong only if we stop what we have been doing up to now, and do just the
           opposite of it. Every child should be given a chance to think. We should help him to sharpen his
           intelligence. We should help him by giving him situations him and opportunities where he has to
           decide on his own. We should make it a point that nobody is forced to be obedient, and everybody is
           taught the beauty and the grandeur of freedom. Then the roots will be strong.
               But even your God has been cutting the roots of his own children because they were not
           obedient. Their disobedience became the greatest sin, such a great sin that hundreds of generations
           have passed, but the sin continues; you have not committed it, but you come in the line of hundreds
           of generations. Somebody in the beginning disobeyed God, and God is so furious that not only Adam
           and Eve should be punished, but all their future generations, forever.
               These are the religions which have made human beings live without any blossomings and
           without any fragrance; otherwise each individual has the capacity to be a Socrates, to be a
           Pythagoras, to be a Heraclitus, to be a Gautam Buddha, to be a Chuang Tzu. Each individual has
           potential, but the potential is not getting enough nourishment. It remains potential... and the man
           dies, but the potential never becomes actuality.
               My whole effort and approach is to give each individual opportunities to develop his potential,
           whatsoever it is. Nobody should try to divert his life -- nobody has the right to do it. And then we
           can have a world which is truly a garden of human beings. Right now we are living in hell.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #5
                                     Chapter title: You have to go nowhere
           14 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604145
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 80 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I FEEL DIVIDED IN TWO PARTS -- HALF GOING TOWARDS THE UNKNOWN, AND HALF
              TOWARDS ALL THAT IS FAMILIAR FROM MY PAST. WHEN I GET CLOSE TO LETTING GO OF
              WHAT I BELIEVE IS MINE, I PANIC -- EVEN THOUGH I YEARN TO GO TO THE PLACE YOU TALK
              ABOUT.
              PLEASE GIVE ME COURAGE TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP.


                The real question is not of courage; the real question is that you don't understand that the known
           is the dead, and the unknown is the living.
                Clinging to the known is clinging to a corpse. It does not need courage to drop the clinging; in
           fact it needs courage to go on clinging to a corpse. You just have to see... That which is familiar to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, which you have lived -- what has it given? Where have you reached? Are you not still empty?
           Is there not immense discontent, a deep frustration and meaninglessness? Somehow you go on
           managing, hiding the truth and creating lies to remain engaged, involved.
                This is the question: to see with clarity that everything that you know is of the past, it is already
           gone. It is part of a graveyard. Do you want to be in a grave, or do you want to be alive? And this is
           not only the question today; it will be the same question tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. It
           will be the same question at your last breath.
                Whatever you know, accumulate -- information, knowledge, experience -- the moment you have
           explored them you are finished with them. Now carrying those empty words, that dead load, is
           crushing your life, burdening your life, preventing you from entering into a living, rejoicing being --
           which is awaiting you each moment.
                The man of understanding dies every moment to the past and is reborn again to the future. His
           present is always a transformation, a rebirth, a resurrection. It is not a question of courage at all, that
           is the first thing to be understood. It is a question of clarity, of being clear about what is what.
                And secondly, whenever there is really a question of courage, nobody can give it to you. It is not
           something that can be presented as a gift. It is something that you are born with, you just have not
           allowed it to grow, you have not allowed it to assert itself, because the whole society is against it.
                The society does not want lions, it wants a crowd of sheep. Then it is easy to enslave people,
           exploit people, do whatever you want to do with them. They don't have a soul; they are almost
           robots. You order, and they will obey. They are not free individuals.
                No society wants you to be courageous. Every society wants you to be a coward, but nobody
           says it so sincerely; they have found beautiful words instead. They will not say, "Be cowardly,"
           because that will look offensive to the person and he will start thinking, "Why should I be
           cowardly?" -- and a coward is not something respectable.
                No, they say, "Be cautious. Think twice before you leap. Remember your tradition, your religion
           is thousands of years old; it has wisdom. You are a newcomer, you cannot afford to disbelieve in it.
           There is no comparison. You have just come in, and your religion has been there for ten thousand
           years, accumulating more and more experience, knowledge. It is a Himalayan phenomenon.
                "You are a small pebble. You cannot fight with tradition -- that is fighting against yourself, it is
           self-destructive. You can only submit to tradition; that is wise, intelligent. To be with the crowd you
           are protected, you are secure, you are assured that you will not go astray."
                In so many ways you will be told a simple thing: Just be a coward; it pays to be cowardly. It is
           dangerous to be courageous, because it is going to bring you in conflict with all the vested interests
           -- and you are a small human being. You cannot fight with the whole world.
                My grandfather used to say to me, "Whatever you say is right. I am old, but I can understand that
           you are saying something true. But I will suggest -- don't say it to anybody. You will be in trouble.
           You cannot be against the whole world. You may have the truth, but truth does not count; what
           counts is the crowd.
                "Somebody may be simply lying" -- and all religions have been doing that, lying about God,
           lying about heaven, lying about hell, lying about a thousand and one things -- "but the crowd is with
           them. Their lies are supported by the immense humanity and its long tradition. You are nobody."
                I was very friendly with my grandfather. He used to take me to the saints who were visiting the
           town. He enjoyed very much my arguments with the so-called saints, creating a situation absolutely
           embarrassing for the saint because he was unable to answer me. But coming back he would tell me,
           "Remember, it is good as a game but don't make it your life; otherwise you will be alone against the
           whole world. And you cannot win against the whole world."
                The last thing he said was the same. Before he died, he called me close and told me, "Remember,
           don't fight against the world. You cannot win."
                I said, "Now you are dying. You have been with the world -- what have you gained? What is
           your victory? I cannot promise you what you are asking. I want it to be absolutely clear to you that
           whatever the cost... I may lose in the fight, but it will be my fight, and I will be immensely satisfied
           because I was in favor of truth. It does not matter whether I win or lose -- that is irrelevant, the defeat
           or the victory. What is important is that whatever you feel is right, you stand for it."
                This courage is in everybody. It is not a quality to be practiced; it is something that is part of
           your life, your very breathing. It is just that the society has created so many barriers against your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           natural growth that you have started thinking from where to get courage? from where to get
           intelligence? from where to get truth?
               You have to go nowhere. You contain in the seed form everything that you want to be. Realizing
           this and seeing the other side... The people who live with the crowd -- what is their gain? They lose
           everything. In fact they don't live at all; they only die. From their birth they start dying, and go on
           dying till the last breath. Their whole life is a long series of deaths. Just look at the whole crowd of
           people. You can be with them, but the same is going to be your fate.
               It is so simple if you see it: the only way to live life is to live on your own. It is an individual
           phenomenon, it is an independence, it is freedom. It is a constant unburdening of all that is dead, so
           that life can go on growing and is not crushed under the weight of the dead.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION.
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY YOU NEVER HAD A MASTER; BUT WAS THERE ANY SOURCE OF
              INSPIRATION FOR YOU WHEN YOU BEGAN YOUR JOURNEY?


                Life itself is enough.
           Seeing people all around -- walking corpses -- is inspiration enough not to move with them, not to go
           their way, but to find a small footpath of your own if you want to be alive.
                I have never had a master, and I am fortunate that I never had a master. I have been, in my past
           lives, with a few living masters. They were beautiful people, lovable, but one thing has been clear all
           along to me -- that nobody can be a source of inspiration for me, because that word `inspiration' is
           dangerous.
                First it is inspiration, then it becomes following, then it becomes imitation -- and you end up
           being a carbon copy. There is no need to be inspired by anybody. Not only is there no need, it is
           dangerous too. Just watching, I have seen... each individual is unique. He cannot follow anybody
           else.
                He can try -- millions have been trying for thousands of years. Millions are Christians, millions
           are Hindus, millions are Buddhists. What are they doing? Inspiration from Gautam Buddha has made
           millions of people Buddhists, and now they are trying to follow in his footsteps. And they are not
           reaching anywhere; they cannot.
                You are not a Gautam Buddha, and his footprints won't fit you, neither will his shoes fit you; you
           will have to find the exact size of shoes that fit you. He is beautiful, but that does not mean that you
           have to become like him. And that's the meaning of the word `inspiration'. It means you are so much
           influenced that the man becomes your ideal, that you would like to be like him. That has misled the
           whole humanity.
           Inspiration has been a curse, not a blessing.
                I would like you to learn from every source, to enjoy every unique being that you come across.
           But never follow anybody and never try to become exactly like somebody else; that is not allowed
           by existence. You can be only yourself.
                And it is a strange phenomenon: the people who have become an inspiration for millions of other
           people were themselves never inspired by anybody -- but nobody takes note of this fact. Gautam
           Buddha was never inspired by anybody, and that's what made him a great source of inspiration.
           Socrates was not inspired by anybody, but that's what makes him so unique.
                All these people whom you think of as sources of inspiration have never been inspired by
           anybody else. That is something very fundamental to be understood. Yes, they learned; they tried to
           understand all kinds of people. They loved unique individuals, but nobody was to be followed. They
           still tried to be themselves.
                So please don't be inspired by me; otherwise you will never become a source of inspiration. You
           will be just a carbon copy, you won't have your authentic, original face. You will be a hypocrite: you
           will say one thing -- you will do another. You will show your face in different situations with
           different masks, and slowly, slowly you will forget which one is your real face; so many masks...
                I have heard about a man... One hundred years had passed since Abraham Lincoln was shot dead,
           so for one year a great celebration was arranged in his honor all over America. One man looked like
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Abraham Lincoln; just a few touches here and there and he was almost a photographic copy of
           Abraham Lincoln.
                He was trained to speak the way Abraham Lincoln used to speak, with his gestures, his emphasis,
           his accent, everything, small details -- even the way he walked -- for twenty-four hours a day... and
           he was to perform this drama of the life of Abraham Lincoln all over the country, moving from one
           place to another place the whole year.
                He was shot dead so many times, every night in every show, sometimes even twice a day. That
           year was a long year -- he died so many times -- and his part in the drama became almost his second
           nature. So when the celebrations were finished, people were surprised: he walked out of the hall the
           same way Abraham Lincoln used to walk -- he used to limp a little. He was limping.
                His wife said, "Come to your senses!" -- because he spoke in the same way, in an accent one
           hundred years old. His wife said, "Don't stretch the joke too much. Just become your real self and
           come home."
                He said, "I am my real self, I am Abraham Lincoln." For one year continuously he had lived as
           Abraham Lincoln, he died thousands of deaths as Abraham Lincoln; he had completely forgotten
           that he was ever anybody else.
                He was brought to a doctor. The doctor talked to him, but he was still in his dramatic role. The
           doctor said, "Just forget that drama."
           The man said, "What drama?"
                The doctor turned to his wife and said to her, "This man won't listen unless he is shot dead!"
                The family was getting mad. He lost his job; nobody was ready to treat him because he was not
           sick. He was simply glued with a mask. One year is a long time, and every day, twenty-four hours a
           day, he was Abraham Lincoln. And to be Abraham Lincoln for one year and then suddenly become
           an ordinary human being -- who would like it? He had seen the glorious days, the golden days, and
           he was clinging tightly to them.
                That man lived for a few years as Abraham Lincoln; he used to sign "Abraham Lincoln" exactly
           the same as Abraham Lincoln used to sign. Would you say this man has attained something or lost
           something? He has lost himself, and what he has gained is just a dramatic act. He has become
           absolutely phony.
                And this is the situation of almost everybody in the world -- not so dramatic, not so outstanding
           -- but everybody is playing a certain role that has been taught to him, for which he has been brought
           up.
                A child is born -- he is not Christian, he is not a Jew, he is not Mohammedan -- and then we start
           putting a mask on him. His innocent face disappears. And he will die believing that he is a Christian.
           So don't laugh at that poor man who died believing that he was Abraham Lincoln, because
           everybody else is doing the same. People are dying as Hindus -- they were not born as Hindus.
                It was a continual trouble for me whenever there was census. The officers would come to me to
           fill out the form, and when it came to religion, I would say, "I don't have any religion."
                They would be shocked, but they would say, "You must have been born into some religion. Your
           parents must have been Hindus, Mohammedans, Jainas."
                I said, "That does not make any difference. My father can be a doctor or an engineer -- that will
           not make me a doctor or an engineer. He may be a Hindu or a Mohammedan -- that is his business.
           He cannot biologically transfer his religion to me. If he cannot transfer his medical knowledge to me,
           how can he transfer his spiritual knowledge to me? It is a deception, and I don't want to be part of
           any deception."
                People are being trained as actors; in this whole big world you will find everybody acting.
           Everybody is brought up to act... beautiful names -- "etiquette," "manners" -- but hidden behind is a
           subtle psychology to make you forget your originality and imbibe some actor which the vested
           interests want you to be.
           Never be inspired by anybody.
           Remain open.
                When you see a beautiful sunset, you enjoy the beauty of it... when you see a Buddha, enjoy the
           beauty of the man, enjoy the authenticity of the man, enjoy the silence, enjoy the truth the man has
           realized -- but don't become a follower. All followers are lost.
                Remain yourself -- because this man Gautam Buddha has found because he has remained
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           himself. And all these beautiful names -- Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu, Bodhidharma, Nagarjuna,
           Pythagoras, Socrates, Heraclitus, Epicurus -- all these beautiful names which have been a great
           inspiration to many people were themselves never inspired by anybody. That's how they protected
           their originality; that's how they remained themselves.
               I have been with masters, and I have loved them. But to me the very desire to be like them is
           ugly. One man is enough; a second like him will not enrich existence, it will only burden it.
               To me, uniqueness of individuals is the greatest truth.
               Love people when you find them in some dimension true and authentic, blossoming. But
           remember, they are blossoming because of their authenticity and originality; so be mindful not to fall
           in the trap of following them. Be yourself.
               The famous maxim from Socrates is: "Know thyself." But it should be completed -- it is
           incomplete. Before "Know thyself" another maxim is needed: "Be thyself"; otherwise you may know
           only some actor that you are pretending to be. Knowing thyself comes second; first is being thyself.
               The real great masters have been only friends, a helping hand, fingers pointing to the moon; they
           have never created a slavery. But the moment they died they left such a great impact around them
           that cunning people -- theologians, priests, scholars -- started preaching to people, "Follow Gautam
           Buddha."
               Now the man is dead and he cannot deny anything... and these people started exploiting the great
           impact that Buddha had left. Now the whole of Asia, millions of people, for twenty-five centuries
           have followed in the steps of Gautam Buddha, but not a single Gautam Buddha has been created. It
           is enough proof: two thousand years and not a single Jesus again; three thousand years, not a single
           Moses again.
           Existence never repeats.
               History repeats itself because history belongs to the unconscious mob.
               Existence never repeats itself. It is very creative and very inventive. And it is good; otherwise,
           although Gautam Buddha is a beautiful man, if there are thousands of Gautam Buddhas around -- if
           wherever you go you meet Gautam Buddha, in every restaurant! -- you will be really bored and tired.
           It will destroy the whole beauty of the man. It is good that existence never repeats. It only creates
           one of a kind, so it remains always rare.
               You are also one of a kind. You just have to blossom, to open your petals and release your
           fragrance.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD IT SAID THAT SOME SANNYASIN THERAPISTS NOW IMAGINE THAT THEY ARE
              ON THE SAME PLANE AS YOU ARE, DOING THE SAME KIND OF WORK -- IF PERHAPS ON A
              SOMEWHAT SMALLER SCALE. THEY NO LONGER EVEN MENTION YOUR NAME, AND APPEAR
              TO HAVE DISCARDED THE MALA AND RED CLOTHES ENTIRELY.
              HAVE THEY ACHIEVED -- OR WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON WITH YOUR THERAPISTS?


               What is going on is hilarious.
           These people think they have become individuals, they have attained freedom. But they don't even
           see a simple thing... I said to them, "You can drop your malas, and you can drop your clothes, and
           you can be free" -- and they immediately followed! They proved that they are followers -- chronic
           followers! If I had not said that, they would have been wearing the mala and red clothes still. Their
           freedom is not their attainment, but just my joke!
               Naturally when I said, "I am your friend," they started thinking that they are my friends. These
           are two totally different things! When I say I am your friend, that does not mean that you are my
           friend. For the second to be real, you will have to travel long.
               I say out of my compassion that I am your friend, and you say out of your ego that you are my
           friend. Naturally, when you are my friend, then you are doing the same work as I am doing. It is just
           out of humbleness that they are saying, "Perhaps you are doing it on a bigger scale and we are doing
           it on a smaller scale." But deep down they may be thinking that they are doing it on a bigger scale --
           or a more personal and intimate scale.
               They have been with me for years, but they have been less with me than with their patients. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people who have missed me most are the therapists.
                Once I declared some people enlightened -- and they became enlightened! And when I said it
           was just a joke, they became unenlightened again. I had told them, "You are now free." So they are
           free! Tomorrow I can call them back and put them in red clothes and in the mala: "This much
           freedom is enough; more than that is dangerous. Just come back and be your old self!"
                If you are really understanding me, you will see the point: I give you chances to show your ego
           to yourself, to show your reality to yourself. And that's what is happening, and it is really hilarious. I
           saw one therapist who has even shaved his beard and mustache. Perhaps he thinks by shaving the
           beard and mustache, he has shaved himself spiritually too. And all that he looks like is like a
           well-shaved ape -- just stupid.
                It is unfortunate but it is true that the therapists have missed me most, for the simple reason that
           in the commune they were working on people's psychology and they started getting a subtle ego that
           they are helping my work. They forgot completely that they have not even started working on
           themselves.
                They had a certain knowledge of therapy; they were useful for people and they helped to bring
           people close to me. Their patients became more intimate to me, more open to me, became more
           understanding of my work than the therapists. Because they were therapists and they were answering
           questions from people, running groups, they would not ask questions to me about themselves.
                They had come for themselves, but they got lost because they had brought a load of knowledge.
           It was useful for others, and I told them that they should help people. But all their knowledge was
           not able to indicate a simple small thing to them, that "we have come here to realize ourselves. We
           can do the therapy, but that is not what we have come here for."
                They went on doing therapy, and when the commune dispersed, they went back to their countries
           thinking that now they are doing exactly the work I am doing -- and they don't know even the ABC
           of my work. They were the most blind and the most deaf, because they were the most knowledgeable
           people.
                They have missed the first opportunity. Now in the second opportunity, all those therapists who
           are just behaving like buffoons will be called back and put to some other work -- not therapy. They
           have to be completely removed from their knowledge; otherwise it is very simple for them to think
           like this.
                They are afraid to mention my name because that may create the feeling in people that they are
           still not free of me. Their fear shows that they are not free of me. If they were really free of me, there
           would have been gratitude. They would have taken my name to different parts of the world with
           great respect and love if they were really free.
                But they know they are not free; hence the fear. If somebody discovers that they have been my
           sannyasins, then what will happen to the sudden mastery that they have attained? A few of them
           have become "enlightened," a few of them have become "liberated" -- and they are simply proving
           one thing, that they are utter fools. And the sooner they realize it, the better!


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT SEEMS TO ME THAT PERHAPS ALL THE MASTER NEEDS TO DO IS TO HAND OUT TO EACH
              OF HIS DISCIPLES A LENGTH OF ROPE. OVER THE COURSE OF TIME, WE EITHER USE THAT
              ROPE TO SKIP WITH OR TO HANG OURSELVES WITH.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


              That's true -- it needs no comment!




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                        Chapter #6
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                         Chapter title: A lot -- and nothing
           15 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604150
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 130 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              CAN YOU TELL US WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU SINCE WE LAST MET ON THAT BEAUTIFUL
              MORNING IN CRETE, SOME WEEKS AGO?


                A lot -- and nothing.
           A lot on the periphery, and nothing to my being -- nothing to me.
           The first thing that I became aware of was that man has not been evolving, that perhaps the concept
           of evolution is wrong, because for thousands of years he has been behaving in the same pattern.
                That beautiful morning on the island of Crete, the people and their mistreatment of me and my
           friends who were with me, reminded me of Socrates. These were the same people, and strangely the
           crime alleged against Socrates was the same: corrupting the young minds, destroying their morality.
           Their allegation against me was exactly the same.
                It seems twenty-five centuries have simply passed by and man is stuck, not evolving. Their
           behavior was brutal, inhuman. They could have told me to leave the country -- it is their country --
           there was no need for brutality, smashing the windows and the doors of the house with rocks. To me,
           coming from the top floor, it sounded as if bombs were being exploded. They had dynamite with
           them, and they were threatening that they would dynamite the whole house. It seems as if to send me
           out of the country was just an excuse to give expression to this brutality; otherwise it was a simple
           matter to tell me that I am not welcome.
                The man who had given me the tourist visa for four weeks was the chief of police; and the man
           who canceled it after fifteen days was the deputy chief of police. That seems to be absolutely
           improper -- that the chief should give the permission and the deputy should cancel it.
                At the airport in Athens there were at least forty police officers, just for a single unarmed man,
           and that deputy chief was also present. There was a huge crowd of press people from newspapers,
           radio, television, and dozens of cameras -- they all wanted an interview with me. And I said, "There
           is not much to say, other than it seems man is not going to be civilized, ever."
                The press people were in front of me and those forty police dogs -- all big officers -- were
           surrounding me, and the deputy chief was standing by my side. When I said, "With this kind of
           police, this kind of government, you are destroying the very future of humanity, particularly of your
           own country. These people were responsible for killing Socrates...."
                When I said this, pointing towards the deputy chief, he wanted to interfere.
                For the first time in thirty-five years, I pretended to be angry. I could not succeed because inside
           I was giggling! But I told that man, "Shut up, and stand by the side where you belong. And don't
           come close to me."
                And I shouted so loudly, "Shut up!" that he really became silent and went back and stood in the
           crowd. Later on I saw the reports: they thought I was ferocious, very angry -- I was nothing! But that
           is the only language those people will understand. And when you are talking to somebody, you have
           to use the language he understands.
                But I enjoyed that. Anger can be acted -- you can remain absolutely silent within and you can be
           ferocious outside. And there is no contradiction, because that ferociousness is only acting.
                On the plane I remembered George Gurdjieff, who was trained in many Sufi schools in different
           kinds of methods. In a certain school one method was used, and that was acting -- when you are not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feeling angry, act angry; when you are feeling very happy, act miserable. The method has a
           tremendous implication.
                It means that when you are miserable you will be capable of acting happy; when you are angry
           you will be able to act peaceful. Not only that, it implies that you are neither misery nor happiness.
           These are faces you can make: you are different, your being is not involved in it. Strange methods
           have been used for meditation, to discover your being, to detach it from your emotions, sentiments,
           actions. And Gurdjieff became so proficient in it, and the school was training him for this particular
           method....
                Gurdjieff became so capable that if he was sitting between two persons, to one person he would
           appear immensely peaceful and silent -- half of his face, one side profile. And to the other he will
           appear to be murderous, dangerous, criminal -- the other profile, the other side. And when both
           persons would talk about Gurdjieff, how could they agree? They were bound to disagree: according
           to one they have met -- a very silent, peaceful person, and according to the other -- a very
           murderous, dangerous, criminal type.
                When asked, Gurdjieff would say, "They are both right. I can manage not only to divide my
           being and my action, I can manage to divide even my face into two parts."
                I was presented a statue of Buddha from Japan -- a very beautiful statue, but very strange. In one
           hand he is holding a naked sword, and in the other hand he is holding a small lamp. In the East they
           use mud lamps, which are just small cups of mud filled with oil. They are almost like candles with a
           flame, so the flame was there. The flame was shining on one part of his face; it was lighted, silent,
           peaceful. And the sword was reflected on the other side of his face -- a warrior, a fighter, a born
           rebel, a revolutionary.
                At the airport in Athens, I saw those forty police officers... they must have been the topmost
           people -- except the chief, because he could not gather courage to come. I would have asked him,
           "On what grounds has the visa issued by you been cancelled by your assistant?" -- only he was not
           there.
                But the others... I saw a strange thing: they were behaving in very inhuman ways, but they were
           all cowards. When I shouted, "Shut up!" that deputy chief simply slipped back like a small child,
           afraid that the television would catch my words and me, and him with all the honors of the police on
           his coat, with a pistol hanging by his side. But inside there was a child, a cowardly child.
                It was an experience -- because democracy was born in Athens.
                Democracy is a Greek idea, and yet the man who created the idea of democratic values was
           poisoned by Athenians -- that's what history goes on saying. But that day I became suspicious of
           history.
                Socrates was not poisoned by the people of Athens, but by the bureaucracy of Athens. And one
           should make a distinction, because I was mistreated on the island of Crete by the police. But the
           people of the village where I was staying, Saint Nicholas, were not with the bureaucracy. And when
           one journalist asked me, "What is your message to the people of Saint Nicholas?" I said, "Just tell
           them to come to the airport, to show the police that they are with me and not with them."
                Three thousand people were at the airport in the middle of the night, filling the whole terrace of
           the airport. They had been standing there for hours. The whole village was empty; those who were
           left behind had to walk because they could not get any taxi, any bus -- everything had moved to the
           airport. But people walked miles to reach the airport to demonstrate a simple fact: they are not with
           the brutality and the fascist behavior of the government; they are with me.
                People have always been blamed for the bureaucracy and its brutality. I don't think Socrates
           would have been killed by the people of Athens. He was such a loving person, and with no egoistic
           idea of being holier than you.
                In the morning he would go to fetch some vegetable, and he would not return even by the night --
           because everywhere on the streets, in the vegetable shop, in the market, he was discussing with
           everybody things which are beyond the ordinary man. He was the teacher of the whole of Athens. A
           single man made Athens one of the most intelligent cities that has ever existed in the world --
           single-handedly, just moving, meeting anybody. To say hello to him meant you were entering into a
           dialogue -- in spite of yourself. You may have been in a hurry -- Socrates was not in a hurry.
                These people could not have killed him. The bureaucracy became afraid. The Crete experience
           made me look again at history. The books are lying -- the people have not killed the man. They could
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not have even imagined it. But the government... and why should the government kill the man? --
           because the man was making the masses so intelligent, so independent, so freedom-loving, so
           individualistic, that the government would soon find itself in troubled waters. It would not be able to
           control these people, it would not be able to enslave these people.
                It is better to kill Socrates than let him go on sharpening people's minds to such an extent that the
           bureaucrats look like fools! Before it happens, it is better to kill him. But the history books go on
           saying that the people of Athens killed Socrates. Now, I saw the people of Saint Nicholas come
           running to the airport to demonstrate that they are not with the police. And even when I had left their
           country, a deputation from Saint Nicholas, on their own decision, went to see the president of the
           country to protest about what had happened in their village.
                I had been there only two weeks, and I had never gone out of the house; but they could see my
           people -- at least five hundred sannyasins from all over Europe had gathered. They were well
           accustomed to tourists, because it is a tourist place, but they had never seen such loving people. And
           just because of my sannyasins, although they could not understand me -- the language was a great
           barrier -- still, a few of the village people started coming just to sit with me in the morning, in the
           evening. And that's what was hurting the religious hierarchy.
                The archbishop was getting mad because nobody comes to his congregation; and I had been there
           for fifteen days and I had created a big congregation. In his congregation, between six to twelve old
           women -- who were almost dead -- they used to come to listen to him.
                He was getting afraid, sending telegrams to the president, to the prime minister, to other
           ministers, to the police chief, giving interviews which were full of lies -- because he knew nothing
           about me. And his fear became infectious: the government also became afraid.
                One of my sannyasins, Amrito -- who had invited me to Greece -- was a close friend of the
           president, of the prime minister. She was well connected with all the high-position people, because
           twenty years before she had been chosen as the beauty queen, "Miss Greece," and she had become
           famous. And since then she had been modeling, so all the film directors, businessmen... all kinds of
           people were related to her. She was never asked to make an appointment; she simply went to their
           houses -- the president or the prime minister.
                But that day she went to the president and for six hours she remained there, and she was not
           allowed into the house. Why was the president afraid of a woman whom he knows, who has been
           coming to him and they have been friends...? The fear was because... what will he say? What had
           been done to me and my people by his government, he had no answer for.
                And you will be surprised: the answer came in a very strange way. I left Athens because they
           wouldn't allow me even to stay for the night in a hotel under their supervision, or at the airport.
                As I left, they immediately started searching for Amrito. She must have found out from some
           source: "Now you will be the target -- why did you invite Osho here, knowing him?" And she had to
           escape out of the country. And still the police went....
                Amrito is a very simple and loving person. She is not rich; she has only a small juice bar. And
           still the police went to the juice bar and tried to find out strange things with which the police had no
           concern -- that it was not clean.
                Of course it was not clean, because for three days she had been out of the country. And it was not
           clean because for fifteen days she was on the island of Crete with me, so only the servant was
           running it. But that is not a crime -- at least not for the police. Perhaps the municipal authorities who
           look for cleanliness in restaurants, hotels may have come -- but they were not there; the police were
           finding faults.
                But I have told her to go back and give a fight, because she has not done anything wrong.
           Everything wrong is on the part of the government. Because they could not do any harm to me,
           afraid of its international consequences, they found a scapegoat: they can harass her, they can torture
           a woman who is divorced, has a little child, an old mother, and she is the only earning person. And
           what earning can come out of a juice bar?
                These people always throw their crimes on the masses -- and the masses are dumb. And history is
           really bunk: there are more lies in history books than anywhere else. The incident was small, but the
           implications were great.
                I had not stepped out of the house, I was not talking in Greek. The people of the country could
           not understand me. The people who were listening to me were all from outside of Greece. To say
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that I am corrupting the minds of youth, destroying the morality of the country, its tradition, its
           church, the family... but the people who were listening to me were not Greek! In what way could I
           have had any effect on their morality, on their religion?
               But it seems bureaucracy does not think; it simply lives out of fear. And the fear is that
           somebody could raise questions about the very roots of their society. But it is foolish because
           wherever I am, I am going to do the same, and my word is going to reach everywhere in the world.
               What can I do if their roots are rotten? What can I do if their morality is not morality but only a
           pretension? What can I do if their marriage is hypocrisy and not love? What can I do if the family
           has been outlived, and needs to be replaced by something better? It has done its work. It has done a
           few good things which can be done by a different way. It has done a few very dangerous, poisonous
           things which can be avoided.
               The family as it has existed down the ages cannot be allowed to exist. If it exists, then man has to
           die. To save man we have to change the social structure around him, to bring a new man -- because
           the old has been an utter failure.
               For ten thousand years at least, we have moved on the same lines -- reaching nowhere.
               It is time to understand that we have taken a wrong route. It is stale; it leads to death. It does not
           allow people joy, rejoicing; it does not allow people to sing and to dance.
               It makes people serious, heavy -- for themselves and for others.
               In the family are the seeds of all wars, of all religions, of all nations. That's why they call the
           family, the "unit of our civilization."
               There is no civilization -- and the unit is rotten. It creates only a pathological man, who needs all
           kinds of psychotherapies and still remains pathological.
           We have not been able to create a sane humanity.
               So on the periphery I thought what happened in Greece perhaps may happen in other countries,
           because it is the same structure -- and it happened.
               From Greece we moved to Geneva, just for an overnight rest, and the moment they came to know
           my name they said, "No way! We cannot allow him into our country."
           I was not even allowed to get out of the plane.
               We moved to Sweden, thinking that people go on saying that Sweden is far more progressive
           than any country in Europe or in the world, that Sweden has been giving refuge to many terrorists,
           revolutionaries, expelled politicians, that it is very generous.
               We reached Sweden. We wanted to stay overnight because the pilots were running out of time.
           They could not go on anymore; otherwise it would become illegal. And we were happy because the
           man at the airport... we had asked only for an overnight stay, but he gave seven-day visas to
           everybody. Either he was drunk or just sleepy -- it was midnight, past midnight.
               The person who had gone for the visas, came back very happy that we had been given seven-day
           visas. But immediately the police came and cancelled the visas, and told us to move immediately:
           "This man we cannot allow in our country."
               They can allow terrorists, they can allow murderers, they can allow Mafia people, and they can
           give them refuge -- but they cannot allow me. And I was not asking for refuge or permanent
           residence, just an overnight stay.
               We turned to London, because it was simply a question of our basic right. And we made it twice
           legally -- we purchased first-class tickets for the next day. Our own jet was there but still we
           purchased them in case they started saying, "You don't have tickets for tomorrow, so we won't allow
           you to stay in the first-class lounge."
               We purchased tickets for everybody, just so that we could stay in the lounge, and we told them,
           "We have our own jet -- and we also have tickets." But they came upon a bylaw of the airport that
           the government or anybody cannot interfere with: "It is at our discretion -- and this man we won't
           allow in the lounge."
               In the lounge, I thought: How can I destroy their morality, their religion? In the first place I will
           be sleeping, and by the morning we will be gone.
               But no, these so-called civilized countries are as primitive and barbarous as you can conceive.
           They said, "All that we can do is, we can put you in jail for the night."
               And just by chance one of our friends looked into their file. They had all the instructions from
           the government already about how they were to treat me: I should not be allowed in any way to enter
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           into the country, even for an overnight stay in a hotel or in the lounge; the only way was that I
           should be kept in jail.
               In the morning we moved to Ireland. Perhaps the man did not take note of my name amongst the
           passengers. We had asked just to stay for two, three days -- "At the most seven, if you can give us."
           We wanted time because some other decision was being made, and they were delaying it, and our
           movement was dependent on that decision.
               The man was really generous... must have taken too much beer: he gave everybody twenty-one
           days. We moved to the hotel and immediately the police arrived at the hotel to cancel it, saying,
           "That man is mad -- he does not know anything."
               They cancelled the visas, but they were in a difficult situation -- what to do with us?
               We were already in the land, we were in the hotel; we had passed a few hours in the hotel. They
           had given us twenty-one days on the passports. Now he had cancelled them, and we were not ready
           to go. We had to wait still a few days.
           You can see how bureaucracy covers its own errors.
               They said, "You can stay here, but nobody should come to know about it -- no press, nobody
           should come to know that Osho is here, because then we will be in trouble. And of course we cannot
           do anything because that will stir up problems immediately.
               "If you don't want to go -- and we have given you twenty-one days' permission.... On what
           grounds are we cancelling? You have not done anything -- you have only slept the night here. Unless
           sleeping is a crime... So we are in a difficulty. The only way is, you remain silent and absolutely
           hidden."
               Now, it was absolutely illegal to stay without a visa; and the police were suggesting to us to
           remain silent so that nobody knows it -- and leave silently. And they were keeping the press away;
           they were giving them false clues so they were looking in some different places.
               But the strange thing is that these people are in direct communication with the government.
               The question was raised in the parliament, "What happened? Their jet is standing at the airport.
           They have entered the country -- where have they disappeared to?" And the minister simply lied,
           saying, "They had come, and they have left." We were in the country, and the parliament was told
           that we have left the country....
               This whole journey has been an exposure of the bureaucracies.
               And just now I have received the information that all the countries of Europe, jointly, are
           deciding that I cannot land my plane at any airport.
               How will that effect their morality -- refueling the plane? But they simply want to cut me away
           from humanity. That's why I had to leave India. Their conditions were clear: they wanted me to
           remain in India -- naturally they cannot deny me; it is my birthland. "You can remain," they said.
           "But no foreign disciple can be allowed to reach you, and no news media can be allowed to reach
           you."
               That was a way to cut me off from the world, from my people, and even from news media, so
           nobody knows whether I am alive or dead. It was a strategy to make me almost dead -- although I am
           alive -- to cut me away from everybody.
               I refused their conditions. I have never lived under any conditions, and particularly such ugly
           conditions. I left the country and went to Nepal -- because that is the only country where I can go
           without a visa; otherwise the Indian government had informed all the embassies that no visa should
           be issued to me so that I cannot leave India. They have a treaty with Nepal; no visa is needed.
               But Nepal is a small and very poor country -- the poorest -- and under tremendous pressure from
           India.... India can take it over any moment. It has no army worth the name.
               When it became from reliable sources; absolutely certain that they would compel the Nepalese
           government either to arrest me or to send me back to India, I had to leave Nepal.
           It makes no difference to my being.
               But it makes a lot of difference to my attitude about the society in which we are living. It is
           absolutely ugly, barbarous, uncultured, uncivilized.
           That's why I said, "A lot -- and nothing."


              BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I FOUND THE STORY YOU TOLD US ABOUT MAHAVIRA WHEN HE WENT BEGGING VERY
              ODD. THAT HE SHOULD STIPULATE HOW EXISTENCE SHOULD PRESENT HIS DAILY FOOD
              SEEMED TO ME LIKE A TRIP, AND NOT THE ATTITUDE OF SOMEONE TOTALLY AVAILABLE
              TO, AND ACCEPTING OF, LIFE'S WAYS. PROBABLY I HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD THE WHOLE
              POINT. YOU HAVE SAID WE NEED NOT BE IN A HURRY IN OUR SEARCH; BUT AROUND YOU I
              ALWAYS FEEL SUCH A GREAT SENSE OF HOW PRECIOUS TIME IS, SO I WANT TO USE IT TO
              THE MAXIMUM. AND TO ME AT THE MOMENT THAT MEANS ASKING ALL AND ANY
              QUESTIONS I ONCE MIGHT HAVE HELD BACK, FROM FEAR OF APPEARING STUPID. I REALLY
              DO WANT TO STAND BEFORE YOU, "NAKED, EMPTY, AND ALONE."


                The story of Mahavira has always been misunderstood -- it is not only you who have
           misunderstood it -- because we understand things according to our minds. If you were in place of
           Mahavira then perhaps it would be stipulating existence, but for Mahavira it is not so; it is not
           stipulating existence.
                As far as Mahavira is concerned, he simply wants a signal from existence -- whether he should
           continue, or he is no longer needed. He never complains. At times he has remained fasting for three
           months continuously, but not a single word of complaint.
                If he was stipulating then there would be frustration, there would be complaint. If he was trying
           to manipulate existence then there would be a certain sense of failure. For three months he had not
           been able even to get food -- but there was no complaint. He was one of the most peaceful, loving,
           silent beings.
                Why did he make this decision after his morning meditation? -- simply not to be a burden on
           existence. Let existence decide. He is not stipulating existence; he is allowing existence to take total
           charge of his life, even of his breathing, of his food. Everything he is leaving in the hands of
           existence.
                But how will he know? There is no linguistic communication between you and existence; there
           can be only a symbolic communication -- and that was nothing but a symbolic communication. He
           wanted a symbol.
                One thing has to be remembered, that these people like Mahavira, Parsunatha, Buddha, are very
           unique beings. They have their own ways, and their ways fit perfectly with their personality.
                Now I will never do that kind of thing. I am a totally different person -- but I will not
           misunderstand Mahavira either. I accept his uniqueness, and I respect the way he lived his life --
           always undemanding. This was not a demand -- that existence should fulfill this condition -- it was
           simply an agreement: "Because language is not possible, I will choose a certain symbol, and then it
           is up to existence." He is leaving himself in the hands of existence so totally that he does not want to
           breathe even a single breath on his own.
                But I am a totally different person, almost the very opposite of Mahavira. I will never ask such a
           thing from existence. My whole way is of let-go -- and why bother? Once and for all, leave it to
           existence, and when existence does not need you, you will be absorbed into the universe. There is no
           need every day to ask again and again -- that is a kind of nagging. I have done it once, and that's all. I
           will not do it twice, because to do it twice means that the first time you were not total; otherwise who
           is doing it again? Let-go can be done only once.
                When I was a child we used to have many puzzles, and particularly we used to ask a teacher --
           who was a little dumb -- simple things, and he would get into such a nervous state.
                For example we used to ask him, "One man tried to commit suicide four times. Can you tell us
           when he succeeded? -- the first time, the second time.... Which time did he succeed?"
                And he would start thinking about it. He would say, "How should I know?" If a man succeeds
           then the last time is really the first time!
                In my understanding, let-go is only once. If you need it again, that means the first time... whom
           were you deceiving? And what is the guarantee that the second time is not going to be just like the
           first?
           Let-go is an understanding.
           It is not something that you have to do.
                It is not something that you have to say to existence; it is simply an understanding: "I will not
           swim against the current, because that is simply stupid." You are going to be tired soon, you can
           never be victorious against the current. Understanding that, you accept the current's way as your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           way.
           That is let-go.
               Now, wherever the river leads you... you don't have to check every day; you simply go with the
           river. Some day -- any day -- you may reach the ocean, you may disappear.
               So I will not suggest to anybody to do what Mahavira used to do. But Mahavira has his own
           unique being.
               His real name was not Mahavira; mahavira means "a great warrior." His real name was
           Vardhmana, but nobody remembers his real name for the simple reason that his whole approach is
           that of a warrior, a fighter. Even with existence he is in a constant fight. He is saying, "I can live
           only if I am welcome. I don't want to live even a single moment more if I am not welcome."
               Deep down he was fighting, but his fighting had a beauty of its own. He was total in it -- that was
           its beauty. It was not a partial war, it was total. And the secret is, whatever is total transforms you;
           your let-go, if it is total, will transform you; your fight, if total, will transform you.
               What transforms is neither let-go nor war, but your totality.
               Even today there are monks doing the same, who follow Mahavira. There are not many because
           as soon as Mahavira died there was a division. There were people who were not ready for such a
           fight. And that division has many monks. They have compromised on many points on which
           Mahavira would not compromise.
               For example, they wear clothes; Mahavira remained naked. These people stay in homes;
           Mahavira never stayed under a roof. It may have been raining, it may have been cold, it may have
           been hot -- he was always under a tree. So the people who wanted to compromise could not
           compromise when he was alive. He was a tremendously powerful man. But the day he died, his
           followers divided.
               So the orthodox ones, who still follow Mahavira... There are only twenty-two of them -- there
           were when I was in India; a few may have died, because they were all old people. And once one
           monk dies, it is very difficult to replace him.
               The other party, the compromisers, have almost five thousand monks -- and they go on growing.
           And they go on compromising.
               First they started using clothes; then they started using people's houses to stay in. Now they have
           started using even airplanes. Mahavira walked all his life, never using any vehicle. I have seen these
           compromisers hiding toothpaste; Mahavira never washed his teeth.
               I know about these monks, that whenever they have a chance they take a shower; Mahavira never
           took a shower himself unless the sky was raining and he was standing under a tree. I have seen in
           one monk's place, where he was staying... he was very friendly to me, and he was not worried that I
           would expose him.
               He said, "What you will take? -- Fanta or Coca Cola?"
           I said, "What are you saying?"
               He said, "Just don't tell anybody!" -- and he opened a closet and he was hiding Coca Cola, Fanta.
           Compromise has no limit. But what is harmful in it? -- it is absolutely nonviolent junk; you can drink
           it.
               But those who have followed Mahavira, their number has been getting less and less; one dies and
           is not replaced. Even they, in an underground way, have compromised. It is difficult to be exactly
           like Mahavira -- that's what I say, following is impossible.
               These people also make, after their meditation in the morning, a certain condition that should be
           fulfilled. But those conditions are limited -- six or eight -- and everybody knows, so if they are
           staying in a city, then they will go to all the Jaina houses and all the Jaina houses will be fulfilling
           different conditions. And they have made very simple conditions.
               For example, if on the door of a house two bananas are hanging, then the food will be accepted.
           And this is known, so every Jaina is hanging two bananas, and they come and they accept the food --
           the condition is fulfilled. Just such small conditions which are known, and which must be made
           known by the monks.
               They cannot eat food from anybody other than a Jaina family, so you will be surprised to see that
           they have renounced their family, one family, but when they are moving... And they are constantly
           moving. They cannot stay more than three days in one place, because this is Mahavira's
           understanding -- and I feel that he is right -- that after three days some kind of attachment starts
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           growing.
                For example, for the first day you will not find the place suitable to you. You may not sleep well,
           you may have a certain tension in you. But after the third day, things start settling; and after the
           twenty-first day you become well-accustomed to the place, as if you had been born in it.
                A certain amount of time is needed for adjustment, so Mahavira does not allow more than three
           days. And in India, Jainas are very few, so there are many, many places where there are no Jainas --
           so what will the Jaina monk do? So twenty families follow him with their buses and their cars and
           tents, and wherever there is no Jaina family they make a small campus of tents and bananas are
           hanging... and all eight conditions that are known are fulfilled. And every family has prepared food
           -- and the man must have made one condition out of eight -- so he will get food.
                Now, formally he is following, but this was not what Mahavira was doing. That was a totally
           different thing. It was not let-go; he was not a man for let-go, he was a warrior.
                Truth has to be conquered, according to him, and to conquer it you have to fight totally. And the
           story I told you is part of his fight. His whole life is the path of fight.
           I will tell you one story more.
                He remained for twelve years silent, till he became enlightened. Those twelve years are filled
           with great incidents. One day he is meditating... and his meditation is also not that of a relaxed way.
           The meditation ordinarily done in the East is in the lotus posture, and the lotus posture
           physiologically is the most relaxed once you have learnt it, because your spine is straight and the
           gravitation is the least, and that makes your body hang on the straight spine like a loose cloth.
                Mahavira meditates standing. In his every attitude he is a warrior. There are people who meditate
           with closed eyes -- this is more relaxed. There are people who meditate with open eyes, just the
           natural way -- blinking. That too is not a fight. Mahavira meditates with eyes half closed and half
           open, and no blinking.
                In those twelve years one day he is standing and meditating by the side of the river, and a man
           comes and says to Mahavira, "You are standing here, just watch my cows. I am leaving -- I have to
           go urgently to my home; my mother is sick and somebody has come to inform me that she is dying.
           So I will be back soon, but just... you are standing here for the whole day: just have a look so my
           cows don't get lost in the jungle."
                And Mahavira, because he cannot speak, is silent. And the man is in such a hurry -- his mother is
           dying -- he does not bother that this man is not speaking. He simply takes his silence as a yes.
                When he comes back after one or two hours, Mahavira is still standing there but all the cows are
           gone. Now, he gets furious. He says, "You seem to be a cunning man. So you were standing here the
           whole day just for my cows. Where are my cows?"
                And because he does not speak, the man becomes more and more furious: "So you are trying to
           be dumb! I will make you speak!" And he takes two pieces of wood and forces those two pieces into
           Mahavira's two ears and hits them hard with a rock, so that he becomes deaf for his whole life. But
           still he will not speak, he will not blink.
                The man thought, "He seems to be mad. Anybody would have spoken..." And he goes and looks
           in the forest. In the evening the cows come back, and when the man comes back, he finds they are all
           sitting around Mahavira where he had left them before.
                He said, "You are really a man! I destroyed your ears and you did not speak! I have been going
           all over the forest, and the cows are sitting here! Where have you been hiding them?" And he beats
           him -- he is naked. And Mahavira remains standing. The man is thinking that he is really mad --
           neither beating has any effect... you cannot do anything to him, he will not react. That is total silence
           -- that whatever happens, he will remain centered without any reaction. It is not only a question of
           speaking.
                The story is beautiful. Up to this point it is factual, but it takes a mythological ending. In India
           there are many gods. India does not believe in one god -- one god seems to be like believing in a
           dictator; it is undemocratic -- India believes in many gods, actually thirty-three million. That was the
           population of India when they invented gods: one god for everyone. That seems to be right and fair.
                Indra, one of the gods, feels terribly hurt and disturbed by what has happened to Mahavira -- a
           silent man who has done nothing. The cows moved themselves, came back again, and he is utterly
           innocent.
                Indra came -- and gods can speak without words -- so he spoke to Mahavira, "I can give you two
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gods as bodyguards, because it is unthinkable, unbelievable! This should not happen." And to gods
           you may not speak but they can read your thought.
                Indra reads Mahavira's thought: "Just leave me alone. I don't want anybody's help; I want to fight
           it alone. I don't want to be indebted to anybody -- forgive me. Whatever happens, I am going to fight
           this whole war alone until I am victorious."
                Now, his victory will sound strange to anybody who has been listening to the idea of let-go,
           surrender to existence. But this is a good place to remind you: Be compassionate about others, their
           uniqueness. It does not mean that you have to follow their path; it simply means a deep
           understanding that people are unique; and if people are unique then their ways are going to be
           unique. And sometimes very opposite ways lead to the same goal.
                It is very easy to misunderstand, but I would like you to understand different ways, different
           people, different uniquenesses. All that will help to broaden your heart, your compassion, your
           comprehension. And whatever path you are following, it will be helpful to it.
           This is broadness -- that it can contain contradictions.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #7
                                     Chapter title: Empty from birth to death
           15 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604155
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I REMEMBER WHILE YOU WERE IN THE POLICE STATION IN CRETE, THOSE TWO YOUNG
              SMILING GREEK WOMEN, DRESSED IN BLACK LIKE TYPICAL CRETAN WOMEN, COMING TO
              THE WINDOW, HOLDING YOUR HAND AND SAYING IN VERY BROKEN ENGLISH, "OSHO, WE
              LOVE YOU. WE ARE CRETAN, WE WANT YOU TO STAY HERE."
              IT SEEMS THAT AS THE GOVERNMENTS BECOME INCREASINGLY STRIDENT IN THEIR
              ATTACKS ON YOU -- IN SPITE OF THE INCREASINGLY OBVIOUS LOVE THE COMMON MAN
              HAS FOR YOU -- ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF YOUR WORK WILL BE TO SHOW
              HOW THE BUREAUCRACY, FAR FROM REPRESENTING THE COMMON MAN, IS IN FACT IN
              COMPLETE OPPOSITION TO HIM.


               I certainly remember those two young women holding my hand and trying to convey to me that
           "We, the people of this island, want you to stay here. We love you."
               The question you have raised has occurred to me many times in my life, again and again. The
           bureaucracy is not for the people, it is against them. It uses them, it exploits them, it manipulates
           them; it makes them believe that it is serving their purposes. But the reality is just the opposite.
               They define democracy as the government of the people, for the people, by the people. It is none
           of these things. It is neither by the people, nor of the people, nor for the people.
               The people who have been holding power down the centuries have always been able to persuade
           people that whatever is being done, is done for their sake. And the people have believed it because
           they have been trained to believe; it is a conspiracy between religion and state to exploit humanity.
               The religion goes on preaching belief and destroys the intelligence of people to question, makes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them retarded. And the state goes on exploiting them in every possible way -- still managing to keep
           the people's support, because the people have been trained to believe, not to question. Any kind of
           government -- it may be monarchy, it may be aristocracy, it may be democracy, it may be any kind
           of government... Just the names change but deep down the reality remains the same.
               In Japan before the second world war, Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, was believed to be the
           direct descendant of the God Sun, and whatever he was saying was not human, it was divine; his
           order had just to be followed. For centuries Japanese people have believed in him as a Sun God, And
           they have died in hundreds of wars, willingly, joyously, because they are dying for God himself.
           What more blissful and beautiful a death could one aspire to?
               Japan is a small country but no other country has been able to conquer it -- even countries like
           China, vast countries. China is the greatest country as far as numbers are concerned, as far as land is
           concerned, but a small tiny Japan was able to defeat the Chinese because the people had this fanatic
           belief that God is behind them, so victory is theirs. And more or less the same has been the situation
           all over the world.
               That day when those two Cretan women, holding my hand with great love, said to me, "We are
           not against you. We love you and we want you to stay here," they represented the real consciousness
           of the people. And then I saw at the airport, three thousand people -- it must have been the whole
           population of Saint Nicholas -- came to show their support, and to show that they are not with the
           brutality and nazi actions of the police against me, that they are for me.
               Yes, it has to be one of my works to awaken people to the real situation: you are being exploited
           in different names. The exploiters even call themselves public servants, to tell you that they serve
           you. For thousands of years they have been "serving," -- and the people are in immense misery,
           ignorance. They don't have anything to their life; they are born, they somehow live, and they die.
           Nothing happens to them which could be called ecstatic, which could be called an experience.
               Empty from birth to death, nothing flowers, nothing blossoms... and they have all the potential of
           being a song of joy. But these bureaucracies, religious and political, would not allow it. They are so
           afraid of joyous people.
               It was a strange feeling for me in the beginning. I had never thought that people should be so
           afraid of joyous people. Slowly slowly, I became aware that joy has many implications:
           A joyous person is not retarded.
           A joyous person is intelligent.
               A joyous person knows the art of life; otherwise he cannot be joyous. And a joyous person is
           dangerous to all those vested interests which go against humanity.
               Those interests want humanity to live in hell forever. They have managed in every possible way
           to keep you in misery. They destroy everything that you can rejoice in, and they give you ample
           opportunity to be miserable. A miserable person is not a danger to this rotten society.
               Yes, it has to be one of my basic works to make people aware that the powerful ones -- either
           religious or political -- are not your friends. They are your enemies. And unless the common
           humanity goes through a rebellion against all types of bureaucracies, man will remain stuck, not
           evolving, not reaching to the heights which are his birthright.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HAS ANYONE REALLY UNDERSTOOD YOUR MESSAGE OF LOVE? RECENTLY IT HAS BEEN
              PAINFULLY CLEAR TO ME THAT I HAVEN'T, AND I WONDER IF WE AREN'T ALL, WITH SOME
              SLIGHT VARIATIONS ON THE THEME, STILL SINGING THE SAME OLD SONG.
              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO LIVE SOMETHING THAT IS SO SIMPLE AND NATURAL?


              Just because it is so simple and so natural, that's why it is so difficult.
           You are not simple and you are not natural.
           And it is simple and natural.
              My message of love is absolutely simple; nothing can be more simple than that. But your mind is
           very complex, very tricky. It makes simple things complicated. -- that's its work. And for centuries it
           has been trained for only one thing: to make things so complicated that your life becomes
           impossible.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Your mind has become expert in destroying you, because your life consists of simple things. The
           whole existence is simple, but man's mind has been cultivated, conditioned, educated, programmed
           in such a way that the simplest thing becomes crooked. The moment it reaches to your mind it is no
           longer simple. The mind starts interpreting it, finding things in it which are not there, ignoring things
           which are there.
                And you think that you have heard whatever I have been telling you? It is not so. I have been
           telling you one thing, and you have been hearing something else because your hearing is not direct.
           There is a mediator -- your mind. It functions in many ways as a censor, it does not allow many
           things to enter inside you.
                You will be surprised to know how much it prevents -- ninety-eight percent. It allows in only two
           percent of what is being said to you, and that too not in its purity. First it pollutes it by its own
           interpretations, by its own past experiences, conditionings, and by the time the mind comes to have
           the sense that it has understood, what was said and what was heard are poles apart.
                Gautam Buddha used to tell a story... it is strange that all great masters have depended on stories.
           There is some reason for it: the mind relaxes when it is a question of a story; when it is just a joke
           the mind relaxes. There is no need to be tense and serious, just a story is being told, you can relax.
                But when something like love or freedom or silence is being explained, you are tense. That's why
           the masters have to use simple stories. Perhaps by the end of the story they can manage it so a small
           message enters in from the back door while you are still relaxed.
                Gautam Buddha used to say -- it was his custom after his evening talk -- he used to say to his
           disciples, "Now go and do the last thing before you go to sleep." That last thing was the meditation.
                One day it happened that a prostitute was listening and a thief was also in the audience. When
           Buddha said, "Now it is time for you to go and do the last thing before you go to sleep," all the
           sannyasins went to meditate. The thief simply became awakened -- "What am I doing here?" This
           was the time to do his business. The prostitute looked around and felt that Buddha was really very
           perceptive, because when Buddha had said that, he was looking at her. She bowed down in gratitude
           because she was reminded, "Go to do your business before you go to sleep."
                A simple statement, but three types of people heard three meanings. In fact there must have been
           more meanings, because to somebody meditation must have been a joy, to somebody else meditation
           must have been something one has to do; and then the meaning differs. To all those meditators the
           message was the same, but what was heard by them could not have been the same.
                All my life I have never taught anything complex to anybody. Life is already too complex, and I
           don't want to burden you more. But I have been more misunderstood than perhaps anybody else in
           this whole century, for the simple reason that I am saying simple things which nobody says. I am
           talking about the obvious which everybody has forgotten, which has been taken for granted. Nobody
           talks about it.
                You can look at the great theological treatises of the Christians, at great works of religion by
           Hindus, Mohammedans, Jews -- very scholarly, very difficult to understand. The more difficult they
           are, the more they are respected. When people cannot understand something they think it is
           something great, mysterious, something far above their comprehension. And naturally it becomes
           respectable.
                The Hindus use a language for their religious treatises, Sanskrit, which has never been a living
           language. It has never been spoken by the people in the marketplace; it has been a language of the
           experts. But they have resisted continuously that Hindu scriptures should be translated.
                I was always wondering, why this resistance? In fact they should be happy that their scriptures
           are being translated and their message is being spread to all corners of the earth. But when I studied
           their scriptures, I understood the reason.
                The reason was that those scriptures have nothing. Just the language is so difficult, and people
           don't understand it, so they go on paying respect to it. Once it is translated into the language of the
           people, it loses all glory, all spirituality. It becomes so ordinary because it is no longer difficult.
                And the same is true about others -- for example the Jews. The rabbis will still prefer Hebrew.
           Now it is not a living language, why go on insisting on it? But it gives the mind the impression of
           something mysterious, impenetrable, holy, far beyond, so that all that you can do is to bow down.
           Once it is translated, it has nothing. And specially, it has nothing that you need.
                None of these scriptures teach about love, its implications, its different dimensions. None of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           these scriptures teach about freedom. None of these scriptures teach about you, your life, and how it
           can be transformed into a celebration. They talk about God! I have never come across a single man
           who has any problem with God -- it is so irrelevant. Is God anybody's problem? Is the Holy Ghost
           anybody's problem? -- things which are absolutely irrelevant to human existence.
                The mind has been filled with all kinds of unnecessary luggage. No space is left in the mind for
           the realities that you have to live. So even your greatest theologian is as foolish about love as you
           are, has no understanding of freedom, has never enquired into the distinction between personality
           and individuality.
                I had one professor who was teaching religion. After listening for a few days I stood up and told
           him, "I think you are talking about irrelevant things. I don't see a single student here for whom God
           is a problem, and I don't see either that God is a problem to you" -- because I used to live just in front
           of his house, and his wife was the problem.
                I told him, "Your wife is the real problem; that you can discuss. God is absolutely abstract. I
           have never seen you thinking about God in your house. And all that you are teaching about God has
           nothing of your experience in it, it has not been your quest. You are filling the minds of these
           innocent people with ideas which are of no use. Talk about love!"
                He was very angry. He said, "You have to come with me to the principal."
                I said, "I can come even to God. You cannot threaten me."
                On the way towards the principal's office he said, "You don't feel afraid?"
                I said, "Why should I feel afraid? You should feel afraid! I know all the students; their problem is
           love, and your problem is love. And I am going to tell the principal, `If you don't believe me, just
           call this professor's wife, and you will know what I mean by problem.'"
           He said, "You are making it too complex."
                I said, "I am making it absolutely simple, factual. I can bring all the students to the office; they
           all have problems of love. Somebody is chasing a woman, and is not getting her -- that's his problem.
           Somebody has got her -- and that is his problem."
                He said, "It is better you should come back; there is no need."
                I said, "I never go back from anywhere. If you are not coming, I am going alone."
           He said, "When I am saying there is no need..."
                I said, "It may not be a need for you; it is a need for me. I have to decide it finally, because to me
           love is a religious phenomenon, while God is not. God is only a hypothesis. It means nothing
           because there is nothing corresponding to it.
                "And love is a religious phenomenon. Unless it is understood in its totality, a man is bound to
           become miserable by something which could have made his life divine. The same thing which could
           have been his heaven is going to become hell because he has no understanding. And it is certainly an
           art. Who cares about God? So you start talking sense. We have come here to understand religion, not
           nonsense."
                "But," he said, "in the whole syllabus there is no mention of love, freedom, individuality,
           silence... we have to complete the syllabus."
                Universities are completing their syllabuses without bothering about the real life of man, his real
           problems.
                Because I am talking about simple things, many people simply feel that this is not what religion
           has to be. They have got an idea of religion, of complicated abstract hypotheses, you can go on
           thinking about them but it makes no difference to your life -- you remain the same. You may be a
           Hindu, or a Mohammedan, or a Christian it does not matter; your real problems are the same. Your
           unreal problems are different, but those unreal problems are nothing but a burden to the mind.
                It is possible to understand me if you can just put aside your mind and its complicated
           mechanism. It is not needed because my work is heart to heart.
           I am speaking from my heart.
                I am not a theoretician, I am not speaking from my mind. I am pouring my heart to you, but if
           you are going to listen from the mind you are going to miss it.
                If you are also ready to open a new door into your being, if you are ready to hear from the heart,
           then whatever I am saying is so simple that there is no need to believe in it because there is no way
           to disbelieve it. It is so simple that there is no way to doubt it.
                I am against belief for the simple reason that for all my teaching, no belief is needed. I am all for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doubt because for my simple teaching, you cannot doubt. All the religions of the world insist on
           belief, because what they are teaching can be doubted. And they are all against doubt because doubt
           can destroy their whole edifice.
                I am simple and real. I am not metaphysical; hence there is no need to believe in me. If you have
           heard me, a trust is bound to arise which is not belief, which is closer to love; even if you try to
           doubt, you cannot. And when you cannot doubt something, then there is real trust, indubitable trust.
           It transforms simply by being within you.
                In the whole history of man, only Mahavira has made a distinction to be remembered -- which is
           significant in this reference. He says that there are two ways to reach to the truth. One is the way of
           the shravaka. Shravaka means one who can hear, one who is able to hear from the heart. Then he
           need not do anything. Just hearing is enough, and he will be transformed. The other is the way of the
           monk, who will have to try hard to reach to the truth.
                My effort has been not to create monks. That's why I have chosen to speak because just hearing
           you can be reborn. Nothing else is needed on your part, except a willingness to open the doors of
           your heart. Just let me in and you will not be the same again.
                I have seen thousands of my people changing without their knowing; they have changed so
           drastically, but the change has happened almost underground. Their mind has not been even allowed
           to take part in it -- just from heart to heart.
                These people had not needed any therapy. These people here have not needed any meditation. If
           they have heard, the way I am telling you, then this is their meditation, and this is their therapy, and
           this is their revolution.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU EXTOL "COMMUNE-ISM" AS THE HIGHEST FORM OF ECONOMIC
              SYSTEM, THE EQUAL SHARING OF ABUNDANCE AND RICHNESS IN A LOVING FAMILY OF
              MAN. HOWEVER, I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY THAT THE POOR SHOULD BE BROUGHT UP TO
              THE LEVEL OF THE RICH RATHER THAN THE RICH BEING DRAGGED DOWN INTO POVERTY,
              AS HAS HAPPENED IN ALL EXISTING COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES. BUT HOW CAN THE RICH
              SHARE WEALTH NOW, AND LIVE IN "COMMUNE-ISM" WITHOUT BEING DRAGGED DOWN INTO
              ECONOMIC MEDIOCRITY?


                The first thing is that the rich people of the world should start living in communes. Let those
           communes be of the rich! -- so they will not be dragged down from their standard of life, their
           comforts, their luxuries. Let there be around the world hundreds of communes of rich people -- rich
           communes.
                And to me, wealth is a certain kind of creativity. If five thousand rich people who have all
           created wealth individually are together, they can create wealth a millionfold. Their standard will not
           go lower; their standard can even go higher. Or they can start sharing. They can start inviting people
           who are not rich but who are creative in some other way, who will enhance the life of their commune
           although they may be poor.
                Five thousand rich people together with their genius for creating wealth are capable of creating
           so much wealth that they can invite thousands of other people who may not be rich in the sense of
           being wealthy, but who may be rich as painters, as poets, as dancers, as singers.
                What are you going to do only with wealth? You cannot play music on money; you cannot dance
           just because you have so much cash in the bank. And these rich communes can start becoming
           bigger, absorbing more and more creative people. These rich communes will need every kind of
           thing.
                Talking about the rich commune, I am reminded of the Jaina community. There was a time, in
           India, in the history of Jainism... because Jainism is a small community and it is a community of rich
           people. In India you cannot find a single Jaina beggar, a single Jaina orphan. In the ancient days it
           was a fundamental rule that if a Jaina was poor, then all other Jainas would simply contribute just
           little bits.
                For example, if he needs a house, the whole commune simply provides it. Somebody provides
           the wood, somebody provides the bricks, somebody provides the tiles and the whole community
           provides some money for the man to start off with. You have changed a poor man into a rich man.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nobody has been forced to do it, it is just out of generosity. And that man will do the same when a
           new arrival happens to come to the commune.
               You are asking me right now what the rich people should do. They should drop their private
           ownership and make a rich commune wherever they can manage -- and they can manage
           everywhere, anywhere. They can make beautiful places all around the world, and slowly, slowly
           more people can be absorbed.
               For example, you will need plumbers, however rich you may be; you will need mechanical
           people; you will need technicians; you will need shoemakers. Invite these people -- and they come to
           you not as servants, but as members of the commune. They will be enriching the commune doing
           whatever they can do the best. And it is the commune's duty to raise those people to the same
           standard of life.
               Slowly slowly we can transform the whole world -- without any bloodshed and without any
           dictatorship.
               A communism that comes out of love, out of intelligence, out of generosity, will be real. A
           communism that comes through force is going to be unreal. And there is not a single man in the
           world, howsoever poor, who has nothing to contribute.
               I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln... I love this anecdote so much! It was his first address in the
           Senate as president. He was a poor man's son, his father was a shoemaker -- in India he would have
           been an untouchable. Even in America people were very annoyed, irritated, angry that a shoemaker's
           son had become the president; the aristocrats, the rich, the super-rich naturally were angry. There
           was great tension on the first day when he addressed them.
               As he stood up, one aristocrat also stood up and said, "Mr President, before you start speaking, I
           would like you to remember that your father used to make shoes for my family. Right now I am
           using the shoes made by your father, so don't forget that. Just becoming president does not mean
           anything. Don't forget that you are a shoemaker's son."
               There was absolute silence, pin-drop silence. Everybody felt that Abraham Lincoln would feel
           embarrassed, but instead of feeling embarrassed, he made the whole Senate feel embarrassed.
               He said, "It is good, I am immensely thankful to you that you reminded me about my father" --
           and tears came to his eyes. And he said, "How can I forget him? I know that he was a perfect
           shoemaker and I can never be that perfect a president. I cannot defeat the old man.
               "You are still wearing shoes he has made -- many of you must be wearing them. If they do not fit
           you, if they are pinching, if you are feeling uncomfortable, don't be worried. Although my father is
           dead, he made me learn the art enough to mend your shoes. I cannot replace him; he was a perfect
           master. I am just an amateur, but I can mend your shoes and I will always remember to try at least to
           become as good a president as he was a shoemaker. I cannot hope to be better than him -- that is
           impossible, because I know him."
               The poorest man in the world has also got something to contribute.
               Create rich communes and suddenly you will find that you need many people, not just the rich.
           They may be able to create wealth, but wealth is not all. Life is much more than wealth. It needs so
           many things that naturally you will have to invite many people. Around the world all the rich
           communes will need people; and slowly, slowly your commune will become bigger and bigger.
               The richer will not become poorer, but the poorer will become richer, and respectable, and equal
           -- in no way inferior to anybody else -- because they are also functioning in the same way as
           anybody else. And whatever they are doing is needed as much as anybody else's expertise is needed.
               I conceive of this just like a flower opening up, becoming bigger -- all the petals opening up. A
           commune, full-blown, complete, lacking nothing, will not be only of rich people. Many poor people
           will have been transformed into richness. And they will be contributing -- they will not be a burden,
           and they will not be beggars. They will have their pride. You cannot exist without them.
               We can transform the whole earth into a rich society, but it should start the way I am telling you:
           not by the dictatorship of the proletariat, but by communes of the rich.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I REALLY FELT AFFECTED WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT RAJEN THE OTHER NIGHT, BECAUSE I
              FEEL FRIENDSHIP FOR HIM, AND I FEEL HE LOVES YOU AS HE DID BEFORE. I FEEL THAT IN
              DROPPING THE MALA AND THE RED CLOTHES, HE IS SIMPLY TRYING TO EXPERIENCE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SOMETHING NEW.
              I MUST ADMIT, THOUGH, THAT HAVING WORKED WITH HIM FOR YEARS, IN THE MOST
              RECENT GROUP EXPERIENCE WITH HIM JUST A FEW DAYS AGO THE QUALITY OF HIS
              WORK FELT DIFFERENT: I MISSED THE FEELING OF YOUR PRESENCE THROUGH HIM.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Your question itself is the answer. If he loves me, then in his groups my presence would have
           become even more tangible. If my presence in his groups has disappeared, then what he calls love is
           just an empty word. This is a simple thing.
               Neither dropping the mala nor the red clothes is important, because I have allowed it myself. But
           in his groups he is saying, "I used to serve Osho through surrender. I am still serving him, through
           making you free of Osho."
               The whole world is free of me. Nobody needs to work to make people free of me. The whole
           world is already free of me.
               But why is my presence being missed? He has lost contact with my heart; his heart is no longer
           beating with my heart. And it is not only with Rajen. It is so with many other therapists. Only a few
           have proved the fire test, like Prasad. He has not just remained the same, but has become more
           deeply involved with me on a new basis, a new flowering of love. In his groups my presence has
           become deeper. And his work has changed; his therapy has become different, more effective.
               But all these people are unconscious. Their love is not what I mean by love. Perhaps at the most,
           their love means that they don't hate me. Even that much will be great, because most of them may
           even be angry with me for the simple reason that they had become accustomed to being just a
           follower. The whole responsibility was on me. Now I have given back the responsibility to them;
           they can be angry -- they are bound to be angry. They may go on saying like old parrots, "I love
           you," but their actions don't prove it.
               Ananda Teertha and a few others with him have opened a meditation academy in Italy. Devageet
           was there. In finding the place, in arranging the place he worked hard, but finally he was very
           disappointed because they did not want my name to be associated with the academy.
               Devageet said, "I have been working day and night just so that we can create an academy for
           Osho, and you are not ready even to mention His name in the brochure!" They all had their pictures
           in the brochure, and they were not willing to have my picture in the brochure.
               Devageet had to leave in disgust. They all were saying, "We love Osho," but no mention of me in
           the brochure, no mention of me in their groups. And all their groups are filled by sannyasins, and
           those sannyasins are coming because of me. Devageet made it clear that this is pure exploitation.
           "These people are coming to your groups because of Osho, not because of you. And you are no
           longer working for Osho."
               Devageet came to see me in Crete, and I told him, "Don't be disturbed. This is how unconscious
           humanity is. Let them do what they are doing. If it is good for people, people will go on coming to
           them; if it is not good, they will disappear."
               "But," he said, "it hurts that you made these people great therapists. You made their name
           famous around the world."
               I said, "You don't understand the unconscious mind's logic: now they are taking revenge. They
           cannot forgive me because I have made them; they feel a certain inferiority, and they would like to
           proclaim their superiority. So let them do it -- don't be worried. This is how this world goes on."
               It makes no difference to me whether my name is associated with their academy, because there
           are thousands of other therapists in the world who have nothing to do with me, so these few also can
           be part of that. Or, they may realize sooner or later that what they are doing is ugly, unloving, and to
           a man who has made you world-famous; otherwise nobody knew about you, nobody would have
           ever heard about you.
               But this is the problem: it is very difficult to forgive a person who has helped you in any way.
           You cannot pay it back to me; there is no way of repaying, and you feel indebted. A certain
           inferiority that you are not self-made creates anger, revenge. But all this will subside.
               Just look at your question. You say that you have been with Rajen, and you feel, "He loves You
           just as he loved You before." And still you observe that in his work I am no longer there; I am
           absent.
               Can't you see the contradiction? If he loves me, I should be more present and he should be more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absent. If he loves me totally, then only I will be present and he will not be present at all; otherwise
           the word `love' is just a word as everybody else is using it.
                But these people will come to understand soon. It will take a little time because while they were
           with me, and they were working with the people in therapy groups, it was as if they were constantly
           nourished by my love.
                Soon they will find out that that nourishment is no longer there because their hearts are closed,
           and they will start feeling tired, exhausted, because all those people who come for therapy are going
           to take their energies. Soon they will find that they have lost their roots, that now they cannot
           blossom. But it will take a little time. You can cut the roots -- still the flowers will remain for a few
           days, but not for long.
                So let them come to the understanding by themselves, that here they used to work so much with
           so many people -- thousands of people they worked with -- but they never felt as if their energies
           were sucked. But they were not aware why they were not feeling like that -- because their roots were
           within me.
                But in the name of freedom, they have withdrawn their roots. They will start dying. It will be sad
           if they don't understand it.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                 Chapter #8
                           Chapter title: The head is compulsory, but not the cap
           16 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604160
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU TALKED THE OTHER MORNING OF THE CHILD BEING FORCED TO BE OBEDIENT. THAT
              CHILD IS STILL SITTING HERE: I HATE BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO. BUT IN A WAY THAT
              SHOULD BE THE OTHER PERSON'S PROBLEM; HOWEVER, I INSIST ON MAKING IT MY
              PROBLEM BY REACTING WITH ANGER, RESENTMENT, AND THE NEED TO JUSTIFY MYSELF.
              IT IS CLEAR THAT THOSE WHO DO THE TELLING ALSO HATE BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO. IT
              SEEMS AS IF WE ARE ALL CAUGHT IN THE SAME INTRICATE WEB, PLAYING DIFFERENT
              ROLES AT DIFFERENT TIMES. AS AN ADULT HOW CAN I CONVERT REACTION INTO
              RESPONSE AND RESPONSIBILITY?


               The first thing to be understood very clearly is what I mean by "disobedience." It is not the
           disobedience you will find in the dictionaries. My idea of disobedience is not to hate being told what
           to do or, in reaction, to do just the opposite.
               Obedience needs no intelligence. All machines are obedient; nobody has ever heard of a
           disobedient machine. Obedience is simple, too. It takes from you the burden of any responsibility.
           There is no need to react, you have simply to do what is being said. The responsibility rests with the
           source from where the order comes. In a certain way you are very free: you cannot be condemned for
           your act.
               After the second world war, in the Nuremberg trials, so many of Adolf Hitler's top men simply
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said that they were not responsible, and they don't feel guilty. They were simply being obedient --
           whatever was told they did it, and they did it with as much efficiency as they were capable of.
                In fact to make them responsible and condemn them, punish them, send them to the gallows,
           according to me was not fair. It was not justice, it was revenge. If Adolf Hitler had won the war, then
           Churchill's people, Roosevelt's people, Stalin's people or they themselves would have been in the
           same situation, and they would have said exactly the same -- that they are not responsible.
                If Stalin had been on the stand in the court, he would have said that it was the order of the high
           command of the communist party. It was not his responsibility because it was not his decision; he
           had not done anything on his own. So if you want to punish, punish the source of the order. But you
           are punishing a person who simply fulfilled what all the religions teach, and all the leaders of the
           world teach -- obedience.
                Obedience has a simplicity; disobedience needs a little higher order of intelligence. Any idiot can
           be obedient, in fact only idiots can be obedient. The person of intelligence is bound to ask why? --
           "Why am I supposed to do it?" And, "Unless I know the reasons and the consequences of it, I am not
           going to be involved in it." Then he is becoming responsible.
                Responsibility is not a game. It is one of the most authentic ways of living -- dangerous too -- but
           it does not mean disobedience for disobedience's sake. That will be again idiotic.
                There is a story about a Sufi mystic, Mulla Nasruddin. From the very beginning it was thought
           that he was upside down. His parents were in trouble. If they would say, "Go to the right," he would
           go to the left. Finally his old father thought that rather than bothering with him, it is better, if they
           want him to go to the left, to order him to go to the right -- and he is bound to go to the left.
                One day they were crossing the river. On their donkey they had a big bag of sugar, and the bag
           was leaning more towards right so there was a danger that it may slip into the river; it had to remain
           balanced on the donkey. But to tell to Nasruddin, "Move the bag towards the left," will mean losing
           the sugar -- he will move it towards the right.
                So he said to Nasruddin, "My son, your bag is slipping; move it towards the right." And
           Nasruddin moved it towards the right.
                The father said, "This is strange, for the first time you have been obedient!"
                Nasruddin said, "For the first time you have been cunning. I knew you wanted this to be moved
           towards the left; I could see with my eyes where it needs to be moved. Even in such a subtle way you
           cannot make me obedient."
                But just to go against obedience is not moving your intelligence higher. You remain on the same
           plane. Obedient or disobedient, but there is no change of intelligence.
           To me disobedience is a great revolution.
                It does not mean saying an absolute no in every situation. It simply means deciding whether to
           do it or not, whether it is beneficial to do it or not. It is taking the responsibility on yourself. It is not
           a question of hating the person or hating to be told, because in that hating you cannot act obediently,
           disobediently; you act very unconsciously. You cannot act intelligently.
                When you are told to do something, you are given an opportunity to respond. Perhaps what is
           being told is right; then do it, and be grateful to the person who told you at the right moment to do it.
           Perhaps it is not right -- then make it clear. Bring your reasons, why it is not right; then help the
           person -- what he is thinking is going in a wrong way. But hate has no place.
           If it is right, do it lovingly.
                If it is not right, then even more love is needed, because you will have to tell to the person,
           explain to the person that it is not right.
                The way of disobedience is not stagnant, just going against every order and feeling anger and
           hate and revenge towards the person. The way of disobedience is a way of great intelligence.
                So it is not ultimately obedience or disobedience. Reduced to the basic fact, it is simply a
           question of intelligence -- behave intelligently. Sometimes you will have to obey, and sometimes you
           will have to say, "I am sorry, I cannot do it." But there is no question of hate, there is no question of
           revenge, anger. If hate, anger or revenge arises, that simply means you know that what is being told
           is right, but it goes against your ego to obey it; it hurts your ego. That hurt feeling comes up as hate,
           as anger.
                But the question is not your ego; the question is the act that you have to do -- and you have to
           bring your total intelligence to figure it out. If it is right, then be obedient; if it is wrong, be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disobedient. But there is no conflict, there is no hurt feeling.
               If you are obeying it, it is easier; you need not explain to anybody. But if you are not obeying it,
           then you owe an explanation. And perhaps your explanation is not right. Then you have to move
           back, you have to do it.
           A man should live intelligently -- that's all.
           Then whatever he does is his responsibility.
               It happens that even great intellectuals are not living intelligently. Martin Heidegger, one of the
           greatest intellectuals of this age, was a follower of Adolf Hitler. And after Adolf Hitler's defeat and
           the exposure of his basic animality, brutality, murderousness, violence, even Martin Heidegger
           shrank back and said, "I was simply following the leader of the nation."
               But a philosopher has no business to follow the leader of the nation. In fact a philosopher's basic
           duty is to guide the leaders of the nation, not to be guided by them, because he is out of active
           politics, his vision is more clear. He is standing aloof, he can see things which people who are
           involved in action cannot see.
           But it is easy to throw responsibility...
               If Adolf Hitler had been victorious, I am certain Martin Heidegger would have said, "He is
           victorious because he followed my philosophy." And certainly he was a great intellectual compared
           to Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was just a retarded person. But power...
               We have been brought up to follow the powerful -- the father, the mother, the teacher, the priest,
           the God. Essentially we have been told that whoever has the power is right: "Might is right." And
           you have to follow it. It is simple because it needs no intelligence. It is simple because you can never
           be told that it was your responsibility, that whatever happened was your responsibility.
               In all the armies around the world only one thing is taught through years of training, and that is
           obedience. In Germany, in the second world war, there were good people, but they were heads of
           concentration camps. They were good fathers, good husbands, good friends. Nobody could have
           conceived -- watching them in their families, with their friends, in the club -- that these people are
           burning thousands of Jews every day.
               And they were not feeling guilty at all, because it is only an order from above. And that is their
           whole training, that you have to follow the order. It has become part of their blood and their bones
           and their marrow. When the order comes, obedience is the only way.
               This is how man has lived up to now, and that's why I say obedience is one of the greatest
           crimes, because all other crimes are born out of it. It deprives you of intelligence, it deprives you of
           decisiveness, it deprives you of responsibility. It destroys you as an individual. It converts you into a
           robot.
               Hence I am all for disobedience. But disobedience is not just against obedience. Disobedience is
           above obedience and the so-called disobedience described in the dictionaries. Disobedience is simply
           the assertion of your intelligence: "I take the responsibility, and I will do everything that feels right
           to my heart, to my being. And I will not do anything that goes against my intelligence."
               My whole life, from my childhood to the university, I was condemned continuously for being
           disobedient. And I insisted, "I am not disobedient. I am simply trying to figure out, with my own
           intelligence, what is right, what should be done, and I take the whole responsibility for it. If
           something goes wrong, it was my fault. I don't want to condemn somebody else because he has told
           me to do it."
               But it was difficult for my parents, for my teachers, professors. In my school it was compulsory
           to wear caps, and I entered the high school without a cap. Immediately the teacher said, "Are you
           aware or not that the cap is compulsory?"
               I said, "A thing like a cap cannot be compulsory. How can it be compulsory to put something on
           your head or not? The head is compulsory, but not the cap. And I have come with the head; perhaps
           you have come only with the cap."
               He said, "You look a strange type. It is just written in the school code that without a cap, no
           student can enter the school."
               I said, "Then that code has to be changed. It is written by human beings, not by God; and human
           beings commit mistakes."
               The teacher could not believe it. He said, "What is the matter with you? Why can't you just wear
           a cap?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I said, "The trouble is not with the cap; I want to find out why it is compulsory, its reason, its
           results. If you are unable... you can take me to the principal and we can discuss it." And he had to
           take me to the principal.
                In India, Bengalis are the most intelligent people; they don't use caps. And Punjabis are the most
           unintelligent, simple people, and they use turbans. So I said to the principal, "Looking at the
           situation -- Bengalis don't use any caps and they are the most intelligent people in the country, and
           Punjabis use not only a cap but a very tight turban, and they are the most unintelligent people. "It has
           something to do with your intelligence. I would rather not take the risk."
                The principal listened to me and he said, "The boy is stubborn, but what he is saying makes
           sense. I had never thought about it -- this is true. And we can make this code non-compulsory.
           Anybody who wants to wear a cap can wear one; anybody who does not want to use, there is no need
           -- because it has nothing to do with learning, teaching."
                The teacher could not believe it. On the way back he told me, "What did you do?"
                I said, "I have done nothing, I simply explained the situation. I am not angry, I am perfectly
           willing to use a cap. If you feel it helps intelligence, why only one? I can use two caps, three caps,
           caps upon caps, if it helps intelligence...! I am not angry. But you have to prove it."
                The teacher said to me -- I still remember his words -- "You will be in trouble your whole life.
           You will not fit in anywhere."
                I said, "That's perfectly okay, but I don't want to be an idiot and fit in everywhere. It is good to be
           an "unfit" but intelligent. And I have come to the school to learn intelligence, so I can be an unfit
           intelligently! Please never try again to change me from an individual into a cog in the wheel."
                And from the next day the caps disappeared; only he had come with a cap. And looking at the
           class and the school... because the new rule has come into force that caps are not compulsory, all
           other teachers, even the principal, had come without caps. He looked so idiotic. I said to him, "There
           is still time. You can take it off and put it in your pocket." And he did it!
                He said, "That's right. If everybody is against the cap... I was simply being obedient to the law."
                I said, "The law is made by us. We can change it, without any anger. Can we not discuss each
           and everything intelligently?"
                So remember, when I say "disobedience" I don't mean replace obedience by disobedience. That
           will not make you better. I use the word `disobedience' only to make it clear to you that it is up to
           you, that you have to be the decisive factor of all your actions in life. And that gives tremendous
           strength, because whatever you do, you do with a certain rational support to it.
                I entered the university, and the first question the vice-chancellor asked me was, "Why have you
           been growing your beard and mustache?" And it was in a way natural because no other student was
           doing that.
                I said to him, "I have come here to see you for a scholarship, but I can risk the scholarship. I
           cannot risk a chance for an argument."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
                I said, "I mean I should ask you why you have shaved your beard, your mustache. I have done
           nothing; they are growing by themselves. You have done something; you have not allowed them to
           grow -- you are shaving twice a day. You owe me an explanation. What is the reason why you are
           doing it?"
                He said, "I have never thought about it... because everybody else was doing it I started doing it."
                I said, "That is not a very intelligent answer. You can think over it. I will come every day and
           knock on the door, so whenever you have found the answer you can give me the answer, and from
           that day I will start shaving."
                Three days only I had to go to his office to knock. On the fourth day he said to me, "Excuse me,
           you have taken away my sleep. The whole day I am thinking about my beard and mustache, and the
           whole day I am looking at the door, thinking that you must be coming to knock. And sometimes I
           hear that there has been a knock, and I open the door and there is nobody, so I am hallucinating! You
           have made me so afraid! You simply take your scholarship and do whatever you want; it is your
           beard and your mustache. And just please forgive me that I asked you."
                I said, "It is not so easy. You have to stop shaving; otherwise I will continue coming every day,
           knocking on the door, waiting for the answer."
                He said, "My God! I am giving you the scholarship, which really should not be given to you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because you don't belong to this university -- you are coming from another university, and according
           to our rules, the first preference will be for a graduate of this university. I am not bothering about the
           rule; I am giving you the scholarship because I simply want you to stop knocking on my door."
               I said, "You can keep your scholarship and you can give it to anybody you want, but you will
           have to stop shaving."
               He said, "Don't be so hard on an old man -- because what will people say? Don't make me a
           laughingstock!"
               I said, "You will become a laughingstock if you don't listen to me, because then I am going to tell
           everybody the whole story of what has been happening in these four days."
               And you will not believe it: he gave me the scholarship, and he started growing the beard! The
           whole university was surprised, because he was very fussy about his clothes, and about shaving -- he
           had been in Oxford, a professor of history, head of the department of history there. Everybody
           started asking him, "What has happened?"
               He said, "Nothing has happened. I just came to realize that I was doing something wrong,
           because I cannot give any reason. This young man has made me aware that you should live your life
           rationally. I have been an imitator, I have been very obedient to the surroundings. Nobody has told
           me -- I have been obedient on my own. But because I don't have any reason, I will let my beard
           grow. And this young man seems to be right, that if women start growing beards, mustaches..."
               And it is not very difficult. There are hormones which can be injected and they will start growing
           beards. Do you think it will be a beautiful world, where men are shaving beards, and women are
           growing beards? A woman with a beard will freak out anybody! And the same happens with the
           man; just the women are very patient, very tolerant. They even tolerate people without beards. No
           man can tolerate his wife with a beard, I tell you; it is absolutely certain. Either he will throw her
           out, or he will hang himself! But millions of women are tolerating beardless men.
               Nature never does anything without any reason. I have tried to look at men without beards. It
           seems something is missing in the man. Just look at Milarepa! When I first saw him here I was so
           shocked. He was looking so beautiful with a beard and now he is looking simply idiotic! He has lost
           all his grandeur.
           Just live intelligently.
               If something is told to you, decide whether it is right or wrong, then you can avoid all guilt
           feelings. Otherwise, if you don't do it, then you feel guilty; if you do it, again you feel guilty. If you
           do it you feel that you are being obedient, subservient, that you are not being assertive, that you are
           not being yourself. And if you don't do it, then you start feeling guilty again -- because perhaps it
           was the right thing to do, and you are not doing it.
               There is no need for all this clumsiness. Just be simple. If something is told to you, respond
           intelligently. And whatsoever your intelligence decides, do it this way or that -- but you are
           responsible. Then there is no question of guilt.
               If you are not going to do it, explain to the person why you are not going to do it. And explain
           without any anger, because anger simply shows that you are weak, that you don't really have an
           intelligent answer. Anger is always a sign of weakness. Just plainly and simply explain the whole
           thing; perhaps the other person may find that you are right and may be thankful to you. Or perhaps
           the other person may have better reasons than you; then you will be thankful to the other person
           because he has raised your consciousness.
               Use every opportunity in life for raising your intelligence, your consciousness.
               Ordinarily what we are doing is using every opportunity to create a hell for ourselves. Only you
           suffer, and because of your suffering, you make others suffer. And when so many people are living
           together, and if they all create suffering for each other, it goes on multiplying. That's how the whole
           world has become a hell.
           It can be instantly changed.
               Just the basic thing has to be understood, that without intelligence there is no heaven.


              BELOVED OSHO
              YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED "THE GENIUS OF THE ABSURD." YOUR WAY IN THIS WORLD
              SEEMS SO RELENTLESSLY WILD AND CRAZY THAT MANY PEOPLE -- PERHAPS ALL PEOPLE
              -- ARE FILLED WITH WONDER, OR CONFUSION; AND SOMETIMES, EVEN ANGER. BUT THE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, GATHERING VOTES TO BAN YOU FROM EUROPE FOREVER
              SEEMS ALSO ABSURD AND CRAZY. I WONDER WHO IS MORE ABSURD: YOU OR THEM?
              WHAT CAN WE DISCOVER ABOUT TRUTH IN YOUR ABSURDITY?


                They are not absurd; they are functioning very logically. They can see the potential danger that I
           can bring to the younger generation, and which can destroy their centuries of vested interests.
                They are not absurd. It may look absurd -- the whole world against one single man -- but it is
           very logical. They can see that what I am saying is true, and they have no way to defend their
           morality, their marriage, their family, their social structure. Naturally, they would not like me to
           come in contact with their youth, because their youth is going to be powerful tomorrow; and if their
           youth becomes aflame with my ideas, tomorrow the old world will have completely collapsed.
                To save the old and to prevent the new, they are taking every measure -- and it is logical.
           I am certainly absurd.
                You have to understand the meaning of absurd. In life everything that is significant is absurd.
           When you fall in love with someone it is absurd, it is not logical. You cannot give us a logical
           answer why you have fallen in love with a particular person -- man or woman. It is something
           beyond you that has gripped you. It is not your doing. Even if you wanted to prevent it, you could
           not have succeeded; in fact you were absolutely helpless.
                Your joy in a world full of misery is absurd. It has no relatedness to the miserable humanity. You
           are completely alone. Everything that is valuable -- you love music, you are enchanted with beauty,
           you are seeking truth, you want to know yourself -- all these are absurd activities.
                Meditating is absurd; it would be better and more logical to earn money.
                Just before I left Nepal, a group of sannyasins from Delhi had come to prevent me from going
           out of Nepal or out of India -- a kind of deputation. They were ready to purchase a big palace and
           make every arrangement for a commune. But I told them, "Right now you are being emotional. You
           will be in difficulty. The palace costs one million dollars. Perhaps you can collect that much
           donation, saying that if the palace is not purchased, I am going to leave. But the palace is not the
           only thing; then there will be at least fifty people living there, and you will not be able to support
           them.
                "It is not a question of one day, so be logical. Your asking me to remain in India is out of love,
           but it is absurd. You will create trouble for me and trouble for yourselves. So you go back, think
           over it. I will wait here ten days more. You can come after seven days with the decision."
                They never came. They must have understood the implications -- they will not be able to manage
           it. But their insistence was out of love, not out of reason.
                I am absurd because whatever I am teaching to you goes against everything that you have been
           taught. And you have been taught things for so long that you have forgotten completely that they are
           questionable.
                For example, every culture in the world has believed, has conditioned its younger generations,
           with an idea that love is permanent, that if you love a person you love that person forever. This idea
           has prevailed for centuries all over the world. It looks logical that if you love a person, the very
           phenomenon of love will make it permanent. And why has everybody accepted it? -- because you
           also desire that it should be permanent. Everybody wants his love to be permanent.
                So the traditional idea and your desire synchronize, and it becomes a truth... so much so that if
           your love changes, then not only others but you yourself start thinking that it was not love -- that's
           why it changed. You don't change the basic idea of permanent love; you start thinking, "Perhaps
           what I thought was love was not love, because it has changed -- and love does not change."
                I am bound to be absurd, because I want to say to you that in life everything changes -- in spite
           of your desire for no change. It does not matter that sitting by the side of the river you desire that the
           river should not go on flowing, that the seasons should not change, that the flowers should not die,
           that youth should never turn into old age, that life should never end up in a graveyard.
                Your desires apart... existence does not listen to your desires, and does not follow your desires,
           however beautiful and however pious. Existence goes on in its own way.
           Everything changes -- and love is not an exception.
                Now, perhaps I am the first person who wants to make it understood by everyone that love
           changes: it begins, it comes of age, it becomes old, it dies. And I think it is good the way it is. It
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gives you many more chances of loving other people, to make life richer -- because each person has
           something special to contribute to you. The more you love, the more rich you are, the more loving
           you become.
               And if the false idea of permanence is dropped, jealousy will drop automatically; then jealousy is
           meaningless. Just as you fall in love and you cannot do anything about it, one day you fall out of
           love and you cannot do anything about it. A breeze came into your life and passed. It was good and
           beautiful and fragrant and cool, and you would have liked it to remain always there. You tried hard
           to close all the windows and all the doors, to keep the breeze fragrant, fresh. But by closing the
           windows and the doors, you killed the breeze, its freshness, its fragrance; it became stale.
           Every marriage is stale.
               I am absurd, because I don't want to enforce logic -- which is man-made -- on existence. In trying
           to impose logic on existence you simply create misery for yourself, because you are going to fail;
           your failure is absolute. Millions of people are simply pretending that they go on loving each other.
           Once they had loved, but now it is only a memory, and becoming fainter and fainter every day. But
           because of the idea of permanency they are afraid to say the truth.
               And it is not anger, it is not hate; it is nothing against the other. It is simply the way of life -- love
           changes. It is seasonal, and it is good to have summer and to have winter, and to have rain... to have
           the fall and the spring.
               Your whole life can be lived either as logic or as existence. Existence will be absurd. One
           moment it is one thing; another moment, it is something else. And you are left with the choice either
           to go on pretending that it is still the same, or to be honest and sincere and to say that it was a
           beautiful moment but it has passed. The oasis is passed and now we are in a desert, and we know that
           we are in a desert; we cannot enjoy, we cannot rejoice.
               Still we are bound to each other with the idea of permanent love. That permanent love is a logical
           idea.
               Real love is a real roseflower: it is going to change. From morning to evening it is going to take
           different shapes, different shades, and by the evening it will be gone. And I don't think that there is
           anything wrong.
               Love is just one example. Your whole life is full of such things. For example, every child is
           taught respect for the parents, respect for the teachers, respect for the elders. Respect is a beautiful
           experience, but when you have to be respectful just as a mannerism, it is ugly.
               I was told again and again in my childhood, "You have to be respectful."
               I used to tell my father, "Before you tell me to be respectful towards somebody, you should at
           least be certain whether he is worthy of respect; otherwise you are making me phony. I know that a
           man is not worthy of respect; but he is elder, and I am supposed to be respectful. I am ready to be
           respectful, but there must be something corresponding to it. For what am I going to be respectful?"
               But for centuries upon centuries, the same idea in different dimensions... be respectful towards
           your parents. But why? Just because they have given birth to you? Was it not a joy to them? If it was
           a joy to them, they have already got their reward. Now if they want respect from you, then they
           should be worthy of respect.
               And my father would say, "You are always talking absurdities. We have to live in a society, and
           the society runs through a certain discipline. Certain manners have to be followed; otherwise you
           will be crushed by the society. So don't be absurd," he was continuously saying to me.
               And I said, "I would not like to be crushed by the society, but I cannot behave logically, seeing
           that existence is moving in a different direction. What you are saying is logical. You are saying,
           `This is the way things have always been done; and this is the way things should be done.'"
               And there is a logic in it -- that if you are respectful towards others, others will be respectful
           towards you; if you help the society, the society will help you. But if you go on criticizing the
           society, if you go on finding faults everywhere, you will fall alone, and you cannot win against the
           vast majority.
           Logic is the way of winning in the society.
               Be logical, and it will be easier for you to climb the ladders.
               I said, "I would like to remain true to existence -- and existence is absurd. It has no logic, it has
           no meaning. It has immense beauty, it has tremendous possibilities for ecstasy, but you cannot make
           a logical system out of it."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So remember it: the European parliament, the American government -- and others will soon be
           following -- are all behaving very logically.
           But I am not a logician.
           I am an existentialist.
                I believe in this meaningless, beautiful chaos of existence, and I am ready to go with it wherever
           it leads.
                I don't have a goal, because existence has no goal. It simply is, flowering, blossoming, dancing --
           but don't ask why. Just an overflow of energy, for no reason at all.
           I am with existence.
           And that's what I call being a sannyasin:
           To be with existence.
                The only thing you will have to renounce will be your logical mind.
                So start living in an existential but illogical way.
           The world may call you absurd, mad...
           So what?




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #9
                                 Chapter title: I want to provoke your jealousy
           16 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604165
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 102 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              BECAUSE OF YOUR GENIUS IN COMBINING AND THEN GOING BEYOND THE MATERIAL AND
              THE SPIRITUAL, AND BECAUSE YOU SEEM TO HAVE AN ABUNDANCE OF BOTH WORLDS, I
              THINK THAT MANY NON-SANNYASINS AND SANNYASINS FEEL JEALOUS OF YOU. PEOPLE
              RESENT AND DON'T WANT TO FEED ABUNDANCE. IF THEY FEED ANYTHING, THEY FEED
              POVERTY. IF YOU WERE SITTING IN A CAVE, NAKED, COLD, AND MEDITATING, IT WOULD BE
              ONE THING, BUT YOU ARE NOT. SANNYASINS WHO NEVER DREAMED OF HAVING A ROLLS
              ROYCE SEEM TO YEARN FOR ONE MORE THAN FOR THE STATE OF MEDITATION EVEN
              AFTER SPENDING YEARS WITH YOU. YOU SEEM TO BE SPARKING GREED FOR THE
              MATERIAL, RATHER THAN A YEARNING FOR THE BEYOND -- OR AT LEAST THAT'S THE
              MESSAGE THAT'S BEING RECEIVED BY SOME. COULD YOU COMMENT.


              It is part of my whole device to change the very structure of human consciousness.
              The past has revered poverty, asceticism, masochistic attitudes. A man was respected if he was
           renouncing all that is pleasant, all that is comfortable. He was respected for torturing himself; the
           greater the torture, the greater the respect. The whole human past is masochistic, and all the religions
           have contributed to this insanity.
              My effort is to change such a vast past and its influence. So it has been only a device. I have not
           been creating desires for materialistic things in people; they are there without anybody's creating
           them. Yes, they have been repressed so deeply that people have even forgotten that they had them. I
           am not creating them; I simply want to remove the cover-up, the repression, and to make the person
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           realize that he wants a Rolls Royce more than enlightenment.
                This realization will be a basic step towards enlightenment, because it will make him aware of
           his own reality, his greed.
                There was no need for ninety-three Rolls Royces. I could not use ninety-three Rolls Royces
           simultaneously -- the same model, the same car. But I wanted to make it clear to you that you would
           be ready to drop all your desires for truth, for love, for spiritual growth to have a Rolls Royce. I was
           knowingly creating a situation in which you would feel jealous.
                The function of a master is very strange. He has to help you come to an understanding of your
           inner structure of consciousness: it is full of jealousy.
                All the traditions and the whole past have done just the opposite. The so-called saint, in all the
           traditions, lives in such a way that you will never feel jealous of him. Note that point.
                You will feel sympathetic towards him, respectful towards him; but respectfulness is not your
           reality, sympathy is not your nature. The saint is torturing himself, that is not his nature either. He is
           being unnatural to gain respect, to fulfill his ego. He is not interested in spiritual growth; he is
           interested in respectability, in being worshipped like a god. And he is ready to do anything for it.
                He is living in an illusion, and he is creating a great illusion in people who come to him. He
           helps them to feel that they are religious, that they are spiritual, because they respect a saint, they
           worship a saint. They are not yet ready to do such ascetic disciplines for themselves, but they hope
           some day... this is their ideal. They are completely forgetting that they are jealous human beings.
           And the saint is helping them to forget their jealousy; he is helping them to repress it.
                My work is bound to be totally different. I want to provoke your jealousy, because that is the
           only way to get rid of it. First you have to know that you have it; then you can drop it, because it is
           misery and hell. But you can repress it so deeply that the question of dropping it does not arise.
                I have lived in abundance because to me there is no division between the material and the
           spiritual.
                The teaching to live in poverty is dangerous: you will be materially poor, and you will be
           spiritually poor too, because there is no division. I teach you to live richly, in abundance, materially
           and spiritually -- both. It is not a question of whether you should live materially in abundance, or
           spiritually. The basic question is whether you should live in abundance, in richness -- which is
           natural and existential. It is your very basic urge to blossom in abundance, to know all the colors, to
           know all the songs, to know all the beauties of life.
                But certainly I am bound to come in conflict with the old, because the whole human past has
           been praising poverty and making it equal to spirituality, which is absolute nonsense.
                Spirituality is the greatest richness that can happen to a man, and it contains all other richnesses.
           It is not against any other richness; it is simply against all kinds of poverty. So what I have been
           trying is something so radical that it is bound to create antagonism all around the world from every
           corner. People have lived with certain values for so long that although those values have given them
           only misery, they don't see the connection. Those values have not made them fulfilled, contented --
           but they don't see the connection.
                I want my people to become symbolic... to make the whole world aware that their misery is
           caused by their wrong values, that they are poor because they have respected poverty -- and their
           behavior is so insane. On the one hand they will respect poverty, and on the other hand they will say,
           "Serve the poor." Strange! If poverty is so spiritual then the most spiritual thing will be to make
           every rich man poor, to help the rich man to be poor, so he can become spiritual. Why help the poor?
           Do you want to destroy their spirituality?
                But a deep unconsciousness, a great blindness exists, and I am fighting against a mountainous
           unconsciousness, darkness. Naturally they will be very much annoyed. They would have loved me,
           they would have worshipped me. And it was so easy for me to do what they wanted, but then I would
           have been continuing the old misery, the old disease, the old stupidity. I decided to be unrespectable,
           but not to help any nonsensical value system.
                It is a very simple thing to see why ascetics -- self-destructive people engaged in a kind of slow
           suicide -- have been respected; it is because it is unnatural, because you cannot do it. They are doing
           something which you cannot do. If somebody is standing on their head on the road, there will be a
           crowd immediately, but you are walking on your legs -- no crowd will be there!
                What is that man doing that attracts the crowd? He is doing something that the crowd cannot do.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He is proving mind over body, he is proving spirit over nature. Torturing his body he is proving that
           he is not the body, it does not affect him. By fasting, not sleeping, or standing for days he is proving
           that what you cannot do he can do; he is superior to you. You also can do what he is doing, you just
           have to be a little stupid, you just have to be a little suicidal, destructive. All that you need is a
           certain pleasure in pain and you can become a great spiritual saint.
                I have looked at the whole history and found not one single man revolting against this suicidal
           attitude towards life, this anti-life attitude. Perhaps they were afraid that nobody was going to listen
           to them, afraid that they would lose their respectability.
                I decided in the very beginning days of my life that there is one thing I have to be aware of, and
           that is not to be bothered about respectability. Then things are very simple. Then I can do what is
           natural and what is healthy. And then I can manage a bridge between matter and spirit, between this
           world and that world.
                And to me, to live in abundance is the only spiritual thing in the world.
                Just look at existence and its abundance. What is the need of so many flowers in the world? Just
           roses would have been enough, but existence is abundant: millions and millions of flowers, millions
           of birds, millions of animals -- everything in abundance. Nature is not ascetic; it is everywhere
           dancing -- in the ocean, in the trees. It is everywhere singing -- in the wind passing through the pine
           trees, in the birds...
                What is the need of millions of solar systems, each solar system having millions of stars? There
           seems to be no need, except that abundance is the very nature of existence, that richness is the very
           core, that existence does not believe in poverty. Look at nature, look at existence, and you will see
           that what man has done is against it.
           My effort is to bring man back to his natural self.
                I will be condemned, I will be criticized. Every religion, every tradition, every morality, every
           ethical code is going to condemn me. That does not surprise me! I expect it, because what I am
           saying and doing is changing the very course of human consciousness.
                I don't think that by torturing yourself you can meditate more easily; on the contrary, if your
           body is pleasantly at ease you can meditate more easily. I don't think that when you are fasting you
           can meditate. You can only think of food and nothing else; you will dream of food and nothing else.
           But if you are well fed, well nourished, you don't think of food -- there is no need. The body is
           completely satisfied, it does not create any disturbance.
                To live pleasurably, to live joyously is not against meditation. It is really the basic need of
           meditation. I know many kinds of ascetics but I have never seen any intelligence in them, I have
           never seen any creativity in them. I have never seen in their eyes a light of the beyond, or in their
           gestures some message that cannot be said through words. They don't have anything. They are
           simply starving -- and starving because it fulfills the ego, because the more they starve, the more
           they torture themselves, more and more people come to worship them.
                Now this is to me just an insane chapter in the history of man; it has to be closed. It is time that
           we start a new chapter -- natural, existential, life-affirmative -- and create a bridge between the body
           and the soul... not a wall but a bridge.
                There is no need for any conflict and war. Fighting with yourself, you are not going to get
           anything; you will be simply destroying yourself slowly. All your so-called saints are mostly
           mentally sick, and they have made the whole of humanity sick.
                Your question is significant. I have been asked again and again, "Spiritual people are respected
           everywhere, why are you opposed everywhere?"
                I said, "Only one thing is certain: either they are not spiritual, or I am not spiritual. We both
           cannot be spiritual, that is certain. And as far as I am concerned, I say that they are sick, not spiritual,
           and they are worshipped by a sick society."
                It is a vicious circle: the society creates the sick saint, the sick saint creates the sick society -- and
           it goes on and on. I have no part in this sickness, the so-called spirituality. I am just a contented,
           fulfilled human being. What more do you want? And what more can spirituality be?
                We want people to be fulfilled and contented, and this journey towards contentment, fulfillment,
           enlightenment should start with the body. You cannot begin from anywhere else. You can begin only
           from the beginning. You cannot ignore the roots and just go on praising the flowers. Your flowers
           will die, and you will have to replace them with plastic flowers if the roots are not taken care of. Is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there any conflict between the roots and the blossoms? It is the same juice -- and you have to begin
           with the roots, because flowers will come only in the end.
               But with humanity we have been almost mad. We have never bothered about the roots, and we
           have talked only about flowers. We talk about people being nonviolent, being compassionate, being
           loving -- so much that you can love your enemy, so much that you can even love your neighbor. We
           talk about flowers, but nobody is interested in the roots.
           The question is: "Why are we not loving beings?"
               It is not a question of being loving to this person, to that person, to the friend, to the enemy. The
           question is whether you are loving or not. Do you love your own body? Have you ever cared to
           touch your own body with a loving caress? Do you love yourself? No, all your religions teach you to
           hate yourself: you are the wrong person and you have to put yourself right; you are a sinner and you
           have to become a saint. How can you love yourself? -- you cannot even accept yourself. And these
           are the roots!
               I will teach you to love yourself. And if you can love yourself, if you can rejoice in being
           yourself, naturally your love will go on spreading. It will become an aura around you; you will love
           your friends, and in a certain way you will love your enemies too -- because just the way the friend
           defines you, your enemy also defines you.
               I am reminded of a recent incident. In India, before freedom came to that country, there was great
           struggle between Hindus and Mohammedans because Hindus wanted the country to remain one,
           undivided. It was favorable to them because they were the majority religion. If India was undivided,
           then Mohammedans had no possibility of ever being in power; they were the second majority
           religion.
               The Mohammedans wanted a separate country and they had their reasons: "We have a different
           language, we have a different religion, we are a different race, we cannot live together." But the
           basic reason was not language, not culture, not race, because they had lived together for two
           thousand years, so there was no problem about that. The real thing was, if they had a separate
           country of their own they would have power.
               The leader for an undivided India was Mahatma Gandhi, and the leader for the division of India
           and for a new land, Pakistan, for Mohammedans was Mohammed Ali Jinnah. They were
           archenemies their whole life.
               In 1948 Gandhi was shot dead. Mohammed Ali Jinnah was now governor general of Pakistan.
           He was sitting on the lawn as the news reached him that Gandhi had been shot. The person who had
           brought this news thought that he would be happy to hear it -- that his long, long enemy is dead. But
           he was surprised: Jinnah became sad, and he went into the house and told his secretary that he should
           not be disturbed. "If Gandhi is dead, much of me is dead too, because we defined each other."
               A great insight -- the enemy also defines you, in the same way as the friend defines you. Jinnah
           lived only one year longer, and he was never again seen so happy as he used to be; this last year was
           just sadness. Without Gandhi a gap, a great gap... A life-long enmity is a relationship, a deep
           relationship. So the man of understanding will love the enemy too -- not for any spiritual reason, but
           for the simple reason that he is defining him, he is part of his existence. Without him there will be a
           gap which nobody else can fill.
               The question is not "love your enemies" the way Jesus says it. That is simply egoistic: love your
           enemies because you are a superior spiritual being, and he is just an ordinary human being; so love
           him, show him the true path of spirituality. But it is just fulfilling your own ego.
               I will also say, "Love him," but not for the same reasons. I will say, "Love him," because he
           defines you; he is part of you, just as you are part of him -- not only the friend, but the enemy too. It
           does not make you "holier than thou." It is a simple understanding of how psychology functions.
               Love yourself. But you can love yourself only if you drop the idea of being a sinner. You can
           drop the idea of being a sinner if you drop the idea that there is a god.
               If there is a god, you are a sinner; you cannot be anything else. If there is a god, then you are a
           sinner. You have been expelled from the kingdom of god, and you will be accepted back only if you
           become obedient -- so obedient that you lose your individuality to a hypothetical god whom you
           have never ever seen and whom you will never see.
               Your religions don't allow you to love yourself, but then they talk all this bullshit of loving your
           enemies and loving your neighbors. But you can see the point. If you cannot love yourself, you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot love anybody else in the world. That loving energy has to come from your heart, and there,
           there is sitting a sinner, condemned, waiting to be thrown into hellfire.
               I have heard... In the middle ages when people, particularly women, were more naive, more
           simple, there were Christian preachers who would go on threatening them with hellfire, describing in
           minute details how they will be tortured. And it used to happen that many women would faint in the
           churches listening to the sermons, because the hellfire and the minute details would drive them nuts.
           Now these women, can they accept themselves as they are? -- No!
               All the religions stand upon one single word, and that is how you should be. That word is
           `should' -- that word is not `is'. The `is' is condemned, and the `should' is praised; and the `should' is
           opposed to your `is'.
               You cannot love yourself, your wife cannot love herself -- and you both are supposed to love
           each other. I don't understand how it is possible. You can pretend, but basically you will hate,
           because the wife knows you are dragging her farther into hell, you know that she is dragging you
           farther into hell -- how can you love? Jesus is clever. He talks about loving your enemies but he does
           not say anything about loving your wives. Strange, that should have been the first thing to be
           reminded of -- "Love your husbands." But no, these things are not mentioned.
               The religions have been talking about flowers; I am working with the roots. And I am against
           plastic flowers. Real flowers have many differences; plastic flowers are permanent -- plastic love
           will be permanent. The real flower is not permanent, it is changing moment to moment. Today it is
           there dancing in the wind and in the sun and in the rain. Tomorrow you will not be able to find it -- it
           has disappeared just as mysteriously as it had appeared.
           Real love is like a real flower.
               But all religions teach you plastic love. And then they destroy the very possibility of ever coming
           to know a real flower. The real flower will have fragrance; the plastic flower has nothing to
           contribute to your life. It only looks like a flower, it is not a flower. The plastic flower is easy. You
           do not need to water it, you do not need to take care of the roots. Real flowers need some creativity
           on your part. Every real value needs creativity.
               And just look at your saints: none of them are creative. All their qualities are just hilarious --
           somebody can lie down in a grave for seven days, and then you dig him up and he is still alive; and
           he becomes a great saint. But I don't see that there is any contribution, any creativity in it. He may lie
           for seven hundred years in a grave; that does not matter. How can he become a saint by lying in a
           grave for seven days, by learning a certain technique of holding the breath in?
               Paul Brunton, a great seeker going from one country to another country all over the East, came
           across many people who were worshipped as saints in the beginning of this century. In Ajmer in
           India he came across a Mohammedan saint who used to put both his eyes down, hanging out of their
           sockets -- that was his only quality. And he was worshipped far and wide, because he was doing
           really the impossible!
               He came across a Hindu yogi who was able to drink any kind of poison. He had exhibited his
           great achievement at many universities -- in Oxford, in Cambridge, in Varanasi, in Calcutta. But in
           Calcutta an accident happened. He was capable of keeping the poison in his body, without getting it
           into his bloodstream, only for half an hour: more than that he was incapable of. He had learned his
           whole life how to do it, but in Calcutta the traffic defeated him.
               In India, you know the traffic is great; all the centuries are moving on the road -- a bullock cart, a
           horse-driven vehicle, a donkey, a camel-driven cart, cars, buses, trams. Particularly in Calcutta you
           will find all the centuries together on the street. From the very beginning when man first invented a
           vehicle to the latest car -- everything is available. You just stand by the side of the road and watch.
               So he was stuck somewhere in a traffic jam and could not reach the place where he was going to
           vomit; that was the whole art. For half an hour he could keep it; and then he would vomit -- not to let
           it go into his bloodstream. But he was late; it reached to his bloodstream and he died. But he was a
           world famous saint. What is his contribution?
               I cannot conceive why these people should be called saints. Perhaps they should be called certain
           kinds of experts; they have a certain expertise, but it has nothing to do with spirituality. In the name
           of spirituality you have been worshipping utter nonsense. And behind this nonsense is the real man --
           suffering, uncared for, unlooked at. Nobody bothers about him and his problems; nobody answers
           his real need.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My whole effort is to make a fresh beginning. It is bound to create condemnation of me from all
           over the world. But it doesn't matter -- who cares!
               I care only for those who are ready to change the very course of human consciousness. I will
           offend others, I will annoy others, I will irritate others, I will create jealousy in others. These are part
           of my devices. I am really exposing them. If they have any intelligence they will understand it.
               Ninety-three Rolls Royces... but I have not looked back at them, at what happened. They were
           not mine, and I am as happy without them as I was with them. I never went to see those Rolls
           Royces in the garage. The director of my garage, Avesh, is here. I went on saying to him, "One day I
           am coming," but that day never came. I have never seen those cars together. It was he who would
           bring a car for a one-hour drive, it was his choice. And I have not looked back.
               Those cars fulfilled their purpose. They created jealousy in the whole of America, in all the
           super-rich people. If they were intelligent enough, then rather than being my enemies they would
           have come to me to find a way to get rid of their jealousy, because it is their problem. Jealousy is a
           fire that burns you, and burns you badly. You are in the hands of somebody else.
               I was just a tourist there, and I made the whole of America disturbed. They had enough money;
           they could have purchased more Rolls Royces if they wanted. But they had no guts for that either.
           They were condemning me, saying that I am a materialist. And you will be surprised; one bishop
           who was continuously condemning me as a materialist, wrote me a letter, privately, saying, "It would
           be very compassionate of you if you could donate a Rolls Royce to my church. It won't make any
           difference to you -- ninety-three or ninety-two -- but it will make much difference to us." And every
           Sunday he was condemning me. His condemnation was not about my materialism; his condemnation
           was to hide his jealousy.
               The politicians, the rich, could have managed it for themselves -- why were they worried? But
           the worry was that a tourist, who has not even a valid visa, has defeated all the super-rich; it hurts! If
           they were intelligent enough, they could have understood that there must be a purpose behind these
           Rolls Royces. It cannot be just the one-hour ride. For that, one Rolls Royce would have been
           enough.
               Everything that I have done in my life has a purpose. It is a device to bring out something in you
           of which you are not aware.
               If you are intelligent you would like to get rid of it because it is a poison which is killing you. A
           jealous mind is incapable of love; a jealous mind is incapable of rejoicing... and not only incapable
           of rejoicing, he is incapable of seeing anybody else rejoice. This kind of people fill the whole earth.
           And your so-called saints have not been a help to them. Your so-called saints have exploited them.
               It is hilarious! Your saints are exploiting you by being poor, torturing themselves; they are
           helping you not to feel jealous, not to feel hurt. They are protecting your ego. And it is not one-sided.
           That's why I say it is hilarious. The game is strange: they are helping you to remain in your misery,
           in your insanity, and you are helping them to remain in their suicidal, torturous life -- a mutual
           conspiracy of the whole of humanity to remain in hell.
               The commune in America was also a device. It did its work. It made people aware that to be
           joyous, to be loving is possible on this earth; you do not have to wait for heaven. And I can't see, I
           can't understand... a person who has never been dancing and singing here, when he enters heaven
           and a harp is provided for him -- what is he going to do with the harp? He will be at a loss! He will
           ask, what is it, and what am I supposed to do with it?
               Only my people will be immediately able to do something, whichever instrument is provided. It
           is not only a question of rejoicing... all other things too. If here for your whole life you learn only
           torture, what are you going to do in heaven? That self-torture has become a second nature to you.
               I am reminded of a story... There was a very beautiful man, Eknath, who was going on a
           pilgrimage with his disciples. One well-known thief approached him, and asked the master,
           "Although I am a sinner -- you know me, everybody knows, I am a thief -- a great desire has arisen
           in me to go on a pilgrimage with you, if you allow me in your company. Thirty people are going; it
           won't make much difference, one person more..."
               Eknath said, "There is no harm, but one condition: while you are with me, and it is going to take
           nine months" -- because they were going to be traveling by foot all around the country, covering all
           the holy places, singing and dancing -- "you will not steal anything from the group or from
           somebody else where we are staying in a village. You will have to stop your art for nine months. If
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you promise me you are allowed."
                The man said, "I promise absolutely that I will not steal anything for the coming nine months."
           But just within two, three days there was trouble. A strange kind of thing started happening, and that
           was that your money bag was found in somebody else's luggage, somebody else's coat was found in
           somebody else's bag! Strange... things were missing from here, but they were found there.
                Finally Eknath one night had to remain awake to see what was going on, because it was very
           disturbing. Every morning you would have to find out where your things were; they were always
           found, but it was an unnecessary nuisance. Eknath had a suspicion that that man may be the cause of
           it -- and he was. In the middle of the night he started changing things around, and Eknath caught him
           redhanded. He said, "You had promised me that you would not steal."
                He said, "I am completely following my promise; I am not stealing. But I never promised you
           that I would not change things from one bag to another -- that is not stealing. I am not putting
           anybody's things into my bag. But just to practice... otherwise in nine months I may forget my whole
           art. And moreover, I cannot sleep unless I do something. It is a lifelong habit."
                Eknath said, "I understand your problem, but you must understand my problem too: every
           morning everybody is disturbed and upset -- money has gone, somebody's shirt is missing,
           somebody's blanket is missing. And unnecessarily every morning, for one hour, we have to sort it
           out."
                But he said, "This much you will have to tolerate. This I have never promised. And I am not
           doing too much -- just one hour in the night then I can sleep at ease."
                A man who has tortured himself for his whole life -- do you think he will be able to rejoice in
           heaven? He will have forgotten how to smile, he will have forgotten what joy means. No, I say to
           you the whole human past has been ugly, insane; it has created a kind of spirituality which is another
           name for schizophrenia. I have to fight against it, whatsoever the cost.
                Somebody has to raise his hand and say to the people, "You have been misled. Your misery is a
           proof; no other proof is needed."


              BELOVED OSHO,
              RECENTLY I READ AN OLD SAYING: A MAN WHO LOVES ONE WOMAN WILL SURELY LOSE
              HIS MIND; BUT A MAN WHO LOVES TWO WOMEN LOSES HIS SOUL. IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO
              UNDERSTAND IN THIS?


                I am sure this question must be from Milarepa!
           It is true: if you love one woman you will lose your mind; if you love two you will lose your soul.
           But if you go on loving more and more, you have nothing else to lose -- with the second you are
           finished!
                When Milarepa came I asked Vivek, "Has he brought his guitar? And what else does he do?"
                She said, "He does nothing else -- just plays on his guitar and chases women."
                I said, "Enquire if he has got his guitar. Then he should start playing guitar; otherwise chasing
           women the whole time will not be good for his health. So once in a while, just to get some rest, he
           can play guitar."
                But he has not brought his guitar. I think you should provide him with a guitar, because he has
           lost everything. Now he has nothing to be worried about losing; he can go on chasing...
                That's why the saying stops at two women, because for the third you have nothing to lose. And it
           is good to go beyond the second, because then you really become humble -- you have nothing.
           To me that is spirituality.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                     Chapter #10
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                       Chapter title: The ostrich argument
           17 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604170
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 107 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              A LITTLE WHILE AGO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT REFUSED YOUR ADMISSION TO ENGLAND,
              EVEN FOR AN OVERNIGHT STAY, ON THE BASIS THAT YOUR EXCLUSION FROM THE
              COUNTRY WAS "CONDUCIVE TO THE PUBLIC GOOD."
              JUST A FEW WEEKS LATER, THE HEAD OF THAT SAME GOVERNMENT AUTHORIZED THE
              USE OF MILITARY BASES BY AMERICAN BOMBERS FOR THE RECENT ATTACK ON LIBYA.
              THE PRIME MINISTER JUSTIFIED THE DECISION TO ASSIST AMERICA'S BOMBING OF MIDDLE
              EASTERN CITIES SAYING THAT IT WAS HER DUTY TO "PREVENT THE EVILS OF TERRORISM."
              THE NOTIONS OF GOOD AND EVIL EXPRESSED BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ARE SIMPLY
              MIND-BOGGLING.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               One has to understand that everything is relative, not ultimate; hence what appears to be good to
           one person may look evil to another. And there is no contradiction: both may be right.
               What is good depends on your preconceived ideas; so does evil.
               The British government thinks my entry even for an overnight stay in England, is not conducive
           to the public good. The same government is ready to allow American bombers, missiles, to use their
           bases, to destroy a small country like Libya, and to the government this seems to be conducive to
           public good.
               There is no inconsistency. In their eyes their society, their culture, their religion, their country
           has to be saved at any cost, because they think they stand for good -- although the British
           government has tortured humanity more than any other government in the world. For three hundred
           years it has been the greatest terrorist possible; it killed millions of people around the world, to
           create the greatest empire of history. This government is absolutely in tune with the American
           imperialistic ideology.
               Out of necessity it has been compelled to give freedom to the countries of its empire, but not
           willingly and joyously. Those countries had to fight for almost one century, without any arms. They
           were butchered, without any consideration of human values.
               I am reminded... In India there happened an incident which can be considered one of the most
           inhuman in history. In Amritsar, the holy place of the Sikhs, they have a beautiful public garden, a
           vast area that can contain at least one million people for any gathering, meeting, discourse. And it
           has been used for that purpose. It has a very high wall so that no traffic noise comes in and it has
           only one door, so small that only one person can come out or go in; two persons together cannot pass
           through the door.
               They were having a silent meeting of almost one million people -- children, women, old men.
           The prayer was, "The British government should change its heart and should leave our country."
           Now, it is not terrorism; they were simply praying for a change of heart. But Colonel Dyer, who was
           in charge of the area, went there with his troops, fixed machine guns on the people, and started firing
           -- because it is revolution against the empire, this prayer that the government should change its
           heart!
               There was only one door, and from that door they were shooting bullets at random, with no
           discrimination -- children, women, old men. And nobody could escape from there because of the
           high wall. Dyer killed the whole crowd; not a single human being came alive out of that door. Now,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it was their country; the British had been terrorists, had been ruling their country, exploiting their
           country.
                India has been rich, known for thousands of years as "a golden bird" -- that's how Pythagoras
           describes it, that's how Alexander the Great describes it. So many invaders... but still India seemed to
           be inexhaustibly rich. People would come, invade the country, take away their treasures, take over
           their beautiful women...
                This had been going on for thousands of years; the Britishers were the last. For three hundred
           years they squeezed every richness, the last drop of it, from Indian soil. And people were not even
           allowed to pray for a change of heart -- this became an act against the empire. And there was no need
           for any magistrate, for any judge; there was no need for any trial. Just... a colonel simply kills all
           those people!
                The British government has been one of the ugliest phenomena that we know of. It created the
           biggest empire -- it was said that in the British empire the sun never set. And it was true, because the
           empire was all around the earth. The sun may have set in one part, but it was rising in another part;
           there was not any gap. The sun was always rising somewhere in the British empire.
                These imperialists have a deep sympathy, friendship, with America. Naturally, it is for the public
           good to allow American troops, to allow America a base to destroy a small country.
                And why destroy Libya? Because the man who is leading Libya now is one of the most
           outspoken politicians in the whole world. Just a few days ago, Kaddafi said that Ronald Reagan is
           "Adolf Hitler Number Two." And I, commenting on it, say that Kaddafi is wrong. And he will agree
           with me when he understands the reason why I am saying he is wrong: Adolf Hitler himself is now
           Number Two. Ronald Reagan is Adolf Hitler Number One, because what power did Adolf Hitler
           have? Reagan has a million times more power. Adolf Hitler could not have destroyed the world;
           Reagan can do that.
                To allow Reagan a base in England seems, to the British government, to be for the public good.
           Both are imperialists, both are agreed on exploiting people, both are agreed that nothing like
           communism should happen in the world, both are agreed that Christianity should be imposed on
           people who are not Christian: naturally Ronald Reagan is a friend, although he is going to do
           something inhuman which may trigger the third world war.
                And I understand Kaddafi. He is not a man to sit back. And he is not sitting back. He has a small
           country but he is not just a politician, he is a warrior. He would rather the country die than to allow
           the country to be enslaved. And I praise him for being a pioneer. He has responded well. Now he is
           bombing American bases all over Europe. He has bombed in Spain; in other countries he is going to
           bomb -- in Greece... wherever in Europe American bases exist, he is going to bomb them. And he
           will have the sympathy of all the downtrodden countries. He will rise as a world leader.
                Ronald Reagan may have the power, but he will not have any sympathy.
                This imperialist government of Britain feels afraid of me. Just my overnight stay at the airport --
           I was not asking to enter their country -- and against their own laws they refused me. They said it
           was not good for their public; my overnight stay would have destroyed their morality, their religion,
           all their cherished values!
                There is something to understand clearly: I am against imperialism. I am against exploiting man,
           other human beings. I am against torturing people just so that you can have power. Perhaps they
           were afraid that overnight my sannyasins from all over England may gather... just one night may be
           enough to give them a fresh insight, a new life to go against all traditional values.
                And it is a conspiracy. Not only Britain is responsible for it. All those who are living and thriving
           on traditional values are really afraid -- of a man who has no power except that he can show people
           that their misery is caused by their own wrong ideas, and that those wrong ideas are being
           emphasized by their government, by their church.
           There is a conspiracy.
                All the European governments are agreeing on the point that I cannot land at their airports. They
           do not understand that this is defeatism, that they have already accepted defeat. They are showing
           that they have no arguments to save their religion, their morality, their politics, it is all rotten.
                And they are afraid that their youth will be on my side, not on their side. I can give an open
           challenge to any country: Let me speak to your young people, and you speak to the same young
           people, and let it be decided by those young people who are going to own the future. These
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           governments know perfectly well they cannot defend anything that they believe.
                These efforts to prevent me are good signs; they are good news. It means they have accepted
           their defeat; otherwise, what was the fear? -- they could have allowed me to talk to people. And they
           have their archbishops and popes and priests who could have demolished my arguments; that would
           have been a cultured way, a human way.
                I am alone -- they have millions of priests. But they don't have a single argument for anything
           that they think is the basis of their society.
                Yes, it is not conducive to their rotten society. It may ring the death bell. But they cannot prevent
           me. It is not me who is going to destroy the rottenness; it is the time itself which is not in favor of
           them. If not me, then somebody else will have to do it.
                It is impossible to protect those societies, those governments, those churches. They have lost all
           roots. And they are aware of it, that just a push and they will fall down. They cannot even resist --
           even that much power is not left. You can make a corpse stand, but if you push it, it cannot retaliate;
           it is bound to fall down.
           All these countries are corpses.
                And they don't want their youth to come in contact with anybody who can show them that the old
           is dead and you have to find a new way of life.
                This is not a question of one country; it is a question of the whole human past. Just a deep
           attachment, a deep conditioning...
                There is a beautiful story in India. Shiva is one of the Hindu trinity of gods. It is not called a
           trinity, it is called trimurti -- three faces of one God. Shiva is one. He fell in love with a beautiful
           woman, Parvarti, and he loved her so much that when she died he would not accept that she was
           dead.
                Nobody could dare to tell him that she was dead and now it was time to take her to the
           crematorium. Instead, he carried the corpse of Parvarti on his shoulder all over India, in search of
           some physician, some healer, who could bring her back to life. You cannot carry a corpse... It took
           twelve years for him to move around the country -- it was a big country. Wherever he heard that
           there was some physician, he would go there.
                In those twelve years the parts of the woman he was carrying started falling off -- the hand fell,
           the leg fell, the head fell. But he was not worried about that; he was not even looking at her, because
           he was afraid to look.
           Note that point:
                He was afraid to look at her, because deep down he also knew that she was dead. But his mind
           did not want to believe it; he wanted to believe she was alive. Now she was not even whole. The
           head had fallen somewhere, the legs had fallen somewhere else, the hands had fallen somewhere
           else.
                India is a country of stories, signifying tremendous meanings. Now there are twelve pilgrimage
           temples which are made at points where one part of Parvarti fell, to give the story a feeling of reality.
           Twelve temples exist all over the country representing... because some part of Parvarti had fallen
           there, they have become sacred.
                But Shiva remained completely blind, knowingly blind. And this is the situation of the world.
           The societies are rotten, the religions are dead; the politicians are only promising, knowing perfectly
           well they cannot fulfill any promise.
                The future is dark, but nobody wants to see it -- the past is dead, and if you go on clinging to the
           past the future is going to become darker and darker.
           I will be avoided by every country.
                I will be persecuted by every power, for the simple reason that I want them to see the reality.
           They are keeping their eyes closed.
                In logic it is called the "ostrich argument." The ostrich has a tendency: whenever he comes
           against an enemy and knows that death is certain, he simply puts his head into the sand. He lives in
           the desert, eyes closed, head in the sand. He is perfectly happy because he cannot see any enemy
           anywhere.
                But this does not eliminate the enemy; in fact it makes the enemy more powerful. Now this
           ostrich is not going to do anything to escape, to fight, to negotiate, to do something. Now there is no
           question: he is simply available as food. And ostriches are eaten by their predators without any fight,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because the ostrich is living with the idea that, "I don't see any enemy here."
               This "ostrich argument" is widespread today around the world. Nobody wants to see the reality --
           that you are sinking, that all your values are false, that all your civilization is hypocrisy, that all your
           smiles are just exercises of lips, and there is no heart in it; that you have forgotten to live, to love, to
           laugh, that you don't know what life means at all.
               And you go on clinging because there is nothing else, there is no alternative -- and I am being
           prevented because I can give you the alternative.
               I can show you that this is not the only way a society can exist, this is not the only way that a
           marriage can exist, this is not the only way that children can be brought up, this is not the only way
           that governments should function. There are alternative ways.
               But even to hear of the alternative, they are afraid. The message should not reach to the young --
           because the young are bound to be affected by the news that there is an alternative, that you need not
           remain in this misery, continuously fighting, killing human beings unnecessarily.
               Now Libya is destroying American bases. America cannot remain silent: it will start destroying
           Libya -- not only its military bases but its civilians. It is a small country, but Libya knows that if
           America starts to destroy the civilians, the whole East -- particularly the Middle East -- will be on its
           side. And behind the scenes will be the Soviet Union.
               So if America has guts, it is not going to start a fight between America and Libya -- which is
           very unbalanced: Libya has nothing with which to fight against one of the greatest nuclear powers.
           But Libya has the assurance of the Soviet Union: "Don't be worried, Libya is just a facade, just a
           front." And once these two powers start fighting, they cannot resist using nuclear weapons; it is
           impossible.
               But the government of England is not afraid of this. The government of England should have
           prevented America: "This is not a right beginning; this is not conducive to the public good. This will
           lead more and more into war. Don't take the first step; otherwise the last step will not be far away."
           But they would prefer to have a third world war rather than change the human mind.
               Why? -- because to change the human mind means that for millions of years you have been
           behaving stupidly, that all your great ancestors have been simply fools and nothing else. They knew
           nothing about human consciousness; they were unconscious, they were blind. And blind people have
           been leading other blind people towards the goal of light. It seems it is difficult to accept that our
           whole past has been wrong. It is better to destroy the whole future but remain stubborn that our past
           has been right: Let man die, but save your ego.
               That will give you a clue why I am a danger, just for an overnight stay, and American nuclear
           missiles are not dangerous. They think alike; their mathematics is the same.
               To them I am a dangerous person because I have no pride in the past. I am a dangerous person
           because I do not consider that for thousands of years man has lived intelligently; otherwise why so
           much misery, why so much anxiety, why so much anguish? The fruit shows the quality of the tree.
           And the fruit that we have shows that the whole human past went somewhere wrong, and just out of
           ego went on pushing in a wrong direction.
               I am ready and willing to change my ideas if somebody can show me that they are wrong, that
           they will not lead to the good of the people. But nobody is ready to do that; they simply accept it. No
           argument is needed, no discussion is needed.
               The government of Spain was wondering for one month continuously whether to allow me into
           Spain or not. They have nuclear bases for the American army; they are members of NATO, and the
           man who is the prime minister became prime minister by promising the people of Spain that he
           would pull Spain out of NATO, and that he would order the American bases to be removed from
           Spain. And the people of Spain don't want... because they have seen Franco, who ruled for forty
           years with absolute dictatorship; he destroyed all freedom of thinking and killed anybody who said
           anything against him. After forty years of this experience, this nightmare, they don't want to get into
           another nightmare again.
               They voted in this man on a single point -- that he was promising that he would pull out of
           NATO and force the Americans to leave Spain. Two years have passed and the people have been
           asking, "What happened? You are not pulling out of NATO, and neither are the American bases
           moving out of Spain."
               In these two years, the man... when he had come to power he was not a politician, but these two
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years have turned him into a politician. He said, "My experience of two years in power makes me
           change my idea: we are going to remain in NATO, and American bases are going to remain in
           Spain."
                It was such a betrayal that the people demanded a vote on the point, a referendum. But the prime
           minister, the whole bureaucracy, the whole government, is now FOR American military bases and
           membership in NATO. Still, they do not have a big majority. The young people of Spain have still
           voted against them: forty-five percent of the people have voted against NATO. But the government
           with all their powers... certainly they managed to get just a little bit bigger number of votes in favor.
                If this man had any sense of dignity he would have resigned, because he was chosen for a simple
           program. He was not chosen -- the program was chosen, and because he has dropped the program he
           should resign immediately. But these politicians seem to be so shameless, with no dignity, with no
           honor, with no self-respect.
                He wanted me to stay in Spain, but the problem was the American pressure. For one month he
           went on postponing. He informed me that I should not leak the news that Spain had invited me,
           because the royal family of Spain, the prime minister, the president, the cabinet -- they would all be
           at the airport to receive me. I was going to be their invited guest, so they would proclaim the date
           and time, and they would inform me.
                But slowly, slowly he saw that if forty-five percent of the people can vote against him, then to
           bring a man like me into the country is dangerous because these young people are bound to be
           influenced by me.
                The parliament decided that I should be welcomed, the cabinet decided that I should be
           welcomed, but finally the prime minister informed me that it would not be possible; politically it
           would be difficult.
                I know the difficulty; the difficulty came after the referendum. And I have been telling John
           every day that if any decision has to be taken, it should be taken before the referendum. After the
           referendum I don't see any hope, because once the prime minister sees how many people can vote
           against him, he will not be courageous enough to invite a person who can influence his people.
                This is the fear, and the fear is now almost all over the world, in every country -- strange fears. In
           this small, beautiful country, I was told that we should not mention that we have one million
           sannyasins around the world and three million sympathizers, because that may become a fear -- this
           country has only three million people, and they would not like such a powerful man in the country,
           who has four million people around the world who love him.
                The country should be proud to have someone... and I am not a political person, I am not going
           to have any political contest with anybody; but still, fear is fear. All these powerful people are deep
           down very inferior and very fearful.
                They go on thinking... the only thing in their minds is power, what can enhance their power and
           what can destroy their power. And they put conditions....
                The president of Greece was willing for me to have a commune in Greece, and in fact he wanted
           it. His reasons were different -- that it would bring thousands of tourists and that it would boost the
           economy. In fact he was the cause that I was allowed a four-week visa for Greece.
                But then the condition came in -- that if I wanted to stay there and make a commune, I should
           remember a few things: "The Greek Orthodox church is respected by our constitution; you cannot
           criticize it. The family is our foundation; you cannot criticize it. Our code of morality; you cannot
           criticize it. We believe in virginity; you cannot criticize it."
                They certainly believe in virginity, but it is difficult to find a single virgin in the whole of
           Greece. That's okay -- but you should not criticize it. You can see the political mind: the reality can
           be tolerated but it should not be exposed.
           I cannot accept anybody's conditions.
                Whatever happens to me, whatever the consequences... but to accept conditions, and that too for
           a little piece of land...
                How much land does a man require? I might like to live without a country -- a wanderer in the
           true sense. There have been wanderers but they had a home base. I will be really a wanderer without
           any home base -- being rejected from one country to another country. But their rejection of me is
           simply an acceptance of their defeat, their impotency. Sooner or later they will have to pay for it, pay
           highly for it, because in every country there are intelligent people. How long can these intelligent
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people tolerate this? Sooner or later it will become a revolution. Without my entering those lands, I
           will find my friends there.
                I cannot lose hope, because I cannot see that intelligence is dead. It is repressed, but it is alive. It
           has become an undercurrent, but my rejection is going to provoke it to come to the surface. Soon
           there will be protests in every country which is denying me entry.
                In Italy they have been postponing for almost three months, just for a three-week tourist visa.
           And the president and the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs, all are saying, "We are
           going to give it to him -- just tomorrow...." And sannyasins are going every day; they are sitting
           there in their offices, saying, "Whenever you want we are ready. But when will your tomorrow
           come?" And after three months they got so frustrated, because the pope is holding them back. They
           cannot say no to the sannyasins because they have no reason to say no.
                And they know my impact in Italy. Just a few days ago, a television interview of one and a half
           hours was seen by thirty-four million people -- unprecedented. The director informed me, "We could
           not believe that so many people would be interested in you. You have never come to this country."
           No other program in his whole life, had attracted so many people. And not only the show -- the show
           was finished in one and a half hours -- but people are discussing each and every point in the
           marketplace, in the university -- everywhere. Somebody is for, somebody is against, but everybody
           is intensely involved.
                So the government could not say no because that might create trouble. And the pope is insisting
           that I should not be allowed into Italy. So they go on postponing. Finally the sannyasins got so
           frustrated that they started making a protest, and one of the most famous Italian film directors,
           Fellini, has signed their petition first. They have thirty-six other world-known people who have
           signed the protest, and they are collecting more names -- and I have never been there.
                But one thing is certain, whether you agree with me or not: I cannot be prevented from
           presenting my views, my perspective, to the people. And what is happening there, will happen in
           Germany, will happen in Greece, will happen in England, will happen in Spain, is going to happen
           everywhere. Sannyasins have to create a worldwide chain of protests, signed by all the important
           creative artists, novelists, musicians, sculptors, dancers, actors, directors -- people of all dimensions
           who have made an impact on the world.
                Collect their names for the protest first, in every country, and then send a final protest to the
           U.N., with all the protests of all the countries together -- because now it is not a question of one
           country; if the European parliament decides that I cannot even land my plane at their airports, you
           cannot now take me just as an individual.
                I have become representative of a worldwide intelligence of creative, talented people.
           That is my country.
                And my sannyasins have to go to the U.N., because this is simply ugly.
                But as I said in the beginning, it is something relative.
                To me it is ugly. And to all those who can understand, it will be ugly. But to those who believe in
           the ostrich logic, it is good, it is "for the public good." But we will show to the world what is good
           for the public and what is bad for the public!


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I WAS ONE OF THOSE WHO WAS TAKEN FOR A RIDE WHEN THE LIST OF ENLIGHTENED
               PEOPLE WAS ANNOUNCED, BECAUSE I THOUGHT, "IF OSHO SAYS I'M ENLIGHTENED, WHY
               NOT TRY IT OUT?"
               I ENJOYED IT: I THREW A PARTY FOR A HUNDRED OR SO FRIENDS, AND FOR THE NEXT SIX
               MONTHS -- UNTIL I BECAME ENDARKENED AGAIN -- TRIED TO USE WHAT I SAW AS A
               REALLY POTENTIAL SITUATION.
               THE MAIN THING I SAW WAS THAT I REALLY AM OKAY. AM I KIDDING MYSELF ABOUT THAT
               EXPERIENCE?


               No, if you can understand it you cannot be kidding.
           First let me explain a few other things.
           After I declared a few people enlightened -- Santosh was also one of them. He wrote me a letter
           saying, "Your declaration of my enlightenment gives me no excitement, but my being accepted as a
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           member of the committee of the enlightened ones makes me feel very great."
               I sent him the message, "Why does your being enlightened not make you feel excited? The
           reason is that you think that you are already enlightened -- and that is not true. That's why your
           becoming a member of the committee of the enlightened ones makes you feel great -- at last your
           enlightenment has been recognized. It is not a declaration for you but a recognition that you have
           been enlightened long before.
               "But if enlightenment is not an excitement, then how can it be a great thing to be a member of the
           party, or the committee, of enlightened people? If enlightenment itself makes no sense to you, then
           being the member of the committee cannot make any sense, except this: that it fulfills your ego.
               "You were enlightened, and nobody was taking note of it. Finally I have recognized it, and now
           you are part of the committee of enlightened people, so it is sealed. But you are wrong -- because it
           was all a joke! The committee was a joke, the declaration was a joke. And it was a device."
               Somendra immediately sent a telegram to Teertha, saying, "I have got it -- what about you?" He
           was continuously in competition -- that was his problem, that he should be higher than Teertha. And
           this was a good chance.
               He has dropped sannyas, he has not been in any contact with us, but my declaration of his
           enlightenment -- that he accepts. Sannyas he has dropped -- he is no longer part of my family -- but
           enlightenment... immediately a telegram: "I have got it -- what about you?"
           It was a device to see how people would react.
           Your response to it was perfectly beautiful.
               Your response was, "If Osho says I am enlightened, I must be."
               It simply shows trust, love. It has nothing to do with ego. And your throwing a party and
           rejoicing the moment with your friends was perfectly right.
               And when I said it was a joke, you were not angry. You simply took it again the same way: "If
           Osho says I am not enlightened, and it was a joke, perhaps I am not enlightened and it was really a
           joke." And the six months that you lived as enlightened, the joy and the peace and the serenity that
           you felt was not of enlightenment -- it was of trust and love.
           It was a good experience for you.
               But different experiences happen to different people.
               There were only two Indians in the group who were declared enlightened, and they understand
           traditionally what enlightenment means. One was Vinod Bharti.
               He became very nervous, was crying, came to Vivek to give me the message, "Osho, I am not
           enlightened. And you have created a trouble for me: I cannot say you are wrong, and I know
           perfectly well myself that I am not enlightened. So what am I supposed to do? I am just torn apart.
           You just tell me the truth!"
               He knows about enlightenment. He knows that for centuries in India enlightenment has been the
           ultimate peak of spiritual search. In the West the very idea has never existed. So he cannot conceive
           of himself as Gautam Buddha, and he cannot deny me because he loves me and trusts me. So I can
           see his trouble. So I sent him the message, "Don't be worried, it was just a joke. You are not
           enlightened, relax!"
               Until he heard that he was not enlightened, he could not sleep for two days. Then he relaxed -- he
           is not enlightened; there is no problem.
               The other man was Swami Anand Maitreya, who was the only one who understood the joke
           immediately, because as he left the room he said, "Osho is really a rascal! Saying to me that I am
           enlightened, proves it!" But he was also an Indian and particularly comes from Bihar where most of
           the enlightened people happened in India -- Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Parsunatha, Naminatha,
           Adinatha... a long series of enlightened people. All twenty-four enlightened masters of the Jainas...
           Gautam Buddha -- they all happened in Bihar. Bihar has the deepest understanding and experience
           of enlightenment. So naturally he said, "Osho is a rascal." But it was also his love.
               He was not disturbed, because once you know that it is a joke, there is no question of any
           difficulty about it.
               A few people simply remained silent: they neither reacted this way or that. That too is good.
           They were not affected by it; they simply remained themselves, as they were. "If Osho says it is
           enlightenment, it may be; if he says it is not, it may not be." But it did not make any difference to
           them; they remained aloof and detached.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And it was a good experience to see how people react to a single idea, with their different minds.
           Those who were not included in the committee were angry. I received a few letters saying, "If these
           people have become enlightened, then why have I not become enlightened?" As if it were
           something..."You have given it to these people. Why have you not given it to me?"
               Somebody wrote, "I have been with you longer than these people, and I am not enlightened yet.
           Have you forgotten me or what?" But it was good to know how people react.
               Your reaction was perfectly beautiful on both ends. "If Osho says it is enlightenment, it must be"
           -- that is a simple trust. "And if He says it is not...." Then you don't feel any contradiction or
           inconsistency, you simply accept it: "If he says it is not, then it must not be." You have transcended
           the world of consistencies, inconsistencies.
           Love knows no contradiction.
           It knows no comparison.
           Each moment it is available.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                     Chapter #11
                                    Chapter title: It is pure light... pure delight
           17 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604175
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 75 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS A NATURAL DEATH?


               It is a significant question, but there are many possible implications in it. The simplest and the
           most obvious is that a man dies without any cause; he simply becomes old, older, and the change
           from old age to death is not through any disease. Death is simply the ultimate old age -- everything
           in your body, in your brain, has stopped functioning. This will be the ordinary and obvious meaning
           of a natural death.
               But to me natural death has a far deeper meaning: one has to live a natural life to attain a natural
           death. Natural death is the culmination of a life lived naturally, without any inhibition, without any
           repression -- just the way the animals live, the birds live, the trees live, without any split... a life of
           let-go, allowing nature to flow through you without any obstructions from your side, as if you are
           absent and life is moving on its own.
               Rather than you living life, life lives you, you are secondary; then the culmination will be a
           natural death. According to my definition, only an awakened man can die a natural death; otherwise
           all deaths are unnatural, because all lives are unnatural.
               How can you arrive at a natural death, living an unnatural life? Death will reflect the ultimate
           culmination, the crescendo of your whole life. In a condensed form, it is all that you have lived. So
           only very few people in the world have died naturally, because only very few people have lived
           naturally. Our conditionings don't allow us to be natural.
               Our conditionings, from the very beginning, teach us that we have to be something more than
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nature, that just to be natural is to be animal; we have to be supernatural. And it seems very logical.
           All the religions have been teaching this -- that to be man means going above nature -- and they have
           convinced centuries of humanity to go above nature. Nobody has succeeded in going above nature.
           All that they have succeeded in, is destroying their natural, spontaneous beauty, their innocence.
           Man need not transcend nature.
               I say unto you, man has to fulfill nature -- which no animal can do. That is the difference.
               The religions were cunning, cheating and deceiving people. They made the distinction that
           animals are natural and you have to be supernatural. No animal can do fasting; you cannot convince
           any animal that fasting is something divine. The animal only knows that it is hungry, and there is no
           difference between fasting and being hungry. You cannot convince any animal to go against nature.
               This gave an opportunity to the so-called religious people, because man has the capacity at least
           to fight against nature. He will never be victorious, but he can fight. And in fighting he will not be
           destroying nature; he will be destroying only himself.
               That's how man has destroyed himself -- all his joy, all his love, all his grandeur -- and has
           become not something higher than animals, but something lower, in every possible way. Perhaps you
           have never thought about it: no animal in the wild is homosexual. The very idea, and the whole
           world of animals will burst into laughter. It is simply stupid! But in a zoo, where females are not
           available, animals turn into homosexuals out of sheer necessity.
               But man has turned the whole world into a zoo: millions and millions of people are homosexuals,
           lesbians, sodomists, and what-not -- all kinds of perversions. And who is responsible? The people
           who were teaching you to go beyond nature, to attain supernatural divineness.
               This is only one example. In every other way they have done the same. For example, in India
           Mahavira was so much attached to the idea of nonviolence that even cultivation -- gardening -- was
           prohibited to his followers, because if you cultivate you will have to cut plants... and plants have life,
           and that will be violence.
               His followers were mostly coming from the warrior race, the Kshatriyas; he himself was a
           warrior king. Now they could not fight because fighting was violence; they could not be cultivators
           because cultivation was violence. They could not be teachers because that was the monopoly of the
           brahmins, and a brahmin is born; you cannot enter into the brahmin fold, howsoever wise you are.
           You may be wiser than all those brahmins, but you cannot become a teacher of the people -- that is
           the birthright of a brahmin. So they could not be accepted by the brahmins. They would not like to
           become the sudras, the untouchables, making shoes, cleaning streets and toilets.
               Now the only way possible for them was to become businessmen; all other possibilities were
           closed. So all the Jainas in India became businessmen, and a strange phenomenon happened: all their
           violence... because just by not being a fighter or a hunter or a cultivator makes no difference; you are
           the same person. All their violence became exploitation: they cannot cut off your head, but they can
           suck your blood. And they became the richest people in the country, for the simple reason that all
           their violence became concentrated only on one thing, and that was money.
               This was not evolution. These people were not better people. The teaching of nonviolence has
           not helped them to become better -- they have become worse! They are the greediest, the most
           materialist, the most money-minded; their whole world is money, because every other avenue is
           closed. They talk about money, they think about money, they dream about money. And they can do
           anything to accumulate money.
               Whenever you enforce something, the result is not going to bring a betterment. They have not
           become compassionate; to be nonviolent means to be loving and to be compassionate. They have
           become just the opposite. They are not compassionate, they are not kind, they are not loving.
               In many other spheres, by different religions, it has been tried to make man something above
           nature. The result has been without any exception, failure. You are born as a natural being. You
           cannot go above yourself. It is just like trying to lift yourself off the ground by pulling your legs.
           You may hop a little, but sooner or later you are going to fall to the ground, and you may have a few
           fractures. You cannot fly.
               And that's what has been done. People have been trying to raise themselves above nature, which
           means above themselves. They are not separate from nature, but the idea suited their egos: you are
           not animals so you have to be above nature; you cannot behave like animals. People have even tried
           to make animals not behave like animals; they have tried to make them go a little above nature.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In the Victorian age in England, dogs were clothed when people used to take them for a walk.
           The dogs had coats to prevent them being natural, to prevent them being naked and nude -- which is
           suitable to animals. These kind of people are trying to raise their dogs a little higher than animals.
                You will be surprised to know that in the Victorian age in England, even the legs of chairs were
           covered -- for the simple reason that they were called legs, and legs should be covered. Bertrand
           Russell, who lived almost one century -- a long life -- remembers in his childhood that seeing the
           feet of a woman was enough to get sexually excited. The dresses were made in such a way that they
           covered the feet; you could not see the feet.
                It was believed, even just one hundred years ago, that the women of the royal family don't have
           two legs. Royalty has to be somehow different than ordinary, common humanity, and nobody had
           seen -- and there was no possibility to see -- whether their legs were separate from each other.
                But the ego... neither did those royal people make it clear: "This is nonsense, we are as human as
           you are." The ego prevented them. If the people are putting them on a higher pedestal, then why
           bother? -- just remain royal. That was one of the reasons why royal families would not allow
           anybody, a commoner, to be married into the royal family, because he may expose the whole thing:
           "These people are just as human as everybody else; there is nothing royal about them." But for
           centuries they maintained the idea.
                I would also like you to be different from the animals, but not in the sense that you can go above
           nature -- no. You can go deeper into nature, you can be more natural than animals. They are not free,
           they are in a deep coma; they cannot do anything other than what their ancestors have been doing for
           millennia.
                You can be more natural than any animal. You can go to the abysmal depths of nature, and you
           can go to the very heights of nature, but you will not be going beyond in any way. You will be
           becoming more natural, you will be becoming more multidimensionally natural.
                To me the religious man is not one who is above nature, but is the man who is totally natural,
           fully natural, who has explored nature in all its dimensions, who has not left anything unexplored.
                Animals are prisoners; they have a certain limited area of being. Man has the capacity, the
           intelligence, the freedom to explore. And if you have explored nature totally, you have come home.
           Nature is your home. And then death is a joy, is a celebration. Then you die without any complaint;
           you die with deep gratitude, because life gave you so much, and death is simply the ultimate height
           of all that you have lived.
                It is just like before the flame of a candle goes out it burns brightest... the natural man, before he
           dies, lives brightest for a moment; he is all light, all truth.
           To me this is natural death.
                But it has to be earned; it is not given to you. The opportunity is given to you, but you have to
           explore, you have to earn, you have to deserve.
                Even to see the death of an authentic man, just to be near him while he is dying, you will be
           filled suddenly with a strange joy. Your tears will not be of sadness, sorrow; they will be of gratitude
           and blissfulness -- because when a man dies naturally, living his life fully, he spreads his being into
           the whole of nature. Those who are present and close to him are bathed... a sudden freshness, a
           breeze, a new fragrance and a new feeling that death is not something bad, that death is not
           something to be afraid of, that death is something to be earned, to be deserved.
                I teach you the art of life. But it can be called also the art of death. They are both the same.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW CAN ONE GET OUT OF THE TRAP THE MIND CREATES OF NEVER BEING QUITE
              BLISSFUL IN THE MOMENT, AND BEING PATIENT, LETTING THE GRASS GROW BY ITSELF.
              I'M ALWAYS WANTING TO MOVE FASTER, TO PUSH THE RIVER, AND MISSING THE BEAUTY
              OF IT TAKING ME IN ITS OWN TIME. WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               It is one of the eternal questions.
           The East has come up with something very close to the truth. There are religions born in India and
           religions born outside India; the religions born outside all believe in one life -- that is, seventy years.
           Naturally, one is in a hurry; one has to be in a hurry -- such a small life and so much to do, so much
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to experience, so much to explore. That's why the Western mind is speedy, wanting to do everything
           faster and faster, quickly, because his conception of life is too small. You cannot blame him.
                The religions born in India have an eternal expanse -- life after life. There is no hurry, there is no
           haste. But man is so stupid that you solve one question, and out of the solution a thousand other
           questions will arise. The idea of many lives was really to help you to relax: there is no hurry; the
           eternity is yours, so don't run, just walk the way you go for a morning walk -- at ease, relaxed.
                That was the idea of the people who gave the conception of reincarnation, but people are such
           that rather than becoming relaxed, they became lazy. They said, "There is no hurry, so why bother
           even to walk? Running is out of question but even to go for a morning walk, what is the need?
           Eternity is yours -- you can go any time for your morning walk."
                The East became poor because of this, because no technology was evolved. Technology is just to
           make things quickly, to produce things faster than man can do with his own hands. The people
           remained poor, went on becoming poorer. The idea was good, but the consequences proved not to be
           good.
                The West has just the opposite idea -- of a small life. It created great tension and anxiety, but it
           created technology, scientific developments, richness, comfort, luxuries; it created everything. But
           the man inside was lost, because he was always running. He was never where he was; he was always
           going for something else. And that goal where you can stop never comes. So in the West people have
           means of speed, and they are going fast. But don't ask them, "Where are you going?" Don't waste
           their time in asking such stupid questions! All that matters is that they are going fast; it does not
           matter where they are going and why they are going.
                Both ideas have failed. Eastern religions have not been of help; Western religions have not been
           of help. They both tried to give you an idea, but they never gave you an insight into your own being.
           That's where I differ.
                For example, your question is that you understand, "Relax and let the grass grow by itself," but
           still you go on pushing.
                No, you don't understand. The first thing for you to understand is that you don't understand the
           meaning of the grass growing by itself. If you understand that, the pushing, the forcing, will
           disappear. When I say it will disappear, I am not saying it will stop. It will differ with different
           people.
                If you understand what it means that the grass grows by itself... such a vast universe is going so
           silently, so peacefully; millions of solar systems, millions of stars moving day in, day out, from
           eternity to eternity... If you understand that existence is happening, it is not doing, then if pushing is
           your nature you will accept it. It is not a question of stopping it, because that will be again doing.
           You simply understand that things are happening, that this is how you are: that you push, that you
           force. Then there is a great acceptance of it, and in that acceptance, the tension disappears.
                For a few others the pushing may disappear -- if it is not part of their nature, if they are imitating
           somebody else, if they are competing with somebody else and because everybody else is pushing,
           they are pushing. It may stop, understanding that things are happening, and you need not
           unnecessarily bother about them; you can enjoy silently the way things are happening. You can
           contribute without any anxiety anything that comes naturally to you; but not beyond that.
                So each individual will have different things happening out of the same understanding. If
           pushing is your nature, then there is nothing wrong in it. Enjoy it, push as much as you can -- but
           with a song and with a dance, and without being worried that you are pushing. This is you. This is
           your grass, and it grows this way. There are grasses and grasses.
                Just one thing has to be remembered, that anything that you are doing is joyfully done,
           rejoicingly done -- that's enough. Different people will be doing different things, and the world needs
           that different people should do different things. It is the richness of the world, that all are not alike,
           and should not be alike. But on one point they should meet; and that is the cosmic center of being
           relaxed.
                In Japan they have developed strange things for meditative purposes... Japan has done a
           tremendous service to humanity. Meditation was developed in India, but it remained a very limited
           phenomenon -- just sitting in a lotus posture witnessing your thoughts, becoming silent. It did the
           work, but Japan tried different dimensions, strange dimensions: swordsmanship, but with meditation.
           Two swordsmen bent upon killing each other have to remain centered in themselves without tension,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           without fear, without anger, without revenge, just playful.
               To the observer it is a question of life and death, but to those two meditators it is playfulness.
           And a strange thing has been observed again and again: if both the meditators are of the same depth
           in meditation, nobody wins, nobody is killed. Even before one person raises the sword to hit the
           other person at a certain point -- even before he has done that -- just that idea of his has reached to
           the other, and his sword is ready to protect him.
               It is impossible to declare who is the winner. Ordinarily it is difficult to think of swordsmanship
           and meditation, aikido and meditation, jujitsu and meditation, wrestling and meditation. But in Japan
           they have tried every dimension possible, and they have found that it doesn't matter what you are
           doing; what matters is, are you centered?
               If you are centered then you can do anything and it will not create any tension; your relaxation
           will remain the same.
               So don't be worried about pushing. Just try to understand that we are so small compared to this
           immense universe; what we do or don't do makes no difference to existence. We are not to be serious
           about it. I was not here and existence continued; I will not be here, and existence will continue. I
           should not take myself seriously.
               That is a fundamental understanding of a meditator -- that he does not take himself seriously.
           Then relaxation comes automatically. And with relaxation, whatsoever is natural to you continues,
           and whatsoever is not natural to you falls on its own accord.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE QUESTION FOR THE MEDITATOR USED TO BE, "HOW TO BE IN THE WORLD AND NOT
              OF IT?" SINCE THE RANCH AND HAVING MOVED BACK INTO THE WORLD, MANY OF US FEEL
              ALIEN, DIFFERENT, NOT OF IT.
              THE QUESTION NOW SEEMS TO BE, "HOW TO BE IN IT?"


               No, still the question is to be in the world and not to be of it. To be in it does not change the first
           position. The first position allows you to be in the world but not worldly.
               It is perfectly good that you feel alien -- there is nothing wrong in it. You should feel so, that this
           world in which you have to be is not the world where you can synchronize with people, with their
           ideas, with their behavior.
               This world is not the right world -- I mean the human world. And you want to be in it, part of it?
           Then you have to be a Christian in a Christian society. Then you have to go to the church, then you
           have to believe in THE HOLY BIBLE. Do you want to be in this way in the world? Then all that you
           have done before has been a sheer wastage of time.
               Being in the world only means that you will be doing a job, that you will be earning your bread,
           that you will be living with people who are not of the same mind as you, that you will be living
           amongst foreigners; and naturally, you will feel alien. But that is something to be happy about.
           I have not sent you into the world to get lost.
               I have sent you into the world to remain yourself in spite of the world. And that was the meaning
           of the original statement: To be in the world but not of it. It remains unchanged. It is so fundamental
           that it will remain unchanged.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ONE OF THE THINGS I ENJOY MOST IN THIS LIFE IS HEARING YOU DESCRIBE THE STATE OF
              ENLIGHTENMENT. FOR THOSE OF US WHO LOVE TO LISTEN, CAN YOU ONCE AGAIN SAY
              SOMETHING ABOUT THE UNSAYABLE?


                It is true that there is nothing more beautiful, more blissful than enlightenment -- even the talk of
           it, even the faraway echo, even the shadow of it. The moon reflected in the water is not the real
           moon, but still it has tremendous beauty; and if the waters of your mind are silent, then the moon
           reflected in those waters is exactly the same.
                It is not your experience, but it is someone's experience you love, it is someone's experience you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           trust. And just because you love and you trust, you start sharing the experience in a subtle way.
                It is certainly difficult to say anything about it, although my whole life I have been saying things
           about it -- and only about it. Even if, though, I am talking about other things, I am only talking to
           lead you towards an understanding of enlightenment.
                It is your state of silence, it is your state of universal-hood.
           It is you without the ego and its problems.
                It is you without any questions and without any answer either -- simply silent.
                And there is no joy which can transcend this silence.
           It is pure light, it is pure delight.
                I can understand your question. Just to hear about it again and again is a necessary need, so you
           don't forget why you are here.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #12
                                      Chapter title: Obedience needs no art
           18 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604180
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 90 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I HEAR YOU SPEAKING OF YOUR VISION, I CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL THAT THOSE FEW
              DARING PEOPLE AROUND YOU WILL LIVE TO EXPERIENCE THE NEW MAN. BUT IT FEELS
              MORE LIKE A HUNDRED YEARS AWAY BEFORE MAN AT LARGE WILL COME TO SEE AND
              LIVE THE GENIUS OF YOUR WAYS. IS THIS TRUE?


                It is true.
           Even if it happens in a hundred years time it will be soon.
           But the question is significant in a totally different way. It is not the realization of the vision, the
           coming of the new man, a new humanity... that will come in its own time. The more important thing
           is to be able to visualize it.
                Everything great that has happened in the world has been an idea first. Sometimes it took
           hundreds of years for it to become a reality, but the joy of having a vision, an insight into the future,
           is immense. The people who are with me should rejoice that they can see a possibility of the old
           rotten world disappearing and a new fresh human being taking its place.
                Just the vision will change you at least, will shift your being from the past to the future. In a
           certain way you will start living the new man, who has not yet come. You will start living the new
           man in small ways, and each moment of that living will be a blessing. And as you become
           acquainted, within yourself, with the explosion of the new and the destruction of the old, you are
           changing, you are going through a revolution.
                I am interested in you. Who cares about what is going to happen after a hundred years?
           Something must be going to happen, but it is not our business. And when I talk about the new man I
           am really talking about you, for you to become aware of the possibility, because that very awareness
           will change you. I am not interested in the future; I am simply interested in the immediate present.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The future will go on for eternity, but if your mind can be cleaned of the past rubbish, and if you
           can see the faraway rising sun... I am not interested in the sun, I am interested in your vision, in your
           capacity to see, in your understanding, in your hope that it is possible. That very hope will become a
           seed in you.
           The new man will come whenever it has to come.
           But the new vision can come right now.
                And with the new vision you participate in a subtle way with the man who has not come yet, with
           the humanity who is still in the womb. You start having a synchronicity, a certain relationship. Your
           roots from the past start dropping, and you start growing your roots into the future.
                But my interest, I repeat, is basically in you. Neither am I interested in the past, nor in the future.
           I talk about the past so you can get rid of it; I talk about the future so you can remain open to it. But
           you are the point of my emphasis.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              NOTHING THRILLS ME MORE THAN WHEN YOU SPEAK ABOUT NIRVANA. HOW MYSTERIOUS
              IT IS THAT I CAN LONG FOR SOMETHING SO MUCH THAT I DON'T KNOW AND YOU CAN'T
              SAY. THE WORD ITSELF IS STILL UNPOLLUTED AND SO WONDROUS. ON THE OTHER HAND,
              I NOTICED THE OTHER WEEK THAT WE NOW HAVE "ENLIGHTENED" INSURANCE POLICIES!
              WOULD YOU PLEASE THRILL MY HEART ONCE MORE?


               This must be Kaveesha, because the question can come only from California. In California you
           can have enlightened insurance policies. In California everything is possible! But there is no
           insurance, no guarantee for enlightenment. You have to earn it, you have to deserve it. Nobody can
           give it to you; it is not a commodity.
               And I can see why the word nirvana thrills you into ecstasies. It is certainly one of the words
           which is unpolluted. There is a reason why it remained unpolluted. The first reason that it remained
           unpolluted was its meaning. Unless you have come to a deep understanding of yourself and
           existence, the word nirvana will create fear in you. It is a negative word. Literally it means "blowing
           out the candle."
               Gautam Buddha used the word for the ultimate state of consciousness. He could have chosen
           some positive word, and in India there were many positive words for it: moksha, freedom, liberation;
           kaivalya, aloneness, absolute aloneness; brahmanubava, the experience of the ultimate. But he chose
           a strange word, which has never been used in spiritual contexts: "blowing out the candle." How can
           you relate it with a spiritual experience?
               Buddha says your so-called self is nothing but a flame, and it is being kept burning through your
           desires. When all desires disappear the candle has disappeared. Now the flame cannot exist anymore.
           The flame also disappears -- disappears into the vast universe, leaving no trace behind it; you cannot
           find it again. It is there but it has gone forever from any identity, from any limitation.
               Hence Buddha chose the word nirvana rather than realization, because realization still can give
           you some egoistic superiority -- that you are a realized person, that you are a liberated being, that
           you are enlightened, that you are illuminated, that you have found it. But you remain. And Buddha is
           saying you are lost -- who is going to find it? You disperse, you were only a combination. Now each
           element goes to its original source. The identity of the individual is no more. Yes, you will exist as
           the universe...
               So Buddha avoided any positive word, knowing the human tendency, because each positive word
           can give you a feeling of ego. No negative word can do that; that's why it remains unpolluted. You
           cannot pollute something which is not. And people were very much afraid to use the word -- with a
           deep inner trembling -- nirvana.
               Thousands of times Buddha was asked, "Your word nirvana does not create in us an excitement,
           does not create in us a desire to achieve it. The ultimate truth, self-realization, the realization of God
           -- all those create a desire, a great desire. Your word creates no desire."
               And Buddha said again and again, "That is the beauty of the word. All those words which create
           desire in you are not going to help you, because desire itself is the root cause of your misery.
           Longing for something is your tension. Nirvana makes you absolutely free from tension: there is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing to desire. On the contrary, you have to prepare yourself to accept a dissolution. In
           dissolution you cannot claim the ego, hence the word remains unpolluted."
               No other word has remained unpolluted. Its negativity is the reason -- and only a great master
           can contribute to humanity something which, even if you want, you cannot pollute. Twenty-five
           centuries... but there is no way. Nirvana is going to dissolve you; you cannot do anything to nirvana.
               It is certainly the purest word. Even its sound, whether you understand the meaning or not, is
           soothing, gives a deep serenity and silence, which no other word -- god-realization, the absolute, the
           ultimate... no other word gives that feeling of silence. The moment you hear the word nirvana it
           seems as if time has stopped, as if there is nowhere to go.
               In this very moment you can melt, dissolve, disappear, without leaving any trace behind.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE ANECDOTE YOU TOLD ABOUT MULLA NASRUDDIN AND THE SACK OF SUGAR
              PINPOINTED THE REASON FOR MY OCCASIONAL RESISTANCE TO BEING TOLD WHAT TO
              DO. WHEN NASRUDDIN'S FATHER SAW WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE SUGAR, HE NEED
              ONLY HAVE MADE HIS SON AWARE OF IT, WITHOUT PROVIDING A SOLUTION. HAVING HAD
              THE SITUATION POINTED OUT TO HIM, THE MULLA, IF HE HAD ANY INTELLIGENCE -- AND IT
              SEEMS HE HAD HIS FAIR SHARE -- COULD HAVE IMMEDIATELY SEEN WHAT WAS NEEDED
              TO BE DONE AND ACTED ACCORDINGLY. BUT HIS FATHER DID NOT ALLOW HIM THE
              CHANCE TO THINK IT OUT FOR HIMSELF.
              TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO USE THEIR INTELLIGENCE AND INITIATIVE SEEMS TO BE A
              CREATIVE WAY OF PUTTING ONE'S AUTHORITY INTO ACTION.
              I WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR COMMENT.


               The story is simply a way of saying very complex and complicated things. As far as the story is
           concerned, you are right; the father could have explained. There was no need for any order, and no
           need for obedience or disobedience. But it is a story.
               In actual life there are things -- particularly for example God, or the soul, or paradise, the temple,
           worship, the prayer to an unknown God... there is no way to explain. The father cannot explain God
           -- he himself does not know. He has been told, he accepted it, and he has believed it. Now it is time
           for him to tell the son -- how can he explain? And that's where I come into the story.
               Your whole society and the mind of your society is based on things which can be only believed
           but cannot be explained; hence the necessity of obedience; hence the angry reaction of your elders if
           you disobey.
               It was a problem for me also in my childhood. My whole family was going to the temple and I
           was resistant. I was willing -- if they could explain what this whole thing was all about. They had no
           explanation except, "It has been done always, and it is good to follow your elders, to follow your old
           generations, to follow the ancient heritage... it is good." This is not an explanation.
               I told them, "I am not asking whether it is good or bad; I am asking what it is. I don't see any
           God, I see only a stone statue. And you know perfectly well that it is a stone statue -- you know
           better than me, because you have purchased it from the market. So God is being sold in the market?
           You have installed it with your own hands in the temple; at what point did it become God? --
           because in the shop of the sculptor it is not worshipped. People are haggling for its price; nobody is
           praying to it! Nobody thinks that these are gods, because there are so many statues. And you can
           choose according to your liking.
               "You haggled for the price, you purchased the statue, and I have been an observer all the time,
           waiting to see at what moment the stone statue becomes God, at what moment it is not a commodity
           to be purchased and sold, but a divinity to be worshipped."
               They had no explanation. There is no explanation, because in fact it never became God; it is still
           a statue. It is just no longer in the shop, it is in the temple. And what is the temple? -- another house.
               I was asking them, "I want to participate with you in your prayers, in your worship; I don't want
           to remain an outsider. But I cannot do it against myself. First I have to be satisfied, and you don't
           give any answer that is satisfying. And what are you saying in your prayers?
               "`Give us this,' `Give us that' -- and do you see the whole hilarious scene? You have purchased a
           stone statue, installed it in a house, and now you are begging from the statue, which is purchased by
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, `Give us this,' `Give us that... prosperity to our family, health to our family.' You are behaving
           very strangely, in a weird way, and I cannot participate in it.
                "I don't want to disobey for disobedience's sake. And this is not disobedience; I am ready to
           follow your order, but you are not prepared to give it to me. You never asked your own parents.
           They lived in ignorance, you are living in ignorance, and you want me also to live in ignorance."
                They thought that I would cool down by and by. They used to take me to the temple. They would
           all bow down, and I would stand by the side. And my father would say to me, "Just for our sake... it
           doesn't look good. It looks odd that you stand by the side when everybody is bowing down with so
           much religiousness."
                I said, "I don't see any religiousness; I simply see a certain kind of exercise. And if these people
           are so much interested in exercise, they can go to a gymnasium, which will really give them health.
                "Here they are asking, `Give us health,' and `Give us wealth.' Go to the gymnasium and there you
           will get health, and you will have real exercises. This is not much! And you are right that it looks
           odd -- not my standing here but you all doing all kinds of stupid rituals. You are odd. I may be in the
           minority, but I am not odd.
                "And you say for your sake I should participate. Why are you not participating with me for my
           sake? You all should stand in a line in the corner -- That will show that you really want to
           participate."
                Finally he told me, "It is better you don't come to the temple, because other people come and
           they see you, and you are always doing something nasty."
                I said, "What?"... because I was always sitting with my back towards God, which is not allowed
           -- that is "nasty."
                I said, "If God is omnipotent, he can change his position. Why should I be bothered about it? But
           he goes on sitting in the same position. If he does not want to see my back, he can move; he can start
           looking at the other side. I am more alive than your God, that's why you tell me to change my
           position; you don't tell your God. You know that he is dead."
           And they said, "Don't say such things!"
                I said, "What can I do? He does not breathe, he does not speak, and I don't think he hears,
           because a man who is not breathing, who is not seeing, who cannot move, cannot hear -- all these
           things happen in an organic unity, and the organism has to be alive. So to whom are you praying?"
                And slowly, slowly I persuaded my family to get rid of the temple. It was made by my family,
           but then they gave it to the community; they stopped going there. I told them, "Unless you explain it
           to me, your going shows that you are not behaving intelligently."
                So the question is not the story. The story is a simplification of the complicated life situations
           where explanations have never been given. For thousands of years man has lived without
           explanations, has lived in obedience, has not questioned, has not doubted, has not been skeptical; has
           been afraid to, because these are all sins -- obedience is virtue.
                To me obedience is not virtue: intelligence is virtue. If you follow something because it appeals
           to your intelligence, it becomes virtuous. And if you don't follow something because your
           intelligence is against it, it has not to be condemned as sin.
                The mind of man, for centuries, has been conditioned to obey.
                I want a society where we will drop all those things which cannot be explained. Then only,
           obedience can be dropped.
                I have not removed God without any reason; it is all a connected whole.
                If God is not removed, obedience remains in religion. Then religion never becomes a scientific
           approach towards your own interiority.
                So anything that cannot be explained should not be ordered. Those things should be taken out of
           the human mind. But then, what remains of your religion? God disappears, hell and heaven
           disappear.
                Mahavira believed in three hells, because people are committing sins in different categories.
           Naturally, to put all of them in one hell and punish them in the same way is illogical. He was a man
           of logic; he was very mathematical. You will be surprised to know that twenty-five centuries ago he
           said everything about the theory of relativity that Einstein discovered in this century. Of course not
           in such minute detail, because he had no way to experiment; it was just his vision....
                So he has three hells. Christianity has only one, Mohammedanism has only one, Judaism has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only one -- why does Mahavira insist on three? Because he can see that it is unjustified: somebody
           has committed a small sin, has simply stolen a little money from somebody else, and somebody has
           killed many people, murdered, raped. Now putting them together with the same punishment is
           illogical. So he has three categories.
               In the first will be the light sinners: the people who have been smoking, and drinking tea and
           coffee, and eating ice cream etc. They are not doing very great sins, so just the first hell will be for
           them, just to give them a little torture. Not to give them their ice cream will be enough; to put them
           in hellfire seems too much! In the second will be the heavier sinners. And in the third will be the
           most heavy ones, the greatest sinners.
               But it is not so easy to categorize into three. Buddha has seven hells, because he sees that with
           three you still cannot be fair, because there are so many kinds of people and so many kinds of sins
           that a little more scope is needed to be fair. He has seven hells. But nobody has any explanation;
           nobody can prove their existence. It is just hypothetical.
               There was a man, Sanjay Belattiputta who was also a great teacher, contemporary to Buddha and
           Mahavira. He has seven hundred hells because, he says, "These people don't understand the
           complexity." And I think he is right. As far as complexity is concerned, even seven hundred hells
           may not be enough. You may have to find a hell for everyone, for every single sinner, because two
           sinners cannot be put together: it will be unfair to this person, or to that person. There is no criterion,
           no weighing machine so that you can decide how much sin you have done, how many kilos.
               But it is all hypothetical. And whom to listen to? -- all the three persons are great teachers, great
           masters. But what they are saying, although it seems to be reasonable, is still hypothetical.
           Somebody may come and may talk about seven thousand, and you cannot refute them and you
           cannot prove them.
               Once you ask for an explanation for everything, your religions will start withering away. Your
           political ideologies will be found to be based on nonsense.
               For example, communism is based on the equality of man -- and there are not two men who are
           equal, or have ever been equal. It is psychological nonsense to talk of the equality of man. Each
           individual is unique; there is no question of comparison. All that your mind is filled with -- if you
           take it item by item and try to find out evidence, proof, explanation, you will be surprised: you are
           carrying an unnecessary load.
               Yes, there are things which cannot be explained but still they are true. But they are not to be
           ordered either; they have to be learned in a deep, loving atmosphere.
               If you trust a master, if you love a master, if you can feel his authenticity, sincerity, his
           humanness, then perhaps he can talk about things which are but can only be experienced, which
           cannot be explained. But such a man will not order you to believe in them.
               For example, I cannot tell you to believe in reincarnation, although I know it is a truth. But
           because I cannot prove it, I cannot ask you to believe in it. I can only ask you to explore, to go
           deeper into your meditation, to go deeper into your own being, so that you can reach to when you
           were born; and still a little deeper, so that you can feel that you are in your mother's womb.
               You have been in your mother's womb, and the memory of it is carried by you. Go further back,
           and you can see the moment in which you were conceived, the moment when your father and mother
           provided the opportunity for your soul to enter into a body. Go back a little more, and you can see
           yourself dying -- your past life's end. You can move backwards into a few lives but that will be your
           experience; still you cannot explain to anybody else, and you cannot insist that they should believe
           your experience. You may be hallucinating, it may be an illusion, it may be a dream. It is not --
           because dreams have different definitions.
               You cannot repeat a dream. Have you thought about it? You see a dream, and tomorrow you
           want to repeat it -- can you repeat it? It is beyond you. It may come sometime, but you cannot repeat
           it.
               But by going into your past life, you can repeat; it is within your hands, it is not a dream. A
           hallucination needs unconsciousness, a drugged state. In meditation you are not unconscious, you are
           conscious -- more conscious than ever; hence your experience of past lives cannot be a hallucination.
           But these are your inner experiences, and they remain individual.
               There are things which cannot be explained; they are there, but they need not be ordered. They
           have also been ordered -- to be a Hindu you have to believe in reincarnation. But the person who
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           believes in reincarnation knows nothing about it. And every belief dulls your intelligence.
                So it is right that Mulla Nasruddin's father could have explained to his son rather than ordering
           him, but he is ordering because otherwise the story would have lost all meaning. The story is a Sufi
           story; it has a certain purpose. If the father had explained, and Mulla Nasruddin had followed the
           explanation, what story would there be?
                The story is there to indicate something about human beliefs, which can only be ordered, which
           can only be obeyed, which cannot be explained. And if the younger generation wants to get rid of
           them, the only way is to disobey everything that does not convince them.
           Disobedience is an art.
                It is not against anybody, and it is not something hard. You can be very polite, you can be really
           nice, and yet disobedient. It looks difficult because we have become accustomed to the association
           that the disobedient person is a hard person, that he is not gentle, that he is not nice. That is a wrong
           association.
                I have disobeyed my whole life -- my parents, my teachers, my elders -- but I have never let them
           feel that I am in any way disrespectful to them, or that I am being nasty to them.
           Disobedience is a greater art than obedience.
           Obedience needs no art.
                One of my professors, Professor S.S. Roy, was in deep love with me -- so much so that at times
           he would say, "Okay, so you come here, near the board, and you explain to the class if you feel my
           explanation is not enough, or is not adequate." And he would go and sit in my place, and I would
           stand in his place and teach the class.
                I asked him again and again, "Do you feel that I am disrespectful to you?"
                He said, "Never. Don't be worried about it." He was very much concerned that I go to the
           examination hall, because he knew perfectly well that I was not interested in examinations or in
           getting degrees or anything. I was in the university to sharpen my intelligence, not to get a
           certificate. So he would come to my room, take me in his car to the examination hall, see with his
           own eyes that I had entered into the hall -- and then he would leave.
                I told him the first day, "I have not prepared at all about this subject. And I am going to be
           absolutely original, because any answer that I am going to give will not be found in any book!"
                He said, "My God, why did you not tell me? -- because I have set this paper. Don't be worried,
           there is still time." He took out his notebook and gave me five questions, and told me, sitting in the
           car, answers to each, in short. He said, "I am giving you just the essential answers, then you can
           elaborate."
                When he was finished, I told him, "Don't feel hurt -- I will not use a single sentence of what you
           have told me, because it is unfair. You have set the paper; you should not let me know. You have
           created more difficulty for me. Now I will have to avoid everything that you have said."
           He said, "You are strange!"
                I said, "I am not strange, I am simply saying that you have done wrong; now please don't force
           me to do wrong." And it was a difficult paper because he had given me the questions, he had given
           me the answers, and I had to avoid his answers. But it was a great exercise to find my own answers
           -- absolutely clean, unpolluted. And he was also the examiner of that paper, so as my paper reached
           to him and he saw it, he could not believe his eyes: I had really avoided everything that he had said; I
           had not even used one word.
                He called me, and said, "I am sorry that I gave you such trouble. I can see how difficult it must
           have been for you to avoid all the right answers, and yet remain right. But you did well, and I am
           giving you ninety-nine percent marks. I wanted to give you one hundred percent, but that would look
           a little too much, so I have cut one mark.
                "But to you I can say that that was my desire -- to give you one hundred percent marks, for the
           simple reason that you have been able to avoid all the real answers and yet you have managed to
           answer my questions relevantly. And these answers cannot be found in any textbook; it must have
           been a strain on you."
                I said, "No, it has not been. It has been just a play, just an exercise."
                "Still," he asked, "why did you not listen to me? That would have been the easiest thing."
                I said, "You know that I cannot do anything which is unfair; no other student knew it. Now these
           ninety-nine percent are my own earning. If I had repeated your answers I would have always felt
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           guilty that I was part of some unfair process. But don't feel hurt; I have not rejected your answers for
           any other reason."
               You can be disobedient with great artfulness; in fact you will have to learn much artfulness to be
           disobedient. So to anything that has no explanation, and is being forced on you, it is good to say no.
               But there will come a moment in your life when you are close to a mystic -- then don't ask for
           explanations, because he is not ordering you to believe anything or disbelieve anything. He is simply
           opening his heart to you. He is not asking for any response from you, so the question of obedience
           and disobedience does not arise.
           Don't ask explanations from him.
           Ask how to experience what he is saying.
               So there is a world of explanations, which is mundane.
               And there is a world of experience, which is really the very truth, the very essence of life, the
           very foundation of existence.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ARE WE REALLY LOOKING FOR THE ANSWER TO OUR NUMEROUS QUESTIONS? IT OCCURS
              TO ME THERE MUST BE, FOR EACH OF US PRESENT HERE, ONE QUESTION THAT
              CHARACTERIZES US, AND WHICH, IF WE COULD JUST PINPOINT IT, WOULD ACT LIKE A
              BEACON. THEN THAT QUESTION WOULD BE ENOUGH IN ITSELF AND WITHOUT THE NEED
              FOR AN ANSWER.


                In fact there is no question which will be an answer to you. The reality is unquestionably here.
           All your questions are not really in search of answers -- but they can put you in great trouble.
                If the man you are asking the question to is a scholar, a pedagogue, then he can give you an
           answer which will create thousands of questions. You had come only with one question; he has
           given one answer. Now that answer creates thousands of questions -- and that's how it has been
           going on in philosophy, in theology. Each question leads to an answer, and that answer leads to
           many questions. And this goes on growing.
                In fact, if the man you are asking knows, then he is not answering your question; he is destroying
           it. He is trying that you get rid of it. He is not putting an answer in its place, because then that will
           torture you.
                This is the real work of a master, a mystic, that sooner or later the people who are with him start
           feeling questionless.
           To be questionless is the answer.
                There is no answer... it is not that when you are questionless all your questions have been
           demolished. It is not that you come upon a hidden answer.
           No, there is nothing hidden.
                All the rubbish has been removed. You feel just a clean and clear consciousness. This is the
           answer... Not the answer to any question, but the state of no question is the answer that we are
           seeking and searching. Every question is a burden, every question is a wound, every question is a
           tension. And to be questionless, to be completely free of all questions...
                There is a story in the life of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. He was working with his disciples in the
           desert, in a small monastery. A few travelers passing by, just out of curiosity stopped and went in.
           They saw that in the courtyard the students were sitting, the disciples were sitting, and Mevlana --
           Mevlana means the beloved master -- Mevlana Rumi was answering them.
                They got fed up, because strange questions and strange answers... they went on their way. After
           years of traveling, they came back, and stopped again to see what was happening. Only Mevlana
           Rumi was sitting there, and there were no disciples. They were really shocked -- what had
           happened? They went to Mevlana and they said, "What happened?"
                Mevlana laughed. He said, "This is my whole work. I crushed all their questions, and now they
           have no questions so I have told them, `Go and do the same to others: crush their questions. And if
           you find somebody you cannot manage, send him here!'"
                When all questions are removed, you are again a child, utterly innocent. Then your mind is
           bound to be silent, and there is no possibility of it getting disturbed. And a great serenity...
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is the answer. There are no words in it, and it is not relevant to any question in particular; it
           is only a state of silence.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #13
                                    Chapter title: Christianity is an empty box
           18 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604185
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 99 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              MODERN CHRISTIANS ARE MAKING DESPERATE ATTEMPTS TO SAVE THEIR RELIGION
              FROM ITS PRIMITIVE, SUPERSTITIOUS PAST -- AND FROM THE FUNDAMENTALISTS!
              FOR EXAMPLE, A MODERNIST IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND BELIEVES, IT IS SAID, IN A GOD
              WHO WORKS THROUGH EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES ONLY, DOES NOT DOUBT THE
              EXISTENCE OF JESUS CHRIST, BUT WOULD NOT LOSE HIS FAITH IF IT WERE TO BE PROVED
              THAT JESUS NEVER EXISTED, AND CLAIMS TO BELIEVE IN THE SUPERNATURAL, BUT NOT
              IN THE MIRACULOUS. HIS JESUS DID NOT PERFORM MIRACLES AND WAS NOT BORN OF A
              VIRGIN. THE TOMB WAS NOT EMPTY. ETHICS ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO THE MODERNIST
              THAN DOCTRINE.
              DOWN THE SAME PATH IS TRAVELING OUR OLD FRIEND, THE BISHOP OF DURHAM, WHO
              GOT INTO TROUBLE FOR HIS COMMENTS LAST YEAR ABOUT THE VIRGIN BIRTH AND
              RESURRECTION. HE WAS RECENTLY QUOTED AS SAYING, "EITHER GOD DOES NOT EXIST
              OR ELSE HE MUST ESTABLISH HIS OWN EXISTENCE."
              IS THE RESURRECTION OF CHRISTIANITY ANY MORE LIKELY THAN THAT OF A JESUS
              CHRIST HIMSELF?


               The resurrection of Jesus Christ may be possible, but not the resurrection of Christianity.
               In fact Jesus never died on the cross. It takes at least forty-eight hours for a person to die on the
           Jewish cross; and there have been known cases where people have existed almost six days on the
           cross without dying. Because Jesus was taken down from the cross after only six hours, there is no
           possibility of his dying on the cross. It was a conspiracy between a rich sympathizer of Jesus and
           Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus as late as possible on Friday -- because on Saturday, Jews stop
           everything; their Sabbath does not allow any act. By the evening of Friday everything stops.
               The arrangement was that Jesus would be crucified late in the afternoon, so before sunset he
           would be brought down. He might have been unconscious because so much blood had flowed out of
           the body, but he was not dead. Then he would be kept in a cave, and before the Sabbath ended and
           the Jews hung him again, his body would be stolen by his followers. The tomb was found empty, and
           Jesus was removed from Judea as quickly as possible. As he again became healthy and healed, he
           moved to India and he lived a long life -- one hundred and twelve years -- in Kashmir.
               It is a coincidence, but a beautiful coincidence, that Moses died in Kashmir and Jesus also died in
           Kashmir. I have been to the graves of both. The graves are ample proof, because those are the only
           two graves that are not pointing towards Mecca. Mohammedans make their graves with the head
           pointing towards Mecca, so in the whole world all the graves of Mohammedans point towards
           Mecca, and Kashmir is Mohammedan.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                These two graves don't point towards Mecca, and the writing on the graves is in Hebrew, which
           is impossible on a Mohammedan grave -- Hebrew is not their language. The name of Jesus is written
           exactly as it was pronounced by the Jews, "Joshua." "Jesus" is a Christian conversion of the Jewish
           name. The grave is certainly of Jesus.
                A family has been taking care of both the graves -- they are very close together in one place,
           Pahalgam -- and only one family has been taking care of them down the centuries. They are Jews --
           they are still Jews -- and I had to take their help to read to me what is written on the graves.
                Moses had come to Kashmir to find a tribe of Jews who were lost on the way from Egypt to
           Jerusalem. When he reached Jerusalem his deep concern was the whole tribe that had got lost
           somewhere in the desert. When his people were established in Jerusalem, he went in search of the
           lost tribe, and he found the lost tribe established in Kashmir. Kashmiris are basically Jewish -- later
           on Mohammedans forcibly converted them -- and Moses lived with them and died there.
                Jesus also went to Kashmir, because then it was known that Moses had found the lost tribe there.
           The doors of Judea were closed -- he would be hanged again -- and the only place where he would
           find the people who speak the same language, the people who have a same kind of mind, where he
           would not be a foreigner, was Kashmir. So it was natural for him to go to Kashmir.
                But he had learned his lesson. He had dropped the idea of being the only begotten son of God;
           otherwise these Jews would crucify him too. He dropped the idea of being a messiah. He lived with
           his few intimate friends and followers in Pahalgam.
                Pahalgam is named after Jesus, because he used to call himself "the shepherd" -- Pahalgam
           means "the town of the shepherd." So it was a small colony of Jesus and his friends, surrounding the
           grave of their forefather and the founder of Judaic tradition. Jesus remained a Jew to the very end; he
           never heard about Christianity.
                But the followers who were left in Judea managed to create the story of resurrection. And there
           was no way to prove it this way or that. Neither could they produce Jesus -- if he was resurrected
           then where was he? Nor could the other party prove what had happened. They had put such a big
           rock on the mouth of the cave that it was impossible for Jesus to have removed it, and there was a
           Roman soldier on duty twenty-four hours, so there was no possibility of anybody else removing the
           rock and taking the body.
                But because Pontius Pilate was from the very beginning against crucifying Jesus.... He could see
           the man was absolutely innocent. He has some crazy ideas, but they are not criminal. And what harm
           does it do to somebody? If someone thinks he is the only begotten son of God, let him enjoy it. Why
           disturb him, and why get disturbed? If somebody thinks he is the messiah and he has brought the
           message of God... if you want to listen, listen; if you don't want to listen, don't listen. But there is no
           need to crucify the man.
                But Jesus learned his lesson -- learned the hard way. In Kashmir he lived very silently with his
           group, praying, living peacefully, no longer trying to change the world. And Kashmir was so far
           away from Judea that in Judea the story of resurrection, amongst the followers of Jesus, became
           significant.
                So I say a kind of resurrection certainly happened -- it was a conspiracy more than a resurrection.
           But certainly Jesus did not die on the cross, he did not die in the cave where he was put; he lived
           long enough.
                But Christianity cannot even conspire to revive itself, to resurrect itself. There is a great
           movement among Christian theologians, and they are making desperate efforts. Their very efforts
           show that they are going to fail. In fact their efforts are ridiculous.
                There is one theologian who says, "There is no God, and we have to accept godless Christianity."
           He knows that it is impossible to prove God to the coming generation; to the young and the fresh
           mind it is impossible to prove God. And the days of belief are over. It is a scientific age: you must
           prove, give the evidence; nobody is going to accept something just by your saying it. So he is ready
           to sacrifice God to save Christianity. What will Christianity be without God?
                There is another theologian who is ready to believe that perhaps Jesus is only a myth, he never
           existed. It is as difficult to prove Jesus' existence as the existence of God, because no contemporary
           literature even mentions his name. There is no proof other than those four gospels of his own
           disciples -- they cannot be called proof. This theologian is willing to drop Jesus to save Christianity,
           but what will Christianity be without God, without Jesus? But they are so desperate to save
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Christianity that they don't see the implications of what they are doing.
               Another theologian says there have been no miracles; all miracles are just inventions of the
           followers. Up to now, for two thousand years, Christianity has depended on the miracles. Those were
           its basic foundations to prove it a superior religion to any other religion -- because Gautam Buddha
           does not walk on water, Mahavira cannot revive a dead man, Krishna cannot heal the sick just by
           touching them, Mohammed cannot make wine out of water.
               These miracles have been, for two thousand years, the superiority of Christianity over all
           religions; otherwise what has Christianity got? But he is ready to drop the miracles because now they
           are continuously hammered. Nobody is ready to believe in them -- they go against the very way
           things are. And nature does not change its rules, its laws, for anybody; it does not take anybody as an
           exception. So the new theologian feels embarrassed. He knows himself that it is impossible to prove
           the miracles.
               I asked the archbishop in Bombay, "You represent Jesus, the pope represents Jesus. You should
           do at least some little miracles as evidence that you are really representatives; otherwise what have
           you got to prove that you are the representative? Walk on water, and the whole world will become
           Christian. And you say faith in Jesus can do miracles -- then try it! You must have faith."
               But no theologian, nor any pope, is ready to walk on water. They all know that nature does not
           change its laws for anybody.
               So it is a bold step, but very dangerous. If you take away all the miracles of Jesus then a very
           poor man, just a carpenter's son, is left behind, with nothing to be compared with Gautam Buddha or
           Mahavira or Zarathustra. Really you take away all his glory which depends on miracles. But you
           cannot prove miracles, and because you cannot prove miracles you create suspicion about Jesus. So
           it is better to drop miracles; at least the suspicion about Jesus will be dropped. But you don't
           understand the implication: without miracles Jesus means nothing.
               Without miracles Buddha remains the same, because he never did any miracles. People loved
           him not for his miracles. People loved him for his clarity of perception, of seeing into the very root
           of things, of giving insights to people to transform life. Walking on water is simply stupid. Even if
           you can do it, then too it is not a miracle, it is simply stupidity, because you will remain the same.
           You will not come out of the water a transformed human being.
               Just to give you an idea of how Gautam Buddha and Jesus will behave in a similar situation....
           Lazarus is dead. His sisters are great devotees -- Lazarus was a great friend of Jesus. They send a
           message to him, "Come, Lazarus is dead!" And they keep his body inside a cave. Jesus comes and he
           calls Lazarus, standing outside the cave, "Lazarus, come out!"
               Lazarus says, "Have you come? Great, I am coming!" And he comes out. It seems to be dramatic,
           it seems to be all planned. It seems the man was not dead. He was a friend, his two sisters were
           devotees -- it was as if he was simply sitting there, waiting.
               But it is not a miracle. And even if it is a miracle, even if Lazarus comes back to life, he is not
           transformed. We don't hear anything else again of Lazarus. A man who has died, a man who has
           gone through the process of death to the beyond, who comes back, cannot be the same. Lazarus
           would have become a great master, but he remained the same person -- no change at all.
               In a similar situation Gautam Buddha behaves differently, and I think that is the way any wise
           man will behave. A woman, Krishagautami, had only one son. Her husband had died, her other
           children had died; she had seen death in its brutal ugliness. Only one son remained, and she was
           living only for him; otherwise there was nothing for her to live for. She wanted to kill herself; she
           had lost everything -- all those people she had loved and lived for. But her neighbors suggested,
           "One son is alive -- without you he will also be dead. Take care of him. We understand your
           sorrow..."
               But one day that boy also died, and Krishagautami went completely mad. It was a coincidence
           that Buddha was staying in the same city of Shravasti. Somebody suggested to Krishagautami, "A
           great mystic is here. Why don't you take your son to him? He can do anything; he is a man of
           tremendous power. Seeing your situation, and knowing his compassion, something is possible.
           Perhaps your son may come back to life."
               Krishagautami went with the dead body. She put the body at the feet of Gautam Buddha and
           said, "I have lost everything -- all my children, my husband. I was living only for this son; now he is
           also dead. I have heard much about your compassion. Now is the time to show it. Let my son get up
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           again, resurrect him."
                Buddha said, "On one condition: you go into the town... to resurrect your child I need a few
           mustard seeds, but they should be from a family where nobody has ever died."
                Krishagautami was not in a state of mind to realize that this was impossible, that the condition
           could not be fulfilled. She went from one house to another and people said, "We can give you as
           many mustard seeds as you want. We can fill our bullock carts with mustard seeds and bring them to
           Gautam Buddha if your son can be revived. But our mustard seeds won't help, because not only one
           but thousands must have died in our family. For generations after generations, people have been
           dying. These mustard seeds are not going to fulfill the condition.
                She went on, and the same was the answer everywhere. She went to the king of Shravasti and
           told him, "Can't you do just a small thing for me? A few mustard seeds and my son can be back,
           alive."
                The king said, "You can have as many mustard seeds as you want."
                But the woman said, "There is a condition, and the condition is that in your family no one should
           have died. And your family is royal -- certainly you will fulfill my condition."
                The king said, with tears in his eyes, "Royal or not royal, death makes no difference. My father
           has died, my son has died, and an unaccountable number of people must have died in my family
           before I was born. You have to forgive me; I can give you anything you want, but that condition
           cannot be fulfilled."
                The whole day going round the city, the woman became alert of a fact... death is inevitable, today
           or tomorrow.
                After seeing the king she came back to Buddha, touched his feet and said, "Please forgive me. I
           was asking you to do something against nature, and you were wise enough not to say no to me.
           Instead you gave me an opportunity to understand that my asking was wrong. Please initiate me. I
           don't have anything to live for, but I would like to know what it is that lives and what it is that dies."
           Buddha initiated her, and she became one of the great meditators among his followers.
                Now, which one do you think is a miracle, Lazarus or Krishagautami? Which one do you think is
           doing the miracle? -- Jesus or Gautam Buddha?
                Gautam Buddha is not doing a miracle at all, but if you understand it rightly, he is doing the
           miracle, because he is changing the woman from a mad state into a meditative state. Even if Lazarus
           becomes alive he remains Lazarus, and one day he will die again, so what is the point?
                But Christianity has depended on these miracles in proving its superiority over other religions; in
           fact those religions are far superior, because they don't depend on such stupid, childish ideas. So
           there are theologians who are ready to drop all miracles. But if you drop all miracles then Jesus is
           left naked; you have taken all his clothes, he has nothing to give to the world.
                One theologian takes God away, another theologian makes Jesus himself a myth, another
           theologian takes miracles away, and the fourth theologian takes religion itself away -- he wants a
           religionless Christianity, but Christianity has to remain! I don't understand: when you have taken all
           the contents, why cling to the box? Now even religion has to be taken away because half of
           humanity is already religionless.
                The communists don't believe in religion, and the communists are not only in the communist
           countries, which is half of humanity; communists are in other countries also. In fact, three-fourths of
           humanity has already dropped religion. The remaining ones are only formally religious. They are not
           much disturbed by the idea of taking religion out. But then what remains?
                It seems you are clinging just to the label, to the name "Christianity." It is a desperate effort, and
           stupid too. Why not accept that Christianity is dead? God is dead, miracles are dead, religion is dead,
           Jesus is no longer born out of a virgin Mary -- so what are you saving?
                I have been looking into all these theologians who are prominent people in the Christian world.
           They have taken all the contents;only an empty box... But why carry on this empty box? For what
           reason? Just an old habit, an old attachment.
                And then there is another effort... because you cannot carry an empty box for long; you will also
           feel that you are doing something foolish. And others will start feeling, when they look into your
           box, that you have a great Christianity! -- Jesus is missing, God is missing, miracles are not there,
           the Virgin Mary is not there. All that was Christianity is not there; then why are you carrying this
           empty box? So there is another effort going on, side by side, to fill the box with something.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So Christian theologians are studying other religions, so as to have something similar. It is going
           to be imitation, unauthentic, because it is not their experience. They call it "comparative religion"; in
           all Christian colleges they study comparative religion.
               I asked the professors and the principals of those colleges, "Why should you be worried about
           other religions? -- you have Christianity." But the problem is that they have to fill the box with
           something, so from other religions they are collecting ideas.
               They are studying psychoanalysis. Now every Christian preacher has compulsorily to study
           psychoanalysis. Now, what does psychoanalysis have to do with religion? But the problem is, what
           religion used to do was to console people in their misery. Now they don't have that religion at all, so
           they have to find some contemporary way to console people. And psychoanalysis is a very thriving
           business all around the world; the most highly-paid professionals are psychoanalysts. So Christians
           think, "They must be doing something for people. Let us learn their art and use it to save
           Christianity." But they don't understand that Freud was against religion, the whole of psychoanalysis
           is against religion. They cannot use it.
               They are studying Karl Marx because the man has converted three-fourths of humanity; he must
           have something -- the idea of equality of human beings. Although he is against religion and against
           God, he has certain values; those values can be taken.
               They are collecting all kinds of things in the box where Christianity used to be. It is so eclectic
           that it does not make one organic whole. If you look into the box you will get into a madness,
           because the things they are taking belong to different systems. Within those systems they have a
           living quality; out of those systems they are dead. Somebody's eyes, somebody's hand, somebody's
           legs, somebody's heart....
               And do you think in your box there will come a man, because you have arranged everything that
           is needed for a man? -- hands, head, eyes, heart. Everything is there, but it is just nonsense. Those
           eyes were able to see in an organic unity in a body; now they cannot see. There is no organic unity,
           and you cannot bring an organic unity.
           Christianity is dead.
               Their desperate effort to save it simply confirms that it is dead. But it needs guts to accept it.
               You will be surprised to know that when Joseph Stalin died it was not declared to the world. It
           took a few days for the communist high command... because they had believed that this man is
           immortal. Stalin, man of steel, he cannot die! But men of steel, whatever your conception may be,
           have to follow nature: he died. For a few days they delayed informing the world. In fact they could
           not believe it, but finally they had to accept that Stalin was dead.
               The same happened with Mao Tse-tung. His death was not immediately reported to the world
           because he had become a God.
               I know about Sri Aurobindo, because he himself was teaching his whole life that his special work
           was to give methods to people to attain physical immortality. All old teachers have taught you
           spiritual immortality; that's not a big problem, because the spiritual element in you is already
           immortal.
               He used to say, "I am doing the real thing. The physical body, which is not immortal, I am going
           to make it immortal." And one day he died.
               One of my friends was there in Pondicherry, in his ashram. He told me, "For seven days we were
           hiding the fact that Aurobindo had died. We could not believe it ourselves, because if he himself is
           not immortal, then what about us who have gathered here just to become physically immortal? And
           the man who was going to make us physically immortal is dead! Now we cannot even ask him, `You
           deceived us. What happened?' To declare it to the world looks so embarrassing.'"
               The chief disciple, "the Mother" of the Sri Aurobindo ashram, finally found a solution to it. She
           said, "He is not dead, he has gone into deep samadhi, the deepest that anyone has ever gone. He will
           wake up again -- he is simply asleep."
               So they made a marble grave for him, with all the comforts, because he was just sleeping and one
           day he was going to wake up; this was his last experiment in physical immortality. Then years
           passed, but he did not knock from the grave. People started suspecting, but the mother was over
           ninety, and she was still preaching physical immortality.
               Then one day she died. And it was very difficult for the believers, because the believers had
           some investment; their investment was their own immortality. If both the leaders were dead, then
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there was no hope for them. And they had not yet told them the real secret; they had been telling
           them that they were working on it.
               Sri Aurobindo used to give an audience only once a year to his disciples. The rest of the year he
           was working constantly -- that was the idea in the ashram for physical immortality. Now both are
           lying in their graves, and there are still idiots living in the ashram, believing that they will awake one
           day.
               Idiots are also miracles -- they still believe. My friend who has been there, and still is there, is a
           doctor of philosophy, but he still believes. He had been coming to see me, but there is no way to
           convince him. I tried every possible way, but he said, "Patanjali himself says in the YOGA SUTRAS
           that samadhi and susupti -- samadhi and deep sleep -- are exactly alike. They have gone into deep
           sleep to find out the secret of physical immortality."
               I said, "But how long will it take? By that time you will all be dead! Even if they come... You
           just go and open the grave, and you will know that it is no longer sleep. There are only skeletons,
           stinking of death, not the fragrance of immortality.
               But the believer is such that he goes on believing, because his belief is basically for a reason: he
           is afraid that perhaps they are dead, and then what about him? And that stops him -- the idea that
           they are dead. Do you see the point? He cannot accept that Sri Aurobindo and the mother are dead
           because that means he will have to die -- and he does not want to die. That's why he has come and
           lived there for years, waiting for the secret to be revealed. He will wait: "They are asleep and
           working."
               Desperate efforts... and they happen only when something is really gone and you don't have it.
           Then you get into a frenzy of creating some way that you can continue to believe in it. For example,
           THE BIBLE believes that God created the world four thousand and four years before Jesus Christ,
           which is only six thousand years before now. Now, that is disproved so abundantly that it is
           absolutely wrong.
               In India we have found cities which were lying hidden underneath the earth, seven thousand
           years old -- and not ordinary cities. I have been to Harapur, Mohanjodro -- both are in Pakistan now
           -- and it is something to see. Seven thousand is a very orthodox idea; there are scholars who say they
           must be more than fifteen thousand years old. But even if they are only seven thousand years old,
           there must have been a long past to those cities, because that kind of city cannot be created instantly.
               They have bigger roads than New York. Now, a city seven thousand years old, having a wider
           road than New York... it means they must have had vehicles, traffic, otherwise why create such a
           road? They had beautiful bathrooms, they had a system of running water. Even if they were seven
           thousand years old, they must have been developed for thousands of years to come to such
           technology, to such plumbing, that they can have running water in their bathrooms, in their houses.
           They had swimming pools...
               In China we have found human bodies, frozen in ice, ninety thousand years old. Now, when all
           these facts came to the Christian theologians, there was great turmoil: What to do? -- because God
           created the world six thousand years ago. I am giving you this example of how a desperate believer
           functions.
               One theologian came up with the idea, which became accepted by the whole Christianity, that
           God created the world exactly as it is said in THE BIBLE, six thousand years ago, with cities under
           the earth, with bathrooms, with plumbing, with wide roads, with ninety-thousand-year-old bodies...
           just to test your faith! "God can do anything. If he can create the world, do you think he cannot
           create something that looks ninety thousand years old to all scientific investigation? But the world
           was created six thousand years ago." A desperate effort to cling to superstitions! But there comes a
           point where all your superstitions are proved to be superstitions. Then this situation arises that you
           start saying, "They are all superstitions, and we can drop them and still we can save Christianity."
               You cannot. Those superstitions have been the very backbone of your Christianity. Without those
           superstitions your Christianity will lose all its life. And it will be more absurd to believe in a
           Christianity devoid of all superstitions, miracles, God -- even of religion.
               Now they are saying it is only ethics, not doctrine. But ethics need not be Christian -- ethics has
           nothing to do with Christianity. Ethics is a science in itself. I have been a teacher of ethics, and I had
           never thought that ethics can be Christian. Ethics asks what is truth? what is good? what is bad? It
           has nothing to do with religion; it has something to do with your actions. And it is the same for
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everybody. Whether you are in Tibet or China or in America, it does not make any difference, the
           ethical standard will be the same. Ethics is a science completely in itself.
                Now, finding nothing in their doctrines, they are falling back on ethics, saying that the essential
           thing is not doctrine -- because all their doctrines have been proved wrong. Up to now it was
           doctrine; now because all doctrines are proved wrong, or at least questionable, and they have not
           been able substantially to support their doctrines and their truth...
                This is the last effort of a dying religion. You drop those doctrines -- they are dangerous, they are
           killing you -- so you jump upon something else that can give you a resurrection. But ethics is purely
           a science in itself. It thinks about values -- which have nothing to do with Hindu, Mohammedan or
           Christian. Ethics is not going to save Christianity; it is not going to give a resurrection.
                There is no possibility for Christianity, and it will be good that they accept it and drop the dead
           body. It is a great load, and by carrying it unnecessarily, you are missing your life. And living with a
           dead religion you are bound to become dead. Your churches are graveyards. There is no song of life,
           there is no dance of existence.
                It is better to simply get out of the old habit. These are just old habits. I don't know why Christian
           priests', nuns', bishops' old clothes are called habits -- I don't know. But one thing I know: just drop
           the habit! -- whatever it means. Just be natural and human.
                And it is not only a question of Christianity. Your question was concerned with Christianity;
           otherwise the same is the situation with other religions.
                Man has come of age, and he does not need those old, superstitious religions; he needs a more
           scientific approach to explore his being. And that will be possible only if he gets rid of the old habits.
           And they are very dirty, because for thousands of years the same habits have been used by so many
           people. They are stinking!
           Get out of those habits as quickly as possible.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THIS MORNING, AS YOU SPOKE OF THE "QUESTIONLESS ANSWER," I WATCHED MY
              QUESTIONS DISSOLVING INTO SILENCE, WHICH I SHARED FOR A MOMENT WITH YOU. BUT
              ONE QUESTION SURVIVED, AND THAT IS: IF WE DON'T ASK YOU QUESTIONS, HOW ARE WE
              GOING TO PLAY WITH YOU?


                That's really a question!
           It will be difficult, so whether you have the questions or not, still you can go on asking just the same.
           Your question need not be yours, but it must be somebody else's, somewhere. And my answer may
           help somebody somewhere, sometime. So let us continue the game.
                I cannot say anything on my own. Unless there is a question, I am silent. Because of the question
           it is possible for me to respond. So it does not matter whether the question is yours; what matters is
           that the question is bound to be somebody's somewhere.
                And I am not only answering you. I am answering, through you, the whole of humanity... not
           only the contemporary humanity, but also the humanity that will be coming when I will not be here
           to answer.
                So find out all the possible angles and questions, so that anybody, even in the future when I am
           not here, who has a question can find an answer in my words.
                To us it is a play. To somebody it may become really a question of life and death.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              QUESTIONS SEEM TO BE THE OFFSPRING OF THE CAPACITY TO DOUBT; AND DOUBT, THE
              SPARK OF AN ALIVE AND ACTIVE INTELLIGENCE.
              WITHOUT QUESTIONS -- AND THUS, WITHOUT DOUBT -- HOW CAN INTELLIGENCE CONTINUE
              TO FLOURISH?
              AND YET WITHIN YOU IS THE ULTIMATE IN SILENCE AND THE ULTIMATE IN INTELLIGENCE.


              It is true in the beginning. Doubt helps your intelligence, sharpens it. Questioning makes you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aware of many possibilities of which you may not have been aware before.
                But this is only the beginning of the journey. At the end, when all your questions have
           disappeared... and the real master never gives you the answer. Let me repeat it: the real master never
           gives you the answer, so you cannot doubt it. He brings you to a point where all your questions
           disappear. His answers are murderous, killing your questions, destroying them mercilessly, to bring
           you to a point where there is no question in your consciousness.
                The master does not give you any answer that you can doubt. This non-questioning
           consciousness is the answer. And it is your experience; you cannot doubt it, it is there.
                From this point, silence and intelligence are just two aspects of the same thing. From this point,
           not knowing, innocence and knowing are two aspects of the same thing. This is the mysterious world
           which is available to you if you can pass the jungle of questions and doubts and reach into the clear,
           where there are no questions and doubts, and no answers either. Just you are in utter silence, with
           immense clarity, with tremendous sharpness.
                That's why I am against belief, because it will never allow you to reach to this stage. It will stop
           you in the very beginning of the journey. It will not help to make you more intelligent; it will make
           you more unintelligent. It will make you more fanatic, superstitious, but it will not allow you to
           come into the clarity which can be called the very goal of what transpires between master and
           disciple: the moment of total silence, the moment where everything is crystal clear.
                But it has to be earned. Belief is cheap. This will bring you something totally different, what I
           call trust in existence. In the dictionaries, trust and belief and faith are all synonymous -- but not in
           reality.
                Belief is opposite to trust. You believe because you have doubt; the belief is an antidote to doubt,
           it is a need to cover up the doubt. Trust is when you don't have any doubt, so trust is not a belief.
           Belief is always in something -- in some doctrine, in some principle, in some philosophy.
                Trust is in the totality of the cosmos. It has nothing to do with books -- HOLY BIBLES, GITAS,
           KORANS -- no. Then there is only one scripture which is spread all around you -- in the trees, in the
           rivers, in the ocean, in the stars. And you don't have to read it; you have to be just silent, and it starts
           showering on you all its wisdom, which is eternal.
                I am against belief because I want you to come to the point of trust.




                                                Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #14
                                    Chapter title: Let it soak within your heart
           19 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604190
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 82 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              RECENTLY I HEARD YOU SAY THAT TRANSCENDENCE OF LIFE'S MISERY AND CONFUSION
              CAN OCCUR BY EITHER A LET-GO OF LIFE OR BY FIGHT -- AS LONG AS EITHER IS DONE
              WITH TOTALITY. MAHAVIRA'S WAY WAS FIGHT, AND YOURS IS LET-GO. COULD YOU SAY
              MORE ABOUT LET-GO AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO INTELLIGENCE AND RESPONSIBILITY? I
              DON'T HAVE THIS UNDERSTANDING, AND MY LIFE SEEMS TO BE AN ODD MIXTURE OF
              LET-GO AND FIGHT. LET-GO SEEMS MORE NATURAL, AND FIGHT SEEMS MORE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              RESPONSIBLE.


               It is not only your question, it is everybody's question -- a mixture of let-go and fight. But your
           let-go is not my let-go; your let-go is simply a defeatist attitude. Basically you want to fight, but
           there are situations where you cannot fight, or perhaps you have come to the very end of your energy
           for fighting. Then, to cover up your defeat, you start thinking of let-go. Your let-go is not true, it is
           phony.
           Real let-go is not against fight.
           Real let-go is absence of fighting.
               And you cannot mix real let-go with fighting attitudes, for the simple reason that the presence of
           let-go means the absence of a fighting attitude. How can you mix something which is present with
           something which is absent? Just as you cannot mix light and darkness, however great an artist you
           may be -- you cannot mix light and darkness for the simple reason that darkness is only an absence
           of light. You cannot bring them together; only one can be present.
               So the first thing to remember is that the basic attitude of every human being is to fight. So don't
           think of it particularly as your problem. It will help you immensely to understand that it is a human
           problem. Then you can stand aloof and watch it, observe it, understand it.
               Fighting is a basic attitude because it feeds the ego. The more you fight, the more your ego
           becomes stronger. If you become victorious the ego has great joy. You are giving life to ego by your
           victories. But on the other hand, as the ego becomes stronger, your being is receding farther and
           farther away from you.
               As your ego becomes stronger you are losing yourself. You may be fighting and being
           victorious, not knowing at all that it is not a gain but a loss. Each child is taught to fight in different
           ways. Competition is a fight, to come first in your class is a fight, to win a trophy in a game is a
           fight. These are preparations for your life. Then fight in the elections, fight for money, fight for
           prestige. This whole society is based on fighting, competition, struggle, putting each individual
           against the whole.
               So it is almost everybody's situation. And then you listen to me about let-go.
               Let-go means no competition, no struggle, no fight... just relaxing with existence, wherever it
           leads. Not trying to control your future, not trying to control consequences, but allowing them to
           happen... not even thinking about them. Let-go is in the present; consequences are tomorrow. And
           let-go is such a delightful experience, a total relaxation, a deep synchronicity with existence.
               I am reminded of a parable. I call it a parable because it is so good it cannot be true. In the East,
           the name of Majnu is very famous. It is a Sufi story -- perhaps nobody of that name existed, but it is
           irrelevant whether he existed or not. He has become the symbolic lover.
               Majnu was a poor young man, with tremendous love and a great heart, and he fell in love with
           the richest man's daughter. The marriage was not possible; even meetings were not possible. He
           could only see once in a while, from far away, his beloved, Laila. But the rumor about his love
           started spreading, and the rich man, the father of Laila, was afraid that it will contaminate the
           family's name and he will not be able to find the right man for his daughter. So he left the village to
           go to a faraway country, where nobody will know anything about Majnu.
               The day they were going, a great caravan... because he had so much money and so many things
           to take, hundreds of camels carrying things. Majnu was standing by the road, by the side of a tree,
           hiding himself in the foliage of the tree -- because the father was so mad he even could shoot him,
           although he had not done anything. He had not even spoken to Laila.
               He was standing there just to see her for the last time. It was enough for him that she was happy
           and healthy -- and he would wait. If his love has any power, she will come back. There was
           tremendous trust in him. He had seen the love, the same flame that was burning in his heart, in the
           eyes of Laila too. Laila was also searching and looking all around from the camel she was riding.
           She knew Majnu must be waiting somewhere on the way, and then she saw him hiding under a tree
           in its thick foliage. For a moment, without a single word or gesture, they were one; and then the
           caravan passed.
               But for Majnu time stopped then and there. He remained standing by the side of the tree waiting
           and waiting. It is said years passed. Laila came, but came a little late. She enquired; people said, "We
           have never heard about him. Since you left he has not come to the town again."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                She rushed to the tree where she had left him. He was still there, but a strange thing had
           happened -- he had become one with the tree. That's why I say it is a parable: it is too good to be
           true. He relaxed so utterly because there was nothing else to do but to wait. He relaxed with the tree,
           and slowly, slowly they started merging with each other. The tree became his nourishment; they
           were no longer separate, they became one. Branches grew out of his body. He was no longer hiding
           under the foliage; the foliage was on his body -- beautiful leaves and beautiful, fragrant flowers.
                Laila could not recognize him. But the whole tree was saying only one thing, "Laila... Laila!"
           She was getting mad, and asking, "Where are you hiding?" And the tree said, "I am not hiding.
           Waiting so long, doing nothing, and just being relaxed, I have become one with the tree. You came a
           little late.
                "What was going to happen between us has happened between me and the tree. We were going to
           become one -- that was not acceptable to destiny perhaps. But I was ready to relax in the moment,
           without thinking of any consequences. And I am happy that you are alive, still young, and more
           beautiful. But I am gone, far away. I am immensely happy... alone, relaxed, in a let-go."
                To me, let-go means you are not fighting for anything in life, but giving everything to life to take
           care of. You say "let-go seems to be natural." It only `seems'... because your whole conditioning is
           against it. You have been brought up for millions of years to fight. Fighting, either you can be
           defeated -- which will create a wound, which will create revenge -- or you can be victorious; which
           will again create another kind of wound. That is the ego. In either case you are a loser. Defeated you
           lose, victorious you lose. In either case you are going farther away from yourself.
                Let-go has not been taught to people because it will go against the whole structure of the society
           -- which is based on competition and fighting, where everybody is your enemy. Even your friend is
           your enemy, even your wife is your enemy, even your children are your enemies, because everybody
           is trying to snatch as much from you as possible.
                And the same thing you are trying to do. The world of misery is created because everybody is
           snatching things from everybody else. It is not a peaceful, silent, loving existence; we are still
           barbarous and animalistic.
                Let-go is totally a different approach. Its first step is dropping the ego, remembering that you are
           not separate from existence: with whom are you fighting? You are not separate from people: with
           whom are you fighting? With yourself... and that's the root cause of misery. With whomsoever you
           are fighting, you are fighting with yourself -- because there is nobody else.
                Let-go is a deep understanding of the phenomenon that we are part of one existence. We cannot
           afford to have separate egos; we are one with all. And the all is vast, immense. Your understanding
           will help you to go with the whole, wherever it is going. You don't have a goal separate from the
           whole, and the whole has no goal. It is not going anywhere. It is being simply here.
                The understanding of let-go helps you to be simply here, without any goals, without any idea of
           achievement, without any conflict, struggle, fight, knowing that it is fighting with yourself -- which
           is simply foolish.
           Let-go is a deep understanding.
           It is not an act that you have to do.
                Every act is part of the world of fight. That which you have to do is going to be a fight. Let-go is
           simply understanding.
                And then a silent relaxation, flowing with the river, unconcerned where it is going, unworried
           that you can get lost... no anxiety, no anguish, because you are not separate from the totality, so
           whatever is going to happen is going to be good.
                With this understanding you will find there is no mixing: understanding cannot mix with
           ignorance; insight into existence cannot mix with blindness; consciousness cannot mix with
           unconsciousness.
                And let-go cannot mix with different kinds of struggles -- that is an impossibility.
                Just let it sink within your heart, and you will find a new dimension opening up, in which each
           moment is a joy, in which each moment is an eternity unto itself.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY, IN CONNECTION WITH MARTIN HEIDEGGER, THAT THE WORK OF A
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PHILOSOPHER IS TO GUIDE THE LEADERS OF THE NATIONS, NOT TO FOLLOW THEM. YOUR
              WORK AT THIS TIME SEEMS TO BE MOVING IN THAT DIRECTION. YOUR WORK IS MORE
              GLOBAL, INVOLVING WHOLE NATIONS AND THEIR PEOPLE, AND EVEN TRANSCENDING
              NATIONS. DIOGENES STOOD NAKED -- AND LARGELY UNKNOWN -- HOLDING A LAMP IN
              BROAD DAYLIGHT, AND REPEATED THE STATEMENT, "I AM LOOKING FOR A MAN." IS YOUR
              WORK REALLY DIFFERENT FROM DIOGENES' OR DOES IT ONLY APPEAR SO? ARE YOU
              ALSO LOOKING FOR A MAN?


               Diogenes is one of the most loved human beings, as far as I am concerned. As far as the world is
           concerned, he is one of those who are destined to be condemned for their behavior, for their ideas.
           And Diogenes particularly, because he is so unique.
               His ways would have been understood in the far East, in Japan; he would have become a great
           Zen master. In Greece he was simply condemned. He was not in the right place. First, he was naked
           -- for a certain reason: naked we have come into the world, and all the animals are naked, why
           should man hide his wild body behind clothes?
               And the strange insight was that it is not weather, cold or heat, that has prompted man to use
           clothes -- because if all the animals can exist without clothes, there is no reason. And your face is
           naked, but it becomes immune. That's how the whole animal world lives. Small birds are more
           powerful than you: they are immune to cold and to heat. They don't need any clothes. Why did man
           need clothes? Not to protect his body but to hide it, because he is the only animal who has not been
           natural, and his body has become ugly. Now, Diogenes has a strange insight.
               I agree with him, that clothes help you immensely to hide your body. Man has lost his natural
           beauty, agility, and that's why he had to discover clothes. It is very strange: if your naked body is
           brought before you, or just a photograph of your naked body is brought before you, you will not be
           able to recognize that it is your body. People are recognizable only by their faces; the whole body is
           ignored. And through clothes you can create the illusion of beauty. You can hide the ugly parts and
           you can expose the beautiful parts; you can emphasize the beautiful parts.
               Diogenes was disgusted with the whole idea. This is exhibitionism, not what Sigmund Freud
           thinks is exhibitionism. I agree with Diogenes and not with Sigmund Freud.
               Sigmund Freud calls a man exhibitionist if he tries to show his naked body to somebody.
           Diogenes calls all people who have been forced by your so-called civilization to wear clothes,
           exhibitionists. This is a beginning of deception, hypocrisy. And my feeling is that one day man will
           return back to being naked, because only then he will regain his health again -- for the simple reason
           that then he will have to be healthy, otherwise he will feel embarrassed. Then he will have to
           exercise, then he will have to go to some gymnasium and maintain his body and his beauty, because
           now it is not only his face that is his identity; now his whole body is his identity. And he will not be
           ashamed of it; it is his body and nature has given it to him. He will be proud of it.
               Diogenes was as beautiful a man as Mahavira -- both lived naked -- so proportionate, so
           beautiful. In India Mahavira's nakedness became spiritual; in Greece Diogenes became a madman.
           He used to carry a lamp with him, and whomsoever he met -- even in the full daylight -- he would
           raise his lamp and look at the man. And people would ask, "What are you doing? It is full daylight,
           the sun is shining; why are you carrying a lamp? And why do you go on looking in people's faces?"
               He used to say, "I am looking for a real, authentic man."
               My search is, in a way, similar: I am also looking for a real, authentic man. But the real,
           authentic man cannot be searched for with a lamp.
               Diogenes' lamp is only symbolic. It simply says that he is putting his whole lighted being as a
           beam on the person, as an X-ray, to see whether there is anything left or everything is hypocrisy. The
           day he died he had his lamp by his side, still in his hand. One man, just to joke, asked Diogenes,
           "Now you are dying. Before you die, please answer one question. Your whole life you have been
           searching for the authentic, real man, with your lamp. Have you found him or not?"
               Diogenes was really a beautiful man. He laughed and said, "I have not found him, but I am
           grateful to the whole of humanity that nobody stole my lamp, because I found all kinds of thieves all
           around. An authentic man I have not been able to come across, but even this is enough, that they
           have left my lamp with me; otherwise when I looked at these people they were criminals, murderers,
           thieves, and I was worried about my lamp -- that's the only thing I possess. So one thing I can say
           before I die -- one good thing about humanity -- is that my lamp was not stolen."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                At the moment of death also he could laugh and joke. In Greece he was not understood at all. He
           belongs to the category of people like Bodhidharma, Chuang Tzu, Hotei. That was his category, but
           he was with the wrong people. Aristotle had defined man -- Diogenes was a contemporary of
           Aristotle -- as "a two-legged animal without feathers." That shows the depth of logic, and the insight
           of Aristotle. When Diogenes heard it, he caught hold of an animal with two legs, took away all the
           feathers, and sent it as a present to Aristotle, saying, "This is your man: a two-legged animal without
           feathers."
                Aristotle was very angry: "It is not a joke, and this Diogenes is never serious!" But I say to you,
           he was serious. He was saying to Aristotle, "This is not the way to define man -- two-legged, without
           feathers. You are degrading man to animals, just a little different variety -- without feathers. That's
           the only difference: there are many animals with two legs."
                He was not just joking -- he was serious. And he was serious in his search for the authentic man.
           It is not a question of defining it; it is a question of finding it. You can define it only after you have
           found it.
           The man that exists is not authentic.
                Yes, my work is similar in a way: I am also searching for the authentic man, destroying all that is
           not authentic in you, at the risk of being condemned all over the world. But I am not carrying a lamp
           in my hand because I know that was only a gesture.
                I am really working with each individual who has come in contact with me to help him to drop
           all unnecessary conditionings and to have a communion with nature.
           To be natural you will be authentic.
           To be natural you will be human.
                And to be natural you will be a being full of rejoicings.
                It is your unnaturalness that is creating the whole misery, and just as money brings more money,
           misery brings more misery. Whatever you have attracts its own kind. If you have a little joy, you will
           attract much joy; if you have a little silence, then even from the faraway stars you will be attracting
           silence, then even in a crowd, in the marketplace you will be attracting silence.
                It depends what you have within you; that becomes the gravitation, and it attracts its own kind.
           Just a little experience and then there is no need to push you; you will go in that direction on your
           own.
                My whole effort is to give you just a glimpse, just to open a window so you can see the sky with
           all its colors and sunset. And I know you will come out of the hole to see the whole sky, to see the
           birds returning home, to see the trees going to sleep, preparing their beds. But right now you have
           only misery, and that misery goes on attracting more misery.
                My work is somehow to create a small gap in your miserable existence... just a little window.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DOES A NATURAL DEATH ALSO TRANSCEND NATURE?


               Nothing transcends nature.
           Everything goes on becoming more and more natural -- deeper and deeper nature, higher and higher
           nature -- but nothing transcends nature, because there is nothing else but nature.
               You have to drop the old categories -- that there is nature and then there is supernature. What has
           been called supernature is nothing but the highest peak of being natural. Why create categories --
           when nature alone is capable of containing all?
               The lowest and the highest point of life are both natural. The murderer and the enlightened man,
           both are natural. The murderer is at the lowest point, the enlightened man is at the highest point. But
           as man they are part of the same nature, and being natural, they are similar. And this opens a new
           possibility: the murderer can become enlightened. We are not preventing him, we are not putting him
           in a separate category. He can become enlightened, because he is part of nature. Perhaps he was
           upside down, he just has to change his posture.
               But nature is profound. It contains everything -- the good, the bad, the evil, the divine -- and I
           want them all to be part of nature, so transformation is not impossible. Old religions have created
           categories, and created such gaps that it is impossible...
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                For example, Christianity believes in eternal hell -- which is absolutely absurd. You cannot
           commit so many sins in a small life of seventy years. One third of it is lost in sleep; much of it is lost
           in childhood, in sickness, in earning the bread, in quarreling with your husbands, with your wives,
           with your neighbors. You don't have much time to commit sin. And even if you continuously commit
           sin, from your very birth to the last breath, without any coffee break -- just sinning and sinning --
           then too eternal hell is not justified. Then at least seventy years in hell will do. But eternal hell,
           unending, forever and forever... Christianity does not leave any possibility for the sinner to change.
           It cuts all his future.
                My approach is simple: the worst and the best are both part of the same nature. One may be at
           the lowest, one may be at the highest, but they belong to the same nature, and hence have the
           possibility of transformation. The lowest person can start climbing to the highest peak -- and it has
           happened many times.
                There is a Hindu story in India... The oldest book on the life of Rama is written by Balmik.
           Balmik was a robber, thief, murderer -- everything that you can conceive of he had done. That was
           his only profession. Uneducated but a tremendously powerful man, just on the highway he would be
           waiting for people, and anybody who was caught had to give everything; otherwise he was finished.
           Balmik's family was living in luxury -- he was bringing so much every day.
                One day it happened that one beautiful saint, Nardar, who was always carrying his ektara -- a
           simple musical instrument, with only one string, that had become his symbol -- singing and playing
           on his ektara he was passing, and Balmik caught hold of him. But he was still singing and playing on
           his ektara.
                Balmik said, "Are you mad or something? Can't you see me, can't you see my sword? Give me
           everything that you have!"
                Nardar said, "You have caught a beggar; I have only this ektara. And that too I am not going to
           give easily, because what will you do with this? But if you want it, I can give it to you. If you want
           my life I can give that too. But before I give you anything, I want to ask one question to you."
           Balmik said, "Question? What question?"
                Nardar said, "You go home, ask your wife: you have been killing people, robbing people -- is she
           ready to share the responsibility of it. Ask your father, your mother, your son, your daughter. Are
           they willing to share the responsibility of what you are doing?"
                Balmik had never thought about such a thing; he was an uneducated man. He said, "I have never
           thought about it. They must share the responsibility. I am doing it for them."
                Narda said, "I will be here. Don't be worried, you can just tie me to the tree so I cannot escape."
           He was tied to the tree and Balmik rushed to his home and asked his wife. His wife said, "I have
           nothing to do with your responsibilities. It is your responsibility to feed your wife; how you do it I
           have no concern for." And the same was the response of everybody.
                Even the mother said, "It is your responsibility to take care of your old father and mother. Now
           how you are doing it -- that you have to work out. We have not told you to kill people and rob
           people; you are doing it on your own. We are simply not responsible for any of your acts."
                Not a single man in his house was ready to share responsibility. He was shocked! He went back,
           untied Nardar, touched his feet and said, "I have been my whole life a wrong person. Is there any
           possibility for me to get rid of all that I have done?"
                Nardar said, "There is no problem. You stop doing it, because the people you are doing it for are
           not even ready to take responsibility for it! And I will teach you my song. My song is very simple; I
           simply repeat the name of Rama. It is so simple, no education is needed. You sit under the tree and
           repeat, `Rama, Rama...' as long as you can, and you will be transformed -- because intrinsically your
           innermost core always remains pure. It is only the layers on it which can be dropped."
                After a few months Nardar came back and he was surprised: Balmik was sitting there under the
           tree. Nardar had been his whole life repeating the name of Rama, the Hindu God, but nothing like
           this had happened to him. Balmik was surrounded by an aura of light. Just going close to him you
           felt a tremendous silence, a great rejoicing.
                He said, "My god, I have been repeating the name of God my whole life. And this man is a
           murderer, a robber, he has done every sin possible, and he is my student -- I have taught him to
           repeat the name of Rama -- and he seems to be transformed, transmuted!"
                Nardar had to wait. He did not dare to touch him or to disturb him; his presence was so sacred.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When Balmik opened his eyes, he touched the feet of Nardar. Nardar said, "You need not touch my
           feet -- I have to touch your feet. What has happened? Within a few months you are a new man! Have
           you found something more than I have given to you? because I have been using that mantra, `Rama,
           Rama...' my whole life. And now I feel like a fool; within a few months... You must have got
           something else!"
               He said, "My god, is it Ram? I forgot." Because repeating it continuously... if you repeat, "Rama,
           Rama Rama...." And he was uneducated, a robber, murderer; he had never done any such thing.
           "Rama" repeated continuously without any gaps... he forgot, and started repeating, "Mara, Mara..."
           Instead of "Rama," two "Ramas" became joined and he forgot what it was, so he started, "Mara,
           Mara..." mara means dead.
               Balmik says, "This is another miracle!" You have been repeating, `Mara' which means `dead'; it
           is not the name of God. But your sincerity, your innocence, your totality has changed it. You are far
           away from me. Never touch my feet again!"
           The lowest can change to the highest.
           There is no barrier, there is no wall.
           And nature is all that is there.
               So even a natural death does not transcend nature; it simply fulfills nature in its totality.


              OSHO, WE'VE RUN OUT OF QUESTIONS.


              You don't have any more?

           Anando, some question about poor Avesh? No? Okay!




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                 Chapter #15
                             Chapter title: I have kept my wondering eyes alive
           19 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604195
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 96 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              SOON I WILL BE SPENDING A FEW DAYS WITH MY TWO TEENAGE DAUGHTERS. THEY WANT
              A FULL-TIME MOTHER AND ARE ANGRY THAT I HAVE CHOSEN TO BE WITH YOU INSTEAD OF
              THEM. I AM TORN, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT MY GREATEST GIFT TO
              THEM IS GETTING FREE, IT IS ONLY AN IDEA. ON THE OTHER HAND, MY DESIRE FOR
              APPROVAL FOR BEING A GOOD MOTHER IS VERY STRONG AND I FEEL GUILTY BEING WITH
              YOU WHILE THEY CONTINUE TO SUFFER ALONE.
              WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK ABOUT HOW TO BREAK FREE OF SOCIETY'S CONDITIONING
              ABOUT MOTHERHOOD?


              Everything depends on a very simple understanding. The whole idea that children are your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possession is wrong. They are born through you but they do not belong to you. You have a past; they
           have only future. They are not going to live according to you. To live according to you will be
           almost equivalent to not living at all. They have to live according to themselves -- in freedom, in
           responsibility, in danger, in challenge. That's how one becomes strong.
               Parents down the ages have carried the idea that children belong to them, and that they have to be
           just carbon copies of them. A carbon copy is not a beautiful thing, and existence does not believe in
           carbon copies; it rejoices in originality.
               Once you understand that your children do not belong to you -- that they belong to existence, you
           have been just a passage -- you have to be grateful to existence that it has chosen you to be a passage
           for a few beautiful children. But you are not to interfere in their growth, in their potential. You are
           not to impose yourself upon them. They are not going to live in the same times, they are not going to
           face the same problems; they will be part of another world. Don't prepare them for this world, this
           society, this time, because then you will be creating troubles for them. They will find themselves
           unfit, unqualified.
               You have to help them to grow beyond you; you have to help them not to imitate you. That is
           really the duty of the parents -- to help the children not to fall into imitation. Children are imitative,
           and naturally, who are they going to imitate? The parents are the closest people. And up to now
           parents have enjoyed it very much that their children are just like them. The father feels proud
           because his son is just like him; he should be ashamed that his son is just like him. Then one life is
           wasted; then his son is not needed -- he was enough. Because of this wrong conception of pride in
           children imitating you, we have created a society of imitators.
               One of the most famous Christian books was written by Kempis: IMITATION OF CHRIST. It is
           almost second to THE HOLY BIBLE. One great Christian theologian and a world-famous author of
           many, many treatises, Stanley Jones, used to stay with me whenever he used to come to my city. He
           was continuously going around the world, and he always kept the book, IMITATION OF CHRIST.
           Once I told him, "If you really understand, then this book should be burned."
               To teach anybody to imitate Christ is to destroy that person. One Christ is enough, more than
           enough. Many, many Christs carrying their crosses on their shoulders would make a very hilarious
           scene... and everybody proclaiming himself to be the only begotten son of God!
               The word `imitation' has never been condemned, but it should be condemned. The religious
           founders have been wanting people to imitate them, the parents have been wanting their children to
           imitate them; the teachers, the professors, the priests -- everybody is wanting children to imitate
           them. The children become a mass phenomenon; carbon copies of many people... much ado about
           nothing!
               I remember, I must have been seven years old and a friend of my father's who had not seen me,
           who had not come for seven years... he had gone for a long pilgrimage around the Ganges. Hindus
           do that -- go around the whole Ganges, both sides. That is thousands of miles, deep in the Himalayas,
           dangerous valleys, mountains. After seven years he came and he wanted to see me. And he said to
           my father, "His eyes look like yours," and to my grandfather, "His nose looks like yours," and to my
           uncle, "His face looks like yours."
               I said, "Wait! Does anything look like me? Am I here or not? You are being utterly disrespectful
           to me." He was shocked. He could not conceive that it would be a disrespect, because this is
           commonly done, every day, in every home: the child's eyes look like the mother's, his face looks like
           the father's. And they all feel proud; and nobody bothers about the child, whether anything looks like
           him or not.
               But I made it clear to him, "Just take your words back, because I can say to you that my eyes
           don't look like my father's. You have another look. And my face does not look like my uncle's -- how
           can it look...? I have my own eyes and I have my own face, and I am going into the world with my
           face and with my eyes."
               He asked to be forgiven. Later on he told my father, "Your son seems to be dangerous. I have
           never seen anybody so assertive -- and at this age!"
               My father said, "At first we used to feel very embarrassed by the things he did or said, but now
           we have started feeling proud, because he seems to be right. You are not the first man who has
           compared my eyes with his -- many others have done that. And he has taken me to the mirror and
           told me, `Look, they are not the same.' And I have to say to you that they are not the same; he is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           right."
               The whole of humanity has lived in such a wrong way, and for so long, that we have completely
           forgotten that there can be some other way, that there can be an alternative.
               You are here with me. In fact, you should make your children understand that this is a great
           opportunity for you, to be yourself: "If I was with you there is every possibility that, knowingly
           unknowingly, I may treat you habitually -- just the old things, behaving the way my parents have
           behaved with me -- and that would be ugly."
               And tell them not to feel angry at me; rather, bring them to me sometimes. Once in a while, when
           they have holidays, let them come to me. They will understand me more clearly than you, because
           they are fresher, younger, closer to nature, yet unspoiled. They are not going to be angry at me.
               Once they start understanding me, they will be proud of you -- not feeling that they have been
           abandoned by you, but feeling that they have been given freedom, which is the greatest gift possible
           in the world. And your children start feeling proud of you, because you are one of the rarest mothers
           who can give them freedom, and bring them to a man who can help them see how to be free and how
           to be responsible... how to be oneself.
               In this world of imitators, how to be original and authentic? -- because only those few individuals
           who are themselves feel fulfilled. Others simply live miserably, hoping that tomorrow things will be
           better; but that tomorrow never comes.
               Once your children start understanding something of what I am doing here and why you are here,
           they will be proud of you. And their being proud of you will immediately erase the feeling of guilt in
           you.
               You are feeling guilty that you have left children alone -- that perhaps this is not right. According
           to the old mind, it is not right. According to the old mind everything has to be taught: they are not to
           be allowed to be themselves; they have to be molded into a certain ideal. This very process of
           molding is going to kill them. And there are corpses all around the world -- moving, doing things --
           but I say that they are corpses because they are not themselves. If they had been given freedom, if
           they had been given a chance to grow naturally, to be themselves, they would never have been the
           person they are. And only then would they have been able to find a certain contentment and
           satisfaction.
               You need not feel guilty. Those who are destroying their children, they should feel guilty. Giving
           children freedom.... And once in a while you will be going, once in a while you will be with your
           children and that is a pure gift, to be with them once in a while, because then you can be loving. You
           have gathered so much love; for so many days you have been far away. There has been so much
           longing. You will shower upon them your whole love. They will see only your loving being.
               Twenty-four hours being with them, every day, year in year out -- you cannot remain loving.
           You are bound to be angry, you are bound to be jealous; you are bound to be everything that you
           should not be before your children, and they will learn those things from you.
               My whole idea is that parents should meet their children only occasionally, so they can pour out
           their whole heart, and the children know their mothers and their fathers only as pure love. They don't
           know that both these persons fight continuously, that they nag, they throw things at each other.
               I used to live in a place where everybody was surprised. It was a big apartment house with thin,
           modern walls. You could hear everything that was going on, on the other side. You need not go to
           the movies or any other entertainment, it was available free, and just without any effort -- just lying
           on your bed and all around things were happening.
               The most amazing part was that from every apartment was always coming screams, shouting,
           fighting, beating, things being thrown, plates being broken. Just from one house there was always
           heard great laughter. The whole neighborhood was surprised; they seemed to be the ideal couple --
           never anything except great laughter was heard from that apartment.
               One day, going for a morning walk, I met the man and I asked him, "You are the ideal couple --
           not only in this building, but perhaps in the whole world. Nothing else is ever heard except laughter.
           Can you tell me the secret?"
               He said, "Don't ask me. It is better not to ask, not to say anything about it, because I feel like
           crying."
               I said, "I am praising you and you feel like crying?"
               He said, "You don't understand at all. The reality is, she throws things at me. When she hits me,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           she laughs; when she misses, I laugh. But don't tell it to anybody. This arrangement is going well."
           But the same man, after five years, went to the court -- he wanted a divorce.
               The whole neighborhood was surprised. I had never told anybody, because it was such a private
           thing. Everybody was just amazed, "What happened that they have gone to the court? And, we hear,
           for divorce!" I was going to the university. I thought that first I should visit them -- the court was just
           on the way -- so I stopped at the court and went into the court.
               The judge was asking, "How long have you been married?"
           They said, "For six years."
               "So why do you want now to divorce? What has happened?"
               He said, "What has happened? She throws things at me."
               The judge said, "Recently she has started throwing things at you?"
               He said, "No, she has been throwing things from the very first night."
               The judge said, "You amaze me. If she has been throwing things from the very first night, then
           for six years what have you been doing? Why did you not come earlier for a divorce?"
               He said, "You don't understand. Now she has become so practiced that she never misses. It is
           always she who is laughing. For months I have not laughed; now I cannot tolerate it. At first it used
           to be almost fifty-fifty: one time she will laugh, one time I will laugh. It was okay, we were equal.
           Now it is intolerable -- only she laughs, and I am just standing there like an idiot, with never a
           chance to laugh."
               It is better that the children don't see your ugly faces. If no child comes to know about these ugly
           faces, his life will be totally different. It will be a life of love, without jealousies, without nagging,
           without throwing things, because he had no chance to learn these things.
               You need not feel guilty; those parents should feel guilty who never leave their children alone.
           Once in a while go and be with them, and then you can be as totally with them as possible. And once
           in a while bring them here.
           You have to share me with your children.
               If you love me, you would like your children also to love me. Don't leave them in anger at me;
           that is not right. And their love towards me will help you immensely not to feel guilty. It will help
           the children also to feel that it is good that you are here. They would also like to be here someday --
           when their educations are complete, when they are grown up and they are ready to move into life.
           They would like to learn more about the complexities of existence, the intricacies of life, its delights,
           and the art of how to achieve it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I REALIZED THIS MORNING WHEN YOU WERE TALKING THAT I AM A FIGHTER, BUT I DON'T
              KNOW ANYTHING EXCEPT FIGHTING, THAT UNFORTUNATELY I AM A PROUD FIGHTER -- AND
              EVEN WORSE, THAT I LOVE FIGHTING. I LOVE TO STAND IN THE FACE OF THE STRONGEST
              STORM AND LAUGH. IT IS GREAT JOY. I DON'T LIKE TO LIE IN THE SUN AND MELT. AND YET
              BEHIND MY MIND, MY HEART LONGS TO MELT. IT YEARNS, BUT IT NEVER SEEMS TO HAVE
              EVEN A FIGHTING CHANCE. HOW CAN I SALVAGE MY BEING?


               There is no problem in it.
           If you feel you are a fighter, if you enjoy fighting, not only that, if you are proud of being a fighter --
           then relax. Fight totally! Then don't fight your fighting nature. That will be let-go for you.
               It is perfectly beautiful to stand before the strongest storm and laugh. Don't feel guilty. Just try to
           understand one thing: when I say let-go, I don't mean you have to change anything. I simply mean,
           whatever you feel you are, just allow it its totality.
               Be a fighter with your whole being, and in this totality you will find the melting of the heart.
           That will be the reward of your being total. You do not need to do anything for it; rewards come on
           their own. Just be total in anything that you feel you love, that you feel proud of -- just be total in it.
           Don't create a split. Don't be half and half; don't be partial.
               If you are total, one day -- standing against the strongest storm, laughing -- you will suddenly
           feel your heart melting in the sun. That will come to you as a reward.
               Man unnecessarily creates problems. I want you to understand that there are no problems in life
           except those you create. Just try to see: whatsoever feels good for you is good. Then go the whole
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           way. Even if the whole world is against it, it doesn't matter. And whether you have gone total and
           whole will be decided by the reward.
              If you start feeling at one point a sudden melting then you know that you have not cheated
           yourself, that you have been sincere, true. That now is really the point where you can be proud.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT DO YOU FEEL THE NEXT PHASE OF YOUR WORK WILL BE, ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND A
              STABLE RESIDENCE, AND WHAT DO YOU SEE YOUR SANNYASINS DOING?


               That's really a problem -- an unanswerable one too, because I never think of tomorrow, and I
           don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. I leave it up to tomorrow! I don't burden myself too
           much. Today is enough unto itself.
               Tomorrow I will be there, the problems will be there, the challenges will be there; and I will be
           available to those challenges, to those problems.
               My whole life I have lived this way -- without any predecision, without any commitment for the
           future, without any promise to myself or to anybody else for the next moment. And that has given
           me the most precious gift of life. I have become attuned with existence; knowing not where I am
           going, I am going joyously.
               One thing I know: existence has no goal, and as part of existence I cannot have any goal. The
           moment you have a goal, you cut yourself away from existence. Then a small dewdrop is trying to
           fight against the ocean. Unnecessary is the trouble, meaningless is the struggle.
           I never think of the yesterdays.
           And I never think of the tomorrows.
               That leaves me just a small moment, the present moment -- unburdened, uncluttered, clean, free.
               So I don't know the answer to your question. All that has happened in my life... if you try to
           recapitulate it, you will find certainly a tremendously systematic program -- as if I had planned
           everything from the very beginning in minute detail. But this is an absolutely wrong idea.
               As far as I am concerned, I have never planned anything; I have simply lived, wondering what is
           going to happen next. I have kept my wondering eyes alive, just like a small child.
               Hasya has to plan, Jayesh has to plan, John has to plan -- so they are all suffering from fever,
           tired. Just look at Jayesh!
           But I am simply wondering what is going to happen.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU ARE GIVING YOUR LIFE TO HELP PEOPLE FIND INNER FREEDOM, AND THE WHOLE
              WORLD IS TRYING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR FREEDOM -- THAT IS, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OF
              MOVEMENT, AND SO ON. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU DO NOT GIVE UP? WHAT IS
              COMPASSION? DOES COMPASSION POSSESS YOU LIKE LOVE, OR CAN YOU CHOOSE
              WHETHER OR NOT TO BE COMPASSIONATE?


                The question has many questions in it.
           Firstly, I am not making any effort to give to people freedom from the bondage of their rotten past. It
           is not my effort, it is simply my joy. I enjoy doing it; hence there is no tension about it, whether I
           succeed or not. I am not serious -- it is just playfulness. I am free, I have enjoyed it, and out of that
           joy arises an overflow of energy, spreading on its own accord.
           I am just a watcher, not a doer.
                Secondly, the world cannot take my freedom. It can try, but its failure is absolutely certain -- for
           the simple reason that to me freedom is more valuable than my life. I would rather risk my life than
           choose to lose my freedom; hence nobody can take it. They can kill me, but they cannot kill my
           spirit, they cannot kill my freedom. They are doing everything in their hands -- they seem to be
           desperate. And I am joyfully trying to find new ways to reach people. At the most they can take my
           life, but they cannot take my freedom.
                They can take your freedom only when you value your life more than freedom; then your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           freedom can be taken very easily. Just a threat to your life and your freedom can be taken. But they
           cannot take my freedom because to me life has no value, and freedom has all value.
           To me, freedom is life.
                They can destroy my body but they cannot destroy my consciousness.
                So there is no question of their taking my freedom. They may be powerful -- they are powerful.
           All the governments of the world are together against a single individual, and still they cannot take
           his freedom. And I can say it with absolute certainty that they cannot take my freedom, because I am
           ready to offer my life at any moment.
                Thirdly, you ask, is your compassion as possessive of you as love? No, compassion is not
           possessive. In love you fall; hence the phrase "falling in love." Have you ever heard of somebody
           "falling in compassion?" That kind of phrase does not exist in any language. You rise in compassion.
                Compassion does not possess you; neither do you possess compassion.
                That is something subtle to be understood. It is easy to understand whether it possesses you or
           not, but my answer is: compassion does not possess me, neither do I possess it.
                Compassion has become my nature. There is no duality of the possessor and the possessed. So it
           is a very different situation from love.
                It is not in my hands to stop being compassionate, because I am not separate from it. In either
           case, whether you possess something or something possesses you, the duality remains.
           But in compassion the duality disappears.
                You are it, there is nobody else; so you can simply be it.
           There is no other way of being.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              TO HAVE SUCH AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY TO ASK YOU A QUESTION, AND TO BE SO
              FEARFUL OF DOING SO, SHOWS ME HOW LITTLE TRUST I HAVE. CAN I STILL BE YOUR
              SANNYASIN?


               The question is not of being my sannyasin, the question is of being A sannyasin.
               To be my sannyasin certainly needs a certain commitment, a certain surrender. And I do not want
           you to be surrendered to me, or to be committed to me. I want you to be surrendered to nature,
           committed to existence. You need not be my sannyasin, you have just to be A sannyasin -- and that's
           the only way of being my sannyasin.
               It is not a direct phenomenon -- that directly you commit yourself and surrender to existence. But
           the deeper you surrender to existence, life, nature, the more loving, the more understanding, the
           more insightful you become; and that insight will bring you closer to me. You will find in me,
           indirectly, the state of total surrender, total trust.
               Don't be worried that you don't have that total trust now. Even if you have a little bit of trust, that
           is enough to begin with. Just open the bank account; you need not have millions to open the bank
           account with. With the smallest trust you can start the journey, and as the journey grows deeper, the
           trust grows deeper. Soon you will find yourself surrounded with only trust.
           That moment you will feel you are my sannyasin.
               Those who have come directly to me can betray. Those who have come indirectly to me cannot
           betray, because even before coming to me they had already tasted something of the beyond, and to
           betray is impossible. But there have been many sannyasins who have come directly to me. They
           started their commitment, their trust, towards me as a beginning. That is not a right beginning,
           because that means there is a certain belief. They don't know me, they can't know me -- and still they
           have believed.
               There is danger because the doubt is there; the doubt can any day take over their belief. But the
           authentic sannyasins, the real ones, have come to me in a very indirect way. It is very difficult for
           you to find out who has come in what way, because it is something inner that you cannot see. But the
           people who have come slowly, trying to understand me, step by step, moving towards being natural,
           authentic, sincere... suddenly one day they find they are related to me. Strange -- they had never tried
           for it, they had not made any effort. It is a discovery.
           So sannyas to me has to be a discovery.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then you cannot lose it; it is your own discovery.
               Don't be worried that your trust is partial -- that's enough, that much will do. You want to learn
           swimming... you need not jump into the deep water immediately; otherwise there is a danger you
           will get scared for your whole life. You will never come close to water again.
               There is a Sufi story that Mulla Nasruddin wanted to learn swimming. But as he went close to the
           river with the teacher who was going to teach him, he slipped and fell into the river -- and it was a
           deep river. He was saved by the teacher, but he went a few times under the water; and as he was
           taken out, he took his shoes and ran away.
               The teacher said, "Where are you going? You have come to learn swimming."
               He said, "Now, first I will learn swimming and then I will come near the water; otherwise I am
           not going to come near the water -- it is too dangerous. First I will learn swimming." But where is he
           going to learn swimming? You cannot learn swimming in your bedroom.
               There is no other way... but unfortunately he entered the river from the wrong end. The teacher
           would have taken him to where the water was shallow, and slowly would have encouraged him to go
           towards deeper waters. As he would have become more proficient, the teacher would have
           encouraged him to go farther and farther.
           Just a little trust is enough.
               In the beginning you cannot hope to have total trust. That's how we start making impossible
           demands upon ourselves, and then we cannot fulfill them. Guilt arises, a condemnation of oneself
           arises, a rejection: "I am not worthy...." But all these things are unnecessary.
               And this has happened all over the world. Everybody is feeling unworthy because he aspired in
           the very beginning to find the end. Naturally it was impossible -- he could not reach it -- and that
           stopped him even starting the journey again.
               I used to live with one of my professors, in the same house. I was living alone and he felt that,
           looking at the condition of my cottage... he said, "It will be better you come and start living with me"
           -- because I had my bed just near the door, so that I could simply jump into bed, jump out of it... I
           never used to enter the house, because who is going to clean it?
               When he saw this situation he said, "I have never seen such a way of living." Just in front of me
           was my bathroom; that much space was all that I used to move in -- from the bed to the bathroom.
           All my books were around the bed so I could pick up any book that I needed, and whenever the bed
           became too dirty I simply used to put the light off -- then everything looks the same!
               He said, "This is not good. My wife will take take care of you; you come with me. And we don't
           have any children." He was an old man -- he was just like my father. He said, "I won't let you live
           here. I had never thought that you are living in this way. You have invented an absolutely new way
           of life -- that you put the light off if you see that it is too dirty".
               So I went to live in his house. He was an atheist; he did not believe in God. And he was
           interested in me because he thought I was also an atheist -- because he had heard me speaking in the
           university and other places, declaring that there is no God. So he thought we were both atheists.
               But on the way I made it plain to him, "You may be under a wrong impression. I am not an
           atheist."
               He said, "What! And you declare everywhere that there is no God."
               I said, "Yes, I declare there is no God. That's why I cannot be a theist; a God is needed to be a
           theist -- to believe in it. But a God is needed also to be an atheist -- not to believe in it. And there is
           no God, so I don't fall into any category."
               He said, "My God! So you don't fall into any category?" I said, "No."
               I lived with him for a few months, and the more I tried to understand him, the more I came to the
           conclusion -- a very strange conclusion, which proved right about many other atheists I had met
           during my life -- that this man had been a great theist in his past life, and because he failed to find
           God he reversed his position to the other extreme. Otherwise it is unexplainable that atheists should
           waste so much time in denying God. When there is no God, why bother about it? And they write
           books and pamphlets, and they make associations. They have their own philosophy, and they are
           more argumentative than theists. Almost all the time, the whole time, whoever they meet, sooner or
           later the conversation turns to atheism, that there is no God.
               This insistence, this wastage on something negative simply means they are taking revenge with
           themselves. They have been theists.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I came to the conclusion because I started hypnotizing this old man. I told him, "This is my
           logical conclusion, but I want to know exactly where you were in your past life -- in what belief, in
           what religion." He was excited to know about it, so he was willing.
                Unless someone is willing you cannot hypnotize him. The art of hypnosis needs a very intelligent
           man and a very willing man. You cannot hypnotize an idiot -- that is an impossibility. You can
           hypnotize only very few people who are very intelligent, sharply intelligent, and yet ready to go on
           an inner journey, willingly. You cannot force... they have simply to go with you.
                Living with him, slowly, slowly I persuaded him. And he became a good medium for hypnosis.
           His wife was the judge -- I used to tell her to sit there and to see the situation, because this man
           would not remember when he woke up, and he would deny what I said. She had to be my witness.
           That man was a very great theist, lived his whole life worshipping God, renounced his family, did all
           kinds of ascetic disciplines. And he failed, as he was bound to, because there is no God to achieve.
           That failure turned the whole pendulum of his consciousness to the other extreme and now he was
           revengeful -- unknowingly, unconsciously. And when I woke him up and told him, he would deny it:
           "No, I have never been a theist and I don't believe in a past life."
                I said, "I have a witness -- your wife -- that you can regress, under hypnosis, back into your past
           life." And I did it dozens of times, and it was always the same result: without any exception he was a
           great theist. He had turned against himself because he had wasted one life.
                I said to him, "Now you are wasting another life. That's why I say I don't belong to any category.
           I don't want to waste my life for God -- this way or that."
                To me, man has in him the highest potential of existence and consciousness. If he explores it he
           will reach to a state of godliness -- not of God, but only of godliness.
                But don't be worried that you are starting with a small amount of trust; that much is enough. To
           begin with, anything is enough, Just the desire to go on a pilgrimage is enough. And don't be
           bothered that you have to be my sannyasin; just be a sannyasin. Just be a seeker of truth. And
           perhaps somewhere on the way I will be meeting you.
                I will tell you one Sufi story: A man is going in search of truth. As he comes out of his city, he
           finds an old man sitting under a tree. The young man does not know where to go in search of truth.
           He has heard that one has to go somewhere in search of truth, one has to go on a pilgrimage -- but
           where? Roads go to all sides. Which road is the road?
                Seeing the old man sitting under the tree, he thought: perhaps this man is old enough; he must
           know which road leads to truth. And he asked the man. He said, "Yes I know the road. Follow the
           right and go on until you come to a certain tree" -- he described the tree in detail, its leaves, its fruit
           -- "and you will find under it a very old man... just to give you an example, something like me but
           thirty years older. This is the man who is going to be your guide."
                The man was very happy. He thanked the old man and rushed towards the way he had shown
           him. For thirty years he was wandering and wandering, and the tree never came and the old man
           never came. He was getting tired, and he himself was getting old, and he said, "What nonsense!"
                Finally he decided, "It is better to go back home... enough is enough! Thirty years I have wasted
           in searching truth, and I have not even met the old man who is going to be my guide. And God
           knows, when the guide meets me, what kind of guidance it will be and how long it will take. It seems
           to be too complicated; it is better to go home. I was running a good business. I destroyed the
           business and unnecessarily got into trouble hearing this word `truth' again and again."
                He came back. Again he passed the tree -- and he was shocked! This was the tree the old man
           had described. And he looked under the tree and the old man was there -- the same old man, thirty
           years older and exactly the same as the description in every way. He said, "My God! Then why did
           you waste my thirty years?"
                He said, "I wasted your thirty years -- or you wasted my thirty years? At that time you were not
           ripe enough to be guided, because I gave all the guidance and you didn't even look at the tree -- and I
           was describing it in minute detail. I was describing your guide in minute detail, and you did not look
           at me, to see that I am describing myself. You were in such a hurry; you were too young. But
           nothing is wasted. I was, waiting, knowing that one day you will come back, one day you will
           recognize this tree, one day you will recognize this old man, that I am your guide!"
                The young man said, "This seems to be a strange business."
                The story is immensely significant. You have a little trust. Don't be worried, go to the right...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This time not under a tree, this time on a beautiful chair, you will find an old man -- someone
           looking similar to me.
              But that will be the right time for you to become my sannyasin. Right now just be a sannyasin;
           don't be greedy!




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                 Chapter #16
                                 Chapter title: Emptiness has its own fullness
           20 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604200
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO16
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 79 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              FOR YEARS I HAVE CONTEMPLATED WHAT SEEMS TO ME TO BE THE BASIC MESSAGE FOR
              WELL-BEING: LOVE YOURSELF. WHEN I WAS A THERAPIST, ALL DAY HEARING, "I HATE
              MYSELF; I FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF; I AM PROUD OF MYSELF; I WANT TO DESTROY
              MYSELF," I STARTED WONDERING -- WHO IS THIS SELF?
              I LOVE WHEN YOU SAY THERE IS NO SELF. THAT SEEMS SO FREEING. COULD YOU PLEASE
              SAY MORE?


                The whole therapeutic movement has gone wrong on that point: Love thyself.
                Socrates used to say, "Know thyself." And there have been masters, particularly Sufis, who say,
           "Be thyself." But there is only one person in the whole history of man, Gautam Buddha, who said,
           "There is no self. You are an emptiness, utter silence, a non-being."
                His message was much opposed by all the traditions, because they all depended in some way or
           other on the idea of the self. There may have been differences on other points, but on one point they
           were all totally in agreement -- and that was the existence of the self. Even people like George
           Gurdjieff, who used to talk about a very novel idea -- that you are not born with a self, you have to
           earn it: "Deserve thyself" -- finally, he also ends up with the self.
                Gautam Buddha does not make any distinction between the self and the ego -- and there is none.
           It is just sophistry, linguistic gymnastics, to make such distinctions; then you can discard the ego and
           save the self. But the self is simply another name of the ego. You are only changing names, and no
           transformation of being is happening.
                Buddha's message is tremendously significant: you are an emptiness; there is no point in you
           which can say "I."
                Looked at from my vision, when I say to you, "Melt, dissolve into existence," I am simply saying
           the same thing in more positive terms.
                Buddha's way of saying it was so negative that many people were stopped, because the question
           arose, naturally, that if there is no self, why bother? what is there to achieve? Just to know that you
           are not?
                A whole life of discipline, great effort for meditation, and the result is to know that you are not?
           The result does not seem to be worth it! At least without the meditation, without the discipline you
           have some sense of being. It may be wrong, but at least you are not feeling hollow and empty.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Knowing that you are not, how will you live? Out of nothingness there is no possibility of any love,
           of any compassion -- no possibility of anything. Out of nothing comes only nothing.
               So the opponents of Buddha described his method as a subtle way of spiritual suicide -- far more
           dangerous than ordinary suicide, because with ordinary suicide you will survive, you will take a new
           form, a new birth. But with Buddha you will be committing total suicide, annihilation. There will be
           no longer anything left of you, and you will be never heard from again, never found again.
           You never were in the first place.
               Buddhism died in India, and one of the basic reasons was Buddha's way of putting his
           philosophy. I can understand why he was so insistent on negatives, because all other philosophies
           were so positivistic, and all their positivism was turning into stronger and stronger egos. He moved
           to the other extreme, seeing that positivism is going to give you egoistic ideas -- and that is a
           hindrance between you and existence.
           To stop this idea he became totally negative.
               You cannot complain about it, because the positivistic ideologies were in a strange situation: you
           have to drop the ego to find yourself, you have to drop the ego to find God, you have to drop the ego
           to become God, you have to drop the ego to find ultimate liberation -- liberation of whom?
           Liberation of your self.
               So there was achievement, and achievement is always of the ego.
           There is a goal, and the goal is always of the ego.
               Seeing all this, Buddha said, "There is no self. There is nothing to be achieved, and there is no
           goal to be found. You have never existed, you do not exist, you will not exist. You can only imagine,
           you can only dream that you are."
               Chuang Tzu's story is famous. I never get tired of Chuang Tzu because his small absurd stories
           have so many aspects to explore, each time I can bring it in with a new light, with a new meaning,
           with a new perspective.
               One morning he wakes up, calls all his disciples and says, "I am in great trouble, and you have to
           help me."
               The disciples said, "We have come to be helped by you, and you want our help?" Chuang Tzu
           said, "It was okay, but this night everything got disturbed: I dreamt that I had become a butterfly."
               They all laughed. They said, "All nonsense! Dreaming does not create any mess."
               Chuang Tzu said, "It has created, because now I am thinking that perhaps I am a butterfly,
           thinking, dreaming that I am Chuang Tzu. Now, who am I? And I have to be certain, in order to live,
           whether I am Chuang Tzu or I am a butterfly."
               He looks absurd, but he is really bringing the absurdity of logic of being the surface. If a
           butterfly cannot dream of being a Chuang Tzu, then how can Chuang Tzu dream of being a
           butterfly? And if Chuang Tzu can dream of being a butterfly, then there is no logical objection to a
           butterfly falling asleep under the morning sun on a beautiful flower, and dreaming of herself being
           Chuang Tzu.
               None of his disciples could help him. For centuries Taoists have been using that as a koan,
           because it is insoluble -- but to Buddha it is not so.
               Chuang Tzu and Gautam Buddha were contemporaries, but far away; one was in China, one in
           India. They were divided by the great Himalayas, so no communication; otherwise Buddha would
           have solved Chuang Tzu's problem, because he says, "Both are dreams. It does not matter whether
           Chuang Tzu dreams of being a butterfly, or the butterfly dreams of being a Chuang Tzu -- both are
           dreams. You simply don't exist."
               Many came to Buddha and turned away, because nobody can make nothingness be his life's
           achievement -- for what? So much discipline and so much great trouble in getting into meditation
           just to find out that you are not... strange kind of man this Gautam Buddha. We are good as we are,
           what is the need of digging so deep that you find there is nothing? Even if we are dreaming, at least
           there is something.
               My own approach is just the same, but from a very different angle. I say to you that you don't
           have a self, because you are part of the universe; you are not nothing. Only the universe can have a
           self, only the universe can have a center, only the whole can have a soul. My hand cannot have a
           soul, my fingers cannot have a soul; only the organic unity can have a soul. And we are only parts.
           We are, but we are only parts; hence we cannot claim that we have a self.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So Buddha is right -- there is no self -- but he is not helping people, poor people, because they
           cannot figure out all the implications of the statement.
               I say to you: You DON'T have a self because you are part of a great self, the whole. You cannot
           have any separate, private, self of your own. This takes away the negativity, and this does not give
           you the positive desire for becoming more and more egoistic. It avoids both the extremes and finds a
           new approach: The universe is, I am not. And whatever happens and appears to be in me, as me, is
           simply universal.
               To call it "I" is to make it too small. That is what makes it untrue; it does not correspond to
           reality. To call it "self" makes it unreal, because the self is possible only if you are totally
           independent -- and you are not. Even for a single breath you are not independent. Even for a single
           moment you are not independent of the sun, of the moon, of the stars. The whole is contributing all
           the time. That's why you are.
               To recognize it is not a loss, it is a gain; and yet it is not an egoistic gain. If you can see the
           subtlety of it... it is a tremendous achievement to understand that you are part of the whole, that the
           whole belongs to you, that you belong to the whole. And yet with such a great achievement, there is
           no shadow of the self.
               It is one of the most beautiful understandings, that we are not separate -- not separate from the
           mountains, not separate from the trees, not separate from the ocean, not separate from anybody. We
           are all connected, interwoven into oneness. The gain is immense, but there is no sense of I, of me, of
           my, of mine. As far as these things are concerned, there is utter silence and emptiness. But this
           emptiness is not just empty.
               We can empty this room -- we can take all the furniture, everything in the room out -- and
           anybody coming in will say, "The room is empty." That is one way of looking at it -- but not the
           right way.
               The right way is that now the room is full of emptiness. Before, the emptiness was hindered, cut
           into parts, because so much furniture, and so many things were not allowing it to be one: now it is
           one.
               Emptiness too is. It is existential; it does not mean that it is not. Somebody empty of jealousy
           will become full of love, somebody empty of stupidness will become full of intelligence. Each
           emptiness has its own fullness. And if you miss seeing the fullness that comes with emptiness,
           absolutely and certainly, then you are blind.
           There is no self.
           And that's a great relief.
               You don't have to love it, you don't have to hate it, you don't have to accept it, you don't have to
           reject it; you don't have to do anything: it simply is not there. You can relax, and in this relaxation is
           the melting into the universe.
           Then nothingness becomes wholeness.
               Buddha was very miserly; he would never say that nothingness is wholeness. He knew it; it is
           impossible that a man who knows nothingness to such depths will not know the other side of the coin
           -- wholeness. But he was very miserly -- and for a reason, because the moment you utter
           "wholeness," immediately the ego feels at ease.
               The ego says, "So there is no fear. You have to attain to wholeness. Nothing was a danger;
           wholeness gives hope." That's why he was so persistently denying something which is ultimately
           real. He was leading people towards it, but denying it because the moment you assert it those people
           start going astray.
           But I would like tell you the whole thing.
               One day Buddha is passing through a forest. It is fall, and the whole forest is full of dry and dead
           leaves, and the wind is taking those dry and dead leaves from here and there and making beautiful
           music; and just to walk on those leaves is a joy.
               Ananda asked Buddha, "Can I ask you... there is nobody around, and I rarely get a chance to be
           alone with you. Although I am twenty-four hours a day with you, somebody is always there, and of
           course he has preference to ask, to talk, because it is an opportunity for him; I am always with you.
           But today there is nobody. Can I ask you one thing: Have you said everything that you know? Or
           have you been keeping a few things back and not revealing them to people?"
               Buddha stooped down and filled one of his fists with dead leaves. Ananda said, "What are you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doing?"
               He said, "I am trying to answer your question. What do you see in my hand?"
           And Anand said, "I see a few leaves."
           Buddha said, "What do you see all over the forest?"
           He said, "Millions and millions of dead leaves."
               Buddha said, "What I have said is just this much, and what I have not said is equal to the leaves
           that are in the whole forest. But my whole desire is to take you to the forest, to leave you to listen to
           the music of the whole, to walk and run on dry leaves, just like children. I don't want to give you a
           few leaves in my fist. No, I want to give you the whole.
               "And this is my understanding: you may trust me or not, but I trust you. You may change, you
           may even become an enemy to me, but my trust will remain the same in you. Because my trust is not
           something conditional upon you, it does not depend on you. My trust is my joy, and I want to give
           the whole."
               Nothingness is half of the truth -- immensely relieving, but yet it leaves something like a wound,
           something unfulfilled. You will be relieved, relaxed, but you will be still looking for something,
           because emptiness cannot become the end.
               The other side, wholeness, has to be made available to you.
           Then your emptiness is full -- full of wholeness.
               Then your nothingness is all. It is not just nothing, but all. These are the moments when
           contradictory terms are transcended, and whenever you transcend any contradictory terms you
           become enlightened. Whatever the contradiction may be, all contradictions transcended bring
           enlightenment to you. And this is one of the fundamental contradictions: emptiness and wholeness.
               The transcendence needs nothing but just a silent understanding.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              SINCE BEING WITH YOU, I HAVE NOTICED THAT WHEN A PERSON BECOMES CLOSELY
              RELATED TO YOU THEY SOMETIMES GET A FIXED IDEA ABOUT WHO YOU ARE. IT SEEMS
              LIKE THEY FORGET WHO YOU REALLY ARE AND EVEN WHY THEY HAVE COME TO YOU.
              THIS SITUATION PUZZLES ME, EVEN SCARES ME A LITTLE. WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               The mind has a natural tendency to quickly get fixed ideas. It is very much afraid of change,
           because change means rearrangement. Each time you change something, you have to rearrange your
           whole inner being.
               Mind wants to live with fixed ideas, so when a person comes to me -- and it has been happening
           for thirty-five years continuously -- he starts loving me. He comes closer, becomes intimate, and then
           gets a fixed idea. And that's where he misses, because now his fixed idea is going to create trouble.
               I am not an idea and I am not fixed. I am changing. I am in absolute agreement with Heraclitus
           that you cannot step twice in the same river. Translated, it means you cannot meet the same person
           again. I not only agree with him, I go a little further: I say you cannot step in the same river even
           once. Again translated to the human world, it means you cannot meet the same person even once,
           because even while you are meeting him he is changing, you are changing, the whole world is
           changing.
               But once you get a fixed idea you cling to it, and I am constantly going to change. Tomorrow
           you will find yourself in a conflict.
               So many have come, so many have gone, and this has been one of the basic reasons: they became
           so much fascinated with their own idea of me that I became secondary. Their idea of me became
           primary -- and that too, old, dated. I am with them, fresh and young, but I became secondary. And if
           there was any conflict between their idea and my reality, they went with their idea -- even to the
           point of becoming enemies to me, telling people that I am no longer the same, I am no longer the
           person I used to be; they have worshipped a great saint, but I am no longer the same person. They
           will keep their memory of me deep in their heart, but it is simply a photograph. Photographs don't
           change.
               Once it happened... one of my friends was collecting photographs of me from my childhood --
           from wherever he could get them. He had made a big album, and he was showing me. He had done a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           great deal of work; he had gone to many places, to many people. Wherever he heard that somebody
           had a picture of me he went there, either to get the original or a copy of it. But while he was showing
           them to me he felt I was not interested. He stopped and said to me, "You don't seem to be
           interested."
               I said, "I don't seem to be interested because none of these photographs represent me; they only
           represent that which is dead. The photograph can only represent that which is dead. A photograph is
           always of the dead; you cannot find a photograph which is of the living."
               In Picasso's home there used to be a portrait, a self-portrait of Picasso. He never sold it, at any
           price, that was the only picture he insisted on not selling. And the more he insisted on not selling, the
           more and more people were coming, with bigger and bigger offers for the picture. It became a
           challenge for art collectors.
               One beautiful woman had come with the same idea, to purchase the picture. Whatever the price
           she was ready to pay; she was rich enough. She said to Picasso, "I am willing to pay you as much as
           you want for your portrait."
               Picasso said, "People are mad. For a dead thing they go on harassing me. You can have it without
           any price, but remember, it is not me."
               The woman looked puzzled. She said, "It is not you? What do you mean?"
               He said, "If it were me it would have kissed you by now! It does not speak, it does not love, it
           does not sing, it does not dance. Such a beautiful woman is standing before it and the idiot is not
           even kissing. You just can take it. It is dead. Remove it from here -- it is not me!"
               People get fixed ideas -- and very soon. Ordinarily it goes perfectly well, because you meet only
           dead people who are not changing, who go on saying the same thing their whole life just like a
           parrot. They are consistent people; they have all your respect.
               I seem to you self-contradictory, inconsistent, for the simple reason that I have decided not to die
           before I die. I am going to live to the very last breath, so you cannot be certain about me till my last
           breath. After that you can make any image of me and be satisfied with it. But remember, it will not
           be me.
               To be with me needs courage, and the greatest courage is being capable of seeing the change and
           moving with it. It may be difficult; it is easy to have one idea once and then be finished.
               A Sufi story... Mulla Nasruddin is appointed as the prime minister of a king because he was
           known to be very wise; somewhat weird was his wisdom, but still, wisdom is wisdom. The first day
           when they went to have their dinner together, a certain vegetable called bindhi was made by the
           cook, stuffed with Eastern spices. It is a delicacy.
               The king appreciated the cook, and after that Mulla said, in appreciation of the bindhi, "This is
           the most precious vegetable in the world. It gives you long life, it keeps you healthy, it gives you
           resistance against diseases," and so on and so forth.
               The king said, "I never knew that you know so much about vegetables."
               The cook heard about it, so he thought if bindhi is such a thing that our king can live long and
           healthy and young... Next day again bindhi was made, and again Mulla praised it, going even higher
           than the first day. The third day bindhi was made and Mulla went still higher. The fourth day bindhi
           was made and Mulla was going higher and higher. The fifth day Mulla even said that bindhi is a
           divine food -- God eats only bindhi.
               But the king was bored. He threw the plate of bindhi and told Mulla Nasruddin, "You are an
           idiot. Bindhi... and God eats bindhi every day? You will drive me mad!"
               Mulla said, "Lord, you are getting unnecessarily hot. I am your servant; you said bindhi was
           good, I simply followed you, and when I do something I do it perfectly. I am not a servant to bindhi,
           I am your servant. The truth is that bindhi is the worst thing in the world -- even devils don't eat it.
           You did well that you threw it."
               He threw his plate farther away than the king. He said, "You should always remember that I am
           your servant, and you are always right. And I am a consistent man; I will remain consistently your
           servant, whatever happens."
               There are people -- almost the whole world -- who live in a certain consistency. It is easier. But
           when you come close to a man like me, you are going to be in difficulty; either you will have to drop
           your idea of consistency or you will have to drop me. And people are so infatuated with their own
           ideas that they can drop me, but they cannot drop their ideas.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                My first book was published in 1960. I was staying in someone's home, and the housewife of the
           home told me, "My father is a monk, a Jaina monk; he is old, ninety years old. He has been told by
           the Jaina order that he need not go begging, he is too old, so he remains outside the town in a hut,
           and we take his food there. But he wants to come to see you -- he insists. We've told him, `We can
           bring the person you want to see...'" In fact I used to go on that road every morning. She said, "It is
           very easy for you to go to meet the old man, but he insists, `No, that will not be respectful.' He reads
           your books; he has stopped reading all other books. And he says, `If it was in my power I would
           declare this man as our twenty-fifth TIRTHANKARA.'"
                They have twenty-four tirthankaras in one cycle of existence; in Jainism there are cycles of
           existence. It is a very mathematical philosophy. Everything moves in the world in cycles -- existence
           also has a cycle: it begins, it ends, it begins again, it ends again... it is a long, long way. In fact, India
           has the biggest terms for counting; no other language has such big terms for counting. And it has to
           use its biggest terms to count how long it takes one cycle to complete.
                In one cycle there are twenty-four tirthankaras, just as in one day there are twenty-four hours.
           For each hour in the cycle of existence there is one master. This old Jaina monk had said something
           almost sacrilegious: that if it was in his power he would declare me the twenty-fifth tirthankara. He
           was so infatuated with the book that he said that he had never understood things which the book had
           made him understand, and he was happy that he had found it before his death.
                He came to see me; it must have been nearabout six in the evening when he came. The daughter
           of the woman I was staying with came and told me, "You should take your bath because your supper
           is ready."
                I said, "Wait, this old man has come from so far." And the old man had already said -- just within
           the few minutes he had been there -- "You are the twenty-fifth tirthankara. Perhaps if it is not
           possible according to existence, then you will be the first tirthankara in the new cycle. Your book has
           given me so much; all the books that I have read in my whole life -- all the scriptures -- have proved
           useless."
                He had touched my feet. I told him, "It is not good. You are ninety years old, and a Jaina monk is
           not supposed to touch anybody's feet."
                He said, "I don't care. I consider you as my master." But when he heard the girl asking me to get
           ready, he was shocked -- because the sun had set, and Jainas don't eat after the sun has set.
           Immediately everything changed.
           He said, "Do you eat after the sunset?"
                I said, "Ordinarily, no. But you have come from so far, an old man, and I wanted to be with you.
           It doesn't matter if it is a little late. I can take my supper a little late."
                He said, "Then forgive me. Whatever I have said to you, I want to take it back. You are not even
           a Jaina, how can you become a Jaina tirthankara? First you should learn how to discipline your life."
                He started teaching me. Just a moment before I was the master, and I was going to be the first
           tirthankara of the new cycle; now I was not even a disciple! And there was absolute condemnation in
           his mind. The book that he had brought with him -- my book -- he simply left there. He didn't take it
           with him.
                I asked him, "What happened? That book... I may have fallen from your mind, but that book does
           not eat supper. You can take the book."
                He said, "I cannot even touch it. You have written it and you don't know even simple things, that
           after sunset one cannot eat. If one eats after sunset, one can never know what reality is."
                It was really hilarious to see the whole thing; the whole family gathered to see. The husband of
           the woman was a rare man. He said to me, "Except me, everybody in my family is going to betray
           you. Only I will remain in the end with you, because I am not a religious person; they all are against
           me. I don't go to the temple, I don't read their scriptures, I don't follow the discipline of a Jaina -- not
           eating in the night, not eating before sunrise, and other things. I will be the last one to still be with
           you, because whatever you do will not hurt me; I don't make any image, I simply see it.
                "Each time you come to my home you are different, and all these people get into difficulty. They
           are puzzled -- last time you said something and this time you have been saying something which
           goes against it. Only to me it does not seem puzzling simply because last time was last time! The
           water in the Ganges has gone down so much. This time is this time, and to me you are each time
           beautiful."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And he was right. By and by all the people in his family started getting stuck with some image of
           me. Only he remained to the very last. He is dead now. Just before dying he said, "Convey to Osho,
           `Only you are in my mind right now, when I am leaving my body.'" He was a man who really had
           guts to go along with me through all the seasons of the year, all the changes of life.
               If you really want to be with me you have to stop making images. What is the need to make an
           image? The need is to cling.
               Remain without an image so that your eyes are not cluttered with old images and you are
           available to me directly, each moment.
               This direct immediacy is the true relationship between me and you.
           Anything less than that is worthless.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER DAY I HEARD YOU SAYING, "JUST LISTENING TO ME CAN BE ENOUGH TO BE
              TRANSFORMED." I FELT SO GRATEFUL TO YOU AND RELAXED FOR A MOMENT. BUT A PART
              OF ME WAS DOUBTFULLY ASKING, "IS IT REALLY THAT EASY? CAN I REALLY RELAX AND
              LET EXISTENCE TAKE OVER?" MY CHATTERING MIND WANTS TO DO SOMETHING. HOW CAN
              I BE MORE PATIENT AND REALLY TRUST?


              Just for a moment you had the glimpse.
           Now make yourself available more and more... that glimpse comes again and again, becomes
           deepened. And don't be bothered by your chattering mind.
           Use that chattering mind to make new questions.




                                             Beyond Psychology
                                                  Chapter #17
                                 Chapter title: The world is where the work is
           20 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604205
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO17
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 76 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN THE LAND OF MONEY, POWER, DESIGNER DRUGS LIKE "ECSTASY" AND ENLIGHTENED
              INSURANCE, MANY OF YOUR SANNYASINS ARE NOW WORKING, WITH A JOB, AND EARNING
              THEIR LIVELIHOOD. LAUGHTER, A SENSE OF HUMOR, AND A DEEP LOVE AND GRATITUDE
              TOWARDS YOU, KEEP US ALL CONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER SOMEHOW. WITH YOUR
              PEOPLE IN THE WORLD NOW AND PHYSICALLY SO FAR AWAY, HAS YOUR WORK WITH US
              TAKEN ON A NEW SIGNIFICANCE?


               It has certainly taken on a new significance, a new turn.
               I always wanted my people to be in the world, occasionally coming to me, being with me,
           refreshing themselves, then going back again to the world -- because the world has to be changed.
           We are not the ones who renounce the world.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All the religions have been teaching, "Renounce the world."
           I teach you, transform the world.
               Renouncing it is sheer cowardice, and by renouncing it, nothing significant happens -- the world
           goes on living, producing new generations in the old pattern. And the persons who have renounced
           the world -- they also don't go through a transformation, for a simple reason that they lose all
           opportunities where they can test whether they are growing or not. You can sit in the Himalayas for a
           half a century and you will feel silent, but that silence is not yours; it belongs to the Himalayas.
           Everything is silent, eternally silent, and there is nobody to disturb you.
               Just to get out of the situations where you get disturbed does not mean that you are attaining
           peacefulness; it simply means you are running away from situations where you are certain that your
           peace will be disturbed. Renouncing the world has never been my idea; it was always to change it.
               Millions of people are suffering, and suffering for stupid reasons. It is absolutely inhuman to turn
           your back on it and move to the mountains or to the deserts to live peacefully there. That peace is
           very cheap, very superficial; it has almost no meaning. Just come back to the world and it will be
           disturbed, it will be shattered into pieces. And that will be immensely significant to awaken you, that
           what you have been thinking of as peace, silence, has been just a dream which is shattered by the
           reality, just as a mirror is shattered when hit by a rock... and it is shattered forever. That mirror you
           cannot put together again, and all those years that you were enjoying the idea that you have attained
           peace have gone down the drain.
               So my idea has always been: come to me to rejoice, come to me for a holiday. Come to me for
           pure joy. Be filled with the fragrance, be filled with my presence, then take it back into the world.
           There is the real test: whether it remains with you or not. If you want to keep it, spread it, share it,
           and it will grow within you. But whenever you feel somewhere stuck, not growing, I am available --
           come back to me, be with me. When you feel the clarity again, go back to the world.
               If you start living with me you will be a loser on two counts. One: you will by and by start taking
           me for granted -- which is a great loss, because I will be available to you. It is dangerous, because
           the more I am available to you, the less you will become available to me.
               I have lived for almost twenty years in Jabalpur in India; it has one of the most beautiful spots in
           the world. For two to three miles continuously a beautiful river, Narmada, flows between two
           mountains of marble... just three miles of pure white marble on both sides, high mountains. And the
           river is deep. On a full-moon night, when the moon comes in the middle and you can see those rocks
           also reflected into the waters, it creates almost a magical world. I don't think there is anything in the
           world which can be compared to that magic. It is simply unimaginable.
               I insisted again and again to my professor, Doctor S.K. Saxena... I had loved him very much
           because he was the only teacher I came across who never treated me as a student. We argued, we
           fought on small points, and if he was wrong he was always ready to accept it, and he was grateful.
               He had a Ph.D. from America -- he lived his whole life in America, and taught as a professor of
           Indian philosophy there. Just at the end, he wanted to go back to his own country. He had been
           searching for someone who could translate his doctoral thesis into Hindi, but he never came across a
           man who could. And his thesis was really of great significance; just a literal translation would not
           have done. It needed someone with a deep understanding. The subject matter of the thesis was, "The
           evolution of consciousness in the East." It was one of the most difficult subjects, very elusive, but he
           had managed, worked hard, and had come to certain very significant conclusions.
               He asked me -- I was only a student -- to translate it. I said, "You should ask some professor, at
           least someone qualified."
               He said, "I have seen many professors, many qualified people; they can translate only literally.
           And I trust you. Arguing with you I have come to the conclusion that this is the man who can
           translate it."
               It took me two months continuously -- my whole holiday one summer. It was hard work. And it
           was harder because there were faults, there were mistakes, and I could not tolerate them. So I
           pointed out to him, "These are mistakes; out of your seven conclusions, three are wrong, and if it was
           in my hands I would take your doctorate back. The people who have given you a doctorate know
           nothing about consciousness."
           He said, "I was afraid of this!"
               But I said to him, "I have translated it; just in the footnotes I have made my comments where you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have gone wrong, why you have gone wrong. Perhaps anybody would have gone wrong. Just as a
           scholar it was bound to happen, this mistake. I am not a scholar."
               I gave the thesis to him and I said, "You look at it, and you tell me how you feel."
               He hugged me and told me, "You have done such a tremendous job that I feel ashamed. It looks
           like my book is a translation and your book is the original! And I am not going to publish it because
           that would destroy my whole reputation. You have also made comments which I agree with -- you
           are right and my examiners were wrong. I was wrong, my examiners were wrong."
               So he kept the translated thesis with him and never allowed anyone to see it, never allowed
           anyone to publish it.
               I said, "You wasted my two months unnecessarily!" I said, "Just to compensate, now you have to
           come with me to Jabalpur." It was one hundred miles from the university where he was professor, to
           the marble rocks. "I would not let you die without seeing it."
               But he said, "Howsoever beautiful it is, I have seen the whole world" -- he had been a world
           traveler -- "I have seen everything that is worth seeing. What can be there?"
               I said, "I cannot describe... you just come with me." And I took him there. He was asking again
           and again, when we were moving in the boat, "Do you call this the most beautiful place?"
               I said, "You just wait. We have not entered into it yet." And then suddenly the boat entered into
           the world of marble, the mountains of marble. And in the full-moon night they were just so pure, so
           virgin-pure, and their reflections... The old man had tears in his eyes. He said, "If you had not
           insisted, I would have missed something in my life. Just take the boat close to the mountains,
           because I would like to touch then. It looks so illusory! Without touching I cannot believe that what I
           am seeing is real."
               I told the boatman to come close to the mountains. He touched the mountains, and he said, "Now
           I can leave -- they are real! But for three miles continuously...!"
               This man wrote beautifully, spoke beautifully, but still was miserable. And I said, "Neither your
           writings mean anything, nor your speeches mean anything. To me what is significant is whether you
           have been able to drop all the causes of misery. You are so miserable that you drink, just to forget.
           You are so miserable that you smoke, just to forget. You gamble, just to forget."
               Now, this world is not to be renounced. There are beautiful people, there are immensely capable
           people; they just have never come across a person who could have triggered a process of mutation in
           their life. So my idea has always been: come to me whenever you start feeling, "Perhaps I am living
           in an illusion." Then come and just touch me. Let yourself be showered by my presence, my love, so
           that you can regain confidence, courage, and you can go back to the world.
           But the world is where the work is.
           This is a mystery school.
           We prepare people to send them to change the world.
               That was from the very beginning my idea of a commune, but because I was silent and in
           isolation, things went not according to my idea. The commune, rather than becoming a refreshing
           place, a place for holiday, became just another world of work, of hierarchy, of bureaucracy. All those
           things that we wanted to change evolved in the commune itself.
               So my new phase of work will be that there will be a mystery school. It will live like a commune,
           but the people will be changing. People will be coming whenever they can manage, whenever they
           need. There will be a certain number of people who will be permanent, to take care of all the visitors.
           But the commune will be a continuous pilgrimage place -- where you learn something, where you
           drink something, and go back to the world.
               We are not the renouncers -- we are the revolutionaries.
           We want to change the whole world.
               And in changing the world, you will change yourself. You cannot change anything else unless
           you go through the change simultaneously.
               So on one count it was a loss that if you were staying with me continuously... you are human,
           and it is a human mistake that one starts taking things for granted. I am available.
               I told you about this beautiful spot because in Jabalpur there are thousands of people who have
           not seen it. It is only thirteen miles away, and I have asked those people -- professors, doctors,
           engineers -- "Just go and see!"
               And they say, "We can see it anytime. It is there; it is not going to go away."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In the second world war it happened that suddenly, when Adolf Hitler declared that he was going
           to bomb the Tower of London, thousands of people rushed to see it. They had been living in London
           their whole life; they were born there. They were passing the Tower every day on the way to their
           job -- going to the office, coming back home, it was there. People were coming from faraway places
           to see it, but they were taking it for granted: it is there, so what is the hurry?
               It is absolutely certain that thousands of people have been born in London and died in London
           without seeing the tower. I know about Jabalpur; thousands of people must have died... It is always
           there, but you are not always there.
               As far as the relationship with me is concerned, neither you are forever nor am I forever. But you
           can take it for granted, and by and by a fog surrounds your mind. Rather than my presence there is a
           fog -- which separates you, not connects you.
               This was the most disastrous thing that was happening in the commune. People were with me,
           but they had created a fog around themselves. Seen from the outside, physically they were close, but
           spiritually they had gone far away.
               Secondly, when five thousand or ten thousand people start living in a commune, their whole
           orientation, why they have come there, changes without their knowledge. They had come there to
           meditate, to be with me, to be as much as possible open and available to my experience... to enjoy, to
           relax, to sing, to dance, to be ecstatic. They had all come for that.
               But when ten thousand people have to live together, you have to make houses, you have to make
           roads, you have to prepare food, you have to prepare clothes; a thousand and one things are needed,
           they go on taking all your time. Slowly, slowly you completely forget the real reason you had come.
           You go on getting into other things, and the original intention is completely forgotten.
               This time I am working in a totally different way, so these two things can be avoided.
           To me, I always want to be just a holiday.
               To me, I always want to mean nothing but ecstasy, music, dance.
               It is good to be only for a few days with me and then go into the world. Take the music, take the
           ecstasy with you, spread it, and whenever you feel thirsty, come back again.
               So it will be a world school of mysticism where people will be coming and going, taking the
           message to all the nooks and corners of the world. And I don't want you to be in any way associated
           with anything... road-making, making houses, and creating a dam -- all that is just damned foolery!
               I simply want you to remember me as a flower, a fragrance, a flame, a light; associate me with
           these things. That is going to be the purpose of the new mystery school. I would like to call it the
           mystery school rather than a commune, because that name has become associated with the commune
           we had.
               I am not in any way thinking that the disappearance of that commune has been a loss. Not at all
           -- because the way it was functioning, it was a non-ending rut. You would have needed new roads,
           because new houses were to be built, then new roads would have had to be connected. You would
           have needed more restaurants, bigger restaurants; you would have needed more clothes... and finally,
           you were going to have to produce. You would have had to make factories and other productive
           directions -- because how long can five thousand people live only on donations? Friends can support
           for a time being, but not forever.
               So soon you would have completely forgotten that you are separate from the world. In fact you
           would have been in more difficulty, because in the other world somebody else takes care of the
           roads, somebody else takes care of the post office, and somebody else takes care of other things. You
           have just to work five hours, six hours. In the commune you were working for twelve hours,
           sometimes fourteen hours; even then the work was unending.
               So the resources that were helping the commune were going to be soon exhausted; the commune
           was going to collapse. I was telling the people who were in power in the commune, "The commune
           will collapse, because how long can you live on other people's support? And if you become
           productive -- you open factories and you start making things -- then why bother? All these things are
           being done everywhere else."
               This time, from the very beginning, only a small nucleus of people who are absolutely necessary
           to run the mystery school will be living with me. Everybody else will be a guest for a few days, a
           few weeks, a few months... as much as he can manage. But his being here with me will be all
           relaxation, meditation, so he can be rejuvenated. And then he can go back. The whole world is there
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to work on.
               This way we will avoid the most basic thing -- that he does not take me for granted. And the
           second thing -- that he does not forget his basic intention in coming to me.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ONCE, WHEN I WAS SITTING WITH A DYING PATIENT -- IT WAS ANNA FREUD, SIGMUND
              FREUD'S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER -- I WAS IN CONVERSATION WITH HER COMPANION, AND IT
              HAPPENED I WAS SPEAKING OF YOU. WHEN, AN HOUR OR SO LATER, MY PATIENT DIED, I
              RECALLED I HAD MENTIONED YOUR NAME, AND IN RETROSPECT IT FELT AS IF BECAUSE
              OF THAT, ROSEWATER HAD BEEN SPRINKLED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. IS IT JUST BEING
              FANCIFUL TO FEEL THAT SIMPLY THE MENTION OF YOUR NAME, OR EVEN A BRIEF GLIMPSE
              OF YOUR FACE ON OUR LOCKETS, CAN IN SOME WAY HAVE AN EFFECT ON PEOPLE?


               It all depends on you -- not on my name, not on my face on your locket, but on your heart.
               If you are talking about me with deep love, with trust, with reverence, your heart creates a certain
           milieu. If you are talking not just from the mind but from the very innermost core of your being, it
           can happen: you can feel as if rosewater has been sprinkled... a great cleanliness, a great freshness, a
           fragrance. But they are not contained in my name or in my photograph; those are just instrumental.
           The reality that is created is by your heart.
               There are people who are against me, who are saying my name continually, and they will never
           feel that rosewater has been sprinkled.
               The archbishop in Greece has some source of information! As I was arrested, and the whole
           population of Saint Nicholas was at the airport to show their support to me, alone, with his half a
           dozen old, almost dead women, he was ringing the bell of victory -- that God had won over the devil,
           that I was sent specially from hell to destroy God's land, His church, His morality. It depends! To
           him it may be that my name may give him such electric shocks that he will think that this man must
           be evil.
               Just a few days before, when I was here in the ministry of interior, there were many people -- a
           great crowd. Nobody recognized me because they were all people either from this country or from
           Argentina or Brazil where I have never been. But as I was being taken in, one woman immediately
           pulled back her three children and whispered to them, "Don't touch him!" She must have been either
           English or American, afraid that if you touch him, and if he is really the devil or comes from hell, it
           is going to be disastrous.
           So it all depends on you.
               But it was good that you were mentioning me when Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud's youngest
           daughter, was dying, and she heard about me with deep love and reverence from you. And she was
           not an orthodox woman. She was really representative of Sigmund Freud -- the same quality of
           mind, the same sharpness, the same fearless intelligence to cut through all nonsense, superstitions.
           She was one of the most significant women of this century -- and sensitive, alert.
               I hope that what you felt, she also may have felt a little bit. At the moment of death, nothing
           could have been a greater gift to her -- and she deserved it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              AN OLD TIBETAN IS QUOTED AS SAYING:
              "LIKE A LION, I HAVE NO FEAR.
              LIKE AN ELEPHANT, I HAVE NO ANXIETY.
              LIKE A MADMAN, I HAVE NO HOPE.
              I TELL YOU THE HONEST TRUTH."
              OSHO, WHAT IS SO WONDROUS AND PRECIOUS ABOUT THE HONEST TRUTH?


              In fact, to use these two words together shows a deep misunderstanding.
              "Honest truth" implies that there can be dishonest truth.
           Truth is enough.
              Honesty is a very ordinary quality that comes as a shadow of truth, with many other qualities.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           There is something immensely important about truth. But remember, never use the words honest
           truth. That means you have a suspicion: deep down you yourself are not convinced of the
           truthfulness of truth. To substitute, to compensate, you add honesty to it.
           Nothing can be added to truth.
           Truth is always pure, nude, alone.
               And there is great beauty, because truth is the very essence of life, existence, nature. Except for
           man, nobody lies. A rosebush cannot lie. It has to produce roses; it cannot produce marigolds -- it
           cannot deceive. It is not possible for it to be other than it is. Except for man, the whole existence
           lives in truth.
               Truth is the religion of the whole of existence -- except man.
               And the moment a man also decides to become part of existence, truth becomes his religion. It is
           the glorious moment.
               When I say that except for man everything is living truth -- the ocean, the clouds, the stars, the
           stones, the flowers -- that everything is nothing but truthfulness, nothing but just itself, with no
           mask, and only man is capable of deceiving others, of deceiving himself -- it has to be remembered
           that this is a great opportunity. It has not to be condemned, it has to be praised, because even if a
           rosebush or a lotus wants to lie, it cannot. Its truth is not freedom; its truth is a bondage. It cannot go
           beyond the boundaries.
               Man has the prerogative, the privilege of being untrue. That means man has the freedom to
           choose. If he chooses to be truthful, he is not choosing bondage, he is choosing truth and freedom.
           Freedom is his privilege. In the whole of existence, nobody else has freedom.
               But there are dangers when you have opportunities. When you have freedom, you can go wrong.
           No rose can go wrong, no rock can go wrong. You can go wrong; hence a deep awareness of each
           act, of each thought, of each feeling, has to penetrate you.
               To me that is what is the meaning of a seeker of truth.
               Only man needs to seek it; everybody has already got it, but the glory of freedom is not there.
           You have to seek it, and find it. And in that very seeking and finding you are glorious, you are the
           very crown of existence.
           But truth is enough.
           Don't burden it with honesty or anything else.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW CAN I THANK YOU?


               There is no need: just be what you can be.
           Allow yourself to blossom.
           Enjoy in glory -- and that will be thankfulness enough.
               Anybody who blossoms close to me has already shown his gratitude. Saying it would be profane.
           Saying it would destroy the beauty of the unsaid, the silent.
               If you have really come to a point when you want to say thank you to me, then don't say it; I will
           understand it. By saying it, you will be bringing down something from a very high level.
               You will be surprised to know that in India, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, perhaps
           the oldest, you rarely hear anybody thanking somebody else. No child will thank his parents; no
           parents will thank their child. In the West that is part of your formal training: on each occasion say,
           "Thank you."
               I was thinking about the difference, why it has not developed in this old civilization. And I
           understand... what I said, that is the reason. If you are really thankful, then saying it is useless,
           because you cannot put your heart into it. And if you are not thankful, then why unnecessarily
           destroy a beautiful word?
               And to make it a formality means you are making it an unconscious part of your behavior. So
           just as somebody presents you with a cup of coffee and you say thank you, if somebody brings
           enlightenment to your consciousness, are you going to use the same words? It is absolutely
           impossible to use those same words; they have become so formal. You say them without even
           thinking about it. You simply say them like a robot.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It is a good question, to ask me how to say thank you to me, because there must be a great feeling
           of gratitude, but all words seem to be meaningless. Thankfulness, gratefulness -- they all seem to be
           too small. What has happened to you is so vast.
                My suggestion is: you need not give me any thank you. I will take it myself.
                It will be so apparent through your eyes and through your face, but there will be no need to say
           it. I will simply understand it from there.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                  Chapter #18
                                Chapter title: Terrorism is in your unconscious
           21 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604210
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO18
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 94 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I'VE HEARD THAT IN EUROPE THE THREAT OF TERRORISM IS STRIKING FEAR IN
              EVERYONE. AIRPLANES ARE DELAYED BY EXTRAORDINARY SECURITY MEASURES, MANY
              OF THE SEATS ARE EMPTY, AND SOME AIRPORTS ARE CLOSING. PEOPLE ARE EVEN
              THINKING TWICE ABOUT GOING OUT IN THE EVENING. AND ALL THIS IS MORE PREVALENT
              SINCE THE RECENT BOMBING OF LIBYA. IS THE RISE OF TERRORISM OVER THE LAST
              DECADE IN SOME WAY SYMBOLIC OF WHAT IS HAPPENING TO SOCIETY IN GENERAL?


                Everything is deeply related with everything else that happens.
                The event of terrorism is certainly related with what is happening in the society. The society is
           falling apart. Its old order, discipline, morality, religion, everything has been found to be wrongly
           based. It has lost its power over people's conscience.
                Terrorism simply symbolizes that to destroy human beings does not matter, that there is nothing
           in human beings which is indestructible, that it is all matter -- and you cannot kill matter, you can
           only change its form. Once man is taken to be only a combination of matter, and no place is given
           for a spiritual being inside him, then to kill becomes just play.
                The nations are irrelevant because of nuclear weapons. If the whole world can be destroyed
           together within minutes the alternative can only be that the whole world should be together. Now it
           cannot remain divided; its division is dangerous, because division can become war any moment. The
           division cannot be tolerated. Only one war is enough to destroy everything, and there is not much
           time left for man to understand that we should create a world where the very possibility of war does
           not exist.
                Terrorism has many undercurrents. One is that because of nuclear weapons, the nations are
           pouring their energy into that field, thinking that the old weapons are out of date. They are out of
           date, but individuals can start using them. And you cannot use nuclear weapons against individuals --
           that would be simply stupid. One individual terrorist throws a bomb -- it does not justify that a
           nuclear missile should be sent.
                What I want to emphasize is that the nuclear weapon has given individual people a certain
           freedom to use old weapons, a freedom which was not possible in the old days because the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           governments were also using the same weapons.
                Now the governments are concentrated on destroying the old weapons, throwing them in the
           ocean, selling them to countries which are poor and cannot afford nuclear weapons. And all those
           terrorists are coming from these poor countries, with the same weapons that have been sold to their
           countries. And they have a strange protection: you cannot use nuclear weapons against them, you
           cannot throw atom bombs at them.
                They can throw bombs at you and you are suddenly impotent. You have a vast amount of atomic
           bombs, nuclear bombs in your hands -- but sometimes where a needle is useful, a sword may not be
           of any use. You may have the sword; that does not mean that you are necessarily in a superior
           position to the man who has a needle, because there are purposes in which only the needle will work
           -- the sword will not be of any use.
                Those small weapons from the old times were piling up, and the big powers had to dispose of
           them -- either drown them in the ocean.... That meant so much money, so much manpower, so much
           energy had gone to waste; economically it was disastrous. But just to go on piling them up was also
           economically impossible. How many weapons can you gather? There is a limit. And when you get a
           new way of killing people more efficiently, then the old simply has to be got rid of.
                It was thought that it would be better to sell them to poor countries. Poor countries cannot create
           nuclear weapons -- it costs too much. And these weapons were coming cheap -- as help; they
           accepted it, but these weapons cannot be used in a war. In a war these weapons are already useless.
           But nobody has seen the possibility that these weapons can be used individually, and a new
           phenomenon -- terrorism -- can come out of it.
                Now, a terrorist has a strange power, even over the greatest powers. He can throw bombs at the
           White House without any fear, because what you have is too big and you cannot throw it at him. And
           these are the weapons sold by you! But the phenomenon was not conceived of, because human
           psychology is not understood.
                My understanding is that the way he has lived, man needs every ten to twelve years -- a war. He
           accumulates so much anger, so much rage, so much violence, that nothing short of a war will give
           him release. So, war after war, there is a gap of only ten to fifteen years. That gap is a kind of
           relaxation. But again you start accumulating, because the same psychology is working -- the same
           jealousy, the same violence.
                And man is basically a hunter; he is not by nature vegetarian. First he became a hunter, and for
           thousands of years he was just a meat-eater, and cannibalism was prevalent everywhere. To eat
           human beings caught from the opposing tribe you were fighting with was perfectly ethical. All that is
           carried in the unconscious of humanity.
                Religions have imposed things on man very superficially; his unconscious is not in agreement.
           Every man is living in a disagreement with himself. So whenever he can find a chance -- for a
           beautiful cause; freedom, democracy, socialism -- any beautiful word can become an umbrella to
           hide his ugly unconscious, which simply wants to destroy and enjoys destruction.
                Now the world war has become almost impossible; otherwise there would have been no
           terrorism. Enough time has passed since the second world war; the third world war should have
           happened nearabout 1960. It has not happened. This has been the routine for the whole of history,
           and man is programmed for it.
                It has been observed by psychologists that in wartime people are more happy than in peacetime.
           In wartime their life has a thrill; in peacetime they look bored. In wartime, early in the morning they
           are searching for the newspaper, listening to the radio. Things may be happening far away, but they
           are excited. Something in them feels an affinity.
                A war that should have happened somewhere between 1955 and 1960 has not happened, and man
           is burdened with the desire to kill, with the desire to destroy. It is just that he wants good names for
           it.
                Terrorism is going to become bigger and bigger, because the third world war is almost
           impossible. And the stupid politicians have no other alternative. Terrorism simply means that what
           was being done on a social scale now has to be done individually. It will grow. It can only be
           prevented if we change the very base of human understanding -- which is a Himalayan task; more so
           because these same people whom you want to change will fight you; they won't allow you to change
           them easily.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In fact they love bloodshed; they don't have the courage to say so. In one of the existentialist's
           novels, there is a beautiful incident which can almost be said to be true. A man is presented before
           the court because he has killed a stranger who was sitting on the beach. He had never seen the
           stranger. He did not kill him for money. He does not yet know how that man looked, because he
           killed him from the back, just with a big knife.
               They had never met -- there was no question of enmity. They were not even familiar; they had
           not even seen each other's faces.
               The magistrate could not figure it out, and he asked the murderer, "Why did you do it?"
               He said, "When I stabbed that man with a knife, and a fountain of blood came out of his back,
           that was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever known. I know that the price will be my
           death, but I am ready to pay for it; it was worth it. My whole life I have lived in boredom -- no
           excitement, no adventure. Finally I had to decide to do something. And this act has made me world
           famous; my picture is in every newspaper. And I am perfectly happy that I did it."
               There was no need for any evidence. The man was not denying -- on the contrary, he was
           glorifying it. But the court has its own routine way -- witnesses still have to be produced; just his
           word cannot be accepted. He may have be lying, he may not have killed the man. Nobody saw him --
           there was not a single eyewitness -- so circumstantial evidences had to be presented by the police.
               One of them was that possibly this man has killed according to his past life and his background.
           When he was young, his mother died. And when he heard that his mother had died, he said, "Shit!
           That woman will not leave me even while dying! It is Sunday, and I have booked tickets for the
           theater with my girlfriend. But I knew she would do something to destroy my whole day -- and she
           has destroyed it."
               His mother has died and he is saying that she has destroyed his Sunday! He was going to the
           theater with his girlfriend, and now he has to go to the funeral. And the people who heard his
           reaction were shocked. They said, "This is not right, what are you saying?"
               He said, "What? What is right and what is wrong? Couldn't she die on any other day? There are
           seven days in the week -- from Monday to Saturday, she could have died any day. But you don't
           know my mother -- I know her. She is a bitch! She did it on purpose."
               The second evidence was that he attended the funeral, and in the evening he was found dancing
           with his girlfriend in a disco. And somebody asked, "What! What are you doing? Your mother has
           just died."
               He said, "So what? Do you mean now I can never dance again? My mother is never going to be
           alive, she will remain dead; so what does it matter whether I dance after six hours, eight hours, eight
           months, eight years? What does it matter? -- she is dead. And I have to dance and I have to live and I
           have to love, in spite of her death. If everybody stopped living with the death of their mother, with
           the death of their father, then there would be no dance in the world, no song in the world."
               His logic is very right. He is saying, "Where do you draw the demarcation line? After how many
           hours can I dance? -- twelve hours, fourteen hours, six weeks? Where will you draw the line? on
           what grounds? What is the criterion? So it doesn't matter. One thing is certain: whenever I dance I
           will be dancing after the death of my mother, so I decided to dance today. Why wait for tomorrow?"
               Such circumstantial evidences are presented to the court -- that this man is strange, he can do
           such an act. But if you look closely at this poor man, you will not feel angry at him; you will feel
           very compassionate. Now, it is not his fault that his mother has died; and anyway, he has to dance
           some day, so it makes no difference. You cannot blame this man for saying ugly things: "She
           deliberately died on Sunday to spoil my joy," because his whole experience of life must have been
           that she was again and again spoiling any possibility of joy. This was the last conclusion: "Even in
           death she will not leave me."
               And you cannot condemn the man for killing a stranger... because he is not a thief; he did not
           take anything from him. He is not an enemy; he did not even see who was the man he was killing. He
           was simply bored with life and he wanted to do something that made him feel significant, important.
           He is happy that all the newspapers have his photo. If they had published his photo before, he would
           not have killed; but they waited -- until he kills they will not publish his photo. And he wanted to be
           a celebrity... just ordinary human desires.
               And he was ready to pay with his life to become, at least for one day, known to the whole world,
           recognized by everybody. Until we change the basic grounds of humanity, terrorism is going to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become more and more a normal, everyday affair. It will happen in the airplanes, it will happen in
           the buses. It will start happening in the cars. It will start happening to strangers. Somebody will
           suddenly come and shoot you -- not that you have done anything to him, but just, the hunter is back.
                The hunter was satisfied in the war. Now the war has stopped and perhaps there is no possibility
           for it.
                The hunter is back; now we cannot fight collectively. Each individual has to do something to
           release his own steam.
                Things are interconnected. The first thing that has to be changed is that man should be made
           more rejoicing -- which all the religions have killed. The real criminals are not caught. These are the
           victims, the terrorists and other criminals.
                It is all the religions who are the real criminals, because they have destroyed all possibilities of
           rejoicing. They have destroyed the possibility of enjoying small things of life; they have condemned
           everything that nature provides you to make you happy, to make you feel excited, feel pleasant.
                They have taken everything away; and if they have not been able to take a few things away
           because they are so ingrained in your biology -- like sex -- they have at least been able to poison
           them.
                Friedrich Nietzsche, according to me, is one of the greatest seers of the Western world; his eyes
           really go penetrating to the very root of a problem. But because others could not see it -- their eyes
           were not so penetrating, nor was their intelligence so sharp -- the man lived alone, abandoned,
           isolated, unloved, unrespected.
                He says in one of his statements that man has been taught by religions to condemn sex, to
           renounce sex. Religion has not been able to manage it; and man has tried hard but has failed, because
           it is so deeply rooted in his biology -- it constitutes his whole body. He is born out of sex -- how can
           he get rid of it except by committing suicide?
                So man has tried, and religions have helped him to get rid of it -- thousands of disciplines and
           strategies have been used. The total result is that sex is there, but poisoned. That word poisoned is a
           tremendous insight. Religions have not been able to take it away, but they have been certainly
           successful in poisoning it.
                And the same is the situation about other things: religions are condemning your living in
           comfort. Now, a man who is living in comfort and luxury cannot become a terrorist. Religions have
           condemned riches, praised poverty; now, a man who is rich cannot be a terrorist. Only the "blessed
           ones" who are poor can be terrorists -- because they have nothing to lose, and they are boiling up
           against the whole of society because others have things they don't have.
                Religions have been trying to console them. But then came communism -- a materialist religion
           -- which provoked people and said to them, "Your old religions are all opium to the people, and it is
           not because of your evil actions in this life or in past lives that you are suffering poverty. It is
           because of the evil exploitation of the bourgeois, the super-rich that you are suffering."
                The last sentence in Karl Marx's COMMUNIST MANIFESTO is: Proletariats of the whole
           world unite; you have nothing to lose and you have the whole world to gain.
                "You are already poor, hungry, naked -- so what can you lose? Your death will not make you
           more miserable than your life is making you. So why not take a chance and destroy those people
           who have taken everything away from you. And take those things back, distribute them."
                What religions have somehow been consoling people with -- although it was wrong and it was
           cunning and it was a lie, but it kept people in a state of being half asleep -- communism suddenly
           made them aware of. That means this world is now never going to be peaceful if we don't withdraw
           all the rotten ideas that have been implanted in man.
                The first are the religions -- their values should be removed so that man can smile again, can
           laugh again, can rejoice again, can be natural again.
                Second, what communism is saying has to be put clearly before the people -- that it is
           psychologically wrong. You are falling from one trap into another. No two men are equal; hence the
           idea of equality is nonsense. And if you decide to be equal then you have to accept a dictatorship of
           the proletariat. That means you have to lose your freedom.
                First the church took away your freedom, the God took away your freedom. Now communism
           replaces your church, and it will take away your freedom.
           And without freedom you cannot rejoice.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You live in fear, not in joy. If we can clean the basement of the human mind's unconscious... and
           that's what my work is. It can be cleaned away.
               The terrorism is not in the bombs, in your hands; the terrorism is in your unconscious.
               Otherwise, this state of affairs is going to grow more bitter. And it seems all kinds of blind
           people have bombs in their hands and are throwing them at random.
               The third world war would have released people for ten or, fifteen years. But the third world war
           cannot happen because if it happens it won't relieve people, it will only destroy people.
               So individual violence will increase -- it is increasing. And all your governments and all your
           religions will go on perpetuating the old strategies without understanding the new situation.
               The new situation is that every human being needs to go through therapies, needs to understand
           his unconscious intentions, needs to go through meditations so that he can calm down, become cool
           -- and look towards the world with a new perspective, of silence.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHENEVER IN LIFE I'VE HAD A BOUT OF FEELING MISERABLE, A POINT ALWAYS COMES
              WHEN I JUST LAUGH AT MYSELF, FEEL FREEDOM RETURN, AND SEE THAT ALL I HAD DONE
              WAS TO STOP LOVING MYSELF.
              THIS INSIGHT IN ITSELF IS PERHAPS NOT PARTICULARLY PROFOUND BUT AT THE MOMENT
              OF ITS REALIZATION, I AM ALWAYS AMAZED TO SEE HOW EASILY, FOR WHAT, AND FOR
              HOW LONG I AM WILLING TO FORSAKE MY OWN SELF-LOVE. IS THIS AT THE ROOTS OF
              MOST PEOPLE'S SUFFERING, OR IS IT JUST MY TRIP?


                It is not just your trip. It is at the root of most people's suffering -- but not with the meaning you
           are giving to it.
                It is not because you have stopped loving yourself that you fall in misery.
                It is that you have created a self which does not exist at all, so sometimes this unreal self suffers
           misery in loving others, because out of unreality, love is not possible. And it is not on one side: two
           unrealities trying to love each other... sooner or later this arrangement is going to fail. When this
           arrangement fails, you fall upon yourself -- there is nowhere else to go. So you think, "I had
           forgotten to love myself."
                In a way it is a small relief, at least instead of two unrealities now you have only one. But what
           will you do by loving yourself? And how long you can manage to remain loving yourself? It is
           unreal; it won't allow you to see it for a long time because that is dangerous: if you see it for a long
           time, this so-called self will disappear, and that will be a real freedom from misery.
                Love will remain, unaddressed, to someone else or to yourself.
                Love will remain unaddressed, because there is nobody to address, and when love is there
           unaddressed, there is great bliss.
                But this unreal self won't allow you much time. Soon you will be falling in love with someone
           else again, because the unreal self needs the support of other unrealities. So people fall in love and
           fall out of love and fall in love and fall out of love -- and strange is the phenomenon, that dozens of
           times they do it and still they don't see the point. They are miserable when they are in love with
           someone else; they are miserable when they are alone and not in love, a bit relieved -- for the
           moment.
                In India, when a person dies, people carry him on a stretcher-like construction on their shoulders.
           But they go on changing it on the way, on their shoulders -- from this shoulder they will put it on the
           right, and after a few minutes they will again change and put it on the left. It feels a relief when you
           put it from the left shoulder onto the right. Nothing is being changed -- the weight is there, and on
           you, but this left shoulder feels a kind of relief. It is momentary, because soon the right shoulder will
           start hurting so you will have to change it again.
                And this is what your life is. You go on changing the other, thinking that perhaps this woman,
           this man, will bring you the paradise you have always been longing for. But everybody brings hell --
           without fail! And nobody is to be condemned for it, because they are doing exactly the same as you
           are doing: they are carrying an unreal self out of which nothing can grow. It cannot blossom. It is
           empty -- decorated, but inside empty and hollow.
                So when you see somebody from far away he or she is appealing. As you come closer the appeal
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becomes less. When you meet, it is not a meeting but a clash. And suddenly you see the other person
           is empty, and you have been deceived, cheated, because the other person has nothing which had been
           promised.
               The same is the situation of the other person about you. All promises fail, and you become a
           burden to each other, a misery to each other, a sadness to each other, destructive to each other. You
           separate. For a little while there is relief, but your inner unreality cannot leave you in this state for
           long; soon you will be searching for another woman, another man, and you will get into the same
           trap. Only the faces are different; the inner reality is the same -- empty.
               If you really want to get rid of misery and suffering then you will have to understand -- you don't
           have a self. Then it will be not just a small relief but a tremendous relief. And if you don't have a
           self, the need for the other disappears. It was the need of the unreal self to go on being nourished by
           the other. You don't need the other.
               And listen carefully: when you don't need the other, you can love.
           And that love will not bring misery.
               Going beyond needs, demands, desires, love becomes a very soft sharing, a great understanding.
           When you understand yourself, that very day you have understood the whole of humanity. Then
           nobody can make you miserable. You know that they are suffering from an unreal self, and they are
           throwing their misery on anybody who is close by.
               Your love will make you capable of helping the person you love to get rid of the self.
           I know only of one present....
               Love can present you only with one thing: That you are not, that your self is just imaginary. This
           realization between two persons suddenly makes them one, because two nothings cannot be two.
           Two somethings will be two, but two nothings cannot be two: Two nothings start melting and
           merging. They are bound to become one.
               For example, if we are sitting here.... If everybody is an ego then there are so many people; they
           can be counted. But there are moments I can see -- perhaps many times you see them too -- when
           there is utter silence. Then you cannot count how many people are here. There is only one
           consciousness, one silence, one nothingness, one selflessness. And only in that state can two persons
           live in eternal joy, can any group live in tremendous beauty; the whole of humanity can live in great
           benediction.
           But try to see the self, and you will not find it.
               Not finding it is of great importance. I have told many times the story of Bodhidharma and his
           meeting with the Chinese emperor Wu -- a very strange meeting, very fruitful. Emperor Wu perhaps
           was at that time the greatest emperor in the world; he ruled all over China, Mongolia, Korea, the
           whole of Asia, except India.
               He became convinced of the truth of Gautam Buddha's teachings, but the people who had
           brought the message of Buddha were scholars. None of them were mystics. And then the news came
           that Bodhidharma was coming, and there was a great thrill all over the land. Because Emperor Wu
           had become influenced by Gautam Buddha, that had made his whole empire influenced by the same
           teaching. And now a real mystic, a buddha, was coming. It was such a great joy!
               Emperor Wu had never before come to the boundaries where India and China meet to receive
           anyone. With great respect he welcomed Bodhidharma, and he asked , "I have been asking all the
           monks and the scholars who have been coming, but nobody has been of any help -- I have tried
           everything. But how to get rid of this self? And Buddha says, `Unless you become a no-self, your
           misery cannot end.'"
               He was sincere. Bodhidharma looked into his eyes, and he said, "I will be staying by the side of
           the river near the mountain in the temple. Tomorrow morning, at four o'clock exactly, you come and
           I will finish this self forever. But remember, you are not to bring any arms with you, any guards with
           you; you have to come alone."
               Wu was a little worried -- the man was strange! "How can he just destroy my self so quickly? It
           takes -- it has been told by the scholars -- lives and lives of meditation; then the self disappears. This
           man is weird! And he is wanting me in the darkness, early in the morning at four o'clock, alone, even
           without a sword, no guards, no other companion. This man seems to be strange -- he could do
           anything.
               And what does he mean that he will kill the self forever? He can kill me, but how will he kill the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           self?"
                The whole night he could not sleep. He changed his mind again and again -- to go or not to go?
           But there was something in the man's eyes, and there was something in his voice, and there was
           some aura of authority when he said, "Just come at four o'clock sharp, and I will finish this self
           forever! You need not be worried about it."
                What he said looked absurd, but the way he said it, and the way he looked were so authoritative:
           he knows what he is saying. Finally Wu had to decide to go. He decided to risk, "At the most he can
           kill me -- what else? And I have tried everything. I cannot attain this no-self, and without attaining
           this no-self there is no end to misery."
                He knocked on the temple door, and Bodhidharma said, "I knew you would come; I knew also
           that the whole night you would be changing your mind. But that does not matter -- you have come.
           Now sit down in the lotus posture, close your eyes, and I am going to sit in front of you.
                "The moment you find, inside, your self, catch hold of it so I can kill it. Just catch hold of it
           tightly and tell me that you have caught it, and I will kill it and it will be finished. It is a question of
           minutes."
                Wu was a little afraid. Bodhidharma looked like a madman; he is painted like a madman -- he
           was not like that, but the paintings are symbolic. That's the impression he must have left on people. It
           was not his real face, but that must be the face that people were remembering.
                He was sitting with his big staff in front of Wu, and he said to him, "Don't miss a second. Just the
           moment you catch hold of it -- search inside every nook and corner -- open your eyes and then tell
           me that you have caught it, and I will finish it."
                Then there was silence. One hour passed, two hours passed and the sun was rising, and Wu was a
           different man. In those two hours he looked inside himself, in every nook and corner. He had to look
           -- that man was sitting there; he could have hit him on his head with his staff.
                You could expect anything; whatever.... He was not a man of etiquette, manner; he was not part
           of Wu's court, so he had to look intently, intensively. And as he looked, he became relaxed, because
           it was nowhere. And in looking for it, all thoughts disappeared. The search was so intense that his
           whole energy was involved in it; there was nothing left to think and desire, and this and that.
                As the sun was rising Bodhidharma saw Wu's face; he was not the same man -- such silence,
           such depth. He had disappeared. Bodhidharma shook him and told him, "Open your eyes -- it is not
           there. I don't have to kill it. I am a nonviolent man, I don't kill anything! But this self does not exist.
           Because you never look at it, it goes on existing. It is in your not looking for it, in your unawareness,
           that it exists. Now it is gone."
                Two hours had passed, and Wu was immensely glad. He had never tasted such sweetness, such
           freshness, such newness, such beauty. And he was not.
                Bodhidharma had fulfilled his promise. Emperor Wu bowed down, touched his feet and said,
           "Please forgive me thinking that you are mad, thinking that you don't know manners, thinking that
           you you are weird, thinking that you you can be dangerous. I have never seen a more compassionate
           man than you... I am totally fulfilled. Now there is no question in me."
                Emperor Wu said that when he died, on his grave, the memorial, Bodhidharma's statement
           should be engraved in gold, for the people in centuries to come to know..."There was a man who
           looked mad, but who was capable of doing miracles. Without doing anything he helped me to be a
           non-self. And since then everything has changed. Everything is the same but I am not the same, and
           life has become just a pure song of silence."




                                                Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #19
                                   Chapter title: Step aside, let the mind pass
           21 April 1986 pm in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8604215
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO19
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 81 mins




               BELOVED OSHO,
               SOMETIMES, WHEN DARK SIDES OF MY MIND COME UP, IT REALLY SCARES ME. IT IS VERY
               DIFFICULT FOR ME TO ACCEPT THAT IT IS JUST THE POLAR OPPOSITE OF THE BRIGHT
               ONES. I FEEL DIRTY AND GUILTY AND NOT WORTHY OF SITTING WITH YOU IN YOUR
               IMMACULATE PRESENCE.
               I WANT TO FACE ALL FACETS OF MY MIND AND ACCEPT THEM BECAUSE I HEAR YOU OFTEN
               SAY THAT ACCEPTANCE IS THE CONDITION TO TRANSCEND THE MIND.
               CAN YOU PLEASE TALK ABOUT ACCEPTANCE?


               The basic thing to be understood is that you are not the mind -- neither the bright one nor the
           dark one. If you get identified with the beautiful part, then it is impossible to disidentify yourself
           from the ugly part; they are two sides of the same coin. You can have it whole, or you can throw it
           away whole, but you cannot divide it.
               And the whole anxiety of man is that he wants to choose that which looks beautiful, bright; he
           wants to choose all the silver linings, leaving the dark cloud behind. But he does not know that silver
           linings cannot exist without the dark cloud. The dark cloud is the background, absolutely necessary
           for silver linings to show.
           Choosing is anxiety.
           Choosing is creating trouble for yourself.
               Being choiceless means: the mind is there and it has a dark side and it has a bright side -- so
           what? What has it to do with you? Why should you be worried about it?
               The moment you are not choosing, all worry disappears. A great acceptance arises, that this is
           how the mind has to be, this is the nature of the mind -- and it is not your problem, because you are
           not the mind. If you were the mind, there would have been no problem at all. Then who would
           choose and who would think of transcending? And who would try to accept and understand
           acceptance?
           You are separate, totally separate.
           You are only a witness and nothing else.
               But you are being an observer who gets identified with anything that he finds pleasant -- and
           forgets that the unpleasant is coming just behind it as a shadow. You are not troubled by the pleasant
           side -- you rejoice in it. The trouble comes when the polar opposite asserts -- then you are torn apart.
               But you started the whole trouble. Falling from being just a witness, you became identified. The
           biblical story of the fall is just a fiction. But this is the real fall -- the fall from being a witness into
           getting identified with something and losing your witnessing.
               Just try once in a while: Let the mind be whatever it is. Remember, you are not it. And you are
           going to have a great surprise. As you are less identified, the mind starts becoming less powerful,
           because its power comes from your identification; it sucks your blood. But when you start standing
           aloof and away, the mind starts shrinking.
               The day you are completely unidentified with the mind, even for a single moment, there is the
           revelation: mind simply dies; it is no longer there. Where it was so full, where it was so continuous --
           day in, day out, waking, sleeping, it was there -- suddenly it is not there. You look all around and it
           is emptiness, it is nothingness.
               And with the mind disappears the self. Then there is only a certain quality of awareness, with no
           "I" in it. At the most you can call it something similar to "am-ness," but not "I-ness." To be even
           more exact, it is "is-ness" because even in am-ness some shadow of the "I" is still there. The moment
           you know its is-ness, it has become universal.
               With the disappearance of the mind disappears the self. And so many things disappear which
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           were so important to you, so troublesome to you. You were trying to solve them and they were
           becoming more and more complicated; everything was a problem, an anxiety, and there seemed to be
           no way out.
                I remind you of the story The Goose is Out. It is concerned with the mind and your is-ness.
                The master tells the disciple to meditate on a koan: A small goose is put into a bottle, fed and
           nourished. The goose goes on becoming bigger and bigger and bigger, and fills the whole bottle.
           Now it is too big; it cannot come out of the bottle's mouth -- the mouth is too small. And the koan is
           that you have to bring the goose out without destroying the bottle, without killing the goose.
           Now it is mind-boggling.
                What can you do? The goose is too big; you cannot take it out unless you break the bottle, but
           that is not allowed. Or you can bring it out by killing it; then you don't care whether it comes out
           alive or dead. That is not allowed either.
                Day in, day out, the disciple meditates, finds no way, thinks this way and that way -- but in fact
           there is no way. Tired, utterly exhausted, a sudden revelation... suddenly he understands that the
           master cannot be interested in the bottle and the goose; they must represent something else. The
           bottle is the mind, you are the goose... and with witnessing, it is possible. Without being in the mind,
           you can become identified with it so much that you start feeling you are in it!
                He runs to the master to say that the goose is out. And the master says, "You have understood it.
           Now keep it out. It has never been in."
                If you go on struggling with the goose and the bottle, there is no way for you to solve it. It is the
           realization that, "It must represent something else; otherwise the master cannot give it to me. And
           what can it be?" -- because the whole function between the master and the disciple, the whole
           business is about the mind and awareness.
                Awareness is the goose which is not in the bottle of the mind. But you are believing that it is in it
           and asking everyone how to get it out. And there are idiots who will help you, with techniques, to get
           out of it. I call them idiots because they have not understood the thing at all.
                The goose is out, has never been in, so the question of bringing it out does not arise.
                Mind is just a procession of thoughts passing in front of you on the screen of the brain. You are
           an observer. But you start getting identified with beautiful things -- those are bribes. And once you
           get caught in the beautiful things you are also caught in the ugly things, because mind cannot exist
           without duality.
                Awareness cannot exist with duality, and mind cannot exist without duality.
           Awareness is non-dual, and mind is dual.
                So just watch. I don't teach you any solutions. I teach you the solution:
           Just get back a little and watch.
           Create a distance between you and your mind.
                Whether it is good, beautiful, delicious, something that you would like to enjoy closely, or it is
           ugly -- remain as far away as possible. Look at it just the way you look at a film. But people get
           identified even with films.
                I have seen, when I was young... I have not seen any movie for a long time. But I have seen
           people weeping, tears coming down -- and nothing is happening! It is good that in a movie house it
           is dark; it saves them from feeling embarrassed. I used to ask my father, "Did you see? The fellow by
           your side was crying!"
                He said, "The whole hall was crying. The scene was such..."
                "But," I said, "there is only a screen and nothing else. Nobody is killed, there is no tragedy
           happening -- just a projection of a film, just pictures moving on the screen. And people laugh, and
           people weep, and for three hours they are almost lost. They become part of the movie, they become
           identified with some character..."
                My father said to me, "If you are raising questions about people's reactions then you cannot
           enjoy the film."
                I said, "I can enjoy the film, but I don't want to cry; I don't see any enjoyment in it. I can see it as
           a film, but I don't want to become a part of it. These people are all becoming a part of it."
                My grandfather had an old barber who was an opium addict. For something which was possible
           to do in five minutes he would take two hours, and he would talk continuously. But they were old
           friends from their childhood. I can still see my grandfather sitting in the chair of the old barber...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And he was a lovely talker. These opium addicts have a certain quality, a beauty of talking, telling
           stories about themselves, what is happening day-to-day; it is true.
                My grandfather would simply be saying, "Yes, right, that's great..."
                I said to him one day, "About everything you go on saying, `Yes, right, it is great.' Sometimes he
           is talking nonsense, simply irrelevant."
                He said, "What do you want? That man is an opium addict..."
                In India razor blades are not used; things almost like six-inch long knives are used as razor
           blades. "Now what do you want me to say? -- with that man who has a knife, a sharp knife in his
           hand, just on my throat. To say no to him... he will kill me! And he knows it. He sometimes tells me,
           `You never say no. You always say yes, you always say great.' And I have told him, `You should
           understand that you are always under the influence of opium. It is impossible to talk with you, to
           discuss with you or to disagree with you. You have a knife on my throat, and you want me to say no
           to something?'"
                I said, "Then why don't you change from this man? There are so many other barbers, and this
           man takes two hours for a five-minute job. Sometimes he takes half your beard and then he says, `I
           am coming back, you sit.' And he is gone for an hour, because he gets involved in a discussion with
           somebody and forgets completely that a customer is sitting in his chair. Then he comes and says,
           `My God, so you are still sitting here?'"
                And my grandfather would say, "What can I do? I cannot go home with half the beard shaved.
           You just complete it. Where have you been?"
                The barber would say, "I got in such a good argument with somebody that I completely forgot
           about you. It is good that that man had to go; otherwise you would have been sitting here the whole
           day. And sometimes I don't even close the shop at night. I simply go home, just forget to close, and
           once in a while a customer is still sitting in the chair and I am sleeping. Somebody has to say to him,
           `Now you can go; that man will not be seen again before tomorrow morning. He is fast asleep in his
           home. He has forgotten to close his shop and he has forgotten about you.'"
                And if you were angry... Sometimes new people got into his shop, and became angry. He would
           say, "Calm down. At the most you need not pay me. I have cut only half of the beard; you can just
           go. I don't want to argue. You need not pay me; I don't ask even half payment."
                But nobody can leave his chair with half the beard shaved -- or half the head shaved! You ask
           him just to shave the beard and he starts shaving your head, and by the time you notice, he has
           already done the job. So he asks you, "Now what do you want? -- because almost one-fourth of the
           work is done. If you want to keep it this way I can leave it; otherwise I can finish it. But I will not
           charge for it because if you say that you never wanted it to be cut, then it is my fault and I should
           take the punishment. I will not charge you."
                This man was dangerous! But my grandfather used to say, "He is dangerous but he is lovely and I
           have become so much identified with him that I cannot conceive that if he dies before me I will be
           able to go to another barber's shop. I cannot conceive... for my whole life he has been my barber. The
           identity has become so deep that I may stop shaving my beard, but I cannot change my barber."
                But fortunately my grandfather died before the opium-addict barber.
                You get identified with anything. People get identified with persons and then they create misery
           for themselves. They get identified with things, then they get miserable if that thing is missing.
                Identification is the root cause of your misery. And every identification is identification with the
           mind.
           Just step aside, let the mind pass.
                And soon you will be able to see that there is no problem at all -- the goose is out. You don't have
           to break the bottle, you don't have to kill the goose either.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW BEST TO DEAL WITH FEAR? IT AFFECTS ME VARIOUSLY... FROM A VAGUE
              UNEASINESS OR KNOTTED STOMACH TO A DIZZYING PANIC, AS IF THE WORLD IS ENDING.
              WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
              WHERE DOES IT GO?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is the same question that I was just answering. All your fears are by-products of identification.
               You love a woman and with the love, in the same parcel comes fear: she may leave you -- she
           has already left somebody and come with you. There is a precedent; perhaps she will do the same to
           you. There is fear, you feel knots in the stomach. You are too much attached.
               You cannot get a simple fact: you have come alone in the world; you have been here yesterday
           also, without this woman, perfectly well, without any knots in the stomach. And tomorrow if this
           woman goes... what is the need of the knots? You know how to be without her, and you will be able
           to be without her.
               The fear that things may change tomorrow... Somebody may die, you may go bankrupt, your job
           may be taken away. There are a thousand and one things which may change. You are burdened with
           fears and fears, and none of them are valid -- because yesterday also you were full of all these fears,
           unnecessarily. Things may have changed, but you are still alive. And man has an immense capacity
           to adjust himself in any situation.
               They say that only man and cockroaches have this immense capacity of adjustment. That's why
           wherever you find man you will find cockroaches, and wherever you find cockroaches you will find
           man. They go together, they have a similarity. Even in faraway places like the North Pole or the
           South Pole... When man traveled to those places he suddenly found that he had brought cockroaches
           with him, and they were perfectly healthy and living and reproducing.
               If you just look around the earth you can see -- man lives in thousands of different climates,
           geographical situations, political situations, sociological situations, religious situations, but he
           manages to live. And he has lived for centuries... things go on changing, he goes on adjusting
           himself.
               There is nothing to fear. Even if the world ends, so what? You will be ending with it. Do you
           think you will be standing on an island and the whole world will end, leaving you alone? Don't be
           worried. At least you will have a few cockroaches with you!
               What is the problem if the world ends? It has been asked to me many times. But what is the
           problem? -- if it ends, it ends. It does not create any problem because we will not be here; we will be
           ending with it, and there will be no one to worry about. It will be really the greatest freedom from
           fear.
               The world ending means every problem ending, every disturbance ending, every knot in your
           stomach ending. I don't see the problem. But I know that everybody is full of fear.
               But the question is the same: the fear is part of the mind. The mind is a coward, and has to be a
           coward because it doesn't have any substance -- it is empty and hollow, and it is afraid of everything.
           And basically it is afraid that one day you may become aware. That will be really the end of the
           world!
               Not the end of the world but your becoming aware, your coming to a state of meditation where
           mind has to disappear -- that is its basic fear. Because of that fear it keeps people away from
           meditation, makes them enemies of people like me who are trying to spread something of meditation,
           some way of awareness and witnessing. They become antagonistic to me -- not without any reason;
           their fear is well-founded.
               They may not be aware of it, but their mind is really afraid to come close to anything that can
           create more awareness. That will be the beginning of the end of the mind. That will be the death of
           the mind.
               But for you there is no fear. The death of the mind will be your rebirth, your beginning to really
           live. You should be happy, you should rejoice in the death of the mind, because nothing can be a
           greater freedom. Nothing else can give you wings to fly into the sky; nothing else can make the
           whole sky yours.
           Mind is a prison.
               Awareness is getting out of the prison -- or realizing it has never been in the prison; it was just
           thinking that it was in the prison. All fears disappear.
               I am also living in the same world, but I have never felt for a single moment any fear because
           nothing can be taken away from me. I can be killed -- but I will be seeing it happening, so what is
           being killed is not me, is not my awareness.
               The greatest discovery in life, the most precious treasure, is of awareness. Without it you are
           bound to be in darkness, full of fears. And you will go on creating new fears -- there is no end to it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You will live in fear, you will die in fear, and you will never be able to taste something of freedom.
           And it was all the time your potential; any moment you could have claimed it, but you never claimed
           it.
           It is your responsibility.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN YOU CAME TO SAY FAREWELL TO DADAJI ON THE PODIUM IN BUDDHA HALL,
              SUDDENLY THE AREA WHERE YOU AND DADAJI'S BODY WERE BECAME LIKE A FILM. YOU
              BOTH SEEMED TO BE WITHOUT SUBSTANCE. THE OTHER HALF OF THE PODIUM WHERE
              MATAJI SAT, AND THE REST OF BUDDHA HALL WHERE WE WERE ALL SITTING, SEEMED
              NORMAL. JUST THE PART WHERE YOU WERE SEEMED DIFFERENT. WHAT HAPPENED?


               Death, if it happens with enlightenment, is a tremendous experience. On the one hand the man
           dies; on the other hand he achieves the totality of life.
               When I touched my father's seventh chakra, just on the top of the head, those who were
           perceptive, silent, meditative, may have experienced something strange happening. According to the
           centuries-old science of inner reality, a man's life energy is released from the center, the chakra, at
           which he was living.
               Most people die from the lowest chakra, the sex center. There are seven chakras in the body from
           where life can go out of the body. The last is on top of the head, and unless you are enlightened life
           cannot go out from that chakra.
               When I touched my father's seventh chakra, it was still warm. Life had left it, but it was as if the
           physical part of the chakra was still throbbing with the tremendous happening.
               It is a rare happening. And in that moment it may have appeared to many that the small section
           on the podium where I was with my father's body was in a different world. It was, in a sense,
           because it was on a different level. Just by his feet was my mother... and ten thousand sannyasins in
           Buddha Hall -- that was the normal world.
               But something abnormal had happened. The chakra was still warm, the body was as if it was still
           rejoicing in the phenomenon. If you had eyes to see, then this distinction was bound to be seen.
               It is good that it came to your vision, the difference. It is a difference of levels. The lowest is
           where most people are living, and the effort here is, in this mystery school, to bring everybody to the
           highest.
               Slowly, slowly, moving from one center into another, you will also feel within your body a few
           things. For example, if you are existing at the sex center, you will find a subtle division -- below the
           lower center and above the lower center. You can feel it, that in the body below it and the body
           above it there seems to be a division, because the lower body has no centers, no chakras. It is the
           same for anybody. Wherever he is, the body below the sex center remains the same; it is our roots in
           the earth.
               But if your center changes, comes to a higher level -- for example if your heart becomes your
           very life -- you will see again that below your heart the whole body is separate, and above the heart
           the whole body is separate. Wherever your energy is there will be a separation line.
               When you reach to the seventh chakra, then the whole body is below it and there is no division.
           The seventh chakra is only in a sense in the body; otherwise it is above the body, as if a line
           touching your head is pulsing. Your whole body will become one, and for the first time you will see
           there are no divisions -- and this you can watch.
               With each chakra coming into function, your actions will change, your responses will change,
           your dreams will change, your aspirations will change, your whole personality will go through a
           change. As you move higher, newer dimensions start happening which were not available to you
           before.
               For example, the heart center is almost in the middle; three centers are above it and three centers
           are below it. The man of the heart will be the most balanced man. In his actions, in his feelings, in
           everything he does he will find a subtle balance, an equilibrium. He will never be hectic; there will
           be a grace.
               In other words, he has found the center of his life, exactly the middle path. You will not see any
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           extremes in him, and because all extremes have disappeared from his life he will have a balanced
           view of everything. He will not be rightist, he will not be leftist; he will always be fair and just.
                If the world was run according to me, then I would choose as magistrates and judges only people
           who are at their heart center, because only they can be just and fair. It is not a question of intellectual
           qualifications or seniority; it is a question of your inner balance.
                The Sufi story is.... Mulla Nasruddin is chosen an honorary magistrate. The first case appears. He
           hears one side and declares to the court, "Within five minutes I will be back with the judgment."
                The court clerk could not believe it -- he has not heard the other side! The clerk whispered in his
           ear, "What are you doing? Don't you see a simple thing? You have heard only one party, one side.
           The other side is waiting, and without hearing them you cannot give any judgment."
                Mulla Nasruddin said, "Don't try to confuse me. Just now I am absolutely clear. If I hear the
           other side too, then there is bound to be confusion."
                These Sufi stories are not just ordinary stories, they are extraordinary. It is saying that every
           judge is listening only to one side because he already has a prejudiced mind; he is not capable of
           listening to both sides. For that a totally different kind of man is needed -- which no educationalist
           concerning law and jurisprudence has even thought about.
                No one thinks -- you ask the judge to be fair, but his mind is prejudiced. He cannot even hear
           both stories, both sides, with the same clarity -- impossible. He only pretends. In all the courts of the
           world there are pretensions.
                And now that I have been in the courts I can see, and say with absolute authority that they don't
           listen to both sides. They can't! I am not complaining: I am simply stating a fact. Their education is
           wrong.
                As you go above the heart center, new things that may not have ever been a part of your life start
           happening. The second chakra above the heart is the throat. If that chakra has your life energy, then
           whatever you say has a deep authority in it. Without any effort to convert anybody, it converts,
           because it convinces.
                The chakra above that is the most famous and well-known -- the one on the forehead between the
           two eyes. That kind of energy moving through the agnya chakra, the sixth, has a deep hypnotic
           influence. It is managed... the person is not doing anything; it simply happens, his eyes become so
           full of some unknown magnetism.
                The man with the seventh chakra open has the capacity, the intrinsic flowering, so that his
           presence becomes infectious. Below the seventh, the presence is not infectious; with the seventh
           chakra opening, it is as if the consciousness has blossomed and there is a fragrance, an aura.
                Whoever is available to this presence, to this aura, will feel the freshness of a breeze, the
           freshness after a shower. And many rotten things -- rubbish that you have been entangled in, fighting
           -- will simply disappear from your life. Just a touch from this kind of man will be a transformation.
                But that evening something was transpiring, and what you noted was an energy phenomenon;
           many others must have noted the same.
                I answer such questions in order for you to become aware of your own situation and start moving
           upwards.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DO YOU EVER SURPRISE YOURSELF? -- AND IF YOU DO, WHO IS SURPRISING WHOM?


               There is no one to surprise or to be surprised.
           I am as absent as I will be when I will be dead, with only one difference... that right now my absence
           has a body, and then, my absence will not have a body.




                                               Beyond Psychology
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                   Chapter #20
                                     Chapter title: It is all happening silently
           22 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604220
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO20
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 83 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              FOR ME, BEING HERE WITH YOU IS AS IF I HAVE ARRIVED AT THE END OF A LONG
              JOURNEY, NO DESIRE TO BE ANYWHERE ELSE. MY HEART SHOULD JUMP HIGH AND I
              SHOULD BLISS OUT, BUT LOOKING AT MYSELF, CARRYING THIS GREAT GIFT OF BEING
              WITH YOU, THERE SEEMS TO BE ONLY A GREAT SENSE OF CALM. HAPPINESS AND
              SADNESS ARE ALWAYS SIMULTANEOUSLY IN ME AND IT IS AS IF THEY CANCEL EACH
              OTHER OUT. IT SEEMS AS IF MY LIFE FLAME BURNS CONSTANTLY BUT LOW, AND THIS
              WORRIES ME.
              THIS QUESTION OF WHETHER I AM LIVING INTENSELY ENOUGH OR NOT IS WITH ME
              ALWAYS AND PULLS MY ENERGY DOWN EVEN MORE. PLEASE DESTROY IT.


                It is good that you feel calm and quiet, rather than ecstatic, excited, because every ecstasy, every
           excitement is bound to come down; it cannot remain high forever. It burns your energy and burns it
           intensely. But you don't have an inexhaustible source; as an individual, in the body, all you have is
           limited.
                To be with me, silently and calmly, peacefully is the right way; you can afford it. Even with
           limited sources of individual beings, a calm state of mind can remain forever.
                I have seen both types of people coming to me. Those who come and become too much excited
           are soon exhausted, and when they are exhausted they are angry at me; when they are exhausted they
           turn into enemies rather than into friends. Obviously to them I am the cause for their breakdown, and
           they cannot forgive me. Deep down in their mind they carry an idea that ecstasy was given to them
           and now it has been taken away.
                I don't give you anything and I don't take anything away. Whatever happens in you simply
           happens in you; I am not more than a catalytic agent. So the best that can happen to you is a deep
           calmness. It is more reliable because it is going to last your whole life -- maybe even beyond life.
                And you are getting mixed up in your question between this happening in my presence, with me,
           and your intensive living. Intensive living I teach to people just so that they can transcend their
           desires, their turmoil, quickly. If they live very miserly, as many live, then in this life there is no
           hope for them to experience transcendence.
                Don't mix that with your state, because your calmness is the beginning of transcendence. That's
           why you are feeling that your happiness and sadness are happening together. It cannot happen --
           either you can be happy, or you can be sad. You cannot be sadly happy, neither can you be happily
           sad. That would be a very strange situation!
                What is happening is that your calmness is giving you this impression, because in your calmness
           you are feeling something that belongs to happiness and something that belongs to sadness. Sadness
           is not all wrong; happiness is not all right.
                The essential part of happiness is a feeling of well-being; that you are feeling in your calmness,
           so you think you are happy. And the essential part of sadness is silence; that you are feeling in your
           calmness. These both can exist together, in fact they can only exist together.
                A silent feeling of well-being... whatever is happening is perfectly right. Don't ask me to destroy
           it, ask me to enhance it. Don't make it a problem! It is not. It is a tremendous gift that the master
           never gives and the disciple always receives.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                There are things the master never says and the disciple always hears. It is one of those
           mysterious phenomena that are not handed over by the master to you -- but you receive it, it arises
           within you.
                It is just like the sunrise when millions of birds start singing. They are not even aware of the
           sunrise, but something in their heart is triggered by the presence of the sun; the sun is not aware of so
           many birds. Millions of flowers suddenly open their petals. The sun is not going to each single
           flower saying, "Wake up! It is time, and I have come." Neither are the flowers aware why they are
           opening their petals, why they are releasing their perfume. It all is happening silently. The presence
           of the sun is needed, but that presence does not do anything. Just its being there is enough.
                Gurdjieff used to say that the situation of the human mind is like that of a small school class. The
           master is out, and all children are shouting and screaming and jumping and every kind of thing is
           going on, books are being thrown at each other.... And then suddenly the master appears and there is
           absolute silence. All screaming, all jumping, all throwing books stops. They are all leaning on their
           books -- although they are not reading, but pretending that they are reading.
                One thing is certain, that the very presence of the master makes a difference. He does not do
           anything, he does not say anything. If he needs to say anything, if he needs to do anything, he is not
           a master; he is not respected, he is not loved. The children don't feel that he is worthy enough that
           they should be behaving differently in his presence than they behave in his absence.
                In ancient Eastern scriptures it is again and again discussed, because it has been one of the
           eternal questions: should the disciple respect the master, or not? All the organized religions have
           decided that he should respect.
                I have been talking to different religious leaders and I have said to them, "That is just wrong. The
           disciple should not respect. The master should be respectable." That is a totally different thing. The
           master should have the weight; he should be lovable, he should be respectable. Don't put the
           responsibility on the disciple, who is after all a disciple, a learner. It is easy for him to err.
                One of my vice-chancellors said, in his convocation address, that the respect for the teacher is
           disappearing from the world of students, and this is dangerous. Ordinarily nobody stands up in a
           convocation address, because that is not a place to discuss. But I stood up and I said, "Before you say
           anything more, let me correct you. You are right in your observation that respect is disappearing
           from the student community, but you are wrong in your conclusion. The responsibility is not of the
           students but of the teachers. Can you say with authority that the teachers are worthy of respect? And
           if you cannot say it with authority that the teachers are worthy of respect then why make a student
           responsible for this whole situation? If the teacher is worthy of respect, the question of respect from
           the students does not arise at all."
                I said to him, "This I am saying to you with my own experience." For five years at that time I had
           been a teacher in the university and I had not come across a single student who was not respectful.
           "And if you come across students who are disrespectful to you, you should go home and think over
           it. Something must be wrong in you. Somewhere you have lost the worth."
                There was immense silence in the whole auditorium. The professors were shocked, the students
           were shocked, the chancellor was suddenly frozen like a statue, and the vice-chancellor could not
           think what to say. I said, "You can see this silence -- I have not told anybody to be silent, but most of
           them are my students or have been my students and they know what I mean."
                And the vice-chancellor had to take his words back. He said, "I can understand it. The
           responsibility should always be on the stronger person, not on the weaker person. The student is
           weak, a learner, has no power; the teacher has all the powers, all the learning, all the authority... and
           if he cannot manage respect, then he is responsible. You are right."
                But he used the word manage. I didn't say anything, but that was a wrong word. To manage
           means you are thinking about it, you are using certain tactics, strategies for it. A real master simply
           comes amongst his disciples and there is silence, and there is calm.
                And the same happens within you. You need not be worried about intensive living. If you can
           live this calmness, if this calmness can become your very life, where happiness and sadness
           contribute their essential beauty, then there is no need to think of people who talk of ecstasy. Their
           ecstasy will be gone in two days; your calmness will go with you beyond the grave.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              ONLY IN MOMENTS OF LOVE DO I FEEL MY BODY DANCING WITH JOYFUL SWEETNESS, AND
              ONLY IN MOMENTS OF LOVE DO MUSICIANS CREATE MUSIC WHICH TOUCHES MY HEART.
              TO FEEL THE MUSIC MOVING MY BODY AND THE DANCE MOVING THE FINGERS OF THE
              MUSICIANS IS FOR ME THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE.
              CAN YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT?


                It is a beautiful moment and a beautiful experience -- but there is much more in life. There is
           much more than music, because music is after all sound, and there is silence too. Music is beautiful
           but you should not forget silence. Dance is beautiful, but there is something beyond it: an absolute
           unmoving state of consciousness... no dance.
                There are beauties and beauties... and there are categories. Music and dance are very physical. As
           far as they go they are beautiful, but one should not get stuck with them, one should not be stopped
           by them. They should open the door for the higher realm. For example, if you are really a lover of
           music, soon music will be forgotten and you will be entering into silence. If you are really in deep
           attachment with dance, soon the dance has to disappear, so that you can be in an unmoving state of
           being.
                In China there is an ancient story. A man declared himself to be the greatest archer, and he went
           to the king and said, "I am ready to accept anybody's challenge. I have practiced archery for thirty
           years, and I know that there is nobody in the whole empire who can be a competitor to me. It should
           be declared... a time should be given and within this time, if there is somebody who wants to
           compete with me, I am ready; otherwise you have to declare me the champion of the whole empire,
           the master archer."
                The king knew that he was the greatest archer he had seen and what he was saying was not
           boasting, it was really true. There was nobody in the whole empire even close to him; he had gone
           into the art so deeply. But an old man who was the constant companion of the king... he was a
           servant, but he was very respected by the king because the king's father had died early and this
           servant had been almost a father to him; he had protected him, he had disciplined him, he had trained
           him to be a king, and he managed to put him on the throne, to make him the emperor. He was sitting
           by his side on the ground, and he laughed.
                The king said, "Why are you laughing? What he is saying is true. I know this man, I know his
           archery. Even with closed eyes he never misses his target; with closed eyes he can kill a flying bird.
           There is nobody who is in any way comparable to him."
                The old man said, "You are too young. I know a man before whom this man is just an amateur.
           He is very ancient, very old -- older than me. He lives deep in the mountains. Before you declare this
           man the champion, he has to meet that old man. Just meeting him will be enough -- competition is
           out of the question."
                This was a great challenge... just meeting him will be enough, competition is out of the question.
           You cannot compete with that man. He is a master. And he showed him the way to the place where
           he could be found, the cave where he lived. The archer went miles into the mountains, finally found
           the cave and laughed, because there was the old man sitting, not even with a bow in the cave
           anywhere, no arrows -- what kind of master archer is he? And he was so old, maybe ninety,
           ninety-five or more. He could not hit the target, his hands would tremble; he was so old! But the man
           said, "I have been sent by the king to meet you."
                The old man said, "I have received the message of the king, but before I meet you I will give a
           little test. I don't meet each and everybody! At least you must be capable of being an archer; you will
           have to do for me a little test." To be a master archer is out of question... he wanted to check whether
           he had any capacity for archery, any talent, any genius.
                The old man came out of his cave, took the young man with him and he said, "The moment I saw
           you coming with your bow and with your arrows, I knew that you were an amateur, because the real
           master does not need these things. Have you not heard the ancient saying: when a master reaches to
           his ultimate genius, if he is an archer he throws away his bow and his arrows; if he is a musician he
           throws away his musical instruments; if he is a painter he throws away his brushes, his canvases."
                He said, "I have heard it but I have never understood it."
                The old man said, "Now you have come to the place where you will understand it. Come with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           me." There was a rock protruding into the valley, and the valley was thousands of feet deep. If you
           fell from the rock there was no possibility of your being alive; in fact you could not even be found as
           a whole body, you would be scattered. It was a dangerous valley.
                The old man went onto the protruding rock; the young man was standing there trembling -- he
           was not going onto the rock. The old man was going and the young man was trembling. The old man
           said, "Stop that trembling. That is not the sign of a master archer." And the old man went to the very
           end of the rock, standing with half of his feet off the edge of the rock. He was standing there and he
           said to the young man, "Now you come and stand by my side."
                The young man took one step, two steps -- and then fell flat, trembling, everything whirling. He
           said, "You have to forgive me. I cannot come where you are standing. Just a little mistake, a little
           breeze of wind, a little forgetfulness and you are gone forever! I have come here to meet you, not to
           commit suicide. I cannot believe how you are standing there."
                The old man said, "That's what archery brings to a man -- an untrembling heart, a non-moving
           mind. Now I do not need the bow and the arrows. I know that you have looked around in my cave
           and I have seen your subtle smile, `How can this man be an archer?' Now I will show you my
           archery."
                He looked up and there were nine birds flying -- and as he looked up all the nine birds fell down
           on the earth. He said, "If you are absolutely immobile inside, even your eyes are enough; arrows are
           not needed. So go back, practice archery. Championship is far away. While I am alive, never think
           again of championship -- although I am not a competitor. Even if you were declared champion I
           would not have bothered to object -- who cares? Your championships, your titles are children's
           games.
                "But the old man in the palace knows me. Now as long as I am living you cannot be a champion;
           you can be a champion if you really go deeper into archery, practice. And only I can make you a
           champion, not the king. What does he know about archery? So tell him, `You don't have any
           authority.' I will come in the right time if I am alive. Or I will send somebody, or I will make some
           arrangement, even if I am dead."
                Ten years passed and the old man was dying. He called his son from the village down in the
           plains and told him -- he was also very old -- "Go to this certain archer and just report to me the
           situation."
                He went there. The archer was very loving, very happy that the old man still remembered him
           and had sent his son. The son saw the big bow hanging on the wall. He asked, "What is it?"
                And the archer said, "I used to know what it is... Now I don't know. I will have to ask; somebody
           must know."
           But the son said, "I have heard you are an archer."
                He said, "I used to be in my youth, and in youth everybody is foolish. I used to be, but your
           father brought me to my senses."
                This was reported to the old man, that he had forgotten the name of the bow. The old man said,
           "That means he has proved his mettle. I will have to go down before I die to declare him the
           champion, the master archer."
                Now he was also capable -- just looking at a bird was enough to kill it. Just those two rays going
           from the eyes were enough, because his inner being was so solidly immobile that those two rays
           became like arrows. He said, "Now I understand the meaning of the old saying: The musician breaks
           down his musical instruments when he really becomes a master. Then what is the use of those
           instruments? because they are still part of the world of sound and the real music is silence."
                Even when you are listening to music, what really touches your heart is not the sound but the gap
           between two sounds. How to bring that gap to your heart is the whole art of music. But if a man can
           bring that gap just by his presence, and you fall into deep silence, you will know the real music.
           Then you will know that what you used to think of as music was only a preliminary training. And the
           same is true about dancing, the same is true about every creative art. What it appears to be is not the
           reality; it is just a device so that you can become aware of something intangible, hidden, beyond.
                But to love music is good, to love dance is good, to play music is good, to dance is good -- but
           remember, that is not the end. You have to go far -- away from music, away from dance -- to
           understand the real beauty of any creative art. Every creative art brings you to your innermost being
           where there is just calmness, utter quietness, absolute silence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then you can say, "I have heard that which cannot be heard. And I have seen that which cannot
           be seen."


              BELOVED OSHO,
              UNTIL NOW I HAVE NOT HAD MANY SEXUAL EXPERIENCES, BUT LATELY I HAVE FELT TO
              BECOME MORE SEXUALLY ACTIVE. I SEEM TO AVOID HETEROSEXUAL MEN, AND DESIRE
              THOSE WHO ARE HOMOSEXUAL.
              I AM NOT CLEAR IF I AM RUNNING AWAY FROM SEX OUT OF FEAR, OR TOWARDS PEOPLE I
              REALLY LIKE AND NEED. WOULD YOU PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS?


               It is possible that avoiding sex for a long time and now getting interested in it you will have to go
           slowly towards it.
               To be attracted to homosexuals is a step. Finally you will be attracted to the heterosexuals. The
           homosexual is half way. Nothing is wrong in it. It is good to go gradually, mature gradually. And it
           is also possible the homosexual person may be a person that you like, you love, that he deserves your
           love. His homosexuality may be a secondary thing. If it is a secondary thing, then perhaps you can
           stay with the homosexual person long enough, but if it is only a passing phase then moving from no
           sexuality or very little sexuality towards a heterosexual man, a direct jump, will be too much and can
           be dangerous. It may throw you back into your avoidance.
               It is perfectly good that you are loving a homosexual. If he is a worthy person to be loved, that is
           even better; otherwise even his homosexuality is going to help you tremendously to reach to the
           heterosexual person.
               These are the four stages: the auto-sexual person avoids sexuality. He wants to contain his
           sexuality within himself, he is a kind of miser, and such people suffer from constipation. It is now a
           well-established psychological fact. There is not a medical way to help them get rid of constipation,
           as their constipation has no cause in the body; their constipation has cause in their mind.
               You should be reminded that the sexual center is in the mind, not in the genitals. And strangely
           enough, by the way, the sexual center and the food center are very close -- too close. So a person
           who stops his sexuality starts eating too much. The energy of the sexual center starts overflowing
           onto the next center, that is food. He becomes a food addict; he looks at food the way a lover looks at
           a beloved.
               The second stage is homosexuality. It is a little better than being auto-sexual, confined to
           yourself -- now at least you are connecting with your same sex. But there is a confinement still --
           although it is a bigger confinement -- man to man, woman to woman.
               The third stage is heterosexual, which is the maturity of sex -- when you go beyond your
           femaleness or your maleness, where you transcend your class and move to the opposite. And because
           the tension between the opposite is great, love blossoms on a grander scale. Between two
           homosexuals, love is -- but there is no tension in it. It is not without any reason that homosexuals are
           called gay people, because there is no tension, there is no fight; they are always smiling, always
           looking happy. The happiness is shallow.
               The heterosexuals are in a conflict, and in love. They laugh deeply, they weep deeply, they fight
           deeply, they feel for each other deeply; everything is deep because of the tension. They are known as
           intimate enemies. The intimacy is deep, the enmity is also deep.
               The fourth state is asexual, when you are fed up and you have seen all that sex can provide -- its
           misery, its pleasure, its fights, its friendship -- and slowly, slowly you see the routine, the same
           wheel moving. To change that boredom of the same wheel moving you may change partners; that
           gives you a little energy for a few days more, but again the boredom comes back.
               Once you are utterly bored with sex then the fourth stage is asexual. For the first time you are
           completely free. The first stage was very much confined to yourself; the second stage was confined
           to your class -- man to man, woman to woman. The third was better, but still it was confined -- man
           to woman, the same species. The fourth stage is completely free from sex: you have known it, you
           have understood it. Its work is finished. It is no longer a burden on you, no longer a desire on you, no
           more a tension. You feel light, and for the first time you can enjoy being alone.
               To me this is true celibacy, not a practiced celibacy. It is through the experience of all the stages
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you come to true celibacy, and the true celibacy has to be understood: it is not anti-sexual, it is
           only asexual. It has no antagonism, no anti-attitudes. In the fourth stage you can have sex as fun, just
           a biological game.
               So it is not that you have to drop sex; you can drop... you can either drop it or you can keep it.
           But it has lost all the old meaning and all the old implications, all the old bondage, all old fights,
           jealousies -- all that is lost. If it drops, it drops; if it continues, then it is just casual friendship, with
           no strings attached to it, with no conditions attached to it.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               THERE HAVE BEEN VERY FEW ENLIGHTENED WOMEN IN THE WORLD, AND NONE THAT I
               KNOW OF IN THIS CENTURY. IS THERE HOPE FOR US WOMEN?


                It is not hard -- but man has not allowed it.
           Man suffers from a deep inferiority complex, and to keep it repressed he keeps the woman in every
           possible way inferior to himself; otherwise if she is allowed freedom, allowed all her talents, her
           genius, the great fear of man is that she can prove superior in many dimensions. And she has many
           things which man is missing.
                Naturally the only simple way was to cut all possible ways in which the woman could grow. So
           all women have been left retarded. Their roots have been cut: don't give education to them, don't let
           them have the freedom of movement in society, don't let them have friends from the other sex.
                And for thousands of years it has been going on. Naturally if a woman cannot become a scientist,
           if a woman cannot become a poet, if a woman cannot become a great architect, a great sculptor, then
           the question of a woman becoming enlightened becomes very difficult. So many steps in between
           have been completely removed. My whole vision is to put those steps back.
                And I am trying my best to put those steps back, so any woman of any quality has the full
           possibility, freedom and support to grow. Some of the women will grow to become enlightened, but
           no such possibility has ever before existed.
                So it is true you have not heard of enlightened women, particularly in this century -- although
           there have been a few women who, in spite of all this imprisonment of their being, became
           enlightened. But they are not the rule, they are the exceptions. They simply prove one thing: that just
           to be a woman does not mean that the doors of enlightenment are closed to you.
                One woman was Rabiya al-Adabiya, in Arabia, one woman was Meera in India. One woman was
           in the very ancient times, in the days of the RIG VEDA -- that may be five thousand years old, or
           ninety thousand years old; it is undecided by the scholars... but these women can be counted on less
           than ten fingers.
                But it is enough proof that to be a woman does not mean that enlightenment is not for you. As far
           as I am concerned, I feel that because you have been prevented from being enlightened, or even from
           moving in that direction, you have more possibility now than man, for the simple reason that just as
           land that has not been used for many years is more fertile, just it needs seeds... That means "Okay,
           Maneesha!"




                                                 Beyond Psychology
                                              Chapter #21
               Chapter title: The most blissful moment -- when you cannot find yourself
           22 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604225
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO21
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 79 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I SIT IN FRONT OF YOU AND LISTEN TO YOU SPEAK, I FEEL AS IF A PROCESS OF
              OSMOSIS IS HAPPENING. I FIND I DON'T INTELLECTUALLY LISTEN. IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY
              OR AM I MISSING SOMETHING?


                This is the right way.
           If you listen to me intellectually you miss, not something, but all. Intellectual listening is a kind of
           deafness. When I say something, you can listen to the word. You have a mind, a library in the mind
           of all your prejudices, philosophies, ideologies. The word has to go through all those preconceived
           patterns, and by the time it reaches to you it is no longer the same.
                It has changed so many times, passing through the whole process of intellectual listening, that
           when it comes out it is absolutely something else. And yet it appears to be rationally the right thing;
           it fits with your mind. The process of listening has managed to cut it here and there, change it here
           and there; to color it here and there, to make it what you want it to be, not what it is. And you will
           agree with it; it is your own idea, it has nothing to do with me.
                Listening intellectually is not listening at all. It is a way of avoiding. The right way is that you
           don't bring your mind in and you let me go into your innermost being without being hindered. Then
           there will be an understanding. Then there will be a communion, a real listening, because in the very
           process of listening, you have changed.
                Now the agreement that arises in your being is not agreeing with your mind, it is agreeing with
           something new, which your mind knows nothing of. The mind is always old, and the truth is always
           new; they never meet, they never coexist.
                You are fortunate that you can listen the right way -- putting the mind aside, just allowing me to
           sink deeper and deeper within you. Then even though words have been used, silence has been
           conveyed. Even though words have been used, that which cannot be said has been said -- at least has
           been heard. And saying is not important, hearing is important.
                Right listening means you will never ask how to do it. For example, if I am talking about silence
           and you are listening the right way, you will never ask how to be silent, because in the very listening
           you would have tasted it. In the very listening you will have experienced it -- the window has
           opened.
                The people who listen intellectually are bound to ask later on how to do it. Their question about
           how to do it signifies that they have missed what was conveyed to them.
                It is not only words that I am saying to you -- I am conveying my very heart. The words are only
           vehicles. Through the intellect the vehicles will reach, but I will be left behind. When you are
           listening without the mind, the vehicle becomes unimportant; its only use is that it helps me to reach
           to you. It is my outstretched hand, so that I can touch your heart.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I REMEMBER YOU TALKING ABOUT EYES AND LOOKING INTO PEOPLE'S EYES AND HIDING
              THROUGH NOT LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO SOMEONE'S EYES. AFTER THIS DISCOURSE I
              DROPPED MY GLASSES, WHICH I HAVE HAD SINCE I WAS ONE YEAR OLD. NOT WEARING
              THEM, I FOUND MYSELF BEING MORE OPEN IN LOOKING IN SOMEONE'S EYES, AND I FELT
              GREAT POWER IN MY EYES. WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED
              TO WEAR GLASSES?


              It is something truly significant to understand.
           No animal needs glasses. It is very strange why man needs glasses. The reasons are two: the first is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the physiological reason; and the second is the psychological.
                The physiological reason is that our process of helping a mother to give birth to a child is
           basically wrong. For example, the child has been for nine months in deep darkness; his eyes are very
           delicate, fragile. And in any hospital where he is going to be born, he is going to face, immediately
           after the birth, glaring lights all around. That is the first shock to the whole delicate system of his
           eyes. And eyes are the most delicate part of your body -- softer than a rose petal, very fragile and
           very important, because eighty percent of your life's experience depends on them. Only twenty
           percent is contributed by your other senses.
                That is one of the reasons why a blind man suddenly creates a deep compassion in you. The deaf
           man does not create the same compassion. He is also missing something -- he cannot hear. The dumb
           cannot speak.... In any other way the body may be crippled, but nothing can create more compassion
           in you than a blind man. Unknowingly, unconsciously, there is an understanding that the blind man
           is the poorest.
                Eighty percent of his life experience is cut off; he is living only on twenty percent. His life has
           no color, his life has no experience of beauty, his life has no experience of proportion. His life has
           missed the beautiful sunsets and the starry night. His eyes have missed millions of other eyes which
           are loaded with experience; and to be in contact with them is to be in contact with different worlds.
                But the way the hospitals have decided to give birth to a new child is dangerous. First they spoil
           the eyes. Second, they destroy the trust of the child. The child has lived for nine months in the
           mother's womb with immense trust -- the question of doubt does not arise. Everything that he wants
           he gets; in fact before he wants, he gets it. No responsibility, no worry, no question of time. He does
           not think of tomorrow, and he has no memories of yesterdays. He lives moment to moment, utterly
           joyous. There is nothing to make him sad, nothing to make him miserable.
                But the moment he is born, his whole life goes through a great tragic change. The doctors are in a
           hurry; they cannot even wait for two minutes. They want to cut the cord that joins the child with the
           mother, immediately -- and they cut it immediately, without bothering that the child has not yet
           breathed on his own, that his own system has not started functioning. They have cut the connection
           with the life source of the mother. This is one of the deep wounds that will be carried all along
           through his life.
                And then to make the child breathe, they will hang it upside down and hit on his buttocks -- a
           great reception! And because of the hit the child starts breathing. But this breathing is not natural and
           spontaneous. If they had just waited two or three minutes and left the child on his mother's belly....
           He was inside nine months; with just three minutes outside on the belly -- the same warmth, the
           same woman, the same energy -- he would have started breathing on his own. And then to cut the
           cord would have been absolutely logical, rational, scientific.
                And everything else that is being done takes no account of the implications. The child has been
           in the mother's womb in a certain warmth. He has been floating. The best way will be, once he starts
           breathing on his own, just to put him in a small bathtub of warm water consisting of the same
           chemicals as the mother's womb -- it is exactly the same as ocean water. And that's what makes the
           evolutionists certain that man was born in the ocean.
                You will be surprised to know, the first incarnation of God in Hinduism is a fish. It is very
           strange -- just the idea... but to them God was life. And just a little translation is needed: instead of
           saying the reincarnation of God was as a fish, all that is needed is to say that life's beginning was as a
           fish.
                Allow the child the same atmosphere so he does not feel, from the very first moment, in a
           stranger's world, afraid. But we make him afraid. We destroy his delicate eyes, we destroy his
           spontaneity, we even force his breathing. We don't give him a natural environment, one to which he
           is accustomed.
                All these small things are going to affect his whole life. For example, whenever he is in anxiety,
           his breathing will become erratic. Whenever he is afraid, his breathing will be immediately affected.
           And sooner or later -- because only man uses his eyes for reading, and his eyes are no longer as
           powerful as nature had made them -- the child finds his eyes are weakening. He cannot see small
           letters, small figures, or he cannot see faraway things, and then the glasses become necessary. If
           glasses are avoided then his eyes will go on deteriorating. The glasses are simply to help him, just to
           compensate for the damage that has been done.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But glasses have their own psychology. With the glasses you are always behind a curtain, in
           some way hiding -- not facing life as it is, trying to avoid this way or that, never being straight,
           sincere. Glasses are helping you to protect your eyes, but they bring their own problems with them.
           And these are the problems. They stand between you and the world, between you and the person you
           love, between you and the person you are communicating with.
                Because of the glasses you never come in direct contact with the eyes of other people. And that is
           missing a great experience, because people are basically their eyes. If you can see into a person's
           eyes, its depth will be that person's depth. A cunning person will not allow you to see directly into
           his eyes, because a cunning person's eyes reveal his cunningness.
                The eyes are just an opening -- the cunning person is afraid; he will always look sideways. He
           will be talking to you but looking at something else; his talking and his seeing will not be in the
           same direction. He will be listening to you but his eyes will not be concentrated on you. The man
           who wants to deceive you cannot confront you eye to eye. Only a simple, sincere person, a person
           with a loving heart and with no cunning desire will allow you to look into his eyes because he knows
           you will find his truth. He has nothing to hide.
                So if you are using glasses, then use them only for particular purposes. If you need them for
           reading, use them for reading. If you use them continuously it is dangerous -- not to your eyes, but to
           your whole being. If you need them to look far away, you can use them; but don't make it part of
           your being.
                Your glasses should never become part of your being. Only when necessary use them. When you
           feel they are not necessary, put them away, so at least for long periods you are available to the world
           in your authenticity, and the world is available to you; there is no barrier.
                You cannot do anything about the basic harm, but if you give birth to a child, it is better to give
           birth amongst your loving friends, with candlelights, with incense burning, with flowers all around.
           Give the child at least a good welcome to the world.
                And don't be technical -- man is not a machine -- be human. Let him first breathe; then cut the
           connection with the mother. There is no hurry. He should be given the chance to be spontaneous;
           otherwise he will suffer his whole life troubles and problems concerned with breathing.
                And there is no need for glaring lights; otherwise you have started already destroying his eyes.
           Soon he will need glasses. If you have been using them since you were one year old, that shows what
           we have been doing with children. And nobody tells you to use glasses only when you need them;
           otherwise don't let them become an essential habit.
                It is known about Mulla Nasruddin that one night he woke up and asked his wife, "Where are my
           glasses?"
                She said, "What is the need in the middle of the night for glasses?"
                He said, "I don't want to fight -- I am not in a position right now -- I will explain everything later
           on. First, my glasses!" With his glasses on he tried for a few minutes, then he said, "You destroyed
           it. If you had given them to me immediately, perhaps I may not have missed. I was having such a
           beautiful dream; just then I remembered, `I cannot see without glasses.' Such a beautiful dream -- I
           must be missing much. And you are so stupid that you started arguing with me.
                "When I was asking for my glasses, you should have understood there must be some need, and
           later on you could have discussed it. But at that very time... and the gap became so big that I tried
           again and again with the glasses, but the dream was broken. And with it broken I could not manage
           to catch up with it again.
                "And it was not only just a beautiful dream, it had something to do with finances too. A man was
           promising to give me money, and we were haggling. He wanted to purchase something, and I had
           brought him up to ninety-nine rupees. But I was stubborn -- I was trying to bring him to one hundred
           rupees; and it was only a question of one rupee. And the thing I was selling was not worth twenty
           rupees. I would have given it to him for ninety-nine, but I wanted to see the man accurately, and I
           wanted to count the money accurately. The glasses were needed.
                "After I put on the glasses, I was saying to the man, `Wherever you are, come back! Okay --
           ninety-nine I will accept, ninety-eight I will accept. I am willing to give it even for ninety.' But
           nobody responded. Just because of these glasses the whole profit was lost. And I don't know if I can
           ever meet this man again, because in the first place I cannot recognize him without my glasses. Even
           if I meet him tomorrow on the street, I will not be able to recognize him, because what I was seeing I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't know whether it was true or not true."
              People are so accustomed to their glasses that they become almost their substitute eyes. Then it is
           dangerous. Your eyes need a little freedom: once in a while take the glasses off. And there are a few
           exercises available. Do those exercises which will make your eyes stronger, healthier, and perhaps
           you may not need the glasses at all.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              MY WHOLE LIFE I HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH TWO HUGE DESIRES: A DESIRE TO LOVE
              AND BE LOVED, AND THE DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND AND BE UNDERSTOOD. TO SEE HOW
              MISUNDERSTOOD YOU ARE BY THE WORLD AND BY YOUR FRIENDS ASTOUNDS ME, AND
              YOUR NOT BEING AFFECTED BY IT ASTOUNDS ME EVEN MORE. FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS I
              HAVE BEEN CONSUMED WITH DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND YOU EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY
              DAY. TODAY I FEEL I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING, AND YET MY DESIRE TO BE
              UNDERSTOOD HAS DIMINISHED. WHEN YOU SPEAK, THE JOY OF BEING BEYOND THESE
              TWO DUALITIES IS HEAVEN.


                The desire to love and to be loved, the desire to understand and to be understood are very
           instinctive, very natural -- but very binding, imprisoning. That's why, even if for a few moments
           listening to me -- if you can forget these two desires, in that transcendence you will find the ultimate
           in joy.
                I have been misunderstood perhaps more than anyone else ever, but it has not affected me, for
           the simple reason that there is no desire to be understood. It is their problem if they don't understand,
           it is not my problem. If they misunderstand, it is their problem and their misery. I am not going to
           waste my sleep because millions of people are misunderstanding me. If I was concerned about being
           understood they would have driven me mad. But they have not been able to even scratch a little bit.
                All their misunderstanding is their problem. They are suffering from it, they are paying for it.
           Why should I be bothered by it? I have said what I felt is true. I have said it, not to be understood -- I
           have said it because I wanted to share. If they are not willing, it is up to them; I cannot force them.
                But both these desires -- to understand and to be understood -- are together. Unless you
           understand, you cannot drop the desire to be understood. Once you understand just the simple
           existence of your being, both disappear. There is nothing more to understand, and there is no
           question that anybody should understand you.
           And the same is true about love.
                The moment you understand what love is, you experience what love is, you become love. Then
           there is no need in you to be loved, and there is no need in you to love. Loving will be your simple,
           spontaneous existence, your very breathing. You cannot do anything else; you will be simply loving.
                Now if in return, love does not come to you, you will not feel hurt, for the simple reason that
           only the person who has become love can love. You can give only that which you have. Asking
           people to love you -- people who don't have love in their life, who have not come to the source of
           their being where love has its shrine -- how can they love you? They can pretend. They can say, they
           can even believe, but sooner or later these things are going to... it is going to be known that it is only
           a pretension, that it is only acting, that it is hypocrisy.
                There may not be an intention to deceive you, but what can the person do? You ask for love, and
           the other person also wants love. Both understand that you are expected to love, that only then can
           you get love -- so you both try in every possible way to take the posture of love. But the posture is
           empty. And both are going to discover it, and both are going to complain about it against the other,
           that it is not right. From the very beginning it has been two beggars begging from each other, and
           both have only empty begging bowls.
                Both are pretending that they can give, but their basic desire is to get. If you don't have it, you
           cannot give it. And those who have it -- this is to be understood very clearly -- those who have found
           the source of love within themselves are no longer in need of being loved. And they will be loved.
                They will love for no other reason but simply because they have too much of it -- just as a rain
           cloud wants to rain, just as a flower wants to release its fragrance, with no desire to get anything.
           The reward of love is in loving, not in getting love.
                And these are the mysteries of life, that if a person is rewarded just in loving people, many will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           love him. Because by being in contact with him, they will slowly start finding the source within
           themselves. Now they know one person at least who showers love and whose love is not out of any
           need. And the more he shares and showers his love, the more it grows.
                The same is true about understanding. If you are close to a person of understanding you will see
           that he shares; sharing is his joy, it is not his business. He gives wholeheartedly, knowing perfectly
           well that he will find many doors closed in his face, but his understanding is deep enough to
           understand these people who misunderstand him.
                They are miserable. They are afraid to let his understanding reach them, they are afraid of his
           light. They start closing their windows and their doors. They are afraid of his presence. They will
           condemn, they will create confusion, they will create rumors, they will create lies; they will do
           everything to prevent this man's light, his understanding, his insight from spreading. And the reason
           is that they are afraid.
                This man's presence is a great fear to them. In his presence they become suddenly naked -- with
           all their jealousies, with all their miseries, with all their pain, with all their wounds. In his presence
           they cannot hide. Before his eyes they are as if before x-rays which will penetrate to their deepest
           core and reveal all they have been somehow hiding from the society, and creating a certain good
           image. They are just the opposite within.
                I have never been hurt by any misunderstanding. It was part of my understanding that it is going
           to be so, and once you are free of the desire to love and to be loved, you will love; but it will not be a
           desire, it will be an overflowing energy. And you will be loved, but it will not be an expectation, it
           will be a surprise.
                Once you understand just yourself and you have gone beyond all kinds of misunderstandings,
           your light is so clear and bright, your certainty is so absolute, that the whole world can condemn you
           but it will not in any way hurt you. It will simply create more compassion and more effort to make
           these people somehow come out of their darkness and see the light.
                And one thing is certain that you mention -- that once both these desires are calmed down, one
           feels in heaven. One really is in heaven.
                One has always been; it was just that one was getting disturbed by small things and forgetting the
           immense beauty and joy the whole existence is ready to give to you -- and without any price. It is
           just yours for the asking.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE TOO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOU BECAUSE IN YOU I SEE A PART OF MYSELF,
              AND IN THAT PART I SEE EVERYONE. PLEASE NUDGE ME IF I AM IN THE WRONG LANE.


                You are in the wrong space.
           You see a part of you in me. That is going to create many problems, because I don't have any part of
           you in me. And that is the beginning of a long journey; then in that part you see everybody else and
           all their problems. Then the small part you had seen in me becomes so big -- because in that small
           part you are seeing everybody -- that you are going to forget me completely. I will be covered all
           over with other people's parts -- thick, not a thin layer, because everybody's parts....
                Just try the other way: see me just as a small corner in you. Give it to me, see me there, and in it
           see Chuang Tzu, see Gautam Buddha, see Socrates. See all the flowers that humanity has produced,
           and you will become a totally new person. Just seeing me, and in me bringing all those who can
           somehow be connected with me, you will be surrounded by the very salt of the earth, by all that is
           glorious. And you will disappear in it: you will not be able to find yourself, find where you have
           gone.
                You will meet Socrates, you will meet Pythagoras, you will meet Heraclitus, you will meet
           strange but beautiful beings -- Bodhidharma or Diogenes or Dionysius -- but you will not find
           yourself. In fact, yourself does not exist. And the meeting of all these people within you will make
           you a paradise.
                So please just give it a little turn: rather than seeing yourself in me -- if you can do that, why
           can't you do this? it is the same -- see me in you. And I am not asking for your whole being because I
           want you to leave it for other guests. Just give me a little corner, just a contact center from where
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           buddhas can enter in you.
               But we are so accustomed to misery that we can do anything to be miserable. And we have
           forgotten the language of blissfulness, so to make even a small effort seems to be very arduous. But I
           am asking you to do the same -- just give it a little turn. It will be far easier, and the reward is going
           to be enormous. You will be lost, and you will never be found.
               And that is the most blissful moment -- when you cannot find yourself, and there is just utter
           silence.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                 Chapter #22
                             Chapter title: Freedom doesn't choose, it discovers
           23 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604230
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO22
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 99 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN YOU SAY, "JUST BE YOURSELF"? HOW CAN I BE MYSELF WHEN
              I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM? I KNOW MANY OF MY PREFERENCES, LIKINGS, DISLIKINGS AND
              TENDENCIES, WHICH SEEM TO BE THE OUTCOME OF A PROGRAMMED BIOCOMPUTER
              CALLED THE MIND. DOES JUST BEING ONESELF MEAN THAT ONE TOTALLY LIVES OUT THE
              WHOLE CONTENT OF THE MIND AS WATCHFULLY AS POSSIBLE?


                Yes, it exactly means that -- to live as an awareness: awareness of all the programs the mind has
           been conditioned for, awareness of all the impulses, desires, memories, imaginations... all that the
           mind can do. One has to be not part of it, but separate -- seeing it but not being it -- watching it.
                And this is one of the most essential things to remember, that you cannot watch your
           watchfulness. If you watch your watchfulness, then the watcher is you, not the watched. So you
           cannot go beyond watchfulness. The point that you cannot transcend is your being. The point that
           you cannot go beyond is you. You can watch very easily any thought, any emotion, any sentiment.
           Just one thing you cannot watch -- and that is your watchfulness. And if you manage to watch it, that
           means you have shifted: the first watchfulness has become just a thought; now you are the second
           watcher.
                You can go on shifting back, but you cannot get out of watchfulness because it is you: you
           cannot be otherwise.
                So when I say, "Just be yourself," I am saying to you, "Just be unprogrammed, unconditioned
           awareness." That's how you had come into the world, and that's how the enlightened person leaves
           the world. He lives in the world but remains totally separate.
                One of the great mystics, Kabir, has a beautiful poem about it. All his poems are just perfect --
           nothing can be better. One of his poems says, "I will give back the soul that was given to me at the
           time of my birth as pure, as clean, as it was given to me. I will give it back that way when I die." He
           is talking about awareness, that it has remained unpolluted. The whole world was there to pollute it,
           but he has remained watchful.
                All that you need is just to be watchful, and nothing will affect you. This unaffectedness will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           keep your purity, and this purity has certainly the freshness of life, the joy of existence -- all the
           treasures that you have been endowed with.
               But you become attached to the small things surrounding you and forget the one that you are. It
           is the greatest discovery in life and the most ecstatic pilgrimage to truth. And you need not be an
           ascetic, you need not be anti-life; you need not renounce the world and go to the mountains. You can
           be where you are, you can continue to do what you are doing. Just a new thing has to be evolved:
           whatever you do, you do with awareness -- even the smallest act of the body or the mind -- and with
           each act of awareness you will become aware of the beauty and the treasure and the glory and the
           eternity of your being.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU SAY FREEDOM IS THE GREATEST VALUE FOR YOU. YOU ALSO SAY YOUR ATTITUDE TO
              LIFE IS THAT OF LET-GO. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU HAVE USED YOUR FREEDOM TO
              CHOOSE TO GIVE UP THE FREEDOM TO DECIDE ANYTHING, IN FAVOR OF LETTING
              EXISTENCE TAKE CARE OF YOU. IS THE ULTIMATE IN FREEDOM ACTUALLY TOTAL
              ENSLAVEMENT?


               No, I have not chosen anything.
           I have not chosen, out of my freedom, to allow the existence to take care of me. Freedom is
           choiceless. In freedom I have discovered, not chosen.
               With the eyes free, with the consciousness free, I have discovered that let-go is the way existence
           functions. There was no question of choice -- whether to be with existence or not. It was not
           either/or, but just the realization that this is the only way existence works. I relaxed with it.
               The people who are not living a life of let-go are choosers, because they are going against nature,
           against existence; they have to choose. The ego is a chooser. When you are completely free of ego,
           of self, when you are simply freedom, you see it happening that the fight is disappearing and let-go is
           taking its place. You are nothing more than a watcher. If you choose it, then it is not let-go. How can
           it be let-go if you choose it?
               It happened that one man came to Gautam Buddha, and he wanted to surrender himself unto
           Buddha's feet. Buddha looked at him and said, "You cannot surrender."
               He said, "Why? Everybody else is allowed, and I am not allowed -- what is my disqualification?"
               Buddha laughed and he said, "There is no question of disqualification. Just the nature of
           surrender is such that you cannot do it -- it happens. If you do it, it is your doing; it is not surrender.
           And if you do it, you can take it back. It is never total; you are outside of it. It was your action, so
           you can decide any moment: no more surrender! But if it happens then it takes all of you, the whole
           of you, leaving nothing behind which can ever do anything against it."
               Simple things... but they become complicated because our mind is accustomed only to doing.
           And these are not mind things. Surrender, let-go -- these are not mind things. For the mind it is
           impossible to think of them. It can agree to surrender, it can agree to let-go, but it has to be the
           master, doing it, and it has to be an act -- and that's where everything goes wrong.
               Surrender is once and forever; let-go is once and forever -- just as death is once and forever,
           because nothing is left that can change the course of things. All has been taken in. You are no longer
           there to have a second thought.
               Just the other day I was shown a statement of Rajen, one of our therapists, who is doing as much
           damaging work as possible. His statement was, "Up to now I was helping Osho's work through
           surrender; now he has given me freedom. I will still continue to do his work but my work will be
           different. My work will be to help people to be free of Osho."
               Now, in the first place if he was really surrendered, then there is no going back: you cannot do
           anything about it anymore. It has happened, and you are dissolved in it.
               Secondly, I cannot give you freedom, because if I give you freedom I can take it back. Freedom
           has to be your realization -- and that would have come through surrender, on its own. Surrender
           flowers into freedom, because in surrender the self is gone, and all the hell that the self creates is
           gone. Your whole energy is now available to blossom.
           I cannot give freedom to anyone.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Freedom is not a commodity that I can hand over to you; it has to happen at the innermost core of
           your being. Surrender only removes the hindrances. You surrender only that which is blocking the
           way for freedom to come to you.
               So on the second point also he is wrong. And then on the third he goes really stupid, saying that
           now his work will be to help people to be free of Osho. The whole world is free of me -- that is not
           helping them! But what he means... He is now persuading sannyasins not to be sannyasins. And he
           thinks he is helping people to be in a state of freedom.
           There are things which only happen.
               Let-go is not an action on your part, but just an understanding of the fact that this is the only way
           the universe functions, and if you are not functioning in this way, you are going to remain in misery.
           You are not being punished, you are simply being foolish. The old religions have given the idea to
           people that if you do wrong, you will be punished; if you do right, you will be rewarded -- because
           they were all dependent on doing, and that's their basic fallacy.
               Religion begins when you cross the boundary of doing and enter into the world of happening.
           Then let-go happens, because you see that this is the only way things work. If you go against it, you
           are miserable.
               Nobody is punishing you; you are simply being stupid. If you try to get out through the wall and
           hit your head, do you think it has been a punishment? And there is the door, always available for you
           to get out. Knowing about the door, you try to get out through the wall and smash your face. Old
           religions call it punishment. It is not punishment, it is simple foolishness. And the person who goes
           out of the door into the garden, in the sun, in the air, is not being rewarded; he is just being
           intelligent.
               So if you ask me, I will say intelligence is the reward; unintelligence is the punishment. In its
           ultimate form: unintelligence is hell, intelligence is heaven.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              LIVING DECISIVELY, KNOWING WHAT ONE WANTS, SEEMS EASY. HOWEVER, MY REALITY IS
              THAT I CAN NEVER MAKE UP MY MIND ABOUT ANYTHING. I CAN ALWAYS SEE BOTH SIDES
              OF AN ARGUMENT AND CAN NEVER DECIDE WHICH IS RIGHT. SO I AM LEFT HANGING
              BETWEEN THE TWO. ONE PART OF ME, LISTENING TO YOU, FEELS THIS IS OKAY, BUT IT
              MAKES ME FEEL STATIC, AS IF I AM ONLY PARTIALLY ALIVE. PLEASE COMMENT.


               Mind is never decisive. It is not a question of your mind or somebody else's mind; mind is
           indecisiveness. The functioning of the mind is wavering between two polar opposites and trying to
           find which is the right way.
               Mind is the wrong thing, and through the wrong thing you are trying to find the right way. It is as
           if by closing your eyes you are trying to find the door. Certainly you will feel yourself hanging
           between the two -- to go this way or that; you will be always in a condition of either/or. That's the
           nature of mind.
               One great Danish philosopher was Soren Kierkegaard. He wrote a book, EITHER/OR. It was his
           own life's experience -- he could never decide about anything. Everything was always such that if he
           was deciding this way, then that way seemed to be right. If he was deciding that way, then this way
           seemed to be right. He remained indecisive.
               He remained unmarried, although a woman was very much in love with him and had asked him.
           But he said, "I will have to think about it -- marriage is a big thing, and I cannot say yes or no
           immediately." And he died with the question, without getting married. He lived long -- perhaps
           seventy years -- and he was continually arguing, discussing. But he found no answer which could be
           said to be the ultimate answer, which had not its equal opposite.
               He never could become a professor. He had filled out the form, he had all the qualifications -- the
           best qualifications possible -- he had many books to his credit, of such immense importance that
           even after a century they are still contemporary, not old, not out of date. He filled out the form but
           could not sign it -- because "either/or"... whether to join the service or not? The form was found
           when he died, in the small room where he used to live.
               His father, seeing the situation -- and he was his only son -- seeing that even going somewhere he
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would stop at the crossroads to decide to go this way or to go that way, for hours...! The whole of
           Copenhagen became aware of this man's strangeness, and children nicknamed him "Either/Or," so
           urchins would be following him, shouting, "Either/Or!" wherever he would go.
                Before he died his father liquidated all his businesses, collected all the money, deposited it into
           an account, and arranged that every month on the first day of the month, Kierkegaard should receive
           so much money, so for his whole life he at least could survive. And you will be surprised: the day he
           was coming home, on the first day of the month, after taking out the last installment of the money --
           the money was finished -- he fell on the street and died. With the last installment! That was the right
           thing to do. What else to do? -- because after this month, what will he do?
                And because of the urchins and other people harassing him and calling him Either/Or he used to
           come out only once a month, just on the first day, to go to the post office. But now there was nothing
           left -- next month he had nowhere to go.
                He was writing books but was not decisive about whether to publish them or not; he left all his
           books unpublished. They are of tremendous value. Each book has a great penetration into things. On
           each subject he has written, he has gone to the very roots, to every minute detail... a genius, but a
           genius of the mind.
                With the mind, that is the problem -- it is not your problem -- and the better mind you have, the
           more will be the problem. Lesser minds don't come across that problem so much. It is the genius
           mind that is opposed, with two polarities, and cannot choose. And then he feels in a limbo.
                What I have been telling you is that it is the nature of the mind to be in a limbo. It is the nature of
           the mind to be in the middle of polar opposites. Unless you move away from the mind and become a
           witness to all the games of the mind, you will never be decisive. Even if you sometimes decide -- in
           spite of the mind -- you will repent, because the other half that you have not decided for is going to
           haunt you: perhaps that was right and what you have chosen is wrong. And now there is no way to
           know. Perhaps the choice was better that you had left aside was better. But even if you had chosen it,
           the situation would not have been different; then this which would have been left aside would haunt
           you.
           Mind is basically the beginning of madness.
                And if you are too much in it, it will drive you mad.
                I have told you that in my village I used to live opposite a goldsmith. I became aware at first, and
           then the whole town became slowly aware... and his life became hell. I used to sit just in front of his
           house, and I became aware that he had a curious habit: he would lock his shop, then pull the lock
           two, three times to see whether it was really locked or not.
                One day I was coming from the river and he had just locked his shop and was going home. I said,
           "But you have not checked!"
           He said, "What?"
                I said, "You have not checked the lock!" He had checked it -- I had seen him three times pulling
           it, but now I had created a suspicion, and mind is always ready...
                So he said to me, "Perhaps I forgot -- I must go back." He went back, and checked the lock again.
           That became my joy: wherever he would go...
                In the market he would be purchasing vegetables and I would reach there saying, "What are you
           doing here? You have left the lock unchecked!"
                He would drop the vegetables and he would say, "I will be coming back; first I have to go and
           check the lock."
                Even from the railway station... He was purchasing a ticket to go somewhere, and I went and told
           him, "What are you doing? The lock!"
           He said, "My God, have I not checked it?"
           I said, "No!"
                He said, "Now it is impossible to go to the marriage I was going to." He returned the ticket, went
           home, and checked the lock. But then it was too late to go back to the station -- the train had already
           gone. And he trusted me because I was always sitting in front of his house.
                Slowly it became known to everybody, so wherever he would go, people would say, "Where are
           you going? Have you checked the lock?"
                Finally he became angry with me. He said, "You must be spreading it, because wherever I go
           everybody is talking about the lock, and I have to come back home -- sometimes so many times that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I forget completely for what purpose I had gone in the first place to the market! The whole day I
           have been checking the lock!"
           I said, "You don't listen to them. Let them..."
               He said, "What do you mean, `Don't listen to them'? If they are right then I am lost forever. I
           cannot take that chance. So knowing perfectly well that the man may be lying, I have to come back
           compulsively to check the lock. I know somewhere that I have checked it, but who knows for
           certain?"
           Mind has no certainty about anything.
               If you are between the two polarities of the mind, in a limbo -- always to do or not to do, you will
           go crazy. You are crazy! Before it happens, jump out and have a look from the outside at the mind...
           and that's what I am telling you continuously.
               Be aware of the mind -- its bright side, its dark side, its right, its wrong. Whatever polarity it is,
           you just be aware of it. Two things will come out of that awareness: one, that you are not the mind,
           and second, that awareness has a decisiveness which mind never has.
               Mind is basically indecisive, and awareness is basically decisive. So any act out of awareness is
           total, full, without repentance.
               I have never in my life thought again about anything -- whether something else would have been
           better. I have never repented. I have never thought that I have committed any mistake, because there
           is nobody else who has been left to say these things. I have been acting out of my awareness -- that is
           my whole being. Now whatever happens is all that is possible.
               The world may call it right or wrong -- that is their business, but it is not my problem.
               So awareness will take you out of the limbo. Rather than hanging between these two polarities of
           the mind, you will jump beyond both, and you will be able to see that those two polarities are two
           polarities only if you are in the mind. If you are outside it, you will be surprised that they are two
           sides of the same coin -- there was no question of decision.
               With awareness you have the clarity, totality, let-go -- existence decides within you. You don't
           have to think about what is right and wrong; existence takes your hand in its hand, and you are
           moving relaxedly. That's the only way, the right way. And that is the only way you can be sane;
           otherwise you will remain muddled.
               Now, Soren Kierkegaard is a great mind, but being a Christian he has no idea of awareness. He
           can think, and think very deeply, but he cannot just be silent and watch. That poor fellow had never
           heard about anything like watching, witnessing, awareness. Thinking was all that he had heard
           about, and he had put his whole genius into thinking. He had produced great books, but he could not
           produce a great life for himself. He lived in utter misery.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU SPOKE THE OTHER NIGHT ABOUT HONEST TRUTH. MYSTICS HAVE OFTEN SPOKEN OF
              THE "ULTIMATE TRUTH." CAN THE TRUTH BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN ULTIMATE?


               Truth cannot be anything other than the ultimate.
           But the mystics had to speak about "ultimate truth" for a certain reason. The reason was that
           philosophers have been speaking of "relative truth," and they have been emphasizing the fact that
           every truth is relative. Albert Einstein in this century brought the conception of relativity to scientific
           truths; otherwise they used to be ultimate -- they became relative. And he was right. Mahavira,
           Gautam Buddha -- they all have talked about relativity.
               One thing that is missing is that nobody makes a distinction between truth and fact. Facts are
           relative, and truth is ultimate, but if you get mixed up and you start thinking of facts as truth, then
           they will be relative.
               Two things first: Facts are relative, and you have to understand exactly what is meant by relative.
           It means that something can be true in a certain situation, and the same thing can be untrue in some
           other situation.
               It was said that while Albert Einstein was alive there were only twelve people in the whole world
           who understood what he meant by relativity. It is a very delicate and subtle explanation about the
           universe. And Einstein was continually asked -- wherever he would go, in a club, in a restaurant --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wherever he would go people would ask, "Just say something about what this relativity is and say it
           so that a layman can understand it."
               Finally he found a way: he said that if you are sitting on a hot stove, time will appear to you to be
           going very slowly; a single minute will look like hours because you are sitting on a hot stove. Your
           state is changing your conception of time.
               But if you are sitting with your girlfriend, hours go by and it seems only seconds have passed.
               He would say, "This is what I mean by relativity: time is relative to a particular situation. There
           is nothing like ultimate time so that whatever you do it is the same. It has always been known that
           when you are happy time passes fast, and when you are miserable, time passes very slowly."
               He has established relativity so deeply that it has become almost interwoven with all scientific
           findings. But only one thing I want you to remember: he is talking about facts and calling them truth.
           And because of that the mystics had to use the word `ultimate'. They want to tell you that there is an
           experience which is beyond relativity. That's all their meaning is: truth is ultimate.
               For example, what I have experienced in these thirty-five years in different situations -- it has
           remained the same, and I know even in my death it will not be different. This is truth: that which
           remains the same, whatever happens around it... the center of the cyclone.
               But the whole world is full of facts. Facts are relative. Now, it has to be made very clear to the
           scientists that what Einstein was talking about was not truth but fact. But for science there is no truth
           other than what they discover. The mystic's truth they don't accept, because the mystic cannot put it
           in front of the scientist so that they can dissect it and find out what constitutes it -- its measurement,
           weight, and things like that.
               It is an experience, and totally subjective. It cannot be made objective.
               So let us say it in this way, if they insist on calling it truth: objective truths are all relative, and
           subjective truth is always ultimate. But just not to get it mixed up, the mystics have been calling it
           the ultimate truth.
               All truth is ultimate. But there are scientific truths which are really only facts. For example, if
           you are sitting on a hot stove the experience of time going very slowly is just a fact of your
           psychology; it has nothing to do with time. But nobody has pointed that out to Albert Einstein. When
           you are sitting with your girlfriend and time passes fast, it has nothing to do with time; it has
           something to do with your mind.
               Time goes with its own speed. It does not change; otherwise there would be such a difficulty.
           Somebody is sitting on the hot stove, and somebody is sitting with his girlfriend -- what will poor
           time do? Go slow or go fast? Time remains the same; it is your mind, your concept of time which is
           relative.
               All objective truths are relative. You cannot say that somebody is tall; that statement will not be
           correct, because the tallness of the person has to be relative. Tall in comparison to whom? You have
           to make it complete. Somebody is fat, but just that much is not right and not complete. You have to
           make it clear that he is fatter than Avirbhava, or thinner than Anando. Unless you make the
           comparison, you cannot use relative terms.
               But we are using them. Because people are using relative words, the mystics have been
           compelled to say the "ultimate" truth; otherwise just saying "the truth" would be sufficient, because
           ultimateness is its intrinsic nature. But it has to be repeated; otherwise there are people who will get
           misguided, confused, because they have heard about relative truths and they will make your truth
           also into a relative truth. So a distinction has to be made. To draw that distinction, the word
           `ultimate' is used -- unwillingly.
               I would not like to use it because it is a repetition, a tautology. "The ultimate" and "the truth"
           mean the same. You can use either, but to use both is an unnecessary repetition.
               My father was very insistent that every Monday he had to receive a letter from me, while I was
           in the university. I told him, "If there is something wrong, if there is some problem, if I am sick, I
           will inform you. But unnecessarily writing the same thing again and again has no justification."
               He said, "Justification or not, it is not a question of your arguments. I wait for seven days and I
           become worried about you. It is not your sickness that I am worried about; I am worried about what
           you are doing, what is happening to you. You may get into trouble any moment. So every Saturday
           you have to post a letter so that on Monday I receive it. If I don't receive it on Monday, then I will
           unnecessarily have to come two hundred miles to the university."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So what I had done... I had written one letter, "Everything is all right here. I am not in any
           trouble. You need not be worried." And on other letters I had just made the sign `ditto.' He was very
           angry. When he saw me he said, "I feel like beating you! You write `ditto' on the letters!"
                I said, "That's exactly the situation, because I have to write the same thing again. And do you
           think I write every Saturday? I have just asked one typist to type the first letter, and a hundred letters
           with the `ditto.' I have given them to one very particular man -- because I may forget and
           unnecessarily you may have to come -- and I have told him, `You have to post one of these "ditto"
           letters every Saturday.' He is so particular in everything that once you ask him, he will do it." He was
           a student, living in the same hostel.
                But my father was very angry, "Have you ever heard of anybody writing in the letter just `ditto'?
           I wait for eight days and then I get a card on which the only message is `ditto'! Not even your
           signature, because in `ditto' everything is implied from the first letter: Refer to the last letter. You
           can read the first letter again when you get the ditto letter."
                Life is not mathematics; it is not logic, it is not science. It is something more, and that something
           more is the most valuable.
                The mystics have called that something more "the ultimate truth." They can be forgiven for
           calling it ultimate. But you have to understand that the reason they are calling it ultimate is because
           there are people who are calling every truth relative -- not only scientists, not only people who are
           working with matter.
                Mahavira says that truth itself is relative: he has no ultimate truth. Buddha has no ultimate truth.
           Again the difficulty is that Mahavira and Buddha can be misunderstood when they say that there is
           no ultimate truth but that every truth is relative: it can be one thing in one situation, it can be another
           thing in another situation, and because it is related to situations it cannot have any ultimacy. This
           goes against all the great mystics.
                Only Mahavira and Buddha, two people... But I know both, and I understand both better than
           their own followers, because none of their followers have been able to make any sense out of it:
           either all the mystics are wrong, or Buddha and Mahavira are wrong!
                I say nobody is wrong. What Mahavira says is that truth has seven aspects, and Buddha says that
           truth has four aspects. They are really referring to the expression of truth. Truth can be said in seven
           ways according to Mahavira. He is really a logician. But what he is saying is not about truth -- there
           is a misunderstanding. What he is saying is about truth expressed, not experienced. When you
           experience it, it is always ultimate, but the moment you say it, it becomes relative.The moment you
           bring it into language it becomes relative, because in language nothing can be ultimate. The whole
           construction of language is relative. Buddha is not a great logician, so he stops at four, but the
           situation is the same.
                They are not speaking of the truth which you experience in silence, beyond mind. Nothing can be
           said about it. The moment you say something about it, you drag it into the world of relativity, and
           then all the laws of relativity will be applicable to it.
                Perhaps Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the best logicians of this age, was right when he said, "That
           which cannot be said should not be said." This is a strange statement. It stands out in the whole
           history of thought, unique and original: "That which cannot be said, should not be said" -- because if
           you say it, you are contradicting yourself. First you say it cannot be said, and then you say it. You
           may make all kinds of conditions: "When I say it, it is no longer the same; when I say it, it even
           becomes untrue." But then, why say it?
                Wittgenstein's statement will make it clear that Mahavira and Buddha both were talking about
           the truth said: then it is relative. And the mystics who are talking about "the ultimate truth" are
           talking about the truth experienced yet not brought into the world of language and objects. So I think
           it is better to allow them to use the word `ultimate', although it is a repetition, because it keeps it
           separate.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS IT NOT TRUE TO SAY THAT BECAUSE WE CAN EVEN FORMULATE A QUESTION THAT WE
              HAVE AN INKLING SOMEWHERE OF THE ANSWER -- EVEN THOUGH WE ARE NOT AWARE OF
              IT?
              IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE A DOCTOR LOOKING AT A PATIENT: THE FACT THAT HE ASKS THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PATIENT CERTAIN QUESTIONS AND NOT OTHERS INDICATES HE HAS SOME IDEA OF WHAT
              THE DIAGNOSIS -- AND HENCE THE ANSWER -- IS.


                It is true. Whenever you ask a question, somewhere deep down you have some inkling of the
           answer, but it is in the darker parts of your consciousness. You yourself cannot pull it out and bring
           it to your consciousness.
                The question is in the consciousness; the answer is in the unconscious -- vague, a shadow, with
           no certainty, but the inkling is certainly there.
                The function of the master is exactly what Socrates has defined it as -- the master is only a
           midwife. He helps to bring everything that is hidden in you to consciousness. When your question
           disappears, that means your answer from the unconscious has been brought to the conscious.
                It has to be remembered that this is the distinction between a master and a teacher: a teacher will
           give you an answer, which will not bring your own answer from the unconscious. He will force an
           answer into your conscious, repressing your question. He will make the situation more complicated.
           First you had only a question, and if you had silently waited, meditated, perhaps the unconscious
           answer may have surfaced and the question would have disappeared. And once the question
           disappears, the answer has no relevance in being there; it disappears also, and a pure emptiness is
           left.
                But the teacher forces an answer on your mind, and makes the situation more complicated. Now
           you have a question and you have an answer which has not been able to dissolve the question, which
           has only repressed it. And your unconscious answer is still lying down there, to be released so you
           can be unburdened. The teacher burdens you, complicates you.
                The master never gives you any answer that is going to burden you.
                His every answer is an unburdening. He brings your own unconscious answer to the surface,
           where first the question disappears, then the answer disappears -- and not a trace of either remains
           behind.
           This is real communion.
                This is a clear-cut way, a criterion, to make the distinction between a teacher and a master.
                In the West there seems to be no distinction. In the East the teacher is simply repeating inherited
           knowledge; he is not concerned with you, he is concerned with his own knowledge.
                The master has nothing to impose upon you; he is empty and silent.
                Your question does not give him a chance to impose something on you, but only gives him a
           chance to bring your unconscious answer to the surface. So if you go on simply listening to the
           master, slowly, slowly you will find your questions have disappeared... and strangely, you don't have
           any answer.
                People ordinarily think that when the question disappears you will have the answer in its place.
           No, when the question really disappears the answer has no relevance. It also disappears. And left
           without questions and without answers, you have immense freedom... unburdened... open sky.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                  Chapter #23
                                Chapter title: Trees grow without being taught
           23 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604235
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO23
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 92 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HAVING HEARD YOU TALK ABOUT COMPETITION AND OUR CHILDHOOD THE OTHER
              MORNING, IT SET ME THINKING OF MY OWN EDUCATION. I REALIZED THAT FOR
              TWENTY-ONE YEARS SOLIDLY, EVERY SINGLE EVENT AT SCHOOL -- FROM PLAYING IN THE
              GARDEN, THROUGH OFFICIAL SPORTS, TO LATIN GRAMMAR -- WAS BASICALLY AN
              EXERCISE IN HOW TO BEAT THE NEXT PERSON. IT SEEMS AS IF IT WAS THE SINGLE MOST
              DAMAGING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. I CAN'T THINK OF A MORE PERFECT SYSTEM TO
              DESTROY CHILDREN AND MAKE US COMPLETELY INHARMONIOUS WITH THE WORLD
              AROUND US. HOW CAN WE HELP CHILDREN TO GROW TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL,
              WITHOUT ENCOURAGING THIS COMPETITIVE SPIRIT?


               The moment you start thinking how to help children to grow without any competitive spirit you
           are already on the wrong track, because whatever you are going to do is going to give the children a
           certain program. It may be different from the one that you received, but you are conditioning the
           children -- with all the best intentions in the world.
               The trees go on growing without anybody teaching them how to grow. The animals, the birds,
           the whole existence, needs no programming. The very idea of programming is basically creating
           slavery -- and man has been creating slaves for thousands of years in different names. When people
           become fed up with one name, another name immediately replaces it. A few modified programs, a
           few changes here and there in the conditioning, but the fundamental thing remains the same -- that
           the parents, the older generation, want their children to be in a certain way. That's why you are
           asking "How?".
               According to me, the function of the parents is not how to help the children grow -- they will
           grow without you. Your function is to support, to nourish, to help what is already growing. Don't
           give directions and don't give ideals. Don't tell them what is right and what is wrong: let them find it
           by their own experience.
               Only one thing you can do, and that is share your own life. Tell them that you have been
           conditioned by your parents, that you have lived within certain limits, according to certain ideals,
           and because of these limits and ideals you have missed life completely, and you don't want to
           destroy your children's life. You want them to be totally free -- free of you, because to them you
           represent the whole past.
               It needs guts and it needs immense love in a father, in a mother, to tell the children, "You need to
           be free of us. Don't obey us -- depend on your own intelligence. Even if you go astray it is far better
           than to remain a slave and always remain right. It is better to commit mistakes on your own and learn
           from them, rather than follow somebody else and not commit mistakes. But then you are never going
           to learn anything except following -- and that is poison, pure poison."
               It is very easy if you love. Don't ask "how", because "how" means you are asking for a method, a
           methodology, a technique -- and love is not a technique.
               Love your children, enjoy their freedom. Let them commit mistakes, help them to see where they
           have committed a mistake. Tell them, "To commit mistakes is not wrong -- commit as many
           mistakes as possible, because that is the way you will be learning more. But don't commit the same
           mistake again and again, because that makes you stupid."
               So it is not going to be a simple answer from me. You will have to figure it out living with your
           children moment to moment, allowing them every possible freedom in small things.
               For example, in my childhood... and it has been the same for centuries, the children are being
           taught, "Go to bed early, and get up early in the morning. That makes you wise."
               I told my father, "It seems to be strange: when I am not feeling sleepy, you force me to sleep
           early in the evening." And in Jaina houses early in the evening is really early, because supper is at
           five o'clock, at the most six. And then there is nothing else to do -- the children should go to sleep.
               I said to him, "When my energy is not ready to go to sleep, you force me to go to sleep. And
           when, in the morning, I am feeling sleepy, you drag me out of the bed. This seems to be a strange
           way of making me wise! And I don't see the connection -- how am I going to become wise by being
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forced to sleep when I am not feeling sleepy? And for hours I lie down in the bed, in the darkness...
           time which would have in some way been used, would have been creative, and you force me to
           sleep. But sleep is not something in your hands. You cannot just close your eyes and go to sleep.
           Sleep comes when it comes; it does not follow your order or my order, so for hours I am wasting my
           time.
                "And then in the morning when I am really feeling sleepy, you force me to wake up -- five
           o'clock, early in the morning -- and you drag me out for a morning walk towards the forest. I am
           feeling sleepy and you are dragging me. And I don't see how all this is going to make me wise. You
           please explain it to me!
                "And how many people have become wise through this process? You just show me a few wise
           people -- I don't see anybody around. And I have been talking to my grandfather, and he said that it
           is all nonsense. Of the whole household, that old man is the only sincere man. He does not care what
           others will say, but he has told me that it is all nonsense: `Wisdom does not come by going early to
           bed. I have been going early to bed my whole life -- seventy years -- and wisdom has not come yet,
           and I don't think it is going to come! Now it is time for death to come, not for wisdom. So don't be
           befooled by these proverbs.'"
                I told my father, "You think it over, and please be authentic and true. Give me this much freedom
           -- that I can go to sleep when I feel sleep is coming, and I can get up when I feel that it is time, and
           sleep is no longer there."
                He thought for one day, and the next day he said, "Okay, perhaps you are right. You do it
           according to yourself. Listen to your body rather than listening to me."
                This should be the principle: children should be helped to listen to their bodies, to listen to their
           own needs. The basic thing for parents is to guard the children from falling into a ditch. The function
           of their discipline is negative.
                Remember the word "negative"... no positive programming but only a negative guarding --
           because children are children, and they can get into something which will harm them, cripple them.
           Then too don't order them not to go, but explain to them. Don't make it a point of obedience; still let
           them choose. You simply explain the whole situation.
                Children are very receptive, and if you are respectful towards them they are ready to listen, ready
           to understand; then leave them with their understanding. And it is a question only of a few years in
           the beginning; soon they will be getting settled in their intelligence, and your guarding will not be
           needed at all. Soon they will be able to move on their own.
                I can understand the fear of the parents that the children may go in a direction which they don't
           like -- but that is your problem. Your children are not born for your likings and your dislikings. They
           have to live their life, and you should rejoice that they are living their life -- whatever it is. They may
           become a poor musician....
                I used to know a very rich man in the town who wanted his son, after matriculation, to become a
           doctor. But the son was interested only in music. He was already no longer an amateur; he was well
           known in the area, and wherever there was any function, he was playing the sitar and was becoming
           more and more famous.
                He wanted to go to a university which is basically devoted to music. Perhaps it is the only
           university in the world which is devoted completely to music, and has all the different departments --
           dance, different instruments -- but the whole world of the university is musical.
                The father was absolutely against it. He called me -- because I was very close to his son -- and he
           said, "He will be a beggar all his life," because musicians in India cannot earn much. "At the most he
           can become a music teacher in a school. What will he be earning? That much we pay to many
           servants in our house. And he will be associating with the wrong people," because in India, music
           has remained very deeply connected with the prostitutes.
                The Indian prostitute is different from any prostitute in the rest of the world. The word
           "prostitute" does not do justice to the Indian counterpart, because the Indian prostitute is really well
           versed in music, in dance -- and India has so much variety. If you really want to learn the deeper
           layers of music, of singing, of dancing, you have to be with some famous prostitute.
                There are famous families -- they are called gharanas. Gharana means family. It is nothing to do
           with the ordinary family; it is the family of the master-disciple. So there are famous gharanas which
           have a certain way of their own. Presenting the same instrument, the same dance, different gharanas
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will produce it in different ways, with subtle nuances. So, if someone really wants to get into the
           world of music, he has to become part of some gharana -- and that is not good company. According
           to a rich man it is certainly not a good company.
                But the son was not interested in the company. Not following his father, he went to the music
           university. And his father disowned him -- he was so angry. And because his father disowned him,
           and because he had no other ways -- because the university was in a very remote mountaineous area
           where you cannot find any job or anything -- he came back and had to become exactly what his
           father was predicting, just a school teacher.
                His father called me and told me, "Look, it is just as I have said. My other sons -- somebody is an
           engineer, somebody is a professor, but this idiot did not listen to me. I have disowned him; he will
           not inherit a single cent from me. And now he will remain in just the poorest profession -- a school
           master."
                But my friend himself was immensely happy... not worried that he had been abandoned by his
           family, that he was going to live a poor man's life, that he would not be receiving any inheritance.
           These things did not bother him; he was happy, "It is good they have done all this -- now I can
           become part of some gharana. I was worried about them, that they would feel humiliated. But now
           they have abandoned me, and I am no longer part of them, I can become part of some gharana."
                Teaching in a school, he became part of a gharana, and is now one of the best musicians in India.
           It is not a question of his being one of the best musicians; what is important is that he became what
           he felt was his potential. And whenever you follow your potential, you always become the best.
           Whenever you go astray from the potential, you remain mediocre.
                The whole society consists of mediocre people for the simple reason that nobody is what he was
           destined to be -- he is something else. And whatever he will do, he cannot be the best, and he cannot
           feel a fulfillment; he cannot rejoice.
                So the work of the parents is very delicate, and it is precious, because the whole life of the child
           depends on it. Don't give any positive program -- help him in every possible way that he wants.
                For example, I used to climb trees. Now, there are a few trees which are safe to climb; their
           branches are strong, their trunk is strong. You can go even to the very top, and still there is no need
           to be afraid that a branch will break. But there are a few trees which are very soft. Because I used to
           climb on the trees to get mangoes, jamuns -- another beautiful fruit -- my family was very much
           worried, and they would always send somebody to prevent me.
                I told my father, "Rather than preventing me, please explain to me which trees are dangerous --
           so that I can avoid them -- and which trees are not dangerous, so that I can climb them.
                "But if you try to prevent me from climbing, there is a danger: I may climb a wrong tree, and the
           responsibility will be yours. Climbing I am not going to stop, I love it." It is really one of the most
           beautiful experiences to be on the top of the tree in the sun with the high wind, and the whole tree is
           dancing -- a very nourishing experience.
                I said, "I am not going to stop it. Your work is to tell me exactly which trees I should not climb --
           because I can fall from them, can have fractures, can damage my body. But don't give me a blank
           order: `Stop climbing.' That I am not going to do." And he had to come with me and go around the
           town to show me which trees are dangerous. Then I asked him the second question, "Do you know
           any good climber in the city who can teach me even to climb the dangerous trees?"
                He said, "You are too much! Now this is going too far. You had told me, I understood it..."
                I said, "I will follow it, because I have myself proposed it. But the trees that you are saying are
           dangerous are irresistible, because JAMUN" -- an Indian fruit -- "grows on them. It is really
           delicious, and when it is ripe I may not be able to resist the temptation. You are my father, it is your
           duty... you must know somebody who can help me."
                He said, "If I had known that to be a father was going to be so difficult, I would have never been
           a father -- at least of you! Yes, I know one man" -- and he introduced me to an old man who was a
           rare climber, the best.
                He was a woodcutter, and he was so old that you could not believe that he could do woodcutting.
           He did only rare jobs, which nobody else was ready to do... big trees which were spreading on the
           houses -- he would cut off the branches. He was just an expert, and he did it without damaging their
           roots or the houses. First he would tie the branches to other branches with ropes. Then he would cut
           these branches and then with the ropes pull the other branches away from the house and let them fall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on the ground.
                And he was so old! But whenever there was some situation like that, when no other woodcutter
           was ready, he was ready. So my father told him, "Teach him something, particularly about trees
           which are dangerous, which can break." Branches can break... and I had fallen already two, three
           times -- I still carry the marks on my legs.
                That old man looked at me and he said, "Nobody has ever come, particularly a father bringing a
           boy...! It is a dangerous thing, but if he loves it, I would love to teach him." And he was teaching me
           how to manage to climb trees which were dangerous. He showed me all kinds of strategies of how to
           protect yourself: If you want to go high up the tree and you don't want to fall onto the ground, then
           first tie yourself with a rope to a point where you feel the tree is strong enough, and then go up. If
           you fall, you will be hanging from the rope, but you will not fall to the ground. And that really
           helped me; since then I have not fallen!
                The function of a father or a mother is great, because they are bringing a new guest into the
           world -- who knows nothing, but who brings some potential in him. And unless his potential grows,
           he will remain unhappy.
                No parents like to think of their children remaining unhappy; they want them to be happy. It is
           just that their thinking is wrong. They think if they become doctors, if they become professors,
           engineers, scientists, then they will be happy. They don't know! They can only be happy if they
           become what they have come to become. They can only become the seed that they are carrying
           within themselves.
                So help in every possible way to give freedom, to give opportunities. Ordinarily, if a child asks a
           mother anything, without even listening to the child, to what he is asking, the mother simply says no.
           "No" is an authoritative word; "yes" is not. So neither father nor mother or anybody else who is in
           authority wants to say yes -- to any ordinary thing.
                The child wants to play outside the house: "No!" The child wants to go out while it is raining and
           wants to dance in the rain: "No! You will get a cold." A cold is not a cancer, but a child who has
           been prevented from dancing in the rain, and has never been able again to dance, has missed
           something great, something really beautiful. A cold would have been worthwhile -- and it is not that
           he will necessarily have a cold. In fact the more you protect him, the more he becomes vulnerable.
           The more you allow him, the more he becomes immune.
                Parents have to learn to say yes. In ninety-nine times when they ordinarily say no, it is for no
           other reason than simply to show authority. Everybody cannot become the president of the country,
           cannot have authority over millions of people. But everybody can become a husband, can have
           authority over his wife; every wife can become a mother, can have authority over the child; every
           child can have a teddy bear, and have authority over the teddy bear... kick him from this corner to the
           other corner, give him good slaps, slaps that he really wanted to give to the mother or to father. And
           the poor teddy bear has nobody below him.
           This is an authoritarian society.
                What I am saying is in creating children who have freedom, who have heard "yes" and have
           rarely heard "no", the authoritarian society will disappear. We will have a more human society.
                So it is not only a question of the children. Those children are going to become tomorrow's
           society: the child is the father of man.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              INDIA, YOUR HOMELAND, HAS TREATED YOU BADLY AND WITHOUT DUE RESPECT. YET
              SOMETIMES WHEN I HEAR YOU SPEAK, DO I NOT DETECT A SUBTLE FONDNESS IN YOU
              FOR INDIA AND HER PEOPLE? OSHO, WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT INDIA?


               India, to me, is not only a country, but a concept... not just a land, but a way of life, a
           tremendously significant philosophy.
               So when I talk about India, it does not matter at all that they have treated me badly, that they
           would like me to be killed. They have made efforts -- unfortunately they failed. These are small
           things, and I don't take them into consideration.
           My consideration is for the India as a concept.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is the only part of the world which has gone deep into the interiority of man, which has
           discovered for the first time the ultimate in consciousness, the universality of individual beings.
               Science has discovered much, but no discovery of science can be compared to the discovery that
           India has made in the past. For ten thousand years continuously it has devoted its whole energy to
           finding out the meaning of life, the very essence of existence -- and it has found it.
               So when I talk about India, I do not talk about the India that you see on the map, I do not talk
           about the India that exists today. I am talking about a concept that has come out of centuries' work of
           discovery. Nowhere has religion ever reached such heights. No community has ever given all her
           geniuses to the discovery of man's inner world. And that is the most precious thing in life.
               You can have everything, all, but if you don't have yourself... you can know everything around
           you, but if you don't know what is within you, all your knowledge, all your wealth, all your power is
           futile -- and sooner or later you will be drowned in your own wealth, in your own power. It will
           destroy you because it will go on increasing, becoming bigger and bigger, and you will be shrinking,
           becoming smaller and smaller.
               The scientist is denying that he is, and asserting truths about things and objects. It is a very
           strange phenomenon. Then who is discovering all these things and objects? Every genuine scientific
           genius feels embarrassed -- anybody like Albert Einstein -- because he cannot say anything about
           himself... and he knows about the farthest star in the world, its whole history millions of years before
           it was created, and he knows how many more million years it will remain, and then it will dissolve.
           His knowledge is vast, but he knows nothing about the knower.
               And what use is this knowledge? Not only is it useless, it is going to be harmful. And we know
           now that the whole of science is in the service of the war machine: that is, in the service of death.
           The objective experimentation, the enquiry into the outside world, has reached a stage which can
           only be called a global suicide; while in India the search was inner, and it culminated in the universal
           experience of life, of joy, of blissfulness, of nirvana.
               I am not concerned with India as a geographical unit, but as a spiritual search. I can condemn the
           present-day situation. It is ugly; it is against all human values.
               The country is becoming poorer every day, and the politicians cannot prevent it, for the simple
           reason that if they try to prevent it... And the only way to prevent it is to spread birth-control
           methods. That goes against the orthodox Indian mind, and to annoy the orthodox Indian mind means
           you lose your power; next election you will be gone. So you know that if you do something to
           prevent it, you are finished; if you want to keep yourself in power, then you know the country is
           going to die and starve.
               Already India has nine-hundred million people. When I started speaking there were only four
           hundred million people. If they had listened to me, it would never have got into such a bad situation.
           But they threw stones at me.
               Now countries are trying to prevent me even from landing at their airports; the question of entry
           into the country does not arise. Even countries about which I have never thought...
               Just today Anando informed me that Venezuela -- I have never thought about it! -- has passed a
           resolution that I am banned, I cannot enter into the country. Even in Ireland, where we were for two
           weeks, the government is now denying it. They are not even courageous enough to say, "Yes, they
           were here and they are gone." They are denying, saying, "They have not been here. How could they
           enter into the country? -- because they are banned." Just as we left they must have passed some
           resolution in the parliament to ban us.
               The European parliament has a resolution now to ban me collectively, rather than separately, so
           all European countries who are members of the parliament automatically become closed.
               The same situation was happening in India. At the stations my train would be delayed for two
           hours because there were people who did not want me to get down at their city, and were forcing the
           train to take me back.
               I would be speaking in an Indian city, and the electricity would be cut off. And this was
           happening so often, again and again, that it could not be just accidental. The fifty thousand people
           would be sitting in darkness for half an hour, one hour, and the electricity wouldn't come on. And
           finally I would have to inform them, "Now it is pointless -- you please go home. I will stay a little
           longer in the city so you will not miss any lecture of the series." And as the people were leaving, as I
           was leaving, the electricity would come on.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Just now the Indian government wanted me to stay in India, but with conditions. One: no foreign
           disciple should be allowed to come to see me. Two: no news media should be allowed to interview
           me. Three: I will not go out of the country. If I fulfilled these three conditions then I could stay in the
           country.
                I said, "Why don't you simply shoot me? These conditions are just to kill me!" And I had to leave
           the country because... there are many sannyasins in high posts in the government who informed me
           that I should leave immediately because they were going to confiscate my passport so I could not get
           out of the country.
                I had not enough time, they said, to get a visa, to go to another country. Moreover they had
           informed all the embassies in Delhi that nobody should give me a visa to their country. So the only
           country that was available was Nepal, because no visa is needed -- that is a treaty between India and
           Nepal.
                But then the American government was pressurizing Nepal, the German government was
           pressurizing Nepal, the Indian government was pressurizing Nepal that I should not be allowed
           there. And when it became absolutely certain that they were going to take some steps -- they could
           have arrested me there, they could have sent me back to India -- as I was informed, I had
           immediately to leave.
                Whenever I am saying something about India, I am not talking about this India -- this India,
           which is absolutely corrupted, and politically in the worst shape.
                Every day hundreds of people are being killed -- and it goes on declaring that it is a democracy.
           But newspapers are not allowed to publish how many people are killed; it seems to the outside world
           that everything is peaceful. But the reality is that India has never been one country; it was always
           many countries.
                In Gautam Buddha's time there were two thousand kingdoms in India. Mohammedans tried to
           make it one whole; they could not succeed fully, but still they managed that half of India become one
           nation. Britain, with more brutality, managed to force the whole of India into one nation; otherwise
           "nation" and "nationality" are not Indian concepts. This unity of India was forced.
                Winston Churchill, before he retired, said, "The day India becomes free, it will fall apart, into
           pieces." And he was right. Politically he had the insight, because he knew that they had somehow put
           all the pieces together, and it needs immense power to keep them together. If that power is removed,
           those pieces will start falling apart -- and that's what is happening now.
                First Pakistan and Bangladesh became separated from India, now Punjab wants to be separate
           from India. Assam has been fighting for forty years to be separate from India, Bengal wants to be
           separate from India, Tamil Nadu wants to separate from India.
                There are thirty languages in India. For forty years they have been trying to make one language
           -- Hindi -- the national language, but they have not been able. If you cannot even make a national
           language, how can you manage to have a nation? And all these entities are not small. India is almost
           a continent. All these states -- Punjab or Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu -- are as big as France or
           England or Germany, and each has its own culture, its own language, its own dress, its own way of
           doing everything.
                Now, to prevent separation they have made a law that nobody can speak in favor of dividing any
           part. Anybody who speaks of dividing any part from India will be immediately arrested, and there
           will be no legal way, no court trial for it. And this is democracy!
                In Punjab they have killed thousands of Sikhs, Sikhs have killed thousands of Hindus; and it
           continues every day. And it is going to happen all over India. And it can be solved very easily.
                India is facing today the question of separation. There is no need to kill people. India should
           remain one. My solution is simple -- one just needs a little understanding. Freedom is everybody's
           birthright.
                So I am not in favor of this India, which is absolutely corrupted. But to me, in my vision, there is
           a totally different, glorious India, which consists of men like Gautam Buddha, Nagarjuna,
           Vasubundhu, Shankara... a whole line of thousands of enlightened people.
           That's my India.


              BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HOW CAN I ASSERT MYSELF IF I DISSOLVE AND ACCEPT WHATSOEVER IS HAPPENING?


               The moment you start thinking about these things, problems arise. You just do it and see what
           happens.
               You dissolve yourself into the whole, and if the situation needs assertion, you will not be
           asserting; the whole will be asserting. You will not be less, you will be more. You will not be alone,
           you will be supported by the whole.
               Experience dissolves problems. But we go on simply thinking, and if you think, then naturally
           the problem seems to be very relevant: "If I dissolve, then how am I going to assert myself?"
           Naturally it seems contradictory. Logically it is contradictory, but existentially it is not.
           You dissolve, and see what happens.
               If the situation needs assertion, there will be assertion... not yours, because now you are part of
           the whole. Now the whole will assert with you. You never lose anything. With the whole dissolving,
           you are always a gainer.
           But before thinking about it, do it.
           Only doing will solve the contradiction.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              BEFORE I SEE YOU EACH DAY, I AM SO EXCITED AT THE THOUGHT OF SEEING YOU. BUT
              WHEN I DO I BECOME BLANK, AS IF I HAVE NO FACE, NO SMILE. I EVEN FIND IT DIFFICULT
              TO NAMASTE YOU, AS IF I HAVE BECOME INVISIBLE IN FRONT OF YOU. WHATEVER MY
              HEART DOES LOOKS CHILDISH, AND IT FEELS AS IF ANY ACT I DID WOULD BE JUST
              DUMPING MY RUBBISH ON YOU.OSHO, I HAVE NEVER EXPRESSED HOW MUCH GRATITUDE I
              FEEL, ALTHOUGH MY HEART IS FULL OF IT.


               I know it. And what is happening is absolutely right, what you are feeling is perfectly in tune
           with my teaching.
               You cannot express your gratitude. You can be full of it, but any act... it will look too small. And
           it can happen, it is very natural, that you are excited when I am coming, but when I come, you are
           almost absent. This is good, this is how it should be.
               When I am here, you should not be here, because in this room only one can survive: either you or
           I.
               So it is not a question... But you have expressed very accurately your feeling. You should be
           happy that it is happening to you.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                              Chapter #24
                         Chapter title: Whenever the ego gains, you are the loser
           24 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604240
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO24
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              FOR SOME TIME NOW YOU HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT YOU ARE OUR FRIEND AND WE ARE
              FRIENDS. I'M HAVING DIFFICULTY IN TRULY GETTING IT.
              OSHO, TO ME YOU ARE MY MOST BELOVED MASTER. PLEASE SHOW ME WHERE I AM
              MISSING.


                The question is from Vivek.
           I can understand her difficulty.
           The same will be the difficulty of all those who have come close to me, loved me, received me in
           their hearts as a master.
                I have been saying that I am your friend, and you are my friend for a very strange reason that
           may not be obvious to you. There was another question from Milarepa -- why are a few sannyasins
           feeling very resentful towards you, angry with you?
                This has been an historical thing, that amongst disciples there are always a few who are
           accidental. The wind was blowing this way and they arrived. They saw a tremendous energy in the
           disciples, and they became greedy. But it was not a search for truth, it was not a search for love; it
           was simple greed. They also wanted to be spiritually powerful.
                They became sannyasins, they became disciples, but the distance between me and them remained
           the same. They could never become my intimate people. They could never become my people. Even
           though they were with me, deep down they were resentful, angry. I wanted them to drop their
           resentfulness, to drop their anger. It was not my problem, it was their problem, and I wanted to help
           them in every possible way.
                It was for this simple reason that I had said, "I am your friend, you are my friend." Those who
           were not really with me were immensely happy that now their status and my status was the same.
           And amongst these were people that you would never have imagined... Just the other day I had the
           message from a sannyasin that Teertha is saying to people that my state and his state are now the
           same -- we are friends. For this he was hanging around for fifteen years. Rajen is saying to people,
           "Now I am no longer a disciple but a friend, and I have the same status."
                These were the people that I wanted to get rid of as peacefully, as lovingly as possible. But those
           who had loved me felt hurt -- because they have loved me as a disciple, and to be a disciple is
           something so valuable that who cares to be a friend?
                There is a story in Gautam Buddha's life.... One of his closest disciples, Sariputta, was found to
           be not meditating enough. Even people who had come after Sariputta had gone deeper into
           meditation, people of lesser genius and lesser intelligence. Buddha called Sariputta one morning and
           said, "What is the matter?"
                He said, "You know it. I never want to be enlightened while you are alive. I simply want to sit at
           your feet the way I have always been sitting. To be your disciple, to be showered with your love...
           who cares about enlightenment? This is my enlightenment!"
                So I can understand Vivek's difficulty. She has been for sixteen years with me. When she came
           she was only twenty years old; now she is thirty-six, almost twice the age. And all these sixteen
           years, day in, day out, she has been taking care of me with as much love as possible, with a deep
           devotion. It is difficult for her to think of herself as being a friend. It would not be a gain to her, it
           would be a loss. Those who have understood the joy and the celebration of being a disciple, of being
           in love with a master, will all feel the same: that to be a friend is nothing compared to it; everything
           is lost. To be a friend becomes formal.
                So those who were really with me have been shaken, hurt, and those who were not really with me
           have been tremendously happy. Just by me calling you my friend, you do not achieve the state in
           which I am. If it was so easy I would have called the whole world my friend, and they all would have
           come to the same state.
                Milarepa's question is concerned with it. After the American government destroyed the
           commune, illegally but systematically -- it was a criminal act against human consciousness and its
           evolution -- people had to leave the commune. Now, a few of these people are feeling resentful; that
           simply means they were around me for a certain reason. There was some greed -- although I have
           been insistently destroying all greed, all ego, all jealousy, all competition, all ambition. But they are
           so deeply rooted that although intellectually you may feel they have left you, they are there.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               These people are now feeling resentful because deep down they had the greed that if they die in
           the buddhafield they will become enlightened, and now the buddhafield has disappeared. They are
           angry, and they are angry at me, because in spite of me telling them continually that I do not believe
           in miracles, they continued to believe, so it was a shock to them that I was arrested. They would
           have loved it if I could have gone through the walls of the jail, and then a miracle... Those were their
           desires... the commune had been destroyed and I should have done something to prevent it from
           being destroyed. Naturally, they are angry.
               But this is their misunderstanding. They can't see real miracles; they can't see how I lived for
           those twelve days in jail, how the people in the jail -- the authorities and the inmates -- almost
           became sannyasins. All these people in the jail were saying that it was absolutely unjust, unfair,
           against the constitution, and when I left their jail, there were tears in their eyes.
               One of the jailers said, "This is the first time that I have tears in my eyes when I am releasing a
           prisoner; otherwise I am always happy to make somebody free. But if you ask me, I really want you
           to be here always! You have changed the whole atmosphere. How you have done it, I don't know;
           perhaps it was just your presence."
               I was in the hospital section, and the head nurse told me, "This is the first time that the jailers, the
           assistant jailer, and other officers continually come to this department; otherwise nobody comes
           here. They come here, they sit with you, they talk with you. They are hurt that you have been
           harassed, and they are ashamed that they are all instrumental in the harassment."
               They made every arrangement for me -- they have never done that for anybody else. I call this a
           miracle, not coming out of the walls or breaking the chains; those are not miracles. But this impact
           on human consciousness... All the six nurses and the doctor -- who was also a woman -- were crying
           when I left. They said, "We know you have to go... we know that you have been only three days with
           us, and we have become so attached to you; what must be happening to your people, who have been
           living for years with you? You have to go, but our personal feelings do not listen to logic -- we want
           you to be here. You have changed the whole atmosphere."
               Even the inmates were not smoking so that I was not affected. They were trying in every possible
           way so that the government might think they are harassing me but I was not harassed. I was not
           taking showers -- the prisoners' shower booth was so dirty that it felt cleaner not to have a shower --
           the nurses found out, and they made available to me their own shower.
               They made available to me their own place -- the office of the nurses, the office of the doctor --
           so that wherever I wanted to sit, I could sit; wherever I wanted to lie down, I could lie down; I did
           not need to go to the cell. And whenever I wanted I had simply to knock and they would open the
           cell and bring me out. I said, "You need not be worried -- I am perfectly good in my cell."
               They said, "It is not a question of your being perfectly good in your cell; we love you to be in the
           office. We will remember forever that this is the place you used to sit."
               The same happened in Crete: the chair I was sitting in for almost seven hours... By and by the
           chief superintendent relaxed, started talking to me, and finally he said, "I am feeling proud that you
           are sitting in my office. So many of your people come, and I have seen you only in the picture of
           their locket. Now I will be able to say to them, `This is the chair your master has been sitting in for
           seven hours with me.'"
               He phoned his wife, saying, "I will not come until Osho is safely sent to Athens." He became so
           concerned that he allowed Devaraj to drive me to the airport. The police officers were sitting at the
           back, I was sitting in the front and Devaraj was driving! This would have never happened...
               These people who feel resentment may have other causes also.
               Just the other day Anando was showing me one book published against me in Australia by a
           couple who have been sannyasins for three years and have been in the commune. But just looking at
           their ideas, it seems they have never seen me. They are saying that they were working, working hard,
           and with their work I was purchasing Rolls Royces. You can see the absurdity: their work was not
           bringing any money. Their work was making their own houses to live in, the roads -- which were
           needing money, not producing money. But in their mind -- and for all those three years also -- they
           must have been resentful.
               Those Rolls Royces were not produced by the commune. They were presents from outside, from
           all over the world. And I was not their owner -- I had given them to the commune. They were
           commune property, and I have not brought any of them with me; I have left them with the commune.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Everything that I had has been left with the commune. I never owned anything. But there must have
           been the idea that they are earning money, and I am wasting money. That is their resentment.
                What money were you earning? In fact you needed money to make houses, to make roads, to
           make a dam -- a dam needed two and a half million dollars to make. You were contributing your
           labor, but we were not creating money out of it so that I could purchase Rolls Royces, so that I could
           purchase anything. I have not purchased anything from the money produced by the commune
           because the commune never produced any money. The commune was absorbing money. In fact all
           my royalties, all my books, all their profits were going to the commune. The situation is just the
           opposite -- that I had given everything to the commune. Now, four hundred books in different
           languages were bringing millions of dollars in royalties, and those royalties were going to the
           commune.
                If I had wanted to purchase Roll Royces, I could have purchased my own Rolls Royces, as many
           as I wanted, just out of my royalties.
                But the resentment, the anger, is blind. In the commune we invested two hundred million dollars.
           Those sannyasins perhaps think they had brought two hundred million dollars there! Without me and
           the people who love me around the world, those two hundred million dollars would not have been
           possible. And now you can see: Sheela is trying hard but is not getting even enough money to pay
           the attorneys. No sannyasin is going to see her.
                Shanti B and Puja have been given bail by the magistrate -- ten million dollars each. But they
           cannot collect even ten dollars, what to say of ten million dollars! Who is going to put up ten million
           dollars for Puja, ten million dollars for Shanti B? These people played with two hundred million
           dollars, and they remained in the illusion that this money was coming to them! The money was given
           to me, but because I don't receive anything, I had given the whole money to the commune. And still
           they feel resentful towards me. They are angry at me.
                Just to pacify these people, before I left I did everything: I dissolved the religion, because that
           gives hope to people -- and they start believing that the responsibility is mine, that they should be
           raised in consciousness, awareness, and finally made enlightened.
                I made them free -- saying that you need not wear red clothes, you need not wear a mala, it is not
           compulsory anymore -- simply to drop all the load of responsibility that they were unknowingly
           putting on me. They were hoping that just by wearing red clothes and putting the mala on, their work
           was finished, that now it is my responsibility to make them enlightened. I dropped that. They think
           that I was giving freedom to them; in fact I was simply making my own life as light as possible. I
           was simply dropping unnecessarily imposed responsibilities. And finally, not to let them feel that
           they were inferior to me in any way, I told them, "I am your friend and you are my friend."
                And the people who wanted it, who had been waiting for it, rejoiced.
           But the people who understood cried and wept.
                Now in Rajen's groups even my name is not mentioned. What is the need of mentioning the name
           of a friend? You have many friends -- you don't mention their names.
                Teertha has made an academy. Devageet was there; he worked hard to find the place, to arrange
           it, hoping that it was going to be Osho's meditation academy. But when he saw the board being put
           up it said simply "Meditation Academy."
           He asked, "But no mention of Osho?"
                And Teertha and Vedana and others who were involved in it simply said, "We are all friends --
           why put Osho's name there?"
                They printed a brochure, and Devageet was saying to me, "I cried, and I had to fight almost
           physically because Your name was not even mentioned in the brochure. It was not even mentioned
           that the meditations they will be teaching have something to do with You. They have all their
           pictures in the brochure, but Your picture is not there." Because he fought so much, finally they
           agreed to put in a picture of me, a strange picture, an old picture that nobody would recognize -- it
           must be a picture taken by someone in '74 -- and that too a small picture, and without mentioning my
           name or saying anything about who the person is.
                Devageet, simply out of disgust, left the place. And now these same people are trying to have a
           world festival -- in which my name is not mentioned. There is no need, naturally, to mention the
           name of a man who is your friend; you have many friends! But they will be exploiting the
           sannyasins.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The strategy is very clear, because I have been seeing: when they advertise their groups in our
           newspapers, newsletters, magazines, then they are in orange clothes with the mala. None of them is
           using red clothes or mala, and in the group not even my name is mentioned. But in advertisements,
           to attract sannyasins to participate in the groups, all of them are publishing their pictures with malas,
           with orange dress -- as if they are old sannyasins. Just to make these people feel at ease, I withdrew
           myself from their lives.
               But, Vivek, you need not be worried about it. Those who love me, those who know me, know
           perfectly well that I am their master, and they have traveled a long way with me, in devotion and
           love. And of course, it is impossible for them at any moment -- even if they become enlightened -- to
           call me a friend. That will be simply ungratefulness.
               Again, I remember Sariputta. One day finally he became enlightened, and Buddha said, "You
           have to go to preach. Now you are enlightened there is no need for you to sit here by my feet."
               He said, "This was the trouble! I was ready to drop the idea of enlightenment. You forced me to
           go on deeper into meditation, and now I am in a fix. I knew that this was going to happen -- once I
           become enlightened you will tell me to go to spread the word. I don't want to go anywhere. While
           you are alive, I want to be just your shadow."
               But Buddha persuaded him. Finally he agreed, when Buddha was so insistent, but he said, "One
           freedom I want..." Just see the use of the word `freedom', and you can see the freedom that your
           so-called resentful and angry sannyasins have: "One freedom I want, that wherever you are I should
           be allowed to bow down and touch your feet, from a faraway distance, in your direction."
               But Buddha said, "You are already enlightened -- you need not touch my feet!"
           He said, "You have to give me that freedom."
               Love asks for a freedom which logic cannot understand.
               Sariputta was asked again and again in his journeys... Every morning he would get up, take his
           bath, and the first thing he would do was to bow down on the ground with folded hands towards the
           direction where he knew Buddha was dwelling.
               They would say, "To whom are you praying this way?" -- because there is no God in Buddhism.
               And he would say, "I am not praying to any God, but Buddha is God to me; he is my master."
           And they would say, "But you are enlightened!"
               He said, "That does not matter. I am enlightened because of him. Without him I don't think it
           would have happened in many lives' time, I cannot conceive how it could have happened. So he may
           say he is not responsible for the happening, but I cannot accept the idea. This freedom I have asked
           from him, and this is a special privilege."
               I am feeling very relieved -- relieved of all those who were not my people but somehow were
           hanging around. Now I want only those who are really with me.
               Yesterday while Vivek was reading the questions to me, when she read her own question she
           started crying. I said, "What is the matter? Whose question is this?"
           She said, "It is my question."
               And I know that is the situation of many hearts -- but only those hearts who have learned to love
           a master.
               All those egoist people were pretending to be disciples. I did not want to hurt them, so the best,
           the graceful way was that I declared: you are my friends, and I give you total freedom. And they
           accepted immediately, joyously, not knowing what they were accepting. They were free... they met
           me; now they are again free, in the same position. They have lost something, but they think their
           egos have gained something. Whenever the ego gains, you are the loser.
               It is one of the reasons that I don't want to have another commune. I want only a mystery school,
           so those who really are interested can come, learn, go back. It has been a tremendously meaningful
           experience, but it was not new. At every turn of my life I have had to drop a few people. And I don't
           want to say to somebody, "I am dropping you." I can't be that unkind, ungraceful. I have managed
           things so that they drop themselves.
               It has happened many times -- this was not the first time. And it is natural that as you go along,
           you start gathering some junk, some unnecessary luggage, and there comes a point where it has to be
           dropped. But these are living people. Although they are junk, they are just luggage, useless, I am still
           respectful towards them. So I have to find a certain device so they can go happily, not feeling that
           they have been dropped, but on the contrary, that they have gained what they wanted.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It was simply hilarious when I read Teertha's letter. In the end he writes, "I am doing the same
           work as you are doing; the only difference is that you are doing it on a bigger scale and I am doing it
           on a personal scale, individual to individual. But the work is the same." And then came this second
           news that he told somebody on the phone, who informed me, "I am of the same state."
           It is good that they are feeling good.
                As far as reality is concerned, those who were real disciples are still disciples -- even if they
           become enlightened, they will not lose their disciplehood. In fact, they have attained to the ultimate
           of disciplehood. Their gratitude and their love towards the master is not less but more than ever.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              LISTENING TO YOU SPEAK RECENTLY, I HAVE HAD MANY MOMENTS WHEN YOUR WORDS
              GO IN AND STRIKE A DEEP CHORD. WHEN THIS HAPPENS IT SEEMS LIKE TWO OPPOSITE
              PHENOMENA OCCUR SIMULTANEOUSLY: ON THE ONE HAND IT'S LIKE HEARING
              SOMETHING FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND ON THE OTHER, LIKE REMEMBERING SOMETHING
              JUST RECENTLY FORGOTTEN.
              COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?


               They are not opposite phenomenon. My whole work is not to make something of you, but to help
           you to remember something. Your innermost reality, your truth, has not to be brought to you; it is
           already there. It just has to be remembered.
               The word `remember' is very beautiful. Ordinarily you don't think about words. `Remember'
           means to "make it a member again." Its root meaning is that you have forgotten some member of
           your being. `Remember' means you suddenly become aware that it is there.
               And my talking to you is not the talking of a teacher, because I am not teaching any theology,
           any doctrine, any cult, any creed. I am speaking to you in a totally different context. I am speaking to
           you in such a way that it creates inside you a synchronicity, it hits a deep chord in you. And in that,
           simultaneously something is remembered... You feel that you have heard it for the first time and you
           also feel that it is a truth that has always been with you, just you had forgotten it. Both are true. From
           the outside you have heard it for the first time. From the inside it is part of your being; you had
           forgotten it.
               I know so many people in the world, and so intimately, but still I forget their names sometimes --
           but I never forget their faces, I never forget their eyes. Even in a crowd of millions of people I can
           find them. But as far as names are concerned... because deep down I know names are just given to
           you, they are not part of your reality. So I forget. Then I have a simple technique for how to
           remember... It is strange that there are a few names which I go on forgetting. I will remember and
           will forget again... there must be something in those names.
               So what I do is I simply close my eyes and start repeating the alphabet -- from A to Z, slowly --
           and it helps. I say to myself "A" and wait for a moment to see if something is remembered, if the "A"
           hits something... then "B", then "C." And it never fails.
               For example, Geeta is sitting here. Now Geeta is one of the names that I should not forget; it is
           the bible of the Hindus -- in India the most respected book, the holiest book. But perhaps that is the
           reason I go on forgetting it! So this poor Geeta suffers.
               Yesterday I was answering her question, but I could not remember her name, and there was not
           time while answering to go through the alphabet. Later on, walking up the steps, I went through the
           alphabet and caught her immediately as "G" came; I immediately remembered -- it is Geeta. And
           then I was surprised because this is such a common name; it is not uncommon. But perhaps it is the
           Hindus and their holy book -- that seems to be the only reason. I have spoken on it... not in English,
           so you don't know; otherwise twelve big volumes I have spoken on it, twelve thousand pages,
           although it is a small book.
               But I had to go always... it was not only once. Once I can understand -- one can forget. Then the
           next day I saw her coming to clean my bathroom and I thought, "My God! I have to go through the
           alphabet again!" And I caught her at "G" immediately, that "G" hits some chord, and I remembered
           "Geeta." And there are many names like that, that I go on forgetting. But they are there, just waiting
           to be struck rightly, then they become alive.
               Different people use different techniques for forgotten names; they make associations. For
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           example, if I don't want to forget Geeta's name I can simply make it associated with Krishna. That
           name I never forget, and it is his message -- Geeta. So I can simply connect these two, so that
           whenever I see Geeta I don't have to bother about her name; I have to think of Krishna, then
           immediately I will remember Geeta. That too I have tried just this morning. Coming in, I said, "Hey
           Krishna!" I remembered that she is Geeta and no one else.
                So if it happens when I am speaking that something hits a deep cord in you, you feel it is
           something new that you have heard. But suddenly, in an even deeper and darker part of your being,
           something else is remembered. And suddenly you are in a puzzle: have you heard it new or you had
           just forgotten, and hearing this you have remembered?
                Both are true -- there is no need for any puzzle. It is new as far as you are concerned; it is as
           ancient as existence as far as your being is concerned. For your ego it is new, but for your being it is
           just a forgotten message.
                Sometimes you feel you know something, you remember something. You are absolutely certain.
           In all the languages this kind of phrase is available, "It is almost on the tip of my tongue." It is, but
           still you cannot say it. And it feels very, very strange, a little awkward inside, with both the things
           together: you know, you are perfectly certain that it is on the tip of the tongue, but you cannot
           verbalize it, you cannot simply say it. The more you try, the more you become tense... tense because
           it is so close. And it is close, but something is hindering the path, something is coming in between --
           a very thin layer of something, some other word. But because you are becoming tense, it is not
           possible to remember it.
                Then different people have different methods. you start smoking a cigarette -- you forget all
           about it. Just smoking a cigarette you relax, and suddenly it is there. Or you go into the garden and
           start watering the plants -- you forget all about it. You are no longer tense, you are no longer worried
           even about remembering it, and that is the moment you remember it. It seems relaxation plays a
           great part in letting it come to the surface.
                Perhaps when I say something it relaxes you deep down, and that helps. Just sitting with me,
           listening to me, is not a tense affair. It is not the lecture of a professor, where you are taking notes.
                In India I had continuously to tell people, "Please stop taking notes because you are destroying
           the whole atmosphere. I am not a professor and this is not a class, and when I am speaking and you
           are taking notes, you can't hear me. You are concentrated on taking notes; you will miss many
           significant things."
                Listening to me, sitting relaxed, suddenly a deep relaxation happens inside, and something that
           you have forgotten....
                Now I would like again to remind you of the meaning of the word `sin.' The religions have
           destroyed the beauty of the word -- so much so that it has become almost impossible to use it,
           because all the connotations that they have given to it are in everybody's mind.
                But in reality the word `sin' simply means `forgotten.' In that sense I accept it.
                Our only sin is that we have forgotten ourselves, and our only enlightenment will be that we
           remember again.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #25
                                      Chapter title: We cannot be otherwise
           24 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604245
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO25
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              TODAY IS MY EIGHTH SANNYAS BIRTHDAY. ISN'T EIGHT YEARS A VERY LONG TIME TO MISS
              THE OBVIOUS?


                The obvious has been missed for hundreds of lives, so no time is long enough to miss it. On the
           other hand, even a single minute is enough to recognize it.
                In fact, it is a nontemporal phenomenon; time has no concern with it. If you think in terms of
           years, if you have missed it in the moment when it was possible to get it, you will go on missing.
           Time cannot help; on the contrary, the longer you have missed it the more is the possibility to miss it
           again when the moment comes to recognize it.
                The question is from Devaraj. He should not be worried, because he has not missed it. And it is
           not the time of eight years that has helped him not to miss. It is his love -- not the length of time but
           the depth of love that he did not miss it.
                He has loved me immensely and in a very difficult situation. He is my personal physician, and
           anybody in that situation will be in a very difficult situation.
                I am a difficult patient. I don't listen to him or to anybody; I simply tell him to do what he should
           tell me to do. And he has to manage somehow to do it -- and to do it rightly, because he has to take
           care of medical science and he has to take care of a madman.
                I won't listen, because I understand my body and its ways. Whatever he, or any doctor in the
           world has learned about bodies and ways... They have learned about corpses, not real bodies; they
           have been dissecting dead bodies.
                Sooner or later medical science will have to accept the fact that their understanding is basically
           wrong, because a living body functions totally differently; the dead body does not function at all.
           You study the dead body and you apply your conclusions to the living body. That is one of the
           greatest flaws in modern medical science.
                But with me the difficulty is even more; it is not only a question of a living body. Modern
           medical science has no understanding of a body in which enlightenment has happened, which
           changes its functioning absolutely, totally.
                But Devaraj has been able to understand for the simple reason that he has been able to love. His
           science, his experience, and my body's different functioning may have created a great problem for
           him to understand -- but love solves everything. He has followed my understanding of my body and
           its wisdom, still keeping in tune with his scientific medical knowledge. He has done something
           which has never been done before, and he has done it successfully.
                He need not worry: eight years or eighty years make no difference. The first moment he saw me
           the obvious became a reality to him, and not for a single moment has he lost sight of it; otherwise
           you can live with an awakened person for your whole life and still not see what awakening is, what
           illumination is.
                So remember, it is not the length of time but the depth of love that makes the obvious
           understood. And in that very understanding a tremendous transformation takes place.
           Only such people know intimacy with a master.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THIS CHATTERBOX MIND OF MINE? IT HAS BEEN GOING ON AND
              ON NOW FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. WHAT ARE ITS ORIGINS? IS ITS SOURCE
              SOMEWHERE IN THE VAST SILENCE IT DISSOLVES INTO WHEN I AM IN YOUR PRESENCE?


               The mind is simply a biocomputer. When the child is born he has no mind; there is no chattering
           going on in him. It takes almost three to four years for his mechanism to start functioning. And you
           will see that girls start talking earlier than boys. They are bigger chatterboxes. They have a better
           quality biocomputer.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It needs information to be fed into it; that's why if you try to remember your life backwards, you
           will get stuck somewhere at the age of four if you are a man, or at the age of three if you are a
           woman. Beyond that is a blank. You were there; many things must have happened, many incidents
           must have occurred, but there seems to be no memory being recorded, so you cannot remember. But
           you can remember back to the age of four or three very clearly.
                Mind collects its data from the parents, from the school, from other children, neighbors, relatives,
           society, churches... all around there are sources. And you must have seen little children, when for the
           first time they start speaking, they will repeat the same word many times. The joy! -- a new
           mechanism has started functioning in them.
                When they can make sentences they will make sentences so joyously, again and again. When
           they can start asking questions, then they will ask about each and everything. They are not interested
           in your answers, remember! Watch a child when he asks a question; he is not interested in your
           answer, so please don't give him a long answer from the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. The
           child is not interested in your answer; the child is simply enjoying that he can question. A new
           faculty has come into being in him.
                And this is how he goes on collecting; then he will start reading... and more words. And in this
           society, silence does not pay; words pay, and the more articulate you are, the more you will be paid.
                What are your leaders? What are your politicians? What are your professors? What are your
           priests, theologians, philosophers, condensed to one thing? They are very articulate. They know how
           to use words meaningfully, significantly, consistently, so that they can impress people.
                It is rarely taken note of that our whole society is dominated by verbally articulate people. They
           may not know anything; they may not be wise, they may not even be intelligent. But one thing is
           certain: they know how to play with words. It is a game, and they have learned it. And it pays in
           respectability, in money, in power -- in every way. So everybody tries, and the mind becomes filled
           with many words, many thoughts.
                And you can turn any computer on or off -- but you cannot turn the mind off. The switch does
           not exist.
                There is no reference about it, that when God made the world, when he made man, he made a
           switch for the mind so that you could turn it on or turn it off. There is no switch, so from birth to
           death it continues.
                You will be surprised that the people who understand computers and who understand the human
           brain have a very strange idea. If we take out the brain from the skull of a human being and keep it
           alive mechanically, it goes on chattering in the same way. It does not matter to it that it is now no
           longer connected to the poor person who was suffering from it; it still dreams. Now that it is
           connected to machines, it still dreams, it still imagines, it still fears, it still projects, hopes, tries to be
           this or that. And it is completely unaware that now it can do nothing; the person it used to be
           attached to is no longer there.
                You can keep this brain alive for thousands of years attached to mechanical devices, and it will
           go on chattering, round and round, the same things, because we have not yet been able to teach it
           new things. Once we can teach it new things, it will repeat new things.
                There is an idea prevalent in scientific circles: It is a great wastage that a man like Albert
           Einstein dies and his brain also dies with him. If we could save the brain, implant the brain into
           somebody else's body, then the brain would go on functioning. It doesn't matter whether Albert
           Einstein is alive or not; that brain will continue to think about the theory of relativity, about stars and
           about theories. The idea is that just as people donate blood and people donate eyes before they die,
           people should start donating their brains too so that their brains can be kept. If we feel that they are
           special brains, very qualified -- and it is sheer wastage to let them die -- then we can transplant them.
                Some idiot can be made an Albert Einstein, and the idiot will never know -- because inside the
           skull of man there is no sensitivity; you can change anything and the person will never know. Just
           make the person unconscious and change anything you want to change in his brain -- the whole brain
           you can change -- and he will wake up with the new brain, with the new chattering, and he will not
           even suspect what has happened.
                This chattering is our education, and it is basically wrong because it teaches you only half of the
           process -- how to use the mind. It does not teach you how to stop it so that it can relax -- because
           even when you are asleep it goes on continuing. It knows no sleep. Seventy years, eighty years, it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has worked continuously.
                If we can educate... and that's what I am trying to impress on you -- that it is possible. We call it
           meditation.
                It is possible to put a switch on the mind and turn it off when it is not needed. It is helpful in two
           ways: it will give you a peace, a silence, which you have never known before, and it will give you an
           acquaintance of yourself which, because of the chattering mind, is not possible. It has always kept
           you engaged.
                Secondly, it will give the mind rest also. And if we can give the mind rest it will be more capable
           of doing things more efficiently, more intelligently.
                So on both sides -- on the side of mind and on the side of being -- you will be benefited; you just
           have to learn how to stop the mind from functioning, how to say to it, "It is enough; now go to sleep.
           I am awake, don't be worried."
                Use the mind when it is needed, and then it is fresh, young, full of energy and juice. Then
           whatever you say is not just dry bones; it is full of life, full of authority, full of truth, sincerity, and
           has tremendous meaning. You may be using the same words, but now the mind has collected so
           much power by resting, that each word it uses becomes afire, becomes power.
                What is known in the world as charisma is nothing... it is simply a mind which knows how to
           relax and let energy collect, so when it speaks it is poetry, when it speaks it is gospel, when it speaks,
           it need not give any evidence or any logic -- just its own energy is enough to influence people. And
           people have always known that there is something... although they have never been able to exactly
           pinpoint what it is that they have called charisma.
                Perhaps for the first time I am telling you what charisma is, because I know it by my own
           experience. A mind that is working day and night is bound to become weak, dull, unimpressive,
           somehow dragging. At the most it is utilitarian; you go to purchase vegetables -- it is helpful. But
           more than that it has no power. So millions of people who could have been charismatic remain poor,
           unimpressive, without any authority and without any power.
                If this is possible -- and this is possible -- to put the mind to silence and only use it when it is
           needed, then it comes with a rushing force. It has gathered so much energy that each word uttered
           goes directly to your heart. People think that these minds of charismatic personalities are hypnotic;
           they are not hypnotic. They are really so powerful, so fresh... it is always spring. This is for the
           mind.
                For the being, the silence opens up a new universe of eternity, of deathlessness, of all that you
           can think of as blessing, as benediction; hence my insistence that meditation is the essential religion,
           the only religion. Nothing else is needed. Everything else is nonessential ritual.
                Meditation is just the essence, the very essence. You cannot cut anything out of it.
                And it gives you both worlds. It gives you the other world -- the divine, the world of godliness --
           and it gives you this world too. Then you are not poor. You have a richness but not of money.
                There are many kinds of richness, and the man who is rich because of money is the lowest as far
           as the categories of richness are concerned. Let me say it in this way: the man of wealth is the
           poorest rich man. Looked at from the side of the poor, he is the richest poor man. Looked at from the
           side of a creative artist, of a dancer, of a musician, of a scientist, he is the poorest rich man. And as
           far as the world of ultimate awakening is concerned he cannot even be called rich.
                Meditation will make you ultimately rich by giving you the world of your innermost being and
           also relatively rich, because it will release your powers of mind into certain talents that you have.
           My own experience is that everybody is born with a certain talent, and unless he lives that talent to
           its fullest, something in him will remain missing. He will go on feeling that somehow something is
           not there that should be.
                Give mind a rest -- it needs it! And it is so simple: just become a witness to it. And it will give
           you both things.
                Slowly, slowly mind starts learning to be silent. And once it knows that by being silent it
           becomes powerful, then its words are not just words; they have a validity and a richness and a
           quality that they never had before -- so much so that they go directly, like arrows. They bypass the
           logical barriers and reach to the very heart.
                Then mind is a good servant of immense power in the hands of silence.
                Then the being is the master, and the master can use the mind whenever it is needed and can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           switch it off whenever it is not needed.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I REMEMBER YOU ONCE EXPLAINING THAT TANTRA MEANS EXPANSION. MY MOMENTS OF
              GREATEST JOY AND MY MOMENTS OF GREATEST SILENCE ARE INVARIABLY
              ACCOMPANIED BY AN EXQUISITE FEELING OF EXPANDING. THIS FEELING IS ALSO
              PRESENT IN THE URGE TO MELT INTO SOMEONE OR SOMETHING -- LIKE A TREE OR A
              SUNSET -- THAT I LOVE.
              WHERE DOES THIS DESIRE COME FROM? IS IT AN INNATE LONGING TO BE REUNITED WITH
              SOMETHING OF WHICH WE WERE ONCE PART?


               Yes, it is not something coming from outside. It is your innate feeling to be one with something
           with which you were once one -- and with which you are still one, but without being aware. So it is
           only a question of awareness, of remembrance.
               You have never gone anywhere. You are still here; it is just your mind that goes on moving to
           faraway spaces. If the mind is silent, suddenly you discover this crystal clear moment, now and here,
           and the feeling of oneness with all.
           We are one.
           We cannot be otherwise.
           There is no other way.
               Life is one phenomenon, existence is undivided -- but mind has the capacity to forget it.
               The mind has the capacity to dream of faraway things. You sleep in the night in your bedroom
           and you can dream of being on the moon. Do you think if you are suddenly awakened you will ask,
           "How to get home? -- because I am on the moon." If you are suddenly awakened you will not be on
           the moon, you will be in your bed. You have never been on the moon. Even when you were
           dreaming that you were on the moon, you were not on the moon. The moon was a dream, your being
           on it was a dream; you were on your bed, in your bedroom.
               The mind has the capacity to go far away. So once in a while when it is not far away, when
           something very striking brings it back to herenow -- a beautiful sunset, a beautiful painting, a great
           dance... anything can pull it back. If something so enchanting is happening here, it cannot wander
           out, here and there; it has to rush home. That's why, at the moment of seeing a sunset or listening to
           music, you feel a certain oneness. And it is so fulfilling, so satisfying that you would like it to persist
           every moment, forever.
               And the joke is that it persists every moment, eternally. You just go on, here and there, again and
           again forgetting about it.
           You have to be brought back.
               Once you have understood the basic situation, then there is no need for anything. Just close your
           eyes and feel now and here, and suddenly existence opens its doors.
           You have always been part of it.
           You are part of it.
           You cannot be otherwise.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ALL MY LIFE, INCLUDING MY YEARS OF BEING A SANNYASIN, I HAVE NEVER HAD A
              QUESTIONING ATTITUDE. THIS HAS NOT WORRIED ME UP TO DATE, BUT NOW SINCE YOU
              HAVE BEEN INVITING US TO ASK YOU QUESTIONS, I WONDER IF IT IS OKAY THAT I AM
              QUITE EMPTY?


              It is absolutely okay.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              MY LOVE FOR FREEDOM MAKES ME ALWAYS GIVE TO MY BELOVEDS ALL THE FREEDOM I
              POSSIBLY CAN. SO OFTEN, I PUT MYSELF INTO AN UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION WHERE I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               GET HURT. DOES THIS MEAN I DON'T LOVE MYSELF SO MUCH, AND THAT'S WHY I PUT
               MYSELF SECOND?


                It may be much more complicated than you think.
           First, the very idea that you give freedom to your beloved is wrong. Who are you to give freedom to
           your beloved? You can love, and your love implies freedom. It is not something that has to be given.
           If it has to be given, then there will be the problems that you are facing.
                So in the first place you are doing something wrong. You really don't want to give freedom; you
           would love that no such situation arises in which you have to give freedom. But you have heard me
           saying again and again that love gives freedom, so you force yourself unconsciously to give
           freedom, because otherwise your love is not love.
                You are in a troubled situation: if you don't give freedom, you start suspecting your love; if you
           give freedom, which you cannot give...
                The ego is very jealous. It will raise a thousand and one questions: "Are you not enough for your
           lover or beloved, that she needs freedom -- freedom from you to be with someone else?" It hurts, and
           that's why you start feeling, "I am putting myself second."
                Giving freedom to her you have put somebody else first, and you have put yourself second. That
           is against the ego, and it is not going to help in any way, because you will take revenge for the
           freedom that you have given. You would like the same freedom to be given to you -- whether you
           need it or not, that is not the point -- just to prove that you are not being cheated.
                Secondly, because your beloved has been with someone else you will feel a little strange being
           with her. That will stand between you and her. She has chosen someone else and dropped you; she
           has insulted you. And you have been doing so much; you have been so generous that you gave her
           freedom. Because you are feeling hurt, you are going to hurt her in some way or other.
                But the whole thing arises from a misunderstanding. I have not said that if you love, then you
           have to give freedom. No, I have said that love is freedom.
                It is not a question of giving. If you have to give it, then it is better not to give it. Remain the way
           everybody is. Why create unnecessary complications? -- ordinarily, there are enough.
                If your love itself has come to that quality that freedom is part of it, that your beloved need not
           even ask your permission... In fact, if I was in your place and the beloved was asking my permission,
           I would be hurt. That means she does not trust my love. My love is freedom. I have loved her; that
           does not mean that I should close all doors and windows so she cannot laugh with somebody else,
           dance with somebody else, love somebody else -- because who are we?
                That is the basic question that everyone has to ask: Who are we? We are all strangers, and on
           what grounds do we become so authoritative that we can say, "I will give you freedom," or "I will
           not give you freedom," or "If you love me, then you cannot love anybody else"? These are stupid
           assumptions, but they have dominated humankind since its very beginnings.
                And we are still barbarous; we still don't know what love is.
                If I love someone, I am grateful that that person allowed me, my love, and did not reject me. This
           is enough. But I don't become an imprisonment to her: She loved me, and as a reward I am creating a
           prison around her; I loved her, and she, as a result, is creating a prison around me. Great rewards we
           are giving to each other!
                If I love someone I am grateful and her freedom remains intact. It is not given by me. It is her
           birthright, and my love cannot take it away. How can love take somebody's freedom away,
           particularly the person you love? It is her birthright. You cannot even say, "I give freedom to her."
           Who are you in the first place? -- just a stranger. You both have met on the road, by the way,
           accidentally, and she was gracious to accept your love. Just be thankful, and let her live the way she
           wants to live, and live the way you yourself want to live. Your life-style should not be interfered
           with.
                This is what freedom is. Then love will help you to be less tense, less full of anxieties, less in
           anguish, and more in joy.
                But what goes on happening in the world is just the opposite. Love creates so much misery, so
           much pain, that there are people who decide finally that it is better not to love anyone. They close the
           doors of their heart because it is simply hell and nothing else.
                But closing the door to love is also closing the door to reality, to existence; hence I will not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           support it. I will say: Change the whole pattern of love! You have forced love into an ugly situation
           -- change the situation.
               Let love become a help for your spiritual growth. Let love become a nourishment to your heart
           and a courage so that you can open your heart, not only to one individual but to the whole universe.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DO WE HAVE TO TRANSCEND SEX BEFORE GETTING ENLIGHTENED?


                You don't have to transcend anything. You have to live everything that is natural to you, and live
           it fully, without any inhibition -- joyously, aesthetically. Just by living it deeply, a transcendence will
           come.
                You are not to transcend anything. Remember my words. A transcendence will come by itself,
           and when it comes by itself it is such a release and such a freedom.
                If you try to transcend, you are going to repress, and repression is the sole reason why people
           cannot transcend; so you are getting into a vicious circle. You want to transcend, so you repress, and
           because you repress you cannot transcend, so you repress more. As you repress more, you become
           more incapable of transcendence.
                Live it out fully, without any condemnation, without any religion interfering with your life. Live
           it out naturally, intensely, totally -- and a transcendence comes. It is not your doing, it is a
           happening. And when it comes by itself, there is no repression, there is no antagonism.
                You are above all those things that you wanted to transcend -- for example, sex. But a real
           transcendence does not mean that you cannot make love. Of course your love will have a totally
           different quality. It will not be sexual, it will not be a biological urge, it will not be animalistic; it
           will be simply a play between two human energies.
                If transcendence comes by itself, then many things, more or less, disappear. But anything that
           disappears -- you are not against it. You can still enjoy it. For example, in a state of transcendence
           you are not a food addict, but that does not mean that you cannot enjoy, once in a while, going to a
           Chinese restaurant.
                Transcendence makes you free; it does not give you a new bondage: first you were so addicted
           that you had to go, now you are so addicted that you cannot go. Transcendence means that now all
           this addiction is gone -- you can go, you may not go. You are neither against nor for.
                You may be smoking. Transcendence does not mean that once in a while with friends you cannot
           smoke a cigarette. I don't think that a cigarette, once in a while, will destroy your spirituality. And if
           it destroys it, then that spirituality is not worthwhile.
                I cannot smoke -- not because of transcendence but because of my breathing trouble. I have no
           antagonism against poor cigarettes; it is just the smell of tobacco I cannot tolerate, the smoke I
           cannot inhale. But that is a problem with my body; it is my allergy. But when I see somebody
           smoking I don't feel that this man is condemned forever, is going to fall into hellfire.
                No condemnation arises in me, because what he is doing is simply playing a game. Being alone,
           finding nothing else to do and being told continually by the parents and the society that it is better to
           do something rather than nothing... so the poor man is doing something rather than nothing. He is at
           least smoking.
           Transcendence is a very childlike state.
                My grandfather used to smoke cigars and cheroots, and he would send me to get his cigar and
           lighter. And rather than bringing both, I would take the cigar in my mouth and light it and bring it to
           him. He said, "This is not right. I had asked you to bring the cigar and the lighter."
                I said, "When I can bring one, which does the work for both... I am not stupid."
                He said, "That I know. But remember, don't learn this habit."
                I said, "Don't be worried. Seeing you cough continually the whole night, it is enough. I don't
           have to go through the experience to learn it. I learn from others' experience too."
                His doctors were saying to him, "Drop these cigars." But it was impossible for him... a whole
           life's addiction. He was ready to suffer -- to cough and not to sleep well.
                I said, "Seeing you is enough prevention for me, and just that one puff that I take when I light
           your cigar brings tears to my eyes. It is enough just to experience what kind of enjoyment you must
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be having."
               The people you know as saints are not childlike. They are addicted as much as others; their
           addictions have just become reversed. Somebody is addicted to sex -- they are addicted to no-sex.
           Somebody is addicted to smoking -- they are addicted to no-smoking.
               Transcendence is a state of no-addiction... just a childlike playfulness. There is no sin in sex. Just
           living it intensely, by and by you transcend, just the way you transcend playing tennis. One day you
           throw away the whole thing, "Enough is enough!" You transcend football, you transcend all kinds of
           things, and nobody calls you a saint.
               To me transcendence comes out of your experience. You see the futility of something and the
           addiction drops. Then once in a while, just for a change, if you want to smoke I don't see any harm;
           if you want to make love I don't see any harm. The harm is in the addiction -- the harm is not in the
           act. And transcendence is not concerned with the act; transcendence is concerned with the addiction.
               And to be completely unaddicted gives an immense freedom.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #26
                                      Chapter title: The circle can be broken
           25 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604250
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO26
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 92 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HEAR YOU OFTEN SAY THAT THE POLITICIANS AND THE PRIESTS ARE EXPLOITING AND
              CHEATING PEOPLE, AS IF THEY ARE A DIFFERENT RACE FROM OUTER SPACE, FORCED
              UPON US.
              MY UNDERSTANDING IS, RATHER, THAT THESE POLITICIANS AND PRIESTS JUST COME OUT
              FROM AMONGST US, SO WE ARE TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DOINGS, AND
              COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM SEEMS LIKE COMPLAINING ABOUT OURSELVES. IS NOT A
              POLITICIAN AND A PRIEST HIDDEN IN EVERY ONE OF US? WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               The politicians and the priests are certainly not coming from outer space; they are growing
           amongst us. We also have the same lust for power, the same ambition to be holier than others. They
           are the most successful people as far as these ambitions and desires are concerned.
               Certainly we are responsible, but it is a vicious circle; we are not the only ones who are
           responsible. The successful politicians and priests go on conditioning the new generations for the
           same ambitions; they make the society, they cultivate its mind and conditioning. They are also
           responsible -- and they are more responsible than the common people, because the common people
           are victims of all kinds of programs that are being imposed upon them.
               The child comes into the world without any ambition, without any lust for power, without any
           idea that he is higher, holier, superior. Certainly he cannot be responsible. Those who bring him up --
           the parents, the society, the educational system, the politicians, the priests -- the same gang goes on
           spoiling every child. Of course in his own turn, he will spoil... but it is a vicious circle. From where
           to break it?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I insist on condemning the priests and the politicians, because that is the place from where it can
           be broken. Condemning the small children coming into the world is not going to help. Condemning
           the common masses is also not going to help, because they have been already conditioned -- they are
           being exploited. They are suffering, they are miserable. But nothing wakes them up -- they are fast
           asleep. The only point where our condemnations should be concentrated is on those who have the
           power, because they have the power to contaminate the future generations. If they can be stopped we
           can have a new man.
               I know that everybody is responsible. Whatever happens, in some way or other, everybody has
           his own part in it. But to me what is important is whom to hit, so that for the new generation of
           children the vicious circle can be avoided. Humanity has been revolving in it for centuries. That's
           why I don't condemn the common masses, I don't condemn you. I condemn those who are now in a
           position that if they just relax a little bit as far as their vested interests are concerned, and look at the
           miserable mass of humanity, a transformation is possible -- the circle can be broken.
               I purposely choose the politicians and the priests. There are many other things to be remembered.
           The priest knows perfectly well that there is no God. In this world the priest is the only person who
           knows there is no God, but his whole profession depends on this non-existential God. He cannot say
           the truth because all his vested interests will be lost -- not only his, but for generations to come he
           will be spoiling the whole game. He knows the rituals are just hocus-pocus, that the mantras carry no
           power, that his theology is just a cover-up. Nobody else knows it better; he has studied the scriptures
           and he knows there is no evidence of God anywhere. He interprets the scriptures in such a way that
           they help his profession. He goes on making commentaries on the ancient scriptures, adding more
           and more things that are helpful for his profession.
               As times change he has to make new additions. For example, Manu, a five thousand year old
           thinker, priest, the father of priesthood, in his manusmriti -- the memoirs of Manu which Hindus
           follow word by word -- he created the caste system, one of the ugliest things in existence.
               Because of it one fourth of Hindus have suffered a long slavery, exploitation and humiliation.
           They have been turned almost into subhuman beings -- they are called achhoot, untouchables. They
           have fallen so much that you cannot touch them; otherwise you have to take a bath immediately.
           Even their shadow touching you is enough to make you impure. Manu reduced one-fourth of the
           Hindus to eternal slavery it seems.
               He managed the highest position in the society for the priesthood, but he was really cunning and
           clever: he has given all the superiority to brahmins, but he has not given them riches, nor material,
           temporal power. He has divided the castes so there is no conflict. Temporal power he has given to
           the second highest caste: the warriors, kshatriyas. They are going to be the kings, they are going to
           be the generals, the soldiers, the fighters, and they will be the second highest class. And money he
           has given to the third: the businessmen, the vaishyas. To the fourth he has given nothing -- except
           slavery.
               You can see the cunningness... he divides. He does not give money to brahmins, or temporal
           power, because then three-fourths of the society will be against them, and it will not be possible to
           control. And if they have also spiritual power, material power, money, then there will be resentment,
           anger, violence -- there will be riots. So to brahmins he gives the holy power -- they are the highest,
           the holiest -- but he does not give anything temporal to them.
               He gives the temporal power to the warriors. It is satisfying, because they are going to be the
           kings; brahmins cannot be the kings. And who cares about spiritual power? So let them have
           spiritual power; it is almost like having nothing, just a nominal quality of being superior, so the
           warriors are not angry about it. On the contrary, they are happy that one-fourth of the society will
           never be in conflict with them -- they are already higher, they have nothing more to gain. And the
           warriors are the most powerful people.
               To the third he gives money and all other worldly things. These are the people who cannot fight,
           who are not warriors -- but they can earn money, they can produce wealth.
               You will be surprised to know that in India all the kings, before India became a slave country,
           were indebted to the rich people. From where are they going to get money? -- just by borrowing.
           They can pay when they invade some other country; otherwise they have to borrow from the
           business people. And the business people are happy; they have all the material things, money... Not
           only that, kings are borrowing from them, brahmins have to depend on them for everything -- so let
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them believe that they are higher... but basically the business people hold the power, they have the
           money.
               And against these three classes the poor fourth has no power to fight. They are deprived of all
           education, deprived even of living in the city; they have to live outside the town. They cannot take
           water from the city well -- they have to make their own wells or carry water from the river. They are
           completely cut off from the society. They have just to come and serve, and do all the ugliest things
           that nobody else wants to do. And three powerful sections are there to go on repressing them; they
           have money, they have power, they have spiritual heights -- they are the representatives of God.
               For five thousand years they have maintained this -- and they have made the fourth, the slaves,
           believe that you are born slaves because of your evil acts in the past life -- this is the punishment.
           The brahmin is enjoying his position because of good acts in his past life. And there is no mobility;
           one cannot move from one caste to another caste.
               Since Manu, the priests in India have remained the most anti-revolutionary element -- naturally,
           because they will lose their superiority. Kings come to touch their feet, the superrich come to touch
           their feet -- their ego is fulfilled. And the same is the story around the world -- everywhere the
           priesthood has maintained its superiority. It is not so clear-cut as in India, but a subtle division is
           there. The priest is everywhere superior, the warrior is everywhere number two, and the rich man is
           everywhere number three. The fourth, the slave, the servant, is everywhere the same.
               These priests go on preaching to every child a certain kind of mind that keeps the society running
           -- or stuck. The politicians are in a deep conspiracy with the priests. The politicians are full of lust
           for power, and if they want power, they want blessings from the priests, because the priests have a
           spiritual hold over humanity. And if a politician goes and touches the feet of a priest, the followers
           of the priest are going to vote for the politician. There is a conspiracy: the politician goes on praising
           the priest, his religion, his ideology, and the priests go on blessing the politician and his ideology.
           And between these two powerful groups the whole society is crushed, sucked.
               I know everybody is responsible, but not everybody is powerful enough to break the circle;
           hence I am hitting constantly on the priests and the politicians. And now they have become afraid of
           me -- perhaps they have never been afraid of a single man before. All over the world they don't want
           me to enter into their countries. The priests are behind the politicians who are making rules and laws
           that I should be prohibited.
               The commune in America was destroyed by the politicians, but behind the politicians were the
           fundamentalist Christians, the most orthodox group of Christian priests. Ronald Reagan himself is a
           fundamentalist Christian. And to be a fundamentalist Christian means to be absolutely orthodox. He
           believes that every single word in THE BIBLE is holy, is from God's own mouth. They were in
           conspiracy together to destroy the commune.
               Just the other day I received the news that now they are making a memorial in The Dalles;
           bishops and politicians and all kinds of leading, prominent citizens are contributing money -- a big
           memorial, a memorial that they have become victorious, that they have thrown away the evil forces
           who had created the commune. They have thrown me out, destroyed my work, and they are not
           satisfied with that; they want to create a memorial so that the future generations will know.
               And both the priests and the politicians are very vulnerable; they have no ground beneath their
           feet. Just a good hit is needed and they will be finished. And once they are finished, society will have
           a taste of freedom.
               We can bring up children in a more human way, unconditioned, intelligent, looking at the whole
           earth as one -- not Christians, not Hindus, not Mohammedans, not Indians, not Chinese, not
           Americans. Nations and religions are creations of the priests and the politicians. Once they are
           finished, religions and nations are also finished.
               And a world free of religions, free of nations, will be a human world -- without wars, without
           unnecessarily fighting for things which nobody has seen....
               It is so stupid that for thousands of years people have been killing each other in the name of God.
           None of them has seen, none of them has any proof, none of them has any evidence. And they don't
           even feel embarrassed, because nobody has, looking directly into their eyes, asked the question....
           And they are going on crusades, jihads, religious wars, destroying all those who do not believe in
           their dogma, because their dogma is divine and every other dogma is the devil's creation.
               They are trying to serve humanity by killing people. Their intention is to free those people from
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the clutches of the devil. But the strangest thing is that every religion thinks that the other religion is
           created by the devil. So the fight continues. Politicians are fighting war after war -- for what? I don't
           see the point. The earth has no lines; then why make these maps and draw lines?
                One of my teachers was a very intelligent man. One day he brought a few pieces of cardboard; he
           had cut the whole world map into small pieces, put them on the desk and asked, "Can anybody come
           and arrange them in the right order?" Many tried and failed. Just one boy, seeing that everybody was
           failing and they were not making the world map by putting the pieces together, he looked at one
           piece on the reverse side. Then he turned all the pieces over and he found the picture of a man. He
           arranged the picture of the man, which was very easy, and that was the key. On one side the man was
           arranged, and on the other side, the world map was arranged.
                Perhaps the same is true about the real world... if we can arrange man, the world will be
           arranged. If we can make man silent, peaceful, loving, nations will disappear, wars will disappear, all
           dirty politics will disappear. And remember, all politics is dirty; there is no other kind.
                But we have to hit on those who have the power. Hitting the poor common man will not help,
           because he has no power, he is a victim. Even if we can change him, it won't be a great change. But
           if we can abolish the conspiracy between religion and politics, priests and the politicians, it will be
           really a great change, a revolution -- the only revolution that is needed and that has not happened yet.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN YOU SPOKE OF GREED, I WAS TOTALLY HORRIFIED. I HAVE FINALLY REACHED A
              POINT WHERE I AM WILLING TO SEE HOW BIG A PART IT PLAYS IN MY LIFE, AND THE
              MISERY IT BRINGS WITH IT. COULD YOU PLEASE SHED MORE LIGHT ON WHAT THIS THING
              CALLED GREED IS, WHERE IT COMES FROM? -- AND PERHAPS OFFER SOME TOOLS TO
              HELP ME?


               Just to understand the nature of greed is enough. You need not do anything else to get rid of it;
           the very understanding will clarify the whole mess.
               Man is full if he is in tune with the universe; if he is not in tune with the universe then he is
           empty, utterly empty. And out of that emptiness comes greed. Greed is to fill it: by money, by
           houses, by furniture, by friends, by lovers -- by anything, because one cannot live as emptiness. It is
           horrifying, it is a ghost life. If you are empty and there is nothing inside you, it is impossible to live.
               To have the feeling that you have much inside you, there are only two ways: either you get in
           tune with the universe... Then you are filled with the whole, with all the flowers and with all the
           stars. They are within you just as they are without you. That is real fulfillment. But if you don't do
           that, and millions of people are not doing that, then the easiest way is to fill it with any junk.
               I used to live with a man. He was a rich man and he had a beautiful house. And somehow he
           became interested in my ideas; he listened to a few of my lectures, and he invited me, saying, "Why
           live far away, out of the city? I have a beautiful house in the city and it is so big; you can have half
           of the house. And I am not going to charge you, I simply want your presence to be there in my
           house."
               I was living outside, in the mountains, but it was difficult to come from there to the university.
           From his house the university was very close. His house had a beautiful garden and was in the best
           locality of the city, so I accepted his invitation.
               But when I went into his house I could not believe it; he had so much junk collected that there
           was no place to live. The house was big, but his collection was bigger -- and a collection which was
           absolutely stupid. Anything that he could find in the market he would purchase. I asked him, "What
           are you going to do with all these things?"
               And he said, "One never knows, some day one may need it."
               "But," I said, "where is one going to live in this house?" So much furniture of all ages... because
           the Europeans had left the country so they had to sell all their things. He could not have enough; he
           managed to purchase anything, things which he did not need. A car was standing in the porch which
           always remained standing because it was too old, broken. And I asked him, "Why don't you throw it
           away? At least to clean up the place..."
           And he said, "It looks good in the porch."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All the tires were punctured -- it was of no use. Whenever you had to move it from here and
           there, you had to push it, pull it back. And it was there, rotting. He said, "I got it at a very reasonable
           price. It belonged to an old woman who used to be a nurse here and who has gone back to England."
               But I said, "If you were interested in purchasing a car then at least you should have purchased a
           car which moves."
               He said, "I am not interested in movement. My bicycle is perfectly good." And his bicycle was
           also a marvel. You would know that he was coming from one mile away, the bicycle made so much
           noise; it had no mudguards, no chain cover -- it must have been the oldest bicycle made. It had no
           horn.
               He said, "There is no need for a horn. It makes so much noise that at least for one mile ahead
           people are already giving way. And it is a good thing, because it cannot be stolen."
           I said, "That is strange. Why can't it be stolen?"
               He said, "Nobody else can ride on it. It has been stolen twice, and the thief was caught
           immediately -- because it makes so much noise, and everybody knows that it is my bicycle, so
           people caught the thief and asked him, `Where are you taking the bicycle?'
               "I can leave it anywhere. I go to see a movie -- I don't put it on a bicycle stand, because then you
           have to pay money. I put it anywhere, and it is always there -- when I come back it is always there.
           Everybody knows that it is a trouble. And even if you can get it to your home you cannot ride on it in
           the city -- you will be caught. So it is better not to bother with it."
           He said, "It is a rare specimen."
               I said, "The way you describe it, it looks like it."
               And he had all kinds of things in his house... broken radios, because he could get them cheap. He
           was a Jaina and he had a broken statue of Jesus Christ on the cross.
           I said, "What have you purchased it for?"
               He said, "The woman gave it to me free when I purchased the car -- she offered it to me as a
           present. I don't believe in Jesus Christ or anything, but I could not refuse a piece of art."
               I said to him, "Half of the house from today you take to the other half -- my part has to be
           empty."
               And he was very happy to take everything. Already his house was so full you could not walk --
           you could not find your way. He took everything. He had so many kinds of furniture that he had
           piled up on the sofa; it was not used, because you cannot sit on a sofa that is touching the roof. And I
           asked, "Why?"
               "He said, "you don't understand -- the price! And someday I may get married" -- he was not
           married -- "and I may have children and they may need all these things. You don't be worried,
           everything will be of some use sometime."
               Even on the road, if he could find anything lying there which had been thrown by somebody, he
           would pick it up. One day he was walking with me from the garden to the house and he found a
           bicycle handle, and he picked it up. But I said, "What will you do with a bicycle handle?"
               He said, "You don't understand. I will show you." I went with him. In his bathroom he had
           almost a bicycle -- just a few things were missing. And he said, "All these things I have picked up
           from the road. And I go on joining them and putting them together. Now a few things are missing.
           The chain is not there, the seat is not there, but I will get them. Somebody is going to throw them
           away someday. Life is long, and what is the harm? It looks perfectly good in the bathroom."
               Greed simply means you are feeling a deep emptiness and you want to fill it with anything
           possible -- it doesn't matter what it is. And once you understand it, then you have nothing to do with
           greed. You have something to do with your coming into communion with the whole, so the inner
           emptiness disappears. And with it, all greed disappears. That does not mean that you start living
           naked; that simply means you do not live just to collect things. Whenever you need something you
           can have it.
               But there are mad people all over the world, and they are collecting... Somebody is collecting
           money although he never uses it. That is strange. In the commune, we had made a sticker for cars:
           "Moses earns, Jesus saves, Osho spends."
               A thing has to be a utility; if it is not a utility then there is no need for it.
               But this thing can take any direction: people are eating; they are not feeling hungry and still they
           go on swallowing. They know that this is going to create suffering, they will be sick, but they cannot
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prevent themselves. This eating is also a filling-up process.
                So there can be many directions and many ways to fill emptiness, although it is never full -- it
           remains empty, and you remain miserable because it is never enough. More is needed, and the more
           and the demand for more is unending.
                I don't take greed as a desire -- it is some existential sickness. You are not in tune with the whole,
           and only that tuning with the whole can make you healthy. That tuning with the whole can make you
           holy.
                It is strange that the word health, and the word holy both come from `wholeness'. When you are
           feeling one with wholeness all greed disappears. Otherwise... what have religions been doing? They
           have misunderstood greed as a desire, so they try to repress it: "Don't be greedy." Then one moves to
           the other extreme, to renounce. One collects -- the greedy person; and the person who wants to get
           rid of greed starts renouncing. There too there is no end.
                Mahavira could never recognize Gautam Buddha as enlightened for the simple reason that he
           still carries three sets of clothes -- just three sets of clothes, which are absolutely necessary. One you
           are using, one has to be washed, and one for emergency reasons... someday the clothes may not
           come from being washed or they are not dry, or it is raining the whole day. So three seems to be very
           essential -- one emergency...
                Mahavira is absolutely against greed. Now, that has taken to an extreme form -- he is naked.
           Buddha carries a begging bowl. Mahavira cannot accept it because even a begging bowl is a
           possession, and an enlightened man, according to him, should not possess anything. A begging
           bowl... it is made of coconut. You cut the coconut in the middle... and there are special coconuts
           which are very big. You cut from the middle, you take all of the fruit out, and then two bowls are
           left, hard shells. That is the cheapest thing, because they are thrown away; you cannot eat them. To
           have a begging bowl and to call it being possessive is not right.
                But when you take greed as a desire and you become stubborn, going against it, then everything
           is a possession. Mahavira lived naked, and instead of a begging bowl he used to make a bowl of his
           two hands. Now it was a very difficult thing: his two hands are full of the food and he has to eat just
           like the animals, because he cannot use his hands -- so he has to use his mouth directly to take the
           food from the hands.
                Everybody in the world eats sitting. But Mahavira's idea is that when you eat sitting, you eat
           more. Now this is going to the opposite extreme. So he was teaching to eat food standing -- standing,
           with the food in your hands; it is such a strenuous thing. You can take food only one time, so
           whatever can fit in your two hands at one time is one meal. You have to eat it standing, and
           everything has to be taken together, sweet, salty, and they all get mixed. That is Mahavira's idea of
           making it tasteless, because to enjoy taste is to enjoy the body, is to enjoy matter.
                To me, greed is not a desire at all. So you need not do anything about greed. You have to
           understand the emptiness that you are trying to fill, and ask the question, "Why am I empty? The
           whole existence is so full, why am I empty? Perhaps I have lost track -- I am no longer moving in the
           same direction, I am no longer existential. That is the cause of my emptiness."
           So be existential.
                Let go, and move closer to existence in silence and peace, in meditation.
                And one day you will see you are so full -- overfull, overflowing -- of joy, of blissfulness, of
           benediction. You have so much of it that you can give it to the whole world and yet it will not be
           exhausted.
                That day, for the first time you will not feel any greed -- for money, for food, for things, for
           anything. You will live naturally, and whatever is needed you will find it. And you will live, not with
           a constant greed that cannot be fulfilled, a wound that cannot be healed.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              MANY TIMES I HAVE HEARD YOU TELL THE ZEN STORY THAT, "IF YOU MEET THE MASTER
              ON THE WAY, KILL HIM."
              OSHO, DOES IT REALLY HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT? IF WE MEET ON THE PATH, CAN WE NOT
              JUST LAUGH, AND CHAT A LITTLE WHILE, AND THEN IF WE MUST PART, DO SO
              GRACEFULLY, WITH A NAMASTE AND A SMILE?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The story is not about any actual path, and not about any actual meeting with the master. The
           story is about when you are meditating and things are disappearing from the mind -- it is becoming
           silent. The last to go will be the one you have loved most. That is, the last will be the master. It is in
           your meditation, when everything else is gone, that still you will be seeing the master. Now,
           chit-chatting will disturb your meditation, and preparing a cup of coffee will not help.
               The saying looks hard, but it is true: Cut the head of the master! It is in your imagination that you
           are cutting. By chit-chatting or laughing or talking, you will not get rid of the master. You have to be
           very simple and straight; you need a sword, and cut the head of the master and pass on. Don't look
           back!
               The master is saying this so that you can enter into suneeta-shunyata, into nothingness, into
           nirvana. The master is making you aware that even he should not be a hindrance to you.
               And I will be a hindrance. You have loved me so much that you may be able to drop everything
           from the mind, but then I will be there -- and you have to drop me too. It is not an actual thing, it is
           just about your imagination, about the last trick of your mind.
               Your mind will bring in the master because the mind knows you cannot throw away the master.
           You have thrown away everything else, and that is the last resort of the mind to prevent you from
           going into meditation. And if you are afraid -- if you feel this is being ungrateful, if you feel this is
           not the right thing to do -- to cut the head of the master, then you are playing into the hands of the
           mind. It has nothing to do with the master, because there is no master -- it is just your mind
           projecting.
               And don't ask, "From where am I to get a sword?" It has been asked, down the centuries.
           Whenever masters have said to their disciples, "If you meet me on the way, cut my head," the
           disciples have asked, "But from where have I to get a sword?"
               I will tell you a Sufi story. Mulla Nasruddin has applied for a job on a ship. He is being
           interviewed, and the captain and the high officials of the company are asking questions. The captain
           asks, "If the waters are in a turmoil, and the wind is blowing very strong and there is a danger of the
           ship being upturned or swayed into a direction it does not want to go, what are you going to do?"
           He said, "Simple, I will throw out an anchor."
               The captain said, "That's right. But suppose another storm comes up; what are you going to do?
               He said, "Nothing else; I will throw out another anchor."
               The captain said, "It is right, but suppose a third storm comes up. What are you going to do?"
           He said, "The same! I will throw out an anchor."
               And the captain said, "But from where are you getting these anchors?"
               And Mulla Nasruddin said, "From where are you getting these storms? From the same place!"
               Just as the master is imagination, your sword is also an imagination. If the mind can provide you
           with one imagination, it is capable of providing you with the other thing -- and perhaps happily,
           because you are going to kill the master. The mind is very happy when you are against the master --
           angry, resentful -- and now he will be bursting with joy that you are going to kill the master. He will
           present you a beautiful sword immediately -- just ask.
               Both are imaginary, the master and the sword. And you have to go beyond imagination. So this
           must be the last barrier, and once there is nobody, nothingness opens up -- you are connected with
           existence, you are connected with your reality.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                  Chapter #27
                                  Chapter title: So which way are you moving
           25 April 1986 pm in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8604255
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO27
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 116 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              OFTEN JOYOUSLY I HEAR YOU SAYING CONTRADICTORY THINGS, AND EMPHASIZING THAT
              EVERYTHING JUST HAS ITS POLAR OPPOSITE TO BE COMPLETE.
              BUT THE OTHER MORNING I GOT INTO TROUBLE WHEN YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT
              OFFERING YOUR FRIENDSHIP TO YOUR SANNYASINS.
              I UNDERSTOOD THAT SOME OF THEM HAVE TAKEN THIS LONG-WANTED OPPORTUNITY
              FOR THEIR SELF-AGGRANDIZEMENT, AND HAVEN'T BEEN AWARE OF THE FACT THAT THEY
              WERE BASICALLY RESENTFUL AND ANGRY TOWARDS YOU AT BEING MERE DISCIPLES..
              MY UNDERSTANDING WAS TOTALLY DIFFERENT, WHEN YOU WERE TELLING US IN KULU
              AND KATHMANDU THAT AS FAR AS YOU WERE CONCERNED, YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY
              DISCIPLES ANYMORE, AND NOW IT WAS UP TO US TO DROP DISCIPLESHIP.
              TO ME YOUR OFFER OF FRIENDSHIP WAS JUST OVERWHELMING, AND I FELT MORE
              REVERENCE AND LOVE TOWARDS YOU THAN EVER BEFORE, AND VERY VERY GRATEFUL. I
              FELT A VERY DELICATE, SENSITIVE AND PRECIOUS KIND OF INTIMACY STARTING TO GROW
              BETWEEN ME AND YOU, AS MY MASTER.
              NOW YOU SAY THAT ALL THIS WAS JUST A DEVICE TO GET RID OF EGOISTS, AND THAT
              THEY ENJOYED THIS OFFER OF YOURS. I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYMORE. DID I GET IT ALL
              WRONG? WHERE AM I HOOKED?


               The question is from Premda.
           His situation is different from those who were waiting for such an opportunity for their own
           ego-fulfillment. He is new. He has not known the phase of discipleship at all, so when friendship was
           offered it was not a nourishment to his ego; it went directly to his heart because he has no
           resentment, no anger at being a disciple.
               This became a joyous intimacy and a loving growth for him. Now he is feeling more reverence,
           more love, more respect. This will bring in him the wonderful experience of discipleship. So the
           situation is so different that there is no question of contradiction.
               The people who have been with me for ten years, twelve years, and were hankering deep down to
           become masters themselves were certainly feeling resentful towards me. And when I offered
           friendship, it was not a gratitude or reverence that grew in their heart but a deep and long-awaiting
           ego was fulfilled.
               Now they could declare that they have the same status as I have, that their experience is the same
           as my experience. So my declaration of friendship was to them the end of their discipleship -- and
           not the beginning of friendship either; it was simply the end of the road.
               But to Premda the situation is different. He has not been around me for many years, and he has
           not for a single moment thought of being a master. His whole desire has been to be closer to me, to
           be intimate with me. So when I declared that I am your friend, this desire was fulfilled, and it has
           created a loving intimacy and reverence. And you can see it from the question. I call myself your
           friend, but he says he started feeling a reverence towards the master.
               To those who have been calling me "Master," the declaration of friendship ended their
           discipleship, and to one who was simply longing for intimacy the same declaration made him a
           disciple. And the people who were longing to be masters were not many; they belonged only in the
           category of therapists -- just a few therapists, not all. And those therapists got this longing because I
           was sending people to their therapies and they started thinking that they are some kind of masters,
           and they are helping people to grow.
               The reality was, I was sending these people to their therapies because these people were so full
           of rubbish that they needed some dry cleaning, and those therapists were nothing but dry cleaners.
           But thousands of people passing through their therapies... it is very human and very natural to get the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           idea that, "We can be masters on our own." They were just waiting for the opportunity.
               It is not true about all sannyasins; it is only true about a special small group of therapists. Their
           work destroyed them. They may have helped many people come closer to me, but they themselves
           went on going farther and farther away.
               Premda has no desire to be a master, and nobody who has a desire to be a master can ever be a
           master. Only those who are desireless happen to be masters. It is not something like a goal that you
           can achieve: it is something that happens by the way, unintentionally, without being sought for. You
           are doing something else, you are feeling more love, more intimacy, more reverence, and slowly,
           slowly, in this reverence and love and intimacy, your ego is disappearing. One day, when the ego is
           not there, you have become a master.
               You were not seeking it -- it is just a by-product. And those poor therapists missed -- although
           they were with me for years -- because they remained achievers, climbers. In their mind they were
           always thinking how to become a master.
               It is good, Premda, that my offering of friendship created discipleship in you. That's how it
           should have been to everyone who is sincerely here for the search of truth, for the search of oneself.
           You are blessed.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HEARING ABOUT THE SANNYASIN THERAPISTS WHO ARE CHOOSING TO DO THEIR OWN
              THING, REMINDS ME THAT ONCE I ALSO DECIDED TO DO MY OWN THING RATHER THAN BE
              WITH YOU.
              WHEN I DID COME BACK, I JUDGED MYSELF, AND FELT JUDGED BY OTHERS -- IRONICALLY,
              SOME OF WHOM ARE AMONG THOSE OF WHOM YOU HAVE RECENTLY SPOKEN.
              BECAUSE I CAN ALTERNATELY VIEW MY EXPERIENCE AS A GOING ASTRAY OR AS A
              CONSTRUCTIVE LEARNING, I AM VERY CAUTIOUS ABOUT JUDGING OTHERS WHO WOULD
              APPEAR TO HAVE GONE OFF TRACK. SURELY ONLY AN ENLIGHTENED SEER IS IN A
              POSITION TO INDICATE WHERE WE ARE.
              MY QUESTION IS: WHAT IS IT TO MISS? IS IT SOMETHING OTHER THAN, THROUGH OUR
              SLEEPINESS, CHOOSING TO TAKE A LONGER, MORE DEVIOUS ROUTE TO THAT PLACE
              WHICH WE MUST SOME DAY REACH... THAT PLACE WHICH, IN FACT, YOU SAY WE HAVE
              NEVER LEFT?
              ARE WE ALL MISSING EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY UNTIL WE ARE ENLIGHTENED?


               Yes, everybody is missing every moment until they are enlightened.
               Whatever you are doing can either bring you close to the point of explosion, or can take you
           away from the point and make you more closed. These are the two possibilities within you:
           exploding into a lightning experience, or being closed in a dark night of the soul.
           So which way are you moving?
               If you are moving towards the dark night of the soul you are missing -- and missing more every
           moment because you are going farther and farther away. And there is no end of going farther away.
           You can go away eternally; there is no time limit.
               One can remain unenlightened forever -- that's the danger. And one can become enlightened this
           very moment. The question is, towards what are you moving? If you are coming closer to your
           center of explosion, then every moment you are nearer and nearer to enlightenment. It depends on
           your speed. If your understanding is intense enough, it can happen this very moment; you have not to
           wait even for a single moment more.
               So you see these are the two possibilities: either now or never. Both are possible, and man's
           prerogative is that he has the freedom to go either way.
               There is no harm in doing your own thing -- but you don't know who you are, how can you do
           your own thing? It is a dilemma. Those who know cannot do their own thing, because they know
           there is nobody inside as a self, as a separate entity from existence. Those who do not know
           themselves cannot do their own thing because they don't know even their own self.
               So either you are accidental... one possibility; that's what you call "doing your own thing." You
           are accidental, or you are existential: that's what I call "doing the thing existence wants you to do." It
           is not your own thing. I am not doing my own thing -- there is nobody to do such a thing. I am
           simply available to existence. So whatever and wherever it wants to lead me, I am available, because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I am not.
               Remember, these are the difficulties with language. I say I am available because I am not. Only
           when I am not, there is availability. If I am, then there is always choice, not availability. Then I will
           judge whether to go that way or not, whether to go this way or not, whether to do this or not. So
           whenever you are doing your own thing, one thing is certain: you are not in tune with existence. So
           what can it be? It can only be accidental.
               I know people who had come accidentally to me. They had come to meet one of their friends
           who was a sannyasin; they had not come to meet me or to see me. They were not even remotely
           interested in me, but then listening to me they became interested, they became curious, they became
           involved. This is accidental. If I send them away to do something I can be certain some accident is
           going to happen.
               I have tried -- seeing some accidental people I have told them, "Go and open a center in your
           place," and they were very happy and they went there and fell in love with a woman, and forgot all
           about the center -- got married and got into the whole mess of marriage.
               You cannot depend on these people; they are not reliable. It is not their fault. They are just
           driftwood -- any accident and they start doing things they have never thought about, doing things
           without ever thinking whether they really want to do them. Perhaps others are doing, so they start
           doing.
               What you call "doing your own thing" is accidental, because you don't know yourself yet; you
           cannot do your own thing. And to be accidental is to remain in darkness -- being thrown by winds
           here and there like a dead leaf... having no roots, having no integrity, having no individuality, having
           no sense of being connected with existence.
               Doing your own thing, you were wrong -- not that the things that you were doing were wrong,
           but that you were thinking that they were your own. They were only accidental. The people, the
           therapists, who criticized you were thinking they were doing my things, not their own. And that was
           creating deep resentment in them, that they have to do my thing. They really wanted to do their
           thing.
               They criticized you just to strengthen in themselves that the very idea of "doing your own thing"
           is wrong. To repress their own idea they judged you wrong; they were really judging themselves.
               And once they got the opportunity... now they are all doing their own things, and thinking that
           this is freedom. They are telling people, "Osho has given freedom to us." Now, this is such a foolish
           idea. Nobody can give you freedom, and if somebody can give you freedom, he can take it back any
           moment. Freedom cannot be a gift. You have to grow and be free; freedom has to be something that
           happens to you -- it is not given.
               Now they are saying, "Osho has given freedom to us, and now we are doing our own thing." And
           they are doing the same thing they were doing here... perhaps less efficiently, more superficially,
           because the people they will be getting will not be meditators.
               I used to choose people for their groups; seeing the need of the person, I used to choose which
           group he should go to. Now they will be doing things to people who don't need them; or these things
           may even harm them. There is every possibility that the people, through their therapies, will be
           harmed -- because therapy is not anything spiritual. Therapy is only preparing the ground. And if
           you don't have the seeds, the ground that you have prepared will simply grow weeds, wild grass. It
           cannot grow roses.
               Here I was using their therapy to clean the ground so that seeds of meditation can be sown, and
           people can blossom.
               But soon they will understand. Seeing the results, people will start disappearing from their
           therapy groups. I know perfectly well that people never wanted to do therapy groups; I had to
           persuade them to go to do therapy groups. They had come to listen to me and to meditate.
               Therapy groups are already out of fashion. Esalen -- the original pioneer institution for therapy
           groups -- is dying. Nobody comes anymore. Only on weekends a few old people turn up. And when
           they saw that thousands of people are coming to me and going through me to the therapies, they
           could not believe it, because they were the original people who had started the movement of
           therapies. It was unbelievable for them why people were not coming there.
               The reason was that people had been there and had seen their therapies and found that they were
           only games you can play with. It feels good while you are playing them, but after two days all is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gone; you are the same person, nothing has changed. And what is the point of going again and again,
           giving money and playing the same kind of games?
               These therapists who had been working here in the world of the sannyasins will soon feel
           frustrated, tremendously frustrated. One thing, sannyasins will stop going to them, knowing that it is
           no longer part of a spiritual movement. Secondly, those who go will see that it is pointless. Just again
           and again clearing the ground and letting the weeds grow makes no sense.
               I was using therapy simply as a preparation -- it was not the end. And these therapists know
           nothing of meditation, because they felt that it was below them to go and meditate with the same
           people who are doing therapies with them; they are great therapists. So they never meditated; they
           missed meditation. They were so knowledgeable that they thought they knew everything. I don't
           think they have listened to me; otherwise the way they have betrayed me would not have been
           possible.
               But they will have to come back; they cannot go on existing for long. Soon you will see those
           faces again, and this time they are not going to be therapists. This time I am going to work in a
           totally different way. Therapy will not be part of it; perhaps personal counseling may be there, but
           not therapy.
               There is nothing wrong in doing your own thing -- just remember that it is accidental. First know
           thyself, and then do anything that happens, that comes up out of your nothingness.
               And out of nothingness always comes the lotus of nirvana.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN THE HINDI INCARNATIONS OF GOD THERE ARE A WOMAN AND A MAN TOGETHER -- LIKE
              VISHNU AND LAXMI, SHANKAR AND PARVATI, KRISHNA AND RADHA, RAMA AND SITA, ETC.
              ON THE OTHER HAND, THERE ARE OTHER RELIGIONS LIKE JAINISM, BUDDHISM, TAOISM,
              MOHAMMEDANISM, CHRISTIANITY, ET CETERA, WHICH HAVE NO PLACE FOR WOMEN.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Compared to Hinduism, all these religions -- Taoism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity,
           Mohammedanism, Judaism -- are very new. Hinduism is very old; hence it has some unique
           characteristics. Because it is the oldest religion in the world, a few things are in it which you will not
           find in other religions.
               For example, you are asking that Hindu incarnations of God are always with a woman consort:
           Shiva is with Parvati, Krishna is with Radha. In India, Jainism and Buddhism flowered twenty-five
           centuries ago. They had to fight against Hinduism. Hinduism was the only religion.
               You will be surprised: it was so alone that it had no name. A name is needed when there is more
           than one thing; if there is only one thing, what is the use of a name? Hinduism was the only religion,
           so it was simply called dharma -- religion. There was no need to put an adjective to it. Jainism and
           Buddhism were born out of Hinduism, offshoots of the old religion, but then they had to make some
           specialities to stand aloof; otherwise the oceanic Hinduism would have drowned them.
               Hinduism was very natural, that's why the reincarnations are not celibate. The idea of celibacy
           had not entered in the mind of the Hindus because it is unnatural, so even their incarnations of God
           have their wives. They are just as natural as you are.
               Jainism and Buddhism both made it a point that man has to go above nature, beyond nature, only
           then he is religious -- Hinduism is not religion. What kind of a religion is it if just to be natural is to
           be religious? Then there is no difference between you and animals, because all animals are natural.
           They had a point there, and they created great logical systems against Hinduism. One of the basic
           points was that you have to go beyond nature -- and that starts from celibacy, because that is the
           basic nature, sexuality.
               So Buddha is alone, Mahavir is alone, and for these twenty-five centuries, all their monks and
           masters have been alone, celibate. You will be surprised to know that their celibacy was such a thing
           that the common masses became very impressed. Their ascetic attitude towards life... because
           Hindus were not ascetic -- I mean Hindus before Buddha and Mahavir -- were not ascetic. Even their
           seers lived in comfort and luxury. They had their communes in the mountains, in the forests, which
           their followers went on donating to. The Kings, their sons, their daughters -- all had to go to be there
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in their monasteries to learn.
               So they had immense power. One great Hindu wise man had many kings as his followers, and
           lived in luxury, comfort. His whole commune of disciples and teachers, they all lived beautifully.
           They were not other-worldly people.
               Jainism and Buddhism are ascetic; they went on point by point against Hinduism, to make a
           distinct identity. Comfort is not even heard of; discomfort is the way. The more you can keep
           yourself in discomfort, the more spiritual you are -- because the body is the enemy of your soul, so
           torture the body so you can find your soul. This world is the hindrance for the other world, so
           renounce it.
               Jainism and Buddhism did so many strange things that even the Hindu masses became
           impressed; even Hindu wisemen, brahmins, started thinking how to fight against the rebellious
           Jainas and Buddhists. The only way was that they also had to be ascetic -- more than they were. So
           after Gautam Buddha you will not find any Hindu master with a woman. Shankaracharya,
           Ramanujacharya, Nimbarkha, Vallabha -- great masters, but you will not find them with a woman.
           What happened?
               They all had to be celibate. They had to be to fight with the Buddhists and the Jainas; otherwise
           they were ordinary people, they were not spiritual. And they were all ascetic, just like Jainas and
           Buddhists were; they were ascetic in their own way. They renounced the world, they renounced all
           comforts -- just to counter-attack.
               Hinduism got spoiled by Hindus themselves; otherwise it was a beautiful religion, very natural,
           very simple, very innocent. But it became more and more complicated. These three religions have
           been fighting for twenty-five centuries, arguing, writing treatises against each other. And those
           treatises have become more and more complicated -- to such a point that even to understand them
           has become a difficult expertise.
               And there are treatises which scholars have been trying for years to translate into English but
           have not been able to. Because of the complexities of ideas, language, its nuances, it is difficult to be
           authentic to the original and to translate it; the translation looks very poor.
               Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Sikhism, all are later additions to human consciousness
           -- after Buddha. In fact Buddha should be the demarcation line, not Jesus. We say, "Before Jesus
           Christ, after Jesus Christ." Jesus has become the demarcation line dividing history, but that credit
           should go to Gautam Buddha, who came five centuries before Jesus and really divided human
           consciousness and its growth.
               Jesus himself had traveled to India while he was young. THE BIBLE has no account of him
           between the age of thirteen to thirty; THE BIBLE has no account of where Jesus had been. This
           looks strange -- a small life -- he lived only thirty-three years -- and in those thirty-three years THE
           BIBLE has accounts of only three years, the last three years. About his earlier life are only two
           incidents -- minor, meaningless. One was of his birth and the coming of the three wisemen from the
           East to pay tribute; and second, his getting lost in the temple of Jerusalem, arguing with rabbis.
           These are the only two incidents. And then from the age of thirteen to thirty, seventeen years,
           nothing is mentioned -- what happened to this man, where he was.
               These seventeen years he traveled to Egypt, to India, to Ladakh, to Tibet, and all these places
           were Buddhist at that time. Buddha had died only five centuries before, and his impact was still very
           alive. Jesus visited Buddhist monasteries. I have been to a Ladakh monastery which Jesus had
           visited, and I looked in their records of visitors, which they have kept for two thousand years. And I
           asked them if they had a record of all the visitors and their impressions about the monastery.
               It is one of the most beautiful monasteries, and Jesus stayed there for almost six months, studying
           Buddhism from the monks. There are, in their official record, the impressions of Jesus, his signature,
           the date. He became immensely influenced by Buddhism, so his celibacy, his ascetic attitude, his
           praise for poverty, his condemnation for riches, were all borrowed ideas from Gautam Buddha.
               Naturally these people followed a certain pattern that Buddha left behind him. They don't have a
           woman companion, which would be natural. Hinduism seems to be very natural -- even its gods are
           very natural. There is no desire to be beyond nature; there is only one desire:to be totally natural. But
           in a way all other religions are reactions, rebellions against Hinduism.
               It had no name. It was known as the eternal religion because it had always been there. Nobody
           can say when it was born, who was the founder of the Hindu religion. You can find founders of all
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other religions except Hinduism. Who was the original man? There seems to be no one. Hindus
           themselves used to call it sanatan dharma: the eternal religion. How did they become Hindus? Who
           started calling them Hindus? It was in a very strange way that they got the name, Hindus.
               It was by the foreigners who were constantly invading India that the name was given, because
           every invader had to pass one of the greatest rivers of India, Sindhu. The first invaders, were the
           Hunas, who have disappeared from the world now -- a wild tribe. In their alphabet they had no sound
           for `sa', for `s'. The closest sound to `s' was `h', -- `ha'. `Sa -- ha' -- that was the closest. They could
           not pronounce the river Sindhu; they pronounced it, the river Hindu, and because of their language,
           and because of their pronunciation, the people who lived beyond this river, they started calling
           Hindus, the people who live beyond the river Hindu.
               It is beautiful sometimes to look at the history of how a word evolves, in what phases it moves,
           what turns it takes, what colors it takes.
               Because of the word `Hindu' the land of the Hindus became Hindustan, and the religion became
           Hindudharma, Hindu religion. And from the Hunas, invaders used to be continually coming. The
           country was so rich that another group of invaders, Mongols from Mongolia... who were the most
           terrible invaders, who produced the Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan, the most terrible of men. In their
           language -- now it had become established because of the Hunas -- the name of the Sindhu became
           Hindu, the land became Hindustan, the people became Hindus. They did not have any sound in their
           alphabet for `h', for `ha' -- the closest for `h' was `i'. They could not pronounce Hindu, they could
           only pronounce, Indu.
               It looks close: Hindu-Indu. And because of the Mongols, the river became Indu and the country
           became India -- from Indu -- and the people became Indians. But it all happened because of that river
           which has a name, accidentally. But Hindus themselves don't have a name, neither do they have a
           name for their country. They have been always there, their religion has been always there. They don't
           know any beginning of their religion.
               So it seems it has grown very naturally with the natural man. Buddhism was the first effort on
           man's own part to create a religion. That's why I say Buddha should be the demarcating line; because
           what was natural up to then became something man-made, manufactured. And now religion is
           manufactured, so many religions are manufactured.
               Nature is one, but once you start manufacturing then you can manufacture, as you like, different
           religions, different creeds, different cults, different philosophies. Buddha certainly stands just in the
           middle of this change.
               If you understand me, my whole effort is to reverse the whole process. Man does not need
           man-made religions; man simply needs to be natural. Nature should be the only religion, and then
           there will not be divisions of Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians and Buddhists.
               Nature does not make any divisions; it is undivided and it is one.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DURING THE TIME WITH YOU IN OREGON, I SOMETIMES FELT THAT LEAVING WAS AN
              ESCAPE, A MISTAKE -- LIKE REMOVING THE KETTLE FROM THE FIRE JUST BEFORE THE
              WATER BOILED. NOW LOOK AT US: WE'VE ALL HAD TO LEAVE, AND YOU ARE CONTINENTS
              AWAY. YET THIS TIME SEEMS EVEN RICHER -- A TIME WHEN YOU ARE OFFERING
              SOMETHING VITAL, NOT TO BE MISSED... PERHAPS THE CHANCE TO BE "AT HOME"
              EVERYWHERE. HOW TO SUMMON YOU, AND HOW TO SLIP QUIETLY INTO OUR HEARTS AS
              WE DRIVE CABS AND BULLDOZERS IN THE "OUTSIDE WORLD?"


               Love knows no distances in time or in space.
           So wherever my people are, whatever they are doing, if their heart beats in tune with me, they are
           with me. Then all distances of time and space disappear.
               The question is of the hearts beating in the same rhythm. That is the only closeness.
               It was easy to miss in the commune because I was so close to you. It was easy to forget me. I was
           too obvious. It was easy to take me for granted. But now that you are scattered all over the world, by
           the courtesy of the American government, we have made the whole world our commune.
               There are great distances in space, but this will help you; it will not be a loss. This will make you
           remember me more. This will remind you of me more. In your silent moments, in your loving
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moments, just playing on your guitar, you will find me sitting by your side. Just in moments when
           you are silent, peaceful, you will start hearing my heartbeat too.
                Everything that happens is good, is for the better, because existence goes on evolving. If we
           remember that existence is continuously in evolution, then whatever is happening... at the time it
           may seem disastrous, but finally you will find that it was not so; it has brought new flowers, it has
           created new experiences.
                I know there are continents between me and you, but those continents cannot separate; they only
           join. They are not walls, they are bridges. And a bridge, however long, is a bridge; and a wall,
           however short, is a wall.
                My own experience has always been that everything that has happened has always proved to be
           good. If we can trust, then even at the time of its happening we will not be sad, we will be
           celebrating. And our sannyasins did well, even though the most powerful government was
           destroying a small commune of five thousand people -- which proves that they were afraid. Out of
           fear they were acting, but our people danced and sang and celebrated, knowing that out of this chaos
           some beautiful stars will be born.
                The American government's fear has now become world a phobia. Now every government is
           afraid... not of a commune; the question of a commune does not arise. They are afraid even of me
           landing at their airport... not a question of entering in their country! Fear seems to be unlimited.
           What can I do if I just land at their airport?
                England would not allow me to rest overnight in the airport, and in the parliament they had to
           discuss it, my being in the country. And that was a lie because I was only asking to stay overnight in
           the lounge of the airport -- which it is meant for. I had my jet plane standing at the airport so that in
           the morning we could leave, thinking that they may say, "The lounge is only for first class
           passengers; now how can we decide about your jet, which class is it?" So we purchased tickets for
           first class traveling too, not giving them any chance. And that's actually what happened.
                They said, "The jet is okay, that it is ready, but how can we be certain...? The lounge is only for
           first class passengers." So we produced our first class passenger tickets, saying that, "For your
           satisfaction we have tickets also."
                Then they disappeared and came back about half an hour later and said, "There is some bylaw of
           the airport that we cannot allow you to stay the whole night -- a few hours is okay."
                I asked the man, "What do you mean by a few hours? And how do you decide that three hours is
           enough, or four hours is enough, or twelve hours is enough? And where is that bylaw of your
           airport?" The man disappeared and never came back.
                Another man came back, and he said, "You have to understand it, that if you want to wait the
           whole night you have to wait in the jail. We cannot take the risk of leaving you free in the airport
           lounge." And I had to stay in the jail. And in the parliament, the prime minister answered the
           questions and said that my being there was dangerous for the country, for the country's safety.
                An American establishment for nuclear weapons in England to bomb Libya is not dangerous; my
           just staying overnight in the airport lounge, from where I cannot go into the country by any way, is
           dangerous. You can see these politicians are made of straw. And the thing has gone around the
           world: now the whole European parliament, all the countries of Europe, are deciding together that I
           cannot land my jet at any airport; they will not refuel it. And then small countries are bound to
           follow.
                Now the Bahamas have decided that I cannot enter; other countries -- Panama and two or three
           other countries near Panama -- afraid that I may come there, have decided. Strange, that they are
           afraid of a single man so much. Soon I think they will be deciding in the U.N. that this man should
           not be allowed to stand on earth anywhere.
                But I take it as a good sign. It means they have recognized one fact; that what I am saying they
           cannot refute, that what I am saying is dangerous to their very roots. And if their roots are so weak,
           do you think they are going to survive? Even without me they will die; even without me they have to
           die.
           Their fear shows death.
                And all these governments are lying without any evidence of anything! Now they are spreading
           the rumor around the world that they have nothing against me, but the people who are with me, three
           of them, are criminals. They don't give the names, of the three people who are criminals and what
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crime they have committed. Some evidence should be proved. And even if they are criminals, I
           cannot be punished for their crimes. But just because they have traveled with me, I cannot be
           allowed to remain in a country.
               In Spain, the government took one month to decide: the parliament discussed, the cabinet
           meetings went on for seven days, and finally they decided -- the president and the prime minister, all
           were involved in it -- that I should be allowed in. And then came a letter from the German
           government that three criminals are traveling with me. They called my secretary, Hasya, and told
           her,"We don't have anything against Osho, but from the German government there is tremendous
           pressure that three criminals are with you."
               She asked, "Who are the three criminals, and what crimes have they committed?" By insistently
           asking, we have come to know only that one is German, one is Canadian, one is American. Strangely
           enough, there is no German in the group, so one third of the information is absolutely wrong. There
           are a few Americans, but none of them are criminals, and none of them remembers that he has
           committed any crime! One is a Canadian: he is shocked by hearing it -- that he is a criminal. There
           are no charges against him.
               Just today I have received a letter from the U.S. Supreme Court in Oregon. They could not prove
           the case for which they were harassing me for twelve days in jail; they failed to prove the case in
           North Carolina. The U.S. attorney has had to accept in the court that, "We have not been able to
           prove anything; still, we want everybody else to be released on bail but Osho should not be released
           on bail."
               This must be something unprecedented! They have not proved anything against me. Why should
           I not be granted bail? The reasoning was that I was capable of jumping the bail, whatever the bail
           would be -- ten million dollars or twenty million dollars. Does it mean nobody in America who has
           money will ever be allowed bail?
               Strange! The people who don't have money cannot be allowed bail because from where will they
           get money for bail? And the people who have money cannot be allowed bail because they can jump.
           So bail is simply out of the question in America.
               Simple logic can show the stupidities. Then finally they had to drop the case, but they had taken
           three persons on bail -- Jayesh, Devaraj, Vivek -- at twenty-five thousand dollars each. But you can
           see the cunningness! If governments are so cunning then I don't think criminals are doing anything
           bad. Governments are criminals.
               The letter that I have received today says that because these three people have refused to appear
           as witnesses, we are dropping the case. These three people have never received any summons to
           appear. Now, this is simply strange! We were waiting that these people should be sent for any day;
           our attorneys were waiting there. They said, "You give us the time and the date, and we can call our
           people and they will be here." But because they had dropped the case, now they were afraid that they
           would have to return the seventy-five thousand dollars.
               To keep that money, this letter has been sent: Because these three people have not appeared, their
           bail money is to be taken up by the U.S. government.
               And they have confiscated my things, which they had said would be released when I am released
           -- they were not given back. Then they told my attorneys, "After three days we will be releasing
           them." They were not released; then seven days... months have passed and they go on postponing.
               Now the case is dropped. Even the bail money has been transferred to the government account.
           What about my personal things? My attorneys are continually going to them, saying, "Decide
           something about his personal things." They want to divide them half and half -- half will taken by the
           government, and half will be given to me. Strange! For what should the government get half? And
           we were ready even for that.
               I told the attorneys, "Let them have half. Half you take, and then we will fight for the other half."
           But they simply say -- they don't do anything. Perhaps some other day I may receive a letter in which
           all those things are confiscated and taken by the government -- for some reason they can find or
           invent, because my people did not appear in the court on the hearing day.
               And there has never been a hearing, there has never been a hearing day; the case was dropped a
           few weeks ago. We have been informed by the attorneys that the case has been dropped, knowing
           that they have nothing to prove in it.
               It seems on the surface, with all these things, that they are destroying my work, destroying my
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           message. But they are wrong. This is the way -- not of destroying any truth -- this is the way the truth
           enters into people's minds, gets their sympathy, their heart.
                So wherever you are, it does not matter. Just your heart has to beat with me. If it stops beating
           with me, then there is distance.
                Now look at Chetana, sitting there in the corner: now she is almost sitting on the moon. The
           reason is that she had asked a question. She herself had asked, "If I am wrong, please nudge me a
           little." I nudged her a little and said, "You are wrong," and that has hurt her so much that since that
           day she has become a miserable person. I have never seen her in any misery before. She has always
           been light, joyful. But since that day, because I said, "You are in a wrong space..." And she herself
           had asked, "Nudge me a little." And I really nudged her a little... just a little, and she has gone so far
           away; she is sitting on the moon.
                Remember one thing, when you ask a question be ready for any answer. Don't expect a certain
           answer that you would like; otherwise there is not going to be any learning, there is not going to be
           any growth. If I say you are not right at a certain point, try to look at it. I will not be saying it just to
           hurt you. If I am saying it, I mean it.
                And if you start feeling hurt by small things, then it will become impossible for me to work.
           Then I have to see what you would like. Then I will not be a help, then I will not be a master to you.
                So you can be here, but if your heart is not beating with me, you are far away. And vice versa.




                                                Beyond Psychology
                                                Chapter #28
                         Chapter title: Going just with his flute and a bottle of wine
           26 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604260
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO28
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 88 mins




               BELOVED OSHO,
               I HAVE CARRIED THIS SUTRA YOU SPOKE ON IN
               POONA WITH ME FOR MANY YEARS. IT READS:
               THE BUDDHA SAID,
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE GOOD MAN
               THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BAD MEN.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO OBSERVES
               THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA
               THAN TO FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SROTAPANNA
               THAN TO FEED TEN THOUSAND OF THOSE
               WHO OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SKRIDAGAMIN
               THAN TO FEED ONE MILLION OF SROTAPANNAS.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ANAGAMIN
               THAN TO FEED TEN MILLIONS OF SKRIDAGAMINS.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ARHAT
               THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF ANAGAMINS.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE PRATYAK BUDDHA
               THAN TO FEED ONE BILLION OF ARHATS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE OF THE BUDDHAS
              EITHER OF THE PRESENT OR OF THE PAST OR OF THE FUTURE
              THAN TO FEED TEN BILLIONS OF PRATYAK BUDDHAS.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO IS ABOVE
              KNOWLEDGE, ONE-SIDEDNESS, DISCIPLINE, AND
              ENLIGHTENMENT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BILLIONS OF
              BUDDHAS OF PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE.
              IT SAYS SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR HEIGHT AND OUR DARKNESS, AND HAS PRODUCED TWO
              FEELINGS IN ME: THE BLESSING AND JOY OF BEING IN YOUR MAGNIFICENCE, AND THE
              ARDUOUSNESS OF HOW FAR WE HAVE TO TRAVEL JUST TO HAVE A TASTE OF YOUR
              CONSCIOUSNESS.
              WOULD YOU PLEASE SPEAK ON THIS AGAIN?


               One of the most fundamental things to be understood is that the distances are only dream
           phenomenon, they do not exist in reality. One may be asleep very lightly, one may be asleep very
           deeply, one may be almost in a coma.
               There are distances... If you want to wake them up, then the first, who is in a very light sleep,
           half awake, half asleep, can be awakened soon; but every one of them can be awakened. It is only a
           question of the intensity of the effort needed to awaken from the outside, and the intensity needed to
           be awake from the inside.
               You all must have felt moments of nightmare when you want to wake up but you cannot move.
           And then, in a minute, you wake up. It looks so strange that just a moment before it looked
           impossible even to open your eyes or move your hands, and after just one minute you are fully
           awake.
               The distance between me and you is only a dream distance, so there is no need to feel any
           sadness, no need to feel that it is going to be a very arduous and long journey. It is a very simple and
           very natural phenomenon. If you can relax -- and nothing can be easier than relaxation -- things will
           start happening on their own.
               About the sutra of Gautam Buddha... it is symbolic. Feeding somebody means nursing
           somebody, respecting somebody, loving somebody, doing something for somebody -- out of
           compassion, kindness, or love, or respect. So food has not to be taken literally.
               The sutra says: IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE GOOD MAN THAN TO FEED ONE
           HUNDRED BAD MEN. Who is the good man? The good man is one who spontaneously acts in the
           right way. Remember the word `spontaneously'. The good man is not one who makes efforts to act in
           a certain way that is accepted by the society in which he is born as good... it may not be good. There
           are hundreds of societies in the world, hundreds of civilizations have existed, and there is not a
           single thing that has not been either praised as good by someone or condemned as bad by somebody
           else.
               Now, to be naked the Jainas will say is a good act -- it shows that the man has renounced the
           world completely. But to be naked according to any other society will be considered bad, even sick.
           According to Sigmund Freud, the naked man simply wants to show his naked body to others; it is a
           very perverted, precarious, satisfying sexuality -- it is perversion. And he has given a certain name to
           this sickness: exhibitionism.
               So it is not a question to be decided by the outside morality. The decision has to be according to
           your spontaneity. Whatever you do out of your heart -- so it is not a reaction but a response -- that
           act is good.
               Buddha says, IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE GOOD MAN -- because it is very difficult even to
           find a good man, a man of spontaneity, a man whose actions arise out of his heart -- THAN TO
           FEED ONE HUNDRED BAD MEN. As far as the bad man is concerned, everybody who is acting in
           sleep, unconsciously, is bad. The bad and good are not concerned with the act; they are concerned
           with the consciousness through which they have been done. Spontaneous consciousness, a little
           alertness, or unconsciousness... the act may be perhaps the same, but its quality changes by the touch
           of the man who is doing it.
               Buddha is saying that taking care of one hundred sleepy men, unconscious, not knowing who
           they are, not knowing why they are, not knowing where they are going, for what they are going, they
           are just part of the crowd, they are not yet men, they are sheep... Buddha says it is better to be
           respectful to the spontaneous, alert man.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have to emphasize the word `respect', because ordinarily it simply means honor. But the root
           meaning of the word `respect' is `re-spect' -- a man whom you would like to see again and again; a
           man who somehow touches your heart, has a magnetic impact on you, so that you want to look at
           him again and again.
                IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA
           THAN TO FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN. Buddha is simply giving you the vast expanse
           of consciousness, its responses, and how you have to behave -- because your behavior is going to be
           a transformation to you. The five precepts of Buddha are in a way very simple, if they are done
           exactly according to Buddha's teaching; otherwise they become self-torture. And he says, IT IS
           BETTER TO RESPECT ONE WHO OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA THAN TO
           FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN.
                The good man acts spontaneously, but the man with five precepts has a certain responsibility
           with his spontaneity, has a certain goal with his spontaneity, has a certain very clear-cut vision with
           his spontaneity. He knows what he is doing, why he is doing it and he knows what is going to be the
           result of it. He is acting very consciously. The five precepts are simple, but awareness has to be the
           base of it... and it has to be, because Buddha is saying, IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO
           OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA THAN TO FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD
           MEN. One thousand good men, with all their spontaneity, he is comparing with one man.
                The five precepts: The first is nonviolence; whatever the situation, he should not act in a violent
           way. His response should always be nonviolent, because we are part of one existence. Whomsoever
           you are hurting, you are hurting yourself in the long run. Today you may not realize it, but one day
           when you will become more aware, then you will say, "My God! This wound was inflicted by me --
           upon myself." You had hurt somebody else thinking that people are different. Nobody is different.
           This whole existence is one cosmic unity.
           Out of this understanding comes nonviolence.
                The second is non-possessiveness. If the whole existence is one, and if the existence goes on
           taking care of trees, of animals, of mountains, of oceans -- from the smallest blade of grass to the
           biggest star -- then it will take care of you too. Why be possessive? Possessiveness shows simply one
           thing: that you can't trust existence; you have to arrange separate security for yourself, safety for
           yourself. You cannot trust existence.
           Non-possessiveness is basically trust in existence.
                There is no need to possess, because the whole is already ours.
                The third is non-stealing. If it is one cosmos, to steal is simply as foolish as... I have heard that
           one pick-pocket sometimes used to have difficulty in finding people, to pick their pockets. But he
           was so habituated, and it was so difficult for him to accept the fact that he had not been able to do
           anything today, that he would pick his own pocket! People can deceive themselves that way.
                I have heard about one man who went in the evening to the fisherman's shop and said, "I want
           that fish. You throw it, and I will catch it."
                The man said, "What is the need of throwing it? I can give it to you."
                He said, "No, you have to throw it and I will catch it -- because I never want to lie. And when I
           go home my wife is going to ask, `Where have you been?'" I have been catching fish, but I could not
           catch any. And this one I will have certainly caught. I have not purchased it; you have thrown it and
           I have caught it. So I can say with a straight face, `This is my catch -- a beautiful fish.' But I cannot
           lie. That's why you have to throw it, and I have to catch it."
                In fact that is what we are doing. It is all ours and we are in subtle ways stealing. It does not
           mean that you have to steal money or you have to steal things; you can steal thoughts, you can steal
           words. And all your knowledge is stolen. It is not something that you have discovered, it is
           something you have picked up -- from here, from there. And then, without thinking twice, with a
           straight face, you say to the world, "This is my opinion." It is not your opinion! You are not even
           aware of yourself -- what opinion can you have? So all this is part of stealing.
                The fourth is no-taste. It became a torture, but it was not meant so. A man of the sensibilities of
           Gautam Buddha cannot make it a self-torture. His idea of no-taste was simply not to hanker after
           taste. Food is for nourishment of the body; taste is secondary -- don't make it primary. And secondly,
           his disciples were all monks; they had to beg. And he was a very careful man. He never wanted his
           people to become a burden on the society. If they start asking, "We want this, we want that... please
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prepare this dish for tomorrow when I come to beg," then they will be heavy and burdensome.
                He made it a rule: don't ask from just one house. Your one meal -- and the Buddhist monk was to
           eat only one meal -- your one meal has to come from five houses. He was simply trying to spread the
           burden, otherwise... he was moving with ten thousand bhikkhus, his disciples, wherever he was
           going, and it would have been really troublesome if the thousand bhikkhus had come into a small
           town -- which may not have had the population of ten thousand -- and they started asking for their
           preferences. The poor people of the town would be in a difficulty.
                Buddha's whole effort about no-taste was that you should never be unwelcome wherever you go.
           People should know that out of compassion you go to five houses -- just for a single meal. He denied
           more than one meal. It looks to us that it is asceticism, that it is self-torture. Even in the poorest
           countries, people need at least two meals. In richer countries like America people are eating five
           times, or as many times as they go and visit the fridge... the whole day. It is not a question of times.
                There are thirty million people in America today who are dying because of over-eating. They
           know that this over-eating is killing them, but they cannot stop it. It is just like being an alcoholic;
           they have become so addicted, that they need something. If they have nothing then at least they chew
           gum, so their mouth goes on and on. In a way it is good; otherwise they would talk -- yakkety yak,
           yakkety yak -- because somehow they have to go on using their mouth. Their talking is just a
           substitute. Chewing gum keeps them silent at least!
                Buddha's insight is really deep, because modern experiments, particularly by the psychologist
           Delgado, have proved it beyond doubt that with one meal per day man's life can be doubled. The
           more you eat the less you will live; the less you eat the longer you will live. He was trying one
           experiment... for thousands of times he tried, then he gave his conclusion.
                He had two rows of white rats. One row was given as much food as they wanted -- American
           way. The food was always available; they could eat as much as they want. And the second row, the
           way of the bhikku, had just one meal -- nourishing, complete for the body. And thousands of times
           the experiment was tried and always the American style rats died half way. The Buddhist bhikkhus
           lived double the time of the Americans.
                So there Buddha had a deep insight: eat one time and don't hanker for taste; otherwise you would
           like to eat many times.
                It is known about Nero that he used to eat so many times that he had to keep four doctors with
           him; so when he eats they will help him vomit everything, so he can eat again. Just madness... but he
           was simply hankering for taste. And that was the only way; otherwise you cannot go on eating the
           whole day. He was eating from the morning till night when he went to bed -- he was either eating or
           vomiting. And the doctors' only purpose was to help him vomit easily so he could eat again.
                Buddha's insight is right. It is not self-torture. It is simply a profound insight into health,
           longevity -- and perhaps sooner or later science will like everybody to eat only once. Of course the
           food should be sufficient, should have all that is needed by the body, but only once. It looks to us a
           little difficult, but it is only a question of habit. In Africa there are many tribes who have never eaten
           -- for thousands of years -- more than once a day. They were simply surprised when Christian
           missionaries reached Africa. They could not believe it: they start with tea in bed, then breakfast, then
           lunch, then coffee break, then supper, then dinner... and snacks here and there. They could not
           believe it, "What are these people doing? Are they living or simply eating?" -- because they had
           eaten only once, and they were far more healthy and they lived longer.
                They are still eating once. Their bodies are more proportionate, they live longer, they run faster --
           just like animals, like deer they can run. And their bodies have just the proportion that people are
           trying to get in thousands of gymnasiums around the world. They have it without any effort, just by a
           single meal.
                Non-violence, non-possessiveness, non-stealing, no-taste... and the fifth precept is compassion.
                We live in passion -- our lives are passionate. Passion is always a turmoil: ups and downs, one
           day good, another day bad, day follows night... In the same way the life of passion is continuously
           going into pleasure, into pain -- and they are balancing each other.
                Compassion is not to live passionately, but to live calmly, quietly, silently. Compassion can be
           without ups and downs -- a deep serenity. Whatever happens on the outside does not matter, but the
           center of your being remains still, undisturbed.
                So Buddha says, IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           BUDDHA THAN TO FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN.
           IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SROTAPANNA THAN TO FEED TEN THOUSAND OF THOSE
           WHO OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.
               Srotapanna is a very beautiful word. It means "who has stepped into the stream." Literally, srot
           means "the source"; Srotapanna means "who has stepped into the stream which leads to the source."
           He is no longer standing on the bank. The man who follows the five precepts may be still standing
           on the bank.
               Before a srotapanna, Buddha says, TEN THOUSAND OF THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE FIVE
           PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA... One srotapanna is weightier, more valuable. He has risked the journey.
           He has moved from the bank into the river; he is ready to go to the source. He has taken the most
           courageous step a man has to take, ever in his life.
               The bank seems to be so safe, and you can make it so cozy. And stepping into an unknown
           stream -- no one knows where it is going; it is certainly going into the unknown, and perhaps
           ultimately into the unknowable... The man who has the courage to step in, that srotapanna is better to
           feed -- just one srotapanna -- than to feed ten thousand of those who observe the five precepts of
           Buddha.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SKRIDAGAMIN THAN TO FEED ONE MILLION OF
           SROTAPANNAS. One million of srotapannas are nothing in comparison with one skridagamin: one
           who has reached the source. One million srotapannas may have stepped -- but they may remain stuck
           there. Their first step may be their last step, because the journey is going to become more and more
           mysterious, more and more unknowable, more and more beyond their minds and beyond their
           control.
               So many will step, but only a few will go to the very end. One who reaches to the end, the
           skridagamin, he is equal to one million of srotapannas.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ANAGAMIN THAN TO FEED TEN MILLIONS OF
           SKRIDAGAMINS. Those who have reached the source are not necessarily going to stay there. They
           may come back. Anagamin means "who is not going to look back" -- coming back is out of question.
               The skridagamin may have gone for strange reasons -- maybe his ego: he is a strong person;
           when the weaker ones are stepping down or stopping, he will go to the very end, but he has all the
           desires in him -- which can be fulfilled, or at least you can hope for them to be fulfilled, only on the
           bank. He will come back. He cannot remain there at the source.
               Only one who remains at the source and does not come back, anagamin... These words are from
           the same root. Gamin means "going." The English word go comes from the same root as the Pali
           word gamin. Anagamin means "one who is not going back." IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE
           ANAGAMIN THAN TO FEED TEN MILLIONS OF SKRIDAGAMINS.
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ARHAT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF
           ANAGAMINS. Now things are a little more subtle. Arhat means "the victorious." Now there is
           nothing for him to achieve; he has come home. The anagamin has come to the source. He is not
           going back, but there are weaknesses in him which do not allow him to be totally victorious. He has
           reached the place from where victory is possible. He is not going back -- but he is not going ahead
           either.
               An arhat is one who goes ahead of the anagamin. The anagamin becomes so happy with the
           source that he has reached that he feels that this is all there is; he has arrived -- and that's an illusion.
           There is much more. The arhat is not satisfied -- although it is very pleasant, nice. But he has not
           come on this journey, on this pilgrimage to reach a pleasant state. He wants truth, and he is ready to
           lose all pleasures -- even this spiritual pleasure of being at the source. His search is for truth, not for
           pleasure. IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ARHAT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS
           OF ANAGAMINS.
           IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE PRATYAK BUDDHA THAN TO FEED ONE BILLION OF
           ARHATS.
               Pratyak buddha means "a man who has attained enlightenment." The arhat is victorious but he is
           not illuminated. There is still darkness at the very center of his being. A pratyak buddha is one
           whose whole darkness has disappeared; he is simply light. The arhat has discovered the truth; the
           pratyak buddha has become it.
               You have to understand the difference. One has discovered it, but it is still there and he is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           separate from it. The pratyak buddha has become it. There is no question of victory, because there
           are not two; hence the difference. You can see: IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE PRATYAK
           BUDDHA THAN TO FEED ONE BILLION OF ARHATAS. The distance goes on becoming bigger
           and bigger and bigger. IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE OF THE BUDDHAS, EITHER OF THE
           PRESENT OR OF THE PAST OR OF THE FUTURE THAN TO FEED TEN BILLIONS OF
           PRATYAK BUDDHAS.
               What is the difference between pratyak buddhas and buddhas? The pratyak buddha is one who
           has become enlightened, but he never becomes a master. He has experienced it, but he cannot
           explain it. Neither is he interested in anybody else, or in sharing his experience with anybody else.
           He has the same status as a buddha, but the difference is that the buddha wants to share it, and the
           pratyak buddha simply keeps it within himself. He has become the truth, but his great achievement is
           confined only to himself. A buddha works hard, against all kinds of oppositions, difficulties, to reach
           people, to reach those who are on the path but are in darkness.
               The story about Gautam Buddha is that when he reached the gates of nirvana he stood there, his
           back towards the gates. The gates were opened, and the guards wanted him to enter. They were ready
           to welcome him -- because centuries pass and then once in a while those gates open. And they were
           immensely happy that someone has again become a buddha.
               But Buddha refused. The story is symbolic. He says, "Unless every living being passes by me
           into nirvana, I am going to stay here. I will be the last. I cannot go alone, I have to take everybody
           with me. "They are struggling in pain and misery, and do you think I should enjoy nirvana and its
           tremendous blissfulness? It is not possible. I will wait. You can wait; but waiting here I will try to
           help those struggling souls, stumbling in darkness, groping in darkness. Unless I am satisfied that
           everybody has passed in, I will not come in and close the doors."
               Buddha is certainly one of the most insightful men. He does not stop at himself. Anybody would
           have stopped there -- it is a natural tendency to put oneself at the highest point and then stop.
               He says, IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO IS ABOVE KNOWLEDGE, ONE-SIDEDNESS,
           DISCIPLINE, AND ENLIGHTENMENT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BILLIONS OF
           BUDDHAS, OF PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE.
               The last category is tremendously significant, because it will be the category which will be
           misunderstood the most. One who is above knowledge -- he will not be consistent, he will be
           self-contradictory. One who is above one-sidedness, who cannot favor one side of the truth, one
           aspect of the truth -- at the risk of being contradictory he will support all the aspects of truth. He will
           support the opposites, and naturally he will look illogical, he will look absurd. One who is above
           discipline -- who has no discipline, who lives moment to moment, who has no certain order to follow
           -- he does not follow anything. Each moment decides what he is going to do.
               You cannot categorize such a man. You cannot call him good, you cannot call him bad; you
           cannot call him religious, you cannot call him irreligious, because he follows no discipline. And not
           only discipline, but he transcends enlightenment.
               Enlightenment is the ultimate experience, but still it is an experience... the highest, but still part
           and parcel of all other experiences: they may be lower, this may be the highest. Finally one
           transcends it too. One simply forgets about it. It becomes one's nature.
               In the beginning, when you reach from your ignorance into enlightenment, it is such a difference
           that you are immensely gratified. But now ignorance is gone. Enlightenment slowly, slowly loses the
           excitement it had in the beginning. It is no longer ecstasy, it is simply your nature. And nobody
           remembers one's nature.
               This is the ultimate category Buddha manages to talk about: beyond knowledge, beyond
           discipline, beyond enlightenment. This kind of man will be opposed by all, this kind of man will be
           condemned by all. This kind of man is bound to stand alone against the whole world, for the simple
           reason that all that they value, he has transcended.
               In Japan there is a beautiful series of pictures depicting the whole range of the pilgrimage to the
           truth. In the beginning -- the name of the Zen painter who made it is not known -- it had ten pictures.
           But even the Zen masters suppressed the tenth picture, and for centuries it was known only as having
           nine pictures. It was only later on that it was discovered in some old scripts that the original had ten
           pictures, and the description of the tenth is the description Buddha is giving of the last.
               It is a series of pictures: A man loses his bull. In one picture, he looks all around and he cannot
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           see it. There are mountains, there are trees, there is a lake and the man is standing there looking all
           around -- and the bull is not anywhere to be seen. In the second picture he finds the footmarks of the
           bull. He cannot see the bull yet, but footmarks are there and he follows the footmarks.
               In the third he sees just the back of the bull, who is standing under a tree. In the fourth he finds
           the bull. In the fifth he tries hard to catch hold of it; it is a bull -- it is difficult, he is really powerful.
           But in the seventh he manages. In the eighth he rides on the bull. The bull won't allow it, and tries
           this way and that to throw him off. In the ninth he reaches home with the bull.
               The tenth was repressed even by the people who can be said to be the most meditative, to be the
           most alert in the whole world. Perhaps they were afraid that the tenth picture may confuse people or
           may help them to go astray, because in the tenth -- he has got the bull, and the bull is in the shed, tied
           up -- in the tenth he takes a bottle of wine and a flute and goes back near the lake. He is going just
           with his flute and a bottle of wine. Now this picture was repressed, destroyed; it has been recovered
           now. But this is the picture of the last state. Now there is no discipline: he can drink wine, he can
           play the flute.
               The bull is the self, your inner reality. Finding it represents nirvana. At the ninth, logically it
           should stop. But existence is not logical, and who will know better then Gautam Buddha that it is not
           logical? The tenth goes beyond all logic, all comprehension. Even enlightenment is dropped. The
           man becomes absolutely ordinary, without any discipline -- a hobo with a bottle of wine to enjoy
           under a tree, and playing the flute -- utterly ordinary.
               But his ordinariness is not the ordinariness we are aware of; his ordinariness is something most
           extraordinary. But he is going to be misunderstood, he is going to be condemned. Now, who is going
           to accept him as a master? Who going to accept him as a buddha?
               But Gautam Buddha has put him above himself. He says, IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO
           IS ABOVE KNOWLEDGE, ONE-SIDEDNESS, DISCIPLINE, AND ENLIGHTENMENT, THAN
           TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BILLIONS OF BUDDHAS OF PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE.
               This sutra shows the beauty of the man, his grandeur, his greatness.




                                                 Beyond Psychology
                                                     Chapter #29
                                           Chapter title: Come a little closer
           26 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604265
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO29
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 104 mins




               BELOVED OSHO,
               IN A SPEECH PREPARED FOR HIS FOLLOWERS AFTER HIS CAR ACCIDENT, GURDJIEFF
               SAID, "AGAIN I REPEAT THAT THE INSTITUTE IS CLOSED. I DIED. THE REASON IS THAT I WAS
               DISENCHANTED WITH PEOPLE AFTER ALL THAT I HAVE DONE FOR THEM; I HAVE SEEN
               HOW WELL THEY HAVE PAID ME FOR IT. NOW INSIDE ME EVERYTHING IS EMPTY."
               RECENTLY, WHEN KRISHNAMURTI DIED, I FELT THAT SOMEHOW HE TOO DIED
               DISENCHANTED.
               OSHO, OVER THE YEARS WITH YOU, WE HAVE BUILT GREAT CASTLES IN THE SAND AND
               HAVE SEEN THEM DESTROYED; YET WHEN I SEE YOU THESE PRECIOUS MORNINGS AND
               EVENINGS, YOU SEEM SO GENUINELY HAPPY TO SEE US. DO YOU EVER GET
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DISENCHANTED WITH US?


               It is not only for George Gurdjieff or J. Krishnamurti, it is true for hundreds of masters down the
           ages, and there are reasons. They all died disenchanted, disappointed, disillusioned.
               Let us go deeper, first into George Gurdjieff's last statement. The last statement of anybody is the
           most significant statement of his whole life; in a certain way his whole life is condensed in his last
           statement.
               He was disenchanted because the disciples failed him, betrayed him, went against him, did
           everything to harm him -- and these were the people for whom he had devoted his whole life, each
           single moment of it. But still in his place I would not be disenchanted. He thought that he was doing
           a very serious work. That's where the seed of his disenchantment was.
               I am not doing any serious work. I am not doing work at all; it is my joy to share with you. Now
           what you do with it is your problem, not mine.
           You cannot disappoint me.
               You can betray me; there are people who have done that. You can do any kind of harm
           imaginable -- and people have done that. You can go against me, you can tell lies about me; still I
           will not be disenchanted, because in the first place I have never expected anything from you.
           The disappointment comes from expectation.
               The disenchantment comes from a deep hope that these people are going to fulfill my work. I
           don't have any expectation, any hope -- I am just so blissful that I cannot contain it; I want to share it
           unconditionally. It is the conditions which create disappointment.
               Gurdjieff had worked hard with great expectations. And even people like P.D. Ouspensky, who
           had learned everything from the master, denied him. Ouspensky himself became a master; he even
           stopped using Gurdjieff's full name. When he had to mention him at certain points, he would use
           only G. He would not allow his own disciples to go to Gurdjieff, even to see him, and Gurdjieff had
           worked on this man for years, for decades.
               And whatever Ouspensky said after separating himself from Gurdjieff -- each single word, each
           single insight -- was borrowed, it was not his own. Certainly he had a great talent; he was one of the
           best writers I have come across. Gurdjieff was not a writer. Ouspensky was a great logician, a world
           famous mathematician, a great writer. Gurdjieff was none of these things, he was purely a mystic.
               Gathering everything from the system of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky was in a position to write
           beautiful treatises, as if they were his own experience. Gurdjieff could not compete with him in
           writing, nor in speaking. Ouspensky was a very talented genius, well educated. Gurdjieff was
           uneducated, coming from a very undeveloped tribe in the Caucasus, in Soviet Russia. But he had the
           whole mine of diamonds -- it is just that they were all uncut, unpolished. Only a man who had the
           eyes of a jeweler would be able to recognize them; otherwise they were just stones.
               Ouspensky had the eyes of a jeweler; he recognized that this man had a treasure, but had not the
           talent to spread it... a great chance for exploitation. He learned everything from Gurdjieff, and the
           day he felt that now it was enough -- he could make a system out of it all -- he betrayed him. And he
           had to prevent his disciples from going to Gurdjieff, because personality-wise Ouspensky was just a
           schoolteacher -- he looked like a schoolteacher. Even while teaching mysticism there was a
           blackboard -- he was a mathematician. He would be teaching mysticism and writing on the
           blackboard; it was like a class, a university class. His students were taking notes....
               Gurdjieff had a tremendously charismatic personality. Anybody who had seen him once could
           not forget the man; in a crowd of millions he would still stand out. If you had looked into his eyes
           once, those eyes would follow you your whole life. He was not a man of words, but a man of a
           tremendously powerful being.
               And that was the fear of Ouspensky -- that if his disciples went to Gurdjieff, then whatever he
           had been saying against Gurdjieff would be exposed. And if they listened to that man... although he
           was not articulate, in a way he was the most articulate master ever. To say a simple thing he would
           take hundreds of pages. You have to find out where it is -- what he really wants to say. He will make
           up his own words, big long words spreading out over the whole line, a single word that you have
           never heard before -- it is his invention. He knew nothing about how to write; one paragraph will go
           running on for pages. No publisher was ready to publish his books; he had to publish them himself.
               When his first book was published it was one thousand pages. It is one of the strangest books in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the world, ALL AND EVERYTHING. He kept nine hundred pages uncut, and only one hundred
           pages -- that is the preface -- were cut, with a note to every customer who purchases it: "You read
           the preface and if you feel that it is worth reading on, then you can cut the remaining nine hundred
           pages. But if you feel it is not worth it you can take your money back -- return the book -- but don't
           cut the uncut pages. Those one hundred pages are enough example."
               Even to understand those one hundred pages is a strange experience, particularly for those who
           don't know anything about mystics and their strange ways. Now he was not in any way able to
           compete with his own disciple Ouspensky. His books are so lucid, so beautifully written, so poetic,
           that I have not seen any other man who comes close to him, even close to him. Kahlil Gibran writes
           well, Mikhail Naimy writes well, but they don't even come close to Ouspensky.
               Gurdjieff had much hope that Ouspensky would carry on his work. Rather than carrying on, he
           simply opened his own school against Gurdjieff -- teaching everything, because it is impossible to
           add to it; the system is complete and perfect. You cannot take anything out, you cannot put anything
           in. He was a great teacher, Ouspensky, but he was not a master. He influenced many people around
           the world; millions of people came to know of Gurdjieff only through Ouspensky. What a strange
           fate! And he was consistently trying to oppose him.
               It was very difficult, because his whole teaching was borrowed from the man, but it was a logical
           necessity. He had to oppose Gurdjieff so nobody would think that he had borrowed all this teaching
           from Gurdjieff. It is an existential necessity that any disciple who betrays and wants to use the
           master's teaching to become himself a master, is bound to oppose the master, to create lies about the
           master. And naturally it was hurting Gurdjieff -- and it was not only Ouspensky, there were many
           others who were doing the same. For years Gurdjieff would work on them, and then one day they
           turned into his enemies. And to justify why they have left Gurdjieff they had to invent lies, they had
           to create a false image of Gurdjieff.
               Ouspensky had a strategy. He said, "While I was with Gurdjieff he was right, and when I saw
           that he was going astray, I left him" -- Gurdjieff had gone astray, that's why the disciple had left. Up
           to that point Gurdjieff was right, and he could use his teachings without any difficulty. But beyond
           that point, for him Gurdjieff did not exist at all.
               This was being done by many disciples, and if Gurdjieff was working with great expectations,
           naturally he was getting wounded, hurt. He could not believe that these were the people for whom he
           had lived and he had died; his whole life he had sacrificed, and these were the people.... That's why
           he said, "The institution is closed, is dead."
               He was afraid that after his death his institution will also be used in the same way. "The
           institution is dead because I am dead." And these were all the wounds of his life saying it together.
           This statement is the statement of his whole life: "Man is cunning, cowardly, deceptive, hypocritical
           -- you cannot trust anybody."
               This was his whole life's experience: You cannot trust anybody. He trusted many and he gave
           everything that he had, and still what had they returned? -- not even gratitude. And he was not asking
           for anything else. But his people had given him no reverence, no gratitude, no respect -- on the
           contrary, great antagonism, opposition, all kinds of fictions condemning him... Naturally he was
           disappointed.
               But my approach is totally different. I trust you, not because of your trustworthiness; otherwise
           the same will be my experience. I do not have to wait for my death to come; already I have worked
           with people for years and they have repaid me very well. I trust you because I cannot distrust; so
           there is no burden on you -- you can betray me, but you cannot hurt me. I have trusted you, not
           because of you, but because of me. And I am still there, the same.
               See the difference. To trust a person is possible in two ways: either because of his
           trustworthiness -- then there is danger, there is risk -- or because you enjoy trusting. The
           trustworthiness or unworthiness have no relevance.
               Secondly Gurdjieff and all these people took their work very seriously -- the transformation of
           man, the transformation of human society... they took it too seriously. And when people did not live
           up to their seriousness they felt that something is basically wrong with man, that nothing can be done
           about him. Then a great hopelessness arose in them.
               It cannot happen to me, because I am not serious at all. I do not think that existence has given me
           a certain responsibility, to transform man or human society. Who am I to bother about all this? One
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           day I was not here -- the society was there, man was there, existence was there.... One day I will not
           be here, so just for a few days in between.... And existence has not given me any job that has to be
           done. Why should I be serious? I am simply playful.
                If everybody betrays me I will have the last laugh; I will enjoy that moment too. I will say to
           myself, "Great! I love to play; I played well. And these people were good; as long as they could
           continue to be with me, they managed and continued -- in difficulties, in troubles. When they found
           it was too much, they went on their own."
                Even if I am left alone I will not be disappointed. I will simply enjoy the moment, that this has
           been a great life -- so many seasons, so many changes, so many people, so much love, so much trust.
           And I am going out of life without leaving any footprints behind. I will not feel that I have wasted
           my life. I don't think that there could have been any better way to live, and to love, and to laugh.
                J. Krishnamurti was very serious -- I don't think he ever smiled. A long life: ninety years. His
           fame started very early, at thirteen years old; so really he had a very long life of work and
           disappointments. Even the closest ones betrayed him. His whole life seems to be just a series of
           betrayals, and those who remained never managed to understand what he was saying. They listened
           to him for half a century, but still he could not cross their thick minds and reach to their being. And
           every day... if you look at his life, in the beginning he was very hopeful, very excited that man can
           be changed, that a new man can arrive. But slowly, slowly that hope disappeared, that excitement
           was no more there. And as he grew older, he became sadder.
                For twenty years, just because of his seriousness, he suffered from migraine continuously. No
           medicine could help, no physician... and every physician told him, "You are straining your whole
           brain system too much. You are too serious, you should relax; you have taken too much of a burden
           on yourself." Sometimes his migraine was so much that he would like to have hit his head against the
           wall.
                While speaking he was almost screaming, shouting, hitting his own head, because he could not
           understand that you are unable to understand such a simple thing. For example, he was explaining
           the same thing his whole life: that meditation cannot be done, it is a happening. And he would talk
           for one hour about the difference between doing and happening, and then somebody who was just
           sitting in front of him listening attentively, would stand up and ask, "How can we do meditation?"
                I would have laughed at the whole thing, but he would hit his head... too serious. And as death
           was coming closer he was becoming more and more serious, knowing now that his life had been a
           failure. He worked hard, immensely hard. His approach was very clean and very clear. His way of
           working was very logical, very intellectual, absolutely contemporary: an impeccable life of worth --
           he was a perfectionist.
                But in the end the hands are empty. As far as results are concerned, nothing has happened, as if
           he had not been here. The world goes on... the old routine, the old rut. Do you see anything that has
           changed because J. Krishnamurti was born, and lived for ninety years? Has it made even a scratch?
           Naturally he died in the same state.
                And this has been the case with thousands of masters; humanity remains unevolving because
           they are so serious in wanting man to evolve. And naturally they fail.
                But I cannot fail, because I am not concerned at all whether humanity evolves or not, whether the
           new man is born or not. I enjoy these ideas and I enjoy communicating them to people, and there I
           am perfectly victorious. I don't need to wait to be victorious until you have changed; that will be
           your victory. My victory is that I have been able to communicate what I wanted to communicate.
           Now what you do with it is your freedom.
                I will not call it betrayal, and I will not call it opposition, and I will not call your things lies. If
           you are enjoying doing these things it is perfectly good -- enjoyment is good. If somebody is creating
           lies about me and is feeling perfectly happy about it, why should he be stopped? He has all my
           blessings.
                In India it happened, one man wrote a book against me and he sent me the proof copy. I looked
           into it -- it was all rubbish, lies, fictitious stories with no evidence. Still, I sent him my blessings and
           told him to print it on the first page of the book. He could not believe it; he was so disturbed: what
           kind of man is this?
                He lived in Baroda, a thousand miles away from me, but he came to see me -- he had never seen
           me. He was just collecting third-rate yellow newspapers and cuttings and gossips, rumors... and he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           managed to make a book. And he asked me "Have you seen inside or have you simply sent
           blessings?"
               I said, "I have gone through it word for word; it is all bullshit, but you have done so much work
           collecting bullshit, you need blessings."
               He said, "But this looks strange -- with your blessings. I know this book: even while I was
           collecting and writing.... My purpose is to earn money -- this book is going to become a bestseller --
           but now seeing you and your response, I feel perhaps I should not have done this."
               I said, "No, you continue. Let this book go into the market. Collect more, because while I am
           alive more and more lies will be there, more and more gossips, rumors -- you can always earn
           money; this is a good way. It is not doing any harm to me. And the picture you have chosen for the
           cover is really beautiful."
               He said, "My God! I was thinking you would be angry, ferocious."
               I said, "Why should I be angry, why should I be ferocious? Life is too short to be angry, to be
           ferocious. Even if we can manage to be blissful, that's enough; if we can manage to bless, that's
           enough. What you do is your business, but you have done it well. Your writing is good; what you
           have written is nonsense, but the way you have put it and presented it is really good. And you
           devoted almost one year to my service. I cannot pay you, but I can give you my blessing."
               And the book was published with my blessings and every criticism that appeared in newspapers
           about the book mentioned it: "It is strange that Osho blesses it." And just that simple blessing
           cancels the whole book.
               My whole approach is different, so totally different that it has never been used before. I am
           enjoying everything that has happened, is happening -- perhaps tomorrow I will be arrested,
           deported, but I have been enjoying it. Then Hasya has to find a new place, so I can be deported
           again! We are not going to leave a single country unblessed.
               In fact I cannot conceive a situation that will be a disappointment to me. You have to forgive me
           -- I am simply so fulfilled and so happy, so centered that nothing can affect me. Any new kind of
           situation is really a great excitement. And to live without any conditions, to live with people who
           have total freedom to be the way they want to be, is already a transformation. All old approaches
           have failed. Now let us see what happens to my approach. As far as I am concerned I cannot fail,
           because I am squeezing the juice of life every moment; I don't leave it for another moment.
               What has to be seen is how many people can become as successful, as victorious as I am. I am
           giving them all the cues, now it is their problem. If they fail they should be disappointed; why should
           I be disappointed? If they succeed, they should rejoice. I can participate in their rejoicing, but there
           is no way to disappoint me.
               Just include me out of the category of Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti and others.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE TRIED FOR SO LONG TO WRITE A QUESTION TO YOU ABOUT MONEY. THE QUESTION
              IS SO COMPLEX, I CAN'T EVEN GET IT ON PAPER. IT INVOLVES FRIENDSHIPS, SELF-IMAGE,
              INTEGRITY, TRUST, INTELLIGENCE, IDENTIFICATION, LETTING-GO, HOLDING-ON, GUILT,
              RELATIONSHIPS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, MY DISCIPLESHIP.
              PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER.


               Money is a strange thing.
           If you do not have it, it is a simple matter -- you don't have it. There is no complexity. But if you
           have it, then it certainly creates complexities.
               One of the greatest problems that money creates is that you never know whether you are loved or
           your money is loved, whether you are desirable or your money is desirable. And it is so difficult to
           figure out, that one would have preferred not to have had money; at least life would have been
           simple.
               Just a few days before, Hasya was telling me about Aristotle Onassis' daughter. I remember
           seeing her picture when Onassis was alive, perhaps ten years ago. She was a beautiful,
           well-proportioned, charming young girl. But Onassis died and left her with a lot of money, and that
           created hell for her. Since then she has married three times, and each marriage fails because she
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinks the person loves her money, not her.
               And this starts from the very beginning; the day of marriage is really the day of divorce. On the
           day of marriage she takes a guarantee from the person -- a legal document before the court -- that he
           will not take her money. In case divorce happens, he will not ask for money. Now can you conceive
           a marriage to be worthwhile, when on the first day the woman is asking you to give in writing before
           the court that you are interested in her, and not in her money; and that in case a divorce happens you
           will not ask for money? The divorce has already happened.
               In the fourth marriage she got into more troubled waters. Before I describe the fourth marriage,
           something else has to be said which was happening on the side. She was becoming fatter, uglier, as if
           deep down in her psychology she wanted to prove, "You love me whether I am beautiful or ugly,
           shapely or fat -- you don't love my money."
               And she has become so ugly now that she avoids photographers, news media: she hides and does
           not want her pictures to be taken. Perhaps it is because she was uncertain whether she is loved, or her
           money. And most probably the people who have been with her were for the money, not for her. She
           did not receive love. The proof is that she started eating too much. If you are loved, you are so full of
           love, so filled with love that you don't eat too much.
               I have been traveling in India, staying with different families, and I have come across at least
           three women who told me the same thing, that while I am staying in their homes they cannot eat.
           When I was told this for the first time I said, "This is strange. Why can't you eat?"
               They said, "We don't know, but we don't feel hungry either. We feel perfectly good, with more
           well-being than we have ever felt. You stay three days and we can't eat. And we wait the whole year
           again when you will be back in the city for three days; those three days become a beautiful memory."
               When I was told by another woman, and then by another woman... I had to look into the fact --
           what is the matter? They felt so loved, and they loved me so much that there was no need for any
           food, as if love was enough nourishment. And after three days they did not look hungry, they did not
           look starved. One of these three was a Jaina woman, and she said, "Now I know what a real fast
           should be." She had been fasting for almost ten years, long fasts of ten days.
               In the Jaina tradition, those Jainas who are very orthodox, fast for ten days every year in the
           rainy season. This woman has been fasting for ten days for almost ten years, and she said to me,
           "Now I know that was not fasting, that was simply starving because I was continuously thinking of
           food, food and food. I could not sleep in the night because of hunger; even if I fell asleep for a few
           moments or a few hours I was dreaming of food. I was thinking of food, I was dreaming of food;
           except food there was nothing in me. For these three days while you stay in my house I know what
           fasting is. I never think about food at all. It just comes naturally that I don't feel any hunger; I feel so
           fulfilled."
               Onassis' immense riches have created a hell for the poor girl, a feeling that she is not loved. And
           not coming in contact with a man like me who could have told her.... The question is not that you
           should be loved, the question is that you should love. Why bother about why the other loves you?
           Have you ever thought about why you love the other? For what? And then you will understand the
           situation. Perhaps it is because of his hair? Then you don't love the man. Perhaps because of his
           eyes? Then you don't love the man. Perhaps because of his nose? Then you don't love the man. If
           you have any reason to love, then you don't love the man. So why are you making so much fuss
           about money?
               You should love and you should be loved, and you should be loved more because of your money.
           There is nothing wrong in it; you have something more than any other woman has. Otherwise, each
           thing will start creating problems: you have a beautiful face, that's why this man loves -- he does not
           love you. If you had a face with pockmarks this man would not love you. Because you have eyes,
           this man loves you; if you were blind, this man would not love you. Then you are creating
           unnecessary problems for yourself. This man certainly loves you, in your totality, and your money is
           part of you. Why make it separate? You are rich, just as somebody is beautiful; you are rich just as
           somebody is a dancer. But the dancer will not ask the question, "Do you love me or my dance?" If
           she asks the question she will be in trouble.
               In the fourth marriage Onassis' daughter found a rich man, just to be certain that "He is himself
           so rich that he will love me, he will not love my riches -- he himself is a big industrialist." And
           because of this she did not repeat the ritual of going to the court after marriage, and taking a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certificate from the man, that in case of divorce he will not ask for money. Seeing that the man is so
           rich, it looked absurd to ask. But this man proved really cunning, and because there was no
           certificate he divorced her and took almost half of her fortune.
               Now, something like money, that could have been a great pleasure, has turned out to be immense
           anguish. But it is not money, it is your mind. Money is useful. There is no sin in having money, there
           is no need to feel guilt; otherwise everybody should feel guilty. I should start feeling guilty -- "Why
           am I enlightened, when there are so many millions of people who are not enlightened? I must
           commit suicide, because the world is full of unenlightened people, and I must be immensely selfish
           to be enlightened."
               I don't ask you, "Why do you love me? Do you love me or do you love my enlightenment? If you
           love my enlightenment then -- finished! Then you don't love me." But why make these divisions?
           This is how mind creates misery. You have money, enjoy it! And if somebody loves you, do not pose
           this question because you are putting the person in a really bad situation. If he says he loves you, you
           are not going to believe it, and if he says he loves your money you are going to believe it. But if he
           loves your money, then the whole affair is finished. Deep down you will go on suspecting that he
           loves your money, not you. But there is nothing wrong: the money is yours, just as the nose is yours,
           and the eyes are yours, and the hair is yours, and this man loves you in your totality. The money is
           also part of you -- don't separate it, then there is no problem.
               Try to live a life with as little complexities and as few problems as possible. And it is in your
           hands; we go on creating unnecessary problems. At least being with me, you should learn that all
           problems are created; there is no real problem.
               This question is from Avirbhava. She has suffered from this question her whole life, and
           absolutely unnecessarily. Your money should make your life richer, more lovable, and it is making it
           difficult.
               Whenever anybody starts loving you, you are constantly thinking about the money -- "this man is
           interested in the money, not in me." Even if he is interested in the money... who is not interested in
           money? He is simply being human. He is not a Buddhist monk, he is interested in money. But this
           does not mean that he is not interested in you. He is interested in you more because you are not only
           a woman, but a rich woman. Enjoy the idea, and drop this problem forever.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW TO CATCH THE LIGHT FROM YOUR CANDLE?


               Just come a little closer. People are afraid of coming closer, particularly to a person like me.
               The fear is that coming closer to me they may be dissolved.
           Coming closer to me they may disappear.
               So they keep a certain distance, they come only so far, so they can remain themselves; if the time
           comes and their mind decides to move away, they can.
               But if you come really close, that means you have taken a total jump, a quantum leap; now there
           is no going away, now there is no possibility of going away. Now you are melting and dissolving
           into the unknown. People come close but only so far, so they can escape if they want to, they can
           turn their back if they want.
               Do you know the meaning of the word "hippie"? It simply means showing your hips -- turning
           your back. The hippie is one who is turning his back towards the world, its problems, its challenges;
           he is running, escaping.
               Coming close to me... don't stop as long as you are, only then your candle will be lighted. And
           this is the beauty of candles: you can light one candle in this room, or one thousand candles in this
           room. The candles may be one thousand, but the light will be one. So when a disciple comes too
           close to the master, the candles remain two, but the light becomes one. The flames remain two.
           That's why I have to make a seemingly contradictory statement: that when you dissolve into the
           master, for the first time you are not, and for the first time you are. You are not your old self, but
           now you have a new individuality. What you have lost was never yours; what you have gained was
           always yours, but was covered with the false.
               Two lighted candles will create only one light in the room. There can be two thousand, there can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be two million -- it will not make any difference, the light will be one. So in a certain way they will
           all be individuals, and in a certain way they will all be part of an oceanic existence.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #30
                                    Chapter title: New bottles for the old wine
           27 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604270
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO30
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 85 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER NIGHT YOU SPOKE OF THE MYSTERY SCHOOL. AT THAT MOMENT I THOUGHT
              OF PYTHAGORAS. SINCE YOU STARTED SPEAKING AGAIN, I'VE WANTED TO ASK
              QUESTIONS ABOUT HIM -- HIS NAME COMES TO ME OFTEN. THE MAIN PART OF HIS
              TEACHINGS I LOVE ARE THE THREE P'S: PREPARATION, PURIFICATION, PERFECTION.
              WOULD YOU SPEAK ON THEM AGAIN?


                Pythagoras is a link between East and West, between a civilization that disappeared in the
           Atlantic and a civilization that we are living in; hence he has a significance of his own.
                He traveled almost all his life in search of fragments of truth. Most of his time he was in Egypt,
           in Alexandria. In those days Alexandria had the biggest library in the whole world, particularly
           scriptures containing all the discoveries of consciousness made in the lost civilization of Atlantis -- a
           whole civilization drowned with the whole continent in the Atlantic ocean. The name Atlantic comes
           from the continent Atlantis, that went down into it. The only fragmentary knowledge available about
           it was in Alexandria -- and perhaps Pythagoras was the first and the last man of such integrity,
           intelligence, ingenuity, to look into those scriptures.
                That library exists no more, so whatever we know about Atlantis we know through Pythagoras.
           That library was destroyed by Mohammedans. The man who destroyed it, Mahmud Gaznavi,
           destroyed many beautiful things in India, in Afghanistan, in Egypt. But the most precious was the
           vast library that contained everything about that whole civilization, which had reached to the peaks
           of consciousness. The day this man destroyed the library, he took Koran Sharif in one of his hands
           and a burning torch in another, entered the library and asked the learned librarian, "Listen carefully
           -- the existence of your library depends on your answers. My first question is: Is there anything in
           your whole library which goes against the holy KORAN? And my second question is: If there is
           nothing which goes against the holy KORAN, then the holy KORAN is enough; why bother about
           this big library?"
                The librarian must have been in a dilemma -- whatever he says will be dangerous. If he says
           there are many things in the library which are not in the KORAN, Mahmud is going to burn the
           library, because that which is not in the KORAN is untrue -- the KORAN contains all and ultimate
           truth. And if he says that everything that is in the library is substantially and essentially contained in
           the KORAN, then too he is going to burn the library, saying, "Then it is useless; the KORAN has it
           all." And the library was so huge and so immense that you can only conceive... He burned it, and the
           fire continued for six months. For six months continuously books were burning; perhaps the greatest
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           treasure of humanity was destroyed.
               Pythagoras studied in that library for many years. He was a Greek, but he found in Greece itself
           only sophistry. Sophistry is something ugly. It comes from a very beautiful word `sophia', which
           means wisdom, but sophistry is only a pretension of wisdom. And the whole of Greece was so
           interested in sophistry. There were sophist teachers moving all over the country teaching people, and
           the basic teaching of sophistry was: There is no truth. It is all a question of better argument. Truth as
           such does not exist, it is a fallacy. When two persons argue, whoever is better in argument seems to
           have the truth, but it is really the better argument and nothing else.
               Their teaching was to give you all possible ways of arguing and to make you a great arguer, and
           then you can argue from any side -- it doesn't matter. When truth does not exist, what side you take
           and argue for does not matter. It is a question of convenience: which side is going to declare you
           victorious? Which side do you have more arguments for?
               I have been interested in sophistry, although the name sophistry has disappeared. Socrates was
           the cause of destroying it. He emphasized that truth is, and arguments do not prove it, they only
           discover it. They do not disprove it either; they can only prevent its discovery. One single man,
           Socrates, destroyed the whole tradition, hundreds of years old, of sophistry. But it has remained
           running underground. I see it in theologians, in religious philosophies, in political ideologies... no
           concern for truth, the only concern is to present a very solid argument.
               There is a story: one very famous sophist teacher, Zeno... and he was not just a sophist, he was a
           genius. It is unfortunate that his genius became associated with sophistry because that was prevalent.
           You pay him money and he can prove anything -- anything in the world. You just say it, he has a
           price for it. He proved strange things which logicians have not been able to disprove even now, after
           two thousand years, and whatever he has proved goes against all common sense. But logic listens to
           the argument, and his arguments are so fine, so refined.
               For example, he says that when you kill a bird with an arrow, the arrow does not move at all.
           This is absurd, because if the arrow does not move at all, then how does it reach the bird? From your
           bow to the bird there is a distance. The arrow reaches there, the bird is killed -- there is proof. This
           question was asked by one king, thinking that Zeno would not be able to prove this -- and he was
           ready to give any amount of money if Zeno should prove that the arrow does not move.
               Zeno proved that the arrow does not move, and even up to now there is no way to disprove him.
           His argument is that for movement, the arrow has to go from point 1 to point 2 to point 3 to point 4;
           obviously it has to move from one place to another place, then only will it reach the bird.
               Moving from A to B or from 1 to 2, it has to pass a passage between A and B; it cannot simply
           reach from A to B, so you have to make another point between the two. So where there were two
           points, now there are three points -- and you have got into difficulty. Now he has to reach not only
           three points but five, because these two gaps are there, and this goes on growing. If you fill these two
           gaps, then there are five points and there are gaps. And you go on filling ad infinitum... the arrow
           will never reach the bird.
               The argument is very solid. What he is saying makes sense -- but it is absolute nonsense: the
           arrow goes and kills the bird.
               Zeno is not interested in the arrow or the bird. He says, "My argument proves that nothing
           moves, nothing can move; there is no movement in the world."
               These kinds of people were all over Greece. They dominated the mind; they were constantly
           debating. Pythagoras was not interested at all in this kind of stupid game. It sharpens your intellect,
           but it does not lead you to any truth, to any discovery, to any realization. And even the greatest
           sophists were getting into trouble, because Zeno himself -- who had many arguments which go
           against reality but could not be disproved -- was defeated by his own student.
               This was the routine: he was so confident, and he had the genius to be confident, that he used to
           take half the fees in the beginning, and half when the student won his first argument. This student
           was strange: he gave half the fee but he told him that he would never give him the other half. Zeno
           said, "How?" He said, "I am never going to argue! I will accept defeat without arguing. I may lose
           everything that I have but I am not going to give you the other half of your fee."
               Zeno waited, but the man would not even talk about the weather, because some argument may
           start and there may be trouble. And he was determined not to pay the fees so as to teach Zeno: "You
           may be a great logician, but there is a possibility of going higher than you."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But Zeno was not going to sit silently. He put a case in the court against the student: "He has not
           paid me half the fee." His idea was that if he wins the case, then he will tell the court, "Force that
           student to pay the fee." If he loses the case, no harm -- outside the court he will catch the student and
           will say, "You have won your first argument -- my fee!" So whether he wins or whether he loses, he
           is going to get half the fee.
                But he forgot that it was his own student who knew all his techniques and arguments. From the
           opposite side the student was thinking, "That's good: if I win in the court, I will appeal to the court
           that this man should not bother me outside the court, because that will be a contempt of court. And if
           I lose the case, then there is no problem. Outside I will catch hold of Zeno and say, "Master, I have
           lost my first argument -- you cannot get the fee."
                The whole genius of Greece was involved in that, in that atmosphere. Pythagoras is very unique.
           He got out of Greece -- it was not the right place. People were simply arguing and arguing, but
           nobody was concerned in evolving consciousness. He was coming to India. On the way he remained
           a few years in the library of Alexandria, where he picked up knowledge about the lost continent of
           Atlantis.
                We have only that proof; no other proof exists -- although recently scientists have started looking
           into the matter. What they have been finding in the Atlantic ocean suggests that there must have
           been a great civilization; whole cities are drowned there. The whole continent simply went down
           into the ocean. Such changes happen on the earth: new islands come up, new mountains come up.
                The Himalayas are a new mountain range -- the newest. It was not there when RIG VEDA was
           written, because it is impossible that RIG VEDA should not mention such beautiful mountains -- the
           highest and the most glorious. But there is no mention about them. And the people who wrote RIG
           VEDA had come from Mongolia. Certainly there was no mountain on the way; otherwise to cross
           the Himalayas and to come to India would have been impossible. Even today, there are only two
           places from where you can cross the Himalayas; otherwise it is uncrossable. Changes go on
           happening on the earth.
                Pythagoras reached India, but he got caught again -- in the Buddhist atmosphere. It was so real;
           although Buddha was dead, the whole country was throbbing. His impression, his impact, had been
           very deep. When Pythagoras reached India, whatever he learned was learned in Buddhist
           universities. You will be surprised to know that Buddhist universities are the oldest universities in
           the world. Oxford is only one thousand years old. Nalanda, a Buddhist university, and Takshila, a
           Buddhist university, existed twenty-three hundred years ago. They were destroyed by Hindus and
           Mohammedans both.
                But they were rare universities -- they fulfilled the real meaning of the word. Not everybody was
           allowed to be in the university. Outside the university campus there were places where people could
           live for preparation. At the gate the gatekeepers were no ordinary people but very qualified Buddhist
           bhikkhus, and they had to give people an examination at the gate. When you had passed those
           examinations, you could enter into the university campus; otherwise it was not even possible to enter
           it. Even just to see it was not possible; it was so sacred. Wisdom was thought so sacred -- it was not
           everybody's thing, only those who could put their whole life into the search.
                These three P's -- Purification, Preparation, Perfection -- come from the Buddhist sources of
           wisdom. Of course, Pythagoras made them more logical -- he had a Greek mind -- made them more
           systematic. But those words are really significant.
                Preparation does not mean preparing for a verbal examination or a written examination.
           Preparation means preparing for an existential examination; it means going deeper into meditation.
           Unless you were meditative you could not enter those universities. And they had big campuses:
           Takshila had ten thousand scholars in it, Nalanda had twelve thousand scholars in it. Even today the
           greatest universities don't have more than that number, but their quality is very ordinary; students
           have simply passed the school examinations and they are ready to enter. No existential preparation is
           needed.
                Preparation means that you drop all your conditionings, you drop your prejudices, you drop what
           you think you know and you do not know: you get as innocent as possible. Your innocence will be
           the preparation -- that will allow you to enter into the university campus.
                Then purification... In preparation you drop the conditionings which were given by the society,
           prejudices which were given to you or caught by you from the surroundings; it was borrowed
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge in some way or other. You go like a child -- but even the child is not pure. That is
           something very significant to understand, because people take it for granted that the child is pure.
               He is certainly innocent, but his innocence is equivalent to ignorance, and behind his innocence
           are all his feelings: anger, hatred, greed, jealousy. You can see, children are very jealous. If one child
           has a doll, the other becomes so jealous that they will start fighting. If some child has something,
           then the other child also wants to have it. They are very competitive. Even in the family children
           have a hierarchy, and they are constantly fighting to be higher than others. Whatever is needed to be
           done... if obedience makes them the most loved in the family, they will follow obedience. But they
           are not following obedience; they are really trying a power strategy.
               So preparation simply takes away the layers that society has put on your mind. But you have
           brought with nature, with your birth, so many ugly instincts, that a purification is needed.
               You have to understand that competition is meaningless. You have to meditate deeply and
           recognize that you are not like anybody else. And competition can be only among similar people --
           and everybody is dissimilar, unique.
               Once the competitive mind disappears, many things change in you; then you are not jealous. If
           somebody has a beautiful face and somebody has more money, and somebody has a more powerful
           body, you simply accept the fact that a few trees are tall and a few trees are small. But existence
           accepts them all.
               The disappearance of competitiveness will also help you to get rid of greed. People go on
           accumulating -- they want to be in a better position than you, with more money than you, with
           everything better than you. And their whole life is wasted in that.
               Purification is almost going through a fire of understanding in which all that is instinctive and
           ugly burns down. And it is a great experience that only the ugly burns. That which is beautiful
           blossoms. In purification you lose all trace of hate, and instead, suddenly a spring of love bursts forth
           -- as if the rock of hate was preventing the spring.
               Once the cruelty... and children are very cruel. The idea that they are angels is just stupid. They
           are very cruel; they will beat dogs, they will beat cats. A small insect passing by -- and a child will
           simply kill it for no reason, he just enjoys destruction. There is a destructiveness in him. Once that is
           gone, creativity arises.
               So purification is a deeper meditation than preparation. Preparation was very simple, but
           purification is going deeper into meditation -- the deepest possible -- so everything that is not worthy
           of human beings is transformed. Everything has energy in it -- hate, jealousy, greed -- and when
           these things change, their energy becomes available to you in its purified form. And they can turn:
           greed can turn into compassion, sharing; hate can turn into love. Everything will turn into something
           which makes your heart a garden.
               And when the purification is complete, utterly complete, not a corner of your being remains in
           the dark, everything is light and fragrant, fresh... What we have called the awakened man, the
           enlightened man, Pythagoras calls perfection. It is simply a different name: the perfect man.
               The first two you have to do; the third is the ultimate outcome of it. In these three simple words
           he has condensed the whole alchemy of human transformation.
               Pythagoras is one of the most important people that Greece has given to the world. But strangely
           enough, nothing much is talked about all the best geniuses that Greece has given to the world.
           Pythagoras, Socrates, Heraclitus, Epicurus -- these are the ones who should be talked about. But
           instead of them, in the universities Plato is studied, Aristotle is studied.
               Plato is simply a record-keeper -- he has not a single idea of his own! He is a devoted lover of
           Socrates, and whatever Socrates says, he goes on recording it, writing it. Socrates has not written
           anything -- just as no great master has ever written anything. And Plato is certainly a great writer;
           perhaps Socrates may not have been able to write so beautifully. Plato has made Socrates' teachings
           as beautiful as possible, but he himself is no one. Now the same work can be done by a tape
           recorder. And Aristotle is merely an intellectual, with no understanding of being, or even a desire to
           search for it. These people are taught in the universities.
               I was constantly in a fight with my professors. When they started teaching Plato, I said, "This is
           absolute nonsense, because Plato has nothing to say of his own. It is better to teach about Socrates.
           Plato can be referred to -- he has compiled it all. But Socrates' name has become almost a fiction,
           and Plato has become the reality -- just the way I was saying to you last night that Ouspensky has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become the master, because he has written the books, beautiful books. One day Gurdjieff will be
           forgotten -- he is already forgotten -- and Ouspensky will be remembered for centuries. And sooner
           or later what he has written will be thought to be his own ideas. None of it is his own ideas.
                Pythagoras is not at all bothered about any university in the world, for the simple reason that he
           is not a routine scholar; he is an original seeker, and he is ready to go anywhere. He traveled all his
           life to find people who may have had a little glimpse and may be able to impart something to him.
           He was collecting pieces, and he managed beautifully.
                But Greeks don't talk about him because he is not talking about Greek philosophy; he is bringing
           foreign ideas, strange ideas from Alexandria, from Nalanda, from Takshila -- he is almost not a
           Greek. They are not interested in what he is bringing, although what he is bringing has nothing to do
           with Greeks or Indians or Egyptians. But he is ignored -- one of the most significant men, utterly
           ignored.
                The same has happened to Diogenes. He is ignored because he looks embarrassing to the Greeks.
           And he is very original -- not only in thoughts but in life. In everything that he does he is original
           and very sincere -- a man of tremendous courage, who could say to Alexander the Great, "You are
           behaving like a fool. The very idea of conquering the world is nonsense. For what do you want to
           conquer the world? What will you do after it?"
                He said, "After it? I am going to relax and enjoy." And Diogenes looked at his dog -- they were
           friends, they used to live together -- and he told the dog, "Did you hear? He is planning to relax and
           enjoy after conquering the world, and we are enjoying right now, without conquering anything! Why
           take so much trouble?" A naked man who can say to Alexander, "You are behaving like a fool,"
           must have guts -- and Alexander had to recognize it. And he was a man of tremendous power
           himself, of great intelligence. He had to recognize it -- that he has never met a man of the quality of
           Diogenes.
                But Greeks go on avoiding, the same way they have done with Epicurus. It is very strange, but
           perhaps this is the way of humanity to behave with its own greatest sons -- to ignore them, not to
           take any note of them.
                But amongst all these, Pythagoras has created a complete system to create a Buddha. He himself
           became an enlightened man -- it was not only theoretical. When he came back to Greece, he was not
           the same Pythagoras who had left; he was a new man. And that was one of the greatest difficulties --
           his own country could not recognize him. In fact they had no category of enlightenment, awakening,
           buddhahood, so where to put Pythagoras? The category just does not exist in their mind, so he
           remains uncategorized, and for two thousand years nobody has commented upon him.
                I am the first man to have commented on the great genius and realization of this unique
           individual. He has a more perfect way of presentation than you will find in Indian scriptures, because
           Indian scriptures are more poetic, and he is, after all, a Greek! He is very logical and very scientific.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU ARE FAMOUS FOR YOUR CONTRADICTIONS. BUT IT SEEMS THAT ONE OF THE MOST
              POWERFUL CONFIRMATIONS THAT YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE -- FOR THE WORLD IN
              GENERAL AND POSTERITY -- IS THAT, IN ALL THOSE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF WORDS,
              SPOKEN SPONTANEOUSLY OVER SEVERAL DECADES, YOU REALLY NEVER EVER
              CONTRADICTED YOURSELF AT ALL.


               That's true!
           I have never contradicted myself. I cannot do it. In the first place I don't remember anything that I
           have said before -- how to contradict it?
               Secondly, it is not my thinking, it is my experience. Contradictions happen in thinking, but not in
           experience. I have said things which may appear to people contradictory, but they are really
           evolutionary. My experience I have expressed in different ways; that may create the idea that I am
           contradictory. I was expressing it in different ways so if you have missed one way, perhaps the other
           way you may get it.
               I have tried to describe it from all aspects possible, just to help people, because sometimes it
           happens that one aspect does not reach you but the other aspect is more in tune with you. I have used
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all possible, multi-dimensional expressions, but there is no way for me to contradict. It is my
           experience. I am not taking about others' experience. Even if I am talking about others, it is always
           according to my experience. They may agree with it, they may not agree with it -- but I cannot go
           against my experience.
               During the years, talking to you, I have been sharpening my arrows, my words, so that they can
           penetrate directly to your heart. But contradiction is not there at all. And you are right: the day all of
           my words will be understood, there will be found an undercurrent running through all of them and
           joining them. They are like flowers of a garland -- a thin thread, invisible, is running through all the
           flowers -- and that is my consistency, that is my experience.
               It is true, I don't think anybody else has spoken so much. Much of it is lost because it was not
           recorded; almost half of it is lost, but whatever remains is still more than anyone else has ever tried
           to convey.
               The reason is simple: I enjoy it, I love it. When I see a word settling in your heart, my joy knows
           no bounds. When I see a glimpse in your eyes that you have caught the meaning, I am immensely
           happy.
               And I had to speak so much because nobody before me has addressed the whole world. They
           were addressing small fragments of humanity. Jesus remained confined to Judea, Buddha remained
           confined to Bihar, Socrates remained confined to Athens. Fortunately they don't let me remain in one
           place, so I have to be all over the world. And I have to speak again and again through different
           angles about the same experience, because in that also my life has been unique: people have been
           coming to me and leaving me -- new people coming, old people going. It has been beautiful. It has
           not been like a dead pond where the water only evaporates, and soon there is left nothing but muddy
           mess.
               It is almost as if I have been speaking by the side of a river, which is running so fast that each
           time I look at it there are new faces to whom I have to speak again. In thirty years so many people
           have changed. It was not true about Socrates or Buddha or Lao Tzu, they worked with a group their
           whole life. I have been working with so many new people, and I have always to find out a new
           mode, a new phase, new expressions, new bottles for the old wine... but the wine is old, and it is the
           same wine that I have been offering to all.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #31
                                    Chapter title: The courage to be ignorant
           27 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604275
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO31
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 86 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF THE SEEKER OF TRUTH?


               Every child is born with an innate search for truth. It is not something learned or adopted later on
           in life. Truth simply means, "I am, but I do not know who I am." And the question is natural -- "I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           must know the reality of my being." It is not a curiosity.
               These are the three differences, or three categories the world can be divided into: there are things
           which are, but they do not know that they are; hence there is no opening for any enquiry. They are
           closed, their existence is windowless. Then there are animals who know that they are, but they don't
           have the intelligence to enquire what it is that they are. Their windows are open, but their
           intelligence is not enough to look out and see the stars and the sky and the birds and the trees. Their
           windows -- whether opened or closed -- don't make much difference.
               Perhaps once in a while a rare animal uses the window. In Shri Raman Maharshi's ashram... and
           he was one of the most significant people of this century. He was not a master; that's why people
           don't know him as they know George Gurdjieff or J. Krishnamurti. They don't know him even as
           they know Sri Aurobindo or P.D. Ouspensky who were only teachers -- profound teachers, but not
           mystics.
               Raman Maharshi was a silent pool of energy. Every morning he used to sit for a silent satsang,
           communion. He never talked much, unless asked something. Then too his answer was very short --
           having profundity, but you had to look for it. There was no explanation in it. His literature is
           confined to two, three small booklets.
               His teaching was mostly to be in silent communion with the disciples. Naturally, very few people
           were benefited by him. But every morning he was sitting, people were sitting, and a cow would
           come and stand outside, putting her neck through the window, and she would remain standing there
           while the satsang lasted. It must have continued for years. People came and went, new people came,
           but the cow remained constant... and at the exact time, never late. And as the satsang would disperse
           she would move away.
               One day she did not appear, and Shri Raman said, "Today satsang cannot be held, because my
           real audience is absent. I am afraid either the cow is very sick or she has died, and I have to go and
           look for her." He lived on a mountain in the south of India, Arunachal. The cow belonged to a poor
           woodcutter who lived near the ashram. Raman left the temple where they used to meet, went to the
           woodcutter and asked, "What happened? The cow has not come today for satsang."
               The woodcutter said, "She is very sick and I am afraid she is dying, but she goes on looking out
           of the door, as if she is waiting for someone. Perhaps she is waiting for you, to see you for the last
           time. Perhaps that is why she is hanging around a little longer."
               Raman went in and there were tears in the eyes of the cow. And she died happily, putting her
           head in the lap of Raman Maharshi. This happened just in this century, and Raman declared her
           enlightened, and told his people that a beautiful memorial should be made for her.
               It is very rare for human beings to be enlightened; it is almost impossibly rare for animals to
           become enlightened, but the cow attained. She will not be born again. From the body of a cow she
           has bypassed the whole world of humanity, and she has jumped ahead and joined with the buddhas.
           So once in a while -- there are a few instances only -- it has happened. But that cannot be called the
           rule; it is just the exception.
               Things are, but they do not know that they are. Animals are, they know that they are, but they
           don't have the intelligence to ask who they are. And it is not something to be wondered about.
           Millions of human beings never ask the question -- that is the third category.
               Man is, is aware that he is, and is capable by birth to enquire who he is. So it is not a question of
           learning, cultivation, education; you bring the quest with yourself. You are the quest.
               Your society destroys you. It has very sophisticated ways and means to destroy your quest, to
           remove the question from your being, or at least cover it up. And the method it uses is this: before
           the child has even asked who he is, the answer is given. And any answer that has been given before
           the question has been asked is futile; it is going to be just a burden.
               He is told that he is a soul, that he is a spirit, that he is not a body, that he is not material. Or, in
           communist countries he is told that he is a body, just material, and that only in the old days, out of
           fear and ignorance, did people believe that they have souls -- that that is just a superstition. But in
           both cases, the child is being given an answer for which he has not asked. And his mind is delicate,
           pure... and he trusts his mother, his father -- there is no reason for him not to trust.
               He starts a journey of belief, and belief kills the quest. He becomes more and more
           knowledgeable. Then education is there, religious education is there, and there is no end to collecting
           knowledge. But all this knowledge is futile -- not only futile, but poisonous, because the first step
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has gone wrong. The question was not asked, and the answer has been implanted in his mind, and
           since then he has been collecting more and more answers. He has completely forgotten that any
           answer that is not the finding of a question is meaningless.
                So the only quality of a seeker of truth is that he does not believe, that he is not a believer, that he
           is ready to be ignorant rather than to be knowledgeable, because ignorance is at least natural, simple,
           innocent. And out of ignorance there is a possibility, almost a certainty, that the question will arise,
           that the journey will begin. But through knowledge you are lost in a jungle of words, theories,
           doctrines, dogmas. And there are so many, and they are so contradictory to each other, that soon you
           will find yourself more and more confused... more and more knowledgeable and more and more
           confused.
                As far as I am concerned the basic quality of a seeker of truth is to cut himself away from all
           belief systems, from all borrowed knowledge -- in other words, to have the courage to be ignorant
           rather than to have borrowed knowledge. Ignorance has a beauty; it is at least yours, authentic,
           sincere. It has come with you. It is your blood, it is your bones, it is your marrow.
                Knowledgeability is ugly, absolute rubbish. It has been poured upon you by others, and you are
           carrying the load of it. And the load is such that it will not give you any opportunity to enquire on
           your own what truth is. Your collection of knowledge will answer immediately that this is truth. If
           you are filled with THE HOLY BIBLE, then the question will be answered by THE HOLY BIBLE.
           If you are filled with the VEDAS, then the question will come out of the VEDAS. But it will come
           from some source outside yourself; it will not be your discovery. And that which is not your
           discovery is not yours.
                Truth brings freedom because it is your discovery. It makes you fully into man; otherwise you
           remain on the level of the animals: you are but you don't know who you are.
                The search for truth is really the search for the reality of your being.
                Once you have entered your being, you have entered into the being of the whole, because we are
           different on the periphery but at the center we meet -- we are one. You can draw many lines from the
           periphery of a circle towards the center; those lines on the periphery have a certain distance from
           each other. But as they come closer to the center the distance goes on becoming less. And when they
           reach to the center the distance disappears.
           At the center we are one.
                At the periphery of existence we appear to be separate.
                And to know the truth of your being is to know the truth of the whole.
                There is just one quality, one courage: not to be afraid of being ignorant. On that point there can
           be no compromise, no cheap borrowed knowledge to decorate yourself with as a wise man. That's
           enough! Just be pure and natural, and out of that purity, naturalness, ignorance, innocence, the quest
           is bound to be born.
                Every human being would be a seeker of truth if the society were not interfering with children.
                The class of children is the most harmed, oppressed, exploited, distorted class of all classes --
           and the most helpless. And you are taking advantage of the helplessness of small children. But you
           are also not responsible. The same has been done to you. It is difficult to find out who was
           responsible in the beginning. But as long as we can look back, this has been the situation: every
           generation corrupts the new generation, and anybody who wants to prevent this corruption is
           condemned as corrupting the youth.
                Socrates was condemned for corrupting the youth, and all that he was doing was the simple
           process of removing borrowed knowledge and helping his disciples to be themselves and then "to
           know thyself." If anybody has served truth the most sincerely it was Socrates. But he was
           condemned by the court, by the law, by the people who were in power, for corruption, for corrupting
           young minds.
                Strangely, in the land of Socrates I was also condemned as corrupting people's minds. It seems
           the technology of corrupting the youth has evolved immensely in two thousand years, because it
           took Socrates his whole life to corrupt, and I was only there for two weeks! And the archbishop was
           already threatening to burn my house, to stone me to death.
                Why are they afraid? They know perfectly well that they have no foundations. So if anybody
           shows the young people that their knowledge is unfounded, that all their answers are bogus because
           they don't even have questions, that they are only repeating things parrot-like but they don't have any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understanding of what they are saying... then anybody who has a little intelligence will be able to
           understand it immediately.
           Is this corruption of the youth?
               To bring people to the quest of the truth -- is this corruption?
               It seems it is the greatest crime in the world in which -- unfortunately -- we are living.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              PROBABLY NO ENLIGHTENED MASTER HAS SPOKEN SO MANY MILLIONS OF WORDS ABOUT
              THE TRUTH AS YOU HAVE. LAO TZU SAYS, "THE TRUTH THAT CAN BE SPOKEN IS NOT THE
              TRUTH."
              BELOVED MASTER, WHAT DO YOU SAY?


               Lao Tzu is right. The truth that can be spoken is no longer true, because the mechanism of
           language distorts the experience -- which happens beyond mind, beyond words. To pull it down to
           the darker valleys of language is certainly distorting it.
               On the one hand it is true that the truth cannot be spoken; on the other hand, because the truth
           cannot be spoken it has to be spoken in thousands of ways. The problem is not that the truth will
           reach to you through thousands of ways, but you may become infected with the search. If a man
           speaks about the truth he may not be able to say it... but you can get a glimpse from his eyes, you can
           get something from his gestures -- something not from the words but the way the words are spoken,
           the emphasis, the gaps. The presence of such a man speaking may be just an excuse to allow you to
           be showered by his presence.
               Lao Tzu cannot speak truth, but to be with Lao Tzu you may get the right direction. His presence
           may prove to you that there exists something that you know nothing about, and that it is so precious
           that all that you know and all that you have is worth sacrificing... that what you see in the presence
           of the master, of a realized man, is so precious that it has to be discovered; it has to become your
           experience too.
               I have spoken millions of words just in order to give you a taste, a feel. Truth I cannot give to
           you -- nobody can give it to you -- but I can open my heart to you, which has known the truth, lived
           the truth. And that opening may help you in a very indirect way to go on your own pilgrimage. It
           may give you confidence that all this talk about truth is not just talk, that it changes people, that it
           changes their very presence, that it gives them a certain fragrance, a certain power, a certain
           authority. They don't speak like anybody else. They are not orators, they are not speakers; they
           simply open their heart. Perhaps the rhythm of their heart will change the rhythm of your heart.
               Listening to them you may not get the truth, but you may be transported into another world: a
           world of silence, a world of immense peace, a world of benediction. And all those are immensely
           helpful for the search.
               So Lao Tzu is both right and wrong: right because what he is saying is exactly so -- the spoken
           truth is no longer true. But that is not all. If the truth is spoken by someone, and if it is out of
           experience -- and it can only be out of experience -- then that very person, his every act radiates
           something. It is contagious. Hence, whether truth is conveyed to you or not is not important. What is
           important is that if you become convinced that there is something like truth, there is a certain
           transformation that brings the full flowering of the being, then the word, the language, has done
           more than can be expected!
               So I say again, Lao Tzu is right and not right. And my emphasis on not right is more than on his
           being right; otherwise I would not have spoken millions of words, I would have remained silent.
               But I saw that it is not only a question of speaking; much more is involved. It shows why no
           mystic in the whole history of man has ever written anything. The reason is that the written word
           will miss all that the spoken word has. It will be the same word -- spoken or written makes no
           difference. It will be the same statement written or spoken, but why has no mystic agreed to write?
           The reason is that they were all aware that the spoken word has a living quality, because experience
           is behind it, a heart is beating behind it, a consciousness is making arduous effort to reach to you.
               The written word is dead, just a corpse. You can worship it but it cannot give you anything. All
           scriptures are dead. Perhaps when they were spoken it was a different phenomenon. If the man who
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           had spoken them was speaking out of his own realization, then something -- the very vibe -- is
           carried away by the word.
               Truth may not be expressed, but truth becomes a reality. Seeing the master, seeing one who is a
           realized one, you become certain: if you are groping in the dark, don't be worried, and don't feel
           hopeless. Go on groping! Every night has a morning to it, and sooner or later you will find the door,
           you will reach to the point. If one man has reached, the whole humanity can reach. He is enough
           proof.
               So the question is not whether truth can be spoken or not, the question is whether a presence can
           create a conviction that there is something that you are missing -- and unless you find it your life will
           not be complete, will not be perfect.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              FOR ME YOU SEEM TO BE POINTING THE WAY SO STRONGLY THESE DAYS AND I'VE
              ALMOST BECOME UNATTACHED TO THE FINGER... BUT THEN THERE IS THE ARM, AND THE
              TWINKLING EYES, THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE, AND THE BEAUTIFUL GRACEFUL
              ATMOSPHERE THAT SURROUNDS YOU. WITH YOU IT IS SO EASY TO SAY MA NANA TO THE
              MOON. WHAT TO DO?


                There is nothing to do.
           Say ma nana to the moon!
           Just live the moment with intensity and totality. Live it with as much joy as possible, with as much
           love as possible, with no fear, no guilt. This existence is yours and this moment is a gift -- don't let it
           go to waste. And don't be worried about enlightenment, the moon.
           This moment, living totally, is enlightenment.
                Just the other day I was telling you the Buddhist sutra.... Gautam Buddha is really a miracle,
           because he even puts himself down. He creates a category beyond himself: a man who has gone
           beyond knowledge, beyond discipline, beyond enlightenment. Then billions of buddhas are not equal
           to him. That last part of the sutra is so valuable, particularly for you, because here is a man in front
           of you who has no knowledge, who has no discipline...
                Just when we came here I was sleeping twenty hours a day. Nobody has done it before, and no
           religious person will forgive me -- twenty hours a day! I was getting up in the morning for two hours
           to take a bath and take my food and go to sleep again, and two hours in the evening to take my bath,
           eat my food and go to bed again. And I loved it.
                I don't have a discipline; that's why I don't impose any discipline on you. When it has to be
           transcended, why bother in the first place to impose it? I am not telling you to read this holy book or
           that because finally it has to be transcended -- transcend it right now!
           Even enlightenment has to be transcended.
                I have never said it to anybody, but I have left enlightenment far behind. I have not said it
           because you will not understand it. It is difficult to understand enlightenment, and if I start saying
           that there is something even beyond it, you may lose all hope. You will say, "This is too much! First
           enlightenment was too much, and we were trying hard and nothing was happening. And now,
           beyond enlightenment... it is better to be ordinary and not bother about these things."
                That's why I have not said it. But yesterday, the sutra, suddenly... I had no desire, but I could not
           deny the truth of what Buddha is saying. Experience, even the highest experience of enlightenment is
           still a duality: the experiencer and the experienced. And that duality has also to be dropped. But the
           moment you drop the experience, the experiencer also disappears -- they can exist only together.
           And that is the state of nirvana.
                All has disappeared, the whole drama -- the actors, the audience, everything has disappeared. Just
           an absolute silence prevails.
                So don't be worried. Just try to live this moment as sincerely, as totally as possible, without being
           disturbed by the past or by the future. Undistracted, go deep into it, and that's enough. It is
           enlightenment.
                One day it will explode. You need not wait for it; even your waiting will be a distraction. You
           forget all about it. That's why in my presence you feel so good -- because there is no yesterday, no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tomorrow. Just here... this is our whole world for the moment. One day that atomic explosion within
           you happens. And finally, one day you go even beyond it -- then everything disappears.
               That's why I say again and again that what has happened in the East as far as spiritual growth is
           concerned is incomparable. All other religions are far behind. Now, no religion can say that
           knowledge disappears, discipline disappears, enlightenment disappears -- only then you are at home.
               Buddha is saying billions of buddhas are not worth it: it is so valuable, the ultimate value. And it
           is available to all, every moment of your life. It is so mysterious how you go on missing it; it is the
           one thing that should not be missed. But a centuries old wrong upbringing is destroying your small
           precious moment.
               It is up to you to throw away all that upbringing and let this small moment be all -- and you have
           attained everything. Then you need not worry. Existence takes care. Existence is very
           compassionate.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHERE IS MY QUESTION DISAPPEARING TO? IT IS THERE ONE MINUTE, AND WHEN I WANT
              TO WRITE IT DOWN IT IS GONE, BLANK. IS IT GOING INTO HIDING IN MY SUBCONSCIOUS?
              AND WHY?


               It is not going into your unconscious. It is coming from your unconscious, but when you start
           writing it, it becomes conscious. And this is a simple process: anything unconscious becoming
           conscious starts disappearing; it loses meaning.
               On this simple principle the whole of psychoanalysis stands. Your dreams are unconscious. Tell
           them to the psychoanalyst -- by telling them you will be making them conscious. And once they are
           conscious, they disappear.
               Unconsciousness is a kind of basement where you go on throwing things, repressing things.
           Things that you don't want to see, things that you don't want to hear, things that you don't want to
           accept, you go on throwing into the unconscious. It is your rejected parts -- allow them to surface.
           And that is what is happening while you are asking the question, and why I am insisting that you go
           on asking.
               My answer may help you or not, but your asking is going to help you certainly. If it is something
           unconscious that wants to come into light, and you start writing it, you find it is losing meaning. Its
           whole meaning is in repression. Unrepressed it bursts like a soap bubble.
               So it is tremendously good. Go on doing it. Only intellectual questions will not disappear;
           intellectual questions will remain. But if a question is coming from the unconscious and is
           significant... Intellectual questions are rubbish; they don't have anything to do with your being and
           your change. Let your unconscious reveal, and you will start seeing changes -- not that the questions
           are disappearing, but your attitudes, your approaches, your behavior, even your dreams are changing.
               It is a beautiful exercise to write down whatever you feel is somewhere lurking in the darkness of
           your mind. It is not very clear; there it is dark -- bring it into the light. And if you can bring all the
           contents of the unconscious into the conscious mind, your unconscious mind and your conscious
           mind will become one; they will be both conscious.
               And it is such a gift -- because right now one-tenth of the mind is conscious, and nine-tenths is
           unconscious -- naturally it is nine times more powerful. So you decide something by the conscious
           mind, but the unconscious mind can cancel it -- it will cancel it! You decide that tomorrow morning
           you are going to get up at five o'clock -- the morning is so beautiful, so healthy, so fresh. Exactly at
           five the alarm wakes you, and something happens. You don't want to get up. You say, "We will see
           tomorrow. It is so beautiful right now under the blankets, so cozy." And you take a turn and go to
           sleep.
               When you do wake up, you will condemn yourself, you will feel guilty. But you don't understand
           what has been happening. Your conscious mind had decided to wake up at five. The unconscious
           was never in agreement with it. You had never asked for the agreement -- there is no way to ask for
           agreement.
               If you are hypnotized and your unconscious mind is told, "Wake up at five," then there will be no
           change; you will wake up at five, alarm or no alarm. But right now you take the decision with the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conscious mind, and when you are asleep the conscious mind is no longer functioning.
                It is the unconscious mind which is in power and functioning in your deep sleep. So when at five
           o'clock the alarm goes off, you pick up the alarm clock and throw it away -- because the unconscious
           mind has no idea what the conscious mind has decided, and it looks so foolish to the unconscious
           mind, an unnecessary disturbance. You simply go back to sleep. But when you wake up, the
           unconscious mind has gone back; the conscious mind has come into function. It remembers, "I had
           decided to wake up at five o'clock, and I cheated myself." It feels guilty, but it has not done
           anything; it is not responsible for it.
                You decide not to be angry, you decide not to be tense, you decide a thousand things and the
           unconscious mind goes on cancelling them. It goes on doing the way it has always been doing. But if
           all the contents of the unconscious mind evaporate, then you have only one mind, conscious mind,
           day in, day out. Every decision will be followed, no decision will ever be cancelled. Your life will
           have integrity.
                That's what I mean when I use the word `integrity.' You will have a kind of oneness. You can
           promise, and you can rely on your promise, because there is nobody in you who can cancel it. It is a
           decision of your total mind. And a decision of a total mind is immensely powerful.
                It is good -- go on doing it. If questions are not enough, then you can make a notebook. Just write
           anything unconscious, and don't be worried that anybody will see it, because there will be many
           things which you don't want anybody to see -- that's why you are keeping them in the dark. Don't be
           worried, just bring them into the open. Nothing is wrong.
                Keeping it in the dark is wrong. Bringing it into the light changes the whole quality... it
           disappears.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE SILENCE THAT HAPPENED THE OTHER DAY -- WAS THAT A TASTE OF WHERE YOU ARE
              POINTING YOUR FINGER?


              Right!




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #32
                                   Chapter title: Life consists of small things
           28 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604280
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO32
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT THAT I FEEL I NEED TO HAVE APPROVAL AND BE RECOGNIZED, IN MY WORK
              ESPECIALLY? IT PUTS ME IN A TRAP -- I CANNOT DO WITHOUT IT. I KNOW I AM IN THIS TRAP
              BUT I AM CAUGHT IN IT AND I CANNOT SEEM TO GET OUT OF IT.
              CAN YOU HELP ME BE ABLE TO FIND THE DOOR?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The question is from Kendra.
           It has to be remembered that the need to have approval and be recognized is everybody's question.
           Our whole life's structure is such that we are taught that unless there is a recognition we are nobody,
           we are worthless. The work is not important, but the recognition. And this is putting things upside
           down. The work should be important -- a joy in itself. You should work, not to be recognized but
           because you enjoy being creative; you love the work for its own sake.
               There have been very few people who have been able to escape from the trap the society puts
           you in, like Vincent Van Gogh. He went on painting -- hungry, without house, without clothes,
           without medicine, sick -- but he went on painting. Not a single painting was being sold, there was no
           recognition from anywhere, but the strange thing was that in these conditions he was still happy --
           happy because what he wanted to paint he has been able to paint. Recognition or no recognition, his
           work is valuable intrinsically.
               By the age of thirty-three he had committed suicide -- not because of any misery, anguish, no,
           but simply because he had painted his last painting, on which he had been working for almost one
           year, a sunset. He tried dozens of times, but it was not up to his standard and he destroyed it. Finally
           he managed to paint the sunset the way he had longed to.
               He committed suicide, writing a letter to his brother, "I am not committing suicide out of despair.
           I am committing suicide because now there is no point in living -- my work is done. Moreover, it has
           been difficult to find ways of livelihood. But it was okay because I had some work to do, some
           potential in me needed to become actual. It has blossomed, so now it is pointless to live like a
           beggar.
               "Up to now I had not even thought about it, I had not even looked at it. But now that is the only
           thing. I have blossomed to my utmost; I am fulfilled, and now to drag on, finding ways of livelihood,
           seems to be just stupid. For what? So it is not a suicide according to me, but just that I have come to
           a fulfillment, a full stop, and joyously I am leaving the world. Joyously I lived, joyously I am leaving
           the world."
               Now, almost a century afterwards, each of his paintings is worth millions of dollars. There are
           only two hundred paintings available. He must have painted thousands, but they have been
           destroyed; nobody took any note of them.
               Now to have a Van Gogh painting means you have an aesthetic sense. His painting gives you a
           recognition. The world never gave any recognition to his work, but he never cared. And this should
           be the way to look at things.
               You work if you love it. Don't ask for recognition. If it comes, take it easily; if it does not come,
           do not think about it. Your fulfillment should be in the work itself. And if everybody learns this
           simple art of loving his work, whatever it is, enjoying it without asking for any recognition, we
           would have a more beautiful and celebrating world. As it is, the world has trapped you in a miserable
           pattern: What you are doing is not good because you love it, because you do it perfectly, but because
           the world recognizes it, rewards it, gives you gold medals, Nobel prizes.
               They have taken away the whole intrinsic value of creativity and destroyed millions of people --
           because you cannot give millions of people Nobel prizes. And you have created the desire for
           recognition in everybody, so nobody can work peacefully, silently, enjoying whatever he is doing.
           And life consists of small things. For those small things there are not rewards, not titles given by the
           governments, not honorary degrees given by the universities.
               One of the great poets of this century, Rabindranath Tagore, lived in Bengal, India. He had
           published his poetry, his novels, in Bengali -- but no recognition came to him. Then he translated a
           small book, GITANJALI, Offering of Songs, into English. And he was aware that the original has a
           beauty which the translation does not have and cannot have -- because these two languages, Bengali
           and English, have different structures, different ways of expression.
               Bengali is very sweet. Even if you fight, it seems you are engaged in a nice conversation. It is
           very musical; each word is musical. That quality is not in English, and cannot be brought to it; it has
           different qualities. But somehow he managed to translate it, and the translation -- which is a poor
           thing compared to the original -- received the Nobel prize. Then suddenly the whole of India became
           aware... The book had been available in Bengali, in other Indian languages, for years and nobody
           had taken any note of it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Every university wanted to give him a D.Litt. Calcutta, where he lived, was the first university,
           obviously, to offer him an honorary degree. He refused. He said, "You are not giving a degree to me;
           you are not giving a recognition to my work, you are giving recognition to the Nobel prize, because
           the book has been here in a far more beautiful way, and nobody has bothered even to write an
           appraisal."
               He refused to take any D.Litts. He said, "It is insulting to me."
               Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the great novelists, and a man of tremendous insight into human
           psychology, refused the Nobel prize. He said, "I have received enough reward while I was creating
           my work. A Nobel prize cannot add anything to it -- on the contrary, it pulls me down. It is good for
           amateurs who are in search of recognition; I am old enough, and I have enjoyed enough. I have loved
           whatever I have done. It was its own reward, and I don't want any other reward, because nothing can
           be better than that which I have already received." And he was right. But the right people are so few
           in the world, and the world is full of wrong people living in traps.
               Why should you bother about recognition? Bothering about recognition has meaning only if you
           don't love your work; then it is meaningful, then it seems to substitute. You hate the work, you don't
           like it, but you are doing it because there will be recognition; you will be appreciated, accepted.
           Rather than thinking about recognition, reconsider your work. Do you love it? -- then that is the end.
           If you do not love it -- then change it!
               The parents, the teachers are always reinforcing that you should be recognized, you should be
           accepted. This is a very cunning strategy to keep people under control.
               I was told again and again in my university, "You should stop doing these things... you go on
           asking questions which you know perfectly well cannot be answered, and which put the professor in
           an embarrassing situation. You have to stop it; otherwise these people will take revenge. They have
           power -- they can fail you."
               I said, "I don't bother about it. I am enjoying right now asking questions and making them feel
           ignorant. They are not courageous enough simply to say, `I do not know.' Then there would be no
           embarrassment. But they want to pretend that they know everything. I am enjoying it; my
           intelligence is being sharpened. Who cares about examinations? They can fail me only when I appear
           in the examinations -- who is going to appear? If they have that idea that they can fail me, I will not
           enter the examinations, and I will remain in the same class. They will have to pass me just out of fear
           that again for one year they will have to face me!"
               And they all passed me, and helped me to pass, because they wanted to get rid of me. In their
           eyes I was also destroying other students, because other students started questioning things which
           have been accepted for centuries without any question.
               While I was teaching in the university, the same thing came about from a different angle. Now I
           was asking the students questions to bring to their attention that all the knowledge that they have
           gathered is borrowed, and they know nothing. I told them that I don't care about their degrees, I care
           about their authentic experience -- and they don't have any. They are simply repeating books which
           are out of date; long ago they have been proved wrong. Now the authorities of the university were
           threatening me, "If you continue in this way, harassing students, you will be thrown out of the
           university."
               I said, "This is strange -- I was a student and I could not ask questions to the professors; now I
           am a professor and I cannot ask questions to the students! So what function is this university
           fulfilling? It should be a place where questions are asked, quests begin. Answers have to be found
           not in the books but in life and in existence."
               I said, "You can throw me out of the university, but remember, these same students, because of
           whom you are throwing me out of the university, will burn down the whole university." I told the
           vice-chancellor, "You should come and see my class."
               He could not believe it -- in my class there were at least two hundred students... and there were
           no spaces, so they were sitting anywhere they could find -- on the windows, on the floor. He said,
           "What is happening, because you have only ten students?"
               I said, "These people come to listen. They dropped their classes; they love to be here. This class
           is a dialogue. I am not superior to them, and I cannot refuse anybody who comes to my class.
           Whether he is my student or not, it does not matter; if he comes to listen to me, he is my student. In
           fact you should allow me to have the auditorium. These classrooms are too small for me."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He said, "Auditorium? You mean the whole university to gather in the auditorium? Then what
           will the other professors be doing?"
                I said, "That is for them to think out. They can go and hang themselves! They should have done
           it long before. Seeing that their students are not going to listen to them was enough indication."
                The professors were angry, the authorities were angry. Finally they had to give me the
           auditorium -- but very reluctantly, because the students were forcing them. But they said, "This is
           strange, students who have nothing to do with philosophy, religion or psychology, why should they
           go there?"
                Many students told the vice-chancellor, "We love it. We never knew that philosophy, religion,
           psychology can be so interesting, so intriguing; otherwise we would have joined them. We thought
           that these are dry subjects; only very bookish kind of people join these subjects. We have never seen
           any juicy people joining the subjects. But this man has made the subjects so significant that it seems
           that even if we fail in our own subjects, it does not matter. What we are doing is so right in itself, and
           we are so clear about it, that there is no question of changing it."
                Against recognition, against acceptance, against degrees... but finally I had to leave the
           university, not because of their threats but because I recognized that if thousands of students can be
           helped by me, it is a wastage. I can help millions of people outside in the world. Why should I go on
           remaining attached to a small university? The whole world can be my university.
           And you can see: I have been condemned.
           That is the only recognition I have received.
                I have been in every way misrepresented. Everything that can be said against a man has been
           said against me; everything that can be done against a man has been done against me. Do you think
           this is recognition? But I love my work. I love it so much that I don't call it work even; I simply call
           it my joy.
                And everybody who was in some way elder to me, well-recognized, has told me, "What you are
           doing is not going to give you any respectability in the world."
                But I said, "I have never asked for it, and I don't see what I will do with respectability. I cannot
           eat it, I cannot drink it."
                Learn one basic thing: Do whatever you want to do, love to do, and never ask for recognition.
           That is begging. Why should one ask for recognition? Why should one hanker for acceptance?
                Deep down in yourself, look. Perhaps you don't like what you are doing, perhaps you are afraid
           that you are on the wrong track. Acceptance will help you feel that you are right. Recognition will
           make you feel that you are going towards the right goal.
                The question is of your own inner feelings; it has nothing to do with the outside world. And why
           depend on others? All these things depend on others -- you yourself are becoming dependent.
                I will not accept any Nobel prize. All this condemnation from all the nations around the world,
           from all the religions, is more valuable to me. Accepting the Nobel prize means I am becoming
           dependent -- now I will not be proud of myself but proud of the Nobel prize. Right now I can only be
           proud of myself; there is nothing else I can be proud of.
                This way you become an individual. And to be an individual living in total freedom, on your own
           feet, drinking from your own sources, is what makes a man really centered, rooted. That is the
           beginning of his ultimate flowering.
                These so-called recognized people, honored people, are full of rubbish and nothing else. But they
           are full of the rubbish which the society wants them to be filled with -- and the society compensates
           them by giving them rewards.
                Any man who has any sense of his own individuality lives by his own love, by his own work,
           without caring at all what others think of it. The more valuable your work is, the less is the
           possibility of getting any respectability for it. And if your work is the work of a genius then you are
           not going to see any respect in your life. You will be condemned in your life... then, after two or
           three centuries, statues of you will be made, your books will be respected -- because it takes almost
           two or three centuries for humanity to pick up that much intelligence that a genius has today. The
           gap is vast.
                Being respected by idiots you have to behave according to their manners, their expectations. To
           be respected by this sick humanity you have to be more sick than they are. Then they will respect
           you. But what will you gain? You will lose your soul and you will gain nothing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WOULD YOU TALK TO US ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE AND TRUST? IT SEEMS
              TO ME THAT TRUST IS OF GREATER SIGNIFICANCE IN OUR RELATIONSHIP TO YOU THAN
              LOVE. WHEN I SAY, "OSHO, I LOVE YOU," I'M SPEAKING OF A FEELING THAT IS COLORED
              AND DEFINED BY OTHER LOVE RELATIONSHIPS, A FEELING THAT IS LIMITED BY MY STATE
              OF UNENLIGHTENMENT. I SPEAK AS IF I HAVE SOME COMPREHENSION OF WHAT MY LOVE
              TOWARDS YOU IMPLIES.
              WHEN I SAY, "OSHO, I TRUST YOU," I AM SAYING, "DO WITH ME WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE
              DONE. LEAD ME INTO UNIMAGINED AND UNIMAGINABLE PLACES: I AM YOURS."
              TRUST SEEMS TO EMBRACE THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT IS AVAILABLE EVEN TO THINGS
              BEYOND ITS COMPREHENSION. LOVE, UNENLIGHTENED LOVE, ALSO SEEMS OUTGOING,
              SOMEWHAT AGGRESSIVE; THE "I" VERY CONSCIOUS OF ITSELF AS AN ENTITY. WHILE
              TRUST -- EVEN IN ITS UNENLIGHTENED FORM -- SEEMS TO HAVE A QUALITY OF UTTER
              LET-GO IN IT. THE "I" IS ONLY ATTACHED TO IT FOR LINGUISTICS, BECAUSE THE TRUSTING
              PERSON ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE HIMSELF MAY DISAPPEAR.


                It is Maneesha's question.
           It is not a question at all. She has answered it herself, and beautifully. She has said exactly what I
           would have said. And that's what I would like for each of you, by and by: to come to an
           understanding that when you ask a question, you can answer it exactly the way I will be answering
           it.
                Trust is certainly a higher value than love. In trust, love is implied; but in love, trust is not
           implied. When you say, "I trust in you, Osho" it is understood that you love. But when you say you
           love, trust has nothing to do with it. In fact your love is very suspicious, very untrusting, very much
           afraid, always on guard, watching the person you love.
                Lovers become almost detectives. They are spying on each other. Love is beautiful if it comes as
           a part of trust. And it always comes as a part of trust, because trust cannot be without love. But love
           cannot be without trust, and a love without trust is ugly; deep down it has all kinds of jealousies,
           suspicions, distrust.
                It is also true that when you say, "I love you," it is not a surrender, it is not a readiness to be
           dissolved. It is not a readiness to be taken to unknown and unknowable spaces. When you say, "I
           love you," you stand equal, and there is a certain aggressive quality in it. That's why from the very
           beginnings of humanity everywhere, and in every time, the woman has not taken the initiative to say
           "I love you." She has waited for the man to say, "I love you" -- because the heart of the woman feels
           that aggressiveness. But man has a harder heart; he does not feel that aggressiveness -- in fact he
           enjoys it.
                But when you say, "I trust you," it is a deep surrender, an openness, a receptivity, a declaration to
           yourself and to the universe that, "Now if this man takes me even to the hell, it is okay with me: I
           trust him. If it looks like hell to me, it must be a fault of my vision. He cannot take me to hell."
                In trust you will always find faults with yourself; in love you will always find faults with the one
           you are in love with. In trust you are always, without saying it, in a state of apology: "I am ignorant.
           I am sleepy, unconscious. There is a possibility of saying something wrong, doing something wrong,
           so be merciful towards me, have compassion on me." Trust implies so much. It is such a treasure.
                When you say, "I love you," there is a subtle current of possessiveness. Without being said, it is
           understood, "Now you are my possession, nobody else should love you."
                In trust there is no question of possessing the person you trust. On the contrary, you are saying,
           "Please possess me. Destroy me as an ego. Help me to disappear and melt in you, so there is no
           resistance in going with you."
           Love is a constant struggle, a fight; it demands.
                "I love you," means, "You have to love me too. In fact, I love you only because I want you to
           love me." It is a simple bargain; hence the fear: "You should not love anybody else. Nobody should
           love you, because I don't want anybody to be partners in my love, to be sharers in my love."
                The unconscious mind of man goes on thinking as if love is a quantity, that there is a certain
           quantity of love. If I love you, then you should possess the whole quantity. If I love a few other
           people, then the quantity will be distributed, you will not get the whole of it; hence the jealousy, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spying, the fighting, the nagging. And all that is ugly goes on behind a beautiful word, love.
                In trust there is no question of any fighting. It is really a surrender. When you say, "Osho, I trust
           in you," it means, "From this moment my fight with you stops. Now I am yours; you can do
           whatever you want. You can kill me, but I will not resist because I am no longer there -- I have given
           myself to you. Now it is up to you: whatsoever you feel right, do it."
                And trust is not competitive; hence there is no jealousy. You can trust me, millions of people can
           trust me. In fact, the more people will trust me, the more you will be happy. You will be rejoicing
           that so many people are trusting... not so with love.
                But in trust, all that is beautiful in love is implied.
                The moment you say, "I trust in you, Osho," you have also said, "I love you." But now, because
           of the trust, the "I" is no longer existent, only love. And love without the ego creates no problems:
           "Many people can love you, and the more people love you, the more I will be happy." But this is
           because of trust.
                Trust is perhaps the most beautiful word in the human language. And trust is so close to truth that
           if it is total, then this very moment your trust becomes a revelation, a revolution.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THIS WEEKEND THERE IS A BIG SANNYASIN FESTIVAL IN FLORENCE WITH DANCE AND
              MEDITATION AND MUSIC. IS YOUR HEART WITH ALL THESE THOUSANDS OF SANNYASINS?


               In the first place, there are not going to be thousands of sannyasins there, for the simple reason
           that the people who are organizing it are no longer with me. They are trying to cheat the sannyasins.
           Only three hundred sannyasins have booked for it, and the organizers are declaring it to be the first
           world festival since the last one in the commune in Oregon, America.
               But my name is not mentioned in it. It is not my festival. It is those few people, those few
           therapists, who want to exploit the sannyasins. But they are in trouble, because three hundred
           sannyasins coming will only cover the expenses -- they were hoping thousands would come. And
           also, the three hundred are coming because they are not aware that these people have started working
           against me.
               My heart will be with my people wherever they are. I will be with my sannyasins -- and I have to
           be, particularly to show to them that this is not my festival, that they have been deceived, that the
           people on the stage have ugly ideas. They are all pretending to be masters, that they have become
           enlightened.
               But the festival is going to be a fiasco, because on the stage there is not going to be my presence
           but my utter absence. I will be present in the audience.... These three hundred people who are
           coming are going to ask, "By what right have you called the sannyasins for a world festival when
           you yourself are no longer a sannyasin? On whose authority?" But it is a good chance for sannyasins
           to see who are the people in the role of Judas, selling their own master for thirty pieces of silver.
               As far as sannyasins are concerned, I am always with them. In this so-called world festival I will
           be more strongly there in the audience, to make them feel that the stage is empty, that the stage is
           dark and there is no light. The people who are pretending are going to be exposed, and they will
           never try anything like this again.
               So inform all your friends: Go there and ask the people on the stage, "On what authority have
           you called the sannyasins? You are not a sannyasin. You are not a master, you are not enlightened,
           and you had no guts ever to say this in the commune. But now, because Osho is not present, you are
           trying to play the role of an enlightened master."
               In fact, I would have loved to go there and suddenly walk onto the stage and see what happens to
           those therapists, but I cannot enter Italy. The government is stubborn, although sixty-five very
           eminent people from different professions, known worldwide, have protested that there is no reason
           why I should be prevented.
               But the government is simply silent, because the pope is heavy and the politicians are beggars.
           They are not afraid of intellectuals, painters, musicians, sculptors, architects, writers -- they are not
           afraid of these people. They are afraid of the pope, because he holds the votes. But more protests are
           going to be presented to the government, and really eminent people are showing a tremendous
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           interest in why a single individual who has done no harm to the country, who has never been in the
           country, should be prevented.
               So I will not be able to go there. But my presence will be with my sannyasins, wherever they are.
           And you have to write to all your friends in Italy: "Make it clear to these people that you cannot
           exploit sannyasins. If you are no longer sannyasins, then simply get out from here. This is a festival
           of sannyasins -- we will manage it. Leave the stage! The empty stage is far better than a stage full of
           those who have betrayed."


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE MOST PAINFUL EXPERIENCE IN THE WORLD IS TO BE ANGRY WITH YOU. THIS IS NOT A
              QUESTION -- ONLY AN EXPRESSION OF SHEER JOY AT FEELING FREE AGAIN TO LOVE YOU.


               That's right! It must be from Chetana! It is one of the most difficult things, to be angry with me.
               You can ask Vivek, because she suffers many times for my sake, for my safety. And I can
           understand that if she becomes angry it is not against me. But then she suffers so much because of
           anger.
               You love me so much -- you cannot conceive of being angry with me. But once in a while, just a
           taste is good. That will prevent you for the future from going into such spaces.
               Of course for Vivek it is difficult. Now she has been continuously sad and worried because I
           have been continuously mistreated by the police, jail authorities, governments, deported from one
           place to another. And she knows that she cannot do anything to prevent it. This whole sadness
           sometimes turns into anger. Now she cannot even be angry with those governments; she can only be
           angry with me. But then to be angry with me is really difficult. It is almost an impossible task! And
           those who have to pass through it know its hell.
               But one thing is good about it -- there is always something good, even in the worst situation --
           that nothing remains forever. You come out of it, and then you feel a tremendous freedom and joy
           and understanding.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                  Chapter #33
                               Chapter title: Prayer -- your psychological armor
           28 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604285
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO33
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER DAY WHEN YOU WERE SPEAKING ABOUT COMING CLOSER TO YOU, I WAS
              AWARE THAT I STILL FEEL A THIN ARMOR AROUND ME THAT KEEPS ME FROM COMING
              CLOSER. THIS ARMOR IS INCONGRUOUS WITH MY OPENNESS TO YOU. I DON'T KNOW
              WHERE IT IS COMING FROM.
              PLEASE HELP ME TO MELT IT AWAY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Everybody has that kind of armor.
           There are reasons for it. First, the child is born so utterly helpless into a world he knows nothing of.
           Naturally he is afraid of the unknown that faces him. He has not yet forgotten those nine months of
           absolute security, safety, when there was no problem, no responsibility, no worry for tomorrow.
                To us, those are nine months, but to the child it is eternity. He knows nothing of the calendar, he
           knows nothing of minutes, hours, days, months. He has lived an eternity in absolute safety and
           security, without any responsibility, and then suddenly he is thrown into a world unknown, where he
           is dependent for everything on others. It is natural that he will feel afraid. Everybody is bigger and
           more powerful, and he cannot live without the help of others. He knows he is dependent; he has lost
           his independence, his freedom. And small incidents may give him some taste of the reality he is
           going to face in the future.
                Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by Nelson, but in fact the credit should not go to Nelson.
           Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by a small incident in his childhood. Now history does not look at
           things in this way, but to me it is absolutely clear.
                When he was just six months old, a wild cat jumped on him. The maidservant who was looking
           after him had gone for something in the house; he was in the garden in the early morning sun and the
           fresh air, lying down, and the wild cat jumped on him. It didn't harm him -- perhaps it was just being
           playful -- but to the child's mind it was almost death. Since then, he was not afraid of tigers or lions;
           he could have fought a lion without any arms, with no fear. But a cat? -- that was a different affair.
           He was absolutely helpless. Seeing a cat he was almost frozen; he became again a six-month-old
           small child, with no defense, with no capacities to fight. In those small child's eyes that cat must
           have looked very big -- it was a wild cat. The cat may have looked into the eyes of the child.
                Something in his psyche became so much impressed by the incident that Nelson exploited it.
           Nelson was no comparison to Napoleon, and Napoleon was never defeated in his life; this was his
           first and last defeat. And he would not have been defeated, but Nelson had brought seventy cats at
           the front of the army.
                The moment Napoleon saw those seventy wild cats his mind stopped functioning. His generals
           could not understand what had happened. He was no longer the same great warrior; he was almost
           frozen with fear, trembling. He had never allowed any of his generals to arrange the army, but today
           he said, with tears in his eyes, "I am incapable of thinking -- you arrange the army. I will be here, but
           I am incapable of fighting. Something has gone wrong for me."
                He was removed, but without Napoleon his army was not capable of fighting Nelson, and seeing
           the situation of Napoleon, everybody in his army became a little afraid: something very strange was
           happening.
                A child is weak, vulnerable, insecure. Autonomously he starts creating an armor, a protection, in
           different ways. For example, he has to sleep alone. It is dark and he is afraid, but he has his teddy
           bear, and he believes that he is not alone -- his friend is with him. You will see children dragging
           their teddy bears at airports, at railway stations. Do you think it is just a toy? To you it is, but to the
           child it is a friend. And a friend when nobody else is helpful -- in the darkness of the night, alone in
           the bed, still he is with him.
                He will create psychological teddy bears. And it is to be reminded to you that although a
           grown-up man may think that he has no teddy bears, he is wrong. What is his God? Just a teddy bear.
           Out of his childhood fear, man has created a father figure who knows all, who is all-powerful, who is
           everywhere present; if you have enough faith in him he will protect you. But the very idea of
           protection, the very idea that a protector is needed, is childish. Then you learn prayer -- these are just
           parts of your psychological armor. Prayer is to remind God that you are here, alone in the night.
                In my childhood I was always wondering... I loved the river, which was just close by, just two
           minutes walk from my house. Hundreds of people used to take a bath there and I was always
           wondering... In summer when they take a dip in the river they don't repeat the name of God -- "Hare
           Krishna, Hare Rama" -- no. But in cold winter they repeat, "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama." They take a
           quick dip, repeating, "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama."
                I was wondering, does the season make a difference? I used to ask my parents, "If these are
           devotees of `Hare Krishna, Hare Rama,' then summer is as good as winter."
                But I don't think that it is God or prayer or religion; it is simply the cold! They are creating an
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           armor with "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama." They are diverting their minds. It is too cold, and a
           diversion is needed -- and it helps. In summer there is no need; they simply forget all about what
           they have been doing the whole winter.
               Our prayers, our chantings, our mantras, our scriptures, our gods, our priests, are all part of our
           psychological armor. It is very subtle. A Christian believes that he will be saved -- nobody else. Now
           that is his defense arrangement. Everybody is going to fall into hell except him, because he is a
           Christian. But every religion believes in the same way that only they will be saved.
               It is not a question of religion. It is a question of fear and being saved from fear, so it is natural in
           a way. But at a certain point of your maturity, intelligence demands that it should be dropped. It was
           good when you were a child, but one day you have to leave your teddy bear, just the same as one day
           you have to leave your God, just the same as one day you have to leave your Christianity, your
           Hinduism. Finally, the day you drop all your armor means you have dropped living out of fear.
               And what kind of living can be out of fear? Once the armor is dropped you can live out of love,
           you can live in a mature way. The fully matured man has no fear, no defense; he is psychologically
           completely open and vulnerable.
               At one point the armor may be a necessity -- perhaps it is. But as you grow, if you are not only
           growing old but also growing up, growing in maturity, then you will start seeing what you are
           carrying with you. Why do you believe in God? One day you have to see for yourself that you have
           not seen God, you haven't had any contact with God, and to believe in God is to live a lie: you are
           not being sincere.
               What kind of religion can there be when there is no sincerity, no authenticity? You cannot even
           give reasons for your beliefs, and still you go on clinging to them.
           Look closely and you will find fear behind.
               A mature person should disconnect himself from anything that is connected with fear. That's how
           maturity comes.
               Just watch all your acts, all your beliefs, and find out whether they are based in reality, in
           experience, or based in fear. And anything based in fear has to be dropped immediately, without a
           second thought. It is your armor. I cannot melt it. I can simply show you how you can drop it.
               It is not a simple thing; there are many things around it.... In India there are so many temples.
           Many people don't have houses, but there are so many gods -- thirty-three million gods -- and they
           all need their temples. In some places, like Varanasi, you will find two houses then one temple, three
           houses then another temple... the whole city is a city of temples. In Khajuraho, which is a ruined
           city, still there are one hundred temples, and hundreds of other temples are in ruins. Once it must
           have been a big city, but looking at the temples, I could not figure out where men were living,
           because the whole city seems to be composed of temples and temples. There seems to be no space.
               I used to go for a morning walk in Jabalpur, in a silent street, and one man used to follow me --
           because we were the only two who used to go for a walk in the morning. His habit was to pay respect
           to every god on the road, so this temple will come and he will pay respect, and that temple will come
           and he will pay his respect.
               I told him, "Just listen, if you have to come with me then you cannot continue this stupidity;
           otherwise you are free -- you can do it, but I cannot wait at every temple. It looks embarrassing: you
           are doing this idiotic act and I am standing by your side!"
               But he loved me. He said, "I also think that it is useless. Nobody else does it, but my father used
           to do it, and because of him it has become almost a heritage: I am doing it, my children are doing it.
           And now there is great fear... my father has left it with me, perhaps his father had left it with him.
           The fear is that if you pass the temple of any god without paying respect, he may be angry at you.
           And gods are very revengeful; they are not going to leave you alone. You will suffer. So the fear is,
           why unnecessarily make enemies, powerful enemies against whom there is no other defense? It is
           better to pay respect -- it costs nothing."
               I said, "Then you can do it, but you cannot come with me."
               And he loved to come with me, so he said, "Tomorrow I will try -- just give me one chance,
           because I can see that you don't pay any respect, and nobody takes any revenge. Nobody else is
           paying respect -- thousands of people are passing and only I am... It seems all the gods are waiting
           for me to pay respect, otherwise I will suffer revenge. They are not concerned with anybody else."
               I said, "That's what I am saying -- they are not there. There is nobody in the temple; all temples
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are empty. There are no gods and there is no need to be afraid. You come with me, but tomorrow this
           habit has to be stopped; otherwise our friendship for this morning walk is at an end."
                He said, "Just one day..." He tried hard, and I could see how psychological chains exist. He had
           promised me, and I was with him so he could not deceive me. On one side was the god... and he was
           caught between the two sides. I could see his feet stopping; I could see his hands getting ready to pay
           respect, but seeing me he would drop his hands.
                It took almost double time that day, because he was stopping... almost an automatic break. And I
           had to stop and look at him severely, so he would say, "Okay, I will not do it. But are you certain
           there is no god?"
                I said, "You just forget all about gods. We have come for a morning walk, and this continuous
           stopping... And there are so many temples; I am fed up!"
                But you will be surprised. In the evening he came to see me. He was looking very happy. He
           said, "Do you know what? I had to go another time. When I left you I went again to pay respect
           because I was so disturbed that so many gods would be angry. And I am a poor man, how I am
           going...? But now I am feeling at ease." So he said, "That's perfectly good: with you I will come and
           will not pay respect, but I can go twice -- the second time just to pay respect to the gods."
                I said, "It seems you are incurable. You see me every day with you -- nobody is being angry,
           nobody is taking any revenge. You see thousands of people passing by."
                He said, "I see everything, but what am I to do with my own mind?"
                I said, "Then it is better you go one time and pay respect, and I will stop going on that street. I
           will go on another street, because I will not force you to go twice, wasting your time."
                When people are psychologically in such a bondage they always find reasons. One day he came
           to me and told me, "Now I go walking alone, without you, the whole joy of the morning walk is
           gone. And I know you will not come with me unless I leave these gods; I have to choose. So today I
           tried it -- perhaps you are right! So I tried it on my own: I didn't pay any respect. And when I came
           home my mother was dead. Now it is absolutely certain that I angered so many gods."
                But I said, "Everybody's mother is going to die. Do you think it is because the gods are angry
           that mothers die? and that only your mother is special? Everybody's father is going to die, everybody
           is going to fall sick, everybody is going to have accidents!"
                But he said, "I cannot think of anything... when I had gone for the walk she was perfectly okay
           and when I came back she was dead. The doctors say she had a heart attack, but I know that really I
           have killed her by not paying respects."
                I said, "If you had not paid respect, you should have died from a heart attack, not your mother.
           Can't you see a simple thing -- that your mother has nothing to do with it."
                But the psychological conditioning makes you almost blind. He said to me, "This is a warning to
           me, `Look, this time we are taking your mother, next time you are gone!' They have given me an
           opportunity, a chance -- a chance because I have always been respectful. They are being kind
           towards me, but now I am not going to listen to you."
                Your psychological armor cannot be taken away from you. You will fight for it. Only you can do
           something to drop it, and that is to look at each and every part of it. If it is based in fear, then drop it.
           If it is based in reason, in experience, in understanding, then it is not something to be dropped, but
           something to be made part of your being. But you will not find a single thing in your armor which is
           based on experience. It is all fear, from A to Z.
                We go on living out of fear -- that's why we go on poisoning every other experience. We love
           somebody, but out of fear: it spoils, it poisons. We seek truth, but if the search is out of fear then you
           are not going to find it.
           Whatever you do, remember one thing:
                Out of fear you are not going to grow. You will only shrink and die.
           Fear is in the service of death.
                Mahavira is right: he makes fearlessness a fundamental of a fearless person. And I can
           understand what he means by fearlessness. He means dropping all armor. A fearless person has
           everything that life wants to give to you as a gift. Now there is no barrier. You will be showered with
           gifts, and whatever you do you will have a strength, a power, a certainty, a tremendous feeling of
           authority.
                A man living out of fear is always trembling inside. He is continuously on the point of going
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           insane, because life is big, and if you are continuously in fear... And there is every kind of fear. You
           can make a big list, and you will be surprised how many fears are there -- and still you are alive!
           There are infections all around, diseases, dangers, kidnaping, terrorists... and such a small life. And
           finally there is death, which you cannot avoid. Your whole life will become dark.
               Drop the fear! The fear was taken up by you in your childhood unconsciously; now consciously
           drop it and be mature. And then life can be a light which goes on deepening as you go on growing.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN DISCOURSE WHEN YOU SAY THINGS LIKE, "LIVE TOTALLY IN THE MOMENT," I ALWAYS
              THINK, "OF COURSE!... THAT'S IT! FROM NOW ON I AM ALWAYS GOING TO DO THAT." AND OF
              COURSE, A MOMENT LATER I HAVE FORGOTTEN ALREADY. IN EVERY DISCOURSE I DECIDE
              THE TIME HAS COME TO BE MORE MEDITATIVE, MORE RELIGIOUS, MORE LOVING, MORE
              AWARE -- AND I IMMEDIATELY FORGET.
              IS IT POSSIBLE THAT JUST BY SITTING WITH YOU, ONE OF THESE DAYS I WILL REALLY GET
              IT IN SPITE OF MYSELF?


                It is possible you may get it in spite of yourself. But your question is very significant. If you look
           at it, you can see what is going wrong. You listen to me talking about living totally, intensively...
           moment to moment, living now, living here and you say to yourself, "Of course, that is it! I am going
           to do it." It is not that later on you forget it; you have already forgotten it. By saying, "Of course! this
           is it," by deciding that you are going to do it, you have already postponed it for tomorrow; by
           deciding that you are going to live this way, you have already missed the point.
           You have missed the point now.
                You think that later on you find you have forgotten it just a moment afterwards. You are not
           forgetting it just a moment afterwards; you have not listened to it at all! Otherwise you would not
           say, "Of course! This is it!" You would simply understand it non-verbally. You would not verbalize
           it, because in verbalizing it you are missing the moment... the moment is a very small thing.
                Your mind is really deceiving you. Your mind is saying, "I have understood it, don't be worried.
           Of course, this is it! We are going to live this way." But when? The question was now, and your
           mind has already postponed it. The question was here, and the mind has already brought the future
           in. It is not that you forget later on; later on you only recognize that you have forgotten. But the truth
           is that you have not even understood, because if you understand it there is no possibility of forgetting
           it.
                A truth has a quality: understood, it is impossible to forget it. That's why if you are a man of truth
           you need not remember it, but if you are accustomed to lying then you need a very good memory,
           because then you have to remember continually what lie you had told this man yesterday, and you
           have to repeat the same lie -- because meanwhile you may have been lying to other people, about
           other things. A liar has to be very very alert, and if he is caught, then he has to be very logical,
           almost a sophist, so he can manage.
                One Sufi story is that Mulla Nasruddin was chosen by the Shah of Iran to go to the king of India
           as his messenger, to make a friendship between two great countries. All the other important people
           in the court of the Shah of Iran were very jealous. They were trying in every way to spoil
           Nasruddin's journey, to create in the mind of the king antagonism against Nasruddin, and they were
           spying on Nasruddin to find out what he was doing.
                What Nasruddin did was this: he went to the emperor of India, and before the whole court of the
           emperor he said, "Seeing you is a great privilege to me. My king, the Shah of Iran is just a young
           moon -- just two days old. You are a full moon."
                The emperor was certainly very much impressed -- that the ambassador of Iran is comparing him
           not with a two-day old moon, which is rarely visible for a few minutes, but with the full moon! He
           gave him many presents to give to his king and said, "Let him know that I am very much pleased
           with his messenger."
                But the spies of the Shah's court, the conspirators against Nasruddin, had reached the Shah's
           court before him. They told everyone that Nasruddin had insulted the Shah of Iran, calling him just a
           young moon, two days old, and had compared him with the emperor of India by saying that the
           emperor of India is a full moon, perfect in its glory!
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Naturally the Shah of Iran was very much offended. He said, "Let that Nasruddin come! I used to
           think that he is a wise man, but he seems to be very cunning." Nasruddin came with big, valuable
           presents, but the Shah was angry. He said, "I don't want any presents. First you have to give the
           explanation to me: is it right that you compared me with the emperor, saying that I am just a two-day
           old moon, and he is as the perfect full moon?"
                Nasruddin said, "Yes, and the emperor is a fool! He did not understand my meaning."
           The Shah said, "What is your meaning?"
                He said, "My meaning is that the full moon is on its deathbed, from tomorrow it will start
           declining. The two-day old moon is on the increase: tomorrow it will be bigger, the day after
           tomorrow it will be even bigger! So my Shah of Iran is expanding, becoming bigger and bigger. The
           emperor does not have any future -- my Shah has a future; he has only past, and his future is death."
                The Shah of Iran was very impressed. He gave all the presents that were given by the emperor of
           India for him to Nasruddin, and he gave many more presents to Nasruddin, and told him, "You are
           really a wise man." And the whole court was silent, seeing that the whole thing had changed
           completely: "This Nasruddin is really a strange fellow; we had never thought that he would interpret
           it in such a way."
                That night they went to see him, because now he had become the most important man in the
           court, second only to the Shah, and they all praised him. He said, "Don't be bothered -- I am just an
           incurable liar! Whatever the situation is, I manage somehow to interpret it in such a way that it
           appeals to the party concerned: both the India emperor and the Shah of Iran are idiots! And I am just
           an incurable liar. I don't mean anything!"
                Truth has a quality, it has a validity which is intrinsic. You need not prove it; its experience is its
           proof. No other logic is needed.
                So just look into your acts, into your thoughts, into your feelings: you will find the armor
           everywhere. Wherever you see fear, you have created it. It was needed at one time -- now it is no
           longer needed. A simple understanding that it is no longer needed... now it is a barrier, a hindrance, a
           burden. If you find something truthful, it will have its own validity. But in the armor you will not
           find anything that has any connection with truth. The whole armor is made of fear -- layers and
           layers of fear.
                The woodcutters and the scientists who work with wood count the age of the tree from the layers
           of the bark. When you cut a tree you will see layers of the bark on the trunk. Each year the tree
           gathers one layer -- that's how they manage to know how old the tree is. There are trees which are
           four thousand years old; they have four thousand layers.
                Your armor has also as many layers as you have lived. Not one every year; perhaps one, two,
           three -- it depends on conditions: what kind of upbringing, what kind of education, what kind of
           people you have lived with. But each year you are collecting layers, and the armor goes on becoming
           thicker and does not allow you to touch life. There is such a gap between you and life.
                You are carrying an imprisonment around yourself. But because you yourself have created it, you
           are capable of dropping it any moment... this very moment. But don't postpone, don't say, "I will do
           it tomorrow." Tomorrow never comes. And when I am saying, "Do it..."in fact doing it is not needed;
           just seeing is enough. If you have seen it, don't verbalize it: "This is it," because in verbalizing it you
           will miss -- the moment is gone. Without verbalization, just see it and it will evaporate. It has no
           substantiality. It is not something real. It is something unreal that you have created, and this goes on
           happening every day.
                I tell you to live intensely herenow, but the barrier which is there immediately shifts it into the
           future. You feel that you have understood it; right now it will shift it towards the future and give you
           the feeling of understanding. But next moment you will have forgotten it, because in the first place
           you had not understood it at all. Understood, it is never forgotten.
                My professors in the university were very angry with me because I would never take any notes,
           and every other student was taking notes. They would see me just sitting, and they would ask me,
           "Don't you want to take notes?"
                I said, "There is no need. I am trying to understand, and if I understand it, there is no need of any
           notes; the understanding will remain with me. Understanding becomes part of your blood, part of
           your bones, part of your marrow. These people who are taking notes are the ones who are not
           understanding. They are thinking that by taking notes they will be able to remember -- but what will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they remember? They have not understood in the first place. These notes will be dead. Perhaps they
           will be able to repeat these notes in the examination papers.
               "You are responsible -- because these people will take these notes into the examination, and then
           they will be caught. In fact you are responsible; you should have stopped them from taking notes. It
           is a simple logic: they are not understanding and they are trying to take notes. They can't do two
           things together. In the end, only the notes are in their hands and no understanding, and in the
           examination, what will they do? They will try to bring in the notes in a thousand different ways."
               People will write small notes on their hand, people will write on their clothes... and in India you
           wear a kurta, a very long robe, on the underside you can write big notes. Nobody can see it; only
           when you want to see it you can just turn it up and look at the note, and you are not carrying any
           notes or anything. And the people who are a dangerous type, and are known to be dangerous, will
           bring their copies with them, with a knife. They will put the knife on the table with the copy, and
           they will be copying from the copy before the teacher who is standing there. He knows that the man
           is dangerous and that the knife is symbolic, "If you prevent me or do anything wrong to me, I can do
           anything -- I can kill you." But who is responsible?
               "And you," I used to tell them, "you are angry at me, who is trying to understand?"
               In my own class, when I became a professor in my own turn, I prevented it completely... nobody
           could take notes. I said, "The mind can do only one thing at a time, so try to understand so that you
           need not sneak notes into the examination."
               First my students were very much puzzled. They said, "Every professor says, `Take notes, so you
           don't forget.'"
               I said, "The question of forgetting arises only when you have not understood. I am saying,
           `Understand, and don't worry about forgetting.' Anything understood is never forgotten, and anything
           not understood is bound to be forgotten."
               So that's what is happening.... I say, "Live now." You say, "This is it! Enough is enough, now I
           am going to live moment to moment." But why the decision?
               Just start! Whatever you are doing here... you are listening here, just listen. There is no need to
           verbalize it. The mind is a commentator -- it goes on commenting -- but if you try intensely to hear,
           the commentating mind will stop because it is a question of energy. You have a certain energy. If
           you stake the whole energy in listening, then this continuous commentary in the mind automatically
           stops. It has no more energy; you are not nourishing it.
               And yes, it is true: it is going to happen in spite of you. How long are you going to not listen to
           me? Just tired, one day you will say, "Let us listen!"


              BELOVED OSHO,
              GEORGE GURDJIEFF SAID, "BRAVO, AMERICA!" AFTER SEEING HOW INHUMANELY THE
              UNITED STATES TREATED YOU, I SAY, "TO HELL WITH AMERICA!"
              BELOVED MASTER, WHAT DO YOU SAY?


               I cannot say anything against Gurdjieff. I will still say, "Bravo, America!" for the simple reason
           that America has not mistreated me. The small group of bureaucrats who mistreated me are not
           America; they are mistreating America too. Don't say, "To hell with America!" say, "To hell with the
           American government!" Make it a clear distinction.
               America has not much knowledge about me. It was the American government's behavior,
           mistreatment, that made me known to every American. And wherever I went in those twelve days --
           I passed almost all over America -- I was greeted with love and respect by strangers. Everybody
           could see that the American government was behaving like a fascist government; everybody could
           see that this was religious persecution, that this was not democracy. Even amongst the bureaucrats
           who came in contact with me -- the jailers, the doctors, the nurses, the other attendants in the jail, the
           inmates -- there was not even a single exception.
               I was surprised, because those inmates had no way of knowing me. They had just known what
           was happening with me from the television -- small bits and pieces. But they were certain that I was
           being persecuted by the Christian fanatics and by the bureaucracy; that the government was afraid
           for some reasons and the church was afraid for some reasons. They simply wanted some excuse so I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           could not enter America, because they knew that if I was out of America my people, naturally, would
           disperse.
                But from the American people I experienced great love. The first jail I was in, so many telegrams
           and so many telephone calls... in the thousands. I asked the jailer, "You must be getting tired?"
                He said, "No, we have had to appoint three, four more people to receive phone calls, open
           telegrams."
                The first day somebody from Germany phoned and asked the jailer, "Perhaps Osho must be the
           first in your jail who is a man of international standing?"
                And the jailer said, "No, we have had cabinet ministers, leaders of political parties, and many
           celebrities."
                I had no idea what had happened, but as the second day came and flowers started coming... There
           were so many that in that jail, a big jail -- they had six hundred inmates or more -- they had no place
           to keep them. They had only one room empty, a big room, bigger than this room, and it was full of
           flowers.
                The jailer came to me, saying, "What to do with the flowers?"
                I said, "Send them to schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, sick people in the city -- wherever
           you feel, just send them, from me."
                He said, "One thing more, I am sorry and I want to apologize. I don't know the number of the
           man who called from Germany... you had come recently and I had no awareness of what kind of man
           you are. Now, in two days, I have seen that the whole world is interested in you. There is not a single
           country in the world from where we are not receiving calls and telegrams, and flowers. And from
           America everywhere people simply want to know why you have been arrested.
                "So I cannot phone that man and apologize to him, but I can say to you what I want to say to
           him: please forgive me. Those cabinet ministers and political leaders -- you don't belong to their
           category. Perhaps we will never have another man like you in this jail. These two days have been my
           life's most precious days."
                The jailer used to take me to the court everyday, and returning he would say, "It is sheer
           injustice. I have never seen such injustice. They can't prove a thing against you, and still they are not
           ready to give bail. This is unprecedented," he said, "in my whole life -- and I have been here for
           twenty years."
                On the street people were standing on both sides whenever I was coming to the court, going back
           from the court -- perhaps for hours, because they did not have any idea at what time I would be taken
           out -- shouting, showing two fingers for victory, throwing flowers on the police cars.
                No, America has not mistreated me. The government -- and that is a totally different thing....
                The politicians and the church conspired; both were in danger. And now they are trying to create
           the fear in all the other countries where they can have some pressure. Because they help the poor
           countries with money, the poor countries are under obligation, so whatever America says to them
           they have to follow. Their whole effort is not to let me settle again and create a commune, because
           that commune will be an answer that proves that all their accusations, allegations, are absolutely
           wrong.
                But as far as the people of that land are concerned, they are beautiful. And Gurdjieff was right.
                This government is not going to last long. They have already started doing suicidal acts. With the
           attack on Libya they have shown their real face. A small country like Libya, and a nuclear power
           like America -- there is no comparison... The only reason for attacking Libya is that the man who
           leads Libya, Kaddafi, is really a brave man, outspoken, and he says whatever is the truth. He is not a
           politician.
                And he said that Ronald Reagan is Adolf Hitler Number Two. This statement was the root cause
           for attacking Libya; all other things were not of any consideration. But he does not know that before
           attacking Libya he should attack me -- fortunately I don't have any land -- because I have
           immediately corrected Kaddafi: "You are wrong. Ronald Reagan is not Adolf Hitler Number Two;
           he is Adolf Hitler Number One."
                The poor Adolf Hitler of the second world war cannot be number one. He is now second, for the
           simple reason that Ronald Reagan has a million times more power than Adolf Hitler had. Now he is
           calling Kaddafi "the mad dog of the Middle East," calling him "the bad smell."
                Ronald Reagan and his government started dying the day they arrested me. It takes a little time.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Let them do a few more stupid things and let the American people understand what kind of a
           government they have got. It is not a democracy: it is not for the people, it is not of the people, it is
           not by the people.
               It is a fascist gang that is ruling America, and it will be good that the American people get rid of
           it; otherwise.... People naturally think the government and the so-called political leaders are the
           leaders of the people. That is not so.
               Just recently I have received news from Crete about a few incidents that happened after they
           arrested me. Eleven old people -- fifty to sixty years old -- just as I left the house with the police,
           reached the house and said, "This should not have happened without us. Why did you not inform us?
           We have our hunting guns, we would have come and shown those police people what it means to
           misbehave."
               One journalist had asked me, "Any message for the people who live here?"
               I said, "Just tell them to reach the airport in the night to show that they are with me -- not with
           the church and not with the government." There were three thousand people at the airport They had
           waited for hours to support me, and to say that what the police had done and what the government
           had done was not right. Fifty people met one sannyasin; they were immensely angry about what had
           happened and were asking, "What can we do?" Just poor people, simple people.... Another group of
           forty people met another sannyasin, and they were asking, "Show us... we want to do something.
           This thing should not be allowed to happen. And everything that Osho was saying was right, about
           the church; there was nothing wrong in it."
               These simple villagers understood that what I was saying about the church is true; nothing was
           wrong in it. And even when I had left Greece, people from Crete sent a delegation to the president
           saying, "This behavior of the police and the government has disgraced us."
               So always remember to make a differentiation between the government and the people. The
           government is not necessarily the representative of the people. In most cases it has cheated people,
           exploited people. It is not for them.
               I know... the question is from Milarepa. I can understand your anger. Every sannyasin would like
           to say, "To hell with America!" But just say, "To hell with the American government!"
               America is far bigger, far more important, and I still hope that the new man will be born in
           America.
               These governments come and go; the people remain. The people are the very soul. A country is
           not made of land, it is made of the people. In those twelve days in jail, moving from one jail to
           another, I came in contact with the common people and with the lowest of the low -- the criminals --
           and I have seen so much love in their hearts. Whenever I entered into a new jail I was received... I
           did not feel that it was a jail because the reception was so warm.
               Of course those people were behind bars, but they were shouting, "Osho, we know you, and you
           are right!" in the face of the jailer, the doctor and the other officials. They would line up, and
           whenever I reached my cell, soon inmates would start coming with fruits... somebody with milk,
           somebody with soap, somebody with a toothbrush, somebody with toothpaste. They would say,
           "These people will not give you anything. They want to torture you. But as we had heard just the day
           before that you will be brought here, we have been saving; all these things are fresh."
               These people are criminals, and Ronald Reagan is not a criminal?
               And he killed unnecessarily Kaddafi's daughter, bombed his three houses which are in the
           civilian area. He himself is a mad dog -- and he is calling Kaddafi a mad dog!
               I can understand your anger, but remember always to be careful to draw fine lines so that only
           the criminal is hit, not the simple, poor, innocent people.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                 Chapter #34
                              Chapter title: Rocks, the earth... they are all alive
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           29 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604290
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO34
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HEARD YOU SAY THAT IF A PERSON CAN REMEMBER HIS BIRTH AND BEING IN THE WOMB,
              THEN THE MEMORY OF HIS LAST DEATH MAY COME.I HAVE TRIED TO REMEMBER, BUT
              ONLY IMAGINATION IS THERE. I ALSO HEARD YOU SAY THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO
              REMEMBER BEYOND THREE TO FOUR YEARS OLD BECAUSE THE BABY HAS NO MIND.
              IS THERE A REMEMBRANCE THAT IS NOT OF THE MIND?


               There is no remembrance that is not of the mind, but you don't know the whole mind. When you
           are trying to remember, you are using only the conscious mind, and the conscious mind can go only
           up to the age of four. But below the conscious is the unconscious mind.
               Sometimes in your dreams you go deeper than the conscious mind can ever lead you. Many of
           your dreams are memories of your past lives, but you have no way to recognize that they are of a
           past life. So there is a special method which is something like hypnosis. It can be done by somebody
           else to you -- which is simpler because you can relax completely, and he can lead you deeper into the
           past life.
               In hypnosis or in Buddhist or Jaina terminology -- because they discovered the method first -- it
           is called jati-smaran: remembering the past lives. In hypnosis you don't hear anybody else except the
           person who has hypnotized you. He can talk to you, you can answer him, yet you will remain fast
           asleep, you will not come to the conscious mind. So only in hypnosis can your unconscious be
           communicated with, asked questions.
               This can be repeated again and again, and if the same fact comes up without exception, the same
           memory comes up, the same story comes up, then certainly it is not imagination.
               Another thing... Through hypnosis the other person can reach you, but not through your
           conscious mind -- because in whatever the conscious mind does there is an effort and tension, and
           that prevents the unconscious mind from surfacing. The conscious mind has to be completely relaxed
           so the unconscious can surface. In hypnosis it is better to begin with someone else. And it is such a
           simple method that anyone can do it -- it does not need any expertise. I will tell you about the
           method, how you can help each other.
               When you have become a good medium, so that you can slip very easily into the unconscious,
           then finally the unconscious can be told that you are able to reach your past lives. It can be given a
           certain symbol to avoid the conscious mind completely. For example, it can be told that if you
           repeat, "Om, om, om," three times, you will fall into hypnosis. Before using this mantra -- anything
           can be used, "One, two, three," it doesn't matter, the words are not significant -- before doing it, you
           have to tell your conscious mind, "Wake me up after ten minutes." The other person can also do the
           same, but it is easier for you because you are not doing anything. But once you have been able to go
           into deeper layers of your past life or past lives, the other person can tell the unconscious, "This is
           your mantra: one, two, three. And whenever I say it, you will fall into an unconscious state." But
           remember to tell the conscious to wake you; otherwise, who will wake you out of unconsciousness?
           It can become a coma.
               The unconscious mind is nine times bigger than the conscious; it has tremendous treasures, all
           the memories of your past. And below the unconscious there is the collective unconscious. One can
           descend into the collective unconscious also -- at first with somebody's help. That used to be the
           work of a mystery school -- that the master will take you slowly towards the unconscious and the
           collective unconscious. In your collective unconscious you have memories of your past lives as
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           animals, as birds.
               Below the collective unconscious is the cosmic unconscious. Slowly, slowly one can go deeper
           and deeper, and the cosmic unconscious has memories of your being trees, rosebushes, stones.
               So mind is not only that which you know; there is much to be discovered in your own mind. It is
           yours, it is there -- but not easily available. There are reasons why it is not easily available. Nature
           makes barriers, because it would confuse you if there were no barriers between the conscious, and
           the unconscious, and the collective unconscious, and the cosmic unconscious. Even this small mind
           -- the conscious mind -- is so confusing, so disturbing. If you knew all that you have lived for
           millennia, from the very beginning, naturally you would get in such a mess, in such a madness.
               For example, you love a woman. She may have been your mother in a past life, and if you
           remember it then you will be in trouble. But she may have been, in your collective unconscious, your
           murderer; then things become even more complicated. And those realities are as authentic as the
           realities of your life. You will get mixed up: how are you going to behave with this woman who is
           your wife, who was your mother, who was your murderer? Whatever you do with this woman will
           create guilt in you. You will not be at ease. That's the reason why nature goes on putting barriers
           between your past existences and allows you only this life's memories.
               The science of hypnosis has been condemned by all religions, and the reason is that if hypnotism
           becomes accepted as a scientific enquiry -- and once it is explored it has to be accepted, because it
           fulfills all the criteria of being a science -- then there will be trouble: Christians cannot say there is
           only one life, Mohammedans can't say there is only one life, Darwin can't say that man has evolved
           from the apes. It will depend on the research done through thousands of peoples' total minds, and
           what they say.
               Hindus believe that man's consciousness has evolved from the consciousness of cows -- that's
           why they call them "mother." And I think a cow being a mother looks more relevant than a monkey
           being a father. The Hindus are saying this through a certain research into the mind, which has been
           available for centuries in the East: how to go into past lives. And there has not been a single
           exception -- whenever you cross the border of the collective unconscious mind, you pass from the
           body of a cow, not from the body of a monkey.
               It is not a question of hypotheses. With Darwin it is only hypothetical, just a conjecture, and now
           he is being refuted, even by scientists. Now there are not many Darwinians; they are out of date.
               The latest research into evolution does not help Darwin and his theory. They say that for
           thousands of years we have not seen any monkey evolving into a man, and neither have we seen the
           reverse -- that a man reverses into a monkey. And Darwin could not provide the missing link --
           which he was asked for again and again his whole life; it was a nightmare for him! It cannot be just a
           jump from a monkey to a man: this moment you are a monkey and next moment you decide to be a
           man, and you become a man. There must be a missing link... not only a link, perhaps many links,
           many steps slowly, slowly, but they should be available.
               Darwin could not even find dead bodies that would have been a proof of a link. We have been
           searching for dead bodies and we have found one ninety thousand years old -- a human body in
           China. But it is still human; it is not a monkey. It was preserved by the snow. It is still human, as
           human as you are.
               But Hindus have a totally different approach. It is to be remembered that this is the only point on
           which all the three religions that were born in India agree: about everything else they have their own
           philosophy, but about reincarnation they all agree. And that is not just an accident, because all three
           religions were working on the same lines -- looking into the unconscious of man -- and they all
           found the same results. To call the cow mother... the whole world laughs at it, but I don't think
           anybody understands why Hindus call the cow mother. If they are right -- the cow has the qualities
           of a mother, and it is far better to be connected with the cows than with the monkeys.
               So don't try to remember. It is not a question of remembering. You cannot cross the barrier with
           the conscious mind; you can only imagine, and you will know that it is only imagination because it
           changes every time, so you know perfectly well that you are imagining. Go through a hypnotic
           process. And the hypnotic process is very simple -- the simplest.
               The mind, the conscious mind, has to be focused on something just for a few seconds -- for
           example, an electric light bulb. Don't have anything in the room so that the mind can wander here
           and there; just have a bare room with only one thing: an electric light which is on in the darkness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Lie down, be relaxed, and take the help of a person whom you trust. That is the most important
           thing, because the conscious mind will not relax unless there is trust. It will keep itself alert, because
           the man may do something, take you someplace, and you will not be aware of it. That's why I said
           hypnosis was part of a mystery school where there were masters whom people trusted, or there was
           one great master who helped you. You trusted him, and he said to you, "This man is going to take
           you into hypnosis. Your trust in me should be your trust in him too; I am choosing him." Or if it was
           possible for the master himself, if the school was small, then he would do it once in a while, just to
           show others what happens.
                The process is very simple. You have to lie down relaxed, the whole body relaxed. Looking
           inside the body starting from the toe, see if there is any tension. If there is any tension near the knee
           or near the stomach or anywhere, then relax it there. Bring that relaxation up to your head -- and
           keep your eyes focused on the light.
                And it is easy to recognize when you have come to the point where you are on the border of
           conscious and unconscious: your face changes; it starts looking sleepy, it loses the quality of
           awakening, and at that moment the master says, "Sleep is coming... deep sleep is coming... you are
           falling into a sleep which you have never fallen into before." And a moment comes when even if you
           try to keep your eyes open... You have been told that until your eyes close by themselves, in spite of
           yourself, go on keeping them open. That keeps the conscious mind engaged.
                Soon -- it takes two minutes, three minutes, at the most five minutes -- your eyes start drooping.
           That means you are just crossing the border. The master says, "You are falling, and I will count up to
           seven. With each number you will be going deeper." And he starts counting, "One..." and goes on
           repeating, "the sleep is becoming deeper. Two... the sleep is becoming deeper. Three..." And at seven
           he stops it. At seven he says, "You have fallen into deep unconsciousness. Now you will be available
           only to me; you will not hear anything else, anybody else. Now the only communication with the
           world is through me; you will be able to hear me, you will be able to answer me..."
                And the beauty of the unconscious is that it never lies, because it has never been part of
           civilization. It has never been educated, it has never been turned into a hypocrite; it is very simple,
           very innocent. It simply says whatsoever is the case. Then for a few seconds the master leaves you,
           so that you can settle into that state. And then he starts asking you where you are. Perhaps you are in
           the womb of your mother, perhaps you have been conceived, perhaps you are dying in a past life
           somewhere. And you will answer where you are. He asks, "Describe it in detail," and you will
           describe it in detail. This can be taped, recorded, so that when you come back you can listen to it.
                The process has to be repeated many times, because this is the proof: if it is imagination or dream
           it will go on changing every time you do it, but if it is a reality then nothing can be done about it.
           Each time you come to that place you will describe exactly what it is. And all that you say can be
           recorded, so that it can be compared later on when you are conscious. If you are saying the same
           thing again and again it is not a dream, it is not imagination; you are coming across a real memory.
           You are reliving it; it is not only remembered, but relived.
                Once you have succeeded in getting one life back, then with the same process you can go on
           deeper, into other lives. There will come a barrier where human lives stop and animal lives start: that
           means you have come to the collective unconscious.
                Now the master needs to put you in an even deeper unconsciousness, and that can be done in
           your unconscious state. The first thing was done when you were conscious; it brought you to the
           unconscious. The second step has to be done in the same way: "I will repeat seven times that you are
           falling deeper into the collective unconscious, and you will start falling." Giving a little rest, he can
           again ask where you are, and you may say, "I am a rosebush," or anything else that you have been.
           You relive it; you can make every detailed description. Again the barrier will come when you pass
           from animals, from plants, to what you call matter -- because matter is also consciousness, fast
           asleep.
                And that's the end of the journey in the lower depths of your mind. If this is completed, your
           consciousness will go on changing. With each new revelation your consciousness will become
           richer. And then a point comes -- when you have traveled all the way down backwards, downwards
           -- that you can move upwards from consciousness to superconsciousness until you reach to the
           cosmic consciousness. We are exactly in the middle. On both sides of the conscious there are three
           stages: below it is unconscious, collective unconscious and cosmic unconscious; above it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           superconscious, super-superconscious, and cosmic conscious.
                Our mind has seven worlds. To know the past, to know our background, is to know the whole
           history of consciousness and its evolution until this moment. But that makes it clear that this is not
           the last stage -- it cannot be. If there is so much behind you, there must be something ahead of you.
           So what Western psychology goes on doing is only working with one thing: unconsciousness, the
           first lower rung of the ladder. Eastern psychology has worked on all the seven.
                As you move from the conscious mind, hypnosis is the method. And hypnosis is not yet
           recognized by the scientists because they have not even tried it. It is very strange. Perhaps the reason
           is that science is a development of the West, and because the West has a Christian conditioning it
           simply denies that there is anything other than this life, so from the very beginning one is prejudiced
           -- why bother about hypnosis?
                A few people have dared and tried, but they were all condemned by the society -- badly. Mesmer
           tried it, but was condemned, and there was a tradition of women who Christianity condemned as
           witches. They were trying hypnosis, and they were closer to the truth than Christianity has ever been.
           But thousands and thousands of witches were burned alive; their whole tradition was completely
           erased, all their literature was burned. Only one copy of each book has been preserved in the
           Vatican.
                It is the duty of the U.N. to take over the library of the Vatican. It is underground; it has
           tremendous treasures that Christianity has destroyed. They are still afraid to bring those books out in
           the light because then the condemnation for Christianity will be immense, even from Christians,
           "What you were saying was not true, and those who said the truth were killed, burned."
                But they are keeping at least one copy in their vast library. Nobody is allowed to enter into that
           vast library; only when you become a cardinal are you allowed in the library, but by that time you
           are so much conditioned. Those books are written in a different way, particularly to avoid the
           attention of Christians. They have used parables, diagrams, and other things, as if they are not about
           religion, as if they are about something else.
                It is the duty of all the intelligentsia of the world to insist to the Vatican: "That library does not
           belong to you. You have done enough harm; now at least give that library to the U.N. and let
           scholars find out what beautiful literature you have destroyed. And it should be published, and made
           available to anybody who wants it."
                One of the things that got destroyed in this way was hypnosis -- the method, the science and the
           results. It is now simply a condemnatory word. If you love me, if you trust me, anybody can say you
           are just hypnotized. He does not know even the meaning of the word; he does not know its
           implications, but he is using it to condemn you. But really, to be hypnotized and to go into the darker
           realms of your being is the first step ingoing into the lighter realms of your being.
                You contain the whole evolution -- past, present, future. You have such an enormous being, and
           only a small window of the conscious mind is allowed... this is you.
           Your vastness is denied.
           Your universality is denied.
                So if you really want to remember, not only to remember but to relive, then you will have to use
           the method of hypnosis. I am going, as we settle somewhere, to start a section which will be totally
           devoted to hypnosis and its implications, and I want every sannyasin to go through it.
                I am reminded of two incidents... One is in Gautam Buddha's life, and one is in Vardhaman
           Mahavira's life. A man takes sannyas, becomes part of the community of Buddha, but finds it hard,
           difficult, arduous. He is sad, depressed, and thinks many times to leave it. One day Buddha called
           him and told him to sit in front of him and go into the method of jati-smaran -- that is, hypnosis.
                He had not yet tried it, so somebody gave him the instructions to go into past lives. And it was an
           amazing revelation: for almost five lives in the past he had taken sannyas and dropped it. That had
           become a routine of his consciousness. So Buddha said, "Now you are doing it again. It is up to you,
           but you have done it five times before. It is simply repetitive; you are wasting time. Either stop
           taking sannyas and do whatsoever you want, or be courageous; if you have taken it, then go into it
           this time. This should not be repeated. Five lives have been a waste."
                Looking at his own five lives... the same pattern, almost mechanical, the same wheel moving:
           first getting attracted to a great master, getting initiated with great enthusiasm, and then seeing the
           arduousness, the difficulties of transforming himself and escaping, renouncing sannyas itself. And he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           comes back to it again and again.
                Buddha said, "You can do it as long as you want. In your next life you will do it again. And for
           five lives nobody reminded you, because the masters you were working with were not masters of
           jati-smaran."
                The man remained. It changed his whole attitude: "This is stupid. If it is hard then it has to be
           faced. If it is a challenge then it has to be taken." And he became one of the enlightened disciples of
           Buddha.
                There is a similar story in Mahavira's life. A prince becomes enchanted with Mahavira's
           individuality, but he does not know that Mahavira's life is really arduous. Nobody has lived the way
           Mahavira has lived -- naked in the winter, in the hot sun, hungry for months, fasting, eating once in a
           while, barefooted, walking on the burning earth in the hot sun.
                He did not use shoes because shoes were made only of leather in those days, and to use shoes
           meant you were indirectly supporting the industry of violence, because the best leather comes when
           you kill young calves. If you want really perfect leather, then you have to take the leather from the
           calf while it is alive; you don't kill him first. First you take the leather, and in taking the leather of
           course he dies. That leather is the most soft and the best. Mahavira was absolutely against in any
           way supporting anything which is based on violence.
                This prince became -- and naturally, you can understand it -- the prince became impressed by the
           man, his integrity, his authority, his teaching. He was not aware that life with him is going to be
           tremendously hard -- and he had lived very luxuriously. But in a moment of enthusiasm he took
           sannyas and entered into Mahavira's commune.
                Now, ten thousand sannyasins used to move with Mahavira, and they were staying in a big
           caravanserai, and it was the routine that the elder ones -- that means those who had been longer in
           sannyas -- should have better places, and the others accordingly. This prince was just a one-day-old
           sannyasin, so in the night he got a place just near the door, the main door, where people left their
           shoes, umbrellas and other things. He was the son of a king, and by that door sleeping was
           impossible; people were continuously coming and going. When there are ten thousand sannyasins...
           He had never slept in such a situation, and he immediately thought, "This is not the life I would like.
           Next morning I will give my apology, and I will say, `This is not the life for me.'"
                But before he reached Mahavir, Mahavir reached him, and asked him to let himself be taken into
           jati-smaran -- and it was the same process. For three lives he had been doing the same thing: getting
           impressed by magnetic people, charismatic people, and then finding it difficult over small matters
           and leaving them. In all those three lives he could have become enlightened, because those three
           people were capable of triggering the process of enlightenment.
                Mahavira said, "You have missed three lives, and you are missing the fourth. You can decide.
           But you are a warrior, not only a prince. Don't emphasize that you are a prince and you have lived
           only in luxury; remember that you are a warrior and you have been fighting in wars. And there is
           nobody in this area who is a better swordsman, a better archer. Don't insult yourself, don't humiliate
           yourself. This is escape."
                And the man remained. But the factor that helped these two men to remain was their reliving
           their past experiences. It is of tremendous use, but in the West it is so much condemned that the
           condemnation has reached to the East too -- because now the East is just a parrot. Now the East is
           not the East it used to be; it is just a shadow of the West. All the Eastern scholars are produced by
           the West. They learn in Western seats of education -- in Paris, in London, in Oxford, in Cambridge,
           in Harvard.
                I have been continuously fighting, in many universities in India, that these scholars should not be
           called Eastern scholars because whatsoever they have learned is Western; even though it is about
           Indian philosophy, they have learned it in Oxford. This is ridiculous -- that to understand Indian
           philosophy you have to go to Oxford. These scholars are not Eastern in any way; their whole
           approach is Western. So there is no more East really, now it is all West. The East has become so
           interested in Western success, in materialism, in technology, that it has forgotten that it has also
           become successful in a different world -- the world of the inner -- and has reached the highest peaks
           of illumination.
                So don't try to remember, but take the help of someone whom you trust, who can hypnotize you.
                Soon, as existence allows me to settle somewhere, I will create people who can help everybody
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to go into the past, and experience and relive those moments. They will change your every attitude.
           They will make you aware that you are moving in a circle, and it is time to get out of it, because this
           is nonsense: each life you are doing the same thing, moving in the same circle. And you can go on
           doing it eternally -- nobody is going to prevent you -- unless you decide to jump out of this
           viciousness.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHILE TRAVELING IN GREECE WITH A GROUP OF SANNYASINS WE VISITED DELPHI, THE
              PLACE OF THE ANCIENT ORACLE, AND WHERE IT IS SAID PYTHAGORAS ONCE LIVED. WE
              ALL FELT A PEACEFUL HAPPINESS WHILE WALKING AROUND THE RUINS, AND IN THE END
              WE ALL GATHERED ON THE TOP OF THE STADIUM AND SAT SILENTLY WITH EACH OTHER.
              WHAT HAPPENED TO US? WHY DOES ONE HAVE SUCH DIFFERENT FEELINGS ABOUT
              DIFFERENT PLACES?


               People like Pythagoras, Socrates, Plotinus, Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu... the people
           of such state are continuously radiating -- not with any effort, but effortlessly and spontaneously.
           Their experience, just like a candle, radiates light; their consciousness has become a light. Their
           being has attained to a fragrance, to a flowering, and everything around them is going to catch it. For
           centuries it will continue to vibrate.
               I have not been to Delphi. I was thinking to go, but before being at Delphi I was arrested and
           thrown out of Greece. But Delphi was one of the places I would have liked to visit.
               In India I have visited a few places... The place where Gautam Buddha became enlightened is
           called Bodh Gaya. It is a small temple -- some follower made the temple as a memorial, by the side
           of the tree under which Buddha became enlightened. That tree still remembers something, and I
           came to know later on that the bodhi tree has a certain substance which no other tree has, and that is
           the substance which makes a man a genius. Only geniuses have that substance in their mind, and in
           the world of trees only the bodhi tree has that substance. Perhaps it is more perceptive, more
           receptive; it has a certain genius.
               Buddha remained under that tree for many years. The whole area is still fragrant, and just by the
           side of the tree is the place where he used to walk. When he used to get tired of sitting and
           meditating then he would walk and meditate, so that place is marked by marble stones. But sitting
           under the tree or walking on those marble stones, you can feel you are not in this world, that this
           place has something which no other place has. Perhaps the moment Buddha became enlightened
           something exploded in him and was caught by everything that could catch it. We used to think
           before... but it is not the case. Now it is well proved that trees are very sensitive, more sensitive than
           man -- their sensitivity just has a different level.
               One scientist was working on trees. He had put on the tree a certain mechanism, just like a
           cardiogram, that takes the graph of the feelings of the tree, and he was surprised that when the
           gardener came... He had told the gardener, "You go and cut one of the branches of the tree. I want to
           see the effect." But there was no need to cut the branch. As the gardener came with his axe, the graph
           was already going mad!
               The scientist said, "Don't do that -- the tree has already caught the idea that you are going to cut
           and hurt her." Later on he became more amazed, because when you cut one tree, all the other trees in
           the surrounding area, their graphs go mad. When the same gardener comes to water the tree, the
           graph remains perfectly balanced -- it becomes even more harmonious. It seems the tree is able to
           catch your thoughts, your ideas.
               Perhaps the same may be found about rocks, the earth, because they are all alive. Their life may
           be on a different level, but they are all alive -- and certainly they are more simple and more innocent.
           People have been keeping... In Tibet they have been keeping the bodies of enlightened people,
           because if the trees and the stones and the earth are impressed by the great experience, then certainly
           the body of the man, his bones, must be impressed -- they are closer.
               Perhaps Tibetans were the first to understand it: they have covered ninety-nine great masters'
           bodies with gold. That used to be the most sacred place in Tibet. It is just... If you have seen the
           picture of Potala, the palace of the Dalai Lama, it is just underneath it. Potala is high in the
           mountains, and underneath there are many caves. One cave is devoted only to those ninety-nine
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bodies.
                Why did they stop at ninety-nine? A strange figure! A hundred would have been more
           appropriate. They had to stop because the lineage of Dalai Lamas dropped from the height it used to
           be, and the country could not produce anybody worthy of taking the hundredth seat in the sacred,
           secret temple. It was opened once a year for the people, and just to pass through it was to pass
           through another world.
                Now it is completely closed so that the communists cannot find it -- because they will not be
           interested in the bodies; they will be interested in the gold. They will destroy those bodies and take
           the gold -- and it is a great quantity of gold. So before the Dalai Lama left Lhasa because of the
           communist invasion of the country, he sealed it in every possible way so that they cannot discover it.
           And they have not been able yet to discover it.
                Slowly, slowly in all the countries where spirituality has flowered, people became aware that
           something happens... So people have preserved things that were used by these people, or just have
           made memorials of their bodies. In India bodies are burned, but you will be surprised to know that
           the remains left after burning a body are called "flowers". Ordinary people's ashes are thrown into
           holy rivers, but enlightened people's "flowers" are preserved in samadhis -- in beautiful marble
           memorials. Just to go and sit there is in itself a meditation. But the trouble is that the world is ruled
           by those who know nothing of this.
                For example, Delphi should not be open for everybody, because they will destroy its subtle
           vibration. But the government is interested in tourism!
                Delphi should be open only to a few people who are chosen -- chosen by a mystery school that
           should exist there. Delphi was a mystery school. In the days of Pythagoras and Socrates, Delphi was
           the temple -- the most famous temple -- of wisdom. And the priestess used to go into a trance. While
           praying and dancing and singing in the temple, she would go into a trace, and in her trance she
           would say things which always proved to be true. She herself could not remember anything when
           she came back from the trance; perhaps the trance was taking her higher into the mind, perhaps to
           the cosmic mind.
                In such a trance she declared that Socrates was the wisest man in the world. And a few people
           visiting her from Athens were very happy, because Socrates was an Athenian. They reached Socrates
           -- he was old -- before his death, before his murder, and said, "You should be happy; the oracle of
           Delphi has declared you the wisest man in the world."
                Socrates said, "It is too late. When I was very young I used to think that I was very
           knowledgeable, very wise. The more I came to know, the more I became ignorant -- aware that what
           I know is nothing, and what I do not know is so much. Now, in my old age, I can say without any
           hesitation that I do not know anything. The oracle, for the first time it seems, has missed."
                The people were very much surprised, because Socrates should have been happy hearing it. They
           went back and the priestess again danced, fell into a trance. They asked her in the trance, "You said
           Socrates is the wisest man in the world, but he denies it. He says, `I do not know anything...'"
                And the priestess in her trance said, "That's why he is the wisest man in the world. Only idiots
           say that they know. Those who are wise cannot say that."
                Places like these, or Bodh Gaya, should not be available to tourists -- which is an ugly race with
           all their cameras, binoculars, and stupid things. And they are not interested in the place at all; they
           are taking photographs and rushing from here to there. Later on, sitting at home, they will look at the
           photographs and say, "Great! Our tour has been great. We visited beautiful places -- you can see."
                But they were never there; they were with their cameras. They should sit there, they should allow
           themselves to absorb the subtle vibe of the place... Something of Gautam Buddha must be there; it
           has to be there!




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                       Chapter #35
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                      Chapter title: Falling above the mind
           29 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604295
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO35
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS MADNESS?


               There are two possibilities:
           Madness literally means going out of the mind; hence the two possibilities. You can go out of the
           mind either below the mind or above the mind.
               Ordinarily, people go below the mind because it needs no effort, you don't have to do anything.
           Any shock can shatter the stability of your mind: somebody you loved died, your business has gone
           bankrupt -- the shock is so much that you cannot keep your normality. You fall below the mind, your
           behavior becomes irrational.
               But you go beyond the misery -- if you had remained in the normal mind the shock would have
           created immense misery. It is a natural way to avoid the shock. It simply pulls you down; now you
           don't know what has happened. Your business has gone bankrupt, your wife has died or your child
           has died -- it doesn't matter, in fact you don't even remember. You have entered into a new phase,
           you have become a new person. But it is going to be irrational, abnormal, unpredictable. This is
           ordinarily called madness, insanity, all over the world.
               Only in the East have we found that there is another kind of madness, too, that comes from deep
           meditation: going beyond the mind. Both are outside the mind; hence there is some similarity. So
           sometimes you will find that the madman once in a while behaves almost as a wise man. He has
           insights -- he has no control over them, they are just flashes, but sometimes he can see things which
           you cannot see.
               In the East, where mind has been the sole center of all research down the centuries, we have
           discovered that you can go above the mind. Sufism accepts that state and calls it the state of a masta
           -- a divine madman. He is mad, but he is superhumanly mad. His behavior is irrational as far as our
           logic is concerned. But perhaps there is a higher logic, according to which his behavior is not
           irrational.
               In India such a man is called paramhansa. Ramakrishna, in the last century, was one of the men
           who was called paramhansa. The behavior of a paramhansa is utterly mad, but intensely beautiful,
           and has a depth which even the greatest genius of the mind does not have.
               It happened that in Ramakrishna's time... He lived just outside Calcutta, on the bank of the
           Ganges in a small temple. Now many temples have arisen, and in Calcutta... At that time Calcutta
           was the capital of India, not New Delhi, so the cream of intellectuals, creative people, was in
           Calcutta. And anyway, Bengalis are the most intelligent people in India, mostly intellectual.
               Keshav Chandra Sen was a great genius as far as intellect is concerned, and he was a co-founder
           of a religion, brahmasamaj -- the society of the divine. He was known all over India. Ramakrishna
           was not known, except to a few people in Calcutta on the riverbank where he lived. He was
           uneducated, and people thought he was mad -- the people of the mind -- because his behavior was
           not explainable by mental concepts.
               But slowly, slowly his influence was increasing, particularly in Calcutta -- which was very close;
           people could come to see him.
               And Keshav Chandra Sen was worried that a villager, uneducated... And even professors of the
           universities were becoming devotees; they would touch his feet. And whatever he was saying was so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ordinary. The man had nothing exceptional. One day finally he decided to go and argue with this
           man and finish this whole thing.
                He went. Hundreds of people who knew Keshav Chandra and a few who knew Ramakrishna,
           they all gathered to see what would transpire. Ramakrishna's followers were very much afraid,
           knowing that Keshav Chandra could defeat anybody if it was a question of rationality. He had
           proved his mettle hundreds of times, all over India. He had defeated great scholars without much
           effort. Now, how was poor Ramakrishna going to stand up before him?
                Everybody among the followers was nervous, but Ramakrishna was not. He was again and again
           asking, "Keshava has not come yet?" He would not use even his whole name: Keshav Chandra Sen.
           He would say simply, "Keshava has not come yet?"
                Finally Keshav Chandra arrived with his great following. Ramakrishna hugged him. Keshav
           Chandra was not prepared for that. He had come to fight, and he made it clear to Ramakrishna,
           "These things won't help. I have come to discuss each and every point of your philosophy. Don't try
           to create a friendship. I have come as an enemy: either you defeat me and I will be your follower, or
           be ready to become my follower."
                Ramakrishna said, "That we will be doing soon -- hugging has nothing to do with it! I have
           always loved you. Whenever I have heard about you and your ideas, that you say there is no God...
           and I know there is God, but still I enjoy and love you. In fact your great intelligence is proof that
           existence is intelligent; otherwise from where does intelligence come? You are a proof to me that
           God is -- but that we will discuss later on. What is the hurry? And there is no need for any enmity.
           The discussion can be in deep friendship.
                "And you know, I am a poor man. I don't know any logic. I have never discussed with anybody.
           It is going to be a very easy job for you, so you need not be so tense! I have prepared some sweet for
           you; first take the sweet. I have prepared it with much love. And then you can start your so-called
           discussion."
                Keshav Chandra was finding it a little difficult. The man was strange; he offered him a sweet, he
           hugged him. He had already destroyed the animosity, the aggressiveness -- in a very subtle way,
           without saying a word. And strangest of all, he says that my presence -- that is, Keshav Chandra's
           presence -- is enough proof of God, there is no need of other proof. Without God how is such
           intelligence possible? The world would be dead. The world is intelligent, and God is nothing but the
           intelligence of existence.
                After taking his sweet, Ramakrishna said, "Now you start your game!" And Keshav Chandra was
           arguing against whatever he had found in Ramakrishna's small books -- his followers collected his
           sayings and stories, anecdotes from his life. And Ramakrishna would enjoy it, and would say to his
           followers, "Look how beautifully he has criticized it!" And many times he would stand up and hug
           him and say, "You are a genius! Your criticism is perfect."
                Keshav Chandra said, "I have not come here to get your approval; I have come to argue."
           Ramakrishna said, "I don't see there is any question of argument. You are the proof. I don't need to
           give any other proof; I can take you to the whole world as a proof that God exists -- Keshav Chandra
           is the proof!"
                Keshav Chandra had never come across such a man, and what he was saying had immense
           significance; it was penetrating Keshav Chandra's heart. And the presence of the man, and the way
           he behaved, his lovingness... Something happened to Keshav Chandra that his followers could not
           believe.
                By the end of the discussion, Ramakrishna said, "You tell me who is defeated and who is
           victorious, and I will follow it. If you are victorious, I will become your follower. But I don't know
           the ways of discussion and I don't know the judgment. You judge; you are efficient enough to make
           the judgment. You can say to me, `You are defeated,' and I am defeated."
                And Keshav Chandra's followers were shocked to see that Keshav Chandra fell at the feet of
           Ramakrishna. They could not believe their eyes! When they had gone, everybody was asking,
           "Keshav Chandra, what happened to you?"
                He said, "I don't know. One thing is certain, that that man has experienced something about
           which I have been only talking. I can talk efficiently, but he has it; he radiates it. I have that much
           intelligence at least to see the aura of the man, to feel the radiance of his love, to see his simplicity,
           sincerity; to see his trust, that he says to me that, `You decide, and if I am defeated...' And he has not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           argued at all. How can you defeat a person who has not argued at all? On the contrary, he was
           appreciating my criticism and he was telling his disciples, `Listen, this is the way a thing should be
           criticized.'
                "And as I was sitting by his side, slowly, slowly something melted in me -- the antagonism, the
           aggressiveness. And this is the first time this has happened with anybody. People think he is mad,
           but if he is mad, then I would like also to be mad. He is far superior to our so-called sanity."
                It was very difficult to take Ramakrishna from one place to another place, because anywhere on
           the road, in the middle of the road... And Calcutta is a very overpopulated city, with more than ten
           million people in one city. And the traffic is the worst in the world. It is bound to be because
           thousands of people are walking; there are all kinds of vehicles -- cars, trams, buses. He would start
           dancing in the middle of the road because something reminded him of God. And anything could
           remind him of God... a beautiful child, and he would start dancing and singing. His followers would
           feel very embarrassed -- they had to protect him from all sides -- that in this traffic... And the police
           were bound to come, and that man was creating a traffic jam.
                But outside India he would have been in a mad asylum because in the West madness is madness;
           there are no two categories. In India he became almost a divine being, a god, because people
           realized, slowly, slowly, that he looks irrational but there is something divine in his irrationality.
                He had been doing things from his very childhood. His family was worried -- what is going to
           happen to this child? People suggested -- as it is customary in India and in other countries too -- that
           it will be good to marry him so he will forget all about God and all about meditation and will become
           engaged in worldly affairs. But they thought that he would refuse -- and that would have been the
           ordinary expectation. But he was a madman; he does not follow your expectations.
                When his father asked, fearing that he is going to say no, Ramakrishna said with great joy, "Yes!
           But where is the girl?"
                They said, "This boy is mad! This is not the right way. He is so ready... immediately! And he is
           asking, `Where is the girl? To whom am I going to be married? Do it soon!'"
                Just in a nearby village, another village, he was taken on a particular day to see the girl. And in
           India this is the way: the girl will come with some sweets to put on your plate, and that's the only
           moment you can see her -- just for a moment -- and decide.
                When he was going to see his future wife, his mother had given him three rupees, just in case he
           needs them. When the girl came with the sweets, he looked at the girl, took out his three rupees and
           put them at her feet, touched her feet and said, "Mother, you are the right girl. I am going to marry
           you."
                His father said, "You idiot, you don't understand that nobody calls his wife mother.
                But everybody knew that he was a little eccentric -- first putting those three rupees at the feet of
           the girl... everybody was shocked. And then touching her feet and telling the girl then and there,
           "Mother, you are really beautiful. I am going to marry you -- it is settled."
                But just by a very strange coincidence, the whole family of the girl wanted to deny this marriage
           because they said, "This boy is mad, and if he is starting this way what will happen in their married
           life nobody knows." But the girl insisted that if she will marry anybody, she will marry this man.
                He was a beautiful man. So the family had to decide for the marriage. The marriage happened;
           they lived together their whole life. Ramakrishna continued to call her mother. There was never any
           husband-wife relationship between them. On the contrary... In Bengal they worship the mother
           goddess, Kali. So in those days when they worship the mother goddess all over Bengal -- and in
           other places also, wherever Bengalis are in India... they are the only people in India left who still
           conceive of God as a mother.
                In those days, every year he would put Sharda, his wife, naked on a throne and worship her --
           just as naked as the statue of the mother goddess is in the temples. He would not go to the temple; he
           would say, "When I have a living mother with me, why should I go and worship a stone statue?"
                Anybody will say this is madness, sheer madness. But in so many ways his madness cannot be
           categorized with that of other mad people. His madness is beyond mind, not below mind. Each of his
           statements is of tremendous importance, simple but full of meaning. Just like a villager, he tells
           small stories. But those stories are so beautiful that you can get out of them much more meaning than
           out of a whole scripture. And his life... if you watch carefully, you will find that he is not an ordinary
           man; he is superhuman.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One day Ramakrishna and his followers are passing the Ganges in a boat and suddenly in the
           middle he starts crying, "Don't beat me! I have not done anything wrong. Why are you beating me?"
           And tears started flowing.
               And his people said, "Nobody is beating you -- what are you doing?" Even his own followers
           once in a while suspected that he was insane, because they were only followers. Nobody was beating
           him, and he was crying. And they could see from his face that he was being whipped very badly.
               And he said, "You don't believe me? Just look at my back." They removed his clothes and they
           could not believe it: there were so many lines, blood oozing; he had been whipped badly. They could
           not believe... what to make of it? This man is mad and he is making his followers mad.
               But when they reached the other shore, they found a man who had been beaten, and there was a
           crowd. And they looked at his back and they were surprised: the marks of the beating were exactly
           the same on both Ramakrishna's and this man's back. Such oneness of feeling, that when somebody
           else is being beaten -- innocently, he has not done anything -- Ramakrishna becomes part of that
           person, they become one.
               This is not madness, this is a tremendous experience, a man of Himalayan heights... And
           although he was not a preacher, not a scholar, in everything that he says you can find the insight of
           the greatest men who have walked on the earth. Of course his way is that of a villager....
               One man came to Ramakrishna and said, "I am going to Varanasi to take a dip in the Ganges to
           get rid of my sins" -- that's Hindus' belief.
               Ramakrishna said, "Very good idea, you can go. But do you know that on the bank of the Ganges
           there are big, huge trees?"
           The man said, "Yes, I know."
               He said, "When you take a dip in the Ganges your sins will leave you, but they will sit on the
           trees. And how long can you remain under the water? You will have to come out, you will have to
           come home. And when you are dressed and ready to go home, those sins jump back on you. So it is
           futile, but it is up to you."
               He will not say that this is stupid -- that the Ganges cannot take your sins away. But he says it in
           his own way, without hurting the man's feelings. And he has said it in a beautiful way: "You can go.
           The Ganges will do its work, it will purify you -- but how long you will remain in the Ganges?
           Sooner or later you will have to come out. And what do you think? Those trees are standing there,
           they are the resting places for the sins.
               "And sometimes it happens that even other people' sins jump upon you. Seeing a better man, they
           change. So I will not suggest it. Find some other way. This is dangerous -- so many people are taking
           a bath in the Ganges, and all their sins are on the trees; they get mixed up. And then it is up to them
           to choose. It is better to have your own sins. At least you are acquainted with them. You may come
           back with some new sins, more dangerous.
               "But I will not prevent you; I never prevent anybody. You can go and try, but I have told you the
           whole story. Nobody talks about the trees because the priests who are sitting on the banks of the
           Ganges, their whole business will flop if people come to know about the trees and the real secret.
           And sins, nobody can see, they are invisible; so they sit on the trees and wait."
               This man, in India, became paramhansa. Paramhansa means literally "the greatest swan"...
           because in Indian mythology it is thought that the swan eats only pearls; that is his food. And the
           swan is the only bird in existence that if you put before him milk mixed with water he will drink the
           milk and leave the water behind. He has the capacity to discriminate between water and milk.
               Paramhansa means "the greatest swan" who has become capable of discriminating between
           darkness and light, between right and wrong. It is not an effort on his part; it has become simply his
           nature. But his behavior may look mad.
               This is my feeling, that there are many madmen in India who are really mad, who have not gone
           beyond mind -- I have seen a few -- but they are worshipped as paramhansas. Their irrational acts are
           interpreted by great scholars in such a way that they start having meaning. I have watched these
           people and they are really mad, they are not paramhansas.
               Perhaps the case may be similar in the West; there may be a few paramhansas who are living in
           mad asylums, because you don't have any other category. Once a man starts behaving in a bizarre,
           berserk manner, he is mad. So on both sides there is confusion. But I think, still, the Eastern
           confusion is better. There is no harm in worshipping a madman; you are not doing any harm. But to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           put a paramhansa into a madhouse and force him through medicines and injections and treatment to
           come back into the mind is real harm.
               Western psychology has still no category for the second one, which it needs. But that category
           will arise only when it accepts supermind. Before Sigmund Freud it had not even accepted the
           unconscious mind -- only the conscious mind. For thousands of years in the West there was no idea
           of the unconscious mind.
               With Sigmund Freud, the unconscious mind became established. With Jung, the collective
           unconscious mind became established. Now somebody is needed to establish the cosmic
           unconscious mind. A tremendous field is available for any genius to establish it. Because in the
           Eastern psychology all these three are accepted, have been accepted for thousands of years.
               And this is below the conscious mind. Above the conscious mind are also three: the
           superconscious, the collective superconscious, and the cosmic superconscious. On those, no work
           has been even started. The second category of madmen that I am talking about is somewhere in these
           three categories; certainly in the superconscious but perhaps if it grows deeper, it may become
           collective superconscious. And in a man like Ramakrishna it is cosmic superconscious.
               When he was dying he had a cancer of the throat, and it became impossible for him to eat
           anything or drink anything. And his followers were telling him again and again, "You just close your
           eyes and tell the existence -- it will listen to you." He would close his eyes, but would forget all
           about it. After a while, when he would open his eyes... the disciples were waiting; they would say,
           "What happened?"
               He said, "Nothing, because when I close my eyes everything becomes silent. What are you
           expecting to happen?"
               They said, "We had asked you to ask existence...." Finally they forced his wife, Sharda: "Perhaps
           only you can persuade him."
               Unwillingly, reluctantly, she asked him. With tears in her eyes she said, "I don't want to tell you
           to do anything because that is interfering, and my whole life I have never said a single word to
           interfere. You are far above; my hands cannot reach. But because these people are so deeply in
           anguish, I have agreed to say to you, just once: Close your eyes and ask existence, `What are you
           doing to me? Remove this cancer from my throat.'"
               He said, "Because you have never asked anything -- every wife is asking everything, any day,
           every day; for your whole life you have never asked anything -- and this is maybe my last day, or
           last days, I will fulfill it."
               He closed his eyes, opened his eyes and said, "Sharda, I asked. And I heard a voice saying to me,
           `Ramakrishna, can't you drink with other people's throats? Can't you eat with other people's throats?
           Do you necessarily need your own? Are you still attached to your own body?'
               "And I said, `No' -- I had to say the truth. So the voice said, `From now onwards, you eat with
           everybody's throat, drink with everybody's throat.'"
               This is the stage of cosmic consciousness. This man may look mad, may behave in some ways
           which do not fit with our mind... and psychology has to find a place for this man, separate from the
           madman we know.
               So there is a possibility of becoming mad below the mind, and with that too you can be on three
           levels. You can be mad, just unconscious; you can be mad collectively unconscious. And each step
           down you will become more and more mad. You can be mad at the level of the cosmic unconscious
           mind; that is the worst that can happen to a man. He will live just like a stone, a rock. He has lost all
           touch... he is so far away, miles away from consciousness.
               Psychology has tried to pull these people back to the mind -- not very successfully, but still, if
           the person has only fallen one step, it can pull him back. From the second step it becomes more
           difficult; and from the third step I don't think psychology has yet been able to find any way to pull
           the person back.
               It is very difficult to pull the person down from superconsciousness, but it is possible. And
           psychology is doing it -- at least in the West -- with a few people who may not be mad in the
           ordinary sense.
               For example, Vincent Van Gogh was kept for one year in a madhouse; and I don't think he was
           mad, he was painting things the way we don't know things are. During that one year in the madhouse
           he had painted his best paintings. And that is proof that he was perhaps in a higher state than the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ordinary mind.
                Perhaps he had reached the superconscious. In that one year he painted one painting in which the
           stars are spirals. And everybody laughed, "This is absolutely mad! Who has seen stars as spirals?"
           And just recently, a few days ago, physics has come to the same conclusion, that stars are spirals. It
           is because of the distance that we cannot see it. A hundred years after Van Gogh...
                Perhaps that man, when we thought that he was mad, was on a higher level of consciousness and
           was capable of seeing one century ahead of science, with no instruments, with nothing; just with his
           pure consciousness -- a visualization that stars are spirals.
                There are other paintings in which he has painted strange things. Perhaps by and by we may
           come to know that they are not strange, they are exactly as he has painted them. In his whole life...
           After this one year he didn't live long, but he painted one painting in which trees are going higher
           than the stars. The stars are just on the way, and trees have passed them and are going higher. Even
           the painter's friends laughed, that "You are now making a fool of yourself! Trees going above the
           stars?"
                Van Gogh said, "I don't know, but whenever I sit by the side of a tree I feel the ambition of the
           tree: it is the ambition of the earth to go beyond the stars. I don't know whether those trees are lying
           to me or I am deceived, but this happens every time I sit by the side of a tree. And I suddenly feel the
           tree is saying to me, `I am the aspiration of the earth to go beyond the stars.'"
                Perhaps man going to the moon, man going to Mars, man going to the stars, is also part of the
           same ambition, that the earth wants to go as far as possible, to enquire, to investigate.
                Now, Van Gogh looks mad, but what he is saying is not absolutely senseless; it has a certain
           credibility about it. If in man there is a desire to reach to the stars, then in the trees also there must be
           a desire to reach beyond the stars, because we are all part of one life. Trees are a different
           expression, we are a different expression, but the life is the same.
                You ask me, "What is madness?" Madness can be defined as either falling below the mind or
           falling above the mind. Falling below the mind is sickness; falling above the mind is health,
           wholeness.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               FOR THE PAST SEVEN YEARS I HAVE HEARD YOU SPEAKING ABOUT TRUTH. BUT THIS IS
               STILL AN EMPTY WORD FOR ME. OFTEN YOU SAY THAT ONE KNOWS TRUTH WHEN ONE IS
               SILENT INSIDE. I KNOW THIS DELICIOUS FEELING THAT TAKES ME OVER WHEN I CLOSE MY
               EYES AND BECOME QUIET INSIDE, BUT WHAT IS TRUTH TO DO WITH THAT?


                That is the truth.
           Truth is not an object that you will find somewhere when you are silent. Truth is your subjectivity.
                Just try to understand. You are there, and the whole world is there. Whatever you see is an object,
           but who is seeing it is the subject.
                In silence all objects disappear -- and the word `object, has to be remembered; it is the same
           word as `objection.' `Object' means that which prevents you.
                So all preventions, all objects, all objections, disappear; you have the whole infinity, and just
           silence. It is full of consciousness, it is full of presence, of your being. But you will not find anything
           as the truth -- that will become an object. And truth is never an object.
           Truth is subjectivity.
                To discover your subjectivity -- unhindered, unobjected to by anything, in its total infinity and
           eternalness -- is the truth.
                "The truth" is only a way of speaking; there is not something labeled "Truth," that one day you
           will find and open the box and see the contents and say, "Great! I have found the truth." There is no
           such box.
                Your existence is the truth, and when you are silent you are in truth. And if the silence is absolute
           then you are the ultimate truth. But don't think of the truth as an object -- it is not an object.
           It is not there, it is here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              SINCE BEING WITH YOU SO MUCH GROWTH AND MATURITY HAS HAPPENED IN ME -- I HAVE
              CHANGED IN EVERY ASPECT. AT THE SAME TIME, WHEN I LOOK INTO MYSELF, I FEEL THE
              SAME AS I DID WHEN I WAS A LITTLE CHILD.
              IS THIS MY WITNESS, OR SOMETHING ELSE?


                It is your witness.
           Just remember one thing, that the feeling of being a child can be experienced in two ways. You can
           be a witness and the experience of childhood can be an object. Then one more step is needed: You
           have to become the purity, the innocence of the child... not separate -- you are it.
                It will come. This is how it comes: first it comes as an object; you are still separate and watching
           it. This is beautiful and a great experience -- that all rubbish is thrown out and you are feeling a very
           pure, innocent state -- but you are still separate from it. Just go on witnessing it, and soon even the
           childhood will disappear, and there will be only the witness, the subjectivity. There will be only the
           mirror without mirroring anything. Then you have arrived home.
                You can mirror beautiful things, and it is good, but when the mirror is absolutely empty...
                One of the Buddhist scriptures has the name "The Empty Mirror." That exactly describes the
           ultimate state of consciousness, when you simply are and there is nothing -- not even childhood, not
           even silence, not even peace, not even blissfulness... nothing that you can observe it.
                This ocean of nothingness surrounding you is nirvana.
           There is nothing more to explore.
           There is nothing more to find.
                But as it is going it is good: you are changing, and even to feel one's childhood is a great
           experience. But greater experiences are ahead. Don't stop, just continue till only you are left, alone,
           without a second.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #36
                                      Chapter title: Wake up and you are it
           30 April 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8604300
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO36
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 106 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN YOU SPEAK ABOUT THE MANY STATES ON THE WAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT I AM NOT
              EVEN ABLE TO SEE WHERE I AM ON THE WAY. I ALWAYS THINK I MUST BE THOUSANDS OF
              LIFETIMES AWAY FROM THE HIGHEST STATE. ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU ARE SAYING
              THAT IT CAN HAPPEN NOW AND HERE, FOR ALL OF US. I CANNOT IMAGINE THAT A QUICK
              CHANGE CAN BE POSSIBLE -- FROM A STATE OF UNAWARENESS LIKE MY OWN, TO A STATE
              OF TOTAL CONSCIOUSNESS. IN MY REALITY I OFTEN SEE MYSELF AS AN IDIOT, VERY
              STUPID. I DO HAVE A TASTE OF UNDERSTANDING, ESPECIALLY THROUGH YOUR
              SO-CALLED CONTRADICTIONS, BUT THIS UNDERSTANDING CREATES IN ME EVEN MORE
              ABSURDITIES. FOR EXAMPLE: "THE HIGHEST FREEDOM IS IN THE HIGHEST SLAVERY."
              I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED -- AND AT THE SAME TIME, I AM NOT. EVEN WHEN I SAY THAT I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DON'T BELIEVE IN THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENING HERE AND NOW, I DON'T BELIEVE IN MY
              BELIEVING, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE JUST THE TRICKY MIND WHICH HAS CARRIED THE
              MEMORY OF YOUR SAYING THAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS THE ONLY THING THAT CANNOT BE
              DESIRED.
              SO I AM HERE, JUST ENJOYING, GRATEFUL FOR YOUR BEING AND YOUR WORDS. TO BE
              ONE OF SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD TO BE ALLOWED TO SIT BY THE FEET OF THE
              MOST BEAUTIFUL MAN IN THE WORLD GIVES THE INSIGHT THAT EXISTENCE TAKES SO
              MUCH CARE OF ME THAT I CANNOT REALLY BE AN IDIOT; AT LEAST I MUST BE A BLESSED
              FOOL.
              PLEASE HELP ME TO KNOW A LITTLE BIT WHO I AM.


               A man asleep can dream himself anywhere in the universe. From that point, to be awake will
           look thousands of lives away. But it is a dream; as far as the real sleep is concerned, awakening is
           just close by.
           Any moment you can wake up.
           Any situation can make you awake.
               And the master's work is to create devices in which you can become awake. Sometimes very
           small things -- just throwing cold water in your eyes will make you awake. Asleep you were so far
           away, but when you wake up then you will see that it was a dream that created the distance.
           Dreaming is the distance. Of course, for dreaming, sleep is necessary, but the moment you are awake
           sleep disappears, and with it the whole world of dreams too.
               The truth is that awakening is the nearest reality to you, just by the side of you. It is not far away;
           hence it cannot be made a goal. All goals are dreaming, all achievements are dreaming. Awakening
           cannot be a goal because the man who is asleep cannot even think of what awakening can be. He
           cannot make, in his sleep, a goal of enlightenment -- it is impossible. Or whatever he makes will be
           totally different from the reality of enlightenment.
           Enlightenment is part of your waking consciousness.
               In the East we have four layers of consciousness. First, that one we know is called so-called
           wakefulness. It is not really wakeful, because just underneath it dreams are floating. Close your eyes
           and you will have a daydream. Close your eyes and you will immediately see -- imagination takes
           over, and you start going away from this moment, from here. In reality you are going nowhere, but in
           your mind you can go anywhere.
               So the first state is the so-called waking state; the second state is called sleep. We are aware of
           these.
               The third is called the dreaming state, because sleep can be without dreaming; then it has a
           different quality. It is very peaceful, very silent, dark and deep... very rejuvenating.
               So sleep is the second stage, below the so-called waking stage, and then comes the third stage,
           dreaming. Most of the time in your sleep you are dreaming. If you sleep eight hours, then six hours
           you are dreaming. Just here and there, like small islands, you are asleep; otherwise it is continuous
           dreaming.
               You don't remember it, that's why people think this seems too much -- six hours of dreaming and
           only two hours of sleep. You remember only the last dreams when you are waking up, because only
           with your waking up your memory starts functioning; so it catches only the tail end of your dream
           world. You don't remember all the dreams, but only the dreams that happen just before you are
           waking up -- the morning dreams.
               It was always understood in the East that these six hours of dreaming are as essential as those
           two hours of silent sleep. But in the West, within the last ten years for the first time new researches
           have proved the Eastern insight totally right. In fact, the new findings say that dreaming is even more
           essential than sleep, because in dreaming you are throwing out the rubbish of your mind.
               The whole day the mind is collecting all kinds of words, all kinds of desires, ambitions -- too
           much dust! It has to be thrown out. In the day you don't have any time to throw it out; you are
           gathering more and more. So in the night when you are asleep the mind has a chance to clean itself
           up. Dreaming is a kind of spring cleaning. But it is an everyday business: again you will collect,
           again you will dream, again you will collect...
               These are the states known to us. The fourth is not named in the East but is simply called the
           fourth, turiya. It is a number, it is not a word. No name is given to it so that you cannot interpret it,
           so that your mind cannot play with it and deceive you. What can the mind do, just listening to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           number four? The mind simply feels paralyzed. Give any name with meaning, then the mind has a
           way -- meaning is its way. But the number four has no meaning.
               The fourth state is the real awakening. The fourth state has to be understood in reference to the
           other three states. It has something similar to the first, the so-called waking state. The so-called
           waking state is very thin, almost negligible, but it has some quality... The fourth consists only of that
           quality; it is pure awakening. You are fully awake.
               It also has some similarity to the second stage -- the sleep. Sleep has silence, depth, peacefulness,
           relaxation, but in a very small measure -- just as much as is needed for day-to-day affairs. But the
           fourth has its totality: total relaxation, total silence, abysmal depth.
               It has also some quality of the dream. The dream takes you far away from yourself. You may go
           to the moon in the dream, you may go to some star in the dream, although you remain here, in your
           bed. In reality you don't go anywhere, but in imagination -- as long as you are dreaming -- it looks
           absolutely real. You cannot think in a dream that it is a dream. If you can think in a dream that it is a
           dream, the dream will be broken -- you are awake, and you cannot catch hold of the dream again.
               One Sufi story about Mulla Nasruddin is that one night he dreams that an angel is giving him
           some money, "Because you are so virtuous, so wise, God has sent some reward for you." But as the
           mind is, he gives him ten rupees, and Mulla says, "This is not a reward -- don't insult me." And
           slowly slowly he brings the angel up to ninety-nine rupees. But Mulla is stubborn; he says, "I will
           take a hundred or I will not take anything. What a miserly approach it is -- and from God! You
           represent God and you cannot make it a hundred?."
               He shouted so loudly, "Either a hundred or nothing!" that it woke him up. He looked all around --
           there was nobody, just he was sleeping in his bed. He said, "My God, I lost ninety-nine rupees
           unnecessarily, just being stubborn for one rupee more." He closed his eyes, tried hard, "Please come
           back, wherever you are. Ninety-nine is okay; even ninety-eight will do... ninety-seven is also all
           right -- anything will do. You just come back! Where are you?"
               He came back to one rupee, "I will take only one rupee... anything from God is great. I was
           foolish to call God a miser; in fact, I was greedy. Forgive me, and give me just one rupee." But the
           angel was not there.
               You cannot catch hold of the same dream again; once you are awakened there is no way to catch
           hold of the same dream.
               A dream takes you away from yourself; that's its basic quality. Perhaps that's why it cleanses you
           and helps you to have a certain relaxation: you forget your worries. For a few moments at least you
           can be in paradise, you can be in a situation you always wanted to be in.
               The fourth stage also has something similar, but just similar. It also takes you away from yourself
           -- but forever. You cannot come back to yourself. In the dream you cannot come back to the same
           dream; in the fourth stage you cannot come back to the same self. It takes you really so far away that
           you can be the whole universe. That's what the Eastern mystics have said: aham brahmasmi -- I have
           become the whole.
           But you have to lose the self.
           You cannot come back to it.
               This fourth stage has been given different names. This is the most mathematical name, the fourth.
           It was given by Patanjali, who was a very scientific and mathematical mystic. His treatise has
           remained for thousands of years the only source of yoga. Nothing has been added, because nothing is
           needed. It is very rare that one person creates a complete system, so complete and so perfect that it is
           impossible to change anything in it.
               In the West it used to be thought that Aristotle was such a person -- he created logic, the whole
           system of logic alone, and for two thousand years it has remained the same. But in this century
           things have changed, because new discoveries in physics have made it absolutely necessary to find
           something better than Aristotle. The new findings in physics have created a problem, because if you
           follow Aristotle's logic then you cannot accept those findings. Those findings are against Aristotle's
           logic, but you cannot deny reality. Reality is reality! You can change the logic -- which is man-made
           -- but you cannot change the behavior of electrons. It is not in your power, it is existential. So a
           non-Aristotelian logic has grown up.
               The second case was geometry. Euclid has reigned for hundreds of years as a perfect master as
           far as geometry is concerned, but in this century that too has got into trouble. Non-Euclidian
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           geometries have evolved. They had to be evolved because of the new discoveries of physics.
               For example, you have heard that the closest distance between two points makes a straight line,
           but the discovery of the physicists is that there is no straight line at all. A straight line is impossible,
           for the simple reason that you are sitting on a global earth. You can draw a straight line here on the
           floor, but it is not a straight line because it is part of a circle. If you go on drawing it from both ends,
           one day they will meet somewhere and you will see that it has become a circle. So the small piece
           that you were thinking was a straight line was not a straight line; just it was just such a small part of
           a circle that you could not see the curve. The curve was invisible -- it was so small, but it was there.
               Where are you going to draw a straight line? -- because all stars, all planets, everything is global,
           is round. So wherever you draw a line, howsoever small it is, it looks absolutely straight -- even with
           scientific instruments you can see that it is straight -- but go on making it bigger and bigger, and it
           will become a part of a circle. So it was an arc, not a straight line. In the same way everything from
           Euclid has been cancelled.
               Patanjali remains the only person yet, and perhaps may remain the only person, who has created
           a whole science alone, and has remained for five thousand years without any challenge from any
           corner. He calls it the turiya, the fourth. He is so scientific a man that one simply feels amazed.
               Five thousand years ago, he had the courage, the insight, the awareness, to say that God is only a
           hypothesis. It can help you to become awakened but it is not a reality, it is only a device. There is no
           God to be achieved; it is only a hypothesis.
               A few people can be helped by hypotheses -- they can use it -- but remember, it is not a reality.
           And once you have become awakened, it disappears, the same way as when you wake up your
           dreams disappear. They were so real that sometimes it happens that even after you have awakened
           there is some effect left of the reality of the dream: your heart is beating faster, you are perspiring,
           trembling, still afraid. Now you know perfectly it was a dream, but you are still crying, your tears are
           there. The dream was non-existential, but it has affected you because for that period you had taken it
           to be real.
               So it is possible. You can see the devotees crying before their god, emotionally very much
           affected, dancing, singing, worshipping, and feeling the truth of it, but it is just a hypothesis. There is
           nothing, no God, but these people are taking the hypothesis as a reality. One day when they will be
           awake, they will laugh at themselves, that it was only a hypothesis.
               But there are other masters who have given different names according to their own philosophical
           background. A few have called it enlightenment: becoming full of light -- all darkness disappears, all
           unconsciousness disappears -- becoming fully conscious.
               There are others who have called it liberation, freedom -- freedom from yourself, remember. All
           other freedoms are political, social. They are freedom from somebody, from some government, from
           some country, from some political party; but it is always freedom FROM...
               Religious freedom is freedom not from somebody else, but from yourself.
           You are no more.
               Because you are no more, a few masters in the East have called it anatta -- no-selfness. Buddha
           called it nirvana -- which is very close to anatta, no-selfness, or selflessness -- just a zero, a profound
           nothingness surrounding you. But it is not emptiness, it is fullness: fullness of being, of ultimate joy,
           fullness of being blessed, fullness of gracefulness. All that you have known before is no more there;
           hence is it empty of all that. But something new, absolutely new you had not even dreamt about, is
           discovered.
               Some have called it universal existence, but what name you give does not matter. I think the
           fourth still remains the best, because it does not lead you into mind trips; otherwise you are going to
           think about it, "What is emptiness? What is nothingness?" And nothingness can create a fear,
           emptiness can create a fear, anatta, no-selfness, can create a fear. The fourth is absolutely right.
               Three stages you know; the fourth is just a little deeper. It is not far away. The idea of being lives
           away from it is a dream. In reality it is just by the side... wake up and you are it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HEARD YOU SAYING THAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS THE TRANSCENDENCE OF MIND --
              CONSCIOUS, UNCONSCIOUS, SUB-CONSCIOUS -- AND THAT ONE DISSOLVES INTO THE
              OCEAN OF LIFE, INTO THE UNIVERSE, INTO NOTHINGNESS. I ALSO HEAR YOU TALKING
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ABOUT THE INDIVIDUALITY OF HUMAN BEINGS. HOW CAN THE INDIVIDUALITY OF AN
              ENLIGHTENED PERSON MANIFEST ITSELF IF HE IS DISSOLVED IN THE WHOLE?


               The ordinary, unconscious human being has no individuality; he has only a personality.
               Personality is that which is given by others to you -- by the parents, by the teachers, by the priest,
           by the society -- whatever they have said about you. And you have been desiring to be respectable,
           to be respected, so you have been doing things which are appreciated, and the society goes on
           rewarding you, respecting you more and more. This is their method of creating a personality.
               But personality is very thin, skin-deep. It is not your nature. The child is born without a
           personality, but he is born with a potential individuality. The potential individuality simply means
           his uniqueness from anybody else -- he is different.
               So first, remember that individuality is not personality. When you drop personality, you discover
           your individuality -- and only the individual can become enlightened. The false cannot become the
           ultimate realization of truth. Only the true can meet with the true, only the same can meet the same.
           Your individuality is existential; hence when your individuality blossoms you become one with the
           whole. Here is the question: if you become one with the whole, then how can you remain individual?
               The problem is simply a non-understanding. The experience of becoming the whole is of
           consciousness, and the expression of it is through the body, through the mind. The experience is
           beyond the body/mind structure. When one becomes absolutely silent, goes into samadhi, reaches
           the fourth stage, he is not body, he is not mind. They are all silent -- he is far above them. He is pure
           consciousness.
               This pure consciousness is universal, just as this light in all these bulbs is one, but it can be
           expressed differently. The bulb can be blue, the bulb can be green, the bulb can be red; the shape of
           the bulb can be different. The body/mind are still there, and if the man of experience wants to
           express his experience, then he has to use the body/mind; there is no other way. And his body/mind
           are unique -- only he has that structure, nobody else has that structure.
               So he has experienced the universal, he has become the universal, but to the world, to the others,
           he is a unique individual. His expression is going to be different from other realized people. It is not
           that he wants to be different; he has a different mechanism, and he can only come through that
           mechanism to you.
               There have been enlightened painters. They have never spoken because word was not their art,
           but they have painted. And their paintings are totally different from ordinary paintings, even of the
           great masters. Even the greatest master painters are unconscious people; what they paint reflects
           their unconsciousness.
               But if a realized man paints, then his painting has a totally different beauty. It is not only a
           painting, it is a message too. It has a meaning to be discovered. The meaning has been given in code,
           because the man was capable only of painting, so his painting is a code. You have to discover the
           code, and then the painting will reveal immense meanings. The deeper you go into those meanings,
           the more and more you will find. The other paintings are just flat; they may be made by masters, but
           they are flat. The paintings made by a realized man are multidimensional, they are not flat. They
           want to say something to you. If the man is a poet, like Kabir, then he sings, and his poetry is his
           expression.
               If the man is articulate in speaking the unspeakable, then he speaks; but his words will have a
           totally different impact. The same words are used by everybody, but they don't have that impact
           because they don't carry the same energy, they don't come from the same source. A man of
           experience brings his words full of his experience -- they are not dry, they are not the words of an
           orator or a speaker. He may not know the art of speaking but no orator can do what he can do with
           words. He can transform people just by their hearing him. Just by being in the presence of him, just
           by letting his words rain over you, you will feel a transformation happening: a new being is born in
           you, you are reborn.
               So when I say that even enlightened people have individuality, I mean that they remain unique --
           for the simple reason that they have a unique body/mind structure, and anything that comes to you
           has to come through that structure.
               Buddha speaks in one way, Mahavira speaks in another way. Chuang Tzu speaks in absurd
           stories -- he is a great story-teller -- but his stories, side by side, go on playing with your heart. The
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stories are so absurd that your mind cannot do anything. That's the reason why he has chosen the
           stories to be absurd, so that your mind cannot come in between. With his absurd stories he stops your
           mind, and then his presence is available to you and to your heart; you can drink the wine he has
           brought for you. And he has put your mind away by telling you an absurd story. The mind is puzzled
           and is not functioning.
               Many people have wondered why Chuang Tzu writes such absurd stories, but nobody has been
           able to explain the fact for the simple reason that the people who have been thinking about why he is
           writing the stories have no idea that it is a device to make the mind stop functioning -- then you are
           available, fully available from your heart. He can contact you in that way.
               But Buddha cannot tell an absurd story. He uses parables, but they are very meaningful. He does
           not want to avoid the mind... these are the uniquenesses of the people. He wants the mind to be
           convinced and then, through that conviction of the mind, he wants to go to your heart. If the mind is
           convinced it gives way. And Buddha's parables, his discourses, are all logical; the mind has to give
           way sooner or later.
               Different masters... For example, Jalaluddin Rumi did nothing but whirling. He became
           enlightened after thirty six hours of continuous whirling, without any stop -- non-stop whirling. In
           fact every child likes to whirl. Parents stop him; they say, "You will fall. You may have a fit or you
           may get hit by something -- don't do such a thing." But all children all over the world love whirling,
           because somehow while the child is whirling he finds his center. Without finding the center you
           cannot whirl. The body goes on whirling, but the whirling has to happen on a center; so slowly,
           slowly he becomes aware of the center.
               After thirty-six hours of continuous whirling, Rumi became absolutely clear about his center.
           That was his experience of the ultimate, the fourth. Then his whole life he was not doing anything
           but teaching whirling to people. It will look absurd to a Buddhist, it will look absurd to any other
           religion -- because, what you can get out of whirling? It is a simple method, the simplest method, but
           it may suit you or it may not.
               For example, for me it does not suit. I cannot sit on a swing, that is enough to create nausea in
           me. And what to say about sitting myself on a swing? -- I cannot see somebody else swinging! That
           is enough to give me a feeling of nausea. Now, Rumi is not for me. And there may be many people
           to whom whirling will give nausea, vomiting. That means it is not for them.
               We are individually different. And there is no contradiction. One can experience the universal,
           and yet when the question of expression arises, he has to be individual.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER MORNING I HEARD YOU SAYING THAT THE SO-CALLED SELF IS JUST AN IDEA
              OF THE MIND, BECAUSE IT SEEMS HARD FOR THE MIND TO ACCEPT THAT OUR BEING IS
              JUST PURE NOTHINGNESS, SURPRISINGLY CONTAINING THE WHOLE. THEN WHO AND
              WHAT IS THE WITNESS YOU TALK ABOUT SO MUCH? IS IT A MASTERLY DEVICE WHICH HAS
              TO BE DROPPED AT SOME POINT?


               It is. Everything is a device, because the truth cannot be said. So only devices can be given. You
           have to be convinced about the devices, but they will have to be dropped at the last moment -- but
           that does not mean that you have to drop them now! Dropping them now will not help; now you
           have to use them to their utmost possibility. And then that moment will come by itself... when the
           device has reached to the peak, it disappears -- and you are in the experience of the fourth.
               The whole problem arises because the truth cannot be said, so something has to be devised which
           will bring you to truth. And the device has to be such that it will not become an obstruction in itself.
           So the great master is one who gives you a device which is made in such a way that it is going to
           disappear automatically, autonomously, the moment you come close to truth.
               There are many devices which are good but dangerous, because they can become obstacles. For
           example, I told you that Patanjali says God is a device. Nobody before him or after him has ever said
           that. There have been people who have said God is a truth, and there have been people who have
           said there is no God, but Patanjali's attitude is totally different from both. He is not a theist, he is not
           an atheist, he is simply a scientific mind. He says God is a hypothesis. The fight about its existence
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           or non-existence is baseless -- you don't fight about any other hypothesis. But it is a dangerous
           hypothesis. Even in the life of a man like Ramakrishna it became an obstacle.
                So the device is not going to leave you automatically at the right moment. It is dangerous -- it
           will cling, it will obstruct your vision. It will take you to the final step, but it won't allow you to take
           it. A great attachment with the device itself will become the barrier.
                Ramakrishna was a devotee of the mother goddess Kali, and not an ordinary devotee, not formal;
           he really loved her. Sometimes from the morning till the evening he would go on dancing and
           singing in the temple. And sometimes he would lock the temple for days together and not even go
           into it. It was reported... because the temple belonged to a very rich woman, Rani Rasmani; he was a
           paid servant, he was the priest. People said that it is not right that for a few days the temple does not
           even open. Other devotees come and have to go back because Ramakrishna is not in the mood to
           open the doors. And sometimes Ramakrishna is so much in the mood that the devotees get tired...
           When you go into a temple you wait for prasad -- the food that is offered to God has to be
           distributed to all the worshippers who are there. It is thought -- prasad means grace -- that it is God's
           grace and his gift. So people wait for it; but how long can they wait? This man goes on dancing,
           singing, from morning till evening... worshippers have come and gone, because the prasad can be
           distributed only when the priest has stopped worshipping.
                And all priests are paid, so they are always in a hurry. In fact one priest will go to many temples,
           so he can get salaries from all those temples; so he is in such a hurry that he does as short a worship
           as is possible or acceptable, and immediately distributes the prasad and runs to another temple. There
           are so many temples in India that a priest can manage five, six temples, very easily. But
           Ramakrishna was not such a priest; he was really a lover. To him the goddess was not just a statue,
           and the worship was not just a ritual; it was a reality, not a dream.
                The owner of the temple, Rasmani, called him and asked him, "What is the matter? I have been
           hearing different kinds of complaints about you. One is that sometimes you worship the whole day.
           In what scripture is this written?"
                Ramakrishna said, "I don't know any scripture, and I had made it clear even before you employed
           me that I am uneducated. I don't know any scripture, I know only devotional songs -- so I sing. And
           to me it is not a question of worshipping for a certain time. Time disappears -- I don't have any idea.
           Once I am in it, I don't know when the morning has become evening. So if you don't want me, I can
           leave. But I am going to be this way."
                Rasmani said, "This is not the only complaint -- because this can be allowed. The whole day
           worshipping... there is no harm. But sometimes you don't open the doors of the temple."
                He said, "That's true. Sometimes I get angry at the goddess. I love her, but she does not listen to
           me, and once in a while -- after all, I am a human being -- I get cross, so I say, `Okay, remain closed
           for two, three days. That will bring you to your senses.' No food, no worship! But if you have any
           trouble with this, I can leave."
                Rasmani could not tell him to leave -- the man was so beautiful and so authentic, and what he
           was saying had a beauty of its own. Even not opening the doors was part of a love affair, just the
           quarrel of lovers. She said, "Even that can be allowed, because I want you to be here. But one thing
           is very bad: I hear that before offering the food to the goddess you taste every sweet yourself."
                He said, "That's true, because my mother used to make these sweets" -- and Bengalis make the
           best sweets in India -- "she would make them and then she would taste them. If they were really
           good then she would will give some to me, give some to my father; otherwise not -- she would make
           them again. My wife prepares the sweets. She prevents me, `This is not right. First they have to be
           offered to the goddess and then they can be distributed.' But I cannot offer anything which is
           tasteless or is not made well; I have to taste them first. If you don't want it, I am ready to go, but I
           will continue in the same way."
                The man was very simple, and what he was saying was a beautiful thing: he cannot offer to the
           goddess something that may not be the best. Only the best should be offered, but how to find out? --
           one has to taste it.
                He worshipped in Dakshineswar, near Calcutta, his whole life. Towards the end of his life, just a
           few years before he died, he told the goddess one morning, "Now the doctors are saying that I have
           cancer of the throat. It is not growing but it can start growing any moment, and before I die I want to
           experience the truth. I am ready and I will do everything: I will dance today before you, sing before
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you." In every temple of mother Kali there always hangs a big sword, because in the past that sword
           was used -- and it is still used in the main temple of Calcutta -- to cut off the heads of animals as
           sacrifice.
                Ramakrishna was not doing that, but the sword had become part of the temple. He said, "If by the
           evening I don't have the experience, I will take the sword and kill myself -- the responsibility will be
           yours."
                A few worshippers were there. They rushed out and told everybody, "That madman is going to
           do something... Now this is too much. All that he was doing before was okay, but now he is going to
           kill himself!"
                A great crowd assembled in the temple, and Ramakrishna danced madly, sang madly, the whole
           day. And as the sun was setting he pulled out the sword and said to the goddess, "So I am going to
           cut off my head as a sacrifice to you. Either the experience -- or my head will be at your feet." And
           as he was going to cut himself with the sword, the sword fell from his hands and he fell down on the
           floor. He remained there for six hours; to the outside world he was unconscious, but in his own
           experience he was in samadhi, in a beautiful state, utterly silent and blissful. And after six hours
           when he was woken up, he awoke with tears and he said, "Why have you woken me up? You should
           have left me in the same state."
                Just a few days afterwards there was a master passing by who heard about Ramakrishna, that he
           had a six-hour samadhi. The master came. Ramakrishna was a very humble man; he touched the feet
           of the master and said, "Help me, because I attained that experience but it was only for six hours --
           then I was back to my old stage."
                The master said, "You don't understand, it was not a real experience. You forced that experience
           upon yourself by your stubborness because you were going to kill yourself. After dancing the whole
           day and singing, your mind simply stopped, seeing the situation -- `The man is going to kill himself!'
           It had nothing to do with Kali or anybody; it was simply the stopping of the mind. And that
           experience was only an experience of when mind is not chattering, and you feel immense silence and
           beauty and joy. If you really want the ultimate experience, the fourth, then you will have to do one
           thing which is very hard, and that is to cut all attachment with the mother goddess.
                That is your problem. You have passed all other barriers, but now this last barrier is the most
           difficult because you have staked everything on her. So do as I say: you sit in meditation, close your
           eyes, and when you see the mother Kali arising near your third eye -- which is going to happen..."
                He said, "Yes, it happens. Whenever I close my eyes she is there."
                So he said, "That's good. That is the moment... this time you are not to cut your head; take the
           sword and cut the mother goddess in two pieces."
                Ramakrishna said, "My God, that is very difficult! I cannot hurt her -- and you are telling me to
           kill her!"
                But the man said, "Unless you do it, you will never attain. You try it and see."
                He would close his eyes, tears would flow from his eyes, and there was great joy on his face, and
           radiance. He would open his eyes, and the master would ask, and he would say, "Yes, I saw her, but
           I forgot all about killing her -- she is so beautiful, and the attachment is so long... as long as I can
           remember." He was very small when he became the priest. Two or three times he tried.
                The master said, "This is the last time. If you cannot do it, then I will do it. I have brought this
           piece of glass. When I see that tears have started flowing from your eyes I will know that you are
           seeing the mother goddess. I will cut your forehead with the sharp piece of glass to remind you that
           this is the time: you do the same, cut her in two pieces. It is just your idea -- there is nobody else. It
           is just a hypothesis."
                The master had to cut his forehead, and the mark remained for his whole life. Blood started
           flowing over his face, but deep inside he managed to gather courage and cut the mother goddess in
           two pieces. And as she fell in two pieces, it was as if a door had opened and the whole universe was
           his.
                It took six days for him to come back. The first words that he uttered when he came back are
           immensely important. He said, "The last barrier has fallen."
                Any device can become a barrier too. It may help you to get rid of other things, but finally you
           have to get rid of it -- and that may be a difficult thing. It was so difficult for Ramakrishna. And that
           was the last day... never again did he go into the temple. Afterwards he lived three, four years; he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           simply forgot all about Kali.
               But there are devices which will not create such a trouble, and there are devices which will fall
           automatically. The moment when you are reaching to the climax of your being they will simply fall
           down.
               I call a master a great master, the perfect master, who creates devices which are going to fall on
           their own accord when the moment has come for the person to experience the ultimate. Other
           devices are created by smaller people. Perhaps they don't know that these devices can become
           attachments themselves.
               So everything I say is a device. My speaking to you is a device so that you can just be here --
           your mind is engaged, listening to me, and something invisible can go on transpiring between me
           and your hearts. That's the real thing.
               The words will help the mind to remain engaged. They are like just toys. When you don't want
           children to disturb you -- you are studying -- you give them toys and they start playing with the toys,
           so you can do your work or study or do anything you want to do, and the children won't come to you
           to bother you and ask you questions and this and that.
           The mind is just like a child.
               The words are just toys for the mind -- not truths, but simply toys. But while the mind is engaged
           something can happen from my depth to your depth. You may not understand it, but it will start
           bringing changes in you, transformations in your being.
               Sometimes simply sitting silently with me... but then there is always the problem that your mind
           will disturb you. I have tried sitting in silence with you, and I have seen that the problem is, I can
           reach your heart less; your mind is disturbing you too much. Speaking seems to be a better device:
           your mind remains engaged, and once in a while if I give a gap between two words, the mind does
           not disturb. The mind simply looks and waits: "What is going to happen? What is going to be said?"
           And meanwhile the real work is happening.
           The real work is from my heart to your heart.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #37
                                     Chapter title: Each moment is insecure
           30 April 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8604305
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO37
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT FEELS VERY DANGEROUS TO ME, THE WAY YOUR THERAPISTS ARE WORKING AT THE
              MOMENT: CLAIMING TO BE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS YOU ARE, AND DOING THE SAME
              WORK. WHAT THEY SAY THEY HAVE TO OFFER -- FLYING SCHOOLS AND "FREEDOM" --
              SOUNDS VERY APPEALING TO THE EGO, BUT DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE ANY CONNECTION
              WITH YOUR WORK.
              I'M CONCERNED THAT INNOCENT PEOPLE, WANTING TO BE CLOSER TO YOU AND WANTING
              SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE, WILL PUT THEIR TRUST IN THESE PEOPLE WHO HAVE AUTHORITY
              AS YOUR CHOSEN THERAPISTS.
              WE SAW WITH SHEELA WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE MISUSE OF WORLDLY POWER. THE
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MISUSE OF SPIRITUAL POWER SEEMS A FAR GREATER MENACE AS IT WORKS WITH
              PEOPLES' VERY BEINGS.
              YOU HAVE ALWAYS SAID THAT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A MASTER LEAVES HIS
              BODY. IS THERE ANY ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE NOW SO THAT HISTORY WILL NOT REPEAT
              ITSELF THIS TIME?


                The unconscious human mind is the cause of the whole trouble.
                There have been people around me who were doing all kinds of things -- there were doctors,
           there were dentists, there were plumbers, there were carpenters -- but none of them got such an ego
           as the people who were working as therapists.
                Therapy basically has nothing to do with spirituality. I was using it just to clean the rubbish that
           the mind has gathered down the ages. The work of the therapist with me was exactly that of cleaners,
           nothing superior to them in any way. But in the West therapy has connotations of spirituality because
           there is nothing in the name of spirituality. There is a vacuum, and therapists seem to fill it.
                It is only apparently so. They don't fill the gap, they cannot; they themselves have no spiritual
           experience. All that they know are certain techniques through which your mind can be cleaned. But
           even that cleaning of the mind makes you feel fresh only for a few days, because it does not change
           the base, the foundation of your being; it simply cleans the surface. You remain the same person.
           You will again collect the same garbage, so therapy will be needed again and again and again.
                The same is true about every other kind of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, analytical psychology
           -- they are just different names. There is not a single person in the whole world that psychologists
           can claim is purified -- now there is no need for him to go through analysis, therapy, or any kind of
           processing.
                Even the psychotherapists, psychoanalysts have to go through therapy, analysis, be under some
           psychotherapist once in a while, because they are also collecting garbage. In fact they are collecting
           more because so many people are unloading themselves in their therapy sessions, and it is bound to
           affect the therapist. People will become a little lighter, but the therapist will become a little heavier --
           he will need therapy himself. This is a vicious circle.
                My effort was to bring the West closer to the East. The East has developed spiritual techniques,
           but when those techniques were developed, man was not so loaded with knowledge, degrees, and all
           kinds of meaningless garbage. Those techniques were developed for innocent people.
                Now the situation is different: if you give those techniques directly to the people, the people are
           so loaded that in their garbage your techniques will be lost.
                My understanding was, and still is, that therapy can be a good beginning, but it is not the end, it
           is not the answer. It can clean the mind only for a short period, but in that short period a spiritual
           technique can be introduced to you before the mind gets loaded again.
                If the spiritual technique is introduced to you, then that garbage is not going to disturb you; it
           cannot create confusion, and you do not need any therapy anymore. You are on the way -- now this
           ordinary garbage cannot prevent you.
                But if you are loaded already, then to introduce you to a spiritual technique is futile; it is
           throwing seed onto stones. The seed is not going to live, to become a plant, to become a tree, to
           blossom.
                So I was using these therapies just for the moment to clean the ground and let me put in the seed.
           Then we are not worried about the garbage that you will be collecting. The seed has enough force;
           once it has found its soil, there is no problem. It will bring its branches and foliage, its fruits and its
           flowers, in spite of all the garbage around -- that doesn't matter.
                But I was aware of the danger -- that these therapists themselves have no spirituality, and they
           will start feeling as if they are guides, spiritual guides; as if they are helping so many people on the
           path. It is so easy to blow your ego up bigger and bigger.
                These therapists came from the West to me because in the West therapy was going out of
           fashion. People were tired, because what is the point? -- for a few days you feel great and then come
           the dumps. You feel worse than before. Then to go again to the therapist becomes a kind of
           addiction.
                And there is no end to it. People go on moving from one therapy to another therapy their whole
           life, always feeling, "This is going to work." And it seems to work for a while, but it does not change
           anything basic, just superficial touches, so you are again back to zero.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All these therapists had failed in the West; nobody was coming to them. When they came to me
           they had no need to search for clients: thousands of sannyasins were coming, and I wanted a certain
           synthesis between Western methods of therapy and spiritual growth, so I allotted them the work.
               But these therapists forgot completely that the people had not come for their therapies. In fact
           people were very unwilling to do their therapies; I had to persuade them. But slowly people started
           understanding the fact that just a little cleaning helps to take a long jump into meditation. So the
           people who passed through therapies went deeper into meditation than the therapists. The therapists
           were going deeper into their egos.
               The therapists were not meditating. They were not asking questions, because to ask a question
           means that you are ignorant, you do not know the answer to it; they were not even humble enough to
           ask a question. And they were happy, tremendously happy that now there was no burden on them of
           finding people. People were coming by themselves, and I was sending them to their therapies.
               I made them great therapists. I tried to refine their methods to make them the best possible
           therapists. I used to meet every therapy group and ask the people who had participated how they
           were feeling, what had happened. And indirectly -- and the therapist was present -- I was suggesting
           what more could be done, what should have been done. I was also asking the therapist what
           difficulties he was finding, what problems were arising with people -- in an indirect way, because I
           don't want to hurt anybody, even by giving advice.
               Through the years I had worked on these therapists and their therapies, and they started feeling
           that they had become kinds of gurus, masters. And deep down there was great competition amongst
           them: Somendra left because of his competition with Teertha about who was a better therapist -- just
           fights of egos.
               Deep down, unconsciously, they must be thinking that sooner or later I will have to die. Teertha
           had taken it for granted, without anybody saying it to him, that he was going to be my successor.
           Perhaps he was spreading the idea that he was going to be my successor.
               The day I announced in the commune that nobody is going to be my successor, only two persons
           were unhappy -- and I looked at both the persons: one was Sheela and the other was Teertha.
           Everybody was happy, rejoicing, but these two people were sad. That was their aim -- perhaps not
           consciously, but unconsciously. That was the beginning of Sheela trying to destroy the commune in
           different ways.
               And when the American government... Now all the governments of the world are together in a
           conspiracy against a single man; they have made me so important, so powerful. They are just
           behaving so idiotically. They have all the powers; I have no power, and they are all conspiring
           against me. Their whole effort is to stop me, my work, not to let me settle anywhere, not to allow
           another commune to come into existence.
               Our therapists are immensely happy, seeing the opportunity that now I don't have a commune,
           and every government is against me; perhaps I will not find a place anywhere in the world. This is a
           great chance for them.
               And all the sannyasins are in a state of vacuum, so these therapists are trying to exploit that
           vacuum. Now they are telling people that they will teach them freedom, they will teach them
           spirituality, they will teach them this and that; their whole effort is not to miss this opportunity.
               The people are in a need because suddenly... they were working, growing, and the work has
           stopped. I am being prevented from every direction, so that I cannot work. And the therapists are
           immensely happy: they have suddenly become spiritual masters. They know nothing about
           spirituality, not even the ABC.
               But there is nothing to be worried about. They can only talk about freedom, and that too will be
           just a repetition of what they have heard me say to you. They don't have anything original to say,
           anything coming out of their own experience, so they can only talk. Let them talk -- the talk is not
           going to change to people. And soon people will feel that these therapists are just exploiting the
           situation.
               Meanwhile, somewhere we are going to create the mystery school. Existence cannot be so
           uncompassionate towards a man who has been working simply for truth, simply for existence.
           My trust is absolute.
               These governments and churches don't matter at all. They may try their best, but the mystery
           school will be established, although it may take a little time, a little trouble. And this time things will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be done in a totally different way so nobody gets this idea of gurudom.
               History will not be repeated, because I am still here. I know all those therapists, and I know their
           problems. I know they are in the same boat as their clients; they are not in any way of superior
           consciousness. They can give consultations, they can help people to some clarity, but that is from
           their knowledge. In the same situation they don't have that clarity.
               To everybody else they can show the way of clarity: it is very easy when you are not in trouble.
           You can simply advise anybody, "It is simple. Do it this way." The real thing is, when you are in the
           same trouble, whether you have the clarity, whether you are capable of following your own advice --
           and those therapists are not capable of that. So there is no harm. Let them enjoy a few days of glory.
               They are not even mentioning my name. That is enough proof that they know that whatever they
           are saying and doing is related to me, and if they mention my name they will become immediately
           secondary. And for the first time they have got the chance to be on the top. With me, it was
           impossible.
               So I don't see that there is any problem. It is good -- let them enjoy for a few days. Their
           enjoyment is not going to last long. Soon they will lose the people.
               Once the mystery school starts functioning nobody is going to bother about them. Even they
           themselves will have to come to the mystery school, and this time not as therapists but simply as
           disciples. There is not going to be any therapy. Now the school will function in a totally different
           way.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF A MATURE PERSON?


               The qualities of a mature person are very strange.
           First, he is not a person. He is no more a self. He has a presence, but he is not a person.
               Second, he is more like a child -- simple and innocent.
               That's why I said the qualities of a mature person are very strange, because maturity gives a
           sense as if he has experienced, as if he is aged, old. Physically he may be old, but spiritually he is an
           innocent child. His maturity is not just experience gained through life. Then he will not be a child,
           and then he will not be a presence; he will be an experienced person -- knowledgeable but not
           mature.
               Maturity has nothing to do with your life experiences. It has something to do with your inward
           journey, experiences of the inner.
               The more he goes deeper into himself, the more mature he is. When he has reached the very
           center of his being, he is perfectly mature. But at that moment the person disappears, only presence
           remains...
           The self disappears, only silence remains.
           Knowledge disappears, only innocence remains.
               To me, maturity is another name for realization: you have come to the fulfillment of your
           potential, it has become actual. The seed has come on a long journey, and has blossomed.
               Maturity has a fragrance. It gives a tremendous beauty to the individual. It gives intelligence, the
           sharpest possible intelligence. It makes him nothing but love. His action is love, his inaction is love;
           his life is love, his death is love. He is just a flower of love.
               The West has definitions of maturity which are very childish. The West means by maturity that
           you are no longer innocent, that you have ripened through life experiences, that you cannot be
           cheated easily, that you cannot be exploited, that you have within you something like a solid rock --
           a protection, a security.
               This definition is very ordinary, very worldly. Yes, in the world you will find mature people of
           this type. But the way I see maturity is totally different, diametrically opposite to this definition. The
           maturity will not make you a rock; it will make you so vulnerable, so soft, so simple.
               I remember... a thief entered a master's hut. It was a full-moon night, and by mistake he had
           entered; otherwise, what can you find in a master's house? The thief was looking, and was amazed
           that there was nothing. And then suddenly he saw a man who was coming with a candle in his hand.
               The man said, "What are you looking for in the dark? Why did you not wake me up? I was just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sleeping near the front door, and I could have showed you the whole house." And the man looked so
           simple and so innocent, as if he could not conceive that anybody could be a thief.
                Before his simplicity and innocence, the thief said, "Perhaps you do not know that I am a thief."
                The master said, "That doesn't matter, one has to be someone. The point is that I have been in the
           house for thirty years and I have not found anything, so let us search together! And if we can find
           something, we can be partners. I have not found anything in this house -- it is just empty."
                The thief was a little afraid -- the man seems to be strange. Either he is mad or... who knows
           what kind of man he is? He wanted to escape, because he had brought things from two other houses
           that he had left outside the house.
                The master had only one blanket -- that was all that he had -- and it was a cold night, so he told
           that thief, "Don't go this way, don't insult me this way; otherwise I will never be able to forgive
           myself, that a poor man came to my house in the middle of the night and had to go empty-handed.
           Just take this blanket. And it will be good -- outside it is so cold. I am inside the house; it is warmer
           here."
                He covered the thief with his blanket. The thief was just losing his mind! He said, "What are you
           doing? I am a thief!"
                The master said, "That does not matter. In this world everybody has to be somebody, has to do
           something. You may be stealing; that doesn't matter, a profession is a profession. Just do it well, with
           all my blessings. Do it perfectly, don't be caught; otherwise you will be in trouble."
                The thief said, "You are strange. You are naked and you don't have anything!"
                The master said, "Don't be worried, because I am coming with you! Only the blanket was
           keeping me in this house; otherwise in this house there is nothing -- and the blanket I have given to
           you. I am coming with you -- we will live together. And you seem to have many things; it is a good
           partnership. I have given my all to you. You can give me a little bit -- that will be right."
                The thief could not believe it. He just wanted to escape from that place and from that man. He
           said, "No, I cannot take you with me. I have my wife, I have my children, and my neighbors, what
           will they say? -- `You have brought a naked man!'"
                He said, "That's right. I will not put you in any embarrassing situation. So you can go, I will
           remain in this house." And as the thief was going, the master shouted, "Hey! Come back!" The thief
           had never heard such a strong voice; it went just like a knife. He had to come back. The master said,
           "Learn some ways of courtesy. I have given you the blanket and you have not even thanked me. So
           first, thank me -- it will help you a long way. Secondly, going out -- you opened the door when you
           came in -- close the door! Can't you see the night is so cold, and can't you see that I have given you
           the blanket and I am naked? Your being a thief is okay, but as far as manners are concerned, I am a
           difficult man. I cannot tolerate this kind of behavior. Say thank you!"
                The thief had to say, "Thank you, sir," and he closed the door and escaped. He could not believe
           what had happened! He could not sleep the whole night. Again and again he remembered... he had
           never heard such a strong voice, such power. And the man had nothing!
                He enquired the next day and he found out that this was a great master. He had not done well -- it
           was absolutely ugly to go to that poor man; he had nothing. But he was a great master.
                The thief said, "That I can understand myself -- that he is a very strange kind of man. In my
           whole life I have been coming in contact with different kinds of people, from the poorest to the
           richest, but never... even remembering him, a shivering goes through my body.
                "When he called me back I could not run away. I was absolutely free, I could have taken the
           things and run away, but I could not. There was something in his voice that pulled me back."
                After a few months the thief was caught, and in the court the magistrate asked him, "Can you
           name a person who knows you in this vicinity?"
                He said, "Yes, one person knows me" -- and he named the master.
                The magistrate said, "That's enough -- call the master. His testimony is worth that of ten
           thousand people. What he says about you will be enough to give judgment."
                The magistrate asked the master, "Do you know this man?"
                He said, "Know him? We are partners. He is my friend. He even visited me one night in the
           middle of the night. It was so cold that I gave him my blanket. He is using it, you can see. That
           blanket is famous all over the country; everybody knows it is mine."
                The magistrate said, "He is your friend? And does he steal?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The master said, "Never! He can never steal. He is such a gentleman that when I gave him the
           blanket he said to me, `Thank you, sir.' When he went out of the house, he silently closed the doors.
           He is a very polite, nice fellow."
                The magistrate said, "If you say so, then all the testimonies of the witnesses who have said that
           he is a thief are cancelled. He is freed." The master went out and the thief followed him.
                The master said, "What are you doing? Why are you coming with me?"
                He said, "Now I can never leave you. You have called me your friend, you have called me your
           partner. Nobody has ever given me any respect. You are the first person who has said that I am a
           gentleman, a nice person. I am going to sit at your feet and learn how to be like you. From where
           have you got this maturity, this power, this strength, this seeing of things in a totally different way?"
                The master said, "Do you know that night how bad I felt? You had gone; it was so cold. Without
           a blanket sleep was not possible. I was just sitting by the window seeing the full moon, and I wrote a
           poem: `If I was rich enough I would have given this perfect moon to that poor fellow, who had come
           in the dark to search for something in a poor man's house. I would have given the moon if I had been
           rich enough, but I am poor myself.' I will show you the poem, come with me.
                "I wept that night, that thieves should learn a few things. At least they should inform a day or
           two ahead when they come to a man like me, so we can arrange something, so they don't have to go
           empty-handed.
                "And it is good that you remembered me in the court; otherwise those fellows are dangerous,
           they may have mistreated you. I offered that very night to come with you and be partners with you,
           but you refused. Now you want... There is no problem, you can come. Whatever I have I will share
           with you. But it is not material: it is something invisible."
                The thief said, "That I can feel -- it is something invisible. But you have saved my life, and now
           it is yours. Make whatever you want to make of it. I have been simply wasting it. Seeing you,
           looking in your eyes, one thing is certain -- that you can transform me. I have fallen in love from that
           very night."
           Maturity to me is a spiritual phenomenon.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              OFTEN I HEAR YOU SAYING THAT WE CAN WAKE UP ANY MOMENT. YOUR WORDS, AND
              HOW YOU SAY THEM, THRILL ME SO MUCH THAT I OFTEN START SHAKING. WHAT IS
              REALLY PREVENTING ME FROM WAKING UP? IS THE UNCONSCIOUS REALLY SO MIGHTY?
              DO I NEED MORE AND MORE DRY CLEANING?


                The unconscious is certainly very powerful and immense. It is your whole past, from the very
           beginning. All that has happened in existence is part of your unconscious. It is as long and infinite as
           your past -- but so is your superconscious. It is as long and as infinite as your future. You are just in
           the middle -- you are always in the middle.
                The past is very powerful because it has already happened, so it has left its marks on you. The
           future is not so powerful because it has not happened yet; it is only a possibility. The past is a reality;
           it is a history. Your unconscious is your history, and tremendously vast; your superconscious, which
           means awakening, is only a probability. You can go on postponing it.
                And that's what your past manages to do. It goes on telling you the idea is good -- one has to
           wake up, you have to try it -- but all these are the ways of postponing. The past goes on questioning
           how to wake up. The idea is appealing, but how to wake up? That "how" is also a way of postponing.
           So when I say, "Wake up!" something in your superconscious gets stirred and a thrill goes through
           you.
                The unconscious is a very thick wall, but it cannot prevent you from waking; it can only
           postpone it -- and that too depends how deeply you are listening to me, whether you are only hearing
           or listening. And remember the distinction between these two words.
                Hearing is simple, everybody who has ears can hear, but listening is something more than
           hearing. Listening means hearing without your mind coming in between, interpreting, meddling,
           giving colors of its own to what you have listened to, bringing connotations, associations from your
           past -- that is, from your unconscious.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When I say, "Wake up!" I have one meaning. If you hear it you may have a different meaning,
           but if you listen to it then you will have the same meaning as I have. Listening means putting the
           mind aside, so what is being transferred to you goes directly to your very heart, to your very being.
                Then perhaps you can wake up any moment. Any small thing may trigger it. It is unpredictable;
           one cannot say when, one cannot say what will help. I can only go on explaining in different ways so
           the meaning of waking gathers around you. Then ANYTHING...
                People have become enlightened, awakened, in strange situations -- there is no causal
           relationship. Lao Tzu became enlightened when he was sitting under a tree and a dry leaf started
           falling from the tree. There was no strong wind so the leaf was falling very slowly, like a feather, and
           he simply watched it falling. And as it rested on the ground, something happened in him which had
           nothing to do with the leaf.
                He simply saw the way of the leaf, its let-go -- no effort to cling a little longer with the tree. It
           had been with the tree its whole life, but not even a look back, no hurry to reach anywhere, just a
           tremendous let-go, that wherever the wind takes it... A great trust. All these things, with the dropping
           of the dry leaf, happened in Lao Tzu. From that day he was a different man.
                The master can only do one thing: he can go on spinning around you meanings of a thousand
           kinds. Perhaps one of them may trigger the process, but nothing can be said about what was the
           trigger; it depends on so many things that it is unpredictable. But howsoever big the unconscious
           may be, its value is nothing.
                Waking up, even for a single moment, has tremendous value, and remaining awakened you have
           become an emperor in existence.
           To live unconsciously is to be just a beggar.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE IS AN OLD SAYING THAT, "YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT." BUT IN CALIFORNIA IT'S, "YOU
              ARE WHAT YOU DRIVE," IN ITALY IT'S, "YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR," AND IN FRANCE, "YOU
              ARE WHAT YOU DRINK."
              THE OTHER DAY SOMEONE SAID, "YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE," AND THEN I THOUGHT, "YOU
              AREN'T WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE." OSHO, I'M GETTING CONFUSED -- WHO ARE I?


               You simply are not!
           Don't get confused, because there is nobody. All these definitions are a futile exercise because it is
           defining something which does not exist. You are not, so no definition can define you. Your
           nothingness is your indefinability. It makes you infinite, it makes you eternal, it makes you part of
           the unknowable mystery of existence.
           Anything that can be defined is worthless.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THOSE OF US WHO HAVE THE GOOD FORTUNE TO BE WITH YOU ON YOUR VISITS TO
              VARIOUS COUNTRIES OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE HAD WITH US CONSTANTLY THE
              REMINDER OF HOW PRECIOUS OUR TIME WITH YOU IS. IT HAS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE TO SLIP
              INTO COMPLACENCY AND IMAGINE THAT YOU WILL BE WITH US INDEFINITELY.
              LIVING IN SUCH INSECURITY COULD SEND US INTO A PANIC -- A SELF-DEFEATING
              REACTION BECAUSE IT RENDERS US UNAVAILABLE TO THOSE MOMENTS WE DO HAVE
              WITH YOU. THE ALTERNATIVE IS TO RIDE ON THE UNCERTAINTY WE LIVE WITH TO
              SHARPEN OUR AWARENESS AND SOFTEN OUR HEARTS, AND THUS BE MORE OPEN TO
              YOU THAN WE HAVE EVER BEEN.
              I SEE YOU -- WHO REPRESENT EVERYTHING OF VALUE TO BE CONTRIBUTED TO THE
              WORLD, WHO ARE THE MOST MAGNIFICENT EXPRESSION OF EXISTENCE'S FULFILLMENT --
              ACCEPT WITH GRACE AND DIGNITY AND HUMOR WHATEVER THAT SAME EXISTENCE
              ORDAINS.
              THEN HOW CAN I BE ANYTHING BUT GRACIOUS, AND GRATEFUL FOR WHAT HAS BEEN, FOR
              WHAT IS RIGHT NOW, AND FOR WHAT MIGHT BE IN THE FUTURE, EVEN IF IT IS NOT OF OUR
              CHOOSING?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is a great opportunity for you all.
           I have been saying my whole life that we are all living in insecurity. You have listened to it, you
           thought you had understood it, but it was not the case.
               Now it is the reality. I need not even say to you that each moment is insecure.
               In fact that's how it is always. All these stupid governments have just made it more clear to you
           that each moment is uncertain, insecure; you cannot take me for granted.
               But this has not to make you afraid, to panic, to be sad, to be worried, because all those things
           will not change the insecurity. All those things will simply make you forget the insecurity, and they
           will help you to miss the present moment -- which you have got already, which is secure. The next
           moment may be insecure.
               So I would like to say to you: use the moment that is secure to the fullest, and don't be bothered
           with the next moment; it is always insecure. In our situation it has become more apparent. And it is
           good that it has become more apparent. That will throw you into the present moment; otherwise one
           can be sleepy. One knows tomorrow is there.
               But in the situation in which we are, tomorrow is not certain; anything can happen tomorrow.
           But don't panic, because that is not going to change the situation. That is simply missing the
           opportunity.
               And I can understand, it is difficult to live in such insecurity. But this is the reality, it is not a
           special case. The whole world is living in the same insecurity, only they are not in such a situation
           where the insecurity is so clear that there is no need to say anything about it. It is there; it is
           everywhere. There is no distinction at all, no differentiation, only you are fortunate because you
           cannot miss this moment. You know tomorrow I may be taken away from you. You cannot afford to
           miss this moment; this is all you have got, so you have to drink of me.
               Coming here and going from here I pass a room in which there is a beautiful carving of The Last
           Supper. Jesus and his followers must be in a deep insecurity -- tomorrow anything is possible. But
           you are even more in insecurity, because they knew what was going to happen tomorrow. It was well
           known that Jesus would be crucified; hence this was the last supper with the master. They would not
           be eating with him again. So in a way it was not so insecure; it was certain -- tomorrow he is going
           to be crucified. There was a certainty.
               Even that certainty is not here. Anything can happen tomorrow -- to me, to you. As far as I am
           concerned, I know that this is something that was bound to happen. Sooner or later the whole world
           was going to be against me, because I was fighting against the whole rotten world.
               It is a wonder that they tolerated so much. They can destroy me very easily, they can shoot me,
           but they are afraid: if they kill me then they will make the biggest religion in the world ever. Jesus
           had only a dozen followers but his crucifixion gained so many sympathizers -- if they kill me it will
           go against them, so they cannot kill me.
               All they want is to cripple me, to create such a situation that I cannot enter any country, that
           people cannot come to meet me, that I am isolated from the news media, that the people who are
           working for me get tired, harassed so much so that they start thinking, "This is too much," so the
           whole work stops... because I cannot do the whole work. The work can stop, and I can be isolated,
           because if they close the doors of all the countries wherever I go, if they start closing the doors
           there...
               Now they are doing it here. And I am amazed: I had never thought that even departments of
           justice are nothing but cunning politicians. They arrested me in North Carolina without any arrest
           warrant. They would not tell me even the reason why they were arresting me -- which is absolutely
           illegal. They would not allow me to inform my attorney -- which is unheard of in a democracy. And
           finally they could not prove the case; they could not prove anything against me. They released the
           people who were with me -- three were simply dismissed because they were in a different plane, and
           the three who were with me were released on bail for seventy-five thousand dollars.
               Just yesterday we received a letter from the attorney-general's office, with the seal of the
           department of justice, and it is such a cunning letter -- one cannot imagine! Seeing that they are
           going to fail completely, they have nothing to prove, they want to drop the case. They harassed me
           for twelve days; they took the personal things of all the people who were on the plane and they have
           not released those things. And seeing that they cannot prove anything -- they don't have anything --
           they want to drop the case. But dropping the case meant that they would have to return the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           seventy-five thousand dollars deposited for bail for three persons -- because if there is not going to
           be any trial and you are dropping the case, then that money should be returned. Why should that
           money be kept?
               But you can see the greed and cunningness... They did not want to return the money and they
           wanted to drop the case. So with the magistrate's seal, what they did was they claimed that they had
           called these three witnesses and they did not appear in the court; hence their deposits of seventy-five
           thousand dollars are confiscated by the government, and the case is dropped.
               They never informed us that there was any hearing, and they don't have any proof that we have
           refused. Our people were ready to go and we were asking, our attorneys were asking continually,
           "When is the date?" They never told our attorneys, never informed us. Even courts -- federal courts
           -- are lying that they informed us, and because we did not appear in the court we have lost the
           money. And they don't even mention the personal effects -- which are worth nearabout three million
           dollars. They have not returned them either.
               They have sent the letter here. About me, they say that they don't have any charges against me,
           but for the future they cannot say anything. If I assassinate any U.S. official, then there will be
           charges against me. And they say because one of my sannyasins has attempted murder or
           assassination, then there is a possibility.... They don't name the person. It is Sheela.
               I exposed her. I invited the government, I told the government all the crimes that she had
           committed, and now they are associating her with me -- as if one Christian murders and that means
           the pope is responsible. Out of five thousand sannyasins in a commune, if one sannyasin commits
           some crime, that does not mean that I become a possible candidate for doing the same thing.
               And strangely enough, it simply says, "U.S. official." If I kill some U.S. citizen, then what?
           According to that letter I am free to kill U.S. citizens -- that will not be a charge against me -- only it
           should not be a U.S. official!
               It seems so stupid -- either you should state a whole list of all possible crimes that a man can
           commit, or you should not state even a single crime. You don't have any charges against me right
           now. You could have simply said, "We don't have any pending charges against him." That's enough.
           Who is saying that this means that in future if I murder your president you will not have charges
           against me?
               But now that you have said that if I assassinate some U.S. official then there will be charges, that
           means I can assassinate anybody else -- just he should not be a U.S. official. Including this one class
           makes me free to commit any crime, and you cannot put any charges against me; otherwise, why did
           you not include it in the letter?
               But just to create a fear, a paranoia... Before the letter reached us, it went to the president, and he
           has become shaky, afraid.
               And these people belong to the same race -- the politicians. They think in the same way. Their
           parties may be different, their countries may be different, but their basic reasoning is the same. If
           they see that America is afraid, being such a big power, then a small country like this should not take
           the risk.
               Germany is insisting to this government, to every government, that I am a dangerous man. It is
           not wrong, but the meaning they give to "dangerous man"... perhaps I will kill their president or
           create a terrorist movement or start throwing bombs on people and hijacking their airplanes. What do
           they mean by "dangerous man"?
               One man in Spain, a famous novelist, was very much interested in me because he has read a few
           of my books which have been translated into Spanish. He was working for one month continuously
           for me to go to Spain, and he is well-known in the whole Spanish speaking world, well respected,
           even by the politicians. He was talking to the president, to the prime minister, to the royal family,
           and they were all willing for me to come there. Then these letters from America, from Germany,
           from Greece, from Italy, started pouring in.
               Just yesterday he informed me, "Now it has become difficult. Even the president has told me,
           `You don't get involved in it. That man is very dangerous. Even your association with that man may
           bring difficulties to you; you just keep out, don't mention his name!'"
           But he asked, "What danger is there?"
               He said, "You don't ask! It is a very dangerous situation."
               So many countries... The European parliament is passing a bill that I should not be allowed in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any airport in Europe. Countries like the Bahamas, and other countries -- Panama, and a few other
           islands near Panama, I have not even heard their names -- and their parliaments have started
           discussing and deciding that I should not be allowed in their country.
               Every man's life is in insecurity, but you are not so aware of it. You go on, sleepily. Yes, people
           die, people are murdered, everything happens, cancer and AIDS and everything, but still you go on
           thinking that it is not going to happen to you. But with me it is not a question that it is not going to
           happen: it is already happening.
           So each moment is insecure.
               And you have to be courageous, alert, and capable of using the opportunity that may be cut any
           moment. Make it a point that it is good that reality, which to others is hidden, to us is no longer
           hidden; it is clear and open. Face it! And the only way to face it is to live moment to moment as
           totally and intensively as possible.
               You cannot afford to be sleepy and unconscious, just dragging on. You have to become alert.
           You have to become a flame so that whatsoever happens the next moment does not matter: you have
           lived my presence, my love, as totally as possible.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                    Chapter #38
                                        Chapter title: A world beyond time
           1 May 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8605010
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO38
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 98 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOUR VISION IS SO BEAUTIFUL, AND MOST OF ALL, SO SIMPLE. BUT WHEN I THINK ABOUT
              WHAT MAN HAS TO CLEANSE HIMSELF OF, IT SEEMS TO GET COMPLICATED. I THINK THE
              THING HARDEST FOR MAN TO DROP, FOR YOUR VISION EVER TO BE, IS HIS SO-CALLED
              POWER -- WORLDLY AND SPIRITUAL. TO ME, SUCH PEOPLE WOULD RATHER SEE THEIR
              WORLD BLOW UP THAN TO GIVE UP THEIR PRECIOUS POWER. IS THIS SO?


                It is so. People are so unconscious that they can do anything to keep their power, their
           respectability -- even if it means blowing up the whole world. They can risk anything to save their
           ego. And these are the people who naturally reach to the positions of power, because they are the
           only seekers of power.
                No creative, intelligent person seeks power. No intelligent person is interested in dominating
           others. His first interest is to know himself. So the people with the highest quality of intelligence go
           towards mysticism, and the most mediocre go after power. That power can be worldly, political; it
           can be of money, it can be of holding spiritual domination over millions of people, but the basic urge
           is to dominate more and more people.
                This urge arises because you don't know yourself, and you don't want to know that you don't
           know yourself. You are so afraid of becoming aware of the ignorance that prevails in the very center
           of your being. You escape from this darkness through these methods -- lust for money, lust for
           power, lust for respectability, honor. And a man who has darkness within himself can do anything
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           destructive.
               Creativity is impossible from such a person, because creativity comes from your being
           conscious, a little alert... light, love. Creativity is not at all interested in dominating anyone -- for
           what? The other is the other; neither you want to dominate anyone, nor you want to be dominated by
           anyone. Freedom is the very taste of being just a little alert.
               But these people are completely asleep. In their sleep they are making atomic bombs, nuclear
           weapons, not knowing what they are doing. Only one thing keeps them moving, and that is: more
           power, more power. And whoever comes in their way has to be destroyed. They don't know anything
           else. They are barbarians who have not evolved into human beings. Yes, they can destroy the whole
           world; they are already prepared to do so. They are all against me because I am exposing them.
               And I am surprised: in this big world nobody else is there to join hands with me, because people
           are afraid of the powerful ones -- they can destroy them. One is fearless only when he knows that he
           is indestructible; you can kill him but you cannot destroy his being. But such people have slowly
           disappeared from the earth. We have not nourished them. We kill them and then worship them.
               This also has to be understood, why all the people that we have killed -- for example, Jesus,
           Socrates, Al-Hillaj Mansoor, Sarmad -- are immensely respectable after they have been killed. When
           they were alive they were condemned by everybody, not only by those who were in power but even
           by those who were not in power. Those who were not in power condemned them to show to the
           powerful, "We are with you." And the powerful condemned them because these people were
           bringing a vision. If it succeeds, then there will be no domination in the world; then there will be
           human beings -- everybody unique, flowering in his own way.
               But all these people are worshipped when they are dead. That comes out of guilt. First people kill
           them... It is the powerful who kill them, and it is the powerless, the dominated, who support them --
           unwillingly, but very fanatically, because they want to show to everybody, "We are more against
           them than you are, and we are more in favor of the powerful than you are."
               But once the man is killed, crucified, poisoned, these are the people who start feeling guilty,
           because from the very beginning they were not ready to kill the man. They had no problem with the
           man; he was not destroying any of their vested interests. They simply supported the powerful
           because they were afraid that if they didn't support, if they remained silent, they would be suspected
           of supporting the person who has been killed.
               A disciple of Jesus was in the crowd when Jesus was crucified, and he was asked -- because he
           looked different from others, was not from the same place, was a foreigner, and nobody recognized
           him -- he was being asked again and again, "Who are you? Do you know this man who is being
           crucified?" And he said, "No, I have never heard about him. Just seeing that so many people are
           going this way, just to see what is happening, I have come." Even he cannot admit that he is a
           follower of Jesus, because he knows the result will be another cross.
               So finally, when these people are crucified, the people who had supported it unwillingly start
           feeling very guilty, "What have we done against an innocent man, who has done no harm to
           anybody? And whatever he was saying, he was right." They can understand that these people in
           power are exploiting everybody.
               It is a strange world. You know people now as kings and queens, and if you follow their
           ancestors, in the beginning, they were robbers. From where did they get their kingdom? They are
           great robbers who have killed many people, accumulated money, land, declared themselves as lords
           of the land, and now they have royal blood. They are in the lineage of criminals -- and not ordinary
           criminals, big criminals. But they have power, they have money -- naturally their blood is special.
               The ordinary people have known all along that they are being crushed, murdered slowly. They
           labor hard and they cannot manage even one meal a day. They produce -- but all that goes to those
           people who are in power. So when they support these people, it is unwillingly. That unwillingness,
           when the man is dead, turns into guilt; they start feeling that they have been participants in a criminal
           act. They have not done anything, but they were participants in a way; they were showing that they
           are in support of the powerful people.
               To remove that guilt, worship arises. Worship is simply the removal of the guilt, to wash away
           the guilt. That's how such big religions like Christianity... otherwise Jesus had not that genius to
           produce such a big religion. There were hundreds of rabbis far more intelligent, far more scholarly
           than him, he was just an uneducated young man, but the crucifixion changed the whole situation.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Once they crucified him, they made him a god -- god to all those people, who are millions, who had
           supported the crucifixion. They started feeling guilty.
                And you can see it, if you look deeply. Jesus was killed by the order of the Roman emperor, by
           his viceroy, Pontius Pilate in Judea, with the agreement of the high priest of the temple of the Jews.
           Today Rome has been the citadel of Christianity for twenty centuries, but the order to kill that man
           had come from Rome. There was a day when the whole Roman civilization turned into a Christian
           civilization. Today the pope has only a small piece of land -- eight square miles -- but it is an
           independent country. It has been shrinking slowly; once he had the whole of Italy. He was higher
           than the state.
                People were killed in Rome for being Christians. Christ was the first one, then whosoever turned
           Christian was killed in the same way; hundreds of people were crucified. And this whole crucifixion
           created so much guilt in people that a great religion came out of it. But such a religion can only be a
           psychological cover-up; it cannot be a true religion. It is simply covering up your guilt. The more
           fanatic a religious person is... you can measure by his fanaticism how guilty he is feeling, what he is
           hiding behind it.
                But Christianity became the world's biggest religion for the simple reason that not only Christ but
           many other people, who had turned Christian, were crucified without any trial. And the masses were
           supporting the powerful people but deep down feeling hurt -- what is happening is simply inhuman,
           should not happen. But they are poor, they have no power; they cannot do anything except worship.
           A real religion is always of meditation.
           A false religion is always of worship.
                Worship is a psychological method of washing from your hands the blood that you can see on
           your hands. Even Pontius Pilate... the first thing he did after ordering the crucifixion of Jesus was to
           wash his hands, because he was not willing to kill this innocent man. He had talked to him, he had
           listened in disguise where he was talking to his disciples, and he had started loving something in that
           man. He is innocent. He says some crazy things but the way he says them is beautiful. He is
           uneducated but he speaks poetry. He does not know much, but whatever he knows he presents it with
           tremendous authority. And he is not doing any harm to anybody: if you don't want to listen to him,
           don't listen; if you don't want to follow him, don't follow. He is not preaching any dangerous ideas to
           people.
                Pontius Pilate wanted him to be freed. He tried to persuade the priests that he should be freed
           because he seems to be innocent. But Jews were not ready to free him -- and they committed a great
           mistake. They are responsible for creating Christianity. So all the bloodshed that Christianity has
           done, deep down, Jews are responsible for, and Christianity has taken revenge, tortured Jews, killed
           Jews, made them homeless. For centuries it has been going on.
                Who are the people who became Christians? A few Jews who felt the innocence of the person
           but were afraid of the priesthood, the religious hierarchy in power. But many more people were
           crucified in Rome -- and many more Romans became Christians.
                It was a convention that every year the Jews were allowed to ask Pontius Pilate to save one life,
           because it was just before their religious holiday; it was a religious mercy and compassion.
                Pontius Pilate was hoping that they would ask -- because there were three people who were
           going to be crucified -- that they would ask Jesus to be released, because the other two were great
           criminals. But the priests and the hierarchy of the rabbis shouted, "We want Barabbas!" -- one
           criminal who had committed seven murders. Even Barabbas could not believe that he was being
           released, and this poor guy, Jesus -- he knew him -- they were not asking for him to be released. And
           he had not done anything!
                Barabbas was saved. Christians don't talk much about Barabbas but he is a tremendously
           powerful character, and very important, because the miracle happened to him, not to Jesus. It was
           expected that God would save Jesus. God missed his target. Barabbas could not believe it. When
           they released him he looked back again and again -- there must be some mistake. He was such a
           criminal; there was not any crime that he had not done -- rape, murder... And he was always drunk,
           he was a drunkard.
                But the face of Jesus remained in his mind and tortured him. He also started feeling guilty, "I
           should not have been released. It was perfectly right for me to be on the cross. That poor man... I
           have taken his place and he has taken my place." He felt a soft corner for Jesus. And within six
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           months he committed a rape, he committed a murder, and he was caught again.
               But this was the rule, that once the Roman emperor releases somebody from crucifixion, he
           cannot be crucified again. So they had to find an alternative for such people, because those people
           are bound to do something if they are such diehard criminals. In Rome they had a dangerous coal
           mine; they used to send those people to that coal mine to dig coal. It has reached to such places that
           once in a while it used to collapse, and thousands of the people who were working under it would be
           killed. That was their way of avoiding crucifixion.
               Barabbas was sent to the coal mines in Rome. Within three months the coal mine collapsed.
           There were at least three thousand people; only Barabbas remained alive, everybody else was dead.
           That was the second miracle! He could not believe what was happening! He had been hanged on the
           cross and then brought down. He could not believe it that day; he was completely ready to be
           crucified, and he knew that he had done so many criminal things that it was perfectly right; there was
           no question of his being released.
               Now what had happened? Three thousand people had died and only he was saved. Even the
           emperor of Rome, the empress of Rome, became aware that this man seems to be a man of God --
           twice he has returned from death. So he was called to Rome. He had become so famous that people
           started touching him. He had become almost divine; just to touch him was a great experience. Even
           the empress wanted to touch Barabbas.
               But the emperor said, "One test more; these two things may have been just accidental." And the
           last test was... Every year they had games in which criminals were thrown without any weapons
           before hungry lions, to fight with them. Barabbas was thrown before a hungry lion, and he managed
           a third time: he killed the hungry lion. Then even the emperor thought, "Now it cannot be an
           accident." He had never seen before... All criminals were eaten by the lions! This was the first time
           that a man had killed the lion; unscratched, he was victorious.
               He was freed, he was given citizenship. He was no longer a slave -- because in those days there
           were two categories of people, slaves and citizens. He was given citizenship. That was a great honor,
           and especially for a criminal... but he had proved three times that he can come back from death.
               Christians have so much difficulty in proving that Jesus is a man of miracles. Barabbas is a man
           of miracles. They prove hard that Jesus is the only begotten son of God. It seems there is some
           mistake -- Barabbas seems to be the only begotten son of God!
               But all these years he was carrying the innocent Jesus' face, and feeling guilty that he was saved:
           "There has been some mistake. And I have been saved thrice!" He started meeting Christians in
           underground caves, where they used to meet so that nobody would know. He listened for the first
           time to what Jesus used to say -- and he became a Christian. The day he became a Christian he was
           caught and crucified, and then no miracle happened! It is a very strange story.
               But the Roman people, who are now Italians, started feeling: Thousands of people are being
           crucified just because they are getting involved with Jesus and his teachings. The Roman empire
           disappeared, and the whole land of the Romans became Christian. And from there Christianity
           started moving all over the world.
               A guilt feeling is very basic for being a Christian, for being a false religious person. Real
           religiousness arises not out of guilt but out of silence, out of love, out of meditativeness.
               These people who are in power are almost on the brink of destroying the world, rather than lose
           their power. I can understand their logic -- they may not be aware of it. Their logic is: We are going
           to die anyway, so what if the whole world dies? Our death is certain, so why should we bother about
           whether the world lives after us or not? We should live in power as long as we are here, and there is
           no need to be bothered about what will happen if the world explodes into a third world war.
               The inner logic is: the day one is dead, the whole world is dead for him. You were not here one
           day; whether the world was here or not would not have made any difference to you. You will not be
           here one day; whether the world is there or has been blown up by nuclear weapons will not make any
           difference to you. What makes the difference to them is that they are in power, and they want to
           prove to the whole world that they are the most powerful people.
               Now the competition has reached to a suicidal point, and America is in a hurry for the third
           world war to happen. Russia wants to delay it a little, because America has evolved certain
           microwave patterns around the whole country -- billions of dollars have been put into it. You cannot
           see it, it does not obstruct anything; it only obstructs nuclear weapons. If a nuclear weapon is fired at
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           America, if a missile comes to America, it will be returned; it cannot enter the country. So America
           is feeling safe. That's why this Libya episode happened.
                The Soviet Union has not yet been able... they are working hard to create a protective armor
           around the country. Their country is big, vast; their finances are not as great as American finances,
           but still they are preparing -- there is no other way.
                Those two nuclear powers are preparing their protection. Then America can send missiles to the
           Soviet Union, and they will also be returned. Now, where they will fall, nobody knows -- they will
           fall somewhere. But those two countries are protected, and the whole world is unprotected. So the
           whole world is in danger. Right now the Soviet Union is not ready with its protection; Libya was just
           a way to check whether Russia is ready or not. If they had been ready, the third world war would
           have been on.
                The Soviet Union is ready to support Libya but is afraid to, for the simple reason that it does not
           yet have any protection for its own country; it needs some time. That's why the Soviet leaders are
           talking about cutting the production of nuclear weapons in such a way, step by step, that by the end
           of this century all production completely stops -- and the whole world is impressed by it.
                America cannot accept it because it has put billions of dollars into the protective armor that will
           be useless... billions of dollars into nuclear weapons, and no chance to use them. America is in a
           hurry; it wants any excuse. And the gap is not big; perhaps within one year the Soviet Union will be
           ready. So if the war has to happen, America wants it quickly.
                Kaddafi's daughter died because America bombed his houses -- even his tent in the desert they
           did not leave -- and Kaddafi was silent, taking no action. On the contrary, he said that if America
           bombs anywhere else, their whole strategy will be to bomb the place and blame Libya for it. Libya is
           a small country, but Libya is just an excuse to provoke the Soviet Union. And Kaddafi said, "Next
           time Libya is bombed then be certain, that will be the beginning of the third world war." But why
           next time? The Soviet Union needs a little time.
                If the world has some intelligent people in it, they should protest together to the U.N.: "Now it is
           intolerable. Patience has a limit, and all nuclear weapons should be banned, should be thrown in the
           oceans, or some way should be found that they are made useless or turned into some creative force."
                Perhaps we are not far away now, not even ten, fifteen years... America is in such a hurry, and
           the hurry has a reason... before the Soviet Union completes its project of protection, because after
           that protection those two countries will be safe. Then everybody else will be killed who is not
           fighting, who has nothing to do with the fight, who is out of the war but they don't have any
           protection. The returning nuclear missiles will fall all over the world.
                The intelligentsia of the world has to create an atmosphere in the world that now it is a question
           not of the Soviet Union and America; it is a question of the whole world. Because the whole world is
           going to suffer, the whole world should unite against both these nations and force both these nations
           to stop this mad race of nuclear weapons and power.
                But there seems to be no protest, there seems to be no worry. The world goes on in a routine rut.
           It seems people don't have any alertness, don't have any clarity about the problem.
                I can see clearly that there is more possibility of the world blowing up than being saved, because
           nothing is being done to save it and everything is being done to blow it up. And because I speak
           against it, America is against me, the Soviet Union is against me. This is a rare phenomenon;
           otherwise it happens that if America is against me, the Soviet Union will be favorable to me. And
           vice versa too is true. But both are against me, because I am not really against America or the Soviet
           Union; I am against this game of power, which is simply idiotic.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WE HAVE EXPERIMENTED WITH COMMUNES IN BOTH THE EAST AND THE WEST THAT DID
              NOT LAST. BUDDHA AND OTHER ENLIGHTENED MASTERS CREATED COMMUNES THAT DID
              LAST.
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?


              Gautam Buddha and other masters never created communes the way we have created them.
           Buddha had followers, but not staying in one place... moving continuously. Mahavira had followers,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but not staying in one place... moving continuously. So nobody has created the way we created
           communes. Five thousand people living together is a totally different experience than five thousand
           Buddhist monks moving from one place to another place, only staying three days at one place. And
           even in that, man's cunningness comes in.
               Jaina monks have to move continuously, except during the rainy seasons. In India, before atomic
           experiments started, the seasons used to be very fixed. Even dates and days were fixed -- on what
           day the rains will begin and on what day the rains will stop -- and there were three clear-cut seasons,
           four months each. So for four months in the rainy season they had to stop. But that also does not
           mean that thousands of sannyasins will be stopping in one place, but wherever they are.
               But the cunningness of man's mind is such that I have seen Jaina monks who have lived their
           whole life in Bombay -- somebody is there for fifty years... I enquired, "How is it being managed? --
           because it is against their basic rule and discipline. After three days they have to move."
               And I was told that in Mahavira's time there were not such big cities as Bombay. Now the Jaina
           monk moves from one part of Bombay to another part of Bombay, and in this way he goes on
           moving around Bombay, inside Bombay, from one place to another place. But he remains in
           Bombay; he never leaves Bombay. Clever idea! From one suburb he will move to another suburb;
           that is another place. And in Mahavira's time there were no such big cities these suburbs would have
           been different cities, different towns, so..."We are moving!" And they go on circling.
               Bombay has a population of the daily population is nearabout ten million people. Forty million
           people come every day to work, from nearby towns, and they return in the evening. Sixty million
           people are living in the town. They are logically right, that there was no city in Mahavira's time of
           such population. But the whole point is missed. The point was simply that you don't become attached
           to a certain place, that you don't start having friendships, likes, dislikes. In three days you cannot do
           much. One day you come, just one day you really stay, and the third day you have to move. It is not
           enough time to get into any politics, or any local problems. To avoid power politics, to avoid local
           problems, attachments, the device was created that you move after three days.
               But after three days they go on moving in the same city -- for fifty years, sixty years. They have
           immense contact with people. They are almost residents of Bombay! The people who like them
           come to listen to them wherever they are.
               Nobody had any commune the way we tried, and both the experiments have given great insights
           into human nature, so nothing has been a failure. We have learned much. So now I am not going to
           create a commune. I am going to create a totally different thing: a mystery school... forty, fifty
           people will be there to take care of the school, and two hundred, three hundred, five hundred people
           can come for a one month course, or a two month course, or a three month course, and move on. And
           slowly, slowly we can train people so that they can open mystery schools around the world. A school
           is a different thing. You come for three months to learn something, to go through some experiences,
           and then you are back in the world, to your work, to your job.
               The commune experiment has made it clear that if five thousand people are living in a commune,
           they will have to do many things -- make roads, make houses, make other facilities for five thousand
           people, and for the guests who will be coming for festivals. These people will not have any time left
           for the real search they had come for in the first place. They will not have time for meditation. They
           will not have time to go within themselves, to find techniques and work upon them, because the
           work is such that you cannot just work five hours a day, five days a week; it will never be
           completed. You have to work ten, twelve hours a day seven days a week. You are tired -- and
           moreover, what you are doing is only the necessary facilities for yourself. Soon you will have to start
           production; otherwise from where are you going to get your food, your clothes? So this is a vicious
           circle.
               And when five thousand people are there, then there is bound to be power politics. Then you
           have to find group leaders, coordinators. It is not possible to give freedom to five thousand people:
           "Do whatsoever you like" -- because they will all go swimming and trekking and playing their
           guitars, but then who will make the roads and the houses and do the farming? And how are your food
           and your clothes to be arranged? How long can we depend on donations? Sooner or later you will
           have to make factories and you will have to create something. Then this commune becomes just an
           ordinary world -- so why make so much unnecessary trouble? Our basic reason was to give you an
           insight into yourself. That is completely forgotten in unnecessary trivia.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So my new phase of work is a mystery school. You work in the world, where roads are already
           there, houses are already there, you need not make them. Factories are already there... in thousands
           of years the world has created all that. So you can manage -- five hours work five days a week is
           enough. On the weekend you can meditate, you can go into silence or you can go to some isolated
           spot and just relax. And in a year you will be able to earn so much money, save so much money, that
           you can come here for one month, two months, three months... as much as you can manage.
                Then being with me has no connotations of work. Then being with me is simply joy, celebration,
           meditation, singing, dancing. Those three months are simply holiday. You forget the world for those
           three months. They are pure search for the truth. And after three months, whatever you have learned,
           continue it at home; there you have time. Five hours you work -- you have enough time; you can get
           at least two hours for yourself.
                Not only this... when you start living with me there is a possibility that you may start taking me
           for granted, that I am always here. Nine months being away will bring you closer to me, because
           distance creates longing, creates love, creates understanding. So each year you will be coming, then
           going. Whatever you can manage... you can come twice. You will not be a burden on anybody, and
           there is no need for anybody to dominate you; there is no need for any strict discipline -- work needs
           that. There is no need for coordinators, so we can avoid the power trip.
                But both our communes have helped to bring us to this point where we can start a mystery
           school. Without those two communes it would have been impossible. This is my way of looking at
           things. Even failures bring you closer to success, because each failure gives you insight into what
           went wrong, how it went wrong. So both the experiments have been immensely significant.
                Now we are in a position to create a totally different kind of place, which is simply a festival all
           the year round. People will be coming and going. They will take whatever they learn and they will
           practice it in the world, and they will come again to renew, to refresh, to go further, deeper. Only a
           skeleton crew will be here to take care of you.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I'VE BEEN HERE WITH YOU NOW FOR TWO WEEKS, AND FIND MYSELF NOT THINKING OR
              TALKING ABOUT THE PLACE AND THE PEOPLE I WAS WITH BEFORE. IF FEELS AS IF I HAVE
              BEEN HERE FOR THREE MONTHS OR MORE, SO MANY THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. HOW
              COME THAT TIME LOSES ALL ITS MEANING WHEN WE ARE WITH YOU?


               Time is a relative phenomenon. It is nothing absolute, so in different contexts it will have
           different meanings. You are in pain -- time will look longer. Your tooth is hurting -- seconds will
           look like minutes, minutes will look like hours. It depends how much the tooth is hurting! In pain
           you want to finish it, finish this pain, somehow to get rid of it. You don't want to prolong it, so time
           seems to be long.
               Christians have never been able to explain why their hell is eternal, and they cannot explain it
           because the grounds on which they have made it eternal are foolish. If it is punishment, then it is
           absolutely impossible to prove that somebody has committed so many sins that his punishment is
           going to be eternal.
               Bertrand Russell, one of the genius minds of our times, wrote a book, WHY I AM NOT A
           CHRISTIAN, and this is one of the points that he makes clear, "I am absolutely against the idea of
           eternal hell, because as far as I know, if all my sins in my long life" -- and he lived long, almost a
           century -- "can be accumulated, and even those sins which I have not committed but only
           contemplated, those sins which I have dreamed of but I have not really committed... Combine all of
           them and the hardest judge cannot give me more than four to five years in jail. Now, eternal hell? It
           is so absurd and illogical -- that puts me off." And he recounts other points. The Christians have not
           been able to answer, for the simple reason that they have based their argument on wrong things.
               My answer would have been that because hell is the idea of suffering, immense suffering... it
           may be only for a single moment but it will appear as eternal, unending. It is a relative concept. And
           Bertrand Russell would have immediately understood it, because he wrote a book, THE ABC OF
           RELATIVITY. He understands the idea of relativity: when you are joyous and happy with a friend,
           with a lover, time becomes short; it seems to go faster. Hours pass, and suddenly you see that so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many hours have passed but it seems only a few minutes have passed. In pain time becomes long -- it
           is very elastic. In pleasure it becomes very short.
                But to be with me is something more than pleasure; it is peace, it is silence. It is something that is
           beyond the words. But my presence can make you feel it: time can disappear completely. It can be
           felt as if time has stopped. This is a beautiful experience.
                Time stopping means you are entering into a world beyond time.
           And that's what I am trying to do.
                To be available to you, to call you here to be with me, simply means that I want to give you some
           taste of that which is higher than pleasure. And in that moment, time comes to a standstill.




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                     Chapter #39
                                        Chapter title: Your mind is not yours
           1 May 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8605015
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO39
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT THAT WESTERN SOCIETY REACTS SO STRONGLY TO ANY INDIVIDUAL DEVIATING
              FROM THE NORM, PARTICULARLY AS FAR AS HIS MENTAL STATE IS CONCERNED? IT
              LOOKS ON THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN BELOW THE MIND IN SUCH A WAY AS TO CAST A
              STIGMA ON THEM, AND REGARDS THE POSSIBILITY OF GOING BEYOND THE MIND --
              ENLIGHTENMENT -- -WITH SKEPTICISM. IT DOES ALLOW A SLIGHT MARGIN OF DEVIATION IN
              ITS CREATIVE PEOPLE AND GENIUSES; HENCE SUCH PEOPLE ARE EXCUSED FOR THEIR
              "ECCENTRICITIES."
              IT IS AS IF THE MIND IS THE TOUCHSTONE OF ONE'S ADJUSTMENT TO SOCIETY, AND ANY
              ABERRATION THAT MIGHT THREATEN THE STATUS QUO IS REGARDED WITH FEAR. WHAT IS
              THAT FEAR? -- BOTH OF THE SICK MIND AND THE ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND?


               The mind is within you, but it is really a projection of the society inside you. It is not yours.
               No child is born with a mind. He is born with a brain. The brain is the mechanism; the mind is
           the ideology. The brain is fed by the society, and every society creates a mind according to its own
           conditionings. That's why there are so many minds in the world. The Hindu mind is certainly
           separate from the Christian mind, and the communist mind is certainly separate from the Buddhist
           mind.
               But a fallacy is created in the individual that the mind is yours, so the individual starts acting
           according to the society, following the society, but feeling as if he is functioning on his own. This is
           a very cunning device.
               George Gurdjieff used to tell a story... A magician deep in the mountains had many sheep, and to
           avoid servants and to avoid looking after the sheep and going in search of them every day when they
           were lost in the forest, he hypnotized all the sheep, and told each sheep different stories. He gave
           different minds to each sheep.
               To one he told, "You are not a sheep, you are a man, so you need not be afraid that one day you
           will be killed, sacrificed, like other sheep -- they are only sheep. So you need not be worried as far as
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           returning home is concerned." To some he said, "You are a lion, not a sheep," and to some, "You are
           a tiger." And since that day the magician was at ease: the sheep started behaving according to the
           mind that was given to them.
               He could kill a sheep -- every day he used to kill sheep for his own food, his family's food -- and
           the sheep who believed that they were lions or men or tigers would simply look and giggle, "This is
           what happens to sheep." But they were not afraid, not like in the old days.
               When he killed a sheep before, all the sheep were trembling, afraid, "Tomorrow is going to be
           my day. How long can I live?" And that's why they used to escape in the forest -- to avoid the
           magician. But now nobody was escaping. There were tigers, there were lions... all kinds of minds
           had been implanted in them.
               Your mind is not your mind -- this is something basic to be remembered. Your mind is an
           implantation of the society in which you have accidentally been born. If you were born in a Christian
           home, but immediately transferred to a Mohammedan family and brought up by the Mohammedans,
           you would not have the same mind; you would have a totally different mind that you cannot
           conceive of.
               Bertrand Russell, one of the geniuses of our times, tried hard to get rid of the Christian mind, not
           because it was Christian, but simply because it was given to him by others. He wanted his own fresh
           outlook about things. He did not want to see things from somebody else's glasses; he wanted to come
           in contact with reality immediately, and directly. He wanted his own mind.
               So it was not a question of being against the Christian mind; if he had been a Hindu he would
           have done the same, if he had been a Mohammedan he would have done the same, if he had been a
           communist he would have done the same.
               The question is whether the mind is your own or implanted by others -- because the others
           implant a mind in you which does not serve you, but serves their purposes. Now in the whole Soviet
           Union, each child is being brought up with a communist mind.
               One of my friends, Rahul Sankritayana, was visiting the Soviet Union. He went to see a school
           and he asked a small boy, "Do you believe in God?" The small boy looked at him in shock and he
           said, "At your age, in this century, you ask such a question! In the past when people were ignorant
           they used to believe in God. There is no God." Now this child will believe for his whole life that this
           is his voice. It is not so. It is the voice of the society, and it serves the purposes of the vested interests
           of the society.
               You are prepared by the parents, by the teachers, by the priests, by your educational system to
           have a certain kind of mind, and your whole life you go on living through that certain kind of mind.
           That is a borrowed life. And that is why there is so much misery in the world: because nobody is
           living authentically, nobody is living his own self; he is simply following orders implanted in him.
               Bertrand Russell tried hard and wrote a book, WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. But in a letter
           to a friend he wrote, "Although I have written the book, although I do not believe that I am a
           Christian, I have dropped that mind, still, deep down... One day I asked myself, `Who is the greatest
           man in history?' Rationally I know it is Gautam Buddha, but I could not put Gautam Buddha above
           Jesus Christ.
               "That day I felt that all my efforts have been futile. I am still a Christian. I know rationally that
           Jesus Christ stands no comparison with Gautam Buddha -- but it is only rational. Emotionally,
           sentimentally I cannot put Gautam Buddha above Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ remains in my
           unconscious, still affecting my attitudes, my approaches, my behavior. The world thinks I am no
           longer a Christian, but I know... It seems difficult to get rid of this mind! They have cultivated it with
           such acumen, with such craftsmanship."
               And it is a long process. You never think about it. A man lives at the most seventy-five years,
           and for twenty-five years he has to be in the schools, colleges, university; one third of life is devoted
           to cultivating a certain mind. Bertrand Russell failed because he had no knowledge of how to get rid
           of it. He was fighting, but groping in the dark.
               There are absolutely certain methods of meditation which can take you away from the mind, and
           then it is very easy if you want to drop it. But without first becoming separate from the mind it is
           impossible to drop it -- who is going to drop whom?
               Bertrand Russell is fighting with one half of his mind against the other half, and both are
           Christian -- it is impossible. And now it has been proved scientifically. One of the most important
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scientific contributions is from Delgado. He has found seven hundred centers in the brain. Each
           center is capable of containing an immense quantity of knowledge; it is just like a recording. And his
           experiments are very shocking: he touches a certain center in the brain with an electrode, and the
           man starts speaking. He takes away the electrode and the man stops. He puts the electrode back on
           the same center, and the man starts speaking again -- from the very beginning.
                Delgado himself has not been able yet to figure out how the tape gets reversed -- because the
           man always starts from the beginning. Wherever you leave him makes no difference. It is not that he
           starts where you left him. Some automatic process in the mind will be discovered...
                Some electrode can be implanted in the mind, permanently, and it can be controlled from far
           away by remote control. Delgado exhibited it in Spain, in a bullfight. He planted an electrode in the
           mind of the toughest bull, and he stood in the field showing a red flag. The bull rushed towards him
           ferociously, and the people almost stopped breathing: "The bull is going to kill one of our best
           geniuses!" But they did not know that he had a remote control switch in his pocket -- just a small box
           with a switch.
                Just when the bull was about to attack, from one foot away, he pushed the button and the bull
           stopped, just frozen. And he did it many times. Again and again the bull came with the same
           ferocity, and again and again he stopped whenever Delgado pushed the button.
                Delgado says, "Sooner or later, this discovery can either become a blessing to humanity, or it can
           become a curse."
                Every child's mind can be easily implanted with an electrode. You will have very obedient
           people; you will not have any rebels, you will not have any revolutionaries, but the whole charm of
           life will be gone. People will be simply vegetables, enslaved scientifically. And they will not know,
           because the remote control unit may be in the capital, in the hands of the government.
                It can be useful -- criminals can be prevented, murderers can be prevented, thieves can be
           changed, rapists can be transformed -- but it is dangerous also. Anybody who is in power can make
           the whole country just a crowd of slaves. And you cannot do anything, because you don't know.
           Remember one thing, inside the skull, where the brain is, you don't have any sensitivity. Even if a
           stone is put inside your skull, you will never know; you just don't have sensitive nerves there which
           can inform you.
                This came to be known in the second world war. A man was shot with a bullet, and somehow the
           doctors thought that the bullet was not inside him, but had missed, just touching his head. So they
           treated the wound, it healed and the bullet remained inside his head for ten years -- and he was never
           aware of it. It was for some other reasons that he was being x-rayed, and they were surprised to find
           that there was a bullet inside him. Then the wound was opened and the bullet was found. That made
           it clear that anything can be planted in the mind.
                Delgado's mechanism is scientific, but society has been doing the same by planting ideas... It is
           an old bullock cart method. It takes so long, twenty-five years, and it is not foolproof, because a few
           revolutionaries escape, a few rebels are still born. And it is good that there are people who escape
           from the enslaving structure of the society, because these are the people who have advanced
           knowledge, who have given all scientific progress, who have changed all superstitions.
                But the society wants you simply to be a carbon copy, never an original.
                The strategy to create a mind in you is to go on repeating certain things continuously. And even
           if a lie is repeated continuously it starts becoming a truth; you forget that it was a lie in the
           beginning.
                Adolf Hitler started lying to the German people that all the misery of their country is because of
           the Jews. Now this is such an absurd thing -- like somebody saying that all the misery of the country
           is because of bicycles, so if we destroy all the bicycles all the misery will disappear.
                In fact the Jews were the very backbone of Germany, they had created all the wealth of
           Germany. And they had no other nation, so any nation -- wherever they were -- was their nation.
           They had no other alternative in their minds; they could not betray, and they had been doing all the
           things that any other German was doing for the welfare of the country.
                But Adolf Hitler in his autobiography writes, "It doesn't matter what you say, because there is no
           such thing as truth. Truth is a lie that has been repeated so often that you have forgotten that it is a
           lie." So the only difference, according to him, between truth and a lie is that the lie is fresh and truth
           is old; otherwise there is no difference. And he seems to have some insight in it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                For example, Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism -- these three religions repeat to their
           children, "There is a God." Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, three other religions, say "There is no God."
           The first group of three religions have a certain mind. Their whole life is filled with the idea of God,
           hell, heaven, prayer. The second group of three religions has no prayer because there is nobody to
           pray to, there is no God. And the very question does not arise.
                Now, half of the world is communist. They don't believe even in the soul of man, and every child
           is continuously told that man is matter, that when man dies he simply dies, nothing remains; that
           there is no soul -- consciousness is a by-product. Now half of the humanity repeats it -- as the truth.
                Adolf Hitler cannot be accused of being absolutely absurd. It seems to be the case that if you
           repeat anything to people, they will slowly, slowly start believing it. And if it has been repeated for
           centuries, it has become a heritage.
                Your mind is not yours. And your mind is not young; it is centuries old -- three thousand years
           old, five thousand years old. That's why every society is afraid of anybody creating a doubt about the
           mind.
                That's my crime: that I create a doubt in you about your mind. And I want you to understand that
           it is not your mind, and your search should be to find your own mind. To be under somebody else's
           impact is to remain psychologically a slave. And life is not for slavery. It is to taste freedom.
                There is something like truth, but with this mind you can never know it, because this mind is full
           of lies, repeated for century after century. You can find the truth when you put this mind completely
           aside and look at existence with fresh eyes, like a newborn child; then whatever you experience is
           truth. And if you remain constantly alert not to allow others to interfere with your inner growth, there
           comes a moment when you become so attuned with existence, so one with existence...
                Only this experience is religious experience. It is not Jewish, it is not Christian, it is not Hindu.
           How can any experience be Jewish, Hindu or Mohammedan? You never see its ridiculousness. You
           eat something and you say it is delicious, but is it Christian, or Hindu, or Buddhist? You taste
           something and you say it is sweet, but is it communist? -- is it materialist or spiritualist? These
           questions are nonsense. It is simply sweet, it is simply delicious.
                When you feel existence immediately, without any mediator, with no mind given by anybody
           else to you, you taste something which transforms you, which makes you enlightened, awakened,
           which brings you to the highest peak of consciousness.
                A greater fulfillment there is not. A higher contentment there is not. A deeper relaxation there is
           not.
           You have come home.
           Life becomes a joy, a song, a dance, a celebration.
           And I call this life religious.
                I want everybody to be religious, but I don't want anybody to be Christian, Hindu,
           Mohammedan, because those are the barriers which will never allow you to become religious. And
           you can see it clearly: Gautam Buddha is not a Buddhist, he never heard the word Buddhist; Jesus
           Christ is not a Christian, he never heard the word Christian and certainly he is not a Jew; otherwise
           Jews would not have crucified him.
                If Jews decided to crucify Jesus, that simply means he has dropped the mind that they have given
           him to carry his whole life, that he is saying things that are not part of their given mind. And Jesus
           continuously reminds them of it. He says, "It has been said by the old prophets" -- and who were
           those old prophets? all Jews -- "it has been said, `An eye for an eye is the law.' But I say unto you
           that if somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other cheek too."
                This was not part of the Jewish mind. The Jewish God declares, "I am not a nice person! I am a
           very angry God, I am very jealous. Remember that I am not your uncle." These are actually the
           words: "I am not your uncle, I am not nice, I am jealous, I am angry." And Jesus says, "God is love."
                I am trying to show you that he has dropped the Jewish mind, and that's the reward he got -- the
           crucifixion. The crucifixion was the reward for dropping the Jewish mind. He was dangerous in the
           sense that he would create doubt in other people's minds: "Our God says he is angry, jealous -- he
           will destroy those who are against him, and Jesus is saying that God is love. He is going against our
           vested interest."
                He was killed -- he was not a Jew; he was not Christian because the word `Christian' does not
           exist in the Hebrew language, the word `Christ' does not exist in the Hebrew language. He was called
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the messiah -- that is equivalent to `Christ.' `Christ' is a Greek word. It was three hundred years later
           that Jesus' sayings were translated into Greek; then messiah became Christ, and the followers
           became Christians.
               What I am trying to say to you is that Gautam Buddha was not a Hindu. He was born in a Hindu
           family, but he has renounced it; he renounced it the very day he started his search for truth. See the
           simple point: the Hindu need not search for the truth; the Hindu has already got it ready-made. It has
           been given by the tradition, by the religion, by the scriptures; he need not go in search.
               The day Gautam Buddha went in search for truth, he dropped the Hindu mind. And of course he
           was not a Buddhist; that was a name his followers were given later on by Hindus, to keep a
           distinction. But he had his own mind.
               To have one's own mind in the world is the richest thing possible. But no society allows it; every
           society keeps you poor. On your account every society, particularly those who are in power -- either
           through money or through politics or through religion or through knowledge, or for any reason --
           those who are in power don't want people to have their own minds. It is dangerous to their interests.
           They want not men but sheep, not individuals but crowds, who are always in need of being led, who
           are always in need of being told what to do, what not to do; who don't have their own minds, their
           own insights, their own consciousness. They are always dependent.
               The fear of anybody being different, being a stranger, being an outsider, is always the same for
           the simple reason that no society will have the courage to accept you -- because that society has not
           made your mind, and that society cannot trust that you will always be obedient to it, that you will
           never object about anything, or create doubt about anything, or be skeptical about anything.
               For example, in India the cow is worshipped as the mother. Anybody who has not been brought
           up as a Hindu is simply going to be skeptical, "This is nonsense!" And this is not all. Hindus do
           things that nobody can even conceive of: they drink the urine of the cow because it is holy, they eat
           cowdung because it is holy.
               And it is not only the villagers or the uneducated, or the uncultured. In Mahatma Gandhi's
           ashram there was a man, a professor, who lived for six months only on the urine of cows and
           cowdung -- not eating anything else, not drinking anything else. And Mahatma Gandhi praised him,
           saying that he is a saint.
               Now, Hindus are angry at me because I cannot accept this kind of stupidity -- that it can make
           somebody a saint. It simply proves that man was an idiot! But Mahatma Gandhi is a politician; he is
           also not a saint. If he was a saint he would also have said, "This is nonsense. You cannot become
           holy by eating cowdung." But he is a politician par excellence, in the garb of a religious saint.
           Saying that this man is a saint, he has satisfied the whole Hindu community; now he is the sole
           leader of all the Hindus. Anybody who has not been brought up by the Hindus will not be able to
           accept it.
               So any deviation from the norm in any society... There are many people who you call mad, but
           they are not mad. They are simply not agreeing with your madness; they have a private madness of
           their own. You have a collective madness.
               Now, for example, if all four hundred million Hindus accept without any question the idea that
           drinking the urine of cows makes you holy, and somebody starts drinking the urine of a horse, they
           say he is mad. I simply say that he is privately mad, you are collectively mad. But you both are mad!
               I would like that man more than this collective madness; at least he has the courage to do
           something private, individual. It will look foolish to all the Hindus, but they will not look foolish to
           themselves, to their own mind.
               No society wants strangers, outsiders. Why is the whole world afraid of me? I am not a terrorist;
           I am not making bombs and killing people. I am a nonviolent person. But they can accept terrorists.
               In Germany it actually happened at the same time... They prevented me from entering Germany,
           passed a resolution that I am a dangerous man and I should not be allowed any entry into Germany,
           and at the same time they allowed all the terrorist groups of Europe to have a world conference.
               I was simply amazed! All the terrorist groups that have been murdering people, that have
           hijacked airplanes, that have bombed embassies, that have kidnapped people -- their international
           conference is allowed, but I cannot be allowed four weeks of being a tourist in the country.
           Those terrorists are not of a different mind.
               It is a very strange phenomenon. When Pontius Pilate had asked... Three people were being
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crucified the same day as Jesus, and it was the convention that one can be forgiven -- and it was the
           people's decision. And Pontius Pilate was absolutely certain that they would ask, "Release Jesus." He
           was innocent; he had done no harm to anybody. But the Jews shouted, the high priests shouted, "We
           want Barabbas" -- and Barabbas was a confirmed criminal. He had committed seven murders,
           rapes... any kind of crime you name and he had done it.
               But you should not be surprised, because Barabbas belongs to the Jews. He may be a murderer,
           but his mind is still of a Jew. This Jesus may be innocent, but his mind is no longer that of the Jews;
           he is an outsider, he is dangerous. Barabbas is not dangerous. What can he do? A few more murders
           at the most. But this Jesus can destroy the whole structure of the society, because it is standing only
           on superstitions.
               Even Barabbas could not believe it. He thought something must have gone wrong: "There is not
           another criminal in the whole country who can compete with me, and this poor Jesus, who has never
           done anything except talking to few people here and there... And nobody is asking for him." Not a
           single voice shouted for Jesus to be released, and thousands of people shouted, "Barabbas! We want
           Barabbas!"
               If you go into the psychology of it, it is very simple. All those terrorists having a conference in
           Germany are acceptable: they have the same mind, the same politics. They belong to the same rotten
           society.
               But I cannot be allowed. Against me they have the idea that I will corrupt people. The same was
           their condemnation of Socrates -- that he corrupts people -- and all that Socrates was doing was
           teaching people to have their own mind.
               All the great masters in the world have been saying only one thing down the centuries, "Have
           your own mind and have your own individuality. Don't be a part of the crowd; don't be a wheel in the
           whole mechanism of a vast society. Be individual, on your own. Live life with your own eyes; listen
           to music with your own ears."
               But we are not doing anything with our own ears, with our own eyes, with our own minds;
           everything is being taught, and we are following it.
               Deviation is dangerous to the rotten societies. And particularly in the West -- where no idea of
           enlightenment has ever existed -- it is more so, because enlightenment simply means going beyond
           the mind. And going beyond the mind you will be yourself.
               The West has never nourished the idea of enlightenment. It is against the society, against the
           religion; they have never bothered about it.
               Think about truth -- that is allowed! That's why in the West philosophy has grown to great
           heights and depths. But it is always thinking about truth. It is like madmen thinking about sanity,
           blind men thinking about light. However the blind man tries to think about light... he may create a
           big system of thought about what light is, but it is not going to be anything like light. For light, you
           need eyes.
               You cannot think about truth, because thinking will be done by your mind -- which is full of lies,
           nothing but lies. How are you going to think about truth? Truth can be found only when you have
           put the mind aside.
               In the East we say truth is the experience that happens in the state of no-mind or in the state of
           beyond mind. But in the West the very idea has not existed. And that will make one thing clear to
           you: philosophy is a Western thing. In the East there is nothing like philosophy.
               It is very strange: the East is far older, at least ten thousand years old, but there is nothing like
           philosophy in the East. What is called Eastern philosophy is a wrong name. In the East it is called
           darshan -- darshan means "to see." It has nothing to do with thinking. The very word darshan means
           "to see."
               I had to coin my own word for it: I call it philosia, as against philosophy, because philosophy
           means "to think," and philosia means "the love of seeing." Philosophy means "the love of thinking"
           -- but what can you think? Just to avoid the danger of people going beyond mind, and becoming
           dangerous to the society, a substitute, a toy has been created. That is philosophy.
               No philosopher comes to experience anything. No philosopher becomes enlightened or
           awakened; he remains on the same ground as you are, as unconscious as you are.
               Darshan -- philosia -- is a totally different approach. It's approach is by witnessing your mind,
           not by thinking but just becoming a watcher of your mind and creating a distance between you and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your thoughts. Just seeing them, as if you are on a hill and the whole mind and its traffic is going on
           down in the valley, a moment comes when thoughts start disappearing, because their life is in the
           identity. Their life is the life of a parasite; they suck your blood.
                If you are far away and you are not giving any juice to your thoughts, they start shrinking and
           dying. And when there are no thoughts around you but immense silence, tremendous nothingness,
           just a watcher and nothing to watch... this is the moment you are freed from the fetters of the mind.
           And this is the moment of the beginning of a new life.
                But you may look mad to people, because from this moment your behavior will be different.
           From this moment you will have an originality; you cannot be part of the crowd. People will think
           you have gone wrong somewhere. It is strange -- the people are wrong! But in a way it is not strange.
           If you go into a society of blind people with eyes, nobody is going to believe that you have eyes.
           You must be having some mad illusion -- eyes don't exist. Nobody has eyes, how can you have?
                The enlightened person in the West will be condemned as mad.
                The people who are mad in the West are mad because you have created so much tension and
           anxiety and anguish, and you have given them such a rotten mind, that it cannot manage. A point
           comes when it breaks down. When the mind breaks down, the person falls below the mind; hence
           psychoanalysis is a Western phenomenon. In the East there is nothing parallel to psychoanalysis.
                In the East we have tried for a breakTHROUGH, not for a breakdown. The breakthrough takes
           you above the mind, and the breakdown simply pulls you to a subhuman level. But for that too
           society is responsible. It gives you too much ambition, which it cannot fulfill. It gives you too much
           desire -- for money, for power -- which it cannot fulfill. It only teaches you how to go on climbing
           the ladder of success, higher and higher, and tells you to be quick, because you have only a small
           life, and so much has to be done! There is no time for living, no time for loving, no time for
           rejoicing.
                People go on postponing everything that is meaningful. Tomorrow they will laugh; today, money
           has to be gathered... more money, more power, more things, more gadgets. Tomorrow they will love
           -- today there is no time. But tomorrow never comes, and one day they find themselves burdened
           with all kinds of gadgets, burdened with money. They have come to the top of the ladder -- and there
           is nowhere to go except to jump in a lake.
                But they cannot even say to other people, "Don't bother to come here -- there is nothing,"
           because that will make them look stupid. You have become the president of the country and you are
           saying, "Here is nothing -- don't bother. This is simply a ladder which leads nowhere" -- you will
           feel stupid.
                So they go on pretending that they have achieved, that they have found; and deep down they are
           empty, meaningless, and they have wasted their whole life. If they break down under such pressure,
           the society is responsible. The society is driving people mad.
                In the East you will not find so many mad people, so many people committing suicide -- and the
           East is poor, so poor that people can't manage to have one meal a day. Logically there should be
           more people committing suicide, more people going mad. But no, they are not going mad, they are
           not committing suicide. they seem to be in a certain contentment, because ambition is not being part
           of the mind given by the society; their society also gives them ambition, but for the other world, not
           for this world. This world is condemned.
                You try to understand... Their society also gives them ambition -- ambition to reach to paradise,
           to realize God -- but that ambition is against the ambitions of this world. "Renounce this world! Here
           there is nothing but shadows; it is illusory." For thousands of years they have thought it is illusory, it
           is worthless to bother about it -- why not look for the real thing? So they don't go mad. In utter
           poverty, in sickness, in death... but you will not find them tense, anxious, and they don't need any
           psychotherapy.
                Psychotherapy is absolutely Western; it is the need of the Western mind. First the Western mind
           creates all kinds of desires and ambitions, which are going to create a breakdown sooner or later;
           then psychotherapy comes in. It is now the most highly-paid profession, but the strangest thing is
           that psychotherapists commit suicide more than people from any other profession, twice as much as
           any other profession, and psychotherapists go mad twice as much as any other profession. And these
           are the people who are helping other people to be sane! It is really a mess.
                It can be cleaned up. It is simply a question of understanding that the mind that we have is not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           capable of encountering reality, because reality is contemporary, and the mind is two thousand years
           old. The gap is big, and the mind fails to encounter reality. The mind has to go with reality, step by
           step; it has not to lag behind. And that is possible only if each individual has his own mind, his own
           individuality.
                I am basically an individualist, because only the individual has a soul. No group can claim a soul
           -- they are all dead arrangements. Only the individual is a living phenomenon. We have to help the
           living phenomenon to be contemporary, and to remain contemporary, because what is contemporary
           today will not be contemporary tomorrow, so you have to learn the methods of flowing like a river
           with existence, each moment. Die each moment to the past, and be born each moment to the new.
                Unless that becomes your religion, you are going to be in trouble, and your society is going to be
           in trouble.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT THAT IN SPITE OF THE VAST RANGE OF SUBJECTS THAT YOU COVER IN YOUR
              TALKS -- PERHAPS A WIDER RANGE THAN ANY MAN WHO HAS EVER LIVED -- WHENEVER I
              DISCUSS YOU WITH PRESS AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES, THEY SEEM
              PREOCCUPIED WITH ONLY ONE SUBJECT: SEX?


               I am reminded of Doctor Johnson. He had made one of the best dictionaries of his times. It was a
           very big, voluminous book -- more than one thousand pages. Three old ladies came to him, very
           angry; they must have been seventy, seventy-five, eighty, they all had glasses. And they said, "Are
           you not ashamed of your book? There are three words in it which are obscene!"
               Doctor Johnson said, "My God, in a book of one thousand pages, in which there are thousands of
           words, how could you manage at your age, with such thick glasses, to find three obscene words?
           You are great researchers. You must have been looking for them. Nobody else has objected to me;
           nobody has even mentioned them."
               I have almost four hundred books in my name. I have not written anything, but these are a
           collection of my talks. Out of four hundred books there is only one book on sex, and that too is not
           really on sex; it is basically on how to transcend sex, how to bring the energy of sex to a sublimated
           state, because it is our basic energy.
               It can produce life... That is only one thing that we know about it, but that even animals manage.
           And scientists say even trees have their own kind of sexuality, so the whole of existence manages
           some kind of sexual energy. It is only man who has the privilege to change the character and the
           quality of sexual energy.
               The name of the book is FROM SEX TO SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS -- but nobody talks about
           superconsciousness. The book is about superconsciousness; sex is only to be the beginning, where
           everybody is. There are methods that can start the energy moving upwards, and in the East, for at
           least ten thousand years, there has developed a special science, Tantra. There is no parallel in the
           West of such a science.
               For ten thousand years people have experimented with how sexual energy can become your
           spirituality, how your sexuality can become your spirituality. It is proved beyond doubt -- thousands
           of people have gone through the transformation. Tantra seems to be the science that is, sooner or
           later, going to be accepted in the whole world, because people are suffering from all kinds of
           perversions. That's why they go on talking about sex as if that is my work, as if twenty-four hours a
           day I am talking about sex. Their repressed sexuality is the problem.
               A great poet, Heinrich Heine, once got lost in the forest. For three days he could not find the way
           out. Hungry, tired, worried about wild animals the whole night, sitting in the trees, and the whole
           day stumbling, trying to find some human being... But for three days he could not meet anyone to
           show him the way. The third night was a full-moon night. He was sitting in a tree, utterly exhausted.
           He looked at the moon, and suddenly he laughed.
               He laughed because he had written so many poems about the moon and he has read so many
           poems about the moon. The moon is such a romantic phenomenon that no poet of any standing can
           leave it out, no painter can leave it out. Its impact is deep, its beauty is great. So why did he laugh?
           He laughed because when he looked at the moon, he didn't see all those romantic things that he was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           talking of in his poems; he saw a round loaf of bread, floating in the sky.
               He said, "My God! What has happened to me?" After three days of hunger and tiredness, it is
           natural, but perhaps his experience was unique: nobody else has ever seen a floating round loaf of
           bread floating in the sky! He laughed at himself, and for the first time he understood that what he had
           been saying about the moon had nothing to do with the moon; it had something to do with himself.
               So the people who talk about sex and condemn me don't understand that it is their repression. I
           have been speaking on thousands of subjects, but they are not concerned with them because that is
           not their repression. Sex has been repressed traditionally all over the world. Naturally it is bound to
           come up in some way or other. You cannot avoid it.
               Even THE HOLY BIBLE has five hundred pages of pure pornography. And it is not an
           exception -- all other religious scriptures... Hindu scriptures are the worst. They go into such details
           that you will be worried, "Are these people talking about spirituality, or what?" They have even
           made temples like Khajuraho, Konarak, Puri. Each temple has thousands of naked women, naked
           men, in different sexual postures... temples! If you suppress something in man it is going to come up
           somewhere or other, in some way or other.
               This repression of sex by all the religions has helped the pornographic literature of the world --
           magazines like PLAYBOY -- to be read more than anything else. Now PLAYBOY is published in
           almost all languages, and there are many magazines of the same kind.
               When I was in jail in America, in the first jail I was surprised: every inmate had a BIBLE, and
           one inmate, who was just next to me, every day ritually in the morning, in the evening, would put his
           head on THE BIBLE, kneel down on the floor -- THE BIBLE on the bed, his head on THE BIBLE
           -- and pray. He looked really pious.
               But I asked him, "This is very beautiful, you are doing good, but why do you have all over the
           room these pictures of naked women that you have cut from magazines? and not a single picture of
           Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ among all these nudes would have looked very beautiful."
               He was shocked he said, "I never thought about it. I am a very devoted Christian, a
           fundamentalist."
               I said, "You must be a fundamentalist; otherwise how to explain all these pictures? For these
           pictures to exist, a fundamentalist Christian is absolutely necessary. Don't be worried! They are not
           contradictory, they are complementary. It is a conspiracy between the churches and the people who
           are exploiting your mind."
               My whole effort has been how to make your sex a natural, accepted phenomenon, so there is no
           repression -- and then you don't need any pornography; so that there is no repression -- and then you
           don't dream of sex. Then the energy can be transformed. There are valid methods available through
           which the same energy that brings life to the world can bring a new life to you. That was the whole
           theme of the book. But nobody bothered about the theme, nobody bothered about why I have spoken
           on it. Just the word `sex' was in the title, and that was enough.
               That word has created so many rumors that I am really amused! People are thinking that we are
           having sexual orgies the whole day. People really have imagination! Just because out of four
           hundred books, on one book the word `sex' has appeared in the title, their imagination has moved so
           far away. But it reflects their mind; it has nothing to do with me.
               In Khajuraho, the Indian temple, the most famous temple in the world... there are thirty temples
           -- perhaps it would have taken thousands of years to make those temples. As sculptures they are just
           the best; you cannot create better. But the sexual postures are so absurd that you cannot even
           imagine...
               Absolutely all kinds of postures that man -- sane and insane, whoever! -- has imagined are there:
           men are making love to animals, a man and a woman are standing on their heads and making love.
           Have you ever imagined...? But why has this happened? -- and these people must have worked hard!
           Repress anything and it will take pervert proportions.
               Now there is homosexuality, lesbianism, sodomy, and all kinds of other perversions, and nobody
           ever thinks about who is responsible. Animals in the wild are never homosexual, but in a zoo, if
           females are not available, then animals turn homosexual. That gives a clue. It seems we have made
           our society a zoo, not a natural phenomenon. We have repressed sex so much that now it goes on
           taking strange shapes.
               For example, homosexuality must have been born in monasteries, so I call it a religious thing. In
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           monasteries men are kept separate -- no woman is available. In nunneries women are separate -- no
           men are available. In Athos, in Europe, there is one monastery, one thousand years old, which you
           can enter -- but you cannot get out alive. You renounce the world forever: Enter the monastery and
           the world is finished. In this monastery, not even a six-month-old baby girl is allowed. I sometimes
           wonder: are monks living inside, or monsters? A six-month-old baby girl is not allowed; no woman
           of any age has ever entered there, dead or alive.
               Now, you are forcing people... These people will become homosexuals, the nuns will become
           lesbians, and you go on preaching celibacy! You still go on preaching that monks should be celibate,
           nuns should be celibate, and they are all reading pornographic literature... of course, hiding it in THE
           BIBLE!
               We are living in a very sick society, which could have been very healthy, and can be healthy
           immediately... just a question of understanding.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                  Chapter #40
                                 Chapter title: The body does not have beliefs
           2 May 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8605020
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO40
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 100 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HEARING YOU TALK ABOUT HYPNOSIS THE OTHER MORNING, I REACHED INTO A VERY
              QUIET, RELAXED STATE. I FELT TOTALLY SAFE AND WRAPPED IN A WONDERFUL
              SOFTNESS.
              WHEN I DID A THREE-MONTH DEHYPNOTHERAPY WITH SANTOSH AT THE RANCH,
              HOWEVER, I OFTEN FOUND MYSELF IN TOTAL HORROR AND FEAR, REGRESSING INTO MY
              EARLY CHILDHOOD. WHAT DID I EXPERIENCE WITH YOU?


                Hypnosis is such a simple, innocent experience, that even hearing about it can give you a taste of
           it. And that's what happened. Even when I am not talking about hypnosis, the same is happening to
           those who are really listening to me. A softness, a calmness, a silence starts surrounding them. That
           is a signal that whatever is being said is being heard too, that I am not talking to the walls.
                About your experience with Santosh and his dehypnotherapy, I can only say one thing: Santosh
           knows nothing about dehypnotherapy. He himself is so tense, so continuously worried, has so many
           problems... but he had studied hypnosis as a student for years in Germany so he knows the
           technique; but he has never been in those spaces himself.
                It is just like... you can read the map of the whole world and you have never been to those places,
           ever. Knowing where Constantinople is does not mean that you have been there. Knowing about it is
           one thing; being there is a totally different phenomenon. And in the schools only the technique, the
           know-how, is being taught.
                So when Santosh came to me he had the know-how of hypnosis. I engaged him in hypnotherapy,
           and I tried my best to make him understand that we have first to create a state of de-hypnotherapy --
           because every child is being hypnotized, from the very childhood. That's how conditioning happens;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that's how you get your mind. Your parents may not know, your teachers may not know, your priests
           may not know what they are doing: they are practicing hypnotic techniques. By the time you leave
           the university, you know all the techniques for conditioning others. So whoever comes to me is
           already conditioned.
                I was trying to make Santosh understand, "First dehypnotize these people, let them get rid of
           what society has forced upon them, and only then will hypnosis be clean, young, fresh, just born."
                He was only a student, so he changed the name of his therapy to dehypnotherapy on my
           suggestion. But what he has been doing is still the same techniques that he had learned in Germany.
           And those techniques can create horror, because first you are filled with social conditionings, and on
           top of it you are hypnotized.
                In hypnosis you reach to your unconscious mind, where all conditionings exist. You are in a
           volcanic state. There are going to be horrors because you may remember your childhood, and all that
           has happened to you since your childhood, which you have repressed. Remember, nobody represses
           any pleasant experience -- why should one repress a pleasant experience? In fact one tries to
           exaggerate it, to himself and to others, as much as he can. One represses only things which are
           unpleasant.
                So your unconscious is full of serpents and scorpions and dragons that you have repressed
           because you did not want to know about them and you did not want others to know about them.
           Without unconditioning you, if you are lead into hypnosis directly you will reach a hell of your own
           creation: whatever is repressed will show its true face to you -- and it is natural that you will become
           terrified.
                The problem of these therapists like Santosh is that they have never gone through the process
           themselves; they have simply studied from a teacher. They have never been part of a mystery school,
           which would have cleaned them. And in a mystery school the technique is given to you only when
           you are able to use it, and not get into dark spots, horror spaces, terrible states. They are all
           imaginary, but when you are in them they are real.
                So with Santosh, what happened with you was a nightmare that was repressed, and he opened the
           bottle and the djinn came out. These kind of people are dangerous. I told him again and again, to the
           point that he was angry with me... because he used to think that he was a hypnotist, and he had
           studied for twelve years in Germany -- what more could anybody teach him? I said, "It is not a
           question of teaching. You have not gone through these spaces into which you are leading other
           people, and you don't know what will happen to them."
                Now all these therapists are befooling themselves. Because the commune has been destroyed by
           the American government, it has been a tremendous blessing to the therapists.
                We had a property of the commune in Laguna Beach in America, and our sannyasins were
           running it; we had made a board of directors. It was a three million dollar property. What Santosh
           did was, he took three hundred sannyasins from the ranch to Laguna Beach, and all the sannyasins
           became members of the Laguna Beach commune -- and of course they changed the whole board of
           directors. Santosh brought his own directors, his own board, and he opened a dehypnotherapy
           institute in Laguna Beach. My name is not mentioned. He has appropriated the property without
           thinking of its legal implications. And we had been fighting for years, four years, to win the case....
                It was a strange case. There used to be a Christian Church, but of a very independent character.
           The man who was leading the church, the priest, did not belong to any organization; it was
           independent, it had four hundred members. But the priest became interested in me. He and his wife
           came to Poona and became sannyasins, and then he went back. Instead of THE BIBLE he started
           teaching through my books. His congregation could not believe what had happened.
                But many of his congregation were thrilled -- they were tired of listening to THE BIBLE, bored.
           Many of his congregation came to Poona and became sannyasins, almost thirty persons became
           sannyasins. And then there was a conflict. The conflict was... the non-sannyasins left the
           congregation because it was no longer Christian, and they had joined it because it was Christian. So
           they left the congregation; it became purely a sannyasin commune.
                Then the old priest retired.... He used to come to festivals in the commune with his wife -- he was
           still alive and still had love for me -- but he wanted to retire, he was old. So he retired, appointing
           sannyasins as the priests of the congregation. When he retired, the people who had left the
           congregation went to the court, saying that the buildings and the grounds -- and it is a beautiful
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           place, Laguna Beach -- belong to them, and these people are not the owners of it. We had to fight the
           case for four years continually.
               The case was decided in our favor for the simple reason that these people had left the
           congregation; they were no longer members of it, and they had no right.... They should have
           remained part of the congregation and appealed to the court, then the situation would have been
           different. They were the majority, but they had left, and now seeing that sannyasins had captured the
           whole property and the church, they wanted it back. The court dismissed the case because they had
           no right any longer. The moment you leave the congregation, you have no right....
               So we were keeping that property, fourteen sannyasins were there, and we wanted to sell it; for
           the new mystery school you will need money!
               Santosh has done a great service to us. Now he is the head priest. He knows nothing as far as
           experience is concerned, and he will destroy many people. So I have informed our people that
           something has to be done and Santosh has to be removed from there; or he has to pay three million
           dollars, and then he can do whatever he wants to do in the property. And our sannyasins have to be
           informed that his hypnotherapy is not going to help them.
               I have told you about a world festival that Teertha, Rajen, Poonam and others were arranging in
           Italy. Just yesterday the news came that very few people reached there; they have made a great loss
           of fifteen thousand dollars, and the whole thing was absolutely dead and flat. All these great
           therapists were on stage, but there was no celebration, there was no feeling that you are in the
           presence of someone who is enlightened. People left disappointed, disgusted with the whole thing.
               I told you just a few days before that they will soon be in trouble. People will desert them,
           because people were not coming for them -- these therapists had got a wrong idea. But for fifteen
           years... one can get easily into a wrong idea, that people are coming for them. Soon they will be lost
           in the crowd. And it is good that they should be lost; otherwise they will play with people's
           psychology, no knowing what they are doing and what is going to happen.
               Hypnosis is really a very soft method... very mellow music. It can happen just sitting by my side
           in silence. It can happen just by listening so intently that all your worries, tensions disappear, and
           you start moving deeper into your being. But those worries, tensions, anguishes, anxieties should
           disappear first.
               And `hypnotherapy' is an old word. `dehypnotherapy' is my construction. I told Santosh to make
           it dehypnotherapy, and he never asked, "What will be the difference between dehypnotherapy and
           hypnotherapy?" He simply made it dehypnotherapy. Now he has become the director of a
           dehypnotherapy institute, and he does not know what the difference is between dehypnotherapy and
           hypnotherapy.
               The process is going to be totally opposite. Hypnotherapy can take you into a deliberate sleep;
           dehypnotherapy can take you into a deliberate awakening. But I was puzzled: he did not even ask
           what the difference between the two will be.
               It is unfortunate, but I will have to make my people aware of the dangers of these therapists,
           because they will exaggerate their claims, saying that they have been with me for fifteen years. But
           they have not been with me for fifteen seconds. They were playing their own small role of being a
           guru to a small group of people. They had come for themselves, but they forgot completely. This is
           what happens to accidental people: they come for one thing and buy something else.
               I have heard about a real estate agent who was thought to be the top man in that profession, in a
           big city. He was part of a big company. The boss was very angry that day and was waiting for the
           man. And when the man came the boss burst out in anger and said, "This is too much. The man to
           whom you have sold land at double price has just gone. That we can understand; you are clever and
           intelligent and you managed that, and that's why we pay you so much. But the man had come to say,
           `It has rained, and now the land you have sold me is under eight feet of water. What kind of
           company is this? This is really cheating!'"
               The salesman said, "Don't be worried boss, I will take care of him. I am going." And after an
           hour he came back, smiling, and he said, "You have to give me some reward today."
               He said, "First you tell me what happened to that man and his land?"
               He said, "Nothing happened. We have had two rotten boats for many days; I have sold them to
           that man. I told him, `You are a fool. Such beautiful land, which becomes a lake in the rainy season...
           have two boats. Make a house high enough so you will have both things together. When it is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rainy season you enjoy the lake -- and the boats I have brought with me.' And those boats are so
           rotten that they will drown the man the first time he sits in them. You don't be worried. They had
           been lying with the company for no one knows how many years. And we got a good price for them."
               The boss said, "This is too much! You have still cheated that man -- and now you have put him
           in a dangerous situation. Those boats will kill him."
               The man said, "This world goes on this way. You don't have to think about what happens to
           others; you have to just think about your own pockets."
               And that seems to be the state of these therapists: they are thinking about their own pockets.
           They are not worried about what happens to the people. What they are suggesting, they themselves
           have not lived; it is not their experience. And it is dishonest to tell somebody something that is not
           your experience, and put him into a state which can drive him crazy.
               Hypnosis can be dangerous too. In wrong hands anything can be dangerous; otherwise hypnosis
           is a simple form of relaxation. But it can be dangerous, because the man, if he is bent upon cheating
           you, in those states when you are under hypnosis can suggest to you things that you don't want to do.
           But you will have to do them when you wake up.
               I used to work with one of my students. I lived in his house for six months. His brother was my
           friend, and I was alone and there was no point in getting a house -- and who was going to take care
           of it? So he said, "You'd better stay with me." And I discovered really a beautiful medium in his
           younger brother.
               I started hypnotizing him. Just to give an example to you: one day I told him, "Tomorrow,
           exactly at twelve o'clock, you will kiss your pillow madly." The second day, nearabout quarter to
           twelve, he started looking a little strange, afraid, watching everybody, everywhere, and just in front
           of him I took his pillow and locked it in my suitcase. I could see tears coming into his eyes. I said,
           "What is the matter? Why are you crying?"
               He said, "I don't know, but something like this has never happened to me. It is so strange... I
           cannot describe." And exactly at twelve he came to me and he said, "Please return my pillow."
               I said, "What will you do at twelve? In the evening I will return it."
           He said, "You have to return it to me right now."
               I gave him the pillow and before six other people he started kissing the pillow madly, and
           looking at people thinking that he must look mad... and he himself thinking that he is mad -- what is
           he doing?
               I said, "Don't be worried, that's what everybody is doing. When a man is kissing a woman, a
           woman is kissing a man, that is a natural hypnosis, a biological hypnosis; the biology has hypnotized
           your chromosomes. It is not that you are doing it... and feeling so awkward, you don't want to do it
           before others, you want some lonely place of your own. Don't be worried! It makes no difference
           whether it is a pillow or a woman. What you are doing, you are not doing -- it is your unconscious
           which is forcing you to do it."
               He said, "That is the trouble. That's what I feel. Something in me says, `Kiss,' and I know that
           this is stupid. This is only a pillow. Why should I kiss it?"
               You can, under hypnosis, manage anything if you are a person who is just trying to cheat people.
           You can even tell the person to murder someone and he will murder -- and he will be punished. He
           may be sentenced to death, and he will not have any explanation to give. And nobody can touch you
           who hypnotized him, because nobody will ever know what you did in hypnosis, while he was asleep.
               Hypnosis can be misused. Everything great can be misused. Perhaps that is one of the reasons
           why most of the countries and cultures have tried to avoid any entanglement with hypnosis. And the
           word `hypnotism' has become a condemnatory word. But that is not right; it can do immense good
           too. Somebody who has some difficulty in any subject can be simply hypnotized and told, "You
           don't have that difficulty. That subject is simple, and you have enough intelligence to understand it."
           And the man will start behaving differently from the next day -- his unconscious got it. There is no
           need to fear.
               People can be helped with diseases, because almost seventy percent of diseases are mental. They
           may be expressed through the body, but their origin is in the mind. And if you can put in the mind
           the idea that the disease has disappeared, that you need not worry about it, it does not exist any more,
           the disease will disappear.
               I have tried very strange experiments with it. My work was concerned with something else. For
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           example in Ceylon, Buddhist monks every year on the birthday of Gautam Buddha, dance on red-hot
           burning coal -- and they don't burn. One professor from Cambridge University, a professor of
           psychology, had gone especially to see it, because he could not believe that it is possible. But when
           he saw twenty monks just dancing in the flames, and that they were not burned, he thought, "If these
           people can do it, why cannot I do it?" So he tried... just coming a little closer it was so hot that he ran
           away. He would have died if he had jumped into the pit where the fire was burning and the monks
           were dancing. Now, it needs a tremendous effort of hypnosis.
                I tried it on the same boy, because he was a good medium. Thirty-three percent of the whole
           population are good mediums, and you should remember this thirty-three percent. Thirty-three
           percent of the people are the most intelligent too, and this thirty-three percent is the more creative,
           most innovative people too. These are the same people who can go into deep hypnosis; it needs
           immense intelligence. People with greater intelligence -- if they are ready to go into it -- can go to
           very deep layers. And the deeper the layers are, then things can be done which look almost
           miraculous.
                With this boy -- his name was Manoj -- I tried putting a hot burning piece of coal on his hand and
           telling him that it is a beautiful roseflower. He saw it and he said, "So beautiful, and so fragrant," and
           it did not burn. I tried otherwise also: putting a roseflower on his hand and telling him it is a burning
           hot piece of coal. He threw it immediately, but it burned his whole hand.
                Mind has tremendous power over your body. The mind directs everything in your body. Seventy
           percent of your diseases can be changed by changing the mind, because they start from there; only
           thirty percent of diseases start from the body. You fall down, and you have a fracture -- now, that
           fracture cannot be helped by hypnosis saying that you don't have any fracture. You will still have the
           fracture. The fracture has started from the body and the body cannot be hypnotized. The body has its
           own way of functioning. But if the process starts from the mind and extends to some point in the
           body, then it can be easily changed.
                Religions have exploited it. There are many religions in India -- Mohammedans do it, Tibetans
           do it, Burmese do it... dancing in the fire without being burned. But these are not ordinary people,
           they are monks. For years they have been hypnotized, and this thing has settled in their unconscious
           -- that fire cannot burn them. But remember, only seventy percent... And that reminds me of a
           strange phenomenon that physiologists, medical people, and others who are concerned with man's
           body, are very much disturbed about and have no answer...
                Allopathy succeeds only in seventy percent of cases; homeopathy succeeds only in seventy
           percent of cases; ayurvedic medicine succeeds only in seventy percent of cases; Greek medicine
           succeeds only in seventy percent of cases; Tibetan medicine succeeds only in seventy percent of
           cases; Chinese acupuncture succeeds only in seventy percent of cases -- all the methods for curing
           the body succeed only in seventy percent of cases. This is a very strange coincidence.
                Looked at from the outside it is a mystery. Homeopathy has nothing in it -- just small sugar pills
           -- but it succeeds, and succeeds to the same percentage. The only factor is: it succeeds if the person
           believes in homeopathy. The only difference in allopathy is that you need not believe in it and still it
           succeeds. Naturopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda -- their basic need is that you should believe.
                I had one ayurvedic physician, a man of rare intelligence, a nice man. He used to take care of me,
           and he was very famous in that area. But he became a victim of tuberculosis. When I heard it, I went
           to his house and there I found out he was in the hospital. I said, "This is strange. He is such a great
           ayurvedic physician, why should he go to allopathy?"
                I went to the hospital; I asked the physician, "This is strange behavior. You have helped so many
           people through your medicines, can you not help yourself with your tuberculosis?"
                He laughed and he said, "No I cannot, because the basic thing in ayurvedic medicine is that you
           have to have faith in it. I don't have faith in it. I know all about it -- it is nonsense. But if people are
           healed, I keep my mouth shut. I don't say anything to anybody, but one thing is certain, it won't help
           me. I will die if I take those medicines -- which cured innumerable people, even of tuberculosis! So
           don't be surprised, and don't tell anybody anything, because if I survive I will have to continue my
           practice. If I die then you can tell the truth."
                But the truth is, you need faith. It is the faith that changes the mind and affects the body -- but
           not vice versa. The body is not superstitious, nor is it faithful; it is simply natural. It doesn't care
           about anything else.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There used to be a sect in America... I think it still survives in a few places, but in the beginning
           of this century it was very prominent. It was a Christian group, they used to call themselves Christian
           Scientists. They believed that everything can be cured, you just have to believe in Jesus Christ, and
           that your diseases are nothing but your beliefs -- you believe that you have tuberculosis, so you have
           tuberculosis.
               One young man met on the road with one old woman and she asked, "I don't see your father in
           the meetings..." They used to have meetings every Sunday.
           He said, "He's sick, very badly sick."
               The old woman said, "Nonsense, because we are Christian Scientists. He is a Christian Scientist;
           he only believes that he is sick."
               The young man said, "If you say so, perhaps he only believes that he is sick."
               After two, three days, he came across the same woman again and she asked, "What happened?"
               The young man said, "Now he believes he is dead, so we had to take him to the graveyard. We
           tried to shake him and shouted, `Don't believe such a thing. You are a Christian Scientist. Believe
           that you are alive!' But nothing happened and the whole neighborhood laughed. Now the poor man is
           in a grave, still believing that he is dead."
               The body does not have beliefs or disbeliefs, but the mind has. And mind has immense control
           over the body.
               One of the greatest sincerities in working with people is to take care that what you are saying or
           what you are doing is not going to destroy them. And I am afraid all those therapists... While they
           were working in the commune in my presence there was no danger. I could have put anybody back
           into his right position. But now they are working without any understanding, they can prove to be
           very dangerous.
               All the sannyasins all over the world have to be informed: beware of the therapists. In my
           presence I allowed them to do anything because there was no problem; if something had gone wrong
           I would have taken care. But now if something goes wrong -- and it is bound to go wrong because
           they themselves are wrong -- then who is going to take care?
               The master's work is not easy. He has to change you, he has to transform you. But he has not to
           cripple you, he has not to destroy you. It is almost like walking on a razor's edge, because anything
           that can be helpful can also be used in such a way that it can be disastrous.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              TRAVELING WITH YOU OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS AND SEEING THE HARDNESS OF THE
              WORLD, INSTEAD OF BEING HARDENED IN RESPONSE I FIND MYSELF ONLY BECOMING
              SOFTER AND SOFTER. WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               The ordinary response will be to become even more hard, but you are not in an ordinary
           situation. Even a small touch of meditativeness, of silence, of love, of compassion, a small touch of
           the master's presence, will mean you have totally different responses.
               Seeing the hardness of the world, you will feel more compassionate towards them, you will feel
           softer. You will not react violently because that will be joining them in their same stupidity. Being
           with me, whether you know it or not you are learning thousands of things. One of them is that you
           cannot react.
               The world may be hard -- that hurts. It makes one sad that unfortunately man is still barbarous,
           but it does not give you the idea to curse them. On the contrary, it gives you the idea to help them, to
           be compassionate to them, so they can come out of their hard shells. Perhaps they are also suffering
           in their hardness, and there is nobody to tell them how to get out of this hardness. They are also
           miserable. It is out of their misery that they misbehave, because they have been mistreated. They
           know only that violence is power.
               Seeing the world you will see that violence is not the real power. The real power is love, and that
           love will make you softer, forgiving, without any anger; in fact laughing at the whole hilarious
           situation that this world believes that it is civilized, that Charles Darwin thought that we have
           evolved from animals. But our behavior shows that we are still animalistic. There has been no
           evolution at all. Perhaps we have lost the tail, but that is not evolution; perhaps we can stand on two
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feet, but that is not evolution. We are still behaving so crudely, so cruelly. And nobody is there to
           say it, because whoever is going to say it will be crushed, will be killed.
               And you have chosen to be with a man who is saying it, and who is going to say it to the very
           last breath.
               But as far as you are concerned, this whole experience of world travel, and finding the politicians
           the same everywhere, finding the nations, governments, the police behaving in the same manner... it
           seems that we are living in a nightmare. Only someone who is out of it can say, "This is a
           nightmare!" But when somebody in a nightmare is shouting and screaming, you don't feel hard
           towards him; you feel soft, you want to help him.
               It has been a good experience. Later on when you will recapitulate, you will see it has given you
           a maturity which takes lives to gain.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT SEEMS THAT MASTERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BETRAYED BY THEIR CHIEF DISCIPLE. THE
              SAME HAS HAPPENED TO YOU, WITH THOSE TO WHOM YOU HAVE GIVEN SO MUCH LOVE
              AND ATTENTION, AND ON WHOM YOU HAVE WORKED SO HARD. OSHO, IS IT THAT PEOPLE
              WHO HAVE MORE POTENTIAL GO HIGHER AND THEN CAN FALL EVEN LOWER THAN THE
              ORDINARY HUMAN BEING? YOU HAVE BEEN HARASSED BY THE POLICE AND THE
              BUREAUCRACY. I FEEL THEY ARE NOT DOING RIGHT, BUT THEY CAN'T DO OTHERWISE; BUT
              WHEN I HEAR ABOUT OLD SANNYASINS' BEHAVIOR, MY HEART CRIES AND IT HURTS ME
              DEEPLY.


                The sannyasins I have worked harder on are not the ones who have the best potential -- they were
           the worst; hence they needed hard work. Those who are the best I have not worked on at all. Just my
           presence has been enough for them, just my love has been enough for them.
                So it is not that I worked hard on them because they had more potential to go high, and then to
           fall even below the ordinary. I worked on them because they had no possibility to go high. Even with
           hard work, at the most I could bring them to the normal. And they are behaving normally -- I am not
           disappointed in them.
                Whenever a person of higher potential has come to me, he has received my love, but there has
           been no need to work on him. He needs just a slight push, and he will be flying in the sky. None of
           those people have fallen, or will fall down, because one who has known the freedom of the sky
           cannot go back to the state where he was not even aware of his wings, and he cannot be disgraceful
           towards the master who helped him. It is impossible, simply impossible.
                His gratitude will grow more and more because the master has not only made him aware of his
           wings but has pushed him into the sky and has given him total freedom. How can you be ungrateful
           to a person who has given you total freedom to be yourself, who has not tried in any way to impose
           any image, any ideal on you? Most of the sannyasins are feeling more loving than ever, more
           grateful than ever -- and it is really a time of difficulties, when your mettle is tested.
                Those who have fallen from grace were expected to. They never reached to the point where they
           could open their wings. If they are not grateful towards me, the simple reason is that they have not
           experienced anything that would make them grateful towards me. They have remained closed in
           their own darkness, in their own ego.
                Vivek goes on asking me again and again, "Why don't you work on me?" And it is difficult to
           explain that there is no need of any work on her. She has to work for me, and in that work, in that
           care, she is growing, she is maturing.
                It is a very complicated situation. I have to choose to work on the worst; they need the attention.
           Even if they can grow a little bit it will be good. I don't hope that they will become enlightened.
           Even with hard work they will not become enlightened, because the work on the worst people has a
           difficulty: they fight with you. While working on them, they are continually fighting you! On each
           single step they don't want to grow; you are doing something against them. With the best quality
           people it is different. They want to grow.
                You need not do any hard work. Just looking in their eyes is enough, just being with them is
           enough; it is nourishment. It is nourishment to open their wings -- and they will be grateful.
                The people on whom one has to work hard are not going to be grateful; they will be revengeful,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because you were working against them. They never wanted to fly.
               I remember an old story of a man who loved freedom immensely, who had made his country free
           from foreign rule, but was so much in love with freedom that he would not take the reins of the
           government in his own hands. Once the country became free, he left the country towards the
           mountains. He said, "My work is done."
               The last stop was a caravanserai. It had a beautiful parrot, and the owner of the serai was also in
           love with the idea of freedom. If he had really been a lover of freedom he would have made the
           parrot free, but the parrot was in a golden cage. His idea of freedom was just a mental luxury.
           Because he loved freedom so much -- just the idea -- he had taught the parrot to repeat the word,
           "Freedom, freedom, freedom." The whole day, the parrot would suddenly burst into shouting,
           "Freedom, freedom!" He knew only one word. And this man who had fought for the freedom of his
           country, had been in jails, had been in dangers, he was staying there.
               He thought, "This poor parrot wants freedom. He is not happy in this golden cage, nobody listens
           to him. The whole day he is shouting `Freedom!'" He decided that in the night he would open the
           cage and let him be free, so in the middle of the night he came to the cage, opened the door of the
           cage, and tried to pull out the parrot. But the parrot was hitting the man with his beak, and with one
           of his legs he was holding onto the cage.
               The man could not understand: the door was open, and he was still shouting, "Freedom!" But the
           man was also a strong fighter for freedom; he somehow pulled the parrot out of the cage and threw it
           into the sky. He had damaged both of his hands; there was blood on both of his hands where the
           parrot had scratched. But he was happy that the poor parrot who longed so much for freedom was at
           last free.
               He went to his room, went to sleep, but in the morning he woke up with the sound of the parrot
           who was shouting, "Freedom!" He said, "Strange! Where is the parrot?" He opened the window: the
           parrot was sitting in the cage and the door was open, and he was repeating his routine: "Freedom...
           freedom!" It was just a word.
               The owner came out; he knew this famous man. He looked at his hands, he looked at the open
           cage. He said, "You don't understand, he is only a parrot. I have taught him the word `freedom'
           because I like the idea of freedom. He is a parrot; he does not even know the meaning of freedom.
           You should not have unnecessarily tried and got harmed. A few other people have tried it before, but
           he always comes back. Who wants to leave the golden cage?
               "As far as I am concerned, it is only an idea; otherwise I would have thrown him out of the cage
           and removed the cage. But I love to hear the word `freedom'. It is my idea; I don't want to do
           anything about it, it is simply philosophical -- neither does the parrot want to do anything about it.
           For him it is not even philosophical, for him it is simply a recording, memory... not even mind. You
           are a man who has sacrificed his whole life for freedom. You are in a different category. You should
           not have bothered about this parrot -- he is an idiot. It is just that he has learned the word."
               The sannyasins who think they have betrayed me.... They have not betrayed me: they have
           betrayed themselves. How can they betray me? I had no involvement of any kind. I was not in any
           way expecting anything from them. I worked because I enjoyed, loved it.
               They cannot betray me, they can only betray themselves. It does not affect me, it will only affect
           their lives. They will get again into their cages and start shouting, "Freedom, freedom!" and the door
           will remain open.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #41
                                  Chapter title: Times of crisis are just golden
           2 May 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8605025
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: PSYCHO41
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video: Yes
                Length: 107 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              AS SOCIETY'S HOLD ON PEOPLE'S MINDS BEGINS TO DISINTEGRATE, IN TIMES OF SOCIAL
              CRISIS SUCH AS NOW THERE SEEMS TO BE A TENDENCY FOR AN INCREASING NUMBER OF
              PEOPLE TO FALL BELOW THE MIND INTO MADNESS. ALSO, IS IT TRUE THAT THIS IS
              PARALLELED BY A TENDENCY FOR PEOPLE TO LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITY OF GOING
              BEYOND THE MIND INTO ENLIGHTENMENT?


                Times of crisis are both dangerous and immensely important -- dangerous for those who have no
           courage to explore new dimensions of life. They are bound to disintegrate into different kinds of
           madness, because their mind was made by the society. Now the society is disintegrating, the mind
           cannot remain; its roots are in the society. It is constantly nourished by the society -- now that
           nourishment is disappearing.
                Because the society is disintegrating, a great suspicion, a doubt that was never there before, is
           bound to arise in the individuals. And if they were just obedient people who have never gone beyond
           any limit that society has decided, who have always been respected, honorable citizens -- in other
           words, just mediocre -- they will immediately go mad.
                They will start committing suicide, they will start jumping from high buildings... or even if they
           live, now they don't have a mind which can help them to figure out the situation for their life. They
           will become retarded, stupid, idiotic, may become schizophrenic, split into two persons -- or perhaps
           a crowd.
                In times of crisis, the danger is for those who have enjoyed the times when the society was
           settled, when there was no problem, everything was at ease, they were honored, respected. These
           were the people who had enjoyed the obedience of the mind, and these are going to be the sufferers.
           It is a simple arithmetic. They will go psychotic, they will go neurotic -- and these words don't make
           much difference.
                I have heard a definition. One psychoanalyst was asked, "What is the difference between
           psychosis and neurosis?"
                And the psychoanalyst said, "The psychotic person believes that two and two are five. And the
           neurotic person knows that two and two are four, but is not at ease with the fact that two and two are
           four." So the difference is very fine. Both are in trouble.
                But times of crisis are of tremendous significance for those daring souls who have never
           bothered about society's respectability, its honors; who have never bothered about what others think
           about them, but have done only that which they felt right to do; who have in a certain way been
           always rebellious, individualistic. For these people the times of crisis are just golden, because the
           society is disintegrating. Now it cannot condemn anybody -- it is itself condemned, cursed. It cannot
           say to others that they are wrong. It is itself proving wrong; its whole wisdom is proving just foolish,
           superstitious.
                The daring individual can use this opportunity to go beyond mind, because now the society
           cannot prevent him, cannot hinder him. Now he is free.
                It is almost like a situation in a jail... when the doors are open, the guards have disappeared and
           the jailer is nowhere to be found. The people who have some sense, some intelligence, will use it for
           freedom. But those who have become so enslaved that they cannot think of freedom -- imprisonment
           has become their home -- they will simply panic, "What is going to happen today? No guards? No
           jailer? The doors are open! Who will take care of us? Who will provide food for us?"
                There will be people whose slavery has penetrated to their very soul; these people will go
           berserk. But the people who always were in search of a moment when they can escape from the
           prison will be immensely happy. This was the time they have been waiting and praying for. They
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will escape out of the prison into the open sky. Going beyond the mind is going into the open sky,
           full of stars, the moon, the sun -- the immensity of it... It becomes yours; the whole existence
           becomes yours.
           The mind is a small cage.
                So moments of crisis are both... and that is what is happening all around the world. There has
           never been so intense a search for spiritual growth, for meditation. But there has never been so much
           madness either. Both are happening because the status quo is no longer powerful; it has lost control.
                When Galileo found that the earth moves around the sun, not vice versa as THE BIBLE says, the
           pope asked him to be present in his court. Many things happened that day. One was very important.
           Galileo asked, "What does it matter if one statement in THE BIBLE is proved wrong? It does not
           prove the whole BIBLE wrong. I am a devout Christian, a practicing Christian, and I don't see the
           point that if one statement is wrong it makes a difference."
                But the pope said, "You don't understand" -- and the pope was right. He said, "When one
           statement is proved wrong then thousands of problems will arise. One -- that God can be wrong. And
           if he is wrong about one statement, what is the certainty about other statements?" Just one brick
           taken out of the palace, and the whole palace may collapse.
                "I cannot allow," the pope said, "any statement in THE BIBLE to be wrong."
                His argument is significant. Today not only one thing about the old mind, the old society, is
           wrong, but so many things are wrong that it needs an absolute idiot to still believe in it. Just a little
           intelligence and it is impossible to be part of the old mind. It has lost credibility -- and not in one
           place, but all over the world. There are different kinds of old traditions, but they all have come to a
           point where so many things are scientifically proved wrong.
                You will be surprised to know... One Jaina monk had come to see me; he had collected millions
           of rupees to make a lab to prove that man has not reached the moon. He wanted my support, that I
           should be the director of his lab. He would give any finance that was needed, but it had to be proved
           that no man has stepped on the moon.
           I said, "Why are you so much worried about it?"
                He said, "You don't understand. In Jainism, the moon is a god, not a planet. You cannot walk on
           a god. And they have not only walked on a god, they have brought stones and other things from the
           moon to be studied on the earth. It has to be proved that they are deceiving the whole world, that all
           these things they had taken from the earth, and they have brought them back... Nobody has been to
           the moon; nobody can have been, otherwise the whole system of Jainism will collapse." I said, "Just
           for a single thing, that the moon proves to be a planet not a god...?"
                He said, "If one thing is wrong, then everything becomes suspicious. We cannot afford anything
           to be wrong."
                I said, "You are too late! Many things have already been proved wrong. You are not very
           knowledgeable. You have been simply reading the newspapers, and because it is a recent event, man
           landing on the moon... otherwise in three hundred years science has destroyed much that all the
           religions have believed in for centuries."
                That man was really in tremendous anguish. And I said, "For you, being a monk, it does not
           matter whether anything is wrong or right -- your search is for the truth, for peace and silence. And
           you are getting so much upset. Your very anguish shows that your own mind is shattered. It is not a
           question of Jaina scriptures, or the Jaina tradition, it is a question of your mind.
                "You are collecting all this money, not for Jaina scriptures but to save your sanity; otherwise you
           would go insane. You have sacrificed your whole life, and now you find that the gods you have been
           worshipping are not gods but just planets, as ordinary as the earth, and very poor -- no water, no
           plants, no life. It is your mind that is going to be shattered. How will you account for your whole
           life...?"
                This is the situation of many people of intelligence. Either they are going insane... you can see it
           -- psychotherapy and other schools of therapies are growing fast. They are the most highly paid
           people, people are going through psychoanalysis for years at a time. In fact people have started
           boasting... In women's clubs you can go and hear it, that one woman will be saying, "How many
           years have you been in psychoanalysis? -- just seven years? I have been in psychoanalysis for fifteen
           years." It has become something of pride. But to be in psychoanalysis simply means you are insane;
           otherwise why are you taking the treatment? And it is spreading.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the most intelligent people are rushing towards the East to find some way, some method,
           some meditation -- Yoga, Zen, Sufism, Hassidism. Somewhere somebody must know how to get
           over this critical stage, how to go beyond the traditional mind and still remain centered, sane, and
           intelligent. Thousands of people are moving towards the East.
               It is very hilarious because thousands of people are coming from the East to the West to study
           science, medicine, engineering, electronics, and the people who know all these are going to the East,
           just to learn how to sit silently and do nothing.
               But it is a beautiful time. The grip of society is lost. Yes, the mediocre will suffer, but anyway
           they were not enjoying, they were not really living; they were simply being hypocrites. By being
           insane at least they will be real, authentic. They won't lose anything -- of course they won't gain
           much....
               But the people who will go beyond mind will create the new man, the new mind. And the most
           special thing to be remembered about the new mind is that it will never become a tradition, that it
           will be constantly renewed. If it becomes a tradition it will be the same thing.
               The new mind has to become continuously new, every day new, ready to accept any unexpected
           experience, any unexpected truth... just available, vulnerable. It will be a tremendous excitement, a
           great ecstasy, a great challenge.
               So I don't think this crisis is bad; it is good. A few people will lose their masks, and will be
           actually what they are -- neurotic, psychotic -- but at least they will be true and they will be honest.
           You may think they are mad; they are not mad, they are simply in a state of very great surprise. They
           have believed too much in the old mind, and it betrayed them.
               But the best of the intelligence will reach to heights unknown before. And if even in a traditional
           world, a man like Gautam Buddha or Chuang Tzu or Pythagoras is possible, we can conceive that in
           the atmosphere that the new mind will create, a thousandfold more awakened people, enlightened
           people will become easily possible.
               If the new mind can prevail then life can become an enlightening process. And enlightenment
           will not be something rare, that it happens once in a while to somebody very special; it will become
           a very ordinary human experience, that only once in a while some really idiotic person misses.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HESITATED FOR LONG TO ASK THIS QUESTION BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO REACH DEEP
              DOWN INTO MY UNCONSCIOUS, AND THERE IS A LOT OF FEAR CONNECTED WITH IT.
              FOR THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS I HAVE EXPERIENCED TENSION OF VARYING DEGREES IN
              MY HEART AREA, FOR WHICH THERE HAS BEEN NO PHYSICAL EXPLANATION. IT CAN VARY
              FROM SHARP, BREATH-TAKING PAIN, WHICH CAN LAST FOR HOURS, TO A SLIGHT FEELING
              OF PRESSURE. IT DISAPPEARS WHEN I LOVE, MELT, LET-GO, AND WHEN I AM IN HARMONY
              WITH MY BODY. DOES IT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE NAME YOU GAVE ME? DO I
              HOLD BACK?
              I WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF YOU COULD THROW SOME LIGHT ON THIS.


               The question is from Premda, and his name has certainly to do something with the problem.
               It is not physical; it is certainly concerned with relaxation, total melting, forgetting oneself
           completely. In those moments it disappears, so certainly it is not physical. You have to learn to give
           more love. This is not only your problem; in varying degrees it is the problem of everybody.
               Everybody wants to be loved; that is a wrong beginning.
               It starts because the child, the small child, cannot love, cannot say anything, cannot do anything,
           cannot give anything; he can only get. A small child's experience of love is of getting: getting from
           the mother, getting from the father, getting from brothers, sisters, getting from guests, strangers --
           but always getting. So the first experience that settles deep in his unconscious is that he has to get
           love. But the trouble arises because everybody has been a child, and everybody has the same urge to
           get love; nobody is born in any other way. So all are asking, "Give us love," and there is nobody to
           give because the other person was also brought up in the same way.
               One has to be alert and aware that just an incident of birth should not remain a constant
           prevailing state of your mind. Rather than asking, "Give me love," start giving love. Forget about
           getting, simply give -- and I guarantee you, you will get much. But you are not to think about
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           getting. You are not even indirectly, by the side, to watch whether you are getting it or not. That
           much will be enough disturbance. You simply give, because to give love is so beautiful that getting
           love is not so great. This is one of the secrets.
                Giving love is the really beautiful experience, because then you are an emperor. Getting love is
           very small experience, and it is the experience of a beggar. Don't be a beggar. At least as far as love
           is concerned, be an emperor, because it is an inexhaustible quality in you. You can go on giving as
           much as you like. Don't be worried that it will be exhausted, that one day you will suddenly find,
           "My God! I don't have any love to give anymore."
                Love is not a quantity; it is a quality, and a quality of a certain category that grows by giving and
           dies if you hold it. If you are miserly about it, it dies. So be really spendthrift. Don't bother to whom
           -- that is really the idea of a miserly mind: I will give love to certain persons with certain qualities.
                You don't understand that you have so much... you are a raincloud. The raincloud does not bother
           where it rains -- on the rocks, in the gardens, in the ocean -- it doesn't matter. It wants to unburden
           itself. And that unburdening is a tremendous relief.
                So the first secret is: Don't ask for it, and don't wait, thinking that you will give if somebody asks
           you. Give it!
                The founder of the theosophical movement, Madame Blavatsky had a strange habit her whole
           life -- and she lived long, and traveled all over the world and created a world movement... In fact no
           other woman has been so powerful in the whole history of man, has had influence worldwide. She
           used to carry many bags with her, full of seeds of flowers. Her whole luggage was nothing but seeds
           of flowers. Sitting in the train by the side of the window she would go on throwing seeds outside the
           window, and people would ask, "What are you doing? You carry so much unnecessary luggage, and
           then you go on throwing those seeds out of the window for thousands of miles."
                She said, "These are seeds of flowers, beautiful flowers. When the summer goes and the rains
           come, these seeds will become plants. Soon there will be millions of flowers. I will not be coming
           back on the route and I will never see them, but thousands of people will see them, thousands of
           people will enjoy their fragrance."
                She actually made almost all the railroads in India full of flowers, and people said, "When you
           will not see them again, what is your joy?"
                She said, "My joy is that so many people will be joyful. I am not a miser. Whatever I can do to
           make people joyful, happy, I will do; it is part of my love." She really loved humanity, and did
           everything that she felt was right.
                Just give your love to anybody -- a stranger. It is not a question that you have to give something
           very valuable, just a helping hand and that will be enough. In twenty-four hours, whatever you do
           should be done with love, and the pain in your heart will disappear. And because you will be loving
           so much, people will love you. It is a natural law. You get what you give. In fact you get more than
           you give.
                Learn giving, and you will find so many people being loving towards you who had never looked
           at you, who had never bothered about you.
                Your problem is that you have a heart full of love but you have been a miser; that love has
           become a burden on the heart. Rather than making the heart blossom you have been hoarding it, so
           once in a while when you are in a moment of love you feel it disappearing. But why one moment?
           Why not every moment? It is not even a question of a living being. You can touch this chair with a
           loving hand. The thing depends on you, not on the object.
                Then you will find a great relaxation and a great disappearance of your self -- which is a burden
           -- and a melting into the whole.
                This is certainly a disease, in the literal meaning of the word: it is a dis-ease. It is not sickness, so
           no physician can help you. It is simply a tense state of your heart which simply wants to give more
           and more. Perhaps you have more love than other people, perhaps you are more fortunate, and you
           are making out of your fortune a great misery for yourself. Share it, without bothering to whom you
           are giving. Just give it, and you will find tremendous peace and silence. This will become your
           meditation.
                One can come to meditation through many directions; perhaps this is going to be your direction.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED OSHO,
               WHAT I FIND REALLY AMAZING ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD IS THAT, UNLIKE MOST OF US AS
               CHILDREN, YOU SEEM TO HAVE AN INTRINSIC AND UNDENIABLE UNDERSTANDING THAT
               YOUR PARENTS' INTERPRETATION OF REALITY AND YOUR EXPERIENCE OF REALITY WERE
               OFTEN TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. YOU INSIST THAT YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM US, YET
               THIS FACET OF YOUR CHILDHOOD ALONE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH EVIDENCE THAT YOU
               HOUSE THE MOST UNIQUE SORT OF INTELLIGENCE.
               I WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR COMMENT.


               Every child understands that he sees the world in a different way than his parents. As far as
           seeing is concerned, it is absolutely certain. His values are different. He may collect sea shells on the
           beach and the parents will say, "Throw them away. Why are you wasting your time?" And for him
           they were so beautiful. He can see the difference; he can see that their values are different. The
           parents are running after money -- he wants to collect butterflies. He can't see why you are so
           interested in money; what you are going to do with it? His parents cannot see what he is going to do
           with these butterflies, or these flowers.
               Every child comes to know this, that there are differences. The only question is: he is afraid to
           assert that he is right. As far as he is concerned, he should be left alone. It is a question of just a little
           courage, which is also not missing in children. But the whole society is managed in such a way that
           even a beautiful quality like courage in a child will be condemned.
               I was not willing to bow down in the temple to a stone statue. And I said to them, "If you want,
           you can force me. You have more physical force than me. I am small; you can force me, but
           remember you are doing an ugly act. It will not be my prayer, and it will destroy even your prayer,
           because you are doing violence to a little child who cannot resist physically."
               One day while they were inside praying in the temple, I climbed on the top of the temple, which
           was dangerous. Only once a year a painter used to climb it, but I had seen the painter and how he had
           managed. He had put nails at the backside as steps. I followed him and I was sitting on the top of the
           temple. When they came out they saw me sitting there and they said, "What are you doing there? In
           the first place, do you want to commit suicide?"
               I said, "No, I simply want to make you alert that if you force me, I can do anything that is within
           my power. This is the answer, for you to remember that you cannot force me to do anything."
               They begged me, "Be quiet. We will arrange for somebody to bring you down."
               I said, "Don't be worried. If I can come up, I can come down." They had no idea about those
           nails. I had been particularly watching the painter, how he manages, because everybody wondered --
           that this painter was really great. He was painting all the temples.
               I came down. They said, "We will never force you about anything, but don't do such a thing! You
           could have killed yourself."
               I said, "The responsibility would have been on you."
               It is not a question that intelligence is not in the children. It is that they just don't use their
           assertiveness because it is condemned by everybody. Now, everybody condemned my family
           because I had gone up on top of the temple -- that means beyond their god. That was insulting to
           their god. And I said, "If a painter can go... And do you know the painter is a Mohammedan? I am at
           least not a Mohammedan yet."
               My father said, "What do you mean, that you are not a Mohammedan yet?"
               I said, "Exactly what I have said. If you torture me too much I can become a Mohammedan."
               I had even asked the malvi of the mosque nearby, "Are you willing to initiate me into
           Mohammedanism?"
               He said, "You want to be initiated? Your parents... There will be trouble in the town."
               I said, "Don't be worried, because you are not forcing me. I am accepting Mohammedanism. I
           will stand in front of the mosque and tell my parents and to the whole town that I have not been
           forced."
               He said, "This is dangerous. It may create a riot in the city and a few people may be killed."
               I said, "Don't be worried, I am not going to be a Mohammedan. You just remember, if my father
           asks you, you say to him, `Yes, he has come, and if he wants to become a Mohammedan we cannot
           refuse.' I am not going to come, but this much you have to tell him."
           And my father asked him, "Has he come to you?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "He has come, and he is very insistent."
           My father said, "It is better to leave him alone!
               They had a meeting of the whole family, "Leave him alone; he is really dangerous. If he becomes
           a Mohammedan we will be condemned by the whole city. And he really has gone, and he is
           insisting, `If anything happens again to force me, then I am going to change my religion.'"
               That was the last...! They remained silent; they never told me to come to the temple. I never went
           to the temple. Slowly they learned one thing, that I am not dangerous, just they should not force me
           into a corner.
               Each child has to be assertive, that's the only thing. And what is there to lose? But children are so
           dependent, and I don't see that they have to be so dependent. They told me many times, "We will
           stop giving you food."
               I said, "You do it. I can start begging -- in this very city. I have to survive, I have to do
           something. You can stop giving me food, but you cannot stop me from begging. Begging is
           everybody's birthright."
               There is not any difference of intelligence, but I see differences of assertiveness because children
           who are obedient are honored.
               In my family, my other brothers would be called when some guests would be there; my uncles
           would be called, "He has come first class. He has come this, he has done this..."
               And I would introduce myself, "I have done nothing, and all these people are just at a loss what
           to do with me. They never wanted me to be introduced to you, so I thought I should introduce
           myself!"
               This happened... One member of parliament was visiting the house -- he was a friend of my
           father. They were introducing everybody, and I was not called; I was simply ignored. When I came
           in and I introduced myself to him he said, "But this is strange. Nobody called you."
               I said, "Nothing is strange. These are all obedient people. I am disobedient -- and you will have
           some taste of it soon."
               And my father said, "Leave him alone. Why should he have a taste?"
               I said, "He is going to speak in my school" -- I was in the ninth class -- "he is going to address
           my high school, and I am going to create trouble. I am just informing him beforehand that I am going
           to ask questions, and he should not think that because he is a great orator and a parliamentarian that I
           will be impressed by these things. Nothing impresses me."
               My father told him, "You be aware of him. He will ask something, something that you cannot
           answer, because he is continuously harassing us. He will never ask anything that you can answer,
           and he has a capacity for finding... how he finds, we don't know. He asks questions that you cannot
           answer, and in a public meeting where you are addressing hundreds of people he can make you look
           a fool."
               That man became really afraid. He asked me, "It will be good if you come with me, in the car" --
           just to persuade me not to create any trouble.
               I said, "Nothing will help. I can come in your car that will simply shock my headmaster, my
           masters, and the whole school. But there is no way of giving me any bribe."
           He said, "You look to be so strong... at this age?"
               I said, "I am not strong, I simply ask simple questions and I want their answers. When you come
           to address the school, I have every right to ask you a few things. You are continually asking in the
           parliament: I see your name in the newspapers everyday -- questions to the prime minister, to this
           minister, to that minister -- you should not be so much afraid of a small child. What can I ask?"
               But he said, "Your father is so afraid, and we have been colleagues, we have studied together; I
           trust in his judgment. And you also look dangerous."
               We went to the school. He started speaking; I stood up and asked him, "Be honest and tell
           everybody, why have you brought me in your car? Just be sincere!"
               And he said, "Your father was right. You ask questions which cannot be answered."
               I said, "This is a simple question. If you cannot answer it I can answer. You know the answer, I
           know the answer, I want everybody else also to know the answer."
               My principal tried to settle the matter saying, "You sit down. He is our guest, and much depends
           on him for grants and this..."
               I said, "That is not my business. I am not the principal of this school, I am simply a student. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I am not asking a very complicated question or any question which is dangerous to the security of
           the country or anything. I am just asking him why he has brought me in his car. If he accepts it
           sincerely I will not ask another question."
                He said, "I am sorry, but it is true. What he is saying is right -- it was a bribe. I thought that
           sitting in my car he would feel good and he would not harass me." But he looked so embarrassed
           saying such small things. When I came back home, my father said, "Did you create any trouble?"
                I said, "I did not create any trouble, he himself created it. He asked me to sit in his car. I was
           going myself, walking to the school. He created the trouble."
                Each child, if supported by the parents to be courageous, has the intelligence to make clear that
           his values are different, his perceptions are different. But nobody supports, everybody tries to repress
           the child. The only difference you can make is in that... To me anything that was repressive was a
           challenge. Then I was provoked to do something -- and they had to learn the lesson.
                So the next time I was the first to be called to be introduced, because they knew that I would
           come by myself and then it would become more difficult. It was better to introduce me. But they had
           nothing to say about me -- what to say about me?
                So I told them, "You can say exactly the truth: `He is disobedient; he is a problem. He is
           continuously creating trouble for the family, for the neighborhood, for the whole town -- teachers,
           students. And the whole day we are tired of listening to complaints coming...' You can simply
           introduce me the way I am. Why are you so afraid, when I am not afraid? These are true things."
                A situation was created that instead of my being afraid, my whole family was afraid of me. And
           each child can do that... just a little courage. One day my father said, "You have to be back in the
           house before nine o'clock in the night."
           I said, "If I don't come -- then?"
           He said, "Then the doors will not be open."
                I said, "Then keep your doors closed. I will not even knock on the doors, and I am not going to
           come before nine. I will sit outside, and tell everybody! Whoever will be passing, they will ask,
           `Why are you sitting in darkness in this cold night?' And I will tell them, `This is the situation...'"
                He said, "That means you will create trouble for me."
                I said, "I am not creating it. You are giving this order. I have never thought about it, but when
           you say, `Nine is the deadline,' then I cannot come before nine. It simply is against my intelligence.
           And I am not doing anything; I will be simply sitting outside. And if somebody asks, `Why are you
           sitting...?' And anybody is going to ask. If you are sitting in the road, everybody who will be passing
           is going to ask, `Why are you sitting here in the cold?' Then I will have to explain, `This is the
           situation...'"
                He said, "Forget about that limit. You come whenever you want."
                And I said, "I am not going to knock. The doors have to remain open. Why should the doors be
           closed -- just to harass me? There is no reason to close the doors." In my part of India the town is
           awake up to twelve, because it is so hot that only after twelve it starts cooling down. So people
           remain awake, work continues. The day is so hot that they may rest in the day and work in the night.
           I said, "There is no reason to close the doors when you are sitting inside and working. Leave the
           doors open. Why should I knock?"
                He said, "Okay, the doors will remain open. It was my fault to say to you, `Come before nine,'
           because everybody comes before nine.'
                I said, "I am not everybody. If it is suitable for them to come before nine they can come. If it is
           suitable for me, I will come. But don't cut my freedom, don't destroy my individuality. Just let me be
           myself."
                It is a simple question of asserting yourself against those who have power. But you have subtle
           powers that you can use against them. For example, if I said, "I will simply sit in the road," I am also
           using power. If I am sitting on top of the temple, I am also using power. If they can threaten me, I
           can also threaten them. But children simply fall in line just to be respectable, just to be obedient, just
           to be on the right path. And the right path means whatsoever their parents are showing them.
                You are right, I was a little different. But I don't think it is any superiority, just a little bit of
           difference. And once I learned the art, then I refined it. Once I knew how to fight with people who
           have power -- and you don't have -- then I refined it, and managed perfectly well. I always found out
           some way. And they were always surprised because they thought, "Now he cannot do anything
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           against this" -- because they were always thinking rationally.
           I have no devotion to reason.
           My devotion is basically towards freedom.
               By what means it is achieved does not matter. Every means becomes good if it brings freedom to
           you, individuality to you, and you are not enslaved. The children just don't have the idea. They think
           that their parents are doing everything good for them.
               I always made it clear to them, "I don't suspect your intentions, and I hope you don't suspect my
           intentions either. But there are things on which we disagree. Do you want me to agree on everything
           with you? -- whether you are right or wrong? Are you absolutely certain, that you are right? If you
           are not so absolutely certain, then give me the freedom to decide for myself. At least I will have the
           pleasure of going wrong on my own decision, and I will not make you feel guilty and responsible."
               One just has to be alert about one thing: whatsoever your parents say, they cannot do. They
           cannot harm you, they cannot kill you, they can only threaten you. Once you know they can only
           threaten you, their threats don't make any difference; you can also threaten them. And you can
           threaten them in such a way that they will have to accept your right to choose what you want to do.
               I made it absolutely clear to them, "If you can convince me that what you are saying is right, I
           will do it. But if you cannot convince me then please don't dictate. Then you are teaching me to be a
           fascist; you are not helping me to be a liberated man, but somebody imprisoned."
               So there are differences, but nothing that is special or superior. And children can be taught; they
           all can do the same, because I have tried that too, even in my childhood. Students were puzzled: I
           harassed the teachers, I harassed the principal, and still they could not do anything against me. And
           they would do something wrong and immediately they were in trouble. They started asking me,
           "What is the secret?"
               I said, "There is no secret. You have to be very clear that you are right and that you have a reason
           to support it. Then whoever is against you will see. Whether he is a teacher or the principal does not
           matter."
               One of my teachers went in great anger into the office of the principal and fined me ten rupees
           for my misbehavior. I just went behind him, and while he was fining me I was standing by his side.
           As he moved away, with the same pen I fined him twenty rupees for his misbehavior.
               He said, "What are you doing? That register is for teachers to fine the students."
               I asked, "Where is it written? In this register, nowhere is it written that only teachers can fine the
           students. I think this register is to fine anybody who misbehaves. If there is anywhere else where it is
           written, I would like to see it."
               Meanwhile the principal came in. He said, "What is the matter?"
               And the teacher said, "He has spoiled the register. He has fined me twenty rupees for
           misbehavior."
           The principal said, "That is not right."
               I said, "Do you have any written document that says that no student can fine a teacher, even if the
           teacher is misbehaving?"
               The principal said, "This is a difficult matter. We don't have any document, it is just a convention
           that teachers punish."
               I said, "It has to be changed. Punishment is perfectly right, but it should not be one sided. I will
           pay those ten rupees only if this man pays twenty rupees." Because the principal could not ask him
           for twenty rupees, he could not ask me for those ten rupees, and the fine is still there! When after a
           few years I visited the school, he showed me, "Your fine is still there."
               I said, "Leave it there for other students to know."
           One just has to find ways...!
               So there must be some difference, but it is not of superiority. It is just a question of using your
           courage, your intelligence, and risking. What is the danger? What could those people have
           destroyed? At the most they could have failed me in their class -- of which they were afraid, because
           that meant I would be again in their class the next year! -- so it was really favorable to me. They
           wanted to get rid of me as quickly as possible. That was the only power in the teacher's hands, to fail
           a student.
               I had made it clear to every teacher, "You can fail me, it doesn't matter. Whether I pass a class in
           two years or three years does not matter. This whole life is so useless -- somewhere I have to pass
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           my life. I can pass my whole life in this school, but I will make your life hell, because once the fear
           of failing disappears then I can do anything." So even the teachers who were against me were giving
           me more marks than needed just to help me move into another class, so I was no longer a burden to
           them.
               If parents really love children, they will help them to be courageous -- courageous even against
           themselves. They will help them to be courageous against teachers, against society, against anybody
           who is going to destroy their individuality.
               And that's what I mean: the new mind will have these different qualities. The children born under
           the new mind and the new man will not be treated the way they have been treated down the
           centuries. They will be encouraged to be themselves, to be assertive, to be self-respectful. And that
           will change the whole quality of life. It will become more shiny, alive, and more juicy.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #42
                                       Chapter title: Everybody is enough
           3 May 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8605030
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO42
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 86 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE GIFT OF BEING HERE WITH YOU IS OVERSHADOWED BY A SENSE OF UNWORTHINESS.
              IT TROUBLES ME BECAUSE I DON'T FEEL AS AVAILABLE TO YOU AS I COULD BE.
              CAN YOU HELP ME TO DISSOLVE THIS?


               It is something very essential to understand, that people who are really worthy always feel
           unworthiness, and the people who are really unworthy never feel it. Not feeling it is part of
           unworthiness; feeling it is part of worthiness.
           The question is from Kirtan.
               It is good that one feels it, because there are no limits to unworthiness -- you can go as high as
           you desire; it is just like the sky. And to feel it means the ego is dissolving. The ego never feels
           unworthy; it wants to prove that everybody else is unworthy and only it is worthy. It is humbleness
           that feels unworthiness and pain which can give birth to a new life.
               So don't take it as a problem. Accept it as a blessing. Let the ego completely dissolve. It cannot
           stand the feeling of unworthiness. There are a few things in life which function in a strange way. A
           real lover never feels that he is loving as much as he should. He is always feeling something more
           can be done, something better can be done. These feelings are part of real love. And a hypocritical
           lover always feels that he is the biggest lover in the world. He is fake, he has no love; hence the
           feeling that more can be done does not arise in him. On the contrary he will try to prove that the
           other is not loving enough.
               Life in one sense is very simple, and in another sense, very complex. Don't take it at its face
           value. It is perfectly good to feel unworthy on the way. It will create humbleness, egolessness,
           gratitude, selflessness. And once you have understood that this feeling of unworthiness is one of the
           most beautiful gifts of life, once you start enjoying it, then it goes on opening doors of more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mysteries. A point comes when you disappear, and with your disappearance unworthiness also
           disappears, because it cannot hang on without you.
               So go on keeping it as a religious phenomenon, as part of your meditation, and it will lead you to
           the right place, where the last trace of your self disappears. With it, unworthiness also disappears.
           That does not mean you start feeling worthy; it simply means that worthiness and or unworthiness
           become irrelevant. You are beyond both.
               So what is happening to you is perfectly right. Go deeply into it, and go on rejoicing -- not with a
           sadness, "I am unworthy." That sadness will prevent... Not taking it as a problem that has to be
           solved, no. It has not to be solved, it has to be dissolved, but the dissolution is not in your hands.
           When it reaches to its ripeness, is dissolves itself. And when one does not think in terms of worth,
           one becomes part of the vast isness that surrounds you.
               There are millions of flowers. No flower feels unworthy -- it may be just a grass flower -- but
           neither does the lotus feel worthy. Those qualities don't exist in nature because the ego does not exist
           there. All our problems are somehow or other related with the ego.
               If you were feeling worthy then it would be dangerous: that will feed the ego, nourish the ego.
           But you are feeling unworthy. That is perfectly the right thing to go deeply into.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN DISCOURSE THE OTHER MORNING I HAD A REALIZATION THAT WAS SO OBVIOUS I
              CANNOT BELIEVE I JUST GOT IT: I'VE BEEN DEHYPNOTIZED.
              THE PROCESS STARTED THE MOMENT I HEARD YOUR VOICE TEN YEARS AGO. TODAY I
              FELT SO CLOSE TO SOMETHING. YOU COULD HAVE SAID, "COUNT TO THREE AND YOU WILL
              BE AWAKE."
              I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW DEEPLY PROGRAMMED WE ARE AGAINST HYPNOSIS, AND HOW
              EVER SO GENTLY YOU HAVE BEEN POINTING THAT OUT TO US -- SO MUCH SO THAT WE
              EVEN THINK IT IS AN INSULT WHEN PEOPLE SAY, "OSHO HAS HYPNOTIZED YOU," WHEN IN
              FACT IT'S THE GREATEST GIFT ON THE EARTH.
              YOUR PATIENCE, BRILLIANCE, COMPASSION, MASTERY AND WISDOM HAS ME IN
              CONSTANT AWE.


               I was really going to say, "Kaveesha, one... two... three!" But I thought, "Dehypnotizing
           Kaveesha before everybody else is not good manners!" so I remained silent. But she heard it
           anyway.
               What she is saying is exactly true. My talking to you has not the ordinary purpose that talking
           serves: indoctrination -- that is not the purpose of my talks. I don't have any doctrine; my talking is
           really a process of dehypnotization. Just listening to me, slowly, slowly you will be free of all the
           programs that the society has forced you to believe in. Just by listening with an open heart, with a
           receiving gratefulness, it is bound to happen.
               There have been hypnotists but nobody has ever tried speaking itself as a method of
           dehypnotizing. It can become a music in you; it can relax you, can make you silent, can give a new
           rhythm to your heart... a new feeling of my presence, a new perception of reality.
               And I may be talking about anything. It is not the question that I am talking about these things;
           these are by-products. I may be talking about A or B or C -- which are absolutely unrelated to
           dehypnosis. The question is your way of listening. If it is right, then whatever I am saying will relax
           your being totally, and slowly, slowly your conditionings will start falling apart.
               And I want to do it this way. I don't want to hypnotize you -- that means to make you first
           unconscious. This way there is no need to make you unconscious. You become more conscious,
           more alert. You are becoming conscious and alert in order to listen to me. But my purpose is not to
           teach you something, but to use teaching as an excuse to make you conscious, alert, so you can start
           touching the superconsciousness in you.
               And from superconsciousness a higher quality of hypnosis arises.
               The ordinary methods of hypnosis can be dangerous; you can be in the hands of a person who
           can use you against yourself, because you are unconscious. You are not in a better state than your
           normal consciousness.
               Nobody before has used speaking to help you to become superconscious, so I need not say to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, "Drop this, drop that" -- I do not have to give you post-hypnotic suggestions. Everything will be
           happening here-now, and it will be happening in your fully-alert state, so you cannot be used, cannot
           be misused; you cannot be exploited.
                Hypnotism became condemned because people started exploiting it. Anybody who is as
           unconscious as you are can use the technique of hypnotism. That's why it became condemned;
           otherwise such a beautiful phenomenon which can help you towards meditation would not have been
           condemned.
                My way cannot be misused. And when people say to you that you are hypnotized, don't feel hurt.
           Tell them, "Yes, we have been hypnotized to wake up. We have been hypnotized to enter into
           superconsciousness. We have not been hypnotized to go into lower realms of the mind, but to the
           higher superconscious or collective superconscious" -- and finally if you simply go on listening to
           me, doing nothing, the cosmic consciousness is going to be your experience.
                But I have never said it before, and people have always wondered: if I don't have a religion, don't
           have a doctrine, don't have a teaching, then why do I go on talking to people? I could not tell them;
           they would not understand. Only those who will experience the relaxation of superconsciousness
           will be able to see the point. And then certainly, as Kaveesha says, they will understand how long I
           have been waiting, and how long I have been patient, and how I have been condemned for things
           which have nothing to do with me. But I have remained silent -- because it does not bother me; the
           only thing that I am interested in is that my people should attain to the state from where they cannot
           fall before I leave the body.
           I cannot give you anything more precious.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW MIGHT WE SANNYASINS BEST RELATE WITH ONE ANOTHER?
              WE ARE SUCH AN AMAZING ASSORTMENT OF UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS -- ALL DETERMINED TO
              BE OURSELVES AND AVOID SOCIETY'S IMPOSITIONS. YET WE ARE ALL JOINED BY A
              COMMON THREAD: LOVE -- OUR LOVE FOR YOU -- AND WE ALL LONG FOR THE MOMENT
              WHEN WE CAN MELT INTO YOU, WHEN WE CAN FINALLY COME HOME.


               It is not difficult.
           Only individuals can relate; personalities cannot. Personalities are like shadows. They cannot meet,
           they cannot merge, because they don't exist. Personalities are fake. That's why in the whole world
           people are talking of love, but there is no love. They are talking of friendship, but there is no
           friendship -- even talking of trust. But for that a tremendously powerful individuality is needed.
           Personalities cannot trust; they are always afraid -- afraid that their reality may be exposed, may be
           known.
               As far as my people are concerned, there is no problem; it is not a question of fighting for
           individuality. I declare you individuals, so your individuality is not a problem -- that you have to
           protect it. You can mix and merge, you can be friends, you can be lovers. You can work together;
           you can work under each other without any fear because you have dropped the personality, which
           was always afraid. Now you have individuality, a solid rock which is fearless.
               I have told you the story of Diogenes, that he was caught by four thieves. They wanted to sell
           him in a slave market. They were very happy to find such a beautiful, healthy individual. First they
           were afraid and they were hiding behind the trees near where Diogenes was sitting, thinking, "He
           alone is enough to finish all four of us!" He was a strong man.
               Diogenes was listening to their whispers, What to do? We are four, but he alone is enough..."
           Diogenes finally said, "Don't bother -- just come and take me where you want."
               They were very much afraid: what kind of man is this? They said, "We are thieves and we want
           to take you to the slave market, because for you we can get the highest price anybody has ever got.
           We cannot normally find slaves of your individuality, beauty, proportion, strength."
               Diogenes said, "Don't be worried." They started trying to tie him up; he said, "Stop, there is no
           need to bind me. You come behind me, I know the way."
               They could not believe it -- that man is mad or what? And he started moving towards the slave
           market. And everybody who saw them on the way thought that he was the master and they were the
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           slaves. Those four poor thieves were so afraid: "This man can do anything. We got unnecessarily
           involved with this man!"
                And this is what he did: he stood on the pulpit where the slaves have to stand so every buyer can
           see them, go around and look at them, and he shouted, "Listen, all you slaves who are here! For the
           first time a master is for sale. If any one of you has guts, you can purchase me. And these poor
           fellows, four fellows you see -- they need money. And it does not matter to me where I am. My
           individuality cannot be destroyed."
                There was great silence. The whole marketplace became utterly silent, because he had said, "A
           master is for sale." One king who had come to look for a few slaves became interested, and he was
           ready to pay any price. Diogenes asked the thieves, "How much do you want? Don't be shy -- just
           ask it. Get the money and get lost!"
                They got the money. Diogenes sat on the chariot with the king, and the king said, "This is
           strange. You should not have done that."
                Diogenes said, "Those poor fellows were in need, and as far as I am concerned, wherever I am I
           will remain myself." Even the king became afraid, because only those two were in the chariot, and
           the man was so strong: grabbing the neck of the king, he could have simply finished him.
                Diogenes said, "But don't be worried. I could finish you right now, but I will not. You have
           helped those four poor men. I will come with you, and I will serve as a slave, because even in
           slavery my freedom is intact. I am choosing it; nobody is imposing it upon me."
                Do you see the difference? Only a slavery imposed is slavery; a slavery accepted, chosen, is the
           highest expression of freedom. You are so certain of your being, of your individuality, that you are
           not worried, even of becoming a slave. The king was happy. He said, "No, I will not make you a
           slave, but a friend. As far as I understand you must be Diogenes. I have heard about the man, and I
           feel that there cannot be many Diogeneses. You must be Diogenes."
                Diogenes said, "I am," and he lived with the king in the palace, naked, as he used to live in his
           own way. The king told him, "In the palace it looks odd, embarrassing. You should use clothes."
                Diogenes said, "Then it is better you don't make me a friend; you make me a slave. If friendship
           cannot allow freedom, what kind of friendship is this? You make me a slave, then whatever you say I
           will do." But the king had started loving the man. His sincerity, his authority, his power was
           magnetic. He freed him. He said, "I cannot make you a slave and I know I cannot make you a friend.
           In the palace, living naked, where other kings come and stay, it will be always a problem."
                Diogenes said, "This is your decision. I am simply your slave. If you make me free, that's
           perfectly okay. I am happy that those four poor people have been helped. And I have found a
           beautiful way to help poor people: if sometimes somebody is poor I can tell him, `Take me to the
           slave market and sell me.'"
                Here with me your individuality is accepted, declared, so you need not be worried that it will be
           taken away, that it can be crushed by others, that somebody may enslave you, force you to do things.
                Don't be worried -- nobody can force you. You have always the choice. Ultimately, you are to
           decide, and it is good to decide in a way so the people who are with me don't feel any antagonism
           between them. They love me -- that is a joining thread. There is no organization. Each sannyasin is
           connected to me individually, but because he is my sannyasin... Other sannyasins who are joined
           with me have to be respectful of each other, because each of my sannyasins somehow represents me.
           Your love for me must be shared with my people too.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I UNDERSTAND YOU TO HAVE SAID THAT IN HYPNOSIS ONE'S PROBLEMS CAN BE WORKED
              OUT ON AN UNCONSCIOUS LEVEL, AND THAT THIS METHOD HAS THE ADVANTAGE OVER
              PSYCHOTHERAPY IN THAT IT CAN COVER A LOT MORE GROUND IN A FAR SHORTER TIME.
              IS IT NECESSARY MERELY FOR THE CONTENTS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS TO SURFACE
              DURING HYPNOSIS, OR DOES THE CONSCIOUS MIND NEED TO BE MADE AWARE OF THOSE
              CONTENTS FOR THE CLEARING TO BE COMPLETE?


               The conscious mind has to be made aware; otherwise there will be no change. The contents of
           the unconscious mind are repressed by the conscious mind. To reverse the process, they have to be
           brought back to the conscious mind, and the conscious mind has to express them instead of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           repressing them.
                Because of repression they had gone into the unconscious; unless the reverse process of
           expression is there, they will remain. They can be available to the hypnotists, but the conscious mind
           does not know about it. For the conscious mind they are still repressed, and it is only through the
           conscious mind that they have a way to go out of your being.
                From the unconscious mind directly, there is no door. A contact can be made, but there is no way
           for any content to go out of the unconscious mind directly; first it has to come to the conscious mind.
           It is just like your main gate. You have entered at the main gate. If you want to go out you will have
           to go to the main gate; otherwise you will remain confined.
                The deeper you go into the unconscious mind, the thicker the walls become. The collective
           unconscious mind has even thicker walls, and the cosmic unconscious mind is almost
           unapproachable. It is very difficult even for the hypnotist to find out what is hidden there. For the
           first time the unconscious mind's contents are released through the conscious mind, bringing them to
           the notice of the conscious mind -- not only to the notice, but the recognition, acceptance and
           expression. That's why I said it should be recorded as a proof; otherwise the conscious mind will
           deny it.
                If you say to somebody, "You want to marry your mother," the conscious mind will simply deny
           it, "It is all nonsense -- what are you saying? I have never thought about it." And he is right, he has
           never thought about it. But his mother was the first woman in his life, and he loved her and he got
           her love, and he has been jealous of his father since then. That's why every society has made it a
           discipline to respect your father. That is just to prevent the natural tendency of being jealous and
           disrespectful.
                And every society has made it a point that you cannot even be allowed to think that you would
           like to love your mother; even to think of it, you will feel that you are just being mad. But there was
           a day in your childhood when you had longed for it. Slowly, slowly you repressed it; it was not
           allowable.
                If the hypnotist just tells you that this thing is in your unconsciousness, you are not going to
           accept it. So it should be recorded, and not one time but many times so that you can be made clearly
           alert that this content is there. Then you can relax and let that content come directly to your
           conscious mind -- not through the information from the hypnotist.
                You follow me? He is telling you, but that will not help. His telling can only do one thing: if he
           can convince you that such a content exists in your unconscious mind, and you allow it in your
           silence to surface to the conscious mind, from there it can be released. You know that it is absurd; it
           has no meaning.
                Perhaps in your childhood you had the desire, but now you can understand it is meaningless and
           you can release it; rather than repressing it inside, you can throw it out. And as the unconscious
           becomes empty, then the collective unconscious starts speaking -- only then. As the collective
           unconscious becomes empty then there is a possibility for the cosmic unconscious to speak. And
           once the whole lower part of your mind, the depth of your mind, is cleaned away, it is such a
           freshening experience, as if twenty-four hours a day you are taking showers. And once this lower
           part is unburdened, then you are ready to move upwards very easily.
                But the conscious mind is the only door for the higher, for the lower. So anything that is going to
           happen has to happen through the conscious mind.
                Sigmund Freud and his school have not been very successful for the simple reason... You will be
           surprised to know that first he had been an apprentice of a hypnotist, a very famous hypnotist in
           France. It is only there that he developed the idea of psychoanalysis, that what comes up in deep
           hypnosis, can be brought up through dreams. But he forgot one thing, and that's what is missing in
           psychotherapy.
                First, you cannot remember all your dreams. For six hours you are dreaming; you can remember
           perhaps one dream -- the last, when you were just waking up. Secondly, you cannot be convinced
           that a dream is a reality. Thirdly, the dream is not going to repeat itself; and for any scientific work,
           repeated experimentation is absolutely necessary, so that you can come to a conclusion without
           exception. A dream may come once and may not come again, because there are so many dreams. So
           the person's conscious mind is never convinced that this dream content has any reality.
                Fourthly, the dream is a different language. It is not the language of the conscious mind, it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pictorial, it is not alphabetical. That is one of the greatest troubles, and because of it, psychoanalysis
           has to disappear; it cannot continue. So the whole thing depends on the psychoanalyst interpreting.
           You can tell him the dream, but the dream says nothing unless he interprets it.
               Now that interpretation may be just his personal prejudice. That's how, if you go to Freud,
           everything comes to sex. Whatever you dream, you cannot dream anything which he will not
           conclude is sexual repression. You take the same dream to Jung and it will be from the collective
           unconscious -- a myth, a mythology from your past lives. Take the same dream to Adler and it is
           nothing but ambition, will to power. So if there are thousands of interpreters, there will be thousands
           of meanings to the dream.
               In hypnosis it is not a pictorial language that the unconscious uses. It uses the same language as
           the conscious mind uses, because it is talking to a person's conscious mind -- the hypnotist's. So it is
           very simple and very clear.
               Sigmund Freud thought that he had developed a better method, for the simple reason that it
           discarded hypnotism -- because it was condemned, condemned by the society. But psychoanalysis
           has not helped.
               What I am doing here... if you are just listening to me and your conscious mind becomes silent,
           the unconscious mind itself starts releasing its vapor. No language is needed, neither of dream nor
           ordinary language; it is just a repressed energy that starts coming up to the conscious and is released
           through the conscious. Once we have cleaned the lower mind, then we can easily move to the upper
           realm. But for that too, one has to go through the conscious mind.
               And the upper wing does not have anything; nothing is repressed there. So there is no question of
           psychoanalysis ever discovering it, or any other school of psychology ever discovering it, because it
           has no dreams, it has no repressions. It is utter purity.
               Clean the lower mind and just a simple method of meditation will give you the wings to move
           upwards. There is no barrier. You get more and more into light, deeper and deeper into bliss, and
           finally you come to a point where even you are no more... nirvana.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT THAT WE ARE NEVER QUITE SATISFIED WITH WHO WE ARE, AND WHAT
              EXISTENCE HAS GIVEN US? WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING BETTER TO DO,
              LOOKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO BE, ALWAYS WANTING WHAT THE OTHER ONE HAS
              MORE THAN WHAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN. LIKE THE SAYING GOES, "THE GRASS IS ALWAYS
              GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE."
              WHY IS THIS?


               It is because you have been distracted. You have been directed where nature has not meant you
           to be. You are not moving towards your own potential. What others wanted you to be, you are trying
           to be, but it cannot be satisfying. When it is not satisfying, the logic says, "Perhaps it is not enough --
           have more of it." Then you go after more; then you start looking around. And everybody is coming
           out with a mask which is smiling, happy looking, so everybody is deceiving everybody else. You
           also come with a mask, so others think you are happier. You think others are happier.
               The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence -- but from both sides. The people who are
           living on the other side of the fence, they see your grass and it looks greener. It really looks greener,
           thicker, better. That is the illusion that distance creates. When you come close, then you start seeing
           that it is not so. But people keep each other at a distance. Even friends, even lovers keep each other
           at a distance; too much closeness will be dangerous, they may see your reality.
               And you have been misguided from the very beginning, so whatever you do you will remain
           miserable. Nature has no idea of money, otherwise dollars would have been growing on the trees.
           Nature has no idea of money; money is a pure invention of man -- useful, but dangerous too. You see
           somebody with much money, and you think perhaps money brings joy: look at that person, how
           joyous he seems to be, so run after money. Somebody is healthier -- run after health. Somebody is
           doing something else and looks very contented -- follow him.
               But it is always the others, and the society has managed so that you will never think about your
           own potential. And the whole misery is that you are not being yourself. Just be yourself, and then
           there is no misery and no competition and no botheration that others have more, that you don't have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more.
                And if you like the grass to be greener there is no need to look at the other side of the fence; you
           can make the grass greener on your side of the fence. It is such a simple thing to make the grass
           greener. But you are just looking everywhere else, and all the lawns are looking so beautiful --
           except yours.
                Man has to be rooted in his own potential, whatever it is, and nobody should give him directions,
           guidance. They should help him, wherever he is going, whatever he is becoming. And the world will
           be so contented that you cannot believe it.
                I have never felt any discontent, even from my childhood, for the simple reason that I never
           allowed anybody to distract me from what I was doing or what I was trying to be. That helped me
           immensely. It was difficult, and the difficulties went on growing, and now the whole world is against
           me. But it does not disturb me. I am perfectly happy, perfectly content. I can't think that I could have
           been otherwise. In any other position I would have been miserable.
                I don't have a home, I don't have a place to live, I don't have any money. Still, I have something
           that gives me absolute contentment. I have lived according to my potential, and even if death comes
           it will not upset me. I have lived my way. The whole world may be against me -- it does not upset
           me. People get upset even if one person is against them. They get so upset; I cannot even understand
           it.
                Hasya was saying, "Osho, soon we will be running out of countries."
                I said, "That does not matter. First we will run out of countries, then we will find something else.
           We can have a big boat and live on the boat." Because I said in Crete, "If you don't allow me any
           land anywhere, I will have a jet plane and I will be living on that," they immediately started a
           movement that I cannot land at any airport in Europe.
                I am really enjoying that a single person who has no power can make these pygmy politicians
           just go out of their minds! I had just mentioned it, and immediately the European parliament tabled a
           resolution, which they will be discussing soon and passing, that I cannot land at any airport in
           Europe.
                But we will find some way... In Europe there are communist countries -- Yugoslavia,
           Czechoslovakia -- we can land at their airports. They cannot prevent me just landing. But we can
           have a big ship with thousands of sannyasins on it, and just live on the ship. And let them do what
           they can do -- bomb the ship or do whatsoever they want to do -- but one thing is certain, they cannot
           upset me.
                They tried in the American jails to upset me in such ways that anybody would have been upset.
           They would wake me up at four o'clock; sleep was impossible, so it was not a problem to me because
           I was just lying down with closed eyes. They would wake me at four o'clock, saying, "You get ready.
           At five o'clock the U.S. marshal is coming and he will be taking you to the airport." So I would get
           ready and wait. From five o'clock in the morning till five o'clock in the evening I was just sitting,
           waiting, and the man would appear at five o'clock in the evening.
                And I said to him, "You must have got into some trouble -- twelve hours late, and you just live
           three blocks away..." As we became friendly, after three days he said, "These are the tactics used to
           harass people. You forgive me. I was going to come at five in the evening but I said that I would
           come at five in the morning, so the whole day you would be sitting and waiting."
                But I said, "What is upsetting in it? Anyway I would have been sitting and... there is nothing else
           to do."
           The world is against individuality.
           It is against your being just your natural self.
                It wants you just to be a robot, and because you have agreed to be a robot you are in trouble. You
           are not a robot. That was not the intention of nature, to make a robot of you. So because you are not
           what you were meant to be, what you were destined to be, you are constantly looking: "What is
           missing? Perhaps better furniture, better curtains, a better house, a better husband, a better wife, a
           better job..." Your whole life you are trying and rushing from one place to another. But the society
           has distracted you from the very beginning.
                My effort is to bring you back to yourself, and you will suddenly find all that discontent has
           disappeared. There is no need to be more -- you are enough. Everybody is enough.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                               Beyond Psychology
                                                   Chapter #43
                                      Chapter title: Logic should serve love
           3 May 1986 pm in

           Archive code: 8605035
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO43
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 95 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU TOLD A STORY ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO
              UNDERSTAND:
              A SEEKER IS LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS; HE IS TIRED AND THIRSTY. IT IS NIGHT AND HE
              SEES A SILVER BOWL WITH CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER WHICH HE DRINKS AND THEN SLEEPS.
              IN THE MORNING LIGHT HE SEES THAT THE BOWL WAS IN FACT A DIRTY OLD SKULL.
              HE LAUGHED AND BECAME ENLIGHTENED.
              WHAT DID HE SEE, OSHO?


               The story is simple, but with immense meaning. The seeker saw in the skull the whole reality,
           and our illusions about it. He saw what we think is, and what really is -- and the difference is
           tremendous.
               He would not have taken that water, drunk that water, if he had known that it was in a dirty old
           skull. He thought it was a beautiful bowl with crystal clear water.
               Our life is lived in illusions of crystal clear water, but reality is totally different. Seeing the
           difference he laughed at himself. And to be able to laugh at oneself can become a breakthrough --
           one can become enlightened.
               People laugh at others, and people feel hurt if somebody laughs at them, but to come to an
           understanding where you see your own stupidity... And your whole life is full of it. We live in
           dreams, illusions, hallucinations. They do not correspond to reality at all. The reality is the dirty old
           skull. He laughed at himself, and in this very laughter he became a different man. Now he will live
           with reality, whatever it is. Now no illusions will be needed, no hallucinations will be needed to
           cover it, to hide it.
           He has seen the point.
               The story is simple but it is the story of the whole pilgrimage from darkness to light, from
           illusions to reality.
               Just watch your mind, how it creates illusions about everything and then gets disillusioned and
           disturbed. You love a man, you love a woman -- you create a certain illusion about the man or the
           woman. It is not the truth. Deep down you know it too. You are imposing an image. Soon it will be
           shattered, because against reality no illusion can last long. Soon you will find a dirty old skull.
               Then ordinarily you will be disappointed, miserable, and you will miss the point. If you could
           have laughed you would not have missed it.
               Even when you understand that things are not the way you had imagined them to be, you dump
           the whole responsibility on the other person. A woman who was beautiful turns out to be a bitch. A
           man you had thought to be a hero turns out to be just a henpecked husband. You are not going to
           laugh at yourselves. You will throw the whole responsibility on the other person: that he deceived
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, that he pretended to be something that he was not, that she was not so beautiful as she was
           pretending -- with all the make-up she deceived him. But no make-up is needed. Your illusions, your
           hallucinations, your lust is enough -- the greatest make-up in the world.
               So whatever you want, whatever you desire, you project, and when that projection proves wrong,
           there are two possibilities. One is to dump the whole responsibility on the other person, who is
           simply innocent of what you were seeing in her.
               In fact, when you say to a woman, "You are beautiful..." and this and that, she wonders, because
           she also looks in the mirror and she does not find anything that you are talking about. But why
           disturb yourself unnecessarily? Why not enjoy? It fulfills her ego. Even the ugliest woman will not
           object, say that you are wrong. She will smile and accept all your compliments. And standing before
           a mirror she may think that perhaps she is wrong. How can that man be wrong? Why should he be
           wrong?
               In each love affair both the persons are innocent, as far as they are concerned. But both are
           responsible for projecting upon the other something which the other is not.
               A Sufi story tells that Mulla Nasruddin had a beautiful house in the hills and once in a while he
           used to go there. And sometimes he would say it would take three weeks for him to rest or two
           weeks, or four weeks, but he never managed to keep the date that he had given for his return; he
           would always come sooner. If he had gone for three weeks, within two weeks he would be back.
               His friends started asking, "You plan for three weeks, then you come back in two weeks,
           sometimes even in one week. What is the matter?"
               He said, "You don't know. I have an old woman servant."
               They said, "What has that to do with your remaining in the hills and relaxing?"
               He said, "First listen to the whole thing. She is so ugly. That's why I have chosen her -- she is my
           criterion. When she starts looking beautiful to me, then I escape, then I know: `Now, Mulla, this is
           not a safe place, and you have lost your mind. So I go for three weeks, but what can I do? In three
           days she starts looking beautiful. And if I stay one day more I may propose. And she is really ugly. It
           is difficult to tolerate her, but I have kept her specially for this purpose, so that when I start losing
           my mind I will know it is the exact time to leave and come back home into the world."
               You project; the projection fails. If you could laugh at yourself... That is the message of this
           story.
               The man was thirsty in the night. It was a projection. Even in the full moon night a skull is a
           skull and the dirty water is dirty water. But he was thirsty; it was his thirst that projected clean,
           crystal clear water in a beautiful bowl. And he drank with joy. In the morning he was not thirsty and
           there was sunlight. He looked at the bowl; it was a dirty old skull -- and he had drunk from it! If he
           had known that it was a skull filled with dirty water, he would have rather suffered thirst than drink
           from it. But his thirst projected an illusion.
               We are doing it every moment of our lives, projecting illusions -- about people, about things --
           and getting frustrated continuously, disgusted.
               The story is saying to you: these are the moments; if you can understand that it was your
           projection... This is the time to laugh at yourself, at your own stupidity, at your own foolishness.
           That will be an act of tremendous intelligence. And it will be freeing you from that constant
           projection, frustration -- that whole vicious circle.
               An old monk with his young disciple was passing through the forest, going to another town. But
           the young man was very much puzzled, because the old man had never walked like that -- he was
           almost running and clutching his bag. And once in a while he would feel something inside the bag.
           The young man could not imagine what he had in the bag. And the old monk was again and again
           asking, "Will we be able to reach the town before sunset?"
               The young man said, "Even if we don't reach, we have nothing to fear. We can stay in the forest.
           We have stayed here many times, so it is not new. But today you seem to be strange."
               The old man said, "We will discuss it later on. First, be fast. I don't want to stay in the forest
           tonight."
               By the side of the road was a well, and the sun was just setting. Before the sun set they washed
           themselves. They were really tired. They drank, and while the old man was washing his face he gave
           his bag to the young man and told him, "Be careful."
               The young man said to himself, "He has never been this way before." And out of curiosity he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           looked into the bag. In the bag he was carrying two bricks of gold. Now everything was clear: why
           the monk cannot stay in the forest, why for the first time he is so afraid.
                While the old monk was washing his face and doing his evening prayer, the young man threw
           those two bricks into the forest, found two stones weighing almost the same as the bricks, and put
           them in the bag. The old man finished his prayer in half the time -- he was in such a hurry! He
           immediately took the bag from the young man and the weight showed him that everything was okay.
           They rushed on. After a mile, it was getting dark. The old man said, "It seems to be difficult to reach
           to the town, and this place is dangerous."
                But the young man said, "Don't be afraid. As far as the danger is concerned, I have thrown it by
           the side of the well."
                He said, "What do you mean, you have thrown the danger by the side of the well?"
           He said, "Look into your bag and you will know."
                He looked into the bag and he said, "My God!" The old man laughed, threw the bag, and sat
           under a tree; he could not stop laughing.
           The young man said, "Why are you laughing so much?"
                He said, "I am laughing because you have done the right thing, and for almost one mile I have
           still been befooling myself with those stones, thinking they were gold. Now we can sleep under this
           tree. It is good. There is no fear and there is no hurry."
                He could have been angry at the young man and missed the point. But he laughed, laughed
           madly, because he could see the point: "It was so stupid of me. The young man has proved far more
           intelligent than me. My own disciple had to teach me the lesson."
                They slept the whole night, and in the morning the old man touched the feet of the young man
           and thanked him, "Although I am your master, you helped free me from an illusion. And I slept so
           deeply the whole night. I had not slept for a few nights because of that bag; those golden bricks
           would not let me sleep. Even in the night I was groping in the bed and trying to find out whether
           they were there or not. Those bricks had become so important that I lost my joy, I abridged my
           prayers, I abridged my meditation."
                As far as existence is concerned, gold and rock are not different -- it is human illusion, we have
           projected it. If man is no longer in this world, gold will not be gold; although it will still be itself,
           there will be no difference in valuation between it and a rock. The valuation and the difference is our
           projection -- and then we suffer.
                So the insight in that small anecdote is great. If you can laugh at yourself when any of your
           illusions fall away, soon you will be able to live without illusions, to live without hallucinations, to
           live without projections. And to live without all these things means to live in peace, and to live in
           silence, and to celebrate the small things of life.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I REMEMBER ONCE HEARING YOU TELL US THAT BUDDHA'S DEFINITION OF TRUTH WAS:
              THAT WHICH WORKS.
              IT STRUCK ME AS ALMOST AUDACIOUS, AND YET TOTALLY PRAGMATIC, AND FOR BOTH
              REASONS I LOVED IT.
              MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT YOUR DEFINITION OF TRUTH IS PROBABLY THE SAME, THAT
              YOU WILL DO AND SAY ANYTHING AT ALL, IN THE NAME OF TRUTH, THAT MIGHT PROD US
              IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
              I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOU SPEAK TO US ON THIS.


               It is true. I can say anything if it directs you towards truth. Of course truth cannot be said, it can
           only be pointed at. I can use anything that points towards it. Perhaps for different people different
           pointers are needed. To me it does not matter what I say. What matters is whether it leads you in the
           right direction -- towards your illumination.
               Yes, my definition is exactly the same: truth is that which works. It is pragmatic, and Gautam
           Buddha was a very pragmatic man, very scientific. This definition can be called scientific also.
               All definitions of science are nothing but proof for this definition. We don't know what
           electricity is, we only know how it works. We don't know anything about atomic energy, what it is,
           but we know how it works. And that knowledge of how it works is the whole science of it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The ultimate truth is not different. And the master's function is to lead you, to direct you, to push
           you in a direction where you will find the truth. He cannot give it to you, but he can create devices
           which will lead you to it. In a very subtle way what the master says is not meant to be understood; it
           is meant to be drunk so that it reaches to your blood, to your bones, to your marrow, and you start
           moving in a certain direction -- not knowing where you are going, but the master knows where you
           are going.
               If you are going on the right track, you will find his blessings and his love showering on you.
           That will be the only indication that you are on the right path. One day you will find the truth and
           then you will laugh, because what was said had nothing to do with it. But it certainly turned your
           attention towards it.
               I have always told this story: A house is on fire and small children are in the house playing. They
           are so involved in their play that the whole neighborhood is shouting, "Come out! The house is on
           fire!" But they are enjoying that too. The flames are all around and the children are in the middle of
           the house -- they have never seen such fireworks.
               And they are not listening to the crowd. Then comes the father who had gone to the market, and
           people say, "Now do something. All your children will be dead. The house is almost going to
           collapse."
               The father went close and shouted, "I have brought your toys -- all the toys that you have asked
           for. Come out." Just the back door of the house was not burning yet.
               They all rushed out and asked the father, "Where are the toys?"
               And the father said, "You will have to forgive me. I have not brought them today, but tomorrow I
           will bring them certainly."
               They said, "Why did you unnecessarily disturb our game?"
               He said, "I have not disturbed your game. You do not understand. The house is on fire; you
           would have been dead. I simply lied to you about the toys, because I knew that it was the only thing
           that could bring you out."
               Now , toys and fire seem to have no connection, but in that particular situation the father
           functioned as a master. He gave the children an indication that saved their lives. Although now they
           are aware he lied, they will not complain about it. He lied out of compassion. He lied because he
           loved them; he lied because he wanted to save their lives.
               Truth cannot be said, so whatever can be said is going to be a beautiful lie -- beautiful because it
           can lead towards truth. So I make a demarcation between lies: beautiful lies and ugly lies. Ugly lies
           are those which take you away from truth, and beautiful lies are those which take you close towards
           truth. But as far as their quality is concerned, both are lies. But those beautiful lies work; hence in
           some way they hold the flavor of truth.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              A QUESTION I HAVE HAD SINCE I WAS A KID AND STARTED SEEING THE WAYS OF THE
              WORLD IS: WHY DO PEOPLE TREAT EACH OTHER LIKE THEY DO? WHERE IS THE LOVE, THE
              COMPASSION AND THE RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER? I THINK THAT EVERYBODY IS
              LONGING TO LIVE IN LOVE AND HARMONY WITH HIMSELF AND ALL THE HUMAN BEINGS
              AROUND. AND I DON'T THINK THERE IS ANY LONGING FOR HATE, VIOLENCE, AND POWER
              OVER OTHER PEOPLE -- BUT THIS IS WHAT I SEE HAPPENING.
              WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES PEOPLE LIVE THIS UNNATURAL AND MISERABLE LIFE? IS IT ALL
              CONDITIONING, OR IS THERE SOMETHING IN MAN THAT MAKES HIM WILLING TO GO
              ASTRAY?


                It is both.
           First, there is something in man that leads him astray. And secondly, there are people whose interest
           it is to lead human beings astray. Both together create a false, fake human being. His heart longs for
           love, but his conditioned mind prevents him from love.
                You will be surprised to know that Adolf Hitler never allowed his girlfriends to sleep in his room
           for one simple reason: how can you trust? The woman may shoot you in the night, mix poison in
           your water. What is the guarantee? She may be just pretending that she loves you. It may be just a
           conspiracy. There is no way to find out whether it is a conspiracy or true love for him. To be on the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           safe side he never allowed any woman with whom he had been in contact to sleep in his room.
               He never allowed anyone to be friendly with him -- Goebbels, or any of his other close
           associates. He always kept them at a distance. It was said that there was not a single person who
           could put his hand on his shoulder, like a friend. Too much closeness is dangerous -- that was his
           conditioning. The other may do harm to you. He may come to know something about you which he
           may use against you. It is better to keep him at a distance. And everybody is ambitious, everybody
           wants to be in his place, so although they are looking very friendly, deep down they are all enemies,
           competitors; they can kill him. He had no friends. And what kind of love is this, that he cannot trust
           the woman in his room.
               One of his women remained for many years in love with him, and there was no reason to suspect
           her. But suspicion needs no reason. One day she wanted to go and see her mother who was ill, in the
           same town. And Adolf Hitler said no. Yes was very difficult for him to pronounce, for anything.
               There is a deep psychological meaning in it. No gives you power. Yes does not give you power.
           Whenever you say no, you can feel power; whenever you say yes, you can feel love, you can feel
           compassion, but not power. Words have their own qualities. Those qualities you cannot find in the
           dictionaries. But in actual life if you go into the psychology of words, each word has its unique
           individuality. No is not simply a denial; it is an assertion of power.
               There was no need to say no. She was going just to see her sick mother, and she would be back
           before he returned from the office. But yes was not his word. He only knew how to order, how to
           reject anybody else's idea. Even such a small thing, that had nothing to do with power...
               He went to the office; the woman thought that she could manage: she could go and see her
           mother and return -- he would not be back yet. She went, came back, and certainly she managed. But
           the first thing he enquired from the guard of the house was, "Has she been out? -- how long?"
               And Hitler loaded his gun and just went in and shot her -- he did not even ask, he did not even
           give her an opportunity to say anything. That was enough. And it had to be a proof for everybody
           else, that not to follow his order meant death.
               Hitler longed for love, but his mind longed for power -- and you cannot ask for both.
               This is the problem. The child is born with a heart which longs for love, but he is also born with
           a brain which can be conditioned. And the society has to condition it against the heart, because the
           heart will be always rebellious against the society, it will always follow its own way. It cannot be
           made into a soldier. It can become a poet, it can become a singer, it can become a dancer, but it
           cannot become a soldier.
               It can suffer for its individuality, it can die for its individuality and freedom, but it cannot be
           enslaved. That is the state of the heart.
               But the mind... The child comes with an empty brain, just a mechanism, which you can arrange
           the way you want. It will learn the language you teach, it will learn the religion you teach, it will
           learn the morality you teach. It is simply a computer; you just feed it with information.
               And every society takes care to make the mind stronger and stronger so that if there is any
           conflict between heart and mind, the mind is going to win. But every victory of the mind over the
           heart is a misery. It is a victory over your nature, over your being -- over you -- by others. And they
           have cultivated your mind to serve their purposes.
               For example, , the British government ruled in India for three hundred years, and it created a
           certain kind of education that only produces clerks, postmasters, stationmasters.... The whole
           program is such that it does not produce great intellectuals, geniuses, scientists -- no. So if a person
           studies for one third of his life, he comes out of the factory of the university just a clerk. But the
           British government needed clerks.
               By the way, because the capital of India at the beginning of the British empire was Calcutta,
           Bengalis were the first to be indoctrinated by the British education system. They were the first to
           become mediators between the land and its people, and the rulers. The rulers did not know the
           language of the people; the people did not know the language of the rulers. These mediators knew
           both.
               They were respected by the masses because they were so close to the rulers -- second only to the
           rulers. But the rulers hated them. It was just a necessity to create an army of mediators; otherwise
           they could not rule such a huge country -- there would be no understanding, no communication.
               But they hated these people, and just as an example I will tell you... They called these Bengalis
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           babus and the word babu became respectful all over India. Because the rulers were calling the
           Bengalis babus, the word babu became very important -- so significant that even the first president
           of India was called Babu Rajendra Prasad. And nobody ever thought about what this word means.
                I told Rajendra Prasad, "You should drop this and you should make it known to the country that
           nobody should use this word, because it is condemnatory." It means a man with a bad smell.
           Bengalis eat fish -- fish and rice, that is their only food -- and they smell of fish. Just eating fish
           continually...
                Bengal is a beautiful place, and you will find there one beautiful thing: next to every house you
           will find a small lake. The richer people have big lakes with their palaces. And those lakes are there
           simply to produce fish. Those lakes are not for any other purpose but to get fresh fish -- the kind of
           fish the people like. Every house, even a poor man's house has a small pond -- it looks very
           beautiful, because a small pond with palm trees... it may be a small hut.
                But the smell is too much. Only once have I traveled in Bengal, and then I said, "I cannot go
           further than Calcutta." It stinks -- everybody stinks of fish, every house stinks of fish. That is their
           main diet.
                Babu is a Persian word. Bu means smell and ba means with. The British got India from the
           Mohammedans, whose languages were Persian, Arabic and Urdu, and it was from them that they got
           this idea of babu. It was a condemnation, but to the masses it became the most respectful word.
                India must have more universities than any other country -- one hundred universities and
           thousands of colleges -- and the whole purpose is just to serve the Empire. The whole education is to
           be obedient, not to be rebellious. It is absolutely against any idea of revolution.
                India would have remained a slave country for centuries, but Britain committed just one mistake:
           it allowed a few rich people's sons and daughters to be educated in England, and that was the trouble.
           These were the people who brought the idea of freedom to India. No Indian educated in India had
           any idea of freedom, but a few rich people sent their sons, their daughters, to be educated in England
           -- because if they were educated in England then they would be given the highest posts in India. A
           holder of the same degree from an Indian university would never reach that post, but from England
           he comes qualified for the highest post.
                Britain created its own enemies unknowingly. These were the people who found in Britain a
           different kind of education, who learned about democracy, who learned about freedom, who learned
           about individual rights, who learned about freedom of expression. And they came back to their
           country full of utopian ideas about how India could become independent.
                So all the fighters against the British regime were basically educated in England. And I don't
           think the British have even realized the fact, because nobody has noted it anywhere.
                One man who was very influential in India, Subash Chandra, was educated in Britain. And
           anybody who was educated in Britain was immediately absorbed in the highest government service,
           the Indian Civil Service -- I.C.S. Every student coming back from England had to give an interview
           to the governor of his state. And Subash had come with the full desire to fight the British Empire, not
           to serve it.
                But still he went to give his interview. And Bengalis have a certain habit: they always carry their
           umbrellas. Nobody knows why. I have asked many people because it is not raining, it is not hot...
           But traditionally it is part of them. Without an umbrella a Bengali is not a full Bengali; his umbrella
           is absolutely necessary. And they give reasons, because they are intellectual people.
                They say, "Rains can come at any time, it is unpredictable. One should always be prepared for
           anything. Right now it is cloudy, but the sun can come out and it will be hot. And moreover, there
           are so many dogs, and for this and that you can use your umbrella. Even if you have to fight with
           someone, the umbrella is handy."
                So Subash went with his umbrella and his hat into the governor's office, and the governor was
           very much annoyed that an Indian should behave in this way. He should remove his hat, to be
           respectful -- and he has come to give an interview. So the governor said, "First you remove your hat.
           You don't know even how to be respectful."
                And Subash took his umbrella out, and on the other side of the table was the governor. He
           hooked his neck with his umbrella and said, "If you want respect, then you should be respectful too.
           You should have stood. If you cannot stand you should not expect any respect from me. And I am
           not interested in your I.C.S. I have just come to see how you behave with people. But don't think that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you can misbehave with me. People like you used to polish my shoes in England" -- naturally in
           England a white man will polish the shoes -- "so just because you are white does not mean anything.
           Keep your service to yourself."
                These were the people who created the whole freedom movement. The British government forgot
           completely: if you have created a certain educational system in India to produce only clerks,
           servants, slaves, then you should not allow Indians to be educated in England, because these people
           will be dangerous to the Empire. And they proved dangerous -- they destroyed the Empire -- but the
           whole credit goes to the British universities.
                So mind is empty, it is brain; you can put anything in it. And with twenty-five years of education
           you can make it so strong that you forget your heart; you will always remain miserable. The misery
           is that your heart can only give you joy, can only give you happiness, can only make you dance. The
           mind can do arithmetic, but it cannot sing a song. Those are just not the capacities of the mind. So
           you are torn apart between your nature, which is your heart, and the society that is in your head. And
           certainly you are born -- everybody is born -- with these two centers. That is the difficulty.
                And one center is empty. In a better society it will be used in accordance with the heart, to serve
           the heart. And then it will be a great life, full of rejoicings. But up to now we have lived in an ugly
           society, with rotten ideas. They have used the mind. And that vulnerability is there -- mind can be
           used.
                Now communists are using it in one way; fascists used it in Germany in one way; all the other
           religions are using it in different ways. But that vulnerability is with every individual: that you have
           a mind which you bring empty. In fact it is a blessing of existence -- but misused, exploited. It is
           given to you empty so that you can make it perfectly subservient to your heart, to your longings, to
           your potential. Nothing is wrong in it. But the vested interests all over the world have found it a
           beautiful opportunity for them -- to use the mind against the heart. So you remain miserable and they
           can exploit you in whatever ways they want.
                That's why the whole world is miserable. Everybody wants to be loved, everybody wants to love;
           but the mind is such a barrier that neither does it allow you to love, nor does it allow you to be loved.
           In both cases the mind comes in the way and starts distorting everything. And even if by chance you
           meet a person you feel love for and the person feels love for you, your minds are not going to settle.
           They have been trained by different systems, different religions, different societies.
                One of my friends married an American girl. He was a professor of physics, and while studying
           in America he fell in love with a girl, a beautiful girl, and he married her against his parents wishes.
           So they became enemies. His parents did not receive them in their home when they came back to
           India.
                I had to give a party, a reception for their marriage. But in a month I saw that it could not last.
           One of my friends was staying with me and he is a very beautiful person -- jack of all trades, master
           of none... but he knows everything. So he is very interesting and very influential.
                Superficially he will impress you on any subject, on anything. You will find out later on that it is
           just superficial, but by that time he has done his work.
                All that he does is borrow money. He is a Ph.D. He could have been a professor, but he says, "I
           don't want to bother with all this. I enjoy borrowing."
                I said, "You should think about how long this can last."
                He said, "You don't see. I never borrow from the same person again. And the world is so big and
           life is so short. I will manage."
                So he started flirting with the American girl. She was very much impressed -- he is a very
           impressive person -- and the professor who had married her was feeling so jealous. He had just an
           Indian mind. The Indian mind cannot conceive that his wife can go with somebody else to the
           swimming pool. In the first place no Indian woman will go to the swimming pool and even if she
           goes, she will go with her husband. But she was going with some stranger.
                She was going out with him on bicycles; they were playing cards. The husband was in the
           university, but he was continually worried about his wife and that fellow -- because he was
           completely free; he did nothing.
                Soon the marriage broke up. They were fighting continuously. I told them, "You love each other,
           but you don't understand the situation. Your minds are cultivated very differently. She can't see that
           there is anything wrong if she goes to the swimming pool with some friend. She has been doing that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from her childhood. You cannot conceive the idea. Your idea is what you have seen in your family,
           in your society -- that the wife should not even open her cover." The sari that is used by the Indian
           women is pulled down to make a cover over the face. She should not take the cover off before
           strangers. "You have been brought up with such people; you cannot understand your wife holding
           hands with some stranger. They are enjoying and playing tennis and going for a walk, and you are
           just sitting and boiling up unnecessarily. You should have thought. Your parents were right -- that
           this kind of marriage is not going to succeed."
               And I have not seen any marriage between Indians and foreigners succeeding. They always fail,
           for the simple reason that the two minds are brought up with different ideas, filled with different
           programs.
               It is everybody's birthright to be happy, but unfortunately the society, the people with whom we
           have been living, who have brought us into the world, have not thought anything about it. They have
           just been reproducing human beings like animals -- even worse because at least animals are not
           conditioned.
               This conditioning process should be completely changed. The mind should be trained to be a
           servant of the heart. Logic should serve love. And then life can become a festival of lights.




                                              Beyond Psychology
                                                Chapter #44
                              Chapter title: Watchfulness is the greatest magic
           4 May 1986 am in

           Archive code: 8605040
              ShortTitle: PSYCHO44
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 103 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I GO TO SLEEP AT NIGHT, I AM SWEPT AWAY BY SUCH INCREDIBLY SURREAL
              DREAMS THAT I WAKE UP IN THE MORNING SURPRISED I AM IN MY SAME BED.
              OSHO, IS THERE A WAY TO CHANNEL THIS PHENOMENAL ENERGY THAT GOES INTO
              DREAMING AT NIGHT, INTO WATCHFULNESS?


               The phenomenon of dreaming and watchfulness are totally different things. Just try one thing:
           every night, going to sleep, while you are just half awake, half asleep, slowly going deeper into
           sleep, repeat to yourself, "I will be able to remember that it is a dream."
               Go on repeating it till you fall asleep. It will take a few days, but one day you will be surprised:
           once this idea sinks deep into the unconscious, you can watch the dream as a dream. Then it has no
           grip over you. Then slowly, as your watchfulness becomes more sharp, dreams will disappear. They
           are very shy; they don't want to be watched.
               They exist only in the darkness of the unconscious. As watchfulness brings light in, they start
           disappearing. So go on doing the same exercise, and you can get rid of dreams. And you will be
           surprised. Getting rid of dreams has many implications. If the dreams disappear then in the daytime
           your mind chattering will not be so much as it used to be. Secondly, you will be more in the moment
           -- not in the future, not in the past. Thirdly, your intensity, your totality of action will increase.
           Dream is a disease.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              It is needed because man is sick. But if dreams can be completely dropped you will attain a new
           kind of health, a new vision, and part of your unconscious mind will become conscious. So you will
           have a stronger individuality. Whatever you do, you will never repent, because you will have done it
           with such consciousness that repentance has no relevance.
              Watchfulness is the greatest magic that one can learn, because it can begin the transformation of
           your whole being. It is only through watchfulness that resurrection happens... you are reborn.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT DIFFICULT FOR SOME PEOPLE TO BE HYPNOTIZED? IS IT BECAUSE WE DO NOT
              TRUST THE PERSON WHO IS DOING IT TO US, OR ARE WE NOT AS RECEPTIVE AS THOSE
              WHO CAN BE?


               There are many reasons possible. The most important is, if the person's intelligence quotient is
           very low he will not be able to understand what hypnosis is, and what he is supposed to do. Idiots
           cannot be hypnotized. It is something to be remembered, that animals can be hypnotized, but idiots
           cannot be hypnotized. Animals may not have our kind of intelligence, but they are not idiots.
               The idiot is one whose mind has not grown at all, who is zero. He cannot understand what is
           being said, where it is going to lead him, and why he should do it. Intelligent conversation is
           impossible. The idiot looks like man, but inside he is far behind even the animals.
               First, the idiot cannot be hypnotized. Second, the man who is always suspicious of everything,
           who has an ingrained suspicion, cannot be hypnotized. His suspicion will not allow him to go with
           the hypnotist. Thirdly, the people who think they are intellectuals, who are full of borrowed
           knowledge, but don't have any intelligence of their own, cannot be hypnotized, because they have an
           idea that intellectuals cannot be hypnotized -- and they are intellectuals. Finally and basically, a man
           who cannot trust.
               It needs total trust, because you are going into darkness, the unknown, and you don't know what
           the intentions of the man are, and you don't know what he can make you do while you are under
           hypnosis.
               Once I was in Bombay, staying with a very rich family, and they insisted to me, "You are always
           working, involved with people, meetings, committees; this evening you keep free. We are going to
           invite a great hypnotist and he is going to show us a few tricks of hypnotism -- you will enjoy it."

               Not for entertainment, but just to see what kind of person this great hypnotist was, I remained.
           They had in the house itself a small auditorium. They had invited their rich friends, so there were at
           least two hundred people. And the hypnotist called for five people -- "Anybody can come."
               Five people went up. He hypnotized them and then told them, "Just in front of you cows are
           standing. Now start milking them." And they immediately sat in the Indian way and started milking
           the cows. There were no cows, and people were laughing and enjoying, but the hypnotized person
           could not hear anybody. Things like this he did.
               After the show he was introduced to me. I told him, "You stop this nonsense. Hypnotism is
           condemned because of people like you. Now the people who have seen how you befooled the ones
           who had come to be hypnotized will never be able to be hypnotized. They have lost trust. You will
           make a laughingstock of them. You are not doing any service to the science of hypnosis. You are an
           enemy. You find some other job. You don't see the simple point that two hundred people are seeing
           you befooling five people. Now these people will carry this idea in their minds."
               All the intellectuals all over the world have this idea that intellectuals cannot be hypnotized. But
           the real reason is because they cannot trust. Trust needs a man of heart, of feelings, not of thoughts.
           And all these people who are using hypnotism as an entertainment should be stopped by law -- it is a
           crime. They are spoiling a tremendously valuable science.
               Only a master should be allowed -- and then too, he should hypnotize only his own disciples.
           And not to make a mockery of it, but to increase the consciousness of the disciples, to increase the
           intelligence of the disciples, to change their wrong habits to make them more integrated, more
           consolidated, to give them more courage and stamina.
               And when other students, other disciples will see that hypnotism can be a blessing -- the same
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man who was so much afraid has lost all fear, even the fear of death; the same man who was always
           miserable has lost his misery and is always in a state of joy -- more trust will be created, more and
           more people will be ready to be hypnotized. That readiness, that trust, that receptivity is missing
           because for centuries hypnotism has been misused.
               People like magicians, showmen, entertainers -- the wrong kind of people -- have made hypnosis
           condemned.
               It can become such a great benediction to humanity. You need trust, you need receptivity, you
           need intelligence to go into it. And all these things will be strengthened when you attain new
           dimensions, new talents, new genius. And then you will be more able to go back into it.
               And soon everybody who has been hypnotized by a loving compassionate master, who cannot
           harm you, who cannot imagine hurting you... after a few sessions of your being hypnotized, he will
           start a new phase: self-hypnosis.
               In deep hypnotic states he will tell you, "Now you are able to hypnotize yourself -- you don't
           need me, you don't need anyone else." So he is not going to use hypnosis to create a spiritual slavery.
           He will use it to give you more spiritual freedom than you ever had before. And the day you can
           hypnotize yourself is a great day; something valuable has been achieved.
               Then you can do miracles with it, upon yourself. You can change things that you have always
           been trying to change; but the more you try to change them, the more difficult it becomes.
               I used to stay in Calcutta with an old man, Sonalal. He was famous all over India as the greatest
           gambler. He never paid a single cent to the government in taxation because he never kept any books.
           I was surprised at how he maintained all his businesses -- gamble winnings of millions -- how he
           kept the accounts. And when I stayed in his house, I asked him. He took me to his bathroom -- all
           over his bathroom were his books, on the walls.
               So no income tax officer can conceive that on his walls in the bathroom he keeps all the accounts
           from different countries, of different people -- where, in which bank, what number, telephone
           numbers... everything. He said, "This is my accounts office."
               And even in his bathroom he had six telephones. He was continuously on the phone... two
           phones always in his hands. You could not talk with him easily; it was so difficult.
               He told me that he belonged to a certain religion which values celibacy as the greatest spiritual
           thing. He had taken the vow of celibacy three times. One man was with me and he was very much
           impressed. When Sonalal had gone for some work inside the house he said, "This is a great man --
           three times!"
               I said, "You are an idiot. When he is saying three times he took a vow for celibacy, that simply
           means that the fourth time he never took it. He understood that it is impossible."
               He said, "But... I never thought about it. I simply thought, `Three times!'"
               Sonalal came back and I asked him, "What happened the fourth time?"
               He said, "I could not gather the courage, because three times I failed, and each time I became
           more guilty, ashamed of myself. And I am old." He was at that time seventy years old. "In the first
           place, to stand up in the congregation and take the vow for celibacy, people laugh -- they see this
           seventy year old... and that too for the fourth time."
               I said, "There is no need. Your religion and your religious leaders don't know. Celibacy is
           possible without repression, and at such a stage I will not call it a crime, but it has to be done
           through self-hypnosis. There is no need for any vow to be taken."
               He was immensely excited. He said, "Do whatever... but I want to be celibate before I die,
           because this is the only thing in which I have failed in my life. I have never failed in anything." He
           gave millions of dollars to the freedom movement. So all the leaders who became prime ministers,
           and presidents and cabinet ministers looked to him as a father figure.
               Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the prime minister, told him, "It was okay not to give taxes to
           the British government, but now it is your own government."
               He said, "Remember, it does not matter to me which government it is. I can donate twice the
           amount that you think I should pay in taxation, but taxation? -- that I cannot do. And you cannot
           catch hold of me, because I don't have any books. Except for me, nobody knows how much money I
           have, how much money is invested, where it is invested, how it is invested. I don't even have a
           secretary. So never ask for any tax.
               "You can always ask for a donation. If your government needs a donation, I am ready. Just as I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was giving to you when you were fighting for freedom, I can give to you now, when your
           government needs it." And he never gave any tax, even to the independent Indian government.
                He said, "I have my own principles. I am nobody's servant. But about this celibacy there is a
           wound in me. Three times I have failed. And I don't want to die a failure in anything." And he was a
           man of rare courage. I have seen people of different kinds, but I have never found any man of that
           courage.
                When he had met me first in Jaipur -- that was his home town -- listening to me, he came,
           touched my feet and gave me ten thousand rupees. But I said, "I don't need rupees, because I am
           simply traveling alone and my friends can take care of my expenses, traveling, food,
           accommodation. There is no need."
                Tears came to his eyes, and he said, "Don't refuse. Don't hurt me, because I am a poor man. I
           don't have anything I can give to you -- I have only money. You can't find a more poor man than me
           -- just money and nothing else. So when somebody refuses money, he is refusing me, because I don't
           have anything else. Don't refuse. If you want to throw it you can throw it; once I have given it to
           you, it is none of my concern."
                I gave that money to the institution that was organizing my lectures in Jaipur, and from that day
           -- he was very old -- he became very friendly to me, and he said, "I have houses in all the big cities
           of India. So wherever you go, you can stay in my house. And just inform me so I will be there."
                He had beautiful mansions everywhere -- Bombay, Hyderabad, Madras, Simla, Calcutta. He said,
           "I have earned enough, just this celibacy is heavy on me."
                I said, "That's a very simple matter. At this age it is perfectly right." I hypnotized him two, three
           times while I was with him. And then I gave him a posthypnotic suggestion: now you will be able to
           hypnotize yourself.
                And once that posthypnotic suggestion is given, the person becomes able to hypnotize himself.
           Any strategy can be used: Count from one to seven, or one to ten, and tell yourself, "I will be back in
           ten minutes" -- never forget that, because otherwise there is nobody to wake you up. You will not
           die, but you may spend almost the same period under hypnosis as in sleep -- six to eight hours. If you
           have time then there is no need to say that, because the hypnotic sleep has a totally different beauty:
           it is so soft, so silent; it is as if you are no more. And suddenly you come back.
                I said, "Before going into hypnosis, repeat three times, `I want to remain celibate,' and that's
           enough."
                After six months I met him again in Madras, and I asked him, "What about celibacy?"

               He said, "This is a wonder. Without any vow, without going to a spiritual head, confessing, it has
           simply disappeared. I simply wonder why sex so dominated me. I don't even remember it."
               You will be surprised to know that in hypnosis even operations can be done; without any
           anesthesia, big operations, dangerous operations can be done. It is an unexplored science,
           unnecessarily condemned by a few idiots who have been making an entertainment of it.
               Trust is the foundation to begin with. You can even start by yourself, but the problem is, you
           don't trust yourself; otherwise there is no problem, there is no need for anybody else to hypnotize
           you. You can hypnotize yourself. But that is the difficulty: nobody trusts himself. You know
           yourself, you know how deceptive you are, you know how cunning you are, you know you say one
           thing and you don't mean it. You know that you decide that tomorrow morning you will get up early,
           and when you are deciding it, even at that time you know that it is not going to happen.
               So you cannot trust yourself -- that is the problem. That's why somebody else is needed,
           somebody you can trust, somebody in whose hands you can leave yourself without any fear. And the
           person who hypnotizes you, if he really loves you, would like you to get into self-hypnosis as soon
           as possible, because then you are totally free. Then you can do whatsoever you want to do with it.
               If you want to stop smoking you can do it so easily. If you want to change anything in you which
           you think is impossible, you can give it a try -- nothing is impossible. You have decided many times
           to change this, to change that, but you have always failed, because the decision remains in the
           conscious and the action comes from the unconscious -- they don't meet.
               The unconscious never hears anything that the conscious is deciding, and the conscious cannot
           control the unconscious -- the unconscious is so vast.
               The secret of hypnosis is that it takes you to the unconscious, and then you can put the seed of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything in the unconscious, and it will grow, blossom. The blossoming will happen in the
           conscious, but the roots will remain in the unconscious.
              As far as I am concerned, hypnosis is going to be one of the most significant parts of the mystery
           school. Such a simple method, which only demands a little trust, a little innocence, can bring
           miraculous changes in your life -- and not in ordinary things only. Slowly it can become the path of
           your meditation.
              You meditate, but you don't succeed. You don't succeed in watching; you get mixed up with
           thoughts, you forget watching. You remember later on, "I was going to watch, but I am thinking."
           Hypnosis can help you; it can make the watcher and the thoughts separate.
              For spiritual growth I don't think there is anything more important than hypnosis.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              AS YOU HAVE ANNOUNCED EACH NEW PHASE OF YOUR WORK, I HAVE BEEN IMMENSELY
              EXCITED AND SAID TO MYSELF, "GREAT! NOW WE ARE REALLY GOING TO BEGIN THE
              WORK." AND EACH PHASE IN ITS TURN HAS BEEN MORE AMAZING THAN THE ONE BEFORE
              IT.
              NOW YOU SPEAK OF A MYSTERY SCHOOL. MY MIND SHOUTS OUT, "HEY, THAT SOUNDS
              ESOTERIC, AND OSHO ALWAYS INSISTS THAT TRUTH IS NOT ESOTERIC, BUT ABSOLUTELY
              PRAGMATIC, AN OPEN SECRET." THAT'S WHAT MY MIND SAYS.
              IF THINGS ARE OTHERWISE THOUGH, THEN COUNT ME IN. I AM COMING WITH YOU ALL THE
              WAY.
              ALSO, THE MYSTERY SCHOOL HAS BEGUN ALREADY, HAS IT NOT?"


                It has begun. And truth is both: it is pragmatic and it is esoteric.
                I was emphasizing that it was pragmatic, because in those phases I did not want my people to be
           involved in any esoteric work. The pragmatic work is the right foundation. Without that foundation,
           esoteric work is just dreaming. So I was continuously against esoteric work.
                I am a very mathematical person, in the sense that when the foundation is being laid, you should
           not talk about the temple that is going to be built upon it, and how it is going to be, what kind of
           architecture -- because all that will disturb the work on the foundation. I wanted you to be totally
           concerned only with the foundation, so that later on we can forget the foundation and we can start
           building the temple.
                Truth is a mystery, and it can be discovered only in a mystery school. And this phase is going to
           be the most valuable. All that we have done before was a preparation. The mystery school will create
           the purification, and the outcome will be perfection.
                That's why people who look at me only intellectually will find contradictions. But those who
           have a more comprehensive view of life will not find any contradiction. I have denied esoteric work,
           knowing perfectly well that one day I will have to introduce you to the esoteric work. But everything
           in its time, not before; otherwise it can simply create confusion.
                And if esoteric work is introduced to you without any foundation, you are not going to work for
           the foundation, because that is not interesting. The esoteric work is really very interesting, but I don't
           want you to make a temple without a foundation. It has happened many times; then the temple falls
           and destroys those who were building it.
                The word `esoteric' simply means: you cannot put it objectively, scientifically. It is something
           inner, something subjective, something so mysterious, so miraculous that you can experience it but
           you cannot explain it. You can have it, but still you cannot explain it. It remains beyond explanation.
           And it is good that there is something in life which you cannot bring down to language, which you
           cannot bring down to the objective world... something which remains always beyond. You can
           become one with it -- and that is going to be the work of the school.
                I have been spontaneous in my work, but these are the mysteries of life, that existence itself has
           taken care. I have left it to existence, "Whatever you want me to do, I will do." I am not the doer; I
           am just a passage for existence to reach people. So I have never planned, but existence functions in a
           very planned way. So all the phases that have passed were necessary, and now we are ready to enter
           into the last phase -- the ultimate ecstasy.
           Ecstasy cannot be pragmatic.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Love cannot be pragmatic.
           Trust cannot be pragmatic.
           All that is valuable is esoteric.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               IN LAST NIGHT'S DISCOURSE, LISTENING TO YOU, I WENT INTO A STATE WHERE YOUR
               WORDS BECAME SOUNDS, YOUR VOICE BECAME MUSIC, AND IN THE GAPS BETWEEN
               YOUR WORDS, IT FELT AS IF I FOUND MYSELF RISING UP INTO THE SKY. AT FIRST I
               THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO FALL ASLEEP, BUT IT TURNED OUT NOT TO BE LIKE THIS.
               WOULD YOU PLEASE HELP ME IN UNDERSTANDING THIS?


               I have told you the story of the Sufi mystic who was thought to be a little eccentric. Even his
           disciples were afraid that he could create a situation which would be very embarrassing to them.
               Once it happened... He was going to the mosque to deliver a religious discourse and he sat on his
           donkey in such a way that the whole city laughed. And the disciples were just feeling ashamed,
           because he was not facing the way the donkey was going; he was sitting with his back towards the
           mosque where the donkey was going and he was facing his students who were following him.
               Naturally people came out of the shops, out of their houses and laughed and they said, "This man
           is really mad. It is strange that a few people think he is a master. Now look at what nonsense he is
           doing. Is this the way to sit on a donkey?"
               And all the students were feeling very badly: to go with the master anywhere is a trouble. When
           they had reached the mosque the students asked, "Before we enter we want some explanation: Why
           did you do this?"
               He said, "I thought over it very much, meditated over it. If I sit the way people sit on their
           animals then my back will be towards you, and that is insulting; that is not being respectful towards
           you."
               One student said, "Then you should have told us. We could have been ahead of you."
               He said, "Then it would have been insulting towards me. Your back towards me? -- that would
           be even worse. So finally I figured out that the best way is that I sit facing you, and you follow me.
           And there is no religious scripture in which it is written that you should always sit on the donkey in
           such a way. It is not irreligious. There is no book of etiquette in which it is written how to sit on a
           donkey.
               "It is our donkey and nobody has the right to be bothered about it. And I have found absolutely
           the right way: I am facing you, you are facing me; nobody is being disrespectful towards anybody
           else. What is wrong in it?"
               This master was staying with a devotee, and they were worried that he may do something... "He
           is bound to do something to create a scene, and the neighbors will gather. It is good that he has come
           in the night. We should put him in the basement and lock it so no problem arises -- at least in the
           night -- so we can sleep silently and the neighbors can sleep silently."
               But in the middle of the night they heard roaring laughter coming from the roof. They said, "My
           God, how has he managed to reach the roof?"
               They rushed up, and he was laughing and rolling around, and he said, "It is such a great
           experience. You did well to put me in the basement, otherwise I would have missed."
           They said, "Please tell us, what has happened?"
               He said, "I started falling upwards. The whole credit goes to the roof. Somehow I clung to the
           roof, otherwise you would not have found me. I was falling upwards so fast. I have heard that things
           only fall downwards -- this is a new experience of falling upwards."
               The whole neighborhood was there and everybody was coming with lamps, and they started
           asking, "What has happened?" And the people of the house could not even say what had happened.
               The master said, "Don't be worried, I will explain; these people cannot. I started falling
           upwards."
               They all laughed and they said, "We have been telling these people, `Don't get involved with that
           madman. He can create any situation and make you all look foolish.'"
               But it is a famous Sufi statement, that one can fall upwards. The state you are asking about, when
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you found that my words became sound, that my voice became music, that in the gaps between, you
           felt you were rising upwards... this is what the Sufis mean by falling upwards. The story is just
           symbolic -- nobody can fall from the basement to the roof, but it says much.
                Just look at what you felt: my words became sound. Sound is the source. Sound is meaningless;
           when a sound is given then it becomes a word. Words are secondary; sound is the source.
                That is why I have criticized the Biblical story that there was word in the beginning. That is
           impossible, because word cannot be in the beginning. Word means it has to be meaningful. But who
           will give it meaning? There was nobody else.
                In the East they are far more profound. Each ancient Hindu scripture begins with OM. That is a
           sound; it is not a word. OM does not mean anything. It would have been better to say, "In the
           beginning there was sound."
                You say, "Then your voice became music." That means you are listening totally, so totally that
           you are not even thinking about what is being said. Naturally meaning will disappear, words will
           become sound. And if meaning disappears, then the voice will become music. And in the gaps
           between the sound and the music, the silent gaps, you felt you were rising upwards.
                In the East we have, and science has to accept it sooner or later, the opposite idea to gravitation.
           It is called levitation: just as things fall downwards, things can rise upwards. Gravitation is a way
           downwards; levitation is a way upwards. In utter silence you are no longer confined to your body.
           Your body is under the impact of gravitation; it cannot fall upwards.
                But you are not the body, you are pure consciousness. In fact it is a miracle that you are in the
           body. Because of the gravitation that affects the body, you remain attached to the earth. But in
           absolute silence, suddenly all your attachment to the body disappears, your attachment to the mind
           disappears -- because now words have become sound. The mind cannot conceive it. The voice has
           become music. For the mind to figure it out is not possible, and because the mind is in a state where
           it cannot control, your connections with the body become loose.
                Mind is your connection, and in that looseness you can feel as if you are floating upwards. Your
           body is still sitting on the ground, so if you open your eyes you will be puzzled. But what you have
           experienced is not imagination; it is as true as gravitation, it is just invisible. You can feel it, but you
           cannot see it. Don't be afraid of it. Let it happen more and more. Suddenly one day you will find you
           are close to the stars and not to the earth.
                The same thing can be possible through hypnosis. If a person is deeply hypnotized -- that means
           he has been hypnotized many times and has become more and more trusting... And there are ways to
           check whether he has come to the point where you can experiment. You can simply say to him,
           "Come out of the body. You will be able to remember whatever you see."
                Your consciousness, your soul, or whatever name you give to it, will float above you like a
           balloon, still attached to your navel with a very shiny cord, looking like silver. And you can see your
           body lying on the bed.
                In a mystery school we will need places where nobody disturbs. If such an experiment is being
           done, any disturbance can be dangerous. The cord can be broken -- then the soul cannot enter the
           body again; then the person is dead. No harm to the soul, but to the world you have killed a person.
           There should be no disturbance of any kind.
                The soul can see everything from above, and then you can say, "Now slowly come back to the
           body." And you can feel that you are settling back into the body, slowly spreading into different
           parts of the body. Because you are told that you will remember everything, you will be able to tell
           about it when you wake up and you are asked -- you will tell the whole thing, what has happened.
                And this has been experimented with for at least ten thousand years, and it has been always the
           same. That's why I say it is the science of the interior, of your inner being, because there has been no
           exception. All the reports from people who have gone out of the body are exactly the same. For
           example, they all feel that they are connected by a silver cord to the navel.
                Out of this experience scientists may think that life is centered in the heart, that if the heart stops
           you are dead. It is not true. There have been experiments proving certainly that the heart can be
           stopped and the person does not die. After ten minutes he comes back, and the heart starts again.
           According to the spiritual science, life is just two inches below the navel. The child was joined by
           the navel to the mother. And the navel was nursing the source inside, two inches below... It has been
           cut from the mother's life, but it is still joined with the universe from the same place. It is not in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heart, it is just two inches below the navel.
               And because of this, in Japan a certain thing developed: hara-kiri. Hara-kiri is a special kind of
           suicide. Hara is the name of the center below the navel, where life is. And only in Japan has it been
           possible to locate it exactly. A certain development in Japanese tradition led to this point: if you
           want to kill yourself, the best, the quickest, and the most comfortable way is just to put a knife in the
           center of the hara, so the cord is cut. That happens within seconds, and the person is dead, but he
           does not suffer any agony.
               And the science of health, medicine, has to take note of it, because if it is the real center of life,
           then it should be nourished when a person is dying or sick. Rather than working on other places
           which are only offshoots, work at the center. Perhaps a totally new science of medicine and health
           can come out of it.
               The hara has not been recognized anywhere except Japan. But Japan has proved it, that there is
           the center of life, because within a second the person is finished -- and with no agony, no anguish.
           His face is as it was when he was alive -- not even any tension.
               Hara-kiri developed for a strange reason. It is part of the samurai training in Japan. The samurai
           is a special kind of warrior. He is a meditative warrior. Life and death are equal to him, but honor,
           respectability, dignity, is higher than anything else. So if anything happens that he feels is
           humiliating, then it is not worth living, and he commits hara-kiri. It is not good to translate it as
           suicide, but there is no other way.
               Thousands of samurai have committed hara-kiri. You cannot hurt the integrity of any samurai. It
           is dangerous -- he will not kill you, he will kill himself. Life has lost meaning; if people cannot
           respect him, there is no reason why he should live. And he lives with dignity. The samurai is a
           special development of human individuality, and utterly devoted to freedom. Anything hurting him,
           or anything destroying his freedom or his honor...
               In the second world war it was a danger, that you can destroy Japan but you cannot win. It was
           the atomic bombs which changed the situation; otherwise the ordinary war...
               Just a few years ago, thirteen years after the second world war, a man was found hiding in a
           forest, still fighting. Whenever he could find an opportunity, he would kill an American and then go
           back to the forest. He was caught thirteen years after the second world war, and when he was told
           that Japan had been defeated, he could not believe it.
               He said, "That is impossible. Japan can be destroyed, but cannot be defeated. It is a land of
           samurais. We live with dignity, we die with dignity." He could not believe it -- thirteen years had
           passed, and he was still fighting for Japan, alone.
               Meditation and swordsmanship, or archery, or other ways of the warrior, have been joined
           together. To us it seems too much, that a person should destroy himself, but to those thousands who
           have committed hara-kiri it is not the case. They are not destroying themselves, they are simply
           leaving this life -- this life is not worth living, something has gone wrong. It is against their honor to
           be here.
               Through hypnosis we can make a person aware of how this rising upwards happens, and how he
           can enter the body again. And once you have done it, a posthypnotic suggestion can be given, that
           you can do it on your own, any time you want. And it is a tremendously beautiful experience, for the
           simple reason that for the first time you find that the prison is not you. Your body is one thing; you
           are totally different: you are eternal, immortal.
               Bodies have come and gone; you have been here since eternity, and you will be here until
           eternity.




                   Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                     Talks given from 05/07/87 am to 14/07/87 pm
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     20 Chapters
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                               Year published: 1987




                           Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                  Chapter #1
                                    Chapter title: To seek nothing is bliss
           5 July 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707050
              ShortTitle: BODHI01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 128 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BODHIDHARMA'S OUTLINE OF PRACTICE



              MANY ROADS LEAD TO THE PATH, BUT BASICALLY THERE ARE ONLY TWO: REASON AND
              PRACTICE. TO ENTER BY REASON MEANS TO REALIZE THE ESSENCE THROUGH
              INSTRUCTION AND TO BELIEVE THAT ALL LIVING THINGS SHARE THE SAME TRUE NATURE,
              WHICH ISN'T APPARENT BECAUSE IT'S SHROUDED BY SENSATION AND DELUSION. THOSE
              WHO TURN FROM DELUSION BACK TO REALITY, WHO MEDITATE ON WALLS, THE ABSENCE
              OF SELF AND OTHER, THE ONENESS OF MORTAL AND SAGE, AND WHO REMAIN UNMOVED,
              EVEN BY SCRIPTURES, ARE IN COMPLETE AND UNSPOKEN AGREEMENT WITH REASON.
              WITHOUT MOVING, WITHOUT EFFORT, THEY ENTER, WE SAY, BY REASON.
              TO ENTER BY PRACTICE REFERS TO FOUR ALL-INCLUSIVE PRACTICES: SUFFERING
              INJUSTICE, ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS, SEEKING NOTHING AND PRACTICING THE DHARMA.
              FIRST, SUFFERING INJUSTICE. WHEN THOSE WHO SEARCH FOR THE PATH ENCOUNTER
              ADVERSITY, THEY SHOULD THINK TO THEMSELVES, "IN COUNTLESS AGES GONE BY, I'VE
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TURNED FROM THE ESSENTIAL TO THE TRIVIAL AND WANDERED THROUGH ALL MANNER
              OF EXISTENCE, OFTEN ANGRY WITHOUT CAUSE AND GUILTY OF NUMBERLESS
              TRANSGRESSIONS. NOW, THOUGH I DO NO WRONG, I'M PUNISHED BY MY PAST. NEITHER
              GODS NOR MEN CAN FORESEE WHEN AN EVIL DEED WILL BEAR ITS FRUIT. I ACCEPT IT
              WITH AN OPEN HEART AND WITHOUT COMPLAINT OF INJUSTICE." THE SUTRAS SAY, "WHEN
              YOU MEET WITH ADVERSITY, DON'T BE UPSET. BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE." WITH SUCH
              UNDERSTANDING, YOU'RE IN HARMONY WITH REASON. AND BY SUFFERING INJUSTICE,
              YOU ENTER THE PATH.
              SECOND, ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS. AS MORTALS, WE'RE RULED BY CONDITIONS, NOT BY
              OURSELVES. ALL THE SUFFERING AND JOY WE EXPERIENCE DEPEND ON CONDITIONS. IF
              WE SHOULD BE BLESSED BY SOME GREAT REWARD, SUCH AS FAME OR FORTUNE, IT'S
              THE FRUIT OF A SEED PLANTED BY US IN THE PAST. WHEN CONDITIONS CHANGE, IT ENDS.
              WHY DELIGHT IN ITS EXISTENCE? BUT WHILE SUCCESS AND FAILURE DEPEND ON
              CONDITIONS, THE MIND NEITHER WAXES NOR WANES. THOSE WHO REMAIN UNMOVED BY
              THE WIND OF JOY SILENTLY FOLLOW THE PATH.
              THIRD, SEEKING NOTHING. PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD ARE DELUDED. THEY'RE ALWAYS
              LONGING FOR SOMETHING, ALWAYS, IN A WORD, SEEKING. BUT THE WISE WAKE UP. THEY
              CHOOSE REASON OVER CUSTOM. THEY FIX THEIR MINDS ON THE SUBLIME AND LET THEIR
              BODIES CHANGE WITH THE SEASON. ALL PHENOMENA ARE EMPTY. THEY CONTAIN
              NOTHING WORTH DESIRING. CALAMITY FOREVER ALTERNATES WITH PROSPERITY. TO
              DWELL IN THE THREE REALMS IS TO DWELL IN A BURNING HOUSE. TO HAVE A BODY IS TO
              SUFFER. DOES ANYBODY WITH A BODY KNOW PEACE?
              FOURTH, PRACTICING THE DHARMA. THE DHARMA IS THE TRUTH THAT ALL NATURES ARE
              PURE. BY THIS TRUTH, ALL APPEARANCES ARE EMPTY. DEFILEMENT AND ATTACHMENT,
              SUBJECT AND OBJECT DON'T EXIST. THE SUTRAS SAY, "THE DHARMA INCLUDES NO BEING
              BECAUSE IT'S FREE FROM THE IMPURITY OF BEING. AND THE DHARMA INCLUDES NO SELF,
              BECAUSE IT'S FREE FROM THE IMPURITY OF SELF." THOSE WISE ENOUGH TO BELIEVE AND
              UNDERSTAND THIS TRUTH ARE BOUND TO PRACTICE ACCORDING TO THE DHARMA. SINCE
              THE EMBODIMENT OF THE DHARMA CONTAINS NOTHING WORTH BEGRUDGING, THEY GIVE
              THEIR BODY, LIFE AND PROPERTY IN CHARITY, WITHOUT REGRET, WITHOUT THE VANITY
              OF GIVER, GIFT OR RECIPIENT, AND WITHOUT BIAS OR ATTACHMENT. AND THEY TAKE UP
              TRANSFORMING OTHERS TO ELIMINATE IMPURITY BUT WITHOUT BECOMING ATTACHED TO
              FORM. THUS, THROUGH THEIR OWN PRACTICE, THEY'RE ABLE TO HELP OTHERS AND
              GLORIFY THE WAY OF ENLIGHTENMENT. AND AS WITH CHARITY, THEY ALSO PRACTICE THE
              OTHER VIRTUES. BUT WHILE PRACTICING THE SIX VIRTUES TO ELIMINATE DELUSION, THEY
              PRACTICE NOTHING AT ALL. THIS IS WHAT'S MEANT BY PRACTICING THE DHARMA. THOSE
              WHO UNDERSTAND THIS DETACH THEMSELVES FROM ALL THAT EXISTS AND STOP
              IMAGINING OR SEEKING ANYTHING. THE SUTRAS SAY, "TO SEEK IS TO SUFFER. TO SEEK
              NOTHING IS BLISS." WHEN YOU SEEK NOTHING, YOU'RE ON THE PATH.


               I have a very soft corner in my heart for Bodhidharma. That makes it a very special occasion to
           speak about him. Perhaps he is the only man whom I have loved so deeply that speaking on him I
           will be almost speaking on myself. That also creates a great complexity, because he never wrote
           anything in his life. No enlightened being has ever written. Bodhidharma is not an exception, but by
           tradition these three books that we are going to discuss are attributed to Bodhidharma.
               The scholars reason that because there is no contrary evidence -- and for almost one thousand
           years, these books have been attributed to Bodhidharma -- there is no reason why we should not
           accept them. I am not a scholar, and there are certainly fragments which must have been spoken by
           Bodhidharma, but these are not books written by him. These are notes by his disciples. It was an
           ancient tradition that when a disciple takes notes from the master he does not put his own name on
           those notes, because nothing of it belongs to him; it has come from the master.
               But knowing Bodhidharma as intimately as I know him ... There are so many fallacies which are
           possible only if somebody else was taking notes and his own mind entered into it; he has interpreted
           Bodhidharma -- and with not much understanding.
               Before we enter into these sutras, a few things about Bodhidharma will be good to know. That
           will give you the flavor of the man and a way to understand what belongs to him in these books and
           what does not belong to him. It is going to be a very strange commentary.
               Bodhidharma was born fourteen centuries ago as a son of a king in the south of India. There was
           a big empire, the empire of Pallavas. He was the third son of his father, but seeing everything -- he
           was a man of tremendous intelligence -- he renounced the kingdom. He was not against the world,
           but he was not ready to waste his time in mundane affairs, in trivia. His whole concern was to know
           his self-nature, because without knowing it you have to accept death as the end.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                All true seekers in fact, have been fighting against death. Bertrand Russell has made a statement
           that if there were no death, there would be no religion. There is some truth in it. I will not agree
           totally, because religion is a vast continent. It is not only death, it is also the search for bliss, it is also
           the search for truth, it is also the search for the meaning of life; it is many more things. But certainly
           Bertrand Russell is right: if there were no death, very few, very rare people would be interested in
           religion. Death is the great incentive.
                Bodhidharma renounced the kingdom saying to his father, "If you cannot save me from death,
           then please don't prevent me. Let me go in search of something that is beyond death." Those were
           beautiful days, particularly in the East. The father thought for a moment and he said, "I will not
           prevent you, because I cannot prevent your death. You go on your search with all my blessings. It is
           sad for me but that is my problem; it is my attachment. I was hoping for you to be the successor, to
           be the emperor of the great Pallavas empire, but you have chosen something higher than that. I am
           your father so how can I prevent you?
           "And you have put in such a simple way a question which I had never expected. You say, `If you can
           prevent my death then I will not leave the palace, but if you cannot prevent my death, then please
           don't prevent me either.'" You can see Bodhidharma's caliber as a great intelligence.
                And the second thing that I would like you to remember is that although he was a follower of
           Gautam Buddha, in some instances he shows higher flights than Gautam Buddha himself. For
           example, Gautam Buddha was afraid to initiate a woman into his commune of sannyasins but
           Bodhidharma got initiated by a woman who was enlightened. Her name was Pragyatara. Perhaps
           people would have forgotten her name; it is only because of Bodhidharma that her name still
           remains, but only the name -- we don't know anything else about her. It was she who ordered
           Bodhidharma to go to China. Buddhism had reached China six hundred years before Bodhidharma.
           It was something magical; it had never happened anywhere, at any time -- Buddha's message
           immediately caught hold of the whole Chinese people.
                The situation was that China had lived under the influence of Confucius and was tired of it.
           Because Confucius is just a moralist, a puritan, he does not know anything about the inner mysteries
           of life. In fact, he denies that there is anything inner. Everything is outer; refine it, polish it, culture
           it, make it as beautiful as possible.
                There were people like Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu, contemporaries of Confucius, but they
           were mystics not masters. They could not create a counter movement against Confucius in the hearts
           of the Chinese people. So there was a vacuum. Nobody can live without a soul, and once you start
           thinking that there is no soul, your life starts losing all meaning. The soul is your very integrating
           concept; without it you are cut away from existence and eternal life. Just like a branch cut off from a
           tree is bound to die -- it has lost the source of nourishment -- the very idea that there is no soul inside
           you, no consciousness, cuts you away from existence. One starts shrinking, one starts feeling
           suffocated.
                But Confucius was a very great rationalist. These mystics, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu,
           knew that what Confucius was doing was wrong, but they were not masters. They remained in their
           monasteries with their few disciples.
                When Buddhism reached China, it immediately entered to the very soul of the people... as if they
           had been thirsty for centuries, and Buddhism had come as a rain cloud. It quenched their thirst so
           immensely that something unimaginable happened.
                Christianity has converted many people, but that conversion is not worth calling religious. It
           converts the poor, the hungry, the beggars, the orphans, not by any spiritual impact on them but just
           by giving them food, clothes, shelter, education. But these have nothing to do with spirituality.
           Mohammedanism has converted a tremendous amount of people, but on the point of the sword:
           either you be a Mohammedan, or you cannot live. The choice is yours.
                The conversion that happened in China is the only religious conversion in the whole history of
           mankind. Buddhism simply explained itself, and the beauty of the message was understood by the
           people. They were thirsty for it, they were waiting for something like it. The whole country, which
           was the biggest country in the world, turned to Buddhism. When Bodhidharma reached there six
           hundred years later, there were already thirty thousand Buddhist temples, monasteries, and two
           million Buddhist monks in China. And two million Buddhist monks is not a small number; it was
           five percent of the whole population of China.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Pragyatara, Bodhidharma's master, told him to go to China because the people who had reached
           there before him had made a great impact, although none of them were enlightened. They were great
           scholars, very disciplined people, very loving and peaceful and compassionate, but none of them
           were enlightened. And now China needed another Gautam Buddha. The ground was ready.
               Bodhidharma was the first enlightened man to reach China. The point I want to make clear is that
           while Gautam Buddha was afraid to initiate women into his commune, Bodhidharma was
           courageous enough to be initiated by a woman on the path of Gautam Buddha. There were other
           enlightened people, but he chose a woman for a certain purpose. And the purpose was to show that a
           woman can be enlightened. Not only that, her disciples can be enlightened. Bodhidharma's name
           stands out amongst all the Buddhist enlightened people second only to Gautam Buddha.
               There are many legends about the man; they all have some significance. The first legend is:
           When he reached China -- it took him three years -- the Chinese emperor Wu came to receive him.
           His fame had reached ahead of him. Emperor Wu had done great service to the philosophy of
           Gautam Buddha. Thousands of scholars were translating Buddhist scriptures from Pali into Chinese
           and the emperor was the patron of all that great work of translation. He had made thousands of
           temples and monasteries, and he was feeding thousands of monks. He had put his whole treasure at
           the service of Gautam Buddha, and naturally the Buddhist monks who had reached before
           Bodhidharma had been telling him that he was earning great virtue, that he will be born as a god in
           heaven.
               Naturally, his first question to Bodhidharma was, "I have made so many monasteries, I am
           feeding thousands of scholars, I have opened a whole university for the studies of Gautam Buddha, I
           have put my whole empire and its treasures in the service of Gautam Buddha. What is going to be
           my reward?"
               He was a little embarrassed seeing Bodhidharma, not thinking that the man would be like this.
           He looked very ferocious. He had very big eyes, but he had a very soft heart -- just a lotus flower in
           his heart. But his face was almost as dangerous as you can conceive. Just the sunglasses were
           missing; otherwise he was a mafia guy!
               With great fear, Emperor Wu asked the question, and Bodhidharma said, "Nothing, no reward.
           On the contrary, be ready to fall into the seventh hell."
               The emperor said, "But I have not done anything wrong -- why the seventh hell? I have been
           doing everything that the Buddhist monks have been telling me."
               Bodhidharma said, "Unless you start hearing your own voice, nobody can help you, Buddhist or
           non-Buddhist. And you have not yet heard your inner voice. If you had heard it, you would not have
           asked such a stupid question.
           "On the path of Gautam Buddha there is no reward because the very desire for reward comes from a
           greedy mind. The whole teaching of Gautam Buddha is desirelessness and if you are doing all these
           so-called virtuous acts, making temples and monasteries and feeding thousands of monks, with a
           desire in your mind, you are preparing your way towards hell. If you are doing these things out of
           joy, to share your joy with the whole empire, and there is not even a slight desire anywhere for any
           reward, the very act is a reward unto itself. Otherwise you have missed the whole point."
               Emperor Wu said, "My mind is so full of thoughts. I have been trying to create some peace of
           mind, but I have failed and because of these thoughts and their noise, I cannot hear what you are
           calling the inner voice. I don't know anything about it."
               Bodhidharma said, "Then, four o'clock in the morning, come alone without any bodyguards to
           the temple in the mountains where I am going to stay. And I will put your mind at peace, forever."
               The emperor thought this man really outlandish, outrageous. He had met many monks; they were
           so polite, but this one does not even bother that he is an emperor of a great country. And to go to him
           in the darkness of early morning at four o'clock, alone.... And this man seems to be dangerous -- he
           always used to carry a big staff with him.
               The emperor could not sleep the whole night, "To go or not to go? Because that man can do
           anything. He seems to be absolutely unreliable." And on the other hand, he felt deep down in his
           heart the sincerity of the man, that he is not a hypocrite. He does not care a bit that you are an
           emperor and he is just a beggar. He behaves as an emperor, and in front of him you are just a beggar.
           And the way he has said, "I will put your mind at peace forever."
           "Strange, because I have been asking," the emperor thought, "of many many wise people who have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come from India, and they all gave me methods, techniques, which I have been practicing, but
           nothing is happening -- and this strange fellow, who looks almost mad, or drunk, and has a strange
           face with such big eyes that he creates fear.... But he seems to be sincere too -- he is a wild
           phenomenon. And it is worth to risk. What can he do -- at the most he can kill me." Finally, he could
           not resist the temptation because the man had promised, "I will put your mind at peace forever."
               Emperor Wu reached the temple at four o'clock, early in the morning in darkness, alone, and
           Bodhidharma was standing there with his staff, just on the steps, and he said, "I knew you would be
           coming, although the whole night you debated whether to go or not to go. What kind of an emperor
           are you -- so cowardly, being afraid of a poor monk, a poor beggar who has nothing in the world
           except this staff. And with this staff I am going to put your mind to silence."
               The emperor thought, "My God, who has ever heard that with a staff you can put somebody's
           mind to silence! You can finish him, hit him hard on the head -- then the whole man is silent, not the
           mind. But now it is too late to go back."
               And Bodhidharma said, "Sit down here in the courtyard of the temple." There was not a single
           man around. "Close your eyes, I am sitting in front of you with my staff. Your work is to catch hold
           of the mind. Just close your eyes and go inside looking for it -- where it is. The moment you catch
           hold of it, just tell me, `Here it is.' And my staff will do the remaining thing."
               It was the strangest experience any seeker of truth or peace or silence could have ever had -- but
           now there was no other way. Emperor Wu sat there with closed eyes, knowing perfectly well that
           Bodhidharma seems to mean everything he says. He looked all around -- there was no mind. That
           staff did its work. For the first time he was in such a situation. The choice... if you find the mind, one
           never knows what this man is going to do with his staff. And in that silent mountainous place, in the
           presence of Bodhidharma, who has a charisma of his own.... There have been many enlightened
           people, but Bodhidharma stands aloof, alone, like an Everest. His every act is unique and original.
           His every gesture has his own signature; it is not borrowed.
               He tried hard to look for the mind, and for the first time he could not find the mind. It is a small
           strategy. Mind exists only because you never look for it; it exists only because you are never aware
           of it. When you are looking for it you are aware of it, and awareness surely kills it completely. Hours
           passed and the sun was rising in the silent mountains with a cool breeze. Bodhidharma could see on
           the face of Emperor Wu such peace, such silence, such stillness as if he was a statue. He shook him
           and asked him, "It has been a long time. Have you found the mind?"
               Emperor Wu said, "Without using your staff, you have pacified my mind completely. I don't have
           any mind and I have heard the inner voice about which you talked. Now I know whatever you said
           was right. You have transformed me without doing anything. Now I know that each act has to be a
           reward unto itself; otherwise, don't do it. Who is there to give you the reward? This is a childish idea.
           Who is there to give you the punishment? Your action is punishment and your action is your reward.
           You are the master of your destiny."
               Bodhidharma said, "You are a rare disciple. I love you, I respect you, not as an emperor but as a
           man who has the courage just in a single sitting to bring so much awareness, so much light, that all
           darkness of the mind disappears."
               Wu tried to persuade him to come to the palace. He said, "That is not my place; you can see I am
           wild, I do things I myself don't know beforehand. I live moment to moment spontaneously, I am very
           unpredictable. I may create unnecessary trouble for you, your court, your people; I am not meant for
           palaces, just let me live in my wildness."
               He lived on this mountain whose name was Tai... The second legend is that Bodhidharma was
           the first man who created tea -- the name `tea' comes from the name TAI, because it was created on
           the mountain Tai. And all the words for tea in any language, are derived from the same source, tai. In
           English it is tea, in Hindi it is CHAI. That Chinese word tai can also be pronounced as CHA. The
           Marathi word is exactly CHA.
               The way Bodhidharma created tea cannot be historical but is significant. He was meditating
           almost all the time, and sometimes in the night he would start falling asleep. So, just not to fall
           asleep, just to teach a lesson to his eyes, he took out all his eyebrow hairs and threw them in the
           temple ground. The story is that out of those eyebrows, the tea bushes grew. Those were the first tea
           bushes. That's why when you drink tea, you cannot sleep. And in Buddhism it became a routine that
           for meditation, tea is immensely helpful. So the whole Buddhist world drinks tea as part of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meditation, because it keeps you alert and awake.
               Although there were two million Buddhist monks in China, Bodhidharma could find only four
           worthy to be accepted as his disciples. He was really very choosy. It took him almost nine years to
           find his first disciple, Hui Ko.
               For nine years -- and that is a historical fact, because there are ancientmost references, almost
           contemporary to Bodhidharma which all mention that fact although others may not be mentioned --
           for nine years, after sending Wu back to the palace, he sat before the temple wall, facing the wall. He
           made it a great meditation. He would just simply go on looking at the wall. Now, looking at the wall
           for a long time, you cannot think. Slowly, slowly, just like the wall, your mind screen also becomes
           empty.
               And there was a second reason. He declared, "Unless somebody who deserves to be my disciple
           comes, I will not look at the audience."
               People used to come and they would sit behind him. It was a strange situation. Nobody had
           spoken in this way; he would speak to the wall. People would be sitting behind him but he would not
           face the audience, because he said, "The audience hurts me more, because it is just like a wall.
           Nobody understands, and to look at human beings in such an ignorant state hurts deeply. But to look
           at the wall, there is no question; a wall, after all is a wall. It cannot hear, so there is no need to be
           hurt. I will turn to face the audience only if somebody proves by his action that he is ready to be my
           disciple."
               Nine years passed. People could not find what to do -- what action would satisfy him. They could
           not figure it out. Then came this young man, Hui Ko. He cut off one of his hands with the sword, and
           threw the hand before Bodhidharma and said, "This is the beginning. Either you turn, or my head
           will be falling before you. I am going to cut my head too."
               Bodhidharma turned and said, "You are really a man worthy of me. No need to cut the head, we
           have to use it." This man, Hui Ko, was his first disciple.
               Finally when he left China, or intended to leave China, he called his four disciples -- three more
           he had gathered after Hui Ko. He asked them, "In simple words, in small sentences, telegraphic, tell
           me the essence of my teachings. I intend to leave tomorrow morning to go back to the Himalayas,
           and I want to choose from you four, one as my successor."
               The first man said, "Your teaching is of going beyond mind, of being absolutely silent, and then
           everything starts happening of its own accord."
               Bodhidharma said, "You are not wrong, but you don't satisfy me. You just have my skin."
               The second one said, "To know that I am not, and only existence is, is your fundamental
           teaching."
               Bodhidharma said, "A little better, but not up to my standard. You have my bones; sit down."
               And the third one said, "Nothing can be said about it. No word is capable of saying anything
           about it."
               Bodhidharma said, "Good, but you have said already something about it. You have contradicted
           yourself. Just sit down; you have my marrow."
               And the fourth was his first disciple, Hui Ko, who simply fell at Bodhidharma's feet, without
           saying a word, tears rolling down from his eyes. Bodhidharma said, "You have said it. You are going
           to be my successor."
               But in the night Bodhidharma was poisoned by some disciple as a revenge, because he had not
           been chosen as the successor. So they buried him, and the strangest legend is that after three years he
           was found by a government official, walking out of China towards the Himalayas with his staff in his
           hand and one of his sandals hanging from the staff -- and he was barefoot.
               The official had known him, had been to him many times, had fallen in love with the man,
           although he was a little eccentric. He asked, "What is the meaning of this staff, and one sandal
           hanging from it?" Bodhidharma said, "Soon you will know. If you meet my people just tell them that
           I'm going into the Himalayas forever."
               The official reached immediately, as fast as he could, the monastery on the mountain where
           Bodhidharma had been living. And there he heard that he had been poisoned and he had died... and
           there was the tomb. The official had not heard about it, because he was posted on the boundary lines
           of the empire. He said, "My God, but I have seen him, and I cannot be deceived because I have seen
           him many times before. He was the same man, those same ferocious eyes, the same fiery and wild
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           outlook, and on top of it, he was carrying on his staff one sandal."
               The disciples could not contain their curiosity, and they opened the tomb. All that they could find
           there was only one sandal. And then the official understood why he had said, "You will find out the
           meaning of it; soon you will know."
               We have heard so much about Jesus' resurrection. But nobody has talked much of the
           resurrection of Bodhidharma. Perhaps he was only in a coma when they buried him, and then he
           came to his senses, slipped out of the tomb, left one sandal there and put another sandal on his staff,
           and according to the plan, he left.
               He wanted to die in the eternal snows of the Himalayas. He wanted that there should be no tomb,
           no temple, no statue of him. He did not want to leave any footprints behind him to be worshiped;
           those who love him should enter into their own being -- "I am not going to be worshiped." And he
           disappeared almost in thin air. Nobody heard anything about him -- what happened, where he died.
           He must be buried in the eternal snows of the Himalayas somewhere.
               This is the man, and there are these three small collections which we are taking as one whole
           book. These are not his writings, because they don't show any quality of the man. They are notes of
           scholarly disciples; hence they are bound to have fundamental and essential faults,
           misunderstandings, misinterpretations. They are not people of no-mind. Their minds are taking the
           notes; their minds are choosing the words.
               Bodhidharma was not a man of words, he was a man of action. There is no possibility of him
           writing a book. A man who never wanted to be worshiped, a man who never wanted to leave any
           footprints behind him to be followed, is not going to write a book either, because that is leaving
           footprints to be followed.
               But I have chosen to speak on them because these three small collections are the only writings
           which for centuries have been believed to be Bodhidharma's. They contain here and there, in spite of
           the people who were taking the notes, something of Bodhidharma -- something has entered. The task
           is difficult for any scholar to make a distinction as to which part is Bodhidharma's and which part is
           the note taker's. It is not a problem for me.
               I know from my own experience what can be unpolluted Bodhidharma, and what can be only the
           mind of a scholar interpreting him. So these are not ordinary commentaries. In a way this is the first
           effort about Bodhidharma to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
               The first statement: MANY ROADS LEAD TO THE PATH. This cannot be said by
           Bodhidharma. He cannot even say that even a single path leads to the truth; his whole approach was
           that you are the truth, you are not to go anywhere. You have to stop going, so that you can remain at
           home where the truth is. It is not a question of following a path; on the contrary it is a question of not
           following any path, not going anywhere, so you can be here -- so that you can be now, just within
           yourself. Every path leads astray, that was Bodhidharma's approach. This is a scholarly way.
              MANY ROADS LEAD TO THE PATH, BUT BASICALLY THERE ARE ONLY TWO: REASON AND
              PRACTICE.

               It is not possible for Bodhidharma to say that. Certainly not that reason can lead you to the
           ultimate reality of your being. Reason is part of the mind. And even more wrong is the path of
           practice. That means it should be based on belief and you have to practice and discipline yourself
           according to it. You will become an imitator, but you will not be able to come to your original face.
               No practice is needed. You are really where you need to be. It is just that you go on and on,
           round and round, but never settle down into your own being. That settling down into your being has
           neither many paths nor two paths.
              TO ENTER BY REASON, MEANS TO REALIZE THE ESSENCE THROUGH INSTRUCTION...

              That means the information comes from somebody else.
              ...AND TO BELIEVE THAT ALL LIVING THINGS SHARE THE SAME TRUE NATURE ...

              Bodhidharma cannot use the word `believe.' He is the last person to use the word believe,
           because belief only creates blind people. Belief never becomes your eyes; it never brings light to you
           but only prejudices, opinions, ideologies. But they are not the experience and Bodhidharma is
           fundamentally interested only in experience.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ...WHICH IS NOT APPARENT BECAUSE IT IS SHROUDED BY SENSATION AND DELUSION.

              These are ordinary statements, far below the outlandish caliber of Bodhidharma.
              THOSE WHO TURN FROM DELUSION BACK TO REALITY, WHO MEDITATE ON WALLS...
              perhaps this small fragment... THOSE WHO TURN FROM DELUSION BACK TO REALITY, WHO
              MEDITATE ON WALLS, THE ABSENCE OF SELF AND OTHER, THE ONENESS OF MORTAL AND
              SAGE, AND WHO REMAIN UNMOVED, EVEN BY SCRIPTURES, ARE IN COMPLETE AND
              UNSPOKEN AGREEMENT WITH REASON.

                Just the last part of the statement has to be changed. Instead of "with reason" it should be "with
           existence."
                This piece I can say with absolute guarantee, comes from Bodhidharma. Try to understand it.
           THOSE WHO MEDITATE ON WALLS means those who start dropping thoughts, dropping mind,
           whose screen of the mind becomes just like a wall -- no movement, pure stillness. They come to
           understand the absence of self, that there is no ego within you, that there is nobody who can say, "I
           am."
           "Existence is, I am not."
                No-selfness is one of the fundamentals of Gautam Buddha. And Bodhidharma will certainly
           agree with it because it is the very foundation of the whole revolution that Gautam Buddha created.
           ...THE ONENESS OF MORTAL AND SAGE ... That even Gautam Buddha cannot say -- only
           Bodhidharma, a single man in the whole world, in the whole history -- that the ordinary man and the
           sage are not different. They only have different personalities, facades, but in the innermost part of
           their subjectivity they are just the same. The sinner and the saint are the same. The sinner is suffering
           unnecessarily from guilt and the saint is suffering unnecessarily from the ego, that "I am holier than
           thou." But both are basically the same -- no-self, just a pure nothingness.      ...AND WHO REMAIN
           UNMOVED, EVEN BY SCRIPTURES .... Whatever the scriptures may say cannot change these
           people, these meditators, who have come to know the nothingness, who have come to know the
           selflessness, who have come to know pure consciousness without any contamination by ego. Even if
           all the scriptures say this is not right, they are not going to be moved by it. No scriptures can disturb
           them.       ...ARE IN COMPLETE AND UNSPOKEN AGREEMENT with existence, NOT WITH
           REASON. That small part of the statement is not from Bodhidharma. That is added by the person
           who is writing the book.
                WITHOUT MOVING, WITHOUT EFFORT, THEY ENTER, WE SAY, BY REASON. Again,
           the statement certainly seems to be from Bodhidharma. WITHOUT MOVING, because there is
           nowhere to go. To find yourself you have to be in a state of unmoving silence. Without moving, and
           of course without any effort because the effort will bring movement. You simply have to be
           effortless and unmoving and just silent, as if you are not. They enter into the very heart of existence.
              TO ENTER BY PRACTICE REFERS TO FOUR ALL-INCLUSIVE PRACTICES.

               I don't think these statements are coming from Bodhidharma, although they are coming from
           Buddhist scriptures. So we will have a little look into them.
               SUFFERING INJUSTICE ... That is coming from Buddhist scriptures. The first thing
           Bodhidharma cannot say but Gautam Buddha can say. And it is a very complex statement:
           SUFFERING INJUSTICE, ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS ... It can help a person to be contented
           but it takes away all rebelliousness from him. SUFFERING INJUSTICE has to be looked at from
           both sides. One side is to suffer injustice just as part of the law of karma: your past life's evil acts
           have created it; it is just a punishment -- suffer it without complaining, without revolting. It will
           certainly create a superficial contentment but it will destroy something very beautiful -- your
           individuality. It will destroy the rebel in you; it is a kind of suicide of the rebel.
               This has certainly been taught by Gautam Buddha, and hence I have always been saying that in
           India's poverty, two thousand years of slavery, Gautam Buddha has some hand. When you teach
           people to suffer injustice without complaining against it, and to adapt to any conditions that you find
           happening around you, for example slavery -- adapt to it... Gautam Buddha's influence was great. It
           went deep into India's very heart and that was the cause of its poverty, its long slavery. No country
           has lived for two thousand years in slavery, and even today when so-called freedom has come, the
           Indian mind is still psychologically a slave.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example when Rabindranath Tagore got the Nobel prize for his book of songs, GITANJALI,
           "Offering of Songs," the book had already been in existence for twenty years in Bengali and in
           Hindi. Nobody even bothered about it. But when it got the Nobel prize, when it was translated into
           English, immediately Rabindranath Tagore became a world figure. He lived in Calcutta and the
           Calcutta University wanted to confer on him an honorary doctorate, but he refused. In his refusal he
           wrote, "You are not conferring the doctorate on me, you are conferring the doctorate on the Nobel
           prize. Your minds are so enslaved. My book has been in existence for twenty years and the
           translation is not so beautiful as my original." The translation is a faraway echo, and it is true the
           original has a beauty which the translation cannot have.
               Poetry cannot be translated from one language to another; only prose can be translated, because
           every language has its own nuances and in poetry those nuances play such a major role that you
           cannot take them easily into another language.
               Gautam Buddha is certainly responsible for India's slavery, poverty, by giving such a teaching of
           adapting to the conditions, that whatsoever the conditions are -- it is our fate. And even suffering
           injustice you are not supposed to complain. This kills the very rebel in your being and without a
           rebel you are almost dead.
           Your rebelliousness is your very life stream.
               I cannot think that a man like Bodhidharma, so outrageous in his statements, can make these two
           things significant practices. Yet the third thing certainly comes from him:
               SEEKING NOTHING AND PRACTICING THE DHARMA. You have to understand the word
           DHARMA. It has not been translated but it can be translated very easily. Dharma means self-nature.
           For example, to be hot is the dharma of fire; to be cold is the dharma of ice, the self-nature. What is
           the self-nature of man? No-selfness, silence, and suddenly an upsurge of compassion. This can be
           said by Bodhidharma, it must have been said. And before it, is a condition: seeking nothing. Every
           seeking is going to take you away from yourself, so non-seeking is one of the essentials of
           Bodhidharma's teaching.
               Don't go anywhere. Pull all your energy inwards. Close all your petals and just be in. And you
           will experience what dharma is, what self-nature is. Then practice it. Then act as if you are nobody.
           Then act with great compassion. Then let your whole life be simply a presence, but not a person
           because there is no self inside you.
              FIRST, SUFFERING INJUSTICE. WHEN THOSE WHO SEARCH FOR THE PATH ENCOUNTER
              ADVERSITY, THEY SHOULD THINK TO THEMSELVES, "IN COUNTLESS AGES GONE BY, I
              HAVE TURNED FROM THE ESSENTIAL TO THE TRIVIAL AND WANDERED THROUGH ALL
              MANNER OF EXISTENCE, OFTEN ANGRY WITHOUT CAUSE AND GUILTY OF NUMBERLESS
              TRANSGRESSIONS. NOW, THOUGH I DO NO WRONG, I AM PUNISHED BY MY PAST.

              These words are from the person who is writing the notes.
              NEITHER GODS NOR MEN CAN FORESEE WHEN AN EVIL DEED WILL BEAR ITS FRUIT. I
              ACCEPT IT WITH AN OPEN HEART AND WITHOUT COMPLAINT OF INJUSTICE."
              These words certainly are not from Bodhidharma.

              THE SUTRAS SAY, "WHEN YOU MEET WITH ADVERSITY, DON'T BE UPSET. BECAUSE IT
              MAKES SENSE." WITH SUCH UNDERSTANDING YOU ARE IN HARMONY WITH REASON. AND
              BY SUFFERING INJUSTICE, YOU ENTER THE PATH.
              No signature of Bodhidharma on these words.

              SECOND, ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS. AS MORTALS, WE ARE RULED BY CONDITIONS, NOT
              BY OURSELVES.

               Again, it is not from Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma cannot say that we are ruled by conditions and
           not by ourselves. In the first place, we are not. We are only pure nothingness, and who can rule the
           pure nothingness? As a person you can be ruled, but as a presence you cannot be ruled. And making
           conditions more important than yourself is again supporting the vested interests, the exploiters, the
           parasites. Bodhidharma is one of the greatest rebellious souls of the world.
              IF WE SHOULD BE BLESSED BY SOME GREAT REWARD, SUCH AS FAME OR FORTUNE, IT IS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE FRUIT OF A SEED PLANTED BY US IN THE PAST.

                Again, it is not Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma does not believe in the past or in the future; his trust
           is only in the present. And whatever you do, the consequence of it will immediately follow the action
           just like the shadow follows you. That which brings rewards is virtue and that which brings suffering
           is sin. He is a simple man; he is not a complicated philosopher and he is not in any way in support of
           the vested interests.
              WHEN CONDITIONS CHANGE, IT ENDS. WHY DELIGHT IN ITS EXISTENCE? BUT WHILE
              SUCCESS AND FAILURE DEPEND ON CONDITIONS, THE MIND NEITHER WAXES NOR WANES.
              THOSE WHO REMAIN UNMOVED BY THE WIND OF JOY SILENTLY FOLLOW THE PATH.

               Perhaps, I say perhaps these words can be Bodhidharma's. Neither by success nor by failure
           should you be affected. They are not more than dreams, they come and go. You should remain in
           your witnessing self. THOSE WHO REMAIN UNMOVED BY THE WIND OF JOY SILENTLY
           FOLLOW THE PATH.
           THIRD, SEEKING NOTHING. PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD ARE DELUDED. THEY ARE
           ALWAYS LONGING FOR SOMETHING, ALWAYS, IN A WORD, SEEKING. BUT THE WISE
           WAKE UP. THEY CHOOSE REASON OVER CUSTOM. THEY FIX THEIR MINDS ON THE
           SUBLIME AND LET THEIR BODIES CHANGE WITH THE SEASON. ALL PHENOMENA
           ARE EMPTY. THEY CONTAIN NOTHING WORTH DESIRING. CALAMITY FOREVER
           ALTERNATES WITH PROSPERITY. TO DWELL IN THE THREE REALMS IS TO DWELL IN
           A BURNING HOUSE. TO HAVE A BODY IS TO SUFFER. DOES ANYBODY WITH A BODY
           KNOW PEACE?
               In this passage a few things certainly give the flavor of Bodhidharma, but a few things look not
           of the same quality. For example, SEEKING NOTHING is Bodhidharma. THE WISE WAKE UP...
           this is Bodhidharma. THEY CHOOSE REASON OVER CUSTOM. I would like to change the word
           reason to meditation. They choose meditation over custom. They choose their own intelligence over
           custom and tradition.
               This certainly cannot be from Bodhidharma. THEY FIX THEIR MINDS ON THE SUBLIME
           AND LET THEIR BODIES CHANGE WITH THE SEASON. The man who is saying that the sinner
           and the saint are the same, the ordinary man and the sage are not different, cannot make this
           statement -- because for him the mundane and the sublime are not different, they cannot be different.
               Yes, this statement can be confirmed as Bodhidharma's: ALL PHENOMENA ARE EMPTY.
           Whatever happens outside you in life is just empty, as empty as dreams; it is made of the same stuff.
           THE WISE WAKE UP and see the whole of life as a long series of dreams -- sometimes good,
           sometimes bad, sometimes sweet, sometimes nightmarish, but they are all dreams. The awakened
           one neither dreams in his sleep nor is deluded by the dreams of the outside world while he is awake.
           They contain nothing worth desiring.
               CALAMITY FOREVER ALTERNATES WITH PROSPERITY. TO DWELL IN THE THREE
           REALMS IS TO DWELL IN A BURNING HOUSE. The three realms are of the body, of the mind
           and of the heart. To dwell in the fourth, the TURIYA, is to be at peace with existence.
              FOURTH, PRACTICING THE DHARMA. THE DHARMA IS THE TRUTH THAT ALL NATURES ARE
              PURE. BY THIS TRUTH ALL APPEARANCES ARE EMPTY. DEFILEMENT AND ATTACHMENT,
              SUBJECT AND OBJECT DON'T EXIST.
              This can be said to be purely Bodhidharma.

              THE SUTRAS SAY, "THE DHARMA INCLUDES NO BEING BECAUSE IT IS FREE FROM THE
              IMPURITY OF BEING. AND THE DHARMA INCLUDES NO SELF, BECAUSE IT IS FREE FROM
              THE IMPURITY OF SELF." THOSE WISE ENOUGH TO BELIEVE AND UNDERSTAND THIS
              TRUTH ARE BOUND TO PRACTICE ACCORDING TO THE DHARMA.

              These are additions by the people who are taking notes.
              SINCE THE EMBODIMENT OF THE DHARMA CONTAINS NOTHING WORTH BEGRUDGING,
              THEY GIVE THEIR BODY, LIFE AND PROPERTY IN CHARITY, WITHOUT REGRET, WITHOUT
              THE VANITY OF GIVER, GIFT OR RECIPIENT, AND WITHOUT BIAS OR ATTACHMENT. AND
              THEY TAKE UP TRANSFORMING OTHERS TO ELIMINATE IMPURITY BUT WITHOUT BECOMING
              ATTACHED TO FORM. THUS, THROUGH THEIR OWN PRACTICE, THEY ARE ABLE TO HELP
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OTHERS AND GLORIFY THE WAY OF ENLIGHTENMENT. AND AS WITH CHARITY, THEY ALSO
              PRACTICE THE OTHER VIRTUES. BUT WHILE PRACTICING THE SIX VIRTUES TO ELIMINATE
              DELUSION, THEY PRACTICE NOTHING AT ALL.

               All the statements above this sentence cannot be authentically said to be from Bodhidharma. But
           this sentence, THEY PRACTICE NOTHING AT ALL ...
               The people who are practicing all these things recorded before, are practicing nothing, because if
           the world is only a dream land, then whether you are a thief or a great man of charity, makes no
           difference. In a dream, if you are a thief or a man of charity, will it make any difference when you
           wake up? Will you feel good that you were such a great man of charity? Or will you feel ashamed
           that in the dream you were a thief? Both were dreams, soap bubbles; they don't mean anything.
               Knowing Bodhidharma, I can say exactly what are his words. THEY PRACTICE NOTHING AT
           ALL -- the people who are practicing the above mentioned things ... THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT
           BY PRACTICING THE DHARMA.
               Bodhidharma is saying: Knowing this -- that whatever you are practicing is nothing at all --
           THIS knowing, this understanding is called practicing the dharma.
               THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THIS DETACH THEMSELVES FROM ALL THAT EXISTS
           AND STOP IMAGINING OR SEEKING ANYTHING. THE SUTRAS SAY, "TO SEEK IS TO
           SUFFER. TO SEEK NOTHING IS BLISS." This is pure Bodhidharma. WHEN YOU SEEK
           NOTHING, YOU ARE ON THE PATH.
               So it is going to be a continuous effort to draw lines, between what exactly are Bodhidharma's
           statements and what are statements by the writers of these books, these notes. But I can say it with
           authority, because this is my own understanding and experience too: I agree with Bodhidharma on
           each and every point. In other words, Bodhidharma agrees with me on each and every point.
               Scholars have been talking about these books. I am not a scholar. I am a Bodhidharma. I will
           recognize what is my statement and what is not my statement.
           Get it?

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                              Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                   Chapter #2
                                 Chapter title: A pilgrimage to your own being
           5 July 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707055
              ShortTitle: BODHI02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 85 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BODHIDHARMA'S BLOODSTREAM SERMON
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               EVERYTHING THAT APPEARS IN THE THREE REALMS LEADS BACK TO THE MIND. HENCE,
               BUDDHAS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE TEACH MIND TO MIND WITHOUT BOTHERING ABOUT
               DEFINITIONS.
               BUT IF THEY DON'T DEFINE IT, WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY MIND?
               YOU ASK. THAT'S YOUR MIND. I ANSWER. THAT'S MY MIND. IF I HAD NO MIND, HOW COULD I
               ANSWER? IF YOU HAD NO MIND, HOW COULD YOU ASK? THAT WHICH ASKS IS YOUR MIND.
               "THROUGH ENDLESS KALPAS WITHOUT BEGINNING, WHATEVER YOU DO, WHEREVER YOU
               ARE, THAT'S YOUR REAL MIND, THAT'S YOUR REAL BUDDHA. THIS MIND IS THE BUDDHA,
               SAYS THE SAME THING. BEYOND THIS MIND YOU'LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER BUDDHA. TO
               SEARCH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT OR NIRVANA BEYOND THIS MIND IS IMPOSSIBLE. THE
               REALITY OF YOUR OWN SELF-NATURE, THE ABSENCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, IS WHAT'S
               MEANT BY MIND. YOUR MIND IS NIRVANA. YOU MIGHT THINK YOU CAN FIND A BUDDHA OR
               ENLIGHTENMENT SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE MIND, BUT SUCH A PLACE DOESN'T EXIST.
               TRYING TO FIND A BUDDHA OR ENLIGHTENMENT IS LIKE TRYING TO GRAB SPACE. SPACE
               HAS A NAME BUT NO FORM. IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN PICK UP OR PUT DOWN. AND
               YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T GRAB IT. BEYOND THIS MIND, YOU'LL NEVER SEE A BUDDHA. THE
               BUDDHA IS A PRODUCT OF YOUR MIND. WHY LOOK FOR A BUDDHA BEYOND THIS MIND?
               BUDDHAS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE ONLY TALK ABOUT THIS MIND. THE MIND IS THE
               BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE MIND. BEYOND THE MIND THERE'S NO BUDDHA. AND
               BEYOND THE BUDDHA THERE'S NO MIND. IF YOU THINK THERE'S A BUDDHA BEYOND THE
               MIND, WHERE IS HE? THERE'S NO BUDDHA BEYOND THE MIND, SO WHY ENVISION ONE?
               YOU CAN'T KNOW YOUR REAL MIND AS LONG AS YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF. AS LONG AS
               YOU'RE ENTHRALLED BY A LIFELESS FORM, YOU'RE NOT FREE. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME,
               DECEIVING YOURSELF DOESN'T HELP. IT'S NOT THE BUDDHA'S FAULT. PEOPLE, THOUGH,
               ARE DELUDED. THEY'RE UNAWARE THAT THEIR OWN MIND IS THE BUDDHA. OTHERWISE,
               THEY WOULDN'T LOOK FOR A BUDDHA OUTSIDE THE MIND.
               BUDDHAS DON'T SAVE BUDDHAS. IF YOU USE YOUR MIND TO LOOK FOR A BUDDHA, YOU
               WON'T SEE THE BUDDHA. AS LONG AS YOU LOOK FOR A BUDDHA SOMEWHERE ELSE,
               YOU'LL NEVER SEE THAT YOUR OWN MIND IS THE BUDDHA. AND DON'T USE A BUDDHA TO
               WORSHIP A BUDDHA. AND DON'T USE THE MIND TO INVOKE A BUDDHA. BUDDHAS DON'T
               RECITE SUTRAS. BUDDHAS DON'T KEEP PRECEPTS. AND BUDDHAS DON'T BREAK
               PRECEPTS. BUDDHAS DON'T KEEP OR BREAK ANYTHING. BUDDHAS DON'T DO GOOD OR
               EVIL.
               TO FIND A BUDDHA, YOU HAVE TO SEE YOUR NATURE. WHOEVER SEES HIS NATURE IS A
               BUDDHA. IF YOU DON'T SEE YOUR NATURE, INVOKING BUDDHAS, RECITING SUTRAS,
               MAKING OFFERINGS AND KEEPING PRECEPTS ARE ALL USELESS. INVOKING BUDDHAS
               RESULTS IN GOOD KARMA. RECITING SUTRAS RESULTS IN A GOOD MEMORY. KEEPING
               PRECEPTS RESULTS IN A GOOD REBIRTH. AND MAKING OFFERINGS RESULTS IN FUTURE
               BLESSINGS. BUT NO BUDDHA.


                The realization of enlightenment, or buddhahood, is difficult. And it is also not difficult. It is
           difficult if you start looking for it. It is not difficult if you simply sit down, settling within yourself in
           calmness, quietness, being just purely aware.
                Then you are the buddha, then you are the enlightenment. It is not that you become enlightened,
           it is not your becoming. It is your very being, it is you in your simplest, spontaneous nature.
           Enlightenment is your self-nature.
                Once somebody attains to enlightenment, the greatest difficulty is to convey it to those who are
           living in darkness and who have never seen any light. It is almost like talking about light to blind
           people. One enlightened master has been reported to have said, "My whole effort of conveying my
           experience is just like selling glasses to blind people."
                Hence, many of those who have attained have remained silent, and those very few who have
           spoken, know that their words cannot carry their enlightenment, its beauty, its joy, its fragrance; that
           the moment the experience is translated into words, something essential dies. Only a corpse reaches
           to the other person.
                But out of compassion, hoping against hope, a few enlightened people down the ages have made
           every effort to convey to you that life is not all that you think it is. It is much more, infinitely much
           more.
                But no enlightened man has ever written a single word, for the simple reason that the spoken
           word has a certain warmth, and the written word is absolutely cold. The spoken word has the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           presence of the master, but the written word has no presence of the master. The spoken word is not
           just a word; there are so many other things which may be indirectly conveyed to you. The presence
           of the master, the blissfulness of the master, the grace of the master, his inviting eyes, his heart
           calling you, invoking you for a journey, for a pilgrimage to your own being ...all this is absent in the
           written word.
                Hence, no enlightened man has ever written anything. But disciples have taken notes. All the
           literature that exists in the name of enlightened people is nothing but disciples' notes. The problem
           becomes more and more complicated because the disciple is writing something which he does not
           understand. He loves the master, he has fallen into a deep love affair, but he does not understand the
           mystery of the master. He is under his magical influence, but he does not know his secret. Unless he
           knows his own secret he will never know the secret of the master, because they are not two things.
                The disciple thinks, has been thinking for ages, that the words of the master should not be lost;
           they are so precious, they are pure gold. At least something for the future generations should be
           collected. But his understanding is very small, and he writes according to his understanding. First,
           much is lost when the master speaks; then much is lost when the disciple hears; then much is lost
           when the disciple writes. And the disciple writes in one language, and then it goes on being
           translated into other languages. It becomes a faraway echo of the original.
                For example, Bodhidharma spoke in Chinese, which was not his mother tongue. He was born in
           India. He learned Chinese. Even in your own mother tongue, to give expression to the experiences of
           your innermost life sources, silences of your heart, and blissfulness of your being, is difficult -- even
           in your mother tongue. But to speak in a language which he has just learned, and Chinese is not a
           simple language .... If one really wants to be a scholar it needs at least thirty years, because it has no
           alphabet, it is a pictorial language. It is a very primitive sort of language.
                The alphabet brings language to a very simple phenomenon. But a nonalphabetical language, like
           Chinese, or Korean, or Japanese, is very difficult for one who is not born in those lands. You have to
           remember thousands of pictures. Those languages are pictorial. Each thing has a certain symbolic
           picture and unless you remember thousands of symbolic pictures, it is impossible to speak, it is
           impossible to write. Bodhidharma had only three years while he was moving towards China to learn
           as quickly as possible before he reached there. He did in three years, almost thirty years' work.
                Naturally, what he has said is far from his experience. And the difficulty is again multiplied
           because these sutras are translated from Chinese into English. For example, I will just give you one
           word which is very central to these sutras, the word `mind'.
                Anybody reading these sutras is going to understand exactly the opposite of what Bodhidharma
           must have meant, and the reason is the word `mind'.
                In English there is only one word for your thinking process, and that is `mind'. And in the
           English language there is no word which can denote something beyond the thinking process. The
           whole philosophy of Gautam Buddha and Bodhidharma is how to go beyond the thinking process. In
           Sanskrit, in Pali, there are different words: MANUS, which is the root of the English word `mind',
           exactly means THINKING PROCESS; then CHITTA means CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND THE
           THINKING PROCESS.
                Those who are very alert, and those who have not only been just scholars but have also
           experienced something about meditation -- wherever in these sutras you find the word `mind', a
           meditator would put just its opposite, `no-mind'. English has no word for no-mind, so it is just an
           arbitrary creation. Everywhere in these sutras, where mind is mentioned, please read no-mind.
           Otherwise you will go absolutely on a wrong track.
                The sutras: EVERYTHING THAT APPEARS IN THE THREE REALMS LEADS BACK TO
           THE no-MIND.
                The translator says, "to the mind." Mind is something to be transcended, mind is a disease;
           meditation is an effort to go beyond it. Hence, I will read everywhere instead of `mind', `no-mind', to
           correct the translation. The translation is done by somebody who understands language but who does
           not understand meditation.
                EVERYTHING THAT APPEARS IN THE THREE REALMS ... Which are the three realms?
           The body, the mind, the heart ...leads to the fourth, TURIYA, which can be translated only as
           no-mind; leads to a silence where there is no ripple of thought, where time disappears, space
           disappears and just a pure consciousness, not conscious of any thing, but conscious of itself ...a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           self-luminous awareness remains. Everything leads to this self-luminous awareness.
                The people who understand meditation have always translated the word CHITTA as `no-mind'.
                HENCE, BUDDHAS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE TEACH MIND TO MIND, WITHOUT
           BOTHERING ABOUT DEFINITIONS. This is so ridiculous, but scholars are really doing
           something that they are not prepared for. The right thing would be to say, "Buddhas of the past and
           future, teach no-mind to no-mind, from silence to silence, from presence to presence. And naturally,
           in that transfer from silence to silence, in that transmission from being to being, there is no place for
           definitions."
                Definitions are part of the mind. The moment you transcend mind, you transcend all definitions.
           Now the disciple's mind comes in: BUT IF THEY DON'T DEFINE IT, WHAT DO THEY MEAN
           BY MIND? This is so stupid, it is unbelievably ridiculous. The disciple himself who has taken these
           notes is puzzled. He asks, BUT IF THEY DON'T DEFINE IT, WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY
           MIND? And he answers to satisfy himself: YOU ASK. THAT'S YOUR MIND. I ANSWER.
           THAT'S MY MIND. It is true about the disciple, but not true about the enlightened being, who does
           not express himself through the words. Even if he uses the words, that is only a device to create
           moments of silence.
                The real transfer happens in the gaps. Nothing is said, and nothing is heard, and yet the message
           takes a quantum leap from one being to another being. This is the beauty and the miracle and the
           magic that happens between the master and the disciple.
                The disciple quotes Bodhidharma as saying, IF I HAD NO MIND, HOW COULD I ANSWER?
           IF YOU HAD NO MIND, HOW COULD YOU ASK? THAT WHICH ASKS IS YOUR MIND.
           THROUGH ENDLESS KALPAS, through endless ages, WITHOUT BEGINNING, WHATEVER
           YOU DO, WHEREVER YOU ARE, THAT IS YOUR REAL MIND, THAT IS YOUR REAL
           BUDDHA.
                He is getting really confused. But anybody will be in the same position, not knowing that
           meditation is a transcendence, a freedom from mind. It is a beyond space, where no functioning of
           the mind can ever reach.
                And that is your true nature, that is your enlightenment, that is your buddhahood. And out of that
           silence, whatever you do is enlightened. Out of that silence, whatever grows is a lotus of paradise.
           Out of that silence you cannot do anything wrong. In fact, out of that silence the very idea, the
           distinction between wrong and right, good and bad, disappears. Whatever you do out of that silence
           is simply existential, the way it should be. It is not your effort, it is not your thought-out, pre-planned
           act; it is simply your spontaneous outpouring.
           THIS MIND IS THE BUDDHA. Let me correct it.
                THIS no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. BEYOND THIS no-MIND, YOU WILL NEVER FIND
           ANOTHER BUDDHA. TO SEARCH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT OR NIRVANA, BEYOND THIS
           no-MIND, IS IMPOSSIBLE. THE REALITY OF YOUR OWN SELF-NATURE, THE ABSENCE
           OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, IS WHAT IS MEANT BY no-MIND. YOUR no-MIND IS NIRVANA
           -- but remember wherever I am saying no-mind, in the sutra itself is written mind. I disagree with it
           totally, and Bodhidharma would disagree with it, and Buddha would disagree with it, and anybody
           who has even a little glimpse of meditation will disagree with it.
                YOU MIGHT THINK YOU CAN FIND A BUDDHA OR ENLIGHTENMENT SOMEWHERE
           BEYOND no-MIND, BUT SUCH A PLACE DOESN'T EXIST.
           TRYING TO FIND A BUDDHA OR ENLIGHTENMENT IS LIKE TRYING TO GRAB SPACE.
           SPACE HAS A NAME BUT NO FORM. IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN PICK UP OR PUT
           DOWN. AND YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T GRAB IT. BEYOND THIS no-MIND YOU'LL NEVER
           SEE A BUDDHA. THE BUDDHA IS A PRODUCT OF YOUR no-MIND.
                In fact no-mind and buddha are synonymous. But the poor disciple who has taken these notes
           goes on using the word `mind' which is absolutely absurd.
           WHY LOOK FOR A BUDDHA BEYOND THIS no-MIND?
           BUDDHAS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE ONLY TALK ABOUT THIS no-MIND. THIS
           no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE no-MIND. BEYOND THE no-MIND
           THERE IS NO BUDDHA. AND BEYOND THE BUDDHA THERE IS NO no-MIND. IF YOU
           THINK THERE IS A BUDDHA BEYOND THE no-MIND, WHERE IS HE?
                The same mistake continues all along the sutra. It is the ancientmost sutra about Bodhidharma,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and for almost fourteen centuries it has been accepted as Bodhidharma's teaching. And the reason is
           that nobody tries to understand the experience by experiencing it. People simply read scriptures, they
           become knowledgeable, but deep inside the ignorance prevails. They start talking about light, but
           their blindness continues. That's why he says, YOU THINK THERE IS A BUDDHA BEYOND
           THE MIND. There is the buddha ONLY beyond the mind; it is not a question of thinking, but this
           stupid disciple says there is no buddha beyond the mind. He has made it a point that buddha and
           mind are synonymous. Then what is the need of meditation? You all have minds; you have enough
           of buddha -- do you need more mind?
                You need freedom from the mind, freedom from all the fetters of thought, emotions, moods,
           sentiments; they all constitute your mind. And beyond them there is a witness, a watcher. That
           watcher is the buddha.
                I have to be hard on this disciple, although he has done a service to humanity. He has kept a
           record of Bodhidharma's words, although he is not capable of keeping the record in a right way. But
           still, his record can be corrected by anybody of the same state as Bodhidharma. So there is no
           problem. He has done a great service, although he is stupid.
                Once in a while, he repeats Bodhidharma: YOU CAN'T KNOW YOUR REAL no-MIND AS
           LONG AS YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF. AS LONG AS YOU ARE ENTHRALLED BY A
           LIFELESS FORM, YOU ARE NOT FREE.
                What is your imprisonment? Your mind is your prison. There are different prisons, but they are
           all prisons. The Hindu has a different kind of prison, different architecture; the Mohammedan has a
           different prison, different architecture; the Christian has a different prison, and so on and so forth.
           But they differ only in their architecture. As far as the prisoner is concerned, they are all prisons.
           And people move from one prison to another prison in the hope that perhaps they will find freedom.
           The Christian becomes the Hindu, the Hindu becomes the Buddhist, the Buddhist becomes the
           Mohammedan and they are simply changing prisons. From one program they move to another
           program, and what is needed is a deprogramming. That's what, in scientific terms is the meaning of
           the word `meditation' -- deprogramming.
                If your mind can be completely deprogrammed, it can become a completely erased tabula rasa, a
           clean slate from which every knowledge has been erased. This innocence is the beginning of
           no-mind. This innocence is the birth of the buddha in you.
                IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, DECEIVING YOURSELF DOESN'T HELP. IT IS NOT THE
           BUDDHA'S FAULT. PEOPLE, THOUGH, ARE DELUDED. THEY'RE UNAWARE THAT
           THEIR OWN no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. OTHERWISE, THEY WOULDN'T LOOK FOR A
           BUDDHA OUTSIDE THE no-MIND.
                The greatest delusion according to those who have reached to the highest peak of awareness, is
           searching and seeking outside yourself for the truth, the meaning of existence, or the deathless,
           eternal current of life. Mind always tries to look outside, because the very function of the mind is to
           work in the world. That's why mind is perfectly okay in science, in business, in economics. In
           everything that is outside you, then mind is perfectly the right means.
                But that which is within you is beyond mind's reach. You will have to leave the mind, and move
           above and away. The moment you become only a witness, watching the mind as something outside
           you, you have come home. But the man who took the notes and the man who translated them into
           English ...perhaps neither had experience of meditation. They go on repeating the word `mind' where
           only `no-mind' is ever possible.
                BUDDHAS DON'T SAVE BUDDHAS. Now this I can say must have come from Bodhidharma.
           This is such a tremendously meaningful statement, and so outrageous that it is beyond the capacity
           of the poor disciple, who cannot even understand it. He has simply written it, he must have heard it.
           Perhaps Bodhidharma was again and again repeating it. This is one of the most essential teachings of
           Gautam Buddha, that nobody can save you.
                Jesus says, "I am the savior." If you compare Jesus and Bodhidharma, you will be in for a great
           surprise. Jesus says, "You are the sheep, I am the shepherd and if you get lost, I will find you." And
           it looks, for those who don't understand, to be a great compassionate ideology. Jesus seems to be of
           great compassion, love, kindness. In fact Christians say that he sacrificed himself to save humanity,
           but nobody asks why humanity is not saved. The poor fellow died unnecessarily.
                I have always been wondering .... I have been listening to Christians, and without feeling any
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           embarrassment they go on saying that Jesus gave up his life to save humanity. I used to be very
           friendly with a preacher, Stanley Jones, who was a reknowned Christian missionary and had a very
           philosophical bent of mind. Whenever he used to come into the city where I was, I always used to go
           to listen to him. One day it was too much; he was continuously repeating that "Jesus is the only
           savior."
                I had to stand up. I said, "It is not my business, I am not a Christian and in fact, I should not
           create any disturbance in the church; I don't belong to the congregation. But you are repeating such
           nonsense. You go on saying that he saved humanity by giving up his life on the cross. But I don't see
           humanity saved anywhere. He could not even save himself."
                But all the religions born outside India have the idea of the savior. Mohammedanism, Judaism,
           Christianity -- three religions are born outside India and all three have the idea of the savior. In India
           there are four religions: Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism. Jainism and Buddhism are the only
           two religions which simply deny the very concept of saving anybody, because they say -- and I agree
           with their concept -- that it is condemnatory, it is humiliating. The very idea that "I will save you"
           makes me higher than you, and holier than you. I become special. I am the only begotten son of God,
           or I am the only prophet of God, or the only messenger of God, and you are just ordinary human
           beings.
                Bodhidharma's statement is, BUDDHAS DON'T SAVE BUDDHAS. He is saying you are all
           buddhas whether you know it or not, and how can anybody save you? How can one buddha save
           another buddha? All that a buddha can do is to wake you up. That is not much of a saving. When you
           wake somebody up, do you think you are holier, and special, and you have done a great service to
           humanity, by waking a poor fellow who was sleeping?
                BUDDHAS DON'T SAVE BUDDHAS. This is a very pregnant statement. It gives equality to
           every being. The only difference, which is not much of a difference, is ...everybody is a buddha; a
           few are asleep and are unaware of who they are, and a few have become awakened and know who
           they are. But essentially, there is no difference at all, and there is no question of saving anybody. It is
           his right if somebody wants to continue to sleep; it is his birthright. You cannot forcibly wake up
           somebody because that is interfering with his freedom.
                It happened: I was sitting on the banks of the Ganges in Allahabad. I had gone to speak in a
           Christian college in Allahabad, and the Christian college is just on the bank of the Ganges on a very
           beautiful spot just near the railway bridge. I was sitting on the bank, and there was nobody for miles
           and suddenly a man came and jumped. I thought perhaps he was taking a bath, and as he jumped, he
           started shouting, "Help me, help me." He was just close to me.
                For a moment I thought, "What is the matter? If he wanted to be helped, why has he jumped?"
           But I thought it is better to first bring him out. If I start thinking about it, by that time he will be
           finished. So I jumped. He was a heavy man but I pulled him out somehow, and I felt a certain
           resistance. It became even more puzzling, he was shouting, "Save me, I am drowning." But when I
           was trying to bring him out, I felt that he was not being helpful, he was resisting my effort.
                I said, "You seem to be mad. Do you want to be saved or not?"
                He said, "Please save me." So I pulled him out. And when he was out, he started becoming very
           angry at me saying, "Can't you understand? I was committing suicide."
                I said, "You should have said so before. So why were you shouting, `Save me'?"
                He said, "It is natural. I wanted to commit suicide but deep down somewhere there was still a
           desire to live. That's why I started shouting."
                I said, "Okay." I simply pushed him back. I said, "If this is the case, then I will not do anything
           against you."
                He started shouting again, "Are you mad or what? Do you want to kill me?"
                I said, "Now I have nothing to do with you. Whatever I have done, I have undone it. Now I will
           sit silently here and watch."
                Somebody else came by and jumped in and took him out. This time he did not give any
           resistance but he went on looking at me. I said, "What is the matter, where are you going?"
           He said, "Is it compulsory to commit suicide?"
                I said, "It is not; I have never told you to commit suicide. You were committing suicide; have
           you forgotten?"
                He said, "You seem to be a strange man. When somebody commits suicide, or tries to commit
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suicide, people prevent him -- but you help them."
               I said, "I am ready to help in any way. If you want to get out of the river, I am ready to help. If
           you want to go in the river, I am ready to help. I don't want to interfere in your lifestyle whatever you
           want to do."
           He said, "I don't want to die."
               I said, "That's perfectly okay. You can go, but think twice. You may have to come back again."
           He said, "I am not going to come back."
               I said, "It is up to you. I am just reminding you that the idea of suicide will come again to you,
           and this is a good chance. Don't miss it. Ordinarily, there are so many people on the bank. Just by
           chance there is nobody -- only a man who is ready to help in any way, this way or that."
               He said, "As long as you are here, I am not going to come back!"
               I said, "It is up to you. Without me you will be in difficulty."
               Bodhidharma is saying, BUDDHAS DON'T SAVE BUDDHAS. Buddhas simply make every
           effort to wake people to their own reality, but it is not a question of saving. They are buddhas
           already, nothing has to be added. This is one of the greatest contributions of Buddhism and Jainism.
           But again and again that disciple is bound to commit mistakes; he is simply helpless. This sentence
           he has put exactly as it should be.
               But again he starts: IF YOU USE YOUR MIND TO LOOK FOR A BUDDHA, YOU WON'T
           SEE THE BUDDHA. AS LONG AS YOU LOOK FOR A BUDDHA SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU
           WILL NEVER SEE THAT YOUR OWN no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. He is saying mind, I am
           reading no-mind.
               AND DON'T USE A BUDDHA TO WORSHIP A BUDDHA. Again, this statement I can say
           with absolute authority, comes from Bodhidharma. DON'T USE A BUDDHA TO WORSHIP A
           BUDDHA. Just as a buddha cannot save another buddha, so it is absolutely idiotic that one buddha
           should worship another buddha. Buddhism is against worship.
               The last words of Gautam Buddha were, "Don't make my statues, don't make my temples,
           because my whole life I have been teaching you that you are a buddha, and you don't have to
           worship another buddha." And particularly if a stone buddha is being worshiped by a living buddha;
           this is sheer absurdity.
              AND DON'T USE THE MIND TO INVOKE A BUDDHA. BUDDHAS DON'T RECITE SUTRAS.
              BUDDHAS DON'T KEEP PRECEPTS. AND BUDDHAS DON'T BREAK PRECEPTS. BUDDHAS
              DON'T KEEP OR BREAK ANYTHING. BUDDHAS DON'T DO GOOD OR EVIL.

               These statements must be coming directly from Bodhidharma because it is beyond the capacity
           of the disciple to say such great things. Bodhidharma is saying that buddhas don't follow any
           discipline except their own awareness. They don't follow any scriptures except their own light.
           Neither do they follow anything nor do they break anything. They do neither good nor evil. They
           simply act out of spontaneity which is beyond good and evil.
               Buddhas are not puritans or moralists. They act out of pure consciousness and their actions are
           not decided by any ideals, by any precepts, by any sutras. They don't recite any sutras. They don't
           bother about holy scriptures because they know their own awareness is enough to show them the
           path and to lead them to their ultimate destiny.
              TO FIND A BUDDHA, YOU HAVE TO SEE YOUR NATURE. WHOEVER SEES HIS NATURE IS A
              BUDDHA. IF YOU DON'T SEE YOUR NATURE, INVOKING BUDDHAS, RECITING SUTRAS,
              MAKING OFFERINGS AND KEEPING PRECEPTS ARE ALL USELESS.

               These words certainly have the ring and the sound of a man of awareness. They must be coming
           from Bodhidharma. But the disciple is not satisfied, he must be feeling a little uneasy. The whole
           idea that reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless ...he must be feeling
           uneasy because these are all irreligious ideas. No ordinary religion is going to accept them.
               Hence, the disciple immediately puts his own ideas. INVOKING BUDDHAS RESULTS IN
           GOOD KARMA. Now this is his addition. Just now it was USELESS, but he could not feel at ease
           with the word useless. He had to write it because Bodhidharma must have been saying it, but he is
           free to dilute it. In fact, he starts changing its whole tone.
              INVOKING BUDDHAS RESULTS IN GOOD KARMA. RECITING SUTRAS RESULTS IN A GOOD
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MEMORY. KEEPING PRECEPTS RESULTS IN A GOOD REBIRTH. AND MAKING OFFERINGS
              RESULTS IN FUTURE BLESSINGS. BUT NO BUDDHA.

               The disciple has been trying hard to put the words of Bodhidharma exactly, but it must have been
           a great effort and a great tension for him because what Bodhidharma is saying can be understood
           only by people of great meditation. It is not possible for it to be understood by so-called ordinary
           humanity. It goes against all ordinary religions, ordinary prophets, ordinary messengers of God,
           ordinary holy scriptures.
               Feeling uneasy, the disciple makes some additions on his own part. Now if a man reads these
           sutras without having a taste of meditation, he is bound to be in confusion, and he is bound to be
           misled by the additions. The disciple is mixing, and polluting the pure crystal clear water of
           Bodhidharma with all kinds of crap, because he cannot tolerate such a crystal clear approach, so
           refined.
               Although there have been many enlightened people in the lineage of Gautam Buddha,
           Bodhidharma became the most famous. He is not the founder of Zen Buddhism; the founder of Zen
           is Mahakashyapa. But even Mahakashyapa has faded. Bodhidharma is not the founder but he has
           become the most important enlightened person after Gautam Buddha just because of his
           outrageousness, his non-compromising approach. He is not going to console anybody; he is simply
           going to say the truth. Whether it hurts you or heals you it is up to you, but he is not going to add a
           single word just to console you, because every consolation is putting you into sleep. Every
           consolation is a kind of opium.
               Bodhidharma is absolutely strict. That's why he is painted as a ferocious looking man. It does not
           mean that he was like that. He was a prince, and I don't think that the way he has been painted down
           the centuries is his actual photograph. It is rather the experience of those who had to deal with him --
           he was ferocious. And he was ferocious because he would not say any consolatory words, he would
           simply say the naked truth. If it hurts you, good. Perhaps you need to be hurt and only that will
           awaken you. You don't need any consolation, because that will put you into a deeper sleep.
               Bodhidharma is unique, and I can understand why his disciple could not understand. That must
           have been the case with many people who heard him. At the last moment when he wanted to choose
           a successor -- he had chosen only four disciples, and from four he was going to choose one
           successor. He was really strict; perhaps the most strict master the world has ever known, but the
           most compassionate, because his strictness is nothing but his compassion.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #3
                             Chapter title: Beyond this nature there's no Buddha
           6 July 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707060
              ShortTitle: BODHI03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


    BELOVED OSHO,

              IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND BY YOURSELF, YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND A TEACHER TO GET TO
              THE BOTTOM OF LIFE AND DEATH. BUT UNLESS HE SEES HIS NATURE, SUCH A PERSON
              ISN'T A TEACHER. EVEN IF HE CAN RECITE THE TWELVEFOLD CANON, HE CAN'T ESCAPE
              THE WHEEL OF BIRTH AND DEATH. HE SUFFERS IN THE THREE REALMS WITHOUT HOPE OF
              RELEASE.
              LONG AGO, THE MONK GOOD STAR WAS ABLE TO RECITE THE ENTIRE CANON. BUT HE
              DIDN'T ESCAPE THE WHEEL BECAUSE HE DIDN'T SEE HIS NATURE. IF THIS WAS THE CASE
              WITH GOOD STAR, THEN PEOPLE NOWADAYS WHO RECITE A FEW SUTRAS OR SHASTRAS
              AND THINK IT'S THE DHARMA ARE FOOLS. UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR MIND, RECITING SO
              MUCH PROSE IS USELESS.
              TO FIND A BUDDHA, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SEE YOUR NATURE. YOUR NATURE IS THE
              BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE PERSON WHO'S FREE, FREE OF PLANS, FREE OF
              CARES. IF YOU DON'T SEE YOUR NATURE AND RUN AROUND ALL DAY LOOKING
              SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU'LL NEVER FIND A BUDDHA. THE TRUTH IS, THERE'S NOTHING TO
              FIND. BUT TO REACH SUCH AN UNDERSTANDING YOU NEED A TEACHER. AND YOU NEED
              TO STRUGGLE TO MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTAND. LIFE AND DEATH ARE IMPORTANT.
              DON'T SUFFER THEM IN VAIN. THERE'S NO ADVANTAGE IN DECEIVING YOURSELF. EVEN IF
              YOU HAVE MOUNTAINS OF JEWELS AND AS MANY SERVANTS AS THERE ARE GRAINS OF
              SAND ALONG THE GANGES, YOU SEE THEM WHEN YOUR EYES ARE OPEN. BUT WHAT
              ABOUT WHEN YOUR EYES ARE SHUT? YOU SHOULD REALIZE THEN THAT EVERYTHING YOU
              SEE IS LIKE A DREAM OR ILLUSION.
              IF YOU DON'T FIND A TEACHER SOON, YOU'LL LIVE THIS LIFE IN VAIN. IT'S TRUE, YOU HAVE
              THE BUDDHA-NATURE. BUT WITHOUT THE HELP OF A TEACHER YOU'LL NEVER KNOW IT.
              ONLY ONE PERSON IN A MILLION BECOMES ENLIGHTENED WITHOUT A TEACHER'S HELP.
              IF THOUGH, BY THE CONJUNCTION OF CONDITIONS, SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS WHAT THE
              BUDDHA MEANT, THAT PERSON DOESN'T NEED A TEACHER. SUCH A PERSON HAS A
              NATURAL AWARENESS SUPERIOR TO ANYTHING TAUGHT. BUT UNLESS YOU'RE SO
              BLESSED, STUDY HARD. AND BY MEANS OF INSTRUCTION, YOU'LL UNDERSTAND.
              PEOPLE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND AND THINK THEY CAN DO SO WITHOUT STUDY ARE NO
              DIFFERENT FROM THOSE DELUDED SOULS WHO CAN'T TELL WHITE FROM BLACK. FALSELY
              PROCLAIMING THE BUDDHADHARMA, SUCH PERSONS, IN FACT, BLASPHEME THE BUDDHA
              AND SUBVERT THE DHARMA. THEY PREACH AS IF THEY WERE BRINGING RAIN. BUT THEIRS
              IS THE PREACHING OF DEVILS NOT OF BUDDHAS. THEIR TEACHER IS THE KING OF DEVILS.
              AND THEIR DISCIPLES ARE THE DEVIL'S MINIONS. DELUDED PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW SUCH
              INSTRUCTION UNWITTINGLY SINK DEEPER IN THE SEA OF BIRTH AND DEATH.
              UNLESS THEY SEE THEIR NATURE, HOW CAN PEOPLE CALL THEMSELVES BUDDHAS?
              THEY'RE LIARS WHO DECEIVE OTHERS INTO ENTERING THE REALM OF DEVILS. UNLESS
              THEY SEE THEIR NATURE, THEIR PREACHING OF THE TWELVEFOLD CANON IS NOTHING
              BUT THE PREACHING OF DEVILS. THEIR ALLEGIANCE IS TO MARA, NOT TO THE BUDDHA.
              UNABLE TO DISTINGUISH WHITE FROM BLACK, HOW CAN THEY ESCAPE BIRTH AND DEATH?
              WHOEVER SEES HIS NATURE IS A BUDDHA. WHOEVER DOESN'T IS A MORTAL. BUT APART
              FROM OUR MORTAL NATURE IF YOU CAN FIND A BUDDHA-NATURE SOMEWHERE ELSE,
              WHERE IS IT? OUR MORTAL NATURE IS OUR BUDDHA-NATURE. BEYOND THIS NATURE
              THERE'S NO BUDDHA. THE BUDDHA IS OUR NATURE. THERE'S NO BUDDHA BESIDES THIS
              NATURE. AND THERE'S NO NATURE BESIDES THE BUDDHA.


                Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Pali, three languages used in the past by the enlightened people of this land,
           have a very rich vocabulary as far as inner experiences are concerned. The West today has a very
           exact language to express scientific research, discoveries, inventions and technologies, but the
           Eastern languages don't have this. However, as far as the interior experience is concerned, the
           Eastern languages are immensely rich while the Western languages are absolutely poor. Of these
           three languages, Sanskrit has been used by the Upanishads and the Hindu mystics, Prakrit has been
           used by Mahavira and all the Jaina mystics and masters, and Pali has been used by Gautam Buddha.
                Just for the word `teacher', they have many words, all with slight differences. The first word is
           SIKSHAK; that means a man who only imparts information. He may know, he may not know -- that
           is irrelevant. But his information is correct; he is a man of the mind.
                The second word, which goes a little deeper into experience, not just information, is
           ADHYAPAK. That teacher is not only an informer but he himself is informed. It is not only a mental
           thing for him; it is part -- but only a part -- of his heart, too.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the third word is UPADHYAY which goes a little more deeper into experience. This
           teacher's information is more alive than the previous two. He has traveled the path, but he has not
           reached the goal.
               And then finally the ACHARYA, who has reached the goal, and the information that he imparts
           is his own experience. He is his own authority, his own argument; his own presence is the whole
           evidence.
               But in English there is only one word, teacher, which is used for all kinds of people. The other
           word is master, which is not used very much by the English speaking people themselves. But I
           would like to use the word master, equivalent to the word acharya: One who knows, not only
           through mind, but through experience.
               Most of the sutras in this part are unpolluted. The disciple has simply noted them down as
           Bodhidharma must have spoken them.
              IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND BY YOURSELF, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND A TEACHER.

              Instead of teacher, the word master would be right because a teacher is one who teaches you
           about things of the outside world. Even if he teaches about the inner experiences, it is borrowed. He
           may be knowledgeable but he is not knowledge itself. To make the distinction, the translator has
           made the point in a different way.
              IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND BY YOURSELF, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND A TEACHER TO GET
              TO THE BOTTOM OF LIFE AND DEATH. BUT UNLESS HE SEES HIS NATURE, SUCH A PERSON
              IS NOT A TEACHER.

               It is better to call a man who has reached to the highest peaks of experience a master, and leave
           the word teacher for those who impart knowledge from one generation to another. And master, also
           has a dignity of its own.
               The teacher is almost like a computer. He has read, he has studied, he may have crammed all
           scriptures but his presence does not indicate that he knows anything. His actions are not arguments
           for what he says. His sayings come only from the superficial layer of the mind; they are not coming
           from the innermost core of his being. The teacher cannot teach without words. But the master, on the
           contrary, cannot teach without silences. If he uses words, it is only to create silence.
               The master is a living example of what he is saying. The teacher simply shows a very
           well-versed, educated mind. The master shows a transformed being, a luminous presence. Anybody
           who has eyes can see it ...his grace, his beauty, his blissfulness, his laughter; even in his silence
           much is said, without words. Even his silence is a song of the ultimate; even unmoving, he is a dance
           expressing the dance of the whole universe. The master is so far away from the teacher that it is
           better to use the word separately.
               I would prefer to say: If you don't understand by yourself, you will have to get a master, because
           the master knows his own nature. And by knowing his own nature, he also knows the nature of every
           living being because it is the SAME nature. By knowing himself, he knows you too. His knowledge,
           his knowing, is a bridge between him and his disciples.
              EVEN IF THE TEACHER CAN RECITE THE TWELVEFOLD CANON, HE CAN'T ESCAPE THE
              WHEEL OF BIRTH AND DEATH. HE SUFFERS IN THE THREE REALMS WITHOUT HOPE OF
              RELEASE.

               Just knowledgeability is not going to give you the experience of your immortality or your
           eternity or your oneness with the whole. It fills your mind with many words, but it leaves your being
           empty and hollow. You don't know anything firsthand, and truth can only be known firsthand. The
           moment it is secondhand, it is no longer truth; it is just a dead word, with no life.
               The man of great knowledge, a scholar, a pundit, a rabbi, is not going to get free from the wheel
           of birth and death. And he is not going to be free from the suffering in the three realms. According to
           Gautam Buddha, heaven, the earth, and hell, all three are nothing but different kinds of sufferings.
           Buddhism reaches to the highest peak, because even heaven is not considered to be the ultimate
           home. It is still a suffering -- very refined suffering, but suffering all the same. One has to be free
           from all three; then it is nirvana, then it is enlightenment.
              LONG AGO, THE MONK GOOD STAR WAS ABLE TO RECITE THE ENTIRE CANON. BUT HE DID
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              NOT ESCAPE THE WHEEL BECAUSE HE DID NOT SEE HIS NATURE. IF THIS WAS THE CASE
              WITH GOOD STAR, THEN PEOPLE NOWADAYS WHO RECITE A FEW SUTRAS OR SHASTRAS
              AND THINK IT'S THE DHARMA ARE FOOLS.

               It can be taken for granted that Bodhidharma must have said this. It is beyond the capacity of a
           disciple to call knowledgeable people who can recite all the Buddhist sutras, fools. Only
           Bodhidharma can do that, not out of any arrogance, not out of any ego, not to condemn them, not to
           humiliate or insult them, but for Bodhidharma, it is simply the fact.
               And the fact has to be stated. He is not a man of manners and etiquette and all that rubbish. He
           simply says whatsoever is the truth. I absolutely agree with him. My own experience with great
           learned scholars is that they are learned fools. They have big degrees, great honors from universities,
           but as far as their own consciousness is concerned, it is of the same quality as anybody else's. They
           are just parrots. And perhaps parrots are more intelligent than your pundits.
               I have heard about a parrot: It was wintertime and the lady to whom the parrot belonged used to
           cover the parrot and his cage with a thick blanket so that he would not feel cold. In the day she used
           to remove the blanket. One day she removed the blanket as the sun was rising and the parrot started
           singing, the way all parrots sing, not a song taught to him, but a song that is natural and spontaneous
           to all the parrots even if they are wild -- meaningless to us, but tremendously joyful to them. And
           just then the lady heard her husband's car stopping near the porch. Her husband was on an
           emergency army duty, so once in a while he used to come home without notice.
               She immediately put the blanket back on the parrot and went to her bed. The parrot said, "My
           god, today's day has been very short." Now nobody has taught him this. This was coming out of his
           own intelligence. It was strange ...every day the blanket was removed in the morning, and in the
           evening the blanket was put back. What happened today? The day had been really too short.
               But your so-called learned people around the world don't have even that much intelligence, for
           the simple reason that their knowledge becomes mountainous and every possibility of intelligence
           becomes lost in their knowledge. The burden of knowledge is too heavy. They cannot afford to be
           intelligent against their knowledge.
               They are certainly fools -- fools because they are not only deceiving others by talking to them
           about things they know nothing of, but because they are also deceiving themselves. And they are
           wasting their life in mere words.
               Authentic life consists of experiences, not mere words. You can go on repeating "love, love,
           love", your whole life, and still you will not have an experience of love. And the moment you have
           the experience of love, you will be suddenly surprised that the experience is so vast that the word
           `love' cannot contain it; it is too small.
               If this is the case with love, what will be the case with truth? -- because truth is infinite, eternal.
           To know it means to become silent.
               Just the presence of truth, the feeling of it, leaves you in a state of awe. All words fall short.
               UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR no-MIND .... Here the disciple falls back to his own understanding;
           he again uses the word `mind'.
               UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR no-MIND, RECITING SO MUCH PROSE IS USELESS.
               And if you know your no-mind, then too reciting so much prose is useless because then there is
           no point in reciting it. You have come to the very source from which every buddha has spoken. Now
           there is no meaning in scriptures, sutras, and shastras. The holy books can't give you more than you
           know already.
              TO FIND A BUDDHA, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO SEE YOUR NATURE.

               That's what I have been telling you again and again. The only way out of ignorance and out of
           this dark night of the soul is to be aware of your own being, aware of your own awareness. In that
           moment when you are aware of your own awareness, everything stops, time stops. Suddenly you are
           beyond time and beyond space, and a door opens which makes you part of the whole. This is the
           inner mathematics, that the part of the whole is not smaller than the whole. That will be difficult to
           understand. The part of the whole is equal to the whole, because the whole cannot be divided into
           parts. Division is not possible.
               That's why we call the real authentic being in you `individual'. Individual means indivisible --
           that which cannot be divided. So the moment you feel yourself part of the whole, that is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beginning -- the first encounter with the whole. Soon you will realize you are not the part, you are
           the whole because there is no possibility of any division.
              YOUR NATURE IS THE BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE PERSON WHO IS FREE, FREE OF
              PLANS, FREE OF CARES. IF YOU DON'T SEE YOUR NATURE AND RUN AROUND ALL DAY
              LOOKING SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU WILL NEVER FIND ENLIGHTENMENT.

               The truth is, there is nothing to find so all your running is useless. I can testify this statement
           must be coming from Bodhidharma himself.
           There is nothing to find. You are all.
               The finder itself is the treasure; there is nothing else to find. Hence, I have told you that Jesus'
           statement, "Seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you, ask and it shall be
           given," is beautiful, poetic, impressive, but not true.
               If you follow Bodhidharma, he will say, "Seek, and you shall never find," because every seeking
           takes you away from yourself. Who are you trying to find? You are the one, you are the buddha.
           Where are you going?
               Do not knock, otherwise the door will be closed because your very knocking is a desire, is a
           demand -- and a buddha has no desire, no demand. That's why the door is always open for him.
               Do not ask, otherwise you will go on missing. Who are you asking? There is no one to give it to
           you. You have already got it. In asking you are wandering away, you are looking up to somebody
           else. And nobody can give it to you. There is no question of giving it to you, you have got it already.
               So all that is needed is neither seeking, nor knocking, nor asking. All that is needed is to be
           aware of your own nature and you have found it. There is nothing to find. But to reach such an
           understanding you need a master.
               Why do you need a master? Because you already have the truth within you, why can't you just
           relax and become conscious of it?
               The problem is that for ages your consciousness has been wandering all over the world. It has
           forgotten the way to come home. It has been a long, long time since you left home and now you don't
           know whether you have a home or whether you ever had a home. Your remembrance of home seems
           to be as if you have seen it in a movie or in a dream, or you have read about it somewhere. It is a
           faraway echo in the valleys; it does not give you a certainty.
               Hence, the need of a master. The master is nothing but a certainty. His presence makes it
           absolutely certain that there is much more within you than you ever dreamt of. His eyes give you a
           glimpse of your own possibility. His silence provokes a silence in you and his authority triggers a
           process in you.
           Bodhidharma is right:
              BUT TO REACH SUCH AN UNDERSTANDING YOU NEED A TEACHER. AND YOU NEED TO
              STRUGGLE TO MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTAND. LIFE AND DEATH ARE IMPORTANT. DON'T
              SUFFER THEM IN VAIN. THERE IS NO ADVANTAGE IN DECEIVING YOURSELF.

               And everybody is deceiving: a few are deceiving by earning money and thinking that when they
           are super-rich they will have reached to the realization of their potential; a few are deceiving by
           accumulating knowledge; a few are deceiving by becoming powerful, respectable; a few are even
           deceiving by becoming saints, ascetics. But whatever you do, unless it leads to awareness of your
           nature, it is a deceiving.
              EVEN IF YOU HAVE MOUNTAINS OF JEWELS AND AS MANY SERVANTS AS THERE ARE
              GRAINS OF SAND ALONG THE GANGES, YOU SEE THEM WHEN YOUR EYES ARE OPEN. BUT
              WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOUR EYES ARE SHUT?

               They all disappear. Bodhidharma is saying that this is just a small experiment for you. As you
           close your eyes, your palaces disappear, your whole world disappears almost in the same way as
           when in the morning, you open your eyes, all your dreams disappear. And have you ever watched
           one very strange thing? In the day sometimes, you can suspect perhaps it is not real because there is
           no way to be certain about its reality. You are sitting here -- can't you think it is just a dream? It is
           possible that you are dreaming. How do you know that it is true and not a dream? The only
           difference is that your eyes are open. But in a dream in the night -- you never suspect in a dream that
           it may be a dream. This is one of the strangest mysteries. In real life, fully awake, you can doubt its
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reality; in a dream nobody ever doubts the reality of the dream. Nobody thinks it is a dream. It is so
           real.
               Bodhidharma is trying to give you an example. When you die, your eyes will be closed .... In the
           East it is a tradition: the moment somebody dies, immediately his eyes are closed. From my very
           childhood I have been interested in the idea -- why? Let him die if he wants to die with open eyes.
           Why should others be interfering -- you cannot even allow him a little freedom of keeping his eyes
           open after death? I asked everybody, because whenever somebody died I was always present. The
           moment I heard somebody had died in the neighborhood or somewhere, I immediately went to see
           the whole thing, what was happening. And I have asked many but nobody was able to answer why it
           mattered, why they closed the eyes.
               Most often people die with open eyes. It is very rare to die with closed eyes for the simple reason
           that for closing the eyelids, you need life energy; just as you cannot die with a fist, because to keep
           your hand as a fist you need a certain life energy. Everybody dies with an open hand; now there is no
           more energy, how can you keep the fist? In the same way almost everybody dies with open eyes.
               And my own understanding is, although nobody has been able to tell me .... I have asked great
           saints and they said, "You bring such strange questions. We have never thought about it and there is
           no mention of it in any scriptures. It is just convention."
               But I said, "It goes on and on. I cannot accept that it is absolutely meaningless because I can see
           the meaning. When a man dies, his eyes turn upwards. In a dead man's open eyes you will see only
           the white -- all the black part, the real eye, turns upwards. That creates fear in people. Just to see
           somebody's eyes open and all white gives them fear. It also happens in your sleep; your eyes turn up.
           That is a rest for the eyes. And now the eyes have gone into complete rest and so as not to provoke
           fear in people, the eyes are immediately closed."
               And in a philosophical sense, the eyes are closed because now the world no longer exists for you
           to see. You are not; the world has disappeared for you. The moment a man dies he cannot take his
           empire with him, he cannot take his knowledge with him, he cannot take his prestige, respectability,
           honor with him. All that he can take with himself is his awareness of his own nature. That is your
           only wealth. And if you are not earning that wealth, you are wasting a tremendous opportunity.
               YOU SHOULD REALIZE THEN THAT EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS LIKE A DREAM OR
           ILLUSION, because death is going to take it all away. That which death cannot take is the only
           criterion for reality.
               IF YOU DON'T FIND A master SOON, YOU WILL LIVE THIS LIFE IN VAIN. IT IS TRUE,
           YOU HAVE THE BUDDHA-NATURE. BUT WITHOUT THE HELP OF A master YOU WILL
           NEVER KNOW IT. ONLY ONE PERSON IN A MILLION BECOMES ENLIGHTENED
           WITHOUT A master's HELP.
               This I can say is coming directly from Bodhidharma. This is beyond the capacity of an ordinary
           recorder of notes; a disciple, however learned, cannot manage to say this: ONLY ONE PERSON IN
           A MILLION BECOMES ENLIGHTENED WITHOUT A master's HELP. Even Bodhidharma has
           not become enlightened without a master's help.
               But the possibility remains because it is your self-nature. In fact, there is no need at all of any
           master. If you are courageous enough to enter within yourself without bothering whether you are
           going to find something there or not, you will find it without the help of the master.
               What is the help of the master? He only gives you a certainty, because you are not adventurous --
           otherwise, what is the need of certainty? It is YOUR life and you have the right -- and you should
           have a longing -- to know what it is all about.
               I had no master in my life. Many times I have come across enlightened people, but I simply told
           them to just leave me alone. What can their help do? Just give me a certainty. But I was capable of
           going without certainty. In fact it is more juicy to go without any certainty, not knowing at all where
           you are going, whether you are going to find anything or not.
               When you go with certainty it is as if you are seeing a film twice. Everything is certain, you
           know exactly now what is going to happen. The new man I have been talking about all my life will
           not need masters, because he will be so full of adventurous spirit that he would like to go within
           himself just out of sheer adventure, to see what is there at the very source of life.
               But up to now it has been happening: ONLY ONE PERSON IN A MILLION BECOMES
           ENLIGHTENED WITHOUT A TEACHER'S HELP. Perhaps I am that one person, because I don't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           know of any enlightened people in the whole history of mankind who have not had a master. But
           Bodhidharma recognized the fact and the possibility, although he himself had a master. And I am
           fulfilling his statement: ONLY ONE PERSON IN A MILLION BECOMES ENLIGHTENED
           WITHOUT A TEACHER'S, a master's HELP.
           IF THOUGH, BY THE CONJUNCTION OF CONDITIONS, SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS
           WHAT THE BUDDHA MEANT, THAT PERSON DOES NOT NEED A master. SUCH A
           PERSON HAS A NATURAL AWARENESS SUPERIOR TO ANYTHING TAUGHT. BUT
           UNLESS YOU ARE SO BLESSED, STUDY HARD. AND BY MEANS OF INSTRUCTION,
           YOU'LL UNDERSTAND.
               These last sentences cannot be from Bodhidharma. First, knowing your nature does not come by
           studying. You can go on studying all the scriptures of the world and still you will not know yourself.
           Nor does it come by instruction; instruction means information from outside. Then how does it
           come?
               It comes through communion with the master, through falling in love with someone who has
           reached, seeing in him your own future. You are just a seed and he has come to blossom. That gives
           you a longing to move upwards and to become a flower yourself. It is not a question of study, it is
           not a question of instruction; it is a question of deep love for the master. Hence I say these
           statements are not from Bodhidharma; they cannot be. Even if Bodhidharma were here and even if
           he were to say that they are his statements, I will refuse to believe it. They are not his statements. A
           man like Bodhidharma cannot say such rubbishy things.
              PEOPLE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND AND THINK THEY CAN DO SO WITHOUT STUDY ARE NO
              DIFFERENT FROM THOSE DELUDED SOULS WHO CAN'T TELL WHITE FROM BLACK.

               These are the disciple's notes. He is again emphasizing the fact of studying.
               You all know people of great learning, great knowledge, but in whom deep down, there is no
           light; they don't radiate a blissfulness. In fact, their studies make them serious. Rather than making
           them light, they make them burdened. They know too much without knowing anything and it
           becomes a great tension in their being, because actually they know nothing but they have
           accumulated so much information. People worship them, people respect them, so they cannot accept
           the fact that all our knowledge is superficial. It has not grown within our own being, it has no roots
           in us. All these flowers have been purchased from the marketplace. They have not grown in our own
           being.
               I have heard about a man who had gone fishing. The whole day he tried and could not get a
           single fish. Now he was worried about his wife so he went to the fish market and purchased three
           beautiful big fish, but on a condition. The fisherman who was selling those fish could not understand
           the condition which was very strange, and it was the first time he had come across such a thing. The
           man was ready to pay the price, whatsoever the fisherman was asking, but the condition was that he
           had to throw the fish and the man would catch them. The fisherman said, "There is no problem. I will
           throw, you catch, but I don't understand ...what is the point of it?"
               The man said, "You don't understand but I don't like to lie. When I go home, my wife will ask
           how many fish I have got. I will show the three fish I have caught with my own hands. I want to be
           exactly true."
               Such a man can deceive his wife, but can he deceive himself? And is this really true or just a
           falseness covered with the name of truth? And that is the situation of all your so-called learned
           people. They have caught fish, not from the lake but from a fisherman and his shop in the market,
           and they have certainly caught them. But they themselves know that they have not caught, they have
           purchased -- and truth cannot be purchased.
               You have to catch hold of your inner light with your own awareness. Other than that there is no
           way.
              FALSELY PROCLAIMING THE BUDDHADHARMA, SUCH PERSONS, IN FACT, BLASPHEME THE
              BUDDHA AND SUBVERT THE DHARMA. THEY PREACH AS IF THEY WERE BRINGING RAIN.
              BUT THEIRS IS THE PREACHING OF DEVILS NOT OF BUDDHAS. THEIR TEACHER IS THE KING
              OF DEVILS. AND THEIR DISCIPLES ARE THE DEVIL'S MINIONS. DELUDED PEOPLE WHO
              FOLLOW SUCH INSTRUCTION UNWITTINGLY SINK DEEPER IN THE SEA OF BIRTH AND
              DEATH.
              UNLESS THEY SEE THEIR NATURE, HOW CAN PEOPLE CALL THEMSELVES BUDDHAS?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEY'RE LIARS WHO DECEIVE OTHERS INTO ENTERING THE REALM OF DEVILS. UNLESS
              THEY SEE THEIR NATURE, THEIR PREACHING OF THE TWELVEFOLD CANON IS NOTHING
              BUT THE PREACHING OF DEVILS. THEIR ALLEGIANCE IS TO MARA ... Mara is the buddhist
              equivalent of the devil. THEIR ALLEGIANCE IS TO MARA, NOT TO THE BUDDHA. UNABLE TO
              DISTINGUISH WHITE FROM BLACK, HOW CAN THEY ESCAPE BIRTH AND DEATH?
              WHOEVER SEES HIS NATURE IS A BUDDHA. WHOEVER DOESN'T IS A MORTAL. BUT APART
              FROM OUR MORTAL NATURE IF YOU CAN FIND A BUDDHA-NATURE SOMEWHERE ELSE,
              WHERE IS IT? OUR MORTAL NATURE IS OUR BUDDHA-NATURE.

               It only needs recognition. There is no other difference. One who recognizes and is aware of his
           nature is a buddha. One who does not recognize his own self-nature, who has never gone inwards, is
           a mortal. But the difference is only of recognition, of awareness; there is no qualitative difference
           between you and the enlightened man. The difference is only that he knows it and you are unaware
           of your own treasures.
               Hence, Bodhidharma declares: OUR MORTAL NATURE IS OUR BUDDHA-NATURE.
           BEYOND THIS NATURE THERE'S NO BUDDHA. THE BUDDHA IS OUR NATURE, but
           unless we are aware we will remain mortals. THERE'S NO BUDDHA BESIDES THIS NATURE.
           AND THERE'S NO NATURE BESIDES THE BUDDHA.
               The word `buddha' will be repeated again and again by Bodhidharma so you have to understand
           what it means. It is not a personal name of anybody. Buddha simply means one who is awakened.
           Gautam Buddha is the most famous awakened person but that does not mean that he is the only
           awakened person. There have been many buddhas before him and there have been many buddhas
           after him and as long as every human being can become a buddha, there will go on springing up new
           buddhas in the future.
               Because everybody has the potentiality ...it is only for a time, the right time that you are waiting.
           Some day, tortured by the outside reality, in despair of having seen everything and found nothing,
           you are bound to turn inwards.
               Gautam Buddha's personal name was Siddhartha. Gautama is his family name so his name was
           Gautama Siddhartha. Buddha is not his name, it is his awakening. Because I have named our discos
           ZORBA THE BUDDHA, the ambassador of Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country -- the
           ambassador wrote a letter to me, saying, "It is very disrespectful and it hurts our religious feelings
           that you have given the name ZORBA THE BUDDHA to discos. Please take the Buddha out of it."
               I wrote him a letter saying, "Perhaps you are a born Buddhist, but I am a buddha. And I have
           every right to call the discos, ZORBA THE BUDDHA; it has nothing to do with your Buddha ...you
           can be satisfied. If I were calling it "Zorba the Siddhartha", there would be a point to your being
           disturbed. But buddha is not a personal name; Gautam Buddha is only one of the buddhas amongst
           millions. And Zorba has every potential to become a buddha. I cannot prevent it and neither can you.
           And you are only a Buddhist, just a follower, an imitator. You don't even know exactly the meaning
           of the word `buddha'. You have never experienced what self-awareness is. So write to me again what
           you want."
               He has been silent, he has not answered. And I don't think he has shown the letter to anybody
           else.
               So whenever Bodhidharma uses the word buddha, remember he is not mentioning Gautam
           Buddha. He is saying awareness, enlightenment, liberation, total freedom -- all those qualities are in
           that word buddha. It is nobody's name and it is everybody's potential.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                  Chapter #4
                                Chapter title: Buddhas don't practice nonsense
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           6 July 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707065
              ShortTitle: BODHI04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 105 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BUT SUPPOSE I DON'T SEE MY NATURE, CAN'T I STILL ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT BY
              INVOKING BUDDHAS, RECITING SUTRAS, MAKING OFFERINGS, OBSERVING PRECEPTS,
              PRACTICING DEVOTIONS, OR DOING GOOD WORKS?
              NO, YOU CAN'T.
              AND WHY NOT?
              IF YOU ATTAIN ANYTHING AT ALL IT'S CONDITIONAL, IT'S KARMIC. IT RESULTS IN
              RETRIBUTION. IT TURNS THE WHEEL. AND AS LONG AS YOU'RE SUBJECT TO BIRTH AND
              DEATH, YOU'LL NEVER ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT. TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT YOU HAVE
              TO SEE YOUR NATURE. UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR NATURE, ALL THIS TALK ABOUT CAUSE
              AND EFFECT IS NONSENSE. BUDDHAS DON'T PRACTICE NONSENSE. A BUDDHA IS FREE OF
              KARMA, FREE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT. TO SAY HE ATTAINS ANYTHING AT ALL IS TO
              SLANDER A BUDDHA. WHAT COULD HE POSSIBLY ATTAIN? EVEN FOCUSING ON A MIND, A
              POWER, AN UNDERSTANDING OR A VIEW IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A BUDDHA. A BUDDHA ISN'T
              ONE-SIDED. THE NATURE OF HIS MIND IS BASICALLY EMPTY, NEITHER PURE NOR IMPURE.
              HE'S FREE OF PRACTICE AND REALIZATION. HE'S FREE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT.
              A BUDDHA DOESN'T OBSERVE PRECEPTS. A BUDDHA DOESN'T DO GOOD OR EVIL. A
              BUDDHA ISN'T ENERGETIC OR LAZY. A BUDDHA IS SOMEONE WHO DOES NOTHING,
              SOMEONE WHO CAN'T EVEN FOCUS HIS MIND ON A BUDDHA. A BUDDHA ISN'T A BUDDHA.
              DON'T THINK ABOUT BUDDHAS. IF YOU DON'T SEE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, YOU'LL
              NEVER KNOW YOUR OWN MIND.
              PEOPLE WHO DON'T SEE THEIR NATURE AND IMAGINE THEY CAN PRACTICE DOING
              NOTHING ALL THE TIME ARE LIARS AND FOOLS. THEY FALL INTO ENDLESS SPACE. THEY'RE
              LIKE DRUNKS. THEY CAN'T TELL GOOD FROM EVIL. IF YOU INTEND TO PRACTICE DOING
              NOTHING, YOU HAVE TO SEE YOUR NATURE BEFORE YOU CAN PUT AN END TO RATIONAL
              THOUGHT. TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT WITHOUT SEEING YOUR NATURE IS IMPOSSIBLE.
              STILL OTHERS COMMIT ALL SORTS OF EVIL DEEDS, CLAIMING KARMA DOESN'T EXIST.
              THEY ERRONEOUSLY MAINTAIN THAT SINCE EVERYTHING IS EMPTY, COMMITTING EVIL
              ISN'T WRONG. SUCH PERSONS FALL INTO A HELL OF ENDLESS DARKNESS WITH NO HOPE
              OF RELEASE. THOSE WHO ARE WISE HOLD NO SUCH CONCEPTION.
              BUT IF OUR EVERY MOVEMENT OR STATE, WHENEVER IT OCCURS, IS THE MIND, WHY
              DON'T WE SEE THIS MIND WHEN A PERSON'S BODY DIES?
              THE MIND IS ALWAYS PRESENT. YOU JUST DON'T SEE IT.
              BUT IF THE MIND IS PRESENT, WHY DON'T I SEE IT?
              DO YOU EVER DREAM?
              OF COURSE.
              WHEN YOU DREAM, IS THAT YOU?
              YES, IT'S ME.
              AND IS WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND SAYING DIFFERENT FROM YOU?
              NO, IT ISN'T.
              BUT IF IT ISN'T, THEN THIS BODY IS YOUR REAL BODY. AND THIS REAL BODY IS YOUR MIND.
              AND THIS MIND, THROUGH ENDLESS KALPAS WITHOUT BEGINNING, HAS NEVER VARIED. IT
              HAS NEVER LIVED OR DIED, APPEARED OR DISAPPEARED, INCREASED OR DECREASED.
              IT'S NOT PURE OR IMPURE, GOOD OR EVIL, PAST OR FUTURE. IT'S NOT TRUE OR FALSE.
              IT'S NOT MALE OR FEMALE. IT DOESN'T APPEAR AS A MONK OR A LAYMAN, AN ELDER OR A
              NOVICE, A SAGE OR A FOOL, A BUDDHA OR A MORTAL. IT STRIVES FOR NO REALIZATION
              AND SUFFERS NO KARMA. IT HAS NO STRENGTH OR FORM. IT'S LIKE SPACE. YOU CAN'T
              POSSESS IT. AND YOU CAN'T LOSE IT. ITS MOVEMENTS CAN'T BE BLOCKED BY MOUNTAINS,
              RIVERS OR ROCK WALLS. ITS UNSTOPPABLE POWERS PENETRATE THE MOUNTAIN OF FIVE
              SKANDHAS AND CROSS THE RIVER OF SAMSARA. NO KARMA CAN RESTRAIN THIS REAL
              BODY. BUT THIS MIND IS SUBTLE AND HARD TO SEE. IT'S NOT THE SAME AS THE SENSUAL
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MIND. EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE THIS MIND. AND THOSE WHO MOVE THEIR HANDS AND
              FEET BY ITS LIGHT ARE AS MANY AS THE GRAINS OF SAND ALONG THE GANGES. BUT ASK
              THEM. THEY CAN'T EXPLAIN IT. THEY'RE LIKE PUPPETS. IT'S THEIRS TO USE. WHY DON'T
              THEY SEE IT?


                I feel extremely sad and sorry because Bodhidharma has the wrong kind of people taking the
           notes of his statements; they are mixing in their own confusions. They are trying hard to make it
           appear as if what they are saying is said by Bodhidharma. And the people who do not understand
           existentially what enlightenment is, are bound to fall into their trap. They will not be able to
           discriminate what belongs to Bodhidharma and what belongs to the people who have taken these
           notes.
                Seeing the situation, I am reminded of one instance I have told you about, but it needs to be
           repeated. Rabindranath Tagore, one of the greatest poets of this country, translated his own book of
           poems, GITANJALI, into English. Although he was educated in England ...he belonged to a very
           super-rich family of Bengal; his grandfather was given the title of king by the British empire.
                He had all the best education possible in the world, but still a mother tongue is a mother tongue.
           He had written all his poems in Bengali, but a few friends suggested that GITANJALI has such a
           grandeur that if it is translated into English there is every possibility of it getting a Nobel prize. But
           who should translate it except Rabindranath himself? Who could be a better translator?
                So he translated it, but he was still hesitant. He asked a great Christian missionary of those days,
           C.F. Andrews -- a great scholar and very influential, a world famous figure -- to go through the
           translations because he could also understand Bengali. He was living in Bengal as a missionary; he
           was working amongst Bengalis and had learned their language. So he was the right person to go
           through the translation and to look at the original. He approved the whole book except at four points,
           just four words scattered through the book. He said, "They are not grammatically correct, and I
           would suggest different words meaning almost the same, but grammatically correct."
                And Rabindranath was convinced that C.F. Andrews was right as far as language was concerned.
           So he changed those four words and replaced them with the words suggested by C.F. Andrews. In
           England he had friends among all the English poets, so he went to London where he was a guest of
           one of the great poets of those days, Yeats. And Yeats called a meeting of only English poets to
           listen to the recitation of Rabindranath's GITANJALI. He was convinced that the book was so rare
           and so unique that it could be proposed for a Nobel prize, but it would be good to have the opinion
           of many Nobel prize winning poets.
                So nearabout twenty or twenty-five poets gathered in Yeats' house to listen to Rabindranath's
           recitation. They were all immensely impressed, and unanimously they wanted to make an appeal to
           the Nobel prize committee that the book should be honored by a Nobel prize. But Yeats himself had
           a little reservation. He said, "Everything is perfectly right, except for four words." Rabindranath
           could not believe it -- these were exactly the four words that C.F. Andrews had suggested!
                Yeats said, "They are perfectly grammatical, but they are not poetic. They look as if somebody
           else has interfered; they prevent the flow of poetic beauty. Rather than being a help, they are
           hindrances and I would suggest that you change these words.
           "Where did you get them? Because I have every certainty in my being that they are not your words.
           No poet can use those words in the places where they have been used. A linguist, yes; a man who
           wants to be perfect in grammar and language will use them. But a poet has a certain freedom; he has
           a poetic license to go a little off the track with grammar because poetry is a higher value than prose.
           For prose, grammar is okay, but for poetry, grammar can be a disturbance."
                Rabindranath could not believe it, but he said, "You are right, these are not my words; these
           words are from C.F. Andrews. I will tell you the words that I originally used."
                And he gave his words and Yeats was immensely happy. He said, "Now everything is okay.
           Those four rocks are removed from the river-like flow. Your words are not grammatical but they are
           poetic, and they are coming from your very heart."
                Grammar is a game of the mind and poetry is not part of the mind; mind is essentially prose,
           poetry belongs to the heart.
                Grammatically wrong, but poetically right, GITANJALI was presented to the Nobel prize
           committee and was accepted unanimously for the prize.
                This instance shows that the people who have been writing these sutras of Bodhidharma were
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           good as far as language was concerned, but they were not at all in tune with the experience of
           enlightenment -- not at all. So there are many false statements, very confused statements, along with
           absolutely right statements from Bodhidharma.
               So one has to read with a very sharp awareness; otherwise it is very difficult to find where
           Bodhidharma ends and the disciple comes in, and where the disciple ends and Bodhidharma comes
           in. It is so mixed, and I feel sad because Bodhidharma deserves better disciples. He is one of the
           greatest masters the world has known. But perhaps he was so great a master that very few disciples
           could even reach close to him. And those who reached close to him have not written any notes.
               Hui Ko, whom he had chosen as his successor, when asked by Bodhidharma, "What is my
           essential teaching?" simply fell to his feet, tears rolling down from his eyes, not uttering a single
           word. Bodhidharma helped him to stand up and said, "Although you have not answered, I accept
           your answer. Although you have not said a single word, your tears are enough to convey the
           message. You have understood me and I can understand why you are silent. Your silence is saying
           more than you could have managed by saying anything. You are my very soul; you will represent me
           when I am gone."
               But Hui Ko has not written a single word. So it is a strange fate: those who can understand find it
           hard to make anything but a confused statement. They would prefer to remain silent rather than
           commit a mistake. And those who do not understand fear nothing. They don't know that they are
           committing mistakes, mistakes of profound meaning and significance.
               And I will show you that on the surface the notes look perfectly right, but just underneath, in
           many places they cannot be the statements of Bodhidharma. They cannot be the statements of
           anyone who has attained to ultimate consciousness, of one who has reached to the destiny of
           self-realization.
               The sutras: BUT SUPPOSE I DON'T SEE MY NATURE, CAN'T I STILL ATTAIN
           ENLIGHTENMENT BY INVOKING BUDDHAS, RECITING SUTRAS, MAKING OFFERINGS,
           OBSERVING PRECEPTS, PRACTICING DEVOTIONS, OR DOING GOOD WORKS?
           NO, YOU CAN'T.
               This NO is certainly from Bodhidharma. The statement above is what all the religions are doing
           in the world. The so-called religious people are doing all these things; they are invoking God, they
           are invoking buddhas, they are invoking jinnahs, they are invoking prophets, messiahs, saviors. They
           are reciting sutras, holy KORAN, HOLY BIBLE, holy GITA, holy DHAMMAPADA. They are
           making offerings in temples, in mosques, in churches, in synagogues, in GURUDWARAS. They are
           observing precepts, fasting, not eating in the night, not drinking in the night. Thousands of different
           kinds of precepts are being followed by different religions.
               Just the other day I was looking at the TALMUD, the holy scripture of the Jews, and I could not
           believe .... Many times before I have also opened it and closed it, because just to read one paragraph
           is enough to see the stupidity. You open anywhere and things are said which seem to have no
           relevance at all to any spirituality. For example, on the holy day of the sabbath you can go to your
           farm or your garden or your field, but not to the very end. You can go very close to the end, but not
           to the very end. And this is part of a holy scripture! And then there are commentaries on it; one rabbi
           says, "Why is it said?" Then another rabbi says something else. Then another rabbi .... Hundreds of
           commentaries on such a stupid statement.
               Or ...that you should have one door and only one window and the question is whether the
           window should be on the right side of the door or on the left side of the door. And there are great
           rabbis discussing the point that it has to be on the right or it has to be on the left, and they are giving
           great arguments why. And it has not to be big, it has to be small -- how small ...?
               In the name of precepts, disciplines, all kinds of nonsense is being practiced -- devotions, or
           doing good works, opening hospitals, schools, orphanages. Only a man like Bodhidharma can say,
           "No, you cannot attain to enlightenment or buddhahood by such stupid things." There is only one
           way and that is to know your being, that is to know your self-nature.
              AND WHY NOT?
              IF YOU ATTAIN ANYTHING AT ALL IT'S CONDITIONAL. Now this is very significant and you have to
              understand it. Anything that is conditional you can lose if the condition is removed. Enlightenment has
              to be unconditional for the simple reason that it cannot be taken away. Your life is conditional: anybody
              can murder you, you can commit suicide. But your enlightenment has to be unconditional.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You cannot do anything to demolish, to destroy anything that is unconditional. You cannot make
           any effort to go backwards, because there is no condition, there is no cause; it is free from being
           destroyed. For example, you are having a bonfire -- but it is conditional. If you remove the wood, the
           fire will be gone. That wood was absolutely necessary for the fire to remain in existence. It was not
           unconditional, it was an effect of a cause. The cause removed, the effect disappears.
                That is the difference between the spiritualist and the materialist. The materialist says in
           philosophical terms that life, consciousness, are all conditional, are all effects. When causes are
           removed they will disappear. When in death the five elements of which your body is made fall apart,
           back into their original sources -- water into water, earth into earth, air into air, fire into fire, space,
           sky into sky -- then nothing is left. There is no soul that survives; it was only an effect. If causes
           were present, the effect was present -- when causes are removed, the effect disappears. In other
           words Karl Marx says, "Consciousness is only a by-product; in itself it has no existence."
                Bodhidharma is saying: IF YOU ATTAIN ANYTHING AT ALL, IT'S CONDITIONAL, IT'S
           KARMIC. IT RESULTS IN RETRIBUTION. IT TURNS THE WHEEL. AND AS LONG AS
           YOU'RE SUBJECT TO BIRTH AND DEATH, YOU'LL NEVER ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT.
           Enlightenment has not to be an effect of some cause, not an effect of some practice, not an effect of
           some conditions that you have fulfilled. It has not to be an attainment, but only a discovery.
           It is already there.
                You are just keeping your eyes closed, so when you open your eyes and you see your
           buddhahood, you cannot say you have attained it. It was already there before you had even seen it. It
           is not your `attainment', and the opening of your eyes is not a cause.
                Whether you open your eyes or not, your buddhahood is intact. Even with closed eyes you are
           buddhas; with open eyes there will be no change -- you will be buddhas. The only change will be in
           your understanding, not in your quality, not in your being. The only change will be in your
           understanding: "My God, I have been looking for enlightenment, for buddhahood, for lives
           altogether, searching and seeking everywhere and doing every kind of good act, observing precepts,
           making offerings, doing prayers, reciting sutras -- and that was all foolish, because while I was
           reciting sutras I was a buddha. When I was offering flowers to a stone statue I was doing such an
           idiotic act because I was making a buddha touch the feet of a stone statue. I have always been the
           buddha; that is my unconditional nature."
                That's why Bodhidharma's statement is of tremendous significance when he says, "No, you
           cannot find buddhahood by all these so-called things which religions go on preaching to people."
              TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT YOU HAVE TO SEE YOUR NATURE.

               And it is just language and the difficulty of language that one has to call it attainment; otherwise
           what attainment is there? It is really only a discovery.
           The treasure is there, you simply uncover it.
               You are not producing it, you are not creating it, it is not something new; it has always and
           always been there. And whether you discover it or not makes no difference to it. It is unconditionally
           eternal.
              UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR NATURE, ALL THIS TALK ABOUT CAUSE AND EFFECT IS
              NONSENSE.

              I can say that these harsh words can only come from Bodhidharma, not from any disciple who
           cannot have that much courage. Only a Bodhidharma can say: BUDDHAS DON'T PRACTICE
           NONSENSE. It is a lion's roar. It is a lion's roar, not an ordinary disciple's writing.
              A BUDDHA IS FREE OF KARMA, FREE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT. TO SAY HE ATTAINS
              ANYTHING AT ALL IS TO SLANDER A BUDDHA.

              There is no question of attainment, he only discovers. He only opens his eyes and sees himself.
              WHAT COULD HE POSSIBLY ATTAIN? EVEN FOCUSING ON A MIND, A POWER, AN
              UNDERSTANDING, OR A VIEW IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A BUDDHA. A BUDDHA IS NOT
              ONE-SIDED.

              Hence, he cannot focus on himself. He is multidimensional, he is universal. Only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one-dimensional beings can focus. Your ordinary mind can focus; it can concentrate, but a buddha
           cannot concentrate. He is as open as the sky, in all directions, in all dimensions.
               A BUDDHA IS NOT ONE-SIDED. THE NATURE OF HIS no-MIND ...the disciple is writing
           his MIND, but I have to correct him. THE NATURE OF HIS no-MIND IS BASICALLY EMPTY,
           NEITHER PURE NOR IMPURE. And you can see why I am correcting it because if it is mind, it
           cannot be empty. Mind is always full of thoughts; mind is nothing but a container of thoughts. Mind
           is another name for the thought process. In the day it is thinking, in the night it is dreaming, but it is
           always filled with something. It is never empty.
               And mind is always either pure or impure. It depends on what kind of thoughts it has going
           through it. If you are thinking of murdering someone, or if you are thinking of stealing something, or
           you are thinking of helping someone .... If you are filled with a compassionate thought, a loving
           thought or a destructive thought ...it will depend what kind of content is in your mind, and mind is
           never empty. Hence, either it will be pure or impure, or it will be both together. Because your mind
           is such a mess, impurity and purity, good thoughts and bad thoughts, all are standing there as a
           crowd. Hence, I want to change the word mind to no-mind. Then only can the statement become
           meaningful: THE NATURE OF HIS no-MIND IS BASICALLY EMPTY, NEITHER PURE NOR
           IMPURE because the no-mind is beyond duality.
               Mind can never be beyond duality. It is always thinking for or against, it is always divided and
           split, it is always schizophrenic; it is never total. A part of it is always hesitating. Whatever you do, a
           part of you will not be with you; it will go on saying, "Don't do it, you will repent if you do it."
               That is one of the causes why every human being is in misery. Because whatever you do, it
           doesn't matter what, the part that has not cooperated is going to take revenge with vengeance. It will
           say to you, "Listen, now look, I have told you before, don't do this, but you never listened." If you
           had listened to it, then too the situation would not have been different because the other part that was
           saying, "Do it," will wait and watch for its opportunity to condemn you saying, "You never listen to
           me." You are always in such a catch-22: whether you do this or do that, you are always wrong.
               Only no-mind can be without any duality, because it is empty. The no-mind is choicelessness.
           The no-mind is pure awareness. It is just the empty sky.
               A BUDDHA DOESN'T OBSERVE PRECEPTS. Now this is a great statement. It should be
           written in gold letters everywhere around the earth for everyone to understand it.
              A BUDDHA DOESN'T OBSERVE PRECEPTS.

               He does not follow any discipline. Why? Because he has no need to follow any discipline, any
           precepts; he has not to follow any morality for the simple fact that he lives in full awareness. Out of
           his full awareness comes the response -- not from any precepts, any scriptures, any moral codes. No,
           he acts moment to moment out of his pure emptiness.
               Just looking silently he allows his whole being to respond. He is just like a mirror; he reflects, he
           does not do anything else. His responses are his reflections.
              A BUDDHA DOESN'T DO GOOD OR EVIL. A BUDDHA IS NOT ENERGETIC OR LAZY. A BUDDHA
              IS SOMEONE WHO DOES NOTHING, SOMEONE WHO CAN'T EVEN FOCUS HIS MIND ON A
              BUDDHA.

               Even if God is standing before him, he cannot concentrate on him. He is just pure emptiness. He
           does not carry any tensions, because concentration is a tension, focusing is a tension. He is utterly
           relaxed.
               Here Bodhidharma comes to his height when he says: A BUDDHA ISN'T A BUDDHA.
               Now this will be very difficult for people to understand -- particularly those whose minds are
           prejudiced by so many religions in the world. A BUDDHA ISN'T A BUDDHA. It has to be
           understood, because it is so significant that if you miss it, you will miss everything.
               Just take a few instances; perhaps that may help. A child who is just born is utterly innocent. But
           do you know or do you think he is aware that he is innocent? Can the innocent child know that he is
           innocent? If he knows that he is innocent, he is no longer innocent. The innocent child is innocent
           only if he does not know that he is innocent.
               The buddha is a rebirth, the rebirth of consciousness. He is attaining a second childhood; he is
           born again. He is absolute consciousness, but he cannot be aware and he cannot say, "I am absolute
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           consciousness." That statement will make the consciousness impure. His consciousness is just like
           the innocence of a child. It cannot be self-conscious. It is there and there is no space left for anything
           else, even for the thought, "I am a buddha."
                A BUDDHA ISN'T A BUDDHA. DON'T THINK ABOUT BUDDHAS, because thinking about
           buddhas is an absurdity. You ARE a buddha. Why are you wasting your time thinking about
           buddhas? Why not simply open your eyes and be awake and be a buddha? What are you going to
           gain by thinking about buddhas?
                IF YOU DON'T SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW YOUR
           OWN no-MIND.
           PEOPLE WHO DON'T SEE THEIR NATURE AND IMAGINE THEY CAN PRACTICE DOING
           NOTHING ALL THE TIME ARE LIARS AND FOOLS.
                There is a danger -- Bodhidharma is aware of it -- that there can be cunning people, liars, fools,
           deceiving others, deceiving themselves. I have come to know many who, reading or listening to such
           great statements like Bodhidharma's, start pretending that for them there is nothing good, nothing
           bad, that they need not be concerned about discriminating between right and wrong. Because
           Bodhidharma and people like Bodhidharma declare that you are a buddha, they enjoy the idea
           without opening their eyes. It is so ego-fulfilling that they don't open their eyes. They don't
           experience their self-nature, but they start declaring that they're enlightened. Such people do
           immense harm to themselves and immense harm to others.
                I have seen so many people who start declaring themselves enlightened and they are not even a
           little more conscious than you are. So these great statements can be dangerous. They are like great
           heights of the Himalayan peaks. From these heights, you can fall and you can destroy yourself.
           These secrets should be understood in a very sincere, honest way; they should not be used to exploit
           people and to enhance your ego.
                These people FALL INTO ENDLESS SPACE. THEY'RE LIKE DRUNKS. THEY CAN'T
           TELL GOOD FROM EVIL. IF YOU INTEND TO PRACTICE DOING NOTHING, YOU HAVE
           TO SEE YOUR NATURE BEFORE YOU CAN PUT AN END TO RATIONAL THOUGHT. TO
           ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT WITHOUT SEEING YOUR NATURE IS IMPOSSIBLE.
                So it is up to each individual to continuously remember to remain sincere. Otherwise nobody can
           prevent you; you can declare you are enlightened but your life will show, your actions will show,
           your eyes will show, everything around you will show that you are not enlightened. And this is not
           going to help you in any way; this may even mislead a few people. And if you can get a few people
           to believe in your enlightenment, which is always possible because the world is so full of idiots that
           any idiot can find disciples .... And once you have found a few idiots as disciples, then you become
           absolutely certain that you must be enlightened; otherwise how can so many wise people believe in
           you?
              STILL OTHERS COMMIT ALL SORTS OF EVIL DEEDS, CLAIMING KARMA DOESN'T EXIST.
              THEY ERRONEOUSLY MAINTAIN THAT SINCE EVERYTHING IS EMPTY, COMMITTING EVIL
              ISN'T WRONG. SUCH PERSONS FALL INTO A HELL OF ENDLESS DARKNESS WITH NO HOPE
              OF RELEASE. THOSE WHO ARE WISE HOLD NO SUCH CONCEPTION.

               It is a question of great individual responsibility; there is no other responsibility which is greater
           than this. Remember always -- and don't forget for a single moment -- don't say anything which you
           are not; otherwise you will be falling into a darkness from which it is very difficult to come out.
           "BUT IF OUR EVERY MOVEMENT OR STATE, WHENEVER IT OCCURS, IS no-MIND, WHY
           DON'T WE SEE THIS no-MIND WHEN A PERSON'S BODY DIES?"
           THE no-MIND IS ALWAYS PRESENT. YOU JUST DON'T SEE IT.
               No-mind is not a thing. It is not a commodity, it is not an object. No-mind is pure space. It is
           utter emptiness, it is silence. You cannot hear it. Have you ever thought about it, when you say it is
           absolutely silent? Do you hear silence? All that you hear is no noise. Because you are hearing no
           noise, you conclude it is silence.
               Because you don't experience any worry, any anxiety, any tension, any misery, any suffering,
           you infer that this is the state of peace and bliss. But these are not things or objects that you can see.
           Or when a person dies, you cannot see his no-mind leaving the body.
               Remember again, I am changing the statements -- wherever there is mind, I am saying no-mind --
           because mind can be seen. You see it every day. There is no need to die to see it; even while living
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you see it. Just close your eyes and you will start seeing it.
           "BUT IF THE no-MIND IS PRESENT, WHY DON'T I SEE IT?"
                The disciple is raising questions and trying to find Bodhidharma's answers. Perhaps he asked
           these questions ...he must have received the answers, but he could not understand those answers. He
           has interpreted those answers in his own way. Bodhidharma has said: THE no-MIND IS ALWAYS
           PRESENT. YOU JUST DON'T SEE IT. You cannot see it because it is pure space, it is not a thing.
           It is nothing; or better, it is a no-thing. It is not visible. But still the disciple goes on asking the same
           question in a different form. IF THE MIND -- if the no-mind -- IS PRESENT, WHY DON'T I SEE
           IT?
                It seems he has not written ...he has forgotten, or he has not understood the answer given by
           Bodhidharma, because the question is there, but the answer is not there. The answer must have been:
           Because you ARE it, so you cannot see it.
                You can see everything in the world except yourself. Obviously I can catch with my hand
           everything in the world except my hand itself. I can see with my eyes everything in the world except
           my own eyes.
           No-mind is my nature.
                I can feel it, I can live it, I can relish it, I can sing it, I can dance it, but I cannot see it. Because I
           AM it. Something like this must have been the answer but it is not recorded.
                And Bodhidharma must have tried hard so that the disciple could understand the distinction. He
           asks him:
               DO YOU EVER DREAM?
               OF COURSE.
               WHEN YOU DREAM, IS THAT YOU?

               But still the disciple does not get it. He answers: YES, IT'S ME.
               And this goes against the whole philosophy of Bodhidharma and Gautam Buddha and all those
           who have ever become awakened. The answer should be, "No, it is not me." Because how can I be
           the dreams? The dreams float in front of me. I see them. Because I see them, obviously I am not
           them. I am the seer and they are the seen. I am the knower and they are the known. They are objects,
           I am the subject. Hence the right answer should be, not "Yes, it is me," but "No, it is not me."
               AND IS WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND SAYING DIFFERENT FROM YOU?

               Again the same fallacy; the answer given is NO, IT ISN'T. It is not different from me -- any
           doing or saying .... But it is so simple; particularly for you it must be so simple. Walking, you can
           see that it is an action of your body, but you are not it. You are not walking; your consciousness
           inside is exactly where it has always been. Whether you stand still or walk, it is always the same.
           The real answer will be, "Yes, it is different. It is not me. My action cannot be me, my doing cannot
           be me. I am always the watcher behind; I am always the witness beyond."
               BUT IF IT is, THEN THIS BODY IS not YOUR REAL BODY. That's my correction. The notes
           themselves are just the opposite. The notes continue in the same way being wrong. The note is: BUT
           IF IT ISN'T, THEN THIS BODY IS YOUR REAL BODY. If you are not different from your
           actions, if you are not different from your dreams, then this is your real mind, this is your real body.
               But this body is not your real body. Soon a day will come when this body will be burning on a
           funeral pyre. But you will not be burning. Your consciousness will have taken a new form -- moved
           far away.
               So I will go with my corrections: BUT IF IT is, THEN THIS BODY IS not YOUR REAL
           BODY. AND THIS REAL BODY IS YOUR no-MIND. AND THIS no-MIND, THROUGH
           ENDLESS KALPAS WITHOUT BEGINNING, HAS NEVER VARIED. IT HAS NEVER LIVED
           OR DIED .... Just see the confusion. If this body is real, then the later statements cannot be relevant
           ...THROUGH ENDLESS KALPAS, through endless ages, WITHOUT BEGINNING, HAS NEVER
           VARIED. IT HAS NEVER LIVED OR DIED, APPEARED OR DISAPPEARED, INCREASED
           OR DECREASED. IT'S NOT PURE OR IMPURE, GOOD OR EVIL, PAST OR FUTURE. IT'S
           NOT TRUE OR FALSE. IT'S NOT MALE OR FEMALE. IT DOESN'T APPEAR AS A MONK OR
           A LAYMAN, AN ELDER OR A NOVICE, A SAGE OR A FOOL, A BUDDHA OR A MORTAL.
           IT STRIVES FOR NO REALIZATION AND SUFFERS NO KARMA. IT HAS NO STRENGTH
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           OR FORM. IT'S LIKE SPACE. YOU CAN'T POSSESS IT.
               These statements are possible only if my corrections are made; otherwise these statements
           become absolutely impossible because your body has died many times, has been born many times,
           will die again, will be born again. This body is not your real body.
               Your real body is your real being -- which has never died, which has never been born, which has
           always continued eternally through many forms, but it has been the same. There is a statement of
           Gautam Buddha: "You can taste the ocean from anywhere, from any direction; its taste is always the
           same."
               So whether in this body or in another, your consciousness is the same. And this body is certainly
           male or female; only your being is not male or female. So unless my corrections are there, all the
           statements following become absolutely irrelevant and diametrically opposite to the statements that
           the disciple has written.
               AND YOU CAN'T LOSE IT. ITS MOVEMENTS CAN'T BE BLOCKED BY MOUNTAINS,
           RIVERS OR ROCK WALLS. ITS UNSTOPPABLE POWERS PENETRATE THE MOUNTAIN
           OF FIVE SKANDHAS ... These five SKANDHAS are what I have been calling the five elements.
           SKANDHA is the Buddhist word for element -- the earth, the air, the water, the fire, and the sky.
           These are the five elements your so-called body is made of. But your real being is beyond all these
           SKANDHAS ...THE MOUNTAIN OF FIVE SKANDHAS AND CROSS THE RIVER OF
           SAMSARA. Your consciousness does not consist of these five elements and even if these five
           elements are mountainous, still they cannot prevent your consciousness from passing beyond to your
           real home.
               Even oceans of this SAMSARA, this world, cannot prevent you from reaching to your ultimate
           home. Because the ultimate home is already inside you, nothing can prevent you from reaching it.
           You are already there, just you are not aware of it.
               NO KARMA CAN RESTRAIN this real being, or THIS REAL BODY. BUT THIS no-MIND IS
           SUBTLE AND HARD TO SEE. IT'S NOT THE SAME AS THE SENSUAL MIND. EVERYONE
           WANTS TO SEE THIS no-MIND. AND THOSE WHO MOVE THEIR HANDS AND FEET BY
           ITS LIGHT ARE AS MANY AS THE GRAINS OF SAND ALONG THE GANGES.
               Although you don't see it, everybody has it. You live in its light. Your very life belongs to your
           no-mind.
              BUT ASK THEM. THEY CAN'T EXPLAIN IT.

               You live, you know you are alive, but if somebody asks you what life is, or to define what you
           mean by living, you will be at a loss. It is just as if you taste something delicious; you know the
           taste, but is there any way to say what it is, how it is? The only way is for the other person to taste it.
           No explanation can help.
               The man who has never tasted sweets ...you cannot explain to him what sweetness is. You can
           bring all your articulateness, but you cannot explain a simple thing, sweetness. The only way is to
           offer him some sweets. That's what the masters have been doing all along. Rather than telling you
           what sweetness is, they offer it to you to taste. They themselves are offering their own being, their
           own presence for you to taste it.
               Everybody has a buddha inside but because they are unaware they function like puppets. This
           buddha inside is theirs to use; why don't they see it? Why do they go on remaining like puppets?
           Why don't they become masters of their own being? And it is not a difficult task, in fact it is not a
           task at all. It is just a little knack of becoming aware, just shaking yourself and waking up. All the
           meditations are simply devices to shake you so that the deep spiritual sleep is disturbed. P.D.
           Ouspensky has offered and dedicated his book, IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, to his
           master, George Gurdjieff, with very beautiful words: "To George Gurdjieff, the disturber of my
           sleep." But that is the only function of a master: in some way to disturb you, in some way to shake
           and wake you up.
               There is nowhere to go and there is nothing to attain.
           You are already there where you need to be.
           Seeking is the only sin.
           Searching is the only way of going astray.
               Just remaining within yourself, withdrawing yourself from everything, every energy, every ray of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           energy, and concentrating it at the very center of your being ...Gurdjieff calls it `crystallization'. And
           he was a man very much like Bodhidharma. If anybody can be put in the same category as
           Bodhidharma, then Gurdjieff is the man. What he calls crystallization of your being is called by
           Bodhidharma awakening of your being, or buddhahood.
               Reading through these sutras, I have been thinking to have a look at other ancient sutras, because
           the same fallacies that I am seeing in these sutras are bound to be there. They are not written by
           enlightened people. And these confusions, these misstatements, without any intention, are doing
           immense harm to all those who are following them; they have to be corrected. So my commentaries
           are more corrections and critiques of all that is confused and wrong. I want to bring out
           Bodhidharma completely clearly, without any impressions left by these disciples who have written
           the sutras. It has always happened ...the gospels of Jesus were written after three hundred years when
           Jesus was not there to correct them. And no Christian would like another Jesus to correct them.
           Otherwise ...I am absolutely willing.
               Gautam Buddha's sutras were written after his death. And there was so much quarreling amongst
           the disciples that immediately after his death there were thirty-two schools in conflict with each
           other. Somebody was saying, "This has been said by him," or "This has not been said." Thirty-two
           interpretations, contradicting each other, and poor Gautam Buddha was no longer alive and certainly
           he was not saying things which had thirty-two different interpretations. He was not a madman. His
           meaning was very clear, but that clarity is possible only to those who have gone beyond mind,
           because mind is confusion, and no-mind is clarity.
               The silence of no-mind gives you the clarity. You can see immediately what is right and what is
           wrong; there is no question of any argumentation. Reading these sutras, I have not had to think for a
           single moment or hesitate for a single moment as to where it is wrong and where it is right. The
           moment I came to any place which was wrong, it was immediately and absolutely clear to me,
           without any hesitation.
               Just because of seeing these sutras, I have been thinking to have a look into all ancient scriptures
           which are written by unenlightened disciples and to correct them. Because it is time -- they have
           lived for thousands of years without any correction.
               But people become so obsessed and fanatic that they don't want any change. For example, my
           corrections will not be liked by the Buddhists. They will feel very much hurt -- every line has to be
           right -- but they don't see the point that these lines are not written by Bodhidharma; otherwise they
           would have been all right. They have been written by people who are not enlightened. Hence, it is
           absolutely certain that there are going to be fallacies, confusions, misstatements, many things
           missing and perhaps many things added by the disciples, just to make it a complete story, a complete
           system of philosophy. It is going to be a difficult job. It is going to annoy many more people. I have
           annoyed so many people that now I don't care anymore. It does not matter. I have annoyed millions
           of people, a few millions more -- now it does not matter at all.
               The future generations of the new man will feel grateful that at least there was one man who did
           not care about the whole world being annoyed with him. He went on discriminating between what is
           truth and what is not truth.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                    Chapter #5
                                    Chapter title: Suchness is our self-nature
           7 July 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707070
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: BODHI05
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video: Yes
                Length: 110 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              THE BUDDHA SAID PEOPLE ARE DELUDED. THIS IS WHY WHEN THEY ACT THEY FALL INTO
              THE RIVER OF ENDLESS REBIRTH. AND TRYING TO GET OUT, THEY ONLY SINK DEEPER.
              AND ALL BECAUSE THEY DON'T SEE THEIR NATURE. IF PEOPLE WEREN'T DELUDED, WHY
              ELSE WOULD THEY ASK ABOUT SOMETHING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM? NOT ONE OF THEM
              UNDERSTANDS THE MOVEMENT OF HIS OWN HANDS AND FEET. THE BUDDHA WASN'T
              MISTAKEN. DELUDED PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE. SOMETHING SO HARD TO
              FATHOM IS KNOWN BY A BUDDHA AND NO ONE ELSE. ONLY THE WISE KNOW THIS MIND,
              THIS MIND CALLED DHARMA-NATURE, THIS MIND CALLED LIBERATION. NEITHER LIFE NOR
              DEATH CAN RESTRAIN THIS MIND. NOTHING CAN. IT'S ALSO CALLED THE UNSTOPPABLE
              TATHAGATA, THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE, THE SACRED SELF, THE IMMORTAL, THE GREAT
              SAGE. ITS NAMES VARY BUT NOT ITS ESSENCE. BUDDHAS VARY TOO, BUT NONE LEAVES
              HIS OWN MIND.
              THE MIND'S CAPACITY IS LIMITLESS, AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS ARE INEXHAUSTIBLE.
              SEEING FORMS WITH YOUR EYES, HEARING SOUNDS WITH YOUR EARS, SMELLING ODORS
              WITH YOUR NOSE, TASTING FLAVORS WITH YOUR TONGUE, EVERY MOVEMENT OR MODE,
              IT'S ALL YOUR MIND. AT EVERY MOMENT, WHERE LANGUAGES CAN'T GO, THAT'S YOUR
              MIND.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "A TATHAGATA'S FORMS ARE ENDLESS. AND SO IS HIS AWARENESS."
              THE ENDLESS VARIETY OF FORMS IS DUE TO THE MIND. ITS ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH
              THINGS, WHATEVER THEIR MOVEMENT OR MODE, IS THE MIND'S AWARENESS. BUT THE
              MIND HAS NO FORM AND ITS AWARENESS NO LIMIT. HENCE, IT'S SAID, "A TATHAGATA'S
              FORMS ARE ENDLESS. AND SO IS HIS AWARENESS."
              A MATERIAL BODY OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS IS TROUBLE. A MATERIAL BODY IS SUBJECT
              TO BIRTH AND DEATH. BUT THE REAL BODY EXISTS WITHOUT EXISTING BECAUSE A
              TATHAGATA'S REAL BODY NEVER CHANGES. THE SUTRAS SAY, "PEOPLE SHOULD REALIZE
              THAT THE BUDDHA-NATURE IS SOMETHING THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD." MAHAKASHYAPA
              ONLY REALIZED HIS OWN NATURE.      ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "EVERYTHING THAT HAS FORM
              IS AN ILLUSION." THEY ALSO SAY, "WHEREVER YOU ARE, THERE'S A BUDDHA." YOUR MIND
              IS THE BUDDHA. DON'T USE A BUDDHA TO WORSHIP A BUDDHA.
              EVEN IF A BUDDHA OR BODHISATTVA SHOULD SUDDENLY APPEAR BEFORE YOU, THERE'S
              NO NEED FOR REVERENCE. THIS MIND OF OURS IS EMPTY AND CONTAINS NO SUCH FORM.
              THOSE WHO HOLD ONTO APPEARANCES ARE DEVILS. THEY FALL FROM THE PATH. WHY
              WORSHIP ILLUSIONS BORN OF THE MIND? THOSE WHO WORSHIP DON'T KNOW. AND
              THOSE WHO KNOW DON'T WORSHIP. BY WORSHIPING YOU COME UNDER THE SPELL OF
              DEVILS. I POINT THIS OUT BECAUSE I'M AFRAID YOU'RE UNAWARE OF IT. THE BASIC
              NATURE OF A BUDDHA HAS NO SUCH FORM. KEEP THIS IN MIND, EVEN IF SOMETHING
              UNUSUAL SHOULD APPEAR. DON'T EMBRACE IT, AND DON'T FEAR IT. AND DON'T DOUBT
              THAT YOUR MIND IS BASICALLY PURE. WHERE COULD THERE BE ROOM FOR ANY SUCH
              FORM? ALSO, AT THE APPEARANCE OF SPIRITS, DEMONS, OR DIVINE BEINGS, CONCEIVE
              NEITHER RESPECT NOR FEAR. YOUR MIND IS BASICALLY EMPTY. ALL APPEARANCES ARE
              ILLUSIONS. DON'T HOLD ONTO APPEARANCES.


               It is one of the most strange coincidences that Gautam Buddha and Mahavira both revolted
           against the knowledgeable, the learned, the scholarly, the brahmins, the pundits, for a single reason
           -- that by being knowledgeable, you simply cover up your ignorance. It is not dispelled out of your
           being.
               It is just like on a dark night when you don't have even a lamp in your house. You may have as
           much information about light as you like, but your information about light is not going to bring light
           into the house. The house will remain dark. But one thing is possible: your information may create a
           delusion for you. You may become so engaged in the information about light that you forget about
           darkness. But darkness is there; whether you forget it or not makes no difference.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In fact it is better to know that the darkness is there, and something has to be done to create light,
           to destroy darkness. Knowing about light is of no help; real light is needed. The strange coincidence
           is that both Gautam Buddha and Mahavira were surrounded by brahmin scholars. And all that they
           have said has been compiled by the same people against whom they were speaking their whole lives.
                Mahavira had eleven intimate disciples -- they were all brahmin scholars of great integrity, of
           great learning, of great knowledge, but their ignorance was just the same as anybody else's.
           Ignorance can decorate itself with knowledge, but that only hides it; it does not destroy it. One has to
           discover one's own light, one's own being, one's own self-nature. The moment one discovers one's
           inner being, all darkness starts disappearing, because at the very center of your being is nothing but
           pure light. But it has to be discovered.
                The people who are interested in knowledge, or interested in scriptures, or interested in learning
           from other wise men, are not doing anything to reach to their own light, to the very source of
           enlightenment.
                The same happened with Gautam Buddha. His closest disciples were brahmins and hence a great
           misunderstanding has arisen in their reportings. What they have reported about Gautam Buddha is
           mixed, polluted, corrupted by their own knowledgeability, by their own learning. Their minds have
           come in and interfered with the message that was given in silence -- a message that was transmitted
           heart to heart, being to being, but not from mind to mind.
                The same unfortunate situation has happened with Bodhidharma -- even on a far greater scale
           because Bodhidharma was born in India, but he was teaching in China. The people who surrounded
           him, who became interested in him, were the people who were interested in knowledge. And
           certainly he had the golden key that opens all the mysteries of life. His every word comes from an
           authentic experience. He attracted thousands of monks, but the problem is that those were the people
           who crammed his words and forgot the phenomenal presence of Bodhidharma. And they have
           written these sutras. Naturally, there are great mistakes but even though there are many stones, there
           are a few diamonds, and we can find those diamonds.
                Even though they were not able to experience in the same way as Bodhidharma, they were
           certainly impressed by his charismatic being. Just like moths come to the flame of a candle, they
           came from faraway provinces in China, just to sit at his feet. But it is not enough. It is a good
           beginning, but it is not the end of the journey. They could not forget their own minds. Even while
           listening to him, they were still thinking their own thoughts, they were still comparing whether it fits
           with their ideology or not. They were interpreting, giving new meanings, new colors to his words.
                And because Bodhidharma has not written anything .... No enlightened being has written
           anything for the simple reason that the written word is a dead word. A spoken word has the warmth,
           the splendor, and the presence of the master. The spoken word is a totally different category from the
           written word. The written word is only a corpse; the spoken word is alive, it is still breathing. It has a
           heartbeat which the written word cannot have. That's why no enlightened man around the world, in
           any age, has ever written anything.
                So you have to be very aware. I will point out where the minds of the disciples who are
           collecting these sutras have interfered and destroyed something immensely beautiful. But even
           though they could not report exactly what Bodhidharma was saying, here and there, perhaps by
           mistake, they have reported the actual words.
                Even to find a few actual words spoken by Bodhidharma and give them again a heartbeat, is a
           great joy. My commentary is not just a commentary; it is giving life, a resurrection, to those
           beautiful words which have fallen in wrong hands. They have to be relieved and released from this
           confused, imprisoned corpse-like existence.
           The sutras:
              THE BUDDHA SAID PEOPLE ARE DELUDED. THIS IS WHY WHEN THEY ACT THEY FALL INTO
              THE RIVER OF ENDLESS REBIRTH. AND TRYING TO GET OUT, THEY ONLY SINK DEEPER.
              AND ALL BECAUSE THEY DON'T SEE THEIR NATURE. IF PEOPLE WERE NOT DELUDED, WHY
              ELSE WOULD THEY ASK ABOUT SOMETHING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM? NOT ONE OF THEM
              UNDERSTANDS THE MOVEMENT OF HIS OWN HANDS AND FEET. THE BUDDHA WAS NOT
              MISTAKEN. DELUDED PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE.

               The first thing to be understood is that these are actual words of Bodhidharma with no
           interference from the people who have been collecting these words.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The emphasis in these sutras is that people are deluded. What is their delusion? Their delusion is
           that they don't know who they are. Because they don't know who they are, they create false
           personalities around themselves -- because it is impossible to live knowing that you don't know who
           you are; you would certainly go mad.
               Just think for a moment: if you are aware that you don't know who you are, it will be such a
           shock, such a shattering of all your identity. You cannot live without knowing yourself, who you are.
           And if you cannot know, then you have to create something. It will be a false substitute, but it will
           take away the maddening situation of not knowing oneself.
               Ask somebody who he is, and he will say he is a doctor, he is an engineer, he is a professor, he is
           a Christian, he is a Hindu, he is a Buddhist .... These are false identities. These are creating a false
           layer around yourself to forget the maddening situation that you don't know yourself.
               You are getting identified with a thousand and one things. You are a husband, you are a wife
           ...but these are not your nature. You were not born as a husband, and you were not born as an
           engineer; and you were not born as a doctor, or a professor. These are created by you and by the
           society so that you don't feel continuously in an emptiness, which can be dangerous and can create
           an insanity in you.
               And people are not satisfied. They go on making the false layer thicker and thicker. They become
           members of political parties, they become members of religions, they become members of Rotary
           clubs, Lions clubs; they go on creating some idea of who they are. This is needed just to keep you in
           your normal insanity.
               One has to face oneself in utter nudity, without all these clothes that you have covered over
           yourself.
               This is the delusion, that everybody is living a life which is not coming out of his self-nature,
           which is more like acting than like an authentic living. Just watch yourself, and you will see the great
           insight in the very significant and meaningful statement, PEOPLE ARE DELUDED. That's why
           their actions always go in wrong directions. That's why they live a life of misery, suffering, agony,
           anguish.
               When Bodhidharma says that these people go on falling into darkness, he is saying that they go
           on becoming more and more deluded. They have to make the layer of their delusion as thick as
           possible so they can remain unaware of their reality. And out of this false layer, their love becomes
           false, their friendship becomes false, their whole life becomes just a drama.
               They are doing everything, but it is not coming from their spontaneity. It is not coming from
           their individuality. It is not coming from their very being. Hence, they are always wishy-washy, they
           are always hesitant, they are always asking what is right, and what is wrong; they are always asking
           questions about everything.
               The man who knows himself has no questions to ask. The man who knows himself knows
           exactly what has to be done, and there is no question of choosing. Whatever he does, is right. Out of
           your self-nature, only right arises. Just as out of a real rosebush, only authentic roses arise. It is a
           natural phenomenon.
               I used to live for few months in Raipur and just by my side lived a retired professor of
           mathematics. I used to see him from my windows. He had a beautiful pot with beautiful flowers, and
           every day he used to bring water to shower on the pot. The first day there was no problem, but as
           days passed, I was surprised that those flowers went on being the same. Their petals didn't fall, they
           didn't disappear as is the natural way of life -- that the old disappears to give place for the new.
           Finally I could not resist my temptation. I went close to his window and I was surprised. Those were
           not real flowers, they were plastic flowers. But to keep the illusion in the neighborhood that they
           were real, he was watering them. I knocked on the door, and asked the old man, "What are you
           doing? These flowers don't need watering."
               He said, "I know it also, but the whole neighborhood does not know about it. I have to water
           them, just to keep up appearances."
               Your false personality is just a plastic flower. It cannot give you fulfillment, it cannot give you
           enlightenment, it cannot give you liberation from misery.
               It cannot take you from your agony into an ecstatic experience. It cannot take you away from
           darkness into light, from death into immortality. This is the delusion.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SOMETHING SO HARD TO FATHOM IS KNOWN BY A BUDDHA AND NO ONE ELSE.

                Remember, by `buddha' is not meant any personal name. `Buddha' simply means the awakened
           one. Anyone who becomes awakened, enlightened, is the buddha. You are also the buddha; the only
           difference is that you are not aware of it. You have never looked inside yourself and found the
           buddha there.
           Your very life source is nothing but enlightenment.
                Bodhidharma is saying: SOMETHING SO HARD TO FATHOM IS KNOWN BY A BUDDHA
           AND NO ONE ELSE. You will know only that you are deluded if you enter yourself and find your
           authentic individuality. Then there will be a comparison. The man who has never seen real roses may
           remain with plastic flowers his whole life, believing that these are real roses. To wake him up, you
           have to bring real roses so that he can compare and he can see the difference. The plastic flowers are
           dead; they don't have any fragrance. They have not grown up; they will not die.
                The real flower is fragile. With the morning it comes into existence, dances in the rain, in the
           wind, in the sun, and by the evening it is gone. It comes from the unknown and moves back into the
           unknown. The same is the situation of our human life.
                We come from the unknown and we go on moving into the unknown. We will come again; we
           have been here thousands of times, and we will be here thousands of times. Our essential being is
           immortal but our body, our embodiment, is mortal. Our frame in which we are, our houses, the body,
           the mind, they are made of material things. They will get tired, they will become old, they will die.
           But your consciousness, for which Bodhidharma uses the word `no-mind' -- Gautam Buddha has also
           used the word, `no-mind' -- is something beyond body and mind, something beyond everything; that
           no-mind is eternal. It comes into expression, and goes again into the unknown.
                This movement from the unknown to the known, and from the known to the unknown, continues
           for eternity, unless somebody becomes enlightened. Then that is his last life; then this flower will not
           come back again. This flower that has become aware of himself need not come back to life because
           life is nothing but a school in which to learn. He has learned the lesson, he is now beyond delusions.
           He will move from the known for the first time not into the unknown, but into the unknowable.
                If from the known you move to the unknown, you will be born again. But if you move from the
           known to the unknowable, to the mystery of existence, you become one with the universe; there is no
           coming back.
                ONLY THE WISE KNOW THIS no-MIND, THIS no-MIND CALLED DHARMA-NATURE,
           THIS no-MIND CALLED LIBERATION.
                Here the person who has taken these notes has missed the point. Instead of saying no-mind, he
           says mind. Mind is not your ultimate reality. He has not understood Bodhidharma and it is a great sin
           to misrepresent a man of enlightenment because for centuries people will be confused.
                NEITHER LIFE NOR DEATH CAN RESTRAIN THIS no-MIND. NOTHING CAN. IT IS
           ALSO CALLED THE UNSTOPPABLE TATHAGATA, THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE, THE
           SACRED SELF, THE IMMORTAL, THE GREAT SAGE.
                And the person who has taken these notes is not even intelligent enough to see the point that
           mind cannot be called TATHAGATA. Mind cannot be called THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE. The
           mind cannot be called THE SACRED SELF, THE IMMORTAL, THE GREAT SAGE.
                The mind is very ordinary, mundane. It is useful for day-to-day work; its function is in the
           outside world. In the inner world it is absolutely useless. Those who want to know their inner being
           have to go beyond mind.
           They have to leave the mind behind.
           That is the whole process of meditation.
                One word TATHAGATA has to be understood. The translator could not find any word to
           translate it; perhaps he could not even understand the meaning of the word because in the West and
           in Western languages, no parallel word exists. Tathagata is specifically a Buddhist term. Gautam
           Buddha preached the philosophy of TATHATA and tathata is very close to the word `suchness.'
           Whatever happens, Buddha says, such is the nature of things. There is no need to be happy, there is
           no need to be miserable, there is no need to be affected at all by anything that happens. Birth
           happens, death happens, but you have to remain in a suchness, remembering that this is how life
           functions.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is the way of life.
           You cannot do anything against it.
               Just as rivers move towards the ocean, that is their suchness. Just as fire is hot, that is its
           suchness. Suchness is our self-nature.
               So whatever happens ...somebody comes and insults Gautam Buddha, abuses him. He listens
           silently and when asked by his disciples, when the man went, "Why did you remain silent?" Buddha
           said, "That was his suchness, that was his way of behaving. It was my suchness to remain silent. I'm
           not holier than that man, I'm not higher than that man, just our suchness is different, our natures
           differ."
               The word tathata is of great profundity. A man who understands what tathata is becomes
           undisturbed in every situation; nothing can disturb him, he becomes unperturbable. And
           TATHAGAT means one who has been living moment-to-moment in tathata. Tathagat is one of the
           most beautiful words possible in any language: one who lives simply according to his nature without
           being bothered about other people's nature.
               Gautam Buddha used to say, "Once I was passing through a forest, and a branch of a tree fell on
           me. What do you think? Should I beat that branch of the tree because it hurt me, it wounded me?"
           The person to whom he was talking said, "There is no question of beating the branch; it had no
           desire to hurt you, it had no desire to fall on you. It was just a natural accident that you happened to
           be under the tree when the branch fell."
               Buddha said, "If somebody insults me, that is also the same. I simply happened to be there and
           that man was full of anger. If I had not been there he would have been angry with somebody else. It
           was his nature; he was following his nature. I followed my nature."
               And to be in tune with your nature, you certainly become impenetrable, unperturbable. You
           become so crystallized in yourself that nothing can disturb you.
               ITS NAMES VARY BUT NOT ITS ESSENCE. BUDDHAS VARY TOO, BUT NONE
           LEAVES HIS OWN no-MIND.
               This is a significant statement to be understood. BUDDHAS VARY TOO .... Each awakened
           person has a uniqueness of his own. This has created great misunderstandings in people, because
           Christ does not behave like Gautam Buddha, Mahavira does not behave like Gautam Buddha,
           Krishna does not behave like Gautam Buddha. Even Bodhidharma, a disciple of Gautam Buddha,
           does not behave like Gautam Buddha. This has created a great confusion in the world. People think
           these people cannot all be right.
               Buddhists think only Gautam Buddha is right; Christ cannot be right. The misunderstanding
           arises because they think every buddha down the ages is going to be the same.
           In existence, nothing is the same.
           Every person has his own uniqueness.
               And when he becomes enlightened, his uniqueness becomes even more unique. He becomes a
           Himalayan peak, like Gourishankar, standing aloof, alone, reaching to the stars. It is not like any
           other peak in the Himalayas, or like any other mountain. It is just itself.
               That's why I have been speaking on so many awakened people. This has been done for the first
           time in the whole history of man. Hindus have been speaking on Krishna, on Rama; Buddhists have
           been speaking on Buddha, on Bodhidharma; Christians have been speaking on Christ, St. Francis,
           Meister Eckhart. Mohammedans have been speaking about Mohammed; Sufis have been speaking
           about Jalaluddin Rumi, Sarmad, Al-Hillaj Mansoor. But nobody has dared to bring all the
           enlightened people together.
               My whole effort has been to make it clear to the world that all enlightened people, howsoever
           different in their behavior, howsoever different in their philosophies, howsoever different in their
           actions, howsoever different in their individualities, still have the same taste, still have the same
           no-mind. Their innermost core is the same. It is the same light.
               Don't go according to the shape of the candle. The candle can have any kind of shape, but the
           flame in every candle -- of different shapes, different sizes, different colors -- is the same. Those who
           know the flame don't bother about the candles and their shapes and their sizes and their colors. What
           is important is not the candle; what is important is the flame.
               No-mind is the flame of every awakened being. He functions out of his self-nature, not out of his
           mind.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THE no-MIND'S CAPACITY IS LIMITLESS, AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS ARE
           INEXHAUSTIBLE. SEEING FORMS WITH YOUR EYES, HEARING SOUNDS WITH YOUR
           EARS, TASTING FLAVORS WITH YOUR TONGUE, EVERY MOVEMENT OR MODE, IT'S
           ALL YOUR no-MIND. AT EVERY MOMENT, WHERE LANGUAGE CAN'T GO, THAT'S
           YOUR no-MIND.
               But the reporter of Bodhidharma's sayings goes on saying it is your mind. Now it is so stupid, so
           illogical, so irrational that one can not conceive what kind of disciple this was who could not see a
           simple contradiction. Language can't go to the mind ...language BELONGS to the mind, there is no
           need to go. Language cannot go to the no-mind, to the silence beyond thoughts. Mind is full of
           thoughts and all thoughts are in the form of language.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "A TATHAGATA'S FORMS ARE ENDLESS. AND SO IS HIS AWARENESS."

                Not understanding that the forms of tathagatas, of the buddhas, of the people, of awakening are
           endless, religions have been fighting about trivia. For example, Jainas don't accept Gautam Buddha
           as enlightened for a simple reason: because they accept Mahavira as enlightened, and Mahavira lived
           naked. Gautam Buddha did not live naked. Just the clothes .... Because Buddha used clothes, he is
           not enlightened. Mahavira lived naked; he is enlightened. And the same is the situation with
           Buddhist scholars. They don't accept Mahavira as enlightened because he lived naked.
                Nobody is ready to accept the varieties. They want buddhas to be produced almost like cars on
           an assembly line. Every car looks the same. In the factories of Ford, every minute one Ford car
           comes out of the assembly line, and you cannot make any distinction between one Ford and the
           other. In one hour, sixty Ford cars will come out and they will be all similar.
                A buddha is not a machine. Machines can be similar. Even people who are not enlightened are
           not similar. Here, five thousand people are here, and you cannot find two persons similar. Even twins
           are not exactly similar. Their mother recognizes them and slowly, slowly their friends start
           recognizing them. Although they look almost the same -- but it is almost -- there are slight
           differences even in twins. And these buddhas are not twins. Christ has his own flavor, Mahavira has
           his beauty, Buddha has his own splendor.
                I want it to be impressed in you as deeply as possible that all over the world, in different ages, in
           different races, enlightened people have existed. And it is time that they should be recognized as
           belonging to the same category, although protecting their uniqueness. They have a certain oneness
           but that is their innermost core. On the periphery, they are as unique as you can conceive. And it is
           beautiful. Having all the buddhas like Jesus Christ, everybody carrying his cross on his shoulder, the
           world would be very poor. Wherever you go, you would meet a Jesus Christ carrying a cross. Or if
           all the enlightened people lived naked, like Mahavira, that would not be enriching the world.
                Mahavira alone is perfectly good. He has his uniqueness, his beauty, his grandeur, and he is
           incomparable.
           Every enlightened being is incomparable.
           He is unparalleled by anybody else.
                This is how things should be. The world should not have only roses, it should have all kinds of
           flowers, and it should have all kinds of fragrances. Only then existence becomes richer.
                ITS ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH THINGS, WHATEVER THEIR MOVEMENT OR MODE,
           IS THE no-MIND'S AWARENESS. BUT THE no-MIND HAS NO FORM AND ITS
           AWARENESS NO LIMIT. HENCE, IT IS SAID, "A TATHAGATA'S FORMS ARE ENDLESS.
           AND SO IS HIS AWARENESS."
           A MATERIAL BODY OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS IS TROUBLE. A MATERIAL BODY IS
           SUBJECT TO BIRTH AND DEATH. BUT THE REAL BODY -- the real being -- EXISTS
           WITHOUT EXISTING, BECAUSE A TATHAGATA'S REAL BODY NEVER CHANGES.
                Within your so-called body there is an inner being, an inner body, the body of your awareness,
           the body of your flame of consciousness. That never changes.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "PEOPLE SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE BUDDHA-NATURE IS SOMETHING
              THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD."

               This is one of the most important emphases of Bodhidharma. That you all have -- every human
           being has -- the same space within you, the same no-mind, and the same potential to blossom into a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unique flowering. Nobody is poor and nobody is rich as far as the inner being is concerned. You
           have always had it. Even this very moment you are all buddhas. But you have never looked into
           yourself, you have never discovered it. Remember buddhahood, enlightenment, awakening,
           liberation, moksha, nirvana; all these words mean the same thing.
               When you become enlightened, the first thing is to have a good laugh about yourself. And the
           second thing is to have a good hot cup of tea. A good laugh, because you have been searching for
           something which you always had within you. And a cup of tea ...you are so tired, ages of search and
           seeking and finding nothing. And the problem was you could have gone searching for ages and you
           would not have found, because the searcher is himself your search. What you are trying to find
           outside in the world, you are not going to find because the searcher himself is the sought.
               Once you discover yourself, you will be simply amazed -- you have always been enlightened,
           just you were not aware of it. It's as if you had a diamond, a Kohinoor, in your pocket, and you were
           begging all your life, not knowing that in your pocket you have the most precious diamond in the
           world. The day you discover it, you are bound to be surprised that life has played a great joke with
           you.
              MAHAKASHYAPA ONLY REALIZED HIS OWN NATURE.

                You need to be reminded about that story. Bodhidharma is not the founder of Zen. The real
           founder is Mahakashyapa. But because he never spoke, people have always forgotten him; he has
           fallen into shadows, but he was a tremendously beautiful man, a man of immense grace. And how he
           became the founder of Zen is something to be remembered.
                One day, a poor man in Vaishali -- he was a shoemaker -- found in his pond, a lotus flower out of
           season. He was very happy that he could sell it for a good price because it was not the season, and it
           was a beautiful lotus flower. He took the flower, and as he was going towards the palace he saw the
           richest man of the city coming towards him in his golden chariot. Seeing the beautiful lotus flower,
           the super-rich man stopped the chariot and asked Sudas, "How much will you take for your untimely
           lotus flower?"
                Poor Sudas could not conceive how much. He said, "Whatever you can give will be enough for
           me. I am a poor man." The rich man said, "Perhaps you don't know but I am going to see Gautam
           Buddha who is staying outside the city in a mango grove, and I would like this untimely lotus flower
           to put at his feet. Even he will be surprised with such a gift. I will give you five hundred gold coins."
                Sudas could not believe it. He had never dreamt that he would ever have five hundred gold coins.
           But just then the king's chariot stopped, and the king said to Sudas, "Whatever that rich man is
           giving you, I will give you four times more. Don't sell it, wait."
                Sudas could not believe what was happening. Five hundred gold coins, four times. Two thousand
           gold coins for a single flower. He asked the king, "I don't understand. What is the reason why you
           are so interested?"
                But the rich man was not to be defeated so easily. He was richer than the king; in fact the king
           owed much money to him. He said, "It is not right of you. You are the king, but right now we are
           competitors. I will give four times more than what the king is giving." And this way they went on
           four times, four times ...and Sudas lost track of how much money. The poor man did not know much
           arithmetic either; it was going beyond his capacity to count. But one thing he suddenly understood.
           And he stopped both the men and said, "Wait, I am not going to sell it." They were both shocked and
           said, "What is the problem? Do you want more?"
                He said, "I don't know how much the price has gone to. And I don't want more. I simply don't
           want to sell it for the simple reason that both of you are going to give it to Gautam Buddha. I don't
           know anything about him, I have just heard his name. If the man is such that you are fighting to give
           any amount of money, then I will not miss the chance. I will present the lotus flower to Gautam
           Buddha. Let him be doubly surprised." From a poor man, who was being offered uncountable money
           .... But he refused.
                Sudas went. The king and the rich man had reached there before and they had already told the
           story: "We have been shocked by a shoemaker; we have been defeated. He refused to sell it at any
           price. I was ready to offer him my whole treasury." And then Sudas, walking, arrived, touched
           Gautam Buddha's feet, and offered his flower at his feet.
                Gautam Buddha said, "Sudas, you should have accepted; they were giving you so much money. I
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot give you anything." There were tears in the eyes of Sudas, and he said, "If you can just hold
           my flower in your hand, it is enough. It is far greater than the whole kingdom. It is far greater than
           the super-rich man's whole treasury. I am poor, but I am perfectly okay; I earn my livelihood. There
           is no need for me to be rich. But it will be a historical event remembered for centuries and centuries
           -- as long as man remembers you, Sudas will be remembered and his flower will be remembered.
           You just take it in your hand."
               Buddha took the flower in his hand ...and this was the time of the morning when he used to give
           his morning sermon. Everybody was waiting for him to start but rather than starting the morning
           sermon, he simply went on looking at the lotus flower. Minutes passed, one hour passed. People
           started becoming restless, thinking, "What has happened? This flower seems to be something
           magical that he is simply looking at the flower."
               At that moment Mahakashyapa, one of the disciples of Gautam Buddha -- who had never spoken,
           and who had not been mentioned before this or again after this, in any scriptures -- laughed. And
           Gautam Buddha called Mahakashyapa, and gave the flower to him.
               And he said, "It is not only the flower that I am giving to you, I am transmitting to you my whole
           light, my whole fragrance, my whole awakening. It is a transmission in silence; this flower is only
           symbolic."
           This is the beginning of Zen.
               People asked Mahakashyapa, "What happened? Although we were present and we were
           eyewitnesses, we could not see anything except the flower being given to you. And you touched the
           feet of Gautam Buddha and went back to your seat again and closed your eyes. What happened?"
               Mahakashyapa is reported to have said only one thing: "You ask my master. While he is alive, I
           have no right to answer." And Gautam Buddha said, "This is a new beginning, of transferring
           without words my whole experience. One just has to be receptive. And Mahakashyapa, by his
           laughter, showed his receptivity. You don't know why he laughed. He laughed because in that
           moment, he suddenly looked into himself and he found that he is also a buddha. And I offered the
           flower as a recognition -- `I accept your awakening.'"
               This man Mahakashyapa was the founder of Zen -- or this situation between Mahakashyapa and
           Gautam Buddha is the beginning of the river of Zen. But Bodhidharma was such a strong individual
           that he has almost become the founder, although he came one thousand years later than
           Mahakashyapa. But he is immensely articulate. He can say things which cannot be said. He can
           speak the unspeakable. He can find ways and means and devices to bring you back home, to awaken
           you to your self-nature.
               MAHAKASHYAPA ONLY REALIZED HIS OWN NATURE. Nothing was given to him; it
           was only a recognition from the master. The master never gives anything to the disciple except the
           final recognition. The disciple already has everything. He just has to be tricked in some way to look
           into himself. All the meditations are simply arbitrary methods to look into yourself. Once you look
           into yourself the master can give you the recognition.        ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "EVERYTHING
           THAT HAS FORM IS AN ILLUSION." THEY ALSO SAY, "WHEREVER YOU ARE THERE IS
           A BUDDHA."
               You are there: there may not be anybody else, but wherever you are, there is a buddha, because
           you are a buddha. Don't look all around for where the buddha is. Wherever you are, there is a
           buddha, because you are there.
               YOUR no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. DON'T USE A BUDDHA TO WORSHIP A BUDDHA.
               Hence, Buddha has not taught worshiping, because it is ugly. All are buddhas -- a few are asleep,
           a few are awake, but that does not make much difference. Those who are asleep will become awake.
           Those who are awake have been asleep. There is no question of worshiping. There is no prayer as
           such in Buddha's teachings.
              EVEN IF A BUDDHA OR A BODHISATTVA SHOULD SUDDENLY APPEAR BEFORE YOU, THERE
              IS NO NEED FOR REVERENCE.

               Bodhidharma is saying something that can be misunderstood. In fact, everything that he is saying
           can be misunderstood, so you have to be very alert not to misunderstand him. To understand him is
           very difficult, to misunderstand him is very simple. If you can manage not to misunderstand him,
           there is a possibility for understanding him.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When he says THERE IS NO need FOR REVERENCE, the sentence is clear. But it can be easily
           misunderstood. He is saying: THERE IS NO NEED FOR REVERENCE. He is not saying that there
           is no possibility of a spontaneous reverence. There is no NEED; it is not a duty. You are not obliged
           to revere a buddha, but your whole being may feel to, although there is no need. Without any need,
           you may feel a great reverence, a great gratitude just because the buddha represents your future,
           reminds you of your self-nature.
               He is a reminder. He is an arrow pointing towards you. So there is no need for reverence, but
           there may be a spontaneous feeling for reverence.
               Even Mahakashyapa touched Gautam Buddha's feet; there was no need. Even Bodhidharma,
           every day -- although Buddha had died one thousand years before -- used to bow down from China,
           towards the direction of the place where Buddha became enlightened, near Bodh Gaya, by the bank
           of a small river, Niranjana.
               He used to find on the map, the place where Buddha had become enlightened one thousand years
           before, and he would touch the earth in China with his head. And he is saying: THERE IS NO
           NEED FOR REVERENCE.
               Certainly there is no need. But there arises a spontaneous reverence, and that is authentic
           reverence. When you do it as a need, it is false. When you have to do it because it is expected of you,
           then it is hypocrisy. But when it has been said to you that there is no need and still it arises in you,
           then it has an authenticity, a sincerity, a love, a gratitude, a truth, a beauty of its own.
               THIS no-MIND OF OURS IS EMPTY AND CONTAINS NO SUCH FORM. THOSE WHO
           HOLD ONTO APPEARANCES, ARE DEVILS.
               It has to be said to you that in Buddhism, neither God exists nor devils. God and the devil can
           exist only together. They are two sides of the same coin. God cannot do without the devil, and the
           devil cannot do without God; they are partners in the same business -- but both are hypothetical. So
           when Bodhidharma uses the word `devil' he simply means darkness. It is a personalization of
           darkness. There is no person as devil; there is no person as God. There is godliness, and there is evil.
           These are qualities, not persons.
              THOSE WHO HOLD ONTO APPEARANCES ARE DEVILS.

              They are living in darkness, they are living a life of evil.
              THEY FALL FROM THE PATH. WHY WORSHIP ILLUSIONS BORN OF THE MIND? THOSE WHO
              WORSHIP DON'T KNOW.

              These are very strong and very pregnant statements. THOSE WHO WORSHIP DON'T KNOW.
           Certainly they are not aware that they are carrying within themselves the buddha himself.
              AND THOSE WHO KNOW DON'T WORSHIP.

                So in the temples, in the synagogues, in the mosques, in the churches, all that worshiping going
           on is utterly out of ignorance, out of darkness. THOSE WHO KNOW DON'T WORSHIP: They live
           a life which itself is worship. They don't go to the church, they don't go to the temple. They live a
           life which is twenty-four hours nothing but a worship. They live a life which is nothing but a
           prayerfulness. They live a life of compassion and love and gratitude. Each of their actions shows
           their enlightenment.
                BY WORSHIPING YOU COME UNDER THE SPELL OF DEVILS. I POINT THIS OUT
           BECAUSE I AM AFRAID YOU ARE UNAWARE OF IT. THE BASIC NATURE OF A
           BUDDHA HAS NO SUCH FORM. KEEP THIS IN MIND, EVEN IF SOMETHING UNUSUAL
           SHOULD APPEAR. DON'T EMBRACE IT, AND DON'T FEAR IT. AND DON'T DOUBT THAT
           YOUR no-MIND IS BASICALLY PURE. WHERE COULD THERE BE ROOM FOR ANY SUCH
           FORM? ALSO, AT THE APPEARANCE OF SPIRITS, DEMONS, OR DIVINE BEINGS,
           CONCEIVE NEITHER RESPECT NOR FEAR.
                These are only fantasies of your mind; they are only hallucinations. There are people who see
           Krishna, there are people who see Christ, there are people who see ghosts. There are people, all
           kinds of people, seeing all kinds of illusions. They are your mind creations. There is no need either
           for respect or for fear.
                YOUR no-MIND IS BASICALLY EMPTY. ALL APPEARANCES ARE ILLUSION. DON'T
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           HOLD ONTO APPEARANCES.
               Remember only one thing: your basic nature is absolute silence, serenity, peace, almost a
           nothingness, an emptiness. And that is your buddha-nature, that is your nature awakened to its own
           potential. To be aware of it is the greatest experience of life, because it brings liberation from life,
           birth, death. It takes you out of the wheel that goes on eternally giving you birth and death, and all
           the agonies and the sufferings. It takes you out into the world of ecstasy, of eternal blissfulness.
               These sutras are not just for your entertainment. They are for your enlightenment. And remember
           the enlightenment is not going to come from outside. It is already there. You just have to wake up.
           You have been asleep for millions of lives. How many more do you want to sleep? It is time. In fact,
           you have already overslept. Now be kind to yourself and wake up.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #6
                            Chapter title: Understanding comes in mid-sentence
           7 July 1987 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707075
              ShortTitle: BODHI06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 102 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              IF YOU ENVISION A BUDDHA, A DHARMA OR A BODHISATTVA AND CONCEIVE RESPECT FOR
              THEM, YOU RELEGATE YOURSELF TO THE REALM OF MORTALS. IF YOU SEEK DIRECT
              UNDERSTANDING, DON'T HOLD ONTO ANY APPEARANCE WHATSOEVER, AND YOU'LL
              SUCCEED. I HAVE NO OTHER ADVICE.      ...DON'T CLING TO APPEARANCES, AND YOU'LL BE
              OF ONE MIND WITH THE BUDDHA.
              BUT WHY SHOULDN'T WE WORSHIP BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS?
              DEVILS AND DEMONS POSSESS THE POWER OF MANIFESTATION. THEY CAN CREATE THE
              APPEARANCE OF BODHISATTVAS IN ALL SORTS OF GUISES. BUT THEY'RE FALSE. NONE OF
              THEM ARE BUDDHAS. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR OWN MIND. DON'T MISDIRECT YOUR WORSHIP.
              BUDDHA IS SANSKRIT FOR WHAT YOU CALL AWARE, MIRACULOUSLY AWARE.
              RESPONDING, PERCEIVING, ARCHING YOUR BROWS, BLINKING YOUR EYES, MOVING YOUR
              HANDS AND FEET, IT'S ALL YOUR MIRACULOUSLY AWARE NATURE. AND THIS NATURE IS
              THE MIND. AND THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE PATH. AND THE PATH
              IS ZEN. BUT THE WORD ZEN IS ONE THAT REMAINS A PUZZLE. SEEING YOUR NATURE IS
              ZEN.
              EVEN IF YOU CAN EXPLAIN THOUSANDS OF SUTRAS AND SHASTRAS, UNLESS YOU SEE
              YOUR OWN NATURE, YOURS IS THE TEACHING OF A MORTAL, NOT A BUDDHA. THE TRUE
              WAY IS SUBLIME. IT CAN'T BE EXPRESSED IN LANGUAGE. OF WHAT USE ARE SCRIPTURES?
              BUT SOMEONE WHO SEES HIS OWN NATURE FINDS THE WAY, EVEN IF HE CAN'T READ A
              WORD .... EVERYTHING THE BUDDHA SAYS IS AN EXPRESSION OF HIS MIND. BUT SINCE HIS
              BODY AND EXPRESSIONS ARE BASICALLY EMPTY, YOU CAN'T FIND A BUDDHA IN WORDS.
              ...THE WAY IS BASICALLY PERFECT. IT DOESN'T REQUIRE PERFECTING. THE WAY HAS NO
              FORM OR SOUND. IT'S SUBTLE AND HARD TO PERCEIVE. IT'S LIKE WHEN YOU DRINK
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WATER. YOU KNOW HOW HOT OR COLD IT IS. BUT YOU CAN'T TELL OTHERS. OF THAT
              WHICH ONLY A TATHAGATA KNOWS, MEN AND GODS REMAIN UNAWARE. THE AWARENESS
              OF MORTALS FALLS SHORT. AS LONG AS THEY'RE ATTACHED TO APPEARANCES, THEY'RE
              UNAWARE THAT THEIR MIND IS EMPTY. AND BY MISTAKENLY CLINGING TO THE
              APPEARANCE OF THINGS, THEY LOSE THE WAY.
              IF YOU KNOW THAT EVERYTHING COMES FROM THE MIND, DON'T BECOME ATTACHED.
              ONCE ATTACHED, YOU'RE UNAWARE. BUT ONCE YOU SEE YOUR OWN NATURE, THE
              ENTIRE CANON BECOMES SO MUCH PROSE. ITS THOUSANDS OF SUTRAS AND SHASTRAS
              ONLY AMOUNT TO A CLEAR MIND. UNDERSTANDING COMES IN MID-SENTENCE. WHAT
              GOOD ARE DOCTRINES?
              THE ULTIMATE TRUTH IS BEYOND WORDS. DOCTRINES ARE WORDS. THEY'RE NOT THE
              WAY. THE WAY IS WORDLESS. WORDS ARE ILLUSIONS. THEY'RE NO DIFFERENT FROM
              THINGS THAT APPEAR IN YOUR DREAMS AT NIGHT, BE THEY PALACES OR CARRIAGES ....
              DON'T CONCEIVE ANY DELIGHT FOR SUCH THINGS. THEY'RE ALL CRADLES OF REBIRTH.
              KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN YOU APPROACH DEATH. DON'T CLING TO APPEARANCES, AND
              YOU'LL BREAK THROUGH ALL BARRIERS. A MOMENT'S HESITATION AND YOU'LL BE UNDER
              THE SPELL OF DEVILS. YOUR REAL BODY IS PURE AND IMPERVIOUS. BUT BECAUSE OF
              DELUSIONS, YOU'RE UNAWARE OF IT. AND BECAUSE OF THIS, YOU SUFFER KARMA IN VAIN.
              WHEREVER YOU FIND DELIGHT, YOU FIND BONDAGE. BUT ONCE YOU AWAKEN TO YOUR
              ORIGINAL BODY AND MIND, YOU'RE NO LONGER BOUND BY ATTACHMENTS.


               The understanding of Bodhidharma and his insight into the secrets of human consciousness is so
           profound that it certainly can be said it is perfect. Nothing can be added to it and nothing can be
           edited out of it. He speaks telegraphically, uses only the most essential words.
               You will see how a man can express something which eludes expression, something which has
           always been known as inexpressible. But Bodhidharma comes very close to expressing it. If you
           don't understand, it is your fault.
               Otherwise it is very difficult to find a master of the stature of Bodhidharma. In the whole
           legendary past of masters, Bodhidharma stands very aloof, very alone; his way of life, his way of
           teaching, everything is his own. Never before was there anybody like Bodhidharma, and there has
           never been another after him who can be called exactly equal in insight, in understanding, in
           profundity. And yet he does not use a jargon; he is not a philosopher, not a theologian. He is a very
           simple man. He uses direct words that go just like arrows into your heart. All that is needed on your
           part is to keep the doors of your heart open. He will not come uninvited within you, but invited he is
           sure to reach to your heart. Your receptivity is ultimately going to be the decisive factor.
               In the sutras this evening, except for a few mistakes by the disciples who have taken the notes,
           almost everything seems to be authentically Bodhidharma's.
              IF YOU ENVISION A BUDDHA, A DHARMA, OR A BODHISATTVA, AND CONCEIVE RESPECT
              FOR THEM, YOU RELEGATE YOURSELF TO THE REALM OF MORTALS.

               According to Bodhidharma, everybody is essentially a buddha. But if you start imagining
           buddhas and worshiping them, then you are doing tremendous harm to yourself. It means you have
           not understood the basic teaching. There is no one to be worshiped, no one to be envisaged, because
           you are a buddha yourself.
               It is because of this point that Gautam Buddha denies the existence of one God. His denial is so
           great that its significance has not been understood. He denies one God, not because he is an atheist;
           he denies one God because he respects every living being as a god. There are as many gods as there
           are living beings. A few have attained to the realization of who they are, and most of the people
           among the living beings are still asleep. They do not know who they are but their ignorance does not
           change their nature.
               So the first sutra is: IF YOU ENVISION A BUDDHA, YOU RELEGATE YOURSELF TO THE
           REALM OF THE MORTALS. You unnecessarily degrade yourself. Every worshiper in every
           temple, in every synagogue, in every church, is humiliating himself and is humiliating the god
           within. The god within needs no other god to be worshipped. All that it needs is an awakening,
           awareness, a consciousness of one's own being.
               The moment one becomes conscious of himself, he is no longer a mortal; he becomes an
           immortal. He has always been an immortal but because of his misunderstanding, he degraded
           himself into being a mortal, into someone who is going to die. Although the life within you and the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           consciousness within you is eternal and immortal, still you go on being afraid of death because you
           see somebody dying every day. And everybody's death reminds you of your own death.
               The poet sings, "Never ask for whom the bell tolls, the bell tolls for thee." In Christian villages, it
           is an ancient custom that when somebody dies, the church bell starts tolling, informing the whole
           village, the people who have gone to the farms, or the people who have gone to the orchards, or the
           people who have gone to their wine presses, to come back; somebody has died.
               The poet is saying, "Never ask for whom the bell tolls, it always tolls for thee." He has some
           truth to convey to you. Every death is symbolic. It shows that you are standing in the same queue
           and the queue is becoming shorter and shorter. Every day you are coming closer and closer to death.
           In fact the day you were born was not the day of your birth; it was the day you started dying. And
           since then you have been dying every day. Every birthday, your death has come one year closer.
               It is an absolutely certain fact that people die, animals die, trees die, birds die. How can you
           avoid the fact that you are also going to die -- maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow? It is
           only a question of time.
               But still, those who are aware of their being know that nobody dies.
           Death is an illusion.
               You have seen people die; have you ever seen yourself dying? And when you see somebody
           dying, are you really seeing somebody dying? All that you are seeing, and all that your medical
           science can see is that the man has stopped breathing, that his pulse has disappeared, that his heart
           beats no more, and they declare that he is dead.
               Just a few days ago, a man in the part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan, for the third time
           deceived his friends, his colleagues, his family. At the age of one hundred and thirty-five, he died for
           the third time. People were very suspicious because two times before he had played the trick; he
           died. Diagnosed by the doctors as dead, certified as dead, he woke up, opened his eyes and started
           laughing. So when he died this time, people were very cautious. Doctors were very cautious, but
           there was every certainty of his death; there was no question.
               They said, "Perhaps before he may have deceived you, but this time he is certainly dead. As far
           as medical science can know, he fulfills every requirement of a dead man." And the moment the
           certificate was signed by three doctors, the man opened his eyes, started laughing and said, "Listen,
           next time when I am going to die, I am going to REALLY die. I just thought one time more ...."
               That part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan has the longest living people in India and Pakistan.
           One hundred and twenty is very ordinary, normal. One hundred and fifty you can find; it is not so
           normal, but still there are hundreds of people who have passed one hundred and fifty. And there are a
           few rare cases who have reached one hundred and eighty years of age and they are still young; they
           are still working in their fields.
               And this man has been questioned by newspapers, by journalists from all over the world, because
           he is a rare man; three times certified dead and three times he has defied all medical knowledge, all
           medical science. And they asked, "What have you been doing? What happens?"
               He said, "Nothing -- because I am not my body. I know it; and I am not my breathing, I know it;
           and I am not my heart, I know it -- I am beyond all these. I simply slip into the beyond. The heart
           stops, the pulse stops, the breathing stops, and you are all befooled. Then I slip back again into the
           body, the blood starts running again, the pulse starts working again and the heart starts beating
           again."
               He is a simple man, a farmer. He is not a yogi; he has never practiced anything. But just when he
           was a very young child, not more than seven or eight years old, he came in contact with a Sufi
           mystic who told him that death is an illusion. And he was so innocent that he accepted it.
               The Sufi mystic said to him, "There is a very simple way to slip out of your body. Just watch it
           from inside; watch the body and suddenly there will come more and more distance between you and
           your body. Soon the body will be miles away. Watch the mind and the same will happen with the
           mind.
           "You simply remain a watcher and you will be able to slip out of the body, out of the mind, out of
           this whole personality. And it is within your control to come back. Because you have slipped out,
           you know the way you slipped out. So you know the way to come back in. And the way is that by
           watching, you slipped out -- now stop watching. Become identified with the body. Say, `I am the
           body, I am the mind, I am the breathing, I am the heart beating.' Immediately the distance will
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappear. You will come closer and soon you will slip back into the body."
               Identifying yourself with the body, you become the body. Then you are a mortal. Then there is
           fear of death. Non-identifying with the body, you are just a watcher, you are just a pure
           consciousness, a no-mind. And there is no death and there is no disease and there is no old age. As
           far as your witnessing is concerned, it is eternal and it is always fresh and young and the same.
               The authentic religion does not teach you to worship. The authentic religion teaches you to
           discover your immortality, to discover the god within you. And that's what Bodhidharma is saying.
              IF YOU SEEK DIRECT UNDERSTANDING, DON'T HOLD ONTO ANY APPEARANCE
              WHATSOEVER, AND YOU WILL SUCCEED. I HAVE NO OTHER ADVICE.

               His advice is very simple, but it never fails. He is advising not to get identified with any
           appearance: the body is an appearance, the mind is an appearance, the world is an appearance. The
           only thing that is absolutely real is your consciousness. Everything else goes on changing. That
           which goes on changing is an appearance -- don't get identified with it. You are the unchanging
           divine, you are the unchanging godliness. And Bodhidharma says: I HAVE NO OTHER ADVICE.
           ...DON'T CLING TO APPEARANCES, AND YOU WILL BE OF ONE MIND WITH THE
           BUDDHA.
               The sutra says: YOU WILL BE OF ONE MIND WITH THE BUDDHA. That is the
           misunderstanding of the person who has been taking notes of Bodhidharma's statements. I have to
           make the correction from "mind" to "no-mind."
               As minds, you can never be one with the buddha. Just try to understand, because it is infinitely
           significant. Here, if you are all minds, then there are as many people as there are minds. But if you
           all become silent, with no thoughts, then there is only one no-mind -- then all the distinctions
           disappear. Whether you are a man or a woman, a young child or old, educated or uneducated, rich or
           poor, it does not matter.
               All distinctions disappear the moment mind is transcended. All distinctions are made by the
           mind. Beyond the mind is just a silent sky, a pure space. In that pure space with the buddha, you are
           all one with existence.
           You are one with the whole.
               I call this oneness with the whole, the only holiness.
               The disciple asks Bodhidharma: BUT WHY SHOULDN'T WE WORSHIP BUDDHAS AND
           BODHISATTVAS?
               The disciple seems to be of a very mediocre mind, because Bodhidharma has already answered.
           And now what he gives as Bodhidharma's answer, I deny absolutely that it can be the answer of
           Bodhidharma. It is so stupid that Bodhidharma cannot say it. So first I will read what the disciple
           writes, then I will tell you what exactly Bodhidharma must have said.
              DEVIL AND DEMONS POSSESS THE POWER OF MANIFESTATION. THEY CAN CREATE THE
              APPEARANCE OF BODHISATTVAS IN ALL SORTS OF GUISES. BUT THEY'RE FALSE. NONE OF
              THEM ARE BUDDHAS. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR OWN MIND. DON'T MISDIRECT YOUR WORSHIP.

               The disciple is saying that worshiping a buddha is denied because the devils can pretend to be
           buddhas. If you worship, the appearance will be of the buddha, and in fact there is a devil hiding
           behind the appearance. This cannot be the answer of Bodhidharma.
               A man who does not believe in God cannot believe in devils. A man who is capable of denying
           God is certainly capable of denying all devils. And his only answer could have been the one which
           he gave in the basic sutra. Without any doubt his answer would have been, "You should not worship
           any buddhas because you are a buddha. It is simply ridiculous that a buddha worships another
           buddha."
               I am reminded of another Zen master. He must have been a man of some similar qualities to
           Bodhidharma; he was a disciple in the same lineage. He was staying in a Buddhist temple on a
           winter night -- the priest, knowing that he was a great master had allowed him to stay in the temple.
           But in the middle of the night the priest woke up. Suddenly there was so much light. He looked
           inside the temple ...because his room was by the side of the temple. The master he had allowed to
           stay in the temple was enjoying burning a beautiful statue, a wooden statue of Gautam Buddha.
               The priest was simply mad. He said, "Are you insane or something? You have burnt the statue of
           Gautam Buddha." The master took his staff and started searching for something in the ashes of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           burned statue. The priest said, "What are you searching for?" He said, "I am looking for the bones."
                Even the priest had to laugh, although he was angry and his most beautiful statue had been
           burned. But he said, "You are really insane. But how can a wooden statue have bones?"
                The master said, "That's what I have been showing you; that if there are no bones inside it, it is
           not the statue of Buddha. It is not Buddha; it is just wood cut into a certain shape. Don't be deceived
           by it. The night is long and it is too cold and I am so tired of this long journey. If you can be of some
           help ...you have still got three more statues. One is enough for worshiping, two you can give me. The
           night is really cold. Moreover I am a living buddha. For a living buddha it is absolutely right to burn
           a wooden buddha to have a little heat. It is too cold in this temple."
                The priest became very afraid that this man seemed to be absolutely dangerous and thought, "If I
           go to sleep, he is going to burn all my statues." In the middle of the night he threw the master out of
           the temple. The master was insisting, "This is not right. Listen, you will repent of it. You are
           throwing a living buddha into the darkness of the night, into the cold winter night. And you are
           protecting wooden buddhas. Are you mad or something?"
                The priest said, "I don't want to discuss it with you. I know who is mad. You just get out."
                In the morning the priest opened the door to see at what had happened to the master. He was
           sitting by the side of the road. He had picked a few wild flowers and he had put those wildflowers on
           a milestone. He was worshiping, "BUDDHAM SHARANAM, GACHCHHAMI. SANGHAM
           SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI. DHAMMAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI."
                The priest could not believe it. "He is really mad. Last night he burned a buddha, so costly" -- it
           was made of sandalwood -- "and now that madman is worshiping a milestone as a buddha." The
           priest came close to him and said, "What are you doing?"
                The master said, "My morning prayer." The priest said, "But you look a strange type. Last night
           you destroyed my buddha and now you are worshiping a milestone."
                He said, "You don't understand. It is only our visualization. If you visualize that this is a buddha,
           this is a buddha. You visualized a buddha in the wooden statue -- it became a buddha. It is all a mind
           game. I don't believe in prayers. It was just for you that I waited and was worshiping the milestone --
           just to show you that whatever you worship, you are worshiping something wrong, because you are
           the buddha. The worshiper is the buddha, not the worshiped. Can I come in the temple again
           tonight?"
                The priest said, "No, although you appear to be right and perhaps I am wrong, I cannot follow
           your great understanding -- it is dangerous. It will be good if you leave this place and do your act in
           some other temple. I am a poor priest; you have already destroyed one of my most beautiful
           buddhas; now I cannot -- even though you convinced me -- I cannot allow you inside the temple."
                The master said, "It is not a question ...but I can see that you have understood rightly, and one
           day you will come searching for me. I can see in your eyes the light of understanding, a ray of
           understanding. Don't let me in ...but I am already within you."
                And after two years the priest had to come to the master to give an apology, and he brought the
           remaining three statues, saying, "You can burn them whenever you need. I have understood. Since
           that night, I have not been able for a single moment to forget you -- your beauty, your grace, your
           peace, your silence and your great effort to make me understand that what I had been doing was
           stupid. And I misbehaved with you; I threw you out in the dark night, on a cold night. Still you
           waited for me next morning, to give me another opportunity to understand. And I was so foolish that
           I missed that opportunity too.
           "But two years are enough. You have been haunting me. Now I have come, knowing perfectly well
           that the buddha is within; he is not in the statues of the temples, and the statues of the temples and
           the milestones are not different."
                That reminds me: when for the first time in India, the British government created the roads and
           put the milestones, they painted those milestones red, because red is a very brilliant color and you
           can see it from far away. Particularly in contrast to the greenery of the fields and the forest, it looks
           separate. Any other color may get mixed, but red stands absolutely separate.
                The British engineers who were working on the roads were surprised that the villagers started
           worshiping them! They thought that these were statues of Hanuman. It was a great problem for the
           engineers to tell those villagers that they were just milestones. But the villagers insisted, "They may
           be milestones for you, but for us, it is perfectly good. They look so beautiful, and we are not doing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any harm to you. We will just be worshiping them."
               I have been reading the history ...when the roads were first made in India, the British engineers
           were shocked. They could not prevent the villagers who had said, "You can think of them as
           milestones, but what is the harm if we worship them? To us they look just the statues of Hanuman."
               Bodhidharma's answer cannot be what the disciple has noted here. His answer can only be:
           Remember your own buddhahood, awaken to your own buddhahood, and this awakening will make
           your no-mind one with the buddha. Don't misdirect your worship. You have to worship your own
           innermost consciousness. You are the temple, you are the worshiper, and you are the worshiped.
               BUDDHA IS SANSKRIT FOR WHAT YOU CALL AWARE, MIRACULOUSLY AWARE.
           RESPONDING, PERCEIVING, ARCHING YOUR BROWS, BLINKING YOUR EYES, MOVING
           YOUR HANDS AND FEET, IT IS ALL YOUR MIRACULOUSLY AWARE NATURE. AND
           THIS NATURE IS THE no-MIND. AND THE no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA
           IS THE PATH. AND THE PATH IS ZEN. BUT THE WORD ZEN IS ONE THAT REMAINS A
           PUZZLE. SEEING YOUR NATURE IS ZEN.
               The word ZEN remains a puzzle because it comes from a Sanskrit root; it comes from the word
           DHYAN. Buddha used the contemporary language of his people -- which was a revolutionary step,
           because Sanskrit has always been the language of the scholars. Buddha brought a revolution by
           using the people's language, not the language of the scholars. He used Pali so that every villager
           could understand. In Pali, DHYAN is changed into a little different form; it has become ZH'AN.
               And when Bodhidharma reached China, he talked about ZH'AN. But in Chinese, it took another
           change; it became CH'AN. And then from China, it reached Japan; from CH'AN it became ZEN. Far
           away it lost the original root. Now in Japanese there is no root for ZEN; the word is foreign to
           Japanese. For CH'AN there is no root in Chinese; the word is foreign.
               That's why it is a riddle; what is Zen? But if you can come back to the root, things become
           simple; the puzzle disappears. DHYAN means going beyond the mind, going beyond thought
           process, entering into silence, utter silence where nothing moves, where nothing disturbs, where
           everything is absent -- only a pure emptiness. This space is zen; this space is meditation. There is no
           riddle about it.
               But only in this country can the root of zen be found. Zen was born here in this country; it
           blossomed in Japan. The flowers came in Japan and they were a riddle, because they could not find
           where the root is, where the tree is. They could only see the flowers and the fragrance. The roots
           were far away in this country, and it is such an unfortunate thing that DHYAN flowered to its
           ultimate in Japan, and in India it disappeared almost completely.
               The Indian embassies have been informed by the Indian government that anybody from any
           country of the world who wants to come to India to learn meditation, should not be given any tourist
           visa.
               The government does not know anything about meditation. Politicians cannot afford to be
           meditators, because the foundation of meditation is to be non-ambitious, non-desiring,
           non-achieving. A politician cannot afford to be a meditator. Hence, in Indian universities there is no
           provision for meditation, which is India's greatest contribution to the world. And people who want to
           come to India to learn meditation are prevented by Indian embassies all over the world. They are
           allowed visas to come if they just want to see the Taj Mahal, temples of Khajuraho, go for
           honeymoon to Kashmir, or for any absurd reason, but not for meditation.
               It is one of the unfortunate incidents that has happened in India. India created the greatest
           meditators in the world, and from India the whole of Asia learned meditation. It still is alive in the
           monasteries of Japan; but in India there is no support from any source for India's own greatest
           contribution to human progress. But the reason is clear: the people who are in power don't
           understand even the ABC of being silent. They know only a tense mind, anxieties and worries,
           ambitions, cunningness, pulling each other's legs, sabotaging each other's power. Their whole
           concern is a tremendous ambition for being in power.
               Meditation is totally different; not only different, but a diametrically opposite dimension. It is the
           way of the humble man, it is the way of the simple heart. It is the way of those who want to rejoice
           in disappearing just like a dewdrop disappears in the ocean.
              EVEN IF YOU CAN EXPLAIN THOUSANDS OF SUTRAS AND SHASTRAS, UNLESS YOU SEE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOUR OWN NATURE, YOURS IS THE TEACHING OF A MORTAL.

               You may understand the holy scriptures, you may know the VEDAS, you may know the
           UPANISHADS, you may know THE HOLY BIBLE, you may know the holy KORAN, or the holy
           GITA, but if you don't know yourself, your teaching is just a repetition, a mechanical repetition like
           a parrot. And perhaps parrots are also more intelligent than your pundits.
               I have heard about a bishop who had two parrots, and for years he trained them to recite the
           official Christian prayer. He made small golden beads for the parrots; they were holding the beads
           and reciting the prayer, and any guest who used to come was simply amazed. Their recitation was so
           perfect and they looked almost like saints, with their beads in their hands.
               Finally, because he had been praised so much for what he had done in teaching the parrots, the
           bishop thought he would purchase one more parrot and train him also. So he bought another parrot
           and put that new parrot between those two sages, reciting the prayer with their beads. As the bishop
           went in, one parrot said to the other, "George, now drop the beads. Our prayers have been heard; our
           beloved has reached us."
               It was a female parrot. Even parrots seem to be more intelligent ....
               A man who does not know himself should feel ashamed teaching others just because he knows
           scriptures. Scholarship has no meaning at all in the authentic world of religion. It is a world of
           experience, not of explanations. The man who teaches according to the scriptures is:                ...A
           MORTAL, NOT A BUDDHA. THE TRUE WAY IS SUBLIME. IT CAN'T BE EXPRESSED IN
           LANGUAGE. OF WHAT USE ARE SCRIPTURES? BUT SOMEONE WHO SEES HIS OWN
           NATURE, FINDS THE WAY, EVEN IF HE CAN'T READ A WORD .... EVERYTHING THE
           BUDDHA SAYS IS AN EXPRESSION OF HIS no-MIND. BUT SINCE HIS BODY AND
           EXPRESSIONS ARE BASICALLY EMPTY, YOU CAN'T FIND A BUDDHA IN WORDS.
           ...THE WAY IS BASICALLY PERFECT. IT DOES NOT REQUIRE PERFECTING. THE WAY
           HAS NO FORM OR SOUND. IT IS SUBTLE AND HARD TO PERCEIVE. IT IS LIKE WHEN
           YOU DRINK WATER. YOU KNOW HOW HOT OR COLD IT IS, BUT YOU CAN'T TELL
           OTHERS. OF THAT WHICH ONLY A TATHAGATA KNOWS, MEN AND GODS REMAIN
           UNAWARE. THE AWARENESS OF MORTALS FALLS SHORT.
               You have a little awareness -- but very little. If your whole being can be taken into account, then
           nine parts of it are in darkness and in unconsciousness. Only one part out of ten is conscious, just a
           very superficial layer which can easily be disturbed. Somebody insults you and you forget all about
           humbleness, you forget all about being nice, you immediately become enraged. Suddenly your
           barbarousness comes up. Just a little scratch and the animal starts showing its reality from your very
           being.
               Your civilization is so superficial. It is just like your clothes; you can drop them any moment.
           And you all know that there are moments when you drop all your civilization, all your culture, all
           your religion, all your great qualities that you talk about; within a second, they disappear. Your
           consciousness is so small.
               THE AWARENESS OF MORTALS FALLS VERY SHORT. It cannot reach to the heights of a
           fully awakened human being. That's why a buddha is bound to be misunderstood. Whatever he will
           do is so far away from you -- he is almost on a sunlit peak of the Himalayas and you are in the dark
           valleys. Even if what he says reaches you, it is no longer the same. You hear only resounding
           valleys. Something of it reaches you and you interpret according to your own mind.
               One night it happened: Gautam Buddha used to say to his disciples every night, after his
           discourse, "Now it is time; go and do the last necessary thing. Don't forget before you go to sleep."
           His hint was about the last meditation before you go into sleep. But one night it happened, there was
           a thief in the congregation and there was a prostitute too. When Buddha said, "Now it time you go
           and do the last thing before you go to sleep," the prostitute thought, "My God, he knows that I am
           here, and that it is time for my profession. I should go, hurry up."
               The thief said, "I am hiding in dark corners, because nobody knows .... This man, he may
           recognize that I am a thief, and he has recognized. He is saying to me, `Now go, and do the last
           thing, before you go to sleep. It is time.' My God, this man is really strange. I have to run now; it is
           late and it is time to finish my work; otherwise I won't have any sleep tonight."
               Thousands of the sannyasins went to meditation. The prostitute went to her marketplace. The
           thief started searching for his work. Buddha said one thing, but there were different interpretations
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           according to everybody's own mind.
                AS LONG AS THEY ARE ATTACHED TO APPEARANCES, THEY ARE UNAWARE
           THAT THEIR no-MIND IS EMPTY. AND BY MISTAKENLY CLINGING TO THE
           APPEARANCE OF THINGS, THEY LOSE THE WAY.
           IF YOU KNOW THAT EVERYTHING COMES FROM no-MIND ...
                Everything comes from nothingness, and disappears again into nothingness. And you see it
           happening every day; from a seed a tree arises. You just cut the seed and see -- you will not find any
           tree, you will not find any branches, you will not find any foliage, you will not find any fragrance,
           any fruits -- nothing, just emptiness.
                But from a seed, which is nothing but emptiness, a great tree arises with great foliage, with many
           flowers, with many fruits and with millions of seeds. And from each seed, again millions of seeds.
           The scientists who study trees, vegetation, say that a single seed can make the whole earth green. It
           has so much potential, although you cannot see by cutting it -- you will not find anything there.
                Everything comes out of nothingness and goes back into nothingness. Hence there is no need for
           attachment, because attachment will bring misery. Soon it will be gone. The flower that has
           blossomed in the morning, by the evening will be gone.
                Don't get attached; otherwise in the evening there will be misery. Then there will be tears, then
           you will miss the flower. Enjoy while it is. But remember, it has come out of nothing, and it will go
           back to nothing. And the same is true about everything, even about people.
                You love a man, you love a woman; from where have they come? From very small seeds which
           cannot even be seen by bare eyes. If they are put in front of you, they will not be bigger than the full
           stop. And you will not recognize that this is you, or that one day you were like this, that this is your
           old photograph.
                One day you will disappear on a funeral pyre -- just into nothingness, as smoke. Don't get
           attached to anything. This attachment takes you away from your real being; you become focused on
           the thing to which you are attached. Your awareness gets lost in things, in money, in people, in
           power. And there are a thousand and one things, the whole thick jungle around you, to be lost in.
                Remember, non-attachment is the secret of finding yourself, then awareness can turn inwards
           because you don't have anything outside to catch hold of. It is free, and in this freedom you can
           know your self-nature.           ...DON'T BECOME ATTACHED. ONCE ATTACHED, YOU ARE
           UNAWARE. BUT ONCE YOU SEE YOUR OWN NATURE, THE ENTIRE CANON BECOMES
           SO MUCH PROSE.
                Then all the scriptures are useless. You have seen the holiest of the holy; the very source of the
           UPANISHADS, the very source of the VEDAS, the very source of all so-called holy scriptures.
           When you have found the source, who bothers about scriptures? They are so much prose, nothing
           else.
                ITS THOUSANDS OF SUTRAS AND SHASTRAS ONLY AMOUNT TO A CLEAR
           no-MIND. UNDERSTANDING COMES IN MID-SENTENCE.
                This is such a beautiful statement. Understanding does not come through words, but through gaps
           -- in the moments of silence.
              UNDERSTANDING COMES IN MID-SENTENCE. WHAT GOOD ARE DOCTRINES?
              THE ULTIMATE TRUTH IS BEYOND WORDS. DOCTRINES ARE WORDS. THEY ARE NOT THE
              WAY. THE WAY IS WORDLESS. WORDS ARE ILLUSIONS. THEY ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM
              THINGS THAT APPEAR IN YOUR DREAMS AT NIGHT, BE THEY PALACES OR CARRIAGES ....
              DON'T CONCEIVE ANY DELIGHT FOR SUCH THINGS. THEY ARE ALL CRADLES OF REBIRTH.
              KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN YOU APPROACH DEATH. DON'T CLING TO APPEARANCES, AND
              YOU WILL BREAK THROUGH ALL BARRIERS.

               This is a great statement to be remembered because everybody is going to pass through the gates
           of death someday. If you can remember that you are only pure consciousness -- not the body, not the
           mind, not the heart, not your money, not your prestige, not your power, not your house, but just pure
           consciousness -- then you can pass through the barrier of death unscratched. Then death cannot make
           even a dent in you.
           Death has power over you only if you are attached.
               You are not afraid of death. The basic psychology is you are afraid of death because it will take
           you away from all your attachments. If it were possible that you could take your wife and your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           children and your house and your money and your power and everything that you think belongs to
           you, with yourself when you are dying, I don't think you would be afraid. You would rejoice; a great
           adventure -- going with the whole caravan. But death cuts everything away from you, leaves you
           utterly naked -- only as a consciousness ....
               In the UPANISHADS there is an ancient story that I have always loved. A great king named
           Yayati became one hundred years old. Now it was enough; he had lived tremendously. He had
           enjoyed all that life could make available. He was one of the greatest kings of his time. But the story
           is beautiful ....
               Death came and said to Yayati, "Get ready. It is time for you, and I have come to take you."
           Yayati saw Death, and he was a great warrior and he had won many wars. Yayati started trembling,
           and said, "But it is too early." Death said, "Too early! You have been alive for one hundred years.
           Even your children have become old. Your eldest son is eighty years old. What more do you want?"
               Yayati had one hundred sons because he had one hundred wives. He asked Death, "Can you do a
           favor for me? I know you have to take someone. If I can persuade one of my sons, can you leave me
           for one hundred years more and take one of my sons?" Death said, "That is perfectly okay if
           somebody else is ready to go. But I don't think .... If you are not ready, and you are the father and
           you have lived more and you have enjoyed everything, why should your son be ready?"
               Yayati called his one hundred sons. The older sons remained silent. There was great silence,
           nobody was saying anything. Only one, the youngest son who was only sixteen years of age, stood
           up and he said, "I am ready." Even Death felt sorry for the boy and said to the young man, "Perhaps
           you are too innocent. Can't you see your ninety-nine brothers are absolutely silent? Someone is
           eighty, someone is seventy-five, someone is seventy-eight, someone is seventy, someone is sixty --
           they have lived -- but they still want to live. And you have not lived at all. Even I feel sad to take
           you. You think again."
               The boy said, "No, just seeing the situation makes me completely certain. Don't feel sad or sorry;
           I am going with absolute awareness. I can see that if my father is not satisfied in one hundred years,
           what is the point of being here? How can I be satisfied? I am seeing my ninety-nine brothers; nobody
           is satisfied. So why waste time? At least I can do this favor to my father. In his old age, let him enjoy
           one hundred years more. But I am finished. Seeing the situation that nobody is satisfied, I can
           understand one thing completely -- that even if I live one hundred years, I will not be satisfied either.
           So it doesn't matter whether I go today or after ninety years. You just take me."
               Death took the boy. And after one hundred years he came back. And Yayati was in the same
           position. And he said, "These hundred years passed so soon. All my old sons have died, but I have
           another regiment. I can give you some son. Just have mercy on me."
               It went on -- the story goes on to say -- for one thousand years. Ten times Death came. And nine
           times he took some son and Yayati lived one hundred years more. The tenth time Yayati said,
           "Although I am still as unsatisfied as I was when you came for the first time, now -- although
           unwillingly, reluctantly -- I will go, because I cannot go on asking for favors. It is too much. And
           one thing has become certain to me, that if one thousand years cannot help me to be contented, then
           even ten thousand will not do."
               It is the attachment. You can go on living but as the idea of death strikes you, you will start
           trembling. But if you are not attached to anything, death can come this very moment and you will be
           in a very welcoming mood. You will be absolutely ready to go. In front of such a man, death is
           defeated. Death is defeated only by those who are ready to die any moment, without any reluctance.
           They become the immortals, they become the buddhas.
               A MOMENT'S HESITATION WHEN DEATH COMES AND YOU WILL BE UNDER THE
           SPELL OF DEVILS. YOUR REAL BODY, your real being IS PURE AND IMPERVIOUS. BUT
           BECAUSE OF DELUSIONS, YOU ARE UNAWARE OF IT. AND BECAUSE OF THIS, YOU
           SUFFER IN VAIN. WHEREVER YOU FIND DELIGHT, YOU FIND BONDAGE. BUT ONCE
           YOU AWAKEN TO YOUR ORIGINAL BEING AND no-MIND, YOU ARE NO LONGER
           BOUND BY ATTACHMENTS.
           This freedom is the goal of all religious search.
           Freedom from attachment is freedom from death.
               Freedom from attachment is freedom from the wheel of birth and death. Freedom from
           attachment makes you capable of entering into the universal light and becoming one with it. And that
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is the greatest blessing, the ultimate ecstasy beyond which nothing else exists. You have come home.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                              Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                  Chapter #7
                             Chapter title: Get ready and claim your inheritance
           8 July 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707080
              ShortTitle: BODHI07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 116 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              ANYONE WHO GIVES UP THE TRANSCENDENT FOR THE MUNDANE, IN ANY OF ITS MYRIAD
              FORMS, IS A MORTAL. A BUDDHA IS SOMEONE WHO FINDS FREEDOM IN GOOD FORTUNE
              AND BAD. SUCH IS HIS POWER, KARMA CAN'T HOLD HIM. NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF
              KARMA, A BUDDHA TRANSFORMS IT. HEAVEN AND HELL ARE NOTHING TO HIM.           ...IF
              YOU'RE NOT SURE, DON'T ACT. ONCE YOU ACT, YOU WANDER THROUGH BIRTH AND
              DEATH AND REGRET HAVING NO REFUGE ..... TO UNDERSTAND THIS MIND, YOU HAVE TO
              ACT WITHOUT ACTING. ONLY THEN WILL YOU SEE THINGS FROM A TATHAGATA'S
              PERSPECTIVE.
              BUT WHEN YOU FIRST EMBARK ON THE PATH, YOUR AWARENESS WON'T BE FOCUSED.
              YOU'RE LIKELY TO SEE ALL SORTS OF STRANGE, DREAMLIKE SCENES. BUT YOU
              SHOULDN'T DOUBT THAT ALL SUCH SCENES COME FROM YOUR OWN MIND AND NOWHERE
              ELSE.
              IF YOU SEE A LIGHT BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN, YOUR REMAINING ATTACHMENTS WILL
              SUDDENLY COME TO AN END, AND THE NATURE OF REALITY WILL BE REVEALED. SUCH AN
              OCCURRENCE SERVES AS THE BASIS FOR ENLIGHTENMENT. BUT THIS IS SOMETHING
              ONLY YOU KNOW. YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN IT TO OTHERS.       ...OR IF, WHILE YOU'RE WALKING,
              STANDING, SITTING OR LYING IN THE STILLNESS AND DARKNESS OF NIGHT, EVERYTHING
              APPEARS AS THOUGH IN DAYLIGHT, DON'T BE STARTLED. IT'S YOUR OWN MIND ABOUT TO
              REVEAL ITSELF.    ...IF YOU SEE YOUR NATURE, YOU DON'T NEED TO READ SUTRAS OR
              INVOKE BUDDHAS. ERUDITION AND KNOWLEDGE ARE NOT ONLY USELESS, THEY CLOUD
              YOUR AWARENESS. DOCTRINES ARE ONLY FOR POINTING TO THE MIND. ONCE YOU SEE
              YOUR MIND, WHY PAY ATTENTION TO DOCTRINES?
              TO GO FROM MORTAL TO BUDDHA, YOU HAVE TO PUT AN END TO KARMA, NURTURE YOUR
              AWARENESS AND ACCEPT WHAT LIFE BRINGS.        ...ONCE MORTALS SEE THEIR NATURE,
              ALL ATTACHMENTS END. AWARENESS ISN'T HIDDEN. BUT YOU CAN ONLY FIND IT RIGHT
              NOW. IT'S ONLY NOW. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO FIND THE WAY, DON'T HOLD ONTO
              ANYTHING. ONCE YOU PUT AN END TO KARMA AND NURTURE YOUR AWARENESS, ANY
              ATTACHMENTS THAT REMAIN WILL COME TO AN END. UNDERSTANDING COMES
              NATURALLY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO MAKE ANY EFFORT. BUT FANATICS DON'T UNDERSTAND
              WHAT THE BUDDHA MEANT. AND THE HARDER THEY TRY, THE FARTHER THEY GET FROM
              THE SAGE'S MEANING. ALL DAY LONG THEY INVOKE BUDDHAS AND READ SUTRAS. BUT
              THEY REMAIN BLIND TO THEIR OWN DIVINE NATURE, AND THEY DON'T ESCAPE THE
              WHEEL.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A BUDDHA IS AN IDLE PERSON. HE DOESN'T RUN AROUND AFTER FORTUNE AND FAME.
              WHAT GOOD ARE SUCH THINGS IN THE END?


               Bodhidharma does not divide the world into matter and spirit. He is against all divisions. The
           universe is one organic whole. But there seem to be divisions ...then they must be coming from
           somewhere else, because the world is undivided. They come from your consciousness. If you are not
           conscious, you are a mortal; if you are conscious, you are immortal. If you are unconscious, you look
           at the world as mundane, and that which is beyond the world as sacred. But if you are conscious,
           aware, enlightened, a buddha, then there is nothing mundane and nothing sacred. Then everything is
           one.
           This oneness has to be deeply understood.
               Divisions come from our consciousness or unconsciousness; it is our perspective. Just like the
           blind man standing in the sun is still in darkness ...it is not that there is darkness outside of him. It is
           bright light, a beautiful morning, the birds singing praises and welcoming the sun. And the flowers
           are opening their buds and releasing their fragrance to the wind. It is a tremendous experience. But
           for the blind man, there are no colors, no flowers, no sun, no light. If his eyes are cured, suddenly he
           will be amazed that the world of darkness he used to see before is the same as the world of light
           which he sees now. The division was because of his blindness, not because there is a division in
           existence itself.
               On this point Bodhidharma has a tremendous contribution to make. Most of the philosophers of
           the world and founders of religions have always divided the mundane and the sacred, the material
           and the spiritual, without knowing that the moment you divide existence as material and spiritual
           you are also dividing man into body and soul. And a man divided within himself is a house divided
           which can fall any moment. A man divided within himself is always in a constant fight with himself;
           his whole energy is wasted in fighting with himself. He cannot use his energy in a beautiful
           flowering. Springs come and go, but he has no energy to bring flowers. He is exhausted.
               Perhaps the vested interests of the world have always wanted man to be tired and exhausted. It is
           supportive to their vested interests, because a man overflowing with energy cannot be prevented
           from being a rebel.
               A man who is tired and exhausted cannot be provoked into any rebellion against any injustice,
           against any exploitation. He has no energy for it. He is living at the minimum, while he could have
           lived at the maximum. But a basic conspiracy against man has been practiced down the ages: divide.
           And that is the fundamental principle of all rulers -- divide and rule. Religious preachers, priests,
           have not been anything other than politicians. Their whole desire is also to divide and rule.
               An undivided individual cannot be enslaved. This division is a kind of castration. Just see the
           beauty of a bull: you cannot force him to carry your cart, you cannot keep him on the road under
           your control. He has so much power and so much individuality that he will choose his path, he will
           go this way and that way. And if he comes across a girlfriend, then your life and your cart are both in
           danger!
               But just look at a bullock, carrying your carts, your loads ...you have destroyed the beauty, the
           energy, the individuality, by castrating the bull. It is the same animal, but now without any energy.
           You have made him impotent, and he was so potent ....
               Strangely enough, the same has been done with man. All the religions and all the politicians of
           the world have been castrating man; otherwise man would also have the beauty and the grandeur and
           the splendor of being a bull, not a bullock. A bullock is a tragedy. A bullock is a condemnation of all
           those who have destroyed his natural beauty, power, potentiality. But to make a slave of a bull, this
           was a necessary step.
               Why has man tolerated all kinds of exploitations, humiliations, slavery? For a simple reason: he
           has no energy. Where has his energy gone? He has been taught and conditioned to fight with
           himself. The conspiracy is really very clever. By fighting with yourself, you are destroying yourself.
               Bodhidharma's singular teaching is to know your self-nature, which is undivided, which is
           neither separate nor profane, which is neither material nor spiritual -- which is transcendent,
           transcendent to all divisions, all dualities. This transcendental in you is your real being. And it has so
           much energy, so much overflowing power that it brings all kinds of blessings to you without ever
           being asked. It brings all kinds of beautiful flowers to blossom within your being without being
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           asked. It is simply natural.
               Man has been put into an unnatural situation; hence his misery, his suffering, his hell. To be
           unnatural is to be in hell, and to be in your self-nature is to be in heaven. There is no other hell, there
           is no other heaven.
               These sutras are tremendously significant for all those who want to know their self-nature.
           Because that is the ultimate wisdom, and out of it, all your actions become beautiful, gracious, good
           -- without any effort on your part, just naturally, as naturally as a roseflower grows out of a rosebush.
           Goodness, beauty, grace, virtue ...everything grows naturally, without any effort, without any action
           on your part, once you know your self-nature.
               This is the greatest knowing in the whole of existence.
              ANYONE WHO GIVES UP THE TRANSCENDENT FOR THE MUNDANE, IN ANY OF ITS MYRIAD
              FORMS, IS A MORTAL.

               To give up the transcendent .... Remember the meaning of the transcendent: that which
           transcends all dualities. Anyone who forgets the language of oneness with existence unnecessarily
           becomes a mortal. Then there is death -- against life. Then there is body -- against spirit. Then
           everything has its polar opposite. Then there is love as a polar opposite to hate. But remember one
           fundamental thing: the polar opposites are exchangeable. Love can become hate, hate can become
           love -- and you all know it.
               Friendship can turn into enmity, and enmity can become friendship. You all know -- happiness
           can turn into sadness, and sadness can change into happiness. Although they are polar opposites,
           they are almost like twins, very close. Just a slight change in circumstances and one disappears ...the
           other was just behind it.
               So remember the transcendent -- existence belongs to the transcendental. Don't divide it;
           otherwise you will be continuously tortured by the duality.
              A BUDDHA IS SOMEONE WHO FINDS FREEDOM IN GOOD FORTUNE AND BAD.

               It does not matter to a man of awareness whether he is successful or unsuccessful, whether he is
           well known or absolutely unknown, whether he is somebody powerful or just a nobody, a nonentity.
           To a man of awareness, all these dualities don't matter at all, because awareness is the greatest
           treasure. When you have it, you don't want anything else. You don't want to become a president of a
           country, or a prime minister of a country. Those are for children, retarded people, to play the game.
               The people who go on running after ambitions are no more intelligent than football players.
           Their games may have different names, but their reality is the same. And they suffer continuously.
           Even in their success they suffer, because then they become afraid of whether they are also going to
           keep this successful position tomorrow. First they were suffering because they were not successful;
           now they are suffering because people are dragging on their legs, and everybody wants to be in their
           place.
               To be on a powerful throne is to be in a most hilarious position. Everybody is pulling you down
           and you have to remain glued to the throne, whatever happens. Somebody is pulling your hands,
           somebody is taking your head, somebody is taking your legs away ...whatever happens, dead or
           alive, you are determined to remain on the throne.
               The life of a successful man is not a life of peace. And if this is the situation of success, you can
           conceive the situation of failure. If this is the situation of times you call good, you can understand
           the situation of times which are bad.
               But for a man of awareness, it is all the same. Success comes and goes, failure comes and goes.
           You remain untouched and aloof.
               This aloofness, this untouchedness, is your transcendental self-nature. Nothing makes even a
           scratch on you.
               One of the mystics of India, Kabir, sings a song, JYON KI TYON DHAR DINHI
           CHADARIYA. "I have returned to God" or to existence, "the clothing that he had given to me to live
           in the world -- without any change. I have not made it dirty; not even a particle of dust has gathered
           on it. I have put it back into his hands exactly as fresh as it was when he gave it to me." This is the
           experience of an awakened man. He lives in the darkest nights in the same silence, in the same
           peace, as he lives in the brightest day. He never makes the division. He remains always
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           transcendental, he remains always above any divisions. Divisions are left far behind.
              SUCH IS HIS POWER, ACTIONS CAN'T HOLD HIM. NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF ACTION, A
              BUDDHA TRANSFORMS IT.

                This statement has to be taken deep into your heart ....
                You have heard the story in Greek mythology of King Midas, who had been praying his whole
           life to God: "Just grant me one wish, that whatever I touch must turn into gold." And it seems God
           became tired of his continuous nagging ...because what are your prayers other than nagging?
                And a poor God, and so many nagging people, and he has been nagged for millions of years -- it
           is no wonder if he has disappeared or committed suicide or whatever has happened. Nobody can
           tolerate that much nagging.
                Finally, God granted him the wish -- "Whatever you touch will turn into gold. And now leave me
           at peace!"
                But the unconscious man cannot do anything better. Friedrich Nietzsche is right when he says
           that if all your prayers were fulfilled, you would be in utter hell. Your prayers are coming from your
           unconsciousness; you don't know what you are asking for. It is good that God is deaf and no prayer
           is ever answered; otherwise you would repent ..."Why have I prayed ...?"
                And this was the situation with King Midas. He had never thought of all the implications of his
           whole lifelong prayer. Morning and evening he went on praying only for one thing: "I don't want
           anything else. Just a simple thing -- whatever I touch should be transformed into gold."
                But as the prayer was granted he became aware of its implications. He could not eat because
           whatever he touched turned into gold. He could not drink because by the time his lips touched the
           water, it would turn into gold. His wife escaped, his children left him, his friends stopped coming to
           see him. Even his servants remained alert. All his great courtiers forgot to come to his court. He used
           to sit alone -- hungry, thirsty, but it was now too late. It took his whole life to pray to get the wish.
           Now to get it canceled would take a whole life again!
                He started praying but nothing happened. He died from starvation, and he killed a few people by
           touching them. He certainly made a gold palace by touching his house; all his furniture became gold
           -- but what is the purpose of it? He suffered so badly as perhaps nobody has ever suffered, and he
           was one of the richest men in the world.
                You have heard about "green thumbs" -- gardeners have them. Great gardeners have them;
           whatever they touch turns green. King Midas had golden fingers; whatever he touched turned into
           gold. But he lost his wife, he lost his friends, he lost his courtiers, he lost everything -- although he
           was the most successful and the richest man.
                A man of awareness, a buddha, also has a transforming power: whatever he touches becomes
           blissful. Misery comes to him and he finds in it something blissful; sadness comes to him and he
           finds something immensely beautiful and silent in it. Death comes to him but he finds only
           immortality in it. Whatever he touches is transformed, because now he has the transcendental
           perspective. And that is the greatest power in the world -- not power over anybody, but simply your
           intrinsic power.
                Night becomes as beautiful as day; death becomes as much a celebration as life, because the man
           of transcendence knows that he is eternal.
           Lives come and go, deaths come and go.
           He remains untouched, he remains always beyond.
                This quality of remaining always beyond is the true enlightenment. Heaven and hell are nothing
           to him. Hence, once when Bodhidharma was asked, "What do you say about heaven and hell?" he
           said, "I cannot say anything because it all depends on you."
                The man was puzzled: how can heaven and hell depend on a poor man? Bodhidharma said,
           "There is no hell and there is no heaven. Wherever a man of awareness dwells, there is heaven; and
           wherever a man of unawareness dwells, there is hell."
                You carry your hell in your unconsciousness and you carry your heaven in consciousness. These
           are not geographical places, these are states of your being. Asleep, you are in hell and suffering from
           nightmares. Awake, you are in heaven and all suffering has ceased.
              HEAVEN AND HELL ARE NOTHING TO HIM.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I am reminded of a beautiful incident that happened in the life of Edmund Burke, an English
           philosopher. He had a great friendship with the archbishop of England -- and the archbishop of
           England is equal to the pope. As far as the church of England is concerned, the archbishop is the
           representative of Jesus Christ.
                Edmund Burke and the archbishop were great friends because they had studied together in the
           university. And the archbishop used to come to listen to Edmund Burke's lectures, whenever he
           announced lectures. But Edmund Burke never went to the archbishop's sermons -- not even once.
           And naturally, the archbishop was waiting: someday ....
                Finally, he himself invited him: "This Sunday you have to come. No excuses." And he prepared
           his life's best sermon. He wanted to impress Edmund Burke ...and he constantly looked at him,
           because he was sitting in the front row. And the archbishop was feeling great fear, because he did
           not see even a sign on the face of Edmund Burke that he was impressed or moved. Although he was
           shouting and beating the table and doing every kind of gymnastics that Christian missionaries are
           trained to do, Edmund Burke remained silent, without saying a word.
                The sermon finished, and they both left in the same car. Edmund Burke was still silent ...the
           archbishop was thinking perhaps he would say something now. And they came to his house and he
           was getting out of the car, and the archbishop could not contain his temptation to ask -- "You have
           not said anything about my sermon. Say ANYTHING. Even if it was not good, at least say it;
           otherwise I will continuously think about it, about what your impression was."
                Edmund Burke said, "It was neither good nor bad, it was simply stupid. You made such idiotic
           statements that I would have never thought a man of your intelligence could make."
           He said, "What idiotic statements?"
                Edmund Burke said, "You said that those who believe in Jesus Christ and do good works will go
           to heaven. And those who don't believe in Jesus Christ and do evil acts will go to hell. Can't you see
           the idiocy in it, the stupidity?"
           The archbishop said, "I can't see it yet."
                Edmund Burke said, "Then I will show it to you: If a man does not believe in Jesus Christ and
           does good works, where is he going? And if a man believes in Jesus Christ and does evil acts, where
           is he going? Are good works and evil acts to be decisive? Then the belief in Jesus Christ is
           superfluous. Or if the belief in Jesus Christ is the criterion, then the question of good acts or evil acts
           is irrelevant."
                The archbishop had never thought about it. Perhaps no religious person ever thinks about it, that
           a man can be absolutely religious without believing in any religion, that a man's life can be
           absolutely the life of wisdom and goodness without believing in any God, without believing in any
           prophet, without believing in any savior. And vice versa: A man may believe in God, in Jesus, and
           still his life will be nothing but the life of an animal.
                The archbishop said, "The question is very difficult and I have never thought about it. You will
           have to give me seven days. Next Sunday in my sermon, I will answer it. You will have to come
           once more, because I would like to make my statement before my whole congregation."
                Edmund Burke gave him seven days, and those seven days were of great torture to the
           archbishop. He worked from this way and that way, but he could not find any solution. Either he has
           to insist that belief in Jesus Christ is the criterion -- then virtue and sin, good and evil don't matter.
           Then the whole morality goes down the drain. If he says morality is decisive, then why bother about
           Jesus Christ? Then Jesus Christ goes down the drain.
                And he was trying to keep both together. He could not sleep for seven days. The whole night the
           same question was going round and round in his mind. On the seventh day, he reached the church a
           little early, because he had not found the answer yet and he thought, "It will be better: I should go
           before the time people start coming -- early, in darkness -- to pray to Jesus Christ himself: `You
           show me the way. I cannot find any way out of the puzzle. Whatever I decide seems to be wrong,
           and I have never been in such anguish. Help me.'"
                But he was so tired, and he had not slept for seven days, so just putting his head at the feet of
           Jesus Christ's statue, he fell asleep and he dreamt a beautiful dream: He was sitting in a train which
           was going very fast, and he asked, "Where are we going?" The people said, "You don't know? This
           train is going to heaven."
                He said, "My God, perhaps this is the answer from Jesus Christ -- `look with your own eyes!'"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And the train stopped at the station where, in very faded words, hardly visible, was written "heaven"
           and all over, it looked like a desert, a wasteland.
                He could not think that heaven should be like this. He asked again, but people were getting
           down. They said, "It is heaven." He entered the streets ...they were so rotten and so dirty. He saw a
           few saints, so dry and so dead, sitting under their trees, repeating continuously, "Hallelujah,
           hallelujah."
                He asked them, "Is it truly heaven?" And they said, "What do you think we are doing here? We
           are great saints and with great austerity we have attained heaven."
                He said, "A strange heaven ...not a single flower." He asked a saint, "Can I know -- is Gautam
           Buddha in heaven? Is Socrates here? Is Epicurus here?", because all these people did not believe in
           God, and obviously there was no question of believing in Jesus Christ; they had been born before
           Jesus Christ. And the saint said, "Never heard of any such people here." But they were the people
           who were absolutely good, the very essence of goodness.
                He rushed to the station and enquired, "Is there a train going to hell too?" And they said, "It is
           leaving right now, standing at the platform." So he went on the train towards hell. And as the train
           entered the station of hell, he could not believe -- this should have been heaven! So green, so many
           flowers and everybody so radiant, so joyous, so much music ...as if it were some celebration day.
                He enquired, "Is there some celebration going on?" They said, "No, this is our usual everyday
           life. Celebration is our life." He said, "Can I ask, is Gautam Buddha here? Is Socrates here? Is
           Epicurus here?"
                They said, "They are all here. Just look in the garden by the road -- Gautam Buddha is working
           as a gardener. Since these people came, everything changed. Otherwise, hell used to be just like
           heaven, but since Gautam Buddha, Socrates, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Mahavira, these godless people
           came into hell, they transformed the whole situation.
           "Now, hell is really heaven. The old names remained, but everything has changed and life is just a
           continuous dance. Everything has become a blissfulness. They have brought poetry and music and
           art and they have transformed the whole place."
                Seeing the situation -- it was so shocking -- he woke up. People had started coming; Edmund
           Burke was already sitting in the first row.
                The archbishop must have been a sincere man at least. He said, "I have not been able to find any
           answer. I prayed to Jesus -- I don't know whether this dream is given by Jesus or I have dreamt it
           myself, but this is the only answer I can give to you."
                He simply told his dream, and he said, "Please forgive me for making a stupid statement. I want
           to correct it: Wherever people are who are authentically good, there is heaven. And wherever people
           are who are basically evil, there is hell. These are psychological, spiritual spaces."
                A buddha transforms everything. ...IF YOU'RE NOT SURE, DON'T ACT.
                Bodhidharma is saying in other words, act only out of totality. And this kind of act is possible
           only if your whole being is totally conscious and your action comes from your whole being, not from
           a small part of your being -- then it cannot be total and cannot be sure. Act totally and act intensely,
           and act absolutely in consciousness and in spontaneity. Then whatever you do is good.
                If you act in uncertainty -- with a divided mind, with "either/or," with just a small portion of your
           mind as conscious and the major part as unconscious -- whatever you do it is wrong. It may appear
           good, but appearances cannot deceive.
                For example, you may donate to a poor man, but you are not sure .... To any observer it is a good
           act; you have helped the poor man. But to a man of the perceptivity of a Bodhidharma or a Gautam
           Buddha, you have acted out of uncertainty; hence you have not really been compassionate towards
           his poverty. You are simply bragging about your compassionateness, about your kindness. You are
           simply fulfilling your ego. Nobody will see it, everybody will see that you are serving the poor. But
           you can see that you are serving only your own egoistic idea of yourself that you are a great public
           servant. The whole beautiful act has gone poisonous.
                ONCE YOU ACT out of uncertainty YOU WANDER THROUGH BIRTH AND DEATH AND
           REGRET HAVING NO REFUGE .... TO UNDERSTAND THIS no-MIND, YOU HAVE TO ACT
           WITHOUT ACTING.
                This will look a little illogical, but the philosophy based on meditation takes it as the most logical
           thing: acting without acting. This is one of the fundamentals of Bodhidharma to be understood. What
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I call a spontaneous act is the same -- that way it does not create in your mind a conflict; what I call a
           total act is the same.
                Whenever you act spontaneously, you are not acting. The action is coming out of your life source
           on its own accord; it is acting without action. When you DECIDE to act, when you bring your mind
           in, when you bring your past experiences in, the action is YOUR action. You have decided to do it.
           But when you allow existence to respond and your mind is no longer interfering, you are in a state of
           no-mind. In utter silence, you allow your self-nature to do whatever is spontaneous; you act without
           acting.
                It is almost like a mirror. When you come before a mirror, do you think the mirror thinks,
           "Should I reflect this fellow or not?" Do you think the mirror thinks, "This guy looks like a mafia
           guy with sunglasses -- should I reflect him or not?" Somebody is beautiful, somebody is ugly -- to
           the mirror it does not matter; it is not a question of deciding. The mirror simply reflects them as his
           self-nature -- the nature of the mirror is to reflect. There is no question of any decision or any
           judgment. Seeing a beautiful woman, it does not appreciate her, or seeing a man who looks like a
           camel, it does not hesitate even for a single moment whether to reflect this fellow or not.
                There is a beautiful story about one of the very great mystics, Ashtavakra. The word
           ASHTAVAKRA means that he was the ugliest man you can conceive of. On eight points in his
           body, he was just like a camel; nothing was as it should be. Everything was wrong. His eyes -- one
           would be looking to the left and one would be looking to the right. His legs -- one would be going
           this way, one would be going that way ....he was a very strange fellow. How he managed is difficult
           to conceive.
                There was a great spiritual discussion going on in the court of the king, Janak, and all great
           scholars of the country had gathered there. Ashtavakra's father had also gone -- he was a
           well-known, learned scholar and there was every chance that he might win. And there was a great
           prize for the winner. But it was getting late and Ashtavakra's mother told him, "You should go and
           tell your father that it is so late, and the food is getting cold. He can come and take his food, and then
           he can go back. That discussion is going to continue for days -- so many scholars ...it is not going to
           be finished in one day."
                So Ashtavakra went into the court of the king, and every single scholar started laughing. They
           had never seen such an ugly man -- everything was wrong. Ashtavakra looked at everybody and said
           to the king, "I thought that you had gathered the wise people of the land. But these people seem to be
           shoemakers, because they can't see my being. They can only see my skin, my bones. Are these
           people shoemakers or butchers? Certainly they are not enlightened; otherwise they would not have
           laughed. Their laughter is a judgment; they are humiliating me because of this wrong body. But
           whether the body is wrong or right does not matter; what matters is my consciousness."
                King Janak was so much impressed that he dissolved the council of those learned people, and he
           said, "Now I don't need you. The man I wanted to listen to has come. I wanted a man who knows the
           ways of awareness, consciousness, of the innermost being. And he is right -- you are only learned,
           but you are not enlightened."
                An enlightened man has no judgment. He acts without thinking about it. He acts out of no-mind.
           Hence his action has a beauty and grace and a truth and a goodness and a divineness in it.         ...YOU
           HAVE TO ACT WITHOUT ACTING. ONLY THEN WILL YOU SEE THINGS FROM A
           TATHAGATA'S PERSPECTIVE.
                Unless you come to awareness, spontaneity, total action, action without acting, you cannot know
           the perspective of an enlightened man, his vision towards things and life.
                I have explained to you that a TATHAGATA is a man who accepts everything as it is, in its
           SUCHNESS. He has no condemnation for anything and he has no appreciation for anything. The
           camel is perfect as he is, in his suchness, and the lion is perfect as he is, in his suchness. They are
           simply manifesting their own nature.
                A tathagata's perspective means accepting everybody as he is, without any condemnation,
           without any judgment, respecting everybody as he is, in his suchness. A tathagata never interferes in
           anybody's life, he never trespasses on your territorial imperative. This is his nonviolence, this is his
           love, this is his compassion.
                But to understand his perspective, you will have to come a little closer to his being. You will
           have to learn acting without acting, acting without your mind interfering in it, acting with totality.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And that is possible only when your whole being is full of light, when you are enlightened, when all
           darkness has been dispelled from you.
               Bodhidharma now gives you a few hints. He has given you the goal, tathagata -- now he gives a
           few hints for the beginners on the path:
               BUT WHEN YOU FIRST EMBARK ON THE PATH, YOUR AWARENESS WON'T BE
           FOCUSED. It will be wavering. YOU'RE LIKELY TO SEE ALL SORTS OF STRANGE,
           DREAMLIKE SCENES. BUT YOU SHOULDN'T DOUBT THAT ALL SUCH SCENES COME
           FROM YOUR OWN MIND AND NOWHERE ELSE.
               So don't become attached to any dreamlike scene, howsoever sweet. Gautam Buddha is reported
           to have said, "If you meet me on the path, immediately kill me." He is talking about your meditation.
           If in your meditation you see Gautam Buddha, your mind will try every possible way to convince
           you that you have arrived -- even Gautam Buddha has appeared in your consciousness, now what
           more do you want? Stop worshiping Gautam Buddha!
               And so many so-called saints of the world have only stopped in such dreamlike phenomena.
           There are Christian saints who have seen Christ and have thought they have arrived, and the Christ is
           nothing but a projection of their own mind. No Hindu ever sees Christ; the Hindu sees Krishna, the
           Hindu sees Rama. No Christian ever sees Krishna or Buddha.
               These are our conditionings. The mind is carrying the conditioning of Christ or Krishna or
           Buddha and when you become a little silent, the conditioning comes in front of you. And it is so
           alive that there is every possibility that you may get deluded. Hence, Bodhidharma is making you
           aware that anything that happens on the path in your meditation is just a projection of your mind and
           nothing else. Remove it; whether it is Buddha or Christ or Krishna does not matter. You have to go
           far; you have to go to a point where nothing appears, where all projections of the mind are left
           behind.
           Then you have reached to the transcendental.
           Then you have reached to your self-nature.
               But before your self-nature is revealed, one experience Bodhidharma suggests you remember:
               IF YOU SEE A LIGHT BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN, YOUR REMAINING ATTACHMENTS WILL
               SUDDENLY COME TO AN END, AND THE NATURE OF REALITY WILL BE REVEALED. SUCH AN
               OCCURRENCE SERVES AS THE BASIS FOR ENLIGHTENMENT.

               It is not enlightenment, but it serves as a basis. IF YOU SEE A LIGHT BRIGHTER THAN THE
           SUN ... because mind cannot project it. Mind can project only that which it knows. The mind can
           project the sun, but the mind cannot project a brighter sun which it has never known. IF YOU SEE A
           LIGHT BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN .... Kabir says that in his meditation, it was as if one thousand
           suns had suddenly risen all around him. The light was so blinding that even to keep looking at it was
           scary. This is not enlightenment, but this is the beginning of two things: the end of all your
           attachments -- as if they are burned by this light -- and the creation of a basis for enlightenment.
               BUT THIS IS SOMETHING ONLY YOU KNOW. YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN IT TO OTHERS.

                And in fact you should not talk about it to others because they will simply laugh. They may make
           it ridiculous. They cannot accept that you are ready for enlightenment -- particularly you, whom they
           know perfectly well -- and they have always thought themselves higher than you, holier than you.
           You must be cheating; you are trying to deceive but nobody is going to be deceived by you.
                It is better not to talk about it, because by talking about it, they can destroy it by their comments,
           by their criticism, by their ridicule. They can destroy the very basis for enlightenment. It is better to
           keep it deep in your heart as a secret. It is so valuable that you should not bring it out before others.
           ...OR IF, WHILE YOU'RE WALKING, STANDING, SITTING OR LYING IN THE STILLNESS
           AND DARKNESS OF NIGHT, EVERYTHING APPEARS AS THOUGH IN DAYLIGHT, DON'T
           BE STARTLED. IT'S YOUR OWN no-MIND ABOUT TO REVEAL ITSELF.
                To different people enlightenment comes from different doors. It depends on your uniqueness,
           your individuality. To some it may start with the happening of a brighter sun, or a thousand suns. To
           somebody else it may start ...you are lying in your bed in the night, in darkness, and suddenly you
           start seeing things as if it is full daylight. Don't be startled, don't be afraid: it is a good sign. It will
           create the basis for your enlightenment and it will destroy all your attachments.            ...IF YOU SEE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           YOUR NATURE, YOU DON'T NEED TO READ SUTRAS OR INVOKE BUDDHAS.
           ERUDITION AND KNOWLEDGE ARE NOT ONLY USELESS, THEY CLOUD YOUR
           AWARENESS.
               They are not only useless, they are also harmful, immensely harmful.
               DOCTRINES ARE ONLY FOR POINTING TO THE no-MIND. ONCE YOU SEE YOUR
           no-MIND, WHY PAY ATTENTION TO DOCTRINES?
               There have been many instances of great masters who, when they became enlightened, the first
           thing they did was to burn their scriptures -- their work was finished. Their whole work was
           somehow to indicate to you your self, your self-nature. And once you have seen your self-nature, all
           those doctrines are just rubbish.
               TO GO FROM MORTAL TO BUDDHA ...to go from death to deathlessness, to go from
           divisions to transcendence, YOU HAVE TO PUT AN END to all your actions. You have to learn the
           actionless action.
              NURTURE YOUR AWARENESS AND ACCEPT WHAT LIFE BRINGS.

                These are points to be remembered by everyone who is walking on the path: NURTURE YOUR
           AWARENESS .... How does one nurture one's awareness? Don't miss any opportunity to be aware:
           walking, walk with awareness .... I can move my hand either without awareness or with awareness --
           move your hand with full awareness, and it will bring a great grace to your hand, and a great peace
           and silence will be felt inside.
                Eating, eat with awareness. Most of the time people are simply swallowing unconsciously; that's
           why they eat too much, because their taste is not satisfied. If they were eating with awareness, then
           they would not just be swallowing, they would be chewing.
                The scientists say that unless you chew every bite forty-eight times, you are loading your
           digestive system unnecessarily. And your life span depends on your digestive system: if it remains
           young and alive, you can remain longer in the body. But if you are simply swallowing, you don't
           know ...your digestive system doesn't have teeth, it cannot chew. The chewing has to be done by you
           in the mouth; beyond the mouth there is no question of chewing. And the unchewed food is a load, is
           a burden; it hurts your digestive system, it hurts your intestines. It creates all kinds of troubles in
           your stomach.
                Just try one day, to count forty-eight times -- and you will remain aware because you have to
           count. You cannot go on thinking of other things. You have to be focused on your chewing and
           counting: one, two, three, four, up to forty-eight, and only then are you allowed to swallow.
                Nurturing awareness means making everything an opportunity to be aware. So more and more
           awareness in twenty-four hours ...taking a shower, don't just take it unconsciously, mechanically.
           Because you always take it, you know -- you just stand under the shower and you go on thinking of a
           thousand and one things. Under the shower the only thing is to be aware of the coolness that is
           coming to you, the freshness that is coming to you. Be fully aware of it.
                Nurturing your consciousness means a twenty-four hour, day and night program. It is not tiring;
           on the contrary, it is very refreshing, rejuvenating.
                And the second thing: AND ACCEPT WHAT LIFE BRINGS. That is TATHATA -- whatever
           life brings. Accept it with thankfulness and gratitude, because there was no necessity for life to bring
           that thing to you.
                A cool breeze comes -- do you think you have earned it? Do you think you deserve it? Do you
           think existence owes it to you? A beautiful cloud passes, a beautiful sunset and all the colors on the
           horizon, a rainbow with all the seven colors ...accept everything that life brings to you with
           gratitude, with joy, with thankfulness. This will slowly, slowly, create in you a deep acceptance of
           everything. And in that deep acceptance is hidden the transcendence.          ...ONCE MORTALS SEE
           THEIR NATURE, ALL ATTACHMENTS END. AWARENESS ISN'T HIDDEN. BUT YOU CAN
           ONLY FIND IT RIGHT NOW. IT'S ONLY NOW.
                This statement has to be understood. The insistence on NOW is to prevent you from postponing.
           People, thousands of people have told me during these three decades that I have been working with
           them, "I will start meditating." WILL start? If you have understood the meaning of meditation, then
           NOW is the moment, not postponement.
                Postponement simply means you have not understood. Meditation is not yet on the top of your
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           laundry list, it is somewhere at the bottom. First you will earn money, then you have to marry off
           your daughter, then your son is going to medical college, then you have to build a house, and so on
           and so forth -- the laundry list is infinite. And at the bottom of it -- if, God willing you are still alive
           ...most probably you will not be, because the list is too long and your life is too short -- you won't
           have time left to meditate. Death will come before meditation comes.
               Hence the emphasis on NOW -- because at least one thing is certain: death has not come, not yet.
           This is the moment you are certain you are alive. But who knows about the next moment? So don't
           postpone it even for a single moment. If you want to become an enlightened being, then NOW is the
           moment, then HERE is the place.
              IF YOU REALLY WANT TO FIND THE WAY, DON'T HOLD ONTO ANYTHING.

               No prejudices -- if you really want to find the way, don't make demands. Don't say that the way
           has to fulfill these certain demands. You don't know the way. Go with humbleness, not with a
           demanding ego; otherwise, you will never find the way. Your prejudiced mind will never allow you
           to go beyond it. And the way goes beyond the mind.            ...DON'T HOLD ONTO ANYTHING.
           ONCE YOU PUT AN END TO all your actions -- actions which are decided by your mind and are
           not spontaneous -- AND NURTURE YOUR AWARENESS, ANY ATTACHMENTS THAT
           REMAIN WILL COME TO AN END ...by their simply being understood as meaningless.
               As your awareness grows, your attachments decrease. A full awareness means no attachments.
           That does not mean that you can't have friends; that does not mean that you have to renounce the
           world. That simply means that you don't get glued with people -- that is an ugly state. You enjoy,
           you share, but you never depend on anybody or on anything; you never become a slave.
               Dropping attachments is really dropping all slavery and dependence on things and people. It
           brings to you a great freedom -- the only authentic freedom. Political freedoms don't mean much,
           economic freedoms don't mean much. The only real freedom is spiritual freedom and that comes
           through dropping all your attachments and creating a great pillar of fire, of awareness.
              UNDERSTANDING COMES NATURALLY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO MAKE ANY EFFORT. BUT
              FANATICS DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE BUDDHA MEANT. AND THE HARDER THEY TRY,
              THE FARTHER THEY GET FROM THE SAGE'S MEANING. ALL DAY LONG THEY INVOKE
              BUDDHAS AND READ SUTRAS. BUT THEY REMAIN BLIND TO THEIR OWN DIVINE NATURE,
              AND THEY DON'T ESCAPE THE WHEEL.
              A BUDDHA IS AN IDLE PERSON, because he does not do anything on his own part. He is an idle
              person not because he is lazy, he is an idle person because he is spontaneous. Whenever a situation
              arises that needs a response, he waits for his consciousness, his self-nature to respond naturally
              without any effort. He is a man of effortless effort, actionless action. He has simply allowed the
              existence to function through him.
              He is no more.
              He is just a hollow bamboo.

              A singer can make a flute out of him and can sing songs. The only function of the flute is not to
           hinder the song. A buddha is just a hollow bamboo; the song comes from existence itself.
              A BUDDHA IS AN IDLE PERSON. HE DOESN'T RUN AROUND AFTER FORTUNE AND FAME.
              WHAT GOOD ARE SUCH THINGS IN THE END?

                They simply destroy your life. They destroy all the opportunities to know yourself. They destroy
           all the opportunities to make your life a great blessing, a great benediction.
                These simple sutras of Bodhidharma can bring you the greatest ecstasy that existence is keeping
           ready for you.
           It is just that you are not ready.
           Get ready and claim your inheritance.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.
10/28/07                                       Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                           Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                              Chapter #8
                          Chapter title: Everybody has the right to be wrong
           8 July 1987 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707085
              ShortTitle: BODHI08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 115 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              AMONG SHAKYAMUNI'S TEN GREATEST DISCIPLES, ANANDA WAS FOREMOST IN LEARNING.
              BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW THE BUDDHA. ALL HE DID WAS STUDY AND MEMORIZE. ARHATS
              DON'T KNOW THE BUDDHA. ALL THEY KNOW ARE SO MANY PRACTICES FOR REALIZATION,
              AND THEY BECOME TRAPPED BY CAUSE AND EFFECT. SUCH IS A MORTAL'S KARMA: NO
              ESCAPE FROM BIRTH AND DEATH. BY DOING THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE INTENDED, SUCH
              PEOPLE BLASPHEME THE BUDDHA. KILLING THEM WOULD NOT BE WRONG. THE SUTRAS
              SAY, "SINCE ICCHANTIKAS ARE INCAPABLE OF BELIEF, KILLING THEM WOULD BE
              BLAMELESS, WHILE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE REACH THE STATE OF BUDDHAHOOD."
              ...PEOPLE WHO SEE THAT THEIR MINDS ARE THE BUDDHA DON'T NEED TO SHAVE THEIR
              HEADS. LAYMEN ARE BUDDHAS TOO. UNLESS THEY SEE THEIR NATURE, PEOPLE WHO
              SHAVE THEIR HEADS ARE SIMPLY FANATICS.
              BUT SINCE MARRIED LAYMEN DON'T GIVE UP SEX, HOW CAN THEY BECOME BUDDHAS?
              I ONLY TALK ABOUT SEEING YOUR NATURE. I DON'T TALK ABOUT SEX SIMPLY BECAUSE
              YOU DON'T SEE YOUR NATURE. ONCE YOU SEE YOUR NATURE, SEX IS BASICALLY
              IMMATERIAL. IT ENDS ALONG WITH YOUR DELIGHT IN IT. EVEN IF SOME HABITS REMAIN,
              THEY CAN'T HARM YOU. BECAUSE YOUR NATURE IS ESSENTIALLY PURE. DESPITE
              DWELLING IN A MATERIAL BODY OF FIVE AGGREGATES, YOUR NATURE IS BASICALLY
              PURE. IT CAN'T BE CORRUPTED.    ...ONCE YOU STOP CLINGING AND LET THINGS BE,
              YOU'LL BE FREE, EVEN OF BIRTH AND DEATH. YOU'LL TRANSFORM EVERYTHING. YOU'LL
              POSSESS SPIRITUAL POWERS THAT CAN'T BE OBSTRUCTED. AND YOU'LL BE AT PEACE
              WHEREVER YOU ARE. IF YOU DOUBT THIS, YOU'LL NEVER SEE THROUGH ANYTHING.
              YOU'RE BETTER OFF DOING NOTHING. ONCE YOU ACT, YOU CAN'T AVOID THE CYCLE OF
              BIRTH AND DEATH. BUT ONCE YOU SEE YOUR NATURE, YOU'RE A BUDDHA, EVEN IF YOU
              WORK AS A BUTCHER.
              BUT BUTCHERS CREATE KARMA BY SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS. HOW CAN THEY BE
              BUDDHAS?
              I ONLY TALK ABOUT SEEING YOUR NATURE. I DON'T TALK ABOUT CREATING KARMA.
              REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE DO, OUR KARMA HAS NO HOLD ON US.          ...IN INDIA, THE
              TWENTY-SEVEN PATRIARCHS ONLY TRANSMITTED THE IMPRINT OF THE MIND. AND THE
              ONLY REASON I'VE COME TO CHINA IS TO TRANSMIT THE INSTANTANEOUS TEACHING OF
              THE MAHAYANA: THIS MIND IS THE BUDDHA. I DON'T TALK ABOUT PRECEPTS, DEVOTIONS
              OR ASCETIC PRACTICES ....
              LANGUAGE AND BEHAVIOR, PERCEPTION AND CONCEPTION ARE ALL FUNCTIONS OF THE
              MOVING MIND. ALL MOTION IS THE MIND'S MOTION .... THE MIND NEITHER MOVES NOR
              FUNCTIONS. BECAUSE THE ESSENCE OF ITS FUNCTIONS IS EMPTINESS. AND EMPTINESS
              IS ESSENTIALLY MOTIONLESS.
              HENCE, THE SUTRAS TELL US TO MOVE WITHOUT MOVING, TO TRAVEL WITHOUT
              TRAVELING, TO SEE WITHOUT SEEING, TO LAUGH WITHOUT LAUGHING, TO HEAR WITHOUT
              HEARING, TO KNOW WITHOUT KNOWING, TO BE HAPPY WITHOUT BEING HAPPY, TO WALK
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WITHOUT WALKING, TO STAND WITHOUT STANDING. AND THE SUTRAS SAY, "GO BEYOND
              LANGUAGE. GO BEYOND THOUGHT."   ...I COULD GO ON, BUT THIS BRIEF SERMON WILL
              HAVE TO DO.


                Bodhidharma's teachings in these sutras are profoundly interesting and of great importance for all
           pilgrims of truth. But there are a few false statements. And for the first time, perhaps these false
           statements are not due to the misunderstanding of the disciples; these false statements have been
           made by Bodhidharma himself.
                Hence, before I go into the sutras, I would like to make clear a few things.
                First, the teachings of Gautam Buddha have created two kinds of seekers: one is called
           ARHATA and the other is called BODHISATTVA.
                The arhata is someone who makes every effort to become enlightened and once he is enlightened
           he completely forgets about those who are still groping in the dark. He has no concern with others. It
           is enough for him to become enlightened. In fact, according to the arhatas, even the great idea of
           compassion is nothing but again another kind of attachment -- and it has some significance to be
           understood.
                Compassion is also a relationship; howsoever beautiful and great, it is also a concern with others.
           It is also a desire. Although it is a good desire it makes no difference. According to the arhatas,
           desire is a bondage whether it is good or bad. The chains can be made of gold or of steel, it doesn't
           matter; chains are chains. Compassion is a golden chain.
                The arhata insists that nobody can help anybody else at all. The very idea of helping others is
           based on wrong foundations. You can help only yourself.
                It may occur to the ordinary mind that the arhata is very selfish. But if you look without any
           prejudice, perhaps he also has something immensely important to declare to the world: Even helping
           the other is an interference in his life, in his lifestyle, in his destiny, in his future. Hence, arhatas
           don't believe in any compassion. Compassion to them is another beautiful desire to keep you tethered
           to the world of attachments. It is another name -- beautiful, but still just a name for a desiring mind.
                Why should you be interested that somebody else becomes enlightened? It is none of your
           business. Everybody has absolute freedom to be himself. The arhata insists on individuality and its
           absolute freedom. Even for the sake of good, nobody can be allowed to interfere in anybody else's
           life.
                Hence the moment he becomes enlightened, the arhata does not accept disciples, he never
           preaches, he never helps in any way. He simply lives in his ecstasy. If somebody on his own can
           drink out of his well he will not prevent him, but he will not send an invitation to you. If you come to
           him on your own accord and sit by his side and drink his presence, and get on the path, that is your
           business. If you go astray, he will not stop you.
                In a certain way this is the greatest respect ever paid to individual freedom -- to the very logical
           extreme. Even if you are falling into deep darkness, the arhata will silently wait. If his presence can
           help, it is okay, but he is not going to move his hands to help you, to give you a hand, to pull you out
           of a ditch. You are free to fall in a ditch and if you can fall in a ditch, you are absolutely capable of
           getting out of it. The very idea of compassion is foreign to the philosophy of the arhatas.
                Gautam Buddha accepted that there are a few people who will become arhatas. And their path
           will be called HINAYANA, "the small vehicle," the small boat in which only one person can go to
           the other shore. He does not bother to create a big ship and collect a crowd in a Noah's Ark and take
           them to the further shore. He simply goes himself in his small boat, which cannot even contain two.
           He is born alone in the world, he has lived and died millions of times alone in the world; alone he is
           going to the universal source.
                Buddha accepts and respects the way of the arhata -- but he also knows there are people who
           have immense compassion and when they become enlightened, their first longing is to share their
           joy, to share their truth. Compassion is their way. They also have some profound truth.
                These people are called bodhisattvas. They provoke and invite others to the same experience.
           And they wait on this shore as long as possible to help all seekers who are ready to move on the
           path, and who just need a guide; they need a helping hand. The bodhisattva can postpone his going
           to the further shore out of compassion for blind people groping in darkness.
                Buddha had such a comprehensive and vast perception that he accepted both -- that this is simply
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the nature of a few people to be arhatas, and it is also simply the nature of a few other people to be
           bodhisattvas.
               And this is the standpoint of Gautam Buddha, that such is the case, nothing can be done about it
           -- an arhata will be an arhata and a bodhisattva will be a bodhisattva. Their natures have different
           destinies, although they reach to the same goal finally. But after reaching the goal there is a parting
           of the ways.
               The arhatas don't stay on this shore even for a single moment. They are tired, they have been
           long enough in this wheel of SAMSARA, moving through birth and death millions of times. It has
           already been too much. They are bored and they don't want to stay even a single minute more. Their
           boat has arrived, and immediately they start moving towards the further shore. This is their suchness.
               And there are bodhisattvas who can tell the boatman, "Wait, there is no hurry. I have lingered on
           this shore long enough -- in misery, in suffering, in anguish, in agony. Now all that has disappeared.
           I am in absolute bliss, silence and peace, and I don't see that there is anything more on the other
           shore. So as long as I can manage, I will be here to help people."
               Gautam Buddha is certainly one of those people who can see the truth even in contradictions. He
           accepts both without making anybody feel lower or higher. But bodhisattvas call their path -- against
           the path of the arhatas -- MAHAYANA, "the great vehicle," the great ship. The other is just a small
           boat. Poor fellows, they simply go alone. And there has been a continuous conflict for twenty-five
           centuries after Gautam Buddha, between these two different approaches.
               Bodhidharma belongs to the bodhisattvas. Hence, he is making many statements against arhatas
           which are not true.
               I don't belong either to arhatas or to bodhisattvas. I don't belong to Gautam Buddha's path at all. I
           have my own vision, my own perceptivity. Hence I have no obligation to agree with Bodhidharma
           on every point -- and particularly on this point; even Gautam Buddha would not have agreed with
           him. He follows a particular party line.
               Secondly, he was an outrageous person, very ferocious. If you have seen his picture ...you can
           use it for making your children afraid. But that is not his true picture; he was a prince, the son of a
           great South Indian king, Suha Verma -- it was a great empire of the Palavas. He must have been a
           beautiful man. But those pictures don't represent his actual photographs. They depict his strange
           personality, his outrageousness.
               So a few things he can say which you need not agree with. I will make it clear where he is saying
           wrong things just because he belongs to Mahayana, a particular party, a particular ideology. I have
           immense respect for both arhatas and bodhisattvas, the same way as Gautam Buddha had.
           The first sutra:
               AMONG SHAKYAMUNI'S TEN GREATEST DISCIPLES ... Shakyamuni is one of the names
           of Gautam Buddha, because he belongs to the clan of the Shakyas; his empire was an ancient empire
           belonging to the clan of the Shakyas. It was a warrior race, dwelling just on the boundary line of
           Nepal and India. Because of the Shakya clan, he is called Shakyamuni. MUNI means one who has
           attained to ultimate silence.
              AMONG SHAKYAMUNI'S TEN GREATEST DISCIPLES, ANANDA WAS FOREMOST IN LEARNING.

                Now, Ananda is a special case, and something has to be understood about him. Ananda was a
           cousin-brother to Gautam Buddha, and a few years elder to him. And it is part of the Eastern culture
           that the elder brother is almost like a father, even though he may be a elder cousin-brother.
                When Ananda came to Gautam Buddha to be initiated as a disciple, he said, "Listen, Siddhartha"
           -- Siddhartha was Gautam Buddha's name given by his parents. He did not address him as Gautam
           Buddha, he addressed him, "Listen, Siddhartha" -- he was just his younger brother. "I am going to be
           initiated by you into sannyas, on the path. Once I am your disciple I will no longer be your elder
           brother. Once I am your disciple, you will be in a position to order me and I will have to obey. Right
           now I am in a position to order you and you will have to obey. Before the situation changes, I want a
           few conditions to be remembered."
           Gautam Buddha said, "What are the conditions?"
                Ananda said, "They are not very great, but to me they mean much. One, promise me while I am
           still your elder brother that after I become your disciple, you will not tell me to go away from you to
           preach the message to the masses. No, I am going to be with you day and night, your whole life. I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           want to take care of your body, your comfort, your health. You cannot prevent me. This promise you
           have to give right now, before I am no longer in a position to say anything."
               Buddha said, "Granted" ...because as a younger brother, there is no other way in the East. You
           have to accept, respectfully, those who are elder.
               Ananda said, "And the second condition is that I can ask any question -- relevant, irrelevant,
           meaningful, meaningless -- and you cannot say, `Wait, someday you will understand.' You will have
           to answer me immediately; you cannot try to postpone. You cannot find excuses ...`Tomorrow I will
           see.' Whenever I ask the question, immediately you have to give me the answer."
           Gautam Buddha said, "Granted."
               And Ananda said, "Third, if I bring someone to meet you -- even in the middle of the night when
           you are asleep -- you cannot say no. You will have to meet the person, whoever he is."
           Gautam Buddha laughed and said, "Granted."
           But Ananda said, "Why are you laughing?"
               He said, "That is not part of the conditions. Now you get initiated, and then you can ask the
           question why I have laughed. Whenever you ask the question, I will answer it -- but the three
           conditions are complete."
               Ananda became a disciple and lived with Gautam Buddha for forty-two years continuously, day
           in, day out. Springs came and went, seasons changed, year by year; he was just like a shadow to
           Gautam Buddha.
               But many people came after Ananda and became disciples and became enlightened -- and
           Ananda remained without enlightenment. After twenty years he asked Gautam Buddha, "What is
           happening? People who have come after me have become enlightened ...and I have been so close to
           you. Nobody has heard you more than I have heard you, nobody has the intimacy that I have with
           you. Why am I not becoming enlightened?"
               Gautam Buddha said, "Now you can understand why I laughed -- remember? Twenty years
           before when you asked, before initiation, for three conditions, I laughed. This was the reason:
           because your conditions would be a barrier. You cannot forget that you are my elder brother. Even
           though you have become a disciple, deep down you know that you are my elder brother. That is your
           subtlest ego -- although you have been with me more than anybody else, and you have heard me
           better than anybody else. You have become so knowledgeable, so learned, you have memorized
           every sermon that I have given. You have an immense memory but you don't have any experience of
           your own. You can repeat mechanically everything that I have said in twenty years. But your subtle
           ego, that you are my elder brother and you have a special privilege of three conditions, is functioning
           as a barrier. You will not become enlightened until I die."
               And actually, that's how it happened. After forty-two years' initiation, Gautam Buddha died. And
           amongst ten thousand disciples, Ananda was the first who burst into tears when Buddha said, "Now I
           want to say goodbye to you all. My body is old and tired, and whatever I wanted to say, I have said. I
           want now to go into ultimate rest."
               Ananda was sitting on his right side and he burst out like a small child, although he was older
           than Gautam Buddha. And Gautam Buddha said, "Why, Ananda, are you crying and weeping? I am
           not dying ignorant, I am dying absolutely fulfilled, enlightened -- and not an ordinary enlightenment,
           an enlightenment which has never been excelled before. And I am also dying immensely fulfilled
           because never before have so many disciples of a single master become enlightened. I am going into
           ultimate rest, because there is no death for me."
               Ananda said, "I am not weeping for you. You misunderstood me. I am weeping for myself -- that
           for forty-two years I have been following you like a shadow, day in, day out, and I have not become
           enlightened yet. I am still as unconscious as ever. What will happen to me when you are gone? And I
           don't think that in ages to come I will ever meet anyone of your caliber, nor will I have such an
           opportunity to be so intimate and so close. You are leaving me in a darkness that seems to have no
           dawn."
               Gautam Buddha laughed again, and even with tears in his eyes, Ananda could not resist asking
           him, "Why are you laughing? You laugh at strange moments."
               Gautam Buddha said, "Within twenty-four hours you will know. Because once I am dead, within
           twenty-four hours you will become enlightened. Once I am dead, you are no more my elder brother.
           Once I am dead, your subtle ego will also disappear; it cannot disappear while I am alive."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And actually it happened in the same way: within twenty-four hours, Ananda became
           enlightened. He did not leave the place, he did not eat or drink or go to sleep. He remained sitting
           there with his eyes closed, under those two saal trees where Gautam Buddha had lain down and
           entered into eternal sleep.
               Ananda remained in the same place with closed eyes, with an absolute determination that he
           would open his eyes only if his eyes of the inner opened. If he becomes enlightened, only then will
           he see the outside world again with his eyes. Otherwise, he will remain within himself.
               First he wants to see his own self-nature; then only will he move his eyes or move his body from
           this place. Otherwise he will die here. With such determination, with such absolute commitment ....
           The night that had been seen by him as without a dawn, ended quickly, within twenty-four hours. He
           was enlightened. But he remained an arhata. That was his uniqueness, to be an arhata.
               The condemnation by Bodhidharma of Ananda on one point is right, on another point is wrong.
           He says: ANANDA WAS FOREMOST IN LEARNING, BUT HE DID NOT KNOW THE
           BUDDHA. That's true.
           ALL HE DID WAS STUDY AND MEMORIZE. That's true.
              ARHATS DON'T KNOW THE BUDDHA.

               That's wrong. Arhatas become themselves buddhas; there is no question of their not knowing the
           Buddha. Yes, as a scholar, as a great learned man, as a man immensely studious and a man of
           tremendous memory, he has not known what the nature of enlightenment is, what is buddhahood.
           But it is not because of his being an arhata. The moment he became enlightened, THEN he became
           an arhata. The arhatahood or bodhisattvahood comes after enlightenment, not before.
               Only when you become enlightened do you realize what is your nature. Is there any desire for
           compassion, or no desire for any compassion? Are you ready to leave this shore immediately, or are
           you going to stay here to help a few people to become enlightened?
               I know this statement that ARHATAS DON'T KNOW THE BUDDHA is not the fault of the
           person who has taken the notes. It is Bodhidharma's statement, because he is a bodhisattva and the
           conflict between bodhisattvas and arhatas is twenty-five centuries old. They go on condemning each
           other. They simply cannot understand a person who becomes enlightened and has no compassion.
               The bodhisattva cannot understand that enlightenment is possible without compassion and the
           arhata cannot understand that a man of enlightenment still has a desire to help; he has not yet
           become desireless. He still wants to interfere into other people's lifestyle. If they don't want to
           awaken, who are you to awaken them? Then just move silently so that their sleep is not broken ...to
           the arhata that is real compassion. You don't want to interfere in anybody's life; everybody has to
           live his own life according to his own light, according to his own individuality. And whenever his
           time comes to become enlightened, he will become enlightened. You cannot force anybody to
           become enlightened. It is not something that somebody can be persuaded, or somebody can be
           seduced into.
               Neither the arhata can understand the bodhisattva, nor the bodhisattva can understand the arhata.
           They are such diametrically opposite poles. That's why I say this mistake is not of the note-taker, this
           mistake comes from Bodhidharma himself; he is not an arhata.
               Now, Buddhist countries are divided into sections. For example, Japan belongs to Mahayana, the
           land of the bodhisattvas, and Sri Lanka belongs to Hinayana, the land of the arhatas. In Sri Lanka
           there is no respect for Zen at all. If you talk about Bodhidharma in Sri Lanka, they will simply laugh
           at you -- "That man was mad!" And if you talk about arhatas like Ananda in Japan, they will simply
           say, "That man was utterly selfish; his whole life he was so blindly selfish that he was putting
           conditions on Gautam Buddha and when he became enlightened, then he simply disappeared, went
           to the further shore, into eternity -- without bothering for a single moment that there are people who
           need a few guidelines, a few hints; who are borderline cases, just a little push and they will take the
           quantum leap."
               But if Bodhidharma had not been prejudiced, if he had also been capable to understand the
           position of the totally opposite standpoint, he would have said, "Pundits, learned people, scholars
           don't know the Buddha." And then it would have been perfectly right. To use the word ARHATA is
           simply not only wrong, but shows a very fanatic attitude: "Only I am right and everybody else is
           wrong." I would like to exchange the word ARHATAS for pundits, scholars, learned people -- just to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           help Bodhidharma come to his senses.
              PUNDITS DON'T KNOW THE BUDDHA. ALL THEY KNOW ARE SO MANY PRACTICES FOR
              REALIZATION, AND THEY BECOME TRAPPED BY CAUSE AND EFFECT. SUCH IS A MORTAL'S
              KARMA: NO ESCAPE FROM BIRTH AND DEATH. BY DOING THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE
              INTENDED, SUCH PEOPLE BLASPHEME THE BUDDHA.

                This statement can be true about the pundits, but this statement is absolutely wrong about
           arhatas. And this shows his fanatic attitude when he says, KILLING THEM WOULD NOT BE
           WRONG.
                I cannot agree with him. He is saying, "Killing the arhatas would not be wrong." And according
           to Gautam Buddha even killing an ant is wrong and the arhata is at least something better than an
           ant.
                But this is his fanatic attitude -- and it is because of this fanatic, outrageous attitude that his
           picture has been depicted so ferociously. It is certain he would not have bothered: if there was any
           need to kill an arhata he would have killed. He was a man of his word; what he says he means. You
           cannot try to say that it is only symbolic. Bodhidharma does not speak in symbols, he says exactly
           what he means:
              KILLING THEM WOULD NOT BE WRONG. THE SUTRAS SAY, "SINCE ICCHANTIKAS ARE
              INCAPABLE OF BELIEF, KILLING THEM WOULD BE BLAMELESS, WHILE PEOPLE WHO
              BELIEVE REACH THE STATE OF BUDDHAHOOD."

                Now, something else has to be understood -- this word, ICCHANTIKAS. It means people who
           are one-dimensional, who know only one aspect of truth.
                And opposite to icchantikas are people like Mahavira and the Jaina tirthankaras; they are called
           ANICCHANTIKAS, people who look from every aspect of the truth. Mahavira was so deeply rooted
           in the attitude of being multidimensional that he was the first man in the whole history of mankind to
           bring in the theory of relativity.
           It took twenty-five centuries for the West.
                Only Albert Einstein, through a very different path as a scientist, brought the same message, the
           same philosophy of the theory of relativity. Mahavira says that whatever you say is only relative. He
           was so much in his theory of relativity that he never made a single statement about anything --
           because any single statement will only show one aspect. What about other aspects?
                He found that every truth has seven aspects. So you ask him one question and he will answer
           with seven answers, and those seven answers will be contradicting each other. You will come back
           from meeting Mahavira more confused than you have ever been -- and he was the most clear person
           who has ever walked on the earth. But his approach was multidimensional.
                For example, if you ask Mahavira, "What do you think about God?" ...in the first place, he never
           started his statements without the word "perhaps." Every statement begins with "perhaps," because
           to be certain is to be a fanatic. "Perhaps" keeps you open: the other can also be right, the opposite
           can also be right. "Perhaps" does not close the door, it keeps you alert and aware about other
           possibilities.
                You ask about God: the Christians are icchantikas; they will say, "Yes, there is one God and only
           one God." You ask the Mohammedans, they say there is only one God. These are icchantikas. They
           believe in a way which can only be called one-dimensional. They don't look at other possibilities --
           they are afraid to look at other possibilities. That's why they have one God and one prophet -- not
           even two prophets for the Mohammedans, because there is danger: if you take two prophets, they
           may contradict each other, they may say something, they may not agree with each other. There will
           be trouble.
                It is better to remain with one prophet, one God, one holy scripture. These are people who are
           afraid of a multidimensional reality.
                Against these are people like Mahavira who go to the other extreme: they will not say anything
           in an absolute way, they will always state everything relatively. You ask about God and Mahavira
           has seven statements and you cannot figure out whether God is, or not.
           Of those seven statements, the first statement is:
           "Perhaps God is -- but PERHAPS. I cannot be absolute; neither can you be absolute. There is a
           possibility." A relative statement -- "Perhaps there is a God." This is his first statement.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                His second statement: "Perhaps there is no God, because who knows? -- there is every possibility
           that the atheist may be right. Nobody has ever seen him. So all that we can say is, perhaps there is no
           God."
                But after hearing these two statements -- "Perhaps there is God, perhaps there is no God ..." one
           is bound to ask, then what am I going to believe? Hence comes his third statement: "Perhaps both are
           true." But naturally, you are going to ask, "How can both be true?"
                Then comes his fourth statement: "Perhaps both are not true." And this way he goes on -- seven
           statements -- and you will be so confused ..."Perhaps it was not right to ask the question! I was better
           off before." It is because of this multidimensional, relative approach that Mahavira could not get
           many followers. There can be very few crazy people who don't care what it means, who simply fall
           in love with the personality of Mahavira. He is a beautiful man of immense presence and grandeur --
           so a few crazy people can fall in love with him. They don't care what he says. They only care what
           he is: "Don't be bothered with what he says; just look at his beauty, his light -- his eyes with such
           grandeur and depth, and his whole life such a song, such an ecstasy. Don't bother with what he says;
           it is none of our business. The MAN is right. His statements may be right, may not be right. He
           himself says `perhaps.'"
                But Bodhidharma's statements that: SINCE ICCHANTIKAS ARE INCAPABLE OF BELIEF,
           KILLING THEM WOULD BE BLAMELESS, WHILE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE REACH THE
           STATE OF BUDDHAHOOD ...I cannot support this statement.
                Icchantikas, the people who believe in absoluteness of truth have a right to exist and live
           according to their light -- just as people who believe in a relative perception of truth have the right to
           live, and to live according to their own vision. Everybody has the right to live according to his own
           experience and find his way. Nobody has the right to kill anybody.
                But Bodhidharma is in a way very sincere. He is simply saying what he sincerely feels. His
           sincerity cannot be doubted -- his statement can be denied, but his intention cannot be denied.
           Christians have been killing Mohammedans, Jews; Mohammedans have been killing Hindus; Hindus
           have been killing Buddhists. Although nobody says "Go and kill those who don't believe in your
           philosophy," that's what has been happening all over the world. At least Bodhidharma is sincere. He
           has never killed anybody but he is saying his attitude in clear-cut terms, that his understanding is so
           valuable to him, so true, that even if a person who does not follow his understanding has to be killed,
           it is blameless. Although he has never killed anyone ...he has a ferocious way of speaking, way of
           living, but he has a very soft heart.
                But religions have been doing the act without saying it. No religion in the world can be said to
           have behaved lovingly, respectfully, towards others. Every religion thinks they are the only right
           people; they have the monopoly on truth and everybody else is wrong.
                My own approach is that everybody has the right to be right or to be wrong. And if somebody
           decides to be wrong, still he has to be given every respect and every love. It is his decision, and if he
           wants to live his decision, it is nobody's business to interfere in his life and in his philosophy.
           ...PEOPLE WHO SEE THAT THEIR no-MINDS ARE THE BUDDHA DON'T NEED TO SHAVE
           THEIR HEADS.
                There I can agree with Bodhidharma totally. If you see your nature, then there is no need to do
           any stupid thing: shaving your head or being naked or standing on your head or doing all kinds of
           contortions of your body which are good in a circus but not in the search of truth, in the search of
           your own nature, in the search of God.
              LAYMEN ARE BUDDHAS TOO.

               There I can agree with Bodhidharma with absoluteness. It is not only for the monks to find the
           truth. Even a layman -- if he finds a little time to be silent and to be meditative and discovers his self
           nature in his own home, in the marketplace, he will become the buddha. There is no problem that he
           has to be in a monastery, or that he has to renounce the world. This is my emphasis too, that nobody
           needs to renounce the world.
               The world is not the problem, the problem is your unawareness. Renounce your unawareness,
           don't be bothered with the world. What can the world do to you? You can live in a palace, the palace
           cannot prevent your enlightenment. You can live in absolute poverty, poverty cannot help your
           enlightenment. In poverty or in richness, in a poor man's hut or in a palace, the basic thing is your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meditativeness, your awareness. Wherever it happens, you will become enlightened. You don't have
           to renounce anything.
           It is absolutely true:
              LAYMEN ARE BUDDHAS TOO. UNLESS THEY SEE THEIR NATURE, PEOPLE WHO SHAVE
              THEIR HEADS ARE SIMPLY FANATICS.

               It is something to be understood that Bodhidharma is himself making statements which are
           statements of a fanatic -- but it is always easy to see a small straw in somebody else's eye, and it is
           very difficult to see even a camel in your own eye. People never think about their own statements,
           about their own behavior, about their own life. They are always looking at others -- they are very
           artful, articulate in finding what is wrong with somebody else -- and they may be carrying thousands
           of wrongs themselves and they remain completely unaware. But this is human nature, this is human
           frailty.
               The disciple asks Bodhidharma: BUT SINCE MARRIED LAYMEN DON'T GIVE UP SEX,
           HOW CAN THEY BECOME BUDDHAS?
               And here I can support Bodhidharma with my total being. What he says is of tremendous
           importance, because he was saying it fourteen hundred years ago. Sigmund Freud was not born yet;
           Alfred Adler was still far away in the future; Havelock Ellis or Carl Gustav Jung or Assagioli or
           Masters and Johnson -- people who have been working deeply in the study of man's sexuality had
           not come into existence yet. But what Bodhidharma says is so luminous, so grand and so great that
           even this simple statement could have made him a pioneer.
               He says: I ONLY TALK ABOUT SEEING YOUR NATURE. I DON'T TALK ABOUT SEX
           SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU DON'T SEE YOUR NATURE. ONCE YOU SEE YOUR NATURE,
           SEX IS BASICALLY IMMATERIAL.
               This is great insight, and from a man who was considered to be one of the greatest saints of
           Buddhism. The moment you become enlightened, sex is immaterial. It is just the same stuff dreams
           are made of; it will disappear on its own accord. You don't have to repress it, you don't have to go
           against it.
               IT ENDS ALONG WITH YOUR DELIGHT IN IT. As you become more and more mature in
           your meditation, sex becomes less and less interesting. The day you become fully attuned with
           existence, sex disappears just like a dewdrop in the early morning sun.
               And unless sex disappears on its own accord, it is very dangerous to drop it, to force it, because
           then you will create all kinds of perversions. And all the religions of the world have created
           perverted human beings: homosexuality, lesbianism, sodomy ...and people go on inventing strange,
           perverted expressions for their sexual energy because their religion condemns sex.
               Sex is something natural, biological. Unless you transcend your biology, unless you transcend
           your body, unless you become attuned with something beyond mind, sex is going to remain there in
           some form or other. And if it is going to remain there, it is better that it remains natural, biological,
           because perverted sex is getting into a worse condition. Natural sex can be sublimated, perverted sex
           becomes more difficult to transform.
               I have never heard of any homosexual ever becoming enlightened, I have never heard of any
           impotent man becoming enlightened. This cannot be just coincidental. In fact, the impotent man
           should become enlightened sooner than anybody else, because he is a born celibate! All other
           celibates are just lousy celibates, leaking from here, leaking from there -- the impotent person is
           absolutely certain to be celibate. But the impotent person has never become enlightened.
               In fact, it is the sexual energy itself that transforms into your enlightenment. Because the
           impotent man has no sexual energy, he is in the worst condition; he cannot go higher, he does not
           have the energy to fly like an eagle across the sun. He cannot become a Gautam Buddha or a
           Bodhidharma.
               Bodhidharma is saying that sex is immaterial; what is important is to know your self-nature, to
           know your being. And then everything that is needed will happen on its own accord.
              EVEN IF SOME HABITS REMAIN, THEY CAN'T HARM YOU.

             This is a very significant statement from a man of enlightenment. EVEN IF SOME HABITS
           REMAIN, THEY CAN'T HARM YOU.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, if you go on smoking ...I don't see that an enlightened man can in any way be
           disturbed by smoking. Enlightenment that gets disturbed by smoking or drinking tea or coffee will
           not be of much value. Your small habits -- playing cards ...I don't see that there is any possibility it
           can harm your enlightenment.
               Bodhidharma here is immensely compassionate and understanding:
              BECAUSE YOUR NATURE IS ESSENTIALLY PURE.

               What you do does not make any difference. Once you know your essential pure nature then
           everything is allowed to you. Then you are capable to decide for yourself what is right and what is
           wrong. Because of this there have been such problems, so many difficulties in understanding each
           other. Small differences of habit have become such great barriers to understanding.
               Mohammed used to eat in the night. In fact, Mohammedans fast in the day and eat in the night.
           On their religious days, the whole day they will fast from sunrise to sunset and in the night they will
           have a good feast. Now, Jainas cannot understand that at all. In the day you can eat, but in the night?
           And that too, on a religious day?
               When Jainas fast they don't eat for days, and even water they drink only during the daytime, not
           in the night. Naturally, they think that Mohammedans are doing something wrong. But they don't
           know the situation in which Mohammed lived, in which Mohammedanism was born. It is a desert
           religion, where the day is so hot that it is easier to fast during the day. It is easier to feast during the
           night when things become cooler and when the sky becomes full of stars and the desert becomes a
           beautiful, silent place. In the day, it is just burning hot.
               Ramakrishna continued to eat fish. Now, Jainas cannot accept Ramakrishna as enlightened. Can
           an enlightened man eat fish? But if you understand Bodhidharma's statement, you can forgive
           Ramakrishna ...just an old habit, just living in Bengal where rice and fish are the only food. From his
           very childhood he has been eating rice and fish, and everybody else is eating it too. Even when he
           became enlightened, the old habit continued. It becomes immaterial.
               In this whole world, situations are different, climates are different. There are cold climates where
           alcohol may be an essential need. For example, in the Soviet Union it may be impossible even for the
           enlightened person not to drink vodka. It is so cold, it is freezing even your very blood -- a little
           warmth is needed.
               A truly religious man is very understanding -- understanding of different people, of different
           conditions, different geographical situations, different climates, different ages, different patterns,
           different habits. And small things cannot disturb a great experience like enlightenment.
              DESPITE DWELLING IN AN IMMATERIAL BODY OF FIVE AGGREGATES, YOUR NATURE IS
              BASICALLY PURE. IT CAN'T BE CORRUPTED.

               Nothing can corrupt your consciousness. It is intrinsically incorruptible.  ...ONCE YOU STOP
           CLINGING AND LET THINGS BE, YOU'LL BE FREE, EVEN OF BIRTH AND DEATH.
           YOU'LL TRANSFORM EVERYTHING. YOU'LL POSSESS SPIRITUAL POWERS THAT
           CAN'T BE OBSTRUCTED. AND YOU'LL BE AT PEACE WHEREVER YOU ARE. IF YOU
           DOUBT THIS, YOU'LL NEVER SEE THROUGH ANYTHING. YOU'RE BETTER OFF DOING
           NOTHING. ONCE YOU ACT, YOU CAN'T AVOID THE CYCLE OF BIRTH AND DEATH.
           BUT ONCE YOU SEE YOUR NATURE, YOU'RE A BUDDHA, EVEN IF YOU WORK AS A
           BUTCHER.
               In fact, it has happened: In Japan a butcher became enlightened. He was the butcher of the
           emperor, and when he became enlightened, even the emperor came to pay his respects. The emperor
           could not believe, because he had seen the butcher cutting animals just behind his palace ...and he
           asked him, "What about my kitchen? You have become enlightened, obviously you are not going to
           do your old profession."
               The master laughed. He said, "No, I will continue. Now I can butcher animals with more
           compassion, with more love, with more grace. And anyway they will be butchered by somebody
           else, who will not be so compassionate as I can be, who will not be so graceful with them as I can be.
           When they are going to be butchered, what difference does it make?
           "And as far as my enlightenment is concerned, it remains uncorrupted in any and every situation. My
           inner sky cannot be clouded again. I have come to a point from where one cannot fall back. So don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be worried; I will be coming back tomorrow, to my profession." And he remained alive for almost
           twenty years after his enlightenment. In the morning he would do his profession of killing animals
           and in the evening he would teach the disciples about enlightenment. And not only did he become
           enlightened, a few of his disciples also became enlightened.
                 Bodhidharma is right: if you understand that you are a buddha, if you see your nature, then even
           if you work as a butcher it is immaterial.
                 The disciple asked: BUT BUTCHERS CREATE KARMA BY SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS.
           HOW CAN THEY BE BUDDHAS?
           I ONLY TALK ABOUT SEEING YOUR NATURE. I DON'T TALK ABOUT CREATING
           KARMA. REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE DO, OUR KARMA HAS NO HOLD ON US.
                 Once you know yourself, nothing has any hold on you. Your freedom is absolutely incorruptible.
           You cannot do anything that can go against your freedom.           ...IN INDIA, THE TWENTY-SEVEN
           PATRIARCHS ONLY TRANSMITTED THE IMPRINT OF THE no-MIND. AND THE ONLY
           REASON I HAVE COME TO CHINA IS TO TRANSMIT THE INSTANTANEOUS TEACHING
           OF THE MAHAYANA: THIS no-MIND IS THE BUDDHA. I DON'T TALK ABOUT PRECEPTS,
           DEVOTIONS OR ASCETIC PRACTICES ....
           LANGUAGE AND BEHAVIOR, PERCEPTION AND CONCEPTION ARE ALL FUNCTIONS
           OF THE MOVING MIND. ALL MOTION IS THE MIND'S MOTION .... THE no-MIND
           NEITHER MOVES NOR FUNCTIONS. BECAUSE THE ESSENCE OF ITS FUNCTION IS
           EMPTINESS, AND EMPTINESS IS ESSENTIALLY MOTIONLESS.
           HENCE, THE SUTRAS TELL US TO MOVE WITHOUT MOVING, TO TRAVEL WITHOUT
           TRAVELLING, TO SEE WITHOUT SEEING, TO LAUGH WITHOUT LAUGHING, TO HEAR
           WITHOUT HEARING, TO KNOW WITHOUT KNOWING, TO BE HAPPY WITHOUT BEING
           HAPPY, TO WALK WITHOUT WALKING, TO STAND WITHOUT STANDING. AND THE
           SUTRAS SAY, "GO BEYOND LANGUAGE. GO BEYOND THOUGHT." ... I COULD GO ON,
           BUT THIS BRIEF SERMON WILL HAVE TO DO.
                 This statement seems to be difficult -- WALK WITHOUT WALKING, HEAR WITHOUT
           HEARING, SPEAK WITHOUT SPEAKING -- but it is not difficult at all, just a little understanding
           .... If you are speaking spontaneously -- unprepared, not knowing what word is going to be uttered
           by you -- you are speaking without speaking. Spontaneous action is without any activity on your
           part. You are simply allowing existence to sing its own song.
                 For example, right now I am speaking without speaking. I am simply allowing my whole being
           to respond to Bodhidharma's sutras, without knowing at all what is going to be my next word. Just as
           you hear it, I also hear it. Just as you are sitting there, I am also sitting there. This chair is empty.
           There is a way of speaking when you prepare, when you speak not with your moment-to-moment
           responsibility, but just repeat something parrot-like which you have rehearsed, which you have been
           practicing.
                 All the actions that are enumerated here and many more in your life, you can do in two ways.
           One is out of awareness, in the present moment -- unprepared, spontaneous, allowing existence to
           possess you, to speak through you or act through you. Then you are absolutely out of the trap of your
           actions or your words. You are just a watcher. You are not acting, you are simply watching whatever
           is happening.
                 This watchfulness, this witnessing is the ultimate secret of creating a religious life, of creating a
           life of transcendence, a life of spirituality, of enlightenment, of buddhahood.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                        Chapter #9
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                      Chapter title: Dead men don't bleed
           9 July 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707090
              ShortTitle: BODHI09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 118 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BODHIDHARMA'S WAKE-UP SERMON.



              THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY IS DETACHMENT. AND THE GOAL OF THOSE WHO PRACTICE IS
              FREEDOM FROM APPEARANCES. THE SUTRAS SAY, "DETACHMENT IS ENLIGHTENMENT
              BECAUSE IT NEGATES APPEARANCES."     ...THE THREE REALMS ARE GREED, ANGER AND
              DELUSION. TO LEAVE THE THREE REALMS MEANS TO GO FROM GREED, ANGER AND
              DELUSION BACK TO MORTALITY, MEDITATION AND WISDOM. THE SUTRAS SAY, "BUDDHAS
              HAVE ONLY BECOME BUDDHAS WHILE LIVING WITH THE THREE POISONS AND NOURISHING
              THEMSELVES ON THE PURE DHARMA." THE THREE POISONS ARE GREED, ANGER AND
              DELUSION ....
              THE GREAT VEHICLE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL VEHICLES. IT'S THE CONVEYANCE OF
              BODHISATTVAS, WHO USE EVERYTHING WITHOUT USING ANYTHING, AND WHO TRAVEL
              ALL DAY WITHOUT TRAVELLING. SUCH IS THE VEHICLE OF BUDDHAS. THE SUTRAS SAY,
              "NO VEHICLE IS THE VEHICLE OF BUDDHAS."    ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "THE CAVE OF FIVE
              AGGREGATES IS THE HALL OF ZEN, THE OPENING OF THE INNER EYE IS THE DOOR OF THE
              GREAT VEHICLE." WHAT COULD BE CLEARER?
              NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING IS ZEN. ONCE YOU KNOW THIS, WALKING, STANDING,
              SITTING OR LYING DOWN, EVERYTHING YOU DO IS ZEN. TO KNOW THAT THE MIND IS
              EMPTY IS TO SEE THE BUDDHA. THE BUDDHAS OF THE TEN DIRECTIONS HAVE NO MIND.
              TO SEE NO MIND IS TO SEE THE BUDDHA.
              TO GIVE UP YOURSELF WITHOUT REGRET IS THE GREATEST CHARITY. TO TRANSCEND
              MOTION AND STILLNESS IS THE HIGHEST MEDITATION. MORTALS KEEP MOVING WHILE
              ARHATS STAY STILL. BUT THE HIGHEST MEDITATION SURPASSES THAT OF BOTH MORTALS
              AND ARHATS. PEOPLE WHO REACH SUCH UNDERSTANDING FREE THEMSELVES FROM ALL
              APPEARANCES WITHOUT EFFORT AND CURE ALL ILLNESSES WITHOUT TREATMENT. SUCH
              IS THE POWER OF GREAT ZEN.


               Bodhidharma is more clear and transparent than any other enlightened person. But the
           experience of enlightenment is such that you can still commit mistakes. This is something to be
           understood. People ordinarily think that the man of enlightenment cannot commit mistakes. That is
           their expectation, but it is not true to reality.
               The same has been the expectation of other religions, that their prophets cannot commit mistakes.
           Although the KORAN is full of mistakes, Mohammedans are not ready to accept that their prophet
           Mohammed can commit any mistake. THE BIBLE is so full of mistakes, but still the popes go on
           declaring for twenty centuries continuously that they are infallible. And their fallibility is so
           apparent.
               Just as an example, Joan of Arc was declared a witch by the pope of that time. And the pope
           defined a witch -- which is not the meaning of the word "witch" -- as someone who has sexual
           intercourse with the devil. The meaning of the word "witch" is a wise woman. And it has always
           been the meaning up to the Middle Ages, when the popes started declaring wise women as being in
           the grip of the devil. It was easy; first they would torture those women to such an extent that it
           became unbearable. Day after day they were tortured.
               Finally the woman had to accept that yes, she is a witch. That was the only way to stop her being
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tortured. And once she accepted and confessed that she was a witch, she had to go to the court -- a
           special court appointed by the pope -- to declare that she has been having intercourse with the devil,
           which is sheer nonsense, because never before had it been known, and never afterwards -- nobody
           has seen the devil. And these poor women were having intercourse with the devil, and they had to
           describe the whole ugly thing in every detail. And once they confessed, the court ordered them to be
           burned alive. Thousands of women in Europe were in danger and thousands had already been burned
           alive.
                Joan of Arc fought for the freedom of her country. She was a young woman of tremendous
           courage and she won freedom for the country. Hence, there was immense respect for Joan of Arc.
           And the jealous pope could not allow Joan of Arc to be left alone. It became a competition -- who is
           more respectable, Joan of Arc or the pope. The easiest way was to declare her a witch. He declared
           her a witch and they tortured the poor young woman until finally she had to accept. There was no
           way out and she was burned alive.
                But this created a very different result than that expected by the pope. He fell more in people's
           eyes, and Joan of Arc became a martyr. She was loved more, she gained more sympathy. People
           almost started worshiping her. So after three hundred years another pope realized that it had been a
           mistake on the part of the previous pope. He had unnecessarily created a martyr; he should have
           been more careful. It was easy to destroy ordinary women but to destroy a woman like Joan of Arc
           ...he had not been cautious enough.
                After three hundred years, another pope declared that Joan of Arc was not a witch, she was a
           saint, and her bones were dragged out of the grave and worshiped. A great memorial was made,
           because now she had become "Saint Joan of Arc." You can see, at least one of the popes was fallible
           -- most probably both. But one thing is certain: both cannot be right. And the popes are not
           enlightened people; they know nothing of enlightenment.
                The East has been very concerned for ten thousand years with the phenomenon of enlightenment.
           It certainly brings you great light, great clarity, great ecstasy and the feeling of immortality. But even
           though it brings so much, existence is so vast that your enlightenment is just a dewdrop in the ocean
           of existence. However transparent and clear your understanding may be, there is always a possibility
           to commit mistakes. And this has been recognized by the East.
                Even Gautam Buddha is reported to have said that existence is so vast, so infinite in all
           dimensions, that even an enlightened man may commit mistakes. This is true religiousness and
           humbleness.
           The idea of infallibility is nothing but ugly ego.
                Hence, when I say that Bodhidharma has missed the point, don't misunderstand me. Don't start
           thinking that Bodhidharma is not enlightened. There is no contradiction. He IS enlightened -- one of
           the greatest enlightened people on the earth. But enlightenment makes you blossom, come to spring
           with your whole potentiality becoming actual; it does not mean that you become incapable of
           committing any mistake.
                In fact the enlightened man becomes so humble that if you point out his mistakes he will accept
           them. He is so detached from his own personality, it does not matter. He has no ego; he is not hurt.
           And he accepts that there are possibilities where he may become too one-sided, may lean into this
           multidimensional existence more towards certain dimensions, may become averse to the dimensions
           which are against his own experiences and feelings. Existence contains all contradictions, and even
           at the highest point of enlightenment it is very difficult to contain contradictions.
                Man, after all, is man, asleep or awake. It is very difficult to conceive contradictions existing
           together not as contradictions but as complementaries. The easier thing seems to be to choose one
           side and go against the other. But that does not mean that the enlightenment is not complete; it
           simply means even an enlightened man can have a partiality. And it is because of the vastness of the
           universe.
                When Gautam Buddha was asked .... He was a contemporary of Mahavira, and the followers of
           Mahavira were saying about Mahavira that he knows past, present, future; that he knows all that has
           ever been, that is and that will ever be. They were making him synonymous to the idea of God --
           omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. And it is worth remembering that Gautam Buddha laughed.
           He said, "I have heard once that Mahavira was begging before a house where nobody has lived for a
           long time, and there was nobody inside the house. And the people say that he knows everything of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the past, of the present, of the future, and he does not know that he is standing before a house and
           there is nobody in the house!"
               And Gautam Buddha joked about Mahavira that once he had heard Mahavira was walking early
           in the morning .... It was in the hot summer, so he had started to move very early, before the sunrise,
           and he stepped on the tail of a dog. When the dog started barking, then he became aware that there
           was a dog. The darkness was there .... This man knows past, present and future and he does not know
           the tail of a dog is under his foot. And I certainly agree with Gautam Buddha.
               Mahavira never claimed this -- it was the claim of his disciples. People like Mahavira don't claim
           anything. The disciples of Gautam Buddha asked, "What is your position about knowing past,
           present and future?" And the humbleness of Gautam Buddha is so great, he said, "I am not
           omnipotent or omniscient or omnipresent. I have a clear vision, but compared to the vastness of
           existence it is a very small phenomenon.
           "Yes, I can know about the past if I focus on the past; I can know about the future if I focus on the
           future; I can know about the present if I focus on the present. But focusing becomes impossible as
           you become enlightened, because focusing is another name for concentration. That is a quality of the
           mind, and enlightenment is the quality of no-mind." No-mind cannot focus. It cannot have any
           boundaries.
               So there is a possibility that sometimes an enlightened man may commit subtle mistakes, but that
           does not go against his enlightenment. I wanted to make it clear to you because in today's sutras he is
           saying things which are right for a bodhisattva, because he does not know the way of the arhatas, but
           he is mistaken. He should have rather said, "I don't know the experiences of the arhatas because I am
           not an arhata." He is bragging about the MAHAYANA, the "Great Vehicle." And he is in some way
           condemning the HINAYANA, the "Small Vehicle" of the ARHATAS.
               I will not agree with that because I am not a party to any group. It makes my work in one way
           simple, in one way very difficult -- simple because I can see from far away both sides of the coin,
           which people who are involved cannot see. But on the other hand, it makes my work more difficult
           because it starts taking a multidimensionality, and I have sometimes to speak against the people I
           have loved immensely.
           But love is not a higher quality than truth.
               When it comes to deciding between your love and your truth, truth has to be the decisive factor.
           The sutras:
              THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY IS DETACHMENT.

               It is true. All of our miseries are nothing but attachment. Our whole ignorance and darkness is a
           strange combination of a thousand and one attachments. And we are attached to things which will be
           taken away by the time of death, or even perhaps before. You may be very much attached to money
           but you can go bankrupt tomorrow. You may be very much attached to your power and position,
           your presidency, your prime ministership, but they are like soap bubbles. Today they are here,
           tomorrow not even a trace will be left.
               It happened before the Russian revolution, the prime minister of Russia was Kerensky. During
           the time of the chaos of revolution when the czar and his whole family were butchered -- nineteen
           persons in all -- the revolutionaries were so revengeful that they did not leave even a six-month-old
           baby. They did not want any trace of the family of the czars left in the world. But Kerensky escaped
           in time. He died in 1960, and for a half century nobody had any idea what had happened to
           Kerensky. He was a grocer, running a grocery store in New York, in disguise.
               The Russian empire was one of the greatest empires that has ever existed, spreading from one
           continent to another continent. And the prime minister, who has had great power, one day becomes
           the owner of a grocery store in New York, and becomes so afraid that he changes his name, he
           changes his identity. Only when he died was it found in his papers and in his diaries that he was
           Kerensky, the missing prime minister of the czars.
               All our positions, all our powers, our money, our prestige, respectability, they are all soap
           bubbles. And certainly, THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY IS DETACHMENT. Don't get attached to
           the soap bubbles; otherwise you will be continuously in misery and agony. Those soap bubbles don't
           care that you are attached to them; they go on bursting and disappearing into the air and leaving you
           behind with a wounded heart, with a failure, with a deep destruction of your ego. They make you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sour, bitter, irritated, frustrated. They make your life a hell.
                Just to understand that life is made of the same stuff as dreams are made of is the essence of the
           way. Detachment: live in the world but don't be of the world. Live in the world but don't let the
           world live within you. Remember that it is all a beautiful dream, because everything is changing and
           disappearing.
           Don't cling to anything.
           Clinging is the cause of our being unconscious.
                If you start unclinging a tremendous release of energy will happen within you. And that energy
           that was involved in clinging to things will bring a new dawn to your being, a new light, a new
           understanding, a tremendous unburdening -- no possibility of any misery, agony, anguish.
                On the contrary, when all these things disappear you find yourself serene, calm and quiet, in a
           subtle joyfulness. There is a laughter in your being. That's what Bodhidharma says, that a buddha
           laughs without laughing. Nobody has seen any statue of Buddha laughing -- there is no need for him
           to laugh; his whole being is feeling the laugh.
                You have to understand the psychology of laughter. You laugh very easily, but your laughter has
           a different quality than the laughter of the buddha. You laugh because your life is so miserable that
           any moment, any incident which looks ridiculous helps you to forget your misery for a moment. All
           your tensions disappear and there is a laughter. Hence laughter is a great relaxing phenomenon. It is
           tremendously healthy. Within a second it takes you beyond all your tensions, but only for a moment
           ...and you are back again in your dark cave.
                A buddha laughs without laughing because he has no tensions. He does not accumulate the
           energy in tensions that can explode in laughter. And he knows that life is ridiculous. Here people are
           doing things which are all laughable. Laughter becomes something ingrained in the very cells of his
           being; it does not come just to his lips. His clarity makes him see things which perhaps you go on
           missing seeing.
                I have heard ...a woman suddenly said to the man who was in bed with her, "Get up, quick! I
           heard the noise of my husband's car, which is so rotten that you can hear it from half a mile away. He
           has just braked in the driveway. You just get up!"
           The man got up and he said, "But where am I to go?"
                She said, "Jump out of the window!" Fortunately it was not a sixty story building -- it was just
           the ground floor -- so he jumped out. But he was naked and it was raining. But fortunately a group of
           joggers was passing by so he joined them, finding no other way; otherwise, standing there naked, he
           would be caught.
                He mixed with the two dozen joggers, and in the darkness of the early morning he managed well.
           Just one jogger by his side saw that this man looked naked. He could not resist his temptation. He
           asked, "Do you always jog naked?"
                The man said, "Yes." Then as darkness was disappearing and a little light was coming up, the
           jogger recognized that the naked man was nobody else but the bishop. And in that small light he saw
           that he was not just naked, he was wearing a condom.
                He said, "Father, do you always wear a condom when jogging?"
                The bishop said, "No, not always; only when it is raining."
                The more watchful you become, the more you will find life such a comedy. So much is
           happening all around -- so much stupidity, so much ridiculousness. But a buddha does not laugh
           because twenty-four hours a day, in his clarity and transparent vision, each cell of his being is
           laughing. There is no need to laugh loudly -- silently he is in laughter. That is laughing without
           laughter.
                If you become detached you will be able to see how people are attached to trivia, and how much
           they are suffering. And you will laugh at yourself because you were also in the same boat before.
           Detachment is certainly the essence of the way                 ...AND THE GOAL OF THOSE WHO
           PRACTICE IS FREEDOM FROM APPEARANCES.
                What you see in the world is not the reality, but only an appearance. Deep behind the
           appearance, the mask, is the reality. To know the reality you have to be free from appearances. And
           all your attachments prevent you; you become attached to the mask. We rarely grow and become
           mature. We just go on changing our toys. We remain children; we go on changing our teddy bears.
                You must have seen in railway stations, in airports, small children dragging their teddy bears
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with them, ugly, dirty, but to them they are very essential. Without them they cannot sleep; the teddy
           bear is their companion. They will become older and they will drop the teddy bear but they will drop
           it only when they have found another teddy bear. It does not matter what the shape of the teddy bear
           is -- it can be money.
                I used to know in my village ...and I have never forgotten that man and I don't think I will ever
           forget him. He was a goldsmith, but very rich, and he had a way of speaking which was very
           hilarious. He was continuously stuttering and he was attached to a strange idea and he used to brag
           about it: "Unless I have one hundred rupees in my pocket I don't urinate." He was famous all over
           the village. What a great idea -- one hundred rupees have to be in his pocket, then only can he
           urinate! He was showing his richness, but a strange way he found; I don't think anybody has ever had
           that idea, it was so original. But it was hilarious.
                In those days there were no notes, so he was carrying one hundred rupees in gold coins -- such a
           weight in his pockets. And people used to ask him, "Where are you going? Have you counted your
           rupees? -- because if there are ninety nine and suddenly you feel like going to the urinal, you will be
           stuck. And he would immediately count his money and he would say, "There is no problem. One
           hundred rupees is a must. Without it I cannot do even such a small thing as pissing -- what to say
           about great things?" That was his teddy bear. He used to sleep with those one hundred rupees.
                You may not be aware -- because you are not aware -- but if you look a little bit, you can find
           what your teddy bear is.
                All appearances in the world are preventing you from knowing the reality of the world and of
           your own being. What appears is not the reality. Reality is hidden behind appearances, and unless
           you become attuned with reality, those appearances which are just dream stuff are going to torture
           you continuously. And everybody is feeling the agony, the misery, but goes on living it because
           there seems to be no way to drop it.
                Bodhidharma is telling you the way, and it is the essential way of all the religions: detachment,
           freedom from appearances.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "DETACHMENT IS ENLIGHTENMENT BECAUSE IT NEGATES
              APPEARANCES." ...THE THREE REALMS ARE GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION.

                You have to watch these three realms because these are the barriers, the three barriers to your
           enlightenment.
                Bodhidharma is very short, condensed; he does not go in for philosophical discussions, he simply
           states the fact. And that's his beauty. He has reduced the whole religion and the way out of it into
           very few words.
           Greed is your aggression.
           It is the desire always for more.
                It never stops; it goes on asking for more. And because it goes on asking for more, you are
           always miserable. Whatever you may have, you cannot enjoy it because you don't have more. By the
           time you have more, your greed has gone ahead of you. It is always ahead of you asking for more.
                I used to stay in Calcutta in a very rich family and the husband and wife used to come to pick me
           up from the airport. The husband was always a very cheerful person, but one time I found he was
           very sad -- driving the car, but very sad.
                I asked his wife, "What is the matter?" -- because he had always been chitchatting and was
           always cheerful. The wife laughed and the husband looked at her very seriously, very angrily.
                The wife said, "You are asking, so I am saying the whole responsibility is yours. I am not to be
           looked at as if I am committing a sin." And laughingly she said to me,"He is sad because he has lost
           five lakh rupees."
                I said, "But you are laughing and your husband has lost five lakh rupees?"
                She said, "I am laughing because in fact he has gained five lakh rupees -- but he was expecting
           ten lakhs, and the trouble is, he cannot understand that he has earned five lakhs out of a business.
           He's sad because he was counting on ten lakhs. What about the remaining five lakhs? So although he
           has profited enough, he is not happy."
                His misery is that he has lost five lakhs -- and he has not lost a single paisa. I asked the man,
           "What is the matter?"
                He said, "In a way she is right, but I am really feeling sad. Ten lakhs were absolutely certain in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the business. Even more was possible but only five lakhs turned up, and I cannot forget the five
           lakhs that I have missed."
                Now can you think that a man who is thinking in terms of expectations can be happy, joyous?
           Your expectations are always more than the reality allows. Hence, there is always a feeling of
           failure. There is always a sadness lurking somewhere in your being.
                Greed is an aggressive attitude towards existence: grab as much as you can and go on grabbing
           more and more and more. Waste your whole life and your whole intelligence in grabbing more and
           more and what is the point? Death will not be late, not even for a single minute. It always comes at
           the right time, and all that you have grabbed and wasted your life for, you will have to leave here.
                Bodhidharma has said: One man was so greedy that when his wife was almost dying, his friends
           told him, "It is time ...you should call a physician."
           But he said, "It costs too much."
                They said, "It is going to be really ugly, inhuman. Your wife is dying and you are thinking about
           paying some fee to the physician!"
                He said, "Wives don't count much. If she dies I can get married again. And death and life are not
           in the hands of man, they are decided by fate. If she's going to die, she will die whether I call the
           physician or not. Why waste money? If she is going to live, she will live. Either way, a physician is
           absolutely unnecessary."
                The friends said, "We have never thought that you are so greedy. We have always heard that you
           are greedy -- but so much! Do you think you are going to take all your money with you when you
           die?"
                He said, "Of course. I have a plan." They could not believe him.
           They said, "What plan?"
                He said, "Before I die I will take all the money in a boat, go deep into the ocean and jump with
           all my money, into the ocean."
                The friends could not believe their ears. They said, "Are you mad or something? Still your
           money will be left in the ocean and you will have to go alone." At least there would be a satisfaction
           that nobody else was enjoying his money.
                You will find all kinds of greedy people and you will find all sorts of greed within yourself. And
           when greed is not fulfilled, anger arises, frustration arises. You become angry with the world, you
           become angry with yourself, you become angry with everybody.
                You can see it in all old people. Why are they so irritated? Why is it so difficult to stand them?
           They are frustrated people; they have wasted their life in grabbing more and more. But the more is
           never satisfied. Now they are feeling angry at life, so any excuse is enough and they will become
           angry. Greed is the root cause and when it is not fulfilled, it leaves you with great anger, frustration,
           irritation, failure.
                And in your anger and frustration and failure a third thing arises: delusion. Delusion is a
           consolation. Delusion is a way somehow to keep yourself together.
                When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister of India, there were at least ten persons
           who believed that they were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. At least one I knew personally because he
           lived in the nearby district, and I used to go to that city to lecture in their colleges. I loved that man
           because he used exactly the same clothes as Jawaharlal Nehru -- with the Gandhi cap, with the
           handwoven khadi, with a Jawahar jacket. And he talked like Jawaharlal.
                He was a laughingstock but he never cared. He said to me, "These people are idiots." And he
           used to send telegrams if he was going to visit a beautiful place which was nearby, Kanhakisli, a
           beautiful forest with thousands of deer. He would just send a telegram -- "Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is
           arriving" -- to the collector of that district, signed by the secretary of Jawaharlal.
                And he deceived people many times. Circuit houses were emptied, cleaned -- Pandit Jawaharlal
           Nehru is coming! And later on they would find that this man is bogus. Finally he was put in a
           madhouse.
                It was not a new phenomenon. In England, when Winston Churchill was alive, there were at least
           three more Winston Churchills in England, believing absolutely that they were Winston Churchill.
                There is on record a case in the life of Kalif Omar. A man was brought to him who was declaring
           that he had come from God with a new message: "Now the message Mohammed brought is
           out-of-date. It is time, because almost one thousand years have passed. Everything has changed and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God has sent me as his prophet with a new message."
               Mohammedans are very fanatic. Omar ordered that this man be tortured for seven days. "Tie him
           to a pillar, naked, and beat him and don't give him anything to eat. And after seven days I will come
           and see."
               So after seven days he went there. The man was almost dying; so much blood had flowed,
           because they were beating him continuously, and without giving him food. Omar said, "What do you
           think now? Have you changed your mind or not?"
               The man laughed and said, "Changed my mind? When I was leaving God, he said to me,
           `Remember, my prophets are always tortured.' Your torture has proved perfectly that I am the
           prophet."
               At that very point another man, who had been tied to another pillar for almost one month because
           he was declaring that he himself was God, shouted to Omar, "Don't listen to that idiot. I have never
           sent any prophet after Mohammed. Mohammed is my only prophet and this man is a cheat!"
               Now what to say about these people? And they are not exceptions. Everybody has some kind of
           delusion. Everybody is thinking things which he is not. But these delusions are helpful as a
           lubricating system. It helps your life somehow to move on.
               Great consolations -- if you cannot become the prime minister, at least you can create a delusion
           that you are. If you cannot BECOME the richest man you can still believe that you ARE. You can
           make your delusions so solid that nobody can change them.
               A madman was brought to a psychiatrist. His madness was very special; his madness was that he
           had been thinking that he had died. So when his family would tell him to go to the shop, tend the
           shop, he would say, "You don't understand. Dead people don't go to the shop. They don't tend
           shops."
               They tried hard in every way to persuade him that he was perfectly alive, and he would say,
           "How can I believe you when I know that I'm dead?"
               Finally they brought him to the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist said, "Don't be worried. I will
           put him right." And he asked the madman, "Do you think dead people bleed?"
           The madman said, "No, dead people never bleed."
               So the psychiatrist said, "There is a simple experiment to be done." And he took his knife and cut
           the dead man's finger just a little bit, and blood came running out. The family was very happy that
           this man, within a minute, had changed the whole situation. But they never knew that delusions are
           not so easily dispelled.
               The madman laughed. The psychiatrist said, "That blood shows that you are not dead."
               He said, "No, that blood shows that the proverb that `dead men don't bleed' is wrong; they do
           bleed. I am the proof. Now what can you do? The proverb is wrong and I am the proof of its being
           wrong. Dead men do bleed!"
               Delusions settle so deeply in you, and the reason for those delusions is that to live continuously
           in frustration is a difficult task. You start believing in things which you have not got. You should
           look into your own mind to see how many things are only delusions.
               Bodhidharma says these THREE REALMS ARE GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION. TO
           LEAVE THE THREE REALMS MEANS TO GO FROM GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION
           BACK TO MORALITY, MEDITATION AND WISDOM. Morality, meditation and wisdom are in
           fact not three things but only three names.
               The exact thing is meditation. On one side it brings morality in your life; on another side it brings
           wisdom in your life. But you cannot do anything to attain wisdom directly; neither can you do
           anything to be moral directly. But you can do something for meditation; you can meditate directly,
           and morality and wisdom both are by-products. Morality will be in your actions and wisdom will be
           your intelligence, your awareness, your final enlightenment.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "BUDDHAS HAVE ONLY BECOME BUDDHAS WHILE LIVING WITH THE
              THREE POISONS AND NOURISHING THEMSELVES ON THE PURE DHARMA."

               Bodhidharma is saying not to be worried about the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion.
           Even buddhas have lived through the same experience as you all are passing through; but because
           they started nourishing themselves through meditation and started becoming aware of their
           self-nature, all these poisons disappeared. They have found the antidote.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Meditation is the antidote to all the poisons of your life.
           It is the nourishment of your authentic nature.
               THE THREE POISONS ARE GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION. THE GREAT VEHICLE IS THE
               GREATEST OF ALL VEHICLES.

              This I call a prejudice. He is continuously insisting and emphasizing that Mahayana, THE
           GREAT VEHICLE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL VEHICLES. IT IS THE CONVEYANCE OF
           BODHISATTVAS, WHO USE EVERYTHING WITHOUT USING ANYTHING. AND WHO
           TRAVEL ALL DAY WITHOUT TRAVELLING. SUCH IS THE VEHICLE OF BUDDHAS. THE
           SUTRAS SAY, "NO VEHICLE IS THE VEHICLE OF BUDDHAS."
              To an ordinary, logical mind, to anybody who is looking at life with rationality, this will look a
           very absurd statement. First he says, THE GREAT VEHICLE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL
           VEHICLES. IT IS THE CONVEYANCE OF BODHISATTVAS, WHO USE EVERYTHING
           WITHOUT USING ANYTHING, AND WHO TRAVEL ALL DAY WITHOUT TRAVELLING.
           SUCH IS THE VEHICLE OF BUDDHAS.
              And then, THE SUTRAS SAY, "NO VEHICLE IS THE VEHICLE OF BUDDHAS." It is the
           same as his other statement. Walking without walking, acting without acting, speaking without
           speaking ...so there is no contradiction. He is using the same expression for "vehicle" -- the greatest
           vehicle is a "no-vehicle."
               THE SUTRAS SAY, "THE CAVE OF FIVE AGGREGATES IS THE HALL OF ZEN."

               The five aggregates are the five elements the body is made of: earth, air, fire, water, and the sky.
           These five are the aggregates -- SKANDHAS -- elements of which your body is made. Just behind
           these five elements is hidden your treasure, THE HALL OF ZEN. Just inside the temple made by
           these five elements, is the fire of your awareness.
               This body is a temple, and your consciousness is the god of the temple.
           "THE OPENING OF THE INNER EYE IS THE DOOR OF THE GREAT VEHICLE." WHAT
           COULD BE CLEARER?
               As you become more and more aware, you start having a third eye. These two eyes look
           outwards; that third eye looks inwards.
               And to see yourself is the greatest experience, because once you have seen your beauty, then all
           beauties of the outside world fade away.
               Once you have seen your purity, then everything outside becomes polluted. Once you have seen
           your inner splendor, then even a beautiful sunrise, or a grand sunset, or a night sky full of stars, are
           nothing compared to the splendor of your being. You are the highest peak of evolution, of light, of
           consciousness.
               NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING IS ZEN.

               Just being silent without any thought is what is meant by meditation.
               ONCE YOU KNOW THIS, WALKING, STANDING, SITTING, OR LYING DOWN, EVERYTHING YOU
               DO IS ZEN.

               This is a significant statement. Perhaps there is no other religion that has made your whole life,
           twenty-four hours a day, a meditative experience. Zen does not believe in meditating one hour in the
           morning, or one hour in the night. It does not make meditation a separate, particular act. It wants
           meditation to become a quality of your being.
               So whatever you are doing -- walking, sitting, standing, lying down, chopping wood, carrying
           water from the well, it does not matter. Whatever you are doing, you are doing it so silently, so
           peacefully, without any stirring of thoughts in your mind.
               Then your whole life has become meditation. You go to bed silently, you wake up silently, and
           one day you will realize that you also sleep silently -- as thoughts disappear, dreams also disappear.
           Then the circle is complete.
               For Zen, meditation has to be a twenty-four-hour affair. It is not some extra act that you have to
           do. It is not a Sunday religion -- for six days do everything you want to do, but at least on the
           seventh day, on Sunday, go to the church for one hour and you are a great Christian. It is absolutely
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           illogical, and absurd. Just going to the church for one hour, and then living your mundane life with
           greed, with anger, with delusion, is not going to transform you. And no Jesus can save you.
               My people in the commune made a small placard for cars. It said, "Jesus saves, Moses invests,
           Osho spends." I like that. What is the point of saving? Jesus seems to be like a banker. And of
           course, Moses invests. For Moses, everything is business. And for me, certainly, everything is going
           to be taken away. Before it is taken away, use it, spend it, enjoy it. Why wait for death to snatch it
           away? Certainly it is absolutely right. A one-hour religion, or even a Mohammedan who prays five
           times a day, is not going to help.
               Religion has to become something like your heartbeat.
               Meditation has to become something like your breathing. Whatever you are doing, you are
           breathing; it is not a separate action. And only then are you saturated, in every fiber of your being,
           with meditativeness.
              TO KNOW THAT THE MIND IS EMPTY IS TO SEE THE BUDDHA. THE BUDDHAS OF THE TEN
              DIRECTIONS HAVE NO MIND. TO SEE NO MIND IS TO SEE THE BUDDHA.

               Now you can see why I have been insisting that the disciple was taking wrong notes. This is the
           right statement, by Bodhidharma. The buddhas have no-mind. TO SEE NO MIND IS TO SEE THE
           BUDDHA.
               But it is very strange that these sutras have existed for one thousand years, and nobody has seen
           the contradiction. Perhaps religious people are so blind, such believers, that they will not see any
           contradiction, even if it is there -- so apparent.
              TO GIVE UP YOURSELF WITHOUT REGRET IS THE GREATEST CHARITY.

                But the Indian constitution will not believe in it. The Indian constitution believes in charity
           according to the Christian idea. It is a very strange constitution. It is a hodgepodge.
                In Hindi we call it KHICHRI, humbug. What the people who made the constitution have done
           ...they have collected all the constitutions of the world, and taken beautiful passages from every
           constitution, without knowing that those beautiful passages were alive in a certain context, in THEIR
           constitution. When you take them out, they become dead.
                The Indian constitution is the most dead constitution in the world, because everything has been
           taken and borrowed from others. It is not a growth, it is simply a combination. Take everything good
           ...somebody's eyes are good, take them out; somebody's ears are really beautiful, take them out;
           somebody's mustache -- pull it out.
                You can make a man just by taking beautiful things from everywhere -- the eyes of Cleopatra,
           and the nose of Amrapali, the body of Alexander the Great and the mind of Albert Einstein. But
           remember, although you have taken all the best parts from the best people, you have collected only a
           corpse -- it won't have any life.
                What Bodhidharma is saying about charity .... We have been fighting with the Indian government
           and the Indian courts for almost ten years, that their conception of charity is very poor, their
           conception is very limited. Give to the poor, make hospitals, make schools ...this is charity. There is
           nothing sublime in their idea of charity. Bodhidharma's single statement is far more significant. He
           says: TO GIVE UP YOURSELF WITHOUT REGRET IS THE GREATEST CHARITY. To give up
           yourself to whom? To the universe.
                Don't be a separate entity. Just drop into the ocean of existence and become one with it. This is
           the greatest charity. What else can you give? You came empty-handed into the world, and you will
           go empty-handed out of the world.
                Everything that you have is not yours. Your house is nothing but a caravanserai. Your money is
           not your money; you have exploited for it. Your land is not your land; it was always there before you
           came and it will remain there after you are gone.
                What is yours? You can only give that which is yours, you cannot give that which is not yours.
           You cannot contribute all the stars to the poor; you cannot contribute the sun to the poor; you cannot
           contribute the moon to the poor. It does not belong to you in the first place.
                All that you can contribute is your own being. Hence, Bodhidharma is absolutely right that there
           is only one charity and that is to give yourself without regret, in fact with great joy and rejoicing, to
           existence. Become part of the whole.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TO TRANSCEND MOTION AND STILLNESS IS THE HIGHEST MEDITATION.

               Whether you are sitting silently, or you are walking silently, you have to transcend all form,
           motion and stillness, action and inaction, day and night, life and death. Transcend all, and you will
           have the highest fragrance of meditation in you.
               MORTALS KEEP MOVING -- and again he comes to his prejudice -- WHILE ARHATS STAY
           STILL. BUT THE HIGHEST MEDITATION SURPASSES THAT OF BOTH MORTALS AND
           ARHATS.
               He does not know anything about arhatas. Arhatas don't say anything, but they have also
           transcended motion and stillness. Just because they don't say anything does not mean that they have
           not transcended. In fact, their transcendence is so great that it cannot be said or conveyed in words.
           So I will not agree with Bodhidharma. He has to forgive me. With every apology, I want to say to
           him that his understanding about arhatas is absolutely zero. Instead of arhatas, he should have used
           the word "ascetics."
           Mortals and ascetics don't know this transcending.
              PEOPLE WHO REACH SUCH UNDERSTANDING FREE THEMSELVES FROM ALL
              APPEARANCES WITHOUT EFFORT AND CURE ALL ILLNESSES WITHOUT TREATMENT. SUCH
              IS THE POWER OF GREAT ZEN.

               Such is the power of great meditation. Such is the power of knowing yourself. All illnesses
           disappear; illnesses of the spirit, all wounds are suddenly cured -- wounds of the spirit. And all
           appearances, delusions, greed and anger are found no more, not even their footprints. Such is the
           power of knowing oneself in deep meditation.
               He is perfectly right about everything, except what he says about arhatas. That has to be changed.
           In fact I am not against Bodhidharma, I am doing him a great favor. I am taking out his mistakes; I
           am making him almost infallible. His prejudice against arhatas drags him down from the great sunlit
           peak which is his home.
               If you meet Bodhidharma somewhere, in some life, just remind him that a few corrections are
           needed. And certainly he cannot make me afraid by his big eyes. I can also make him afraid with my
           big eyes.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                              Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                  Chapter #10
                               Chapter title: Not to be in the mind is everything
           9 July 1987 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707095
              ShortTitle: BODHI10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 86 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY IS DELUSION. NOT USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR
              REALITY IS AWARENESS. FREEING ONESELF FROM WORDS IS LIBERATION. REMAINING
              UNBLEMISHED BY THE DUST OF SENSATION IS GUARDING THE DHARMA. TRANSCENDING
              LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING HOME. NOT SUFFERING ANOTHER EXISTENCE IS REACHING
              THE WAY. NOT CREATING DELUSIONS IS ENLIGHTENMENT. NOT ENGAGING IN IGNORANCE
              IS WISDOM. NO AFFLICTION IS NIRVANA. AND NO APPEARANCE OF THE MIND IS THE OTHER
              SHORE.
              IN THE LIGHT OF THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA, MORTALS LOOK NO DIFFERENT FROM SAGES.
              THE SUTRAS SAY THAT THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA IS SOMETHING THAT MORTALS CAN'T
              PENETRATE AND SAGES CAN'T PRACTICE. THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA IS ONLY PRACTICED BY
              GREAT BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS. TO LOOK ON LIFE AS DIFFERENT FROM DEATH OR
              ON MOTION AS DIFFERENT FROM STILLNESS IS TO BE PARTIAL. TO BE IMPARTIAL MEANS
              TO LOOK ON SUFFERING AS NO DIFFERENT FROM NIRVANA BECAUSE THE NATURE OF
              BOTH IS EMPTINESS. BY IMAGINING THEY'RE PUTTING AN END TO SUFFERING AND
              ENTERING NIRVANA, ARHATAS END UP TRAPPED BY NIRVANA. BUT BODHISATTVAS KNOW
              THAT SUFFERING IS ESSENTIALLY EMPTY. AND BY REMAINING IN EMPTINESS, THEY
              REMAIN IN NIRVANA. NIRVANA MEANS NO BIRTH AND NO DEATH. IT'S BEYOND BIRTH AND
              DEATH AND BEYOND NIRVANA. WHEN THE MIND STOPS MOVING, IT ENTERS NIRVANA.
              NIRVANA IS AN EMPTY MIND.    ...AN UNINHABITED PLACE IS ONE WITHOUT GREED, ANGER
              OR DELUSION.     ...WHOEVER KNOWS THAT THE MIND IS A FICTION AND DEVOID OF
              ANYTHING REAL KNOWS THAT HIS OWN MIND NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOESN'T EXIST.
              MORTALS KEEP CREATING THE MIND, CLAIMING IT EXISTS. AND ARHATS KEEP NEGATING
              THE MIND, CLAIMING IT DOESN'T EXIST. BUT BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS NEITHER
              CREATE NOR NEGATE THE MIND. THIS IS WHAT'S MEANT BY THE MIND THAT NEITHER
              EXISTS NOR DOESN'T EXIST. THE MIND THAT NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOESN'T EXIST IS
              CALLED THE MIDDLE WAY ....
              WHEN YOUR MIND DOESN'T STIR INSIDE, THE WORLD DOESN'T ARISE OUTSIDE. WHEN THE
              WORLD AND THE MIND ARE BOTH TRANSPARENT, THIS IS TRUE VISION. AND SUCH
              UNDERSTANDING IS TRUE UNDERSTANDING.


                These sutras of Bodhidharma are pure gold except on one point: wherever he mentions the
           arhatas he suddenly becomes absolutely blind. His conception about the arhatas is the only flaw that
           he cannot drop. I will remind you whenever he falls below the ultimate wisdom and becomes
           attached to his opinion. It is extremely surprising that a man of the caliber of Bodhidharma can
           behave just like any ignorant person in certain situations. But this reminds us of the frailty of human
           beings and this can be helpful to you not to become too much attached to your opinions, because
           every opinion is going to make you blind, blind to the opposite opinion.
                A man of pure understanding is available to all the contradictions without any choice. He
           remains choiceless, just silently aware, knowing that they are contradictions but that ultimately they
           meet somewhere. Life meets death, day meets night, love meets hate, yes meets no. For the man who
           is beyond all opinions, for him yes is partial just as no is partial. In fact, when they both meet and
           merge into each other, when yes is no longer yes, and no is no longer no, when it is absolutely
           indefinable because where yes and no meet, it is going beyond conceivability -- this is the
           transcendence -- going beyond the mind.
                But even people like Bodhidharma have certain blind spots. It is something like the scientists
           say: at least ten percent of people in the world are color blind although they are not aware of it. It is a
           big percentage; it means out of ten people, one person is going to be color blind. And by color blind
           they mean that the person cannot see a certain color at all.
                Rarely does one come to discover one's color blindness. It happened in George Bernard Shaw's
           life. For sixty years he was not aware that he was color blind. On his sixtieth birthday a friend sent a
           gift of a beautiful suit, but he must have forgotten to send a matching tie with the suit. And Bernard
           Shaw loved the suit and he told his secretary that they should go immediately to find a matching tie,
           "Because this evening many friends will be coming to celebrate my birthday and I would like to use
           this suit for the evening."
                They went to the shop where the best quality ties were available and he looked at many ties and
           finally he chose one. The shopkeeper was shocked, his secretary was shocked; they could not believe
           what he was doing. It looked very ridiculous; the suit was green and he had chosen a yellow tie.
           Simultaneously the secretary and the shopkeeper both said to him, "It will look very odd. You have
           chosen a very strange color. With green, this yellow will not look good."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               George Bernard Shaw said, "What do you mean? They are the same color." He had no eye for
           yellow; yellow looked to him like green. He could not see the yellow at all. But it was just
           coincidental. Perhaps millions of people live and die without knowing that they are color blind. If
           this certain circumstance had not happened, George Bernard Shaw would have died -- sixty years he
           had lived, forty years more he could have lived, he could have made the whole century -- and
           remained unaware of a certain blind spot in his eyes.
               Something similar happens to people. Even though they may be of great awareness, there are
           points where they are blind, and unless these blind spots disappear, a man's enlightenment cannot be
           called perfect. It remains imperfect, incomplete. And the surprising thing is, when Bodhidharma
           talks about great things he is so accurate, so impeccably perfect, but just on a few points he simply
           forgets everything and falls down into an ordinary state of mind where people become opinionated,
           prejudiced.
               You have to remember him and learn one secret from him, so that this does not happen to you.
           The sutra:
              USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY IS DELUSION.

               And all philosophers have been doing that and all theologians have been doing that. The great
           thinkers are doing nothing but playing games with words. USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR
           REALITY IS DELUSION. Mind cannot know reality. It is something like: if you want to hear music
           with the eyes, you will not be able to, because eyes are not meant to hear. Or if you want to see the
           light through the ears you will not be able to, because ears are not meant to see the light. Ears are
           meant for sound, eyes are meant for light. They each have a certain dimension of functioning.
               Mind's functioning is to create thoughts, dreams, imaginations, illusions, hallucinations, mirages
           of all kinds. Its function is not to find the reality.
              NOT USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY IS AWARENESS.

               Not using the mind is the way to find reality. Becoming utterly silent, without any thought, just a
           clean slate, a tabula rasa -- in that clarity, in that perceptivity, one comes to know what is real, both
           within and without, because the reality is one.
               It is the mind that divides it into within and without. When the mind is withdrawn, the division is
           dropped. Then you are the reality; then, even the farthest star is connected with you and even the
           smallest blade of grass is connected with you. It is all one existence. Suddenly you are no longer
           separate, you have fallen into the whole. All the walls have disappeared between you and existence.
               This experience in the UPANISHADS, the seers have declared as AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am
           God. It was not out of an ego; it was out of utter humbleness. But what can be done? The moment
           mind disappears you are one with the whole. It has to be said.
              FREEING ONESELF FROM WORDS IS LIBERATION.

               In a small statement there are hidden scriptures. He's a simple man; he does not use learned
           jargon, big words. He simply states in simple and ordinary words the extraordinary truth and the
           ultimate experience.
               FREEING ONESELF FROM WORDS IS LIBERATION ...not freeing yourself from the world,
           not freeing yourself from your wife or your husband, not freeing yourself from your money or your
           house but just freeing yourself from words. And certainly your real world is nothing but words.
               What is a wife other than a word? Once she was not your wife; suddenly one day some stupid
           priest starts chanting mantras that he does not understand -- nor do the people who are being married
           know what is meant by the whole ritual that is going on.
               One sannyasin got married a few days ago and she was telling me that she was surprised by the
           priest. The ritual was going to be one and a half hours long, but her husband gave five rupees to the
           priest and told him to be quick. The whole ritual went so fast; the priest started chanting so quickly
           and ended the whole thing within fifteen minutes. And in those fifteen minutes were included all
           those moments when the photographer said, "Just a moment!" And the priest would stop for the
           photograph to be taken and when the photograph was taken, he again started the ritual. What is a
           wife or what is a husband except a game of words?
               You come into the world without any possessions and you go out of the world without any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possessions. One day the whole thing becomes just like a dream that you had once seen. At the
           moment of your death you may remember all those things as if they had been seen in a dream. At the
           time of happening they were so real, but at the time of death everything will become unreal -- just
           words in the mind.
               The real renunciation is not of the world. It is meaningless to renounce the world and escape to
           the Himalayas or to the monasteries. The real thing is to drop the words from your mind so you can
           become a silent observer, a pure witness. And this is what Bodhidharma calls liberation.
              REMAINING UNBLEMISHED BY THE DUST OF SENSATIONS IS GUARDING THE DHARMA.

               All that is needed of you to be authentically religious, is to be on guard that you are not carried
           by emotions, sentiments, moods; that you remain above and beyond any strategies of the mind to
           pull you down. To be aware and alert is all that is needed to be authentically religious.
               You don't have to go to any church or to any synagogue or to any temple. You simply have to go
           within and be alert.
              TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING HOME.

                I would like to add two words to this sutra, otherwise this sutra can be misleading. I would like to
           say: TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING THIS WORLD, not the home, because
           your real home is where you are going. This world is not your real home. It is only a so-called home.
           It is just a consolation to call it home.
                I have told you the story of a Sufi mystic. One night in Baghdad, the king heard somebody
           walking on the roof of his palace. He shouted, "Who is there? And what are you doing there?"
                The man was not a thief. Without any fear he said, "Don't shout, that may disturb other people's
           sleep. It is none of your business. I am looking for my camel. My camel is lost and it is time for you
           to go to sleep."
                The king could not believe what kind of madman could be on the roof of a palace searching for
           his camel. He called the guards and they searched all over the place but could not find the man. And
           the next day when he was sitting in his court he heard the same voice again; he recognized it.
                The king immediately said, "Bring that man in," because he was arguing with the guard in front
           of the gate that he wanted to stay in the caravanserai.
                And the guard said, "You will be getting into problems unnecessarily. This is the palace of the
           king; this is not a caravanserai."
                The man said, "I know it is a caravanserai and you are just a guard. Don't bother me. Just let me
           go in. I want to discuss the matter with the king himself. If I can convince him that this is a
           caravanserai then I will stay. If he can convince me it is not a caravanserai, then of course I will
           leave. But I won't listen to you; you are just a guard."
                And just at that moment the message came from inside, "Don't stop that man. We are in search of
           him; bring him in."
                The Sufi mystic was called in and the king said, "You seem to be a very strange fellow. I
           recognize your voice. You were the man on the roof searching for your camel and now you are
           calling my place, my home, a caravanserai."
                The man laughed and said, "You seem to be a man of some understanding. It is possible to talk
           with you. Yes, it was me who was looking for the camel on the roof of the palace. Don't think that
           I'm insane. If you can look for blissfulness sitting on a golden throne, if you can look for God while
           continuously conquering and butchering and burning living human beings, what is wrong in
           searching for a camel on the roof of the palace? You tell me!
           "If I am inconsistent you are also not consistent. And what right have you got to call this place your
           home, because I have been here before and on the same golden throne I have seen another man
           sitting. He looked just like you -- a little older."
                The king said, "He was my father. Now he's dead." And the mystic said, "I was here even before
           that and I found another man. He also looked a little bit like you but very old." The king said, "You
           are right, he was my grandfather." And the mystic said, "What happened to him?" The king said, "He
           is dead."
                And the mystic said, "When are you going to die? They also believed that this is their home. I
           have argued with your grandfather. Now the poor fellow is in the grave. I have argued with your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           father; that poor fellow is also in the grave. Now I am arguing with you and someday I will come
           back again and I will be arguing with your son and you will be in a grave. So what kind of home is
           this where people go on changing? It is a caravanserai. It is just an overnight stay, and then one has
           to go."
               The king was shocked but was silent. The whole court was silent. The man was right. And the
           mystic finally said, "If you really want to know where your home is, go to the graveyard where
           finally you will have to settle, where your grandfather is, where your father is. That is the real place
           that you can call your home, but not this palace. Here I am going to stay as if it is a caravanserai."
               The king was certainly not an ordinary man. He stood up and told the mystic, "Forgive me, I was
           wrong. You are right. You can stay as long as you want. I am going in search of my real home. This
           is not my real home."
           This world is only a caravanserai.
               In the sutra it says: TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING HOME. I would like:
           TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING for HOME -- leaving the world, leaving for
           the home, for the real home from where you will not have to go anywhere else again -- which will be
           your eternal, ultimate and absolute refuge.
              NOT SUFFERING ANOTHER EXISTENCE IS REACHING THE WAY. NOT CREATING DELUSIONS
              IS ENLIGHTENMENT.

              Reduced to a single statement: Not to be in the mind is everything -- liberation, finding the real
           home, enlightenment, finding the way.
              NOT ENGAGING IN IGNORANCE IS WISDOM.

               This statement is a little strange because people don't engage in ignorance. Nobody wants to be
           ignorant; why should they engage in ignorance? Hence I would like to change it, although the
           meaning will remain the same. The word will not be ignorance, the word will be: NOT ENGAGING
           IN knowledge IS WISDOM.
               Engaging in knowledge is really hiding your ignorance. That is really engaging, indulging in
           ignorance. But on the surface you are engaged in being more knowledgeable, more erudite, more
           learned -- a scholar, a pundit. And to be so much involved in knowledge is a barrier to wisdom.
           Wisdom comes to those who are innocent of all knowledge.
               The moment you drop all knowledge you have also dropped all ignorance. They exist together as
           two sides of a coin. And then what remains is pure innocence.
               NO AFFLICTION IS NIRVANA ...not to be afflicted -- by any suffering, by any anguish, by any
           anger, by any greed -- not to be afflicted is nirvana. You have arrived home. The name of the home
           is nirvana. ...AND NO APPEARANCE OF THE MIND IS THE OTHER SHORE.
               When the mind disappears, with the mind this whole world disappears. With the mind,
           disappears this whole ignorance, this whole knowledgeability, all these nightmares of life. Mind is
           the creator of this whole drama that you go on seeing. Once mind disappears the other shore appears
           immediately -- coming closer and closer.
           The other shore is your real home.
           The other shore is your immortality, your eternity.
               This shore consists of death, disease, old age and all kinds of miseries. The other shore is the
           hope, the hope of being liberated, the hope of being saved, the hope of being redeemed from the
           nightmare in which we are all living. And the secret is simple: not to be a mind, but just to be a pure
           consciousness, a consciousness without thoughts, a sky without clouds.
              IN THE LIGHT OF THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA MORTALS LOOK NO DIFFERENT FROM SAGES.
              THE SUTRAS SAY THAT THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA IS SOMETHING THAT MORTALS CAN'T
              PENETRATE AND SAGES CAN'T PRACTICE. THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA IS ONLY PRACTICED BY
              GREAT BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS.

              But he's not including the arhatas. That's his blind spot. Although Bodhidharma has very big
           eyes, he cannot see one simple thing: the great arhatas belong to the same category as the great
           bodhisattvas and the buddhas.
              TO LOOK ON LIFE AS DIFFERENT FROM DEATH OR ON MOTION AS DIFFERENT FROM
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              STILLNESS IS TO BE PARTIAL. TO BE IMPARTIAL MEANS TO LOOK ON SUFFERING AS NO
              DIFFERENT FROM NIRVANA BECAUSE THE NATURE OF BOTH IS EMPTINESS. BY IMAGINING
              THEY ARE PUTTING AN END TO SUFFERING AND ENTERING NIRVANA, ARHATAS END UP
              TRAPPED BY NIRVANA.

                That is absolutely wrong. The arhatas attain to the same height as the bodhisattvas. Their paths
           are different, but one can reach to the peak of the mountain from different paths. He could have said
           that the so-called sages and saints end up trapped by nirvana -- but not arhatas. Arhatas are buddhas
           as authentically as bodhisattvas. Their only difference is that arhatas don't care about anybody else --
           that they have to be helped, that they have to be supported for their enlightenment. Arhatas are
           simply concerned with their own enlightenment. Bodhisattvas are concerned with others'
           enlightenment too. That is the only difference. Otherwise their experience is the same, their height is
           the same, their position has the same ultimateness.
                But there are many so-called sages and saints who are neither arhatas or bodhisattvas, who have
           practiced ascetic disciplines, who have tortured themselves, who have done everything that is within
           the capacity of man to do, but it is all being done by their mind. That makes all the difference. It has
           not been a spontaneous and natural growth; they have forced it. They have managed, disciplined,
           practiced. They always do the right thing, but their right doing is not spontaneous. It is deliberately
           thought-out. They are continuously weighing pros and cons -- what is right and what is wrong. They
           are always consulting the scriptures -- what is right, what is wrong. They don't have their own
           insight.
                I call them so-called saints and sages. They look almost like buddhas, but deep inside there is
           great darkness. Their own self-nature is not yet realized. They have not attained SAMADHI. They
           are still wandering in the puzzling mind and its millions of ways. Their great practices, their
           asceticism, their disciplines, are nothing but their mind projection.
                So it can be said that the so-called saints and sages end up trapped by nirvana. Their whole desire
           is to become enlightened. But that is the problem: you cannot desire to be enlightened. Desire is the
           barrier. You can become enlightened, but you cannot desire to become enlightened. The moment you
           desire you are trapped. You are trapped by your own desire.
                You cannot make enlightenment an object of your greed.
           You cannot make it an object of your ambition.
                And that is where the so-called sages and saints come in. They have made enlightenment,
           liberation, moksha, nirvana, a goal -- an achievement. Then it becomes an ego trip. They are trapped,
           badly trapped.
                Nirvana has to flower within you. When you have dropped the mind with all its desire, with all
           its ambitions, with all its program for achievements, when you have dropped your whole mind full of
           greed .... Whether the greed concerns money, or the greed concerns enlightenment, it does not make
           any difference. Mind can go on changing from object to object. But it remains the same mind full of
           greed. The moment mind is completely dropped, you suddenly find enlightenment is not a goal. It is
           your self-nature. Suddenly the lotus blossoms open their petals and you are full of fragrance. And
           this fragrance is not different in the arhatas or in the bodhisattvas. They both are buddhas; they both
           are enlightened people.
                Because I don't belong to any religion, I don't belong to any particular sect -- I simply don't
           belong to anybody, I just belong to myself -- I can see clearly where people get trapped in their own
           ideologies. Even a man like Bodhidharma cannot tolerate the idea that arhatas are the same as
           bodhisattvas. He belongs to the category of bodhisattvas.
                And it is not the case only with him. There have been arhatas who condemn bodhisattvas in the
           same way. But to me it does not matter whether somebody is of one category or of another category.
           I can be absolutely impartial. And my being impartial has been my problem because I say things
           without bothering about who is going to be pleased by my statements, who is going to be displeased
           by my statements.
                It is a very strange world. If I say something that pleases you, you will forget all about it. But if I
           say something that displeases you, you are not going to forget it, and you are not going to forgive
           me.
                I have said things about Jesus that no Christian has ever said. I have appreciated the man more
           than any Christian in two thousand years. But when I criticized a few things about Jesus,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately the whole Christian world turned against me. They were silent when I was saying and
           appreciating great statements of Jesus. They were happy, but nobody even said a single word. But
           when I criticized a few things, the whole Christian world, which means almost half the world,
           immediately turned to destroying my movement.
               My books have been banned by the pope. A few Christian associations have published my books
           on Jesus, but when I criticized Jesus they even burnt my books in which I have praised Jesus.
               People are very touchy. If you appreciate something they will not say anything. They will simply
           enjoy the fact that their mind is being appreciated. It is not a question of Jesus; it is a question of a
           Christian mind. But when I say something that I see clearly is wrong in Jesus, then it hurts the
           Christian mind.
               For example, I am saying a few things against Bodhidharma, but I am saying many more things
           in his favor -- they will be forgotten. But what I am saying against him ...the countries which belong
           to Mahayana Buddhism will immediately get upset.
               My whole life, my whole life's work has been how to influence people and create enemies.
               Again: BUT BODHISATTVAS KNOW THAT SUFFERING IS ESSENTIALLY EMPTY.
           AND BY REMAINING IN EMPTINESS THEY REMAIN IN NIRVANA. NIRVANA MEANS NO
           BIRTH AND NO DEATH. IT IS BEYOND BIRTH AND DEATH AND BEYOND NIRVANA.
               But this is said only about bodhisattvas, not about arhatas. I would like to make it clear that it
           refers as much to arhatas as to bodhisattvas.
              WHEN THE MIND STOPS MOVING IT ENTERS NIRVANA. NIRVANA IS AN EMPTY MIND.

               Empty mind can be misinterpreted. I would suggest it is better to call it "no-mind", because mind
           is never empty. The moment mind is empty, it is no longer there. Empty mind is a contradictory use
           of words -- a contradiction in terms. There is nothing like an empty mind; mind is always thought
           processes. It is always a traffic of thoughts, emotions, dreams, imaginations.
               When the mind is empty, there is no mind. It is better to use the word "no-mind" than to use the
           word "empty" mind. Empty mind can be misleading. People can start thinking that all that they have
           to do is to empty the mind.
               And you cannot empty the mind even if you go on working for eternity. You have to drop it --
           wholesale. You cannot go emptying it in installments, because here you will be emptying it, and
           from all directions, things will go on coming into it.
           You cannot empty the mind.
           Either you cling to it or you simply drop it.
           There is no middle way.
              AN UNINHABITED PLACE IS ONE WITHOUT GREED, ANGER OR DELUSION.
              WHOEVER KNOWS THAT THE MIND IS A FICTION AND DEVOID OF ANYTHING REAL KNOWS
              THAT HIS OWN MIND NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOES NOT EXIST. MORTALS KEEP CREATING
              THE MIND, CLAIMING IT EXISTS. AND ARHATAS KEEP NEGATING THE MIND, CLAIMING IT
              DOES NOT EXIST. BUT BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS NEITHER CREATE NOR NEGATE THE
              MIND. THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT BY THE MIND THAT NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOES NOT EXIST.
              THE MIND THAT NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOES NOT EXIST IS CALLED THE MIDDLE WAY.

                He can never forget to condemn the arhatas. It seems to be as if something is constantly hurting
           him. The situation is again the same: instead of arhatas, he should have said the so-called sages and
           saints keep negating the mind. But bodhisattvas, arhatas and the buddhas neither create nor negate
           the mind. They simply go beyond it; they don't fight with it, because to fight with the mind is to give
           it reality, to recognize its power. There is no need to fight. One has just to be a witness.
                Without any fight, just being a witness, mind disappears.
                Before the fire of witnessing, there is no possibility of mind remaining within you even for a
           single second. Create the fire of witnessing, create the flame of awareness. This is done by the
           arhatas, bodhisattvas and the buddhas without any distinction.
              WHEN YOUR MIND DOES NOT STIR INSIDE, THE WORLD DOES NOT ARISE OUTSIDE.

              This is a beautiful statement, immensely pregnant. It is saying the world outside is nothing but
           your projection. When your mind stirs inside, the world is created outside.
              Once it happened that a German poet, Heinrich Heine, got lost in the forest. He had gone
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hunting, but lost his way and lost his companion. And for three days he did not come across any
           human being. He was utterly tired, hungry and continuously worried about the wild animals.
               In the night he used to climb a tree to somehow protect himself from the wild animals. The third
           night was a full-moon night and he was sitting up in a tree. Three days of hunger and tiredness ...he
           had not slept. And he saw the beautiful moon. He had written so many beautiful poems about the
           moon, but this day was different because his mind was in a different situation.
               Instead of seeing the moon, he saw a loaf of bread moving in the sky. In his diary he wrote, "I
           could not believe my eyes. I have always seen my beloved's face in the moon. I have never even
           thought that a loaf of bread ...!"
               But a man who has been hungry for three days ...his mind is projecting one thing, and that is
           food. The moon disappeared and a loaf of bread was floating in the sky.
           What you see is not what is there.
           What you see is what your mind projects.
               I have told you a story about Mulla Nasruddin. He had a beautiful house in the mountains and he
           hired one of the ugliest women possible to take care of the house. All his friends asked, "Mulla, there
           must be some reason -- why have you chosen the ugliest woman?" Mulla said, "There is a reason.
           And when the time comes, I will tell you."
               And this created even more temptation to know. And again and again they were asking. It
           became a continuous temptation for them to enquire about the ugly woman. Mulla used to go to the
           mountain once in a while to rest, and he would say to his friends, "I am going for three weeks," and
           he would be back in one week.
               And they would ask, "You went for three weeks ...?" He said, "Yes, I went for three weeks, but
           something happened and I had to come back."
               And this happened again and again. He would go for six weeks and within two weeks he was
           back. Finally they said, "You are creating a mystery. You are keeping that ugly woman there, you go
           there for three weeks, you come back in one week. You never keep your word."
               Mulla said, "It is better now that I tell you the truth. The truth is, I have kept that ugly woman for
           a particular reason. And the reason is that when I go to the mountain house, the woman looks ugly.
           She is so repulsive, not just ugly. But without another woman, after seven or eight days, she does not
           look so repulsive. After two weeks, she does not even look ugly. After four weeks, she starts looking
           even beautiful. That is the time when I leave -- now the danger is near. Whenever that woman starts
           looking beautiful, that is the point to immediately leave the mountains because now there is danger."
               Mind has started creating its own reality. Now it does not care at all what is actually fact; now it
           is creating its own fiction. Because it has not been with a woman for four weeks, there is a certain
           hunger, biological hunger, and that hunger is creating a loaf of bread.
               It is not coincidental that people call beautiful woman "dishes," "delicious dishes." Why is a
           woman, a beautiful woman, in almost all languages, called a "beautiful dish"?
               Perhaps because, just as food is a hunger and biological, so is sex a hunger and biological. Both
           are different hungers, but both are hungers. The world that you see all around you is mostly a
           projection of your mind. When the mind disappears completely, you will see a totally different
           world. With all projections gone, then only the real -- the objectively real -- remains.
               And with the objectively real, there is no attachment. The attachment arises only with your
           projecting mind.
              WHEN YOUR MIND DOES NOT STIR INSIDE, THE WORLD DOES NOT ARISE OUTSIDE. WHEN
              THE WORLD AND THE MIND ARE BOTH TRANSPARENT, THIS IS TRUE VISION. AND SUCH
              UNDERSTANDING IS TRUE UNDERSTANDING.

               Bodhidharma is right on all basic points, and should be understood as deeply as possible, because
           he can help you tremendously on the way -- but remember his blind spots.
               Avoid those blind spots, because those blind spots make his grandeur a little less than it would
           have been without them. It makes his wisdom a little tainted, a little damaged. It is no longer
           impeccable; it is no longer absolute and perfect. Something is missing; he is prejudiced. He has
           joined a party.
               A man of true understanding remains alone; he does not join any party, any organization, any
           church, any religion. He is available to every form of understanding, but he remains impartial. To me
           this impartiality is one of the fundamentals of religion.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A Christian is not religious just because he is a Christian. A Hindu is not religious just because
           he has become part of an organized doctrine. A Jaina is not religious because he has chosen a certain
           party line.
           An authentically religious man is individual.
               He is alone, and in his aloneness there is great beauty, great splendor.
               I teach you that aloneness. I teach you the beauty, and the grandeur, and the fragrance of
           aloneness.
               In your aloneness you will reach to the heights of Everest. In your aloneness you will be able to
           touch the farthest star. In your aloneness you will blossom to your total potential.
               Never become a believer, never become a follower, never become a part of any organization.
           Remain authentically true to yourself. Don't betray yourself.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                              Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #11
                              Chapter title: Mind is the greatest enemy of man
           10 July 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707100
              ShortTitle: BODHI11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 111 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              THE SUTRAS SAY, "NOT TO LET GO OF WISDOM IS STUPIDITY." WHEN THE MIND DOESN'T
              EXIST, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH TRUE. WHEN THE MIND
              EXISTS, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH FALSE.
              WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU. WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND,
              YOU DEPEND ON REALITY.
              WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, THAT WHICH ISN'T REAL BECOMES REAL. WHEN YOU
              DEPEND ON REALITY, THAT WHICH IS REAL BECOMES FALSE. WHEN YOU DEPEND ON
              REALITY, EVERYTHING IS FALSE. WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, EVERYTHING IS TRUE
              ....
              THUS, THE SAGE DOESN'T USE HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR
              HIS MIND, OR HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR REALITY. HIS
              MIND DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO REALITY. AND REALITY DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO HIS MIND. AND
              BECAUSE BOTH HIS MIND AND REALITY ARE STILL, HE'S ALWAYS IN SAMADHI.     ...THE
              SUTRAS SAY, "NOTHING HAS A NATURE OF ITS OWN." ACT. DON'T QUESTION. WHEN YOU
              QUESTION, YOU'RE WRONG. WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, THE SIX SENSES AND FIVE SHADES
              ARE CONSTRUCTS OF SUFFERING AND MORTALITY. WHEN YOU WAKE UP, THE SIX SENSES
              AND FIVE SHADES ARE CONSTRUCTS OF NIRVANA AND IMMORTALITY.
              SOMEONE WHO SEEKS THE WAY DOESN'T LOOK BEYOND HIMSELF. HE KNOWS THAT THE
              MIND IS THE WAY. BUT WHEN HE FINDS THE MIND, HE FINDS NOTHING. AND WHEN HE
              FINDS THE WAY, HE FINDS NOTHING. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN USE THE MIND TO FIND THE
              WAY, YOU'RE DELUDED. WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, BUDDHAHOOD EXISTS. WHEN YOU'RE
              AWARE, IT DOESN'T EXIST. BECAUSE AWARENESS IS BUDDHAHOOD.       ...DON'T HATE LIFE
              AND DEATH OR LOVE LIFE AND DEATH. KEEP YOUR EVERY THOUGHT FREE OF DELUSION,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND IN LIFE YOU'LL WITNESS THE BEGINNING OF NIRVANA, AND IN DEATH YOU'LL
              EXPERIENCE THE ASSURANCE OF NO REBIRTH.
              TO SEE FORM BUT NOT BE CORRUPTED BY FORM OR TO HEAR SOUND BUT NOT BE
              CORRUPTED BY SOUND IS LIBERATION. EYES THAT AREN'T ATTACHED TO FORM ARE THE
              GATES OF ZEN. EARS THAT AREN'T ATTACHED TO SOUND ARE ALSO THE GATES OF ZEN.
              IN SHORT, THOSE WHO PERCEIVE THE EXISTENCE OF PHENOMENA AND REMAIN
              UNATTACHED ARE LIBERATED ....
              WHEN DELUSIONS ARE ABSENT, THE MIND IS THE LAND OF BUDDHAS. WHEN DELUSIONS
              ARE PRESENT, THE MIND IS HELL.


                The understanding of Bodhidharma's teachings will be easier if you understand a few points.
           First is the hypothesis of reincarnation. All the religions born outside of India believe in only one
           life. The religions born in India differ on every point, but not on reincarnation. They all insist that
           you don't have only one life. You have had thousands of lives before and you will go on having lives
           again and again until you realize your self nature.
                Life is only a school and unless you learn enlightenment, you will go on moving into the circle of
           life and death. This is something very essential.
                If there is only one life of seventy years on average, then you don't have much time left for
           meditation, for exploration of your being -- searching for the path. Seventy years is such a small span
           that one-third of it is wasted in sleep; one-third of it is wasted in educating you to earn your
           livelihood. And the remaining one-third, you waste in many ways because you don't know what to
           do with it.

                I have seen people playing cards or chess and I have asked them, "Can't you find anything better
           to do?" And their answer has consistently been the same ...they are killing time. Such is the
           unawareness of man.
           You don't have much time.
           You cannot afford to kill time.
                Moreover time is killing you; you cannot kill time. Each moment, time is bringing your death
           closer and closer.
                If you count all your activities .... Shaving your beard twice a day -- how much time you put into
           it! Listening to the radio or watching the television -- how much time you waste on it. An American
           survey shows that each American wastes seven and a half hours every day watching television. That
           is one third of his life he is just sitting, glued to his chair, watching all kinds of nonsense.
                How much time do you waste smoking cigarettes, cigars? There are people who are chain
           smokers .... How much time you waste in reading newspapers which never bring any news! All that
           they bring is simply sick -- murders, rapes, suicides, wars. They make you believe that this is the
           world and this is our life. They relieve you from your responsibility. They convince you that the
           whole world is like this. Nothing is wrong, everybody is doing it ....
                They never bring you any news of somebody becoming enlightened. Perhaps that is not news.
           Somebody is entering deeper realms of meditation -- perhaps that is not news. Somebody has
           become calm and quiet and gone beyond anger, greed, agony. That is not news!
                Once Bernard Shaw was asked, "What is news?" He said, "When a dog bites a man, it is not
           news. When a man bites a dog, it is news."
                How much time you are wasting in reading about how many men are biting dogs! If you count
           carefully, you will be surprised that you don't have, in your seventy years of life, even seven minutes
           for yourself. This is such an idiotic situation.
                And then because there is only one life, there is great speed. Why has the West become so
           addicted to speed? The idea of one life given by Judaism, Christianity and Islam, has made people
           speedy. They are always running -- on the run -- because time is short and there are so many
           ambitions to be fulfilled. They have to become the richest man, they have to attain great power, they
           have to become a celebrity. They have to do a thousand and one things and life is so short. The only
           way is to do everything as quickly as possible.
                Most of the housewives in the West don't know what cooking is. The best housewife is the one
           who knows how to open cans. Everything has to be done quickly and fast. Why bother about
           cooking?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Nobody is in a state of stillness; they cannot be. That seems to be a waste of time. Sitting
           silently, doing nothing is the foundation of meditation. In the West, meditation is not possible for the
           simple reason that one life span is too short. And death comes too quickly. It does not give you
           enough time.
                The Eastern concept takes care of your spiritual growth. The hypothesis of reincarnation, a
           continuous eternal cycle of birth and re-birth, gives you enough time. You can sit silently for hours;
           there is no hurry. There is no need to be speedy. There is an eternity available to you -- not only
           seventy years.
                The West is very poor. They have only seventy years for each person. The East may look poor
           from the outside, but its inner arrangement is very rich. Eternity behind -- eternity ahead.
                Secondly, just one life is not enough to make you bored. Seventy years goes so fast that boredom
           is not possible. But life after life, running after money. Life after life, running after power. Life after
           life, running after men or women. As you become aware of this long series of the same stupidities --
           in which you have succeeded many times, but you have not gained anything ....
                Each life you have to begin again from A,B,C. Just visualize millions of lives behind you .... You
           have loved so many women and you have told every woman, "I will love you forever and forever."
           And you have told every woman, "You are the most beautiful woman in the world." And you have
           been saying that for millions of lives to millions of women, to millions of men. It is tiring -- just the
           very idea.
                It brings a certain maturity to you that now it is time to stop being childish. You have been
           playing these games so long that it is time to grow up; to do something else that you have never done
           before.
                Meditation fits perfectly well in the Eastern vision of life. That is the only thing you have never
           done before. You have earned money, you have become rich, you have been in politics, you have
           become ministers and prime ministers and presidents. You have become great celebrities. You have
           done everything, because in so many lives there was so much opportunity -- so much time.
                And once you understand it ...that you are still doing the same things, again and again and again.
           It is good to commit a mistake once, but to go on committing the same mistake again and again
           proves your stupidity.
                And there is a great and urgent need to do something that you have never done before -- a search
           for your own self. You have run after everything in the world and it has not led anywhere. All roads
           in the world go round and round; they never reach any goal. They don't have any goal.
                Visualizing this long perspective, one suddenly becomes sick of the whole action; love affairs,
           fights, anger, greed, jealousy. And one starts thinking for the first time, "Now I should find a new
           dimension in which I will not be running after anybody; in which I will be coming back home. I have
           gone too far away in these millions of lives."
                This is the foundation of the Eastern wisdom. It creates a great boredom with life, death and the
           continuous vicious circle. That is the original meaning of the word, SAMSARA; it means the wheel
           that goes on moving, on and on; it knows no stopping. You can jump out of it, but you are clinging
           to it.
                This is the basic device to bring you to your senses.
           You have fooled around enough.
                Now stop it, and do something that you have been avoiding for centuries, that you have been
           postponing for tomorrow.
                These are very beautiful sutras. In the East people have never spoken unless they have
           understood. It is the greatest dishonesty, the greatest crime to speak, either for or against something
           that you don't know.
                In the East, even people who have known -- who have come to the ultimate flowering of their
           being -- many of them have not spoken because they were not able to find the right words. They
           were not articulate, hence, they decided to remain silent. It is better to be silent rather than give
           wrong ideas to people. Only a very few people have spoken. And they have spoken, only when they
           were absolutely certain that what they were saying may help millions of people down the ages.
                The East has never been interested in the daily newspaper. It has been interested in statements
           which have the quality of eternity, which will remain valid in every age, in every time. As long as
           man remains on the earth, the validity of these statements will not be challenged.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A newspaper becomes useless by evening. In the West, there are morning editions and afternoon
           editions because by the afternoon, the morning edition has become useless. Evening editions,
           because by the evening the afternoon edition has become useless. Night editions, because by the
           night the evening edition has become useless.
               These sutras will remain as fresh and as young as when they were uttered for the first time -- but
           only for those who can experience what is contained in them. Otherwise, it is so much prose. Once
           you experience it, the prose starts turning into poetry. The words start turning into silence. The
           statements prove to be only devices to give you the feel of an eternal dance of existence.
               No Western book, and I have gone through all the philosophers and all the theologians -- it was a
           tedious journey -- no Western book has anything parallel to the Eastern sutras because they are only
           mind stuff. The Eastern sutras have a qualitative difference. They have nothing to do with mind.
           They have something to do with your innermost being and its experiences of blissfulness, ecstasy,
           the universal joy that pervades this vast existence. Only man is missing it. And man is missing it
           because of his knowledgeability.
               The trees are not missing it because they are innocent. The oceans are not missing it. The
           mountains are not missing it. The stars are not missing it. They are absolutely innocent, they are not
           trapped in knowledge.
           The first sutra of Bodhidharma says:
           "NOT TO LET GO OF WISDOM IS STUPIDITY."
               Your so-called wisdom is all borrowed. It is not wisdom at all; instead, being wise, you are
           otherwise. You go on repeating things that you don't understand; things that have not grown up in
           your own being, things that are absolutely foreign to your own existence, to your own life. You have
           been collecting, just like small children, sea shells on the beach and thinking that you are creating a
           great treasure. Yes it is possible to deceive others, and to deceive yourself.
               One of my professors has a doctorate on a strange thesis from the University of London -- very
           prestigious. His subject matter was the ways of the growth of consciousness. I was his student. He
           presented his book to me when it was published, and said, "I would love very much to know your
           opinion."
               I said, "I don't have to read the book. I know you."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "I simply know, that you know nothing about any growth of consciousness. So everything
           that you have written in this book is borrowed. You deceived yourself, you deceived the professors
           of London University who have examined it, and now you have published the book, millions will
           read it and be deceived. Rather than presenting the book on consciousness to me, show some
           consciousness."
               He was very much shocked and he knew what I was saying was right. He was a drunkard.
           Without drinking alcohol every evening, he could not live.
               I said, "Just drop this addiction with unconsciousness, because alcohol is doing nothing but
           creating more unconsciousness. And you have some nerve to write a thesis on the subject matter of
           consciousness."
               But he was a very learned man; he knew many languages. He had collected materials just sitting
           in the library and he had managed to write a very beautiful thesis. But I said, "I will not read it
           because it is simply the work of a clerk. Anybody who has a little intelligence could have taken the
           information from the many sources which are available and collected it. I will read your book, only
           when you show me, something as a growing consciousness in you."
               I returned the book to him. He said, "I am fortunate that you have not been an examiner of my
           book. Otherwise, I would have never got the doctorate."
               I said, "Between you and me, you will never get it. You can befool the world but not yourself."
               People go on collecting knowledge and get mixed up and start thinking that this knowledge is
           wisdom. Knowledge is not wisdom.
               Wisdom comes through your growth of consciousness, and knowledge comes through collecting
           from the scriptures, from learned people, and making some sort of a system. But you remain the
           same; you don't go through any transformation.
               Hence, the first sutra: NOT TO LET GO OF WISDOM IS STUPIDITY. Just drop your wisdom
           and with your wisdom gone, your stupidity will also be gone. If you cling to your knowledge, which
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you think is wisdom, you will remain stupid forever.
              WHEN THE MIND DOES NOT EXIST UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH
              TRUE.

               The moment the mind is silent, nonfunctioning, everything is true. It is the mind that distorts
           everything and makes everything untrue. Knowledge comes through the mind, and wisdom comes
           when there is no-mind. This is a distinction which has not been made by the great philosophers of
           the world, except by the mystics of the East.
               The dictionaries will say wisdom is knowledge, but actual reality and the experience of it, is not
           a dictionary. It makes a clear-cut distinction that knowledge and wisdom are not only, not
           synonymous, they are antagonistic. If your mind is full of knowledge you will remain unwise, stupid.
               And if your mind is dropped and you go beyond it, you enter into the world of wisdom -- into the
           world of awakening. In that awakening everything is true. Because you are true, everything is
           authentic because YOU are authentic.
               In the mind you are untrue, you are false. That's why whatever happens through the mind turns
           into a falsity, a hypocrisy.
           Mind is the greatest enemy of man.
              WHEN THE MIND EXISTS, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH FALSE.
              WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU.

                This is such a pregnant statement that you should try to feel it, not just to hear it: WHEN YOU
           UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU. And when do you understand? When the mind is
           put aside and your being encounters reality directly, without the mediator, mind, then reality depends
           on you. You have risen higher than reality. You have risen to the ultimate reality. Otherwise reality
           is relative reality.
              WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU DEPEND ON REALITY.

               When you don't understand -- when you are in the mind -- you are a victim of this mundane
           reality that you see all around. Money deceives you, power deceives you, prestige deceives you,
           anything ...
               You are living in so many misunderstandings that if you come to see, you will be surprised at
           how articulate you are in creating falsehoods.
               Everything that passes through the mind, is almost as if you have taken a straight staff and put it
           into the water. You will suddenly see the straight staff is no longer straight. It has become bent at the
           place where it is in the water because water functions differently. You take it out; it is again straight.
           You put it back into water; it loses its straightness. The same is the situation with mind. Mind has
           only one capacity -- to falsify things.
               Unfortunately we are educated only as minds. And if the world lives in hypocrisy, in misery, in
           anguish, it is not a wonder. If the world goes on fighting and killing and goes on preparing for a
           global suicide, it is not a surprise. Mind cannot do anything else. It poisons everything.
               The whole message is to get beyond the mind and then everything is crystal clear. Then you don't
           ask any questions. You simply act out of your clarity, out of your transparent vision. And each of
           your acts has a beauty -- tremendous beauty of its own. It has a grace. And it has a power of
           blessings to shower over the whole world.
              WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, THAT WHICH IS NOT REAL BECOMES REAL.

               Right now, it is a weird situation. Everything is real which is not real. And everything that is real,
           is unreal. Have you ever thought: Is your soul a reality to you? It is not a reality to you. You have
           only heard about it, but you don't have any experience of it.
               But thousands of false things are real. A stone statue in the temple is real to you. Your own
           consciousness is unreal. Your own buddha nature is unreal. And a statue of marble is real to you.
           Before the false, you bow down, you worship the false not knowing what you are doing. You are
           insulting yourself and you are insulting all the buddhas of the past, of the present, of the future.
               You are a buddha. You don't have to worship. There is nobody higher than you; there is nobody
           lower than you. You don't have to worship anybody and you don't have to accept anybody's worship.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This whole existence is equally divine.
              WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, THAT WHICH IS REAL BECOMES FALSE. WHEN YOU
              DEPEND ON REALITY, EVERYTHING IS FALSE.

               Everything that you have known up to now, as real ....
               I have heard: In a great city, one man had the best palace. People used to come to see it. It was a
           miracle of architecture. But one night, suddenly, it caught fire. The man had gone to a friend's house.
           Somebody informed him, "What are you doing? Your palace is burning." He ran; nothing could be
           more shocking to him. Without his knowing, tears were running from his eyes. His most precious
           thing, his greatest attachment was being destroyed before his eyes and nothing could be done. The
           fire had gone too far.
               Just then, his youngest son came running to him, telling him, "Father, don't be worried.
           Yesterday I sold the house. The king was continually saying that it was embarrassing to him that you
           have a better palace. Finally I decided to sell it -- and he was ready to give any price."
               Suddenly the tears dried and the man started smiling. Nothing had changed. The house was
           burning but it was no longer his. So who cares? So it was not the house that was hurting him, it was
           the ego, HIS house. And then his younger son came and said, "Father, what are you doing here?
           Although we had agreed to sell the palace, no sale deed has been written yet. And of course the king
           is not going to pay the money. I have every suspicion that he is behind the fire."
               And again the tears started coming. And the situation was the same; nothing had changed. Only
           the idea had changed; the house became his, then there was great misery. The house was no longer
           his, all misery disappeared.
               And then the king himself came in his chariot and he said, "You need not be worried. I am a man
           of my word. If I have purchased it, I have purchased it. No sale deed has been written, no money has
           been advanced, but because yesterday we agreed verbally, that is enough. It is MY house that is
           burning. You need not be worried."
               And suddenly, instead of tears, the man was smiling.
              WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, EVERYTHING IS TRUE.
              THUS, THE SAGE DOESN'T USE HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR
              HIS MIND, OR HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR REALITY.

               It is a vicious circle: mind and reality, mind and the world. Mind creates a certain world which is
           nothing but your projection. And then, that certain projection creates your mind. And this way, this
           vicious circle goes on supporting the other; your mind supports your projections, your projections
           support your mind. And you go on living in a hallucination.
              THUS, THE SAGE DOESN'T USE HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR
              HIS MIND, OR HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR REALITY. HIS
              MIND DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO REALITY. AND REALITY DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO HIS MIND. AND
              BECAUSE BOTH HIS MIND AND REALITY ARE STILL, HE'S ALWAYS IN SAMADHI.

               This is a beautiful definition of samadhi. When the mind is still and the reality is still -- when
           you are out of the vicious circle -- all is silence, profound silence.
               The word, SAMADHI has to be understood. It means coming to a state of absolute equilibrium,
           coming to a state of absolute balance. The word comes from Sanskrit. And Sanskrit is one of the
           languages in the world which has words with profound meaning. Not just dictionary meaning, but
           with existential meaning. Other languages have only dictionary meanings.
               Sanskrit is the only language in the whole world which was created by enlightened people. It is a
           created language. It has never been a language of the people. There was no time when the whole
           country was speaking Sanskrit. All other languages of the world have been used by people at some
           time or other. Many have become dead languages, like Latin or Hebrew or Pali or Prakrit. Many
           languages which were once living languages, have become dead ones. But Sanskrit has never been a
           language of the people.
               This is a very strange phenomenon. It has been the language of enlightened people, hence every
           word has two meanings; one, a dictionary meaning for the scholar and one, the existential meaning
           for those who are in search of truth.
               Sanskrit has two words VYADI and SAMADHI. VYADI means "sickness of the soul" and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           SAMADHI means "health and wholeness of the soul." But these are existential meanings. A man
           who has not experienced samadhi is spiritually sick. He may be bodily fit, but he is not spiritually fit.
           It is possible a man may be bodily sick, but he can attain to samadhi. Even at the last moment of
           your life, you can attain to samadhi. Your spiritual being comes in all its health, wholesomeness.
           Even if for a single moment you have known samadhi, you have known the greatest secret in
           existence.
                There is no word in any language synonymous to samadhi. Only one word in Japanese comes a
           little close to it, but it is not synonymous. That word is SATORI. And unfortunately, the Japanese
           have stopped at satori thinking that it is samadhi.
                Satori is only a glimpse of samadhi -- a faraway glimpse. For example, you can see the
           Himalayan peaks from hundreds of miles away, but to see the peak when sitting on it, is a totally
           different experience. Satori is only a faraway vision of samadhi; a glimpse, beautiful in itself but not
           equivalent to samadhi.
                Samadhi is your very nature in its absolute clarity, in its absolute purity, in its absolute
           awareness.
           Samadhi is your real home.
                And the people who don't know samadhi are wandering without a home. They are homeless
           people, rootless people and their whole life is nothing but a tragedy. Samadhi gives you roots in
           existence, and it opens the doors of your home. Samadhi is the ultimate actualization of your
           potential.
                And the way to samadhi is simple. Drop the mind -- go beyond the mind and you will enter into
           samadhi. Mind is the only barrier and strangely we are continuously educating the mind to become
           more and more powerful. Our whole educational systems around the world, are nursing the mind --
           your enemy, making it stronger, more informative, more knowledgeable.
                In a more intelligent world, meditation should become absolutely mandatory in every school, in
           every college, in every university. And unless a person has some taste of samadhi, he will not be
           allowed to leave the university. He will not be given the certificates to leave.
                And if we can make meditation an intrinsic part of all education systems, then naturally these
           people are going to be politicians, these people are going to be business men, these people are going
           to be industrialists, these people are going to be musicians, these people are going to be painters,
           actors, dancers. But they will all have one thing in common and that will be their experience of
           meditation. And that will be the common element joining the whole of humanity into one whole.
                A man of meditation functions differently. Whatever profession he chooses, it does not matter.
           He will bring to his profession some quality of sacredness. He may be making shoes, or he may be
           cleaning the roads, but he will bring to his work some quality, some grace, some beauty, which is not
           possible without samadhi.
                We can fill the whole world with ecstatic people. Just a simple thing has to be accepted ....
           Whether you are going to be a doctor or an engineer or a scientist, whatever you are going to be, that
           does not matter. Meditation should be the foundation for every profession, for every dimension of
           education.
                Wars will disappear on their own. You will not have to protest against nuclear weapons.
           Population will start declining on its own, because a man of meditation functions with awareness. If
           he sees that the world is overpopulated, he cannot produce children. Nobody has to tell him. Why
           should he bring his children into a world which is going down every day towards a disaster? Who
           wants his children to go through a third world war? Who wants his children to die hungry and
           starving on the streets?
                Meditation is the only cure for all sicknesses that man is prone to; a single medicine. And I
           should remind you that the word meditation and medicine come from the same root. Medicine for the
           body and meditation for the soul. They both bring health.                ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "NOTHING
           HAS A NATURE OF ITS OWN."
                This is one of the greatest contributions of Gautam Buddha and his disciples like Bodhidharma.
           NOTHING HAS A NATURE OF ITS OWN.
                It means, your consciousness is a pure space. It does not have any attributes. It is utterly empty,
           yet full -- full of joy, full of light, full of fragrance -- but utterly empty.
                There is no self nature which makes people different. The moment you are in samadhi, you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           see trees are also in samadhi. The mountains are in samadhi. The stars are in samadhi. The whole
           existence is in samadhi. Only you had gone astray. You have come back, merged and melted into the
           wholeness of the universe.
           "NOTHING HAS A NATURE OF ITS OWN." ACT. DON'T QUESTION.
               Bodhidharma is not a philosopher and he is not interested in any kind of philosophizing. He is a
           simple man of action. He says, ACT. DON'T QUESTION ...because questions lead nowhere. Every
           answer will create ten more questions. And you can go on asking, life after life, and you will not be
           able to find the answer ...ACT.
           WHEN YOU QUESTION, YOU ARE WRONG.
               It does not matter what question you are asking. WHEN YOU QUESTION, YOU ARE
           WRONG. And when you don't question and silently act, samadhi is not far away. Questions come
           from the mind and whatever answers are given, your mind rejoices in becoming more and more
           knowledgeable. It becomes more and more powerful. Bodhidharma said, "Please don't ask anything.
           If you want to know the answer, don't ask the question. Act."
               Act, transcend the mind and you will find YOU are the answer. Your very being is the answer.
              WHEN YOU ARE DELUDED, THE SIX SENSES AND FIVE SHADES ARE CONSTRUCTS OF
              SUFFERING AND MORTALITY.

               He has great acumen in saying tremendously meaningful things in small sutras. He is saying
           when you are deluded, when you are in the mind in other words, then the five elements create the
           world and your six senses.
               It is a very strange thing, because it is only just in this century that science has discovered the
           sixth sense. Otherwise, all old scriptures talk about five senses. It is only Bodhidharma alone, who
           talks about six senses. And the sixth sense is such, that it is a miracle he came to know about it. It
           has just been discovered.
               It is inside your ear. The ear has always been accepted as one of the five senses, but we didn't
           know that inside the ear there are two senses. One is the sense of hearing and another is the sense of
           balance. If you are hit strongly on your ear you will immediately lose balance. When you see a
           drunkard coming home in the late night, you cannot believe how he manages. He has lost all control
           and all balance because alcohol affects the sixth sense. Every drug affects the sixth sense and
           immediately you lose balance.
               A drunkard came home late in the night and was trying to open the lock. But his hand was
           shaking and the lock was shaking; his other hand was shaking and he could not manage to enter the
           key into the lock. Both were shaking. He said, "My God, what is happening? It must be an
           earthquake. Everything is shaking."
               A policeman watching him from the road felt compassion for him. He was a good man but had
           fallen into wrong company ...just like you. You are all good men fallen into wrong company. Soon
           you will be walking like a drunkard. The policeman came to him and said, "Can I help you?" He
           said, "Yes, it would be very kind of you, if you could hold the house for a moment so that I can put
           my key into the hole. Just hold the house. There seems to be a great earthquake."
               It is very strange because that sixth sense is hidden inside the ear. Hence, nobody has ever talked
           about it because nobody was ever aware of it. It was only in this century, surgeons became aware
           that in the ear there is also another sense that keeps your body balanced.
               But Bodhidharma says six senses and five shades ARE CONSTRUCTS OF SUFFERING AND
           MORTALITY. When you are deluded, when you are in the mind, the five elements and the six
           senses of your body create for you, suffering, death and nothing else.
               But: WHEN YOU WAKE UP, that is, when you go beyond the mind, THE SIX SENSES AND
           FIVE SHADES ARE CONSTRUCTS OF NIRVANA AND IMMORTALITY.
               Everything is the same; the same six senses and the same five aggregates -- the elements that
           constitute the world. Once you are beyond the mind, they create nirvana and immortality.
               So Bodhidharma is not against the body and he is not against the world. He is against your sleep.
           He does not want you to renounce the world. He does not want you to torture the body, because this
           body and this world will behave absolutely differently. You just have to be awake. So the whole
           answer is:
               Renounce sleeping, renounce the mind which is the citadel of your sleep.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Go into silence, which will release your dormant awareness. And your whole being will become
           luminous with consciousness.
              Then the same body, the same senses and the same world has a totally different significance. It
           becomes nirvana. It becomes immortality.
              SOMEONE WHO SEEKS THE WAY DOESN'T LOOK BEYOND HIMSELF. HE KNOWS THAT THE
              MIND IS THE WAY. BUT WHEN HE FINDS THE MIND, HE FINDS NOTHING. AND WHEN HE
              FINDS THE WAY, HE FINDS NOTHING. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN USE THE MIND TO FIND THE
              WAY, YOU ARE DELUDED. WHEN YOU ARE DELUDED, BUDDHAHOOD EXISTS.

                This is a very beautiful statement. It is very rare to come across such a statement. WHEN YOU
           ARE DELUDED, BUDDHAHOOD EXISTS because WHEN YOU ARE AWARE, IT DOES NOT
           EXIST.
                It is a very strange statement. You would have thought otherwise. You would have thought that
           when you are deluded, buddhahood does not exist, and when you are aware, it does exist. But
           Bodhidharma is saying just the opposite. And he is right.
                WHEN YOU ARE DELUDED ...when you are wandering in all kinds of illusions in the world,
           there is a desire in you, deep down. Sometimes you become aware of it; sometimes you forget all
           about it. The longing to be a buddha, the longing to become aware, the longing for enlightenment ....
                Even in the deepest sleep, somewhere in the corner of your darkness, a small longing goes on
           continuing to be alert -- to be awakened, to be enlightened because nobody can be satisfied with
           misery, agony, anguish, forever. One wants to get out of it. That's why Bodhidharma says: WHEN
           YOU ARE DELUDED, BUDDHAHOOD EXISTS. WHEN YOU ARE AWARE, IT DOES NOT
           EXIST. BECAUSE AWARENESS IS BUDDHAHOOD.
                When you are aware, you are a buddha and the longing for buddhahood disappears. And when
           you are a buddha, you are not aware that you are a buddha. Awareness cannot be aware of itself.
           Innocence cannot be aware of itself. So the buddhahood exists only for those who are far away from
           it. Buddhahood disappears for those who have reached home. A buddha does not know that he is a
           buddha. Knowledge is always about the other. The mirror can reflect everything in the world except
           itself. The mirror does not know that he is.     ...DON'T HATE LIFE AND DEATH OR LOVE LIFE
           AND DEATH. KEEP YOUR EVERY THOUGHT FREE OF DELUSION, AND IN LIFE YOU
           WILL WITNESS THE BEGINNING OF NIRVANA, AND IN DEATH YOU WILL EXPERIENCE
           THE ASSURANCE OF NO REBIRTH.
                It fills me with great surprise that the whole Western sphere has never thought about rebirth.
           Great philosophers from Plato to Kant, to Feuerbach, to Bertrand Russell, to Jean Paul Sartre -- a
           great line of immensely intelligent geniuses, but not a single person has ever thought about rebirth.
           Their whole idea has remained ...just one life. It is too miserly.
                Existence is not miserly; it is overflowing with abundance.
                Every death is a beginning of a new life, except only rarely, when somebody becomes
           enlightened. Then his death is the ultimate death. He will not be born again. He will not be engaged
           in a body again; he will not suffer the agony of another mind again. His consciousness will melt, just
           like an ice cube melting in the ocean and becoming one with it. He will be all over, but he will not be
           in any particular place, in a particular form. He will be all over, but formless. He will be the very
           universe.
                Each time a man becomes enlightened, the whole universe gets a little higher in consciousness,
           because this man's consciousness spreads all over the existence. The more people become
           enlightened, the more existence will be richer. So it is not only a question of a single person
           becoming enlightened. In his enlightenment, the whole universe gains immensely. It becomes richer,
           more beautiful, more joyous, more celebrated.
              TO SEE FORM BUT NOT BE CORRUPTED BY FORM OR TO HEAR SOUND BUT NOT BE
              CORRUPTED BY SOUND IS LIBERATION. EYES THAT ARE NOT ATTACHED TO FORM ARE
              THE GATES OF ZEN. EARS THAT AREN'T ATTACHED TO SOUND ARE ALSO THE GATES OF
              ZEN. IN SHORT, THOSE WHO PERCEIVE THE EXISTENCE OF PHENOMENA AND REMAIN
              UNATTACHED ARE LIBERATED ....
              WHEN DELUSIONS ARE ABSENT, THE MIND IS THE LAND OF BUDDHAS. WHEN DELUSIONS
              ARE PRESENT, THE MIND IS HELL.

              I am reminded of a great Zen master. The emperor of Japan had come to see him and he had been
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wanting to come to see him but the path to his monastery was dangerous, going through wild forests,
           dangerous mountainous parts. But finally, the emperor decided he had to go. His death was coming
           near and he couldn't take the risk .... Before death came he must have some understanding that death
           cannot destroy.
               He reached the Zen master who was sitting under a tree. He touched his feet and said, "I have
           come to ask one question. Is there really a hell or heaven? Because my death is coming close and my
           only concern is: where am I going; to hell or to heaven?" The master laughed and said, "I have never
           thought that our emperor is such an idiot."
               To say to the emperor, "an idiot" ...! For a split second, the emperor forgot and pulled out his
           sword, and he was going to cut off the head of the Zen master.
               The Zen master laughed and said, "This is the gate of hell."
               The emperor stopped, put his sword back in the sheath, and the master said, "You have entered
           into heaven. Now you can go. Just remember: anger, violence, destructiveness. These are the gates of
           hell. And the hell is in your mind.
           "But understanding, compassion, silence, are the doors of heaven. They are beyond your mind. And I
           have given you the experience of both. Forgive me that I called you an idiot. I had to. It was just a
           response to your question, because I am not a thinker and I don't answer the way thinkers answer
           questions. I am a mystic. I simply create the device so that you can have some taste of the answer.
           Now get lost."
               And the emperor touched his feet with tears of gratitude, because no other answer would have
           been of much help. It would have remained just a hypothesis. But the man was a tremendously
           insightful master. He created the situation immediately, just by calling him an idiot. And he showed
           him both: the doors of hell and the doors of heaven. Your mind is hell. Going beyond your mind is
           heaven.
               Go beyond the mind. That is the essence of the whole teaching of all the awakened ones.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                              Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #12
                               Chapter title: Every suffering is a Buddha-seed
           10 July 1987 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707105
              ShortTitle: BODHI12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 98 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              THAT WHICH FOLLOWS IS WITNESSED ON THE WAY. IT'S BEYOND THE KEN OF ARHATS
              AND MORTALS.
              WHEN THE MIND REACHES NIRVANA, YOU DON'T SEE NIRVANA. BECAUSE THE MIND IS
              NIRVANA. IF YOU SEE NIRVANA SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE THE MIND, YOU'RE DELUDING
              YOURSELF.
              EVERY SUFFERING IS A BUDDHA-SEED. BECAUSE SUFFERING IMPELS TO SEEK WISDOM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BUT YOU CAN ONLY SAY THAT SUFFERING GIVES RISE TO BUDDHAHOOD. YOU CAN'T SAY
              THAT SUFFERING IS BUDDHAHOOD. YOUR BODY AND MIND ARE THE FIELD. SUFFERING IS
              THE SEED, WISDOM THE SPROUT AND BUDDHAHOOD THE GRAIN.        ...WHEN THE THREE
              POISONS ARE PRESENT IN YOUR MIND, YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF FILTH. WHEN THE THREE
              POISONS ARE ABSENT FROM YOUR MIND, YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF PURITY.     ...THERE'S NO
              LANGUAGE THAT ISN'T THE DHARMA. TO TALK ALL DAY WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING IS THE
              WAY. TO BE SILENT ALL DAY AND STILL SAY SOMETHING ISN'T THE WAY. HENCE, NEITHER
              DOES A TATHAGATA'S SPEECH DEPEND ON SILENCE, NOR DOES HIS SILENCE DEPEND ON
              SPEECH. NOR DOES HIS SPEECH EXIST APART FROM HIS SILENCE. THOSE WHO
              UNDERSTAND BOTH SPEECH AND SILENCE ARE IN SAMADHI. IF YOU SPEAK WHEN YOU
              KNOW, YOUR SPEECH IS FREE. IF YOU'RE SILENT WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW, YOUR SILENCE
              IS TIED. LANGUAGE IS ESSENTIALLY FREE. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ATTACHMENT.
              AND ATTACHMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LANGUAGE.


               Bodhidharma is a mine of pure gold, except for two points on which he keeps continually
           insisting. He is a man to be listened to, to be understood, to be absorbed as deeply into your heart as
           possible. But those two points have to be remembered.
               I have been wondering why nobody contemporary to Bodhidharma pointed out those two flaws.
           The only thing I can think of is that Bodhidharma was too strong an individual, too charismatic, so
           that in front of him people must have felt completely silent. His power must have been
           overwhelming; otherwise, the defects are so clear that it is impossible that nobody would have
           noticed them.
               He himself has reached to his ultimate flowering; he has arrived home. It is no longer his concern
           that on the path he has gone astray a few times -- he always came back. There is an ancient saying in
           the East that if somebody goes astray in the morning and comes back home in the evening, he should
           not be considered lost.
               And it is very natural for people who are spontaneous to go astray once in a while, because they
           are not following any ready-made track. They are not like railway trains, continuously moving on the
           same track. They are more like wild rivers -- without any map, without any guide. The river arises
           far away in the Himalayas and starts its journey into the mountains, into the valleys, into the plains,
           moving continuously this way and that way. But finally it falls into the ocean. And who cares, when
           one has arrived at the ocean, that on the way a few steps have been taken which were not necessary,
           which could have been avoided.
               Once a person has reached he almost forgets, in his celebration, the long journey, the long search
           towards self-realization. Perhaps that is the reason why Bodhidharma cannot see those two simple
           defects. Except for those two defects, his every word is absolutely sincere and authentic. It is not a
           word of knowledge; it is an outpouring of innocence. He is not speaking, he is exposing his whole
           being to you.
               But I have to warn you on those two points. One is his continuous antagonism towards the
           arhatas. And second is ... In the beginning I was thinking it must have been the fault of the disciple
           who was taking the notes, but it is so continuously repeated that there is every possibility it was not
           the disciple's fault: he was using the word `mind' in a wrong way.
               Because in English there is only one word, the Theosophists and the Christian Scientists have
           managed a certain device: for the ordinary human mind they use a small m, and for the universal
           mind, which is equivalent to no-mind, they use a capital M. Certainly the universal mind is not your
           mind. As far as you are concerned, your mind has disappeared and you have entered into a state of
           no-mind. On these points I will correct his sutras. I cannot allow such a beautiful statement of the
           truth to have even a small blemish.
           The sutra:
              THAT WHICH FOLLOWS IS WITNESSED ON THE WAY.

                He is saying that the sutras that are going to follow are not his philosophical standpoint; they are
           his experiences on the way. THAT WHICH FOLLOWS IS WITNESSED ON THE WAY: I will be
           saying only that which I have witnessed. It is not my belief, it is not my doctrine, it is not my dogma.
           It is my absolutely indubitable experience. It has an intrinsic authority. Whoever follows the way
           will find these same sutras opening their doors, their secrets, their perfume to the traveler, if he is
           going the right way.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               These sutras can be used as a criterion. If nothing like this happens to you, that means you are
           not on the right path. Then your river has entered into some desert, where it can be lost without
           reaching the ocean.
               He goes on to say, IT IS BEYOND THE KEN OF ARHATS AND MORTALS.
               I have to correct him. He needed a man like me. It is NOT beyond the ken of the arhats. It is
           certainly beyond the ken of so-called saints and the mortals, the people who are still living with the
           idea that this life is all and that with death everything ends ...these are the mortals. The so-called
           saints whose intentions cannot be doubted are sincere people, but they have fallen into wrong ways.
           They have become followers, imitators. They have ideals in their mind cultivated by the society, by
           the tradition, and they are trying in every possible way to fulfill those ideals, knowing perfectly well
           that a buddha is born only once.
               Never again will there be another man like Gautam Buddha. There may be many buddhas, but
           each buddha will have his own statement, his own individuality, his own manifestation. He will not
           be a true copy of Gautam Buddha. All true copies are, after all, carbon copies. They don't have the
           beauty of the original. And people go on following precepts given in the scriptures. Those precepts
           are dead. Just as you will find in the scriptures beautiful roses, dried out -- dead. People keep them in
           THE HOLY BIBLE, in the holy KORAN, in the holy GITA, but they are not alive anymore.
               I had a beautiful garden -- I have always had a beautiful garden wherever I have been -- and there
           were two temples nearby, and the worshipers in those temples would simply come into my garden
           and start picking flowers to worship a god. In India it is absolutely impossible to prevent somebody
           when he is picking flowers to worship gods. I had to put a notice in front of my garden that except
           for religious people, everybody was allowed to pick the flowers. Those worshipers were very
           shocked. As a group they brought what was almost a deputation, saying, "What kind of man are you?
           Religious people are not prevented from picking flowers anywhere else, because those flowers are
           going to be offered to a god."
               I said to them, "Those flowers in this garden are already offered to God, and I will not allow
           flowers of God, which are alive and dancing in the wind and in the sun, to be destroyed by you
           idiots. These flowers are living gods and you are going to destroy their life for your dead gods.
           That's why I have made it clear on the notice: except for religious people, anybody can pick the
           flowers. If somebody wants to give a flower to his girlfriend or to her boyfriend, they are perfectly
           welcome. These flowers are divine, and perhaps they may also transform their love into a divine
           affair. But one thing is certain; at least they are going to offer the flowers to someone who is alive.
           You are going to offer them to dead statues, stones. This cannot be tolerated.
               The so-called saints pick up precepts, disciplines, from the scriptures. They are like dead flowers,
           thousands of years old, dried up. They don't have any fragrance anymore.
               It is something very significant to remember, that every discipline is a device given by a living
           master. Every precept is a certain strategy given by a living master; without the master all those
           devices, precepts, commandments become dead. Then you can go on following them with absolute
           sincerity, but they will bring only torture and suffering to you and nothing else. Following the dead,
           you are going to become slowly, slowly dead. Your so-called saints are almost dead, dried up. They
           have lost touch with life. They have created a thousand and one barriers between themselves and
           existence and those barriers they call discipline, austerity, religious practice.
               I can consider that these sutras are beyond the ken of these people -- the so-called saints and the
           ordinary mortals who are not aware of their immortality. But they are not beyond the ken of arhats.
           Arhats are absolutely on the same heights as any bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas have nothing more than
           the arhats have. They have followed different paths, from different directions, but they have reached
           to the same peak. The peak is always only one; the paths leading you to it can be thousands.
              WHEN THE MIND REACHES NIRVANA ...

               That is his second fallacy, because the mind never reaches nirvana. In fact, mind cannot even
           conceive the idea of nirvana. Nirvana ... the very word means cessation of mind, it is annihilation of
           the mind. The actual meaning of the word nirvana will help you to understand: literally it means
           "blowing out a candle." Mind is just a small candle with a small flame of awareness, but even that
           small flame can do immense harm.
               I will tell you of one incident in Rabindranath Tagore's life. His father was a great landlord. Their
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           estate consisted of hundreds of towns and thousands of miles, and there was a beautiful river flowing
           through their estate. Rabindranath often used to go on his small houseboat and live for months on the
           beautiful river, surrounded by thick forest, in absolute silence and aloneness. One full-moon night, it
           happened: he was reading a very significant contribution to the philosophy of aesthetics, by Croce.
                Croce is perhaps the most significant philosopher who has thought about beauty. His whole life's
           work was concerned with finding the meaning of beauty -- not truth, not good. His sole concern was
           with what is beautiful. He thought if we can find what is beautiful we have found what is true,
           because truth cannot be ugly, and we have found what is good, because the beautiful cannot be evil.
           A beautiful conception ...and with this foundation he worked his whole life to find out from different
           angles what beauty is.
                Rabindranath himself was a worshiper of beauty. He lived a very beautiful and aesthetic life. He
           not only created beautiful poetry, but his life itself was a beautiful poem. He was a very graceful
           man.
                On that full-moon night with a small candle inside his houseboat he was reading Croce. In the
           middle of night, tired from Croce's very complicated arguments, he closed the book and blew out the
           candle. He was going to his bed to sleep, but a miracle happened. As the small flame of the candle
           disappeared, from every window and door of the small houseboat, the moon came dancing in. The
           moon filled the house with its splendor.
                Rabindranath remained silent for a moment ...it was such a sacred experience. He went out of the
           house, and the moon was immensely beautiful in that silent night amongst those silent trees, with a
           river flowing so slowly that there was no noise. He wrote in his diary the next morning, "The beauty
           was all around me, but a small candle had been preventing it. Because of the light of the candle, the
           light of the moon could not enter."
                This is exactly the meaning of nirvana. Your small flame of the ego, your small flame of the
           mind and its consciousness, is preventing the whole universe from rushing into you; hence the word
           nirvana -- blow out the candle and let the whole universe penetrate you from every nook and corner.
           You will not be a loser. You will find, for the first time, your inexhaustible treasure of beauty, of
           goodness, of truth -- of all that is valuable. Hence, mind cannot be said to reach nirvana; only
           no-mind is equivalent to nirvana.
           No-mind need not reach to nirvana.
           No-mind IS nirvana.
                Bodhidharma says -- I'm correcting him -- WHEN THE no-MIND REACHES NIRVANA, YOU
           DON'T SEE NIRVANA ... because you are not separate from nirvana. You can only see something
           which is separate from you. You are one with it; hence there is no possibility of seeing it. BECAUSE
           THE no-MIND IS NIRVANA. IF YOU SEE NIRVANA SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE THE
           no-MIND, YOU ARE DELUDING YOURSELF. In short, the mind is the world and the no-mind is
           freedom from the world. The mind is misery and no-mind is the end of misery and the beginning of
           ecstasy.
                EVERY SUFFERING IS A BUDDHA-SEED. This is a very important assertion on the part of
           Bodhidharma. EVERY SUFFERING IS A BUDDHA-SEED. BECAUSE SUFFERING IMPELS TO
           SEEK WISDOM. BUT YOU CAN ONLY SAY THAT SUFFERING GIVES RISE TO
           BUDDHAHOOD. YOU CAN'T SAY THAT SUFFERING IS BUDDHAHOOD.
                Bertrand Russell, in his autobiography, has a very profound statement. He says, "If misery in the
           world ends, all the religions will end of their own accord. It is misery that is keeping religions alive."
           He is speaking from a very different angle. He was an atheist; he wanted all religions to disappear.
                I am not an atheist. I also want all the religions to disappear but for a different reason. He wants
           religions to disappear because he thinks religions have been detrimental to the evolution of man. I
           want religions to disappear so that religiousness can have the whole space that is being occupied by
           religions. Religions have been detrimental to the progress of religiousness, and to me, religiousness
           is the highest flower of evolution.
                Bodhidharma is right when he says that even suffering has to be gratefully accepted, because it is
           the very seed of buddha. If there was no suffering, you would never search for the truth. It is
           suffering that goes on impelling you to go beyond it. It is anguish and agony that finally compels you
           to seek and search for the path that goes beyond suffering and agony, to find a way that reaches to
           blissfulness and to eternal joy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Bodhidharma is saying: Don't be antagonistic to suffering; even feel grateful to suffering. That is
           a great idea. Feel grateful to pain, suffering, old age, death, because all these are creating the
           situation for you to search for truth. Otherwise you would fall asleep; otherwise you would be so
           comfortable, you would become a vegetable. There would be no need .... Suffering creates the need
           for a search.
              YOUR BODY AND MIND ARE THE FIELD. SUFFERING IS THE SEED, WISDOM THE SPROUT
              AND BUDDHAHOOD THE GRAIN.

              In this synthesis he is giving credit to your body, to your mind, to suffering. He is taking into
           account your whole life. He is not denying anything its contribution. He is being very impartial.
              YOUR BODY AND THE MIND ARE THE FIELD. SUFFERING IS THE SEED, WISDOM THE
              SPROUT AND BUDDHAHOOD THE GRAIN.

                This is the way of a man who looks at life as an organic unity. The so-called religions which
           have lost contact with their living founders, are against the body. They torture the body, rather than
           being grateful to the body because it is the very field, it is the very temple in which the buddha has to
           be discovered. Even suffering, agony, is not to be condemned by a man like Bodhidharma. He says
           that too has a part to play. It keeps you awake. It keeps you constantly alert, provokes you and
           challenges you to find a way that can lead you beyond it.         ...WHEN THE THREE POISONS ARE
           PRESENT IN YOUR MIND, YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF FILTH. WHEN THE THREE POISONS
           ARE ABSENT FROM YOUR MIND, YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF PURITY.
                So in fact, heaven and hell are not separate from each other; they happen in the same life. Only
           the structure has to change. Where there were the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion, you
           created a hell within yourself. The moment you drop those poisons of greed, anger and delusion
           which really constitute your mind -- the moment you have dropped the mind, your very being
           becomes heaven itself.
                The idea that is prevalent in the world is that those who are good will enter one day after death
           into heaven, and those who are bad will one day enter hell after death. That idea is absolutely wrong.
           The good have already entered heaven -- there is no need to wait for death. Heaven is not somewhere
           else. It is just your own transformation. The same energy that is anger becomes compassion, the
           same energy that is greed becomes sharing, the same energy that is delusion becomes awareness.
           The energy is the same, just its direction changes.
                To change the direction of your energies, to create a new symphony out of your energies, is the
           whole art of religion. Anybody who preaches anything else as religion is himself blind and taking
           other blind people into a dark night. They are all going to fall into a well somewhere or other.
                Man has been given everything by nature. If it is put right, man becomes a buddha. If that energy
           is in discord and you cannot create an orchestra out of that energy, your life becomes a hell. You are
           the space where both heaven and hell are possible. Just a little awareness and you can change the hell
           into heaven. Just a little change, a slightly different arrangement ...but it is the same energy; nothing
           has to be added to you, nothing has to be deleted from you.
                This is one of the greatest insights possible. It makes man the master of his own life. If he is
           living in hell, he should take the responsibility upon his own shoulders. He should not say, "It is
           God's will." He should not say, "It is my fate, my destiny, my kismet." He should say, "It is my
           unconsciousness, it is me."
                The moment you take the responsibility on your own shoulders, the possibility is you will start
           changing -- because nobody else is putting you in hell. You don't have to wait for anybody to change
           you, to save you. You can simply start watching your energies and you can see how they create hell,
           how they create misery. You can see also how in some moments you are silent, in some moments
           you are happy, in some moments joy grips you. Watch what those energies are doing. They are the
           same energies -- you don't have anything else. One has just to understand how one's energies
           function.
                If someone wants to live in hell that is his choice, that is his birthright. Nobody has the right to
           disturb him. Let him live in hell. And if he wants to change, he has every possibility to change
           himself. There is no need to wait for a savior, for a Jesus Christ or a Krishna. You have to become
           your own saviors. That is the fundamental teaching of Bodhidharma.                      ...THERE IS NO
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           LANGUAGE THAT IS NOT THE DHARMA. Here Bodhidharma is taking a very strange but
           significant turn. I have never come across any other mystic who has said what he is going to say in
           this sutra.     ...THERE IS NO LANGUAGE THAT IS NOT THE DHARMA. TO TALK ALL DAY
           WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING IS THE WAY. TO BE SILENT ALL DAY AND STILL SAY
           SOMETHING IS NOT THE WAY.
               Sometimes his penetration into human reality is so great and so surprising. He is saying that there
           is a possibility of a man who may talk the whole day, knowing well that nothing can be said about
           truth. Then why is he talking? Perhaps through talking he can create a situation for silence -- just as
           after every storm there is great silence.
               When the master speaks and stops for a moment, suddenly there is a great silence. He speaks not
           to say the truth, because the truth cannot be said. He speaks to engage your mind and then suddenly,
           when he sees that you are engaged, he gives just a small gap. And in that gap the transmission of the
           lamp happens. That's what the language of Bodhidharma is: the transmission of the lamp. In those
           moments between two words, something miraculous just takes a jump from the being of the master
           and enters into the silence of your being.
               Hence it is possible that a Gautam Buddha may have spoken for forty-two years continuously --
           morning, afternoon, evening -- and still he has not said the truth, but he transmitted the lamp. He
           used the language in such a way that it created small gaps of silence. And those gaps are his real
           sermons.
               Bodhidharma says there are people who take the vow of being silent ...and I have known many
           so-called saints who don't speak, but their silence is so ridiculous because they find other ways. I
           have seen some carrying small boards with the whole alphabet. They cannot speak but their chief
           disciple is sitting by their side and they go on putting on the alphabet board: Y-e-s, yes. And that
           dodo disciple who is sitting by his side, he says, "Yes." It is ridiculous. If you want to say yes, why
           go such a roundabout way, unnecessarily creating a circus? And there have been people who have
           dictated whole books, just on the board. It would have been easier to learn typing, because this is a
           very primitive way of typing. It takes such a long time.
               I have seen people who will not use any board but they will make gestures with their hands, and
           those gestures you cannot understand. Their trained disciple knows what they mean when they show
           the fist, what they mean when they show the five fingers, what they mean when they show the two
           fingers. These people are not saints, these are showmen. And their silence is absolutely nonsense.
           But all kinds of stupidities go on being perpetuated in the name of religion.
               A man came to see me when I was in Bombay. He was a very well-known saint; he lived in the
           Himalayas and he had come specially to see me. Usually I avoid saints, sages ...that kind of idiot I
           don't want. But when I was informed that he had come from the faraway Himalayas to Bombay just
           to see me, I said "He has taken so much trouble; I should also suffer a little." So I called him in. He
           came with his disciple; he wanted to know about meditation.
               I said, "From tomorrow morning I am going to have a meditation session, every day in the
           morning for seven days. You have come at the right time, because meditation is not something to be
           explained, it is something to be experienced. So, from tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, for seven
           days you meditate with me. And then, if you have any questions I will give you an individual
           appointment and you can ask all your questions."
               He said, "It will be difficult tomorrow for me to come."
               I said, "What is the problem? You have come to see me."
               He said, "For me there is no problem. The problem is that the man, my disciple, has to go
           somewhere, to meet someone -- his relatives live nearby in Kalyan."
               So I said, "I don't understand. Let him go to hell, you come to meditation."
               He said, " You don't understand my problem. I cannot touch money. He keeps the money to pay
           the taxi driver. I always have him with me; otherwise how can I manage to come here?"
               I said, "It is strange. It is your money -- he is the keeper. You are famous for not touching money
           and this poor fellow will fall into hell. He is touching YOUR money! It is not even his! What kind of
           karma is he committing? Touching one's own money is bad and touching somebody else's money --
           that must be worse." I said, "Think of this poor man also. If it is your money, whether you touch it or
           not ...or you can purchase rubber gloves. Make it simple so you can touch the money but still you are
           not touching it."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But that will not make somebody a saint. If somebody is wearing rubber gloves and having all
           kinds of money with him, you will not call him a saint. This seemed to be very cunning man ...but
           having another person is not very different either.
                So there are people who are silent, but inside they are boiling. They want to speak and they find
           ways of speaking by making gestures, which is a very difficult thing because they become absolutely
           dependent, almost slaves, on the person who interprets for them. And it is up to him how he
           interprets. They cannot even prevent, they cannot even say, "You are not right." They have to accept
           whatsoever the interpretation is.
                One man, Adi Irani, was the secretary of Meher Baba for almost his whole life. And whenever I
           used to go to Ahmednagar, Adi Irani, if he was in the city, used to come to see me. He has written all
           Meher Baba's books; Meher Baba simply made signs. First he used to use the board, then he dropped
           the board because people started criticizing him. "It is the same thing as typing, just a slower
           process, a bullock cart process in a rocket age. What nonsense is this?"
                So Meher Baba dropped the board and he trained Adi Irani. He would make gestures with his
           hands; nobody knew what he was doing. Only Adi Irani knew and he wrote the books. I asked Adi
           Irani, "Are you certain that whatever you are writing is really what he wants to say?"
                He said, "I cannot speak a lie -- at least to you. I don't know. I figure it must be right because he
           has never objected."
                Now this seems to be hilarious. He did not know whether he was interpreting him exactly or he
           was just managing himself ....and because Meher Baba had never objected, that was the only reason
           that Adi Irani thought he must be right.
                I said,"Do you really understand exactly? ... because by symbols small things can be explained:
           you are hungry, you can just show your stomach; you are thirsty, you can just show by your hands
           that you need water. But great philosophical treatises? I can't conceive how you can make symbols
           for them -- and how many symbols will be needed? With only your ten fingers ..." And Adi Irani has
           written almost fifty books, and not small ones -- five hundred pages, one thousand pages.
                I told Adi Irani, "It is all your imagination. You are a good writer, but those books are your
           writings, not Meher Baba's. But he is silent because you are writing well and people are accepting
           those writings in his name." Meher Baba had a worldwide following, but he was absolutely
           dependent; he could not move anywhere without Adi Irani because wherever he went alone he would
           be thought mad. Nobody would understand what he was trying to say.
                But if you want to speak, what is wrong with speaking with your lips and your tongue? And how
           is it right speaking with your fingers? Just as your lips and your tongue are part of the body, your
           fingers are also part of the same body, and they are not meant to speak. Why not use the right natural
           vehicle? Symbols are dangerous.
                When for the first time Japanese sannyasins started coming here, I was in great trouble because
           they are the only people in the whole world who have a different symbology. It is strange how they
           have developed it. All over the world in every country, in every race, from very primitive people to
           the very sophisticated ones, when you want to say "Yes," you make the sign with your head moving
           up and down -- yes. Japanese when they make this sign mean no. I was asking something and the
           poor fellow was saying yes, but I understood no, because his yes means .... That is his yes. In the
           beginning I used to ask a Japanese, "Do you want to become a sannyasin?" and he was saying yes
           and I would say, "If you don't want ...then why have you come?"
                They have developed in a very strange way. Somebody has to look into it, because they are the
           only people .... Then I had an Japanese interpreter to tell me what signs they were making because it
           was a continual misunderstanding. When they nodded yes, I understood no, when they said no, I
           understood yes.
                Bodhidharma is saying: TO BE SILENT ALL DAY AND STILL SAY SOMETHING IS NOT
           THE WAY. If you are silent it does not mean you cannot speak. You can remain silent and still you
           can speak, just as you can remain silent and still you can walk. You can remain silent and still you
           can eat. Silence is something inner, a calmness, a quietness, a peace.
                In fact, the man who is silent inside can speak better than anybody else, because his mind is no
           longer a disturbance. He can speak more emphatically, more directly. He can reach to your very
           heart because his words are coming from a depth, and that which comes from a depth has the
           capacity to reach to a similar depth if you are open to it. But silence is not something that is against
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           speaking. Silence is a far greater experience than speaking or language. And when you are silent
           even while speaking, then your words have a beauty and a tremendous authority in them, because
           they are coming from a pure heart -- from a silent land, from the very lotus paradise of Gautam
           Buddha.
               HENCE, NEITHER DOES A TATHAGATA'S SPEECH DEPEND ON SILENCE, NOR DOES
           HIS SILENCE DEPEND ON SPEECH. Tathagata is another name for Gautam Buddha, or for
           anyone who has awakened to the suchness of things.
              HENCE, NEITHER DOES A TATHAGATA'S SPEECH DEPEND ON SILENCE, NOR DOES HIS
              SILENCE DEPEND ON SPEECH. NOR DOES HIS SPEECH EXIST APART FROM HIS SILENCE.
              THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND BOTH SPEECH AND SILENCE ARE IN SAMADHI.

               Let me repeat it: THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND BOTH SPEECH AND SILENCE ARE IN
           SAMADHI ....because samadhi is the balance between speech and silence. It is just the exact middle,
           where silence and speech meet, where silence and sound meet. That exact middle is beyond both. It
           is neither just silence, empty of noise, nor is it just speech, full of chattering and noise. It is beyond
           both. It is a silence with a song, but the song is soundless. It is a silence with music, but a music
           which is not produced on any instruments, a music which is simply your very nature.
               The ancient seers of this land have called it OMKAR, the sound of OM ... not that you repeat
           OM, OM, you simply hear it. You are utterly silent, surrounded with a sound which is similar to om.
           That's why om has not been made a part of the Sanskrit alphabet. It is not a word; it is a symbol.
           Perhaps that is the only alphabet in the world which has a symbol in it which is not part of the
           alphabet. But every UPANISHAD begins with om and every UPANISHAD ends with om. And you
           may have observed that it is not just the om, but also a repetition three times of the Sanskrit word for
           silence: SHANTI.
           OM SHANTI, SHANTI, SHANTI ....
               It is a silence which has sound which cannot be produced on any instrument, and which cannot
           be exactly spoken. Hence, we have made a symbol for it. It is beyond language, beyond alphabet,
           beyond speaking, beyond silence.
               Om has been called the very stuff of which the existence is made. It is the music of the universe.
               IF YOU SPEAK WHEN YOU KNOW, YOUR SPEECH IS FREE. IF YOU ARE SILENT
           WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW, YOUR SILENCE IS TIED ...and dead and empty and meaningless.
              LANGUAGE IS ESSENTIALLY FREE. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ATTACHMENT. AND
              ATTACHMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LANGUAGE.

               It all depends on your mind or no-mind. If mind uses language, it creates false realities --
           illusion. If no-mind uses language, it creates devices to also help others to enter into the same space.
           What you make of it all depends on you, whether you are functioning as a mind or as a no-mind. If
           you speak through the mind, you miss the point. If you allow existence to speak through you,
           without any interference by the mind, language is pure expression of truth.
               In short, the whole thing can be summarized into a single statement:
           Mind is your prison. No-mind is your freedom.
               Mind is your ignorance, no-mind is your enlightenment.
               Move from mind to no-mind. This is the whole path, this is the whole religion.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                    Chapter #13
                                         Chapter title: Mind is the bondage
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           11 July 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707110
              ShortTitle: BODHI13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              WITHOUT THE MIND THERE'S NO BUDDHA MEANS THAT THE BUDDHA COMES FROM THE
              MIND .... WHOEVER WANTS TO SEE A BUDDHA SEES THE MIND BEFORE HE SEES THE
              BUDDHA ...ONCE YOU'VE SEEN THE BUDDHA, YOU FORGET ABOUT THE MIND. IF YOU DON'T
              FORGET ABOUT THE MIND, THE MIND WILL CONFUSE YOU ....
              MORTALITY AND BUDDHAHOOD ARE LIKE WATER AND ICE. TO BE AFFLICTED BY THE
              THREE POISONS IS MORTALITY. TO BE PURIFIED BY THE THREE RELEASES IS
              BUDDHAHOOD. THAT WHICH FREEZES INTO ICE IN WINTER MELTS INTO WATER IN
              SUMMER. ELIMINATE ICE, AND THERE'S NO MORE WATER. GET RID OF MORTALITY, AND
              THERE'S NO MORE BUDDHAHOOD. CLEARLY, THE NATURE OF ICE IS THE NATURE OF
              WATER ....
              MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS AND BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS. THIS IS WHAT'S MEANT
              BY IMPARTIALITY. MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS BECAUSE AFFLICTION CREATES
              AWARENESS. AND BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS BECAUSE AWARENESS NEGATES
              AFFLICTION. THERE CAN'T HELP BUT BE AFFLICTION. AND THERE CAN'T HELP BUT BE
              AWARENESS. IF NOT FOR AFFLICTION, THERE WOULD BE NOTHING TO CREATE
              AWARENESS. AND IF NOT FOR AWARENESS, THERE WOULD BE NOTHING TO NEGATE
              AFFLICTION. WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS. WHEN YOU'RE
              AWARE, MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS. BUDDHAS DON'T BECOME BUDDHAS ON THEIR
              OWN. THEY'RE LIBERATED BY MORTALS. BUDDHAS REGARD DELUSION AS THEIR FATHER
              AND GREED AS THEIR MOTHER. DELUSION AND GREED ARE DIFFERENT NAMES FOR
              MORTALITY ....
              WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, YOU'RE ON THIS SHORE. WHEN YOU'RE AWARE, YOU'RE ON THE
              OTHER SHORE. BUT ONCE YOU KNOW YOUR MIND IS EMPTY AND YOU SEE NO
              APPEARANCES, YOU'RE BEYOND DELUSION AND AWARENESS. AND ONCE YOU'RE BEYOND
              DELUSION AND AWARENESS, THE OTHER SHORE DOESN'T EXIST. THE TATHAGATA ISN'T
              ON THIS SHORE OR THE OTHER SHORE. AND HE ISN'T IN MIDSTREAM. ARHATS ARE IN
              MIDSTREAM, AND MORTALS ARE ON THIS SHORE. ON THE OTHER SHORE IS BUDDHAHOOD.


               Bodhidharma has insights which are unparalleled. There have been many disciples of Gautam
           Buddha who have attained to enlightenment, but nobody has shown such great insightfulness. Either
           they have remained silent or they have spoken, but neither their silence nor their speaking has
           reached to the heights and to the depths of consciousness.
               Perhaps the reason is that Bodhidharma is unafraid of what he is saying. He knows no fear. He
           has no concern with what people will think about his statements. He does not take into account
           anybody else when he is speaking. It is almost as if he is speaking to himself.
               For nine years he was sitting before a wall and when people would come, they would have to sit
           behind him. They could ask questions but Bodhidharma would answer only to the wall. He was not
           at all concerned about who was asking the question; he was more concerned with his own insight.
               Just last night I received the last book of J. Krishnamurti, in which he is not speaking to anybody
           -- he is speaking just to himself. The words are recorded but there was no audience, and perhaps in
           this book he comes closer to truth than in any of his other books. The audience is a limitation.
               This has been my experience too. If I am speaking to my own people, then there is no limitation;
           then I don't feel that I have to say something, or not to say something. Then I simply speak as if I am
           speaking to myself. When I am speaking to people who don't know me, who don't understand me --
           moreover they misunderstand me -- there is a great limitation. Then I am not at freedom to speak.
           Their very faces, their eyes, their gestures prevent me from saying something that may hurt them.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Just a few days ago, seventy people from the TIMES OF INDIA group of papers came to have an
           exclusive interview with me. The owners were also present -- Samir Jain, Nandita Jain and their
           mother Indu Jain were also present. But the strangest thing that I immediately felt as I entered the
           auditorium ...so ugly, so inhuman and so uncultured: when I was giving my greetings with folded
           hands to everybody, those seventy people, including Indu Jain, could not even respond. That is, in
           India, a simple thing. Even a stranger on the street folds his hands. It need not be known to you who
           he is, but you respond because a folded-hands greeting has a spiritual meaning.
                Shaking hands has no spiritual meaning; shaking hands has a very mundane meaning. You have
           to shake with your right hand. It was a device created by the West to show that you are not keeping
           any weapon in your right hand. It was not a greeting -- it was a search. It was being alert that the
           man is not an enemy, that he cannot do any harm because his right hand is empty. The reason for
           shaking hands and its psychology is totally different; in a way very mean, political.
                But greeting somebody with folded hands has a spiritual meaning: first, that I bow down to your
           godliness. Whether you are a stranger, friend or enemy, it does not matter; still you are a temple of
           god, of a living god. Those folded hands are showing respect for the living god. These things are
           immaterial -- -whether you are a friend or a stranger or an enemy.
                And secondly, the folded hands show that I am not halfhearted in my greeting. I am total. Both
           hands, my left hemisphere, my right hemisphere both, are greeting you together. I am greeting you as
           one organic unity.
                But I was surprised that the TIMES OF INDIA press people -- who are well educated, who own
           the biggest newspapers, magazines, weeklies, fortnightlies who are all journalists -- they could not
           respond to me. They sat there like stone statues, even Indu Jain.
                The only man who responded to me was Samir Jain, who is now in charge of the TIMES OF
           INDIA publications, and his sister, Nandita Jain. But she could not come to the full greeting. She
           was hesitating, so she came halfway. She could not come to the full greeting, but she could not
           remain a wooden statue. She looked to both sides. Even her mother, Indu Jain, who in private
           touches my feet, but in public ...she remained just a wooden statue. So she looked at her mother and
           she looked at her brother and she chose the middle way. She just came halfway.
                To speak to such people is almost worse than speaking to a wall. I took the initiative of greeting
           them and they were not even human enough to respond to the greeting, and particularly in the East,
           such ugliness is unforgivable. And they have been insisting on the interview. I was reluctant --
           reluctant for the simple reason that they would ask stupid questions, then they would distort what I
           say. But when I saw that they had come with the whole staff of the TIMES OF INDIA press, I
           agreed.
                But I really agreed for Samir Jain. He is a young man, he has been to the ashram before, he has
           meditated. He wanted to become a sannyasin but his father was absolutely against it, so much against
           it that if he became a sannyasin, his father would disown him. Now they are some of the richest
           people of the country. He has not the guts to say to the father, "It is perfectly okay, you can disown
           me," but he has a sympathetic heart -- and he was the only man who raised his hands.
                Now to talk to such people becomes impossible, unless you completely forget them, and whether
           they exist or not. And that's what I had to do. I did not look at them at all, I just looked at my people
           and talked to my people. And I made a condition to them that they could not distort any statement;
           they had to publish my whole statement as I have given it. But they don't even have the guts to
           publish their own questions and my answers, because my answers expose the dirty politics and the
           dirty journalism that follows politics.
                Bodhidharma speaks as if he's speaking to himself. Then he can open his heart totally, without
           any limitation. He is absolutely unconcerned about who is going to listen to him, who is going to
           read him. Perhaps this is the reason why he reaches tremendously deep insights into human nature.
           You will see statements that have never been made before, but Bodhidharma has made them so
           clearly that they cannot be refuted either.
                These sutras have been in existence for at least one thousand years, but no Buddhist scholar has
           commented on them. The book was kept hidden in the Buddhist pagodas, temples. It has just been
           discovered a few years ago by some Western scholars, and they could not believe that Buddhists
           have not been allowing the world to know what such a tremendously significant book contains.I can
           understand the fear of the Buddhists. They have translated thousands of books into English and into
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           German and into other international languages, but Bodhidharma has been neglected completely.
                It is a strange world. Here, to be sincere and truthful is the most dangerous thing.
                Just a few days ago, here in Poona, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, Swami Svarupanand,
           declared in a press conference that "Osho is unparalleled, the most dangerous man in the whole
           history of mankind."
                I don't go out of my house. I am not a terrorist. I am not interested in any power politics. I don't
           have any nuclear weapons. On what grounds is this man saying that I am unparalleled the most
           dangerous man in the whole history of mankind? What danger is there?
                The danger is that I don't care about anybody when it comes to asserting the truth.
           It is not that I am dangerous.
           It is the truth that is dangerous.
                Just console people with lies. Go on giving them hope so they can manage to drag themselves
           towards their graves; just go on giving them opium so they don't feel the pain, the agony, the
           stupidity of their lives.
                And that's what all the religions have been doing. Whenever somebody has said the truth, he
           immediately becomes a dangerous man. Otherwise Jesus was not a dangerous man; he was only
           thirty-three when he was crucified -- a young man, uneducated, doing no harm to anybody, but
           stating the truth. The rabbis of Israel could not tolerate that man. He was disturbing all their
           fabrication of lies. They crucified that young man. Socrates never harmed anybody, but his great
           crime was to speak the truth. He was poisoned and killed.
                Bodhidharma was also poisoned. Although the people who poisoned him thought that he was
           killed, he was not. He was made of a different kind of matter. He simply went into a coma and in the
           night disappeared, leaving one of his shoes in the tomb and the other shoe hanging on his staff.
                After three years, when people completely believed that he was dead, he was seen by a high
           government official passing the boundaries of China and entering into the Himalayas. The official
           could not believe his eyes. He had heard that Bodhidharma had been poisoned and killed. He asked
           Bodhidharma, who said, "I was in a coma and I waited for the night. When the coma disappeared a
           little and I was able to get up, I escaped from the tomb. I have left one of my shoes there in the tomb
           as proof that I have been there and another shoe I am taking, hanging on my staff to prove that I am
           Bodhidharma -- my identity card."
                The official immediately rushed to the mountain where Bodhidharma had been poisoned and he
           told the disciples. They showed the tomb and the official said, "I would like it to be opened because I
           have seen the man with his sandal hanging on his staff, and he has told me that he left the other
           sandal as a signature in the tomb. I would like to open the tomb and see whether that man was really
           Bodhidharma or somebody else who was playing a trick on me." The tomb was opened and only one
           shoe was there, nothing else.
                What was the need to poison Bodhidharma? One cannot conceive how human beings have
           behaved with such people ...they are making every effort to awaken you, and you respond by killing
           them. Who is insane? Is Socrates insane? Is Jesus insane? Is Mansoor insane? Is Sarmad insane? Is
           Bodhidharma insane? Or the people who have killed them ...?
                Here are a few sutras for this morning, of great importance for those who want to understand the
           truth and who are ready to drop all kinds of lies.
              WITHOUT THE MIND THERE IS NO BUDDHA MEANS THAT THE BUDDHA COMES FROM THE
              MIND ...

              But the buddha is not the mind. The mind is the bondage of a buddha, and as he goes beyond the
           mind and enters into the state of no-mind, he becomes the buddha. But he comes from the mind --
           and you all have the mind, so you have fulfilled at least half the journey already!
              The other half is to get out of the mind and declare your buddhahood. You need not shout it, you
           need not even whisper it. It will declare itself in your presence, in your words, in your silence, in the
           depth of your eyes, in the grace and beauty of your individuality, in the fragrance that will surround
           you ...you will be like a cool breeze.
              The word TATHAGATA used for Gautam Buddha has two meanings. One meaning I have
           explained to you: it means the man who trusts existence and its suchness. Whatever happens, good or
           bad, misery or blissfulness, he remains unperturbed. He says it is the suchness of things. There is no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           need to be disturbed by suffering and there is no need to be disturbed by blissfulness. All these are
           natural phenomena. You have to remain aloof. That is one meaning of TATHAGATA.
               There is another meaning also, and that other meaning is significant in understanding these
           sutras. TATHAGATA means a man who comes like a breeze and goes like a breeze. Literally it
           means, "thus came, thus gone" -- he does not wait for your invitation. Suddenly he comes, and he
           does not wait for you to prevent him; suddenly he is gone, but he has left behind an experience of
           coolness and calmness and tranquillity.
               That calmness, coolness, serenity, silence, declare more loudly than anything else to the whole
           existence that a buddha has arrived, that now all the priests are in danger, that all the politicians are
           trembling inside. All those who are living on lies are scared to death. Truth has such power. It never
           harms anybody but it makes the whole fabrication of lies around the world tremble. A single man of
           truth is enough.
               I am reminded of a Jewish story. In the Old Testament it is said God became very angry -- the
           Jewish god is a very angry God. He became angry about two cities, Gomorrah and Sodom, because
           they were practicing perverted sexual things, and he was ready to destroy them. In the Old
           Testament he actually did destroy them. It reminds one of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ...total
           destruction, and the cities were almost exactly of the same size as Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They
           were great cities in those days, with populations almost equal to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And God
           destroyed them completely because they were becoming perverted.
               But in Judaism there is a small stream of authentic mystics -- that is the only beautiful thing that
           Judaism has contributed to the world. They are called Hassids. They are not accepted by orthodox
           Judaism, they are condemned, but they are people of truth. They cannot conceive of a God who can
           get angry, so they have written their own story. They don't care what the Old Testament says.
               Their story is that one Hassid mystic, hearing that God is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah,
           approached God and said, "Before you destroy them, you have to answer a few of my questions.
           First, if there are two hundred people who are not perverted in those two cities -- who are good, who
           are pure of soul, who are sincere, who are people of realization -- are you still going to destroy those
           cities and those good people?"
               God was taken aback. He could not say that he could destroy two hundred self-realized people.
           He said, "I was not aware of it; it is very kind of you to inform me. I will not destroy them. Those
           two hundred people are going to save two hundred thousand people."
               The Hassid said, "The second question: if there are not two hundred people, but only twenty, are
           you going to destroy them? Do you consider quantity more significant than quality?"
               And God was again defeated. Certainly quality is of higher value than quantity. What does it
           matter whether there are two hundred self-realized people or twenty? God said, "I accept your
           argument. Even if there are twenty people ...if you can prove there are twenty people, those cities
           will be saved."
               The Hassid laughed and said, "My last argument: If there are not twenty people but only one
           self-realized man, who lives six months in Sodom and six months in Gomorrah, are you going to
           destroy the cities? Do you still think quantity means much -- or quality?"
               God became very fed up with the man; he was a real Jew. He was bringing him down, haggling,
           and now he had brought him down to one man from two hundred. He said, "Okay, but then you will
           have to present that one man!"
           The Hassid said, "I am that man!"
               Jews don't allow this beautiful story. They say it is fiction, but to me their idea of God being
           angry and destroying Gomorrah and Sodom is a fiction. To me, the Hassid story seems to be more
           authentic.
               Just one man of truth is enough to save the world. But the world does not want to be saved. God
           need not kill that one man, the world kills that man. The people whom he was going to save are the
           people who destroy him.
           "WITHOUT THE MIND THERE'S NO BUDDHA" MEANS THAT THE BUDDHA COMES
           FROM THE MIND ...but he is not the mind. It is just like a lotus flower. It comes from mud, but it is
           not mud. Can you think of two things as different as mud and a lotus flower? But the lotus flower
           comes from the mud and rises above the waters ...the lotus flower is such a transformation, but
           without the mud there will be no lotus flowers.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Without lotus flowers, mud can exist ...this is something to be understood. The higher is very
           fragile, the lower is very solid. The lower is like a rock and the higher is like a rose flower. The
           higher you move, the more fragile you become. These people, Socrates or Jesus or Bodhidharma,
           could be poisoned. These were the lotus flowers. But the muddy minds became very angry. Seeing
           the lotus flowers coming out of them, their anger is understandable. The lotus flower is such a beauty
           -- there is no other flower in the world compared to the beauty of the lotus; hence Buddha has called
           his paradise "a lotus paradise." To make it the ultimate in beauty, he has used the word "lotus."
                But this is the strangest thing about the world -- that the mud can exist without any lotuses, but
           no lotus can exist without the mud. Minds can exist in millions without there being a single buddha,
           but a buddha cannot exist if all the minds are absent. Minds function like the mud. He has to
           transcend the mud and the water, and rise above to meet the sun, to see the sun. So remember: the
           buddha comes from the mind, but he is not the mind.
                WHOEVER WANTS TO SEE A BUDDHA SEES THE MIND ... because the buddha is
           invisible. It is not a flower that blossoms for the outward eyes. It is a flower that blossoms only for
           the inner eye. Unless your inner eye is open, you will not recognize the buddha.
                The no-mind is needed before one can see the buddha.
                A tremendously beautiful story is that when Buddha became enlightened, his first thought was to
           go back to his kingdom; his father must be old if he was not dead. If he was still alive, then Buddha
           owed something to him; he was his only son and he had given him immense suffering. Buddha had
           been going to be his support in his old age, and he was going to be his successor -- and then he
           escaped. So his first thought was to reach the kingdom and to impart his own ecstasy, his own
           blissfulness, to his father.
                But he was not aware of the fact that his father would not be able to recognize him as a buddha.
           His inner eye was not open. He thought only through the mind; he did not know any approach
           through the no-mind. So when he faced the old man, the old man was really angry. And you could
           not complain about his anger.
                The father said, "You deceived me in my old age. Where have you been for twelve years? What
           have you been doing? What is all this nonsense ...? An emperor's son carrying a begging bowl! You
           are born to be one of the greatest emperors in the world. Perhaps, as the astrologers said when you
           were born, you have the capacity to become a world conqueror, and you have chosen this stupid
           life."
                Buddha stood silently, not saying a single word. He first wanted to let the man release his anger.
           But the old man recognized, after half an hour had passed, that while he had been shouting and he
           had been abusing and he had been condemning, his son was simply standing there with such silence,
           absolutely unperturbed. He looked closely.
                Buddha said, "This is a right gesture, look closely. I am not the man who left you; that man died
           long ago. Yes, I am in the same continuity but before it was the mud; now I am the lotus. So don't
           take revenge against the lotus because you are angry with the mud. Just let me wash your tears,"
           because the old man was full of tears, "and clean your eyes. Just cool down and just have another
           look -- I am not the same man who left the palace. A great transformation has happened; I left the
           palace as a mortal, I am coming back to the palace as an immortal. I left the palace as an ordinary
           human being, I am coming back to the palace divine. Just have a little look."
                The father looked at him -- certainly there had been a great change. For a few moments there was
           utter silence -- the father simply went on looking at him. Something transpired between the father
           and the son, and the father said, "Forgive me. In my anger, with my tears, with my old eyes, I could
           not recognize the transformation. Now my only desire is that you initiate me on the same path which
           transforms mud into a lotus. You have certainly become a lotus. I have never seen you so beautiful,
           so graceful." Nothing had been said, and the father was being initiated.
                The moment you know, you don't have to declare it. It declares itself. But only those who have a
           certain sensitivity, a certain music in their heart, a certain poetry in their being, will be able to
           recognize you. Those who are simply accountants, bankers, running after money, running after
           power, will be absolutely blind when it comes to recognizing a buddha.           ...ONCE YOU HAVE
           SEEN THE BUDDHA, YOU FORGET ABOUT THE MIND.
                Once you have seen the lotus flower you forget all about the mud.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IF YOU DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE MIND, THE MIND WILL CONFUSE YOU ....

               It will not allow you to recognize the great transmutation, the great transformation that has
           happened -- perhaps in your son, perhaps in your friend, perhaps in a stranger. You need a certain
           sympathetic attitude and an opening of the heart to allow the transformed man to leave his imprint
           within you.
               And your recognition is going to be a seed of transformation within you: then you cannot remain
           in the mind anymore; then you cannot remain contented with your muddy world; then you would
           like to become another lotus. You have heard the challenge and you have seen the reality that you
           contain the lotus, but you have been unaware of it, it has remained dormant.
               Everybody is a buddha, but only in the seed, hidden in the mud. Recognizing a lotus flower is
           recognizing your own future, your own possibilities, your own grandeur.
               MORTALITY AND BUDDHAHOOD ARE LIKE WATER AND ICE.

              There is not much difference between the mortals and the immortals. The difference is just like
           water and ice.
               TO BE AFFLICTED BY THE THREE POISONS IS MORTALITY. TO BE PURIFIED BY THE THREE
               RELEASES IS BUDDHAHOOD.

              The three poisons, Bodhidharma says, are greed, anger, delusion. With these three poisons you
           remain a mortal. Once you are purified of these three poisons, you have become an immortal. You
           have attained to the eternity. Now there is no death for you.
               THAT WHICH FREEZES INTO ICE IN WINTER MELTS INTO WATER IN SUMMER.

               There is no qualitative difference between water and ice or vapor. The difference is only of
           temperature. Every human being -- the greatest criminal, even an Adolf Hitler -- has the potential to
           be a buddha. However unconscious you may be, however deep may be your sleep, you can be
           awakened.
               Awakening is not a difference of quality. It is a difference only of degree. The sleeping man is
           less awake and the awake man is less asleep. Remember, the difference between people is only of
           degree -- and that is not much of a difference. A slight understanding and the difference can be
           dissolved.
               GET RID OF MORTALITY, AND THERE IS NO MORE BUDDHAHOOD.

                This is how Bodhidharma is special. He says, GET RID OF MORTALITY, AND THERE IS NO
           MORE BUDDHAHOOD. It is only in the eyes of the mortals that buddhas appear so high. When
           their mortality is finished, their own buddhahood is attained. And the essential quality of awareness
           is that it is there, but you are not aware of it.
           You cannot be aware of awareness.
           You cannot be conscious of consciousness.
                You cannot be a knower when you really know. Then you are one with it. The buddhahood
           happens only to you because you are a mortal and Buddha looks so far away. You are only in the
           mud, just a seed, and the lotus looks so far away, so different. You cannot conceive any connection
           between you and the lotus. But when you become a lotus yourself, all differences disappear. And the
           lotus is not aware of its beauty, is not aware of its fragrance; it is simply its nature.
                Except for Bodhidharma, nobody else has been able to make these kinds of statements for the
           simple reason that they are so strange, they look so illogical, irrational. But existence is illogical. It is
           irrational. If you are only thinking in the mind, then it is one thing, but if you are experiencing the
           process of mud transforming into a lotus flower, you will understand Bodhidharma without any
           difficulty. You will rejoice in his strange statements.
                MORTALS ...again, a very strange statement: MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS AND
           BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS.
                I can understand why Buddhists have been hiding these sutras for one thousand years, because
           the very idea is outrageous that MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS AND BUDDHAS LIBERATE
           MORTALS. But Bodhidharma is right.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Every buddha comes from the mortals and seeing the agony, the suffering, the misery, the
           continuous meaninglessness of mortals is the cause of his liberation. If there were no mortals, there
           would be no buddhas.
                When I came back from the university, naturally my parents were anxious that I should get
           married. They were afraid that I was not the sort and my father was very alert that once I say no to
           something, then there is no way to make it yes. So he asked his friends, "Just find out what's on his
           mind, if it is possible that he would say yes. Only then, I will ask him. Once he has said no to me, it
           is finished."
                So his friends started asking me. One of his friends was the best physician of that area. He called
           me to have a dinner with him and along the way he mentioned, "What do you think about marriage?"
                I said, "Uncle, I am unmarried; I don't have any experience. You have been married thrice. You
           have three times more experience than anybody else. You tell me, what do you think?"
                He looked very miserable and he said, "My experience -- I am a fool! I should have stopped
           when my first wife died. But fools are fools. I married again thinking that not every woman is going
           to be the same. But within a few days ...the woman was different but the problems were the same.
           And God has been so kind to me, even the second wife died. But my stupidity is such, I married
           again and now I am suffering. And you are asking me, `What do you think about marriage'!"
                I said, "That's enough. Just tell my father your experience. You have liberated me from
           marriage."
                He said, "What do you mean by that? I have done just the opposite of what your father asked me.
           I was going to convince you."
                I said, "You have convinced me! Just tell my father the whole thing that happened ...I will get
           married only if you say yes."
                He said, "I cannot. No, I will not drag you into the same hell in which I have lived. I cannot say
           yes."
           "Then," I said, "tell my father that you have convinced me that I should not get married."
                He said, "You have put me in such trouble. Your father is depending on me."
                He reported to my father. My father said, "You should have been a little more cautious. Instead
           of convincing him about marriage, you have spoiled the whole thing."
                He said, "What can I do? He managed in such a way that I forgot completely what the purpose of
           the dinner was."
                MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS ...just look around at mortals and you cannot resist being a
           buddha -- the sooner the better! And BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS. That is just repaying the
           debt. When they become buddhas they start hammering the mortals. That's what I have been doing
           my whole life: first mortals liberated me, now I am trying to liberate mortals.
                The statement is very strange. Perhaps Buddhist scholars could not find how to explain it, so they
           thought it better to keep it in oblivion, not to bring it out. Otherwise it is perfectly okay that buddhas
           liberate mortals, but mortals liberating buddhas? The learned, the scholarly, cannot understand it.
              THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT BY IMPARTIALITY.

              Mortals liberating buddhas, buddhas liberating mortals -- this is called impartiality. Now
           everything is balanced. Nobody owes anything to anybody else; neither the buddhas are obliging
           you, nor are you obliging buddhas. You have come to a state where both have paid their debts to
           each other.
              MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS BECAUSE AFFLICTION CREATES AWARENESS.

               Seeing the mortals and their afflictions ...if you are intelligent enough you will not follow their
           path. So many are following that path and everybody is falling in a ditch. And everybody is
           suffering.
               When my father failed with the physician, he approached another friend of his. He thought that
           would be the last resort, because he was a supreme court advocate and it was known that he had
           never lost any case. So my father told him, "If you can win this case, then we will accept that you are
           really a great advocate of the supreme court."
               The judge said, "This is nothing. Just with my left hand I can do it. I will be coming tomorrow to
           your home."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           My father told him, "Come prepared!"
               He said, "Don't be worried. I know your son. And do you think he can defeat me in arguments?"
               My father said, "I don't think he can defeat you in arguments, but he has strange ways. The
           physician who is known to be the wisest man in the area ...he managed to manipulate him. Now he is
           in his favor."
               The advocate was very egoistic and he had reason to be an egoist. He said, "Don't you be
           worried."
               But my father said, "Still, you do the homework. Don't come unprepared. I warn you. You may
           lose the case. My boy is strange."
               The advocate said, "You calm down and don't be worried. Tomorrow I will settle everything."
               So the next day he came. I welcomed him and I asked him, "I know what you have come for.
           And I think my father must have told you, `Be prepared, do the homework.'"
           He looked at me and said, "How do you know?"
               I said, "That's what he told the physician, so I know he must have told the same things to you.
           And you are his last resort. So if you are defeated, then the whole question of marriage is finished."
           But he said, "Who said I am going to be defeated?"
               I said, "I am not saying that, I just want to make it clear that if I get defeated, I will be married --
           but if you get defeated, are you ready to divorce your wife?"
               He said, "My God, your father was right. I have never thought about it ...that it could be a
           question. Certainly you are right. I should also put something at stake. But listen, I have children,
           and you know my wife. She even beats me. I cannot even utter the word `divorce' before her."
               So I said, "You have not come with preparedness. And I don't need any judge. I trust you,
           although you will be a party in argument and you will also be the judge."
           He said, "I don't want to argue at all!"
               I said, "What you are going to answer to my father?"
           He said, "That's what I am thinking."
               The argument never started. And I used to go to his house every day, knocking on the door, and
           he would simply say, "I don't want to quarrel with you. I am already tortured too much."
               And one day his wife came out and she said, "Why is he so afraid of you?"
           I said, "Because of you."
               He started hiding in the bathroom and he would not come out. His wife said, "This is strange. He
           is never afraid of anybody. He hides, he says to me that he is not at home. What is the matter? What
           is cooking?"
               I said, "Nothing is cooking. He is afraid of being defeated. And you are my great support."
               She said, "I don't understand. What is going on? What is the problem? In what way am I the
           support?"
               I said, "You ask him. He is thinking of divorcing you."
               And he immediately came out of the bathroom. He said, "Don't lie! I am never going to divorce
           her. I love her. I will love her my whole life."
               I said, "It is up to you. But what about the argument?"
               He said, "Finished. I don't want to see you at all. You have made me so shaky that even in the
           court, the moment I remember you I feel afraid. Don't disturb my family life."
           I said, "You were going to disturb MY whole life!"
              MORTALS LIBERATE BUDDHAS BECAUSE AFFLICTION CREATES AWARENESS. AND
              BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS BECAUSE AWARENESS NEGATES AFFLICTION.

               All the buddhas come from the mortals. They are just more watchful than you are. They look all
           around -- the whole scene is tragic, pathetic. That creates great awareness in them. And when they
           have come to the highest peak of their awareness, they make every effort to help you to be aware so
           that you can also get out of these afflictions.
               It is not only that man is in misery. The woman is in more misery. It seems there is a strange
           conspiracy going on where everybody is creating misery for everybody else. Many times I have been
           asked why I have not married. I said, "Because of the married people. I have known so many and
           they warned me."
               And now my whole work is somehow to get you out of your trap, to make you more alert, more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aware, whether you are a husband or a wife. With your awareness your misery will disappear. Just as
           light dispels darkness, awareness dispels misery.
               THERE CAN'T HELP BUT BE AFFLICTION because people are unconscious. AND THERE
           CAN'T HELP BUT BE AWARENESS.
               Once in a while somebody is going to be alert enough to see all around. And the person who
           becomes aware, feels to share with people who are unaware.
              IF NOT FOR AFFLICTION THERE WOULD BE NOTHING TO CREATE AWARENESS. AND IF NOT
              FOR AWARENESS, THERE WOULD BE NOTHING TO NEGATE AFFLICTION. WHEN YOU ARE
              DELUDED, BUDDHAS LIBERATE MORTALS. WHEN YOU ARE AWARE, MORTALS LIBERATE
              BUDDHAS. BUDDHAS DON'T BECOME BUDDHAS ON THEIR OWN.

               This is the greatness of Bodhidharma. He can say it exactly, however hard it hits. He is saying,
           BUDDHAS DON'T BECOME BUDDHAS ON THEIR OWN. Without this whole world of misery
           around them, they would never become buddhas. They should be grateful to all these people who are
           miserable because these are the people who impel them not to get trapped, as they themselves are
           trapped.
              BUDDHAS REGARD DELUSION AS THEIR FATHER AND GREED AS THEIR MOTHER.

               Only a Bodhidharma can say such things, seeing the greed of people and the anguish and the
           anxiety that greed creates, seeing the delusions of people. Everybody is thinking of himself, not of
           exactly what he is. Everybody is multiplying his personality, his ego, his knowledge. He is
           pretending things that he knows nothing of.
               One of my professors, I found, never read anything after he had left the university thirty years
           before. Everything that he said was out of date. Psychology was his subject -- and psychology is a
           very fast-growing subject; in thirty years, everything that was right has gone down the drain. But he
           was still quoting books which he read in his post-graduation courses.
               He had a difficulty with me, because I was reading the latest and I would quote from the latest
           researches. He was a poor soul, he could not even say, "Forgive me, I am not aware of these
           researches." To keep his ego, he would say, "Yes, I have seen those papers." But if he had seen those
           papers or those books, which had just come out, then he should not have been teaching outdated
           theories about human mind and consciousness.
               I reported to the vice-chancellor. I said, "It should be made compulsory for every professor to
           spend at least two hours in the library every day."
               He said, "In no university is anything like that in existence. And all the professors will protest
           against it. Why are you saying that?"
               I said, "All your professors were taught twenty years, thirty years ago and all that they know is
           no longer relevant. I have been checking in the library, who the professors are who take the books
           from the library. And this particular professor I am mentioning has never taken a single book from
           the library. He has never come to the library." And the library of the university was very rich, very
           up-to-date, because the man who founded the university was a man of tremendous learning and he
           loved books above anything else.
               So I told the vice-chancellor, "Call this professor in front of me and I will show you why I am
           demanding this. And if you don't listen to me, then I am going to the students' union to talk to all the
           students, to boycott all those professors who don't go to the library for at least two hours."
               He knew me -- that I can manage this, so he said, "Don't go that far. Bring that professor here."
               I said, "I will not bring him. You call him. I am sitting here."
               He called the professor, the professor came in. And I just invented two fictitious names of
           psychologists and two fictitious names of books which have never been written and will never be
           written. And I asked the professor, "Have you read these books?"
               He said, "My God, how have you found out? They are on my desk in my room. I have been
           reading them; they are the latest contribution."
               And I told the vice-chancellor, "Both these names are fictitious, both these books are fictitious;
           they don't exist. Now tell this man to bring those two books into your office. They are lying on his
           table."
               Then he became afraid. From where was he going to get those two books which are fictitious?
           And he had said they were lying on his table, he was reading them, and they were great.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I said, "This is the situation: these are the people who are teaching and their students will become
           professors tomorrow. And they will continue fifty-year-old, rotten experiments which have failed
           and have been replaced by new ideologies."
                The vice-chancellor said, "I concede to you." And he made it a compulsory rule that every
           professor had to go to the library, study the latest journals, books, magazines and be up-to-date.
                Professors were angry, they were all angry at me. But I said, "Anger is not going to help. I am
           checking every day in the library, who is coming and who is not coming. For those who are not
           coming, I will bring a procession of protest of all the students to their department. Then don't tell me,
           `You are creating chaos.' You are the cause of it!"
                The librarian was surprised. All the professors were coming, reading, taking books home. But the
           day I left the university, I was informed, the rule was removed. After seven or eight years, I went to
           that university to deliver a lecture. I went to the library. The same librarian was still there and the
           library was empty. There was nobody. I asked him, "What happened?"
           "Those professors no longer come," he said. "The day you left the university, the rule was removed;
           it was just out of fear that you might create trouble. Even the vice-chancellor had started coming to
           the library. Now nobody comes."
                People go on creating delusions, magnifying them, exaggerating them. Bodhidharma says greed
           is the father of the buddhas and delusion is the mother.
              DELUSION AND GREED ARE DIFFERENT NAMES FOR MORTALITY ....
              WHEN YOU ARE DELUDED, YOU ARE ON THIS SHORE. WHEN YOU ARE AWARE, YOU ARE
              ON THE OTHER SHORE.

               These are only symbolic ways of saying you are here ...deluded, you are in misery; aware, you
           are in blissfulness.
              BUT ONCE YOU KNOW YOUR MIND IS EMPTY AND YOU SEE NO APPEARANCES, YOU ARE
              BEYOND DELUSION AND AWARENESS.

               Each statement is difficult for scholars to explain. Only a buddha can explain these statements.
           He is saying, when you are in the know that your mind is empty -- in other words, when you
           encounter your no-mind and you see no appearances -- you are beyond delusion and awareness.
               I have never come across any statement that says that you are beyond awareness. But he is
           absolutely rational, logical and existentially true because when you don't have the disease, I don't
           think you will go on carrying the medicine with you. The moment you are healthier, your disease has
           gone, you donate your medicine that remains to the Lions Club. What are you going to do with it?
           The Lions need it to show to the world that they are a great charitable institution. It is useless to you,
           you were going to throw it; why not enjoy donating it to the Lions Club? A good gain -- you donate
           something useless to the Lions Club. And the Lions Club gives it to the poor people, and without
           spending anything the Lions Club becomes a charitable institution.
               The same is the situation with misery and awareness. The moment there is no delusion, what is
           the need of awareness? That does not mean you fall asleep. That simply means awareness becomes
           your very nature; you are no longer aware of it.
               AND ONCE YOU ARE BEYOND DELUSION AND AWARENESS, THE OTHER SHORE
           DOES NOT EXIST. What is the need of the other shore? The other shore was only a symbolic
           concept. This shore is the world, the other shore is the paradise. When the world and the attachment
           with the world is gone, who cares about paradise? You are already in it, wherever you are. A Sufi
           saying is, "Wherever the enlightened person is, there is paradise." The paradise is something within
           your being.
              THE TATHAGATA IS NOT ON THIS SHORE OR THE OTHER SHORE. AND HE IS NOT IN
              MID-STREAM.

              These are the only possibilities -- either on this shore, or on the other shore, or in mid-stream.
           The tathagata is nowhere. One who has understood himself can be said to be either everywhere, or
           nowhere; both are equivalent.
              But in the last sutra he remembers again his antagonism to the arhatas: AND MORTALS ARE
           ON THIS SHORE. On the other shore are arhatas and the mortals. The ARHATS ARE IN
           MID-STREAM going to the other shore -- which does not exist. They are still carrying a
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           counter-delusion. AND THE MORTALS ARE ON THIS SHORE. ON THE OTHER SHORE IS
           BUDDHAHOOD.
               But the moment you are on the other shore, the other shore disappears. You are simply a light
           unto yourself.
               But about arhatas, he cannot forget. He puts them in mid-stream, neither on this shore nor on that
           shore. Arhatas are also on the other shore, just as bodhisattvas are, as buddhas are. The moment they
           reach the other shore, both the shores disappear simultaneously. Suddenly they are awake and they
           find themselves part of the whole, a great shower of blessings coming over them.
               If Bodhidharma could have forgotten his antagonism with arhatas and used instead of "mind,"
           "no-mind," his sutras would have been perfect, without any flaw. But even with these two flaws,
           they are great. And anybody who understands can make you aware of these two flaws.
               Don't carry any antagonism. And use, as far as possible, the closest word to reality. Mind is not
           the closest word to meditation; no-mind is.
               Arhatas may have angered him because they become enlightened and they never care about
           anybody. They don't even speak. It is very difficult to get anything out of the arhatas. But my own
           feeling is, everybody has to be his own self, his own individuality, his own uniqueness. Arhatas have
           their own uniqueness. After becoming enlightened, they become utterly silent.
               This is the antagonism of Bodhidharma, that they should be more compassionate. They should
           help others to become enlightened. And if you see the arguments from both sides, you will see that
           both are right in their own way. Arhatas say, "It is interference into somebody's life. If he wants to
           remain unenlightened, it is his right." Arhatas say, "This is our compassion that we don't interfere
           into anybody's life."
               Bodhisattvas say, "This is our compassion that we make every effort to make others enlightened.
           This is our compassion."
               I think both have beautiful arguments, and there is nothing wrong in either of the arguments.
           Existence is multidimensional, it has so many aspects.
               A man of ultimate understanding will not see any contradiction anywhere. In his understanding
           and clarity, all contradictions become complementary to each other.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                              Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #14
                                Chapter title: To face a Buddha is dangerous
           11 July 1987 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707115
              ShortTitle: BODHI14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 121 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BUDDHAS HAVE THREE BODIES: A TRANSFORMATION BODY, A REWARD BODY AND A REAL
              BODY. THE TRANSFORMATION BODY IS ALSO CALLED THE INCARNATION BODY. THE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TRANSFORMATION BODY APPEARS WHEN MORTALS DO GOOD DEEDS, THE REWARD BODY
              WHEN THEY CULTIVATE WISDOM AND THE REAL BODY WHEN THEY BECOME AWARE OF
              THE SUBLIME .... BUT ACTUALLY, THERE'S NOT EVEN ONE BUDDHA-BODY, MUCH LESS
              THREE. THIS TALK OF THREE BODIES IS SIMPLY BASED ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING,
              WHICH CAN BE SHALLOW, MODERATE OR DEEP.
              PEOPLE OF SHALLOW UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE PILING UP BLESSINGS AND
              MISTAKE THE TRANSFORMATION BODY AS THE BUDDHA. PEOPLE OF MODERATE
              UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE PUTTING AN END TO SUFFERING AND MISTAKE THE
              REWARD BODY AS THE BUDDHA. AND PEOPLE OF DEEP UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE
              THEY'RE EXPERIENCING BUDDHAHOOD AND MISTAKE THE REAL BODY AS THE BUDDHA.
              BUT PEOPLE OF THE DEEPEST UNDERSTANDING LOOK WITHIN, DISTRACTED BY NOTHING.
              SINCE A CLEAR MIND IS THE BUDDHA, THEY ATTAIN THE UNDERSTANDING OF A BUDDHA
              WITHOUT USING THE MIND ....
              INDIVIDUALS CREATE KARMA. KARMA DOESN'T CREATE INDIVIDUALS .... ONLY SOMEONE
              WHO'S PERFECT CREATES NO KARMA IN THIS LIFE AND RECEIVES NO REWARD. THE
              SUTRAS SAY, "WHO CREATES NO KARMA OBTAINS THE DHARMA" .... WHEN YOU CREATE
              KARMA, YOU'RE REBORN ALONG WITH YOUR KARMA. WHEN YOU DON'T CREATE KARMA,
              YOU VANISH ALONG WITH YOUR KARMA ....
              SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE TEACHING OF SAGES IS A SAGE. SOMEONE WHO
              UNDERSTANDS THE TEACHING OF MORTALS IS A MORTAL. A MORTAL WHO CAN GIVE UP
              THE TEACHING OF MORTALS AND FOLLOW THE TEACHING OF SAGES BECOMES A SAGE.
              BUT THE FOOLS OF THIS WORLD PREFER TO LOOK FOR SAGES FAR AWAY. THEY DON'T
              BELIEVE THAT THE WISDOM OF THEIR OWN MIND IS THE SAGE. THE SUTRAS SAY, "AMONG
              MEN OF NO UNDERSTANDING, DON'T PREACH THIS SUTRA."      ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "WHEN
              YOU SEE THAT ALL APPEARANCES ARE NOT APPEARANCES, YOU SEE THE TATHAGATA."
              THE MYRIAD DOORS TO THE TRUTH ALL COME FROM THE MIND. WHEN APPEARANCES OF
              THE MIND ARE AS TRANSPARENT AS SPACE, THEY'RE GONE ....
              WHEN MORTALS ARE ALIVE THEY WORRY ABOUT DEATH. WHEN THEY'RE FULL, THEY
              WORRY ABOUT HUNGER. THEIRS IS THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY. BUT SAGES DON'T
              CONSIDER THE PAST. AND THEY DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE. NOR DO THEY CLING
              TO THE PRESENT. FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT THEY FOLLOW THE WAY.


                Bodhidharma, for the first time in these sutras, looks at the people who are not enlightened and
           who are bound to misunderstand him. Hence, he talks about the possibility of the ordinary,
           unenlightened mind, and how it looks at things. He himself talks about it, so that he can make it clear
           that all these so-called understandings of the mind -- either shallow or deep, or even very deep -- all
           are wrong.
                This is very rare, because Bodhidharma never thought about the people who would be his
           audience. He only thought about the truth. And he talked about it without any consideration of those
           who were listening to it, or reading it. This is part of his compassion; this is the part that makes the
           arhatas and the bodhisattvas separate.
                Arhatas never, never think about anybody else. If they speak, they are just speaking to
           themselves. Most probably they remain silent. They have a profound respect for others, but they
           know that to tell them about the ultimate is to disturb their ordinariness. It is an interference in their
           mundane minds -- although it is for their own benefit. But they are not asking for it, and unless they
           invite the truth, the truth is not going to knock on their doors.
                The truth is almost like the sun in the morning. It rises ...it does not knock on your doors saying,
           "I am here and the night is over and you can wake." It does not go to every nest of the birds, to tell
           them, "Now it is time to sing, I have come," nor does it go to every flower to open its petals and
           release its fragrance. It simply comes. Those who are receptive will receive it. Those who are not
           receptive will not receive it. Those who are awake will know that the morning has arrived, but those
           who are fast asleep will not know, even in their dreams, that the night is over. But the sun does not
           interfere.
                The understanding of the arhatas is that compassion means not to interfere, not to trespass, even
           though it is for the benefit of those against whom you are trespassing. Trespassing in itself is against
           the dignity of individuals and it is a humiliation. To say to someone, "You are asleep," means you
           are putting yourself on a higher pedestal. You are saying, "I am awake and you are asleep," you are
           saying "I am holier than thou, higher than thou; I have arrived to the ultimate peak of my
           consciousness and you are still wandering in the world of darkness, groping everywhere, stumbling,
           falling and finding no way out."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Even to advise anyone is to take a certain position: "I know and you do not know." The arhatas'
           standpoint is that it is against compassion, it is against reverence for life; hence they remain silent. If
           anybody feels their presence on his own accord and comes close to them to drink the living waters of
           their experience, they are available -- just like the river passing by. You can quench your thirst, but it
           is absolutely up to you; the river will not do anything on its own part. It is a beautiful approach. But
           the approach of the bodhisattvas, to whom Bodhidharma belongs, has its own beauty.
               The bodhisattvas make every effort to awaken people, knowing perfectly well that out of a
           million people, perhaps one may understand them and the remaining will either be indifferent, or
           most probably will misunderstand. Bodhisattvas know perfectly well that speaking the truth is a very
           shortcut way to create enemies in the world, because the whole world is full of lies. All the vested
           interests are based on lies. The so-called religions, the so-called nations -- all are fabrications of
           cunning minds.
               An authentically religious man belongs to no religion and belongs to no nation and to no race and
           to no color. He belongs to the whole humanity. All the nations are his. He does not believe in
           political boundaries created by the cunning and dirty politicians. And he does not believe in the
           discriminations created by the priests, by the popes, by the archbishops, by the shankaracharyas, by
           the rabbis. He believes that every human being has a divine nature, and every human being has the
           potential to grow into a beautiful lotus flower -- a lotus flower that belongs to eternity, a fragrance
           that comes but never goes.
               Knowing all this, the bodhisattva still makes every effort; it does not matter even if he is
           crucified. Jesus is a bodhisattva, so is Socrates a bodhisattva, so is Al-Hillaj Mansoor. Even if it
           means crucifixion, it does not matter if it can help somebody, somewhere, to get out of his sleep. A
           bodhisattva is ready to accept all condemnation from the whole world, but he cannot remain silent
           and unsharing. That is impossible for him.
               As far as I am concerned, both are absolutely right. There is no contradiction. They are both
           representing two sides of the same phenomenon. Their expression of compassion is different, but it
           IS the expression of compassion. Both are expressing it in their own unique ways.
               The sutra: BUDDHAS HAVE THREE BODIES: A TRANSFORMATION BODY, A REWARD
           BODY AND A REAL BODY. THE TRANSFORMATION BODY IS ALSO CALLED THE
           INCARNATION BODY. THE TRANSFORMATION BODY APPEARS WHEN MORTALS DO
           GOOD DEEDS, THE REWARD BODY WHEN THEY CULTIVATE WISDOM AND THE REAL
           BODY WHEN THEY BECOME AWARE OF THE SUBLIME .... BUT ACTUALLY, THERE'S
           NOT EVEN ONE BUDDHA-BODY, MUCH LESS THREE. THIS TALK OF THREE BODIES IS
           SIMPLY BASED ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING, WHICH CAN BE SHALLOW,
           MODERATE OR DEEP.
           PEOPLE OF SHALLOW UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE PILING UP BLESSINGS
           AND MISTAKE THE TRANSFORMATION BODY AS THE BUDDHA. PEOPLE OF
           MODERATE UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE PUTTING AN END TO SUFFERING
           AND MISTAKE THE REWARD BODY AS THE BUDDHA. AND PEOPLE OF DEEP
           UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE EXPERIENCING BUDDHAHOOD AND MISTAKE
           THE REAL BODY AS THE BUDDHA.
               It needs some explanation. It is possible you may pass a Gautam Buddha without recognizing
           him because the recognition of a buddha, of an awakened being, needs some insight on your part. It
           depends on you, your understanding. If you don't have any understanding of the awakened one, you
           may pass by his side and you may not even feel anything. You are closed. The sun is there but your
           doors and windows are all closed. The sun is there but you are standing with closed eyes.
               The first recognition comes from people who are trying to do good according to their small
           understanding. Whatever they feel -- helpful to humanity, helpful to the animals -- they are trying to
           do something to beautify existence. They don't want to be just a burden on the earth. They want to
           contribute something; they want to leave the world a little better than they found it when they came
           into existence.
               These people will see buddha's first body, the transformation body. They will see buddha
           surrounded with an aura of light. You have seen pictures of Jesus, of Krishna, of Buddha with a
           surrounding aura. That is an actual phenomenon and now it has a scientific basis to support it.
               In the Soviet Union, a great scientist and philosopher, Kirlian, developed a special camera and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           specially sensitive films, so sensitive that they can see things which your eyes cannot see. His first
           experience was of tremendous wonder because his photographs showed auras around everybody, not
           only around human beings but around animals and around trees, around a roseflower. The roseflower
           was there in the picture and just by the side, a small light-aura.
               He was surprised to know that the more silent, peaceful a man was, the bigger was the aura. And
           the more angry, anxiety-ridden, sad, miserable, full of anguish a man was, the smaller was the aura.
           And before a man was going to die, six months before, the aura completely disappeared; then his
           photographs came without any aura, just like ordinary photographs.
               This aura has been seen by sensitive people, just as Kirlian's sensitive films photograph it. The
           sensitive disciples of Jesus will see something which others will not be able to see. The sensitive
           disciples of Gautam Buddha who have lived in deep love with him, who have been showered by his
           blessings, who are completely drowned in his being, will be able to see something which an ordinary
           spectator will not be able to see. The more they become receptive, the more they become sensitive,
           the more Buddha's reality becomes apparent to them.
               The first experience is of the transformation body: a thin light body, just four inches bigger than
           your body ...just around your body a four-inch aura of light, very soft light. This is the body that
           transmigrates. That's why, before death -- as Kirlian discovered -- six months before, this body starts
           disappearing, it starts becoming condensed inside the being of man. It takes six months for it to come
           back to the center and become just a point of light instead of a big aura. And this small point of light
           transmigrates while your whole body remains here.
               Scientists have been trying to prove that there is no soul on the grounds that when they weigh a
           living man just a moment before he dies, and when they weigh him a moment after, his weight is the
           same -- absolutely the same. Naturally their conclusion is that nothing has gone out and; hence, that
           there is no soul. If something goes out and, then the weight will be less. But now it can be told to the
           scientists that light has no weight; that's why if a point of light transmigrates it won't make any
           difference on your weighing scales.
               Light is absolutely weightless and the transmigration body is nothing but pure light. This is
           experienced by people even of shallow understanding. Those who don't understand much, but still
           have a little consciousness -- just a shallow consciousness -- even they can see this light.
               But the people of moderate understanding can see a deeper body, hidden behind this thin layer of
           light, a thicker layer of light known in the Buddhist scriptures as the reward body. It arises only
           when one has been meditating so much that one is earning immense reward. In this world the
           greatest treasure and the greatest reward is to learn to be silent, to be utterly silent. This is a silence
           body. But it is possible to be seen only by those who have come very close to Gautam Buddha.
               I have always divided people into three categories. The first is the student who comes to the
           awakened one. The student is capable of seeing the first body, the transformation body.
               The second is the disciple, who is not there with the buddha or any awakened human being out of
           curiosity -- who is not there just to accumulate knowledge -- but who himself wants to come to the
           same space, to the same blissfulness, to the same benediction. The disciple has taken a quantum leap
           from the student. The student is interested in collecting more and more information; the disciple is
           interested not in information but in transformation. He wants to change into a different being, a
           being which is beyond the mind. He is capable of seeing the second body, the reward body.
               The reward body is really existence recognizing your meditation, your silence, and showering
           flowers on you. Existence is immensely happy when someone becomes enlightened, because the
           enlightenment of one person is really the triggering of enlightenment for many people. It can become
           a long chain, which can go for centuries. For example, what was triggered by Gautam Buddha's
           enlightenment is still triggering people into enlightenment. Twenty-five centuries have passed, but
           the chain has continued. It is a chain reaction.
               There are very few religions in the world which are still alive. Zen is still alive. There are still
           people who can be called contemporaries of Gautam Buddha; they are connected so deeply that you
           cannot separate them, by time or by space.
               In Mohammedanism, only a small school of Sufis is a living part; the whole of the rest of that
           religion has died. But Sufism is still continuing a chain reaction. Still there are people who are
           awakened.
               In Judaism, the whole religion except for a small school of the Hassids is dead. Those Hassids
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have been carrying the torch for centuries. They are still creating more and more enlightened people.
                Strangely, Hinduism and Christianity are completely dead religions. They don't have even a
           small stream of living masters. And they are very important religions. Hinduism is the oldest religion
           of the world and Christianity is the biggest religion of the world, but both are completely dead. They
           are just an ugly weight on humanity. Nothing blossoms in their gardens; no flower comes to release
           its fragrance. They are lamps without any flame in them.
                It is said of Diogenes, a man of the same caliber as Bodhidharma .... If they had met, it would
           have been a great meeting. Diogenes was in Greece. He lived naked; he had such a beautiful body
           that to hide it behind clothes would have been a crime. It is perfectly good to hide an ugly body
           behind clothes but a beautiful body needs to be available for anybody who wants to see the beauty,
           the proportion. Diogenes was one of the most beautiful men. Even when Alexander the Great met
           him, he felt a little embarrassed -- although he was a world conqueror, compared to Diogenes he was
           utterly poor.
                Diogenes had nothing, but his richness was radiating from his naked body. Diogenes used to
           carry a lamp, even in the daytime. He was thought to be a little crazy -- obviously. In a world of
           insane people, anybody who is sane is bound to be thought a little crazy. And he was doing
           something which you will also feel looks a little crazy. Whomever he would meet on the way, he
           would take up his lamp and look at his face. And when asked, "What are you doing, Diogenes? It is
           full daylight; you don't need to keep your lamp burning," he would say, "no, I have to keep it
           burning. I am searching for an authentic man."
                When he was dying, his lamp by his side, somebody asked, "Diogenes, your whole life you have
           been searching for an authentic man. What happened? Did you meet any authentic man or not?" He
           said, "Thank God, although I never met any authentic man I have saved my lamp."
                Because the world is so cunning, so full of thieves, even to save one's lamp is to be fortunate.
           This Diogenes was an awakened man. In fact, he was not looking in your eyes when he raised his
           lamp, he was showing his eyes, so that you could see clearly into his eyes, and THERE was an
           authentic man. And if you had looked into his eyes, you would have changed totally into a new
           being.
                A disciple looks into the eyes of the master. He looks into the very depth of his eyes. A disciple
           is not interested in what the master is saying, he is interested in what the master IS.
                Then he comes to know the second body of the master; his treasure, his reward body. The whole
           existence has been showering millions of rewards on the master. But there is still a third step. The
           man of the deepest understanding comes to know the third body, the deepest body.
                The student comes to know the first body, the disciple comes to know the second body and the
           devotee comes to know the third body, the real body, the buddha's real being. Again there is a
           quantum leap -- from disciple to devotee. Disciple comes very close, very, very close, but even
           closeness is a distance. The devotee simply melts and merges into the master. He is not close, he
           becomes one. And in this oneness he comes to know the real body of the awakened being.
                But Bodhidharma says: these three bodies and the experiences of these three bodies are of the
           normal mind. Actually, there is not even one buddha-body. A man of enlightenment is utterly
           nobody -- or no body. That's what the meaning of nobody is. He is pure emptiness. He is just pure
           sky without any limitations. This infinitude is known only when one becomes a buddha.
                The devotee merges with the buddha, but in a subtle way he still carries his idea, "I am a devotee,
           a lover. I have surrendered everything." A very subtle "I" -- almost on the verge of disappearing, but
           it is there. He has not yet experienced the emptiness of the master.
                There is a story about a great Zen master, Lin Chi. The day one of his disciples was going to
           become enlightened ...he had come a long way and the master had been watching his progress, and
           he knew that as the sun set that day, before that time, the disciple was going to become enlightened.
           He had come so close, it was just like a moth flying closer and closer to the flame of a candle. One
           could say that it was not going to take much time. The moth has come so close that soon it will be
           falling into the flame and disappear for ever.
                Lin Chi called his disciple and told him, "Listen, I have been beating you for years." That is part
           of Zen tradition. That is the only tradition where the master is allowed to beat the disciple ...for
           strange reasons, or for no reason at all. Only he knows why he is beating him: sometimes he brings a
           wrong answer to a question, then the master slaps him.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But sometimes disciples are simply amazed. They have not even spoken a word and the master
           starts slapping them and they say, "This is too much because we have not said anything." The master
           says, "That does not matter. We know what you were going to say, we could read it on your face. We
           knew the way you entered the room ...so why waste time? First, you will have to say things and then
           we will have to beat. Make it short. Get a good beating and go away. Find out the right answer."
                And it is a well-known fact that when the disciple finds the right answer he has nothing to say,
           because the right answer cannot be said. Only wrong answers can be said.
                So Lin Chi had been beating the disciple on and off, and suddenly he called him. He was sitting
           outside in the garden meditating on the koan for which he had been getting beatings. The disciple
           said, "Why has he called me? because I don't have anything to say." And before entering the door of
           the master's room he said clearly, "I don't have anything to say, so don't start slapping me. And I
           have not come of my own accord; you have called me."
                Lin Chi said, "That's true. You have not come, I have called you, but I will slap all the same for a
           totally different reason today. Just come close."
                The disciple said, "This is going too far. I have been told that when you don't have anything to
           say, you cannot be slapped. You are breaking even that rule." The master said, "Don't waste time.
           Just come close. I am going to slap you because after today I will not be able to slap you again. This
           day you are going to become enlightened, so this is the last chance. Let me have a good ....
           Tomorrow you can slap me -- you will have the right -- but today is my last chance." And he slapped
           him.
                This is a beautiful tradition. It shows great love. A master beating the disciple for no reason at
           all, just because he is going to become enlightened today and from tomorrow he will not be able to
           beat him ...! The disciple became enlightened that day and the next day when he came to see the
           master, the master closed the doors. He said, "You can say anything you want to say from outside the
           room, because I am an old man. You must understand that slapping me is not right, so from now on
           doors will remain closed for you. You can say anything you want to say a little loudly from outside."
                The moment a devotee forgets even that he IS, that no idea of I AM arises in him, then he comes
           to know that the buddha has no body at all. That buddha is a nobody; he is simply pure silence,
           emptiness, a total zero.
              BUT ACTUALLY, THERE'S NOT EVEN ONE BUDDHA-BODY MUCH LESS THREE. THIS TALK OF
              THREE BODIES IS SIMPLY BASED ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING, WHICH CAN BE SHALLOW,
              MODERATE OR DEEP.
              PEOPLE OF SHALLOW UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE PILING UP BLESSINGS AND
              MISTAKE THE TRANSFORMATION BODY AS THE BUDDHA. PEOPLE OF MODERATE
              UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE THEY'RE PUTTING AN END TO SUFFERING AND MISTAKE THE
              REWARD BODY AS THE BUDDHA. AND PEOPLE OF DEEP UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE
              THEY'RE EXPERIENCING BUDDHAHOOD AND MISTAKE THE REAL BODY AS THE BUDDHA.
              BUT PEOPLE OF THE DEEPEST UNDERSTANDING LOOK WITHIN, DISTRACTED BY NOTHING.
              SINCE A CLEAR MIND or better, no-mind, IS THE BUDDHA, THEY ATTAIN THE UNDERSTANDING
              OF A BUDDHA WITHOUT USING THE MIND ....
              INDIVIDUALS CREATE KARMA.

                Before we enter into this sutra, you have to understand this word KARMA. It means action. But
           action can be of two types: either it can be a reaction or it can be a response.
                Somebody insults you. You become angry -- he has pushed your button. In fact he is the master,
           you are behaving like a slave. He has managed to create anger in you. He is in control. If he wants to
           change the situation he can say, "I am sorry," and things will be different. You are just a victim; you
           don't have any control of the situation. When somebody insults you, you are immediately reacting
           out of your past experiences.
           This reaction is really karma.
           It is a binding force; it creates chains for you.
                But a response is a totally different thing from reaction. A response is not produced by the other
           person. He insults you, he abuses you -- you listen to him, he is making certain statements about you.
           A man of understanding, a man of awareness, a man of meditation will simply listen to it. He is
           making some statements ...good or bad, that is not the concern of the moment. First you listen to him
           without immediately going into a reaction. You allow your awareness like a mirror to reflect
           whatever he is saying, or whatever he is doing. And out of your mirror-like, immediate, in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           present, not-from-past-experience awareness, some response comes.
                He was telling you that you are greedy, he was telling you that you are ugly, he was telling you
           that you are dirty. And if you silently listen, there is nothing to be angry about. Either he is right or
           he is wrong. If he is right, you have to be grateful to him. You have to tell him, "Thank you, you
           have a great compassion. You have made me aware of things of which I was not aware. Please,
           always remember, whenever you see something in me, tell me. Don't feel that I will be offended. I
           will always remain grateful."
                Or if you find that he is wrong, you can simply say, "I have heard your statements but they are
           not true. And about something which is not true, why should I react? You will have to reconsider.
           Reconsider your statements and then we will see. But as far as I can see, there is nothing true in them
           and I need not be offended by lies." There are only two alternatives.
                George Gurdjieff's father died and at that time he was only nine years old. The father was poor
           but a very integrated man, a man of tremendous awareness. He called Gurdjieff and said, "Listen.
           You are too young to understand what I am saying, but remember it. Soon you will be able to
           understand it, and if you can start acting accordingly, start acting so that you don't forget. I don't
           have anything else to give to you; no money, no house, no land." He was a nomad. "I am handing
           you over to my friends, but remember, this is the only treasure that I can give you as an inheritance.
           And listen carefully; these are the last words of your father -- his whole life's experience."
                A nine-year-old boy ...he came close to listen to the old father and the father said, "It is a very
           simple thing: If somebody insults you, listen silently, carefully, in detail to what he is saying -- what
           are the implications. And then tell the person, `I am grateful that you have taken so much interest in
           me. After twenty-four hours I will come and reply to you. I cannot help it, because my dying father
           has made it a condition to me that only after twenty-four hours consideration am I allowed to
           answer.'"
                And in his own old age, Gurdjieff said to his disciples, "This simple principle helped me
           tremendously, because after twenty-four hours who remains angry? And after considering
           twenty-four hours, either one finds he is right -- and if he is right there is no need to bother, it is
           better to change yourself -- or he is wrong. Then too there is no need to be bothered. It is his
           problem, not your problem."
                A man who is fully awakened remains undefiled by whatsoever he does, because it is a response.
           It is a pure reflection from a mirror, with no judgment. It does not come from the past, it comes from
           the present consciousness. But anything that comes from your past experiences is going to create a
           chain for you.
                In the East, for ten thousand years we have been thinking about it, experimenting with it. It is the
           only thing that the whole East and its genius has remained involved with: how a man can come to a
           stage where his actions don't make any bondage for him, don't create another birth for him -- how a
           consciousness can be created where one can act without acting, and where nothing contaminates his
           being.
              INDIVIDUALS CREATE KARMA. KARMA DOESN'T CREATE INDIVIDUALS ....

               So it is in your hands. You are not a by-product of your actions. You are far bigger than your
           actions; good or bad, you are always bigger. And it is in your hands to change everything.
               The East has paid tremendous respect to the individual and has given him the greatest power
           over his own destiny ever given anywhere in the world. In the East there is no savior. You are the
           savior. Nobody else can do that for you.
               It would be really ugly if somebody else could save you. Then even your being, saved or
           redeemed, is a kind of slavery.
               And if somebody else can redeem you, somebody else can push you back into the wheel of birth
           and death, because you are just a puppet. All the religions that believe in saviors reduce man into a
           puppet. They take away the freedom and the dignity and the pride of individual beings.
               Bodhidharma is saying: INDIVIDUALS CREATE KARMA. You can create hell for yourself,
           you can create heaven, or you can go beyond both. This going beyond both, does not exist in
           Judaism, in Mohammedanism, in Christianity. That is the special contribution of the Eastern mystics.
           Hell and heaven exist as hypotheses in Christianity, in Mohammedanism, in Judaism. But
           MOKSHA, being beyond heaven and hell ...because hell is misery and heaven is happiness, but
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happiness too becomes boring after a time. No Western religious leader has ever thought about it,
           that happiness after a time becomes boring. How long can you tolerate happiness? Just as pain, after
           a long time, becomes a companion ...without it you feel something is missing.
                I have known a man who had suffered from headache, migraines, for almost ten years. I used to
           go into the mountains and he was also a professor in the same university where I was a professor.
           Once he asked me, "Can I come along with you?" I never liked anybody else to go with me, because
           I was going out of the city just to avoid all the idiots -- and this idiot was not only an idiot, he had a
           migraine! I said, "My God," but I said, "Okay. It looks very unkind to say no to you. Just sit, but
           don't talk about migraine because I have an allergy."
           He said, "What kind of allergy?"
                I said, "If anybody talks to me of his disease, I become sick with the same disease."
                He said, "I have never heard that such an allergy exists."
                I said, "It is not a question of hearing, I am the example -- it is not a bookish question. Just don't
           talk about migraine!"
                So I took him to the mountains. It was the season of the mangoes, and the mountain was full of
           the sweetness of the mangoes. I have the habit of climbing trees from my very childhood. I had
           fallen from the trees so many times that my father used to tell me, "Now it is time you stop." I used
           to say, "I have fallen so many times that I am almost an expert in falling. You don't be worried. I am
           not a beginner. I fall with a certain method, that's why I am surviving."
                So I took him to a mango tree which had very ripe mangoes and many parrots -- parrots love
           mangoes -- and I told him, "You come along with me, up the tree."
           He said, "What?"
           I said, "You come along."
           He said, "I have never been climbing up a tree."
           I said, "Try, it will be an adventure for you."
                And he fell down from the tree. I had to rush, come back down the tree. He looked very amazed.
           He said, "It is strange. I had the migraine and by falling from the tree, it has disappeared."
                I said, "Sometimes it happens, but don't make it a practice. And don't tell anybody, because it
           may not happen to somebody else. It is just coincidence." But the migraine disappeared.
                And after seven days he met me and he said, "I miss my migraine."
                I said, "First, you were continuously complaining about migraine, and now you miss it?"
                He said, "I never knew that I would miss it. Now I have nothing to talk about; migraine was my
           whole philosophy. And because of the migraine I was getting everybody else's sympathy. Now
           nobody sympathizes with me!"
                I said, "Then the only thing is, we can go to the mountains again, climb the tree and fall. Perhaps
           -- I can't be certain because there is no science in it -- perhaps the migraine will come back."
                He said, "I will have to think about it because it was really very difficult. The suffering was bad."
                But next day he told me, "I am ready because without migraine I cannot live. I feel so empty
           because I had lived ten years with migraine."
                And you will not be surprised if you watch your own behavior!
                There are people who are smoking and they know they are burning their lungs. They know they
           are destroying their health ...but it makes no difference. In a few countries the governments have
           even decided that the factories which produce cigarettes should also write on the packets that it is
           dangerous to health. First the cigarette companies were against any such law being passed, because
           this may destroy their whole business. Who is going to purchase cigarettes when it is written on the
           package that it is against your health? "The medical opinion is that it is dangerous for your health,"
           or something like that.
                But governments passed the law and the people who had been smoking are still smoking, and the
           number of smokers goes on increasing. It does not make any difference. The law has been absolutely
           meaningless. Man becomes accustomed to anything. Then it is very difficult, even if it is dangerous,
           even if it is killing him, even if it is proved that it is going to give you cancer ...You would rather
           have cancer than change your habits.
                But Bodhidharma is saying: You are the master of your destiny. You can change every act, you
           can change every habit. You can change what you think has become your second nature and you can
           create a totally new individuality, fresh and young, with more awareness, with more understanding,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with more blissfulness, with a great ecstasy.
              ONLY SOMEONE WHO IS PERFECT CREATES NO KARMA IN THIS LIFE AND RECEIVES NO
              REWARD.

                Who is perfect? The only person who is perfect is one whose consciousness has dispelled all
           unconsciousness from his being. Right now only one-tenth of your consciousness is conscious and
           nine-tenths is unconscious.
                The perfect man is one whose whole being, all ten parts, are absolutely conscious and full of
           light. There is no darkness in his heart. In the very depths and silences of his heart there is nothing
           but peace, silence, light, joy. Such a man is perfect and such a man can do anything. Nothing is
           binding on him. He creates no karma, he creates no chains, he creates no new life. He has come to
           the very end of the road.
                A perfect man, an awakened man, is not born again. What happens to his consciousness? It
           becomes part of the universe, just like a dewdrop slipping from a lotus leaf into the ocean. Either the
           dewdrop becomes the ocean, or the ocean becomes the dewdrop. You can say it either way. But this
           is the goal of all religiousness, the dropping of the dewdrop into the ocean.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "WHO CREATES NO KARMA OBTAINS THE DHARMA."

              One who is fully conscious knows his self-nature. That is the meaning of dharma.
              WHEN YOU CREATE KARMA, YOU ARE REBORN ALONG WITH YOUR KARMA. WHEN YOU
              DON'T CREATE KARMA, YOU VANISH ALONG WITH YOUR KARMA ....
              SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE TEACHING OF THE SAGES IS A SAGE. SOMEONE WHO
              UNDERSTANDS THE TEACHING OF MORTALS IS A MORTAL.

                You may be a student of a great philosopher, but he is not an immortal. He is as afraid of death
           as you are, or perhaps more, because he is thinking more about life, death, birth. The more he thinks,
           the more he creates a paranoia.
                Sigmund Freud was thinking more about death just because he was thinking about sex. Sex is
           one side of life, the beginning. And death is the other side of life, the end. A person who thinks about
           sex cannot avoid thinking about death. He has to. Sex and death are so deeply connected.
                You will be surprised that there are, in South Africa, a species of spiders: the male makes love
           only one time in his life because the next chance never arises. While he is making love, the female
           spider starts eating him. He has long legs and the female starts eating through his legs. And he is in
           such an ecstasy, he is not in his consciousness. By the time his orgasm is finished, he is also finished.
           Every spider knows that this is happening every day -- but what to do? Sooner or later every spider
           finds himself trapped into the same thing. Sex and death have come very close in that species. It is
           not that close in human beings, but it is not very far either. Sex is the beginning of death.
                Sigmund Freud was so afraid of death that he prohibited anybody from creating any discussion
           about death in front of him. And he had hundreds of disciples. Perhaps in this whole century he was
           one of the greatest teachers. He created the great profession of psychoanalysis, and those who
           learned psychoanalysis from him brag about the fact that they are disciples of the original master, the
           founder of psychoanalysis itself.
                But they don't know that Sigmund Freud was so much afraid of death that even at the mention of
           it, three times in his life, he fainted. He became unconscious just because somebody mentioned the
           word, `death.' Even the word reminded him of his own death. He never used to pass through any
           cemetery; even if he had to go around a few miles to avoid a cemetery he would go, but he would
           never go to a cemetery. He never went to the cemetery to say the last goodbye to a friend who had
           died, never! He went only once, but then he never came back!
                Bodhidharma is saying: SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE TEACHING OF MORTALS
           IS A MORTAL. A MORTAL WHO CAN GIVE UP THE TEACHING OF MORTALS AND
           FOLLOW THE TEACHING OF SAGES BECOMES A SAGE.
                Drop the teachings of those who don't know that there is life beyond death. Then they don't know
           anything at all. All their knowledge is simply verbal, just so much prose. In fact, it is just rubbish and
           crap.
                If you want to be a disciple, at least choose someone who knows something beyond death. And
           the person who knows something beyond death is bound to be the person who knows something
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beyond mind, because they are the same experiences.
              BUT THE FOOLS OF THIS WORLD PREFER TO LOOK FOR SAGES FAR AWAY.

                It is a very significant statement. THE FOOLS OF THIS WORLD PREFER TO LOOK FOR
           SAGES FAR AWAY. There are people who worship Gautam Buddha, twenty-five centuries far
           away. There is no fear; Buddha cannot do anything to you.
           To face a living buddha is dangerous.
           He can overwhelm you.
                But worshiping a Buddha who has been dead for twenty-five centuries .... You can carry the
           Buddha statue wherever you want and you can do with the statue whatever you want; the statue
           cannot do anything to you. But a living buddha is dangerous. To be in contact with him is to be
           constantly risking, because he is taking you towards the goal where you will disappear. You will BE,
           but just pure consciousness, not an ego.
                The UPANISHADS say that the authentic master is a death. He kills the disciple as an ego. He
           makes the disciple just a nothingness.
                The fools love very much to worship Jesus, but the contemporaries of Jesus crucified him. It is a
           very strange world. There is not even a mention of the name of Jesus in his contemporary literature.
           Except for his own disciples, nobody had even taken note of him. It is strange ...such a man, whom
           the contemporaries could not tolerate alive -- when he was only thirty-three they crucified him -- but
           they have not even mentioned his name. Yet after two thousand years, half the world is Christian
           ...strange! And if Jesus Christ comes today, the same Christians will crucify him again.
                I have heard that in a New York church, on a Sunday morning, the bishop came a little early to
           see if all the arrangements were okay or not, because only on Sunday do Christians become
           religious. It is a Sunday religion. As the bishop entered he found a young man looking exactly like
           Jesus Christ. His heart sank. He felt he was going to die. "My God, why has he come here? He has
           not learned any lesson. When he came, what people did to him -- and again he is back! But it is
           better to enquire who he is. Perhaps he is just a hippy who looks like Jesus." So he went close to him
           and asked, "Who are you?"
                Jesus looked at him and he said, "This is a strange question. You represent me on the earth and
           you don't recognize me? I am Jesus Christ."
                The bishop immediately phoned the Vatican to the pope saying, "What do you think I should do?
           Jesus Christ is here in the church."
                The pope said, "I am tortured so much with a thousand and one worries, and you bring another.
           Can't you figure out what to do? The first thing is, inform the police. And the second thing is, look
           busy."
                If Jesus Christ comes back, he is not going to be treated differently from how he was treated
           before. That's why he is not coming back; otherwise he promised, "I will be coming back soon." Two
           thousand years and the soon has not ended. Any intelligent man will not come back; it was enough.
           One experience is enough.
                Contemporaries have always misbehaved with the people of awareness, with the people who
           have enlightenment. And the same people have always worshiped the dead saints, dead sages, dead
           prophets, dead messiahs.
                There were at least five attempts made on the life of Gautam Buddha while he was alive. Now
           there are more statues of Gautam Buddha in the world than of anybody else. And the same people
           tried five times to kill him.
              BUT THE FOOLS OF THIS WORLD PREFER TO LOOK FOR SAGES FAR AWAY.

              Because to be close is dangerous, they can change you. And nobody wants to be changed.
              THEY DON'T BELIEVE THAT THE WISDOM OF THEIR OWN no-MIND IS THE SAGE.
              And the reality is, you don't have to look far away in time or in space. You have just to look
           inwards, and this very moment you can find the awakened one. This very moment you can find the
           buddha ...not twenty five centuries back; there is no need to go that far. And there is no way to go
           backwards. God has forgotten, when he made the world, to put in a reverse gear. You can simply go
           forward, just go forward.
              Even Henry Ford forgot to put the reverse gear in the first car that he made as a model. If God
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can forget, poor Henry Ford has to be allowed! And when he got into his car, then he realized that
           this was a very difficult problem. If you have gone five feet past your house, then you have to go
           around the whole city to get home, to come back. It was Henry Ford's genius, to create a reverse
           gear. God has not learned, even now. But he must be meeting with Henry Ford there, to put in a
           reverse gear so you can go to see Jesus Christ, or Gautam Buddha, or Mahavira, or Krishna.
               But my feeling is that even if there is a reverse gear available, nobody is going to use it for the
           simple reason that to face such colossal individuals needs guts, needs courage. And the greatest
           courage in the world is to go through the transformation from being a mortal to being an immortal
           god.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "AMONG MEN OF NO UNDERSTANDING, DON'T PREACH THIS SUTRA."

                But where can you preach it? If people have understanding, they don't need the sutra. Only the
           people who don't understand need the sutra. So I cannot agree with this sutra which says, "AMONG
           MEN OF NO UNDERSTANDING, DON'T PREACH THIS SUTRA."
                Be compassionate, preach to everybody. If they can understand, good. If they cannot understand,
           perhaps some seed may fall into their heart without their knowing. And then someday spring comes;
           it may sprout. Perhaps they may not hear you, but somebody again repeating the same thing ...they
           may feel that they have heard it before, there must be something in it.
                No, one has to go on repeating continuously to people of no understanding, because if they are
           people of no understanding there is dormant in them the possibility of understanding. You just go on
           hitting. They need just a little more hitting, a little more repetition of the message to reach to their
           heart. They have thick skulls.
                But don't listen to any sutra which teaches you unkindness, which teaches you to be
           uncompassionate.        ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "WHEN YOU SEE THAT ALL APPEARANCES
           ARE NOT APPEARANCES, YOU SEE THE TATHAGATA."
                The moment mind disappears with all its illusions and dreams and thoughts and imaginations,
           you see within yourself the awakening, which you can call the buddha, you can call the Christ. These
           are simply names. But one thing is certain: the moment your mind disappears, something divine
           appears in you and starts growing into a huge tree with great foliage, with great flowers, with great
           fruit.
              THE MYRIAD DOORS TO THE TRUTH ALL COME FROM THE MIND. WHEN APPEARANCES OF
              THE MIND ARE AS TRANSPARENT AS SPACE, THEY ARE GONE ....
              WHEN MORTALS ARE ALIVE THEY WORRY ABOUT DEATH. WHEN THEY ARE FULL, THEY
              WORRY ABOUT HUNGER. THEIRS IS THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY. BUT SAGES DON'T
              CONSIDER THE PAST.
              Because the past is no more ...
              AND THEY DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE.
              Because the future is not yet ...
              NOR DO THEY CLING TO THE PRESENT.

              Because the present is fleeing every moment ...what is the point of clinging? Clinging will bring
           you misery. So they don't think of the past ...it is gone. They don't cling to the present ...it is going.
           And they don't think of the future ...it has not come yet. There is no point in thinking about it. It may
           come, it may not come.
              FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT THEY FOLLOW THE WAY.

               Just in this single sentence is hidden the whole secret of religion ...MOMENT TO MOMENT
           THEY FOLLOW THE WAY. In full awareness and spontaneity, moment to moment, they go on
           living joyously, peacefully, silently. Slowly, slowly, as their silence deepens, as their understanding
           deepens, as their awareness reaches to the highest climax, each moment becomes a paradise. Then
           they don't think of a paradise somewhere in the clouds.
           Then the paradise is here.
           Then the paradise is now.

           Okay, Maneesha?
10/28/07                                          Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Yes, Osho.




                            Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                Chapter #15
                               Chapter title: Breakthrough... to buddhahood
           12 July 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707120
              ShortTitle: BODHI15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 89 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BODHIDHARMA'S BREAKTHROUGH SERMON.



              IF SOMEONE IS DETERMINED TO REACH ENLIGHTENMENT, WHAT IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL
              METHOD HE CAN PRACTICE?
              THE MOST ESSENTIAL METHOD, WHICH INCLUDES ALL OTHER METHODS, IS BEHOLDING
              THE MIND.
              BUT HOW CAN ONE METHOD INCLUDE ALL OTHERS?
              THE MIND IS THE ROOT FROM WHICH ALL THINGS GROW. IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE
              MIND, EVERYTHING ELSE IS INCLUDED. IT'S LIKE WITH A TREE. ALL OF ITS FRUIT AND
              FLOWERS, ITS BRANCHES AND LEAVES, DEPEND ON ITS ROOT. IF YOU NOURISH ITS ROOT,
              A TREE MULTIPLIES. IF YOU CUT ITS ROOT, IT DIES. THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE MIND
              REACH ENLIGHTENMENT WITH MINIMAL EFFORT. THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND THE
              MIND PRACTICE IN VAIN. EVERYTHING GOOD AND BAD COMES FROM YOUR OWN MIND. TO
              FIND SOMETHING BEYOND THE MIND IS IMPOSSIBLE.
              BUT HOW CAN BEHOLDING THE MIND BE CALLED UNDERSTANDING?
              WHEN A GREAT BODHISATTVA DELVES DEEPLY INTO PERFECT WISDOM, HE REALIZES
              ...THE ACTIVITY OF HIS MIND HAS TWO ASPECTS: PURE AND IMPURE ...THE PURE MIND
              DELIGHTING IN GOOD DEEDS, THE IMPURE MIND THINKING OF EVIL. THOSE WHO AREN'T
              AFFECTED BY IMPURITY ARE SAGES. THEY TRANSCEND SUFFERING AND EXPERIENCE THE
              BLISS OF NIRVANA. ALL OTHERS, TRAPPED BY THE IMPURE MIND AND ENTANGLED BY
              THEIR OWN KARMA, ARE MORTALS. THEY DRIFT THROUGH THE THREE REALMS AND
              SUFFER COUNTLESS AFFLICTIONS. AND ALL BECAUSE THEIR IMPURE MIND OBSCURES
              THEIR REAL SELF.
              THE SUTRA OF THE TEN STAGES SAYS, "IN THE BODY OF MORTALS IS THE
              INDESTRUCTIBLE BUDDHA-NATURE. LIKE THE SUN, ITS LIGHT FILLS ENDLESS SPACE. BUT
              ONCE VEILED BY THE DARK CLOUDS OF THE FIVE SHADES, IT'S LIKE A LIGHT INSIDE A JAR,
              HIDDEN FROM VIEW." AND THE NIRVANA SUTRA SAYS, "ALL MORTALS HAVE THE
              BUDDHA-NATURE. BUT IT'S COVERED BY DARKNESS FROM WHICH THEY CAN'T ESCAPE.
              OUR BUDDHA-NATURE IS AWARENESS: TO BE AWARE AND TO MAKE OTHERS AWARE. TO
              REALIZE AWARENESS IS LIBERATION." EVERYTHING GOOD HAS AWARENESS FOR ITS
              ROOT. FROM THIS ROOT OF AWARENESS GROW THE TREE OF ALL VIRTUES AND THE
              FRUIT OF NIRVANA.


              The sutras this morning belong to a special sermon by Bodhidharma called the "Breakthrough
           Sermon." I would like you to understand the word "breakthrough."
              You know another word which is close to "breakthrough," and that is "breakdown." Mind has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           both the possibilities. Under tension, anxiety, anguish it can break down, but breakdown is not a
           breakthrough. Breakdown brings you below the mind; it is insanity. Breakthrough comes out of
           watching the mind in deep silence, in great awareness. Then you go beyond the mind and to go
           beyond the mind is to attain authentic sanity.
               Mind is just in the middle. You are nothing but a mess. If you can go beyond it, intelligence
           grows in you; if you go below it, any intelligence that you had disappears.
               But in either case, either in breakthrough or in breakdown, you are out of the mind. That's why
           there is a certain similarity between the enlightened person and the madman. The madman has gone
           through a breakdown but he is out of the mind. The enlightened person has gone beyond the mind; it
           is a breakthrough. He is also out of the mind but because he has gone beyond mind, he attains to
           ultimate sanity, to great intelligence, to a clarity, mind cannot even conceive of.
               But the similarity is that both are out of the mind and the mind can interpret both either as
           enlightened or as insane. Hence a strange thing has been happening in the East and in the West.
           There are many enlightened people in the West inside insane asylums because Western psychology
           does not believe in any breakthrough. For anyone who goes out of the mind, only one interpretation
           is available: that he has gone mad.
               In the East there are many madmen who are worshiped as enlightened because the East interprets
           going out of the mind always as a breakthrough. I have come across a few madmen who were not
           enlightened but they were worshiped like God. In a place near Jabalpur there was one man who was
           half paralyzed and utterly mad, but thousands of people used to gather around him. He had nothing
           to say and there was no light in his eyes and there was no joy in his being.
               I used to go and simply sit there and watch the man and what people were doing. He was living
           almost by drinking only tea. It was difficult for him to drink tea because half his body was paralyzed,
           so only half of his mouth was able to move; the other half was not able to move. So even while
           drinking tea, his saliva was dripping into the tea. It was an ugly scene. And the followers would take
           away the cup of the tea when he had just taken a few sips out of it and they would distribute it to
           people as PRASAD, as a gift from God.
               I watched this whole nonsense ...and the man was not able to even utter a single word. Anywhere
           else in the world he would have been in a mad asylum, but in India even the breakdown is
           misunderstood as a breakthrough. And in the West even the breakthrough is understood as a
           breakdown.
               A tremendous synthesis is needed between Western psychology and Eastern understanding of the
           mind. These are totally and diametrically opposite dimensions. Breakdown brings you back to the
           stage of the animals, and breakthrough brings you to your ultimate flowering, your buddhahood. And
           their happening is so different, so qualitatively different, that they can be easily distinguished.
           Breakthrough happens only to a meditator. Breakdown happens to anybody whose mind becomes
           too tense, unbearably tense, so that he loses all control of the mind mechanism, and falls down.
               The name of the sermon is immensely significant. The East has been aware for centuries that the
           madman and the enlightened man have a certain similarity. They both are out of the mind, but at that
           point the similarity ends. One has gone beyond, towards the stars; the other has gone down towards
           darker spaces.
           Breakthrough is the very science of meditation.
           The sutra:
              IF SOMEONE IS DETERMINED TO REACH ENLIGHTENMENT, WHAT IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL
              METHOD HE CAN PRACTICE?
              THE MOST ESSENTIAL METHOD, WHICH INCLUDES ALL OTHER METHODS, IS BEHOLDING
              THE MIND.

               To be aware of the mind is being a witness of the mind. As the witnessing grows stronger, you
           already start feeling yourself beyond the mind. Slowly, slowly the distance grows. Your witness
           reaches to a sunlit peak and the mind is left in the dark valleys, far away. You can still hear the
           echoes, but they don't affect you at all. You are beyond their reach.
               The disciple asked: BUT HOW CAN ONE METHOD INCLUDE ALL OTHERS?
               And Bodhidharma says: THE MIND IS THE ROOT FROM WHICH ALL THINGS GROW,
           from madness to enlightenment. IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE MIND, EVERYTHING ELSE
           IS INCLUDED. IT'S LIKE WITH A TREE. ALL OF ITS FRUIT AND FLOWERS, ITS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           BRANCHES AND LEAVES DEPEND ON ITS ROOT. IF YOU NOURISH ITS ROOT, A TREE
           MULTIPLIES. IF YOU CUT ITS ROOT, IT DIES. THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE MIND
           REACH ENLIGHTENMENT WITH MINIMAL EFFORT. THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND
           THE MIND PRACTICE IN VAIN. EVERYTHING GOOD AND BAD COMES FROM YOUR
           OWN MIND. TO FIND SOMETHING BEYOND THE MIND IS IMPOSSIBLE ...except yourself,
           the enlightenment -- that is my addition to the sutra.
               Now there are a few important things that Bodhidharma is saying. The first is: IF YOU CAN
           UNDERSTAND THE MIND, EVERYTHING ELSE IS INCLUDED. But the word "understanding"
           can be misunderstood, because the Western psychology is now the predominant psychology all over
           the world. West or East, the only psychology prevalent today is Western psychology. And the
           Western psychology tries to understand the mind by analysis. That is a futile effort.
               It is like peeling an onion. One layer is taken off and you find another layer, more fresh, waiting
           for you. You take that layer off and another layer is there. People have been under psychoanalysis
           for fifteen years continuously; still their psychoanalysis is not complete. The psychoanalysts
           themselves recognize that they have not yet been able to psychoanalyze a single man perfectly,
           totally -- until nothing is left to be psychoanalyzed. But still, even the psychoanalysts do not have the
           insight to understand that perhaps they are doing something absurd.
               Mind can never be totally analyzed because while you are analyzing it, it goes on creating new
           things. It does not remain static. You go on analyzing every week twice or thrice, but the remaining
           time the mind is creating more ideas, more imaginations, more dreams. You can never come to an
           end -- it is simply impossible. And if you cannot come to an end, the rock bottom, your
           understanding of the mind is very superficial.
               The East does not believe in analysis. It believes in awareness. In two ways the difference is of
           tremendous importance. First, for analysis you have to depend on somebody else; it creates a
           dependence, almost a kind of addiction. Once people have been in psychoanalysis, it is very difficult
           to get them out of it, because at least twice a week while in psychoanalysis they feel a little light,
           unburdened, a little relaxed. The mind will gather the tensions again because the roots have not been
           cut; you have been only pruning the leaves.
               And just when you prune a leaf watch what happens: three leaves will come in place of the one
           you have cut. The tree takes the challenge. You cannot destroy the tree; it is also a living being. It
           shows its effort to survive. You cannot destroy it by cutting its leaves; hence if you want a tree to
           have a thick foliage, you have to prune it. By pruning it, the foliage becomes thicker, not thinner.
               So first, in psychoanalysis you have to depend on somebody else. And you become addicted, just
           like with any drug. Yes, let me call the psychoanalysis prevalent in the West and borrowed by the
           East a very subtle drug. And to come out of it is almost impossible. You get tired with one
           psychoanalyst, then you move to another psychoanalyst. It is just like getting immune to one drug,
           then you move to another drug which is stronger and more dangerous. Soon you will become
           immune to that drug too. It won't affect you. Then you will have to move ahead again.
               I have been in monasteries in Ladakh where they had been taming cobras, because there is a
           certain school in India which tries awareness through drugs. It is perfectly scientific. Its approach is
           scientific, but very dangerous. One can go wrong any moment, on any step. It has to be done under a
           master. One starts by taking small doses of a certain drug and getting immune to it; then a stronger
           drug, then an even stronger drug; and finally a moment comes when no drug affects the man.
               At that point only the poison of a cobra can affect him a little bit. He is not being killed by the
           cobra. You will be surprised to know -- a man who is bitten by a cobra does not survive, but these
           ascetics I have seen in Ladakh ...and they are in many places, in Assam, in Nagaland. The cobra has
           to bite them on their tongue so the poison immediately reaches to their bloodstream, and you will be
           immensely amazed that the cobra dies from biting them! Those people have become so full of poison
           that the poor cobra ....
               This is the fire test. When a man can kill the cobra and not be killed by the cobra, he has become
           immune to all kinds of poisons in the world.
               But the basic method in that school is also awareness. You have to keep alert and aware; that's
           why no drug affects you. That's the whole process of a strange school -- but the man attains to great
           awareness.
               Psychoanalysis is a very mild drug. You become accustomed, immune to one psychoanalyst.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You go to somebody who is stronger, who goes deeper into your mind and finds stuff that the first
           one has not been able to find. This goes on and on. Psychoanalysts have been around for almost a
           century, but in one hundred years, they have not been able to bring a man to the understanding of his
           mind. Psychoanalysis has failed utterly.
                Awareness has a beauty: it does not depend on anybody else; it is just the arising of a new force
           that has been dormant in you. And you don't analyze the mind. That is an absolutely futile exercise.
           You simply watch the mind without any analysis, any judgment, any appreciation, any
           condemnation, any evaluation -- you simply watch, as if you have nothing to do with it. You are
           separate and you are watching the mind.
                But this separation creates the miracle, because the mind is a parasite; it lives on your blood, it
           lives on your energy. Because you are identified with the mind, it lives. You are nourishing its roots.
           So the whole process of psychoanalysis is simply stupid. You are not cutting the roots; you are
           nourishing the roots and you are simply cutting the leaves. The foliage will become thicker and
           thicker.
                It is no wonder that psychoanalysts go mad four times more than any other profession, and four
           times more psychoanalysts commit suicide than any other professions in the world. If this is the
           situation with psychoanalysts, what to think about their patients? The patients have fallen into wrong
           hands. But psychoanalysis is in fashion and it is one of the most highly paid professions in the West.
                It has been joked about around the world that the Jews missed Jesus; it was their own boy who
           created the greatest profession in the world -- of the priests and the monks, Catholics and Protestants.
           They have never been able to forgive themselves. Now Catholics are the richest religious
           organization. The Jews cannot forgive themselves that they unnecessarily crucified their own boy
           who was creating a great profession.
                But they have taken revenge through Karl Marx, by creating another religion, communism. Karl
           Marx was a Jew. If half the world is Christian, then the other half of the world is communist. They
           are even. And they are even better off, because through Sigmund Freud, another Jew, they have
           created a highly paid profession in the world. But neither Christianity nor communism has been of
           any help; nor has psychoanalysis been of any help. They all have exploited men in different ways.
                Communism has taken away the whole dignity of man, his pride, his individuality, his freedom
           .... Christianity has destroyed the very possibility that you have a reality of your own. You are just a
           puppet in the hands of God. The strings are in his hand. If he wants you to dance, you dance; if he
           wants you to cry, you cry. You are not a master of your own destiny.
                And then finally psychoanalysis comes, and this also has not been able to give man back his
           dignity. Now patients in millions, around the world are in the hands of the psychoanalysts. And they
           depend on them as their father-figure and those father-figures themselves suffer from the same
           sickness, from the same schizophrenia, from the same split personality.
                The Eastern method given by the mystics in the first place gives dignity to man, gives him pride
           and makes him aware: you have a hidden source of awareness -- just wake it up and become aware
           of the mind. You don't have to do anything: just becoming aware of the mind, you are separate. And
           the moment you are separate, you are no longer nourishing the roots of the mind. The mind will soon
           wither away, without any analysis; what is the need of analyzing it?
                That's why Bodhidharma is saying: Awareness, beholding the mind, is the most essential method
           to have a breakthrough. And once you have gone just a step beyond the mind, you have entered the
           world of nirvana, you have entered the world of light and eternal life. You have attained to spiritual
           integrity, freedom, and tremendous ecstasy which the mind cannot even dream about.
              THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE MIND REACH ENLIGHTENMENT WITH MINIMAL EFFORT.
              THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND THE MIND PRACTICE IN VAIN.

                And psychoanalysts should be included with those who don't understand the mind, and are
           practicing on themselves and on others something absolutely in vain. It is sheer wastage of time and
           life and energy. Psychoanalysis has to understand the mystical ways of the East, and then it will go
           through a transformation and it will be of tremendous help to people.
                But the trouble is the profession will be gone, and thousands of psychoanalysts who are earning
           so much money will not be ready for the whole profession to finish. This is a problem. It is such a
           deep problem that some way has to be found. Otherwise, even if somebody understands the fact
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intellectually, he will not be ready to do anything, because that will destroy his own vested interest.
               It is like the doctors: they help the patient to be cured, but deep down they want the patient to
           take as long a time to be cured as possible. They don't want to kill him because that would not help
           their profession, but they would like him to hang between life and death as long as possible, because
           the longer he is hanging between life and death, the longer they are earning money. If he is cured,
           their earning is finished. If he dies, their earning is finished. So they neither want him to live nor do
           they want him to die. They want ...and this is very unconscious, maybe no doctor is clearly aware of
           it.
               I have heard .... A young man came home from the medical college after attaining all his degrees.
           His father was a doctor and he had sent his son also to become a doctor. On his first day in the
           practice he saw an old woman whom he used to see coming to his father when he was a child. He
           could not believe that she was not yet cured.
               He said to the father, "Now I am here, and you are old and must be tired. You rest. I will take
           care of the patients."
               And after three days he told his old father, "You will be surprised: the woman that you could not
           cure in thirty years, I have cured in three days!"
               The father hit his head with his hand. He said, "You idiot! That woman has been providing
           money for your education! And you have cured her. She is so rich that she could have been able to
           provide for your other two brothers who are in college. And she is strong enough; she will not die,
           but we have to keep her just in the middle."
               The boy could not understand. The old man said, "First learn the basic rule: if a poor man comes
           to you, cure him quickly. And if a rich man comes to you, then take your time; go slowly."
               To avoid this situation in China, they have practiced for thousands of years a very different
           system. And I think that system should be the system for the future man too. In China the doctor is
           not paid for curing the patient, he is paid if his patient remains healthy. Every doctor has his patients
           and the patients pay him if they remain healthy. If they fall sick, then the payment to the doctor
           stops. Then he has to cure them at his own expense.
               This looks strange, but in the Soviet Union also they have started the same process -- they are
           experimenting on a small scale. But the process is tremendously significant. Everybody should be
           given to a certain doctor; a certain area should be given to him. If the people are healthy in that area,
           they have to pay the doctor; they pay for their health. But if they fall sick, then the doctor has to cure
           them from his own pocket. Naturally he will cure them quickly and he will not want anybody to be
           sick. Obviously China has been a healthier country than any other country in the world. They have
           changed the whole pattern.
               The psychoanalyst should be paid only if the person who is his patient is becoming independent,
           alert, getting beyond the mind. But if he falls into the mind or below the mind, then the psychologist
           has to cure him from his own pocket. That will change the whole situation.
           Awareness is your own power.
               And to depend on your own power brings a great freedom and a great authority and a great
           integrity. The mind is cut from the roots; soon it withers away. And the space that mind was
           occupying is no longer occupied by anything; it is now pure space. That is your real, authentic being.
               Just in the last line I cannot agree with Bodhidharma. I don't know -- and there is no way to know
           -- whether it is his own line or added by his disciples when they were writing the notes. But it does
           not matter. What matters is that I should make you aware that the last line is wrong when he says:
           TO FIND SOMETHING BEYOND THE MIND IS IMPOSSIBLE. No, it is not. That is the only
           possibility for human growth. That is the only possibility for enlightenment: going beyond the mind.
               So I want to add: TO FIND SOMETHING BEYOND THE MIND IS IMPOSSIBLE ...except
           yourself, except enlightenment, which are different names of the same thing.
           To find yourself is enlightenment.
               Except for enlightenment, certainly you will not find anything beyond the mind. But without this
           addition the statement remains dangerous and can corrupt people's minds. They can stop with the
           mind, thinking that there is nothing beyond it. And in fact, everything is beyond it. What is in your
           mind? Just soap bubbles, signatures on the water, or at the most, sand castles which just a little
           breeze may be able to demolish.
               Your mind is nothing but a fiction. But when you are living in the fiction it looks happier. Watch
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it from the outside, and the fiction disappears.
                But the disciple asks: BUT HOW CAN BEHOLDING THE MIND BE CALLED
           UNDERSTANDING?
           WHEN A GREAT BODHISATTVA DELVES DEEPLY INTO PERFECT WISDOM, HE
           REALIZES ...THE ACTIVITY OF HIS MIND HAS TWO ASPECTS: PURE AND IMPURE ....
                There is no need to be a great bodhisattva to know this simple fact. You can look into your mind
           and you will find this distinction: that you have activities which are pure, and activities which are not
           pure. You have love, you have hate; you have peace, you have tensions; you have compassion, you
           have cruelty; you have creativity and you have destruction. No need to be a great bodhisattva;
           everybody who has a mind can know without any effort that it has two aspects: pure and impure.
           ...THE PURE MIND DELIGHTING IN GOOD DEEDS, THE IMPURE MIND THINKING OF
           EVIL. THOSE WHO AREN'T AFFECTED BY IMPURITY ARE SAGES.
                Again I would like just a little addition, otherwise there is going to be misunderstanding. The
           sutra says: THOSE WHO AREN'T AFFECTED BY IMPURITY ARE SAGES. Do they get affected
           by purity? In fact, the definition of a sage is one who is not affected by anything, pure or impure,
           because one who can be affected by purity cannot avoid being affected by impurity. They are not so
           different. So I would like to say: Those who are not affected by purity or impurity are sages.
              THEY TRANSCEND SUFFERING AND EXPERIENCE THE BLISS OF NIRVANA. ALL OTHERS,
              TRAPPED BY THE IMPURE MIND AND ENTANGLED BY THEIR OWN KARMA, ARE MORTALS.
              THEY DRIFT THROUGH THE THREE REALMS AND SUFFER COUNTLESS AFFLICTIONS. AND
              ALL BECAUSE THEIR MIND OBSCURES THEIR REAL SELF.

               The mind is just like a dark cloud around your self. It does not in fact damage your self, but
           because of the dark cloud you cannot see the sun. The sun is not affected by dark clouds. It is still
           shining in its grandeur, but the dark clouds can cover it so much that even the day starts looking like
           night.
               THE SUTRA OF THE TEN STAGES SAYS, "IN THE BODY OF MORTALS IS THE
           INDESTRUCTIBLE BUDDHA-NATURE. LIKE THE SUN, ITS LIGHT FILLS ENDLESS
           SPACE. BUT ONCE VEILED BY THE DARK CLOUDS OF THE FIVE SHADES, IT'S LIKE A
           LIGHT INSIDE A JAR, HIDDEN FROM VIEW." AND THE NIRVANA SUTRA SAYS, "ALL
           MORTALS HAVE THE BUDDHA-NATURE. BUT IT'S COVERED BY DARKNESS FROM
           WHICH THEY CAN'T ESCAPE. OUR BUDDHA-NATURE IS AWARENESS: TO BE AWARE
           AND TO MAKE OTHERS AWARE. TO REALIZE AWARENESS IS LIBERATION."
           ...Liberation from the mind, liberation from all afflictions, liberation from purity and impurity,
           liberation from good and evil, liberation from God and devil, liberation from all dualities and
           entering into oneness with existence.
              EVERYTHING GOOD HAS AWARENESS FOR ITS ROOT. FROM THIS ROOT OF AWARENESS
              GROW THE TREE OF ALL VIRTUES AND THE FRUIT OF NIRVANA.

               This is a significant sutra. The moralists, the puritans of the world have been teaching people,
           "Do good works, charity, service to the poor, learn to be kind, be virtuous, be celibate, stop being
           possessive; all good qualities you have to practice."
               But Bodhidharma is saying what I have been saying my whole life: that these are not possible to
           be practiced; they are by-products. You can only create more awareness in yourself, and all these
           things will come up on their own accord. And then they have a beauty of their own. If practiced they
           are only hypocrisies -- they don't go very deep. They are just masks, but they don't change your
           original face.
               This is where morality and authentic religion differ completely. Morality teaches you superficial
           things: be good to others, be nice to others, be a gentleman, be non-violent, be compassionate and
           avoid all that is thought to be evil -- cruelty, anger, greed. You can manage, millions are managing.
           And they are respected deeply, by all kinds of fools that the world is full of. But their morality is not
           even skin-deep. Just scratch them a little, and suddenly you will see they have forgotten all their
           practices and their real barbarous nature comes out.
               I have heard about a Christian saint who was continuously repeating in his sermons, "When
           somebody slaps you on one cheek, remember Jesus Christ and what he has said: `Give him the other
           cheek also.'" It is a beautiful teaching, but only if it comes from your innermost core. If it comes out
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of your awareness, it has a different significance. If you practice it, then it is not of much value.
               One day it happened: A mischievous fellow, just to see whether the saint himself gives the other
           cheek or not, stood up and he said, "Now let us see: you have been telling us again and again to give
           the other cheek." He was a wrestler so the saint got very afraid, and the wrestler came and gave him
           a good slap on one cheek. But the saint had to keep his word; his congregation was there and
           everybody was watching what would happen.
               He gave him his other cheek thinking, "I have never done any harm to this fellow. He should feel
           ashamed and guilty." But the wrestler was really a mischievous fellow. He gave an even bigger slap
           on the other cheek. But then he was suddenly surprised and the whole congregation was surprised:
           the saint jumped on the wrestler and started beating him this way and that way. He was not expecting
           it. Although he was a wrestler he forgot; it was so unexpected. He simply could manage to say,
           "What are you doing?"
               The saint said, "What am I doing? Jesus has only said: `Give the other cheek.' I don't have a third
           cheek. Now I am free from that discipline and I will show you what it means."
               It is very easy to practice, but a practice has a very thin layer which can be scratched.
               One sannyasin asked me a few days ago ...she was going after the evening discourse, on her
           bicycle to the place where she is staying. And a Poona-ite came on his motorbike, stopped the poor
           girl and squeezed one of her breasts. This they call in Poona, "Hindu culture."
               The girl was asking me, "According to Jesus Christ, should I have given him my other breast
           too?" Even I have not thought about it, that it is not only a question of cheeks. She has asked a really
           profound question, "What do you say, what should I do in such a situation?"
               But basically the teaching of Christ is only a morality. You don't have to give your other cheek,
           and you don't have to give your other breast. You should have slapped that man as hard as possible,
           because these so-called Hindu chauvinists ...and this city has a strange ego. They think it is a very
           cultural city; it is a dead city, it is a cemetery. But certainly in a cemetery nothing happens. How this
           ghost managed to come on the motorbike I don't know, but ghosts are interested in women's breasts
           because their whole life, when they were alive, they were interested in women's breasts. So even
           when they are dead, the old habit continues.
               There is no need ...it is not MY teaching to give the other cheek, because what will you do when
           he hits the other cheek? You don't have a third one!
               Her question reminded me about a conference of psychoanalysts. A very old psychoanalyst, who
           has been a disciple of Sigmund Freud, was reading a paper before the conference. And just in the
           front row was a beautiful woman who was a psychoanalyst. Another psychoanalyst, who was very
           famous, was playing with her breasts. And it was such a constant disturbance to the poor fellow who
           was reading the paper. He was hiding his eyes, but even -- he was also after all a man, the same kind
           of man .... So once in a while he was looking at what was going on. And he could not believe what
           kind of woman this was ...that old ugly fellow was playing with her breasts and she was listening to
           the paper as if nothing was happening. And so much was happening to the man who was reading the
           paper, who had no breasts and nobody was doing anything to him!
               But the question: what kind of woman was this? The man was simply ugly although he was a
           famous psychoanalyst. But fame does not change people; fame simply makes them more
           hypocritical, fame simply makes them do things in the dark, from the back door. Their front door is
           kept very clean and very pure, with pictures of all the great saints.
               Somehow he managed to finish. It was very difficult to finish the paper -- because his priority
           was to ask the woman -- and as he finished the paper he stepped down from the podium and went
           directly to the woman. As he went there, the old man pulled his hands away. He said to the woman,
           "The whole time I was reading the paper, I have been seeing this man playing with your breasts, and
           you did not object."
               The woman said, "I am a psychoanalyst. It is his problem. Although he is old, he is not grown
           up; he is childish, immature. It is his problem; nothing to be worried about."
               The reader thought it strange but that gave him an idea that it was his problem too. Why should
           he be disturbed? Perhaps he wanted to be in that old man's place ....
               Your so-called moralists, your so-called preachers, your so-called psychoanalysts, your so-called
           philosophers are just so superficial. And they are carrying the whole load of problems inside them,
           because they have not cut the roots and they have taken the whole situation from the wrong end.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Bodhidharma is very clear when he says: EVERYTHING GOOD HAS AWARENESS FOR ITS
           ROOT. FROM THIS ROOT OF AWARENESS GROW THE TREE OF ALL VIRTUES AND THE
           FRUIT OF NIRVANA. He far transcends moralists, puritans, so-called good people, do-gooders. He
           has touched the very rock bottom of the problem.
               Unless awareness arises in you, all your morality is bogus, all your culture is simply a thin layer
           which can be destroyed by anybody. But once your morality has come out of your awareness, not out
           of a certain discipline, then it is a totally different matter. Then you will respond in every situation
           out of your awareness. And whatever you will do will be good.
               Awareness cannot do anything that is bad. That is the ultimate beauty of awareness, that anything
           that comes out of it is simply beautiful, is simply right, and without any effort and without any
           practice.
               So rather than cutting the leaves and the branches, cut the root. And to cut the root there is no
           other method than a single method: the method of being alert, of being aware, of being conscious. Be
           more conscious, and everything that will happen through you is going to beautify this existence,
           make it more divine, make it more mature. Your awareness will not only bring flowers to you; it will
           bring fragrance to millions of people.
           Awareness is the golden key to the gate of God.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #16
                               Chapter title: The courage to say "i don't know"
           12 July 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707125
              ShortTitle: BODHI16
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 104 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              YOU SAY THAT OUR TRUE BUDDHA-NATURE AND ALL VIRTUES HAVE AWARENESS FOR
              THEIR ROOT. BUT WHAT IS THE ROOT OF IGNORANCE?
              THE IGNORANT MIND, WITH ITS INFINITE AFFLICTIONS, PASSIONS AND EVILS, IS ROOTED IN
              THE THREE POISONS: GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION. THESE THREE POISONED STATES
              OF MIND THEMSELVES INCLUDE COUNTLESS EVILS, LIKE TREES THAT HAVE A SINGLE
              TRUNK BUT COUNTLESS BRANCHES AND LEAVES. YET EACH POISON PRODUCES SO MANY
              MORE MILLIONS OF EVILS THAT THE EXAMPLE OF A TREE IS HARDLY A FITTING
              COMPARISON.
              THE THREE POISONS ARE PRESENT IN OUR SIX SENSE ORGANS AS SIX KINDS OF
              CONSCIOUSNESS, OR THIEVES. THEY'RE CALLED THIEVES BECAUSE THEY PASS IN AND
              OUT OF THE GATES OF THE SENSES, COVET LIMITLESS POSSESSIONS, ENGAGE IN EVIL
              AND MASK THEIR TRUE IDENTITY ....
              BUT IF SOMEONE CUTS OFF THEIR SOURCE, RIVERS DRY UP. AND IF SOMEONE WHO
              SEEKS LIBERATION CAN TURN THE THREE POISONS INTO THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS
              AND THE SIX THIEVES INTO THE SIX PARAMITAS, HE RIDS HIMSELF OF AFFLICTION ONCE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND FOR ALL.
              BUT THE THREE REALMS AND THE SIX STATES OF EXISTENCE ARE INFINITELY VAST. HOW
              CAN WE ESCAPE THEIR ENDLESS AFFLICTIONS IF ALL WE DO IS BEHOLD THE MIND?
              THE KARMA OF THE THREE REALMS COMES FROM THE MIND ALONE. IF YOUR MIND ISN'T
              WITHIN THE THREE REALMS, IT'S BEYOND THEM.
              AND HOW DOES THE KARMA OF THESE SIX DIFFER?
              MORTALS WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND TRUE PRACTICE AND BLINDLY PERFORM GOOD
              DEEDS ARE BORN INTO THE THREE STATES .... THOSE WHO BLINDLY PERFORM THE TEN
              GOOD DEEDS AND FOOLISHLY SEEK HAPPINESS ARE BORN AS GODS IN THE REALM OF
              DESIRE. THOSE WHO BLINDLY OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS AND FOOLISHLY INDULGE IN
              LOVE AND HATE ARE BORN AS MEN IN THE REALM OF ANGER. AND THOSE WHO BLINDLY
              CLING TO THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, BELIEVE IN FALSE DOCTRINES AND HOPE FOR
              BLESSINGS ARE BORN AS DEMONS IN THE REALM OF DELUSION.     ...IF YOU CAN JUST
              CONCENTRATE YOUR MIND AND TRANSCEND ITS FALSEHOOD AND EVIL, THE SUFFERING
              OF EXISTENCE WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISAPPEAR. AND ONCE FREE FROM SUFFERING,
              YOU'RE TRULY FREE.


               The sutras for this evening ... Bodhidharma is facing the ultimate question which nobody has
           ever been able to answer. The ultimate question is ultimate because it cannot be answered. Every
           philosophy, theology, mysticism, finally comes to the ultimate question, and there is no answer for it.
               But even a man like Bodhidharma, a man of tremendous courage, intelligence, awareness, still
           has not the ultimate courage to say that there is no answer to this question. He tries -- just as millions
           of philosophers, thinkers, mystics, have always tried but have always failed.
               He also tries as if there IS an answer and he knows it, but whatever he says is not the answer and
           the question remains untouched. What he says is exactly what is written in the scriptures of the
           Buddhists. Here he is no longer responding to the question immediately, out of his own awareness;
           otherwise he would have simply laughed and recognized that there is no answer for it.
               I could have simply said, "I don't know." But to say, "I don't know" needs the greatest courage in
           the world. Even Bodhidharma does not have that ultimate courage. But I have got it! I will not in any
           way try to camouflage -- through philosophical jargon, or theological hypotheses -- to hide the fact
           that there is no answer and create an illusion of an answer.
               Whatever Bodhidharma says here is only an illusion. He is trying his best to rationalize it, to
           support it from the scriptures. Perhaps he may have been able to pacify the disciples, but he cannot
           pacify me!
               First I will read the disciples' question. Their question is more important than the answer of
           Bodhidharma. Their question at least has a sincerity, an authenticity. Bodhidharma's answer is just to
           hide the fact that ultimate questions remain questions. This is the whole reason why we call the
           essential religion "mysticism." If everything can be answered, then there is no question of any
           mystery.
               Existence is a mystery because you can go on answering, but finally you cannot answer the
           ultimate question. And it is not far away; it soon comes up. You can answer all superficial things, but
           as you go deeper the ultimate question is coming closer. And the moment the ultimate question
           comes, I have not yet come across a single man in the whole history of mankind who has had the
           courage to say, "I don't know."
               The question: YOU SAY THAT OUR TRUE BUDDHA-NATURE AND ALL VIRTUES
           HAVE AWARENESS FOR THEIR ROOTS. BUT WHAT IS THE ROOT OF IGNORANCE?
               From where does the ignorance come in? In other words, in other symbols which will be more
           easily understood ....
               The religions that believe in God can go on answering questions up to the point where it is asked,
           "Who created existence?" They have a ready-made answer: God created it. Now comes the ultimate
           question: "Who created God?" Because if everything needs a creator, then God must need a creator.
           And if God needs no creator, then why bother about God? Then why can't you accept existence itself
           -- without a creator? If you have to accept somewhere or other, then it is better to stop with existence
           as the ultimate, because at least we know it -- we are part of it.
               God is just a hypothesis. Existence is reality. But all the religions have moved from reality to the
           hypothesis, and then they are faced with a problem which nobody has been able to answer. And
           nobody will ever be able to answer it, because any answer is going to lead into an infinite regress.
               If you say that God Number One was created by God Number Two, the question remains the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same: "Who created God Number Two?" You can go on and on and on. But whatever the number,
           the question will still remain relevant, "Who created this God?" And this is the same question from
           which we have started, "Who created the universe?"
               So God has not been of any help. The hypothesis has not done any service. God is simply a futile
           hypothesis. It is just a pretension of an answer, but it is not a true answer because the question
           remains the same. A true answer means the question should disappear. That is the criterion.
               In Buddhism there is no god. In the place of god is the ultimate awareness, the buddhahood, the
           buddha-nature. This is only a different language.
               Now the disciples are asking: We can understand that THE BUDDHA-NATURE AND ALL
           VIRTUES HAVE AWARENESS FOR THEIR ROOT. But from where has the ignorance come in?
           Why in the beginning the ignorance? Why not the awareness from the very beginning? This is the
           same question, only a different theological framework. And any answer to it -- without any
           exception, without knowing about it -- I can say is going to be wrong.
               We have simply to accept the mystery that we are born in ignorance and the possibility is
           intrinsic in us to dispel this ignorance and become aware. We are born in misery, but with an
           intrinsic potential to overcome it, to transcend it, to become blissful, to become ecstatic. We are born
           in death, but with the possibility of going beyond death into immortality.
               But if you ask from where the death comes in, from where the ignorance comes in, from where
           the misery comes in, you are asking an ultimate question. There is no answer for it. It simply is the
           case. It is better to use Buddha's expression, "suchness." Such is the case.
               But Bodhidharma could not say that. He started answering. The only right answer would have
           been, "I don't know." And Bodhidharma would have done a tremendous service to humanity. He
           missed! Whatever he is saying is very childish. It has to be very childish, because it is not possible
           that a man like Bodhidharma will not be aware of the fact that he does not know the answer. Nobody
           knows the answer. Nobody can know the answer because nobody can BE before the beginning.
               Just think of it for a single moment: you cannot BE before the beginning. If you are before the
           beginning, then it is not the beginning. You are already there, so the beginning must have been
           before you were there. And unless somebody can be before the beginning, there is no witness who
           can say, "God created the world."
               Who can say from where ignorance came? All that we can say is that existence is drowned in
           ignorance and slowly, slowly, a few courageous beings are moving into awareness, rising above the
           darkness of life and attaining to the light which is eternal.
               In another reference, Gautam Buddha makes it clear ...although he also never recognizes at any
           point that it is a mystery and he doesn't know.
               I want you to understand that it remains a mystery and it will always remain a mystery. By its
           very nature there is no way to know the beginning.
               But in a different context, Buddha has come very close. He says, "Ignorance has no beginning,
           but an end. And consciousness has a beginning, but no end." This way he completes the circle. I will
           repeat it, so that you can deeply feel it: Ignorance has no beginning, but an end. And because
           ignorance ends, awareness has a beginning, but it has no end. It goes on and on forever.
               With this, Buddha is recognizing the fact that it is better not to ask about the beginning of
           ignorance and not to ask about the end of awareness. These two things will remain forever
           mysterious. And these are the most important things in existence.
               If the question was asked of me, I would simply say, "I don't know," because that is the most
           sincere answer. It simply means that it is a mystery.
               But Bodhidharma starts trying to answer the question, and you can see it does not even touch the
           question at all. THE IGNORANT MIND ...now the question is from where the ignorance comes, and
           he has already accepted it, without answering:
              THE IGNORANT MIND, WITH ITS INFINITE AFFLICTIONS, PASSIONS AND EVILS, IS ROOTED IN
              THE THREE POISONS: GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION.

              Is this the answer? He is saying the ignorant mind is rooted in certain things: delusion, anger,
           greed. But was this the answer? Was the disciple asking it? Was he asking for this kind of
           explanation?
              The question was, "What is the root of ignorance?" And if you answer that for example greed,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anger and delusion are at the root of ignorance, you are simply postponing the answer. Again the
           question will arise, "From where comes the greed? From where comes the anger and from where the
           delusion?" And then you fall into a vicious circle. Then you start saying, "They come from
           ignorance. It is because man is ignorant; that is why he is greedy, that is why he is angry, that is why
           he is deluded." And when we ask from where this ignorance comes, "It comes from anger, from
           greed and delusion." Whom you are trying to befool?
               But for centuries these kind of answers have befooled people. Perhaps nobody questioned these
           irrelevant answers -- either because they were so much impressed, so much overwhelmed by the
           individuality of a man like Bodhidharma, or perhaps they could not figure out that Bodhidharma is
           simply creating more smoke around the question, so they cannot see their question clearly. He is
           throwing dust into their eyes. It is not an answer.
               But this is not only the case with Bodhidharma. This is the case with everyone ...with Gautam
           Buddha, with Mahavira, with Confucius, with Lao Tzu, with Zarathustra, with Jesus, with Moses
           ...with everyone without exception. Whenever they come close to the ultimate question, they start
           talking nonsense. And these are very sensible people, very intelligent people.
               But the ultimate question can be answered not by intelligence but by innocence, can be answered
           only by an innocent person, a person who does not care for any respectability, for any wisdom, for
           any enlightenment, who can risk everything for his sincerity.
               These people were not able to risk their wisdom. They could not say, "I don't know." But that is
           the only authentic answer, because that gives you the sense that you have come to the ultimate: now
           begins the mystery -- and it is unsolvable. There is no way to reduce it into knowledge. It is not an
           unknown which can be made known by efforts, by intelligence, by practice, by discipline, by any
           method, by any ritual.
               The mystery can be lived, but cannot be known. It remains always, unknowable. It remains
           always, a mystery.
               One man, a great contemporary, G.E. Moore, has written a book, PRINCIPIA ETHICA. And
           perhaps he is the only man in the whole of history, who has thought so deeply just to define the word
           "good." Because without defining good, there can be no ethics and no morality. If you cannot define
           what is good, then how you can decide what is moral, what is immoral; what is right, what is wrong.
               He took a fundamental question, without knowing that it is the ultimate question and he got into
           trouble. And he was one of the most intelligent people of our contemporary world. He looks at it
           from every direction enquiring for almost for two hundred and fifty pages, just on a single question,
           "What is good?" And he was utterly defeated in defining such a simple word as good. Everybody
           knows what is good, everybody knows what is bad, everybody knows what is beautiful and
           everybody knows what is ugly. But when it comes to definition -- you will be in the same trouble.
               He was thinking that everybody knows what is good ...there must be some way to find the secret
           and define it. But finally, after two hundred and fifty pages of very concentrated thinking, of the
           keenest logic and rational analysis he comes to the conclusion that good is indefinable. These two
           hundred pages have been just going round and round and reaching nowhere. Good is indefinable.
               Croce has done the same work on "beauty" ...one thousand pages. He has gone far deeper than
           G.E. Moore has gone into "good." And after one thousand pages, comes the last statement: that
           beauty is indefinable.
               Everybody knows that the most difficult problem is that it is very difficult to find a man who
           does not know what beauty is and what ugliness is. But don't insist on a definition. Even the greatest
           minds have failed.
               This is accepting failure, when they say beauty is indefinable. G.E. Moore became so frustrated
           that he said, "Don't blame me that I have not been able to define what is good. Even simpler
           questions -- this is a very complex question -- are indefinable. For example, what is yellow ...?"
               That is what G.E. Moore asks, "Can you define what yellow is?" You all know what yellow is.
           There is no doubt about it. You can all indicate towards a marigold flower ...this is yellow. But he is
           not asking for indications; he is asking, "How have you come to know that this is yellow? What is
           the definition? What is the criterion that this marigold flower fulfills? Why it is not red? Why is it
           yellow? You must have certain definitions. Why is something red and something blue and something
           green and something yellow ...on what grounds?"
               And then he says, "If yellow cannot be defined and although everybody knows what it is, nobody
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           says, then perhaps all our knowledge is just very superficial."
               Perhaps we have never enquired deeply into anything; we have never gone to the very
           rock-bottom. Otherwise my own understanding is everything is indefinable, because everything is
           mysterious. It is not only a question of beauty, or good, of ignorance, or awareness -- everything, the
           whole existence consists only of indefinables. To recognize this is to recognize our ultimate
           ignorance. And to be able to recognize our ultimate ignorance, you need an absolutely selfless,
           egoless innocence, because that has been missing.
               Bodhidharma is doing the same as everybody else has done. And it is not a new thing -- for
           centuries philosophers have been indulging in simple questions.
               You all know two plus two is four. But you have never gone deep into enquiry, whether it is so,
           or just hearsay. You have heard people saying two plus two is four, so you are repeating it
           generation after generation.
               Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest mathematicians of our age, and perhaps of all ages, has
           written a book, PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA. It takes him two hundred and fifty pages to go into
           the question, whether or not two plus two is four. You cannot even conceive what he will be writing
           in two hundred and fifty pages .... Two plus two is simply four and forget all about it. Two hundred
           and fifty pages ...such a dense, logical argumentation that his book is one of the most unreadable
           books in the world.
               Just a few crazy people like me, who don't care whether it is readable or unreadable .... I have
           seen in many university libraries that the book has not even been opened. Many pages are joined --
           nobody has cut them, because even to read two pages is enough! It is one thousand pages in all and
           one-fourth has gone only in discussing whether or not two plus two is four.
               And the conclusion? The conclusion is that it is only a belief. It cannot be said with certainty,
           that two plus two makes four. It is a utilitarian concept. It is good, workable, but Bertrand Russell
           has not been left unchallenged -- even on that. Another mathematician, Godel, challenged it.
           Because Godel says there is no possibility of two plus two being four. There is no possibility at all.
           And Godel has the same quality of genius as Bertrand Russell. He is not in any way a smaller genius
           -- perhaps a greater genius. His argument is very clear and Bertrand Russell has not been able to
           answer it.
               Godel argues that you can put two chairs and two chairs together and naturally, there are four
           chairs. but two in itself is just an abstract symbol. Two chairs is another matter. Two is just a
           concept. It is as hypothetical as God, or the devil. Have you seen two anywhere? Have you met with
           two and said hello? Have you ever seen two with two meeting and hugging each other?
               And Godel's criticism is that two things in existence are never exactly the same; something is
           always different. You cannot find two people the same; you cannot find even two leaves in the whole
           forest exactly the same. Then how can two leaves which are not equal, together with two other
           leaves which are also not equal, be four? They can be three, they can be five, they can be anything,
           but not four!
               And I understand Godel is right. Of course my understanding comes from a totally different
           dimension. To me, Godel is more appealing because that makes existence mysterious. You cannot
           even count on such simple answers as two and two are four. Everything is pragmatic. But as far as
           reality is concerned, it remains unknowable.
               So you have to remember this. I will go through the answers of Bodhidharma, but it is not the
           answer. It may be useful to go into it: it may help you to understand something else but it is not the
           answer to the question.
               But it is not Bodhidharma's fault. There is no answer. His only fault is that he is not recognizing
           that he doesn't know. And I cannot forgive him for that because I love him and I respect him and I
           wanted him to be sincere. Had he said, "I don't know," he would have risen far above the thousands
           of other mystics and buddhas and bodhisattvas and arhatas. He would have become absolutely
           unique, but he could not manage.
              THE IGNORANT MIND, WITH ITS INFINITE AFFLICTIONS, PASSIONS AND EVILS, IS ROOTED IN
              THE THREE POISONS: GREED, ANGER AND DELUSION. THESE THREE POISONED STATES
              OF MIND THEMSELVES INCLUDE COUNTLESS EVILS, LIKE TREES THAT HAVE A SINGLE
              TRUNK BUT COUNTLESS BRANCHES AND LEAVES. YET EACH POISON PRODUCES SO MANY
              MORE MILLIONS OF EVILS THAT THE EXAMPLE OF A TREE IS HARDLY A FITTING
              COMPARISON.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE THREE POISONS ARE PRESENT IN OUR SIX SENSE ORGANS AS SIX KINDS OF
              CONSCIOUSNESS, OR THIEVES. THEY'RE CALLED THIEVES BECAUSE THEY PASS IN AND
              OUT OF THE GATES OF THE SENSES, COVET LIMITLESS POSSESSIONS, ENGAGE IN EVIL
              AND MASK THEIR TRUE IDENTITY ....
              BUT IF SOMEONE CUTS OFF THEIR SOURCE, RIVERS DRY UP. AND IF SOMEONE WHO
              SEEKS LIBERATION CAN TURN THE THREE POISONS INTO THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS
              AND THE SIX THIEVES INTO THE SIX PARAMITAS, HE RIDS HIMSELF OF AFFLICTION ONCE
              AND FOR ALL.

               All this is okay. But can you see it as an answer to the question? It is true, that if you can change
           your greed, your anger, your delusion -- the poisons -- with awareness, they transform into nectar.
           The same that was your disease, becomes your health. The same that was your bondage, becomes
           your freedom. All that is needed is to bring awareness into the darkness of your being.
               This is true. We have already discussed it many, many times in different ways. But it is not the
           answer to the question: "From where does the ignorance come?"
               This is also true, that if you cut the root then the tree withers away. And the root of your
           bondage, of your blindness, of your darkness, is your mind. If you cut the root of the mind -- and the
           root of the mind is identity with yourself ... when you are angry you say, "I am angry." That is the
           root. If you are REALLY aware when you are angry, you will not say, "I am angry." You will say, "I
           am seeing anger passing through my mind." If you can say that, you are a seer, you are a witness.
           The root is cut.
               One Indian sannyasin, who traveled far and wide in the world, was Ramateertha. He had a very
           strange habit of never using "I." Instead of using I, he would use the third person for himself. For
           example, "Ramateertha is thirsty." He would never say, "I am thirsty." He would say, "Rama is
           thirsty."
               With those who knew him, there was no difficulty. But he was continuously traveling all over the
           world. For many years he was in America and people could not understand when he would say,
           "Rama has a headache." They would ask, "Where is Rama?" Or, "Rama is thirsty," or "Rama is
           feeling sick."
               In a strange land, he was moving with strange people and they were continuously saying, "This is
           a strange way of speaking. Why can't you simply say that you are thirsty? Why make it unnecessarily
           complicated?" But he was practicing a certain method of cutting the root. By not saying, "I am
           thirsty, I have a headache, I am feeling sick, I am feeling sleepy," he was trying to avoid the "I" and
           trying to be just a watcher. "Rama has hunger; Rama is thirsty" or "Rama is suffering from a
           headache." He is just a witness reporting to you that this is what is happening to Rama ...if you can
           do something, do it.
               He was trying to pull himself away from whatever was happening in his body, in his mind, in his
           heart. He was trying to clarify himself completely from all identities. He wanted just to be a witness.
               To be a witness is to cut the very root, and you will be liberated. This is perfectly right. But this
           is not the answer to the question.
               I will go on insisting on the fact that Bodhidharma is creating unnecessary verbiage ...so much
           prose. Perhaps the disciples forgot about the question, but I cannot forget and neither can I forgive.
           Everything that he is saying is right in other contexts, so he is not saying anything wrong. But
           whatever he is saying, although it is right, is not at all relevant. And just being right is not the
           question. The answer has to be relevant to the question.
               He goes on creating more and more .... BUT THE THREE REALMS AND THE SIX STATES
           OF EXISTENCE ARE INFINITELY VAST. What relation has it to the source of ignorance, from
           where it comes?
               HOW CAN WE ESCAPE THEIR ENDLESS AFFLICTIONS IF ALL WE DO IS BEHOLD
           THE MIND? The disciples are asking another question. They have been deceived. They think they
           have received the answer to their first question. They have not received the answer, because there is
           no answer.
           Now they are asking another question:
              BUT THE THREE REALMS AND THE SIX STATES OF EXISTENCE ARE INFINITELY VAST. HOW
              CAN WE ESCAPE THEIR ENDLESS AFFLICTIONS IF ALL WE DO IS BEHOLD THE MIND?

              They are caught by Bodhidharma. He has deceived them. He has brought them to a question that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can be answered.
               I am reminded of a doctor who was treating a very rich woman ...just for a common cold, but it
           was not going away. The doctor was tired because every day she was standing in his clinic with the
           complaint that the cold has not gone -- and in fact, there is no treatment for the common cold.
               Those who know say, "If you take medicine, it goes in seven days. If you don't take medicine, it
           goes in one week."
               But the doctor was tired. Every day the rich lady in her limousine ...and as he would hear the
           limousine being parked in front of his door, he would say, "My God, she is back again. That
           common cold is going to kill me."
               Finally he became so fed up that he said, "Listen, there is only one cure. I have not told you
           because it is a little difficult." The woman said, "No problem. I am ready to do anything, but I want
           to get rid of this cold."
               So he said, "You do one thing: just behind your palace where you live is a big lake. So get up in
           the middle of the night, when it is absolutely cold and freezing, drop all your clothes and take a jump
           into the lake."
               The woman listened breathlessly to what kind of treatment it was. " ...and then stand on the
           shore, naked. Don't dry the water on your body. Let the breeze take it away."
               And the woman said, "My God, this is treatment for a common cold? This will give me double
           pneumonia!"
               The doctor said, "That is right. I have a treatment for double pneumonia, but I don't have a
           treatment for the common cold. So first create double pneumonia; then everything is within control.
           When you come back, come with double pneumonia and I will treat it. But for the common cold, I
           just don't have any other treatment. This is the only treatment. When somebody wants to be treated,
           then I have to give him this as a last resort. If you can manage to create pneumonia, or double
           pneumonia ...no fear. I have experimented perfectly and have found a valid treatment for them. I
           guarantee it; you just do what I have told you."
               That is what philosophers have been doing. Whenever you ask them the ultimate question that
           cannot be answered, they start going into pneumonia, double pneumonia. And ordinary people get
           puzzled with their words. They either think their question has been answered, or perhaps they have
           forgotten the question by the time the long sermon ends.
               They are asking another question. Now there is no problem; they are asking, "There are so many
           afflictions and existence is so vast, and one has so many lives and so many evil acts ...just by
           beholding the mind, how can one get free of all that?"
               Just a simple cure, so simple: watch your mind and everything is finished. It is unbelievable.
           People want something complicated, because the problem is complicated ....
               In millions of your lives in the past you must have done uncountable evil acts, you must have
           dreamed uncountable evil dreams. If you have not committed crimes, you may have thought to
           commit them. That makes no difference -- whether you actually murder somebody or you simply
           think of murdering somebody, in both cases your mind is functioning in an evil way. It is vibrating in
           an evil way, and the mind carries those vibrations for millions of lives. Now so many past evil
           actions have been accumulated, how can they be dropped just by beholding the mind?
               But this is not the ultimate question. This is a very simple question ...because you may have
           dreamed your whole life. In the night you may have dreamed that you lived a hundred-year life. And
           the time scale between waking and dreaming is different: if you fall asleep in a single second, you
           can dream a long dream of years' duration. And when you wake up and look at your watch, you are
           puzzled: just one minute has passed. In one minute, how could you manage a long, long dream?
           Years and years have passed in the dream.
               In dreams the time scale is different. When you wake up, the time scale is different. We don't yet
           know exactly what the time scale is in dreams; otherwise, we might be able to create watches which
           you can wear when you are asleep which will give you exactly the right time. They will not be in
           minutes and hours; they will be years, and perhaps light-years because you can dream that you have
           been on the moon, you can dream that you have been on the farthest star.
               It takes four years to reach to the nearest star and four years to come back -- and that is about the
           nearest star! There are stars which will take four million years, five million years to reach, and then
           five million years to come back. You can manage in a single night; in a single dream, you can reach
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the farthest star and you can come back too. You have to come back. You cannot remain there. It
           is not possible that you can wake up in your room and not find yourself there because you are gone
           ....
                I have heard: Two friends were talking with each other about the dream they had last night. One
           man said, "Boy, what a beautiful dream ...such big fish! In my whole life I have not been able to
           catch so many big fish. It was such a joy ...the whole night, I was going in and in, inside the lake,
           and finding bigger and bigger fish."
                The other said, "This is nothing. You cannot even conceive what happened last night in my
           dream." His friend said, "What happened?"
                And the man said, "I am thinking if I should say it or not -- because you will not believe it. Even
           when I am awake, I myself cannot believe it but it happened. Suddenly I found that in my bed, on
           one side is Sophia Loren. I said, `My God, how did she get in?' and I turned to look at the other side
           and I found Marilyn Monroe. I said, `What is happening? Have I died and reached heaven?'"
                By this time the other fellow had become very angry. He said, "You idiot, why did you not call
           me? When two women came ...what were you doing with two women? One is enough for you. You
           could have chosen. It was your dream of course, so the first choice was for you. But the other woman
           belonged to me. What kind of friendship is this?"
                And the other man said, "I went to your house but they said you had gone fishing."
                In a small dream you can do everything ...possible, impossible, everything! The time scale is
           different. In the morning when you wake up, do you ask how it was possible that just by waking up,
           all the dreams have disappeared -- so many dreams, such beautiful dreams ...?
                The same is the situation when a man becomes enlightened. All the millions of lives simply
           evaporate like dreams. It is not a question of fighting with each and every evil act separately -- that
           you have to fight on, doing good, balancing the evil -- then it will take millions of lives again before
           the time you can become awakened.
                And meanwhile, in these millions of lives when you are trying to undo your past, you will still be
           continuing to do something or other and that will go on accumulating. You cannot get out of this
           trap. The only way to get out of this trap is to wake up.
                Nothing else is needed. You don't have to change your anger, you don't have to change your
           greed, you don't have to change anything. You have simply to be alert and aware. And all the
           projections of greed, all the projections of anger, all the projections of delusion, will evaporate -- just
           the way, every morning, your dreams evaporate. They are made of the same stuff as dreams are
           made of.
                So it seems a simple method and inconceivable to the rational mind that it can solve anything.
           Just by watching your mind everything will be transformed and you will discover your buddhahood,
           your ultimate beauty and joy, your ultimate existence, your greatest ecstasy. How is it possible?
           That's what the disciples are asking.
                Bodhidharma says: THE KARMA OF THE THREE REALMS COMES FROM THE MIND
           ALONE. IF YOUR MIND ISN'T WITHIN THE THREE REALMS, it is no-mind, IT IS BEYOND
           THEM.
                The moment you are aware, the mind becomes silent. And all the actions, good or bad, are
           created only by the mind. They are just like a film that you are seeing on the screen of the mind.
           Once you wake up, the film disappears. Suddenly there is a blank screen ...utterly silent, nothing
           moving, absolute stillness.
              MORTALS WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND TRUE PRACTICE AND BLINDLY PERFORM GOOD
              DEEDS ARE BORN INTO THE THREE STATES .... THOSE WHO BLINDLY PERFORM THE TEN
              GOOD DEEDS AND FOOLISHLY SEEK HAPPINESS ARE BORN AS GODS IN THE REALM OF
              DESIRE. THOSE WHO BLINDLY OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS AND FOOLISHLY INDULGE IN
              LOVE AND HATE ARE BORN AS MAN IN THE REALM OF ANGER. AND THOSE WHO BLINDLY
              CLING TO THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, BELIEVE IN FALSE DOCTRINES AND HOPE FOR
              BLESSINGS ARE BORN AS DEMONS IN THE REALM OF DELUSION.     ...IF YOU CAN JUST
              CONCENTRATE YOUR MIND AND TRANSCEND ITS FALSEHOOD AND EVIL, THE SUFFERING
              OF EXISTENCE WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISAPPEAR. AND ONCE FREE OF SUFFERING, YOU
              ARE TRULY FREE.

              The words he is using are theological, but what he is saying is that those who are living in greed
           want more and more pleasure. They can project a life of heaven, they can be born in heaven as gods,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but this will be only a mind projection. It will be only a belief.
               I used to live with a professor and when one day I talked about projection, he was not ready to
           believe that everything is a projection. He had a younger brother and I had been watching the
           younger brother, because we had lived almost three months together in the same house. The younger
           brother had become very much attached to me and I was interested in him because I could see he had
           a tremendous capacity to be hypnotized.
               Thirty-three percent of people are very capable of being hypnotized. It is a very strange
           percentage -- thirty-three percent, because only thirty-three percent of people are talented, too. And
           only thirty-three percent of people are ever interested in any kind of inner search. And only
           thirty-three percent of people are open, available, to be hypnotized. There must be some inner
           connection between all these things. Perhaps the quality of being hypnotized may be the criterion for
           a man's possibility of going inwards. Because in hypnosis one goes inwards with the help of others;
           in meditation, one goes inwards on his own. But the way is the same.
               So to prove to this man -- who was a professor of logic and never believed in anything unless
           some evidence was produced -- I hypnotized his younger brother. And I was surprised that even in
           the first sitting, he went so deep that there was no need to have more sittings. I was thinking at least
           nine sittings and then the experiment could be done. But he went so deep in the first sitting that I told
           him, "Tomorrow, exactly at twelve o'clock -- and tomorrow is Sunday so I will be at home, your
           brother will be at home, you will be at home -- don't go anywhere. Exactly at twelve o'clock you
           have to kiss the same pillow you are lying on right now. I am marking the place with a cross; exactly
           on that cross you have to kiss."
               I repeated it again and again and again. And when I became certain that it had become an imprint
           in his unconscious mind, before waking him up I made a cross on the corner of his pillow with red
           ink.
               It took almost half an hour to bring him back, he had gone so deep. After waking up, he became
           normal except for one thing; again and again he used to look at the pillow and particularly at the
           cross. And then he would also feel embarrassed at what he was doing, because there was no reason
           to look at the pillow and at the cross. His conscious mind was not aware at all, but his unconscious
           mind was now projecting something of which he was not aware.
               The next day, near about eleven-thirty, he became very restless. Something from the unconscious
           was going on, telling him to do something which of course he was thinking was insane ...to kiss. And
           I was present, his brother was present and I had told his brother that he had to just sit and watch what
           happened.
               At eleven-fifty, I took the pillow, put it in my suitcase and locked it. And you could see what was
           happening to that young boy ...tears flowing from his eyes. And I asked, "What is the matter? Why
           you are crying?"
               He said, "I don't know, but don't put my pillow in your suitcase. I beg you."
               I said, "But what is wrong? I will give it back to you, by the evening when you go to sleep."
           He said, "No, I need it right now."
           "What is the need?"
           "I don't know any need. That is why I am crying, because I cannot give any explanation, but I need
           the the pillow immediately."
               So I gave him the key. He rushed -- because it was getting close to twelve -- he opened the
           suitcase, took out the pillow and started kissing that cross almost like mad. Just like any lover who
           has found his beloved after many years.
               I asked him, his brother asked him, "What are you doing?"
               He said, "I don't know, but I feel such a relief. Such a burden has been removed from my heart.
           But I don't know what ...who has made this cross, why I have such tremendous compulsion that if I
           don't kiss the cross I may die. I had to do it exactly at twelve. That was coming from inside me and I
           don't know anything about it."
           His brother said, "I accept the evidence."
               When you become infatuated with a woman, do you think your woman is just a cross on the
           pillow? A biological infatuation? A projection from the unconscious, very deep rooted -- not by
           anybody, but by nature itself.
               Your hormones, your chemistry, your biology, they are all functioning in a certain conspiracy
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           against your awareness. They are making you restless, they are making you irresistibly attracted
           towards somebody and it is beyond your power to prevent yourself from this attraction or
           infatuation. You will be pulled like a puppet.
                It is not coincidental that all languages say, people fall in love. People certainly fall in love -- fall
           into unconsciousness, fall into biological hypnosis, fall into the instinctual nature. They are no
           longer conscious human beings. That's why this kind of infatuation and love affair finishes very
           soon. Once you have got the woman, once you have kissed the pillow ...finished! A great burden, a
           great relief, but it was a pillow.
                So it was a simple phenomenon, but the woman you have kissed ...and you cannot kiss without a
           preface. It needs some introduction -- going to the movies, to the disco, all kind of things as
           preliminary necessities. Promising all kinds of promises, bringing roses and ice cream -- this is the
           preface. And after all this preface, when you kiss a woman, she is not just a pillow. Now she will
           cling to you. Now you cannot escape. Now you want to escape but your own preface has created the
           prison. Now you cannot go against your word.
                All the seekers of human consciousness absolutely agree on the point that all your misery or your
           happiness, your sadness or your joy, is nothing but your projection. It is coming deep from your
           unconscious mind and the other person is functioning only like a screen. Once it is fulfilled, you are
           finished. And suddenly, the same woman you were ready to die for ...you are ready to kill her.
                Strange ...such a great change. Love turns into hate so easily. And yet you are not aware that love
           and hate both are your projections. When one is finished, the other remains there.
                It is true that once you are free from suffering, you are truly free. All that Bodhidharma is saying
           is right. But he has not answered the question.
                I want to say to you that nobody has answered the question. And the reason is because life is a
           mystery. You can go only so far, and then all your mind has to be left behind and you enter into
           existence where no question is relevant, no answer ever comes to you. But you can enjoy the
           experience immensely. I am all for experience, not for knowledge.
                I feel sad and sorry for Bodhidharma, because he has failed me. If he had said, "I don't know" he
           would have raised himself as the highest and the greatest mystic the world has ever known.
                But I want to say to you: I don't know. And I want to emphasize that you should also remember,
           whenever there is an ultimate question, don't try to deceive others or yourself. Simply accept your
           innocence. Say with humbleness, "I don't know."
                It is not a question of ignorance. It is a question of your awareness that life is a mystery, a
           miracle. You can taste it but you cannot express anything about the taste. You cannot define it. And
           this is the greatness of existence. This is where all scientists have failed, this is where all
           philosophers have failed. This is the only place where mystics have succeeded.
                Bodhidharma is a mystic and if he meets me ...and somewhere there is a possibility in this eternal
           life, this unending existence, someday, somewhere I am going to catch hold of him. And he will
           recognize me because I am wearing the same sandals that he was carrying on his staff -- the exact
           type. My sandals come from the Zen monasteries of Japan. It is particularly Zen -- Zen people have
           everything of their own. Even if they use cups and saucers from the market, first they break them,
           then they glue them back together. Then they make them unique, then there is no other piece like
           that -- then it becomes Zen, original, and without any other copy anywhere. Just one of a kind.
                This sandal that you see has been used by Zen people since Bodhidharma, for almost fourteen
           centuries. The first sandal was sent to me by a Zen master from Japan as a present.
                So he will immediately recognize me. I have just to show him my sandals. And I have to ask him
           why he missed a great opportunity ...when he could have become the greatest mystic in the world.
           And he had every capacity. He has the genius for it.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.
10/28/07                                           Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                             Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #17
                                    Chapter title: Take the risk wholesale
           13 July 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707130
              ShortTitle: BODHI17
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BUT THE BUDDHA SAID, "ONLY AFTER UNDERGOING INNUMERABLE HARDSHIPS FOR
              THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS DID I ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT." WHY DO YOU NOW SAY THAT
              SIMPLY BEHOLDING THE MIND AND OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONS IS LIBERATION?
              THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA ARE TRUE. BUT THE THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS REFER TO
              THE THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND. WHAT WE CALL ASANKHYA IN SANSKRIT, YOU
              CALL COUNTLESS. WITHIN THESE THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND ARE COUNTLESS
              EVIL THOUGHTS. AND EVERY THOUGHT LASTS A KALPA. SUCH AN INFINITY IS WHAT THE
              BUDDHA MEANT BY THE THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS ....
              BUT THE GREAT BODHISATTVAS HAVE ONLY ACHIEVED ENLIGHTENMENT BY OBSERVING
              THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS AND BY PRACTICING THE SIX PARAMITAS. NOW YOU TELL
              DISCIPLES MERELY TO BEHOLD THE MIND. HOW CAN ANYONE REACH ENLIGHTENMENT
              WITHOUT CULTIVATING THE RULES OF DISCIPLINE?
              THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS ARE FOR OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONED STATES OF
              MIND. WHEN YOU OVERCOME THESE POISONS, YOU CREATE THREE SETS OF LIMITLESS
              VIRTUE. A SET GATHERS THINGS TOGETHER -- IN THIS CASE, COUNTLESS GOOD
              THOUGHTS THROUGHOUT YOUR MIND. AND THE SIX PARAMITAS ARE FOR PURIFYING THE
              SIX SENSES. WHAT WE CALL PARAMITAS, YOU CALL MEANS TO THE OTHER SHORE. BY
              PURIFYING YOUR SIX SENSES OF THE DUST OF SENSATION, THE PARAMITAS FERRY YOU
              ACROSS THE RIVER OF AFFLICTION TO THE SHORE OF ENLIGHTENMENT.
              ACCORDING TO THE SUTRAS, THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS ARE, "I VOW TO PUT AN END
              TO ALL EVILS. I VOW TO CULTIVATE ALL VIRTUES. AND I VOW TO LIBERATE ALL BEINGS."
              BUT NOW YOU SAY THEY'RE ONLY FOR CONTROLLING THE THREE POISONED STATES OF
              MIND. ISN'T THIS CONTRARY TO THE MEANING OF THE SCRIPTURES?
              THE SUTRAS OF THE BUDDHA ARE TRUE. BUT LONG AGO, WHEN THAT GREAT
              BODHISATTVA WAS CULTIVATING THE SEED OF ENLIGHTENMENT, IT WAS TO COUNTER
              THE THREE POISONS THAT HE MADE HIS THREE VOWS. PRACTICING MORAL PROHIBITIONS
              TO COUNTER THE POISON OF GREED, HE VOWED TO PUT AN END TO ALL EVILS.
              PRACTICING MEDITATION TO COUNTER THE POISON OF ANGER, HE VOWED TO CULTIVATE
              ALL VIRTUES. AND PRACTICING WISDOM TO COUNTER THE POISON OF DELUSION, HE
              VOWED TO LIBERATE ALL BEINGS. BECAUSE HE PERSEVERED IN THESE THREE PURE
              PRACTICES OF MORALITY, MEDITATION AND WISDOM, HE WAS ABLE TO OVERCOME THE
              THREE POISONS AND REACH ENLIGHTENMENT. BY OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONS, HE
              WIPED OUT EVERYTHING SINFUL AND THUS PUT AN END TO EVIL. BY OBSERVING THE
              THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS, HE DID NOTHING BUT GOOD AND THUS CULTIVATED VIRTUE.
              AND BY PUTTING AN END TO EVIL AND CULTIVATING VIRTUE, HE CONSUMMATED ALL
              PRACTICES, BENEFITED HIMSELF AS WELL AS OTHERS AND RESCUED MORTALS
              EVERYWHERE. THUS, HE LIBERATED BEINGS.


              Bodhidharma is now really facing a question for which he has no answer. The case was the same
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in last night's sutra and it continues because the disciples are asking more and more about the
           ultimate, which simply baffles all knowledge. It is a peace, a silence ...there is no answer.
                But it is really difficult to accept that you are enlightened and you don't know the answers to the
           ultimate questions. Then what has your enlightenment done for you if it has not solved the mystery?
           Then what kind of wisdom have you received?
                This has to be clarified for you. It is sad that Bodhidharma did not clarify it for his disciples; on
           the contrary he continued to answer questions which cannot by their very nature be answered.
                But this is a problem that every master has to face. When the questions are trivial the master is
           perfectly at ease to answer, but as the disciples become more and more keen in their enquiry and
           they start touching the ultimate, the master comes to a difficult situation. So as not to let the disciples
           feel that the master does not know, he goes on answering -- but those answers are not true answers.
           They are in themselves perfectly right for some other questions, but not for the questions that have
           been posed before him.
                The question is very important. But even the greatest masters like Bodhidharma belong to a
           particular line of philosophy, a particular set of doctrines; hence they have to keep on repeating the
           ideological system they have accepted.
                It is totally different with me. I don't belong to any ideology. I don't have to console anybody. I
           am not concerned with who gets annoyed and irritated. My sole concern is that when you ask a
           question, you need a sincere answer -- not according to ideology but according to my own
           experience.
                The disciple asks: BUT THE BUDDHA SAID, "ONLY AFTER UNDERGOING
           INNUMERABLE HARDSHIPS FOR THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS DID I ACHIEVE
           ENLIGHTENMENT." WHY DO YOU NOW SAY THAT SIMPLY BEHOLDING THE MIND
           AND OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONS IS LIBERATION?
                The truth is a little complicated. First I will explain my position, if I were to answer the question.
           Then it will be easier for you to understand the difference, when a person answers because of a
           certain ideological school that he belongs to, and when a person answers just out of his own
           experience and response.
                The Buddha has certainly said: "ONLY AFTER UNDERGOING INNUMERABLE
           HARDSHIPS FOR THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS DID I ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT." But
           as far as I can see, this is not a true statement of Gautam Buddha himself. It is what the Mahayana
           school of Buddhism maintains is the answer. Now Buddha is not there to refute it, and everything
           that he has said has been written after his death. And it has been written by common consent: a great
           gathering was called of all the old disciples who had been listening to him from the very beginning,
           and they assembled what everybody remembered.
                There was dissension, there was conflict, there was contradiction, and the whole gathering
           divided into thirty-two groups and they separated from each other. And all thirty-two groups have
           their own scriptures, their own reports of what Buddha said. Mahayana is only one school, the
           biggest, which has the greatest following. And certainly the reason why it has the biggest following
           is that it says that Buddha, once awakened, remains on this shore to liberate people.
                In fact, they have even invented a story: When Buddha reached the doors of MOKSHA, the
           ultimate resting place for liberated beings, the doors were opened and there was great music and
           celebration because it rarely, very rarely happens that a man comes to such great enlightenment.
           Thousands of years pass and the door remains closed. Naturally there was great jubilation among the
           other buddhas who had entered moksha during the millions of years that had passed. They were
           welcoming a new guest.
                But Buddha refused to enter the gate. He turned his back towards the gate and told the
           gatekeeper, "Please close the gate. I will stand outside the gate until the last human being has
           become enlightened. It may take millions and millions of years -- it does not matter. I'm at peace. I'm
           in absolute ecstasy. I can wait. But this will be a little selfish to enter the gate and forget all about
           those who are still groping in the darkness."
                Every effort was made to persuade him that this is not the way ...nobody has done this before. He
           said, "That simply means nobody has entered moksha with a compassionate heart. For compassion
           towards my human brothers and sisters, I can renounce moksha itself. It does not matter to me. It
           cannot give me more than I have already got. I will stand here before the door and when the last
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           human being has passed in, then I will pass through."
               This is a fictitious story of the Mahayana school. Because of this idea of compassion for other
           human beings, naturally Mahayana attracted more people who are not able to become awakened on
           their own. They need help. They need a compassionate, awakened person. And the Mahayana school
           preaches that every enlightened person in Mahayana will be doing every possible thing that he can
           do to make more and more people liberated. Because he has now a dual duty: people have to be
           liberated and secondly, if people are not liberated, Gautam Buddha has to stand at the gate for
           millions of years. So compassion for the people -- they have to make every effort to liberate them,
           and gratitude to Gautam Buddha and his strange stand, that he is boycotting moksha, the ultimate
           state of silence and peace and rest just to make sure that nobody is left behind.
               The other school is Hinayana; it has not attracted so many people. The very word means "the
           small boat." Mahayana means "the big ship" ...an ocean liner, so thousands of people can go to the
           other shore together. But in a small boat, only one man can go. And the people who created
           Hinayana are the arhatas. They are enlightened and their standpoint is that even to make an effort to
           liberate people is interfering with their individual freedom. It is not compassion, it is not love: love
           gives freedom.
               Compassion does not force a certain way of life on people, and liberation is a certain way of life.
           Although it is for their good, still you are forcing them, insisting on it, that they follow the path, that
           they don't waste time. You are not allowing them total freedom to be themselves. When they feel
           like moving on the path, they will move. And if they don't feel to, it is nobody's concern. It is their
           absolute right to remain in the world and not to go to moksha.
               The arhatas interpret compassion in a very refined way, with a very total, different perspective. It
           is very difficult to choose who is right. Both seem to be right ....
               But Hinayana naturally could not gather as many disciples. Who would be interested in the
           people in the Hinayana school, who are not even interested in your liberation? They will not speak,
           they will not support, they will not give you a hand to pull you out of the ditch. They will simply
           wait. If you are capable of falling in the ditch you are certainly capable of getting out of it. If you are
           capable of falling into wrong paths, you are perfectly capable of feeling the misery, the suffering of
           the wrong path; you can change your path. Nobody else can do it for you.
               So this is the Mahayana interpretation, that Buddha took millions of ages to become enlightened.
           For the arhatas the situation is totally different. They say it is not a question of millions of years and
           arduous effort. It was all a dream. Whether you dream for three million years, or three days, or three
           minutes, it makes no difference. The moment you wake up, all the dreams will be found to be simply
           hot air. There is no such tension then.
               Even your disciplines -- what you are practicing to obtain liberation -- are really a kind of greed.
           And greed cannot destroy greed. It is ambition, and ambition cannot destroy the ego. Perhaps it is the
           greatest ambition -- to be liberated, to be enlightened.
               But wherever there is desire and ambition, you are in bondage. And all your practices and all
           your disciplines are but practicing in a dream. It is almost as if you are weak, but in your dream you
           do great gymnastics and you feel that you have become a world champion. But in the morning when
           you wake up, the same mouse is sleeping in the bed. What happened to all your gymnastics that you
           have been dreaming about?
               You can dream about being a great sage, you can dream of being a great thief, you can dream of
           murdering many people, you can dream of serving many people but in the morning you will feel
           there is no distinction between all those dreams. They are all dreams made of the same stuff. They
           are all fictions. The good is as much a fiction as bad. The spiritual discipline is as much a fiction as
           murdering somebody. So those who don't believe in the Mahayana doctrine say you can become
           enlightened, here and now. That was really the position of Bodhidharma. And that is creating the
           problem now. He cannot say Buddha is wrong; that is impossible. He loves Gautam Buddha, he is a
           disciple of Gautam Buddha, so he cannot say Gautam Buddha is wrong. He has to say the words of
           the Buddha are true.
               But his own position is that whatever you have been doing in your unconsciousness is
           meaningless. When you wake up it all disappears within seconds. And you can wake up at any
           moment. Just a certain right device and you will be awakened.
               You can wake up in the middle of the night. The dreams cannot prevent you from waking up;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           neither can your sleep prevent you from waking up. It is just your own will not to wake up. That's
           why the sleep continues and the dream continues. If the will to wake up arises in you, then
           enlightenment is instantaneous.
                Now this is Bodhidharma's own position. But he is in a difficulty because he belongs to the
           Mahayana school and he was teaching in China, to the Mahayana schools to which China belongs.
           Those disciples who were asking were quoting Buddha according to Mahayana sutras. Now nobody
           knows whether Buddha said them or they were inventions of a certain school, because in the
           Hinayana school those sutras are not found. And these are only two schools ...the main ones. There
           are thirty other schools which are very small streams, but they also have something, a grandeur of
           their own, and they all differ.
                But on one point they all agree: that Buddha cannot be wrong. They cannot say that Buddha is
           wrong. So they have to go round about saying that Buddha is right. Still, what they are saying is also
           right, although it is contradictory. The disciple is asking: "Why do you now say that simply
           beholding the mind and overcoming the three poisons is liberation? You are making it too simple."
                Buddha himself is saying that he has been undergoing INNUMERABLE HARDSHIPS FOR
           THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS -- that is, innumerable ages -- and then he achieved enlightenment.
           It was not instantaneous. It had a long history of millions of years behind it ...of doing good, of
           avoiding evil, of practicing meditation, of practicing other disciplines. It took three innumerable ages
           for him to become a buddha.
                If this was the situation of a Gautam Buddha, who seems to be the greatest human being who has
           lived on the earth, then what will be the situation for an ordinary man? Perhaps instead of three
           ...thirteen asankhya kalpas, or thirty! But you are saying that just by watching your mind, just at this
           very moment, you can become enlightened.
                How did these two different attitudes arise? If you don't understand the background, you will not
           be able to understand the difficulty of Bodhidharma. Buddha left his palace when he was
           twenty-nine years of age. He went to every great teacher who was famous in his day and he was such
           a sincere seeker that he risked everything. Whatever those teachers said, he did it more perfectly than
           they had ever expected from anyone. In fact, they themselves were not so perfect.
                And Buddha said, "I have done it, but nothing has happened. I am still as ignorant as I was
           before. Yes, I have learned a certain skill. I can do a certain distortion of the body, by yoga. But that
           does not make me aware of my being; it does not deliver me the good, the truth.
                His sincerity was indubitable. Even his teachers felt ashamed. They had never come across such
           a student. The teacher, the ordinary teacher, always likes mediocre students because compared to
           them, he is a great teacher. And whenever -- sometimes it happens -- a great student, who towers
           higher than the teacher himself, comes to him, then the teacher feels angry, irritated, because the
           student continuously brings questions which the teacher cannot answer. Whatever he answers, the
           student is always able to refute it.
                One of my teachers got tired of me because for eight months continuously, I would not let him
           move a single inch. We were stuck on a single point. He would bring all kinds of arguments and he
           was looking into books .... I was also working hard to refute him and all the other students enjoyed it
           -- because the teacher was so much engaged with me, he had completely forgotten to give
           homework, or to teach anything else. There was no time, because the first lesson had not yet been
           learned so he could not move to the second.
                The examination was coming near and then he became really mad at me. He started shouting at
           me. I said, "Listen, you are an old man. If you shout so much, you may have a heart attack. And I
           hope it is not heart failure ...just a small attack. But don't think that by shouting, you can shut me up.
           And if you think it is a match in shouting, I can also shout. And you are an old man -- I will really
           enjoy shouting. So calm down."
                He understood the point, but he left the class and went to the principal and said, "Now it is
           absolutely certain that either I remain in the school, in the college, or this student remains. You can
           choose." The principal said, "But what is the matter? Has he done anything wrong to you?"
                He said, "He has not been allowing me to teach the students and the examination is coming close.
           All the students are going to fail, except for him. And he has a strange stamina. I have been working
           hard. I have never worked so hard, reading late into the night, finding new arguments, and the next
           day he simply refutes them. He is working harder than me. Of course he is young and it is very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           humiliating to get defeated every day. I resign. I will not come to the college again if you don't expel
           him." And he left for his home.
               The principal called me. He knew me. I had brought so many trophies and so many cups from all
           over the country, from all the universities, for debating, for eloquence competitions ... He was very
           happy that I had made his college famous nationwide.
               He said, "I'm in a difficulty. Why are you irritating that old man? He is our oldest professor, well
           educated; he has two Ph.D.'s, has been conferred D.Litt. recently by the university. He is a
           well-known scholar and we cannot lose him."
               I said, "You can keep him, but you are being unfair and unjust because I have not done anything
           harmful to him. He is the professor of logic and if a professor of logic cannot argue with a student,
           then who is going to argue? The whole subject of logic is argument and sharpening of arguments,
           and I'm really doing my work as every student should do. The students are behaving like dodos; they
           don't bother about the subject. They have other interests -- somebody has a girlfriend, somebody has
           an interest in the movies -- there are a thousand and one things in the world. And they study only at
           the end of the year.
           "And now, because questions have become stereotyped, the same questions are being repeated every
           year. Just read four years' question papers and that is enough -- prepare for twenty questions and you
           are going to find five questions from those twenty in your examination. There is no need to bother
           about the whole course because professors are lazy. Even to find a new question is difficult for them,
           so they just look at four or five year-old examinations questions and find questions -- maybe they
           rephrase them. That is their whole work.
           "And in the market now examination keys -- which are a very profitable business -- have appeared.
           Some retired professor knows perfectly well what is going to come up in the examination. He takes
           ten years of questions in his book and gives the answers to each point. You just purchase a key book.
           There is no need to go into the originals because that is a difficult task.
           "And if you give the answers, nobody bothers whether you know it or whether you have crammed it.
           Those keys are made by retired professors in such a way that the answer is very small and can be
           crammed, so no intelligence is needed.
           "I was trying ...because I have not come to the college just to sit there. I am not interested in degrees
           -- my interest is to sharpen my intelligence."
               The principal said, "I can understand you, but still I will have to expel you. It is unjust and I am
           feeling guilty because I cannot let that professor leave. Without him, our whole logic department will
           collapse. He is the most senior professor and he's a very stubborn man. If he has said that he will not
           come unless you are expelled, he will not come. But knowing the injustice ...you have not been
           doing anything harmful, you just don't have a teacher of a real caliber and genius.
           "He is a mediocre man. He can write Ph.D. theses and he can be awarded a D.Litt. for his services,
           but he is not a genius. That I know. So I will expel you because he will insist on seeing that your
           name is there on the notice board and that you are expelled. But I will make arrangements for you in
           another college. I will phone the principal."
               I said, "I don't want to create any trouble for your institution, or for you, or for the old professor.
           I have no antagonism towards him -- I just feel a great pity. You make arrangements, but it is not
           going to be easy because this situation which has been happening for eight months, has become the
           talk of all the colleges in the university. Every principal knows ...."
               He tried. He phoned one principal who was very close to him and the principal said, "Just forgive
           me. You are sending a trouble to us because you cannot manage it."
               He tried a few other colleges, because the city I was in was one of the most significant cities as
           far as education was concerned; there were twenty colleges in all. He called a few other principals,
           and everybody said, "You can send anybody else, but we have heard about that student. And you are
           the oldest college and you have the best professors. If they are ready to resign because of him, what
           will happen to our professors who are not so senior, who are not so experienced?"
               The principal was in a dilemma. And I was sitting there listening to all this phone talk. I told
           him, "You will not be able to manage. I will manage myself. You just give me expulsion orders and I
           will manage."
               And I arranged with one principal to enter his college on the condition that I would never come
           to the college. I would pay the fee but I would never come to the college. I would go to the library
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but not to the classes. I would not attend the classes, so no problem would arise. And the principal
           would see to it that I got the right attendance necessary for appearing at the examination. I said,
           "That's a great arrangement. In fact, I have always wanted it."
                For two years I never went to a single class for a single day. But those two years were of great
           importance. I settled into the library as deeply as possible. Before the library would open, I was there
           and only when the librarian pushed me out because it was being closed did I reluctantly leave.
                The same is the situation with Bodhidharma, who belongs to the particular school of Mahayana.
           Because China -- the whole of China -- does not have any other school except Mahayana. And to tell
           the Mahayana people that you can become enlightened just like a click of the fingers ...it is not
           possible for them to believe, because Buddha himself said he had to do hard work for three
           asankhyas -- innumerable ages -- before he became enlightened. But Bodhidharma knew from his
           own experience that he had become enlightened without any austerity, without any discipline,
           without going through fasting, without doing prayers, rituals. He became enlightened just by
           becoming aware of his mind.
                But to say that Gautam Buddha is wrong .... He would be surrounded by the whole country
           which believed that Gautam Buddha cannot be wrong. And in actual fact, for six years after leaving
           his palace, Gautam Buddha did everything, and all the teachers finally felt that he was a far greater
           soul than they themselves were. And they said to him, "Forgive us. All that we knew, we have told
           you. More than that is beyond our capacity. But we will suggest a greater teacher to you."
                For six years he went from one teacher to another teacher, and finally, the greatest teacher of
           those days said to him, "You are wasting your time. No teacher can help you. It is time enough that
           you should be on your own .... Just watch your mind. I don't have any other teaching for you."
                Tired of those six years of continuous discipline .... It was a full moon night. He had been was
           refused by the teacher and told, "Just watch your mind. There is no discipline for you; those
           disciplines are for mediocre minds. They are compromises, according to everybody's capacity -- a
           certain ritual to console him that he is doing some work for enlightenment. Nothing will satisfy you
           unless enlightenment happens."
                So he went away. A full moon night -- he had left the teacher just a few days before. And he was
           sitting under the tree by the side of Niranjana in Bihar. In India even trees are worshiped -- and I
           don't see anything wrong in it, because a tree is also a living being and they are very nice people.
           They don't do any harm to anybody. A woman had been a worshiper of that Bodhi tree. And she had
           told the God of the tree that if she became pregnant -- because for years she had not been getting
           pregnant -- if she became pregnant she would bring sweets, fruits and flowers as a present to the god
           of the tree.
                And on the full moon night, she came. She had become pregnant and when she became
           absolutely certain and the physicians had said, "You are pregnant," she brought delicious food,
           sweets, flowers. Her name was Sujata. It is a significant name in the history of Gautam Buddha.
                And he was hungry, because he had been fasting for months -- very hungry. But he was a
           beautiful man, a prince, and because of the hunger he had become almost pale. And in the full moon
           night, he looked as if he were the god of the tree who had come out.
                The woman could not believe it -- she was a villager, and she really thought that the god of the
           tree had come out to receive her presents. She fell to his feet and offered him all that she had
           brought.
                This was the first time in those six years that he had taken a full meal. And that too, in the night.
           It is not allowed for ascetics to eat at night, but now he was no longer an ascetic.
                When the teacher had said, "All that you have to do is to watch," he dropped all disciplines, all
           asceticism. He had renounced his kingdom; now he renounced his renunciation too. For the first time
           he was perfectly relaxed. He ate well, and after six years he slept for the first time without any
           tension. There was no ambition. There was no desire. There was nowhere to go, nothing to be
           searched.
                In this relaxed state, even in his sleep he became aware that he was watching his mind; just a
           small flame of awareness was there. Although the body was asleep, the mind was asleep, something
           beyond was alert.
                And in the morning when he opened his eyes, the last star was disappearing. And the actual fact
           was that as the last star was disappearing, he also disappeared as an ego, as a personality. The
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enlightenment was sudden. Suddenly he saw his authentic being.
               Now the problem arose: Mahayanists say that this sudden experiment happened because of those
           six years of continuous austerity -- this is gradual enlightenment.
               And there are people, a certain school, who believe in sudden enlightenment. They say it had
           nothing to do with those six years. If he had stopped at five years, the experience would have
           happened. And if somebody had told him the very first day, and if he had had the intelligence to
           understand it, it would have happened the very first day he left the palace.
               Those six years are not a cause for the effect of enlightenment. Enlightenment cannot have a
           cause. Their reasoning is very clear. Bodhidharma has said in the sutras that enlightenment has no
           cause. Then the question of millions of ages and arduous effort is meaningless.
           Enlightenment is always sudden.
               If it is not sudden, it is not because the nature of enlightenment is gradual. It is because your
           mind leaves you gradually. You are not ready to take the risk wholesale. You take the risk retail,
           inch by inch, part by part -- the American way, in installments. A little bit you lose today, a little bit
           tomorrow, a little bit .... It takes time because you are not ready to drop the mind in its totality, in this
           very moment. You say, "I will do it slowly ...tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. What is the
           hurry?"
               So there are these two schools: the gradual school of enlightenment which appeals to many
           people because they don't have the guts to drop the mind immediately; and the sudden school of
           enlightenment which belongs only to people who have the heart of a lion, who can simply risk
           everything.
               I remember a story about a Japanese actor. He was very famous in America and he earned
           millions of dollars. He wanted to return home, he had earned enough. But before returning home, he
           thought it would be better to go around the world. Then he would not have to leave his home again.
           Then he wanted to rest. But first he wanted to see every beautiful place around the world.
               He reached Paris. His guide took him to many places and then he said, "Would you like to see a
           casino?" The actor said, "Certainly, I want to see everything. In Paris, not to see a casino is missing
           much." Casinos are gambling places and France has the best casinos.
               And as he entered the casino and he saw people putting up hundreds of dollars, thousands of
           dollars ...and he got interested in the game. He risked all his millions of dollars that he had earned in
           America -- just on one stake, not gradually.
               Even the owner of the casino was afraid. "What to do with this man? If he wins, my whole casino
           is gone. A strange fellow!" He had been in the business for so long but he had never seen a man
           putting millions of dollars at risk, at stake.
               But there was no way to refuse; it was not possible to refuse. You have to accept the stake and
           fortunately for the casino owner, the Japanese lost. He lost every single dollar that he had earned and
           was hoping to live a retired life on. He had nothing.
               He went into his hotel and went to sleep. In the morning he saw in a newspaper that a Japanese
           had committed suicide by jumping from a forty-story building, and naturally it was thought that it
           must be the same Japanese who had lost millions of dollars in the casino. So they mentioned that it
           seemed that it was the same Japanese who had lost millions of dollars the previous night and he had
           not even a single dollar left for himself.
               He read the news and he laughed and the owner of the hotel read the news and he said, "He was
           in my hotel. How did he reach the other hotel? He was a famous name." The Japanese rushed to his
           room and he was laughing so madly. The owner asked, "Why are you laughing?"
               He said, "I am laughing because I am alive and this newspaper said I have committed suicide by
           jumping from a hotel. Some other Japanese has committed suicide." And it was a very logical
           conclusion by the journalist that it must be the same famous Japanese actor from America. The body
           was so distorted, so broken in pieces that there was no way to find out who the man was.
               The owner of the hotel asked him, "It is strange. You lost all your life's earnings and still you
           slept well?" He said, "It does not matter. I enjoyed the thrill for a moment -- this way or that. And I
           enjoyed the owner of the casino trembling. As far as money is concerned, I can go back and earn
           again. That is not a problem. It was not stolen money, I earned it."
               The owner said to him, "But you could have played the way all gamblers play -- small sums. You
           could have played the whole night. Why did you stake everything?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And I was reading in his autobiography that he said, "I belong to the sudden enlightenment
           school. I don't believe in gradual installments. If you have to do something, do it totally and
           intensely. If you don't want to do it, then don't unnecessarily befool yourself by doing it partially."
               Bodhidharma is authentically a man of sudden enlightenment. But he was initiated by the
           woman, Pragyatara. She was a Mahayanist and she sent him to China to help the growing religion
           there. The religion had grown like wildfire -- just in six hundred years. It reached China at the time
           of Jesus Christ, five hundred years after Gautam Buddha. And after six hundred years, there were
           thirty thousand Buddhist temples and two million Buddhist monks in China, and that is not including
           the laymen.
               Millions and millions of people, because they were really hungry .... Confucius had made them
           so hungry for religion because in Confucius' mind there was no soul, no religion. It is because of
           Confucius that China turned to communism because Confucius' mind was very close to that of Karl
           Marx; there was not much difference. Both believed that there is no God, there is no soul, and all
           religions are useless. Both believed that consciousness is just a by-product of five elements getting
           together, and death is the end. So there is no question of good actions or bad actions.
               Confucius had been such a dominant figure, such an influential figure that the whole soul of the
           Chinese people was hungry. There was an appetite which the Buddhist monks fulfilled. There was a
           gap so there was no conflict, no quarrel. The Buddhists were accepted without any struggle against
           anybody.
               And Pragyatara sent Bodhidharma because up to then, no enlightened men had gone to China.
           Many scholars had gone -- thousand of scholars -- who were trying to translate Buddhist scriptures
           into Chinese. But they were only scholars, and Pragyatara thought China needed to see an
           enlightened man. It deserved it. In just six hundred years, great work had been done -- almost the
           whole country had gone from Confucius to Gautam Buddha. Pragyatara told Bodhidharma, "You
           have to go," and he went there. But his own enlightenment was sudden and in China the school that
           had spread to the people was Mahayana, which believed in gradual enlightenment.
               This is the dilemma. The students are raising the question: Buddha says one thing and you are
           saying just the opposite. WHY DO YOU NOW SAY THAT SIMPLY BEHOLDING THE MIND
           AND OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONS IS LIBERATION? You are making it too simple,
           saying that one can do it now. Then what about Gautam Buddha's struggle for three innumerable
           kalpas ...?
               But perhaps even Bodhidharma is not aware about the distinction that I have made, that just
           before his enlightenment Gautam Buddha dropped all disciplines. That would have been the right
           answer: Gautam Buddha may have struggled for three or thirty innumerable kalpas -- it was just a
           dream, and when the dream is broken it always happens in a single moment. Just a single moment
           before, you were asleep; after a single moment, you are awake. And when you are awake all dreams
           which were appearing so real, disappear.
               This would have been the right answer, but it would not have fitted with the Mahayana school.
           That's why he goes on creating theological smoke around the question again.
              THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA ARE TRUE. BUT THE THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS REFER TO
              THE THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND.

              That is not true. He actually refers to innumerable lives in which he has struggled to achieve
           buddhahood and finally, in the last life, he has achieved it. Now Bodhidharma is trying to somehow
           make a plausible answer.
              WHAT WE CALL ASANKHYA IN SANSKRIT, YOU CALL COUNTLESS. WITHIN THESE THREE
              POISONED STATES OF MIND ARE COUNTLESS EVIL THOUGHTS.

              Now this is all nonsense, because it is again not relevant to the question.
              AND EVERY THOUGHT LASTS A KALPA.

               That is even worse than nonsense; it is absurd! -- and you know it. A thought does not last even
           for an hour. Just try for any thought to remain in your mind for one hour continuously and you will
           be surprised -- it goes on slipping out of the mind.
               Mind is in a constant traffic. You cannot stand in the middle of the traffic, your thoughts are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moving faster than anything. And one kalpa is a very long time. A thought does not remain even for
           a few seconds. Your mind is continuously a flux; it is just like a river.
               Heraclitus says, "You cannot step in the same river twice because it going so fast. By the time
           you step twice, it is other water. It is the same river just for the name's sake, but the water that you
           have stepped in for the first time is no longer there."
               I go a little further than Heraclitus. I say, "You cannot step even once in the same river, because
           when your feet touch the upper part of the water, the lower part is rushing by. As your feet go a little
           deeper, the lower part and the upper part is rushing by. By the time you reach the bottom, everything
           has changed from the time when you first touched the surface of the water. You have not stepped in
           the same water, because every second new water is coming in and the old water is going out.
           Heraclitus is not aware that even stepping once in the same water is impossible. Twice is too much.
               The same is the situation with the human mind: it is just a flux. Hundreds of thoughts queuing
           and going -- relevant, irrelevant, consistent, inconsistent. But he is trying to make some sense of
           Buddha's statement.
              SUCH AN INFINITY IS WHAT THE BUDDHA MEANT BY THE THREE ASANKHYA KALPAS.

               No, he actually meant what the words say. Bodhidharma is imposing his own idea on it, just to
           dilute it, just to bring it closer to his sudden enlightenment idea.
               In his place I would have said, "Gautam Buddha is wrong. What he is saying about the three
           innumerable ages must have been said before he became enlightened. It is not a statement made after
           his enlightenment. If he had ever said anything like that, it must have been before his
           enlightenment."
               Even before his enlightenment he had five followers. Seeing him -- a king and a perfect ascetic --
           five brahmin seekers had become his followers. They left because he accepted the food from Sujata,
           at night.
               And the word SUJATA, has great implications. It means "well born," born into a very high
           family. Now anybody who is really born into a high family will not have that name. Sujata must
           have been a sudra, an untouchable woman. This is how the human mind and human psychology
           functions. If she cannot belong to a high caste, at least she can have a beautiful name which means
           that she is well born. Her name indicates that she certainly, belongs to a very low strata of the
           society.
               Seeing that Buddha was accepting food from a sudra woman -- he was not even asking, "To what
           class do you belong?" and in the night he was eating joyously -- all the five disciples left him
           immediately. "He is a fraud, a fake. We have been deceived. He is not an ascetic at all."
               Buddha may have said something like that to those five disciples, but he was not enlightened
           then. And one has to remember that any statement which has been made by Buddha before
           enlightenment should not be taken into account at all. It means nothing. Only that which he said after
           enlightenment has significance.
               Bodhidharma could have explained it very easily, but he is not as courageous as he has been
           believed for centuries to be. He cannot say the words of the Buddha are not true. He is trying to
           polish them and somehow dilute them and bring them closer to his own understanding.
              BUT THE GREAT BODHISATTVAS HAVE ONLY ACHIEVED ENLIGHTENMENT BY OBSERVING
              THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS AND BY PRACTICING THE SIX PARAMITAS. NOW YOU TELL
              DISCIPLES MERELY TO BEHOLD THE MIND. HOW CAN ANYONE REACH ENLIGHTENMENT
              WITHOUT CULTIVATING THE RULES OF DISCIPLINE?

               He is really putting the disciples in a dilemma -- and these are their last questions. Bodhidharma
           says that no discipline is needed, no austerity is needed. All that is needed is an awareness of your
           mind. And I agree with him absolutely. That's what brings enlightenment.
               A man who is unconscious can discipline himself. He can shave just like the Buddha ...he can
           shave his head, he can eat only once in twenty-four hours, he can have only three sets of clothes --
           not more than that -- but he will not become enlightened by this. If this were so, then all poor people
           who don't have even three sets of clothes, who sometimes have to go to bed without eating anything,
           would have become enlightened.
               I have known people who have gone to sleep tying a brick on their stomach so they don't feel that
           their stomach is empty. Such poverty exists in many parts of this country. Would these people have
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become buddhas? -- no. Enlightenment has nothing to do with poverty, fasting, discipline, religious
           rituals.
                There is only a single way to enlightenment and that is creating more and more awareness about
           your acts, about your thoughts, about your emotions.
                Bodhidharma could have said that exactly, but this is the trouble when you belong to an
           organization, when you belong to a certain philosophy, when you belong to a certain system of
           belief, when you are not a master of yourself, when you worship somebody else as a master ...then
           this kind of dilemma is bound to happen. You have lost your individuality in a way. You have to
           support Gautam Buddha even if it goes against your own understanding.
                Bodhidharma says: THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS ARE FOR OVERCOMING THE
           THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND. WHEN YOU OVERCOME THESE POISONS, YOU
           CREATE THREE SETS OF LIMITLESS VIRTUE. A SET GATHERS THINGS TOGETHER -- IN
           THIS CASE, COUNTLESS GOOD THOUGHTS THROUGHOUT YOUR MIND. AND THE SIX
           PARAMITAS ARE FOR PURIFYING THE SIX SENSES. WHAT WE CALL PARAMITAS, YOU
           CALL MEANS TO THE OTHER SHORE. BY PURIFYING YOUR SIX SENSES OF THE DUST
           OF SENSATION, THE PARAMITAS FERRY YOU ACROSS THE RIVER OF AFFLICTION TO
           THE SHORE OF ENLIGHTENMENT.
                Can't you see that the answer has not even a far-off relationship to the question? It is not even a
           distant cousin.
                Bodhidharma could not manage ...to simply say the truth would have been the right thing:
           "Whether it goes against Buddha, or Krishna, or Christ does not matter -- I have to be my own truth.
           If it goes against somebody else's truth, that is his problem, it is not my problem."
                Truth has beauty when it arises in you, but if you are somehow trying to fix it into a certain
           system created by somebody else, you start distorting the truth. And to me that is one of the greatest
           crimes.
                The question was simply significant, but the answer is not. The answer is right in some other
           context but this place is not the place for this answer. He should have said that for all those three
           innumerable kalpas and the disciplines and austerities, Buddha lived in dreams.
                But perhaps he could not say this to the Buddhists of China, because he was sent from India to
           make Buddhism more solid and if he started speaking in this way, how was he going to make
           Buddhism more solid? He started compromising. And the moment somebody starts compromising,
           he loses touch with the truth.
           Truth is an uncompromising experience.
                ACCORDING TO THE SUTRAS, THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS ARE -- the disciples are
           asking again -- "I VOW TO PUT AN END TO ALL EVILS. I VOW TO CULTIVATE ALL
           VIRTUES. AND I VOW TO LIBERATE ALL BEINGS." BUT NOW YOU SAY THEY ARE
           ONLY FOR CONTROLLING THE THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND. ISN'T THIS
           CONTRARY TO THE MEANING OF THE SCRIPTURES?
                It is, but Bodhidharma is not capable of saying so. In fact it is said that Gautam Buddha made
           these three vows: to put an end to all evil, to cultivate all virtues and to liberate all beings -- but this
           was before he became enlightened. Hence, it has no value at all.
                After his enlightenment, he knew that all these vows were made in a state of dreaming. And what
           you decide in a dream, you are not supposed to follow when you wake up. You may have been flying
           in the dream -- just like any bird across the sky -- but when you wake up, you know it was a dream
           and you don't insist that you really flew like a bird.
                These three vows were certainly made by Buddha, but they were made before his enlightenment.
           It is true nobody has asked Buddha, "What happened to your vows?" But Bodhidharma is being
           asked. He should have made it clear that they were made in dreams and dreams don't matter at all.
           What matters is the awakened consciousness -- and then Buddha did not make any vows.
           But instead of that, he goes on saying:
              THE SUTRAS OF THE BUDDHA ARE TRUE.

               But you can see, even as he says THE SUTRAS OF THE BUDDHA ARE TRUE, he has lost the
           authority and the strength that comes from sincerity, that comes from your own experience of truth.
           He has become mild.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BUT LONG AGO, WHEN THAT GREAT BODHISATTVA WAS CULTIVATING THE SEED OF
              ENLIGHTENMENT, IT WAS TO COUNTER THE THREE POISONS THAT HE MADE HIS THREE
              VOWS.

              He goes on again and again, bringing those three poisons to his help.
              PRACTICING MORAL PROHIBITIONS TO COUNTER THE POISON OF GREED, HE VOWED TO
              PUT AN END TO ALL EVILS. PRACTICING MEDITATION TO COUNTER THE POISON OF ANGER,
              HE VOWED TO CULTIVATE ALL VIRTUES. AND PRACTICING WISDOM TO COUNTER THE
              POISON OF DELUSION, HE VOWED TO LIBERATE ALL BEINGS. BECAUSE HE PERSEVERED IN
              THESE THREE PURE PRACTICES OF MORALITY, MEDITATION AND WISDOM, HE WAS ABLE
              TO OVERCOME THE THREE POISONS AND REACH ENLIGHTENMENT. BY OVERCOMING THE
              THREE POISONS, HE WIPED OUT EVERYTHING SINFUL AND THUS PUT AN END TO EVIL. BY
              OBSERVING THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS, HE DID NOTHING BUT GOOD AND THUS
              CULTIVATED VIRTUE. AND BY PUTTING AN END TO EVIL AND CULTIVATING VIRTUE, HE
              CONSUMMATED ALL PRACTICES, BENEFITED HIMSELF AS WELL AS OTHERS AND RESCUED
              MORTALS EVERYWHERE. THUS, HE LIBERATED BEINGS.

                He is not being authentic. He is simply trying somehow to manage the answer. The answer is not
           a spontaneous response. It is clever, intellectual. It may have satisfied his disciples; it cannot satisfy
           me.
                I am nobody's disciple. I don't belong to any belief system. I love people from all over the world
           and I never compare them. They are all unique: a Zarathustra is a Zarathustra, a Mahavira is a
           Mahavira, a Buddha is a Buddha, a Jesus is a Jesus, a Moses is a Moses ...they are so unique that you
           should not make one of them a criterion that everybody else has to fit with.
                Bodhidharma himself belongs to the same category, but because of his compromise, he falls
           down. He could not maintain his uniqueness. He remains a disciple of Gautam Buddha -- and how
           can a disciple say that the words of the master are not right?
                It is a unique opportunity for you to listen to a man who has no master, and who has a
           tremendous respect for truth -- whether it comes from Zarathustra, or Lao Tzu, or Buddha, or Moses,
           or Jesus, or Mohammed. If it is truth which rings bells in my heart, I am in absolute support of it. But
           if it is not true, I know my heart. The bells don't ring and I immediately know something is wrong.
                Bodhidharma is trying to pacify, console. He is no longer interested in truth. He is more
           interested in spreading the message of Buddha, and that's where he loses his uniqueness; otherwise
           he is as unique a person as Gautam Buddha himself.
                I cannot conceive of what happened to him why he could not say directly, "These words are not
           true. They are not true because they don't resonate with my being." But this is what happens when
           you are toeing the line of a certain party -- political, religious, social. Then you have to be in
           agreement with everything, without choice.
                The Buddhists were very happy with Bodhidharma because he established the discipline of
           Buddha in China, gave it a very solid foundation, and spread the message -- not only to China, but
           from China to Taiwan, to Korea, to Japan.
                He did a great job, but he fell down from the heights. He could have remained there if he had
           said the truth exactly and explained to the people, in a very simple way, "These are statements made
           by Buddha before his enlightenment, and anything he said before enlightenment is immaterial. To
           me, Buddha's statements after his enlightenment are pure gold."
                I don't think Bodhidharma would have hurt the feelings of people. Perhaps he would have
           created a precedent for other enlightened people: You need not agree with everything. You have
           certainly an obligation to accept the truth from whichever direction it comes, but you don't have any
           obligation to agree with any untruth, any fiction created by the priests who know nothing of the
           truth.
                He did the job for which he was sent, but he lost something beautiful in his own being. To me
           that is more important than the whole of China becoming Buddhist. A single individual in
           crystal-clear truthfulness is more important than millions of people fast asleep.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.
10/28/07                                       Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                           Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                              Chapter #18
                               Chapter title: Wakefulness is awareness
           13 July 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707135
              ShortTitle: BODHI18
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 98 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE PRACTICE YOU CULTIVATE DOESN'T EXIST APART FROM
              YOUR MIND. IF YOUR MIND IS PURE, ALL BUDDHA LANDS ARE PURE. THE SUTRAS SAY, "IF
              THEIR MINDS ARE IMPURE, BEINGS ARE IMPURE. IF THEIR MINDS ARE PURE, BEINGS ARE
              PURE." AND, "TO REACH A BUDDHA LAND, PURIFY YOUR MIND. AS YOUR MIND BECOMES
              PURE, BUDDHA LANDS BECOME PURE." THUS, BY OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONED
              STATES OF MIND, THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS ARE AUTOMATICALLY FULFILLED.
              BUT THE SUTRAS SAY THE SIX PARAMITAS ARE CHARITY, MORALITY, PATIENCE,
              DEVOTION, MEDITATION AND WISDOM. NOW YOU SAY THE PARAMITAS REFER TO THE
              PURIFICATION OF THE SENSES. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS? AND WHY ARE THEY
              CALLED FERRIES?
              IN CULTIVATING THE PARAMITAS, PURIFICATION OF THE SIX SENSES MEANS OVERCOMING
              THE SIX THIEVES. CASTING OUT THE THIEF OF THE EYE BY ABANDONING THE VISUAL
              WORLD IS CHARITY. KEEPING OUT THE THIEF OF THE EAR BY NOT LISTENING TO SOUNDS
              IS MORALITY. HUMBLING THE THIEF OF THE NOSE BY EQUATING ALL SMELLS AS NEUTRAL
              IS PATIENCE. CONTROLLING THE THIEF OF THE MOUTH BY CONQUERING DESIRES TO
              TASTE, PRAISE AND EXPLAIN IS DEVOTION. QUELLING THE THIEF OF THE BODY BY
              REMAINING UNMOVED BY SENSATIONS OF TOUCH IS MEDITATION. AND TAMING THE THIEF
              OF THE MIND BY NOT YIELDING TO DELUSIONS BUT PRACTICING WAKEFULNESS IS
              WISDOM. THESE SIX PARAMITAS ARE TRANSPORTS. LIKE BOATS OR RAFTS, THEY
              TRANSPORT BEINGS TO THE OTHER SHORE. HENCE, THEY'RE CALLED FERRIES.
              BUT WHEN SHAKYAMUNI WAS A BODHISATTVA, HE CONSUMED THREE BOWLS OF MILK
              AND SIX LADLES OF GRUEL PRIOR TO ATTAINING ENLIGHTENMENT. IF HE HAD TO DRINK
              MILK BEFORE HE COULD TASTE THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD, HOW CAN MERELY
              BEHOLDING THE MIND RESULT IN LIBERATION?
              WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE. THIS IS HOW HE ATTAINED ENLIGHTENMENT. HE HAD TO DRINK
              MILK BEFORE HE COULD BECOME A BUDDHA. BUT THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF MILK. THAT
              WHICH SHAKYAMUNI DRANK WASN'T ORDINARY IMPURE MILK BUT PURE DHARMAMILK.
              THE THREE BOWLS WERE THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS. AND THE SIX LADLES WERE
              THE SIX PARAMITAS. WHEN SHAKYAMUNI ATTAINED ENLIGHTENMENT, IT WAS BECAUSE HE
              DRANK THIS PURE DHARMAMILK THAT HE TASTED THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD. TO SAY
              THAT THE TATHAGATA DRANK THE WORLDLY CONCOCTION OF IMPURE, RANK-SMELLING
              COW'S MILK IS THE HEIGHT OF SLANDER. THAT WHICH IS TRULY-SO, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE,
              PASSIONLESS DHARMA-SELF, REMAINS FOREVER FREE OF THE WORLD'S AFFLICTIONS.
              WHY WOULD IT NEED IMPURE MILK TO SATISFY ITS HUNGER OR THIRST?
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "THIS OX DOESN'T LIVE IN THE HIGHLANDS OR THE LOWLANDS. IT
              DOESN'T EAT GRAIN OR CHAFF. AND IT DOESN'T GRAZE WITH COWS. THE BODY OF THIS
              OX IS THE COLOR OF BURNISHED GOLD." THE OX REFERS TO VAIROCANA. DUE TO HIS
              GREAT COMPASSION FOR ALL BEINGS, HE PRODUCES FROM WITHIN HIS PURE
              DHARMABODY THE SUBLIME DHARMAMILK OF THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS AND SIX
              PARAMITAS TO NOURISH ALL THOSE WHO SEEK LIBERATION. THE PURE MILK OF SUCH A
              TRULY PURE OX NOT ONLY ENABLED THE TATHAGATA TO ACHIEVE BUDDHAHOOD, IT
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ENABLES ANY BEING WHO DRINKS IT TO ATTAIN UNEXCELLED, COMPLETE
              ENLIGHTENMENT.


                I feel greatly sorry for poor Bodhidharma. He has got into trouble -- and this trouble was bound
           to arise because he belongs not only to a tradition of Buddhism, but to a sect of Buddhism, called
           Mahayana, "the great vehicle." Anybody who belongs to any tradition, any sect, any doctrine, is
           bound to be in the same trouble as Bodhidharma. Whatever he is saying is becoming more and more
           stupid and nonsensical for the simple reason that he cannot say anything against the tradition.
                He had been sent from India specially to make Buddhism more solidly grounded. That was the
           order of his own master, the enlightened woman Pragyatara, who had said, "I am sending you to
           China not to disturb people but to establish Mahayana in the great land of China, because if the
           whole country is converted to Buddhism, one-fifth of humanity is converted." One person out of five
           people in the world is Chinese.
                That reminds me of a man who was reading a newspaper in which he read that out of five people,
           four people are of different countries, different races, different religions but one is certainly Chinese.
           He called his wife who was working in the kitchen and told her, "Have you ever realized that out of
           five people in the world, one is Chinese?"
                She said, "My God! It is good you told us because we already have four children. Now is the
           time for birth control, otherwise the fifth will be Chinese."
                China has been one of the largest lands up to now. But by the end of this century India will go
           ahead; it will become more populated than China. Otherwise, for the whole of history, China has
           been the most populated land in the world.
                And if Buddhism was spreading like wildfire, it was time to give it a solid foundation.
           Bodhidharma had been specially sent as a messenger because although during the six hundred years
           before Bodhidharma, thousands of Buddhist scholars had gone to China at the invitation of emperors
           to translate all Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, not a single one had been enlightened.
                So Bodhidharma was sent specially to give people a certain taste of what enlightenment is. They
           had heard the word, they were enchanted with the idea, a great longing had arisen in millions of
           people to attain to enlightenment, but they had not even seen an enlightened person. His presence,
           his silence, his compassion ...they were absolutely unaware; it was only theoretical.
                By sending Bodhidharma Pragyatara had a certain specific purpose in her mind: to give China its
           first enlightened master. The trouble was that he could not say anything against Mahayana that
           would disturb all the new initiates into Buddhism. He could not say anything against Gautam
           Buddha, because nobody was going to listen to him.
                They were so much impressed with Gautam Buddha and his life and his teachings that in just six
           hundred years, they created thirty thousand temples and monasteries. Two million people were
           initiated as Buddhist monks and almost the whole country became Buddhist. They may not all have
           been monks but they were laymen; they had started the journey hoping that one day they would also
           become monks. Five percent of the whole population of China had become monks.
                It was a tremendous time of upheaval, change, transformation. And Bodhidharma, I think, had
           not realized the responsibility that he was taking upon his shoulders.
                As far as superficial questions were concerned, he was perfectly right and perfectly in tune with
           his own experience. But when the ultimate questions started arising -- which are bound to arise
           sooner or later -- if he had declared, "I do not know" at the first ultimate question, when he was
           asked "From where does ignorance come?" ...if he had accepted his innocence, if he had announced,
           "I know how awareness can be created, but I don't know from where ignorance comes. Perhaps
           ignorance is forever there."
                Ignorance never comes; it is just like darkness. Have you ever seen darkness coming or going?
           You always see light coming in and the darkness is not there. You always see light going out and the
           darkness is there. Darkness is always there -- no coming, no going. It is the light that comes and
           goes. Darkness is simply the absence of light.
                This would have been the perfect answer to the people: that darkness has always been there.
           There is no source for it because it is non-existential. Only something that exists can have some
           source. Light has source. In the same way, awareness has a source, consciousness has a source, but
           unconsciousness is simply nothing but darkness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 And if he had stopped there he would have done a tremendous job of protecting himself from
           falling into all kinds of nonsense. But he could not say "I do not know," because people had been
           expecting him for three years. The whole country had been waiting, Emperor Wu included, with
           great longing and desire for Bodhidharma, the first enlightened person to enter China. All their thirst
           would be quenched; all their questions would be answered. And his answers were not scriptural; his
           answers were from his own experience.
                 So he hesitated to say, "I don't know. I'm utterly innocent. At the most I can say darkness has
           always been there, ignorance has been always there. There is no root to it. It is rootless, causeless,
           because it is non-existential." That would have been my answer.
                 He could have told them, "I have come here to teach you how to get out of ignorance. I don't
           know how you have entered into ignorance. That is your business."
                 But rather than doing that, he went into long, theological descriptions. And that allowed the
           disciples to ask more and more about things which he was perfectly capable of answering but then
           those answers were going to be against Mahayana, or even against Gautam Buddha.
                 So he is in a very difficult dilemma. He knows what is right and he also knows what is
           traditionally right. And he proved not as strong as I have always thought. He could not prove himself
           to be a true revolutionary. He could not go against the tradition. I will show you how he becomes
           mixed up and how he starts talking nonsense. He has to -- just to console the traditional people, just
           to keep in line with the orthodox theology.
                 This question also belongs to the same category. And he falls into such idiotic answers that it
           becomes almost hilarious. Once in a while he is true, but only once in a while. Most of the time what
           he is talking about is irrelevant and I for one absolutely disagree with his answers.
                 The sutra: YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE PRACTICE YOU CULTIVATE DOES NOT
           EXIST APART FROM YOUR MIND.
                 This is true. Whatever you practice, you have to practice through the mind. Hence enlightenment
           cannot be attained through practice. Because if enlightenment could be attained through practice,
           that means it is a by-product of the mind, just like any dream, any hallucination, any illusion, any
           thought. And just as thoughts disappear, your enlightenment may disappear at any moment.
                 I had one German sannyasin, Gunakar, who has become enlightened so many times that now he
           has stopped completely, dropped the whole idea. When he became enlightened for the first time -- he
           has a beautiful castle in Germany, in a very beautiful, scenic place -- he declared his enlightenment
           to all the presidents and prime ministers and to all the ambassadors and to all the members of UNO.
           He wrote a letter ...he informed me also ....
                 I said, "Gunakar" -- he had just gone from here a week or two weeks before and I had not seen
           any sign that he was going to become enlightened so soon. I informed him, "Just come back; first I
           have to see ...."
                 So he came back, and as he came back, slowly, slowly as he came closer to Poona,
           enlightenment disappeared. He became aware that this was stupid ..."I don't know anything." But in
           Germany it was perfectly good, because nobody understands what enlightenment is. When he
           declared, "I am enlightened," people thought, "Perhaps ...nobody has ever heard what this
           enlightenment is. He may be." And naturally, nobody contradicted it. But he became afraid, and
           when he came in front of me he said, "Just forgive me. I have become absolutely unenlightened
           again."
                 I said, "Remember that whenever this desire arises in you, before acting and starting to write
           letters to all world governments and ambassadors and presidents that if they want any advice, you
           have become enlightened; first, you have to come here."
                 Two years he remained silent and one day I received his letter again. He said, "Osho, this time it
           has really happened and I am coming."
           I said, "Okay, come."
                 And as he came to me he said, "Just forgive me. This is very strange. When I come here I
           become unenlightened and when I go back to Germany the desire arises, and nobody is there who
           can even say that I am not enlightened. Why wait? Declare! And the desire becomes so persistent
           ...."
                 It happened many times. The last time I heard he had joined a commune and he was washing
           dishes there. Somebody who was going to see me soon asked Gunakar, "What are you doing? Have
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you ever heard of any enlightened man washing dishes in a restaurant?" It was the commune
           restaurant.
               He said, "Forget all about enlightenment. Let me just do my dishes and if you are going to Osho,
           just tell him that I am not going to become enlightened -- at least not in Germany! If I have to
           become enlightened, I will become enlightened when I am close to him. I am feeling immensely
           joyful just washing the dishes and that enlightenment was such a torture ..." because he started just
           imitating me.
               He closed himself up in his castle on the mountain. He would not come out of his room. He
           would not meet with anybody. He had a secretary and naturally he got unnecessarily tortured. He
           could not come out, otherwise he would lose his enlightenment. He could not meet people, only the
           secretary, and the secretary informed them that he was in samadhi. "He cannot see anybody. Don't
           disturb him."
               He said, "I have suffered enough because of this enlightenment. Now I am enjoying life more as
           a dishwasher in the restaurant of the commune. At least I can go out, I can go to a movie, I can go to
           the disco, I can sing and dance. That enlightenment was a very difficult thing, just remaining closed
           in one room ...."
               Enlightenment cannot come from the mind. Enlightenment can come only when the mind
           disappears. In fact, enlightenment is the light and mind is the ignorance. Enlightenment is the
           wisdom; mind is the darkness.
              IF YOUR MIND IS PURE, ALL BUDDHA LANDS ARE PURE.

               I would like to correct it. I would like to say, if your no-mind -- which means beyond purity and
           beyond impurity -- is the buddha land .... It is not the pure mind which is the buddha land. Even the
           purest mind is still mind. And purity and impurity are a duality. And buddha land has to be beyond
           the dual. It cannot be one part of duality. It has to be beyond both.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "IF THEIR MINDS ARE IMPURE, BEINGS ARE IMPURE. IF THEIR MINDS ARE
              PURE, BEINGS ARE PURE."
              Up to now, this is perfectly okay.

              AND, "TO REACH A BUDDHA LAND, PURIFY YOUR MIND."

              That is wrong, because then, what is the difference between good people and a buddha? The pure
           mind is buddha land and people who are pure are pure beings, so what is the difference between a
           good man and a buddha? There seems to be no difference -- but there is a great difference.
              Hence I would like to put it: To reach a buddha land go beyond the mind, go beyond both purity
           and impurity. As your no-mind becomes buddha land, buddha becomes available to you. These are
           my corrections.
              THUS, BY OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND, THE THREE SETS OF
              PRECEPTS ARE AUTOMATICALLY FULFILLED.
              BUT THE SUTRAS SAY THE SIX PARAMITAS ARE CHARITY, MORALITY, PATIENCE,
              DEVOTION, MEDITATION AND WISDOM. NOW YOU SAY THE PARAMITAS REFER TO THE
              PURIFICATION OF THE SENSES. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS? AND WHY ARE THEY
              CALLED FERRIES?

               The question is simple and significant. The disciple is asking, "What are these six
           PARAMITAS?" The word paramitas means that which takes you to the other shore -- a small ferry
           boat.
               Charity, morality, patience, devotion, meditation and wisdom -- these are the six ferries that can
           take you beyond this shore to the further shore, to your real home.
               It is a simple question. Bodhidharma has just to define what charity is, what morality is, what
           patience is, what devotion is, what meditation is, and what wisdom is. But rather than giving a
           simple definition of these beautiful words, he goes into a very strange answer:
              IN CULTIVATING THE PARAMITAS, PURIFICATION OF THE SIX SENSES MEANS OVERCOMING
              THE SIX THIEVES. CASTING OUT THE THIEF OF THE EYE BY ABANDONING THE VISUAL
              WORLD IS CHARITY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now, one cannot conceive of something more nonsensical. Just listen to it again: CASTING
           OUT THE THIEF OF THE EYE BY ABANDONING THE VISUAL WORLD IS CHARITY. By
           renouncing and abandoning the world that is available to the eyes ...the only way is to be blind!
           Otherwise, how can you abandon it? You can go to the mountains but the visual world will be there.
           You can go in a dark cave but darkness is also visual. You see it. And in fact, even blindness will not
           help unless you are born blind because a man who is born blind cannot even see dreams. He has no
           idea of anything.
               You may never have thought about it. Do you think a blind man can see a railway train in his
           dream, or a starry night in his dream, or a beautiful woman in his dream, or a roseflower in his
           dream? Impossible, because he has never seen these things. Dreams are only reflections. What you
           have seen in actual life, dreams can reflect.
               The most surprising thing is that almost everybody thinks that a blind man lives in darkness. And
           that is wrong, because darkness is also a visual phenomenon, you have to see it. The blind man has
           no eyes. He cannot even see darkness; light is far away. If he can see darkness, then you cannot
           prevent him from seeing light. And if he can see things in dreams, he is not blind. The born blind see
           nothing, just as the born deaf hear nothing.
               But what can you do? You have eyes. How can you abandon the visual world?
               There was in India a poet, Surdas, who has been worshiped by Hindus as a great saint. Surdas
           saw a beautiful woman -- he had gone to beg, not aware of who was inside the house. He knocked on
           the door and a beautiful woman opened the door. And suddenly a desire, a fancy for her arose in his
           being. It was natural; it was not wrong. If you can enjoy a beautiful flower, why can't you enjoy a
           beautiful face? But religions are very much against all pleasures. It seems all religions have been
           founded by masochists. Torture yourself! The more you torture yourself, the more you become
           spiritual.
               Surdas became very much guilty -- and he had done nothing; just the face was so beautiful that it
           was natural a great appreciation arose in him. But it was against the religious precepts. He destroyed
           both his eyes and he became blind. And because of this blindness, he has been worshiped for
           centuries as a great saint.
               But do you think by destroying his eyes, he would have stopped dreaming? Just the opposite --
           then he would dream more and more of that beautiful face. The face that was beautiful would
           become more beautiful, more fancy, in his dreams. And this is the meaning of charity?
               Charity simply means an unconditional sharing. It has nothing to do with the eyes and nothing to
           do with the visual world and its abandonment. It simply means you have something; you should
           enjoy to share it. Don't be a miser. Don't hold on to it because this whole life is going to end one day
           and you will not be able to take anything with you. So while you are alive, why not share as much as
           you can? Things which can be taken away any moment ...it is better that you share them. And it is a
           great joy to share. The man who learns the art of sharing is the richest man in the world. He may be
           poor, but his inner being has a quality of richness that even emperors may feel jealous of.
               I have always loved a small Sufi story: A poor man, very poor, a woodcutter, lived in the forest
           in a small hut. The hut was so small that he and his wife could sleep ...only that much space was in
           the hut.
               In the middle of one dark night, it was raining hard and somebody knocked on the door. The wife
           was sleeping close to the door. The husband said to the wife, "Open the door. The rain is too much
           and the man must have lost his way. It is a dark night and the forest is dangerous and full of wild
           animals. Open the door immediately!"
               She said, "But there is no space." The man laughed and said, "This is not a palace of a king,
           where you will always find a shortage of space. This is a poor man's hut. Two can sleep well; three
           can sit. We will create space. Just open the door."
               And the door was opened. The man came in and he was very grateful and they all sat and started
           talking and gossiping and telling stories to each other. The night had to be passed somehow because
           they could not sleep; there was no space. And just then, another knock ....
               The man, the new guest, was now sitting by the side of the door. The owner of the hut said,
           "Friend, open the door. Somebody else is lost." And the man said, "You seem to be a very strange
           fellow. There is no space."
               He said, "This was my wife's argument too. If I had listened to her argument, you would have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been in the forest, eaten by the wild animals. And you seem to be a strange man that you cannot
           understand that we are sitting just because of you. We are tired after a long day. I am a woodcutter --
           the whole day I cut the wood and then sell it in the market and then we can hardly get food once a
           day. Open the door. This is not your hut. If three persons can sit comfortably, four persons can sit a
           little closer, with a little less comfort. But we will create the space."
                Naturally he had to open the door, although reluctantly. And a man entered and he was very
           grateful. Now they were sitting very close; there was not even a single inch of space left. And then
           suddenly, a strange knock, which did not seem to be a man's! There was silence from all three; the
           wife and the two guests were afraid that he would say open the door.
                And he said it. "Open the door. I know who is knocking. It is my donkey. In this wide world he is
           my only friend. I carry my wood on that donkey. He remains outside, but it is raining too much.
           Open the door."
                And now it was the fourth guest to be allowed in, and everybody resisted and they said, "This is
           too much. Where is the donkey going to stand?"
                This man said, "You don't understand. It is a poor man's hut, it is always spacious. Right now we
           are sitting; when the donkey comes in we will all be standing and we will keep the donkey in the
           middle so he feels warm and cozy and loved."
                They said, "It was better to get lost in the jungle, rather than to be caught in your hut."
                But nothing could be done. When the owner said to open the door, the door was opened.
                And the donkey came in. The water was dripping from all over his body and the owner took him
           into the middle and told all the others to stand around. He said, "You don't understand. My donkey is
           of a very philosophical mind. You can say anything, he is never disturbed. He always listens
           silently."
                I have loved this story which says that the emperor's palaces are always short of space --
           although they are so big ....
                The house of the president of India has one hundred rooms with attached bathrooms, one
           hundred acres of garden. This used to be the viceroy's house and still they have separate guesthouses.
           What are these hundred rooms doing there? One wonders ....
                I have once been there because one of the presidents, Zakir Hussein, was interested in me. He
           was a vice-chancellor of Aligarh University and when he was the vice-chancellor, I spoke there. He
           was presiding, and he loved what I had said. When he became president and he came to know that I
           was in Delhi, he invited me to come and he took me around. I asked him, "What purpose are these
           one hundred rooms serving?"
                He said, "They are just useless. In fact to maintain them, one hundred servants are needed. For
           the maintenance of this big garden of one hundred acres, one hundred rooms -- and in front you see
           two big buildings. They are guesthouses and each guesthouse must have at least twenty-five rooms,
           not less than that."
                I said, "This is absolute wastage. In how many rooms do you sleep?"
                He said, "In how many rooms? I sleep in my bed. I'm not a monster that I will spread myself into
           many rooms ...head in one room, and the body in another and the legs in another."
           "But then," I said, "these hundred rooms which are simply empty, fully furnished with everything
           available that a man needs, should be put to some use."
                But this is the situation around the world. The emperors have big palaces and still there is no
           space. They are always making new palaces, new guesthouses.
                And the poor man in this story said, "It is a poor man's hut, there is no shortage of space. We will
           manage." And they managed. The night passed beautifully, although they had to stand up.
                But it is beautiful to share whatever you have. Even if you don't have anything, you can find
           something in your nothing, also to share.
                Charity is sharing. What Bodhidharma is saying is simply nonsense.
              KEEPING OUT THE THIEF OF THE EAR BY NOT LISTENING TO THE SOUNDS IS MORALITY.

                Have you ever heard of such a definition? Not hearing the sounds, not hearing the music is
           morality! Then killing a man, or raping a woman is not immoral? Listening to music is immoral,
           listening to the birds in the trees in the early morning is immoral. My feeling is that because he got
           entangled with the ultimate question and lied, he has lost his grip and he is now trying to make all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           kinds of definitions which are absolutely meaningless and absurd.
              HUMBLING THE THIEF OF THE NOSE BY EQUATING ALL SMELLS AS NEUTRAL IS PATIENCE.

               He is really original! I have read thousands of books on morality, on virtues like patience, but I
           have never come across the statement that it is a question of the nose, not of you. If you can equate
           all smells as neutral -- a roseflower and cow dung smell the same -- you are patient! To hell with
           such patience -- this is simply insanity, insensitivity.
               A man of intelligence will become more sensitive. The poet sees the greens of the trees
           differently from how you see them. He sees them more green. He sees not just green trees, he sees
           different shades of green. His sensitivity for color is very acute, sharp.
               The musician hears sounds even in silence, his ears are so attuned. And the same with the other
           senses.
               But Bodhidharma is really making a laughingstock of himself: CONTROLLING THE THIEF
           OF THE MOUTH BY CONQUERING DESIRES TO TASTE, PRAISE AND EXPLAIN IS
           DEVOTION.
               If you can eat the most delicious food and the holy cow dung without it making any difference,
           this is devotion! My whole life I have been trying to define devotion, but Bodhidharma knows
           better!
              QUELLING THE THIEF OF THE BODY BY REMAINING UNMOVED BY SENSATIONS OF TOUCH
              IS MEDITATION.

               If somebody touches you and you don't feel it, you are in meditation? If somebody touches you
           and you don't feel it, you are simply dead. It is not meditation.
               But he has done a great job. And the people who were listening to him, must have wondered ....
           "From India an enlightened man has come. We have also heard" -- those Chinese had also heard
           much about meditation -- "but this is really original!"
               They have also their own Lao Tzu, and Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu -- contemporaries of Gautam
           Buddha, of the same caliber, who know what meditation is. And he is trying to make a definition, an
           almost unbelievable one. He has just lost his nerve.
               When the ultimate question was asked, that was the point from where he started falling. And he
           forgot everything. Now he is trying to make up, in any way he can ...patching up this hole, patching
           up that hole, and new holes are coming up and he is running hither and thither and he cannot make
           any sense of what he is doing.
              AND TAMING THE THIEF OF THE MIND BY NOT YIELDING TO DELUSIONS BUT PRACTICING
              WAKEFULNESS IS WISDOM.

                Only this one seems to be a little sensible -- just a little, not much, because wakefulness cannot
           be practiced. He himself has said before that it is a spontaneous phenomenon, you cannot practice it.
           Anything practiced will be practiced by your mind. Who is going to practice it?
                You have your body; you can practice yoga. You have your mind; you can practice meditation,
           wakefulness. But anything that comes from the body will go with the body, and anything that comes
           from the mind will go with the mind. They will not be able to go with you when death takes away
           everything.
                Something has to happen in you which is not part of the body, not part of the mind -- something
           which has no roots in body-mind structure. And wakefulness is awareness, witnessing from far away
           all the activities of the mind and the body. Then wakefulness will go with you. Even when the body
           and mind are taken away by death, wakefulness cannot be taken away by anyone.
                So that's why I say just a little bit -- at least he is not making too much of an idiot of himself.
                THESE SIX PARAMITAS, that which takes you beyond, ARE TRANSPORTS. LIKE BOATS
           OR RAFTS, THEY TRANSPORT BEINGS TO THE OTHER SHORE. HENCE, THEY'RE
           CALLED FERRIES.
           BUT WHEN SHAKYAMUNI WAS A BODHISATTVA, HE CONSUMED THREE BOWLS OF
           MILK ... Now this is going to be the last imaginable madness. The disciple is asking:
              BUT WHEN SHAKYAMUNI WAS A BODHISATTVA, HE CONSUMED THREE BOWLS OF MILK
              AND SIX LADLES OF GRUEL PRIOR TO ATTAINING ENLIGHTENMENT. IF HE HAD TO DRINK
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MILK BEFORE HE COULD TASTE THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD, HOW CAN MERELY
              BEHOLDING THE MIND RESULT IN LIBERATION?

               Because Bodhidharma is getting eccentric the disciples are also starting asking questions which
           ordinarily they would not have asked. But now everything is okay. It is true that Buddha consumed
           three bowls of milk but that does not mean that because of those three bowls of milk he became
           enlightened, that one has to do something before enlightenment. It does not mean that it is a
           condition.
               But that's what the disciples are asking: IF HE HAD TO DRINK MILK BEFORE HE COULD
           TASTE THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD, HOW CAN MERELY BEHOLDING THE MIND
           RESULT IN LIBERATION? First one has to drink three bowls of milk -- and you are telling us just
           to watch the mind and you will become liberated. What about those three bowls of milk?
               And this is not only with Bodhidharma, this is the case with all religious scriptures,
           commentaries. They come to points where you are simply shocked that these people .... Can't they
           see a simple thing, that it was just incidental? He was hungry and somebody offered the milk. But
           what the disciples are asking can be forgiven. They are disciples, ignorant. But the answer is really
           great! The disciples are nothing before the answer.
               The answer is: WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE. THIS IS HOW HE ATTAINED
           ENLIGHTENMENT. HE HAD TO DRINK MILK BEFORE HE COULD BECOME A BUDDHA.
           BUT THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF MILK.
               This is something that you cannot go beyond. I used to think there is a limit to stupidity, but there
           is none. He says:
              BUT THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF MILK. THAT WHICH SHAKYAMUNI DRANK WASN'T
              ORDINARY IMPURE MILK BUT PURE DHARMAMILK.

              Not just ordinary milk -- religious milk! And what is religious milk? Nobody has ever heard
           about it. People have heard about powdered milk, and all other kinds, but dharmamilk? How can
           milk be religious?
              THE THREE BOWLS WERE THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS. AND THE SIX LADLES WERE
              THE SIX PARAMITAS. WHEN SHAKYAMUNI ATTAINED ENLIGHTENMENT, IT WAS BECAUSE HE
              DRANK THIS PURE DHARMAMILK THAT HE TASTED THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD. TO SAY
              THAT THE TATHAGATA DRANK THE WORLDLY CONCOCTION OF IMPURE, RANK-SMELLING
              COW'S MILK IS THE HEIGHT OF SLANDER. THAT WHICH IS TRULY-SO, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE,
              PASSIONLESS DHARMA-SELF, REMAINS FOREVER FREE OF THE WORLD'S AFFLICTIONS.
              WHY WOULD IT NEED IMPURE MILK TO SATISFY ITS HUNGER OR THIRST?

               On the one hand, we have seen Bodhidharma saying again and again, in many sutras, that your
           intrinsic being is always pure, there is no way to make it impure. And now, to become aware of your
           self-nature -- that's what buddhahood is -- you need a very special kind of milk, dharmamilk. He
           gives the whole description for how this dharmamilk is created.
              THE SUTRAS SAY, "THIS OX DOESN'T LIVE IN THE HIGHLANDS OR THE LOWLANDS."

               The first thing to remember is that it is not a cow because a cow is a woman, female, and you
           cannot expect dharmamilk from a female. Dharmamilk comes only through males. You should send
           this sutra to Morarji Desai; it supports his ideology. He is drinking the dharmamilk every day
           ...milking and drinking and milking and drinking his own milk. I think he has attained more virtue
           than any buddha!
               This ox is not a mistake, because before this, he has used the word cow. When he is condemning
           the milk he is saying, TO SAY THAT THE TATHAGATA DRANK THE WORLDLY
           CONCOCTION OF IMPURE, RANK-SMELLING COW'S MILK ... So he knows perfectly well the
           difference between cows and oxen.
               The sutras say, "THIS OX DOES NOT LIVE IN THE HIGHLANDS OR THE LOWLANDS. IT
           DOESN'T EAT GRAIN OR CHAFF. AND IT DOESN'T GRAZE WITH COWS -- because even to
           graze with cows, there is a possibility the dharmamilk may get impure.
              THE BODY OF THIS OX IS THE COLOR OF BURNISHED GOLD." THE OX REFERS TO
              VAIROCANA. DUE TO HIS GREAT COMPASSION FOR ALL BEINGS, HE PRODUCES FROM
              WITHIN HIS PURE DHARMABODY THE SUBLIME DHARMAMILK OF THE THREE SETS OF
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PRECEPTS AND SIX PARAMITAS TO NOURISH ALL THOSE WHO SEEK LIBERATION. THE
              PURE MILK OF SUCH A TRULY PURE OX NOT ONLY ENABLED THE TATHAGATA TO ACHIEVE
              BUDDHAHOOD, IT ENABLES ANY BEING WHO DRINKS IT TO ATTAIN UNEXCELLED,
              COMPLETE ENLIGHTENMENT.

               This is really very discouraging. Where are you going to find this dharma-ox?
               That reminds me of a Hindu monk, very famous. I was traveling with him to participate in a
           Hindu conference and we stayed in the same house. He used to drink only milk; that was his only
           great spirituality. Otherwise, I could not see -- three days I had been with him -- I could not see any
           intelligence. The only thing was that he used only milk -- and that milk had to be from a white cow,
           an absolutely white cow.
               When I heard this I asked him, "I should not interfere in your great discipline, but I cannot resist
           the temptation because I have never seen even a black cow giving black milk. Milk is always white,
           so why do you worry? If a cow has a dot, just a small dot ...black or brown or anything ...is that
           canceled?"
               In the morning, many cows were brought for the saint to see and to look all around to see
           whether they were absolutely white or not. And when he accepted some cow, that it was absolutely
           white, then a man had to take a bath with his clothes on and with those wet clothes on he had to milk
           the cow, in front of the saint, so no impurity or anything wrong goes into the milk.
               In three days I got so tired of his idiotness. I had not heard about Bodhidharma then; otherwise I
           would have told him, "What you are doing is absolutely right. Only one thing is wrong; you drink
           the milk of the cows. You should drink the milk of the ox, a white ox." But even white ox milk will
           not be white. It will be yellow. But to attain enlightenment one can do any austerity -- and this is a
           great discipline!
               Bodhidharma has simply made himself an utter fool, when in fact things were simple to explain.
           But it is not just with this religion -- with every religion the same problem arises again and again.
               The Jaina tirthankara, Mahavira, became enlightened sitting in a certain pose which is very
           strange because you are rarely found in that pose. In yoga that posture is called, "cow-milking
           posture." In India, machines are not used; men sit on a tripod and milk the cows by hand. But what
           was Mahavira doing? -- because he was certainly not milking a cow so why should he sit in the
           milking-a-cow posture?
               That can be done only for one reason ...and I will not tell you the reason. You can ask Morarji
           Desai; tell him, "You are doing perfectly. Just remember, sit in the right cow-milking pose. Collect
           the milk and drink, and enlightenment is sure."
               Now, after Mahavira Jaina monks had been thinking one could not become enlightened because
           to sit in that posture is very difficult. You cannot sit long enough -- and it is a very strange posture.
           To meditate one needs to sit in such a way that one is relaxed, at ease. Mahavira's is a very tense
           posture.
               But what is accidental, people start thinking of as if it is the cause -- as if that posture is a
           necessity for enlightenment. Nothing is a necessity for enlightenment because enlightenment is not
           caused by anything that you can do. Enlightenment happens only when you are absent, so utterly
           silent that it is not your doing.
               You cannot brag, "This is my enlightenment. I have done it." When enlightenment happens, you
           can simply say, "I was not. And because I was not, I was so silent, so absent -- just a pure nothing,
           only a receptivity -- it happened." It came from the beyond just as sunrays come to the flowers and
           they open their petals. Something from the beyond comes into you and your lotus opens its petals
           and releases all its inexhaustible fragrance. But there is no cause.
               Cause and effect are scientific terms. They don't have any significance in the mystery of your
           inner life. There is nothing caused, nothing effected. The buddhahood, the enlightenment, the
           awakening, the liberation is already there. It is not to be created, hence no cause is needed. It has
           only to be looked at. You have just to turn your eyes inwards and see it. It is a discovery. It has been
           there for millennia so you can do it at any moment -- just a small thing which is not a cause -- you
           just open your eyes inward. And that's what I call meditation.
               Mind opens outside; meditation opens inside. Mind is a door that leads you outside in the world;
           meditation is the door that leads you to your interiority -- to the very innermost shrine of your being.
           And suddenly, you are enlightened. Enlightenment is always sudden; it is never gradual.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And Bodhidharma knew it. His own enlightenment was a sudden experience. But just so as not to
           contradict the tradition, not to annoy the people, not to make enemies, he compromised. I
           categorically condemn this compromise.
               A man of his genius should not have compromised on any ground. Even if all Buddhism in China
           disappears, nothing is lost.
               But Bodhidharma compromising has destroyed his own integrity, his own sincerity, his own
           authority. He has become a pygmy when actually he was a giant.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                             Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                 Chapter #19
                        Chapter title: Relish the mystery in the depths of your heart
           14 July 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707140
              ShortTitle: BODHI19
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 137 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              THROUGHOUT THE SUTRAS, THE BUDDHA TELLS MORTALS THEY CAN ACHIEVE
              ENLIGHTENMENT BY PERFORMING SUCH MERITORIOUS WORKS AS BUILDING
              MONASTERIES, CASTING STATUES, BURNING INCENSE, SCATTERING FLOWERS, LIGHTING
              ETERNAL LAMPS, PRACTICING ALL SIX PERIODS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT, WALKING
              AROUND STUPAS, OBSERVING FASTS AND WORSHIPING. BUT IF BEHOLDING THE MIND
              INCLUDES ALL OTHER PRACTICES, THEN SUCH WORKS AS THESE WOULD APPEAR
              REDUNDANT.
              THE SUTRAS OF THE BUDDHA CONTAIN COUNTLESS METAPHORS. BECAUSE MORTALS
              HAVE SHALLOW MINDS AND DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING DEEP, THE BUDDHA USED THE
              TANGIBLE TO REPRESENT THE SUBLIME. PEOPLE WHO SEEK BLESSINGS BY
              CONCENTRATING ON EXTERNAL WORKS INSTEAD OF INTERNAL CULTIVATION ARE
              ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE.
              WHAT YOU CALL A MONASTERY, WE CALL A SANGHARAMA, A PLACE OF PURITY. BUT
              WHOEVER DENIES ENTRY TO THE THREE POISONS AND KEEPS THE GATES OF HIS SENSES
              PURE, HIS BODY AND MIND STILL, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE CLEAN, BUILDS A MONASTERY.
              CASTING STATUES REFERS TO ALL PRACTICES CULTIVATED BY THOSE WHO SEEK
              ENLIGHTENMENT ....
              AND BURNING INCENSE DOESN'T MEAN ORDINARY MATERIAL INCENSE BUT THE INCENSE
              OF THE INTANGIBLE DHARMA, WHICH DRIVES AWAY FILTH, IGNORANCE AND EVIL DEEDS
              WITH ITS PERFUME ....
              WHEN THE BUDDHA WAS IN THE WORLD, HE TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO LIGHT SUCH
              PRECIOUS INCENSE WITH THE FIRE OF AWARENESS AS AN OFFERING TO THE BUDDHAS
              OF THE TEN DIRECTIONS. BUT PEOPLE TODAY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE TATHAGATA'S
              REAL MEANING. THEY USE AN ORDINARY FLAME TO LIGHT MATERIAL INCENSE OF
              SANDALWOOD OR FRANKINCENSE HOPING FOR SOME FUTURE BLESSING THAT NEVER
              COMES.
              FOR SCATTERING FLOWERS THE SAME HOLDS TRUE. THIS REFERS TO SPEAKING THE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DHARMA, OR TO SCATTERING FLOWERS OF VIRTUE, IN ORDER TO BENEFIT OTHERS AND
              GLORIFY THE REAL SELF .... IF YOU THINK THE TATHAGATA MEANT FOR PEOPLE TO HARM
              PLANTS BY CUTTING OFF THEIR BLOOM, YOU'RE WRONG. THOSE WHO OBSERVE THE
              PRECEPTS DON'T INJURE ANY OF THE MYRIAD LIFE FORMS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. IF
              YOU HURT SOMETHING BY MISTAKE, YOU SUFFER FOR IT. BUT THOSE WHO
              INTENTIONALLY BREAK THE PRECEPTS BY INJURING THE LIVING FOR THE SAKE OF
              FUTURE BLESSINGS SUFFER EVEN MORE. HOW COULD THEY LET WOULD-BE BLESSINGS
              TURN INTO SORROWS?
              THE ETERNAL LAMP REPRESENTS PERFECT AWARENESS.         ...LONG AGO, THERE WAS A
              BUDDHA NAMED DIPAMKARA, OR LAMPLIGHTER. THIS WAS THE MEANING OF HIS NAME ....
              THE LIGHT RELEASED BY A BUDDHA FROM ONE CURL BETWEEN HIS BROWS CAN
              ILLUMINATE COUNTLESS WORLDS. AN OIL LAMP IS NO HELP ....
              PRACTICING ALL SIX PERIODS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT MEANS AMONG THE SIX SENSES
              CONSTANTLY CULTIVATING ENLIGHTENMENT AND PERSERVERING IN EVERY FORM OF
              AWARENESS. NEVER RELAXING CONTROL OVER THE SIX SENSES IS WHAT'S MEANT BY
              ALL SIX PERIODS.
              AS FOR WALKING AROUND STUPAS, THE STUPA IS YOUR BODY AND MIND. WHEN YOUR
              AWARENESS CIRCLES YOUR BODY AND MIND WITHOUT STOP, THIS IS CALLED WALKING
              AROUND A STUPA ....
              THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR OBSERVING A FAST .... TO FAST MEANS ...TO REGULATE YOUR
              BODY AND MIND SO THAT THEY'RE NOT DISTRACTED OR DISTURBED.
              ALSO, ONCE YOU STOP EATING THE FOOD OF DELUSION, IF YOU TOUCH IT AGAIN, YOU
              BREAK YOUR FAST. AND ONCE YOU BREAK IT, YOU REAP NO BLESSING FROM IT. THE
              WORLD IS FULL OF DELUDED PEOPLE WHO DON'T SEE THIS. THEY INDULGE THEIR BODY
              AND MIND IN ALL MANNER OF EVIL. THEY GIVE FREE REIN TO THEIR PASSIONS AND HAVE
              NO SHAME. AND WHEN THEY STOP EATING ORDINARY FOOD, THEY CALL IT FASTING. HOW
              ABSURD!
              IT'S THE SAME WITH WORSHIPING. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING AND ADAPT
              TO CONDITIONS. MEANING INCLUDES ACTION AND NON-ACTION ....
              WORSHIP MEANS REVERENCE AND HUMILITY. IT MEANS REVERING YOUR REAL SELF AND
              HUMBLING DELUSIONS. IF YOU CAN WIPE OUT EVIL DESIRES AND HARBOR GOOD
              THOUGHTS, EVEN IF NOTHING SHOWS, IT'S WORSHIP ....
              THOSE WHO FAIL TO CULTIVATE THE INNER MEANING AND CONCENTRATE INSTEAD ON
              THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION NEVER STOP INDULGING IN IGNORANCE, HATRED AND EVIL
              WHILE EXHAUSTING THEMSELVES TO NO AVAIL. THEY CAN DECEIVE OTHERS WITH
              POSTURES, REMAIN SHAMELESS BEFORE SAGES AND VAIN BEFORE MORTALS, BUT
              THEY'LL NEVER ESCAPE THE WHEEL, MUCH LESS ACHIEVE ANY MERIT.


                I am deeply hurt to have to say that Bodhidharma has gone senile. He was going so great up to
           the point when the question was asked, "From where does ignorance come?" But he lost the track. It
           often happens ...if you lie once, you have to lie one thousand and one times more; each lie needs
           another lie to protect it -- and still it remains unprotected. Instead of one lie, now you have to protect
           two lies, but lies cannot be protected by truth -- so you bring in a third lie. And this is an endless
           series.
                That's what has happened to Bodhidharma because he simply could not say, "I don't know." Now
           he's in a dilemma: whatever is asked, he has to give some answer -- whether he knows or not. And
           there are things which cannot be known by their very nature. So it should not have been a calamity at
           all to accept that this is an ultimate question and ultimate questions cannot be answered -- either by
           Bodhidharma or by anybody else, past, present, or future.
                The ultimate will remain always a mystery. You cannot demystify it by giving an answer. The
           moment you face the ultimate, you simply have to be like a child, an innocent. Enjoy the wonder of
           it, relish the mystery of it in the depths of your heart. Let it reach into the silences of your being. Let
           it penetrate you and transform you. It is not a question to ask about, or to expect any answer to.
                But Bodhidharma took only one single wrong step, and now he is going on down the drain. Each
           day he has to go on creating unnecessary lies. Once in a while he says something true, but now the
           amount of truth goes on lessening and the lies are becoming more and more, their quantity goes on
           increasing.
                I had never thought that a man like Bodhidharma was not courageous enough to simply say,
           "Forgive me, I don't know," to the ultimate question. If he had said that and stopped there, he would
           have risen above millions of mystics in height, in depth, in magnificence.
                But I can understand the problem: he did not want to disappoint his disciples, he did not want to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappoint the Chinese people. He did not want to tell them that there are fundamental questions
           which even an enlightened person cannot answer. So he goes on fabricating fictions. He cannot say
           that the Buddha is wrong, so he has to produce strange answers which don't fit at all with what
           Buddha said -- and they don't fit absolutely with what Bodhidharma himself said earlier. His whole
           teaching was to be aware of the mind and to go beyond the mind, and that was absolutely perfect.
           Nothing was to be added to it.
                Now he's answering questions reluctantly, but he cannot stop. It needs tremendous courage to
           ignore your disciples' questions and to simply say that this is not a question because it is ultimate. He
           has been trying in every way to satisfy the disciples and to satisfy the Chinese people that an
           enlightened man knows everything.
                The reality is not so. The more you become enlightened, the less you know. At the ultimate peak
           of enlightenment, you simply know yourself ...and nothing else. But at that peak, you yourself are
           the whole universe.
                I will tell you where he's still right -- because he knows what is the truth -- but he is
           compromising. He is not a rebel, he is a pacifying person. He does not want to say a single word to
           disturb the newly-converted Buddhists in China. It would have been alright if he had remained in
           India and never gone to China. Here he would have been his real self; there was no need even to
           consider others. The moment you start considering others, you fall from the height.
                As far as I am concerned, my absolute commitment is towards the truth. Even if I irritate and
           annoy the whole world, I will not say anything just to console them, and I will not say anything that
           goes against my experience of truth. People have been asking me, "Why is the whole world against
           you?" The world is not against me. I am against the world because I have chosen truth. And I will
           say only that which is absolutely my experience. I will not compromise in any way, for any reason
           whatsoever.
                But Bodhidharma started compromising. He may have been worshiped by people because he
           consoled them, but in my eyes he has lost his grandeur; he has lost his beauty and intelligence. He
           has come just too low to be understood.
           This is the question of a disciple:
                THROUGHOUT THE SUTRAS, THE BUDDHA TELLS MORTALS THEY CAN ACHIEVE
           ENLIGHTENMENT BY PERFORMING SUCH MERITORIOUS WORKS AS BUILDING
           MONASTERIES, CASTING STATUES, BURNING INCENSE, SCATTERING FLOWERS,
           LIGHTING ETERNAL LAMPS, PRACTICING ALL SIX PERIODS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT,
           WALKING AROUND STUPAS ... Stupas are the graves of ancient enlightened people.
           ...OBSERVING FASTS AND WORSHIPING.
                In fact, this whole sutra is an invention of the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Buddha never said
           anything like that, and if he said it he was wrong. That should have been Bodhidharma's simple
           approach, because even at the time of his death Buddha's last words were, "Don't make my statues."
                And you have heard Bodhidharma in the beginning saying, "Buddhas cannot worship buddhas."
           There is no need, and it is really humiliating. You have the same quality of consciousness within
           you, you just have not discovered it. Somebody else has discovered it, but as far as HAVING it is
           concerned, you both have it in the same way.
                Bodhidharma mentioned the name of Dipamkara. He was an ancient buddha long before Gautam
           Buddha, and in Dipamkara's time Gautam Buddha was an ordinary man. Just out of curiosity he had
           gone to see Dipamkara. He was given the name Dipamkara because his presence was so infectious
           that those who innocently came close to him immediately caught something invisible, as if a flame
           had jumped from Dipamkara into their heart, which was utterly dark, and now there was light. Hence
           the name, Dipamkara Buddha, was given to him -- a man who lights the unlit lamps of others just by
           his presence.
                Gautam Buddha was not enlightened at that time but he had gone just out of curiosity, like a
           small child, to see what was happening, why so many people were going there. His curiosity was
           innocent. He had not gone to attain knowledge or enlightenment, or anything. There was no greed in
           it, there was no ambition in it. It was simply the wonder. He had heard that people who went to
           Dipamkara ...just sitting silently with him something had transpired, and they returned home totally
           different people. Their actions changed, their lifestyles changed. They became more loving, more
           compassionate, greed disappeared, ambition disappeared, anger disappeared. They became
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           individuals so beautiful and so fragrant that Buddha wanted to see this man ...this man was a wonder.
           He did nothing, yet ....
                The master never does anything. His whole work is somehow to bring you close ...as close as
           when you bring one candle which is burning with a flame close to another candle which is unlit.
           There is a certain point when the unlit candle will catch fire from the flame of the lit candle. The lit
           candle will not lose anything, but the unlit will gain a tremendous treasure. Unlit it was dead, and
           when the flame started, life came to it. Now it can also dispel darkness in the same way as the first
           flame was doing.
                Dipamkara was such a man; in fact every great master is such a man. Whatever happens around
           him is not done by him. Whatever is done is just to bring you close, to make himself available to you
           and a mystery to you, so that without your knowing you are pulled like a magnet pulls things ...and
           at a certain distance, suddenly you become aflame. The old dies, and the new man is born.
                This sutra is absolutely wrong. It is not a statement of Gautam Buddha, because a man of his
           understanding cannot tell people that THEY CAN ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT BY
           PERFORMING SUCH MERITORIOUS WORKS AS BUILDING MONASTERIES, CASTING
           STATUES, BURNING INCENSE .... Can you see any connection with enlightenment and burning
           incense? You can burn mountains of incense ...there is no logical relationship with your becoming
           enlightened. You may get burned, that's the only thing. Making monasteries ...and you are not a
           monk! -- you are making monasteries for other fools to become monks. How can that become your
           enlightenment? How many monasteries did Gautam Buddha make before he became enlightened?
           How much incense did he burn? How many flowers did he scatter? How many eternal lamps did he
           burn?
                No! This statement is not at all Gautam Buddha's. It is the invention of the Mahayana School, a
           certain creed and doctrine. And there was a historical reason why such things were created. Buddha
           was a very straightforward man. He said whatsoever was right -- whatever the consequences. For
           example, he said, "All the pundits and the scholars and the brahmins are idiots -- and they are
           parasites. For centuries they have been sucking the blood of the people." He called the VEDAS "just
           rubbish." And the VEDAS were so much respected by the Hindus that anybody calling them rubbish
           must have had great courage. He did not accept any Hindu AVATARA, any Hindu incarnation, as
           having any value.
                For example, Parasurama is one of the Hindu incarnations of God. He was the son of a man who
           was thought to be a great seer, but he was suspicious ...as all husbands are suspicious about their
           wives, and all wives are automatically suspicious of their husbands. That is their only relationship.
           Finally the father became so convinced of his suspicion -- which may have had grounds or may not
           have had grounds, he could not be certain on this point -- that he ordered his son, Parasurama, to cut
           off his mother's head and bring it to him. And Prasurama went, without asking why. It was not a
           small thing! He cut off his mother's head and brought it to his father.
                Then the father told him, "I have been suspecting her, but now I have certain evidence that she
           has been in love with a man who is a great warrior." Parasurama and his family belonged to the caste
           of the brahmins. Parasurama said, "Don't you be worried. I will not leave a single man of the warrior
           caste alive."
                The story may be exaggerated, but it shows the quality of the man. It shows that he killed all the
           warriors of the whole world many, many times. And from where were these new warriors coming?
           The Hindu society accepts a very strange thing, and nobody ever considers .... They go on claiming
           they have a great culture, but they never look at its foundation; their culture is just a phony name.
                The Hindu society accepted that if a woman came to a brahmin seer and asked that she be given
           a child, then it was obligatory for the brahmin seer to make love to her and make her pregnant. He
           could not reject her. So Parasurama went on cutting off the heads of the warriors; the widows were
           left, and they were going to the seers .... It was a good business, a great conspiracy!
                The whole country was in a state of prostitution, and Parasurama was killing. Such violence
           cannot be accepted as a quality of God. And it seems illogical ... If his mother was in love with a
           warrior, he could just have killed him -- we can make a few concessions, because he was thought by
           the Hindus to be an incarnation of God. But to kill all the warriors of the world, not even of this
           country, does not seem to have any logic behind it. And it was not certain that what the father was
           saying ... Parasurama should have asked for evidence, for proof. His father may have been just a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           jealous man.
                Now Buddha could not accept Parasurama as a reincarnation of God, and if Parasurama is a
           reincarnation of God then who will be the reincarnation of the devil? Buddha could not accept Rama
           as and incarnation of God because Rama killed a sudra, a young man, by pouring hot liquid lead into
           his ears because he had been listening while hiding behind a tree when a few brahmins were reciting
           the VEDAS. The sudras were not allowed to read; they were not allowed even to listen! What kind
           of culture has this country created, where one-fourth of the people are not even allowed to listen to
           its religious scriptures?
                And because this young man, just out of curiosity hiding behind a tree, listened .... He could not
           have understood it though, because it was in Sanskrit, and Sanskrit has never been the language of
           the people. It has always been the language of the priests -- only of the priests. So even if he had
           listened, he would not have understood anything. And do you think it is a crime? Is it worth
           destroying a young man, by pouring hot boiling lead into his ears, because he committed a sin by
           listening to the VEDAS? And the man died ....
           Buddha could not accept Rama, and he could
                not accept Krishna, a man who was so mad that he collected sixteen thousand women ...any
           woman that he fancied was taken away from her family. She may be a virgin, she may be married,
           she may have children, she may have a husband, she may have to look after her old father-in-law,
           her old mother-in-law. Sixteen thousand women were just simply taken away by his soldiers. They
           were treated as if they were cattle -- and I don't know if he even remembered the names of those
           sixteen thousand women. But he was powerful, and he had a great army and he was a great king.
           Buddha could not accept such nonsense, such a corrupted man, as a reincarnation of God.
                Buddha was very straightforward. He said, "All the statues, all the temples, all the VEDAS are
           creations of a cunning priesthood to exploit people." How can he tell his own people that they can
           attain enlightenment by BUILDING MONASTERIES, CASTING STATUES, BURNING
           INCENSE, SCATTERING FLOWERS, LIGHTING ETERNAL LAMPS, PRACTICING ALL SIX
           PERIODS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT, WALKING AROUND STUPAS, OBSERVING FASTS
           AND WORSHIPING?
                Buddha was against worship, he was against statues. His last words before his death were,
           "Again I remind you: don't make statues of me, don't create temples in my name, don't start
           worshiping me because worshiping is not going to lead you anywhere. I have shown you the path of
           meditation -- meditate. And if even in your meditation I appear, don't hesitate. Immediately cut off
           my head." A man who can say this ...do you think this sutra can possibly come from him?
                Bodhidharma could have simply said, "These are not the words of Buddha." But he did not say it.
           That's where he falls low in my eyes.
                He did not say it because in China the Buddhists were trying to make as many monasteries, as
           many temples, as many statues as possible. One temple exists in China with ten thousand statues of
           Buddha. The whole mountain has been carved as a temple. This is the biggest temple in the world,
           where there are ten thousand statues of Buddha, and to say anything about this not being right would
           go against the very Buddhists who have been working to convert the Chinese. And they had been
           giving the certainty to the Chinese that they would become enlightened if they fed the monks, if they
           worshiped the Buddha, if they gave donations to the monasteries.
                Bodhidharma must have hesitated a moment, but finally he fell into the trap of being part of an
           organized religion. Organized religion always insists on these stupid things which don't lead you
           anywhere, but they help the organized religion to exploit you; otherwise, who is going to feed one
           million Catholic nuns and monks? Who is going to take care of all the expenses of thousands of
           Catholic monasteries? It has to be continuously emphasized by the sermons of the priests every
           Sunday, people have to be reminded to donate, reminded that, "Donation will bring you salvation."
           Salvation is the Christian word for enlightenment.
           The disciples can see it, so they are asking:
              BUT IF BEHOLDING THE MIND INCLUDES ALL OTHER PRACTICES, THEN SUCH WORKS AS
              THESE WOULD APPEAR REDUNDANT.

               If a single method of beholding the mind creates enlightenment, then what is the need of all these
           things? These are all things that come out of the mind; they will strengthen the mind. But all that you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to do is to weaken the mind, go beyond it ...so beyond that it cannot take any energy from you
           and it dies out of hunger and starvation. And when you don't have any mind, but just a pure silence
           of no-mind, you have attained enlightenment.
               The disciples are perfectly right to ask the question, "You yourself have been saying, `Just
           behold the mind and that's enough.' Then what is the need of all these rituals?" Now he is caught in a
           catch-22 .... If he says, "These words are not from Buddha," he goes against Mahayana Buddhism
           and he belongs to that sect.
               That's why I insist: Don't belong to any sect, to any creed, to any religion; otherwise, you cannot
           be absolutely committed to truth. Any other commitment side by side with the commitment to truth
           is dangerous. Then you would like somehow to also console that other commitment.
               And if a man like Bodhidharma could not manage to say the truth, because he could see that if he
           says it -- and he was the first enlightened man to enter China -- if he says it, the whole edifice that
           thousands of Buddhist monks had created in six hundred years, the whole atmosphere that you can
           become enlightened by worshiping Buddha, by burning incense, by offering flowers, by making
           temples, statues, monasteries would simply flop, because none of them was enlightened. The whole
           of China was waiting to hear what is actually the truth from an enlightened man. But because he also
           belonged to a certain business firm, he decided in favor of the business rather than in favor of the
           truth.
               I have always told a small story .... A small school, a Christian school, but the only one in the
           vicinity and little kids .... The teacher was telling them for almost one hour, "Jesus Christ is the
           greatest man who has walked on the earth." And then she asked the students, "Who is the greatest
           man that has walked on the earth?"
               One American boy student said, "Abraham Lincoln." She said, "Not bad, but not quite right."
               An English girl stood up and said, "Winston Churchill." The woman could not believe that she
           had wasted one hour insisting on a single point. She said, "Not bad, but not quite right yet."
               And then a little boy who never used to speak stood up raising his hand. The teacher said, "You
           never do that. For the first time you are raising your hand!" And she was afraid that certainly his
           answer was not going to be right. But the boy said, "Jesus Christ." She was shocked by the previous
           two answers, but this answer was even more shocking because the boy was Jewish.
               After the class she caught hold of the boy, took him aside and said, "Hymie, aren't you a Jew?"
           He said, "Yes, I am."
           "Then do you really think Jesus Christ is the greatest man who has walked on the earth?"
               He laughed and said, "Business is business. In the deepest part of my heart I know Moses is the
           man, not Jesus Christ. He's just a pygmy. But business is business ...." because there was a big
           trophy to be given to the person who answered the question right, and Hymie was carrying the big
           trophy, bigger than himself.
               But you can forgive a small child. And he was very logical; he must have thought, "What does it
           matter if I say once in a class, just to win the game, `Jesus Christ' I know the rules for who is going
           to win, so why unnecessarily bring in Moses and get defeated? In the deepest part of my heart I
           know Moses is the greatest man who has ever walked on the earth."
               But even people who are enlightened, when it comes to deciding between their commitment to an
           organized religion and their commitment to truth, decide for their commitment to the organization.
           This is really sad. The answer Bodhidharma gives is simply irrelevant. It's just trying to make
           something that can prove that the sutra is spoken by Buddha.
               I absolutely deny that such a statement was spoken by Buddha. It goes against his very life, his
           very teaching, his very way.
               Bodhidharma says, THE SUTRAS OF THE BUDDHA CONTAIN COUNTLESS
           METAPHORS.
               Now can you see the trick? Now he cannot say it is wrong and he cannot say it is right. He finds
           a middle way and says that Buddha is speaking in metaphors.
              BECAUSE MORTALS HAVE SHALLOW MINDS ...

               And to whom is he speaking -- to the mortals or the immortals? If Buddha's audience had
           shallow minds, does Bodhidharma think that his audience is of higher status? Buddha had perhaps
           the most intelligent audience any man ever had. Bodhidharma is talking to the recently converted
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddhists.
              THE BUDDHA USED THE TANGIBLE TO REPRESENT THE SUBLIME.
              This is tricky, and unforgivable.

              PEOPLE WHO SEEK BLESSINGS BY CONCENTRATING ON EXTERNAL WORKS INSTEAD OF
              INTERNAL CULTIVATION ARE ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE.

              But he knows the truth, so once in a while it comes up in spite of his effort to suppress it and to
           go with the crowd and the mass mind. This is true when he says ...CONCENTRATING ON
           EXTERNAL WORKS INSTEAD OF INTERNAL CULTIVATION IS ATTEMPTING THE
           IMPOSSIBLE.
              But that's what the sutra says; now the only way is to make it a metaphor.
              WHAT YOU CALL A MONASTERY, WE CALL A SANGHARAMA, A PLACE OF PURITY.

               That is absolutely wrong. SANGHARAMA is exactly a monastery; it is not different from a
           monastery, it is not a metaphor. And even for these last two thousand years, thousands of
           monasteries have existed in China. It is just since the communist revolution thirty years ago that
           many monasteries have been destroyed; otherwise millions of monks were living on the people's
           blood. But they are coming back again ....
               It was Mao Tse-tung's very adamant, stubborn, fascist and communist mind that turned the
           monasteries into hospitals, into schools and forced the monks to go to the fields and work. Mao
           stopped begging -- and Buddhism has lived only on begging. In fact begging had been a discipline, a
           practice, because it makes you humble. But Mao made it illegal to beg and forced the monks to work
           for their food, for their clothes, for their shelter.
               Now Mao is dead and his enemies in the communist party -- who he had not allowed ...many of
           them were forced into jail, many have been killed -- have come into power. Now the opposite party
           inside the communist party itself has come into power and it wants to win the heart of the people.
           Monasteries are coming back again because two thousand years of Buddhism cannot be erased so
           easily. Now Buddhist monks can again be seen with their begging bowls. Those hospitals have been
           removed, those schools have been removed, and monks are no longer forced to work in the fields, or
           in the factories, or wherever they can be of any use ....
           BUT WHOEVER DENIES ENTRY TO THE THREE POISONS AND KEEPS THE GATES OF
           HIS SENSES PURE, HIS BODY AND MIND STILL, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE CLEAN, BUILDS
           A MONASTERY.
               Now this is a very farfetched idea. And if Bodhidharma can explain it to very new candidates of
           Buddhism, why cannot Buddha himself have said that he was speaking in metaphors? He could have
           explained it himself, and he was far better as far as speaking was concerned, far more articulate; he
           could have explained that these are just metaphors. But nowhere does he mention them as
           metaphors. It is very arduous for Bodhidharma to turn everything into a metaphor, but we will see
           that with everything he goes on with the idea that they are metaphors.
              CASTING STATUES REFERS TO ALL PRACTICES CULTIVATED BY THOSE WHO SEEK
              ENLIGHTENMENT.

               I cannot understand how this can be a metaphor. CASTING STATUES REFERS TO ALL
           PRACTICES CULTIVATED BY THOSE WHO SEEK ENLIGHTENMENT. What relationship,
           even a farfetched one ...? A metaphor should be representative; it should explain something, it
           should be helpful to understand. This is not at all concerned with casting statues and practicing for
           enlightenment! Could not Buddha himself say, "Practice for enlightenment"?
               AND BURNING INCENSE DOES NOT MEAN ORDINARY MATERIAL INCENSE -- as if
           there is somewhere available some spiritual incense -- BUT THE INCENSE OF THE INTANGIBLE
           DHARMA .... Where are you going to get it? That's why I said it hurts me to say that Bodhidharma
           seems to have gone senile, although he was only seventy-five. ...WHICH DRIVES AWAY FILTH,
           IGNORANCE AND EVIL DEEDS WITH ITS PERFUME.
               Great! But where to get it? that spiritual incense WHICH DRIVES AWAY FILTH,
           IGNORANCE AND EVIL DEEDS WITH ITS PERFUME .... Nobody has ever seen such a thing;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           otherwise life would have been so simple. There is no need to bother people with meditation, with
           any discipline, with any awareness. Just burn the spiritual incense and everything is driven out and
           you are purified by the perfume!
               I alone will not be enlightened because I am allergic to perfume, whether it is tangible or
           intangible. But there is not much harm if one man is not enlightened, it can be tolerated if the whole
           world will be enlightened! I am perfectly ready ....
               Bodhidharma is not even aware for how long he can deceive people, but he has deceived them
           for one thousand years ...that's how long these sutras have been in existence. They have certainly
           been preserved, because they were in the hands of the Mahayana Buddhists, who were not willing
           for them to be translated. And I can understand now why they were not willing for them to be
           translated: they will destroy the great image of Bodhidharma. They themselves may have understood
           that what he is talking about is absolutely outlandish.
              WHEN THE BUDDHA WAS IN THE WORLD, HE TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO LIGHT SUCH
              PRECIOUS INCENSE WITH THE FIRE OF AWARENESS AS AN OFFERING TO THE BUDDHAS
              OF THE TEN DIRECTIONS.

                It may be precious, but where is it available? And then he makes awareness like a fire just to
           burn the incense, and the incense will do everything ...you will become enlightened. So now your
           sole search is to find that dharma-incense, that spiritual incense! Perhaps you can find it in Poona ...it
           is a very spiritual city -- so spiritual that only spirits roam around, no living human beings.
              BUT PEOPLE TODAY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE TATHAGATA'S REAL MEANING.

               Only Bodhidharma understands the Tathagata's real meaning. Perhaps the Tathagata himself did
           not understand his own real meaning!
              THEY USE AN ORDINARY FLAME TO LIGHT MATERIAL INCENSE OF SANDALWOOD OR
              FRANKINCENSE HOPING FOR SOME FUTURE BLESSING THAT NEVER COMES.

              He's going round about, and round about ...he could have simply said, "This statement is not
           Buddha's, and this statement is absolutely nonsense." And that would have been absolutely correct.
              FOR SCATTERING FLOWERS THE SAME HOLDS TRUE. THIS REFERS TO SPEAKING THE
              DHARMA, OR TO SCATTERING FLOWERS OF VIRTUE.

                How do you scatter flowers of virtue? Even if one accepts this stupid explanation, how do you
           scatter the flowers of virtue? You go on giving to people saying, "This is truth, this is love, this is
           compassion," and your hand is empty.
                Two madmen from a madhouse were sitting in the park. Every day for one hour they were
           allowed to go out in the garden. One man, who was keeping his fist closed, asked the other, "If you
           tell me what I am keeping in my fist, I will give you one rupee."
                The other man said, "Really? Will you keep your word?" The first man took out one rupee from
           his pocket and said, "This is the rupee. Just tell me what is in my hand?" And the other man looked
           and said, "It's seems it is an elephant."
                The first man said, "You cannot get the rupee. It seems you have looked. You are being tricky."
           He did not give the one rupee because he also believed he was keeping an elephant in his fist!
                How can you scatter FLOWERS OF VIRTUE, IN ORDER TO BENEFIT OTHERS AND
           GLORIFY THE REAL SELF? IF YOU THINK THE TATHAGATA MEANT FOR PEOPLE TO
           HARM PLANTS BY CUTTING OFF THEIR BLOOM, YOU ARE WRONG.
                That seems to be right, but he's mixing everything in such a way that it loses all significance.
           Certainly Buddha would not like you to pluck flowers; that is killing. The flower on the rosebush has
           a life, a beauty. The moment you pluck it, it is dead. Leave it there.
                Mukta is my gardener. She is not allowed even to cut any leaf or to cut any flowers. In the
           beginning she used to move with gardener's scissors hidden behind her back! But right now I can
           see, whenever I go to Buddha Hall -- otherwise I don't get out -- I can see flowers are there, I can see
           the garden has become a jungle so she must have dropped those gardener's scissors. Let every tree
           grow in its own way; at least in my garden! Don't kill any tree, don't destroy any living flower.
                So I can understand that Buddha would not have allowed the cutting off of their blooms, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rather I would say that the whole sutra was inserted by the Mahayana School. But why did the
           Mahayana School have to insert such things ...?
               There is something very fundamental to be understood here. When Gautam Buddha worked in
           this country, twenty-five centuries ago, he almost converted the whole land. He was a man of such
           charisma. He was not just a learned man; he has known existence, he has been part of it. His impact
           was tremendous -- perhaps nobody else has ever made such an impact.
               But the moment he died, the brahmins, the priests, came out of their caves where they had been
           hiding because they could not face Gautam Buddha -- whoever went to face him became a disciple.
           But they were waiting for their chance: one day he was going to die. He has destroyed their whole
           profession. Now no bells were ringing in the temples, people were not going to worship, people were
           not calling brahmins for their rituals ...and brahmins are the most clever priesthood in the whole
           world.
               People get caught ...each person when he is born is immediately under their control: first some
           ritual, then his birth chart has to be made, then his naming ceremony has to be performed. And in all
           these, the priest is exploiting the people. Then shaving the head ....and this goes on and on. Even if
           you go to some other city you have to consult the brahmin for the right constellation of the stars,
           whether to go north or to south, or to east or to west, what will be the most appropriate and
           beneficial time?
               Then comes marriage -- then again the priest is there. And then after the marriage, children start
           coming from the new marriage -- and the priest is there. And then the man becomes old .... From the
           cradle to the grave, the priest keeps his hold.
               Even after the man has died there are rituals to be performed! And in a poor country, those rituals
           cost so much that people have to sell their houses, their lands, their possessions -- on which they
           were dependent for their livelihood -- because their father has died. Then they have to give a great
           feast for brahmins.
               And even the forefathers who have died ... It must have been a long line, an unending line in fact,
           millions of people in a queue behind one another ...for that they have a special time. One month
           completely they devoted to the forefathers because the number is so big, so one month of continuous
           rituals -- fire worship, mantra chanting -- for the peace of all those who have died in the family ...you
           don't know even their names! And millions must have died.
               Scientists calculate that wherever you are sitting, at least eight persons' graves are underneath
           you. Don't be afraid, they are dead! But so many people have died; even thousands of years after the
           man has died, the priest is still exploiting you.
               Buddha has created a tremendous revolution in this sense, in that he destroyed the whole
           integrity of the priesthood. But the moment he died, the priests came back.
               People were also missing them. Life had become very simple. A child was born -- no priest was
           chanting for a blissful, long life for him. Somebody died and the priest was not there chanting and
           blessing him for the great journey he has gone on. People were also missing all these rituals. So
           when Buddha died, slowly, slowly brahmins came back, and they started driving out the Buddhists
           from the land.
               Just fifty years ago in India there was hardly a single Buddhist. In these last fifty years, one man
           has done a great service -- although he himself was not a religious man, he was a politician. But by
           accident he had to do something; it was political tactics.
               Babasaheb Ambedkar was a sudra, but caught the eye of a very rich man who, seeing he was so
           intelligent, sent him to study in England. He became one of the greatest experts of law in the world
           and he helped make the constitution of India. He was continuously fighting for the sudras to whom
           he belonged, and that is one-fourth of the Hindu society. He wanted a separate vote for the sudras --
           and he was absolutely right.
               I don't see why they should belong to the Hindu fold which has tortured them for ten thousand
           years, forced them to do every sort of ugly work and paid them almost nothing. They are not even
           allowed to live in the cities, they have to live outside the city. Just before freedom, they were not
           allowed to move in many streets of the town. In many places they were forced to announce loudly, "I
           am a sudra and I am passing through here. Those who can hear me, please move out of the way ..."
           because even their shadows falling on you, defile you.
               But finding no way, because Mahatma Gandhi was insistent that sudras should not leave the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hindu fold .... That was also a political strategy, because if one-fourth of the Hindus leave the fold,
           then Hindus will become a minority in their own country. There are Mohammedans, there are
           Christians, there are Jainas; now if a new big chunk would go out of the Hindu fold, the country of
           the Hindus would become almost the country of other religions. And if they all got together, Hindus
           would never be in power.
                I don't consider Mahatma Gandhi a religious man either; he belonged to the same category as
           Doctor Ambedkar. Gandhi went on a fast to death so that Ambedkar had to take back his stand. He
           had to withdraw the idea that sudras should be given a separate vote. And Gandhi was clever ...he
           started calling sudras HARIJANS. Cunning people always play with words. Words don't make any
           difference -- whether you call them sudras, untouchables, or harijans ...harijans means, "children of
           God."
                I had a long discussion with Mahatma Gandhi's son, Ramdas. I said, "Don't you see the
           cunningness? The children of God have been suffering for ten thousand years and those who are not
           children of God are exploiting them, torturing them, oppressing them, raping their women,
           completely burning their towns with all living people inside. If these are the children of God, it is
           better not to be a child of God. That is dangerous."
                Gandhi changed the name just to give it a beautiful meaning, but everything inside remained the
           same. And he went on a fast unto death unless Ambedkar takes his statement back.
                If I had been in the place of Ambedkar, I would have told Mahatma Gandhi, "It is your business
           to live or to die. It is your business if you want to fast -- you are free to. Fast unto death or even
           beyond!"
                But Ambedkar was pressurized from all over the country, because if Gandhi died the whole
           blame would come on Ambedkar. And I would have told Gandhi, "This is a very violent method, and
           you have been talking about nonviolence. Is this nonviolence?"
                It happened ...I was in Raipur teaching in the Sanskrit college there. A very beautiful young girl
           was asked by a gangster if she would be married to him. He was a dangerous man, a criminal. He
           had been to jail many times, he had committed many crimes, and he was almost the same age as the
           girl's father. But he took a fancy to her, and seeing the success of Gandhi fasting to death and how he
           managed everything ...because Gandhi HAD managed Ambedkar.
                After Gandhi had been fasting for twenty-one days, and his health had started to fall fast, the
           doctor said, "Do something; otherwise the old man will be gone." Ambedkar was much pressurized
           by all the Indian national leaders who said to him, "Go to Mahatma Gandhi. Ask for his forgiveness,
           offer him a glass of orange juice to break his fast ...and renounce your movement; otherwise you will
           be remembered always as the one who killed the greatest man of this country, the great religious
           man." And Ambedkar had to do it, although unwillingly.
                I would not have done it! I would have accepted the blame, I would have accepted history's
           condemnation. Who cares when you are dead what is written in history about you? At least you don't
           know what is written, and you don't read. Let them write anything ....
                But I would have insisted that this was not a nonviolent method. It was absolutely violent but in a
           very subtle way. I threaten to kill you -- this is violence. And I threaten to kill myself if you don't
           accept me -- is this logical? The standpoint that Gandhi was taking was absolutely illogical, but he
           supported it by threatening. It is blackmail to say, "I will kill myself."
                Ambedkar managed another way. He started converting the sudras to Buddhism. That's why now
           there are a few lakhs of Buddhists, but they are not in any way religious. It was just a political
           manoeuver.
                This man in Raipur went to the girl's house with a bed, and declared that if the girl was not
           married to him, he was going to fast to death. It became the talk of the whole city; photographers and
           journalists were there, and the whole day the crowd was there. The father became afraid, and
           pressure was put on him, "Why take the responsibility of his death?" But the father said, "This is
           absolutely ugly. This man is my age and he's a criminal. I cannot give my daughter to him."
                I knew the father and the girl -- the girl was my student in the college. The girl suggested to her
           father to consult me as to what could be done. I had not known him before. He came to me and he
           told the whole story. I said, "It is very simple. You just find some old, rotten prostitute."
           He said, "What?"
                I said, "Just listen to the whole point: find a very rotten, old bitch, and put another bed in front of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the house. The bitch should declare, `I'm going to fast to death unless this man marries me.' Other
           than this nothing will work."
               That gangster man escaped in the middle of the night. He was never seen again, he never asked
           again! This is the Gandhian methodology, a very religious thing.
               The Buddhists were burned, driven out of the country, and the whole country was absolutely
           cleaned of all the impact that Buddha had left. Even in the temple that had been raised in memory of
           his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, there was not even one Buddhist to take care of the temple. A
           brahmin has been taking care of it for two thousand years, the same family, generation after
           generation.
               Now they have become the owners of the temple. They don't believe in Buddha. They are against
           Buddha, but the temple is very precious, because from all over the world people come to the temple.
           Much money comes to the temple, so the priest is not concerned. He is earning lots of money and he
           is not willing to hand over the temple, because for two thousand years it has been in his possession.
           No law can take it away from him.
               So when the Buddhists reached China and Tibet they had learned a lesson, that if you go against
           the people and their traditions .... Perhaps when a charismatic person is alive you may seem to be
           winning the game, but when the charismatic person is gone ...what has happened in India, will
           happen in Tibet, will happen in China, will happen in Sri Lanka, will happen in Japan. So they
           compromised.
               That was the reason for inserting all these wrong sutras. The Buddhist scriptures in Tibet have
           different sutras, to console and to convince the Buddhist population of Tibet; Chinese Mahayana
           sutras have differences, in Sri Lanka they have differences. This is the historical reason why these
           absolutely absurd sutras, which cannot be Buddha's, have entered into the scriptures. They have been
           knowingly put in, because without them there was no question of survival.
               But as far as I am concerned, and as far as Bodhidharma should have been concerned, truth is the
           ultimate value, not survival. And survival by creating lies, by distorting the truth ...what is the point?
           Even if Buddhism disappears from the whole world, it does not matter. But the purity of Buddha's
           statements should have been preserved.
               Whenever a seeker wants to search, he has not to get lost in a forest of unnecessary disciplines,
           rituals. Bodhidharma should have made it clear. I KNOW the risk. I understand that he must have
           felt very guilty, because after these sutras, he left China for the Himalayas. He must have felt
           tremendously hurt that what he was doing was against his own understanding. But still I can not
           forgive him. I cannot forgive anyone who goes against truth.
              THOSE WHO OBSERVE THE PRECEPTS DON'T INJURE ANY OF THE MYRIAD LIFE FORMS OF
              HEAVEN AND EARTH. IF YOU HURT SOMETHING BY MISTAKE, YOU SUFFER FOR IT. BUT
              THOSE WHO INTENTIONALLY BREAK THE PRECEPTS BY INJURING THE LIVING FOR THE
              SAKE OF FUTURE BLESSINGS SUFFER EVEN MORE. HOW COULD THEY LET WOULD-BE
              BLESSINGS TURN INTO SORROWS?
              THE ETERNAL LAMP REPRESENTS PERFECT AWARENESS.

               Only in this statement does the metaphor seem to be correct. It can be interpreted as perfect
           awareness, the eternal lamp. But he has not been able to relate other metaphors to his interpretations.
           ...LONG AGO, THERE WAS A BUDDHA NAMED DIPAMKARA, OR LAMPLIGHTER. THIS
           WAS THE MEANING OF HIS NAME .... THE LIGHT RELEASED BY A BUDDHA FROM ONE
           CURL BETWEEN HIS BROWS CAN ILLUMINATE COUNTLESS WORLDS. AN OIL LAMP IS
           NO HELP ....
           PRACTICING ALL SIX PERIODS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT MEANS AMONG THE SIX
           SENSES CONSTANTLY CULTIVATING ENLIGHTENMENT AND PERSEVERING IN EVERY
           FORM OF AWARENESS. NEVER RELAXING CONTROL OVER THE SIX SENSES IS
           WHAT'S MEANT BY ALL SIX PERIODS.
               But these are contradictory to his own statements. Control is not needed because it is through the
           mind. Practice is not needed because it is through the mind. One has to live a life of let-go -- that was
           his basic teaching. One has to be spontaneous. One has to live moment to moment, neither thinking
           of the past, nor thinking of the future, nor clinging to the present.
               He has given such beautiful sutras, and at the end he spoils his own work completely.
              AS FOR WALKING AROUND STUPAS, THE STUPA IS YOUR BODY AND MIND. WHEN YOUR
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AWARENESS CIRCLES YOUR BODY AND MIND WITHOUT STOP, THIS IS CALLED WALKING
              AROUND A STUPA .....

               He is just trying to manage somehow, even though the whole thing is so stupid. Stupas actually
           exist and Buddhists of Mahayana school go on pilgrimages to the stupas and go around them. But
           your body and mind is not a stupa. A stupa is for when you are dead; then a grave has to be created
           for you. The Buddhist grave is called a stupa. It is made in a certain round way.
               But your body and mind are alive. And how can your consciousness go around body and mind?
           He is not even taking into consideration that all his interpretations can be questioned. They were not
           questioned because they consoled the people. They wanted something tangible and if it was a
           metaphor -- no harm; he is not denying Gautam Buddha.
              THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR OBSERVING A FAST.

              Even a man of very small intelligence can see the stupidity ....
           TO FAST MEANS ...TO REGULATE YOUR BODY AND MIND.
              I cannot conceive how a fast can mean TO REGULATE YOUR BODY AND MIND SO THAT
           THEY ARE NOT DISTRACTED OR DISTURBED. Fast simply means fast, and nothing else.
              ALSO, ONCE YOU STOP EATING THE FOOD OF DELUSION, IF YOU TOUCH IT AGAIN, YOU
              BREAK YOUR FAST.

               Now he has forgotten what he was saying. In fact, because that saying is not coming from his
           inner-most being -- it is just his mental gymnastics -- he has forgotten that he has defined body and
           mind as `stupa' and that he has defined fasting as, `regulating your body, disciplining your body.'
               Now from where comes this idea: ONCE YOU STOP EATING THE FOOD OF DELUSION? It
           was not in the very definition of the metaphor. Food was not brought in.
               If you STOP EATING THE FOOD OF DELUSION ... And is there any food that is not of
           delusion? Buddha also eats the same bread as you eat and Buddha also drinks the same water as you
           drink.     ...IF YOU TOUCH IT AGAIN ... Not even eating, but just touching and it is delusion!
           What harm is there in touching a delusion? A delusion does not exist, you cannot touch it. But IF
           YOU TOUCH IT AGAIN, YOU BREAK YOUR FAST. He has forgotten the metaphor that he
           explained before. Now, even if you touch the delusion food, you have broken your fast.
              AND ONCE YOU BREAK IT, YOU REAP NO BLESSING FROM IT. THE WORLD IS FULL OF
              DELUDED PEOPLE WHO DON'T SEE THIS. THEY INDULGE THEIR BODY AND MIND IN ALL
              MANNER OF EVIL. THEY GIVE FREE REIN TO THEIR PASSIONS AND HAVE NO SHAME. AND
              WHEN THEY STOP EATING ORDINARY FOOD, THEY CALL IT FASTING. HOW ABSURD!
              I agree only with the last: How absurd!

              IT'S THE SAME WITH WORSHIPING. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING AND ADAPT
              TO CONDITIONS. MEANING INCLUDES ACTION AND NON-ACTION ....

              He is just trying to deceive people -- bringing in words which have no relation at all.
              WORSHIP MEANS REVERENCE AND HUMILITY.

               That is true. It means revering your real self and humbling delusions. But if you know your real
           self, where will you find the delusions? Both cannot exist together. Either you are awake -- then the
           dreams are no more there -- or the dreams are there and you are not awake. The man who knows his
           real self has no delusions. But he has got into a mess and he is trying hard to get out of it, but he is
           getting deeper and deeper into it.
              IF YOU CAN WIPE OUT EVIL DESIRES AND HARBOR GOOD THOUGHTS, EVEN IF NOTHING
              SHOWS, IT IS WORSHIP ....

              Early in his sutras he said that one has to go beyond good and evil. Now good becomes worship.
              THOSE WHO FAIL TO CULTIVATE THE INNER MEANING AND CONCENTRATE INSTEAD ON
              THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION NEVER STOP INDULGING IN IGNORANCE, HATRED AND EVIL
              WHILE EXHAUSTING THEMSELVES TO NO AVAIL. THEY CAN DECEIVE OTHERS WITH
              POSTURES, REMAIN SHAMELESS BEFORE SAGES AND VAIN BEFORE MORTALS, BUT
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEY'LL NEVER ESCAPE THE WHEEL, MUCH LESS ACHIEVE ANY MERIT.

               It is a strange compilation of sutras. He goes really deep, like a sharp sword cutting all that is
           wrong, to the point when he is asked the ultimate question, `From where does ignorance arise?' He
           cannot answer it and he is not humble enough to accept that he doesn't know. He gets into such a
           mess that after that every question remains unanswered; he pretends to answer it, but the answer is
           not even related to the question.
               If this can happen to a man like Bodhidharma ... You have to be aware. My insistence that you
           don't belong to any religion, don't belong to any doctrine, don't belong to any scripture, is for the
           simple reason that your whole and total commitment should be to truth and not for anything else.
           Your commitment should not be divided, otherwise you will have to make a compromise, which will
           make anybody who understands feel that you have gone either insane, or senile, or mad. But one
           thing is certain: you have lost the path.
               Bodhidharma himself may not, in his innermost core, have lost his enlightenment --
           enlightenment cannot be lost -- but he has defiled it. His enlightenment is not anymore so clean, so
           bright, not any more a pillar of light. And just for the simple business of an organized religion ....
               Humanity will never be religious unless all organized religions disappear and religion becomes
           an individual commitment towards existence, so no question of compromise arises.
               Let me say to you: Religion is rebellious, and the man of religion is a rebel. He is rebellious
           against all orthodoxy, against all traditions, against all organizations, against all ideologies. His only
           love is for truth, and his whole love is for truth. Only such a man finds it. Others only wander into
           ignorance, into dreams, into sleep -- and they suffer.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                               Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
                                                    Chapter #20
                                    Chapter title: Less than an eyeblink away
           14 July 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

           Archive code: 8707145
              ShortTitle: BODHI20
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins




    BELOVED OSHO,

              BUT THE BATHHOUSE SUTRA SAYS, "BY CONTRIBUTING TO THE BATHING OF MONKS,
              PEOPLE RECEIVE LIMITLESS BLESSINGS." THIS WOULD APPEAR TO BE AN INSTANCE OF
              EXTERNAL PRACTICE ACHIEVING MERIT. HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO BEHOLDING THE
              MIND?
              HERE, THE BATHING OF MONKS DOESN'T REFER TO THE WASHING OF ANYTHING
              TANGIBLE. WHEN THE LORD PREACHED THE BATHHOUSE SUTRA, HE WANTED HIS
              DISCIPLES TO REMEMBER THE DHARMA OF WASHING. SO HE USED AN EVERYDAY
              CONCERN TO CONVEY HIS REAL MEANING.      ...THE BATHHOUSE IS THE BODY. WHEN YOU
              LIGHT THE FIRE OF WISDOM, YOU WARM THE PURE WATER OF THE PRECEPTS AND BATHE
              THE TRUE BUDDHA-NATURE WITHIN YOU. BY UPHOLDING THESE SEVEN PRACTICES, YOU
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               ADD TO YOUR VIRTUE. THE MONKS OF THAT AGE WERE PERCEPTIVE. THEY UNDERSTOOD
               THE BUDDHA'S MEANING. THEY FOLLOWED HIS TEACHING, PERFECTED THEIR VIRTUE AND
               TASTED THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD. BUT PEOPLE NOWADAYS CAN'T FATHOM THESE
               THINGS.     ...OUR TRUE BUDDHA-NATURE HAS NO SHAPE. AND THE DUST OF AFFLICTION
               HAS NO FORM. HOW CAN PEOPLE USE ORDINARY WATER TO WASH AN INTANGIBLE BODY?
               IT WON'T WORK. WHEN WILL THEY WAKE UP? TO CLEAN SUCH A BODY, YOU HAVE TO
               BEHOLD IT. ONCE IMPURITIES AND FILTH ARISE FROM DESIRE, THEY MULTIPLY UNTIL THEY
               COVER YOU INSIDE AND OUT. BUT IF YOU TRY TO WASH THIS BODY OF YOURS, YOU'LL
               HAVE TO SCRUB UNTIL IT'S NEARLY GONE BEFORE IT'S CLEAN. FROM THIS YOU SHOULD
               REALIZE THAT WASHING SOMETHING EXTERNAL ISN'T WHAT THE BUDDHA MEANT.
               THE SUTRAS SAY THAT SOMEONE WHO WHOLEHEARTEDLY INVOKES THE BUDDHA IS
               SURE TO BE REBORN IN THE WESTERN PARADISE. SINCE THIS DOOR LEADS TO
               BUDDHAHOOD, WHY SEEK LIBERATION IN BEHOLDING THE MIND?        ...BUDDHA MEANS
               AWARENESS, THE AWARENESS OF BODY AND MIND THAT PREVENTS EVIL FROM ARISING
               IN EITHER. AND TO INVOKE MEANS TO CALL TO MIND, TO CALL CONSTANTLY TO MIND THE
               RULES OF DISCIPLINE AND TO FOLLOW THEM WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.        ...TO INVOKE THE
               BUDDHA'S NAME, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE DHARMA OF INVOKING. IF IT'S NOT
               PRESENT IN YOUR MIND, YOUR MOUTH CHANTS AN EMPTY NAME. AS LONG AS YOU'RE
               TROUBLED BY THE THREE POISONS OR BY THOUGHTS OF YOURSELF, YOUR DELUDED
               MIND WILL KEEP YOU FROM SEEING THE BUDDHA .... IF YOU CLING TO APPEARANCES
               WHILE SEARCHING FOR MEANING, YOU WON'T FIND A THING. THUS, SAGES OF THE PAST
               CULTIVATED INTROSPECTION AND NOT SPEECH.
               THIS MIND IS THE SOURCE OF ALL VIRTUES. AND THIS MIND IS THE CHIEF OF ALL POWERS.
               THE ETERNAL BLISS OF NIRVANA COMES FROM THE MIND AT REST. REBIRTH IN THE
               THREE REALMS ALSO COMES FROM THE MIND. THE MIND IS THE DOOR TO EVERY WORLD.
               AND THE MIND IS THE FORD TO THE OTHER SHORE. THOSE WHO KNOW WHERE THE DOOR
               IS DON'T WORRY ABOUT REACHING IT. THOSE WHO KNOW WHERE THE FORD IS DON'T
               WORRY ABOUT CROSSING IT.
               THE PEOPLE I MEET NOWADAYS ARE SUPERFICIAL. THEY THINK OF MERIT AS SOMETHING
               THAT HAS FORM. THEY SQUANDER THEIR WEALTH AND BUTCHER CREATURES OF LAND
               AND SEA .... THEY SEE SOMETHING TANGIBLE AND INSTANTLY BECOME ATTACHED. IF YOU
               TALK TO THEM ABOUT FORMLESSNESS, THEY SIT THERE DUMB AND CONFUSED. GREEDY
               FOR THE SMALL MERCIES OF THIS WORLD, THEY REMAIN BLIND TO THE GREAT
               SUFFERING TO COME. SUCH DISCIPLES WEAR THEMSELVES OUT IN VAIN. TURNING FROM
               THE TRUE TO THE FALSE, THEY TALK ABOUT NOTHING BUT FUTURE BLESSINGS.
               IF YOU CAN SIMPLY CONCENTRATE YOU MIND'S INNER LIGHT AND BEHOLD ITS OUTER
               ILLUMINATION, YOU'LL DISPEL THE THREE POISONS AND DRIVE AWAY THE SIX THIEVES
               ONCE AND FOR ALL. AND WITHOUT EFFORT YOU'LL GAIN POSSESSION OF AN INFINITE
               NUMBER OF VIRTUES, PERFECTIONS AND DOORS TO THE TRUTH. SEEING THROUGH THE
               MUNDANE AND WITNESSING THE SUBLIME IS LESS THAN AN EYE-BLINK AWAY.
               REALIZATION IS NOW. WHY WORRY ABOUT GRAY HAIR? BUT THE TRUE DOOR IS HIDDEN
               AND CAN'T BE REVEALED. I HAVE ONLY TOUCHED UPON BEHOLDING THE MIND.


               Thank God that this is the last Bodhidharma sutra. I was worried about where he is going after
           the bathhouse! It has been a tremendous journey to the mountaintop and back to your home.
           Bodhidharma has been taking you on the whole merry-go-round.
               I started with Bodhidharma -- the name Bodhidharma means "the self-nature of awareness" -- but
           unfortunately I have to end the journey with Buddhudharma. Buddhudharma means "the nature of
           unawareness, of stupidity."
               He got himself into this mess, but it has been of tremendous insight to us. Watching him you can
           avoid the same mess. Whatever he said earlier showed his insight into the deepest potential of man,
           but what he is saying now is just absolutely irrelevant. Once in a while he remembers who he is but
           it seems he goes on forgetting; or perhaps he is too much attached to his special doctrine of
           Mahayana and much worried about disturbing the newly initiated Buddhists.
               In this situation, he must have suffered a lot. I can see -- perhaps nobody may have noted it -- but
           I can see his suffering. His suffering is that he is saying things very unwillingly and this is the
           problem with all those who accept any doctrine, any scripture, any church. They are in constant
           trouble. If they listen to their own inner voice, it says something; if they listen to the tradition, it says
           something else.
               There have been very few people in the world who are ready to antagonize everybody. If
           Bodhidharma had said whatever his experience was, perhaps he would have lost all his prestige,
           respectability and his great name in the annals of Buddhism. But to me, it would not have been a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           loss. To me, he would have risen higher than anyone else, just because his single commitment was
           concentratedly and consistently one ...and that is his own experienced truth. Nothing else can change
           it.
               You laughed listening to the very name of the sutra, THE BATHHOUSE SUTRA, because you
           don't know that there have been two rebellious religions against Hinduism in India -- Jainism and
           Buddhism. The Jaina monk never takes a bath; he does not even brush his teeth. He stinks and it is
           thought to be a great discipline that you are not at all concerned with your body which is ephemeral,
           which is going to die anyway. Why go on cleaning it and wasting your time? It will become unclean
           again tomorrow.
               Buddhism is almost a parallel religion to Jainism. They agree on all the essential points, but
           Buddha seems to be more sensible than Mahavira. He wanted his monks to take a bath every day so
           that they would remain clean, so that their bodies would not be condemned but respected as a temple
           of their divine nature. But there were so many monks: to feed them, to give them use of your
           bathhouses, to give them clothes, to give them medicines when they were sick, was becoming more
           and more of a burden to the society.

                Just a few years ago in Thailand, the situation became so bad that almost one-fourth of the
           population of the country were monks. The government had to pass a law saying unless you had the
           permission of the government, you could not become a monk.
                This is the first time in history that any government had taken such a step but it was absolutely
           necessary in a poor country. If out of four persons, one person does not work, does not create and yet
           needs all kinds of things which are absolutely necessary, he is going to become a burden.
                It is an ugly situation where half the population is starving, where half of the country sleeps only
           with one daily meal, where people not only eat fruits but dig out the roots of trees, boil them and eat
           them, hoping that they must have nourishing power. Because they are nourishing the whole tree --
           they are nourishing the flowers and the fruits -- naturally the roots must have great nourishment.
                Gautam Buddha has to talk about such trivia because if it is not talked about, then people start
           taking decisions on their own. And Buddha wanted his disciples to be integrated individuals -- clean,
           pure, alert in every possible way both outwardly and inwardly. His concern and compassion were so
           great that there are thirty-three thousand rules for a Buddhist monk. It is mind-boggling; thirty-three
           thousand rules! Even to remember them is difficult.
                But Buddha has taken care of every detail: when to wake up, when to go to beg for your food,
           not to take all your food from one house but from five houses so nobody is burdened. Five houses
           can give you small bits and that will be enough for you. On one house, you might be a little heavy
           ...and not to stay in one city more than three days so you don't create any kind of burden for
           anybody. Eat only one time a day because millions of people eat only once a day. You should not
           ask for two meals.
                Don't have more than three pieces of clothing; two to use, one for emergency situations. For
           example: you suddenly find yourself coming back to the place where all the other monks are staying
           and it starts raining. Both your pieces of clothing, upper and lower, are wet. At least you still have
           one cloth to cover yourself -- this third is for an emergency. Two are for your essential needs but you
           should not have more than three.
                These details were essential though they look like trivia. You think, "What nonsense is this? A
           Gautam Buddha should talk about spirituality, about growth and awareness and freedom and he is
           talking about these small matters." But he had to for the simple reason because he accepted the idea
           of renouncing the world. Once people renounce the world they are bound to become burdens ...and
           on poor societies.
                So when Buddha says that one who gives his bathhouse to be used by a monk earns great virtue,
           he is simply trying to persuade people that they should not think of it as a burden, but as a blessing.
                When a monk accepts the food you offer he is not obliged to you, Buddha says. You are obliged
           to him. Just his receiving your food, on your part gives great virtue. Perhaps you have given your
           own food, perhaps you have given your children's food, but you have sacrificed something and you
           have respected a man who has no possessions, no money.
                Buddha has said that the mother is blessed who gives birth to a child who is going to renounce
           the world. The father is blessed who has a child who is going to renounce the world. They are
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           renouncing the world just to develop their potential to its ultimate. Help them. If you cannot raise
           your consciousness, at least you can help in some small way those who are making the tremendous
           effort of raising their consciousness to its ultimate illumination.
               Hence, whether it is trivia or not, it would have been perfectly good if Bodhidharma had
           accepted the sutra as it was. And what I have said, he should have said. But he himself is feeling
           embarrassed, so he starts trying again, saying it is a metaphor for something invisible, and that
           makes his whole approach fallacious. I will read the sutra and then I will read his fictitious
           explanations. The sutra is absolutely clear; it needs no clarification.
              BUT THE BATHHOUSE SUTRA SAYS, "BY CONTRIBUTING TO THE BATHING OF MONKS,
              PEOPLE RECEIVE LIMITLESS BLESSINGS." THIS WOULD APPEAR TO BE AN INSTANCE OF
              EXTERNAL PRACTICE ACHIEVING MERIT. HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO BEHOLDING THE
              MIND?

               The disciple is asking Bodhidharma: You say beholding the mind is enough, but Buddha is
           talking about such small things. In your beholding the mind is there any place for such things?
               The simple answer would have been: I am talking about the essential and Buddha is talking
           about both the essential and the nonessential. He is taking care not only of what the monk has to do.
           The monk has to behold his mind; that is his only essential practice -- awareness, vipassana,
           watching, witnessing. But also, the poor monk needs food; he needs some shelter in rain, he needs
           some clothes.
               Buddha has a very comprehensive view. It was not just a question of a single monk but when
           millions of people were becoming monks, then certain rules had to be made; otherwise it would have
           created chaos in the whole society.

               A monk is not supposed to say what he wants to eat. Whatever is made by the family for itself,
           he should take only that. He should not say to which family he is going to beg tomorrow, because his
           information may make the family feel that then they have to make some delicious food, some costly
           food because the monk is coming to their home. This may be an unnecessary burden and the monk
           may become a parasite.
               To avoid all this, Buddha had to talk about such small things that people ordinarily don't like,
           and in those days very few people had their own bathhouses. Even today after twenty-five centuries,
           except in a few big cities, ninety percent of the Indian population has no bathroom in their house.
           They go outside the village, either to the bank of a river, or to the bank of a lake. That is their
           bathroom, that is their toilet.
               It is thought to be a great luxury to have a bathroom attached to your bedroom; only a very few
           people in India can afford it, the country is so poor. And not only poverty has prevented it; even
           people who had enough money in the days of Buddha had no idea of having a bathroom attached to
           their bedroom.
               You will be surprised to know that just a hundred years ago there was a case in the Supreme
           Court of America, because a man attached a bathroom to his bedroom. It was thought to be against
           Christianity; it was thought to be such a dirty thing. The man had learned about it from Europe and
           he thought he was bringing a gift to America. It certainly is a gift!

               But the Christian associations filed a case against him in the Supreme Court saying that he was
           trying to corrupt people's minds. "This is an idea implanted in his mind by the devil," they said.
           "Who has ever heard of a bathroom attached to your bedroom?" And you will be surprised that the
           Supreme Court ordered the man to move the bathroom to the back of the house where it belonged.
           They were called outhouses. They were not attached to the main house -- just in the backyard, far
           away. Dirty places!
               But in Buddha's time, there were rich people who had attached bathrooms and the most
           surprising, almost unbelievable thing is that in Harappa and Mohanjodaro, two most ancient cities
           discovered in Pakistan .... They are seven thousand years old. Some natural calamity, or perhaps
           some man-made calamity, destroyed those beautiful cities not only once, but seven times, because
           seven times those cities were built. People have been excavating for almost half a century. They
           could not believe what kind of calamity had continuously happened: one layer of the city is covered
           with mud, then another layer of the city is again covered with mud.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                As they went on digging, first they thought the first layer, the superficial layer was the city, but
           somebody tried to dig a little deeper to see what is underneath that. They were surprised to find that
           after a few feet of layers of mud, there was another city. Then they tried again and again and finally
           they have found seven layers of great cities -- cities which had streets as broad as San Francisco or
           New York. And certainly cities don't have those broad streets if they don't have big vehicles to move
           on them.
                Varanasi is thought to be the ancientmost city in India. Not even the smallest car can enter in the
           old part of Varanasi. What to say of a car? -- even sunlight never reaches there because on both sides
           are huge buildings. Just when the sun comes exactly in the middle of the sky, for a few minutes there
           is sunlight; otherwise the whole day there is no sun. A great civilization must have been there.
                I remembered them because all the houses in Mohanjodaro and Harappa -- both the cities -- had
           bathrooms attached to their bedrooms, had swimming pools as big as we have them now. And they
           had a system, a very strange system which they had invented, for hot and cold running water in every
           house. It is simply amazing! It seems they had reached to the same height of civilization, perhaps
           better, because even in the beginning part of the twentieth century the Supreme Court of America
           refused to let that man have a bathroom in his own house.
                The future is going to be different because there are architects .... I have seen a few designs sent
           to me from a friend who is thinking about a very strange thing which will be fought in courts by
           every religion all over the world. The idea is not to have an attached bathroom but to have the room
           inside the bathroom. They have made such beautiful designs that the bathroom does not look out of
           place; it enhances the beauty of the room.
                But certainly it is going to be contested by every religion ...that this is going too far. Somehow
           we have accepted bathrooms attached to the rooms. Now these insane architects are trying to enforce
           an idea ...and I think that idea is going to work out. Their designs are just superb. Why have an
           attached bathroom? The bathroom can be made so beautiful that you can attach your room to the
           bathroom. And in fact both can be in the same place -- there is no need for any partition. It is YOUR
           bathroom, it is YOUR bedroom. And things can be made so beautiful and so clean, there is no
           question of ....
                But it was a problem. Very few rich families had bathrooms and the problem was bigger because
           the Buddhist monks could not take a bath in the river. They didn't have enough clothes, they didn't
           have any underwear. They had only three pieces of clothing, one to wrap around underneath, another
           to wrap around on top -- just plain pieces of cloth.
                To avoid tailoring -- because that is a luxury -- they were just using plain pieces of cloth; one
           they wrap around their waist, another they wrap around their chest, and that's all. It was difficult for
           them. Either they had to be naked -- which was not allowed by Gautam Buddha -- or they had to
           enter the river with their clothes on and then their clothes would get wet.
                So you have to see the whole situation ...why Gautam Buddha has to talk about such trivia. It is
           giving an incentive to the people who have their own bathrooms to allow the monks to have a bath
           and then people would receive limitless blessings. There is no metaphor in it. It means exactly what
           it says.
                The disciple is absolutely right to ask: "This would appear to be an instance of external practice
           achieving merit, because the man who is allowing you use of his bathroom is achieving merit. He is
           not doing anything -- just allowing you to use his bathroom."
                And Bodhidharma says, "There is nothing and no need and no possibility either, of attaining any
           merit from any outside practice. The only meritorious thing is beholding the mind."
                He could have simply said, "This is only an incentive for people; otherwise why should they
           allow anybody?" In fact, nobody likes his bathroom to be used by anybody else, and particularly not
           by strangers. It is not a public place. Everybody wants his bathroom to be private, his own, and the
           richer people are .... They certainly would not like the idea of strange monks wandering with dirty
           clothes, dirty feet because they have no shoes, perspiring in hot summer, collecting dust on the roads
           which were not coal tar, asphalt, or cement -- they were just dusty roads for bullock carts. Rich men
           would not like this.
                And you don't have any idea of the rich men of those days. They used to have in their bathtubs,
           not ordinary water, but rosewater. It is a strange story of a strange humanity: one part is dying for
           food and another part of the same race of human beings takes such a costly bath -- thousands of
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           roseflowers have to be used for one bath. These people would not like vagabonds, monks, beggars --
           they were all beggars in their eyes -- unless they had some incentive that they would get great
           blessings in the other world. Buddha is simply talking in business terms and he is perfectly right.
               But the problem with Bodhidharma is that he cannot accept things simply as they are. He says:
              HERE, THE BATHING OF MONKS DOESN'T REFER TO THE WASHING OF ANYTHING
              TANGIBLE.

               How do you wash anything intangible? A thing that is not tangible is not visible either. Only
           tangible things have to be washed. Your body can be given a shower but not your soul. Your clothes
           can be cleaned but not your being. But that does not mean that you have to use dirty clothes, that you
           have to remain dirty in your body.
               Buddha was very aesthetic in comparison to Mahavira, his contemporary, and that's why he has
           more grace than Mahavira. Mahavira has a very strong personality but he's not graceful ...a
           personality of a wrestler, but not the individuality of a lotus flower.
               It is not accidental that Gautam Buddha has become synonymous with the lotus flower. It is so
           fragile and so beautiful and so graceful that no other flower on the earth even comes close to it. He
           wanted his monks to be sensitive, aesthetic, clean, and naturally the only way was to tell the people
           that if you help these poor monks with food, with a bath, with medicine, with clothes you will be
           getting great merit in the other world. This was simply a pragmatic affair.
              WHEN THE LORD PREACHED THE BATHHOUSE SUTRA, HE WANTED HIS DISCIPLES TO
              REMEMBER THE DHARMA OF WASHING. SO HE USED AN EVERYDAY CONCERN TO CONVEY
              HIS REAL MEANING ....
              THE BATHHOUSE IS THE BODY.

              Now this is nonsense and he himself in the beginning sutras has said Buddha never teaches
           nonsense. He is contradicting almost everything that he has said with tremendous clarity in the
           beginning sutras. But now he himself has got into trouble.
              THE BATHHOUSE IS THE BODY. WHEN YOU LIGHT THE FIRE OF WISDOM, YOU WARM THE
              PURE WATER OF THE PRECEPTS AND BATHE THE TRUE BUDDHA-NATURE WITHIN YOU.

               Could not Buddha have said something other than the BATHHOUSE SUTRA? He could have
           talked about the BUDDHA-NATURE SUTRA. Do you think Buddha was less intelligent than
           Bodhidharma ...that he did not know that it is better to say exactly what he means? And there is no
           difficulty in saying it. A Bodhidharma can say it -- why can't Buddha say it?
              BY UPHOLDING THESE SEVEN PRACTICES, YOU ADD TO YOUR VIRTUE. THE MONKS OF
              THAT AGE WERE PERCEPTIVE.

               If this is true, that the monks of that age -- that means Gautam Buddha's time -- were perceptive,
           then certainly the BATHHOUSE SUTRA does not need to be called BATHHOUSE SUTRA at all. It
           should be called the BUDDHA-NATURE SUTRA, or any other beautiful word. Why bring
           bathhouse into it? And if Bodhidharma can make it clear to less perceptive people -- and Buddha's
           disciples were more perceptive -- it is strange that he had to use such strange metaphors.
           Bodhidharma is making the whole thing up.
               THEY UNDERSTOOD THE BUDDHA'S MEANING. If they understood the Buddha's meaning
           then why was he hiding it behind the bathhouse?
              THEY FOLLOWED HIS TEACHING, PERFECTED THEIR VIRTUE AND TASTED THE FRUIT OF
              BUDDHAHOOD.

               If these disciples of Buddha had even experienced buddhahood, what was the need to speak to
           them in metaphors? Buddha could have been direct -- metaphors are needed for children. So what he
           is saying is right, but it goes against him, not in favor of him.
              BUT PEOPLE NOWADAYS CAN'T FATHOM THESE THINGS ....

               But the BATHHOUSE SUTRA is not written for Bodhidharma's time. Bodhidharma came
           eleven hundred years after the BATHHOUSE SUTRA was spoken by Buddha. Do you think Buddha
           was talking to the people of Bodhidharma's time? This is something to be understood because it is a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           constantly repeated thing: that people of older times were more perceptive, more sensitive, more
           intelligent than the people of today. Even today it is being said.
                In Babylon a brick has been excavated and on the brick there is an inscription which says,
           "People of the old days were very intelligent" -- and the brick is six thousand years old. Gautam
           Buddha and Mahavira both repeat many times that people of the old days were very intelligent, but I
           don't know when those old days were.
                In the Hindu VEDAS, which are supposed to be the oldest scriptures in the world, one man from
           this very city, Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak has proved, and proved with great argument and
           evidence -- and such evidence that it has not been refuted by anybody for almost half a century --
           that the first Veda out of the four, RIG VEDA, is ninety thousand years old. But even in RIG VEDA,
           it is the same: that in the old days, people were very perceptive, very intelligent. I don't know when
           these old days were. It simply seems to condemn the people of the present day. This idea has been
           continuously used.
                Is man's consciousness evolving or not? According to all these people, it seems that it is going
           downwards, not upwards. In fact the further back in history you go, the more primitive people you
           will find with more primitive practices. Cannibalism was a prevalent practice. The few cannibals that
           are left are in the thick forests of Africa, but they are the ancientmost people.
                If you want to see the ancientmost people, you can go to Africa, but be careful! I have heard that
           when the first Christian missionary went there to convert the cannibals and to tell them, "God loves
           you all and Jesus will come to save you," they enjoyed his sermon very much. They took him on
           their shoulders and he thought that this was a great reception. When they started putting him into a
           boiling pot, he said, "What are you doing?" They said, "In just a few minutes you will see."
                When the water started getting too hot, the fat missionary with just his head showing out from
           the big pot, started trying some way to persuade these people: "I have come here to give you a taste
           of Christianity and you are killing me."
                They said, "Don't be worried. Once we have made a soup of you, we will have the first taste of
           Christianity. That's why we are boiling you -- to have a taste of Christianity."
                I think there is no other way of having a taste of Christianity! These are the most primitive
           people: they were three thousand at the beginning of this century, but because it is very rare to find
           anybody passing in their area -- they look all around but nobody goes even close -- then finally they
           have to eat their own people. In the beginning of this century there were three thousand; now there
           are only three hundred. They have eaten twenty-seven hundred of their own people. Every day food
           is needed. If they can get somebody from outside, good -- just a little taste of some Chinese, some
           Japanese, some German, some Indian. Just as you go once in a while to the Chinese restaurant, they
           also want some taste -- some change once in a while.
                But it is very difficult because people remain miles away from them. Everybody knows that that
           area is dangerous; people have gone there but they have never returned. Whoever has gone there, has
           gone forever. Once they catch hold of you, you are finished ...soon you will be cooked -- maybe
           stuffed with grapes, spices. You may enjoy it! I am not saying that you will NOT enjoy it, you MAY
           enjoy it! The whole thing will be such an adventure.
                But as you go backwards you will find more and more unintelligent, more and more retarded,
           more and more barbarous people. So this idea that is being used by all religions -- that people in the
           beginning were great and now everybody has fallen -- this is not true. This is absolutely wrong.
           There is no historical basis to it and no logical support. And I want to say to you that you are the
           highest pinnacle of consciousness up to now -- although your highest pinnacle is not much.
                You have immense potential undeveloped. But those primitive people were even more
           undeveloped than you are. You have at least some consciousness, they had no consciousness at all.
           They were just close to the animals.
              OUR TRUE BUDDHA-NATURE HAS NO SHAPE. AND THE DUST OF AFFLICTION HAS NO FORM.
              HOW CAN PEOPLE USE ORDINARY WATER TO WASH AN INTANGIBLE BODY?

               He goes on repeating the same stupid things. Yesterday he was saying how can Buddha drink
           ordinary milk -- now, how can people use ordinary water? -- as if there is some extraordinary water
           available somewhere!
               TO WASH AN INTANGIBLE BODY ... That which is intangible need not be washed. Only the
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tangible gets dirty. The invisible, space, never gets dirty; the sky never gets dirty. The silence
           beyond mind never gets dirty. And even if it gets dirty -- which is impossible but just for argument's
           sake, even if it gets dirty -- then we will find some invisible soap, some invisible shampoo which you
           cannot see. You will just see the empty bottle but inside there is invisible shampoo.
               I have heard in a New York shop they were selling a certain commodity, so much of it that all the
           women of New York were immensely excited and wanted to purchase it. It was invisible hair pins. I
           think no woman can remain without temptation if invisible hairpins are available. There were queues
           before the shop and women were taking the packages, giving money and going away. One woman
           opened the box and could not see anything there. How can you see invisible hairpins? So she said to
           the shopkeeper, "I don't see anything." He asked, "How can you see invisible hairpins?"
               She said, "That's right. I want to come again tomorrow to purchase a few more for my daughters
           and my friends to send as presents, because this is something so new. Will you have enough stock
           for tomorrow also? because I see so many customers and I had to stand for almost one hour in the
           queue. He said, "Don't be worried. We have been out of stock for fifteen days but it is an invisible
           thing. It does not matter whether it is there or not. You can come anytime -- it will be always
           available."
               Bodhidharma is saying something which is absolutely illogical, irrational. It is not even common
           sense.
              IT WON'T WORK. WHEN WILL THEY WAKE UP? TO CLEAN SUCH A BODY, YOU HAVE TO
              BEHOLD IT. ONCE IMPURITIES AND FILTH ARISE FROM DESIRE, THEY MULTIPLY UNTIL THEY
              COVER YOU INSIDE AND OUT. BUT IF YOU TRY TO WASH THIS BODY OF YOURS, YOU WILL
              HAVE TO SCRUB UNTIL IT IS NEARLY GONE, BEFORE IT IS CLEAN.

                He is saying you cannot clean this body that is visible. If you try to clean it you will have to
           scrub it to the point when the whole body is gone. Then you will be clean. That means there is no
           need to clean this body. It is useless; it will mean committing suicide!
                But you know that there is no need to scrub the body to the point that it disappears. You can
           scrub the body to the point that you don't have a body odor, that your perspiration is not creating a
           disgusting smell around you, that your mouth is washed clean, that your breathing is not disturbing
           anybody else. You can use soap, you can use shampoo, you can use deodorants. There is no need to
           scrub the body to the point that it is completely gone. Then what is the point of cleaning it? Nothing
           is left.
                Bodhidharma thinks he is giving you an argument that shows Buddha does not mean the ordinary
           bath for your body, he means cleaning your soul.
                But Bodhidharma has forgotten completely that in his own sutras he said that the soul is always
           clean -- it has never been unclean -- that your buddha-nature is always pure, it has never been
           impure. Can you remember his sutras? He says that you are already enlightened, just you are asleep.
           There is no question of cleaning or doing any worship, or any ritual. All that you need is to behold
           your mind, and slowly, slowly that beholding of the mind will wake you up. To be awake is to be
           enlightened.
                But now he has completely forgotten all those sutras. He has made such a tremendous mistake he
           should have stopped the moment the ultimate question about ignorance was asked. He did not stop.
           One has to know where to stop, otherwise one gets into a trap. Now he is going on and on and he
           does not know where to stop and how to stop.
              FROM THIS YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT WASHING SOMETHING EXTERNAL IS NOT WHAT
              THE BUDDHA MEANT.

               Only the external needs washing; the internal needs no washing. And if Buddha meant what he is
           saying, then Bodhidharma is also driving Buddha to the same point of stupidity at which he is. Only
           the external gets dirty and needs washing. The internal never gets dirty and hence needs no washing.
               The disciple asked: THE SUTRAS SAY THAT SOMEONE WHO WHOLEHEARTEDLY
           INVOKES THE BUDDHA IS SURE TO BE REBORN IN THE WESTERN PARADISE. SINCE
           THIS DOOR LEADS TO BUDDHAHOOD, WHY SEEK LIBERATION IN BEHOLDING THE
           MIND?
               The disciple's continuous insistence is because if Bodhidharma's emphasis on beholding the mind
           is enough, then why does Buddha talk about other things? And Bodhidharma does not have the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           courage to speak against his own master. He could have said, "It is not my business to sort out his
           things. My understanding and my realization is that just beholding the mind is enough. Perhaps
           Buddha wanted to create an outer discipline also, side by side with an internal discipline. That is his
           business. That is none of my concern." Just a simple statement like this would have saved him from
           falling down from the sunlit peak where he was, into small things which he cannot solve.
                His answer is again the same kind of foolishness. BUDDHA MEANS AWARENESS ...which he
           has said so many times.
              BUDDHA MEANS AWARENESS, THE AWARENESS OF BODY AND MIND, THAT PREVENTS EVIL
              FROM ARISING IN EITHER. AND TO INVOKE MEANS TO CALL TO MIND.

               If invoke means to call to mind, then why should Buddha not say, "Call to mind?"; why say,
           "Invoke Buddha?" Why make things unnecessarily complicated when they can be made simple? And
           Buddha is not a man to make things complicated; he is not a philosopher. He is a realized sage. He
           speaks only in the simplest way and the clearest way, not using any jargon that can create
           disturbances in people's minds. His whole effort is to pacify the mind so that you can go beyond it
           more easily.
              AND TO INVOKE MEANS TO CALL TO MIND, TO CALL CONSTANTLY TO MIND THE RULES OF
              DISCIPLINE AND TO FOLLOW THEM WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.

              And this same Bodhidharma has said again and again that no discipline can lead you to
           buddhahood, that no rules are needed. The only thing that can help you is simply awareness of your
           thought process, of your mind.
              TO INVOKE THE BUDDHA'S NAME, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE DHARMA OF INVOKING.
              IF IT IS NOT PRESENT IN YOUR MIND, YOUR MOUTH CHANTS AN EMPTY NAME. AS LONG AS
              YOU ARE TROUBLED BY THE THREE POISONS, OR BY THOUGHTS OF YOURSELF, YOUR
              DELUDED MIND WILL KEEP YOU FROM SEEING THE BUDDHA .... IF YOU CLING TO
              APPEARANCES WHILE SEARCHING FOR MEANING, YOU WON'T FIND A THING. THUS, SAGES
              OF THE PAST CULTIVATED INTROSPECTION AND NOT SPEECH.

               That is absolutely incorrect, because what is introspection except internal thinking? And what is
           speech but bringing your internal thinking to an expression? They are not different. One is the inside.
           First you introspect, you think, and then you bring it out: you can think the word RAMA without
           saying it and then you can say "Rama." What is the difference? The difference is only that first you
           were saying it to yourself. Talking to yourself is introspection and talking to others is speech.
           Introspection is a silent monologue. Everybody goes on doing it all the time -- it has nothing to do
           with sages. Even sinners have to do it!
               What are you doing all the time except introspecting? Sitting, walking, you are continuously
           thinking of a thousand and one things, but only a few things you bring to expression. Saying that
           sages of the past cultivated introspection and not speech is not true because if sages were not
           speaking, then from where have your scriptures come, from where your VEDAS, from where your
           UPANISHADS? And there are one hundred and eight UPANISHADS. From where does your holy
           KORAN, and from where does your HOLY BIBLE come? From where your holy TALMUD, from
           where Gautam Buddha's DHAMMAPADA? And from where do the words of Bodhidharma himself
           come? He is speaking and talking about sages who cultivated introspection only, and not speech.
               That means all your holy scriptures are written by sinners and not by sages. A sage is one who
           knows himself and he speaks only that which is in tune with his inner experience. If he cannot find a
           word to express it, he remains silent. He is not against speech, he is not in favor of silence. He has
           come to a space which is beyond language, so it is very difficult to speak; but it is difficult to
           introspect also, because whatever can be introspected, can be spoken.
               Just watch: introspection is speaking within yourself -- you are using words. If you can use
           words without speaking, why can't you use the same words in speaking? That which cannot be
           spoken cannot be introspected either because they are two sides of the same coin.
              THIS MIND IS THE SOURCE OF ALL VIRTUES.

              Now I am helpless but to say that this is pure nonsense! And it is nonsense according to
           Bodhidharma. In his own sutras he has said that this mind has to be transcended, that this mind is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your bondage, that this mind has to be completely silenced, emptied. In other words you have to
           attain to no-mind.
               No-mind can be the source of all virtues, but not the mind. If the mind is the source of all virtues,
           then what is the purpose of no-mind? All virtues include all virtues. Only sins remain. Is the no-mind
           the source of all sin? Is meditation the source of all that is criminal in you, immoral in you,
           unvirtuous in you? Bodhidharma is not in his right senses. Once he trembled, once he lied, he has not
           been able to regain his balance.
              THIS MIND IS THE SOURCE OF ALL VIRTUES. AND THIS MIND IS THE CHIEF OF ALL POWERS.
              Then what about the buddha-nature and its power?

              THE ETERNAL BLISS OF NIRVANA COMES FROM THE MIND AT REST.

               Here he comes a little bit closer to the truth but not exactly to the truth. The mind at rest is still
           mind. Nirvana happens on the death of the mind, not just at the resting of the mind, because the mind
           that is at rest can any moment become restless. The mind simply has to go. Then only can you be
           certain of your absolute peace. The troublemaker is completely gone. The troublemaker at rest does
           not mean you are free of trouble. The troublemaker may be simply resting to gain a little energy to
           create more trouble again. He may be tired -- everybody gets tired.
               I used to live in a house with a friend and his child was a continuous nuisance. His father was
           tired, his mother was tired but he was an only child so they loved him very much. Only I was not
           tired of him. They asked me, "What is the matter? He never harasses you."
               I said, "I harass him. I call him and he never comes close to me."
               He said, "How do you harass him? Because he is such a constant worry, never at rest, always
           doing something, dropping something, breaking something, jumping from the sofa onto the table. He
           cannot sit silently."
           I said, "I will show you how he can sit silently."
           As I went in he said, "I will sit silently."
               His father said, "What is the matter? You have not said anything -- just your coming and he is
           saying, `I will sit silently.'"
               I used to live in half of the house and they used to live in the other half -- but both were
           connected from inside. The child used to come once in a while to my side and I used to tell him, "If
           you want to come in you have to pay for it."
           He said, "What?"
               I said, "Money is not the issue. I will tell you what you have to do: first you have to go and run
           around the house seven times" -- it was a big house, four acres of land -- "seven times exactly, no
           cheating, no deceiving. Then you can come in."

               After seven rounds he was so tired, he would come in and just flop on the sofa. I would say,
           "How are you feeling?"
               He said, "I am still alive." And then I would continue my work and he would just rest.
               So his father said, "This is strange ... you never told me -- and he has been torturing us."
               I said, "I have found my way with him. Whenever he wants to see me or come to me, he has first
           to pay. And seven rounds of the house are enough. Then he does not ask for anything, then he is not
           in a position to ask. He is so tired he just sits on the sofa and most often falls asleep, and I continue
           my work."
               Mind at rest is not reliable. Mind has to go completely to the point that it cannot come back ...to
           the point of no return.
              REBIRTH IN THE THREE REALMS ALSO COMES FROM THE MIND. THE MIND IS THE DOOR TO
              EVERY WORLD. AND THE MIND IS THE FORD TO THE OTHER SHORE.

               This is not right because if mind is also the ford to the other shore, then what is the use of
           meditation? All powers belong to the mind, all words belong to the mind, all eternal bliss of nirvana
           comes from the resting of the mind. The ford going to the other shore is of the mind -- then what is
           the use of meditation?
               In fact, mind is not the ford to the other shore: meditation is. And meditation always means
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no-mind. When the mind is extinguished, the same energy that was involved in the mind becomes
           your meditation.
              THOSE WHO KNOW WHERE THE DOOR IS DON'T WORRY ABOUT REACHING IT. THOSE WHO
              KNOW WHERE THE FORD IS DON'T WORRY ABOUT CROSSING IT.
              THE PEOPLE I MEET NOWADAYS ARE SUPERFICIAL. THEY THINK OF MERIT AS SOMETHING
              THAT HAS FORM. THEY SQUANDER THEIR WEALTH AND BUTCHER CREATURES OF LAND
              AND SEA .... THEY SEE SOMETHING TANGIBLE AND INSTANTLY BECOME ATTACHED. IF YOU
              TALK TO THEM ABOUT FORMLESSNESS, THEY SIT THERE DUMB AND CONFUSED. GREEDY
              FOR THE SMALL MERCIES OF THIS WORLD, THEY REMAIN BLIND TO THE GREAT
              SUFFERING TO COME. SUCH DISCIPLES WEAR THEMSELVES OUT IN VAIN. TURNING FROM
              THE TRUE TO THE FALSE, THEY TALK ABOUT NOTHING BUT FUTURE BLESSINGS.
              IF YOU CAN SIMPLY CONCENTRATE YOUR MIND'S INNER LIGHT, AND BEHOLD ITS OUTER
              ILLUMINATION, YOU WILL DISPEL THE THREE POISONS AND DRIVE AWAY THE SIX THIEVES
              ONCE AND FOR ALL.

               I have told you that in English there is no one word which can translate DHYAN. There are three
           words: the first is concentration, which is the lowest. It means focusing your mind on one thing or
           one thought. It is useful in science; in fact without concentration there would be no science at all.
           Science is the by-product of concentration.
               The second word in English is contemplation, which is higher than concentration. Contemplation
           means thinking about a certain subject matter -- not a single thought, but a stream of thoughts
           confined to the same subject matter. For example, somebody is thinking about light. Then he goes on
           thinking about light, its speed, its division into seven colors and all its possibilities -- the whole
           physics of light. Philosophy arises out of contemplation, just as science arises out of concentration.
               And the third word in English is meditation, which is the highest. But still it is not an equivalent
           to DHYAN, or the Chinese CH'AN, or the Japanese ZEN which are different pronunciations of the
           Sanskrit word DHYAN.
           DHYAN means no-mind. In concentration, mind concentrates. In contemplation, mind contemplates.
           In meditation, mind meditates. But in dhyan, mind simply disappears. Dhyan is a silence beyond the
           mind. The man who has translated these sutras has used the lowest word in English -- concentrate --
           for dhyan.
               This is a problem with linguistic people -- those who know the language. They translate books
           from one language into another, but particularly when it comes to translating poetry it becomes more
           difficult. And if it is a question of translating the statements of somebody who has attained to
           enlightenment, then it becomes even more difficult.

               But the problem is that people who have attained to enlightenment are no longer interested in
           translating anybody's book. They are not even interested in writing their own book, they are enjoying
           their silence and their ecstasy so much. If they want to convey anything at all, they use the spoken
           word, because the spoken word has the warmth and the liveliness. And the spoken word has
           something of the person who is speaking it. It comes from his heart. It carries some flavor of his
           being. It also carries some light, some profundity which is lost in the written word. Hence, no
           enlightened person has ever written a single word.
              IF YOU CAN SIMPLY CONCENTRATE YOUR MIND'S INNER LIGHT AND BEHOLD ITS OUTER
              ILLUMINATION, YOU WILL DISPEL THE THREE POISONS AND DRIVE AWAY THE SIX THIEVES
              ONCE AND FOR ALL.

               Just change the word concentrate. If you can meditate -- and the meditation has to be understood
           in the sense of DHYAN -- if you can bring your no-mind to function, then all is light, then all is
           delight.
              AND WITHOUT EFFORT YOU WILL GAIN POSSESSION OF AN INFINITE NUMBER OF VIRTUES,
              PERFECTIONS AND DOORS TO THE TRUTH. SEEING THROUGH THE MUNDANE, AND
              WITNESSING THE SUBLIME, IS LESS THAN AN EYE-BLINK AWAY.

              Finally at the end he comes back again to his original status. In this sentence he is again the
           Bodhidharma we started with.
              SEEING THROUGH THE MUNDANE, AND WITNESSING THE SUBLIME, IS LESS THAN AN
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              EYE-BLINK AWAY. REALIZATION IS NOW. WHY WORRY ABOUT GRAY HAIR?
              Why worry about tomorrow and old age?

              BUT THE TRUE DOOR IS HIDDEN, AND CAN'T BE REVEALED.

              This is all that he needed to say at the time he was asked from where ignorance arises. Going
           round and round and round, at the end he manages to come to the point. The door, the true door, is
           hidden and can't be revealed.
              I HAVE ONLY TOUCHED UPON BEHOLDING THE MIND.

               If he had only said these two sentences at that moment -- and whatever he has said in between
           would have been dropped -- Bodhidharma's sutras would have remained absolutely pure, impeccably
           pure. But I have made it clear to you, so you can choose what is right and what is just so much prose.
               That which is going to help you in meditation is right, and that which is just unnecessarily
           metaphysical, philosophizing, has no validity and is of no use to your meditation.
               In a way I feel happy that by coincidence this sutra came to be discussed and you have seen both
           sides. It will help you to remain aware -- aware that even at the highest peak of your enlightenment
           you can still commit mistakes, you can still go astray, you can still say things which are stupid. The
           problem is that I cannot tolerate anything which is not the best. I want you to know only the best, to
           experience the best, only twenty-four carat gold, no pollution, no mixture, just utter purity.
               It was good to talk about these sutras, because I could go on telling you what is not right and
           what is right. You may be reading many books, you may be hearing many people. Just watch clearly.
           Every day I receive letters from sannyasins saying, "I have been to see some saint, some guru" ...and
           I know those people are just idiots. They write to me, "We are very impressed," and I simply say,
           "My God!"
               I have been working with these people so hard to make every small point completely clear, and
           any idiot can impress them! They don't seem to have the awareness and the clarity and the capacity
           for discrimination.
               One of the greatest Indian scriptures is Badarayana's BRAHMASUTRA. He prescribes a
           clear-cut capacity for discrimination as the first thing needed by the disciple. I can see why
           Badarayana has made discrimination his first point -- to see what is false and to see what is true, to
           feel what is real and to feel what is just hypocrisy. Have you seen the Catholic pope? Perhaps many
           of you have seen him or met him and most of you must have seen his photographs. Do you see
           anything that gives you an indication that this man is the representative of God? He can be a
           salesman of any shoe company ...but a representative of God! He should look at least once in a
           mirror and he himself will realize, "My God, why have you chosen me? Can't you find some other
           idiot? In this big world, why have you chosen poor me?"
               I have heard about an old Jew dying. He was muttering something, so people of his family came
           close to hear what he is muttering at the time of his death. He was saying to God, "God, just only one
           request. We have been your chosen people for four thousand years. It is enough. Can't you choose
           somebody else now? If you had not chosen us we would not have suffered so much. Now be
           merciful; listen to a dying old man's last words. It is time that you choose somebody else as your
           chosen people and relieve us of that great burden. We are being continuously crushed."
               Look at your popes, look at your shankaracharyas, look at your Ayatollah Khomeini, look at
           your Jaina monks, Buddhist monks, and you will be surprised that these people don't have the
           presence of the awakened person. Neither do they have the words that come from an experienced
           source of authority, but you become impressed by any kind of nonsense.
               And this has been going on for centuries. It is time it should stop. At least everybody should be
           meditative enough that he can discriminate between the man who is an arrow towards the ultimate
           truth and its realization, and the man who is simply pretending.
               These sutras were a good exercise for you to see how to discriminate. Be very alert. To be
           impressed easily is to be gullible. Don't be gullible, otherwise you will be exploited. Not to be
           gullible is what Badarayana means by being discriminative, alert, aware. There is no hurry to be
           impressed by anybody. Wait, watch, look at it from every aspect, and if your heart starts ringing
           bells, then it is a different matter altogether. But if it is just your mind saying, "I have found the right
           master," beware of your mind.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Your mind is your greatest enemy.

           Okay, Maneesha?

           Yes, Osho.




                                       The Book of Wisdom
                              Discourses on Atisha's Seven Points of Mind Training
                                  Talks given from 11/02/79 am to 10/03/79 am
                                            English Discourse series
                                                  28 Chapters
                                              Year published: 1993
           Previously published in two volumes.




                                             The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #1
                                      Chapter title: Atisha the Thrice Great
           11 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902110
              ShortTitle: WISDOM01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              FIRST, LEARN THE PRELIMINARIES.
              THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS.

              EXAMINE THE NATURE OF UNBORN AWARENESS.
              LET EVEN THE REMEDY ITSELF GO FREE ON ITS OWN.

              SETTLE IN THE NATURE OF BASIC COGNITION, THE ESSENCE.
              BETWEEN SESSIONS, CONSIDER PHENOMENA AS PHANTOMS.

              TRAIN IN JOINING, SENDING AND TAKING TOGETHER.
              DO THIS BY RIDING THE BREATH.

              THREE OBJECTS, THREE POISONS, THREE BASES OF VIRTUE.
              TRAIN WITH PHRASES IN EVERY MODE OF BEHAVIOR.


              Religion is not a science.... Religion is not a science in the sense physics, mathematics and
           chemistry are sciences. But still it is a science because it is the ultimate knowing: the word science
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means knowing. And if religion is not a science, what else can be? It is the highest knowing, it is the
           purest knowing.
               Ordinary science is knowledge, not knowing: religion is knowing itself. Ordinary science is
           object-oriented -- it knows something, hence it is knowledge. Religion is not object-oriented; it has
           no object, it knows nothing. Knowing knows itself, as if the mirror is reflecting itself. It is utterly
           pure of all content. Hence religion is not knowledge but knowing.
               Science is a lower kind of knowing, religion is a higher kind. Religion is PHILOSOPHIA
           ULTIMA: the ultimate knowing. The difference between the two is not of the spirit -- the spirit is the
           same -- but the difference is certainly of purity.
               Science is mixed with much mud. Religion is pure essence, pure fragrance. The mud has
           disappeared, the lotus has appeared. And at the ultimate stage even the lotus has disappeared, only
           the fragrance abides. These are the three stages of knowing: the mud, the lotus and the fragrance.
               Religion cannot be grasped, because there is no object in it. But still it can be understood. It
           cannot be explained, but it can be experienced. There is no way of informing you about religion,
           because it cannot be reduced to information. But you can be shown the way, the path to it -- fingers
           pointing to the moon. The fingers are not the moon, obviously, but the fingers can point to the moon.
               These "Seven Points of Mind Training" of the great master Atisha, are fingers, seven fingers
           pointing to the moon. Don't be caught by the fingers, don't become too much obsessed with the
           fingers. That is not the point, that will be missing the point. Use the fingers and forget them, and
           look where the fingers are pointing. And when you see the moon, who bothers about the fingers?
           Who remembers them? They automatically become nonessential; they disappear.
               That's why for those who have experienced religion, all the scriptures become utterly useless, all
           methods become nonessential. When the goal is achieved, the path is forgotten.
               Atisha is one of the rare masters, rare in the sense that he was taught by three enlightened
           masters. It has never happened before, and never since. To be a disciple of three enlightened masters
           is simply unbelievable -- because one enlightened master is enough. But this story, that he was
           taught by three enlightened masters, has a metaphorical significance also. And it is true, it is
           historical too.
               The three masters that Atisha remained with for many years were: first, Dharmakirti, a great
           Buddhist mystic. He taught him no-mind, he taught him emptiness, he taught him how to be
           thoughtless, he taught him how to drop all content from the mind and be contentless. The second
           master was Dharmarakshita, another Buddhist mystic. He taught him love, compassion. And the
           third master was Yogin Maitreya, another Buddhist mystic. He taught him the art of taking the
           suffering of others and absorbing it into your own heart: love in action.
               This could happen because all these three masters were great friends. They had started their
           search together; while they were on the way they had remained together, and when they attained they
           were still together.
               Atisha became a disciple of Dharmakirti. Dharmakirti said to him, "I will teach you the first
           principle. And for the second you go to Dharmarakshita, and for the third to Yogin Maitreya. This
           way you will know all the three faces of the ultimate reality, the three faces of God -- the trinity, the
           TRIMURTI. And this way you will learn each face from the person who is the most perfect in it."
               These are the three ways people reach to the ultimate. If you reach through emptiness you attain
           the other two also, but your path remains basically that of emptiness -- you know more about
           emptiness, so emptiness will be emphasized in whatsoever you teach.
               That's what happened in Buddha's case. He had attained through emptiness, hence his whole
           teaching became emptiness-oriented. There is no God in Buddha's teaching, because God is a
           thought, a content, an object -- God is the other, and Buddha had attained by dropping the other.
           Buddha had attained by emptying his mind totally, hence there is no place for God, no place for
           anything at all. His path is the purest VIA NEGATIVA.
               That was also the case with Dharmakirti. He was the perfect master of emptiness, a master par
           excellence of emptiness. And when Atisha had learned how to be empty, the master said, "It will be
           better for you to go to Dharmarakshita for the next step, because he has attained from a totally
           different path. Just as you can reach Everest from different sides, he has reached from a totally
           different path, the path of compassion. I can also teach you the path of compassion, but my knowing
           about that path is only known from the top.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "I have reached through the path of emptiness. Once you reach the top, you can look down at all
           the paths, they are all available to your vision. But to follow a path in its different dimensions, to
           follow a path in all its details, small details, is a totally different thing." And to look at it from a
           helicopter or from the mountain-top is certainly a different vision; it is a bird's-eye view.
               And Dharmakirti said, "If there had been nobody available here, I would have taught you the
           other too. But when a man like Dharmarakshita is just here, my neighbor, living in another cave just
           nearby, it is better you go to him."
               First one has to become empty, utterly empty. But you have not to cling to emptiness, otherwise
           your life will never know the positive expression of religion. Your life will miss the poetry, the joy
           of sharing; you will remain empty. You will have a kind of freedom, but your freedom will be only
           freedom from, it will not be freedom FOR. And unless a freedom is both -- freedom from and
           freedom for -- something is missing, something is lacking; your freedom will be poor. Just to be free
           from is a poor kind of freedom.
               The real freedom starts only when you are free for. You can sing a song and you can dance a
           dance and you can celebrate and you can start overflowing. That's what compassion is.
               Man lives in passion. When the mind disappears, passion is transformed into compassion.
           Passion means you are a beggar with a begging-bowl; you are asking and asking for more and more
           from everybody; you are exploiting others. Your relationships are nothing but exploitations --
           cunning devices to possess the other, very clever strategies to dominate. When you are living in the
           mind, in passion, your whole life is power politics. Even your love, even your social service, even
           your humanitarian works, are nothing but power politics. Deep down, there is a desire to be powerful
           over others.
               The same energy, when the mind is dropped, becomes compassion. And it takes a totally new
           turn. It is no longer begging; you become an emperor, you start giving. Now you have something --
           you had it always, but because of the mind, you were not aware of it. The mind was functioning like
           darkness around you, and you were unaware of the light within. The mind was creating an illusion of
           being a beggar, while all the time you had been an emperor. The mind was creating a dream; in
           reality you never needed anything. All had already been given. All that you need, all that you can
           need, is already the case.
               God is within you, but because of the mind -- mind means dreaming, desiring -- you never look
           within, you go on rushing outwards. You keep yourself in the background, your eyes are turned
           towards the outside, they have become focused there. That's what the mind is all about: focusing the
           eyes on the outside.
               And one has to learn how to unfocus them from there -- how to make them loose, less rigid, more
           liquid, so that they can turn inwards. Once you have seen who you are, the beggar disappears. In fact
           it had never existed; it was just a dream, an idea.
               The mind is creating all your misery. With the mind gone, misery is gone, and suddenly you are
           full of energy. And the energy needs expression, sharing; it wants to become a song, a dance, a
           celebration. That is compassion: you start sharing.
               Atisha learned compassion from Dharmarakshita. But compassion has two faces. One is inactive
           compassion: the meditator sits silently in his cave, showering his compassion over the whole
           existence. But it is a very inactive kind of compassion. You have to go to him to partake of it, he will
           not come to you. You will have to go to the mountains to his cave to share his joy; he will not come
           to you. He will not move in any way, he will not take any active step. He will not flow towards
           others, he will not seek and search for the people with whom he can share his dance. He will wait.
               This is a feminine kind of compassion: just like a woman waits -- she never takes the initiative,
           she never goes to the man. She may love the man, but she will never be the first to say "I love you."
           She will wait; she will hope that one day or other, sooner or later, the man will propose. Woman is
           inactive love, passive love. Man is active love, man takes the initiative.
               And in the same way, compassion has two possibilities: the feminine and the masculine. From
           Dharmarakshita, Atisha learned the feminine art of being in love with existence. One more step was
           needed: Dharmarakshita told him, "Go to Yogin Maitreya" -- these three masters were all living
           together in the same vicinity -- "Go to Yogin Maitreya and learn how to transform the baser energy
           into active energy, so love becomes active."
               And once love is active, compassion is active, you have passed through all the three dimensions
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of truth -- you have known all. You have known utter emptiness, you have known compassion
           arising, you have known compassion showering. Life is fulfilled only when all these three have
           happened.
               Because Atisha learned under three enlightened masters, he is called Atisha the Thrice Great.
           Nothing more is known about his ordinary life, when and where exactly he was born. He existed
           somewhere in the eleventh century. He was born in India, but the moment his love became active he
           started moving towards Tibet, as if a great magnet were pulling him there. In the Himalayas he
           attained; then he never came back to India.
               He moved towards Tibet, his love showered on Tibet. He transformed the whole quality of
           Tibetan consciousness. He was a miracle-worker; whatsoever he touched was transformed into gold.
           He was one of the greatest alchemists the world has ever known.
               These "Seven Points of Mind Training" are the fundamental teaching that he gave to Tibet -- a
           gift from India to Tibet. India has given great gifts to the world. Atisha is one of those great gifts.
           Just as India gave Bodhidharma to China, India gave Atisha to Tibet. Tibet is infinitely indebted to
           this man.
               These seven points, the smallest treatise you can find, are of immense value. You will have to
           meditate over each statement. They are the whole of religion condensed: you will have to unfold
           each statement. They are like seeds, they contain much. It may not be apparently so, but the moment
           you move into the statements deeply, when you contemplate and meditate and start experimenting
           with them, you will be surprised -- you will be going into the greatest adventure of your life.
           The first:
              FIRST, LEARN THE PRELIMINARIES.

                What are the preliminaries? These are the preliminaries. First: truth is. Truth is not something to
           be created, truth is not something that is far away. Truth is herenow, truth surrounds you like the
           ocean surrounds the fish. The fish may not be aware -- once the fish becomes aware of the ocean, the
           fish is enlightened. The fish is not aware, cannot be aware, because the fish is born in the ocean, has
           always lived in the ocean, is part of the ocean as any wave is part of the ocean. The fish is also a
           wave -- a little more solid, but born out of the ocean, lives in the ocean and one day disappears in the
           ocean. The fish may never come to know about the ocean. To know something, a little distance is
           needed. To know something, perspective is needed. And the ocean is so close, that's why the fish
           may not be aware of it.
                And so is the case with truth, or if you like you can use the word god. So is the case with god. It
           is not that he is far away, and that's why we don't know about him; it is because he is not far away
           but very close by. Even to say that it is close by is not right, because you are it. He is within you and
           without: he is all and all.
                This is the first thing that has to be allowed to sink deep in your heart: truth already is, we are in
           it. This is the most fundamental thing to begin with. You are not to discover it; it is not covered. All
           that is needed is a new kind of awareness which is missing in you. Truth is there, but you are not
           aware, you are not mindful, you are not alert. You don't know how to watch, you don't know how to
           observe, you don't know how to look and see. You have eyes but still you are blind, you have ears
           but you are deaf.
           The first preliminary is: truth is.
                The second preliminary is: mind is the barrier. Nothing else is hindering you from truth, just your
           own mind. Mind surrounds you like a film, like a movie that goes on and on, and you remain
           engrossed in it, fascinated by it. It is a fantasy that surrounds you, a continuous story that goes on
           and on. And because you are so fascinated by it, you go on missing that which is. And mind is not; it
           is only a fantasy, it is only a faculty for dreaming.
                Mind is nothing but dreams and dreams -- dreams of the past, dreams of the future, dreams of
           how things should be, dreams of great ambitions, achievements. Dreams and desires, that is the stuff
           mind is made of. But it surrounds you like a China Wall. And because of it the fish remains unaware
           of the ocean.
                So the second preliminary is: mind is the only barrier.
                And the third: no-mind is the door. Atisha calls no-mind BODHICHITTA: that is his word for
           no-mind. It can be translated as buddha-mind, buddha-consciousness, too. Or if you like you can call
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it christ-consciousness, krishna-consciousness. It doesn't make any difference what name is used, but
           the basic quality of bodhichitta is that it is no-mind. It looks paradoxical: the mind in the state of
           no-mind. But the meaning is very clear: mind without content, mind without thoughts, is what is
           meant, is what is indicated.
               Remember the word bodhichitta, because Atisha says the whole effort of religion, the whole
           science of religion, is nothing but an endeavor to create bodhichitta, buddha-consciousness: a mind
           which functions as a no-mind, a mind which dreams no more, thinks no more, a mind which is just
           awareness, pure awareness.
           These are the preliminaries.
           The second sutra:
              THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS....

               Now the work starts. Atisha is very condensed, seedlike. That is the meaning of a sutra: it is just
           a thread, just a hint, and then you have to decode it.
              THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS.

               "Phenomena" means all that you see, all that you experience. All that can ever be experienced is
           all phenomena. Remember, not only are the objects of the world phenomena and dreams, but also
           objects of consciousness. They may be objects of the world, they may be just objects of the mind.
           They may be great spiritual experiences. You may see kundalini rising in you: that too is a
           phenomenon -- a beautiful dream, a very sweet dream, but it is a dream all the same. You may see
           great light flooding your being, but that light is also a phenomenon. You may see lotuses blooming
           inside you and a great fragrance arising within your being: those too are phenomena, because you are
           always the seer and never the seen, always the experiencer and never the experienced, always the
           witness and never the witnessed.
               All that can be witnessed, seen, observed, is phenomena. Material phenomena, psychological
           phenomena, spiritual phenomena -- they are all the same. There is no need to make any distinction.
           The basic thing to remember is: that which can be seen is a dream.
              THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE DREAMS.

                This is a tremendously powerful technique. Start contemplating in this way: if you are walking
           on the street, contemplate that people passing by are all dreams. The shops and the shopkeepers and
           the customers and the people coming and going, all are dreams. The houses, the buses, the train, the
           airplane, all are dreams.
                You will be immediately surprised by something of tremendous import happening within you.
           The moment you think "All are dreams" suddenly, like a flash, one thing comes into your vision: "I
           am a dream too." Because if the seen is a dream, then who is this 'I'? If the object is a dream, then the
           subject is also a dream. If the object is false, how can the subject be the truth? Impossible.
                If you watch everything as a dream, suddenly you will find something slipping out of your being:
           the idea of the ego. This is the only way to drop the ego, and the simplest. Just try it -- meditate this
           way. Meditating this way again and again, one day the miracle happens: you look in, and the ego is
           not found there.
                The ego is a by-product, a by-product of the illusion that whatsoever you are seeing is true. If
           you think that objects are true, then the ego can exist; it is a by-product. If you think that objects are
           dreams, the ego disappears. And if you think continuously that all is a dream, then one day, in a
           dream in the night, you will be surprised: suddenly in the dream you will remember that this is a
           dream too! And immediately, as the remembrance happens, the dream will disappear. And for the
           first time you will experience yourself deep asleep, yet awake -- a very paradoxical experience, but
           of great benefit.
                Once you have seen your dream disappearing because you have become aware of the dream,
           your quality of consciousness will have a new flavor to it. The next morning you will wake up with a
           totally different quality you had never known before. You will wake up for the first time. Now you
           will know that all those other mornings were false; you were not really awake. The dreams continued
           -- the only difference was that in the night you were dreaming with eyes closed, in the day you were
           dreaming with eyes open.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But if the dream has disappeared because awareness happened, suddenly you became aware in
           the dream.... And remember, awareness and dreaming cannot exist together. Here, awareness arises,
           and there, the dream disappears. When you become awake in your sleep, the next morning is going
           to be something so important that it is incomparable. Nothing like it has ever happened. Your eyes
           will be so clear, so transparent, and everything will look so psychedelic, so colorful, so alive. Even
           rocks will be felt to be breathing, pulsating; even rocks will have a heartbeat. When you are awake,
           the whole existence changes its quality.
               We are living in a dream. We are asleep, even when we think we are awake.
              THINK THAT ALL PHENOMENA ARE LIKE DREAMS.

               First, objects will lose their objectivity. And second, the subject will lose its subjectivity. And
           that brings you to a transcendence. The object is no longer important, the subject is no longer
           important, then what is left? A transcendental consciousness: bodhichitta -- just a witnessing, with
           no idea of 'I' and 'thou'; just a pure mirror which reflects that which is.
           And God is nothing but that which is.
           The third sutra:
              EXAMINE THE NATURE OF UNBORN AWARENESS.

               Now you know what awareness is. You have known this transcendental awareness where objects
           and subjects are no more existential. You have known for the first time this purity, this crystal-clear
           mirror. Now examine the nature of this awareness.
               Look into it, look deep into it. Shake yourself into as full alertness as possible. Wake up and see!
           And you will start laughing -- because now you will see there has never been a birth, and there is
           never going to be a death.
               This is unborn and undying consciousness. It has always been here. It is eternal, it is timeless.
           And how afraid you were of death, and how afraid you were of old age, and how afraid you were of
           a thousand and one things! And nothing has ever happened: all was a dream.
               Seeing this, one smiles, one laughs. Your whole life up to now has been ridiculous, absurd. You
           were unnecessarily afraid, unnecessarily greedy, unnecessarily suffering. You were living in a
           nightmare and it was your own creation.
              EXAMINE THE NATURE OF UNBORN AWARENESS.

              And you are freed from all misery, all suffering, all hell.
              LET EVEN THE REMEDY ITSELF GO FREE ON ITS OWN.

                And now don't start clinging to the remedy, to the method. That temptation arises. It is the last
           temptation, the very last effort of the mind to survive. The mind comes from a back door, it tries
           once more. Before it disappears forever, it makes one more effort, and that effort is to cling to the
           method -- the method of thinking that all phenomena are dreams.
                It has given you such joy, such a deep experience of reality, that naturally you would like to cling
           to it. And once you cling you are back in the same old rut again: the mind is back in disguise. Cling
           to anything and the mind is back, because clinging is mind. Hold on to anything, depend on
           anything, and the mind is back, because the mind is dependence, slavery. Possess anything -- even a
           spiritual method, even a method of meditation -- become a possessor, and you are possessed by it.
           Whether you possess money or you possess a tremendously significant method of meditation, it
           doesn't matter. Whatsoever you possess, you will be possessed by it and you will be afraid to lose it.

               Once a Sufi mystic was brought to me. For thirty years continuously he had used the Sufi method
           ZIKR, and he had attained to great experiences. One could see it; even ordinary people were aware
           that he was living in a totally different world. You could see it in his eyes, they were shining with
           joy. His very being had a vibe of the beyond.
               His disciples brought him to me, and they said, "Our master is a realized soul. What do you say
           about him?"
               I said, "Leave your master with me for three days, and then come back."
               The master stayed with me for three days. On the third day he was very angry, and he said, "You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have destroyed my thirty years' work!" Because I told him a simple thing -- just this sutra of Atisha:
           LET EVEN THE REMEDY ITSELF GO....
               I told him, "Now for thirty years you have been remembering one thing, that all is divine. The
           tree is God, the rock is God, the people are God, the dog is God, everything is God -- for thirty years
           you have been remembering it continuously." And he had really made a sincere effort.
           He said, "Yes."
               I said, "Now stop remembering. How long are you going to remember? If it has happened, then
           stop remembering and let us see what happens. If it has really happened, then even after dropping
           remembering, it will remain."
               It was so logical that he agreed. He said, "It has happened."
               I said, "Then give it a try. For three days you forget remembering, stop remembering."
           He said, "I cannot stop, it has become automatic."
           I said, "You just wait and try."
               It took him at least two days, forty-eight hours, to stop. It was hard to stop, it had become
           automatic. There was now no need to remember; for thirty years he had been remembering, it was
           simply there like an undercurrent. But within forty-eight hours it stopped.
               And on the morning of the third day he was very angry. He said, "What have you done? All that
           joy has disappeared. I am feeling very ordinary, I am feeling the same as I was before I started on the
           journey thirty years ago." He started crying out of anger and out of sadness; tears started coming to
           his eyes. He said, "Give me back my method -- please don't take it!"
               I said, "Just look! If this is so dependent on the method, then nothing has happened. It is just an
           illusion that you are creating by continuous remembering. This is nothing but autohypnosis."

              All the great masters say this, that one day you have to drop the method. And the sooner you
           drop it, the better. The moment you attain, the moment awareness is released in you, immediately
           drop the method.
              Just look: this is only the fourth sutra. In the third sutra Atisha says:
              EXAMINE THE NATURE OF UNBORN AWARENESS.
              And in the fourth, immediately:

              LET EVEN THE REMEDY ITSELF GO....

                Now no more examination, no more mindfulness, no more remembering that all is a dream. Once
           the first taste of awareness has happened on your tongue, be quick! Because the mind is very
           cunning -- the mind can start telling you, "Look, you are no longer ordinary, you are extraordinary.
           Look, you have attained. Look, you have become a buddha, you are enlightened. Look, this is the
           goal of all human beings, and very rarely, one in a million attains. You are that one in a million."
                The mind will say all these beautiful sweet nothings, and of course the ego can come back. You
           can start feeling very good, holier than thou. You can start feeling special, spiritual, saintly. And all
           is lost. Through the remedy, the disease is back. Cling to the remedy, and the disease is back.
                One has to be very alert about dropping the method. Once you attain something, immediately
           drop the method, otherwise your mind will start clinging to the method. It will talk very logically to
           you, saying, "It is the method that is important."

               Buddha used to tell a story again and again. Five idiots passed through a village. Seeing them,
           people were surprised, because they were carrying a boat on their heads. The boat was really big; it
           was almost crushing those five idiots, they were almost dying under the weight of it. And people
           asked, "What are you doing?"
               They said, "We cannot leave this boat. This is the boat that helped us to come from the other
           shore to this shore. How can we leave it? It is because of it that we have been able to come here.
           Without it we would have died on the other shore. The night was coming close, and there were wild
           animals on the other shore. It was as sure as anything that by the morning we would have been dead.
           We will never leave this boat, we are indebted forever. We will carry it on our heads in sheer
           gratitude."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This can happen, because all minds are idiots. Mind as such is idiotic.
               The origin of the word idiot is beautiful to remember. Idiocy means something private,
           something special, something that is your own, something eccentric. That is the basic meaning of
           idiocy -- to function in an eccentric way.
               The mind always functions in an eccentric way, the mind is always an idiot. The really intelligent
           person has no mind. Intelligence arises out of no-mind, idiocy out of the mind. Mind is idiotic,
           no-mind is wise. No-mind is wisdom, intelligence.
               Mind depends on knowledge, on methods, on money, on experience, on this and that. Mind
           always needs props, it needs supports, it cannot exist on its own. On its own, it flops.
               So the ultimate effort of the mind to come back will be when you attain to some awareness. It
           will say, "Look, so we have arrived." The moment something inside you says, "We have arrived,"
           beware! Be very very cautious now, each step has to be of great caution.
               LET EVEN THE REMEDY ITSELF GO FREE ON ITS OWN.

                Now please don't cling to the remedy, to the method. This is the emphasis of J. Krishnamurti --
           but this is his first sutra. It should be the fourth. That's where he is wrong; it cannot be the first sutra.
           How can you drop a method that you have never used? You can only drop a method that you have
           used.
                Atisha is far more logical, far more scientific, than J. Krishnamurti. But I can understand why he
           emphasizes it, because he is afraid that if you go into the first three sutras the fourth may never
           arrive, you may be lost in the first three. Many are lost in the preliminaries, many are lost in the
           methods. So he has become too cautious, extremely cautious.
                Those five idiots were carrying the boat, and J. Krishnamurti is on the other shore teaching
           people: "Don't enter the boat" -- too cautious! -- "because if you enter the boat, who knows, you may
           start carrying the boat on your head. So please don't enter it."
                And there are many who have become afraid of entering the boat. But to be afraid of entering the
           boat is the same idiocy; there is no difference. One who is afraid of entering the boat is the same
           person who will carry the boat; otherwise why should you be afraid?
                There are old friends of mine who have followed J. Krishnamurti for their whole life. They come
           to me and say, "We would like to come here, but we are afraid of all the methods that you teach.
           Methods are dangerous," they say.
                Methods are dangerous only if you are unaware; otherwise they can be used beautifully. Do you
           think a boat is dangerous? It is dangerous if you are thinking to carry it on your head for your whole
           life out of sheer gratitude; otherwise it is just a raft to be used and discarded. All methods are rafts to
           be used and discarded, used and abandoned, used and never looked back at again -- there is no need,
           no point!
                These are two extremes. At one extreme are those five idiots, and at the other extreme are the
           followers of J. Krishnamurti. There is no need to be either. My approach is: Use the boat, use
           beautiful boats, use as many boats as possible; with this awareness, when the shore is reached the
           boat is abandoned with no clinging. While you are in the boat, enjoy it, be thankful to it. When you
           get out of the boat, say thank you and move on.
           The fifth sutra:
               SETTLE IN THE NATURE OF BASIC COGNITION, THE ESSENCE.

              If you drop the remedy, automatically you will start settling in your being. The mind clings; it
           never allows you to settle in your being. It keeps you interested in something that you are not: the
           boats.
              When you don't cling to anything, there is nowhere to go -- all boats have been abandoned, you
           cannot go anywhere; all paths have been dropped, you cannot go anywhere; all dreams and desires
           have disappeared, there is no way to move. Relaxation happens of its own accord. Just think of the
           word relax. Be, settle, you have come home.
               SETTLE IN THE NATURE OF BASIC COGNITION, THE ESSENCE.

              And when you settle, there is pure awareness, with no effort, with no method. If awareness needs
           a method it is still not true awareness, not the essential awareness, not the natural spontaneous
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           awareness. It is still a by-product of the method; it is cultivated, created. It is a by-product of the
           mind, it is not yet the truth.
              SETTLE IN THE NATURE OF BASIC COGNITION, THE ESSENCE.

               Now there is nothing to do. See, be, enjoy: only this moment exists. This now, this here, this
           cawing of the crows... and all is silence.
               To know this serenity is to know who you are, what this existence is all about. This is samadhi,
           in the words of Patanjali. This is SAMBODHI, in the words of Gautam Buddha. This is bodhichitta,
           in the words of Atisha.
              BETWEEN SESSIONS, CONSIDER PHENOMENA AS PHANTOMS.

               Now Atisha is really very aware of the disciple. He knows that these experiences of settling into
           your being will be only momentary in the beginning. One moment you will find yourself relaxed into
           your being, another moment it will be gone. In the beginning it is bound to be so: one moment you
           are flooded with the unknown, with the mysterious, another moment it is no more there. One
           moment all is fragrance, and the next moment you are searching for it and you cannot find it, where
           it has gone.
               Only glimpses will happen in the beginning. Slowly slowly they become more and more solid,
           they abide more and more. Slowly slowly, slowly slowly, very slowly, they settle forever. Before
           that you cannot be allowed to take it for granted; that will be a mistake. Hence he says: Between
           sessions....
               When you are sitting in meditation, a session of meditation, this will happen -- but it will go. So
           what are you supposed to do between sessions?
              BETWEEN SESSIONS, CONSIDER PHENOMENA AS PHANTOMS.

               Between sessions, continue to use the method. Drop the method when you are deep in
           meditation. The moment comes, as awareness is getting purer and purer, when suddenly it is utterly
           pure: drop the method, abandon the method, forget all about the remedy, just settle and be.
               But this will happen only for moments in the beginning. Sometimes it happens here listening to
           me. Just for a moment, like a breeze, you are transported into another world, the world of no-mind.
           Just for a moment, you know that you know -- but only for a moment. And again the darkness
           gathers and the mind is back with all its dreams, with all its desires and all its stupidities.
               For a moment the clouds had separated and you had seen the sun. Now the clouds are there
           again; it is all dark and the sun has disappeared. Now even to believe that the sun exists will be
           difficult. Now to believe that what you had experienced a moment before was true will be difficult. It
           may have been a fantasy; the mind may say it may have just been imagination.
               It is so incredible, it looks so impossible, that it could have happened to YOU. With all this
           stupidity in the mind, with all these clouds and darknesses, it had happened to you: you saw the sun
           for a moment. It doesn't look probable -- you must have imagined it; maybe you had fallen into a
           dream and seen it.
               Between sessions start again, be in the boat, use the boat again.
              ... CONSIDER PHENOMENA AS PHANTOMS.

               Atisha is very considerate to the disciples. Otherwise the fourth sutra would have been the last --
           or, at the most, the fifth:
              SETTLE IN THE NATURE OF BASIC COGNITION, THE ESSENCE.

              If Atisha had been a man like Bodhidharma, the treatise would have finished at the fifth sutra, or
           even at the fourth:
              LET EVEN THE REMEDY ITSELF GO FREE ON ITS OWN.

               Then the settling happens on its own. Bodhidharma was very miserly, he would not have used
           the fifth, but Atisha is very considerate to the disciple. He had been a disciple, so he knew the
           difficulties of a disciple. And he had been a disciple of three great masters, so he knew all the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficulties that a disciple has to face. He had been a pilgrim; he knew all the problems. And he had
           been a pilgrim on three paths, all the three possible paths, so he knew all the problems and all the
           difficulties and all the pitfalls and all the obstacles that are bound to arise on the path of a disciple.
           Hence his considerateness. He says: Between sessions....
               Between these moments of meditativeness, between these moments of utter joy, emptiness and
           purity, between these moments of being, remember that all are dreams, that every phenomenon is a
           phantom. Go on using this method till the settling has happened forever.
              TRAIN IN JOINING, SENDING AND TAKING TOGETHER.DO THIS BY RIDING THE BREATH.

              Now emptiness has been experienced -- this is what he had learned. Up to this sutra he had been
           with the first master, Dharmakirti. With this sutra, the second master, Dharmarakshita.
              TRAIN IN JOINING, SENDING AND TAKING TOGETHER.DO THIS BY RIDING THE BREATH.

                Now he says: Start being compassionate. And the method is, when you breathe in -- listen
           carefully, it is one of the greatest methods -- when you breathe in, think that you are breathing in all
           the miseries of all the people in the world. All the darkness, all the negativity, all the hell that exists
           anywhere, you are breathing it in. And let it be absorbed in your heart.
                You may have read or heard about the so-called positive thinkers of the West. They say just the
           opposite -- they don't know what they are saying. They say, "When you breathe out, throw out all
           your misery and negativity; and when you breathe in, breathe in joy, positivity, happiness,
           cheerfulness."
                Atisha's method is just the opposite: when you breathe in, breathe in all the misery and suffering
           of all the beings of the world -- past, present and future. And when you breathe out, breathe out all
           the joy that you have, all the blissfulness that you have, all the benediction that you have. Breathe
           out, pour yourself into existence. This is the method of compassion: drink in all the suffering and
           pour out all the blessings.
                And you will be surprised if you do it. The moment you take all the sufferings of the world inside
           you, they are no longer sufferings. The heart immediately transforms the energy. The heart is a
           transforming force: drink in misery, and it is transformed into blissfulness... then pour it out.
                Once you have learned that your heart can do this magic, this miracle, you would like to do it
           again and again. Try it. It is one of the most practical methods -- simple, and it brings immediate
           results. Do it today, and see.
                That is one of the approaches of Buddha and all his disciples. Atisha is one of his disciples, in the
           same tradition, in the same line. Buddha says again and again to his disciples, "IHI PASSIKO: come
           and see!" They are very scientific people. Buddhism is the most scientific religion on the earth;
           hence, Buddhism is gaining more and more ground in the world every day. As the world becomes
           more intelligent, Buddha will become more and more important. It is bound to be so. As more and
           more people come to know about science, Buddha will have great appeal, because he will convince
           the scientific mind -- because he says, "Whatsoever I am saying can be practiced." And I don't say to
           you, "Believe it," I say, "Experiment with it, experience it, and only then if you feel it yourself, trust
           it. Otherwise there is no need to believe."
                Try this beautiful method of compassion: take in all the misery and pour out all the joy.
              TRAIN IN JOINING, SENDING AND TAKING TOGETHER. DO THIS BY RIDING THE BREATH.
              THREE OBJECTS, THREE POISONS, THREE BASES OF VIRTUE.

               There are three objects which can either function as three poisons or can become three bases of
           infinite virtue. Atisha is talking of the inner alchemy. The poison can become the nectar, the baser
           metal can be transformed into gold.
               What are these three objects? The first is aversion, the second is attachment, and the third is
           indifference. This is how the mind functions. You feel aversion to whatsoever you dislike, you feel
           attachment to whatsoever you like, and you feel indifferent to things which you neither dislike nor
           like. These are the three objects. Between these three, the mind exists. These are the three legs of the
           tripod called the mind: aversion, attachment and indifference. And if you live in these three as they
           are, you are living in poison.
               This is how we have created a hell out of life. Aversion, dislike, hatred, repulsion -- that creates
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one-third of your hell. Attachment, liking, clinging, possessiveness -- that creates the second
           one-third of your hell. And indifference to all that you are neither attracted to nor repulsed by -- that
           creates the third part, the third one-third of your hell.
                Just watch your mind, this is how your mind functions. It is always saying, "I like this, I don't
           like that, and I am indifferent to the third." These are the three ways the mind goes on moving. This
           is the rut, the routine.
                Atisha says: These are the three poisons, but they can become the three bases of virtue. How can
           they become three bases of great virtue? If you bring in the quality of compassion, if you learn the
           art of absorbing suffering, as if all the suffering of the world is coming riding on the breath, then
           how can you be repulsed? How can you dislike anything and how can you be indifferent to
           anything? And how can you be attached to anything? If you are unconditionally taking in all the
           suffering in the world, drinking it, absorbing it in your heart, and then instead of it pouring blessings
           onto the whole of existence unconditionally -- not to somebody in particular, remember; not only to
           man but to all: to all beings, trees and rocks and birds and animals, to the whole existence, material,
           immaterial -- when you are pouring out blessings unconditionally, how can you be attached?
                Attachment, aversion, indifference: all disappear with this small technique. And with their
           disappearance the poison is transformed into nectar, and the bondage becomes freedom, and the hell
           is no more a hell, it is heaven.
                In these moments you come to know: This very body the buddha, this very earth the lotus
           paradise.
           And the last sutra:
              TRAIN WITH PHRASES IN EVERY MODE OF BEHAVIOR.

               Atisha is not an escapist. He does not teach escapism, he does not tell you to move from
           situations which are not to your liking. He says: You have to learn to function in bodhichitta, in
           buddha-consciousness, in all kinds of situations -- in the marketplace, in the monastery; with people
           in the crowd or alone in a cave; with friends or with enemies; with family, familiar people, and with
           strangers; with men and with animals. In all kinds of situations, in all kinds of challenges, you have
           to learn to function in compassion, in meditation -- because all these experiences of different
           situations will make your bodhichitta more and more ripe.
               Don't escape from any situation -- if you escape, then something will remain missing in you.
           Then your bodhichitta will not be that ripe, will not be that rich. Live life in its multidimensionality.
               And that's what I teach you too: Live life in its totality. And living in the world, don't be of it.
           Live in the world like a lotus flower in water: it lives in water, but the water touches it not. Only then
           will bodhichitta flower in you, bloom in you. Only then will you come to know the ultimate
           consciousness which is freedom, which is joy, eternal joy, which is benediction. Not to know it is to
           miss the whole point of life; to know it is the only goal. The only goal -- remember it.
               And remember, Atisha's sutras are not philosophical, not speculative, not abstract. They are
           experimental, they are scientific.
               Let me repeat again: religion is a science in the sense that it is the purest knowing. Yet it is not a
           science in the sense of chemistry and physics. It is not the science of the outward, it is the science of
           the inward. It is not the science of the exterior, it is the science of the interior. It is the science that
           takes you beyond, it is the science that takes you into the unknown and the unknowable. It is the
           greatest adventure there is. It is a call and a challenge to all those who have any courage, any guts,
           any intelligence.
               Religion is not for cowards, it is for people who want to live dangerously.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Book of Wisdom
                                                         Chapter #2
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                    Chapter title: The Enlightenment of the Lily
           12 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902120
              ShortTitle: WISDOM02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins



              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THIS SOUNDS LIKE A SILLY QUESTION. I AM NOT SURE THAT I WANT TO BECOME
              ENLIGHTENED. I AM SURPRISED TO SEE SO MANY PEOPLE AROUND WHO SEEM TO HAVE
              THAT DESIRE. I FEEL VERY MUCH ATTACHED TO MY COUNTRY AND I LOVE MY WORK
              THERE. STILL I WANT TO TAKE SANNYAS. IS THAT POSSIBLE? IS IT NOT A CONTRADICTION?


               Goran Strandberg, all questions are silly and so are all answers. Questions come out of the mind
           like leaves come out of the trees. Questions are part of the mind that has to be dropped; questions
           keep the mind nourished.
               A question is really a search for food. The answer is the food. The question is a groping: the
           mind is feeling hungry, it wants to be strengthened, it wants to be fed, it searches for food. Wherever
           it can find something satisfying... any answer that makes the mind knowledgeable, that gives the
           mind the feeling "Now I know," functions as a food. And the mind can go on and on asking,
           collecting answers, becoming knowledgeable.
               The more knowledgeable the mind is, the more difficult it is to drop it. And it has to be dropped,
           because unless questioning ceases in you, you will never be silent. Unless questioning disappears
           totally, you will not find that space, that serenity, that stillness, which can make you aware of who
           you are, and of what this reality is.
               Remember, reality is never going to come to you in the form of an answer. It has never happened
           that way, it is not going to happen that way. It CAN'T happen that way, it is not in the nature of
           things. Reality comes to you when there is no question left; reality comes to an unquestioning state
           of awareness.
               So the first thing to be remembered is: all questions are silly, and all answers are too. Then you
           will be a little puzzled -- why do I go on answering your questions? If you look deep down into my
           answers you will see that they are not answers. They don't nourish your mind, they destroy your
           mind, they shatter you. They are meant to be shocks. The purpose of my answering is to hammer
           your mind -- it is hammering, it is not answering.
               In the beginning, when you come here for the first time and you don't understand me and my
           purpose, you may think that I am answering you. The longer you are here, the deeper you become
           attuned with me, the more you know that my answering is not to give you answers. It is not to make
           you more knowledgeable -- just the opposite. It is to take your knowledge away, to make you
           unknowledgeable, to make you ignorant -- ignorant again, innocent again -- so that questioning
           disappears.
               And when there is no questioning, there is a totally new quality to your consciousness. That
           quality is called wonder. Wondering is not questioning, it is feeling mystified by existence.
           Questioning is an effort to demystify existence; it is an effort not to accept the mystery of life. Hence
           we reduce every mystery to a question. The question means the mystery is only a problem to be
           solved, and once solved, there will be no mystery.
               My effort in answering you is not to demystify existence but to mystify it more. Hence my
           contradictions. I cannot be consistent, I am not answering you. I cannot be consistent, because I am
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not here to make you more knowledgeable. If I am consistent, you will have a body of knowledge --
           very satisfying to the mind, nourishing, strengthening, gratifying.
               I am deliberately inconsistent, contradictory, so that you cannot make any body of knowledge
           out of me. So if one day you start gathering something, another day I take it away. I don't allow you
           to gather anything. Sooner or later, you are bound to be awakened to the fact that something totally
           different is transpiring here. It is not that I am giving you some dogma to be believed in, some
           philosophy to be lived by, no, not at all. I am utterly destructive, I am taking everything away from
           you.
               Slowly slowly your mind will stop questioning. What is the point? When no answer answers,
           then what is the point? And the day you stop questioning is a day of great rejoicing, because then
           wondering starts. You have moved into a totally new dimension; you are again a child.
               Jesus says, "Unless you are like small children you will not enter into my kingdom of God." He
           means unless you are ignorant again, innocent again, unquestioning and wondering, certainly.
               Hence there is a difference between the question of a child and a grown-up person. The
           difference is of quality. The child asks, not to be answered; he is simply being articulate about his
           wonder. So if you don't answer the child he forgets about his question and he starts asking another
           question. His purpose is not to be answered, his purpose is simply that he is talking to himself. He is
           being articulate about his wonder, he is trying to figure out what it is -- the wonder, the mystery. He
           is not hankering for an answer, so no answer will satisfy him. If you give him an answer he will ask
           another question about the answer. His wondering continues.
               When a grown-up person -- educated, sophisticated, well-read, informed -- asks a question, he
           asks it out of his knowledge, to gather more knowledge. The mind always hankers for more and
           more. If you have money, it hankers for more money; if you have prestige, it hankers for more
           prestige; if you have knowledge, it hankers for more knowledge. Mind lives in the "more."
               And this is the way you go on and on avoiding reality. Reality is a mystery, it is not a question to
           be asked. It is a mystery to be lived, a mystery to be experienced, a mystery to be loved, a mystery to
           be dissolved in, to be drowned in.
               I am answering you, not to answer but to simply destroy the question. I am not a teacher. The
           teacher teaches you; the master does not teach you, he helps you unlearn.
               Goran Strandberg, you say: "This sounds like a silly question." Not only does it sound, it is. All
           questions are -- what can I do? What can you do?
               You say: "I am not sure that I want to become enlightened."
               That shows how the mind functions, it is never sure of anything. Mind is always unsure; it lives
           in unsureness. Mind lives in confusion, it can never have any clarity. Clarity is not part of the mind
           at all; clarity is the absence of the mind, confusion is the presence of the mind. Confusion and mind
           are synonymous.
               You can't have a clear mind. If you have clarity, you cannot have the mind; if you have the mind,
           you can't have clarity. The mind is always divided against itself, it lives in conflict. Divisibility is its
           nature. Hence those who live in the mind never become individuals, indivisibles. They remain
           divided: one part wants this, another part wants that.
               Mind is a crowd of many desires; it is not a single desire. Mind is multi-psychic, and all the
           fragments are falling apart in different directions. It is a miracle how we go on keeping ourselves
           together; it is a hard struggle to keep oneself together. Somehow we manage, but that togetherness
           remains only on the surface. Deep down there is turmoil.
               You fall in love with a woman: are you sure that you are in love? Really sure? I have never come
           across a lover who is really sure. You may even get married, but were you sure? You may have
           children, but were you sure that you really wanted to have children?
               That's how you are living: nothing is sure. But one has to do something or other to keep oneself
           occupied, so you go on keeping yourself occupied. But surety is not of the mind, it cannot be. And
           the same problem will arise on every level. The same problem is facing you again.
               You say: "I am not sure that I want to become enlightened."
               But there must be a certain desire, otherwise why the question? A part of your mind must be
           saying, "Strandberg, become enlightened" -- just a part. Another part must be saying, "Are you mad?
           Have you lost your senses? You have a wife at home, and children, and work, and you love your
           country -- and you are trying to become enlightened? You must have become a victim of mass
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hypnosis: so many people in orange, it is dangerous to live with such mad people. So many mad
           people, enjoying and laughing and loving and looking so happy! Strandberg, keep on remembering:
           you have a wife, children, a job. Keep alert!"
               But again and again the desire will come. When so many people are interested in enlightenment,
           there must be something in it. You can deceive one, you can deceive two, but how can you deceive
           so many? Thousands of people interested in enlightenment? It can't be all bullshit. So a desire arises:
           have a little taste of it. And fear is there too.
               But this is the situation; always it is so, in everything it is so. You want to purchase a car, and it
           is the same: whether to purchase a Chevrolet or a Ford or a Benz? If your wife is not there to help
           you, you will never purchase any car! Women are more decisive; they are still less in the mind than
           men. They function out of the heart, their feeling side is still alive. Fortunately they are not yet so
           civilized; they are still primitive, a little wild, leaning towards the intuitive and not towards the
           intellect, still capable and courageous enough to act decisively, to act intuitively, to act illogically.
               All decisions come from the heart. The mind is never decisive, it cannot be. If you want to decide
           through the mind, you never can. And I am not talking about great things like enlightenment and the
           existence of God or the existence of life after death. I am not talking about great things, just small
           things -- whether to purchase this soap or that, or which toothpaste -- and you will find the same
           difficulty. Mind is fragmentary, divided. Hence my consistent insistence that you get out of the mind
           and start living. The mind only thinks and never lives. It thinks beautiful thoughts, but they are
           thoughts all the same, just dreams.
               Get out of the mind if you want to live. Get out of the mind if you want to live this moment. The
           mind cannot live in this moment, because first it has to decide, and the moment is lost in thinking.
           And by the time the mind has decided -- if it ever decides -- that moment is gone already. You are
           always lagging behind. Mind is always running after life, and lagging behind and missing it
           continuously.
               Many of you must have dreamed something like this: Anand Maitreya continuously dreams that
           he is going to catch a train, and in the dream he always misses it. Many people, I think almost
           everybody, has dreams of that kind -- that you are just going to make it, just going to make it... and
           you miss it. By the time you reach the platform, the train has left. You see it leaving, but it is too
           late; you cannot get on it.
               Anand Maitreya's dream is a very significant dream and a very universal one. This is simply how
           the mind functions; this dream symbolizes the mind: it is always missing the train. It is bound to be
           so, because mind takes time to think, and time cannot stop for you; it goes on and on slipping out of
           your hands.
               You never have two moments together in your hands, only one single moment. It is such a small
           moment that there is no space for thinking to move, no space for thoughts to exist. Either you can
           live it, or you can think. To live it is to be enlightened, to think is to miss.
               Enlightenment is not a goal, Strandberg, that you have to decide whether to accept it or not. It is
           not a goal. Enlightenment is the realization that we have only the present moment to live. The next
           moment is not certain -- it may come, it may not come.
               In fact, the tomorrow never comes. It is always arriving and arriving, but never arrives. And the
           mind lives in the tomorrows... and life is possible only in the present.
               Jesus says to his disciples, "Look at the lilies in the field, how beautiful they are! Even the great
           Solomon was not so beautiful attired in all his grandeur as these poor lily flowers." And what is the
           secret? The secret is that they think not of the morrow. They live now, they live here.
               To live now is to be enlightened, to live here is to be enlightened, to be a lily is to be enlightened
           this very moment! Don't think about what I am saying. Don't think about it, just be here. This is the
           taste of enlightenment. And once you have tasted it, you will want to taste it more and more.
               Don't make a goal out of it; it is not a goal, it is the most ordinary state of consciousness. It is
           nothing extraordinary, it is nothing special. Trees are enlightened, and the birds are enlightened, and
           rocks are enlightened, and the sun and the moon are enlightened. Only man is not, because only man
           thinks and goes on missing.
               The moment you realize that you are missing because you are brooding too much, then small
           glimpses start happening. Small gaps in the traffic of the mind, small gaps when there is no traffic:
           those are the moments of meditation. They can happen anywhere....
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Yes, Strandberg, in your country too! So, no need to be worried -- you need not be in India. India
           has no copyright on enlightenment; it is not patented yet, it cannot be patented. You can be
           enlightened anywhere. You can be enlightened remaining a husband, a father, a mother, a wife. You
           can be enlightened as an engineer, as a doctor, as a carpenter, as a vagabond -- even as a hippy. You
           can be enlightened anywhere.
                Enlightenment is not something you have to work for, to strive for. It is something that you have
           to relax for -- not strive, but relax. Relax, and this moment you are enlightened. Many times you will
           become enlightened, and many times you will become unenlightened again, just because of the old
           habit.
                You say: "I am surprised to see so many people around who seem to have that desire."
                If they have that desire, they will never become enlightened. Either you can have the desire, or
           you can have enlightenment; you can't have both. Either you can eat the cake, or you can have it; you
           can't do both. If you have a desire for enlightenment, then enlightenment is never going to happen to
           you -- never, never. Because desiring is what prevents it, so enlightenment cannot be desired; that
           will be a contradiction in terms.
                Either you are enlightened or you are not, it is as simple as that. And enlightenment is not caused
           by anything, it is your nature. So it is not a question of making a great endeavor. It is not an
           enterprise; you need not plan for it. It is already the case!
           That is Atisha's first preliminary: Truth is.
                Enlightenment is: it is as much as the sunlight showering all around. But you can remain with
           closed eyes, and you are in a dark night although the sun is showering everywhere. Open your eyes
           and the night disappears and there is no darkness. Even when you were thinking there was darkness,
           there was not. It was a very private affair, idiotic; it was something eccentric that you were doing.
                To be unenlightened is something that you have earned; great effort has been invested in being
           unenlightened. And continuously you have to go on making an effort to remain unenlightened. Just
           drop making any more efforts to remain unenlightened, and you are enlightened. Enlightenment is
           your natural state; it is what you are.
                So please don't misunderstand my people. Newcomers are certainly desirous; they have come out
           of desire, in search of something. But those who have been here with me a little longer are no more
           in any desire. They are living moment to moment, enjoying the extraordinary ordinariness of life.
           Small things -- sipping hot tea in the morning: you can sip it in an enlightened way, and you can sip
           it in an unenlightened way. If, sipping hot tea early in the morning, you are not in the moment but
           thinking of something else -- that you have to go to the morning discourse -- you are unenlightened.
           You missed an enlightened cup of tea. And remember, if that is your habit, you will miss the
           discourse too -- because this again is nothing but a cup of tea. Then in the discourse you will be
           thinking, "I have to do the Sufi meditation, I have to rush to do this and that and then come back."
                It is not a question of one moment, it is a question of your pattern, your gestalt. If this is your
           gestalt, that you are always rushing ahead of time, thinking of the next moment, then you remain
           unenlightened. And this is your effort, this is something that you are doing.
                For enlightenment nothing is needed to be done, only this understanding... "Why should I go on
           keeping myself unenlightened?"
                That's what I decided one day: "Enough is enough. I have lived so many lives in an
           unenlightened way." And since then I have lived in an enlightened way. This is simply an
           understanding, it is not a desire.
                You say: "I feel very much attached to my country and love my work there."
                Perfectly good! Love your work, love your country, go back -- but live there in such a simple
           moment-to-moment way that you remain enlightened. Don't lag behind, don't rush ahead. Just be
           herenow, wherever you are, whatsoever you are doing.
                "Still," you say, "I want to take sannyas. Is that possible? Is it not a contradiction?"
                It is a contradiction. But you are living in contradictions, and this is the last contradiction. Before
           you can come out of your contradictory life, your life of conflict, you have to close the doors of that
           life. Sannyas is nothing but closing the doors -- the last thing. It is simply a declaration that "I have
           lived in the mind for so long, and nothing but misery has been my experience. Now I am taking a
           jump out of the mind into the unknown. I am going into a totally different kind of life."
                Sannyas is just a gesture from your side that yes, understanding has dawned, and you would like
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to come closer to me to see what it actually is.
                To be close to a master, to be related to a master, to be intimate with a master, is nothing but an
           approach towards your own ultimate understanding, your own enlightenment. Your mind will make
           you very much frightened of the unknown, it will drag you back. And it is always safer to live with
           the known; it is familiar, you are efficient in living with it. To move into the unknown, you will need
           a guide -- a guide who has moved into the unknown, who lives in the unknown, who lives in
           innocence. Just to imbibe the spirit you need the guide -- not for any guidance, but just to imbibe the
           spirit of the unknown, the joy of the unknown, the celebration of the unknown.
                Once you start drinking something of the master, you will not go back to the old ways of the
           mind. That's what sannyas is all about.
                Yes, Strandberg, you can take sannyas. In the beginning it is bound to be the same conflict again:
           whether to take it or not, whether to go into it or not. It is natural, because that's how you have
           functioned for many lives. This has become your second nature.
                I persuade you, I seduce you into sannyas. Great persuasion is needed, great seduction is needed.
           And that's why I have created sannyas. Otherwise there was no need; you could have come here,
           listened to me, and gone. You would have listened to me, but you would not have come close to me.
           This is a bridge. You would have heard me, but you would not have tasted of my silence. You would
           have known what I say about love, but you would not have known my love.
                Sannyas makes it possible. It is an energy-field, it is a buddhafield. It is communion: nonverbal,
           heart-to-heart, and, one day, being-to-being.

           The second question:

              DEAR OSHO,
              TODAY I SAW AND HEARD YOU IN THE FLESH AND I FOUND MYSELF IN ACCORD WITH AND
              MOVED AND INSPIRED BY YOU SO MUCH THAT I FEEL I MUST ASK YOU TWO QUESTIONS
              CONNECTED WITH IT AND ANOTHER NOT DIRECTLY CONNECTED.
              WHY ARE YOU SO MUCH AGAINST THE MIND? SURELY WE ALL USE IT AND NEED IT, AND IT
              SEEMS TO ME THAT IT IS ONLY WHEN WE ABUSE IT -- THAT IS TO SAY, USING IT AS A
              DEFENSE AGAINST FEELING TOO DEEPLY AND AGAINST TRANSCENDING ITSELF -- THAT
              WE ARE ENTITLED TO CRITICIZE.
              THE OTHER QUESTION IS CONCERNED MORE WITH MY PROBLEM, ALTHOUGH NO DOUBT
              THERE ARE OTHERS WHO FEEL AS I DO:
              WHY DO YOU FIND IT SO NECESSARY, SO IMPORTANT, FOR SANNYASINS TO WEAR
              ORANGE AND A PHOTOGRAPH OF YOURSELF -- IN FACT A SORT OF UNIFORM AND AN
              ICON? IF I LEAVE HERE WITH A FEELING OF LOVE AND DEEP RESPECT FOR A WISE MAN, A
              HEALER, I SHALL NOT NEED TO CARRY HIS PHOTO AROUND WITH ME. HIS IMAGE WILL BE
              TOO DEEPLY ENTRENCHED IN MY INNER SELF, AND IF I NEED TO CONSULT HIM IN MY MIND,
              I SHALL "CONJURE HIM UP" AND SEE HIM MUCH MORE VIVIDLY THAN IF I LOOK AT A PHOTO.
              I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO TAKE SANNYAS, BUT BECAUSE OF THIS LAST QUESTION YOU
              MAY NOT ACCEPT ME.


               Joyce Brandt, dear lady, please excuse me. It must have been just coincidence that you felt in
           accord with me; it can only be a coincidence, otherwise it is impossible to feel in accord with me.
               And don't decide so soon. You have heard me only once: just be here a little longer, and you will
           see so many contradictions! Wait a little, give me a little more time, and you will not feel in accord
           with me at all. In fact this time too, it was not you feeling in accord with me, but me somehow
           appearing in accord with you.
               You already have great ideas, you are very knowledgeable. Your question is not out of
           innocence, it is out of knowledge.
               So many people are here: I cannot say things which will shatter everybody's mind. If I say
           something and it shatters one person's mind, it may be in accord with somebody else's mind. For him
           I will work tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. But sooner or later the hammer comes down on
           everybody -- and then you will not feel so inspired. In fact, answering your question, I will make you
           very much uninspired. Wait!
               What do you mean by "inspiration"? It seems you already know something; otherwise, what do
           you mean by "inspiration"? What do you mean by "accord"? You already know something, and you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say "Yes, this man is talking sense" -- sense, because this is what you have always believed in.
               I am not here to support your belief: I have to take your beliefs away. I am not here to inspire
           you, because all inspiration creates slavery. If you are inspired by me, you will become a slave to
           me, you will become dependent on me. I don't inspire you, I simply go on shattering, shocking you.
           Sooner or later, I am here, you are here, and we are tremendously connected, but there is no slavery,
           no dependence. We relate, but there is no question of inspiration, because one who inspires you
           automatically becomes important for you -- so much so that you start feeling dependent.
               You are searching for a father-figure who can inspire you, who can put a little fire in your dull
           and dead life. But if somebody else puts fire into your life, he becomes powerful over you.
               I am not here to put any fire into you, I am just here to help you to see your own fire. Be a light
           unto yourself. Inspiration means you will follow somebody else, you will imitate them; you will
           become a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan. Sannyas is a declaration that you are no longer a
           Hindu, no longer a Christian, no longer a Mohammedan, that you don't belong to any creed or any
           dogma. I have no creed, no dogma. Becoming a sannyasin simply means that you have declared your
           freedom.
               But certainly the question arises: Why the orange, the mala and the photograph? Why?
               This is a device, dear lady, to keep unwanted people out. This is not for the crowds, it is not for
           the mob, it is only for the chosen few. The ultimate -- call it God, enlightenment -- is only for those
           who are really courageous, immensely courageous, because the ultimate becomes available only to
           those who can drop the mind and move into the immediate. The immediate is the door to the
           ultimate. And to drop the mind needs great courage -- it is not for everybody.
               This is just a device. Orange is as good as any other color, or no color. It has nothing special
           about it. I could have chosen any -- green, black, that would have done. But its purpose is that it is a
           device. It is for people who are ready to do a few mad things -- because later on, bigger and bigger
           mad things are waiting. If you cannot do such a simple, silly thing as wearing orange, a locket and a
           mala, if you can't gather enough courage to look foolish, a laughing-stock wherever you go, and feel
           absurd and ridiculous -- if you cannot do this much, then this place is not for you, because bigger and
           bigger things will have to be done.
               As you move deeper into intimacy with me, I will demand more and more illogical things,
           because only through those demands can the mind disappear; there is no other way. Those demands
           are like electric shocks. Only then can your cultivated mind, cultivated for centuries, be shaken to the
           foundations.
               This is just a simple device to help freak out people who are not meant to be here. They simply
           escape. Seeing such a mad crowd, seeing people in orange, they become afraid and they escape.
               This is deliberately done. I could have made it easier for you to be here, to gather more
           knowledge and be inspired, and things like that. But this is not Christian Science. I am not Billy
           Graham, I am not here to inspire you. This is a totally different phenomenon. In fact I am not even
           religious; I am not spiritual at all. All these labels are utterly irrelevant. This is just a device to
           choose those who are ready to go with me, who are ready to go with me to absurd limits.
               But you are more clever. You say, "I can have you in my heart, entrenched deep in my being" --
           as if you know what being is and what depth is. You are cunning and clever. You say, "I can conjure
           you up." But whatsoever you conjure up will be your own mind, a figment of your own mind; it will
           not be me, it cannot be me.
               You can have me only if you move with me unconditionally. No condition from your side can be
           accepted. And sometimes I demand things which are patently absurd, and I know that they are
           absurd.
               My people slowly slowly start understanding that if you can do something absurd, that helps you
           become a little loose, out from your mind. Once you are unconditionally with me, then if I say, "Go
           and move naked in the streets," you say, "Okay".... If you can say that, simply and innocently, I am
           not going to send you to move naked in the streets; the purpose is fulfilled. If you hesitate, if you
           say, "What do you mean?" then you will have to go.
               These are small devices. And sometimes small devices work very deeply, because you cannot
           detect them. Big devices you can detect -- they are so big, any stupid person can see them.
               Just the other day, Krishna Prem wrote a letter to me saying that he remembers that in many
           many past lives he has been related to Divyananda, with whom he is in love. In the past life, he was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the mother and Divyananda was the son. And he could not fulfill all the motherly duties in that life,
           so that's why he is in love with Divyananda now. "But now it seems that the debts are paid, and
           Divyananda is hurting me in many ways, so should I finish the relationship?"
               I sent him a message: "Go and talk to Teertha." He was very much hurt, naturally. He was
           talking about such big things: he must have been waiting for me to say, "Krishna Prem, you have
           arrived. Remembering your past lives, this is great! This is your first satori, Krishna Prem." Deep
           down, he must have waited for this.
               Rather than saying anything about his great experience, I told him to go to Teertha and talk. That
           must have hurt him deeply because I am not directly answering him, I am sending him to Teertha.
           And who is this Teertha, anyhow? Krishna Prem being sent to Teertha? Krishna Prem is as highly
           evolved as Teertha, so why? Or maybe he is even higher and holier. Why? Why to Teertha?
               For two days he lived in great despair. Now, such a small thing, and he could not detect it. It took
           forty-eight hours for him to detect it, then he understood: "This is just a shock to my ego." And then
           immediately, in that understanding, all despair disappeared. In that understanding, just that moment,
           all darkness was gone and he was light, happy, and back to his natural being again. But it took him
           forty-eight hours to detect it.
               Now there is no need: Krishna Prem, you need not go to Teertha. Now I will find something else!
               Small, very small things are more difficult to detect, for the simple reason that they are small.
           Big things you can see. When there are mountains you can see them, but just a small grain of sand is
           undetectable.
               Joyce Brandt, if you want to be here, if you really want to relate with me, you will have to learn a
           totally different way of relating. I am not a teacher, so if you are only a student here to be inspired,
           and all that.... I am not a missionary, either; I am not here to convert you to some philosophy.
               If you are really to relate with a master -- who has no knowledge but who knows, who has
           knowing but no knowledge -- then you will have to relax a little. You will have to drop your ideas of
           how things should be. Remember always, many times it happens: you want to become a sannyasin,
           but you forget who is the master and who is the disciple, and deep down you start expecting things to
           be fulfilled by the master. He has to be according to you, then he is right.
               But any master worth the name can never be according to you. People who are according to you
           are politicians. They know that you will follow them only if they are according to you: that is a
           mutual arrangement. They have to follow you to make followers out of you: that is a mutual
           exploitation. That's what political leaders are, followers of the followers. They go on looking at you,
           at what your expectations are, and they go on fulfilling them.
               I offend in every way. I cannot fulfill your expectations. If I start fulfilling your expectations, I
           will not be of any use to you. Then really you will be the master and I will be the disciple.
               Who is taking sannyas from whom? This has to be decided in the beginning. Am I taking
           sannyas from you, or are you taking sannyas from me? Let it be very clear. Many times you take
           sannyas and it is not clear, and you want me to be this way or that way, to live this way or to live that
           way. And if I am not according to you, then you are disappointed.
               The real master will always disappoint you. He has to disappoint you. This is how, slowly
           slowly, chunks of your mind will be broken off and taken away from you. I have to continuously
           hammer you, and I have to be absolutely clear about it from the very beginning. The orange, the
           mala, the picture, have no other purpose. The purpose is that you have to know clearly that it is you
           who have to be unconditionally in accord with me, and that you have to drop all expectations of my
           being in accord with you. Only then can the work start. Those who are ready for it, sannyas is only
           for them. Those who are not ready for it, sannyas helps them to run away, to get lost.
           You say: "Why are you so against the mind?"
               I am not against the mind, I am simply stating the fact -- what the mind is. If you see what the
           mind is, you will drop it. When I say, "Drop the mind," I am not against the mind. I am simply
           making it clear to you what the mind is, what it has done to you, how it has become a bondage.
               And it is not a question of using it or abusing it. Mind itself is the problem, not its use or abuse.
           And remember, you cannot use the mind till you know how to be without the mind. Only people who
           know how to be without the mind are capable of using the mind; otherwise the mind uses them. It is
           the mind that is using you. But mind is very clever, it goes on deceiving you. It goes on saying, "You
           are using me."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It is mind that is using you. You are being used; the mind has become the master of you, you are
           a slave. But the mind is very clever, it goes on buttressing you. It says, "I am just an instrument, you
           are the master." But watch, look into the mechanism of the mind, how it goes on using you. You
           think you are using it. You can use it only when you know that you are separate from it; otherwise
           how will you use it? You are identified with it.
                If you say "I am a Christian," you are identified with the Christian mind. If you say "I am a
           Hindu," you are identified with the Hindu mind. If you say "I am German," you are identified with
           the German mind. This identification has to be broken. You have to know that you are not the mind.
           And only in moments when the mind is not functioning -- when you are unoccupied, when there is a
           gap, stillness, silence, when the mind has ceased -- will you be able to know who you are, to know
           yourself as consciousness. Then you can use the mind.
                I am using the mind, Brandt, you are not using the mind. So how can I be against the mind? I am
           not against the mind. I may appear to be, but the whole effort is to disconnect you from the mind so
           that you can know your separation from it, your freedom. Once you know your freedom, you can use
           the mind. Then it is a beautiful instrument, one of the most beautiful instruments. Man has not yet
           been able to make something better. Even the biggest computer, the most efficient computer, is not
           yet capable of doing the things that the mind can do. A single mind can contain all the libraries of the
           world.
                It is tremendous to think of the powers of the mind. But because those powers are great, there is
           danger also: they can overpower you. That's what has happened: because the mind is such a
           beautiful, powerful instrument, you have become possessed by it. You cannot use it any more. It uses
           you, it directs you, it gives you programs. It goes on goading you in directions which it has decided
           to follow. It does not allow you any freedom, it does not leave you any choice. Unless it is
           convinced, it won't allow you to move even a single inch.
                So who is the master? You cannot be the master unless you have come to know that you are not
           identified with the mind.
                The man who is identified with his car cannot drive it; the car will drive him, and then some
           accident is bound to happen. You have to be separate from the car; you have to know that you are
           separate, that the car is beautiful, a beautiful mechanism to be used, and it can perform many things.
           But you have to be separate.
                You say: "Why are you so against the mind? Surely we all use it...."
                No. All cannot use it. Only very rarely is there a person who uses the mind: a Buddha, a Jesus, an
           Atisha, a Tilopa -- only very rarely; and far and few between. Otherwise you are used by the mind.
           No, all are not using the mind; otherwise what will the difference be between a Buddha and you?
           There will be no difference. You use the mind and Buddha uses the mind: what is the difference?
           Buddha uses the mind, you are used by the mind -- that's the difference. And Buddha can use the
           mind because he knows he is utterly separate.
                And remember, it is not a question of abuse. If you cannot use the mind, how can you abuse it? It
           is the mind: whether it uses you or abuses you, you cannot abuse it.
                When scientists discovered atomic energy, do you think they used the mind or abused it? When
           the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Albert Einstein could not sleep the whole
           night; for days his nights were disturbed. He could not sleep, he could not rest, he was really terribly
           disturbed. He had been instrumental in creating the atom bomb. It was he who wrote the letter to the
           president of America saying that the atom bomb was possible.
                Now the question arises: was Einstein consciously using his mind writing the letter to the
           president of America releasing this powerful information to the politicians? Was he aware of the
           consequences? Did he ever think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- that thousands of people, innocent
           civilians, would be burned within seconds, for no fault of their own. No, he had not thought about it,
           he was not conscious about it. In fact he was not even alert to what use atom bombs would be put.
           And before he died somebody asked him, "If you are born again, what would you like to be? A great
           mathematician again, a great physicist, a great scientist?"
                He is reported to have said, "No, never! Rather, I would like to be a plumber. But now it is too
           late."
                Einstein had one of the most beautiful minds. Did he abuse it? Do you think the scientists who
           have created great technology and destroyed the whole ecology of the earth have used their minds or
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           abused them?
               If one day this planet earth is going to die, it will be because of the great minds of the twentieth
           century -- because if in the whole history of humanity there have been a hundred scientists,
           ninety-nine happen to be alive in the twentieth century. In fact seventy-five percent of the great
           scientists of all the ages are alive now.
               Mind has gathered such a great momentum. We have created great technology within the last
           hundred years, particularly within these last ten years, but that technology is going to destroy this
           earth. Who will be responsible? And what will you say? The scientists used the mind or abused it?
               If you ask me, I will say they were not masters of their minds. They neither used nor abused the
           mind; the mind used them, abused them.
               Science now needs great meditators, otherwise this earth is doomed. Science now needs people
           who can use their minds, who are masters of their being, who can use science in a conscious way.
           Otherwise we are on the verge of committing universal suicide.
               Man cannot live for more than twenty-five years the way he has lived up to now, unless a drastic
           change is made. And the greatest thing that can be of help, which can help humanity to survive, and
           the earth to still go on living.... And this is a beautiful earth. Compared to this earth millions and
           millions of stars are just dead: no flowers bloom, no rivers flow, there are no birds, no animals, no
           people. This universe is almost a great desert. This earth is alive! Something tremendously important
           -- consciousness -- has happened here. But this consciousness is still not a master, it is a slave. It has
           to be freed.
               That's my work here, my basic fundamental work: to help you be free of the mind so that you can
           use it. And if you are the master, you cannot abuse it; that is impossible. When you are alert,
           conscious, meditative, abuse is not possible.
               If Einstein had also been a buddha, there would have been atomic energy but no atom bombs,
           and atomic energy would have become a blessing -- the greatest blessing ever. The earth would have
           become a paradise. But Albert Einstein is not a buddha; unfortunately he knows nothing of
           meditation -- a great mind, but the master is missing; a great mechanism, a great airplane without the
           pilot.

               I have heard that they made an airplane which could go to the farthest distances without any pilot
           -- pilotless, automatic. There was great thrill and enthusiasm, and on the first flight the automatic
           mechanism communicated to the people: "We are moving at such-and-such a height, at
           such-and-such a temperature, and at such-and-such a speed. Please be at ease, don't be worried.
           Nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong..." and it
           went on! It has already gone wrong. Think of those people, what must have happened to those
           people! Now, what to do?

                Great science is there, a by-product of the mind, but it is in the hands of slaves. Buddhas are
           needed to take possession of humanity -- and one or two buddhas won't do. Many many buddhas are
           needed in every field, in every direction, in every dimension of life, so that the mind can be used.
           Otherwise the mind was never as efficient as it is now, and that is the danger. The mind was never as
           clever as it is now, never as powerful as it is now.
                We have given atom bombs into the hands of children. If no accident happens, that will be a
           miracle. There is every possibility that an accident is bound to happen. Children are playing with
           atom bombs.
                Politicians are the most immature minds in the world. Only third-rate minds become interested in
           politics; mediocre people and people who are suffering from an inferiority complex, they become
           politicians. And in these people's hands are atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, laser beams, and this and
           that.
                You can cease at any moment! -- I may not be able to finish my discourse. Any moment... we are
           sitting on a pile of hydrogen bombs, and there are so many... it is unbelievable how stupid man can
           be. We have so many hydrogen bombs that we can destroy every single human being seven hundred
           times. Now, what stupidity! For what? A man simply dies a single time. If you want to be very
           cautious, twice will do -- but what is the point of seven hundred times?
                And they are continuously creating more and more. The whole earth is full of hydrogen bombs;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           we can destroy seven hundred earths like this. And still, seventy percent of our energy is being put
           into war efforts. This whole earth seems to be a madhouse.
                And you say, Brandt: "Surely we all use it and need it and it seems to me that it is only when we
           abuse it -- that is to say, using it as a defense against feeling too deeply and against transcending
           itself -- that we are entitled to criticize it."
                I am not criticizing it. In fact, you will be able to appreciate it more if you understand what I am
           saying, you will be able to use it more if you understand what I am saying. If you become a
           transcendence of the mind, a witness to the mind, and you know that you are separate, and the mind
           no longer has any sway over you, you are no longer hypnotized by it, then you will be able to really
           appreciate it. I appreciate it. And you will also be able to use it, and you will never be able to abuse
           it. A conscious person cannot abuse anything.

           The last question:
    BELOVED OSHO,

              I HAVE NOTICED THAT WHEN I SEE A WOMAN WHO IS PARTICULARLY LOVELY, AND I AM
              TAKEN INTO THAT SWEET SILENCE, I FORGET ALL ABOUT PHILOSOPHY OR RELIGION, BUT I
              AM LOST AND FOUND ENTERING A MOMENT. I THINK ANIMALS ARE WISE BECAUSE GOD
              DOESN'T TROUBLE THEM WITH METAPHYSICS. STILL, I WANT TO THROW MY BOOKS OUT...
              BUT STILL I LIKE THEM.


               David Light, a woman is metaphysics, philosophy, poetry. So is a man. Certainly one will forget
           metaphysics and philosophy when one comes across alive metaphysics, alive philosophy, alive
           poetry. That simply shows that you are still alive. To appreciate beauty, to be drowned and drunk
           with it, is something immensely valuable.
               There would have been something wrong if, seeing a beautiful woman, you still remembered the
           Old Testament or the Bhagavad Gita or the Koran. That would have shown that something is wrong
           with you. This simply shows you are natural, human.
               Let this sensitivity grow, and slowly slowly, as you become more and more sensitive, more and
           more sensuous, you will see more and more beauty around. The deeper your insight, the greater the
           beauty. And when you see this whole existence as a tremendous dance, a celebration, you are
           liberated by it.
               It is celebration that liberates, it is love that liberates, it is beauty that liberates -- it is not
           metaphysics or philosophy.
               But I am not saying that you have to throw your books out -- because there are beautiful books
           too; they are by-products of great experiences. Don't be lost in them, but to read something of
           Shakespeare or Kalidas or to read something from Buddha or Atisha is to move into the same world
           of beauty from a different door.
               There are many doors to God's temple. Beauty is one, wisdom is another, love still another, and
           so on and so forth. Music can do it, poetry can do it, literature can do it. The flowers on the trees are
           beautiful -- what do you think of great poems? They are flowers of consciousness.
               You need not throw away your books. In fact, by throwing away your books, you will simply be
           saying that you are still attached to them. Hate is nothing but love standing on its head, love doing
           SIRSHASAN, a headstand. Love and hate are not separate, they are one. In fact we should stop
           using these two words separately, we should make one word: lovehate. Not even a hyphen is needed
           between the two; they are simply one energy like hot and cold, summer and winter, life and death,
           darkness and light.
               There is no need to throw away your books: enjoy them! And there is no need to stop enjoying
           the beautiful form of a woman, because that too is divine. Enjoy life in all its dimensions. Why this
           continuous obsession to become one-dimensional, either this or that? Why not both? Why live in
           either/or? Why not live in both/and? That's my approach: live in both/and, and drop living in
           either/or.
               Soren Kierkegaard has written a book, Either/Or. He lived his whole life in either/or. He could
           not decide whether to marry the woman he loved -- and loved tremendously; he could not decide.
           That either/or continued for so long that finally the woman decided to go with somebody else. For
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years he could not decide.
                His book became so famous, he himself became so famous, that when he used to walk in
           Copenhagen, urchins and children and people would shout behind him, "Either/or! Either/or! Here
           goes Either/or!" Even children had come to know that he used to stand at crossroads thinking,
           "Where to go? Either/or -- to move this way or that? Both roads lead to the same goal, both go to the
           station, but which one to follow?" And he would stand at the crossroads, thinking, for hours.
                He lived only in thought; he was really a metaphysician. His father had left a heritage; he had
           enough money, so there was no need to work either. So the whole day, for twenty-four hours, he was
           thinking. And when he had drawn the last money from the bank, on the way home, he dropped dead.
           He did well -- otherwise he would have been in difficulty.
                My feeling is that he must have been thinking, "To be or not to be? Either/or." Because now
           there was no money left. He must have suffered a heart attack between that either/or. That had been
           his whole way of life.
                There is no need to choose. Why not live choicelessly? Why not live all that life makes available
           to you? Don't be a spiritualist and don't be a materialist: be both. Don't be a Zorba and don't be a
           Buddha; be both: Zorba the Buddha. Enjoy all that God has showered on you.
                That's my message to my sannyasins. You are not yet my sannyasin, David Light. But if you start
           living in totality, accepting all, giving each moment its due, respecting all, and when a beautiful
           woman passes suddenly you are thrilled, that shows you are ALIVE, that you are not dead yet.
                But this need not be just a sexual stirring in you -- that is very poor. It has to be something more;
           it can be a spiritual stirring too. I am not against sex, but to live only a sexual life is to live life at the
           minimum. Why not live the whole spectrum of it, from sex to samadhi?
                When a really beautiful woman passes by, if only your sexuality is stirred, then the animal is
           alive but you are not. But if your spirituality is also stirred, then you are alive in your totality. And to
           be alive in totality is the way to God.
           Enough for today.




                                                The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #3
                               Chapter title: Sitnalta and the Seventeen Chakras
           13 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902130
              ShortTitle: WISDOM03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins



               The first question:


               BELOVED OSHO, WHY DON'T I TRUST YOU?


               Prem Prageeta, trust is possible only if first you trust in yourself. The most fundamental thing has
           to happen within you first. If you trust in yourself you can trust in me, you can trust in people, you
           can trust in existence. But if you don't trust in yourself then no other trust is ever possible.
               And the society destroys trust at the very roots. It does not allow you to trust yourself. It teaches
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all other kinds of trust -- trust in the parents, trust in the church, trust in the state, trust in God, ad
           infinitum. But the basic trust is completely destroyed. And then all other trusts are phony, are bound
           to be phony. Then all other trusts are just plastic flowers. You don't have real roots for real flowers
           to grow.
               The society does it deliberately, on purpose, because a man who trusts in himself is dangerous
           for the society -- a society that depends on slavery, a society that has invested too much in slavery.
               A man trusting himself is an independent man. You cannot make predictions about him, he will
           move in his own way. Freedom will be his life. He will trust when he feels, when he loves, and then
           his trust will have a tremendous intensity and truth in it. Then his trust will be alive and authentic.
           And he will be ready to risk all for his trust, but only when he feels it, only when it is true, only
           when it stirs his heart, only when it stirs his intelligence and his love, otherwise not. You cannot
           force him into any kind of believing.
               And this society depends on belief. Its whole structure is that of autohypnosis. Its whole structure
           is based in creating robots and machines, not men. It needs dependent people -- so much so that they
           are constantly in need of being tyrannized, so much so that they are searching and seeking their own
           tyrants, their own Adolf Hitlers, their own Mussolinis, their own Josef Stalins and Mao Zedongs.
               This earth, this beautiful earth, we have turned into a great prison. A few power-lusty people
           have reduced the whole of humanity into a mob. Man is allowed to exist only if he compromises
           with all kinds of nonsense.
               Now, to tell a child to believe in God is nonsense, utter nonsense -- not that God does not exist,
           but because the child has not yet felt the thirst, the desire, the longing. He is not yet ready to go in
           search of the truth, the ultimate truth of life. He is not yet mature enough to inquire into the reality of
           God. That love affair has to happen some day, but it can happen only if no belief is imposed upon
           him. If he is converted before the thirst has arisen to explore and to know, then his whole life he will
           live in a phony way, he will live in a pseudo way.
               Yes, he will talk about God, because he has been told that God is. And he has been told
           authoritatively, and he has been told by people who were very powerful in his childhood -- his
           parents, the priests, the teachers. He has been told by people and he had to accept it; it was a
           question of his survival. He could not say no to his parents, because without them he would not be
           able to live at all. It was too risky to say no, he had to say yes. But his yes can't be true.
               How can it be true? He is saying yes only as a political device, to survive. You have not turned
           him into a religious person, you have made him a diplomat, you have created a politician. You have
           sabotaged his potential to grow into an authentic being. You have poisoned him. You have destroyed
           the very possibility of his intelligence, because intelligence arises only when the longing arises to
           know.
               Now the longing will never arise, because before the question has taken possession of his soul,
           the answer has already been supplied. Before he was hungry, the food has been forced into his being.
           Now, without hunger, this forced food cannot be digested; there is no hunger to digest it. That's why
           people live like pipes through which life passes like undigested food.
               One has to be very patient with children, very alert, very conscious not to say anything that may
           hinder their own intelligence from arriving, not to convert them into Christians, Hindus and
           Mohammedans. One needs infinite patience.
               One day that miracle happens when the child himself starts inquiring. Then too, don't supply him
           with readymade answers. Readymade answers help nobody, readymade answers are dull and stupid.
           Help him to become more intelligent. Rather than giving him answers, give him situations and
           challenges so that his intelligence is sharpened and he asks more deeply -- so that the question
           penetrates to his very core, so the question becomes a question of life and death.
               But that is not allowed. Parents are very much afraid, the society is very much afraid: if children
           are allowed to remain free, who knows? They may never come to the fold the parents belonged to,
           they may never go to the church -- Catholic, Protestant, this or that. Who knows what is going to
           happen when they become intelligent on their own? They will not be within your control. And this
           society goes into deeper and deeper politics to control everybody, to possess everybody's soul.
               That's why the first thing they have to do is to destroy trust -- the trust of the child in himself, the
           confidence of the child in himself. They have to make him shaky and afraid. Once he is trembling, he
           is controllable. If he is confident he is uncontrollable. If he is confident he will assert himself, he will
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           try to do his own thing. He will never want to do anybody else's thing. He will go on his own
           journey, he will not fulfill somebody else's desires for some trip. He will never be an imitator, he will
           never be a dull and dead person. He will be so alive, so pulsating with life, that nobody will be able
           to control him.
               Destroy his trust and you have castrated him. You have taken his power: now he will always be
           powerless and always in need of somebody to dominate, direct and command him. Now he will be a
           good soldier, a good citizen, a good nationalist, a good Christian, a good Mohammedan, a good
           Hindu. Yes, he will be all these things, but he will not be a real individual. He will not have any
           roots, he will be uprooted his whole life. He will live without roots -- and to live without roots is to
           live in misery, is to live in hell. Just as trees need roots in the earth, man is also a tree and needs
           roots in existence or else he will live a very unintelligent life. He may succeed in the world, he may
           become very famous....

           Just the other day, I was reading a story:
               Three surgeons, old friends, met on holiday. On the beach, sitting under the sun, they started
           boasting. The first said, "I came across a man who had lost both of his legs in the war. I gave him
           artificial legs, and it has been a miracle. Now he has become one of the greatest runners in the world!
           There is every possibility that in the next coming Olympics he is going to win."
               The other said, "That's nothing. I came across a woman who fell from a thirty-story building: her
           face was completely crushed. I did a great job of plastic surgery. Now just the other day I came to
           know through the newspapers that she has become the world beauty queen."
               The third was a humble man. They both looked at him and asked, "What have you done lately?
           What's new?"
               The man said, "Nothing much -- and moreover, I am not allowed to say anything about it."
               Both his colleagues became more curious. They said, "But we are friends, we can keep your
           secret. You need not be worried, it will not leak out."
               So he said, "Okay, if you say so, if you promise. A man was brought to me: he had lost his head
           in a car accident. I was at a loss to know what to do. I rushed into my garden just to think what to do,
           and suddenly I came across a cabbage. Finding nothing else, I transplanted the cabbage in place of
           the head. And do you know what? That man has become the prime minister of India."

               You can destroy the child; still, he can become the prime minister of India. There is no inherent
           impossibility of becoming successful without intelligence. In fact it is more difficult to become
           successful with intelligence, because the intelligent person is inventive. He is always ahead of his
           time; it takes time to understand him.
               The unintelligent person is easily understood. He fits with the gestalt of the society; the society
           has values and criteria by which to judge him. But it takes years for the society to evaluate a genius.
               I am not saying that a person who has no intelligence cannot become successful, cannot become
           famous -- but still he will remain phony. And that is the misery: you can become famous, but if you
           are phony you live in misery. You don't know what blessings life is showering on you, you will
           never know. You do not have enough intelligence to know. You will never see the beauty of
           existence, because you don't have the sensitivity to know it. You will never see the sheer miracle that
           surrounds you, that crosses your path in millions of ways every day. You will never see it, because to
           see it you need a tremendous capacity to understand, to feel, to be.
               This society is a power-oriented society. This society is still utterly primitive, utterly barbarian.
           A few people -- politicians, priests, professors -- a few people are dominating millions. And this
           society is run in such a way that no child is allowed to have intelligence. It is a sheer accident that
           once in a while a Buddha arrives on the earth -- a sheer accident.
               Somehow, once in a while, a person escapes from the clutches of the society. Once in a while a
           person remains unpoisoned by the society. That must be because of some error, some mistake of the
           society. Otherwise the society succeeds in destroying your roots, in destroying your trust in yourself.
           And once that is done, you will never be able to trust anybody.
               Once you are incapable of loving yourself, you will never be able to love anybody. That is an
           absolute truth, there are no exceptions to it. You can love others only if you are able to love yourself.
               But the society condemns self-love. It says it is selfishness, it says it is narcissistic. Yes, self-love
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can become narcissistic but it is not necessarily so. It can become narcissistic if it never moves
           beyond itself, it can become a kind of selfishness if it becomes confined to yourself. Otherwise,
           self-love is the beginning of all other loves.
                A person who loves himself sooner or later starts overflowing with love. A person who trusts
           himself cannot distrust anybody, even those who are going to deceive him, even those who have
           already deceived him. Yes, he cannot even distrust them, because now he knows trust is far more
           valuable than anything else.
                You can cheat a person -- but in what can you cheat him? You can take some money or
           something else from him. But the man who knows the beauty of trust will not be distracted by these
           small things. He will still love you, he will still trust you. And then a miracle happens: if a man
           really trusts you, it is impossible to cheat him, almost impossible.
                It happens every day in your life, too. Whenever you trust somebody it becomes impossible for
           him to cheat you, to deceive you. Sitting on the platform in a railway station, you don't know the
           person who is sitting by your side -- a stranger, a complete stranger -- and you say to him, "Just
           watch my luggage, I have to go to purchase a ticket. Please, just take care of the luggage." And you
           go. You trust an absolute stranger. But it almost never happens that the stranger deceives you. He
           could have deceived you if you had not trusted him.
                Trust has a magic in it. How can he deceive you now that you have trusted him? How can he fall
           so low? He will never be able to forgive himself if he deceives you.
                There is an intrinsic quality in human consciousness to trust and to be trusted. Everybody enjoys
           being trusted, it is respect from the other person; and when you trust a stranger it is more so. There is
           no reason to trust him, and still you trust him. You raise the man to such a high pedestal, you value
           the man so much, it is almost impossible for him to fall from that height. And if he falls he will never
           be able to forgive himself, he will have to carry the weight of guilt his whole life.
                A man who trusts himself comes to know the beauty of it -- comes to know that the more you
           trust yourself, the more you bloom; the more you are in a state of letgo and relaxation, the more you
           are settled and serene, the more you are calm, cool and quiet.
                And it is so beautiful that you start trusting more and more people, because the more you trust,
           the more your calmness deepens, your coolness goes deeper and deeper to the very core of your
           being. And the more you trust, the more you soar high. A man who can trust will sooner or later
           know the logic of trust. And then one day he is bound to try to trust the unknown.
                It is only when you can trust the unknown that you can trust a master, never before it, because
           the master represents nothing but the unknown. He represents the uncharted, he represents the
           infinite, the unbounded. He represents the oceanic, he represents the wild, he represents God.
           Prageeta, you say: "Why don't I trust you?"
                It is simple: you don't trust yourself. Start trusting yourself -- that is the fundamental lesson, the
           first lesson. Start loving yourself. If you don't love yourself, who else is going to love you? But
           remember, if you only love yourself, your love will be very poor.
                A great Jewish mystic, Hillel, has said, "If you are not for yourself, who is going to be for you?"
           And also, "If you are only for yourself, then what meaning can your life ever have?" -- a
           tremendously significant statement. Remember it: love yourself, because if you don't love yourself
           nobody else will ever be able to love you. You cannot love a person who hates himself.
                And on this unfortunate earth, almost everybody hates himself, everybody condemns himself.
           How can you love a person who is condemnatory towards himself? He will not believe you. He
           cannot love himself -- how can you dare? He cannot love himself -- how can you love him? He will
           suspect some game, some trick, some trip. He will suspect that you are trying to deceive him in the
           name of love. He will be very cautious, alert, and his suspicion will poison your being.
                If you love a person who hates himself, you are trying to destroy his concept about himself. And
           nobody easily drops his concept about himself; that is his identity. He will fight with you, he will
           prove to you that he is right and you are wrong.
                That's what is happening in every love relationship -- let me call it every so-called love
           relationship. It is happening between every husband and wife, every lover and beloved, every man
           and every woman. How can you destroy the other's concept about himself? That is his identity, that
           is his ego, that's how he knows himself. If you take it away he will not know who he is. It is too
           risky; he cannot drop his concept so easily. He will prove to you that he is not worth loving, he is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only worth hating.
                And the same is the case with you. You also hate yourself; you cannot allow anybody else to
           love you. Whenever somebody comes with loving energy around you, you shrink, you want to
           escape, you are afraid. You know perfectly well that you are unworthy of love, you know that only
           on the surface do you look so good, so beautiful; deep down you are ugly. And if you allow this
           person to love you, sooner or later -- and it is going to be sooner than later -- he will come to know
           who you are in reality.
                How long will you be able to pretend with a person with whom you have to live in love? You can
           pretend in the marketplace, you can pretend in the Lions' Club and the Rotary Club -- smiles, all
           smiles. You can do beautiful acting and role-playing. But if you live with a woman or a man for
           twenty-four hours a day, then it is tiring to go on smiling and smiling and smiling. Then the smile
           tires you, because it is phony. It is just an exercise of the lips, and the lips become tired.
                How can you go on being sweet? Your bitterness will surface. Hence by the time the honeymoon
           is over, everything is over. Both have known each other's reality, both have known each other's
           phoniness, both have known each other's falsity.
                One is afraid to become intimate. To be intimate means you will have to put aside the role. And
           you know who you are: worthless, just dirt. That's what you have been told from the very beginning.
           Your parents, your teachers, your priests, your politicians, all have been telling you that you are dirt,
           worthless. Nobody has ever accepted you. Nobody has given you the feeling that you are loved and
           respected, that you are needed -- that this existence will miss you, that without you this existence
           will not be the same, that without you there will be a hole. Without you this universe is going to lose
           some poetry, some beauty: a song will be missed, a note will be missed, there will be a gap --
           nobody has told you that.
                And that's what my work here is: to destroy the distrust that has been created in you about
           yourself, to destroy all condemnation that has been imposed on you, to take it away from you and to
           give you a feeling that you are loved and respected, loved by existence. God has created you because
           he loved you. He loved you so much that he could not resist the temptation to create you.
                When a painter paints, he paints because he loves. Vincent van Gogh continuously painted the
           sun his whole life, he loved the sun so much. In fact it was the sun that drove him mad. For one year
           continuously he was standing and painting under the hot sun. His whole life revolved around the sun.
           And the day he was content painting the painting that he had always wanted to paint -- and to paint
           this painting he had painted many others, but he had not been contented with them -- the day he was
           contented, the day he could say, "Yes, this is the thing that I wanted to paint," he committed suicide,
           because, he said, "My work is done. I have done the thing that I came for. My destiny is fulfilled,
           now it is pointless to live."
                His whole life a devotion to a certain painting? He must have been madly in love with the sun.
           He looked at the sun so long that it destroyed his eyes, his vision, it drove him mad.
                When a poet composes a song it is because he loves it. God has painted you, sung you, danced
           you. God loves you! If you don't see any meaning in the word god don't be worried; call it existence,
           call it the whole. The existence loves you, otherwise you would not be here.
                Relax into your being, you are cherished by the whole. That's why the whole goes on breathing
           in you, pulsating in you. Once you start feeling this tremendous respect and love and trust of the
           whole in you, you will start growing roots into your being. You will trust yourself. And only then
           can you trust me. Only then can you trust your friends, your children, your husband, your wife. Only
           then can you trust the trees and the animals and the stars and the moon. Then one simply lives as
           trust. It is no more a question of trusting this or that; one simply trusts. And to trust is simply to be
           religious.
                That's what sannyas is all about. Sannyas is going to undo all that the society has done. It is not
           just accidental that priests are against me, politicians are against me, parents are against me, the
           whole establishment is against me; it is not accidental. I can understand the absolutely clear logic of
           it. I am trying to undo what they have done. I am sabotaging the whole pattern of this slave society.
                My effort is to create rebels, and the beginning of the rebel is to trust in oneself. If I can help you
           to trust in yourself, I have helped you. Nothing else is needed, everything else follows of its own
           accord.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              JOHN LILLY HAS SAID, "WHAT THE MIND BELIEVES IS TRUE OR BECOMES TRUE." WOULD
              YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS?


               Sambuddho, that's what has been happening down the ages. That is the way of autohypnosis.
           John Lilly is absolutely wrong. "What the mind believes," he says, "is true...." It is not. It only
           appears true.
               And he says "... or it becomes true." It never becomes true by being believed, but it starts
           appearing true. Yes, for the believer it becomes true, although it is not true, because belief begins in
           ignorance. Belief cannot create truth; truth is already the case.
               Remember the first preliminary of Atisha: truth is. You need not believe in it for it to be. Your
           belief or your disbelief is not going to make any difference to the truth. Truth is truth, whether you
           believe or you disbelieve.
               But if you believe in something it starts appearing as true to you at least. That's what the meaning
           of belief is: belief means to believe in something as true -- you know that you don't know, you know
           that the truth is unknown to you, but in your ignorance you start believing, because belief is cheap.
               To discover truth is arduous, it needs a long pilgrimage. It needs a great emptying of the mind, it
           needs a great cleansing of the heart. It needs a certain innocence, a rebirth: you have to become a
           child again.
               Only very few people have ever dared to discover truth. And it is risky, because it may not
           console you; it has no obligation to console you. It is risky: it may shatter all that you have known
           before, and you will have to rearrange your whole life. It is dangerous: it may destroy all your
           illusions, it may shatter all your dreams. It is really going through fire; it is going to burn you as you
           are, it is going to kill you as you are. And who knows what will happen later on?
               How can the seed know that by dying in the soil it will become a great tree? It will not be there
           to witness the happening. How can the seed know that one day, if it dies, there will be great foliage,
           green leaves, great branches, and flowers and fruits? How can the seed know? The seed will not be
           there. The seed has to disappear before it can happen. The seed has never met the tree. The seed has
           to disappear and die.
               Only very few people have that much courage. It really needs guts to discover truth. You will die
           as yourself. You will certainly be born, but how can you be convinced of it? What guarantee is
           there? There is no guarantee.
               Hence, unless you are with a master who has died and is reborn, who has crucified himself and is
           resurrected -- unless you come across a man like Christ or Buddha or Atisha -- you will not be able
           to gather enough courage.
               Seeing Atisha, something may start stirring in your heart, a chord may be touched, something
           may be triggered, a synchronicity. The presence of somebody who has arrived may create a great
           longing in you, may become the birth of an intense passionate search for truth.
               Belief cannot give you the truth, it only pretends. It is cheap, it is a plastic flower. You need not
           take all the trouble of growing a rosebush, you can simply go to the market and purchase plastic
           flowers -- and they are more lasting too, in fact they are almost eternal. Once in a while you can
           wash them, and they are fresh again. They will not deceive you, but at least they can deceive the
           neighbors, and that is the point. You will know all along that they are plastic flowers. How can you
           forget it? You have purchased them! The neighbors may be deceived, but how can you be deceived?
               And I don't think that even the neighbors are deceived, because they have also purchased plastic
           flowers. They know they are deceiving you, they know you are deceiving them. Everybody is
           perfectly aware that everybody else is deceiving. "But this is how life is," people say. Nobody is
           really deceived. People just pretend to be deceived. You pretend that you have real flowers, others
           pretend that they are deceived. Just watch, observe, and what I am saying will be experienced by
           you. It is a simple fact; I am not talking philosophy, just stating facts.
               What John Lilly says is utter nonsense. He says, "What the mind believes is true." It is never
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           true, because belief has nothing to do with truth. You can believe that this is night but just by your
           believing, this is not going to become night. But you can believe, and you can close your eyes and
           for you it is night -- but only for you, remember, not in truth. You are living in a kind of
           hallucination.
               There is this danger in belief: it makes you feel that you know the truth. And because it makes
           you feel that you know the truth, this becomes the greatest barrier in the search. Believe or disbelieve
           and you are blocked -- because disbelief is also nothing but belief in a negative form.
               The Catholic believes in God, the communist believes in no God: both are believers. Go to
           Kaaba or go to the Comintern, go to Kailash or to the Kremlin, it is all the same. The believer
           believes it is so, the nonbeliever believes it is not so. And because both have already settled without
           taking the trouble to go and discover it, the deeper is their belief, the stronger is their belief, the
           greater is the barrier. They will never go on a pilgrimage, there is no point. They will live surrounded
           by their own illusion, self-created, self-sustained; it may be consoling, but it is not liberating.
           Millions of people are wasting their lives in belief and disbelief.
               The inquiry into truth begins only when you drop all believing. You say, "I would like to
           encounter the truth on my own. I will not believe in Christ and I will not believe in Buddha. I would
           like to become a christ or a buddha myself, I would like to be a light unto myself."
               Why should one be a Christian? It is ugly. Be a christ if you can be, but don't be a Christian. Be a
           buddha if you have any respect for yourself, but don't be a Buddhist. The Buddhist believes. Buddha
           knows.
               When you can know, when knowing is possible, why settle for believing? But again, the society
           would like you to believe, because believers are good people, obedient, law-abiding. They follow all
           formalities and etiquette, they are never trouble-makers. They simply follow the crowd, whichever
           crowd they happen to be in; they simply go with the crowd. They are not real men, they are sheep.
           Humanity has not yet arrived.
               Somebody once said to George Bernard Shaw, "What do you think about civilization?"
               He said, "It is a good idea. Somebody should try it."
               It has not yet been tried. Humanity is still arriving; we are still groping between animality and
           humanity. We are in limbo: man has to be born, man has to be given birth to; we have to prepare the
           ground for man to appear.
               And the most significant thing that will help that man to come will be if we can drop believing --
           if we can drop being Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jainas, Buddhists, communists. If you can
           drop believing, immediately your energy will take a new turn: it will start inquiring. And to inquire
           is beautiful. Your life will become a pilgrimage to truth, and in that very pilgrimage you grow.
               Growth is a by-product of the inquiry into truth. Believers never grow, they remain childish. And
           remember, to be childlike and to be childish are poles apart, they are not the same thing. It is
           beautiful to be childlike. The man of trust is childlike and the man of belief is childish. To be
           childlike is the ultimate in growth; that is the very culmination -- consciousness has come to the
           ultimate peak. To be childlike means to be a sage, and to be childish means to be just un-grownup.
               The average mental age of human beings on the earth today is not more than twelve years. When
           for the first time this was discovered, it was such a shock. Nobody had ever thought about it; it was
           just by accident that it became known. In the First World War, for the first time in human history, the
           people who were candidates, who wanted to enter the army, were examined. Their mental age was
           inquired into, their IQ was determined. This was a great revelation -- that they were not more than
           twelve years; the average age was just twelve years.
               This is childishness. The body goes on growing, and the mind has stopped at the age of twelve.
           What kind of humanity have we created on this earth? Why does the mind stop at twelve? Because
           by the time one is twelve, one has gathered all kinds of beliefs; one is already a believer, one already
           "knows" what truth is. One is a Christian, another is a communist; one believes in God, one does not
           believe in God; one believes in The Bible and the other believes in Das Kapital; one believes in the
           Bhagavad Gita, another believes in the Red Book of Mao Zedong.
               We have drilled concepts and ideologies into the innocent minds of poor children. They are
           already becoming knowers. Do you know -- by the age of seven, a child already knows fifty percent
           of all that he will ever know. And by the time he is fourteen he has almost arrived; now there is
           nowhere to go, he has only to vegetate. Now he will exist as a cabbage. If he goes to college then, as
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they say, he may become a cauliflower. A cabbage with a college education is a cauliflower. But
           there is not much difference, just labels change. The cabbage becomes an M.A., a Ph.D., this and
           that, and just to show respect we call it a cauliflower. But the mental age is twelve.
               The real man grows to the very end. Even while he is dying, he is growing. Even the last moment
           of his life will still be an inquiry, a search, a learning. He will still be inquiring -- now inquiring into
           death. He will be fascinated: death is such an unknown phenomenon, such a mystery, far more
           mysterious than life itself -- how can an intelligent man be afraid? If in life he has not been afraid to
           go into the uncharted and the unknown, at the moment of death he will be thrilled, ecstatic. Now the
           last moment has come: he will be entering into the darkness, the dark tunnel of death. This is the
           greatest adventure one can ever go on; he will be learning.
               A real man never believes; he learns. A real man never becomes knowledgeable; he always
           remains open, open to truth. And he always remembers that "It is not that truth has to adjust to me,
           but just vice versa: I have to adjust to truth." The believer tries to adjust truth to himself, the seeker
           adjusts himself to truth. Remember the difference; the difference is tremendous. One who believes,
           he says, "Truth should be like this, this is my belief."
               Just think of a Christian.... If God appears not like Jesus Christ but like Krishna, not on the cross
           but with a flute and girlfriends dancing around him, the Christian will close his eyes; he will say,
           "This is not my cup of tea." Girlfriends? Can you think of Jesus with girlfriends? The cross and
           girlfriends can't go together. Jesus hanging on the cross and girlfriends dancing around? It won't fit,
           it will be very bizarre. He was waiting for Christ to appear, and instead of Christ this guy, Krishna,
           appears: he seems to be debauched. And the flute? The world is suffering and people are hungry and
           they need bread -- and this man is playing on the flute? He seems to be utterly uncompassionate, he
           seems to be indulgent. The Christian cannot believe in Krishna: if God appears as Krishna, then the
           Christian will say, "This is not God."
               And the same will be the case with the Hindu who was waiting for Krishna: if Christ appears,
           that will not be his idea of God -- so sad, such a long face, so gloomy, with such suffering on his
           face.
               Christians say Jesus never laughed. I don't think they are right, and I don't think they are
           representing the real Christ, but that's what they have managed to propagate. The Hindu cannot
           accept the revelation; he must think this is some kind of nightmare. Jesus will not appeal to him.
               The believer cannot even trust his own experience. Even if truth is revealed, he will reject it,
           unless it fits with him. He is more important than truth itself: truth has an obligation to fit with him.
           He is the criterion, he is the decisive factor. This kind of man can never know truth; he is already
           prejudiced, poisoned.
               The man who wants to know truth has to be capable of dropping all concepts about truth.
           Everything about truth has to be dropped. Only then can you know truth. Know well: to know about
           truth is not to know truth. Whatsoever you know may be utter nonsense; there is every possibility
           that it is utter nonsense. In fact people can be conditioned to believe any kind of nonsense; they can
           be convinced.

               Once I went to address a conference of theosophists. Now, theosophists are people who will
           believe any bullshit -- ANY! The more shitty it is, the more believable. So I just played a joke on
           them. I simply invented something; I invented a society called "Sitnalta." They were all dozing, they
           became alert. "Sitnalta?" I made the word by just reading "Atlantis" backwards. And then I told
           them, "This knowledge comes from Atlantis, the continent that disappeared in the Atlantic ocean."
               And then I talked about it: "There are really not seven chakras but seventeen. That great ancient
           esoteric knowledge is lost, but a society of enlightened masters still exists, and it still works. It is a
           very very esoteric society, very few people are allowed to have any contact with it; its knowledge is
           kept utterly secret."
               And I talked all kinds of nonsense that I could manage. And then the president of the society
           said, "I have heard about this society." Now it was my turn to be surprised. And about whatsoever I
           had said, he said that it was the first time that the knowledge of this secret society had been revealed
           so exactly.
               And then letters started coming to me. One man even wrote saying, "I thank you very much for
           introducing this inner esoteric circle to the theosophists, because I am a member of the society, and I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can vouch that whatsoever you have said is absolutely true."

               There are people like these who are just waiting to believe in anything, because the more
           nonsensical a belief is, the more important it appears to be. The more absurd it is, the more
           believable -- because if something is logical, then there is no question of believing in it.
               You don't believe in the sun, you don't believe in the moon. You don't believe in the theory of
           relativity: either you understand it or you don't understand it; there is no question of belief. You don't
           believe in gravitation; there is no need. Nobody believes in a scientific theory -- it is logical. Belief is
           needed only when something illogical, something utterly absurd, is propounded.
               Tertullian said, "I believe in God because it is absurd: CREDO QUIA ABSURDUM, my creed is
           the absurd."
               All beliefs are absurd. If a belief is very logical, it will not create belief in you. So people go on
           inventing things.
               Man is basically a coward, he does not want to inquire. And he does not want to say "I don't
           know" either.
               Now, that president of the theosophical society who said, "I have heard about this society" -- he
           cannot say that he does not know, he does not have even that much courage. To accept one's
           ignorance needs courage. To accept that you don't know is the beginning of real knowledge. You go
           on believing, because there are holes in your life which have to be filled, and belief is easily
           available.
               There are three hundred religions on the earth. One truth, and three hundred religions? One God,
           and three hundred religions? One existence, and three hundred religions? And I am not talking about
           sects -- because each religion has dozens of sects, and then there are sub-sects of sects, and it goes on
           and on. If you count all the sects and all the sub-sects, then there will be three thousand or even
           more.
               How can so many beliefs, contradictory to each other, go on? People have a certain need -- the
           need not to appear ignorant. How to fulfill this need? Gather a few beliefs. And the more absurd the
           belief is, the more knowledgeable you appear, because nobody else knows about it.
               There are people who believe in a hollow earth, and that inside the earth there is a civilization.
           Now, if somebody says so you cannot deny it; you cannot accept it, but at least you have to listen
           attentively. And that serves a purpose: everybody wants to be listened to attentively. And one thing
           is certain, this man knows more than you. You don't know whether the earth is hollow or not; this
           man knows. And who knows? He may be right. He can gather a thousand and one proofs; he can
           argue for it, he can propound it in such a way that you at least have to be silent if you don't agree.
               Believers and believers and believers -- but where is truth? There are so many believers, but
           where is truth? If John Lilly is right, then the world would be full of truth, you would come across it
           everywhere. Everybody would have truth, because everybody is a believer. No, it is all nonsense.
               He says, "What the mind believes is true or becomes true." No. What the mind believes is never
           true, because truth needs no belief. Belief is a barrier to truth. And what the mind believes never
           becomes true, because truth is not becoming, truth is being; it is already the case. You have to see it
           -- or you can go on avoiding seeing it, but it is there. Nothing has to be added to it, it is eternally
           there.
               And the best way to avoid truth is to believe. Then you need not look at it. Your eyes become
           full of belief; belief functions as dust on the eyes. You become closed into yourself, the belief
           becomes a prison around you. Belief closes you: then you are living within yourself in a windowless
           existence, and you can go on believing whatsoever you want to believe. But remember, it is belief,
           and belief is a lie.
               Let me say that even when the truth is told to you, don't believe in it! Explore, inquire, search,
           experiment, experience: don't believe in it. Even when truth is conveyed to you, if you believe in it,
           you turn it into a lie. A truth believed is a lie, belief turns truth into a lie.
               Believe in Buddha and you believe in a lie. Believe in Christ and you believe in a lie. Don't
           believe in Christ, don't believe in Buddha, don't believe in me. What I say, listen to it attentively,
           intelligently; experiment, experience. And when you have experienced, will you need to believe in
           it? There will be no doubt left, so what will be the point of belief? Belief is a way of repressing
           doubt: you doubt, hence you need belief.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The rock of belief represses the spring of doubt.
                When you know, you know! You know it is so; there is no doubt left. Your experience has
           expelled all darkness and all doubt. Truth is: you are full of it. Truth never creates belief.
                How to attain to truth? By dropping all kinds of beliefs. And remember, I am saying all kinds --
           belief in me is included. Experience me, come along with me, let me share what I have seen, but
           don't believe, don't be in a hurry. Don't say, "Now what is the point? Now Osho has seen it, all that is
           left for me is to believe it."
                What I have seen cannot become your experience unless you see it. And it is the experience of
           truth that delivers you from ignorance, from bondage, from misery. It is not the belief that delivers
           you, it is truth.
                Jesus says, "Truth liberates." But how to attain to truth? It is not a question of belief, but a
           question of meditativeness. And what is meditation? Meditation is emptying your mind completely
           of all belief, ideology, concept, thought. Only in an empty mind, when there is no dust left on the
           mirror, truth reflects. That reflection is a benediction.
           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              THANK YOU SO MUCH JUST FOR LIFE. ALL THE BEAUTIFUL METHODS ARE NO GOOD ANY
              MORE. 'I' WILL LET THE MIND DROP AND THE METHODS TOO. I FEAR THAT YOU WILL SEND
              ME BACK TO HELL.


                Sarvesh, methods are never of any use. Methods have never been any good, but they still serve a
           purpose. The purpose is negative. If you have a thorn in your foot, you need another thorn to pull it
           out. Once the first thorn is pulled out by the second, don't put the second back in the wound just out
           of gratefulness. Throw away both! The second thorn is as much a thorn as the first; their qualities are
           not different.
                Because your mind is so full of rubbish, you need something to pull it out. But whatsoever is
           going to pull it out is rubbish in its own way; it is the same. Poison is needed to kill poison. Don't
           cling to the second poison, thinking it is medicine; don't become addicted to the second poison.
                It is good that you say: "All the beautiful methods are no good any more."
                They never were. But they still serve a purpose, because man lives in such stupidity that he has
           to be pulled out of it. And remember, your lies, your beliefs, your ignorance, have to be dropped
           somehow; some ways and means have to be invented. Once your mind is dropped, you will see the
           whole ridiculousness of all the methods. Then you will understand that they were never needed at
           all.
                But don't start talking about it to others, because there are many people who may drop them from
           the very beginning, seeing that if they are not needed then why bother? They are needed, although
           there comes a time when they have to be dropped. Use them, and drop them. All methods are like
           ladders: when you have climbed up the ladder and you have reached the upper floor, you need not
           bother about it, it can be thrown away.
                In fact it should be thrown away. Keeping it may show some unconscious desire in you to go
           back; you want to keep the ladder there in case you decide to go back to your old rubbish. The ladder
           can help in that way too. A ladder is neutral -- it can take you to the upper floor, it can bring you
           back down to the old situation. But the ladder cannot direct you.
                In fact the moment you have climbed up the ladder, you have used it and reached a different
           plane of life, a different plane of understanding, throw the ladder away immediately, before you start
           clinging to it.
                So it is good that you think methods are no good any more.
                "...'I' will let the mind drop and the methods too."
                If methods are no good any more, Sarvesh, where is the mind? And if the mind is still there to be
           dropped, then please don't be in a hurry: the methods still have a little function to fulfill.
                You will not be able to let the mind drop. Who are you except the mind? Who will drop the
           mind, who will let the mind drop? You are not yet; you will know yourself only when the mind is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dropped. When the mind disappears, you will know who you are. Before that, you don't know. It is
           just the mind thinking about dropping the mind. Mind is very subtle, very cunning; it can go on
           playing new games. It can say, "Yes it is so beautiful to drop the mind." And it is still the mind! And
           the mind can say, "There is no need for any method, Sarvesh. You can drop me easily -- it is up to
           you."
               The mind is playing a very subtle trick. It is helping you to drop the methods first, and then the
           mind thinks, "We will see -- we will see if you can drop me!"
               If it has really been understood -- that methods are no longer useful -- it is synonymous to that
           understanding that the mind is dropped. They mean the same thing: to know that methods are no
           longer needed, no longer useful, is to see that the mind is no more there. Mind is method, mind is
           technique. Mind cannot exist without methods, methods cannot exist without mind; they go together.
           They are two aspects of the same energy.
               And you say: "I fear that you will send me back to hell."
               If methods are really dropped, there is no way to go back to hell. Even if I want to send you, I
           cannot. Methods are needed to go to hell. Methods are needed to come out of hell, methods are
           needed to go into hell, but no method is needed to go to heaven. When you are out of hell, you are in
           heaven.
               So the whole question is how to be out of hell? Out of hell is heaven. Heaven is not some place
           where you have to go, otherwise methods would be needed, paths and ways would be needed. No
           paths and no ways are needed. All paths, all ways, lead into hell. But if you are in hell, then you will
           have to use the same paths and the same ways to come back.
               Let me tell you one of the most beautiful parables that has ever been invented by man, the
           parable of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The moment they have eaten the
           fruit of the Tree of Knowledge they fall -- the original fall. They are no more in paradise, they are no
           more deathless, they are no more in eternity; they have lost contact. What has happened? Mind has
           been created.
               That is the meaning of the parable. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge creates the mind; the
           moment they ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, mind was created. Adam and Eve are still in the
           same place, in the same space, they have not gone anywhere. But the mind is created -- and once the
           mind is there, paradise is lost, forgotten. One falls asleep and starts dreaming of hells, death,
           etcetera, etcetera. Now you will have to vomit the fruit of knowledge.
               You will have to vomit the mind out of your system. Once you have vomited knowledge out of
           your system, suddenly you will be awakened to the fact that you are in paradise. And you will start
           laughing at the whole ridiculousness of it, because you will know, you will become perfectly aware,
           that you had never been anywhere else. You have always been here, always and always: you had just
           fallen asleep and had a nightmare. Now that the poison is out of your system, the nightmare is
           finished.
               We are in the garden of Eden, right now, this very moment. Nobody can send you to hell,
           Sarvesh, except knowledge, except methods, except the mind.
               Try to understand. Rather than being in a hurry to drop anything, try to understand. Become
           more aware, become more alert, more watchful, more observant, and methods will disappear and
           mind will disappear in the same instant. And then there is no hell -- in fact there never has been, you
           had only imagined it. It is all paradise and always paradise. We are in God, we are gods.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: The Last Chance to Rebel
           14 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7902140
              ShortTitle: WISDOM04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              SOME TIME AGO, WHILE ASLEEP IN THE NIGHT, I DREAMED I WAS AT A LECTURE. IN THE
              MORNING I COULD NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING YOU'D SAID EXCEPT THE PHRASE "POETRY
              IS SURRENDER." SINCE THEN I HAVE BEEN WONDERING WHAT POETRY HAS TO DO WITH
              SURRENDER, AND VICE VERSA, AND HOW POETRY CAN BE A PATH LIKE LOVE, PRAYER
              AND MEDITATION.


               Deva richa, poetry contains all: it contains love, it contains prayer, it contains meditation, and
           much more. All that is divine, all that is beautiful, all that can take you to the transcendental, is
           contained in poetry.
               Poetry is not just poetry: poetry is essential religion. Poetry means a state of being where the
           mind is no longer interfering between you and existence; when there is communion between you and
           existence -- direct, immediate; when you are suddenly possessed by the whole, where you disappear
           as a separate entity and the whole starts speaking through you, starts dancing through you; where
           you become a hollow bamboo and the whole transforms you into a flute.
               Poetry is the whole descending into the part, the ocean disappearing into the dewdrop. Poetry is a
           miracle.
               And when I use the word poetry my fingers are not pointing to the Shakespeares, the Kalidases;
           they are only partial poets. Yes, they knew certain moments of poetry, but they are not poets. They
           had a few glimpses when the doors of the unknown were open to them, they had some access to the
           deepest sources of life, but those moments were sheer gifts from the unknown. They knew nothing of
           how to reach them, they knew nothing about how the whole reached them. It was almost a state of
           unconsciousness. It happened in a dream, just as it has happened to you in a dream. They were
           dreamers.
               All the so-called great poets of the world, great painters, musicians, sculptors, they were all
           dreamers. Yes, they had a few glimpses in their dreams: something infiltrated, here and there a ray of
           light was able to pass through the dream barrier, and even that single ray was enough to create a
           Shakespeare or a Kalidas. But that's not what I am pointing to.
               When I say poetry, I mean that which flowed through the buddhas. That is true poetry. Buddha is
           not a dreamer, Atisha is not a dreamer; if they are anything they are awakened people. Dreams have
           disappeared, evaporated. Now it is not only a glimpse of truth that comes to them unawares,
           possesses them, and then leaves them empty, spent, exhausted....
               The ordinary poet simply hops; for a moment he is off the ground, but only for a moment, and
           then he is back on the ground again.
               A buddha has wings -- he does not hop. He knows how to go to the farthest star. He knows the
           way to approach the unknown, he has the key to unlock the doors to the mysterious. He is a master.
           And then something starts flowing through him which is not his own. He is only a medium: he is
           possessed. Then whatsoever he says is poetry; or, even if he keeps silent, his silence is poetry. His
           silence has tremendous music in it; whether he speaks or not doesn't matter. Speaking, he speaks
           poetry; not speaking, he remains poetry. He is surrounded by poetry: he walks in poetry, he sleeps in
           poetry, poetry is his very soul, it is his essential being.
               How does this poetry happen? It happens in surrender, it happens when the part gathers enough
           courage to surrender to the whole, when the dewdrop slips into the ocean and becomes the ocean.
               Surrender is a very paradoxical state: on one hand you disappear, on the other hand you appear
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for the first time in your infinite glory, in your multidimensional splendor. Yes, the dewdrop is gone,
           and gone forever; there is no way to recapture it, to reclaim it. The dewdrop has died as a drop, but
           in fact the dewdrop has become the ocean, has become oceanic. It still exists, no more as a finite
           entity, but as something infinite, shoreless, boundless.
                This is the meaning of the myth of the phoenix. He dies, he is utterly burned, reduced to ashes,
           and then suddenly he is reborn out of the ashes -- resurrection. The phoenix represents Christ:
           crucifixion and resurrection. The phoenix represents Buddha: death as an ego, and a new birth as
           utter egolessness. It represents all those who have known; to know means to be a phoenix. Die as
           you are, so that you can be that which you really are! Die in all your inauthenticity, phoniness,
           separation from existence.
                We go on believing that we are separate. We are not, not even for a single moment. In spite of
           your belief, you are one with the whole. But your belief can create nightmares for you; it is bound to
           create them. To believe that "I am separate" means to create fear.
                If you are separate from the whole, you can never get rid of fear, because the whole is so vast and
           you are so small, so tiny, so atomic, and you constantly have to fight the whole so that it does not
           absorb you. You have to be constantly alert, on guard, so the ocean does not simply take you in. You
           have to protect yourself behind walls and walls and walls. All this effort is nothing but fear. And
           then you are constantly aware that death is reaching you and death is going to destroy your
           separation. That's what death is all about: death is the whole claiming the part back. And you are
           afraid that death will come and you will die. How to live long? How to attain a kind of
           deathlessness? Man tries it in many ways. To have children is one of the ways, hence the continuous
           urge to have children. The root of this desire to have children has nothing to do with children at all, it
           has something to do with death.
                You know you will not be able to be here forever; howsoever you try, you are going to fail, you
           know it, because millions have failed and nobody has ever succeeded. You are hoping against hope.
           Then find some other ways. One of the simplest ways, the most ancient way, is to have children: you
           will not be here, but something of you, a particle of you, a cell of you, will go on living. That is a
           vicarious way of becoming immortal.
                Now science is finding far more sophisticated ways -- because your child may look a little bit
           like you, or may not look like you at all, and he will only be just a little bit like you; there is no
           intrinsic necessity for him to appear exactly like you. So now science has found ways to duplicate
           you. Some of your cells can be preserved, and when you die, a duplicate can be created out of those
           cells. And the duplicate will be exactly like you; not even twins are so alike. If you meet your
           duplicate you will be surprised: he will be exactly like you, absolutely like you.
                Now they say that to be safer, a duplicate can be created while you are alive, and the duplicate
           can be kept in deep freeze, so if some accident happens, if you die in a car accident, you can be
           immediately replaced. Your wife will never be able to detect it, your children will never come to
           know that this daddy is just an imitation, because he will be exactly like you.
                Men have tried in other ways also, far more sophisticated than this one. Write books, paint
           pictures, compose great symphonies: you will be gone but the music will remain; you will be gone,
           but your signature will be there on the book; you will be gone, but the sculpture that you created will
           be there. It will remind people of you, you will persist in their memories. You will not be able to
           walk on the earth, but you will be able to walk in people's memories. It is better than nothing.
           Become famous, leave some marks in the history books -- of course they will be only footnotes, but
           still, something is better than nothing.
                Man has been trying, down the ages, somehow to have some kind of immortality. The fear of
           death is so much, it haunts you your whole life.
                The moment you drop the idea of separation, the fear of death disappears. Hence I call this state
           of surrender the most paradoxical. You die of your own accord and then you cannot die at all,
           because the whole never dies, only its parts are being replaced. But if you become one with the
           whole, you will live forever: you will go beyond birth and death.
                That's the search for nirvana, enlightenment, moksha, the kingdom of God -- the state of
           deathlessness. But the condition that has to be fulfilled is very frightening. The condition is: first you
           have to die as a separate entity. That's what surrender is all about: dying as a separate entity, dying as
           an ego. And in fact it is nothing to be worried about, because you are not separate, it is only a belief.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           So only the belief dies, not you. It is only a notion, an idea.
                It is as if you have seen a rope in the darkness of the night, and you have got the notion that it is a
           snake, and you are escaping from the snake in tremendous fear, trembling, perspiring. And then
           somebody comes along and says, "Don't be worried. I have seen it in daylight, and I know perfectly
           well that it is only a rope. If you don't trust me, ihi passiko, come with me! I will show you that it is
           only a rope!"
                And that's what the buddhas have been doing down the ages: "Ihi passiko, come with me! Come
           and see!" They take the rope in their hand and they show you that this is only a rope, the snake was
           never there in the first place. All fear disappears, you start laughing. You start laughing at yourself,
           at how foolish you have been. You have been escaping from something which never existed in the
           first place! But whether it existed or not, those drops of perspiration were real; the fear, the
           trembling, the heartbeat going faster, the blood pressure -- all those things were real.
                Unreal things can trigger real things, remember it. If you think they are real, they function for
           you as reality -- only for you. It is a dream reality, but it can affect you, it can affect your whole life,
           your whole lifestyle.
                The ego is not there. The moment you become a little alert, aware, conscious, you will not find
           the ego at all. It will be a rope that you had misconceived as a snake; you will not find the snake
           anywhere.
                Death does not exist, death is unreal. But you create it: you create it by creating separation.
           Surrender means dropping the idea of separation: death disappears automatically, fear is found no
           more, and your whole flavor of life changes. Then each moment is such crystal purity, a purity of
           delight, joy, bliss. Then each moment is eternity. And to live that way is poetry, to live
           moment-to-moment without the ego is poetry. To live without the ego is grace, is music; to live
           without the ego is to live, to really live. That life I call poetry: the life of one who is surrendered to
           existence.
                And remember, let me repeat it again: when you surrender to existence you are not surrendering
           anything real. You are simply surrendering a false notion, you are simply surrendering an illusion,
           you are surrendering maya. You are surrendering something that you never had with you in the first
           place. And by surrendering that which you don't have, you attain to that which you have.
                And to know that "I am at home, I always have been and I always will be," is a great moment of
           relaxation. Knowing that "I am not an outsider, I am not alienated, I am not uprooted," that "I belong
           to existence and the existence belongs to me," all becomes calm and quiet and still. This stillness is
           surrender.
                The word surrender gives you a very very wrong idea, as if you are surrendering something. You
           are not surrendering anything; you are simply dropping a dream, you are simply dropping something
           arbitrary that the society had created.
                The ego is needed, it has certain functions to fulfill in the society. Even when one is surrendered
           to God, one goes on using the word 'I' -- but now it is only something utilitarian, nothing existential.
           He knows he is not; he uses the word because not using it will be unnecessarily creating trouble for
           others, it will make communication impossible. It is already impossible! It will be more difficult to
           communicate with people. So it is just an arbitrary device. If you know it is a device, arbitrary,
           utilitarian, useful, but nothing existential, then it never creates any problem for you.
                Richa, your dream has given you a glimpse, your dream has allowed you to see something,
           something you may not be allowing while you are awake. It sometimes happens. The conscious mind
           is more egoistic, obviously; the ego never penetrates into the unconscious. The society can only
           teach the conscious; the society cannot teach the unconscious, at least not yet -- they are trying hard.
                In Soviet Russia particularly, they are trying hard to teach the unconscious. And unfortunately
           they are succeeding. They are teaching people while they are asleep. When you are asleep your
           conscious is no longer functioning; your unconscious functions. Now, in Russia particularly, they are
           doing great experiments in teaching people while they are asleep. It can be done, it is being done.
                This is one of the great dangers that the future generations will have to face. If the politicians
           have gadgets with them which can teach people while they are asleep, then there will never be any
           possibility of rebellion.
                While he is asleep, you can make a person a communist, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian,
           Mohammedan, and because it will be in his unconscious he will be absolutely unable to go beyond
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it. He will not be able to get rid of it, because the unconscious is nine times more powerful than the
           conscious. The conscious is only the tip of the iceberg: one tenth of your mind in conscious, nine
           tenths is unconscious. If the politician can reach the unconscious, then humanity is doomed. Then
           children will be taught while they are asleep. Even sleep will not be your own and private; even
           sleep will not be a personal thing, it will be owned by the state. You will not even be allowed to
           dream private dreams; the state will decide what dreams you can dream -- because you may be
           dreaming some anti-state dreams, and the state cannot afford them. Your dreams can be manipulated,
           your unconscious can be manipulated, but fortunately it has not happened yet.
                You may be the last generation which has the possibility to rebel. And if you don't rebel, there
           may be no more chances: humanity can be reduced to a robotlike existence. So rebel while there is
           still time! I don't think there is much time left, maybe just this last part of the century, these coming
           twenty or twenty-five years. If humanity can rebel in these next twenty-five years, this is the last
           opportunity; otherwise people will be utterly unable to, their unconscious will dominate them. Up to
           now, the society has only been able to pollute your conscious mind -- through education, through the
           church, through propaganda -- but only your conscious mind; your unconscious is still free.
                It happens more often that you are closer to the truth, closer to reality, when you are deeply
           asleep. It is very strange, it should not be so; you should be closer to reality while you are awake.
           But your wakefulness is no longer yours; it is Hindu, it is Christian, it is Mohammedan, it is no
           longer yours; society has already impinged upon it, interfered with it, distorted it. But the
           unconscious is still yours.
                Hence psychoanalysis became so interested in your dreams, because in your dreams you are
           truer. In your dreams you are less false, in your dreams all the censors of the society disappear. In
           your dreams you are saying things as they are, seeing things as they are, seeing yourself as you are.
           The moment you are awake, you start pretending. Your wakefulness is a long long pretension.
                Hence sleep is so relaxing, because to be continuously on guard and say the things which are
           supposed to be said, and do the things which the society requires to be done, is tiring, very tiring.
           One needs to fall into deep sleep every day for eight hours to get rid of all this, to be natural again, to
           forget the society and the nightmare and the hell that it has created.
                The more alert you become, the more watchful you are, the more free from the bondage of the
           society and its clutches, then only your body will need sleep, and even in your sleep there will
           continue an undercurrent of awareness. Your mind will not need any sleep; there is no intrinsic
           necessity for it to go to sleep, it is a created necessity.
                When your mind is clear, untethered, free, you will have less and less need for the mind to go to
           sleep. And then a miracle happens: if you can remain alert even while the body is asleep, you will
           know for the first time that you are separate from the body. The body is asleep and you are awake:
           how can you both be identical, how can you both be one? You will see the difference; the difference
           is so vast.
                The body belongs to the earth, you belong to the sky. The body belongs to matter, you belong to
           God. The body is gross, you are not. The body has limits, is born and will die; you are never born
           and you will never die. This becomes your own experience, not a belief.
                Belief is fear-oriented. You would like to believe that you are immortal, but belief is just a belief,
           something pseudo, painted from the outside. Experience is totally different: it wells up within you, it
           is your own. And the moment you know, nothing can ever shake your knowing, nothing can destroy
           your knowing. The whole world may be against it, but you will still know that you are separate. The
           whole world may say there is no soul, but you will know there is. The whole world may say there is
           no God, but you will smile -- because the experience is self-validating, it is self-evident.
                Richa, your dream may be very significant. What you have not allowed in your waking
           consciousness has sprung up in your dreaming consciousness. A ray of light has entered you.
                In the West, before Freud, waking consciousness was thought to be the only consciousness; not
           so in the East -- even after Freud, although dreaming consciousness has been accepted as valuable,
           one thing has still not yet happened: dreamless sleep is still ignored. This is not so in the East. The
           East has always accepted waking consciousness as the most superficial, dreaming consciousness as
           far deeper and more significant, and sleeping consciousness as even deeper, even more significant
           than dreaming consciousness. The West needs yet another Freud to introduce sleep as the most
           significant part.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the East knows something still more. There is a point, the fourth state of consciousness. It is
           called turiya, simply "the fourth"; it has no other name. Turiya means the fourth. When waking,
           dreaming and sleep all disappear, one is simply a witness. You cannot call it waking, because this
           witness never sleeps; you cannot call it dreaming, because for this witness no dream ever appears;
           you cannot call it sleep, because this witness never sleeps. It is eternal awareness. This is the
           bodhichitta of Atisha, this is Christ-consciousness, this is buddhahood, enlightenment.
               So always be careful. Be more careful of your dreams than your waking, be more careful again of
           your dreamless sleep than of dreaming. And remember that you have to search for the fourth,
           because only the fourth is the ultimate. With the fourth you have arrived home. Now there is
           nowhere to go.
               Richa, you say you have forgotten all about the dream, but only remembered one phrase, "Poetry
           is surrender." That is the very essence of my teaching. The most fundamental thing about my
           message to the world is, poetry is surrender -- and vice versa, surrender is poetry.
               I would like my sannyasins, all of my sannyasins, to be creative -- poets, musicians, painters,
           sculptors, and so on and so forth. In the past, the sannyasins of all the religions have lived a very
           uncreative life. They were respected for their uncreativity, and because of this uncreativity they have
           not added any beauty to the world. They have been a burden; they have not brought something of
           paradise to the earth. In fact they have been destructive -- because you can either be creative, or you
           are bound to be destructive. You cannot remain neutral; either you have to affirm life with all its
           joys, or you start condemning life.
               The past has been a long long drawn-out nightmare of destructive attitudes, life-negative
           approaches. I teach you life-affirmation! I teach you reverence for life. I teach you not renunciation
           but rejoicing. Become poets! And when I say become poets, I don't mean that you all have to become
           Shakespeares, Miltons and Tennysons. If I come across Shakespeare and Milton and Tennyson, then
           too I will say please become poets -- because they are only dreaming about poetry.
               Real poetry happens in the fourth state of consciousness. All the great so-called poets have only
           been dreamers; they were confined to the second state of consciousness. Prose remains confined to
           the first -- waking consciousness, and your poetry is confined to the second.
               The poetry I am talking about is possible only in the fourth. When you have become fully alert,
           clear, when there is no mind any more, then whatsoever you do will be poetry, whatsoever you do
           will be music. And even if you don't do a thing, poetry will surround you, it will be your fragrance, it
           will be your very presence.
               Richa, you ask me: "Since then I have been wondering what poetry has to do with surrender, and
           vice versa, and how poetry can be a path like love, prayer and meditation."
               Love is a path, prayer is a path, meditation is a path, because they are ways to poetry. Anything
           that leads you to God is bound to lead you to poetry. The man of God can be nothing but a poet. He
           will sing a song, not his own any more of course: he will sing God's song. He will give utterance to
           the silence of God, he will be a mouthpiece to the whole.
               I teach you meditation, prayer, love, only because they all take you to the center. And the center
           is poetry. They are all ways to poetry. To dissolve yourself in poetry is to dissolve yourself in God --
           and certainly without surrender it is not possible. If you remain too much, God cannot happen. You
           have to be absent for him to become a presence in you.
           Die, so that you can be.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              UTTER CONFUSION IS MY PART. GOOD AND BAD HAVE CEASED TO EXIST. I AM NEITHER
              PROUD NOR ASHAMED AND YET I AM BOTH. WHATEVER I HAVE ACHIEVED SEEMS LOST IN
              A FOG, RESOLVED TOGETHER WITH MY FAILURES. LIKE SMOKE I FEEL, BUT THROUGH THE
              SMOKE A TREMENDOUS SADNESS ARISES LIKE A SHARP ROCK WITH A VELVET COVERING.
              OSHO, I CAN'T PERCEIVE THE END OF IT -- OR IS THERE NO END? IS IT ECSTASY
              CARRYING THE WEIGHT OF IMPURITY? PLEASE, OSHO, GIVE ME SANNYAS.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ronald Salomonson, confusion is a great opportunity. The problem with people who are not
           confused is great -- they think they know, and they know not. The people who believe that they have
           clarity are really in great trouble; their clarity is very superficial. In fact they know nothing of clarity;
           what they call clarity is just stupidity.
               Idiots are very very clear -- clear in the sense that they do not have the intelligence to feel
           confusion. To feel confusion needs great intelligence. Only the intelligent ones feel confusion;
           otherwise the mediocres go on moving in life, smiling, laughing, accumulating money, struggling for
           more power and fame. If you see them you will feel a little jealous; they look so confident, they even
           look happy.
               If they are succeeding, if their money is increasing and their power is increasing and their fame is
           growing, you will feel a little jealous. You are so confused and they are so clear about their life; they
           have a direction, they have a goal, they know how to attain it, and they are managing, they are
           already achieving, they are climbing the ladder. And you are just standing there, confused about
           what to do, what not to do, what is right and what is wrong. But this has always been so; the
           mediocre remains certain. It is only for the more intelligent to feel confusion, chaos.
               Confusion is a great opportunity. It simply says that through the mind there is no way. If you are
           really confused -- as you say, "I am utterly confused" -- if you are really confused, you are blessed.
           Now something is possible, something immensely valuable; you are on the verge. If you are utterly
           confused, that means the mind has failed; now the mind can no longer supply any certainty to you.
           You are coming closer and closer to the death of the mind.
               And that is the greatest thing that can happen to any man in life, the greatest blessing -- because
           once you see that the mind is confusion and there is no way out through the mind, how long can you
           go on clinging to the mind? Sooner or later you will have to drop it; even if you don't drop it, it will
           drop of its own accord. Confusion will become so much, so heavy, that out of sheer heaviness it will
           drop. And when the mind drops, confusion disappears.
               I cannot say that you attain to certainty, no, because that too is a word applicable only to the
           mind and the world of the mind. When there is confusion, there can be certainty; when confusion
           disappears, certainty also disappears. You simply are -- clear, neither confused nor certain, just a
           clarity, a transparency. And that transparency has beauty, that transparency is grace, it is exquisite.
               It is the most beautiful moment in one's life when there is neither confusion nor certainty. One
           simply is, a mirror reflecting that which is, with no direction, going nowhere, with no idea of doing
           something, with no future, just utterly in the moment, tremendously in the moment.
               When there is no mind there can be no future, there can be no program for the future. Then this
           moment is all, all in all; this moment is your whole existence. The whole existence starts converging
           on this moment, and the moment becomes tremendously significant. It has depth, it has height, it has
           mystery, it has intensity, it has fire, it has immediacy, it grips you, it possesses you, it transforms
           you.
               But I cannot give you certainty; certainty is given by ideology. Certainty is nothing but patching
           up your confusion. You are confused. Somebody says, "Don't be worried," and says it very
           authoritatively, convinces you with arguments, with scriptures, and patches up your confusion,
           covers it with a beautiful blanket -- with The Bible, with the Koran, with the Gita. And you feel
           good; but it is temporary, because the confusion is boiling within. You have not got rid of it, it has
           only been repressed.
               That's why people cling to beliefs, churches, scriptures, doctrines, systems of thought. Why do
           people invest so much in systems of thought? Why should somebody be a Christian or a Hindu?
           Why should somebody be a communist -- for what? There is a reason, a great reason too. Everybody
           is confused, and so somebody is needed to supply you with certainty. He can be the pope or he can
           be Mao Zedong, he can be Karl Marx or he can be Manu or Moses -- anybody will do. And
           whenever there are great times of crisis, any stupid person who has the stubbornness to shout, to
           argue, who can pretend certainty, will become your leader. That's how Adolf Hitlers, Josef Stalins
           and Mussolinis became important people.
               People have always been wondering why Adolf Hitler was able to dominate a great intelligent
           race like the Germans. Why? It appears a paradox that a man like Martin Heidegger, one of the
           greatest thinkers of this age, was a supporter of Adolf Hitler. The great professors of the great
           German universities supported Adolf Hitler. Why? How was it possible?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And Adolf Hitler is just a stupid person, uneducated, unsophisticated. But he has something in
           him that the professors were lacking, that intelligent people were lacking, that the Martin Heideggers
           were lacking. He has something in him which no intelligent person can have: he has absolute
           certainty. He is idiotic -- but he can say things with no ifs and no buts; he can make statements as if
           he knows. He is a madman, but his madness had great impact. It changed the whole course of human
           history.
                It is not a surprise that the Germans became so interested and impressed by him. They were
           intelligent people, some of the most intelligent people on the earth, and intelligence always brings
           confusion. That is the secret of Adolf Hitler's success. Intelligence brings confusion and confusion
           brings trembling, fear; one knows not where to go, what to do, and one starts looking for a leader.
           One starts searching for somebody who can say things with absoluteness, who can assert
           categorically.
                The same has happened in India; it has happened just now. This is one of the most ancient
           countries of the world, with the longest tradition of thinking and contemplation, the longest tradition
           of philosophizing. No other country has philosophized so much. And then this country chooses a
           man like Morarji Desai as the prime minister -- a cabbage! But he has something in him -- the
           stubbornness of a mediocre mind, the absoluteness of stupidity. He has something important to
           supply.
                Whenever people are in confusion they fall prey to third-rate minds. The first-rate minds fall prey
           to third-rate minds because the third-rate mind has no confusion. The third-rate mind knows that just
           by drinking your own urine all diseases can be cured -- even cancer is curable by drinking your own
           urine. It is only possible to assert this if you really are utterly unintelligent.
                The intelligent person hesitates, ponders, wavers. The unintelligent never wavers, never
           hesitates. Where the wise will whisper, the fool simply declares from the housetops.
                Lao Tzu says, "I may be the only muddle-headed man in the world. Everybody seems to be so
           certain, except me." He is right; he has such tremendous intelligence that he cannot be certain about
           anything.
                I cannot promise you certainty if you drop the mind. I can promise you only one thing, that you
           will be clear. There will be clarity, transparency, you will be able to see things as they are. You will
           be neither confused nor certain. Certainty and confusion are two sides of the same coin.
                But you are in a beautiful moment, and the world too is in a beautiful moment. Whenever there is
           a crisis of identity, whenever people don't know who they are, whenever the past loses its grip,
           whenever people are uprooted from the traditional, whenever the past no more seems relevant, this
           crisis arises, a great crisis of identity -- who are we? what are we supposed to do?
                This opportunity can turn into a curse too, if you fall victim to some Adolf Hitler; but this curse
           can become a great opening into the unknown if you are fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of a
           buddha. If you are fortunate enough to be in love with a buddha, your life can be transformed.
                People who are still rooted in tradition, and who think they know what is right and what is
           wrong, will never come to a buddha. They will continue to live their life -- the routine life, the dull,
           the dead life. They will go on fulfilling their duties as their forefathers used to do. For centuries they
           have been following a track and they will go on following that trodden track. Of course, when you
           follow a trodden track, you feel certain -- so many people have walked on it. But when you come to
           a buddha and you start moving into the unknown, there is no highway, no trodden path. You will
           have to make your own path by walking; the path will not be found readymade.
                That's what I want each of my sannyasins to understand. You are not here to depend on me, you
           are not here to follow me, you are not here to simply accept me and believe in me. You are here to
           experiment; you have to move on your own. I can give you encouragement to move on your own, I
           can trigger a process of inquiry in you; but I will not give you a system of thought, I will not give
           you any certainty. I will only give you a pilgrimage -- a pilgrimage which is hazardous, a pilgrimage
           which has millions and millions of pitfalls, a pilgrimage in which you will have to face more and
           more dangers every day, a pilgrimage that will take you to the top of human consciousness, to the
           fourth state. But the higher you go, the more is the danger of falling.
                I can only promise you a great adventure, risky, dangerous, with no promise that you will attain
           it -- because the unknown cannot be guaranteed.
                So, Ronald, if you have come to me to find some remedy for your confusion, then you have come
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the wrong person, I am not the right person to be with. But if you have come to drop confusion
           and certainty, and be free of the mind that can either give you confusion or certainty, if you have
           come to me to go on the ultimate adventure in search of God, if you have come to me to dare, to
           accept the challenge of the uncharted sea, the roaring waves, with no possibility of seeing the other
           shore, then you have come to the right person. Then much is possible. I only say "possible" -- I
           cannot say it is absolutely certain. It is always a possibility; you may be able to make it, you may not
           be able to make it, there is no guarantee. It is not a commodity which can be guaranteed; it is a
           gamble.
                And if you are ready to gamble, enter into this buddhafield. No need to wait any longer -- you
           have already waited enough, for many many lives.
                You ask me: "Please, Osho, give me sannyas." It is not a question of my giving you sannyas; it is
           a question of you taking it. Open your heart! I am always giving it. The question is of your receiving
           it, welcoming it.
                You say: "Good and bad have ceased to exist." That is good, that's beautiful. Good and bad are
           all manmade, sinners and saints are all manmade. And they are not different at all; the difference is
           only superficial, very superficial, not even skin-deep. Scratch a little, and in your saint you will find
           the sinner.

               This guy went to the pope and he said, "Hey pope, fuck you!"
               The pope could not believe it. He said, "Me? The head of the Catholic Church? Me, the spiritual
           head of millions and millions? Me, the direct descendant of Jesus Christ? Me, the only representative
           of God on earth? Fuck me? Fuck YOU!"

                There is not much difference. Just scratch a little, and you will find sinners in the saints and you
           will find saints in the sinners. All good, all bad, is just arbitrary, man-made.
                It's a beautiful space you are entering. If good and bad have ceased to exist, so far, so GOOD!
           Now enter another dimension, not man-made, where distinctions are of no relevance, where nothing
           is good and nothing is bad, where whatsoever is is, and whatever ain't ain't. There is no question of
           good and bad; either something is or something is not. Good and bad are nothing but alternatives to
           be chosen -- either choose this, or choose that. They keep you in the division of either/or.
                The moment you start seeing the hocus-pocusness of all good and bad, when you start seeing that
           they are socially manufactured things.... Of course they are utilitarian, and I am not saying to go into
           the marketplace and behave as if there is nothing good and nothing wrong. I am not saying to walk in
           the middle of the road, saying what does it matter whether one walks on the right or the left.
                When you are with people, remember, for them good and bad still exist. Be respectful to them
           and their dreams. It is not for you to disturb anybody's dream. Who are you? It is not for you to
           interfere. Be polite to people and their stupidities, be polite to them and their games. But all the time
           remember, deep down nothing is good, nothing is bad.
                Existence is simply there; there is nothing to choose between. And remember, when there is
           nothing to choose between, you will become undivided. When there is something to choose between,
           it divides you too. Division is a double-edged sword: it divides reality outside, it divides you inside.
           If you choose, you choose division, you choose to be split, you choose schizophrenia. If you don't
           choose, if you know there is nothing good, nothing bad, you choose sanity.
                Not choosing anything is choosing sanity, not choosing is to be sane, because now there is no
           division outside, how can you be divided inside? The inside and the outside go together. You
           become indivisible, you become an individual. This is the process of individuation. Nothing is good,
           nothing is bad. When this dawns in your consciousness, suddenly you are together, all fragments
           have disappeared into one unity. You are crystallized, you are centered.
                This is one of the greatest contributions of Eastern consciousness to the world. The Western
           religions still go on hanging around the idea of good and bad. That's why it is so difficult for the
           Christian to understand the Upanishads, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu; it is impossible for them to
           understand. They are always looking with the Christian mind, "Where are the commandments?" And
           there are none! The Upanishads never say what is good and what is wrong, they never say what to do
           and what not to do, they don't command. They are poetic assertions, they are poetry. They exult in
           existence, they are ecstatic, overflowing; they are just ecstatic ejaculations.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The Upanishads say, "God is, and you are that: tat tvam asi." The Upanishads say, "God is, and I
           am God." These are assertions arising out of ecstasy. They have no ethics, no morality, no reference
           even. The Christian mind, the Mohammedan mind, the Jewish mind, cannot understand why these
           books are thought to be religious. They may be good literature, but why are they thought to be
           religious?
               And if you ask one who has reached the same ecstasy as the Upanishadic seers, he will say The
           Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, they are ethical, moral, but what do they have to do with religion?
           They are good, because they make a society move smoothly, but they have nothing religious in them
           -- or maybe only a few statements here and there. The major part is ethical; the religious part seems
           to be so small that it can be neglected, ignored. And it has been ignored.
               To come to know that nothing is good, nothing is bad, is a turning point; it is a conversion. You
           start looking in; the outside reality loses meaning. The social reality is a fiction, a beautiful drama;
           you can participate in it, but then you don't take it seriously. It is just a role to be played; play it as
           beautifully, as efficiently, as possible. But don't take it seriously, it has nothing of the ultimate in it.
               The ultimate is the inner; the indivisible soul knows it. And, to come to that soul, this is a good
           turning-point.
               You say: "Good and bad have ceased to exist." This is the right moment to take sannyas, this is
           what sannyas is all about. Now there is no need to wait, now there is no need even to ask my
           permission. Sannyas is already happening. Enter into this buddhafield. Long you have waited -- too
           long, really.

               I have heard: An old couple reached the divorce court. They were really ancient, ninety-five
           years old, and they had been married for seventy-five years. The judge could not believe his eyes. He
           said, "So you are thinking of divorce now, after seventy-five years of married life? Why NOW?"
               They looked at each other, and then the old man said, "Well, we waited till all the children were
           dead."

                People go on waiting and waiting and waiting.... Now, what a hope! There is no need to wait any
           more. You are welcome, you are ready. Even people who are not ready, I welcome them -- because
           those who are not ready today may be ready tomorrow. Those who are not ready when they take
           sannyas, may be ready after they have taken sannyas. And who am I to refuse you if God accepts
           you? I am nobody to refuse you.
                That's why nobody is refused, no condition is made, nobody is thought to be unworthy. If God
           thinks you worthy of being alive, that's enough proof that you are also worthy of becoming a
           sannyasin.
                You say: "I am neither proud nor ashamed and yet I am both." That's the state of confusion. You
           will find everything like that -- neither this nor that, yet both.
                "Whatever I have achieved seems lost in a fog" -- you are really blessed -- "resolved together
           with my failures."
                Many should feel jealous of you. To know that all has failed is the beginning of a new journey.
           To know that "All that I have achieved is lost" is the beginning of a new search for something that
           cannot be lost. When one is utterly disillusioned with the world and all its successes, only then does
           one become spiritual.
                "Like smoke I feel, but through the smoke a tremendous sadness arises like a sharp rock with a
           velvet covering." It is bound to be so. When life has been lived through illusions and one day one
           suddenly feels all has been meaningless, useless -- "I was chasing shadows" -- a great sadness
           arises.
                But I can see your perceptiveness. Sadness is there, but "with a velvet covering." Yes, sadness is
           there because of the past, and the velvet covering is what is possible; it only becomes possible now.
           Out of all this confusion is sadness; but because of this confusion and its utterness, deep down a new
           stirring is happening. You may not yet be aware of it, but something is stirring, a new joy is arising
           behind the curtain of sadness -- a joy of a new search, of a new adventure, of a new life, of a new
           way to be.
                "Osho, I can't perceive the end of it -- or is there no end?" There is a beginning of the mind and
           there is an end of the mind, there is a beginning of the ego and there is an end of the ego, but there is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no beginning to you and no end to you. And there is no beginning to the mystery of existence and no
           end to you. It is an ongoing process. Mysteries upon mysteries are waiting for you, hence the thrill
           and the ecstasy.
                Feel ecstatic that there is no end to life, that when you have reached one peak, suddenly another
           peak starts giving you challenges -- a higher one, a more arduous climb, a more dangerous reach.
           And when you have reached the other peak, there will be another peak; peaks upon peaks. It is an
           eternal Himalayas of life.
                Just think of a point where you arrive, and now there is nothing else left. You will be utterly
           bored then; boredom will be your only fate then! And life is not boredom, it is a dance. Life is not
           boredom, it is exultation, exuberance.
                Many many things are going to happen, and many many things will always remain to happen.
           The mystery never ends, it cannot end. That's why it is called a mystery, it cannot even be known. It
           will never become knowledge, that's why it is called a mystery; something in it is eternally elusive.
           And that's the whole joy of life. The great splendor of life is that it keeps you eternally engaged,
           searching, exploring. Life is exploration, life is adventure.
                You ask: "Osho, I can't perceive the end of it or is there no end?" There is an end to you, but
           there is no end to the real you.
                "Is it ecstasy carrying the weight of impurity?" There is no impurity anywhere. All is pure.
           Impurity is just a shadow of the confusion that you are feeling right now. When the confusion and
           the confusing mind are dropped, the shadows will disappear of their own accord.
                Your innermost core has always been pure; purity is intrinsic to you, it cannot be taken away.
           Your virginity is eternal; you cannot lose it, there is no way to lose it. You can only forget about it or
           remember it. If you forget about it, you live in confusion; if you remember it, all is clear. Again, I
           will not say "certain," but just "clear." All is transparent. That transparency is freedom, that
           transparency is wisdom. This transparency is your birthright; if you are not claiming it, nobody else
           is responsible except you. Claim it! It is yours. It is yours just for the asking.
                Sannyas is an effort to reclaim that which is yours and to drop that which is not yours. Sannyas is
           an effort to drop that which you really don't have, and to claim that which you always had with you
           all along.
                Ecstasy is our very nature; not to be ecstatic is simply unnecessary. To be ecstatic is natural,
           spontaneous. It needs no effort to be ecstatic, it needs great effort to be miserable. That's why you
           look so tired, because misery is really hard work; to maintain it is really difficult, because you are
           doing something against nature. You are going upstream -- that's what misery is.
                And what is bliss? Going with the river -- so much so that the distinction between you and the
           river is simply lost. You are the river. How can it be difficult? To go with the river no swimming is
           needed; you simply float with the river and the river takes you to the ocean. The river is already
           going to the ocean.
                Life is a river. Don't push it and you will not be miserable. The art of not pushing the river of life
           is sannyas.
                Ronald, you are ready. This moment of confusion, this moment of chaos in your life, can open a
           new door, can turn a new leaf. Don't wait any more.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Book of Wisdom
                                                     Chapter #5
                                         Chapter title: Sowing White Seeds
           15 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902150
              ShortTitle: WISDOM05
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 113 mins




              BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAKING WITH YOURSELF.
              WHEN EVIL FILLS THE INANIMATE AND ANIMATE UNIVERSES CHANGE BAD CONDITIONS TO
              THE BODHI PATH.

              DRIVE ALL BLAME INTO ONE.
              BE GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE.

              THE INSURPASSABLE PROTECTION OF EMPTINESS IS TO SEE THE MANIFESTATIONS OF
              BEWILDERMENT AS THE FOUR KAYAS.
              AN EXCELLENT MEANS IS TO HAVE THE FOUR PROVISIONS.

              IN ORDER TO BRING ANY SITUATION TO THE PATH QUICKLY AS SOON AS IT IS MET, JOIN IT
              WITH MEDITATION.
              THE CONCISE EPITOME OF HEART INSTRUCTION: WORK WITH "FIVE FORCES."

              THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRANSFERENCE IN THE MAHAYANA ARE THE "FIVE FORCES."
              BEHAVIOR IS IMPORTANT.
              THE PURPOSE OF ALL DHARMA IS CONTAINED IN ONE POINT.


                Meditation is the source, compassion is the overflow of that source. The nonmeditative man has
           no energy for love, for compassion, for celebration. The nonmeditative person is disconnected from
           his own source of energy; he is not in contact with the ocean. He has a little bit of energy that is
           created by food, by air, by matter -- he lives on physical energy.
                Physical energy has limitations. It is born at a certain moment in time, and it dies at another
           moment in time. Between birth and death it exists. It is like a lamp that burns because of the oil in it
           -- once the oil is exhausted, the flame goes out.
                The meditative person comes to know something of the infinite, becomes bridged with the
           inexhaustible source of energy. His flame goes on and on, his flame knows no cessation. It cannot
           disappear, because in the first place it never appears. It cannot die, because it is unborn.
                How to bridge oneself with this inexhaustible source of life, abundance, richness? You can call
           that inexhaustible source God or you can call it truth or anything that you wish to call it. But one
           thing is absolutely certain; that man is a wave of something infinite.
                If the wave looks inward it will find the infinite. If it goes on looking outwards it remains
           disconnected -- disconnected from its own kingdom, disconnected from its own nature. Jesus calls
           this nature the kingdom of God. He again and again says, "The kingdom of God is within you. Go
           within."
                Meditation is nothing but a bridge to go within. Once meditation has happened, the only thing
           that remains to happen is compassion.
                Buddha, the original master in Atisha's line, said that unless compassion happens, don't remain
           contented with meditation itself. You have gone only halfway, you have yet to go a little further.
           Meditation, if it is true, is bound to overflow into compassion. Just as when a lamp is lit it
           immediately starts radiating light, it immediately starts dispersing darkness, once the inner light is
           lit, compassion is its radiation.
                Compassion is the proof that meditation has happened. Love is the fragrance that proves that the
           one-thousand-petaled lotus in the innermost core of your being has bloomed, that the spring has
           come -- that you are no more the same person you used to be, that that personality has ceased and
           individuality is born, that you are not living any more in darkness, that you are light.
                These sutras are practical instructions, remember it. Atisha is not a philosopher, no wise man
           ever is. He is not a thinker; thinking is only for the mediocre, the foolish. The wise does not think,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the wise knows. Thinking is an effort to know; it is guesswork, groping in the dark, shooting arrows
           in the dark.
                Wisdom is knowing. And when you know, you need not guess. You are not guessing that this is
           morning and the birds are singing and the trees are bathed in sunlight. You are not guessing it, you
           are not thinking that it is so. If somebody is guessing it, then he must be blind or at least drunk. It is
           an experience, and every experience is self-validating.
                Atisha is not a speculative thinker. What he is saying is not a philosophy or a system of thought.
           It is how he has attained; he is showing you the way. And the buddhas can only show the way -- you
           will have to walk on it, nobody else can walk for you. Nobody else can do it for you; no proxy is
           possible in existence.
                Yes, others can communicate how they attained, what pitfalls to avoid, how to go on judging
           whether you are moving in the right direction or not, what energies to use and what energies to
           discard, what is helpful and what is a hindrance. They can give you little hints about the path -- and I
           say "little hints"; they cannot give you a complete map either, because each individual will have to
           follow a path that is a little bit different, and each individual will come across unique experiences
           that nobody has come across before and nobody may ever come across again.
                Each individual is so unique that no absolute map can be given, only hints, vague hints,
           indications.
                You are not to cling to these instructions. Just understand them, absorb them, and don't be a
           fanatic. Don't say, "This has to be like this. If it is not like this then I am not going to follow it, then
           something is wrong." It will be something like this, but in a very vague way. It will have a similar
           fragrance but it will not be exactly the same; similar, yes, but not the same. One has to be aware of it.
           If one is not aware, then one becomes a fanatic -- and fanatics have never arrived, their very
           fanaticism prevents them.
                These are small hints. These are not mathematical, these are not like two plus two is four. In the
           world of the mysterious, sometimes two plus two is three, sometimes two plus two is five. It is very
           rarely that two plus two is four, very rarely; it is the exception, not the rule. It is not mathematics, it
           is music. It is not logic, it is poetry.
                When you read a logical treatise, you read with a different mind. If you read poetry you need a
           totally different approach. In logic there is a clear-cut process, the process of syllogism -- you know
           that this is so, and this is so, therefore this is bound to be so. There is a "therefore."
                In poetry there is no "therefore." Poetry takes quantum leaps. Poetry is a vision, not a logical
           process; a song, not a syllogism. Yes, even the song has some intrinsic logic in it, but it is not on the
           surface. And it is not for those who are on the path, it is only for those who have arrived.
                Once you have arrived you will see the whole logicalness of each step that you had taken, but not
           before it. You will see why you had to jump, why you had to take a certain step. When you were
           taking that step, nothing was clear, nothing was absolutely certain or guaranteed. You were taking
           that step according to your feeling, not according to your thinking. But later on, recapitulating,
           looking back, thinking can be revived. Now you can search for the undercurrent of logic.
                Those who have arrived are very logical. But those who are on the path, if they try to be logical,
           they will never survive. This is one of the paradoxes to be understood. Hence the statements of
           Buddha, Tilopa, Saraha and Atisha are really very logical, but only for those who have arrived. The
           logic can be felt only backwards. When you are progressing towards the goal, the ultimate,
           everything is vague, hidden behind a cloud. It is like the early morning mist. In the afternoon, in the
           full noontide, the mist will have disappeared. But that full noontide has yet to happen.
                So think, meditate, feel these instructions, but don't take them in dead seriousness. There are
           bound to be a few differences. A few things are going to happen on your way which did not happen
           on Atisha's way. A few things are going to happen on your way which have not happened on my
           way. There are as many ways in the world as there are people. Nobody can stand in your place; even
           those who are standing very close to you are not standing in exactly the same place. Your angle of
           vision is bound to be a little bit different from the angle of vision of somebody who is standing just
           by your side holding your hand. No two persons can see the world in exactly the same way, it is
           impossible. And everybody has to move from his own place, his own space.
                Now, Atisha existed one thousand years ago. He must have seen a totally different world, he
           must have walked through a totally different world, with a different kind of language -- where a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           different kind of understanding was prevalent, where different attitudes and approaches were still
           valid. They are no more valid, they are no more relevant, that world has disappeared. Atisha's world
           exists no more.
               Still, his instructions are of tremendous importance, taken nonfanatically. Taken fanatically, you
           miss the whole point. One has to be very very loose and relaxed. While thinking about the past
           buddhas, one has to be available to them, open to them, but unclinging and detached, knowing
           perfectly well that centuries have passed, knowing perfectly well that "I am not Atisha, so how can I
           follow these instructions absolutely?"
               But Atisha is not telling you to follow his instructions absolutely. He is simply giving a glimpse
           of his vision and the way he has arrived at it. He is simply sharing his poetry with you, his
           compassion with you.
               Remember it -- otherwise it is very easy for people to become fanatics. Why do millions of
           people in the world become fanatics? For a simple reason: by becoming a fanatic you avoid all
           experimenting, by becoming a fanatic you escape from thinking on your own, feeling on your own.
           By becoming a fanatic you throw all responsibility on somebody else's shoulders -- Jesus, Buddha,
           Krishna, Atisha.
               Remember, your responsibility is such, it cannot be given to anybody else, it cannot be thrown
           on somebody else. Your responsibility is absolutely yours. You will have to think, you will have to
           feel, you will have to meditate, you will have to walk, for yourself. And let me remind you again:
           you may come across scenes which Atisha has never come across.
               If you go to the Himalayas and you want to climb Everest, there are many ways to climb it, many
           sides. From one side you may come across beautiful valleys and rivers and trees. From the other side
           you may not come across any river, you may not come across trees at all, you may come across only
           rocks and rocks. From the third side you may come across glaciers, virgin snow that has never
           melted. And you all will reach the top.
               Those who have reached the top will always be considerate and liberal. They cannot be stubborn,
           they cannot say, "This is the only path," because from the top they can see that there are many paths.
           They can see many pilgrims arriving, reaching from different routes. And each route has its own
           world. Atisha followed a certain route. But he was very fortunate to have three enlightened masters;
           he reached Everest by at least three routes. His vision is very comprehensive, his vision is wide, it is
           not narrow.
               Jesus says, "My path is narrow but straight." He followed only one master. Naturally his path is
           very narrow and straight. It is not the case with Atisha; his path is very zigzag and very wide. It
           contains many paths in it, it is a great synthesis.
           The first sutra:
              BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAKING WITH YOURSELF.

               Let me remind you, in the last sutra Atisha was saying that when you take the breath in, let it
           become your meditation that all the suffering of all the beings in the world is riding on that incoming
           breath and reaching your heart. Absorb all that suffering, pain and misery in your heart, and see a
           miracle happen.
               Whenever you absorb somebody else's misery, pain and suffering, the moment you absorb it, it is
           transformed. The natural tendency is to avoid it; the natural tendency is to protect yourself against
           suffering. The natural tendency is to keep aloof, not to sympathize, not to empathize. People, even
           when they sympathize, sympathize only formally. They pay lip-service; they don't mean it. If they
           really meant it, they could have helped the other person. They could have absorbed his suffering,
           they could have drunk his suffering.
               And it happens a few times, and you know it: there are people, if you meet them you feel an
           unburdening. When they are gone, you feel light, you feel flowing, you feel more vibrant, more alive
           -- as if they have taken a great burden off your head, off your chest, as if they have poured some
           nectar into your being. You feel a dance left within your heart when they leave. You wait again and
           again for them to come to you; you seek their company, you enjoy it, because you are nourished by
           their presence.
               The opposite kind of people also exist. If they meet you they leave you more burdened than you
           ever were. They leave you in a kind of despair, disgust. You feel you have been sucked, your energy
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is lower. They have taken something from your energy and they have not given anything to you.
           This is an ordinary experience.
               If people avoid you, remember, they are not responsible. Something in you makes them avoid
           you. If people don't want to meet you, if they find excuses to escape from you, remember, they are
           not responsible. You must be doing something negative to their energy.
               If people seek you, if people become friendly immediately, if people feel a certain affinity --
           even strangers would like to come and sit close to you, would like to hold your hand, would just like
           to be with you -- that means you must be knowingly or unknowingly helping them. Everybody is
           burdened with great misery, everybody is under great suffering, everybody's heart is hurting. There
           is much pain.
               Atisha says before you can do this with the whole existence, you will have to start first with
           yourself. This is one of the fundamental secrets of inner growth. You cannot do anything with others
           that you have not done in the first place with yourself. You can hurt others if you hurt yourself, you
           will be a pain in the necks of others if you are a pain in the neck to yourself, you can be a blessing to
           others only if you are a blessing to yourself.
               Whatsoever you can do with others, you must have done to yourself before, because that is the
           only thing that you can share. You can share only that which you have; you cannot share that which
           you don't have.
           Atisha says:
              BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAKING WITH YOURSELF.

                Rather than starting by taking the whole misery of the world and absorbing it in the heart, start
           with your own misery. Don't go into the deep sea so fast; learn swimming in shallow water. And if
           you immediately start taking the misery of the whole existence, it will remain simply an experiment
           in speculation. It won't be real, it can't be real. It will be just verbal.
                You can say to yourself, "Yes, I am taking the misery of the whole world" -- but what do you
           know of the misery of the whole world? You have not even experienced your own misery.
                We go on avoiding our own misery. If you feel miserable, you put on the radio or the tv and you
           become engaged. You start reading the newspaper so that you can forget your misery, or you go to
           the movies, or you go to your woman or your man. You go to the club, you go shopping in the
           market, just somehow to keep yourself away from yourself, so that you need not see the wound, so
           that you need not look at how much it hurts within.
                People go on avoiding themselves. What do they know of misery? How can they think of the
           misery of the whole existence? First, you have to begin with yourself. If you are feeling miserable,
           let it become a meditation. Sit silently, close the doors. First feel the misery with as much intensity
           as possible. Feel the hurt. Somebody has insulted you. Now, the best way to avoid the hurt is to go
           and insult him, so that you become occupied with him. That is not meditation.
                If somebody has insulted you, feel thankful to him that he has given you an opportunity to feel a
           deep wound. He has opened a wound in you. The wound may be created by many many insults that
           you have suffered in your whole life; he may not be the cause of all the suffering, but he has
           triggered a process.
                Just close your room, sit silently, with no anger for the person but with total awareness of the
           feeling that is arising in you -- the hurt feeling that you have been rejected, that you have been
           insulted. And then you will be surprised that not only is this man there: all the men and all the
           women and all the people that have ever insulted you will start moving in your memory.
                You will start not only remembering them, you will start reliving them. You will be going into a
           kind of primal. Feel the hurt, feel the pain, don't avoid it. That's why in many therapies the patient is
           told not to take any drugs before the therapy begins, for the simple reason that drugs are a way to
           escape from your inner misery. They don't allow you to see your wounds, they repress them. They
           don't allow you to go into your suffering and unless you go into your suffering, you cannot be
           released from the imprisonment of it.
                It is perfectly scientific to drop all drugs before going into a group -- if possible even drugs like
           coffee, tea, smoking, because these are all ways to escape.
                Have you watched? Whenever you feel nervous you immediately start smoking. It is a way to
           avoid nervousness; you become occupied with smoking. Really it is a regression. Smoking makes
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you again feel like a child -- unworried, nonresponsible -- because smoking is nothing but a
           symbolic breast. The hot smoke going in simply takes you back to the days when you were feeding
           on the mother's breast and the warm milk was going in; the nipple has now become the cigarette. The
           cigarette is a symbolic nipple.
                Through regression you avoid the responsibilities and the pains of being adult. And that's what
           goes on through many many drugs. Modern man is drugged as never before, because modern man is
           living in great suffering. Without drugs it will be impossible to live in so much suffering. Those
           drugs create a barrier; they keep you drugged, they don't allow you enough sensitivity to know your
           pain.
                The first thing to do is close your doors and stop any kind of occupation -- looking at the tv,
           listening to the radio, reading a book. Stop all occupation, because that too is a subtle drug. Just be
           silent, utterly alone. Don't even pray, because that again is a drug, you are becoming occupied, you
           start talking to God, you start praying, you escape from yourself.
                Atisha is saying: Just be yourself. Whatsoever the pain of it and whatsoever the suffering of it, let
           it be so. First experience it in its total intensity. It will be difficult, it will be heart-rending. You may
           start crying like a child, you may start rolling on the ground in deep pain, your body may go through
           contortions. You may suddenly become aware that the pain is not only in the heart, it is all over the
           body -- that it is aching all over, that it is painful all over, that your whole body is nothing but pain.
                If you can experience it -- this is of tremendous importance -- then start absorbing it. Don't throw
           it away. It is such a valuable energy, don't throw it away. Absorb it, drink it, accept it, welcome it,
           feel grateful to it. And say to yourself, "This time I'm not going to avoid it, this time I'm not going to
           reject it, this time I'm not going to throw it away. This time I will drink it and receive it like a guest.
           This time I will digest it."
                It may take a few days for you to be able to digest it, but the day it happens, you have stumbled
           upon a door which will take you really far far away. A new journey has started in your life, you are
           moving into a new kind of being -- because immediately, the moment you accept the pain with no
           rejection anywhere, its energy and its quality changes. It is no longer pain. In fact one is simply
           surprised, one cannot believe it, it is so incredible. One cannot believe that suffering can be
           transformed into ecstasy, that pain can become joy.
                But in ordinary life you are aware that opposites are always joined together, that they are not
           opposites but complementaries. You know perfectly well, your love can at any moment become hate,
           and your hate can at any moment become love. In fact if you hate too much, intensely and totally, it
           is bound to become love.
                That's what happened to the person called Saul who later on became Paul and founded this ugly
           phenomenon, the Christian church. Jesus is not the founder of the Christian church, the founder of
           the Christian church is Saint Paul. And the story is worth remembering.
                When he was born, his name was Saul. And he was so anti Christ that his whole life was devoted
           to destroying Christians and Christianity. His whole dedication was to persecute Christians,
           destroying any possibility of Christianity for the future, and effacing the name of Christ. He must
           have hated tremendously, his hate cannot be ordinary. When you devote your whole life to the object
           of your hatred, it is bound to be really total. Otherwise who cares? If you hate something you don't
           devote your whole life to it. But if you hate totally, then it becomes a life-and-death problem.
                Persecuting Christians, destroying Christians, destroying their power-holds, arguing with
           Christians, convincing them that this was nonsense, that this man Jesus was mad, a neurotic, a
           pretender, a hypocrite, one day it happened, the miracle happened. He was going to persecute more
           Christians in another town. On the way he was alone, and suddenly he saw Jesus appearing out of
           nowhere and asking him, "Why do you persecute me?"
                Out of shock, terror, he fell on the ground, apologizing, crying great tears of repentance. The
           vision disappeared, and with the disappearance of the vision the old Saul disappeared. To remember
           this point he changed his name to Paul; the old man was dead, a new man had arrived. And he
           became the founder of the Christian church. He became a great lover of Jesus -- the greatest lover the
           world has ever known.
                Hate can become love. Jesus did not appear; it was just the intensity of his hate that projected
           Jesus. It was not Jesus who asked him, "Why do you persecute me?" It was his own unconscious
           which was suffering so much because of this hatred for Jesus. It was his own unconscious that asked
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him, "Why do you persecute me?" It was his own unconscious that became personified in the vision
           of Jesus. The miracle happened because the hate was total.
                Whenever anything is total it turns into its opposite. This is a great secret to be remembered.
           Whenever something is total it changes into its opposite, because there is no way to go any further;
           the cul-de-sac has arrived.
                Watch an old clock with a pendulum. It goes on and on: the pendulum goes to the left, to the
           extreme left, and then there is a point beyond which it cannot go, then it starts moving towards the
           right.
                Opposites are complementaries. If you can suffer your suffering in totality, in great intensity, you
           will be surprised: Saul becomes Paul. You will not be able to believe it when it happens for the first
           time, that your own suffering absorbed willingly, welcomingly, becomes a great blessing. The same
           energy that becomes hate becomes love, the same energy that becomes pain becomes pleasure, the
           same energy that becomes suffering becomes bliss.
           But start with your own self.
                Make a small experiment with your own pains, sufferings and miseries. And once you have
           found the key, then you can share it with the whole existence. Then you can take all the suffering of
           all the world, or all the worlds.
                Ride on the incoming breath and your small heart is bigger than the whole universe, if you know
           what miracles it can do. And then pour out your blessings. It is the same energy passing through
           your heart that becomes bliss, that becomes a blessing. Then let blessings go riding on the outgoing
           breath to all the nooks and corners of existence.
                Atisha says: This is compassion. Compassion is to become a transforming force in existence --
           transforming the ugly into the beautiful, kissing the frog and transforming it into a prince,
           transforming darkness into light. To become such a medium of transformation is compassion.

              BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAKING WITH YOURSELF.
              WHEN EVIL FILLS THE INANIMATE AND ANIMATE UNIVERSES CHANGE BAD CONDITIONS TO
              THE BODHI PATH.


               This is the Buddhist alchemy: all evil can be transformed into the bodhi path, the path to become
           a buddha. Evil is not against you, you just don't know how to use it. Poison is not your enemy, you
           just don't know how to make medicine out of it. In wise hands poison becomes medicinal, in foolish
           hands medicine can become poison. It all depends on you, on your artfulness.
               Have you ever looked at the word evil? Read backwards, it is live. Life can become evil, evil can
           become life; it all depends on how you read it.
               There are three things to be understood about this sutra, to change bad conditions to the bodhi
           path so that you can attain to bodhichitta, the mind or no-mind of a buddha. The first is: do not resist
           evil. That is a saying of Jesus; there is every possibility that Jesus got it from Buddhist sources. He
           traveled in India; he had lived in India before he started his mission in Israel.
               That's why in The Bible there is almost no account of his life. Only once is he mentioned as
           having gone with his parents to the great temple and that he argued with the rabbis there. He must
           have been nearabout twelve at that time. After that incident there is no life story in The Bible. For
           eighteen years he simply disappears from Israel, and then suddenly when he is thirty he appears
           again. His ministry lasted only for three years; by the age of thirty-three he was crucified.
               Where had he been for eighteen years? It is a long period. And why does The Bible mention
           nothing about it?
               In Tibet there are still books available which relate everything about those eighteen years. He
           had been in the East. In fact that was one of the reasons why he could not be accepted by the Jews,
           because he brought something very alien and strange. Although he was quoting the prophets from
           the Old Testament, he was giving to those old ancient statements new meanings that had never been
           heard before. He was bringing something foreign into the Jewish world.
               For example, this statement: Do not resist evil. Now this is very un-Jewish. The Jewish God is
           very much against evil; he is so much against it that there are stories that he destroyed whole cities
           like Sodom and Gomorrah. He destroyed whole cities because those cities had fallen into evil. There
           were good people there too, but to destroy the evil people even the good people were destroyed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The Jewish God says, "I am a very jealous God; if you don't obey me you will be destroyed." He
           is very dictatorial. And the Old Testament says evil has to be punished, an eye for an eye.
                Jesus says again and again, "You have been told that if somebody throws a brick at you, throw a
           stone or a rock at him. But I say unto you, if somebody hits you on one cheek, give him the other
           also."
                This is alien, strange, to Jewish thinking. But this is not alien to Buddhist thinking, this is pure
           Buddhism. Do not resist evil. That is the first thing if you want to absorb evil in your heart and
           transform it. If you resist it, how can you transform it? Accept it.
                Jesus says, "Love your enemies." The Jewish God cannot love his enemies, so why should man?
           If God is incapable of loving his enemies, how can you expect poor man to? "And love your
           enemies," Jesus says, "as you love yourself." Again, he got it from some strange sources that the
           Jews were not aware of. This is a Buddhist approach, this is the contribution of Buddha to the world
           -- one of the greatest contributions ever, because this is the inner alchemy. Accept evil. Don't resist
           it, don't fight with it, don't be angry with it; absorb it, because it can be transformed into good.
                The art of transforming suffering, pain, evil, into something good is the art of seeing the
           necessity of the opposite. Light can exist only if darkness exists. Then why hate darkness? Without
           darkness there will be no light, so those who love light and hate darkness are in a dilemma; they
           don't know what they are doing.
                Life cannot exist without death. Then why hate death? Because it is death that creates the space
           for life to exist. This is a great insight, that death is the contrast, the background, the blackboard on
           which life is written with white chalk. Death is the darkness of night on which life starts twinkling
           like stars. If you destroy the darkness of the night the stars will disappear. That's what happens in the
           day. The stars are still there -- do you think they have disappeared? They are still there, but because
           there is too much light you cannot see them. They can be seen only in contrast.
                The saint is possible only because of the sinner. Hence, Buddha says don't hate the sinner, he
           makes it possible for the saint to exist. They are two aspects of the same coin.
                Seeing this, one is neither attached to good nor detached from bad. One accepts both as part and
           parcel of life. In that acceptance you can transform things. Only through that acceptance is
           transformation possible.
                And before you can transform suffering you will have to become a witness; that is the third point.
           First: do not resist evil. Second: know that opposites are not opposites but complementaries,
           inevitably joined together, so there is no choice -- remain choiceless. And the third is: be a witness,
           because if you are a witness to your suffering you will be able to absorb it. If you become identified
           with it you cannot absorb it.
                The moment you become identified with your suffering you want to discard it, you want to get
           rid of it, it is so painful. But if you are a witness then suffering loses all thorns, all stings. Then there
           is suffering, and you are a witness to it. You are just a mirror; it has nothing to do with you.
           Happiness comes and goes, unhappiness comes and goes, it is a passing show; you are just there, a
           mirror reflecting it. Life comes and goes, death comes and goes; the mirror is not affected by either.
           The mirror reflects but remains unaffected; the mirror is not imprinted by either.
                A great distance arises when you witness. And only in that witnessing can you become able to
           transform the baser metal into gold. Only in that witnessing do you become a scientist of the inner, a
           detached observer. Now you know the opposites are not opposites, so they can be changed into each
           other. Then it is not a question of destroying evil in the world, but of transforming evil into
           something beneficial; transforming poison into nectar.
               DRIVE ALL BLAME INTO ONE.

               The third sutra. The ordinary mind always throws the responsibility on somebody else. It is
           always the other who is making you suffer. Your wife is making you suffer, your husband is making
           you suffer, your parents are making you suffer, your children are making you suffer, or the financial
           system of the society, capitalism, communism, fascism, the prevalent political ideology, the social
           structure, or fate, karma, God... you name it.
               People have millions of ways to shirk responsibility. But the moment you say somebody else --
           x, y, z -- is making you suffer, then you cannot do anything to change it. What can you do? When the
           society changes and communism comes and there is a classless world, then everybody will be happy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Before it, it is not possible. How can you be happy in a society which is poor? And how can you be
           happy in a society which is dominated by the capitalists? How can you be happy with a society
           which is bureaucratic? How can you be happy with a society which does not allow you freedom?
               Excuses and excuses and excuses -- excuses just to avoid one single insight that "I am
           responsible for myself. Nobody else is responsible for me; it is absolutely and utterly my
           responsibility. Whatsoever I am, I am my own creation." This is the meaning of the third sutra:
              DRIVE ALL BLAME INTO ONE.

               And that one is you. Once this insight settles: "I am responsible for my life -- for all my
           suffering, for my pain, for all that has happened to me and is happening to me -- I have chosen it this
           way; these are the seeds that I sowed and now I am reaping the crop; I am responsible" -- once this
           insight becomes a natural understanding in you, then everything else is simple. Then life starts taking
           a new turn, starts moving into a new dimension. That dimension is conversion, revolution, mutation
           -- because once I know I am responsible, I also know that I can drop it any moment I decide to.
           Nobody can prevent me from dropping it.
               Can anybody prevent you from dropping your misery, from transforming your misery into bliss?
           Nobody. Even if you are in a jail, chained, imprisoned, nobody can imprison you; your soul still
           remains free.
               Of course you have a very limited situation, but even in that limited situation you can sing a
           song. You can either cry tears of helplessness or you can sing a song. Even with chains on your feet
           you can dance; then even the sound of the chains will have a melody to it.
           The fourth sutra:
              BE GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE.

              Atisha is really very very scientific. First he says: Take the whole responsibility on yourself.
           Secondly he says: Be grateful to everyone. Now that nobody is responsible for your misery except
           you, if it is all your own doing, then what is left?
              BE GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE.

                Because everybody is creating a space for you to be transformed -- even those who think they are
           obstructing you, even those whom you think are enemies. Your friends, your enemies, good people
           and bad people, favorable circumstances, unfavorable circumstances -- all together they are creating
           the context in which you can be transformed and become a buddha. Be grateful to all.
                A man once came and spat on Buddha, on his face. Of course his disciples were enraged. His
           closest disciple, Ananda, said to him, "This is too much!" He was red-hot with anger. He said to
           Buddha, "Just give me permission so that I can show this man what he has done."
                Buddha wiped his face and said to the man, "Thank you, sir. You created a context in which I
           could see whether I can still be angry or not. And I am not, and I am tremendously happy. And also
           you created a context for Ananda: now he can see that he can still be angry. Many thanks, we are so
           grateful! Once in a while, please, you are invited to come. Whenever you have the urge to spit on
           somebody, you can come to us."
                It was such a shock to the man, he could not believe his ears, what was happening. He had come
           expecting that he would anger Buddha. He had failed. The whole night he could not sleep, he tossed
           and turned and could not sleep. Continuously the idea haunted him -- his spitting on the Buddha, one
           of the most insulting things, and Buddha remaining as calm and quiet as he had been before, as if
           nothing had happened, wiping his face and saying to him, "Thank you, sir. And whenever you have
           this desire to spit on somebody, please come to us."
                He remembered it again and again. That face, that calm and quiet face, those compassionate
           eyes. And when he had said thank you, it had not been just a formality, he was really grateful. His
           whole being was saying that he was grateful, his whole atmosphere was grateful. Just as he could see
           that Ananda was red-hot with anger, Buddha was so cool, so loving, so compassionate. He could not
           forgive himself now, what had he done? Spitting on that man -- a man like Buddha!
                Early the next morning he rushed back, fell down at the feet of Buddha, and said, "Forgive me,
           sir. I could not sleep the whole night."
                Buddha said, "Forget all about it. There is no need to ask forgiveness for something which has
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           already passed. So much water has gone down the Ganges." Buddha was sitting on the bank of the
           Ganges under a tree. He showed the man, "Look, each moment so much water is flowing down!
           Twenty-four hours have passed -- why are you carrying it, something which is no longer existential?
           Forget all about it.
               "And I cannot forgive you, because in the first place I was not angry with you. If I had been
           angry, I could have forgiven you. If you really need forgiveness, ask Ananda. Fall at his feet -- he
           will enjoy it!"
               BE GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE.

               To those who have helped, to those who have hindered, to those who have been indifferent. Be
           grateful to all, because all together they are creating the context in which buddhas are born, in which
           you can become a buddha.
               THE INSURPASSABLE PROTECTION OF EMPTINESS IS TO SEE THE MANIFESTATIONS OF
               BEWILDERMENT AS THE FOUR KAYAS.

               Atisha talks about the four bodies. These four bodies are significant to be understood. The first is
           called dharmakaya: the body of the ultimate law. And what is the ultimate law? Emptiness is the
           ultimate law: all is empty.
               If you really want to grow, you will have to let this insight soak into you: all is empty. Life is
           empty, death is empty, all phenomena are empty -- because nothing abides, everything passes by, all
           is dream stuff. If this is understood, this will protect you. How can you be insulted if all is empty?
           How can you be miserable if all is empty? How can there be pain if all is empty? You are empty, the
           other is empty, so you must have seen a dream that the other was insulting you, that the other spat on
           you.
               If you really want to protect your understanding, this is the first body to grow around yourself,
           the body of emptiness, the milieu of emptiness. All is empty.
               Buddha used to send his disciples to the funeral pyres to meditate there. The newcomers had to
           be there for three months in the beginning. Where bodies are burned, they would just sit there and
           watch, day in and day out. People would be brought in, burned, and then the friends would leave.
           What kind of life is this? What substance has it got?
               Just the other day, the man was so haughty, so proud, so egoistic, that if you had said anything
           wrong he would have jumped on you. And now where is he? Disappeared in the flames. This is what
           life is. "Sooner or later I am also going to be on the funeral pyre and all will be burned. So why
           bother, why make so much fuss? It is only a few days' dream. And those few days are not much in
           the eternity of time, they are just momentary."
               Let this body of emptiness grow around you; you will be protected by it.
               The second body is nirmankaya: the first arising of compassion. When all is empty, when
           everybody is on the funeral pyre, then compassion arises. It is not to be cultivated, remember; it
           arises out of the first body. If you cultivate it you still believe in the ego. If you cultivate it you still
           believe in character, if you cultivate it you still believe in virtue. And if there is no self, what is
           virtue? If there is no self, what is character? If there is no self, then what is good?
               First settle into nobodiness and then the second body arises of its own accord. Nirmankaya
           means the body of creation. It is strange -- the first body is the body of emptiness, and the second
           body is the body of creation. But this is the insight of all the great buddhas, that if you become a
           nobody, a great creation arises out of you. The whole starts flowing through you; you become a
           vehicle, a passage, a medium, a voice, for the whole.
               And with the second body arising, the first experience will be of great compassion. Of course in
           the beginning it will be partial, conditional, caused by the suffering of others. You see an old man
           dying on the road and compassion arises, you see somebody starving and compassion arises -- it has
           a cause outside. If nobody is dying and nobody is starving, there will be no compassion. In the
           second body, compassion comes and goes; it arises in certain situations and disappears in certain
           other situations.
               Out of the second, the third crystallizes. The third body is called sambhogkaya: the body of bliss.
           In the third body, compassion is unconditional. It does not arise and does not disappear; it remains, it
           abides. It is not a question of whether somebody is suffering or not; in the third body, one simply is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           compassion. In the second body, compassion is a relationship; when there is a need it happens. In the
           third body, compassion becomes your very state of being: need or no need, it is there. It is like a light
           burning in the night; it goes on radiating whether somebody is in the room or not. Whether
           somebody needs light or not, is not the point; the light goes on radiating.
               In the third body, the body of bliss, compassion is a natural phenomenon. Just as you go on
           breathing, even while you are asleep you go on breathing, a buddha is compassionate even while
           asleep. A buddha is simply compassionate. Compassion is not something that arises like a wave and
           disappears. Now compassion is oceanic.
               And the fourth body is called swabhavakaya: the body of the ultimate nature, of spontaneity, of
           your innermost being as it is. In the fourth body, all distinctions disappear, dualities are transcended.
           Good/bad, self/no-self, mind/no-mind, samsara/nirvana, God/devil -- all dualities are transcended.
           One simply is, with no distinctions, with no categories, with no divisions. This is the existential
           body; this is the real thing to be attained.
               Each seeker after truth passes through these four bodies.
              AN EXCELLENT MEANS IS TO HAVE THE FOUR PROVISIONS.

                How to attain these four bodies? There are four provisions. The first is: observe. Observe without
           evaluation, observe everything, don't miss any opportunity to observe -- because it is not a question
           of what you are observing, the question is that observation is growing. Observe everything -- the
           trees, the birds, the animals, the people, the traffic, your own mind and its traffic, your own
           reactions, others' reactions. Use every situation to observe, so that observation becomes deep-rooted
           in you.
                And the second is: analyze, but only after you have observed -- don't mix them. At first,
           observation has to be simple observation, with no analysis, no judgment, no evaluation. When you
           have observed, then analyze, then go into details, then dissect. Then see its parts, how it is made,
           because each experience is very complex. If you really want to understand it you will have to dissect
           it into its parts.
                And then the third is: choose that which brings more and more bliss, silence, serenity and
           calmness to you.
                And the fourth is: discard all that which brings tension, anxiety, anguish and hell to you.
                These are the four provisions. If you follow these four provisions, four bodies will arise in you.
              IN ORDER TO BRING ANY SITUATION TO THE PATH QUICKLY AS SOON AS IT IS MET, JOIN IT
              WITH MEDITATION.

               And remember, each situation has to become an opportunity to meditate. What is meditation?
           Becoming aware of what you are doing, becoming aware of what is happening to you.
               Somebody insults you: become aware. What is happening to you when the insult reaches you?
           Meditate over it; this is changing the whole gestalt. When somebody insults you, you concentrate on
           the person -- "Why is he insulting me? Who does he think he is? How can I take revenge?" If he is
           very powerful you surrender, you start wagging your tail. If he is not very powerful and you see that
           he is weak, you pounce on him. But you forget yourself completely in all this; the other becomes the
           focus. This is missing an opportunity for meditation. When somebody insults you, meditate.
               Gurdjieff has said, "When my father was dying, I was only nine. He called me close to his bed
           and whispered in my ear, 'My son, I am not leaving much to you, not in worldly things, but I have
           one thing to tell you that was told to me by my father on his deathbed. It has helped me
           tremendously; it has been my treasure. You are not very grown up yet, you may not understand what
           I am saying, but keep it, remember it. One day you will be grown up and then you may understand.
           This is a key: it unlocks the doors of great treasures.'"
               Of course Gurdjieff could not understand it at that moment, but it was the thing that changed his
           whole life. And his father said a very simple thing. He said, "Whenever somebody insults you, my
           son, tell him you will meditate over it for twenty-four hours and then you will come and answer
           him."
               Gurdjieff could not believe that this was such a great key. He could not believe that "This is
           something so valuable that I have to remember it." And we can forgive a young child of nine years
           old. But because this was something said by his dying father who had loved him tremendously, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately after saying it he breathed his last, it became imprinted on him; he could not forget it.
           Whenever he remembered his father, he would remember the saying.
                Without truly understanding, he started practicing it. If somebody insulted him he would say,
           "Sir, for twenty-four hours I have to meditate over it -- that's what my father told me. And he is here
           no more, and I cannot disobey a dead old man. He loved me tremendously, and I loved him
           tremendously, and now there is no way to disobey him. You can disobey your father when he is
           alive, but when your father is dead how can you disobey him? So please forgive me, I will come
           after twenty-four hours and answer you."
                And he says, "Meditating on it for twenty-four hours has given me the greatest insights into my
           being. Sometimes I found that the insult was right, that that's how I am. So I would go to the person
           and say, 'Sir, thank you, you were right. It was not an insult, it was simply a statement of fact. You
           called me stupid; I am.'
                "Or sometimes it happened that meditating for twenty-four hours, I would come to know that it
           was an absolute lie. But when something is a lie, why be offended by it? So I would not even go to
           tell him that it was a lie. A lie is a lie, why be bothered by it?"
                But watching, meditating, slowly slowly he became more and more aware of his reactions, rather
           than the actions of others.
           This is what Atisha says:
              IN ORDER TO BRING ANY SITUATION TO THE PATH QUICKLY AS SOON AS IT IS MET, JOIN IT
              WITH MEDITATION.

               Whatsoever happens -- good, bad, success, failure -- immediately become aware of what is
           happening. Don't miss a single moment. Don't lag behind -- be present to it, and you will be
           surprised, errors will start disappearing from your life. And then whatsoever you do will be right.
               People ask me what is right and what is wrong, and my answer is: If something arises out of
           awareness, it is right. If something arises out of unawareness, it is wrong. Right and wrong is not a
           question of what you do, but of how you do it. It is not a question of what, but of how -- meditatively
           or nonmeditatively, alert, awake, or doing things as if you are a sleepwalker.
              THE CONCISE EPITOME OF HEART INSTRUCTION: WORK WITH "FIVE FORCES."

               These are the five forces. The first force is intensity, totality. If you really want to have a
           transformed life, if you really want to become a light unto yourself, if you really want to know the
           ultimate mystery of existence and the ultimate ecstasy of being alive, then the first force is intensity,
           totality. Whatsoever you do, do it intensely, to the optimum. Don't be lousy, don't be lazy, don't be
           partial. Go into it wholeheartedly, let it become a total absorption.
               If you dance, dance so totally that the dancer disappears and only the dance remains, and it will
           be a transformation. If you love, love totally, so totally that there is no lover found. The lover is
           found only if you are holding something back. That which you are holding back becomes the lover.
           If you are holding something back, that which you are holding back becomes the dancer, the singer.
           If you are totally in the dance, in the song, in the love, who is left behind there to say, "I am the
           lover, I am the dancer"? Nothing is left.
           And totality transforms.
               It is only at one hundred degrees intensity that one evaporates from the material into the spiritual,
           from the earth into the sky, from the ordinary into the extraordinary.
               The second force is familiarization: do and be what you really want to do and be. Life is lived
           according to gestalts that you have created around yourself. If you really want to be something else,
           then familiarize yourself with it. If you want to play the guitar, practice. If you want to dance,
           practice. If you want anything to happen in your life, imbibe more and more of it and drop all that is
           against it. And the way to drop it is not to use it, because by using it you create ways for it to come
           into you again and again and again.
               The third force is the force of white seeds. "White seeds" is a metaphor. Atisha means, drop all
           that is black. Don't go on cultivating the black seeds of anger, jealousy, hatred, possessiveness,
           domination. Drop all black seeds. Even if they arise, watch, absorb them in the heart, and they will
           become white seeds. And what are the white seeds? Love, compassion, service, sincerity, sensitivity,
           awareness -- these are the white seeds. If one day you want to have white flowers in your life, you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will have to sow white seeds.
               And the fourth force is reproach -- to completely abjure ego-oriented thoughts. Watch:
           whatsoever arises out of the ego, whatsoever is an ego trip, immediately disconnect yourself from it.
           Even to linger with it for a little while is dangerous, because lingering will give it energy. The
           moment you know it is an ego trip, immediately disconnect yourself.
               And everybody knows when they are going on an ego trip. It is not an art to be learned,
           everybody is born with it. You know it; you can go with it in spite of your knowing -- that is another
           matter -- but you know it. Whenever pride arises, whenever the ego raises its head, you know it. Cut
           that head immediately in a single blow.
               And the fifth force is the force of the dedication of all virtue to the welfare of others. Whatsoever
           good happens to you, immediately share it. This is one of the most fundamental things in Buddhism.
           Don't hoard it, don't be a miser. If love has arisen, share it, shower it. If you cannot find people,
           shower it on the trees, on the rocks, but shower it. Don't hoard it -- because if you hoard it, it turns
           into poison; if you hoard it, it goes sour and bitter. Share it.
               And the more you share, the more will be coming into you from unknown sources. Slowly
           slowly, you will be able to know the ways of inner economics. The outer economics is hoard if you
           want to have things. And the inner economics is just the opposite: hoard, and you will not have it.
           Give, and you will have it; give more, and you will have more of it.
           The sutra:
              THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRANSFERENCE IN THE MAHAYANA ARE THE "FIVE FORCES."
              BEHAVIOR IS IMPORTANT.

              All these five forces can be significant only if you behave, if you act according to them. If you
           simply contemplate over them they are meaningless, they will remain impotent. Actualize them in
           your life.
           And the last sutra:
              THE PURPOSE OF ALL DHARMA IS CONTAINED IN ONE POINT.

               That point is the ego. The ego is false. If you live according to the false ego, your whole life will
           remain false. If you live without the ego your whole life will have the flavor of reality, truth and
           authenticity.
           Think, meditate, practice.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #6
                                        Chapter title: Sannyas is for Lions
           16 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902160
              ShortTitle: WISDOM06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins



              The first question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


    BELOVED OSHO,

              CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO US THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EMPTYING ONESELF AND EFFACING
              ONESELF? AND WHAT IS THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUALITY IN DISSOLUTION?


               Divya, the process of emptying oneself and the process of effacing oneself have nothing in
           common. Not only are they different, they are diametrically opposite.
               Emptying oneself brings individuality, more and more individuality. Emptying oneself means
           emptying oneself of all that is implied in personality.
               Personality is a farce, personality is pseudo, personality is that which is given to you by the
           society. Personality is imposed on you from the outside; it is a mask. Individuality is your very
           being. Individuality is that which you bring into the world, individuality is God's gift.
               Personality is ugly because it is pseudo. And the more personality you have, the less is the
           possibility for individuality to grow. The personality starts occupying the whole of your space. It is
           like a cancerous growth. It goes on growing, it possesses you totally. It leaves no space for
           individuality to have even its own corner. The personality has to be dropped, so that the individuality
           can be.
               Individuality is a non-egoistic phenomenon; it is pure am-ness, it has no 'I' in it. Personality is
           nothing but 'I': it has no am-ness in it. Personality is aggressive, violent, dominating, political.
           Individuality is silent, loving, compassionate; it is religious.
               Emptying oneself means emptying of all content -- just as you empty a room of all the junk that
           has gathered there, down the years. When you have emptied the room of all the furniture and all the
           things, you have not destroyed the room, not at all; you have given it more roominess, more space.
           When all the furniture is gone, the room asserts itself, the room is.
               Effacing oneself means destroying the room itself -- destroying the very space of your being,
           destroying the very uniqueness of your existence, destroying the gift of God. Effacing yourself
           means becoming a slave.
               Individuality gives you mastery; it makes you very authentic, grounded, rooted. It gives you
           substance; you are no longer dream stuff. It gives you solidity, it gives you clarity, transparency,
           vision. It makes you aware of the beauty of existence, it makes you aware of the beauty of all.
           Effacing yourself destroys you, it is suicidal. You are not dropping your personality, you are
           dropping your very uniqueness. You are becoming more and more shadowy, rather than becoming
           more substantial. You are becoming a slave.
               And the ironical thing is that if you efface yourself, the ego will remain. Now it will become a
           very subtle ego, so subtle that it will be almost impossible to detect it. Now it will claim humbleness,
           nobodiness, humility. But the claim will persist. It will say, "Look, I have effaced myself. I am no
           more."
               But when you say, "I am no more" you are -- otherwise who is saying, "I am no more?"
           A so-called saint was once asked, "Are you God?"
               He said, "No" -- but immediately he added, "The sun rises in the morning, but it does not declare
           'I am the sun.'"
               In a vicarious way he is saying, "I am God. But I am like the sun which rises every morning but
           does not declare 'I am God.'"
               I told the man who had related the incident to me, "Go back to that so-called saint, and tell him
           that the sun does not say, 'I am not the sun' either." The sun does not say, "I am the sun" or "I am not
           the sun" -- not because the sun is enlightened, but simply because it cannot speak! If it could speak,
           it would have declared it in a thousand and one ways. In fact it is declaring in a thousand and one
           ways: "I am here!" It is declaring it in the flowers, in the birds; it is declaring all over: "I am here!"
               Once Krishnamurti was asked, "Why do you go on talking?"
               He said, "This is simply my nature, to talk." He said, "I talk in the same way as the flower
           releases its fragrance."
               The flower cannot talk, it has its own language; the fragrance is its language. The sun cannot
           talk, but the light that radiates from it is its way of communicating the fact: "I am here, I have
           arrived."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In Japan there is a saying: "Flowers don't talk." That saying is utterly wrong -- they talk. Of
           course they speak their own language. The Tibetan speaks his language; will you say that he does
           not talk? The Chinese speaks his own language; will you say he does not talk? Just because you
           cannot understand, will you say he is not talking? The Chinese has his own language, so does the
           sun, so do the flowers, so do the animals, the birds, the rocks. In millions of languages the whole
           world asserts itself.
                But the humble person starts saying, "I am not. I am not an ego, I have effaced myself." But who
           is saying these things? The person who has emptied himself will not say such things. He will say, "I
           am, and I am for the first time. But now in my I-am-ness 'I' is only linguistic, a way of saying it.
           Existentially, there is only am-ness."
                And let this be the criterion for whether you are emptying yourself or effacing yourself. If you
           are emptying yourself you will become more and more blissful, because you will become more and
           more spacious. You will become more and more available to God and to God's celebration. You will
           become open to existence and all its joys and all its blessings.
                But if you are effacing yourself you will become more and more sad and heavy, you will become
           more and more dull and dead -- because effacing oneself is nothing but a slow suicide. Beware of it.
           And you have to be aware, very aware, because they both look alike.
                The real danger in spiritual growth is from things which are diametrically opposite but look very
           alike. The real problem does not arise from things which are apparently opposite; the real problem
           arises with things which are not so apparently opposite, and yet they are opposite.
                The real opposite of hate is not love, the real opposite of love is not hate -- it is so apparent, who
           can be deceived by it? The real opposite of love is pseudo-love: love that pretends to be love, and is
           not. One has to be watchful there.
                The real opposite of compassion is not anger. The real opposite of compassion is cultivated
           compassion: compassion that is not within you but is only in your character, compassion that you
           have painted on your circumference.
                The real opposite of your smiles are not tears, but smiles which are painted, smiles which don't
           go any deeper than the lips, which are nothing but exercises of the lips. No heart collaborates with
           them, no feeling stands behind them. There is nobody behind the smile, the smile is just a learned
           trick. Tears are not opposite to smiles, they are only complementaries. But the false smile is the real
           opposite.
                Remember it always, the false is the enemy of the true. If your smile is true and your tears are
           true, they are friends, they will help each other because they both will strengthen the truth of your
           being. If your tears are false and your smiles are false, then too, they are friends; they will strengthen
           your falsity, your personality, your mask.
                The conflict is between the real and the unreal or pretended. Emptying oneself is of tremendous
           value, but effacing yourself is dangerous. Effacing yourself is a subtle way of the ego -- the ego
           coming from the back door.
                And naturally it will make you more and more serious. That's why your so-called saints look so
           serious. Their seriousness has a reason in it. The reason is, they are maintaining humbleness which is
           not really there. And to maintain something which is not really there is arduous, hard. One has to be
           continuously on guard. Just a little slip here and there, and the reality will assert, and it will destroy
           all that you have maintained for so long. It will destroy your respectability.
                Anything that has to be maintained will keep you serious and sad, deep down afraid of being
           caught red-handed, of being caught in your falsity. You will escape from people if you are carrying
           something false in you. You will not allow anybody to be friendly, to be intimate with you, because
           in intimacy the danger is that the other may be able to see something which strangers cannot see.
           You will keep people at a distance; you will run and rush away from people. You will have only
           formal relationships, but you will not really relate, because to really relate means to expose yourself.
                Hence your so-called saints escaped into the monasteries. It was out of fear. If they were in the
           marketplace they would be caught; it would be discovered that they are cheating, that they are
           deceiving, that they are hypocrites. In the monasteries they can maintain their hypocrisy and nobody
           will ever be able to detect it. And moreover, there are other hypocrites there; they can all maintain
           their conspiracy together more easily than each single hypocrite can maintain his alone.
                Monasteries came into existence for escapists. But you can live even in the world in a monastic
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

        way, keeping people always at a distance, never allowing anybody access to your inner being, never
        opening up, never allowing anybody to have a peek into you to see who you are, never looking into
        people's eyes, avoiding people's eyes, looking sideways. And always in a hurry, so that everybody
        knows you are so occupied, you don't have any time to say hello, to hold somebody's hand, to sit
        with somebody informally. You are so busy, you are always on the go.
            You will not even allow intimacy with those who are close to you -- husbands, wives, children --
        with them also you will have a formal relationship, an institutional relationship.
            Hence marriage has become an institution. It is really ugly to see something so tremendously
        beautiful becoming an institution. And if people look so miserable it is natural. If you live in
        institutions you will be miserable.
            Divya, you ask me: "Can you explain to us the difference between emptying oneself and effacing
        oneself?"
            Effacing oneself is the way of the ego, emptying oneself is the way of understanding. In
        emptying yourself you simply understand the ways of the ego -- and in that understanding, the ego
        disappears of its own accord. You don't drop it, you don't have to drop it. You don't fight with it. It is
        not found.
            When you look within with attention, with the light of awareness, you cannot find any ego there.
        So the question does not arise of why or how one should efface oneself. There is nothing to efface!
        That which is, is, and cannot be effaced. And that which is not, is not, and there is no need to efface
        it.
            Emptying oneself simply means seeing oneself. And then many things start dropping, because
        you were unnecessarily carrying them. In the first place, they don't exist. They are ghosts,
        nightmares; they disperse themselves when the light is brought in. Emptying oneself is a meditative
        process. Just looking in, deeply, with no prejudice, with no prefabricated ideology, neither for nor
        against, just looking in, and emptying starts happening.
            And when you have emptied all content -- thoughts, desires, memories, projections, hopes --
        when all is gone, for the first time you find yourself, because you are nothing but that pure space,
        that virgin space within you. Unburdened by anything, that contentless consciousness, that's what
        you are! Seeing it, realizing it, one is free. One is freedom, one is joy, one is bliss.
            But effacing oneself is dangerous. It means you have accepted already that the ego is there and it
        has to be effaced. You have accepted an illusion, and now you want to destroy it. You have missed
        the first point. You have accepted that the rope is a snake, and now you are trying to kill the snake.
        You will be in great trouble. You will never be able to kill the snake, because in the first place there
        is none. You can go on beating the rope, but what about the snake? The snake will remain there.
            The snake exists in your illusion; the snake does not exist outside, otherwise you could have
        killed it. But how can you kill a snake which is not? You are fighting with a shadow, and you are
        bound to be defeated.
            Let this fundamental be remembered always: if you fight with anything false, you will be
        defeated. The false cannot be defeated, because it is false. How can you defeat something which is
        nonexistential? There is no way. The only way is, bring light and see.
Ihi passiko, come and see! In that very seeing, the snake is not found. The rope is there, the snake has disappeared.
Now there is no need to efface yourself, no need to fight.
            There are millions of people who try to become humble, but their whole effort is nonsense, sheer
        stupidity.

               Once a man asked me, "Are you an egoist or a humble person?"
               I said. "Neither. neti neti, neither this nor that. I cannot be either."
               He said, "What are you talking about? One has to be either an egoist or a humble person."
               I said, "You don't understand. You know nothing; you have never gone within yourself. If you
           are humble, you are an egoist standing on his head. Humbleness is an expression of the ego. I am
           neither. I am simply whatsoever I am, neither humble nor egoistic, because I have seen that there is
           no ego. How can there be humbleness then?"

              Humbleness is diluted ego. But if there is no ego, how can you dilute it? If there is no snake, how
           can you take the poisonous teeth of the snake away? That's what humbleness is. The poisonous teeth
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have been removed from the snake; now the snake cannot hurt, now the snake cannot bite, now the
           snake cannot do any harm -- but the snake is there.
               Those teeth were false, because the snake itself is false.
               Buddha is neither egoistic nor humble. Both are impossible for the man of understanding. The
           ignorant person can be egoistic, can be humble -- both are aspects of ignorance. And the ignorant
           person can try to efface the ego, because it is so respectable not to have the ego. One becomes a saint
           by effacing the ego, one attains great prestige and power by effacing the ego. But it is the same
           game; the game has not changed.
               My message to you is, please don't efface yourself. Be yourself, look within yourself, and in that
           very seeing, the ego disappears. Even to say "disappears" is not right: the ego is not found, it has
           never been there. Its existence depended on your not looking within yourself. Seen, it is no longer
           there -- it has never been there.
               And then you are individuality, uniqueness, a unique expression of the divine. And then there is
           great rejoicing. You start blooming, the spring has come. You start dancing, you start singing. Great
           gratitude arises in you that God has made you a unique individual.
               There has never been a person like you before, there is nobody else like you right now in the
           whole world, and there will never be anybody like you. Just see how much respect God has paid to
           you. You are a masterpiece -- unrepeatable, incomparable, utterly unique. Even the hardest heart, the
           rocklike heart, will start melting in gratitude. Tears will start flowing, tears of bliss and joy, tears
           which laugh.
               But please remember, empty yourself, don't efface yourself.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT OF THOSE WHO TAKE SANNYAS IN POONA, ONLY TO DROP IT BACK IN THEIR HOME
              ENVIRONMENT?


                Anand Lionel, they are assholes. And they are assholes not because they drop sannyas but
           because they take it. Their idea is that by taking sannyas here they will gain something, and then
           back home they can drop it.
                But if this idea is there from the very beginning, that "I am going to drop it when I am back
           home," sannyas will not be a blessing to you. It cannot be a blessing to such a cunning mind. You
           will become a sannyasin and yet you will not become a sannyasin.
                I know there are people, at least ten percent of the people.... I know immediately when they come
           to take sannyas -- their eyes say it, their vibe says it, their whole being stinks of cunningness. But I
           respect people, I cannot say no. And then I think what is the harm? Let them play the game of being
           a sannyasin. And who knows? Sometimes a few people are caught too. In the beginning when they
           take sannyas they are just taking it to see what it is all about. But unawares they may be caught in it,
           they may be trapped.
                Being here for three or four months as a sannyasin, they may find it almost impossible to drop it
           back home. But even if they drop it, that is their business. They are just being stupid. They are trying
           to have intimacy with me, because that intimacy can transform you, can give you a new birth. But
           the intimacy is possible only if there is not a wall of cunningness between you and me. And the wall
           is there.
                I give them sannyas, seeing the wall, the Great China Wall, between me and them. I know they
           are not truly getting into it; they are just being clever. They are not clever, just being clever, because
           a really clever person will not deceive himself. And there are things you can be immensely benefited
           by, but only when you don't play games.
                For example, love can be a transforming force in your life. But if you are just playing a role,
           acting, it is not going to enrich you. In fact, on the contrary, it may impoverish you more. If you love
           a woman or a man, without really loving, just pretending, then you are learning something, that love
           is futile. Your whole life may become poisoned. Each time you love, that cunningness will be there;
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it will circulate in your blood, in your being. And you will know from the very beginning that it is all
           a game. You will never become intimate with any person -- and intimacy is a revelation. Sannyas is
           the ultimate intimacy. You cannot be cunning. And if you are, you are deceiving only yourself.
                But why, Anand Lionel, has this question arisen in you? You have taken sannyas only a few days
           ago. This must be lurking somewhere in your unconscious. This is your question, this may be your
           idea; maybe you are not very conscious about it. You may be thinking that you are asking the
           question for others, but others can ask questions for themselves; you need not worry about them.
           Who are you to be worried about them? Don't you have worries of your own? But this question must
           be there, somewhere deep in your unconscious; this must be your strategy. And still, I repeat, you
           may not be conscious of it, but the unconscious has erupted in this question.
                But this is not exceptional. The world is full of assholes -- so if a few assholes manage to come
           here, it is not a surprise. It is natural. I keep a ten percent margin for them; ten percent of people are
           bound to be deceptive. In fact it is a miracle that it is only ten percent.
                People have forgotten the language of commitment, involvement. People don't know the beauties
           of commitment, they don't know the joys of dedication. They don't know what it means to be utterly
           dedicated to something. To be utterly dedicated to something means giving birth to a soul in you. It
           integrates you, it gives you a backbone. Otherwise people who don't have any experience of
           commitment -- in love, in trust -- they live a life without a spine; they are spineless, they are just a
           hotchpotch, lousy. They are not really men; they have not yet arrived at that dignity of being a man.
                To be a man means to be committed, to be involved, to be ready to go to the very extreme of
           some experience. If it appeals to you, if it convinces you, if it converts you, then one has to be ready
           to go wherever it leads you -- to the unknown, to the uncharted. Yes, there are many fears, and there
           are many problems to be faced and many challenges to be accepted, but this is how one grows, this is
           how one matures.
                Millions of people in the world remain immature, childish, for the simple reason that they don't
           know how to commit themselves. They just remain rootless. And whenever a tree is rootless you can
           infer what is going to happen to the tree. Slowly slowly, all juice will disappear from the tree,
           because it is no longer connected to any source of juice. The sap will not flow in it, it will lose its
           greenness, it will not be young and alive any more. It will lose luster, grandeur, brilliance; it will lose
           all luminosity, it will not bloom. Springs will come and go, but it will just remain there, dead, dry.
                That's what has happened to millions of people. They have lost their soil. Through sannyas I am
           trying to give you a soil that can nourish you, so that the sap can start flowing again in your system,
           so that again some juice flows in you, so that you become juicy again, so that again you are young,
           youthful, fresh.
                Man has lost one quality, the quality of zestfulness. And without zest, what is life? Just waiting
           for death? It can't be anything else. Only with zest do you live; otherwise you vegetate.
                Sannyas is not renunciation, it is a way to live life in its totality and intensity. It is the art of
           living life in all its dimensions, it is the way to live life in all its richness. It is not the old idea of
           sannyas. I am not creating monks and nuns -- no, not at all. I am creating alive people, vibrant,
           pulsating, zestful people, young and fresh, ready to go on any adventure in search of truth, in search
           of love, in search of God.
                How can you drop sannyas? That's why I say they are assholes, not because they drop sannyas.
           They are assholes because they take it. They don't understand what they are doing. They are not
           aware of where they are moving. They are not conscious; they are just sleepwalkers, robots,
           zombies. When they see that so many people have become sannyasins, their mob psychology, their
           crowd mind, their sheep mind, immediately gives them the idea, "So I also have to become a
           sannyasin."
                Why? Unless it is a decision that arises in your very innermost core, why be bothered with it?
           Unless you start having a love relationship with me, why be bothered with it? Unless I have touched
           a chord in your heart, unless some music has happened in you through me, why be bothered about it?
                But they are not taking sannyas from me; they are taking sannyas from you, from other
           sannyasins. Seeing so many people in orange, and seeing so many people happy and joyous, they
           become jealous. They become competitive, they start feeling they are missing something. A dream
           arises in them: "I should also know what this sannyas is." Certainly they know that they will not be
           able to follow it the whole way, but they say, they argue, within themselves, "At least while you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           here, why not be a sannyasin and have a taste of it? And then when you go back home just forget all
           about it, so nobody will know about it and you can be part of your old routine again."
                This is how the mob mind functions. And sannyas is not for the mob mind, it is not for the
           sheepish mind. It is for lions.
                And I am really surprised, Anand Lionel.... It seems I have given you the wrong name. A lion,
           asking such a question? The question arises out of a very cowardly mind. The question arises out of
           a very cunning mind. And still, I repeat, you may not be aware of it -- but that is more dangerous. If
           you are aware, something can be done.
                That's why I am answering it, to make you aware of it. This is one of the transforming processes
           of life: if you become aware of something, you can get rid of it very easily. If you are not aware of it,
           there is no question of getting rid of it.
                So sometimes I even have to be hard with you, sometimes I have to be really cruel with you --
           because to wrench truths from the unconscious is not an easy affair. It is surgical, it hurts. And the
           surgery that I do, I do without any anaesthesia, because the unconscious has to be made conscious.
           So while I am talking to you and bringing some unconscious truth towards your consciousness, you
           cannot be put to sleep. If you are asleep, the unconscious will never become conscious.
                So this psychological surgery has to be without any anaesthesia. The pain has to be accepted.
           And those who understand, they will welcome it. Not only will they welcome it, they will feel
           thankful, grateful, that I have brought something that was lurking deep down in the darkness into the
           conscious part of their mind. Now it can be dropped.
                This is a miracle of consciousness. Anything that becomes conscious can be dropped very easily.
           This is the whole secret of psychoanalysis and all the other psychotherapies that have evolved out of
           psychoanalysis: to bring things from the unconscious to the conscious. That's the whole function of
           the psychoanalyst. Once they are conscious, you yourself are capable of dropping them -- because
           who wants to carry ugly things when one knows they are there? But ugly things can be carried for
           lives together if you are not aware.
                And remember, the conscious itself wants to get rid of many things, but you don't allow it to have
           its say with you. Hence it has to find indirect ways. For example, in a dream it may communicate
           something to you, but by the morning you tend to forget it.
                There are very few people who remember their dreams. Why? It is such a colorful experience,
           and the whole night you have been dreaming. Out of eight hours, for at least six hours you have been
           dreaming. And I am talking about normal people, who don't exist. What to say about the abnormal?
           They can manage to dream sixteen hours in eight hours! They can dream many dreams together, one
           dream overlapping another dream, dream into dream into dream. They can have such dreams... for
           example you can dream that you are going to a movie, and in the movie you see yourself on the
           screen as a person who is going to sleep, falls asleep and starts dreaming that he is going to a movie!
           This can go on and on and on, dreams within dreams within dreams.
                I am not talking about abnormal people; even normal people, very normal people, dream six
           hours per night. In fact that is the greatest activity that you do. You don't do anything else for six
           hours every day. Six hours continuously dreaming! And in the morning all is forgotten; or only for a
           few seconds early on, for four or five seconds you remember a few things, a few fragments. And
           then soon, by the time you have taken your tea in bed, they have disappeared.
                The unconscious tries hard, for six hours every night, to relate to you what you are doing with
           your life. But you don't listen. It tries in other ways too.
                For example, this question is an effort of the unconscious to relate to you something that is there
           as a seed. The unconscious always wants to communicate with the conscious. Why? Because the
           unconscious is so burdened, so heavy, it wants to unburden itself. And how can it unburden? There
           is only one way: to relate to the conscious.
                Hence Freud developed the technique of free association. He had to invent the couch, because if
           the patient is sitting it is difficult to connect with the unconscious. Our habitual way of connecting
           with the unconscious is by lying down on the bed; that has become a permanent habit, you have to be
           horizontal. The Freudian couch is significant; it helps your unconscious to relate to the conscious.
                And Freud used to disappear behind the couch, behind a curtain -- because if somebody is
           present, the unconscious may remain shy, embarrassed, and the conscious may distort, may censor.
           So he used to hide behind a screen. The patient would be lying down on the couch relaxing, and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Freud would say, "Just start saying whatsoever comes to your mind. Don't edit it, don't correct it,
           don't try to make it look beautiful, sophisticated, logical, significant. Just let it be as it is, raw.
           Simply let it come out as it is."
                The first few sessions are not significant. But slowly slowly the patient relaxes, starts free
           associating, and the unconscious unburdens itself.
                Psychoanalysis does nothing else, it simply helps you to unburden the unconscious. It makes
           things conscious which have remained unconscious for long. And just in that very process things
           start changing. One or two years of psychoanalysis, and the person has changed enormously; he is
           totally a different person, more at ease, more at home. What has happened? Because the
           psychoanalyst has not done anything; no medicine has been given, no psychiatric treatment has been
           given.
                In fact the real psychoanalyst does not even comment, because commentary may become a
           disturbance. He simply listens; he is just ears and ears and nothing else. He is a passive silent
           listener, so you can unburden yourself totally, without any interference.
                The unconscious has its own language. It talks in metaphors, it talks in pictures. Its language is
           not conceptual, its language is pictorial. But its language is totally different from the language that
           you know.
                Now, this is a way of the unconscious. Lionel is asking as if it is somebody else's question -- it is
           not.

               I have heard: A friend came to see a black couple. The father was very proud of his only child, a
           baby girl of eighteen months. He was bragging about the baby so much that the friend became
           interested and wanted to see the baby. So the baby was called and the father started talking about her
           intelligence, genius, and this and that. And then the baby said, "Mother...." The father beamed and
           said to the friend, "See, she has already spoken half a word!"

           Get it?...
               ... NOW you got it -- it takes a little time! Now, the baby is simply saying "Mother" but the
           father has his own ideas, he is interpreting in his own way.
               Drop interpretations. At least with me, be utterly nude. Why can't you ask the question: "Osho, if
           I go back and drop sannyas, then...?" It would have been so beautiful, so sincere. But you have
           changed it.
               You say: "What of those who take sannyas in Poona, only to drop it back in their home
           environment?"
               They have never taken sannyas. Once you take sannyas, it cannot be dropped. It is not something
           that can be dropped. It is a milieu, an experience that goes so deep into you that it becomes your very
           heart. It permeates you.
               Sannyas is not just the orange clothes and the mala; that is just symbolic. Sannyas is something
           totally different, far more deep-going. It is not in the clothes. Once you have taken sannyas it is
           impossible to drop it -- but the real crux is whether you have taken it. If you can drop it, that will
           simply show that you had never taken it in the first place. And if you have not taken it, you will not
           be benefited by it. Then naturally the mind will say, "What is the point? For three months you have
           been a sannyasin, and nothing has happened. Why not drop it?"
               And nothing has happened because from the very beginning you were not in it. You were not a
           participant; you were being tricky, you were being diplomatic.
               Please don't be diplomatic here. This is an intimate relationship; please don't bring any
           cleverness between me and you. With me, be simple, innocent, and then miracles are possible. You
           are entitled to miracles. But unless you allow them they cannot happen. They can happen only with
           your cooperation.

           The third question:

           OSHO,

              WHY DO NON-SANNYASINS HAVE TO SIT BEHIND THE GREEN LINE? IT HAS BEEN VERY
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DIFFICULT FOR ME TO SEE YOU, AND THIS TO SOMEONE WHO IS ONLY JUST LEARNING
              ABOUT YOU IS NOT HELPFUL IN FEELING YOU. ACTUALLY I FEEL A LITTLE BIT LIKE A
              SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN.


                Elaine Santoz, the truth is you are a second-class citizen. I cannot help it, I cannot lie to you.
           Sannyasins are in a totally different relationship with me; they are privileged in every possible way.
           Non-sannyasins should feel grateful that at least they are allowed in, up to the green line.
                If you want to become a first-class citizen, become a sannyasin. You cannot become a first-class
           citizen without paying for it. In life you can't get anything unless you pay for it. Even if you can get
           something without paying, it will not have any value for you. The value arises only when you pay for
           it -- the more you pay, the more valuable it becomes. To come close to me, you will have to do
           something.
                And this arrangement -- sannyasins sitting close to me and non-sannyasins sitting a little further
           away -- has something else in it too. If non-sannyasins are in front of me, I cannot talk the way I am
           talking, because my talk is not something readymade, it is a response. If I see my people silently
           sitting, attentive, drinking in every single word, focused, meditative, I can say far higher things; far
           more complicated things can be explained to them.
                But if non-sannyasins are sitting in front of me, I always have to begin from abc. Then the plane
           can never take off; then the plane has to function like a bus. You can use a plane like a bus. It can
           take off only when it gains speed; a certain situation is needed for it to gain speed.
                I used to talk to millions of people in this country; then I had to stop. I was talking to thousands
           -- in a single meeting, fifty thousand people. I traveled around this country for fifteen years, from
           one corner to another corner. I simply became tired of the whole thing, because each day I would
           have to start from abc. It was always abc, abc, abc, and it became absolutely clear that I would never
           be able to reach xyz. I had to stop traveling.
                Now I don't go even outside the gate of this ashram, because there I again meet people who live
           in the abc. I am no longer interested in them. If they are interested, then they will have to come, and
           they will have to pass through barriers, and slowly slowly they will have to become participants.
           They will have to become sannyasins.
                I am not talking to students but only to disciples. Students are still allowed, but it will not be very
           long before they are stopped completely. So before it is too late, Santoz, cross the green line!
           Because I would like to talk only to my people, so that I can relate whatsoever I want to relate; so
           that I can depend and trust that whatsoever is said will be taken in good faith, in love; so that I know
           from the very beginning that everything can be revealed to them and nothing will be misunderstood.
                Just the other day, I was reading a report in the INDIAN EXPRESS. Their journalist had come
           here for just two or three days. He writes in his report that thousands of people were sitting so
           silently that you could hear the birds chirping in the trees. They were so silent, it was as if there was
           nobody there.
                And what is his conclusion? He thought it was all managed, that it was a performance. He
           thought it was a performance to impress the poor journalist from the INDIAN EXPRESS! He could
           not believe it, because he knows Indians, and he knows Indian meetings.
                I also know them. Once I was talking on Krishna in a meeting, and people were sitting with their
           backs towards me, talking with each other, gossiping -- their backs towards me! That was the last
           day, the last straw on the camel. In the middle I left. The president of the meeting said, "Where are
           you going?" I said, "I am going forever! I am finished with these stupid people. I am talking about
           Krishna, they have invited me to talk to them, and nobody seems to listen."
                That Indian journalist must have seen many many such meetings. So, seeing three thousand
           people sitting silently here, nobody stirring, nobody talking with each other, it was natural to
           conclude that it was just to impress him.
                When I was leaving that day, I saw two persons sitting here who looked absolutely out of place.
           And when I bowed down to you, they did not respond. Now, if many such people are here around
           me, nonresponsive, I will not be able to pour out my heart; it will be impossible.
                Hence, Elaine Santoz, that green line. If you want to cross it, the doors are not closed. But don't
           ask for anything without being really ready to pay for it. And as many, many more sannyasins will
           be coming, only those who are really dedicated and committed, only they will be able to sit close.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And I understand your problem. To sit close, to be near to me, has its own blessing. The contact
           goes deeper, the vibe permeates you more totally, because it is not only a matter of the questions that
           I am answering or the words that I am using. Basically it is my presence; you have to drink it and
           you have to digest it.
               But I am sorry, I cannot do anything about it. Non-sannyasins are bound to remain second-class
           citizens here.

           The last question:


              OSHO, ANOTHER DISCOURSE, ANOTHER SILLY QUESTION. WHY DO YOU REFER TO YOUR
              SANNYASINS AS "THE CHOSEN FEW" WHEN ANY LOST SOUL WHO CAN MAKE IT TO POONA
              WITH A WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE IN SOME TRENDY GESTALT-ORIENTED THERAPY
              GROUPS AND DO SOME MEDITATING, CAN APPARENTLY TAKE SANNYAS? WHO EVER GETS
              REFUSED SANNYAS AND ON WHAT GROUNDS? P.S.: BOB DYLAN SAYS, "I NEVER GOT INTO
              ANY OF THEM GURU TRIPS. I NEVER FELT THAT LOST!"


               Dick Blackburn, nobody is ever refused, no Tom, Harry or Dick. That does not mean that all are
           accepted. Nobody is ever refused, that's true, but that does not mean that all are accepted. Only those
           are accepted who surrender. Only those are accepted who are utterly committed, who have fallen in
           love with me, who can trust, and whose trust is unconditional and absolute. They are accepted.
               Sannyas is not denied to anybody, because sannyas is an opportunity. A few people surrender
           even before taking sannyas, a few surrender after taking sannyas, a few surrender after being
           sannyasins for months or for years. Hence sannyas is not denied; it creates a space, a context, for
           surrender.
               But as to who is really received, who is really accepted, it is a totally different matter. It is not
           declared; it remains esoteric. Only I know. And, slowly slowly, the person who is accepted starts
           knowing it -- but very slowly. Sometimes it takes years for the person to understand that he has been
           accepted. It is never said; not even to the person is it said that he has been accepted. It has to be
           understood; that is the beauty of it. Only then is it significant.
               But it starts happening. If I accept a person, slowly slowly his energy starts giving messages to
           him that he has been accepted. One day it becomes such an absolute certainty, so self-evident, that
           there is no need for any other declaration, validation, or any certificate.
               Sannyas I give to all. But only those are accepted who REALLY take sannyas. That's why I say
           sannyasins are the chosen few. It is out of my compassion that I don't reject anybody. The most
           unworthy is also to be respected, loved, received, welcomed. And who knows? The unworthy may
           change. Man is unpredictable; the baser metal can any day become gold.
               And about the P.S.: "Bob Dylan says, 'I never got into any of them guru trips. I never felt that
           lost!'"
               To find a master is not for those who feel that they are lost. It is for those who start feeling that
           there is a way and that there is a ray, that they are not lost; that they can find somebody who will
           help them, who will make things more clear and transparent.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                     Chapter #7
                                         Chapter title: Learning the Knack
           17 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902170
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: WISDOM07
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video: Yes
                Length: 97 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              MY MIND HAS DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING THE EXISTENCE OF BEGINNINGLESSNESS.
              WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK ABOUT IT?


                Prem Viraj, reality is indefinable. Reality simply is; there is no way to say what it is. It is not a
           "what," it is not even a "that," it is this. It is this-ness: you can experience it, but it cannot be
           explained.
                And reality is beginningless and endless. The mind has a beginning and an end, hence the mind
           and reality cannot meet. The mind cannot comprehend the eternal. The mind exists in time, in fact
           the mind is time; it exists in the past and the future. And remember, time consists of only two tenses,
           the past and the future. The present is not part of time, the present is part of eternity.
                Hence the mind is never found in the present. It is always wavering, either towards the past or
           towards the future. It moves into that which is not, or into that which is not yet. Its whole skill
           consists in dreaming. It is rooted in the nonexistential, hence it cannot understand existence itself. It
           is like darkness. How can darkness comprehend light? How can death comprehend life? If death can
           comprehend life then death will have to be life. If darkness has to comprehend light then darkness
           will have to be light.
                And so is the case with the mind. If the mind wants to comprehend reality, it will have to come
           out of the past and the future. But coming out of the past and the future, it is no longer the mind at
           all. Hence the insistence of all the great masters of the world that the door to reality is no-mind.
                Slip out of the mind, and you will know what it is: the beginningless, the endless. Remain
           confined to the mind, and you will be puzzled; reality remains inconceivable.
                I cannot explain it to you, because in explaining I will have to use the mind. Trying to understand
           it, you will have to use the mind. I can be silent with you, and if you can also be silent with me then
           there is understanding. Understanding is not of the mind. Then there is great intelligence, great
           insight. Suddenly you know, and you know from a totally different center of your being; you know
           from the heart. Your knowing has the quality of love, not of knowledge. Your knowing has the
           quality of transcendence. It is no longer scientific knowledge, reducible to concepts. It is poetic
           vision, it is mystic experience.
                Viraj, if you really want to understand, you will have to lose the mind. You will have to pay the
           price of losing the mind. But if you insist, "I have to understand through the mind," then only one
           thing is possible. The mind will convince you, slowly slowly, that there is nothing which is
           beginningless, nothing which is endless, nothing which is indefinable, nothing which is unknowable.
                The mind will reduce your experience to the measurable, the fathomable, the knowable -- and the
           knowable is ordinary, mundane. The unknowable is sacred. And only with the unknowable does life
           become a benediction, only with the unknowable are you thrilled with the wonder of life and
           existence. Suddenly a song is born in your heart -- a song that cannot be contained, a song that starts
           overflowing, a song that starts reaching others. A dance is born in you -- a dance that has to be
           shared, a dance about which you cannot be miserly, a dance that makes you generous. A love is born
           in you -- a love that is so infinite that it can fill the whole infinite existence. That is real
           understanding. But it happens only when the mind is dropped.
                Don't try to do the impossible. Trying to understand reality through the mind is like pulling
           yourself up by your own shoestrings. Maybe you can hop a little bit, but that hopping is not going to
           help; you will be back on the ground again and again, and it will be very tiring. Just by pulling your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           own shoestrings you cannot fly into the sky; that is not going to give you wings.
                Slowly slowly, learn the art of contacting reality without the mind interfering. Sometimes when
           the sun is setting, just sit there looking at the sun, not thinking about it -- watching, not evaluating,
           not even saying, "How beautiful it is!" The moment you say something, the mind has come in.
                The mind consists of language. Don't use language. Can't you just see the sunset and its beauty?
           Can't you be overwhelmed by its beauty? Can't you be possessed by its grandeur? What is the point
           of bringing language in? Nobody is asking you to say anything. The sun does not understand your
           language, the clouds that have become so beautiful and luminous in the setting sun are unable to
           understand your language. Why bring it in? Put it aside; be in direct contact, be thrilled. If tears
           come to your eyes, good. If you start dancing, good. Or if you simply remain unmoving, stoned on
           the beauty of the sun, intoxicated, you will have gained a little experience -- a little experience that
           goes very far, a little glimpse of no-mind.
                And there are a thousand and one situations every day. Holding the hand of your woman or your
           man, there is no need to talk. People are continuously talking -- yakkety-yakkety-yakkety. And the
           reason why they are talking is that they are afraid to be silent, they are afraid to see the truth, they
           are afraid to see their utter emptiness, they are afraid to expose themselves, they are afraid to look
           deep into the other. Continuous talking keeps them on the surface, occupied, engaged.
                Holding the hand of your woman or man, why not sit silently? Why not close your eyes and feel?
           Feel the presence of the other, enter into the presence of the other, let the other's presence enter into
           you; vibrate together, sway together; if suddenly a great energy possesses you, dance together -- and
           you will reach to such orgasmic peaks of joy as you have never known before. Those orgasmic peaks
           have nothing to do with sex, in fact they have much to do with silence.
                And if you can also manage to become meditative in your sex life, if you can be silent while
           making love, in a kind of dance, you will be surprised. You have a built-in process to take you to the
           farthest shore.
                People make love in such an ugly way that if children sometimes see their parents making love,
           they think they are wrestling, fighting -- that Daddy is going to kill Mum! Groaning, breathing in an
           ugly way, violent, their movements have no elegance. It is not a dance; certainly it is not a dance.
                And unless it becomes a dance it will remain very very physiological; it won't have any
           spirituality in it. But it is impossible. Unless your whole life is saturated with those moments that
           come when the mind ceases, your love life cannot move into silence.
                The night is full of stars. Lie down on the earth, disappear into the earth. We come from the
           earth, one day we will be going back to the earth to rest forever. At night sometimes, lying on the
           lawn, disappear into the earth. Look at the stars -- just look, a pure look. Don't start thinking about
           the names of the stars, the names of the constellations. Forget all that you know about stars, put aside
           all your knowledge, just see the stars. And suddenly there will be a communion; the stars will start
           pouring their light into you, and you will feel an expanding of consciousness. No drug can do it.
                Drugs are very artificial, arbitrary and harmful methods to know something which is naturally
           available, which is easily available, beneficially available. Just watching the stars, you will start
           feeling high, you will start soaring high.
                Make as much as you can of all the opportunities that life and existence allow you. Never miss a
           single opportunity when you can drop the mind, and slowly slowly you will know the knack of it. It
           is a knack -- it is certainly not a science, because it has no fixed methods.
                Somebody may be thrilled by the stars, somebody may not be. Somebody may be thrilled by the
           flowers, somebody else may not be affected at all. People are so different that there is no way of
           determining it in a scientific way; it is not a science. It is not even an art, because an art can be
           taught.
                So I insist on the word knack. It is a knack. You have to learn it by doing a few experiments with
           yourself. And once you have the knack... and everybody can have it, because every child is born
           with it. Every child brings wondering eyes into existence. Soon we force dust into his eyes; we cover
           his pure mirror with dust. Sooner or later, he becomes knowledgeable -- and the sooner he does, the
           more happy we are. Our happiness is really in poisoning the child.
                If the child sees that the parents are very happy because he has become knowledgeable, he starts
           gathering more and more knowledge. He starts forgetting the knack that he had brought with him
           into this life, that was inborn. By the time he comes out of the university he has completely forgotten
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one of the most beautiful things that was given to him by God: the capacity to wonder, the capacity
           to see without thinking, the capacity to contact reality without the mind continuously interfering,
           distorting.
           You will have to regain it.
               The sage is the person who regains his childhood; hence he is called "the twice born." Jesus says,
           "Unless ye are born again, you will not be able to enter into my kingdom of God." And the kingdom
           of God is here, but you have to be reborn -- reborn as a no-mind.
               And I am not saying that when you are reborn as a no-mind you cannot use the mind. The mind
           has its limited uses. Use it. When you are working in your office, I am not telling you to be a
           no-mind. When you are working in your shop or in the factory, I am not saying to be a no-mind. I am
           saying be perfectly a mind. Use the mind but don't carry it continuously, twenty-four hours, day in
           and day out, with yourself. Don't go on dragging it. Use it as you use a chair. You don't go on
           carrying your chair everywhere, wherever you go, just because you may need it.
               The mind is a beautiful instrument if you know how to be a no-mind too.
               Viraj, the mind is impotent, incapable of knowing the beginningless and the endless. The mind
           exists between birth and death; it knows nothing beyond birth and beyond death.
               You were here before you were born, and you will be here after you are dead. The mind has a
           very limited existence, very momentary -- one day it comes, another day it is gone. You are forever.
           Have some experience of your forever-ness.
               But that is possible only through no-mind. No-mind is another name for meditation.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO, YES!


               Sarjano, this simple word "yes" contains all the religions of the world. It contains trust, it
           contains love, it contains surrender. It contains all the prayers that have ever been done, are being
           done, and will ever be done. If you can say yes with the totality of your heart, you have said all that
           can be said. To say yes to existence is to be religious, to say no is to be irreligious.
               That's my definition of the atheist and the theist. The atheist is not one who denies God, and the
           theist is not one who believes in God -- not necessarily so, because we have seen great theists who
           never believed in any God. We have known Buddha, Mahavira, Adinatha: we have known
           tremendously enlightened people who never talked about God. But they also talked about yes; they
           had to talk about yes.
               God can be dropped as an unnecessary hypothesis, but yes cannot be dropped. Yes is the very
           spirit of God. And yes can exist without God, but God cannot exist without yes. God is only the
           body, yes is the soul.
               There are people who believe in God and yet I will call them atheists, because their belief has no
           yes behind it. Their belief is bogus, their belief is formal; their belief is given by others, it is
           borrowed. Their parents, priests and teachers have taught them that God is; they have made them so
           much afraid that they cannot even question the existence of God. And they have given them
           promises of great things if they believe in God. There will be great rewards in heaven if you believe,
           and great punishments in hell if you don't believe.
               Fear and greed have been exploited. The priest has behaved with you almost like the
           psychologist behaves with the rats upon which he goes on experimenting. The rats in psychological
           experiments are controlled by punishment and reward. Reward them, and they start learning the
           thing for which they are rewarded; punish them, and they start unlearning the thing for which they
           are punished.
               The priests have behaved with men as if men are rats. Psychologists are not the first to
           dehumanize humanity; priests were the pioneers. First the priests behaved with men as if they were
           rats, now the psychologists are behaving with rats as if they are men. But the process is the same, the
           technique exactly the same.
               There are people who are theists -- believers in God, churchgoers, worshippers -- and yet in their
           hearts there is no yes; in their hearts there is doubt. On the surface they behave religiously, deep
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down they are suspicious. And it is the depth that determines you. It is not what you do that is
           decisive, it is what you feel at the deepest core of your being that determines you, that creates you.
           And there are atheists who go on saying there is no God, but they are not in any way different from
           the believers. Their disbelief has as much doubt in it as the belief of the believers.
                In Soviet Russia, in China, and in other red countries, disbelief is the belief; not to believe is to
           be a conformist, to believe is to be a revolutionary. The state goes on teaching that there is no God. If
           people are taught continuously, conditioned continuously, they become whatsoever they are
           conditioned for. It is a kind of mass hypnosis.
                Theists, atheists, both are victims. The really religious person has nothing to do with The Bible
           or the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita. The really religious person has a deep communion with
           existence. He can say yes to a roseflower, he can say yes to the stars, he can say yes to people, he
           can say yes to his own being, to his own desires. He can say yes to whatsoever life brings to him; he
           is a yea-sayer.
                And in this yea-saying is contained the essential prayer.
                The last words of Jesus on earth were: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Amen."
                Do you know this word amen, what it means? It simply means "Yes, Lord, yes. Let thy will be
           done. Don't listen to what I say, I am ignorant. Don't listen to what I desire; my desires are stupid --
           bound to be so. Go on doing whatsoever you feel right -- go on doing it in spite of me." That is the
           meaning of the word amen.
                Mohammedans also end their prayer with amin -- it is the same word.
                Sarjano, your question is tremendously significant. First, it is not a question, hence it is
           significant. It is a declaration, it is a dedication, it is surrender, it is trust.
           You say: "Beloved Osho, YES!"
                This is the beginning of real sannyas. If you can say yes with totality, with no strings attached to
           it, with no conditions, with no desire for any reward, if you can simply enjoy saying yes, if it is your
           dance, your song, then it is prayer. And all prayers reach God -- whether God is mentioned or not,
           whether you believe in God or not. All prayers reach God. To reach him, a prayer has only to be an
           authentic prayer.
                But I would like to tell you that your yes should not only be a prayer. It should become your very
           lifestyle, it should become your flavor, your fragrance. Down the ages, religions have been teaching
           people life-negation, life-condemnation. Down the ages, religions have been telling you that you are
           sinners, that your bodies are the houses of sin, that you have to destroy your life in order to praise the
           Lord, that you have to renounce the world to be able to be accepted by the Lord. This is all holy cow
           dung, utter nonsense.
                Life-affirmation, not life-negation, is religion -- because God is life, and there is no other God.
           God is the green of the trees and the red of the trees and the gold of the trees. God is all over the
           place. Only God is. To deny life means to deny God, to condemn life means to condemn God, to
           renounce life means you are thinking yourself wiser than God.
                God has given you this life, this tremendously valuable gift, and you cannot even appreciate it.
           You cannot welcome it, you cannot feel any gratitude for it. On the contrary, you are complaining
           and complaining and complaining. Your heart is full of grudges, not gratitude.
                But this is what you have been taught by the priests down the ages. Priests have lived on it; this
           has been their basic strategy to exploit people.
                If life is lived in its totality, the priest is not needed at all. If you are already okay as you are, if
           life is beautiful as it is, what is the need for a priest? What is the need of a mediator between you and
           God? You are directly in contact with God: you are living in God, breathing in God, God is pulsating
           in you. The priest will be utterly useless, and so will be all his mumbo jumbo, his religion and
           scriptures. He can be significant only if he can create a rift between you and God. First the rift has to
           be created, then he can come and can tell you, "Now I am here, I can bridge the rift." But first the rift
           has to be there, only then can it be bridged.
                And of course, you have to pay for it. When the priest does such great work bridging the rift, you
           have to pay for it. And in fact deep down, he is not interested in bridging it. He will only pretend that
           he is bridging it; the rift will remain. In fact he will make it more and more unbridgeable; the more
           unbridgeable it is, the more important he is. His importance consists in denying life, destroying life,
           making you renounce it.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I teach you a tremendous total yes to life. I teach you not renunciation but rejoicing. Rejoice!
           Rejoice! Again and again, I say rejoice! -- because in your rejoicing you will come closest to God.
                When the dancer disappears in his dance, he is divine. When the singer disappears in his song, he
           is divine. Rejoice so deeply, so totally, that you disappear in your rejoicing: there is rejoicing, but
           there is nobody who is rejoicing. When it comes to such an optimum, there is a transformation, a
           revolution. You are no more the old dark ugly self. You are showered with blessings. For the first
           time you come to know your grandeur, the splendor of your being. Say yes to life, say a total yes to
           life. That's what sannyas is all about. I don't give you concepts, dogmas, creeds. I only give you a
           certain life-affirmative lifestyle, a philosophy of life reverence.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

               YOU TOLD US THAT TRUTH CAN'T BE TRANSMITTED OR TRANSFERRED, IT CAN BE
               ATTAINED ONLY BY EXPERIENCE. MANY YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS CONVERTED TO
               CATHOLICISM AND WHEN I TOOK THE "HOLY COMMUNION," I HAD GENUINE, PURE
               FEELINGS OF LOVE FOR JESUS AND FELT I HAD ATTAINED THE "TRUTH."
               AS I SEE IT TODAY, I SIMPLY FELL VICTIM TO A VICIOUS FALLACY INDUCED BY THE PRIESTS
               THROUGH A KIND OF SELF-HYPNOSIS, AND HAD ADORED AND WORSHIPPED NOTHING
               MORE THAN A PIECE OF BREAD. I HAD TO FACE THE FACT THAT I HAD ATTAINED, BY
               EXPERIENCE, THE WRONG TRUTH.
               HOW TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THESE CASES OF UNCONSCIOUS SELF-DELUSION AND
               THE "REAL THING"? HOW TO AVOID DECEPTION?


                Farid, truth cannot be transferred, truth cannot be handed over to you by somebody else, because
           it is not a commodity. It is not a thing, it is an experience. In fact, the word experience is not exactly
           the right word. It will be truer to say that it is an experiencing; this is the first thing to be understood.
                I have to use language which is already there, created by the centuries, with all kinds of fallacies
           in it -- obviously. Language is created for day-to-day use, language is created for the mundane
           world; as far as it goes, it is good. It is perfectly adequate for the marketplace, but as you start
           moving into deeper waters it becomes more and more inadequate -- not only inadequate, it starts
           becoming utterly wrong.
                For example, think of these two words, experience and experiencing. When you use the word
           experience it gives you a sense of completion, as if something has come to a completion, as if the
           full stop has arrived. In life there are no full stops. Life knows nothing of full stops; it is an ongoing
           process, an eternal river. The goal never arrives; it is always arriving, but it never arrives. Hence the
           word experience is not right. It gives a false notion of completion, perfection; it makes you feel as if
           now you have arrived. ExperiencING is far more true.
                In reference to true life all nouns are wrong, only verbs are true. When you say, "This is a tree,"
           you are making a wrong statement existentially. Not linguistically, not grammatically, but
           existentially you are making a wrong statement, because the tree is not a static thing, it is growing. It
           is never in a state of is-ness, it is always becoming. In fact to call it a tree is not right: it is tree-ing. A
           river is rivering.
                If you look deeply into life, nouns start disappearing, and there are only verbs. But that will
           create trouble in the marketplace. You cannot say to people, "I went to the rivering," or, "This
           morning I saw a beautiful treeing." They will think you have gone mad. Nothing is static in life,
           nothing is at rest.
                A great scientist, Eddington, is reported to have said that the word rest has no corresponding
           reality to it, because nothing is ever at rest, everything is moving. It is all movement.
                So let me say that truth is an experience in the sense of experiencing. You can never declare, you
           can never claim "I have it." You can only be humble about it -- "It is happening" -- and then you will
           not be deceived. The deception comes because you start claiming "I have it." Then the ego arises
           saying, "I have the truth. Only I have the truth, nobody else does. I have arrived." And the ego raises
           its head.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Truth is an experiencing. You cannot claim it, it is very mercurial. If you want to grab it, it will
           disappear from your fist. You can have it only with an open hand, not with a fist. When you make a
           noun out of it, you are trying to grab it in a fist; it will disappear. Let it remain a verb. Don't say, "I
           have arrived." Simply say, "The pilgrimage has started. I am a pilgrim, I am moving."
                If the ego does not arise, nobody can deceive you. That is the second thing to be remembered. It
           is always the ego that deceives and is deceived. If you don't have any ego, there is no possibility of
           you ever being deceived. But if you have the ego, then others will deceive you. What to say of
           others? -- you will deceive yourself.
                The ego is the fundamental deception; don't help it to grow in you, don't nourish it. And the
           greatest thing that nourishes it is experiences, particularly spiritual experiences. You have seen
           Christ, you have seen Buddha; you have seen kundalini rising in your spine, the serpent uncoiling;
           you have seen great light, you have seen a lotus flowering inside your head, you have seen the heart
           chakra opening, and all that crap -- beautiful sounding words, but only fools are deceived by them.
                If fools disappear from the world, all esotericism will disappear. There will be great poetry, but
           no esotericism in it. There will be immense mystery, but no esotericism in it.
                The third thing is that whenever you have some experience -- spiritual or otherwise, wise or
           otherwise -- whenever you have some experience, remember, you are not it. It is a content in
           consciousness -- and all contents have to be dropped. Only then does the mind disappear. The mind
           is nothing but all the contents together; the accumulation of contents is the mind.
                Just look, watch. What is your mind? What is meant by the word mind? What exactly does it
           consist of? All your experiences, knowledge, the past, accumulated -- that is your mind. You may
           have a materialist's mind, you may have a spiritualist's mind, it doesn't matter a bit; the mind is the
           mind. The spiritual mind is as much a mind as the materialist mind. And we have to go beyond the
           mind.
                Don't trust in the content -- watch it, and let it pass. And yes, sometimes the content is so
           tremendously enchanting, so hypnotizing, that one would like to cling to it. When spiritual, so-called
           spiritual, experiences start happening, it is really very tempting -- more tempting than anything in the
           world. When you see great light inside, it is so tempting to cling to it, to claim, "I have arrived" -- or
           at least to believe deep inside yourself, "I have arrived. While everybody else is groping in darkness,
           light has happened to me."
                This is just a new kind of darkness, because you are again being caught, trapped, by the content.
           These two things have to be remembered: the content and the consciousness. The consciousness
           never becomes content, and the content never becomes consciousness. The consciousness is a pure
           mirror, it only reflects.
                Now, what does it matter to the mirror whether a beautiful woman is standing before it, or an
           ugly woman? Do you think it matters? Do you think the mirror starts thinking of clinging to the
           reflection of a beautiful woman -- Sophia Loren? "Don't let her go, cling." Or do you think the mirror
           feels very repulsed if some ugly woman is there? It doesn't matter. What does it have to do with the
           mirror?
                The mirror remains unaffected; it simply goes on reflecting whatsoever is the case. If it is
           darkness it reflects darkness, if it is morning it reflects morning. If somebody is dead it reflects
           death. If a child starts giggling, laughing, jumping, it reflects that. A roseflower is reflected with the
           same quality as it reflects a thorn; no distinction is made.
           This state is really spiritual.
                Farid, you ask me: "How to distinguish between these cases of unconscious self-delusion and the
           real thing?"
                The real thing never appears as a thing. The real thing is not a thing, the real thing is the
           mirrorlike consciousness.
                Always remember, always and always: "I am the witness." Don't get identified with any content,
           otherwise you will be falling into error. If you become identified with any content, howsoever
           beautiful and spiritual it appears, you have gone wrong, you have gone astray.
                And the temptation is certainly great. What to say when inside you see a great melody arising --
           anahat, the soundless sound, the sound of one hand clapping? It is such a beautiful experience, one
           would like to be drowned in it for ever and ever. Or when suddenly inside, fragrances are released....
                And remember, whatsoever can happen outside can happen inside too, because each sense has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           two doors to it, and each sense has two potential possibilities. One is for the outside, the other is for
           the inside. Your eyes can see light and colors and rainbows in the clouds, and the stars outside; and
           your eyes have another aspect, the other side of your eyes.
               If you close your eyes and learn how to see within, you will be surprised. A far more beautiful
           sky opens its doors for you. A far more unbelievably beautiful world welcomes you; it has great
           splendor. You could never have imagined that things could ever be so beautiful. Stones turn into
           diamonds. Naturally, one would like to cling. Great treasures are there; one would like to hoard
           them. And there is nobody to compete with you; you are alone, and the whole kingdom is yours.
               And just as your nose has the capacity to smell beautiful flowers, it has an inner capacity too.
           Once you turn in, you will come to smell fragrances which are not of this world -- and it is very
           natural to be caught by them.
               But all these experiences are hindrances, obstacles. The real seeker when he moves inwards has
           to be more alert than he had ever been on the outside. He has to be really alert not to be caught by
           anything.
               And I am not saying don't enjoy. Enjoy -- but remember that you are not it. Enjoy, it is your right
           to enjoy -- but remember: "I am the witness of it all." If that witnessing is remembered, you will
           never be "goofed," you will never be deceived. Otherwise you can be deceived again and again.
               To summarize: the spiritual experience is not an experience, but experiencing. Second,
           experiencing is a content; and you are not the content, you are just a mirror. If this much is
           remembered, then there is no pitfall for you. Then your path is straight.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS THE SECRET OF YOUR FINDING THE RIGHT NAME FOR EACH OF YOUR
              THOUSANDS OF SANNYASINS?


              To tell you the truth, there is no secret at all. Meditate on this story:

               There were three wise men following a star, bearing gifts to take to their lord. They traveled
           much and came to rest at a stable, as the star they were following was directly above it. They got
           down from their donkeys and the first went into the stable and laid his gift at the foot of the manger.
           The second followed, laying his gift at the foot of the manger also.
               It happened that the third was much taller than the first two, and as he entered the stable he hit
           his head on the beam. In great pain he shouted, "Jesus Christ!"
               At which, Mary looked up at him, smiling, and said, "Oh, what a beautiful name! I was going to
           call him Fred."

           The fifth question:

           OSHO,

              I SIMPLY CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOUR GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT MALE AND FEMALE
              TYPE. SOMETIMES YOU ACKNOWLEDGE MALE AND FEMALE PRINCIPLES REGARDLESS OF
              GENDER. BUT MOST OF THE TIME YOU TALK OF WOMAN BEING THE "PRIMITIVE" ONE,
              FINDING THE "WOLF" IN THE MAN. WHAT OF THE WOMAN WHO FINDS HERSELF NATURALLY
              THE INITIATOR OR SEES THE CAT, NOT THE WOLF, IN HER MAN? SOME MEN ARE REALLY
              LONGING TO BE PASSIVE. SOME WOMEN MAY NEED TO ASSERT THEMSELVES TO GROW.
              HOW CAN IT BE SIMPLY A MATTER OF WOMEN'S LIB MAKING WOMEN "SOPHISTICATED"
              AND OVER-RATIONAL?


                Jacky Angus, my statement that women are more primitive than men is not to condemn them, it
           is to condemn men. By "primitive" I mean more natural, more in tune with existence. Civilization is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a falsification, civilization is going astray from nature. The more man becomes civilized, the more he
           is hung up in the head. He loses contact with his heart.
               The heart is still primitive. And it is good that the universities have not yet found a way to teach
           the heart and make it civilized. That is the only hope for humanity to survive. The woman is the only
           hope for humanity to survive. Up to now, man has been dominant, and man has been dominant for a
           very strange reason. The reason is that deep down man feels inferior. Out of inferiority, just to
           compensate for it, he started dominating the woman.
               Only in one sense is he stronger than the woman, and that is in muscular strength. In every other
           way the woman is far stronger than the man. The woman lives longer than the man, five to seven
           years longer. The woman suffers less through diseases, illnesses, than the man.
               One hundred and ten boys are born to every hundred girls. But by the time they reach sexual
           maturity the number is equalled -- ten boys have disappeared down the drain.
               The woman has more resistance to illnesses and diseases of all kinds. More men go mad, the
           number is almost double. And more men commit suicide; again the number is double.
               In every possible way except the muscular, the woman is far superior. But to have muscular
           strength is not really something very superior; it is animalistic. In that sense a wolf is far superior, a
           tiger even more, a lion still more.
               Man must have become aware of his inferiority millions of years ago. And this is one of the
           psychological mechanisms: whenever you become aware of a certain inferiority, you have to
           compensate for it. The ugly person tries to look beautiful, pretends to be beautiful in every possible
           way. He will try with clothes, with cosmetics, he will go to beauticians, to plastic surgeons. It is
           over-compensation; somehow he knows that he is not beautiful and he has to be beautiful. The
           inferior person tries to be superior. And because of muscular strength, the man could prove to be the
           master, and he has dominated the woman down the ages.
               But the time has come now for a great change. The future belongs to women, not to men, because
           what man has done, down through these ages, has been so ugly. Wars and wars and wars -- that is his
           whole history. All the great that man has created is... Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah,
           Alexander, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong -- people like these.
               Yes, there have been a few men like Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ, Krishna -- but have you noted
           one point? They all look feminine. In fact that was one of Friedrich Nietzsche's criticisms of Buddha
           and Jesus Christ, that they look feminine, that they are womanish.
               Buddha certainly looks feminine. Whenever a man moves into the heart, something in him goes
           feminine. He becomes more round, more soft, more vulnerable.
               Friedrich Nietzsche cannot understand Gautam Buddha... because Nietzsche says the most
           beautiful thing that ever happened to him, the most beautiful thing he ever saw, was not the stars, not
           the sunset or the sunrise, not beautiful women, not roses and lotuses -- no, nothing like that.... You
           cannot imagine what was the most beautiful thing that he had come across. He says that soldiers
           parading with naked swords, and the swords shining in the sunlight -- that was the most beautiful
           experience. The sound of their boots was the most musical thing that he had ever come across -- not
           Mozart, not Wagner, no, but the sound of boots. And the regiment moving with naked swords
           shining in the sun was the most beautiful thing he had seen.
               Of course he cannot understand Buddha. It is Friedrich Nietzsche who has been the father of this
           century, and this century is one of the ugliest. He is the father of two world wars, and he may be
           waiting for the third, waiting to give birth to the third. He says war is the most beautiful thing in the
           world, because it brings that which is greatest in man to the surface.
               He himself went mad, which seems very logical; such a man must go mad. And when he became
           mad he started signing his letters as "Anti-Christ Friedrich Nietzsche." Even in his madness he could
           not forget one thing, that he was anti-Christ. Everything else was forgotten: he could not recognize
           his friends, he could not even recognize his own sister who had looked after him his whole life, but
           he could not forget one thing, that he was anti-Christ.
               Yes, there have been a few buddhas. But if you look closely at them you will find they are more
           feminine than masculine. All the great artists of the world slowly slowly start growing a quality of
           feminineness, grace, elegance, exquisiteness. A certain flavor of softness, relaxedness, calmness and
           quietness surrounds them. They are no longer feverish.
               What I am teaching here is really to turn the whole world feminine.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But Jacky Angus must be coming from that ugly movement called Women's Lib. Not only is
           woman to be liberated, man also has to be liberated. The woman has to be liberated from her past,
           and the man has to be liberated from his past. We need liberation, we need a liberated human being.
           And remember, when I use the word man the woman is included. But women have become very
           touchy about it.
                Once I was talking in a very sophisticated club of women in Calcutta. In some reference I made
           the statement "All men are brothers." And some woman who must have been like Jacky Angus stood
           up, very angry, furious. And she said, "Why do you go on making statements only about men? All
           men are brothers -- and what about women? Why don't you say all women are sisters and sisterhood
           is strong?"
                I said to the woman, "Lady, I am sorry. I will make a compromise: I will say all men are sisters.
           What else can I do? If I say all women are sisters, some man may get angry at me."
                Don't be foolish. When I am talking, try to be a little more sympathetic. You will not find any
           more sympathetic person than me, I make no distinctions between men and women; both have
           suffered. In fact suffering always comes like that, it is a double-edged sword. If you make somebody
           suffer, you have to suffer. If you make somebody a slave, you have to become a slave too; it is
           mutual.
                The day women are liberated will be a great day of liberation for men too. But don't make the
           whole thing ugly. Otherwise there is every possibility -- I fear that the possibility is there, and it is a
           great possibility that in fighting with men, women may lose something which is valuable. Something
           which has not yet been crushed and destroyed by men may be destroyed by women themselves in
           fighting with men. If you fight ferociously you will lose the beauty of femininity; you yourself will
           become as ugly as men.
                It has not to be decided by fighting, it has to be decided by understanding. Spread more and more
           understanding. Drop these ideas of being men and women! We are all human beings. To be a man or
           a woman is just a very superficial thing. Don't make much fuss about it, it is not anything very
           important; don't make it a big deal.
                And what I say sometimes may look like generalizations, because each time I cannot put in all
           the conditions; otherwise my talking to you would become very much burdened with footnotes. And
           I hate books with footnotes! I simply don't read them. The moment I see footnotes I throw the book
           away -- it has been written by some pundit, some scholar, some foolish person.
                You say: "I simply cannot understand your generalizations about male and female type...."
                I am always talking about types; the gender is not included. Whenever I say "man" I mean the
           man-type, and whenever I say "woman" I mean the woman-type. But I cannot each time say
           "man-type," "woman-type." And you are right that there are women who are not women, who are
           wolves; and there are men who are not wolves, who are cats. But then whatsoever I say about the
           man-type will be applicable to women who are wolves, and whatsoever I say about women will be
           applicable to men who are cats.
                I am not talking about the biological distinction between man and woman, I am talking about the
           psychological one. Yes, there are men who are far more feminine than any woman, and there are
           women who are far more masculine than any man. But this is not a beautiful state; this is ugly,
           because this is creating a duality in you. If you have the body of a man and the mind of a woman,
           there will be a conflict, a social struggle in you, a civil war in you. You will be continuously in a tug
           of war, fighting, tense.
                If you are a woman physiologically, and you have the mind of a man, your life will dissipate
           much energy in unnecessary conflict. It is far better to be in tune. If a man in the body, then a man in
           the mind; if a woman in the body, then a woman in the mind.
                And the Women's Lib movement is creating unnecessary trouble. It is turning women into
           wolves, it is teaching them how to fight. Man is the enemy; how can you love the enemy? How can
           you be in an intimate relationship with the enemy?
                The man is not the enemy. The woman, to be really a woman, has to be more and more feminine,
           has to touch the heights of softness and vulnerability. And the man, to be really a man, has to move
           into his masculinity as deeply as possible. When a real man comes in contact with a real woman,
           they are polar opposites, extremes. But only extremes can fall in love, and only extremes can enjoy
           intimacy. Only extremes attract each other.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               What is happening now is a kind of uni-sex: men becoming more and more feminine, women
           becoming more and more masculine. Sooner or later, all distinctions will be lost. It will be a very
           colorless society, it will be boring.
               I would like the woman to become as feminine as possible, only then can she flower. And the
           man needs to be as masculine as possible, only then can he flower. When they are polar opposites, a
           great attraction, a great magnetism, arises between them. And when they come close, when they
           meet in intimacy, they bring two different worlds, two different dimensions, two different richnesses,
           and the meeting is a tremendous blessing, a benediction.
           Enough for today.




                                             The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #8
                                     Chapter title: Krishnamurtis Solo Flute
           18 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902180
              ShortTitle: WISDOM08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 85 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHEN DOES THE BOAT REACH THE OTHER SHORE?


               Deva Vigyan, there is no other shore, this is the only shore there is. And it is not a question of
           reaching somewhere else, it is a question of awakening here and now. It is never there, it is always
           here; it is never then, it is always now. This moment contains the totality of reality.
               The boat I am talking about is not really a boat. I am talking about becoming aware. Man has
           fallen asleep -- man is already where he needs to be, where he is meant to be. Man is in paradise.
           The garden of Eden has never been left, nobody can expel you from it. But you can fall asleep, and
           you can start dreaming a thousand and one things. Then those dreams become your reality, and the
           reality fades far away, becomes unreal.
               You need not go anywhere. Meditation is neither a journey in space nor a journey in time, but an
           instantaneous awakening. If you can be silent now, this is the other shore. If you can allow the mind
           to cease, not to function, this is the other shore.
               But the mind is very clever and cunning; it distorts every great teaching. It jumps upon words,
           catches hold of the words, and starts giving meanings to them which are not real meanings.
               Yes, I talked about the other shore. And your mind must have caught the words "the other shore,
           the boat." "Where is the other shore, and where is the boat, and how can I get to the boat, how can I
           get into it, and when will I reach the other shore?"
               You misunderstood the whole thing. Be awake, and this shore becomes the other shore, and this
           very moment becomes eternity. This very body the buddha, and this very place the lotus paradise.
               And awakening does not need time; not even a split second is needed for it to happen. It is only a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           question of a tremendous desire arising in you, of such a quality of intensity that you become afire
           with it. In that fire, the old is gone and the new has arrived. The old was never there in the first place,
           you only believed in it. And the new has always been the case, you had only forgotten it.
               I declare to you that this is the only world there is, and this is the only life there is. Don't start
           thinking of some other life somewhere after death, beyond the seven skies, in heaven. Those are all
           just mind dreams, mind trips, new ways to fall asleep again.
               Hence my insistence that no sannyasin has to leave the world, because leaving the world is part
           of a project, part of a dream of reaching to the other world. And because there is none, all your
           efforts will be in vain. You are not to go to the monasteries or to the Himalayas; you are not to
           escape from here. You have to become awakened here.
               And in fact it is easier to be awakened here than in a Himalayan cave. Have you not observed it?
           If you are suffering from a nightmare, awakening is easier. If you are having a sweet dream,
           awakening is more difficult. If in your dream you are on a honeymoon with your beloved, who wants
           to be awakened? In fact the person who tries to wake you up will look like the enemy. But if you are
           followed by a tiger and it is a question of life and death, and you are running and running and the
           tiger is coming closer and closer and closer, and you start feeling his breath on your back, then
           suddenly you will be awake. It is too much to tolerate, it is unbearable.
               In a Himalayan cave you will be dreaming sweet dreams. That's what people are doing in the
           monasteries -- dreaming beautiful dreams of God, of angels, of heaven, of eternal peace and joy. In
           the world, people are suffering from nightmares -- the nightmares of the share market, the
           nightmares of power politics. It is easier to be awakened here. If you cannot awaken here, you
           cannot wake up anywhere else.
               But remember, let me repeat it again, there is no other reality, there is only one reality. But the
           one reality can be seen in two ways: with sleepy eyes, dreamy eyes, eyes full of dust, and then what
           you see is distorted; and the same reality can be seen without sleep, without dreaming eyes, without
           dust. Then whatsoever you see is the truth -- and truth liberates.
           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHILE YOU WERE POINTING THE FINGER TO THE MOON YOU SAID TODAY, "MEN HAVE TO
              BECOME MORE MASCULINE." WHAT IS THIS MASCULINE?


                Prem Anubhava, masculinity can have two directions, just as feminineness can have two
           directions. The masculine mind can be aggressive, violent, destructive -- that is only one of the
           possibilities. Men have tried that, and humanity has suffered much from it. And when men try this
           negative aspect of masculinity, women naturally start moving into the negative feminineness, just to
           keep together with men. Otherwise the rift will be too great, unbridgeable. When the feminine is
           negative it is inactivity, lethargy, indifference. The negative man can only have a bridge with a
           negative woman.
                But there is a positive aspect too. Nothing can be only negative; every negativity has a positive
           aspect too. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, and every night is followed by a dawn.
                Positive masculinity is initiative, creativity, adventure. These are the same qualities, but moving
           on a different plane. The negative masculine mind becomes destructive, the positive masculine mind
           becomes creative. Destructiveness and creativeness are not two things, but two aspects of one
           energy. The same energy can become aggression and the same energy can become initiative.
                When aggression is initiative it has a beauty of its own. When violence becomes adventure, when
           violence becomes exploration, exploration of the new, of the unknown, it is tremendously beneficial.
                And so is the case with the feminine. Inactivity is negative, receptivity is positive. They both
           look alike, they look very similar. You will need very penetrating eyes to see the difference between
           the inactive and the receptive. The receptive is a welcome, it is an awaiting, it has a prayer in it.
           Receptivity is a host, receptivity is a womb. Inactivity is simply dullness, death, hopelessness. There
           is nothing to wait for, nothing to expect, nothing is ever going to happen. It is falling into lethargy, it
           is falling into a kind of indifference. And indifference and lethargy are poisons.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the same thing that becomes indifference can become detachment, and then it has a totally
           different flavor. Indifference looks like detachment, but it is not; indifference is simply no interest.
           Detachment is not absence of interest -- detachment is absolute interest, tremendous interest, but still
           with the capacity of non-clinging. Enjoy the moment while it is there and when the moment starts
           disappearing, as everything is bound to disappear, let it go. That is detachment.
               Lethargy is a negative state. One is like a lump of mud just lying there -- no possibility of
           growth, no exuberance, no flowering. But the same energy can become a pool, a great pool of energy
           -- not going anywhere, not doing anything, but the energy accumulating and accumulating and
           accumulating.
               And scientists say that at a certain point the quantitative change becomes a qualitative change. At
           a hundred degrees heat the water evaporates. At ninety-nine degrees it has not evaporated yet; at
           ninety-nine point nine degrees it has still not evaporated. But just point one degree more, and the
           water will take a quantum leap.
               Positive feminineness is not like lethargy, it is like a tremendous pool of energy. And as the
           energy gathers and accumulates, it goes through many qualitative changes.
               A man, to be really masculine, has to be adventurous, has to be creative, has to be able to take as
           many initiatives in life as possible. The woman, to be really a woman, has to be a pool of energy
           behind the man, so the adventure can have as much energy as possible. Energy will be needed so that
           the adventure can have some inspiration, so that the adventure can have some poetry, so that the
           adventurous soul can relax in the woman and be replenished with life, rejuvenated.
               Man and woman both together, moving positively, are one whole. And the real couple -- and
           there are very few real couples -- is one in which each has joined with the other in a positive way.
           Ninety-nine percent of couples are joined together in a negative way. That's why there is so much
           misery in the world.
               I repeat it again: the man has to be masculine and the woman has to be feminine, but in a positive
           way. Then to be together is a meditation, then to be together is really a great adventure. Then to be
           together brings new surprises every day. Then life is a dance between these two polarities, and they
           help each other, they nourish each other.
               Man alone will not be able to go very far. Woman alone will be just a pool of energy with no
           possibility of any dynamic movement. When both are together they are complementary. No one is
           higher than the other; complementaries are never higher and lower, complementaries are equal.
           Neither the man nor the woman is higher, they are complementaries. Together they make a whole,
           and together they can create a holiness which is not possible for either separately.
               That's why Jesus or Buddha look a little less rich than Krishna, and the reason is that they are
           alone. Krishna is more total. Hence, in India, Krishna is thought to be the perfect avatar, the perfect
           incarnation of God. Buddha is thought to be partial, so is Mahavira a partial manifestation of God,
           and so is Jesus. Krishna has something of totality in him.
               And one thing more. If it was only a case of an outer meeting of man and woman, it would not
           have been so important. It is also a case of a meeting deep down in the being of each man and
           woman, because each man is a woman inside too, and each woman is a man inside too. The outer
           meeting and merging with the other is really a lesson, an experiment, to prepare for the inner
           meeting.
               Each man is born out of a man and a woman. Half of you comes from your father and half of you
           comes from your mother. You are a meeting of polar opposites.
               Modern psychology, particularly the Jungian school of psychology, accepts this, is based on this,
           that man is bisexual and so is woman. If your conscious mind is that of a man, then your
           unconscious will be that of a woman, and vice versa.
               But to manage the inner meeting is difficult in the beginning, because the inner is invisible. First
           you have to learn the lesson with the visible. Meet with the outer woman, meet with the outer man,
           so that you can have a few experiences of what this meeting is all about. Then, slowly slowly, you
           can search withinwards and find the same polarity there.
               The day your inner man and woman meet, you are enlightened. That day is a day of great
           celebration, not only for you but for the whole existence. One man has arrived back again. Out of
           millions and millions, one man has arrived.
               It is said that when Buddha became enlightened, flowers showered from the sky. These are not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           historical facts, they are poetic expressions, but of tremendous significance. The whole existence
           must have danced, must have sung, must have showered millions of flowers -- because it is a rare
           phenomenon. A groping soul suddenly has become integrated, a fragmentary soul has become
           crystallized. One man has become God: it has to be celebrated. It is a blessing to the whole
           existence.
               But the first lesson has to be learned outside, remember. Unless you have known the woman on
           the outer plane, in all her richness, in all her sweetness and bitterness; unless you have known the
           man on the outside, in all his beauty and in all his ugliness, you will not be able to move into the
           inner dimension. You will not be able to allow the yin and yang, Shiva and Shakti, to meet inside.
               And that meeting is of utter importance, of ultimate importance, because only with that meeting
           do you become a god -- never before it.

           The third question:
    BELOVED OSHO,

              ALTHOUGH I HAVE NOT BEEN TO KRISHNAMURTI'S LATEST DISCOURSES IN BOMBAY, I
              HAVE HEARD THAT HE HAS TALKED AGAINST SANNYAS IN THEM. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT
              THIS ATTITUDE IS A DEVICE THAT HELPS BOTH HIS WORK AND YOURS, THAT HE DOES NOT
              MEAN WHAT HE SAYS. PLEASE COMMENT.


                Anand Jagdish, J. Krishnamurti is an enlightened man -- you need not defend him. He does mean
           what he says, he is against sannyas. That's his approach towards life, a very narrow approach of
           course. He has a very tunnel-type of vision. Of course whatsoever he says is right according to his
           tunnel vision, but his vision is very narrow.
                He can say sannyas is wrong, he can say I am wrong. Still, I cannot say that he is wrong, because
           I have a wider vision, very inclusive. If I can say Buddha is right, Zarathustra is right, Lao Tzu is
           right, Tilopa, Atisha, and many many more are right, I can also say Krishnamurti is right.
                Yes, there are people for whom his vision will be of help, but those people will be very few. In
           fact the people for whom his vision is right may not need his help at all -- because to need help from
           a master is what sannyas is all about, to need help from a master is the fundamental of disciplehood.
           Whether you call it disciplehood or not does not matter.
                Krishnamurti is very much against the words disciple and master. But that's what he has been
           doing for fifty years. He is a master who says that he is not a master. And the people who listen to
           him and follow him are disciples who think they are not disciples.
                It does not matter what you think. What matters is what you ARE. He is a master and he has
           disciples. He denies that he is a master; that is part of his device. In this egoistic world it is very
           difficult for people to surrender, to drop their egos. For the egoists who cannot drop their egos he
           opens a door. He says, "You can keep your ego; you don't need to be a disciple, you don't need to be
           a sannyasin." The egoists feel very good that they need not bow down to anybody. But listening to
           him continuously again and again, deep down the bowing starts happening, the surrender starts
           happening.
                He does not claim that he is a master. But whatsoever a master requires, he requires from his
           listeners. The master says, "Listen without thinking, listen totally, without any interference from
           your thoughts." And that's what he requires from his disciples whom he does not call disciples. It is a
           very sophisticated game. He can say sannyas is wrong -- he has to say it.
                And whenever he is in India -- and soon wherever he will be, in every meeting of his he will find
           my sannyasins. That irritates him very much, and it must be even more irritating that when he talks
           against sannyas and against sannyasins, my sannyasins laugh and enjoy it.
                He has been asking them, "Why do you come to me? If you have already got a master there is no
           need to come." To one of my sannyasins he said in a private interview, "If you have got a master,
           you need not come here."
                And my sannyasin said, "But my master says 'Go everywhere. Wherever you find something can
           be learned, go there!' This is his teaching and we are following him, and we are not here to follow
           you!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Naturally he gets very irritated. But you need not defend him. And this is the beauty, that he
           cannot accept me but I can accept him. It makes no problem for me. I accept all kinds of people and
           all kinds of philosophies; my vision is wide enough.
               In fact why is he so much against masters and disciples? It is a wound that has healed but the
           scar is still left. He was forced to be a disciple against his will. He was a small child when he was
           adopted by Annie Besant and the theosophists, only nine years old, completely unaware of what was
           being done to him. And he was forced to follow a very rigid discipline.
               Twenty-four hours a day he was being trained, because one of the theosophist leaders,
           Leadbeater, had this idea, this vision, that this boy was going to become a world teacher -- a
           jagatguru, a master of the whole world -- that he was going to become the vehicle of Lord Maitreya,
           that he had to be prepared so he could receive the new incarnation of Buddha in his body. So he was
           tortured in many ways.
               He was not allowed to eat like other children, he was not allowed to play with other children, as
           any child would like to. He was guarded. He was not allowed to go to ordinary schools, he was
           almost completely kept a prisoner. And then getting up early at three o'clock in the morning, and
           then the ritual bath, and so many, many rituals -- Tibetan, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian... he must have
           become tired.
               And the last wound happened when his brother Nityananda died. There were two brothers,
           Krishnamurti and Nityananda, and both were being prepared, because there was a little suspicion as
           to who was really going to be the master. Nityananda died from this rigid discipline, this almost
           insane imposition. His death was a trauma for Krishnamurti; he had loved his brother tremendously.
           There was no other outlet for his love. He had been taken away from his family; his mother had died
           and his father was not able to look after them, he was just a small clerk. Both the children were
           adopted by Annie Besant and they had to travel all around the world learning different esoteric
           disciplines. It was very hard on them. There is every possibility Nityananda died simply because of
           too much training.
               And then those masters whom Krishnamurti had not chosen out of love... they were like
           prisoners and the masters were like jailers. He carried a very wrong notion about masters; it was very
           difficult for him to get free from their trap. Finally he got free from their trap -- how long can you
           hold someone? When he became a young man, and strong enough to get out of the trap, he simply
           rushed out, and declared, "I am nobody's master, and I am not going to be a world teacher, and this is
           all nonsense!"
               Since then, the scar has remained. Since then he has been talking about things like masters,
           disciplines, meditations, disciplehood, and he has been against all of them. It is natural. In fact he has
           never known a master, and he has never known disciplehood -- because these are not things that can
           be imposed on you, these are things which you accept out of joy and love.
               You are far more fortunate than him. You have chosen me out of joy, out of love, and you are
           free to leave me at any moment. He was not free to leave. He did not choose these people. And there
           is every possibility that many wrong things were done to him when he was a child.
               It is almost an established fact that Leadbeater was a homosexual. The point was even raised in
           court that he was sexually exploiting children. Just think of a nine-year-old child if sexually
           mishandled -- he will have a very deep wound from it; it will be difficult for him to erase the scar.
               You can ask the psychologists: if a child is in some way sexually exploited, his whole life
           becomes disturbed. If a girl was somehow sexually exploited against her will, or when she was not
           aware of what was happening, she will never be at ease sexually, never. The fear will come again
           and again.
               There is every possibility that something like this happened. Krishnamurti never talks about
           these things, there is no point in talking about these things, all those old fogies are dead. But
           somewhere there is a scar. Hence his antagonism to masters, to disciplehood, to sannyas, to all kinds
           of methods. This shows something about his history; it shows nothing about masters and disciples.
               What does he know about Buddha and the disciples that Buddha had? What does he know about
           Atisha and the masters Dharmakirti, Dharmarakshita and Yogin Maitreya -- what does he know
           about these people?
               And one thing more, a calamity happened. Annie Besant and Leadbeater never allowed him to
           read ancient scriptures because they were afraid he would lose his originality. So he was kept utterly
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ignorant of all the great traditions of the world.
               And if you don't know anything about Atisha and Dharmakirti, you will miss something.
           Dharmakirti was the master who told Atisha to move to another master, Dharmarakshita, "because
           what I have known, I have given to you. I can give you the rest too, but that has never been my path.
           Go to Dharmarakshita, he has followed another route. He will give you something more, something
           more authentic. I have only heard about it, or only seen it from the mountain-top. I give you
           emptiness. Now, to learn compassion, go to Dharmarakshita."
               What beautiful people they must have been! And Dharmarakshita told him, "I know only the
           feminine kind of compassion, the passive kind. For the active, you must go to another master, Yogin
           Maitreya; he will teach you."
               These are not people who are possessive, who are jealous, who want to dominate. These are
           people who give freedom! Krishnamurti is utterly unaware of all the great traditions of the world --
           he only knows the theosophists.
               And that was one of the ugliest things that happened in this century. All kinds of fools gathered
           under the banner of theosophy, it was a hotch-potch. It was an effort to create a synthesis of all that
           is good out of all the religions. But no such synthesis is possible. And if you make such a synthesis
           you will only have a corpse on your hands, not an alive body, breathing, pulsating.
               It is as if you love many women -- one woman has beautiful eyes, you take the eyes out; another
           woman has a beautiful nose, you cut off the nose -- and so on and so forth. Put all the parts together,
           assemble them, and you will have a corpse. Making the corpse you have killed twenty beautiful
           women, and the end result is just utter stupidity.
               That's what theosophy did. Something is beautiful in Hinduism, something is beautiful in
           Taoism, something is beautiful in Mohammedanism, something is beautiful in Judaism, and so on
           and so forth. Collect all that, put it together, put it in a mixer and mix it, and what you will have will
           be just a corpse.
               Krishnamurti unfortunately had to live with these people. But he has tremendous intelligence.
           Anybody in his place would have been lost, anybody else in his situation would not have been able
           to come out of the cage. And the cage was so beautiful, so alluring -- thousands of followers were
           available. But he had the courage, he had the guts and intelligence to renounce all that, to simply
           move out of the whole trap.
               It was difficult for him, very difficult; even to survive was difficult. I respect the man, I respect
           him tremendously. And I can understand why he is against masters, disciples, sannyas.
               Jagdish, you say, "Although I have not been to Krishnamurti's latest discourses in Bombay, I
           have heard that he had talked against sannyas in them. It seems to me that this attitude is a device
           that helps both his work and yours, that he does not mean what he says."
               He says what he means, he means what he says. His narrow vision is very clear. That is one of
           the most beautiful things about narrow visions, they are clear. The wider the sky, the less the clarity;
           the bigger the vision, the less the clarity.
               And my vision contains all. His vision is very exclusive, my vision is very inclusive. His vision
           is only his. My vision contains Buddha, Zarathustra, Moses, Mahavira, Mohammed, and millions
           more. And remember, I am not trying to make a synthesis here. I am not trying to choose what is
           beautiful in one and what is beautiful somewhere else. No, I accept every tradition as it is -- even
           though sometimes it goes against me, even though sometimes there are points which I would not like
           to be there. But then who am I? Why should I bring my choice into it?
               I accept every tradition as it is, without interfering with it. This has never been done before, and
           this may not be done again for centuries, because to have such inclusive vision is very confusing.
           Being with me, you can never have certainty. The more you are with me, the more and more the
           ground under your feet will disappear. The more you are here with me, the more and more your mind
           will be taken away, and with it all certainty.
           Yes, you will have transparency, but no certainty.
               With Krishnamurti everything is certain, absolutely certain. He is one of the most consistent men
           who has ever walked on the earth, because he has such a narrow vision. When you have a very
           narrow vision you are bound to be very consistent.
               You cannot find a more inconsistent person than me, because I have to make space for so many
           contradictory standpoints. There is nothing in common between Bahauddin and Atisha, there is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing in common between Rinzai and Mohammed, there is nothing in common between Mahavira
           and Christ. And yet they all have met in me, and they are all one in me. And I have not chosen, I
           have not interfered, I have simply digested them all.
                A tremendously new kind of symphony, I will not call it a synthesis but a symphony, is arising
           here. In a synthesis something dead is produced. In a symphony, in an orchestra, all instruments are
           playing, but in a tremendous harmony.
                Krishnamurti is a solo flute player. I am an orchestra; the flute is accepted. Of course my
           orchestra will not be accepted by Krishnamurti, he is a solo flute player. And a beautiful flute player
           he is, I appreciate him. I can appreciate him, but he cannot appreciate me. What does he know about
           the orchestra? I know everything about the flute, because it is part of my orchestra, just a small part.
           But for him the flute is all.
                Please, Jagdish, don't try to defend him, there is no need. He can defend himself, he is quite
           capable. I can understand his criticism of sannyas. If he had not criticized it, that would have been a
           surprise. If he really wants to surprise me he should stop criticizing my sannyasins -- it would be
           unbelievable, it would be really a shock to me!
                But let that old man continue, and you please continue going to listen to him. Provoke him. Just
           sit in the front row, and whenever he criticizes sannyas, applaud, laugh. And then he will be really in
           a rage. He is the only enlightened person in the world who can get angry. And that's perfectly
           beautiful. I love him, I respect him -- and I love him and respect him as he is. But he cannot love and
           respect me; that too I can understand.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              LIKE KRISHNA AND BUDDHA AND NANAK AND JESUS, YOUR MESSAGE IS LOVE. HOW ARE
              YOUR MISUNDERSTOOD SANNYASINS VEHICLES FOR YOUR MESSAGE OF LOVE TO THE
              WORLD?


               Krishna Prem, Krishna has talked about love, Buddha too, Jesus, Nanak and Kabir, they all have
           talked about love. But nobody has talked about love like me. Their love is very ethereal, abstract;
           their love is not of this world at all. Their love is philosophical. The way they define their love and
           the way I define my love are totally different. I accept love in its whole spectrum, all the colors of it,
           the whole rainbow of it. They are choosers; they say, "Only the color blue is love, all other colors are
           not love." Or somebody says, "Only the color green is love, all others are not love."
               They condemn earthly love, they condemn sensuous love, they condemn the body. And that's
           where the difference is. To me, love is a ladder. One part of the ladder is resting on the earth -- not
           only resting but really rooted in the earth -- and the other end is touching heaven.
               They talk only of the other end. And because they talk only of the other end, it becomes humanly
           impossible to reach it, because the lower part is denied, and the higher can be reached only through
           the lower. You will have to pass over the lower rungs of the ladder, otherwise how are you going to
           reach the higher part?
               There have been people like Charvaka in India, and Epicurus in Greece, who believe only in the
           lower part of the ladder and deny the higher part.
               I accept the totality of it. I accept the mud, I accept the lotus, and I accept all that is in between.
           Hence I am bound to be misunderstood by everybody. The spiritual people will misunderstand me
           because they will think I am a materialist -- that I don't believe in the soul, that my preaching of love
           is nothing but a preaching of sex, that in the name of love I am only teaching people sexuality. And
           the materialists, the Epicureans, the Charvakas, they are also going to misunderstand me, obviously.
           They will say that my talk of sex and earthly love is only a trap to take you to those non-existential
           abstractions -- ecstasy, samadhi, God.
               I am going to be misunderstood by both the materialists and the spiritualists. And the same is
           going to be the case with my sannyasins. You are going to be misunderstood everywhere -- in every
           culture, in every society, by every religion, by every ideology. To be with me is risky; you will have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be misunderstood. You will have to accept it as a fact of your existence.
               And the reason is clear; it is because nobody in the past has accepted the whole spectrum. I
           accept the whole spectrum because to me, the lower and the higher are not separate, they are one.
           The lower contains the higher, and the higher contains the lower. The mud is unmanifest lotus, and
           the lotus is manifest mud. I don't condemn the mud, because in condemning the mud the lotus is
           condemned. And I don't condemn the lotus, because if you condemn the lotus the mud loses all
           meaning; then it is simply mud and nothing else.
               I accept this earth and I accept this heaven. I accept both the body and the soul, the outer and the
           inner. My teaching is that of total acceptance.
               You will be misunderstood. And it is not only that you will be misunderstood -- there is every
           possibility that you will misunderstand me too, because many of you will think that sex is all. And
           you can find quotes from my books easily supporting your standpoint. And many of you will
           misunderstand that sex has to be transcended, that only samadhi is the truth and that sex is just
           something to be bypassed, transcended and surpassed. Both these things are going to happen. Those
           who really understand me will see the point, and will see what I am doing here. I am creating a
           materialist spirituality, or a spiritualist materialism. It has never been done before. And whenever
           something is done for the first time, it is natural that it will be misunderstood.

              A middle-aged American lady whose husband had recently died went to a spiritualist to get in
           touch with him as she was feeling lonely. Contact having been established, she said, "Hello, honey!
           How you doin'?"
           Honey: "Fine. In fact I'm a hell of a lot better off than I was before."
           Lady: "How do you pass the time, honey?"
           Honey: "Well, I wake up, make love, have breakfast, make love, have lunch, make love, have
           supper, make love, sleep, make love, wake up, make love -- day in and day out."
           Lady: "Where are you, honey? In heaven?"
           Honey: "No, I'm a bull in Koregaon Park, Poona."

               That possibility is there, you can misunderstand me. And there are also others at the other
           extreme. Anybody who chooses one part of my teaching is bound to misunderstand me.
               You have to take me in toto, in my totality. Of course the totality is very confusing, because it
           contains the polar opposite. It is easier to choose one part -- the materialist or the spiritualist; it is
           easier, you feel consistent. To choose me in my totality you will have to live a very inconsistent life
           -- one moment this, another moment that. But that is my whole message.
               If one really wants to live life in all its richness, one has to learn how to be inconsistent, how to
           be consistently inconsistent, how to be able to move from one extreme to another -- sometimes
           rooted deep in the earth and sometimes flying high in heaven, sometimes making love and
           sometimes meditating.
               And then, slowly slowly, your heaven and your earth will come closer and closer, and you will
           become the horizon where they meet.

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY DO YOU CALL PEOPLE CABBAGES AND ASSHOLES? IT SEEMS SO DISRESPECTFUL.


               Anand Swaghat, cabbages are also people, and very innocent people. What do you mean, "It
           seems so disrespectful?" Disrespectful to whom? To cabbages? In fact it is more disrespectful to
           cabbages to compare them with men. What have they done?
               Just look at man's history, and the history of cabbages. You will not find more innocent people
           than cabbages, they are all buddhas -- so silent, so happy, so meditative. And you are saying, "It
           seems so disrespectful." To man?
               And what can I do if somebody is an asshole? I am not condemning him, I am simply stating a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fact. Do you want me to lie? An asshole is an asshole, plain and simple. And remember, it is
           perfectly okay to be an asshole.
               But why, Swaghat, are you worried? Are you a cabbage or...?

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              DON'T YOU TALK EVERY DAY ABOUT SITNALTA?


               Parinirvana, yes, whatsoever I talk about is Sitnalta, except the jokes. But there is a problem with
           jokes this time in this series. Atisha is against jokes. Hence I am not telling you too many jokes. It is
           really hard on me -- I get so tempted, but then I remember this old Atisha, and I have tremendous
           respect for him.
               He has a sutra which you will soon come to: "Don't tell wicked jokes." So... at first I was
           thinking to drop that sutra, but then I thought that would not be right.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #9
                                       Chapter title: Watching the Watcher
           19 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902190
              ShortTitle: WISDOM09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 109 mins




              GRASP THE PRINCIPLE OF TWO WITNESSES.
              ALWAYS RELY ON JUST A HAPPY FRAME OF MIND.

              EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE DISTRACTED, IF YOU CAN DO IT, IT IS STILL MIND TRAINING.
              ALWAYS OBSERVE THE THREE GENERAL POINTS.

              CHANGE YOUR INCLINATION AND THEN MAINTAIN IT.
              DO NOT DISCUSS DEFECTS.

              DON'T THINK ABOUT ANYTHING THAT CONCERNS OTHERS.
              TRAIN FIRST AGAINST THE DEFILEMENT THAT IS GREATEST.

              ABANDON ALL HOPES OF RESULTS.


              The first sutra:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GRASP THE PRINCIPLE OF TWO WITNESSES.

               It is one of the most important sutras, one of the very fundamentals of inner alchemy. Let it sink
           deep in your heart. It can transform you, it can give you a new birth, a new vision, a new universe. It
           has two meanings; both meanings have to be understood.
               The first meaning: there are two kinds of witnesses. One kind is the people that surround you.
           You are constantly aware that you are being watched, witnessed. It creates self-consciousness in you.
           Hence the fear when you are on a stage facing a big crowd. Actors feel it, poets feel it, orators feel it
           -- and not only the beginners but even those who have wasted their whole life in acting. When they
           come on the stage a great trembling arises in them, a great fear, as to whether they will be able to
           make it or not.
               With so many eyes watching you, you are reduced to an object. You are no more a subjectivity,
           you have become a thing. And you are afraid because they may not appreciate you. They may not
           feed your ego, they may not like you, they may reject you. Now you are in their hands. You are
           reduced to a dependent slave. Now you have to work in such a way that you will be appreciated. You
           have to buttress their egos, so that in response you can hope they will buttress your ego.
               When you are with your friends you are not so afraid. You know them, they are predictable, you
           depend on each other. But when you face the anonymous crowd, more fear arises. Your whole being
           starts trembling, your whole ego is at stake -- you can fail. Who knows? Your success is not
           guaranteed.
               This is the first kind of witness. Others are witnessing you, and you are just a beggar. This is the
           situation in which millions of people live. They live for others, hence they only appear to live, they
           don't live in reality. They are always adjusting to others, because they are happy only if others are
           happy with them. They are compromising constantly, they are selling their souls, for a simple reason
           -- so their ego can be strengthened, so that they can become famous, well known.
               Have you observed something of immense value, that whenever a poet, a novelist or a scientist
           gets a Nobel prize, immediately after that his creativity declines? No Nobel laureate has been able to
           produce anything valuable compared to the things that he created before he received it. What
           happens? Now you have attained the goal of the ego, there is no further to go, so there is no more
           need to adjust to people. Once a book becomes famous the author dies.
               That's what happened with Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. That's what happened with
           Rabindranath's Gitanjali. And that is almost the rule, not the exception. Once you are famous you
           stop compromising. For what? You are already famous. And when you stop compromising, people
           start neglecting you, ignoring you. Your whole creativity was rooted in the desire of the ego; now the
           ego feels at rest, all creativity disappears.
               This is the situation in which ninety-nine point nine percent of people live. You know only one
           kind of witness -- the other. And the other is always anxiety-creating.
               Jean-Paul Sartre rightly says, "The other is hell." The other does not allow you to relax. Why do
           you feel so relaxed in your bathroom, in your bathtub? -- because the other is not there. But relaxing
           in your bathtub, if you suddenly become aware that somebody is looking at you through the keyhole,
           suddenly all relaxation disappears. You are tense again. You are being watched.
               To create fear in people, down the ages, the priests have been telling you that God is constantly
           watching you -- constantly watching you, day in and day out. You may be asleep; he never sleeps, he
           goes on sitting by the bed and watching. He not only watches you, he watches your dreams and your
           thoughts too. So you are not only going to be punished for your acts, but for your dreams, for your
           thoughts, your desires and your feelings.
               The priests created great fear in people. Just think of God watching continuously. No moment,
           not even a single moment, is allowed when you can be yourself. That was a great strategy for
           reducing people to things.
               Why do we hanker for the attention of others? -- because as we are, we are hollow. As we are,
           we are NOT. As we are, we don't have a center of being. We are just noise, a crowd, a house full of
           servants quarreling with each other because the master is absent or fast asleep. We hanker for other
           people's attention so that at least we can create a pseudo-center. If the real is missing, at least we can
           depend on a pseudo-center. It will give you an appearance of togetherness, it will make you a person.
           You are not an individual -- individuality is the fragrance of a really centered being, one who knows
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who he is.
               But if you are not an individual, then at least you can be a person, you can attain personality.
           And personality has to be begged. Individuality is your innermost growth. It is a growth; you need
           not beg it from anybody else, and nobody can give it to you. Individuality is your unfoldment. But
           personality can be begged, people can give it to you -- in fact, only other people can give it to you.
               If you are alone in the forest you will not have any personality, remember. You will have
           individuality but no personality at all. If you are alone in the Himalayas, who are you -- a saint or a
           sinner? There is nobody to appreciate you or condemn you, there is nobody to make you famous or
           notorious, there is nobody except yourself. In your total aloneness, who are you? A sinner or a saint?
           A very very famous person, vvip, or just a nobody?
               You are neither. You are neither a very very important person nor a nobody, because for both the
           other is a must. The eyes of others are needed to reflect your personality. You are neither this nor
           that. You are, but you are in your reality; you are not created by others. You are as you are, in your
           utter nudeness, authenticity.
               This is one of the reasons why many people thought it wise to escape from the society. It was not
           really to escape from the society, it was not really against society, it was just an effort to renounce
           the personality.
               Buddha left his palace. He is not a coward and he is not an escapist, so why did he leave the
           palace? Rabindranath has written a beautiful poem about it. He left the palace; for twelve years he
           roamed in the forests, practiced and meditated. And the day of ultimate rejoicing came, he became
           enlightened. Naturally, the first thing that he remembered was that he had to go back to the palace to
           deliver the good news to the woman he had loved, to the child that he had left behind, to the old
           father who was still hoping that he would come back.
               It is so human, it touches the heart. After twelve years he returned. His father was angry, as
           fathers will be. His father could not see who he was, could not see what he had become, could not
           see his individuality which was so loud and so clear. The whole world was becoming aware of it, but
           his father was blind to it. He was still thinking about him in terms of the personality that was no
           longer there, that he had renounced the day he left the palace.
               In fact Buddha had to leave the palace just to renounce his personality. He wanted to know
           himself as he was, not what others were thinking about him. But the father was now looking into his
           face with the eyes of twelve years ago. He again said to Buddha, "I am your father, I love you --
           although you have hurt me deeply and have wounded me deeply. I am an old man, and these twelve
           years have been a torture. You are my only son, and I have somehow tried to live so that you could
           come back. Now you are back, take charge of the empire, be the king! Now let me rest, it is time for
           me to rest. You have committed a sin against me, and you have been almost murderous towards me,
           but I forgive you and my doors are still open."
               Buddha laughed. He said, "Sir, be a little more aware of whom you are talking with. The man
           who left the palace is no more; he died long ago. I am somebody else -- look at me!"
               And the father became even more angry. He said, "Do you want to deceive me? I don't know
           you? I know you more than you know yourself! I am your father, I have given birth to you, in your
           blood my blood circulates -- and I don't know you?"
               Buddha said, "Still I pray, sir.... You have certainly given birth to me. I came through you, that's
           true, but you were only a vehicle. And just because somebody has come riding on a horse, it does not
           mean that the horse knows the rider. I have passed through the doors of your body, but that does not
           mean that you know me. In fact, twelve years ago, even I did not know who I was. Now I know!
           Look into my eyes. Please forget the past -- be here now!"
               But the father was incapable. With his old eyes, full of tears of anger and joy, he could not see
           what had happened to Buddha. "What nonsense is he talking about, that he has died and is reborn,
           that he is a totally different individuality? That he is no more a personality, that he is an
           individuality?"
               In dictionaries, "personality" and "individuality" are synonyms. They are not synonymous in life.
           The personality is false, a pretension, a facade. Individuality is your truth.
               Why do we want many many people to give attention to us? Why do we hanker for this? To
           create personality. And the more personality you create around yourself, the less is the possibility of
           knowing your individuality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And when Buddha went to see his wife, she was even more angry. She asked only one question,
           a very significant one. She said, "I have only one question to ask you. I have waited for all these
           years, and I have only one question. The question is simple, but be honest." She still thinks that
           Buddha can be dishonest! "Be honest, be true, and just tell me one thing. Whatever you have attained
           in the forest, was it impossible to attain it here in the palace? Is God only in the forest and not here in
           the marketplace?"
           Her question is of tremendous significance.
               Buddha said, "Yes, the truth is as much here as it is there. But it would have been very difficult
           for me to know it here, because I was lost in a personality -- the personality of the prince, the
           personality of a husband, the personality of a father, the personality of a son. The personality was too
           much. I never left the palace really, I was only leaving my personality behind so that there would be
           nobody to remind me who I was, and I could answer the question 'Who am I?' on my own. I wanted
           to encounter myself. I was not interested in others' answers."
               But everybody else is interested in others' answers. How much you love it when somebody says,
           "You are so beautiful."
               Sarvesh was saying to Mukta, "I feel a little lost." Naturally. He is one of the best ventriloquists
           the world knows; he has lived the life of a showman -- always on the stage, lights flooding him from
           everywhere, thousands of people absolutely alert, watching what he is doing with great appreciation.
           He has talent, genius, and he has lived flooded with others' attentions.
               Now naturally in this commune nobody comes to say to him, "Sarvesh, you are great. Sarvesh
           you are this, you are that." He must be feeling a little bit lost. That is a problem for people who are
           public figures, it is very difficult for them to drop their personality.
               But he is trying, and I am certain that he will succeed. It is going to happen. On one hand he has
           hankered for the attention of others, but sooner or later you become tired of it too, because it is just
           artificial food. Maybe it tastes good, maybe its flavor is beautiful, but it does not nourish, it does not
           give you vitality.
               Personality is a showpiece. It can deceive others, but it cannot deceive you, at least not for long.
           That's why Sarvesh has come here, tired, exhausted by all the attention. But old habit persists a little
           longer. Sooner or later he will start enjoying himself, sooner or later he will start enjoying his
           individuality.
               And the day you can enjoy your individuality, you are free -- free from dependence on others. If
           you ask for their attention you have to pay for it in return. It is a bondage. The more you ask people
           to be attentive towards you, the more you are becoming a thing, a commodity, which can be sold and
           purchased.
               That's what happens to all public figures -- to politicians, to showbiz people. This is one kind of
           witnessing; you want to be witnessed. It gives you respectability, and in order to have respectability
           you will have to create character and morality. But all that character and all that morality is just
           hypocrisy. You create it with a motivation, so that others can be attracted towards you.
               If you want respectability you will have to be a conformist, you will have to be obedient to the
           society and its demands. You will have to live according to wrong values, because the society
           consists of people who are fast asleep -- their values cannot be right values.
               Yes, but there is one thing: you can become a saint. That's how thousands of your saints are.
           They have sacrificed everything at the altar of respectability. They have tortured themselves, they
           have been suicidal, but they have gained one thing. They have become saints, people worship them.
               If you want that kind of worship, respectability, sainthood, then you will become more and more
           false, more and more pseudo, more and more plastic. You will never be a real rose. And that is the
           greatest calamity in life that can happen to a man, to be a plastic rose and not to be a real rose.
               The second kind of witnessing is totally different, just the polar opposite. It is not that you hanker
           for others' attention; on the contrary, you start paying attention to yourself. You become a witness to
           your own being. You start watching your thoughts, desires, dreams, motives, greeds and jealousies.
           You create a new kind of awareness within you. You become a center, a silent center which goes on
           watching whatsoever is happening.
               You are angry, and you watch it. You are not just angry, a new element is introduced into it: you
           are watching it. And the miracle is that if you can watch anger, the anger disappears without being
           repressed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The first kind of saint will have to repress it. He will have to repress his sexuality, he will have to
           repress his greed. And the more you repress anything, the deeper it goes into your unconscious. It
           becomes part of your basement and it starts affecting your life from there. It is like a wound that is
           oozing with pus, but you have covered it. Just by covering it, you don't become healthy, it does not
           heal. In fact by covering it you are helping it to grow more and more. Your saints stink, stink of all
           kinds of repressions.
               The second kind of witnessing creates a totally different kind of person. It creates the sage. The
           sage is one who knows who he is, not according to others. The sage is one who lives a life according
           to his own nature, not according to others' values. He has his own vision and the courage to live it.
               The sage is rebellious. The saint is obedient, orthodox, conventional, traditional, conformist. The
           sage is nonconformist, nontraditional, nonconventional, rebellious. Rebellion is the very taste of his
           being. He is not dependent on others. He knows what freedom is, and he knows the joys of freedom.
           The saint will be followed by a big crowd. The sage will have only the chosen people who will be
           able to understand him.
               The sage will be misunderstood by the masses, the saint will be worshipped. The sage will be
           condemned by the masses, maybe even murdered. Jesus is crucified and the pope is worshipped.
           Jesus is a sage and the pope is a saint.
               The saint has character and the sage has consciousness. And there is a tremendous difference.
           They are as different as the earth and the sky. Character is imposed for some ulterior motives -- to
           gain respectability in this world and to have more and more heavenly pleasures. Consciousness has
           no future, no motivation, it is a joy unto itself. It is not a means to some end, it is an end unto itself.
               To be with a saint is to be with an imitator. To be with a sage is to be with something true and
           authentic. To be with a saint is to be with a teacher, at the most. To be with a sage is to be with a
           master. These are the two witnesses.
           Atisha says:
              GRASP THE PRINCIPLE OF TWO WITNESSES.
              Avoid the first and plunge into the second.

                There is another meaning to this sutra too. The other meaning is, first witness the objects of the
           mind. This is a higher meaning than the first. Witness the objects of the mind.
                Patanjali calls it dhyana, meditation -- from the same word come zen and CH'AN. Witness the
           objects, the contents, of the mind. Whatsoever passes before you, watch it, without evaluating,
           judging or condemning. Don't be for or against, just watch, and dhyana, meditation, is created.
                And the second is, witness the witness itself -- and samadhi is created, satori is created, the
           ultimate ecstasy is created. The first leads to the second. Start watching your thoughts but don't stop
           there. When thoughts have disappeared then don't think that you have arrived. One more thing has to
           be done, one more step. Now watch the watcher. Now just witness the witnessing. Nothing else is
           left, only you are. Just suddenly become aware of awareness itself, and then dhyana is transformed
           into samadhi. By watching the mind, the mind disappears. By watching the witness, the witness
           expands and becomes universal.
                The first is a negative step to get rid of the mind. The second is a positive step to get rooted in the
           ultimate consciousness -- call it God or nirvana or whatever you wish.
           The second sutra:
              ALWAYS RELY ON JUST A HAPPY FRAME OF MIND.

               If you are unhappy, that simply means that you have learned tricks for being unhappy, and
           nothing else. Unhappiness depends on the frame of your mind. There are people who are unhappy in
           all kinds of situations. They have a certain quality in their mind which transforms everything into
           unhappiness. If you tell them about the beauty of the rose they immediately start counting the thorns.
           If you say to them, "What a beautiful morning, what a sunny day!" they will look at you as if they
           are surprised by your statement. They will say, "So what! One day between two dark nights! It is
           only one day between two dark nights, so what is the big deal? Why are you looking so fascinated?"
               The same thing can be seen from a positive reference; then suddenly each night is surrounded by
           two days. And then suddenly it is a miracle that the rose is possible, that such a delicate flower is
           possible among so many thorns.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Everything is the same. All depends on what kind of frame you are carrying in your head.
           Millions of people are carrying crosses; naturally, obviously, they are burdened. Their life is a drag.
           Their frame is such that it immediately becomes focused on everything that is negative. It magnifies
           the negative; it is a morbid approach towards life, pathological. But they go on thinking, "What can
           we do? The world is such."
               No, the world is not such! The world is absolutely neutral. It has thorns, it has roses, it has
           nights, it has days. The world is utterly neutral, balanced, it has all. Now it depends on you as to
           what you choose. If you have decided to choose only the wrong, you will live in a wrong kind of
           world, because you will live in your own chosen world.
               That's how people create hell and heaven on the same earth. It looks very unbelievable that
           Buddha lived on this earth with the same kind of people, and lived in paradise. And you also live on
           the same earth with the same kind of people, and you live in hell.
               Now, there are two possibilities. The political mind says, "Change the world." The religious
           mind says, "Change the frame of your mind."
               Religion and politics are diametrically opposite. There is a possibility one day of a meeting of
           science and religion. Sooner or later, science and religion are bound to meet, because their approach
           is very similar. Maybe the direction is different -- science searches the outer, and religion the inner.
           But the search, the quality of the search, is the same. The spirit of the search is the same.
               But I don't see any possibility that politics and religion can ever meet. Politics always thinks the
           world is wrong; change the society, the economic structure, this and that, and everything will be
           okay. And religion says the world has always been the same and will remain the same; you can
           change only one thing -- the context of your mind, the space of your mind.
              ALWAYS RELY ON JUST A HAPPY FRAME OF MIND.

                Let it become one of the fundamental rules of your life. Even if you come across a negative, find
           something positive in it. You will always be able to find something. And the day you become skillful
           at finding the positive in the negative, you will dance with joy.
                Try it, try the new vision of life. Think in terms of optimism, don't be a pessimist. The pessimist
           creates hell around himself and lives in it -- you live in the world you create.
                Remember, there is not only one world, there are as many worlds as there are minds in the world.
           I live in my world, you live in your own world. They are not only different, they never overlap. They
           are utterly different, they exist on different planes.
                Atisha makes it a fundamental rule for his disciples to live in a happy frame of mind. Then you
           start turning each opportunity into a challenge for growth. For example, somebody insults you. Now
           it is so clear that you have been insulted, how can you practice a happy frame of mind now? Yes, it
           can be practiced. Insult a buddha and you will know.
                Gautam Buddha was insulted once. He was passing by a village, and the villagers were very
           against him. It was impossible for them to comprehend what he was teaching. Compared to the
           buddhas, the whole world is always very primitive, very unsophisticated, very stupid. The people
           gathered and insulted him very much.
                Buddha listened very silently and then he said, "If you are finished, can I take leave of you,
           because I have to reach the other village, and they must be waiting for me. If you are not finished,
           then when I return tomorrow morning you can come again and finish your job."
                One man from the crowd asked, "Have you not heard us? We have been insulting you, abusing
           you. We have been using all kinds of dirty words, anything that we can find."
                Buddha laughed. He said, "You have come a little too late -- you should have come ten years
           ago. Then I was in the same frame of mind as you are; then I would have replied, and replied well.
           But now this is simply an opportunity for me to be compassionate, to be meditative. I am thankful to
           you that you allowed me this opportunity. This is just a test -- a test of whether or not I have
           anything of the negative lurking anywhere in my unconscious mind.
                "And I am happy to declare to you, friends, that not even a single shadow of the negative has
           passed through my mind. I have remained utterly blissful, you have not been able to affect me in any
           way. And I am tremendously happy that you gave me such a great opportunity. Very few people are
           as kind as you are."
                This is how one should use situations, this is how a sannyasin should use negative opportunities
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for inner growth, for inner understanding, for meditativeness, for love, for compassion. And once
           you have learned this happy frame of mind, this positive vision of life, you will be surprised that the
           whole existence starts functioning in a totally different way. It starts mothering you. It starts helping
           you in every possible way, it becomes a great friend.
               And to know this is to know God. To know this, that existence mothers you, is to know God.
           There is no other God -- just this feeling, this tremendous feeling, this penetrating feeling, that the
           existence loves you, protects you, helps you and showers many many blessings on you; that the
           existence is graceful towards you, that you are not alienated, that you are not a stranger, that this is
           your home.
               To feel that "This existence is my home" is to know God.
           The third sutra:
              EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE DISTRACTED, IF YOU CAN DO IT, IT IS STILL MIND TRAINING.

               Yes, sometimes you will be distracted. You are not yet all buddhas -- there will be times when
           you will be distracted, there will be times when you will be dragged down by the negative, sucked in
           by the old habit. And by the time you know, it has already happened; you are miserable. The shadow
           has fallen on you, that sunlit peak has disappeared, you have fallen into the dark valley.
           Then what to do in those moments? Atisha says:
              EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE DISTRACTED, IF YOU CAN DO IT, IT IS STILL MIND TRAINING.

               What does he mean by "if you can do it?" This is of great importance. If you can be attentive to
           your inattention, if you can be aware that you have fallen into the trap of the negative, it is still
           meditation, it is still mind training, you are still growing.
               Yes, many times you will fall, it is natural. And many times you will forget, it is natural. And
           many times you will be trapped and it will take time for you to remember. But the moment you
           remember, remember TOTALLY. Wake up totally and say, "I have fallen."
               And see the difference. If you ask the ordinary religious person he will say, "Repent -- punish
           yourself." But Atisha is saying: If you are attentive, that's enough. Be attentive to your inattention,
           be aware that you have not been aware, that's all. No repentance is needed. Don't feel guilty; it is
           natural, it is human. To fall many times is not something to feel guilty about. To commit errors, to go
           astray, is part of our human frailty and limitations. So there is no need to repent.
               Repentance is ugly. It is like playing with your wound, fingering your wound. It is unnecessary,
           and not only unnecessary but harmful -- the wound may become septic, and fingering your wound is
           not going to help it heal either.
               If you have fallen, just know that you have fallen, with no guilt, with no repentance. There is no
           need to go anywhere to confess it, just knowing it is enough. And knowing it, you are helping your
           awareness to grow. Less and less will you fall, because knowing will become more and more strong
           in you.
           The fourth sutra:
              ALWAYS OBSERVE THE THREE GENERAL POINTS.

               What are the three general points? The first is regularity of meditativeness. Remember, it is very
           difficult to create meditation, it is very easy to lose it. Anything higher takes much arduous effort to
           create, but it can disappear within a moment. To lose contact with it is very easy.
               That is one of the qualities of the higher. It is like growing a roseflower -- just a little hard wind
           and the rose has withered and the petals have fallen, or some animal has entered the garden and the
           rose is eaten. It is very easy to lose it, and it was so long a journey to create it.
               And whenever there is a conflict between the higher and the lower, always remember, the lower
           wins easily. If you clash a roseflower with a rock, the roseflower is going to die, not the rock. The
           rock may not even become aware that there has been a clash, that it has killed something beautiful.
               Your whole past is full of rocks, and when you start growing a rose of awareness in you, there
           are a thousand and one possibilities of it being destroyed by your old rocks -- habits, mechanical
           habits. You will have to be very watchful and careful. You will have to walk like a woman who is
           pregnant. Hence the man of awareness walks carefully, lives carefully.
               And this has to be a regular phenomenon. It is not that one day you do a little meditation, then
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for a few days you forget about it, and then one day you do it again. It has to be as regular as sleep,
           as food, as exercise, as breathing. Only then will the infinite glory of God open its doors to you.
           So the first general point is: be regular.
               The second general point is: don't waste your time with the nonessential. Don't fool around.
           Millions of people are wasting their time with the nonessential, and the irony is that they know that it
           is nonessential. But they say, "What else to do?" They are not aware of anything more significant.
               People are playing cards, and if you ask them, "What are you doing?" they say they are killing
           time. Killing time? Time is life! So you are really killing life. And the time that you are killing
           cannot be recaptured again; once gone, it is gone forever.
               The man who wants to become a buddha has to drop the nonessential more and more, so that
           more energy is available for the essential. Take a look at your life, how many nonessential things
           you are doing -- and for what? And how long you have done them -- and what have you gained? Are
           you going to repeat the same stupid pattern your whole life? Enough is enough! Take a look,
           meditate over it. Say only that which is essential, do only that which is essential, read only that
           which is essential. And so much time is saved and so much energy is saved, and all that energy and
           time can easily be channeled towards meditation, towards inner growth, towards witnessing.
               I have never seen a man who is so poor that he cannot meditate. But people are engaged in
           foolish things, utterly foolish. They don't look foolish, because everybody else is also doing the
           same.
               But the seeker has to be watchful. Take more note of what you are doing, what you are doing
           with your life -- because to grow roses of awareness much energy will be needed, a reservoir of
           energy will be needed. All that is great comes only when you have extra energy. If your whole
           energy is wasted on the mundane, then the sacred will never be contacted.
               And the third general point is: don't rationalize your errors and mistakes. The mind tends to
           rationalize. If you commit some mistake, the mind says, "It had to be so, there were reasons for it. I
           am not responsible, the very situation made this happen." And the mind is very clever at
           rationalizing everything.
               Avoid rationalizing your own errors and mistakes, because if you rationalize you protect them.
           Then they will be repeated. Avoid rationalizing your errors. Stop rationalization completely.
           Reasoning is one thing, rationalization is totally another. Reasoning can be used for some positive
           purposes, but rationalization can never be used for any positive purpose.
               And you will be able to find when you are rationalizing, you can deceive others but you cannot
           deceive yourself. You know that you have fallen. Rather than wasting time in rationalizing and
           convincing yourself that nothing has gone wrong, put the whole energy into being aware.
               All these general points are to help you so that you can block the leaks of your energy. Otherwise
           God goes on pouring energy into you, and you have so many leakages that you are never full. Energy
           comes, but leaks out.
           The fifth sutra:
               CHANGE YOUR INCLINATION AND THEN MAINTAIN IT.

               Change your inclination from the mind to the heart. That is the first change. Think less, feel
           more. Intellectualize less, intuit more. Thinking is a very deceptive process, it makes you feel that
           you are doing great things. But you are simply making castles in the air. Thoughts are nothing but
           castles in the air.
               Feelings are more material, more substantial. They transform you. Thinking about love is not
           going to help, but feeling love is bound to change you. Thinking is very much loved by the ego,
           because the ego feeds on fictions. The ego cannot digest any reality, and thinking is a fictitious
           process. It is a kind of dreaming, a sophisticated dreaming. Dreams are pictorial and thinking is
           conceptual, but the process is the same. Dreaming is a primitive kind of thinking, and thinking is a
           civilized kind of dreaming.
               Change from the mind to the heart, from thinking to feeling, from logic to love.
               And the second change is from the heart to the being -- because there is a still deeper layer in you
           where even feelings cannot reach. Remember these three words: mind, heart, being. The being is
           your pure nature. Surrounding the being is feeling, and surrounding feeling is thinking. Thinking is
           far away from being but feeling is a little closer; it reflects some glory of the being. It is just as in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sunset the sun is reflected by the clouds and the clouds start having beautiful colors. They
           themselves are not the sun, but they are reflecting the light of the sun.
                Feelings are close to being, so they reflect something of the being. But one has to go beyond
           feelings too. Then what is being? It is neither thinking nor feeling, it is pure am-ness. One simply is.
                Thinking is very selfish and egoistic. Feeling is more altruistic, less egoistic. Being is no-ego,
           egolessness -- neither selfishness nor altruism but a spontaneity, a moment-to-moment
           responsiveness. One does not live according to oneself, one lives according to God, according to the
           whole.
                Feeling is half, and no half can ever satisfy you. Thinking and feeling are both halves and you
           will remain divided. Being is total, and only the total can bring contentment.
                And the ultimate, the fourth change, is from being to non-being. That is nirvana, enlightenment;
           one simply disappears, one simply is not. God is, enlightenment is. Light is, delight is, but there is
           nobody who is delighted. Neti neti: neither this nor that, neither existence nor nonexistence -- this is
           the ultimate state. Atisha is slowly slowly taking his disciples towards it.
                Let me repeat: from thinking to feeling, from feeling to being, from being to non-being, and one
           has arrived. One has disappeared and one has arrived. One is no more, for the first time. And for the
           first time one really is.
           The sixth sutra:
              DO NOT DISCUSS DEFECTS.

               The mind tends to discuss the defects of others. It helps the ego to feel good. Everybody is such a
           sinner; when everybody is such a sinner, comparatively one feels like a saint. When everybody is
           doing wrong, it feels good that "At least I am not doing that much wrong."
               Hence people talk about others' defects; not only do they talk about them, they go on magnifying
           them. That's why there is so much joy in gossiping. When the gossip passes from one hand to
           another hand, it becomes richer. And when it passes back again, something will be added to it. By
           the evening, if you come to know the gossip that you started in the morning, you will be surprised. In
           the morning it was just a molehill, now it is a mountain. People are very creative, really creative and
           inventive.
               Why are people so interested in gossiping about others, in finding fault with others, in looking
           into others' loopholes and defects? Why are people continuously trying to look through others'
           keyholes? The reason is, this helps to give them a better feeling about themselves. They become
           Peeping Toms, just to have a good feeling, "I am far better." There is a motivation. It is not just to
           help others -- it is not, whatsoever they say, notwithstanding what they say. The basic reason is, "If
           others are very ugly, then I am beautiful." They are following Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.

               I have heard: Mulla Nasruddin was staying in a hotel. A telegram had arrived from home and he
           was in a hurry to catch the train. He rushed. But when he reached downstairs and looked at his
           luggage the umbrella was missing. He had to go up to the room again and by the time he reached the
           fourteenth floor the room had already been given to somebody else -- a newlywed couple.
               Although he was in a hurry and he might miss the train if he lingered there a little longer, the
           temptation was great. So he looked through the keyhole to see what was happening.
               A newlywed couple -- they were also in a hurry, they had already waited too long; the marriage
           ceremony and the church and the guests and all that -- somehow they had got rid of all of them and
           they were lying naked on the bed, talking sweet nothings. And the young man was saying to the
           woman, "You have such beautiful eyes. I have never seen such beautiful eyes! To whom do these
           eyes belong?"
               And the woman said, "To you! To you, and only to you!"
               And so on, the list went on. "These beautiful hands, these beautiful breasts," and this and that --
           this went on and on. And Mulla had completely forgotten about the train and the taxi waiting
           downstairs. But then suddenly he remembered his umbrella. When the list was about to be
           completed, he said, "Wait! When you come to the yellow umbrella, that belongs to me."

               People are unconsciously doing many things. If they become conscious these things will drop.
           Atisha says: Don't ponder over others' defects, it is none of your business. Don't interfere in others'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lives, it is none of your business.
               But there are great moralists whose whole work is to see who is doing wrong. Their whole life is
           wasted; they are like police dogs sniffing here and there. Their whole life's work is to know who is
           doing wrong.
               Atisha says: That is an ugly trait and a sheer wastage of time and energy. Not only is it a wastage
           but it strengthens and gratifies the ego. And an ego more gratified becomes more of a barrier.
               And remember, it is not only a question of not discussing others' defects. Don't even be too much
           concerned about your own defects. Take note, be aware, and let the matter be settled then and there.
           There are a few other people who brag about their own defects....
               It is suspected by psychologists that Saint Augustine's autobiography, his confessions, are not
           true. He bragged about his defects. He was not that bad a person. But man is really unbelievable. If
           you start bragging about your qualities, then too, you go to extremes. If you start bragging about
           sins, then too, you go to the extreme. But in both ways you do only one thing.
               What Saint Augustine is doing is simple. By bragging about his defects and sins and all kinds of
           ugly things, he is preparing a context. Out of such a hell he rose and became a great saint. Now his
           saintliness looks far more significant than it would have looked if he had been simply a good person
           from the very beginning.
               And the same is the case with Mahatma Gandhi in India. In his autobiography he simply
           exaggerates about his defects and goes on talking about them. It helps him in a very vicarious way.
           He was so low, he was in such a seventh hell, and from there he started rising and became a great
           mahatma, a great saint. The journey was very arduous. This is very ego-fulfilling.
               Don't discuss others' defects, don't discuss your own defects. Take note, and that is that. Atisha
           says awareness is enough, nothing else is needed. If you are fully aware of anything, the fire of
           awareness burns it. There is no need for any other remedy.
              DON'T THINK ABOUT ANYTHING THAT CONCERNS OTHERS.

              And that's what you go on thinking. Ninety-nine percent of the things that you think about
           concern others. Drop them -- drop them immediately!
              Your life is short, and your life is slipping out of your fingers. Each moment you are less, each
           day you are less, and each day you are less alive and more dead! Each birthday is a death day; one
           more year is gone from your hands. Be a little more intelligent.
              DO NOT THINK ABOUT ANYTHING THAT CONCERNS OTHERS. TRAIN FIRST AGAINST THE
              DEFILEMENT THAT IS GREATEST.

                Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples -- the first thing, the very very first thing, "Find out what
           your greatest characteristic is, your greatest undoing, your central characteristic of unconsciousness."
           Each one's is different.
                Somebody is sex-obsessed. In a country like India, where for centuries sex has been repressed,
           that has become almost a universal characteristic; everybody is obsessed with sex. Somebody is
           obsessed with anger, and somebody else is obsessed with greed. You have to watch which is your
           basic obsession.
                So first find the main characteristic upon which your whole ego edifice rests. And then be
           constantly aware of it, because it can exist only if you are unaware. It is burnt in the fire of
           awareness automatically.
                And remember, remember always, that you are not to cultivate the opposite of it. Otherwise,
           what happens is a person becomes aware that "My obsession is anger, so what should I do? I should
           cultivate compassion." "My obsession is sex, so what should I do? I should practice brahmacharya,
           celibacy."
                People move from one thing to the opposite. That is not the way of transformation. It is the same
           pendulum, moving from left to right, from right to left. And that's how your life has been moving for
           centuries; it is the same pendulum.
                The pendulum has to be stopped in the middle. And that's the miracle of awareness. Just be
           aware that "This is my chief pitfall, this is the place where I stumble again and again, this is the root
           of my unconsciousness." Don't try to cultivate the opposite of it, but pour your whole awareness into
           it. Create a great bonfire of awareness, and it will be burned. And then the pendulum stops in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           middle.
              And with the stopping of the pendulum, time stops. You suddenly enter into the world of
           timelessness, deathlessness, eternity.
           And the last sutra:
              ABANDON ALL HOPES OF RESULTS.

               The ego is result-oriented, the mind always hankers for results. The mind is never interested in
           the act itself, its interest is in the result. "What am I going to gain out of it?" If the mind can manage
           to gain, without going through any action, then it will choose the shortcut.
               That's why educated people become very cunning, because they are able to find shortcuts. If you
           earn money through a legal way, it may take your whole life. But you can earn money by smuggling,
           by gambling or by something else -- by becoming a political leader, a prime minister, a president --
           then you have all the shortcuts available to you. The educated person becomes cunning. He does not
           become wise, he simply becomes clever. He becomes so cunning that he wants to have everything
           without doing anything for it.
               The mind, the ego, are all result-oriented. The being is not result-oriented. And how can the
           non-being ever be result-oriented? It is not there at all in the first place.
               Meditation happens only to those who are not result-oriented.
           There is an ancient story:
               A man was very much interested in self-knowledge, in self-realization. His whole search had
           been to find a master who could teach him meditation. He went from one master to another, but
           nothing was happening.
               Years went by, he was tired, exhausted. Then someone told him, "If you really want to find a
           master you will have to go to the Himalayas. He lives in some unknown parts of the Himalayas; you
           will have to search for him. One thing is certain, he is there. Nobody knows exactly where, because
           whenever somebody comes to know of him he moves from that place and goes even deeper into the
           Himalayan ranges."
               The man was getting old, but he gathered courage. For two years he had to work to earn money
           for the journey, then he made the journey. It is an old story. He had to ride on camels and horses and
           then go on foot, and then he reached the Himalayas. People said, "Yes, we have heard about the old
           man, very ancient he is, one cannot say how old -- maybe three hundred years old, or even five
           hundred years old; nobody knows. He lives somewhere, but the location cannot be given to you.
           Nobody is aware of where exactly you will find him, but he is there. If you search hard you are
           bound to find him."
               The man searched and searched and searched. For two years he was roaming in the Himalayas --
           tired, exhausted, dead exhausted, living only on wild fruits, leaves and grass. He had lost much
           weight. But he was intent that he had to find this man; even if it took his life, it would be worth it.
               And can you imagine? One day he saw a small hut, a grass hut. He was so tired that he was not
           even able to walk, so he crawled. He reached the hut. There was no door; he looked in, there was
           nobody inside. And not only was there nobody inside, but there was every sign that for years there
           had been nobody inside.
               You can think what would have happened to that man. He fell on the ground. Out of sheer
           tiredness he said, "I give up." He was lying there under the sun in the cool breeze of the Himalayas,
           and for the first time he started feeling so blissful, he had never tasted such bliss! Suddenly he started
           feeling full of light. Suddenly all thoughts disappeared, suddenly he was transported -- and for no
           reason at all, because he had not done anything.
               And then he became aware that somebody was leaning over him. He opened his eyes. A very
           ancient man was there. And the old man, smiling, said, "So you have come. Have you something to
           ask me?"
           And the man said, "No."
           And the old man laughed, a great belly laugh which was echoed by the valleys. And he said, "So
           now you know what meditation is?"
           And the man said, "Yes."

              What had happened? That assertion which came from his deepest core of being -- "I give up" --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in that very giving up, all goal-oriented mind efforts and endeavors disappeared. "I give up." In that
           very moment he was no more the same person. And bliss showered on him. He was silent, he was a
           nobody, and he touched the ultimate stratum of non-being. Then he knew what meditation is.
           Meditation is a non-goal-oriented state of mind.
           This last sutra is tremendously significant:
              ABANDON ALL HOPES OF RESULTS.

               And then there is no need to go anywhere, God will come to you. Deep down say, "I give up."
           And silence descends, benediction showers.
               Meditate over these sutras, they are meant only for meditators. Atisha is not a philosopher, he is
           a siddha, a buddha. What he is saying is not some speculation. These are clear-cut instructions given
           only to those who are ready to travel, to go on the pilgrimage into the unknown.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                   Chapter #10
                                    Chapter title: Miracles are your Birthright
           20 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902200
              ShortTitle: WISDOM10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS SO ATTRACTIVE ABOUT MISSING?


               Devaraj, it has a tremendous attraction, because it is only through missing that the ego can
           survive. It is only through searching, seeking, desiring, that the ego exists; it exists in the tension
           between that which is and that which should be.
               The moment the "should" disappears, the ego collapses. Hence all ethical systems, all moralities,
           are nourishments for the ego. The moral man is the most egoistic man in the world. And the
           mechanism is very simple. Seeking, searching, you live in the future, which is not; and the ego can
           exist only with that which is not, because it itself is not.
               If you are in the moment, in the present, the ego has no possibility of surviving even for a single
           moment. The present is and the ego is not, like light is and darkness is not. Bring light in, and
           darkness disappears. Even to say that it disappears is not right, because it was not there in the first
           place, so how can it disappear? It was a pure absence. The absence of light, that's what darkness is.
               The absence of the present, that's what the ego is. Not to be herenow, that's what the ego is -- not
           to be herenow, to be somewhere else, seeking and searching for a faraway goal, looking at a faraway
           distant star. The farther away the goal, the bigger the ego.
               Hence people who are not worldly have bigger egos than the so-called poor worldly people.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Spiritual people have bigger egos, naturally; their goal is very far away, distant, beyond death, above
           the seven skies. God is their goal, or moksha or nirvana -- goals which look almost impossible.
               The possible goal can give you only a small ego, and that too only for the time being. Once the
           goal is achieved you will start feeling frustrated. That's what happens every day. You wanted a
           beautiful house, now you have got it, and suddenly frustration sets in. The ego needs a new goal to
           survive; now it starts fantasizing about a bigger palace.
               You were seeking and searching for a woman; now you have got her, and the moment you have
           got her you are finished with her. It may take a few days for you to recognize the fact, that is another
           matter, but you are finished with her. Now your ego needs another woman so that the journey can
           continue.
               The ego is constantly journeying from the present to some nonexistential future. If you ask me,
           this is my definition of samsara, the world. The ego journeying from the present to the future is the
           world. And the ego not journeying at all, simply being herenow, is the end of samsara: you are in
           nirvana, samadhi, enlightenment. Hence enlightenment cannot be reduced to a goal. If you reduce it
           to a goal, you have missed the whole point.
               All the buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be -- don't try to
           become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is
           enlightenment, becoming is ignorance. But you have been taught to become this, to become that.
           And the mind is so cunning, and the ways of the ego are so subtle that it even turns God, nirvana,
           enlightenment, truth, into goals; it starts asking how to achieve them. They are not to be achieved,
           they cannot be achieved; the achieving mind is the only barrier. They are already here. You have to
           drop the achieving mind, you have to forget journeying from this point to that, you simply have to
           relax and be, and all is attained.
               Lao Tzu calls it wu-wei, action without action. You have not moved a single inch, and you have
           arrived; this is wu-wei. You have not gone anywhere, you have not even thought of going anywhere,
           and you are already there. Suddenly the recognition comes, "I never lost the home, I only fell asleep
           and started dreaming about achieving."
               Those who give you goals are your enemies. Those who tell you what to become and how to
           become it, are the poisoners. The real master simply says, "There is nothing to become. You are
           already that, it is already the case. Stop running after shadows. Sit silently and BE. Sitting silently,
           doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
           The second question:

           OSHO,

              BECAUSE I AM ONLY A BEGINNER IN THE SEARCH FOR REALITY, COULD YOU DEFINE FOR
              ME THE FOUR TERMS: TRUTH, GOD, SPIRITUAL, FACT.


               Ken Jones, if you are only a beginner in the search, please come back, don't go ahead. Don't
           become more of an expert in the spiritual search, because the experts are the losers. Don't become
           more knowledgeable, become more innocent. Drop all that you know, forget all that you know.
           Remain wondering, but don't transform your wondering into questions, because once the wonder is
           changed into a question, sooner or later the question will bring knowledge. And knowledge is a false
           coin.
               From the state of wonder, there are two paths. One is of questioning -- the wrong path -- it leads
           you into more and more knowledge. The other is not of questioning but enjoying. Enjoy the wonder,
           the wonder that life is, the wonder that existence is, the wonder of the sun and the sunlight and the
           trees bathed in its golden rays. Experience it. Don't put in a question mark, let it be as it is.
               Remain ignorant if you ever want to become enlightened. Remain innocent, childlike, if you ever
           want a communion with existence and reality. Remain in wonder if you want the mysteries to open
           up for you. Mysteries never open up for those who go on questioning. Questioners sooner or later
           end up in a library. Questioners sooner or later end up with scriptures, because scriptures are full of
           answers.
               And answers are dangerous, they kill your wonder. They are dangerous because they give you
           the feeling that you know, although you know not. They give you this misconception about yourself
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that now questions have been solved. "I know what The Bible says, I know what the Koran says, I
           know what the Gita says. I have arrived." You will become a parrot; you will repeat things but you
           will not know anything. This is not the way to know -- knowledge is not the way to know.
                Then what is the way to know? Wonder. Let your heart dance with wonder. Be full of wonder:
           throb with it, breathe it in, breathe it out. Why be in such a hurry for the answer? Can't you allow a
           mystery to remain a mystery? I know there is a great temptation not to allow it to remain a mystery,
           to reduce it to knowledge. Why is this temptation there? -- because only if you are full of knowledge
           will you be in control.
                Mystery will control you, knowledge will make you the controller. Mystery will possess you.
           You cannot possess the mysterious; it is so vast and your hands are so small. It is so infinite, you
           cannot possess it, you will have to be possessed by it -- and that is the fear. Knowledge you can
           possess, it is so trivial; knowledge you can control.
                This temptation of the mind to reduce every wonder, every mystery, to a question, is basically
           fear-oriented. We are afraid, afraid of the tremendousness of life, of this incredible existence. We are
           afraid. Out of fear we create some small knowledge around ourselves as a protection, as an armor, as
           a defense.
                It is only cowards who reduce the tremendously valuable capacity of wondering to questions.
           The really brave, the courageous person, leaves it as it is. Rather than changing it into a question, he
           jumps into the mystery. Rather than trying to control it, he allows the mystery to possess him.
                And the joy of being possessed, and the benediction of being possessed, is invaluable. You
           cannot imagine what it is, you have never dreamt about it -- because to be possessed by the mystery
           is to be possessed by God.
                Ken Jones, you say: "Because I am only a beginner...."
                You are fortunate that you are only a beginner. There are many who have become experts; they
           will have to come back home, and it is going to be a long long arduous journey. They have
           accumulated so much knowledge that dropping it is going to be a difficult task. If you are really a
           beginner, be happy. You have not gone far away, you are just beginning. Come back.
                There is no need to define these beautiful words, because they are not only words. You want me
           to define truth. Do you know, has anybody ever defined truth? Is it definable at all? What is a
           definition? A definition means a tautology -- you put the same words in a different way. What are
           your definitions, in fact? Synonyms.
                Just look at your definitions and you will find you have been paraphrasing. But how can
           paraphrasing define anything? The second thing that you think is the definition, in its own turn needs
           another definition. Definitions are either tautologies or just stupid.
                For example, ask what the mind is and the knowers, the knowledgeable, say, "It is not matter."
           And then ask them, "What is matter?" And they say, "It is not mind." What kind of defining is going
           on? Mind is not matter; this becomes a definition. Matter is not mind; this becomes a definition.
           Both remain indefinable; you have not defined anything, you have simply shifted the problem from
           one place to another.
           You can befool only fools.
                And the truth means the whole, all that is, the total. All that is -- how can you define it? It is
           unbounded, infinite. Definition means drawing a line around it, locating it, saying, "This is it." But
           there is no way to define truth, because there is no way to draw a line around it. It is infinite, it is
           eternal, it has no beginning, no end.
                People who have tried to define truth say, "Truth is that which is." But that is tautology. The
           question remains the same, the mystery remains unsolved. "Truth is that which is" -- what have you
           added? Have you made it a little simpler than before? You can call it "that which is" or you can call
           it truth, or you can call it God, but you are simply using names, words, labels, for something which is
           basically indefinable.
                Truth cannot be defined, although it can certainly be experienced. But experience is not a
           definition. A definition is made by the mind, experience comes through participating. If somebody
           asks, "What is a dance?" how can you define it? But you can dance and you can know the inner feel
           of it.
                God is the ultimate dance. You will have to learn ecstatic dancing to experience God. God is the
           dance where the dancer disappears. Then the experience arrives, showers on you, and you KNOW.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           But that knowing is not knowledge, that knowing is wisdom.
                Truth cannot be defined. Lao Tzu says if you define it you have already made it untrue. He lived
           a long life; it must have been really long because the story is that for eighty-two years he lived in his
           mother's womb, so when he was born he was already eighty-two years old. Then if he lived for at
           least eighty-two more years, he must have lived very long. But he never wrote a single word.
                His whole life his disciples were again and again asking, requesting, "Write something. You are
           getting older and older and older, and one day you will have to leave the body. Leave your last
           testament." But he would laugh and not say a thing, or he would keep silent as if he had not heard.
                Then when he became very old, he started moving towards the Himalayas. He said to his
           disciples, "Now I am going to the Himalayas, never to return again. My whole life I have been a
           wanderer, and the Himalayas are the best place to die. I lived beautifully, I lived the most ecstatic
           life possible. I would also like to die most ecstatically, most aesthetically. I would like to die in the
           silence of the Himalayas, in those beautiful mountains."
                When he was leaving the border of China, the guard at the border prevented him. He said, "I
           won't allow you to leave the country unless you write something." He must have been a very
           perceptive man, the guard. The world is in his debt for one of the greatest things that has ever been
           written -- the Tao Te Ching. There is no other book comparable to it.
                Finding no way to avoid it, because the guard wouldn't allow him to go and he wanted to leave
           the country as fast, as quickly, as possible -- death was coming closer and he wanted to die in the
           silence of the Himalayas -- compelled to write, he sat in the guard's room for three days and
           completed the book, Tao Te Ching.
                But the first thing that he wrote was, "Tao cannot be said. Once said, it is no more Tao."
                You can understand what he means. He is saying that if you read the first statement, there is no
           need to go any further. "Truth cannot be said. Once said, it is no more true" -- this is his declaration.
           Now, if you understand, the book is finished. What can be said about the truth? Yes, it can be lived,
           experienced. You can love, live, be -- but definition is not possible. If you want definitions you will
           have to go to a university. Professors define what truth is, and each professor of philosophy defines it
           in his own way, and there are millions of definitions, and all are false. No definition can ever be true.
                What to say about truth -- even the small experiences of life cannot be defined. What is love? Or
           what is the taste of sugar on your tongue? How to define it? What is beauty when you see it in a
           lotus flower?
                One of the greatest modern philosophers, G.E. Moore, has written a book, Principia Ethica, in
           which he tries to define what good is. Of course, that is the first question in the world of ethics: what
           is good? And for two hundred or two hundred and fifty pages, he tries hard this way and that, and
           cannot define it. And he was one of the most perceptive people this century has produced.
                Defeated, tired, exhausted, in the end he says good is indefinable. It is as indefinable as the color
           yellow. If somebody asks, "What is yellow?" -- there is a marigold flower, and somebody asks, "You
           call it yellow? What is yellow?" -- how are you going to define it? What more can you say? Yellow
           is yellow, good is good, beauty is beauty. But these are tautologies; you are not defining anything,
           you are simply repeating words.
           What is truth? There is no way to define it.
                I am not teaching philosophy to you, I am sharing my truth with you. Don't ask for definitions. If
           you have the courage, then take a plunge into the experience that is made available here: take a jump
           into meditation, and you will know. And still, even when you know, you will not be able to define it.
           And you ask, "What is God?"
                That is another name for truth -- the lover's name. "Truth" is the name given by the meditator to
           totality. "God" is the name given to totality, to truth, by a lover, by a devotee. Both arrows point to
           the same phenomenon, but the lover can't think in terms of abstract words. "Truth" is very abstract:
           you cannot hug truth, can you? You cannot kiss truth -- or can you? You cannot say hello to truth,
           you cannot hold hands with truth. "Truth" is impersonal; it is the word given by the meditator who
           does not want to bring any personality into it.
                "God" is the name given out of love, out of a personal relationship with existence. The lover
           wants to say "Thou," the lover wants to say "Hi," the lover wants to have a communion, a dialogue.
           It is the same totality, but the lover makes it personal. Then truth becomes God.
           And you ask, "What is spiritual?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               To be in relationship with truth or God is to be spiritual. Remember, to be in relationship -- not to
           talk about spirituality, not to follow a certain creed, dogma, church, but to be in direct immediate
           relationship with existence is spirituality. To be in tune with the whole, to feel the harmony and the
           joy and the sheer celebration of being here, that is spirituality. It has nothing to do with going to the
           church or the temple, it has nothing to do with reciting the Koran or The Bible or the Gita. It has
           nothing to do with any kind of worship ritual, it has something to do with communion -- communion
           with the trees, communion with the stars, communion with the rivers, communion with all that is. It
           is communion with this multidimensional expression of God, it is having a dialogue with the whole.
           The quality of mad love is needed, then you are spiritual. Spirituality is not a head trip; it is a
           heart-to-heart dialogue, and ultimately a being-to-being dialogue.
           And fourth, you ask, "What is a fact?"
               A fact is the truth seen with unawareness, seen with blindness, seen with closed eyes, seen
           unintelligently, unmeditatively. Then the truth becomes a fact.
               For example, you come across a buddha. If you look at him unconsciously he is just a fact, a
           historical fact; he is born on a certain day and is going to die on a certain day. He is the body that
           you can see with your eyes; he is a certain person, a personality. History can take note of him, you
           can have a picture of him.
               But if you look, not with unconsciousness but with great consciousness, with awareness, with
           great light, silence, then the fact is no longer there -- there is truth. Then Buddha is not somebody
           who is born on a certain date, he is somebody who is never born and is never going to die. Then
           Buddha is not the body, the body is just an abode. Then Buddha is not the confined being that
           appears to you, he represents the total, the whole. Then Buddha is a ray of the infinite, a gift of the
           beyond to the earth. Then suddenly the fact has disappeared; now there is truth.
               But history can take no note of truth; history consists of facts. In India we have two different
           systems. One we call history; history takes note of the facts. Another we call purana, mythology; it
           takes note of the truth. We have not written histories about Buddha, Mahavira or Krishna, no. That
           would have been dragging something immensely beautiful into the muddy unconsciousness of
           humanity. We have not written histories about these people, we have written myths. What is a myth?
           A myth is a parable, a parable that only points to the moon but says nothing about it -- a finger
           pointing to the moon, an indication, an arrow, saying nothing.
               Go to a Jaina temple and you will be surprised. You will find twenty-four statues of twenty-four
           great enlightened masters, the twenty-four TIRTHANKARAS. And the most striking thing will be
           this, that they all look absolutely alike. This is impossible -- there are not even two persons
           absolutely alike in the world, not even twins are absolutely alike. So how was it possible -- and the
           time span is big, thousands of years -- for twenty-four tirthankaras to be exactly alike?
               This is not history. These statues don't depict the real persons, no, not at all. They are not
           pictorial representations. Then what are they? They represent something of the inner, they represent
           something of meditativeness, they represent something of inner stillness, something of the being.
           Those twenty-four statues are just representations, visible representations, of something which is
           invisible.
               Sitting before these statues, if you silently go on watching, you will be surprised. Something
           starts happening inside you. The statue is a form of objective art; it synchronizes with the inner form
           of your being. The posture of the statue synchronizes with your posture. If you sit in the same
           posture -- with erect spine, half-opened eyes, just looking at the tip of your nose, doing nothing, as if
           you are also a marble statue, all white, within and without -- then you will know that you are not
           facing ordinary statues, you are confronting great symbols. This is mythology.
               Mythology is bound to be poetic, because only poetry can give a few glimpses of the unknown.
               It is said that wherever Buddha moved, trees would start blooming out of season. Now, this is
           poetry, pure poetry; it did not happen as a fact. But this shows something; there is no other way to
           say it. It says whenever Buddha is contacted, even trees start blooming out of season -- so what to
           say about man?
               It is said that wherever Mohammed would move in the desert's hot sun, and there was fire
           everywhere, a small cloud, a white cloud, would go on moving above him just to give him shade like
           an umbrella. This is poetry, beautiful, but it is not a historical fact. A man like Mohammed is
           protected by existence, a man like Mohammed is in every way cared for by existence. One who has
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           surrendered to existence is bound to be cared for by existence. One who has trusted totally, how can
           existence be uncaring about him? To say this, there is this metaphor of the cloud just hanging over
           his head wherever he would go.
               Jesus dies on the cross, and then after three days is resurrected. This is poetry, not history. This is
           not fact, this is truth. It simply says that those who die in God and for God attain to eternal life.
           Those who are ready to die for God are resurrected on another plane of being; they lose the physical
           body but they gain the luminous body. They are no more part of the earth but they become part of
           the sky; they disappear from time but they appear in eternity.
               But all the religions have been trying to prove that these are facts. And in trying to prove that
           these are facts they have simply proved that they are fools. These are not facts, these are symbolic
           truths.
               Whatsoever you see around you is a fact. You see a tree, a green tree, full of sap and flowers -- it
           is a fact. But if you meditate and one day suddenly your eyes open, open to the real, and the tree is
           no more just a tree -- the green of it is nothing but God green in it, and the sap running through it is
           no more a physical phenomenon but something spiritual -- if one day you can see the being of the
           tree, the God of the tree, that the tree is only a manifestation of the divine, you have seen the truth.
               Truth needs meditative eyes. If you don't have meditative eyes, then the whole of life is just dull
           dead facts, unrelated to each other, accidental, meaningless, a jumble, just a chance phenomenon. If
           you see the truth, everything falls into line, everything falls together in a harmony, everything starts
           having significance.
               Remember always, significance is the shadow of truth. And those who live only in facts live an
           utterly meaningless life.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

               YOU HAVE SAID THAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS ALWAYS TOTAL, NEVER PARTIAL. STILL YOU
               COMPARE YOUR STATE OF NO-MIND WITH AN ORCHESTRA WHILE THAT OF KRISHNAMURTI
               IS COMPARED WITH THAT OF A SINGLE FLUTE PLAYER. HAS NOT THE ENLIGHTENED ONE
               ACCESS TO ALL KNOWLEDGE? WHY THAT TUNNEL VISION OF KRISHNAMURTI?


                Henk Faassen, enlightenment is always total. If it is an orchestra it is a total orchestra, if it is only
           a solo flute then it is an absolutely total solo flute. Existence is always total, so is enlightenment
           always total. The small flower is as total as the sun. Totality is a totally different phenomenon than
           quantity; it is concerned with quality.
                Krishnamurti's solo flute is as total as my orchestra, my orchestra is not more total. Totality
           cannot be more or less. You think in terms of quantity, that's why the question has arisen. I am
           talking about quality. Each act of the enlightened person is total. Whether he is drinking tea or
           painting a great painting, playing music or just sitting silently doing nothing, each act is total.
           Krishnamurti is a solo flute player -- and a few solo flute players are needed as much as orchestras
           are needed. They enhance the beauty of existence, they make life richer.
                Drop your mind that goes on comparing in terms of quantity. Raise your level of consciousness a
           little higher and start thinking of quality, and then there is no problem.
                Krishnamurti is doing what he can do best. I would not like him to become an orchestra, no. That
           would impoverish the world. He should go on doing what he is doing; that gives color to life,
           variety.
                I cannot become a solo flute player -- not that it is not beautiful, but it is simply not my way. I
           enjoy being an orchestra. I would like Atisha to play with me, and Bahauddin and Kabir and Nanak
           and Lao Tzu and Zarathustra and many many more. I would like to play with them all and become
           part of this orchestra.
                This is my way. There is nothing higher or lower. Once you are enlightened, there is nothing
           higher or lower; there cannot be. If a lotus flower becomes enlightened it will be a lotus flower. If a
           rose becomes enlightened it will be a rose. They both have the same quality of being enlightened, but
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the rose will remain a rose and the lotus will remain a lotus.
                You ask me, "You have said that enlightenment is always total, never partial."
                Yes, it is never partial. And Krishnamurti is not a partial flute player. He is a total flute player; he
           is totally in his act, utterly in his act. He says he is fortunate that he has not read the Vedas, The
           Bible, the Koran, the Upanishads, Tao Te Ching. Why? -- because they might have disturbed him,
           might have left a few traces behind, might have become part of his being. He wants to be simply
           himself, in utter purity.
                My approach is totally different. I would like to have as big a company of enlightened people
           with me as possible. It is a difficult company, because they are all such different people; to become a
           host to all of them is troublesome. But I enjoy it. The more troublesome it is, the more I enjoy it. It is
           a beautiful challenge. You cannot understand how difficult it is to have Buddha, Mahavira,
           Mohammed and Moses staying together with you. Mahavira stands naked, and Buddha does not like
           it at all. And because Buddha is not naked, Mahavira is not happy either. To have all these people
           stay with you is a great challenge.
                Krishnamurti lives alone. It has its own challenge, but that is not my choice. I am not saying that
           my choice has to be his choice, I am not saying that he has to do what I am doing. I am perfectly
           happy doing my thing, and I am perfectly happy that he is doing his thing.
                Many people have asked me questions saying that I have spoken on dead masters, so many, but
           why don't I sometimes speak on a living master?
                Let Krishnamurti die, then I will speak on him. There is a reason for it. I know how difficult it is
           even to keep so many dead masters together, but you can manage with dead masters -- if I tell
           Mahavira to stand in this corner, he has to stand in this corner. But a living master won't listen; he
           will start meddling, he will start arguing with others. And sometimes I need a little sleep too.
                You say, "Has not the enlightened one access to all knowledge?"
                Enlightenment has nothing to do with knowledge at all. The enlightened one has no access to
           knowledge. Yes, he has every access to innocence -- and Krishnamurti playing his flute is as
           innocent as I am with my orchestra. It is not a question of knowledge, it is a question of wisdom.
           Wisdom is a totally different phenomenon -- wisdom is innocence. You can even call it ignorance,
           that will do, but please don't call it knowledge. It is closer to ignorance than to knowledge.
                Socrates is reported to have said in his last days, "I know only one thing, that I know nothing."
           This is enlightenment, knowing only one thing, "I know nothing." The moment all knowledge
           disappears, the ego disappears, the personality disappears, then the separation between you and
           existence disappears. Again you are clean, pure, one with the whole.
                And you also ask, "Why that tunnel vision of Krishnamurti?"
                That you have to ask Krishnamurti, not me. That is not my business. He loves it, that's how he
           has grown. For centuries, for many many lives, he has been moving towards a tunnel vision. And the
           tunnel vision has its own beauties, because whatsoever you see, you see very clearly because your
           eyes are focused.
                Hence the clarity of Krishnamurti. Nobody has ever been so clear, so crystal clear. Nobody has
           ever been so logical, so rational; nobody has ever been so analytical. His profundity in going into
           things and their details is simply unbelievable. But that is part of his tunnel vision. You cannot have
           everything, remember. If you want clarity you will need tunnel vision; you will have to become more
           and more focused on less and less.
                That's how they define science: "Knowing more and more about less and less." And if science
           ever succeeds in its ultimate goal, then we will have to say, "Knowing everything about nothing."
           That can be the only logical conclusion of knowing more and more about less and less. Where will it
           lead? It will lead to a point where you know all about nothing.
                Science is a tunnel vision. Krishnamurti is a scientific individuality, very scientific. Hence his
           appeal for all those who love analysis, dissection, who love going into minute details. He is just the
           opposite of Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu says, "Everybody seems to be so clear; only I am confused."
                A man of the quality of Lao Tzu, a man of ultimate enlightenment, saying this: "Everybody
           seems to be so clear about everything, except me. I am so confused, I am so muddle-headed, that I
           don't know what is what. Everybody walks with such certainty, and I hesitate at each step.
           Everybody goes so straight, without looking sideways. And I walk like a man in winter crossing a
           cold, icy cold stream."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Lao Tzu is just the opposite of J. Krishnamurti. He has no tunnel vision. His vision is so wide, so
           spread out, it cannot be very clear. It is bound to be hazy, misty, but that too has its own beauty.
           Krishnamurti's statements have logic. Lao Tzu's statements have poetry.
               My vision is even wider than Lao Tzu's. I include Lao Tzu and many more. Obviously Lao Tzu
           could not have included me. Twenty-five centuries have passed; in those twenty-five centuries great
           enlightened people have happened on the earth. I claim the whole heritage, as nobody has ever
           claimed before.
               Lao Tzu had never heard about Krishna, Lao Tzu had never heard about Patanjali. Patanjali had
           never heard about Lao Tzu or Chuang Tzu or Lieh Tzu. Buddha had no awareness of Zarathustra or
           Moses.
               Now the world has become a small village, a global village, and the whole history of humanity is
           ours. I am in a totally different situation. I know everything about Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu,
           Confucius, Mencius, Milarepa, Marpa, Tilopa, Naropa, Bodhidharma, Mahakashyap, Sariputra,
           Mahavira, Adinatha, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Francis, Kabir, Nanak, Dadu, Meera, Rabiya -- all. The
           whole world is available to me.
               I see the whole sky, all the stars, all the constellations; my vision is bound to be the most poetic.
           But the deeper you go into poetry, the less and less logical it becomes. The deeper you go into
           poetry, it becomes more and more love-like and less and less like logic. At the very rock bottom of
           poetry, all clarity disappears. Nothing is clear, but everything is beautiful, everything is mysterious.
           Nothing is clear but everything is simply fantastic.
               Krishnamurti has his way, and I am happy that he is in the world. He is at the other extreme. If he
           is gone, I will miss him more than anybody else in the world.
               But I can understand your question, Henk Faassen. This is not the only question; you have asked
           many more about the same thing. It seems it has hurt you deeply that I criticized Krishnamurti. You
           don't understand me yet. This is my way of paying respects to him. This is my way of declaring that
           there exists another enlightened person in the world.
               If my orchestra does not suit you, then the only alternative possible is the solo flute-playing of J.
           Krishnamurti. There is no other, no third person who can be of any help to you. Either Krishnamurti
           or me -- there is no other alternative. Right now there is no other alternative.
               Krishnamurti is bound to criticize me; I can understand it. His standpoint is simple and clear, my
           standpoint is a little more unclear. Sometimes I will appreciate him tremendously, because I would
           like him to also become part of my orchestra. And sometimes I will criticize him, because my own
           liking is not for solo flutes.

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I FEEL YOU SHARE A LOT OF ESOTERIC POINTS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO WAY OF
              VALIDATING WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF HEARING ABOUT THE
              SIXTH OR THE SIXTEENTH JAINA TIRTHANKARA, OR OTHER ESOTERIC INFORMATION, TO
              THE PERSON IN OSHKOSH OR BROOKLYN GOING TO WORK ON THE CROWDED BUS OR
              SUBWAY EVERY DAY? WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF HEARING THAT JESUS WAS ONCE IN
              INDIA OR THAT A ROSICRUCIAN SECT OF SPIRITS WORKING FROM THE OTHER SIDE
              POSSESSED HITLER?


               David Light, fools are everywhere -- as much in Oshkosh and Brooklyn as they are in Bombay
           and Poona. No country has any claim on fools. And fools are always searching for something
           esoteric -- only nonsense appeals to them. And sometimes I talk nonsense, because I am not here
           only to help those who are not fools. I am also throwing my net wider and wider; some fools have to
           be caught by me too. They are good people!
               Now just look, David Light, from where have you come? How were you caught? Those stupid
           theories about the sixth or sixteenth tirthankaras, or the Rosicrucian secret masters, Koothumi, K.H.,
           directing Adolf Hitler and the whole Nazi movement....
               There is a deep urge in man to know things which are worthless, to know things which make you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feel special -- because only you know those things and nobody else does. Man wants to be special,
           and nothing makes you more special than so-called esoteric knowledge. That is why esoteric
           knowledge remains important. All kinds of rubbish go on in the name of esoteric knowledge -- that
           the earth is hollow, that inside the earth there are great civilizations. And there are people who still
           believe in it, and in many more such stories.
               Man lives such a dull and drab life that he wants some sensation. Those who are a little wiser,
           they read scientific fiction or detective stories. Those who are not so wise, they read spiritual fiction.
               And these things were said by me when I was surrounded by a certain group of fools. They were
           not interested in anything else. And I have to respond to you; as you grow, my responses will be
           higher and higher. The day you have understood the whole stupidity of the human mind I will not
           need to talk to you; just sitting silently will be more than enough.
               These things were told by me to a certain group of people who were only interested in those
           things. It would have been absolutely pointless to talk about anything else with those people. Now
           that they have almost disappeared, and now that a totally different quality has come here, I can go
           more into the world of the truth. But still I have to use words, and words distort.
               Only silence communicates the truth as it is. Please get ready as soon as possible, so that we can
           just be together, merging into each other's energies, being lost in each other. And miracles are
           possible. What I cannot say in years can be communicated in a single moment of silence, and what
           can never be said can transpire when between me and you there is no barrier of thought -- when my
           silence and your silence are just present to each other, mirroring each other just as two mirrors
           mirror each other.
               My real work has not yet started. I am just preparing the ground, preparing the people who will
           be able to take part in the real work. This is just the preliminary stage. So don't waste time, get ready
           for great things, great things are waiting for you. But the only readiness from your side will be a
           tremendous silence -- and then there will be no need to talk at all.
               It is really a torture for me to talk to you. You cannot imagine how difficult it is for me to force
           myself to talk to you continuously. It is just like walking on a tightrope. Words have disappeared in
           me; I have to bring them back again and again. It is arduous, tiring. But it cannot be stopped unless
           you say, "I give up."
               The day you are able to say, "Now I am ready to be silent. I don't hope for anything, I am ready
           to renounce hoping. I am ready to renounce all ideas of spirituality, God, truth, nirvana,
           enlightenment, I would just like to enjoy being with you, this moment, here, now" -- then miracles
           will start happening.
           Yes, out of season you are going to bloom.
               And remember, you are entitled to all those miracles, they are your birthright.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #11
                                      Chapter title: Expelled from the World
           21 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902210
              ShortTitle: WISDOM11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I DON'T UNDERSTAND. YOU SAID THAT LONGING IS IN AND OF ITSELF DIVINE. YET YOU
              HAVE OFTEN SAID THAT ALL DESIRING, EVEN FOR GOD, IS MUNDANE AND NOT SPIRITUAL.


               Deva Ashoka, longing in its purity is divine, longing when it longs for nothing is divine. The
           moment an object of the longing arises, it becomes mundane. Longing is a pure fire that purifies,
           longing is a smokeless fire, a smokeless flame. But the moment it becomes attached to any object
           whatsoever -- worldly, otherworldly; money, meditation, God, nirvana, it doesn't matter -- any
           object, and the longing is no more pure, it is contaminated by the object. Then the object becomes
           more important than the longing itself. Then the longing is only a means, it is no more the end in
           itself.
               And the whole effort of sannyas is to help you drop all objects of longing. Longing will not
           disappear -- in fact, the more objects are dropped, the more intense, the more total the longing will
           become, because the energy involved in the objects will be released. And there comes a moment
           when one is simply thirsty -- not thirsty for something, but just simply thirsty. Hungry -- not hungry
           for something, just a pure fire of longing. And that very pure fire consumes you, reduces you to
           ashes. And out of that, something new is born.
               This is the meaning of the parable of the phoenix, this is the significance of the parable of the
           phoenix. The bird dies out of a fire that arises within his own being, is consumed by it, disappears
           into it, and then is resurrected.
               And this is the meaning of Jesus' resurrection too, his dying on the cross and being reborn. Jesus
           says again and again, "Unless ye are born again, ye will not be able to enter into my kingdom of
           God."
               But how to be born again unless you die first? An ultimate death has to precede it before the
           ultimate birth can happen.
               Ashoka, I can understand your confusion -- because on the one hand I say, "Longing is in and of
           itself divine...." I repeat it again, it is so. And there is no contradiction when I say that all desiring,
           even for God, is mundane and not spiritual. Longing is divine. Long for, and you have fallen. This is
           the original fall. You have lost the purity, the virginity of longing; it has become muddy, it has fallen
           on the earth, its wings are cut.
               There is no contradiction in these two statements. Whenever you find a contradiction in my
           statements make it a point to meditate over them, because essentially there cannot be a contradiction.
           Apparently there may be, but now you have to start doing some homework too.
               Meditate, look at all the possible aspects, all the possible meanings, and you will be surprised.
           When you are able to see the consistency, the intrinsic consistency, when you are able to go beyond
           the contradiction, it will be a moment of great insight. It will fill you with light, it will make you
           delighted, because it is a discovery, and each discovery helps growth.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              OFTEN I HAVE THE FEELING THAT I AM NOT DOING SOMETHING I OUGHT TO BE DOING, OR
              DOING SOMETHING I SHOULD NOT BE DOING; THAT SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE AND
              FAST -- A SCHOOLDAYS' WORRY THAT I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE THE GRADE, THAT I
              MIGHT BE EXPELLED.


               Krishna Prabhu, this is how we all have been brought up. Our whole education -- in the family,
           in the society, in the school, in the college, in the university -- creates tension in us. And the
           fundamental tension is that you are not doing that which you ought to do.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Then it persists your whole life; it follows you like a nightmare, it goes on haunting you. It will
           never leave you at rest, it will never allow you to relax. If you relax, it will say, "What are you
           doing? You are not supposed to relax; you should be doing something." If you are doing something
           it will say, "What are you doing? You need some rest, it is a must, otherwise you will drive yourself
           crazy -- you are already on the verge."
                If you do something good, it will say, "You are a fool. Doing good is not going to pay, people
           will cheat you." If you do something bad it will say, "What are you doing? You are preparing the
           way to go to hell, you will have to suffer for it." It will never leave you at rest; whatsoever you do, it
           will be there condemning you.
                This condemner has been implanted in you. This is the greatest calamity that has happened to
           humanity. And unless we get rid of this condemner inside us we cannot be truly human, we cannot
           be truly joyous and we cannot participate in the celebration that existence is.
                And now nobody can drop it except you. And this is not only your problem, Krishna Prabhu, this
           is the problem of almost every human being. Whatsoever country you are born in, whatsoever
           religion you belong to, it doesn't matter -- Catholic, communist, Hindu, Mohammedan, Jaina,
           Buddhist, it does not matter to what kind of ideology you belong, the essential is the same. The
           essential is to create a split in you, so one part always condemns the other part. If you follow the first
           part then the second part starts condemning you. You are in an inner conflict, a civil war.
                This civil war has to be dropped, otherwise you will miss the whole beauty, the benediction of
           life. You will never be able to laugh to your heart's content, you will never be able to love, you will
           never be able to be total in anything. And it is only out of totality that one blooms, that the spring
           comes, and your life starts having color and music and poetry.
                It is only out of totality that suddenly you feel the presence of God all around you. But the irony
           is that the split has been created by your so-called saints, priests and churches. In fact the priest has
           been the greatest enemy of God on the earth.
                We have to get rid of all the priests; they are the root cause of human pathology. They have made
           everybody ill at ease, they have caused an epidemic of neurosis. And the neurosis has become so
           prevalent that we take it for granted. We think that this is all life is about, we think this is what life is
           -- a suffering, a long, long, delayed suffering; a painful, agonizing existence; an autobiography of
           much ado about nothing.
                And if we look at our so-called life, it seems so, because there is never a single flower, never a
           single song in the heart, never a ray of divine delight.
                It is not surprising that intelligent people all over the world are asking what the meaning of life
           is. "Why should we go on living? Why are we so cowardly as to go on living? Why can't we gather a
           little courage and put a stop to all this nonsense? Why can't we commit suicide?"
                Never before in the world were there so many people thinking that life is so utterly meaningless.
           Why has this happened in this age? It has nothing to do with this age. For centuries, for at least five
           thousand years, the priests have been doing the harm. Now it has reached to the ultimate peak.
                It is not our work, we are victims. We are the victims of history. If man becomes a little more
           conscious, the first thing to be done is to burn all the history books. Forget the past, it was
           nightmarish. Start anew from abc, as if Adam is born again. Start as if we are again in the garden of
           Eden, innocent, uncontaminated, unpolluted by mean priests.
                The priests have been very mean, because they discovered something tremendously significant
           for themselves: divide a man, split a man, make him basically schizophrenic and you always remain
           in power. A divided man is a weak man. An undivided man, an individual, has strength -- strength to
           accept any adventure, any challenge.

              A man was looking for a good church to attend and found a small one in which the congregation
           was reading with the minister. They were saying, "We have left undone those things we ought to
           have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done."
              The man dropped into a seat and sighed with relief as he said to himself, "Thank goodness, I've
           found my crowd at last."

               Go to any church and you will find your crowd, you will find replicas of your being. Maybe the
           language is a little bit different, the ritual a little bit different, but the fundamentals are the same. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fundamental is: man has to be reduced to a civil war.
                The first day when you recognize this, what the priests have done to you, is a day of great
           insight. And the first day when you drop all this nonsense is the day of the beginning of liberation.
                Do what your nature wants to do, do what your intrinsic qualities hanker to do. Don't listen to the
           scriptures, listen to your own heart; that is the only scripture I prescribe. Yes, listen very attentively,
           very consciously, and you will never be wrong. And listening to your own heart you will never be
           divided. Listening to your own heart you will start moving in the right direction, without ever
           thinking of what is right and what is wrong.
                So the whole art for the new humanity will consist in the secret of listening to the heart
           consciously, alertly, attentively. And follow it through any means, and go wherever it takes you.
           Yes, sometimes it will take you into dangers -- but then remember, those dangers are needed to make
           you ripe. And sometimes it will take you astray -- but remember again, those goings astray are part
           of growth. Many times you will fall. Rise up again, because this is how one gathers strength -- by
           falling and rising again. This is how one becomes integrated.
                But don't follow rules imposed from the outside. No imposed rule can ever be right, because
           rules are invented by people who want to rule you. Yes, sometimes there have been great
           enlightened people in the world too -- a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna, a Mohammed. They have not
           given rules to the world, they have given their love. But sooner or later the disciples gather together
           and start making codes of conduct. Once the master is gone, once the light is gone and they are in
           deep darkness, they start groping for certain rules to follow, because now the light in which they
           could have seen is no more there. Now they will have to depend on rules.
                What Jesus did was his own heart's whispering, and what Christians go on doing is not their own
           hearts' whispering. They are imitators -- and the moment you imitate, you insult your humanity, you
           insult your God.
                Never be an imitator, be always original. Don't become a carbon copy. But that's what is
           happening all over the world -- carbon copies and carbon copies.
                Life is really a dance if you are an original -- and you are meant to be an original. And no two
           men are alike, so my way of life can never become your way of life.
                Imbibe the spirit, imbibe the silence of the master, learn his grace. Drink as much out of his
           being as possible, but don't imitate him. Imbibing his spirit, drinking his love, receiving his
           compassion, you will be able to listen to your own heart's whisperings. And they are whisperings.
           The heart speaks in a very still, small voice; it does not shout.
                Listen to the master's silence so one day you can listen to your own innermost core. And then this
           problem will never arise: "I am doing something that I should not do, and I am not doing something
           that I should do." This problem arises only because you are being dominated by outer rules; you are
           imitators.
                What is right for a buddha is not right for you. Just look how different Krishna is from Buddha.
           If Krishna had followed Buddha we would have missed one of the most beautiful men of this earth.
           Or if Buddha had followed Krishna he would have been just a poor specimen. Just think of Buddha
           playing on the flute; he would have disturbed many people's sleep, he was not a flute player. Just
           think of Buddha dancing; it looks so ridiculous, just absurd.
                But the same is the case with Krishna. Sitting underneath a tree with no flute, with no crown of
           peacock feathers, with no beautiful clothes, just sitting like a beggar under a tree with closed eyes,
           nobody dancing around him, nothing of the dance, nothing of the song, and Krishna looks so poor,
           so impoverished.
                A Buddha is a Buddha, a Krishna is a Krishna, and you are you. And you are not in any way less
           than anybody else. Respect yourself, respect your own inner voice and follow it.
                And remember, I am not guaranteeing you that it will always lead you to the right. Many times it
           will take you to the wrong, because to come to the right door one has to knock first on many wrong
           doors. That's how it is. If you suddenly stumble upon the right door, you will not be able to
           recognize that it is right.
                There are many people who come here directly, they have never been to anybody else. It is
           almost impossible to have any contact with them. They cannot understand what is happening here,
           they have no background, they have no context for it. They have not learned what is wrong, so how
           can they understand what is right?
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But when people come here, and they have lived with many many so-called masters and lived
           with many many seekers and been part of many schools, when they come here something
           immediately is lit in their hearts. They have seen so much that now they can recognize what is true.
                So remember, in the ultimate reckoning no effort is ever wasted, all efforts contribute to the
           ultimate climax of your growth. So don't be hesitant, don't be worried too much about going wrong.
           That is one of the problems; people have been taught never to do anything wrong, and then they
           become so hesitant, so fearful, so frightened of doing wrong, that they become stuck. They cannot
           move, something wrong may happen. So they become like rocks, they lose all movement.
                I teach you: Commit as many mistakes as possible, remembering only one thing: don't commit
           the same mistake again. And you will be growing. It is part of your freedom to go astray, it is part of
           your dignity to go even against God. And it is sometimes beautiful to go even against God. This is
           how you will start having a spine; otherwise there are millions of people, spineless.
                Because I say such things, many people are angered. Just the other day a journalist came here.
           He had come to cover what is happening here in this ashram, and he wanted to have both stories --
           the people who are for it, and the people who are against it. So he went around the town. He talked
           to police officers, he went to see the mayor of Poona. And what the mayor said was really beautiful,
           I loved it.
                He said, "This man is so dangerous that he should be expelled from Poona -- not only from
           Poona but from India, not only from India but from the world!"
                I loved it. And I started thinking about it. Where will they expel me from the world? That's a
           really fantastic idea! If they can manage it, I am willing to go.
                Why is there so much anger? The anger has a reason in it, it has a rationale behind it. The
           rationale is that I am trying to give you a totally new vision of religious life -- and if the new vision
           succeeds, then all the old visions will have to die.
                Krishna Prabhu, forget all about what you have been told, "This is right and this is wrong." Life
           is not so fixed. The thing that is right today may be wrong tomorrow, the thing that is wrong this
           moment may be right the next moment. Life cannot be pigeonholed; you cannot label it so easily,
           "This is right and this is wrong." Life is not a chemist's shop where every bottle is labeled and you
           know what is what. Life is a mystery; one moment something fits and then it is right. Another
           moment, so much water has gone down the Ganges that it no longer fits and it is wrong.
                What is my definition of right? That which is harmonious with existence is right, and that which
           is disharmonious with existence is wrong. You will have to be very alert each moment, because it
           has to be decided each moment afresh. You cannot depend on readymade answers for what is right
           and what is wrong. Only stupid people depend on readymade answers, because then they need not be
           intelligent. There is no need; you already know what is right and what is wrong, you can cram the
           list, the list is not very big.
                The Jews have ten commandments, so simple, you know what is right and what is wrong. But
           life goes on changing continuously. If Moses comes back, I don't think he will give you the same ten
           commandments -- he cannot. After three thousand years, how can he give you the same
           commandments? He will have to invent something new.
                But my own understanding is this, that whenever commandments are given they create
           difficulties for people, because by the time they are given they are already out of date. Life moves so
           fast; it is a dynamism, it is not static. It is not a stagnant pool, it is a Ganges, it goes on flowing. It is
           never the same for two consecutive moments. So one thing may be right this moment, and may not
           be right the next.
                Then what to do? The only possible thing is to make people so aware that they themselves can
           decide how to respond to a changing life.

               An old Zen story: There were two temples, rivals. Both the masters -- they must have been
           so-called masters, must have really been priests -- were so much against each other that they told
           their followers never to look at the other temple.
               Each of the priests had a boy to serve him, to go and fetch things for him, to go on errands. The
           priest of the first temple told his boy servant, "Never talk to the other boy. Those people are
           dangerous."
               But boys are boys. One day they met on the road, and the boy from the first temple asked the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other, "Where are you going?"
               The other said, "Wherever the wind takes me." He must have been listening to great Zen things
           in the temple; he said, "Wherever the wind takes me." A great statement, pure Tao.
               But the first boy was very much embarrassed, offended, and he could not find how to answer
           him. Frustrated, angry, and also feeling guilty because, "My master said not to talk with these
           people. These people really are dangerous. Now, what kind of answer is this? He has humiliated
           me."
               He went to his master and told him what had happened. "I am sorry that I talked to him. You
           were right, those people are strange. What kind of answer is this? I asked him, 'Where are you
           going?' -- a simple formal question -- and I knew he was going to the market, just as I was going to
           the market. But he said, 'Wherever the winds take me.'"
               The master said, "I warned you, but you didn't listen. Now look, tomorrow you stand at the same
           place again. When he comes ask him, 'Where are you going?' and he will say, 'Wherever the winds
           take me.' Then you also be a little more philosophical. Say, 'If you don't have any legs, then?
           Because the soul is bodiless and the wind cannot take the soul anywhere!' What about that?"
               Absolutely ready, the whole night he repeated it again and again and again. And next morning
           very early he went there, stood on the right spot, and at the exact time the boy came. He was very
           happy, now he was going to show him what real philosophy is. So he asked, "Where are you going?"
           And he was waiting....
               But the boy said, "I am going to fetch vegetables from the market."
               Now, what to do with the philosophy that he had learned?

               Life is like that. You cannot prepare for it, you cannot be ready for it. That's its beauty, that's its
           wonder, that it always takes you unawares, it always comes as a surprise. If you have eyes you will
           see that each moment is a surprise and no readymade answer is ever applicable.
               And all the old religions have supplied you with readymade answers. Manu has given his
           commandments, Moses has given his commandments, and so on and so forth.
               I don't give you any commandment. In fact the very word commandment is ugly. To command
           somebody is to reduce him to a slave. I don't give you any orders, you are not to be obedient to me or
           to anybody else. I simply teach you an intrinsic law of life. Be obedient to your own self, be a light
           unto yourself and follow the light and this problem will never arise. Then whatsoever you do is the
           thing to do, and whatsoever you don't do is the thing that has not to be done.
               And remember, don't go on looking back again and again, because life goes on changing.
           Tomorrow you may start thinking what you did yesterday was wrong. It was not wrong yesterday, it
           may look wrong tomorrow. There is no need to look back; life goes ahead. But there are many
           drivers who go on looking in the rear-view mirror. They drive onwards but they look backwards;
           their life is going to be a catastrophe.
               Look ahead. The road that you have passed, you have passed. It is finished, don't carry it any
           more. Don't be unnecessarily burdened by the past. Go on closing the chapters that you have read;
           there is no need to go back again and again. And never judge anything of the past through the new
           perspective that is arriving, because the new is new, incomparably new. The old was right in its own
           context, and the new is right in its own context, and they are incomparable.
               What I am trying to explain to you is: drop guilt! -- because to be guilty is to live in hell. Not
           being guilty, you will have the freshness of dewdrops in the early morning sun, you will have the
           freshness of lotus petals in the lake, you will have the freshness of the stars in the night. Once guilt
           disappears you will have a totally different kind of life, luminous and radiant. You will have a dance
           to your feet and your heart will be singing a thousand and one songs.
               To live in such rejoicing is to be a sannyasin, to live in such joy is to live a divine life. To live
           burdened with guilt is simply to be exploited by the priests.
               Get out of your prisons -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, Jaina, Buddhist, communist. Get out
           of all your prisons, get out of all your ideologies, because ideologies supply you readymade answers.
           If you ask the communist a question he will have to look in Das Kapital. In the same way, if you ask
           the Hindu he turns the pages of the Gita.
               When are you going to use your own consciousness? When? How long are you going to remain
           tethered to the dead past? The Gita was born five thousand years back; life has changed so much. If
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you want to read the Gita, read it as beautiful literature -- but just like that, no more than that. It is
           beautiful literature, it is beautiful poetry, but it has no dictums to be followed and no commandments
           to be followed. Enjoy it as a gift from the past, as the gift of a great poet, Vyasa. But don't make it a
           discipline for your life; it is utterly irrelevant.
                And everything becomes irrelevant, because life never remains confined. It goes on and on; it
           crosses all borders, all boundaries, it is an infinite process. The Gita comes to a full stop somewhere,
           the Koran comes to a full stop somewhere, but life never comes to a full stop, remember it. Remind
           yourself of it.
                And the only way to be in contact with life, the only way not to lag behind life, is to have a heart
           which is not guilty, a heart which is innocent. Forget all about what you have been told -- what has
           to be done and what has not to be done -- nobody else can decide it for you.
                Avoid those pretenders who decide for you; take the reins in your own hands. You have to
           decide. In fact, in that very decisiveness, your soul is born. When others decide for you, your soul
           remains asleep and dull. When you start deciding on your own, a sharpness arises. To decide means
           to take risks, to decide means you may be doing wrong -- who knows, that is the risk. Who knows
           what is going to happen? That is the risk, there is no guarantee.
                With the old, there is a guarantee. Millions and millions of people have followed it, how can so
           many people be wrong? That is the guarantee. If so many people say it is right, it must be right.
                In fact the logic of life is just the opposite. If so many people are following a certain thing, be
           certain it is wrong, because so many people are not so enlightened and cannot be so enlightened. The
           majority consists of fools, utter fools. Beware of the majority. If so many people are following
           something, that is enough proof that it is wrong.
                Truth happens to individuals, not to crowds. Have you ever heard of a crowd becoming
           enlightened? Truth happens to individuals -- a Tilopa, an Atisha, a Nanak, a Kabir, a Farid.
           Truth happens to individuals.
                Be an individual if you really want truth to happen to you.
                Take all the risks that are needed to be an individual, and accept the challenges so that they can
           sharpen you, can give you brilliance and intelligence.
                Truth is not a belief, it is utter intelligence. It is a flaring-up of the hidden sources of your life, it
           is an enlightening experience of your consciousness. But you will have to provide the right space for
           it to happen. And the right space is accepting yourself as you are. Don't deny anything, don't become
           split, don't feel guilty.
                Rejoice! And I say to you again, rejoice as you are.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

               WHY DOES SO MUCH CONTROVERSY SURROUND YOU AND YOUR ASHRAM?


               Krishna Prem, if it were not so, it would have been really a surprise, it would have been a
           miracle, it would have been unbelievable. This is the natural course. This is what was happening to
           Socrates. And what was his mistake? His mistake was that he was trying to tell the truth as it is. His
           mistake, his only mistake, was that he was not ready to compromise with the stupidities of the
           crowd. He lived in continuous controversy; he died because of those controversies.
               Do you think Jesus lived a noncontroversial life? Then why was he crucified? A reward for a
           noncontroversial life? He lived continuously in controversy; it is bound to be so. So it was with
           Buddha, so it was with Bodhidharma, so it has always been, and it seems so it is always going to be.
               Truth creates controversy, because it shocks people, it shatters their illusions. And they want to
           cling to their illusions; those illusions are very consoling, comfortable, convenient and cozy. They
           don't want to leave their dreams, they are not ready to drop their investments in all kinds of foolish
           projects -- and that's what truth requires of them. They feel angry, they want to take revenge.
               It's absolutely natural. I am going to live in controversy -- and this is only the beginning. Wait for
           the day they expel me from the world! I am really enchanted: where will they send me? It will be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           worth it, worth all the trouble of going there and living out of the world.
                This is only the beginning, this is just the spark. Soon the whole forest will be on fire, and this
           fire is going to spread all over the earth... because I am not fighting against Hindu fanaticism, I am
           not fighting against Mohammedan fanaticism, I am simply fighting against all kinds of fanaticism.
                Socrates was only fighting against the lies that were prevalent in the small city of Athens; it was
           a very small place. Buddha was against the Hindu beliefs, Jesus was fighting the Judaic heritage. My
           fight is multidimensional: I am fighting with Jews, I am fighting with Hindus, I am fighting with
           Buddhists, I am fighting with Jainas, I am fighting with Mohammedans. My fight is not addressed to
           anybody in particular. Hence I am bound to create so many enemies, more than anybody has ever
           done.
                But certainly I am also going to create just as many friends, more than anybody has ever done,
           because life keeps a balance. If you have so many enemies you will have as many friends, if you
           have so many friends you will have as many enemies. Life always keeps a balance, life never loses
           balance. So the more enemies there are, the more friends there will be.
                The whole thing seems to be very intriguing, very interesting. And remember, you cannot satisfy
           all -- that is not possible, and I am not interested in it either.

               Two thousand five hundred years ago, Aesop told this story:
               It was a bright sunny morning in a mountain village. An old man and his grandson were going to
           the market in the large town in the valley to sell a donkey. The donkey was beautifully groomed and
           brushed and they set off happily down the steep path. In a while they passed some people lounging
           by the side of the path.
               "Look at that silly pair!" said one of the onlookers. "There they go, scrambling and stumbling
           down the path, when they could be riding comfortably on the back of that sure-footed beast."
               The old man heard this and thought it was right. So he and the boy mounted the donkey, and thus
           continued their descent.
               Soon they passed another group of people gossiping by the wayside. "Look at the lazy pair,
           breaking the back of that poor donkey!"
               The old man thought they were right, and since he was the heavier, he decided to walk while the
           boy rode.
               In a little while they heard more comments. "Look at that disrespectful child -- he rides while the
           old man walks!"
               The old man thought they were right, and it was only proper that he should ride while the boy
           walked.
               Sure enough, they soon heard this: "What a mean old man, riding at his ease while the poor child
           has to try to keep up on foot!"
               By this time the old man and the boy were becoming increasingly bewildered. When they finally
           heard the criticism that the donkey would be all worn out and no one would want to buy him after
           the long walk to the market, they sat down, dejected, by the side of the road.
               After the donkey had been allowed to rest for a while, they continued the journey, but in a
           completely different manner. Thus it was, late that afternoon, that the old man and the boy were seen
           gasping breathlessly into the marketplace. Slung on a pole between them, hung by his tied feet, was
           the donkey!
               As Aesop said: "You can't please everyone. If you try, you lose yourself."
               I cannot please everybody, and neither am I interested in pleasing everybody. I am not a
           politician; the politician tries to please everybody. I am here only to help those who really want to be
           helped. I am not interested in the mob, in the crowd. I am only interested in those sincere seekers
           who are ready to risk all -- all -- to attain themselves.
               This is going to anger many, this is going to create much controversy, because I am a very
           noncompromising person. I will say only that which is true to me, whatsoever the consequence. If I
           am condemned for it or murdered for it, that's perfectly okay. But I am not going to compromise, not
           an iota.
               I have nothing to lose, so why compromise? I have nothing to gain, so why compromise? All that
           could have happened has happened. Nothing can be taken away from me, because my treasure is of
           the inner. And nothing can be added to it, because my treasure is of the inner.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So I am going to live the way I want to live. I am going to live in my own spontaneity and
           authenticity. I am not here to fulfill anybody's expectations. I am not interested in being called a
           spiritual person or a saint either. I don't need any compliments from anybody, I don't want the crowd
           to worship me. All those stupid games are finished.
               I am in that state where nothing can happen any more; it is beyond happening. So I will go on
           saying things which offend people. It is not that I want to offend them, but what can I do? If truth
           offends them, then it offends them. I am going to live life the way it is happening to me. If it is not
           according to their expectations, either they can change their expectations or they can feel angry,
           miserable, and go on clinging to their expectations.
               I am utterly free from their opinion, it does not matter to me at all.
               So, Krishna Prem, the controversies will become more and more. And because I am
           controversial, my people are bound to be controversial too. Because I am controversial, you will also
           be offensive, you will also have to suffer. You will also have to be ready to be persecuted in many
           ways.
               But remember one thing. To live a life of compromise is worse than death. And to live a life of
           truth, even if it is for a single moment, is far more valuable than to live eternally in lies. To die for
           truth is far more valuable than to live in lies.

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF HEAVEN?


               There is no heaven and there is no hell. They are not geographical, they are part of your
           psychology. They are psychological. To live a life of spontaneity, truth, love and beauty is to live in
           heaven. To live a life of hypocrisy, lies and compromises, to live according to others, is to live in
           hell. To live in freedom is heaven, and to live in bondage is hell.
               You can decorate your prison cell beautifully, but that makes no difference, it is still a prison
           cell. And that's what people have been doing, they go on decorating their prison cell. They give it
           beautiful names, they go on painting it, putting new pictures on the walls, arranging the furniture in
           new ways, purchasing more and more things -- but they live in prisons.
               Your marriage is a prison, your church is a prison, your nationality is a prison. How many
           prisons you have created! You are not living in one prison, your prisons are like Chinese boxes: a
           box within a box within a box within a box, it goes on. You are like an onion: peel it, another layer,
           peel that, another layer. Destroy one prison and you find another inside. This is what hell is.
               To reach the very core of the onion, where all layers have been dropped and there is only
           nothingness in your hands, that is freedom, nirvana, bodhichitta. The consciousness of a buddha, the
           pure consciousness of a buddha, that is heaven.
               And my idea of heaven is not something far away, a heaven in the sky where only angels live....
           Do you know that angels don't perspire? They don't need any deodorants. And do you know, in
           heaven there are no pubs, because pubs are not needed. There are rivers of wine, so you can jump
           into the rivers and drink to your heart's content. And there are beautiful women who never grow old,
           who are stuck at the age of eighteen. Centuries and centuries have passed, but they are stuck at the
           age of eighteen. They have golden bodies. Just think of it! It looks more like a nightmare. Golden
           bodies? With eyes of sapphire?
               No, that is not my idea of heaven. In that way, I am an old Jew....

                The minister said to his friend, "Rabbi, I dreamed of a Jewish heaven the other night. It was very
           lifelike, and it seemed to me to just suit the Jewish ideal. It was a crowded tenement district with
           Jewish people everywhere. There were clothes on lines from every window, women on every stoop,
           pushcart peddlers on every corner, children playing stick-ball on every street. The noise and
           confusion were so great that I woke up."
                The rabbi said, "By a strange coincidence, Father Williams, I dreamed the other night of an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Episcopalian heaven. It was very lifelike, and it seemed to me just the ideal of Episcopalians. It was
           a neat suburb, with well-spaced English Tudor and manor houses, with beautiful lawns, each with its
           own flowerbed, with clean wide tree-lined streets, and all was suffused in warm sunshine."
           The vicar smiled. "And the people?"
           "Oh," murmured the rabbi, "there were no people."

                My idea of heaven is not unearthly. Heaven is here -- you just have to know how to live it. And
           hell too is here, and you know perfectly well how to live it. It is only a question of changing your
           perspective, your approach towards life.
                The earth is beautiful. If you start living its beauty, enjoying its joys with no guilt in your heart,
           you are in paradise. If you condemn everything, every small joy, if you become a condemner, a
           poisoner, then the same earth turns into a hell -- but only for you. It depends on you where you live,
           it is a question of your own inner transformation. It is not a change of place, it is a change of inner
           space.
                Live joyously, guiltlessly, live totally, live intensely. And then heaven is no more a metaphysical
           concept, it is your own experience.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #12
                                    Chapter title: Buddha in the Supermarket
           22 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902220
              ShortTitle: WISDOM12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL LAWS OF NATURE SEEMS TO BE RELATIONSHIP,
              INTERDEPENDENCE. I HAVE WATCHED TWO BIRDS FLY, INTIMATE WITH EACH OTHER AND
              WITH THE WIND, SO EASY AND WITHOUT STRIFE, IN PERFECT HARMONY. WHAT IS THE
              SECRET OF THIS THAT SEEMS SO HARD FOR HUMAN BEINGS? PLEASE OSHO, SAY
              SOMETHING ABOUT RELATIONSHIP.


               Vasumati, the most fundamental thing to be remembered is that life is dialectical. It exists
           through duality, it is a rhythm between opposites. You cannot be happy forever, otherwise happiness
           will lose all meaning. You cannot be in harmony forever, otherwise you will become unaware of the
           harmony. Harmony has to be followed by discord again and again, and happiness has to be followed
           by unhappiness. Every pleasure has its own pain, and every pain has its own pleasure.
               Unless one understands this duality of existence, one remains in unnecessary misery. Accept the
           total, with all its agonies and all its ecstasies. Don't hanker for the impossible; don't desire that there
           should be only ecstasy and no agony.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ecstasy cannot exist alone, it needs a contrast. Agony becomes the blackboard, then ecstasy
           becomes very clear and loud, just as in the darkness of night the stars are so bright. The darker the
           night, the brighter are the stars. In the day they don't disappear, they simply become invisible; you
           cannot see them because there is no contrast.
                Think of a life without death, and it will be unendurable pain, an unendurable existence. It will
           be impossible to live without death. Death defines life, gives it a kind of intensity; because life is
           fleeting, each moment becomes precious. If life is eternal, then who cares? One can wait for
           tomorrow forever -- then who will live now and here? Because tomorrow there is death, it forces you
           to live now and here. You have to plunge into the present moment, you have to go to its ultimate
           depth, because who knows, the next moment may come, may not come.
                Seeing this rhythm, one is at ease, at ease with both. When unhappiness comes one welcomes it,
           when happiness comes one welcomes it, knowing that they are partners in the same game.
                This is something which has to be continuously remembered. If it becomes a fundamental
           remembrance in you, your life will have a totally new flavor -- the flavor of freedom, the flavor of
           unclingingness, the flavor of nonattachment. Whatsoever comes, you remain still, silent, accepting.
                And the person who is capable of being still, silent, accepting of pain, frustration and misery,
           transforms the very quality of misery itself. To him, misery also becomes a treasure; to him, even
           pain gives a sharpness. To him, even darkness has its own beauty, depth, infinity. To him, even death
           is not the end but only a beginning of something unknown.
                Vasumati, you say, "One of the essential laws of nature seems to be relationship,
           interdependence."
                They are not synonymous. Relationship is one thing, interdependence totally another.
           Relationship means you are separate; you are independent and so is the other, and you decide to
           relate. Relationship is not interdependence, it is a contract between two independent persons. Hence
           all relationships are false, because basically independence is false. Nobody is independent -- and if
           you are not independent how can you relate? With whom can you relate?
                Life is interdependence. Nobody is independent, not for a single moment can you exist alone.
           You need the whole existence to support you; each moment you are breathing it in and out. It is not
           relationship, it is utter interdependence. Remember, I am not saying it is dependence, because the
           idea of dependence again presumes that we are independent. If we are independent then dependence
           is possible. But both are impossible; it is interdependence.
                What do you say? Are waves independent from the ocean or are they dependent on the ocean?
           Neither is true. They are the ocean, neither independent nor dependent. The ocean cannot exist
           without the waves, the waves cannot exist without the ocean. They are utterly one, it is a unity.
                And so is our whole life. We are waves of a cosmic ocean of consciousness. That means love can
           have three dimensions. One is that of dependence; that's what happens to the majority of people. The
           husband is dependent on the wife, the wife is dependent on the husband; they exploit each other,
           they dominate each other, they possess each other, they reduce each other to a commodity. In
           ninety-nine percent of cases, that's what is happening in the world. That's why love, which can open
           the gates of paradise, only opens the gates of hell.
                The second possibility is love between two independent persons. That too happens once in a
           while. But that too brings misery, because there is constant conflict. No adjustment is possible; both
           are so independent and nobody is ready to compromise, to adjust with the other.
                Poets, artists, thinkers, scientists, those who live in a kind of independence, at least in their
           minds, are impossible people to live with; they are eccentric people to live with. They give freedom
           to the other, but their freedom looks more like indifference than like freedom, looks more as if they
           don't care, as if it doesn't matter to them. They leave each other to their own spaces. Relationship
           seems to be only superficial; they are afraid to go deeper into each other, because they are more
           attached to their freedom than to love, and they don't want to compromise.
                And the third possibility is of interdependence. That happens very rarely, but whenever it
           happens a part of paradise falls on the earth. Two persons, neither independent nor dependent but in
           a tremendous synchronicity, as if breathing for each other, one soul in two bodies -- whenever that
           happens, love has happened. Only call this love. The other two are not really love, they are just
           arrangements -- social, psychological, biological, but arrangements. The third is something spiritual.
                Vasumati, you also say, "I have watched two birds fly, intimate with each other and with the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wind, so easy and without strife, in perfect harmony."
               Yes, it creates jealousy. But birds are not aware; they have no consciousness, they exist below
           consciousness. Their harmony looks like harmony to you, not to them. And their joy on the wing is
           your interpretation, not theirs. Remember it: it is your interpretation. They can't interpret; they have
           not yet evolved that consciousness which can interpret, which can look back, which can look
           forward, which can observe and look into things. Their behavior is mechanical.
               Man is a higher being, man has the capacity to be conscious. And with consciousness, trouble
           begins. The higher you move, the more dangerous becomes every step. If you fall, you will be falling
           from such heights that you will disappear somewhere in the valley. In the valley you can walk
           unconsciously, there is no fear. But when you are moving towards the top, reaching to the peak, you
           will have to be more and more conscious.
               Man is very close to God, the closest. Hence the responsibility and the danger, the hazard, the
           adventure. You can fall. And what is the fall?
               Because you are capable of being conscious, there are two possibilities. You can become
           self-conscious -- that is the fall. If the self overpowers your consciousness, you have fallen. If
           consciousness does not allow the self to overpower it, if you simply are conscious and there is no
           self in it -- a consciousness without a center, a consciousness without anybody being there to be
           conscious -- then you are rising and rising and rising and the climax is not far away. Maybe a few
           steps more, and you will have arrived home. Then you will know what harmony is. And you will
           know the eternal harmony of existence, the silence that has never been broken; from the
           beginningless beginnings to the endless end, it continues the same. Then you will know the virgin
           purity of existence, which has never been polluted.
           What can poor birds and animals know of it?
               But I can understand, Vasumati, sometimes it creates great jealousy. Two birds on the wing in
           such harmony, in such love and intimacy, not only between themselves but with the wind, with the
           sun, with the rain, and man starts feeling, "Why can't I be so happy? Why can't I relate with such
           beauty? Why can't I enjoy the wind and the rain and the sun so relaxedly?"
               It is not because you are lower than the birds, it is because you are higher and much more is
           required of you. It is because you are higher that God's criterion for you is higher too. Yes, a
           drunkard looks lost, without any anxiety, without any worry, and Buddha also looks without any
           worry and without any anxiety; Buddha also looks drunk. But do you think they exist on the same
           plane? The drunkard has fallen from consciousness, and the buddha has risen from the self.
               Self-consciousness is human. If you fall from consciousness you will have a certain forgetfulness
           of anxiety. If you rise from the self you will not only have a forgetfulness of anxiety; anxieties
           simply evaporate, they exist no more.
               You can become buddhas. Vasumati, you have the capacity, the potential, to become a buddha.
           The birds are poor. But man has fallen so low that he even starts feeling jealous of poor birds.
               You ask, "What is the secret of this that seems so hard for human beings?"
               The secret is consciousness. Consciousness brings freedom. Freedom does not mean only the
           freedom to do right; if that was the meaning of freedom, what kind of freedom would it be? If you
           are only free to do right, then you are not free. Freedom implies both the alternatives -- to do right, to
           do wrong. Freedom implies the right to say yes or to say no.
               And this is something subtle to be understood. Saying no feels more of a freedom than saying
           yes. And I am not philosophizing, it is a simple fact you can observe in yourself. Whenever you say
           no, you feel more free. Whenever you say yes, you don't feel free, because yes means you have
           obeyed, yes means you have surrendered -- where is the freedom? No means you are stubborn,
           keeping aloof; no means you have asserted yourself, no means you are ready to fight. No defines you
           more clearly than yes. Yes is vague, it is like a cloud. No is very solid and substantial, like a rock.
               That's why psychologists say that between seven and fourteen years of age each child starts
           learning to say no more and more. By saying no, he is getting out of the psychological womb of the
           mother. Even when there is no need to say no, he will say no. Even when to say yes is in his favor,
           he will say no.
               There is much at stake; he has to learn to say no more and more. By the time he is fourteen,
           sexually mature, he will say the ultimate no to the mother; he will fall in love with a woman. That is
           his ultimate no to the mother, he is turning his back on the mother. He says, "I am finished with you,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have chosen my woman. I have become an individual, independent in my own right. I want to live
           my life, I want to do my own thing."
               And if the parents insist, "Have short hair," he will have long hair. If the parents insist, "Have
           long hair," he will have short hair. Just watch a little longer. When hippies become parents then they
           will see, their children will have short hair -- because they will have to learn no.
               If the parents insist, "Cleanliness is next to God," the children will start living in every kind of
           dirt. They will be dirty. They won't take a bath, they won't clean themselves, they won't use soap.
           And they will find rationalizations that soap is dangerous to the skin, that it is unnatural, that no
           animal ever uses soap. They can find as many rationalizations as possible, but deep down all those
           rationalizations are just cover-ups. The real thing is, they want to say no. And of course when you
           want to say no, you have to find reasons.
               Hence, no gives you a sense of freedom; not only that, it also gives you a sense of intelligence.
           To say yes needs no intelligence. When you say yes, nobody asks you why. When you have already
           said yes, who bothers to ask you why? There is no need of any reasoning or argument, you have
           already said yes. When you say no, why is bound to be asked. It sharpens your intelligence, it gives
           you a definition, a style, freedom. Watch the psychology of the no.
               It is so hard for human beings to be in harmony, because of consciousness. Consciousness gives
           freedom, freedom gives you the capacity to say no, and there is more possibility to say no than to say
           yes. And without yes, there is no harmony. Yes is harmony. But it takes time to grow up, to mature,
           to come to such a maturity where you can say yes and yet remain free, where you can say yes and yet
           remain unique, where you can say yes and yet not become a slave.
               The freedom that is brought by no is a very childish freedom. It is good for seven-year-olds up to
           fourteen-year-olds. But if a person gets caught in it and his whole life becomes a no-saying, then he
           has stopped growing.
               The ultimate growth is to say yes with such joy as a child says no. That is a second childhood.
           And the man who can say yes with tremendous freedom and joy, with no hesitation, with no strings
           attached, with no conditions -- a pure and simple joy, a pure and simple yes -- that man has become a
           sage. That man lives in harmony again. And his harmony is of a totally different dimension than the
           harmony of trees, animals and birds. They live in harmony because they cannot say no, and the sage
           lives in harmony because he does not say no. Between the two, the birds and the buddhas, are all
           human beings -- un-grown-up, immature, childish, stuck somewhere, still trying to say no, to have
           some feeling of freedom.
               I am not saying don't learn to say no. I am saying learn to say no when it is time to say no, but
           don't get stuck with it. Slowly slowly, see that there is a higher freedom that comes with yes, and a
           greater harmony. A peace that passeth understanding.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IS RELATIONSHIP THERE BECAUSE LOVE IS NOT?


               Mukti Gandha, yes. Love is not a relationship. Love relates, but it is not a relationship. A
           relationship is something finished. A relationship is a noun; the full stop has come, the honeymoon is
           over. Now there is no joy, no enthusiasm, now all is finished.
               You can carry it on, just to keep your promises. You can carry it on because it is comfortable,
           convenient, cozy. You can carry it on because there is nothing else to do. You can carry it on
           because if you disrupt it, it is going to create much trouble for you.
               Relationship means something complete, finished, closed. Love is never a relationship; love is
           relating. It is always a river, flowing, unending. Love knows no full stop; the honeymoon begins but
           never ends. It is not like a novel that starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point. It is an
           ongoing phenomenon. Lovers end, love continues. It is a continuum. It is a verb, not a noun. And
           why do we reduce the beauty of relating to relationship? Why are we in such a hurry? -- because to
           relate is insecure, and relationship is a security, relationship has a certainty. Relating is just a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meeting of two strangers, maybe just an overnight stay and in the morning we say goodbye. Who
           knows what is going to happen tomorrow? And we are so afraid that we want to make it certain, we
           want to make it predictable. We would like tomorrow to be according to our ideas; we don't allow it
           freedom to have its own say. So we immediately reduce every verb to a noun.
                You are in love with a woman or a man and immediately you start thinking of getting married.
           Make it a legal contract. Why? How does the law come into love? The law comes into love because
           love is not there. It is only a fantasy, and you know the fantasy will disappear. Before it disappears
           settle down, before it disappears do something so it becomes impossible to separate.
                In a better world, with more meditative people, with a little more enlightenment spread over the
           earth, people will love, love immensely, but their love will remain a relating, not a relationship. And
           I am not saying that their love will be only momentary. There is every possibility their love may go
           deeper than your love, may have a higher quality of intimacy, may have something more of poetry
           and more of God in it. And there is every possibility their love may last longer than your so-called
           relationship ever lasts. But it will not be guaranteed by the law, by the court, by the policeman.
                The guarantee will be inner. It will be a commitment from the heart, it will be a silent
           communion. If you enjoy being with somebody, you would like to enjoy it more and more. If you
           enjoy the intimacy, you would like to explore the intimacy more and more.
                And there are a few flowers of love which bloom only after long intimacies. There are seasonal
           flowers too; within six weeks they are there in the sun, but within six weeks again they are gone
           forever. There are flowers which take years to come, and there are flowers which take many years to
           come. The longer it takes, the deeper it goes.
                But it has to be a commitment from one heart to another heart. It has not even to be verbalized,
           because to verbalize it is to profane it. It has to be a silent commitment; eye to eye, heart to heart,
           being to being. It has to be understood, not said.
                It is so ugly seeing people going to the church or the court to get married. It is so ugly, so
           inhuman. It simply shows they can't trust themselves, they trust the policeman more than they trust
           their own inner voice. It shows they can't trust their love, they trust the law.
                Gandha, forget relationships and learn how to relate. Once you are in a relationship you start
           taking each other for granted. That's what destroys all love affairs. The woman thinks she knows the
           man, the man thinks he knows the woman. Nobody knows either. It is impossible to know the other,
           the other remains a mystery. And to take the other for granted is insulting, disrespectful.
                To think that you know your wife is very very ungrateful. How can you know the woman? How
           can you know the man? They are processes, they are not things. The woman that you knew yesterday
           is not there today. So much water has gone down the Ganges; she is somebody else, totally different.
           Relate again, start again, don't take it for granted.
                And the man that you slept with last night, look at his face again in the morning. He is no more
           the same person, so much has changed. So much, incalculably much, has changed. That is the
           difference between a thing and a person. The furniture in the room is the same, but the man and the
           woman, they are no more the same. Explore again, start again. That's what I mean by relating.
                Relating means you are always starting, you are continuously trying to become acquainted.
           Again and again, you are introducing yourself to each other. You are trying to see the many facets of
           the other's personality. You are trying to penetrate deeper and deeper into his realm of inner feelings,
           into the deep recesses of his being. You are trying to unravel a mystery which cannot be unraveled.
                That is the joy of love: the exploration of consciousness. And if you relate, and don't reduce it to
           a relationship, then the other will become a mirror to you. Exploring him, unawares you will be
           exploring yourself too. Getting deeper into the other, knowing his feelings, his thoughts, his deeper
           stirrings, you will be knowing your own deeper stirrings too. Lovers become mirrors to each other,
           and then love becomes a meditation. Relationship is ugly, relating is beautiful.
                In relationship both persons become blind to each other. Just think, how long has it been since
           you saw your wife eye to eye? How long has it been since you looked at your husband? Maybe
           years. Who looks at one's own wife? You have already taken it for granted that you know her. What
           more is there to look at? You are more interested in strangers than in the people you know -- you
           know the whole topography of their bodies, you know how they respond, you know everything that
           has happened is going to happen again and again. It is a repetitive circle.
                It is not so, it is not really so. Nothing ever repeats; everything is new every day. Just your eyes
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become old, your assumptions become old, your mirror gathers dust and you become incapable of
           reflecting the other.
               Hence I say relate. By saying relate, I mean remain continuously on a honeymoon. Go on
           searching and seeking each other, finding new ways of loving each other, finding new ways of being
           with each other. And each person is such an infinite mystery, inexhaustible, unfathomable, that it is
           not possible that you can ever say, "I have known her," or, "I have known him." At the most you can
           say, "I have tried my best, but the mystery remains a mystery."
               In fact the more you know, the more mysterious the other becomes. Then love is a constant
           adventure.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

               I FEEL LIKE THE FROG IN THE FAIRY TALE WHO GETS KISSED AND STARTS GROWING UP
               TO BE THE HANDSOME PRINCE. BUT I'M STILL WEARING FROGGY CLOTHES AND THEY ARE
               TOO TIGHT AND THE PRINCESS ISN'T INTERESTED AND WOULDN'T IT BE NICE JUST TO BE A
               FROG AGAIN? HELP!


               Deva Saguna, you seem to be very old fashioned. The world has changed a lot since these kinds
           of stories were written. Now just the vice versa exists. Touch a prince and he becomes a frog, kiss a
           prince and immediately there is a frog.
               This fable is no longer applicable. But it will be good to go a little deeper into it. Why were such
           kinds of stories invented? -- why in the first place? What is their psychology? The psychology is to
           cover up something ugly about human beings. The reality is that the moment you kiss a woman or a
           man, the moment you fall in love with a man or a woman, immediately the process starts that the
           man starts becoming a frog, the woman starts becoming a frog.
               Now, this is a fact, and you all know it. And these fables were created to cover up this reality.
           These fables were created to deceive you, that this is not so, that in reality you can kiss a frog and he
           becomes a prince. To deceive you about the reality of life, these stories were created. Small children
           read these stories and believe in them, and later on they are very much disillusioned.
               These stories are fantasies, wish-fulfillments. That's how man would like things to be. Kiss a frog
           and the frog is transformed into a handsome prince. These are wish-fulfillments; it does not happen,
           what happens is just the contrary. But how to hide it? How not to look at it? Create beautiful fables
           around it.
               Ninety-nine percent of our religion and a hundred percent of our literature consists of deceptions.
           It goes on talking about things as they are not, never have been, and never will be.
               But man is the animal who lives through illusions. He cannot live with reality; reality is too
           much, it hurts. Have you not seen it in your own life? Fall in love with a woman; she was so
           beautiful when she was unavailable; when she was beyond your grasp she was like a Cleopatra. And
           once you are married to her you are fed up with her, bored to death. Now you cannot believe how
           you managed to see Cleopatra in this woman; she looks utterly ugly in every possible way.
               And the same is the case from her side. She was thinking you were a charming prince, like the
           princes in the fables who come on their beautiful horses. She thought she had found her charming
           prince. And when she lives with the reality, he snores in the night, he stinks, and he has such dirty
           habits -- he smokes, she cannot even kiss him because he smells so much of smoking. And suddenly
           she becomes aware that the charming prince was never there in reality; he was a projection, she had
           projected him.
               Every day the person becomes more and more ordinary. The reality is: kiss a prince and he
           becomes a frog. But then how to live?
               If all these realities are made known, then life will become impossible. So we create fantasies,
           fables, fictions, to create some consolation, to create a little cozy atmosphere. If it is not real, at least
           you can dream, you can fantasize, you can believe that if it is not real today, tomorrow it is going to
           be real. Go on kissing the frog, and sooner or later he will become a prince. These are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           make-believes.
                People believe in the immortality of the soul because they are conscious of death -- not that they
           know the soul is immortal, but just because they see everybody dying, they know the certainty of
           death. Now, how to escape from a certainty? Create a fiction.
                Remember, I am not saying that the soul is not eternal, I am simply saying that people's belief
           that the soul is eternal is a fiction. The belief is a fiction.
                People believe in a God who cares, because they feel so uncared for. Nobody cares about them,
           they feel so left alone, nobody seems to be interested in them; whether they live or die will not
           matter. They have to create a father figure high in heaven who cares for them. Even if nobody cares,
           God cares. It is a great solace.
                In the name of religion, in the name of literature, in the name of poetry, music, we have been
           creating fictions -- we create a few buffers around ourselves, so the shocks of reality don't reach to
           us.
                You must have seen buffers in railway trains. Between two bogies, two compartments, there are
           buffers, so if somehow some accident happens, the compartments don't run into each other and the
           shock of the accident can be absorbed by the buffers. Cars have springs so that you don't feel the
           bumps on rough roads. Those springs go on absorbing the bumps, the shocks; they are
           shock-absorbers.
                Man has created many psychological shock-absorbers around himself. And what I would like to
           say to you is this: that unless you drop all shock-absorbers you are never going to be free.
                Only truth liberates. And in the beginning, truth shocks very much -- but that's how it is, that's
           how things are, that's how nature functions. You have to open yourself, you have to be vulnerable to
           all the shocks of life. It will hurt, it will wound, you will cry, you will weep, you will be in a rage
           against life. But slowly slowly you will start seeing that truth is truth, and it is pointless to be in a
           rage against truth. And once the rage has subsided, the truth has a beauty of its own. Truth liberates.
                The real work of a master is to destroy the absorbers of the disciples. And it is really very hard
           work -- hard in the sense that the disciples resist in every possible way. They protect their absorbers,
           and if they feel that there is some danger, they create more absorbers around themselves. If they see
           that somebody is after them to snatch their absorbers, they become very defensive, very protective
           and they create more armors around themselves.
                The real master cannot give you solace, he can only give you freedom. He can give you bliss, but
           he cannot give you consolation. And he will have to destroy many things in you which you have
           cherished for long, nourished for long. He will have to take away all the clothes that protect you, he
           will have to leave you nude in reality.
                It frightens, it scares, but that is the only way you can grow. Growth has to be with reality, not
           against reality. And once you have tasted something of reality as it is, you will never gather any
           other buffers, shock-absorbers, around you again.
                Saguna, you say, "I feel like the frog in the fairy tale who gets kissed and starts growing up to be
           the handsome prince."
                You must be dreaming. Things are not done that way here. You came here, Saguna, as a
           charming prince. You have been kissed, and now you are a frog. But there is nothing wrong with
           being a frog -- frogs are beautiful people.
                You say, "But I'm still wearing froggy clothes...." Of course -- you are still a frog!
                "And they are too tight" -- you are imagining -- "and the princess isn't interested and wouldn't it
           be nice just to be a frog again?"
                What are you talking about? You don't need any help, you already are one! Accept your
           frogginess and forget all about the princess. In fact I have never seen a frog interested in a princess --
           foolish idea! Become interested in another frog! And in that way I can help you. I have so many
           frogs here.

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU HAVE SAID THAT KRISHNAMURTI CAN GET ANGRY. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, AS IN
              ENLIGHTENMENT THERE IS NO ONE THERE TO BE ANGRY?


               Henk Faassen, in enlightenment there is nobody there to get angry, and there is nobody there not
           to get angry either. So whatsoever happens, happens. Krishnamurti does not get angry the way you
           get angry. Everything with an enlightened person happens on a totally different plane. His anger
           comes out of his compassion. Your anger comes out of hate, aggression, cruelty. He becomes angry
           -- sometimes he starts pulling his hair out, he hits his own forehead -- but out of compassion.
               Just think, for fifty years or more he has been teaching a certain kind of truth to the world, and
           nobody understands him. The same people gather each year to listen to him -- the same people.
               Once he was talking in Bombay... somebody reported this to me, and the person who reported it
           to me is an old lady, older than Krishnamurti. She saw Krishnamurti when he was a child, she has
           seen him and listened to him for fifty years. And because she is a little deaf, very old, she sits in the
           front on a chair. And for fifty years Krishnamurti has been saying that there are no methods for
           meditation, that meditation is not needed at all. Just be in the present and live your life, that's enough
           meditation, no other technique is needed....
               For one and a half hours he poured his heart out, and at the end the lady stood up and asked,
           "How to meditate?" Now, what do you suppose he should do? He hit his head.
               This is not your anger. This is so unbelievable! He is tired of this lady, but this lady is not tired
           of him. She comes to every talk to listen to him, and asks the same stupid questions.
               When I say Krishnamurti can get angry, I don't mean, Henk, that he can get angry like you get
           angry. His anger is out of compassion. This situation is unbelievable! He wants to help this lady and
           he feels so helpless. He tries this way and that. His message is very simple, singular,
           one-dimensional. For fifty years he has been saying only a single word. In essence his whole
           teaching can be printed on one side of a postcard. He has been saying it in as many possible ways as
           one can invent, but it is the same citadel that he attacks from the north, from the south, from the
           west, from the east. And still people go on listening to him and go on asking the same old foolish
           questions.
               He certainly gets angry. And when a man like Krishnamurti gets angry, he is pure anger. Many in
           India have felt very disappointed with Krishnamurti because he gets angry. They have a certain
           concept that a buddha should not get angry. They go with a prejudice. And when they see that
           Krishnamurti can get angry, they are disillusioned, "So this man is not a buddha, he has not become
           enlightened yet."
               I say to you that he is one of the most enlightened persons who has ever walked on this earth.
           Still he can get angry, but his anger comes out of compassion; it is condensed compassion. He cares
           about you, so much so that he becomes angry. This is a totally different quality of anger.
               And when he becomes angry he is real anger. Your anger is partial, lukewarm. Your anger is like
           a dog who is not certain how to behave with a stranger. He may be a friend of the master, so he wags
           his tail; he may be an enemy, so he barks. He does both together. On one hand he goes on barking,
           on the other hand he goes on wagging his tail. He is playing the diplomat, so whatsoever the case
           turns out to be, he can always feel right. If the master comes and he sees that the master is friendly,
           the barking will stop and his whole energy will go into the tail. If the master is angry with the
           intruder, then the tail will stop completely, and his whole energy will go into barking.
               Your anger is also like that. You are weighing up how far to go, how much will pay; don't go
           beyond the limit, don't provoke the other person too much.
               But when a man like Krishnamurti becomes angry he is pure anger. And pure anger has a beauty
           because it has totality. He is just anger. He is like a small child, redfaced, just anger all over, ready to
           destroy the whole world.
               That's what happened to Jesus. When he went into the great temple and saw the moneychangers
           and their tables inside the temple, he was in a rage. He became angry -- the same anger that comes
           out of compassion and love. Singlehanded, he drove all the moneychangers out of the temple and
           overturned their boards. He must have been really very angry, because driving all the
           moneychangers out of the temple singlehanded is not an easy thing.
               And reports say -- I don't know how far they are right, but reports say that he was not a very
           strong man. Reports say that he was not even a very tall man; you will be surprised, he was only four
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feet six inches. And not only that -- on top of it he was a hunchback. I don't know how far those
           reports are true, because I don't want to go to court! But it is there in the books, ancient books, very
           ancient books.
               So how did this hunchback, four feet six inches high, drive out all the moneychangers
           singlehanded? He must have been pure rage!
               Indians are angry about that. They cannot trust that Jesus is enlightened -- just because of this
           incident.
               People have their prejudices, their ideas. Rather than seeing into reality, rather than looking into
           an enlightened man, they come ready with so many concepts, and unless he fits them he is not
           enlightened. And let me tell you, no enlightened person is going to fit with your unenlightened
           prejudices; it is impossible.
               It happened, a lady came to me. She had been a follower of Krishnamurti for many years, then a
           small thing disturbed the whole thing and the whole applecart was upturned. The thing was so small
           that I was surprised. There was a camp in Holland where Krishnamurti holds a camp every year, and
           the woman had gone there from India. Nearabout two thousand people had gathered from all over
           the world to listen to him. The next morning the lectures were going to start, and the woman had
           gone shopping. And she was surprised, Krishnamurti was also shopping. An enlightened person
           shopping? Can you believe it? Buddha in a supermarket? And not only that -- he was purchasing a
           necktie. Enlightened people need neckties? And not only that -- the whole counter was full of
           neckties and he was throwing them this way and that, and he was not satisfied with any.
               The woman watched, looked at the whole scene, and fell from the sky. She thought, "I have
           come from India for this ordinary man who is purchasing neckties. And even then, of thousands of
           neckties of all colors and all kinds of material, nothing is satisfying to him. Is this detachment? Is
           this awareness?"
               She turned away. She didn't attend the camp, she came back immediately. And the first thing she
           did was to come running to me, and she said, "You are right."
           I said, "What do you mean?"
               She said, "You are right that it was useless wasting my time with Krishnamurti. Now I want to
           become a sannyasin of yours."
               I said, "Please excuse me, I cannot accept you. If you cannot accept Krishnamurti, how can I
           accept you? Get lost! ... Because here you will see far more disappointing things. What are you
           going to do with my Mercedes Benz? So before it happens, why bother? What are you going to do
           with my air-conditioned room? Before it happens, it is better that you go and find some Muktananda,
           etcetera. You have not been able to understand Krishnamurti, you will not be able to understand me."
               People like Krishnamurti live on a totally different plane. Their anger is not your anger. And who
           knows that he was not just playing with those ties for this stupid old woman? Masters are known to
           devise things like that. He got rid of this stupid old woman very easily.
           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IN ITALY, A POOR COUNTRY, WE HAVE ONLY THREE THINGS -- THE POPE, THE PIZZA AND
              GOSSIP. NOW IN COMING TO INDIA, WE HAVE LOST THE PIZZA AND WITH YOU AS THE
              POPE, PLEASE AT LEAST LET US HAVE THE GOSSIP!


               Videha, I am not averse to gossiping. In fact, I love it. But what to do with this old man, Atisha?
           Every day I decide to gossip a little, and he says no. And I have to be a little respectful towards him.
           And the problem is not so much with Atisha, the problem is the sutra that is coming. I will find a
           legal way to wriggle out of it. But gossiping is difficult -- but if you promise me not to tell anybody,
           I will....

               A man was walking down the street looking into shop windows and his gaze stopped on a small
           overnight shaving-kit bag in a shop. What stopped him was the price -- an exorbitant three hundred
           dollars.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               His curiosity got the better of him and he was compelled to go in and ask about it, although he
           did not need one. "Why is this little bag so expensive?" he asked.
               The shopkeeper replied, "It is made out of a very special leather."
               "Even if it was made out of alligator skin or mink-lined it wouldn't be so costly," said the
           inquiring man.
               The shopkeeper answered, "The story behind this small bag is special. The leathersmith's uncle is
           a rabbi and this bag is made entirely out of foreskins."
               "I can see that that would be unique," the man came back. "But three hundred dollars is still too
           high a price!"
               The shopkeeper then said, "It is very convenient. When you rub it, it turns into a large suitcase."

           Enough for today.




                                             The Book of Wisdom
                                                   Chapter #13
                                    Chapter title: Don't make Wicked Jokes
           23 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902230
              ShortTitle: WISDOM13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              ABANDON POISONED FOOD.
              DON'T BE CONSISTENT.

              DON'T MAKE WICKED JOKES.
              DON'T WAIT FOR AN OPPORTUNITY.

              DON'T STRIKE AT THE HEART.
              DON'T TRANSFER THE COW'S LOAD TO THE BULL.

              DON'T BACK THE FAVORITE.
              DON'T HAVE WRONG VIEWS.

              DON'T FALL FOR THE CELESTIAL DEMON.

              The first sutra:

              ABANDON POISONED FOOD.

               According to the mystic traditions of the East, all that you think you are is nothing but food.
           Your body is food, your mind is food, your soul is food. Beyond the soul there is certainly something
           which is not food. That something is known as anatta, no-self. It is utter emptiness. Buddha calls it
           shunya, the void. It is pure space. It contains nothing but itself; it is contentless consciousness.
               While the content persists, the food persists. By "food" is meant that which is ingested from the
           outside. The body needs physical food; without it, it will start withering away. This is how it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           survives; it contains nothing but physical food.
                Your mind contains memories, thoughts, desires, jealousies, power trips, and a thousand and one
           things. All that is also food; on a little more subtle plane it is food. Thought is food. Hence when you
           have nourishing thoughts your chest expands. When you have thoughts which give you energy you
           feel good. Somebody says something good about you, a compliment, and look what happens to you
           -- you are nourished. And somebody says something wrong about you, and watch -- it is as if
           something has been snatched away from you, you are weaker than you were before.
                The mind is food in a subtle form. The mind is nothing but the inner side of the body; hence what
           you eat affects your mind. If you eat nonvegetarian food you will have a particular kind of mind; if
           you eat vegetarian food you will certainly have a different kind of mind.
                Do you know this immensely important fact about Indian history? India never attacked any
           country in its whole history of ten thousand years -- never, not a single aggressive act. How was it
           possible? Why? The same humanity exists here as exists everywhere else, but it is just that a
           different kind of body created a different mind.
                You can watch it yourself. Eat something and watch, eat something else and watch. Keep notes,
           and you will become aware and surprised to find that each thing that you digest is not only physical,
           it has a psychological part to it. It makes your mind vulnerable to certain ideas, to certain desires.
                Hence, down the ages, there has been a search for a kind of food that will not strengthen the
           mind but will help it to finally dissolve; a kind of food which, instead of strengthening the mind, will
           strengthen meditation, no-mind. No fixed and certain rules can be given, because people are different
           and each one has to decide for himself.
                And watch what you allow into your mind. People are completely unaware; they go on reading
           everything and anything, they go on looking at the tv, any silly stupid thing. They go on listening to
           the radio, they go on chitchatting, chattering with people, and they are all pouring rubbish into each
           other's heads. Rubbish is all that they have.
                Avoid such situations in which you are unnecessarily burdened with rubbish. You already have
           too much as it is, you need to be unburdened of it. And you go on collecting it as if it is something
           precious.
                Talk less, listen only to the essential, be telegraphic in talking and listening. If you talk less, if
           you listen less, slowly slowly you will see that a cleanliness, a feeling of purity, as if you have just
           taken a bath, will start arising within you. That becomes the necessary soil for meditation to arise.
           Don't go on reading all kinds of nonsense.
                Once I used to live in a house where the neighbor was a madman who was very much interested
           in newspapers. He would come every day to collect all the newspapers from me. If sometimes he
           was ill or I was not at home, then he would come later on.
                Once it happened, for ten days I was away, and when I came back he came again to collect all the
           newspapers. I said to him, "But these are old now -- ten days old."
                He said, "What does it matter? It is the same rubbish! Only the dates change."
                It must have been a very sane moment in that madman's life. Yes, there are insane moments in
           so-called sane people's lives, and vice versa. He was telling the truth, saying, "It is the same old
           nonsense. What does it matter? I have time, and I have to remain occupied."
           I asked him, "What did you do for these ten days?"
                He said, "I was reading the old newspapers -- reading them again and again and again."
                Leave a few gaps in your mind unoccupied. Those moments of unoccupied consciousness are the
           first glimpses of meditation, the first penetrations of the beyond, the first flashes of no-mind. And
           then if you can manage to do this, the other thing is to choose physical food which does not help
           aggression and violence, which is not poisonous.
                Now even scientists agree with this, that when you kill an animal, out of fear he releases all kinds
           of poisons. Death is not easy. When you are killing an animal, out of fear a great trembling arises
           inside. The animal wants to survive; all kinds of poisons are released.
                When you are in fear you also release poisons in the body. Those poisons are helpful; they help
           you to either fight or take flight. Sometimes it happens that in anger you can do things which you
           could never have imagined yourself doing. You can move a rock which ordinarily you could not
           have even shaken, but anger is there and poison is released.
                In fear, people can run so fast that even Olympic runners will be left behind. Just think of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yourself running if somebody is behind you with a dagger to kill you. You will do the best you can
           do, your whole body will be geared to function at its optimum.
               When you kill an animal there is anger, there is anxiety, there is fear. Death is facing him; all the
           glands of the animal release many kinds of poisons. Hence the modern idea is that before killing an
           animal, make him unconscious, give him anaesthesia. In modern butcheries, anaesthesia is being
           used. But that does not make much difference, only a very superficial difference, because at the
           deepest core where no anaesthesia can ever reach, death has to be encountered. It may not be
           conscious, the animal may not be aware of what is happening, but it is happening as if in a dream.
           He is passing through a nightmare.
           And to eat meat is to eat poisoned food.
               Avoid anything that is poisoned on the physical plane, avoid anything that is poisoned on the
           mental plane. And on the mental plane things are more complicated. If you think you are a Hindu,
           you are poisoned; if you think you are a Mohammedan, you are poisoned. If you think you are a
           Christian, a Jaina, a Buddhist, you are poisoned. And you have been poisoned slowly, so slowly that
           you have become attuned to it. You are addicted to it.
               You have been spoon-fed since the very first day; from your mother's breast, you have been
           poisoned. All kinds of conditionings are poisons. To think of oneself as a Hindu is to think of oneself
           opposed to humanity. To think of oneself as German, as Chinese, is to think of oneself opposed to
           humanity, is to think in terms of enmity, not friendship.
               Think of yourself only as a human being. If you have any intelligence, think of yourself only as a
           simple human being. And when your intelligence grows a little more you will drop even the
           adjective "human"; you will think of yourself only as a being. And the being includes all -- the trees
           and the mountains and the rivers and the stars and the birds and the animals.
               Become bigger, become huge. Why are you living in tunnels? Why are you creeping into small
           dark black holes? But you think you are living in great ideological systems. You are not living in
           great ideological systems, because there are no great ideological systems. No idea is great enough to
           contain a human being; being-hood cannot be contained by any concept. All concepts cripple and
           paralyze.
               Don't be a Catholic and don't be a communist, just be a human being. These are all poisons, these
           are all prejudices. And down the ages you have been hypnotized into these prejudices. They have
           become part of your blood, your bones, your very marrow. You will have to be very alert to get rid
           of all this poisoning.
               Your body is not poisoned as much as your mind is. The body is a simple phenomenon, it can be
           easily cleaned. If you have been eating nonvegetarian foods it can be stopped, it is not such a big
           deal. And if you stop eating meat, within three months your body will be completely free of all the
           poisons created by nonvegetarian foods. It is simple. Physiology is not very complicated.
               But the problem arises with psychology. A Jaina monk never eats any poisoned food, never eats
           anything nonvegetarian. But his mind is polluted and poisoned by Jainism as nobody else's is.
               The real freedom is freedom from any ideology. Can't you simply live without any ideology? Is
           an ideology needed? Why is an ideology needed so much? It is needed because it helps you to
           remain stupid, it is needed because it helps you to remain unintelligent. It is needed because it
           supplies you readymade answers and you need not find them on your own.
               The real man of intelligence will not cling to any ideology -- for what? He will not carry a load
           of readymade answers. He knows that he has enough intelligence so that whatever situation arises,
           he will be able to respond to it. Why carry an unnecessary load from the past? What is the point of
           carrying it?
               And in fact the more you carry from the past, the less you will be able to respond to the present,
           because the present is not a repetition of the past, it is always new, always always new. It is never the
           old; it may sometimes appear like the old, but it is not old, there are basic differences.
               Life never repeats itself. It is always fresh, always new, always growing, always exploring,
           always moving into new adventures. Your old readymade answers are not going to help you. In fact
           they will hinder you; they will not allow you to see the new situation. The situation will be new, and
           the answer will be old.
               That's why you look so stupid in life. But to remain stupid seems cheaper. To be intelligent needs
           effort, to be intelligent means you have to grow. And growth is painful. To be intelligent means you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to be continuously alert and aware; you cannot fall asleep, you cannot live like a somnambulist.
               And to be intelligent has a few more dangers too. To be intelligent is very difficult because you
           have to live with the stupid crowds. To live with blind people and have eyes is a dangerous situation;
           they are bound to destroy your eyes. They cannot tolerate you, you are an offense.
               Hence Jesus is crucified, Socrates is poisoned, Al-Hillaj is killed, Sarmad is beheaded. These
           were the most intelligent people that have ever walked on the earth. And how have we behaved with
           them? Why did a man of the intelligence of Socrates have to be killed? He became intolerable. His
           presence became such an offense. To look into his eyes meant to look in the mirror. And we are so
           ugly that rather than accepting the fact that we are ugly, the easier course is to destroy the mirror and
           forget all about your ugliness, and start living again in the old dream that you are the most beautiful
           person in the world.
               We destroyed Socrates because he was a mirror. Hence people have decided it is better to remain
           mediocre, it is better to remain unintelligent.
               Just the other day, I was reading a report. A few psychologists in England have discovered that
           by the time great politicians reach the highest posts, their intelligence is already withering away. Just
           think of a man of eighty-four becoming a prime minister! Those psychologists have warned the
           whole world that this is dangerous. People who have gone beyond the age of sixty, seventy, eighty,
           they become prime ministers and presidents. This is dangerous for the world, because they have so
           much power and so little intelligence left.
               But those psychologists are not aware of another thing that I would like to tell you. In fact people
           choose them to be prime ministers and presidents because they are no longer intelligent. People don't
           like intelligent persons. People like people who look like them, who are like them; they feel they are
           not strangers. Intelligent people will be strangers.
               I can't think of any country which could choose Socrates to be the prime minister -- impossible.
           He is so different, his approach to life is so different, his insight into things is so deep. No country
           could afford, or no country could be so courageous, as to make him the prime minister, because he
           would bring chaos. He would start changing each and everything, because each and everything needs
           to be changed.
               This rotten society has to be destroyed completely; only then can a new society be created.
           Renovation is not going to help. We have been renovating the same old ruins for centuries. No more
           props, no more renovations, no more whitewash! All that is needed is to demolish it, and let us create
           a new society. Let us bring a new human being, HOMO NOVUS. Let us give birth to something
           new, a new mind, a new consciousness.
               People choose dull dead persons to be in power because you can be safe with them. Now, India is
           very safe with Morarji Desai; he is not going to do a single thing. He will keep everything intact, he
           will keep this country's ugly bureaucracy as it is. He will not change anything; his whole effort will
           be to stop change. Jaiprakash Narayan was thinking of bringing about a total revolution, and what
           has happened is total failure.
               Countries choose mediocre people to be in power, because they will save their tradition, their
           conventions, their prejudices. They will protect their poisons. Instead of destroying them, they will
           enhance them and strengthen them.
               It is certainly dangerous to have unintelligent people in powerful posts. And it is becoming more
           and more dangerous, because they have more and more power and less and less intelligence. But
           why does it happen? There is a subtle logic in it. People don't want to change. Change is arduous,
           change is difficult.
               If you change your poisonous foods you will be surprised; a new intelligence will be released in
           you. And this new intelligence will make it possible not to go on stuffing yourself with nonsense.
           This new intelligence will make you capable of dropping the past and its memories, of dropping
           unnecessary desires and dreams, dropping jealousies, angers, traumas and all kinds of psychological
           wounds.
               Because you cannot drop psychological wounds, you become victims of psycho-fraud. The world
           is full of psychoanalysts of many kinds, they come in all shapes and sizes. The world is full of all
           kinds of psychotherapies. But why are so many psychotherapies needed? They are needed because
           you are not intelligent enough to heal your own wounds. Instead of healing them, instead of opening
           them to the winds and to the sun, you go on hiding them. You need psychotherapists to help you to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           open your wounds to the sun so that they can be healed, so that they can be allowed to heal.
               But it is very difficult to find a real psychotherapist. Out of a hundred psychotherapists,
           ninety-nine are psychofrauds, not psychotherapists.
               You will be surprised to know that more psychotherapists and psychoanalysts commit suicide
           than people in any other profession. The number is almost double. Now, what kind of people are
           these? And how were they going to help others? What were they doing their whole lives helping
           people?
               More psychoanalysts go mad, insane, than people in any other profession of the world. The
           number is almost double. Why?... and they were helping other people towards sanity, when they
           themselves were insane. There is every possibility that they became interested in psychotherapy
           because of their insanity. It was an effort to find a cure for themselves.
               And you will be surprised to know that psychotherapists of one kind go for psychotherapy to
           psychotherapists of another kind. The Freudian goes to the Jungian, the Jungian goes to the
           Freudian, and so on and so forth. This is a very strange situation.
               If intelligence is released in you, you will be able to do all that is needed. You will be able to
           heal your own wounds, you will be able to see your own traumas, you need not go to a primal
           therapist.
               I am allowing all kinds of therapies in this commune. In fact, in no other place in the world are so
           many psychotherapies available -- sixty in all. Why am I allowing these therapies? Just because of
           you, because you are not yet ready to release your intelligence.
               As the commune goes deeper and deeper into inner realizations, therapies can be dropped. When
           the commune has really bloomed, there will be no need of any therapy. Then love is therapy,
           intelligence is therapy. Then living day to day, moment to moment, aware and alert, is therapy. Then
           all kinds of things that you do during the day, cleaning and cooking and washing, they are all
           therapy.
               Therapies are here only for the time being. The day I become convinced that now the major part
           of you has gone beyond therapies, therapies will disappear, because then the major part will be able
           to pull the minor part into intelligence also.
               We are trying to create an intelligent kind of life. I am not much of a religious person, I am not a
           saint, I have nothing to do with spirituality. All those categories are irrelevant about me. You cannot
           categorize me, you cannot pigeonhole me. But one thing can be said, that my whole effort is to help
           you release the energy called love-intelligence. If love-intelligence is released, you are healed.
               And the third kind of poisoned food is spiritual. That's what the self is. The self needs continuous
           attention. It feeds on attention, attention is its food. It is not only the politician who hankers for
           attention, more and more attention from more and more people. Your so-called saints are doing the
           same.
               There is no difference between saints and politicians and actors, no difference at all. Their basic
           need is the same -- attention: "More people should pay attention to me, more people should look up
           to me." That becomes food for the ego, and it is the subtlest kind of poisoned food.
               These three things are implied in the first sutra. Atisha says:
              ABANDON POISONED FOOD.

               Physical, psychological, spiritual. Let your physiological body be pure of all poisons and toxins,
           and your mind be unburdened from all kinds of rubbish and junk. And let your soul be free from the
           idea of the self. When the soul is free from the idea of 'I' you have arrived at that inner space called
           no-self, ANATTA. That is freedom, that is nirvana, that is enlightenment. You have come home.
           Now there is nowhere to go; now you can settle, rest and relax. Now you can enjoy the millions of
           joys that are being showered upon you by existence.
               When these three poisoned foods are dropped, you become empty. But this emptiness is not a
           negative kind of emptiness. You are empty in the sense that all poisons, all contents, are gone. But
           you are full, full of something which cannot be named, full of something which devotees call God.
               Atisha cannot use that word; he is not a devotee, he is not a BHAKTA. He cannot use any word
           for it, he remains completely silent about it. He says: Drop this, drop this, drop this, and then
           whatsoever remains is you, the real you.
               And the second sutra is a very very significant sutra.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DON'T BE CONSISTENT.

                Have you ever heard anything like that, "Don't be consistent"? When you hear it for the first time
           or read it for the first time, you will think there has been some mistake, maybe a proof mistake or
           something. Because your so-called saints have been telling you just the opposite. "Don't be
           inconsistent," they say. "Be consistent."
           It is here that Atisha is superb. He says:
              DON'T BE CONSISTENT.

               Why? What is consistency? Consistency means living according to the past. With what will you
           be consistent? If you want to be consistent you can have only one reference, and that is the past. To
           be consistent means to live according to the past, and to live according to the past is not to live at all.
           To live according to the past is to be dead. Then your life will be just a repetition.
               To be consistent means you have already decided that now there is no more to life, that you have
           already come to a full stop; you don't allow life to have anything new to give to you, you have closed
           your doors. The sun will rise, but you will not allow its rays to enter into your room. And the flowers
           will bloom, but you will remain unaware of their fragrance. Moons will come and go, but you will
           remain stagnant. You have stopped being a river.
               A river cannot be a consistent phenomenon. Only a pond can be consistent, because it is
           nonflowing. The flow by its very nature has to be inconsistent, because it has to face new situations,
           new challenges. New spaces are constantly coming upon it; it has to respond spontaneously, not
           according to the past.
               The consistent man is a logical man, his life is one-dimensional. He lives in arithmetic, he
           follows logic. If anything goes against logic he simply avoids seeing it; he pretends that it is not
           there, because it is so disturbing to his logic.
               And the logical man is the poorest man in the world, because life consists not only of logic, but
           of love too. And love is illogical. Only a very small part of life is logical, the superficial part. The
           deeper you go, the more and more you move into the illogical, or, to be more accurate, the
           supralogical.
               Logic is good in the marketplace, but not in the temple, not in the mosque, not in the church.
           Logic is good in the office, in the shop, in the factory. Logic is not good when you are with your
           friends, when you are with your beloved, with your children. Logic is good when you are dealing in
           a businesslike way. But life is not all business; there is something far more valuable in life than any
           business. Allow that too.

              A professor of philosophy went to a doctor and asked for advice on how to improve his sex life.
              "You seem to be in good physical condition," said the doctor, after an examination. "You run ten
           miles a day, every day for seven days, then phone me."
              A week later, the professor telephoned. "Well," said the physician, "has the running improved
           your sex life?"
              "I don't know," said the professor. "I am seventy miles from home now."

               This is the way a logical mind functions. It is one-dimensional. Life is multidimensional. Don't
           confine it, don't make it linear, don't live like a line. Live the multidimensions of it, the multi-phases
           of it, and then you cannot be consistent, because life is paradoxical -- one moment it is joy, another
           moment it is sadness. If you are very consistent, then you have to go on smiling; whether your heart
           is crying or smiling, that doesn't matter, you have to be consistent. You have to be Jimmy Carter and
           go on smiling.
               I have heard that his wife has to close his mouth every night, because at night also he goes on
           smiling. If you practice such a thing the whole day, naturally, how can you relax so suddenly at
           night? It becomes a fixed pattern.
               Life consists of sadness too. And sadness is also beautiful; it has its own depth, its own delicacy,
           its own deliciousness, its own taste. A man is poorer if he has not known sadness; he is
           impoverished, very much impoverished. His laughter will be shallow, his laughter will not have
           depth, because depth comes only through sadness. A man who knows sadness, if he laughs, his
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           laughter will have depth. His laughter will have something of his sadness too, his laughter will be
           more colorful.
                A man who lives life in its totality is a rainbow; he lives the whole spectrum of it. He cannot be
           consistent, he has to be inconsistent.
                Atisha is giving you something tremendously valuable. Live all the moods of life; they are your
           own and they all have something to contribute to your growth. Don't become confined to a small
           space. Howsoever comfortable and cozy it looks, don't become confined to a small space. Be an
           adventurer. Search and seek all the facets of life, all the aspects of life.
                It is said that you cannot write a novel about a good man. And that is true; a good man really has
           no life. What novel can you write about him? At the most you can write a character certificate saying
           that he is good -- and that is his whole life. He does not have much of a life, because he has no
           multidimensionality.
                Live, and allow all that is possible. Sing, dance, cry, weep, laugh, love, meditate, relate, be alone.
           Be in the marketplace, and sometimes be in the mountains.
                Life is short. Live it as richly as possible, and don't try to be consistent. The consistent man is a
           very poor man. Of course the society respects the consistent man, because the consistent man is
           predictable. You know what he is going to do tomorrow, you know how he is going to react. He is
           manageable, he can be easily manipulated. You know what buttons to push and how he will act. He
           is a machine; he is not truly a man. You can put him on and off and he will behave according to you;
           he is in your hands.
                The society respects the consistent man; the society calls consistency "character." And the real
           man has no character. A real man is characterless, or beyond character. A real man cannot afford
           character, because character can be afforded only at the cost of life. If you renounce life, you can
           have character. If you don't renounce life, you will have many characters, but you will not have
           character. If you don't renounce life, how can you have a character? Each moment life is new, and so
           are you.
                Society will not respect you, you will not be a respectable citizen -- but who cares? Only
           mediocre people care about the respect of the society. The real person cares about only one thing:
           Whether I am living my life or not, whether I am living it according to my own vision or not, it is my
           life, and I am responsible to myself.
                The most important responsibility is not to the nation or to the church or to anybody else. The
           real responsibility is to yourself. And it is that you have to live your life according to your own light
           and you have to move wherever life leads, without any compromise.
                The man of character compromises. His character is nothing but an effort to guarantee the
           society, "I am not dangerous," and to declare to the society, "I will follow the rules of the game, I am
           utterly at your disposal."
                The saint has character, hence he is respected. The sage has no character, hence it is very
           difficult to recognize him. Socrates is a sage, Jesus is a sage, Lao Tzu is a sage but they are very
           difficult to recognize, almost impossible, because they don't leave any trace behind them. They don't
           fit into any mold, they are pure freedom. They are like birds flying in the sky, they don't leave any
           footprints.
                It is only for a very few sensitive souls to find a sage as a master, because the mediocre follow
           the saint. Only very very intelligent people attune themselves to a sage, because the sage has no
           character and he cannot fulfill any of your expectations. He is bound to offend you, he is bound to
           disappoint you, he is bound to shake you and shatter you in many many ways.
                Slowly slowly, he will make you as free as he himself is.
                And now the third sutra, the most dangerous. I have been really worried about it.
              DON'T MAKE WICKED JOKES.

              What is a wicked joke? First I will have to tell three just to explain. And three, because it is a
           very esoteric number.
           The first:

              With a buzz and a beep and a whirr, a strange spaceship descends to Earth. Two bizarre creatures
           emerge and float to the ground. They are a young Martian couple, both scientists, here on an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exploratory visit. They decide that the best way to find out about Earth is to communicate with some
           of the inhabitants, so off they bounce in search of some likely candidates. They enter an apartment
           building in the mysterious way Martians have of doing these things, and settle upon a newly-wedded
           couple by the names of Everett and Gladys Sprinkle (honest!).
                Well, Everett and Gladys are as surprised as could be, but quickly adjust, in that special way
           newlyweds have of adapting to startling surprises. With one thing and another, the talk finally ends
           up on the subject of reproduction. The Martian male astounds the Sprinkles by offering to
           demonstrate the way people reproduce on his planet. Before they can protest in their embarrassment,
           he grabs the Martian woman, places the eight chubby fingers of his single hand on her forehead, and
           while he sparkles and she twinkles, an opening appears in her side and a tiny baby Martian hops out
           and starts prancing around Everett and Gladys' living room.
                The Martian male then asks them how it is done on Earth. They hem and haw a bit, and finally
           decide that it would be too difficult to describe. So, in the interest of interplanetary cooperation, they
           take off their clothes and give a demonstration.
                The Martians watch their performance, enthralled. When it is all over, the Martian woman asks,
           "When will the Earth child come out?" Gladys shakes her head and tells her that it will take nine
           months. The Martians are amazed at this, scratch their heads a bit, and then the male asks, "But if it
           isn't coming out right now, how come you were both so excited towards the end?"

           The second:
               A man went to see his doctor because he was feeling under the weather. The doctor asked the
           usual questions such as had the man been drinking or eating too much.
           "No," said the man.
           "Well, perhaps you have had too many late nights?" queried the doctor.
           "No," the man replied.
           The doctor thought about the problem for a while and then asked, "Much sex?"
           "Infrequently," came the reply.
           "Is that two words or one?"

           And the third:

              A woman walked into a supermarket to buy some broccoli. She went up to a man in the
           vegetable department and said, "Sir, do you have any broccoli?"
              The man replied, "No, ma'am, none today. Come back tomorrow."
              A few hours later, the woman was back again, asking the man, "Sir, do you have any broccoli?"
              "Look, lady, I already told you, we don't have any broccoli today."
              The lady left, only to return again that same day. By this time, the man was exasperated and said,
           "What does t-o-m spell in the word tomato?"
           She replied, "Tom."
              "And what does p-o-t spell in the the word potato?" he asked.
           "Pot," was the reply,
              He then said, "And what does f-u-c-k spell in the word broccoli?"
              She looked puzzled and said, "There's no fuck in broccoli."
              He sighed a deep sigh and exclaimed, "Lady, that's what I've been trying to tell you all day!"

               I don't know whether they are wicked jokes or not, but one thing is certain, Atisha would have
           enjoyed them.
               In fact, by "wicked jokes" he means something totally different. He means: Don't say anything
           against anybody, don't hurt anybody when they are not present, don't hurt anybody behind their back.
               The translation is not exact. Atisha's whole meaning is: Don't gossip about people with a
           deliberate intention to hurt them, because that is not really joking, that is not fun, that is not
           humorous. Atisha can't be against the sense of humor, it is impossible. No man of his intelligence
           and awareness can be against the sense of humor. In fact, it is people like Atisha who have given the
           best religious humor to the world. Atisha comes from Gautam Buddha's tradition -- the same lineage
           as the Zen people. And Zen is the only religion which has accepted humor as prayer. It is not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible, not possible at all, that Atisha had no sense of humor.
                Then the sutra cannot be really against jokes. It is against hurting people. What he is saying is
           going deeper into the psychology of the joke, into the rationale behind the joke. It is what Sigmund
           Freud did one thousand years later. Sigmund Freud thinks that when you joke about somebody there
           is every possibility that you are aggressive, that you have anger, that in a vicarious way you are
           pretending to be humorous but you really want to be offensive.
                But that cannot be decided by anybody else from the outside; only you can be the judge. If there
           is a deliberate effort in your mind to offend somebody, to hurt somebody, if it is violence disguised
           as humor, avoid it. But if it is not violence but just a pure sense of humor, the sense of fun -- the
           sense of not taking life seriously, not taking it too seriously, then there is no problem.
                If I meet Atisha some day, I am going to teach him a few jokes. And my feeling is he will enjoy
           it.
                Jokes can be just pure humor without any violence in them. Sometimes on the surface one may
           think there is some violence, but the point is not what others think, the point is what your intention
           is. It is a question of intention. You can smile with an intention to offend, then smiling becomes a
           sin. Anything can become a sin if deep down the desire is to do violence. And anything can become
           virtue if deep down there is a desire to create more joy in life, more laughter in life.
                My own understanding is that there is nothing more valuable than laughter. Laughter brings you
           closest to prayer. In fact only laughter is left in you when you are total. In everything else you
           remain partial, even in lovemaking you remain partial. But when you have a really heartfelt belly
           laugh, all the parts of your being -- the physiological, the psychological, the spiritual -- they all
           vibrate in one single tune, they all vibrate in harmony.
                Hence, laughter relaxes. And relaxation is spiritual. Laughter brings you to the earth, brings you
           down from your stupid ideas of being holier-than-thou. Laughter brings you to reality as it is. The
           world is a play of God, a cosmic joke. And unless you understand it as a cosmic joke you will never
           be able to understand the ultimate mystery.
           I am all for jokes, I am all for laughter.
                Atisha has been wrongly translated. What he actually means is: Don't be violent, even in your
           words. Even while joking, don't be violent, because violence breeds more violence, anger will bring
           more anger, and it creates a vicious circle that has no end.
           The fourth:
              DON'T WAIT FOR AN OPPORTUNITY.

               Because the opportunity is now, the opportunity is here. So those who say, "We are waiting for
           an opportunity," are being deceptive, and they are not deceiving anybody but themselves.
               The opportunity is not going to come tomorrow. It has already arrived, it has always been here. It
           was here even when you were not here. Existence is an opportunity; to be is the opportunity.
              DON'T WAIT FOR AN OPPORTUNITY.

               Don't say, "Tomorrow I will meditate, tomorrow I will love, tomorrow I will have a dancing
           relationship with existence." Why tomorrow? Tomorrow never comes. Why not now? Why
           postpone? Postponement is a trick of the mind; it keeps you hoping, and meanwhile the opportunity
           is slipping by. And in the end you will come to the cul-de-sac -- death -- and there will be no more
           opportunity left.
               And this has happened many times in the past. You are not new here, you have been born and
           you have died many many times. And each time the mind has played the same trick, and you have
           not yet learned anything.
           Atisha says:
              DON'T WAIT FOR AN OPPORTUNITY.DON'T STRIKE AT THE HEART.

                He says: Criticize people's minds, criticize their ideologies, criticize their systems of thought,
           criticize everything -- but never criticize anybody's love, never criticize anybody's trust. Why? --
           because love is so valuable, trust is so immensely valuable. To destroy it, to criticize it, to shatter it
           in any way, is the greatest harm one can do to anybody.
                You can criticize the mind -- it should be criticized -- but not the heart. Whenever you see
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something of the heart, avoid the temptation to criticize it.
               Just the opposite is the case with people. They can tolerate your ideology, they can tolerate your
           mind, but the moment they see your love, your trust, they jump upon you. They cannot tolerate your
           trust; it is too much. They will say that this is hypnosis, that you have been hypnotized, you have
           been deceived, you are living in an illusion; that love is madness, love is blind; logic has eyes, and
           love is blind.
               The truth is just the opposite. Logic is blind; criticize it! Love has eyes, only love has eyes,
           because only love can see God. Criticize beliefs, because beliefs are nothing but doubts hidden
           behind beautiful words. Criticize beliefs, but don't criticize anybody's trust.
               And what is the difference? Trust has the quality of love. Belief is just a rational approach. If
           somebody says, "I believe in God because these are the proofs for God," then criticize him, because
           proofs can only prove the belief. But don't criticize somebody who says, "I love God. I don't know
           why, I simply love God. I am in love. There are no proofs, in fact there is every proof against him,
           but still I love God."
               Remember the famous statement of Tertullian, a great Christian mystic: CREDO QUIA
           ABSURDUM.... Somebody asked him, "Why do you believe in God?" He said, "Because God is
           absurd. Because God cannot be believed in, that's why I believe in God."
               Everything else can be believed, only God cannot be believed. But in believing that which cannot
           be believed, one grows. That is reaching for the impossible.
               So whenever you see somebody in love, somebody in trust, avoid the temptation to criticize. It is
           easy to criticize, it is easy to throw poison at somebody's love affair. But you don't know that you
           have been destructive, you don't know that you have destroyed something of immense beauty. You
           have thrown a rock on a roseflower.
              DON'T TRANSFER THE COW'S LOAD TO THE BULL.

              People are always finding scapegoats. Because they cannot answer the strong person, they take
           revenge on the weak.

               There is a story about Mulla Nasruddin. He was in the court of a great king, he was the jester of
           the court. He said something very funny, but the king felt offended, and he slapped Mulla Nasruddin.
           Now, Mulla wanted to slap him back, but that was risky, that was dangerous, so he slapped the man
           who was standing by his side.
               The man was taken aback; he said, "What are you doing? I have not done anything to you."
               And Mulla said, "Why are you arguing with me? You can slap the man who is standing by your
           side. The world is big; by the time it comes back again we will see. Just let it go -- pass it on!"

               That's what people are doing, actually doing. It is not just a story. The husband has been
           humiliated by the boss and he comes home and is angry at the wife for no reason at all. Or maybe he
           finds a reason; a reason can always be found, they are so simple to find. There is too much salt in the
           vegetables or the chapatti is burnt, or something -- anything! He will find a reason, and he will
           convince himself that he is angry because of this reason. The reality is that he is angry at his boss.
           But the boss is a powerful man; to say anything could be dangerous, he might lose his job. So he
           smiled when the boss was insulting him; he went on wagging his tail. Now he is projecting the boss
           onto the wife.
               If the story is happening in the West, then the wife can also jump on him. But if it is happening
           in the East, the wife cannot do anything. In the East, husbands have been telling their wives that
           husbands have to be treated as gods. The wife cannot say anything; she will have to wait for the
           child to come back from school and then she will do with the child whatsoever she wanted to do with
           the husband. She will beat the child. The child is late, his clothes are torn again, he has done this and
           that again, he has been playing with the wrong boys again.
               And what can the child do? He will go into his room and beat or destroy his toys. In this way it
           goes on shifting.
               Atisha is saying: Please don't shift things; otherwise your whole life you will be just shifting and
           shifting. Take the responsibility, take the risk. Respond to the situation, whatsoever the cost.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DON'T TRANSFER THE COW'S LOAD TO THE BULL.DON'T BACK THE FAVORITE.

                Don't have likes and dislikes. Be just, be fair, don't decide through your prejudices, your likes
           and dislikes. Just decide the case on its own merit, and your life will have the beauty of truth, your
           life will have the strength of truth.
              DON'T HAVE WRONG VIEWS.

                All views are wrong. Life should be lived without views, life should be lived in immediate
           contact with reality. But if it is not possible, then at least don't have wrong views. What are wrong
           views? Views which are rooted in prejudice, hate, anger, greed, ambition, violence.
                The first thing is, don't have any kind of views. Live life without a philosophy to live by. No
           philosophy is needed to live life; in fact the best and most glorious life is the life which is lived
           without any philosophy -- simple, innocent, spontaneous.
                But if it is not possible right now, then start by at least dropping wrong views. Don't live through
           prejudice, don't live through anger, don't live through hatred, don't live through greed and ambition,
           don't live through dreams. Be more real, more realistic. Be a little more alert and watchful, watching
           each act cautiously, because each act creates a chain of actions. Whatsoever you do will remain in
           the world even when you are gone, because the chain will continue. If you cannot do something
           beautiful in the world, at least don't do something ugly.
                The highest possibility is to live without any views, to just live, to just be. The second best is to
           at least drop the negative part and follow the positive. And slowly slowly you will see that if you can
           drop the negative, the positive can also be dropped. In fact to drop the negative is more difficult than
           to drop the positive.
                The person who can drop the no can easily drop the yes, because the no is more
           ego-strengthening than the yes. The person who can drop anger, hatred and greed can easily drop the
           positive feelings. And to remain transcendental to all dualities is the ultimate goal of Atisha and all
           the great masters.
           And the last sutra:
              DON'T FALL FOR THE CELESTIAL DEMON.

               The ego is called the celestial demon. Remember constantly, each moment of your life has to
           become a constant remembrance, that the ego is very subtle and it has very cunning ways to come
           back again and again. It follows you to the very last, it hopes to the very last that you will be trapped.
           Beware of it.
               This ego is called in Christian, Mohammedan and Judaic scriptures the devil. It is your own
           mind, the very center of your own mind.
               In the beginning, just try for a few moments to live without any 'I'. You are digging a hole in the
           earth in the garden; just dig the hole, just become the digging, and forget that "I am doing it." Let the
           doer evaporate. You will perspire in the sun, and there will be no doer, and the digging will continue.
           And you will be surprised how divine life is if the ego can disappear even for a single moment.
               Taking a shower, just let the water fall on you, but don't be there as an 'I'. Relax, forget the 'I',
           and you will be surprised. The shower is not only cooling your body, it cools your innermost core
           too.
               And if you search, you will find so many moments in ordinary life every day when the ego can
           be put aside. And the joy is so great that once you have tasted it you can do it again and again. And
           slowly slowly you become capable of putting it off, unless it is absolutely necessary.
               And then that day of blessing also comes when you know it is not necessary at all. You say the
           final goodbye to it. The day the ego dies, you have reached the point of no-self. That is your real
           being. Nonbeing is your real being. Not to be is to be for the first time.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                  Chapter #14
                                Chapter title: Other Gurus and Etceteranandas
           24 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902240
              ShortTitle: WISDOM14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 111 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT DEATH AND THE ART OF DYING?


               Deva Vandana, the first thing to be known about death is that death is a lie. Death exists not; it is
           one of the most illusory things. Death is the shadow of another lie -- the name of that other lie is the
           ego. Death is the shadow of the ego. Because the ego is, death appears to be there.
               The secret of knowing death, of understanding death, is not in death itself. You will have to go
           deeper into the existence of the ego. You will have to look, watch, observe, be aware of what this
           ego is. And the day you have found that there is no ego, that there has never been -- it appeared only
           because you were not aware, it appeared only because you were keeping your own existence in
           darkness -- the day it is understood that the ego is a creation of an unconscious mind, the ego
           disappears and simultaneously death disappears.
               The real you is eternal. Life is neither born nor dies. The ocean continues, waves come and go --
           but what are waves? Just forms, the wind playing with the ocean. Waves have no substantial
           existence. So are we, waves, playthings.
               But if we look deep down into the wave there is an ocean, and the eternal depth of it and the
           unfathomable mystery of it. Look deep down into your own being and you will find the ocean. And
           that ocean is; the ocean always is. You cannot say, "It was," you cannot say, "It will be." You can
           only use one tense for it, the present tense: it is.
               This is the whole search of religion. The search is to find that which truly is. We have accepted
           things which really are not, and the greatest and the most central of them is the ego. And of course it
           casts a big shadow -- that shadow is death.
               Those who try to understand death directly will never be able to penetrate into the mystery of it.
           They will be fighting with darkness. Darkness is nonexistential, you cannot fight with it. Bring light,
           and the darkness is no more.
               How can we know the ego? Bring a little more awareness to your existence. Each act has to be
           done less automatically than you have been doing up to now, and you have the key. If you are
           walking, don't walk like a robot. Don't go on walking as you have always walked, don't do it
           mechanically. Bring a little awareness to it, slow down, let each step be taken in full consciousness.
               Buddha used to say to his disciples that when you raise your left foot, deep down say "Left."
           When you raise your right foot, deep down say "Right." First say it, so that you can become
           acquainted with this new process. Then slowly slowly let the words disappear; just remember "Left,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           right, left, right."
               Try it in small acts. You are not supposed to do big things. Eating, taking a bath, swimming,
           walking, talking, listening, cooking your food, washing your clothes -- deautomatize the processes.
           Remember the word deautomatization; that is the whole secret of becoming aware.
               The mind is a robot. The robot has its utility; this is the way the mind functions. You learn
           something; when you learn it, in the beginning you are aware. For example, if you learn swimming
           you are very alert, because life is in danger. Or if you learn to drive a car you are very alert. You
           have to be alert. You have to be careful about many things -- the steering wheel, the road, the people
           passing by, the accelerator, the brake, the clutch. You have to be aware of everything. There are so
           many things to remember, and you are nervous, and it is dangerous to commit a mistake. It is so
           dangerous, that's why you have to keep aware. But the moment you have learned driving, this
           awareness will not be needed. Then the robot part of your mind will take it over.
               That's what we call learning. Learning something means it has been transferred from
           consciousness to the robot. That's what learning is all about. Once you have learned a thing it is no
           more part of the conscious, it has been delivered to the unconscious. Now the unconscious can do it;
           now your consciousness is free to learn something else.
               This is in itself tremendously significant. Otherwise you will remain learning a single thing your
           whole life. The mind is a great servant, a great computer. Use it, but remember that it should not
           overpower you. Remember that you should remain capable of being aware, that it should not possess
           you in toto, that it should not become all and all, that a door should be left open from where you can
           come out of the robot.
               That opening of the door is called meditation. But remember, the robot is so skillful, it can even
           take meditation into its control. Once you have learned it, the mind says, "Now you need not be
           worried about it, I am capable of doing it. I will do it, you leave it to me."
               And the mind is skillful; it is a very beautiful machine, it functions well. In fact all our science,
           together with all our so-called progress in knowledge, has not yet been able to create something so
           sophisticated as the human mind. The greatest computers in existence are still rudimentary compared
           to the mind.
           The mind is simply a miracle.
               But when something is so powerful, there is danger in it. You can be hypnotized so much by it
           and its power that you can lose your soul. If you have completely forgotten how to be aware, then
           the ego is created.
               Ego is the state of utter unawareness. The mind has taken possession of your whole being; it has
           spread like a cancer all over you, nothing is left out. The ego is the cancer of the inner, the cancer of
           the soul.
               And the only remedy, the only remedy I say, is meditation. Then you start reclaiming a few
           territories from the mind. And the process is difficult but exhilarating, the process is difficult but
           enchanting, the process is difficult but challenging, thrilling. It will bring a new joy into your life.
           When you reclaim territory back from the robot you will be surprised that you are becoming a totally
           new person, that your being is renewed, that this is a new birth.
               And you will be surprised that your eyes see more, your ears hear more, your hands touch more,
           your body feels more, your heart loves more -- everything becomes more. And more not only in the
           sense of quantity but in the sense of quality too. You not only see more trees, you see trees more
           deeply. The green of the trees becomes greener -- not only that, but it becomes luminous. Not only
           that, but the tree starts having an individuality of its own. Not only that, but you can have a
           communion with existence now.
               And the more territories that are reclaimed, the more and more your life becomes psychedelic
           and colorful. You are then a rainbow -- the whole spectrum; all the notes of music -- the whole
           octave. Your life becomes richer, multidimensional, has depth, has height, has tremendously
           beautiful valleys and has tremendously beautiful sunlit peaks. You start expanding. As you reclaim
           parts from the robot, you start coming alive. For the first time you are turned on.
               This is the miracle of meditation; this is something not to be missed. The people who miss it
           have not lived at all. And to know life in such intensity, in such ecstasy, is to know that there is no
           death. Not to know life creates death; ignorance of life creates death.
               To know life is to know there is no death, there never has been. Nobody has ever died, I declare,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and nobody is ever going to die. Death is impossible in the very nature of things -- only life is. Yes,
           life goes on changing forms; one day you are this, another day you are something else. Where is the
           child you once were? Has the child died? Can you say that the child has died? The child has not
           died, but then where is the child? The form has changed. The child is still there in its essentiality, but
           now you have become a young man or a young woman. The child is there with all its beauty; it has
           been superimposed by new riches.
                And then one day you will become old. Then where is your youth? Died? No, again something
           more has happened. Old age has brought its own crop, old age has brought its own wisdom, old age
           has brought its own beauties.
                The child is innocent, that is his core. The youth is overflowing with energy, that is his core. And
           the old man has seen all, lived all, known all; wisdom has arisen, that is his core. But his wisdom
           contains something of his youth; it is also overflowing, it is radiant, it is vibrant, it is pulsating, it is
           alive. And it also has something of the child; it is innocent.
                If the old man is not young also, then he has only aged, he is not old. He has grown in time, in
           age, but he is not grown-up. He has missed. If the old man is not innocent like the child, if his eyes
           don't show that crystal clarity of innocence, then he has not yet lived.
                If you live totally, cunningness and cleverness disappear, and trust arises. These are the criteria
           to know whether one has lived or not. The child never dies but only is metamorphosed. The youth
           never dies, there is only a new mutation again. And do you think the old man dies? Yes, the body
           disappears because it has served its purpose, but the consciousness continues the journey.
                If death was a reality, existence would be utterly absurd, existence would be mad. If Buddha
           dies, that means such beautiful music, such splendor, such grace, such beauty, such poetry,
           disappears from existence. Then the existence is very stupid. Then what is the point? Then how is
           growth possible? Then how is evolution possible?
                Buddha is a rare gem, it happens only once in a while. Millions of people try, and then one
           person becomes a buddha -- and then he dies and all is finished, so what is the point?
                No, Buddha cannot die. He is absorbed; he is absorbed by the whole. He continues. Now the
           continuity is bodiless, because he has become so expanded that no body can contain him except the
           body of the universe itself. He has become so oceanic that it is not possible to have small
           manifestations. Now he can exist only in essence. He can exist only as a fragrance, not as a flower.
           He cannot have a form, he can only exist as a formless intelligence of existence.
                The world has grown more and more intelligent. Before Buddha it was not so intelligent,
           something was missing. Before Jesus it was not so intelligent, before Mohammed it was not so
           intelligent. They have all contributed. If you understand rightly, God is not something that has
           happened, but is happening.
                God is happening every day. Buddha has created something, Mahavira has created something,
           Patanjali has created something, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra, Atisha, Tilopa -- they have all contributed.
                God is being created. Let your hearts be thrilled that you can become a creator of God! You have
           been told again and again that God created the world.
                I would like to tell you: we are creating God every day.
                And you can see the changes. If you look in the Old Testament, the words that the God of the
           Old Testament utters look so ugly. Something seems to be very primitive. The God of the Old
           Testament says, "I am a very jealous God." Can you think of God being jealous? "Those who don't
           follow me should be crushed and thrown into hellfire. Those who don't obey me, great revenge will
           be taken on them."
                Can you think of these words being uttered by Buddha? No, the concept of God is being polished
           every day. The God of Moses is rudimentary; the God of Jesus is far more sophisticated, far more
           cultured. As man becomes cultured, his God becomes cultured. As man has more understanding, his
           God has more understanding, because your God represents you.
                The God of Moses is law, the God of Jesus is love. The God of Buddha is compassion, the God
           of Atisha is utter emptiness and silence.
                We are searching for new dimensions of God, we are adding new dimensions to God, God is
           being created. You are not just a seeker, you are also a creator. And the future will know far better
           visions of God.
                Buddha does not die, he disappears into our concept of God. Jesus melts into the ocean of our
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God. And the people who are not yet awakened, they also don't die. They have to come back again
           and again into some form, because the only possibility of being awakened is through forms.
               The world is a context for becoming awakened, an opportunity.
               Remember Atisha. He says, "Don't wait for the opportunity" -- because the world is the
           opportunity; we are already in it. The world is an opportunity to learn. It looks paradoxical; time is
           the opportunity to learn the eternal, the body is the opportunity to learn the bodiless, matter is the
           opportunity to learn consciousness, sex is the opportunity to learn samadhi. The whole existence is
           an opportunity. Anger is the opportunity to learn compassion, greed is the opportunity to learn
           sharing, and death is the opportunity to go into the ego and see "whether I am or I am not. If I am,
           then maybe death is possible." But if you find for yourself that "I am not," that there is pure
           emptiness inside, that there is nobody -- if you can feel that nobodiness inside you, where is death?
           What is death? Who can die?
               Vandana, your question is significant. You ask, "Can you say something about death?" Only one
           thing, that death is not.
               And you ask "... and the art of dying?" When there is no death, how are you going to learn the art
           of dying? You will have to live the art of living. If you know how to live, you will know everything
           about life and about death. But you will have to approach the positive.
               Never make the negative the object of your study, because the negative is not there. You can go
           on and on and you will never arrive anywhere. Try to understand what light is, not darkness. Try to
           understand what life is, not death. Try to understand what love is, not hate.
               If you go into hate you will never understand it, because hate is only the absence of love. So is
           darkness the absence of light. How can you understand absence? If you want to understand me, you
           have to understand me, not my absence. If you want to study this chair, this chair has to be studied --
           not that when Asheesh has taken it away, you start studying the absence. What will you study?
               Always be alert, never get hooked into anything negative. Many people go on studying negative
           things; their energies are simply wasted. There is no art of dying. Or, the art of living is the art of
           dying. Live!
               But your so-called religious people have been teaching you not to live. They are the creators of
           death. In a very indirect way they have created death, because they have made you so afraid of
           living. Everything is wrong. Life is wrong, the world is wrong, the body is wrong, love is wrong,
           relationship is wrong, enjoying anything is wrong. They have made you so guilty about everything,
           so condemnatory of everything, that you cannot live. And when you cannot live, what is left? The
           absence, the absence of life -- and that is death. And then you are trembling, trembling before
           something which is not, which is your own creation. And because you start trembling in great fear of
           death, the priest becomes very powerful. He says, "Don't be worried, I am here to help you. Follow
           me. I will save you from hell and I will take you to heaven. And those who are within my fold will
           be saved, and nobody else will be saved."
               Christians go on saying the same thing to people: "Unless you are a Christian you cannot be
           saved. Only Jesus will save you. The day of judgment is coming closer, and on the day of judgment,
           those who are with Jesus, he will recognize them, he will sort them out. And the others, millions and
           millions, will be simply thrown into hell for eternity. Remember, there is no escape; for eternity they
           will be thrown into hell."
               And the same is the attitude of other religions. But out of fear people start clinging to something,
           whatsoever is available in the close vicinity. If you are accidentally born in a Hindu home or a Jaina
           or a Jewish home, you become a Jew or a Jaina or a Hindu, as the case may be. Whatsoever is
           available close by, the child starts clinging to it.
               My approach is totally different. I don't say be afraid -- that is the strategy of the priest, that is his
           trade secret. I say there is nothing to fear, because God is in you. There is nothing to fear. Live life
           fearlessly, live each moment as intensely as possible. Intensity has to be remembered. And if you
           don't live any moment intensely, then what happens? Your mind hankers for repetition.
               You love a woman, your mind hankers for repetition. Why? Why do you hanker for the same
           experience again and again? You eat certain food, you enjoy it, now you hanker for the same food
           again and again. Why? The reason is that whatsoever you do, you never do it totally. Hence
           something remains discontented in you. If you do it totally, there will be no hankering for repetition
           and you will be searching for the new, exploring the unknown. You will not move in a vicious circle,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your life will become a growth. Ordinarily people only go on moving in circles. They appear to
           move, but they only appear to.
                Growth means you are not moving in a circle, that something new is happening every day, every
           moment really. And when does that become possible? Whenever you start living intensely.
                I would like to teach you how to eat intensely and totally, how to love intensely and totally, how
           to do small things with such utter ecstasy that nothing is left behind. If you laugh, let the laughter
           shake your very foundations. If you cry, become tears; let your heart be poured out through tears. If
           you hug somebody, then become the hug. If you kiss somebody, then be just the lips, then be just the
           kiss. And you will be surprised how much you have been missing, how much you have missed, how
           you have lived up to now in a lukewarm way.
                I can teach you the art of living; that implies the art of dying, you need not learn it separately.
           The man who knows how to live, knows how to die. The man who knows how to fall in love, knows
           when the moment has come to fall out of it. He falls out of it gracefully, with a goodbye, with
           gratitude -- but only the man who knows how to love.
                People don't know how to love, and then they don't know how to say goodbye when the time has
           come to say it. If you love you will know that everything begins and everything ends, and there is a
           time for beginning and there is a time for ending, and there is no wound in it. One is not wounded,
           one simply knows the season is over. One is not in despair, one simply understands, and one thanks
           the other, "You gave me so many beautiful gifts. You gave me new visions of life, you opened a few
           windows I might never have opened on my own. Now the time has come that we separate and our
           ways part." Not in anger, not in rage, not with a grudge, not with any complaint, but with tremendous
           gratitude, with great love, with thankfulness in the heart.
                If you know how to love, you will know how to separate. Your separation will also have a beauty
           and a grace. And the same is the case with life; if you know how to live, you will know how to die.
           Your death will be tremendously beautiful.
                The death of Socrates is tremendously beautiful, the death of Buddha is tremendously beautiful.
           The day Buddha died, in the morning he gathered all his disciples, all his sannyasins, and told them,
           "The last day has come now, my boat has arrived and I have to leave. And this has been a beautiful
           journey, a beautiful togetherness. If you have any questions to ask, you can ask them, because I will
           not be available to you physically anymore."
                A great silence fell on the disciples, a great sadness. And Buddha laughed and said, "Don't be
           sad, because that's what I have been teaching you again and again -- everything that begins, ends.
           Now let me teach you by my death too. As I have been teaching you through my life, let me teach
           you through my death too."
                Nobody could gather the courage to ask a question. Their whole life they had asked thousands
           and thousands of questions, and this was not a moment to ask anything; they were not in the mood,
           they were crying and weeping.
                So Buddha said, "Goodbye. If you don't have any questions then I will depart." He sat under the
           tree with closed eyes and he disappeared from the body. In the Buddhist tradition, this is called "the
           first meditation" -- to disappear from the body. It means to disidentify yourself from the body, to
           know totally and absolutely, "I am not the body."
                A question is bound to arise in your mind: had Buddha not known it before? He had known it
           before, but a person like Buddha then has to create some device so that just a little bit of him remains
           connected with the body. Otherwise he would have died long before -- forty-two years before he
           would have died. The day his enlightenment happened, he would have died. Out of compassion he
           created a desire, the desire to help people. It is a desire, and it keeps you attached to the body.
                He created a desire to help people. "Whatsoever I have known, I have to share." If you want to
           share, you will have to use the mind and the body. That small part remained attached.
                Now he cuts even that small root in the body; he becomes disidentified from the body. The first
           meditation complete, the body is left. Then the second meditation: the mind is dropped. He had
           dropped the mind long before; as a master it was dropped, but as a servant it was still used. Now it is
           not even needed as a servant, it is utterly dropped, totally dropped.
                And then the third meditation: he dropped his heart. It had been needed up to now, he had been
           functioning through his heart; otherwise compassion would not have been possible. He had been the
           heart; now he disconnects from the heart.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When these three meditations are completed, the fourth happens. He is no more a person, no
           more a form, no more a wave. He disappears into the ocean. He becomes that which he had always
           been, he becomes that which he had known forty-two years before but had been somehow managing
           to delay, in order to help people.
               His death is a tremendous experiment in meditation. And it is said that many who were present,
           just seeing him moving, slowly slowly.... First they saw the body was no more the same; something
           had happened, the aliveness had disappeared from the body. The body was there, but like a statue.
           Those who were more perceptive, more meditative, they immediately saw that now the mind had
           been dropped and there was no mind inside. Those who were even more perceptive could see that the
           heart was finished. And those who were really on the verge of buddhahood, seeing Buddha
           disappear, they also disappeared.
               Many disciples became enlightened the day Buddha died, many -- just seeing him dying. They
           had watched him living, they had seen his life, but now came the crescendo, the climax. They saw
           him dying such a beautiful death, such grace, such meditativeness... seeing it, many were awakened.
               To be with a buddha, to live with a buddha, to be showered by his love, is a blessing. But the
           greatest blessing is to be present when a buddha dies. You can simply ride on that energy, you can
           simply take a quantum leap with that energy -- because Buddha is disappearing, and if your love is
           great and your connection is deep, it is bound to happen.
               It is going to happen to many of my sannyasins. The day I disappear, many of you are going to
           disappear with me.
               Vivek again and again says to me, "I don't want to live a single moment when you are gone."
           And I say to her, "Don't be worried. Even if you want to live, you will not be able to." Just the other
           day, Deeksha was saying to Vivek, "Once Osho is gone, I am gone." That is true. But this is not only
           true about Vivek and Deeksha, this is true of many of you. And this is not something that you have
           to do, it will simply happen of its own accord. It will be a happening. But it is possible only if you
           allow total trust to happen.
               While I am alive, if you allow total trust to happen, then you can move with me in my death too.
           But if there is a little doubt, you will think, "But I have still not done many things and I have to live
           my life. I know that it is sad that the master is leaving, and I know it would have been far better if he
           was alive, but I have many things to do, I have to live my life"... and a thousand and one desires. If
           there is a little doubt, it will create a thousand and one desires. But if there is no doubt, then the
           death of the master is the most liberating experience that has ever happened on this earth.
               Buddha was very fortunate to have great disciples. Jesus was not so fortunate, his disciples were
           cowards. While he was dying they all escaped. While he was on the cross they escaped miles away,
           in fear that they might be caught. After three days, when the stone was removed from in front of the
           tomb where his body was kept, there was not a single one of the apostles; only Mary Magdalene the
           prostitute, and another Mary -- two women -- had gathered courage.
               The disciples were afraid that if they went to see what had happened to the master's body or to
           take the master's body down, they might be caught. Only two women had enough love. When Jesus'
           body was taken down from the cross, then too, three women took the body down. All those great
           apostles were not there.
               Jesus was not very fortunate. And the reason is clear: he was starting something new. In the East,
           buddhas have existed for millions of years. The Western concept of time is not right, the Western
           concept of time is very small, and it is because of Christianity that it is very small. Christian
           theologians have even calculated when the world was created -- the twenty-third of March. I was
           wondering, why not the twenty-first? God missed by only two days! On the twenty-third of March,
           four thousand and four years before Christ, the world was created. A very small idea of time.
               The world has existed for millions of years. Now science is coming closer and closer to the
           Eastern concept of time. In the East, buddhas have existed for thousands and thousands of years, so
           we know how to be with a buddha -- how to live with him, how to trust him, and how to be with him
           when he is dying, and how to die with him.
               Much of it has been forgotten, by courtesy of Christianity and Western education. The modern
           Indian is not Indian at all. It is very difficult to find Indians in India, almost impossible. Only once in
           a while do I come across an Indian. Sometimes it happens that people who are coming from faraway
           countries are far more Indian than the so-called Indians. Three hundred years of Western domination
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and Western education have made the Indian mind completely disoriented.
                The Western mind is coming closer and closer towards understanding buddhas more than the
           Eastern mind itself does. And the reason is that the West is getting fed up with technology and
           science, is becoming more and more hopeless, and has seen that what science has promised, it has
           not been able to fulfill. In fact it has seen that all the revolutions have failed. And now there is only
           one revolution left -- the inner, the revolution of the individual, the revolution that is brought by
           inner transformation.
                Indians are still hoping that with a little better technology, a little better government, a little more
           money, a little more production, things will all be perfectly okay. The Indian mind is hoping, it is
           very materialistic. The modern Indian is more materialistic than the people of any other country. The
           materialist countries are fed up with materialism. It has failed; they are disappointed and
           disillusioned.
                So let me tell you, my sannyasins are more Indian. They may be Germans, they may be
           Norwegians, they may be Dutch, they may be Italians, French, English, Americans, Russians,
           Czechs, Japanese, Chinese, but they are far more Indian.
                Journalists again and again come and ask, "Why don't we see more Indians here?" And I say,
           "They are all Indians! There are just a few foreigners -- just those few whom you think are Indians,
           just those few foreigners; otherwise they are all Indians."
                To be an Indian has nothing to do with geography, it has something to do with an inner approach
           towards reality. Modern India has forgotten the ways of the Buddha, and has forgotten how to live
           with buddhas.
                I am trying to reveal that treasure to you again. Let it sink deep in your heart. The first principle
           is the art of living. Be life-affirmative. Life is synonymous with God. You can drop the word god --
           life IS God. Live with reverence, with great respect and gratitude. You have not earned this life, it
           has been a sheer gift from the beyond. Feel thankful and prayerful, and take as many bites of it as
           possible and chew it well and digest it well.
                Make your life an aesthetic experience. And not much is needed to make it an aesthetic
           experience; just an aesthetic consciousness is needed, a sensitive soul. Become more sensitive, more
           sensuous, and you will become more spiritual.
                Priests have almost poisoned your body into a state of death. You are carrying paralyzed bodies
           and paralyzed minds and paralyzed souls -- you are moving on crutches. Throw away all those
           crutches! Even if you have to fall and crawl on the ground, that is better than clinging to crutches.
                And experience life in all possible ways -- good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark-light, summer-winter.
           Experience all the dualities. Don't be afraid of experience, because the more experience you have,
           the more mature you become. Search for all possible alternatives, move in all directions, be a
           wanderer, a vagabond of the world of life and existence. And don't miss any opportunity to live.
                Don't look back. Only fools think of the past -- fools who do not have the intelligence to live in
           the present. And only fools imagine about the future, because they don't have the courage to live in
           the present. Forget the past, forget the future, this moment is all. This moment has to become your
           prayer, your love, your life, your death, your everything. This is it.
                And live courageously, don't be cowards. Don't think of consequences; only cowards think of
           consequences. Don't be too result-oriented; people who are result-oriented miss life. Don't think of
           goals, because goals are always in the future and far away, and life is herenow, close by.
                And don't be too purposive. Let me repeat it: don't be too purposive. Don't always bring in the
           idea, "What is the purpose of it?" because that is a strategy created by your enemies, by the enemies
           of humanity, to poison your very source of life. Ask the question, "What is the purpose of it?" and
           everything becomes meaningless.
                It is early morning, the sun is rising and the east is red with the sun, and the birds are singing and
           the trees are waking up, and it is all joy. It is a rejoicing, a new day has happened again. And you are
           standing there asking the question, "What is the purpose of it?" You miss, you miss it totally. You
           are simply disconnected.
                A roseflower is dancing in the wind, so delicate and yet so strong, so soft yet fighting with the
           strong wind, so momentary yet so confident. Look at the roseflower. Have you ever seen any
           roseflower nervous? So confident, so utterly confident, as if it is going to be here forever. Just a
           moment's existence, and such trust in eternity. Dancing in the wind, whispering with the wind,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sending out its fragrance -- and you are standing there asking the question, "What is the purpose of
           it?"
                You fall in love with a woman and ask the question, "What is the purpose of it?" You are holding
           the hand of your beloved or your friend, and asking the question, "What is the purpose of it?" And
           you may still be holding hands, but now life has disappeared, your hand is dead.
                Raise the question, "What is the purpose?" and everything is destroyed. Let me tell you, there is
           no purpose in life. Life is its own purpose; it is not a means to some end, it is an end unto itself. The
           bird on the wing, the rose in the wind, the sun rising in the morning, the stars in the night, a man
           falling in love with a woman, a child playing on the street... there is no purpose. Life is simply
           enjoying itself, delighting in itself. Energy is overflowing, dancing, for no purpose at all. It is not a
           performance, it is not a business. Life is a love affair, it is poetry, it is music. Don't ask ugly
           questions like, "What is the purpose?" because the moment you ask it, you disconnect yourself from
           life. Life cannot be bridged by philosophical questions. Philosophy has to be put aside.
                Be poets of life, singers, musicians, dancers, lovers, and you will know the real philosophy of
           life: PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS.
                And if you know how to live... and it is a simple art. The trees are living and nobody is there to
           teach them. In fact they must be laughing; seeing that you have asked such a question, they must be
           giggling -- you may not be able to hear their giggle.
                The whole existence is nonphilosophical. If you are philosophical, then a gap arises between you
           and existence. Existence simply is, for no purpose. And the person who really wants to live has to
           get rid of this idea of purpose. If you start living without any purpose, with intensity, totality, love
           and trust, when death comes, you will know how to die -- because death is not the end of life, but
           only an episode in life.
                If you have known other things, if you have lived other things, you will be able to live death too.
           The real man of understanding lives his death as much as he lives his life, with the same intensity,
           with the same thrill.
                Socrates was so thrilled when he was going to be given poison. The poison was being prepared
           outside his room. His disciples had gathered; he was lying on the bed ready, because the time was
           coming closer. At six o'clock, exactly as the sun sets, he would be given the poison. People were not
           even breathing, the clock was coming closer and closer to six o'clock, and this beautiful man would
           be gone forever. And he had not committed any sin. His only sin was that he used to tell the truth to
           people, that he was a teacher of truth, that he would not compromise, that he would not bow down to
           the stupid politicians. That was his only crime; he had not done any harm to anybody. And Athens
           was to remain poorer forever.
                In fact, with the death of Socrates, Athens died. Then it never had the same glory again, never. It
           was such a crime, killing Socrates, that Athens committed suicide. Greek culture never reached such
           a height again. For a few days it continued, just echoes of Socrates -- because Plato was his disciple,
           just an echo. And Aristotle was Plato's disciple, an echo of an echo. Slowly slowly, as the echoes of
           Socrates disappeared, Greek culture disappeared from the world. It had seen days of glory, but it
           committed suicide by murdering Socrates.
                His disciples were very much disturbed, but Socrates was thrilled, just as a small child when you
           take him to the exhibition is so thrilled by everything, each and everything is so incredible. He would
           get up again and again and go to the window and ask the man who was preparing the poison, "Why
           are you delaying? Now it is six o'clock!"
                And the man said, "Are you mad, Socrates, or something? I am delaying just so that a beautiful
           man like you can stay a little longer. I cannot delay forever, but this much I can do. A little bit more,
           linger a little bit more! Why are you in such a hurry to die?"
                Socrates said, "I have known life, I have lived life, I know the taste of life. Now I am so curious
           about death! That's why I am in such a hurry. I am pulsating with great joy -- the very idea that now I
           am going to die, and I will be able to see what death is. I want to taste death. I have tasted everything
           else, only one thing has remained unknown. I have lived life and known all that life can give. This is
           the last gift of life, and I am really intrigued."
                The man who has lived, really lived, will know how to die.
                Vandana, there is no art of death. The art of life is the art of death, because death is not
           something separate from life. Death is the highest peak of life, the Everest, the virgin-snow-covered
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sunlit Everest. It is the most beautiful thing in existence.
               But you can know the beauty of death only if you know the beauty of life. Life prepares you for
           death. But people are not living at all; they are hampered in every possible way from living. So they
           don't know what life is, and consequently they will not know what death is.
               Death is a lie. You don't end with it, you only take a turn. You move on another road; you
           disappear from this road, you appear on another road. If you are not yet awakened, not yet
           enlightened, then here you die, there you are born. You disappear from one body and you appear
           immediately in some womb, because millions of foolish people are copulating all over the world --
           they are just waiting for you! And there are really so many that it is good that you die unconscious
           and you choose the new womb unconsciously. If it was a conscious choice, you would go crazy.
           How to choose? Whom to choose?
               Unconsciously you die, unconsciously you are born into the closest possible womb that fits with
           you. One body is gone, and another is immediately formed.
               But if you are enlightened.... And what do I mean by "enlightened"? I mean if you have lived
           your life with awareness, and you have reached the point of awareness where no dark spot of
           unconsciousness exists in you, then there is no longer any womb for you. Then you enter into the
           womb of God -- existence itself. That is liberation, moksha, nirvana.

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              MORARJI DESAI ONCE SAID THAT IF HE DID SET UP A COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE US,
              WE WOULD NOT LIKE THE RESULTS. IF THE GOVERNMENT DOES SET UP A COMMISSION, IS
              THERE ANY HOPE AT ALL OF ITS BEING REALLY OPEN, REALLY IMPARTIAL?


               Krishna prem, politics can never be impartial, politics is partiality. Politics can never be
           unprejudiced, it is rooted in prejudice. So don't hope for much. It will be fun, that's all; we will enjoy
           the people who come with the commission. Enjoy it then -- if he appoints any commission and the
           people come here, enjoy it. Give them a feeling of your life that is happening here. Who knows,
           somebody may be turned on!
               But don't trust politicians. The game with politicians is a dangerous game. Friendship is
           dangerous with them, enmity is dangerous with them. But it cannot be avoided. And what is
           happening here is so huge that politicians cannot remain out of it for long.
               Just the other day, in the Indian parliament they discussed us again -- a long discussion. A phone
           call came from Delhi saying, "Send Krishna Prem, Madhura and the other press people, because now
           this is the only hot thing that people are talking about."
               We are not interested in politicians, in politics -- not at all. But we cannot avoid them either.
           Politics is like the weather: whether you like it or not, it is going to affect you anyway.

              It is known now why Nasser suddenly died of a heart attack.... He received a telephone call from
           Golda Meir, who told him, "Let's make love not war."

               Now, whether you make love or you make war, with politicians it is going to be difficult going,
           tough going.
               So, Krishna Prem, there is no need for any hope. In the first place, I don't think he is going to
           appoint a commission, for many reasons. One reason is, the other day in parliament somebody raised
           the question, "Why a commission only for Osho?" And a great shiver went through the whole
           parliament.
               It is reported in the newspapers that the man suggested they appoint a commission to investigate
           Satya Sai Baba, Guru Maharaj-ji, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Muktananda, and other Etcetera
           Etceteranandas. They were very happy to have a commission investigate my place, my commune,
           but now there is fear. And that looks logical -- if you want to investigate one commune, then why not
           all? That is the first problem they will have to face.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Secondly, he would like to avoid, to escape from appointing the commission -- because who
           knows what will happen if the commission comes? The people who come and go back to him, they
           may report that all that appears in the newspapers is false, it is not the true picture. So many people
           have visited the ashram, and so many members of parliament have come, and whosoever has come
           has reported to him, "You are unnecessarily prejudiced. Something beautiful is happening, a meeting
           of East and West is happening."
               So he is also afraid deep down. Who knows, the commission may report favorably -- then what is
           he going to do? Once the commission reports favorably, it will become a great problem for him. So
           he has found a very legal way to escape from appointing the commission. He says that I should write
           a personal letter to him asking that a commission be appointed to investigate me and my work. He
           knows perfectly well that for five years I have stopped writing personal letters.
               And why should I write a personal letter? If the government wants to know what is happening, it
           is their work to find that out. If they have decided without investigating, then they are being
           undemocratic. If they say to the world, "We will not allow any television companies from Holland,
           from England, from Japan or from Australia to cover the work and the commune, because it will not
           represent the true Indian spirit and the true Indian image"; if they have decided it without
           investigating at all, then it is their duty to appoint a commission. Why should I ask them to appoint a
           commission? But this is a legal trick. He knows I don't write personal letters. For five years I have
           not done so, and I am not going to do it now.
               And then he is worried also about something he said in parliament the other day. He said that he
           has not received any personal letter from me and it is always Yoga Laxmi, the managing trustee,
           who writes. And she writes, "Osho is only a guest in the commune, so how can we investigate a
           guest?"
               But Laxmi is right, I am simply your guest. And I don't do anything, so what are they going to
           investigate? They can come and sit with me for twenty-four hours in my room; I don't do anything,
           there is nothing to investigate! The question is of the commune, the work that goes on in the
           commune: that has to be investigated.
               But he is not interested in the commune. His interest basically is somehow to create a trap in
           which he can catch me -- because he knows if I am caught or if I am imprisoned, then the whole
           work will be destroyed easily. The other day in parliament he said it -- unconsciously it must have
           come out of him -- "Osho is the ashram, Osho is the commune. So we cannot investigate the
           commune unless he writes." And I am not going to write. I don't think politicians are of any worth,
           and I don't think they are worthy to investigate a religious commune.
               In fact some day we should think of appointing a commission to investigate the politicians....

               Three prime ministers of three great countries are sitting at a dinner party when all of a sudden a
           loud fart is heard coming from the seat where the lady host is dining. She is barely able to hold
           herself together when immediately from across the table the French prime minister stands up and in a
           loud firm voice exclaims, "Excuse me, messieurs-dames, but I must unexpectedly leave. I am not
           feeling well."
               Grateful and relieved, the lady manages to regain her composure, when ten minutes later she lets
           another fart escape. Dismayed and blushing up to her ears, she watches how the English prime
           minister stands up and declares, "I am sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but I must retire early tonight. I
           am not feeling well."
               The scene happens once more, and this time the Indian prime minister proudly stands up and
           says loudly, "Well now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and my duty to go home."
           Get it?
               I don't have any respect for these politicians and political leaders. I have respect for them as
           human beings, but not as politicians. Politics is the most ugly phenomenon on the earth, and
           politicians, the ugliest human beings. I have tremendous respect for human beings, but I can't have
           any respect for the ugly politics that goes on.
               There is no need to have any hope. First, they will not appoint any commission, afraid that it may
           turn against them. And it is not going to be easy either; if they appoint a commission we are first
           going to give tough tests for the commission too, to find out whether they are really capable of
           investigating a commune. What do they know about it? What do they know about the therapies that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are going on here? First they will be examined. A group of fifty therapists will examine them in
           every possible way. Unless we are satisfied that they are worthy to investigate, we won't allow them
           inside the gate.
                First, they are not going to appoint a commission. He is afraid -- whom to appoint? Where are
           they going to find people who understand primal therapy, bioenergetics, encounter, psychodrama,
           psychosynthesis and psychoanalysis? And he is afraid that if he appoints somebody who understands
           these things, he will be in support of us. He can appoint a retired senile judge -- but he will not know
           anything about it, and that will be really hilarious.
                I don't think he is going to, but if he does appoint a commission, enjoy it. Let them come, and
           have real fun with the whole thing. At least let them carry back some joy, some laughter, from here.
           What they report is irrelevant, because what happens almost always is this: before they come here,
           the report will already be ready. That's what happens. The report will be prepared by somebody else.
           But we are not interested in their reports.
                I had only said to appoint a commission so that the government can have at least a show of
           democracy. It is utterly undemocratic to prevent media people reaching Poona. It is so undemocratic
           what they tell people -- now we even have letters in our possession. To one sannyasin, an Indian
           ambassador in America wrote, "If you want to go to Poona, then forget all about it; we are not going
           to give you any entry visa. But if you want to go to any other ashram, write, and we are ready to give
           it to you."
           Just see the foolishness of the man -- writing it!
                Now in Bombay, on the passports of sannyasins they are writing "This visa is not valid for
           Poona." So it seems Poona is no longer part of India. A tourist is entitled to tour the whole of India,
           except Poona! But why prevent people from coming to Poona? Just Koregaon Park would have been
           enough!
                In every possible way, they are doing whatsoever they can do to hassle and hinder us. They have
           tried one thing that they are very clever at doing -- to find some flaw in our finances. They have not
           been able to do it. Sadly, the finance minister had to declare yesterday in parliament, "Their finances
           are absolutely okay and we could not find any flaw in them." So now they are at a loss as to what to
           do.
                In fact there is nothing that they can find here which is being done against the law. But just their
           prejudices, their old rotten minds, their traditional minds.... They cannot believe that a phenomenon
           like me is even possible in India. But it is happening, and it is going to grow. It is growing. And the
           more they hinder it, the more it will grow. That is an inner logic of things: the more hindrances there
           are, and the more challenges, the more it is going to grow.
                If Jesus had not been crucified, there would have been no Christianity. If one day the politicians
           decide to crucify me, I will be the happiest person in the world.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #15
                                       Chapter title: The Smokeless Flame
           25 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902250
              ShortTitle: WISDOM15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              YOU MUST HAVE TOLD US SO MANY TIMES ALREADY, BUT I STILL DON'T GET IT: WHAT IS
              THE SEED OF DESIRE? IS IT ONLY IN THE EXISTENCE OF MIND? AND HOW IS THE DESIRE
              OF THE BODY FOR SEX RELATED TO THE MIND?


                Anurag, the energy called desire has been condemned for centuries. Almost all the so-called
           saints have been against it, because desire is life and they were all life-negative. Desire is the very
           source of all that you see, and they were against all that which is visible. They wanted to sacrifice the
           visible at the feet of the invisible; they wanted to cut the roots of desire so there would no longer be
           any possibility of life.
                A tremendously great urge to commit total suicide has dominated humanity down the ages.
                I have a totally different concept of desire. First, desire itself is God. Desire without any object,
           desire without being goal-oriented, unmotivated desire, pure desire, is God. The energy called desire
           is the same energy as God.
                Desire has not to be destroyed, it has to be purified. Desire has not to be dropped, it has to be
           transformed. Your very being is desire; to be against it is to be against yourself and against all. To be
           against it is to be against the flowers and the birds and the sun and the moon. To be against it is
           against all creativity. Desire is creativity.
                The Eastern scriptures are perfectly right when they say that God created the world because a
           great desire arose in him -- a desire to create, a desire to manifest, a desire to make many from one, a
           desire to expand. But these are only metaphors; God is not separate from desire. Desire means a
           longing, a great longing, to expand, to become huge, to be enormous -- as huge as the sky.
                Just watch people, watch desires, and you will understand what I mean. Even in your ordinary
           desires, the basic thing is present. In fact what the man who wants to have more and more money
           really wants is not money but expansion, because money can help you expand. You can have a
           bigger house, you can have a bigger garden, you can have this, you can have that -- your territory
           will be bigger, your freedom will be bigger. With more money you will have more alternatives to
           choose from.
                The man who is after money may not know why he is after the money. He may himself think and
           believe that he loves money, but that is only on the surface of his consciousness. Go deeper into his
           unconscious, help him to meditate, and you will be surprised and he will be surprised to find that the
           desire for money is not really the desire for money, it is the desire to expand.
                And the same is the case with all other desires. Men want more power, more fame, longer life,
           better health, but what are they desiring in these different things? The same, exactly the same: they
           want to be more. They don't want to remain confined, they don't want to be limited. It hurts to feel
           that you are definable, because if you are definable then you are just an object, a thing, a commodity.
           It hurts that you have limitations, because to have limitations means to be imprisoned.
                But all these objects of desire, sooner or later, disappoint. Money becomes possible one day, and
           yet expansion has not happened; you may have a little more freedom of choice, but that does not
           satisfy. The desire was for the infinite, and money cannot purchase the infinite. Yes, you have more
           power, you are more well-known, but that doesn't really matter in the long run. Millions of people
           have lived on this earth and were very famous, and now nobody even knows their names. Everything
           has disappeared into dust -- dust into dust, not even traces are left. Where is Alexander the Great?
           What is he? Would you like to be a dead Alexander the Great or an alive beggar? Ask yourself, and
           your being will say it is better to be alive and be a beggar than to be dead and be an Alexander.
                If you watch carefully, money, power, prestige -- nothing satisfies. On the contrary, they make
           you more discontented. Why? -- because when you were poor there was a hope that one day the
           money was going to happen and all would be settled and settled forever, and then you would relax
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and enjoy. Now that has happened, and there seems to be no sign of any relaxation. In fact, you are
           more tense than before, you are more anxiety-ridden than before.
               Money has brought a few blessings, but in the same measure it has brought many curses too. You
           can have a bigger house, but now you will have less peace. You can have a bigger bank balance, but
           you will also have a bigger madness, anxiety, neurosis, psychosis. Money has brought a few things
           which are good; in the wake of it many other things have arrived which are not good at all. And if
           you look at the whole thing, the whole effort has been a sheer wastage. And now you cannot have
           even the hope that the poor man can have.
               The rich man becomes hopeless. He knows now the money will go on increasing and nothing is
           going to happen -- just death, only death. He has tasted all kinds of things; now he only feels a
           tastelessness. A kind of death has already happened, because he cannot conceive of how to fulfill
           that desire for expansion.
               But desire in itself is not wrong. The desire for money, the desire for power, the desire for
           prestige, are wrong objects for desire -- let it be very clear. By having wrong objects of desire, desire
           itself does not become wrong. You can have a sword and you can kill somebody -- that does not
           make the sword something wrong. You can also save somebody with the same sword. Poison can
           kill and poison can become medicine too. In the right hands, poison is nectar; in the wrong hands,
           nectar is poison.
               This is the essential wisdom of all the buddhas of all the ages. What the priests say is one thing;
           what the buddhas have brought to the world is totally different, it is diametrically opposite.
               Desire has to be purified and transformed, because it is your energy -- you don't have any other
           energy. How to transform desire? One way, the ordinary way, the mediocre way, is to change the
           object. Don't go after money, start going after God. You are frustrated with money -- become
           religious, go to the church, to the temple, to the mosque. Let your desire have a new object called
           God, which is as illusory as the object called money, even more illusory, because what do you know
           about God? Money at least is something visible, objective; you have known it, you have seen it.
           What do you know of God? You have only heard the word. God remains a word unless experienced.
           God remains an empty word unless you pour some content into it through your own existential
           experience.
               People, when they are frustrated with worldly desires, start changing the object: they start
           making otherworldly objects of desire -- heaven, paradise, and all the joys of heaven. But it is the
           same trick, the mind is again befooling you. This is not the way of the intelligent person, this is the
           way of the stupid.
               What is intelligence? Intelligence means the insight that no object can fulfill your desire. No
           object, I say, and I say it categorically, no object can ever fulfill your desire. Your desire is divine.
           Your desire is as big as the sky -- even the sky is not a limit to it. No object can fill it. Then what is
           to be done? The intelligent person stops desiring objects. He makes his desire pure of all objects --
           worldly, otherworldly. He starts living his desire in its purity, moment to moment. He is full of
           desire, full of overflowing energy. His ordinary life becomes so intense, so passionate, that
           whatsoever he touches will be transformed. The baser metal will become gold, and the dead tree will
           come to bloom again.
               It is said of Buddha that wherever he moved, dead trees would start growing leaves; out of
           season, trees would bloom. These are beautiful poetic expressions of a certain metaphysical truth.
           Buddha is pure desire, just desire. Not a desire for anything; he has abandoned all objects.
               Let me remind you, first he abandoned the world. He was a prince, he was born to be a king.
           Seeing the futility of money, seeing the futility of all kinds of relationships, seeing the futility of all
           that the world can give -- he was only twenty-nine years old -- he escaped. He did well, because after
           thirty it becomes more difficult, more and more difficult.
               Hippies are right. They say, "Don't believe a man who is over thirty." Buddha escaped at the
           right time -- he was exactly twenty-nine -- because the more you become experienced in worldly
           ways, the more cowardly you become. Religion is for the courageous, religion is for the brave,
           religion is for the young, those who are still able to take the risk, those who are still able to gamble.
               Buddha escaped. Seeing the futility, he escaped in search of God, in search of truth. He replaced
           his desire for the world with the desire for God, truth, nirvana. For six years he worked hard. By the
           time he was thirty-five he was utterly spent. He had done all that was possible, humanly possible, to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do. He fasted for months, meditated, practiced yoga. And in those days there were different kinds of
           schools. He went from one teacher to another, from one school to another, he practiced all possible
           methods. And one day it suddenly flashed.
                He was crossing the river Niranjana. It is a small river -- when I went to see the river I could not
           believe the story. The story says that he could not cross the river Niranjana, he could not swim it,
           because he was so weak. The river is so narrow, the river is so small, but he must have been very
           weak from years of fasting. It is said that he had fasted so long that you could count his bones, his
           ribs. He had become simply bones, he was a skeleton; his stomach had completely disappeared, his
           stomach and his back had become one. He must have been really weak; he could not cross the river,
           and was hanging onto the root of a tree, having no energy to get out of the river.
                In that moment, a great insight happened. Insights happen only in such moments. When the
           frustration is total, when the disappointment is complete, when the disillusionment is utter, when
           there is nothing left to hope for... in that moment he saw the pointlessness of it all. The worldly
           objects were meaningless; he had had all of them and they did not satisfy. And those otherworldly
           desires were just as foolish as the worldly desires. In that moment, in that insight, he became
           objectless.
                Let me tell you, the scriptures report it very wrongly. They say that in that moment he became
           desireless. But try to understand what I am trying to convey to you. He became objectless, not
           desireless. You cannot become desireless. Desire is your very life, your breath, your heartbeat; desire
           is your being. But certainly a transformation happened; he became objectless. This-worldly,
           otherworldly, all desires in toto disappeared as objects, not desire as energy. There was no object;
           pure energy was felt, a desiring for nothing, a pure desire moving nowhere, a pure desire herenow.
                That very night he attained enlightenment. Having nothing to desire, he rested under a tree and
           fell asleep. For the first time he really slept. When there is nothing to desire, there is nothing to
           dream about either, because dreams are reflections of your desires. Dreams are reflections of your
           frustrations, dreams are reflections of your repressions, dreams reflect your day-life. That night there
           was no dream, it was a dreamless deep sleep.
                Patanjali says dreamless deep sleep is closest to samadhi -- just one step more, and you have
           come home. And that one step happened early in the morning. Rested, Buddha opened his eyes. For
           the first time in his life there was nowhere to go, nothing to do. For the first time in life he must have
           been at a loss. Now what? There was nothing to cling to, nothing to hold on to. There must have
           been an utter emptiness. Time must have stopped. There was no program any more. Every day he
           used to get up with so many ideas to be cultivated, so many methods to be practiced, so many
           religious rituals to be done, and all that. Today there was nothing left! Utter emptiness.
                But do you think he died? No, he was born. Objects were not there. Now the desire was pure --
           just a throb, a pulsation, just a passion for nothing in particular. Resting under the tree with open
           eyes, he must have been seeing the sky in the east becoming red, and then the sunrise. And with the
           rising sun and with the sky turning red, and with the last star of the night disappearing, he became
           enlightened.
                What does this word enlightenment mean? It simply means desire was freed from all objects. He
           became pure love, compassion, pure life. And this pure life has tremendous beauty and ecstasy; with
           this pure life you have attained the infinite. Desire remains small because you confine it to small
           objects, desire remains small because you desire small things. Seeing it, people start desiring big
           things -- but big things are also small things; howsoever big they are, they have limitations.
                Just think of your God. How big is he? Egyptians used to say he is seven feet tall -- nothing
           much. There are many Dutch sannyasins here. Whenever I see a Dutch sannyasin, I remember the
           Egyptians and the Egyptian gods. Indians say he has three faces. So what? Our politicians have one
           thousand and one faces, and everyone has many faces. Only three? When you talk to your wife you
           have one face, when you talk to your girlfriend you have another face, when you talk to your servant
           still another, when you talk to your boss still another. Just watch the whole day, how many faces you
           have! And God seems to be very poor -- only three faces? How does he manage with only three
           faces?
                All concepts of God are bound to be limited. Concepts as such are bound to be limited. Even if
           you say he is infinite, what do you mean? What do you mean by infinite? Try to comprehend the
           meaning of the word infinite and you will be in a difficulty. Even your word infinite will be found to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be finite. You can say he is unbounded, but just think, what do you mean? The boundary must be
           somewhere; how could it be that one just goes on and on and on? There must be a boundary --
           maybe it is very far away, far far away, maybe you will never reach it, but what do you mean by
           "unbounded"? You simply mean unmeasured, nothing more.
               What do you mean when you say the ocean is unfathomable? Do you think there is no bottom to
           it? The bottom is there, although we may not have fathomed it. Our ways of measurement are small,
           our yardsticks are small.
               Any word that we can use is bound to remain limited. Hence, those who have known God, they
           say nothing can be said about him. Buddha did not even say this much, that nothing can be said
           about him, because he said if you say nothing can be said about him, you have already said
           something. You have already defined him! "Nothing can be said about him" is a statement, and all
           statements define.
               You can move from small objects to bigger and bigger objects, but still your desire, your life,
           will not feel fulfilled. It cannot feel fulfilled unless it is really infinite, not in conceptions but in
           experience, and unless you taste the infinity of existence.
               Desire is beautiful, there is nothing wrong in it -- only free it from objects. With freedom from
           objects, desire is divine.
               Anurag, you say, "You must have told us so many times already, but I still don't get it...."
               Just by my saying it, you are not going to get it. You will have to move into experience. It is not
           a philosophical system of thought that I am conveying to you. I am only pointing towards a path; the
           path has to be followed. You will not get it just by listening to me. Yes, you can get it if you sit
           silently by my side. You can get it in the intervals, when I am here and you are here and no word
           interferes, intervenes.
               Words don't communicate. On the contrary, for higher things they become barriers. For lower
           things they are bridges; the higher you move, the less and less they are bridges, the more and more
           they are walls.
               You say, "You must have told us so many times already, but I still don't get it...."
               I will go on saying it, Anurag, again and again, but remember, you will not get it just by listening
           to me. You will have to be something like me. You will have to imbibe me, you will have to digest
           me. It is not something verbal that is happening here, it is something existential. It is a love affair.
               I am not a teacher, I am not teaching you anything, I am simply imparting something to you.
           What has happened to me, I am inviting you to partake of it. Be my guest, let me be your host. And
           if you can even be a guest for a single moment, that which has not been understood for so long will
           be immediately understood. And not only will it be understood, you will be surprised how you went
           on missing it. It is so simple; to have understood it would have been simple.
               But it is a question of an energy communication. And, slowly slowly, I will turn the commune
           into an energy communication. Words can take you only so far, then it has to become a meeting of
           energies. You have to be electrified by me. You have to allow my pure desiring, my pure energy. It
           is objectless; I don't desire a thing, I am simply desire. If you allow yourself to come in contact with
           this energy, there will be a transformation, a turning point, a conversion.
           You say, "What is the seed of desire?"
               There is no seed of desire. Desire is the seed of all. Desire is the ultimate seed. God desired to be
           man, God desired to expand, God desired to create.
           Desire is the seed of everything!
               If you ask me, I will say God is desire -- that's why he could desire. Only desire can desire.
           You ask, "Is it only in the existence of mind?"
               No. The mind has only a very tunnel vision. The mind is as if you are hiding behind a door and
           looking through the keyhole. Yes, sometimes you can see a bird on the wing, but for only a split
           second, and then it is gone. You see somebody passing by -- a beautiful woman, a beautiful man, or
           a dog -- just for a moment, and it is gone. A moment before, it was not there; a moment afterwards, it
           is no more there. That's how the mind creates time. It is a keyhole.
               You see a bird on the wing, and you see it only for just a second. Before that, it was not -- do you
           think it was not? It was, but for you it was in the future, because it was not in front of your keyhole.
           And after a moment it is no more again -- do you think it is no more? It still is, but for you it is past.
               Mind is limited, hence it creates divisions -- past, present and future. The present is that which
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for a moment appears on the screen of the mind, and the past is that which is no more on the screen,
           and the future is that which is not yet. But let me tell you: all is, and always is. Nothing ever goes out
           of existence, and nothing ever comes into existence. Everything persists, remains.
           Time is a false notion created by the mind.
           Eternity is truth, timelessness is truth.
               Somebody asked Jesus, "Tell us something more about the kingdom of God. What will be special
           there? Something unique. Yes, we have heard that there will be pleasure, but pleasure we know --
           maybe it will be thousands and thousands of times greater, but we know what pleasure is. We have
           heard there will be celestial music -- okay, we know something about music. But what will be
           special?"
               And you will be surprised what Jesus said. It is not recorded in the Christian scriptures, but there
           are a few sayings scattered here and there in other scriptures. This is recorded by the Sufis. Jesus
           said, "There shall be time no longer." A tremendously significant answer. There shall be time no
           longer -- this will be special. You have known everything, but you have not known timelessness.
           "There shall be time no longer" means there shall be mind no longer. Mind and time are
           synonymous.
               In the ultimate reckoning, time is mind, mind is time. Both are aspects of the same coin, they
           both disappear together. Drop one, and the other is gone also.
           You ask me, "What is the seed of desire?"
               Anurag, there is no seed of desire. Desire is the ultimate seed of all other seeds.
           And you ask, "Is it only in the existence of mind?"
               No. The mind has only a little glimpse of desire, just a flickering glimpse of desire. Mind knows
           nothing of desire; mind only knows about desiring this and desiring that. Desiring money, desiring
           power, desiring prestige -- mind knows about desires for objects. When the objects are no more
           there, desire is no more part of the mind. Then desire is beyond mind; then desire is simply an
           overflowing energy.
               William Blake says desire is energy and energy is delight. I have heard a rumor that Sargama,
           one of our sannyasins, is a direct descendant of William Blake. We have beautiful people here.
           William Blake is one of the most beautiful persons who has ever walked on the earth, one of the
           most penetrating mystics. Sargama must have something of William Blake's quality in him. But it
           may be just a rumor, because I have heard another rumor also that William Blake had no son at all.
           But that may be applicable only to legal sons; one can have illegal sons.
               William Blake's insight is true. Desire is energy, energy is delight. Contemplate over it. Just pure
           desire, just overflowing energy, for no particular object, for no destination.
               That's what you have to remember when you come to me for an energy darshan, for a "close-up."
           Just become pure desire, just an overflowing desire, for nothing in particular. Don't wait for any
           experience. Experiences will come, but don't wait for them. If you wait, you will miss, because when
           you are waiting for an experience you are no more in the herenow. You have already missed the
           point; the mind has come in. The object has obstructed the purity of desire.
               When you are in an energy darshan with me, when you are partaking of something of my energy,
           just be pure desire -- going nowhere, moving nowhere, just thrilled for no reason at all, just madly
           ecstatic for no reason at all. And in those few moments you will have the contact with me, because
           those few moments are my reality.
               But if you are sitting there, waiting to have some great experience of light inside, then maybe
           you may experience some light, but you have missed. You have thrown the diamonds away and
           gathered pebbles on the shore. You may be waiting for your kundalini to rise, you may have a certain
           sensation rising in your spine, but what is it? It is pointless. It may give you a kick, a spiritual kick,
           but then it is gone.
               With me, just be pure desire -- swaying with me, moving with me, dancing with me, allowing me
           to penetrate you to your deepest core, to the deepest core of your desire, to the very seed. And then
           something immense, something incredible, something you cannot imagine, is possible -- an entry of
           the beyond into you, the meeting of the earth and sky.
           You say, "Is it only in the existence of mind?"
               No, the mind is a barrier. It allows desire only little outlets -- and desire is an ocean. The mind
           has to be dropped, not desire; the mind has to be dropped so that you can have total desire.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And you ask, "And how is the desire in the body for sex related to the mind?"
                The mind is not separate from your body, it is the inner part of the body. You are separate from
           the body and the mind, both. You are an entity, transcendental, you are a witness to the mind and the
           body, both. But your mind and your body are both one and the same energy. The body is visible
           mind, the mind is invisible body. The body is the exterior mind, and the mind is the interior body.
                Hence sex is not only physical. It is far more cerebral, it is far more psychological than physical.
           In fact, sex is triggered not by your physiology but by your psychology. The physiology cooperates
           with it, but deep down sex comes from the inner body to the outer body.
                You may be aware, you may not be aware, because you are not at all aware of what goes on
           happening to you. But watch, the first thing about sex happens in the head, in the mind. And then
           immediately the body is affected, because the body and the mind are not separate.
                There can be a physiological sex too. That's what happens when you go to a prostitute; it is
           physiological, it is just a relief for the body. The body is overburdened with energy and you don't
           know what to do with it. You have to throw it out somehow to unburden yourself, so that you can
           feel a little relaxed, because you have too much energy and you are so uncreative that you don't
           know what to do with it.
                You can't sing a song totally. If you can, you will be surprised; the energy disappears into the
           song and becomes the song. There is no need to go to a prostitute. But you cannot dance, you cannot
           play on the guitar, you are so uncreative.
                Prostitutes will exist in the world unless man becomes more creative. And now in the West
           where the Women's Liberation movement is demanding equality in everything, even male prostitutes
           have come into existence. They were bound to, because why should there be only female prostitutes?
           Why not male prostitutes too? Equality is equality.
                Man is uncreative. Have you observed? Any time when you are creative, sex disappears. If you
           are painting and totally absorbed in it, you don't have any sexual desire. Sex simply does not cross
           the threshold of your mind; it is simply not there.
                Only in deep creativity are people celibate, in no other way. Your saints, so-called saints, are not
           celibate -- because they are so uncreative, they cannot be. It is impossible; it is just against the very
           science of energy. They are doing nothing, sitting in the temples and ashrams repeating Ram-Ram,
           Ram-Ram, or just stupidly playing with their malas -- how can they be celibate? How can
           brahmacharya happen to them? It happens only when creativity takes all your energy, and no energy
           is left as a tension in you.
                Poets can be celibate more, painters can be celibate more, dancers can be celibate more,
           musicians can be celibate more. I am not saying that they are all celibates, I am saying that whenever
           a poet is a poet, he can be celibate -- because a poet is not twenty-four hours a day a poet. It is very
           rare to find a poet who is twenty-four hours a day a poet. Then he becomes a seer, then he becomes a
           rishi, then he is no more an ordinary poet.
                It is from people like these who were for twenty-four hours poets that great poems like the
           Upanishads, the Koran and the Gita were born. It is not ordinary poetry. Ordinary poets are only
           once in a while poets, otherwise they are ordinary people -- maybe far worse. Ordinary painters are
           only once in a while painters.
                It is said about a great Indian poet, Rabindranath, that whenever he was in the mood to create, he
           would close his doors and disappear into his room for days together -- three or four days. No food,
           no bath, he would not even come out. Only when his energy had moved into creativity and he was
           unburdened would he open his door and come out. And people who saw him coming out of his room
           after four days of fasting and remaining lost in his creativity, all observed that his face was no more
           the same. He looked as if he had gone to some other world. He looked so delicate, like a roseflower;
           he looked so beautiful, so feminine, so graceful, so buddhalike. But only for a few hours would that
           fragrance surround him, and then it would disappear. And even for months together, the mood might
           not come.
                Poets are only once in a while poets. And when you read a whole poem, the whole poem is not a
           poem either. Only a few lines here and there are really poetry; the other lines are just managed by the
           poet, they did not descend on him.
                A great poet, Coleridge, died. He left forty thousand incomplete poems. Many times in his life he
           was asked, "Why don't you complete these things? They are so tremendously beautiful, and only one
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           line is missing. Just complete one line and the poem will be complete."
                But Coleridge always refused. He said, "I will not complete it unless it comes from the beyond. I
           am not going to do it. These lines have come from the beyond, I have just noted them down. I am not
           the writer, I am not the author, I am just a steno; I have simply noted down something that has been
           dictated from the beyond. And that one line is missing. I cannot add it, because many times I have
           tried to add it, and I have always failed. It looks so ugly, it looks so different, so mundane, so
           mediocre. It does not have that luminosity."
                When Rabindranath for the first time translated his great book Gitanjali into English, he was a
           little worried as to whether the translation had come through or not. English was not his mother
           tongue, in the first place. And secondly, to translate prose is one thing, it is easy; to translate poetry
           is very difficult, and more so to translate poetry from a language like Bengali which is so poetic. The
           whole language is poetic, its flavor is of poetry.
                He was worried: "Has the translation come true to the spirit of my original?" He showed it to one
           great Englishman, C.F. Andrews. Andrews went through it, and at just four points he said, "Four
           words have to be changed, grammatically they are wrong." Naturally, Rabindranath changed them.
                Then when he read Gitanjali and his poems for the first time in a poets' gathering in London, he
           was surprised, he could not believe his ears. One English poet, Yeats, stood up and said, "Everything
           is perfectly right, but at just four points something is very mundane, something is not poetic. The
           whole poetry flows beautifully, but at four points the river comes across rocks."
                With a trembling in his heart, Rabindranath asked, "What are those four points?" And they were
           exactly the same as those which C.F. Andrews had suggested. Rabindranath told him, "These are
           C.F. Andrews' words, he knows English better than me."
                Yeats said, "That is right -- it is better English, but not better poetry. The grammar is right, but
           poetry is not grammar. The language is right, but poetry is not only language. Poetry is something
           that hovers above language and grammar. Please go back to your old words!"
                Rabindranath got his Nobel prize with this book, Gitanjali.
                All poets are not always poets, all poems are not poems. Hence you may not be able to
           understand what I am trying to convey to you, but whenever a poet is a poet, he is celibate. Sexuality
           simply disappears, evaporates. And whenever a poem is born in a poet he is part of God, he is a
           creator. In that moment it is impossible to give any object to your desire. Sex gives an object to your
           desire. Sex is not pure, cannot be, because the object is always there.
           The moment sex becomes pure, it is samadhi.
                The mind and the body both are sexual. The body has come out of sex, and the mind is always
           hankering for objects, hence it is sexual. But both can be purified through creativity.
                My message, my key, my golden key to transform your energies, is creativity. Be more and more
           creative, and slowly slowly you will see a transformation happening of its own accord. Your mind
           will disappear, your body will have a totally different feel to it, and constantly you will remain aware
           that you are separate, that you are a pure witness.
                And that pure witness is pure desire and nothing else.
                I am not against desire. I am all for desire, but I am not for desires with objects. Let objects
           disappear, and then you will have a desire like a flame without any smoke. It brings great liberation.
           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING THAT YOU SAY, BUT WHY DOES MY LIFE STILL REMAIN
              UNCHANGED?


               Sudhas, to understand something intellectually is one thing, but to understand something
           intellectually is not going to transform your life. You will remain the same. To understand something
           intellectually is really to deceive yourself. You have not understood, the mind has only pretended to
           have understood. This is a trick, because if you really understand it then change is bound to happen.
           And the mind does not want any change.
               The mind is very traditional, conventional, conformist, orthodox. The mind is never
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           revolutionary; it is against all change. And the change I am talking about is a total change.
           You say, "I understand everything that you say...."
              You only believe that you understand. You understand the words, naturally. My words are
           simple, I don't know many words. In fact, if you count, I must be using not more than four hundred
           words. But see the turnout! I am not a man of language. You can understand what I am saying as far
           as words are concerned -- but do you comprehend it? That is the question, that is the crux of the
           matter. Do you comprehend what is being imparted to you?
              Sudhas, you must have a very philosophical bent of mind. Meditate over this anecdote:

               A patient of his, a great philosopher in his thirties, eagerly responded at the beginning of therapy
           to each interpretation his analyst made by saying, "I hear you, I hear you."
               "I'm sorry," said the doctor. "I didn't know you were a little deaf."
               "I'm not. I hear you. It means I comprehend," said the philosopher.
           "Well, what is it that you comprehend?"
               The philosopher paused. "Jesus," he finally replied, "I don't know."

                Understanding is not the question, but comprehension. Understanding is of the head;
           comprehension is something deeper, of the heart. And if it is really total then it is even deeper, of the
           being.
                When you understand something then you have to do something about it. When you comprehend
           something you need not do anything about it; the very comprehension is enough to change you. If
           you comprehend something, it has already changed you; there is no need to do anything about your
           comprehensions.
                Please don't try to understand me intellectually. I am not an intellectual, in fact I am
           anti-intellectual. I am not a philosopher, I am very anti-philosophic. Try to comprehend me.
                And how does one try to comprehend? How does one try to understand in the first place?
           Understanding means listening with the head, continuously interpreting, evaluating, judging: "This is
           right, this is wrong. Yes, this is true, I have read about it. This must be right, because Jesus also said
           it in the same way. This is also in the Gita and in the Vedas."
                This goes on, this constant chattering inside that you call understanding. And then out of this
           hotch-potch you create a hypothesis, and you think this is what I have been telling you.
           Comprehension cannot come this way; this is the way to prevent comprehension.
                Listen silently with no inner chattering, with no inner talk, without evaluating. I am not saying
           believe what I say, I am not saying accept what I say. I am saying there is no need to be in a hurry to
           accept or reject. First at least listen -- why be in such a hurry? When you see a roseflower, do you
           accept or reject it? When you see a beautiful sunset, do you accept or reject it? You simply see it,
           and in that very seeing is a meeting.
                Don't let your mind wander. Listen silently, attuned, and then something will stir in the heart.
           Truth has that quality, it stirs the heart. Truth has the quality of being self-evident, it needs no proofs.
                If what I am saying has anything of truth in it, it will be understood by your heart. But the mind
           has to give way. And then you will not need to change your life according to it, it will be changed of
           its own accord.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT? WHAT?? WHAT???


              Patren, you remind me of a story. A man was troubled for many years with a sore arm. He had
           been to many doctors and could not find out what was causing the problem. Finally a friend urged
           him to see a doctor who was famous for his ability to diagnose illnesses. The doctor was very
           expensive and he had to wait a long time for an appointment. Finally he sat waiting in the office. The
           doctor walked in, handed him a jar and told him to return it the next day with his first morning's
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           urine. Then he promptly left the room.
               The man was infuriated! "He did not even look at me," he thought. "And how can he tell what is
           wrong with my arm from my urine?"
               The next morning, the man, still angry, peed in the jar. Then he had his wife pee in it, then he had
           his daughter pee in it. Then as he walked out the door he saw his dog peeing on a tree and he got
           some of that also. He gave the urine to the doctor and sat there laughing to himself.
               Just then, the doctor re-entered the room and exclaimed, "Please sir, this is no laughing matter!
           Your wife has been fooling around on you, your daughter is pregnant, your dog has worms, and if
           you don't stop jerking off, your arm will never get better!"

           Now, Patren, you ask me, "What? What?? WHAT???"
             I am not this kind of doctor, you will have to go somewhere else.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY CAN'T I FEEL ANY WONDER IN EXISTENCE?


                Shivananda, you are too knowledgeable, you know too much. And all that you know is just holy
           cow dung -- all knowledge always is. Wisdom is a totally different matter. Knowledge is all rot,
           junk; you gather it from here and there, it is not your own. It has no authenticity, it has not grown in
           your being, you have not given birth to it.
                But it gives you a very gratified ego to feel "I know." And the more you become settled in the
           idea of "I know," the less and less will you feel wonder in life. How can a man of knowledge feel
           wonder? Knowledge destroys wonder. And wonder is the source of wisdom, wonder is the source of
           all that is beautiful, and wonder is the source for the search, the real search. Wonder takes you on the
           adventure to know the mysteries of life.
                The knowledgeable person already knows -- knows nothing, but thinks that he already knows.
           He has come to a full stop. He has not reached anywhere, he has not known anything. He is a
           computer, his mind is simply programmed. Maybe he has M.A.'s, Ph.D.'s, D.Litt.'s, maybe he has
           been to the biggest education centers of the world and he has accumulated much information, but
           that information is destroying his sensitivity to feel the mystery of the flowers, the birds, the trees,
           the sunlight and the moon, because he knows all the answers.
                How can he see any beauty in the moon? He already knows everything about the moon. And if
           you say to him, "My beloved's face looks like the full moon," he will laugh. He will say, "You are
           simply foolish. How can you compare the moon with your beloved's face? There is no comparison
           possible!"
                He is mathematically right, scientifically right, but poetically wrong. And life is not only science.
           Just as Jesus said, "Man cannot live by bread alone," I say to you, "Man cannot live by science
           alone." A few windows are to be left open for poetic experiences, so some sun, some wind and some
           rain can come from real existence.
                You cannot be thrilled by life if you are too full of knowledge.
                I used to go for a long walk every evening when I was in the university. A professor used to
           follow me. For two or three days I tolerated it, and then I said, "Either you stop coming, or I will
           have to stop coming."
           He said, "Why?"
           I said, "You are destroying my whole walk."
           He said, "How?"
                He knew too much about everything, and he would talk. "This tree belongs to that species." Now,
           who bothers? The tree is beautiful; it is dancing in the wind, the foliage is so young, so fresh. The
           green of it, the red of it, the gold of it, all is so beautiful -- and he is talking about the species. He
           was a very very informed man about everything. A bird on the wind, he would immediately label it.
           He was a great labeler.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I said, "Please, either you stop coming -- you are destroying my evening walk -- or I will have to
           stop."
               Shivananda, you must be too burdened. You are, I know you. You are burdened with great
           scriptures, mountains of scriptures; nothing can ever surprise you.

               A man comes into a bar, obviously nervous and obviously in a hurry, walks over to the counter,
           picks up an empty glass and starts eating it. When he is finished he goes over to the wall, walks up
           the wall, walks along the ceiling, walks down the other wall and disappears out the door.
               The barkeeper can't believe his eyes. "What the hell," he says, "is going on here?"
               A man who has been sitting on a bar stool and seen the whole thing, says with a shrug of his
           shoulders, "Don't worry, I know that guy. It's always the same thing with him -- comes and goes
           without even saying hello."

               There are millions of people who are living like this. Miracles are happening all around but they
           can't see anything, they are blind with their knowledge.
               Drop your knowledge. Knowledge is worthless, wonder is precious. Regain the wonder that you
           had when you were a child -- and the kingdom of God belongs only to those who are able to become
           children again.

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I AM IN A JAM. I LOVE THREE WOMEN. THIS IS HELL, AND THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR
              THREE MONTHS. NOW WHAT TO DO?


               You must be something of a man! One woman is enough. You need legal protection. But if you
           have tolerated it patiently for three months, wait a little more. Time settles everything. And women
           are always more perceptive than men -- if you cannot do anything, they are bound to do something.

               John and Mary began making love in a railway cutting. As their lovemaking progressed, they
           rolled down onto the railway tracks in the path of the oncoming express.
               The driver, seeing the two bodies ahead on the line, halted the train just in time. Now, delaying
           the train is a serious offense, and at the trial the judge demanded an explanation.
               "Now look, John," he said, "I am a man of the world and I can understand you and your
           girlfriend having a little fun. But why didn't you get out of the way of the train?"
               "Well, it's like this, Your Honor," said John. "I was coming, the train was coming and Mary was
           coming, and I thought that whoever could stop would stop!"
           Enough for today.




                                             The Book of Wisdom
                                                 Chapter #16
                                Chapter title: The University of Inner Alchemy
           26 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902260
              ShortTitle: WISDOM16
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   Video:    No
                  Length: 103 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              YES AND NO!


                Prem Madhu, man is a dilemma, he is both yes and no. It is not abnormal in you, it is the normal
           state of humankind. Man is half earth, half sky; part matter, part consciousness; part dust, part
           divine. Man is a tension. Friedrich Nietzsche says "a rope stretched between two infinities."
                The past is that of an animal and the future is that of God. And between the two is man -- half
           animal, half angel. The no comes from the past, the yes is a possibility for the future. Doubt comes
           from darkness, trust is the by-product of light. The higher self in you is always trusting, the lower is
           cunning and always doubting. And you are both, as you are now.
                Man is naturally schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is not a disease; it is not pathology, it is the state
           of normal human beings. It starts looking like a pathology only when it goes to the extreme, when
           yes and no are so divided that there is not even an "and" to bridge them. When they become
           unbridgeable, then it becomes pathological. Otherwise every human being is always in a kind of
           duality, in a state of either/or. No other animal is in that state. Dogs are simply dogs, and lions are
           lions, and trees are trees, and rocks are rocks. They don't have any duality, there is no division.
                Man is dual, double, divided. It is his misery, but it is also the possibility for his bliss. It is his
           agony, but out of this agony ecstasy can be born. No animal can be ecstatic except man. Have you
           seen any animal ecstatic -- ecstasy like a buddha, a Ramakrishna? There is no possibility of coming
           across an animal which is so ecstatic. Even the rosebush with so many beautiful flowers is not
           ecstatic in the sense Jesus is. The rosebush is simply a rosebush; there is no exuberance, there is no
           overflowing, there is no rejoicing. It is a matter of fact -- not that something incredible is happening,
           not that something from the beyond has descended, not that God has been realized, not that light has
           come and penetrated to the deepest core of your being and you are full of it and you are enlightened.
                The bird on the wing is free, but knows nothing about freedom. Only man, even though he may
           be imprisoned, knows about freedom. Hence the misery; the bondage on one hand, and the vision of
           freedom on the other. The reality, the ugly reality, and the tremendously luminous possibility.
                Man can be miserable as no other animal can ever be miserable. Have you seen any animal
           crying its heart out, weeping, committing suicide? Have you seen any animal laughing, a belly
           laughter that shakes the very foundations? No, all these things are possible only for man. Hence the
           grandeur of man, hence his dignity, and hence his anxiety too.
                The anxiety is over whether you are going to make it or not, whether this time it is going to
           happen or not. The anxiety is a natural consequence of two diametrically opposite possibilities: one
           can fall into hell, and one can rise into heaven.
                Man is just a ladder, and you move on this ladder like a yo-yo. One moment you are in heaven,
           another moment you are in hell. One moment suddenly the sunlit peak, another moment the darkest
           valley that you have ever come across. One moment love, sharing; another moment anger,
           miserliness. One moment such an expanded heart that you can contain the whole world, and another
           moment you are so mean that you cannot imagine you had this possibility to be so mean. Man goes
           on moving between these two infinities continuously like a pendulum.
                Prem Madhu, your question is significant, because it is everybody's question. It is not a question,
           it is far more existential. It is a problem; no answer can help, some solution has to be searched for.
                Now, there are two possibilities for the solution. One is to fall back and be satisfied with your
           animalness. Be satisfied -- that's what millions are trying to do; drink, eat, sleep, and forget all about
           the greater challenges of life. Eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow we shall be no more. That's
           what the materialist says.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The materialist has accepted the lower self; he denies the higher self just in sheer self-defense.
           He does not deny it because he knows that it is not; no -- he knows nothing about it. He denies it
           because if he does not deny it then that either/or opens up again. Again one is in a problem, again
           something has to be done, again the at-easeness is lost. Again the journey, the wandering, and the
           discomfort and the inconvenience and the insecurity of the journey.
                It is better to say that the higher does not exist, that there is no God, that there has never been any
           God, that there is no soul, that there is nothing inner, that man has no interiority, that man is just
           what he is from the outside, that man is his behavior and there is no soul in him.
                From Pavlov to B.F. Skinner, this is what is being taught to the world by the so-called scientific
           psychologists, the behaviorists, that man is only behavior. There is no one inside, just as there is no
           one inside a machine. The machine is just a functional unity; it has no organic unity in it, it has no
           soul. You can dismantle it, you can rearrange it again.
                That's what scientists hope, that sooner or later they will be able to dismantle man and
           reassemble him. At least theoretically, it seems possible for them. It is not possible. You cannot
           dismantle and reassemble man, because there is something which is nonmechanical in man. And that
           nonmechanical part is his glory. But it is better to deny it; it makes life easier, it makes life less
           anxious, it makes life less of a problem. You can go on living the shallow day-to-day life of so-called
           pleasures -- eat, drink and be merry.
                Those who decide for that are renouncing the opportunity Atisha is talking about. They are
           renouncing the opportunity to become gods. They are settling for something very low, they are
           settling for something very cheap, they are missing something very essential. Yes, you can be at ease
           with the lower self, you can settle with the doubting self. But then there is no growth. And there will
           be no ecstasy, because there will never be any buddha born in you. You will never come to know
           anything of christ-consciousness. You will remain in darkness -- of course at ease, but what is the
           point of being at ease?
                Far more valuable is creative discontent, far more valuable is the insecurity of the unknown, far
           more valuable is a homeless wandering in search of the real home.
                Religion is for those who don't accept the lower as the be all and end all. I am not saying deny
           the lower, remember, because there are foolish people who go to the other extreme. One stupid type
           of people denies the higher, says it does not exist, and settles with the lower. The other stupid kind
           denies the lower, says there is no lower, there is only the higher. One says God is illusion, the world
           is truth. The other says the world is illusion, God is truth.
                In my approach, both are being stupid, because both are doing the same thing. Both want to be at
           ease; both are denying the polar opposite, both are denying the possibility of any inner tension. And
           remember, it is the inner tension that gives you aliveness. And the bigger the tension, the more alive
           you are.
                You know, you have experienced it. Everybody has experienced it, more or less -- the attraction
           of the opposite. A man is attracted to a woman, and vice versa -- why? The negative pole of
           electricity is attracted towards the positive pole, and vice versa -- why? Why the attraction for the
           opposite? Because in that very attraction, life arises. In that tension, how can you remain dead? In
           that very tension you start pulsating.
                Those who settle and choose one against the other become stale, become dead. The materialist
           becomes superficial, and your so-called spiritualist also becomes phony. Your so-called materialist
           lives with shallow pleasures, and your so-called spiritualist lives in imagination, in fantasy. Both are
           missing life and its life-giving tensions. Man has to live with both, and in such a way that neither is
           denied and yet both become complementary to each other. Yes need not be against no; there is no
           necessity that the no should be against the yes. They can define each other, they can nourish each
           other.
                That's my whole effort here. I bring you a new dispensation, that the earth and the sky have to be
           accepted together. Body and soul, the world and God, have to be accepted together. Nothing is
           wrong in the lower, the lower has to become the base for the higher. The lower has to function as the
           foundation; if you deny it you won't have any foundation.
                That's why religious countries, for example India, became poorer and poorer and poorer. They
           lost their foundations and became very phony. How can you be true if you deny something which is
           all around you and so real? If you say the world is illusion, maya, how can you be true? You know it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not.
               Even the person who says that the world is maya does not try to pass through the wall, he goes
           through the door. If both are maya, illusion, what is the difference? Can you find any difference
           between two illusions? Is one a little less an illusion and the other a little more? Even the person who
           says the world is illusion does not start eating stones. What is the difference between bread and
           stones then? Both are illusions, both are dreams.
               But by denying the world you lose contact with the reality. That's what happened in the East,
           particularly in India. India became disoriented from reality, it lost its roots in the earth. It became
           unearthly, a little ghostly. That's my experience of India -- India is a ghost, it has lost its body. And
           nobody else is responsible for it. It could not gather courage to accept the polar opposites. It became
           poor, it became ugly, it became ill.
               India chose this so that it could be at ease with the higher. But the higher can exist only with the
           lower; this is one thing more of great importance to be remembered. The lower can exist without the
           higher -- it will remain unfulfilled, but it can exist. The higher cannot even exist without the lower.
               You cannot have a building -- a temple, a church -- without the foundations. But you can have
           the foundations without making the temple. That is possible because the lower comes first and the
           higher comes later. The lower can come, and the higher may not come.
               The East tried the higher without the lower, the temple without the foundations. Now, such a
           temple can only be in your imagination, it cannot exist in reality. And it creates hypocrisy. The
           greatest hypocrisy possible in the world has happened in India. The hypocrisy is: we have to live in
           the lower because the lower is the real, and we have to deny it and talk about the higher. And
           because the lower is denied, the higher cannot have any substance; it is dream stuff. So people are
           very much obsessed with money, but they talk of God; obsessed with politics and power, and they
           talk of God. That remains just talk.
               In the West, just the opposite has happened. The lower was accepted, for the same reason --
           because if there is only one, you can relax. You can drop the creative discontent if there is only one.
           Hence the attraction for the one; it is an attraction towards suicide.
               Think of a world where only men exist and no women. There will be no tension, certainly. There
           will be great brotherhood, everybody will be gay -- literally gay! But life will lose something,
           something of immense importance -- there will be no tension. It will be like having loose strings on a
           sitar; you cannot create music. You have to make them tight and tense, only then can you strike
           music out of them, only then can the hidden become manifest. With loose strings on a sitar how can
           you create music? They have to be tight, in a certain tension. Only great masters know how much
           tension is the right tension. And in the right tension the greatest melody is possible.
               I teach you the right tension between the lower and the higher, between the body and the soul,
           between the earth and heaven; a right tension with no antagonism. The lower has not to be denied for
           the higher, neither has the higher to be denied for the lower. They are together, they are two aspects
           of the same reality, they interpenetrate.
               So I don't say drop your doubt, I don't say drop your no. I say let your no become the tension for
           your yes, let your no become the background for your yes. Let your no create the context in which
           the yes will be more meaningful. Only in contrast does meaning arise. You write with white chalk on
           a blackboard -- why? Because only in contrast will the white show; it will be loud and clear. Let no
           become the blackboard, and yes the white writing on it.
               Your trust should not be a blind trust, your trust should be a trust which has eyes. Your trust
           should not be an impotent trust, a trust which is trust because you are impotent to say no. Your trust
           should be alive, strong and vital. Your trust will be capable of saying no. Say yes and yet retain the
           capacity to say no, then you will be surprised -- your yes has such sharpness, such brilliance, such
           intelligence! Then it is not blind, it has eyes to see.
               Use no as a foundation for yes, use doubt as manure for the rosebush. Use everything that God
           has given to you. Nothing, nothing at all, has to be denied; all has to be absorbed, because nothing is
           unessential or unimportant. Even though sometimes it looks unessential and unimportant, even
           though sometimes it looks positively harmful and poisonous, it has not to be denied. It has not to be
           thrown out, because later on, on the way, as you become wiser you will repent if you threw
           something away, because you will need it in some situation. There are moments when poison is
           needed as medicine. There are moments of wisdom when just the touch of the wise man and the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           poison becomes nectar.
               I want you to become alchemists. This is an alchemical school, a university for inner alchemy.
           We are trying to change the baser metal into gold. So remember, I accept your no too, I love your no
           too. I accept all that you are. I accept all that you are not, even that too. You are accepted whatsoever
           you are, and you are accepted whatsoever you are not. You are accepted in totality.
               From my side there is no question of denying anything, but of transforming it.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS THE EGO? REMAINING UNENLIGHTENED, ARE WE ALWAYS FUNCTIONING
              THROUGH THE EGO OR ARE THERE MOMENTS WHEN WE ARE FREE OF IT?


                Prem parijat, man has no center separate from the center of the whole. There is only one center in
           existence; the ancients used to call it Tao, dhamma, God. Those words have become old now; you
           can call it truth. There is only one center of existence. There are not many centers, otherwise the
           universe would not be really a universe, it would become a multiverse. It is a unity, hence it is called
           the "universe"; it has only one center.
                But this is to be meditated upon a little. That one center is my center, your center, everybody's
           center. That one center does not mean that you are centerless, that one center simply means that you
           don't have a separate center. Let us say it in different words. You can make many concentric circles
           on one center, many circles. You can throw a pebble in a silent lake: one center arises from the fall
           of the pebble and then many concentric circles arise and they go on spreading to the farthest shore --
           millions of concentric circles, but they all have one center.
                Each can claim this center as his own. And in a way it is his center, but it is not only his. The ego
           arises with the claim, "The center is mine, separate. It is not your center, it is my center; it is me."
           The idea of a separate center is the root of the ego.
                When a child is born he comes without a center of his own. For nine months in the mother's
           womb he functions with the mother's center as his center; he is not separate. Then he is born. Then it
           is utilitarian to think of oneself as having a separate center; otherwise life will become very difficult,
           almost impossible. To survive, and to struggle for survival in the fight of life, everybody needs a
           certain idea of who they are. And nobody has any idea. In fact nobody can ever have any idea,
           because at the deepest core you are a mystery. You can't have any idea of it. At the deepest core you
           are not individual, you are universal.
                That's why if you ask the Buddha, "Who are you?" he remains silent, he does not answer it. He
           cannot, because now he is no more separate. He is the whole. But in ordinary life even Buddha has to
           use the word 'I'. If he feels thirsty he has to say, "I am thirsty. Ananda, bring me a little water, I am
           thirsty."
                To be exactly right, he should say, "Ananda, bring some water. The universal center is a little
           thirsty." But that will look a little odd. And to say it again and again -- sometimes the universal
           center is hungry, and sometimes the universal center is feeling a little cold, and sometimes the
           universal center is tired -- it will be unnecessary, absolutely unnecessary. So he continues to use the
           old meaningful word 'I'. It is very meaningful; even though a fiction, it is still meaningful. But many
           fictions are meaningful.
                For example, you have a name. That is a fiction. You came without a name, you did not bring a
           name with you, the name was given to you. Then by constant repetition you start becoming
           identified with it. You know your name is Rama or Rahim or Krishna. It goes so deep that if all you
           three thousand sannyasins fall asleep here and somebody comes and calls, "Rama, where are you?"
           nobody will hear except Rama. Rama will say, "Who has come to disturb my sleep?" Even in sleep
           he knows his name; it has reached to the unconscious, it has seeped through and through. But it is a
           fiction.
                But when I say it is a fiction I don't mean it is unnecessary. It is necessary fiction, it is useful;
           otherwise how are you going to address people? If you want to write a letter to somebody, to whom
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are you going to write?

                A small child once wrote a letter to God. His mother was ill and his father had died and they had
           no money, so he asked God for fifty rupees.
                When the letter reached the post office they were at a loss -- what to do with it? Where to send
           it? It was simply addressed to God. So they opened it. They felt very sorry for the little boy and they
           decided to collect some money and send it to him. They collected some money; he had asked for
           fifty rupees but they could collect only forty.
                The next letter came, again addressed to God, and the boy had written, "Dear Sir, please next
           time when you send the money, send it directly to me, don't send it through the post office. They
           have taken their commission -- ten rupees!"

                It will be difficult if nobody has a name. Although nobody has a name in reality, still, it is a
           beautiful fiction, helpful. And nobody knows it more than I do, because I don't think anybody in the
           whole history of humanity has given as many names as I have given. You can count on me!
                Names are needed for others to call you, 'I' is needed for you to call yourself, but it is just a
           fiction. If you go deep into yourself you will find the name has disappeared, the idea of 'I' has
           disappeared; there is left only a pure am-ness, is-ness, existence, being.
                And that being is not separate, it is not yours and mine; that being is the being of all. Rocks,
           rivers, mountains, trees, all are included. It is all-inclusive, it excludes nothing. The whole past, the
           whole future, this immense universe, everything is included in it. The deeper you go into yourself,
           the more and more you will find that persons don't exist, that individuals don't exist. Then what
           exists is a pure universalness. On the circumference we have names, egos, identities. When we jump
           from the circumference towards the center, all those identities disappear.
           The ego is just a useful fiction.
           Use it, but don't be deceived by it.
                Parijat, you also ask, "Remaining unenlightened, are we always functioning through the ego or
           are there moments when we are free of it?"
                Because it is a fiction, there are moments when you are free of it. Because it is a fiction, it can
           remain there only if you go on maintaining it. A fiction needs great maintenance. Truth needs no
           maintenance, that is the beauty of truth. But a fiction? You have constantly to paint it, to give it a
           prop here and there, and it is constantly collapsing. By the time you have managed to prop up one
           side, the other side starts collapsing.
                And that's what people go on doing their whole life, trying to make the fiction seem as if it is the
           truth. Have more money, then you can have a bigger ego, a little more solid than the ego of the poor
           man. The poor man's ego is thin; he can't afford a thicker ego. Become the prime minister or
           president of a country, and your ego is puffed up to extremes. Then you don't walk on the earth.
                Our whole life, the search for money, power, prestige, this and that, is nothing but a search for
           new props, a search for new supports, to somehow keep the fiction going. And all the time you know
           death is coming. Whatsoever you make, death is going to destroy it. But still one goes on hoping
           against hope -- maybe everybody else dies, but not you.
                And in a way it is true. You have always seen other people dying, you have never seen yourself
           dying, so it seems true also, logical also. This person dies, that person dies, and you never die. You
           are always there to feel sorry for them, you always go with them to the cemetery to say goodbye, and
           then you are back home again.
                Don't be deceived by it, because all those people were doing the same thing. And nobody is an
           exception. Death comes and destroys the whole fiction of your name, your fame. Death comes and
           simply effaces all; not even footprints are left. Whatsoever we go on making out of our life is
           nothing but writing on water -- not even on sand, but on water. You have not even written it, and it is
           gone. You cannot even read it; before you could have read it, it is gone.
                But we go on trying to make these castles in the air. Because it is a fiction, it needs constant
           maintenance, constant effort, day and night. And nobody can be so careful for twenty-four hours. So
           sometimes, in spite of you, there are moments when you have a glimpse of reality without the ego
           functioning as a barrier. Without the screen of the ego, there are moments -- in spite of you,
           remember. Everybody once in a while has those moments.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, every night when you fall deeply into sleep, and the sleep is so deep that you
           cannot even dream, then the ego is no more found; all the fictions are gone. Deep dreamless sleep is
           a kind of small death. In dreams there is a possibility that you may still manage to remember it.
           People go on managing to maintain their ego even in their dreams.
               That's why psychoanalysis tries to go deep into your dreams, because there is less possibility of
           you maintaining your identity; more loopholes can be found there. In the daytime you are very alert
           and on guard, continuously there with a shield to protect your ego. In dreams sometimes you forget.
           But the people who have been studying dreams say that even in dreams the protection remains; it
           becomes a little more subtle.
               For example, you see in a dream that you have killed your uncle. If you go deep into it you will
           be surprised: you wanted to kill your father, but you killed your uncle. You deceived yourself, the
           ego played a game. You are such a good guy, how can you kill your own father? And the uncle looks
           like your father, although nobody really wants to kill their uncle. Uncles are always nice people --
           who wants to kill one's uncle? And who does not want to kill one's own father?
               There is bound to be great antagonism between the father and the son. The father has to
           discipline the son, he has to curb and cut his freedom and order him and force him to obey. And
           nobody wants to obey and be disciplined and given shoulds and should-nots. The father is so
           powerful that the son feels jealous. And the greatest jealousy is that the son wants the mother to be
           completely his own, and this father always comes in between, he is always there. And not only does
           the son feel jealous of the father, the father also feels jealous of the son because he is always there
           between his wife and him.

               Mulla Nasruddin's son got married. He came home with his wife and with his friends and
           relatives; the whole house was full. He went out for something and when he came back he was very
           much taken aback -- his father was hugging his wife and kissing her. This was too much! This is not
           allowed. He was very angry and said, "What are you doing?"
               The father said, "And what have you been doing your whole life? You have been kissing and
           hugging my wife -- and I never said anything to you."

               He may not have said anything, but he must have felt like it. There is an antagonism between the
           father and the son, between the daughter and the mother -- a natural antagonism, a natural jealousy.
           The daughter wants to possess the father but the mother is there; she looks like the enemy.
               Uncles are very beautiful people, but in a dream you will not kill your own father. Your moral
           conscience, part of your ego, will prevent you from doing such a thing. You will find a substitute;
           this is a strategy.
               If you minutely observe your dreams you will find many strategies the ego is still trying to play.
           The ego cannot accept the fact: "I am killing my own father? I am such an obedient son, respectful
           towards my father, loving him so much -- and I am trying to kill my father?" The ego won't accept
           the idea; the ego shifts the idea a little bit to the side. The uncle looks almost like the father; kill the
           uncle, that seems easier. The uncle is only a substitute. This is what goes on even in dreams.
               But in dreamless sleep the ego completely disappears, because when there is no thinking, no
           dreaming, how can you carry a fiction? But dreamless sleep is very small. In eight hours of healthy
           sleep it is not more than two hours. But only those two hours are revitalizing. If you have two hours
           of deep dreamless sleep, in the morning you are new, fresh, alive. Life again has a thrill to it, the day
           seems to be a gift. Everything seems to be new, because you are new. And everything seems to be
           beautiful, because you are in a beautiful space.
               What happened in these two hours when you fell into deep sleep -- what Patanjali calls sushupti,
           dreamless sleep? The ego disappeared. And the disappearance of the ego has revitalized you,
           rejuvenated you. With the disappearance of the ego, even though in deep unconsciousness, you had a
           taste of God.
               Patanjali says there is not much difference between sushupti, dreamless sleep, and samadhi, the
           ultimate state of buddhahood -- not much difference, although there is a difference. The difference is
           that of consciousness. In dreamless sleep you are unconscious, in samadhi you are conscious, but the
           state is the same. You move into God, you move into the universal center. You disappear from the
           circumference and you go to the center. And just that contact with the center so rejuvenates you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                People who cannot sleep are really miserable people, very miserable people. They have lost a
           natural source of being in contact with God. They have lost a natural passage into the universal; a
           door has closed.
                This century is the first century which is suffering from sleeplessness. We have closed all the
           other doors; now we are closing the last door, the door of sleep. That seems to be the last
           disconnection from the universal energy -- the greatest danger. And now there are foolish people in
           the world who are writing books, and with very logical acumen, saying that sleep is not needed at all,
           it is a wastage of time. They are right, it is a wastage of time. For people who think in terms of
           money and work, people who are workaholics, for them it is a wastage of time.
                Just as there is now Alcoholics Anonymous, soon we will need Workaholics Anonymous. I
           propose Morarji Desai's name for the president of Workaholics Anonymous.
                People who are obsessed with work, they have to be constantly on the go. They cannot rest, they
           cannot relax. Even when they are dying, they will be doing something or other.
                These people are now suggesting that sleep is unnecessary. They are suggesting that sleep is
           really an unnecessary hangover from the past. They say that in the past, when there was no
           electricity and no fire, out of necessity people had to sleep. Now there is no need. It is just an old
           habit imbibed in millions of years; it has to be dropped. Their idea is that in the future sleep will
           disappear.
                And the same is happening behind the iron curtain in Russia too. They are creating new devices
           so that people can be taught things while they are asleep -- a new kind of education, so time is not
           wasted. It is the last torture that we are going to invent for children. We invented the school; we are
           not satisfied with that. Small children, imprisoned in schools....
                In India, schools and prisons used to be painted the same way, the same color. And they were the
           same type of building -- ugly, with no aesthetic sense, with no trees and birds and animals around
           them, so that children would not be distracted. Otherwise, who will listen to the foolish mathematics
           teacher when a cuckoo suddenly starts calling from the window? Or a deer comes into the class, and
           the teacher is teaching you geography or history.... Children will be distracted, so they have to be
           taken away from nature, away from society. They have to be forced to sit on hard benches for five
           hours, six hours, seven hours.
                This goes on for years together. Almost one third of life is spent in schools. You have made
           slaves of them. In their remaining life they will remain workaholics; they will not be able to have a
           real holiday.
                Now these people are thinking, why waste the night time? So children can be put into night
           education. They will be asleep in bed but their ears will be connected to a central school, and in a
           very very subtle subliminal way, messages will be put into their heads. They will be programmed.
                And it has been found that they can learn more easily in this way than they learn while they are
           awake. Naturally, because when you are awake, howsoever you are protected, a thousand and one
           things distract your mind. And children are so full of energy that everything attracts them; they are
           continuously distracted. That is just energy, nothing else; there is no sin in it. They are not dead,
           that's why they are distracted.
                A dog starts barking, somebody starts fighting outside, somebody plays a trick on the teacher or
           somebody tells a joke -- and there are a thousand and one things which go on distracting them. But
           when a child is asleep -- and deeply asleep, when dreams are not there -- there is no distraction at all.
           Now that dreamless sleep can be used as part of pedagogy.
                It seems we are in every way ready to disconnect ourselves from the universal source of being.
           Now, these children will be the ugliest possible, because even when there was a possibility of being
           lost completely beyond the ego, that has also been taken away. The last possibility of ego
           disappearance is then no longer available. When they could have been in contact with God, they will
           be taught some rubbish history. The dates when Genghis Khan was born -- who bothers, who cares?
           In fact if Genghis Khan had never been born, that would have been far better. That's what I wrote in
           my paper, and my teacher was very angry. I had to stand for twenty-four hours outside the class,
           because I had written, "It is unfortunate that he was born. It would have been very fortunate if he had
           not been born at all."
                But kings and emperors, they go on and on being born just to torture small children; they have to
           remember the dates and the names for no reason at all. A better kind of education will drop all this
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crap. Ninety percent of it is crap, and the remaining ten percent can be very much improved. And
           then life can have more joy, more rest, more relaxation.
                Because the ego is a fiction, it disappears sometimes. The greatest time is dreamless sleep. So
           make it a point that sleep is very valuable; don't miss it for any reason. Slowly slowly, make sleep a
           regular thing. Because the body is a mechanism, if you follow a regular pattern of sleep the body will
           find it easier and the mind will find it easier to disappear.
                Go to bed at exactly the same time. Don't take it literally -- if one day you are late you will not be
           sent to hell or anything! I have to be cautious, because there are a few people here who are health
           freaks. Their only disease is that they are continuously thinking of health. If they stop thinking of
           health they will be perfectly well. But if you can make your sleep a regular thing, going to bed at
           almost the same time and getting up at almost the same time... the body is a mechanism, the mind is
           too, and it simply slips into dreamless sleep at a certain moment.
                The second greatest source of egoless experiences is sex, love. That too has been destroyed by
           the priests; they have condemned it, so it is no longer such a great experience. Such a condemnation
           for so long, it has conditioned the minds of people. Even while they are making love, they know
           deep down that they are doing something wrong. Some guilt is lurking somewhere. And this is so
           even for the most modern, the most contemporary, even the younger generation.
                On the surface you may have revolted against the society, on the surface you may be a
           conformist no more. But things have gone very deep; it is not a question of revolting on the surface.
           You can grow long hair, that won't help much. You can become a hippy and stop taking baths, that
           won't help much. You can become a dropout in every possible way that you can imagine and think
           of, but that won't help really, because things have gone too deep and all these are superficial
           measures.
                For thousands of years we have been told that sex is the greatest sin. It has become part of our
           blood, bone and marrow. So even if you know consciously that there is nothing wrong in it, the
           unconscious keeps you a little detached, afraid, guilt-ridden, and you cannot move into it totally.
                If you can move into lovemaking totally, the ego disappears, because at the highest peak, at the
           highest climax of lovemaking, you are pure energy. The mind cannot function. With such joy, with
           such an outburst of energy, the mind simply stops. It is such an upsurge of energy that the mind is at
           a loss, it does not know what to do now. It is perfectly capable of remaining in function in normal
           situations, but when anything very new and very vital happens it stops. And sex is the most vital
           thing.
                If you can go deeply into lovemaking, the ego disappears. That is the beauty of lovemaking, that
           it is another source of a glimpse of God -- just like deep sleep but far more valuable, because in deep
           sleep you will be unconscious. In lovemaking you will be conscious -- conscious yet without the
           mind.
                Hence the great science of Tantra became possible. Patanjali and yoga worked on the lines of
           deep sleep; they chose that path to transform deep sleep into a conscious state so you know who you
           are, so you know what you are at the center.
                Tantra chose lovemaking as a window towards God. The path of yoga is very long, because to
           transform unconscious sleep into consciousness is very arduous; it may take many lives. And who
           knows, you may or may not be able to persist for so long, persevere for so long, be patient for so
           long. So the fate that has fallen on yoga is this, that the so-called yogis go on only doing body
           postures. They never go deeper than that; that takes their whole life. Of course they get better health,
           a longer life -- but that is not the point! You can have better health by jogging, running, swimming;
           you can have a longer life through medical care. That is not the point.
                The point was to become conscious in deep sleep. And your so-called yogis go on teaching you
           how to stand on your head and how to distort and contort your body. Yoga has become a kind of
           circus -- meaningless. It has lost its real dimension.
                In the new commune, I have the vision of reviving yoga again in its true flavor, in its true
           dimension. And the goal is to become conscious while you are deeply asleep. That is the essential
           thing in yoga, and if any yogi is teaching anything else it is all useless.
                But Tantra has chosen a far shorter way, the shortest, and far more pleasant too! Lovemaking can
           open the window. All that is needed is to uproot the conditionings that the priests have put into you.
           The priests put those conditionings into you so that they could become mediators and agents between
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you and God, so that your direct contact was cut. Naturally you would need somebody else to
           connect you, and the priest would become powerful. And the priest has been powerful down the
           ages.
               Whosoever can put you in contact with power, real power, will become powerful. God is real
           power, the source of all power. The priest remained down the ages so powerful -- more powerful
           than kings. Now the scientist has taken the place of the priest, because now he knows how to unlock
           the doors of the power hidden in nature. The priest knew how to connect you with God, the scientist
           knows how to connect you with nature. But the priest has to disconnect you first, so no individual
           private line remains between you and God. He has spoiled your inner sources, poisoned them. He
           became very powerful but the whole humanity became lustless, loveless, full of guilt.
               My people have to drop that guilt completely. While making love, think of prayer, meditation,
           God. While making love, burn incense, chant, sing, dance. Your bedroom should be a temple, a
           sacred place. And lovemaking should not be a hurried thing. Go deeper into it; savor it as slowly and
           as gracefully as possible. And you will be surprised. You have the key.
               God has not sent you into the world without keys. But those keys have to be used, you have to
           put them into the lock and turn them.
               Love is another phenomenon, one of the most potential, where the ego disappears and you are
           conscious, fully conscious, pulsating, vibrating. You are no more an individual, you are lost into the
           energy of the whole.
               Then, slowly slowly, let this become your very way of life. What happens at the peak of love has
           to become your discipline -- not just an experience but a discipline. Then whatsoever you are doing
           and wherever you are walking... early in the morning with the sun rising, have the same feeling, the
           same merger with existence. Lying down on the ground, the sky full of stars, have the same merger
           again. Lying down on the earth, feel one with the earth.
               Slowly slowly, lovemaking should give you the clue for how to be in love with existence itself.
           And then the ego is known as a fiction, is used as a fiction. And if you use it as a fiction, there is no
           danger.
               There are a few other moments when the ego slips of its own accord. In moments of great
           danger: you are driving, and suddenly you see an accident is going to happen. You have lost control
           of the car and there seems to be no possibility of saving yourself. You are going to crash into the tree
           or into the oncoming truck, or you are going to fall in the river, it is absolutely certain. In those
           moments suddenly the ego will disappear.
               That's why there is a great attraction to move into dangerous situations. People climb Everest. It
           is a deep meditation, although they may or may not understand this. Mountaineering is of great
           importance. Climbing mountains is dangerous -- the more dangerous it is, the more beautiful. You
           will have glimpses, great glimpses of egolessness. Whenever danger is very close, the mind stops.
           Mind can think only when you are not in danger; it has nothing to say in danger. Danger makes you
           spontaneous, and in that spontaneity you suddenly know that you are not the ego.
               Or -- these will be for different people, because people are different -- if you have an aesthetic
           heart, then beauty will open the doors. Just seeing a beautiful woman or a man passing by, just for a
           single moment a flash of beauty, and suddenly the ego disappears. You are overwhelmed.
               Or seeing a lotus in the pond, or seeing the sunset or a bird on the wing -- anything that triggers
           your inner sensitivity, anything that possesses you for the moment so deeply that you forget yourself,
           that you are and yet you are not, that you abandon yourself -- then too, the ego slips. It is a fiction;
           you have to carry it. If you forget it for a moment, it slips.
               And it is good that there are a few moments when it slips and you have a glimpse of the true and
           the real. It is because of these glimpses that religion has not died. It is not because of the priests --
           they have done everything to kill it. It is not because of the so-called religious, those who go to the
           church and the mosque and the temple. They are not religious at all, they are pretenders.
               Religion has not died because of these few moments which happen more or less to almost
           everybody. Take more note of them, imbibe the spirit of those moments more, allow those moments
           more, create spaces for those moments to happen more. This is the true way to seek God. Not to be
           in the ego is to be in God.

           The third question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY DO YOU EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF HERENOW SO MUCH?


               Rahim, because there is nothing else. Here is the only space, now is the only time. Beyond the
           herenow, there is nothing. Two thousand years ago, a great Jewish master, Hillel, wrote a little poem
           in Aramaic. The poem is this:


                  "If I'm not for myself,
                  Then who can be for me?
                  And if I'm only for myself,
                  Then what am I?
                  And if not now,
                  When?"


               It is a beautiful statement: if not now, then when? Tomorrow? But the tomorrow never comes.
               Hence I emphasize the herenow. Don't let this moment slip by unused, unlived, unpenetrated;
           squeeze all that you can out of it. Live it passionately and with intensity, so you need not repent later
           on that you missed your life.

               It was after the Second World War; the war had ended. Joe Dink was still in Japan waiting to be
           discharged. His wife, Irma Dink, was wild with anxiety and jealousy because she read about the
           goings on between the American soldiers and the Japanese girls.
               Finally she could stand it no longer, and she wrote her husband, "Joe, hurry up and come back.
           What do those girls have, anyway, that the American girls don't?"
               "Not a thing," wrote back Joe. "But what they've got, they've got here."

              And that is the most important thing. The question is of here and now.

           And the last question:


              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS A MIRACLE?


               Sadhananda, it depends. To me, everything is a miracle. I never come across anything that is not
           a miracle; only miracles exist. Everything is such a surprise, it is so unbelievable! But if your eyes
           are closed, if your eyes are full of dust, if your mind is too knowledgeable, if you think you know all,
           then nothing is a miracle.
               To know "I don't know anything" makes everything a miracle. It depends on your inner state, it
           depends on you. And to live a life without miracles is not to live at all. You can have a million
           miracles every day, you are entitled to have them. But because you don't know how to connect
           yourself with the miraculous, you are being cheated by stupid people.
               Somebody produces a Swiss-made watch and you think this is a miracle. Then you become
           victims of ordinary magicians. Don't be befooled.
               The seed sprouting into leaves is a miracle -- not somebody producing a Swiss-made watch out
           of nothing. That is just a trick, a very ordinary trick; street magicians are doing it all over the world.
           They are just simple people, not cunning people, otherwise you would have worshipped them.

              While exploring the wilds of South America, a man was captured by savages. They were dancing
           excitedly around before killing him when the explorer had a bright idea. He would baffle them with
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           magic. Taking a cigarette-lighter from his pocket, he shouted, "I make fire!"
              With a flick of the thumb, the lighter burst into flame. The savages fell back and gazed in
           wonder.
           "Magic!" cried the explorer.
              "It certainly is," said the chief. "It's the only time I ever saw a lighter work on the first try."

              It depends on you, what you call a miracle. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing else except
           miracles. And drop these stupid kinds of miracles.

               Mulla Nasruddin and his wife are sitting one Sunday listening to the radio, when this faith healer
           comes on and he says, "If you have a part of your body you want healed, place one hand on the radio
           and the other hand on the afflicted part."
               The wife placed one hand on the radio and the other on her heart. The Mulla placed one hand on
           the radio and the other on his appendage.
               So the wife said, "Mulla, he's trying to cure the sick, not raise the dead."

           Enough for today.




                                             The Book of Wisdom
                                                  Chapter #17
                                        Chapter title: Wake up the Slave
           27 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902270
              ShortTitle: WISDOM17
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 107 mins




              DON'T SEEK SORROW FOR SPURIOUS COMFORTS.
              ALL ABSORPTIONS ARE EFFECTED IN ONE.

              ONE METHOD WILL CORRECT ALL WRONG.
              AT THE BEGINNING AND AT THE END

              THERE ARE TWO THINGS TO DO.
              BE PATIENT, WHICHEVER OF THE TWO OCCURS.

              OBSERVE TWO PRECEPTS EVEN AT THE RISK OF LIFE.
              LEARN THE THREE DIFFICULTIES.

              TAKE UP THE THREE PARTS OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE.
              MEDITATE ON THE THREE THINGS NOT TO BE DESTROYED.

              MAKE THE THREE INSEPARABLE FROM VIRTUE.


              An ancient story.... Jesus, son of Mary, once came upon an old man who lived on a mountain in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the open air without any shelter from heat or cold. Jesus asked him why he had not built himself a
           house.
                "Ah, spirit of God!" said the old man. "Prophets before thee predicted that I would live for only
           seven hundred years. It is not worth my trouble to settle down."
                Life is a wandering, it is not a home. It is a search for the home, but it itself is not the home. It is
           an inquiry, an adventure. It is not necessarily that you will succeed -- success is very rare, because
           the search is very complex and there are a thousand and one difficulties on the way.
                But let this be your first understanding about today's sutras. They are of immense value. When
           you meditate and when you go deeper into them you will be surprised: these sutras are just like
           oceans contained in dewdrops.
                Mohammed says, "I am like a rider who shelters under a tree, then goes on his way." Yes, this
           life is an overnight's stay, a caravanserai. Don't settle in it. Use the opportunity to reach higher and
           higher and higher, because there is no end to heights, to depths. But remember always, don't take life
           for granted: it is only an opportunity, with immense potential and possibilities. But if you start
           thinking that you have already arrived because you are alive, you will miss the whole point.
                Jesus says again and again, "The world is to be treated as a bridge, not as a stopping place." Use
           it as a bridge; it can bridge you to God. And when life becomes a bridge to God it is divine. But if
           you don't use it as a bridge towards God it remains mundane, spurious, illusory, imaginary, fictitious.
           The first sutra:
               DON'T SEEK SORROW FOR SPURIOUS COMFORTS.

                Everybody seeks, searches for bliss, and almost everybody succeeds in finding just the opposite.
           I say "almost" because a few people have to be left out of the account -- a Buddha, a Zarathustra, a
           Lao Tzu, an Atisha. But they are so few and far between; they are exceptions, they only prove the
           rule. So I say almost everybody who searches for bliss finds misery and suffering. People try to enter
           into heaven, but by the time they have arrived suddenly they recognize the fact that it is hell.
                There must be a great misunderstanding somewhere. The misunderstanding is that those who
           seek pleasure will find sorrow -- because pleasure is only a camouflage; it is sorrow hiding itself
           behind a curtain. It is a mask -- tears hiding behind smiles, thorns waiting for you behind flowers.
           Those who see it, and everybody can see it because it is so obvious... everybody comes to experience
           it again and again. But man is the animal who never learns.
                Aristotle has defined man as a rational being. That is sheer nonsense! Man is the most irrational
           being you can find anywhere. Man can be rational, but is not. It is not the definition of man as he is,
           it is the definition of man as he should be. A Buddha, yes; a Mohammed, yes -- they are rational
           beings, rational in the sense that they live intelligently, they live wisely, they use each single
           opportunity to grow, to mature, to be. But as far as millions of human beings are concerned,
           ninety-nine point nine percent of people, they are not rational beings at all, they are utterly irrational.
                Their first irrationality is that they pass through the same experience again and again, yet they
           learn nothing, they remain the same. How many times have you been angry, and what have you
           learned out of it? How many times have you been jealous, and what experience have you gained out
           of it? You go on moving through experiences without in any way being affected by them. You
           remain un-grownup; your way of life is very irrational, unintelligent.
                The intelligent person will be able to see easily that, seeking pleasure, all that is found is sorrow.
           And what are those pleasures in fact? Very spurious ones. Somebody wants to make a big house, and
           how much trouble he takes and how much suffering he goes through and how many anxieties and
           how many nervous breakdowns!
                They say that if you are really a successful person you are bound to have a heart attack
           somewhere between forty-two and forty-eight. If you don't have a heart attack before you are fifty
           your life is wasted, you are a failure; you have not tried to succeed, you have not been ambitious
           enough. Ambitious people are bound to have heart attacks; the more ambitious will have nervous
           breakdowns.
                If you don't need the psychiatrist, that simply means you have not used your mind in the ways of
           ambition. And the whole society is geared towards ambition, the whole educational system produces
           only ambitious minds. That means potential patients for the psychotherapist. It seems as if there is a
           conspiracy -- that the whole educational system only creates people for doctors, for priests, for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           psychotherapists.
               The whole system seems to be sick, sick unto death. It does not create the healthy, alive, radiant
           human being; it does not create the joyous, the celebrating, the festive being. It does not teach you
           how to make your life a festival. Whatsoever it teaches takes you deeper and deeper into hell. And
           you know it -- because I am not talking about some speculative systems of thought, I am talking
           simply about your psychology, your state of being.
           Atisha is right. He says:
              DON'T SEEK SORROW FOR SPURIOUS COMFORTS.

                How much suffering you have created -- for what? Somebody wanted a little bigger house, a
           little bigger bank balance, a little more fame, a little more name, more power. Somebody wanted to
           become the president or the prime minister. All are spurious, because death will take them away.
           That is the definition of the spurious.
                Only that which cannot be taken away by death is real. Everything else is unreal; it is made of
           the same stuff dreams are made of. If you are running after things which will be taken away by
           death, then your life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." You will
           never attain to any significance.
                And without significance how can there be a song? And without significance how can you ever
           say that "I have lived"? The tree has not bloomed, the tree has not been fruitful. What to say about
           fruits and flowers -- even leaves have not come.
                Millions are born as seeds and die as seeds. From the cradle to the grave, their story is just of
           drifting. Accidental it is, and the ultimate result is great sorrow. The idea of hell only symbolizes the
           great sorrow that you create by a wrong kind of living.
           Atisha says:
              DON'T SEEK SORROW FOR SPURIOUS COMFORTS.

               Then what has to be done? Think of something higher -- something that is beyond death,
           something that cannot be destroyed, something that is indestructible, something that transcends time
           -- and sorrow will not be created.
               If you search the ultimate, each moment of your life will become more and more peaceful, calm,
           quiet, cool, fragrant. If you search for the ultimate, if you search for the truth, or God or nirvana or
           whatsoever you want to call it; if you are in search for the deepest in life and the highest in life and
           you are not after spurious things, then your very search will bring a new quality to your being. You
           will feel rooted, integrated; you will feel together. And you will feel a new joy arising in your heart,
           not coming from the outside.
               The real joy never comes from the outside, it is the spurious that comes from the outside -- death
           can take away only that which has come from the outside.
               Death happens only on the without, it never happens within. Death happens on the outside, never
           on the inside; the inside is eternal. Your interiority is beyond death -- it has always been here, will
           always be here, but you are unaware of it. You go on running after shadows, and the real waits for
           you to look in, to turn in, to tune in.
               So the first thing: seek that which is deathless, and sooner or later you will knock on the doors of
           heaven.
               The second thing is: why in the first place do you run after spurious pleasures? This woman, that
           man... why do you run after spurious pleasures? What is the rationale behind it? The rationale is that
           you are already in sorrow. You want somehow to forget all about it; you want to drown yourself in
           alcohol, in sex, in money, in power politics -- you want somewhere to drown yourself.
               Politicians can easily say that prohibition is needed, because they have a far more dangerous
           intoxicant available to them. Morarji Desai can insist for prohibition, because he is drinking out of
           his power politics; he is drowning himself in a very subtle kind of intoxicant. In fact, no alcohol is
           more dangerous than politics.
               If anything has to be prohibited from the world, it is not alcohol, it is politics. And how many
           people drink alcohol in India? Not more than seven percent. And how many more people are
           political? I don't think you can find any person who is not political -- very difficult.
               You may not be actually in politics, but politics is far more subtle. The husband is trying to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dominate over the wife -- this is politics. The wife is trying to manipulate the husband in her own
           way -- this is politics. The child is in a tantrum and wants a toy immediately -- this is politics.
           Politics means an effort to dominate the other. And it is very intoxicating; it is the worst kind of
           alcohol available in the world.
                A few people drown in power politics, a few seek shelter in sexuality, a few go to the pub, but
           many more simply go on searching spurious comforts, go from one comfort to another. When they
           have achieved one and found that it gives nothing, no nourishment, immediately they start seeking
           something else. Their life becomes a constant occupation so they need not look at the inner sorrow
           that is gathering like a cloud, a dark cloud.
                So the second meaning of the sutra is: rather than seeking spurious comforts, the best way is to
           go into your sorrow. Meditate, go deep into it. Don't escape from your misery, because by escaping
           you will never learn what it is and you will never learn how to transcend it. The beauty is: if you
           really know the cause of your misery, in that very knowing misery is transcended -- because the
           cause is always and always ignorance and nothing else.
                Jesus says: Truth liberates. This is one of the most important statements ever made, very
           fundamental for every seeker to understand. Truth liberates -- not the truth that you gather from
           scriptures but the truth that you come across through your own experiencing.
                You are sad. Go into your sadness rather than escaping into some activity, into some occupation,
           rather than going to see a friend or to a movie or turning on the radio or the tv. Rather than escaping
           from it, turning your back towards it, drop all activity. Close your eyes, go into it, see what it is, why
           it is -- and see without condemning it, because if you condemn you will not be able to see the totality
           of it. See without judging. If you judge, you will not be able to see the whole of it. Without
           judgment, without condemnation, without evaluation, just watch it, what it is. Look as if it is a
           flower, sad; a cloud, dark; but look at it with no judgment so that you can see all the facets of it.
                And you will be surprised: the deeper you go into it, the more it starts dispersing. If a person can
           go into his sorrow deeply he will find all sorrow has evaporated. In that evaporation of sorrow is joy,
           is bliss.
                Bliss has not to be found outside, against sorrow. Bliss has to be found deep, hidden behind the
           sorrow itself. You have to dig into your sorrowful states and you will find a wellspring of joy.
           The second sutra:
              ALL ABSORPTIONS ARE EFFECTED IN ONE.

               So Atisha says: There is no need to have many goals, one goal is enough. Inquire into the truth of
           your life. Only one search is enough to deliver you from all your miseries, sufferings, hells. Inquire
           into the truth of your being, see all the facets of it -- the anger, the greed, the lust. Go into each. And
           by going into each, you will find always and always the same source of joy, the same spring of joy.
           Slowly slowly you will become a festival. Nothing has been added from the outside, but you have
           discovered yourself. You have come into the kingdom of God.
           The third sutra:
              ONE METHOD WILL CORRECT ALL WRONG.

               One goal -- truth -- and one method. What is that method? I call it meditation, Atisha used to call
           it awareness, Buddha used to call it mindfulness. These are different words for the same quality --
           the quality of being attentive, alert, awake.
               Atisha is very mathematical; no great mathematician can be so mathematical as he is. He is
           moving step by step. First he says: Don't seek spurious comforts; that is going astray. Don't escape
           from your sorrowful state; go into it. Let this become your one goal: the search for the truth of your
           being. He is not talking about any truth that lives somewhere in the sky, he is not talking about any
           philosophical truth. He is talking about the truth that you are; he is talking about you. He is utterly
           psychological, he is not talking about metaphysics.
               Then the method... and he goes so quick, not a single word wasted, not a single word
           superfluous. He is so telegraphic; that is the meaning of the word SUTRA. Sutra means very
           telegraphic. There was a great need in those days when Atisha was writing these sutras -- there was a
           great need to be very very short, condensed, telegraphic, because books were not available; people
           had to remember them. And it is better to make very very condensed sutras so people can remember.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now these are only seven points we are discussing, and can be easily remembered.
              ONE METHOD WILL CORRECT ALL WRONG.

                That method is awareness. There are many illnesses but there is only one health. The quality of
           health is one, always the same. Whether I am healthy or you are healthy, the feel of health is the
           same. Diseases are millions, wrongs are many, but the right key that unlocks all the doors, the master
           key, is only one. And rather than cutting the branches, rather than pruning the leaves, why not cut the
           very root? There are many people who go on pruning the leaves or cutting the branches; these people
           are known as moralists.
                The moral person is a little-bit-stupid person, stupid in the sense that he thinks that by cutting the
           leaves he is going to destroy the tree. He is not going to destroy the tree this way. You cut one leaf
           and the tree will respond with three leaves instead, the foliage will become thicker. You cut one
           branch and the tree will pour its sap and juices into another branch, and the other branch will become
           thicker and bigger. This is what happens in your life.
                Somebody is against sex; he represses sex, he cuts that branch. Now the whole energy becomes
           anger. You will find stories in Indian scriptures, stories like the story of Durvasa -- a great so-called
           mahatma who repressed his sex totally, and then became all anger, just red-hot anger. It is bound to
           happen. You cannot destroy any energy -- never. It is not possible in the very nature of things.
           Energies can only be transformed, never destroyed. If you close one outlet, the energy will start
           flowing from another. If you close the front door, then from the back door... and from the back door
           it is more dangerous, because it makes your life the life of a hypocrite, it makes your life double.
           You start living in a dual way: you say one thing, you do another; you show one thing, you are
           another. You become more and more split.
                My emphasis is also exactly the same as Atisha's. You come to me with a thousand and one
           problems, but my answer is always the same. If you come with anger I say be aware of it, if you
           come with greed I say be aware of it, if you come with lust I say be aware of it -- because awareness
           cuts the very root. What is the root? Unawareness is the root.
                One can be angry only if he is unaware. Try to be angry and aware together and you will find it
           impossible. Either you will be aware, then anger will not be found, or you will be angry and
           awareness will have disappeared. Up to now, nobody has been able to manage both together, and I
           don't think you can prove the exception. Try it. It is possible you may think both are happening, but
           if you minutely watch you will see: when awareness is there anger is not, when anger is there
           awareness is not. Unawareness is the root of all illnesses; then awareness is the only medicine.
                Buddha says, "I am a physician." And once somebody asked, "You again and again say you are a
           physician, but I don't see any medicines around you. What medicines do you give?"
                He said, "My medicine is only one: it is awareness. I prescribe awareness." And it has not to be
           brought from the chemist; you have to change your inner chemistry to bring it. You have to change
           your inner chemistry. Right now your inner chemistry functions in such a way that it produces
           unawareness, unconsciousness. It can be changed, it can be deautomatized. How to do it you will
           find in the sutras that are to follow.
                But remember, one method is enough to correct all wrong. That method is awareness. And how
           will you know that you have attained it? Awareness is something inner, it is so deep that nobody can
           see it. Still, if you become aware, everybody who has a little intelligence, who has eyes to see, will
           become aware of it -- because as awareness happens at the inner core, compassion starts radiating,
           love starts radiating.
                Buddha says: Light the candle of awareness in your heart, and your whole being will radiate
           compassion. Compassion is the proof. Unless compassion happens, remember, you must be
           deceiving yourself; you must be doing something else than being aware.
                For example, you can try concentration. Concentration is not awareness, and the person of
           concentration will never show compassion. Compassion is not a consequence of concentration.
           Concentration means the focusing of the mind, the narrowing of the mind on only one point. The
           concentrated mind becomes a very powerful mind -- but remember it is mind, and very powerful,
           hence more dangerous than ever. Concentration is the method of science.
                Awareness is totally different; it is not focusing, it is unfocused alertness. For example, right now
           you are listening to me. You can hear in a concentrated way, you can be focused on me; then you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will miss the birds and their songs, then you will miss this noise on the road. Then you are not aware,
           then your mind has become very narrow. Awareness is not the narrowing of the mind but the
           disappearance of the mind. The narrowing of the mind makes the mind more of a mind -- hence the
           Hindu mind is more of a mind, the Mohammedan mind is more of a mind, the communist mind is
           more of a mind, because these are all narrowing. Somebody is focused on Das Kapital or the
           Communist Manifesto, somebody is focused on the Koran or on the Dhammapada, somebody on the
           Gita, somebody on The Bible -- focused people. They create narrow minds in the world. They create
           conflict, they don't bring compassion.
               For thousands of years religions have existed, but compassion is still a dream. We have not been
           able to create a world that knows what love is, friendship is, brotherhood is. Yes, we talk, and we
           talk too much about all these beautiful things. In fact the talk has become nauseating, it is sickening.
           It should stop. No more talk of brotherhood and love and this and that -- we have talked for
           thousands of years for no purpose.
               The reason is that the concentrated mind becomes narrow, becomes more of a mind. And love is
           not the function of the mind, love is the function of no-mind -- or call it heart, which means the
           same. No-mind and heart are synonymous.
               Awareness means to listen to me unfocused -- alert of course, not fallen asleep, but alert to these
           birds, their chirping, alert to the wind that passes through the trees, alert to everything that is
           happening. Concentration excludes much, includes little. Awareness excludes nothing, includes all.
               Awareness is a state of no-mind. You are, yet you are not focused. You are just a mirror
           reflecting all, echoing all; see the beauty of it and the silence and the stillness. Suddenly you are and
           you are not, and the miracle starts happening. In this silence you will feel a compassion, compassion
           for all suffering beings. It has not to be practiced either; it comes on its own.
               Atisha says: Awareness inside, compassion on the outside. Compassion is the outer side of
           awareness, the exterior of awareness. Awareness is your interiority, subjectivity. Compassion is
           relating with others, sharing with others.
           The fourth sutra:
              AT THE BEGINNING AND AT THE END THERE ARE TWO THINGS TO DO.

               By the beginning is meant the morning, and by the end, the evening. In the morning remember
           one thing, says Atisha, that a new day, a new opportunity, has again been given to you. Feel grateful.
           Existence is so generous. You have wasted so many days, and again one day has been given to you.
           Existence is so hopeful about you! You have been wasting and wasting and doing nothing; you have
           wasted so much valuable opportunity and time and energy, but existence still hopes. One day more is
           given to you.
               Atisha says: In the morning remember it is a new day, a new beginning. Have a decision deep in
           your heart that "Today I am not going to waste this opportunity. Enough is enough! Today I am
           going to be aware, today I am going to be alert, today I am going to devote as much energy as
           possible to the single cause, the cause of meditation. I will meditate in all my acts. I will do all the
           activities, the usual day-to-day activities, but with a new quality: I will bring the quality of
           awareness to them."
               Welcome the new day. Feel grateful, happy that existence still trusts in you; there is still a
           possibility, the transformation can still happen. Start the day with a great decisiveness.
               And in the evening again feel gratitude that the day was given to you, and feel gratitude for all
           that happened -- good and bad both, happiness and unhappiness both, because they are all teachers.
               Everything is an opportunity. Taken rightly, every moment is a stepping-stone. Failure as much
           helps you to become alert as success; sometimes in fact failure helps you to become more aware than
           success. Success helps you to fall asleep. In happiness people forget; in happiness nobody
           remembers God. In unhappiness suddenly the remembrance comes.
               Fortunate is the man who can remember even when he is happy; fortunate is the man who can
           remember when everything is going good and smooth. When the sea is rough, everybody remembers
           God; there is nothing special in it, it is just out of fear.

             It happened: In the sea there was a ship, a ship which was carrying many Mohammedans to
           Mecca. They were on a pilgrimage. They were all surprised by one thing: because they were all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pilgrims going to the holy of holies, each was praying all the five prayers prescribed for a
           Mohammedan every day -- except a Sufi mystic. But the mystic was so radiant with joy that nobody
           dared to ask him why.
               Then one day the sea was very rough and the captain declared, "There seems to be no possibility
           that we can be saved, so please do your last prayer. The ship is going to sink." And everybody fell in
           prayer except the Sufi mystic.
               Now this was too much. Many people gathered around the mystic. They were really angry and
           they said, "You are a man of God. We have watched you, you have never prayed. But we didn't say
           anything; we felt that this would be disrespectful -- you are thought to be a holy man. But now it is
           unbearable. The ship is sinking, and you are a man of God -- if you pray, your prayer will be listened
           to. Why are you not praying?"
               The mystic said, "To pray out of fear is to miss the whole point, that's why I am not praying."
               And then they asked, "Then why did you not pray when there was no question of fear?"
               He said, "I am in prayer, so I cannot pray. Only those who are not in prayer can pray. But what is
           the point of their prayer? Empty rituals! I am in prayer, in fact I am prayer. Each moment is a
           prayer."

               Prayer is the Sufi word for the same quality for which Atisha will use the word awareness.
               So in the evening thank again, thank the whole existence. For Atisha there is no God, remember.
           Even if I use the word god it is not Atisha's word; for Atisha the whole existence is divine, there is
           no personal God.
               That has always been the attitude of the meditator. If you are a man of prayer, existence appears
           as God, as personal. If you are a man of meditation, existence is impersonal, just a wholeness, a
           divineness. For the man of prayer there is God; for the man of awareness there is godliness but no
           God.
               H.G. Wells is reported to have said that Gautam Buddha was the most godless man, yet the most
           godly. This is true -- most godless because he never believed in any God, yet the most godly because
           he himself was divine. He himself was as godly as one can ever be or hope ever to be.
               So in the evening feel grateful for whatsoever happened during the day. And two things more:
           remember when you failed in the day in being aware and being compassionate -- just remember.
           Atisha does not say repent, just remember. And let me remind you: when in The Bible Jesus says
           again and again "Repent!" it is a mistranslation from the Aramaic. In English it has taken on a totally
           different meaning, a diametrically opposite meaning. It has become repentance -- "Feel guilty!"
               In Aramaic, repent simply means return, look back; that's all. Take a count back: the day is gone,
           look back. Just watch again, take note when you failed in awareness -- that will help you tomorrow,
           it will enhance your awareness. And take note when you failed in compassion -- that will help you
           tomorrow to be more compassionate. And also take note when you succeeded in being aware and
           compassionate. Don't feel any pride for it either -- no guilt, no pride. It is not a question of guilt and
           pride; it is simply taking an account of the day that is gone before you go to sleep, just looking back,
           with no evaluation -- neither condemning oneself as a sinner, nor being very very proud that "Today
           I have been so aware, so compassionate; I have done so many good deeds." Nothing of the sort --
           just noticing back, what happened from the morning to the evening. This is also a method of
           becoming more aware.
              BE PATIENT, WHICHEVER OF THE TWO OCCURS.

               Remember, whether you succeed in awareness or you fail, be patient. Don't be impatient, because
           impatience is not going to help. Just watch patiently and wait in tremendous trust that if this much
           can happen, more is possible. Another leaf will be born tomorrow, another flower will bloom
           tomorrow.
               Also remember that this body is not the only body. Many more you had before, and many more
           you are going to have in the future. There is no hurry. Be patient, because hurry can only disturb
           things. Hurry is not going to help, but hinder.
              OBSERVE TWO PRECEPTS EVEN AT THE RISK OF LIFE.

              These two precepts of awareness and compassion are so valuable that even if you sometimes
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to sacrifice your life for them, it is worth it. Life is nothing but an opportunity to attain to
           awareness and compassion. If you don't attain awareness and compassion, what is the point of going
           on living? It is meaningless.
               Just meditate over it. If one is so much ready, so intent, so deeply committed to be aware and
           compassionate that he is ready to sacrifice his life, will he remain unaware long? Impossible! This
           very moment, if this intensity is there, awareness will happen out of this intensity. This intensity will
           flare up like a light inside, and out of that light, the radiance of compassion.
               Life in itself is not meaningful. It is meaningful only if you can sing a song of the eternal, if you
           can release some fragrance of the divine, of the godly, if you can become a lotus flower -- deathless,
           timeless. If you can become pure love, if you can beautify this existence, if you can become a
           blessing to this existence, only then does life have significance; otherwise it is pointless. It is like an
           empty canvas: you can go on carrying it your whole life and you can die under its weight, but what is
           the point? Paint something on it!
               Meaning has to be created in life; meaning is not given already. You are given freedom, you are
           given creativity, you are given life. All that is needed to create meaning is given. All the essential
           ingredients of meaning are given, but meaning is not given, meaning has to be created by you. You
           have to become a creator in your own right.
               And when you became a creator in your own right, you participate with God, you become a part
           of God.
               LEARN THE THREE DIFFICULTIES.


               There are three difficulties in becoming aware. These are very essential for each seeker to
           understand. In fact everybody becomes aware, but only when the act is finished. You have been
           angry -- you slapped your wife or you threw a pillow at your husband. Later on when the heat is
           cooled, the moment has passed, you become aware. But now it is pointless, now nothing can be
           done. What has been done cannot be undone; it is too late.
               Three things, Atisha says, are to be remembered. One is becoming aware while the act is
           happening. That is the first difficulty for the person who wants to become aware -- becoming aware
           in the act itself.
               Anger is there like smoke inside you. Becoming aware in the very thick of it, that is the first
           difficulty, but it is not impossible. Just a little effort and you will be able to catch hold of it. In the
           beginning you will see, you become aware when the anger has gone and everything has cooled --
           you become aware after fifteen minutes. Try -- you will become aware after five minutes. Try a little
           more -- you will become aware immediately after one minute. Try a little more, and you will become
           aware just when the anger is evaporating. Try a little more, and you will become aware exactly in the
           middle of it. And that is the first step: be aware in the act.
               Then the second step, which is even more difficult because now you are going into deeper
           waters. The second step, or the second difficulty, Atisha calls it, is remembering before the act: when
           the act has not yet happened but is still a thought in you; it has not been actualized but it has become
           a thought in your mind. It is there, potentially there like a seed; it can become the act any moment.
               Now you will need a little more subtle awareness. The act is gross -- you hit the woman. You can
           become aware while you are hitting, but the idea of hitting is far more subtle. Thousands of ideas go
           on passing in the mind -- who takes note of them? They go on and on; the traffic continues. Most of
           those ideas never become acts.
               This is the difference between sin and crime. Crime is when something becomes an act. No law
           court can punish you for a thought. You can think of murdering somebody but no law can punish
           you. You can enjoy, you can dream, but you are not under law unless you act, unless you do
           something and the thought is transformed into actuality; then it becomes a crime.
               But religion goes deeper. It says when you think it, it is already a sin. Whether you actualize it or
           not does not matter -- you have committed it in your inner world and you are affected by it, you are
           contaminated by it, you are blemished by it.
               The second difficulty, Atisha says, is to catch hold when the thought is arising in you. It can be
           done, but it can be done only when you have crossed the first barrier, because thought is not so solid.
           But still it is solid enough to be seen; you have to just practice a little bit. Sitting silently, just watch
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your thoughts. Just see all the nuances of a thought -- how it arises, how it takes form, how it
           remains, abides, and how then it leaves you. It becomes a guest and then when the time comes it
           leaves you. And many thoughts come and go; you are a host where many thoughts come and go. Just
           watch.
               Don't try from the very beginning with the difficult thoughts, try with simple thoughts. That will
           make it easier, because the process is the same. Just sit in the garden, close your eyes and see
           whatsoever thought is passing -- and they are always passing. The dog barks in the neighborhood,
           and immediately a process of thought starts in you. You suddenly remember a dog you had in your
           childhood and how much you had loved that dog, and then the dog died, and how you suffered.
               Then comes the idea of death, and the dog is forgotten and you remember the death of your
           mother. And with the idea of the mother suddenly you remember your father. And things go on and
           on. Just the whole thing was triggered by a foolish dog who is not even aware that you are sitting in
           your garden, who is simply barking because he knows nothing else to keep himself occupied. His
           barking is nothing but politicking -- his politics, power politics.
               That's why dogs are very much against uniforms. The policeman, the postman, the sannyasin --
           and the dogs are very angry. They don't tolerate uniforms. How dare you walk in uniform, trying to
           dominate them? They are angry against policemen and people like that.
               He was not aware of you, he has not barked for you especially, but a chain was triggered. Watch
           these simple chains, and then slowly slowly try them with more emotionally involved things. You
           are angry, you are greedy, you are jealous -- just catch hold of yourself in the middle of the thought.
           That is the second difficulty.
               And the third difficulty is to catch hold of this process, which results ultimately in an act, before
           it becomes a thought. That is the most difficult; right now you cannot even conceive of it. Before
           anything becomes a thought, it is a feeling. These are the three things: feeling comes first, then
           comes thought, then comes the act. You may not be aware at all that each thought is produced by a
           certain feeling. If the feeling is not there, the thought will not come. Feeling becomes actualized in
           thought, thought becomes actualized in the act.
               Now you have to do the almost impossible thing -- to catch hold of a certain feeling. Have you
           not watched sometimes? You don't really know why you are feeling a little disturbed; there is no real
           thought that can be caught as the cause, but you are disturbed, you feel disturbed. Something is
           getting ready underground, some feeling is gathering force. Sometimes you feel sad. There is no
           reason to feel sad, and there is no thought to provoke it; still the sadness is there, a generalized
           feeling. That means a feeling is trying to come above ground, the seed of the feeling is sending its
           leaves out of the ground.
               If you are able to become aware of the thought, then sooner or later you will become aware of the
           subtle nuances of the feeling. These are the three difficulties.
           Atisha says:
              LEARN THE THREE DIFFICULTIES.

               And if you can do these three things, suddenly you will fall into the deepest core of your being.
               Action is the farthest from the being, then comes thought, then comes feeling. And behind
           feeling, just hidden behind feeling, is your being. That being is universal. That being is the goal of
           all meditators, the goal of all those who pray -- call it God, atman, self, no-self, whatsoever you wish
           to call it, but this is the goal. And these three barriers have to be crossed. These three barriers are like
           three concentric circles around the center of being.
              TAKE UP THE THREE PARTS OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE.

               Now a very important sutra. The last three sutras are just golden. Keep them in your heart: they
           will nourish you, they will strengthen you, they will transform you. Particularly for my sannyasins,
           they are of immense value.
              TAKE UP THE THREE PARTS OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE.

               What are those three parts of the principal cause? In the tradition of Buddha there are three
           famous shelters: buddham sharanam gachchhami: I go to the feet of the buddha, I surrender myself
           to the buddha. sangham sharanam gachchhami: I go to the feet of the commune, I surrender myself
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the buddhafield. dhammam sharanam gachchhami: I surrender myself to the ultimate law which is
           personified by the buddha and is searched for by the commune, which has become actual in the
           buddha and is an inquiry in the commune. These three are the most important things for a seeker: the
           master, the commune, and the dhamma, Tao, logos, the ultimate law.
                Unless you are in contact with one who has already realized, it is almost impossible for you to
           grow. The hindrances are millions, the pitfalls many, the false doors many, the temptations are
           many; there is every possibility of going astray. Unless you are in the company of someone who
           knows the way, who has traveled the way, who has arrived, it is almost impossible for you to reach.
           Unless your hands are in the hands of someone whom you can trust and to whom you can surrender,
           you are bound to go astray. The mind creates so many temptations -- so alluring they are, so
           magnetic is their power -- that unless you are in the power-field of someone whose magnetism is far
           more powerful than any other kind of temptation, it is impossible to reach. That is the meaning of
           disciplehood.
                BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI: I surrender to the master.
                The master is such a magnetic force that your surrender to the master becomes your protection;
           hence it is called the shelter. Then you are secure, then you are guarded, then you are protected.
           Then your hand is in those hands which know where to take you, what direction to give to you.
                The second thing is the commune. Each buddha creates a commune, because without a commune
           a buddha cannot function. A commune means his energy field, a commune means the people who
           have become joined with him, a commune means an alternate society to the ordinary mundane
           society which goes after spurious comforts -- it is there available to everybody.
                A small oasis in the desert of the world is what is meant by a commune created by a buddha -- a
           small oasis in which life is lived with a totally different gestalt, with a totally different vision, with a
           totally different goal; where life is lived with purpose, meaning, where life is lived with method --
           even though to the outsiders it may look like madness, but that madness has a method in it -- where
           life is lived prayerfully, alert, aware, awake; where life is not just accidental, where life starts
           becoming more and more a growth in a certain direction, towards a certain destination; where life is
           no more like driftwood.
                And the third is the dhamma. Dhamma means truth. Buddha represents the dhamma in two ways:
           one, through his communication, verbal, and second, through his presence, through his silence,
           through his communion: nonverbal. The verbal communication is only an introduction for the
           nonverbal. The nonverbal is an energy communication. The verbal is only preparatory; it simply
           prepares you so you can allow the master to communicate with you energywise, because energywise
           it is really moving into the unknown. Energywise it needs great trust, because you will be completely
           unaware where you are going -- aware that you are going somewhere, aware that you are being led
           somewhere, aware that something is happening of tremendous import; but what exactly it is you
           don't yet have the language for, you don't have any experience to recognize. You will be moving into
           the uncharted.
                The buddha represents dhamma, truth, in two ways. Verbally he communicates with the students;
           nonverbally, through silence, through energy, he communicates with the disciples. And then there
           comes the ultimate unity where neither communication nor communion is needed, but oneness has
           been achieved -- where the master and the disciple become one, when the disciple is just a shadow,
           when there is no separation. These are the three stages of growth: student, disciple, devotee.
              MEDITATE ON THE THREE THINGS NOT TO BE DESTROYED.

               The buddha, the sangha, the dhamma, meditate over these three things not to be destroyed. The
           world will be very much against all these three things; the world will be bent upon destroying them.
           Those who love truth, those who are real seekers, inquirers, they will do everything to protect these
           three things.
               First, the buddha. Why does the world creates so many difficulties for the buddha whenever he
           appears, in whatsoever form? He may be Krishna, Christ, Atisha, Tilopa, Saraha; he may appear in
           any form. By buddhahood I mean awareness, awakening. Wherever awakening happens, the whole
           world becomes antagonistic. Why? -- because the whole world is asleep.
               There is an Arabic saying: Don't wake up a slave, because he may be dreaming that he is free.
           Don't wake up a slave; he may be dreaming that he is free, that he is no more a slave.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the buddha will say: Wake up the slave! Even though he is dreaming beautiful dreams of
           freedom, wake him up and make him aware that he is a slave, because only through that awareness
           can he really become free.
               The world is fast asleep and people are enjoying their dreams. They are decorating their dreams,
           they are making their dreams more and more colorful, they are making them psychedelic. Then
           comes a man who starts shouting from the housetops, "Wake up!" The sleepers feel offended; they
           don't want to wake up, because they know that once the dream is gone they will be left with their
           misery and suffering and nothing else. They are not yet aware that behind their misery there is a
           source of joy that can be found. Whenever something like awakening has happened to them they
           have always found themselves utterly miserable. So they want to remain drowned in something,
           whatsoever it is; they want to remain occupied.
               The teaching of the buddhas is: Find time and a place to remain unoccupied. That's what
           meditation is all about. Find at least one hour every day to sit silently doing nothing, utterly
           unoccupied, just watching whatsoever passes by inside. In the beginning you will be very sad,
           looking at things inside you; you will feel only darkness and nothing else, and ugly things and all
           kinds of black holes appearing. You will feel agony, no ecstasy at all. But if you persist, persevere,
           the day comes when all these agonies disappear, and behind the agonies is the ecstasy.
               So the first thing: whenever the buddha appears the world is against him. The world is fast
           asleep, dreaming, and the buddha tries to wake people up. There are a thousand and one other
           reasons why the world wants to destroy a buddha, and why Atisha is saying:
              MEDITATE ON THE THREE THINGS NOT TO BE DESTROYED.

                Had Jesus' disciples known something like this they would have tried in every way to protect
           Jesus, but they were not aware at all. Jesus could live only three years as a buddha. He could have
           lived to a very old age, he could have helped millions of people on the path, but the disciples were
           not aware that a great treasure was in their possession and it had to be protected and guarded.
                There are many reasons. One reason why people are against is because whenever a buddha
           appears in the world he is unique, he cannot be compared to any other buddha of the past; that is the
           problem. People become accustomed, slowly slowly, to the past buddhas, but whenever a new
           buddha arrives he is so new, so unique, so different, that they cannot believe he is a buddha because
           they have a certain conception.
                Those who have known Mahavira, how can they recognize me as a buddha? -- because I am not
           standing naked. Those who have seen Jesus, how they can recognize Atisha as the buddha? --
           because Atisha is not curing the ill and helping the dead to be raised again, is not helping the blind to
           see. Atisha is a totally different kind of buddha; he is not serving the poor, his work is on a totally
           different plane.
                The Christian cannot recognize Buddha as a buddha. What to say of the Christian -- Mahavira
           and Buddha were contemporaries, but Jainas don't recognize Gautam Buddha as the awakened one,
           and Buddhists don't recognize Mahavira as the awakened one. They were contemporaries, in the
           same province, sometimes lived in the same town and once stayed in the same SERAI. But each
           buddha has a unique quality, incomparable; hence no previous buddha can be used as a criterion.
           That creates difficulty.
                Buddhas are unrecognizable, because your life has no experience through which you can
           recognize a buddha. The sexual person can recognize the sexual, the money minded can recognize
           the money minded, but how can you recognize a buddha? You don't have any experience of
           awareness. In the buddha you will only see reflected your own mind. It is natural.
                The buddha is uncompromising; that creates trouble. He cannot compromise. Truth cannot be
           compromised with any lies, comfortable lies. The buddha seems to be very unsocial and sometimes
           antisocial. The buddha never fulfills any expectations of the multitudes -- he cannot; he is not here to
           follow you. There is only one way: you can follow him if you want to be with him, otherwise get
           lost! He cannot fulfill your expectations. Your expectations are foolish, your expectations are your
           expectations -- out of unawareness and blindness. What value can they have?
                The buddha is always rebellious, antitraditional, nonconformist. That creates trouble. The buddha
           does not belong to the past; in fact, the future belongs to the buddha. He is always before his time, he
           is a new birth of God.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All these things are enough for the society of the blind, mad, power-hungry, ambitious egoists,
           all kinds of neurotics, psychotics -- it is enough for them to be together and to destroy any possibility
           of there being a buddha.
               And they are also against the sangha -- even more so. They can tolerate a buddha if he is alone;
           they know, what can he do? They have tolerated Krishnamurti more easily than they can tolerate me.
           What can Krishnamurti do? He can come and talk and people listen, and people have been listening
           for fifty years and nothing has happened -- so he can talk a few years more; there is nothing to be
           worried about him.
               I was also alone, traveling all over the country from one corner to the other corner almost three
           weeks every month on the train, on the plane, continuously traveling, and there was not much
           problem. The day I started sannyas the society became alert. Why? -- because to create a
           buddhafield, to create a sangha, means now you are creating an alternate society; you are no more a
           single individual, you are gathering power, you can do something. Now you can create a revolution.
               So people want to destroy all communes. Do you know, communes don't have long lives; very
           rarely do communes survive -- very rarely. Millions of times communes have been created, and the
           society destroys them sooner or later, and more sooner than later. But a few communes have
           survived. For example, Buddha's commune still continues -- not with the same purity, much garbage
           has entered into it. It is no more the same crystal-clear water that you can see at Gangotri where the
           Ganges is born. Now the Buddha's commune is like the Ganges near Varanasi -- dirty, dead bodies
           floating in it, all kinds of garbage being poured into it. But still it is alive. Many have completely
           disappeared.
               For example, no commune of Lao Tzu survives, no commune of Zarathustra survives. Yes, a few
           followers are there, but they are not communes. No commune of Saraha, Tilopa, Atisha, survives.
           They all had created communes. But the society is really big, huge, powerful; when the master is
           alive maybe the commune can survive, but once the master is gone the society starts destroying the
           commune from all possible directions.
           Atisha says:
              MEDITATE ON THE THREE THINGS NOT TO BE DESTROYED.

               And the third is dhamma, the truth. The world is against the truth, the world lives in lies. Lies are
           very comfortable, very secure, cozy, and you can create lies according to yourself, according to your
           needs. Truth is never according to you; you have to be according to the truth, and that is difficult.
           Many chunks of your being will have to be cut so that you can fit with truth. Your ego will have to
           be dropped so that you can enter into the temple of truth.
               Lies are perfectly beautiful, cheap, everywhere available. You can go shopping and you can
           purchase bagfuls of lies, as many as you want. And the best thing about them is that they fit with
           you, they never require that you should fit with them. They are very friendly; they don't require
           anything from you, they don't demand, they don't ask for any commitment. They are ready to serve
           you.
               Truth cannot serve you, you will have to serve truth.
               Atisha is giving you a great insight. Particularly for my sannyasins it has to be remembered,
           meditated upon. The buddha is here, the commune has started happening, the truth is being shared.
           Now it is up to you to help it survive, to protect it, so that it can live long and serve humanity long.
           And the last sutra:
              MAKE THE THREE INSEPARABLE FROM VIRTUE.

               Let this be your virtue, your religion: serving the buddha, serving the commune, serving the
           truth. Let this be your only virtue, your only religion.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                The Book of Wisdom
                                                     Chapter #18
                                     Chapter title: Dropping out of the Olympics
           28 February 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7902280
              ShortTitle: WISDOM18
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 106 mins



               The first question:


               BELOVED OSHO, HOW TO SLOW DOWN?


                Anand Somen, life is not going anywhere; there is no goal to it, no destination. Life is
           non-purposive, it simply is. Unless this understanding penetrates your heart, you cannot slow down.
                Slowing down is not a question of any how; it is not a question of technique, method. We reduce
           everything into a how. There is a great how-to-ism all over the world, and every person, particularly
           the modern contemporary mind, has become a how-to-er: how to do this, how to do that, how to
           grow rich, how to be successful, how to influence people and win friends, how to meditate, even
           how to love. The day is not far off when some stupid guy is going to ask how to breathe.
                It is not a question of how at all. Don't reduce life into technology. Life reduced into technology
           loses all flavor of joy.
                I have come across a book; the name of the book is hilarious. The name is You Must Relax. Now
           the "must" is the problem, but it is there. It is because of the must that nobody is able to relax. Now
           another must on top of all other musts -- You Must Relax -- is going to create more tension in your
           life. Try to relax, and you will find out that you feel more tense than ever. Try harder and you will
           feel more tense and more tense.
                Relaxation is not a consequence, is not a result of some activity; it is the glow of understanding.
                This is the first thing I would like to relate to you: life is purposeless. It is very hard to accept it.
           And why is it so hard to accept that life is purposeless? It is hard because without purpose the ego
           cannot exist. It is hard to conceive that life has no goal because without any goal being there, there is
           no point in having a mind, in having an ego.
                The ego can exist only in a goal-oriented vision; the mind can exist only in the future. The
           purpose brings future in; the goal creates the space for thoughts to move, desires to arise. And then
           naturally there is hurry, because life is short. Today we are here and tomorrow we are gone -- maybe
           the next moment.
                Life is very short. If there is a goal to be achieved, there is bound to be hurry. And there is bound
           to be worry, a constant worry "whether I am going to make it or not" -- a trembling heart, a shaking
           of the foundations. You will remain almost always in an inner earthquake, you will be always on the
           verge of a nervous breakdown. Have a goal, and sooner or later you will end up on the
           psychoanalyst's couch.
                My vision is that of a goalless life. That is the vision of all the buddhas. Everything simply is, for
           no reason at all. Everything simply is utterly absurd. If this is understood, then where is the hurry,
           and for what? Then you start living moment to moment. Then this moment is given to you, a
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gracious gift from God or the whole or whatsoever you want to call it -- Tao, dhamma, logos.
                This moment is available to you: sing a song, live it in its totality. And don't try to sacrifice it for
           any other moment that is going to come in the future. Live it for its own sake.
                They say art is for art's sake. It may be so, it may not be so -- I am not an artist. But I can say to
           you: Life is for life's sake. Each moment is utterly for its own sake. To sacrifice it for anything else
           is to be unintelligent. And once the habit of sacrificing settles, then this moment you will sacrifice
           for the next, and the next for the next, and so on, so forth -- this year for the next year, and this life
           for the next life! Then it is a simple logical process: once you have taken the first step, then the
           whole journey starts -- the journey that leads you into the wasteland, the journey that makes your life
           a desert, the journey that is self-destructive, suicidal.
                Live in the moment for the sheer joy of living it. Then each moment has the quality of an orgasm.
           Yes, it is orgasmic. This is how my sannyasins have to live, with no should, with no ought, with no
           must, with no commandment. You are not here to be with me to become martyrs, you are here to be
           with me to enjoy life to its fullness. And the only way to live, love, enjoy, is to forget the future. It
           exists not.
                And if you can forget the future, if you can see that it is not there, there is no point in constantly
           getting ready for it. The moment future is dropped, past becomes irrelevant on its own accord. We
           carry the past so that we can use it in the future. Otherwise who will carry the past? It is unnecessary.
           If there is no future, what is the point of carrying the knowledge that the past has given to you? It is a
           burden which will destroy the joy of the journey.
                And let me remind you, it is a pure journey. Life is a pilgrimage to nowhere, from nowhere to
           nowhere. And between these two nowheres is the now-here. Nowhere consists of two words: now,
           here. Between these two nowheres is the now-here.
                It is not a question of following a certain technique to slow down, because if your basic approach
           towards life remains the same -- goal-oriented -- you may try to slow down, and you may even
           succeed in slowing down, but now you have started another tension in your life. You have to be
           constantly on guard so that you remain slow; you have to hold yourself continuously so that you
           remain slow.
                You cannot have a free flow of your energies. You will be constantly afraid, because if you
           forget the technique, immediately the old habit will take possession of you. And the habit is there,
           because in fact the habit is rooted in the philosophy of your life. You have been taught to become
           achievers: Achieve something!
                From the very first moment a child is born, we start feeding him poisons: ambition, achievement,
           success, richness, name, fame. We start poisoning his sources of being; we give great attention...
           twenty-five years are wasted in giving a poisonous education to children. It is one-third of life; it
           seems to be a wastage. And it is the most important one-third, because by the time a person is
           twenty-five he has already started declining in many ways. The highest peak of his sexuality is no
           longer there, it was nearabout when he was seventeen and a half; nearabout eighteen he had the
           highest sexual peak. By the time he is twenty-five he is already getting old.
                Twenty-five years wasted in creating an achiever's mind.... And then there is competition,
           conflict. On each level of life, everywhere there is politics. Even in private intimate relationship
           there is politics: the husband trying to control the wife, the wife trying to control the husband, the
           children trying to control the parents, the parents trying to control the children. There is no intimacy
           left, because for the achieving mind intimacy is not possible. He only knows how to use the other; he
           cannot be respectful to the other. He is exploitative. His relationship with life is what Martin Buber
           calls the "I-it" relationship: everything is reduced into a commodity.
                You love a woman: immediately you start reducing her into a commodity, reducing her into
           being a wife, and she is trying to reduce you from a man into a husband. To be a man is something
           beautiful, to be a woman is something divine, but to be a wife or to be a husband is simply ugly.
           Love is no more there, it is law. Intimacy is gone; now it is bargain, business. Now the poetry is
           dead. And both are in politics now: who dominates whom?
                From the most intimate relationship to the most impersonal relationship, it is the same story. The
           story is that of I-it. That's why we have created an ugly world. And naturally, when there is so much
           competition and so many competitors, Somen, how can you slow down? If you slow down you will
           be a failure, if you slow down you will never be able to succeed, if you slow down you are lost! If
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you slow down you will be anonymous, you will not be able to leave your signature in the world.
           Who will you be if you slow down? Everybody else is not slowing down.
               It is almost as if you are in an Olympic race and you ask me, "How to slow down?" If you slow
           down, you are a drop-out! Then you are no more in the Olympic race. And this whole life has been
           turned into an Olympic race. Everybody is racing, and everybody has to race to the optimum,
           because it is a question of life and death. Millions of enemies... we are living in a world where
           everybody is your enemy, because with whomsoever you are in competition, they are your enemies.
           They are destroying your possibilities of success, you are destroying their possibilities of success.
               In this ambitious world, friendship cannot bloom, love is almost impossible, compassion cannot
           exist. We have created such an ugly mess, and the root is that we think that there is something to
           achieve.
               There is no difference between a capitalist country or a communist country, it is the same
           philosophy. Communism is a by-product of capitalism, just as Christianity is a by-product of
           Judaism. There is not much difference; only words change. The game remains the same -- translated
           into another language, certainly, but the game is the same.
               Power politics is as great in a communist country -- in fact there is more than there is in a
           capitalist country -- because we never change the foundation, we only go on whitewashing the walls.
           You can whitewash them, you can change the color; that is not going to make any real difference.
           And that's what we go on doing in our individual lives too.
               One politician came to me and he wanted to learn how to meditate. I asked why. He said "Why?
           Meditation gives peace, silence, and I want to be silent, I want to be peaceful."
               I asked him, "Do you really want to be silent and peaceful?"
               He said, "Yes, that's why I have come from so long a distance."
               "Then," I said, "the first thing you will have to understand is that the political mind can never be
           silent and can never be peaceful. You will have to choose. If you want really to enter into the world
           of meditation, you will have to get out of the world of politics. You cannot ride on two horses, and
           two horses which are going in diametrically opposite directions."
               He said, "That is too much! In fact I had come to you because of my political work. There is so
           much tension in the mind, I cannot sleep in the night, I cannot rest, I toss and turn, and the whole day
           and the night too, the same political anxiety continues. I had come to you so that you can teach me a
           technique of meditation that can help me to relax and compete more efficiently in the world. I am not
           ready to pay that much for meditation. I want meditation to serve me in my political competition.
           Twenty years I have been in politics, and yet I have not become the chief minister of my state."
               Now, this man cannot meditate. Meditation is not something that can grow in any soil. It needs a
           basic understanding; the change has to be very fundamental. It needs a new soil to grow in; it needs a
           new gestalt.
               A meditator naturally slows down with no effort. He does not practice it. A practiced thing is
           never true; it is artificial, arbitrary. Avoid practiced things -- at the most they can be actings, they are
           not true. And only truth liberates.
               A meditator is naturally slow -- not because he is trying to be slow but just because there is
           nowhere to go. There is nothing to achieve, there is nothing to become, the becoming has ceased.
           When becoming ceases, being is. And being is slow, non-aggressive, unhurried.
               Then you can savor the taste of each moment with total presence, you can be present to the
           present; otherwise you are in such a hurry that it is impossible to have any look at that which is.
           Your eyes are focused on a faraway distant goal, a faraway distant star; you are looking there.

               I have heard an ancient story, it happened in Greece. A great astrologer, the most famous of those
           days, fell into a well. Because in the night he was studying the stars, walking on the road he forgot
           that there was a well by the side and fell into it.
               The sound of his falling and his crying.... An old woman who lived in a hut by the side came out,
           helped him to get out of the well. He was very happy. He said, "You have saved my life! Do you
           know who I am? I am the royal astrologer. My fee is very great -- even kings have to wait for months
           to consult me -- but for you I will predict your future. You come tomorrow morning to my house,
           and I will not take any fee."
               The old woman laughed and she said, "Forget all about it! You cannot see even two feet ahead --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how can you see my future?"
               This is the situation of millions of people on this earth. They cannot see that which is, they are
           obsessed with that which should be. The greatest obsession that humanity suffers is of "that which
           should be." It is a kind of madness.
               The really healthy person has no concern with that which should be. His whole concern is the
           immediate, that which is. And you will be surprised: if you enter into the immediate, you will find
           the ultimate in it. If you move into that which is close by, you will find all the distant stars in it. If
           you move in the present moment, the whole eternity is in your hands. If you know your being, there
           is no question of becoming. All that you could have ever imagined to become you already are.
               You are gods who have forgotten who they are. You are emperors who have fallen asleep and are
           dreaming that they have become beggars. Now beggars are trying to become emperors -- in dreams
           they are making great efforts to become emperors, and all that is needed is to wake up! And when I
           say wake up, where can you wake up? In the future? In the past? The past is no more, the future not
           yet -- where you can wake up? You can wake up only now, and you can wake up only here. This is
           the only moment there is, and this is the only reality there is, and this is the only reality that has
           always been and will always be.
               Change your basic philosophy of that of an achiever. Relax into your being. Don't have any
           ideals, don't try to make something out of yourself, don't try to improve upon God. You are perfect
           as you are. With all your imperfections you are perfect. If you are imperfect, you are perfectly
           imperfect -- but perfection is there.
               Once this is understood, where is the hurry? Where is the worry? You have already slowed
           down. And then it is a morning walk with no destination, going nowhere. You can enjoy each tree
           and each sunray and each bird and each person that passes by.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IS THERE ANY REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIFFERENT RACES, NATIONALITIES,
              ETCETERA, ETCETERA?


               Ramananda, there are no real differences, there cannot be. All differences are superficial. The
           Jew is not different from the Hindu, the Mohammedan is not different from the Christian, the
           Chinese is not different from the American, the Negro is not different from the English.
               Man is one, differences are superficial. Yes, they are there, obviously. A Negro is a Negro: he
           has black skin, he looks different from the white man. But the difference is not a difference that
           makes a difference. The difference is so small: just a little more black pigment in his skin, four
           ANNAS' worth more -- just that is the difference, four annas. And remember, he is four annas more
           than the white man, not less -- richer by four annas.
               But the difference of the color of the skin or the difference of the length of your nose is not an
           important difference. Just because you have a long nose, a Jewish nose, you don't become the chosen
           people of God. Or just because you are born in India you don't become religious either.
               These are all stupid ideas. But these stupid ideas have persisted in the world; and not only
           persisted, have proved great calamities to humanity. They were very ego-gratifying. The Hindu
           thinks he is the most religious in the world, his country the most sacred -- what nonsense they go on
           talking!
               Countries are separate only on the political maps; otherwise it is just one earth. Just thirty years
           ago, Karachi and Lahore used to be holy land -- just thirty years ago. But now they are in Pakistan
           and very unholy. Now Indians cannot think of a place which is more unholy than Lahore or Karachi.
           Now they are the unholiest of the unholy, and they used to be part of the holy land. Just a little
           change of politics, a line drawn on the map -- not on the earth; the earth is still undivided.

               I have heard a story: When India and Pakistan were going to be divided, there was a madhouse
           just on the border, and nobody was particularly interested in having that madhouse, neither India nor
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Pakistan. But it had to go somewhere -- and because politicians were utterly uninterested, it was
           decided to ask the madmen themselves where they want to go.
               A great gathering -- one thousand madmen were gathered and they were asked, "Where do you
           want to go?"
               And they said, "We don't want to go anywhere, we simply want to remain here."
               Again and again, in many ways it was explained to them, "You will not be going anywhere, you
           will remain here. But still we want to ask where do you want to go -- to India or to Pakistan?"
               The madmen could not believe their ears. They said, "Now you are creating great suspicion in us,
           whether we are mad or you are mad! If we are not going to go anywhere, then why should we decide
           where we should go?"
               There was no communication possible. And you see, the mad people were far more right. They
           are always far more right than your so-called politicians.
               Then the leaders decided, just divide it in the middle. And a wall was raised in the middle of the
           madhouse. I have heard that still the madmen sometimes climb up on the wall and they laugh. The
           whole thing seems to be so ridiculous. They are exactly in the same place, but some have become
           Pakistanis and some have become Indians -- and just a wall in between. And they still talk about it:
           "What happened? -- because we are the same, you are the same, we don't see any difference! But
           now we are enemies -- we really should not talk."
               Differences are not there. Or, if they are there, very small differences like....

               Do you know how many Indians it takes to screw in a lightbulb? Four. One to hold the bulb, and
           three to screw him round.
               Or, do you know many Californians it takes to change a lightbulb? Four. One to change the bulb,
           and three to share in the experience.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              TODAY I SAW CLEARLY THAT I REALLY AM CAUSING MY OWN SUFFERING AND THAT I DON'T
              HAVE TO, AND SOMETHING HEAVY LIFTED FROM MY CHEST WHEN I SAW THAT I WAS NOT
              JUST GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES!
              THANK YOU, THANK YOU, BELOVED MASTER.
              BUT OH, I AM SO AFRAID OF BECOMING LIGHT AND PERMEABLE. IT IS ALL SO
              EMBARRASSING!


                Deva Ashoka, the first experience of freedom is always embarrassing. The first ray of light to the
           blind is bound to be embarrassing. One who has always lived in chains, a sudden message from the
           king that he is freed... it is always embarrassing. He had become accustomed to live a certain kind of
           life, he had evolved a certain style of life. There was security in the prison; he had settled. Now
           everything unsettles. It is not only the question that the chains are being taken away; now he will
           have to face the great wide world again. He will have to learn all that he has forgotten, he will have
           to relearn. It is going to be difficult, and he will look a little amateur compared to others. Even
           walking on the street without the chains to which he has become accustomed will be a little odd; he
           will not feel at ease.
                When the French revolutionaries freed the prisoners from the great French prison of Bastille,
           they were surprised: the prisoners were not ready to go out. That was the biggest prison of France,
           where only people who had been sentenced for their whole life were kept. There were people who
           had been in the prison for thirty years, forty years, even fifty years.
                Now, just think of a person who had come to the prison when he was only twenty, and had lived
           in the prison for fifty years. He has completely forgotten about the world, how it looks. Fifty years
           living in a dark cell with heavy chains.... Those chains had no lock because there was no need ever to
           unlock them. They were chained for his whole life; they were permanent, heavy. For fifty years he
           has slept with those chains on hands and feet; he has become utterly accustomed to that life. And the
           food comes at the right time, he has not to worry about it. It is not much of a food, but still,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something is better than nothing. He has no responsibility, he need not care about anything,
           everything is being done for him.
               Maybe, slowly slowly, he had started thinking that he is not a prisoner but a king whose every
           need is fulfilled. Others take every care. Maybe, slowly slowly, he had convinced himself that the
           people who stand on guard are not there to prevent him from going out, but they are his bodyguards.
           And this is natural. When you live fifty years in a prison you have to create such rationalizations,
           such hallucinations, such beautiful theories. We all have done things like this.
               Then one day suddenly the revolutionaries came and forced the prisoners to get out. The
           prisoners fought back -- they were not ready. This is something to be understood. Even when they
           were freed against their will, fifty percent of them came back in the night to sleep at least in their
           cells. Where else should they sleep?
               One more important thing -- a very important thing -- happened. They demanded their chains,
           because they could not sleep without them. Fifty years sleeping with that heavy load of chains, it
           may have started sounding like music. Turning in the night, and the chains and the sound... now
           without chains they must be feeling so light that sleep was impossible.

               This is the situation of all human beings. We are brought up in such a way that we only believe
           that we are free, but we are not. While nations exist, no man is really free. While politicians go on
           dominating humanity, the world will remain in slavery. They go on persuading you that you are free.
           You are not. There are a thousand and one walls around you -- maybe very transparent so that you
           can look through the walls, and that gives you a feeling that you are free, but you are not. While
           there are religions in your head -- Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Jainism, Buddhism --
           you are not free. A mind cannot be free.
           Freedom means freedom from the mind.
           Only a no-mind knows the taste of freedom.
               But to be a no-mind is so risky; you will have to lose all that you have become accustomed to, all
           that you have become so attached to. All your possessions are contained in your mind: your
           philosophies, your religions, your concepts, your theories, all are contained in your mind. If you drop
           the mind -- and that's what meditation is all about, dropping the mind -- you will feel as if you have
           been robbed, as if you have suddenly been forced to be naked, as if suddenly inside you have
           become empty. You will miss that old fullness, although it was only junk. But people's idea is that it
           is always better to have something than nothing, whatsoever that something is.
               Even to be miserable is better than to be nothing, even to be in pain is better than to be nothing.
           People are so much afraid of being nothing. And nothing is freedom; nothing means no thing, no
           body, no mind.
               And when the first glimpse arrives -- just a whiff of no-mind, a small breeze from the beyond --
           Ashoka, it is embarrassing. Enchanting and embarrassing, both -- calling you forth to come out of
           your grave, and yet scary.
               But now, when the call has been heard, it has to be respected. When you have seen a little
           glimpse that you are the creator of your own misery, it will be very difficult for you now to go on
           creating it. It is easy to live in misery when you know others are creating it -- what can you do? You
           are helpless. That's why we go on throwing responsibilities on others.
               There are people who think they are in misery because of past karma, past life karma. The whole
           idea is so foolish: put your hand in the fire now and you will be burned next life. Life is immediate.
           That's what life is -- immediacy. Life never postpones. You do something beautiful, and in that very
           doing you are rewarded; not that you will have to wait many lives for the reward. You do something
           ugly, and in that very act is the punishment; the punishment is not separate from the act.
               This is one of my fundamental things -- you have to understand I am against the whole idea of
           karma. It is a strategy of the mind to throw responsibility on the past. And once the responsibility is
           thrown on something -- whatsoever it is, x, y, z, it doesn't matter what it is -- you can relax in your
           misery and you can remain miserable. What can you do? You start feeling like a victim. Now the
           past cannot be changed; what has been done has been done, you cannot undo it now, you have to
           accept it.
               It is because of this foolish idea of karma that the East has suffered so much. People are poor,
           and they say what they can do? They are hungry, starving, dying, and they go on thinking what can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they do? They have done something wrong in the past, they have to suffer for it. A great invention of
           the priests to keep people in misery and yet contented, in great suffering yet creating no trouble for
           the status quo.
               The greatest idea against revolution that has ever been invented is the idea of karma. That's why
           in the ten-thousand-year history of India there has never been a revolution. Unless the Indian mind
           changes totally, there is not going to be any revolution. Revolution seems to be absolutely un-Indian.
           The Indian consciousness is so much burdened with the idea of karma, with the past, that you cannot
           create any revolt in this country.
               This is strange. One of the most ancient lands of the world, and yet a revolution has never
           happened. People like Buddha, Atisha, Kabir, have walked on this earth, and yet not a single
           revolution. Yes, revolutionaries have happened -- Buddha is a revolutionary -- but the country
           remained unaffected.
               In fact, Buddhism disappeared from this country for the simple reason that it was too
           revolutionary. It didn't fit with the conformist mind of the country, it didn't fit with the idea of
           accepting that whatsoever is, is; nothing can be done, no hope.
               People go on throwing the responsibility on the past, or on fate, kismet, or on God. And if these
           things have become out of date, then the social structure or the economic system of the society,
           capitalism or communism or fascism -- but they need something as an excuse so that they can remain
           free, free from the arousal of the vision that "I am responsible for my suffering and nobody else."
               Even if people drop God, society, karma, etcetera, then they start finding new ways. Freudians
           will say you are suffering because of the unconscious. Freud says there is no hope for man, man will
           always remain miserable. All that we can manage is to keep him normally miserable; that is all that
           can be done. The best that can be done according to Freud is that people can be kept within limits of
           misery, that's all. Miserable they are going to be, there is no hope of a blissful humanity. Why? --
           because of the unconscious.
               The unconscious instincts are in conflict with society. And Freud says if you allow the
           unconscious instincts full play, then the society, the culture, the civilization disappears and you will
           be back in the world of the jungle, and you will suffer. Or, if you allow the society to have control
           over you, to inhibit your unconscious instincts, then there is a consistent conflict between your
           unconscious and the social code. And because of that conflict you remain miserable.
           There seems to be no way out.
               The really religious person is one who stops finding excuses for his misery. It needs guts to
           accept that "I am responsible," that "This is my choice, I have chosen my life this way," that "My
           freedom is there, has always been there, to choose whatsoever I want. I can choose misery, I can
           choose bliss."
           Man's soul consists of freedom.
           I teach you freedom.
               But freedom means taking the responsibility, total responsibility for your life, on your own
           shoulders, not throwing it onto somebody else.
               Ashoka, something beautiful has happened to you, something tremendously significant. Embrace
           it. Don't feel embarrassed -- embrace it. Love it, cherish it, nourish it, welcome it. Some truth has
           knocked on your door.
               You say: "Today I saw clearly that I really am causing my own suffering and that I don't have to,
           and something heavy lifted from my chest when I saw that I was not just going around in circles.
           Thank you, thank you, Beloved Master. But oh, I am so afraid of becoming light and permeable!"
               I can understand it. It is difficult to drop chains, prisons, bondages, slaveries. We have invested
           so much in them, and for so long. I can understand.
           You say: "It is all so embarrassing!"
               It is. But still, now there is no going back. Even if you want to go back, there is no going back.
           That glimpse will haunt you, that glimpse will follow you like a shadow, that glimpse will remind
           you again and again: "Ashoka, you are responsible, and you are doing it again. Watch. You are again
           choosing misery, while the other alternative is available."

              One Sufi mystic who had remained happy his whole life -- no one had ever seen him unhappy --
           who was always laughing, who was laughter, whose whole being was a perfume of celebration.... In
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his old age, when he was dying, on his deathbed and still enjoying death, laughing hilariously, a
           disciple asked, "You puzzle us. Now you are dying, why are you laughing? What is there funny
           about it? We are feeling so sad. We wanted to ask you many times in your life why you are never
           sad. But now, confronting death at least, one should be sad. You are still laughing -- how are you
           managing it?"
                The old man said, "It is simple. I had asked my master -- I had gone to my master as a young
           man; I was only seventeen and already miserable, and my master was old, seventy, and he was
           sitting under a tree, laughing for no reason at all. There was nobody else there, nothing had
           happened, nobody had cracked a joke or anything, and he was simply laughing, holding his belly. I
           asked him, 'What is the matter with you? Are you mad or something?'
                "He said, 'One day I was also as sad as you are. Then it dawned on me that it is my choice, it is
           my life.'
                "Since that day, every morning when I get up, the first thing I decide is... before I open my eyes I
           say to myself, 'Abdullah'" -- that was his name -- "'what do you want? Misery? Blissfulness? What
           you are going to choose today?' And it happens that I always choose blissfulness."

               It is a choice. Try it. When you become aware the first moment in the morning that sleep has left,
           ask yourself, "Abdullah, another day! What is your idea? Do you choose misery or blissfulness?"
               And who would choose misery? And WHY? It is so unnatural -- unless one feels blissful in
           misery, but then too you are choosing bliss, not misery.
               It has been good, Ashoka. Now let this insight gather more roots in you, help it. Slowly slowly
           you will become more and more attuned to this new feel of life and existence -- it is an attunement.
           And once you have learned how to be in harmony with this inner blissfulness, you will become
           aware of higher and higher peaks of bliss. There are climaxes and climaxes, peaks beyond peaks.
           One peak leads to another peak, one small harmony soon opens a door for a bigger harmony, and so
           on, so forth, ad infinitum.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I ENJOYED VERY MUCH YOUR COINING THE WORD ETCETERANANDAS. I WONDER HOW
              YOU DID IT!


               It's simple. You can go and see many saints in India, and you will find that they have no
           individuality, no uniqueness, no originality, no flavor of their own. They are gramophone records --
           His Master's Voice -- just quoting scriptures like parrots. They are imitators, pseudo, plastic; nothing
           has happened to them.
               I am not saying that they are not saints -- they are saints, but nothing has happened to them. Their
           saintliness is just a cultivated gesture, it is not a happening. They have character -- certainly they
           have character, I am not denying that -- but their character is like a garment; it is just a cover up.
           Deep down they are just the opposite of it. They are saints on the surface in the conscious mind, and
           they are sinners in the unconscious. And ultimately it is the deeper unconscious that is more decisive
           than the superficial conscious.
               You cannot be a saint if you don't repress the sinner. And when you repress the sinner, the sinner
           goes deeper into your being. So these saints are in constant conflict, a kind of civil war, fighting with
           themselves. You can see they don't have any zest for life: they don't have any energy for it, they don't
           have any cheerfulness. How can they be cheerful? Their whole life is a miserable conflict with
           themselves. They cannot be at ease, they cannot relax, because they are afraid -- if they relax, the
           sinner is there and if they relax the sinner will raise its head. They have to constantly repress it.
               Remember, if you repress something you have to repress it constantly -- day in, day out, year in,
           year out. And the problem is not solved by repressing. In fact it becomes more and more acute,
           chronic, because whatsoever is repressed becomes more and more powerful. It gathers energy, it
           becomes a tumor inside you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You will see more and more fear in your so-called saints' eyes. Character they have: they are
           good people, they don't do anything bad, they follow the dictates of the society, they fulfill the
           expectations of the worshippers.
               I call them Etceteranandas because no buddha ever follows the dictates of the society, no buddha
           has any character. Let me repeat it: no buddha has any character. He need not have any character, he
           has consciousness. He has the real thing -- why should he have a plastic flower? When you can grow
           real roses, why bother about plastic roses? Character is a plastic flower, consciousness is a real rose.
           No buddha has any character, he has consciousness. He does not live out of readymade programs, he
           lives moment to moment out of his consciousness; he responds, he does not react.
               Etceteranandas are predictable. You know what they are, and you can be perfectly secure that
           they are going to remain the same tomorrow too. They are dead people; you can depend on them. No
           buddha is predictable. You cannot say what he is going to be tomorrow or the next moment, because
           as life changes, his responses change. And life is constantly changing.
               Old Heraclitus is right -- he is a buddha -- he is right when he says you cannot step twice in the
           same river. No buddha is ever the same again; not even for two consecutive moments is he the same.
           He moves with life, he is a river, he is not stagnant. He has uniqueness, originality. He speaks, not
           authoritatively, but on his own authority. Remember the difference. The person who speaks
           authoritatively derives his authority from somewhere else -- from the Vedas, from The Bible, from
           the Koran, from the tradition, from the state, from the church. The man who speaks on his own
           authority derives his authority from nowhere. It is his own experience -- and experience is
           self-evident, self-validating.
               You ask me how do I manage such coinage of words. I cannot help it. Look at any so-called saint
           and you will find written on his forehead, Etceterananda.

               When Noah had built the ark and the time came to have all the pairs of animals go aboard, Noah
           named each one as it went by up the gangplank. As a strange looking animal passed by, Noah said,
           "The name of this animal is hippopotamus."
               Noah's wife looked at him and said, "Noah, why in the world did you call that animal, that
           strange-looking creature, a hippopotamus?"
               Noah responded, "Well, it is the only one of the animals that has gone through that really looked
           like a hippopotamus."

               There are people who look like a hippopotamus. I call them respectfully Etceteranandas. It is just
           out of respect that I have coined the word.

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              HOW CAN WE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SURRENDER AND DEPENDENCY, NOT
              JUST WITH YOU BUT WITH ALL THAT COMES UP IN OUR LIVES?


               Veereshwar, the difference is so absolutely clear that once you have experienced surrender you
           will never miss understanding what is surrender and what is dependency.
               Surrender is out of love, dependency is out of fear. Dependency is a relationship in which you
           are hankering for something, desiring something; there is a motive. You are ready to become
           dependent -- that's what you are willing to pay for something. Surrender has no desire in it. It is
           sheer joy, it is trust, it is unmotivated.
               It is like falling in love. In fact it is exactly falling in love -- a love that knows no bounds, a love
           that is totally different from what you ordinarily call love. Your love is again a kind of dependency.
           You become dependent on the person you love, because in fact you don't love, you are simply
           finding somebody to cling to; otherwise you feel very lonely. You want to avoid your loneliness, you
           want somebody to fill your inner black hole, your emptiness.
               But real love is not an escape from loneliness, real love is an overflowing aloneness. One is so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happy in being alone that one would like to share -- happiness always wants to share. It is too much,
           it cannot be contained; like the flower cannot contain its fragrance, it has to be released.
                Surrender is the highest form of love, the purest form of love. You will not feel dependent,
           because there will be no clinging in it. You will not feel dependent, because it is not out of loneliness
           that you have surrendered. If you have surrendered out of loneliness then it is not surrender at all,
           then it is something else.
                Another thing: surrender always happens, it is not a doing. You cannot do it -- how can you do
           surrender? If you do it, it is not surrender. You are the doer -- and if the doer is there then it can be
           taken back any moment.
                Surrender happens; the doer is not found. You simply find yourself melting into somebody, into
           something. You may find yourself melting into a sunset, and it is surrender. You may find yourself
           melting into the starry night, and it is surrender. You may find yourself melting into a woman or
           man, and it is surrender. You may find yourself melting into music, and it is surrender. Surrender has
           many dimensions, but the taste is the same: you simply find yourself melting. You simply find
           yourself no more; a kind of egolessness is felt.
                You are... in fact you are very much, and yet you are not. Presence and absence both together --
           surrender is paradoxical. Presence, because the ego is not there, so you are just awareness; and
           absence because the ego is not there, so you cannot say "I am."
                Veereshwar, dependency is ugly, surrender is beautiful. Dependency will make you feel reduced,
           surrender will make you feel enhanced, expanded. Dependency will create reaction in you to revolt.
           Surrender will bring more and more trust.
                But the distinction is delicate. Once known it is not difficult, but if you have not experienced it
           yet then surrender will look like dependency, because dependency is what you know.
                I cannot explain it to you, I can only indicate a few directions. In the morning when the sun is
           rising, just sit silently on the riverbank. Watch it. Doing nothing, just sitting silently, watch it. And
           some time in some blissful moment it will happen: there will be no observer, and nothing observed.
           The observer becomes the observed. It is not that you are separate from the rising sun -- you are it.
                Sitting by the tree, just close your eyes, feel the tree. Hug the tree, just be one with it, as if you
           are with your beloved. And sometimes... and it is not predictable; I cannot say that it will happen
           each time. Only once in a while it will happen -- because it has to happen in spite of you, that's why
           only once in a while.
                Or, loving your woman, melt into her warmth. For a moment forget sexuality, for a moment
           forget all that goes on in your head, in your fantasy. For a moment just melt into the real woman.
           Don't carry any pornography in your head, don't make sexuality something cerebral. Let your
           sexuality be a deep sensuousness, sensitivity, a gut feeling. Melt into the woman, as if you are again
           a child in the mother's womb. Unless you have known this with your beloved, you have not known
           your beloved. A child again in the mother's womb, absolutely together, all distances gone -- and in
           that moment you will know what surrender is.
                But the male ego creates trouble everywhere. Even being with your woman, you are trying to
           control the situation. Even in our language, ugly expressions have entered: we call it lovemaking.
           How can you make love? Nobody can make love. But it has come into language not without any
           reason. People are trying to make love; even in love they are doers. So the greatest opportunity of
           knowing surrender is missed.
                And now you have manuals: How To Make Love, How To Attain Total Orgasm. And people are
           reading these manuals and following the instructions. I know of some foolish people who make love
           to their woman, and by the bedside is the manual and they go on looking into it: how to make total
           orgasm.
                Some moments in life when you are not a doer, not a knower, when you simply are, you will
           have the taste. It can come through beauty, it can come through poetry, it can come through music, it
           can come through so many doors. God has many doors to his temple.
                But, Veereshwar, my feeling is that you know only dependency, hence the question has arisen.
           One who has known surrender cannot ask the question. Be in relaxation a few moments. It can be
           any kind of situations -- swimming in the river, relax with the river, or sunning on the beach, relax
           with the sun -- anything. Life is full of opportunities. Remember Atisha. He says life is full of
           opportunities, life is the opportunity. Don't wait for the opportunity, the opportunity is already here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              But you will have to learn a totally different kind of consciousness -- not that of a doer, but that
           kind of consciousness which is simply existing... that simple consciousness, innocent.
              And that happens so many times to you here while listening to me. In the pauses, when
           sometimes I stop... it is there.
           Drink it.
           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I WANT TO GET MARRIED. PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR BLESSINGS.


              Prabhat, have you gone crazy or something? Love is enough; marriage is not going to add
           anything to it. In fact, why are you in such a hurry to finish some beautiful experience? Wait. When
           you see that now love is finished, you can get married.

              A minister received this thankyou letter from a bridegroom he had married: "Dear Reverend, I
           want to thank you for the beautiful way you brought my happiness to a conclusion."

              Prabhat, you are very young, only twenty-two. One should marry only when one is wise enough.
           Marriage is not for young people. For young people is to fool around. Marriage is for those who
           have experienced life in many ways, who have seen all the colors, the whole spectrum of it, and are
           now ready to settle.
              My own suggestion is that nobody should marry before forty-two. When you have already had
           your first heart attack, then marry. Before that it is too early, and foolish. But maybe because you are
           only twenty-two and foolish the question has arisen.

           Five-year-old Steven: "Are you a virgin?"
           Four-year-old Susan: "No, not yet."

               It takes time. You are too young; wait a little. When you are tired -- when you are tired of
           adventures, when you are tired of your freedom, when you are tired of your openness to life and its
           millions of opportunities -- then you can go to a court and get married. But why now?

              Student in the Highlands looking for summer work: "Got any odd jobs?"
           Farmer: "Well, you could try milking the bull."

               That will be far better, Prabhat. You are in search for some odd jobs... otherwise why?
               Love, and love as deeply as possible. And if love itself becomes the marriage, that is another
           thing, altogether different. If love itself becomes such an intimacy that it is unbreakable, that is
           another thing, that is not a legal sanction.
               Legal sanctions are needed only because you are afraid. You know that your love is not enough;
           you need the legal support for it. You know perfectly well that you can escape or the woman can
           escape, hence you need the policeman to keep you together. But this is ugly, to need a policeman to
           keep you together. That's what marriage is!
               I can bless your love, but I cannot bless your marriage. If love itself is your marriage, then all of
           my blessings are there for you; otherwise wait. There is no hurry. It is better to wait than to repent
           later on.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                               The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #19
                                    Chapter title: The three rung ladder of Love
           1 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903010
              ShortTitle: WISDOM19
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 108 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              MANY TIMES I HAVE THOUGHT OF QUESTIONS FELT TO BE MEANINGFUL. EACH TIME THE
              QUESTION RESOLVED ITSELF OR SEEMED ABSURD AFTER LETTING IT GESTATE FOR A
              WHILE. THE PARADOX IS THAT THE WORDS DISSOLVE BUT THE QUESTION MARK REMAINS.


               Anand Shantam, the question mark is bound to remain forever, because the question mark has
           nothing to do with the question at all. It has something to do with the mystery of life itself. Life
           never becomes known, it always remains a mystery, a question mark -- and a question mark which
           cannot be dissolved. It is in the very nature of existence, it is the very center of existence; there is no
           way to find any answer or explanation for it.
               That's why philosophy fails and poetry succeeds. That's why mathematics fails and music
           succeeds. That's why logic always lags behind and love reaches, arrives.
               The question mark is immensely significant. All questions are absurd. And all questions are
           sooner or later resolved, are bound to be resolved, because all questions have answers. If you can
           formulate a question you can find an answer for it, but the question mark is not your formulation. It
           is there; it is on each leaf of the trees, on each sound of the birds. On each cloud, on each star, on
           each atom, the question mark is there.
               Life is not a problem but a mystery. A problem is that which can be solved -- at least
           theoretically is soluble. A mystery is that which can be lived but can never be solved.

           An ancient Hassid story:
               An old Hassid master asked one of his disciples, "What do we mean when we use the word god?"
               The disciple wouldn't answer, the disciple wouldn't look in the eyes of the master. With bent
           head, ashamed of himself, he remained silent.
               The question was asked again and again. Thrice the master asked. The more the master asked,
           the more silent the disciple became. And the silence was very embarrassing. The disciple has to
           respect the question of the master -- and it was as if he has not even heard; no response from the
           disciple. The master was irritated and he asked, "Why don't you answer me? What do we mean by
           the word god when we use it?"
               And the disciple said, "Because I don't know, how can I answer? I don't know God!"
               And the master laughed, a laughter which can happen only to those who have arrived. He said,
           "And do you think I know?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Who knows? Who has ever known? But still God is, and still God has to be addressed.
                Whoever told you that God is an object of knowledge? God is not an object of knowledge, God
           is not an object at all. God is the silence that pervades you when words dissolve. God is the question
           mark that remains, Shantam, when questions are gone, evaporated. God is the mystery --
           unresolvable.
                I am not here to give answers, I am here to provoke in you the question mark, the ultimate
           question mark. It is not a question, remember; the ultimate question mark is not a question. There is
           no question at all. Simply you are encountering something ineffable, indefinable, infinite, eternal,
           with no beginning and no end, with no possibility to comprehend it, with no possibility to encompass
           it. On the contrary, God is the one who encompasses you, God is the one who comprehends you.
           God is the one for whom you are not a question nor a question mark.
                Slowly slowly, learn the ways of living in mystery. Mind continuously hankers to demystify
           everything; there is a deep urge in the mind to demystify. Why? -- because it can control only when
           something is demystified. Mystery starts controlling it, hence mind escapes from mysteries. Mind
           wants explanations, because once something is explained it can be manipulated; once something is
           no more a secret, then the mind is the master. In the presence of a secret the mind feels simply
           impotent. The greater the secret, the more the impotence of the mind.
                But that is where prayer arises, meditation arises, and all that is beautiful. That is where truth is
           felt. Mind is not the door to truth, it is a door to power.
                Francis Bacon is right when he says, "Knowledge is power." Mind is a power seeker; mind is
           always after power, more and more power. Hence mind slowly slowly became too much attached to
           science; mind became science. Science is the search for power. And then automatically science
           becomes reduced to technology. What is technology? How to manipulate nature. That "how" is
           technology; know-how is technology. Science prepares the blueprint, science gives the idea how to
           demystify existence, and then technology implements it.
                Religion is not of the mind, religion is of the heart. Mind raises questions, the heart knows only
           the ultimate question mark.
                It is beautiful, Shantam, it is tremendously important that you became aware of this phenomenon,
           that questions arise; in the beginning they look meaningful, but soon they are resolved. If one can
           wait, all questions resolve; there is no need to go anywhere to ask. The mind that is capable of
           creating a certain question is capable of finding the answer too -- in fact if you dissect the question
           deeply you will find the answer hidden there. The answer is always in the question. The question is
           only a form of the answer, the question is only the beginning of the answer. The question is the seed
           and the answer will be the sprout -- and the seed contains the sprout.
                If you wait a little, if you are a little patient, if you allow the question to move within you, you
           are capable of solving it. Either it will be solved or you will come to know that it is absurd. There are
           absurd questions which cannot be solved -- and they are not mysteries either, remember, they are
           simply absurd questions.
                For example, linguistically it may look perfectly right, grammatically it may look perfectly right,
           and existentially it may be absurd. For example, you can ask, "What is the smell of the color red?"
           Linguistically, grammatically, there is no flaw in it. "What is the smell of the color red?" -- the
           question can be raised, but if you look deep into it, it is not a question, it is simply absurd. Colors
           have nothing to do with smells; there is no relationship at all. Colors are colors, smells are smells;
           neither smells have colors, nor colors have smells.
                It is just like asking how to see music with the eyes. The question looks perfectly right: How to
           see music? But music is not an object to be seen, it is not an object for the eyes; it can only be heard,
           not seen. Beauty can be seen but cannot be heard.
                We can make a thousand and one absurd questions. People have asked down the ages... the
           so-called wise too. In the Middle Ages, the whole Christian world was so concerned, and there was
           such great argument and controversy on such absurd questions as: How many angels can stand on
           the point of a needle? Great theologians wrote great treatises on these questions.
                In fact, the so-called learned people are always deep down very stupid people. Their learnedness
           is nothing but a cover up for this inner stupidity. They raise great fuss for nothing, great ado for
           nothing. They are clever, that is true -- clever to create such absurd questions. At least they are able
           to give to those absurd questions an appearance of rationality.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                How many hells are there? In the times of Buddha the question became so important in India....
           Hindus believe in three hells, Jainas started believing in seven hells, and then there was really a man
           of insight, Sanjaya Vilethiputta, who must have been able to laugh at absurdities. He said, "Who says
           seven? I have exactly counted: there are seven hundred!"
                He must have been a wise man, he was simply joking about this absurd controversy. How many
           hells? How many heavens? How many angels? When did God create the world? Why did God create
           the world? All are absurd questions: you cannot solve them, because they are not questions in the
           first place. Neither are they mysteries, because a mystery cannot be formulated in words. It is only a
           question mark, a question mark in the silent heart -- just a great surprise, a wonder, awe. And then
           each and every thing creates awe.
                Allow this question mark to settle in you. The meaningful questions will be solved, the
           meaningless will be known as absurd; then finally remains only the question mark.
                I am happy, Shantam. You say: "The paradox is that the words dissolve but the question mark
           remains."
                Rejoice! Celebrate! This is a great moment, this is the door to the divine.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IS THERE REALLY SOMETHING LIKE AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX?


               Psychobabble! the psychologists have taken the place of the theologist. The theologian is out of
           date, the psychologist is in. And psychology has created great psychobabble, great words, strange
           words, and when you can use great and strange words which are really nothing but gibberish, you
           can impress people.
               Do you know from where the word gibberish comes? It comes from the name of a Sufi mystic,
           Jabbar. He used to talk nonsense, because he came to understand that whatsoever you say is
           nonsense. Then why even pretend that it is sense?
               Jabbar started really talking nonsense. He would use sounds, words... nobody could follow what
           he was saying. Everybody was free to have his own interpretation. The followers of Jabbar were
           many -- because when the master cannot be understood, it is very easy for the disciples to follow
           him, because then they can interpret.
               For example, if you had asked Jabbar, "Do you believe in God?" he would have said, "Hoo hoo!"
           Now, it is up to you to find out what "Hoo hoo!" means. The very clever one will think it is the last
           part of Allah-hoo, that the master has given only a hint, and so on, so forth.
               Or he will do something absurd. You ask, "What is God?" and he may stand on his head
           immediately. Now it is up to you to figure it out -- and everybody is clever in figuring out things.
           Somebody will think he had given the indication that everything is topsy-turvy, so whatsoever you
           have been thinking up to now has to be put upside down. Some disciples even started reading the
           scriptures backwards!
               But one thing was good about it: Jabbar must have enjoyed the whole show! He must have really
           enjoyed how many interpretations people can find. The English word gibberish comes from Jabbar.
               Now the greatest gibberish that is "in" is psychological. Freud really created a new language:
           psychoanalysis is nothing but a new language. For small things, for things which everybody
           understands, he will find such difficult words: "Oedipus complex" -- for a small thing, that every boy
           loves his mother. Now if you say every boy loves his mother, nobody can think that you are very
           learned, but if you say, "This boy suffers from an Oedipus complex," it sounds....

              One Jewish lady was talking to the neighbor, and she said, "The psychoanalyst who is treating
           my son has said that my son suffers from an Oedipus complex."
              And the neighbor lady said, "Oedipus schmoedipus! Doesn't matter as long as he is a good boy
           and loves his mother!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now, this word inferiority complex.... There is nothing like inferiority complex, all that is there
           is the phenomenon of the ego. And because of the phenomenon of the ego, two things are possible. If
           you are egoistic you are bound to compare yourself with others. The ego cannot exist without
           comparison, hence if you really want to drop the ego, drop comparing. You will be surprised: where
           has the ego gone? Compare, and it is there; and it is there only in comparison. It is not an actuality, it
           is a fiction created out of comparison.
                For example, you are passing through a garden and you come across a very big tree. Compare:
           the tree is so big, suddenly you are so small. If you don't compare, you enjoy the tree, there is no
           problem at all. The tree is big -- so what! So let it be big, you are not a tree. And there are other trees
           also which are not so big, but they are not suffering from any inferiority complex. I have never come
           across a tree which suffers from inferiority complex or from superiority complex. Even the highest
           tree, a Lebanon cedar, even that tree does not suffer from superiority complex, because comparison
           does not exist.
                Man creates comparison because ego is possible only if nourished by comparison continuously.
           But then you will have two outcomes: sometimes you will feel superior, and sometimes you will feel
           inferior. And the possibility of feeling inferior is greater than the possibility of feeling superior,
           because there are millions of people: somebody is more beautiful than you, somebody is taller than
           you, somebody is stronger than you, somebody seems to be more intelligent than you, somebody is
           more learned than you, somebody is more successful, somebody is more famous, somebody is this,
           somebody is that. If you just go on comparing, millions of people... you will gather a great inferiority
           complex. But it doesn't exist, it is your creation.
                Those who are more mad, they suffer from a superiority complex. They are so mad that when
           they compare they cannot see that there are millions of people who are different in many ways and
           superior in many ways. They are so obsessed with the ego that they remain closed to anything that is
           superior; they always look at the inferior. It is said that people like to meet people who are in some
           way inferior to them; it gives them great nourishment. People like people who support their ego.
                The more mad person will suffer from a superiority complex, because he will always choose
           those things which make him feel superior. But he knows that he is playing a trick. How can he
           deceive himself? He knows that he has chosen only those points which make him feel superior; he
           knows what he has not chosen -- that is there on the margin, he is perfectly aware of it. So his
           superiority complex is always shaking: it is made on sand, the house can collapse any moment. He
           suffers from anxiety because he has made a house on the sand.
                Jesus says: Don't make your house on the sand; find a rock.
                The more sane person will suffer from an inferiority complex, because he will look all around,
           will be available to all that is happening all around, and will start collecting ideas that he is inferior.
           But both are shadows of the ego, two sides of the ego. The superior person deep down carries the
           inferiority complex, and the person who suffers from inferiority complex deep down carries a
           superiority complex; he wants to be superior.

               I have heard -- I don't know how far it is correct -- that Morarji Desai asked a psychoanalyst -- of
           course in privacy -- "Why do I suffer from an inferiority complex?"
               The psychoanalyst went into deep analysis: days and days with Morarji Desai lying on his couch
           free associating. And then one day, bouncing with joy, the psychoanalyst declared, "Sir, I certify that
           you don't suffer from inferiority complex, you need not be worried about it."
               And Morarji Desai was also happy. He said, "But I had always thought that I suffer, and now you
           say I don't suffer. You must be right, but can you give me the explanation as to how you say so so
           confidently?"
               And the psychoanalyst said, "Sir, you don't suffer from inferiority complex -- you are simply
           inferior!"

               Except politicians, I don't think anybody is inferior. I make an exception for politicians. In fact, if
           somebody does not suffer from an inferiority complex he will not go into politics at all. Politics is
           the arena for those who suffer from an inferiority complex, because they want to prove to themselves
           and to the world that they are not inferior: Look, I have become the prime minister, or the president!
           Now who can say I am inferior? I have proved that I am not inferior. Politics attracts the people who
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are very egoistic and suffer from inferiority complex.
               Artists are just on the other polarity: they suffer from superiority complex. They know they are
           creators, they know that they have come with a special quality to create something in the world.
           Politicians suffer from an inferiority complex, and try to reach to higher and higher power posts to
           prove to themselves and to others that it is not so. Artists suffer from superiority complex; that's why
           artists constantly quarrel amongst themselves. No artist ever agrees that another artist has
           contributed anything to the world. They are continuously criticizing each other; they cannot be
           friends, they are all superior people!
               The mystic is the one who has come to see the whole stupidity of it, the whole game of the ego.
           And these are the three worlds available: the world of the politician -- the world of power politics --
           the world of the artist, or the world of the mystic.
               The mystic is one who has seen that all comparison is false, meaningless: he has dropped
           comparing. The moment you drop comparing, you are simply yourself -- neither superior nor
           inferior. How can you be superior or inferior if you are just yourself?
               Just think: the Third World War has happened and everybody else has disappeared from the
           world, and only Anand Bashir, who has asked this question, is left. The whole world is suddenly
           gone, only Bashir is left, sitting in Koregaon Park, Poona. Will you be superior or inferior? You will
           be simply yourself, because there will be nobody to compare with.
               A mystic is the one who simply knows that he is himself. He lives his life according to his own
           light, he creates his own space, he has his own being. He is utterly contented with himself, because
           without comparison you cannot be discontented either. And he is not an egoist, he cannot be -- ego
           needs comparison, ego feeds on comparison. He is simply doing his thing. The rose is a rose and the
           lotus is a lotus, and some tree is very high and some other tree is very small -- but everything is as it
           is.
               Just try to see for a single moment without comparing, and then where is superiority and where is
           inferiority? And where is the ego, the source of it all?

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I AM ADDICTED TO TELLING LIES. WHY DO I DO IT?


               Vimal, it may be just to feel superior! People start telling lies because that gives them a
           speciality: they can pretend that they know things which nobody else knows. Truth is universal, the
           lie is private. It is your own creation, nobody else knows about it; you become very special, the
           knower. If you say the truth you will not be special.

               I have heard that in a village there was a wise man. Once it happened that from the palace of the
           king some very precious diamonds were stolen and the king's people were searching for the stolen
           treasure. The king had loved those stones so much that at any cost they had to be brought back, but
           no clue was available.
               Then somebody suggested, "We have an old wise man in the town; maybe he can be of some
           support, some help, some insight he can give. Whenever we are in trouble -- we are poor people, we
           cannot go to very learned scholars, we cannot go to the experts -- we always go to our old wise man.
           It has never been a disappointment; he always finds some beautiful advice for us."
               So the authorities went to the wise man. The wise man closed his eyes, meditated a little, and
           then he said, "Yes, I know who has done it. But before I can tell you, a few promises from you. First,
           nobody should ever know that I have told you who has stolen the diamonds."
               The promise was of course given. Then the wise man said, "You come with me. We will have to
           go very far away from people, deep in the forest, so nobody can hear something or even guess. And
           just the chief of you has to come with me." He took the chief, and the chief was very excited: he was
           just on the verge of discovering the treasure and he was hoping to be rewarded by the king
           immensely. It was a long walk into the forest. Again and again he said, "Now there is nobody," but
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the old man said, "Just a little more."
               Finally the chief was tired and he said, "Why do you go on making me walk more and more? I
           am tired, utterly tired. If you know, please say. If you don't know, say it!"
               The wise man said, "I know it. Come close to me. I will whisper in your ears, so nobody hears."
               The chief said, "You seem to be almost mad. There is nobody here, we have left people miles
           away."
               But the wise man said, "Just in case." And he whispered in the ears of the chief, "It is absolutely
           certain some thief has done it."

               Now, if you say such universal truths you will not be very special. People love gossiping, people
           love telling lies, inventing lies. By inventing lies they have some special knowledge that nobody else
           in the world has; it is their own invention, so nobody knows about it. They can decorate it in such a
           way, they can rationalize, they can create many many strategies to protect it. And it always brings
           joy to people when they can befool others; then they know they are wiser than others.
               This is an ego trip. The ego is the greatest lie in the world, and the ego always feels good
           whenever it can feel special. And it is not a question whether you are telling a lie or not; the whole
           question is whether the other is believing it or not. If the other is believing, at least for the moment it
           looks like the truth. And when you create many believers in you, it gives you power.
               Truth needs no believers. Let me remind you: truth needs no believers. The sun rises in the
           morning -- you don't believe in it, do you? Nobody asks anybody, "Do you believe in the sun, sir?
           Do you believe in the moon?" If somebody comes and asks, "Do you believe in the sun, do you
           believe in the moon, do you believe in the trees?" you will think him mad. What is he asking these
           things for? They are, so there is no question of believing in them.
               People believe in lies; truth needs no believers. And when you invent lies you become a great
           leader. That's how on the earth three hundred religions exist. Truth is one -- and three hundred
           religions! People have shown great inventiveness. When lies are such that nobody can detect them
           and there is no way to prove for or against, you are protected. So many people go on talking spiritual
           lies; that is safer.
               Vimal, if you really want to enjoy telling lies, tell spiritual lies -- that the earth is hollow, that
           inside the earth there is the real civilization, that ufo's come from the hollow earth. Tell lies,
           supernatural, spiritual -- that God has not three faces but four. Nobody can prove or disprove how
           many faces God has; all that will be decisive is with what confidence you can lie. Your confidence
           will be catching people, it will become contagious. You can look, down the ages it has been
           happening.
               Adolf Hitler has written in his autobiography, Mein Kampf, that a lie repeated again and again
           becomes a truth. And he knows -- in fact nobody else knows it so well as he knows; it is his own
           experience. His whole life he lived on lies, lies so blatant that on the surface of it nobody would have
           thought that anybody would believe in them.
               For example, "The whole world is deteriorating, the whole world is going down to hell because
           of the Jews." How do the Jews come in? When for the first time he started talking about the Jews,
           even his friends laughed, even his friends told him, "This is stupid." He said "You simply wait. Go
           on repeating it, and not only non-Jews are going to believe it, even Jews will believe it. You just go
           on repeating it."
               Beliefs are created by constant repetition. And he made the whole German race believe -- one of
           the most intelligent races on the earth, and it became victim to this stupid man. But he had a few
           qualities. For example, he was capable of repeating something continuously for years with
           confidence, from the housetops, with absolute certainty, with no hesitation. It was contagious.
               People don't believe in what you say, people believe in the way you say it. And once you have
           learned the art of telling lies it becomes an addiction, because people start believing in you, you start
           becoming powerful. And then, if you can manage a few more things, your power will be immense.
               For example, if you can manage a certain character, that gives you credibility. If your character is
           such that people can believe in you more easily, that will help you. The people who live on lies
           always create a character around themselves; if not a character, then at least an appearance of it.
               Hitler was a MAHATMA. He was not a drinker, he would not touch any intoxicant. How can
           you not believe in such a person? He would eat only vegetarian food, he would not touch
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nonvegetarian food. How can you not believe in such a person? He would not drink even tea or
           coffee, he would not smoke. How can you not believe in such a person? He was a greater mahatma
           than Morarji Desai, because he would not even drink his own urine. How can you not believe in such
           a person? You have to believe! He has all the credibility.
               He would get up early in the morning, as has been taught down the ages; he would go early to
           bed. He remained a bachelor almost to the end -- I say almost, because only three hours before he
           died, committed suicide, he got married. I think that is the only thing that he ever did which can be
           called wise -- just three hours before! He must have thought, "Now what can marriage do to me? I
           am going to die anyway."
               Just three hours before... in the middle of the night, when he decided to commit suicide, he called
           the priest. The priest was awakened, was brought to his underground cell. Just three, four friends
           were present, the marriage ceremony was done quick and fast, and the only thing that they did after
           the marriage ceremony was commit suicide -- that was their honeymoon. He had remained a
           bachelor his whole life.
               These things give credibility. If you really want to be a liar, if you really want to go on lying,
           then you have to create proofs that you are a man of character, how can you lie? People will believe
           you. That's why your saints, who live on so-called spiritual lies, depend on character.
               A man who lives on truth need not depend on anything else; truth is enough. But truth does not
           create belief in people -- in fact, truth offends people. People love lies and are always offended by
           the truth. Vimal, that is the cause, not only of your addiction -- millions are addicted to lies, for the
           simple reason that people are never offended by lies. In fact they want to hear more and more. They
           say, "What is new?
               Truth is never new. If you are thinking about truth, then there is nothing new under the sun.
           When you say, "What is new? What is the news?" you are inquiring, "Give me a few more lies, a few
           more gossips, a few more rumors." And you are ready to believe. In fact the greater the lie is, the
           greater is the possibility of its belief, because if there is only a small lie it can be detected by people;
           they have that much intelligence. But if the lie is very big, bigger than their intelligence, they will
           never be able to detect it. That's why great lies live for centuries.
               Now, hell is a lie; there is no hell. And heaven is a lie; there is no heaven. But they have lived for
           centuries and centuries, and I don't think they are going to disappear. They will live. God as a person
           is a lie. There is godliness, but there is no God. Whenever I use the word god I simply mean
           godliness, remember it. Translate it always as godliness. There is a quality of godliness in existence,
           but there is no God. But people want a God, not godliness; they are not interested in godliness.
               That's why people like Buddha could not influence much. Buddha and his whole religion
           disappeared from this country. One of the most fundamental reasons was this: that he emphasized
           godliness and not God. If godliness is there, then it is a difficult task. You have to grow into
           godliness; it is not something readymade there that you can possess. It is not something that you can
           pray to, it is not something that you can desire anything from. It is not already there, it has to be
           created in the innermost core of your being. It is like love -- it has to bloom in you, you have to
           release the fragrance of it. You have to become godly, only then there is God; otherwise there is no
           God.
               But this is too much. Nobody wants to pay so great a price. Why not believe in a simple lie, that
           there is a God -- a very very old ancient man with a white beard, sitting on a golden throne, ready to
           fulfill any of your demands if you truly ask? And that is the trick. If your prayer is fulfilled, the
           priest can say, "You really asked"; if it is not fulfilled, "There was no trust in your prayer."
               In fact there is never trust in your prayer, because when there is trust there is no need to pray. All
           prayers arise out of doubt. But sometimes -- it is just a coincidence -- some prayers happen to be
           fulfilled. It is just a happening, it is just a chance; there is nobody to fulfill them. But when they are
           fulfilled, the priest can exploit the situation. He can say, "Look -- you prayed deeply, trustfully, your
           prayer is fulfilled."
               But this happens only once in a while. Ninety-nine times in a hundred your prayer is not fulfilled.
           But you know yourself that there was not trust; doubt was there. Even when you were praying, there
           was doubt whether there is a God, whether he will hear, whether he will listen, whether he will
           oblige -- all kinds of doubts. In spite of all these doubts you say, "Why not try? What you are going
           to lose? Give it a try. Maybe, perhaps...." You know it. So when it is not fulfilled, the priest can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           always say to you, "Your trust was not total."
               God is a lie as a person. God is a quality, not a personality. You cannot pray to God. You can be
           in prayer, but when the prayer is really there it is only a quality of love, nothing else. No words to
           express it, nobody to address it, it is simply a song, a wordless song in the heart, just a stirring of the
           deepest in you.
               People love lies. Truth is arduous. And people also love lies because they make them feel good.
           You must lie about somebody else: you meet a and you lie about b and you make a feel good; then
           you meet b and you lie about a and you make b feel good. When you lie about others to people you
           give them the idea that they are better than others. You can play this game, and if you play it
           cleverly, cunningly, you can exploit very much.

               Mulla Nasruddin and his friend Rahimtullah are standing on a street corner insulting one another.
           The one calls the other stupid, a cheat, a thief. The other says, "You are a coward, a miser, a
           hypocrite." Finally they begin insulting each other's families.
               Mulla Nasruddin looks Rahimtullah straight in the eye and says, "Your sister is a stinking old
           whore; for twenty-five paisa she will let a one-eyed leper crawl over her."
               Rahimtullah stands there, speechless. A bystander is amazed. He goes over to him and says, "For
           God's sake, man, how can you just stand there and let the Mulla insult your sister like that?"
               Rahimtullah says, "I don't have a sister, I never had a sister, and now that my parents are both
           dead I never will have a sister."
               So the bystander turns to Mulla Nasruddin and says, "Mulla, there is no point your insulting him
           like that, he does not have a sister."
               "Sure," says the Mulla. "Of course not. I know it and he knows it, and now even you know it. But
           I ask you, how many of the people who had their windows open and were listening to our every
           word -- how many of them also know it?"

               People are living in enormous ignorance; they have not lit the candle of light that is there in their
           hearts. Their interiority is full of darkness. They don't know even themselves -- what else can they
           know? Hence you can lie easily and they will believe it, and you can exploit their belief. The
           politicians have been doing it, the priests have been doing it, and it has been done down the ages.
           Exploit people. This is one of the most cunning businesses ever invented by man.
               In the name of religion, only lies and lies are being propagated. Hence whenever a man of truth
           arrives, there is great confusion. Jesus creates confusion because he starts telling the truth as it is,
           and people have been accustomed to lies. They think their lies are the truth, and now here comes this
           man and he starts saying something else, something totally different. Either they have to believe in
           this man... then they have to drop their whole tradition, which is a long long investment, and only a
           very few courageous ones can do it. The easier way is to destroy this man, to make this man silent,
           so they can go on dreaming and believing in their lies.
               You ask me, "I am addicted to telling lies. Why do I do it?"
               You must have known the ancient art of the politicians and the priests; maybe you unconsciously
           have stumbled upon it. And now those lies are paying off for you.
               I know one man, a very good man in a way. He has never worked, he has never done anything,
           but he is very good at a few things; at playing cards, at playing chess, at gossiping and things like
           that he is perfect. Very cultured, very educated -- he is a Ph.D.; we had studied together. He has
           lived his whole life on lies and cheating people.
               When I was a professor in the university, sometimes he would come and stay with me for a few
           days. Once I asked him, "When are you going to stop all this business of telling lies?"
           He said, "Never!"
           I said, "But sooner or later you will be caught."
               He said, "Never... because there are so many millions and millions of people in this world, and I
           cheat a person only one time; then I forget about him, then I find another victim." And he said, "I
           have only a small life, maybe seventy, at the most eighty years, and the world is big and victims are
           so many -- I can go on cheating."
               He was very clever in making friends, he was very clever at creating a feeling in you that he is a
           man who can be trusted. Once the trust has arisen, he would immediately deceive you. But that much
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is certain: he never deceived a person twice. There is no need either, there are so many people.
               You must have found some nourishment in telling lies to people. Maybe they pay you more
           attention, maybe they make you feel that you know more than they know. There are people who go
           on reading each other's hands. Nobody knows anything. There are people -- tarot card readers,
           experts in I Ching reading.... These are all basically games. You can invent your own game. And if
           you start playing these games you will become more and more efficient. And these things pay --
           although what you are gaining is mundane, spurious, and what you are losing is very essential. You
           are losing your very soul, you are committing suicide, but it feels as if it is paying.
               Stop enjoying it, unlearn the whole art! Of course you will feel many difficulties arising, because
           you must have become dependent on the art of telling lies. Take the risk, let it be hard. For a few
           days, it will be hard. Stop immediately! Listen to Atisha's advice: three difficulties.
               First: if you become aware when you are lying to somebody, immediately, in the middle of it, ask
           to be forgiven. Say immediately, "This was a lie, and I was again getting into my old trick. Forgive
           me, please." It will be hard, but there is no other way. When a habit has become very deep-rooted, it
           has to be hammered.
               Second: become aware when you are just preparing to tell a lie. Just as it is on the lips, just on
           the tongue... stop it then and there, abort it then and there.
               And third: become aware when a lie starts arising in your feelings, in the heart.
               If you can do these three awarenesses, lying will disappear. And the moment lying disappears,
           truth arrives. And truth is the only thing worth seeking and searching, because truth liberates.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              YOU SPEAK ABOUT LOVE AND COMPASSION. I KNOW OF AND FEEL DIFFERENT FORMS OF
              LOVE AND COMPASSION. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF LOVE, AND WHAT
              YOU MEAN BY COMPASSION?


                Dorothy Kaplan, love is a ladder, a ladder of three rungs. The lowest rung is sex, the middle is
           love, and the highest is prayer. Because of these three rungs there are a thousand and one
           combinations possible.
                Real compassion appears only at the third rung when sex energy becomes prayer -- the
           compassion of a buddha, the compassion Atisha is talking about. When passion has been
           transformed so totally, so utterly that it is no more passion at all, then compassion appears. Real
           compassion appears only when your sex energy has become prayer.
                But compassion can appear on the second rung too, and compassion can appear on the first rung
           also. Hence there are so many different compassions. For example, if compassion appears on the first
           rung, when you are living at the lowest level of love-energy, sex, then compassion will be just an ego
           trip. Then compassion will be very egotistic: you will enjoy the idea of being compassionate. You
           will really enjoy the other's suffering, because it is the other's suffering that is giving you the
           opportunity to be compassionate.
                Somebody has fallen in the river and is drowning. The sexual person can jump in and save him,
           but his joy is that he was so good, that he did something beautiful, something great. He will talk
           about it with pride, he will brag about it. Compassion on the lowest rung, that of sex, will appear
           only as an ego trip.
                That's what millions of missionaries all over the world are doing -- serving the poor, serving the
           ill, serving the uneducated aboriginals, primitives. But the whole joy is that, "I am doing something
           great." The 'I' is strengthened. That is an ugly form of compassion. It is called duty. Duty is a
           four-letter dirty word.
                The second kind of compassion appears when love has arrived. Then compassion is sympathy:
           you feel, you really feel for the other. You fall into a harmony with the other, the other's suffering
           stirs you. It is not something to brag about. On the second rung, you will never talk about your
           compassion, never; it is not something to be talked about. In fact you will never feel that you have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           done anything special, you will simply feel you have done whatsoever was to be done. You will see
           that it was human to do it. There is nothing special in it, nothing extraordinary; you have not attained
           some spiritual merit in doing it. There is nothing like merit in it: it was natural, spontaneous. Then
           compassion is becoming more soft, more beautiful.
                At the third rung, where sex energy becomes prayer, compassion appears as empathy -- not even
           sympathy, but empathy. Sympathy means feeling the other's suffering, but you are still at a distance;
           empathy means becoming one with the other's suffering -- not only feeling it but suffering it, actually
           going into it. If somebody is crying, sympathy means you feel for the one who is crying, empathy
           means you start crying. You are not only in a feeling space, you become attuned, you become really
           one: at-one-ment happens.
                A man came to Buddha and asked, "I am very rich and I have no children, and my wife has also
           died. Now I have all the money in the world. I would like to do some meritorious work. I would like
           to do something for the poor and the downtrodden. Just tell me, what should I do?"
                And it is said Buddha became very sad and a tear rolled down from his eye.
                The man was very much puzzled. He said, "Tears in your eyes? And you look so sad -- why?"
                Buddha said, "You cannot help anybody, because you have not even helped yourself yet. And
           you cannot do anything compassionate, because your energies are still at the lowest. Your base metal
           has not yet become gold. In fact," Buddha said, "I am feeling so sorry for you. You want to be of
           some help to people, but you are not. You don't exist yet, because awareness has not happened, and
           without awareness how can you be? You don't have a real center from where compassion can flow."
                Compassion can have these three categories, and love also has three categories. First, sex. Sex
           simply means: "Give me -- give me more and more!" It is exploitation, it is what Martin Buber calls
           the I-it relationship: "You are a thing and I want to use you." The man uses the woman, the woman
           uses the man, the parents use the children and the children use parents, friends use friends. They say,
           "A friend is a friend only; a friend in need is a friend indeed." Use, reduce the other into a
           commodity.
                To live in the I-it world is to miss the whole wonder of existence. Then you are surrounded by
           things -- not by persons, not by people, not by life, but just material things. The poorest man in the
           world is one who lives in the I-it relationship. Sex is exploitation.
                Love is totally different. Love is not exploitation. Love is not an I-it relationship, it is an I-thou
           relationship. The other is respected as a person in his own right; the other is not a thing to be used, to
           be possessed, to be manipulated. The other is an independent person, a freedom. The other has to be
           communicated with, not exploited. Love is a communication of energies.
                Sex is only "Give me, give me, give me more!" Hence the sexual relationship is continuously
           that of war, conflict, because the other also says "Give me!" Both want more and more, and nobody
           is ready to give. Hence the conflict, the tug-of-war. And of course whosoever proves more strong
           will exploit the other. Because man has been muscularly stronger than woman, he has exploited, he
           has reduced women to utter nonentities; he has destroyed the soul of women. And it was easier for
           him if the soul was completely destroyed.
                For centuries women were not allowed to read; in many religions women were not allowed to go
           to the temple, women were not allowed to become priests. Women were not allowed any public life,
           any social life. They were imprisoned in the houses; they were cheap labor, the whole day working,
           working, working. And they were reduced to sex objects. There has not been much difference
           between prostitutes and wives in the past. The wife was reduced into a permanent prostitute, that's
           all. The relationship was not a relationship, it was an ownership.
                Love respects the other. It is a give-and-take relationship. Love enjoys giving, and love enjoys
           taking. It is a sharing, it is a communication. Both are equal in love; in a sexual relationship both are
           not equal. Love has a totally different beauty to it.
                The world is slowly slowly moving towards love relationships; hence there is great turmoil. All
           the old institutions are disappearing -- they have to disappear, because they were based on the I-it
           relationship. New ways of communication, new ways of sharing are bound to be discovered. They
           will have a different flavor, the flavor of love, of sharing. Nonpossessive they will be; there will be
           no owner.
                Then the highest state of love is prayer. In prayer there is communion. In sex there is the I-it
           relationship, in love the I-thou relationship. Martin Buber stops there; his Judaic tradition won't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           allow him to go further. But one step more has to be taken: that is "neither I nor thou" -- a
           relationship where I and thou disappear, a relationship where two persons no more function as two
           but function as one. A tremendous unity, a harmony, a deep accord, two bodies but one soul. That is
           the highest quality of love: I call it prayer.
               Love has these three stages, and compassion accordingly has three stages, and both can exist in
           different combinations.
               Hence, Dorothy Kaplan, there are so many kinds of love and so many kinds of compassion. But
           the basic, the most fundamental, is to understand this three-rung ladder of love. That will help you,
           that will give you an insight into where you are, what kind of love you are living in and what kind of
           compassion is happening to you. Watch. Beware not to remain caught in it. There are higher realms,
           heights to be climbed, peaks to be attained.

           And the last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU. PLEASE DON'T CONFUSE ME. I HAVE COME HERE TO ATTAIN
              SOME CLARITY.


               Suraj, you have come to the wrong place. Confusion is my technique to bring clarity. You are
           feeling confused because you must have come with certain prejudices and I am shattering them.
           Hence the confusion, hence you are feeling chaos. You had come here to be made more certain about
           your prejudices. I am not here to help your prejudices, I am not here to help your traditions, your
           conditionings. My work consists in demolishing you completely, because only when you are utterly
           demolished the new is born. When the old ceases to exist, the new appears -- and that new has
           clarity.
               Clarity is not certainty, certainty is not clarity. Clarity comes not out of mind and its projections
           and ideas and philosophies, clarity comes out of the mirrorlike quality of no-mind. Clarity simply
           means that you have no idea of what is, that you have no philosophy to cling to, that you have no
           ideology -- Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, communist -- that you are simply without any ideology,
           without any philosophy, without any scripture: empty, utterly empty.
               That virginity is clarity. Then all dust is gone and the mirror reflects that which is.
           You say: "Beloved Osho, I don't understand you."
               It is not a question of understanding at all. I am not trying in any way to make myself understood
           by you. It is not a question of understanding, knowing; it is a question of feeling, seeing, being. But
           that's what happens to many people: they come with a certain idea, with a certain language that they
           understand. I use different methods that they have never even heard about. They come with their
           expectations, their ideologies, their language. I speak a totally different language, and I have no
           ideology to teach you. I have nothing to teach you; I am not a teacher at all. I have nothing to convey
           to you, I have no message. You will have to learn my language; otherwise there is going to be more
           and more misunderstanding and more and more confusion.

               Did you hear about the P.E. lecturer who went to the doctor and said, "When I was twenty it was
           like steel -- so solid I could not bend it at all. When I was thirty I could bend it, but only a wee bit,
           mind you. Now I'm sixty-four, I can tie a knot in it."
               After listening to this, the doctor asked what it was that he wanted to know. And the lecturer
           replied, "Am I getting stronger, doctor?"

           Meditate over it. Different languages....

               An inexperienced young man visits a house of prostitution. He is surprised at the politeness of
           the girl. In the morning he gets dressed and is about to depart.
           "How about some money?" says the girl.
           "Oh, no," he replies, "you have been kind enough already."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              The traveling saleswoman goes to bed with the farmer's son. Trying to get something going, she
           says to him, "Would you trade sides with me? Roll over me and I will roll over you, and we will be
           more comfortable."
           "Oh, that's all right, ma'am. I'll just walk to your side of the bed."
           He does so. This happens several more times. Finally she says, "I don't think you know what I really
           want."
           "Yes I do," he replies. "You want the whole darn bed, but you ain't gonna get it!"

               The draft board examiners eyed the swishy young man with suspicion. They had orders to watch
           out for potential draft evaders feigning homosexuality. After subjecting the chap to an extensive
           physical and psychological examination, one of the examiners declared, "Well, fellah, it looks like
           you are going to make a good little soldier."
           "Fabulous!" replied the young man. "When do I meet him?"

           Enough for today.




                                             The Book of Wisdom
                                                   Chapter #20
                                      Chapter title: Diogenes and the Dog
           2 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903020
              ShortTitle: WISDOM20
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 109 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS THIS ATTACHMENT TO MISERY? AND WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO BE HAPPY?


               Prem Darshan, misery has many things to give to you which happiness cannot give. In fact,
           happiness takes away many things from you. Happiness takes all that you have ever had, all that you
           have ever been; happiness destroys you. Misery nourishes your ego, and happiness is basically a
           state of egolessness. That is the problem, the very crux of the problem. That's why people find it very
           difficult to be happy. That's why millions of people in the world have to live in misery... have
           decided to live in misery. It gives you a very very crystallized ego. Miserable, you are. Happy, you
           are not. In misery, crystallization; in happiness you become diffused.
               If this is understood then things become very clear. Misery makes you special. Happiness is a
           universal phenomenon, there is nothing special about it. Trees are happy and animals are happy and
           birds are happy. The whole existence is happy, except man. Being miserable, man becomes very
           special, extraordinary.
               Misery makes you capable of attracting people's attention. Whenever you are miserable you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           attended to, sympathized with, loved. Everybody starts taking care of you. Who wants to hurt a
           miserable person? Who is jealous of a miserable person? Who wants to be antagonistic to a
           miserable person? That would be too mean.
               The miserable person is cared for, loved, attended to. There is great investment in misery. If the
           wife is not miserable the husband simply tends to forget her. If she is miserable the husband cannot
           afford to neglect her. If the husband is miserable the whole family, the wife, the children, are around
           him, worried about him; it gives great comfort. One feels one is not alone, one has a family, friends.
               When you are ill, depressed, in misery, friends come to visit you, to solace you, to console you.
           When you are happy, the same friends become jealous of you. When you are really happy, you will
           find the whole world has turned against you.
               Nobody likes a happy person, because the happy person hurts the egos of the others. The others
           start feeling, "So you have become happy and we are still crawling in darkness, misery and hell.
           How dare you be happy when we all are in such misery!"
               And of course the world consists of miserable people, and nobody is courageous enough to let
           the whole world go against him; it is too dangerous, too risky. It is better to cling to misery, it keeps
           you a part of the crowd. Happy, and you are an individual; miserable, you are part of a crowd --
           Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Indian, Arabian, Japanese. Happy? Do you know what happiness
           is? Is it Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan? Happiness is simply happiness. One is transported into
           another world. One is no more part of the world the human mind has created, one is no more part of
           the past, of the ugly history. One is no more part of time at all. When you are really happy, blissful,
           time disappears, space disappears.
               Albert Einstein has said that in the past scientists used to think that there were two realities --
           space and time. But he said that these two realities are not two -- they are two faces of the same
           single reality. Hence he coined the word spaciotime, a single word. Time is nothing else but the
           fourth dimension of space. Einstein was not a mystic, otherwise he would have introduced the third
           reality also -- the transcendental, neither space nor time. That too is there, I call it the witness. And
           once these three are there, you have the whole trinity. You have the whole concept of trimurti, three
           faces of God. Then you have all the four dimensions. The reality is four-dimensional: three
           dimensions of space, and the fourth dimension of time.
               But there is something else, which cannot be called the fifth dimension, because it is not the fifth
           really, it is the whole, the transcendental. When you are blissful you start moving into the
           transcendental. It is not social, it is not traditional, it has nothing to do with human mind at all.
               Your question is significant, Darshan: "What is this attachment to misery?"
               There are reasons. Just look into your misery, watch, and you will be able to find what the
           reasons are. And then look into those moments when once in a while you allow yourself the joy of
           being in joy, and then see what differences are there. These will be the few things: when you are
           miserable you are a conformist. Society loves it, people respect you, you have great respectability,
           you can even become a saint; hence your saints are all miserable. The misery is written large on their
           faces, in their eyes. Because they are miserable they are against all joy. They condemn all joy as
           hedonism; they condemn every possibility of joy as sin. They are miserable, and they would like to
           see the whole world miserable. In fact only in a miserable world can they be thought to be saints. In
           a happy world they would have to be hospitalized, mentally treated. They are pathological.
               I have seen many saints, and I have been looking into the lives of your past saints. Ninety-nine
           out of a hundred of them are simply abnormal -- neurotic or even psychotic. But they were respected
           -- and they were respected for their misery, remember. The more misery they lived through, the more
           they were respected. There have been saints who would beat their body with a whip every day in the
           morning, and people would gather to see this great austerity, asceticism, penance. And the greatest
           was one who would have wounds all over his body -- and these people were thought to be saints!
               There have been saints who have destroyed their eyes, because it is because of the eyes that one
           becomes aware of beauty, and lust arises. And they were respected because they had destroyed their
           eyes. God had given them eyes to see the beauty of existence; they became blind by their own
           decision.
               There have been saints who cut their genital organs. And they were respected very much,
           tremendously, for the simple reason that they had been self-destructive, violent with themselves.
           These people were psychologically ill.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                There have been saints who have been worshipped because they were capable of fasting for long
           periods, were experts in fasting. It is a certain expertise, you need a little training. Not much
           intelligence is needed; the training is very ordinary and any stupid person can go through it and learn
           it. You just have to be able to enjoy suffering -- and only the ill person enjoys suffering. If you can
           remain for ten, twelve days on a fast, only the first four, five days are difficult. Then the body
           metabolism becomes attuned to not eating. In fact, it starts eating itself.
                The body has a dual mechanism in it; for emergency purposes the body has a dual mechanism.
           You eat, you get energy from the outside, because every day you need a certain quantity of energy to
           live by. If you don't do that, then the body has some stored energy for emergency times; that's what
           fat is. Fat is emergency food, stored food. If a person is normal, healthy, he can live for three months
           without food; that much fat the body contains.
                In the ancient days when the body was developing and man was coming down from the trees and
           was becoming a hunter, it was not possible every day to find food. Some days you would find it,
           some days you would not find. Man started gathering some storage inside; the body has learned this.
                The more afraid you are of tomorrow, the more fat you will gather. That's why women gather
           more fat. Down the ages they have been more afraid -- they have been made more afraid by men.
           They gather more fat. And women are more capable of going on a fast than men. Women need more
           fat also because they will have to go through pregnancy, and eating becomes difficult in pregnancy.
           They will have to eat their own stored food. In fact to be on a fast is nothing but eating yourself, it is
           cannibalism. Reduced to the truth, a man who fasts is a cannibal; he eats himself. That's why when
           you fast, every day one or two pounds of weight start to disappear. Where is it going? You are eating
           it; it is your need, everyday need. That much energy is used by your machine, by your body.
                Great saints were doing long fasts, just torturing themselves. But it is not much of an intelligent
           thing. Just for a few days, the first week, it is difficult; the second week it is very easy; the third
           week it becomes difficult to eat. The fourth week you have completely forgotten. The body enjoys
           eating itself and feels less heavy, obviously, with no problems to digest. And the whole energy that
           is continuously being used in digestion becomes available to the head. You can think more, you can
           concentrate more, you can forget the body and its needs.
                But these things simply created miserable people and a miserable society. Look into your misery
           and you will find certain fundamental things are there. One: it gives you respect. People feel more
           friendly towards you, more sympathetic. You will have more friends if you are miserable. This is a
           very strange world, something is fundamentally wrong with it. It should not be so, the happy person
           should have more friends. But become happy and people become jealous of you, they are no more
           friendly. They feel cheated; you have something that is not available to them. Why are you happy?
           So we have learned down the ages a subtle mechanism: to repress happiness and to express misery. It
           has become our second nature.
                My sannyasins have to drop this whole mechanism. You have to learn how to be happy, and you
           have to learn to respect happy people and you have to learn to pay more attention to happy people,
           remember. This is a great service to humanity. Don't sympathize too much with people who are
           miserable. If somebody is miserable, help, but don't sympathize. Don't give him the idea that misery
           is something worthwhile. Let him know perfectly well that you are helping him, but "This is not out
           of respect, this is simply because you are miserable." And you are not doing anything but trying to
           bring the man out of his misery, because misery is ugly. Let the person feel that the misery is ugly,
           that to be miserable is not something virtuous, that "You are not doing a great service to humanity."
                Be happy, respect happiness, and help people to understand that happiness is the goal of life --
           SATCHITANAND. The Eastern mystics have said God has three qualities. He is sat: he is truth,
           being. He is chit: consciousness, awareness. And, ultimately, the highest peak is anand: bliss.
           Wherever bliss is, God is. Whenever you see a blissful person, respect him, he is holy. And wherever
           you feel a gathering which is blissful, festive, think of it as a sacred place.
                We have to learn a totally new language, only then this old rotten humanity can be changed. We
           have to learn the language of health, wholeness, happiness. It is going to be difficult because our
           investments are great.
                Darshan, that is why it is so difficult to be happy and so easy to be miserable. One thing more:
           misery needs no talents, anybody can afford it. Happiness needs talents, genius, creativity. Only
           creative people are happy.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Let this sink deep in your heart: only creative people are happy. Happiness is a by-product of
           creativity. Create something, and you will be happy. Create a garden, let the garden bloom, and
           something will bloom in you. Create a painting, and something starts growing in you with the
           growing painting. As the painting comes to the finish, as you are giving the last touches to the
           painting, you will see you are no more the same person. You are giving the last touches to something
           that is very new in you.
               Write a poem, sing a song, dance a dance, and see: you start becoming happy. That's why in my
           commune creativity is going to be our prayer to God. This commune is not going to be of those sad,
           long faces who are not doing anything, just sitting under trees or in their huts, vegetating. This
           commune is going to be a commune of artists, painters, poets, sculptors, dancers, musicians -- and so
           many things are there to be done!
               God has only given you an opportunity to be creative: life is an opportunity to be creative. If you
           are creative you will be happy. Have you seen the joy in the eyes of a mother when the child starts
           growing in her womb? Have you seen the change that happens to the woman when she becomes
           pregnant? What is happening? Something is flowering in her, she is being creative, she is going to
           give birth to a new life. She is utterly happy, tremendously joyous, a song is in her heart.
               When the child is born and the woman sees the child for the first time, see the depth of her eyes,
           the joy of her being. She has gone through much pain for this joy, but she has not gone into this pain
           for the pain's sake. She has suffered, but her suffering is tremendously valuable; it is not ascetic, it is
           creative. She has suffered to create more joy.
               When you want to climb to the highest peak of the mountains, it is arduous. And when you have
           reached the peak and you lie down, whispering with the clouds, looking at the sky, the joy that fills
           your heart -- that joy always comes whenever you reach any peak of creativity.
               It needs intelligence to be happy, and people are taught to remain unintelligent. The society does
           not want intelligence to flower. The society does not need intelligence; in fact it is very much afraid
           of intelligence. The society needs stupid people. Why? -- because stupid people are manageable.
           Intelligent people are not necessarily obedient -- they may obey, they may not obey. But the stupid
           person cannot disobey; he is always ready to be commanded. The stupid person needs somebody to
           command him, because he has no intelligence to live on his own. He wants somebody to direct him;
           he seeks and searches his own tyrants.
               Politicians don't want intelligence to happen in the world, priests don't want intelligence to
           happen in the world, generals don't want intelligence to happen in the world. Nobody really wants it.
           People want everybody to remain stupid, then everybody is obedient, conformist, never goes outside
           the fold, remains always part of the mob, is controllable, manipulatable, manageable.
               The intelligent person is rebellious. Intelligence is rebellion. The intelligent person decides on
           his own whether to say no or yes. The intelligent person cannot be traditional, he cannot go on
           worshipping the past; there is nothing to worship in the past. The intelligent person wants to create a
           future, wants to live in the present. His living in the present is his way of creating the future.
               The intelligent person does not cling to the dead past, does not carry corpses. Howsoever
           beautiful they have been, howsoever precious, he does not carry the corpses. He is finished with the
           past; it is gone, and it is gone forever.
               But the foolish person is traditional. He is ready to follow the priest, ready to follow any stupid
           politician, ready to follow any order -- anybody with authority and he is ready to fall at his feet.
           Without intelligence there can be no happiness. Man can only be happy if he is intelligent, utterly
           intelligent.
               Meditation is a device to release your intelligence. The more meditative you become, the more
           intelligent you become. But remember, by intelligence I don't mean intellectuality. Intellectuality is
           part of stupidity.
               Intelligence is a totally different phenomenon, it has nothing to do with the head. Intelligence is
           something that comes from your very center. It wells up in you, and with it many things start
           growing in you. You become happy, you become creative, you become rebellious, you become
           adventurous, you start loving insecurity, you start moving into the unknown. You start living
           dangerously, because that is the only way to live.
               To be a sannyasin means to decide that "I will live my life intelligently," that "I will not be just
           an imitator," that "I will live within my own being, I will not be directed and commanded from
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           without," that "I will risk all to be myself, but I will not be part of a mob psychology," that "I will
           walk alone," that "I will find my own path," that "I will make my own path in the world of truth."
           Just by walking into the unknown you create the path. The path is not already there; just by walking,
           you create it.
               For stupid people there are superhighways where crowds move. And for centuries and centuries
           they have been moving -- and going nowhere, going in circles. Then you have the comfort that you
           are with many people, you are not alone.
               Intelligence gives you the courage to be alone, and intelligence gives you the vision to be
           creative. A great urge, a great hunger arises to be creative. And only then, as a consequence, you can
           be happy, you can be blissful.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY CAN I REMEMBER THE USELESS THINGS FOR YEARS, BUT NOT THE ESSENTIAL
              ONES? I FORGET THE ESSENTIAL ALMOST IMMEDIATELY.


                Veerendra, you are fortunate -- fortunate in the sense that at least you hear the essential. People
           don't hear at all, so there is no question of forgetting. People only hear the nonessential. Mind feeds
           on the nonessential, the useless, trivia.
                The essential is a beautiful word, it comes from essence. The essential feeds your essence, hence
           it is called essential. The nonessential only decorates your surface; the nonessential remains on the
           circumference, it never reaches to the center of your being. Only the essential reaches to the center.
                But your circumference is thick, it does not allow the essential to reach to the center; it hinders. It
           is a strategy of the mind, because if your being becomes more powerful, the mind loses its grip on
           you. There is a great conflict between the circumference and the center: who is going to dominate
           whom? The circumference is dominating. The circumference only allows that which nourishes it,
           and does not allow that which nourishes the essence -- and everything has to pass through the
           circumference.
                Scientists say that only two percent is allowed to reach to the core; ninety-eight percent is
           prevented from reaching. That's why you have poor souls -- rich minds and poor souls,
           knowledgeable minds but foolish souls. You don't have wisdom. Unless you start doing something
           deliberately about it, this is going to remain so.
                Mind loves the nonessential; it is always hungry for gossip. Something utterly useless, and it
           listens so attentively.

               I have heard about a priest. He was giving a discourse to his congregation, and almost everybody
           was fast asleep -- that's what people do in churches, temples. In fact, people who suffer from
           sleeplessness, they go to the churches, to the temples. If everything fails, tranquilizers don't work
           any more, just go to a religious discourse -- it never fails, it immediately succeeds.
               So almost everybody was asleep. And that was not the problem, because the priest knew, it was
           his whole life's experience. But a few people were there who were snoring too, and that was a great
           disturbance. So out from nowhere, unconnected with the discourse, he started telling a story.
               He said, "Once it happened I was passing through a desert. There was nobody, just I was there
           with my donkey, and suddenly the donkey started speaking to me!"
               Everybody was fully awake. Everybody! Not a single person was asleep. And then he dropped
           the story then and there, started his discourse again. One man stood up and said, "But what
           happened? What did the donkey say?"
               The priest said, "You are so much interested in what the donkey said, you all became fully
           awake. But you are not interested in what I am saying."

              Muza Dai Boo, an Arab merchant, was in the marketplace one day when he felt terrible cramps.
           He just couldn't control himself, and let out a long loud fart.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               People stared at him from all sides. Mortally embarrassed, he ran back to his house, packed his
           few belongings and journeyed far away. For years he traveled from town to town, but always
           avoided his home town.
               At last, an old and weary man, he decided to return. He had grown a long beard and his face had
           aged enough so that he was sure he would not be recognized. His heart longed for the old familiar
           streets.
               Once in town, he went directly to the marketplace. There, to his surprise, he saw the street had
           been paved. He turned to the man nearest him and said, "My friend, how smooth this street is! When,
           by the grace of Allah, was it so neatly paved?"
               "Oh, that," said the man. "That was done three years, four months and two days after Muza Dai
           Boo farted in the marketplace."

                People never forget the stupid things of life. Muza Dai Boo they have forgotten, nobody
           recognizes him -- but that has become something historical.
                Veerendra, it is so with everybody's mind, it is nothing special to you.
                You say: "Why can I remember only the useless things and for years, but not the essential ones?"
                The essential ones are against your mind. The mind is continuously afraid of allowing any truth
           to enter you. It finds a thousand and one ways to avoid the truth, because the truth is going to shatter
           it. It allows only that which is supportive. And because mind itself is rubbish, it collects rubbish, and
           very joyously.
                What Buddha has said will be forgotten. Buddha used to repeat each statement three times. Once
           somebody asked, "Why do you repeat three times?"
                He said, "Because I know, the first time you don't hear at all. The second time you hear, but you
           hear something else that I have not said. The third time I hope that you hear that which is said,
           exactly that which is said."
                It is very difficult to read Buddhist scriptures, because each statement repeated three times
           becomes very tiring. So now they have invented a device: they write the statement and they make
           three stars, so you know three times... no need to read three times.
                If somebody came to Buddha to surrender, he had to surrender three times. He had to say,
           "buddham sharanam gachchhami, sangham sharanam gachchhami, dhammam sharanam
           gachchhami" -- three times. Why? Buddha is reported to have said, "The first time you may have
           said it but may not have meant it. The second time you may have meant it, but may not have meant
           that which I mean by it. The third time I hope that you are exactly doing what is expected."
                It is not a formal thing to say, "buddham sharanam gachchhami, I go to the feet of the Buddha."
           If it is formal it is meaningless. If you are simply repeating it because others are repeating it, it is
           useless. And people are imitators.

               Once it happened, I was staying in a house and I told the friend with whom I was staying that
           people are imitators.
           He said, "All?"
           I said, "All."
           He said, "Then give me a demonstration."
           I said, "You wait."
               I told him, "When the next person comes to see me, the moment he enters, you touch my feet, put
           a hundred-rupee note at my feet."
               And it happened: when the next people came to see me -- three people came to see me together --
           he immediately touched my feet and left a hundred-rupee note there, and all three touched my feet
           and left hundred-rupee notes immediately!
               I said, "What do you say now? And these are the people who have been coming to see me for
           years, and not even a single paisa -- and suddenly hundred-rupee notes!"
           I asked them, "Why did you do this?"
               They said, "Why? -- because we thought maybe this is what we have to do. If it is being done,
           then it must be done."

              People are imitators. In temples and mosques, in churches, you will find them bowing down.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Somebody is bowing down to a cross -- why? Can you really answer why you go on bowing down to
           the cross? -- because your parents have been doing it. And ask the parents, Why? -- because their
           parents have been doing it, and so on and so forth. People simply imitate. Imitation is easy, it
           remains on the surface. It is not a commitment, commitment goes to the heart.
                You will have to be very conscious, you will have to learn two things. One: the moment you see
           something nonessential is there, don't pay any attention to it, bypass it. There is no need even to look
           at it, there is no need to read it.
                If you start reading only the essential, our cities will become far more beautiful because boards
           and advertisements on the walls will disappear. They are there because you go on reading them. And
           the same thing: "Livva little hot, sippa Gold Spot." Whenever you pass, again you read it: "Livva
           little hot...." It is unconscious! And if you read it too many times -- "Livva little hot, sippa Gold
           Spot" -- one day you will sippa Gold Spot! How long can you avoid it?
                The whole advertising depends on your foolishness. Just constant repetition. That's why the latest
           thing is not to have fixed lights for advertisements; they go on, off. "Livva little hot..." you have read
           once, the light goes off. It comes again: "Livva little hot..." again you have to read it! If it remains
           constant you will read it only once and you will go home. But if it changes while you are passing, it
           changes four or five times, then four or five times you have to read it.
                The whole science of advertising depends on your foolishness. Just go on repeating, and people
           start purchasing. Anything can be sold. In the old days the economists used to say that this is a
           fundamental law; it is no more. What they used to think a fundamental law was: wherever there is
           demand, there is supply. Now it is just vice versa: wherever there is supply, there is demand. First
           supply anything -- just create a hypnotic atmosphere about it, and anything repeated too many times
           becomes a hypnosis.
                Beware of the nonessential. Nobody can force you, if you are aware, to cling to the nonessential.
           And if you don't cling to the nonessential, if you don't gather the nonessential, passages will be
           available from the circumference to the center, and the essential can go in.
                That's why it happens to many sannyasins.... Just now Haridas has said that he used to go outside
           the ashram; now it is becoming more and more difficult to go outside. Why is it becoming more and
           more difficult to go outside? Nobody is prevented from going outside, but it becomes difficult on its
           own, because you see so much nonsense -- and you have to see it, because it is there; you have to
           listen to it.
                Once you have started living in the essential, slowly slowly many things that you used to do
           before -- going to the movies, reading the novels, seeing the tv, listening to the radio, gossiping with
           people -- start disappearing. And the energy that is involved in them becomes available for the
           essential.
                Buddha has said that the sannyasin should not look more than four feet ahead while he is walking
           on the road -- just four feet ahead. Why? So that you need not see all that is going on around. It is
           beautiful, it is significant.
                Listen to that which will help your soul to grow. Read that which will provoke aspirations for
           God. See that which will give you a new vision, new eyes, clarity. Life is short, energy is limited.
           Don't be foolish, don't go on wasting it on the nonessential. But you have to be conscious, only then
           the nonessential can be dropped. And the first thing is to drop the nonessential; only then the second
           thing is possible -- to get attuned with the essential.
                Seeing the false as the false is the beginning of seeing the true as the true.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IS IT EVER POSSIBLE TO PAINT A TOTALLY SATISFYING PAINTING?


              Prem Murti, while painting, each moment can be totally satisfying. But once the painting is
           complete it can never be totally satisfying, because if it is totally satisfying the painter will have to
           commit suicide. There will be no need to live any more.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That's why I say life is longing, pure longing -- longing to attain higher and higher peaks,
           longing to go deeper and deeper into existence. But each moment can be utterly satisfying; that
           difference has to be remembered. When you are painting, each brush, each color that you throw on
           the canvas, each moment of it, is totally satisfying. There is nothing more to it. You are utterly lost,
           possessed, if you are a creator.
                If you are only a technician then it is not so. The technician is not lost while he is painting, he is
           separate from his painting. He is just using his knowledge. He knows how to paint, that's all. There is
           nothing in his heart to paint -- no vision, no poetry, no song. He has nothing to create, but just the
           technology. He is a technician, not an artist. He can paint -- but while painting it is not meditation for
           him, it is not a love affair for him. He is doing it; he is a doer, separate. But the creator is not
           separate while he is creating, he is one with it. He is utterly lost, he has forgotten himself.
                That's why when painters are painting they forget about food, forget about thirst, forget about
           sleep. They forget about the body so much that they can go on painting for eighteen hours without
           feeling at all tired. Each moment is absolutely satisfying.
                But once the painting is complete, a great sadness descends on the real painter. These differences
           have to be remembered. When the painting is complete, the technician feels very happy: a good job
           done, finished. He is feeling tired; it was a long tiring process, no contentment on the way. He was
           just waiting for the result, he was result-oriented. He wanted to finish it somehow, and now it is
           finished. He takes a deep sigh of relief. He is happy, not while he is painting but only when the
           painting is complete.
                Just the opposite happens to the creator. He is happy while he is painting; once the painting is
           complete, a great sadness descends on him. "So it is over? That peak, that climax, that orgasmic
           experience is over? That thrill, that adventure, that going into the unknown is over?" ... just as lovers
           feel sad after a deep orgasm: a subtle sadness, beautiful in itself, of tremendous value -- far more
           valuable than the happiness of the technician, because out of this sadness another painting will arise,
           out of this sadness another longing to soar high, another aspiration to reach beyond, another search,
           another inquiry, another pregnancy. The painter will be pregnant soon, will feel full, so full that he
           will have to share it again.
                It is said that when Gibbon, the great historian, finished his great work about world history....
           Thirty-three years it took to finish it, and he was so tremendously happy for those thirty-three years
           that it is said that he didn't age. He remained exactly the same, as if time never passed, as if time has
           stopped.
                But the day it was finished he started crying. His wife could not believe it. She said, "You are
           crying? You should be happy, you should dance! The work is complete."
                Gibbon said, "The work is complete. Now what is left for me? My life is complete." And within
           five years he aged so much, and by the seventh year he was gone.
                It is said that Vincent van Gogh, the great Dutch painter, committed suicide when he felt that he
           had done the perfect painting. It is possible. If the painter feels the perfect has happened, then there
           is no point in living. The creator lives to create. The singer lives to sing, the dancer lives to dance,
           the lover lives to love, the tree lives to bloom -- if it has bloomed and the perfect flowers have come,
           then what is the point of prolonging a futile, meaningless existence?
                Prem Murti, your question is significant. You ask: "Is it possible to paint a totally satisfying
           painting?"
                Yes and no. Yes, while you are painting it will be totally satisfying. And no, once it is over you
           will feel great sadness. But that sadness is also creative, because it is only out of that sadness you
           will again start moving towards the sunlit peaks.
                And in this life nothing really is ever perfect or can ever be perfect.
                You will be surprised that I believe in an imperfect God. You will be shocked, because at least
           all the religions are agreed on one thing, that God is perfect. I don't agree, because if God is perfect
           then Friedrich Nietzsche is right that God is dead. God is perfectly imperfect -- that much I can say.
           Hence there is growth, evolution; hence there is movement. It is always, always coming closer and
           closer to perfection, but it is never perfect and it will never be perfect.
                Nothing ever is perfect. In fact imperfection has a beauty of its own, because imperfection has a
           life. Whenever something is perfect -- just think, contemplate -- whenever something is really
           perfect, life will disappear from it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Life can exist only if something is still imperfect and has to be perfected. Life is the effort to
           perfect the imperfect. Life is the ambition to make the ugly beautiful. Something of imperfection is a
           must for life to exist, for life to go on growing and flowing.
                Nothing ever is perfect. Or if something any time happens to be perfect, in the East we have a
           right vision of it. We say whenever a person becomes perfect, that is his last life. The scriptures give
           different reasons for it; my reason is totally different. I say yes, when Buddha is perfect he will not
           come back, because perfection means life is no more possible. He will disappear into the cosmos.
                Rabindranath, a great Indian poet and mystic, prayed his last prayer to God: "Send me back.
           Remember, I am not perfect. Send me back. Your world was too beautiful and you gave me such a
           precious life. And I don't want to disappear yet: I have yet to sing many songs, I have yet to paint
           many paintings, there is yet much in my heart which needs to bloom. Send me back, I am not
           perfect! Send me back."
                That was his last prayer; he died praying this way. It is one of the most beautiful prayers and one
           of the most beautiful ways to die. How can one thank God more than this? "Your world was
           beautiful, I loved your world; I was not worthy of it but you made me. I am not worthy to be sent
           back, but still, your compassion is great. At least one time more, send me back."
                Life remains growing. Nothing ever is perfect -- or whenever something is perfect it disappears,
           it goes into annihilation. The Buddhist word is nirvana. Nirvana means annihilation, nirvana means
           cessation. Literally, nirvana means "blowing out the candle." Just as you blow out a candle and
           suddenly the light is gone, gone forever, has disappeared into nothingness -- that is nirvana. All the
           buddhas say whosoever becomes perfect moves into nirvana, goes into annihilation.
                Don't hanker for a perfect painting, Murti, otherwise the painter will die. And you have yet to
           sing many songs.
                And the painting cannot be perfect, the song and the dance cannot be perfect, for a few more
           reasons. One: when you visualize it in the deepest core of your heart, it is a totally different thing.
           When you start painting it, you are translating it from the subtle to the gross. In that very
           transforming, in that very translation, much is lost.
                Hence no painter ever feels satisfied when he finishes his painting. It is not the same as that
           which he wanted to paint -- similar, but not the same. He has some vision to compare, it has fallen
           very short. Hence he starts another painting.
                Rabindranath again has to be remembered. He wrote six thousand songs -- seems to be the
           greatest poet the world has ever known -- and each song is a beauty. But when he was dying he was
           crying, he was saying to God, "The song that I wanted to sing, I have not sung yet."
                An old friend was by the side of the bed, and the old friend said, "What are you saying? Have
           you gone mad? You have sung six thousand songs. In Europe, Shelley is thought to be one of the
           greatest poets. He has sung only two thousand songs. You have defeated him three times. You
           should be happy and contented!"
                Rabindranath opened his tear-filled eyes and he said, "I am not. Yes, six thousand songs I have
           sung, but you don't know the inner story. The inner story is, I wanted to sing only one song! But
           because it never was possible.... I tried once, failed; I tried again, I failed. Six thousand times I have
           failed. Those are all efforts, and I am not satisfied with any of them. That which I wanted to sing is
           still unsung."
           In fact nobody can sing it.
                Buddha used to declare in every town, wherever he would go, "Please don't ask these eleven
           questions." In those eleven questions, all important questions were included: God, soul, death, life,
           truth, everything important was included. Why? "Because," he would say, "they cannot be answered.
           Not that I don't know, but to bring them to words is impossible."

               There was an ancient mysterious wall which stood at the edge of a village and whenever anyone
           climbed the wall to look onto the other side, instead of coming back he smiled and jumped to the
           other side, never to return. The inhabitants of the village became curious as to what could draw these
           beings to the other side of the wall. After all, their village had all the necessities of living a
           comfortable life.
               They made an arrangement where they tied a person's feet, so when he looked over and wished to
           jump, they could pull him back.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The next time someone tried to climb the wall to see what was on the other side, they chained his
           feet so he could not go over. He looked on the other side and was delighted at what he saw, and
           smiled. Those standing below grew curious to question him and pulled him back. To their great
           disappointment he had lost the power of speech.

               Those who have seen cannot say. That which has been seen cannot be painted, cannot be reduced
           to words. But still each one has to give a try. The world goes on becoming more and more beautiful
           because of these efforts. The world is beautiful because of the six thousand songs that Rabindranath
           tried, although he failed to sing the song that he wanted. Those six thousand failures have made the
           world far more beautiful than it ever was. It will not be the same world again, those six thousand
           songs will go on resonating.
               So go on painting, go on creating. Yet I tell you again and again, you will never be satisfied. I
           bless you that you should never be satisfied, but let each moment of your creativity be a great
           contentment. But when something is finished, move ahead. You have infinite capacities to create;
           you are unlimited, you don't have any limits to your potential. You are not aware what you can do,
           and you will never be aware unless you do it!
               Hence the greatest creators are aware how poor has been their creation, because they become
           aware, more and more aware, how much more is possible. The ordinary person who has never
           created anything is not aware what he can do. There is no other way to know what you can do unless
           you do it. And while doing it you can see that what you wanted to do, what was very clear in your
           inner world, has become very dim and ordinary when it has been brought to the outer.
               You will try again. Each effort will become better and better and better, more and more perfect,
           but never perfect.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I AM VERY MUCH AFRAID OF SEX, BECAUSE I AM AFRAID OF DEATH. I HAVE BEEN TOLD
              SINCE MY CHILDHOOD BY MY SOCIETY AND RELIGION THAT IT IS SEX THAT BRINGS DEATH.
              WHAT IS THE TRUTH ABOUT IT?


               Suresh, can't you see a simple fact, that even your great saints die? Buddha and Christ and
           Zarathustra and Lao Tzu -- where are they?If it is through sex that death comes, then your celibates
           must be alive, they will never die. Then all the Catholic monks will live forever and will make the
           world so ugly. Then all the nuns will live forever -- the world will become a monastery, monks and
           nuns, monks and nuns.
               Everybody dies, death has nothing to do with sex. Death has something to do with birth, and
           birth has already happened, so death cannot be avoided now. One part has already happened and the
           second part cannot be divided and separated from it.
               In fact, the people who are very sexual live longest. That's what scientific researchers have
           found: the sexual people live longest. Not only that, the great creators -- painters, poets, musicians,
           singers, actors -- they are all very sexual. Nothing has yet been said about the mystics, but I say to
           you, the mystics are the most sexual people in the world. Of course their sex is without any object;
           they are simply sexual. It is pure energy, pure longing, pure desire. They desire nothing, their sex has
           no object, it is unaddressed; it is simply a tremendous pool of energy. But they are sexual.
               Sex is life, and wherever you see life you will find sex somewhere, in some way. The day sex
           disappears you will start dying, because it is sex energy that keeps you alive. Drop the foolish ideas
           that you have been taught. This has been done to many people in different ways. A thousand and one
           inhibitions and taboos have been created, and the best way to make you afraid of sex is to associate it
           with death. This is the simple, simple logic priests have discovered. And priests have been the most
           cunning people in the world. They must have discovered in the very beginning that if you join sex
           with death, then you can make people afraid of sex. Once they are afraid of sex, they are afraid of
           intelligence, creativity, they are afraid of being, they are afraid of freedom, they are ready to become
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           slaves.
               Death has nothing to do with sex. Sex or no sex, death is going to happen. In fact, if you can
           move deep into sex and transform its energy into love, and can move deep into love and transform its
           energy into prayer, you will come to know that there is no death. That is the only way to know
           something of immortality.

               Two men were talking and it came out that one of them was a Mormon. "How many wives do
           you have?"
           "Only one."
           "How many wives does your father have?"
           "Only one," he replied. "But my grandfather had sixty-five wives."
           Mormons have many wives.
           "How did he ever arrange his sex life?"
               "That was easy. My grandfather lived in one house, and a mile down the road his sixty-five
           wives lived in another house. He had a runner, and each night, for example, he would tell his runner
           to run down the mile and tell wife number ten to get ready for the night. The next night he would
           have his runner run down the mile and have wife number thirty-five get ready -- and so on, etcetera."
               "Your grandfather must have been a remarkable man. But forgive my curiosity, I want to know
           how long he lived."
               "Hell, the old man lived till he was ninety-eight years of age. And the funny part was that the
           runner died at the age of fifty, which proves a great moral: It is not the sex that kills you, but rather
           the running after it."

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              YOU ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT NO-MIND, DROPPING THE MIND, BECOMING MINDLESS.
              MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS IS THAT YOU ARE REFERRING NOT TO THE WHOLE MIND
              (THAT IS, NOT "MINDLESS" IN THE ORDINARY SENSE OF THE WORD) BUT ONLY TO THAT
              ANALYTICAL QUALITY OF MIND WHICH CAUSES SEPARATION AND PREVENTS OR HINDERS
              EXPERIENCING ANYTHING TOTALLY AT ANY ONE TIME.
              BUT PERHAPS I HAVE MISINTERPRETED YOUR WORDS TO FIT MY OWN IDEAS?


                Carol Tibbs, this is what the analytical mind is. Yes, that is exactly what I mean: dropping the
           analytical mind. But when you drop the analytical mind nothing is left, because mind is pure analysis
           and nothing else. Once the analytical mind is dropped, logic is dropped, reason is dropped, because
           those are methods for analysis. Once the analytical mind is dropped, what is left of thought? Thought
           is basically analytical; it is the process of categorization, labeling, analyzing. Then what is left?
           Mind is gone -- only heart is left, intuition is left.
                But if you love words you can say "the synthetical mind" is left. But that makes no difference at
           all; that will simply show that you are very much clinging to your analytical mind. Now you will call
           it "synthetical mind."
                Sigmund Freud created analysis, psychoanalysis, and then Assagioli created synthesis,
           psychosynthesis. And both are not basically different, both are aspects of the same coin. Sigmund
           Freud tries to analyze, and Assagioli tries to synthesize -- but whether you analyze or synthesize, you
           use the same mind.
                There is a state called no-mind: I am talking about that. It knows nothing of analysis, nothing of
           synthesis. It simply knows not; it is innocent of knowledge. It is pure being, presence, a mirror that
           reflects that which is.
                Carol Tibbs, analyze a little more. And then you will find, if analysis is dropped, then nothing is
           left behind.

              There was once a man who got into a nearly fatal automobile accident. He spent a week in the
           hospital in a coma before regaining consciousness. When he came to, the doctor was at his bedside
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and he asked the doctor what had happened.
               The doctor replied, "Well, I have a little bad news and a little good news. I will tell you the bad
           news first. You have been in a very serious automobile accident which crushed both of your legs.
           While you were in a coma we had to amputate both legs in order to save your life."
               "Oh, my God!" cried the man. "You mean both my legs have been cut off? I will never be able to
           walk again? I will have to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair? Oh, this is the worst thing that
           could happen," said the man in deep anguish. Gathering himself together a bit, he queried, "Well,
           what is the good news?"
               Replied the doctor, "The man down the hallway has offered to buy your shoes for eleven
           dollars."

               Once the analytical mind is gone, what is left? Just the shoes -- you can sell them. But even for
           eleven dollars, it is not such good news.
           And the last question:


              BELOVED OSHO, WHO IS A LAZY MAN?


              Prem Nirvan, it depends. To a workaholic, the answer will be totally different. To a workaholic
           almost everybody is lazy. But to the laziest, almost everybody is a workaholic.

               It happened: There was an emperor in Japan who was himself very lazy and loved lazy people.
           Lazy people are good people, they have never been mischievous -- they cannot be, because mischief
           needs activity. You have to be very active, only then you can be mischievous. Just think, if
           Alexander the Great had been a little lazy, Adolf Hitler a little lazy, Morarji Desai a little lazy, the
           world would have been so beautiful. All the mischief comes from the active people. Lazy people
           have never done any harm, that much can be absolutely said.
               The king loved lazy people. He said to his prime minister, "Nobody has done anything for these
           beautiful people called lazy. I want to do something. It is not their fault that they are lazy, God has
           made them that way. And in a way they are very good because they don't harm anybody. They need
           state protection. So you declare that whosoever is lazy can come and be part of the palace. He has to
           be served as a government guest and he can live his lazy life without any worry and without any
           torture from the so-called active people."
               The prime minister said, "It will be very difficult, because many who are not lazy will also come,
           and there will be great difficulty how to decide who is who."
               And that's exactly what happened. Thousands of people started coming. The king was puzzled,
           he had never thought that so many people are lazy. Then a device was made: they were all placed in
           straw huts and in the middle of the night fire was put to the straw huts. Almost everybody ran out,
           except four -- they simply went inside their blankets, they refused to move out. They said, "If God
           wants to kill us, it's okay. If he wants to save us, he will find some way."
               So those four were accepted as royal guests. They were!

               It is difficult -- how to decide? Alexander thought that Diogenes was lazy, and Diogenes thought
           that Alexander was mad. Alexander tried to conquer the whole world -- this is sheer madness -- and
           Diogenes was so lazy that he remained naked, because it was such a botheration to put the clothes on
           and off. And then sometimes you have to wash them, and you have to look for Bahadur, and the
           soap, and this and that -- it is a long sequence of things.
               Diogenes had only one begging bowl. That too one day he threw in the river, because it was such
           a botheration to clean it. And the day he threw it, he saw a dog that gave him the inspiration. He was
           going towards the river, thirsty, with his begging bowl, and the dog was also thirsty and he was also
           going to the river.
               The dog ran fast, jumped into the river, drank to his heart's content. And Diogenes thought, "So
           the dog is far more intelligent. Without any begging bowl, and he is doing well. Why do I go on
           carrying this weight?" He threw the begging bowl, he thanked the dog; they became friends. They
           became so friendly that they started sharing the place -- where the dog used to live Diogenes also
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           started living. It was just a big pipe, the dog used to live there; that became the house of Diogenes
           too.
               When Alexander went to see Diogenes -- naturally, polar opposites are always attracted -- he was
           lying down on the sand by the side of the river in the early morning sun, warm, naked, he was
           enjoying, singing a song. The dog was sitting by his side, also enjoying the morning. Alexander
           came with all his paraphernalia, the generals and the prime ministers, and they declared, as was part
           of the court mannerism, that "Alexander the Great is here!"
               Diogenes looked at the dog and laughed. Alexander could not understand why he looked at the
           dog; he asked why. Diogenes said, "I looked at the dog because only he will understand. These fools
           that you have brought with you, they will not understand at all. This dog is very wise. In the first
           place he never speaks -- so wise, never utters a word, just keeps everything secret. And he is the only
           one who can understand that one who declares that he is great, can't be. Greatness need not be
           declared; it is there, or it is not there."
               Shocked, Alexander could not believe that this would be the way he would be received, but still
           he was impressed by the man -- he was so joyous. He said, "I feel a little jealous of you. Next time, if
           God asks me, 'Alexander, what do you want to become?' I will ask to become Diogenes."
               Diogenes again looked at the dog. And it is said that the dog smiled. Alexander could not believe
           what was happening, what was transpiring. He said, "What is the meaning of it?"
               Diogenes said, "It is so foolish to wait for the next life. We live moment to moment, me and my
           friend, and you are hoping for the next life. If you are so jealous of Diogenes, who is preventing
           you? Is God preventing you? Throw off the clothes -- and tell these foolish people to go! And the
           bank is so big, we can share. That is our house. First only the dog used to live here, then I became a
           part of it; you can also become a part of it. We have nothing else, so there is no quarrel, no
           competition, nothing."
               It must have been one of the greatest moments in history. Just to think of it.... Alexander said, "I
           am happy that I came. I have seen a man worth seeing. Can I do something for you?"
               Diogenes said, "You just move a little to the left, because you are hindering the sun. Nothing else
           is needed, because we don't need anything."

           You ask me: "Who is a lazy man?"
               It is very relative. My own suggestion is: act only when it is essential. And even while doing
           things, don't become a doer, become a non-doer. Let God do things through you, then action and
           inaction are one.
               That's what Lao Tzu says: Wu-wei -- action through inaction. Then action and laziness are no
           more opposite but complementaries. A real man will have both the capacities: he can act; he can be
           lazy, he can rest.
               What ordinarily happens is that people become addicted, either to work or to laziness -- and that
           is wrong. Don't become addicted. Do, but don't become a doer. And then even while doing things
           you will remain at rest, perfectly at rest.
               Alexander on the circumference and Diogenes at the center: that is my definition of a total man.

              Mulla Nasruddin once told me, "My uncle has the laziest rooster in the world."
           "How can you tell?" I asked him.
              "At sunrise, he just waits until some other rooster crows, then he nods his head."

           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                   Chapter #21
                                      Chapter title: Vagabonds of the Soul
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           3 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903030
              ShortTitle: WISDOM21
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              TRAIN IMPARTIALLY IN EVERY AREA; IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE TRAINED DEEPLY AND
              PERVASIVELY IN EVERYTHING.
              ALWAYS MEDITATE ON SPECIFIC OBJECTS.

              YOU SHOULD HAVE NO CONCERN FOR OTHER FACTORS.
              THEREFORE, APPLY YOURSELF TO IMPORTANT MATTERS.

              DON'T DO THINGS BACKWARDS.
              DON'T VACILLATE.

              TRAIN AS THOUGH CUT OFF.


               Once a jaina monk came to see me. He asked, "Is hell real? Is there really a hell?" Instead of
           answering him, I asked him, "And where do you think you are living?" Man lives in hell, because
           man is upside down. You need not go to some stupid yoga teacher to learn the headstand posture,
           because you are already doing it. Everything is in the wrong order. For centuries you have been
           messed up; a chaos has been created in you instead of a cosmos. You are just a kind of madness.
           Whatever you think is normal is not normal at all. It appears normal, because you have lived with
           these people from your very childhood and you have started thinking that these are the only people,
           so they must be normal.
               It is as if one was born in a madhouse and from the very beginning was acquainted only with
           mad people; he will think them normal. In fact, if he ever comes across somebody who is sane, he
           will be very puzzled, he will not be able to believe his own eyes. He will think this man has gone
           crazy.
               Man is a chaos. Let this idea sink deep into your heart, because only then the desire to create a
           cosmos out of this chaos arises. The moment you realize that you are standing on your head, a great
           moment has arrived. Now you cannot go on standing on your head any more: you have to do
           something, it is inevitable. You have to act -- and that very act becomes religion.
               Religion is against society, because society lives on this so-called normal madness of people.
           Society wants people to be abnormal; only then can they be exploited, only then can they be reduced
           into machines, only then can they be reduced to slaves -- and happily, and without any revolt.
               For thousands of years, man has lived in an imprisoned state. Those prisons have been given
           beautiful names: you call them churches, religions, ideologies. Somebody lives in a Catholic prison
           and somebody lives in a communist prison, and both go on bragging about their prison, that their
           prison is far better. But any person who lives through some ideology is a prisoner, because every
           ideology narrows down your consciousness, becomes chains on your being. Anybody who belongs
           to any crowd out of fear, out of conditioning, out of a kind of hypnosis, is not truly a man, is not yet
           born. The opportunity has been given to him, but he is wasting it.
               You have been taught values which are not really values; you have been taught things which are
           basically poisonous. For example, you have been told not to love yourself, and you have been told so
           many times that it looks like a simple fact, truth. But a man who is incapable of loving himself will
           be incapable of loving anybody else. The man who cannot love himself cannot love at all.
               You have been told to be altruistic and never selfish. And it looks so beautiful -- but it only looks
           beautiful; it is destroying your very roots. Only a really selfish person can be altruistic, because one
           who is not rooted in his self, is not selfish, will not bother about anybody else. If he cannot care for
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           himself, how can he care for anybody else? He is suicidal; naturally he will become murderous.
               Your whole society up to now has been a society of murderers. A few people commit suicide;
           they become saints. A few more go on committing murder; they become great politicians, great
           leaders -- Genghis Khan, Nadir Shah, Tamerlane, Alexander, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, Stalin, Mao.
           But both are neurotic, both are unhealthy.
               You have to be taught new values. Atisha's sutras will help you immensely. He is really a
           revolutionary, a really religious man -- a man who knows, not through scriptures but by his own
           experience; a man who has looked deep into the misery of man, a man who is really so full of
           compassion that he wants to help, to be of some help to the suffering humanity. And the suffering
           humanity is not helped by creating more hospitals or by making more people educated. The suffering
           humanity can be helped only by giving it a new soul.
               People like Mother Teresa of Calcutta are simply serving the status quo. That's why they are
           respected by the status quo. They are given gold medals, prizes, awards, and the society thinks
           Mother Teresa is the symbol of real saintlihoodness. It is not so; she is simply in the service of a
           rotten society. Of course the rotten society respects her. She is not a revolutionary, she is not a
           religious person.
               And this is something to be understood: society respects only those saints who are not really
           sages but are agents -- agents who help the society to continue as it is, agents of the establishment.
               Atisha is not for the establishment. He wants to create a new man, a new humanity, as always
           buddhas have dreamed about. Their dreams remain yet unfulfilled.
               Here I am, again dreaming a great dream of giving birth to a new man. You are my hope, in the
           same way Atisha had hoped with his own disciples. These sutras were not written as a book, these
           sutras were given to his disciples to meditate on.
           The first sutra:
              TRAIN IMPARTIALLY IN EVERY AREA; IT IS IMPORTANTTO HAVE TRAINED DEEPLY AND
              PERVASIVELY IN EVERYTHING.

                The first thing is impartiality: one should be unprejudiced, and nobody is unprejudiced. And that
           is a basic requirement to grow into a greater vision. To come out of the prisons, the first thing is to
           drop prejudices -- prejudices called Hinduism, prejudices called Mohammedanism, prejudices called
           Christianity. One has to drop all prejudices. How can you ever know truth if you have already
           decided what it is? If you are already functioning from a conclusion, you will never arrive to truth --
           never! It is impossible.
                Don't start by a priori assumptions, don't start by any belief. Then only are you a true seeker. But
           everybody starts by belief -- somebody believes in The Bible, somebody else in the Koran;
           somebody believes in the Gita, and somebody in Dhammapada. And they start by belief.
                Belief means you don't know, still you have taken something for granted. Now your whole effort
           will be to prove it right, it will become your ego trip. Each belief becomes an ego trip, you have to
           prove it right. If it is wrong, then you are wrong; if it is right, then you are right. And every person is
           nothing but a bagful of beliefs.
                Remember, all beliefs are stupid. I am not saying that those beliefs are basically untrue -- they
           may not be, they may be -- but to believe is stupid. To know is intelligent. It may be that when you
           come to know, it may be the same thing that you were told by others to believe; but still to believe in
           it is wrong, and to know it, right -- because once you believe in something that you have not known,
           you have already started gathering around yourself a darkness which will not help you to know, to
           see. You are already becoming knowledgeable. And knowing happens to those who are not
           knowledgeable, but innocent. Knowing happens to those eyes which are absolutely without the dust
           of knowledge.
                The first thing Atisha says: Be impartial, start without any conclusion, start without any a priori
           belief. Start existentially, not intellectually; these are two different dimensions, not only different but
           diametrically opposite.
                Somebody can start his journey into love by studying about love, by going to the library, by
           looking in the Encyclopedia Britannica to learn what love is. This is an intellectual inquiry. He may
           gather much information, he may write a treatise, and some foolish university may give him a Ph.D.
           but he knows nothing of love. Whatsoever he is writing is only intellectual, it is not experiential.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And if it is not experiential, it is not true.
                Truth is an experience, not a belief. Truth never comes by studying about it: truth has to be
           encountered, truth has to be faced. The person who studies about love is like the person who studies
           about the Himalayas by looking at the map of the mountains. The map is not the mountain! And if
           you start believing in the map, you will go on missing the mountain. If you become too much
           obsessed with the map, the mountain may be there just in front of you, but still you will not be able
           to see it.
                And that's how it is. The mountain is in front of you, but your eyes are full of maps -- maps of the
           same mountain, maps about the same mountain, made by different explorers. Somebody has climbed
           the mountain from the north side, somebody from the east. They have made different maps: Koran,
           Bible, Gita -- different maps of the same truth. But you are too full of the maps, too burdened by
           their weight; you cannot move even an inch. You cannot see the mountain just standing in front of
           you, its virgin snow peaks shining like gold in the morning sun. You don't have the eyes to see it.
                The prejudiced eye is blind, the heart full of conclusions is dead. Too many a priori assumptions
           and your intelligence starts losing its sharpness, its beauty, its intensity. It becomes dull. Dull
           intelligence is what is called intellect. Your so-called intelligentsia is not really intelligent, it is just
           intellectual. Intellect is a corpse. You can decorate it, you can decorate it with great pearls,
           diamonds, emeralds, but still a corpse is a corpse.
                To be alive is a totally different matter. Intelligence is aliveness; it is spontaneity, it is openness,
           it is vulnerability, it is impartiality, it is the courage to function without conclusions. And why do I
           say it is a courage? It is a courage because when you function out of a conclusion the conclusion
           protects you, the conclusion gives you security, safety. You know it well, you know how to come to
           it, you are very efficient with it. To function without a conclusion is to function in innocence. There
           is no security, you may go wrong, you may go astray.
                One who is ready to go on the exploration called truth has to be ready also to commit many
           errors, mistakes, has to be able to risk. One may go astray, but that is how one arrives. Going many
           many times astray, one learns how not to go astray. Committing many mistakes one learns what is a
           mistake, and how not to commit it. Knowing what is error, one comes closer and closer to what is
           truth. It is an individual exploration; you cannot depend on others' conclusions.
           Hence Atisha says:
               TRAIN IMPARTIALLY IN EVERY AREA; IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE TRAINED DEEPLY AND
               PERVASIVELY IN EVERYTHING.

               The second thing he says: Let your life be as multidimensional as possible, don't live
           one-dimensionally. Monks, nuns and the so-called priests have all lived, down the ages,
           one-dimensionally. They live a very narrow life; they move as trains move, on fixed rails. They go
           on doing the same ritual, the same prayer, day in, day out, year in, year out, life in, life out; they go
           on repeating. Their whole life moves in circles. And they are not rich, they cannot be -- richness
           comes by living life in all its dimensions.
               A religious person should explore in every possible way, should try to experience life in all its
           tastes, sweet and bitter, good and bad. The really religious person will be very experimental. He will
           experiment with music, he will experiment with dance, he will experiment with poetry, with
           painting, with sculpture, with architecture. He will go on experimenting with everything, everything
           that becomes available; he will be a child exploring everything. And that makes your inner life rich.
               Do you know, all great discoveries are made by people who are not one-dimensional.
           One-dimensional people can never make discoveries; it is impossible, because a discovery happens
           only like crossbreeding. A mathematician starts writing poetry: now you can be certain something is
           on the way. His whole training is that of a mathematician, his approach is that of mathematics, and
           he starts writing poetry. Now, no poet can write poetry like this; this is going to be something new,
           because something of the mathematics is bound to filter in. And mathematics and poetry having a
           meeting is a crossbreeding.
               Scientists say children that are born out of crossbreeding are stronger, more beautiful, more
           intelligent. But man is so stupid that he never learns. Now everybody knows that it is good to bring
           an English bull for an Indian cow; that is perfectly beautiful and that is being done. But as far as man
           is concerned we remain stupid. It would be beautiful if people marry different races, different
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           backgrounds, different cultures. A Siberian marrying someone in Africa -- then something is really
           going to happen, some miracle.
               My own suggestion is -- because within a few years we are going to find out other planets where
           evolution has almost reached to the point that it has reached on the earth, or a few planets where it
           has even reached higher -- my own suggestion is for interplanetary marriages. Then miracles will
           start happening. A Martian marrying a Poonaite: then something is going to happen, something
           really new which has never happened before!
               Atisha says: Experiment, experience as many dimensions as are available to you.
               Become a gardener, become a shoemaker, become a carpenter -- that's what is going to happen in
           my commune. All dimensions have to be made available, and people have to experiment and enjoy
           and explore. It is not that when you do some scientific work, something happens only in the outside
           world. When you are doing some scientific work, something happens inside your consciousness:
           your consciousness starts taking a form, a scientific form. If this person starts painting, then the
           painting will have something of the science in it. And if the painter starts becoming a physicist,
           certainly his vision is going to give birth to new things.
               All great discoveries up to now have been made by people who were trained for something else,
           but were courageous enough to enter into arenas where they were amateurs. Less courageous people
           remain clinging with the thing that they know best. Then they go on doing it their whole life. And
           the more they do it, the more efficient they become; the more efficient they become, the less capable
           of trying anything new.
               A country remains alive only if people are multidimensional. America is now the most alive
           country in the world for the simple reason that people are trying every kind of thing. From
           mathematics to meditation, everything is being tried. America is just on the verge of a great step; if a
           new step is going to happen anywhere, it is going to happen in America. It can't happen in India. It
           can't happen because Morarji Desai and people like that won't allow it to happen in India -- rigid,
           stale minds, having no vision of the future, having no vision of what is going to happen tomorrow,
           having no idea of what is really happening today.
               In America, people go on changing their jobs -- three years is the average limit when people
           change their jobs. Three years also is the average limit when people change their towns. Three years
           is also the average limit when people change their spouses. The number three is very esoteric.
               When a man has lived with many women, has done many kinds of work -- has been a cobbler,
           has been a carpenter, has been an engineer, has been a painter and a musician -- naturally he is very
           rich. Each woman that he has lived with has imparted some color to him, and each work that he has
           done has opened a new door into his being. Slowly slowly, many doors of his being are opening; his
           consciousness expands, he becomes huge, enormous.
               You are your experience. Hence, experience more. Before settling, experience as much as
           possible. The real person never settles; the real person always remains homeless, a wanderer, a
           vagabond, a vagabond of the soul. He remains continually in search, he remains an inquirer, a
           learner -- he never becomes learned. Don't be in a hurry to become learned, remain a learner. To
           become learned is ugly, to remain a learner has tremendous beauty and grace in it, because it is life
           itself.
               TRAIN IMPARTIALLY IN EVERY AREA; IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE TRAINED DEEPLY AND
               PERVASIVELY IN EVERYTHING.

                Whatsoever you are learning, learn it in its totality. Don't let it be just a hit-and-run affair, go into
           it as if it is your whole life. Stake everything! Be total, whatsoever you do, because it is only out of
           totality that one learns. It is only when you are totally into something that mysteries are revealed to
           you. If you are totally in love, then love reveals its mysteries; if you are totally in poetry, then the
           world of poetry opens its heart.
                If you are totally in love with anything, that is the only possible way to have a rapport with that
           certain dimension. So be total, and go to the very depth of it. Don't just go on swimming in many
           rivers; become a diver, go to the rock bottom of everything -- because the deeper you go into
           anything, the more and more deep you will become. Depth calls the depth, height provokes the
           height. Whatsoever we are doing outside simultaneously goes on happening inside. This is a
           fundamental law of life.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Atisha says: Discipline in many many things, be total, go into depth, to the very roots of
           everything -- because the secrets are in the roots, they are not in the flowers. Flowers are only
           expressions of joy, but the secrets are not there. Secrets are hidden in the roots, secrets are always
           hidden in darkness. You will have to go into dark depths, then only you will know the secrets. And
           the more you experience life in its multidimensionality, the richer will be your soul. It depends on
           you, how rich you make your soul, or how poor you live.
               Millions of people are living a life of poverty -- and I don't necessarily mean the outer poverty. I
           know rich people, and so poor that sometimes even beggars are richer than they are. I know rich
           people who can afford everything but have never experimented with anything, who are simply
           vegetating comfortably, who are simply dying, slowly slowly... existing comfortably, but not living
           -- no intensity, no flair, no flame, no fire, just a cold life. Comfortably they will live and comfortably
           they will die -- but in fact they will never have lived.
           And one who has never lived, how can he die?
               Death is the ultimate mystery. That gift is given only to those who have lived really intensely,
           who have burned their torch of life from both the ends together. Only then it happens sometimes that
           in a single moment of intensity the whole life is revealed. In a single moment of total intensity, the
           whole eternity opens its doors to you, you are welcomed by God.
               God is not found by praying on your knees; God is not found in the temples and churches. God is
           found in intense living -- a life of depth, depth and totality, and a death also of depth and totality.
           Live totally and die totally, and God is yours and truth is yours.
           The second sutra:
              ALWAYS MEDITATE ON SPECIFIC OBJECTS.

               First thing: by meditation Atisha never means concentration, remember. Concentration and
           meditation are polar opposites. Concentration narrows down your mind; it is focusing on one point.
           It includes only something and excludes everything else. Meditation is all-inclusive, it excludes
           nothing. It is not a narrowing down of the mind, it is an expansion of consciousness. Concentration
           is of the mind, meditation is of consciousness. Concentration is mind, meditation is no-mind.
           Concentration is a tension: you will be tired of it sooner or later. You cannot concentrate for a long
           time, it is effort. But one can be meditative twenty-four hours, because it is relaxation.
           So remember, Atisha says:
               ALWAYS MEDITATE -- he means always relax -- ON SPECIFIC OBJECTS.
               What does he mean by "specific objects"? Sadness, anger, greed, lust -- the negatives; love,
           beauty, joy, freedom -- the positives.
               Begin with the negative, because you are living in the negative. When sad, meditate on it. Don't
           be in a hurry to get rid of it, don't be in a hurry to get occupied somewhere else so that you can forget
           it. That will be missing an opportunity, because sadness has its own depth, sadness has its own
           beauty, sadness has its own taste. Live it, relax into it, be it -- and without any effort to escape,
           without any effort to get occupied somewhere else. Let it be there -- enjoy! It is a flowering of your
           being. Sadness too is a flowering of your being.
               And you will be surprised: if you can meditate on sadness, sadness will reveal its secrets to you
           -- and they are of tremendous value. And sadness, once it has revealed its secrets to you, will
           disappear. Its work is done, its message delivered. And when sadness disappears, joy arises.
               Joy arises only when sadness disappears out of meditation; there is no other way. Joy wells up
           when you have broken the ice of sadness that surrounds it. In fact, sadness is like the shell that
           surrounds the seed; it is protective, it is not the enemy. Once the seed has dropped its protection, is
           surrendered into the soil, the shell has died, only then the sprout is born.
               It happens inside exactly like that. Meditate on anything negative, and slowly slowly you will be
           simply taken by surprise -- that sadness turns into joy, that anger turns into compassion, that greed
           turns into sharing, and so on, so forth. This is the science of inner alchemy: how to change the
           negative into the positive, how to change the base metal into gold.
               But remember, never start with the positive because you don't know anything of the positive.
           And that's what is being taught by many people in the world -- the "positive thinkers" they are called.
           They don't know anything about the inner alchemy. You don't begin with gold. If you already have
           gold, then what is the point of beginning at all? You don't need alchemy. You have to begin with
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           base metal, the base metal has to be changed into gold. And the base metal is what you have, is what
           you ARE. Hell is what you are; it has to be transformed into heaven. Poison is available; it has to be
           transformed into nectar. Start with the negative.
               All the buddhas have insisted: Go VIA NEGATIVA, because the negative brings the positive,
           and the negative brings the positive so easily. You don't drag it, you don't impose it upon yourself. If
           you start with the positive, as the so-called positive thinkers are teaching, you will become phony.
           What will you do? How will you start with joy? You may start smiling, but that smile will be
           painted: it will be just on the lips, not even skin-deep.
               Start with the negative and you don't need to think about the positive at all. If you meditate on
           the negative, if you go deeply into it, to the deepest root of it, suddenly an explosion happens: the
           negative disappears and the positive has arrived. In fact it has always been there, hidden behind the
           negative. The negative was a shelter. The negative was needed because you were not yet worthy
           enough; the negative was needed so that you could become worthy enough to receive the positive.
               The world is the negative pole of God. You need not renounce it, you have simply to be
           meditative in it. And one day you will see the world has disappeared and there is God and only God.

                Bayazid of Bistam, a Sufi mystic, used to say in his later years, "First I used to ask people,
           'Where is God?' And then one day it happened, I started asking people where God is NOT. One day
           there was no God and I was asking where he is; the next day there was only God, and I was asking
           'Is there a place where he is not?'" The same world, but your eyes are different now; you are not the
           same.
               ALWAYS MEDITATE ON SPECIFIC OBJECTS.

               Start with the negative and you will find the positive. Dig a well. First you find only earth, rocks,
           garbage. Slowly slowly you come to the water. First it is very dirty, then it becomes purer and purer
           and purer. Exactly the same way one has to dig a well within one's own being. The beginning has to
           be negative, and the end is of itself positive. Your work has to be with the negative; the positive is
           the reward.
           The third sutra:
               YOU SHOULD HAVE NO CONCERN FOR OTHER FACTORS.

                Atisha says: While you are meditating on any specific subject -- for example, sadness -- then be
           it and forget everything else, as if nothing else exists. Just be totally sad. Savor it, taste it, let it sink
           in you, soak in it; just be a sponge.
                That's what meditation is all about: just be a sponge. And when this mood is there, soak in it to
           your total capacity, to the optimum. Meditating on sadness, be it. Meditating simply means dropping
           the distinction between the observer and the observed; let the observer become the observed. Drop
           that old dichotomy of object and subject; disappear into the object of your meditation. Don't stand
           aloof, don't be a spectator. Secrets are not revealed to the spectators; secrets are revealed only to
           those who take a jump, who dive deep into something, people who don't hold themselves back.
                And if you are totally sad, you are just on the verge of a discovery: sadness will evaporate. At a
           certain intensity, at a certain point, it simply evaporates as dewdrops evaporate in the morning sun.
           Once the heat has reached a certain intensity, the dewdrops disappear. Exactly like that the sadness
           will disappear, and suddenly, out of nowhere, joy has arrived, the guest has arrived. Now be a host to
           it. Now meditate on it, again be one with it. Now be joy. Don't stand aloof again. Don't start thinking,
           "Such a beautiful experience is happening, I am having the experience of joy." Don't start creating a
           distance between you and the joy. Be the joy. Dance it, sing it. Manifest it, be it!
               THEREFORE, APPLY YOURSELF TO IMPORTANT MATTERS.

               Life is short, energy limited, very limited. And with this limited energy we have to find the
           unlimited; with this short life we have to find the eternal. A great task, a great challenge! So please,
           don't be concerned with unimportant matters.
               What is important and what is unimportant? In Atisha's definition, or in the definition of all the
           buddhas, that which can be taken by death is unimportant and that which cannot be taken by death is
           important. Remember this definition, let this be a touchstone. You can judge anything immediately
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on this touchstone.
                Have you seen the touchstone on which gold is judged? Let this be a touchstone for what is
           important: Is death going to take it away from you? Then it is not important. Money then is not
           important -- useful, but not important, has no import. Power, prestige, respectability -- death will
           come and efface them all, so why make so much fuss about them for the few days you are here? This
           is a caravanserai, an overnight stay, and by the morning we go.
                Remember, only that which you can take with you when you leave the body is important. That
           means, except meditation, nothing is important. Except awareness, nothing is important, because
           only awareness cannot be taken away by death. Everything else will be snatched away, because
           everything else comes from without. Only awareness wells up within; that cannot be taken away.
           And the shadows of awareness -- compassion, love -- they cannot be taken away; they are intrinsic
           parts of awareness.
                You will be taking with you only whatsoever awareness you have attained; that is your only real
           wealth. All else is "illth," not wealth.
              DON'T DO THINGS BACKWARDS.


                This is a very significant sutra. I said to you in the beginning, people are upside down, in a
           permanent headstand posture. People are living backwards. Life moves forward, people live
           backwards in many many ways.
                The first meaning is: the heart has to be the master and the head the servant. But people are
           upside down: the head has become the master and the heart has become the servant. Logic rules, love
           is not even heeded. Personality has become more important than individuality. Personality is that
           which is conferred on you by others, individuality is that which is given to you by God. Personality
           is just a mask, persona; individuality is your uniqueness.
                The society wants you to have beautiful personalities; the society wants you to have personalities
           which are comfortable for the society, convenient for the society. But the person is not the real thing,
           the individual is the real thing. The individual is not necessarily always comfortable to the society --
           in fact he is very inconvenient.
                Jesus must have been very inconvenient; otherwise people don't kill, don't murder, don't crucify.
           If Jesus were really a personality, there would have been no trouble. He would have been a
           well-respected rabbi; the masses would have worshipped him, Jews would have remembered him as
           a great saint. But he was an individual. Individuals don't fit easily with others, individuals fit only
           with other individuals -- and then too, the harmony is not imposed, enforced, the harmony is natural.
           But individuals don't fit with personalities. Light cannot be adjusted with darkness, that is the
           trouble.
                Jesus may have been too much of a troublemaker, because he only worked for three years, and in
           only three years he created so much offense that people had to kill him. And Jews are not dangerous
           people, Jews are business-minded people. In fact for these two thousand years Jews have been crying
           and weeping deep down, because they killed Jesus and missed the opportunity of the greatest
           business possible. Christianity is the greatest firm on the earth! Jews must have been very jealous.
                This time when it was going to happen they didn't miss. Sigmund Freud was a Jew; he started
           another business, psychoanalysis. This time they did not miss -- all the important psychoanalysts are
           Jews. Now psychoanalysis is big business.
                Jesus must have offended terribly; they could not tolerate him even for a single day. So too
           Socrates, Buddha and Mahavira -- all individuals have suffered because of the phony society. The
           truth becomes intolerable. But though they may have suffered from the outside, from the inside they
           lived a blissful life, they lived an orgasmic life. Each moment of their life was an orgasm, a deep
           love affair with existence.
                Unless you start living right-side-up, you will go on missing being an individual, you will never
           become authentic. The head is good, but only as a servant, not as a master. The heart has to be the
           master; feelings should dominate thoughts. And once this has happened then another step can be
           taken: being should dominate feelings.
                These are the three layers: thoughts, the outermost; and being, the innermost; and feeling, in
           between, the bridge. Move from thoughts to feelings and from feelings to being, and start living from
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           being. That does not mean that you don't have any feelings -- you will have feelings, but those
           feelings will follow being; they will have the flavor of being, the heartbeat of being. It does not mean
           that you will not be able to think -- you will be able to think far more intelligently, but now your
           thinking will have the juiciness of your feelings and the light of your being; your thoughts will be
           luminous.
               Right now it is just the other way: thoughts are dominating feelings. And because of this
           domination, everything has gone topsy-turvy; because of this domination you cannot reach to the
           being, because thought is impotent to reach to the being. The inner is capable of reaching the outer,
           not vice versa. The center can touch the circumference, but not vice versa.
               Future has become more important to you than the present. Present should be the central and
           everything should go round it. "That" has become more important than "this," "then" has become
           more important than "now." Change these values. Unless you change these values you are not
           sannyasins. Let "now" be more important, let "here" be more important, let "this" be more important.
               Upanishads say, "Thou art that." I say to you: "Thou art this" -- because "that" means far away,
           as if God is far away. "Thou art that" -- no. "Thou art THIS": this very moment, this air that
           surrounds you, these chirping birds, this railway train passing by, these trees, this sun, these people, I
           and you, this silence where neither I am, nor you are. Thou art this. Let "this" become more
           important than "that" and your life will have a totally different quality to it.
               Because life goes ahead and your mind is past-oriented, mind and life never meet. Mind goes
           backwards, lives backwards. Mind is a rear-view mirror. Use it when the occasion arises. Yes, the
           rear-view mirror in the car has some important function to fulfill. But if you become obsessed with
           the rear-view mirror, and you only look into the rear-view mirror and drive the car looking always
           into the rear-view mirror, then there is going to be danger. Then there are going to be accidents and
           accidents and nothing else.
               And that's what has been happening to humanity. Look: three thousand years of history and you
           will find only accidents and accidents and accidents. In three thousand years we have fought five
           thousand wars. What more accidents do you want? And in these three thousand years, what have we
           done to the earth, to nature? We have destroyed the ecology. Now if something is not done
           immediately, the earth may become uninhabitable.
               The earth has been poisoned by us, we are killing it. And we have to live on it, and we are
           turning it into a corpse! It has started stinking in many places. We have given nature and earth a
           cancer: nature has given us life, and we are giving death to nature in return. And the basic reason, the
           basic cause, is that we have been listening to the mind which moves backwards.
               Mind means past. Mind has no idea of the present, cannot have any idea of the present. Mind
           only means that which has been lived, known, experienced -- the accumulated past. It cannot have
           any contact with the present; it will have that contact only when the present is no more present and
           has become past. And life moves ahead. We live in the present and we move in the future, and mind
           never lives in the present and always clings to the past. This is the dichotomy, the greatest calamity.
           This is the knot that has to be cut.
           Atisha says: DON'T DO THINGS BACKWARDS.
               Another meaning of this sutra is: remember life can be really lived only if you live it naturally. If
           you impose artificial commandments over it, you will destroy it.
               For example, I told you: unless you love yourself you cannot love anybody else. Hence I say to
           you, be selfish, because only out of selfishness is altruism born. But you have been told again and
           again that you are worthless. You have been told that you have no value -- that as you are, you are
           only worth condemnation; that as you are, you are bound to hell. You have to be worthy, you have to
           change, you have to become a saint, this and that. One thing is certain: that as you are, you are not of
           any worth. How can you love yourself?
               And when a person cannot love himself and hates himself, he hates everybody else, he hates the
           whole world. By hating himself he becomes life-negative, and the person who is life-negative is
           life-destructive.
               Your monks and nuns have all been life-negative; they have not affirmed life, they have not
           nourished life, they have not beautified life, they have not been a blessing to the world. They have
           been a curse! Your monasteries should disappear; we don't need monasteries. We certainly need
           sannyasins, but they should live in the world, part of the world, transforming the world. But the basic
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           transformation that has to happen is that they should be lovers of themselves.
               The person who does not love himself becomes a masochist, he starts torturing himself. And
           these masochists have been worshipped as saints down the ages. And a person who is a masochist
           cannot be anything else than a sadist too, because he who tortures himself would like everybody to
           be tortured. Torturing becomes his sacrifice to God.
               So there have been masochists, there have been sadists. And because in life you cannot find any
           quality purely, so you will not find masochists and sadists separate. It is almost always the case that
           the same person is both: masosadist -- everybody is like that. You have been conditioned by your
           religions in such a way that you are against yourself and against others. On the one hand you torture
           yourself with beautiful rationalizations, and on the other hand you torture others, again with
           beautiful rationalizations.
               Life has become a torture chamber, a concentration camp; it is no more a celebration. It should
           be a celebration. If nature is allowed to take its own course, it is bound to be a celebration.
           So the last thing to be remembered:
              DON'T DO THINGS BACKWARDS.

               Go with nature, don't try to go upstream. Go with the stream of life. Go with the river, don't push
           the river. Don't try to conquer nature -- you cannot; you can only destroy it, and destroy yourself in
           the effort. The very idea of conquering nature is violent, ugly. Victory is not going to be against
           nature, victory is possible only with nature.
              DON'T VACILLATE.

               Your mind will vacillate. Mind is vacillation, mind is either/or, mind is always in that space of
           "to be or not to be." If you really want to grow, mature, if you really want to know what this life is
           all about, don't vacillate. Commit, involve! Involve yourself with life, get committed to life, don't
           remain a spectator. Don't go on thinking whether to do or not -- "Should I do this or that?" You can
           go on vacillating your whole life, and the more you vacillate, the more trained you become in
           vacillation.
               Life is for those who know how to commit -- how to say yes to something, how to say no to
           something decisively, categorically. Once you have categorically said yes or no to something, then
           you can take a jump, then you can dive deep into the ocean.
               People are just sitting on the fence. Millions of people are fence-sitters -- this way or that, just
           waiting for the opportunity to come. And the opportunity will never come, because it has already
           come, it is there!
               My own suggestion is that even if sometimes it happens that you commit to the wrong thing,
           even then it is good to commit, because the day you will know it is wrong you can get out of it. At
           least you would have learned one thing: that it is wrong, and never to get into anything like that
           again. It is a great experience; it brings you closer to truth.
               Why do people vacillate so much? -- because from the very childhood you have been told not to
           commit any mistakes. That is one of the greatest teachings of all the societies all over the world --
           and very dangerous, very harmful. Teach children to commit as many mistakes as possible, with only
           one condition: don't commit the same mistake again, that's all. And they will grow, and they will
           experience more and more, and they will not vacillate. Otherwise a trembling... and time is passing
           by, out of your hands, and you are vacillating.
               I see many people standing on the shore vacillating, whether to take the jump or not. Here it
           happens every day.
               Just a few days ago, one young man came to me. For three years he has been vacillating whether
           to take sannyas or not. I said, "Decide either yes or no, and be finished with it! And I am not saying
           decide yes, I am only saying DECIDE. No is as good as yes. But wasting three years? If you had
           taken sannyas three years ago," I told him, "by this time you would have known whether it is worth
           it or not; at least one thing would have been decided. Vacillating three years, nothing has been
           decided. You are in the same space, and three years have gone by."
               Atisha says: DON'T VACILLATE. TRAIN AS THOUGH CUT OFF.
               This is the secret of meditation, the last sutra today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TRAIN AS THOUGH CUT OFF.

               Mind is vacillation. The discipline of a meditator is to become so watchful of the mind, so alert
           to the mind and its stupidities -- its hesitations, its tremblings, its vacillations -- to become so
           watchful that you are cut off.
               That is the whole purpose of watching: watching cuts you off.
               Watch anything in the mind, and you are cut off. Watching is a sword.
               If a thought is moving in your mind, just watch it -- and suddenly you will see the thought is
           there, you are here, and there is no bridge left. Don't watch, and you become identified with the
           thought, you become it; watch, and you are not it. Mind possesses you because you have forgotten
           how to watch. Learn it.
               Just looking at a roseflower, watch it; or at the stars, or the people passing on the road, sit by the
           side and watch. And then slowly slowly close your eyes and see the inner traffic moving --
           thousands of thoughts, desires, dreams, passing by. It is always rush hour there.
               Just watch as somebody watches a river flowing by, sitting on the bank.
               Just watch -- and watching, you will become aware that you are not it.
               Mind is being identified with it. No-mind is being disidentified with it. Don't be a mind, because
           in fact you are not a mind. Then who are you? You are consciousness. You are that watchfulness,
           you are witnessing, you are that pure observation, that mirrorlike quality that reflects everything but
           never becomes identified with anything.
               Remember, I am not saying that you are conscious. I am saying you are consciousness: that is
           your true identity. The day one knows, "I am consciousness," one has come to know the ultimate,
           because the moment you know, "I am consciousness," you also know all is consciousness, on
           different planes. The rock is conscious in its own way, and the tree is conscious in its own way, and
           the animals and the people. Everybody is conscious in his own way, and consciousness is a
           multifaceted diamond.
               The day you know, "I am consciousness," you have known the universal truth, you have come to
           the goal.
               Socrates says, "Man, know thyself." That is the teaching of all the buddhas: Know thyself. How
           are you going to know yourself? If mind remains too much and goes on clamoring around you, goes
           on making great noise, you will never hear the still small voice within. You have to become
           disidentified with the mind.
               George Gurdjieff used to say, "My whole teaching can be condensed into one word, and that is
           disidentification." He is right. Not only his teaching can be condensed into one word, all the teaching
           of all the masters can be condensed into one word: disidentification. Don't be identified with the
           mind.
           That is the meaning of Atisha. He says:
              TRAIN AS THOUGH CUT OFF.

               Discipline yourself into deep awareness, so that you are cut off from the mind. If you can have
           only a single moment of this cut-offness, the first satori has happened. In the second satori you
           become capable of cutting off from the mind whenever you want. In the first satori it happens
           accidentally: meditating, watching, one day it happens almost like an accident. You were groping in
           the dark and you have stumbled upon the door. The first satori is a stumbling on the door.
               The second satori is becoming perfectly aware where the door is, and whenever you want to, you
           can go to the door -- whenever you want to go. Even in the marketplace, surrounded by all the
           clamor of the market, you can go to the door. Suddenly you can become cut off.
               And the third satori is when you are absolutely cut off, so that even if you want to join with the
           mind, you cannot. You can use it like a machine, separate from you, but even in your deep sleep you
           are not identified with it.
               These are the three satoris, three samadhis. First, accidental stumbling; second, becoming more
           deliberate, conscious in reaching to the door; and third, becoming attuned so deeply with the door
           that you never lose track of it, that it is always there, always open. This is the state called satori in
           Japan, samadhi in India. In English it is translated as ecstasy. That word is beautiful; literally it
           means "standing out." Ecstasy means standing out, standing out of the mind.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Atisha's last sutra: TRAIN AS THOUGH CUT OFF, is exactly the same as the meaning of the
           word ecstasy -- so cut off from the mind that you are standing out, that mind is there but you are not
           it. Some people have also started translating samadhi not as ecstasy but as instasy. That too is
           beautiful, because it is not standing out; it is standing out of the mind if you think of the mind, but if
           you think of consciousness then it is standing in.
               As far as mind is concerned ecstasy is the right word, but as far as consciousness is concerned
           instasy is far better. But both are aspects of the same thing: standing out of the mind is standing in
           consciousness, knowing that "I am not mind" is knowing "I am consciousness, AHAM
           BRAHMASMI." That is the meaning of the Upanishadic saying, I am God, I am consciousness.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #22
                                     Chapter title: The greatest Joke there is
           4 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903040
              ShortTitle: WISDOM22
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins



              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS INNOCENCE, WHAT IS BEAUTY?


               Ram Fakeer, to live in the moment is innocence, to live without the past is innocence, to live
           without conclusions is innocence, to function out of the state of not knowing is innocence. And the
           moment you function out of such tremendous silence which is not burdened by any past, out of such
           tremendous stillness which knows nothing, the experience that happens is beauty.
               Whenever you feel beauty -- in the rising sun, in the stars, in the flowers, or in the face of a
           woman or a man -- wherever and whenever you feel beauty, watch. And one thing will always be
           found: you had functioned without mind, you had functioned without any conclusion, you had
           simply functioned spontaneously. The moment gripped you, and the moment gripped you so deeply
           that you were cut off from the past.
               And when you are cut off from the past you are cut off from the future automatically, because
           past and future are two aspects of the same coin; they are not separate, and they are not separable
           either. You can toss a coin: sometimes it is heads, sometimes it is tails, but the other part is always
           there, hiding behind.
               Past and future are two aspects of the same coin. The name of the coin is mind. When the whole
           coin is dropped, that dropping is innocence. Then you don't know who you are, then you don't know
           what is; there is no knowledge.
               But you are, existence is, and the meeting of these two is-nesses -- the small is-ness of you,
           meeting with the infinite is-ness of existence -- that meeting, that merger, is the experience of
           beauty.
               Innocence is the door; through innocence you enter into beauty. The more innocent you become,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the more existence becomes beautiful. The more knowledgeable you are, the more and more
           existence is ugly, because you start functioning from conclusions, you start functioning from
           knowledge.
                The moment you know, you destroy all poetry. The moment you know, and think that you know,
           you have created a barrier between yourself and that which is. Then everything is distorted. Then
           you don't hear with your ears, you translate. Then you don't see with your eyes, you interpret. Then
           you don't experience with your heart, you think that you experience. Then all possibility of meeting
           with existence in immediacy, in intimacy, is lost. You have fallen apart.
                This is the original sin. And this is the whole story, the biblical story of Adam and Eve eating the
           fruit of the tree of knowledge. Once they have eaten the fruit of knowledge they are driven out of
           paradise. Not that somebody drove them out, not that God ordered them to get out of paradise, they
           themselves fell. Knowing they were no more innocent, knowing they were separate from existence,
           knowing they were egos... knowing created such a barrier, an iron barrier.
           You ask me, Ram Fakeer, "What is innocence?"
                Vomit knowledge! The fruit of the tree of knowledge has to be vomited. That's what meditation
           is all about. Throw it out of your system: it is poison, pure poison. Live without knowledge, knowing
           that "I don't know." Function out of this state of not knowing and you will know what beauty is.
                Socrates knows what beauty is, because he functions out of this state of not knowing. There is a
           knowledge that does not know, and there is an ignorance that knows. Become ignorant like Socrates
           and then a totally different quality enters your being: you become a child again, it is a rebirth. Your
           eyes are full of wonder again, each and everything that surrounds surprises. The bird on the wing,
           and you are thrilled! The sheer joy of seeing the bird on the wing -- and it is as if you are on the
           wing.
                The dewdrop slipping from a lotus leaf and the morning sun shining on it and creating a small
           rainbow around it, and the moment is so overwhelming... the dewdrop slipping off the leaf, just on
           the verge of meeting with the infinite, disappearing into the lake -- and it is as if you start slipping, as
           if your drop starts slipping into the ocean of God.
                In the moment of innocence, not knowing, the difference between the observer and the observed
           evaporates. You are no more separate from that which you are seeing, you are no more separate from
           that which you are hearing.
                Listening to me, right now, you can function in two ways. One is the way of knowledge:
           chattering inside yourself, judging, evaluating, constantly thinking whether what I am saying is right
           or wrong, whether it fits with your theories or not, whether it is logical or illogical, scientific or
           unscientific, Christian or Hindu, whether you can go with it or not, whether you can swallow it or
           not, a thousand and one thoughts clamoring inside your mind, the inner talk, the inner traffic -- this is
           one way of listening. But then you are listening from so far away that I will not be able to reach you.
                I go on trying but I will not be able to reach you. You are really on some other planet: you are
           not here, you are not now. You are a Hindu, you are a Christian, you are a Mohammedan, you are a
           communist, but you are not here now. The Bible is there between me and you, or the Koran or the
           Gita. And I grope for you but I come across the barrier of the Koran, I grope for you but there is a
           queue of priests between me and you. This is the way of knowledge, this is the way of remaining
           deaf, of remaining blind, of remaining heart-less.
                There is another way of listening too: just listening, nothing between me and you. Then there is
           immediacy, contact, meeting, communion. Then you don't interpret, because you are not worried
           whether it is right or wrong. Nothing is right, nothing is wrong. In that moment of innocence one
           does not evaluate. There is nothing to evaluate with, no criterion, no a priori knowledge, no
           already-arrived conclusion, nothing to compare with. You can only listen, just as one listens to the
           running sound of water in the hills, or a solo flute player in the forest, or somebody playing on the
           guitar. You listen.
                But the person who has come to listen as a critic will not listen. The person who has come simply
           to listen, not as a critic but to enjoy the moment, will be able to listen to the music. What is there to
           understand in music? There is nothing to understand. There is something to taste, certainly; there is
           something to drink and be drunk with, certainly, but what is there to understand?
                But the critic, he is not there to taste, he is not there to drink -- he is there to understand. He is
           not listening to the music because he is so full of mathematics. He is continuously criticizing,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinking. He is not innocent; he knows too much, hence he will miss the beauty of it. He may arrive
           at some stupid conclusions, but he will miss the whole moment. And the moment is momentous!
               If you can listen, just listen, if you can see, just see, then this very moment you will know what
           innocence is.
               And I am not here only to explain to you what innocence is, I am here to give a taste of it. Have a
           cup of tea! I offer it to you, each moment it is being offered. Sip it -- feel the warmth of the moment
           and the music of it and the silence and the love that overflows. Be encompassed with it. Disappear
           for a moment with your mind -- watching, judging, criticizing, believing, disbelieving, for, against.
           For a moment be just an openness, and you will know what innocence is. And in that you will know
           what beauty is.
               Beauty is an experience that happens in innocence, the flower that blooms in innocence. Jesus
           says, "Unless you are like small children you will not enter into my kingdom of God."

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              SOMETIMES I BELIEVE YOU AND SOMETIMES I DISBELIEVE YOU. HOW LONG AM I TO LIVE IN
              THIS DUALITY? HOW AM I TO DROP THIS DUALITY AND UNITE? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               Mohan Bharti, who has told you to believe in me? If you believe you will disbelieve too. Nobody
           can believe without disbelieving. Let it be settled once for all: nobody can believe without
           disbelieving. Every belief is a cover-up for disbelief.
               Belief is only the circumference of the center called doubt; because the doubt is there you create
           belief. The doubt hurts, it is like a wound, it is painful. Because the doubt is a wound it hurts; it
           makes you feel your inner emptiness, your inner ignorance. You want to cover it up. But hiding your
           wound behind a roseflower -- do you think it is going to help? Do you think the roseflower will be
           able to help the wound disappear? Just the contrary! Sooner or later the roseflower will start stinking
           of the wound. The wound will not disappear because of the roseflower; in fact the roseflower will
           disappear because of the wound.
               And you may be able to deceive somebody else who is looking from the outside -- your
           neighbors may think that there is no wound, but a roseflower -- but how can you deceive yourself?
           That is impossible. Nobody can deceive himself; deep down somewhere you will know, you are
           bound to know, that the wound exists and you are hiding it behind a roseflower. And you know the
           roseflower is arbitrary: it has not grown in you, you have plucked it from the outside, while the
           wound has grown inside you; you have not plucked it from the outside.
               The child brings the doubt in him -- an inner doubt, that is natural. It is because of the doubt he
           inquires, it is because of the doubt he questions. Go with a child for a morning walk in the woods,
           and he brings so many questions that you feel bored, that you want to tell him to shut up. But he goes
           on asking.
               From where are these questions coming? They are natural to the child. Doubt is an inner
           potential; it is the only way the child will be able to inquire and search and seek. Nothing is wrong
           about it. Your priests have been telling you a lie, that there is something wrong about doubt. There is
           nothing wrong about it. It is natural, and it has to be accepted and respected. When you respect your
           doubt, it is no longer a wound; when you reject it, it becomes a wound.
               Let it be very clear: doubt itself is not a wound. It is a tremendous help, because it will make you
           an adventurer, explorer. It will take you to the farthest star in search of truth, it will make you a
           pilgrim. It is not unhealthy to have doubt. Doubt is beautiful, doubt is innocent, doubt is natural. But
           the priests have condemned it down the ages. Because of their condemnation, the doubt which could
           have become a flowering of trust has become just a stinking wound. Condemn anything and it
           becomes a wound, reject anything and it becomes a wound.
               My teaching is: the first thing to be done, Mohan Bharti, is not to try to believe. Why? If doubt is
           there, doubt is there! There is no need to hide it. In fact, allow it, help it, let it become a great quest.
           Let it become a thousand and one questions -- and ultimately you will see it is not the questions that
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are relevant, it is the question mark! Doubt is not a search for belief; doubt simply is groping for the
           mystery, making every effort to understand the un-understandable, to comprehend the
           incomprehensible -- a groping effort.
                And if you go on searching, seeking, without stuffing yourself with borrowed beliefs, two things
           will happen. One: you will never have any disbelief. Remember, doubt and disbelief are not
           synonymous. Disbelief happens only when you have already believed, when you have already
           deceived yourself and others. Disbelief comes only when belief has entered in; it is a shadow of
           belief.
                All believers are disbelievers -- they may be Hindus, they may be Christians, they may be Jainas.
           I know all of them: all believers are disbelievers, because belief brings disbelief, it is the shadow of
           belief. Can you believe without disbelieving? It is impossible; it cannot be done in the nature of
           things. If you want to disbelieve, the first requirement is to believe. Can you believe without any
           disbelief entering from the back door? Or can you disbelieve without having any belief in the first
           place? Believe in God, and immediately the disbelief comes in. Believe in afterlife and disbelief
           arises. Disbelief is secondary, belief is primary.
                And, Mohan Bharti, what you want to do is what millions of people in the world want to do: they
           don't want the disbelief, they want only the belief. I cannot help, nobody can help. If you only are
           interested in belief, you will have to suffer the disbelief also. You will remain divided, you will
           remain split, you will remain schizophrenic. You cannot have the feel of organic unity; you yourself
           have barred it from happening.
                What's my suggestion? First, drop believing. Let beliefs be dropped, they are all rubbish! Trust in
           doubt, that's my suggestion; don't try to hide it. Trust in doubt. That is the first thing to bring in your
           being: trust in your doubt. And see the beauty of it, how beautifully trust has come in.
                I am not saying believe, I am saying TRUST. The doubt is a natural gift; it must be from God --
           from where else can it be? You bring doubt with you: trust in it, trust in your questioning. And don't
           be in a hurry to stuff and hide it with borrowed beliefs from the outside -- from the parents, from the
           priests, from the politicians, from the society, the church. Your doubt is something beautiful because
           it is yours; it is something beautiful because it is authentic. Out of this authentic doubt some day will
           grow the flower of authentic trust. It will be an inner growth, it will not be an imposition from the
           outside.
                That is the difference between belief and trust: trust grows inside you, in your interiority, in your
           subjectivity. Just as doubt is inner, so is trust. And only the inner can transform the inner. Belief is
           from the outside; it can't help because it can't reach to the innermost core of your being, and it is
           there that the doubt is.
                From where to start? Trust your doubt. That's my way of bringing trust in. Don't believe in God,
           don't believe in the soul, don't believe in the afterlife. Trust in your doubt, and immediately a
           conversion has started. Trust is such a powerful force that even if you trust in your doubt you have
           brought light in. And doubt is like darkness. That small trust in doubt will start changing your inner
           world, the inner scene.
                And question! Why be afraid? Why be so cowardly? Question -- question all the buddhas,
           question me, because if there is truth, truth is not afraid of your questioning. If buddhas are true, they
           are true; you need not believe in them. Go on doubting them... and still one day you will see trust has
           arisen.
                When you doubt, and you go on in doubting to the very end, to the very logical end, sooner or
           later you will stumble upon a truth. Doubt is groping in darkness, but the door exists. If Buddha
           could get to the door, if Jesus could get to it, if Atisha could get to it, if I can get to it, why can't you?
           Everybody is capable of getting to the door -- but you are afraid of groping, so you sit in your dark
           corner believing in somebody who has found the door. You have not seen that somebody, you have
           heard about him from others who have heard it from others, and so on, so forth.
                How do you believe in Jesus? Why? You have not seen Jesus! And even if you had seen him you
           would have missed. The day he was crucified, thousands had gathered to see him, and do you know
           what they were doing? They were spitting on his face! You may have been in that crowd, because
           that crowd was not different at all. Man has not changed.
                Darwin says man has evolved out of the monkey. Maybe, but since then evolution seems to have
           stopped. It must have been an accident, some monkey must have fallen from the tree and could not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           get back. Maybe he was fractured or became afraid of falling again, so he started living on the earth.
           When you live in the trees you can live with all your four hands or four legs, but when you live on
           the earth you have to stand on two legs.
               Because the monkey was able to look all over the place from the trees... he had always lived that
           way, looking all over the place; there was no danger, he could see far away. Once he was on the
           ground, living on all fours was dangerous. He could not see all around, he could see only just two,
           three feet in front of himself, and he was afraid -- that was not his way of living. He had lived always
           in a kind of security in the trees, looking all over the place. Wherever the enemy was, he was aware;
           he could protect himself. Out of sheer fear he had to stand on two legs on the ground. Just think of
           that hilarious situation: a monkey trying to stand on two legs! All the monkeys must have laughed
           uproariously, "Look at that fool, what he is trying to do!"
               Since then evolution seems to have stopped. Nothing has happened since then. Man has lived
           almost the same way, his mind has not changed. Yes, things have changed: we live in better houses
           with better plumbing... I am not talking about India!
               Some sannyasin has just asked me, "Osho, You say life is beautiful. I could have believed you --
           but two things, women and Indian plumbing, they don't allow me to believe in it."
           Women can be changed -- but Indian plumbing? No!
               We have better roads and better vehicles to carry you from one place to another, great technology
           -- man has landed on the moon -- but man has not changed. That's why I say many of you must have
           been in the crowd that was spitting on Jesus, and many of you must have been in the crowd that was
           witnessing Mansoor's murder, who were throwing stones at the murdered mystic. You have not
           changed.
               How can you believe in Jesus? You were spitting on his face when he was alive, and now you
           believe in him, after two thousand years? It is just a desperate effort to hide your doubt. Why do you
           believe in Jesus?
               If one thing can be dropped from the Jesus story, the whole of Christianity will disappear. If one
           thing, only one thing, the phenomenon of resurrection -- that after being crucified and remaining
           dead three days, Jesus came back again -- if this part can be dropped, the whole of Christianity will
           disappear. You believe in Jesus because you are afraid of death, and he seems to be the only man
           who has come back again, who has defeated death.
               Christianity became the greatest religion in the world. Buddhism could not become that great, for
           the simple reason that the fear of death helps people to believe in Christ more than in Buddha. In fact
           to believe in Buddha needs guts, because Buddha says, "I teach you total death." This small death --
           he is not satisfied with it. He says: This small death won't do, you will be coming back again. I teach
           you the total death, the ultimate death. Annihilation I teach, so that you will never come back again,
           so that you will disappear, you will be diffused in existence, you won't be any more, any longer; not
           even a trace will be left behind.
               In India Buddhism disappeared, completely disappeared. Such a great, so-called religious
           country, and Buddhism completely disappeared. Why? People believe in religions which teach that
           you will live after death, that the soul is immortal. Buddha was saying that the only thing worth
           realizing is that you are not. Buddhism could not survive in India, because it didn't give you a
           cover-up for your fear.
               Buddha did not say to people, "Believe in me." Hence his teaching disappeared from this
           country, because people want to believe. People don't want truth, they want belief. Belief is cheap.
           Truth is dangerous, arduous, difficult; one has to pay for it. One has to seek and search, and there is
           no guarantee that you will find it, there is no guarantee that there is any truth anywhere. It may not
           be at all; the goal may not exist.
               People want belief, and Buddha said... his last message to the world was "appo dipo bhava; be a
           light unto yourself." He had said this because his disciples were crying. Ten thousand sannyasins
           surrounding him... of course they were sad, and tears were falling; their master was leaving. And
           Buddha said to them, "Don't cry. Why are you crying?"
               One of the disciples, Ananda, said, "Because you are leaving us, because you were our only
           hope, because we had hoped and hoped long that it is through you we will attain to truth."
               It was to answer Ananda that Buddha said, "Don't be worried about that. I cannot give you truth;
           nobody else can give it to you, it is not transferable. But you can attain it on your own. Be a light
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unto yourself."
               Mohan Bharti, the same is my attitude. You need not believe in me. I don't want believers here, I
           want seekers, and the seeker is a totally different phenomenon. The believer is not a seeker. The
           believer does not want to seek, that's why he believes. The believer wants to avoid seeking, that's
           why he believes. The believer wants to be delivered, saved, he needs a savior. He is always in search
           of a messiah -- somebody who can eat for him, chew for him, digest for him. But if I eat, your
           hunger is not going to be satisfied. Nobody can save you except yourself.
               I need seekers here, inquirers, not believers. Believers are the most mediocre people in the world,
           the least intelligent people in the world. So forget about belief, you are creating trouble for yourself.
           You start believing in me, then disbelief arises -- it is bound to arise, because I am not here to fit
           with your expectations.
               Mohan Bharti comes from a Jaina family. It took great courage for him to become a sannyasin of
           mine. But the traditional mind is there; you cannot so easily get rid of it. So very deep down in the
           unconscious there are lurking expectations of how I should be. Then disbelief is bound to arise.
               I live in my own way, I don't consider you. I don't consider anybody at all -- because if you start
           considering others you can't live your life authentically. Consider and you will become phony. I
           know if I can live in a grass hut, thousands and thousands of Indians will come to worship me. If I
           can live naked, millions will think of me as a saint, a great saint. If I can eat only once a day, and that
           too by begging, the whole country will be happy with me. But I can't do these things, they are not
           natural to me.
               It may have been natural for Mahavira to be naked; hence he was naked. And remember, people
           were not happy, because the people who were surrounding Mahavira had believed in Krishna and
           Rama, and they were not naked. So they were expecting Mahavira to behave like Krishna; they were
           expecting a flute, and he had none. They must have searched -- in fact there was nowhere to search,
           he was standing naked! He was not fulfilling their expectations. Where is the crown of peacock
           feathers? They had known Krishna; he was a totally different individual, a totally different
           expression of existence. Very colorful he was, a rainbow, with peacock feathers as a crown, with
           beautiful flowers as garlands, the dress, the garments made of the best silk possible.
               And he had ornaments on his body, diamonds, gold, ornaments like women. In those days, men
           used to have ornaments. That seems to be more natural, because in nature the male animal is more
           ornamental than the female. The male peacock has those beautiful feathers, the female peacock has
           no beautiful feathers at all. It is enough for her to be the female; that is enough. The male has to
           substitute something because he is not female: he has to look beautiful, he has to be ornamental. The
           male peacock dances, remember, not the female. That dance is a substitute. He wants to look as
           beautiful as possible -- he is afraid he may not be chosen!
               It is the male cuckoo that gives the call; that beautiful sound, that song, comes from the male
           cuckoo. The female simply sits, waits; just to be female is enough. Look in nature and you will be
           surprised: female animals are not ornamental at all. In the ancient days it was so with men too. The
           female is beautiful as she is, nature has made her beautiful.
               So in those days of Krishna, five thousand years back, the male used to have beautiful garments,
           flowers, ornaments, and Hindus were accustomed to that idea. And then came Mahavira, standing
           naked, with no ornaments, no garments, nothing to beautify his body, just utterly naked. Not only
           that, he used to pull out his own hair. He must have looked a little crazy. Only crazy people pull out
           their hair; when madness possesses you, you pull out your hair. He was pulling it for a certain
           different reason -- because hair gives a certain beauty.
               And the people who don't have hair, the bald people like me, have to create beautiful theories!
           They say that bald people are the most sexual. The whole theory is that people go bald in three ways.
           A few people start from the front: they are the most sexual. A few people start from the back: they
           are not sexual, they only think they are sexual. And a few people start in the middle: it is better not to
           say anything about them! Hair gives beauty. Bald people must feel something has to be substituted,
           and they have created the rumor all over the world that bald people are very sexual.
               Krishna and Rama were very aesthetic people, and Mahavira was totally different, very austere.
           But that was natural to him; he was beautiful in his nakedness, as beautiful as Krishna was with all
           his garments and ornaments. In fact, ancient scriptures say that Mahavira may have been the most
           beautiful man in the world. That may have been one of the reasons why he went naked. If you have a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           well-proportioned body, if your body is really beautiful, who cares about clothes?
               Ugly people are very much worried about clothes, because that's how somehow they manage.
           Now, a woman who has an ugly body will not be ready to go naked on the beach. She will be very
           much against beaches; she will be very much against going naked, nude people and nudist camps.
           The only thing she is really against is that she knows that if she goes naked it will be a really horrible
           scene!
               Whenever a country becomes beautiful, people start becoming nude. Whenever it has happened
           that a race has become beautiful, people start going nude. There is no need to hide. We hide only the
           ugly part. But clothes are helpful to people who don't have beautiful bodies. You may not have a
           beautiful chest, manly chest, but you can wear stuffed coats and they can give a feel -- at least to the
           outsiders.

               A man was searching on a nude beach... he was searching for his wife. A policeman was looking
           at him. He became suspicious and asked him, "What are you searching for? And for hours you have
           been searching... searching for some hidden treasure?"
           He said, "No, just a sunken chest."

               You can have stuffed clothes which can give a shape to your body.
               Mahavira must have been beautiful -- that's my feeling too -- must have been a rare, beautiful
           man. But it was not expected, hence people were against him. No village, no town, was hospitable to
           him. He was driven away from villages and towns, stones were thrown at him, wild dogs were
           released behind him so that they could chase him out of the town -- just because he was nude! He
           was not doing any harm to anybody; the most harmless person you can think of, he would not even
           do harm to the ants. In the night he used to sleep only on one side. He would not change from one
           side to the other, because who knows, an ant may have crawled behind him in the night and if he
           turns over the ant may be killed. He would not walk in the night, because some insect may be killed.
           He would not walk on grass, on lawns; he would not walk in the rainy season, because so many
           insects are born in the rainy season. Such a harmless man, but yet people misbehaved with him. And
           the only reason? -- he was not fulfilling their expectations.
               No buddha has ever fulfilled anybody's expectations. In fact that's why he becomes a buddha: he
           never compromises. Mohan Bharti, if you have any expectations about me you will again and again
           be in trouble, because I don't consider your expectations.
               George Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples one of the most fundamental things: "Don't consider
           others, otherwise you will never grow." And that's what is happening in the whole world, everybody
           is considering others: "What will my mother think? What will my father think? What will the society
           think? What will my wife, my husband...?" What to say of the parents -- even parents are afraid of
           children! They think, "What will our children think?"
               One man came to me and he said, "Since I have become a sannyasin, my children think that I
           have gone crazy, they laugh at me. Nothing hurts me more than this, that my own children... they
           look at me from the window, they don't come inside the room! They whisper to each other -- I don't
           know what, but they talk about me. They think something has gone wrong."
               People are considering each other -- and then there are millions of people to consider. If you go
           on considering each and everybody, you will never be an individual, you will be just a hodgepodge.
           So many compromises made, you would have committed suicide long ago.
               It is said people die at the age of thirty and are buried at the age of seventy. Death happens very
           early -- I think thirty is also not right, death happens even earlier. Somewhere near twenty-one, when
           the law and the state recognize you as a citizen, that is the moment when a person dies. In fact, that's
           why they recognize you as a citizen: now you are no more dangerous, now you are no more wild,
           now you are no more raw. Now everything has been put right in you, fixed right in you; now you
           have been adjusted to the society. That's what it means when the nation gives you the right to vote:
           the nation can trust now that your intelligence has been destroyed -- you can vote. There is no fear
           about you; you are a citizen, you are a civilized man. You are no more a man then, you are a citizen.
               My own observation is, people die nearabout twenty-one. Then whatsoever is, is a posthumous
           existence. On the graves we should start writing three dates: birth, death, and posthumous death.
               Mohan Bharti, first you believe in me -- that's where you go wrong, don't believe in me -- and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then you disbelieve. Then you get caught up in the conflict, and the problem arises, What to do?
           How to get out of this duality? You create the duality and then you want to get out of it. I will not
           tell you how to get out of it, I will tell you how not to get into it. Why in the first place should you
           get into it?
                They define a witty person as one who knows how to get out of difficulties, and the wise one as
           one who knows how never to get into them. Be wise. Why not cut the very root? Don't believe in me,
           be a fellow traveler with me. That's what my sannyasins are: they are not believers, they are fellow
           travelers. They are walking with me into the unknown; they are walking with their own feet, on their
           own. I don't carry you on my shoulders, I don't want you to be cripples your whole life; I don't give
           you any crutches, you have to walk on your own.
                Yes, I know the way, I have walked on it, I know all the pitfalls on the way. I will go on shouting
           loudly at you, "Beware, there is a pitfall!" But still it is up to you to decide whether to fall into it or
           not. If you fall into it I don't condemn you, I respect your freedom. If you don't fall into it I don't
           reward you, I take it for granted this is how an intelligent person behaves. So there is no reward with
           me and no punishment with me, there is no hell and no heaven, there is no sin, no virtue. This is my
           joy -- to share. If it is your joy to share it with me, good; we can go along as far as you decide to
           come along with me. The moment you want to have a separate way, it's perfectly good, we will
           depart with a goodbye.
                There is no need to believe in me, there is no need to cling onto me. And then there is no
           question of disbelief, and the duality never arises, and you need not find a way to get out of it. Please
           don't get into it.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS EXACTLY YOUR ATTITUDE ABOUT DEATH?


              Kamalesh, a mystic who was being led to the gallows saw a big crowd running on before him.
           "Don't be in such a hurry," he said to them. "I can assure you, nothing will happen without me."

                That's my attitude towards death: it is the greatest joke there is. Death has never happened,
           cannot happen in the very nature of things, because life is eternal. Life cannot end; it is not a thing, it
           is a process. It is not something that begins and ends; it has no beginning and no end. You have
           always been here in different forms, and you will be here in different forms, or, ultimately, formless.
           That's how a buddha lives in existence: he becomes formlessness. He disappears from the gross
           forms totally.
                Death is not there, it is a lie -- but it appears very real. It only appears very real, it is not. It
           appears so because you believe too much in your separate existence. It is in believing that you are
           separate from existence that you give reality to death. Drop this idea of being separate from
           existence, and death disappears.
                If I am one with existence, how can I die? Existence was there before me and will be there after
           me. I am just a ripple in the ocean, and the ripple comes and goes, the ocean remains, abides. Yes,
           you will not be there -- as you are you will not be there. This form will disappear, but the one who is
           abiding in this form will go on abiding, either in other forms or ultimately in formlessness.
                Start feeling one with existence, because that's how it is. That's why my insistence again and
           again to let the distinction between the observer and the observed disappear, as many times during
           the day as possible. Find a few moments -- whenever you can find, wherever you can find -- and just
           let this distinction and difference between the observer and the observed disappear. Become the tree
           you are seeing and become the cloud you are looking at, and slowly slowly you will start laughing at
           death.
                This mystic who was being led to the gallows must have seen the utter lie of death, he could joke
           about his own death. He was being led to the gallows, he saw a big crowd running on before him;
           they were going to see the crucifixion....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                People are very much interested in such things. If they hear that somebody is being murdered
           publicly, thousands of people will gather to see it. Why this attraction? Deep down you are all
           murderers, and this is a vicarious way to enjoy it. That's why films about murder and violence,
           detective novels, are so much in vogue, popular. Unless a film has murder in it and suicide in it and
           obscene sex in it, it never becomes a box office hit. It never succeeds, it fails. Why? -- because
           nobody is interested in anything else. These are deep desires in your being. Seeing them on the
           screen, there is a vicarious enjoyment as if you are doing it; you become identified with the
           characters in the film or in the novel.
                Now this mystic was being led to the gallows. He saw a big crowd running on before him. "Don't
           be in such a hurry," he said to them. "I can assure you nothing will happen without me. You can
           walk easily, slowly, there is no hurry. I am the person they are going to kill, and nothing is going to
           happen without me."
                This is my attitude about death. Laugh! Let laughter be your attitude about death. It is a cosmic
           lie created by man himself, created by the ego, by selfconsciousness.
                That's why in nature no other animal, bird, tree is afraid of death. Only man, and he makes so
           much fuss out of it... his whole life trembling. Death is coming closer, and because of death he
           cannot allow himself to live totally. How can you live if you are so afraid? Life is possible only
           without fear. Life is possible only with love, not with fear. And death creates fear.
                And who is the culprit? God has not created death, it is man's own invention. Create the ego, and
           you have created the other side of it -- death.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I AM. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?


               Naresh, it is impossible. It is impossible to say that "I am not" -- because even to say that you
           have to be. One of the great philosophers of the West, the modern father of philosophy in the West,
           was Descartes. His whole life was an inquiry for something indubitable, which cannot be doubted.
           He wanted a foundation, and a foundation which cannot be doubted; only then the right edifice can
           be built upon it. He searched, very sincerely he searched.
               God can be doubted, the other life can be doubted, even the existence of the other can be
           doubted. I am here, you can see me; but who knows, you may be dreaming, because in dream also
           you see the other, and in dream the other seems as real as in the so-called real life. You never doubt
           in your dream. In fact, in the real life you may doubt sometimes, but in the dream it is indubitable.
               Chuang Tzu is reported to have said, "My greatest problem is one which I am unable to solve.
           The problem is that one night I dreamed that I am a butterfly. Since that night I am confused."
               A friend asked, "What is your confusion? Everybody dreams, there is nothing special about it.
           Why be so worried about it, that you are a butterfly in a dream? So what?"
               He said, "Since that day I am puzzled, I cannot decide who I am. If Chuang Tzu can become a
           butterfly in the dream, who knows -- when the butterfly goes to sleep, she may dream that she is
           Chuang Tzu. Then am I really Chuang Tzu or just a butterfly dreaming? If this is possible, that
           Chuang Tzu can become a butterfly, then that too is possible. A butterfly resting in the afternoon sun
           underneath the shadow of a tree may be dreaming that she has become a Chuang Tzu. Now who am
           I? -- a butterfly dreaming, or Chuang Tzu dreaming?"
               It is difficult. Even to decide the other is, is difficult, very difficult.
               Descartes searched long. Then he stumbled upon only one fact, and that fact is "I am." That
           cannot be doubted, that's impossible, because even to say, "I am not," you are required.

           Wife: "I think I hear burglars. Are you awake?"
           Husband: "No!"

              Now, if you are not awake, how can you say "No"? That "No" presupposes that you are awake.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You ask me: "I cannot believe that I am."
               It is not a question of belief; you ARE. Who is this who cannot believe? Who is this who is full
           of doubt? Can doubt exist without a doubter? Can dream exist without a dreamer? If the dream is
           there, one thing is absolutely certain: the dreamer is there. If the doubt is there, then one thing is
           absolutely certain: the doubter is there.
               This is the foundation of all religions: "I am." It need not be believed -- there is no question of
           belief, it is a simple fact. Close your eyes and try to deny it. You cannot deny it, because in the very
           denial you will be proving it.
               But this age is the age of doubt. And remember, any age that is the age of doubt is a great age.
           When great doubts arise in the human heart, great things are bound to happen. When great doubts
           arise, great challenges arise.
               Now this is the greatest challenge for you, Naresh -- to go deeper into this doubter who doubts
           even the existence of his own being. Go into this doubt, go into this doubter. Let this become your
           meditation, and reaching deeper into it you will see that this is the only indubitable fact in existence,
           the only truth which cannot be doubted.
           And once you have felt it, trust arises.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO, ARE ALL MINDS JEWISH?


               Abhiyana, there is some truth in it, it is so. To be a Jew has nothing to do with any race.
           Jewishness is really a quality -- the quality that calculates, the quality that thinks always in terms of
           business. That's why the other day I said to you that it is really unbelievable how the Italians could
           snatch the greatest business from the Jews. It is really unbelievable, it is a miracle, because the
           Vatican is the greatest business on the earth. All the Rockefellers and all the Morgans and all the
           Fords put together still fall short.
               Jewishness is a quality; it can be found in a Hindu, it can be found in a Jaina, it can be found in a
           Christian, in a Buddhist. It is the quality of calculation. It can become great intelligence, it can also
           become great cunningness -- both alternatives are there.
               Jews have given the greatest minds to the world; the people who have dominated this century
           were all Jews. Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, the three great minds who have
           dominated, who have left their immense impact on modern humanity, were all Jews. Jews snatch
           more Nobel prizes than anybody else. That is one part: the mind can become very intelligent. But the
           other part is, it can become very cunning, mean, calculative.

               On his way home from the market, where he bought a beautiful horse at a very good price,
           Moses is surprised by a storm -- and the Siberian storms are really frightening!
               "My God, if you grant me safety," he prays, "I promise to sell my horse and give the money to
           the poor."
               As soon as he uttered these words, the snow stopped and the sky cleared up. So Moses arrived
           home safely.
               The following week, with a heavy heart, he went to the market to sell his horse. But he took a
           goose with him.
           "How much for the horse?" Old Isaac asked him.
               "The horse is sold with the goose," answered Moses. "Two rubles for the horse, and a hundred
           rubles for the goose! "

              That calculativeness, that cunningness -- now he is even deceiving God!

               One small boy -- must have been Jewish -- was going to the synagogue. His mother had given
           him two small coins, one for himself and one to be offered to God in the synagogue. On the way he
           was playing with the coins, and one coin slipped from his hand, went into a hole. The boy stood
           there, looked at the sky and said, "So take your coin! Here goes your coin, God! You are omnipotent,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so you can find it anywhere. It will be a little difficult for me."

               Just a small boy -- but he finds a way out of the problem. This quality is Jewishness.

               Ibrahim Silberstein, a rich merchant, invites all his friends to a party to celebrate his twenty-five
           years of marriage.
               On his invitation card is written: "The presents of the guests who cannot visit us on this occasion
           will be returned."
               One of his clients, Zacharia, after receiving the invitation, borrows a magnificent silver
           chandelier from the jewelry shop and tells his wife, Esther, "I have got a great idea, dear! We will
           send this chandelier as a present to the Silbersteins, but we won't visit them, so it won't cost us
           anything as they will return it to us!"
               Zacharia sends the chandelier and patiently waits for the return of the present. One week goes by,
           then two, then three: no sign of the chandelier. Very nervous, Zacharia finally decides to go and see
           the Silbersteins. Silberstein warmly greets his generous friend: "Ah, finally, there you are! I knew
           you were coming. Just this morning I was saying to my dear wife, Rebecca, 'If my old friend
           Zacharia does not come today, ah well, too bad, tomorrow we will have to send the chandelier back
           to him!"'

           This quality, wherever it is found, is Jewishness.
                If you try to watch your own mind you will find a Jew hidden there. Whenever you calculate and
           whenever you start living mathematically, whenever your life becomes just a business, just a logic;
           whenever you lose love, whenever you lose the quality to share, to risk, to gamble; whenever you
           lose the quality of giving wholeheartedly for the sheer joy of giving, beware of the Jew within.
                But the Jew is very difficult to destroy, because it pays you. It helps you to succeed in the world,
           it helps you to become famous in the world, it offers you the whole world. If you are really
           calculative, the whole world is yours. The temptation is great. If you are tempted by the world and
           all that it can offer, you cannot get rid of the inner Jew.
                And unless you get rid of the inner Jew you will never be religious, you will never have
           innocence -- and without innocence there is no beauty, no benediction.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #23
                                     Chapter title: Behind the Master's Hands
           5 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903050
              ShortTitle: WISDOM23
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 105 mins



               The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHERE IS THE WITNESS WHEN THE OBSERVER AND THE OBSERVED BECOME ONE?


                Anand Pravesh, the observer and the observed are two aspects of the witness. When they
           disappear into each other, when they melt into each other, when they are one, the witness for the first
           time arises in its totality.
                But this question arises in many people; the reason is that they think the witness is the observer.
           In their minds, the observer and the witness are synonymous. It is fallacious; the observer is not the
           witness, but only a part of it. And whenever the part thinks of itself as the whole, error arises.
                The observer means the subjective, and the observed means the objective. The observer means
           that which is outside the observed, and the observer also means that which is inside.
                The inside and the outside can't be separate; they are together, they can only be together. When
           this togetherness, or rather oneness, is experienced, the witness arises. You cannot practice the
           witness. If you practice the witness you will be practicing only the observer, and the observer is not
           the witness.
                Then what has to be done? Melting has to be done, merging has to be done. Seeing a roseflower,
           forget completely that there is an object seen and a subject as a seer. Let the beauty of the moment,
           the benediction of the moment, overwhelm you both, so the rose and you are no more separate, but
           you become one rhythm, one song, one ecstasy.
                Loving, experiencing music, looking at the sunset, let it happen again and again. The more it
           happens the better, because it is not an art but a knack. You have to get the knack of it; once you
           have got it, you can trigger it anywhere, any moment.
                When the witness arises, there is nobody who is witnessing and there is nothing to be witnessed.
           It is a pure mirror, mirroring nothing. Even to say it is a mirror is not right; it will be better to say it
           is a mirroring. It is more a dynamic process of melting and merging; it is not a static phenomenon, it
           is a flow. The rose reaching you, you reaching into the rose: it is a sharing of being.
                Forget that idea that the witness is the observer; it is not. The observer can be practiced, the
           witness happens. The observer is a kind of concentration, and the observer keeps you separate. The
           observer will enhance, strengthen your ego. The more you become an observer, the more you will
           feel like an island -- separate, aloof, distant.
                Down the ages, the monks all over the world have been practicing the observer. They may have
           called it the witness, but it is not the witness. The witness is something totally different, qualitatively
           different. The observer can be practiced, cultivated; you can become a better observer through
           practicing it.
                The scientist observes, the mystic witnesses. The whole process of science is that of observation;
           very keen, acute, sharp observation, so nothing is missed. But the scientist does not come to know
           God. Although his observation is very very expert, yet he remains unaware of God. He never comes
           across God; on the contrary, he denies that God is, because the more he observes -- and his whole
           process is that of observation -- the more he becomes separate from existence. The bridges are
           broken and walls arise; he becomes imprisoned in his own ego.
                The mystic witnesses. But remember, witnessing is a happening, a by-product -- a by-product of
           being total in any moment, in any situation, in any experience. Totality is the key: out of totality
           arises the benediction of witnessing. Forget all about observing. It will give you more accurate
           information about the observed object, but you will remain absolutely oblivious of your own
           consciousness.
                Science is objective, art is subjective, religion is neither -- neti neti, neither this nor that. Then
           what is religion? Religion is the meeting of the object and the subject, religion is the meeting of the
           lover and the beloved. Religion is the disappearance of the separation, of the duality. And in that
           separation energy is released; energy that was confined by the dual, that was kept separate, simply
           dances in utter unity.
                That unity is witnessing. It happens only once in a while to you, and even then you don't take
           much note of it, because it comes like a flash and it is gone. And because you don't understand it,
           you don't preserve the experience. In fact you neglect it, you ignore it; it seems to be dangerous.
                It happens when you are in a deep orgasmic state, when the woman and man meet and merge and
           disappear into each other. It happens only for a single moment at the highest peak. When their
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           energies are no more two, when the energies have penetrated into each other so deeply that you
           cannot call them two at all... that orgasmic peak is the moment where witnessing arises. This is the
           whole secret of Tantra. Tantra discovered that in orgasmic ecstasy witnessing arises on its own
           accord. It is a gift from God, a natural gift to enter into samadhi.
                But it happens in all creative experiences, because all creative experiences are orgasmic; in a
           subtle sense, there is something of the sexual and the sensuous in them. When a painter looks at the
           trees, then the green and the red and the gold of the trees is not the same as when you look at the
           trees. His experience is orgasmic, he is utterly lost in it. He is not there as an observer, he falls in
           deep rapport. He becomes one with the green and the red and the gold of the trees.
                The painter knows that looking at the beautiful existence is an orgasmic experience. Hence,
           while the painter is painting, he becomes absolutely nonsexual; he becomes celibate. He is already
           experiencing orgasmic joy, he need not go into sex at all. Celibacy comes naturally to him.
                Thousands of poets and painters and musicians have remained celibate, and with no effort.
           Monks remain celibate with great effort. Why? The monk is uncreative; in his life there is no
           orgasmic experience, his mind hankers for the sexual experience. The poet, the musician, the artist,
           the dancer who is capable of being lost into whatsoever he is doing, is having orgasmic experiences
           on a higher plane; sex is not a necessity. If once in a while such a person moves into sex, it is not out
           of need, it is just playfulness, it is simple playfulness. And when sex has the quality of playfulness it
           is sacred. When it is out of need it is a little bit ugly, because out of need you exploit the other, and
           out of need it can never take you to the highest orgasmic peak. You remain always discontented
           somewhere or other, because out of need means there is a motive, there is goal-orientation. There is
           manipulation, exploitation, an effort to use the other as a means. When you are simply playful, it is
           totally different.
                D.H. Lawrence is right when he says that he experienced God in sexual orgasm. But his sexuality
           is totally different from the sexuality of the monks. They will not be able to understand Lawrence.
                Lawrence was one of the most misunderstood men of this century -- one of the most beautiful,
           one of the most creative, one of the most precious, but the most misunderstood. And the reason is
           that his experience has a totally different quality. When he is talking about sexual orgasm, he is not
           talking about your sexual orgasm, he is talking about his sexual orgasm. Only very rare people will
           be able to understand him. He is a natural tantrika -- unaware of the science of Tantra, but he
           stumbled upon it. Somehow a window has opened in his life; his sensuality is spiritual.
                It is not a question of what you do, it is a question of how you do it. And ultimately it is a
           question whether you do it or you allow it to happen. If you allow it to happen, then whenever there
           is a creative meeting you will suddenly become a witness. The observer and the observed become
           one in it -- in fact it happens only when they become one.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND ENERGY.


               Prem Naren, modern physics has discovered one of the greatest things ever discovered, and that
           is: matter is energy. That is the greatest contribution of Albert Einstein to humanity: e is equal to
           mc2, matter is energy. Matter only appears... otherwise there is no such thing as matter, nothing is
           solid. Even the solid rock is a pulsating energy, even the solid rock is as much energy as the roaring
           ocean. The waves that are arising in the solid rock cannot be seen because they are very subtle, but
           the rock is waving, pulsating, breathing; it is alive.
               Friedrich Nietzsche has declared that God is dead. God is not dead -- on the contrary, what has
           happened is that matter is dead. Matter has been found not to exist at all. This insight into matter
           brings modern physics very close to mysticism, very close. For the first time the scientist and the
           mystic are coming very close, almost holding hands.
               Eddington, one of the greatest scientists of this age, has said, "We used to think that matter is a
           thing; now it is no more so. Matter is more like a thought than like a thing."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Existence is energy. Science has discovered that the observed is energy, the object is energy.
           Down the ages, at least for five thousand years, it has been known that the other polarity -- the
           subject, the observer, consciousness -- is energy.
                Your body is energy, your mind is energy, your soul is energy. Then what is the difference
           between these three? The difference is only of a different rhythm, different wavelengths, that's all.
           The body is gross -- energy functioning in a gross way, in a visible way.
                Mind is a little more subtle, but still not too subtle, because you can close your eyes and you can
           see the thoughts moving; they can be seen. They are not as visible as your body; your body is visible
           to everybody else, it is publicly visible. Your thoughts are privately visible. Nobody else can see
           your thoughts; only you can see them -- or people who have worked very deeply into seeing
           thoughts. But ordinarily they are not visible to others.
                And the third, the ultimate layer inside you, is that of consciousness. It is not even visible to you.
           It cannot be reduced into an object, it remains subject.
                If all these three energies function in harmony, you are healthy and whole. If these energies don't
           function in harmony and accord you are ill, unhealthy; you are no more whole. And to be whole is to
           be holy.
                The effort that we are making here is how to help you so that your body, your mind, your
           consciousness, can all dance in one rhythm, in a togetherness, in a deep harmony -- not in conflict at
           all, but in cooperation. The moment your body, mind and consciousness function together, you have
           become the trinity, and in that experience is God.
                Your question is significant, Naren. You ask, "Please say something about the relationship of
           consciousness and energy."
                There is no relationship of consciousness and energy. Consciousness is energy, purest energy;
           mind is not so pure, body is still less pure. Body is much too mixed, and mind is also not totally
           pure. Consciousness is total pure energy. But you can know this consciousness only if you make a
           cosmos out of the three, and not a chaos. People are living in chaos: their bodies say one thing, their
           bodies want to go in one direction; their minds are completely oblivious of the body -- because for
           centuries you have been taught that you are not the body, for centuries you have been told that the
           body is your enemy, that you have to fight with it, that you have to destroy it, that the body is sin.
                Because of all these ideas -- silly and stupid they are, harmful and poisonous they are, but they
           have been taught for so long that they have become part of your collective mind, they are there --
           you don't experience your body in a rhythmic dance with yourself.
                Hence my insistence on dancing and music, because it is only in dance that you will feel that
           your body, your mind and you are functioning together. And the joy is infinite when all these
           function together; the richness is great.
                Consciousness is the highest form of energy. And when all these three energies function
           together, the fourth arrives. The fourth is always present when these three function together. When
           these three function in an organic unity, the fourth is always there; the fourth is nothing but that
           organic unity.
                In the East, we have called that fourth simply "the fourth" -- turiya; we have not given it any
           name. The three have names, the fourth is nameless. To know the fourth is to know God. Let us say
           it in this way: God is when you are an organic orgasmic unity. God is not when you are a chaos, a
           disunity, a conflict. When you are a house divided against yourself there is no God.
                When you are tremendously happy with yourself, happy as you are, blissful as you are, grateful
           as you are, and all your energies are dancing together, when you are an orchestra of all your
           energies, God is. That feeling of total unity is what God is. God is not a person somewhere, God is
           the experience of the three falling in such unity that the fourth arises. And the fourth is more than the
           sum total of the parts.
                If you dissect a painting, you will find the canvas and the colors, but the painting is not simply
           the sum total of the canvas and the colors; it is something more. That "something more" is expressed
           through the painting, color, canvas, the artist, but that "something more" is the beauty. Dissect the
           roseflower, and you will find all the chemicals and things it is constituted of, but the beauty will
           disappear. It was not just the sum total of the parts, it was more.
                The whole is more than the sum total of the parts; it expresses through the parts, but it is more.
           To understand that it is more is to understand God. God is that more, that plus. It is not a question of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           theology, it cannot be decided by logical argumentation. You have to feel beauty, you have to feel
           music, you have to feel dance. And ultimately you have to feel the dance in your body, mind, soul.
                You have to learn how to play on these three energies so that they all become an orchestra. Then
           God is -- not that you see God, there is nothing to be seen; God is the ultimate seer, it is witnessing.
           Learn to melt your body, mind, soul; find out ways when you can function as a unity.
                It happens many times that runners.... You will not think of running as a meditation, but runners
           sometimes have felt a tremendous experience of meditation. They were surprised, because they were
           not looking for it -- who thinks that a runner is going to experience God? -- but it has happened, and
           now running is becoming more and more a new kind of meditation. It can happen in running. If you
           have ever been a runner, if you have enjoyed running in the early morning when the air is fresh and
           young and the whole world is coming back out of sleep, awakening, and you were running and your
           body was functioning beautifully, and the fresh air, and the new world again born out of the darkness
           of the night, and everything singing all around, and you were feeling so alive.... A moment comes
           when the runner disappears, there is only running. The body, mind and soul start functioning
           together; suddenly an inner orgasm is released.
                Runners have sometimes come accidentally on the experience of the fourth, turiya, although they
           will miss it because they will think it was just because of running that they enjoyed the moment; that
           it was a beautiful day, that the body was healthy and the world was beautiful, and it was just a
           certain mood. They will not take note of it. But if they take note of it, my own observation is that a
           runner can more easily come close to meditation than anybody else. Jogging can be of immense help,
           swimming can be of immense help. All these things have to be transformed into meditations.
                Drop old ideas of meditations, that just sitting underneath a tree with a yoga posture is
           meditation. That is only one of the ways, and may be suitable for a few people but is not suitable for
           all. For a small child it is not meditation, it is torture. For a young man who is alive, vibrant, it is
           repression, it is not meditation. Maybe for an old man who has lived, whose energies are declining, it
           may be meditation.
                People differ, there are many types of people. To someone who has a low kind of energy, sitting
           underneath a tree in a yoga posture may be the best meditation, because the yoga posture is the least
           energy-expensive -- the least. When the spine is erect, making a ninety-degree angle with the earth,
           your body expends the least energy possible. If you are leaning towards the left or towards the front,
           then your body starts spending more energy, because the gravitation starts pulling you downwards
           and you have to keep yourself, you have to hold yourself so that you don't fall. This is expenditure.
           An erect spine was found to need the least spending of energy.
                Then sitting with your hands together in the lap is also very very useful for low-energy people,
           because when both the hands are touching each other, your body electricity starts moving in a circle.
           It does not go out of your body; it becomes an inner circle, the energy moves inside you.
                You must know that energy is always released through the fingers, energy is never released from
           round-shaped things. For example, your head cannot release energy, it contains it. Energy is released
           through the fingers, the toes of the feet and the hands. In a certain yoga posture the feet are together,
           so one foot releases energy and it enters into the other foot; one hand releases energy and it enters
           into the other hand. You go on taking your own energy, you become an inner circle of energy. It is
           very resting, it is very relaxing.
                The yoga posture is the most relaxed posture possible. It is more relaxing than even sleep,
           because when you are asleep your whole body is being pulled by gravitation. When you are
           horizontal it is relaxing in a totally different way. It is relaxing because it brings you back to the
           ancient days when man was an animal, horizontal. It is relaxing because it is regressive; it helps you
           to become an animal again.
                That's why in a lying posture you cannot think clearly, it becomes difficult to think. Try it. You
           can dream easily but you cannot think easily; for thinking you have to sit. The more erect you sit, the
           better is the possibility to think. Thinking is a late arrival; when man became vertical, thinking
           arrived. When man used to be horizontal, dreaming was there but thinking was not there. So when
           you lie down you start dreaming, thinking disappears. It is a kind of relaxation, because thinking
           stops; you regress.
                The yoga posture is a good meditation for those who have low energy, for those who are ill, for
           those who are old, for those who have lived the whole life and now are coming closer and closer to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           death.
                Thousands of Buddhist monks have died in the sitting lotus posture, because the best way to
           receive death is in the lotus posture -- because in the lotus posture you will be fully alert, and
           because energies will be disappearing, they will be becoming less and less every moment. Death is
           coming. In a lotus posture you can keep alertness to the very end. And to be alert while you are
           dying is one of the greatest experiences, the ultimate in orgasm.
                And if you are awake while you are dying you will have a totally different kind of birth: you will
           be born awake. One who dies awake is born awake. One who dies unconscious is born unconscious.
           One who dies with awareness can choose the right womb for himself; he has a choice, he has earned
           it. The man who dies unconsciously has no right to choose the womb; the womb happens
           unconsciously, accidentally.
                The man who dies perfectly alert in this life will be coming only once more, because next time
           there will be no need to come. Just a little work is left: the other life will do that work. For one who
           is dying with awareness, only one thing is left now: he has had no time to radiate his awareness into
           compassion. Next time he can radiate his awareness into compassion. And unless awareness
           becomes compassion, something remains incomplete, something remains imperfect.
                Running can be a meditation -- jogging, dancing, swimming, anything can be a meditation. My
           definition of meditation is: whenever your body, mind, soul are functioning together in rhythm it is
           meditation, because it will bring the fourth in. And if you are alert that you are doing it as a
           meditation -- not to take part in the Olympics, but doing it as a meditation -- then it is tremendously
           beautiful.
                In the new commune we are going to introduce all kinds of meditations. Those who enjoy
           swimming, they will have opportunities to go for a swimming meditation. Those who enjoy running,
           they will have their group to run for miles. Each according to his need -- only then this world can be
           full of meditation; otherwise not.
                If we give only a fixed pattern of meditation, then it will be applicable only to a few people. That
           has been one of the problems in the past: fixed patterns of meditation, not fluid -- fixed, so they fit
           certain types and all others are left in the darkness.
                My effort is to make meditation available to each and everybody; whosoever wants to meditate,
           meditation should be made available according to his type. If he needs rest, then rest should be his
           meditation. Then "sitting silently doing nothing, and the spring comes and the grass grows by itself"
           -- that will be his meditation. We have to find as many dimensions to meditation as there are people
           in the world. And the pattern has not to be very rigid, because no two individuals are alike. The
           pattern has to be very liquid so that it can fit with the individual. In the past, the practice was that the
           individual had to fit with the pattern.
                I bring a revolution. The individual has not to fit with the pattern, the pattern has to fit with the
           individual. My respect for the individual is absolute. I am not much concerned with means; means
           can be changed, arranged in different ways.
                That's why you find so many meditations going on here. We don't have enough opportunities
           here, otherwise you would be surprised how many doors God's temple has. And you would be
           surprised also that there is a special door only for you and for nobody else. That's God's love for you,
           his respect for you. You will be received through a special door, not through the public gate; you
           will be received as a special guest.
                But the basic fundamental is, whatsoever the meditation, it has to fill this requirement: that the
           body, mind, consciousness, all three should function in unity. Then suddenly one day the fourth has
           arrived: the witnessing. Or if you want to, call it God; call it God or nirvana or Tao or whatsoever
           you will.
           The third question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IN A DEEP EMBRACE WITH YOU,
              IN ORGASMIC PLAY WITH EXISTENCE,
              LITTLE MORE OF YOU,
              LITTLE LESS OF ME.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Darshan, that's what is already happening to you. Every day you are disappearing -- and it is so
           obvious. Every day something of you is evaporating: more and more, I am becoming your being.
           Soon Darshan will not be found there at all.
               And that is the moment of great blessings -- when the disciple disappears, when the disciple is
           only a vehicle of the master. And the master is nobody except the whole. The master is one who is
           not, the master is one who has already disappeared into God. The master is already a hollow bamboo
           and God is using him as a flute.
               When the disappearance also has happened to the disciple, the first experience is that of meeting
           and merger with the master -- because the disciple does not know what God is, he knows only the
           master. The master is his or her God. Once the disciple disappears into the master and allows the
           master to enter into the innermost core of his being, the second experience is that the master has
           never been there.
               Hidden behind the master's hands were God's hands, hidden behind the master's words were
           God's messages. The master was only a singer, singing the songs of the infinite and the eternal.
               Darshan, it is happening to you. I am utterly happy with you, all my blessings are for you.
               You say: "In a deep embrace with you, in orgasmic play with existence, little more of you, little
           less of me."

              This is happening, this will go on happening. Your prayer is going to be fulfilled in this life. I
           can guarantee only for a very few people; it is very difficult to guarantee, but for Darshan I can
           guarantee: in this very life it is going to be fulfilled.

           The fifth question:
    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS THIS LONGING IN ME THAT NO RELATIONSHIP CAN SATISFY, THAT NO TEARS
              RELIEVE, THAT IS NOT CHANGED BY MANY AND BEAUTIFUL DREAMS AND ADVENTURES?


                Prem Kavita, it is so, not only with you but with everybody who has a little intelligence. It is not
           detected by the stupid people, but the intelligent person is bound to stumble upon the fact sooner or
           later -- and the more intelligent you are, the sooner it will be -- that no relationship can satisfy.
                Why? -- because every relationship is only an arrow towards the ultimate relationship; it is a
           milestone, it is not a goal. Every love affair is just an indication of a bigger love affair ahead -- just a
           little taste, but that little taste is not going to quench your thirst or satisfy your hunger. On the
           contrary, that little taste will make you more thirsty, will make you more hungry.
                That's what happens in every relationship. Rather than giving you contentment, it gives you a
           tremendous discontentment. Each relationship fails in this world -- and it is good that it fails; it
           would have been a curse if it was not so. It is a blessing that it fails.
                Because each relationship fails, that's why you start searching for the ultimate relationship with
           God, with existence, with the cosmos. You see the futility again and again, that it is not going to be
           satisfied by any man, by any woman; that each experience ends in tremendous frustration, begins in
           great hope and leaves you in great hopelessness. It is always so, it comes with great romance and
           ends in a bitter taste. When it happens again and again, one has to learn something -- that each
           relationship is only an experimentation to prepare you for the ultimate relationship, for the ultimate
           love affair.
           That's what religion is all about.
                You say: "What is this longing in me that no relationship can satisfy?"
                That is the longing for God. You may know it, you may not know it. You may not be able yet to
           articulate it, exactly what it is, because in the beginning it is very vague, cloudy, surrounded by great
           mist. But it is the longing for God, it is the longing to merge with the whole, so there is no separation
           any longer.
                You cannot merge with a man or a woman forever, the separation is bound to happen. The
           merger can only be momentary, and after that moment is gone you will be left in great darkness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           After that flash, that lightning, is gone, the darkness is going to be even more than it was before.
           That's why millions of people decide not to go into any love relationship -- because at least one is
           accustomed to one's darkness, one has not known anything else. There is a kind of satisfaction: one
           knows that this is what life is, that there is no more to it, so there is no discontent.
                Once you have tasted love, once you have seen a few moments of joy, of that tremendous
           throbbing when two persons are no longer two.... But you fall again and again from that peak; and
           each time you fall the darkness is far darker than before, because now you know that light is. Now
           you know that there are peaks, now you know that life has much more to offer to you, that this
           mundane existence of going to the office every day and coming home and eating and sleeping -- that
           this mundane existence is not all, that this mundane existence is only the porch of the palace.
                If you have never been invited in and you have lived always in the porch, then you think this is
           what life is, this is your home. Once a window opens and you can see inside the palace -- the beauty
           of it, the grandeur of it, the splendor of it -- or once you are invited in for a moment and then thrown
           out again, now the porch can never satisfy you. Now this porch is going to be a heavy burden on
           your heart. Now you are going to suffer, your agony is going to be great.
                This is my observation, that the people who are very uncreative are more satisfied than the
           people who are creative. The creative person is very much unsatisfied, because he knows much more
           is possible and it is not happening. Why is it not happening?
                The creative person is constantly searching; he cannot rest, because he has seen a few glimpses.
           Once in a while a window has opened and he has seen beyond. How can he rest? How can he feel
           comfortable and cozy in that stupid porch? He knows about the palace, he has seen the king too, and
           he knows, "That palace belongs to me; it is my birthright." All that is needed is how to enter into the
           palace, how to become a permanent resident in it. Yes, momentarily he has been inside, and he has
           been thrown out again and again.
                The more sensitive a person is, the more you will find him in discontent. The more intelligent,
           the more discontent will be found there. It has always been so.
                You come from the West to the East; you see the beggar on the road, the laborer carrying mud on
           his head, and you feel a little bit surprised: their faces don't show discontentment. They have nothing
           to be contented with, but somehow they are satisfied. And the so-called Indian religious people think
           it is because of religion that they are satisfied. And the so-called Indian saints go on bragging about
           it: "Look! the West has everything, science and technology has provided the West with every
           possible comfort, and yet nobody is contented. And in our country people are so religious that they
           have nothing, yet they are contented." The saints of this country go on bragging about it, but their
           whole bragging is based on a fallacy. The people of this country -- the poor people, the uneducated
           people, the starving people -- are not contented because they are religious, they are contented
           because they have no sensitiveness. They are contented because they are not creative, they are
           contented because they have never seen any glimpse.
                The West is becoming discontented because the comfort, the convenience, all that science has
           provided for them, has given them so much time to explore, to meditate, to pray, to play music, to
           dance, that a few glimpses have started happening. They are becoming aware that there is much
           more to life than appears on the surface; one has to dive deep.
                The East is simply poor -- and poverty makes people insensitive, remember. A poor person has to
           be insensitive, otherwise he will not be able to survive at all. If he is very sensitive, the poverty will
           be too much. He has to grow a thick skin around himself as a protection, otherwise how will he
           survive? He has to become very blind, only then can he live in a poor country. Otherwise the beggar
           is there, the ill people are there on the street, dying: if he is not insensitive, how is he going to work
           at all? Those beggars will haunt him. He has to close his doors.
                You can see it happening on the Indian streets. The Western visitor for the first time becomes
           very puzzled: a man is dying on the street and no Indian takes any note of it, people go on passing.
           This happens every day.
                If they start taking note of it, they will not be able to live at all; they have not any time for such
           luxuries. This is a luxury! They cannot take the person to the hospital, they have no time. If they start
           being so compassionate they will start dying themselves, because who is going to earn for their
           family? They have to become utterly blind and deaf. They go on moving like zombies, seeing
           nothing. Whatsoever is happening by the side is nothing to do with them, it is none of their business;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everybody is suffering his own karma.
                The beggar dying on the street is suffering from his own karma -- maybe he was a murderer in
           the past life. You need not worry about him, in fact you should be happy that he is suffering from his
           karma; now his karma is finished. Next birth he will be born a king, or something like that --
           beautiful rationalizations to keep yourself blind, insensitive.
                It is very difficult for the poor person to have some aesthetic sense, he cannot afford it. If he has
           aesthetic sense then he will feel his poverty too much, it will become unbearable. He cannot have a
           sense for cleanliness, he cannot have a sense for beauty. He cannot afford these things -- what is the
           point of having the sensitivity for them? It will be a torture, constant torture. He will not be able to
           sleep in his ugly house with all kinds of dirt, with all kind of rotten things -- they are his only
           possessions! He seems to be very satisfied -- he has to be; he cannot afford dissatisfaction.
                It has nothing to do with religion, remember. All poor people are satisfied, without any
           exception. You can go to Africa and you will find the poor people satisfied; they are even poorer
           than Indians and their satisfaction is far deeper. You can go to Indian aboriginal tribes, which are the
           poorest in the world, but you will see on their faces a kind of satisfaction, as if nothing is wrong, all
           is right. They have to believe that all is right, they have to constantly autohypnotize themselves that
           all is right; otherwise how will they be able to sleep and how will they be able to eat?
                Once a country becomes rich, it becomes sensitive. Once a country becomes rich, affluent, it
           becomes aware of many, many dimensions of life that have always been there but one had no time to
           look at. The rich country starts thinking of music, painting, poetry, and ultimately meditation --
           because meditation is the last luxury. There is no greater luxury than meditation. Meditation is the
           last luxury, because it is the ultimate love affair.
                It is good, Kavita, that you are not satisfied with your relationships. Indians are very satisfied,
           because in fact there is no relationship at all. It is marriage, it has nothing to do with relationship.
           Parents decide it, and astrologers and palmists. It has nothing to do with the persons who are going
           to get married; they are not even asked, they are simply put into a certain situation where they start
           living together. It is not a relationship. They may produce children, but it is not love; there is nothing
           of romance in it. But one thing is good about it: it is very stable. When there is no relationship there
           is no possibility of divorce. Divorce is possible only if there is love. Try to understand me. Love
           means great hope, love means "I have arrived." Love means "I have found the woman or the man."
           Love means the feeling that "We are made for each other." Love means now there is no need to
           search any more.
                If you start with such great hope, by the time the honeymoon is over the relationship will be
           over. These great hopes cannot be fulfilled by human beings. You are hoping that the woman is a
           goddess; she is not. She is hoping the man is a god; he is not. Now, how long can they go on
           deceiving each other? Sooner or later they will start seeing the actual. They will see the fact, and the
           fiction will start evaporating.
                No relationship can satisfy, because every relationship begins with great hope, and that is not
           possible to be fulfilled. Yes, that hope can be fulfilled, but it can be fulfilled only when you have
           fallen in love with the whole. No part can fulfill it. When you have fallen in love with the total, when
           the merger happens with the total, only then will there be contentment. There will be nobody who is
           contented, there will be simply contentment. And then there is no end to it.
                I am all for love, because love fails. You will be surprised -- I have my own logic. I am all for
           love, because love fails. I am not for marriage, because marriage succeeds; it gives you a permanent
           settlement. And that is the danger: you become satisfied with a toy, you become satisfied with
           something plastic, artificial, manmade.
                That's why in the East, particularly in India.... It is a very ancient country, and ancient countries
           become cunning just as old people become cunning. Out of cunningness this country decided for
           child marriage, because once somebody is adolescent hope starts arising -- longing, romance, poetry;
           now it will be difficult. The best way that India found was child marriage, marriage of children. They
           don't know what marriage is, they don't know what relationship is, they don't know what love is --
           they are not even hungry for it -- sex has not yet become a mature thing in them. Let them get
           married.
                Just think -- a three-year-old girl being married to a five-year-old boy. Now they will grow
           together, just as brothers and sisters grow together. Have you ever felt any desire to divorce your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sister? I don't think anybody ever divorces one's own sister, there is no need. You take it for granted.
           Everybody thinks his mother is good, beautiful; his sister is beautiful, his brother is beautiful. You
           take these things for granted.
               There was only one relationship which was available for you to choose out of your own freedom:
           your spouse, your woman, your man. In India we destroyed even that freedom. Husbands and wives
           were as much given as brothers and sisters. And when you have grown together for years a certain
           kind of friendship, a certain kind of association, arises. You become accustomed to each other.
               This is not relationship, this is not love. But India had decided for stability -- and an ancient
           country knows perfectly well love can never be stable. Choose love and you choose trouble.
               In the West love has become more and more important, and with it all kinds of troubles have
           arisen. The family is falling apart, disappearing really. People are changing their wives and husbands
           so many times that everything seems to be just in a chaos.
               I have heard about one Hollywood actress, that she married for the thirty-first time. After three
           days she became aware that this man had once also been her husband before. Now even to remember
           for so many times.... People change, their faces change. Now, this cannot happen in India. Even after
           lives your wife will remember you; even after lives you cannot escape, there is no escape.
               But I am all for love, and I am against marriage, particularly the arranged kind, because the
           arranged marriage gives you satisfaction. And love? -- love can never satisfy you. It gives you more
           and more thirst for a better and better love, it makes you more and more long for it, it gives you
           tremendous discontentment. And that discontent is the beginning of the search for God. When love
           fails many times, you start looking for a new kind of lover, a new kind of love, a new quality of love.
           That love affair is prayer, meditation, sannyas.
               Kavita, it is good that no longing for ordinary love affairs is ever going to be satisfied. The
           longing will be intensified more; no relationship is going to fulfill you. They will make you more
           frustrated, and no tears will relieve it, they cannot. They may help for the moment, but again you will
           be full of pain and agony. Nothing is changed by many and beautiful dreams and adventures, nothing
           is changed. Yet I say go through them. Nothing is changed, but you are changed by going through all
           those dreams and beautiful adventures. Nothing is changed in the world.
               Just think, Kavita, this question has arisen in you. This is a change. How many people are there
           who ask this type of question? This question is not an ordinary question; it is not out of curiosity. I
           can feel the pain, the agony; I can feel your tears, I can see your frustrations in it, I can see all that
           misery and suffering you must have gone through. It is almost tangible.
               Nothing changes in the world. But, falling again and again, something changes in you -- and that
           is revolution. Even to ask such a question means you are on the verge of a revolution. Then a new
           adventure is needed. Old adventures failed, and a new one -- not in the sense that you have to search
           for a new man or a new woman -- a new one in the sense that you have to search in a new dimension
           is needed.
           That dimension is the dimension of the divine.
               I say to you: I am fulfilled and contented. Atisha is fulfilled and contented, not by any
           relationship of the world, not by any love affair of the world, but having a love affair with the whole
           existence is utterly fulfilling.
               And when one is fulfilled, one starts overflowing. He cannot contain his own contentment. He is
           blessed, and so much is he blessed that he starts blessing others. He is so much blessed that he
           becomes a blessing to the world.

           The sixth question:


              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS A CONTEMPORARY MIND?


               Contemporary mind is a contradiction in terms. Mind is never contemporary, it is always old.
           Mind is past -- past and past and nothing else; mind means memory. There can be no contemporary
           mind; to be contemporary is to be without mind.
               If you are herenow, then you are contemporary with me. But then, don't you see, your mind
           disappears; no thought moves, no desire arises: you become disconnected with the past and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disconnected with the future.
               Mind is never original, cannot be. No-mind is original, fresh, young; mind is always old, rotten,
           stale.
               But those words are used -- they are used in a totally different sense. I can understand your
           question -- in that sense, those words are meaningful. The mind of the nineteenth century was a
           different mind; the questions they were asking, you are not asking. The questions that were very
           important in the eighteenth century are now stupid questions. "How many angels can dance on the
           point of a needle?" was one of the greatest theological questions in the middle ages. Now can you
           find such a stupid person who will think that this is an important question? And this was discussed
           by the greatest theologians; not small people, great professors were writing treatises on it,
           conferences were arranged. How many angels? Now who cares? It is simply irrelevant.
               In Buddha's time, a great question was: "Who created the world?" It has persisted for centuries,
           but now fewer and fewer people are worried about who created the world. Yes, there are some
           old-fashioned people, but very rarely such questions are asked of me. But Buddha was encountered
           every day. Not a single day must have passed when somebody did not ask the question, "Who
           created the world?" Buddha had to say again and again that the world has always been there, nobody
           has created it; but people were not satisfied. Now nobody cares. Very rarely somebody asks me the
           question, "Who created the world?" In that sense, the mind goes on changing as time goes on
           changing. In that sense, the contemporary mind is a reality.

              Husband to wife: "I said we are not going out tonight, and that is semi-final."

               Now this is a contemporary mind. No husband in the past would have said that. It was always
           final; the last word was his.

               Two high-class English ladies met each other by accident while out shopping in London. One
           noticed the other was pregnant and asked, "Why, darling, what a surprise! You obviously got
           married since I last saw you! "
               The second said, "Yes. He's a wonderful man; he's an officer in the Ghurka rifles."
               The questioner was horrified. "A Ghurka! Darling, are not they all black?"
           "Oh no," she said. "Only the privates."
               The questioner exclaimed, "Darling, how contemporary!"

           In that sense, there is a contemporary mind....

              Have you heard about the latest family game? It is called incest.
              Little sister to brother in bed: "Hey, you are better at this than Daddy."
           "Yes, Mummy says so too!"

               Otherwise, there is no contemporary mind. Fashions come and go; if you think of fashions then
           there are changes. But basically all mind is old. Mind as such is old, and there can be no modern
           mind; the most modern mind is still of the past.
               The really alive person is a herenow person. He does not live out of the past, he does not live for
           the future; he lives only in the moment, for the moment. The moment is all. He is spontaneous; that
           spontaneity is the fragrance of no-mind. Mind is repetitive, mind always moves in circles. Mind is a
           mechanism: you feed it with knowledge, it repeats the same knowledge, it goes on chewing the same
           knowledge again and again.
               No-mind is clarity, purity, innocence. No-mind is the real way to live, the real way to know, the
           real way to be.

           And the last question:


              BELOVED OSHO, WHY ARE POLITICIANS SO MEAN?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Prem Christo, they are mean because they are stupid. Stupidity has always the shadow of
           meanness. The more intelligent you are, the less mean you are. The utterly intelligent person cannot
           have any meanness; it is impossible. He can have only love and compassion.
               The stupid person has to be mean because that is the only way he thinks he can win. The
           intelligent person has no desire to win, the intelligent person is already victorious in his intelligence.
           The intelligent person is already superior in his intelligence, he has not to compete for it. The stupid
           person has to continuously compete. And because he is stupid, he cannot rely on his intelligence, he
           has to rely on something else: he becomes mean, cunning, deceptive, a hypocrite.
               To me, stupidity is the only sin, and everything else is just a by-product of it. And intelligence is
           the only virtue; everything else that we have known as virtue follows it like a shadow.

                Two politicians are returning home from the bar, late at night, drunk as usual. As they are
           making their way down the sidewalk one of them spots a heap of dung in front of them just as they
           are walking into it.
           "Stop!" he yells.
           "What is it?" asks the other.
           "Look!" says the first. "Shit!"
           Getting nearer to take a good look at it, the second drunkard examines the dung carefully and says,
           "No, it isn't, it's mud."
           "I tell you, it's shit," repeats the first.
           "No, it isn't," says the other.
           "It's shit!"
           "No!"
           So finally the first angrily sticks his finger in the dung and puts it to his mouth. After having tasted
           it, he says, "I tell you, it is shit."
           So the second politician does the same, and slowly savoring it, says, "Maybe you are right. Hmm."
           The first politician takes another try to prove his point. "It's shit!" he declares.
           "Hmm, yes, maybe it is," answers the second, after his second try.
           Finally, after having had enough of the dung to be sure that it is, they both happily hug each other in
           friendship, and exclaim, "Wow, I'm certainly glad we didn't step on it!"

           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #24
                                        Chapter title: Bring in the New Man
           6 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903060
              ShortTitle: WISDOM24
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              WHAT IS THIS URGE TO DO SOMETHING, TO CREATE? TO FREE YOUR MESSAGE, YOUR
              WORD, UNTO THE WORLD? I FEEL LIKE I AM IN A HURRY AND THAT ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE
              COMMUNE HAVE THE SAME FEELING. IT IS AS IF THERE IS NO TIME LEFT, AS IF ANY DAY,
              THIS VERY MOMENT, CAN BE THE LAST MOMENT.
              AM I DYING? I AM EXPLODING EACH AND EVERY MOMENT. WHAT IS THAT? WHAT IS THIS
              URGE? PLEASE SAY SOMETHING FOR THIS THIRST.


                Sarjano, man is dying, mankind is dying. And in fact there is not much time left. And this is felt
           not only here around the commune, it is felt everywhere by sensitive, intelligent, creative people.
           Only the mediocre are unaware of it; only the politicians go on rushing into the danger, the calamity,
           that awaits, totally unaware where they are going and where they are leading the world.
                But people of sensitivity, awareness, meditativeness, people of the heart, are everywhere feeling
           that the danger is very close, that mankind can commit suicide any moment, that the future was
           never so uncertain as it is today, that the tomorrow may really never come.
                These are moments of great turmoil, but they can become of great creativity too. When one is
           encountering death, one can bring one's total potential into manifestation. When there is no time left
           you cannot postpone. Hence the hurry.
                When death is very imminent, life flares up to the optimum. And that is what is happening to all
           creative people around the world, and more so around this commune, because my whole approach is
           such that only the very creative ones will be attracted to it.
                I teach sensitivity. Down the ages, religions have been teaching just the opposite -- how to
           become insensitive -- because the more insensitive you are the more you can remain aloof, distant,
           detached. Because it was thought that to attain to God one has to renounce the world, it was a natural
           consequence, a logical consequence, that one should learn how to be more and more insensitive to
           beauty, to music, to love, to people, to life itself. In the past, religion has been teaching people how
           to be unintelligent, because sensitivity and intelligence go together, insensitivity and stupidity go
           together.
                Your so-called saints are not intelligent people at all, but you have worshipped them. And you
           have worshipped them for the wrong reason -- because they were insensitive, because they had
           dulled their consciousness, because they had grown thick skin around themselves. The spring will
           come but they will remain unaffected, the clouds will gather and they will remain unaffected. The
           peacock will dance but they will remain unaffected, the night sky will be full of stars but they will be
           completely unaware of it. That was the whole discipline in the past: how to become like a rock, so
           that the world cannot overpower you. It was a kind of paranoia, it was based in fear.
                I teach you just the opposite: be sensitive, be alert, be loving, be sensuous -- because God is not
           against the roseflower, God is in it. If you can sensuously feel the velvetyness of the rose you have
           touched God himself. God is not against the stars and the sun and the moon, he is in them. If you can
           allow them to enter into your being, if you allow them to stir your heart, if you can allow them to
           drive you crazy in a dance of joy and celebration, you will be coming closer and closer to home. I
           teach sensitivity, I teach love.
                The people who have gathered around me have a totally different quality to them. This is not an
           ordinary ashram, it is a commune of creators -- artists, painters, singers, musicians. All kinds of
           talented people have come to me; only they can understand what I am saying. People understand
           according to their own inner capabilities. I may say one thing, you may understand something else.
           Communication is not easy, language is not adequate, and you will understand only that for which
           you have come.
                I have gathered around me a special kind of people. Hence this urge will be felt by almost
           everybody, that something has to be done. First, it will be a very very vague kind of feeling, just a
           silent voice within your being, heard yet not heard, understood yet not understood... a whisper, not
           very clear, a little muddy, not very transparent. In the beginning this is bound to be so. You will hear
           it like a song: it will be more poetry than prose, it will come to you like dreams, visions. Slowly
           slowly the unconscious will be able to communicate to the conscious.
                And that's what meditation is all about: learning the way to bridge the unconscious with the
           conscious, so that your own being can give you indications where to move, where to go, so that you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't need a leader, so that you become a guide to yourself, so that you can become a light unto
           yourself.
               Sarjano, you are not dying, but this will be felt like that because you are part of humanity and
           humanity is dying. All that is human is disappearing, and all that is inhuman is becoming more and
           more dominating and powerful.
               Man is being reduced to a machine, and mechanical values are becoming dominant. The artist is
           not respected, but the technician is. Poetry is not loved, but plumbing is. The dancer is no more in
           the center of life, but the businessman, the bureaucrat, the politician are. All that is beautiful is
           becoming irrelevant to man, because that which is beautiful cannot be used as a means to anything.
           That which is beautiful is an end unto itself. You cannot use poetry in war; you will need the
           scientist, not the poet. And you cannot use musicians in the marketplace; there you will need
           economists.
               This whole life is geared around wrong things. Money is more important than meditation. This is
           a very topsy-turvy situation: man is standing on his head. Man is dying, and the death is very slow.
           And remember, when death is very fast you can avoid it, because you become intensely aware of it.
           When it comes very very slow, a slow poisoning....
               For example, a person goes on smoking every day. All the experts go on saying that this is
           dangerous to you, that this will kill you, but he smokes every day and it doesn't kill him! So you may
           write it on every packet of cigarettes -- nobody bothers about your warnings that "This is harmful to
           health," that "This is harmful to life." Who cares? -- because experience says something else! You
           smoke every day, dozens of cigarettes, and you don't die and you have not died yet.
               You believe in your experience. The poison is very very slow: if a person goes on smoking one
           dozen cigarettes every day, then it will take twenty years to poison the whole system. Now, twenty
           years is a long time, and man has a very very short vision, he is shortsighted.
               The world is being poisoned very slowly. The rivers are being polluted, the oceans are being
           polluted, the lakes are dying. Nature is being destroyed. We are exploiting the earth so much that
           sooner or later we will not be able to live on it. We are not behaving well with nature.
               Our whole approach is wrong, it is destructive. We only take from the earth, and we never give
           anything back. We only exploit nature. The ecology is broken, the circulation is broken; we are not
           living in a perfect circle, and nature is a perfect circle: if you take from one hand and you give from
           another, you don't destroy it. But we are doing it: we only go on taking, and all the resources are
           being spent. But this poisoning is happening slowly, slowly. You don't see it happening because it
           takes a long time. And then there are politicians who go on gathering more and more atomic
           weapons -- more atom bombs, more hydrogen bombs, super-hydrogen bombs -- as if man has
           decided to commit suicide.
               This is what is being felt by you, Sarjano. You have the heart of a poet or the heart of a painter,
           the heart of a lover. You have immense potential for creativity. You are sensitive, hence you are
           feeling it. But the feeling is as if "I am dying." No, not you -- something far more important is
           happening, something far more dangerous too.
               Individuals have always died, it is not a problem. It is, in fact, part of recycling. Your body goes
           back to the sources to be renewed, your being moves back into the eternal to be rested, and then you
           come back again, fresh, young. Life tires, life exhausts, death is a rest. For the individual, death is a
           blessing -- but not for humanity itself; then it is a curse. Individuals go on dying and they go on
           coming back. But humanity is needed for them to come back. This earth is a beautiful planet and it is
           in the wrong hands. Hence you are feeling that something is to be done very urgently. Yes, it is
           urgent, because death is coming closer.
               This century's end is going to see either the total destruction of humanity, and with it the total
           destruction of life on this earth, or a new man being born -- a new man who will not hate life, as in
           the past it has been done; a new man who will love life; a new man who will not be negative in any
           way, but will be affirmative; a new man who will not desire life after death, but will live moment to
           moment in sheer joy -- who will think of this life as a gift and not as a punishment; who will not be
           antagonistic to the body, who will respect the body as the temple of the soul; who will love, and who
           will not be afraid of love; who will move in all kinds of relationships and yet be able to remain
           himself.
               To be in relationship and become dependent is the sign of weakness. And to escape to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Himalayas or to some Catholic monastery because of the fear of becoming dependent is again the
           sign of weakness; it is cowardly.
               To live in relationship and yet remain independent, that is what courage is. The new man will be
           courageous. In the past, only two kinds of cowards have existed on the earth, the worldly kind and
           the otherworldly kind -- but both are cowards. The really brave man will live in the world and yet
           not be of it. Either this is going to happen, or a total destruction. Now there is no third alternative.
           Man cannot survive as he is. Either he has to change himself, transmute himself, or he has to die and
           vacate the earth.
               This is what is felt, this is why you are in such a hurry. That's why I am in such a hurry. My
           sannyasins can be the new man, my sannyasins can herald the new age. Hence my sannyasins are
           going to be opposed by all past-oriented people: by Hindus, by Christians, by Mohammedans, by
           Jainas, by Buddhists -- by almost everybody. They are going to be opposed, and that is natural
           because we are trying to bring a new future in. To bring that new future we will have to destroy the
           past, because unless the past ceases to exist, the future cannot come into existence.
               The past has to die. We have to drop our clinging with the past. What does it mean when you say
           that "I am a Hindu"? It means you cling to a certain past tradition. What do you mean when you say
           that "I am a Mohammedan"? You cling to something past.
               But when you say, "I am a sannyasin, a neo-sannyasin," you don't cling to any past. Your eyes
           are focused on the future. Your roots are in the present and your branches are moving towards the
           future. Then the past is irrelevant. I want you to remember it again and again that the past has to be
           made irrelevant. You have to cut yourself off from the past.
               You say, Sarjano, "What is this urge to do something?"
               Yes, something has to be done. You have to give birth to yourself, and you have to prepare the
           way for the new man.
               "What is this urge to do something, to create? to free your message, your word, unto the world?"
               Yes, it has to be shouted from the housetops, it has to be hammered -- because people are deaf,
           people are blind, they will not hear what is being said to them.
               Just the other day, Neeraj sent me a beautiful parable from Pierre Delattre's Tales of a Dalai
           Lama. In this beautiful book comes this parable:

              All the monks had seen the spirit come out of the wall long enough to utter just one word. But
           each monk had heard a different word. The event is immortalized in this poem:
           The one who wanted to die heard LIVE.
           The one who wanted to live heard DIE.
           The one who wanted to take heard GIVE.
           The one who wanted to give heard KEEP.
           The one who was always alert heard SLEEP.
           The one who was always asleep heard WAKE.
           The one who wanted to leave heard STAY.
           The one who wanted to stay, DEPART.
           The one who never spoke heard PREACH.
           The one who always preached heard PRAY.
              Each one learned how he had been in someone else's way.

               What I am saying has to be conveyed to as many people as possible, and as fast as possible. Use
           all modern media to reach as many people as possible. Still, be aware that it is very difficult to
           communicate. It is almost an impossibility to communicate; still it has to be done. Even if fragments
           of what I am saying are understood, it will be enough to create the field, the energy field, in which
           the new man can be conceived.
               Even if people misunderstand it... it is better to understand the truth, but even if the truth is
           misunderstood it is better than a lie. Something of the truth will remain in the misunderstanding too.
           And truth is a potential power, a great power. Even if a fragment, just a seed of truth, falls into your
           heart, sooner or later you will become the garden of Eden. It cannot be avoided. Just a drop, and the
           whole ocean will find its way towards you.
               Sarjano, it has to be done. You have to create my message in as many forms as possible.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Compose music, play on the guitar or on the flute, because it is easier to stir the heart of the people,
           to wake it up through music than through words. Dance, but dance in a new way so your dance
           becomes a teaching of meditation. Dance in such a way that the one who looks at you starts feeling
           that it is not only a dance but something more, something plus; so that he starts feeling the vibe of
           meditation that is happening inside you.
               Paint: paint pictures which can become objects of meditation, paint pictures of the inner sky of
           buddhas. The modern painting is pathological. If you look at Picasso's paintings you cannot look
           long, you will start feeling uneasy. You cannot have Picasso paintings in your bedroom, because
           then you will have nightmares. If you meditate on a Picasso painting long enough you will go mad,
           because those paintings are out of Picasso's madness.
               Go to Ajanta, Ellora, Khajuraho, Konarak, and you will see a totally different world of creativity.
           Looking at the statue of a buddha, something in you starts falling in tune. Sitting silently with a
           buddha statue, you start becoming silent. The very posture, the very shape, the face, the closed eyes,
           the silence that surrounds a marble statue will help you to get connected with your own inner sources
           of silence.
               Gurdjieff used to say that there are two kinds of art. One he used to call objective art, and the
           other he used to call subjective art. Subjective art is absolutely private, personal. Picasso's art is
           subjective art; he is simply painting something without any vision for the person who will see it,
           without any idea of the person who will look at it. He is simply pouring out his own inner illness; it
           is helpful for himself, it is therapeutic.
               I am not saying that Picasso should stop painting, because if he stops painting he is bound to go
           mad. It is painting that is keeping him sane; his painting is like vomiting. When you have eaten
           something wrong, when you have a food poisoning, vomiting is the most healthy way to throw the
           toxins, the poisons, outside the system; it will help. Picasso's paintings are like vomiting. He is
           suffering from many illnesses, all the illness that humanity is suffering from. He simply represents
           humanity, he is very representative.
               He represents the whole madness that is happening in millions of people. He is a sensitive soul;
           he has become so attuned with the pathology of mankind that it has become his own pathology.
           Hence the appeal of his paintings, otherwise they are ugly. Hence his great name -- because he
           deserves it, he represents the age. This is Picasso's age: what you cannot say about yourself, he has
           said it. What you cannot pour out of yourself, he has poured it on the canvas. But it is a subjective
           phenomenon. It is therapeutic to him, but it is dangerous to everybody else.
               The ancient art was not only art; it was, deep down, mysticism. Deep down, it was out of
           meditation. It was objective, in Gurdjieff's terminology. It was made so that if somebody meditates
           over it, he starts falling into those depths where God lives.
               Khajuraho or Konarak -- if you meditate there, you will know what the Tantra masters were
           doing. They were creating in stone something that is felt in the ultimate orgasmic joy. It was the
           most difficult thing to do, to bring ecstasy into the stone. And if the stone can show the ecstasy, then
           everybody can move into that ecstasy easily.
               But people who go to Khajuraho are foolish people. They look either at Khajuraho sculpture as
           obscene -- then they miss the whole point, then they are seeing something which is within their own
           unconscious; or they are too moralistic -- then they don't meditate on any statues, they are in a hurry
           to get out of the temple somehow, they just throw glances.
               Khajuraho sculpture is not just to see, it is for meditation. Sit silently and meditate for hours. If
           one goes to Khajuraho, one should live at least for three months there, so he can meditate on each
           possible inner posture of orgasmic joy. And then, slowly slowly, the at-onement, slowly slowly, the
           harmony; then suddenly you are transported into another world -- the world of those mystics who
           created this temple. This is objective art.
               So too is the Taj Mahal. On a fullmoon night, if you sit silently by the side of it, not being
           bothered about the history of the Taj Mahal and who created it and why -- those are all nonsense,
           irrelevant facts, they don't matter: Shah Jahan and his beloved, and his memory of his beloved, he
           created it.... Don't be bothered by the guides; tip them before they start torturing you, and get rid of
           them!
               Shah Jahan has nothing to do with the Taj Mahal, in fact. Yes, he created it, he created it as a
           memorial for his wife, but he is not the essential source of it. The essential source is in the Sufi way
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of life, it is in Sufism. Basically it was created by Sufi masters; Shah Jahan was just instrumental.
           The Sufi masters have created something of immense value. If you silently sit in the full moon night
           just looking at the Taj Mahal, sometimes with open eyes and sometimes with closed eyes, slowly
           slowly you will feel something that you have never felt before. Sufis called it zikr, remembrance of
           God.
               The beauty of the Taj Mahal will remind you of those realms from where all beauty, all
           benediction comes. You will become attuned with the Sufi way of remembering God: beauty is God.
               Sarjano, don't try to repress this urge. Create in any way that suits you. My message has to be
           delivered in all possible mediums.
               In the new commune we are going to have many guilds. The sculptors will have their own guild
           and they will sculpt, and the poets will have their own guild, and the painters and the carpenters and
           the dancers and the musicians and the novelists and the filmmakers. All possible media have to be
           used to approach as many people as possible, to approach as many different kinds of people as
           possible -- because one who can understand poetry may not understand prose, and one who can
           understand music may not understand painting, and one who can understand sculpture may not
           understand poetry.
               And the message is so important because the whole future of humanity depends on it. Nowhere
           else is the experiment being done on such a great scale. There is no other community on the whole
           earth which is working in such a way as this commune. This is the greatest therapeutic center in the
           world now.
               We need a great therapeutic center so that the modern mind can be helped to vomit, cathart all
           that has gone wrong in it. Then we will need creators. And once somebody has catharted and thrown
           out all that is wrong, a great urge will arise in him to create.
               Once pathology disappears, everybody becomes a creator. Let it be understood as deeply as
           possible: only ill people are destructive. The people who are healthy are creative. Creativity is a kind
           of fragrance of real health. When a person is really healthy and whole, creativity comes naturally to
           him, the urge to create arises.
               This urge is being felt by many just like you, Sarjano. Do something for it -- and whatsoever you
           do is good. Follow your own urge, don't distort it. In the beginning it will remain vague, but if you
           follow it, soon it will become clear, more and more clear. And if you start doing something about it,
           things will become very clear very soon.
               There are many things which become clear only when you do something about them. For
           example, the poet is never really aware of the poetry unless he has written it. It remains a very vague
           cloudy phenomenon. Once he writes it down it starts taking shape, form; it becomes crystallized into
           words. No painter is ever able to say anything about what he wants to paint, unless he has painted it.
               It is said that the best way to learn is to teach. And I agree with it, because what you want to
           learn you will not be really clearly aware of unless you start teaching it.
               In the future, education will have that dimension. My own vision is that each student should be
           given an opportunity to teach too. The students who are reading and studying for their master's
           degree should be allowed to go to lower classes to teach; those who are working for their bachelor's
           degree, they should be allowed to teach the lower classes.
               Every student should be a teacher also, and vice versa. Every teacher once in a while should sit
           with the students and start learning again. Each teacher once in a while should be a student, and each
           student once in a while should be a teacher too. This difference between the teacher and the taught
           has to be dissolved; the teacher and the taught are part of one process.
               And the same is true about other phenomena. The therapist and the patient -- the therapist should
           not remain always a therapist, once in a while he should lie down on the couch and let the patient be
           the therapist and he becomes the patient. And immense will be the benefit out of it. The patient will
           learn many things that he was not able to learn while he was functioning as a patient: by becoming
           the therapist, by trying to solve the problem of the therapist -- because now the therapist is the
           patient -- he will be able to see many things more clearly. And the therapist as a patient will be able
           to see more clearly the problem, the anxiety, the anguish of the patient, because he will be standing
           in the shoes of the patient; now he will know where it pinches.
               The therapist and the patient should not be divided, they should become part of one team. It is a
           therapy team, and sometimes the therapist plays the role of the patient and sometimes the patient
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           plays the role of the therapist -- the roles are interchangeable and so on and so forth. A couple
           making love... the man should not always remain the man, and the woman should not always remain
           the woman. Sometimes the man should be the wife, passive, and the woman should be the husband,
           active; they should change roles. The husband and wife should not remain frozen, they should be
           more melting: once in a while the wife should play the active role, take initiative making love, and
           the husband should be just passive, receptive. Love will have a greater richness that way than it has
           today. In fact all frozen roles have to be by and by dissolved. Life has to become more liquid.
               So do whatsoever you can do, and by doing it, you will know what was the urge. Be articulate,
           try to convey the message, and don't be afraid.
               A great fear arises when you are trying to deliver something immensely valuable; great fear
           arises, one starts feeling nervous. There is no need to feel nervous, because it is nothing to do with
           you. The urge is coming from the innermost sources of your being, it is divine. You are in the hands
           of God; be instrumental, you need not be worried.
               You need not be proud if something good happens, you need not be ashamed if something goes
           wrong. Surrender both right and wrong unto the feet of God, and be free of your self-consciousness
           -- because if you are not free of your self-consciousness you will never really be a creator in my
           sense of the word.
               The real creator has no self. The real creation comes out of no-self, the real creation comes out of
           inner emptiness. When one is utterly empty, one is full of God. Not to be is the way for God to enter
           you. If you are too much, he is not there. If you are not, only he is there. And creativity is part of the
           creator.
               No man ever creates; it is always God who creates. Hence the poet while he is creating is divine,
           and the painter while he is painting is divine. The only thing: if he is self-conscious then God is not
           there, then whatsoever he will do will be subjective art.
               But if he is not there, if he is drowned in painting, completely lost, has forgotten himself and
           there is no self-consciousness, there is no ego, then God is there. When you find a painter painting,
           utterly lost, linger around. God is very close by -- far more close than you will find him in the
           temples, in the mosques, in the churches.
               When a singer is singing, sit by the side. Feel, God is very close by. When somebody is playing
           on the flute, hide behind a tree and listen, and you will be able to see something, something that is
           not of this world, something that is of the beyond. Creativity is always from the beyond.

           The second question:


               BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS LIFE?


               Devadatta, life is not something that can be defined. And life is not one thing, either; there are as
           many lives as there are people. Life is not a singular phenomenon. My life has a taste of its own,
           your life has its own individuality. The life of a tree certainly is not your life, and the life of a river is
           not the life of the tree.
               Life is a multiplicity, life has millions of forms. How can it be defined? No definition will do
           justice to it. Yes, it can be lived, it can be tasted, but it cannot be defined. And your definition will
           simply show your experience. It will not say anything about life, it will only say something about
           how you have understood your life. It will not be relevant to anybody else's life. Remember this,
           then life is felt as a tremendous mystery.

               Sol Greenberg was the only Jewish man in a small Texas town. He had given freely of his wealth
           and was particularly kind to the black population. And then Greenberg died.
               Since he had no relatives, Greenberg bequeathed all his worldly goods to the townspeople. In
           order to show their respect and appreciation they decided to bury Greenberg in grand style.
               They dressed him up in a cowboy outfit, complete with ten gallon hat and gold spurs. They had a
           solid gold Cadillac built, placed Greenberg behind the wheel and then dug a hole large enough to
           accommodate the car and its deceased occupant.
               As they were lowering the Caddy into the ground, two blacks stood nearby and one commented
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the other, "Ah tell ya, man, them Jewish folks sure knows how to live!"

               The definition depends on you. The definition is always going to be your definition, how you
           conceive life, it will not be the definition of life. For the money mad, life will have the sound of
           money, of solid gold. For the power mad, the power maniac, life will have a different taste. For the
           poet, of course, life will have something of poetry in it.
               It differs individual to individual, it depends. But one thing is central, essential, and that I would
           like to tell you. One thing is very essential: anybody who is really alive will be herenow. Whatsoever
           the form and whatsoever the expression of his individual life, one thing will be essentially there: the
           quality of being herenow.
               Past is no more, future is not yet, so those who live in the past don't live, they only think they
           live. And those who live in the future can't live, because how can you make anything out of the
           future which has not come yet?
               But that's how people are living. Millions live in the past, and the remaining millions live in the
           future, and it is very rare to find a person who lives herenow. But that is the real person, that is the
           person who is really alive. Life needs only one thing: to be rooted in the present. There is nowhere
           else for it to be rooted. Past is memory, future is imagination; both are unreal.
           The real is this moment -- thisness.
           You ask me, "What is life?"
           This is it!
               You will have to learn how to unburden yourself from past and future, then you will be able to
           live like a roseflower or like a bird or like an animal, like a tree. Then you will have the same
           greenness, then you will have the same life juice flowing in you.
               As I see it, millions of people on the road are not alive but walking zombies, they are dead
           people. In their eyes you will not find life flowing, life juices flowing. Their life is utterly
           meaningless -- it is meaningless because it is not life.

               In the old days, a minister had a negro named Ezra in his household. Ezra was smart and
           ambitious, but he couldn't read or write.
               One Sunday the minister saw Ezra in church, scribbling away industriously through the sermon.
           Afterwards the minister asked him, "Ezra, what were you doing in church?"
           "Takin' notes, suh. Ah's eagah to l'arn."
               "Let me see," said the minister, and he glanced over Ezra's notes, which looked more like
           Chinese than English.
           "Why, Ezra," he chided, "this is all nonsense!"
               "Ah thought so," said Ezra, "all the time you was preaching it."
               Life is not there readymade, available. You get the life that you create, you get out of life that
           which you put into it. First you have to pour meaning into it. You have to give color and music and
           poetry, you have to be creative. Only then will you be alive.
               The second essential thing: that only those few people who are creative know what life is. The
           uncreative never know, because life is in creativity, life is creativity. Can't you see how life goes on
           creating? It is a continuum of creativity, constant creativity, every moment creativity.
               In fact God is not a creator. It is better to call him "creativity," because verbs are truer than
           nouns. Nouns look like things, verbs are processes -- alive, flowing, dynamic. God is more creativity
           than a creator. Whenever you are creating, you will have the taste of life, and it will depend on your
           intensity, on your totality. Life is not a philosophical problem, it is a religious mystery. Then
           anything can become the door -- even cleaning the floor. If you can do it creatively, lovingly, totally,
           you will have some taste of life.
               Here in the ashram you will see people cleaning the floors, cleaning the bathrooms, structuring
           rooms, making furniture. But you will see a totally different quality: whatsoever their work is, they
           are doing it out of immense love. And you will see joy. That joy is not coming out of the work, that
           joy is coming out of their totality in the world, out of their surrender to the work. No work in itself
           can give you joy unless you pour joy into it.
               So don't ask what life is, ask how to enter into life. The door is now, here -- and you have to be
           creative, only then will you be able to enter the door; otherwise you will go on standing in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doorway without entering the palace.
               So the second essential is: be creative. If these two things are fulfilled, you will know what life
           is.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IS THERE SUCH A THING AS RIGHT OR WRONG?


                Akam, there is no such thing as right or wrong, because something may be right this moment and
           it may not be right the next moment. Something may be wrong today and may not be wrong
           tomorrow.
                Right and wrong are not fixed entities, they are not labels that you can put on things, "This is
           right" and "This is wrong." But this has been done up to now. Right and wrong have been decided by
           people. And because people have decided right and wrong, they have misguided the whole
           humanity.
                Manu decides in one way: what he thinks is right becomes right for millions and millions of
           Hindus for thousands of years. It is so stupid, it is unbelievable! How can people go on following
           Manu for five thousand years? Everything else has changed. If Manu comes back he will not be able
           to recognize the world at all; everything has changed. But the Hindu mind goes on following the
           categories that Manu has fixed.
                Still, after five thousand years, there are millions of people in India who are not treated like
           people. What to say, that they are not treated like people -- they are not even treated like cattle. Even
           cows are far more important than alive people. Cows are worshipped, cows are holy, and the
           untouchables, the sudras, the rejected people -- rejected by Manu, five thousand years ago -- are
           burned.
                And even a man like Vinoba Bhave is ready to go on fasting if cow slaughter is not completely
           stopped in the country, totally stopped. But he is completely silent, he does not say a single word,
           that the untouchables are being killed, burned alive, their women raped, their children murdered,
           butchered. Villages of untouchables, whole villages are being effaced from the earth, and Vinoba
           Bhave is not thinking of going on a fast. Who bothers about these untouchables? They are not part of
           humanity, they are not human beings. Cows have to be saved, because Manu worships the cow.
                It may have been right at that moment; I am not against Manu, I am against the foolish followers
           of Manu. It may have been right at that time, because the cow was very very important, it was the
           center of the whole economy; particularly the Indian economy was based on the cow. It was an
           agricultural society, and the cow was the source of many things: of the bulls, the bullocks, the
           manure, the milk -- it was immensely important, it was perfectly right to save it. But now the world
           is living in a totally different way. Manu had a very small world; now we have the whole earth to
           think of, it is not only a question of a small sect. But once right has been fixed, people go on
           following blindly; it has been like that up to now.
                For example, in the ten commandments Moses says, "Do not worship any other god than the true
           God. Don't make idols of the true God and don't worship any other gods." It was a totally different
           world; three thousand years have passed. In fact, in those ten commandments there is not a single
           commandment which says anything about atheists. It says, "Don't worship any other god." It does
           not say, "Don't disbelieve in God," because there was no disbeliever. Atheism was not at all in the
           air.
                Now the most fundamental thing will be to teach people how not to be atheists, because atheism
           is very prevalent. Almost half of the earth has gone communist, it is atheist, and the remaining half is
           only formally theist. Now the most fundamental commandment should be, "Don't be atheists, don't
           be disbelievers, don't be doubters." Now trust should be the most fundamental teaching to be given
           to people.
                As time changes, rights change, wrongs change. And you can see it in your own life -- every day
           things are different, and you go on clinging to your fixed ideas. The man who lives with fixed ideas
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lives a dead life. He is never spontaneous and he is never in a right relationship with the situation
           that exists. He is never response-able; he functions out of his old conclusions which are no longer
           relevant, he does not look at the situation itself.
               So, Akam, according to me there is no such thing as right and no such thing as wrong. Then what
           do I teach? I teach awareness -- not labeling, not categorizing. I teach awareness. I teach you to be
           fully aware in every situation, and act out of your awareness. Or, in different words I can say: Any
           action that happens through awareness is right; any action that happens through unawareness is
           wrong.
               But see the emphasis. The emphasis is not on the action itself, the emphasis is on the source --
           awareness or unawareness. If you act fully aware, then whatsoever you do is right. If you move
           mechanically and do things unconsciously as if you are a sleepwalker, a somnambulist, then
           whatsoever you do is wrong.
           Awareness is right, unawareness is wrong.
               But if you go to the priests, they will teach you what is right and what is wrong. They will not
           give you insight, they will give you dead categories. They will not give you light, so that you can see
           in every situation what to do and what not to do; they want you to depend on them. They don't give
           you insight into things, so you have to remain dependent forever. They give you crutches, but they
           don't make you stand on your own feet.
               Avoid the priests. Whenever you go to any kind of experts, their whole effort in fact is how to
           make you dependent on them.

                The star of a Broadway hit was visiting friends when talk got around, as usual, to psychiatry. "I
           must say," said the hostess, "I think my analyst is the best in the world! You can't imagine what he
           has done for me. You ought to try him."
                "But I don't need analysis," said the star. "I could not be more normal -- there is nothing wrong
           with me."
                "But he is absolutely great," insisted her friend. "He will find something wrong."
                There are people who live on finding something wrong with you. Their whole trade secret is to
           find something wrong with you. They cannot accept you as you are; they will give you ideals, ideas,
           ideologies, and they will make you feel guilty and they will make you feel worthless, dirt. In your
           own eyes, they will make you feel so condemned that you will forget all about freedom.
                In fact you will become afraid of freedom, because you will see how bad you are, how wrong
           you are -- and if you are free, you are going to do something wrong, so follow somebody. The priest
           depends on it, the politician depends on it. They give you right and wrong, fixed ideas, and then you
           will remain guilty forever.
                I say to you: There is nothing right and nothing wrong. I don't want you to depend on me, and I
           don't give you any fixed ideas. I simply give you indications, hints, which have to be worked out by
           you. And the hint that I give to you is awareness. Become more aware, and it is a miracle....
                If you are angry, the priest will say anger is wrong, don't be angry. What will you do? You can
           repress anger, you can sit upon it, you can swallow it, literally, but it will go into you, into your
           system. Swallow anger and you will have ulcers in the stomach, swallow anger and sooner or later
           you will have cancer. Swallow anger and you will have a thousand and one problems arising out of
           it, because anger is poison. But what will you do? If anger is wrong, you have to swallow it.
                I don't say anger is wrong, I say anger is energy -- pure energy, beautiful energy. When anger
           arises, be aware of it, and see the miracle happen. When anger arises, be aware of it, and if you are
           aware you will be surprised; you are in for a surprise -- maybe the greatest surprise of your life --
           that as you become aware, anger disappears. Anger is transformed. Anger becomes pure energy;
           anger becomes compassion, anger becomes forgiveness, anger becomes love. And you need not
           repress, so you are not burdened by some poison. And you are not being angry, so you are not
           hurting anybody. Both are saved: the other, the object of your anger, is saved, and you are saved. In
           the past, either the object was to suffer, or you were to suffer.
                What I am saying is that there is no need for anybody to suffer. Just be aware, let awareness be
           there. Anger will arise and will be consumed by awareness. One cannot be angry with awareness and
           one cannot be greedy with awareness and one cannot be jealous with awareness. Awareness is the
           golden key.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The last question:
    BELOVED OSHO,

              THE ORANGE TRICKED ME, CAUGHT HOLD OF ME AND BROUGHT ME HERE.
              EVERYBODY SEEMS TO KNOW BUT NOBODY TELLS ME ALL OF IT. I THINK AND MEDITATE
              ON THE ORANGE -- FOR DAYS -- BUT THERE STILL REMAINS A SECRET IN IT.
              MY NAME IS FIRE AND THERE IS FIRE BURNING IN ME. IS THAT NOT ENOUGH?
              I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AFRAID TO WEAR UNIFORMS AND UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS IN MY
              WAY OF WEARING THE ORANGE.
              I DON'T KNOW WHY. DO I HAVE TO WEAR IT AS A MESSAGE, OR IS IT SIMPLY A MEDITATION
              ON ITS OWN, ON THE PATH TO THE LIGHT?


              Sybrand, there is no secret in it, it is just a way to recognize my people. I have poor eyesight, my
           eyes have gone all inwards. I will tell you one story:

               I know of a tragic case where a minister made just one little transgression. For weeks, this
           preacherly pious man had admired and coveted a flashy sport coat in a clothing store window. It was
           colorful, too colorful for a preacher; for a preacher it was almost blasphemous. But finally one
           afternoon he cracked and went in and bought that blasphemous coat. It was a bright sunny day as he
           stepped out of the clothing store in his gaudy garb. Yet, lo and behold, right there in the bright
           sunlight he was struck dead by a lightning bolt.
               Up in heaven he was dumbfounded as he faced the Lord. "Lord, oh Lord!" he said. "Why me?
           And why so suddenly after all my years of faithful service?"
               "Why, Reverend Smith!" said the Lord. "What a dreadful mistake! We had no idea it was you."

               So, I just have poor eyesight to recognize my people. If you want to become one of my people
           you will have to wear orange. There is no secret about it, all those secrets that I have been telling you
           are all just bullshit.
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #25
                                      Chapter title: We are Ancient Pilgrims
           7 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903070
              ShortTitle: WISDOM25
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 106 mins




              YOU SHOULD FIND FREEDOM BY MEANS OF BOTH EXAMINATION AND INVESTIGATION.
              DON'T BRAG. DON'T BE CONSUMED BY JEALOUSY. DON'T ACT CAPRICIOUSLY. DON'T
              EXPECT THANKS.
              THIS QUINTESSENTIAL ELIXIR OF ADVICE BY WHICH THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE FIVE
              DECAY IS CHANGED INTO THE BODHI PATH IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH DHARMAKIRTI.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BY AWAKENING THE KARMIC ENERGY OF PREVIOUS TRAINING, AND BY VIRTUE OF MY
              INTENSE INTEREST, I IGNORED MISERY AND BAD REPUTATION AND SOUGHT INSTRUCTION
              TO CONTROL EGO-CLINGING. NOW, EVEN WHEN I DIE, I'LL HAVE NO REGRET.


                Man's greatest longing is for freedom. Man IS a longing for freedom. Freedom is the very
           essential core of human consciousness: love is its circumference and freedom is its center. These two
           fulfilled, life has no regret. And they both are fulfilled together, never separately.
                People have tried to fulfill love without freedom. Then love brings more and more misery, more
           and more bondage. Then love is not what one has expected it to be, it turns out just the opposite. It
           shatters all hopes, it destroys all expectations and life becomes a wasteland -- a groping in darkness
           and never finding the door.
                Love without freedom naturally tends to be possessive. And the moment possessiveness enters
           in, you start creating bondage for others and bondage for yourself -- because you cannot possess
           somebody without being possessed by him. You cannot make somebody a slave without becoming a
           slave yourself. Whatsoever you do to others is done to you.
                This is the basic principle to be understood, that love without freedom never brings fulfillment.
                And there have been people who have tried the other extreme, freedom without love. These are
           the monks, the escapists, the people who renounced the world. Afraid of love, afraid of love because
           it brings bondage, they renounce all the situations where love can flow, grow, can happen, is
           possible. They escape into loneliness. Their loneliness never becomes aloneness, it remains
           loneliness. And loneliness is a negative state; it is utterly empty, it is sad.
                One can be a solitary, but that does not bring solitude. Solitariness is just physical aloneness,
           solitude is spiritual aloneness. If you are just lonely... and you will be if you have renounced the
           world. If you have escaped from the world out of fear you will be lonely, the world will haunt you,
           and all kinds of desires will surround you. You will suffer millions of nightmares, because
           whatsoever you have renounced cannot be dropped so easily.
                Renunciation is repression and nothing else. And the more you repress a thing, the more you
           need to repress it. And the more you go on repressing it, the more powerful it becomes. It will erupt
           in your dreams, it will erupt in your hallucinations. People living in the monasteries start
           hallucinating, people going to the Himalayan caves sooner or later are no more in contact with
           reality. They start creating a reality of their own -- a private reality, a fictitious reality.
                The Christian will talk to Christ. In his lonely cave he creates Christ, just so that he can have
           somebody there, just so that he is not lonely. And many methods of hallucinating have been
           developed by these monks. If you fast, hallucination becomes easier. The body becomes weaker, you
           start losing control over reality. The more weak the body is, the more is the possibility of
           hallucination. People in fever, illness, start hallucinating. The exact same rule: torture the body,
           weaken the body, starve the body and hallucinations will be easier.
                You can have Jesus Christ or Krishna or Gautam Buddha -- great company you can have, but it is
           all imagination. The Hindu will never see Christ, and the Christian will never see Krishna. You will
           see only whatsoever you believe in, you will see only whatsoever you create by your belief; it is a
           projection.
                It will be difficult to project it in the marketplace, because there will be so many people who will
           deny your projection. They will take you to the psychiatrist, they will think you have gone nuts. If
           you start talking to Christ in the marketplace you will end up in some hospital.
                But in the Himalayan cave there is nobody else, you are free to create whatsoever you want to
           your heart's content. Loneliness is such a misery that one starts believing in one's own hallucinations,
           to have company. But this is madness.
                On the one hand is the person, the worldly person, who has tried to find love without freedom
           and has failed. His life is nothing but a long, long slavery to many many people, to many many
           things. He is chained, body, mind, soul; he is not free to have even a slight movement. That is one
           failure; the majority of humanity is caught in that extreme.
                A few escape from the world: seeing the misery, they start searching for the other extreme --
           freedom, moksha, nirvana. But they become neurotic, psychotic, they start living in their own
           dreams. Loneliness is so much that one has to create something to be with.
                Both these extreme efforts have failed. Hence humanity stands on a crossroads. Where to go?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The past has utterly failed. All the efforts that we have done in the past proved wrong, led to
           cul-de-sacs. Now where to go, what to do?
                Atisha has an important message to deliver to you. That is the message of all the buddhas, of all
           the enlightened people of the world. They say: Love and freedom are not separate things, you cannot
           choose. Either you will have to have both, or you will have to drop both. But you cannot choose, you
           cannot have one.
           Love is the circumference, freedom is the center.
                One has to grow in such delicate balance, to where love and freedom can bloom together. And
           they can, because in a few rare individuals it has happened. And if it has happened to only a single
           individual in the whole history, it can happen to every human being. It is your potential, your
           birthright.
           Meditation is the balance.
                Meditation is the bird with two wings: freedom and love.
                My effort here in this buddhafield is to give you both the wings together: be loving and be free,
           be loving and be nonpossessive. Be free but don't become cold; remain warm, warm with love.
                Your freedom and your love have to grow hand in hand, in deep embrace, in a kind of dance,
           helping each other. And then the total man is born, who lives in the world and is not of the world at
           all. Then the man is born in whom extremes meet and merge and become complementaries; then the
           man is rich. Just to love without freedom is to be impoverished, or just to be free without love is to
           live in loneliness, sadness, darkness. Freedom is needed for love to grow, love is needed so that
           freedom can be nourished.
                My sannyasin has to remember constantly not to choose between these two. Both have to be
           absorbed together, digested together. Love has to become your circumference, your action, and
           freedom has to become your being, your center, your soul.
           The first sutra:
              YOU SHOULD FIND FREEDOM BY MEANS OF BOTH EXAMINATION AND INVESTIGATION.

                Freedom can be of three types, and those three types have to be understood well. The first is
           freedom from, the second is freedom for, and the third is just freedom -- neither from nor for. The
           first, freedom from, is a reaction. It is past-oriented; you are fighting against the past, you want to get
           rid of it, you are obsessed with it.
                Psychoanalysis tries to give you this freedom, freedom from -- from the past traumas, childhood
           wounds. Primal therapy is based basically on the past. You have to go backwards to free yourself
           from the past, you have to reach to the first primal scream, then you will be free. So freedom means
           -- for primal therapy, for psychoanalysis and for other therapies -- that the past has to be dropped.
           You have to fight with it, you have to somehow manage to disentangle yourself from the past; then
           you will be free.
                As far as this freedom is concerned, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud are not opposed to each
           other; they both agree. Karl Marx says one has to become free from the past, all past social
           structures, economic structures. His approach is political, Freud's approach is psychological, but both
           are rooted in the idea of freedom from.
                All political reforms are reactions -- and when you react you are never free. This has to be
           understood. It only gives you an appearance of freedom, but it is never true freedom. Out of reaction,
           total freedom is not possible. Out of reaction, true freedom is not possible. And only total freedom is
           true freedom.
                You can go against the past, but just in being against it you are caught by it from the back door.
           That's why it has happened again and again that with whomsoever you are fighting, you become like
           him. Choose your enemies very carefully, because you will be determined by them! Fighting with
           them, you will have to learn their strategies, obviously. You will have to learn their tactics, you will
           have to learn their ways. Slowly slowly, enemies become very alike -- more alike than friends.
                It happened in Soviet Russia.... When the revolution came and the communists changed the
           whole social structure, the czar was killed, and a strange phenomenon came into existence. The
           people who had killed the czar turned out to be greater czars than the czars themselves. Josef Stalin
           proved to be far more terrible than Ivan the Terrible. Ivan is nothing compared to Josef Stalin.
                And it is a natural phenomenon. I am not blaming Josef Stalin at all, I can understand what really
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happened. If you fight with the czar you have to learn his ways, and by the time you are the winner
           you have learned the ways so skillfully, so efficiently, they have become your ways. You start
           practicing the same on your enemies. That's why every revolution has failed. Persons change but the
           structures remain the same, because the idea of freedom from is basically wrong.
               The second idea is freedom for; it is future-oriented. The first is political, the second is more
           poetic, visionary, utopian. Many people have tried that too, but that too is not possible, because
           future-oriented you can't live in the present -- and you have to live in the present. You don't live in
           the past, you don't live in the future, you have to live in the present.
               Visionaries only imagine. Beautiful utopias they have imagined, but those utopias never become
           reality, cannot become reality.
               If you react to the past, you are determined by the past. If you forget the past and look at the
           future, you are still driven by the past, you just are not aware of it. Looking at the future you dream
           beautiful dreams, but they can't change reality. The reality remains the same; dreams are very
           ineffective, impotent.
               The first, freedom from, is a reaction. The second, freedom for, is revolution. The third, just
           freedom, is rebellion. It is present-oriented. The first is political, the second is poetic, the third is
           mystic, religious.
               What do I mean when I say "just freedom"? Neither for nor against, no past, no future, just being
           herenow, just living moment to moment with no ideology, with no utopia.
               The real sannyasin, the real mystic, is not against the past, is not for the future. He is so utterly
           absorbed by the present that he has no time, no energy, for the past and the future. This is how the
           rebel is born.
               The rebel is the most beautiful phenomenon in the world. Buddha is a rebel, so is Jesus; Atisha is
           a rebel, so is Kabir. These are rebels. You will misunderstand them if you think of them as if they
           were revolutionaries; they were not. Neither were they reactionaries. Their orientation is totally
           different, their orientation is now, here. They don't live for any ideal, and they don't live against any
           ideal. They don't have any ideas; no ideology exists in the consciousness.
               The sheer purity of this moment... they live it, they enjoy it, they sing it, they dance it. And when
           the next moment comes, they live the next moment with the same joy, with the same cheerfulness.
           They move moment to moment, they don't plan ahead.
               That's why in the East, where mystics have been a great force, nothing like communism has
           happened. The idea is Western, the idea cannot be conceived to have happened in the Eastern
           consciousness. And nothing like future utopias -- More's Utopia or other utopias, there are so many
           utopian socialists -- nothing like that has happened either.
               But something totally different has happened: a Buddha, an Atisha -- individuals living moment
           to moment in such sheer joy that their joy is contagious. Whosoever comes in contact with them is
           overwhelmed, starts looking at reality with new eyes. They give you a new insight into the herenow.
           This is "just freedom." Meditate over it.
               There is no need for any psychology either, and that's why psychology has not happened in the
           East. There is no need to go into past traumas, and in fact even if you go into past traumas you are
           never free of them. Maybe you become more accepting, more understanding, but you are never free
           of them.
               Whatsoever the founder of primal therapy, Arthur Janov, says about the postprimal man, he has
           not been able to create a single post-primal man. He himself is not a post-primal man. Totally free
           from the past, totally free from past wounds -- it is not possible. The way it is done by
           psychoanalysis and kindred therapies, it is not possible. The past is not there. From what are you
           trying to get free?
               In fact, under the impact of a charismatic psychotherapist you start creating a past according to
           him. This happens: if you go to the Freudian you create a Freudian past, and if you go to the Jungian
           you create a Jungian past. Now this is a well-known fact, that the patients start creating, fantasizing,
           the past that is expected by the therapist. The Jungian patient starts going into past lives very easily
           and starts bringing great mysteries, esoteric, occult. It never happened to any patient with Freud. The
           Freudian patient brings what Freud expects: libido, sexual fantasies, strange sexual fantasies, incest
           and all kinds of sexual wounds. They never surface in Jungian psychotherapy. The primal patient
           starts bringing screams which may not have any reality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But people are very obliging: if you give them an idea, they oblige you by fulfilling it. In fact the
           patient starts feeling very very compassionate toward the therapist -- he is working so hard, poor
           fellow -- so sooner or later he starts obliging. Now there are hundreds of psychotherapies in the
           West, and each psychotherapist becomes convinced that he is right. His patients befool him. And the
           same patients go to another psychotherapist and they befool the other too. The patients are playing a
           great game, and that is happening unconsciously.
               Mind is so vast, you can always choose a few fragments which will be satisfying to a particular
           philosophy, to a particular psychology, to a particular therapy. Man is a vast continent, man is not a
           small phenomenon. It can contain many Freuds, many Jungs, many Adlers. And you can always
           choose -- there is so much in you that you can always find ways of choosing certain fragments which
           fit with the therapy you are going through.
               The East has not created anything like communism, and it has not created anything like
           psychoanalysis, for a certain reason. The reason is that the mystic is not trying to be free from the
           past, the mystic is not trying to be free for something in the future. The mystic's effort for freedom,
           what he calls moksha, total freedom, has nothing to do with that which is no more, and has nothing
           to do with that which is not yet. His whole concern is this moment, this small crystal-clear moment.
           And to be in this moment is to be in meditation.
               To be utterly in this moment is to be in meditation.
               And when meditation happens you will see two wings growing in you: one will be of love --
           Atisha calls it compassion -- another will be of freedom. And they will both start growing together.
           This brings fulfillment. Then there is no grudge, no regret. Atisha is right; he says:
              NOW, EVEN WHEN I DIE, I'LL HAVE NO REGRET.

               Life has been a fulfillment. I have known its mysteries. I have loved, I have lived in freedom, I
           have known all that was needed to be contented. I am utterly fulfilled. Life has been fruitful. Life has
           not been a wastage, it has been a constant enrichment, and I have bloomed and the lotus has opened.
               To die with your inner lotus fully in bloom, to die in love, in freedom, is the proof that one has
           known life, is the proof that one has really lived. All others only go through empty gestures; they are
           not living.
              YOU SHOULD FIND FREEDOM BY MEANS OF BOTH EXAMINATION AND INVESTIGATION.

               How to find this freedom? How to find this essential core of your being? It happens in
           meditation. Atisha calls meditation "awareness." And awareness has to be developed; it is only a
           seed in you, it can become a tree. And two things he suggests will be helpful: one is examination and
           the other is investigation.
               Examination means, never allow anything to pass your mind without observing it minutely.
           Socrates is reported to have said that a life is worthless if you have not lived it through examination.
           An unexamined life is a worthless life.
               Examination is the first step: becoming alert to what passes through your mind. And there is
           constant traffic -- so many thoughts, so many desires, so many dreams are passing by. You have to
           be watchful; you have to examine each and everything that passes through the mind. Not a single
           thought should pass unawares, because that means you were asleep. Become more and more
           observant.
               And the second step is investigation. First observe, examine, and then start looking into the roots.
           Why does a certain thing happen again and again? You become angry again and again: examination
           will simply show you that anger comes and goes. Investigation will show you the roots of anger,
           from where it comes -- because it may be, it is almost always so, that anger is only a symptom of
           something else which is hidden. It may be your ego that feels hurt and you become angry, but the
           ego keeps itself hiding underground. It is like roots of the trees: you see the foliage but you don't see
           the roots.
               By examination you will see the tree, by investigation you will see the roots. And it is only by
           seeing the roots that a transformation is possible. Bring the roots to the light and the tree starts dying.
           If you can find the root of your anger, you will be surprised that the anger starts disappearing. If you
           can find the root of your sadness you will be again surprised.
               First examine what is constantly there in your mind, what is being repeated again and again. You
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't have many thoughts. If you examine minutely you will see that you have only a few thoughts
           repeated again and again -- maybe in new forms, new colors, new garments, new masks, but you
           have only a very few thoughts.
               And if you go into it minutely you will be surprised: you have one basic thought.
               Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, "First find out your main characteristic." And each person
           has a main characteristic -- it may be greed, it may be anger, it may be sex, jealousy, it may be
           something else. Find out which is the main characteristic, which is the center around which all your
           thoughts and moods move. If you can find the center, you have found the root.
               And the miracle is that once the root is found you need not cut it, it is cut in the very finding of it.
           This is the inner secret of transformation.
               Watch: again and again you become sad. Suddenly out of nowhere... everything was going good,
           and something clicks and you become sad. And again it is gone, and by the evening it is back, and so
           on, so forth. Why does this happen?
               First examine, then investigate. By examination and investigation the quality called awareness
           will be born in you. Once awareness is there you have the sword which can cut all the roots of all the
           diseases. And once awareness is born, slowly slowly you are getting out of the past and out of the
           future and you are entering the present. You are becoming more present to the present. You are
           attaining to a kind of presence which was never there; you are becoming luminous. And in this
           presence, when you can feel the moment passing by, all your senses will become so pure, so
           sensitive, so sensuous, so alert and alive, that the whole life will take a new intensity. You will attain
           to a great zestfulness. The world will be the same, and yet not the same: the trees will look greener,
           the roses rosier, the people more alive, more beautiful -- the same world, and the pebbles on the
           shore start looking like diamonds and emeralds.
               When awareness is very very deep-rooted, when you are present to the present, you attain to a
           psychedelic vision of life. That's why mystics talk of so much beauty, and you don't find it. Mystics
           talk of immense celebration going on, and you don't see any celebration anywhere. Mystics talk of
           great music, but you don't hear any music.
               And the mystics are right -- a great music is passing by, but you are deaf. Great beauty is all
           around, but you are blind. The whole existence is celebrating this very moment, as much as it was
           celebrating when Atisha was alive. Existence is celebration.
               But your heart is dead. Only your physical heart is beating, your spiritual heart is completely
           nonfunctioning. And without it you will not be able to see the celebration of life. How can you feel
           grateful to God if you don't see the celebration? How can you feel thankful to God if you don't see
           the gift? For what to be thankful? You can only be full of complaints, regrets, grudges. You can only
           be angry at existence. Why have you been created, why this suffering? You see only suffering,
           because your eyes can only see suffering. Otherwise existence is a blessing, a benediction.
           The second sutra:
              DON'T BRAG.

               Atisha is really beautiful, very telegraphic. His sutras look as if he is taking quantum jumps, they
           seem to be unrelated. They are not; there is an inner relationship -- because when this psychedelic
           vision happens to you, you will start bragging. When this awareness happens to you, the last but one
           assault of the ego is bound to happen too. It is inevitable. You will start feeling holier-than-thou.
           You will start moving like a saint, you will start feeling, exhibiting, that you are not an ordinary
           mortal, that you are extraordinary, that you are not of this world, that you are transcendental.
               And although all these things are right, Atisha says: Please don't brag. He is not saying that you
           are lying. All these things are true; when awareness happens, miracles start happening. Each moment
           becomes such a miracle, and you start soaring high, you start attaining to new peaks in everything.
           Whatsoever you do becomes such a delight, and wherever you move, life appears to be so divine.
           And you can see too, that wherever you move you bring a certain sacredness to the place. Not that
           these are lies; these are happening. But if you start bragging, all these things will disappear, because
           the ego has entered in such a subtle way, and you could not examine it and you could not investigate
           it.
               Ego will ride on your spiritual experiences now. One has now to be very careful. The
           non-meditator can be careless -- he can afford to be careless, because he has nothing to lose. But the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meditator cannot be careless, he has much to lose. Treasures are there now and they can be lost
           within a second.
               When you start moving to the higher realms you can fall very easily -- and the fall is going to be
           great. If you fall walking on M.G. Road there is not much danger, but if you fall from Everest it is
           very dangerous, you may not survive at all.
               So those who start moving in the world of meditation have to learn to be very careful. The path is
           narrow, and just by the side of the path is the great abyss. A single wrong step and you will fall --
           and you will fall badly. It may take years or even lives for you to attain to the same height again.
           And if you fall once from a certain space, the tendency is that again you will fall from the same
           space; that becomes your habit.
               My observation is this: that meditators learn habits of always falling from a certain stage, so
           whenever that state is again there, they fall. Great effort is needed to reach it again, but now it
           becomes a point where the mind suddenly takes the wrong step, habitually, mechanically. So it is
           better to be aware when for the first time you are moving high, so no habit of falling is created in
           you.
              DON'T BRAG.

               Spiritual experiences should not be talked about. If a great need arises in you to talk about it you
           can go to your master, you can share with your master. There is no danger in it, because sharing with
           the master is always helpful. In the first place, whatsoever you bring to the master he will make you
           feel that it is nothing: "Don't be stupid, this is just bullshit. Forget all about it." Even if you bring
           nirvana to him, he will say, "This is nothing -- throw it out! Leave it where you leave your shoes" --
           even nirvana!
               That is one of the secrets of the master in his work on the disciple. He will never pat your back,
           he will never say, "Great! You are so great, you have attained!"
               Secondly, he will always make you be aware that experiences, howsoever beautiful, are still
           experiences. The real is not that which is experienced, but the one who experiences. His emphasis
           will always be towards the witness, towards the inner subjectivity, not towards the object.
               Somebody sees great light -- and it is really a great rejoicing when you see inner light. You don't
           walk on the earth; you are so delighted you lose all weight, gravitation no longer functions on you.
           You feel as if, if you want, you can fly.
               But if you go to the master he will say, "So what? This happens to everybody. This is nothing
           special, others are doing far better. This is only an experience, and experience means something
           outside. Remember the experiencer, remember the one who is experiencing the light. You are not it:
           you are the witness of it. Yes, light is there, but you are not it. You are the one who has seen the
           light. Remember the seer."
               Masters are great artists in pulling legs. You may go standing upright and they will pull your leg
           and you will fall flat on the ground. And the next time when some great spiritual experience
           happens, you will be afraid even to go to the master and tell about it. This is very essential.
               And the third thing: there are things which, if you talk about them, if you start exhibiting them,
           the energy that is needed to nourish them starts moving into exhibiting them.
               The seed needs to be hidden in the soil. It should not be brought out again and again; if you bring
           it out you will kill it. And these spiritual experiences are like great seeds. The disciple has to learn
           the art of keeping secrets. This is one of the very essential parts of being with a master: the capacity
           to keep secrets.

               I have heard: a man was in search of a master who has attained to the ultimate secret. He went to
           many but was frustrated finally, disappointed. Then he heard that far away, deep in the desert, there
           is an old man who has attained to the ultimate secret, but to persuade him is very difficult; he does
           not accept disciples easily.
               This man was challenged. He sold all that he had and traveled to the desert. It took three years
           for him to reach there. Utterly tired, weary of the whole search... many times he had decided to turn
           back, but it was against his ego, the ego of the seeker -- "What will people say? Back home they will
           laugh and they will say, 'We had told you so before!'"
               So he persisted, persevered, and finally reached. Yes, the old man had something; it was so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           apparent, it was so transparent. He had seen many masters, but all bogus, hocus-pocus; this man had
           something. He looked into the eyes of the old man and he saw such depth as he had never seen.
               The old man was sitting under a tree, and the whole vibe around the tree was so immense that the
           man was overwhelmed. He started feeling drunk. He fell at the feet of the old man and said, "I have
           come to find the ultimate secret. Can you tell it to me?"
               And the master said, "Then for three years you will have to be silent, not a single word has to be
           uttered. Serve me for three years in absolute silence. If you can manage that, then I can tell you the
           secret, because the secret has to be kept SECRET. If you can manage silence for three years, that
           will be an indication that you are capable of keeping something within yourself."
               The man agreed. Those three years were really long, almost like three lives... desert, nobody else,
           just this old man, and silence -- the silence of the desert, the silence of the old man, and three years.
           It appeared as if many many years had passed. When the three years were over, the man asked,
           "Now, sir, three years are over. Tell me the secret."
               The master said, "Now you have to make a promise that you will never tell this secret to anybody
           -- never, NEVER. An absolute promise is needed."
               The man said, "I promise! I promise to you, I promise to God, with my whole heart, that never
           will I reveal this secret to anybody."
               The old man started laughing. He said, "That's good. So what do you think, if you can keep it a
           secret for your whole life, cannot I? This is the promise that I have given to my own master: I cannot
           reveal it! But I will tell you one thing," he said. "The same thing happened with my master. Three
           years I had remained silent, and it was as long as it has been long to you. And then the day came, and
           I was so happy that for three years I had kept silent. Exactly the same thing happened! I asked him
           about the secret and he said, 'Promise that you will never reveal the secret to anybody.' I promised,
           and he laughed the way I have laughed, and he said, 'So what do you think, if you can keep it a
           secret, cannot I?'
               "So in fact there is no secret. The whole art is of keeping it; it is not a question of the secret. My
           own understanding is that the same has been happening again and again. This must have happened
           with my master and his master, and so on, so forth. There seems to be no secret, but we have learned
           a lot by keeping it!"

               See the point: if you can keep a secret... whether the secret is worth keeping or not, that is not the
           point. Whether there is a secret or not, that is not the point. The master may have whispered in your
           ear that "Two plus two is four: now keep it a secret." That will do -- it is not a question of what it is,
           the question is can you keep something inside you?
               Just the other night I was telling Radha, "Now you have to keep this a secret." I have not told any
           secret to her, but she has promised. "Yes," she said, "I will keep it." I told her, "You are a gossip, one
           of the greatest gossipers in the commune, so you have to keep it a secret." And she has promised. I
           don't know what secret she has promised for, but now she has to keep it! The art is in keeping it.
              DON'T BRAG.

                Don't exhibit. A natural tendency of the mind is to exhibit. And when you have something
           special -- for example, you can read somebody's thoughts -- it is very natural to go and show it to
           people.
                Once a Mohammedan young man was with me for many years -- a very stubborn fellow -- and
           whatsoever I gave him to do, he would put his whole energy into it. Then one day it happened that
           he started reading people's thoughts. It was very difficult for me to keep him silent about it. And this
           is trespass, to read anybody's thoughts; it is entering into his privacy.
                Because I told him to keep it to himself, never to practice it, he kept it. Out of keeping it a secret
           and not exhibiting and not practicing it, another quality arose out of it: he became able to put a
           thought in your mind very easily without your knowing. Whatsoever he would like to put in your
           mind, you would immediately act accordingly. He became a kind of Delgado, and without any
           electrodes. He discovered it suddenly....
                I had sent him for a journey; he was sitting on a bus, and just the idea, just the idea, suddenly
           came in his mind: if he can read people's thoughts, cannot he put a thought in somebody's mind? out
           of nowhere?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Because I had not told him anything about it, he tried. He just tried with the person who was
           sitting in the seat ahead of him: "Fall down from your seat" -- and the man fell down! He himself
           was shocked, but then he thought it may be just a coincidence, the man was just going to fall down.
           So he tried on another, and again it happened. He became so afraid, and the idea started torturing
           him: "Why not take the whole bus down the hill?" He had to stop the driver and get down from the
           bus in the middle of the journey.
                He came back to me and he said, "This is very dangerous. I tried on two persons; it worked, and
           then the idea came to me, 'Why not try with the whole bus?'"
                If you enter into the world of meditation, these are small things which start happening. Avoid
           them, never use them, never exhibit, and don't talk about them -- because if you talk, people will say,
           "Now show some proof." If you talk about them they will ask for the proof. Then you will start
           practicing them and soon you will lose the energy.
                The energy is needed for inner nourishment. When something is growing in you the whole
           energy has to be turned into manure. Don't use it outside in any way. The best way to begin is:
           DON'T BRAG.
           The third sutra:
              DON'T BE CONSUMED BY JEALOUSY.

               Now, you will be at a loss to find the relationship, but it is there. Atisha is saying that you may
           not brag but others may brag; then jealousy will arise. Others may start showing their spiritual
           powers, and by showing their spiritual powers they may be worshipped by people, respected by
           people, thought to be great saints. You are holding a secret in your heart, and you know you can do
           greater miracles than they can do. They are being worshipped by people, and nobody knows
           anything about you, you are just a nobody. Jealousy may arise, and if jealousy arises, that is the
           negative part of bragging. Then, sooner or later, you will start bragging.
               One more point to be understood.... It happens that when for the first time a meditator attains to
           some psychic energy, some psychic power, the tendency, a natural tendency, is to exhibit it. And if
           he exhibits, sooner or later he will lose the power. Then a great problem arises: he cannot do it now,
           but now he has respectability. He is worshipped and people expect him to do miracles. Now what is
           he going to do? He will have to turn to magic, he will have to start learning tricks, to maintain his
           prestige.
               That's what happened to Satya Sai Baba and people like that. The first things that they had done
           were real, the first few experiments that they had done were not phony. But then the energy
           disappears. And by that time you have become famous, and people start gathering, foolish people,
           stupid people, and they expect you, and your whole ego depends on your exhibition.
               Now the only possible alternative is to learn magic tricks so that you can go on maintaining your
           prestige. If you brag, sooner or later you will become a victim of magical tricks. You will have to
           learn, and deceive people.
               Don't be jealous, because if you are jealous it will be impossible for you to keep the secret long.
           And the fourth:
              DON'T ACT CAPRICIOUSLY.

                Don't irritate people unnecessarily by pretending to be holier than others, by pretending to be
           saintly, by pretending to be special. Don't irritate people, don't act in such ways. Why? -- because
           difficulties are going to arise on their own, so don't, please, add to them.
                Your very presence is going to create troubles for you, so at least avoid as much as possible
           irritating people. If you pretend to be holier, then you will create competitors. If you pretend that you
           are special, then there will be others who will deny. Argumentations will arise, unnecessary
           controversies, enmities.
                Atisha is saying this for a very special reason. The special reason is that the very presence of a
           person who has some spiritual quality is enough to create trouble for him, because blind people don't
           like people with eyes. Those who have lived always in darkness don't like people who bring light to
           them, they hate them -- because the presence of a man of light is insulting, it makes them feel
           inferior.
                And this happens of its own accord, so please don't in any way do anything to enhance it more.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Even if you keep everything secret, a few people are going to know about it. Its presence is such that
           a few people are bound to find you. Even if you escape to the Himalayas, a few people are bound to
           search and seek you out, because there are seekers. There are people who are very sensitive, there
           are people who have been looking for lives for something to happen in their life. You will become
           known. There is no need to brag, there is no need to be jealous. Try to hide yourself as much as you
           can; still you will become known.
               You cannot hide a light underneath a bush; it will show. You cannot hide a light, it will radiate.
           And once seekers start gathering around you, and disciples come and devotees come, the society at
           large is going to be very irritated with you, the society is going to be angry with you. The society
           will try to destroy you and your whole work and your whole commune.
               Why? -- because you are undermining the society, you are cutting its very roots. It lives in
           ambition, and you are teaching a non-ambitious life. It lives in Machiavellian ways, and you are
           teaching the ways of the Buddha. It lives through jealousy, violence, possessiveness, and you are
           teaching love. You are undermining its very foundation, you are destroying its very roots. It cannot
           forgive you, it will take revenge. So it is better to be very cautious.
              DON'T EXPECT THANKS.

               It is natural, when you attain closer and closer to God, it is very natural to feel that people will be
           thankful to you. You are bringing a gift to them, the greatest gift there is, the gift of God. It is very
           natural to feel that people will be thankful to you. Don't expect it; expect just the contrary, that
           people will never be able to forgive you. The greater the gift you bring to them, the greater will be
           their anger. They will crucify you, they will poison you -- expect things like that.
               Even Jesus was not expecting that so much torture was going to be done to him, that so much
           suffering was going to be created for him. From the cross he shouted to God, "Have you forsaken
           me? Why? Why is this happening to me? What wrong have I done?" Deep down somewhere he was
           not expecting that crucifixion was going to happen.
               Atisha is very clear in his advice to his disciples:
              DON'T EXPECT THANKS.

               On the contrary, expect that people will be angry, irritated, revengeful, they will become
           antagonistic to you. Hope for the best and expect the worst. If they don't kill you, be thankful to
           them.

               A disciple of Buddha was going to spread his master's word. Buddha asked him, "Where will you
           be going, in what direction, to what province?" And he said that he was going to a remote corner of
           Bihar -- it was called Sukha -- "because no other disciple of yours has ever gone to that part."
               Buddha said, "Before you decide, answer three questions. First, do you know the people of that
           province are very violent, easily irritable, murderous? It is dangerous to go to them, that's why no
           other disciple has even thought of going to them. If they insult you, and they are going to insult you,
           how are you going to respond? What will happen in your heart?"
               And the disciple said, "You know perfectly well what will happen in my heart, because you
           know my heart, because you are my heart. Why such unnecessary questions? But because you ask, I
           have to answer. If they insult me, deep down in my heart I will feel thankful to them that they only
           insult me; they could have beaten me."
               Buddha said, "Now the second question. They will beat you, you are going to be beaten. Then
           what will happen to you? Then what will you think?"
               The disciple said, "You know perfectly well. I will be thankful to them, because I will think they
           are only beating me when they could have killed me."
               Buddha said, "Now the third question. They can kill you. And if they kill you, what will happen
           to you? What will you think in your heart?"
               The disciple said, "You know perfectly well, you are unnecessarily asking me. But because you
           ask, I have to answer. If they kill me, while I am being killed I will be thankful, because they have
           given me a beautiful opportunity, the greatest challenge."
               Can you be thankful even to those who are killing you? The greatest challenge!
               "I will be thankful to them because they are killing me and taking my life away from me -- a life
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in which I may have committed some wrong. Now there is no possibility; I will never commit any
           wrong. A life in which I may have fallen from my awareness... now they are taking that life away
           from me, I cannot fall from my awareness any more. I will be thankful to them, utterly thankful,
           because when somebody is being killed, if he can remain alert, that is his last life, he will not be
           coming back to the earth. I will think they are my friends, they are delivering me from bondage. I
           will always remember them with tremendous gratitude in my heart."
               Buddha said, "Now you can go wherever you want, because wherever you go you will be able to
           radiate my energy. You will be able to share my love and my compassion and you will be able to
           make people alert, aware. You are ready."

               Atisha says: DON'T EXPECT THANKS. On the contrary, be thankful if something wrong is
           being done to you. That is natural; you should know well, you should expect it. If it doesn't happen,
           that is a miracle. If Jesus is not crucified, if Socrates is not poisoned, if Mahavira is not beaten again
           and again, if many efforts and attempts are not made on Buddha's life, that will be a miracle. These
           things have to be expected. That's how the greater part of humanity lives -- in darkness, in such
           darkness; from their darkness you cannot expect more.
              THIS QUINTESSENTIAL ELIXIR OF ADVICEBY WHICH THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE FIVE
              DECAY IS CHANGED INTO THE BODHI PATH IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH DHARMAKIRTI.

               The original master is Gautama the Buddha, but Atisha's master is Dharmakirti. The disciple
           never forgets the master, even when he himself becomes enlightened. Then too his gratitude remains;
           in fact it grows, it becomes total, absolute. Atisha remembers his master Dharmakirti. It was
           Dharmakirti who told him to go to Dharmarakshita to learn something more, and it was Dharmakirti
           who told him, "After Dharmarakshita you go to Yogin Maitreya to learn something more." But he
           was following the guidance of his master, Dharmakirti.
               Dharmakirti is one of the very famous Buddhist masters. Many of his disciples became
           enlightened. Atisha is only one of his disciples, but the most famous. He says:
              THIS QUINTESSENTIAL ELIXIR OF ADVICE....

                "This nectar that I have poured into the previous sutras has nothing to do with me. I am not the
           author of these sutras. These truths were transmitted to me from my master, and they were
           transmitted to my master from his master. Originally they come from Gautama the Buddha. "These
           sutras are not mine," he is saying. "They don't have my signature on them, I am just a vehicle, a
           medium, transmitting whatsoever has been given to me. I am instrumental."
                See the egolessness of the person, and remember it. And what is the quintessential elixir of this
           whole advice? That is how to transform the five decays into the bodhi path. What are the five
           decays?
                Meditate on two states. One is the state of sleep in which the greater part of humanity is. People
           are living like somnambulists; mechanical is their life, unconscious is their behavior. They are not
           aware who they are, they are not aware what they are doing, they are not aware where they are
           going. Their life is accidental, a driftwood.
                In this state also, bodhichitta -- buddha consciousness, or christ consciousness, or krishna
           consciousness, whatsoever name you choose, you can choose -- exists. Even in those people who are
           perfectly asleep, not even a glimpse of awareness, bodhichitta exists, the buddha consciousness
           exists, but it is covered in rubbish. And the rubbish comes from five senses -- the eyes, the ears and
           the other senses.
                The senses go on pouring into you all kinds of impressions from the outside. Whatsoever you see
           immediately reaches inside, whatsoever you read reaches inside, whatsoever you hear reaches inside.
           And your bodhichitta is like a diamond covered with layers and layers of impressions. This is one
           state.
                Whatsoever these five senses bring to you is going to be taken away by death, because
           whatsoever comes from without, death will disconnect you from it. It can never become part of you,
           it remains apart. It remains a foreign element in you, it never becomes your nature.
                The second state is of the awakened one, the buddha, the enlightened one, who is absolutely
           alert. A transformation happens in him. He also has five senses, but now his five senses function in a
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           totally different way. His five senses start pouring his compassion to the outside world.
               To the person who is asleep, the five senses bring only impressions from the outside. To the
           person who is awake, these same five senses start pouring his love, his energy, his compassion, into
           the world.
               When bodhichitta is discovered, when inner consciousness is known, you are no more a beggar.
           You don't take anything from without. On the contrary, you become an emperor, you start pouring
           your being into the outside world; you beautify it, you become a blessing to it. This is the
           transformation.
               If you are alert, you will give something to the world, you will be a giver. Remember, the more
           you give, the more you have -- because the more you pour into the world, from the unknown sources
           of existence more and more goes on flowing into you. You are connected with the oceanic. The
           bodhichitta is the door of the oceanic. That ocean is God. From that ocean springs go on flowing into
           you. You just share.
               Jesus says, "Those who save will lose, and those who lose will save."
               Share, and you will have more. Give, and you will get from the beyond. The transformed person
           is continuously giving. He has so much to give, he is overflowing.
              THIS QUINTESSENTIAL ELIXIR OF ADVICEBY WHICH THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE FIVE
              DECAY IS CHANGED INTO THE BODHI PATH IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH DHARMAKIRTI.

               "My master, Dharmakirti," Atisha says, "has given me this secret of transforming the energies,
           their direction. Now the five senses are no more accumulating unnecessary rubbish which is going to
           decay and stink. But now they have become passages of an overflowing divine energy."
              BY AWAKENING THE KARMIC ENERGY OF PREVIOUS TRAINING,AND BY VIRTUE OF MY
              INTENSE INTEREST,I IGNORED MISERY AND BAD REPUTATION AND SOUGHT INSTRUCTION
              TO CONTROL EGO-CLINGING.

               He is saying: "I could find Dharmakirti only because of my past searches. For lives I have been
           searching."
               And the same I say to you: You are not new people, you are ancient seekers. Otherwise, there are
           people living in the neighborhood who have not even seen me, and who will never see and who will
           never hear, and who will never know what is happening here. Just living a few feet away, and they
           will not know that something of immense value is happening here!
               And you have come from far, faraway corners of the world. You must have been seeking for
           many lives. You have gathered a certain energy that knows where the buddhafield is, and you are
           attracted towards that buddhafield. You know where the magnet is.
              BY AWAKENING THE KARMIC ENERGY OF PREVIOUS TRAINING....

               He said, "It must have been because in my past lives I have been disciplining myself in many
           ways, that I must have gathered a certain karmic energy, that I could find the master, that I was
           fortunate enough to find the master."
              AND BY VIRTUE OF MY INTENSE INTEREST...

              ... my passionate desire to know the truth. Only two things are needed: energy to seek, and
           passionate interest to put that energy into a certain direction.
              I IGNORED MISERY AND BAD REPUTATION....

              When you come to a master, and the master is REALLY a master, the society will be against
           you, the society will create misery for you. You will have to suffer many kinds of things -- bad
           reputation.
              I IGNORED MISERY AND BAD REPUTATION....

              "It must have been because of my past karmic energy, it must have been because for many lives I
           have been seeking and searching."
           Everybody is an ancient pilgrim.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I IGNORED MISERY AND BAD REPUTATION....

               It is very difficult to ignore misery and bad reputation. Now for my sannyasins I am creating a
           thousand and one kinds of difficulties. The world will be against you: wherever you will go, you will
           have a bad reputation, mm? Just to be associated with me will be enough for people to condemn you,
           ridicule you, think of you as if you are mad or something.
               Only those who are real seekers will be able to ignore all this misery and bad reputation. Those
           who are just curious, they will not be able to do it. Only the fortunate ones, only the courageous
           ones, only the true seekers, will be able to ignore everything, will be able to sacrifice everything,
           will be able to stake everything.
               Once you have come in contact with a living master, then all else is meaningless; then everything
           can be staked, it can be easily sacrificed.
              AND SOUGHT INSTRUCTION TO CONTROL EGO-CLINGING.

               "I dropped the people, I ignored what they say. Instead, I poured my whole energy into one
           thing: how to drop this idea of ego, how to drop ego-clinging."
               All these sutras are nothing but the whole science of destroying ego. Once the ego is no more
           there, once you are no more separate from existence, once you don't think yourself separate from
           existence, immediately you are enlightened. Here the ego disappears; there God appears --
           immediately, instantly.
              NOW, EVEN WHEN I DIE, I'LL HAVE NO REGRET.

              I hope my sannyasins will also be able to say that one day.
              NOW, EVEN WHEN I DIE, I'LL HAVE NO REGRET.

               It is possible only if bodhichitta is attained. It is possible only if you have come to know your
           innermost essential core -- that it is not personal, that it is universal; that it is not mortal, that it is
           immortal; that it has nothing to do with time and space, that it is eternity itself.
           AMRITASYA PUTRAH: we are sons of immortality.
           Once you have known it, life is not a regret.
           Life is a blessing, a benediction.
               Meditate on Atisha, listen to his advice; it is of immense value. It is not a philosophy, it is a
           manual to discipline yourself, it is a manual of inner transformation. It is the book that can help you
           grow into wisdom. I call it The Book of Wisdom.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Book of Wisdom
                                                     Chapter #26
                                         Chapter title: The illogical Electron
           8 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903080
              ShortTitle: WISDOM26
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

               FREEDOM CAN BE WILLED, LOVE NOT. PLEASE COMMENT.


                Anand Akam, freedom can be willed because it is your own decision to remain in a prison. It is
           your own responsibility. You have willed your slavery, you have decided to remain a slave, hence
           you are a slave. Change the decision, and the slavery disappears.
                You have invested in your unfreedom. Any moment you see the point, you can drop it; instantly
           it can be dropped. Nobody has forced unfreedom on you, it is your choice. You can choose to be
           free, you can choose to be unfree; you are so free that you can choose either. This is part of your
           inner freedom -- not to choose it is part of your freedom. Hence it can be willed.
                But love cannot be willed. Love is a by-product of freedom; it is the overflowing joy of freedom,
           it is the fragrance of freedom. First the freedom has to be there, then love follows. If you try to will
           love, you will create only something artificial, arbitrary. A willed love will not be true love, it will be
           phony.
                And that's what people are doing. Love cannot be willed, and they go on willing it. What can be
           willed, freedom, they go on ignoring. They go on thinking that somebody else is responsible for their
           slavery and their life of slavery. This is a very topsy-turvy conception of your own life. You are
           upside-down.
                Change the vision: will freedom, and love will come of its own accord. When love comes on its
           own accord only then it is beautiful, because only then it is natural, spontaneous.
                Willed love will be a kind of acting. You will be pretending -- what else can you do? You will be
           moving through empty gestures -- what else is possible? You cannot be ordered to love somebody,
           you cannot order yourself to love somebody. If it is not there, it is not there; if it is there, it is there.
           It is something beyond your will. In fact it is just the opposite of will: it is surrender.
                When one is totally dissolved into freedom and when one is really free, the ego disappears. The
           ego is your bondage, the ego is your prison. In total freedom there is no ego found. Surrender
           happens, you start feeling one with existence -- and that oneness brings love.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

               MANY SEE THE WORK THAT GOES ON AROUND YOU AS A MODEL FOR THE HOLISTIC
               APPROACH TO LIFE. PLEASE TALK ABOUT THIS.


               Krishna Prem, the old man is dying. And it is good news that the old man is on his deathbed,
           because the new can be born only when the old is gone, utterly gone. The old has to cease. The old
           has existed long, and the old man has been a curse, because he was rooted in very stupid conceptions
           of life.
               The old man was based on superstitions. The most basic flaw in the concept of the old man was
           perfectionism: he wanted to be perfect, and the very idea of perfectionism drives people crazy. The
           perfectionist is bound to be a neurotic, he cannot enjoy life till he is perfect. And perfection as such
           never happens, it is not in the nature of things. Totality is possible, perfection is not possible.
               That is the fundamental of the holistic approach. And there is a tremendous difference between
           perfection and totality. Perfection is a goal somewhere in the future, totality is an experience
           herenow. Totality is not a goal, it is a style of life. If you can get into any act with your whole heart,
           you are total. Totality brings wholeness and totality brings health and totality brings sanity.
               The perfectionist completely forgets about totality. He has some idea how he should be, and
           obviously time will be needed to reach that idea. It can't happen now -- tomorrow, day after
           tomorrow, this life, maybe next life... so life has to be postponed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That's what the old man has been doing hitherto, postponing, postponing. The man in the past has
           not really lived; his life was nothing but a sequence of postponements.
                I teach you to live herenow with no idea of the future at all. The future will be born out of your
           lived present. If the present has been lived totally, the future will have even more totality to it. Out of
           totality more totality is born.
                But if you have an idea what you want to be in the future, today you will live very partially
           because your main concern becomes the future. Your eyes become focused on the future, you lose
           contact with the real and the present -- and the tomorrow will be born out of the real with which you
           are not in contact. The tomorrow will come out of today, and today was unlived.
                The English word devil is very beautiful. If you read it backwards it becomes lived. That which
           is lived becomes divine, and that which is not lived becomes devil. Only the lived is transformed into
           godliness; the unlived turns poisonous. Today you postpone, and whatsoever remains unlived in you
           will hang around you like a weight. If you had lived it you would have been free of it. It would not
           have haunted you, it would not have tortured you.
                But man up to now has been taught not to live but to hope -- hope that tomorrow things will be
           such that you will be able to live, hope that tomorrow you will be worthy to live, hope that tomorrow
           you will be Jesus Christ or Gautama the Buddha.
                You are never going to be Jesus the Christ or Gautama the Buddha, you are simply going to be
           yourself. You are not a carbon copy of anybody else. It would have been ugly to be another Christ or
           another Buddha; that would have been a great insult to your humanity. Man has dignity because man
           has originality.
                The old concept was to live according to a certain pattern -- the Buddhist pattern, the Christian
           pattern, the Hindu pattern. The old was not in favor of the individual, it was in favor of a certain
           pattern. That pattern creates slavery.
                I teach the individual, I teach the unique individual. Respect yourself, love yourself, because
           there has never been a person like you and there never will be again. God never repeats. You are
           utterly unique, incomparably unique. You need not be like somebody else, you need not be an
           imitator, you have to be authentically yourself, your own being. You have to do your own thing.
                The moment you start accepting and respecting yourself you start becoming whole. Then there is
           nothing to divide you, then there is nothing to create the split. Hitherto, man has been schizophrenic.
           And I am not saying that a few people have been schizophrenic: the whole humanity has been
           schizophrenic. Leave a few exceptions -- a Krishna, a Lao Tzu here and there -- you can count them
           on your fingers. They don't constitute humanity, they are exceptions, and the exceptions only prove
           the rule. But the greater part of humanity has lived a schizophrenic life, a divided life, fragmentary.
                And how did man become so split? First thing: you are not acceptable as you are, so reject
           yourself. Rather than respecting yourself, reject yourself; rather than respecting yourself, respect
           some idea, some imaginary idea, of how you should be. Don't live the real, try to live the "should" --
           and then you are split, you have become two. You are that which you are, but that you reject,
           repress. And you want to be that which you are not, and that which you are not you love and you
           respect and you worship. You have become two.
                Not only that you have been split in two, you have been made many -- because you were taught
           that the body is your enemy, that you have to get rid of the body. You were taught that many things
           in you have to be cut off, that you are not as you should be, that great changes have to be done.
                Naturally you started rejecting your sex, you started rejecting your desires, you started rejecting
           your anger. And all these rejected parts are energies to be transformed. They are not your enemies,
           they are friends in disguise.
                Anger transformed becomes compassion, sex transformed becomes prayer, greed transformed
           becomes sharing. But in the past it was told again and again, repeated down the ages, that you had to
           reject this, reject that. If you listen to the old teachings you will be surprised -- you are rejected
           almost ninety-nine percent. Only one percent, some imaginary soul of which you are not aware at all,
           is accepted in you. And all that you are aware of is rejected.
                These fragments do not allow you to become one piece, and unless you become one piece there
           is no peace possible. Unless you are a togetherness, integrated, crystallized, you will not know what
           God is -- because God speaks only to those who are real, God speaks only to those who are not a
           crowd, not noisy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When there are many in you, you are a crowd, and the crowd is noisy. When you become one,
           there is silence. Only by becoming one will you attain to silence, and in that silence you can hear the
           voice of God, in that silence you can start feeling the presence of the divine. And when you are one,
           you will be able to have a communion with the whole. By being a whole yourself, you become
           capable of having a communion with the whole.
               Man has lived very partially -- in fragments, in guilt, in fear. A new man is needed, urgently
           needed. Enough is enough: say goodbye to the old man. The old has created only wars, violence; it
           has created sadists, masochists, it has created a very ugly human being. It has made people
           pathological, it has not allowed a natural, healthy, sane humanity to be born.
               Just the other day, somebody asked, "Who is a masochist and who is a sadist?"
               A masochist is a person who loves to have a cold shower every morning, but takes instead a
           warm one. And the sadist is a person who, if asked by a masochist, "Please, please, hit my head
           hard," says "No!"
               People are torturing themselves and torturing others in every possible way. In the name of
           religion, in the name of morality, in the name of nationality, people are torturing each other, killing
           each other. Beautiful names have been found for very pathological, insane things. Insanities are
           called "nationalities," insanities are called "moralities" -- beautiful labels on very ugly things.
               But it is time that we get rid of it all. And if we don't get rid of it all soon enough, then the cup
           will be full. Man is going to die if the new does not arrive; the old cannot survive. There is no
           possibility for the old to survive, it has come to its tether's end. It has lived more than expected.
               I teach you a new man, a new humanity, which will not think of the future and which will not
           live with shoulds and oughts, which will not deny any natural instinct, which will accept its body,
           which will accept all that is given by God with deep gratitude.
               Your body is your temple, it is sacred. Your body is not your enemy. It is not irreligious to love
           your body, to take care of your body -- it is religious. It is irreligious to torture your body and to
           destroy it. The religious person will love his body because it is the temple where God lives.
               You and your body are not really two, but the manifestation of one. Your soul is your invisible
           body, and your body is your visible soul. I teach this unity, and with this unity, man becomes whole.
           I teach you joy, not sadness. I teach you playfulness, not seriousness. I teach you love and laughter,
           because to me there is nothing more sacred than love and laughter, and there is nothing more
           prayerful than playfulness.
               I don't teach you renunciation, as it has been taught down the ages. I teach you: Rejoice, rejoice,
           and rejoice again! Rejoicing should be the essential core of my sannyasins.
               Yes, Krishna Prem, my approach to life is holistic, because to me, to be whole is to be holy.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              DO I RIGHTLY UNDERSTAND YOU THAT IF YOU AND YOUR BELOVED CAN TRANSMUTE
              YOUR SEXUAL ENERGY INTO SPIRITUALITY, THAT THIS RELATIONSHIP WILL NOT BE
              SATISFYING EITHER? YOUR SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS ON LOVE CONFUSE ME.


               Nellie, confusion is my way of working on you. I confuse you so that clarity becomes possible.
           People are very much certain, they already think they know. And because of their certainty they are
           closed. If you already know, then there is no need to seek and search. For what? If you already
           know, then you can keep your doors and windows closed.
               People are much too certain, and that is a great problem. They have to be made uncertain again,
           they have to be shaken in their certainties; their dogmas and creeds have to be taken away. Hence
           confusion arises. What is confusion? -- when you start losing grip on your old certainty. You were
           feeling that you know, and suddenly you start feeling that you don't know. You were thinking you
           have the answer, and suddenly you become aware that the question is there and the answer was just
           imposed.
               It happens to every new disciple here -- and Nellie is a new sannyasin; just the other day she has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a sannyasin. For a few days you will become more and more confused. It is a good sign, it
           means you are listening to me.
               There are a few people who go on listening to me and are never confused. That simply means
           they have not heard; their ears are full of wax, they are deaf. There are people who not only don't
           become confused, but listening to me they become even more certain. That means they have heard
           something else that was not said.

               Two moving-men were struggling with a big crate in a doorway. They pushed and tugged until
           they were exhausted but it would not move.
               Finally, the man on the outside said, "We had better give up, we will never get it in."
               The fellow on the inside said "What do you mean, get it in? I thought you were trying to get it
           out!"

                If you become confused by listening to me, that means you have heard me. The more intelligent
           you are, the more confused you will become. And I use contradiction as a technique, I go on
           contradicting myself.
                Why do I contradict myself? I am not teaching a philosophy here. The philosopher has to be very
           consistent -- flawless, logical, rational, always ready to argue and prove his statements. I am not a
           philosopher. I am not here giving you a consistent dogma to which you can cling. My whole effort is
           to give you a no-mind.
                Be perfectly clear about it. My effort is not to strengthen a certain mind, my effort is just the
           opposite of it: to give you a state of no-mind -- a state which has no knowledge, a state which
           functions from not knowing, a state of innocence.
                I use contradiction as a device. I say one thing, out of your old habit you cling to it; the next day
           I have to contradict it. When I contradict it you have to drop it. But you may start clinging to the new
           thing that I have said; I will have to contradict it again.
                This will go on, you will go on clinging to this, to that. One day suddenly you will become aware
           what is happening. I don't allow you any certainty, nothing to cling to. And if I contradict, what is
           the point of clinging at all? Then why not wait? I will contradict, and then you will have to leave it,
           and it is painful. Once you cling to a thing and then you have to leave it, it is painful, it creates
           anxiety.
                So those who have listened to me for a long time, listen simply. They simply listen, they don't
           cling. They know perfectly well, now that they are aware of the game, that tomorrow I will
           contradict. So why carry it for twenty-four hours? The pain of carrying the weight, and then the pain
           of dropping it... slowly slowly it dawns in your awareness that there is no need to cling; this man
           contradicts. This man is consistently inconsistent.
                Once you have understood that, you listen to me as one listens to music. You listen to me as one
           listens to the wind passing through the pine trees, you listen to me as one listens to the birds singing
           in the morning. You don't say to the cuckoo, "Yesterday your song was different," and you don't go
           to the roseflower and say, "Last season the flowers were bigger" -- or smaller -- "why are you
           contradicting yourself?"
                You don't say to the poet, "In one of your poems you said this, and in another poem you have
           said something else." You don't expect a poet to be consistent, so you don't ask. Poetry is not a
           theory, it is not a syllogism, it is a song.
                I am not a philosopher. Always remember that I am a poet, not a philosopher. Remember always
           that I am not a missionary, but a musician playing on the harp of your heart. Songs will go on
           changing... you need not cling to anything, then there will be no confusion at all.
                The people who are always hankering for consistency can never enter into the mystery of life.
           Consistency is something manmade, it is arbitrary. Existence is not consistent. And now even
           physicists agree with the poets and the mystics.
                You must be aware that modern physics believes in the theory of uncertainty; modern physics
           believes in the illogical behavior of atoms, of the unpredictability of the behavior of electrons. It was
           such a shock to the modern physicists, because they had always believed that matter behaves
           consistently. The whole foundation of science has been shaken; these twenty years, it has been such
           a shock. People have not yet become aware of it, because the theories are so complicated and so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           subtle that they will never become part of common knowledge. And they are so against common
           sense -- they look more like fairy tales, stories written for children.
               The electrons jump from one spot to another, and between the two they don't exist. Now, can it
           be believed? An electron jumping from spot a to spot b, and between the two he is not? And I am
           using "he" knowingly, deliberately, because you cannot use "it" any more. A great mystery... they
           call it a quantum leap. A special word has been coined -- quantum, because in the middle it is not
           found.
               It is as if from New York you come to Poona, but in the space between the two you are not. You
           simply disappear from New York and you appear in Poona. Now there is a possibility some day....
           Right now it is science fiction, but the possibility is there that one day it may happen that there will
           be no need to take long journeys, wasting time. Time has limitations.
               For example, if you want to go to the nearest star it will take four years -- the nearest star! And
           that too only if you go with the speed of light. And it is immense, the speed of light: one hundred and
           eighty-six thousand miles per second. If you go at this speed, which seems almost impossible, then it
           will take four years to reach the closest star.
               And then there are stars which are a hundred years, two hundred, one thousand, two thousand,
           one million, two million years away. There are stars so far away that we have not been able to detect
           them yet.
               How can journeys be made to faraway stars? The only possibility is if one day we manage to do
           what the electron is already managing to do... a machine in which you enter here and you disappear,
           and another machine on the star, one million years away, and you appear there. Between the two, no
           traveling time is lost: you simply dematerialize here and you materialize somewhere else. It is a
           possibility. If the electron can do it, why not man? Man is nothing but millions and millions of
           electrons, so the possibility is there.
               Even to think of it seems to be mind-blowing. But modem physics says electrons are behaving in
           a very mysterious way -- illogical, unpredictable, confusing.
               I am not a philosopher who is trying to make a system of thought. I am a mystic who is trying to
           convey the mysteries that have become available to me. I will confuse you.
               It is like a friend of mine who is a jigsaw puzzle fiend. One day his kids were playing with his
           puzzles and they put his Marilyn Monroe puzzle back in the same box with his Revolutionary War
           puzzle.
               I asked him how he made out with things all mixed up.
               "Oh," he said, "I did all right. But I never realized that George Washington had such sexy legs."

               Life is a very mixed puzzle. Whatsoever you make out of it is going to be arbitrary, you cannot
           figure it out in reality. My suggestion to my sannyasins is to forget all about figuring out what it is.
           Rather, live it; rather, enjoy it! Don't analyze it, celebrate it.
               So, Nellie, you will have to put up with me, you will have to tolerate my contradictions. They
           appear as contradictions only to you. From my side I am simply talking mysteries, and mysteries are
           bound to be illogical. But your question is relevant and significant.
               You ask: "Do I rightly understand you that even if you and your beloved can transmute your
           sexual energy into spirituality, that this relationship will not be satisfying either?"
               Yes, it will not be satisfying either. In fact, it will create in you the greatest discontent that you
           have ever felt, because it will make you aware how much is possible. It will make you aware of the
           tremendous moment of that orgasmic unity, of that spiritual transmutation. But it will remain only
           momentary. With the outer, nothing can become permanent. And once the moment is gone, the
           higher was the peak, the lower will be the valley, and you will fall deep down in darkness.
               But it will make you aware of one thing, that if male and female energy can have a meeting
           which is nontemporal, then there will be eternal contentment.
               How to manage it? Out of this question the whole science of Tantra was born. How to do it? It
           can be done. It cannot be done with the beloved outside -- it cannot be done without the beloved
           outside, remember that too, because the first glimpse comes from the beloved outside. It is only a
           glimpse, but with it comes a new vision that, deep down inside yourself, there are both the energies
           present -- male and female.
               Man is bisexual -- every man, every woman. Half of you is male and half of you is female. If you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are a woman, then the female part is on top and the male part is hidden behind, and vice versa. Once
           you have become aware of this, then a new work starts: your inner woman and inner man can have a
           meeting and that meeting can remain absolute. There is no need to come back from the peak. But the
           first vision comes from the outer.
                Hence Tantra uses the outer woman, the outer man, as part of inner work. Once you have become
           aware that you have a woman inside you or a man inside you, then the work takes on a totally new
           quality, it starts moving in a new dimension. Now the meeting has to happen inside; you have to
           allow your inner woman and man to meet.
                In India we have had that concept for at least five thousand years. You may not have seen the
           statues of Shiva as ardhanarishwar: half man, half woman. That is the picture of everybody's being,
           inner being. You must have seen shivalinga: it symbolizes the male. But shivalinga is placed in the
           female sexual organ, it is not alone; they are together. That again represents the inner duality, the
           inner polarity, but the polarity can meet and merge.
                With the outer, the merger will be only for the moment. Then great frustration and great misery...
           and the higher the moment, the deeper will be the darkness that follows it. But the meeting can
           happen inwardly.
                First learn that the peak is possible, and then feel grateful to the woman who has given you the
           peak, feel grateful to the man. Tantra worships the woman as the goddess and the man as the god.
           Any woman who helps you to attain to this vision is a goddess, any man that helps you to attain to
           this vision is a god. Love becomes sacred because it gives you the first glimpses of the divine. Then
           the inner work starts. You have worked without, now you have to work within.
                Tantra has two phases, two stages: the outer, the extrovert Tantra, and the inner, the introvert
           Tantra. The beginning has to be always from the without; it is because we are there, so we have to
           start from the place we are and then move inwards. When the inner man and woman have met and
           melted, and when you are no more divided inside, you have become one -- integrated, crystallized,
           one -- you have attained. This is enlightenment.
                But right now everything is upside down. You have completely forgotten the inner; the outer has
           become your whole life. This is as if somebody is standing on his head and has forgotten completely
           how to stand on his feet again. Now, standing on your head your life will be really difficult. If you
           want to go somewhere, if you want to do something, everything will become very very difficult,
           almost impossible.
                And that is what is happening. People are upside down, because the without has become more
           important than the within. The without has become all-important, and the within is completely
           ignored, forgotten.
                The real treasure is within. From the without, you can get only hints of the inner treasure; from
           the without, only arrows pointing to the innermost core of your being; from without, only milestones.
           But don't cling to a milestone, and don't think that this is the goal and you have arrived.
                Remember that the ordinary man is living a very abnormal life, because his values are upside
           down. Money is more important than meditation, logic is more important than love, mind is more
           important than heart. Power over others is more important than power over one's own being.
           Mundane things are more important than finding some treasures which death cannot destroy.

              Larry went to an Italian restaurant, and just as the waiter was about to serve, he tripped and
           dumped a whole bowl of minestrone right in Larry's lap.
           Was Larry angry? Was he even slightly ruffled?
              He simply looked up with great dignity and disdain and said, "Waiter, I believe there is a soup in
           my fly."

               Things are completely upside down. The fly is not in the soup, the soup is in the fly. And that's
           why there is so much misery. Everybody seems to be simply running after shadows, knowing
           perfectly well that there is nothing to happen, that nothing is ever going to happen, but what else to
           do? Standing by the side of the road when everybody is rushing looks silly. It is better to go on
           rushing with the crowd.
               Let this sink deep in your heart: that unless the within becomes more important than the without,
           you are living a very abnormal life. The normal person is one whose within is the source of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everything that he is doing. The without is only a means, the within is the end.
               The love affair that you have with a woman or a man is a means to the end. The end is having a
           love affair with your inner woman or inner man. The outer has to be used as a learning situation; it is
           a great opportunity.
               I am not against the outer love affair, I am all for it, because without it you will never become
           aware of the inner. But remember, don't get stuck in the outer.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY IS THERE SUCH AN EXPRESSION AS "THE DIRTY OLD MAN"? I AM GETTING ON AND I
              SUSPECT PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO THINK ABOUT ME IN EXACTLY THOSE WORDS.


               It is because of a long, long repressive society that the dirty old man exists. It is because of your
           saints, your priests, your puritans, that the old dirty man exists.
               If people are allowed to live their sexual life joyously, by the time they are nearing forty-two --
           remember, I am saying forty-two, not eighty-four -- just when they are nearing forty-two, sex will
           start losing its grip on them. Just as sex arises and becomes very powerful by the time one is
           fourteen, in exactly the same way by the time one is forty-two it starts disappearing. It is a natural
           course. And when sex disappears, the old man has a love, has compassion, of a totally different kind.
           There is no lust in his love, no desire, he wants to get nothing out of it. His love has a purity, an
           innocence; his love is a joy.
               Sex gives you pleasure. And sex gives you pleasure only when you have gone into sex; then
           pleasure is the end result. If sex has become irrelevant -- not repressed, but because you experienced
           it so deeply that it is no more of any value.... You have known it, and knowledge always brings
           freedom. You have known it totally, and because you have known it, the mystery is finished, there is
           nothing more to explore. In that knowing, the whole energy, the sexual energy, is transmuted into
           love, compassion. One gives out of joy. Then the old man is the most beautiful man in the world, the
           cleanest man in the world.
               There is no expression in any language as the clean old man. I have never heard it. But this
           expression, the dirty old man, exists in almost all languages. The reason is that the body becomes
           old, the body becomes tired, the body wants to get rid of all sexuality -- but the mind, because of
           repressed desires, still hankers. When the body is not capable, and the mind continuously haunts you
           for something which the body is incapable of doing, really the old man is in a mess. His eyes are
           sexual, lusty; his body dead and dull. And his mind goes on goading him. He starts having a dirty
           look, a dirty face; he starts having something ugly in him.

               It reminds me of the story of the man who overheard his wife and her sister discussing his
           frequent out-of-town business trips. The sister kept suggesting that the wife should worry about her
           husband being unchaperoned at those posh resort convention hotels with so many attractive,
           unattached career women around.
               "Me worry?" said the wife. "Why, he'd never cheat on me. He's too loyal, too decent... too old."

               The body sooner or later becomes old; it is bound to become old. But if you have not lived your
           desires they will clamor around you, they are bound to create something ugly in you. Either the old
           man becomes the most beautiful man in the world, because he attains to an innocence the same as
           the innocence of a child, or even far deeper than the innocence of a child -- he becomes a sage. But if
           desires are still there, running like an undercurrent, then he is caught in a turmoil.

               A very old man was arrested while attempting to sexually molest a young woman. Seeing such
           an old man, eighty-four, in court, the magistrate reduced the charge from rape to assault with a dead
           weapon.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you are becoming old, remember that old age is the climax of life. Remember that old age can
           be the most beautiful experience -- because the child has hopes for the future, he lives in the future,
           he has great desires to do this, to do that. Every child thinks that he is going to be somebody special
           -- Alexander the Great, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong -- he lives in desires and in the future. The young
           man is too much possessed by the instincts, all instincts, exploding in him. Sex is there. Modern
           research says that every man thinks once at least about sex every three seconds. Women are a little
           better, they think of sex every six seconds. It is a great difference, almost double; that may be the
           cause of many rifts between husbands and wives.
                Once every three seconds sex somehow flashes in the mind. The young man is possessed by such
           great natural forces that he cannot be free. Ambition is there, and time is running fast, and he has to
           do something and he has to be something. All those hopes and desires and fantasies of childhood
           have to be fulfilled; he is in a great rush, in a hurry.
                The old man knows that those childish desires were really childish. The old man knows that all
           those days of youth and turmoil are gone. The old man is in the same state as when the storm has
           gone and silence prevails. That silence can be of tremendous beauty, depth, richness. If the old man
           is really mature, which is very rarely the case, then he will be beautiful. But people only grow in age,
           they don't grow up. Hence the problem.
                Grow up, become more mature, become more alert and aware. And old age is the last opportunity
           given to you: before death comes, prepare. And how does one prepare for death? By becoming more
           meditative.
                If some lurking desires are still there, and the body is getting old and the body is not capable of
           fulfilling those desires, don't be worried. Meditate over those desires, watch, be aware. Just by being
           aware and watchful and alert, those desires and the energy contained in them can be transmuted. But
           before death comes, be free of all desires.
                When I say be free of all desires I simply mean be free of all objects of desires. Then there is a
           pure longing. That pure longing is divine, that pure longing is God. Then there is pure creativity with
           no object, with no address, with no direction, with no destination -- just pure energy, a pool of
           energy, going nowhere. That's what buddhahood is. Atisha calls it bodhichitta, buddha
           consciousness.
           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY IS INDIA SO POOR?


               The so-called saints are responsible. Down the ages, India has lived with a wrong philosophy -- a
           philosophy that teaches other-worldliness, a philosophy that teaches that the world is illusion and
           only the other world is true. You have not seen the other world, the true world; you have to believe.
           And the world that you have seen, and see every day and experience every day, is illusory, is maya.
               This foolish philosophy is the root cause of India's poverty. If the world is illusory then why care
           about science, why care about technology? What is the point? If the world is illusory, poverty is also
           an illusion, the beggar on the street is also an illusion, the starving person is also an illusion.
               The West has lived with the idea that only this world is real. Hence it has become rich, at least
           outwardly rich. The West has denied the other world: God is dead. And the West started becoming
           rich only when it started dropping the idea of the other world; then its whole energy was focused on
           this world. It became rich materially, but it became poor spiritually.
               The other world is also real, and real on a higher plane. The East became poor materially. The
           other world is real, but the other world can only be based on the reality of this world. This world
           functions as a foundation. So maybe, once in a while, a person in India was able to become inwardly
           rich. But the millions, the masses, remain outwardly poor. And because there is no foundation, they
           have remained inwardly poor too.
               These attitudes have been two halves of one whole. The new man I talk about, and the new
           humanity, will not be Eastern or Western. It will not believe in this world only or in that world only,
           it will believe in the totality of man. It will believe in the body of man, it will believe in the soul of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man; it will believe in the material, it will believe in the spiritual. In fact the new humanity will think
           of spirituality and materiality as two aspects of one phenomenon. Then the world will be rich in both
           ways, within and without.
                India has to get rid of its otherworldly obsession. It has to learn to love this world too, it has to
           learn that this world is also real. The very moment that happens will be a great change in India's life.
           But the saints, the so-called saints, still go on teaching that this world is unreal. And the poor people
           are consoled by it, so they go on clinging to the philosophy. If the world is unreal, this consoles:
           there is nothing to be worried about, it is only a question of a few years, then you will enter into the
           real world. So why bother?
                The Eastern mind remains unscientific because of this basically wrong philosophy; science can
           be created only if the world is accepted as real. And if science is there, then technology is there, and
           technology is the only way to create riches. The so-called saints are responsible, and the so-called
           leaders, the politicians, are responsible, because the politicians go on teaching anti-scientific
           attitudes to the country. Gandhi's philosophy is anti-scientific. You will be surprised to know that he
           was against railway trains, the post office, the telegraph, modern medicine. He was against the basic
           technologies which can help the country. And he still remains the father figure, he still dominates the
           Indian mind, particularly the Indian politician's mind.
                India has to get rid of Gandhi, otherwise it cannot become rich. But Gandhi also consoles,
           because he praises the poor man. He calls the poor man daridra narayan: he says that God is in the
           poor man, the poor man is divine. His teaching is that the rich man is something wrong and the poor
           man is something right. Poverty has some spirituality in it, according to him.
                If you praise poverty as spirituality, naturally the poor person's ego is gratified. Hence the poor
           people in India go on worshipping Gandhi; every town has his statue. The poor man has nothing else
           to feel gratified about. This idea gives him great contentment, that he has something spiritual in him,
           his poverty is spiritual.
                There is nothing spiritual in poverty. Poverty is ugly, unspiritual, irreligious. The poor man is the
           cause of all that is wrong in the world, because out of poverty all kinds of sins and crimes arise. The
           poor man has not to be gratified, he has to be made aware, "Do something and get out of your
           poverty." If you go on praising the poor man he will become more and more poor to become more
           and more spiritual. The poorer he is, the more divine.
                A farm laborer got a wire from home; it announced that his wife had just given birth to
           quintuplets. He decided it was time to look for a better-paying job.
                "Tell me," said the employment agent at the firm where he applied, "Do you have any sales
           ability? Can you type, run a computer or drive a truck?"
           Sadly he answered, "No."
           The interviewer asked, "Then what can you do?"
                He reached into his pocket, brought out the telegram and said, "Here, read this."

               India's whole creativity consists in bringing more and more children into the world. There is no
           reason to be surprised by India's poverty. Every day thousands are born. Medicine has helped people
           to live long, medicine has helped people to die later and later. The deathrate has tremendously
           changed: just thirty years ago, out of ten children born in India nine were going to die before the age
           of one. Now nine live, only one dies. The deathrate has been changed but the birthrate remains the
           same.
               Now there are only two possibilities: either drop the birthrate or raise the deathrate. There are
           only two possibilities: either kill people in some way or other.... And that's what happens again and
           again -- natural calamities kill people, great diseases spread and kill people, wars come and kill
           people. But they are all lagging behind; they are not able to cope with modern medicine. Unless the
           birthrate declines there is no possibility for India to see good days. But the Indians are accustomed to
           having many children. It is very manly, it is thought to be a great blessing from God: the more
           children you have, the more blessed you are.
               These foolish ideas have to be changed, but it is very difficult to change them. Because I am
           against all these ideas, the Indian masses are against me. They want to be supported... their saints go
           on saying to them that a child is a gift of God, their saints go on blessing them. Now each child
           brings a new curse; it is no longer a blessing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The politicians are afraid that if they force birth control on the country then the people won't vote
           for them, so they cannot enforce birth control. So they deliver sermons on brahmacharya, celibacy;
           they themselves are not celibate, and they go on teaching people celibacy. And people love these
           ideas, these are the ideas they have loved for centuries so they feel very good: this is their culture,
           their culture is being praised. This is the right way to control population -- celibacy.
                And how many people are going to do it? That is not the point at all. A cultural idea, praised for
           centuries, feels very ego-satisfying.
                Celibacy is not going to work. Birth control will have to be brought in. If people willingly accept
           it, good. If they don't accept it willingly, then it has to be forced on them. People cannot be left to
           destroy the whole country. But if you talk about enforcing birth control they say then you are not a
           democrat.
                You stop people by force in many things: thieves are not allowed to steal -- is it non-democratic?
           Thieves should be allowed, given freedom -- democracy means freedom! Murders are not allowed.
           Now giving birth to so many children is far more of a crime than stealing; in fact it is a far bigger
           crime than murder.
                Things have changed, situations have changed. Now to bring an unnecessary child into the world
           is far more a crime than killing a person. It is not a question of democracy, it is a question of
           survival. Democracy is good, but democracy can exist only if the country can survive. The country is
           dying, starving. Unless birth control is enforced totally, this country cannot be rich.
                My attitude is very clear, my approach is absolutely clear, but the country's old mind is not ready
           to listen. People come to me and they say, "What you are doing for India's poverty? Why don't you
           run hospitals, and why don't you distribute free food from the ashram?"
                This has been done for at least ten thousand years. Ashrams have been distributing free food for
           ten thousand years: it has not helped. How it is going to help if one more ashram goes on distributing
           free food? There are so many hospitals -- it has not helped; how it is going to help if we run a few
           more hospitals?
                That is not my approach. I want to cut the very root of the problem, I am not interested in
           pruning the leaves. But people are duped and dulled by the saints, by the leaders, by the moralists.
                Karl Marx seems to be right, at least in a certain sense, that religion has been used as an opium to
           dupe people and dull their intelligence. Real religion is not opium, but real religion is rare. It exists
           only when there is a living master -- otherwise priests go on pretending that they have the keys of
           religion. They don't have any keys; all that they do is serve the politicians.
                There is a conspiracy between organized religion and the state -- between church and state.
           Together they dominate people, together they reduce people into slavery. If the people are poor it is
           easier to force them into slavery; if people are poor it is easier to give them beliefs, superstitions. If
           people are poor they are always afraid of hell and always greedy for heaven. The priest can dominate
           them and the politician can also dominate them because they are so poor.
                In poverty, people lose intelligence. Intelligence needs a certain nourishment. It is a well known
           scientific fact that if certain vitamins are missing in your food you will not be intelligent. And I am
           really worried, because those are the vitamins which are missing in Indian food. Indian food is very
           deficient -- hence you see the intelligence is on a very low level. Even the so-called intelligentsia of
           India doesn't seem to be very intelligent. Intelligence is needed to transform this country, its poverty.
                And that's what my work is here: to create more intelligence through meditation; to create more
           intelligent people by destroying their superstitions, beliefs; to create more alert people, so they can
           be more responsive to the real situation that exists in the country and in the world.
                Only in this way can we cut the very root of the problem.
           The last question:
    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY AM I HERE?


               This is a very philosophical question, Kirtan.
           There is a story about two big beefy American football players in philosophy class, sitting at their
           final examination. The exam question was just one word: "Why?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                All the students began writing madly, filling exam book after book. The two football players
           looked at each other and shrugged. The first wrote two words on his exam paper: "Why not?" and
           left the room. The second fellow wrote one word: "Because" and left with his friend.
                Not knowing what to do, the professor gave the first fellow the grade of A, and the second fellow
           the grade of A minus.

               This is really a philosophical question: "Why am I here?"
           I don't know. Why not? Or -- because.

               Three newly deceased candidates for heaven sit in the waiting room of Saint Peter's office.
           Finally Saint Peter returns from lunch and asks the receptionist to send in the first candidate.
               "How did you die, and why do you think you are eligible for heaven?" Saint Peter asked.
               "Well," said the man, "for some time I suspected my wife was cheating on me. This morning a
           neighbor called and confirmed the awful truth. He told me a guy had entered our apartment a half
           hour ago and had not come out. Furiously I rushed home, burst into the apartment, and found my
           wife lying naked on the bed. I started to search the apartment in a jealous rage. I looked through the
           whole flat -- under the bed, in the closets, behind curtains, everywhere.
               I found no one. Finally, out of sheer frustration and blind rage, I picked up the refrigerator,
           carried it out onto the back porch and threw it down into the back yard, three stories below. The
           exertion and excitement must have been too much for me, I must have died right then and there of a
           heart attack."
               "Well," said Saint Peter, "that's a very unusual way to die, but entirely moral. Admitted. Send in
           the next candidate."
               The second candidate told an even more surprising story. "Saint Peter," he said, "if you will
           excuse the expression, I swear to God I was minding my own business taking a nap in the hammock
           out in the back yard. I heard a noise and looked up just in time to see a fullsize refrigerator falling on
           me from the third floor."
               "Hmmm," said Saint Peter. "Most tragic and most circumstantial. But, again, entirely proper and
           moral. Admit this man and send in the next candidate."
               "Saint Peter," said the third candidate, "I know you are not going to believe a word I say, I just
           know it. I got called to this lady's apartment to fix her refrigerator. I was working on it when all of a
           sudden she screamed, 'Here comes my husband! For God's sake, hide!' So help me, Saint Peter, the
           last thing I remember was climbing into the refrigerator and closing the door."

              Kirtan, I don't know why you are here. Why not? Because!
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                    Chapter #27
                                       Chapter title: The Soul is a Question
           9 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903090
              ShortTitle: WISDOM27
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO RELATE?


                Deva Shanta, because you are not yet. There is an inner emptiness and the fear that if you relate
           with somebody, sooner or later you will be exposed as empty. Hence it seems safer to keep a
           distance with people; at least you can pretend you are.
                You are not. You are not yet born, you are only an opportunity. You are not yet a fulfillment --
           and only two fulfilled persons can relate. To relate is one of the greatest things of life: to relate
           means to love, to relate means to share. But before you can share, you must have. And before you
           can love you must be full of love, overflowing with love.
                Two seeds cannot relate, they are closed. Two flowers can relate; they are open, they can send
           their fragrances to each other, they can dance in the same sun and in the same wind, they can have a
           dialogue, they can whisper. But that is not possible for two seeds. Seeds are utterly closed,
           windowless -- how to relate?
                And that is the situation. Man is born as a seed; he can become a flower, he may not. It all
           depends on you, what you do with yourself; it all depends on you whether you grow or you don't. It
           is your choice -- and each moment the choice has to be faced; each moment you are on the
           crossroads.
                Millions of people decide not to grow. They remain seeds; they remain potentialities, they never
           become actualities. They don't know what self-realization is, they don't know what self-actualization
           is, they don't know anything of being. Utterly empty they live, utterly empty they die. How can they
           relate?
                It will be exposing yourself -- your nudity, your ugliness, your emptiness -- safer, it seems, to
           keep a distance. Even lovers keep distance; they come only so far, and they remain alert to when to
           turn back. They have boundaries; they never cross the boundaries, they remain confined to their
           boundaries.
                Yes, there is a kind of relationship, but it is not that of relating, it is that of possession: the
           husband possesses the wife, the wife possesses the husband, the parents possess the children, and so
           on and so forth. But to possess is not to relate. In fact to possess is to destroy all possibilities of
           relating. If you relate, you respect; you cannot possess. If you relate, there is great reverence. If you
           relate, you come very close, very very close, in deep intimacy, overlapping. Still the other's freedom
           is not interfered with, still the other remains an independent individual. The relationship is that of
           I-thou, not that of I-it -- overlapping, interpenetrating, yet in a sense independent.
                Khalil Gibran says: "Be like two pillars that support the same roof, but don't start possessing the
           other, leave the other independent. Support the same roof -- that roof is love."
                Two lovers support something invisible and something immensely valuable: some poetry of
           being, some music heard in the deepest recesses of their existence. They support both, they support
           some harmony, but still they remain independent. They can expose themselves to the other, because
           there is no fear. They know they ARE. They know their inner beauty, they know their inner perfume;
           there is no fear.
                But ordinarily the fear exists, because you don't have any perfume. If you expose yourself you
           will simply stink. You will stink of jealousies, hatreds, angers, lust. You will not have the perfume of
           love, prayer, compassion.
                Millions of people have decided to remain seeds. Why? When they can become flowers and they
           can also have a dance in the wind and the sun and the moon, why have they decided to remain seeds?
           There is something in their decision: the seed is more secure than the flower. The flower is fragile;
           the seed is not fragile, the seed looks stronger. The flower can be destroyed very easily; just a strong
           wind and the petals will blow away. The seed cannot be destroyed so easily by the wind, the seed is
           very protected, secure. The flower is exposed -- such a delicate thing, and exposed to so many
           hazards: a strong wind may come, it may rain cats and dogs, the sun may be too hot, some foolish
           man may pluck the flower. Anything can happen to the flower, everything can happen to the flower,
10/28/07                                                     Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the flower is constantly in danger. But the seed is safe; hence millions of people decide to remain
           seeds. But to remain a seed is to remain dead, to remain a seed is not to live at all. It is secure,
           certainly, but it has no life. Death is secure, life is insecurity. One who really wants to live has to live
           in danger, in constant danger. One who wants to reach to the peaks has to take the risk of getting
           lost. One who wants to climb the highest peaks has to take the risk of falling from somewhere,
           slipping down.
               The greater is the longing to grow, the more and more danger has to be accepted. The real man
           accepts danger as his very style of life, as his very climate of growth.
               You ask me, Shanta: "Why is it so difficult to relate?"
               It is difficult because you are not yet. First be. Everything else is possible only afterwards: first
           be.
               Jesus says it in his own way: "First seek ye the kingdom of God, then all else shall be added unto
           you." This is just an old expression for the same thing that I am saying: First be, then all else shall be
           added unto you.
               But being is the basic requirement. If you are, courage comes as a consequence. If you are, great
           desire for adventure, to explore, arises -- and when you are ready to explore, you can relate. Relating
           is exploring -- exploring the other's consciousness, exploring the other's territory. But when you
           explore the other's territory, you have to allow and welcome the other to explore you; it cannot be
           one-way traffic. And you can allow the other to explore you only when you have something, some
           treasure within you. Then there is no fear. In fact you invite the guest, you embrace the guest, you
           call him in, you want him in. You want him to see what you have discovered in yourself, you want to
           share it.
               First be, then you can relate -- and remember, to relate is beautiful. Relationship is a totally
           different phenomenon; relationship is something dead, fixed, a full point has arrived. You get
           married to a woman; a full point has arrived. Now things will only decline. You have reached the
           limit, nothing is growing any more. The river has stopped and it is becoming a reservoir.
           Relationship is already a thing, complete; relating is a process. Avoid relationships, and go deeper
           and deeper into relating.
               My emphasis is on verbs, not on nouns; avoid nouns as much as possible. In language you cannot
           avoid, that I know; but in life, avoid -- because life is a verb. Life is not a noun, it is really "living"
           not "life." It is not love, it is loving. It is not relationship, it is relating. It is not a song, it is singing. It
           is not a dance, it is dancing.
               See the difference, savor the difference. A dance is something complete; the last touches have
           been made, now there is nothing else to do. Something complete is something dead. Life knows no
           full point; commas are okay, but no full points. Resting places are okay, but no destination.
               Shanta, instead of thinking how to relate, fulfill the first requirement: meditate, be, and then
           relating will arise out of it on its own accord. One who becomes silent, blissful, one who starts
           having overflowing energies, becomes a flower, has to relate. It is not something that he has to learn
           how to do, it starts happening. He relates with people, he relates with animals, he relates with trees,
           he relates even with rocks.
               In fact, twenty-four hours a day he relates. If he is walking on the earth, he is relating with the
           earth... his feet touching the earth, he is relating. If he is swimming in the river he is relating with the
           river, and if he is looking at the stars he is relating with the stars.
               It is not a question of a relationship with somebody in particular. The basic fact is, if you are,
           your whole life becomes a relating. It is a constant song, a constant dance, it is a continuum, a
           riverlike flow.
               Meditate, find out your own center first. Before you can relate with somebody else, relate with
           yourself: that is the basic requirement to be fulfilled. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing
           is impossible.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AS YOU DROVE AWAY TODAY I FELT I AM AFRAID OF FORGETTING.... IS THERE ANYTHING I
              NEED TO REMEMBER?


               Ananda Vandana, yes, there is a great need to remember yourself. Your question is really
           significant. I call a question significant when it is existential, when it is not intellectual, when it is
           not bookish, when it does not come out of your knowledge but comes out of your existential
           experience. It has a totally different quality to it.
               Yes, there is something to be remembered. But that something is not outside you, that's why you
           cannot figure it out. You simply felt a fear, as if you are forgetting something, a very vague kind of
           fear -- something felt, but not yet clearly felt. Something is there, lurking in the unconscious, in the
           darkness of your soul: you felt afraid of forgetting.
               And really then it becomes a great question: What am I afraid of forgetting? Is there anything I
           need to remember?
               A Zen master was dying. At the last moment, when all his disciples had gathered, he opened his
           eyes and said, "What is the answer?"
               The disciples were dumbfounded, they could not figure it out: "What is the answer?"
               So the master started laughing, and he said, "So okay, what is the question?"

                He was posing a very very existential thing: What is the answer? Even before the question is
           asked, he is asking what is the answer. The question is not asked, because it cannot be asked. But the
           question is there, it is there in everybody's soul. One may be alert about it, one may not be alert about
           it, one may be completely oblivious of it; but the question is there in everybody's soul.
                The soul is a question, it is a quest. Hence the master is asking, "What is the answer?"
                The disciples could not figure it out, because this is not the way; people ask first about the
           question, then they ask about the answer.
                And something exactly like that has happened to you, Vandana. Afraid of forgetting -- forgetting
           what, that is not clear. Just a feeling, a cloud passed by... and the feeling must have been intense.
           "Is there anything I need to remember?" you ask.

               It is you yourself. Self-remembering is needed. Buddha used to call it right-mindfulness,
           sammasati; Mahavira used to call it vivek, awareness; George Gurdjieff used to call it
           self-remembering, Kabir used to call it SURATI. But they all mean the same thing.
               You don't know who you are. You are -- that much is certain. In fact only that is certain, and
           nothing else. The existence of others is not certain.

               The English philosopher, Berkeley, had gone for a morning walk with Dr.Johnson. Dr.Johnson
           was very critical of Berkeley's ideas, because Berkeley used to say that the whole world is an idea; it
           is not a reality, but just an idea, an idea in the mind of God. We are ideas in the mind of God -- just
           ideas, pure ideas, not real entities.
               Again and again he was hammering Dr.Johnson's head with the same philosophy -- that morning
           it was too much. He was saying, "All these trees and this sun and this sky, all these are ideas."
           Enough is enough! Dr.Johnson was a realist, a down-to-earth man. He took a rock from the road and
           hit hard on the feet of Berkeley. Berkeley screamed in deep pain, blood started oozing out of his feet,
           and he said, "What are you doing? Have you suddenly gone mad?"
               And Dr.Johnson said, "But it is just an idea, this rock. Why are you screaming? Why do you look
           so angry?"

              It is not reported what Berkeley said, but there is a parallel story in Indian history, which takes a
           beautiful turn.

               A Buddhist came to the court of a king. He was a great mystic, and belonged to a certain school
           of Buddhists who preceded Berkeley by at least two thousand years. His was the same idea: it is
           called vigyanvad -- the whole existence is nothing but ideas.
               The king must have been a man like Dr. Johnson -- very earthbound, very realistic, pragmatic.
           The philosopher was very argumentative; he defeated the king's court, all the learned men that the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           king had gathered around himself. The king was feeling humiliated, so he said, "Now the last
           argument, the real argument."
               They had a mad elephant which was brought into the courtyard of the palace. The poor mystic,
           the philosopher, was left alone in the courtyard, and he was trembling... and then the mad elephant
           was left. The mad elephant rushed towards the philosopher -- and you can imagine, what happened
           to Berkeley was nothing compared to it: he jumped and shouted and cried and begged for his life.
               The king was standing on the balcony with the whole court, and they were laughing. So now it
           was proved that the elephant is not just an idea, it is not just a dream.
               The philosopher was crying with folded hands and asking, "Save me, please!" At the last moment
           he was saved -- just at the last moment. Even after he was saved he was trembling for hours, the
           elephant was so ferocious.
               The king said to him, "So now what do you think? Is the elephant real or not?"
           He said, "No, sir. It is just an idea."
               The king said, "Then why were you screaming and why were you begging for your life?"
               The philosopher said, "That was an idea too. My crying, my effort to be saved, your kindness to
           save me -- all are ideas; they don't really exist, just figments of the mind." This is going to the very
           logical conclusion of it! He said, "Don't be so happy -- because I myself am an idea and nothing
           else."
               The king said, "Then we will put you back, and we will bring the mad elephant!"
               And the philosopher said, "I will beg for my life again! But that doesn't matter; that doesn't
           change my argument and my position. The philosophy remains intact."

                In fact there is no way to prove that others exist, because you have never touched anybody and
           you have never seen anybody. When you see somebody, you don't see him really; all that happens is
           that a picture is seen inside your brain. It may correspond to some reality, it may not correspond.
           There is no way to know, because we cannot know reality directly.
                Always it is through the senses that we know reality. Senses may be deceiving -- and you know
           perfectly well that under the impact of alcohol they deceive, under the impact of psychedelics they
           deceive very much. One can act in a stupid way, in a suicidal way, under the impact of some
           psychedelic.
                One woman in New York took lsd and thought that she could fly. And when you are under the
           impact of lsd you simply believe it, it is so. It is not a question of a dream or a desire or a fantasy; it
           is so real, it is more real than the world outside, than the objective world. She simply flew out of the
           window from the ninth floor, dashed on the ground, died. This type of accident has been happening
           all over the world.
                The existence of others, the existence of the outside world, is not absolutely certain. Berkeley
           still remains unrefuted, there is no way to refute him. The only thing that is absolutely certain is your
           own existence. The dream may be false, but the dreamer cannot be. Even for the false dream to exist
           there is a need of a real dreamer; to be deceived, at least somebody is needed to be deceived.
                The world may be illusion, but who is an illusion? At least some consciousness is needed,
           absolutely needed, categorically needed; without some consciousness the illusion cannot exist. The
           rope may not be the snake, the snake may be the illusion. But the person who has the illusion is not
           an illusion himself.
                This has to be remembered, that "I am real." This has to be remembered, that "I am the only
           certain reality -- everything else may be, or may not be."
                We never look inwards for this absolute reality; and we go on living a life without basing it on
           this rock of certainty. Hence our lives are just castles in the air, or at the most, sandcastles;
           signatures made on water -- you have not even completed it, and the signature is gone. Our lives are
           like that -- one moment we are here, another moment we are gone, and that moment could have been
           used for self-remembering.
                Only people who use their life for self-remembering are using this great opportunity.

              A man runs into an old friend who has become a drunkard. "But why do you drink so much?" he
           asks him.
           "To forget," the drunkard replies.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "To forget what?" asks his friend.
              "Oh," says the drunkard, scratching his head, "I forgot."
              A man goes to the psychoanalyst. "Doctor," he says, "you have to help me. I have a terrible
           problem: I forget everything, absolutely everything."
              "So tell me about this problem," replies the therapist, preparing his notepad.
           "What problem?" asks the man, puzzled.

               We are in this forgetfulness, we are this forgetfulness.
               I loved your question, Vandana. You say: "As you drove away today I felt I am afraid of
           forgetting. Is there anything I need to remember?"
               You need to remember yourself. You need to become a flame of inner awareness -- an awareness
           so deep that even in dreams it will be present; an awareness so crystallized that even in deep sleep,
           dreamless sleep, it will be there burning like a light.
               Even in deep sleep the man of awareness knows that he is fast asleep; that is part of his
           awareness. You don't know, even while you are awake, that you are. The man of awareness knows,
           even while asleep, that he is.
               Buddha's chief disciple, Ananda, asked him once, "Bhante, a few things puzzle me very much,
           and one of the most puzzling things is this, that in the night I have watched you many times -- it is so
           beautiful to watch you while you are asleep -- but you always sleep in the same posture and you
           maintain the same posture from the beginning to the end. When you go to sleep you are in this
           posture; in the night, many times I wake up and look at you, and you are in the same posture: the
           hand is resting in the same place, and the feet and the head. And in the morning also when I see you,
           you are in the same posture. How is this possible?"
               Buddha said, "Because I remain awake. The body sleeps, but my own sleep is gone for ever. The
           body rests, but I am alert."
               This alertness is needed, Vandana. This alertness will make available to you all the mysteries of
           existence. First become acquainted with the mystery that you are, then you have the master key: it
           can open all the locks of existence.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE AND SUFFERED MUCH. AFTER LISTENING TO YOU I FELT
              UNWILLING TO LET GO OF THE DREAM THAT THE DEEP RICH EXPERIENCE MY LOVE AFFAIR
              BRINGS WILL NOT ULTIMATELY LEAD TO SATISFACTION. HOW CAN I GO BEYOND THIS
              ATTACHMENT THAT IS SO RICH, YET SO PAINFUL?


               Donna, love is both. It is rich and it is painful, it is agony and it is ecstasy -- because love is the
           meeting of the earth and the sky, of the known and the unknown, of the visible and the invisible.
               Love is the boundary that divides matter and consciousness, the boundary of the lower and the
           higher. Love has roots in the earth; that is its pain, its agony. And love has its branches in the sky;
           that is its ecstasy.
               Love is not a single phenomenon, it is dual. It is a rope stretched between two polarities. You
           will have to understand these two polarities: one is sex, another is prayer. Love is the rope stretched
           between sex and prayer; part of it is sex, part of it is prayer.
               The sexual part is bound to bring many miseries, the part that belongs to prayer will bring many
           joys. Hence it is difficult to renounce love, because in renouncing one is afraid the joys that come
           will also be renounced. One is not able either to be totally in it, because all those pains again and
           again remind you to renounce it. This is the misery of the lover: the lover lives in a tension, pulled
           apart.
               Donna, I can understand your problem. This is the basic problem of all lovers, because love
           brings both, many thorns and many flowers, and they both come together. Love is a rosebush. One
           does not want those thorns, one would like the rosebush to be all flowers and no thorns; but they
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come together, they are aspects of one energy.
                But I am not saying to you to renounce love, I am not saying to you to become detached. What I
           am saying to you is: make it more and more prayerful. My whole approach is that of transformation,
           not of renunciation. You must have misunderstood me. I am not against sex, but I am all for making
           sex a prayer. The lowest can be possessed by the highest, then the pain of it disappears.
                What pain is there in sexuality? Because it reminds you of your animality -- that is the pain. It
           reminds you of the past, it reminds you of your biological bondage, it reminds you that you are not
           free, you are under the slavery of the instincts given by nature; that you are not independent from
           nature, that your strings are pulled by nature, that you are just a puppet in the hands of unknown
           unconscious forces.
                Sex is felt like a humiliation. In sex you start feeling you are losing your dignity, hence the pain.
           And then the fulfillment is so momentary; sooner or later any intelligent person will become aware
           that the satisfaction is momentary and followed by long nights of pain.
                The ecstasy is just like a breeze, it comes and goes and leaves you in a desertlike state, utterly
           frustrated, disappointed. You had hoped much; many things were promised by the instinctual part of
           you, and nothing has been delivered.
                In fact sex is a strategy of nature to perpetuate itself. It is a mechanism that keeps you
           reproducing, otherwise people will disappear. Just think of a humanity where sex is no longer an
           instinct and you are free, at your own will, to go into sex or not. Then the whole thing will look so
           absurd, the whole thing will look ridiculous. Just think -- if there is no instinctive force pulling you, I
           don't think anybody will be ready to go into sex. Nobody goes by consent; reluctantly, resisting, one
           goes into it.
                If you read about and study the sexual patterns of different species of animals and insects you
           will be very much puzzled: how could this be done if it was left to the species themselves? For
           example, there are spiders which, while the male makes love to her, the female starts eating him. By
           the time the love is finished, the male is finished! Now think of these spiders if they are free to
           choose: the moment they see the female they will escape as far as they can. Why should they commit
           suicide, knowing it perfectly well? They have seen other males disappearing the same way -- every
           day it is happening -- but when the instinct possesses them they are just a slave to it. Trembling,
           afraid, still they make love, knowing perfectly well this is the end. When the male is having the
           orgasm, the female starts eating him.
                The female bedbug has no opening, so it is very difficult to make love to her. The male bug first
           has to make a hole in her. You can easily see whether the female bedbug is a virgin or not, because
           each time love is made, a scar is left -- it is really screwing! -- but willingly she allows it. It is
           painful, and there is danger to her life, because if the male makes the hole in some wrong place she
           will be dead -- and there are stupid males too! But still the risk has to be taken; there is some such
           unconscious force that it has to be accepted.
                If sex were left to your decision I don't think people would go into it. There are reasons why
           people make love hiding from the public, from people -- because it looks so ridiculous. Just making
           love in public, you know that others will see the ridiculousness of it; you yourself know it is
           ridiculous. One feels one is falling below humanity; the great pain is there, that you are dragged
           backwards.
                But it brings a few moments of utter purity and joy and innocence too. It brings a few moments
           of timelessness, when suddenly there is no time left. It brings a few moments of egolessness too,
           when in deep orgasmic spasm the ego is forgotten. It gives you a few glimpses of God, hence it
           cannot be renounced either.
                People have tried to renounce it. Down the ages monks have been renouncing it, for the simple
           reason that it is so humiliating, so against the dignity of human beings. To be under the impact of
           some unconscious instinct is dehumanizing, demoralizing. The monks have renounced it, they have
           left the world, but with it all the joy in their life has also disappeared. They become very serious and
           sad, they turn suicidal. Now they don't see any meaning in life, all life becomes meaningless. Then
           they simply wait for death to come and deliver them.
                It is a delicate problem; how to solve it? Monks have not been able to solve it. On the contrary,
           they created many perversions in the world. All the perversions that are condemned by your
           so-called saints are created by those same people. The first idea of homosexuality arose in the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           monasteries, because men were kept together, away and aloof from women, and women were kept
           together, aloof and away from men.
                There are Catholic monasteries where no woman has entered for one thousand years. Not even a
           small baby of six months old is allowed. Just the very idea seems to be very horrible; these monks
           seem to be really dangerous -- even a six-month-old girl is not allowed in the monastery. What does
           it show? What fear! What paranoia!
                Naturally the monks huddle together, then their instincts start creating new ways, start inventing
           perversions; they turn homosexual. Homosexuality is really very religious, it is a by-product of
           religion. Religion has given many things to the world; homosexuality is one of them.
                All kinds of perversions.... Now you don't hear of any woman making love to the devil; the devil
           seems to have lost all interest in women suddenly! There is no devil. But if you keep women away
           from all possibilities of falling in love, of being in love, then the mind will start creating its own
           projections, and of course those projections will be very, very colorful. And those projections are
           bound to happen, you cannot avoid them.
                So monks and nuns have not been able to solve the problem, they have even messed up the
           whole thing more. And the worldly person, the sensuous, the indulgent person, has not been able to
           solve it either. He suffers miserably; his whole life is a suffering. He goes on hoping, from one hope
           to another hope, and goes on failing in every hope, and slowly slowly a great hopelessness settles in
           his being.
           My approach is neither worldly nor otherworldly.
                My approach is not of rejecting something but using it.
                My understanding is that whatsoever is given to you is precious. You may know its value, you
           may not know its value, but it is precious; if it was not so, existence would not have given it to you.
           So you have to find ways to transform it. You have to make your love more prayerful, you have to
           make your sex more loving. Slowly slowly, sex has to be transformed into a sacred activity, it has to
           be raised. Rather than sex pulling you down into the mire of animality, you can pull sex upwards.
                The same energy that pulls you down can pull you upwards, and the same energy can give you
           wings. It has tremendous power; certainly it is the most powerful thing in the world, because all life
           arises out of it. If it can give birth to a child, to a new life, if it can bring a new life into existence,
           you can imagine its potential: it can bring a new life to you too. Just as it can bring a new child into
           the world, it can give a new birth to you.
                And that's what Jesus means when he says to Nicodemus, "Unless you are born again, you will
           not be able to enter into my kingdom of God" -- unless you are born again, unless you are capable of
           giving birth to yourself -- a new vision, a new quality to your energies, a new tuning to your
           instrument. Your instrument contains great music, but you have to learn how to play on it.
                Sex has to become a great meditative art. That's the contribution of Tantra to the world. Tantra's
           contribution is the greatest, because it give you keys to transform the lowest into the highest. It gives
           you keys to transform mud into lotuses. It is one of the greatest sciences that have happened -- but
           because of the moralists and the puritans and the so-called religious people, Tantra has not been
           allowed to help people. Its scriptures have been burned, thousands of Tantra masters have been
           killed, burned alive. The whole tradition has been almost destroyed, people have been forced to go
           underground.
                Just the other day I received a letter from my sannyasins from America saying that Gurdjieff's
           people are so persecuted by the government that they have decided to go underground. They have
           written, "We are afraid that sooner or later this is going to happen to us. Should we start preparing,
           so that if this happens to us we can also start working in a hidden way?"
                It is possible, because it has been always so. Gurdjieff's work also consists in transforming the
           sexual energy into an inner integration -- the organized church is always against any effort of this
           kind.
                My work is hindered in every way, my people are harassed in every way. Just a few days ago, the
           Indian parliament discussed for one hour what should be done with me -- as if this country has no
           other problem to discuss. So much fear! And I am not doing any harm to anybody; I don't even go
           outside the gate. And at least this much freedom is everybody's birthright -- if someone wants to
           come to me and wants to be transformed, it is nobody's business to interfere. I don't go to anybody. If
           people come to me and they want to be transformed... then what kind of democracy is this?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But the stupid politicians and the priests have always been in a conspiracy. They don't want
           people to be transformed, because transformed people are no longer under their domination.
           Transformed people become independent, free; transformed people become so aware and so
           intelligent that they can see through all the games of the politicians and the priests. Then they are
           nobody's followers; then they start living a totally new kind of life -- not the life of the crowd, but the
           life of the individual. They become lions, they are no more sheep.
                And the politicians and the priests are interested that every human being should remain a sheep.
           Only then can they be the shepherds, leaders, great leaders. Mediocre and stupid people pretending
           to be great leaders -- but that is possible only if the whole humanity remains very low in intelligence,
           is kept repressed.
                Up to now, only two experiments have been done. One was of indulgence, which has failed --
           which is being tried again by the West and is going to fail, utterly fail. And the other was that of
           renunciation -- which has been tried by the East, and also in the West by Christianity. That too has
           failed, utterly failed.
                A new experiment is needed, urgently needed. Man is in a great turmoil, in a great confusion.
           Where to go? What to do with oneself?
                Donna, I am not saying renounce sex, I am saying transform it. It need not remain just biological:
           bring some spirituality to it. While making love, meditate too. While making love, be prayerful.
           Love should not be just a physical act; pour your soul into it.
                Then slowly slowly the pain starts disappearing and the energy contained in the pain is released
           and becomes more and more a benediction. Then agony is transformed into ecstasy.
           You say, "I have fallen in love and suffered much."
                You are blessed. The really poor people are those who have never fallen in love and never
           suffered. They have not lived at all. To fall in love and to suffer in love is good. It is passing through
           fire; it purifies, it gives you insight, it makes you more alert. This is the challenge to be accepted.
           Those who don't accept this challenge remain spineless.
                You say, "I have fallen in love and suffered much. After listening to you I felt unwilling to let go
           of the dream that the deep rich experience my love affair brings will not ultimately lead to
           satisfaction."
                I am not telling you to drop your love, I am simply telling you a fact -- that it will not bring you
           to ultimate contentment. It is not in my hands to change the nature of things. I am simply stating a
           fact. If it was in my hands I would have liked you to have ultimate contentment in love. But it
           doesn't happen. What can we do? Two plus two are four.
                It is a fundamental law of life that love brings you to deeper and deeper dissatisfactions.
           Ultimately love brings you to such a discontent that you start longing for the ultimate beloved, God,
           you start searching for the ultimate love affair.
                Sannyas is an ultimate love affair: the search for God, the search for truth. It is possible only
           when you have failed many times, loved and suffered, and each suffering has brought you more and
           more consciousness, more and more understanding. One day the recognition arrives that love can
           give you a few glimpses -- and those glimpses are good, and those glimpses are glimpses of God --
           but it can only give you glimpses; more than that is not possible. But that too is too much; but
           without those glimpses you will never seek and search God.
                Those who have not loved and suffered never become seekers of God -- they cannot; they have
           not earned that worth, they have not become worthy. It is the sole right of the lover one day to start
           searching for the ultimate beloved.
                Love, and love more deeply. Suffer, and suffer more deeply. Love totally and suffer totally,
           because this is how the impure gold passes through fire and becomes pure gold.
                I am not saying to you, escape from your love affairs: go deeper into them. I help my sannyasins
           to go into love, because I know love ultimately fails. And unless they know by their own experience
           that love ultimately fails, their search for God will remain phony.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHAT IS JEALOUSY AND WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH?


               Prem Garbha, jealousy is comparison. And we have been taught to compare, we have been
           conditioned to compare, always compare. Somebody else has a better house, somebody else has a
           more beautiful body, somebody else has more money, somebody else has a more charismatic
           personality. Compare, go on comparing yourself with everybody else you pass by, and great jealousy
           will be the outcome; it is the by-product of the conditioning for comparison.
               Otherwise, if you drop comparing, jealousy disappears. Then you simply know you are you, and
           you are nobody else, and there is no need. It is good that you don't compare yourself with trees,
           otherwise you will start feeling very jealous: why are you not green? And why has God been so hard
           on you -- and no flowers? It is better that you don't compare with birds, with rivers, with mountains;
           otherwise you will suffer. You only compare with human beings, because you have been conditioned
           to compare only with human beings; you don't compare with peacocks and with parrots. Otherwise,
           your jealousy would be more and more: you would be so burdened by jealousy that you would not be
           able to live at all.
               Comparison is a very foolish attitude, because each person is unique and incomparable. Once
           this understanding settles in you, jealousy disappears. Each is unique and incomparable. You are just
           yourself: nobody has ever been like you, and nobody will ever be like you. And you need not be like
           anybody else, either.
               God creates only originals; he does not believe in carbon copies.

               A bunch of chickens were in the yard when a football flew over the fence and landed in their
           midst. A rooster waddled over, studied it, then said, "I'm not complaining, girls, but look at the work
           they are turning out next door."

               Next door great things are happening: the grass is greener, the roses are rosier. Everybody seems
           to be so happy -- except yourself. You are continuously comparing. And the same is the case with
           the others, they are comparing too. Maybe they think the grass in your lawn is greener -- it always
           looks greener from the distance -- that you have a more beautiful wife.... You are tired, you cannot
           believe why you allowed yourself to be trapped by this woman, you don't know how to get rid of her
           -- and the neighbor may be jealous of you, that you have such a beautiful wife! And you may be
           jealous of him....
               Everybody is jealous of everybody else. And out of jealousy we create such hell, and out of
           jealousy we become very mean.

              An elderly farmer was moodily regarding the ravages of the flood. "Hiram!" yelled a neighbor,
           "your pigs were all washed down the creek."
           "How about Thompson's pigs?" asked the farmer.
           "They're gone too."
           "And Larsen's?"
           "Yes."
           "Humphf!" ejaculated the farmer, cheering up. "It ain't as bad as I thought."

               If everybody is in misery, it feels good; if everybody is losing, it feels good. If everybody is
           happy and succeeding, it tastes very bitter.
               But why does the idea of the other enter in your head in the first place? Again let me remind you:
           because you have not allowed your own juices to flow; you have not allowed your own blissfulness
           to grow, you have not allowed your own being to bloom. Hence you feel empty inside, and you look
           at each and everybody's outside because only the outside can be seen.
               You know your inside, and you know the others' outside: that creates jealousy. They know your
           outside, and they know their inside: that creates jealousy. Nobody else knows your inside. There you
           know you are nothing, worthless. And the others on the outside look so smiling. Their smiles may be
           phony, but how can you know that they are phony? Maybe their hearts are also smiling. You know
           your smile is phony, because your heart is not smiling at all, it may be crying and weeping.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You know your interiority, and only you know it, nobody else. And you know everybody's
           exterior, and their exterior people have made beautiful. Exteriors are showpieces and they are very
           deceptive.
           There is an ancient Sufi story:

                A man was very much burdened by his suffering. He used to pray every day to God, "Why me?
           Everybody seems to be so happy, why am only I in such suffering?" One day, out of great
           desperation, he prayed to God, "You can give me anybody else's suffering and I am ready to accept
           it. But take mine, I cannot bear it any more."
                That night he had a beautiful dream -- beautiful and very revealing. He had a dream that night
           that God appeared in the sky and he said to everybody, "Bring all your sufferings into the temple."
           Everybody was tired of his suffering -- in fact everybody has prayed some time or other, "I am ready
           to accept anybody else's suffering, but take mine away; this is too much, it is unbearable."
                So everybody gathered his own sufferings into bags, and they reached the temple, and they were
           looking very happy; the day has come, their prayer has been heard. And this man also rushed to the
           temple.
                And then God said, "Put your bags by the walls." All the bags were put by the walls, and then
           God declared: "Now you can choose. Anybody can take any bag."
                And the most surprising thing was this: that this man who had been praying always, rushed
           towards his bag before anybody else could choose it! But he was in for a surprise, because
           everybody rushed to his own bag, and everybody was happy to choose it again. What was the
           matter? For the first time, everybody had seen others' miseries, others' sufferings -- their bags were
           as big, or even bigger!
                And the second problem was, one had become accustomed to one's own sufferings. Now to
           choose somebody else's -- who knows what kind of sufferings will be inside the bag? Why bother?
           At least you are familiar with your own sufferings, and you have become accustomed to them, and
           they are tolerable. For so many years you have tolerated them -- why choose the unknown?
                And everybody went home happy. Nothing had changed, they were bringing the same suffering
           back, but everybody was happy and smiling and joyous that he could get his own bag back.
                In the morning he prayed to God and he said, "Thank you for the dream; I will never ask again.
           Whatsoever you have given me is good for me, must be good for me; that's why you have given it to
           me."

               Because of jealousy you are in constant suffering; you become mean to others. And because of
           jealousy you start becoming phony, because you start pretending. You start pretending things that
           you don't have, you start pretending things which you CAN'T have, which are not natural to you.
           You become more and more artificial. Imitating others, competing with others, what else can you
           do? If somebody has something and you don't have it, and you don't have a natural possibility of
           having it, the only way is to have some cheap substitute for it.

               I hear that Jim and Nancy Smith had a great time in Europe this summer. It's so great when a
           couple finally gets a chance to really live it up. They went everywhere and did everything. Paris,
           Rome... you name it, they saw it and they did it.
               But it was so embarrassing coming back home and going through customs. You know how
           custom officers pry into all your personal belongings. They opened up a bag and took out three wigs,
           silk underwear, perfume, hair coloring... really embarrassing. And that was just Jim's bag!

              Just look inside your bag and you will find so many artificial, phony, pseudo things -- for what?
           Why can't you be natural and spontaneous? -- because of jealousy.
              The jealous man lives in hell. Drop comparing and jealousy disappears, meanness disappears,
           phoniness disappears. But you can drop it only if you start growing your inner treasures; there is no
           other way.
              Grow up, become a more and more authentic individual. Love yourself and respect yourself the
           way God has made you, and then immediately the doors of heaven open for you. They were always
           open, you had simply not looked at them.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO COUNT? ONE DAY AFTER THE FOURTH QUESTION YOU SAID,
              "NOW THE SEVENTH QUESTION."


              It is really difficult for me. You should be happy that I don't say after the seventh, "The first
           question."

               Little Johnny is in the classroom, learning how to add. "How much is two plus two, Johnny?"
           asks the teacher.
               Johnny hesitates, looks at his hand, and starts counting with his fingers: "One, two, three, four!"
           he exclaims.
               "No, no. Johnny," says the teacher. "You can't use your hands. You have to count in your head.
           So, how much is four plus four, Johnny?" she asks again.
               Johnny hides his hands behind his back and whispering to himself, counts, "One, two, three,
           four... eight!" he shouts triumphantly.
               "No, no, no, Johnny!" replies the teacher angrily. "Now put your hands in your pockets and tell
           me how much is five plus five?"
               Johnny puts his hands in his pockets, concentrates, takes a few minutes and then cries out,
           "Eleven, ma'am!"

               It is really difficult for me to count. I cannot count on my fingers. To keep my fingers at the back
           will be very difficult, and I don't have pockets!
           Enough for today.




                                              The Book of Wisdom
                                                   Chapter #28
                                      Chapter title: Be a Joke unto Yourself
           10 March 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7903100
              ShortTitle: WISDOM28
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins



              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              PLEASE EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SANNYASIN AND ONE WHO IS NOT, YET
              LIVES WITH A DEEP COMMITMENT TO TRUTH.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Lynne Stevens, do you know what truth is? Otherwise, how can there be a commitment?
           Commitment is possible only if you know. The sannyasin is one who knows that he knows not, the
           sannyasin is one whose commitment is not to truth but to the inquiry into truth. And the inquiry is
           possible only with someone who knows, who has arrived. The sannyasin is one who is committed to
           the person, or to the no-person, around whom he feels the vibe of truth, the vibe of authenticity.
                Lynne Stevens, your commitment to truth is just an idea. Your truth is just a word, a mind trip. If
           you want to make it a real pilgrimage you will have to be a disciple -- and to be a disciple is to be a
           sannyasin.
                To be a disciple means to be ready to learn, ready to go into the unknown with someone who has
           been in it. Alone, very rarely one has attained to truth. Not that it has not happened -- alone, also, it
           has happened, but very rarely, just an exception; otherwise one has to learn in communion with a
           master.
                Then too, it does not happen easily. It is an arduous journey. Dropping the clinging to the known
           is not easy. That is our whole investment, that is our whole identity. Dropping the clinging to the
           known is dropping the ego, is committing a kind of spiritual suicide; alone, you will not be able to do
           it. Unless you see somebody who has committed that suicide and still is -- in fact for the first time
           is.... You will have to look into those eyes which have seen truth, and a glimpse of the truth will be
           caught through those eyes. You will have to hold hands with someone who has known, receive the
           warmth and the love... and the unknown will start flowing into you.
                That's what it means to be with a master, to be a disciple. If you are really committed to truth you
           are bound to become a sannyasin. If your commitment to truth is an inquiry then you will have to
           learn the ways of learning. And the first thing to learn is to surrender, to trust, to love.
                The sannyasin is one who has fallen in love with a person, or a no-person, where he feels a gut
           feeling: "Yes, it has happened here." To be with someone who has known is contagious -- and truth
           is not taught, it is caught.
                Your truth is nothing but an idea in your mind -- maybe a philosophical inquiry, but a
           philosophical inquiry is not going to help. It has to become existential, you have to give proofs in
           your life that you are really committed. Otherwise you can go on playing the game of words,
           beautiful games of theories, systems of thought -- and there are thousands. You can also make a
           private system of thought of your own, and you will think this is truth.
                Truth is not of your making, truth has nothing to do with your mind. Truth happens, and it
           happens only when you have become a no-mind. But how are you going to become a no-mind? On
           your own you will remain the mind. You may think about the no-mind, you may philosophize about
           the no-mind, you may read the scriptures about no-mind, but you will remain a mind. On your own,
           seeking and searching, your ego will feel very good -- but that is the barrier. It is like pulling
           yourself up by your own bootstraps.
                If somewhere you find help is available, don't miss it -- because the opportunity is rare, the
           buddhafield is rare. Only once in a while, somewhere, a buddha arises, a bodhichitta happens. Then
           don't miss the opportunity. If your commitment is really towards truth, you cannot avoid becoming a
           sannyasin. It is inevitable, because no-mind is learned only by sitting by the side of a no-mind.
                If you sit by my side, slowly slowly your mind will start dispersing like the morning mist. Slowly
           slowly a silence will start penetrating you -- not of your doing, but coming on its own. A stillness
           will pervade you.
                And the moment you are utterly still, not even a thought moving inside you, that is the moment
           of illumination. For the first time you have a glimpse of truth -- not the idea of truth, but truth itself.
           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              MY FEELINGS TELL ME THAT UNTIL I KNOW YOU, I CAN'T TRUST. AND YET YOU SAY UNTIL I
              TRUST YOU, I CANNOT KNOW YOU. WHAT TO DO?


              William, there are two kinds of knowing. One is from a distance: you remain aloof, you remain
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           an observer, a spectator. That's what scientific knowing is; you need not get involved in it, in fact
           you should not get involved. You should be very objective, you should not allow your subjectivity to
           interfere with your observation. You should simply be there like a mechanical watcher. You should
           not be a human being, you should be just a computer.
               And this is certain, that sooner or later science is going to be taken over by computers, robots,
           because they will be more scientific. There will be no subjectivity in them, they will simply see the
           fact. The fact will not be interfered with in any way, it will remain utterly objective.
               That is the way of science -- knowing from a distance, keeping aloof, detached. That's how the
           scientist will know a rose flower, that's how the scientist will know the sunset, that's how the
           scientist will know the beauty of a woman or a man.
               But the problem is, something essential is bound to be missed, something very fundamental,
           something which is the core of the whole thing. The scientist can know the roseflower -- he can
           know of what it is constituted, he can know all the chemicals, etcetera, but he will never know the
           beauty of it. He will remain blind to the beauty; his very approach, his methodology, prohibits him.
               If you are detached you cannot know beauty. Beauty is known only when you fall en rapport,
           when the observer becomes the observed, when there is no wall between, when every wall has been
           transformed into a bridge. When there is a kind of melting, when you become the flower and the
           flower becomes you, then there is a totally different kind of knowing -- the way a poet knows. He
           will know beauty, he will not know the chemicals. He will not know the objective flower, he will
           know something far deeper. He will know the spirituality of the flower, the spirit of the flower.
               And the mystic, his knowing is the highest form of poetic knowing, the ultimate form of poetic
           knowing. The poet is there only for moments. Sometimes he is a poet, he meets, he mingles, merges
           into the flower; sometimes he becomes a detached observer. Hence poetry is a kind of mixture of
           both the knowledges.
               Scientific knowledge is purely objective, mystic knowing is purely subjective, poetic knowing is
           between the two, a mixture of both -- a little bit of science, a little bit of religion. But basic knowing
           can be divided in two, the scientific and the mystic.
               Now it depends on you, in what way you want to know me.
               You say: "My feelings tell me that until I know you I can't trust you."
               These are not feelings -- there you are misunderstanding yourself. These are thoughts, these
           cannot be feelings; that's a sheer misunderstanding. This is the way thoughts speak. Thoughts always
           say, "Be careful, cautious, move logically" -- and of course this is very logical: how can you trust me
           if you don't know me? It is a logical statement. It is not a statement from your gut level; it cannot be,
           because gut feelings are very illogical. Gut feelings will say to you the same as I am saying: trust and
           you will know.
               So the first thing to be said is: these are not your feelings, these are your thoughts. You watch
           again, you go into these so-called feelings again, and you will find they are not coming from the
           heart, they are coming from the head. The head says, "First know, then trust."
               And this is a great strategy, if you believe in the head and its dictation -- "First know, then you
           can trust." Then you will never trust, because knowing cannot happen without trust, mystic knowing
           cannot happen without trust. Scientific knowing is possible, but scientific knowing is not applicable
           here.
               You can know me scientifically. My doctor comes to examine my body; he knows me in a way.
           You don't know me in that way, you know me in a totally different way. My doctor is afraid to come
           to listen to me, because he does not want to lose a patient. If he listens to me, then I will be the
           doctor and he will be the patient! He comes and he is in a hurry to escape.
               Once it happened that he was holding my hand -- I had some trouble with my thumb -- and
           something happened to him which was not scientific. Outside the room, he told Vivek, "He is God,
           he IS God!" -- but since then I have not seen him, he has simply disappeared. Something
           nonscientific, something which was not of the head.... He felt me for a moment but became
           frightened.
               Watch. If your head is saying these things, these are not feelings. Feelings cannot say these
           things, because this is not the language of feelings. Feelings say: "Fall in love, and then you will
           know." Thoughts say: "Doubt, inquire, make certain. When everything is absolutely proved and you
           are convinced, rationally convinced, then you can trust." And the logic appears very, very clean,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there seems to be no trick in it. There is! The trick is that through scientific knowing you cannot
           know the mystery that is confronting you, you cannot know the poetry that is showering on you, you
           cannot see the beauty and the grace that is available to you.
               You will see my body, you will listen to my words, but you will miss my silences. And they are
           my real messages. You will be able to see me as I appear on the surface, but you will not be able to
           penetrate into me as I am at the center.
               Knowing the circumference is possible scientifically, but by knowing the circumference of a
           person love does not arise. And the relationship between the disciple and the master is the crescendo
           of love, the highest peak of love. Love cannot go higher than that; that is the ultimate in love.
               These are your thoughts, not feelings. And if you listen to thoughts you cannot have any
           communion with me. You will listen to my words, you will listen to my arguments, you will become
           more knowledgeable, you will go perfectly satisfied that you have something with you. And all that
           is nonsense. Those words that you have accumulated, the knowledge that you have gathered, are of
           no use at all.
               It is not a question of gathering information here, it is a question of imbibing the spirit; the only
           way is to trust. It is only through trust that knowing happens.
               Science uses doubt as its method, religion uses trust as its method. That is their fundamental
           difference. Doubt is irrelevant in the world of love, just as trust is irrelevant in the world of things. In
           the world of I-it, only doubt is significant: you cannot trust things, the scientist cannot just sit there
           in trust waiting for something to happen. Nothing will happen. He has to doubt, inquire, investigate,
           dissect. He has to use his mind, his logic, then only some conclusions can be arrived at.
               And those conclusions will always remain approximate, they will always remain conditional,
           because in the future more facts may be known and the whole thing would have to be changed again.
           They cannot be categorical.
               So trust is not the point, it never arises in the world of science; doubt remains the base. If
           sometimes you come to a conclusion, the conclusion does not become your trust, does not become
           your faith. It remains an hypothesis.
               An hypothesis means that up to now whatsoever has been known supports this theory. It is only
           up to now; we can't say anything about tomorrow. Tomorrow more facts may be known, and
           certainly when more facts will be known the hypothesis will have to be adjusted, and the theory
           would have to be changed.
               Science goes on changing every day; it is temporal, it lives in the world of time, because mind is
           time. Mind cannot live without time; mind is momentary, temporal.
               The world of religion functions in a totally different dimension, on a different level. It begins in
           trust, in love, then a totally different kind of knowing happens.
               When you love a woman, you know her. You know her not as the gynecologist knows her, you
           know her in a totally different way. You don't know her physiology, you don't know her material
           existence, but you know her spiritual presence. Love, only love, is capable of knowing the spiritual
           presence. You fall in love not with the physical body, you fall in love with the spiritual presence of a
           person. But that is available only in trust.
               In science, trust is utterly useless. In religion, doubt is utterly useless.
               So, William, it is up to you. If you have come here to study what is happening here scientifically,
           then you are welcome. You can go according to your own thoughts -- don't call them feelings,
           please. You can go on according to your head -- don't call it your heart, it is not. You are welcome:
           be here, study, observe, come to certain conclusions -- but they will remain hypotheses.
               But if you have come to be transformed, not to be informed only, then you will have to
           understand that there is a different door. And that door is trust. Trust is an absurd phenomenon,
           logically absurd. That's why logic always says love is blind, although love has its own eyes, far more
           deep-going... still, to logic it is blind.
               Logic ridicules love, and love smiles knowingly at the whole foolishness of logic.
               If you have come here with a logical approach... study, observe, come to some conclusions, but
           they are not going to transform you; that much you must be aware of. If you have come to be
           transformed, then fall in love. Then forget the head, then let there be a contact heart-to-heart,
           spirit-to-spirit. Then there is no need to be too much concerned with what you see, your whole
           concern should be with what you feel. Then you should not be too much concerned in collecting
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           information, but being in celebration with me.
               Then don't take much note of what I say, take note of what I am. Listen to my silences, the
           pauses, the gaps, the intervals -- I am more there. Then you will become aware of a totally different
           world existing here, the buddhafield. It is an energy field; you have to be open and vulnerable to it,
           only then it can permeate you, pervade you, overwhelm you.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY THAT NO ONE IS INTERESTED ANY MORE IN QUESTIONS LIKE
              "WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE?" BUT A RECENT EDITION OF TIME MAGAZINE DEVOTED
              CONSIDERABLE SPACE TO AN ARTICLE ENTITLED "IN THE BEGINNING: GOD AND SCIENCE."
              THE BASIC THEME OF THE ARTICLE WAS THAT SCIENCE AND RELIGION HAVE BEEN
              BROUGHT CLOSE TOGETHER BY THE "BIG BANG" THEORY OF CREATION IN WHICH THE
              UNIVERSE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE COME INTO BEING THROUGH A VAST FIREBALL
              EXPLOSION, FIFTEEN OR TWENTY MILLION YEARS AGO.
              TIME SAYS THAT THIS SOUNDS VERY MUCH LIKE THE STORY WHICH THE OLD TESTAMENT
              HAS BEEN TELLING ALL ALONG, NAMELY THAT THE UNIVERSE BEGAN IN A SINGLE
              FLASHING ACT OF CREATION.
              WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED, THAT IT HAD
              A BEGINNING? AND WHY DO YOU ASSERT THAT IT DID NOT? IS IT NOT A STEP IN THE RIGHT
              DIRECTION WHEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION AGREE?


               Subhuti, the first thing to remember is, for three hundred years religion has been losing its
           territory continuously. First, religion tried to destroy science. It was unable to do it -- because you
           cannot destroy truth, and science was truer, as far as the objective world is concerned, than religion.
           In fact religion has no authority to say anything about the objective world.
               When you are ill you go to the physician, you don't go to the poet. The poet has no authority; he
           may be a great poet but that is irrelevant when you are ill. He may be a great poet, but when
           something goes wrong in your bathroom you don't call him, you call a plumber. The plumber may
           not be a poet at all, but the plumber is relevant there. You don't call Albert Einstein -- he may be a
           great physicist, but what does he know about plumbing?
               Religion was proving to be utterly wrong. It was wrong about the objective world. Once science
           started investigating the objective, organized religion was very much afraid. If there had been a Jesus
           he would not have been afraid, he would simply have said, "About the objective, listen to science." If
           a Buddha was there he would have said, "Listen to science."
               But there was no buddha in the West where science was growing. And people like Galileo and
           Copernicus and Kepler were tortured in every possible way because organized religion, the church,
           became very much afraid: what they were saying was going against their scriptures.
               The scientists were saying that the sun does not go around the earth -- and The Bible says it does.
           The scientists were saying the earth goes around the sun... now, if The Bible can be wrong in one
           thing, then why not in others? That was the problem, that was the fear.
               The person who said that the earth goes around the sun was called to the court by the Vatican.
           Galileo had to appear, in his old age -- he was more than seventy, ill, on his deathbed, but he was
           forced to come to the court to declare there that whatsoever he had said is wrong.
               He must have been a man of great humor. He said, "Yes, if it offends you, I declare that
           whatsoever I have said is wrong -- that the earth does not go around the sun, but the sun goes around
           the earth."
               Everybody looked happy, and then Galileo said, "But sir, nothing will change by my statement.
           The earth will still go round and round the sun -- my statement makes no difference! If you are
           offended by my statement I can take it back, I can refute it. If you want me to write another treatise, I
           can write that too. But nothing will change by that. Who cares about my statement? Neither the sun
           nor the earth."

              Organized religion tried to kill science -- they could not, because truth cannot be killed. Slowly
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           slowly science has possessed the whole territory of the objective world. Then the natural tendency of
           mind... science started claiming that which could not be claimed by it. Science created the same
           fallacy as organized religion, which was saying, "About the objective world also, we are right." They
           were not. They are right about the subjective world; about the interiormost being of existence they
           are right. But they are not right about the circumference of it, that is not their dimension. But they
           were claiming that they are right about both.
                The same started happening with physicists, chemists and other scientists. In the beginning of
           this century, science became very arrogant -- the same type of arrogance, just the authority shifted
           from the priests to the scientists. The scientists started saying, "There is no God and there is no soul
           and there is no consciousness, and all that is rubbish."
                This type of arrogance has always remained with man. We have not yet learned anything. This is
           again the same game being played. When science became very arrogant, naturally religion became
           defensive. It was losing, it became defensive. So anything that is discovered by science religion tries
           to appropriate. It tries somehow to make it fit with itself, because the only possibility for it to survive
           now is if it proves itself to be scientific.
                In the beginning it was just the opposite. If a scientist was to survive, the only way was to prove
           that whatsoever he has found is according to the scriptures, that it proves the scriptures, that it is not
           against.
                Now the whole thing is just vice versa. Now if religion wants to exist in the world, it has
           continuously to look up to science. Whatsoever science discovers, religion immediately jumps upon
           and tries to prove, "This is what we have been saying all along."
                This "Big Bang" theory has nothing to do with the religious attitude and the religious theory of
           creation. In the big bang theory there is no God, it is all an accident; it is not creation, remember,
           because there is no creator in it.
                But religion is very defensive, continuously searching for anything to cling to. The big bang
           theory says that in a sudden explosion, in a great flash of light, the world was created. Jump on it;
           you can always find some way, some logical way. You can say, "Yes, this is right, this is what we
           have been saying all along. God in the beginning said, 'Let there be light' -- and now the theory says
           there was a great explosion, the world was suddenly created."
                But the basic thing is missing -- don't be deceived. Religion has been saying that God said, "Let
           there be light." The base is not the light, the base is God saying, "Let there be light." That God is
           missing in the big bang theory: there is no God, it was a sudden accident, not creation.
                And one more thing: this big bang theory is not totally accepted, there are many other theories.
           These are all guesses; they are not proved yet, nothing is proved. In fact I don't think that it can ever
           be proved how the world came into existence. It is impossible, because nobody was there to witness
           it, you cannot find an eyewitness, so all that they can do will be just guesswork.
                And it happened fifteen or twenty billion years ago. You cannot even be certain whether Krishna
           ever existed or not, just five thousand years ago. You cannot be certain even about Jesus, whether he
           was really an historical person or is just a myth -- and he was only two thousand years ago. Do you
           think you can be certain about something that happened twenty billion years ago? All guesses.
                And still I say the world was never created, there was no beginning.
                Why do I say that there was no beginning? Subhuti, it is so simple. Even if you believe in the big
           bang theory, there must have been something that exploded. Do you think nothing exploded? If there
           was something, x, y, z, -- any name, I am not much interested in such nonsense things, x, y, z,
           whatsoever it was that exploded -- if something was there before the explosion then the explosion is
           not the beginning. It may be A beginning but it is not the beginning.
                And when I say there has never been any beginning, I mean the beginning. Something was
           always there -- whether it exploded or whether it grew slowly, in one day or in six days or in one
           single moment, doesn't matter. There must have been something before it, because only something
           can come out of something. Even if you say there was nothing, and it came out of nothing, then your
           nothing is full of something, it is not really nothing.
                Hence I say there has never been any beginning and there will never be any end. Maybe a
           beginning, maybe many beginnings and maybe many ends, but never the first and never the last. We
           are always in the middle. Existence is not a creation but a creativity. It is not that it begins one day
           and ends one day. It goes on and on; it is an ongoing process.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's why, Subhuti, I say that all these guesses are useless and there is no need for them and
           they serve no purpose. This was Buddha's approach too. Whenever somebody would ask a question
           like, "Who created the world?" -- whether the world was ever created or is uncreated -- Buddha
           would answer by other questions. He would ask, "If who created the world is decided, is it going to
           help your enlightenment? Is it going to help you become more silent, more meditative, more aware?"
               Certainly the person would answer, "It is not going to help. Who created the world doesn't
           matter. It will not help my enlightenment and it will not make me more meditative."
               Then Buddha said, "Then why bother about all this? Think of things which can help you to
           become more meditative, think of things which can help you become free of all the ego-clinging,
           think of things which can ultimately lead you into the state of samadhi."
               My approach is also the same: these are all irrelevant questions. And because of these irrelevant
           questions there has been so much controversy down the ages and thousands of people have wasted
           their lives discussing who created the world, when exactly, what was the date -- and so on, and so
           forth.
               I think these people were neurotics. I don't think them healthy, normal, sane people. Who cares?
           For what? It does not matter at all, it is immaterial.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS THE SECRET OF A JOKE?


               The sudden unexpected turn, that is the secret of a joke -- the revelation. You are expecting
           something and it doesn't happen; what happens is so totally absurd and yet has a logic of its own... it
           is ridiculous and yet not illogical. That's what suddenly becomes a laughter in you. You see the
           ridiculousness of it, and also the logic of it. It is unexpected -- if it is expected, then it doesn't bring
           laughter to you. If you know the joke then it doesn't bring laughter to you, because now you know,
           everything is expected.

               Two insects were living in a cemetery. One said to the other: "Want to make love in dead Ernest
           tonight?"

           Now, poor dead Ernest...!

               An Englishman on his first trip to America went to one of those stand-up comic nightclubs for
           the first time. After he had had a couple of drinks, the lights dimmed and Henny Youngman stepped
           into the spotlight and greeted the crowd with his famous trademark gag: "Take my wife... please."
               The crowd belly-laughed. The Englishman was impressed. "By Jove," he said to himself, "I must
           remember that and try it on the chaps back home."
               Now, when somebody says, "Take my wife," you are expecting he will say, "for example." "Take
           my wife, for example." But he is saying "Take my wife," and then the silence, the little
           pause..."please." That is unexpected.
               Some weeks later, back in London, he stepped to the microphone at a meeting of his club and,
           with great confidence, snapped out: "Consider my wife. Please."

               Now the whole thing is lost. Just a single word makes it a beauty.
               The secret of the joke is that it brings you to a point where you are expecting, expecting,
           expecting that this is going to happen; then it never happens. And what happens is so sudden... and
           because you were expecting something you were coming to a tension, and then suddenly something
           else happens, and the tension has come to such a climax that it explodes. You are all laughter. It is a
           tremendous release, it is great meditation. If you can laugh totally, it will give you a moment of
           no-time, no-mind. Mind lives logically with expectations, laughter is something that comes from the
           beyond. Mind is always guessing what is going to happen, groping. And something happens which is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely contrary to its expectations: it simply stops for a moment.
               And that is the moment when the mind stops, when laughter comes from your belly, a belly
           laugh. Your whole body goes into a spasm, it is orgasmic.
           A good laugh is tremendously meditative.

               An English gentleman went to his surgeon saying, "Old chap, I have this damned desire to be an
           Irishman. Can you perform some operation to make me one?"
               "Well," replied the surgeon, "it is a fairly risky business, you know. We have to remove ninety
           percent of your brain."
           "Do it," replied the Englishman.
               When he awoke from the operation he found his bed surrounded by long-faced doctors. His
           surgeon stepped forward, saying, "Terribly sorry, old chap, but during the operation the old scalpel
           slipped and we accidentally removed one hundred percent of your brain!"
           "Ah, na fuckin' worries mate!"

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE IN SHORT?


               Parinirvana -- better known in the commune as Paribanana -- Buddha's message in short is: Be a
           light unto yourself. And mine? Be a joke unto yourself!

           The sixth question:

           OSHO,

              WHY AM I ALWAYS THINKING OF MONEY?


               What else is there to think about? Money is power. Everybody else is thinking of money, don't be
           worried. Even those who are thinking of the other world... they have different coins but they are also
           thinking of money. Money represents power, with money you can purchase power.
               Your saints are also thinking of money -- they call it virtue. By virtue you can purchase a better
           house in heaven, a better car, a better woman. A few people are not that greedy, they are thinking
           only of the money that is current in this world. A few people are more greedy, they think of the other
           world. And if you are thinking of virtue to attain to paradise, what is it except money?
               A man stops thinking about money only when he starts living in the present. Money is the future;
           money is security for the future, a guarantee for the future. If you have a good bank balance your
           future is safe. If you have a good character, even life after death is safe.
               The whole world is thinking in terms of money. Those who think in terms of power politics are
           thinking in terms of money, because money is nothing but a symbol for power. That's why you can
           go on accumulating more and more money, but the desire never leaves you to have still more --
           because the thirst for power is unlimited, it knows no end.
               And people are thirsty for power because deep down they are empty. Somehow they want to
           stuff that emptiness with something -- it may be money, power, prestige, respectability, character,
           virtue. Anything will do; they want to stuff their inner emptiness.
               There are only two types of people in the world: those who try to stuff their inner emptiness, and
           those very rare precious beings who try to see the inner emptiness. Those who try to stuff it remain
           empty, frustrated. They go on collecting garbage, their whole life is futile and fruitless. Only the
           other kind, the very precious people who try to look into their inner emptiness without any desire to
           stuff it, become meditators.
               Meditation is looking into your emptiness, welcoming it, enjoying it, being one with it, with no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           desire to fill it -- there is no need, because it is already full. It looks empty because you don't have
           the right way of seeing it. You see it through the mind; that is the wrong way. If you put the mind
           aside and look into your emptiness, it has tremendous beauty, it is divine, it is overflowing with joy.
           Nothing else is needed.
               Only then a person stops thinking about money, stops thinking about power, stops thinking about
           paradise -- because he is already in paradise, because he is already rich, because he is already
           powerful.
               But ordinarily, Ramdas, it is not just to do with you; everybody thinks in some way or other
           about money.

               Two mothers were talking. One said to the other, "I haven't seen you in a long time. How is your
           son and what is he doing?"
               She replied, "My son is a famous actor in Hollywood and he's making a fortune. He just built a
           new home that cost three hundred thousand dollars. What is your son doing?"
               Said the other mother, "My son is doing even better. He is gay and lives in Hollywood; he just
           moved in with an actor who has a three-hundred-thousand-dollar home."
               A young woman has decided to put aside some money for a rainy day and informs her husband
           that each time they make love she will expect him to put five dollars in the piggy bank.
               That night, as he begins to make advances, she reminds him of her requirement. He finds that he
           has only four dollars in his wallet and so the wife agrees to only four-fifths of a love affair. However,
           as her passion mounts, she offers to lend him a dollar until the next day.

               Rachel is pregnant and Sammy, her husband, a very temperamental man, suffers from the pains
           of celibacy.
               Rachel, who manages the household, takes pity on him and gives him a hundred liras to visit the
           red-light district.
               When Sarah, the neighbor, sees Sammy running out of the house, she calls him, "Where are you
           running to like that? You look so very happy!"
               Sammy shows her the money and tells her that he is going to spend it on a beautiful young girl.
               "Give me the money!" proposes pretty Sarah. "You won't regret it, you will see!"
               Rachel soon comes to know about it. Very indignant, she explodes, "The bitch! When she was
           pregnant last year, I did the same for Isaac, her husband, for nothing!"

               People are continuously thinking of money and money and money. It is nothing special to you,
           Ramdas, you are a normally abnormal person, as neurotic as everybody else.
               But please come out of this neurosis. Live the moment, drop the future, and money loses its
           glamor. Live the moment with such totality and abandon, as if there is no other moment to come to
           you again, as if this is the last moment. Then all desire for money and power simply leaves you.
               If suddenly you come to know that today you are going to die, what will happen? Will you still
           be interested in money? Suddenly all desire for money will leave you. If this is the last day, you can't
           waste it thinking about tomorrow, having more money in the world; there is going to be no
           tomorrow.
               Because we live in the tomorrows, money has become very important. And because we don't
           live, we only imitate others, money has become very important. Somebody makes a house, and now
           you are feeling very inferior. You were not at all dissatisfied with your own house just a few days
           before, but now this man has made a bigger house: now comparison arises, and it hurts, it hurts your
           ego. You would like to have more money. Somebody has done something else, and your ego is
           disturbed.
               Drop comparing and life is really beautiful. Drop comparing and you can enjoy life to the full.
           And the person who enjoys his life has no desire to possess, because he knows the real things of life
           which are worth enjoying cannot be purchased.
               Love cannot be purchased. Yes, sex can be purchased. So one who knows what love is will not
           be interested in money. But one who does not know what love is, is bound to remain interested in
           money, because money can purchase sex, and sex is all that he knows.
               You cannot purchase the starry night. One who knows how to enjoy the night full of stars won't
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bother much about money. You cannot purchase a sunset. Yes, you can purchase a Picasso -- but one
           who knows how to enjoy a sunset will not be interested at all in purchasing a painting. Life is such a
           painting, such a moving, alive painting.
               But people who don't know how to see a sunset are ready to purchase a Picasso for millions of
           dollars. They will not even know how to hang it, whether it is upside down or right side up, but they
           want to show to others that they have a Picasso painting.

              I have heard that once a rich man came to Picasso; he wanted two paintings, immediately, and he
           was ready to pay as much as was demanded. Picasso demanded a fabulous price -- thinking that he
           would not be able to pay it -- because only one painting was ready. But the rich man was ready to
           pay. So Picasso went in, cut the canvas in two, and the rich man thought they were two paintings.

                I have heard another story: in an exhibition, a Picasso exhibition, people are appreciating his
           paintings. All the critics have gathered around a certain painting which looks the most absurd, hence
           the most appealing -- because when something is absurd it is a challenge to your intellect, and every
           critic is trying to prove that he understands what it is.
                And then came Picasso, and he said, "Wait. Some fool has hung it upside down. Let me put it
           right first." And they were expressing great appreciation for the painting!

               If you know how to enjoy a roseflower, a green tree in your courtyard, the mountains, the river,
           the stars, the moon, if you know how to enjoy people, you will not be so much obsessed with money.
           The obsession is arising because we have forgotten the language of celebration. Hence money has
           become the only thing to brag about -- your life is so empty.
               I will not tell you to renounce money. That has been told to you down the ages; it has not
           changed you. I am going to tell you something else: celebrate life, and the obsession with money
           disappears automatically. And when it goes on its own accord, it leaves no scratches, it leaves no
           wounds behind, it leaves no trace behind.

           The seventh question:


              OSHO, WHAT IS WISDOM?


              Stephen Crane writes: I met a seer, he held in his hands the book of wisdom. "Sir," I addressed
           him, "let me read.""Child..." he began.
              "Sir," I said, "think not that I am a child, for already I know much of that which you hold."
              "Ah, much!" he smiled. Then he opened the book and held it before me. Strange, that I should
           have gone so suddenly blind.

               Wisdom is not knowledge. The knowledgeable person cannot see it, he is blind. Only the
           innocent person can see it, only a child, one who knows nothing, one who functions from the state of
           not knowing, can know what wisdom is. Wisdom has nothing to do with knowledge, not at all; it has
           something to do with innocence. Something of the purity of the heart is a must, something of the
           emptiness of being is needed for wisdom to grow.
               "Only those who are like small children will be able to enter into my kingdom of God." Yes,
           Jesus is right.
               Knowledge comes from without, wisdom wells up within. Knowledge is borrowed, wisdom is
           original. Wisdom is your insight into existence -- not Buddha's insight, not Atisha's insight, not my
           insight, but your insight, absolutely your insight into existence.
               When you are able to see with no dust of knowledge on the mirror of your soul, when your soul
           is without any dust of knowledge, when it is just a mirror, it reflects that which is. That is wisdom.
           That reflecting of that which is, is wisdom.
               Knowledge gratifies the ego, wisdom happens only when the ego is gone, forgotten. Knowledge
           can be taught; universities exist to teach you. Wisdom cannot be taught, it is like an infection: you
           have to be with the wise, you have to move with the wise, and only then will something start moving
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inside you.
               The movement in the disciple is not caused by the master, it is not under the law of cause and
           effect. It is what Carl Gustav Jung calls "synchronicity." The master is so full of silence, so
           overflowing with innocence, that his presence triggers a process in you, simply triggers a process in
           you. Nothing is transferred; your inner being starts remembering that "I also have the same treasure
           as my master, I had simply forgotten about it. I had moved into the without, keeping the within at the
           back. The treasure was not lost but only forgotten; I had fallen asleep."
               And the asleep person at the most can dream that he is awake. But that too is a dream. That
           dream is knowledge. The person who is asleep and thinks that he knows... that is knowledge. But the
           person who really awakes is wise. Knowledge is a false, plastic substitute for wisdom.
               Wisdom is true knowledge -- rather knowing than knowledge, because it has no full point to it. It
           goes on growing, it goes on flowing. The man of wisdom goes on learning; there never comes a stop.
           Don't be knowledgeable, be wise.

           And the last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?


               Krishna Prem, I am not, and I am not doing anything at all. But something is happening,
           something tremendous is happening -- that is another matter, it has nothing to do with my doing it.
               "I am not." When I say this, I mean that there is no personality, no person, but just a presence.
           And the presence without the person looks almost like an absence. It is. The person is absent.
               I am only a hollow bamboo, and if you hear some music then it must be from God, it is not from
           me; it has nothing to do with me. I am not there, I have utterly disappeared. That's what
           enlightenment is all about. That's what Atisha calls bodhichitta.
               But things are happening, they always happen. Whenever a person disappears and becomes a
           presence, immensely valuable things happen around him. A great synchronicity starts functioning.
           Those who are courageous enough to come close to such a presence start changing, with no effort,
           just sheer grace, start becoming totally different beings by just being in the buddhafield, in the
           energy field of a master.
               I am not doing anything, Krishna Prem, and I am not. But still you see me coming, going, talking
           to you, doing this and that. For that, I will tell you a story.

               A Hollywood director once sent out word that he was looking for an actor to play the role of
           Shakespeare's Hamlet. The actor was to be over six feet tall, young and vigorous and have an
           excellent command of the language.
               On the day of the casting call, many fine tall young men showed up, but among them was a little
           old Jewish man with a heavy Yiddish accent. The director picked him out immediately and asked,
           "What do you want?"
               The man answered "I vant to be an hector. I vant to play Hemlet!"
               "Are you kidding or just crazy?" the director asked. "You are only five feet tall and you have an
           accent so thick I could cut it with a knife. What can you possibly do?"
               The little man said, "I vant to hect. Giff me a chance."
               Finally the director gave in. "Get up on stage and try it."
               The little man stepped out onto the stage. Somehow he looked much taller and full of energy. He
           began to speak with a booming voice and the perfect king's English: "To be or not to be...."
               When he was finished, there was a hush. Everyone was amazed. The director said, "That's
           unbelievable."
           The other actors said, "That's wonderful."
               The little Jew just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Dat's HECTING!"

           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                          Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                 Talks on Zen
                                 Talks given from 08/09/88 pm to 15/09/88 pm
                                           English Discourse series
                                                  8 Chapters
                                             Year published: 1988




                           The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                 Chapter #1
                                 Chapter title: The emptiness of the heart
           8 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809085
              ShortTitle: EMPTI01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 95 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              BUKKO SAID:
              TAKING THINGS EASILY AND WITHOUT FORCING, AFTER SOME TIME THE RUSH OF
              THOUGHT, OUTWARD AND INWARD, SUBSIDES NATURALLY, AND THE TRUE FACE SHOWS
              ITSELF.
              ... NOW BODY AND MIND, FREE FROM ALL MOTIVATIONS, ALWAYS APPEAR AS VOID AND
              ABSOLUTE SAMENESS, SHINING LIKE THE BRIGHTNESS OF HEAVEN, AT THE CENTER OF
              THE VAST EXPANSE OF PHENOMENAL THINGS, AND NEEDING NO POLISHING OR
              CLEANING. THIS IS BEYOND ALL CONCEPTS, BEYOND BEING AND NON-BEING.
              LEAVE YOUR INNUMERABLE KNOWINGS AND SEEINGS AND UNDERSTANDINGS, AND GO TO
              THAT GREATNESS OF SPACE. WHEN YOU COME TO THAT VASTNESS, THERE IS NO SPECK
              OF BUDDHISM IN YOUR HEART, AND WHEN THERE IS NO SPECK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
              YOU, YOU WILL HAVE THE TRUE SIGHT OF BUDDHAS AND PATRIARCHS.
              THE TRUE NATURE IS LIKE THE IMMENSITY OF SPACE WHICH CONTAINS ALL THINGS.
              WHEN YOU CAN GO AND COME IN ALL REGIONS EQUALLY, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING
              SPECIALLY YOURS, NO WITHIN AND NO WITHOUT, WHEN YOU CONFORM TO HIGH AND
              CONFORM TO LOW, CONFORM TO THE SQUARE AND CONFORM TO THE ROUND, THAT IS IT.
              THE EMPTINESS OF THE SEA ALLOWS WAVES TO RISE; THE EMPTINESS OF THE MOUNTAIN
              VALLEY MAKES THE VOICE ECHO; THE EMPTINESS OF THE HEART MAKES THE BUDDHA.
              WHEN YOU EMPTY THE HEART, THINGS APPEAR AS IN A MIRROR, SHINING THERE
              WITHOUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM. LIFE AND DEATH AN ILLUSION, ALL THE
              BUDDHAS ARE ONE'S OWN BODY.
              ZEN IS NOT SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS; IT IS JUST HITTING AND PIERCING THROUGH. IF YOU
              CUT OFF ALL DOUBTS, THE COURSE OF LIFE-AND-DEATH IS CUT OFF NATURALLY. I ASK
              YOU ALL: DO YOU SEE IT OR DON'T YOU? -- HOW IN JUNE THE SNOW MELTS FROM THE TOP
              OF MOUNT FUJI.


              Maneesha, Bukko has come to the ultimate expression of the experience of one's own being.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Very rarely has a master succeeded to such a point as Bukko has in his statements. Listen carefully,
           because rarely will you meet a Bukko again.
              BUKKO SAID:
              TAKING THINGS EASILY AND WITHOUT FORCING, AFTER SOME TIME THE RUSH OF
              THOUGHT, OUTWARD AND INWARD, SUBSIDES NATURALLY, AND THE TRUE FACE SHOWS
              ITSELF.

               That's what I have been telling you. To be a buddha is not a difficult job. It is not some
           achievement for which you need a Nobel Prize. It is the easiest thing in the world, because it has
           already happened without your knowing.
               The buddha is already breathing in you. Just a little recognition, just a little turning inwards...
           and that has not to be done forcibly. If you do it forcibly you will miss the point. It is very delicate.
           You have to look inward playfully, not seriously. That's what he means by "taking things easily."
           Don't take anything seriously.
               Existence is very easy. You have got your life without any effort, you are living your life without
           any effort. You are breathing perfectly well without being reminded; your heartbeat continues even
           in your sleep -- so easy is existence with you! But you are not so easy with existence. You are very
           close-fisted. You want everything to be turned into an achievement.
               Enlightenment cannot be an achievement. That which you have already -- how can it be an
           achievement? The authentic master simply takes away things which you don't have and you believe
           you have, and he gives you that which you already have. You are having many things which you
           don't have at all, you just believe that you have them. The master's function is that of a surgeon, to
           cut all that is not you and leave behind just the essential core -- the eternal being.
               It is a very easy phenomenon; you can do it on your own. There are no problems and no risk in
           taking things easily, but people take things very tensely. They take things very seriously, and that
           spoils the whole game.
               And remember, life is a game. Once you understand it as a game, a deep playfulness arises on its
           own accord. The victory is not the point; the point is to play totally, joyously, dancingly.
               What is called playfulness is very essential in the inquiry of your own being.
              TAKING THINGS EASILY, SAYS BUKKO, AND WITHOUT FORCING, AFTER SOME TIME THE
              RUSH OF THOUGHT, OUTWARD AND INWARD, SUBSIDES NATURALLY, AND THE TRUE FACE
              SHOWS ITSELF.

                When I say to you that meditation is nothing but thoughtlessness, you can misunderstand me.
           You are not to do anything to become thoughtless, because whatever you will do will be again a
           thought. You have to learn to see the procession of thoughts, standing by the side of the road as if it
           does not matter to you what is passing by. Just the ordinary traffic -- if you can take your thoughts in
           such a manner that they are not of much concern, then easily, slowly, the caravan of thoughts which
           has continued for thousands of years disappears.
                You have to understand a simple thing, that giving attention is giving nourishment. If you don't
           give any attention but remain unconcerned, the thoughts start dying on their own. They don't have
           any other way to get energy, any other source of life. You are their energy, and because you go on
           giving them attention, seriously, you think it is very difficult to be free from thought. It is the easiest
           thing in the world, but it has to be done in the right way.
                The right way is just to stand by the side. The traffic goes on -- let it go. Don't make any
           judgment of good and bad; don't appreciate, don't condemn. That is what is meant by being easy. It is
           all okay.
                WITHOUT FORCING... and that is something that has to be remembered, because our natural
           tendency is that if we have to become thoughtless, why not force the thoughts? Why not throw them
           out? But by the very act of forcing them, you are giving them energy, you are giving them
           nourishment, you are taking note of them and you are making them important -- so important that
           without throwing them, you cannot meditate.
                Just try to throw out any single thought, and you will see how difficult it is. The more you throw
           it the more it bounces back! It will enjoy the game very much, and you are going to be defeated
           finally. You have taken a wrong route.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have always told an ancient Tibetan story....
               A young man was very much interested in the esoteric, in the mysterious. He found a saint who
           was known to have many secrets, but it was very difficult to get any secret from him. The young man
           said, "I will see. I will devote my whole life to his service, and I will get the secrets, the mysteries."
               So he remained with the old saint. The old saint told him, "You are unnecessarily wasting your
           time. I don't have anything, I am just a poor old soul. Because I don't speak, people think I am
           keeping some secret. But I don't have anything to say, so I remain silent."
               But the man said, "I cannot be persuaded so easily. You will have to give me the secret which
           opens the door of all the mysteries."
               Tired of the young man, because twenty-four hours a day he was there... the poor old saint had to
           arrange for his food, had to ask somebody to take care for his clothes; the winter was coming and he
           would need more clothes. It had become a burden. Finally the old man got fed up. He told the young
           fellow, "Today I am going to tell you the secret. It is not very difficult. It is very simple."
               In Tibet there is a common mantra which religious people repeat: Om mani padme hum. He said,
           "Everything is hidden in this."
               But the young man said, "Don't befool me! Everybody knows this mantra, it is not a secret. It is
           the most widely known mantra to the Tibetans."
               He said, "It is true, it is widely known. But the key is not known to them for opening it. Do you
           know the key for opening it?"
               The young man said, "Key? I have never heard that there is a key to open a mantra."
               "That is the secret! The key is, while you are repeating the mantra -- just for five minutes -- just
           don't let any monkey pop into your head."
               He said, "You seem to be an old idiot! In my whole life I have never thought of a monkey. Why
           should I think of one?"
               He rushed down the stairs of the temple where the old saint lived. But strangely, even though he
           was not reciting the mantra, monkeys started coming, giggling. He would close his eyes and they
           would be there. He would run to this side and they would be there. They were not outside, they were
           inside his head. And slowly slowly the crowd was becoming bigger. As far as he could see, only
           monkeys and monkeys, and doing all kinds of circus!
               He said, "My god, this is the key? I am finished! I have not even started the mantra."
               Finally he said, "Let me take a good bath and get rid of all these monkeys." But the more he
           pushed them away, the more they jumped towards him. He took the bath, he burned incense, he sat
           in a religious lotus posture, but whatever he was doing, monkeys were watching from every side. He
           said, "It is strange -- monkeys have never visited this house..." The whole night he tried, but he could
           not repeat this simple mantra Om mani padme hum without monkeys jumping in.
               By the morning he was so tired. He said, "This old saint, I will kill him! What kind of key...?" In
           the morning he rushed to the old saint and said, "Please take away your key. I am almost mad!"
               The old man said, "That's why I was not telling anybody, because the key is very difficult. Now
           do you understand why I was silent?"
               He said, "I don't want to listen to a single word from you. You just take this key back and let me
           go home. And I don't want these monkeys to follow me!"
               The saint said, "If you give back the key, never repeat the mantra again. The monkeys will come!
           I cannot help it, they are not in my power."
               The man dropped the mantra, he dropped the key. He descended the same steps and there was no
           monkey at all. He closed his eyes and there was no monkey. He looked all around and there was no
           monkey. He said, "It is strange..." He tried just once on the way, to see what happens when he says
           Om mani padme hum and closes his eyes. And they were all coming, from all directions!

                You cannot repress any thought. The very repressive process gives it energy, life, strength. And
           it weakens you because you become a defeated partner in the game. The easiest thing is not to force
           but to be just a witness. If a monkey comes, let him come. Just say "Hello!" and he will go. But don't
           tell him to go. Just be a witness that a monkey has come, or a thousand monkeys have come. What
           does it matter? It is none of your business. They may be going to some gathering, some religious
           festival, so let them go. It is none of your concern. And soon the crowd will disappear, seeing that
           "the man is not interested."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              All your thoughts are in the same category. Never force any thought to go away; otherwise it will
           rebound with greater energy. And the energy is yours! You are on a self-defeating track. The more
           you throw it away the more it will come back.
              Hence, what Bukko is saying is the only way -- I say the only way -- to be thoughtless: don't pay
           any attention. Just remain silently watching all kinds of things... monkeys and elephants, let them
           pass. Soon you will find an empty road, and when you find an empty road, you have found an empty
           mind -- naturally. Everything outward and inward subsides and there is the tremendous silence
           which easiness brings.
              NOW BODY AND MIND, FREE FROM ALL MOTIVATIONS, ALWAYS APPEAR AS VOID AND
              ABSOLUTE SAMENESS.

               When you are in the state of no-mind, which is equivalent to thoughtlessness... when there is no
           thought cloud moving in your mind, you attain to the clarity of no-mind.
               Mind is simply a combination of all the thoughts, of all the clouds. Mind has no independent
           nature of its own. When all the thoughts are gone and the sky is clean and clear, you will see that
           everything that you have paid so much attention to is nothing but emptiness. Your thoughts were all
           empty. They contained nothing, they were void.
               Whatever you thought they contained was your own energy. You have withdrawn your energy --
           just the empty shell of the thought falls down. You have withdrawn your identity and immediately
           the thought is no longer alive. It was your identity that was giving it life force.
               And strangely enough, you thought that your thoughts were very strong and it was difficult to get
           rid of them! You were making them strong, you were cultivating them. Just by forcing them, you
           were getting into a fix.
               I agree with Bukko. I have agreed out of my own experience that you can simply sit or lie down
           and let the thoughts pass by. They will not leave even a trace. Just don't get interested... and don't be
           DISinterested either, just be neutral. To be neutral is to be easy, and to be neutral is to take back the
           very life force that you have given to your thoughts.
               Suddenly, a man of no thought becomes so full of energy -- energy which he had spread into the
           thoughts unnecessarily. He was weak because he was nourishing thoughts, which leads nowhere.
           They promise -- thoughts are politicians. They promise great things to come, but the moment they
           have power, they forget all their promises. This has been going on for centuries.
               Those promises are just seductive. Your thoughts are promising you many things: "You can be
           this, you can be that." And they drive you, they give you motivation to become the greatest leader in
           the world, to become the richest man in the world. They drive you into ambitions, they become your
           masters. It is one of the weirdest phenomena that the servants become masters, and the master
           becomes just a servant. The moment you take your energy back you become a tremendous force,
           gathered in your own being and center.

               This is the first and the most important thing to understand: never force anything, just let it go
           easily. If you ever want to find out what the secret of your life is, then you have to go inwards. And
           thoughts are always going outwards; every thought takes you outwards. When all thoughts cease,
           there is nowhere to go -- you simply are at home.
           This at-homeness is meditation.
           Utter silence and peace prevails.
               In this silence every ambition seems to be stupid; the whole world of objects seems to be nothing
           but a dream. And your own being shines in its BRIGHTNESS OF HEAVEN, AT THE CENTER OF
           THE VAST EXPANSE OF PHENOMENAL THINGS, AND NEEDING NO POLISHING OR
           CLEANING.
               Your own being is so pure, so unpolluted, not even a particle of dust has ever reached there --
           cannot reach. Only your consciousness can reach there, and consciousness arises in you with
           no-mind. With no-mind you become so wakeful, so watchful -- nowhere to go outside, because all
           thoughts are gone. So you turn inwards, and for the first time face your own original being.
              THIS IS BEYOND ALL CONCEPTS...

              What you are going to face in your meditation is beyond all concepts.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is a very pregnant statement.
               ... BEYOND BEING AND NON-BEING. We are using the word `being' because you will not be
           able to understand, while your thoughts are there, that something beyond being and beyond
           non-being is in existence within you. But when thoughts are gone, the first encounter is with a being,
           an individual being, bright and clean. And as you enter this being, you find yourself going beyond
           your individuality into the universal, which is beyond being and non-being.
               This is what ultimate enlightenment is. And Bukko has put it in the simplest possible way.
              LEAVE YOUR INNUMERABLE KNOWINGS AND SEEINGS AND UNDERSTANDINGS, AND GO TO
              THAT GREATNESS OF SPACE. WHEN YOU COME TO THAT VASTNESS, THERE IS NO SPECK
              OF BUDDHISM IN YOUR HEART.

                He is really a great master. His love towards Buddha is great, but that does not mean that he is a
           follower of Buddha. He is saying that when you enter into this great space, you will not find
           anything -- NO SPECK OF BUDDHISM even in your heart. AND WHEN THERE IS NO SPECK
           OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT YOU -- you will not know anything, even about yourself -- YOU
           WILL HAVE THE TRUE SIGHT OF THE BUDDHAS and the great masters.
                Buddha himself had a great difficulty. Perhaps no man has had such a great difficulty in
           explaining his experience. In this country, the self, atma, has been considered to be the ultimate
           experience. The two other religions of this country, Hinduism and Jainism, have both emphasized
           that to know your self is all, there is nothing beyond it. Now, Buddha was going against all of India's
           traditions by saying that the self is only a door to no-self. Don't stop at the door, it is a bridge to be
           passed. Don't make your house on the bridge because a vaster universe is ready to welcome you if
           you can leave this small idea of your self.
                What is this self that you carry, that all the traditions of this country and other countries think so
           much of? Hundreds of philosophers came to Gautam Buddha, saying, "What you are saying goes
           against the VEDAS, against the UPANISHADS."
                He said, "What can I do? It is my own experience, I cannot deny it. The self has to be
           transcended; only then you become one with the universe. The dewdrop has to disappear into the
           ocean."
           Why cling to the dewdrop?
           What are you gaining by it?
                Have you ever observed? -- all the religions teach that you should liberate yourself from misery,
           from sin. You should earn virtue so that you can make a place in paradise. "You" are the center of all
           the religions -- but not of Zen.
                All the religions say, "Liberate yourself from your attachments." Only Zen has the strange
           courage to say, "Liberate yourself from yourself!" Liberating yourself from your attachments is
           child's play. The real, authentic seeker finally liberates himself not only from other things but even
           from himself. He drops the very idea that `I am'.
           Existence is.
                Looked at from this viewpoint, it can be said that you are the center of all misery. And however
           you try, you will find you are only changing misery, from one misery to another misery. Maybe in
           the gap you feel a little light. From one marriage to another marriage -- just in the meantime, while
           you have to wait, you feel good. But this goodness is not going to last, you are already filling in the
           form for another marriage.
                You are the problem.
                All other problems are just your children -- a bus load of children, and you are the driver.
                Buddhism, particularly, introduced the idea that it is not a question of dropping this greed, that
           anger, this passion, that possession. The question is of dropping yourself completely, disappearing
           into the universal energy from where we have arisen.
                In India, Buddha was not understood. I am experiencing the same thing. In India I am not
           understood, because India has, for ten thousand years or more, believed in the self as the ultimate
           value.
                Self is not the ultimate value. What are you going to do with the self when you find it? Just
           sitting stupidly, looking weird to everybody. Just for a moment think: You have found your self, now
           what are you going to do? And remember, once you have found it, you cannot escape from it. It
           clings like German glue! It is not Indian glue....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha took a tremendous step in the world of consciousness when he said, "The self is only a
           stepping stone. Step beyond it! And going beyond it, you are just empty."
               But this "empty" is not nothingness. The word that Buddha used has been translated either as
           "emptiness" or as "nothingness," but in English both words have a negative connotation. Buddha's
           word was shunyata. It is not a negative phenomenon.
           Bukko gives it perhaps the best expression I have come across:
              WHEN YOU CAN GO AND COME IN ALL REGIONS EQUALLY, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING
              SPECIALLY YOURS, NO WITHIN, NO WITHOUT, WHEN YOU CONFORM TO HIGH AND
              CONFORM TO LOW, CONFORM TO THE SQUARE AND CONFORM TO THE ROUND, THAT IS IT.

              When you are simply available, with no self, you don't have any boundaries anymore. Without
           boundaries you can conform to anything.
              THE EMPTINESS OF THE SEA ALLOWS WAVES TO RISE...

               And your emptiness will also allow waves of blissfulness, peacefulness, splendor and unknown
           glory. You are at the highest peak available to any consciousness. But all these are still waves
           according to Bukko. That's why I say he has made a great statement.
              THE EMPTINESS OF THE SEA ALLOWS WAVES TO RISE; THE EMPTINESS OF THE MOUNTAIN
              VALLEY MAKES THE VOICE ECHO...

              It is empty; otherwise how can it echo the voice?
              Just nearby in Matheran, there is an echo point. A very clear echo point -- I have seen other echo
           points in other mountains also. Whatever you say it simply repeats, the whole valley. If you bark like
           a dog, the whole valley barks like a dog. If you sing a song, the whole valley sings the song. Its
           emptiness allows it to conform to anything.
              And Bukko is saying that when you are utterly empty of being and no-being, of mind and
           no-mind... When you are just merged into the universal it can be said from one side that you are
           empty, but from the other side you are so full that now you can conform to anything. You can be the
           moon, you can be the rose, you can be the clouds. Or you can just remain the empty sky.
              For the first time you are free to be anything you want. For the first time your emptiness allows
           you to experience existence from different angles.
              It is a vast phenomenon. We know only small parts of it because our self-ness creates a
           boundary. We cannot go beyond the boundary.
              THE EMPTINESS OF THE HEART MAKES THE BUDDHA.

               Once your heart is empty, you are the buddha -- serene, silent, utterly blissful, at home. When I
           say to you that you are a buddha, I mean it. It is just that you have to recover from your dreams,
           afflictions, addictions. You just have to penetrate deeply to the point where even the self starts
           disappearing and the door opens to the vast, to the infinite. To be a buddha is the ultimate experience
           of joy, of eternity, of immortality, freedom and liberation.
           And nobody else can do it for you. It is simple: you have to do it yourself.
              WHEN YOU EMPTY THE HEART, THINGS APPEAR AS IN A MIRROR, SHINING THERE
              WITHOUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM. LIFE AND DEATH AN ILLUSION, ALL THE
              BUDDHAS ARE ONE'S OWN BODY.
              ZEN IS NOT SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS; IT IS JUST HITTING AND PIERCING THROUGH.


              I am reminded... A great industrialist had imported a totally new, sophisticated machine. It
           worked so beautifully, a hundred times more productive than the older one, but one day it stopped.
           Nobody knew what to do.
              The manufacturers were informed, and they said, "We can send our man. But his fee is ten
           thousand dollars plus all traveling expenses."
              The industrialist was losing thousands of dollars every day. He agreed; he said, "Send him
           immediately, right now." The man came from the airport and without wasting a single moment, he
           took from his handbag a small hammer and hit the machine at a certain point and it started working.
              The owner of the factory said, "But this is too much! Ten thousand dollars just for hitting it with
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this little hammer?"
               The expert said, "No, for hitting with the hammer just one dollar will do. The real thing is
           knowing where to hit."

           It is true, ZEN IS NOT SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS.
           IT IS JUST HITTING AND PIERCING THROUGH.
                But don't believe in Bukko. The point is where to hit. It is not mysterious, but the problem is
           where to hit. Once you hit at the right time, at the right place, it is really very simple; there is nothing
           mysterious about it.
                That's what I have been continuously trying to get you to experience, because there is no way to
           tell you where to hit. Everybody has to find the place by going deeper into himself, seeing where the
           light is coming from, where the life is coming from, and then moving in that direction without any
           fear. This is what he means by "hitting and piercing through."
                Then don't stop. It will be very beautiful. Even in the beginning, the moment you see your light,
           your life source, it will have a tremendous beauty and there will be a desire to stop, that you have
           arrived. Don't do that. Much more lies ahead. Until you are finished completely... when you look all
           around and you don't find yourself -- that is the goal. This beyond is the buddha.
              IF YOU CUT OFF ALL DOUBTS, THE COURSE OF LIFE-AND-DEATH IS CUT OFF NATURALLY.
              I ASK YOU ALL: DO YOU SEE IT OR DON'T YOU? -- HOW IN JUNE THE SNOW MELTS FROM
              THE TOP OF MOUNT FUJI.

               He is saying that just as in June the snow starts melting from Mount Fuji... so simply, without
           making any fuss. As June comes, the snow does not say, "Wait a little, I am engaged in something
           else and I have to wait a little." No -- no resistance, no delaying, no postponing. As June comes, the
           snow starts melting.
               So when you reach to the point where you feel, "this is my center," then start melting. Your June
           has come. Then start melting and disappearing. Your very disappearance is making you the whole
           universe.
               Buddha has said, "When I disappeared, I saw stars within me, sun rising, sunset, full-moon
           nights -- everything within me, not without me. It was my boundary that had been keeping them out.
           Now the boundary is no more; everything has fallen in. Now I am the whole."

           At the time of his death the Zen monk, Guin, wrote:
              ALL DOCTRINES SPLIT ASUNDER
              ZEN TEACHING CAST AWAY --
              FOURSCORE YEARS AND ONE.
              THE SKY NOW CRACKS AND FALLS
              THE EARTH CLEAVES OPEN --
              IN THE HEART OF THE FIRE
              LIES A HIDDEN SPRING.

               When all is dropping and disappearing, in the heart of all this disappearance is hidden your
           spring. From this point you will start growing new flowers that you have never seen before.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE WEST, THEY SAY THAT LOVE -- TWO FULL HEARTS -- MAKES THE WORLD GO
              ROUND. JUDGING BY THE CASUALTY RATE, FULL HEARTS DON'T SEEM TO BE THE
              ANSWER.
              WHAT IS THE WORLD OF THE EMPTY HEART OF ZEN?


              In the first place, whatever is said in the West, that "love -- two full hearts -- makes the world go
           round" is all nonsense. Whether you are here or not, the world will continue to go round.
           And two hearts full of love... where are you going to find them?
              The world would have stopped long ago if it were dependent on two hearts full of love. Even to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           find one heart is very difficult; two is too much! But those are just mass-mind oriented proverbs, not
           statements of a man like Bukko.
               When Bukko says the empty heart is the buddha, he is talking about a very authentic experience.
           And it does not depend on anybody else.
               Love is both, a joy and a misery, because two are involved. Wherever there is duality, there is
           going to be conflict. You can put the conflict aside for a few days on the honeymoon, but after the
           honeymoon the conflict arises on every point. What kind of curtains? -- and immediately there are
           two voices. What kind of carpets, and what kind of literature, what kind of furniture? On every point
           you will find that those great lovers are in absolute disagreement! There is the beginning of real love,
           which always ends in divorce.
               The world of religion is not the world of duality. It is a world of oneness. You have to find your
           own heart, utterly empty, empty of all rubbish. And when your heart is empty of all rubbish, you are
           the buddha. There is no other experience which goes beyond it.

              Now before you become buddhas, a few laughs, because a few may come back, a few may not
           come back. Those who come back will celebrate, but for those who will not come back from this
           great inner journey, some laughs as a goodbye....

               Kowalski and Olga are making love in the upstairs bedroom. Just as Kowalski is about to start up
           his machinery, they hear a loud banging noise downstairs.
           "What's that?" asks Olga, jumping up in bed.
           "Nothing," pants Kowalski. "Come on, let's get on with it!"
               "No! No way!" demands Olga. "No lovemaking until you find out what is going on downstairs."
               Poor Kowalski stumbles downstairs with a very large erection, and flips on the the lights.
               Suddenly, the cat jumps out of the window. The dog dives under the sofa. And the parrot,
           trapped in its cage, looks around frantically, then tucks one leg under its wing and screams, "Wait!
           Wait, you silly Polack... you wouldn't fuck a cripple would you?"

               Terrence and Mrs. Tuber, the TV Couch Potatoes, are propped up on their potato couch, chewing
           peanuts and watching their favorite soap opera "The Potato Family" on television.
               When the doorbell rings, Chip the dog starts barking, and Terrence looks around at it and
           accidentally pops a peanut into his ear. He is still sitting on his potato couch with his head tipped to
           one side, trying to get the peanut out, when his daughter and her boyfriend Frito walk in.
               Frito immediately sees the situation and offers to help Terrence to get the peanut out.
               "Look," says Frito, "I'll cover your mouth, stick my two fingers into your nostrils and then blow
           into your other ear."
               In desperation, Terrence agrees to give this a try. Frito stuffs his fingers tightly into the couch
           potato's nose and blows into his ear. Sure enough, the peanut pops out the other side.
               Later that evening, Terrence and Mrs. Tuber are propped up in bed watching a re-run of "The
           Potato Family" on television, when Mrs. Tuber asks her husband, "That Frito is such a nice boy,
           what do you think he will do when he leaves school?"
               "I don't know what his plans are," replies Terrence. "But from the smell of his fingers, I think he
           will probably be our son-in-law."

                "Hey man," says Swami Haridas to his friend, Stonehead Niskriya, "how come you got home so
           early from your date with Papaya Pineapple last night?"
                "Well," explains Stonehead, "after dinner we went back to her apartment. We sat on her bed
           listening to music, talked for a while, and drank some herb tea. Then she slowly undressed, pulled
           back the bed covers, lay down, reached over me, and turned out the light."
           "So?" asks Haridas. "What happened?"
           "Well, I can take a hint," replies Stonehead. "So I went home!"

           Nivedano...
           (Gibberish)
           Nivedano...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be frozen; gather all your life energy inwards and
           look in.
           Deeper and deeper.
           Find the center of your being.
              Finding the center of your being is the door that leads you beyond yourself, that makes you a
           buddha.

                Be well acquainted with this new space you are in, because you have to carry the buddha
           twenty-four hours -- in your gestures, in your actions, in your words, in your silence, waking or
           sleeping.
                If one can remain with this silence, then there is no need to follow any discipline, any virtue.
           Everything will happen on its own accord, spontaneously.
           And when things happen spontaneously they have a beauty of their own.
           It is a blissful moment.
           You are dissolved
           into an oceanic consciousness,
           you are at home,
                realizing that which you have carried since the very beginning, for thousands of lives, but have
           never looked into it...
           never searched for it, have taken it for granted.
           It is the most precious treasure in you.
           It is the whole universe falling in you.

           Nivedano, to make it clear...

           Relax, and just watch the body, the mind.
           You remain a watcher.
           Just a watcher.

           Your body is born and dies.
           Your mind every moment changes.
           Only this watcher is your eternity.
           Remember it.
           Remind yourself of it.
              And slowly slowly make it your ordinary, simple life experience, just like breathing. You don't
           have to make any effort.
           When your buddha is that spontaneous,
           you have found the truth.

           Nivedano...

           Come back, and bring with you all the fragrance that you have gathered.
           Sit down, slowly, gracefully as a buddha, for a few seconds.
           This is going to be your lifestyle.
           I don't want any followers.
           I want everybody to be a buddha,
           a master unto himself.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the buddhas?
           Yes!
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                              The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                      Chapter #2
                                       Chapter title: Twenty-four hours a day
           9 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809095
              ShortTitle: EMPTI02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 135 mins




               OUR BELOVED MASTER,
               DAIKAKU SAID:
               ZEN PRACTICE IS NOT CLARIFYING CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS, BUT THROWING AWAY
               ONE'S PRECONCEIVED VIEWS AND NOTIONS AND THE SACRED TEXTS AND ALL THE REST,
               AND PIERCING THROUGH THE LAYERS OF COVERINGS OVER THE SPRING OF SELF BEHIND
               THEM.
               ALL THE HOLY ONES HAVE TURNED WITHIN AND SOUGHT IN THE SELF, AND BY THIS, WENT
               BEYOND ALL DOUBT.
               TO TURN WITHIN MEANS ALL THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, AND IN EVERY SITUATION, TO
               PIERCE, ONE BY ONE, THROUGH THE LAYERS COVERING THE SELF, DEEPER AND DEEPER,
               TO A PLACE WHICH CANNOT BE DESCRIBED. IT IS WHEN THINKING COMES TO AN END AND
               MAKING DISTINCTIONS CEASES, WHEN WRONG VIEWS AND IDEAS DISAPPEAR OF
               THEMSELVES WITHOUT HAVING TO BE DRIVEN FORTH; WHEN, WITHOUT BEING SOUGHT,
               THE TRUE ACTION AND TRUE IMPULSE APPEAR OF THEMSELVES. IT IS WHEN ONE CAN
               KNOW WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE HEART.
               THE MAN RESOLUTE IN THE WAY MUST, FROM THE BEGINNING, NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF IT,
               WHETHER IN A PLACE OF CALM OR IN A PLACE OF STRIFE, AND HE MUST NOT BE CLINGING
               TO QUIET PLACES AND SHUNNING THOSE WHERE THERE IS DISTURBANCE.
               IF HE TRIES TO TAKE REFUGE FROM TROUBLE BY RUNNING TO SOME QUIET PLACE, HE
               WILL FALL INTO DARK REGIONS.
               IF, WHEN HE IS TRYING TO THROW OFF DELUSIONS AND DISCOVER TRUTH, EVERYTHING
               IS A WHIRL OF POSSIBILITIES, HE MUST CUT OFF THE THOUSAND IMPULSES AND GO
               STRAIGHT FORWARD, HAVING NO THOUGHT AT ALL ABOUT GOOD OR BAD. NOT HATING
               THE PASSIONS, HE MUST SIMPLY MAKE HIS HEART PURE.


               Maneesha, Zen can say things which no other religion is capable of. Zen is a rare flower. All
           other religions are subservient to the vested interests, to the past, to the society, to the state. Zen is an
           exception. My love for it is not without reason. It is the only revolutionary approach to the ultimate
           reality, and a man like Daikaku is a perfectly representative master. You have to listen to his every
           word as if you are listening to me.
               DAIKAKU SAID:
               ZEN PRACTICE IS NOT CLARIFYING CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS...

               The whole theological world and the whole philosophical world are concerned only with
           clarifying conceptual distinctions -- what is what. They never go beyond the conceptual mind.
           Looking from the point of view of Zen, what they are doing is not only childish, it is also stupid. A
           child can grow up, but stupidity only becomes thicker and thicker and thicker.
               All the religions have served the politicians, the emperors, the murderers, the criminals. You may
           not be aware of it, but you have to be aware. The pope in the second world war blessed Mussolini,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who was a fascist, to be victorious. He prayed to God to make Benito Mussolini the victor. Now it is
           strange, the archbishop of England was also praying to the same God -- both are Christians -- but
           Italy and England were at war. Even Adolf Hitler was blessed and received the prayers of both the
           Catholic and Protestant religions. Their high priests prayed to God that he should be made the victor.
               Now, God must have been in trouble to decide! All sides were praying to the same God, the same
           Christian God. They all worshipped the same Christian Bible. But this strange situation shows
           completely that your religion is nothing but a servant to the state -- it can even pray for Adolf Hitler
           to become the victor over the world. It does not matter for whom the religion is praying; it has
           always been favorable to those who have power and riches.
               Zen is in every way exceptional. Japan was also at war but not a single Zen master blessed the
           emperor of Japan to be the conqueror.
               The emperor of Japan had gone to receive blessings from a Zen master, and wondered how to ask
           him. First he had tried to persuade the master to come to his court. The master refused. He said,
           "Even if God calls me to his court, I will refuse. I am perfectly happy where I am. If you want to see
           me, then you have to come. The thirsty has to come to the well." A clear-cut answer....
               The emperor finally had to concede, reluctantly, and he went with all his court following him.
           Not finding a word -- what to say? -- he asked, "I have always wondered: what is hell and what is
           heaven?"
               The master said, "You idiot!" I don't think any emperor has ever received such a welcome. A
           poor monk who has no possessions, nothing except himself... but having himself gives him such
           authority that he can say to the emperor, "You are an idiot!" The emperor became furious. This was
           too much. He pulled out his sword and was going to cut off the head of the master.
           The master said, "Wait a little... this is the door of hell."
               The emperor thought for a moment. He had been given the answer: anger, violence,
           destructiveness. He pulled back his sword and the master said, "This is the door of heaven. Do you
           want to ask any more questions?"
               The emperor said, "I am satisfied." He could not manage to ask, "Bless me, that I should be the
           victor in the great world war." Just being in the master's presence, the very idea looked stupid.
               Zen has never been in any way what Karl Marx calls the opium of the people. It is unfortunate
           that a genius like Karl Marx had no idea of Zen. He knew, in the name of religion, only Christianity
           which is the worst religion in the world. He did not know the flights of Gautam Buddha, of
           Mahakashyap, of Nansen, of Tozan. He was absolutely unaware of the East, and religion is an
           Eastern contribution to the world. In the Far East, in Japan, it has come to flower in its totality.
               Daikaku is one of those masters who have come to their fullness, to their fulfillment. Just listen
           to what he says:
              ZEN PRACTICE IS NOT CLARIFYING CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS, BUT THROWING AWAY
              ONE'S PRECONCEIVED VIEWS AND NOTIONS AND THE SACRED TEXTS AND ALL THE REST,
              AND PIERCING THROUGH THE LAYERS OF COVERINGS OVER THE SPRING OF SELF BEHIND
              THEM.

               Daikaku is famous for burning all the scriptures that belonged to the monastery of which he had
           become the head, the successor. He burned all the scriptures and he stopped one thousand disciples
           in the monastery from reading them, saying, "This is not a university, you are not here to study
           something. You are here to transform yourself, to seek yourself; and that is not possible through
           scriptures. Throw out all these scriptures, holy and unholy, both together."
               It was very shocking when Daikaku did it. It shocked almost the whole Buddhist world. But
           Daikaku was a man of the same strength and the same power as Bodhidharma or Mahakashyap. He
           did not care what the world said, he knew what he was doing. The only way to reach yourself is to
           throw away all your preconceived ideas, all your prejudices, all your scriptures, all your religious
           notions. Anything concerned with the self that has been conceived through the mind has to be
           thrown away, cleaned out completely.
               No scriptures can give you the experience of your being. They are really the hindrances -- your
           life spring is covered by those layers of prejudices and conceptions. Unless you throw them away,
           whether it is the Bible or Shrimad Bhagavadgita or the holy Koran or Dhammapada... it does not
           matter what it is. Whatever is covering your life spring, throw it away without a single moment of
           hesitation. Because all that is borrowed is just dust, layers and layers of dust, and you are covered
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with that dust.
              ALL THE HOLY ONES HAVE TURNED WITHIN AND SOUGHT IN THE SELF, AND BY THIS, WENT
              BEYOND ALL DOUBT.

              He is saying, "It is not only me, but all the buddhas have done the same. They have all burned the
           whole contents of the mind and cleared the space so that the life springs can flow directly and you
           can know for the first time your own eternity, your own splendor."
              It is a paradox to say it, but it is a fact that all your religious teaching is a barrier to your
           becoming religious. To know anything about God from others is dangerous. It will prevent you from
           knowing existence directly, and you will settle for cheap knowledge.
              Zen's whole revolution is: don't settle for cheap knowledge; go for the costly experience. And
           anything that hinders the way, throw it out. Gautam Buddha has even said, "If I come into your
           meditations, cut off my head immediately! Nobody is to be allowed to hinder your progress." These
           were real lions. Humanity can be proud of these people who did not desire to enslave you, as
           Catholics, as Hindus, as Mohammedans; whose whole effort was to liberate you from all "isms,"
           from all churches, and to help you penetrate your own reality. That is the only truth, the only space
           which is holy.
              TO TURN WITHIN MEANS ALL THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, AND IN EVERY SITUATION, TO
              PIERCE, ONE BY ONE, THROUGH THE LAYERS COVERING THE SELF, DEEPER AND DEEPER,
              TO A PLACE WHICH CANNOT BE DESCRIBED. IT IS WHEN THINKING COMES TO AN END AND
              MAKING DISTINCTIONS CEASES, WHEN WRONG VIEWS AND IDEAS DISAPPEAR OF
              THEMSELVES WITHOUT HAVING TO BE DRIVEN FORTH; WHEN, WITHOUT BEING SOUGHT,
              THE TRUE ACTION AND TRUE IMPULSE APPEAR OF THEMSELVES. IT IS WHEN ONE CAN
              KNOW WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE HEART.

                In these few statements he has covered the whole journey from falsehood to truth, from darkness
           to light, from death to immortality. What he has said can be condensed, so that you can remember it
           not as knowledge but only as a finger indicating the moon -- just a few hints for your own inner
           journey.
                The first thing is, twenty-four hours a day, to remember what you find in your meditations. You
           will forget again and again, but the gaps of forgetfulness will become less and the length of
           remembering will become longer. By and by the gaps of forgetting will disappear. There comes a
           time when you are a whole circle of remembrance, twenty-four hours. Even in your sleep you know
           you are a buddha.
           A small story will explain it to you....
                Ananda, Buddha's very intimate disciple, was almost forty-two years continuously serving
           Buddha, day and night, summer and winter. One night when Buddha was going to lie down, Ananda
           said, "I don't generally ask any questions, because every question that I could ask, others ask. And I
           am always here, so I listen to the answer. I know that any question I have is going to be asked by
           somebody or other; in these years this has become my experience. But there is one question I don't
           think anybody is going to ask. It is very situational."
           Buddha said, "You can ask."
                "The question," he said, "is not very great. But it has been troubling me for years."
           Buddha said, "You could have asked at any time."
                Ananda said, "I never wanted to trouble you. The whole day you are working on people, and in
           the night you are alone with me. The question is that I have been watching you for twenty years
           continuously... even in the night I get up once or twice to have a look at you to see whether you are
           all right. What has been puzzling me is that you keep the same posture the whole night. You don't
           change sides, you don't even move your leg. Do you sleep or do you remain awake?"
                Buddha said, "My body sleeps; it sleeps very profoundly. But as far as I am concerned, I am just
           a pure awareness. So having found the right position, the one which is the most comfortable, I have
           not changed it for twenty years. And I am not going to change it till my last breath."
                He died in the same posture. Because of Buddha, the posture has become known as the Lion's
           Posture. For forty-two years after his enlightenment, his day and night was a continuity of
           awareness.
           That's what Daikaku is saying:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TO TURN WITHIN MEANS ALL THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS...

              Go on turning in. Whenever you find a moment to turn, turn. And it is such a simple act to turn
           within -- nobody's help is needed. No ladder is needed, no door has to be opened. Just close your
           eyes and look in. Sitting in a bus, traveling in a train... you can do it any time, and slowly slowly you
           don't even need to close your eyes. The remembrance simply remains, of its own accord.
           That's what Daikaku is saying:
              IT IS MOST BEAUTIFUL WHEN, WITHOUT BEING SOUGHT, THE TRUE ACTION AND TRUE
              IMPULSE APPEAR OF THEMSELVES. IT IS WHEN ONE CAN KNOW WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF
              THE HEART.

                What is the truth of the heart? The ordinary commonsense view of the heart is that it is the source
           of emotions like love or hate or anger. Just as the mind is the source of conceptual thoughts, the heart
           is the source of all that is emotional and sentimental. That is the commonsense view.
                But when Buddha says `the heart' he means the very center of your being. It is his understanding
           that your love, your hate, everything, arises out of your mind. And I think he is being absolutely
           scientific; all psychologists will agree with him.
                You can experiment yourself. You can see from where your anger arises -- it is the mind; from
           where your emotions arise -- it is the mind. Mind is a big phenomenon; it covers conceptual
           thinking, it covers your emotional patterns, your sentiments. To Buddha, the mind contains all that
           arises in you, and the heart is that which is always silent and empty and watching.
           What is THE TRUTH OF THE HEART? -- Silence and watchfulness.
              THE MAN RESOLUTE IN THE WAY MUST, FROM THE BEGINNING, NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF IT...

              From the very beginning one should remember that we are in search of a place, a space, where
           nothing arises -- no dust, no smoke; where everything is pure and clean, utterly empty, just
           spaciousness. One should be clear from the very beginning what we are looking for.
              ... NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF IT, WHETHER IN A PLACE OF CALM OR IN A PLACE OF STRIFE,
              AND HE MUST NOT BE CLINGING TO QUIET PLACES AND SHUNNING THOSE WHERE THERE
              IS DISTURBANCE.

               Zen is not against the world. That is one more of its rebellious attitudes against all religions. All
           religions somehow condemn the world. All religions praise those who have renounced the world,
           those who have gone away from it, renouncing the wife, the children, the home.
               Somebody has some day to do deep research into how many millions of people have left the
           world in the name of religion and caused to suffer small children, old parents, wives and husbands;
           who have disturbed the life of many in the name of religion. And do you think these people have
           found anything? They have simply created many prostitutes, many orphanages, many poor old
           people, dying without food or medicine. And what have they gained? Not a single one of them has
           attained to buddhahood.
               Zen is very clear and straightforward about everything. It is not a question of renouncing the
           world; the question is of renouncing your mind.
               Wherever you go, your mind will go with you. Your knowledge will go with you, your
           prejudices will go with you, your scriptures will go with you. Your idea that you are a Hindu or a
           Mohammedan will go with you. So what are you renouncing?
               Zen does not want you to renounce the world but to renounce the mind, so that you can find the
           empty heart. The empty heart is your purity, your virginity. This empty heart opens the door to the
           universal and the eternal.
               Daikaku is saying that people ordinarily do one thing: wherever there is strife or some
           disturbance, they avoid that place. These are the people who have renounced the world because to be
           in the world is a difficult task, every moment there is some difficulty. They are escapists.
               Once and for all it should be clear that the future of religion cannot depend on the escapists. The
           authentic religious man will live in the world without being disturbed by all kinds of disturbances.
           He will be simply a watcher, unperturbed. In fact the world is a good place because it gives you an
           opportunity to test your silence, your meditativeness, your watchfulness. Be in the world but don't be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of it. Be in the world but don't let the world be in you.
               It is the ordinary mind's approach that where things are quiet and peaceful, it is good; there you
           can meditate. So people have gone to the Himalayas to meditate. And what they meditate on, you
           will be surprised: they meditate more on the world that they have left behind! Because everything
           that they have left behind forcibly, follows them in their minds.

               I have heard two stories. One is about an American billionaire. He became tired of money, tired
           of women, tired of drugs. Finally he thought, "I have to go to the Himalayas, to find a real master to
           show me the way to peace." He traveled to the Himalayas and inquired, "Is somebody aware of an
           authentic master?" People said, "Yes, there is a man near Mansarovar" -- the highest lake in the
           world, on top of the Himalayas. "He has been there perhaps for sixty years or more, nobody
           remembers; we have always known him to be there. He is the only man there."
               Even the swans which live in Mansarovar leave it for three months and come down to the plains,
           because for those months the lake is completely frozen. You can walk on it, you can drive over it; it
           is like solid rock. The people said, "But even in those months that man never leaves the place.
           Obviously, he must have found the truth; otherwise why should one remain there for sixty years in
           such arduous conditions?"
               The billionaire was not to be discouraged; on the contrary, it became a challenge. He was a man
           who had fought many challenges in his life. He was born a poor man and he became a billionaire by
           sheer effort and struggle. So he struggled; it was a difficult task to reach there, because no buses go
           there, no roads go there. He had to find his path by just looking at the map and moving into the
           unknown.
               Finally, he found an old man, a very old man. He thought in his mind that if there is any God, he
           must look like this man! He was very happy, although tired and tattered. He fell at the feet of the old
           man and he said, "I am coming from America. I am a super-rich man, but I am tired of the world; I
           have renounced everything."
               The old man looked at him and said, "These matters we will discuss later on. Do you have a
           cigarette on you? Sixty years, and not a single idiot has come here with a cigarette."
               The billionaire was very much shocked, but he gave his whole packet, and a lighter, and the old
           man said, "You are a very religious person."
           "But," the billionaire said, "what am I to do now?"
               He said, "Go back. And when you come again, bring as many cigarettes as possible."
           He said, "This is strange! I had come here for enlightenment..."
               The old man said, "Do what I have told you. Just this way -- going back and coming again, going
           back and coming again -- you will become enlightened."
               Miserably, he went away. No one has ever heard that he came back again. But this man, for sixty
           years, had been waiting for a cigarette.
               The second story is certainly fiction. This one that I have just told you may be true. The second is
           that when Edmund Hillary reached Everest he was surprised to see a Hindu sannyasin squatting on
           the ground there. He said, "My god! We used to think that nobody had ever reached here. How did
           you manage?"
               He said, "I come here every day. This is a sort of toilet for me. I live just nearby. But these things
           we can discuss later on -- how much for your watch? Because here it is so difficult to know what
           time it is..."

               These people who have escaped from the world, do you think they are thinking about anything
           else? They are thinking more of the world than you are, because you don't have to think -- it is there!
           These poor fellows have to think thousands of things which are not there. Mind always desires that
           which is not there. That which is with you, mind simply accepts; there is no need to think about it.
               This ordinary conception has prevailed amongst humanity that one should go to a quiet place to
           meditate, and get away from places which are full of strife, struggle, conflict. But Zen has a totally
           different attitude -- and more psychological. There is no need to leave the world. The world is a
           perfectly good place -- as a fire test. What is needed is to go in, not to go somewhere out.
               And you can go in anywhere in the world, whether it is the Himalayas or the M. G. Road. You
           can become enlightened even with a rented bicycle! It does not matter that it was rented. I have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heard of people becoming enlightened even on stolen bicycles, because becoming enlightened has
           nothing to do with bicycles.
           Daikaku says:
              IF HE TRIES TO TAKE REFUGE FROM TROUBLE BY RUNNING TO SOME QUIET PLACE, HE
              WILL FALL INTO DARK REGIONS.

               No other religion has said that. And I authenticate it: The person who escapes from troubles falls
           certainly into a very dark space, because his very beginning is wrong. He is going away from the
           trouble. He should have remained in the trouble, untroubled -- that would have been some gain. But
           he has escaped from it, and when there is no struggle, no trouble, no strife.... Sitting somewhere in
           the Himalayas, the silence that surrounds you is of the Himalayas, not of you. That is not going to
           help. You have to find your own Himalayas within.
              IF, WHEN HE IS TRYING TO THROW OFF DELUSIONS AND DISCOVER TRUTH, EVERYTHING
              IS A WHIRL OF POSSIBILITIES, HE MUST CUT OFF THE THOUSAND IMPULSES AND GO
              STRAIGHT FORWARD, HAVING NO THOUGHT AT ALL ABOUT GOOD OR BAD.

               You can see the rebelliousness of Zen. Every religion is concerned that you should be good, you
           should not be bad, you should be respectable, you should not be condemned by the society. You
           should not lose your good repute even if you have to be a hypocrite. Just be good, even though the
           good is not arising on its own but you are forcing it.
               It is the greatness of Zen.... Don't have any thoughts about good or bad. Be absolutely a witness,
           and while you are just a witness, whatever happens through you is bound to be good. The whole
           world may condemn it; it does not matter. You have to listen only to your own heart. If your heart
           says "yes, go on," then go on straight forward. Even if it is against all morality, against all doctrines,
           against all religions, it does not matter. It should not be against your simple, innocent heart. The only
           criterion is that it should be spontaneous. Spontaneity is good; non-spontaneity is hypocrisy.
              NOT HATING THE PASSIONS, HE MUST SIMPLY MAKE HIS HEART PURE.

               On every point Zen differs from all other religions, and on every point Zen is right. It does not
           say to you, "Fight with your passions, drop your passions. Unless you drop all your desires, passions,
           longings, you cannot attain to the truth." The reality is just vice versa. If you get into this struggle of
           dropping passions, you will never win. Don't be bothered by the passions, by the desires. Find the
           empty heart and its purity and you will find that all passions, all desires are transformed.
               People always begin from the wrong end. And there is a reason why they begin with the wrong
           end. The wrong end seems to be rational. For example, they see in Gautam Buddha great
           compassion. This compassion is arising spontaneously, but they don't know the empty heart of the
           buddha, from where this compassion is arising. They can see his compassionate actions, and they
           logically derive the conclusion that if you do compassionate acts you will become a buddha.
               The law, the dhamma, does not work this way. In the first place you cannot drop the passions.
           You can fight, you can wrestle, and you can suffer and you can torture yourself. You can repress,
           you can become a pervert -- as all the monks of all the religions have become perverts,
           psychologically sick, because they have been fighting against nature.
               Nobody can win against nature. But they are doing something "rational." It seems to them that by
           being compassionate... And their compassion will be bogus, false. You know when your smile is just
           on the lips, a lipstick smile, it has no roots anywhere inside. It is just there on the lips.

               I have heard about a politician in America. In America, politicians in an election go from house
           to house, kissing small babies. In a small park there were at least two dozen babies with one woman.
           The politician thought, "My god!" And all those babies were dirty, smelly, their noses running, and
           he had to kiss all of them just to convince the woman that he was the right candidate. Then he told
           the woman, "Remember, this is my name and I am running for president."
           She said, "I will remember. You are so kind."
               Then he asked the woman, "Just one question arises -- are all these children yours?"
           She said, "No, not a single one."
           The politician said, "Not a single one? What are you doing here?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               She said, "I am just keeping an eye on them. Their mothers have gone to a conference."
               He said, "Fuck you, you noodle! Why didn't you tell me before? I had to kiss all these brats --
           they all seem to be Italians, full of spaghetti -- and you didn't stop me!" All that kissing was just
           political, diplomatic.
               Unless your life arises from your spontaneity, from your very empty heart, it is going to be just
           superficial. And with the superficial you cannot be blissful; with the superficial you are going to
           remain miserable. Only with the truth is there the beginning of a different kind of life -- of joy, of
           bliss, of dance. Then your whole being is full of songs. Then all your actions are poetic. Then your
           very presence has a grace, a beauty which is not of the body. It is radiating from the body but it is
           coming from the deep sources of your own empty heart.

           Upon his enlightenment a Zen monk wrote:
              YOU, BEFORE ME STANDING,
              OH, MY ETERNAL SELF!
              SINCE MY FIRST GLIMPSE
              YOU HAVE BEEN MY SECRET LOVE.


               At the moment of death you cannot think about what movie is running in a certain theater. When
           death is standing before you, you cannot think of anything else. The Zen monk is saying in this small
           haiku:
              YOU, BEFORE ME STANDING, OH, MY ETERNAL SELF!

              In the mirror of death he has seen his original face. All things are dropped, all concerns are
           dropped, all preoccupations are dropped.
              SINCE MY FIRST GLIMPSE YOU HAVE BEEN MY SECRET LOVE.

               You are all in search of a secret love. And you are all trying to find it in somebody else. Hence
           the frustration of all lovers except those who are never allowed to meet. Only those who are never
           allowed to meet are remembered, for centuries, for their great love.
               In the East we know Shiri and Farhad, Laila and Majnu. Because they were never allowed to
           meet by their parents and society they have become symbolic of great lovers. But it is strange: they
           were never allowed even to meet with each other, and they have become the symbols of great love.
           And what has happened to the millions of lovers who have been allowed? Not a single one of them
           has proved to be a great lover. All are simply lousy.
               Every love affair is a failure, without exception. You may accept it, you may not. One tries to
           hide the fact as long as possible, but everybody knows what everybody is doing.
               Your frustration is bound to happen. Your real love is for the eternal self, hidden behind the
           curtain, and you never look behind the curtain. You are just playing on the stage and befooling.
               Everybody's great love is to know the secret of the eternal and immortal life. You cannot find it
           in another person. When you meet on the sea beach it seems -- and to everyone it is the same story --
           "this woman -- or this man -- is made for me." Nobody is made for anybody; everybody is made for
           himself.
               You are not some kind of manufactured parts, such that you are made to fit with each other. So
           when you don't fit, then the tragedy begins. Before that all is goody-goody. The real test is after the
           honeymoon. After the honeymoon the lovers are finished, they don't look at each other eye to eye.
           The husband goes on reading the same newspaper to avoid the wife....

               A man was saying to his friend in the pub, "Why do you always remain silent? You don't say
           anything."
               He said, "The whole credit goes to my wife. She talks and I listen. She does not like any
           interruption. So after years of listening without interrupting, it has become a habit. Wherever I am,
           even though my wife is not there, I sit silently."
               The failure of love in the world shows a significant fact: perhaps our love is searching for
           something else, and because we don't find it in our so-called lovers, the frustration arises. Nobody is
           responsible, it is just that our direction is wrong. The real lover is within you. The eternal lover is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           within you. Once you have found it, you are absolutely content with yourself. There is no need for
           anyone because you are no longer incomplete.
           Only a buddha is fulfilled.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE WISDOM OF THE HEART?


               Maneesha, common sense carries many fragments of truth, but they are never complete. Around
           the world everywhere it is heard -- "the wisdom of the heart." But the truth is, wisdom arises not out
           of the heart, it arises out of the emptiness of the heart. But that is known only to those who have
           reached deepest into the self.
               But common sense carries fragments of knowledge. It knows that the people who are
           compassionate, people of heart, have a certain wisdom which is not knowledge, a certain insight, a
           certain intuitiveness which cannot be taught. They can see things, feel things. They are sensitive to
           things which are not available to the mind. So people start thinking that there are possibilities of the
           heart having wisdom.
               But they don't know that the heart is your emptiness. And out of your emptiness a clarity, a
           transparency arises which can see things which you cannot intellectually infer. This is wisdom.
               To make it complete, Maneesha, it has to be said, "the wisdom of the empty heart." The heart, as
           the physiologist knows it, is just a blood-pumping system. Out of your heartbeats no wisdom can
           arise. Have you ever felt any wisdom arising from your heartbeats? Has any doctor ever heard some
           wisdom while checking your heartbeats through his stethoscope?
               This heart is not the one we mean when we are talking about the emptiness of the heart. Actually,
           we are talking about throwing away all the contents of the mind. Then, the no-mind itself becomes
           your heart. It is not a physiological thing. It is your no-mind -- no prejudice, no knowledge, no
           content. Just purity, simple silence, and the no-mind can be called the empty heart. It is only a
           question of expression. What you want to choose, you can choose: the wisdom of the empty heart, or
           the wisdom of no-mind -- they are equivalent.
               When you are in deep meditation, you feel a great serenity, a joy that is unknown to you, a
           watchfulness that is a new guest. Soon this watchfulness will become the host. The day the
           watchfulness becomes the host, it remains twenty-four hours with you. And out of this watchfulness,
           whatever you do has a wisdom in it. Whatever you do shows a clarity, a purity, a spontaneity, a
           grace.

           A Mulla Nasruddin story....
               He was born in Iran, and in Iran his grave is still there. A strange grave, unique in the whole
           world. There are millions of graves, but nothing like Mulla Nasruddin's grave. On the grave there is
           standing a closed door with a big lock on it. And the lock... Mulla Nasruddin before dying made all
           the arrangements. "You put the key with me inside the grave, so nobody can open the door." Even
           the emperor came to see -- "What nonsense is happening! And this man is thought to be a wise man,
           of course a little eccentric, but loved by everybody."
           The emperor inquired of Nasruddin's disciples, "What is the matter?"
               They said, "It is not new. He used to carry this door wherever he went. We asked him, `What is
           the matter?' He said, `If I take the door with me, nobody can enter into my house. Obviously,
           everybody enters into the house from the door. So just to protect the house, I carry the door with me.'
           And before dying he said, `Fix that door on my grave, lock it, and put the key with me. Any time I
           like I can open the door and just have some fresh air.'"
           The emperor said, "All nonsense."
               But the emperor also liked the man. The chief disciple said, "There is something in it. He is
           saying: Don't think that my death is my death. You are putting my body in the grave but I am still
           alive. My life is eternal."
               But he was crazy always. To make this statement, that life is eternal, he has put up this door:
           "Any moment, if I want to come out, at least I have the key and I don't have to ask anybody's
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           permission. I can open the door, have a little walk, or enjoy around the city. You will not see me, but
           I will see you."
                Mulla Nasruddin was once sent by the emperor of Iran with great gifts to the emperor of India.
           And Nasruddin praised the emperor of India as the full moon. The rumor reached Iran -- there were
           enemies of Nasruddin, and they said, "You have not chosen the right person to take the message. He
           has praised the emperor of India as the full moon!"
                The emperor said, "Let him come back. He will have to answer; otherwise he will lose his head."
                Nasruddin came back. The Indian emperor was very impressed by him, and had given him many
           presents. The emperor of Iran was very angry and he said, "Nasruddin, your life is at risk!"
                Nasruddin said, "Everybody's life is always at risk. Do you think your life is not at risk?"
                The emperor said, "Don't discuss philosophy, you have to answer. You called the Indian emperor
           the `full moon.' It is insulting to me."
                Nasruddin said, "You are an idiot; you don't understand the meaning. You are the rising moon,
           the first-day moon, which is just a small arc, remains for a few moments and disappears. The full
           moon means the days of decline have come. That Indian emperor was an idiot. He thought I was
           praising him, but I was simply declaring that `Your time has come. Now there is no more growth,
           only decline.' And you are an idiot for being angry. You are the rising moon -- you have to expand,
           conquer. You have enough time to become a full moon."
                The emperor was very much impressed by the interpretation. Nasruddin's enemies were simply
           shocked. They had never thought that he would give this interpretation. Nobody ever thought about
           it; everybody thought that he had been insulting.
                Nasruddin is a Sufi mystic, a little crazy, but always tremendously wise. One day he was going to
           take his disciples to see a rare collection of paintings that had come to the city. Now the question
           was... He would be riding on his donkey. He asked his disciples, "What to do? If I ride on my
           donkey in the usual way, then my back will be towards you. That is insulting, and I cannot insult my
           disciples. If you walk ahead of me, your backs will be towards me. I don't think you will do that
           insult to me. So the only possible way is, I will ride on the donkey facing you."
                The disciples said, "But the whole town will laugh, and you will make us also look stupid...
           although there is a point in it. But to go anywhere with you is a trouble."
                The procession went on through the town. Everybody looked -- what is the matter? Nobody had
           ever seen anybody riding on a donkey facing backwards. Finally a crowd gathered, and they said,
           "We will not let you go unless we get the explanation."
                Nasruddin said, "The explanation is simple. I don't want to insult my disciples so I cannot have
           my back towards them. And I don't want to be insulted by my disciples, so they cannot walk ahead
           of me. They have to walk behind me. Now what do you say -- how can it be managed? This is the
           only way."
                People said, "It is crazy, but it is the only way. If keeping somebody at your back is insulting,
           then certainly you are doing the right thing."
                A simple man with utter purity -- every act in his life is full of wisdom, but on the surface looks a
           little crazy. He belongs to the same category as Bodhidharma, as Mahakashyap. But he is a little
           more eccentric than any of them.
                From the emptiness of the heart, it is not necessary that what arises will be understood by people
           as wisdom. You will be perfectly at ease with it, and those who understand you will be perfectly at
           ease with you. But in this world to find people who can understand the wisdom of the empty heart is
           very difficult and rare.
                But there is no problem. The man of empty heart does not need any recognition. He is so fulfilled
           that he may look mad to the whole world, but if it is arising out of his spontaneity, it does not matter.
           All that matters is that it should not be fake, that it should not be hypocrisy, that it should not be
           phony. It should be coming out of your heart and its emptiness. Then everything is wise whether
           people recognize it or not.
                Who has recognized Mulla Nasruddin? Very few people. Who has recognized Bodhidharma?
           Very few people. Who has recognized Mahakashyap suddenly laughing? Only Gautam Buddha. Ten
           thousand monks were present but nobody could understand this eccentric behavior. But it was
           arising out of the empty heart, from a clarity of vision. Only another man of the same clarity can
           understand it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Maneesha, the wisdom of the empty heart is understandable only to those who have entered into
           their own emptiness. To others it will remain a puzzle, a craziness, a madness. And there are so
           many beautiful buddhas -- their behavior was absolutely in tune with the emptiness of the heart, but
           it was not rational. It could not be understood by the so-called intellectual. It was almost impossible
           to be understood by the crowd.

               In Japan there is a doll... it is available anywhere, here too. The doll is called daruma. Daruma is
           a Japanese nickname for Bodhidharma, and the doll represents something special. It was made, so
           goes the story, by Bodhidharma. The doll is made in such a way that its bottom is very heavy, so you
           can throw it any way and it will always fall and sit up immediately in the lotus posture. When
           Bodhidharma made it, his disciples laughed: "What are you doing?"
               He said, "This will be a teaching even for small children to be a buddha in every position, in
           every situation. Look at this doll; throw it any way and it will immediately regain its balance and sit
           in the buddha posture."
               A buddha of the category of Bodhidharma can make a doll far more important than any scripture.
           The tea you drink... perhaps you don't know the whole story of it. Bodhidharma was meditating on a
           mountain in China called T'a. And he did not want to blink his eyes, but it is natural for the eyes to
           blink. He wanted to keep his eyes open while he was meditating, so he cut off his eyelids and threw
           them just in front his temple. From the hairs of the eyelids, the first tea leaves grew.
               That is the story. It is called tea, because it was first found on the mountain of T'a and all the
           names in the different languages refer to the mountain, T'a. In Marathi it is cha, in Hindi it is chai.
           But it originates with the mountain, T'a. Of course it is a fiction. But because it grew out of the hairs
           of Bodhidharma, it keeps you awake.
               So when you want to be awake... just a cup of tea. But remember, it keeps you awake because it
           is a product of Bodhidharma's eyelids. And Bodhidharma was a man of absolute awareness, so some
           quality of awareness still continues in tea.
               It is a beautiful story, and its implications are great. Anything that comes out of the empty heart
           and its wisdom is going to carry some quality for the coming centuries. It may look like a fiction -- it
           is a fiction. But even a fiction can be used to indicate a truth. Tea keeps you awake because
           Bodhidharma was a man of fully awakened consciousness.
               Even if you watch Buddha's statue silently, you will be surprised that slowly your mind becomes
           empty and you start entering into your own spring of life. That statue is made exactly in the posture
           that Gautam Buddha used to meditate in. Sitting in front of that statue, something in you starts
           synchronizing with the posture of the statue. Doing nothing, just sitting, and the buddha starts
           reflecting in your mirror.
               But the mirror has to be clean, the mirror has to be empty of content. That's what we are trying to
           do every day -- washing the mirror, cleaning the dust of the centuries. Every day something of the
           impurity drops away; something becomes more recognizable as a buddha. Maybe just a glimpse, but
           soon this glimpse will become your whole life.

               Before you all become buddhas, a few laughters, because after becoming a buddha, laughter does
           not suit. No buddha laughs. So it is always good to laugh before you become a buddha, because if
           you laugh when you are a buddha it will be objected to.

              Good old Olga Kowalski comes stomping down the stairs to find her husband on the couch
           watching football on television.
              "Kowalski," she nags, "how come we never talk anymore? Other husbands talk to their wives.
           You have not said two words to me all week!"
              Then Olga furiously steps in front of the TV and demands, "Just say two words!"
           "Okay," says Kowalski, stretching his neck around to see the TV. "Shut Up!"

              Miss Goodbody is teaching sex education to her ninth-grade class. Sitting in the back of the
           room, reading Playboy and smoking a cigarette, is Chester Cheese's kid, Wise-guy Willy.
              "Class," begins Miss Goodbody, shakily, "today we will discuss sexual intercourse."
           Wise-guy Willy puts down his magazine, smiles, and winks at Miss Goodbody.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "Uh... there are eight basic positions for sexual intercourse," Miss Goodbody says nervously.
           "Nine," comes Willy's voice from the back.
               Flustered and blushing, Miss Goodbody begins again. "There are eight basic positions for sexual
           intercourse," she stammers.
           "Nine," interrupts Willy, again.
               This time Miss Goodbody takes a deep breath and continues, "The first is called the missionary
           position: the man is on top of the woman and facing her..."
           "Aha!" says Willy, winking again, "ten!"

               Paddy and Kowalski are in town for a drinking spree. After a lot of drinking, they decide to go to
           the hundred-story-high, revolving, Roasting Rhinoceros Restaurant for some dinner.
               They choose a table overlooking the city lights, but have only been sitting there for a few
           minutes when both of them feel the need to pee.
           "Can you tell us where the bathroom is?" Paddy slobbers at the head waiter.
               "Certainly, sir," replies the waiter, pointing across the restaurant. "Just go down the passage over
           there, turn left and go two steps down."
               The directions are repeated again for Kowalski, who is not quite sure he knows where he is, or
           what he is looking for.
           "Just remember," says the head waiter, "turn left and two steps down..."
               So, Paddy and Kowalski set off across the room and down the passage. They take the first door
           on the left and step inside, into the open elevator shaft.
           One hundred stories below, Paddy slowly picks himself up off the ground.
           "How do you feel?" Paddy asks his Polack friend, lying beside him.
               "Not too bad," replies Kowalski. "But I don't think I can manage that second step."

           Nivedano...

           Nivedano...

           Be silent, close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.
           Look inwards, as deep as possible.
           It is your own space.
           At the very end you will find the empty heart.
                The empty heart is a door to eternity. It is a connection between you and existence. It is not
           something physical or material. It is not something mental or psychological. It is something beyond
           both, transcending both.
           It is your spirituality.
           Remember, the empty heart makes you a buddha.

           This moment is blessed.
           Ten thousand hearts are feeling the silence
           and the merger with existence.
           You are the fortunate ones of the earth.

           Make it clear, Nivedano...

           Relax... just be a watcher of mind and body both.
           The insistence should be on the witnessing.
           Witnessing is your secret love.
           Witnessing is Buddha, watching.

               Catch hold of the experience so that when you come back, you bring something out of your depth
           -- some gold, some diamond, some splendor.

           Nivedano...
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Come back, but come back with a new richness, with a new integrity, with a new individuality.
              Reborn, sit for a few moments recollecting the experience that you are the buddha.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the gathering of ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes!




                            The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                  Chapter #3
                               Chapter title: This knowing is a transformation
           10 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809105
              ShortTitle: EMPTI03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 134 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              A LAYMAN ASKED BANKEI, "THOUGH I AM GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TEACHING OF
              BIRTHLESSNESS, THOUGHTS FROM CONSTANTLY APPLIED MENTAL HABITS READILY COME
              UP, AND I GET LOST IN THEM AND HAVE DIFFICULTY REMAINING CONTINUALLY UNBORN.
              HOW CAN I APPLY WHOLEHEARTED FAITH?"
              BANKEI REPLIED, "IF YOU TRY TO STOP ARISING THOUGHTS, THE STOPPING MIND AND THE
              STOPPED MIND BECOME SPLIT IN TWO AND YOU NEVER HAVE ANY PEACE OF MIND. JUST
              TRUST THAT THOUGHTS ARE ORIGINALLY NONEXISTENT BUT TEMPORARILY ARISE AND
              CEASE, CONDITIONED BY WHAT IS SEEN AND HEARD, AND HAVE NO REAL SUBSTANCE."
              ANOTHER LAYMAN ASKED, "WHEN I WIPE OUT ARISING THOUGHTS, THEY KEEP COMING UP
              FROM THE TRACES, NEVER STOPPING. HOW CAN I CONTROL THESE THOUGHTS?"
              BANKEI REPLIED, "WIPING OUT ARISING THOUGHTS IS LIKE WASHING BLOOD WITH BLOOD;
              THOUGH THE FIRST BLOOD MAY BE REMOVED, THE WASHING BLOOD STILL STAINS; NO
              MATTER HOW MUCH YOU WASH, THE STAIN IS NOT REMOVED.
              "THIS NO-MIND IS ORIGINALLY UNBORN AND UNDYING AND WITHOUT ILLUSION. NOT
              REALIZING THIS, THINKING THAT THOUGHTS ARE EXISTENT THINGS, YOU ROAM AROUND
              IN THE ROUTINES OF BIRTH AND DEATH.
              "REALIZING THAT THOUGHTS ARE ONLY TEMPORARY APPEARANCES, YOU SHOULD LET
              THEM BE AS THEY START AND STOP, WITHOUT GRASPING OR REJECTING THEM. IT IS LIKE
              IMAGES REFLECTED IN A MIRROR; SINCE THE MIRROR IS CLEAR AND BRIGHT, IT REFLECTS
              WHATEVER COMES BEFORE IT, BUT DOESN'T KEEP THE IMAGES.
              "THE ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND IS INFINITELY BRIGHTER AND CLEARER THAN A MIRROR AND
              IS ALSO RADIANTLY AWARE, SO ALL THOUGHTS DISSOLVE IN THAT LIGHT WITHOUT
              LEAVING A TRACE. IF YOU CAN BELIEVE AND TRUST IN THIS TRUTH, NO MATTER HOW
              MUCH THEY COME UP, IT WON'T BE A HINDRANCE."


              Maneesha, Gautama the Buddha marks a milestone in the history of consciousness. The society
           and the religion and the civilization that existed before him could not be the same after him.
              It is just a Christian obsession to make Jesus Christ the line that divides the past from the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           present-day society. And it is also due to the fact that the East has never written history. It has never
           been interested in historical facts for the simple reason that if everything is illusory, changing, what
           does it matter who comes to rule? What does it matter what happens in the outside world? It is not
           the real thing.
                As far as the eternal and the real is concerned, it is timeless, there is no question of history at all.
           History can be only of outside events, it cannot be of the inner. And because the whole concentration
           of the East was on the inner, it never bothered about history. Its concentration was directed more
           towards how to express the inner to those who are blind, to whose who are living in darkness. How
           to bring light to them?
                We don't know how many buddhas have remained silent. We don't know how many buddhas
           preceded Gautam Buddha. We have simply not been concerned about that kind of thing -- birth,
           death... all those things are ephemeral. But the Western attitude is outward. And because Christianity
           became the world's greatest religion, it has made Jesus Christ the dividing line between the primitive,
           barbarian society and the society which exists now. That's why we always refer to Jesus -- "Before
           Christ," or "After Christ."
                Bertrand Russell was writing the history of the world. He was confronted with the idea that it is
           absolutely unjustified to divide the development of society with the name of Jesus. The real division
           happened twenty-five centuries ago with Gautam Buddha. An authentic history should refer to
           Gautam Buddha. Any incident has to be described as either "Before Gautam Buddha," or "After
           Gautam Buddha."
                There is no comparison between Jesus and Gautam Buddha. He was not even claiming that he
           was enlightened; he had not even heard what meditation is. He was only claiming that he was the last
           prophet of the Jews. His contribution to history is nothing. But Gautam Buddha's contribution to
           human consciousness is immense, immeasurable.
                Bertrand Russell was a very impartial man. But still, childhood prejudices dominate you even in
           your eighties, nineties. He had long before denied his Christianity. He had written a book, WHY I
           AM NOT A CHRISTIAN, and before the Christian religion expelled him, he had expelled the
           religion himself. So he was not an orthodox Christian, or even a Christian, but when the question
           came before him, of what to do with Jesus Christ and Gautam Buddha, he writes in his diaries: "For
           days I could not sleep. I knew that it was Gautam Buddha, but my deep conditioning, of which I had
           never been aware, insisted that it had to be Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is ours; Gautam Buddha is a
           foreigner." Finally he conceded to his conditioning.
                Nobody before or after Bertrand Russell has confronted the problem. It still continues. Even the
           non-Christians have accepted the idea that history is divided by Jesus Christ.
                I want to make it clear to you that Gautam Buddha is the dividing line from the past -- his past,
           not our past. Now the time has come again; twenty-five centuries are enough. And that is what his
           calculation was, that after twenty-five centuries a new humanity should start, a new man, a new
           culture, a new vision, a new consciousness. According to him we are living in a very fortunate time
           -- a time of tremendous crisis, but of great challenges and uncountable possibilities.
                I am talking about Zen simply to make the point that all religions are now out of date. Zen has no
           clingings with the past. It is not a by-product of the past, but rather an opening towards the future. I
           am not unnecessarily wasting my time and your time. It is not just by chance that I have chosen to
           speak on Zen.
                We have come to a point of departure from the society in which we have lived, a moment of
           tremendous departure for consciousness. The way man has felt up to now has not been healthy. The
           way societies have structured themselves has been very sick. The whole civilization is almost
           non-existential.
                When H.G. Wells was asked, he said that civilization is a good idea, but somebody has to do it --
           it has not happened yet. We are still living in the shadows of barbarianism. Gautam Buddha has not
           been heard, he has not been received around the world. It seems almost as if he is a mythological
           figure. He is one of the most integrated persons, the most awakened human beings that we have
           produced.
                The future can be a discontinuity with our past only if the buddha is not a difficult and arduous
           achievement -- and he is not. We can create a society where everyone is a buddha. I don't say
           Buddhist, that is an ugly word. The future has not to be dominated by any "ism." But just the purity
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and grandeur of the man Buddha is so alluring; he has touched the highest peak possible to man. And
           he has made it possible now for every man to touch that highest peak. Whenever one man reaches to
           a certain point in consciousness, that point becomes easily available to anybody who wants to seek
           it. Gautam Buddha is a pioneer. You don't have to go through all the difficulties which he moved
           through. He had to, because there was no precedent. But for you there are a thousand and one
           precedents.
               Zen has produced the finest masters, and they are all proclaiming a discontinuity with the past
           and bringing a new man -- the buddha, the awakened man, a man who lives consciously. We are
           doing this great experiment. These are not ordinary discourses or talks. I am not interested in any
           philosophy or any political ideology. I am interested directly in transforming you who have gathered
           around me.
               This transformation is a simple phenomenon, once understood. What has been asked by a layman
           to the master Bankei is significant for you all.
               Bankei is in a way a very simple man, not speaking in philosophical jargon but in day-to-day
           language, making very clear points. Even a little intelligence is enough to understand him. He is a
           man who has been on the hilltops of consciousness and has returned to the world to convey the
           message.
              A LAYMAN ASKED BANKEI,
              "THOUGH I AM GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TEACHING OF BIRTHLESSNESS, THOUGHTS FROM
              CONSTANTLY APPLIED MENTAL HABITS READILY COME UP, AND I GET LOST IN THEM AND
              HAVE DIFFICULTY REMAINING CONTINUALLY UNBORN. HOW CAN I APPLY WHOLEHEARTED
              FAITH?"

               Faith is a wrong translation. Unfortunately all these translations have been done by Christian
           missionaries. There must have been a word which was something like trust, not faith. But to the
           Christian both seem to be synonymous.
               Just a few days ago a man from Japan who is translating one of my books on the Dhammapada --
           Gautam Buddha's greatest scripture, "the path of religiousness" -- wrote to me, "I was surprised: you
           don't know Japanese, you don't know Pali, you don't know Sanskrit. And in your talks on the
           Dhammapada, in many places you have changed words which have been put there by the Christian
           missionaries." He was simply amazed because he looked in the Japanese translations and he found
           that I was right every time. He could not believe how a man who does not understand Japanese can
           say that instead of `faith', there should be the word `trust'.
               I can understand his difficulty, but it is not a difficult matter for me. I am not a commentator.
           When I speak on anyone, I have no commitment except to my own understanding, to my own
           illumination. And when I say that something is changed in a wrong way, translated wrongly, it does
           not mean I understand the Japanese or Chinese from which the translation has been done. It simply
           means that I know the very heart of Gautam Buddha. I know the emptiness of that heart, it is my own
           experience. No master who has touched the emptiness of the heart can talk in terms of faith. Faith is
           only for the blind.

               I have told you the story. There was a blind man who was a great logician, in Buddha's time.
           There is no difficulty; eyes are not needed to be a logician. And because he was a great logician,
           nobody could prove to him that light exists. He argued, and argued so clearly, "You are either just
           befooling yourself, or you want me to be humiliated as a blind man. But I say there is no light."
               And his reasoning was very clear, crystal clear. He said, "I am ready for every experiment. I want
           to touch it -- bring me to where there is light. I want to taste it. I am ready to smell it, I am ready to
           hear the sound of it."
               Naturally the people were at a loss. What to do with this man? He is blind but he is a great
           debater. As far as arguments are concerned he is always a winner, because nobody can manage to
           make the sound of light; nothing like that exists... the taste of light, or the touch of light.
               Once Gautam Buddha was just on the way towards the capital city of Vaishali, and he passed the
           village where the blind man lived. People thought, "This is a good opportunity. Perhaps this is the
           last opportunity -- if this man can even defeat Buddha through his argumentation, then we are
           finished! Perhaps light does not exist. Perhaps we are dreaming about light."
               That's what he used to say to people, "You are dreaming. Just cool down, be alert: there is no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           light, all is darkness."
                They brought the man to Buddha. They thought that Buddha would argue with him, but instead
           of arguing, Buddha said, "You have brought him to a wrong person. He does not need more
           argumentation, because no argumentation can prove light. He needs a physician, a surgeon."
                Buddha had his own personal physician, the best physician of those days, given to him by the
           king of Vaishali. The physician followed him continuously for forty-two years, till his last breath,
           just like a shadow taking care of him. He was fragile.
                He said to his physician, "Take this case in your hands. I will be leaving tomorrow morning, but
           you remain behind until you are finished with this case."
                The physician looked into the man's eyes and he said, "It will not be much time. I will soon catch
           up with you. His eyes are only covered with a thin layer which can be removed. Within a few weeks,
           he will be able to see light."
                And after six weeks the physician came with the man to another village where Buddha had gone.
           The man came dancing. He fell unto the feet of Gautam Buddha and he said, "Just forgive me. I
           could not believe something which was not my experience; I am not a man of faith. But now that I
           can see light, a tremendous trust has arisen in me. In your compassion you did not argue about it but
           you simply diagnosed the case and handed me over to the physician."
                Faith is for the blind; trust is for one who has tasted something of the ultimate. The faithful are
           the followers. I don't want anybody here to believe or to have faith. I want you to trust in yourself;
           that if Gautam Buddha can become an Everest of consciousness, he has proved the point that every
           human consciousness has the same potential. Trust in it, trust in yourself.
                This distinction has to be remembered. Belief is always in somebody else's ideology, and faith is
           in somebody else's personality.
           Trust is in your own potentiality.
                And because a man brings you to your potentiality, you have a tremendous gratitude towards
           him, not faith. But unfortunately only Christian missionaries have been doing the work of
           translating; nobody else is interested in translating. And unconsciously, they bring their own
           conditioning -- which is of faith -- into their translations. One can immediately say who is the
           translator of any passage. Is he a Christian, or a Mohammedan, or a Hindu, or a Jaina? Or is he a
           man of his own understanding, not belonging to any organized religion? Only a man who knows the
           truth can give a translation the flavor of truth.
                Christians know only faith -- "Have faith in Jesus Christ." But why should one have faith in Jesus
           Christ? Do you want to be crucified? -- because that must be the ultimate attainment! And I don't
           think you will resurrect; neither did Jesus resurrect, he just escaped from the cave.
                He was fortunate enough that his country, Judea, was under the Roman empire. So the Roman
           governor Pontius Pilate was not interested at all in crucifying an innocent neurotic. A man who
           claims, "I am the only son of God" can only be thought of as neurotic. But it is not harmful, let him
           think it -- he is not doing any harm to anybody. Pontius Pilate was of the opinion that Jesus was
           innocent; he had not committed any crime, and if he enjoys the idea that he is the only begotten son
           of God, let him enjoy!
                If you are jealous, you can have some other idea, "I am the only father of God." I don't think
           anybody can refute you, nobody has any evidence. It is just the same as being the son of God. You
           can be the father of God, or the brother of God. It is, first of all, your imagination, hallucination -- it
           is innocent.
                If you meet somebody who says to you, "Do you know, I am the father of God" do you think he
           needs to be crucified? A very nice fellow, he just simply utters in your ear a truth in which he
           believes. You know that he has gone off the tracks, but that does not mean that he needs a
           crucifixion. He has to be enjoyed, entertained -- give him a party where he can declare "I am the
           father of God." Applaud him, and dance with him, because it is so rare to find a God and you have
           found the father of God! Maybe he can give you some clue where God is hiding.
                The Jews were too serious. Unnecessarily they harassed Jesus; he had not done any harm to
           anybody. But every organized religion has an ego, a great ego. Jesus was making Judaism a
           laughingstock. Riding on his donkey, moving from town to town, declaring "I am the only begotten
           son of God" -- it was not a crime, but it was hurtful to the ego of the Jews. "This man sitting on the
           donkey... a poor carpenter's son, and it is well known that he is not born of his own father. To accept
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him as our last prophet...?"
               It was difficult to the ego of the Jews; otherwise it was an innocent affair. There was no need to
           be angry with the poor fellow. He needed psychiatric treatment, just good nourishment, care, and
           perhaps he might have come out of his neurosis.
               If I meet him anywhere, just a single "Yaa-Hoo" and he will come down from the donkey: "You
           can take my donkey, I don't want to argue!" He simply needed a little hypnotic treatment, a
           reconditioning, a reprogramming, and he would have been perfectly healthy and would have laughed
           at the idea himself. But half of humanity believes and has faith in Jesus. This shows the retardedness
           of mankind.
               Certainly this phrase "wholehearted faith" is a Christian interpretation. It is not the insight of
           those who are working on the path which Gautam Buddha traveled. It is not a path of belief or faith.
           In fact you have to throw away all your beliefs and all your faiths. You have to be clean,
           unburdened, because you are going to touch the heights. All these burdens will hamper your
           progress. You are going to know truth itself, so don't carry any ideas of truth because those ideas of
           truth will stand between you and the truth. Be completely clean -- that is the meaning of the empty
           heart of the buddha.
               But the question the layman is asking to Bankei is important for you all. Except for that one
           word, the whole question is important to every meditator. I will repeat it.
               A LAYMAN ASKED BANKEI,
               "THOUGH I AM GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TEACHING OF BIRTHLESSNESS, THOUGHTS FROM
               CONSTANTLY APPLIED MENTAL HABITS READILY COME UP, AND I GET LOST IN THEM AND
               HAVE DIFFICULTY REMAINING CONTINUALLY UNBORN. HOW CAN I APPLY WHOLEHEARTED
               TRUST?"

                This is the difficulty of every meditator. In different names the problem is the same. The problem
           is that in your meditations, for a split second maybe you have the glimpse, a taste of the eternal
           ecstasy. But you cannot keep remembering it twenty-four hours. Old habits, the old mind goes on
           interfering in many ways. It is a strange phenomenon because it is experienced only by meditators.
           Non-meditators never experience it because they don't have the context.
                A meditator experiences, but when he comes back from those deep layers, back to his ordinary
           world, to the circumference, the mind starts creating doubt: "You have been dreaming. What
           nonsense is this eternity? Are you mad, that just by closing your eyes you attain to the ultimate
           truth?" The mind starts creating doubts.
                And mind is your old friend -- four million years it has taken to develop. Your meditation is very
           new, very fresh, just a sprouting seed; your mind is a Lebanon cedar, two hundred, three hundred
           feet tall, almost reaching to the stars.
                When you come to the circumference with your experience, suddenly there is a conflict between
           the new experience and the old, four-million-year-old mind. This mind will be almost like a
           mountain, and your experience is just a roseflower. So again and again you will get caught by the
           mind.
                That's what the layman is saying to Bankei: "I understand your teaching, I am grateful for it. But
           it is very difficult to remember that I have never been born, I have never died, that I am immortality
           itself. As I come back to the ordinary life, it is too heavy on the new experience which is just a bud
           opening. It crushes it completely."
                Most meditators drop the idea after a few days, seeing the situation, that it is of no use. It is just a
           glimpse and then again you are back to your miserable world. And the miserable world is so
           powerful that you even start suspecting that you were dreaming. Your own experience becomes a
           faraway echo, as if you have heard somebody else telling you, and not that you have experienced it.
           It goes against your whole conditioning.
           So this question of the layman is the question of all meditators.
               BANKEI REPLIED, "IF YOU TRY TO STOP ARISING THOUGHTS, THE STOPPING MIND AND THE
               STOPPED MIND BECOME SPLIT IN TWO AND YOU NEVER HAVE ANY PEACE OF MIND. JUST
               TRUST THAT THOUGHTS ARE ORIGINALLY NONEXISTENT BUT TEMPORARILY ARISE AND
               CEASE, CONDITIONED BY WHAT IS SEEN AND HEARD, AND HAVE NO REAL SUBSTANCE."

               He is saying that every meditator comes to this point: he has known a small space of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thoughtlessness, so the natural conclusion seems to be that if he can stop the thought process, then he
           will have that open sky again. But with what are you going to stop the thought process? Even this
           idea of stopping the thought process is of the mind. So your mind becomes split in two: the stopper
           and the stopped.
                Now you will never have any peace. Your own mind is continuously in struggle: one part is
           trying to stop it, another part is revolting against stopping. And remember, the part that is trying to
           stop it is very new and the part that you are trying to stop is very ancient. In this struggle, in this
           wrestling, you are not going to win. Your defeat can be said to be absolutely certain.
                Many people have started meditation and then they stopped because finally they see this and say,
           "What is the point of having one simple glimpse of joy? It makes life even more terrible in
           comparison." If a blind man for one second sees the light and becomes blind again, now his
           blindness will be intolerable. Now he knows there is light, and he is unable to see it because he has
           gone blind again.
                A meditator has to remember not to struggle with the thoughts. If you want to win, don't fight.
           That is a simple rule of thumb. If you want to win, simply don't fight. The thoughts will be coming
           as usual. You just watch, hiding behind your blanket; let them come and go. Just don't get involved
           with them.
                The whole question is of not getting involved in any way -- appreciation or condemnation, any
           judgment, bad or good. Don't say anything, just remain absolutely aloof and allow the mind to move
           in its routine way. If you can manage... and this has been managed by thousands of buddhas, so there
           is not a problem. And when I say this can be managed, I am saying it on my own authority. I don't
           have any other authority.
                I have fought and have tortured myself with fighting and I have known the whole split that
           creates a constant misery and tension. Finally seeing the point that victory is impossible, I simply
           dropped out of the fight. I allowed the thoughts to move as they want; I am no longer interested.
                And this is a miracle, that if you are not interested, thoughts start coming less. When you are
           utterly uninterested, they stop coming. And a state of no-thought, without any fight, is the greatest
           peace one has ever known. This is what we are calling the empty heart of the buddha.

              ANOTHER LAYMAN ASKED, "WHEN I WIPE OUT ARISING THOUGHTS, THEY KEEP COMING UP
              FROM THE TRACES, NEVER STOPPING. HOW CAN I CONTROL THESE THOUGHTS?"

               It seems that Bankei has authentic disciples interested in meditation, because all their questions
           are the eternal questions of meditators. The questioner is saying, "WHEN I WIPE OUT ARISING
           THOUGHTS, THEY KEEP COMING UP FROM THE TRACES, NEVER STOPPING. HOW CAN
           I CONTROL THESE THOUGHTS?"
               The very idea of control is of fight. The very idea of control makes you involved. You don't have
           to stop them, you don't have to wipe them out. They will come back! You don't have to control them,
           because the very effort of controlling them will keep you engaged in the process of controlling... and
           a strange fact to be remembered is that the master is as much a slave to his own slave as the slave is a
           slave to the master. If you manage to control your thoughts, you are stuck with control. You cannot
           leave that place, you cannot go away for a holiday. You are controlling your thoughts and your
           thoughts are controlling you.
           You cannot move into meditation by controlling.
               You can move into meditation only by being indifferent, just a watcher. Whether it comes or not
           makes no difference; just let the thoughts flow on their own accord and you stand aloof, just
           watching. The word `watching' simply means being a mirror, reflecting and not making any
           commentary. No mirror makes any commentary. No mirror says to you, "Aha, how beautiful!" It is
           not interested in whether you are beautiful or weird, sane or insane, standing on your feet or on your
           head. It makes no difference to the mirror, the mirror simply reflects.
               The watcher is a mirror. It simply watches and remains empty. No content is caught by the
           mirror. Things come and go, the mirror does not cling to anything. The mirror is not in favor of
           something or against it. It has no notions about what passes before it.

              I have heard about a Hassid rabbi... Hassidism comes closest to Zen. It is a small branch of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rebellious Jews. They are not accepted by the orthodox, by the organized religion, but they have a
           small lineage of very beautiful people. If Judaism has contributed anything to humanity, it is
           Hassidism -- although they will not accept it. They condemn the Hassids because they are doing
           everything unorthodox, untraditional -- not conforming to the organized religion, being independent
           and rebellious.
               This Hassid mystic was walking in the middle of the night towards the river, just to sit silently
           there. A watchman of a great palace used to see him come every night at midnight. Finally it became
           impossible to resist, and the watchman stopped the Hassid and asked him, "I have been watching for
           months. Not even a single night have you missed; you go every night at midnight towards the river.
           What are you doing? I have seen you, I have followed you, because it is my work to keep watch
           around the palace and at first I was suspicious. This man comes every night, passes by the palace...
           so I have followed you, but you simply don't take any note of the palace or anybody following you.
           You simply go to the river and sit on the bank for hours. What are you doing there?"
               The Hassid said, "I am also a watchman. Just as you are watching the palace, I am watching my
           own mind."

              As the watching grows, without any struggle, the thoughts disappear. And when the heart is
           empty, you are the buddha.
              BANKEI REPLIED, "WIPING OUT ARISING THOUGHTS IS LIKE WASHING BLOOD WITH
              BLOOD..."

               I told you, he is a very simple man. Without philosophical jargon, he has managed simply, in
           ordinary day-to-day language, to say something very significant.
              WIPING OUT ARISING THOUGHTS IS LIKE WASHING BLOOD WITH BLOOD; THOUGH THE
              FIRST BLOOD MAY BE REMOVED, THE WASHING BLOOD STILL STAINS; NO MATTER HOW
              MUCH YOU WASH, THE STAIN IS NOT REMOVED.

                Fighting with thoughts is simply removing thoughts with thoughts, washing blood with blood.
           This idea is also a thought, that there should be no thoughts, that "I don't want any thoughts." That is
           also a thought. The watcher is not allowed to have even this prejudice. If they are there, he is happy.
           If they are not there, he is happy. He is simply unconcerned.
              THIS NO-MIND IS ORIGINALLY UNBORN AND UNDYING AND WITHOUT ILLUSION. NOT
              REALIZING THIS, THINKING THAT THOUGHTS ARE EXISTENT THINGS, YOU ROAM AROUND
              IN THE ROUTINES OF BIRTH AND DEATH.

                Bankei is saying, if you know a silent moment when there is no thought, you will be able to see
           that these thoughts are not realities. They are made of the same stuff as dreams are made of. They are
           waking dreams. You don't have to fight with them, you have just to watch silently. As your watching
           becomes deeper, they will start disappearing. And in their place arises the experience of no-mind, of
           emptiness, ORIGINALLY UNBORN AND UNDYING AND WITHOUT ILLUSION. NOT
           REALIZING THIS, THINKING THAT THOUGHTS ARE EXISTENT THINGS, YOU ROAM
           AROUND IN THE ROUTINES OF BIRTH AND DEATH.
                It is your mind which has been taking you through birth and death in a circle, again and again,
           one misery after another misery. You have to jump out of this circle -- and the only way to jump out
           is simply to witness.
              REALIZING THAT THOUGHTS ARE ONLY TEMPORARY APPEARANCES, YOU SHOULD LET
              THEM BE AS THEY START AND STOP, WITHOUT GRASPING OR REJECTING THEM.

              Don't do anything at all.
              IT IS LIKE IMAGES REFLECTED IN A MIRROR; SINCE THE MIRROR IS CLEAR AND BRIGHT, IT
              REFLECTS WHATEVER COMES BEFORE IT, BUT DOES NOT KEEP THE IMAGES.

              Just be a mirror.
              THE ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND IS INFINITELY BRIGHTER AND CLEARER THAN A MIRROR AND
              IS ALSO RADIANTLY AWARE, SO ALL THOUGHTS DISSOLVE IN THAT LIGHT WITHOUT
              LEAVING A TRACE. IF YOU CAN BELIEVE AND TRUST IN THIS TRUTH, NO MATTER HOW
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MUCH THEY COME UP, IT WON'T BE A HINDRANCE.

               Again, I object to the word `belief'. There is no need. You are watching and you are seeing that
           the thoughts are disappearing like shadows. It is your experience. This sentence again brings the
           Christian mind in. IF YOU CAN BELIEVE AND TRUST IN THIS TRUTH.... Truth needs no trust,
           no belief. You simply know it. And once you have come to know it, you have attained freedom.
               This knowing is not something like knowledge. This knowing is a transformation. You have
           moved from the mind to no-mind. You have moved from the body to no-body. You have moved
           from form to formlessness. It is a transformation. There is no question of believing or trusting or
           having faith. But I can understand the poor translator's difficulty. He is doing his best, but his
           conditionings pop up here and there, unintentionally.
               I don't blame these translators, but they have created a difficulty for the West. Just reading them,
           the Western mind will not be able to understand exactly where they have translated wrongly. I can
           see where they are wrong. And I can indicate to you that when you see, you see; when you know,
           you know -- no belief, no faith. Those are words belonging to the world of the blind. We are entering
           into the world of the buddhas.
               A haiku... just a small statement, but far more valuable than great holy scriptures:

              WHEN THE DREAMER WAKENS
              HE IS ABSOLUTE ABSENCE.


              You wake up every day -- you have this experience -- and the moment you wake up, dreams are
           absent. This is not the ultimate waking. When you wake up in meditation, not only are dreams
           absent, you are absent. Your absence makes it the empty heart of the buddha.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YESTERDAY, I REMEMBERED TO REMEMBER MY EMPTINESS MORE OFTEN THAN ANY
              OTHER DAY. I REMEMBERED AT THE TAILOR'S -- A CRUCIAL CRITERION. I EVEN
              REMEMBERED DURING RUSH HOUR AT MARIAM CANTEEN -- THE ULTIMATE TEST.
              I HAVE UNDERSTOOD YOU TO SAY THAT THROUGH MAKING AN EFFORT, BY AND BY WE
              WILL INSTILL IN OURSELVES A SELF-PERPETUATING AWARENESS THAT FINALLY DOES NOT
              NEED OUR ACTIVE REMEMBRANCE; IT WILL HAVE BECOME A CONSTANT BACKDROP TO
              ALL WE DO.
              THIS MUST BE DIFFERENT FROM SIMPLY CULTIVATING A GOOD HABIT, BUT JUST HOW IS IT
              DIFFERENT?


                Maneesha, it is absolutely different from cultivating a good habit. You are not cultivating
           anything, you are simply remembering. You are remembering your own experience. In cultivating a
           good habit, you don't know whether it is really good or just a social convenience. You don't know
           who has decided that it is good, because in every society, culture, civilization, different things are
           thought to be good and different things are thought to be bad.
                Cultivating a good habit is cultivating something borrowed -- that is the difference. I am not
           telling you to cultivate, I am telling you to remember your own experience as much as possible.
           Whenever it is possible, remember it. Give it more nourishment.
                It is just like watering a rosebush, giving nourishment to your own experience. The good habit is
           not your experience.
                You should have a look at `good habits.' They are all social conveniences. And they create a
           certain personality in you which is not authentic; it does not arise from your self. It comes from
           others -- parents, teachers, priests, social leaders.
                Anything that comes from outside you, beware of it! However good it may seem, anything
           cultivated makes you a hypocrite. I want you to be non-hypocritical. I want you to be authentically
           yourself. It is not a cultivation, it is simply a remembrance of your own intrinsic nature.
                The buddha is not a foreigner to you; he is sitting exactly at the center of your consciousness. We
           have to constantly look within so that it becomes almost natural, a flowing current. You don't have to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do anything, it is there. That's why I say it is the simplest thing and, unfortunately, because it is the
           most simple and the most obvious, it has been neglected. Nobody bothers about who you are. You
           yourself don't bother.

               There was a great fair, and Mulla Nasruddin went to the fair. There was no place in any hotel.
           One manager took pity on him and said, "If you are ready to share a room, I can manage to convince
           this person, who is a gentleman -- it is a two-bed room which he is occupying."
               Nasruddin had no objection; he said, "It is perfectly good for me, if he is ready."
               The other man was perfectly ready also, and he said, "There is no problem. A tired man, going
           from hotel to hotel... there is no problem. I am going to sleep, and he is going to sleep."
               Nasruddin entered the room, said to the man, "Hi!" And then, wearing his shoes, his turban, his
           coat, everything just as he was when he had come in, he went to bed. The man looked a little
           surprised! And of course, with shoes and turban and coat you cannot sleep, you cannot relax. So
           Mulla was moving from side to side, and because of his movement the other man could not sleep.
           The other man said, "Listen, fellow, I have never seen anybody sleeping in his shoes."
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "Neither have I heard of anybody, but I am in trouble: I love to sleep
           naked just as you are sleeping naked..."
           The man said, "What is the trouble?"
               "The trouble is, I recognize myself with my turban, with my coat, with my shoes. If I am naked,
           in the morning who is going to decide who is who? You are naked, I am naked. Neither do I know
           who I am, nor do you know."
               The man said, "The problem is really great! But some solution has to be found, because I have to
           sleep."
               So he found a small toy that some baby must have left behind before they occupied the room. He
           took the toy and he said, "Let's do one thing: I will tie it to your foot, so you will know that you are
           the man with the toy."
               Nasruddin said, "A great genius you are! Otherwise I was thinking I would die this night,
           suffocating, in the coat and the shoes." So he removed everything and the man tied the toy to his
           foot. Nasruddin started snoring immediately.
               Then the man had an idea..."Let us see what happens." He changed the toy, tied it to his own
           foot, and went to sleep. In the morning there was havoc! Nasruddin was running out in the open --
           the whole hotel gathered.
           The manager said, "What is the matter?"
               He said, "The matter is so metaphysical. I had gone to sleep with the idea that I am the man with
           the toy. Certainly I am not the man with the toy; the other man has the toy. The problem is, if I am
           not Nasruddin, who am I? Certainly I am not Nasruddin because I had the toy; that was my symbol."
               The other fellow was awakened and asked, "Do you know who you are?" He said, "I know only
           that I am the man with the toy."
               Nasruddin said, "I had told you before that it was going to create trouble! Now for my whole life
           I am going to live not knowing who I am. You are Nasruddin, okay -- what about me?"

               We can laugh, but that is how we know ourselves. What is your identity? Just a certain face,
           which goes on changing. Fortunately it does not change in jumps -- it does not know about sudden
           enlightenment, it only knows about the gradual. It goes on changing, but very gradually so you don't
           feel that it is a different face.
               When you go to bed you have one face; when you wake up in the morning, it is not the same
           face. But because the change is so gradual, you don't take note of it. Otherwise everything is
           changing: your moustache is growing, your beard is growing, your face is becoming older.
           Everything in you is a flux -- but it is very gradual, so it seems almost at a standstill. Otherwise, you
           don't have any identity. If things were jumping so fast that in the night you go to sleep and in the
           morning you wake up and find somebody else's face... You look in the mirror -- "My god, this was
           never my face!" Or you had been a man and now you are a woman....
               Nature has managed things to change very gradually but the change is happening, you have to be
           reminded. And you can feel this change only if you know something within you which is
           unchanging. Against the unchanging, you can see the changing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That witness is the only unchanging element in the whole of existence. And when you become a
           witness and a great clarity arises in you, even small changes in you are taken note of, they reflect.
           You don't take any care of any change, but your mirror goes on reflecting how you are becoming
           older, how you are moving from life to death, from death to another womb. Your mirror in its clarity
           will allow you to know that you are a river, not a tank of water where nothing is moving.
               Maneesha, the good habit has to be cultivated; you have to force it upon yourself. It is just a thin
           layer -- just a small scratch and you will forget your good habit and your natural response will come
           out. And your natural response is going to be barbarous because you have never gone beyond your
           barbarousness.
               Meditation, to me, is the only civilization, the only culture, the only religion. It takes you beyond
           everything, above the clouds, and you can see everything in you from a bird's-eye view. You need
           not repeat anything; now you can be original, responsible. And to me that is the only good in
           existence: to respond with awareness, to respond spontaneously, not through cultivation.

               I have heard about a man who was of such an angry temper that he killed his boy because he had
           disobeyed. And he forced his wife to jump into the well because she was trying to protect the child.
           The whole village gathered and the man was very much ashamed. He was so much ashamed that he
           said, "I will renounce the world. I am going to become a saint." A Jaina monk was in the city. He
           went to the monk, and the monk said, "It is a very difficult path."
               The man said, "Nothing is difficult for me. You can understand -- I killed my child, I forced my
           wife to jump into the well. Do you think anything is difficult for me?"
           The Jaina monk said, "You will have to be naked."
               The man immediately threw his clothes; even the monk was shocked and surprised. But he did
           not understand that this was also his angry temper. The monk initiated him, and he became very
           famous. He was given the name Shantidas; the name means `servant of peace'.
               After twenty years... he was in New Delhi. One of his friends from the village happened to be in
           New Delhi, so he thought, "It will be good to see how far Shantidas has gone." So he went to see him
           -- there was a big crowd of worshippers. Shantidas looked at him... and he recognized him, but he
           did not show any sign of recognition. A man of his stature cannot recognize a villager, although they
           have been friends. The other man immediately understood: "Nothing has changed, because he has
           looked at me as if he has not recognized me -- but he has recognized me. I can see it on his face."
               So the man came close and said, "I have a simple question to ask. What is your name?"
               This irritated Shantidas very much. He said, "You don't read the newspapers? The whole capital
           knows my name. My name is Muni Shantidas."
           The man said, "My memory is very bad. Will you please repeat it?"
               Now this was too much. He said, "I have told you! And I will repeat it, but remember: if you ask
           again... You know me perfectly well. My name is Shantidas."
           The man said, "Just once more."
           And Shantidas took his staff and said, "Once more and I will kill you!"
               The man said, "There is no need to do that great work. I just wanted to know whether you had
           changed."
               Twenty years of cultivation of all the virtues, and just a little scratch and the old man comes out.
           All our morality, all our cultivation is superficial. My interest is not in any superficial cultivation but
           in a revolution, radical, which comes out of your meditation.

               Before we go into meditation... You will be going to a faraway space within yourself. Just go
           laughing and joyous. Seriousness I hate -- I am really serious! I want my buddhas to be dancing and
           singing and enjoying. I want my buddhas not to be marble statues but living and breathing and
           loving.

               Paddy and Seamus are at the bar of the Pickled President pub. Paddy is telling Seamus all about
           his recent trip to America.
           "You know," says Paddy, "that guy Ronald Reagan, the president of America?"
               "Yes," replies Seamus, scratching his head. "He's that old goat with the pet chimpanzee, right?"
               "Right," says Paddy. "Well, he has got an office in this place called the White House."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Really?" says Seamus. "Is it like the White House pub?"
               "Probably," says Paddy, "but in his office, on his desk, he has got a button. He just has to push
           the button, and -- boom! -- the world is finished!"
               "That doesn't sound like a good idea at all," says Seamus, slurping at another beer. "My
           grandfather is less senile than that Ronald Reagan, and we don't even allow him to push the buttons
           on the television!"

                Pope the Polack finds that his Catholic Christian empire is crumbling. He orders all the Vatican
           researchers to try and find a solution to this impending disaster.
           One day, Cardinal Catzass comes charging into the papal office.
                "I've got it! I've got it!" screams Catzass. "In one of the old manuscripts, it says that God has left
           his final message on a tiny planet at the edge of the universe, called Hysteria."
                Desperate, Pope the Polack empties out the safe of Banco Vaticano, and gives the money to the
           Russians to build him a rocket to take him to Hysteria.
                After weeks of training, Pope the Polack, Cardinal Catzass, and a chimpanzee pilot, blast off
           from earth and hurtle through space towards the distant planet.
                Light years later, they land at a tiny spaceport in the middle of the Hysteria desert, and the
           Polack pope does his thing kissing the dirt. On a signpost is written the words: "God's last message --
           forty miles."
                In full regalia, with his shepherd's staff, rocket-shaped hat, and space suit, Pope the Polack sets
           off, trudging through the desert. Cardinal Catzass waves the incense-burner as they go.
                Ten hours and twenty miles later, both the Polack pope and Cardinal Catzass are on their hands
           and knees, gasping for water.
                The next morning sees the pair of Polacks pulling themselves slowly through the sand.
                That night, they reach the top of a small rise and look at the hills in the distance. There, in
           flashing neon lights, the whole hillside is lit up with God's final message to the universe.
           It reads: "We apologize for any inconvenience."

               It is midnight in a dark alley behind the Hoochee Koochee pub, and the fearless lawyer, Harry
           Hypojerk is wandering around drunk.
               Suddenly he is approached by a shabby looking guy named Fred the Freak, who is wearing a
           large black overcoat, a big hat, and sunglasses.
           "Hey," says Fred the Freak, "are you a lawyer?"
           "Yes," slobbers Harry, straightening up his tie, "I am."
           "And," says Fred the Freak, "do you handle criminal cases?"
           "Yes, I do," replies Harry, wobbling a bit.
           "Would you even help a thief?" asks Fred the Freak.
           Harry blinks his eyes, adjusts his coat, and says, "Certainly, sir."
               "Okay," says Fred the Freak, pulling out his gun. "Then you can start by helping me with your
           wallet!"

           Nivedano...

           Nivedano...
           Be silent.
           Close your eyes, feel your body to be completely frozen.
               Look inwards, as deeply as you can reach. At the very end you will find your life source.
           This life source is connected with the universal life.
               To experience this is to be a buddha, utterly empty of the world but absolutely full of
           blissfulness, of benediction, of gratitude... of a deep prayer to existence, of thankfulness.
               Look as closely as you can to the source of your life, the center of your consciousness, because
           you have to remember it later on while you are on the circumference of life... doing all kinds of
           things, but never for a single moment losing touch with your innermost life source.
           Doing everything, but as a buddha.
               The very awareness that "I am the buddha" is going to change your whole life pattern.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           To make it more clear, Nivedano...

           Relax.
           Just watch the body, the mind.
               They are not you, you are the watcher. And the watcher is another name for the buddha.

              This is a blissful evening -- ten thousand people just drowned in an oceanic consciousness of
           watchfulness.
           Ten thousand buddhas -- there has never been such an assembly.
              Be very careful and cautious that you don't lose this watchfulness when you come back from the
           center to the circumference.

           Nivedano...

           Come back, but come with all the experience, full of joy, peace and silence.
           With grace and gratitude, sit down as a buddha for a few moments.
               This is going to be your final posture; slowly slowly, you will be settled in your buddha nature.
           And if we can create ten thousand buddhas, that is enough to save humanity -- ten thousand buddhas
           reaching to every nook and corner of the world, simply spreading love, compassion, awareness.
               And I don't think that if the world has so many buddhas, it can be destroyed by criminal
           politicians.
               This is a crucial moment, of great responsibility and also of great challenge.
               It is not only a question of your being a buddha, it is a question of saving this whole planet in its
           all beauty and greatness.
               In the past, people used to be buddhas just for their own sake. Today, times are different. You
           have to be a buddha not only for your own sake, but for the sake of saving the whole world from
           nuclear weapons and the holders of nuclear weapons.
               We have to create a great consciousness around the globe. That is our only protection against
           destructive science and the criminal politicians.
               Remember: your responsibility is great, but it has to be a joy, not a duty. It has to be your love,
           your sharing of blissfulness, aliveness, your songs, your dances, your joy.
               I am not telling you to be missionaries, I want you to be the mission. Missionaries have only
           carried borrowed knowledge. I want you to be the mission in the sense that you will be spreading
           your own experience. You will be radiating your own buddhahood. A wildfire has to be created
           around the globe, of consciousness.
               This is the only hope for humanity, the only hope for the universe, to have this small planet so
           alive, so beautiful, so lovely. This is for the first time, that you are required to be buddhas not just for
           you, but to create an atmosphere in which a third world war cannot happen.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                              The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                     Chapter #4
                                       Chapter title: Enter the door of anatta
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           11 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809115
              ShortTitle: EMPTI04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 98 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              A MONK ASKED RINZAI, "WHAT IS THE ATTITUDE OF THE HEART WHICH DOES NOT CHANGE
              FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT?"
              THE MASTER SAID: "FROM THE MOMENT YOU SET YOURSELF TO ASK THIS QUESTION,
              THERE IS ALREADY THE DIFFERENCE, AND YOUR ESSENTIAL NATURE AND YOUR ACTION
              BECOME SEPARATE.... DO NOT BE DECEIVED. IN AND OUT OF THE WORLD THERE IS NOT A
              THING THAT HAS A SELF-NATURE, NOR A NATURE THAT IS PRODUCTIVE OF A SELF. ALL IS
              BUT EMPTY NAMES, AND THE VERY LETTERS OF THESE NAMES ARE ALSO EMPTY.
              "IF YOU TAKE THESE EMPTY NAMES FOR REAL, YOU MAKE A BIG MISTAKE. FOR THOUGH
              THEY EXIST, THEY BELONG IN THE REALM OF DEPENDENT CHANGE, ARE LIKE ROBES TO
              PUT ON AND OFF.
              "THERE IS THE ROBE OF BODHI, OF NIRVANA, OF DELIVERANCE, OF THE TRIKAYA, OF
              OBJECTIVE WISDOM, OF BODHISATTVAS AND OF BUDDHA.
              "WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING IN THE REALM OF CHANGING DEPENDENCE? THE THREE
              VEHICLES AND THE TWELVE DIVISIONS OF THE TEACHINGS, ALL ARE SO MUCH OLD PAPER
              TO MOP UP MESSES. THE BUDDHA IS AN ILLUSORY PHANTOM. THE PATRIARCHS ARE OLD
              MONKS. YOU YOURSELVES, ARE YOU NOT BORN OF A MOTHER?
              "IF YOU SEEK THE BUDDHA, YOU WILL BE CAUGHT BY THE BUDDHA DEMON; IF YOU SEEK
              THE PATRIARCHS, YOU WILL BE BOUND BY THE PATRIARCH DEMON. WHATEVER YOU ARE
              SEEKING, ALL BECOMES SUFFERING. IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NOTHING FURTHER TO SEEK."


               Maneesha, the clouds and the rain and the silent bamboos, and ten thousand people sitting
           silently, is a rare phenomenon. This kind of assembly has disappeared from the world. It used to be,
           when Buddha was walking, or when Rinzai was alive.... You are representative of a forgotten past,
           which is not the past of the crowd but only the past of the awakened ones.
               Rinzai's statement is tremendously significant, but before I say something about it, as a preface....
               Man's personality has been divided in concentric circles. The first circle is the body. Within it,
           another circle is the mind. Within that, another third circle is the heart. And within the third circle,
           the center is the self. Buddha goes beyond it.
               The atheists belong to and believe only in the first circle. They deny all other circles as
           imagination. Mind also is a function of the body. The theists believe in all the four circles: the body,
           the mind, the heart, and the self. Their insistence is that the first three circles are insignificant or
           illusory, they are not your true reality. Your true reality is the fourth center.
               Buddha is breaking new ground. He goes beyond the fourth; he goes beyond the self. No-self,
           anatta, is your true existence. When you are not, you are. Of course, not in the same form as you
           have known yourself. You are spread all over the cosmos.
               This is something unique, for which Buddha fought for forty-two years, because every religion
           stops at the self, the atma. Buddha is alone in the whole field, in saying that unless you go beyond
           self, you cannot enter into the universal, into the cosmic. You cannot become the rains and you
           cannot become the bamboos and you cannot become the roses... Why remain contained in a small
           bag? Why not be the whole? According to Buddha, to be the whole is the only holiness.
           Rinzai is making his statement in this context; and very perfectly.
              A MONK ASKED RINZAI, "WHAT IS THE ATTITUDE OF THE HEART WHICH DOES NOT CHANGE
              FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT?"

              The problem is perennial. The master says something -- of course he has to use words, language,
           concepts, but that is not what he wants to say. That is sheer helplessness, sheer poverty of language;
           nothing can be done about it. We have to use the marketplace language in a world where neither the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           body exists, nor the mind exists, nor the self exists, but just a silence. How to convey it? Some word
           has to be used, some language, to communicate. And immediately the problem arises -- the disciple
           clings to the words.
                It has to be repeated again and again for the disciple that the word is not the message. The word
           is just a vehicle of an invisible message. That message is not contained in the word, it is around the
           word. Don't cling to the word, just see the hint.
                But it is very difficult. We are accustomed to understand language by understanding the word.
           But when you come to a buddha, you have to understand language in a new way. You have to
           understand the gaps between the words. There the buddha is present. In the words he has to use the
           mind, but when there is a gap, that gap shows his emptiness, his nothingness, his beyondness.

               A great Sufi mystic kept a holy book... Everybody thought that it must be very mysterious,
           because he never allowed anyone to see within it, or read it. He kept it just under his pillow, and
           when there was nobody around, he would take it from its place and open the book, and would go
           through all the gestures of reading.
               It became more and more mysterious as he became more and more famous. Perhaps he is
           keeping something secret, to be delivered only to the chosen few. Again and again he was asked,
           "Why don't you talk about the book?"
               He said, "I cannot talk about the book. When I am gone, then you can read it; not while I'm here
           because I cannot explain what is written in the book. But when I am gone it is none of my
           responsibility. You read it -- whether you understand it or not is your business."
               It became more and more mysterious. People were trying in every way to at least have a look.
           When everybody else was gone, somebody would be hiding on the roof, removing a tile and looking.
           But the moment he would remove the tile, the master would close the book.
               The moment he died -- he was so much loved -- but the moment he died, people were more
           concerned about the book than about his death. They immediately took out the book, and they were
           shocked and surprised: the book contained nothing! It was an empty book. They turned all the
           pages... somewhere, perhaps, the message. They went on again and again; perhaps they had missed
           the page where the message is. But there was nothing at all.
               For one thousand years, the book had been given from the master to his successor, a disciple. It is
           very significant; it says, "Don't look at the words, read the emptiness."
           This monk is asking:
              "WHAT IS THE ATTITUDE OF THE HEART WHICH DOES NOT CHANGE FROM MOMENT TO
              MOMENT?"

               It cannot be his own experience in any case, because the one who knows will not ask such a
           question. When the heart is empty it has no attitude. If it has an attitude, how can it be empty? When
           the heart is empty, this question cannot arise:
              "WHAT IS THE ATTITUDE OF THE HEART WHICH DOES NOT CHANGE FROM MOMENT TO
              MOMENT?"
              THE MASTER SAID, "FROM THE MOMENT YOU SET YOURSELF TO ASK THIS QUESTION,
              THERE IS ALREADY THE DIFFERENCE..."

               He is making him aware that the moment you ask this question, you have created the difference.
           Just as the question arises in you, your heart is no longer empty. And anybody who gives you an
           answer will make your heart again full of attitudes, answers, questions... It will lose its emptiness;
           and that emptiness is its beauty, its purity, its grandeur.
               Nobody else has understood the beauty of emptiness, of being nobody, of being just a nothing, a
           pure silence where nothing moves. Gautam Buddha stands as the highest peak of the Himalayas.
           There have been many mystics, but Gautam Buddha's height, his purity, his clarity, is incomparable.
               Rinzai and others are simply conveying the same experience. Of course they are not so articulate
           as Gautam Buddha himself, but everybody is trying his best to satisfy the disciple, the questioner.
              THE MASTER SAID: "FROM THE MOMENT YOU SET YOURSELF TO ASK THIS QUESTION,
              THERE IS ALREADY THE DIFFERENCE..."

              You are no more the same. The empty heart does not ask anything; everything comes to it on its
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           own accord.
               You just look at the rains... We have not burned any woman on a funeral pyre; neither have we
           burned any Shankaracharya. We don't indulge in such stupid ideas, but Poona has never known such
           rains as it has known this year. What is the reason? When ten thousand people sit silently, the clouds
           come by themselves. You just be silent, and everything comes simultaneously to you -- and in
           abundance! Nature is absolutely ready to give up all its treasures to the empty heart.
               But rather than asking the question, become the empty heart, and you will see miracles
           happening around you for which you have not done anything. They are sheer gifts of nature to the
           man who has an empty heart. He deserves it, although he does not demand it; he is fulfilled, although
           he does not ask for it.
               His fulfillment is a totally different phenomenon. It is not filled with any objective richness,
           fame, respectability, or power. He is filled with a deep inner dance, a laughter for no reason, a joy
           just like a small child. Just being is itself a gift; a blissfulness surrounds him, a great field of silence
           and presence.
               And this is for those who are only at the center. Buddha wants you to go beyond the center.
               In Pali, the self is called atta, and no-self is called anatta. Buddha is the first man in history who
           has used anatta: no-self is your reality, you don't have any self. You are just like an onion: you go on
           peeling it, thinking that beyond this layer you will find something. You find another cover to peel
           off. You go on peeling, and finally nothing is left in your hands. That nothing is anatta.
               You are neither the body, nor the mind, nor the heart, nor even the self. You are just a pure
           awareness beyond all kinds of cages. But don't ask a question. Rather experience it, because it is not
           a question-and-answer thing. It is not something to be believed, it is something to be lived.
           Rinzai says,
               "The moment you ask, YOUR ESSENTIAL NATURE AND YOUR ACTION BECOME
           SEPARATE.... DO NOT BE DECEIVED. IN AND OUT OF THE WORLD THERE IS NOT A
           THING THAT HAS A SELF-NATURE..."
               He is very clear. Not a single thing in the whole world has a self-nature, because if things have
           self-nature, then they will never be able to merge into the universal. They will always remain
           separate islands; tiny, imprisoned in their own body-mind-self.
           He is really a man of courage to say,
              "THERE IS NOT A SINGLE THING THAT HAS A SELF-NATURE, NOR A NATURE THAT IS
              PRODUCTIVE OF A SELF. ALL IS BUT EMPTY NAMES, AND THE VERY LETTERS OF THESE
              NAMES ARE ALSO EMPTY.
              "IF YOU TAKE THESE EMPTY NAMES FOR REAL, YOU MAKE A BIG MISTAKE. FOR THOUGH
              THEY EXIST, THEY BELONG IN THE REALM OF DEPENDENT CHANGE, ARE LIKE ROBES TO
              PUT ON AND OFF."

               You have been in many bodies, in many species. You have changed your clothes many times,
           you have changed your residence many times; you have changed your address and name many times.
           It has been for centuries that in sannyas you are given a new name. It is indicative: you consciously
           change the name so that you know it is just a fiction. The old name had become a great reality; the
           new name is not yet conditioned. It is symbolic, that everything in you is continuously changing,
           eternally. Even your self is not the same, it goes on changing. Then what remains?
               Rinzai is very straightforward. He says, "THERE IS THE ROBE OF BODHI," -- even
           enlightenment is a robe, don't get identified with it -- "THERE IS THE ROBE OF BODHI, OF
           NIRVANA, OF DELIVERANCE, OF THE TRIKAYA -- the three bodies we have talked about. But
           these are all changing layers; nothing of them is to be made a permanent home. "... OF OBJECTIVE
           WISDOM, OF BODHISATTVAS AND OF BUDDHA." Even if you think you are a buddha, don't
           get identified with it, it is just a passing phase. It is just a bridge to nothingness. The most perfect
           bridge, of course, but still a bridge.
               "WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING IN THE REALM OF CHANGING DEPENDENCE?" Where
           everything is changing, what are you seeking? Even the seeker is changing while you are seeking.
           Stop seeking, stop searching, just be. And you will be surprised: the last stop is the self. It is a kind
           of feeling of am-ness, is-ness -- but it too is just a last stop, not yet a home. One step more, from self
           to no-self. Just disappear without any condition, as a perfume disappears into the air.
               Gautam Buddha's contribution is certainly the greatest that any man has made to humanity.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING IN THE REALM OF CHANGING DEPENDENCE? THE THREE
              VEHICLES AND THE TWELVE DIVISIONS OF THE TEACHINGS, ALL ARE SO MUCH OLD PAPER
              TO MOP UP MESSES. THE BUDDHA IS AN ILLUSORY PHANTOM."

               Other religions would be very much disturbed. No Christian can say that Jesus Christ is a
           phantom; no Hindu can say that Krishna is a phantom. This much courage has been shown only by
           Zen masters. It is not that they don't love Buddha -- they love him, they worship him -- but truth is
           truth. The Buddha of your conceptions is an illusory phantom. You have to go beyond it. You have
           to be simply nothing.
              "THE PATRIARCHS ARE OLD MONKS. YOU YOURSELVES, ARE YOU NOT BORN OF A
              MOTHER?"

               If you are born of a mother, then you are bound to die sooner or later. Every birth makes it
           certain that you are going to die. Everything is so illusory; what are you seeking?
               This is a totally different approach from that of any other religion. They all tell you to seek and
           search. But Rinzai is saying, "Stop all seeking and searching, and just be." And look deeply into your
           being, and even your being will start melting like ice in June. Not even a trace will be left of you.
           You will have merged into the totality of existence.
               On the surface it is frightening; that's why Zen could not become a worldwide phenomenon. If
           you tell a person "I can teach you how to be poor," he will say, "Get lost! I am already poor."
               But if somebody says, "I can teach you how to be rich," then certainly you will respect the man
           and will listen to his wisdom. There are thousands of books around the world, telling people how to
           be successful, how to be rich. I have not seen a single book which says how to be poor, how to be a
           failure.
               And Buddha was teaching how to be nothing! People have asked him, "What kind of teaching is
           this? At least right now we are. We may be in misery, we may be in trouble, but at least we are.
           Teach us how not to be in trouble, how not to be miserable.... Rather than that you teach us just to
           disappear!"
               But Buddha knows better. He knows that as long as you are, you are going to be in misery, you
           are going to be in trouble. The very separation from the cosmos is the source of all your miseries. It
           may take different forms, but the real form, the reality, is that you have taken yourself apart from this
           vast existence.
               So Buddha said, "I am trying so that you will not have any trouble, any misery. Just be nothing;
           then how can you be troubled? Who will be troubled?"
               He has found one of the greatest truths ever found: that you and your misery are not two things.
           You are the misery, you are the problem. Your mind tells you that this is not so: "We can change the
           misery." That is true.... The misery you can change, but you will change it for another misery. You
           can go on changing -- everybody is doing that -- from one misery to another misery. But you never
           come to realize that the real misery is that you are. You are separate from existence.
               Buddha is hard, but absolutely true: until you dissolve yourself into the totality, you will be
           troubled. The very separation is the cause of your hell.
               "IF YOU SEEK THE BUDDHA, YOU WILL BE CAUGHT BY THE BUDDHA DEMON..."
           These Zen masters have a courage totally unknown to any other religion.
              "IF YOU SEEK THE BUDDHA, YOU WILL BE CAUGHT BY THE BUDDHA DEMON; IF YOU SEEK
              THE PATRIARCHS, YOU WILL BE BOUND BY THE PATRIARCH DEMON. WHATEVER YOU ARE
              SEEKING, ALL BECOMES SUFFERING."

               Seeking, in short, is the source of suffering.
           Do not seek, just be.
               Don't go anywhere, just remain at your center. A small movement, and you have missed the
           point. And this center of your being is just the center of a soap bubble. But to reach to the center is to
           have at least reached to the door of the temple.
               Now don't be afraid, and enter the door of nothingness, of no-selfness, of anatta. Let your whole
           being be filled with the sense that "I am not; existence is."
               To understand Gautam Buddha, or his disciples who have attained to this nothingness, is
           absolutely impossible with the mind. Mind will always want to be. The mind will always think,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "What a strange teaching, to make so much arduous effort not to be. With this much effort, you
           could have become the richest man in the world. With so much effort, you could have become a
           prime minister, a president. And this strange fellow has himself dropped his kingdom, and is now
           teaching people how to be nothing."
               I don't think... if somebody writes a book, like Dale Carnegie -- Dale Carnegie's book has sold
           second only to the Holy Bible. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE is the title of
           his book. And he has certainly made many friends -- there are Dale Carnegie Clubs all around the
           world, where his book is read. They run classes, and schools, and courses. Looking at his book, you
           will see: he is creating a science of hypocrisy. Whether you want to smile or not, you should smile --
           even at a stranger, because one never knows, tomorrow you may need him.
               I have been doing just the opposite: how to influence people, and increase your enemies! And I
           think I am more successful than Dale Carnegie.
               Zen could not become a worldwide experience for the simple reason that nobody is ready for that
           great explosion in which you are lost. But think for a moment: what are you? What are you going to
           preserve? And what is the point, what will you do with it? Even if you discover your self, then what
           are you going to do with it?
               You will create new miseries, new troubles, new engagements, new appointments, new love
           affairs ... because you cannot just be. Otherwise you will start thinking to yourself, "Have I gone
           mad?" No girlfriend, no boyfriend, just sitting in your room, being nobody... You will jump out of
           your room, take your rented bicycle, and run away to find someone! You know that there will be
           troubles, but it is better: at least those troubles keep you alive. Just a good fight in the pub, coming
           home drunk, staggering, but at least you are.
           But what is the point?
               Zen's experience is that unless you go beyond self and start enjoying being nobody; unless
           nothingness becomes your blissfulness, you have missed your life completely. It is the greatest
           challenge that can be given to any human being. And only those who have the lion's heart have
           followed the path of Zen -- even in China, just a small stream; in Japan a very small stream.
               When I was arrested in America, the first telegram came from a Zen master in Japan, to Ronald
           Reagan, with a copy to me. It said, "You are doing the worst, most stupid thing that one can conceive
           of." The jailer came running to me and he said, "Who is this man?"
           I said, "I don't know, but certainly he is a man of understanding."
               The jailer said, "He may be a man of understanding, but he does not know manners -- calling the
           president stupid!"
               I said, "You don't know about Zen! When somebody is stupid, they call it stupid. You can inform
           the president that I agree with the Zen master."

              Zen has been a path of the very few chosen ones who have guts enough even to disappear.
              "WHATEVER YOU ARE SEEKING," says Rinzai, "ALL BECOMES SUFFERING."

               Western psychology has not come to this understanding. We try to help people out of one
           suffering, and another is coming on. Nobody except Zen has come to the realization that every
           seeking becomes suffering. It does not matter what you are seeking -- money, power, richness, fame,
           or even if you are trying to be a buddha -- you are creating suffering for yourself.
              "IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NOTHING FURTHER TO SEEK."

               Just stop! So when I say during your meditations... I am not saying that you have to become a
           buddha. That will become a seeking, and a suffering. I am saying you are a buddha; just recognize it,
           and there ends the matter. Once you recognize you are the buddha you will melt, when the time and
           season is right, into the ultimate reality. To be the buddha is only the beginning of the end; but what
           a beautiful beginning, and what a beautiful end. Without any struggle, allowing existence to take
           over, is the greatest ecstasy in the world.
               Rinzai has made a very strong and honest statement. I hope it will be helpful to all of you who
           are on the path of meditation. Remember, this is the path of disappearing.

           A haiku by Uko:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              CUCKOO,
              TAKE ME UP TO WHERE
              CLOUDS DRIFT.


               He is saying the same thing: TAKE ME UP TO WHERE CLOUDS DRIFT, into the universal,
           into the sky; I don't want to remain confined in the body, the mind, the heart, and the self. Just take
           me away from all these.
           This is what Gautam Buddha calls freedom. Less than that is a compromise.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              I THINK I HEARD YOU SAY RECENTLY THAT WHEN WE ARE AWARE OF OUR EMPTINESS,
              WHEN WE ARE CONSCIOUS -- EVEN IF IT IS ONLY FOR AN INSTANT -- WE ARE IN THE SAME
              STATE THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS IN. BUT, ISN'T IT THAT YOUR STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS
              NOT JUST QUANTITATIVELY DIFFERENT FROM OURS -- IN THAT YOU ARE CONSCIOUS
              TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY -- BUT IS QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT?
              I LOVE YOU AND I LOVE THAT SPACE OF EMPTINESS THAT I FEEL. WHY THEN THIS
              RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THAT MY EMPTINESS IS THE SAME AS YOURS?


                Maneesha, it is an ancient question, whether there is any relationship between quantity and
           quality, or no relationship. Science has finally decided on the fact that they are interchangeable.
                In a very ordinary experiment, you can boil water to ninety-nine degrees; it will not evaporate.
           The moment it comes to a hundred degrees, it will evaporate. Now certainly, the evaporated water
           and the liquid water, although they are both water, have a qualitative difference.
                On the other hand, if you go on lowering the temperature the water becomes solid ice. Ice, water,
           vapor -- the inner thing is the same, but their outer expression is not only quantitatively different, it
           is qualitatively different. For example, you cannot quench your thirst with vapor. In the first place, to
           catch hold of it in a glass is going to be a difficult task; and even if you catch hold of it, it is now
           nothing but H2O. It has disintegrated into its basic elements.
                Do you think that, by repeating `H2O', like a transcendental meditation, your thirst will be
           quenched? You simply need water. H2O, the mantra, will not do.
                I can understand your reluctance to accept it. It is because of your love. The more you love me,
           the more you will see the heights of my consciousness and the more you will see the depths of your
           consciousness. Your love is going to reveal the dark valleys of your being, and the sunlit peaks of
           my consciousness. And because you love me, you cannot simply shut your eyes and deny that there
           are any sunlit peaks. Your love will grow more, to the point that you have to travel the path from
           your valleys to the sunlit peaks of the mountain.
                The only thread between the master and the disciple is that of love. It is not belief, it is not faith,
           it is pure and simple love. You have seen in the master your own ultimate realization; you have seen
           in the master what you can be. Just a little turning in, and you will be the same.
                And your reluctance is natural. You have loved me; you would not like to be equal to me, that
           seems to be insulting. But it is not insulting, it only logically looks insulting. Your love turns into a
           deep gratitude.
                I will tell you about Sariputta, a famous philosopher at the time of Gautam Buddha. He became a
           disciple of Gautam Buddha just by seeing him. He himself had thousands of followers, but the
           moment he saw Buddha, he told his disciples that now they were free: "If you want to remain with
           me, you can, but now I am in a strange love with this man." And he became enlightened within two
           years. The day he became enlightened, his eyes were full of tears, and he was holding Buddha's feet.
           Buddha said, "Why are you crying?"
                He said, "I cannot accept that I am equal to you. It is just impossible for me to think that now
           there is no difference between my consciousness and yours."
                Buddha said, "Sariputta, come to your senses! It is my whole effort to bring you to the same
           consciousness, to the same height, as I am. Don't be worried about the fact that you have become an
           equal. You have always been an equal; it's just that you never realized it. Your gratitude is enough,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but don't feel reluctant to accept your buddhahood."
               This is going to happen to many of you. But don't be reluctant. Your mind will say, "You can rise
           as much as possible, but don't rise to the height of your master."
               There are teachers in the world, fakes, frauds, who would not like you to rise to their heights -- if
           they have any. The authentic master is insistent that you should become the same, you should dwell
           on the same heights. That is, in a way, the definition of an authentic master. For him, you are already
           the same, you just don't recognize it. The whole effort is to bring the recognition to you.

              The rains have come to listen to your laughter. Poor rains, nobody laughs at them. Nobody even
           says hello; on the contrary -- people are carrying umbrellas. That is just insulting.

               Pope the Polack is invited to the White House to give a special speech on the role of the Vatican
           in saving the world. As he is speaking to a group of people on the lawn, he coughs, and his false
           teeth fall out onto the ground and break.
               Seeing the situation, a nearby guest digs into his pocket and pulls out a set of dentures.
           Embarrassed, the pope fumbles around with them, but because they are too big, he cannot get the
           teeth into his mouth.
               Then the guest reaches into another pocket and offers another set of false teeth. But this time
           they are too small.
               The guest pulls out a third set from his back pocket, and the toothless Polack shoves them into
           his mouth. These teeth fit.
               Nervous, but happy, Pope the Polack turns to the guest and says, "Wow! That is great. Are you a
           dentist?"
           "Nope," replies the guest, with a wink, "I am an undertaker!"

              It will take a little time for you to get it. But in the middle of the night, don't forget to get it!

               Father Fumble, the newly ordained priest, goes for some practical Catholic experience with his
           teacher, Father Fungus.
               The two priests sit together inside the confessional box of the Sacred Virgin's Chapel, and listen
           to all the crimes against God Almighty.
               "I have fornicated with two strange men this week," confesses Katie. "Please forgive me,
           Father."
               "You are forgiven, my child," says Father Fungus. "Just put forty dollars in the money box and
           say ten Hail Marys."
           "I have been adulterous with my neighbor," pleads Polly, the next sinner.
               "You are forgiven, my daughter," says Father Fungus. "Twenty dollars in the box and ten Ave
           Marias."
               "So," says Fungus to Father Fumble. "Do you get it? All the rates are written in this little book,
           and if you have any problems, I will be upstairs."
               Father Fumble sits alone in the confessional, and in comes the next customer.
           "Father," confesses Betty, "I have just given my boyfriend Boris a blowjob."
           "Blowjob?" says Father Fumble, thumbing through his book. "Blowjob?"
           Then he shouts upstairs, "Hey, Father Fungus! What do I do for a blowjob?"
               "Tell her to put ten dollars in the box," calls back Father Fungus, "and send her up here!"

           This you get perfectly well!

              Swami Deva Coconut manages to get a job on Nancy Reagan's personal staff. One day, he
           overhears Nancy complaining to Ed Meese that she and Ronnie are having a lot of trouble with their
           love life.
              At a suitable moment, Swami Coconut takes Nancy aside and suggests that she should try
           mounting on top of her husband, instead of lying underneath in the traditional missionary position.
              Nancy's Fundamentalist Christian morals are rather shocked, but she is so desperate that she
           agrees to give it a go.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The next morning, a delighted Nancy meets Coconut in the library.
              "It was like magic," gushes Nancy, breathlessly. "It was wonderful. But tell me, Mr. Coconut,
           how did you know a simple thing like that would make all the difference?"
              "Easy," replies Coconut. "Everyone knows that Ronald Reagan can only fuck up!"

           Nivedano...

           Nivedano...

           Be silent.
           Feel your whole body to be frozen.
           Close your eyes.
                This beautiful evening, this great rain, this tremendous silence, will be of help to you to go
           inwards as deeply as possible.
           Go in...
           Deeper and deeper.
                You have to cross all the lines I told you about... the body, the mind, the heart. Reach to the self,
           the center; and then you can take a jump into eternity, into the ultimate cosmos.
           Then you can open your wings, and fly in the sky.
                The whole effort of meditation is to give you a taste of ultimate freedom. So don't be afraid of
           anything -- there is nothing to be afraid of.
           It is your own sky, it is your own truth, it is your own originality.
                This is the buddha in you. Recognize, remember -- and remember to remember afterwards.
           To be a buddha is just a remembrance, it is not an achievement.
           You are already it.

           To make it clear, Nivedano...

           Relax, let go.
           The body will be dying, see it as a corpse; with it the mind will be gone.
           Just a watcher remains eternally with you.
           It is your essential nature, but the watcher is not the self.
           The watcher is a no-self, it is nothingness.
           It is the empty heart, it is an opening into the universe.

               Let the experience sink deep in every fibre of your being, because it has to be your very life
           style. In your actions it has to be present. Around the clock you have to carry a remembrance of your
           being a buddha, and this will transform all your actions and responses.
               This is the miracle... because we don't cultivate any morality, we simply awaken your buddha.
           And all morality, all truth, all sincerity, and all honesty simply follow your remembrance of the
           buddha, as a shadow.

           Nivedano...

                Come back, but come back as buddhas, without any hesitation. Bring out with you the experience
           of the innermost core.
                Sit down for a few moments, without any reluctance, as a buddha. It is your right, your birthright.
           It is nothing like an achievement, it is just remembering a forgotten language.
           You are a buddha whether you know or not. It is better to know it,
                because then it transforms your whole life, brings new joys and new flowers, new blessings, new
           understandings, new clarities and perceptions. It is a total change.
                Morality has to be cultivated; it is false. But to remember one's buddhahood... the morality comes
           as a shadow, on its own. Then it has a beauty, a tremendous grace; then you are not doing it, it is
           simply happening.
                To enter into the world of spontaneity and happenings is the only reason why you are here. We
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not searching or seeking anything. We are simply trying to remember who we are, what it is that
           is the center of our life. Finding the center, it will not be long before suddenly you will realize: this
           center is also the center of the whole existence -- we are all connected in the roots.
                And the experience of being one with existence is the greatest and the most valuable experience
           that is possible for consciousness.
                You are getting ready to face a miracle: inch by inch, you are moving closer and closer to the
           cliff, which I call the center. One step more, beyond it, and you will know that you were never
           separate from existence; you have never been born, and you have never died -- you are an eternity.
                The joy that it brings, and the ecstasy that it brings, and the dance that it brings... it makes your
           whole life a celebration.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master!




                              The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                     Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: In the blink of an eye
           12 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809125
              ShortTitle: EMPTI05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DAIO SAID TO GENCHU:
              SINCE ANCIENT TIMES, THE ENLIGHTENED ANCESTORS APPEARING IN THE WORLD RELIED
              JUST ON THEIR OWN FUNDAMENTAL EXPERIENCE TO REVEAL SOMETHING OF WHAT IS
              BEFORE US: SO WE SEE THEM KNOCKING CHAIRS AND RAISING WHISKS, HITTING THE
              GROUND AND BRANDISHING STICKS, BEATING A DRUM OR ROLLING BALLS...
              DAIO CONTINUED:
              EVEN THOUGH THIS IS SO, EMINENT GENCHU, YOU HAVE TRAVELED ALL OVER AND SPENT
              A LONG TIME IN MONASTERIES. DON'T WORRY ABOUT SUCH OLD CALENDAR DAYS AS
              THESE I MENTIONED -- JUST GO BY THE LIVING ROAD YOU SEE ON YOUR OWN; GOING
              EAST, GOING WEST, LIKE A HAWK SAILING THROUGH THE SKIES. IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
              YOU CROSS OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE.
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION DAIO SAID TO KUSHO:
              THE CAUSE AND CONDITIONS OF THE ONE GREAT CONCERN OF THE ENLIGHTENED ONES
              IS NOT APART FROM YOUR DAILY AFFAIRS. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HERE
              AND THERE. IT PERVADES PAST AND PRESENT, SHINING THROUGH THE HEAVENS,
              MIRRORING THE EARTH. THAT IS WHY IT IS SAID THAT EVERYTHING IN THE LAST MYRIAD
              EONS IS RIGHT IN THE PRESENT.
              WE VALUE THE GREAT SPIRIT OF A HERO ONLY IN THOSE CONCERNED. BEFORE ANY
              SIGNS BECOME DISTINCT, BEFORE ANY ILLUSTRATION IS EVIDENT, CONCENTRATE
              FIERCELY, LOOKING, LOOKING, COMING OR GOING, TILL YOUR EFFORT IS COMPLETELY
              RIPE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IN THE MOMENT OF A THOUGHT, YOU ATTAIN UNION. THE MIND OF BIRTH AND DEATH IS
              DESTROYED AND SUDDENLY YOU CLEARLY SEE YOUR ORIGINAL APPEARANCE, THE
              SCENE OF YOUR NATIVE LAND; EACH PARTICULAR DISTINCTLY CLEAR. YOU THEN SEE AND
              HEAR JUST AS THE BUDDHAS DID, KNOW AND ACT AS THE ENLIGHTENED ANCESTORS DID.


               Maneesha, one who is interested in knowing who he is has two ways open to him. One is the way
           of knowledge: reading scriptures, studying old scholars, collecting as many concepts about one's
           being as possible. That is the cheaper way. There would be nothing wrong if it were only that it is
           cheaper, but it is wrong, too.
               The second way is not to bother about others. Howsoever valuable those scriptures may be, they
           cannot give you even a single glimpse of your fundamental nature. A thousand buddhas together
           cannot force you to become a buddha.
               It is your essential right to know your fundamental nature or not to know it. You cannot be
           forced by teachers, by parents. Yes, they can force knowledge upon you, they can force ideologies
           upon you. They do force religion, without understanding that if you are full of ideologies you
           become almost crippled, prevented from knowing your own nature. You are so burdened with
           borrowed knowledge that you cannot travel to the higher mountains. You have to drop all your
           weight. As you go high even breathing becomes difficult; even to have your clothes on becomes
           difficult. You have to drop all weight, you have to become weightless.
               What is true in mountaineering is also true in the inner world of consciousness. If you want to go
           in you will have to cut through, in a single blow, all the knowledge that has been given to you. Just
           burn it! It is better to be ignorant on the path -- because at least ignorance is innocence -- than to be
           knowledgeable.
               Knowledgeability is the greatest hindrance to knowing, because you think as if you already
           know. But there is no `as if' in existence. Either you know it or you don't know it. And there is no
           way of communicating it through words; all words will be misunderstood. Only the presence of a
           living master, a wordless silence, can perhaps become a glimpse, a triggering point in you. It is not
           being done by the master; it happens in your receptivity, in your openness. Something clicks. There
           is no other word to replace the word `click'.
           Daio is saying to Genchu:
              SINCE ANCIENT TIMES, THE ENLIGHTENED ANCESTORS APPEARING IN THE WORLD RELIED
              JUST ON THEIR OWN FUNDAMENTAL EXPERIENCE TO REVEAL SOMETHING OF WHAT IS
              BEFORE US...

               Those who have known -- their difficulty is that of communication. You know the taste of salt
           but you cannot convey it through language. Language has limitations, and the experience of your
           fundamental nature is of the unlimited. To bring the unlimited to the limitations of language is a
           tremendously risky task. Even though it is done with absolute accuracy, it is going to fail. Seeing
           this, the ancient masters have not relied on scriptures, have not even relied on language. They are
           their own authority; it does not matter whether all the scriptures of the world say something else.
           They know the taste of truth. Their authority is not derived from their scholarship; they are the
           authority unto themselves.
               It brings a problem, because they cannot use scriptures; they cannot use ordinary means of
           communication. Hence, they used anything that was in front of them.
              ... SO WE SEE THEM KNOCKING CHAIRS AND RAISING WHISKS, HITTING THE GROUND AND
              BRANDISHING STICKS, BEATING A DRUM OR ROLLING BALLS...

               Anything, just to wake you up. Because the question is not of teaching you a philosophical
           understanding; the question is of existential awakening.
               When for the first time the West became aware of Zen masters, they thought, "These people are
           absolutely crazy! Somebody is asking about truth and you hit him?" Obviously, it looked crazy --
           and the more so because the person who is being hit, in deep gratitude, bows down and touches your
           feet! The West was completely puzzled. When Zen books started being translated for the first time,
           the Western philosophers were hitting their heads. They had never heard that by slapping a man who
           is asking a question, you are answering him. They had no idea what was implied in this hitting or
           slapping. One Zen master even threw a man from the second-story window to the ground. The man
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           had come to ask, "What is truth?" Not only did the master give him fractures, he jumped on top of
           him and asked him, "Do you get it?"
           And the poor fellow had to say, "Yes, Master."
                This kind of incident was absolutely unknown outside the Zen tradition. But you have to
           understand it, what is implied. When a Zen master hits, he is saying, "You are the truth, and you are
           asking about it? Are you kidding? You are the buddha and you are asking what the buddha is?" By
           hitting you he is simply saying, "Look at yourself, rather than asking like a beggar from one place to
           another. Just go in and look." His hitting is a shock; in that shock perhaps your thinking may stop,
           there is every possibility. You were not expecting a hit; you had come with deep humbleness,
           touching the feet of the master....
                And sometimes it has happened that the person has not even asked the question and the master
           has hit him, because his very coming and touching the feet means he has some question to ask. It
           does not matter what question, you deserve a good hit! It is throwing you back to yourself; it is
           saying in an existential way that you are the answer -- don't seek it anywhere.
                Having no other way to communicate, they devised anything that might wake you up, throw you
           upon yourself. Asking a question means you are putting the responsibility on the master to answer
           you. But his answer cannot be your answer.
                Nobody else's answer can be your answer. Your answer has to grow within you, just as a rose
           grows. That's what the master is saying by hitting you: Don't go anywhere, just go in; stop asking,
           stop begging, because you are already in the kingdom of the buddhas but you have not looked in.
           Perhaps a good hit, perhaps the master throwing the disciple from the window may awaken him from
           his somnambulistic state -- the state in which we all are... half asleep, half awake, just at the
           minimum awake.
                The major part of our being is fast asleep. According to modern psychologists, only one part out
           of ten is awake; nine-tenths are fast asleep. With this much sleep within you, it is impossible to know
           the truth, to know love, to know the nature of existence.
                Daio is saying that these ancient masters had to fall back on strange methods, but there was
           simply one reason: in some way to wake you up.
              DAIO CONTINUED:
              EVEN THOUGH THIS IS SO, EMINENT GENCHU, YOU HAVE TRAVELED ALL OVER AND SPENT
              A LONG TIME IN MONASTERIES. DON'T WORRY ABOUT SUCH OLD CALENDAR DAYS AS
              THESE I MENTIONED -- JUST GO BY THE LIVING ROAD YOU SEE ON YOUR OWN.

               He is saying all the old masters and the buddhas and the patriarchs are old calendars -- don't be
           bothered about them. Follow the living stream which you see with your own eyes -- no belief, no
           faith, simply be clear. Zen requires of the disciple a clarity, an intelligence, an awareness, which
           have not been required by any other religion in the world or by any other philosophy in the world. Its
           requirement is absolute.
               Daio says, "Don't worry about such old calendars. JUST GO BY THE LIVING ROAD, from
           where your life is coming." From whatever point your life is arising, that is the living road. It is not
           outside you. You have to dig deep within yourself for the roots and for the way that connects you
           with the universal existence. It is simply an internal affair.
               JUST GO BY THE LIVING ROAD YOU SEE ON YOUR OWN -- don't ask me and don't ask
           anyone else what the living road is. Just close your eyes and see for yourself what the living road is.
           You are alive -- that much is certain; it is proved by your questioning. You are breathing. Just close
           your eyes and find out where all these branches are joined to the trunk, and where the roots are
           hidden in the universal energy.
               This is the living road, and nobody can point it out to you. You have to find it yourself.
               JUST GO BY THE LIVING ROAD YOU SEE ON YOUR OWN; GOING EAST, GOING
           WEST, LIKE A HAWK SAILING THROUGH THE SKIES. Don't be worried -- wherever it leads,
           go. Finally it will bring you to the very center of existence.
               IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, YOU CROSS OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE. The happening
           happens only in the blink of an eye. The distance between the buddha and the no-buddha is so small,
           the distinction between the awake and the asleep is so small, that just in the blink of an eye you have
           already moved to the further shore, to the other shore.
               It is to be understood clearly: the road is not very long. To call it a road is simply symbolic; there
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is no other way to say it. It is simply a change of vision: you were looking out, you close your eyes
           and you look within. And you go on, deepening, inside, as far as you can, and you are bound to find
           the source of your life.
               It is just as if a roseflower were trying to find the source of its life. Where is it going to find it? It
           will have to move withinwards, into the branches, towards the roots, from where it is getting all its
           nourishment and all its life.
           We also have roots, but they are invisible.
               Zen is nothing but a discovery of our roots. The man who knows his roots is called the buddha.
               ON ANOTHER OCCASION DAIO SAID TO KUSHO: THE CAUSE AND CONDITIONS OF THE ONE
               GREAT CONCERN OF THE ENLIGHTENED ONES IS NOT APART FROM YOUR DAILY AFFAIRS.
               THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HERE AND THERE. IT PERVADES PAST AND PRESENT,
               SHINING THROUGH THE HEAVENS, MIRRORING THE EARTH. THAT IS WHY IT IS SAID THAT
               EVERYTHING IN THE LAST MYRIAD EONS IS RIGHT IN THE PRESENT.

               The past -- immense past, beginningless past -- is behind you. But where has it gone? An
           immense future -- eternal future, endless future -- is ahead of you. Where is it hiding? Zen's
           understanding is that in the present moment the whole past is hidden, and in the present moment the
           whole future also is hidden. The present moment contains the whole universe -- past, present, future.
           If you can manage to understand the present moment, you have understood the whole phenomenon
           of eternity.
               Before Albert Einstein, everybody thought that the atom was the smallest particle which existed.
           Up to Einstein nobody had been able to split the atom, so it was thought to be the last division of
           matter that we could make. It was impossible to cut the atom in two parts; the atom was a solid
           entity. But Albert Einstein managed to split the atom, and found that by splitting it, a tremendous
           energy which is hiding in it explodes.
               Nobody had ever conceived that in such a particle, which is not even visible to the eye, so much
           energy is contained that it can destroy a big city like Hiroshima or Nagasaki within three minutes. It
           consumed both cities leaving behind only traces, ruins, skeletons....
               I have been sent by a friend a picture of a small girl, who must have been going up the stairs to
           the first floor of her house, carrying her books to do some homework. She was just half way up the
           stairs when the atom bomb fell on Hiroshima and everything was burned within three minutes. He
           has sent me the picture of the girl. She was burned with her books, and her image remained
           imprinted on the wall -- just the shape of her body, and the small bag in which she was carrying her
           homework.
               Just as the atom was once unknown... and now we have gone hundreds of years ahead of Albert
           Einstein. Now we are able not only to divide the atom, we can divide the divisions of the atom.
           Those divisions of the atom carry even bigger power sources, condensed.
               The same is true about the moment of time. It contains all past and all future... and of course, the
           present.
               So the man who is meditating forgets all the past, drops all longings for the future. It is enough to
           know the present. By knowing it, by entering into its complexities, you will know the whole
           universe. And when you reach to your life source... that too is atomic, an individual life source. But
           it has to be connected with the universe in some way; otherwise you cannot live. So once you find
           your life source, you have found the way. Just in the blink of an eye, you are on the other shore. You
           have entered into the universal existence.
           Zen is perhaps the only scientific approach to religious experience.
               WE VALUE THE GREAT SPIRIT OF A HERO ONLY IN THOSE CONCERNED. BEFORE ANY
               SIGNS BECOME DISTINCT, BEFORE ANY ILLUSTRATION IS EVIDENT, CONCENTRATE
               FIERCELY, LOOKING, LOOKING, COMING OR GOING, TILL YOUR EFFORT IS COMPLETELY
               RIPE.

              All is hidden in the looking, in the watching; in seeing so fiercely that your whole energy is
           concentrated. Then existence cannot remain a mystery to you. In that concentration you become ripe,
           and you deserve that all the mysteries be open to you. IN THE MOMENT OF A THOUGHT YOU
           ATTAIN UNION -- just in a moment.
              Once you have reached your life source, then it is only a question of a moment, the blink of an
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           eye, and you have found the union with existence.
              THE MIND OF BIRTH AND DEATH IS DESTROYED AND SUDDENLY YOU CLEARLY SEE YOUR
              ORIGINAL APPEARANCE, THE SCENE OF YOUR NATIVE LAND; EACH PARTICULAR
              DISTINCTLY CLEAR. YOU THEN SEE AND HEAR JUST AS THE BUDDHAS DID, KNOW AND ACT
              AS THE ENLIGHTENED ANCESTORS DID.

                Knowing the source of your life, and taking a quantum leap in the blink of an eye to the other
           shore, is the union with the whole, the cosmos. After this union you behave like a buddha. You
           cannot do otherwise. Your actions, your gestures, your words or your silences, your movement or
           your no-movement, will have the same quality as that of any buddha. All buddhas participate in the
           same cosmic source.
                Zen is not in search of any God. Its search can be said to be union -- the union with the whole.
           And the union makes you all that is, has been, will be. Nothing is left out of the whole, and you
           become one with it.
                The first missionaries who had come to Japan to convert people to Christianity were amazed by
           the Zen masters. When they came across a Zen master... because others had told them, "Don't bother
           us. You just transform a certain Zen master whom I have loved, and if he changes to Christianity,
           even if he goes to hell I am ready to go with him. But don't bother with me. You just change that Zen
           master." And the missionaries approached the Zen masters with their gospels. The Zen masters
           laughed; they said, "You don't understand religion at all and you are converting people into religion.
           You don't have the taste yourself."
                One missionary was very angry. He opened the Bible and read the Sermon on the Mount. It is a
           beautiful sermon and he was thinking, "Now, let us see what this fellow says." After three or four
           lines the Zen master said, "Shut up! I can say only this much, that this guy, whoever has written
           these lines, will become a buddha sometime in the future. He is on the path. This much I can
           certainly say, that some day he will become a buddha. But don't take it seriously, because you will
           also become a buddha one day. And remember, for becoming a buddha, Buddhism is not necessary."
                That was the great approach, that for becoming a buddha, Buddhism is not necessary. Nothing is
           necessary; the buddha is already asleep in you, just some situation is needed in which he can be
           awakened. All Zen monasteries were doing only one thing -- creating situations so that the buddha is
           awake. It is not something to which you are converted, it is your own nature.
                The Christian missionaries were at a loss, because these Zen masters never talked about God.
           They said, "What is the point? You don't even know yourself and you are talking about God. Who
           has seen God? And what will you do even if you meet him?" It will be a very awkward situation.
           God standing before you... you will find yourself in a very weird space -- what to do now?
                I have told you the story of Rabindranath Tagore. In one of his best poems he wrote, "I have seen
           God many times but he was always far away beside a star. I followed but by the time I reached there
           he had moved to some other place, far away. It had been going on and on for many lives. Finally I
           reached the place, the house where it was written on the door: Here lives the Lord of the World,
           Father God."
                He was just going to knock and became suddenly aware: "Just think twice -- what am I going to
           do if I meet him? I am not prepared at all. After meeting him there is nothing to do. Your whole life
           has been structured in searching for God. You know how to search, you know how to fast, you know
           how to pray, but you don't know.... When you have met God, there is no point in fasting and there is
           no point in searching and there is no point in prayer. What are you going to do? You will be
           suffocated!"
                Seeing the situation, he took his shoes in his hands, out of fear that when he went back down the
           steps God might hear the sound of the shoes. He might open the door and say, "Where are you
           going?" And then he ran away as fast as he could.
                The poem has a tremendous beauty. It says, "Since then I am again searching. I know where God
           is, so I avoid only that place! But I go on searching because in searching there is so much joy, and I
           am thought to be a great saint. I am enjoying the great adventure of searching for God. There is only
           one thing I have to remember -- not to go to that place again! But the whole world is available to
           search, except that house."
                Zen has never bothered about God; neither has it said anything against God. That is a very
           strange situation to understand, because people either believe in God or not. But Zen is simply
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unconcerned. There is no question of belief or disbelief; it simply puts God out of the way. It is
           unnecessary luggage.
               Zen has taken only the essential point, and that is the source of your life. Just go deepening on
           that road so that you can reach the final transformation, from the individual to the universal.

              Just before his death Basui turned to the crowd that had gathered around and said in a loud voice:
              LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD.
              WHAT IS THERE?
              IF YOU SEE IT AS IT IS
              YOU WILL NEVER ERR.


               He is talking about inside. These are his last words; he is saying, "Look straight forward!" He is
           not telling anybody, he is simply saying it to himself, LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD. WHAT IS
           THERE? -- just a pure clarity, a silent sky, an eternal silence. If you see it as it is, without any
           preconceived ideas, without any religions and philosophies -- just as it is -- you will never err. You
           will never make a mistake. You will reach directly like an arrow, and hit the moon.
           Zen's concern is absolutely you -- you in your original nature.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT BECAUSE YOU SPEAK FROM YOUR OWN FUNDAMENTAL EXPERIENCE THAT YOUR
              WORDS SPONTANEOUSLY IMPRESS ONE AS TRUE, AS UNEQUIVOCAL COMMON SENSE,
              EVEN THOUGH THE LISTENER MAY NOT HAVE HAD SUCH EXPERIENCE?
              FROM THE FIRST SENTENCE OF YOURS THAT I EVER READ -- BEFORE I COULD HAVE
              DEVELOPED THE EYES AND EARS OF LOVE -- THERE WAS NO DECISION TO CHOOSE TO
              ACCEPT THAT YOU WERE RIGHT. YOU SIMPLY WERE -- WHETHER IT SUITED ME OR NOT. I
              JUST DON'T GET IT: HOW IS IT THAT OTHERS COULD POSSIBLY FEEL OTHERWISE?


               Maneesha, you can speak on the authority of others, but then your words are dead corpses, like
           the dry roses you can find in Holy Bibles. But when someone speaks from his own experience it is a
           living phenomenon. You may agree with it, you may not agree, but it leaves the impact on you that
           you have been in contact with someone who knows.
               I am not authoritarian, but I am an authority. And you have to understand the difference between
           the two. The authoritarian is always within quotation marks. He is a great scholar, you cannot
           dispute him. His argument is very valid, supported by the scriptures. His authoritarian attitude is
           derived from scriptures, from the past, from others' experiences.
               I am not authoritarian but certainly I am the authority. I say only that which I know. And because
           I say only that which I know, you may agree with it or not, it does not matter; its truth rings a bell in
           your heart. And whenever something rings a bell in your heart, don't listen to the mind -- the mind
           may not agree. Listen to the heart because the heart knows better.
               The heart is ancient; the mind is a very recent development. And the mind's development is from
           outside experiences. The heart knows something of the inner, it knows nothing of the outer. So when
           your heart rings a bell, whether your mind agrees with it or not, don't be worried; you are very close
           to the truth.
               If any person's presence simply overwhelms you ... that is the only intimate communion between
           a disciple and a master. That is the only way the disciple can decide that he has found his master. He
           is overwhelmed, he is surrounded by the master's presence from all sides. The mind may be freaking
           out, because mind is always afraid of being overwhelmed by someone. The mind is basically egoistic
           and to be overwhelmed means the ego may be gone like a shadow. Mind is afraid of truth, mind is
           afraid of reality, because mind consists of all kinds of illusions, lies. Truth will expose it; hence it
           avoids the truth.
               But you are fortunate, Maneesha. If your heart says that you have found a man who is speaking
           on his own authority, then a revolution is possible in your very life, too. And that revolution is
           happening day by day, it is not something that stops. It goes on happening until you are completely
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           burned and dissolved.
              That fortunate moment will also come. It is not very far. This is a good beginning.

               Before you enter into the living way, inwards, don't forget to come back again. I am always
           afraid for Sardar Gurudayal Singh. I have even ordered a grave to be made ready, because some day
           somebody may not come back. And Sardar Gurudayal Singh is standing in the queue almost at the
           front, very close. He will laugh and simply go away. We will celebrate... and he knows that there is
           no need to be worried. But he goes on coming back, because one never knows what joke I am going
           to tell.
               I will miss him also, because he is the only man in the whole world who laughs before the joke is
           told. Such trust is very difficult to find. But I warn you all: go deep, but don't go too far. When
           Nivedano gives the call to come back, be a good boy!

                Jesus and Peter are sipping their iced tea while sunbathing on the shore of Lake Galilee.
                A group of children nearby start throwing rocks in the water. They laugh and shout and kick up
           the sand.
                His peace completely destroyed, Peter sits up. "Hey! You kids!" he barks at them. "You get outta
           here!"
                But Jesus pushes up his Ray-Ban sunglasses, wipes the sand off his face, and says, "No, Peter.
           Let the children come unto me."
                Five minutes later, the noise is deafening as screaming kids, splashing water, and flying sand fill
           the air. Peter, hung over from last night's wine, gets totally pissed off. "I said, you kids just get the
           hell outta here!" he screams.
                But again Jesus sits up, wipes the sand off himself, raises his hand and says, "Peter, I told you:
           let the children come unto me -- so that I can kick their little asses!"

           Klopski is sitting with Seamus at the Dancing Duck Pub, sipping his beer.
           "Hey, Seamus," says the Polack, "how do you do so well with the girls?"
               "Easy," says Seamus. "You have to be sophisticated, and you have to have a gimmick."
               "Sophisticated is easy," says Klopski, swallowing down his tenth beer. "But what is a gimmick?"
               "Well," replies Seamus, "for example, I painted a white circle on the dashboard of my car. The
           girl usually asks me what it means. Then I very casually explain that it stands for purity. The
           conversation generally turns to abstract white things, like virginity. From there it is easy to talk them
           into it."
           "Okay," says Klopski, "I think I got it."
               The next evening Klopski paints a white circle on the dashboard of his car, and then goes to pick
           up his date, Lucy.
               "That is rather unusual -- having a white circle on your dash," says Lucy to Klopski.
               "Yes, it is," replies Klopski, thinking quickly as he adjusts his tie. "Do you wanna fuck?"

              "You are drunk!" shouts the barman of the Groggy Doggie Pub, at Paddy, who just has slipped
           slowly onto the floor again.
              "I'm not drunk at all!" insists Paddy, picking himself up. "In fact, I'm not even drunk a little bit,
           and I'll prove it to you. Now, you see that cat just coming in the door? Well, it has only got one eye."
           "You're drunker than I thought," says the barman. "That cat is going out!"

           Nivedano...

           Nivedano...

           Be silent, close your eyes.
           Feel your body to be completely frozen.
           Look inwards, straight to the very source of your life.
           Go deeper without any fear.
              Only this way has anyone found himself as a buddha. This is the only living road that leads you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to your cosmic home.
           Without hesitation go on, go on.
           Gather all the experience of silence, the bliss and the benediction.

           To make it more clear, Nivedano...

           Relax, watch your mind and body, separate from you.
           You are only a watcher.
           This point of being a watcher is the buddha.
               Recognize your buddha nature; it is just a mirror -- reflecting everything but unaffected.
           Nothing leaves a mark on your watching. The mirror remains empty.
               This emptiness can at any moment take a quantum leap, and you will find yourself on the other
           shore.
           Just in a split second you can be one with the whole.
           This union is the authentic goal of religiousness.

           A beautiful evening...
           Unfortunately, how many are able to enjoy it?
              So few, but we have to spread this fire, this cool silence, just like a breeze around the globe.
           This silence is going to become the womb for the new man to be born.
           You prepare the way.

           Nivedano...

           Come back.
           But come back like buddhas, with great dignity, with grace, with silence.
              Sit for a few moments, just gathering, remembering, collecting the experience of your silent
           moments.

           You have to remain a buddha twenty-four hours.
           It is not an action, it is your nature.
                It has to be expressed in all your actions, in your words, in your silences, in your songs, in your
           dances.
           But you remain the watcher, the buddha.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate all the buddhas?
           Yes!




                              The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                     Chapter #6
                                          Chapter title: To take up a koan
           13 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809135
              ShortTitle: EMPTI06
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 112 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              BUKKO SAID:
              AT THE BEGINNING YOU HAVE TO TAKE UP A KOAN.
              THE KOAN IS SOME DEEP SAYING OF A PATRIARCH. ITS EFFECT IN THIS WORLD OF
              DISTINCTIONS IS TO MAKE A MAN'S GAZE STRAIGHT, AND TO GIVE HIM STRENGTH AS HE
              STANDS ON THE BRINK OF THE RIVER BANK.
              FOR THE PAST TWO OR THREE YEARS, I HAVE BEEN GIVING, IN MY INTERVIEWS, THREE
              KOANS: "THE TRUE FACE BEFORE FATHER AND MOTHER WERE BORN," "THE HEART, THE
              BUDDHA," AND "NO HEART, NO BUDDHA." FOR ONE FACING THE TURBULENCE OF
              LIFE-AND-DEATH, THESE KOANS CLEAR AWAY THE SANDY SOIL OF WORLDLY CONCERNS
              AND OPEN UP THE GOLDEN TREASURE WHICH WAS THERE FROM THE BEGINNING, THE
              AGELESS ROOT OF ALL THINGS.
              HOWEVER, IF AFTER GRAPPLING WITH A KOAN FOR THREE OR FIVE YEARS, THERE IS
              STILL NO SATORI, THEN THE KOAN SHOULD BE DROPPED; OTHERWISE IT MAY BECOME AN
              INVISIBLE CHAIN ROUND ONE. EVEN THESE TRADITIONAL METHODS CAN BECOME A
              MEDICINE WHICH POISONS.
              IN GENERAL, MEDITATION HAS TO BE DONE WITH URGENCY, BUT IF, AFTER THREE OR FIVE
              YEARS THE URGENCY IS STILL MAINTAINED FORCIBLY, THE TENSION BECOMES A WRONG
              ONE AND IT IS A SERIOUS CONDITION. MANY LOSE HEART AND GIVE UP AS A RESULT.
              AN ANCIENT HAS SAID, "SOMETIMES QUICKLY AND SOMETIMES SLOWLY, SOMETIMES HOT
              ON THE TRAIL AND SOMETIMES RESTING AT A DISTANCE."
              BUKKO CONTINUED:
              SO THIS MOUNTAIN PRIEST NOW MAKES PEOPLE AT THIS STAGE THROW DOWN THEIR
              KOAN. WHEN IT IS DROPPED AND THERE IS A COOLING DOWN, IN DUE TIME THEY HIT ON
              WHAT THEIR OWN TRUE NATURE IS, AS THE SOLUTION OF THE KOAN.
              IN CONCENTRATION ON A KOAN, THERE IS A TIME OF ROUSING THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY,
              THERE IS A TIME OF BREAKING THE CLINGING ATTACHMENTS, THERE IS A TIME OF
              FURIOUS DASHING FORWARD, AND THERE IS A TIME OF DAMPING THE FUEL AND
              STOPPING THE BOILING.
              SINCE COMING TO JAPAN, THIS MOUNTAIN PRIEST HAS BEEN MAKING THE PUPILS LOOK
              INTO A KOAN, BUT WHEN THEY HAVE DONE THIS FOR A GOOD TIME, HE TELLS THEM TO
              THROW IT DOWN. THE POINT IS THAT MANY PEOPLE COME TO SUCCESS IF THEY FIRST
              HAVE THE EXPERIENCE OF WRESTLING WITH A KOAN AND LATER REDUCE THE EFFORT;
              BUT FEW COME TO SUCCESS AT THE TIME WHEN THEY ARE PUTTING OUT EXCEPTIONAL
              EFFORT.
              SO THE INSTRUCTION IS THAT THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET LOOKED INTO A KOAN
              ABSOLUTELY MUST DO SO, BUT THOSE WHO HAVE HAD ONE FOR A GOOD TIME MUST
              THROW IT DOWN. AT THE TIME OF ZAZEN THEY THROW IT ALL AWAY. THEY SLEEP WHEN IT
              IS TIME TO SLEEP, GO WHEN IT IS TIME TO GO, SIT WHEN IT IS TIME TO SIT, AND SO ON, AS
              IF THEY WERE NOT DOING ZEN AT ALL.

               Maneesha, before I discuss what Bukko is saying, I have to introduce you to the word koan.
               It is something like a puzzle that cannot be solved -- basically insoluble. For example, how you
           looked before you were born -- there is no way to solve the problem, there is nowhere to find the
           answer. Or the koan -- the most famous one -- the sound of one hand clapping. Now, one hand
           cannot clap; for clapping the other hand will be needed.
               So first you have to understand the meaning of koan. It is some kind of statement which has no
           answer anywhere, and the master gives it to the disciple to meditate on and find the answer. From the
           very beginning the disciple knows, and the master knows, there is no possible way to find the
           answer. But it is a great strategy: when the mind cannot find the answer -- and the meditation has to
           be very urgent, with total energy focused on the koan -- the mind feels almost impotent. It looks here
           and there, brings out this answer, that answer, and gets hits from the master for bringing a wrong
           answer.
               Every answer is wrong, because the very function of the koan is not to get the answer; the very
           function of the koan is to tire your mind to such a point that it gives up. If there were an answer, the
           mind would find it. It does not matter whether you are very intelligent, or not very intelligent -- no
           intelligence of any category can find the answer.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But naturally, mind tries and tries. And the disciple comes every morning to see the master, to
           tell him what he has found in the twenty-four hours. In the beginning, the disciples think perhaps
           they may be able to make it out....
                A disciple was given the koan of one hand clapping. He heard the sound of the wind passing
           through the pine trees, and he thought, "Perhaps this is the sound of one hand clapping." He rushed
           to give the answer to the master, but before he could even open his mouth he was beaten.
           He said, "This is too much! I have not said anything."
                The master said, "It does not matter whether you have said anything or not -- you were going to
           say something."
           The student said, "But at least you should have heard it first..."
                The master said, "It does not matter, whatever you say is going to be wrong. Just go and
           meditate!"
                When disciples become accustomed, they don't rush to the master with answers. They know there
           is no answer. Knowing that there is no answer, mind gives up. And the whole strategy is very subtle,
           to put the mind aside; tired, exhausted, it has no desire to function anymore.
                The moment you put the mind aside, you have entered into the world of meditation. It has
           nothing to do with the koan, but the koan helped to tire the mind.
                Bukko is a very practical master; most of the Zen masters are not so practical. They speak from
           their peaks of consciousness; Bukko is speaking from the same ground as where you are. Hence, he
           is of much more help than the great masters who speak from a faraway peak of consciousness.
           Bukko knows that even if they shout they will not be understood; it is better to come down to the
           dark valley and talk to people in such a way that they can somehow get the point, that mind is of no
           use in the internal journey. That is the point: that mind is a hindrance, not a help; a wall, not a
           bridge.
                And Bukko is very compassionate in going into the details -- no other master has gone into the
           details -- and even giving warnings that the method is not a hundred percent foolproof. No device
           can be; even the method itself can become a hindrance.
                AT THE BEGINNING YOU HAVE TO TAKE UP A KOAN, says Bukko. THE KOAN IS
           SOME DEEP SAYING OF A PATRIARCH. ITS EFFECT IN THIS WORLD OF DISTINCTIONS
           IS TO MAKE A MAN'S GAZE STRAIGHT, AND TO GIVE HIM STRENGTH AS HE STANDS
           ON THE BRINK OF THE RIVER BANK.
                Your mind is very wavering, wobbly. A koan concentrates all your energies. A koan has not to
           be done in a lukewarm way, that is dangerous. It has to be done with totality, so you can exhaust the
           mind quickly -- as quickly as possible.
                Zen masters have experienced that the longest period is three years -- if you cannot get tired in
           three years that means you are not putting your total energy into it. You are saving energy, you are
           not going really hot. If you go really hot, then in a single moment you can see straight: there is no
           answer. And with the very experience that there is no answer at all, mind drops by the side. You
           have entered the space of your being.
                But if you go on doing it so-so, the danger is that after three years... if you have not got it yet,
           then it is better to drop the koan. It is not going to help, it is now going to hamper and hinder. It has
           become just a habit. Sitting silently, and just by the way, with many other thoughts coming and
           going, one thought is also there: What is the sound of one hand clapping? But you are not totally
           concentrated so that only the koan is there and nothing else.
                Bukko says, THE KOAN IS SOME DEEP SAYING OF A PATRIARCH. ITS EFFECT IN
           THIS WORLD OF DISTINCTIONS IS TO MAKE A MAN'S GAZE STRAIGHT... to put his whole
           energy straight on a single point; to make his consciousness like an arrow -- not going in all
           directions, a part here and a part there, a part in the past and a part in the future, and you are doing
           the koan with whatever small bit is left which has not gone anywhere. This way you will never come
           to the end; on the contrary, this will become your habit. You will do the koan your whole life, it will
           never bring meditation to you.
                So if within three years a koan has not dropped by itself, with the mind, and you don't enter into
           being, into the silence of being where there is no question and no answer -- then please stop the
           koan. Don't let it become a habit; don't let it become a mental conditioning.
                The first thing is to make your gaze straight, and to give you strength as you stand on the brink of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the river bank.
              FOR THE PAST TWO OR THREE YEARS, I HAVE BEEN GIVING, IN MY INTERVIEWS, THREE
              KOANS: "THE TRUE FACE BEFORE FATHER AND MOTHER WERE BORN...."

               Not only you, but before your father and mother were born -- your true face. There is no way to
           find where you were, what your true face was....
           Second, "THE HEART, THE BUDDHA." Find the heart which is the buddha.
               And the third, "NO HEART, NO BUDDHA." These three koans he has used. There are a
           thousand and one koans -- anything which is insoluble, which looks beautiful but when you start
           working on it, you find that you have come to the end of the road; it does not go anywhere.
              FOR ONE FACING THE TURBULENCE OF LIFE-AND-DEATH, THESE KOANS CLEAR AWAY THE
              SANDY SOIL OF WORLDLY CONCERNS AND OPEN UP THE GOLDEN TREASURE WHICH WAS
              THERE FROM THE BEGINNING, THE AGELESS ROOT OF ALL THINGS.

               The koan can do a miracle, although it is just a device. The question is with what urgency, with
           what totality, you make your whole mind concerned only with the koan, twenty-four hours. It is not
           something that you do for one hour and forget about it.
               It is a monastery method. Remember, there are methods which are individual and you can do
           anywhere, and there are methods which are monastery methods; you can do them only in a
           monastery, where you are allowed to meditate twenty-four hours, where there is nothing else to do
           but to meditate.
               The koan is a monastery method. If you can put in all your energy, not leaving a small chunk of
           your consciousness aside, as is the habit of people... They never stake everything. For safety, for an
           emergency, they keep holding something back. They never put all they have into the method.

                I have heard, Mulla Nasruddin was caught traveling without a ticket. The ticket checker was
           puzzled, because Mulla opened all his suitcases and threw things all over the compartment, and
           finally, the very effort of his search... He had looked into every pocket except one pocket on the left
           side of his coat. The ticket checker noticed it and he said, "Your effort proves that certainly you have
           the ticket, and it has got mixed up because you are carrying so much luggage. So don't be worried,
           when you get off you can look for it. But one question I have to ask you: You have looked into
           everything else, why don't you look in your left-side pocket?"
           Mulla said, "Don't mention that!"
                The man said, "Why? When you are looking, then why are you saving that one pocket?"
                He said, "That is my only hope, that perhaps it may be there. If it is not there, then it is certain --
           it is nowhere. I cannot drop my hope. First I will have to look through everything."
                And he was not only looking into his own suitcases, he started looking into other people's! The
           ticket checker said, "You stop! These are not your suitcases. Are you a madman? You are not
           looking in the pocket where I think the ticket is, and you have started opening other peoples
           suitcases?"
                Mulla said, "I will search first throughout the world; only as a last resort, when everything else is
           finished, will I check in my left pocket. That is my only hope!"

                People always keep something aside, they never put everything, in totality, at the stake. And
           what they put aside keeps them divided. They cannot be total; they remain only a part involved and a
           part not involved.
                So the first thing the koan does is to make you completely straightforward, pointing to a single
           goal, like an arrow. If this is done, soon your mind will be tired. But if you are saving some energy,
           your mind will always rejuvenate itself. The saved energy will never allow you to be so tired and so
           exhausted that you simply drop the koan, you simply say, "I am fed up; I am finished. This is stupid
           -- there cannot be any sound with one hand clapping!"
                At that exhausted moment, mind stops -- tired, utterly fed up. With the mind stopping, even for a
           single moment, in the blink of an eye you are on the other shore.
              FOR ONE FACING THE TURBULENCE OF LIFE-AND-DEATH, THESE KOANS CLEAR AWAY THE
              SANDY SOIL OF WORLDLY CONCERNS AND OPEN UP THE GOLDEN TREASURE WHICH WAS
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THERE FROM THE BEGINNING, THE AGELESS ROOT OF ALL THINGS.

               A very simple device, if done rightly, can open up the cosmic treasure -- your ultimate home.
               HOWEVER, IF AFTER GRAPPLING WITH A KOAN FOR THREE OR FIVE YEARS,
           THERE IS STILL NO SATORI, no enlightenment, THEN THE KOAN SHOULD BE DROPPED.
               This is what I call a compassionate master. Bukko is very much concerned with the disciple --
           not just saying the ultimate truths, but almost trailing along with him by his side, as a fellow traveler,
           making him aware of every pitfall.
              IF, FOR THREE OR FIVE YEARS, THERE IS STILL NO SATORI, THEN THE KOAN SHOULD BE
              DROPPED; OTHERWISE IT MAY BECOME AN INVISIBLE CHAIN ROUND ONE.

                You will have started thinking that this is a kind of mantra, a religious ritual -- every day you do
           it. Nothing happens, but perhaps sometime you will accumulate enough virtue... But what virtue can
           you accumulate by thinking about a koan like the sound of one hand clapping?
                These are not mantras that you go on repeating all your life; these are absolutely scientific
           devices. But one has to do it with totality, then it can open the door. If you do it half-heartedly, then
           please don't do it, because doing it half-heartedly you will never come to the gate. You will go on
           repeating your nonsense -- because it is nonsense; you have to remember that it is nonsense that you
           are repeating. There is no sound of one hand clapping, and there is no face that you can find
           anywhere before your parents were born.
                These are not puzzles that you can, with great intelligence, solve. They look like puzzles, but
           they are not puzzles; they are simply absurdities. But the absurd is capable of tiring the mind. Only
           the absurd can tire it -- anything rational, the mind will manage; anything reasonable, the mind will
           manage; anything logical, the mind will manage. Only something absurd... Mind cannot manage the
           absurd; it can go nuts but it cannot solve the problem. Before it goes nuts you have to drop the
           problem.
                Remember that either your koan can drive you nuts, if you are doing it half-heartedly, or it can
           make you a buddha if you are doing it totally, wholeheartedly. The whole question is of urgency and
           totality.
           Before the koan becomes a chain, a bondage, it has to be dropped.
              EVEN THESE TRADITIONAL METHODS CAN BECOME A MEDICINE WHICH POISONS.
              IN GENERAL, MEDITATION HAS TO BE DONE WITH URGENCY, BUT IF, AFTER THREE OR FIVE
              YEARS, THE URGENCY IS STILL MAINTAINED FORCIBLY, THE TENSION BECOMES A WRONG
              ONE AND IT IS A SERIOUS CONDITION.

               It can drive you mad. Just think: for five years, day and night, a person is thinking about the
           sound of one hand clapping. He will go mad! It will become such a psychological condition that he
           may want to stop it but it will not stop. It will go on and on inside in him, "What is the sound of one
           hand clapping?" Even in his sleep it will continue. The moment he opens his eyes, the first thought
           will be, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Before going to sleep, the last thought will be,
           "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" And the same will continue through the whole night like
           an undercurrent.
               Bukko is making it clear: "Remember that even medicine can become poison. It can become out
           of date; you should not use it beyond its limit." And if you want to do it within its limits, then do it
           so totally that you are finished before the time limit on the medicine is finished.
               On every bottle of medicine, there is a date, a last date beyond which you should not use it. On
           every device there is a time limit, and if you want to experience the eternal in you, then don't go
           slowly; then be fast, before the time limit on the device is finished.
               And always remember that it is a nonsense device, there is no answer for it. It is not meant to
           have an answer; its purpose is there, and the purpose is to exhaust your mind. So put in your total
           energy, so it is exhausted quickly. The quicker you exhaust the mind, the sooner the realization, the
           transcendence, the opening of the doors of your eternal treasures.
              IN GENERAL, MEDITATION HAS TO BE DONE WITH URGENCY, BUT IF, AFTER THREE OR FIVE
              YEARS, THE URGENCY IS STILL MAINTAINED FORCIBLY, THE TENSION BECOMES A WRONG
              ONE AND IT IS A SERIOUS CONDITION. MANY LOSE HEART AND GIVE UP AS A RESULT.
              AN ANCIENT HAS SAID, "SOMETIMES QUICKLY AND SOMETIMES SLOWLY, SOMETIMES HOT
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ON THE TRAIL AND SOMETIMES RESTING AT A DISTANCE."
              BUKKO CONTINUED:
              SO THIS MOUNTAIN PRIEST NOW MAKES PEOPLE AT THIS STAGE THROW DOWN THEIR
              KOAN. WHEN IT IS DROPPED AND THERE IS A COOLING DOWN...

              because you were going with full speed, your mind was becoming hotter and hotter, on a single
           point for years.
              Bukko says, "I tell my disciples, now it is time to drop it, and let the mind cool down."
              ... THERE IS A COOLING DOWN, IN DUE TIME THEY HIT ON WHAT THEIR OWN TRUE NATURE
              IS, AS THE SOLUTION OF THE KOAN.

               When the mind cools down, that is almost the equivalent of mind being put aside. In one case it
           is sudden enlightenment, in the other case it will be called gradual enlightenment.
               I don't use koans for the simple reason that you are not in a monastery. The method is basically a
           monastery method -- nobody has made the distinction before. My people are in the world; they
           cannot put their totality into meditating twenty-four hours. It is enough for them to put their totality
           into it for a few minutes and just have a drink of their eternity, of their immortality, just to have a
           glimpse of the roots. And don't continue it, just let it remain like a faraway echo surrounding you. A
           fragrance -- just as when you pass a rose garden, even if you don't touch the roses, your clothes will
           carry the fragrance of the roses.
               You are in the world, and I want everyone of my sannyasins to be in the world. I don't want you
           to be in a monastery, because a monastery takes all your twenty-four hours, destroys all your
           capabilities for creativity. And most often people become so tired that they leave the monastery and
           enter another monastery. This is a constant phenomenon in Japan: people who get tired of one
           monastery move into another monastery. And because they don't have to work at anything -- food is
           supplied by the monastery, clothes are supplied by the monastery; their only work is to concentrate
           on the koan -- either they become fed up with the monastery and they think something is wrong with
           the koan because nothing is happening and three years have passed, or they go nuts. Their urgency
           and totality takes a wrong turn and they go mad.
               This happens constantly in Zen monasteries. In fact, every Zen monastery has a special retreat
           place for monks who go mad. But their method to bring the mad monk back into the world is very
           simple. Modern psychiatry and psychology should study the method because what they cannot do in
           ten years time is done within three weeks in the monasteries. And in fact, nothing is done; just in the
           monastery, in a faraway place in the bamboos, hidden by the side of a river, is a small cottage. The
           man is left alone there, and is told not to talk to anybody. Anyway, nobody passes by there except
           the man who brings the food every day. But he is not allowed to talk to the man; neither is the man
           allowed even to make gestures or to say hello.
               Three weeks sitting silently, nobody to talk to, nothing to do... the mind cools down.
               What psychoanalysis cannot do in fifteen years, the Zen monastery has been doing for one
           thousand years for thousands of monks.
               Nobody goes to visit for those three weeks; the man is just left alone. At first he talks to himself;
           then slowly slowly the heat goes away, he cools down. A beautiful scene: the flowers, the bamboos,
           and the river; and no other man around. And as he cools down, he is brought back to the monastery.
               But in any case, one should not do a method in such a way that it drives you mad. And the reason
           why people go mad through certain methods is that they are trying to be clever. They keep a certain
           amount of energy on the side -- in the left pocket! -- so they are never total. And unless they are
           total, the mind cannot be put aside. So totality is really the function, the purpose of a koan.
               I am not using it, and I will not tell anybody else to use it unless he is part of a monastery where
           he has no mundane work to do, where he is completely dependent on the society. But when you are
           dependent on the society, you cannot be rebellious. That's why Zen masters have achieved
           buddhahood but their buddhahood is not a rebellion; it is not a revolution.
               I want my buddhas to be rebellions. But you can be a rebel only if you don't depend on the
           society. If you are independent in your working, in your earning, you can be rebellious against all
           orthodoxies.
               It is very cunning, but perhaps without any intention, that rich people, emperors, all donate to the
           monasteries. It is very good for them: they are earning spiritual virtue, opening a bank account in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heaven. And on the other end, they are keeping those people from ever becoming rebellious. They
           have crippled them completely; they have forgotten how to do anything. They are not asked to do
           anything but just sit and meditate on the koan -- which is an absurdity.
               It is by chance -- and I will say only by chance -- that someone becomes enlightened through a
           koan, because one has to keep repeating it for at least two or three years, constantly involved in it.
               Remember the difference, that going out of the mind is not going beyond mind. Going out of the
           mind is very easy. Many people go mad without any koans, but perhaps they have also a certain koan
           of their own. Maybe it is money, maybe it is a woman or a man. They drive themselves mad,
           continuously thinking about it.
               I know a man who drove himself mad because of money. He was so much in love with money
           that it was almost impossible to believe it. If you had a hundred-rupee note in your hand, it is yours
           but he would touch it, just to feel it. And you could even see his saliva coming out!
               I became friendly with the fellow, so he used to come to my place and I would give him a few
           notes just to play with. He would be so happy. Finally I heard that he had been forced into a
           madhouse, because it became a difficult situation. He started stealing, he started borrowing and
           would never repay, so the whole city became aware. And he would never purchase anything because
           he would have to give up the money.
               Money was his god -- it is many people's god, it is their koan. It is also just like a koan,
           insoluble: however much you have, your desire is always for more. It is insoluble. Even the richest
           man in the world is not satisfied with his riches, he wants more.

               IN CONCENTRATION ON A KOAN, THERE IS A TIME OF ROUSING THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY,
               THERE IS A TIME OF BREAKING THE CLINGING ATTACHMENTS, THERE IS A TIME OF
               FURIOUS DASHING FORWARD, AND THERE IS A TIME OF DAMPING THE FUEL AND
               STOPPING THE BOILING.
               SINCE COMING TO JAPAN, THIS MOUNTAIN PRIEST HAS BEEN MAKING THE PUPILS LOOK
               INTO A KOAN, BUT WHEN THEY HAVE DONE THIS FOR A GOOD TIME, HE TELLS THEM TO
               THROW IT DOWN. THE POINT IS THAT MANY PEOPLE COME TO SUCCESS IF THEY FIRST
               HAVE THE EXPERIENCE OF WRESTLING WITH A KOAN AND LATER REDUCE THE EFFORT...

               That's why I say Bukko is a very practical and pragmatic teacher. He is not like a Bodhidharma,
           a sword -- in one blow your head is gone. He is more businesslike. He says that even if you have not
           attained satori, enlightenment, it helps just to get hot. If it is not enough to evaporate, he starts telling
           you, "Cool down, drop it." His experience is that even this little bit of heating up, and then cooling
           down, gives a certain space, a gap, a comparison between the two states. And through that gate,
           through that small acquaintance with the difference between the heated mind and the cool mind, a
           person may come to success rather than at the time when he was putting out exceptional effort.
               But this is, in my understanding, a very businesslike approach. Perhaps somebody may have
           attained enlightenment in this way, but I will not say that this is a principle; it can only be an
           accident.
               I don't use koans at all, because my people are to put their totality into meditation for five
           minutes, and that's enough. Then just the remembrance of it will transform their lives. And going
           inwards just for a few minutes has never driven anyone mad. You can go as deep as possible, with
           your totality, because you know Nivedano is sitting there and he won't allow you to go beyond the
           limit. Just as you are coming close to the limit, where you can lose your mind, Nivedano's drum
           immediately calls you back.
               We are not to lose the mind; we have to go beyond the mind, and use the mind from the space of
           being beyond. Mind is a good mechanism; we are not against the mind. We simply don't want the
           mind to be dominant, to be the master. We want our consciousness to be the master and mind only a
           functionary, a servant.
               Bukko says, SO THE INSTRUCTION IS THAT THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET LOOKED
           INTO A KOAN ABSOLUTELY MUST DO SO, BUT THOSE WHO HAVE HAD ONE FOR A
           GOOD TIME MUST THROW IT DOWN. AT THE TIME OF ZAZEN THEY THROW IT ALL
           AWAY. THEY SLEEP WHEN IT IS TIME TO SLEEP, GO WHEN IT IS TIME TO GO, SIT
           WHEN IT IS TIME TO SIT, AND SO ON, AS IF THEY WERE NOT DOING ZEN AT ALL.
               This part in itself is beautiful. This part can be of immense help to you. While you are doing your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meditations, do them totally. Forget the whole world, as if for those few minutes there is no world;
           only you and this space that you are running towards with the speed of light, like an arrow, to hit
           some unknown center of your being.
               And just gather the experience, the joy, the blissfulness, and come back. Come back with your
           buddhahood as a fragrance around you. And then watch -- in your day-to-day life, working, all kinds
           of things -- just out of the corner of your eye, remember. You may be chopping wood, or carrying
           water from the well -- you are a buddha. Although nobody has seen Gautam Buddha chopping wood
           and carrying water from the well -- so many disciples loved him that they managed to chop the wood
           for him and carry the water from the well.
               Before you gather a few buddhas around you, you have to chop the wood and you have to carry
           the water. But don't forget that you are a buddha. It is a good opportunity, before other buddhas start
           chopping your wood!
           This last statement is beautiful:
               Be a buddha, but don't be an exhibitionist. Don't try to convince others that you are a buddha --
           that's what mad people do. It is enough that you know you are a buddha. You don't have to convince
           the neighbors that you are really a buddha.
           I used to go to madhouses....
               One of my friends was the governor of one of the states, so he allowed me -- I could visit any
           madhouse in the state, or any jail, wherever I wanted to go. Otherwise, it is very difficult to see mad
           people.
               You cannot change their opinion, whatever opinion they have. If they think that they are a
           railway train, they will go by your side making the noise of the train. They will not bother that you
           are standing there... they are going somewhere. They are a train and you cannot convince them
           otherwise.
           I asked a madman who was going like this, "Do you have any passengers?"
               He said, "I am just an engine and I'm shunting. I am not going anywhere, just shunting from this
           room to that room. I am only an engine, I don't care about passengers!"
               And he was so serious. I said, "It would be good to connect a train with you."
               He said, "I don't like the idea. Why should I bother with any passengers and trains? I am
           enjoying myself perfectly." And he went on.
           The superintendent said, "We have tried. It doesn't work -- nothing works."
               You cannot change the mind of a madman. And I am making this statement for a particular
           reason: don't have such a mind, which cannot be changed. That's what fundamentalists have --
           fundamentalist Christians like Ronald Reagan. You cannot change their minds, and that is a sign of
           madness. An intelligent man is always available to change, if a better argument is given to him. You
           cannot change the fundamentalist; he has decided, and decided for eternity.
               There is no way to convince even Jesus that "You are not the son of God." Thousands of people
           tried it: "Listen, don't make unnecessary fuss! And you look like a clown, sitting on a donkey,
           followed by a few idiots and claiming that you are the only begotten son of God. You are a
           humiliation to our religion!"
               The Jews were trying hard to convince him -- "You are just a carpenter, remember? Your father
           is Joseph and your mother is Mary, remember?"
           But a fundamentalist....
               In a crowd, Jesus was speaking and somebody said, "Your mother is standing outside." And it
           hurts what he said; he said, "Tell that woman that I don't have any relatives here! My father is in
           heaven."
               Now telling that poor woman -- she had not seen him for years, because for years he had been
           wandering in Kashmir, in Ladakh, in Tibet. In the Bible there is no account about what happened for
           seventeen years of his life. And he lived only thirty-three years; only three years, the last three years,
           are depicted. What happened to the seventeen years before? One mention of the time when he was
           thirteen is there, and after that there is a big gap.
               The mother had not seen him for so long, naturally the poor old woman... And he insulted her, he
           did not even give her an appointment. He is no ordinary man, these relatives drag him down to
           humanity. He is a son of God, he is divine, he is not human.
               You cannot change the mind of a fundamentalist. And to me, the fundamentalist is equivalent to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the madman. A reasonable man, an intelligent man, is never fundamentalist. He is always ready and
           available to change anything if he can find a better argument, a better idea, a better solution. He is
           flexible, he is not adamant and stubborn. He is ready to bend, to change, to transform.
               I want you never to be a fundamentalist. Always remain vulnerable. To be vulnerable to
           existence is the most beautiful experience.
               But for that, you need some acquaintance with existence -- from your inner being, not from
           outside. You know the stars from the outside, but you have not known the universe from your inside.
           From your very roots you have to come in contact, and that contact will be your liberation. That
           contact will make you a buddha.
           You are a buddha; just a little dust has gathered on the mirror.
               I am reminded of Michelangelo.... He passed through the market where marble shops were. And
           he was a sculptor, perhaps the best the world has known. He saw in front of a shop, on the other side
           of the road, a big marble rock. He asked, "How much will it cost?"
               The owner said, "It will not cost anything, because for ten years it has been lying there and I
           have not found anybody to be interested in it. If you want it you can take it -- I need more space for
           other rocks and that rock is taking too much space. But I don't think anybody can make anything out
           of it. It is a strange rock, the shape is strange."
               So Michelangelo took that rock, and after two years working on it he created the world's most
           famous statue of Jesus -- he has just been brought down from the cross and Mary, his mother, is
           holding him in her lap. The statue is of the cross and Jesus and the mother, and life size.
               Michelangelo was certainly one of the greatest men as far as sculpture is concerned. Jesus looks
           as if he is just going to come back to life -- so alive. You can see every muscle of the man, you can
           see the holes which the nails have made in his hands....
               Just a few years ago, a madman destroyed that statue. Nobody ever thought that anybody would
           destroy such a beautiful statue -- it was in the Vatican. And in front of the court the madman said, "I
           had to destroy it because I want to be as famous as Michelangelo. Now my name will always be
           remembered along with Michelangelo: he made it, I destroyed it."
               But when the statue was ready, Michelangelo invited the shop owner to see what had happened
           to the rock. The shop owner could not believe his eyes. He said, "You have done a miracle! How
           have you managed?"
               Michelangelo said, "No, I have not managed anything. Just as I was passing down the road, I
           heard the rock saying, `Hidden in me are Jesus and Mary. You just have to take out a few chunks
           here and there, and Jesus and Mary will reveal themselves.' I have not created Jesus or Mary, I have
           simply removed the unnecessary marble and left only what is needed to make Jesus and Mary and
           the cross."
               This is really the experience of a meditator. As you go deeper you hear... not in words, but
           something more like a magnetic pull, towards a buddha which is hidden inside you at the very
           source. And once you have touched those roots, once you have known your buddhahood just for five
           minutes, it is enough to be able to remember it twenty-four hours. Slowly slowly it will change your
           whole life into a beauty, a grace, a tremendous ecstasy.
               You don't have to do meditation twenty-four hours. I am against monasteries and monks because
           they are an absolutely unnecessary load on the society. And particularly in the East, where there is so
           much poverty, these monks are heavy on the whole economy.
               In Thailand, just two years ago, they had to pass a law in the parliament that nobody can become
           a monk without getting a license from the government. Because one person out of every four was a
           monk. The other three had to supply everything to the monk. It was a tradition that every family
           should give one son, particularly the eldest son, to the religion, to the church. They were one fourth
           of the population; the whole population is poor, and these vagabonds, thinking that they were doing
           something spiritual, were just being parasites.
               I don't want anybody to be a monk, I want you to be in the world. Meditation need not to be done
           twenty-four hours; meditation is just a small glimpse -- and then carry out your work. Slowly slowly
           that glimpse will start radiating in your actions, in your silences, in your songs, in your dances.
               There is no need to waste twenty-four hours and become a parasite. And when you become a
           parasite on the society, you cannot rebel against the society. You cannot say a single thing against
           any superstition.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My people can be sannyasins and yet absolutely rebellious, because they are not dependent on
           anyone. Their meditation is their own personal affair.
               Why are all the religions against me? Because I am introducing a new kind of sannyasin in the
           world; and the fear is that if this fire catches hold, like a wildfire, then sannyasins will be the most
           rebellious people in the world. They will destroy all superstitions and all stupidities, and they will
           not agree to anything that goes against their consciousness.
               This is the reason that twenty-one countries have decided in their parliaments that I am a
           dangerous man. And strangely enough, not a single man in those parliaments has asked, "What do
           you mean by dangerous?" Everybody understands, it seems, that the danger is in giving individuality
           to religion, is in giving rebelliousness to individuals. And no vested interest wants it. They are ready
           for monks, they are ready to give donations to monasteries, but they are really afraid of people who
           are buddhas and rebellious at the same time. And to me, a buddha who is not rebellious is not much
           of a buddha. He is just a rotten piece!

           A poet wrote:
              IN THE EVENING
              IF IT WERE RAIN
              WE SHOULD SEEK SHELTER,
              BUT THINKING, "IT IS ONLY MIST"
              WE GO ON AND BECOME DRENCHED.


              He is not talking about the rain outside, he is talking about your inside. Don't be afraid -- get
           drenched in the mist, in the mystery. And when you come back, come back a totally different person.
           The one who has gone in should be left behind, and you should take a new face -- your original face.
              Dropping the mask and bringing out your original face is the whole alchemy of meditation.

               An old man for the first time had come to a big city, and he was standing amazed, looking at the
           high skyscrapers. And then he saw an old woman, a very old woman, entering into a cabin. He did
           not understand that it was an elevator. He watched to see what happened, and when the elevator
           came down, a young woman came out.
               He said, "My god! If I had known, I would have brought my old woman with me. This is great
           science!"
               But exactly this happens. When you go in, you are an old mask; when you come back, come back
           as a fresh, original face. This everyday experience, slowly slowly, will become your
           twenty-four-hour silent experience. There is no need to say to anybody that you are a buddha; they
           themselves will understand. You cannot hide a fire; you cannot hide a buddha either.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THIS UNSPEAKABLE THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO COMMUNICATE TO US, THIS UNGRASPABLE
              THAT WE ARE TRYING TO GET -- SOMETIMES IT SEEMS PROFOUNDLY MYSTERIOUS,
              SOMETIMES IT SEEMS EMBARRASSINGLY OBVIOUS. IS IT EITHER OF THESE -- OR BOTH
              TOGETHER?


                Maneesha, it is both together.
                From one standpoint it is obvious. For those who know, it is obvious. For those who don't know,
           it is very mysterious. But it is the same thing. Our effort is to move from the point of obviousness to
           the point of mysteriousness... turning your simplicity into innocence; bringing back your childhood
           fragrance and freshness.
                Buddha is not a foreigner; buddha is your innermost core -- where nobody else has been able to
           reach; otherwise they would have changed its face. It is the place where only you can go -- that's
           why it has remained original. Otherwise, society would have colored it, managed it in such a way
           that it becomes useful and purposeful for the society. But nobody can reach within you except you.
                And certainly when you know your mysterious existence, you don't want to be anyone else. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have come to the point where the whole cosmos welcomes you home.

           (A FLASH OF LIGHTNING STREAKS THROUGH THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE THE HALL,
           FOLLOWED BY THUNDER AND A STEADY, GENTLE RAIN.)

                Now the clouds have come... As long as you are going to laugh, the clouds are going to come to
           listen. They come at the right moment.

               Dogski staggers home late one night after drinking about a thousand beers. When he comes into
           the bedroom, he discovers his wife lying half-naked on the bed, and a strange man in the act of
           removing his pants.
               "For the last time, lady," says the man, thinking furiously, "if you don't pay your gas bill right
           now, I'll shit on the floor!"

               Max Muldoon gets drafted to fight in Ronald Reagan's new war in the Middle East, and he does
           not like the idea at all. He does everything he can to avoid being in the army, but somehow finds
           himself in General Grimguts' Marine platoon.
               One day, Max is in the front line of battle. The noise is terrifying as bullets and bombs fly all
           around him. Max looks up in horror and then throws down his gun.
               "I have had enough!" he shouts, and he starts running away from the front lines.
               Many people try to stop him as he runs, but Max pays no attention to them. He runs and runs
           until he bumps right into General Grimguts himself.
           "Stop!" roars Grimguts.
           "What for?" shouts back Max.
               "I am ordering you to stop!" shouts the General. "I am your commanding officer!"
               "My god!" replies Max, quite surprised. "Am I that far back already?"

               Sixteen-year-old Sally tiptoes into the confession box in the Holy Martyred Virgins' Church,
           where Father Fumble is sitting.
           "Father," whispers Sally, "I have sinned!"
           "Tell me all about it!" replies the young priest.
               "Well, Father," continues Sally, "my boyfriend Willy came home with me the other day, and I
           took him to my room."
           "Really?" says Father Fumble. "And what happened in there?"
               "Well, Father," continues Sally, "Willy pushed me back onto the bed and started taking my
           clothes off."
           "Really?" says Father Fumble. "And what happened next?"
           "Then Willy took off his clothes and jumped on top of me!" sobs Sally.
               "Ahem!" coughs Fumble, clearing his throat. "And tell me, my child, did you feel his organ
           coming between your legs?"
               "I'm not a musician," replies Sally, "but I would say it felt more like a flute!"

           Nivedano...

           Nivedano...

           Be silent... close your eyes. Feel your body to be frozen.
           Look inwards with your totality,
           straight ahead.
           Just a little more
           and you will be encountering your real self.

           It is raining outside, but inside
           it is only mist.
           Get drenched in it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Drop your mask, and when you come back,
           come back with your original face.
           Your original face is the buddha.

           To get hold of it totally... Nivedano...

               Relax... just watch the body and the mind, and remember you are neither. You are the watcher.
               This already beautiful evening becomes more ecstatic by your watching. Just watching, you will
           feel utter emptiness.
           The emptiness is the name of buddha himself.
           This silence...
           you have all become one in an oceanic consciousness.
           Boundaries are lost,
           limits are forgotten...

               Collect this experience, because you have to carry it twenty-four hours -- in all your actions and
           gestures, words and silences.

           Nivedano...

           Come back, but come back
           with your original face.
           Silent, peaceful, graceful -- a buddha.
           Sit like a buddha for a few seconds, and remember it twenty-four hours.
           It is not an achievement, it is just a remembrance of your forgotten self.
           It is obvious, but it is mysterious also.

           Okay Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the gathering of the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                              The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                     Chapter #7
                                   Chapter title: From the surface to the center
           14 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809145
              ShortTitle: EMPTI07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 88 mins




               OUR BELOVED MASTER,
               SHOITSU SAID TO CHIZEN:
               IN THE SCHOOL OF THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS, WE POINT DIRECTLY TO THE HUMAN
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               MIND. VERBAL EXPLANATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIVE DEVICES ACTUALLY MISS THE POINT.
               NOT FALLING INTO SEEING AND HEARING, NOT FOLLOWING SOUND OR FORM, ACTING
               FREELY IN THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, SITTING AND LYING IN THE HEAP OF MYRIAD
               FORMS, NOT INVOLVED WITH PHENOMENA IN BREATHING OUT, NOT BOUND TO THE
               CLUSTERS AND ELEMENTS OF EXISTENCE IN BREATHING IN, THE WHOLE WORLD IS THE
               GATE OF LIBERATION. ALL WORLDS ARE TRUE REALITY.
               A UNIVERSAL MASTER KNOWS WHAT IT COMES TO, THE MOMENT IT IS RAISED. HOW WILL
               BEGINNERS AND LATECOMERS COME TO GRIPS WITH IT?
               IF YOU DON'T GET IT YET, FOR THE TIME BEING WE OPEN UP A PATHWAY IN THE GATEWAY
               OF THE SECONDARY TRUTH. SPEAK OUT WHERE THERE IS NOTHING TO SAY; MANIFEST
               FORM IN THE MIDST OF FORMLESSNESS.
               DURING YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES RESPONDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE REALM OF
               DISTINCTIONS, DON'T THINK OF GETTING RID OF ANYTHING. DON'T UNDERSTAND IT AS A
               HIDDEN MARVEL -- WITH NO ROAD OF REASON, NO FLAVOR, DAY AND NIGHT, FORGETTING
               SLEEP AND FOOD, KEEP THOSE SAYINGS IN MIND.
               IF YOU STILL DON'T GET IT, WE GO ON TO SPEAK OF THE TERTIARY, EXPOUNDING MIND
               AND NATURE, SPEAKING OF MYSTERY AND MARVEL. ONE ATOM CONTAINS THE COSMOS,
               ONE THOUGHT PERVADES EVERYWHERE. THUS AN ANCIENT SAID:
               "INFINITE LANDS AND WORLDS WITH NO DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN SELF AND OTHERS, TEN
               AGES PAST AND PRESENT ARE NEVER APART FROM THIS MOMENT OF THOUGHT."


               Maneesha, the whole point of Zen, its whole philosophy, its whole theology, is contained in the
           present moment. If you can stay in the present moment, the doors of wisdom will open on their own.
           In a thousand ways the same thing has been said, again and again: This moment contains everything
           -- the whole universe -- past, present and future. This moment is all. If we can enter into this
           moment's reality, we will be entering the very center of the universe, the very source of life.
               Zen's interest is not in gods, not in paradises. Its interest is absolutely life, known in its eternity,
           with all its joys and celebrations. It is a religion of celebration. It is not sad, serious. Because it is not
           going to achieve anything, it cannot fail. Its victory is absolutely certain because what it is seeking is
           already there within you. It is everybody's life source. Combined, it becomes the life source of the
           whole universe. We are just small branches coming out of the universal source.
               The moment you realize your universality, all your anxieties appear to be so trivial, so tiny... just
           the very realization of your eternity makes them disappear, they become shadows. The moment you
           realize your life source, they lose their reality. In other words your anxieties, your problems and your
           anguish are real if you don't know yourself. That is your life, if you don't know your life source.
               What has come to be known as existentialism in the West must have preceded Gautam Buddha in
           the East. Existentialism says life is nothing but anguish, anxiety, angst; it has no meaning. There is
           only failure; that is your destiny. It gives a very dark color, a very negative approach, to existence.
           Listening to the modern existentialists one can only feel that perhaps suicide is the only way out.
           Life in every possible way is going to be full of anxiety.
               My own understanding is that before the time of Gautam Buddha there must have been the same
           kind of feeling in the East, that life is meaningless. I know the names of at least three people who
           were very famous in those days, but all their literature has been destroyed because their whole point
           of view was against life. One was Sanjay Bilattiputta, another was Ajit Keshkambal, and the third
           was Gosal. These three people were as intelligent as any Gautam Buddha. But they preached that life
           is meaningless; all the meaning that you give to it is your imagination. It is just a hope that keeps you
           going on, through all the sufferings, through all the meaningless incidents. And from the cradle to
           the grave, you will not find a single place where you can rest. It is just restlessness.
               But with Gautam Buddha, things took a different turn -- a turn which is enormous. The West
           needs a Gautam Buddha; otherwise the idea of meaninglessness, anxiety, anguish, is bound to create
           the idea of suicide as the way out. Gautam Buddha accepts everything that existentialism says, but
           he says life is meaningless and full of anxiety because you have not gone deep enough into your
           being. On the surface it is all turmoil, just as you see in the ocean: on the surface there is so much
           turmoil but in the depths there is absolute silence.
               The deeper you go into the ocean, the more silent... absolute silence. And attaining the absolute
           silence you start looking at things with different eyes. The same things are there, the world is the
           same, but because you now have different eyes, you start seeing in a different way. The same
           roseflower becomes so beautiful that there is no need for it to have any purpose; just its beauty is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enough unto itself. The song of a cuckoo may not have any meaning but it has a beauty, a grandeur
           which penetrates to the very heart. And if the heart is emptied by meditation, it gives you a glimpse
           of authentic music, spontaneous music. Everything around you starts taking a different shape, a
           different context. The only change that is needed is that you go from the surface to the center of your
           being.
               Now this point is very important to understand, because a few have escaped the surface by
           renouncing the world. They think it is the world that is creating a disturbance, it is the world that is
           responsible for our anxieties. That has been the traditional attitude of the sannyasin, of the monk.
           Just leave this world, hide behind a monastery or behind a mountain, just to attain a little peace.
               But I know that even hiding behind a mountain, your mind will be the same as it was in the
           marketplace. It will create troubles and anxieties there, too. Perhaps more than ever, because the cold
           winter will come and you don't have enough clothes, the hot summer will come and you don't have a
           roof, a shelter. And from where are you going to get your food? Again you will have to come by the
           back door, as a beggar, to the same marketplace that you have renounced.
               All these so-called saints who have renounced the world have simply become dependent on the
           world, parasites, but they have not attained any new vision. So the way that takes you away from the
           turmoil is not the right way. The right way is to go as deep into the turmoil as possible, because in
           the depths there are no waves, there is no turmoil.
               My sannyasin is not to renounce anything in the world. Everything is beautiful. If it does not
           appeal to you, something is wrong with you. Go inside. First seek and search the source of your
           being, of your life. Once you have caught the roots of your being, then come out and open your eyes
           and you will see the same world but with a new color, with a new intensity, with a new love, with a
           new beauty. The same world is no more the same because you are no more the same. By
           transforming yourself you have transformed the whole world.
               It is absolutely right when Gautam Buddha says, "The moment I became enlightened the whole
           world became enlightened. Everything appeared to me to be a buddha, either awake or asleep. I
           could see, even in the flowers or grasses or stones, buddhas fast asleep."
               The whole of existence is by its very nature nothing but consciousness, and consciousness can be
           of different depths. The stone may be very fast asleep. You cannot wake it, but that does not mean
           that there is no life source hidden in the stone. The stone grows. The Himalayas are growing one foot
           taller every year. Just stupid fellows! Already they are the tallest mountains in the world, but the
           same stupidity that human beings have... they go on growing.
               Some older mountains in India -- the oldest mountain is Vindhyachal -- have stopped growing
           millions of years ago. Seeing that there is no point... what are you going to do, unnecessarily
           growing high? Just enjoy. You cannot enjoy while you are involved in achieving something. When
           you are not involved in achieving, when there is no desire to reach somewhere, you can enjoy the
           moment, here, now.
               Zen is the religion of here and now. Always remember this context in whatsoever statements we
           are discussing. It is a totally different approach from that of other religions. Even the Buddhists don't
           accept Zen, because Zen has such rebelliousness, such independence that it cannot accept any
           authority unless it is the authority of your own experience. Even Buddhists think of Zen as a little
           eccentric, outside the mold, not belonging to the vast stream of Buddhism.
               But as far as I am concerned, it is the essence of Buddha's very heart. Without Zen, Buddhism is
           as dead a religion as any other religion. It is Zen which still brings flowers, it is Zen which is still a
           garden; all the other religions have become deserts. But why does it go on bringing flowers? Because
           its dependence is not on scriptures, on tradition. Its very world is limited within you, and if you
           change, the world around you has to change accordingly.
               A man like Gautam Buddha, just by being awakened, changes the character of everything around
           him. His vision, his radiance, his presence... at least for him it is a different world.
               These small statements by Zen masters have to be very carefully heard. You are not to agree or
           disagree. If you start agreeing or disagreeing you miss the point.
               Listen silently as if you are listening to the sound of a river, or the sound of the wind blowing
           through the pine trees. Just hear it, without bringing your mind in to say, "Yes, it is right," or "No, it
           is not right."
               Any statement or interpretation by your mind is going to distort the whole thing. The statement is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not linguistic. It is not the language, it is something invisible, side by side with the language, that is
           being transmitted. So if you silently hear, the language does not matter. Your silence grows deeper --
           that's what matters. What the language was saying is immaterial, it was just a vehicle.

               Just a few days ago Anando brought me the news. I have never thought about it, and I don't think
           anybody has ever thought about it -- they have just discovered that electricity does not run in the
           wires but along the sides, next to the wire -- a fellow traveler, not inside the wire. It takes the help of
           the wire, but -- this is a very significant discovery -- the electricity is not in the wire itself.
               To me, it takes on a new significance: the words of the master are not the real message; the
           words are just like the wires for electricity. Alongside the wires runs a message invisible to the eyes,
           only able to be understood by an empty heart.
               Sit silently, in utter emptiness. Your agreement or disagreement are not needed. Just your silence
           deepening, your emptiness becoming more and more empty, and you have understood without even
           bothering about the words. Those words were all arbitrary.

              SHOITSU SAID TO CHIZEN:
              IN THE SCHOOL OF THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS, WE POINT DIRECTLY TO THE HUMAN
              MIND. VERBAL EXPLANATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIVE DEVICES ACTUALLY MISS THE POINT.

               The question is, how to indicate to you the way to your own heart. Shoitsu is saying that
           VERBAL EXPLANATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIVE DEVICES ACTUALLY MISS THE POINT --
           most of the time. Once in a while, a person has understood that it is not language or philosophy, but
           the words are used just like a wire and running alongside is a life, an energy. That energy can be
           absorbed only by your empty heart. If the heart is full of things, too much furniture... life energy will
           not enter a space which is too full. It enters only into utter emptiness.
           Shoitsu is saying, WE POINT DIRECTLY TO THE HUMAN MIND.
               What are we doing here? I talk with you, but that is only a preparation so that in meditation I can
           point directly to your heart. A certain preparation is absolutely needed to cut away all garbage, to
           throw out all the scriptures, to expel all the ancient buddhas and siddhas, so that you are left
           absolutely alone. From that point meditation can start. When your heart is utterly empty, it is not
           difficult to point to the source of your being.
              NOT FALLING INTO SEEING AND HEARING, NOT FOLLOWING SOUND OR FORM, ACTING
              FREELY IN THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, SITTING AND LYING IN THE HEAP OF MYRIAD
              FORMS, NOT INVOLVED WITH PHENOMENA IN BREATHING OUT, NOT BOUND TO THE
              CLUSTERS AND ELEMENTS OF EXISTENCE IN BREATHING IN, THE WHOLE WORLD IS THE
              GATE OF LIBERATION. ALL WORLDS ARE TRUE REALITY.

                If you have concentrated your life energy in the empty heart, then all that is false simply
           disappears and only the real remains. Then the whole world is real, then there is no need to say that it
           is illusory. It has been said to be illusory by those escapists who wanted to run away from it. They
           needed some excuse. They called this whole world, all relationships, everything, illusory -- just like
           dreams.
                I have always wondered... I have met with many escapist saints and I have asked them, "If you
           really see that this world is illusory, made of the same stuff as dreams are made of, why are you
           escaping from it? What is the point? According to you the world does not exist. You are renouncing
           a non-existential world!"
                If the world does not exist, then why not enjoy it? Have good, nice dreams -- drop nightmares!
           Sort things out: whatever is a nightmare, drop it.
                And that is what happens when a man reaches his center. That which is a nightmare -- and your
           whole life up to now has been a nightmare -- simply disappears. And a tremendously beautiful world
           arises out of the ashes of the old world that you used to know. It looks the same but because your
           vision is different, it is not the same.
                Not a single saint I have met -- and I have been roaming around for almost thirty-five years and I
           have met almost all kinds of saints, Hindu, Jaina, Mohammedan, Christian -- not a single one has
           been able to answer a simple question: if the world is illusory, then it does not matter, let it be there;
           where are you going? Escaping from a world that is illusory is so stupid an act. If the world is real
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is some point in escaping from it if you don't want it. But it is illusory! And if illusions arise
           out of your mind, then wherever you go, the illusions will arise.

               A great saint was dying and he said to his successor, a young man, "Remember one thing: never
           allow a cat in your life," and he died. A big crowd had gathered to listen to the last statement of this
           great saint... and what a sentence! "Never allow a cat in your life." The successor said, "My god,
           why should I allow a cat in my life in the first place? And this is the whole religion?" But an old man
           -- who was also a disciple, but was not chosen as a successor because he was too old; he was himself
           going to die within a year or two -- said, "You don't know, there is a long story behind it. He has just
           given you the punch line."
           He said, "Then I must know the whole story."
               The story was that when the saint renounced his wife and children and his home and went into
           the Himalayas, he lived near a small village. Otherwise, from where will you get your food? But the
           villagers were happy that they had a saint of their own, so they made a small bamboo cottage for
           him.
               The Indian monks used, in place of underwear, just a long strip of cloth called langot. It is a
           "mini" -- mini-est -- because just a long strip... they wrap it around themselves. They were allowed to
           have only two langotis. But a trouble arose: some rats came into the house and they started chewing
           on the langot. The man was in a great difficulty; he had only two langotis and soon they would be
           gone. So he asked the villagers, "What to do? because my sect does not allow a saint to have more
           than two langotis. That's the only possession allowed."
               They said, "Why don't you take a cat from the village? She will kill the rats." It was a perfectly
           rational solution. So the villagers gave him a good cat, and the cat killed the rats. But the problem
           was, now he had to beg for his food and the cat also needed something to eat, because the rats were
           finished. So he had to beg for some milk for the cat.
               The villagers said, "This is a small village... the best thing for us is that you have a cow. The
           whole village can contribute some money and purchase a beautiful cow, and in that way you will
           become very independent. You can have enough milk for yourself and for your cat."
               It looked right, so a beautiful cow was brought in. Now the problem was that the cow needed
           grass. So every day he had to go to the village to beg for the grass. People said, "This does not look
           right. A great saint asking for grass? In fact no saint has ever asked for grass; it is not conventional."
           He said, "But what to do? My cow, my cat..."
               So they said, "A simple solution: we are villagers, we don't know much about your philosophy.
           One woman has become a widow; her husband has died, and she has nobody. So we will persuade
           her. She will be really happy to serve a saint and then you don't have to come every day. We will
           clear some ground by the side of your hut so she can grow grass, she can grow wheat... and she will
           take care of you in sickness, in illness."
               The idea was right -- it was always right. It was not much effort to persuade the woman; she was
           alone and the saint was young... there was a possibility, a hope. So she immediately agreed. She
           started taking care, and you know how things grow....
               Basho says, "The grass grows by itself." In fact many things grow by themselves. So grass
           started growing, they fell in love... the woman was beautiful, the saint was young. What more is
           needed? They worked in the field, they started growing wheat and they started growing grass. The
           cat was very happy and the cow was very happy, everything was perfect. But then the ultimate --
           children came in, and then he thought, "My god, that's what I had left behind! I have renounced the
           world -- this is the whole world again! It grew so slowly that I was not aware until the children
           came."
               Now, just because of the cat the whole world came in. The old man said, "That was the punch
           line. He told you, `Remember not to allow a cat,' because behind the cat the whole world comes in.
           He was talking about his own life story, how he again became engaged in the same world -- taking
           children to the school... and people started laughing at him: `What kind of saint are you? You are
           keeping a woman! You have fallen down from your greatness.'
               "But what to do now? Once you have fallen, you have fallen; it is very difficult to rise again. He
           thought many times to renounce again, but he thought -- what is the point? Those rats are
           everywhere. Again the same story will start. It is better to be silent."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Your mind, your body, both need certain things. You cannot renounce the world, you can only
           become a beggar. But to become a beggar is not to become a saint. My understanding is clear, that
           you should be in the world. There is nothing to be afraid of; you should just concentrate your life
           energy within yourself and that makes all the difference. You remain in the world and yet you are
           not in the world. You are in the world but the world is not in you. And to me, that is the true
           definition of a sannyasin: remaining in the world, just like a lotus flower, remaining in the water but
           untouched by it.
              A UNIVERSAL MASTER KNOWS WHAT IT COMES TO, THE MOMENT IT IS RAISED. HOW WILL
              BEGINNERS AND LATECOMERS COME TO GRIPS WITH IT?
              IF YOU DON'T GET IT YET, FOR THE TIME BEING WE OPEN UP A PATHWAY IN THE GATEWAY
              OF THE SECONDARY TRUTH.

                I don't agree on that point. Shoitsu is saying that if you cannot understand the direct pointing to
           your heart, then we have to descend a little lower -- but that will be "secondary truth." That will be
           just like the moon reflected in water; it will not be the true moon. It will be only a reflected moon. In
           language, truth at the most can be just a reflection. So he is saying that if you cannot get it directly,
           instantly, then we will have to come down to language.
                I don't agree with the statement because my understanding is that you have to begin with
           language. You have to begin with the reflection of the moon in the water. And if you have seen the
           reflection in the water you can be told to look up a little: "It is only a reflection; the reality is there
           high up in the sky." Language is not a secondary thing to be used when the first has failed. Language
           is the primary thing, to create the background for pointing directly to your innermost heart.
              SPEAK OUT WHERE THERE IS NOTHING TO SAY; MANIFEST FORM IN THE MIDST OF
              FORMLESSNESS.
              DURING YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES RESPONDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE REALM OF
              DISTINCTIONS, DON'T THINK OF GETTING RID OF ANYTHING.

              On that point I am in agreement with him.
              ... DON'T THINK OF GETTING RID OF ANYTHING. DON'T UNDERSTAND IT AS A HIDDEN
              MARVEL -- WITH NO ROAD OF REASON, NO FLAVOR, DAY AND NIGHT, FORGETTING SLEEP
              AND FOOD, KEEP THOSE SAYINGS IN MIND.
              IF YOU STILL DON'T GET IT, WE GO ON TO SPEAK OF THE TERTIARY,

                The third step, if you don't understand the language, he says then we will have to descend even a
           little lower. I think that I not only disagree with him, but it is humiliating to the disciples to say, "We
           will have to speak on a third level."
              ... EXPOUNDING MIND AND NATURE, SPEAKING OF MYSTERY AND MARVEL. ONE ATOM
              CONTAINS THE COSMOS, ONE THOUGHT PERVADES EVERYWHERE. THUS AN ANCIENT
              SAID:
              "INFINITE LANDS AND WORLDS
              WITH NO DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN SELF AND OTHERS,
              TEN AGES PAST AND PRESENT
              ARE NEVER APART FROM THIS MOMENT OF THOUGHT."

               Shoitsu is putting the bullocks behind the cart -- of course there will not be much progress. The
           bullocks have to be in front of the cart; the words, the language, have to be a primary preparation for
           the ultimate understanding of your life source. There is only one way, and that is pointing directly to
           your heart. There are not some lower ways, some higher ways; there is only one way.
               He is saying, "We will try the second way, and if even that does not work, we will go still
           lower." This is happening because he is putting things the wrong way round. The bullocks have to be
           ahead of the cart, and then everything is okay. Language, concepts, words, all have to be used in
           preparing the ground for emptiness. And you know by your experience here that it works. I am
           talking to you, I am using words and concepts; still a great silence is being created within you.
               This silence can be deepened by meditation. And when you are deep in meditation, silent, just a
           watchful witness, the direct pointing by the master can happen. I don't have to explain it to you
           because you go through the process every day.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           A Zen poet, Kanzan wrote:
              TALKING ABOUT FOOD WON'T MAKE YOU FULL,
              BABBLING OF CLOTHES WON'T KEEP OUT THE COLD.
              A BOWL OF RICE IS WHAT FILLS THE BELLY;
              IT TAKES A SUIT OF CLOTHING TO MAKE YOU WARM.
              AND YET, WITHOUT STOPPING TO CONSIDER THIS,
              YOU COMPLAIN THAT BUDDHA IS HARD TO FIND.
              TURN YOUR MIND WITHIN!
              THERE HE IS!
              WHY LOOK FOR HIM ABROAD?


              This small haiku says much more than Shoitsu, and clearly. Two things:
              TALKING ABOUT FOOD WON'T MAKE YOU FULL; BABBLING OF CLOTHES WON'T KEEP OUT
              THE COLD. A BOWL OF RICE IS WHAT FILLS THE BELLY; IT TAKES A SUIT OF CLOTHING TO
              MAKE YOU WARM. AND YET, WITHOUT STOPPING TO CONSIDER THIS, YOU COMPLAIN THAT
              BUDDHA IS HARD TO FIND. TURN YOUR MIND WITHIN! THERE HE IS! WHY LOOK FOR HIM
              ABROAD?

               You have been looking for him outside for centuries, for many many lives. It is time to give a
           chance to your interiority. Look for him withinwards, and what you have not found outside, you will
           find, without fail, inside. Nobody in the whole history of consciousness has failed to find the buddha
           if he has looked withinwards. Without any exception, everybody who has looked in, has found the
           buddha. You cannot be an exception. You cannot be, because life itself in its purity is the buddha.


              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN WE FUNCTION FROM THE PERIPHERY, WHEN WE FUNCTION OUT OF
              UNAWARENESS, IT SEEMS THAT OUR ENERGY GETS CAUGHT UP SOMEHOW AND SO OUR
              MAXIMUM ENERGY IS NOT AVAILABLE. IS IT TRUE THAT WHEN WE FUNCTION FROM OUR
              EMPTINESS, WE COULD HAVE ACCESS TO UNLIMITED ENERGY?


               Maneesha, what you are asking is almost true. Just on one point you have to be reminded -- that
           when your energy is not involved in anything... Your last sentence is, "we could have access to
           unlimited energy." When your energy is not involved in anything, you will not be there. So the
           question of your access to unlimited energy does not arise. You will be ultimate energy; it will not be
           something that will be available to you. You will have merged with it, you will be it.
               Never think in terms of separation. It is just one experience: you and the cosmos becoming one.
           There is no need... the whole cosmos is you, so never think in terms of access, achievement. Those
           words are wrong words. They are perfectly usable in the ordinary world, in the ordinary-world
           matters, but as you enter in, you are entering into a different dimension of being where you have
           never been. All your words will defy you. Whatever you experience will not be possible to express.
           And finally there will be no one to express it.
               The ultimate experience is when you disappear, when there is nobody but pure awareness. It will
           not be your awareness or my awareness, it will be simply awareness.

              Before we enter into the meditation, Sardar Gurudayal Singh has to be given a chance....

               Popova the Russian mouse gets a visa to visit the West. Her friend, Barbarov the elephant, hears
           the news and wants to go along too. After a little hesitation, Popova agrees to take her friend with
           her.
               The little mouse bakes a beautiful loaf of French bread, slices it in half down the middle, and
           puts one half along either side of big Barbarov.
               At the Moscow airport, the police officials check Popova's papers and her baggage, and then
           wave her through. Barbarov, the elephant, is stopped.
           "Where are your papers?" asks a policeman.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Popova the mouse turns around, really pissed off. "What's the matter with you guys?" she
           squeaks loudly. "Can't I even take a sandwich with me?"

                Swami Jivan Joke is sitting with his girlfriend, Ma Bliss-abyss, at the back gate.
                "Isn't it wonderful?" coos Bliss-abyss. "This is our third anniversary of being together, and
           everything is so spiritual!"
           "It is?" asks Jivan Joke, shaking and trying to learn how to smoke a beedie.
                "Sure!" smiles Bliss-abyss, winking at several of her new boyfriends. "We've been together for
           three years, and now we are experimenting with the other side -- being apart and free!"
           "Oh, that!" says Joke, twitching nervously, and trying to stay centered.
                "Yes," giggles Bliss-abyss, "and with all this new energy and all these new friends...!"
           "My god!" interrupts Jivan Joke. "Are you ovulating again?"
                "No, silly!" replies Bliss-abyss, "but since tonight is our anniversary, what shall we do?"
                "Well," says Joke, closing his eyes and trying to meditate. "Let's do like everyone else I know is
           doing -- let's go in and celibate!"

                General Jackass, now retired, is walking down the street one day when he sees Donald Dixteen.
           Donald used to serve as the general's valet during the last war.
                General Jackass is very happy to see Donald, and shaking hands, tells Donald that he is looking
           for someone to take the job as his personal butler.
                "You'll have exactly the same duties you had with me in the army," smiles the general. "You can
           begin by waking me up tomorrow morning at eight o'clock."
                Donald takes the job, and the following morning, he rushes into the general's bedroom and
           shakes him until he wakes up.
                Then he slaps the general's wife on the ass, and shouts, "Okay, baby! Here's your twenty dollars,
           it's time to go home!"

           Nivedano...

                Nivedano...   Be silent, close your eyes, feel the body to be completely frozen.
                Look inwards, as deep as possible, because the life source is not very far away. It is just in your
           empty heart. An absolutely concentrated look into your being, and you have encountered your
           buddhahood.
           Your very life source is also the life source of the whole universe.
                Deeper and deeper, so that you can gather the inner experience and bring it out into your daily
           life.
           Slowly slowly
           your buddha has to become
           your very expression, your very lifestyle.

           Nivedano...

           Let go. Just be a watcher...
           The mind is there, the body is there,
           but you are not the body
           and you are not the mind.
           You are just the watcher.
           This watcher is called the buddha.
               Watching, witnessing, silently your heart becomes empty. And the empty heart is the buddha.
               Let it sink deep, in every fiber of your being. This is the most precious moment -- when you are
           just a witness and a tremendous silence surrounds you.

           It is a great, blissful evening.
           Your recognition of your buddha nature
           and your recognition that you are one with the whole...
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           There are not ten thousand buddhas here
           but just one consciousness.

           Nivedano...

           Come back.
               But come back not the way you had gone in; come back more gracefully, more peacefully, more
           like a buddha.
               Sit down for a few moments to recollect the experience, to remember the space you have gone
           into, to remember the path that you have followed.
               Whatever you have experienced in your witnessing is going to affect and change your
           twenty-four hours' life.
               Unless meditation becomes a revolution, a revolution of your whole character, it is not
           meditation.
               Meditation liberates you from yourself and brings the new, original face which we have named
           the buddha. Remember in your day-to-day work who you are. Let your inside affect your activities,
           your gestures, your language, your relations.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes!




                            The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
                                                 Chapter #8
                               Chapter title: The man of enlightened freedom
           15 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8809155
              ShortTitle: EMPTI08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ENGO SAID:
              THE ENLIGHTENED MAN ENJOYS PERFECT FREEDOM IN ACTIVE LIFE. HE IS LIKE A DRAGON
              SUPPORTED BY DEEP WATERS, OR LIKE A TIGER THAT COMMANDS ITS MOUNTAIN
              RETREAT. THE MAN WHO IS NOT ENLIGHTENED DRIFTS ABOUT IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE
              WORLD. HE IS LIKE A RAM THAT GETS ITS HORNS CAUGHT IN A FENCE, OR LIKE A MAN
              WHO WAITS FOR A HARE TO RUN AGAINST A TREE STUMP AND STUN ITSELF.
              THE ENLIGHTENED MAN'S WORDS ARE SOMETIMES LIKE A LION CROUCHED TO SPRING,
              SOMETIMES LIKE THE DIAMOND KING'S TREASURE SWORD. SOMETIMES THEIR EFFECT IS
              TO SHUT THE MOUTHS OF THE WORLD-FAMED ONES, SOMETIMES IT IS AS IF THEY SIMPLY
              FOLLOW THE WAVES COMING ONE AFTER ANOTHER.
              WHEN THE ENLIGHTENED MAN MEETS OTHERS WHO ARE ENLIGHTENED, THEN FRIEND
              MEETS FRIEND. HE VALUES THEM, AND THEY ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER. WHEN HE MEETS
              THOSE WHO ARE ADRIFT IN THE WORLD, THEN MASTER MEETS DISCIPLE. HIS WAY OF
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DEALING WITH SUCH PEOPLE IS FARSIGHTED. HE STANDS FIRM BEFORE THEM, LIKE A
              THOUSAND-FATHOM CLIFF.
              THEREFORE IT IS SAID THAT THE WAY OF THE ABSOLUTE IS MANIFEST EVERYWHERE: IT
              HAS NO FIXED RULES AND REGULATIONS. THE MASTER SOMETIMES MAKES A BLADE OF
              GRASS STAND FOR THE GOLDEN-FACED BUDDHA, SIXTEEN FEET HIGH, AND SOMETIMES
              MAKES THE GOLDEN-FACED BUDDHA, SIXTEEN FEET HIGH, STAND FOR A BLADE OF
              GRASS.
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, ENGO SAID:
              THE UNIVERSE IS NOT VEILED; ALL ITS ACTIVITIES LIE OPEN. WHICHEVER WAY HE MAY GO,
              THE ENLIGHTENED MAN MEETS NO OBSTRUCTION. AT ALL TIMES HE BEHAVES
              INDEPENDENTLY. HIS EVERY WORD IS DEVOID OF EGOCENTRICITY, YET STILL HAS THE
              POWER TO KILL OTHERS.
              ONCE THE DELUSIVE WAY OF THINKING IS CUT OFF, A THOUSAND EYES ARE SUDDENLY
              OPENED. ONE WORD BLOCKING THE STREAM OF THOUGHT, AND ALL NON-ACTIONS ARE
              CONTROLLED. IS THERE ANYONE WHO WOULD UNDERGO THE EXPERIENCE OF DYING THE
              SAME DEATH AND LIVING THE SAME LIFE AS THE BUDDHA? TRUTH IS MANIFEST
              EVERYWHERE.


               Maneesha, this is the last talk of the series called THE BUDDHA: THE EMPTINESS OF THE
           HEART.
               It is very appropriate -- exactly the right time -- that you have brought the great master Engo's
           statement about the enlightened man.
               For centuries man has been thinking about the definition of enlightenment. A long succession of
           efforts have been made, but nobody has been able to bring a perfect definition of enlightenment, or
           of enlightened men. Engo comes very close, almost to the point; hence he has to be heard with
           absolute silence. He is saying something which is difficult to say. His effort is tremendously
           valuable.
           He says about the enlightened man:
              THE ENLIGHTENED MAN ENJOYS PERFECT FREEDOM IN ACTIVE LIFE.

                That is the foundation of his following statements; it has to be understood, with all its
           implications.
                The unconscious man lives according to others -- either following them or denying them, but the
           focus is always the other. So there are followers and there are anti-followers; there are theists and
           there are atheists. But at the very foundation they are no different. One is positively in favor of some
           doctrine and one is negative, reactive, against the same doctrine, but both are hanging on to
           something other than themselves. They are other-oriented.
                I am always reminded of Jean-Paul Sartre, and his statement that "the other is hell." He may have
           made it in a different context, but in itself the statement is valuable. I want you to know: the other is
           hell because the other takes away your freedom. It may be done very lovingly, without any bad
           intention. It may be done with all good intentions but that does not matter: the ancient saying is that
           "the path to hell is paved with good intentions."
                The parents, the teachers, the neighbors, the friends -- all are continuously giving a shape to your
           life, a style to your life. If you look into your mind you will find many voices together: your father is
           speaking, your grandfather is speaking, your mother, your brother, your teachers, your professors.
           But one thing you will not find there is your voice. Your voice has been completely repressed by
           other voices.
                Layer upon layer, you have lost track even of your own voice, of your own self, of your own
           face. So many masks...
                When a small child comes into the world, he is just a clean slate; and you immediately start
           writing on his slate without even bothering to ask his permission. You make him a Christian, you
           make him a Hindu, you make him a Mohammedan; you make him anything you want to make him --
           and you don't understand that consciousness is not something that you can give a mode to, a certain
           pattern. What ultimately happens from all your efforts and intentions is a hypocrite, a person who
           knows that he is doing something but his heart is not in it. He becomes phony; he becomes a slave of
           all the others who surround him. Not only the living ones but the dead ones also are creating your
           slavery.
                Engo's statement is, THE ENLIGHTENED MAN ENJOYS PERFECT FREEDOM IN ACTIVE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           LIFE. He is not a slave to any tradition, to any culture, to any civilization. He lives according to his
           own spontaneity, according to his own awareness.
                And that is one of the troubles: the enlightened person is bound to be misunderstood, because the
           whole world is full of slaves. They cannot understand the language of freedom.
                It is almost like selling eyeglasses to a world of blind people. Even if they have the glasses, they
           are of no use -- they cannot see, they don't have the eyes.
                A man went to one eye specialist and asked him, "Check my eyes. Do you think I will be able to
           read if you prescribe glasses?"
           The eye specialist said, "Of course you will be able to read."
                He wrote the prescription and the glasses were made. But the man said, "By the way, I must
           inform you that I don't know how to read."
                The specialist said, "You are strange! You should have said this before, because even with
           glasses, if you don't know how to read, you are not going to read."
                People are carrying scriptures which describe freedom, which even talk about freedom from
           scriptures. People are worshipping statues of persons like Gautam Buddha whose last words were,
           "Remember these are my last words, my last wish: my statues should not be made." Ten thousand
           sannyasins were listening, and as it happened, there are now more statues of Gautam Buddha in the
           world than of anyone else. A single temple in China even has ten thousand Buddhas. The whole
           mountain, miles long, has been carved into Buddha statues.
           It is strange blindness. It is strange misunderstanding....
                And a man of freedom is bound to be condemned by slaves because the slaves cannot accept the
           idea that they are slaves. So anybody who is enlightened and becomes a man of freedom, becomes a
           danger to millions of egos. His freedom to fly across the sky with open wings is bound to be
           condemned by all those who are crippled, who are caught in cages. The cages may be of gold -- very
           precious, cozy, a good shelter -- but the joy of being on your own wings in the sky, unlimited, with
           no barriers, no boundaries, is much more valuable than any golden cage.
                Engo says, THE ENLIGHTENED MAN ENJOYS PERFECT FREEDOM IN ACTIVE LIFE. He
           is not bound by any morality, not bound by any rules, not bound by any ethos, not bound by any
           society, any civilization, any culture, any education. He remains true and honest to his own being.
           He does not care whether his action is going against the society, whether his action is going against
           the scriptures. All that he is committed to is his own spontaneous response. He has no other
           commitments. He cannot be a Christian or a Mohammedan or a Jew or a Jaina. He can only be a
           human being without any fetters.
                But naturally he has to suffer. He has to suffer because the whole crowd is of slaves, blind
           people. They feel hurt -- deeply hurt -- by his presence, by his freedom. They continuously compare,
           and feel deep down guilty that they have never stood up for their own freedom. They have remained
           sheep, just part of a crowd; they never declared their individuality. And now there is a man of
           absolute freedom.
                Those who have any intelligence will fall in love with this man of freedom; but very few people
           have intelligence. Most people live without any intelligence in their life -- a robot life, almost
           mechanical. They all are going to be against such persons -- in the name of religion, in the name of
           morality, in the name of society. Their excuse is that these people are dangerous: if everybody starts
           functioning according to his own truth, then there will be no society, no state, no nation, no army, no
           war.
                The whole society is committed to such stupid things that a man of enlightened freedom cannot
           be committed to any of them. He cannot be Indian or French or Chinese; the whole earth is one for
           him. His every action is according to his own consciousness, not according to any teaching of some
           dead, so-called wise person. He has his own eyes to see; why should he listen to others? He has his
           own ears to hear; why should he listen to others? He has his own consciousness to decide; why
           should he follow the ten commandments of Moses, or the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus, or the
           SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA of Krishna? They may be beautiful, but they are not going to guide
           your life.
           The moment you have guidelines from others, you are spiritually a slave.
                In other words, Engo is saying the enlightened man lives according to his own life source,
           without any consideration or compromise with the crowd. He is absolutely an individualist and he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wants everybody else also to be individualists.
               There is nothing more valuable than freedom because only in freedom can you blossom to your
           ultimate potential. As a slave you are crippled, you are cut, you are in a mold; you are in chains, you
           are in cages -- different sizes of cages, different forms of cages....
               But remember one thing: that which has not arisen within you is always some kind of slavery.
               The first definition of the enlightened man is PERFECT FREEDOM IN ACTIVE LIFE. He is
           bound to be condemned, because the crowd gets disturbed. The crowd gets disturbed because such a
           man is going to destroy their slavery, which they think is a very cozy and safe lifestyle.

           I am reminded of a story.
               In a mountainous region, a man of freedom rested for a day in a caravanserai. That caravanserai
           had a beautiful parrot, and the owner had taught the parrot... The parrot was continuously asking for
           freedom -- "Freedom!" It was strange....
               The stranger, an enlightened man, could not believe this whole thing. Because first you put him
           in the cage, and then you teach him to repeat "Freedom!" If the owner is honest, he should give him
           freedom!
               In the night, he could not resist. He woke up, opened the door of the parrot's cage, and told the
           parrot, "Now the doors are open and the whole sky is yours. Get out!"
               And the parrot was clinging to the cage, and still shouting loudly, "Freedom, freedom!"
               Finally the man said, "This is strange -- the door is open! Why are you clinging to the cage?"
               He forced his hand inside, took the parrot out -- it was very unwilling, gave a good fight,
           scratched his hand -- but the man took the parrot out, and threw it into the sky. Then, feeling a deep
           relief, he went to sleep. In the morning, the first thing he heard was, "Freedom!"
               He looked out and the parrot was inside the cage; the door was still open....

                Outside the cage it is such a vast life, one becomes afraid. There are enemies; there will be days
           that are too cold, there will be nights that are too hot, there will be times you will have to go hungry.
           There will be nobody continuously protecting you.
                Once you have become accustomed to living in a cage, freedom becomes a very dangerous idea.
                Twenty-one countries have decided about me, that I am a dangerous man. I have not killed a
           single ant in my whole life; I have never used even a paper knife, and the parliaments of twenty-one
           countries decide that I'm a dangerous man. And nobody asks, "What is the definition of danger?
           Why is this man dangerous?"
                I am not a terrorist, I am not teaching people how to make bombs, I am not an anarchist. But the
           danger is that I spread the fire of freedom. I wake people up, saying that unless you demand your
           freedom -- from all kinds of chains, handcuffs, from all kinds of cages -- you can never be a Gautam
           Buddha. You will never know the joys and the blessings and the ecstasies of freedom. You will
           never know your own eternity. You will always be afraid of death, not knowing that death is a
           fiction -- it is very superficial, it occurs only on the surface. Inside, life continues forever and
           forever.
                But to know all this you need freedom. And this freedom is not social or political or economic;
           this freedom is spiritual. You need to go inside yourself and find that space which has not yet been
           chained. Finding that space from where your life arises, you will attain enlightenment and freedom
           together; they are two different names for the same, single experience.
           Engo says:
              HE IS LIKE A DRAGON SUPPORTED BY DEEP WATERS OR LIKE A TIGER THAT COMMANDS
              ITS MOUNTAIN RETREAT. THE MAN WHO IS NOT ENLIGHTENED DRIFTS ABOUT IN THE
              AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD.

               Just watch yourself. What have you been doing in the world? Just drifting like deadwood, no
           direction, no dimension, no clarity, no vision. Just following a crowd -- not even knowing where you
           are going, just trusting that the crowd must know: if so many people are going, then we must be right
           because so many people cannot be wrong.
               And the reality is, so many people cannot be right! To be right is a very unique experience; to be
           right is to be enlightened.
               Beware of this unconscious calculation that because the whole world is doing something, it must
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be right; so many people cannot be wrong. This is the arithmetic we have been living. So we
           stumble, we grope in the darkness; we follow this man, we follow that man, and we never think, "If
           we are alive, then there must be a source within us -- has to be -- otherwise from where does our life
           come?"
              Without knowing this source, even if you are following a buddha you are going to go astray.
           Because every individual is so unique, you can never follow anybody.
              THE MAN WHO IS NOT ENLIGHTENED DRIFTS ABOUT IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD.

              Your life, if it is not enlightened, is nothing but a drifting.

           A strange incident happened....
                I had gone to enroll in a college, and they gave me a form to fill out. One young man of my age
           was also holding a form in his hand. He looked at my form and he said, "What subjects are you
           filling in?"
           I said, "That is none of your business. You fill in your subjects."
           He said, "I don't know what subjects to fill in."
                So he looked at my form, and because I had filled in philosophy, psychology and politics, he
           filled in the same. I said, "This is very strange."
           He said, "No, because I don't know what to do with my life."
                We graduated from the same college, and then I changed to the university. And it was such a
           surprise: when I entered the office that same fellow was waiting there with his form! He said, "You
           have come! I have been wondering what to do; it has been such a joy to fill in the form according to
           you. Now what are you going to study for your post-graduation?"
           I said, "This is very stupid."
                He said, "No, it has been a great relief that at least somebody knows where he is going, and I am
           following."
                So he looked at my form, and filled in his accordingly: philosophy, religion, psychology. I said,
           "This is not a right way of living. It is becoming a carbon copy."
                But he said, "I am perfectly at ease. If you are taking these subjects, they must be the best
           subjects available in the university."
           I said, "I have no objection..."
                In one of my post-graduate classes, the professor was a very orthodox brahmin from Bengal -- so
           orthodox that I have never come across anybody else like him. He would not teach with open eyes
           because there were two girls in the class: girls he cannot look at, he is a celibate. It was a good
           opportunity, so I slept all the time. And he thought that perhaps I was also a great celibate!
                So there were those two girls, and this boy who had been following me. The professor was very
           inquisitive. One day he got hold of me in the library and said, "It is very rare to find people these
           days who are committed to celibacy."
           I said, "You are under a wrong impression."
           He said, "Wrong impression?"
           I said, "Why are you closing your eyes?"
           He said, "I am a celibate and I don't want to see any female face."
                I said, "That is true, that is also my reason -- because both those girls are not worth seeing! But it
           is not celibacy. Day after day, those same two girls; I simply keep my eyes closed."
                He said, "My god! We are doing the same action but our reasons are so different."
                And that boy was the only other person in the class. He was such a great follower, but he was at a
           loss for what to do -- to close his eyes because I was closing mine, the professor was closing his and
           just those two girls... But he was very much interested in those girls, although the girls were not
           showing any sign of interest in him. He was very disappointed. He told me, "You will have to help
           me. You have always helped -- since I entered college you have been of great help; now you have to
           help."
           I said, "What is the problem?"
                He said, "The problem is that I try in every way to talk to those girls but they don't take any
           interest in me; they don't even care about me. They pass by me as if I am not there -- it hurts."
           I said, "You have to do something rightly."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So I wrote a love letter for him, and I said, "Tomorrow you deliver it yourself."
               He said, "This is very dangerous; you have made me sign it. You have written all these things
           and if I am caught, if the girl freaks out, or anything..."
               I said, "You don't be worried; I will prepare the girl, because I have taken the responsibility.
           That's why I am saying tomorrow you deliver it. Just give me one day's chance to prepare the girl."
               I told the girl, "This boy is very poor -- spiritually poor -- he needs compassion."
           The girl said, "What can I do?"
               I said, "You don't have to do anything. He will deliver a love letter to you tomorrow; you accept
           it with a smiling face."
           She said, "You are creating trouble. I don't like that fellow."
               I said, "There is no question of liking or not liking; you can even hate that fellow. But receiving
           the letter, just like a nice lady... it is not against any manners, any etiquette."
           She said, "If you say, I will accept the letter."
           Then I said, "It is not the end. You have to write a letter too."
               She said, "My god! You are creating trouble for me. If my father comes to know" -- and her
           father was the collector of that city -- "if he comes to know... He is a dangerous fellow, he can even
           shoot. He goes on shining his gun every day, and he has told me, `Don't get involved in any love
           affair; otherwise somebody is going to be shot!'"
               I said, "I will prepare your father, you don't be worried. If anybody is going to be shot, I am the
           fellow who is ready because I have nothing to lose. It is perfectly good, he can shoot me. But you
           will have to write a letter, because this fellow just needs a hope. Don't write too many sweet things,
           just..."
               She said, "Okay, I will try. But I don't know, I have never written a love letter."
               I said, "My god... I will write it." So I wrote a love letter and she signed it.
               A few love letters were exchanged and finally the girl came to me to say that, "My father seems
           to be getting suspicious. You have put me into trouble, because now that boy has at least seven
           letters signed by me."
               I said, "That boy is not a real person, he is a carbon copy. Don't be worried about him. I will take
           back all your letters."
               I told the boy, "Listen, the father of the girl is very dangerous and he keeps polishing his gun."
           He said, "My god! And you never told me before? Where does he live?"
               I said, "He is a collector and he lives in the city, three or four miles away from the university.
           But now your life is in danger."
           He said, "You wrote those letters..."
           I said, "It does not matter who wrote them. What matters is who signed!"
               He said, "Now save me somehow, I don't want to get into trouble. If I had known that love means
           trouble, I would not have fallen in love."
               So I said, "You give all those letters back to me." He said, "Then what will happen to my letters
           which are in the girl's hands?"
           I said, "I will take back those letters too."
               He said, "Don't forget! because those seven letters will keep me always falling in love. Just I
           have to copy one letter, because I cannot manage... you have made such beautiful letters. I don't care
           that the girl is lost, but those letters I would miss my whole life!"
           I took back the letters from both sides.
               After ten years, I found him in another city. He had become a professor, and he had a wife and
           children. I said, "You managed perfectly well."
               He said, "The whole credit goes to you. Those letters worked miraculously. I tried them on many
           girls and was refused, but this girl..."
               And I saw why this girl... because she was not much of a girl. She even had some moustache
           growing! I said to him, "You are a fool! You should have at least asked me. I would have managed
           some other girl. There are so many girls -- the whole world is full of girls, and you are such a nice
           looking fellow."
           He said, "Something is wrong with this girl?"
           I said, "It is not a girl at all! Look at her moustache."
               I have come across only two women: one was this girl, and one was the daughter of one of my
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           principals; she had a little beard. I think it is perfectly good, there is no harm, but I said to that
           fellow, "You are an idiot from the very beginning, and without my help you should not have taken
           this step."
               He said, "Now it is too late. I have got three children." All ugly! I told him, "It was absolutely
           certain that you would do something nasty like this."
           He said, "Is there something wrong with my children?"
           I said, "Will you ever mature? I don't think so, in this life."
           He said, "But everybody says, looking at my children, `How nice they look!'"
               I said, "Whenever somebody says to a woman that her child looks very nice, that simply means
           that the child is ugly."
           I told him about an incident that happened in a bus:
               A woman was holding her child, and an old drunkard came across, looked very closely at the
           child, and said, "My god! This must be the ugliest child in the whole world!"
               The woman started crying and weeping; these things are not to be said. But a drunk fellow...
               The bus was stopped, because the driver said, "It doesn't seem right that the woman is crying."
           So he went to the woman, and he said, "Don't cry. That fellow was a drunk. And I don't know what
           he has said to you, but I will bring you a cup of tea."
               So he brought a cup of tea and gave it to the woman, and said, "Just drink the tea and forget what
           that drunkard did. And I have also brought a banana for your monkey."
               People never think, what kind of children they are having. That drunkard was at least honest, and
           the driver was also honest.

               But unconscious people go on doing things without any reason and rhyme. The unconscious man
           is basically a follower in every dimension of life. He doesn't have the sense to find a direction for
           himself. He is always looking for somebody to guide him. He is bound to fall into a long dark night
           which has no end.
               One thing has to be decided by every individual -- particularly my people have to decide it -- to
           find your own life source, to find out what your potentials are, and let them grow. Even if you go
           against the whole world, at least you will be fulfilled in your freedom. Otherwise you become just
           driftwood; anybody can give you a shape, anybody can give you a direction, anybody can give you
           guidelines.
           Engo continues:
              HE IS LIKE A RAM THAT GETS ITS HORNS CAUGHT IN A FENCE, OR LIKE A MAN WHO WAITS
              FOR A HARE TO RUN AGAINST A TREE STUMP AND STUN ITSELF.
              THE ENLIGHTENED MAN'S WORDS ARE SOMETIMES LIKE A LION CROUCHED TO SPRING,
              SOMETIMES LIKE THE DIAMOND KING'S TREASURE SWORD. SOMETIMES THEIR EFFECT IS
              TO SHUT THE MOUTHS OF THE WORLD-FAMED ONES, SOMETIMES IT IS AS IF THEY SIMPLY
              FOLLOW THE WAVES COMING ONE AFTER ANOTHER.

               WHEN THE ENLIGHTENED MAN MEETS OTHERS WHO ARE ENLIGHTENED, THEN
           FRIEND MEETS FRIEND. HE VALUES THEM, AND THEY ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER... to
           go even beyond enlightenment.
              WHEN HE MEETS THOSE WHO ARE ADRIFT IN THE WORLD, THEN MASTER MEETS DISCIPLE.
              HIS WAY OF DEALING WITH SUCH PEOPLE IS FARSIGHTED. HE STANDS FIRM BEFORE
              THEM, LIKE A THOUSAND-FATHOM CLIFF.
              THEREFORE IT IS SAID THAT THE WAY OF THE ABSOLUTE IS MANIFEST EVERYWHERE: IT
              HAS NO FIXED RULES AND REGULATIONS. THE MASTER SOMETIMES MAKES A BLADE OF
              GRASS STAND FOR THE GOLDEN-FACED BUDDHA, SIXTEEN FEET HIGH, AND SOMETIMES
              MAKES THE GOLDEN-FACED BUDDHA, SIXTEEN FEET HIGH, STAND FOR A BLADE OF
              GRASS.


               You all know about a Zen master who was staying in a temple, just for the night. It was a cold
           night, and in Japan the Buddha statues are made of wood -- in India they are made of marble; you
           will not find even one single wooden Buddha in India. But in Japan they use wood, and very
           aesthetically.
               There were three Buddhas in the temple, and it was a very cold night, so the master took one
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha, and built a fire.
                The priest of the temple lived nearby. He suddenly saw light and fire inside the temple. He came
           running, he said, "I was from the very beginning suspicious; your every activity seems to be out of
           tune with others. What have you done? You have burned one of my Buddhas! I gave you shelter, and
           this is the way you have shown your gratefulness!"
                The master took his staff and started looking in the ashes -- Buddha was gone. The priest said,
           "What are you doing now?"
           He said, "I am looking for the bones."
                The priest said, "You are really crazy! It was a wooden Buddha, and wood does not have bones."
                The master said, "You are intelligent, you can understand. Now look: the night is only half gone
           and it is so cold. You have two Buddhas more, and while a living buddha is suffering from cold, you
           are protecting your wooden Buddhas. Just bring one of the Buddhas here!"
                The priest just took hold of the master and forced him out of the temple, shouting that "You will
           destroy my whole temple!"
                And in the morning he saw that the same master... just in front of the temple there was a
           milestone. The master has picked a few wildflowers and has put those wildflowers on the stone, and
           is sitting in deep meditation by its side.
                The priest said, "My god! He has destroyed a Buddha in the night, and now on a milestone he has
           put flowers as if it is a Buddha -- and next to it he is sitting in deep meditation." So he came out,
           shook him and said, "What are you doing?"
                He said, "I am worshipping the Buddha. If you can worship wood, what is wrong in worshipping
           a stone? Your Buddha was a little shapely, a well-cut design. My Buddha is raw. But it is a perfect
           Buddha as far as meditation is concerned. I can use anything to show my gratitude; the whole
           existence is one."
                A man of enlightened freedom can make A BLADE OF GRASS STAND FOR THE
           GOLDEN-FACED BUDDHA, SIXTEEN FEET HIGH, AND SOMETIMES MAKES THE
           GOLDEN-FACED BUDDHA, SIXTEEN FEET HIGH, STAND FOR A BLADE OF GRASS.
                He is not confined by any rules and regulations; he is not confined by any etiquette or manners.
           His freedom is total. He acts out of his spontaneity, love, compassion, but he does not follow any
           rules. You cannot expect of a buddha that he will do the same thing tomorrow that he did today. He
           will say, "Today is today, and tomorrow is tomorrow. Today this is my response, in this context;
           tomorrow the context will be different, and my response is going to be different. I respond to
           situations not with any prejudice, but with a pure, empty heart."

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, ENGO SAID:
              THE UNIVERSE IS NOT VEILED; ALL ITS ACTIVITIES LIE OPEN. WHICHEVER WAY HE MAY GO,
              THE ENLIGHTENED MAN MEETS NO OBSTRUCTION. AT ALL TIMES HE BEHAVES
              INDEPENDENTLY. HIS EVERY WORD IS DEVOID OF EGOCENTRICITY, YET STILL HAS THE
              POWER TO KILL OTHERS.
              ONCE THE DELUSIVE WAY OF THINKING IS CUT OFF, A THOUSAND EYES ARE SUDDENLY
              OPENED. ONE WORD BLOCKING THE STREAM OF THOUGHT, AND ALL NON-ACTIONS ARE
              CONTROLLED. IS THERE ANYONE WHO WOULD UNDERGO THE EXPERIENCE OF DYING THE
              SAME DEATH AND LIVING THE SAME LIFE AS THE BUDDHA? TRUTH IS MANIFEST
              EVERYWHERE.

              The enlightened man lives a life of freedom; he also dies a death of utter freedom. Neither life
           can make him a slave, nor death.

               Gautam Buddha himself, one day in the early morning twenty-five centuries ago, told Ananda,
           "Call all the monks together under those two saal trees" -- which he always loved; he used to sit
           under those saal trees for meditations or for his talks. He said, "Arrange a bed for me under those
           saal trees because I am going to leave the body. And inform everybody that if they want to ask any
           question, they should ask."
               All the monks gathered, they had tears in their eyes. But Buddha said, "Tears won't help. If you
           have any question you can ask, because tomorrow I will not be here."
               The elder, enlightened disciples said, "You have spoken for forty-two years; you have said
           everything that is needed for a seeker. We don't have any question; just relax peacefully."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So Buddha closed his eyes. He said, "First I will leave the body, then I will leave the mind, then I
           will leave the heart and disappear into emptiness."
               A man from the nearby town, who had been postponing for thirty years because Buddha was
           coming and going through his town again and again... he wanted to meet Buddha, he wanted to ask
           something, but there was always some excuse -- a customer suddenly came, and now he cannot leave
           the shop, or his wife is sick, or some other business, or he has to go to somebody's marriage. So
           many times Buddha passed through the town, and he had the idea to meet him.
               He suddenly heard that Buddha was going to die. Now no excuse could prevent him. He rushed
           to the outside of the city where Buddha's campus was. And he went there and said, "I want to ask
           one question!"
               Ananda said, "Now we have told him there is no question, and he has closed his eyes. We don't
           know how far he has gone, but we cannot call him back. It will be too ungrateful. He has passed
           through your town so many times, what were you doing?"
           He said, "Always some excuse..."
               But Buddha opened his eyes. He said, "Ananda, let him ask the question so that in the coming
           centuries nobody can blame me that somebody asked a question and I did not answer."
           "But," Ananda said, "you were almost dead!"
               He said, "Almost, but not completely. I had left the body, I had left the mind; I was just going to
           leave the heart when I heard. It does not matter if I delay a little more before disappearing into the
           ultimate emptiness, but this poor fellow should not remain unanswered."

               A Buddha lives in freedom in his life, and lives in freedom even in his death. Death for him is
           just an episode like other episodes of life.

           Kanzan wrote:
              PEOPLE ASK THE WAY TO COLD MOUNTAIN.
              COLD MOUNTAIN? THERE IS NO ROAD THAT GOES THROUGH.
              EVEN IN SUMMER THE ICE DOESN'T MELT.
              THOUGH THE SUN COMES OUT, THE FOG IS BLINDING.
              HOW CAN YOU HOPE TO GET THERE BY APING ME?
              YOUR HEART AND MINE ARE NOT ALIKE.
              IF YOUR HEART WERE THE SAME AS MINE,
              THEN YOU COULD JOURNEY TO THE VERY CENTER!


               Kanzan is saying that followers are not needed. Following is a kind of aping, it is not human. But
           there is a different way of being with a master and that is to bring your heartbeat in tune with his
           heartbeat. Then you can travel as a fellow traveler to the ultimate center of existence. This can be
           remembered as a criterion: if anybody tries to be your master, in a very subtle way he is trying to
           impose a slavery on you.
               The authentic master is master of himself. He does not want followers, he wants friends, fellow
           companions, fellow travelers, who are ready to be in tune with his heart, in tune with his emptiness.
           The people who pretend to be masters and are followed by others... they even count!
               I met one shankaracharya and he asked me immediately, "How many people follow your
           philosophy?"
               I said, "Neither do I have any philosophy, nor have I met any follower. I have friends all around
           the world. At the most I can say that I am in love with thousands of people. Their hearts have come
           to a certain synchronicity with me but they are not my followers."
               But that old shankaracharya said, "Unless you have followers, a great following, you cannot be
           counted as a great master." He said, "I myself have five thousand followers."
               I said, "You can believe that you are a great master, but according to me you are a great
           slave-creator. You are taking people's freedom. You cannot be a compassionate sympathizer; you are
           really bragging about your followers the same way somebody brags about his money, somebody
           brags about his political power. You are not an authentic master."
               That night in Firozabad I had to speak. The shankaracharya had called a meeting and he had
           invited me, not knowing much about me. And in the morning in the discussion it became clear that
           he had been absolutely wrong in inviting me because on every point I discussed with him I had told
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him, "You are absolutely wrong."
               In the meeting that night -- there must have been at least fifty thousand people there -- he had
           arranged for four criminals to be standing behind me, so that if I said anything against the tradition
           or scriptures, then they should immediately put out the light and hit me as much as they could.
               But his secretary became a little worried, so he came to me just as I was leaving for the meeting.
           He said, "This is the situation. My suggestion is that you should not go, because this is his sheer
           violent mind. He could not win on a single point in the morning discussion" -- and it was a small
           group of his great disciples. "It is very risky for you to go."
               I said, "Don't be worried." When I arrived I told the people gathered there, "You see the four
           persons standing behind me? These are all criminals, they belong to your town and you know
           perfectly well who they are. What can be the purpose for them to stand behind me? Their plan is that
           the moment I start speaking they will put the lights off and hit me or kill me. What do you want?
           Should I start? Just raise your hands! I don't care about my life; I only care about my freedom. If you
           are ready to listen, then at any risk I am going to speak. But you can see this violence in the mind of
           your shankaracharya. These are his people."
               Those fifty thousand people raised their hands, and shouted that I should speak, and "If anything
           happens to you the shankaracharya will not leave the stage alive."
               I spoke, and I hit him as hard as possible. Those four criminals -- everybody recognized them;
           they were from the town -- simply disappeared, because this was very dangerous; now they could not
           put the lights off. Fifty thousand people were with me.
               And they were all really the shankaracharya's people, but they could see that this was sheer
           violence; it did not show the intelligence or wisdom of an old shankaracharya. It showed his
           stupidity. If he could not answer he should accept defeat, but this is not the way to behave. And he
           had invited me to come -- from Bombay I went to his place. I was alone, all the people were his
           people, but even his people could see that this was not the way of any enlightened person.

               The enlightened person is not violent. And to make somebody a disciple, according to me, is a
           very subtle violence. You are destroying that person's individuality. You are taking his freedom in
           your hands.
               In this place everybody is an individual; nobody is superior and nobody is inferior. This is a
           gathering of people who are in love, of people who are in an inquiry for truth. This kind of gathering
           has disappeared from the world. You are living these moments here with me -- it is almost the same
           climate as Gautam Buddha created, the same climate as Mahakashyapa created. It is a different air, it
           is an air where everybody's potential is respected, loved. Where everybody's freedom is the ultimate
           value.

               Maneesha has asked a question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              I FIND IT MORE DIFFICULT TO DISIDENTIFY FROM MY FEELINGS THAN FROM MY THOUGHTS.
              IT SEEMS THAT THIS IS BECAUSE MY FEELINGS ARE MORE ROOTED IN MY BODY.
              ARE FEELINGS CLOSER TO THE HEAD, IN FACT, THAN TO THE EMPTY HEART?


               This is a fallacy created by the poets. Your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your
           sentiments, all are centered in your head. It is just a fallacy to think that your feelings are in the
           heart. Your heart is just a blood pumping station.
               When we are talking about the empty heart, we are really talking about the empty mind. Buddha
           has used the word `heart' instead of mind because mind has become associated with the idea that it is
           only the process of thinking, and the process of feeling is in the heart, and the heart is deeper.
               These ideas have been created by the poets. But the truth is, you can call it empty mind or you
           can call it empty heart; it is the same. Emptiness -- you are just a watcher and all around there is
           nothing with which you are identified, there is nothing to which you are clinging. This non-clinging
           watchfulness is the empty mind, no-mind, or empty heart. These are simply words. The real thing is
           emptiness -- of all thoughts, feelings, sentiments, emotions. Only a single point of witnessing
           remains.
               And you will find it difficult. Disidentifying from thoughts is easier because thoughts are more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           superficial. Disidentifying from the feelings is a little difficult because they are deeper, and they are
           rooted more in your biology, in your chemistry, in your hormones. Thoughts are just floating clouds.
           They are not rooted in your chemistry, in your biology, in your physiology, in your hormones, they
           are just floating clouds without any roots. But feelings have roots, so it is difficult to uproot them.
               It is easy to become watchful about the theory of relativity. It is difficult to be a witness of your
           anger, your love, your greed, your ambition. The reason is they are rooted more deeply in the body.
           But if you can disidentify yourself from the body, there is no difficulty.
               And, Maneesha, being a woman it is a little more difficult. There are differences between men
           and women....

              Mulla Nasruddin was reading his newspaper and suddenly called his wife and said, "I have
           caught four flies: two are males and two are females."
           The wife said, "My god, how did you manage to know their sex?"
              He said, "Easy! Two were reading the newspaper with me for hours. And two were sitting on the
           mirror, completely glued."
              So it is a little difficult. But witnessing is such a sharp sword -- it cuts thoughts, feelings,
           emotions, in a single blow. And you know it by experience now: as you go deeper in your
           meditation, the body is left far behind, the emotions, the thoughts... only the witnessing remains.
           That is your authentic nature. The emptiness of the buddha's heart... when you are so empty, you are
           one with the Buddha. You are one with all the buddhas of all times, past, present, future.


              Another question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              RECENTLY, I SAID I FELT AWARE OF AN EMPTINESS INSIDE, AND HOW STRANGE IT WAS TO
              RELATE TO LIFE FEELING LIKE THAT. YOU SUGGESTED I ACT ALL THOSE THINGS ONE HAS
              TO DO IN EVERYDAY LIFE.
              WHEN I DON'T REMEMBER TO ACT, MOST OF MY COMMUNICATION WITH PEOPLE -- TO A
              GREATER OR LESSER EXTENT -- FEELS SOMETHING LIKE ENGO'S RAM WITH ITS HORNS
              ENTANGLED IN A FENCE.
              BUT, REMEMBERING TO ACT, I FEEL DISENGAGED FROM PEOPLE; THERE IS A DISTANCE
              FROM PEOPLE, AND SO THEY DON'T AFFECT ME. YET CURIOUSLY, THE BETTER I ACT AS IF
              I AM LOVING, THE MORE LOVING I FEEL.
              CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS?


               It is part of hypnotizing yourself. This is an ancient strategy: "Act as if you love." That "as if"
           will be forgotten soon and you will start thinking that you love. But this love is the love of the
           hypocrite.
               I don't want you to begin with "as if." Just be the buddha -- why "as if?"
               Look at Sardar Gurudayal Singh. Do you think he is laughing "as if?" This is a spontaneity. I am
           not telling you to do anything as an actor. Be authentic, be honest, be totally sincere whatever the
           consequence, but never move from your center of truthfulness.
               Now Gurudayal Singh has laughed and I have to tell a joke. He starts it and I cannot disappoint
           him.

               "What are those two insects doing, Daddy?" asks Little Gertrude, who is walking around the
           garden with her father.
               "Well," mumbles her father, "you remember what I told you about the birds and the bees? That's
           what they are doing."
           "But they are not birds and bees," protests Gertrude.
           "I know," says her father, "they are called Daddy Long Legs."
               "Oh!" says Gertrude, thinking for a while. "So that means," she continues, "that the one
           underneath is a Mommy Long Legs, and the one on top is Daddy Long Legs."
               "No, it's not quite like that, dear," replies her father, "they are both Daddy Long Legs."
           Gertrude thinks again for a moment, and then stomps on the insects.
           "Why did you do that?" asks her surprised father.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "Why?" repeats Gertrude. "I'm not having that sort of thing in my garden!"

               There is a Saturday night shoot-out in the O.K. Saloon, and the air is thick with lead bullets.
               Suddenly, the doors swing open, and in walks a man who strides straight across the room and up
           to the bar. Immediately, all the shooting stops.
               The barman pops his head up from behind the counter. "Friend," he says, "that took real courage
           to walk through those blazing guns without even looking left or right!"
               "Not at all," replies the man, looking around, casually. "You see, I owe money to everyone here!"

              Olga Kowalski comes bouncing enthusiastically downstairs in her new Kung Fu outfit.
           Kowalski takes one look at her, and puts his hand over his face.
           "Good God, Olga!" groans Kowalski. "Now what are you doing?"
              "I'm taking Kung Fu lessons," says Olga, proudly -- and she playfully slices the air with her
           hand, giving Kowalski a punch on the neck.
              "It is just in case," explains Olga, "some sex-fiend tries to rape me on some dark night."
              "Why bother?" remarks Kowalski, slurping his beer. "It will never get that dark!"

               "And Miss Willing, is this the man," screams the clever lawyer Boris Babblebrain, and pointing,
           "who you claim has violated you, and forcibly taken advantage of your hot, naked, helpless, female
           body?"
               "Yes! Yes!" shouts Miss Willing, excitedly. "That is the man who did it to me!"
               "And please tell the court," continues Babblebrain, his nose in the air as he strides over to the
           jury, "just when did this carnal and erotically perverse act occur?"
               "Yes, sir," replies Miss Willing. "As I remember, it was last June... and July, and August!"

           Nivedano...

           Nivedano...

           Be silent, close your eyes.
           Let your body be completely frozen.
           Look inwards, just as a witness.
               The mind is there, the body is there, but you are neither the mind nor the body. You are just a
           watcher, a pure witness. This witnessing is the way to your life sources.
               The deeper witnessing becomes, the farther away is the mind, the body; the deeper you go, the
           closer you come to an illumination, to an explosion of light.
           Suddenly you recognize, you are a buddha.
           All around is emptiness. Just at the center
           you are the buddha, the watcher.

           Nivedano...

                Relax, to make it completely clear that the body is separate, the mind is separate, you are only
           the witness. In life, in death, everywhere you are a witness.
           This witness never dies.
           It is your eternity.
           This is your buddha.
           Remember it -- you have only forgotten.
                It is not an achievement, it is just a remembrance. Hence it is easy to carry it around the clock
           doing all kinds of things, actions, gestures... you can still allow a small stream of remembrance that
           you are a buddha. But remember it is not `as if'.
           The buddha is your authentic nature.

           Nivedano...
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Come back, but don't come the way you have gone in. Come with a new grandeur, with a new
           grace, with a new bliss... with a taste of your authentic nature.
               You have been to your own roots and those roots go deep down into the universe. Now you are
           becoming acquainted with the path... it will become deeper every day, more and more, as you gather
           courage, as you start feeling more peace, more silence, more transformation.
               Your remembrance of being a buddha will continue, sitting, walking, waking or sleeping. This is
           the greatest treasure you can find in the universe -- this empty heart of the buddha.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the buddhas' gathering?
           Yes!




      Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The
                   Antidote to All Poisons
                                   Talks given from 22/01/89 pm to 29/01/89 pm
                                             English Discourse series
                                                    8 Chapters
                                               Year published: 1989




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                   Chapter #1
                                    Chapter title: The opium of the people
           22 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901225
              ShortTitle: CHRIST01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 151 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ON ONE OCCASION, YAKUSAN WROTE DOWN THE CHINESE CHARACTER SIGNIFYING
              BUDDHA, AND ASKED HIS DISCIPLE, DOGO: "WHAT IS THIS LETTER?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "IT'S THE LETTER FOR `BUDDHA'."
              YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU ARE A MONK SO FULL OF CHATTER!"
              ONCE, AT THE EVENING DISCOURSE, YAKUSAN DIDN'T LIGHT THE CANDLE AS USUAL. A
              MONK CAME AND STOOD BY HIS SIDE. YAKUSAN SAID, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL PHRASE. IF
              A BULL GIVES BIRTH, I WILL TELL IT TO YOU."
              THE MONK SAID, "THE BULL HAS ALREADY GIVEN BIRTH LONG AGO, AND YOU JUST KEEP
              NOT REVEALING IT."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YAKUSAN ASKED FOR A LIGHT. WHEN THE CANDLE WAS BROUGHT IN, THE MONK
              RETREATED AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE ASSEMBLY OF MONKS.
              LATER UNGAN TOLD TOZAN ABOUT THIS, AND TOZAN SAID, "THE MONK KNEW THE TRUTH
              -- HE JUST DIDN'T WANT TO MAKE OBEISANCE TO THE MASTER."


              Friends,

              One of the sannyasins has asked me a question.
              IF THE TRUTH IS ONE, THEN WHY DO ALL THE MASTERS, ALL THE AWAKENED ONES, SPEAK
              IN DIFFERENT WAYS? SOMETIMES IT EVEN LOOKS AS IF THEY ARE CONTRADICTORY.

                The truth is certainly one, but it has multidimensional reality, and every master has to choose a
           certain dimension. You cannot speak all the dimensions together.
                Every master has his own style, his own way of speaking, his own way of conveying. The higher
           you rise in consciousness and awareness, the more you become unique, the more you become
           individual.
           But let me explain to you:
           Individuality is not personality.
                Personality is given by the society to you. Individuality is your intrinsic nature. Personality is
           fake, a fraud. Individuality is your innermost buddha, your innermost enlightenment, your innermost
           door to the divine.
                But every master is bound to be unique in his expressions. They are all saying the same thing,
           they are all indicating towards the same moon, but their fingers are different. They are bound to be
           different. The finger of Buddha, the finger of Lao Tzu, the finger of Chuang Tzu, are bound to be
           different. If you pay too much attention to the finger, there is every possibility you will forget the
           purpose. The purpose was not the finger, the purpose was the moon.
                All the differences are in the fingers, in their expressions. The experience of truth is one, but to
           bring it to expression, every master has to find his own device. That's why even enlightened people
           appear to you to be speaking differently, even contradictorily -- because existence does not have
           one-dimensional sources, it is multidimensional. It is comprehensive of all contradictions. All
           contradictions melt into one cosmos.
                Now, you cannot express the whole cosmos in any statement. All philosophies fall short, and all
           languages appear impotent. All theologies only manage a very partial truth. And remember, a partial
           truth is not truth. You cannot cut truth into parts. It is one, and organically one, not mechanically
           one.
                You can take a car apart, and you can put those parts together again, but you cannot do the same
           with a living organism. You cannot take a man's parts apart, and then put them together. You can do
           it, but the man will not be there. There will be only a corpse in your hands.
                But it is one of the most difficult problems faced by all awakened ones: How to convey it?
                They find devices, methods, meditations. They open doors so that you can look at the truth
           yourself. Of course, every master will have his own door. Existence has millions of approaches, and
           when a master reaches to the truth, he reaches by one path. Obviously, he will talk about the path by
           which he has reached to the truth.
                Truth is one, but paths are many. And unless we understand it, there is going to be a constant
           conflict and misunderstanding in the minds of the seekers.

               I am reminded of one of the greatest Urdu poets, Ghalib. Three hundred years have passed, but in
           three hundred years no poet so great has been born in the Urdu language. It is a very poetic language,
           I don't think there is any other language in the world which is so poetic. Contemporary languages are
           bound to be non-poetic; they have to be scientific, exact. Poetry is flexible; poetry does not say
           directly, it only hints.
               This great poet, Mirza Ghalib, has a very beautiful statement. I would like to repeat it first in his
           own language, then I will translate it.

              HAIN AUR BHI DUNIYAN MEN SUKHANBAR BAHUT ACHCHHE
              KAHTE HAIN GHALIB KA HAI ANDAJE BAYAN AUR.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HAIN... DUNIYAN MEN SUKHANBAR BAHUT ACHCHHE


              .... In the world there are many great poets, but it is said that Ghalib's way of saying, his style, his
           nuance, is absolutely unique.

               Every master is unique, just like an Everest, standing far higher, touching the stars -- alone.
           Never compare two masters. Comparison is not the right thing in the world of masters. Comparison
           is mind-oriented, it is intellectual, and the master's realization is beyond the mind, it is spiritual. In
           the world of spirit, in the world of godliness, there is no question of comparison. Every one is
           unique, but surrendered, dedicated to the same truth from different angles. It needs a tremendous
           capacity of understanding, and that understanding has not to be of the mind, it has to be of
           meditation.
               Mind can understand everything that is outside you. All that is objective is available to the mind:
           science and technology, philosophy and theology -- all are mind-oriented.
               But that which is within you is behind the mind, beyond the mind. It opens itself in your
           meditations, when you start dropping your thoughts and relaxing deeper and deeper, when only a
           witness is left. The body is far away and no more you, the mind is just an echo in the valleys, and is
           no more you. In the innermost core of your being there is no thought, no cloud, a great silence.
               In that silence arises authentic understanding. In that silence you are closest to the divine. That
           silence is a way, a bridge, a path, a connection to the ultimate.
               Once you know the ultimate, the difficulty arises: How to convey it? And there is a tremendous
           urge to convey it, because millions of people are living in darkness, in blindness, stumbling, finding
           no way out. Millions of people are born in the night and die in the night; there is no dawn in their
           lives.
               When one comes to the dawn, when one realizes the sunrise and his whole being becomes full of
           light and beauty and blessings, he wants to share it. This desire to share comes autonomously.
           But how to share that which is beyond words?
               All masters have been struggling to find some way to communicate, to commune. That's why you
           find differences in their statements. Rather than thinking about their statements, it will be better to go
           within yourself and find the truth.
           Nobody can help you. The masters can only show the way; you have to walk.
               Nobody can come inside you. That is the dignity of man, a great privilege: nobody can interfere
           in your inner life. You are alone there, the suprememost sovereign.
               But people have got into trouble because they have started imitating. You can imitate a buddha,
           you can have the same clothes, you can walk the same way, you can eat the same kind of food. You
           can follow all the moral principles, but you will still be an actor, you will not be a buddha.

                It happened ... There were three monasteries deep in the mountains. All three belonged to
           different Christian sects.
                One day it happened by coincidence that the three abbots of the monasteries had gone for a
           morning walk and they all met on the crossroads. They talked about matters concerning their
           monasteries and other problems.
                Finally one of them said, "I have to tell you that as far as scholarship is concerned, my monastery
           is far higher than your monasteries."
                The second one said, "That is true. As far as scholarship is concerned, your people are great
           scholars. But don't forget, as far as discipline is concerned, my monastery is far higher than yours.
           And also remember, scholarship is not going to help. It can make you knowledgeable, but it cannot
           make you wise. You have to walk the path of discipline; then only can you become a wise man."
                The third was silent up to now. He laughed, and he said, "You both are right. But as far as
           humbleness is concerned, we are the tops!"

           Humbleness ... and the desire is to be the tops.
              You can be humble, you can force yourself to be humble, you can repress your ego -- but that
           humbleness will not be true humbleness. It will be just inverted ego. It will be low-key ego.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Once a man touched my feet. I told him, "There is no need ...."
           He said, "It is not your concern. I am just the dust underneath your feet."
           To provoke that man, I said, "That's right!"
              Immediately he became angry. He said, "You tell me that I am just the dust under your feet?"
              I said, "I have not said anything. You were saying it, I simply agreed."

               Humbleness, or any other quality which makes you religious, if practiced from the outside makes
           you an actor. If it arises from the inside, out of your own experience of the intelligence of existence,
           then it has a different flavor, a different fragrance -- the fragrance of the freshly-opened rose.
               Then you are neither egoist nor humble, because humbleness and ego, both are two sides of the
           same phenomenon. You simply are. This being, simply to be, makes you enlightened, gives you new
           insight into matters.

               It happened in America, when they were celebrating some birth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln.
           They searched all over America for a man who would look like Abraham Lincoln -- and they found
           him. A man looked almost the same, so they chose that man, they trained him.
               Abraham Lincoln used to stutter a little, so that man had to be trained to stutter. Abraham
           Lincoln was a little lame in one foot, so he started walking like a lame person. One year's continuous
           training ... and the next year they were going to celebrate the birthday the whole year, all over
           America.
               In one year of continuously practicing and practicing and practicing, and then the second year
           going from one city to another city, from one part to another part, and playing the role of Abraham
           Lincoln, the man became so much obsessed with the idea that when he came home he came as a
           lame man, stuttering.
               First the family thought that he was joking. The festival was over. They told him, "Now you
           don't have to do all this."
               He said, "What do you mean? I AM Abraham Lincoln." Those two years had got into his head.
               They thought he would calm down, but he did not. Those two years had been too heavy and hot.
           He was calm and cool, and absolutely certain that he was Abraham Lincoln.
               They took him to the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist tried in every possible way, but with no
           success at all. He was feeling very much harassed and tortured by everybody in his town, by his
           friends, by his family. And now the psychiatrists, psychoanalysts -- they started harassing him.
               Finally the psychoanalyst he was visiting put him on the lie detector. If he was lying, the detector
           would show it. Because of so much harassment the man thought, "It is not worth it!" So when he was
           standing on the lie detector and the psychoanalyst asked him, "Are you Abraham Lincoln?", he said,
           "No" -- and the lie detector said, "He is lying, he IS Abraham Lincoln!"

               Acting can go so deep in your unconscious layers of the mind that it is beyond your
           consciousness. You have only a small thin layer of consciousness; compared to it, your unconscious
           is nine times bigger. If something enters into your unconscious, you will start behaving like Jesus,
           you will start behaving like Mohammed. But it will be just acting and nothing else, and acting is not
           a transformation of your being.
               I am against imposing any discipline on yourself from the outside -- according to others. I am in
           favor, in absolute favor, categorically, that your life should arise from your own inner springs. From
           your own awakening the morality, the discipline will follow, just like a shadow follows you.
               The world is living in tremendous misery because of your so-called moralists, puritans, who have
           been imposing things from the outside. Those things enter into the unconscious, and the man starts
           behaving in a certain manner -- but he is a robot.
               Unless your potential that you have brought with you, which you have been carrying from
           eternity -- unless that potential, that seed sprouts and starts gathering more and more foliage, and
           brings blossoms to your being, then morality is a small matter.
               You don't have to listen to Moses and his Ten Commandments; you will find your own
           commandments. Unless you are in direct contact with the divineness of existence, all that you are
           doing is creating a persona, a personality ... fake, fraud, hypocrisy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have heard that when God created the world, he went around with the Ten Commandments. He
           asked the Babylonians, "Would you like to have one commandment?"
               They said, "What is it?" Naturally, first you should inquire what the commandment is.
           God said, "You should not commit adultery."
               The Babylonians said, "Forget all about it. What shall we do then? In this meaningless life,
           adultery is the only game. Just get lost!"
               God was very angry, but what to do? If they won't take ... He went to the Egyptians, he went to
           other races, but everybody asked, "First tell us what the commandment is." And they all refused.
           They said, "We don't want anybody else to tell us what to do. We want to find from our own
           innermost spring what is right and what is wrong."
               And then finally he came across Moses, who had been struggling in the desert of Saudi Arabia
           for forty years continuously to find the Holy Land, Israel. Almost two-thirds of the original group
           that he had taken from Egypt had died on the way.
               By the time he reached Israel he was old, utterly tired, and there had grown a generation gap,
           because his old friends with whom he had come had almost all died; a new generation had come up.
           In fact, a third generation was growing up, and they didn't have any respect for Moses. They didn't
           know the fellow: Who is this man who goes on commanding, "Do this, don't do that"?
               But it was not his fault. It was God who had met Moses, and not knowing the Jews exactly, he
           asked him, "Would you like to have one commandment?" -- very hesitantly, because he had been
           refused everywhere else.
               But Moses asked a totally different question. He did not ask, "What is the commandment?", he
           said, "How much does it cost?" Just like a Jew ...
           God said, "It is free."
           Then Moses said, "I will take ten. If it is free, why take only one?"

               But any commandments taken from anybody -- even from God -- are not going to give you a
           revolution in your being. They will only create an actor, a pretender, a hypocrite, a repressed person,
           inhibited, feeling guilty on every account. Whatever he does goes against the commandments.
               But ten commandments are nothing compared to Gautam Buddha, who has thirty-three thousand
           principles for every Buddhist monk to follow. You cannot even remember them. Thirty-three
           thousand ...? Every detailed gesture of your life is completely controlled from outside.
               I hate the very idea of being controlled from outside. I love the flowering of your being. And I
           am absolutely certain -- because whenever your potential blossoms, there is no question of choice, of
           what is right and what is wrong. You choose the right without choosing. It is choiceless, the only
           alternative.
               For a man of clarity, for a man of absolute perceptiveness, for a man full of light beyond the
           mind, life becomes a choiceless phenomenon. You simply do the right thing. It is not that you think
           that it is right, "That's why I am doing it."
               With me, the definition of right and wrong, good and bad, sin and virtue, absolutely changes.
           Whatever the enlightened person does is right. Whatever the enlightened person does not do, is
           wrong.
               So I don't teach you any discipline, any morality. I simply teach you to be awake, and in your
           awareness you cannot do anything wrong. You cannot harm anybody, you cannot violate anybody's
           freedom, you cannot interfere into anybody's territory. A great respect for life, reverence for life,
           arises in you, and it has nothing to do with your religion, it has nothing to do with your belief
           systems.
               A man of awareness does not belong to any organized religion. Organized religion is against
           religiousness. Every organized religion kills the truth!

           The ancient story is:
           A man found the truth.
               A little devil came running to the old devil and asked him, "What are you doing here?"
               The old devil was smoking a cigarette. He said, "My son, cool down. What is the matter?"
               The little devil said, "You are sitting here, and one man has found the truth! Our whole business
           is at risk!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The old devil said, "Sit down. Take a cigarette. My people have already reached there."
               The little devil said, "But I am coming from there, and I have not seen any devils!"
               The old devil said, "Devils are not needed, my people have reached there. They are the priests,
           they are the rabbis, they are the popes, they are the shankaracharyas, they are the imams. They have
           reached there, and they will organize the truth, and once the truth is organized, it is finished! They
           will surround the man, and they will not allow the people to approach the man. They will interpret
           the man, and in their interpretation the truth will be lost."
               The last commandment from the pope has been ... He has found a new sin; it is a great discovery.
           People have been sinning just in the old way, routine. He should be counted as a great pioneer!
               The new sin is that you should not communicate with God directly; you should only
           communicate through the priest.
               As far as I can see, that's what the devil was meaning, that "the priests are there, they are my
           people, they serve me." They talk about God, but talking about God, creating belief in people about
           God, does not help any transformation.
               Belief is not needed. What is needed is knowing. Belief simply hides your ignorance, it does not
           make any rebellion in your being.

               Once Sri Raman, one of the great seers of this age, was asked by a journalist coming from the
           West, "Do you believe in God?"
           Sri Raman said, "No."
               The man was shocked. He had heard that this man has realized God, and he says he does not
           believe in God! He repeated the question. He said, "Have you heard me rightly? I am asking, `Do
           you believe in God?'"
               Raman said, "I have heard it. Do you understand what I have said? I don't believe in God,
           because I know. There is no need of belief. I know the whole existence is divine. There is no
           personal God anywhere. Every part of this universe is divine. I know it, there is no question of
           believing."

               Beliefs are to distract people from discovering the beauty, the grandeur, the splendor, the divinity
           of existence. And this is what all the priests of all the religions are doing all over the world:
           programming people into believing certain things -- God, heaven, hell, right, wrong, what is virtue,
           what is sin.
               I would like you to know exactly the meaning of the word `sin'. It does not mean what the
           Christians say, it means forgetfulness. In its root it means forgetfulness of your being.
               So there is only one sin: forgetfulness of your being. And there is only one virtue: that is,
           remembering yourself. And the moment you remember yourself, this whole existence becomes a
           totally different place. A great love arises, a great compassion arises. It is not that you cultivated it,
           you simply found it, just as in a flower opening in the morning sun, the flower discovers its own
           fragrance for the first time. Amazed! -- a mystery was hidden inside him, a splendor -- he dances in
           the wind, in the rain, in the sun, just with the sheer blissfulness of having such a beautiful fragrance.
               Remembering yourself, you don't have to be part of any organized religion. You have a direct
           communication with existence. No argument is needed to prove it, you know it. Argument is needed
           only when you don't know it. Do you need any argument for the sun, for the moon, for the starry
           night? Do you need any argument for things that you know? You need arguments for hell, you need
           arguments and great theological systems to prove heaven.
               It is strange that all religions are concerned with hell, with heaven, with God. No religion seems
           to be concerned with you. They are all concerned with past, they are all concerned with future. No
           religion seems to be concerned with the present.
               All religions are life-negative, they deny life -- and to deny life is to deny God. That is the only
           denial. Whoever denies life and teaches renouncing life is an atheist; he is against the divinity of
           existence. Whoever teaches you to live life in its totality, with great affirmation, rejoicing, singing
           and dancing ... then this very moment the whole existence becomes divine.
           In your dance it becomes divine.
           In your joy it becomes divine.
           In your blissfulness it becomes divine.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           In your ecstasy you reach to the highest peak of divineness.
               Unless you know your own divineness you cannot know the divinity of existence. That is just the
           beginning: to know your divineness is the first step in knowing the divineness of the whole
           existence.
               This existence has never been created. The whole argument is absolutely wrong. All religions
           think everything has to be created, otherwise from where will it come?
               But they don't think, "From where does God come?" If God created the world, from where is he
           coming? Who created him? And if God can be uncreated, then what is the point of bringing in an
           unnecessary hypothesis?
               This is a basic principle of all scientific research: don't bring in unnecessary hypotheses. Work it
           out with the minimum of hypotheses.
               If God is to be created by another bigger God, you will end in an absurdity -- what logicians call
           regressum infinitum. You will regress into infinity and you will not find the answer. The question
           will remain standing exactly where it was: Who created the last God?
           Existence is enough.
           Hence I teach you godliness, but not God.
               God is the invention of the priest. God is a fiction to console you, to make you afraid, to make
           you guilty. All religions depend on your guilt, on your fear -- but that is not authentic religiousness.
               Authentic religiousness will make you unafraid, fearless; not a slave, not a puppet in the hands of
           some unknown God, some fiction.
               According to my experience, if there is God, it is against man's freedom. If God has created you,
           why did he create you?
               According to Christianity, God created the world only four thousand years before Jesus. It is only
           six thousand years ago that God created the world. What has he been doing since eternity? And what
           was the cause that suddenly he decided to create this world? And if God created the world in a
           whimsical way, without any reason and rhyme ... For eternity he had been in a deep slumber, and
           suddenly he woke up, six thousand years ago. It must have been January, the first of January, and
           certainly a Monday, because he worked six days, and on Sunday he disappeared for eternal holidays.
           Since then he has not been known.

               One of my tailors, an old man, told me a very beautiful thing. I was going on a tour. I told him,
           "Exactly within six days you have to prepare my clothes. Saturday evening I will collect them. And I
           am a perfectionist ... so put aside all your other work."
           He said, "Okay -- but have you had a look at the world?"
           I said, "What do you mean?"
               He said, "God created this world. Do you see the mess? I can make your clothes in six days, but
           they will be all in a mess. It is up to you to choose."
           I said, "You are right -- looking at the world."

               In three thousand years there have been five thousand wars. What more mess do you need?
               All the nations are trying hard to become nuclear. This poor country has become nuclear. Half of
           the nation is starving, but the politicians are not interested in the five hundred million people who are
           going to die within ten years.
               This whole country will become a big cemetery. Half of the people are going to die. One will die
           out of two, and there will not be enough people to carry the corpses to the funeral pyres or to the
           graveyards. You will be surrounded by corpses. It will be impossible to live. Your whole country
           will be stinking of death!
               But your politicians are not concerned about it. They are concerned about making the country
           nuclear; they have already made it.
               It seems to be absolutely a mess. It is a proof that it has not been created, it is evolving
           accidentally. It is up to man, not up to God, to put it right. But man can put it right only if he puts
           himself right.
               It is very difficult to convince the unconscious masses that the world is moving towards a global
           suicide. By the end of this century, perhaps, the only planet in the universe which has created people
           like Buddha and Jesus, people like Lao Tzu and Rinzai, will disappear. In the whole of existence,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           millions of stars and millions of galaxies are absolutely without any life. This is a miracle, that this
           small earth ... It is very small, you don't understand its smallness.
               The sun is six thousand times bigger than this earth, and this sun is a mediocre star in the
           universe; there are bigger suns, far bigger. This does not count for much, this is a small galaxy.
               But this earth is our home. Unless we put ourselves right, we cannot put humanity right, we
           cannot put this earth in such a way as to live beautifully. There is no need of nations, there is no need
           of religions, there is no need of races. It is one earth, it is one world, it is one truth, it is one divinity.
           But one has first to search within oneself.

               I have heard about a man who became mad. That was not bad -- but in his madness he started
           thinking that he was dead.
               Everybody tried to convince him, "You are alive. You eat, you drink, you sleep, you go for a
           morning walk -- and you say you are dead?"
               He said, "I know perfectly well I am dead! Who told you that dead people don't go for a morning
           walk?" It was very strange of the fellow. He argued, "Who told you that dead people don't eat?
           Perhaps you are also dead, you simply have forgotten to remember when you died! I remember."
               He was taken to the psychiatrist. There is no other place, although psychiatry has not been of any
           help to anybody. But what to do? -- except psychiatry and psychoanalysis, there is nowhere to go,
           although they have not been of any help.
               Now even the greatest psychoanalysts are saying that psychoanalysis is on its way to dying,
           because people have not been helped by it at all. Fifteen years of psychoanalysis, twenty years of
           psychoanalysis ... your whole bank account is shifted to the psychoanalyst, and you are the same --
           perhaps more insane.
               The psychoanalyst said, "Don't be worried. I have treated many people like this. Sit down."
           The dead man sat down. He said, "Do you think you are alive?"
               The psychoanalyst said, "Have you come here for treatment or to give me treatment?"
               The madman said, "Just by the way, I have inquired whether you are still alive. These people
           think they are alive, and I am saying the truth, from the very bottom of my heart, that I am a dead
           man."
               The psychoanalyst was a very clever, very experienced man. He took out a knife and cut the
           man's hand, just slightly so that blood came out. Before cutting the hand he asked the man, "Have
           you ever heard -- when you used to be alive -- that dead men don't bleed?"
               The madman said, "That's true. I have heard -- while I was alive -- a proverb that dead men don't
           bleed."
               Then the analyst cut the dead man's hand and the blood came. He said, "Aha! And now ...?"
               The dead man said even more loudly, "Aha! That means the proverb is wrong: dead men do
           bleed. This is a proof!"

               Now, what to do with people? If you want to help them, it is not an easy job. It is one of the most
           difficult things to help somebody towards spiritual exploration, to move someone towards his inner
           space.
           That's exactly my work here.
               My only concern is to make you aware of your innermost center, and then everything will follow
           on its own accord.

           The sutras:

               OUR BELOVED MASTER,
               ON ONE OCCASION, YAKUSAN WROTE DOWN THE CHINESE CHARACTER SIGNIFYING
               BUDDHA, AND ASKED HIS DISCIPLE, DOGO: "WHAT IS THIS LETTER?"
               DOGO REPLIED, "IT IS THE LETTER FOR `BUDDHA'."

               Perfectly factual and right -- but in the vision of a master it is a totally different thing.
               Does Dogo think that the master does not know what the character signifies? His answer implies
           that the master is ignorant of the significance of the Chinese character.
               If he had understood, he would have remained silent. His silence would have been the right
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           answer. He would have remained silent, showing the master that "You know it already, why are you
           harassing me?" But, on the contrary, he said, "IT IS THE LETTER FOR `BUDDHA'." He showed
           his knowledge.
                Before a master you should show your heart, you should show your innocence, not your
           knowledge. All knowledge is rubbish! All knowledge is borrowed. Dogo missed the point.
                YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU ARE A MONK SO FULL OF CHATTER!" -- and he had
           only said one word. But the master is right. One word has come out, but the chattering mind --
           yakkety-yak, yakkety-yak -- goes on inside. From where has this "buddha" come? From that
           yakkety-yak, he has just pulled out one word. He is not a silent man.
                The master was disappointed. He hoped that Dogo would remain silent, knowing that "The
           master knows, he is unnecessarily pulling my leg." Or, if he wanted to answer him, he could have
           touched his feet. This would have showed that "That character shows you, the buddha."
                Gautam the Buddha is not the only buddha in the history of the world; there have been thousands
           of buddhas around the world, in different parts of the world. They may not be known as buddhas,
           because `buddha' simply means the awakened one. It is not the name of Gautam Buddha; his name
           was Gautam Siddharth. Buddha is his awakening, his enlightenment, his knowing himself and
           existence.
                Anybody who becomes awakened can be called a buddha, it is nobody's monopoly. The word
           does not belong to Gautam Buddha, it is not his name; it is the quality that has happened to him, his
           awakening. Anybody awake, anywhere in the world, has the right to be called a buddha.
                Yakusan was an enlightened master, with thousands of disciples. Hundreds became enlightened
           under his guidance. Just touching his feet would have been the right gesture of a man of
           understanding, that "It signifies you." But there is no need to use words. Just touch the feet of the
           master. Or, if you have courage enough, then slap the master: "What do you mean? You know it and
           still you want to harass me?"
                In Zen, slapping the master is a very common routine. It is the only religion in which the master
           and the disciple are not inferior or superior. Sometimes the master hits the disciple, sometimes the
           disciple hits the master.
                A great master, Rinzai, called his most intimate disciple suddenly in the middle of the night. The
           disciple was meditating outside the master's house. He came in.
                The master said, "I had to call you. I love to hit you. As I see it, you are coming too close; by the
           morning you will be a buddha, and I will not be able to hit you. So this is the last time" -- and he hit
           him! And the disciple touched his feet in gratitude.
                Zen is a very special world. It has its own ways which are absolutely unknown outside this small
           stream of buddhas. It is not an organized religion, it is pure religion, simple religion. The individual
           is far more important than the church.
                It was so loving of Rinzai to call his disciple. Slapping him was sheer love and joy: "I have been
           enjoying slapping you for years. From tomorrow morning, I will not be able to slap you; on the
           contrary, if you want you can slap me."
                And exactly the next morning, the disciple came in and slapped the master. The master laughed
           and he touched the feet of the disciple, just as in the night the disciple had touched his feet.
                There is no problem of any superiority or inferiority. One is awake, one is asleep, but the asleep
           one can become awake any moment.

               Rather than answering Yakusan, if Dogo had done something to express it -- slapping the master,
           touching his feet, or just remaining silent, closing his eyes and sitting in a buddha posture -- that
           would have given the answer.
               Language cannot answer such questions. You have to show your understanding, not your
           knowledge. You have to show your wisdom, not your information. You have to show your
           transformation.
           Dogo missed, utterly missed.
               YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU ARE A MONK SO FULL OF CHATTER! You have not
           gone beyond the mind yet?"

              ONCE, AT THE EVENING DISCOURSE, YAKUSAN DID NOT LIGHT THE CANDLE AS USUAL. A
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 MONK CAME AND STOOD BY HIS SIDE.

              You never know with the Zen masters. You are absolutely incapable of predicting their behavior,
           because they live spontaneously, they don't have a certain ritual to repeat. Nobody knows the reason
           why he did not light the candle as usual. The assembly was completely in the dark.
                 ONE MONK CAME AND STOOD BY HIS SIDE. YAKUSAN SAID, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL
                 PHRASE."

              This is a special Zen expression. When the master says, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL
           PHRASE," he does not mean he has a phrase; he simply means he has something to confer, not to
           convey, but to transfer.
              He said, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL PHRASE. IF A BULL GIVES BIRTH, I WILL TELL IT
           TO YOU." Now, bulls don't give birth, so he is making an absolutely absurd statement: "IF A BULL
           GIVES BIRTH, I WILL TELL IT TO YOU."
              The monk must have been an enlightened one. THE MONK SAID, "THE BULL HAS
           ALREADY GIVEN BIRTH LONG AGO, AND YOU JUST KEEP NOT REVEALING IT. It is
           time you should reveal it. What do you mean by `the phrase'? It is time you should convey, you
           should transfer it, you should unburden yourself, because the bull has given birth long ago."
              YAKUSAN ASKED IMMEDIATELY FOR A LIGHT -- he wanted to see the monk. He had
           given the right answer.
                 YAKUSAN ASKED FOR A LIGHT. WHEN THE CANDLE WAS BROUGHT IN, THE MONK
                 RETREATED AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE ASSEMBLY OF MONKS. There were thousands of
                 monks.

                 LATER UNGAN TOLD TOZAN -- two other masters talking about the old days with Yakusan
           ...
                 LATER UNGAN TOLD TOZAN ABOUT THIS, AND TOZAN SAID, "THE MONK KNEW THE TRUTH
                 -- HE JUST DID NOT WANT TO MAKE OBEISANCE TO THE MASTER."

               There is every possibility you will misunderstand it. You will think Tozan is saying that the
           monk knew the truth, but he did not want to touch the feet of the master. You will think he was an
           egoist. No. A man who knows the truth cannot have the ego. They both cannot exist together, there
           is no coexistence possible between truth and ego. Then what is the meaning? Why did he disappear?
               My understanding is, he disappeared because he did not want even to be recognized, because that
           desire to be recognized is part of the ego. He did not even want to be grateful to the master. Not that
           he was not grateful -- he was so grateful that to show it by touching his feet was very miserly.
               There was no way to show the gratitude to the master, and he did not want any recognition. He
           simply disappeared in the crowd, just as inside he had disappeared in the cosmos. He is no more,
           who is going to touch the feet?
               In the darkness it was perfectly okay, because the master could not see him. But when the light
           was brought in, he simply disappeared.
               This anecdote has been misunderstood by the scholars very much. I have seen their
           commentaries; they all think it was because of his ego. But they don't understand -- scholars cannot
           understand -- they don't see that the monk knew the truth; how can he have the ego? You can have
           either the ego or the truth.
               Ego is your personality, the truth is your individuality. You have to drop the personality. You
           have to stand utterly naked before existence. You have to melt down like ice into the ocean of this
           great divineness all around.
               America has not produced any great mystic, it has not produced any great psychoanalyst. But one
           psychologist, William James -- everything else about him was ordinary, but one thing he brought, a
           phrase, "oceanic experience." The religious experience is an oceanic experience. Just for this small
           phrase, this small statement, I consider him to be one of the greatest psychologists that we have
           produced anywhere around the globe. He has touched exactly the right point.
               Religious experience is an oceanic experience, a dewdrop slipping from the lotus leaf into the
           ocean -- in one way, disappearing into the ocean, in another way, the ocean disappearing into the
           dewdrop, both becoming one.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The monk simply disappeared into the crowd because he did not want to be recognized. He did
           not want even to pay obeisance to the master, because that would also be in some way a hidden
           desire to be recognized by the master.
                But a man who has understood the truth needs no recognition. He becomes a nobody. In
           Buddha's language, he becomes anatta, he becomes a no-self.
           He is no more; only the existence is.
           It is a beautiful anecdote for you to meditate, to contemplate on.

           Sampu wrote:

              CHILD WAITING EARTHBOUND.
              CLOUD SPARROW
              HIGHER AND HIGHER.


               It is a small haiku. It says, CHILD WAITING EARTHBOUND ... a child in the mother's womb
           is waiting to come to the earth. First one has to get roots into the earth; only then you can spread
           your branches into the sky like wings. Unless you have roots, you cannot spread your wings into the
           sky. The deeper the roots, the higher goes the tree ... almost reaching to the stars.

               Only one painter in the West, Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch painter, had such tremendous insight --
           almost the insight of a mystic, very close to being a buddha. He always painted his trees surpassing
           the stars. The stars remained underneath the trees, and the trees went beyond the stars. Whenever he
           was asked, "What are you doing? This is simply insane. No tree can reach beyond the stars!" ...
               The closest star is four light years away -- the closest. You have to understand four light years.
           Scientists had to find a new measurement; yards and feet and miles would no longer do. This is the
           measurement for the stars -- the distance is so vast. What is a light year? A light year is: light travels
           in a single second one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles -- in one second, one hundred and
           eighty-six thousand miles. Now multiply it by sixty, that will be one minute. Multiply it again by
           sixty, that will be one hour. Multiply it by twenty-four, that will be one day. Multiply it by thirty,
           that will be one month. Multiply it by twelve, that will be one year -- one light year! The nearest star
           is four light years away.
               If we can ever in our wildest dreams think of a rocket moving at the same speed as light, which is
           impossible ... It is impossible because at the speed of light everything becomes light. That very speed
           turns everything into light, so you cannot have a rocket moving at the speed of light. You and the
           rocket both will become light.
               But just to help you understand: if you move at the speed of light, you will take four years to
           reach to the closest star -- and there are already four million stars counted in the universe, and this is
           not the end; this is the end of our instruments. Beyond those four million stars there is still infinity.
           We can never reach to the boundary line, because there is no boundary line to existence.
               Van Gogh was asked again and again, "Are you mad?" But he said, "I have been sitting by the
           side of the trees, listening where they are going, and I have always heard that the trees are our earth's
           ambition to reach to the stars. My paintings are not factual, they are poetic. They are the ambitions of
           the earth to reach to the stars."
               He is the only man, a very rare man, who looked at stars not the way we look. He looked at stars
           as spirals. Nobody had ever looked at stars as spirals. People asked him, "What are you doing?" He
           said, "What can I do? Whenever I close my eyes I see the stars as spirals."
               It took one hundred years, but just now physicists have come to the point that stars are spiral.
           Van Gogh was right, although he had no instruments, and eyes cannot see it.
               He was so much obsessed with the sun ... he wanted to paint the perfect sunset. The whole day he
           would wait under the sun, watching and watching and watching. And then all the psychedelic colors
           on the horizon, and the sun setting ... He painted for almost one year, but rejected all those paintings
           because nothing was coming close to the beauty and the ecstasy and the silence, and the birds
           returning home, and the sun setting. And those psychedelic colors on the clouds, on the horizon ...
           never repeated again, always original.
               The day he finished his painting to his satisfaction -- he was only thirty-three years old -- he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wrote a letter to his brother saying that "My work is done. Now I don't have unnecessarily to be a
           burden on the earth" -- and he committed suicide.
              He painted thousands of paintings, but not a single painting was ever sold, because nobody could
           understand his paintings. They were so strange, but they were absolutely real to him.

               Sampu is saying, "Child waiting in the mother's womb" -- for what? -- earthbound, he wants to
           get to the earth, to get his roots deep into the earth, because unless you have roots in the earth you
           cannot rise into the sky, you cannot be a cedar of Lebanon, four hundred feet high. Then you need
           four-hundred-foot-deep roots. A balance is needed, otherwise the tree will fall.
               This is one of my basic and essential approaches, that unless you are deeply rooted in
           materialism you cannot rise into spirituality.
               The East has committed one mistake: it has been trying to reach to the stars without going deeper
           into the earth, and it has been a complete failure. The West has committed another mistake: it goes
           on growing the roots into the earth, into matter, and it has forgotten completely about the stars.
               Hence my continuous emphasis that every one of you has to be a Zorba the Buddha. Zorba is the
           roots in the earth, and the buddha is a longing to fly into ultimate freedom, to reach to the space
           which is unbounded.

              CHILD WAITING EARTHBOUND.
              CLOUD SPARROW
              HIGHER AND HIGHER.

              ... And a bird, a cloud sparrow, goes on higher and higher into the sky. Both need a great
           synthesis.
           Our world is suffering because we have not been able to create a synthesis between East and West,
           between earth and sky, between spirit and matter, between your inner and the outer. Unless this great
           synthesis is achieved, humanity has no hope.


              A question from Maneesha:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YOUR MASTERLINESS LAST NIGHT WAS AWE-INSPIRING.
              IT SEEMS IRONICAL, BUT DOES THE DISCIPLE ONLY REALLY COMPREHEND THE MASTER'S
              COMPASSION WHEN HE IS ENLIGHTENED AND THUS NO LONGER SO DEPENDENT ON IT?


                Maneesha, here nobody is dependent on me. You want to be dependent, but I won't allow it. It is
           because of your desire to be dependent that you have created organized religions. You have become
           enslaved by all kinds of churches, cults and creeds, because of your desire to be dependent. It is a
           father-fixation, in the terms of psychoanalysis, because the child is so dependent on the mother and
           the father.
                If it is a boy, he becomes fixed on the mother, and that is a great trouble. If it is a girl, she
           becomes fixed on the father. Every girl her whole life will be trying to find a father-figure in her
           husband -- and that is impossible. Nothing is being repeated. You cannot find your father as a
           husband. Hence, every woman is frustrated, no husband seems to be right. Every man is
           disappointed -- because no woman is going to be your mother.
                Now, it is a very strange problem. The husband is trying to find his mother in the wife, the wife
           is trying to find her father in the husband. There is constant struggle, fight. Marriage is hellfire.
                How do people manage to live together? It is a miracle. Because they are miserable as a husband,
           as a wife, they have to find some consolation somewhere else -- in God, in the priest.
                It is not without any reason that Christian priests are called "father" -- even Catholic priests. Do
           you see the contradiction? They are unmarried, and you call them father. Now they are trying to find
           mothers, to become really fathers, but the Vatican is against it.
           Why do you call God, "the Father"? And there are Mother Goddesses also ....
                These are fixations of childhood. You were dependent then. How long are you going to be
           parasites on your parents? Twenty-five years ... Up to the time you become a Ph.D. from the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           university, you are a parasite. The father and mother want you to be independent -- now it is time! --
           but in twenty-five years without being aware of it they have taught only one thing: be dependent.
               Now you are thrown into the world. Your whole psychology demands somebody to be your
           savior -- a Jesus. You are ready to become sheep, some shepherd is needed -- somebody to console
           you, "Don't be worried. Just believe in me and I will save you. I will take care of you."
               Some God is needed who is omnipotent; he has to be, otherwise how will he take care of so
           many billions of people? He has to be all-knowing, present everywhere -- omnipotent, all-powerful;
           omniscient, all-knowing; omnipresent, everywhere available. This is our desire. And the priest
           certainly exploits humanity because of this dependence. The priest consoles.
               Karl Marx was right when he said that religion is the opium of the people. The organized
           so-called religions are certainly the opium of the people.
               I will not call religiousness the opium of the people. That is a totally different phenomenon. No
           God, no fathers, no priest, no rabbi -- you are standing on your own feet. Your trust is in existence
           itself -- no mediator.
               Maneesha, my whole effort is that you should not be dependent on me, whether you are
           enlightened or not. If you are not enlightened, it is needed even more -- no dependence -- because a
           dependent person is spiritually a slave, and a slave has no right to become enlightened.
               You have to declare your independence, your freedom, even while you are not enlightened,
           because this freedom, this independence will pave the path towards enlightenment.
               Of course, after enlightenment there is no need to be dependent. Because there is no need to be
           dependent, you can be grateful, you can have compassion, and you can understand the compassion of
           the master. It is difficult in your darkness, in your unconsciousness, to understand compassion and
           love.
               But that should not be your concern at this moment. At this moment, your sole concern is
           meditation. Go deeper into meditation and you will find compassion, and you will find
           understanding of compassion. You will find freedom, and you will find that freedom does not mean
           ungratefulness, unthankfulness.
               There is no need to show it; your heart will beat with it, your heart will continuously ring a bell
           of great blissfulness, benediction, and of gratitude for the master. But it is not dependence.
               No master who is authentic will ask your surrender, your commitment. These are the frauds who
           ask your surrender, who ask your commitment, who ask that "You have to be under my control,
           under my instructions. You cannot leave the fold."
               This is not a fold, this is purely a gathering of individuals. It is not a society, neither is it a club,
           nor a church. It is not an organization.
               I love to share! -- and you are thirsty, and I have enough water to share with you. Because I
           know the secret, the more I share the more I have, so I am not a loser -- and you will be gaining
           deeper and deeper insights into existence and its mysteries.
               But there is no question of any dependence on me. I am just your friend. It is your love if you
           call me your master. You are not commanded to call me your master. You can call me your friend,
           you can even ask the question without addressing me. The address is not the point.
               You are related to me in deep love, without any conditions -- either from your side or from my
           side.
           I have to explain it to you.
               Whenever you make somebody dependent on you, you also become dependent on that person.
           Have you ever thought about it, that dependence is a mutual phenomenon? The master of a slave is
           also a slave of the slave. The leader of the people is also a follower of the people. The leader is
           continuously looking where the masses are going; he jumps ahead, to remain the leader. He goes on
           saying what the masses want to hear, and whether that is harmful or poisonous does not matter.
           Whatever the masses want to hear, he goes on saying it.
               Never make anybody dependent on you -- your wife, your husband, your children -- because the
           more you make them dependent on you, the more you are becoming dependent on them. Allow
           freedom to your wife, to your husband, to your children. Help them to be independent, and that will
           help you to be independent of them.
               And if we can teach independence and freedom to people, all fictions in religion will disappear.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have heard ...
                One rabbi and one Christian bishop were very friendly. They used to go to the golf course
           together. They had made arrangements for the coming Sunday, but the bishop said, "There is one
           difficulty. If many more people come for confession I will be late. I will do it as quick as possible;
           you wait just in front of the church."
                The rabbi was waiting and waiting and waiting, and it was getting late. Finally he got out of his
           car and went from the back door into the church to the confessional booth, where the bishop was
           listening to the confessions of people, and giving them punishments.
                The rabbi said, "We are getting late, and there is a long queue; it won't be finished by the
           evening. So I propose one thing: just let me see how the confession is being done. You do just two
           cases, and then you go and get ready, and I will finish this whole lot within minutes!"
           The bishop said, "That's great!" -- so he showed him how.
           One person said, "I have committed a rape."
           The bishop said, "Ten dollars in the charity box, and five Hail Marys."
                The rabbi said, "That's enough! You go and get ready" -- and he sat in the bishop's chair.
                There is a curtain and a small window so the identity of the person is not known, only the voice
           is heard.
           Another man came, and he said, "I too have committed a rape."
           The rabbi said, "Twenty dollars into the charity box, and five Hail Marys."
                The man said, "The rates have gone higher within seconds! I heard ... just now you have told the
           other person to give only ten dollars and five Hail Marys, and suddenly you are telling me twenty
           dollars?"
                The rabbi said, "Don't be worried, my son. Ten dollars are in advance. You can commit one rape
           more, no need to confess. I am in a hurry, just pass on." And he finished the whole queue within
           minutes. He did not hear what they were saying; he said, "I already know. Rape, theft, murder --
           what else can you do? So just name the crime, don't describe it to me, don't go into details. I don't
           have much time. Just say, `Murder'; ten Hail Marys and thirty dollars in the charity box, and get
           lost!"
                The Christians thought, "It is very strange. Our bishop never behaved like this!"
                But by the time the bishop came he could not believe it. The booth was empty.
                The rabbi said, "This is a small business, but you are doing well. In the synagogue we don't have
           such an institution. This is absolutely against economic progress! I will try to start confession in the
           synagogue."
                But all the rabbis said, "Nonsense. That is Christian, that cannot be done here."
                So he went to meet the chief rabbi, and he told him, "They are doing so much business. And
           Jesus was a Jew. He was born a Jew, he lived a Jew, he died a Jew; he was never a Christian. He was
           our son! We should be the inheritors of all his business."
                The chief rabbi said, "Cool down." His assistant was also present. The chief said, "We do
           business in a different way. Look at me: my synagogue is the most ultra-modern."
           Both the rabbis said, "What do you mean?"
                He said, "I allow people to smoke cigarettes, or bring bottles of wine or beer -- whatever they
           prefer. Everything inside the synagogue becomes holy. So people are coming ... the synagogue is
           packed."
                The assistant said, "I have never told you, but I am doing better. I allow them to bring their
           girlfriends also -- or boyfriends, as the case may be. And all these things are ordinary, beer and wine
           and cigarettes -- that's okay. They can even make love, because that is what our basic teaching is:
           love -- and not only your wife, but also your neighbor's wife: love! So there is such a crowd, and
           people are queueing outside, so we have to run the synagogue in shifts! Inside the synagogue
           everything is holy."
                The third man, who had come to find business, said, "I have understood. Now I am going to do
           something even better."
           They said, "What will you do?"
                He said, "I am going to put a board in front of the synagogue that on every Jewish holiday the
           synagogue will be closed. Let people enjoy! That is the basic principle -- enjoyment. And for this
           enjoyment I am going to charge. I am giving them one holiday completely -- no sermons, no sitting
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the cold seats, that is unnecessary trouble for people. So they have to pay, and the synagogue will
           be closed on all Jewish holidays. It will be open otherwise -- but only on Jewish holidays would the
           Jews come; on other days, nobody comes."

               Religion has become a business -- all religions -- and it has become a business because you are
           searching dependence. Now, giving ten dollars and saying five Hail Marys, you feel unburdened --
           unburdened to commit another rape. It is cheap.
               And that's why the pope says, "Don't communicate directly with God, it is a sin!" Obviously it is
           a sin, because how will the priest live? How will the Vatican bank live? Its turnover is perhaps the
           greatest of any bank: one hundred billion dollars per year -- and all the money is heroin money.
               The Italian government has issued an arrest warrant for the bishop who was running the bank.
           They turn black money into white, it is the biggest mafia. But the Vatican, although just eight square
           miles, is a sovereign country, and the pope is not only the head of the Catholic church, he is also the
           head of the Vatican sovereign country, just eight square miles. The Italian government cannot enter
           there. So they were just waiting for that manager to come out -- but he would not come out once he
           knew.
               And do you know what the pope has done to him? Rather than delivering him to the Italian
           government, because he is committing the greatest crime, and the pope goes on speaking against
           drugs and his bank is dealing only in drugs ... All the money that he is spending on his tours ...
               When the pope went to Australia, he spent eight million dollars. Just before him the queen of
           England had gone there, and she spent only two million dollars. From where is this money coming?
               Rather than giving him to the Italian government, he has made the bishop a cardinal, promoted
           him because he is the source of money.
               It is true not only about the Catholic church, it is the situation with all religions. But why do
           people give? They need consolation, they need somebody to look up to, somebody who can promise
           them that they will be saved from hell and hellfire.
               Here, in this place, you have to learn to be dependent only on you. Just search out your own
           sources. I can help you to be free, free from everybody, including me, because I think freedom is the
           ultimate value.

           Now it is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.
                Sardar Gurudayal Singh has a special time (SARDARJI GIVES A SPECIAL WHOOP AT THIS,
           AND EVERYBODY LAUGHS WITH HIM) because he is a special man. (SARDARJI RELEASES
           AN EVEN LONGER "WHOOOOOOO!" ACCOMPANIED BY MORE LAUGHTER.)
                His speciality is -- there are many new guests so I want to tell them -- that he is the only man in
           the whole world who laughs before the joke is told!
                And these jokes have a certain spiritual purpose. We have been serious .... (SARDARJI
           PUNCTUATES AGAIN.) Before going into meditation, you have to calm down, relax, laugh, forget
           all about religion .... (THIS TIME, SARDARJI REALLY ENJOYS!)

              It is a dark and stormy day at the Vatican. The bells are tolling ominously, as inside, on his
           deathbed, lies Pope the Polack, breathing his last.
              At the bedside there is a crowd of bishops, cardinals, priests and other homosexuals, moaning
           and chanting. Cardinal Cats-ass is crying his eyes out, as he is bent over the pope's face.
              "Ah! Don't be upset," gasps Pope the Polack. "Don't cry. The Vatican council will surely find a
           great man to take my place. As a matter of fact, I am sure he will do much better than me."
           "But," whimpers Catsass, "that is just what they promised us last time!"

               Dan Quayle, the vice president of America, gets called into George Bush's office one morning.
               "Dan," says Bush, handing him a box of business cards, "Dan, these are your personal
           vice-presidential business cards. They help you to remember who you are."
           "Gee! Thanks, Mister Bush!" says Quayle. "I shall always treasure them!"
               "No, Dan," says Bush. "You use them ... these cards are to influence people and show them how
           important you are."
               "Gee! Thanks, Mister Bush!" says Quayle. "I guess I really am important now!"
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                "Right, Dan!" says Bush. "Now I want you to get out there and help the American farmers. Go
           out and visit some farms, Dan. Just show them your card, Dan, and they will be able to get things
           done! Take the bull by the horns, Dan!"
           "Gee! Okay, Mister Bush," says Quayle. "Here I go!" And he walks out.
                Some time later, Dan Quayle finds himself at old Farmer Zeke's place in Georgia.
                He drives into the farmyard to find old Zeke puffing on his pipe and leaning up against the
           railing. The old farmer can recognize an idiot when he sees one, and he refuses to let Quayle look
           around the farm. So Dan Quayle reaches into his pocket and pulls out his business card. Zeke
           inspects the card closely.
           "What is this?" he asks.
                "Well," explains Quayle. "Mister Bush said, `Just show them your card and then you will be able
           to get things done.'"
           "Okay," says old Zeke, shaking his head, "if that is the way you want it!"
                Ten minutes later, old Zeke is still leaning against the railing, smoking his pipe, when he
           suddenly hears loud screams coming from the field. He looks around just in time to see Dan Quayle
           running for his life across the grass. Right behind him, snorting furiously, comes Rambo, the big
           black bull.
                "Hey! You idiot! What are you doing?" shouts old Zeke. "Just show him your card!"

               Bishop Ballsoff has a beautiful parrot called Lucy, who knows all sorts of Catholic sermons and
           songs. However, Lucy does not really care for the Catholic religion, and secretly learns to say,
           "Down with the Polack pope!"
               One day, Lucy is sitting by the open window when she starts screaming in a loud voice: "Down
           with the Polack pope. Down with the Polack pope!"
               Before long, the Catholic church committee is told about this outrageous noise coming from the
           bishop's house. They immediately summon Bishop Ballsoff to appear before them to explain himself.
               The scene is tense in the church courtroom, with Bishop Ballsoff and Lucy, the parrot, sharing
           the witness stand. Bishop Ballsoff is testifying that it is Lucy who has been been causing all the
           trouble.
           The prosecuting priest approaches Lucy and tries to get her to speak.
           "Down with the Polack pope!" hisses the prosecutor.
           But Lucy sits silently.
               Cardinal Fizz, the judge, comes down from his high-chair and approaches Lucy. He too tries to
           get her to speak.
           "Down with Pope the Polack!" he says.
           But Lucy just blinks and keeps quiet.
               The twelve priests and nuns in the jury leave their seats and approach the witness stand. "Down
           with Pope the Polack!" they shout in unison.
           But Lucy remains silent.
               Soon the whole Catholic courtroom is full of noise as everyone tries to get Lucy to say the
           offending words.
           "Down with Pope the Polack!" they shout. "Down with the Polack pope!"
               Suddenly Lucy flaps her wings, and a deathly silence falls over the courtroom. The parrot looks
           this way and that, inspecting the Catholics closely. "Okay!" says Lucy, holding up one wing. "Then
           may God answer your prayers!"

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ... and feel your body to be completely frozen.
           This is the right moment to look inwards.
               Gather all your life energy, your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be
           your last moment of life -- only with such urgency you can rush towards your being, towards your
           very center.
           Faster and faster ...
               As you come closer to your center, a great silence descends over you. Fountains of peace spring
           within you. Suddenly a great ecstasy possesses you.
           This is the moment you are the buddha, the awakened one.
               At the very center of your being, the buddha has been hiding since eternity. You have never
           looked inwards. Otherwise, you have there all the treasures of the world, you have all that existence
           can offer you.
               The buddha is nothing but a door into eternity, into godliness, into the divine existence.
           The only quality the buddha has, has to be remembered: it is witnessing.
           Just witness ... the body is not you.
           Witness ... the mind is not you.
           Witness ... the astral, the other bodies, the subtle body, are not you.
               These are all just layers upon you. Hidden behind all these layers is your real being. That being is
           a pure witness, a watcher on the hill.
           Buddha knows no other quality. He consists only of pure witnessing.
               Witness all the experiences that will be happening at the center of your being: the serenity, the
           calmness, a very cool breeze passing through you, an unknown fragrance filling your being, a
           blessing that you have never known, a benediction that you can share with the whole world and it
           will be inexhaustible.
               Witness: this moment you are the most fortunate people on the earth, because everybody is
           looking out, and you are looking in.
               Everybody is looking at things, you are looking at godliness, your very subjectivity.
               Everybody is concerned about trivia, you are concerned with the essential core of existence.
               Collect as much as you can ... the flowers, the fragrance, but remain a witness.

           To make the witness even deeper, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ...
           Let go ...
           Just be a witness.
               Slowly slowly your body will start falling into deep rest, your mind will be a faraway echo --
           nothing to be concerned with.
               Silence deepens and you start melting. Your separation from others disappears. The Buddha
           Auditorium becomes an ocean of pure consciousness without any ripples.
           You are the whole existence, not part of it.
           Everybody is the whole existence.
           To me, to be one with the whole is the only way to be holy.
           Collect whatever experiencing is happening. You have to bring it with you.
               And you have also to persuade the buddha to come along with you. He is your very nature, hence
           there is no problem why he should not come into your ordinary day-to-day activities, in your
           gestures, in your words, in your silences of the heart, in your love.
           Chopping wood, he will be standing within you.
           Carrying water from the well, he will be watching silently from inside.
               Persuade him. Inch by inch we are bringing him closer and closer to your ordinary simple
           existence.
               The day you disappear and only the buddha remains will be the most blessed day of your life.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

                Come back ... But come back as buddhas, with grace, with silence, with great beauty.
                Sit down just like the buddha for a few moments, to remember where you have been, the source,
           its juice -- it was your life's juice -- the flowers of eternity, the fragrance of the beyond.
                And the buddha has come, he is just behind you. Soon he will become your only reality.
           This I call, "straight to the point of enlightenment."

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                    Chapter #2
                                        Chapter title: Service with a smile
           23 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901235
              ShortTitle: CHRIST02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 148 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE WAS A MONK WHO HAD STAYED WITH YAKUSAN FOR THREE YEARS AND SERVED
              AS THE HEAD COOK. ONCE, YAKUSAN ASKED HIM, "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?"
              "THREE YEARS," THE MONK REPLIED.
              "I DON'T KNOW YOUR FACE AT ALL," SAID YAKUSAN.
              THE MONK DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YAKUSAN MEANT, AND, OUT OF RESENTMENT,
              LEFT THE MONASTERY.
              ANOTHER MONK ONCE SAID TO YAKUSAN, "I HAVE A DOUBT. PLEASE, MASTER, CLEAR IT
              AWAY."
              YAKUSAN SAID, "THEN COME TO ME AT THE REGULAR DISCOURSE."
              THAT NIGHT, SEATED FOR DISCOURSE, YAKUSAN ADDRESSED THE ASSEMBLY OF MONKS
              IN FRONT OF HIM, SAYING, "TONIGHT A MONK WILL CLEAR HIS DOUBT AWAY. WHERE ARE
              YOU? COME UP HERE!"
              THE MONK AROSE AND CAME FORWARD. NO SOONER HAD HE REACHED THE MASTER
              THAN YAKUSAN KNOCKED HIM DOWN AND IMMEDIATELY RETURNED TO HIS ROOM.


              Friends,

              One sannyasin has asked me:
              CANNOT WE DISAGREE WITH YOU? CANNOT WE CRITICIZE YOU?

              A significant question for everyone.
           This is not a debating club. Neither your agreement is needed, nor your disagreement. What is
           needed is your right hearing. If you hear rightly, it will be decisive. Agreement is just a mind thing,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and disagreement is also the same. Neither of them is going to help you. What is going to help you is
           to experiment, to experience, but that comes only when you have heard me.
               The greatest difficulty is to hear rightly, to hear silently. If you are thinking to agree or disagree,
           then you cannot hear me. Your prejudices are there functioning as a curtain, they will distort
           everything.
               I don't ask you to agree with me, and I don't ask you to disagree with me. Our whole approach is
           beyond the mind.
               You have to learn how to listen, how to be silent and let your silence decide. Let your no-mind
           decide. And I know that your no-mind will be in absolute synchronicity with what I am saying to
           you. I will not use the word agreement -- that word belongs to the mind -- nor disagreement. They
           are two polarities of the mind -- positive/negative, theist/atheist, believer/nonbeliever.
               I am trying to approach your no-mind, where it is never a question of choice. No-mind functions
           choicelessly. Once I have approached the no-mind, if you have allowed me, putting your prejudices
           aside, you won't have to agree or disagree, you will find an immense synchronicity. You will be in
           absolute harmony with me. And only that harmony can help your evolution.
               What will you do with agreement? Just a belief will be created, and I am against all beliefs. What
           will you do with your disagreement? Your prejudice will remain, and your prejudice is your
           problem. You will remain within the boundaries of your past upbringing, your programming by the
           family, by the school, by the society, by the church.
               This is not an intellectual discussing club; this is a place for seekers. It is a totally different
           phenomenon than you will come across anywhere else around the world. Here, we are searching to
           find a deep harmony. If you can be harmonious with me -- it is not agreement -- you are one with
           me. Agreement needs two. If you can be harmonious with me, I can transfer much that cannot be
           said. And only that which cannot be said is going to help your growth.
               The other night, those Christian monks were here. They behaved in a very mannerly way, but
           they said at the gate when asked by Narendra ... one man told him, "I like everything, and I have
           been doing Dynamic and Kundalini Meditation for four and a half months, and I have been
           immensely helped in dropping my tensions, my mind stress. But then I felt suddenly, something is
           missing ...." And what is missing? -- service, service to the poor.
               Now this is his upbringing, continuous Christian teaching, which becomes a barrier. Although he
           meditated here with me, I don't think he was hearing me.
               You cannot serve anybody unless you have found yourself. Who are you to serve? Your service
           will be dangerous. You are in absolute darkness and unconsciousness. Out of your unconsciousness
           any action is going to be harmful.
           Let us contemplate a little more about this word `service'.

               All the religions have been serving the poor for thousands of years, and poverty goes on
           growing. Is this authentic service? Then in thousands of years poverty should have disappeared. In
           fact, you are feeding poverty.
               Real service will be that the poor should be told that "You are being exploited, and you have to
           revolt against the vested interests." Unless the poor understand that their poverty is caused by a few
           people who are exploiting them, sucking their blood ... It is not caused by your past lives and bad
           acts, it is caused by the social system which depends on exploitation.
               The religions have to be made aware of the fact that they have been doing this service for
           centuries. What is the result? -- because a tree is known by the fruit; if the fruit is rotten, the tree is
           not worth much. Service seems to be a beautiful word to hide an exploiting social structure. It
           appears so good -- serving the poor -- it seems a great virtue.
           But why are the poor there in the first place? Who has made them poor?
               On the one hand you go on serving the poor and converting them into Catholics. The service is
           not in the service of the poor, the service is to increase the power of the Catholic church. You go on
           finding orphans and converting them. How have Catholics increased to six hundred million? -- by
           serving the poor. The service is motivated.
               If you are really interested in destroying poverty you will look into the roots. You treat only
           symptoms. Giving food to the poor, or clothes to the poor ... how is it going to help? It will only
           keep them at survival level, and it will allow the vested interests to continue exploiting them. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           see the vicious circle?
               The capitalists go on donating to the church. The church goes on helping the poor at least to live,
           because laborers and slaves are needed. Even slaves were fed by their masters. That was not service.
           If you don't feed your horse, if you don't feed your cow, you will lose much money. If you don't feed
           the poor, the capitalist will disappear. Who is going to work for him? Whom is he going to exploit?
               So it is a very cunning game. The rich man goes on donating a small portion of his exploitation
           to the church. The church goes on bringing up the orphans, aboriginals, poor people, to the survival
           level. They are needed alive, because without them the whole system will collapse.
               So on the one hand, the capitalist goes on giving money in charity; on the other hand, he goes on
           exploiting the poor. And between the two, the priest has his own percentage -- he is a mediator -- so
           he is living beautifully. Millions of missionaries are there around the world, but they are serving the
           exploiters in the name of service.
           I don't want to be in this vicious game.
           I want poverty to be completely removed.
           There should be no person who needs service.
           A society that needs service is sick.
           But its prejudice about service has prevented it from hearing me.

                I am reminded of a case in Jesus' life. Most probably it is simply mythology. Not most probably
           -- it is certainly mythology.
                Jesus brings Lazarus back from death. Now, the question is: is Lazarus going to live forever? He
           will die again -- so Jesus has given him two deaths instead of one. The arithmetic is absolutely clear.
           He will suffer poverty, and one day he will die again.
                But I don't think this happened, because if it were true, why could Jesus not perform any miracle
           on the cross?
                On the cross he became angry with God. He shouted, "Have you forsaken me?" He felt utterly
           helpless. This man who used to raise the dead, who used to walk on water, could not fly with the
           cross? It is absolutely inconsistent. With the man's miracles, he could not manage any miracle on the
           cross?
                And that was the place where he was expected ... Then the Jews would have accepted him as
           their last prophet. He was put on the cross as a test, that "If you are really the son of God, now let us
           see. If you really walk on water, if you really raise the dead to life again, then we will put you on the
           cross and see what miracles you can do, or God can do on your behalf."
                Nothing happened. He shouted at the clouds; there was no God. But what is the need of God if a
           man walks on water, feeds people -- thousands of people -- with one loaf of bread, wakes up the
           dead? There was no need to call for God. He could have flown away with the cross, and that would
           have proved absolutely without doubt to the Jews that he was their last prophet, he was the only
           begotten son of God. His helplessness on the cross shows that all the stories of miracles are simply
           invented -- because no contemporary source even mentions Jesus' name.
                Can you think that a man who walks on water, a man who raises dead people back to life, a man
           who restores the eyes of the blind, the limbs of the crippled just by his touch, was not able even to
           carry the cross up the hill? Three times he fell -- the cross was too heavy -- and three times they gave
           him a good beating to get up again and carry the cross. And this is the prophet, the only begotten son
           of God!
                With Jesus the idea of service has come into existence: serve the poor. But why? In fact,
           logically, he said, "Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God." If that is true,
           make more people poor. The rich people cannot enter into paradise. A camel can pass through the
           eye of a needle, but a rich man cannot enter into the gate of paradise. If that is the case, why serve
           the poor? If anybody needs service, it is the rich. Steal their money, make them poor, so they can
           inherit the kingdom of God.
                Poverty is perfectly right, according to Jesus' own statements. It is good to be poor -- according
           to Jesus -- it is great to be poor.
                I hate poverty! And I hate Jesus for making such statements, consoling the poor and protecting
           the rich. It seems that Jesus is on the side of the poor ... and what help has he given to the poor? And
           what help has Christianity given to the poor?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Even in Christian countries there is immense poverty. Even in the richest country, America, there
           are three million people on the streets; in this cold winter they are dying. What are the Christians
           doing for those people? And they are Christians, but nobody is interested in them. They are already
           Christians, they will inherit the kingdom of God.
               And America goes on sending missionaries around the world to help the poor. Strange ... They
           cannot help their own poor because they are already Christian. So that is the criterion: service is
           meant to convert poor people, because just bread and butter and clothes and medicine will purchase
           them.
               Mohammedans used to do the conversion in a different way, a very short cut -- by the sword.
           Either be a Mohammedan, or the sword is going to cut off your head. Because the Koran says, "The
           more you convert people to Mohammedanism, the more virtuous you are -- and only Mohammedans
           will be saved," so they are cutting off your head in service. They were trying hard to make you a
           Mohammedan, because that is the only way to reach to God -- and you refused. "It is better for you
           to die than be a Hindu, a Christian, a Jew. Be born again and we will see. If not in this life, then in
           another life, you will be converted to Mohammedanism."
               Their way was short, just a simple sword hanging over your neck. And they converted many;
           they are the second greatest religion. Christians have the most people, and the second most are
           Mohammedans.
               Christianity persuades people with a little sophistication. Mohammedans were absolutely in a
           hurry. Christians take time: they adopt orphans, they find leftover children in Calcutta. They bring
           them up, they give them education -- but all for the purpose of increasing the power of Christianity.
           The whole earth has to be turned into a Christian world; then only people will be saved.
               Even if it is true that Jesus walked on water, what is the point of it when boats are available? It is
           simply stupid. What is divine in it? Even if he had managed to raise Lazarus from the dead ... then
           nothing more is heard about Lazarus, only that story is there. What happened to Lazarus? He must
           have lived in misery and poverty, and would have died in sickness, disease, old age. What is the
           point of your service?
           A similar case will help you to understand.

               A woman's husband died. She was young, had only one child. She wanted to commit sati, she
           wanted to jump in the funeral pyre with her husband, but this small child prevented her. She had to
           live for this small child.
               But then the small child died; now it was too much. She went almost insane, asking people, "Is
           there any physician anywhere who can make my child alive again? I was living only for him, now
           my whole life is simply dark."
               In India you cannot marry again, and particularly in those days it was absolutely impossible. A
           woman cannot marry again. Man's possessiveness is such that "Even if I die ... you suffer, but you
           should not marry anyone." Such jealousy -- and this is called the "Indian heritage" by Mr. Rajiv
           Gandhi.
               It happened that Buddha was coming to the town, so people said, "We don't know any physician,
           but Buddha is coming. That is a great chance. You take the child to Buddha, and tell him that you
           were living for this child, and the child has died, `and you are such a great enlightened person, call
           him back to life! Have mercy on me!'"
               So she went to Buddha. She put the dead body of the child at Buddha's feet, and she said, "Call
           him back to life. You know all the secrets of life, you have attained to the ultimate peak of existence.
           Can't you do a small miracle for a poor woman?"
           Buddha said, "I will do it, but there is a condition."
           She said, "I will fulfill any condition."
               Buddha said, "Settled. The condition is: you go around the town and, from a house where nobody
           has ever died, bring a few mustard seeds." That village was cultivating mustard seeds, so Buddha
           told her, "Just go around ..."
               The woman could not understand the strategy. She went to one house, and they said, "A few
           mustard seeds? We can bring a few bullock carts full of mustard seeds if Buddha can bring your son
           back to life. But our mustard seeds will not be of any help, because not one, but thousands have died
           in our family. Since eternity we have been here. We have seen our great-grandfather dying, we have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           seen our great-grandmother dying, we have seen our grandfather dying, grandmother dying. We have
           seen so many deaths in our family. These mustard seeds are useless. Buddha's condition is, `from a
           house where nobody has ever died.'"
                It was a small village, and she went to every house. Everybody was ready: "How many seeds do
           you want?" But the condition was impossible because "so many people have died in our family."
                By the evening she became aware of the fact, and of the strategy of Gautam Buddha. She
           understood that whoever is born is going to die, "so what is the point of getting the child back again?
           He will die again. It is better for you yourself to seek the eternal, which is never born and never
           dies."
                By the evening she came back empty-handed. Buddha asked, "Where are the mustard seeds?"
                She laughed. In the morning she had come crying; now she laughed, and she said, "You tricked
           me! Everybody who is born is going to die. There is no family, not in this village, nor in the whole
           world, where nobody has died. So I don't want my son to be brought again back to life -- what is the
           point? After a few days, or a few months, or a few years, he will have to die again. And all these
           years he will live in misery, in all kinds of anguish and anxiety. Your compassion is great that you
           did not bring him back to life!
                "Forget about the child. Initiate me into the art of meditation, so that I can go into the land, the
           space of immortality, where birth and death have never happened."
           Buddha said, "You are a very intelligent woman. You understood the point."
                I call this a miracle, not Jesus' waking up Lazarus. I don't call that a miracle. Apparently that
           looks like a miracle, but appearance is not the reality. I call Buddha's strategy a miracle. Everybody
           is going to die, there is no point ... One has to get out of birth and death.
                Buddha initiated the woman, and she became one of the enlightened ones among Buddha's
           disciples. Her urgency was such ... she knew that "My husband has died, my child has died, and now
           it is my number. Any moment and I will be a victim of death, so there is not much time. I don't know
           at what moment death is coming, so I have to be totally involved in the search, in what Buddha is
           telling me to do: `Go inwards. Go to the very center of your being, and you will be beyond birth and
           death.'"
           This I call an authentic miracle: cutting the problem from the very roots.

               I am serving, but my service is very subtle. I am serving by waking up people to their innermost
           being. That is the only miracle I consider of any worth.
               And I am serving the poor by not deceiving them that "You will inherit the kingdom of God." I
           am constantly saying to the world that the poor are our creation. Those who are giving charity to the
           churches, they should stop exploitation. Charity won't help. What charity are they giving?
               It is a very cunning device. They are not giving a single rupee. They are earning so much, and
           income taxes go on becoming more and more as your income increases. There comes a point when
           you have to pay one hundred percent income tax, and if you go on increasing your income, you may
           have to pay one hundred and twenty-five percent, one hundred and fifty percent; you have to pay to
           the government more than you have earned. So this device helps after the point you feel it is good to
           pay to the government. Ten percent, fifteen percent, okay; when it comes to the point of paying one
           hundred percent, it is better to give in charity rather than giving it to the government. It is people's
           money: if they had not given it to charity, they would have had to give it to the government.
               So on the exploitation of people they are securing their bank balance in paradise. It is not their
           money; nobody gives his own money. In fact, all rich people all over the world have many charity
           trusts of their own.
               Just here, in India, Tata is one of the richest people, amongst the three richest families. He has a
           great charity trust worth forty crore rupees, and he goes on pouring money into the trust. It is the
           people's money, it should go to the government, but he siphons off the money.
               Every rich person around the world is doing the same. Give it to the church, or make your own
           trust. Open a school in the memory of your father. Open a hospital and become a great man of
           charity in the memory of your dead mother. At least there will be the name of your mother, there will
           be your name, that you have made it in your mother's memory. And this is the money that is making
           people poor.
           The church is made happy by receiving charity.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When I was arrested in America and without any reason they, in their minds, harassed me -- I
           was not harassed, I enjoyed the whole trip. I saw the other side of the world which I would never
           have seen -- twelve days being a guest of President Ronald Reagan!
                They dragged me from one jail to another. I covered almost half of America traveling in the
           government airplane. I passed over a city, and I loved the lights of that city. I have been telling
           Anando that when we have more houses -- and soon we will have, because more people are going to
           come, and we have to make arrangements for them -- then we will make our own street lights.
                I passed over a city called Salt Lake City. It is a city whose founder was killed just as they
           wanted to kill me, because we were also creating a city, and far bigger than Salt Lake City. We had
           one hundred and twenty-six square miles in our hands; we could have made three New Yorks or
           three San Franciscos!
                Salt Lake City was made by a special cult of the Christians which separated from the Vatican.
           They are called the Mormons. I don't agree with them, but I love their city.
                Their founder was murdered by the American government, shot dead -- but Mormons were
           Christians after all, so they could not kill all the Mormons. They are the most intelligent people in
           the whole Christian fold, and they have this city, Salt Lake City. Ninety-eight percent of the people
           in that city are Mormons, and they have a special arrangement ....
                Every day, every Mormon around the world should send one dollar to their capital, Salt Lake
           City. So they receive one million dollars every day, and that's how they are enlarging their city in
           such a beautiful way. Such great planning and architecture! Roads for the future! Six cars can move
           abreast, at least, and a road runs just in the middle of the city straight across the whole city, so wide.
           And from that road, not as it happens in old cities ...
                It was a different world then, because the vehicles were different. Now, in all the cities of the
           world, roads meet directly with the main road; that is dangerous. Most of the accidents are caused
           because roads meet directly, and from both sides, neither this side nor that side can see who is
           coming on the other road, the main road. If they are both moving at speed, then a clash is bound to
           happen. And when a clash happens between two cars ... it is never just between two cars, it is at least
           between eight cars, because the cars are moving bumper-to-bumper.
                In Salt Lake City they have made a futuristic plan. The roads do not meet directly, but first the
           small road runs by the side of the big road for almost half a mile, so the main-road traffic knows
           perfectly that one car is moving by the side, and then it merges slowly slowly into the main road, not
           directly.
                They are the most intelligent people, and they have put such beautiful green and blue lights all
           over the city that I forgot for a moment that my hands were handcuffed, that my feet were in chains,
           that my waist was surrounded by a very thick chain. And my hands were not only handcuffed, they
           were fixed with the chain surrounding my waist so I could not even wave my hand to friends. Even
           walking was difficult, because they made the chains too tight on the feet.
                When I saw the beautiful Salt Lake City underneath me in the night, I forgot completely.
           Everything is fresh and new; they have changed everything that used to be in the old cities. Their
           lighting has consideration for people's eyes; it is blue, it is green, it is soft. It is not dangerous and
           hazardous for people's eyes. Their roads -- you can move at as great a speed as you want, not
           fifty-five miles per hour!
           Have you ever considered ...?
                I have been caught twice in America speeding, because I cannot drive at fifty-five miles per hour
           when the car is made to go one hundred and forty miles per hour! Do you see the inconsistency of
           the governments? You make the car to go a hundred and forty miles per hour, and you make the rule
           that nobody can go faster than fifty-five. Then why do you create these cars? -- just let them go
           fifty-five miles per hour. There is no need to make any law, there is no need to put signs on every
           crossroads that you should not go beyond fifty-five. And you are allowing car factories to create cars
           which are meant to go one hundred and forty miles per hour ....
           What kind of intelligence is ruling the world?
                I was moving as fast as the car could go, and when I was stopped by the police, the cops, they
           said, "You are going beyond the speed limit."
           I said, "Look at my speedometer. I cannot move beyond the speedometer."
                They said, "We are not concerned with your speedometer. Don't you see the sign boards?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I said, "When I am driving I look ahead! And when a person is moving at one hundred and forty
           miles per hour, do you want him to look sideways?"
           They said, "You are a strange person."
               I said, "Ask your government that all factories should create cars which go only fifty-five miles
           per hour. There will be no question of so many cops on the road. I listen to my engine, not to your
           signs!"
               They talked with each other, "What should we do?" They gave me a ticket, that I had to be
           present in court.
               I said, "It is better I don't appear in the court; otherwise your judges will be embarrassed just as
           you are embarrassed. So my attorney will deal with it. It is not much of a matter -- fifty dollars."
           And exactly fifty dollars I was fined.
               I said, "That does not matter. Once in a while you can catch me. And why bother the court? -- I
           can give you fifty dollars on the spot. But my speed will remain according to my speedometer!"
               Then I made arrangements for one car ahead of me, one car behind me. And I had made
           arrangements ... There are mechanical devices which give you a signal when the cops are around. I
           continued to move at my speed!
               Only in Salt Lake City you can move freely ... or in Germany. Adolf Hitler will be remembered
           in history for making the greatest road, for the first time, on which you can drive at any speed you
           want.
               Rather than increasing the roads, making better roads, you prevent people from speeding. And
           unless the car moves beyond one hundred, you don't have the feeling of a great ecstasy: you are
           almost flying!
               In fact, Japanese scientists have discovered that if four hundred miles per hour is allowed, the car
           will rise one foot above the ground. That will be a real joy, because then there will be no bumps, no
           stones, you will be almost flying like a plane, just one foot above the ground.
               Japan has in fact invented a railway train .... But Japan has not enough land, because that railway
           train moves at four hundred miles per hour, one foot above the tracks. It can't stop at every station --
           and Japan has only the possibility of having two stations: one from where it starts and one where it
           stops, the beginning and the end ... the alpha and the omega!

           The sannyasin also wanted to know whether he is allowed to criticize me.
                I have no control over you, but any criticism is going to be against you, not against me. It is not
           going to harm me at all. The whole world is criticizing me, and I am not even touched; there is no
           question of being harmed!
                So you can criticize, but remember it will harm you. Your criticism will take you away from me.
           Your criticism will create a wall between me and you, and a bridge is needed, not a wall.
                You can criticize so many things .... The whole past of humanity is available for you to criticize,
           and the whole world is there to criticize me. Why bother to criticize me? You are here not to
           criticize, you are here to find out the truth. Criticism is very easy. Understanding needs intelligence,
           criticism does not.

           I have told you the story by the great Russian novelist Turgenev, THE FOOL.
               In a village there was a poor man who was thought by everybody to be an idiot, and because
           everybody told him that "You are an idiot," he also started believing it. What to do? -- if everybody
           is saying it, everybody cannot be wrong. So he had accepted the idea that "I am an idiot."
               He would open his mouth and immediately somebody would say, "Stop! You are an idiot, you
           don't know anything. Keep quiet!" But it was hurting him very much.
               A sage was passing by the village. He went to the sage, he told his miserable story. The sage
           said, "Don't be worried, my son, it is a very simple problem. All you have to do is this: whenever
           somebody says something ... don't say anything from your side; just watch others saying things.
               "When somebody says, `Look what a beautiful sunset!', then you criticize. You ask, `What is
           beauty? Why do you call this sunset beautiful? I don't see any beauty. Where is beauty?' Just remain
           consistently criticizing. If anybody says, `Look at that woman! How beautiful!', then criticize: `What
           is beautiful in that woman? Just a skeleton covered with flesh in a bag of skin? What do you mean?
           What is beauty? That stinking woman? Just open her up!'"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                God was not very clever, otherwise he would have made us with zips! You can open the zip and
           look inside, and that will be enough. All beauty will be finished. You will run away so fast you won't
           look backwards. What happened to the beautiful woman? or the beautiful man? Inside you are just
           bones, blood, flesh. What is beauty?
                That sage said, "Remember one thing: don't make any statement on your side, otherwise they will
           criticize. You just for one month persist in criticizing. Just move around the town, and anybody
           saying ANYthing ...
                "Somebody says, `Service to the poor is good.' Ask them, `What is good? Why are there poor?
           What do you mean by service?'"
                If death is the end, then what is the difference between the saint and the sinner? Both will die and
           be finished. There will be no account taken that this is a saint, don't destroy him; this is a sinner. If
           death is the end, as the materialists believe, then there is no question of being saintly or evil. It is all
           the same. Death equalizes everybody.
                For one month he practiced what the sage had said. The whole town was amazed how intelligent
           he had become. "What has happened? What a miracle! Nobody can answer his questions!" They
           started saying about him that he is no more an idiot, he has become a sage.
                After one month the sage came back. He called the young man, and he said, "Are things okay?"
                The young man said, "Great! Things are not just okay, but absolutely great! You have given me
           such a secret. I have criticized everybody -- the priests, the professors, the poets, the scholars -- and
           they are all defeated. Now they have changed their idea; they think that some miracle has happened
           to me: `His whole personality has changed, he is no more an idiot. He is the most intelligent man, a
           wise man we should be proud of.'"
                The sage said, "That's good. Now keep it up. Don't make any statement on your own, just go on
           criticizing."

               Criticizing is so simple. It does not need any skill, any art, any intelligence. What will you gain
           by criticizing me? You will simply lose me.
               I am not preventing you, I am simply making things clear to you. Are you here to learn criticism,
           argument, logic? Or are you here to learn the art of going beyond the mind? It is your freedom. You
           can choose the mind, or you can choose meditation.
           This place is for meditation.
               If you choose the mind, this is not your place. Perhaps in some future life ... maybe you will
           become more mature and understand the futility of all criticism, all agreement, all disagreement.
           They are all mind-fucking! You have to go beyond it.

           The sutra:

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE WAS A MONK WHO HAD STAYED WITH YAKUSAN FOR THREE YEARS AND SERVED
              AS THE HEAD COOK. ONCE, YAKUSAN ASKED HIM, "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?"
              "THREE YEARS," THE MONK REPLIED.
              "I DON'T KNOW YOUR FACE AT ALL," SAID YAKUSAN.
              THE MONK DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YAKUSAN MEANT,
              AND, OUT OF RESENTMENT, LEFT THE MONASTERY.


               The master was too compassionate on him -- but he missed the point, the poor monk.
               Yakusan has asked him, "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?" He is not asking how many
           years, his emphasis is on the point of here: "How long have you been here?"
               In Zen, language takes a totally different nuance. The master is asking, "How long have you been
           in the time which is called now, in the space which is called here? How long have you been here?"
           He is not asking how many years you have spent here.
               Perhaps the man had not even touched the space called here, the time called now. So he said,
           "THREE YEARS." That was factual, he had been in the monastery as a cook for three years -- but
           that was not the question.
               Yakusan was not interested how many years he had been in the monastery; he was interested that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Have you touched the point here, or not? Have you learned the art of being here, or not?"
                To be here and now, you have to be in meditation, beyond mind. Then suddenly all time
           disappears, you are in eternity. The very present moment becomes eternal. That was the question.
                When a master asks anything, it is never an ordinary thing. The words may be ordinary, but you
           have to listen very carefully: Where is his emphasis? Why is he asking suddenly?
                And because the monk said, "Three years," the master saw that he could not understand even a
           simple statement in the world of Zen. That's why he said, "I DON'T KNOW YOUR FACE AT
           ALL."
                Again, he gave another opportunity to the person. "Have you discovered your original face? --
           because I don't see it. I see the persona, the personality, but I don't see your original being, your
           original face. I DON'T KNOW YOUR FACE AT ALL." And he was the cook, and the master was
           seeing him every day, because he was serving his food. So it had nothing to do with factuality, it had
           something to do with absolute truth.
                Yakusan was saying, "You don't know how to be here, you don't know how to be in the now.
           That means you don't know who you are. That means you have not looked inwards, behind the
           personality, into your original face."
           The original face is the face of the buddha.
           The original face is the face you had before your father was born.
                The original face is the face you have had since eternity, and you will have till eternity. It is your
           very being, it is your very life source.
                But instead of understanding the master's compassion, the monk did not understand what he
           meant, and he felt resentment: "What kind of man is this? I have been serving food to him for three
           years, and he says he has not seen my face." He thought, "It is very insulting, humiliating." Out of
           resentment he left the monastery.
                So many poor people -- poor in the spirit -- by chance, by accident, come across a master, but
           they are bound to miss.
                For three years the master has not asked him anything. He gave him enough time. Three years is
           thought to be enough time for anyone to get into the center.
                It is a very strange phenomenon, and perhaps you may have observed it. If you move your house,
           it takes three days to be at rest in the new house.
                Gautam Buddha and Mahavira, two great awakened people, did not allow their monks to stay in
           one place more than three days, because if you stay more than three days friendships arise, you can
           fall in love, you can start loving the place, you can start loving the food that you are getting in the
           place. You can become acquainted, you are no more a stranger. It takes three days for a stranger to
           be absorbed by the masses. So Buddha and Mahavira were in absolute agreement on the point that no
           sannyasin should stay in one place more than three days; three days is the limit. After the third day
           he should leave, so no attachments, no possessiveness, arise.
                It is my experience that it takes three years for the laziest person. To those who are faster, it can
           happen in three seconds, but even to the laziest, if he goes on meditating, in three years he will find
           his original face. That is a finding of thousands of meditators.
                So after three years -- the man had been with the master, he had been cooking, he had been
           listening to the master's discourses -- it was time to ask him: "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN
           HERE?"
                He understood how long but he forgot the word `here'. The emphasis was not on how long, the
           emphasis was on `here'. But out of compassion a master gives as many chances as possible. He asked
           another question.
                "I DON'T KNOW YOUR FACE AT ALL -- and you say you have been here for three years.
           Where is your face?"
                Now the man became resentful. He is standing before the master, and what kind of madman is
           this? -- he is asking, "Where is your face?" He is asking about your original face -- not this face that
           is reflected in the mirror, but a face that is reflected in the heart of the master.
                The master knows when he encounters his disciple whether his heart reflects his original face or
           not. The original face is your consciousness, your witnessing, your buddha.
                But this is the poverty of humanity, that you may come across -- which is very rare -- a master,
           and you will misunderstand and misinterpret, and what was compassion may look to you like
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           humiliation, insult, and you may leave the master with resentment, with anger.
               Being with a master one has to be very patient and one has to listen correctly. One has to watch
           where the emphasis is. The master has no concern how many years you have been here. What is he
           going to do with counting the years? Certainly he is not asking about the years; he is asking about
           this moment.
               Are you here?
               Factually you all seem to be here, but if your mind is wandering somewhere else, then in truth
           you are not here.
               This face that you see in the mirror is not your original face. The original face is only a symbolic
           word. It does not mean `face'; inside there is no face. It simply means your originality, your
           individuality, your essential consciousness, your very nature of being a buddha. That is your original
           face. It is a metaphor.
               I am talking about these anecdotes not for the sake of the anecdotes. I am talking about these
           anecdotes for you to become aware:
           You are with a master.
           You have to listen rightly.
           You have to listen silently.
               No agreement is needed, no disagreement is needed, no criticism is needed. Just listening
           peacefully, a synchronicity arises. Suddenly you feel a merger, a meeting -- so deep a meeting that
           you don't know who is who, who is the disciple and who is the master.

               It happened to Chuang Tzu, a great master, perhaps one of the very rarest ones ....
               His disciple Lieh Tzu one day came and sat on the seat of the master. Then came Chuang Tzu
           and sat on the floor. The gathering of hundreds of monks could not believe what was happening. The
           master is sitting on the floor, a disciple is sitting on his seat!
               The master said to the head monk, "Ring the bell for discourse" -- and Lieh Tzu gave the
           discourse.
               The master, Chuang Tzu, clapped and said, "Perfectly right. From now onwards I don't have to
           come. You take my seat. You are my successor."
               Zen is such a unique phenomenon. There is no question of inferiority or superiority. The master
           is not offended. He could see the face of Lieh Tzu for the first time. The original face has arisen, the
           buddha is awakened, that's why he has taken the seat. It does not matter. When the buddha has arisen
           in a disciple, the master can retire.
           Chuang Tzu never came back again to the assembly hall. Lieh Tzu continued.
               I have told you another story about Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu. It is worth remembering again in
           this context.
               One day Chuang Tzu woke up in the morning .... It was after this incident that I told you about.
           Although he was not coming to the assembly hall, his disciples were missing him. Lieh Tzu had
           become awakened, but he was not of the same quality. He was still new, he was not so articulate. He
           had entered into buddhahood just now, while Chuang Tzu had been living in that state for many
           many years.
               So the disciples would listen to Lieh Tzu but would still go to Chuang Tzu's room just to touch
           his feet or just to sit by his side.
               One morning Chuang Tzu woke up and almost a dozen disciples were there, because he was late.
           It had never happened before. "Is he sick?" He was getting old, so they were concerned. But he woke
           up and he called the disciples in.
               He said, "I am in a difficulty, that's why I am late. Do you promise to help me to get out of the
           difficulty?"
               They said, "We will do anything. Even if our life is needed, it is in your hands. Just tell us."
               He said, "No, it is not a question of taking your life. In the night I dreamt that I had become a
           butterfly."
               All the disciples laughed. They said, "This is not a problem. We all dream of many things. A
           butterfly? -- now you are awake, there is no question ... it is finished. The dream is no more."
               Chuang Tzu said, "No, it is not finished. Now it starts -- the question. If Chuang Tzu can dream
           in his sleep that he has become a butterfly, cannot the butterfly in her sleep dream that she is Chuang
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Tzu? Now who am I? -- a butterfly dreaming of being Chuang Tzu or am I really Chuang Tzu? That
           is the problem."
                It is absolutely right. If you can dream about being a butterfly, what is wrong in a butterfly
           dreaming about being you?
                The disciples looked at each other. What to do? -- this is nonsense, but you cannot tell the master
           that this is nonsense. He is making out of this nonsense a very sensible question.
                They said, "If you cannot solve it, you cannot expect us unenlightened, unconscious people to
           solve it."
           He said, "Ring the bell and call the whole monastery."
                There were at least fifteen hundred monks, and they came running. What has happened? --
           because it was very rare: the bell was rung always in the assembly hall, not in the cottage of the
           master.
                They all surrounded him. Those twelve disciples told them, "Our master is in a difficulty." First
           they all laughed. The twelve said, "Don't laugh. We also laughed, but he is really very sad, very
           serious. We have never seen him so serious. He is not a serious man at all but his question seemed to
           be relevant as we pondered over it. It looks absolutely right to wonder."
                Fifteen hundred monks looked at each other. There was a great silence. Lieh Tzu was not
           present, he had gone to the city for some work. He came back right at this time. The gathering of the
           monks allowed him to enter.
           He said, "What is the problem? Why are you gathered here?"
                They told him the problem. He did not enter into the cottage, he went outside. As he was going
           out, the monks said, "Where are you going? You are needed, you have to help the master."
           He said, "I am going to help him."
                He went to the well. It was a cold winter morning, and he pulled out ice-cold water in a bucket
           and went into the cottage and poured the whole bucket on Chuang Tzu.
                Chuang Tzu jumped out of the bed. He said, "Wait! The problem is solved! I am Chuang Tzu.
           But where have you been? If you had not come here I would have remained in my bed the rest of my
           life. Where have you been?"
           Lieh Tzu said, "Are you awake, or do I have to bring another bucket?"
                Chuang Tzu said, "No, there is no need for another bucket. One bucket is enough to prove that I
           am not a butterfly. The butterfly would have died! I am certainly Chuang Tzu. Just tell all the monks,
           `Don't be worried, the problem is solved.'
                "But you should not be so strange -- bringing such cold water! At least you could have warmed
           the water. I am an old man. You don't understand .... I was just waiting for you, to see whether you
           could solve it or not. You are really my successor. You have rightly taken my seat. Don't be worried,
           slowly slowly you will learn and I will manage many situations for you to learn."
           This was one of the situations.
                The master functions in different ways on different people. Different masters are creating
           different devices, but all for the sake of finding the truth.
                Never get resentful, never be angry, never feel insulted. The master never means to humiliate
           anyone. He wants everyone to be elevated to the ultimate status of a Gautam Buddha.

              ANOTHER MONK ONCE SAID TO YAKUSAN, "I HAVE A DOUBT. PLEASE, MASTER, CLEAR IT
              AWAY."
              YAKUSAN SAID, "THEN COME TO ME AT THE REGULAR DISCOURSE."
              THAT NIGHT, SEATED FOR DISCOURSE, YAKUSAN ADDRESSED THE ASSEMBLY OF MONKS
              IN FRONT OF HIM, SAYING, "TONIGHT A MONK WILL CLEAR HIS DOUBT AWAY. WHERE ARE
              YOU? COME UP HERE!"

              He is telling the same monk who had asked him in the morning, "I HAVE A DOUBT. PLEASE,
           MASTER, CLEAR IT AWAY."
              Yakusan is so certain of clearing it away that without clearing it he is telling the assembly,
           "TONIGHT A MONK WILL CLEAR HIS DOUBT AWAY. WHERE ARE YOU? COME UP
           HERE!"
           THE MONK AROSE AND CAME FORWARD. NO SOONER HAD HE REACHED THE
           MASTER THAN YAKUSAN KNOCKED HIM DOWN AND IMMEDIATELY RETURNED TO
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           HIS ROOM.
               The doubt is cleared, the ego is shattered. Returning to the room has been a symbol in Zen almost
           since Bodhidharma. It means: doubt is part of the mind; I have shattered it. I am returning to my
           room, you return to your own inner shrine.
               From different angles, for different kinds of people, the master manages. He has only two hands,
           but he functions almost like thousands of hands. He has only two eyes, but functions like thousands
           of eyes.

           Shohaku wrote:

              CUCKOO CALLING
              TODAY OF ALL DAYS
              WHEN NO ONE IS HERE.


               Shohaku was meditating for many months on a koan: What is the sound of one hand clapping?
               Now, one hand clapping cannot make any sound. The very word clapping means two things are
           needed. Two hands can clap (THE MASTER CLAPS HIS HANDS), but one hand ... These are
           called koans. They are not puzzles that you can solve, they are unsolvable. You can dis-solve them,
           but you cannot solve them. Meditation dissolves them.
               So for months he had been meditating, and every once in a while he would hear something -- a
           cool breeze passing through the pine trees making a subtle sound and music -- and he would think,
           "Perhaps this is it."
               He would run to the master, but before he had uttered a word, the master would just close the
           door in his face and shout from inside, "Go back and meditate. This is not the sound!"
               Shohaku would think, "What is the matter? I have not even said anything and he has refused
           already!"
               But the master is right, because no answer can be right. There is no question, so whatever he
           brings is wrong, till he stops bringing. Many times the master would slap him. When he would say,
           "This is the sound I have heard: bamboos cracking," the master would say, "Go back."
           And this day it happened!
               CUCKOO CALLING ... At another time he may have run to the master saying to him, "It is the
           call of the cuckoo, the sound of the cuckoo."
               But today it was different. CUCKOO CALLING TODAY OF ALL DAYS WHEN NO ONE IS
           HERE.
               He has dissolved his mind, and with the mind the koan is dissolved. There is no question to be
           solved. He is no more here.
               He did not run to the master, but the master in the middle of the night suddenly ran towards
           Shohaku, when the cuckoo was still calling. The master was waiting that he may come, but he has
           not come. That means he has dissolved the question.
               The master reached to Shohaku, who was sitting silently, and the cuckoo was still calling ... and
           Shohaku was so silent and so peaceful, surrounded by such serenity.
               The master shook him. Shohaku opened his eyes, didn't say a single word, just touched the feet
           of the master.
               The master said, "So you have heard! Come on, now you can stay with me in my cottage. I have
           been looking towards you with great hope. All those slaps -- you know I am old and it hurts my hand
           more than your face. All those beatings ... and you don't understand that my hand hurts the whole
           night! You are young. I am in a hurry. My death is very close. Before my death I wanted ...
               "You have dissolved the koan, the sound of one hand clapping. Today it happened of all days:
           the cuckoo is calling ... but now I can see you are no more there. Your mind is silent, your ego is
           gone. A peace, a great peace, a tremendous transformation from mind to no-mind has happened. I
           declare you my successor."
               Shohaku's master died the next day. He was hanging around just hoping and waiting and hitting
           hard for Shohaku to understand. He had many disciples, but Shohaku was the most promising
           because he had taken every hit with great gratitude, bowing down, touching his feet, with never a
           single resentment, never anger, never a feeling of humiliation, never a feeling of frustration that "For
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           months together I have been coming and coming and coming and he goes on rejecting. Even though
           he does not hear my answer, already he rejects it before I have opened my mouth. Now I know, no
           answer was going to be the answer. Only no-mind could be the answer. No-mind is the sound of one
           hand clapping."

              CUCKOO CALLING
              TODAY OF ALL DAYS
              WHEN NO ONE IS HERE.


              A beautiful, very beautiful haiku to remember.


              Maneesha's question ...
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT BECAUSE OF A REFUSAL TO ENCOUNTER THE REALITY OF DEATH THAT THERE IS A
              RELUCTANCE TO MEDITATE?


               Maneesha, yes, because meditation and death are very similar. In death you enter reluctantly,
           unwillingly. That's why you fall unconscious, in a coma. In meditation you are going with full
           consciousness, with great totality of being, on your own accord. It is the same point that you will
           pass in death also, but if you have moved to the center before death, then death is no more a fear.
           You know it. You have died many times whenever you touched your center, and you have gone
           again into a resurrection.
           Every meditation is a death and a resurrection.
               You go to the point where death takes people unconsciously. You go consciously, that is the only
           difference. The point is the same. From the same center, death will take you into another womb if
           you are unconscious.
               If you are conscious, doing meditation, then death is the same .... You will not resist death. You
           will go dancing with death to the center. It is a well-known path, you have traveled on it thousands
           of times. It is a well-known door, you know it perfectly. Where death is going, you are going
           rejoicing, dancing, singing, because you know that door leads you into eternity, into the cosmos.
               If you die consciously you will not enter into another womb, you will not be born again, because
           birth is nothing but the beginning of death. You will not be reborn; that means you will never die
           again. You have reached to your original being. You have become a buddha.
           The fear of death prevents people from inquiring deeply into themselves.

               I came across a man; his wife had brought him to me. He looked very nervous. The wife told me
           that something has happened to him: "He does not sleep, and he does not allow anybody else in the
           house to sleep. Even the neighbors are getting tired. Just to keep awake he goes to every room,
           knocks on the door, asks the wife or the son or the son's wife or the daughter, `Are you asleep?'"
               But when you ask somebody, "Are you asleep?", you have broken the person's sleep. He has to
           answer: "Yes, I was asleep but now I am awake!" And he would put the radio on full volume just to
           keep himself awake and he would walk on the veranda and keep the neighbors awake. They would
           shout and he would shout back at them.
           I said, "What are you afraid of?"
               He said, "I am afraid that if I go to sleep, what is the guarantee that I will wake up? I may die in
           my sleep. I want to keep awake. Death is my fear."
               I had to teach him meditation. Six months he continued to come to my meditation class, and once
           he started feeling himself touching some inner space he became absolutely unafraid.
               His wife came to me. She said, "What a miracle you have done! You have not given him any
           medicine ...."
               I said, "I have given him some medicine" -- because the word meditation ... Meditation and
           medicine come from the same root. Medicine cures your body; meditation cures your consciousness.
           They are both treatments. One is physical, the other is spiritual. I said, "I have given medicine. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will sleep now."
               And I inquired after a few days when I was passing by his house. It was afternoon, and the wife
           said, "Now he sleeps even in the day! You have created another trouble!"
               Now his small children were looking after the store that he runs, and he said, "I don't bother.
           Sleep is so good, and I have learned the art of transforming the sleep into meditation. The whole
           night I am rejoicing -- and I cannot miss my afternoon nap. It is a meditation. And the store ... The
           children are taking care of the customers perfectly well, in fact better than me. With me the
           customers were haggling about prices; with the children they don't haggle."
               The poor children ...! First the father was mad, he wouldn't sleep; now he is more mad. He sleeps
           in the day, he sleeps in the night -- and the poor children have to take care of the shop so the
           customers will not haggle. The children were earning better, getting higher prices, so he said,
           "Things are going perfectly well. Why do you bother me? And if you bother me much more I will
           take you all to my master!"

               You have to learn how to sleep, and you have to learn how to meditate. Both are the same. In
           sleep also you go to the same depth, but not the whole night. In eight hours sleep, six hours you
           dream -- not continuously, but with a few breaks here and there, for two hours. For two hours you
           are at the very center of your being. That's what rejuvenates you, that's what brings a new freshness
           to your face and to your eyes in the morning.
               I myself cannot sleep at all -- the whole night, not a wink. That reminds me of a beautiful
           anecdote -- in the margin!

               One English lord, a member of the British parliament, was suspicious that another lord was
           having a love affair with his wife. But the English are very mannerly. Even in situations where one
           forgets -- tends to forget -- men go on etiquette, they will manage.
           He asked the lord, "Did you sleep with my wife last night, sir?"
           And his friend said, "Not a wink!"

           That is my situation.
                My personal physician, Amrito, has managed a CD player that plays music continuously the
           whole night so that I can at least enjoy music. Otherwise I am just lying down. For thirty years I
           have not slept -- but do you see my eyes tired or anything?
                My own understanding is that sleep is a habit. It is not a necessity, it is a habit. For millions of
           years man remained in dark caves in the night with no fire, no light. There was no other alternative
           than to fall asleep. Those millions of years the habit has become so deeply rooted that we go on
           sleeping.
                But my own understanding is that I have not slept for thirty years, not dreamt for thirty years --
           and it has not in any way disturbed anything in me. The whole sleep is a silent meditation, and with
           beautiful music in the background, the whole night is such a blissful, such an ecstatic experience!
                Maneesha, it is because of the fear of death that people avoid meditation -- but it is only
           meditation that can take you beyond the fear of death, that is the irony of the case. You are afraid of
           meditation because of death, but you don't know it is only meditation that can make you fearless of
           death -- because to the meditator there is no death, but only life, and life divine and life eternal.
           It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

              It is the last day of the holiday season in Goa, and tomorrow Gorgeous Gloria and Sardar
           Gurudayal Singh will be going their separate ways as their seaside friendship comes to an end.
              That night, in Sardar Gurudayal Singh's hotel room, Gloria leans close to Sardarji's ear and
           whispers, "Since this is our last chance together, I would like to do something different tonight!"
              "Okay," agrees Sardar Gurudayal Singh. "Then you try to kiss me, and I will slap your face!"

              Jimmy Bakker's "Praise the Lord!" TV church has not been making much money ever since
           Jimmy got out of jail. He is sitting in his living room one day when his wife, Tammy, comes home
           wearing an expensive new dress.
              "My God!" shouts Bakker. "You know we are broke. You promised not to buy any new clothes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this month. What made you do it?"
               "I'm sorry, sugar," replies Tammy, "but the devil tempted me."         ... It is the same Bakker, you
           know, who has been tempted by the devil to make love to his secretary and to make love to his
           assistant priest. Now he is trying hard to get back, but it is difficult. The whole country knows that
           this man has been deceiving for years, teaching celibacy to the television onlookers. He had millions
           of people listening to him ... one of America's most prominent TV preachers.
               The wife said, "I am sorry, sugar, the devil tempted me" -- just the same as the devil tempted
           you!
               "The devil?" shouts Jimmy. "So why didn't you say to him, `Get thee behind me, Satan' -- like a
           good Christian woman?"          ... That's what Jesus used to do. The devil used to tempt him .... It is
           strange, I have been looking for the devil my whole life and I have not found him. I wanted to tempt
           him. But Jesus was continuously tempted by the devil, and he always said to the devil, "Get behind
           me!"
               So Bakker told his wife, "Just like a good Christian, why did you not say to the devil, `Get thee
           behind me, Satan'?"
               "I did," replies Tammy, "but then he whispered to me, `Honey, it fits you beautifully from
           behind'!"

           Avirbhava!
              Avirbhava is going on a shopping trip. The devil will tempt her. So remember ...!

               When Gautama the Buddha Auditorium becomes too small to contain all the seekers coming to
           Poona, our Beloved Master goes on a tour of the universe looking for a new site.
               At one stop, he arrives at the Pearly Gates and is greeted by Saint Peter. The Christian saint takes
           one look at the man before him, and nearly faints.
               "My God! You? Up here? And you want a two-week tourist visa?" cries Peter. "I must have a
           talk with God first." And Saint Peter scuttles away to find God Almighty.
               God is not very pleased at Saint Peter's news, and after a lot of deep thought, he tells Saint Peter,
           "Okay ... He can stay for a short while, but only on one condition: no discourses!"
           A couple of weeks later, God runs into Saint Peter again.
               "How is everything going with `You-know-who'?" asks God. "Is everything all right?"
           "Just great, Swami-ji!" replies Saint Peter. "Everything is YAA-HOO!"

              Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ... and feel your body to be completely frozen.
              This is the right moment to look inwards with your whole life energy, with your total
           consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment on the earth.
           Faster and faster ...
              The closer you come to your center, the closer you are to yourself, the closer you are to the
           godliness of existence, the closer you are to your original face, the buddha -- centered.
              You are the most blessed people on the earth this moment. A great silence descends over you. A
           deep peace arises within, and flowers start showering like rain.
           You have found your nature, your buddha -- your door to the cosmos.
              Remember only one thing, the only thing that makes the buddha, and that is witnessing.
           Witness ... you are not the body.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Witness ... you are not the mind.
               Witness ... you are not the seven subtle bodies inside you. You are only a witness, purely an
           awareness.
               This awareness will bring you the transformation, the truth, the beauty -- all the splendor of
           existence.
           I can see your original faces.
           I can see you are here and now.
           Just keep this status around the clock.
           Whenever you remember, be here and now.
               Sometimes you will forget. Don't repent, don't waste time in repentance. When you remember
           again, start being here and now.
               When you are twenty-four hours here and now, you will be enlightened, you will be the buddha
           -- not only for a few moments, but for eternity.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ...
           But remember to continue witnessing.
                This witnessing is the secret, the most golden key, the master key that opens all the doors of the
           mysteries and the secrets of existence.
                As you relax, as your consciousness becomes more and more settled, your separateness starts
           melting.
                Gautama the Buddha Auditorium is turning into an ocean, ten thousand buddhas melting into the
           oceanic experience of one cosmos. This is the only religious experience -- the oceanic experience.
           There is no religion other than this.
                All the scriptures are just commentaries, non-essential. The essential phenomenon is this oceanic
           experience of dissolving yourself into the ultimate.
                A great song will arise in you, and without any movement you will feel a great dance. You will
           hear the one hand clapping. You are no more, only the existence is.
                Gather as much flowers and fragrance and blessings and beatitude and benediction as you can.
           You have to bring them back. You have to bring them from your center to the circumference of your
           life.
                And persuade the buddha. Inch by inch he is coming closer. It is your very nature.
                One day, one golden day, you will disappear and only the buddha will remain in place of you.
           That will be the greatest height of your blossoming, the greatest golden moment of your thousands of
           lives. Beyond that is only the cosmos.
                First, become the buddha. This is called nirvana. Then take a jump into the cosmos, and
           disappear into the blue sky. This is called mahaparinirvana -- the great enlightenment.
                The first is called enlightenment, the second is called the great enlightenment. Then you are not,
           even the buddha is not. Only the existence is, with all its glory, with all its majesty, with all its
           flowers blossoming, its beauty, its truth, its divineness spread all over the cosmos.
                Then you will become one with the whole, not part of the whole. To become one with the whole
           is the only holiness.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Come back ...
              But come back as buddhas, with the same gestures, with the same grace, with the same silence,
           with the same ecstasy.
              Just sit down for a few seconds to remember the golden path you have traveled, to remember
           your original face that you have encountered. And watch ... the buddha has come a little closer to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you. It is not long before the spring will come ... you will melt away, and only the buddha remains.
           Then the second step is very simple.
              I teach only the first step. The second step you can take anytime, or if you want to wait, the
           second step will happen in your death.
           This I call, "straight to the point of enlightenment."

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                    Chapter #3
                                     Chapter title: The sword and the lotus
           24 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901245
              ShortTitle: CHRIST03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 206 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YAKUSAN TALKED WITH MEIKEI OSHO AND LATER TOLD UNGAN: "MEIKEI WAS ONCE A
              GOVERNMENT SUPERINTENDENT IN HIS PAST LIFE."
              UNGAN ASKED, "OSHO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE IN YOUR PAST LIVES?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "BEING AFRAID AND SHAKY, WITH HUNDREDS OF UGLINESSES AND
              THOUSANDS OF CLUMSINESSES, I SOMEHOW HAVE MANAGED TO LIVE LIVES."
              UNGAN LATER REPEATED THIS TO DOGO, WHO COMMENTED: "IT IS A GOOD STORY, BUT
              ONE QUESTION IS MISSING."
              "WHAT, MAY I ASK?" INQUIRED UNGAN.
              DOGO SAID, IN THE MANNER OF LITERARY, SCHOLARLY CHINESE: "HOW DID YOU BECOME
              LIKE THAT?"
              UNGAN TOOK THE QUESTION TO YAKUSAN, USING THE SAME SCHOLARLY CHINESE.
              YAKUSAN ANSWERED, "I NEVER OPEN ANY BOOKS."
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, YAKUSAN ASKED UNGAN, "A HORSE HAS HORNS; CAN YOU SEE
              THEM?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "IF IT HAS, THERE IS NO NEED TO SEE."
              "THAT HORSE IS OF THE BEST QUALITY," ADDED YAKUSAN.
              UNGAN REPLIED, "IF THAT IS SO, I'LL TAKE IT."




               Friends,
           One sannyasin has asked that his parents, and particularly his mother, harass him very much while
           he is meditating. She says to him, "Why are you wasting your time sitting here, doing nothing? Who
           are you bluffing by closing your eyes? It is better to read the Bible, or go to the church and pray to
           God, or do some virtuous actions. This -- what you call meditation -- is simply selfishness."
           The sannyasin has asked me, "What is your answer?"
               It has many implications to be understood.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           First, in one's unconsciousness one cannot do any virtuous act. Virtue comes out of deep meditation.
           Virtue is a flower of your realization that you are eternal, immortal, that you are divine. Sharing that
           divineness is virtue. There is no other virtue in existence.
               But all the religions, particularly Christianity, go on emphasizing, "Do virtuous acts. Don't sit
           silently, it is selfish."
               I have to ask, first: when you succeed as a rich man nobody says to you that it is selfish.
           Everybody praises you: that is great. When you succeed as a politician and become a president or a
           prime minister nobody says it is selfish, everybody praises you.
               Thirty million dollars are being spent celebrating President Bush's success. Success is not selfish
           -- do you see the point? -- being super-rich is not selfish, creating materials for destruction of the
           world is not selfish, accumulating nuclear weapons is not selfish ....
               And what is your virtue? Is it unmotivated? Are you not being virtuous doing service to the poor,
           or the sick, or the orphans, in order to get into paradise with all its pleasures? It is simply business.
           Who says it is virtue?
           I am reminded of an ancient Chinese parable ....

               There used to happen in the capital of China every year a festival. Millions of people gathered --
           the fair lasted for one month -- and even the emperor used to come to inaugurate it. But in those
           days, in China, the water wells were not protected by walls. In darkness one could easily fall into a
           well, because there was no wall as a protection.
               A man fell into a well. It was getting dark and his eyesight was not good, he was almost blind.
           He shouted for help, but with millions of people there was so much noise -- who is going to hear
           him?
               A Confucian monk passed by the side of the well and he heard the noise of the man asking for
           help, to be taken out of the well. The Confucian monk said to him, "Don't be worried. Our master,
           Confucius, has written in his books that every water well should have walls, and I am going to create
           a tremendous uproar in the country!"
               The poor man said, "By the time you create the great uproar in the whole country and all the
           wells start having protecting walls, I will be dead. Just think of me first!"
               The monk said, "Individuals don't matter, what matters is society." That is the Confucian idea.
           That is the idea of all socialists, that the individual does not matter.
               The reason for China becoming communist -- nobody has explored the reason why India has not
           become communist -- is Confucius. For twenty-five centuries Confucius had been held in
           tremendous respect, so when Karl Marx became available to the Chinese, it fitted very well with the
           Confucian idea: the individual does not matter, what matters is the society.
               The Confucian monk said to the man, "Anyway, any day you are going to die, so why not now? I
           cannot waste my time! I am going to create the revolution that will bring walls to every well in the
           whole country. Think of your children!" And the man went away.
               The man in the well thought, "Strange ... I am dying here, and that idiot is going to create a
           revolution!"
               A Buddhist monk passed by. He looked in the well. The man said, "Buddha has taught
           compassion. You should save me, I am dying! And it is getting darker and colder."
               The Buddhist monk said, "Be patient. It is because of your past lives' evil acts that you have
           fallen into the well. Millions of people are here, and nobody else has fallen into the well. You must
           have committed very evil acts -- murder, rape. It is better to clear the account.
               "And Buddha has also said, `Never interfere into anybody's life!' Just forgive me, I cannot
           interfere into your life. If I pull you out, you will fall again, because your punishment for the evil
           acts of the past life is not complete -- so what is the point? Just die and be reborn, fresh, without any
           past evil acts hanging around you."
               The man was so amazed, "These people are religious people?" And the Buddhist monk went
           away.
               This is the logical consequence of Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna. All the Indian philosophies teach
           it.
               You will not believe it .... One of the Jaina sects, Terapanth, whose head is Acharya Tulsi, has
           seventeen hundred monks and three times more nuns. It is one of the very strongest folds; very rich,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           super-rich people belong to that sect.
               The original man who created the sect separate from mainstream Jainism, his basic point was that
           if somebody is drowning you should not interfere. That is the logical consequence of believing in the
           past life and evil acts and their punishment. If somebody is hungry, you should not interfere. If
           somebody is thirsty, you should not even tell him the way to the river.
               And, moreover, interfering in nature's course will create bad karmas for you. For example, if you
           pull a man out from the well, and tomorrow he commits a murder, do you think you are also
           responsible for it or not?
               Logically, it seems to be perfectly right. If you had not saved the man, he would not have
           committed the murder. You are fifty percent responsible: you saved him, he committed the murder.
           Now you will have to suffer for saving the man. Whatsoever he does from now onwards, you will be
           responsible -- for his whole life. You have unnecessarily disturbed his finishing of the punishment,
           and you have created on the other hand evil acts for which you will suffer in your future life.
               The statement, the philosophy, is logical, but absolutely against life. Is logic more important than
           life?
               And as far as I am concerned, every act brings its punishment just as a shadow. You don't have to
           suffer in your future life. Right now you murder; why should nature wait that long for punishment?
           You put your hand in the fire ....
               I have told this to Acharya Tulsi -- and he has been angry with me since then, speaking every
           kind of lie against me. The reason is personal, because I told him, before fifty thousand people,
           "Your whole philosophy is absolutely ugly and obscene. You put your hand into the fire right now,
           and let us see whether your hand burns now or in the future life!"
               He had nothing to say. And his own people -- those fifty thousand were his own people -- they
           laughed and they clapped. That hurt him very much.
               Action brings its reaction immediately, it follows without any gap. Why should there be such a
           long gap? But the reason is ... You see right now all kinds of mean people being successful. How do
           you explain it? -- all kinds of cunning people being prime ministers, becoming presidents, becoming
           super-rich right now, just by sheer squeezing people's blood! How do you explain it?
               The religions have been saving the vested interests. They had to find some way, and this was a
           good strategy: nobody is making you poor, you are suffering from your past life's acts, evil acts. And
           the rich? -- they are enjoying their past life's good acts, virtuous acts.
               Do you see the cunningness of the argument? Neither do you know anything about your past life,
           nor do you know anything about your future life. Your real problem is dissolved into smoke, so thick
           a smoke that you cannot see beyond it.
               The Buddhist monk moved on from the well, and he was followed by a Christian missionary.
           The Christian missionary was carrying a bucket and a long rope. He immediately threw the rope and
           the bucket into the well, and pulled the man out.
           The man said, "You are the only religious man."
               The Christian missionary said, "In fact, I should be grateful to you, because unless you fall in the
           well I cannot earn virtue. I am against the Confucian idea that every well should have a wall. Then
           nobody will be falling in! -- and for whom am I carrying the bucket and the rope? No walls are
           needed; otherwise, all virtue, all morality, all service will disappear from the world."

               Bertrand Russell has made a very important statement: "If there is no poverty, there will be no
           religion. Whom are you going to serve?"
               If there is no death, all churches, all religions will become absolutely useless, invalid, out of date.
           They are surviving because of poverty, because of death, because of disease, because of orphans.
           That's why they are all against birth control -- because birth control can destroy all poverty, and all
           the orphans can be stopped from coming into the world.
           What will happen to poor Mother Teresa? Who will give her a Nobel Prize?
               Orphans are absolutely needed, otherwise Mother Teresas will disappear. Poverty is needed,
           that's why they go on continuously being against all birth control methods. It has nothing to do with
           God -- they need the poor people, because their religion teaches them that if you serve the poor, if
           you open hospitals for the poor, if you open schools for the poor, you are earning a great bank
           balance in paradise.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This is not unselfishness. Who says it is unselfish? It is more selfish than anything else you can
           find in the world -- a motivation to exploit poor people, people who have fallen into the well, people
           who are dying, people who are sick, people who are orphans. You are taking great advantage.
                All religions say that you will have great pleasures in heaven; beautiful women will be available
           to all the saints who have done virtuous acts. Strange ... Here you talk about celibacy, and in all the
           paradises of all the religions, celibacy is no longer applicable. Do you see the contradiction?
                If a man has been celibate here for sixty, seventy years, he will become habitually a celibate.
           Then he goes into heaven and finds beautiful girls .... They remain always at the age sixteen; through
           eternity, they have never grown up. They don't perspire, they don't need any deodorant; their breath
           does not smell, they don't need any mouthwash. It seems they are made of plastic. No perspiration?
           -- do you know the meaning of it?
                If you paint your whole body, leaving only your nose to breathe, paint it thickly so that all the
           pores in your skin are completely closed, you will die within three hours. Just your nose is not
           enough. Every pore in your skin is breathing, in and out. Your whole body is a breathing system.
                Perspiration is a protection. You will die without perspiration. The function of the perspiration is
           to keep your inner temperature always the same. If you start getting hotter inside -- and the span is
           very small, twelve degrees, from about ninety-eight to one hundred and ten -- if there is no
           perspiration and there is a hot sun, how are you going to keep your temperature at ninety-eight
           perpetually?
                The perspiration helps you. It distracts the heat from entering into your body. It distracts it in a
           beautiful way: it cheats and deceives the sun. It gets the rays engaged in evaporating the perspiration.
           So the more heat is there, the more you will perspire. The heat is taken up in evaporating that
           perspiration, and not letting it in. If you let in that much heat, you will burst immediately. By the
           time you reach one hundred and five, you will fall into a coma; by the time you reach one hundred
           and ten, you will become a beloved of God!
                Stupid ideas! And if in heaven you are going to give people beautiful girls ... In the
           Mohammedan heaven even beautiful boys are available for homosexuals, because they should not be
           deprived -- and most of the saints are homosexual, perverted; some provision has to be made for
           them in paradise.
                The women are called houris, and the homosexual boys -- beautiful boys, they always remain
           young, no mustache, no beard, so the saints can exploit them for their sexuality -- they are called
           gilme. Strange ... Here you condemn sex, and there you make available not only heterosexuality, you
           make available homosexuality.
                And there are rivers flowing of just pure French wine. Get drunk, get drowned, swim, take a bath
           in it. And here? -- religions condemn all pleasures. Here you have to be a self-torturer.
                All religions are exploiting your tremendous greed, in the name of virtue, in the name of
           unselfishness.
                As a fundamental principal, I want you to remember that an unconscious man cannot act without
           motivation, and motivation is selfishness, whatever you do.

               I used to live in a city, teaching in the university, and a beautiful marble temple was being made
           there. For years I used to pass it on the road. Nine years I lived in that city, and the temple was just
           coming up, coming up, because they wanted to make something rare. Some super-rich man's father
           had died and it was his memorial.
               I had no idea about it, so one day I stopped my car and went inside where hundreds of marble
           workers were working. I asked the chief, "For what is this temple being raised?"
               A man of great intelligence, he did not take me to the statue of Krishna which was placed in the
           middle of the temple. I was thinking he would take me to the statue, saying that the temple is being
           created for Krishna -- but he took me behind the temple.
           I said, "Where are you taking me?"
           He said, "To the right place."
               There was a big marble slab with the writing: "This temple is created by so-and-so in the
           memory of his great spiritual father."
               He said, "For this stone the whole temple is being created. Krishna is just an excuse."
               The unconscious mind cannot do anything without motivation. What will I get? And religions
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           promise that in the future life, when he reaches to the pearly gates, Saint Peter will be standing there
           with all the angels singing "Alleluia!", playing on their harps in your welcome. It seems to be
           worthwhile to give something in charity, to do some virtuous act.
           Unless an act is done without any motivation, it cannot be unselfish.

                I want you to understand that except meditation there is no act which is unselfish, because it is
           only meditation which is going to dissolve your self, which is going to dissolve you into the whole.
           And once you are no more, whatever you do is going to be without motivation. Virtue comes out of a
           person who has become one with existence.
           Meditation is the door.
           Meditation is the only unselfish act.
                But it appears that people who are engaged in meditation are just thinking of themselves, not
           bothering about the whole of humanity. Absolute nonsense!
                The people who are engaged in meditation are the only people who will find a place where there
           is no self, and all selfishness disappears. Then their whole life, their whole love, their whole
           compassion will be unmotivated. Whatever they will do will be virtuous, because virtue can come
           only out of a conscious mind, an absolutely conscious mind.
                In the conscious mind, totally conscious, there is not a single shadow of self. The totally
           conscious mind becomes qualitatively different from your unconscious mind. Hence it has been
           called no-mind, just to show the difference, otherwise you will get confused.
                Mind is what you have. No-mind is the search of meditation. And from no-mind blossom flowers
           of unselfishness, of love, of compassion, of sharing.
                I repeat Basho, the great Zen master, and one of the greatest poets of the world: "Sitting silently,
           doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself."
                This sitting silently is not avoiding life. Sitting silently is searching for life, the very source of
           life. And the moment you have found the source, everything grows by itself, just like when spring
           comes, the grass grows by itself.
                Virtue, truth, compassion, love -- everything you can conceive of arises out of meditation, and
           there is no other source for it. They do not arise from prayers, because prayers are addressed to a
           fictitious God, who does not exist.

                It happened in America: a poor man ... his wife was dying, and he had no money to purchase
           medicine or call a doctor, or have her admitted to a hospital.
                In desperation he thought of a great idea: "Why not write a letter to God, just for fifty dollars, not
           much. And for a God who is almighty, omnipotent -- everywhere present, omnipresent; omniscient,
           knowing everything, past, present, future -- he must know that my wife is dying and I need fifty
           dollars right now."
                So he wrote a small card saying, "You know everything, you are all-knowing; I don't have to say
           it to you. I need fifty dollars for my wife who is almost on the verge of death. Send it to me by
           telegram."
                But then he was at a loss: What is the address of God? That he had completely forgotten in his
           anxiety and misery. When he turned over the postcard, the address had to be written.
                He said, "My God! Nobody knows his address. Whom to ask? When you don't know the address,
           the only way is to send it `Care of the Postmaster General.'" So he wrote: "To God the Almighty, c/o
           Postmaster General of America."
                The letter reached the Postmaster General. He read it, and he said, "What an innocent man, and
           what great trust! Because he does not know the address, he has sent it care of me. I don't know the
           address of God myself!"
                I don't think anybody has ever known his address. Before he went on holiday after creating the
           world in six days, he did not leave any address with Adam and Eve: "Go on giving it to your
           children, from generation to generation. They will know where God is, and whenever it is needed
           you can write." He simply disappeared. Nothing has been heard about him since then.
                So the Postmaster General asked all his colleagues, "Why shouldn't we collect fifty dollars and
           send them to this poor man?" So they made a collection, but they could manage to collect only
           forty-five dollars, not fifty. So he said, "Even forty-five will be helpful right now." He immediately
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sent it by telegram.
               The poor man received the telegram and the forty-five dollars. He looked up towards heaven and
           he said, "Almighty God, next time don't send it through the Postmaster General! That son-of-a-bitch
           has taken his commission -- five dollars! Send it to me directly! You are present everywhere, why
           not hand it to me directly? If you don't want to do it face to face, you can drop it on my roof very
           easily. It is not a problem for you. You have created the whole world, you can create fifty dollars,
           although they will be fake!" But there was no reply.
               So again he wrote another letter, thanking God: "You have sent me fifty dollars, but that
           son-of-a-bitch, the Postmaster General of America, has taken his commission, five dollars, from a
           poor man whose wife is dying!"
           And again it had to be sent "Care of the Postmaster General of America."
               When the Postmaster General received this letter, he said, "My God! We helped him with
           forty-five dollars and he is calling me a son-of-bitch!"

               In Surat, in India, there exists one of the richest Mohammedan cults. The Aga Khan is the head
           priest of that cult. The cult is called Khoja. Here, just by the side of the river on the other bank, there
           is an Aga Khan palace.
               The Aga Khan is one of the richest men in the world. He has palaces in every great city all over
           the world, in all the hill stations, on all the beautiful beaches.
               And how has he become so rich? What is his strategy? The strategy is: if somebody dies, in the
           dead person's memory you send him the money, and the money will be sent into your account in
           paradise. Millions of dollars he accumulates, and the blind believers think that the money is reaching
           into their bank accounts.
               I was staying with a friend in Surat, who is a Khoja, a follower of the Aga Khan. I asked him,
           "Your father has died. How much money have you sent?"
           He said, "Three lakh rupees."
           I asked, "Have you got the bank account number?"
           He said, "The account number?"
               I said, "When you reach to paradise, how will you find which is your bank account where the
           money is deposited?"
           He said, "That's right."
               And I said, "You are a well-educated man, a doctor, and you could not think of a simple thing?
           You could not see how the Aga Khan goes on throwing money all around the world? From where
           does this money come? From which account?"
               The Aga Khan's hobby is racehorses. He is the greatest bidder all over the world, and wherever
           there is a race meeting, he immediately rushes to that place. This palace here has been made because
           Poona has a race meeting every year, a great competition. All these houses you see belonged once to
           all the maharajahs of India, because while the horseracing was going on, all the maharajahs were
           here. That's why this is a protected area.
               Now the maharajahs have disappeared, it is not much of a joy. Ordinary people are going to the
           race course, and the Aga Khan no longer comes here. He has informed me that if I want the palace
           he is ready to sell.
               There is another sect I have come across which is even more stupid. At least this money reaches
           to the Aga Khan, it does not go further -- but that cult puts the money in the coffin. Your father dies,
           you put ten lakh rupees into the coffin, and it goes into the graveyard.
               Again, I was a guest in a house with a friend, who was a professor and had been my colleague. I
           said, "You also think that money will enter into heaven with your father's soul?"
               He said, "Yes. My whole religion believes it; so many people cannot be wrong."
               This argument I have heard so many times that I have made my own argument: If there are so
           many people agreed on something, they must be wrong! So many people cannot be right. Right
           belongs to very rare people; crowds cannot be right, they cannot have the truth.
               So I said, "We shall do one thing. Tonight we will go and dig your father's grave!"
           He said, "What?! But that is criminal."
               I said, "I will do it, you just stand by, just to see whether those rupees that you have put are still
           there, or your father has taken them."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "But if anybody comes to know ..."
                I said, "You are an educated man; it is a simple experiment to expose your belief. And I am ready
           to take all the blame!"
                So I dragged him in the night to the graveyard of their religion, and I had to dig -- that was the
           first and the last time I have done any digging! -- and I pulled the coffin out. It was stinking of the
           dead body -- only bones had remained, everything else had gone rotten -- and I said, "Look, those
           notes are here. You are an idiot, and your whole religion is stupid! Take these notes!"
                There was a moment of grave silence. I said, "You take them or I will take them!" He
           immediately took them out, and I said, "Now you do the remaining work, you have taken the money!
           I am going. You push the coffin in, put in the mud, cover it, do whatever you want -- but I have
           proved absolutely that your whole religion is stupid! And you think this is a virtuous act? You are
           being conned by your priests!"

               What is selfish in meditation? Just because you are sitting alone, closing your eyes, going
           inwards to find out the very source of your existence, is it selfish?
               By the time you find your authentic source of life, your self will have disappeared like a dewdrop
           in the early morning sun. You will come out without a self, just as a pure presence. Out of this pure
           presence radiates all that is virtuous.
               Without meditation there is no virtue; there cannot be any virtue! And when I say anything like
           this, I say it with absolute authority, and I challenge every religion of the world to prove that
           unconscious people, sleepy people, can do any act without motivation.
               Selfishness means motivation, you are thinking of some reward. An unselfish act means with no
           motivation, you are not thinking of any reward. You are doing it out of your abundance. You have
           too much, you are a rain cloud, you have to shower.
               And the more you share, the more starts coming to you. It is almost like a well of water: the more
           you draw the water, fresh water is coming into the well from all directions. If you become afraid that
           "If we take out the water, that much water is gone," it is better to keep the well closed.

           It happened once ... Kahlil Gibran has a beautiful story.
                In an ancient village there were two wells. One was in the palace, which was not available for
           anybody else than the royal family, and the other well was in the marketplace, which was available
           for everybody else except the royal family.
                But one day a witch came into the town, and she chanted some gibberish and threw something
           inside the well. People watched but they could not understand what was happening. But by the time
           the sun was setting, everybody had drunk water from the well -- except the royal family -- and
           everybody had gone mad. The whole capital was mad, from the smallest child to the oldest man --
           except the king and the queen and the prince.
                And a strange thing happened .... The whole crowd gathered around the palace and they started
           shouting that the king has gone mad. They were all mad, obviously, and they all agreed on the point
           that "The king does not seem to be the same as we are."
                The king immediately asked his prime minister what to do. "Even our armies have gone mad.
           They are all dancing and they are asking, `Come out of the palace! We will choose a new king who
           is sane just like us!'"
                The prime minister was very old, an ancient wise man. He told the king, "The only way is to run
           from the back door. I will keep them engaged at the front door, telling them that `I am bringing the
           king, he is getting ready.' You run to the well that they have been drinking the water from. Drink the
           water -- you, your wife, your son -- and you all get drunk. Unless you are mad this crowd is going to
           kill you!"
                The advice was absolutely correct. The king and his family ran from the back door, drank
           quickly the water of the well that the witch had changed with a certain alchemical phenomenon.
           They did not come to the back door, they came dancing and rejoicing to the front gate, and the crowd
           was very happy that their king had become sane.
                That night there was a great festival in the capital. "Our king, our queen, our future king -- all
           have become sane!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The crowd is living so unconsciously. You cannot expect from this crowd any act of virtue, any
           act of unselfishness. It is simply not possible. It is categorically impossible. First comes meditation,
           then everything else follows.
               So when your parents or your priests tell you that you are doing a selfish act, tell them clearly
           that you are the only one who is going to drop the self, and there will be no selfishness left, and out
           of that state virtue will follow -- "not from your prayers, not from your Bible or your Koran or your
           Gita, not from your teachings, but from my own exploration into whether there is a self."
               The self is a shadow of unconsciousness, of darkness, of blindness. It has never been found by
           those who have entered deeper into themselves.

               Just a few days ago there were twenty-one Christian missionaries here. They have been at a
           seminary for seven years in Poona. Poona is one of the centers for creating missionaries for the
           whole of Asia.
               For seven years they were not allowed by their principal even to come close to the ashram. That
           day when their course was finished, and they were ready to leave to their places, they did not miss at
           least one chance to hear me. And they have come here, but they must have been very much puzzled.
           I could see it on their faces: their seven years of seminary training was erased within three hours!
               To one sannyasin they said, "Everything seems to be good, but your master is taking only the
           negative side of religion and condemning it. There are many beautiful things that religion has done
           to humanity, and he is not taking them."
               Now I am going to talk about "all the beautiful things that religion has done to humanity."
               By the way, the same person quoted what seems on the surface a beautiful sentence: "It is better
           to give than to receive." Ordinarily you will agree with it -- it is better to give than to receive ....
           I don't agree with it.
               Why is it better to give? -- because it enhances your ego. You are the giver, you are higher, your
           hand is upper. Why is it good to give? You are reducing the other man's dignity, you are making him
           a beggar, you are insulting him. You are not really giving, you are rejoicing in your ego being bigger
           and bigger. The more you give, the bigger ego you will have, the more respect, the more prestige, the
           more honor.
           What is good in giving? It is a sin, because it enhances your ego.
               And what is not good in receiving? In fact, the receiver has not to be obliged to you; he is
           unburdening you, you have to be obliged to him. That is authentic spirituality. You give, and you
           touch the feet of the person to whom you have given, to thank him that he received your gift and did
           not reject it. He could have rejected it, and you would have been insulted -- but he received it.
               I say to you that these kinds of statements, which look very good if you don't have a sharp
           intelligence to go deeper into them, are all over, in all the scriptures of the world. And anyway, if it
           is better to give than to receive, then who is going to receive? Everybody is going to give -- it is
           better to give -- but to whom? Everybody will reject, because it is better to give than to receive.
               "Why are you insulting me?", everybody will ask you. "Do you want to insult me, humiliate me
           by giving me just a few coins? Throw away those coins in the river and get lost!"
               Gautam Buddha is far more right. He has made it very clear to his sannyasins and to his
           lay-disciples. Because the sannyasins will be going to beg their food one time a day from the
           lay-disciples, he has made it clear to his lay-disciples, "Don't feel that you are great because you are
           giving. Remember the humbleness of the other person who is receiving. So first you give the food,
           then you touch the feet of the person who has received the food, and you give some other gift as your
           gratefulness."
               So two words are used: giving is called bhiksha, and when somebody has received bhiksha, then
           you have to be grateful to him. The second word is dakshina; to show your gratefulness, you present
           something else, a shawl -- the winter is coming -- or a new set of clothes. An old set of clothes you
           can preserve as a memory from a man of meditation; something of his meditation must have touched
           those clothes.
               When you pass through a rose garden, you may not touch the roses, but some fragrance is caught
           by your clothes. If a man has been meditating -- and if by chance you come across an enlightened
           person -- having his clothes in your house, your house becomes a holy temple. His clothes have been
           receiving radiation continuously, of a different world, vibrations .... So give him a new set of clothes,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his old set is torn, too old. This will be your gratitude.
               So Buddha's statement will be, "It is better to receive than to give." The giver is a poor man, he
           has nothing else than money.
               I was in Jaipur, one of the most beautiful cities of India. The man who was making Jaipur,
           Maharajah Jai Singh -- it is named after him -- the British government dethroned him and put his son
           as the king. The reason was that he was creating Jaipur, a totally new city. His idea was to have a
           better city than Paris, and certainly whatever he had built before he was dethroned has a tremendous
           beauty.
               The whole city is made of one single-colored stone, red stone. All the houses are similar. No city
           in India has such wide roads -- wide roads, and by the side of the roads, pavements with the same red
           stone, covered pavements for people to walk. Nobody need walk on the road; the road is for the
           vehicles. People have to walk on the pavement. But on the pavement you are in shadow; you can
           walk in cool shade in the summer, you can walk in the rains. You don't have any need of an umbrella
           in Jaipur. And all the shops, for miles and miles, are just exactly the same.
               The British government became worried that his capital would look better than New Delhi, better
           than London, better than Paris. It was not a crime; he was creating a beautiful city, he should have
           been helped -- but this is not the way of the world.
               I was lecturing in Jaipur, and the richest man of Jaipur was Sohanlal Dugar. He was so rich, he
           was far richer than the king. In creating Jaipur, the king had borrowed much money from Sohanlal
           Dugar. Nobody knew how much money that man had, because he had no books.
               He told me, "I don't have any books, so I don't pay any income tax. Nobody knows how much I
           have." And then I found out where his books were. He had written them in his bathroom on the
           walls, in a language which is no more used, old Rajasthani. It is very difficult to read, and those were
           short notes; you could even read them, but you would not be able to figure out what they meant. He
           was the only man who knew.
               He had come with me to the meeting in his beautiful limousine, and he heard me for the first
           time. After the meeting, he had come to take me -- but before taking me to the car, he poured almost
           ten thousand rupees at my feet. He said, "You have to accept them!"
               I said, "But I don't need them right now. You can keep them on my behalf. Whenever I need
           them I will inform you, `Send me the money.'"
               He said, "That cannot be done -- because I am a gambler. Today I have, tomorrow I may not
           have."
               He was one of the greatest gamblers you can conceive of. He was known as the Silver King of
           India. Once he purchased all the silver available in India, and raised the rates so high, and then
           started selling slowly from different places at a high rate. He accumulated millions and millions of
           rupees. And that was his strategy: to purchase anything wholesale from all over the country, and then
           automatically the price would go ten, twenty times higher. Then he would start releasing it very
           slowly in different places, so the prices don't fall.
               He said, "Today I have, tomorrow I may not have, so I cannot take that responsibility. You have
           to accept them right now."
               Seeing that I was not interested in accepting the money, because I don't have even pockets to
           keep it, so where to keep it? -- just to carry ten thousand rupees in my hands? ... I don't have
           anything: no pockets, no wallet, no bag, just a robe without any pockets. And I have lived without
           pockets, because my hands are always in other people's pockets. Why bother? -- there are so many
           millions of pockets around, what is the need of having separate pockets? I believe in one humanity!
               So I told him, "It will be very difficult for me. Tonight I am leaving, and ten thousand rupees will
           be sitting by the side of my couch in the train. Anybody can take them; I cannot just remain watching
           them."
               He said, "Listen ..." He had tears in his eyes, and he was an old man, more than seventy. He said,
           "Listen, just look at my tears. I am a poor man, because I don't have anything except money."
               I have not forgotten his statement, I have not forgotten his tears. I have nothing to say to such a
           man who says, "I am so poor, I have nothing but money, and if you reject money you reject me.
           Please don't reject me. It will become a wound in me. Nobody has ever rejected me!"
               So I said, "Okay. For your sake I take the money." I gave half the money to the organization that
           had arranged the meeting and had been arranging meetings for me for years, and the other half I gave
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to Jaipur's library to purchase more and more agnostic literature, which is neither theist nor atheist,
           but purely of those who are inquirers, seekers.
                He came with me to leave me on the railway station. He said, "I am so happy that you accepted,
           although you gave it away -- but that is not my problem. It was your money, you have given it. You
           have accepted it, so I am at ease. I have never felt so happy. You have made me so blissed out, I am
           grateful to you. Just one promise I want ..."
           I said, "You are now getting greedy!"
                He said, "I am greedy, otherwise why should I collect so much money? Just one promise ..."
           I said, "Let me first hear it."
           He said, "No. Do you want me to cry again?"
                I said, "No, I don't want that. Granted ... your wish is granted. Just tell me what is the idea behind
           it."
                He said, "Just one thing: whenever you come to Jaipur or to Calcutta, you have to inform me, and
           you have to stay with me -- I live sometimes in Jaipur and for longer periods in Calcutta -- you have
           to be with me. When are you coming again to Jaipur?"
           I said, "I will be coming after three months."
           He said, "Promise that you will stay with me?"
           I said, "Promised."
           He said, "Great. That means at least three months I am going to live."
           I said, "That is a great idea!"
                "For three months no force can kill me. I have to survive three months, at least, and then I will
           take another promise."
                And while he lived I had to stay with him in Jaipur and I had to stay with him in Calcutta. I had
           to inform him continuously that I was coming here, I was coming there -- "so you be there!" And he
           used to come immediately from wherever he was to receive me in Calcutta or in Jaipur. And he
           would always give me a send-off with the words, "One promise ...? Because," he said, "I am living
           on your promises. I cannot die if I know that after three months you are going to be my guest."
                But the way he said, "I am the poorest man in the world because I don't have anything else than
           money. If you reject the money, you reject me. Don't do that to an old man, the wound may be fatal"
           -- this is far greater than this Christian statement: "It is better to give than to receive."

               I have a friend in Jabalpur, who is the richest man in that state, and the biggest manufacturer of
           beedies in the whole world. He used to come here, he used to come to my camps, and then he
           became a minister. Then he started becoming afraid of me. All politicians are afraid of me -- and I
           am not even going to touch them; they are untouchables to me! They are unnecessarily afraid.
               But I can understand their fear. Anybody coming to me will lose his votes. The public, the
           crowd, is not going to support him if they see him entering the Gateless Gate. Since he became a
           minister he disappeared. Otherwise he used to travel with me ....
               Once, traveling in an air-conditioned coach, he told me his heart, which was troubling him very
           much. He had been seeing me for years and he had never told me. People don't want to share their
           misery, they hide it. They cover their wounds, and by covering the wounds they create cancers.
               But sometimes it happens, particularly in railway trains or in airplanes, people become more
           intimate. Strange ... even with strangers, you don't know who the person is -- the next station he will
           get down and perhaps you will never see him again -- and you start telling him your most secret
           things you have not told even your wife, not even your mistress!
               He told me, "I have been suffering from one thing, and I cannot find any solution. Perhaps you
           can be of some help."
               I said, "Open your heart, just let me see the wound. Tell me what the problem is."
               He said, "The problem is that I was born in a poor family, then I was adopted by a super-rich
           family because they had no son. I was a faraway relative, but seeing possibilities they adopted me,
           they educated me. Now they are dead, and I am the sole owner of a great empire. Because I have so
           much money, I have raised my old family also to be very rich, my brothers, my cousin-brothers, my
           friends. The people I knew I have helped as much as possible. Whatever they wanted ... they all have
           beautiful cars, they all have beautiful houses, they have beautiful businesses, very prosperous,
           because I have so much.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "But one thing is strange: they are all against me. Even if I am sick, nobody comes to see me. It
           hurts me very much. I have done everything in my power to help them and they have all turned their
           backs on me."
               I said, "It is not a difficult problem. It is very simple. Have you ever received anything from
           them?"
           He said, "No, I don't need to."
               I said, "That is not the problem. By giving to them, you have insulted them. You don't understand
           the subtle psychology. By giving to them -- always giving, a one-way traffic -- you have never
           allowed simple things. You could have asked one of your friends to whom you have given millions
           of rupees, `I was passing by the side of your house and I saw such beautiful roses. Can you bring a
           few to me? I will be so grateful.' And immediately that man would have become your friend. He can
           also give something to you. He can be equal.
               "When you were sick, you could have phoned anybody whom you have helped: `I am feeling
           very sick and I have been remembering you so much. You must be busy, but find just five minutes to
           come and sit by my side. One never knows whether I will survive or not ....' That man would have
           come, putting everything aside, and would have felt immensely friendly towards you because you
           remembered him, you called him in your deepest moment of need -- only him and nobody else. He
           would have felt so gratified.
               "But you have never done that. Just giving and giving and giving is insulting and humiliating.
           Your ego, your pride -- this is your unconsciousness. You thought you were doing great service to
           your friends and family and acquaintances, but why have they all become your enemies if the service
           was so great? They have seen in your eyes that you give, but you give from a very high superiority.
           They are all inferiors, receivers."
           He said, "I never thought about it."
               I said, "This is the state of the whole of humanity -- the unconscious humanity. They never
           understand that receiving is far greater, it needs a far greater heart than giving. Anybody can give.
           For receiving you need such a consciousness that cannot be humiliated. You need such greatness of
           being that `Who can insult me?'"

                I disagree absolutely with this good Christian teaching: "It is better to give than to receive." And
           I will take one by one now what they call their good principles.
                I have not seen a single thing done by the religions which has been good for humanity.
                One Christian monk told to a sannyasin, "Your master speaks from bitterness, not from love."
           It is true -- but he is wrong.
                I speak with great love for all those women, millions of women, who have been burnt alive by
           the popes. With great love I speak for those women -- but I cannot speak without bitterness for all
           these popes who have been nothing but murderers.
                More people have been killed by religions than by wars. Political wars are number two; more
           people have been killed by religious wars, crusades, jihads. Mohammedans killing Christians,
           Christians killing Mohammedans, Christians killing Jews, Hindus killing Mohammedans,
           Mohammedans killing Hindus, Hindus killing Buddhists ... The whole history of religion is so
           bloody that I don't see why I should not be bitter against these criminals.
                Yes, I am speaking with great love for the victims, but I cannot speak with love for the murderers
           in the name of God -- pious murderers, virtuous murderers. Yes, I am bitter -- because I see the
           crime that religions have been committing against humanity. I speak with love for humanity, but I
           cannot be in favor of the criminals.
                My situation is simple and clear. With whoever has harmed humanity, I am bitter; and whoever
           has been harmed, I am full of love for him. For all those women you called witches and burned them
           alive, I have tremendous love. For all those people you killed because they were Mohammedans,
           they were Jews, I have tremendous love and respect -- but not for the criminals.
                For the criminals I am a sword, and for the victims I am a lotus. I am both together. In one hand I
           have a sword, in the other hand I have a lotus flower. Everybody according to what he deserves.
                So I say his statement is right, but he is wrong. Do you understand what I mean? The statement is
           right because I am speaking with love on the one hand, and on the other hand I am speaking with
           great bitterness for all those people who have been preventing human evolution towards
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           buddhahood. I cannot forgive them, neither can I forget them.
               And these people should look at Jesus, then they will understand me more clearly. When he
           overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the great temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, and started
           beating them and throwing them out of the temple, was it out of love or bitterness?
               When he called his own mother ... She was waiting outside the crowd; she had not seen him for
           years because he had been traveling to the East. He had been to India, to Ladakh and Tibet. That's
           why where he has been for seventeen years is completely missing in the Bible. And he lived only
           thirty-three years; there is one instance when he was thirteen, and then the story jumps suddenly to
           thirty -- and he lived only thirty-three years. Where have those seventeen years disappeared to? What
           was he doing and where has he been? Christianity has no answer.
               His mother had not seen him for years. When she heard that he was speaking in a nearby village,
           she rushed there, the poor old woman, and a man in the crowd shouted to Jesus, "Your mother is
           waiting outside the crowd. She wants to come close to you and to see you."
               Jesus' statement has to be remembered. He said, "Tell that woman" -- he did not even use the
           word `mother' -- "Tell that woman there is nobody who is my mother, who is my father, on this
           earth. My father lives in heaven." And he did not see her, and he did not call her close. Was it love?
               He talks about loving your enemies and he could not love even his own mother. And he talks
           about loving your neighbors, which is far more difficult than loving your enemies. Enemies are far
           away, who cares -- but neighbors ... Mere talk!
           People think that what he preached he practiced. That is wrong.
               One day he was very hungry because a village had turned his gang out without giving them any
           food or even water, and they had been traveling for three days. Then they came to a fig tree, and you
           can see the insanity of the man -- not only anger but insanity, pure insanity: he cursed the fig tree.
               "Did not you know that the only begotten son of God was coming towards you? Where are your
           fruits?" -- and it was not the season for the fig tree. The poor fig tree, what can she do? And he is
           cursing a tree, and this man talks about loving your enemies and even your neighbors! Was he not
           cursing out of bitterness and out of madness? Was it love?
               I am a very straightforward man. I have people I cannot love, I know they are poisonous; I will
           be bitter against them. They are very few, but they have been exploiting and distracting humanity
           onto wrong paths.
               I have all my love for those who have suffered, who have been oppressed, who have been
           exploited -- but I cannot love the priests, I cannot love the politicians, I cannot love the exploiters
           and the oppressors.
               I am absolutely clear, and I want you also to be absolutely clear. Meditation brings such clarity
           that you know what is a thorn and what is a rose. Only a blind man can be mistaken, thinking of the
           thorn as the rose and the rose as the thorn. When you have eyes, you know what is a thorn and that it
           has to be avoided, and what is a rose, and that it has to be loved.
           As Yakusan says: Isness is my business.

           Now the sutra:

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YAKUSAN TALKED WITH MEIKEI OSHO AND LATER TOLD UNGAN: "MEIKEI WAS ONCE A
              GOVERNMENT SUPERINTENDENT IN HIS PAST LIFE."

               UNGAN ASKED, "OSHO" -- Osho is a word of honor, of tremendous honor, of infinite honor --
           "OSHO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE IN YOUR PAST LIVES?"
               If you can see other people's past lives that you say Meikei was once a government
           superintendent in his past life ... I want to know, Ungan says, "When you can see other people's past
           lives, you must be seeing your own past lives.
              "OSHO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE IN YOUR PAST LIVES?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "BEING AFRAID AND SHAKY, WITH HUNDREDS OF UGLINESSES AND
              THOUSANDS OF CLUMSINESSES, I SOMEHOW HAVE MANAGED TO LIVE LIVES."

               So true, so truthful -- this is what comes out of meditation.
           I have heard of many people in India and outside India who have remembered their past lives, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           strangely enough, somebody in his past life was Alexander the Great, somebody in his past life was
           Ivan the Terrible, somebody in his past life was Napoleon Bonaparte. It seems in his past lives
           everybody has been some great historical figure, and it is strange to see that the Alexander the Great
           is a beggar today. One goes on evolving: from Alexander the Great you will become a greater
           Alexander -- but you are a beggar.
               I have been going around the country for twenty years continuously and I have come across at
           least half a dozen cases of people who remember their past life. Somebody has been a Krishna,
           somebody has been a Rama. It seems everybody in his past life has been a great historical figure --
           the founder of a religion.
               These are all imaginations. These are all people's wishfulfillments, and people's unconscious
           minds are such that they can supply any idea to console you. If you are very inferior in this life, it is
           hurting. You are not rich, you are not beautiful, you are not a great celebrity; you are just nobody. It
           hurts. It starts hurting so much that the unconscious mind creates an imagination, a projection that
           "Don't be worried, in the past life you were Cleopatra -- the most beautiful woman ever born. You
           have enjoyed it, now let others enjoy. Don't suffer, just remember your past life.
               "You have been Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah -- these were the people who were never
           defeated in their whole life. You have lived so much, now let others have little bits of victories. A
           football player -- you should not be jealous of a football player because thousands of people think of
           him as a hero. You have been Alexander the Great. Don't be bothered by Sophia Loren -- she is
           nothing, just a wretched woman -- you have been Cleopatra!"
               This gives great consolation. One feels, "That's perfectly right. I have already enjoyed. Other
           people also need some chances." It helps you to forget your inferiority.
               But a man like Yakusan will not say that. He says exactly what he has seen in all his past lives:
           "BEING AFRAID AND SHAKY, WITH HUNDREDS OF UGLINESSES AND THOUSANDS OF
           CLUMSINESSES, I SOMEHOW HAVE MANAGED TO LIVE LIVES."
               Only a master, only a man who is fully awakened can see so clearly. Nothing has to be hidden,
           there is no need to hide. He has reached to the highest peak of consciousness from where he can see
           far away, thousands of lives, very clearly. Not a single instance of any projection, of any
           imagination, of any wishfulfillment; just a simple, factual, actual truthfulness. Everybody is shaky.
               When the Christian monks went out of the door, Narendra was watching. Two or three were
           Westerners, the others were Indians. The Westerners were very shaky. The Indians are converted
           Christians. They are not converted because they feel Christianity is a better religion than Hinduism;
           deep down they know Hinduism is far superior. It is because of poverty, need for more education, to
           be somebody in life, that they have converted to Christianity.
               Narendra was puzzled: "Why are all the Indians feeling happy?" There were eighteen, they were
           all happy, and they told Narendra, "Thank you, and we will be coming again and again!"
               The three Westerners immediately rushed to the bus and were feeling very shaky and trembling,
           because they are not converted Christians, they are born Christians. They think Christianity is their
           religion. Those eighteen converted ones know perfectly well that they were born Hindus and that
           Hinduism is their religion, but for economic reasons they have created this Christian personality
           around themselves.
               When the pope came to India he had to make concessions for Indian Christians. Never had such
           concessions been made before ... because poor Indians, just because of poverty and starvation, had
           become Christians. But their whole programming is Hindu, so when they go inside the church they
           burn incense, they bring flowers and coconuts to the poor Jesus Christ who is hanging on the cross.
           You don't bring flowers; it will be very embarrassing to offer a garland and coconuts -- and they are
           breaking coconuts under the feet of Jesus Christ and bringing sweets, just the way they have done to
           the Hindu gods.
               At first the pope was very much shocked that this is happening, but then he saw that most of the
           Christians come from the lowest strata of Hinduism and it is difficult to change their upbringing.
           Somebody has become a Christian at the age of fifty; now, fifty years upbringing and he cannot
           conceive, "Why not coconuts? -- all gods love them; why not sweets? -- all gods love them!"
               You just look at the Hindu gods -- for example Ganesha, who is the most cherished god all over
           India, and for a strange reason. Just look at his belly! He goes on eating sweets and sweets. His belly
           has become so big, I don't think he can see his own legs!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ganesha is worshipped, and every businessman begins his books when the new year starts ... the
           first line has to be written: "Shree Ganeshaja namah -- victory to the god Ganesha." Why? Because
           in the ancient scriptures, Ganesha was a very mischievous god. He enjoyed teasing people,
           disturbing their ceremonies, disturbing their worship. People were afraid that if he comes, everything
           will be topsy turvy. The only way was to start worshipping him.
                He was a rascal, but to bring the rascal down to the earth, to some gentlemanliness, they started
           worshipping him. His name has to be taken first in every ceremony -- in every marriage, in every
           festival, everywhere. First you have to remember him, otherwise he will disturb. Because of his
           rascaliness he has become the chief god of the Hindus -- and he loves sweets ....
                He should have been born in America -- with an inbuilt fridge rather than a belly! His belly is big
           enough to have a fridge inside, so take the food from the inside and put it in the mouth, and it goes
           back into the fridge! That would have been perfectly scientific!

               In the second world war, it happened ... A man was shot in his neck. His throat was cut; now he
           could not drink anything or eat anything. Because of the fear of poisoning spreading, the doctors had
           to cut the whole throat out. That door to the belly was closed.
               Now they had to make a new door, so they made a hole in his belly, at the side, and fixed a
           plastic pump so that he had to put everything into the plastic pump, and from there it went into the
           belly.
               But the man was very frustrated. What is the point of putting ice cream into the tube? You don't
           have any taste of it. It does not matter what you are pouring into it, it doesn't have any taste. So
           finally the doctors had to suggest to him, "First you put the ice cream in your mouth, chew it, enjoy
           the taste, and then vomit it into the tube." And the poor fellow had to do that!
           So I am not talking off the wall!

              UNGAN LATER REPEATED THIS TO DOGO, another master, WHO COMMENTED: "IT IS A GOOD
              STORY, BUT ONE QUESTION IS MISSING."
              "WHAT, MAY I ASK?" INQUIRED UNGAN.
              DOGO SAID, IN THE MANNER OF LITERARY, SCHOLARLY CHINESE: "HOW DID YOU BECOME
              LIKE THAT?

               "If you have been in all your past lives, AFRAID AND SHAKY, WITH HUNDREDS OF
           UGLINESSES AND THOUSANDS OF CLUMSINESSES ... how have you become a buddha now?
           Where is the bridge?"
               That question remains to be answered. Certainly Dogo is pointing to an immensely important
           fact: "If this is your whole past, how did you become a buddha?" Yakusan was a buddha, an
           awakened master.
               "But if only this is your past, then how out of this past did you manage to blossom into a
           buddha?" This past has no potentiality .... Dogo asked a very pertinent question.
               Ungan took the question to Yakusan. He himself had not thought about it, but Dogo had pointed
           out rightly that there is a missing link. "You should have asked the question: How have you become
           like this? Your past is absolutely contradictory. Out of this past a buddha cannot be born."
              UNGAN TOOK THE QUESTION TO YAKUSAN, USING THE SAME SCHOLARLY CHINESE.
              YAKUSAN ANSWERED, "I NEVER OPEN ANY BOOKS."

               He is saying, "I never tell any secrets. I NEVER OPEN ANY BOOKS. I have told you my
           miserable past which can be told, which can be managed in language. But the secret of how I became
           a buddha cannot be expressed in language. It is a closed book, it is a secret. You have to find it
           within yourself."
               That is my link also, and that is the link of every buddha. Don't ask about it, it is a mystery. You
           just enter into yourself and you will find how one becomes a buddha, how a lotus flower comes out
           of dirty mud.
               Dirty mud I could talk about, but about the beauty of the lotus I am helpless. I cannot say
           anything about it. I cannot open the book. You will have to face the lotus yourself and see how out
           of dirty mud a lotus arises -- the most beautiful flower in the whole world.
               Yakusan talked only about the dirty mud. "I accept that one thing is missing, and Dogo is right,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but that thing you can find only by going in. The moment you find yourself becoming a lotus flower
           out of the mud, you will know my secret too. But as far as I am concerned, I never open any books,
           any secrets, any mysteries."
           In fact, nobody can do it. But he said it in a very beautiful way.
               In our meditations we are trying to find the same missing link. I call it witnessing; hence my
           continuous emphasis on witnessing. That is the missing link. Once you are a witness, suddenly, out
           of the mud, the dirty mud, centuries old, a lotus flower bursts with a fragrance which is almost not of
           this world, but something that belongs to the beyond.
               Yakusan is right. Nobody can say exactly what it is. No explanation is ever complete, only
           experience ...

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, YAKUSAN ASKED UNGAN, "A HORSE HAS HORNS; CAN YOU SEE
              THEM?"

              Now, no horse has horns -- you know it. But this is the world of Zen, where strange things
           happen.
              YAKUSAN ASKED UNGAN, "A HORSE HAS HORNS; CAN YOU SEE THEM?"

               Ungan replied -- just a masterly reply -- "IF IT HAS, THERE IS NO NEED TO SEE. If you say
           it has horns, there is no need to say. I trust."
               But Yakusan was far greater a master than Ungan:
              "THAT HORSE IS OF THE BEST QUALITY," ADDED YAKUSAN.
              UNGAN REPLIED, "IF THAT IS SO, I WILL TAKE IT."

               A strange dialogue. But I would like you to know that everybody who is unconscious has horns
           -- horse or man, it does not matter. Your anger, your violence, your rage, your tendency to destroy --
           that is what is represented by horns.
               So when Yakusan said, "A HORSE HAS HORNS," he was saying that "A horse is here which is
           very violent, very furious, very terrible."
               Ungan understood the symbol; that is why he said, "IF IT HAS, THERE IS NO NEED TO SEE."
               And in fact, nobody can see your horns, although everybody has them. You only depict horns on
           the head of the devil, but everybody has horns -- in his violence, in his anger, in his murderous
           possibilities, in his destructiveness.
           Yakusan said, "THAT HORSE IS OF THE BEST QUALITY."
               In fact, if you have a horse which is really wild, furious, violent, it is a great horse in war. It will
           trample thousands of people. You have just to rush towards the army of the enemy .... In the past, the
           horse was the only nuclear weapon.
           So Yakusan said, "THAT HORSE IS OF THE BEST QUALITY."
           UNGAN REPLIED, "IF THAT IS SO, I WILL TAKE IT."
               This whole dialogue is not what it appears. It is a dialogue about your unconsciousness, out of
           which all that is violent, all that is destructive, all that is ugly, arises. Your unconscious has horns. In
           other words, your unconscious is the only devil; there is no other devil anywhere else.
               But when Yakusan said, "THAT HORSE IS OF THE BEST QUALITY ..." Your
           unconsciousness has two possibilities: if it remains unconscious, it is destructive, dangerous to you
           and to others. But if you bring light to it, if it turns into consciousness, that is its other possibility.
           Then it has the best quality in the world. You become a buddha.
               That's why Ungan said, "IF THAT IS SO -- that it is of the best quality -- I WILL TAKE IT. I am
           ready to become a buddha."
               It would have been difficult for you to enter into this dialogue. You would have thought, "It
           seems to be absurd!" It is not. These people are meditative people, who have been meditating for
           years. They understand the symbols, they understand the deeper psychology, the parapsychology and
           beyond psychology, so their dialogues are not ordinary dialogues.
               Even the dialogues of Socrates are ordinary; ordinary not in the sense that you will be able to
           understand them, but ordinary in the sense that they are only logical dialogues -- very refined logic,
           very sharp, and very complicated, but after all, that is the function of the mind. Socrates could not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reach to the function of no-mind. He was unaware of the Eastern search.
               There were contemporaries of Socrates who had reached the East, like Pythagoras. Pythagoras
           became a buddha. Socrates had every possibility, but he remained confined in the mind. He went on
           sharpening the sword of logic. He cuts very fine arguments, he is very convincing, but as far as
           awakening is concerned, he is as fast asleep as anyone else.
               His contemporary, Pythagoras, moved from Athens to Alexandria, and from Alexandria to India.
           It was the time when Buddha was alive, when Mahavira was alive, when six other great thinkers of
           the same quality as Gautam Buddha were alive, all in the small state of Bihar. And Pythagoras
           traveled to Bihar, met all the great enlightened people.
               He was young, but he reached to India at the right time, just as you have reached to India at the
           right time.

           Ekon wrote:

              WHO SHALL HALT THE SWAN
              IN ITS FLIGHT?
              OR LIFE IN ITS FLOW?


                I have been telling you: everything is moving so fast -- and there is nobody who is capable of
           preventing a swan in its flight.
                The great swans live deep in the Himalayas, in the highest lake in the world, Mansarovar.
           Mansarovar remains frozen for nine months of the year, you can drive a car on it. It is a lake miles
           and miles long, but the snow becomes hard as stone.
                The swans leave -- they have to leave because there is no water to drink, no fish to eat, they
           cannot penetrate the thick layer of hard snow -- and three thousand miles they fly over the Himalayas
           and come to small lakes, rivers, around North India. It is a very mysterious phenomenon.
                In those nine months ... nature has such balance, such harmony, that those nine months are the
           months for their mating also. So they mate and they lay the eggs, but before the eggs open and their
           children come out, nine months are over. Now Mansarovar will be melting. They fly again, leaving
           the eggs in the plains of North India, a three-thousand-mile flight -- thousands and thousands of
           swans disappearing into the Himalayas.
                The miracle is, when the parents are gone, then the eggs open and those small swans immediately
           start moving towards Mansarovar. They don't have any map, no guide, no parents to tell them which
           is exactly the same route the parents have taken for millions of years. Every year the miracle
           happens: those small swans start flying three thousand miles high above the Himalayan peaks where
           the snow has never melted since eternity, and they take the same route and they reach to the same
           Mansarovar lake.
           And people think nature has no intelligence!
                Nature has tremendous wisdom, just we have forgotten to listen to it. The only way for you to
           listen to nature is by going deeper into yourself, because there are roots which are spread into
           existence. Those roots still understand the language of existence.
                Far away from the roots, you are hung up in the head. You don't know anything about the
           wisdom of existence. That's why you ask questions which are not needed at all. You need only one
           thing: to find a connecting link with existence, and all questions disappear.
           My new symbol is going to be a flying swan.
                WHO SHALL HALT THE SWAN IN ITS FLIGHT OR LIFE IN ITS FLOW? -- but people try
           hard.
                Just look at women ...! They halt again and again, although life goes on, it does not listen. A
           sixteen-year-old woman will take almost three years to become seventeen, and as the age grows the
           gap becomes bigger. Never ask a woman her age. Always tell a woman, "You look very young!"
                Even if the woman has one foot in the grave and another foot in the church, still you have to say,
           "You look so young, so fresh, so radiant" -- and even an old, dying woman will have a blush of
           youth on her face! Sometimes I think perhaps even a dead woman, if persuaded rightly, will start
           blushing -- I just think, I have not tried! -- but there is every possibility of it being true.
                At the age of thirty-six -- that is the finding of the psychologists -- women stop, because now this
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is very dangerous. To go beyond thirty-six ... it will take almost four years to become thirty-seven!
           Now things are dangerous ahead. A woman becomes forty with great difficulty, great reluctance,
           because the dangerous time is coming when people will start telling her, "You look much younger!"
               Nobody tells that to a young woman, there is no point. A young woman is young. Whenever
           somebody tells you, "You are looking very young," take it for granted -- Avirbhava! -- that you have
           gone beyond; people are being very nice to you. People try ... but nobody succeeds.
               One has to become old, and when you are becoming old reluctantly, old age becomes ugly. When
           you are becoming old joyously, old age has a beauty of its own, a grandeur of its own, a ripeness, a
           maturity, a centering. Young people have nothing compared to the experienced, who have lived life
           and who know it is all just a game.
               The moment a person comes to the point where the whole life is just a game, his old age is so
           beautiful, so graceful; no young person can be compared to it. His white hairs will look like white
           snow -- just on the highest peak of the mountains. He will die with joy. He has lived his life, now he
           is entering into a new phase -- death. He will not be reluctant.
               If he was not reluctant for old age, he will not be reluctant for death. If he accepted old age
           joyously, he will accept death also dancingly. He will go with death dancing.
               If a man can go joyously with death, there is no death for him, he enters into eternal life. Then
           there is no birth, no death. He has gone beyond the circle of birth and death.


              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE THERE CERTAIN CONDITIONINGS -- SUCH AS GUILT, FEAR, JEALOUSY -- THAT ARE NOT
              PECULIAR TO CHRISTIANITY ALONE BUT HAVE BEEN ENDORSED BY ALL RELIGIONS, IN ALL
              CULTURES SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL?


                Maneesha, no religion can exist without guilt. It is an absolute necessity for a religion that people
           should feel guilty.
                No religion can exist without creating fear in people -- fear of hell, fear of punishment, fear of
           eternal fire.
           No religion can gather masses and exploit them without guilt and fear.
                A guilty person feels somehow to find a savior. He has committed sin, and all religions create as
           many sins as possible. In fact, everything that makes you happy is a sin. Everything that makes you a
           long-faced Englishman is virtue.
                Guilt is needed absolutely -- but how to create guilt? First you have to indicate to people that all
           these things are sin. If you commit these things, you will be guilty and you will suffer immensely for
           it -- eternal hellfire. So guilt creates the fear that, "My God, I have loved a woman!" -- and all the
           religions say the woman is the gate to hell.
                I have always been wondering: If the woman is the gate to hell, then no woman can go into hell;
           she is the gate, and gates don't move, gates don't walk. Only man can go into hell, the woman
           remains outside hell. She may not enter into heaven, but outside hell -- I think this is a perfectly good
           position! Allow as many men to go into hell, the poor creatures, and you need not be afraid: you are
           the gate!
                Don't love a woman, otherwise you are finished. Don't dance, and don't sing, and don't look
           happy. Look miserable. The more miserable you look, the more religious you are.
                And miserable people are created by the same strategy: they cannot commit the sin and they have
           every desire to commit it. So everything is propelling them to commit the sin and they cannot,
           because hell is there. This creates such a dilemma that half of them are ready to commit, and half of
           them are escaping -- so they are stuck. They cannot move towards sin, they cannot move towards
           paradise. In this stuck stage, they feel utterly miserable.
                These miserable people gather into churches, into temples, into mosques for the priest to guide
           them, to help them. If they have committed some sin, that makes them guilty and miserable: "I have
           committed ..."
                Religions relish and get nourished on your guilt, on your sins. Christianity has made them more
           emphatically clear than other religions, but other religions also have the same strategy.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Jealousy is created by religion's continuous emphasis on monogamy, and monogamy means --
           not in the dictionaries, but in life -- monotony. Nobody wants to live in a monotonous life. Marriage
           is a great strategy. Married couples are the most miserable people in the world and religions insist,
           "No divorce, divorce is a sin!" In this way prostitutes are created. This is the by-product of religion.
                These are the good things that religions have done. First, create monotony -- that is, marriage --
           then prostitutes are bound to come, because man is a polygamous animal. You cannot change his
           nature, it is an inbuilt process.
                So is woman polygamous, but it does not appear to be so. The reason for it is that the woman has
           been deprived of education, of economic freedom, of movement into society. So, rather than being
           polygamous, her security is in remaining monogamous -- although she suffers as much as the man,
           or perhaps more, because man has created prostitutes.
                You will be surprised to know that in India there were pious prostitutes called devadasis. They
           still exist in South India -- beautiful girls, and the parents would dedicate those girls to the temple.
           They become servants of God. Actually they are prostitutes for the priests, first; second, they are
           prostitutes for the rich people who can pay the priests. Every great temple has hundreds of devadasis,
           even today, in the name of religion.
                And why do parents, knowing perfectly well, go on giving their beautiful girls? -- only beautiful
           girls are chosen by the priests, by the saints -- because, in India particularly, to have a daughter is to
           have a catastrophe. To get her married you may have to sell your house, your business, your land,
           everything. You have to give so much money, because the parents of the boy to whom you are
           marrying your daughter ask for money. They have brought the boy up for twenty-five years, then he
           became a professor. For those twenty-five years you have to pay, because now he will not be any
           more with the parents, he will belong to the wife. There is some logic in it.
                So even though the constitution prohibits it, it continues in indirect ways. A car is needed, a
           house is needed, and where will they live? And if you cannot give, then keep your daughter. And
           Indians are very much afraid: if the daughter goes on becoming older, the less are her chances for
           marriage. Because every man wants a woman in every way inferior, she should be smaller in height
           than the man, she should not be so educated as the man, she should not be as strong as the man. This
           is the masochist, male chauvinist society. So man has to find prostitutes, just once in a while, to get
           out of the monotony.
                Religions create great things -- marriage, prostitutes, devadasis. Now the women's liberation
           movement has started creating male prostitutes in Europe, and particularly in London. Now in
           London you can find male prostitutes. This is a new phenomenon. Now women can also have a
           holiday from the husband!
                And if you cannot go to the prostitutes because it is so unrespectable -- a red-light district ... You
           cannot even pass by there. You may not be going to the prostitutes, you may be just passing by the
           street, but you cannot enter in case somebody sees. So there are freelance prostitutes, without any
           licence; they are called call girls. You don't have to go anywhere. In every hotel, in every room,
           there is a Bible. Open the Bible, and on the first page you will find, "Look on page ninety." You
           open page ninety and you find the address and phone number of Gorgeous Gloria! Just give a call
           and she will come to your room number directly -- no question of being disrespected, dishonorable.
                So judges, politicians, the super-rich, they stay in five-star hotels, and every Bible has the
           address -- just give a call. Perhaps now in London they will have also the address for male prostitutes
           -- call boys!
                These are all the great things that religion has done. And because of marriage, jealousy arises.
           These are all linked with one another. When you feel unhappy with your wife you start looking
           around in the neighborhood, and the wife is constantly watching where your eyes are moving, why
           you are always sitting by the fence reading the newspaper. That newspaper is just to prevent the wife
           so she cannot see your face, where you are looking -- making signs, smiling. The newspaper is a
           great help.
                And wives are very angry. They snatch the newspaper immediately. I was wondering why wives
           are so much against newspapers, but by and by I found out the reason. Now jealousy arises. The man
           is frustrated, his wife is frustrated, you are also frustrated, and your wife also is frustrated. All these
           frustrated people -- created by religion -- and then they are jealous!
                The wife is afraid. She is uneducated, has no financial position and has children. All the money
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is in the hands of the husband; she is just a commodity. Because you have reduced the woman into a
           commodity she is constantly watching where you are going, what you are doing. She is looking into
           your pockets, she is even watching when you are sleeping.

                I have heard: a woman was watching the husband while he was sleeping. Now, in sleep he
           cannot go anywhere -- but in his sleep he was talking to some woman: "Maria! Sweetheart, sugar
           pie!"
           The woman immediately shook the husband and asked, "Who is this Maria?"
                Husbands have also become clever .... He said, "Maria? It is a horse. I am thinking to bet on the
           coming horse race, and Maria seems to be the right horse!"
           The wife said, "Okay."
                In the morning Maria phoned. The wife immediately took the phone -- she never allows the
           husband to take the phone -- and she told the husband, "The horse is calling!"
           Unless marriage disappears from the world, jealousy cannot disappear.
                But religion is very insistent on marriage. It is not worried about the suffering of millions of
           people unnecessarily. People are driving each other mad with their jealousy, with their new
           girlfriends. And men are also jealous, it is not that only women are jealous.
                Men are jealous because they want their wives to be absolutely dedicated to them. They know
           they are not dedicated, but they are men -- boys are boys; all this dedication and surrender is for the
           woman. Boys are boys and will remain always boys.
           But I say to you: girls are girls!
           It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

                Harry Manners, a very proper British gentleman, is in the habit of taking his wife, Mabel, on
           holiday to France every year.
                This year they are staying, as usual, in their little seaside cottage, when Mabel becomes suddenly
           ill and dies.
                Harry is very upset but manages to keep the British "stiff upper lip" and decides to have Mabel's
           funeral there, in the French village.
                Monsieur Felix, the mayor, lends Harry a black suit for the funeral, but being British, Harry feels
           it would not be proper to go without a black hat. He feels that his wife, Mabel, would expect it of
           him.
                So Harry goes into town to the local men's shop and tries in his best French to ask the salesman
           for a black hat.
           "Have you a capot noir?" asks Harry.
                The salesman thinks Harry is mad, because in French, capot means condom. So he points to the
           pharmacy across the road, and sends Harry there.
                "Have you a capot noir?" asks Harry, wondering why the French keep black hats in a pharmacy.
                "Monsieur," replies Madame Fifi, from behind the counter, "we have pink ones, blue ones, green
           ones and ones with feathers -- but no black ones."
                "That is too bad," thinks Harry to himself, wondering how he is going to get a black hat.
                "But, monsieur," asks Madame Fifi, "may I ask you why you want a black one?"
                "Oui! Oui!" replies Harry, hopefully. "It is for my wife; you see, she is dead!"
                "Ah!" gasps Madame Fifi, with admiration, "you British -- so cultured!"

               Jack and Jill Jerk are sitting in their living room one evening, talking about the future of their
           young son, George.
           "Gee, Jack," says Jill, "I wonder what little George will grow up to be."
               "I know how we can find out," says Jack. "Watch this." And Jack pulls a ten-dollar bill out of his
           pocket, setting it on the table. "If he takes this money," says Jack smiling, "then he will grow up to
           be a banker."
               Then Jack takes a dusty old Bible off the bookshelf and sets it on the table next to the money.
               "Now," says Jack excitedly, "if he takes the Bible, for sure he will grow up to be a great TV
           evangelist like Jimmy Bakker!"
               Next, Jack pulls out a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and sets it on the table alongside the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other items.
               "And," says Jack seriously, "if he goes for this whiskey bottle, then he will just turn out to be a
           bum!"
               Quietly, Jack and Jill Jerk go and hide in the next room when they hear little George coming in.
           George is whistling happily when he suddenly sees all the articles sitting on the table. He looks
           around to make sure that he is alone, and then he walks over and picks up the ten-dollar bill. He
           holds it up to the light and fingers it gently. Then he puts it down, and picks up the Bible. He blows
           the dust off and thumbs through a few pages, and puts it back down.
               Little George looks around again, then he quickly uncorks the whiskey bottle and sniffs the
           contents.
               Suddenly, in one motion, he stuffs the money in his pocket, sticks the Bible under his arm, grabs
           the whiskey bottle by the neck and walks out of the room, whistling.
           "My goodness," says Mrs. Jerk, "what does that mean he will grow up to be?"
           "Ah!" cries her husband, "it means he is going to be a politician!"

               Justice Dung is the presiding judge in a case where Paddy is called as a witness. The judge is
           asking Paddy some questions.
               "Did you see the defense witness fall over in the street?" asks Justice Dung.
           "Who, me?" asks Paddy.
           "Yes, you," replies the judge.
           "No, not me," says Paddy.
           "Did you see the witness at all?" asks Justice Dung.
           "Who, me?" asks Paddy.
           "Yes, you!" replies the judge.
           "No, not me," says Paddy.
           "Then why are you here?" asks the judge.
           "Who, me?" asks Paddy.
           "Yes, you!" replies the judge.
           "To see justice done," says Paddy.
           "Who, me?" asks Justice Dung.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ... and feel your bodies to be completely frozen.
               This is the right moment you can enter in. Look inwards. Gather all your life energy and your
           total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment on the earth ...
           Faster and faster ...
           Deeper and deeper ...
               As you come closer to your center, a great silence surrounds you, and flowers of blissfulness
           start showering like rain. The moment you reach to the center you have found your original face.
               The East has called the original face the buddha, the awakened one. The buddha has only one
           quality -- witnessing.
           Witness that you are not the body.
           Witness that you are not the mind.
               Witness that you are not the seven subtle bodies behind the body, layer upon layer.
               Witness that you are only a witness, and nothing else -- a pure consciousness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Suddenly, out of the dirty mud the lotus starts growing -- a sunrise, and the lotus opens its petals,
           and on its petals you can see beautiful dewdrops shining in the morning sun with such glory, such
           splendor, that even pearls will feel jealous.
               At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth. The whole world is looking for
           mundane things -- for very ordinary, mediocre, outward commodities: money, power, prestige.
           All these will be left when you die.
           Only witnessing will go with you.
               Just like wings ... your consciousness will fly into eternity. You will be a swan going to its home,
           disappearing into the blue sky, into the ultimate cosmos.
               We have called the awakened ones by another name also: paramahansa, the great swan, who
           flies alone into the unknown and disappears into the cosmos, becomes one with the cosmos -- not a
           part but the whole.

           To make it more clear, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ... but go on witnessing.
           Go on remaining the buddha.
               Such great ecstasy, such deep divine drunkenness, and your consciousness is melting. Gautama
           the Buddha Auditorium is turning into an ocean of consciousness without any ripples.
               Collect as many flowers of the beyond as possible, as many fragrances of the lotus that is
           growing at the center of your being, and on the lotus the buddha is sitting.
           Persuade the buddha to come along with you. He is your very nature.
               This is the first step into religiousness -- to bring the buddha so close that you disappear and only
           buddha remains.
               Then the second step is very easy, no guidance is needed. You can take the quantum leap from
           buddha into the cosmos -- either now or at the time of your death.
               But bring him closer and closer, inch by inch. Every day he is coming closer. Soon you will find
           him just like a shadow always following you, first. Second, you will become the shadow following
           him.
               I am so tremendously happy seeing your sincerity, seeing your earnestness, seeing your total
           inquiry into your own nature. This is the ultimate science.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Come back ...
               But come back as a buddha, with all the flowers and the fragrances, with all the grace and the
           beautitude, with all the poetry and all the songs.
               Just sit down for a few moments to recollect where you have been, what path you have followed,
           what has been happening at the center of your being. The center of your being is the very door to
           existence.
               It is not only Yakusan who says, "Isness is my business"; I also say to you, "Isness is also my
           business."
           Isness simply means to be here and now.
           Be here and now, and you are the buddha.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                    Chapter #4
                                     Chapter title: This you call civilization?
           25 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901255
              ShortTitle: CHRIST04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 149 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONCE, WHEN YAKUSAN WAS RECITING A SUTRA, A MONK ASKED HIM: "YOU DON'T
              USUALLY ALLOW US TO RECITE SUTRAS. WHY DO YOU YOURSELF RECITE A SUTRA?"
              "I JUST WANT TO ENTERTAIN MY EYES," REPLIED YAKUSAN.
              THE MONK ASKED, "CAN I ALSO RECITE SUTRAS LIKE YOU?"
              "IF YOU WANT TO RECITE SUTRAS LIKE ME," ANSWERED YAKUSAN, "YOU MUST PIERCE
              EVEN THROUGH THE HIDE OF A COW."
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, YAKUSAN WAS ASKED BY GOVERNOR RI, "WHAT ARE THE
              PRECEPTS, MEDITATION AND WISDOM?"
              YAKUSAN ANSWERED, "THIS POOR MONK HASN'T SUCH USELESS FURNITURE."
              RI SAID, "DON'T BE SO MYSTERIOUS!"
              YAKUSAN SAID, "IF YOU WANT TO HAVE WHAT I HAVE, YOU MUST SIT ON THE HIGHEST
              MOUNTAIN, GO DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DEEPEST SEA.
              "YOU DON'T THROW OFF YOUR BURDENS EVEN WHEN YOU GO TO BED; YOU ARE BUSY
              WITH ILLUSIONS."


                Friends,
                The Christian monks who have visited the ashram have sent me their ideas of what religion has
           done for humanity, for civilization, for culture, and I have to discuss them point by point, to show
           that no religion, including Christianity, has done anything to humanity except harm.
                I would like to begin from the very beginning, because Christianity believes obedience is a
           fundamental virtue, and disobedience is the original sin.
                God created the world, and in every church you will hear that he created Adam and Eve after he
           had created everything else. That's a lie. He created first Adam and Lilith, but it is not being told to
           people. There are reasons for not telling it.
                God created Adam and Lilith with the same mud. It is a myth, but it carries tremendous meaning.
           And this shows the utter stupidity of God, that he created a small single bed, only one bed, with the
           male chauvinist idea that Adam will sleep on the bed and Lilith will sleep on the floor. The woman
           cannot be equal to the man.
                From that very point the whole of Christianity has been against equality. If even God is against
           it, then equality, equal opportunity for all, cannot be accepted. That's why Christianity is against
           communism, against anarchism.
                And I say that God was utterly stupid, because when you create a couple, you should at least
           create a double bed.
                The first night was the beginning of a struggle that continues even today. Lilith wanted to sleep
           on the bed, and Adam wanted to sleep on the bed, and the bed could not contain the two. So Adam
           threw Lilith down, then Lilith jumped on Adam and she threw Adam down -- just because of a
           stupid God who could not think that a double bed was needed!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The whole night the fight continued -- the fight for equality that continues even today in every
           bedroom. Even though now there are double beds available, the fight continues, the pillow fight!
                Next day Adam asked God not the right question -- "Why don't you give us a bigger bed?" --
           which would have been so simple, logical; he asked God, "I cannot tolerate this woman who wants
           to be equal to me." And God killed Lilith, his own daughter.
                Neither was Adam asking for a bigger bed, nor did God suggest to him that "There is no
           problem. I have created the whole world, I can create a double bed. Just (THE MASTER SNAPS
           HIS FINGERS) like that ... a double bed!"
                But God was also a male chauvinist. He favored Adam, although it was unjust to Lilith, and the
           injustice goes even to the point of murder -- murdering his own daughter because she was asking for
           equality.
                To me, asking for equal opportunity is a fundamental religious principle. I don't say people are
           equal, I say people need equal opportunity to grow into their unequal uniquenesses.
                But a double bed! -- that proves absolutely that God was a Jew, and it is not an accident that he
           has chosen the Jews as his own people. Rather than making a double bed, he chose to kill his own
           daughter. But it is not only killing Lilith, it is killing the very idea of equality. And these Christian
           monks say religion has done great service to humanity! And the Christians have followed it, and all
           the other religions have followed it also.
                China does not believe that a woman has a soul. It is just as though she is furniture: since
           thousands of years in China, if a husband kills his wife, the husband is not committing a crime. The
           wife was his possession. You can destroy your chair, you can destroy anything that you possess, it is
           not a crime. Because the woman has no soul, nobody is murdered.
                Thailand also believes there is no soul in the woman, and Christianity down the ages has been
           killing millions of women, burning them alive for a simple reason that was far more ancient than
           Christianity itself. They were called witches.
                Christianity has turned the word `witch' into an ugly thing. `Witch' means a wise woman, not a
           woman who is having intercourse with the devil. That is a Christian invention. They could not
           tolerate wise women, because wise women mean ... then what about the priest, and the bishop, and
           the cardinal, and the pope? A woman can be wise? -- never! Only man can be wise. And because
           those women were certainly wiser than men -- it was a long heritage -- the only way to destroy them
           was to find an excuse.
                Anybody could report to a special court, a grand jury, the pope had created; Anybody -- X,Y,Z --
           could simply inform the court anonymously, "I suspect a certain woman in my neighborhood is a
           witch." That was enough. The woman would be caught, tortured for days on end, beaten, sexually
           abused, till she accepted that yes, she is having intercourse with the devil.
                Naturally, you cannot suffer infinitely. There comes a point when your spine is broken. And what
           is the point? These people will go on beating you, will go on torturing you, will go on not giving you
           food, not giving you water -- so what is the point? It is better to accept what they want. Death was
           better than to be in the prisons of the pope.
                They chose death knowing well that once you accept in the court that you are having a love affair
           with the devil, it is a very summary trial. The woman confesses, the judge immediately orders that
           this woman should be burnt alive in the marketplace so everybody can see, and everybody can find
           out if there are other witches in the village, in the town, in the city.
                Just the idea that a woman could be wise was unacceptable to man. And the root goes to God
           himself. God killed Lilith, and this time he did not make Eve from the same earth as he had made
           Adam, because that same earth had created the idea of equality.
                So this time he put Adam in a coma and took out -- the first surgery in existence -- a rib bone,
           and out of the rib bone he created Eve. She will never claim to be equal to man; she is just a rib
           bone. She will serve man, surrender to man, obey man, worship man.
                And every church goes on saying that God created Adam and Eve. Their own scriptures say
           something else, but that is not being told. Centuries of repetition that God created Adam and Eve in
           the beginning has made the lie appear, at least, as if it is the truth.
                A God who has created the whole world could not create a woman without taking a rib from
           Adam? It is very strange, but the idea is that the woman is nothing but a bone, nothing but a body,
           and she is secondary to man, and she has to be a slave to man. This idea is found in all the religions
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in different ways.
               The woman cannot go to heaven from the body of a woman. First she has to be virtuous, chaste,
           dedicated to the husband absolutely; then she may be born as a man in the next life -- out of this
           virtuousness of being a slave. Slavery is virtue! Obedience is virtue!
               The husband may be a drunkard, the husband may be a murderer, the husband may be a rapist,
           the husband may be doing all kinds of crimes, but the woman has to accept the husband as her god.
           This you call civilization?
               One of the monks has said that Christianity created civilization. Absolute nonsense and
           absurdity!
               According to Christianity itself, God created the world six thousand years ago.
               In India we have excavated Mohanjo Daro, a huge city just like Bombay, and Harappa, again
           another big city which even Christians ... The man in charge of the excavation was a Christian
           named Marshall. Even he had to accept that "We cannot date them at less than seven thousand years.
           That would be absolute nonsense, it would not fit with my conscience. Although as a Christian I
           should put them at less than six thousand years old, as a scientist I can only bring them at the least to
           seven thousand years old."
               And those cities, I have to tell you, had as big roads as New York or San Francisco. That shows
           that those cities must have had vehicles with great speed, otherwise those roads would not have been
           needed. Just for people to walk on them, or bullock carts, such big roads were not needed.
               Even today our biggest cities don't have roads that big, and on both sides, pavements for people
           to walk on. It is an indication that they must have had some kind of vehicles run by engines, some
           kind of petroleum, gas.
               Not only did they have big roads, they had huge buildings. Now only ruins are there, but the
           ruins show great stories. Such huge bedrooms! They had public swimming pools, they had a water
           system, a very strange water system, to connect every house with pipelines. Every house had a
           bathroom, a toilet -- and you think Christianity has civilized the world?
               Just one hundred years ago, in the American Supreme Court, there was a case against a man who
           had just come from Europe and had found that in Paris people had bathrooms attached to their
           bedrooms, so he had made the first bathroom attached to his bedroom. The whole of Christianity was
           against him, and there were great protests: "This is absolutely dirty, to have a bathroom attached to
           the bedroom. Bathrooms, toilets, have to be far away, at the back of the house." And the man had to
           fight up to the Supreme Court to win the case, just one hundred years ago!
               Seven thousand years ago in Harappa and Mohanjo Daro, they had attached bathrooms, toilets, to
           their bedrooms. They had a water system making water available to every house, every bathroom,
           making water available to public swimming pools. And there were private swimming pools also in
           very big houses, which were certainly of rich people, kings and queens.
               And seven thousand years is the minimum. The likelihood is that they are more ancient than
           seven thousand years, because there is no mention in Hindu scriptures about Harappa and Mohanjo
           Daro. Such huge cities, and no mention of those cities? -- and the RIGVEDA, the most ancient book,
           is, with valid evidence, ninety thousand years old. Even the RIGVEDA does not mention those
           cities. Perhaps those cities are more ancient than RIGVEDA, perhaps they disappeared in a
           catastrophe, natural or man-made, before the Aryans came to India!
               Those cities did not belong to the Aryans, because not a single statue of Hindu gods has been
           found there. Yes, one statue has been found which proves that Jainism must have been prevalent in
           those cities. One statue only has been found of a naked Mahavira. But nobody can say whether it is
           Mahavira, or any one of the twenty-three other tirthankaras of the Jainas.
               That statue proves that before the Aryans came to India, there was flourishing a great
           civilization. And that also proves that Jainism is far more ancient than Hinduism, because no Hindu
           temple has been found, no Hindu statue of Shiva, or Vishnu, or Brahma -- nothing.
               And you will not believe it, but these two cities went through seven periods of destruction. It is
           now just guesswork what happened to these cities. When they first excavated, they thought that this
           was all, a great city. But Marshall was interested to dig more, because he suspected that such a big
           city could not have come into existence from nowhere; there must have been other big cities.
               So he started digging outside Harappa and Mohanjo Daro, and he was surprised: there was
           another layer of thick mud -- perhaps from volcanic eruptions -- and under that mud another similar
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           kind of city, with the same facilities.
                Then he became interested to dig more, and now seven layers have been found. It seems for
           thousands of years Harappa and Mohanjo Daro were going into convulsions. Destroyed, they were
           made again; destroyed, they were made again -- seven times.
                It must have taken thousands of years for those cities ... And ultimately they were destroyed. It is
           just for us to guess whether it was nuclear weapons those people were accumulating -- because all
           their cities show scientific technology -- or it was nature. But nature cannot be so harsh that seven
           times it will destroy a city ....
                Most probably it was man himself. Perhaps Harappa and Mohanjo Daro were at war, and they
           were destroying each other and building again -- whoever had survived -- another city on top of the
           old city which had been destroyed.
                Now Christians have to answer: Were Harappa and Mohanjo Daro created before God created
           the world?
                RIGVEDA was written ninety thousand years ago, and God created the world only six thousand
           years ago. The Christian eyes are very blind. They cannot look into existence because of their
           scriptures. The scriptures prevent them from seeing the reality.
                Now it is absolutely certain that the RIGVEDA is ninety thousand years old, because in
           RIGVEDA a certain constellation of stars is described in absolute detail. That constellation has
           never happened again. It happened, according to astronomers, scientists, ninety thousand years ago.
           So the people who wrote RIGVEDA must have watched it; their description is in such exact detail
           that it cannot be that they were imagining it -- there is no possibility -- and that constellation has
           never happened again! Perhaps in the future sometime it may happen again. That is a scientific proof
           of RIGVEDA'S ancientness.
           Those monks have written to me that "We brought culture to the world."
                While the RIGVEDA was being written, where were you, and where was your God? When
           Harappa and Mohanjo Daro were destroyed and built again and again seven times, where was your
           God, and where were Christians? While the UPANISHADS were being written, Europe was
           barbarious.
                You will be surprised to know that arithmetic was born in India. Gunpowder, machine guns,
           were created by the Chinese, before the birth of Christ. The alphabet was born in India, astronomy
           was born in India.
                But why did these people stop? They could have moved towards nuclear energy ....
                The reason why China did not move -- knowing these secrets they did not create machine guns,
           although in their scriptures absolute details are given -- is that they were stopped by their sages, that
           "These things will lead to more destructive weapons. One thing leads to another. You just stop. Keep
           a record of it, but don't produce such dangerous weapons."
                Why did arithmetic not reach to the point of Albert Einstein in India? It was stopped for the
           simple reason that our genius should not be wasted in objective things; our genius and our life is too
           small. It is enough to create a comfortable life outside, and then go inwards. The ultimate journey is
           inwards. The same was true in China. These are the most ancient civilized countries.
                And the original sin -- according to Christians -- was committed by Adam and Eve. According to
           me, the original sin was committed by the Christian God.
                When he created Eve from the rib bone of Adam he told them both, "In the Garden of Eden, the
           garden of paradise" -- God's garden was huge, there were millions of trees, and God pointed to two
           trees -- "you should not eat from these two trees." One tree was of knowledge, the other was of life
           eternal.
                What kind of father is this who prevents his own children from being wise, intelligent? and
           prevents them from being eternal, from going beyond the circle of life and death? What kind of God
           is this?
                Even the Christian God is not civilized. He does not deserve to be called a father. No father will
           deprive his children. Every father, even the poorest father, is trying for his children to become
           educated, to become more intelligent, to become more wise. And every father is trying to pray for his
           children to have a longer life.
                God, as far as Christianity is concerned, is absolutely barbarious. And the devil was right, not
           God, when he persuaded Eve and told her the reason why God had prohibited them: "These are the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           most precious trees. If you eat the fruit of knowledge, and if you eat the fruit of eternal life, you will
           become exactly equal to the gods. That is his fear, because what more has he? He is afraid and
           jealous of you, and he does not want you to become gods in your own right. He wants you to remain
           buffalos chewing grass -- real grass."
               I want to tell the Christians of the whole world: If the devil had not inspired Eve, you, your
           popes, your cardinals, your bishops, archbishops, your Jesus, your Moses -- all would be chewing
           grass in the Garden of Eden, just like buffalos, utterly content. Only grass was left for them to chew,
           not even chewing gum!
               And it is a strange fact, but the mythology has some truth in it, a shadow of truth. God caught
           them red-handed, eating the fruit of the tree of wisdom -- and it was nothing but an apple. Avoid
           apples! -- that is original sin.
               For three years I remained only eating apples, just to see. Because they had eaten only one apple
           -- half was eaten by Eve, and half was eaten by Adam -- so I said, "Let us see!"
           For three years my family was mad at me: "What are you doing?"
               But I said, "I have to complete three years at least, to see how I become a sinner" -- and nothing
           happened! In three years I must have eaten as many apples as any man in the whole of history! Just
           apples and nothing else ...
               This is called the original sin, that they did not obey God. And because they committed the
           original sin of disobedience, you are all original sinners, because you all have come from their blood.
           They were the original founders of humanity.
               God caught them red-handed and did not let them remain in the garden, because soon they would
           eat the other tree's fruit: eternal life. He just threw them out of the Garden of Eden and closed the
           door. He wanted them to remain ignorant, and he wanted them to suffer the pangs of birth, life and
           death, eternally.
           Who is committing the sin, God or the devil? or Adam and Eve?
               Being without any prejudice, you can see that God is the criminal. And God does not know even
           the abc of psychology. If he had not prevented them from eating from these two trees -- he had
           pointed out the trees -- the garden was so huge, we may not have discovered even up to now which
           were the trees. We had no idea. He gave them the provocation.
               Just tell a child, "Don't look inside the room!" -- and even the retarded child will look inside the
           room, to say nothing about the intelligent one. He will find ways to look in the room. "What is the
           matter? Why not look in the room?"

               In one family -- of course a Christian family -- a boy was coming of age and needed some sex
           education. The mother felt embarrassed to tell him, so she said, "You go to your father and ask him
           about the birds and bees."
           He said, "But I don't want to know about the birds and bees."
           That is a metaphor for sex: birds and bees.
               So the boy went to the father and said, "My mother has sent me, and she wants me to ask --
           although I am not interested at all what the birds and bees are doing, but just because of her I am
           asking you."
               The father was also embarrassed. It is such a strange situation, created by religions, that we
           cannot talk of natural things!
           The father said, "Why are you not interested in the birds and bees?"
               He said, "I know exactly what they are doing, and I know exactly what you and mother are
           doing! The same: birds and bees!"
           The father said, "You know what we are doing? How did you come to know?"
               He said, "From the keyhole I see everything that goes on inside the bedroom. First I used to think
           that my father seems to be very barbarious, holding my mother under himself, huffing, puffing. What
           is going on here? Is he going to murder my mother? Then later on I asked older boys in the school.
           They laughed. They said, `He is not murdering your mother, he is loving your mother!'
               "So I know everything. You don't have to waste your time teaching me about the birds and the
           bees."

              Every intelligent child looks through the keyhole to see what is going on, for the simple reason
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because he is prevented.
               Prevent anybody and you create a provocation. This is the simplest psychology! No Sigmund
           Freud is needed, just a little intelligence. Just tell people not to do a certain thing and they will
           become interested. There must be something, or else why are they prevented? And they will try.
           They would not have tried, perhaps, if you had not prevented them.
               So God is not only an idiot, but he does not know even a small portion of psychology -- and he is
           a male chauvinist. He killed his own daughter, he is a murderer. And he threw Adam and Eve out
           from the garden out of the fear that they might eat the fruits of life eternal.
               I consider the devil to be the first revolutionary in the world. I consider Eve to be the first to be
           convinced of the revolution. I consider Adam as the third, for being persuaded by the wife.
               Obedience has been the fundamental virtue. Why? To perpetuate the past, to keep the status quo
           of the society as it is, with no change, to keep millions of people in spiritual slavery: that is
           obedience.
               Get exploited, but don't disobey. Behave like a sheep, not like a lion; that has been the teaching
           of Christianity and other religions.
               Jesus insults humanity so much that I had to burn the whole Bible. When I was very young I
           burned it, and my father asked me, "What are you burning?"
           I said, "It is none of your concern."
           But he said, "At least I can inquire."
               I said, "Yes, you can inquire. It is the Bible -- and the same is going to be the fate of your
           religion's books. Whenever I find something ugly, I don't miss the opportunity to destroy it."
               Jesus says to people, "You should behave like sheep, and I am your shepherd. You should obey
           me, and you should be loyal to me, and you should believe in me. That's all that you need, and I will
           save you. At the last day of judgment I will choose my sheep and tell God that `These people belong
           to me, let them in! And the others have to be thrown into hellfire.'"
               What is the value of obedience? Yes, every politician wants obedience, every priest wants
           obedience, every general wants obedience; every rich man wants obedience from the servants; every
           husband wants obedience from the wife, from the children. All vested interests are based on
           obedience.
               I teach you awareness, and if your awareness feels things are right, obedience follows. If your
           awareness feels things are not right, disobedience follows. I don't teach you obedience or
           disobedience. I teach you simply awareness, clarity of your vision, so you can see for yourself.
               Obedience has done much more harm to humanity than disobedience would have done. If all the
           armies disobey, there will be no war. Five thousand wars ... humanity has been fighting continuously
           somewhere or other. There is not a peaceful moment on the whole earth. Somewhere or other killing
           goes on, continues as if this is our whole purpose for being here. On what are all these armies based?
           Obedience.

               One of my friends was a colonel in the army, and his wife was my student in the university. She
           introduced me to the colonel, and after Jabalpur, where I was a teacher, they were transferred to
           Poona, so I used to come here and always used to have at least one meal in their house.
               The colonel was very much influenced by me, and he had a big regiment in Jabalpur, so he
           invited me one day.
           His wife said, "Do you understand what you are doing?"
           He said, "He is a nice fellow."
               The wife said, "That's true, he is a nice fellow, but he will teach disobedience to your regiment."
           He said, "Are you going to teach my regiment disobedience?"
           I said, "Certainly!"
               He said, "Then the program is canceled. My God! If my wife had not told me ..."
               I said, "I want to teach all the armies of the world disobedience. If they disobey, then let the
           presidents and prime ministers have wrestling matches, boxing matches. They can enjoy, and we will
           enjoy on television -- but there is no need for millions of people to be killed continuously."

              Big wars you know: you know the first great world war, you know the second great world war,
           and you are waiting for the third. Since the second world war, up to now there have been one
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hundred and twenty-five small wars. But even small wars kill millions of people. You don't call them
           world wars just because they are located in a small area and nobody cares about them. Nobody
           counts how many people are killed daily because of obedience.
           Obedience teaches you blindness.
           Obedience teaches you unintelligence.
                Obedience teaches you that "You don't have any responsibility on your own, just follow the
           order!" -- but the order is to kill people.
                The man who bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- the pilot of the plane -- killed within ten
           minutes more than two hundred thousand people, and he slept perfectly well in the night, with not
           even a little prick of conscience, that "What have I done?"
                No, the army is prepared just to follow. You are not responsible for what action is going to take
           place and what the consequences are going to be. The next morning the pilot was asked by the
           journalists, "How do you feel?"
                He said, "There is no question, I am feeling perfectly good that I followed the order."
                Truman was the president of America who had ordered that Nagasaki and Hiroshima should be
           destroyed -- without any reason or rhyme, because Germany had surrendered and Japan too was
           going .... The papers were being got ready, just the signature was needed of the emperor of Japan.
           Within two or three days, or at the most seven days, agreements would have been completed and
           Japan would have surrendered.
                Seeing that Japan was going to surrender, Truman was very quick. Before Japan surrendered --
           because then he would not be able to test his atom bombs -- he gave the order. Even his military
           experts said to him, "This is absolute wastage. It is unnecessary murder -- and not of one man, but
           more than two hundred thousand people!" Hiroshima and Nagasaki were big cities.
                But Truman did not listen to his military experts. He said, "You don't know politics, you keep
           quiet. An order is an order. You send the order that immediately, tonight, the bombs have to be
           dropped, before the agreement is signed." And when the order comes from the president, the
           commander-in-chief immediately gives the order to the lower -- to the people trained just to follow,
           because obedience is the greatest virtue.
                Truman was also asked the next morning, "It was your order, how do you feel about killing so
           many people unnecessarily?" The whole world could see that Japan was going to surrender, there
           was no need at all. The war had almost stopped; the commanders from both the sides were having
           discussions and making arrangements how to surrender.
                Truman said, "I had to test the atom bombs. We have wasted so much money in creating atom
           bombs .... I am perfectly happy that the bombs worked, and now we will be growing more into
           atomic technology."
                And Truman was blessed by the pope. Churchill was blessed by the pope, and Eisenhower was
           blessed by the pope, and MacArthur was blessed by the pope -- and these were the killers.
                But on the other side also, you will be surprised: God is one, and the archbishop of Germany
           blessed Adolf Hitler in the name of the same God. The archbishop in Japan blessed the emperor in
           the name of the same God.
                Mussolini was a partner with Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirohito of Japan, and the pope's Vatican
           is a small thing -- eight square miles inside Italy -- and Benito Mussolini was Italy's dictator; the
           pope had to bless him!
           It is such that one does not know whether to weep or to laugh.
                Before the war, the pope blessed Benito Mussolini, his counterpart in Germany blessed Adolf
           Hitler, and his counterpart in Japan blessed Emperor Hirohito for victory. And when they saw that
           these people were drowning after five years, the pope blessed Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower,
           MacArthur -- the other party. He blessed both, and he asked God to help both!
           Great! There seems to be no logic at all.
                Obedience is not a virtue. In the name of obedience more people have been killed, burned alive
           ....
                But I don't want you to react and become disobedient. I want you to grow beyond the dualities of
           obedience and disobedience. You should have a bird's-eye view of the whole situation, and
           according to your awareness, consciousness, your meditation, you should respond. Whether it is
           obedience or disobedience does not matter.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                They have said in their questions that Christianity has given the world faith, hope and charity.
           What is faith? It is always blind.
           A man who knows does not need faith.
           I don't ask you to have faith in me.
           Jesus asks, Krishna asks, "Have faith in me."
                You are utterly ignorant. In your ignorance, whatever you believe in, whatever is your faith, is a
           by-product of ignorance, of fear, of society, of respectability.
                Faith is not a virtue, and it is not a great contribution to humanity's evolution. Faith is the greatest
           hindrance in people's search for truth. Before you go in search you have already been handed a
           secondhand dirty faith, and you are told that just this much is enough; you don't have to search, Jesus
           has done it for you, Buddha has done it for you.
                But Buddha has been drinking water, and my thirst does not get quenched. Jesus has been
           drinking wine, and I don't get drunk. How can Jesus help you by just having faith in him?
                Faith simply means hiding ignorance, and it is very cheap. Truth needs great energy, great
           urgency, and a total involvement in the search.
                Truth is within you, faith comes from outside. Anything that comes from outside is not going to
           help you. You cannot take it in. Truth is already alive in you, you don't need any faith. It is faith
           which has kept humanity ignorant. It is not a contribution to evolution, it is a contribution to
           INvolution. Involution means going backwards, not forwards.
                Faith is always in the other -- in Jesus, in God, in heaven, in hell. It is always outside you, and
           truth is within you. Having faith, you are moving outside, farther away from the truth.
                I am absolutely against faith, against all belief systems, because they have been preventing
           humanity from discovering their own buddhahood, their own godliness. But no priest wants you to
           discover that you are divine. Every priest of every religion wants you to go away, far away from
           yourself so he can exploit you.
                The moment you know that you are yourself part of this existence -- and not only part but the
           whole of this existence -- that you are in your own right a buddha, no priest can exploit you. Faith is
           needed for exploitation.
                Religions teach faith because they cannot help you to find the truth. They themselves don't know
           where truth is.
                The commander-in-chiefs of the world want their armies to have faith. Faith in whom? Every
           Christian army carries, even to the battlefield, a small Bible. Just one time it worked -- in the whole
           of history -- and that was just a coincidence, but it has been quoted again and again by Christian
           missionaries around the world.
                One soldier was keeping his small Bible in his pocket in the first world war, and a bullet hit the
           Bible and missed his heart. They said, "This is God's miracle!" But it only happened to one man, and
           since that time all soldiers have been carrying a small Bible in their pocket. It does not work.
                Even an ordinary person can understand that exceptions are not rules. The exception is an
           accident, it was just by chance. If he had been carrying a PLAYBOY magazine, it would have done
           the same work. And I wonder whether his Bible did not have a PLAYBOY magazine inside! All
           soldiers are interested more in PLAYBOY than in the Bible, because they are deprived of women.
           That too has a reason, why they are deprived of women.
                As sexual energy accumulates, one becomes irritated. If your sexual energy is satisfied, you don't
           feel like fighting. But when your sexual energy is repressed, you are ready to destroy anything. You
           are in anger, in rage; you are blind, you don't know why you are killing the other person. The other
           person also has a wife, a child, a mother, an old father to look after, and he has not done anything
           bad to you. You have not even been introduced. You are killing a person just because your
           commander has ordered it.
                Better to kill the commander. Millions of people at least will be saved by killing one man. Just
           kill all the commander-in-chiefs of the world -- maybe one hundred, two hundred; that does not
           matter in a world where Adolf Hitler kills thirty million people in a war. And he does not even go to
           the war ....
                It is the commander-in-chiefs who don't go to the war; it is the lower officers who go to the war.
           It is a hierarchy. The poorest soldier at the bottom end of the hierarchy goes to the war. He receives
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                   Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           orders, and he does not know from where those orders are coming.
                President Truman is in Washington, in the White House, and the order comes to MacArthur, who
           is in a warship outside the area of Japan. Then the order goes to a pilot, and the pilot does not know
           from where it is coming.
                And Truman is a religious man; he goes every Sunday to the church. The White House has a
           special church for the presidents. What kind of religious people are these? Even his name should be
           changed! Tru-man -- he is not even man, and you are calling him "true man"!
                He is the greatest murderer in history. Nobody has killed so many people simultaneously. Within
           three minutes Hiroshima was finished, and within three more minutes, Nagasaki was finished.
           Within four minutes the pilot was back. In ten minutes the whole massacre was complete.
           I say absolutely, no faith is needed.
                I teach you trust, not faith, not belief, because faith and belief are in others; trust is in yourself. I
           want you to trust in yourself. The existence has brought you here, you are still connected with
           existence; otherwise you will die. Have faith in you, and search your roots with deep trust. But it is
           not in somebody else -- not in some scripture, not in some shepherd, not in some messiah, not in
           some prophet. No, absolutely no.
                This faith has been the greatest obstacle for seekers and searchers of truth.

                  Hope is another danger .... And these monks have sent me these words: they don't know me at
           all.
                Hope is called by Karl Marx, in other words, the opium of the people. And he is right.
                Who needs hope? The rich man does not bother; it is the poor, it is the sick, it is the dying, it is
           the starving, the beggars who need hope -- hope in a future life where they will be rewarded
           immensely. For what? -- for being poor and beggars. For producing dozens of children and creating
           more poverty in the world, they will be rewarded in heaven.
                It seems God wants this world to be turned into slums, then he will be very happy. Everybody
           will have faith, everybody will be obedient, everybody will go to the church, and God will be
           immensely happy.
                But if people are having trust in themselves, who cares about God? You are coming closer and
           closer to your own godliness. You have found your own shrine inside. The outside God becomes a
           fiction.
                Hope is always for the future, and the reality is always in the present. Hope deprives you of the
           present, and the present is the only moment you can explore your reality, your beauty, your truth,
           your divineness. Hope is a very cunning strategy.

                Once I was going to the university, and a beautiful young woman waved to me to stop my car. I
           thought perhaps she wanted a ride, so I stopped the car. I opened the window and asked her, "What
           is the matter? What do you want?"
                She said, "I don't want anything, I simply want to give you this pamphlet. Just read it. And it has
           the phone number, so if you want more of this kind of literature I will send it to you, or I will come
           myself to deliver it."
                As I was moving off, I started looking at it, because just on the outside cover there was a
           beautiful bungalow made of pure Italian marble, and by the side and behind the bungalow, a huge
           mountain capped with snow. From the mountain a great waterfall came down by the side of the
           bungalow, becoming a river just in front of the bungalow lawn.
                The gate opened on a bridge -- because the waterfall had become a river, and around the river
           were huge trees, lush and green. And in the bungalow's garden were so many roses, such a beautiful
           lawn, such a beautiful fountain ....
                I said, "I have never seen this house here or anywhere in India." I turned the page, and there it
           was written: "If you believe in the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ, you will have such
           bungalows available for you in paradise." So cheap!

               This is all business. This is giving people hope. Now, a man who has no house and lives on the
           street will treasure this pamphlet in case he reaches paradise -- and perhaps he will reach, because
           Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor. They shall inherit the kingdom of God." The man will think, "Who
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can be more poor than me? So I will keep it, because paradise will be vast -- so many millions of
           saints of the past -- and I would love to find this bungalow."
                What is hope? To whom do you give the hope? To the hopeless one who has lost all hope, seeing
           the life and the competition and the continuous struggle for survival -- to the one who has become
           hopeless.
                Karl Marx says also, "Religion is the hope of the hopeless." It gives a certain consolation that, if
           not in this life ... And this life is not much; most of it is already gone, maybe a few years more. Just a
           little patience and prayer and faith, and you will receive such beautiful bungalows -- without any
           cost. Only faith is needed.
                Again, hope is not a contribution to humanity's progress. It prevents progress. It makes people
           believe in dreams. They don't start creating reality, transforming reality, changing the social
           structure, changing all institutions which create only misery and nothing else. Hope prevents them!
           Why bother?
                Revolution may come, but you will be gone. And in revolution, getting involved, you will not be
           able to pray, you will not be able to go to the church, you will not be able to have enough faith. If
           you have enough faith, then this society, this structure, is made by God; you have to be patient, it is a
           fire test for you -- your poverty, your sickness, your death, everything. Just be quiet and have faith in
           God.

           Just today I have received such an ugly story, you will not believe it.
               In Pennsylvania, U.S.A., a former Seventh Day Adventist priest, who had been out of work for
           months, chose to starve himself and his family to death rather than spend money which he had put
           aside for God. He had four thousand dollars with him, but he had put it aside for God.
               So, rather than feeding his children, his wife -- they were starving ... How can he touch the
           money once he has committed it to God? That will be betrayal, that will be not being faithful.
               His only son died of starvation. Then he was caught by the police, and asked how the son had
           died. Now he is in jail. The police went into the house -- a beautiful house, with good furniture,
           everything perfect, only no food -- and found the wife was almost dying, the daughter was almost
           dying, and the priest himself was on the verge of death after three weeks of starvation.
               All those people of the house were taken into the hospital, and the priest was asked, "You had
           money in the house -- because the police found those four thousand dollars."
               He said, "I would rather die, and I would rather my wife and my children die, but I cannot betray
           my faith." And even in this situation -- he is in jail, in the jail's hospital, he is being charged with
           murder -- he says ... Certainly he had murdered the son, and he was going to murder his wife and his
           daughter, and he was going to commit suicide himself. Even in this situation, the priest says, his faith
           in God was not shaken.
           Faith is blind, utterly blind.
               Hope is blind. And I have talked about charity to you, but I will tell a small anecdote.

               A Christian mother was telling her small son, "It is your duty, being a faithful Christian, to share
           whatever you have with others. Charity is the foundation of our religion."
               The little boy said, "That's perfectly good. I will give whatever I have to others. What will they
           do?"
           The mother said, "What will they do?"
               He said, "I am asking that am I the only faithful Christian in the world? Is not somebody else
           going to give his toys to me when I have given my toys to somebody else in charity?"
           The mother said, "God will take care."
               He said, "This seems to be very unmathematical." He was learning mathematics.
           The mother said, "What do you mean?"
               He said, "It is so simple that there is no need for me to explain. It is an absurd idea: I give to
           others, they give to me, somebody else gives to somebody else, he gives to somebody else. What is
           the point? I have my toys, they have their toys. I take care of myself, they take care of themselves.
           Why make a clumsy and messy affair of the whole thing? What is the point?"
               And that is what charity is -- absolutely meaningless. Give to the poor, but first you have to
           create the poor, otherwise to whom will you give? So first create the poor, then give to the poor; then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God will be very happy with you.

               In a small school, a Christian teacher was giving the students a one-hour-long sermon on "How
           to get to heaven." Finally she asked a boy, a little older, "Stand up and tell me how to reach heaven."
           He said, "First you have to commit sin."
           She said, "What?!"
               He said, "Yes. According to your sermon I have concluded that first you commit sin, then God
           forgives you; otherwise, whom will he forgive? He will feel very miserable if he has nobody to
           forgive. Make him happy, commit as many sins you can. God is kind, God is love, God is
           compassion, so he will forgive. And he is sitting there since eternity just for one purpose: to forgive
           people. Have mercy on God, commit sin! That is the way to heaven." A clear-cut arithmetic.
               But the teacher was shocked. She could not believe that boys, small boys, can come to such
           conclusions. But it is not only small boys ....
               Omar Khayyam, a great Persian poet, has written in his RUBAIYAT, which FitzGerald has made
           world famous by translating it into English ... RUBAIYAT means poetries. It is a very special kind
           of poetry, rubaiya; just like haiku is in Zen, rubaiya is in Sufism. In one of his rubaiyas he says,
           "Don't be worried, enjoy women, enjoy wine. God is compassionate."
              GUNAH KYON NA KIYE? KYA KHUDA RAHIM NA THA?

              Why did you not commit the sins? Were you not sure that God is compassionate? Commit as
           many sins as you can. Give God a good opportunity to show his compassion, love, forgiveness.
              So it is not only a small child, but a very great poet also has the same idea.

                All these ideas -- original sin, faith, hope, charity -- have not made the world better. They have
           prevented the world from growing in consciousness, growing in its experience of the real existence,
           and transcending all poverty, all birth, all death, and becoming part of, one with, the eternal life.
           We are searching for the same tree that Adam and Eve missed: eternal life.
                Christianity has no meditation, because meditation will take you in. It has prayer; prayer takes
           you out. Prayer is towards a fictitious God. Meditation is deep into your own existence, it is not
           fiction.
           You are a reality.
           God is only invention.
           I will take one by one their other questions.
           They have come into the clutches of a lion.

           The sutra:

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONCE, WHEN YAKUSAN WAS RECITING A SUTRA, A MONK ASKED HIM: "YOU DON'T
              USUALLY ALLOW US TO RECITE SUTRAS. WHY DO YOU YOURSELF RECITE A SUTRA?"

               The question seems to be relevant. Yakusan prevents monks from reciting sutras, and a monk
           found him ... he himself was reciting a sutra. Obviously, it is contradictory to his own teachings.
               Yakusan said, "I JUST WANT TO ENTERTAIN MY EYES. These beautiful sutras ... I relish
           their beauty, their composition, their music, their truth; I feel fresh in their immense implications.
           My eyes become sharper. It is just an entertainment for my eyes."
               THE MONK ASKED, "CAN I ALSO RECITE SUTRAS LIKE YOU?" Again you will feel the
           question seems to be relevant, but now it is no more so.
               When the master recites the sutra, he already knows the truth, hence he finds the truth in the
           sutra. A man who does not know the truth will be simply wasting time. He will not find any truth in
           the sutra. He will become knowledgeable, but he will not become enlightened.
               It is strange ... but I also insist on the fact. Don't read scriptures now, but when you have become
           a buddha, then enjoy the scriptures. There are many diamonds here and there, and many rubies and
           many emeralds, much treasure -- but first you should find yourself. First you should find your clarity
           of vision.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               An ignorant man, an unconscious man, will stuff sutras into his mind, borrowed, meaningless.
           But a man who has realized, who has come to his very center, a man who does not need to read the
           sutras -- he knows the truth -- can entertain himself.
               It is almost like a bank, the same principle. If you have money the bank is ready to give you a
           loan. If you don't have money, no bank is ready to give you a loan. Strange! The ordinary logic will
           be: the man who has no money, give him the loan; and the man who has money, there is no need to
           give him a loan. But that is not how banks work.
               The same is true on a higher level. A man who has the truth has no need to read the sutra, and
           can enjoy it. It is a beauty. He can find nuances which you will never find, he can find diamonds
           which you will pass by because you don't know what a diamond is. You have known only stones,
           colored stones.

           I am reminded of a story.
               A poor man, a potter ... In India, potters use the donkey to carry their pots to the marketplace to
           sell -- mud pots. He was coming back after selling all the pots, himself sitting on the donkey, and
           then he saw by the side of the road a huge stone, shining, radiating.
               He said, "Great! My donkey will enjoy it. I have never given him anything." So he got down and
           he picked up the stone. It was not a stone, it was an unpolished diamond.
               But he was very happy sitting on the donkey. He told the donkey, "When we reach home I will
           make a hole in it and hang it around your neck. I have never given you anything -- I am poor, you are
           poor -- but this is a beautiful thing, it radiates. You will be the only donkey in the whole world with
           such a beautiful stone hanging around you."
               Just then a jeweler passed by in his chariot. He stopped the chariot, and he could not believe his
           eyes. A man was sitting on a donkey, holding such a huge diamond -- many times bigger than the
           Kohinoor, which is now in the British Museum, given by the queen as a gift. It was a gift from the
           Nizam of Hyderabad.
               Hyderabad has the greatest quarry of diamonds; all the big diamonds have come from
           Hyderabad. The name of the village is Golconda. The Nizam presented that diamond, Kohinoor, to
           Queen Victoria. Then it was polished and cut, and now it is one third of its weight, but a thousand
           times more valuable, because the more it is polished and cut, the more it shines, radiates. It is the
           purest diamond in the world. You can see through and through, there is no flaw in it. India has been
           asking for it back, because it was a present, and the British Museum has no right to keep it.
               But that diamond the potter was holding in his hand was far bigger than the Kohinoor. The
           charioteer stopped, the jeweler got down. He asked, "How much will you take for this stone?" He did
           not say diamond; he knew perfectly well that this fellow did not understand that it was a diamond.
               The poor man said, "Four annas will do. I will purchase something for my poor donkey."
               Four annas? -- the jeweler became greedy. He said, "Just for a stone ... I will give you two
           annas."
               At that moment a king had come by on his horse for hunting. He stopped his horse, and he
           looked at the diamond. Because the king had come, the jeweler moved his chariot, just slowly,
           thinking that the potter would understand who was going to give him two annas. "If he does not
           come back to me I will raise the price to three annas. Or if the worst comes to the worst I will give
           him four annas."
               But when he came back, the king was there, and the king said, "How much has that jeweler
           offered for this diamond?"
               The potter said, "Diamond? I thought it was a stone, so I asked him for four annas, and he
           offered me two annas."
               The king said, "Its worth is one million rupees at least. I will give you one million rupees."
               At that time the jeweler came running, because he knew it was worth almost ten million rupees.
           He said to the potter, "I am the first customer, and you have offered it to me for four annas. I am
           ready to give it."
               The potter said, "Now it is too late. I was an ignorant potter, I had no idea that it was a diamond.
           But you are a jeweler, and your greed is infinite. You could not give even four annas. The king has
           given me the order to take it to the palace for one million rupees."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The question is of recognition. A master like Yakusan can read the sutras because he can
           recognize what is true and what is not true. He can enjoy the ancient buddhas and their statements,
           their articulateness, and how they expressed such mysterious phenomena in simple words.
               But the monk's asking, "CAN I ALSO RECITE SUTRAS LIKE YOU?" is absolutely wrong,
           because unless you are like the master, you cannot read the sutras like the master. From where will
           you get the eyes? From where will you get the consciousness to find the diamonds?
               Yakusan said, "IF YOU WANT TO RECITE SUTRAS LIKE ME, YOU MUST PIERCE EVEN
           THROUGH THE HIDE OF A COW." First have that much clarity of eyes that your eyes become
           almost X-rays, they go through and through the hide of a cow. First get that eye, and then you can
           read the sutras, not before that.

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, YAKUSAN WAS ASKED BY GOVERNOR RI, "WHAT ARE THE
              PRECEPTS, MEDITATION AND WISDOM?"

              YAKUSAN ANSWERED, "THIS POOR MONK HAS NOT SUCH USELESS FURNITURE."
           He is calling the great precepts, meditation and wisdom, just useless furniture.
              RI SAID, "DON'T BE SO MYSTERIOUS!"
              YAKUSAN SAID, "IF YOU WANT TO HAVE WHAT I HAVE, YOU MUST SIT ON THE HIGHEST
              MOUNTAIN, GO DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DEEPEST SEA.
              "YOU DON'T THROW OFF YOUR BURDENS EVEN WHEN YOU GO TO BED; YOU ARE BUSY
              WITH YOUR ILLUSIONS.

                "This is not the right time for you to ask about meditation and wisdom. That's why I have called
           it `useless furniture.' It will not be of any use, it will be just another weight on your head. You have
           already enough weight -- so many illusions, so many desires, so many ambitions, so much greed.
           What will you do with meditation and wisdom? They will become an unnecessary load on your
           head. You cannot even go to bed without all kinds of tensions, anxieties, anguish, angst.
                "Wisdom and meditation are a totally different world. That's why I said, `THIS POOR MONK
           HAS NOT SUCH USELESS FURNITURE.'
                "I cannot give you wisdom and meditation. If you want them, then you will have to sit on the
           highest mountain" -- the highest mountain is your consciousness. "YOU MUST SIT ON THE
           HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, GO DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DEEPEST SEA."
                Your consciousness is both: it is the highest mountain and it is the deepest sea. Its roots go to the
           deepest being of your existence, and its branches reach to the stars. Unless you have both, you
           should not ask about meditation and wisdom.
                Meditation takes you to the roots of your being, to the very bottom of the sea, and then suddenly
           sprouts a tremendous flowering tree which reaches to the stars. You can have both together.
           Meditation takes you deeper, and wisdom takes you higher.
                This is the vertical dimension I have talked to you about, the whole expanse of the vertical
           dimension: as deep as the bottom of the deepest sea ... For example, the Pacific Ocean is five miles
           deep; that is nothing, you are going to be deeper. You are going to be higher than Everest in the
           Himalayas.
                And this is your possibility, which Christianity and other religions have been preventing you
           from. They are calling you to the church; I am calling you to your own potential.
                I am persuading you to reach to the highest consciousness and the deepest meditation, and you
           will have all the splendor of existence in your hands.

           Santoka wrote a small, very small haiku:

              I HAVE NO HOME;
              AUTUMN DEEPENS.


               Just visualize a homeless wanderer -- that's what a seeker is, a homeless wanderer -- in search of
           the home. He has not reached yet.
               But a homeless wanderer has no attachment, has no possession, has no burden, has no tension,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has no anxiety. The homeless wanderer slowly slowly relaxes in a deep let-go.
               Sitting under a tree, perhaps, near a river or a mountain, he says, "I HAVE NO HOME;
           AUTUMN DEEPENS" -- but it does not matter. The autumn is so beautiful, and it is deepening
           every moment.
               "I have no possessions, no home, no barriers, no blindfold on my eyes. I can see the autumn is
           deepening. I am so clean and clear ... that autumn deepens."
               That reminds me of one of the questions of those Christian monks. They were very much
           concerned with the marble of this Buddha Hall. They are not at all concerned with all the marble in
           the Vatican; they are not concerned about the great cathedrals around the world with all their
           architecture and marble and statues. They are concerned with this small amount of marble in the
           Buddha Auditorium.
           That's what I call blindness.
               If you can see this marble, how can you not see the Vatican? All the churches of the Vatican, all
           the statues of Jesus, are made of purest Italian marble. Great sculptors for centuries have been
           working at creating cathedrals, churches.
               And as far as this commune is concerned, I have to remind them ... They must have heard from
           their childhood that cleanliness is second to God. Here, there is no God. Cleanliness comes first!
           And there is nothing more clean than marble; it has a tremendous beauty, cleanliness, purity. It
           symbolizes beauty, architecturally.
               We are putting marble on the commune roads. We have put marble in the public toilet -- I don't
           know, I just imagine, but my imaginings come true!


              Maneesha has asked a question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              A VISITOR HERE OBSERVED THAT THERE IS AN AGELESSNESS IN THE PEOPLE AROUND
              YOU. WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION FOR THIS?


               Maneesha, the explanation is very simple. I have never felt my age. I still feel like a child. As I
           close my eyes I don't see any difference in my innocence, in my mischievousness. I am the only
           rascal saint in the whole world.
               I sometimes wonder whether I am aging or not. My beard has become white, but it is not because
           of my age. It is due to the courtesy of President Ronald Reagan's poison. One of the symptoms of the
           poison thallium that he has given to me is that it turns your hair white. It would have turned ten years
           later, but he helped me, he saved ten years. He has given me a beautiful beard. The whole credit goes
           to him!
               When I look into the mirror, into my eyes, I see the same eyes I have always seen from my very
           childhood. I close my eyes, I look inside, and I am the same -- just ageless.
               That's why I go on forgetting how long I have been speaking to you. Last night, it was really too
           much! I have a watch, but I don't want to offend you so I don't look at it. Looking at a watch means I
           am tired of you. I am never tired.
           On the way back, Anando and Avesh said that "This was the record!"
           I said to myself, "Just wait! Someday it will be the record!"
               It is true, Maneesha, it is an ageless campus. Here the old are just as innocent as the children, or
           even more so -- because your inner being is ageless. Once you come in touch with it, it is timeless, it
           never grows old or young or anything. It is just the same from eternity to eternity. Once you start
           coming closer and closer to your eternity, a certain agelessness starts radiating from your eyes, from
           your faces.
           And the person who observed this must have a very clear vision.
               I can see it happening: you are becoming every day younger. Sometimes I wonder, if everybody
           becomes too young, it will be very difficult to explain to them the sutras!

           It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh ....

              Pope the Polack gets an invitation from the Chinese government to spend twenty million dollars
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on a ten-day tour of China. He is the first pope ever to make the trip to China, and is amazed to find
           that nobody there knows anything about Christianity. The Polack pope makes a great effort to
           explain to Prime Minister Wu, his host -- who speaks little English -- something of the basics of
           Christianity.
               "You know," says Pope the Polack, spreading his arms wide, and rolling his eyes, "you must
           have heard about it -- man-die-on-cross!"
           "Ah! Velly good!" replies Wu. "Yes, me see the movie!"

               Jose, the Peruvian farmer, has a donkey called Pedro. One day he lends Pedro to his
           mother-in-law, Mama Enchilada. That evening, when Jose goes to collect Pedro, he finds that the
           donkey has managed to kick his mother-in-law down the village well. The next day, at Mama
           Enchilada's funeral, the entire male population of the village flocks to the church. After the
           ceremonies, Father Gonzalez approaches Jose and says, "Your mother-in-law must have been liked
           very much. I have never seen so many people in my church."
               "Ah!" says Jose, "they did not come to bury Mama Enchilada -- they came to borrow Pedro!"

               Unsuspected by the American public, President George Bush has a grave problem. He has
           secretly been going to see Doctor Mindbender, the White House psychiatrist, for some intense
           therapy. One morning, George Bush is lying on the shrink's couch, just babbling away.
               "I am a nice man, really I am," says George, in his best TV voice. "I am the ex-director of the
           CIA. I have a college degree; I am a respectable, quiet family man. I lead an unblemished life. I
           always contribute to Mother Teresa's charity fund, and I often visit Father Fungus to have a
           heart-to-heart chat. I have nothing to reproach myself with, yet I keep having this disturbing
           delusion, this nagging feeling, that I am a violent mass murderer."
               "Hmmmm," says Doctor Mindbender, as he quietly locks the door, and pulls down the blinds.
           "You must not worry, George. This is quite common among many mild-mannered, quiet people like
           yourself. But before we proceed, would you mind putting down your sub-machine gun?"

           Do you get it? -- you will get it in the middle of the night!

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Keep your eyes closed.
           Feel your body to be completely frozen.
           This is the right moment to enter in.
               Gather your whole life force. Collect your total consciousness, with an immense urgency as if
           this moment is going to be your last moment, then rush towards the center as fast as possible.
               As you go deeper a great silence descends over you. A little deeper and fountains of peace start
           bringing your whole inner space to a coolness you have never known before.
               Deeper still, and you will see for the first time your real nature -- the buddha, the awakened one
           -- and around the awakened one, all is ecstasy, all is joy, all is blissfulness.
               Just remember one thing, just the one thing that is the only quality of the buddha -- witnessing.
           Witness that you are not the body.
           Witness that you are not the mind.
               Witness that you are not the other subtle bodies, layer upon layer. You are only a witness,
           nothing else.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The moment you are simply a witness, you are a buddha.
               This buddha has been hiding deep within you for millions of lives. He has to be brought out. He
           has to change your whole life. He has to bring his grace to your gestures, beauty to your eyes,
           agelessness to your being, to your feeling. But first make sure that you are simply a witness.
               Being simply a witness you are at the highest peak of consciousness, and when you are at the
           highest peak of consciousness, from there you can look at the deepest depth of your being -- the very
           abysmal depth. You have moved from a horizontal into a vertical being.
               To me the vertical being is the superman, the new man which is going to come into the world if
           the world is to survive. The horizontal man is going out of date; it has lived long enough. Now
           comes the age -- the new age -- for the vertical man to appear on the horizon.
               I want my people to be the first vertical people -- the highest and deepest together.

           To make your witnessing more clear, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ... Let go ... But only remember you are a witness.
               Slowly slowly, by and by, your consciousness starts melting like ice into the ocean.
               I can see around me ten thousand buddhas melting into an ocean. Gautama the Buddha
           Auditorium has become an ocean without any ripples -- such peace, such silence, such isness
           transforms you.
           Only this isness creates wisdom in you.
               Wisdom is a shadow of meditation. In fact, all so-called virtues, without meditation, are fake.
           With meditation, authentic virtues start arising all over your inner space.
           You have to face a tremendous revolution.
               You become a garden, and all kinds of flowers, strange unworldly fragrances, fill your inner
           space. To me, to know this space is to know godliness. I call godliness, the buddha.
               Now, before Nivedano calls you back, collect as much experience of the center, as much juice ...
           drink of it. Collect all the wildflowers of the beyond. You have to bring them back. They have to
           become slowly slowly your blood, your bones, your very marrow.
               And persuade the buddha. He is coming every day, inch by inch, closer to you. It is your nature.
           He has to come to the surface just like a lotus flower comes from the dirty mud, rises above the mud,
           above the water, and opens its petals to a new sunrise.
               You are all facing a great dawn, very close. You are the most blessed people at this moment on
           the earth. The whole of humanity is entangled with trivia, useless furniture.
           To me, according to my experience, this is the only religiousness there is.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

               Come back ... But come back with the joy, with the silence, with the serenity. Sit down for a few
           moments just to recollect the golden path you have traveled -- and look just behind you: the buddha
           has come closer to you.
               First he will be a shadow behind you, and then you will be a shadow behind him. That will be the
           greatest blissful day in your life.
           Yakusan says, "Isness is my business."
               That is my business also. That has been the business of all the buddhas -- a single business,
           bringing people to isness, to here and now, and the doors are flung open to all the mysteries and all
           the miracles of existence.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                      Chapter #5
                                       Chapter title: Turning lions into sheep
           26 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901265
              ShortTitle: CHRIST05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 200 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ON A RAINY DAY, MONK GAO VISITED YAKUSAN, WHO COMMENTED, "TODAY IT'S QUITE
              HUMID."
              "I WILL BEAT THIS DRUM," SAID GAO.
              UNGAN SAID, "THERE IS NO LEATHER -- WHAT DRUM DO YOU BEAT?"
              DOGO ADDED, "THERE IS NO DRUM -- WHAT LEATHER DO YOU BEAT?"
              AND YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "TODAY, THE MELODY IS VERY GOOD."
              ONCE, AT THE MEALTIME, YAKUSAN HIMSELF BEAT THE DRUM, AND MONK GAO ENTERED
              THE HALL, DANCING. YAKUSAN DROPPED THE DRUMSTICK AND ASKED, "WHICH PIECE IS
              THAT?"
              "THIS IS THE SECOND PIECE," SAID GAO.
              YAKUSAN ASKED, "WHAT IS THE FIRST PIECE?"
              GAO TOOK THE SEAT, HELPED HIMSELF TO SOME RICE, TOOK THE BOWL OF RICE WITH
              HIM AND LEFT.
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, A MONK CAME TO YAKUSAN FOR GUIDANCE.
              "WHO ARE YOU?" YAKUSAN ASKED HIM.
              "JOTAN," REPLIED THE MONK.
              YAKUSAN SHOUTED, "LAST TIME IT WAS JOTAN AND THIS TIME, TOO, IT IS JOTAN!"


              Friends,
              First I have to answer the Christian monks who have sent many questions. Only twenty-one have
           come here, but now the whole seminary is agog and talking only about what I have said.

              They have sent a monk here today asking for the video; the whole seminary wants to see it. I am
              sending it with Prasad, and he has to inform them that this is only the beginning. I have been speaking
              continually since then, answering their questions. If they have any more questions, he should collect
              them. He should not enter into any dialogue, he should only collect the questions. I am going to
              answer them.
              The first question today is: THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH DEFENDS TRUTH, HONESTY, AND
              LOYALTY ....

               In the first place, does the Christian church know the truth? It believes in a fictitious God, it
           believes in a fictitious devil, it believes in heaven and hell, and it has no evidence for them. What
           truth does it guard?
               It has, in fact, no way to reach to the truth. Prayer is not the way, because prayer is based on
           belief in a God. You have already accepted a belief. A belief is not a truth. You have not to believe
           in a truth; truth overwhelms you. You become it! It is not a question of faith or belief, it is a question
           of deepest inquiry into your own being, into your own consciousness. It is an inward journey.
               Christianity still hangs around the objective world. Its God is an object outside, its heaven is
           outside, its hell is outside. The prayer is for an outside God; it has not yet learned that there is an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inner space in human beings, and unless you touch the very center of your consciousness, you don't
           have the truth.
           What are you guarding? -- all kinds of lies!
           Virgin birth -- is it a truth?
                Only amoebas have immaculate conception. Except amoebas, nobody can have a virgin birth.
           Amoebas are very strange people, celibate. In fact they don't have any sex; nobody is male, nobody
           is female. You will be surprised: how do they go on multiplying?
                Their process is very simple. They go on eating, and there comes a time when they become fat in
           the American way. There is a limit beyond which they cannot go on eating. They divide themselves
           in two. One amoeba becomes, at a certain stage, two amoebas. They are immortal unless they are
           killed. Then two amoebas go on eating more and more, and soon there will be four amoebas. This is
           the only animal in existence which has no sexuality.
                Why this insistence on immaculate conception? -- just to make Jesus a very special human being,
           far above, beyond the ordinary mankind.

               I have heard ... A psychoanalyst was dealing with a young girl. Her mother had brought the girl
           to him. The girl was pregnant, she was almost ready to give birth. Nine months were over, and it was
           so apparent, but the girl denied absolutely that she was pregnant. She said she had not even touched
           any man, she had not been in company with any man; how can she be pregnant?
               The psychoanalyst tried in every way to persuade her to tell the truth, but she simply denied it:
           "How can I be pregnant? I have no relationship with anybody -- and particularly a sexual
           relationship."
               Finally the psychoanalyst got very irritated. He went to the window, opened the window, and
           stood there looking far away towards the horizon. It had not been more than five minutes, but it felt
           as if years had passed. The mother and daughter both could not believe it: what is he doing there?
               Finally the mother asked, "What are you thinking? What are you doing standing there facing
           towards the horizon?"
               He said, "I am watching for the three wise men from the East! -- because this is the second case
           of immaculate conception. But I don't see any camels carrying the three wise men from the East, I
           don't see any star moving towards this place where this pregnant girl is saying that she is a virgin."

               To make it a little bit rational, Christians have gone into an absurdity which they don't
           understand. Because they could not prove how a woman without sexual contact with a man could
           become pregnant, they brought in the idea that she became pregnant by the Holy Ghost.
               Then it is no more an immaculate conception, and the Holy Ghost is no more holy. He is the
           most unholy ghost in the whole world, making a poor girl pregnant. And the absurdity does not end
           here, it goes on further. Asked, "Who is the Holy Ghost?" they say, "It is part of God."
               Which part? -- the hand? the head? By hand you may tickle her, but you cannot make a woman
           pregnant; neither can you do the job with your head. It is absolutely obvious which part the Holy
           Ghost is: God's sexual machinery! ... And not an ordinary sexual machinery, but portable. God
           remains where he is in the heavens, and the portable machinery comes and makes poor Mary
           pregnant!
           These are the truths you are guarding? Then what can be a bigger lie?
               Christianity doesn't have any approach towards truth, because truth is intrinsic in your
           consciousness, beyond your mind. It is not a thought. It is not a question of philosophy, nor a
           question of theological discussions. It is a question of deep meditation that leads you beyond
           thinking, beyond mind, and you become simply a witness, a pure witness.
               That witness is divine because it is eternal. It is the ultimate in intelligence, it is the greatest
           clarity of vision. It takes you away from all dualities. Even the true and the false are a duality, just as
           birth and death are a duality, just as light and dark are a duality. Passing beyond the mind, you have
           passed beyond duality.
               Mind functions by dividing everything into polar opposites; that is the functioning of the mind.
           The no-mind functions totally differently, by bringing both contradictions closer and merging them
           into one. No-mind knows only one existence, in which everything is dissolved. You are no more
           you, I am no more I. This immersion into existence is the ultimate truth.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But it is not God, it is divine. It is godliness. That's why there are religions like Buddhism,
           Jainism, who don't believe in any God, but they believe in godliness. That is a totally different
           concept.
                God is a person; godliness is a quality. You cannot become God, but you can be godly.
                H.G. Wells has written in his world history that Gautam Buddha was "the most godless man and
           yet the most godly."
                What truth is Christianity defending? First you have to have the truth, then you can defend it.
                And defending against whom? Your God is false, your devil is false. Once you know the truth,
           truth defends you, not that you defend the truth.
                Truth is far bigger than you, it is infinite, it is eternal. You are just a dewdrop, and it is a vast
           ocean without any boundaries. The dewdrop is defending the ocean -- do you see the nonsense
           intrinsic in the concept?
                The ocean can protect the dewdrop, just the dewdrop has to slip from the lotus leaf and melt into
           the vast ocean. Religiousness is an oceanic feeling, an oceanic experience. The whole cosmos is one,
           and the whole cosmos has immense intelligence, multidimensional.
                But Christianity is stuck with prayer. Any religion that is stuck with prayer is not a religion in
           fact. Only meditation makes the door open to religiousness, to godliness. Prayer is moving again
           outwards, looking upwards beyond the clouds. The more you pray, the further away you are from
           truth.
                Meditation is not a prayer, it is utter silence. Prayer is gibberish. To whom are you talking? -- it
           is insanity, there is no God.

               I have heard that Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel for years on end. Now he was
           painting the roof inside the chapel on a long ladder.
               He used to lie down and paint, and one day an old woman came to pray. She was not aware of
           Michelangelo on the ladder far away, and she was too old; perhaps she could not see that far either.
           But she was praying to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
               Michelangelo was bored with the work, and just wanted to have a little break. She was praying
           again and again, so he boomed like God from far away on the top of the ladder, "I am here! I am
           Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God! You tell me and I will tell my mother and my father:
           What do you want?"
               The woman was a very fanatical Christian. She looked up, but she could not see because she was
           almost blind. She said, "You shut up! I am talking to your mother!"
               Michelangelo writes in his diary, "I could not have believed that this could happen!" -- and the
           woman continued her praying.

           To whom are you praying? To whom is it addressed?
                Meditation is not addressed to anyone; it is a pure inquiry, an exploration of your ultimate depth
           and of your ultimate height. The moment you know your ultimate height and your ultimate depth,
           you know the very secret of existence. That secret is not a person, that secret is enlightenment. That
           secret makes you a buddha, a godly man.
                Buddha can say anything about truth, but not Jesus. Jesus lived in hallucinations himself. To the
           modern, contemporary psychiatrist or psychoanalyst, he will look like a lunatic. He was.
                His disillusionment came at a very late stage. When he was crucified he was still faithful, was
           still believing that his father, God, was going to come on a white cloud and save him. But no white
           cloud came, and nobody came to save him. Finally, in despair and frustration he shouted at the sky --
           again at the sky -- "Why have you forsaken me?"
                This is the end result of believing, of having faith in a truth that you have not realized yourself. It
           is hearsay. You have heard other people saying that there is a God, but have you met anyone who
           has seen God?
           What truth are they defending? and against whom?
                Truth is self-evident. It needs no defense, it is our ultimate being. Neither a sword can destroy it
           nor nuclear weapons, nor fire can burn it, nor death can touch it. There is no question of defending
           the truth.
           The question is knowing the truth.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The moment you know the truth you are no more. The dewdrop has slipped from the lotus leaf
           into the ocean. Now only the truth is. And all around, everywhere, from the smallest leaf of grass to
           the greatest star far away, millions of light-years away, it is the same one existence, one cosmos of
           tremendous intelligence.
               You disappear. You are no more a Christian, you are no more a Hindu, you are no more a
           Mohammedan. You are not, truth is.
               Meditation brings you to this space, where you are not and truth is. Prayer is a fallacy, it is a
           consolation, it is hallucination.

           And the second thing they say ..."honesty."
               All Christian values are imposed from the outside. It is a programming of the mind, which is a
           biocomputer. From the very childhood you start telling the child, "Be honest, be truthful, be this, be
           that ...." Continuously, from the church, from the school, from the family, from the neighborhood, he
           is being programmed.
               All religions have been doing this programming for centuries. They are not allowing the person
           to know the truth. They are not allowing the person to be really honest, they are forcing values from
           outside.
               When you force a value from outside it remains only skindeep. Just scratch the skin and all
           honesty disappears, and the barbarious, the gorilla, the chimpanzee, comes out.
               Jesus says that if somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other cheek too ....

               A Christian monk was wandering and teaching in different villages. In every sermon he would
           quote Jesus, "If somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other cheek too."
               Ordinarily people think it is a great commandment. It is not -- but I will discuss it just a little
           later.
               What happened to the monk? In one village there was a wrestler, an agnostic -- he did not
           believe, he did not disbelieve, he was an inquirer. And when the monk said his familiar quotation, "If
           someone slaps you on one cheek, give him the other too," the wrestler stood up and said, "Wait!"
               He came forward and he slapped the monk really hard on one cheek. The monk almost got dizzy,
           he had never expected such a response, but he remembered even in his dizziness that he had to give
           the other cheek. So he gave the other cheek, hoping that the man would not hit it.
               But that wrestler was not a believer, he was an inquirer. He was inquiring, "What happens then?"
           So he hit even harder on the other cheek.
               And what happened? The skindeep morality dropped. The monk jumped on the wrestler.
           Although the wrestler was a very heavy and strong man ... in his rage, in his anger, even the weaker
           man can be ferocious. He started hitting the wrestler.
           The wrestler said, "What are you doing?"
               He said, "Jesus has said only up to the second cheek, and I don't have a third cheek! Now I am
           free from Jesus, and I will show you what I mean!"
           The wrestler said, "Where has your great statement gone?"
               The monk said, "It was only true about the second cheek. Now you have the third and the fourth.
           From the second, one has to move to the third; it is simple arithmetic!"

               I appreciate Friedrich Nietzsche more on this point than Jesus Christ. Perhaps in the whole of
           history, only Friedrich Nietzsche has got the point. He says, "When somebody hits you on one cheek
           and you give him the other cheek you are insulting him. You are saying `I am holier-than-thou. You
           are just an ordinary human being; I am a superman, I am divine. You hit me, but I will still love you
           and give you the other cheek.'"
               Friedrich Nietzsche's argument is that this is humiliating the other person. It is a very pious way
           of insulting the other person, forcing him to be subhuman, and raising your ego to a superhuman
           level.
               Nietzsche's advice is: when somebody hits you on one cheek, it is your duty to hit the other
           cheek of the person who has hit you. That makes you equal; that does not insult the other person.
           That is not a humiliation, you are not reducing him into a subhuman being. You are respecting him
           man-to-man.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But Jesus was pretending that he was not an ordinary man; he was the only begotten son of God
           -- and he was calling the whole of humanity just a crowd of sheep.
               You may not have gone deep into the logic, but it is absolutely clear that he was an arch-egoist.
           He did not talk man-to-man; he was talking from a high, very high space, and you were just creatures
           crawling on the earth. You were sheep, and he was your shepherd.
               All values imposed from outside never get to your center. The only authentic values are those
           which come from your center and spread outwards, not vice versa. That's exactly the meaning of
           education: drawing the water out from the well.
               Education means drawing your inner being into expression in your living, your day-to-day life.
           Your honesty, your love, your compassion, should come from your inner being, not from teachings
           and scriptures, not from rabbis and bishops and shankaracharyas and Ayatollah Khomeini.
           Who are these people? Pretenders, hypocrites.

                And as far as honesty is concerned ... Because of thousands of years of conditioning, you have
           never thought what it means. It means not to live moment to moment. What was honest yesterday
           may not be honest today. What is honest today may not be honest tomorrow. Life is a flux.
                The real honesty is not towards the society, towards the church, towards God -- no. The real
           honesty is a responsibility to the present moment. It needs tremendous awareness. You have to be
           honest to the present moment, not to the past, not to the future. And the present moment is changing
           ....
                A truly honest person will go on changing with every moment. He will keep in tune with
           existence -- that is what I call honesty -- he will not lag behind. He will be always harmonious and in
           deep synchronicity with existence. If existence is moving and changing like a river, he will be
           moving and changing like a river.
                But Christian honesty does not mean responsibility. I want to break that word in two: response
           and ability.
                Christianity has also responsibility as one of its pillars, but their meaning of responsibility is
           duty: responsibility to your parents, responsibility to your friends, responsibility to your neighbors,
           responsibility to the church, responsibility to God, responsibility to everybody. But their meaning is
           `duty'.
                To me, responsibility is not one word, it is two words, response ability, and only a man of deep
           awareness has the quality. He can respond to everything, but his response is not a reaction, his
           response is not out of his conditioning. His response comes from his very being.

                One day a man asked Gautam Buddha in the morning, just as the sun was rising, "Is there a
           God?"
           Buddha said, "No, there is no God."
                In the afternoon another man asked, "What do you think about God? Is there a God or not?"
           Buddha said, "Yes, there is a God -- not as a person, but as a quality."
                By the evening a third person came and asked Buddha, "I don't know anything, I am utterly
           ignorant. Will you please help me to inquire into the truth of existence, or, in other words, into the
           reality of God? I don't know anything."
                Buddha did not answer. He simply closed his eyes, sat in a lotus posture. There was utter silence
           under the tree where he was sitting. The man also sat. He thought, "Perhaps he is showing the way --
           sit in the lotus posture." So he sat in the lotus posture, he closed his eyes, and the silence deepened.
                There was also a third man present, Ananda, who was Gautam Buddha's constant companion his
           whole life, who took care of his food, his clothes, his shelter. He was also present while all these
           three answers were given. He was in deep confusion. To one man Buddha says that no, there is no
           God; to another man Buddha says yes; and to the third he does not speak at all. That silence went on
           deepening, and it lasted almost one hour.
                Finally Buddha opened his eyes, and what was strange for Ananda -- the moment Buddha opened
           his eyes, the other man also opened his eyes. They looked into each other's eyes, and the other man
           touched Buddha's feet and he said, "I am so grateful for your teaching." And Buddha had not spoken
           a single word.
                When the man was gone, Ananda was furious. He said, "You are creating confusion in me! You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have no consideration for me! I have been continuously with you since the morning, and to one man
           you said no, to another you said yes, and to the third you didn't say anything. That guy simply
           followed you, sat in the lotus posture, closed his eyes -- and the most mysterious thing was that when
           you opened your eyes, he opened his eyes immediately. Nothing was said. You looked into each
           other's eyes, and the man was so grateful for your teaching -- and you had not spoken a single word!
               "The man touched your feet and he said, `Whatever I was seeking, I have found. My search is
           finished, I have come home.' Now please explain it to me before you go to sleep."
               Buddha said, "Those questions were not yours, you need not be worried. I have not answered
           you, neither have you asked."
               Ananda said, "That's right -- but I have ears, I can hear! I am following you like a shadow!"
               Buddha said, "Listen. The first man who had come to me was an atheist. The second man was a
           theist. The third man was just an innocent man.
               "I function like a mirror, I don't have a prejudice of any kind. I don't have a philosophy, or
           dogma, or creed, or cult. I reflect just like a mirror. This is my honesty, this is my response ability. I
           responded to the different people according to their needs."
               He said, "Ananda ..." Ananda was his cousin-brother, elder brother, and they both had been
           educated in the same school where all the princes of India used to be educated. They had learned
           swordsmanship, archery, riding on the fastest horses -- because they were going to be the successors
           of their fathers.
               So Buddha said, "Perhaps you will understand .... There are different kinds of horses. The first
           kind needs beating, otherwise he will not move; the second kind needs just the sound of the whip,
           you don't have to beat him, and he will move; and there are horses which need only the shadow of
           the whip, not even the whip. The moment they see the whip's shadow in front of them, they go as
           fast as they can.
               "The same is the situation about mankind. There are different kinds of people, and I cannot
           strictly follow any dogma; otherwise I will not be responsible, and I will not be honest to the person.
           I will be simply repeating a program, not caring at all to whom I am talking and what is his need. I
           respond to the needs. They change moment to moment."

               When you look into the mirror you see your face. When a donkey looks into the mirror, the
           donkey sees his face. The mirror has no idea of its own, it is simply reflecting.
               The truly honest person is simply a reflecting mirror. He will do whatever the moment demands,
           not according to some promises given in the past. The past is no more. A man of true honesty never
           gives any promises, because promises are given for the future -- and who knows about the future?
               An awakened man simply lives moment to moment in pure honesty. But the honesty is not
           according to the past, according to any promise, according to the church, to the scripture. It is
           according to the moment. He responds with his total consciousness, he does not hold anything back.
               But the Christian honesty and the honesty of other religions is a reaction, not a response. They
           have been told, and they are following the program. They are robots, not even human beings. Your
           mind is a robot. Just feed it with information and it will follow that information. Go on telling it to
           be honest and it will be honest, but that honesty is very superficial and meaningless.

               One of my friends was visiting the Soviet Union, and he asked a small boy, "Do you believe in
           God?"
               The small boy laughed, and he said, "God? In the past, in the dark ages of humanity, people used
           to believe in all kinds of stupid things. Do you want to see God? It is in the museum."
               Don't think that this boy is responding. This is another conditioning. When the friend reported to
           me -- and he was a great scholar, Rahul Sanskritayana, he was teaching Sanskrit in the Moscow
           University -- when he reported to me, I said to him, "You have misunderstood the whole situation."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "That boy has been fed with atheism, no-God. God is out of date, it is a superstition of the
           past, of the dark ages. He is repeating his program.
               "In India, if you ask any boy, he will say, `Yes, there is God.' But there is no difference between
           the two, they are both reacting according to their programming."
               A Christian will say that yes, there is God; a communist will say there is no God. The Christian
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           believes, the communist disbelieves -- but beliefs and disbeliefs are in the mind, they are not your
           experience. You have not known even yourself, how can you be honest? One has to know oneself,
           one has to be oneself, only then there is a possibility of honesty.
               Socrates is right: "Be thyself." But he was not complete, because he was not a meditator. This
           conclusion was a logical, rational conclusion. First, be thyself.
               But all the mystics of the world say, first be thyself, then dissolve thyself also into the eternity of
           existence. Then whatever comes out of that eternity, you are just a vehicle, you are just a hollow
           bamboo. Whatever song is sung on the hollow bamboo, it becomes a flute. It does not obstruct, it
           allows the song to flow through it. Whatever existence wants to sing through it, you are just a hollow
           bamboo -- no self, no I, just a pure passage for existence to respond.
               Then there is honesty, there is truth, there is morality -- but of a totally different coin, a totally
           different quality. It is individual, it is your own in a way. You are not following anybody -- all
           following is wrong -- you are simply being in tune with existence.

               And the third thing they have asked about is loyalty. Loyalty to whom? To a God which you
           don't know? To the church?
               And remember perfectly: Jesus Christ was a Jew. He was born a Jew, he lived a Jew, he died as a
           Jew. He had never heard the word Christian, he had never heard the word Christ. It was three
           hundred years later when the gospels were translated into Greek .... Christ is the Greek word for the
           Hebrew `messiah', and from that Greek word `Christ' comes `Christian'.
               Christianity was not founded by Jesus Christ, it has to be remembered. It was founded eighty
           years after his death, by people who had not directly known him.
               Now even Christian scholars have come to the conclusion that the Christian gospels were not
           written by the apostles but were written by somebody else, because the mountains described are not
           in the same place where they are described in the gospels. The rivers described are not in the same
           place where they are described in the gospels. The lakes ... Everything was written by people who
           had not known Jesus Christ, and neither had they lived with Jesus Christ.
               Christianity is one of the most fake religions of all. Jesus has nothing to do with it. And the pope
           represents Jesus, and the pope wants you to be loyal to him. The pope wants you to be loyal to the
           vested interests.
               The whole of Christianity is a very dangerous, poisonous phenomenon, because it teaches people
           that God made the world perfect, you don't have to change it, no revolution is needed. Be loyal to
           God, and be loyal to everything as it is. The capitalist has to remain as a capitalist -- that's the way
           God wanted it, and nothing can happen against the will of God. If you are poor, that's how God
           wanted you to be. If you are a woman and you are not equal to man, that's how God wanted it to be.
           God created the world as it is.
               Christianity does not believe in evolution, it believes in creation. You should understand the
           difference clearly.
               President Ronald Reagan has tried to ban all the books of Charles Darwin, because Darwin
           preaches evolution. He wanted to completely remove Charles Darwin's books from all the
           universities, all colleges, all schools, all libraries. Why? -- because his theory goes against the idea of
           creation. That was President Ronald Reagan's fundamentalist Christian mind.
               God created the world as it is, it is not a question of evolution. So you should settle with the
           world as it is, you should settle as you are. If you are poor, you should settle as you are. If God has
           made somebody a king and somebody a beggar, he knows best; you are not to change anything.
               Christianity is absolutely against any revolution in the world, any change in the social structure.
           That is what is hidden behind the word `loyalty'. You should be loyal to God and his creation, you
           should not try to improve it. Do you think you are wiser than God? You should understand that God
           is perfect, and whatever he creates is perfect. Out of perfection only perfection comes. So this world
           of misery, poverty, starvation, has to remain as it is.
               Because God has told Adam and Eve, "Multiply, produce as many children as you can," the
           Christian church still goes on insisting that no birth control methods, no condoms, no pills should be
           used -- because God wants you to multiply.
           We have multiplied enough.
               Just in this country, when it became independent forty years ago, the population was four
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hundred million. Now the population has gone beyond nine hundred million, and by the end of the
           century it will go beyond one billion. For the first time, India will be the greatest nation in the world!
           Up to now China used to be the leader.
               But what kind of greatest nation? Half of the population will have to starve, and die from
           starvation, and the Christians go on saying, "Multiply! That is a commandment from God. Be loyal
           to God and never think of changing anything in the world."

                Galileo was called by the pope because he had written against the commonly accepted idea
           which was that the sun goes around the earth. Galileo, in his scientific investigations, found just the
           reverse: it is the earth that goes around the sun. But the Bible says the common sense idea ....
                The pope said to Galileo, who was old and almost on his deathbed -- he had been dragged to the
           court of the pope -- "You have to change your book. You have to write that it is the sun that goes
           around the earth, because that's how it is written in the Bible. The Bible is a divine scripture written
           by God himself, and God cannot commit a mistake." Even the pope cannot commit a mistake, he is
           infallible.
                Galileo must have had a very great sense of humor. He said, "There is no problem, I can change
           my book. I can write that the sun goes around the earth, but remember, it won't change anything. The
           earth will still continue to go around the sun. The earth is not going to read my book, and neither is
           the sun going to listen.
           "But why are you so much afraid? I can prove it scientifically."
                The pope said, "I don't want to listen, because if even one thing is found to be wrong in the
           Bible, people will start thinking that if one thing can be wrong, other things can also be wrong. And
           if the Bible can be wrong, what will happen to my infallibility?"

               The question is not of truth, the question is of dogma. You have to be loyal to the dogma whether
           the dogma fits with reality or not, and you have to be loyal to superstitions, all kinds of superstitions,
           which are killing humanity.
               The Bible says, "Spread the word, even if you have to fight. The pagans are subhuman, they have
           to be changed into Christians, otherwise they will never be saved." That's how crusades were
           created.
               The Christians have killed more people in the world than any other religion. Second to the
           Christians are the Mohammedans -- but the Christians are at the top, and for very good reasons. They
           have been killing people in order to force them to become Christians. Obviously, if it is a question of
           choice between death and Christianity, any fragile human being will choose Christianity rather than
           death. So create the fear that "You will be killed. The only other way is to be a Christian."
               And it is not only Christians ... Even Jesus says, "Anybody who goes to God's paradise goes
           through me, via me, there is no other way. I am the way. Bring people on the way, even if you have
           to force them."
               It is done with great good intentions -- and that is the problem to be understood.
               An old proverb is very relevant. It says, "The path to hell is paved with good intentions." Now,
           the Christian crusades against the pagans are with great good intentions. They want them all to go to
           paradise. Because they are resistant, they have to be killed. That will be an example for other pagans:
           "If you don't want to be killed, become a Christian!"
               Jesus talks about loving your enemies, and loving your neighbors. That is all talk. Christianity
           has proved that killing your enemies ... And Jesus Christ himself is responsible for it, because he
           says, "Who is not with me is against me." Now this is a very ugly, political statement. Do you call it
           religious?
           "Who is not with me is against me."
               It can be said by Adolf Hitler, by Joseph Stalin, by Benito Mussolini, but not by a religious
           person. Because the person may not be with me, but it is not necessary that he should be against me.
           He can be indifferent. Why are you leaving out the category of the indifferent? This is dictatorial.
               This is not religious, this is against humanity. You are not allowing people to be free to choose
           what path they want. You are forcing them to be Christians -- and you are forcing the whole of
           humanity into loyalty, when loyalty in fact means a slavery to the status quo -- if the society is
           divided into classes, you should not change it. If a few people go on becoming rich and creating
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           millions of poor people, this is how God wants it. You should not interfere in the work of God.
                It is not a religious idea; it is a very cunning strategy to keep the slaves slaves, to keep women
           subhuman, to keep the poor poor, and to keep the rich rich. It supports all that is ugly in a beautiful
           name: loyalty.
                I say unto you: Find out the truth in yourself, and be loyal to your truth. That truth will bring a
           revolution in the world. And that loyalty will not be for any status quo, that loyalty will be for
           making a better world, a new humanity, a new man -- more joyous, more healthy, more blissful.
                It is time -- a very decisive time. All religions are out of date, particularly Christianity. It is the
           largest religion -- half of the world is Christian -- and they talk all kinds of nonsense.
           Their pillars are the resurrection of Jesus Christ ....
                He never died on the cross, how can he resurrect? His grave is in Kashmir, in India. It was
           because of a conspiracy to save him, a conspiracy between one rich disciple and the Roman
           governor, Pontius Pilate, that the crucifixion was to be delayed as long as possible. The crucifixion
           was fixed for Friday, because Saturday is Sabbath for the Jews; they don't work at all. The idea was
           that because the Jewish cross kills very slowly ... It takes forty-eight hours for a healthy man to die
           on the Jewish cross. It is a very torturous thing. An electric chair is far more merciful, but God never
           created the electric chair.
                So the crucifixion was delayed for this excuse, that excuse. Finally, Pontius Pilate wanted to see
           Jesus Christ before he was taken to the cross -- just to delay it -- and he talked to him. Then the
           procession was going uphill to where the crucifixions used to happen. There were thousands of
           people, and Jesus ...
                He was only thirty-three, healthy, was a carpenter's son, was accustomed to carry wood from the
           forest, so it is easy for him to tell people, "Carry your cross on your own shoulders." He carried his.
                The cross was very heavy, and he fell three times on the way. I suspect that perhaps it was also
           part of delaying -- because he was thirty-three and he used to carry big logs. He was not a man like I
           am, who has never done anything in his life, good-for-nothing!
                When Rahul Sanskritayana came back from Russia, he shook hands with me, and he told me,
           "Never go to Russia."
           I said, "What?!"
           He said, "Your hands are very bourgeois."
                I said, "They have to be, because I have never used them. I don't carry anything, I don't do
           anything."
                From my very childhood, my father, my mother, everybody used to tell me, "You will turn out
           good-for-nothing!" I have fulfilled their promise, their prophecy. You will not find another man in
           the world who is so good for nothing. I teach nothing.
                Jesus was on the cross for only six hours. In the whole of history nobody has ever died on the
           Jewish cross in six hours. He was too young, healthy. And after six hours, as the sun was setting, all
           work had to be stopped -- that was the conspiracy -- and Jesus had to be brought down. He could not
           remain on the cross on the Sabbath. So he was brought down, put into a cave, and the guards were
           Roman, not Jews.
                In the middle of the night he was taken out of Judea by his richest followers -- Judea was a small
           place -- and he healed within a week. There was not much wrong, just a little blood had flowed out.
           Once he was healed, his friends and followers suggested to him not to go back to Judea, "otherwise
           you will be killed again. It is better to move far away from Judea."
                Jesus must have heard about Moses -- because he was a Jew -- that Moses had gone in search of
           a lost tribe in the desert. When all the followers had reached Israel, which took forty years of
           wandering in the desert ... The Jews can never forgive Moses because he passed by Saudi Arabia and
           all the oil countries, and went on wandering in the desert -- hungry, starving, thirsty. Three-fourths
           of his people died on the way; only one-fourth of the original lot ...
                New people had come into being, because for forty years you cannot keep people celibate. So
           new children were born, even a third generation had come into being, and Moses experienced the
           first generation gap. The people who had come with him were no more there, and the new generation
           had no idea about Egypt, no idea about slavery, no idea about the meeting of Moses with God, and
           the Ten Commandments, and they did not care about this old fellow.
                Just to escape ... The situation was becoming hotter and hotter against Moses, because the new
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           generation was talking, saying that "This ugly place is the Holy Land of God? For this place our
           forefathers died in the desert in tremendous misery, poverty, hunger, thirst. This place ...?"
               Moses must have been worried. To escape from Israel, he had the excuse that "One tribe of the
           Jews has lost its way somewhere in the desert. You settle down, and I will go and find the lost tribe."
               The lost tribe reached Kashmir, which is really, one can say, a holy land -- the world's most
           beautiful place. When the first Mogul emperor, Babar, came to India, he passed through Kashmir. He
           could not believe his eyes. He said, "If there is any paradise anywhere, it is here, it is here!"
               Moses died in Kashmir. His grave and Jesus' grave both are on the same hillside, under the same
           old trees, and still today a Jewish family takes care of both the graves. Those are the only two graves
           on which the inscription is in Hebrew.
               Now, in India there are no Jews. The other Jews in Kashmir have been converted by the
           Mohammedans, forcibly, into Mohammedanism. But because Mohammed had accepted Moses and
           Jesus as prophets of God, they did not destroy the two graves, and they did not convert the family
           who was taking care of those two graves. Descendants of the same family -- that is the only Jewish
           family in Kashmir -- are still taking care of them.
               I have been to the graves. They are nearby a village which is called Pahalgam. In Kashmiri,
           Pahalgam means the village of the shepherd; it must have been named according to Jesus' claim that
           he was the shepherd. There is no other reason for it to be called the village of the shepherd.
               I asked the guardians of those two graves what is written on them. On one is Moses' name, on the
           other is Jesus' name, in Hebrew -- in Hebrew it is Joshua -- "Joshua, who claimed to be the last
           prophet of the Jews."

               Resurrection never happened -- and those kinds of things are the pillars: virgin birth,
           resurrection, creation of the world as opposed to evolution.
               If it is true that God created the perfect world and there has been no evolution, then all the popes,
           the cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops and the priests would have been naked just like Adam and
           Eve. Or they may have been hiding their private parts, either with big leaves, as they hide them on
           the statues, or by hunting animals and using their skins.
               Certainly God did not create railway trains, airplanes, cars, electricity, post offices. All this has
           come as part of the evolutionary program. Whether science believes in Charles Darwin's idea of
           evolution or not is not the question. Christianity will have to believe in evolution. It may be a
           different version, but evolution is the scientific truth. You can see it all around ....
               And I am seeing immense contradictions. On the one hand they say, "You should not change
           anything, God is more wise than you" -- then why are you converting people to Christianity? God
           made them pagans, and you are converting them to Christianity. You are converting the poor, the
           downtrodden, the beggars, the orphans, to Christianity -- and particularly to the Catholic sect. It is
           against God, against the Christian God.
               Creation is a dead word. It is just like a pond, it does not flow. And a pond has as its destiny only
           death. Its water will evaporate, and soon there will be mud and nothing else. A river is life.
           Everything is moving, everything is evolving.
               God has not created a Gautam Buddha, and God has not created a Mahavira. Adam and Eve he
           has created -- and even he could not tolerate Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He threw them
           out because they had committed the fundamental sin of disobedience -- his own children, naked,
           thrown out into the world.
               God created only one couple. Now there are more than five billion people on the earth. By the
           end of the century there will be seven billion people on the earth. And you say things are not
           moving, everything is static?
               Christians say that death is the punishment for your sins. I wonder that even intelligent people go
           on reading such rubbish. Then why do saints die? If it is because of sins that people die, then why do
           popes die? Why did Jesus die? And according to Friedrich Nietzsche ... why has God died?
               Either everybody is committing sin, or the whole idea is absolutely wrong. Death is a natural
           phenomenon, it has nothing to do with sin.
               In fact, everything that is pleasant has been destroyed by Christianity. It is said that you cannot
           be rejoicing and enjoying life when other people are suffering. What do you mean? -- if other people
           have cancer, you should have cancer also?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If other people are suffering, that does not mean that you should suffer also. You should help the
           suffering to cut the roots of their suffering. That you don't allow: God has made them to suffer; they
           are suffering because it is the will of God, so don't change their suffering but change your
           joyousness, your cheerfulness, your laughter, your blissfulness. While other people are suffering you
           are laughing? you are dancing? you are singing?
                Christians have made the whole world miserable. The churches are the most sad places; even
           graveyards are more joyous, with flowers and beautiful trees. Churches ...? I have been into
           churches. As you enter a church it feels as though you are entering hell -- just the fire is missing, so
           it is all cold. Perhaps the fuel is finished in hell! -- there is an end to everything. Now be careful:
           when you go to hell, take woolen clothes with you, because there is no more hellfire, just an eternal
           winter which goes on getting colder and colder.
                What kind of nonsense is this? If other people are sick, do you have to drop your healthiness? If
           other people are stupid, idiotic, retarded, do you have to drop your intelligence? This is a strange
           theology of destroying people's happiness. If people are suffering, share your happiness with them,
           make them also laugh. Cut the roots of their suffering. That seems to be human.
                This teaching is absolutely inhuman! A few are suffering because God wants them to suffer --
           and you have to suffer because Christianity wants you to suffer. Don't laugh, don't smile, don't enjoy
           anything, don't rejoice .... Then why not commit suicide? For what are you living? Just to watch the
           suffering of others, and your own?
                Christianity leaves no other alternative than suicide. It is not an accident that the Western
           philosophers have come to the point of existentialism, which preaches that suicide is the only way
           out. It is Christianity deep down which has made the whole world so miserable that there seems
           almost to be no need to wake up tomorrow morning. For what? just to continue this misery?
                And it is strange: on the one hand they say, "Know thy place. God makes everyone as they are
           ...." Do you see the contradiction? If God has made you a laughing, enjoying, rejoicing person, then
           this principle does not apply. It only applies to the sufferers: "Don't change your place, suffer. God
           makes everyone as they are." If it is true, then God has made many people loving, laughing,
           rejoicing, dancing. Who are you to prevent them?
                But no, it is not applicable as far as joy is concerned, only suffering. What can be the reason
           behind it?
                The reason is clear. Only the people who are miserable will seek the advice of the priests and the
           popes. Only the people who are miserable can be enslaved, can be told that "You are sheep and we
           are the shepherds." Only miserable people need salvation. A happy person, a blissful person does not
           need any salvation.
                I don't need any salvation! I have solved all my problems. I have found myself. I have found the
           door to the divine. I don't need any shepherd, and I don't want to be called a sheep. If I had been
           present I would have slapped Jesus Christ.
           Christianity has turned lions into sheep.
                I want you to roar in laughter and joy like lions. Cut the roots of misery, suffering, slavery, all
           kinds of exploitation.
                We need a classless society, and ultimately we need a world without any government.

               As I entered America, the first question they asked me was, "Are you are a communist? Are you
           an anarchist?"
           I said, "Both, and something more."
           They said, "Something more?"
               I said, "Yes. Communism is only a step. The Soviet Union has missed, it is just clinging to that
           step ...."
               Karl Marx's idea was that as communism settles down, the government will disappear; otherwise,
           the bureaucrats become the new bourgeois. That is what happened in Russia, that is happening in
           China. That is going to happen in every communist country. The Communist Party takes the place of
           the capitalists -- no change. The poor remain the poor. Of course, they are equally poor. The only
           equality that communist countries know is equality of poverty.
               I want equality of richness, a rich world -- which is possible, because if we use science and
           technology not to exploit people but to create more and more wealth, more and more nourishment
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for people, scientists say we can support through science and technology a seven times bigger
           population than exists today.
               But they are being prevented by the churches, by all the religions, by the capitalists. The fear is
           that if there is nobody poor, who is going to go to the church? If there is nobody poor, who is going
           to pray to God? If there is nobody who is suffering, the priest is not needed.
               A rich world, an equal world, a world without government, without crime, a world of meditators,
           a religious world, will not need three hundred religions as they exist today.
               And Christianity is the biggest religion, of course, and the biggest crime against humankind.

              A MAJOR CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN AMERICA HAS PRODUCED A VIDEOTAPE
              ON PRIESTS WITH AIDS, THAT CANDIDLY DISCUSSES HOMOSEXUALITY AMONG THE
              CLERGY. EXPERTS ESTIMATE AS MANY AS FORTY PERCENT OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE
              GAY.
              ON THE TAPE ONE PRIEST CONFESSES TO BEING GAY SINCE HE WAS SEVENTEEN. HE
              TRIED TO RENOUNCE HIS DESIRES AFTER BECOMING A PRIEST, BUT FAILED. "I COULD
              PRAY ALL DAY, AND A HANDSOME MAN WOULD STILL CATCH MY EYE," HE CONFESSED.
              THE TAPE ACKNOWLEDGES THERE IS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF PRIESTS WITH AIDS,
              AND ADVISES OTHER PRIESTS HOW TO HELP THEM PSYCHOLOGICALLY AND MEDICALLY.
              ONE FORMER JESUIT, WHO IS NOW A NEW YORK PSYCHOTHERAPIST, SAYS HE HAS A
              DOZEN PRIESTS WITH AIDS AS HIS CLIENTS.
              AND THE ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK DENIES THAT ANY PRIESTS HAVE AIDS.


               In fact, in the oldest monastery of Mount Athos ... It is near Greece, a sovereign country, it has
           its own government. It is a thousand-year-old monastery. Once a man becomes a monk in this
           monastery of Mount Athos, he cannot leave the monastery alive, only his corpse will come out.
           This they call loyalty.
               I call it slavery. I call it absolute destruction of freedom of choice -- because tomorrow I may not
           feel like being in Mount Athos, but I have no choice. They have not only taken my present, they
           have taken my future also.
               It is the ugliest place in the world, because no woman has ever entered, has ever been allowed to
           enter, Mount Athos. You will be surprised: what kind of people are living there? Even a
           six-month-old baby girl cannot be allowed in Mount Athos. Are these monks or monsters?
           But that is not the end of the story.
              THE MONASTERY AT MOUNT ATHOS, AN INDEPENDENT CHURCH STATE IN GREECE,
              STRICTLY FORBIDS THE ENTRY OF FEMALES OF ANY KIND ....

                Have you known females of any kind? I was surprised, I have known only one kind. When I first
           heard it, I could not believe that there are other kinds of female also. But then I understood there are.
           ... EVEN BABIES, PET DOGS, CATS OR PARROTS WHICH ARE FEMALE. This can give you a
           clear-cut indication what kind of people are living there. They are not only homosexuals; the fear is
           that if even animals enter there which are female, these monks are not going to leave those animals
           alone. They will commit sodomy. Sodomy means making love to animals.
           And this you call religion? This you call transformation of human beings?
                One journalist who has just visited there found that "THERE ARE SOME MEN WHO WERE
           TAKEN THERE IMMEDIATELY AFTER BIRTH, HAVE NEVER SEEN A WOMAN IN THEIR
           LIVES" -- not even their mothers. As they were getting out of the womb, they were immediately
           transferred to Mount Athos. They have never seen that any kind of woman exists in the world.
                One monk stated to the journalist, "IT TOOK ONLY ONE WOMAN TO UNDO THE GARDEN
           OF EDEN. IT WOULD TAKE THE SAME NUMBER TO DAMN MOUNT ATHOS." Just one
           woman, he is saying, destroyed the Garden of Eden; one woman will destroy Mount Athos. And
           these are great monks, holy people, loyal to God, constantly praying.
                But nothing seems to have changed in their biology, nothing seems to have changed in their
           minds, in their dreams, in their imagination. But they are forced, they cannot go out -- that's why
           Mount Athos has its own government, its own police, its own guards continuously guarding the
           monastery. Nobody can escape out of the monastery. Do whatever you want to do, but do it in the
           monastery.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have heard a few days ago about another monastery where there are one thousand monks who
           were divided with a wall, because fifty percent want homosexuality to be accepted by the church,
           and fifty percent are against it. Not that they are not homosexuals, they just don't want to make it
           public. Keep it quiet.
               Christianity and other religions have helped all kinds of sexual perversions in the world -- and
           they think they have been very beneficial? they have been a blessing to the world? They are
           absolutely a curse, categorically a curse, and unless they disappear, man cannot live in peace.

           The sutra:

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ON A RAINY DAY, MONK GAO VISITED YAKUSAN, WHO COMMENTED, "TODAY IT'S QUITE
              HUMID."
              "I WILL BEAT THIS DRUM," SAID GAO.

               The drum is beaten in a Zen monastery, or the bell is rung, only to gather all the monks. Gao
           said, "I WILL BEAT THIS DRUM so everybody comes here. It is a very humid day."
               He was making an ordinary statement, but in the world of Zen, when you are talking to the
           masters, everything is taken to the highest potentiality. Even ordinary statements are given a golden
           touch.
              UNGAN, a master, SAID, "THERE IS NO LEATHER -- WHAT DRUM DO YOU BEAT?"

                He is giving him a koan. Zen has thousands of koans, and this is one of the koans. He changed
           the whole topic. The drum was there -- but he is a master, he said, "THERE IS NO LEATHER --
           WHAT DRUM DO YOU BEAT? Meditate upon it. If there is no leather, can you beat the drum?"
                A koan is a puzzle which has no solution. A koan is a puzzle which is never solved, but as you
           go on meditating and becoming silent and silent and more silent, it dissolves. Suddenly there is no
           puzzle, no problem, nothing to solve. The koan disappears in deep meditation with all other
           thoughts. It is a thought.
                DOGO -- another master who was present -- ADDED, "THERE IS NO DRUM -- WHAT
           LEATHER DO YOU BEAT?"
                Meditate upon it. Both are similar, you cannot find a solution. If you try to think you are lost. If
           you get out of thinking there is a possibility to rise above the koan, but only if you rise above the
           mind.
                Zen is the small stream of masters who are teaching the no-mind. All other religions are confined
           to the mind. In that way, Zen is not an ordinary religion. It is a totally unique spirituality. It teaches
           you to drop the mind, because the mind has all the programs, it has all the conditionings, it has the
           whole past in it.
                The moment you drop the mind, put it aside, a clearing opens, a door widens into the mystery of
           existence. Suddenly there is no problem and there is no answer either, but a great contentment, a
           tremendous fulfillment arises in your being.
                And the third master who was also present, Yakusan, commented, "TODAY, THE MELODY IS
           VERY GOOD."
                What melody? A small statement from a disciple, "I will beat the drum," is completely forgotten.
           One master has given him a koan, another has turned the koan upside down, and the third is saying
           about his no-mind, "TODAY, THE MELODY IS VERY GOOD. I am feeling in deep synchronicity
           with existence. Everything is song, everything is dance."
                Yakusan is perhaps the greatest master among these three. He is saying, "Don't bother about the
           drum." The first man is trying to beat it, the second one is giving him a koan: "How will you beat it
           if there is no leather?" The third person is turning the koan upside down: "How will you beat it if
           there is no drum?"
                Yakusan says, "Today, this moment, the melody of existence is too good. Forget all this
           nonsense about the drum. Listen to the melody of existence. It is a silent, soundless music."

              In a madhouse it happened once, a madman was listening, keeping his ear just by the side of a
           wall. The superintendent came, went, came again, went, came again .... For almost five hours the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man was listening, and he wondered what he was listening to. He opened the door, went in, and said,
           "What are you listening to?"
           The madman said, "Come close. You can also listen."
               The superintendent put his ear to the wall for a few moments and there was nothing to hear. He
           said, "I don't hear anything."
           The madman said, "Neither do I!"
           Five hours have passed, and nothing is heard ....

               But that's what Zen says: "If you can hear the nothing ..." Break the word in two: if you can hear
           no-thing, if you can go beyond things, a melody without sounds, a music without instruments, a
           poetry without words, a dance without movements ...
               The whole existence is in continuous celebration, just we have to drop our constant traffic of the
           mind, which goes on keeping us away from existence. It is far thicker than the China Wall,
           thousands and thousands of thoughts, layer upon layer -- dreams, imagination, feelings, emotions,
           sentiments. They all constitute the mind -- and you are not the mind.
               That's the fundamental finding of the East: you are not the mind, you are no-mind. You are pure
           consciousness without any thoughts. Then everything is joy, then everything is blissfulness, then
           everything is a benediction.

              ONCE, AT THE MEALTIME, YAKUSAN HIMSELF BEAT THE DRUM, AND MONK GAO ENTERED
              THE HALL, DANCING. YAKUSAN DROPPED THE DRUMSTICK AND ASKED, "WHICH PIECE IS
              THAT?"
              "THIS IS THE SECOND PIECE," SAID GAO.
              YAKUSAN ASKED, "WHAT IS THE FIRST PIECE?"
              GAO TOOK THE SEAT, HELPED HIMSELF TO SOME RICE, TOOK THE BOWL OF RICE WITH
              HIM AND LEFT.

              This will look very mysterious to you.
           Yakusan was beating the drum, and the same monk, Gao, who wanted to beat the drum on that
           humid day, came dancing. YAKUSAN DROPPED THE DRUMSTICK AND ASKED, "WHICH
           PIECE IS THAT?" He is not asking about the drumstick, although it appears he is asking about the
           drumstick. He dropped the drumstick and asked, "WHICH PIECE IS THAT?" He is asking about the
           dance: Which piece is that? Why are you dancing? What has happened?
              "THIS IS THE SECOND PIECE," SAID GAO.

              Now he has entered the world of no-mind. He is no more the same Gao who wanted to beat the
           drum in the first instance. Maybe years had passed between these two occasions.
           He said, "THIS IS THE SECOND PIECE -- my dance."
              YAKUSAN ASKED, "WHAT IS THE FIRST PIECE?"

               The first piece is that Gao is no more in his mind. He has become equal to the master. He has
           attained to enlightenment.
               To show it, GAO TOOK THE SEAT -- of the master -- HELPED HIMSELF TO SOME RICE,
           TOOK THE BOWL OF RICE WITH HIM AND LEFT.
               By his gesture he is saying, "First I attained to no-mind -- that was the first piece. Then came the
           dance, the celebration -- that was the second piece."
               But he did not say it. Now he understands the language of Zen just as Yakusan understands it.
           Without saying anything he took the seat of the master, sat on the seat -- this is not expected of a
           disciple unless he becomes a master -- and without any fear he took some rice, HELPED HIMSELF
           TO SOME RICE, TOOK THE BOWL OF RICE WITH HIM AND LEFT. He did not say a single
           thing about the first piece.
               Nobody can say. One can act it, one can show it. It is a gesture. But it is not an absurd anecdote
           as ordinarily people will understand. It says that once you enter into the no-mind the whole of life is
           just a dance.
               This is not Christianity -- where dancing and rejoicing and blissfulness are banned. This is the
           only authentic religion in three hundred religions of the world. It does not call itself a religion
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because that will give a misunderstanding to people. It is a science of transformation of
           consciousness.
               Yakusan understood. He did not prevent him from sitting on his seat. He did not prevent him
           from helping himself and taking his rice. He did not stop him. He is taking Yakusan's bowl full of
           rice and leaving the place. He is showing that "I am now exactly where you are." That is the first
           piece.
               The dancing was the second, the shadow of a meditative state. "You heard that day the great
           melody; today I am dancing it." It is not said .... There are things in Zen which are not said but only
           understood. It is the most subtle way of communication.

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, A MONK CAME TO YAKUSAN FOR GUIDANCE.
              "WHO ARE YOU?" YAKUSAN ASKED HIM.

               It is not that he does not know him, he knows him perfectly well; but whether he knows himself
           or not, that is the question.
              "WHO ARE YOU?" YAKUSAN ASKED HIM.
              "JOTAN," REPLIED THE MONK.

               YAKUSAN SHOUTED, "LAST TIME IT WAS JOTAN AND THIS TIME, TOO, IT IS
           JOTAN! You are not changing! Are you dead? Life knows only change. Last time you were Jotan
           and this time also -- so what happened in between? All that time is lost. You have not reached to
           some new peak, to some new depth. You have not gone beyond your personality that you call Jotan.
           Jotan is only your name, you are not it."
           That's why he shouted.
               Jotan must have been at a loss. Certainly the master is right. All this time he has been involved in
           trivia, all this time he has not meditated. All this time he has not inquired into his innermost being.
           All this time he has been asleep, a robot, a dead man.
               Zen wants you living, living in abundance, living in totality, living intensely -- not at the
           minimum as Christianity wants you, but at the maximum, overflowing.
               Your life should reach to others. Your blissfulness, your benediction, your ecstasy should not be
           contained within you like a seed. It should open like a flower and spread its fragrance to all and
           sundry -- not only to the friends but to the strangers too.
               This is real compassion, this is real love: sharing your enlightenment, sharing your dance of the
           beyond.

           Basho wrote a haiku:

              STILLNESS EVERYWHERE.
              THE CICADA'S VOICE
              PIERCES ROCKS.


                Always remember, haikus are not to be understood as words but as pictures. Haikus have never
           happened anywhere else than China and Japan, and that happened particularly because both the
           countries don't have the alphabet. They have pictures for everything, characters for everything;
           hence they are very difficult to learn. To become a scholar it will take almost twenty to thirty years
           of your life, because you need to know millions of characters.
                Alphabetical languages are simple. You have to learn twenty-six letters. The greatest number of
           letters is in Sanskrit -- fifty-two, double the number in English. Its expressiveness is also double, its
           beauty and its poetry are also double. You cannot believe that medical books in Sanskrit are written
           in poetry, you cannot believe that books on astrology are written in poetry. In Sanskrit anything can
           be written in poetry, even mathematics. It has such a poetic humming sound that each word in itself
           is a part of a poetic line.
                But Chinese and Japanese are more vast; their world is far bigger than any alphabetical language.
           Their language is pictorial, and the difference is the same. While awake you think -- that is
           alphabetical. While asleep you dream -- that is pictorial. Nobody dreams alphabetically.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Have you ever thought about it? Your dreams are pictorial, so colorful -- but very few people's
           dreams are colorful. Most people's dreams are just like their mundane existence -- in black and
           white. Poets, painters, dancers, all creative people dream in psychedelic colors.
               Haikus have to be understood as pictorial. Just visualize them as a dream, not as alphabetical.
           That is the trouble: how to translate them into alphabetical languages.
           STILLNESS EVERYWHERE ... make it an experience.
               STILLNESS EVERYWHERE. THE CICADA'S VOICE ... hear the voice of the cicada ...
           PIERCES ROCKS. It is so intense it almost becomes an arrow and comes with such intensity that it
           pierces rocks.
               These are expressions of meditative people. When they open their eyes out of meditation the
           whole world looks psychedelic. The trees are more green than they have ever been, and they have
           been seeing the same trees always. The roses are more rosy.
               You have heard the phrase, A rose is a rose is a rose. It is not so. After meditation a rose is much
           more rosy than it was before. It is not the same experience, not the same fragrance. Your sensitivity
           has grown deeper, your nose is more receptive, your eyes are clearer, your silence so deep that
           everything around you ...
           Do you hear the noises of the night?
               As your silence deepens the noises become more and more clear. The whole night seems to be
           humming .... Small insects creating all that music around you ...
               When you listen after meditation ... you will see today that the sounds have become a great
           melody, because you have become deeper. You are not superficial. Your meditation has taken you
           beyond the body and beyond the mind, beyond the bones and beyond the marrow, and when you
           come out of meditation you are as fresh as a newly-born child.
               A newborn child sees colors you cannot even imagine. What a tremendous world opens to him!
           He does not know anything. He cannot say what is green and what is yellow and what is red, but the
           way he sees them is far deeper and clearer than you can see. In fact, the more you become
           acquainted, the less you see, the less is your clarity. You become more dull.
               Just ask a husband to describe his wife and he will be at a loss. For the first time he will
           remember: "My God! For thirty years I have not looked at her. On the contrary, I have been avoiding
           her by my newspaper -- remaining longer in the office, going to the pub, coming home late in the
           night, just to avoid her!" The same is the situation with the wife. Ask her.
               You can experiment. Do you remember exactly the face of your mother? First you will think,
           "Yes," but as you go deeper the face of the mother fades. You are not certain how she looks, what
           color her eyes are, how old she is. How many wrinkles are under her eyes? -- you have never seen.
           Who sees one's mother? Who sees one's father? We are too much acquainted with each other, there is
           no need.

               It happened in America ... it could have happened only in America. A man married for the
           twelfth time, and after three days of honeymooning he remembered that "I have married this woman
           one time before!"
               But who remembers ...? Twelve wives ... she may have been the second or the third. Neither had
           she recognized him. Meanwhile she had also gone through many husbands. But after three days --
           for three days he enjoyed a new woman, and the fourth day he was feeling to divorce her.

           Our dullness of senses is great!
               Meditation sharpens every sense -- not only the eyes, not only the ears, but every sense, even
           your touch. A meditator's touch will be so full of warmth and love, you will feel something is
           flowing through him towards you. He has so much joy, so much contentment, he cannot contain it. It
           goes on flowing all around him. He creates a certain feel. If you come closer to a master, into his
           field of energy, suddenly you will feel a change.
               Have you ever observed it? When you come from the outside, from the city, and enter the gate,
           you suddenly feel a different breeze, a different freshness. People's faces look so joyous, so
           un-Christian. You have entered into a different world.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              COULD YOU TALK ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WORKAHOLIC AND SOMEONE WHO
              IS TOTAL IN THEIR WORK?


               Maneesha, the difference is very great. The workaholic is not total in his work. The workaholic is
           addicted to work, he cannot sit silently. He has to do something; whether it is needed or not, that is
           not the question.
               Now in Japan they are trying more and more for robots to work in the factories, because the
           robot can work twenty-four hours a day, with no strikes, no trouble with the labor unions, not
           constantly asking for a raise in the wages, no holidays. Robots are not religious anyway! But the
           workers are absolutely against it -- and the government is only asking them to take one day off in
           seven.
               In Japan, even on Sunday people work -- there is no holiday as such -- and people are resisting
           the government, there is great turmoil. They are not ready to take one holiday per week. They will be
           paid for it, what is the problem? They are addicted. They say, "What will we do at home? No, we
           don't want such trouble. At home there will be fighting with the wife, with the children -- and we are
           addicted to work.
               "We will open the bonnet of the car, although everything is alright, and we will destroy the car
           by trying to refine the engine. We will open the television set and destroy it. We have already done
           it! Sometimes when a national holiday comes, we have done it -- destroyed our old grandfather
           clocks, and they were working perfectly well, but something had to be done!"
               These are workaholics -- addicted to work just as people are addicted to drugs. Work is their
           drug. It keeps them engaged. It keeps them away from their worries, it keeps them away from their
           tensions. It keeps them just like any drug: it drowns your worries, tensions, anxieties, sufferings,
           Christianity, God, sin, hell -- everything is drowned. A miserable person suddenly starts laughing,
           enjoying.
               You just go in a pub and see. A pub is a far more joyous place than a church. Everybody is
           laughing, enjoying, fighting, punching each other's noses, and when they get back home ... it is late
           in the night, they are staggering, falling on the road.

               One man came home and he was trembling so much, so drunk he could not manage to open the
           lock, because the key and the lock ... The key was in one hand, the lock was in the other hand, and
           there was no meeting, no dialogue!
               Finally, the policeman on the street saw the poor fellow, so he came. He said, "Can I help you?"
               The drunk said, "Yes, just hold the house steady. There seems to be such a great earthquake!"

               They have forgotten everything ... the world and its troubles and the third world war. But you can
           use anything as a drug -- just become addicted.
               A few people are just chewing gum. You take their gum and see how miserable they become!
           Immediately they start thinking, "Life is useless. There is no meaning in life. Where is my chewing
           gum?"
               The chewing gum keeps them engaged, and that's how cigarettes keep them engaged. That's how
           people go on gossiping with each other. That keeps them engaged. Nobody bothers whether it is true
           or false, that is not the point. The question is: How to keep engaged and away from yourself?
               So the workaholics are against meditation. Every addiction is going to prevent you from
           becoming a meditator. All addictions have to be dropped.
               But to be total in your work is a totally different thing. To be total in your work is not addiction,
           it is a kind of meditation. When you are totally in your work, your work has a possibility of
           perfection, you will have a joy arising out of a perfect work.
               If you can be perfect and total in work, you can be total in no-work -- just sitting silently, totally
           silent. You know how to be total. You can close your eyes and you can be totally in. You know the
           secret of being total.
               So to be total in work is helpful in meditation. The workaholic cannot meditate, he cannot sit
           silently even for a few minutes. He will fidget, he will change his position, he will do something or
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other -- look into this pocket or that pocket, and he knows that there is nothing in those pockets. He
           will take out his glasses, clean them, put them away, and he knows they are clean.

                I have been traveling for twenty years around this country, continuously, on the train, on the
           plane, and I have seen people opening their suitcases, looking into them, closing the suitcase -- as if
           there was something to see. They are just at a loss what to do. They will open the window of the
           train, close the window, they will lie down, close their eyes, open their eyes.
                I used to tell people in trains ... In India, if you are going from Bombay to Calcutta it will take
           forty-eight hours. I would enter into my air-conditioned coupe -- mostly I was alone, but once in a
           while there was somebody else, because the coupe can have two persons -- and I would immediately
           tell my name, my father's name, my grandfather's name, from where I come, without being asked.
           They would be shocked. I would say, "I am finishing my whole autobiography so that you need not
           ask anything."
                And then I would sit and that man would look very strange .... He would say, "What kind of man
           ...?"
                I would tell him, "Now keep quiet, I have told the whole autobiography, there is nothing more!"
           And I would sit and look at him -- forty-eight hours -- and whenever he would start opening his
           mouth I would say ... Then he would start doing things. He would read the same newspaper again
           from the very beginning, the name of the newspaper, to the very end, the publishers, the editors --
           and once in a while he would look at me.
                It happened many times that he would call the conductor and say, "I want to change from this
           compartment."
                The conductor would say, "Why? You have a very good companion. I know him because he is
           continuously traveling. He is a nice man. You be here."
                He would say, "It is not a question of a nice or a good man. He is too nice -- but please put me
           into some other compartment where there are people to talk to! This man is dangerous. He goes on
           staring at me without blinking, and I become afraid. I have taken three showers since the morning
           just for no reason at all. Just to avoid him I go into the bathroom; then I say, `It is better to take a
           shower. At least a few minutes will be passed.'"
                But forty-eight hours ... and he would start seeing his insanity, that he is unnecessarily opening
           the window, closing the window, unnecessarily lying down, turning this side, that side -- and I am
           watching! Then he would sit down, then he would go on the upper berth. I would keep my hand up,
           so that he could see my hand, because I could not say it: "I am here! You go on doing all your
           insanities!"
           These are the workaholics.

               But a man who is total in his work is not a workaholic. He can be total -- in anything, he will be
           total. He will be total while he is sleeping, he will be total while he is going for a walk. He will be
           just a walker, nothing else -- no other thoughts, no other dreams, no other imaginations. Sleeping, he
           will simply sleep; eating, he will simply eat.
               You don't do that. You are eating and your mind is doing hundreds of trips ....
               I have been seeing -- in every bed there are never two people, but a great crowd. The husband is
           making love to his wife but he is thinking of Sophia Loren; the wife is not making love to her
           husband, she is making love to Muhammad Ali. In every bed you will find such a crowd! Nobody is
           total in any act, not even in love.
               So be total in everything that you do or do not do. Be total -- then your whole life becomes a
           meditation.

           Now it is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

              Grandpa Babblebrain is going deaf, so he is sitting on the couch watching the TV at full volume.
           Suddenly Boris, his wife and their kids all come bursting into the house, returning from their
           vacation in Hawaii.
           "Hi, Grandpa," shouts Billy Babblebrain, jumping into the old man's lap. "We are back from our
           vacation!"
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "What?" shouts Grandpa, holding his ear.
           "We are back!" shouts Billy. "We saw that famous volcano!"
           "What?" shouts Grandpa.
           "VOLCANO!" shouts Billy. "You know, one of those things that belches and spits fire!"
           "Oh, yes," says Grandpa, shaking his head. "I married one!"

               Rambo Retard, the American, and Boris Bog, the Russian, are sitting in MacDonald's hamburger
           restaurant in Santa Fe, discussing communism.
               "In America we have such freedom," claims Rambo Retard, stuffing his mouth with a
           cheeseburger. "For example, any man who wants to can walk right up to the steps of the White
           House and call President Bush an asshole!"
               "Ah!" retorts Boris, the Russian. "We have equal freedom in Russia. Any man who wants to can
           walk right up to the steps of the Kremlin and call President Bush an asshole, too!"

                It is quiet in the Kremlin, in Moscow, one morning, and Mikhail Gorbachev is just finishing his
           black bread toast when the phone rings.
                "Hey, Mikey," comes the voice of George Bush on the other end. "You must come here right
           away -- I have something to show you!"
                So Gorbachev finishes his breakfast, flies over to America, and arrives at the White House. He is
           escorted to George Bush's office, where Bush shows him a large black machine with three buttons
           sitting on a table.
                "You must try this," says Bush. "It is our latest American technology. Just push one button."
                Gorbachev steps forward with a big smile on his face, pushes the first button, and a giant red
           boxing glove springs out and POW! -- punches him on the nose.
                Laughing, George Bush picks Gorbachev off the floor. "That was very good, Mikhail; now try
           button number two!"
                Dazed, but still smiling, Gorbachev pushes the second button, and POW! -- a huge white boxing
           glove belts him on the nose, knocking him to the floor.
                "Just great!" giggles Bush, lifting Gorbachev again. "Come on now, be a sport. Try number
           three!"
                Stunned, but in the interest of friendship, Gorbachev pushes the third button. A massive blue
           boxing glove jumps out and POW! -- cracks Gorbachev on the chin.
           An hour later when Gorbachev wakes up, he flies back home to Moscow.
                Two weeks pass, and George Bush is in the bath, when he gets a phone call from the Kremlin.
                "Hey, Georgie," says Gorbachev. "I have something you must see. Come right away!"
                Bush gets into Air Force One, the presidential jet, and flies directly to Moscow. When he arrives
           at the Kremlin, Gorbachev excitedly shows him a huge black machine with two buttons sitting on his
           desk.
           "Go on, George," says Gorbachev. "Try it! It is our latest technology."
                Smiling nervously, Bush steps forward, touches the first button, and ducks his head to one side.
           Nothing happens.
           "Well, okay," says Gorbachev, "then try the second button."
                Bush edges towards the machine, reaches out, touches the second button, and quickly leans back.
           Again, nothing happens.
                "Very good, Mikhail," laughs Bush. "I enjoyed that very much. But I am a busy man, and I must
           get back home to America!"
           "America?" says Gorbachev. "What America?"

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ... and feel the body completely frozen.
               This is the right moment to look inwards. Gather your whole life energy, and your total
           consciousness. With an immense urgency you have to reach to the center of your being, just like an
           arrow.
           Faster and faster, deeper and deeper ...
           As you come closer to yourself,
           a great silence descends over you.
           A little closer and you can see flowers from the beyond
           showering on you like rain.
               A little deeper and you can see fountains of peace all around you. The coolness becomes cooler.
               The moment you reach to the center, you are no more. You find for the first time your original
           face. I call that original face the buddha, the awakened one.
           At this moment,
           the Buddha Auditorium is filled with ten thousand buddhas.
           At this moment
           you are the most blessed people on the earth.
           Just remember one thing:
           at the center you can be only a witness.
           Watch.
           As a witness you are not the body.
           Witness ... you are not the mind.
               Witness ... you are not other subtle layers of astral bodies inside you. There are seven bodies
           inside you, very thin layers. Just go on watching: you are none of them.
               And finally, witness that you are only a witness. This is your buddha nature. This is your
           ultimate nature.

           To make the witnessing complete, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ...
           But remember that you are only a witness, nothing else.
           Silence gathers more and more around you.
                This is the peace that has been called "the peace that passes understanding."
                Slowly slowly your consciousness starts melting like ice. All separation from others dissolves.
           The Buddha Auditorium becomes an ocean of consciousness without any ripples ... utter silence,
           ultimate beauty, a feeling of divineness, of godliness, that you are one with the whole.
                This whole cosmos is nothing but a womb, and we are all in it -- not separate, but utterly melted.
                This is the first step of meditation: to reach to the center, to become the buddha.
                The second step is very simple, I don't have to teach you. The second step depends on you.
           Whenever you want, you can take a jump from the buddha and disappear into the blue cosmos,
           opening your wings, flying to the ultimate freedom. This freedom is the final goal of all
           religiousness.
                Gather as much experience of the center ... all the flowers, all the fragrances, all the juice that
           you can find only at the center.
           It is your life, it is your love, it is your laughter.
                And before Nivedano calls you, do one thing more. Persuade the buddha to come along with you.
           He has to become one with you, so much so that one day you are no more, only your ultimate nature,
           the buddha, remains.
                First he will become your shadow; second, you will become his shadow. That day will be the
           greatest day of celebration in your life.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Come back ...
               But come back as buddhas, with the same peace, the same silence, the same grace, the same
           blissfulness. Sit down for a few seconds, just to remind yourself of the golden path that you have
           traveled, the great experience that you have gone through.
               And see? -- the buddha is coming closer and closer to you every day, inch by inch. He is just
           behind you. One day you will be behind him.
               Remember around the clock that essentially you are a buddha. Behave as a witness, with great
           grace. And by and by, even your ordinary activities of day-to-day life will become divine.
               Unless we can transform the mundane into the sacred, your meditation is not complete, is not
           perfect.
           To be here now,
           to be totally here now, and you are the buddha,
           the ultimate perfection humanity has ever achieved.
               You have the same potential, the same height and the same depth. It is only a question of taking
           the challenge and exploring your own inner sky, and you will be surprised.
               Outside you have been a beggar -- even the richest man is a beggar because he still wants more.
           When you get settled at the center, for the first time you are an emperor, because everything is
           fulfilled. There is no desire for more, there is no desire at all, but a pure isness, a transparent isness.
           Here you will find the truth.
           Here you will find the beauty.
               Here you will find the meaning of godliness -- and you don't have to defend them. They are
           eternal, they have always been here now, only you have not looked in.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                    Chapter #6
                                       Chapter title: Good soldiers of christ
           27 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901275
              ShortTitle: CHRIST06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 180 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONCE, WHEN UNGAN WAS IN YAKUSAN'S PRESENCE, THE MASTER SAID TO HIM, "WHAT
              DOES HYAKUJO OSHO USUALLY TEACH?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "HE SAYS, `GO BEYOND THREE PHRASES,' OR `GO BEYOND SIX PHRASES
              AND GET IT.'"
              YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "WITH A DISTANCE OF SEVEN HUNDRED MILES BETWEEN US,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FORTUNATELY WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HYAKUJO." BUT THEN HE
              CONTINUED, "WHAT ELSE DOES HE TEACH?"
              UNGAN SAID, "ONCE, AFTER THE DISCOURSE, WHEN THE CONGREGATION STOOD UP
              FROM THEIR SEATS, HYAKUJO CALLED OUT TO THEM. WHEN THEY LOOKED BACK AT THE
              MASTER, HYAKUJO SAID, `WHAT IS THAT?'"
              YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT EARLIER -- HYAKUJO IS STILL
              DOING WELL. THANKS TO YOU, I WAS ABLE TO SEE HYAKUJO."


               Friends,
               The Christians have been claiming that they have discovered the world. It is just holy shit.
           Columbus never discovered America, he re-discovered it. It had been discovered many times before,
           and there are valid evidences for it.
               In Turkey, there is a map which has been decided by scientists to be seven hundred years old. It
           is a world map, with America included in it, and it looks so contemporary. Everything we see in the
           modern maps is available in that map.
               Not only does it mean that America was known to the man who made the map, it also implies
           that such a map cannot have been made without a flying machine. Without any airplane, such a map
           is impossible. You cannot see a bird's-eye view of the whole continent, of the whole world, from
           every angle ... you cannot make a map of India sitting here. Every nook and corner is drawn so
           clearly on the map.
               So it is a propaganda of the Christians that Columbus discovered America. Before him, America
           was perfectly well known, and not only America, but the whole world as we know it today. The
           maps have not changed at all.
               But this was not the first time that a map was made of America, seven hundred years ago. Five
           thousand years ago, one of the great warriors of India, Arjuna, married a Mexican woman. In
           Sanskrit the name of Mexico is Makshika. From Makshika, Mexico is derived.
               One of the most scholarly Buddhist monks, Bhikshu Chimanlal, has written a book that
           Christians go on ignoring. The name of the book is HINDU AMERICA -- because everywhere in
           Mexico and other parts, Hindu gods have been found, temples devoted to Hindu gods, statues of
           Hindu gods. The shape of the temples is the shape of the Hindu temple.
               But not only has Chimanlal proved definitively that there was a time when the whole of America
           was converted to Hinduism, he has also found places which Christians will be shocked to know
           about.
               There are fields in many forests of South America which have strange signs on them. Those
           signs can be understood only if you are high above in the sky, from an airplane -- and the fields look
           exactly like airports. It has been said that those symbols are simply made so the pilots understand
           that they are above the airport; that there was no other use in making them if there were no airplanes.
           The signs are so big you cannot make any sense of them, standing on the ground you cannot see the
           whole sign. And such vast fields, so clean, that even now after thousands of years, it is as if airplanes
           could use them.
               In Sanskrit, the airplane is called viman, and there are so many descriptions in so many scriptures
           that they have to be understood. The airplane is described with great detail in the
           MAHABHARATA, and perhaps a far better version than we know of yet, because it was not fueled
           by petrol. It used to have a certain precious stone on top of it, which absorbed the sun's rays, and
           through those sun rays the airplane was fueled. That was a far more developed version than our
           airplanes. We are wasting all the petrol on airplanes, on cars.
               In the MAHABHARATA, which is five thousand years old, it is shown that they had found how
           to use solar energy. And the Christians go on insisting that "We have civilized the world."
               Socrates was not civilized? Gautam Buddha was not civilized? Lao Tzu was not civilized?
           Confucius was not civilized?
               Even before Jesus Christ was born, three thousand years before, India had discovered the
           alphabet. China had discovered gunpowder and all kinds of technological devices -- before the birth
           of Jesus, thousands of years before.
               In the MAHABHARATA, all kinds of weapons were used which are not available to our
           intelligence. We thought they were just mythology -- but atomic energy has proved that they were
           not mythology, they were atomic weapons.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Mahavira was five hundred years before Jesus, and he was the twenty-fourth tirthankara of the
           Jainas. The first tirthankara of the Jainas, Adinatha, is mentioned in the ancientmost book in the
           world, the RIGVEDA, with such deep respect. That was culture.
                It was Adinatha who founded Jainism and separated from Hinduism, but the Hindus' most sacred
           book does not condemn him, does not criticize him. He criticized everything that the Hindus had
           believed for centuries. He was against the caste system; he was against Manu and his
           commandments to the Hindus. He was against the brahmin priests, but still ... This was culture.
                In the RIGVEDA they have very respectfully remembered Adinatha, that he was a unique man, a
           great man, a man of tremendous understanding: "It does not matter that we don't agree with each
           other, but we can respect each other."
                And you say "we" civilized the world! Christians! You don't know about anything before Jesus
           Christ.
                China was already a civilized country. India was always, for thousands of years before Jesus,
           absolutely a civilized country.
                Christians have to come down from their propaganda machine. What do they know of culture?
                In India there flourished hundreds of philosophies, and every philosopher criticized others as
           severely as possible, but with great respect. It was not a question of criticizing the other philosopher,
           it was a question of finding the truth -- and that is the aim of all thinkers and philosophers and
           theologians. So you may disagree, but you cannot be disrespectful.
                Jainism and Buddhism are the most civilized religions of the world. They have not killed
           anybody, not a single person, in an effort to convert him.
                And the Christian church calls itself the militant church. Military and church ...?
                Certainly Christians have killed more people in the world than any other religion. It is a militant
           church. It used to have great armies, it used to send armies to convert pagans. Pagans were beautiful
           people, far more beautiful than any Christian.
                Pagans were nature-worshippers. They loved the trees, they loved the rivers, they loved the
           mountains, they loved the stars, the sun, the moon ... that was their world. There was no God, there
           was no hell, there was no heaven. This very life was paradise. What Buddha said, pagans would have
           said. But Christianity has killed them or converted them. Now there are no more pagans. They were
           the most joyous people, who loved, who lived abundantly, without any fear and greed.
                But Buddha has made a statement which is certainly a pagan statement. Buddha said, "This very
           body the buddha, and this very earth, the lotus paradise." That statement contains the whole
           philosophy of the pagans. But Christians treated pagans as a subhuman race; they were not human
           beings, so to kill them was just like hunting, killing animals.
           What Christians have done is exploit the whole world, not discover it.
           What have they done in Australia?
                They used to kill the natives just as hunters kill animals. They have almost destroyed the native
           population of Australia -- killing human beings as a game. And the people who went to Australia
           were the criminals expelled from England. They had committed murders, they had committed rapes
           and all kinds of heinous crimes. They needed crucifixion. But rather than crucifying them -- because
           they were English -- England simply sent them out of the country. And these people became in
           Australia the president, the prime minister, the super-rich people, the most cultured ... and they were
           killing human beings like animals.
                The same has happened in America, not on such a vast scale, but still the same. Criminals went
           to America, criminals expelled from England. Two states they founded, and of those two states they
           were the governors. They simply killed people. And when other people came from other European
           countries, they destroyed the Red Indians, the natives of America. Those who survived have been
           forced into deep forests. They call them reservations, but it is a sheer change of the word. They are
           concentration camps with a sophistication that Adolf Hitler was not aware of.
                Adolf Hitler had to create electric barbed wires around the concentration camps. The people who
           reached America managed in a far more beautiful way. First they killed most of the natives. Then
           small pockets of natives were given pensions, so they don't come into the mainstream life of
           America. They have to remain on the reservations. They are not educated, but they are given good
           pensions because their land has been taken. On the surface only it looks very civilized; inside the
           story is totally different.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They have been given pensions and no work. Now what will they do with their money? They
           gamble, they drink, and in their drunkenness their whole life is wasted. And they go on creating
           more and more children, because each child brings more pension money.
               They are uneducated, they are not allowed to enter into the mainstream world of America, and
           they are given so much money -- such a cunning strategy. With so much money what will they do?
           They will gamble, they will rape, they will have prostitutes, they will drink their whole life away.
           They don't think at all that America is theirs; they don't have that much consciousness left. That's
           why they cannot revolt. In fact, revolution will be dangerous to their pension.
               So this is a far more sophisticated electric barbed wiring around them. They can't even raise their
           voices for liberation, for freedom, because freedom will mean ... who will give them the pensions
           without work? So it is better to keep silent and just go on drinking and raping and gambling. That is
           their whole life.
               Much land was acquired by killing, but just to show it to the world, a few pieces of land were
           purchased. You will be surprised: they were purchased with a loaded gun at the chest of the man to
           whom the land belonged. This way New York was purchased for ninety dollars, the whole city of
           New York. Ninety dollars? Can you conceive of it? Just three hundred years before ... And most of
           the land that has been purchased has been purchased the same way as New York. But they had the
           satisfaction that they were paying for the land.

               When I was investigated in America, they asked me questions. I had to answer them by other
           questions. I told the man, the chief of the immigration services, "What do you think about yourself?
           You are a foreigner, I am a foreigner. You are a little older foreigner -- you came three hundred
           years ago, I am new -- but don't think that this land belongs to you. And who is to judge? -- you?
               "You entered this country without any visa and without any entry permit, and you entered this
           country as invaders. I am entering this country with a visa, with an entry permit as a tourist. If you
           have any honesty, about which Christians claim so much, you should leave this country
           immediately! It is not your land, and your hands are covered in blood.
               "You are deceiving the whole world, and deceiving yourselves! You made the Constitution in
           somebody else's land, and you talk about freedom? And you talk about freedom of speech, and you
           talk about respect for the individual: what have you done to the natives? That was respect?
               "Against your own Constitution you are keeping those people as slaves, and you are occupying
           their country. And you want me to ask for a permit to be a resident here? Foreigners asking
           foreigners?
               "And I have purchased the land! -- and not like you. You have paid ninety dollars for New York.
           We have paid six million dollars for Rajneeshpuram" -- and we invested in the commune three
           hundred million dollars -- "and we have not invaded anybody."
               But the commune which was flourishing ... the whole of America was shaken by the commune.
           Most shaken were the Christians, who think they are civilized. It was the fundamentalist Christian
           President Ronald Reagan, acting under the influence and pressure of the church to destroy this
           commune: "It is dangerous, because it is taking young people from the Christian fold."
               You go on taking people from the Hindu fold, from the Mohammedan fold, from the Buddhist
           fold, and that is absolutely alright. And if I had been ... I was not converting anybody into any
           religion. Only the very intelligent people had come, on their own accord, and they were free to leave
           any moment.
               This is not a religion, it is a caravan of seekers of truth. Nobody is converted, everybody has
           joined the caravan, the commune, on his own accord. His freedom is intact, his individuality is
           respected.
               It has been asked of me, "Before you there have been Hindu monks, Jaina monks, Buddhist
           monks, but nobody was so much condemned. Why was your commune destroyed by America by
           force?"
           The reason is clear.
               Vivekananda was the first to enter America from India, but he behaved like a politician: he
           praised Christianity, and he said, "All religions are one" -- and he did not take anybody out of the
           Christian fold. He never criticized a single Christian dogma, so naturally there was no question. He
           had no commune, he was just a visitor, praising. People loved him, because their religion was being
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           praised by an outsider.
                The same was done by Ramateertha, and the same has been done by Maharishi Yogi and other
           sannyasins of Hinduism. They all praise Christianity, so Christians are happy.
                I am not going to praise any lies, any poisons, any untruths. I am going to say straightforwardly
           what is what. That was the problem for them. They could not understand how to argue with me.
                I was in America for five years, fighting in all the courts. In the end my visa had expired long
           before, I had no visa, no entry permit -- but they had not the guts even to come into the commune.
           They surrounded the whole commune -- the commune had one hundred and twenty-six square miles
           -- they surrounded the whole commune with the National Guard with machine guns, but they did not
           dare to enter into the commune.
                And we had nothing -- just thirty semi-automatic guns, which are available in America to any
           citizen. These belonged to the police force of the commune, which was paid by the American
           government because the police force was part of the American police force, even though all the
           people were sannyasins who had taken the police training. So they were afraid that "Although the
           police force is ours, it is going to fight for the commune, not for us."
                The greatest power in the world was afraid of thirty semiautomatic guns. They were planning for
           years and years how to arrest me -- and I don't have even a paperknife!
                To arrest me is so easy .... There was no need to handcuff me, there was no need to put chains on
           me. You could just have told me, "You are invited to the presidential guesthouse -- the jail," and I
           would have gone with them. There was no question about it.
                But you will be surprised .... They asked the FBI to arrest me, and the head laughed. He said, "A
           single individual who has not committed any crime, and you ask us to arrest him? We will not."
           Even the head of the army was asked. He simply laughed: "Have you gone mad? Has the army ever
           been called to arrest a single individual who has nothing in his hands with which to fight? You will
           make us a laughingstock all over the world." He refused.
                All the government agencies refused to arrest me, for the simple reason that they could not show
           any reason why I should be arrested. They could not say that I didn't have a visa, although my visa
           had expired long before. They could not say it because I had applied for renewing the visa, and they
           had not answered. They were afraid that if they said no, I was going to take them to the court, up to
           the Supreme Court, and it would take twenty years at least to decide the matter. So "No" they could
           not say; "Yes" they would not say.
                So they did not tell the army or the government agencies that "The only reason to arrest him is
           that he has been living in America without any visa." It was their fault, not mine. I had asked them
           again and again that "Either you say no, or you say yes" -- but they could not say either.
                They could not say yes because the Christian church was pressuring them that I should be thrown
           out of the country; once I am thrown out of the country, the commune will disperse. The commune
           had gathered out of love and gratitude around me, otherwise there was no reason to be in that desert.
                We transformed the desert into a garden. It was for sale for forty years, and nobody was ready to
           purchase it -- at any price. What will you do with that desert? But our creative people made houses,
           made dams, created small rivers. We had enough water in our reservoirs so that even if for five years
           there was no rain, we had reserves of water. We had planted so many trees that it was not going to be
           long before the trees would attract the clouds.
                We were cultivating in the desert enough food for the commune. Five years more and the
           commune would have been absolutely independent. We had our own cows for milk, we had our own
           hens laying eggs for people's breakfast. We had our own fields, we had our own greenhouses --
           because in the desert the sun is so hot, and unless you make a greenhouse ... We had our own
           greenhouses for vegetables, for fruits. And this all was happening while we were fighting with the
           government in every court. They were putting imaginary cases ... but once they put a case against
           you, you have to fight it.
                We had the greatest law firm in the whole world. Two of the attorneys are here: Anando,
           Sangeet, and I think Niren was here just a few days before -- perhaps he may be here. We had four
           hundred people in the law firm, four hundred people continuously working on every aspect of
           American law and the Constitution.
                If they had depended simply on law, there would have been no way to destroy the commune. But
           they dropped all law, all Constitution, they were simply mad! And that madness is not part of a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cultured religion. It is not civilization.
                We have not thrown out the Christian missionaries from India. They go on converting people to
           the Catholic fold -- but if people want to be Catholics, it is perfectly okay. It is their choice. The
           government has no objection; it has given freedom of religion.
                The American Constitution also makes it clear that the state should not interfere in religious
           matters -- but they interfered. They crushed and destroyed our commune.
                Just now I have received a few pictures. Even after five years in the desert, the trees that we have
           planted there are so green, they have achieved such great height, and with such beautiful shade
           underneath. They are still waiting ....
                But the government has not only deported me for five years, it has also made arrangements for
           another five years' suspended jail sentence. If I enter America after five years, they can put me in jail
           on any excuse -- imaginary -- and I will not have any recourse to appeal for five years. So, in fact,
           they have prevented me for ten years.
                In ten years those trees won't survive. Those three hundred peacocks in my garden, they have
           been catching them and selling them. They could get only one hundred and fifty, one hundred and
           fifty have escaped into the mountains. They will not be able to survive.
                The dam needs continuous care. In ten years it will not be able to contain the overflow of water.
           We were continually on guard that no water overflows the dam. Once the water starts overflowing,
           soon the dam will be destroyed -- and all the commune land is below the dam, so it will be flooded
           with water. That will destroy all the houses that we made for three thousand people to live in, all the
           roads that we created.
                And we were not employing any laborers. Doctors, surgeons, professors, teachers -- all kinds of
           educated people were creating roads, making houses, making gardens, lawns. We had one of the best
           hotels, with two hundred and forty rooms -- a five-star hotel in the desert. The whole commune was
           centrally air-conditioned .... Now what will happen to all that?
                Just a few months ago -- a picture has been sent to me by a sannyasin .... They did not allow me
           to stay even one day after I was released. They told me that I had to leave immediately. They were
           afraid that if I stayed even one more day, there was a possibility I might be able to appeal to the high
           court, to the Supreme Court. Fifteen minutes ... and my jet plane had been kept with the engine
           running, so that immediately I should be taken to the airport and taken out of America. I could not go
           back to the commune just to say goodbye to my people.
                Even when they gave me bail it was prohibited ... they made it absolutely certain that I didn't
           leave the commune. Every day a phone call would come and I had to answer the phone. I could not
           use the airplanes -- we had five airplanes in the commune.
                I wanted to go to the commune to at least tell my people, "Don't be worried. Even if I am not
           here, you continue, you will feel my presence. And ten years will pass" -- five years have already
           passed, five more years will pass also -- "I will be back." But they did not allow me even to go back
           to the commune.
                And just a few months ago I received a picture. We had -- those who were in the commune will
           remember -- just in front of the assembly hall, we had the sign of two birds flying, just as you
           entered from the road towards the assembly hall.
                A picture has been sent to me: some fanatic Christian has shot those symbolic birds, made twenty
           holes, with a gun. These are civilized people? And they were only painted birds, not even living
           birds -- but such anger, such violence!
                They must have robbed every house, everything that they could carry. They must have destroyed
           everything that we had managed so beautifully, with so much care and love. People were working
           ten hours, twelve hours a day. A great dream was about to be realized.
                And these people call themselves the ones who have civilized the world! They are not
           themselves civilized. They need civilization.

               Perhaps, in the whole history of the popes, only one pope was honest. This pope was Pope Leo
           the Tenth in the sixteenth century. He is reported to have said, "It has served us well, this myth of
           Christ." I am not saying it, it is a statement from an infallible pope: "This myth of Christ has served
           us well."
           Certainly, it has profited you well.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They have been talking about truth, but they have been hiding immensely important things. They
           have changed all the gospels, they have edited everything that was going to be difficult for them to
           argue for, to defend.
               In the oldest versions of the gospels, you will be surprised to know, Judas was one of Jesus
           Christ's brothers. He had two brothers and two sisters -- but to keep Jesus' mother, Mary, without sin,
           they have dropped those daughters and those brothers completely. Either they would have had to
           bring the Holy Ghost five times -- that would be too tiring for the Holy Ghost, and it is a
           remote-control operation -- or they would have had to accept that Mary gave birth from Joseph, her
           legal husband; that this Holy Ghost is illegal, and that Jesus is an illegitimate child.
               They have dropped from the gospels the very idea that Jesus had any brothers or any sisters.
           They had to keep Mariam, or Mary, or Maria, or whatever name you give to Jesus' mother ...
           Mohammedans call her Mariam, which looks to me the most beautiful. Greeks call her Maria,
           ordinary Christians call her Mary. But to keep Mary without sin was necessary for a certain reason.
               Why had God chosen Mary to give birth to his only begotten son? -- because she was without
           sin. It means that on the whole earth there was no other virgin girl; only Mary was virgin. It is such a
           condemnation of the whole of humanity.

               I have heard: in a Christian church the priest was saying that virginity is one of the foundations.
           There were more women present than men.
               Men don't go to churches or temples, or any other holy places. It is the women, because that is
           the only place where they can gossip with each other. They don't have any clubs, they cannot go to
           the restaurants, to the pubs. They have no social mobility, only the church. So they go out of
           necessity, because that is the only place where they can show their ornaments, their beautiful
           clothing, the fur coats, and all kinds of gossips that are boiling within them. They don't go for Jesus
           Christ, for sure!
               And a few husbands go there -- not for Jesus Christ, but either to keep an eye on their wife or to
           keep an eye on somebody else's wife!
               When the priest asked, "Out of all you women, how many are virgins? Stand up!" nobody stood
           up. The priest said, "My God! Nobody is a virgin?"
               Then a woman with a small baby stood up. He said, "You idiot! I am asking about virgins. You
           already have a baby!"
               The woman said, "The baby cannot stand, and that is the only virgin in the church. I am not
           virgin, but this baby is six months old; she is still a virgin, believe me, but she cannot stand on her
           own!"

           They say they are defending truth.
           They are defending lies.
               They don't mention in the gospels that Judas was Jesus' brother. And one thing is certain: they go
           on condemning Judas, that he betrayed Jesus for thirty silver pieces -- but in the gospels themselves
           there is not a single word of condemnation of Judas.
               My own understanding is that he never betrayed Jesus. It was Jesus himself, in his fanatical
           hallucination. Judas was trying to convince him, "Don't go at this moment into Jerusalem. It is the
           Jewish holiday, and this is the time of year when people are crucified. You will be caught, there are
           rumors all around. It is better not to go to Jerusalem at this moment. Let this festival pass, then you
           can go."
               But Jesus was absolutely fanatical. He said, "Don't you trust in God? This is a chance for the
           Jews to know that I am the only begotten son of God. Let them crucify me, and God will do a
           miracle!"
               And you have not been told that Judas was so sad and sorry when Jesus was crucified that the
           next day he committed suicide, hanging himself from a tree.
               But Christians will not talk about the truth. They have to throw the responsibility on someone,
           but without any evidence from ancient scriptures ... It is one of the most poisonous religions.
               It says that one of the pillars of Christianity is forgiveness. It looks beautiful when you hear the
           word `forgiveness', but the implications are very evil.
               A man rapes a woman. The man will be forgiven by God, but what about the woman? The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           criminal is forgiven, what about the victim? There is not a single mention that the victim will be
           rewarded or anything.
               A man murders, and he simply goes to the priest and confesses, and the priest gives him a simple
           method, so cheap: "You have murdered a man. Put ten dollars in the charity box and say five Hail
           Marys, and your sin is forgiven. God is compassionate."
               But what about the murdered? Nobody has asked the question to the Christians, "What about the
           murdered? What is God going to do with the murdered, the raped woman, the molested child?"
               And, strangely enough, the same man will commit another murder, because now he is fresh,
           clear; the old murder is erased, forgiven for ten dollars and five Hail Marys. Now he can commit
           another murder, he can commit another rape. All he needs is to go and confess to the priest and give
           some money, and the priest will give him a prayer to do five or ten times.
               There is no mention of the person who has been committing crime after crime. He is not being
           punished, he is being continuously forgiven. And all those people who have suffered from this man's
           crimes, there is not a single mention of them in the whole Christian religion. It seems God is in favor
           of criminals, but not in favor of the victims.
           Now look again at the idea of forgiveness, and you will see that it is ugly.
               In other religions, Jainism, Buddhism, there is no God -- and it is good that there is no God.
           Nobody can forgive, so there is no question of forgiveness. These religions are more scientific.
           Every action will have its reaction, nobody can prevent it. You put your hand in the fire and you will
           be burnt. No God can prevent it. You rape a woman and you will suffer a deep wound of guilt. You
           may go mad, but you will have to suffer. Only suffering will cleanse you, not forgiveness.
               These religions are far more scientific: Taoism, Buddhism, Jainism. These three religions don't
           have any God, they don't have any hell, any heaven. They are purely scientific: live according to
           your awareness and there will be nothing like sin committed by you. Live unconsciously and you
           will suffer.
               It is unconsciousness that suffers. There is nobody who can forgive you; that forgiveness is in
           itself a criminal act, because the raped woman is suffering. Perhaps she gets pregnant, she has a child
           which she cannot love. She hates it. It is out of rape that the child has come to her.
               There is no discussion at all about the very fundamental problem. Forgiveness is not the right
           thing.
               One who commits anything against existence has to suffer. One who helps existence to grow
           towards more beauty and more consciousness, and more joy and more dance, should be rewarded --
           not by any God, but by his own act. In fact, when you do something good out of your awareness, the
           very action brings such blissfulness to you, such peace, such joy; you are rewarded in the action
           itself.
               And if you do evil ... that is only possible if you are not meditative. If you are an unconscious
           being, in blindness you may commit something which hurts someone -- but then you have to take the
           responsibility, and you have to suffer the reaction that is produced by your action.
           Christianity is absolutely unscientific.
           There is no future for Christianity.

                They say that they have given a sense of morality to the world. These are their questions they
           have sent to me.
                "We have given a sense of morality to the world" -- and they don't read, it seems, even their own
           Bible.
                The Old Testament is full of pornography, far worse than any PLAYBOY, PLAYGIRL, or
           PENTHOUSE. Of course there are no psychedelic colors in the pornography, so you don't see it, you
           have to read it.
                There are three hundred and eighty-eight pages of pornography in the Old Testament. This is the
           biggest pornographic holy scripture. One of my friends, Ben Akerley, has pulled out those three
           hundred and eighty-eight pages and created a book called THE X-RATED BIBLE. Now Christians
           all around the world are trying to ban the book, but it has already gone underground, it is circulating.
           I have it; I would not say anything for which I don't have the right evidence!
                Just one instance of the pornography ... Three hundred and eighty-eight pages will be too long, it
           will make the record!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               According to the book of Samuel, King David -- no ordinary person, but very much respected in
           the Old Testament -- King David saw Bathsheba bathing from the roof of the palace -- a great king!
           -- and thought she was beautiful, so he had her brought to him so that he could sleep with her.
               When she became pregnant, David called her husband back from the war -- he was a soldier in
           David's army -- so that the husband could sleep with her, and believe the child was his.
               But the husband did not sleep with her, so David had the husband, Uriah, sent to the front of the
           hottest battle, so that he was killed. Then he married Bathsheba.
               As a punishment for this, the Lord threatened that he would take David's wives from him and
           give them to his neighbor who would sleep with them in public view.
           A great punishment! God also seems to be pornographic.
               This is the old jungle law: an eye for an eye. You have slept with somebody else's wife; all your
           wives, not just one -- David had many wives, he was a great king -- all your wives will be taken
           away from you, and in public view they will have to make love to your neighbors.
               This is forgiveness? And what is the justification? David has slept with only one wife; now all
           his wives ...? And what have the wives done? They have not slept with the soldier, why are they
           being punished?
               It is strange: David commits the sin, his wives will suffer the punishment. Great justice. Even an
           idiot can understand that this God is retarded.
               The Christian monks have asked me, "We have given the sense of morality to the world ...."
           Then what was Gautam Buddha doing five hundred years before Christ? What was Mahavira doing?
           What were the twenty-four tirthankaras of the Jainas doing? What were Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh
           Tzu doing? They were all before Jesus Christ.
               And, in fact, Jesus Christ had come to India, hearing about Gautam Buddha. Although Gautam
           Buddha was dead, he had left enlightened people, "and there may be some few still who are
           enlightened."
               Enlightened Buddhists had created two great universities, Nalanda and Takshashila. Those were
           the first universities in the world. Oxford is only one thousand years old, and Oxford has only ten
           thousand students. Nalanda had fifty thousand students; Takshashila had one hundred thousand
           students.
               They were not ordinary students, they were sannyasins, and they were not learning scriptures,
           they were learning meditation. They were learning how to enter into past lives and to find out what
           they had done in the past lives. Those were great universities which were destroyed by the Hindus.
               But Jesus came at the right time. He could meet enlightened masters in Nalanda, in Takshashila.
           He went to both the universities, it is on record. And far away in Ladakh, in the Himalayas, there is a
           Buddhist monastery which has a record of all the visitors. One of the visitors to the monastery in
           Ladakh was Jesus.
               One hundred and fifty years ago a Russian explorer reached to Ladakh, and he has copied the
           whole page that was written about Jesus: "A man who was a Jew, a young man, came and remained
           in the monastery. He was tremendously beautiful and he tried to learn everything of what Buddha
           had been teaching. He has visited Takshashila and he has visited Nalanda, and he has seen
           enlightened people and learned many things from them."
               These are the seventeen years that are missing from the Bible. Seventeen years he was here in
           India, in Ladakh, in Tibet, so whatever he was teaching was borrowed from the East.
               You have not given a moral sense to humanity; even Christ has borrowed it from the East. There
           is great similarity between his statements and Gautam Buddha's, but Gautam Buddha's statements
           have an authority which Jesus' do not have.
               For example, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" is an ancient Buddhist
           proverb, but Christians brag about it very much. As far as I am concerned, whether it is Buddhist or
           Christian does not matter. It is wrong. It is wrong on psychological grounds.
               "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." If everybody were equal, similar, had
           the same desires, then perhaps this principle would have been right. But everybody is different, your
           taste may not be the same as mine. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" -- that's
           perfectly okay, but others' tastes may be different. Everybody has a unique personality, so I may do
           something which I like, but you may not return it. Your taste, your personality may be different.
               For example, take a masochist who loves to be tortured. That is his greatest joy: to be tortured.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He reads this statement, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," and what will
           happen? He will start torturing you, hoping that you will, in return, torture him. But it is not
           necessarily so. You may be a weaker person, or perhaps you may be yourself a masochist, enjoying
           his torture and not doing anything.
               It is said that the best couple, the most perfect couple in the world, is one in which one partner is
           a sadist and the other partner is a masochist. They fit. But it is very difficult to find such a perfect
           couple, where one loves to be tortured, and the other loves to torture ....
               So if by chance it happens that you meet a sadist and you are a masochist, then this principle on
           that rare occasion will be right. Otherwise, it is not the rule. It looks beautiful, but it is
           unpsychological. It does not touch the depth of human psychology. People's tastes differ.

               They have asked what I want to say about this: "Sanctify the Lord, and let him be your fear, and
           let him be your dread."
               On the one hand they go on talking about his forgiveness, his compassion, his love, and in this
           statement they are saying, "Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." This is sheer
           exploitation of man's fear and dread, to terrify him, to make him tremble.
               It is a well-known documented fact that in the Middle Ages there used to be Christian
           missionaries .... They created such fearful scenes of hellfire -- eternal fire, the devil torturing
           everybody in every possible way, and it is never going to end -- and they shouted and they beat the
           table, and they slammed the Bible on the table. They created such fear amongst the women that after
           their sermon, the measure of their success was to count how many women had fallen unconscious,
           foaming, in a coma. The whole picture was so colorfully painted that the women started trembling,
           because they all knew they had committed sin. They have loved a man -- that is the greatest sin.
           They have not only loved their man, they have even desired other men.
               Because the Bible says, "Even your dreams will be counted." If in a dream you make love to
           your neighbor's wife, don't think God is not watching! He is the perfect witness of everything that is
           happening in the world. He is looking through every keyhole. He is looking even in your dreams,
           you are not even free to dream. You are not doing anything, just dreaming, but even your dreams
           will be counted on the day of judgment as sins. There is no difference, it is equal. Whether you have
           actually committed a sin or you have just dreamt about it, imagined about it, the punishment is equal.
               The whole of Christianity lives on fear and greed. Those are human weaknesses. Man is afraid of
           death, man is afraid what is going to happen beyond death. Man is afraid of his own desires, his
           tendency to love. Christianity exploits them, and all other religions also exploit them in a minor way.
               Make people afraid and they will fall down on their knees, foaming at the mouth and raising their
           hands to God: "Forgive us ...." They will "sanctify the Lord" out of their fear and dread.
               And create greed in them: "If you don't commit the sins, if you are afraid of God, all the
           pleasures that you can dream about will be yours in paradise."
               So on the one hand there is fear, which is one of the basic paranoias of man, and on the other
           hand, greed. Fear is for hell, greed is for paradise.
               The word `paradise' comes from Persian. In Persian it is firdaus, and firdaus means a walled
           garden where kings used to enjoy hundreds of women, wine -- a pleasure garden. Paradise is nothing
           but a changed form of firdaus: a walled garden of pleasure.
               So give people a carrot, hanging far away beyond death, so they go on moving. Nobody knows
           whether that carrot exists or not, because nobody has returned from paradise to inform you what is
           true and what is untrue. And nobody has returned from hell either -- so both are fictions, with not a
           single witness.
               But by creating more fear, more dread, more greed, you can manipulate humanity into slavery.
           This is not morality, this is sheer slavery. You are taking the dignity of human beings and you are
           destroying their beauty, their joy, their life, and filling it with all kinds of rubbish, poisons. They
           have poisoned almost the whole of humanity.
               Even Mahatma Gandhi ... I have looked deeply into his life and his actions. Perhaps not even his
           followers have gone so deep into his mind. He was one percent Hindu, he was born a Hindu, and he
           was nine percent Jaina, because he was born in Gujarat which is under the impact of Jainism -- even
           Hindus are under the impact of Jainism -- and he was ninety percent Christian. At least three times in
           his life he wanted to become a Christian but was persuaded by his friends, "That would destroy our
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole political fight for freedom. If you become a Christian, Hindus will not be with you, and
           neither will Mohammedans participate under your guidance. So please don't do this."
               But what was the reason? Why did he want to become a Christian? In his prayers he continually
           says, "I am not afraid of anything except God."
               That is a Christian idea that has become conditioned in his mind. He was educated in England for
           his law degree, and then he was in constant companionship with the Christians in South Africa. He
           came back to India when he was forty years old, almost completely programmed by the Christians.
           And here in India a great Christian missionary, C.F. Andrews, was continually nagging him to
           become a Christian. "Without being a Christian you cannot reach paradise" -- and who would not
           like to reach paradise?
               Jesus says, "Anybody who goes to paradise goes through me. There is no other way. There is no
           other alternative."
               I had one of Mahatma Gandhi's sons, Ramdas, as my friend, and I used to talk to Ramdas
           whenever I went to Wardha to deliver lectures. I asked him, "Did not your father ever think about
           what Jesus says? -- that God is love. How can you be afraid of love? You can be afraid of everybody
           EXCEPT God. Jesus was saying just the opposite."
               But Christians are doing the same. Gandhi was just repeating Christian theology like a parrot. On
           the one hand God is love; on the other hand, "Fear God and feel the dread." Then God is not love.
               Love dispels fear. Love dispels dread. Love is the only thing in the whole world which destroys
           all fear, all death. Love is the only alchemy that transforms you into an authentic religious person,
           not fear. Fear creates only slaves.
               Fear and dread are the reasons for all psychopaths; the whole pathology that psychiatrists and
           psychoanalysts are treating is created by some kind of fear. But from the very beginning the children
           are told, "Be afraid of God. He sees everyone."

               I have heard about a Christian nun who used to take her bath in a closed bathroom, keeping her
           clothes on. When the other nuns found out, they said, "Are you mad? The doors are closed and there
           are only nuns around here; there is no man in the monastery. Why do you take your bath keeping
           your clothes on?"
               The nun said, "God is omnipresent. He is in the bathroom too; so I am afraid."
           Such conditioning is bound to create pathology.

               I have told you about militant Christianity. It is said, "Fight the good fight! Onward Christian
           soldiers!" Is it a religion or an army? But it has been killing millions of people -- and Christians call
           them religious wars, holy wars, crusades. Mohammedans call their holy wars jihads, wars for God.
           Does God require that millions of people should be killed? Does this statement come from God or
           from Jesus Christ, who talks continuously of love? But now it is militant Christianity: "Fight the
           good fight" -- because it is a fight for God. "Onward Christian soldiers!"
               Christianity does not create sannyasins, it creates soldiers, and these are the polar opposites.
               The monks who had come here belong to a certain sect of Christianity, Jesuits. They say to every
           parent, "Give us a boy of seven" ... not a girl. That's why you saw twenty-one soldiers, all male, and
           not a single woman soldier.
               "Give us a boy of seven years and we will turn him into a good soldier of Christ."
               On the one hand they go on saying that Christ is the pacifier, that he came to make the world at
           ease and in peace, and on the other hand they are asking for seven-year-old children. Why? --
           because after seven years you can start conditioning and programming perfectly. The boy will be
           able to understand it, and by the age of twenty-one the programming will be complete.
               The time between seven and twenty-one is the most vulnerable time, because after seven,
           sexuality starts in a very small way. By the age of fourteen it is ripe. And as sexuality is your life
           energy, when it is beginning, that is the right time to fill your life energy with certain programs.
           Your mind is growing with your sex.
               It is not a coincidence that millions of people around the world have the mental age of only
           seven. From there they have been filled with beliefs -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan -- and they
           lost their intelligence. There is no need of intelligence. They are given everything as a belief, they
           don't have to explore, so they lose their growth of intelligence.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In America, I called Oregonians -- where our commune was -- retarded people. The attorney
           general, Frohnmeyer, became very angry when he heard my statement, but the University of Oregon
           became interested in whether there was some truth in what I had said. When I returned to India, the
           results of their research and their survey came. They had done the survey of the commune while I
           was there, and then they surveyed all cross-sections of Oregon society.
               They were absolutely puzzled how I came to say it. The Oregonians' average mental age was
           seven and the commune's mental age was double -- fourteen. Those idiots destroyed an intelligent
           commune.
               This fourteen years is also because you are coming from conditioned families. I go on sharpening
           your intelligence, but you are already conditioned. That conditioning takes a little time.
               A man is capable of growing hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder -- his physical age and his
           mental age together. When he is fourteen his mental age is fourteen, when he is twenty-one his
           mental age is twenty-one, when he is seventy his mental age is seventy. That will be the right growth
           program.
               But no religion wants people of such intelligence, because then they will see all the
           contradictions and all the superstitions and all the stupidities of your religion.
               And why are they asking for seven-year-old children? -- because after seven years of age it is
           possible to program the child easily. He becomes vulnerable. He is growing in his sexual life. He
           becomes open. You feed him, can fill him with any kind of nonsense and he will accept it. It will
           become his bones, it will become his blood, it will become his marrow, it will become his mind --
           and he will never grow beyond the age of seven.
               They are ready to return the child by the age of twenty-one, because at that time ... Sexual energy
           comes to the highest peak when you are seventeen and a half; that is when you have the greatest
           power. After seventeen and a half you are on the decline, and by twenty-one you have become too
           ripe. Now to change you is very difficult. So they are ready to return the children by twenty-one;
           now nobody can change them, they have prepared them into good soldiers of Christ.
               But the very word `soldiers of Christ' is so ugly. I teach you to be sannyasins -- and not my
           sannyasins. It is your sannyas, it is your investigation into truth. To be a soldier needs your mind to
           be stopped at the age of seven.
               Only retarded people can be soldiers -- good soldiers. They won't ask any questions, they will
           simply follow the orders. Every religion wants people who don't ask awkward questions,
           embarrassing questions which they cannot answer.
               I am here to answer all of your questions. You can find from any nook and corner of the world
           any question, and I am ready to answer, because I have no investment in you and I have no
           investment in any fold, any cult, any creed, any religion.
               My only love is to share the truth, the beauty, the godliness that I have found. It is overflowing.
               All I need is just a silent receptivity, a silent listening, and you will not be turned into soldiers of
           anybody. You will be an individual on your own feet -- a sannyasin in your own right.

           A little biographical note before I start the sutras:
               UNGAN WAS BORN IN 782 AND DIED IN 841. HE HAD ENTERED HYAKUJO'S MONASTERY AT
               THE AGE OF TWELVE. LATER HE LEFT HYAKUJO, GOING TO YAKUSAN, THROUGH WHOM HE
               REALIZED HIS ENLIGHTENMENT.
               UNGAN'S OLDER BROTHER, DOGO, JOINED UNGAN AS A MONK WHEN HE WAS FORTY-SIX.
               HAVING STUDIED WITH THE MASTER NEHAN -- A DISCIPLE OF MA TZU -- DOGO WENT TO
               YAKUSAN. HE INVITED UNGAN, HIS BROTHER, TO COME AND LIVE AT YAKUSAN'S
               MONASTERY TOO.
               UNGAN ANTICIPATED THAT HYAKUJO WOULD BE RELUCTANT FOR HIM TO LEAVE, BUT
               HYAKUJO SAID, "THAT'S RIGHT. AN OLD SAYING RUNS: `PARENTS GIVE ME BIRTH --
               FRIENDS GIVE ME GROWTH.'"

               "It is perfectly good. You can go. I have given you birth, now find friends who can help you to
           grow."
               This is a beauty in Zen: no competition. Hyakujo does not know about this master Yakusan --
           they lived seven hundred miles apart, their monasteries were far away -- but there is no question of
           fear. It is always good. Ungan will learn something. Yakusan may have a different angle of
           approach, and that will make him richer.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HYAKUJO SAID, "THAT'S RIGHT. AN OLD SAYING RUNS: `PARENTS GIVE ME BIRTH --
              FRIENDS GIVE ME GROWTH.'"

               Do you understand why I call myself your friend? Parents have given you birth, now I am going
           to give you growth. Only friends can give you growth, because they don't have any conditions, their
           love is unconditional. They don't ask anything in return, not even gratitude.
               "YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY WITH ME" -- you have stayed long enough, you are ready to
           move -- "NOW YOU CAN GO!" A LETTER FROM HYAKUJO WITH HIM, UNGAN LEFT
           IMMEDIATELY FOR YAKUSAN'S MONASTERY.

              The sutra:

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONCE, WHEN UNGAN WAS IN YAKUSAN'S PRESENCE, THE MASTER SAID TO HIM, "WHAT
              DOES HYAKUJO OSHO USUALLY TEACH?"

               He does not know anything about Hyakujo, but still a great respect: "Osho." Hyakujo, that great
           man, that great master, "What does he teach?" He has become "Osho" because he has allowed Ungan
           to go, without any interference: "There is no need. I am an enlightened master, where are you
           going?" No, Hyakujo simply said, "It is perfectly good. You go. Be as rich as possible. Learn from
           as many masters as possible. It is a question of truth, not of belonging to me. You are not my
           possession. I love you, I want you to grow higher than me, I want you to be richer than I am. Take
           every opportunity -- never miss it."
               This statement and the letter made Yakusan call Hyakujo "Osho." The man is certainly great.
              "WHAT DOES HYAKUJO OSHO USUALLY TEACH?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "HE SAYS, `GO BEYOND THREE PHRASES.'"

               What are the three phrases? All Buddha's scriptures are divided in three sections, called tripitak,
           three baskets. These are called in Zen, three phrases.
               Buddha is saying the same thing in all the scriptures again and again in different ways, different
           language, from different angles, talking to different people -- and certainly with different responses.
           This Tripitak is known in Zen only as three phrases -- three different phrases.
           So Yakusan said, "What does Hyakujo Osho teach you?"
           Ungan answered, "HE SAYS, `GO BEYOND THREE PHRASES.'"
               Go beyond all the scriptures that Buddha has left behind him. Don't get caught into phrases, into
           words; you have to go beyond words. Scriptures are beautiful, but they cannot give you truth. First
           find the truth, and then, if you want to enjoy the scriptures, you can enjoy. But first be rooted in the
           truth, and that rooting happens only when you drop your mind.
               Those three baskets of Buddha's phrases are contained in your mind. Go beyond.
           And sometimes Hyakujo also said,
              "GO BEYOND SIX PHRASES AND GET IT."

               What are the six phrases? -- because Buddha made only three types of statements which have
           been collected into three scriptures. They are vast. Even one scripture is at least one thousand pages.
           But in India it has been a tradition that whenever enlightenment happens to a man, whatever he says
           is so beyond the ordinary mind that it has to be interpreted so that the ordinary human masses can
           understand it. So the three scriptures have three commentaries; that makes six phrases.
               So Hyakujo sometimes says, "GO BEYOND THREE PHRASES" ... but if somebody is a scholar
           and has learned not only the original Buddha statements but also the interpretations of the scholars,
           then he says, "GO BEYOND SIX PHRASES AND GET IT."
               It is within you, you just have to pass beyond all the words and it is already there, radiant, alive
           from eternity, waiting for you.
               Yakusan commented, "WITH A DISTANCE OF SEVEN HUNDRED MILES BETWEEN US,
           FORTUNATELY WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HYAKUJO."
               Hyakujo is unnecessarily harassing his disciples by telling them, "Get beyond the three
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scriptures. Get beyond the three scriptures and their three commentaries." A simple statement is
           enough: "Go beyond the mind." How are you going to calculate how much is in the mind? There
           may be those six and there may be many other scriptures. Why bother about it?
               Just a simple statement, "Go beyond mind," and you have gone beyond all scholarship, all
           language, all intellectuality. You have entered into the no-mind.
               So Yakusan said, "There are seven hundred miles between me and Hyakujo. We don't have
           anything to do with Hyakujo."
              BUT THEN HE CONTINUED, "WHAT ELSE DOES HE TEACH?"

               He suddenly must have remembered: "This may not be the whole teaching. What else does he
           teach?"
              UNGAN SAID, "ONCE, AFTER THE DISCOURSE, WHEN THE CONGREGATION STOOD UP
              FROM THEIR SEATS, HYAKUJO CALLED OUT TO THEM. WHEN THEY LOOKED BACK AT THE
              MASTER, HYAKUJO SAID, `WHAT IS THAT?'"

                The sermon was finished; people were leaving. Their backs were towards Hyakujo, and Hyakujo
           called out to them. When they looked back at the master, Hyakujo said, "What is that looking back?
           WHAT IS THAT?"
           YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT EARLIER -- HYAKUJO IS
           STILL DOING WELL. THANKS TO YOU, I WAS ABLE TO SEE HYAKUJO."
                Just look back and you will find the buddha. When Hyakujo called the monks who were leaving
           the assembly hall -- their backs were towards him and he simply called them -- they turned to look
           back at the master. Hyakujo said, "What is that looking back?"
                This is the beauty of Zen. It does not get entangled into any unnecessary hypotheses. Just looking
           back ...
                And Yakusan said, "My God! Why did you not say it before? I was having a wrong
           understanding about Hyakujo, that he is still concerned about the scriptures although he is saying,
           `Go beyond the scriptures.' But even going beyond is a concern about the scriptures. Why not just
           forget them and go beyond the mind? This statement is tremendous!"
                When they all looked back, HYAKUJO SAID, "WHAT IS THAT?" And in that small statement
           -- "WHAT IS THAT?" -- in that small gesture of looking back towards the master, the whole of Zen
           is complete.
           Just looking back, you face the buddha.
                Hyakujo is a buddha. Every enlightened person is a buddha. All that you need to do is look back.
           What are you doing in your meditation? Looking back -- and the deeper you look, the sooner you
           reach to the buddha.
                YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT EARLIER. You gave me a
           misunderstanding about Hyakujo. HYAKUJO IS STILL DOING WELL. THANKS TO YOU, I
           WAS ABLE TO SEE HYAKUJO. Although the difference of seven hundred miles is there, now
           there is no difference. Hyakujo is a master of the same caliber and status as I am. Seeing myself, I
           see Hyakujo. There is no difference."
           It is a beautiful anecdote.

           Basho wrote:

              LOATHE TO LET SPRING GO,
              BIRDS CRY, AND EVEN FISHES' EYES
              ARE WET WITH TEARS.


                The spring is going away. The birds are crying -- AND EVEN FISHES' EYES ARE WET WITH
           TEARS. What is Basho saying? Just as spring is so much loved by the trees and the birds and the
           fish ... You don't know your inner spiritual spring. It has not come yet, you have not invited it. And
           the outer spring comes and goes, comes and goes, comes and goes, but the inner spring only comes
           and never goes.
           It is eternal spring.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Its flowers are flowers of eternity.
                Once you are enlightened you are enlightened forever. There is no way of going back. How
           much more splendorous and how much more miraculous will be the inner spring! Even the outer is
           so great; the inner is not only quantitatively great, it is qualitatively great too.
           The search for truth is the search for inner spring.


              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              BODHIDHARMA TOOK ZEN FROM INDIA TO CHINA AND JAPAN; YOU HAVE BROUGHT IT BACK
              TO INDIA, COMPLETING THE CIRCLE. IS THERE SOME SIGNIFICANCE IN THIS?
              ALSO, ALTHOUGH INDIA HAS BEEN THE STARTING POINT AND PERHAPS THE COMPLETION
              OF THE JOURNEY OF ZEN, IN NEITHER INSTANCE, IT SEEMS, HAS INDIA ITSELF BEEN
              RECEPTIVE TO ZEN.
              WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMMENT?


               Maneesha, Zen is the ultimate flowering of consciousness. It started with Gautam Buddha giving
           a lotus flower to Mahakashyapa. In the statement he made to all the sannyasins who were present, he
           said, "Whatever I could say through words, I have told you. Whatever I could not manage to bring to
           language, I am transfering to Mahakashyapa."
               With these words, visibly only the lotus flower was given to Mahakashyapa, but invisibly
           Buddha transferred his unexpressed experience to Mahakashyapa.
           Mahakashyapa was the first Zen master.
               But neither was Buddha understood by India ... and the reason is clear. India is a land of great
           scholarship, it is a land of great scriptures. It is the ancientmost land of the brahmins. For ninety
           thousand years they have been philosophizing; they have reached great intellectual heights. Buddha
           jumps out of the Hindu fold -- and not only jumps out of the Hindu fold, he jumps out of the mind.
               The whole of Hinduism is mind-oriented. It is very intellectual, but it has no understanding of
           no-mind. Through intellectual argument it has come to the conclusion that there is a soul -- but it is
           not its experience, it is a philosophical hypothesis.
               Buddha, for the first time, makes religion experiential, for the first time transforms religion into a
           science of the inner. Just as objective science depends on experiments, not on intellect, the inner
           science depends on experience, not on intellect. So he went too far beyond the Hindu conception,
           which was so ancient and so old, and the brahmins were living on it.
           I have just quoted the pope: "The myth of Christ has profited us well."
               The whole brahmin caste is one-fourth of the Hindus. It has been exploiting this country for
           centuries after centuries. Listening to Buddha would have been a chaos for the brahmins.
           Scholarship will be thrown, mind is no more needed, only meditation. It was a question of their
           livelihood, it was a question of millions of priests who had been exploiting, and who had been sitting
           at the top of the Hindu fold as the superiormost class, the superman.
               Now Buddha was asking them to drop a great investment. They could not manage it. Rather, they
           dropped Buddha. Buddha disappeared from India. And if they could not understand Buddha, who
           had been talking for forty-two years, arguing, making it as easy as possible for others to understand
           even that which is beyond the mind -- he was trying to bring it into language, into logic -- if they
           could not understand Buddha, how could they understand Mahakashyapa?
               Mahakashyapa never said a single word, he simply laughed. That laughter was coming from
           beyond; only Buddha could see it, and he had amongst his ten thousand sannyasins so many giants of
           intelligence.
               Mahakashyapa was very innocent, just like a child. Only he could understand, because there was
           no thought, no mind, no prejudice, no philosophy. He simply enjoyed being by the side of Buddha.
           People asked him, "Everybody is asking questions, why don't you ask?" He would not even answer
           them.
               Finally, people had completely forgotten about him. He had a small tree which had become
           absolutely his. He had not said it to anybody, but everybody knew, "Don't sit under that tree,
           Mahakashyapa will be coming. He has been sitting there nobody knows how long. He never asks
           anything, he never has any friendship with anyone, he has no social life, but he seems very joyous.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Either he is mad, or perhaps he has become enlightened -- but Buddha has not confirmed his
           enlightenment."
                That day when he laughed, Buddha confirmed absolutely his enlightenment -- and not only his
           enlightenment, but he confirmed that among ten thousand people, this was the only mystic present
           who could understand a gesture. The lotus flower was a gesture. Hidden in the lotus flower, Buddha
           gave him everything that a master wants to share with his closest disciples.
                Zen was born in such mysterious circumstances -- and nobody knows, there is no scripture that
           mentions any other instance about Mahakashyapa. Of course, Mahakashyapa could not be
           understood by a nation which had been dominated by intellect and mind and priesthood for century
           after century.
                But China was a better ground, because of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu. They had
           prepared the ground. They were people exactly like Mahakashyapa, so when Bodhidharma reached
           to China, the ground was ready. There were many people who could understand Bodhidharma's
           silence.
                And then Rinzai took it to Japan. Japan was even more innocent. Its ancient religion is Shinto; it
           is a very innocent religion, with no dogma, doctrine, but just a pure love for existence.
                This strange woman, Ishida, who is coming here soon, within two or three days, is a seeress in an
           ancient Shinto temple. She is not a Buddhist. But Shinto is so innocent and simple that when Rinzai
           brought Buddhism, particularly Zen, from China, Shinto had no problem. It agreed absolutely that it
           is only innocence that knows the truth. "We have not been so articulate as Zen masters are, but what
           they are saying, we know in the depths of our hearts."
                So Shinto had no obstruction, no competition with a foreign religion, no struggle. Shinto and Zen
           have grown together, side by side. Zen masters go to Shinto temples and monasteries and live there.
           Shinto masters come to Zen monasteries and live there. Japan was even more peaceful and innocent.
                China had Lao Tzu, but it had also Confucius. Confucius has confused the whole problem. He
           was just a moralist, he knew nothing about the inner, but he was a predominant figure. Kings and
           princes, emperors, asked his advice. He was a great intellectual. Because of his dominance, China
           was not so innocent. The small stream of Tao immediately welcomed Bodhidharma as if Lao Tzu
           had come back, their old master. They saw in Bodhidharma's eyes the same shine, the same depth,
           the same mystery, the same dance.
                Tao, and whatever Bodhidharma had brought -- in Pali it is called jhan, in Sanskrit it is called
           dhyan -- jhan and Tao met, and out of their meeting Zen was produced. Zen is a crossbreed, and the
           crossbreed is always better than the parents -- both the parents.
                In China jhan became chan, and in Japanese it became Zen. And when Rinzai took it to Japan, it
           came back again very close to Buddha's word, jhan.
                Certainly I am bringing Zen back to India, and the circle is complete. If it started with
           Mahakashyapa, it is coming to its ultimate flowering with me. But neither has Mahakashyapa been
           understood, nor am I going to be understood. This misunderstanding of the masses is a proof that I
           am talking something valuable, something of the ultimate truth.

                I used to know a very strange man, Mahatma Bhagwandin. In India there were only two
           mahatmas: Mahatma Gandhi and Mahatma Bhagwandin. I am absolutely against Mahatma Gandhi
           on every point. Sometime I am going to take care of him!
                But with Mahatma Bhagwandin I had a deep friendship. He was old, I was very young, just a
           student in the university when we met. He had come to give a talk in the university where I was a
           student, and he was talking and quoting from the scriptures, and he was a very great orator of his
           time.
                But I have always been a difficult person. I stood up in the middle, and I said to him, "Stop for a
           moment." He looked at me. I said, "Do you have anything to say on your own authority, or are you
           still going to quote from the scriptures?"
                There was a great silence. The vice-chancellor felt bad; he knew that I could not resist the
           temptation.
                Mahatma Bhagwandin was shocked. For the first time somebody had interrupted him in the
           middle. But he was an honest man, and he said, "You are right. I don't have anything to say on my
           own authority." That was the beginning of a great friendship of a young man with an old man.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               We used to meet often. He used to stay with me in my house, and I used to stay with him in his
           house. It was not far away, it was only six hours by car. Any moment I wanted to go there, I would
           simply drive from Jabalpur to Nagpur; he lived in Nagpur.
               We forgot completely that I was too young and he was too old. Even his host -- because he had
           no home, he was a sannyasin, so he was living with a friend -- even his host used to say, "It is a
           strange kind of friendship. You are so young, he is just going to die ... but when you both talk
           together, even we who listen forget the difference between your ages."
               And by chance, the day he died I was present just a few hours before. I was coming from
           Chaanda, and just in the train one man, Kamalnayan Bajaj ... He was the son of Jamanalal Bajaj, and
           Jamanalal Bajaj was the host of Mahatma Gandhi; he had taken him from Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, to
           Wardha. Wardha is just between Chaanda and Nagpur.
               I was coming from Chaanda. On the station of Wardha, Kamalnayan entered into my
           compartment. He was a member of parliament. He told me, "Do you know that Mahatma
           Bhagwandin is very seriously ill?"
           I said, "I had no idea."
           He said, "I am going to see him."
               I said, "I will then get down in Nagpur." I had not intended to get down in Nagpur, I was going
           directly by train to Jabalpur.
               So I got down, I went to see him, and I could not believe my eyes. I had not seen him for almost
           one year. He had become just a skeleton, just skin and bones, nothing else was left, and he was
           continuously coughing, coughing blood.
               He looked at me and he smiled. He said, "This was my last wish, that if existence has any
           compassion on me, somehow I would like to see you. That was my continuous heartfelt desire this
           last day. It is a miracle: you have come. I wanted to say something to you, because I know I am not
           going to stay much longer, maybe a few hours." And, in fact, after three hours he died.
               He said to me, "You had asked a question while you were a student many years ago in the
           university, and I had to confess before thousands of students and hundreds of professors that I didn't
           have anything to say on my own authority.
               "I want you to know that I still don't have anything of my own to say. I remained a scholar. I am
           dying in deep misery. I did not listen to you, I argued and argued and quoted scriptures, and never
           took the point although I felt you were right. But my age, my prestige, prevented me from asking
           you how to know it, how to get to it. It was a simple question and you were always available, but
           because I never asked, you never said anything. We discussed and discussed, but that was all
           intellectual."
               I said, "I was waiting. Without your being thirsty for it ... it is not possible for anyone. You can
           take the horse to the river, but you cannot force the horse to drink the water.
               "I have tried in every way to take you to the river. That's the end of the master's work. Now the
           river is ahead of you: if you are thirsty, drink; if you don't feel thirsty, I am helpless."
               He had tears in his eyes, tears of a long life wasted in words. Because of his scholarship he has
           been called Mahatma, great soul, but he had no idea of any soul as an experience.
               This country is too full of knowledge, too much burdened with scholarship, too much dominated
           by the priests.
               One thing he said, the last thing before I left him. He said to me, "If the crowd agrees with you,
           know you are wrong. Just remember it as advice from an old friend. If the crowd disagrees with you,
           there is a chance of your being right."
               The crowd has never been right, hence you don't see the Indian crowd here. You see individuals
           from all over the world, and a few individuals from India too -- but this is not a crowd. This is a
           meeting place of seekers. You have come on your own in search.
               India is too egoistic because it has all the great scriptures, and all the great priests who parrot-like
           go on repeating great words -- and they are satisfied with those words. They will die a miserable
           death like Mahatma Bhagwandin.

               Maneesha, nothing can be done about it, but it does not matter. The crowd has never mattered as
           far as ultimate truth is concerned. It is an individual search, and the people who are in search have
           come to me from all over the world. Neither did Buddha have such an audience -- it was confined to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the state of Bihar, not even the whole of India -- nor did Mahakashyapa have such an audience,
           international, nor Bodhidharma, nor Rinzai.
               I am the most blessed one in the sense that I have the chosen few of the earth from all over the
           planet. It is a gathering to be rejoiced with. I am absolutely blissful to have you here.
           This is certainly a good completion of Mahakashyapa.
           He started the circle, I am completing it.
           You are the witnesses of a great phenomenon.

               Now it is the time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh. He has started laughing, not even before the joke
           but in the middle of the sutra! He is very sensitive! And he trusts me: "My time is coming."

               Finally, Ronald Reagan is retired into private life. After leaving the White House, he and Nancy
           return to living normal lives on their ranch in California, and are just as happy as little rats.
               One day, Ronald decides he wants to take Nancy shopping, so he gets her into the car and they
           drive to the local shopping mall. Then Reagan takes Nancy into the huge Dingbat's Department
           Store.
               As they walk in, Ronald looks up and sees a sign by the door that reads: "Please leave your bag
           outside."
               "Gee, Nancy," says Ronald, turning to his wife. "Sorry, but you will have to wait here!"

                Bonzer, the British bulldog, is sniffing his way around the neighborhood when he recognizes the
           smell of Alvin, the American airedale.
                After the two dogs have met and sniffed each other thoroughly, Alvin, the American dog, starts
           to speak.
                "The trouble with you British," barks Alvin, "is that you are far too tribal and interbred. There
           should be much more intermingling. For instance, in my blood there is British, German, Spanish,
           Italian, French and a touch of Chinese."
           "I say, old chap," replies Bonzer, "how jolly sporting of your mother!"

               Little Bungee Barfi finds himself being sent by his Catholic Indian parents to the Holy Jesus
           Jesuit Seminary in Poona. Life is tough in the seminary for Bungee and he has a lot of trouble
           adapting to life related to Christianity.
               Everywhere there are crosses on the walls with Jesus hanging on them. There are pictures of
           Jesus everywhere, on the walls, in the windows, and in all the books. Jesus is omnipresent, in all
           sorts of postures and poses. The monks who run the seminary talk all the time of Jesus.
               One day, Little Bungee has a problem. "Can you help me fix my bicycle, Father Feekal?" he
           asked one of the old priests.
               "My son, Jesus loves you!" replies the priest, pointing at a picture of Jesus riding a donkey. "Just
           trust in Jesus! Jesus will find a way!"
               The next day, Little Bungee is sitting in the schoolroom during nature class, thinking about his
           broken bicycle. Suddenly, Father Fellini asks Little Bungee a question.
               "Now tell me, Bungee," says Father Fellini, "what is brown, has a long bushy tail, jumps through
           the branches of trees and eats nuts?"
               "Well," replies Bungee, "in the real world it is obviously a squirrel -- but in this place, things are
           so fucked up, it is bound to be Jesus!"

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           (drumbeat)

           Nivedano ...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
               Close your eyes ... and feel your body to be completely frozen. This is the right moment to look
           inwards.
               Gather all your life energy, your total consciousness, and rush towards the center of your being
           with an urgency as if it is going to be your last moment on the earth.
           Faster and faster ...
           The closer you come to yourself,
           the deeper becomes the silence.
               The nearer you reach to your center ... a great peace arises within you. And the moment your
           arrow of consciousness penetrates into the center, for the first time you encounter your original face.
           The other name of your original face is the buddha, the awakened one.
           The only quality of the buddha is witnessing.
           Witness ... you are not the body.
           Witness ... you are not the mind.
               Witness that you are not the other seven astral bodies, layer upon layer behind the physical body.
           Witness, finally, that you are only a witness.
               At this moment, you are the most blessed people on the earth. Centered at your being, you are no
           more, only buddha is. That is your ultimate and eternal nature.

           To make the witnessing deeper, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ...
           Let go, but remain a witness, just a witness.
           Time disappears, mind disappears ...
               Slowly slowly, your consciousness starts melting, all differences with existence disappear.
           Gautama the Buddha Auditorium becomes an ocean of consciousness without any ripples.
           A tremendous ecstasy, a great drunkenness,
           and you are at home.
           This is the very essence of Zen.
           I call Christianity the deadliest poison,
           and Zen the only antidote for all poisons.
               This is the only possibility of liberating you, of bringing your buddha from the seed into a lotus
           flower.
               Collect as much experience, as much ecstasy, and the juices of your life, because from the center
           you are connected with the cosmos. You have to bring all that with you, so your day-to-day life
           becomes more blissful, more serene, more silent.
               If you can persuade the buddha to come with you, you will feel continuously a coolness in you.
           You will feel the eternal depth of being, and the ultimate height of being. If the buddha comes with
           you, you will have a transformation from the horizontal to the vertical. The vertical is the goal, the
           horizontal is to live only on the outside.
               And the real life is IN ... the real godliness is IN ... and it is here and now.
               Persuade the buddha to come along with you as a shadow. Slowly slowly you will melt into him.
           He will become the reality and you will become the shadow.
               That day the journey is complete, the antidote has succeeded. And the poisons of all kinds of
           conditioning -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan -- are erased. You are out of the jail, out of the cage,
           you can open your wings and the whole sky is yours. All the stars and the moon and the sun belong
           to you. You can disappear into the blueness of the beyond.
               Once you know you are a buddha, you will never be born in any kind of body, in any kind of
           imprisonment -- no birth, no old age, no sickness, no death. You simply become a pure
           consciousness, eternal, timeless.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The only quality that remains is witnessing. To be a witness of everything is the key, the master
           key to open all the mysteries of existence.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

                Come back ... but come as buddhas, with the same grace, the same silence, the same joy, the
           same beauty.
                Sit for a few moments just to remember where you have been, the golden path that you have
           traveled to the center, and all that happened at the center.
                Don't forget it, it is not a dream. It is the only reality, the only truth. And truth liberates, love
           liberates, blissfulness liberates.
                When you have all these in abundance, they automatically start flowing around you, and you
           share them -- not as a duty, but out of your abundance. When something is done out of your
           abundance, it makes you richer. The more you give, the more you have.
                The evening has been beautiful on its own, but your silence, your looking back towards the
           buddha, have made it a great splendor, a silent song, a celebration.
           Only your heart knows, the mind is absolutely unaware of it.
           I can hear your heartbeat at this moment
           is in deep synchronicity with the whole existence.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                     Chapter #7
                                           Chapter title: Not faith, but fear
           28 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901285
              ShortTitle: CHRIST07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 133 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              UNGAN REMAINED WITH YAKUSAN FOR SOME TIME, THEN ONE DAY DECIDED TO LEAVE:
              HE EXPLAINED TO YAKUSAN THAT HE HAD MADE A VOW TO STAY WITH HYAKUJO.
              YAKUSAN AGREED, AND UNGAN SET OFF DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, DOGO ACCOMPANYING
              HIM A LITTLE WAY, AND THEN RETURNING TO YAKUSAN, WHO ASKED, "DID YOU SEE YOUR
              BROTHER OFF?"
              "YES, I DID," REPLIED DOGO, AND THEN ADDED, "IS IT ALRIGHT FOR MY BROTHER TO
              LEAVE YOU?"
              "YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASK SUCH A THING," SAID YAKUSAN. "WE HAVE BEEN VERY INTIMATE
              FOR SUCH A LONG TIME -- WE CAN DO OR SAY WHATSOEVER WE WOULD LIKE TO. SO
              THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU TO ASK ME."
              "NO, OSHO," SAID DOGO. "YOUR WORD CAN BECOME A REFERENCE FOR THE FUTURE, SO
              PLEASE SAY SOMETHING."
              "OKAY, I WILL SAY ONE THING," REPLIED YAKUSAN. "THE EYES ARE ALRIGHT, ONLY THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DISCIPLINE IS LACKING."
              HEARING THIS, DOGO IMMEDIATELY LEFT THE MONASTERY IN PURSUIT OF HIS BROTHER.
              WHEN HE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM THE FOLLOWING DAY, DOGO TOLD UNGAN WHAT
              YAKUSAN HAD SAID. THE TWO BROTHERS TURNED AROUND AND WENT BACK TO
              YAKUSAN, AND REMAINED WITH HIM TILL HIS DEATH.


               Friends,
               One of the would-be sannyasins, Graeme McIntyre, has left his body in deep meditation in this
           Gautama the Buddha Auditorium, amongst other meditators, in deep peace and silence. He had
           expressed his desire to become a sannyasin that very evening.
               Sannyas does not need to be an outward thing, just the longing for it is enough. He died as a
           sannyasin because there was deep longing for sannyas.
               He was doing a therapy group. After the group he said to the leader, "I would like to remain here
           my whole life." He will be here now his whole life -- and not only this life, but for eternity.
               This place, this space that you are creating by your meditations, is the right space in which to
           live, love, laugh, and it is also the right space in which to leave the body and go into the beyond,
           disappear into the ultimate existence.
               It is a moment of rejoicing. So tomorrow, when you say goodbye to him on a funeral pyre,
           rejoice, and dance, and celebrate. Such a death is rare. Very few human beings are so blessed.
               And when the funeral pyre's flames start moving upwards, remember why in this country for
           thousands of years we have chosen not to bury the dead, but to give them to fire. There is a special
           reason for it.
               Fire is the only thing you know which does not allow any gravitation. It always goes upwards.
           The fire is a symbol of your spirituality; it always goes upwards. No gravitation can pull it down.
               Secondly, when you have lived in your body for so many years there arises naturally a certain
           attachment to the body. The body is prone to be attracted by gravitation. But when the consciousness
           sees the body burning -- with the body burning, all your attachments with the body, all your prisons
           that have taken you to many bodies in many lives, start disappearing. One feels a tremendous
           freedom rising with the flames towards the sky.
               And you know ... You see flames, and soon they disappear. They are visible only for a few
           moments, then they become invisible. Fire is a great symbol of purification, of detachment, of rising
           vertically towards the ultimate space which is our home.
           We come from there, and we go back there.

           Now, Christianity ...
                Christianity is a vast propaganda. They say they are defending the truth, but truth needs no
           defense, it is self-evident. It needs no propaganda. Lies need to be defended, lies need to be
           propagated, but not truth. Truth shines almost like a sunrise, you don't have to declare it.
                And saying that they are defending the truth ... I will give you a few examples from their own
           theological history which make it clear what they are defending.
                The French scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest and a scientist of world fame,
           who was working in China in search of the Peking man. It was thought that somewhere in China the
           "missing link" of Charles Darwin was to be found, because China is one of the most ancient
           countries.
                Charles Darwin's problem was that there was no interconnecting link between the chimpanzee, or
           the ape, or the gorilla, and man. The distance is too great, there must be one more step in between.
           De Chardin was searching for that missing step in Peking, and he had found a
           fifty-thousand-year-old skeleton of a man.
                The pope asked him not to report it to the scientists: "Don't write it in any paper, and don't
           publish anything that you have found till your death." This is defense of truth. His researches, which
           have now been published after his death, show that the earth and the universe are not only six
           thousand years old; even man is at least fifty thousand years old, according to the Peking man, which
           scientists have agreed is at least fifty thousand years old.
                The snow of the Himalayas on the Chinese border has saved the man almost as he would have
           died. Covered with snow, he has remained frozen as he was fifty thousand years ago. This disturbs
           the Christian idea that the world was created six thousand years ago.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Teilhard de Chardin's mouth was locked, he was not allowed to teach in any Christian college or
           university. This is defending the truth? I am very much surprised that de Chardin listened to all these
           idiots of the Vatican.
                That is why Christians go on insisting that obedience is the greatest virtue. He was programmed
           from his very childhood to obey; disobedience is the original sin. So, although he was a great
           scientist, his whole upbringing, continuous conditioning and programming, had made him a coward,
           a slave. He was a genius in his mind, but the conditioning had gone deeper into his unconscious, and
           he obeyed the Vatican's orders literally.
                He did not say anything to anybody; he continued to work, and he did not publish any paper
           during his life, he did not publish any book on it in his lifetime. The books now published bring tears
           to anybody who can understand what a great man, a great genius, has been repressed his whole life
           by the church. He could not see his own research published.
                The whole of Christianity lives in a paranoia that if anybody finds some truth, then what is going
           to happen to their lies that they go on propagating?
                One of the most important theologians, Rudolf Bultman of the University of Marburg, one of the
           most famous and esteemed of twentieth-century biblical scholars, stated, "We can now know almost
           nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus, since the early Christian sources showed no
           interest in either, and are, moreover, fragmentary and often legendary."
                But he must have become immediately afraid, because the church had been burning people,
           killing people. He immediately wrote underneath -- that shows how programming works -- after
           writing this he immediately wrote, "That does not disturb my faith. I still believe in Jesus Christ as
           the only begotten son of God, and I have absolute faith in the church of Jesus." And he could not
           even see the contradiction. But the fear must have taken over; he contradicted himself immediately.
                On the one hand he is saying, "We know nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus." If
           you don't know anything of the personality of Jesus, how can you have faith? in whom? It is not
           faith, it is fear. It is fear of the church, it is fear of the pope, it is fear of the whole of Christianity.
           They will kill you, as they have killed many.
                The Vatican has an underground library of thousands of scriptures which they have burned,
           saving only one copy. Nobody is allowed to enter, except the pope and the cardinals, to see all the
           evidence, all the proofs which go against Christianity. The public is not allowed to know what the
           truth is. And these people, Jesuits, are claiming that Christianity defends truth!
                If it defends truth, it should open the underground library in the Vatican to all the scholars who
           want to study there, and Christianity will evaporate without leaving a single trace on the human
           consciousness. It is ninety-nine percent myth, invented, propagated, but it has a great propaganda
           machine, and it has a militant church. It has almost half of humanity converted to Christianity.
                It is a strange thing, but I want to tell it to you: after the death of Jesus Christ, three hundred
           years after, it was through voting that the Christian priests decided that he was a divine personality --
           by voting. And who were these people who were voting? They knew nothing of divineness.
                This has never happened anywhere else. Mahavira was never elected as a tirthankara, Buddha
           was not elected by the masses as an awakened man. Poor Jesus not only suffered on the cross, he has
           suffered more from his own self-styled so-called representatives.
                What would have happened if the vote had been against his divinity? Is religion a political affair?
           And people who had no experience of godliness were voting and deciding by vote, three hundred
           years later, that he was a divine personality. This was decided in the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.
           Jesus was declared divine by a vote of the Council of Nicea. The nature of his divinity was also
           decided by vote. This is the ugliest thing you can think of.
           Truth does not need votes. It is self-luminous.

               Hermann Samuel Remarius, a professor at Hamburg in the eighteenth century, wrote that "Jesus
           was a failed Jewish revolutionary whose body was removed from its tomb by his disciples."
               I am not saying that, it is said by a Christian professor who has looked into the sources, the
           original sources, and found that he was a "failed Jewish revolutionary"; he had nothing to do with
           Christianity.
               Christianity is a fiction. Jesus had never even heard the name Christianity. It has been imposed
           on him, he was not the founder of Christianity. Who exactly was the founder of Christianity? One
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing is certain, Jesus was not. He never thought about founding a religion, he was simply telling the
           Jews, "I am your last prophet." He died on the cross as a Jew.
           Then who founded Christianity?
               You can find Buddhism in the teachings of Gautam Buddha; he was the founder. You can find in
           the teachings of Mahavira that he was the founder of Jainism. You can find in the teachings of Lao
           Tzu that he was the founder of Taoism. But it is a very strange thing about Christianity: the founder
           had no idea at all, was not interested in creating a new religion.
               The man who founded it -- you will not believe it -- was the Emperor Constantine. The church
           knows it, but does not allow the public to know it.
               Emperor Constantine of Rome, who headed the Council of Nicea, died as a Christian, but he was
           baptized only on his deathbed. His whole life he was the high priest of the Sun God religion, which
           was why he changed the sabbath from Saturday, which was Jesus' sabbath day, to Sunday. Jews still
           have their sabbath on Saturday, and Jesus also had lived his whole life believing in the sabbath on
           Saturday. How did it become Sunday?
               It was Constantine, who was a worshipper of the Sun God. Sunday represents the sun; the
           followers of the sun have always believed that Sunday is a holy day.
               It was Constantine who was actually the founder of Christianity. He was the decisive factor in
           the Council of Nicea. It was under his pressure -- because he was the emperor of Rome -- that the
           priests voted for the divine personality of Jesus. He made Jesus a divine person. It was his creation,
           his invention.
               He also changed Jesus' birthday from January sixth to December twenty-fifth, the day of the solar
           rebirth. The twenty-fifth of December, which is celebrated all over the world, is not Jesus' birthday.
           The whole idea of Christmas is bogus.
               Jesus was born on January sixth, but under Constantine's influence and power, it was changed to
           December twenty-fifth, the day of the solar rebirth. It is thought by the sun worshippers that the sun
           was born on the twenty-fifth of December. The whole of Christianity is living in utter darkness.
           Their Christmas is bogus -- and the church knows it perfectly well but won't allow people to know
           about it.
           This is called defending the truth.
           I call it defending lies.
               Constantine saw Jesus as a failed messiah, with himself as the real messiah -- and his view was
           ratified by the famous Christian bishop, Eusebius of Caesarea, who said, "It is as if the religion of
           Abraham is at last fulfilled, not in Jesus, but in Constantine."
               Constantine imposed himself as the real last prophet for whom the Jews had been waiting. Of
           course, the Jews could not crucify the emperor of Rome. And the Christians wanted some royal
           support; otherwise they were being crucified everywhere. They found a shelter in Constantine, but it
           was a bargain, purely business. They accepted that Jesus was a failed messiah, and that Constantine
           was the real messiah.
               But this is not told to the public! Christians are not aware of it. All these scriptures are hidden
           under the Vatican.
               I say unto you that Christianity is one of the most untruthful religions in the world. It is a disease,
           a sickness, a pathology, a poison. It has not been helpful to humanity in finding the truth in any
           sense. It has been trying to propagate lies so continuously that they have almost become truth.
               You must have all celebrated Christmas. Have you ever thought that this is not the birth of Jesus?
           You never remember Jesus on the sixth of January ....
               I have been thinking that we should start here a celebration for poor Jesus on the sixth of January
           every year. That is defending the truth. So please remind me when the sixth of January comes,
           because I have no sense of time at all. I don't know what day it is today, and I don't care. So when
           the sixth of January comes, please remind me. We will celebrate. At least after two thousand years
           Jesus will have a real birthday celebration!

               The Bible says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." I also teach you no judgment, but that does
           not mean what the Bible says. "Judge ye not" -- but there is a reason for not judging -- "so that ye be
           not judged." It is pure business.
               When I say don't judge, you are not going to be rewarded for it. In the very act of not judging
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are rewarded: such peace ...
                People who are judgmental are grumpy, always have grudges against everybody, nobody seems
           to be right. They go on looking at the negative side of everybody, the darker side. They may look at
           a rosebush but they will not look at the roses, they will count the thorns.
                I say to you: Don't judge, because you don't know yourself, so how can you know anybody else?
           And every judgment is about a certain action. A man may have stolen something, and you judge that
           man as a thief. The whole man is judged, his whole life is judged by a single act. You don't go
           deeper into the act. The man may be dying of starvation, his mother may be dying of starvation --
           and if he has stolen a little food from people who are suffering from being overweight, he has helped
           them.
                Don't judge people by their actions. Actions are momentary, life is long. You judge the whole
           life of a person -- "That man is a thief, that man is a murderer" -- and not only do you judge, but your
           courts, which are thought to be just, go on judging people by small actions. Those small actions may
           have been done for a certain purpose. Nobody looks at the purpose, nobody looks at the cause.

           I am reminded of Lao Tzu ....
               The emperor of China wanted the most wise man to be the chief justice of the supreme court of
           China. People suggested Lao Tzu's name. It was absolutely right, there was no disagreement about it
           in his court, and Lao Tzu was called.
               Lao Tzu came in his own way. He used to ride on a buffalo -- which is a very rare thing. People
           ride on horses, and people ride on elephants, but a buffalo ...? But he loved his buffalo; it carried him
           from one place to another, and it gave him nourishment. No horse can do that.
               And buffalos are so silent -- and Lao Tzu was in immense love with silence -- they don't chatter.
           They are so contented, they don't have any grudge against existence.
               He came into the court riding on his buffalo. The emperor was shocked, but they had invited him,
           and they were well-mannered, well-educated people, so they ignored the buffalo.
               The emperor asked Lao Tzu, "I want you to be the chief justice of the supreme court of China."
           Lao Tzu said, "You are choosing a wrong person."
           The emperor said, "Why?"
           "Because," Lao Tzu said, "I will be really just."
               The emperor said, "That is the very function. Don't say no to your own emperor."
               Lao Tzu said, "Okay, but it won't last long -- perhaps one day." And it lasted only one day.
               The first case was about a thief who had stolen money from the richest man in China. The man
           was so rich that even the emperor used to borrow money from him.
               Lao Tzu listened to the whole case and gave his judgment: "Six months jail for both the rich man
           and the thief."
               The rich man said, "What?! My money is stolen and you are sending me to jail?"
               Lao Tzu said, "I am looking at the whole thing as deeply as possible. This thief is a secondary
           criminal, you are the primary criminal. You have collected all the money of the capital, you have
           deprived millions of people of money. Even if he had not stolen from you, you needed punishment.
           And I will not call this poor man a thief; he was simply distributing wealth to those to whom it
           belongs. You are a bloodsucker, a parasite!"
           The rich man said, "I want to see the emperor before you send me to jail."
               He went to the emperor and he said, "Listen, this man is absolutely absurd and dangerous. He is
           sending me to jail for six months."
           The emperor said, "You are being judged? You have not done anything wrong."
               He said, "I told that man, but he is telling me that `You have been exploiting the money of the
           poor. Where will they get money? Except by stealing there seems to be no way!' So he calls me a
           primary criminal, and the thief only a by-product.
               "I warn you, if I go to jail, it will not be long before you will be coming to jail too, because you
           have been committing murders, you have been raping women, you have been collecting all the
           beautiful women of the country into your palace. This man has to be immediately removed from his
           post."
               The emperor understood. He said, "He was saying himself that he would not last more than one
           day. Even the full day is not ended, this is just the first case!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Lao Tzu was given his freedom and told, "You are right. You go on your buffalo wherever you
           want to go." He was a man of tremendous consideration, of in-depth exploration of everything.

               Don't judge anybody superficially. You don't have the means to enter into anybody's act, because
           the action comes from his unconscious. You have not explored your own unconscious, how can you
           enter into somebody else's unconscious? And who are you to judge anybody?
               But Christianity's statement is different. It is saying to you that if you want not to be judged by
           God on the day of judgment, then don't judge anybody else. This is simple bargaining, business.
           Truth is not a business.
               The morality that Christianity preaches is always motivated, and wherever there is motivation,
           there is no morality.
               The church says that a righteous man can judge others because he is without sin. Who is the
           righteous man? If you look you will not find a single person who is without sin, because everything
           that is joyful and that is pleasant, that you love, is called sin.
               The righteous person is one who has never committed any sin, who has never looked at a woman
           with loving eyes, who has never lied -- and the whole church is lying. Even the pope is lying. Who is
           righteous? You will not find anyone.
               According to the Christian ideology, you are all sinners. You are carrying the same sin that
           Adam and Eve committed. That is their dogma, I am not talking on my own. It is their dogma that
           Adam and Eve committed the original sin by disobeying God, and because the same blood is flowing
           in all humanity around the world, you partake of, and you have to be responsible for, the original sin
           of Adam and Eve.
               You are their sons and daughters, and you are born out of sin. Except Jesus, nobody is born
           without sin. But I don't consider that Jesus was born without sin. In fact, in the birth of Jesus even
           God has become a sinner.
               The Holy Ghost, they say, is one with God, is not separate. And it is the Holy Ghost who made
           the poor Mary pregnant. God himself has become a sinner; it does not make Jesus born out of virtue.
           Because God is raping a woman who is somebody's wife without her consent, Jesus simply becomes
           a bastard, and God becomes a sinner.
               So the whole of humanity is born out of sin, the original sin that Adam and Eve committed. And
           God has become a sinner from the very beginning. First he murdered Lilith, then he committed rape
           on Mary. Even God is not qualified to be present on the judgment day. Only the righteous can judge.
           Who is righteous?
               But Christian theologians are very clever in finding ways. Just a few days ago, the third man in
           the Church of England ... The first is the archbishop of England, then there is the second most senior
           man; then comes the third man, who can possibly someday become the archbishop of England,
           because only one man is in between him and the top, and he is young enough ....
               He has come out with the statement that, "Taking the vow of celibacy does not include
           homosexuality." You can be celibate and you can be homosexual; it simply prevents you from
           heterosexuality. A new definition! They have to find such a definition, because almost fifty percent
           of Christian monks are homosexuals. The remaining ones may be masturbating, but nobody, unless
           he is born impotent, can be celibate by nature.
               These people go on teaching unnatural things. And when people cannot cope with unnaturalness,
           and they are drawn to their nature, it becomes sin. Then they have to be condemned to hellfire. To be
           natural is a sin, according to Christianity -- and according to other religions too. To be unnatural and
           abnormal -- to be perverted -- is to be saintly.
               Now this bishop, who has a high post in England, with every possibility that he will become the
           archbishop of England ... England has its own church, so the archbishop of England has the same
           position as the pope. Now he is saying that homosexuality is allowed, no scripture prevents it.
               I could not believe my eyes! I could not believe my ears! What is this man saying?
               The Old Testament has the story of two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. God destroyed both the
           cities completely, just like Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been destroyed. What was the reason? --
           because they were all becoming homosexuals. Bestiality, masturbation, all kinds of perversions were
           prevailing in both the cities.
               God told them, "If you remain so perverted, I am going to destroy you." And he destroyed both
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the cities, which were great cities in those days.
                If God is still alive, which I doubt, then he should destroy all the Christian monks immediately.
           This is the right moment to finish with Christian monks, because they are making the whole earth a
           Sodom, a Gomorrah. All their monasteries are nothing but sexual perversion.
                And that is true about other religions also. They are all against nature and being natural. You are
           forcing people to unnecessarily feel guilty.
                Mahatma Gandhi was very much influenced by Christianity and was thinking to become a
           Christian himself; at least three times he was on the verge of being converted. In his ashram, even to
           eat tastefully is a sin. You are enjoying taste? -- you have to eat without tasting. Now, that is possible
           only if the taste buds on your tongue are removed surgically. If the taste buds are there, they are
           beyond your control, they will taste. The sweet will be sweet and the bitter will be bitter. You cannot
           do anything about it, they are not under the control of your mind. You can only pretend.
                So all the religions -- particularly Christianity -- force everybody to be hypocrites, to pretend. No
           taste, no love, no appreciation of your own body and its wisdom. Your body is doing a tremendous
           service for you for seventy, eighty, or a hundred years -- and you are not even grateful. All the
           religions treat the body as the enemy, so torture it. Torturing is virtue.
                Rejoicing in your body, in its health, in its youth, in its old age, rejoicing in your body even in
           death, is what I teach.
                Christianity is basically masochistic -- torture your body. The more you torture your body the
           greater saint you are. And there are idiots everywhere available -- they are the majority in the world
           -- who start doing all kinds of stupid things just to become saints. It does not need any education, it
           does not need any culture, any civilization, any intelligence, any genius. Any idiot can become a
           saint.
                My own understanding is that only idiots become saints. A man of intelligence cannot become a
           saint, because to be a saint you have to go against nature, against the body, against yourself. It is
           very strange that God has given you all these tendencies -- of love, of taste, of laughter. Who is the
           criminal?
                If anybody is a criminal, it is God. Why has he implanted taste buds? While he was creating man
           he should have removed sexuality, he should have removed taste buds. In fact, there was no question
           of removing them, he should not have created them. Just visualize God making Adam: he should not
           have made his genitals -- and he was making his genitals with such joy!
                But every religion wants to castrate you, and particularly Christianity castrates people. What are
           they doing in Mount Athos, where no kind of woman is allowed? A hen, a dog, a female horse, a
           female baby six months old -- nobody is allowed.
                One American woman tried to break the one-thousand-year-old rule of the Mount Athos
           monastery and enter. She dressed like a man, she cut her hair and arranged everything perfectly. But
           she was caught red-handed, because women walk differently from men, so just at the gate she was
           caught.
                A woman cannot walk like a man, and the reason for it is the womb. Man has no womb. That
           womb makes a difference in your walk. She had not thought about it. She had done everything, but
           she had not thought about the walk, and those people are watching continually that no woman ever
           enters.
                The monastery is guarded; it has its own government, it has its own police. It is a sovereign
           nation. When the woman was caught she was jailed for six months. It is their law that if any woman
           tries to enter and is caught she will have to be punished.
                Now, after that woman's effort, everybody who wants to go into Athos, man or woman, first has
           to enter into the office outside the monastery and has to be stripped naked, to be looked at from
           every side, to see whether he is man or woman -- and nobody will say that those who are looking at
           naked people are voyeurs, homosexuals, enjoying the naked bodies of other men. Of course no
           woman has dared since then, but now it has become a rule that anybody who enters Mount Athos
           first has to be inspected naked by the guards. Unless they are certified to be a man, nobody can enter.
           Such fear ... I call it castration.
           And do you see the difference?
                Have you seen the beauty of a bull? -- so proud, such grandeur, he looks so majestic, and after
           castration he becomes the bullock. The same bull becomes a bullock. The bullock looks sad,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           shrunken, all pride and dignity gone. He is a slave; now he can be used for pulling carts.
                You cannot put a bull to pull a cart; you are not a match for a bull. He will not remain on the
           road, he will go anywhere he wants -- and if by chance he comes across a girlfriend the cart will be
           thrown by the side of the road. First things first! You may have multiple fractures -- and he will be
           enjoying making love to his girlfriend.
                Bulls are not used for bullock carts -- but what a difference it creates, just castrating them, just
           destroying their sexual energy. The bullock is a sad affair.
                Christianity and all other religions are part of the conspiracy to make man castrated. They have
           destroyed all the dignity of man. They have given only guilt and sin. Hence I call Christianity the
           deadliest poison.
                The Bible says, "We know at the end we shall have life eternal." This has been the justification
           for sacrifice and suffering: you can sacrifice a human being in the name of God because he will have
           life eternal. Don't be worried, you are not destroying him, his spirit. Because he is sacrificed in the
           name of God he will enter into paradise.
                So sacrifice is supported in the name of the eternal life that you will get after death. And
           suffering also is supported: it is only a question of a few moments; your life of seventy years is
           nothing but a few moments compared to the eternity of existence. Suffer patiently.

               Patience is one of the pillars of Christianity, and patience is against all rebellion, all revolution,
           all change. Patience is the opium which drugs people into deep coma. They move like robots. They
           have forgotten that they are being exploited, their blood sucked. They allow it.
               The Bible says you should not change or make an effort to change anything, because God has
           made everything perfect as it is. This is the ultimate utterance against revolution, change, evolution,
           improvement in the conditions of the poor, of the sick.
               Scientists say man can live at least three hundred years if care is taken. If his body is taken care
           of, not tortured, not undernourished, not fasting, not overeating -- if the body is given scientific care
           it can live three hundred years very easily. And that does not seem to be incorrect, because there are
           people in a few places who live one hundred and eighty years.
               In Russia there are a few aboriginal tribes where you will find one hundred and fifty years is an
           ordinary thing. Thousands of people have passed one hundred and fifty, and even after one hundred
           and fifty they are young, they are working people -- in the fields, in the orchards, chopping wood,
           carrying water from the well -- perfectly healthy. And there are a few people in Russia who have
           passed the age of one hundred and eighty.
               So science seems to be perfectly right: if sufficient care is taken, life can last three hundred years.
           Just think of Albert Einstein living three hundred years! Science would have benefited immensely;
           miracles would have happened.
               But fate is strange: by the time a man becomes experienced, death overtakes him and the
           experienced man is replaced by a baby, absolutely inexperienced. Now you start from the beginning
           again -- ABC -- and by the time the baby reaches to the point where it can contribute something to
           humanity, to the world, to the beautification of it, death overtakes the man.
           But Christianity will not allow it.
               It does not allow birth control, even seeing clearly that if the population goes on growing the
           whole of humanity is going to suffer utter starvation, and billions of people will die within the
           coming ten years. Without any third world war people will be dying on their own.
               But Christianity goes on insisting, because the Bible says, "Multiply. Have as many children as
           you can." And because God creates life, Christianity's argument is, "You should not stop the birth of
           a child."
           But do you see the contradiction?
               Killing is allowed, sacrifice is allowed, because nothing is dying. You will have an eternal life in
           paradise. So what is the problem? -- if a child is stopped, he will have eternal life or may move to
           another womb. If the spirit does not die when you kill a man as a sacrifice, why should the spirit die
           by birth control methods? In fact, the spirit would not enter into the womb at all.
               But don't change anything, that is the fundamental motto of Christianity -- and that means death
           to humanity, death to this beautiful planet.
               Christianity is the most out-of-date religion. All its assumptions are absurd.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, the myth is that Mary was assumed into heaven alive, she never died. Jesus
           ascended into heaven and then he assumed Mary there. In life he was misbehaving with his mother --
           calling her "that woman" -- and suddenly he becomes very compassionate when he ascends alive to
           heaven. He takes his mother also alive into heaven.
               What happened to his five brothers and sisters? And what happened to poor Joseph, his father? If
           he was able to take his mother into heaven, why not take ... what happened to the twelve apostles?
               That Jesus ascended to heaven alive and Mary also is as absurd as the Mohammedan concept.
           But Mohammed did a far better miracle; he ascended to heaven alive with his horse, both alive.
           Strange! What will the horse be doing amongst the saints? He must be dying to come back to earth.
               De Chardin said to the Vatican, "Why am I not allowed to publish my work? It is based on
           scientific principles and will contribute much to clear many fallacies which are prevalent in the
           scientific world." He told the Vatican that it must refashion its Christology to resolve the conflicts
           with science.
               Rome responded that his diagnosis did not coincide with the ideas currently accepted in the
           eternal city -- Rome they call the eternal city -- and because his ideas do not coincide with
           Christianity and its Bible, unless he makes his Christology coincide with the Christian ideology and
           theology, he will not be allowed to publish his papers while he is alive.
           These people have been killing truth for thousands of years.
               De Chardin commented, hearing this, "Since then, as we all know, the religious schizophrenia
           from which we suffer has constantly grown more marked."
               A kind of split in the scientists who have been brought up as Christians is bound to happen. All
           scientists brought up as Christians will suffer from schizophrenia, they will have a split personality.
           One side has faith in God, faith in the virgin birth of Jesus, faith in the infallibility of the pope --
           knowing perfectly well that all this is nonsense, but their minds are split.
               Science says one thing, Christianity says just the contradictory thing, and they have to cope with
           both. They become two persons. So in the scientific lab they will be scientists and in the church they
           will be Christians. You don't know how ....
               Schizophrenia is cutting a human being in two parts -- a constant wound which knows no
           healing. The whole of humanity suffers from schizophrenia and all kinds of mental sicknesses
           because of these teachings which cannot go on changing with the changing world of knowledge;
           which are stuck somewhere and are stubbornly against moving from there; which are carrying
           corpses of the past and will not listen to the living sources.
               Man has to get rid of all religions, including Christianity, otherwise he will never be wholesome,
           he will never be one, and he will never know the joys of life and the blessings and the benediction.
           He will never know the truth.
               If these religions go on living they are going to drive the whole of humanity insane. They have
           pushed everybody to the very verge of insanity.
               It is time to get rid of Christianity -- and all so-called religions which are different versions of the
           same stupidity.
               Man needs absolute freedom from the past. Only then can he live in the moment responsibly, and
           only then can he create a new future, a better future than the ugly past, for the coming humanity -- a
           superman, a better man than the pygmies of the past who were just slaves and nothing else.

           The sutra:

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              UNGAN REMAINED WITH YAKUSAN FOR SOME TIME, THEN ONE DAY DECIDED TO LEAVE:
              HE EXPLAINED TO YAKUSAN THAT HE HAD MADE A VOW TO STAY WITH HYAKUJO

               -- his old master Hyakujo, who had allowed him to go to Yakusan when he asked. Because he
           had allowed him without any hesitation, Ungan became more grateful to the old master than he had
           ever been before.
               Freedom is the very air, the very climate of Zen. The master is not a chain on your feet, the
           master is not handcuffs on your hands. A master is not a prison.
               A master is not like the Catholic monastery of Mount Athos, which is nothing but a prison. There
           is no other prison like Mount Athos, because with a prison you go in and you can get out. But in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mount Athos, once you go in as a monk, only your dead body will come out. You are committing for
           your whole life, now there is no question of change.
               This is the greatest prison in the world, where you enter alive and leave only when you are dead.
           This they call loyalty. This they call commitment. But in actual practice this is slavery -- pure
           spiritual slavery.
               Because Hyakujo had allowed him when he asked that he wanted sometime to visit his brother
           Dogo, and Dogo's master Yakusan, his respect and reverence for Hyakujo had grown.
               He lived for a few years with Yakusan, then he said, "Now I would like to go back to my old
           master."
              YAKUSAN AGREED, AND UNGAN SET OFF DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, DOGO ACCOMPANYING
              HIM A LITTLE WAY, AND THEN RETURNING TO YAKUSAN, WHO ASKED, "DID YOU SEE YOUR
              BROTHER OFF?"
              "YES, I DID," REPLIED DOGO, AND THEN ADDED, "IS IT ALRIGHT FOR MY BROTHER TO
              LEAVE YOU?"
              "YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASK SUCH A THING," SAID YAKUSAN. "WE HAVE BEEN VERY INTIMATE
              FOR SUCH A LONG TIME -- WE CAN DO OR SAY WHATSOEVER WE WOULD LIKE TO."

               Love gives freedom, intimacy gives freedom.
           Yakusan said, "We have lived in such deep intimacy for so long that he is free to say anything, and if
           he wants to go back to the old master, he is absolutely free. SO THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU
           TO ASK ME."
               "NO, OSHO," Dogo said, with deep love and gratitude. "YOUR WORD CAN BECOME A
           REFERENCE FOR THE FUTURE, SO PLEASE SAY SOMETHING."
               "OKAY, I WILL SAY ONE THING," REPLIED YAKUSAN. "THE EYES ARE ALRIGHT --
           your brother Ungan has attained to a clarity of vision -- THE EYES ARE ALRIGHT, ONLY THE
           DISCIPLINE IS LACKING -- but he is not consistent in deepening whatever he has gained."
               In Zen, `discipline' means simply, "Don't stop anywhere, go on deepening, because your depth is
           infinite. Go on climbing, because your height is also infinite. You are the whole existence."
               So his eyes are clear, he has attained to a clarity of vision, but he has stopped there. He should go
           on and on and on, in both directions, upwards and downwards. One has to reach to one's roots and
           one has to reach to one's flowers. When you have both the flowers and the roots, you are complete.
               His vision is clear, but he thinks perhaps this is the end of the journey. He can stop for an
           overnight stay, but in the morning you have to go again. Existence is so vast ....
               You will come to many stopping places where you will think, "This must be the end, what can be
           more? Such bliss, such joy, such ecstasy, what can be more than this?" But you don't know. Just go
           on and you will find there is something more.
               Once you have learned the art of not staying anywhere ... Unless you reach to the very end of the
           road, you have to continue the discipline of meditation.
           Yakusan said, "THE EYES ARE ALRIGHT, ONLY THE DISCIPLINE IS LACKING."
           HEARING THIS, DOGO IMMEDIATELY LEFT THE MONASTERY IN PURSUIT OF HIS
           BROTHER. WHEN HE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM THE FOLLOWING DAY, DOGO TOLD
           UNGAN WHAT YAKUSAN HAD SAID. THE TWO BROTHERS TURNED AROUND AND
           WENT BACK TO YAKUSAN, AND REMAINED WITH HIM TILL HIS DEATH.
               You have to see the point, that Ungan did not argue at all. When Dogo told him what Yakusan
           had said -- that "Your eyes are alright, but discipline is lacking" -- because his clarity was alright, he
           did not argue. He immediately understood the point. He could see that Yakusan was right.
               So there was not even a dialogue, there was not even an effort on the part of Dogo to convince
           him, or on the part of Ungan to refute it. Not a single word was said. The moment Dogo told him
           what the master, Yakusan, had said, he saw it immediately. That's what he said: "His eyes are alright,
           his vision is clear. He has found the door beyond the mind, but he is just standing there. He is not
           moving."
               The no-mind is the whole of existence. Just crossing the boundary of the mind you will have
           clarity, space, open sky -- but don't stop there. You have to open your wings and fly into the eternity
           of existence.
               He immediately turned around, with Dogo, his brother, and they remained with Yakusan until his
           death.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This will give you some taste of Zen. It is not an argument, it is not a conversion. It is seeing
           things through and through, straightforward.

           Basho wrote:

              THOUGH MY SHANKS ARE THIN
              I GO WHERE FLOWERS BLOSSOM,
              YOSHINO MOUNTAIN.


               This Yoshino Mountain seems to be a constant reference in many haikus of many Zen poets. In
           Japan, it seems, Yoshino Mountain has the most tremendous variety of flowers.
               I know one place in the Himalayas called the Valley of the Flowers. No man has ever reached
           there, it is almost impossible. It is thousands of feet deep. You can only look into that deep valley
           from thousands of feet above. Even looking seems to be dangerous, because the slope is steep, and
           the snow has never melted on the mountains surrounding the valley. When one person is looking,
           another person has to hold him by his waist, it is so dangerous. Just a small breeze and you may be
           gone, shattered completely, not to be found again.
               But I have been to the Valley of the Flowers. You can only see from thousands and thousands of
           feet above, standing there, tremendous kinds of flowers down in the valley. You cannot find those
           flowers anywhere else. I could not manage to figure out what even a single flower was -- just rare,
           absolutely rare.
               Perhaps Yoshino in Japan has flowers of such a rare variety of color, fragrance, that Basho says,
           THOUGH MY SHANKS ARE THIN, I GO WHERE FLOWERS BLOSSOM, YOSHINO
           MOUNTAIN.
           But this is only symbolic.
               What is he saying? "Although my legs are fragile, I will go anywhere in the inner space where
           flowers blossom. Even if it means climbing Yoshino Mountain, or it may mean diving deep into the
           Pacific Ocean -- if flowers blossom there, I am going there. I am not concerned with my fragile body
           because inside, the body does not go; only your consciousness, which has no legs, which is not a
           material phenomenon."
               But if you decide that you will reach to the point at the very center of your being -- the Valley of
           the Flowers -- you will find tremendous color, psychedelic flowers, fragrance that you have never
           known before.
               Basho says, "Don't stop before it, whatever happens. Risk everything and go to the place where
           flowers blossom." It is not about the outside world.
               Zen is not much interested in the ordinary flowers which fade within hours. Its interest is in the
           eternal flowers which never fade. You have them deep in the valley of flowers, at the very center of
           your being.


              Maneesha has asked one question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE ANY AUTHENTICITY TO THE ZEN THAT EXISTS IN AMERICA AND EUROPE TODAY?


               Maneesha, there is great scholarship but no authenticity. People are translating Zen books,
           people are commenting on Zen books, but there is not a single Zen master in the West who knows
           the truth. All their commentaries and all their talk about Zen are intellectual.
               They are fed up with Christianity and they are in search of something fresh and new, and they
           have found in Zen fresh insights, but their approach remains Western, the approach of intellect.
           Their approach remains Socratic, Aristotelian. They are beautiful people, but their Zen is only a
           mind phenomenon, they have not experienced it. It is not their own truth, they have borrowed it from
           different sources.
               It will take some time. As America goes on declining, once it is no more significant, just like
           England ... It used to be said that in the British empire, the sun never sets -- and it was true. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           British empire was all around the globe, so somewhere or other the sun was always rising. Now the
           situation is totally different. Even in England the sun never rises!
               So it needs the Western ego to be shattered completely, then perhaps they may start looking
           behind the mind.
           I hope that day comes soon.

           It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

               guiseppe comes downstairs after his wedding night and is greeted by his old friend, Giovanni.
           "Hey-a, guiseppe!" shouts Giovanni. "How-a many times-a last-a night?"
           "Three-a times!" exclaims guiseppe, doing up his trousers.
           "Wow!" shouts Giovanni. "Fantastico!"
           The next morning, when guiseppe comes down the stairs, Giovanni is waiting.
           "Hey-a, guiseppe!" shouts Giovanni. "How-a many times-a last-a night?"
           guiseppe holds up five fingers .... "Five-a times!" he announces proudly.
           "Wow!" shouts Giovanni. "Magnifico!"
               The following morning, Giovanni is standing at the foot of the stairs when Guiseppe comes
           down.
           "Hey-a, guiseppe!" cries Giovanni. "How-a many times-a last-a night?"
           guiseppe holds up eight fingers proudly. "Eight-a times!" he says.
               "Eight-a times?" screams Giovanni. "You have to tell-a me, how-a you do it eight-a times!"
               "It is-a simple!" says guiseppe, pushing his hips backwards and forwards, backwards and
           forwards, and counting, "One-a, two-a, three-a ...!"

               It is Easter Sunday in the White House private chapel, and George Bush has invited the TV
           preacher Jimmy Bakker for a special sermon. The entire White House staff is forced to attend the
           service, as Jimmy Bakker gives them all a hellfire and damnation speech about the wages of sin.
               When it comes time for the collection plate to be passed around, Jimmy Bakker is amazed to see
           a one hundred dollar bill lying amongst the nickels and dimes.
               "Praise the Lord!" shouts preacher Bakker. "Will the person who put in this one hundred dollar
           note please stand up and choose three hymns!"
               "Goody!" cries Reginald, President Bush's private secretary, jumping to his feet and pointing to
           three big secret service agents. "I choose him, him and him!"

               A new Cadillac pope-mobile is delivered to the door of the Vatican. Cardinal Catsass, Pope the
           Polack's personal secretary, arranges to take the old Polack for a ride in it.
               With Catsass at the wheel, and Pope the Polack mounted behind him, so that he can wave to
           people, the pope-mobile goes hurtling out of the Vatican gates. They drive all over Rome and then
           set off into the Italian countryside.
               As soon as they are out of town, the pope-mobile's engine suddenly starts spluttering and
           coughing, and then dies.
               Catsass pulls the car to the side of the road, stops and gets out. He lifts up the bonnet and stares
           at the engine blankly. Then he reaches over and tries to pull out one of the spark-plugs, burning his
           fingers on the hot engine.
               "Goddam son-of-a-bitch Cadillac!" shouts Catsass. "These cars always screw up!"
               "Now, my son!" cautions the shocked Polack pope from his perch in the back. "That kind of
           language is certainly not going to start the car! Perhaps a little prayer would help!"
           "A prayer?" cries Catsass. "You don't believe in that mumbo-jumbo, do you?"
               "Well, bitch," replies the pope, "with you as the mechanic, we have to try something!"
               So the two idiots kneel down by the front bumper, the pope kisses the tire and mumbles a short
           prayer. Then Catsass jumps behind the steering wheel and turns the key.
           The car starts at once.
           "Holy shit!" cries Pope the Polack, in shock. "The fucking prayer worked!"

           Nivedano ...
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ... and feel your bodies to be completely frozen.
           This is the right moment to look inwards.
               Gather your whole life energy, your total consciousness, and with an immense urgency, as if this
           is going to be your last moment on the earth, rush towards the center of your being.
           Faster and faster, deeper and deeper ...
               The closer you come to your center, a great silence descends over you. Blossoms of peace,
           blossoms of love, blossoms of serenity and blossoms of blissfulness start growing all around your
           center of being.
               As you reach to the very center, you are no more yourself the way you have known yourself. For
           the first time you encounter your authentic nature.
               In the East, we have called this authentic nature the buddha, the awakened one.
               Everybody is born with a birthright to be a buddha. This moment, Gautama the Buddha
           Auditorium is full of ten thousand buddhas.
               You are the most blessed people on the earth in this moment. Centered, a great ecstasy arises
           from your very sources, a kind of divine drunkenness.
               Only one thing has to be remembered, and that is the very quality the buddha is made of. Buddha
           used to call it remembering, sammasati. I call it witnessing, to be more correct.
           Witness that you are not the body ...
           Witness that you are not the mind ...
               Witness that, except being a witness, you are nobody else, just a pure witness, a mirror which
           reflects.

           To make the witnessing deeper, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ...
           Let go, but continue to be a witness.
               As your witnessing deepens the silence grows, the serenity grows, the peace becomes so deep, so
           fathomless.
           You are going through a transformation.
               You have lived your life horizontally, concerned with the trivia of day-to-day life. In meditation
           your horizontal line becomes a vertical line. When you are vertical you start moving upwards --
           more and more blossoms come on the Yoshino Mountain; and you start also simultaneously growing
           in depth -- almost as deep as the Pacific Ocean.
               Growing upwards and downwards simultaneously is the only miracle I know of, because this
           miracle makes you part of eternity. You are no longer mortal, immortality is your home. The whole
           existence is your home. The cosmos, infinite and eternal, is your ultimate home.
           To be a buddha is a beginning.
               To be a buddha is going beyond the mind. But then the journey starts ... and the journey knows
           no end. Every step takes you into more majesty, into more splendor, into more truth, into more
           beauty, into more godliness.
               Collect all these experiences before Nivedano calls you back. You have to bring them to the
           surface, to the circumference of your life. You are not just to experience them, you have to share
           them too.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Know the arithmetic of the inner world. The more you share, the more you have. The less you
           share, the less you have.
                In your day-to-day life, in your ordinary activities, in your gestures, in your words, in your
           silences, in your songs, in your dances, share -- share unconditionally your buddha, your awareness,
           your witnessing, your blissfulness. Share your ecstasy and it will go on growing, growing, growing
           ... new blossoms, new fragrances.
                Meditation opens the door of all the mysteries of existence, of all the secrets of existence.
           Meditation is the master key which opens all the locks, and existence becomes an open book for you.
                And secondly, remember to persuade the buddha to come with you. It is your nature. There is no
           reason why buddha should not come with you. He has been waiting to be persuaded, he has been
           waiting to be welcomed. He has been waiting for you to be receptive. He will come behind you and
           he will start expressing in your actions his grace, his truth, his clarity, his awareness, his light, his
           love.
                First he will be behind you. Soon you will find yourself behind him. That day will be the great
           day of your enlightenment.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Come back ... but come back as a buddha.
              Come back with silence, with grace, and sit down for a few moments just to remember where
           you have been, to what space you have touched, on what golden path you have followed, and look
           whether the buddha is behind you or not.
           He is coming every day, inch by inch, closer to you.
              I can see it in your faces, I can see it in your eyes, I can see it in the silence that surrounds you. I
           can see it in your grace, in your ageless faces.
              Time has stopped, mind has stopped, you are just a being of utter silence, purity, innocence, and
           you are just here and now.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




 Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
                                                    Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title: Fictitious father, crackpot son
           29 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901295
              ShortTitle: CHRIST08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 188 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YAKUSAN ONCE ASKED HIS DISCIPLE, UNGAN, "I HEARD THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO DEAL
              WITH THE LIONS -- IS THAT TRUE?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              UNGAN REPLIED, "YES, IT IS."
              YAKUSAN ASKED, "HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU GET AND DEAL WITH?"
              "SIX," UNGAN REPLIED.
              YAKUSAN THEN SAID, "I ALSO KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE LION."
              UNGAN ASKED, "HOW MANY DO you GET?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "ONLY ONE."
              UNGAN THEN COMMENTED, "ONE IS SIX; SIX IS ONE."
              LATER ON, WHEN UNGAN VISITED ISAN, ISAN SAID, "I HAVE HEARD THAT WHEN YOU WERE
              WITH YAKUSAN, YOU HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT GETTING AND DEALING WITH LIONS. IS
              THAT TRUE?"
              "YES, IT IS," REPLIED UNGAN.
              ISAN ASKED, "DO YOU CONTINUE TO DEAL WITH THEM, OR DO YOU SOMETIMES STOP
              DOING THAT?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "WHEN I WANT TO, I DEAL WITH THEM; AND WHEN I WANT TO STOP, I
              STOP."
              "WHEN YOU STOP," ASKED ISAN, "WHERE DO THE LIONS GO?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "STOPPING IS STOPPING."


               Friends,
               Christianity, I have been told by the Christian friends, is based on family: family is its foundation
           stone. But family is also the foundation stone of all neurosis, of all psychosis, of all kinds of mental
           sicknesses, of all kinds of social problems. It is also the base of races, of nations, of wars.
               Family has to be understood. It has no future; it has already outlived its usefulness, its necessity.
           But we have been conditioned -- not only Christians, but everybody -- that the family is a great
           contribution to the world. The reality is totally different. I have to go point by point, in detail,
           because the problem of family is one of the most serious problems.
               The first thing ... The family is a prison, it wants to keep control of the children, of the wife. It is
           a very tight group of people, and they have made this prison sacred. But the results are very ugly.
               Every kind of imprisonment prevents spiritual growth. What do you think ... why did Buddha
           renounce the world? Why did Mahavira renounce the world? In fact they were not renouncing the
           world, they were simply renouncing the family -- nobody has said this before -- because how can
           you renounce the world? Wherever you are, the world is. You can only renounce the family.
               But all religious scriptures, including Christian scriptures, are continuously lying to the people:
           they talk of renouncing the world. It distracts you completely from the fact that all these people were
           renouncing the family, because the family was such that they could not grow within it.
               The family is programming every child according to its prejudices. If you are born in a Christian
           family you will be continuously programmed for Christianity, and you will not ever suspect that your
           conditioning may be wrong, your conditioning may be preventing you from going beyond.
               Just the other night, when the wife and the son of the sannyasin who has died arrived, the son
           was very much excited the whole day. He told the sannyasins he would like to come here and live
           forever. But when he heard me, he freaked out. He told the sannyasins, "I am a Christian and I
           believe in God -- and I am not a homosexual!"
               His prejudiced mind could not see that I have not said that all Christians are homosexuals. I have
           said only that the monks and the nuns are homosexuals, are lesbians. This is how people go on
           missing points. He heard in his mind, through his interpretation of the programming, that I am
           calling all Christians homosexuals.
               And he proudly says, "I believe in God" -- without understanding a single word. What does
           belief mean? Belief means you don't know. It is utterly in ignorance that people have forced the idea
           on you, and you carry it as if you know God. A man who believes in God should be ashamed, not
           proud.
           Believing is hiding your ignorance.
           Knowing is a totally different matter.
               But Christianity and all other religions go on confusing people's minds. They never make the
           distinction between believing and knowing. A blind man can believe in light, but that is not going to
           help. One needs eyes to see the light, and then there is no need to believe. When you know
           something, is there any need to believe in it?
               Do you believe in light? Do you believe in the moon? Do you believe in the stars? You simply
           know, there is no question of belief. Belief arises only for fictions, for lies, not for truth. Every belief
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           system is a hindrance for spirituality.
                But that young man, I could see in his face, I could see in his eyes ... And I immediately inquired,
           "What is wrong with him? So young and he has already become dead?" His father who had come
           here to meditate and who wanted to be a sannyasin was younger than him. He wanted to live here his
           whole life after hearing me and everything I said about Christianity.
                His mother is far younger than him. She wants to come here and stay for a few days, to meditate.
           She loved the place, she loved the people. She was touched very much by your ceremony for her
           husband. Nowhere in the world would she have got that ceremony for her husband.
                Death, according to Christianity, is a taboo: you should not talk about it. Death is taboo ... And
           life is also taboo, you should not live it! Death you should not talk about, and life you should not
           live! They don't leave you any alternative -- neither can you live, nor can you die. They keep you
           hanging in the middle, half-dead, half-alive.
                This creates schizophrenia. You are not allowed to be total in anything: in life, in death, in love
           -- only partially involved. A man who is partially involved is only partially alive. The deeper your
           involvement in existence, the deeper your life. When you are involved totally in life, in death, in
           love, in meditation, in any kind of thing that you want to do -- painting, music, poetry, dance --
           unless you are totally involved in it you will never know the maximum, the optimum pleasure, the
           optimum blissfulness.
                People are living only at the minimum, just surviving, or, to be absolutely truthful, just
           vegetating -- just waiting ... and waiting, and nothing happens in their life. No flowers blossom in
           their life, no festivals happen in their life. And their death is as ugly as their life was, because death
           is the ultimate culmination of your life.
                If you have lived totally, death is not the end. Death is only an episode, a small episode in an
           eternal life. You have died many times, but because you have never lived totally, you became
           unconscious at the moment of death; the fear brought you into a coma.
                That's why you don't remember your past lives, because the coma stands as a barrier for the past
           lives and their remembrance. And because you don't know your past lives, you cannot understand
           that there is going to be life after death, that life is eternal. Birth and death are mere episodes;
           thousands of times you have been into birth, into death. But when you are not allowed to live totally,
           when everywhere there is interference from religion ...

               One small boy in the school -- of course a Christian boy -- was asked by the teacher the first day
           he entered the school, "What is your name?"
           He said, "Don't."
           The teacher said, "Strange, I have never heard such a name."
               He said, "Everything, whatever I do, I only hear this: `Don't' -- so I think it is my name."

               But the whole of Christianity is doing that to everybody. It is a life-negative religion, it does not
           allow you to live joyously. And the family is the root, because obviously the programming starts
           from the family. Christianity says that it is founded on family.
               And I know perfectly well that unless family disappears from the world these religions, these
           nations, these wars will not disappear, because they are all based on family. The family teaches you
           that you are a Hindu, and the Hindu religion is the best religion of all; other religions are so-so.
               Christianity continues the programming of children: "You can be saved only through Jesus
           Christ. Nobody else can save you. All other religions are just moralities, very superficial, they are
           not going to help you."
               And when a child, alongside his breast feeding, is continuously fed with all kinds of superstitions
           -- God, and the Holy Ghost, and the only begotten son of God, Jesus, heaven and hell ...
               Children are very vulnerable, because they are born as a tabula rasa -- nothing is written on them,
           their minds are pure. You can write anything you want on the child, and every family commits the
           crime: they destroy the individual and create a slave. Obedience is virtue, disobedience is the
           original sin.
               When a child starts being programmed from the very birth, when he is very vulnerable and very
           soft, you can write anything. It will go on in his unconscious. You can tell him that "Our nation is
           the greatest nation in the world"; every nation is telling that. "Our religion is the greatest religion,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           our scripture is written by God himself" -- Hindus are saying that, Christians are saying that, Jews
           are saying that. Everybody is doing the same crime.
                Christianity, of course, is doing it more efficiently, more cunningly, because it is the greatest
           religion in the world. It uses ultra-modern techniques of programming. It sends its missionaries to
           learn psychoanalysis, to learn how to program people, how to deprogram people. If a Hindu has to be
           converted into Christianity, first he has to be deprogrammed of Hinduism. Again the tabula rasa
           appears; what was written is erased. Now you can write again, "Christianity is the highest religion in
           the world, and there has been no man like Jesus Christ, and will never be again, because he is the
           only begotten son of God."
                All wars depend on the family. It has been a tradition in many nations in the past that you should
           contribute at least one son to the army, to protect the nation, to protect the dignity and the pride of
           the nation.
                In Tibet, every family has to contribute the eldest son to the monasteries. This has been done for
           thousands of years, as if the children are just commodities you can contribute, as if the children are
           money you can give in charity.
                This divided the world into different camps because of religion, because of politics, because of
           nationalities, because of races. They all depend on family. Family is the root cause of mankind's
           thousands of wounds.
                To go deeper, in more detail, psychologists have discovered a certain phenomenon they call
           "imprinting." When a child is born, he gets the first imprint of the mother, the father, because they
           are there. You may not be aware what imprinting can do ....
                When a scientist was exploring the phenomenon of imprinting, he was standing by the side of a
           hen's egg, and it was time for the egg to break open and allow the small bird to come out. Ordinarily,
           the hen is sitting on the egg, so the first imprint is of the mother. But this scientist was standing
           there, so when the baby came out from the egg he saw the scientist's shoe. That was his first imprint.
                The scientist could not believe his eyes. When the baby became older, rather than falling in love
           with any female, he was continuously trying to make love to the scientist's shoe! The scientist could
           not believe what was happening!
                But he had discovered a great phenomenon: that whatever comes first in the vision of the child is
           his first imprint. The mother is his first imprint, the father is his second imprint. And if the child is a
           boy, then he falls in love with his mother, and his whole life he will suffer.
                All couples are suffering around the world, and they don't know the reason why. The reason is
           that the boy has been imprinted by the mother, and since that time he is looking and looking,
           searching for a woman who will fulfill his desire, who will be his mother. Now, you cannot find your
           mother again. Perhaps something of the mother ...
                Lovers are greatly embarrassed if you ask them, "Why have you chosen this woman, or this
           man?" They simply shrug their shoulders, they say, "We don't know, it simply happened."
                It did not just happen, it is not so simple as you think. You simply don't know.
                The woman you have fallen in love with in some way resembles your mother, in some way. Of
           course, she cannot be one hundred percent your mother. Perhaps her hairstyle is the same as your
           mother's, perhaps her nose, perhaps the color of her eyes, perhaps the way she walks, perhaps the
           sound of her voice resembles your mother's. You fall in love with that partial mother in the woman.
           It is your mother calling you through this woman to fall in love, it is nothing to do with "happening."
           But it is a partial thing, remember. The hairdo, or the nose ...
                What are you going to do with the hairdo and the nose? Soon you will discover on your
           honeymoon, "My God! This is not my mother." And the girl has fallen in love with you because
           something in you resembles her father. So both are searching for something which is not there.
                So the woman will be looking at the husband, and will be surprised that she has been deceived.
           This is not the man she was looking for, "Only his moustache looked like my father's!" But what to
           do with the moustache?
                The husband is looking for his mother, and the wife is looking for her father. Both are in a
           tremendous dilemma: "How did it happen? Now how to get rid of each other?" And the problem
           becomes more difficult because the church does not allow divorce.
                Christianity says -- I am quoting the Bible -- "What God has joined together, let no man put
           asunder." God has joined wives and husbands together; let no man put them asunder. This is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           interpreted as the basis for forbidding divorce. Whatever the suffering, all the old stories end up with
           marriage, all ancient stories end up with marriage, with the last statement after the marriage, "and
           they lived in happiness forever."
               The truth is, after the marriage is the deluge, after the marriage is the hellfire. So as not to disturb
           people, every story stops at the marriage. In fact this is the beginning of the story, and they have
           made it the end.
               Meeting a girl on the sea beach is not the real thing. Neither is the girl real, nor are you real. You
           are pretending to be a great man, a hero, Alexander the Great. She is pretending to be Sophia Loren.
           You both are hypocrites -- but hypocrisy is good on the sea beach. You see each other only for a few
           seconds, or a few hours at the most. Hypocrisy can be maintained for a few hours, but it cannot be
           maintained for your whole life. Once you get married, the hypocrisy becomes a burden, you cannot
           carry it.

               Two persons got married and entered a sea resort honeymoon hotel. The wife immediately
           started moving towards the bathroom, and told the husband, "Put the light off. When I come to bed I
           don't like lights on."
               The husband said, "This is a strange thing, because I have to go to the bathroom also. The lights
           should remain on!"
           The wife said, "Do you hear me or not? Put the lights off!"
               The husband said, "It is better to say the truth. The truth is that one of my legs is false!" -- and he
           took the leg off and put it aside. He said, "I cannot walk in the darkness. It is very difficult for me to
           walk even in the light!"
               The wife said, "If that is the case, then it is better to be friends." She pulled off both her breasts
           and threw them down.
               The husband looked at the breasts lying on the floor, and he said, "It is okay." He took his teeth
           out and threw them.
               The wife said, "You think you are going to win?" She took off her hair, she was baldheaded, and
           threw the hair on top of everything. It was becoming a big heap!

               Actually something like this happens. By and by you start dropping your hypocrisy, your
           falseness, your pretensions. And when all pretensions are gone, then the woman you thought was a
           Juliet is so ordinary -- and not even ordinary, but worse than ordinary. And the man you were
           thinking of as a Romeo -- all the Romeo and the romance are finished. He turns out to be just a
           chicken.
               And then the story begins. Then it is constant frustration, and constant effort to find someone
           else. But religion prohibits adultery, you should remain confined in your family.
               When Jesus said, "Love your neighbor ..." And if the neighbor happens to be a woman? I
           sometimes wonder, perhaps he never thought about the implications. Love thine enemy -- but if the
           enemy happens to be a woman?
               He was not a great thinker or philosopher, just a poor carpenter's son. What does he know of
           logic and its implications?
               And because every family is in conflict -- the husband and wife are continuously fighting -- the
           children are growing up with this constant fight; this is becoming their imprint. The boy will repeat
           his father's structure, and the girl will repeat her mother's behavior, when they get married. It is a
           constant repetition, generation after generation, because from where will they learn how to be a
           husband, how to be a wife? From the mother, from the father -- those are the only people who are
           available in childhood. And that is the most vulnerable time.
               The children learn that the parents fight, they use ugly words to each other. Every night there is a
           pillow fight, every day the wife is nagging. The father feels the wife is just a pain in the neck and
           nothing else. The father tries to remain as long as possible in the office, and then he goes to the pub.
           The boy is learning. The girl is also learning: when the husband comes home, the wife is going to
           beat him.

               One of my professors, a professor of economics, was built almost like a wrestler, a very big man,
           but inside a chicken. I was very friendly with him. In fact, he had to be friendly with me, because
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that was the time when the medium of expression was changing. From English it was becoming
           Hindi. So he was accustomed to speaking English, but many times he would get stuck with some
           word, and I was his only hope -- that I would supply him the right word in Hindi.
           I used to give him right words, but once in a while I would ...
               Once he got stuck with the word `haggling'. He looked at me, and I was in the right mood, so I
           said, "It means chikallas." Chikallas really means joking with each other, not haggling. Haggling is
           debating over the price.
               So he started using the word chikallas: "When you go into the market and you start chikallas ..."
           and the whole class laughed. He looked at me, "What is the matter?"
           I said, "I don't know what is the matter. Why are these people laughing?"
               He said, "There is something, because whenever I say `chikallas' they start laughing."
               I said, "This is chikallas -- when you say something and people start laughing!"
               He said, "I thought you were my friend! I have been depending on you for translations, and you
           give me such a word?"
               I said, "I was in the right mood! When I am in the right mood, you should not ask me anything."
               I used to go to his home, and there I discovered a small woman. He used to tell me, "My wife
           beats me." He was almost proud of it. He used to speak about it in the class and show us how "She
           has hit my hand." One day he showed his back, where the wife had hit him with a stick, and there
           was a blood mark.
               When I saw his wife, I said to him, "You could have killed her any time just with your hands,
           squeezed all the juice from her."
               He said, "You don't know, she is such a pain in the neck that when I go out of my house I feel
           almost like a lion. When I come back to my house, I feel almost like a rat."
               Children are watching very carefully what is happening all around them, and they are learning
           without being taught. They will repeat the same pattern.
               The girl sees that whenever the husband proposes to the wife, "What about IT?" she simply turns
           to the other side and says, "I am suffering from headache. In the morning the servant did not come,
           the gas people I phoned have not come yet, and the electricity is out. Problems and problems ... and
           finally you come here. Just go down to your bed and sleep, I have a headache!"
               The girl is learning, watching carefully how to behave with the husband, how to control the
           husband. The boy is trying to learn how to control the wife, how to control and possess the wife.
           They are living in a battlefield, not in a family. There is no family anywhere; these are simply
           battlegrounds, where the man is fighting the woman, the woman is fighting the man.
               This professor of economics asked me, "Can you suggest something to me? What to do? She
           refuses to make love to me, she always has a headache!"
           I said, "I will give you the medicine." I gave him two aspirins.
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "You do one thing today. Don't ask her, `What about it?', just give her two aspirins and a
           glass of water and tell her, `Take it please' -- and see what happens!"
           He said, "You are trying to get me into trouble."
           I said, "You try."
               The wife was surprised because it was so new and such an original idea and she did not believe
           that this idiot, her husband, could have any original idea. But she could not say that now she had a
           headache. Two aspirins are enough to remove the headache. She asked him, "Who has told you
           this?" And as I told you, he was very afraid of her, so he told my name.
               The next time I went to their house, the wife took me aside. She said, "Don't give him any
           original ideas, let him remain an idiot. Everything was going good. Now he comes every day with
           two aspirins -- and whether I have a headache or not, I have to take aspirins. Since you gave him that
           idea he carries aspirins with him, and before I can say `headache,' aspirins are presented to me and I
           have to swallow them. I have been deceiving him continuously."

               What kind of love is this? You don't allow the woman to move; if she moves she is a prostitute.
           If she enjoys making love to you, that means she is not a virtuous woman. You want the woman not
           to move. That's why the missionary posture is used -- the woman underneath and the beast on top of
           her.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And Christianity says it has brought culture to the world!
               In the East, for thousands of years, this has been taken for granted, that the man should be under
           the woman, not on top of her. He is more weighty, he has more muscles. The woman is smaller and
           more fragile; she should be on top of the man. But on top of the man she will be enjoying movement.
               Her real pleasure does not come from the vagina. The vagina is absolutely insensitive. It has to
           be insensitive because the birth of the child will happen through it. If it is too sensitive, the woman
           will go crazy when the child comes out. The vagina is absolutely insensitive, there is no feeling. It is
           the small clitoris on top of the vagina which gives her pleasure, but that is possible only if she is
           allowed to move.
               So every woman hates love, and man understood very early on, in primitive days, that he is not
           really as competent sexually as the woman. A man can have only one orgasm. For the second orgasm
           he will have to wait according to his age. The woman is capable at any age of having multiple
           orgasms.
               It was a very cunning strategy to keep the woman underneath, unmoving, with closed eyes, so
           you can have the orgasm and the woman knows nothing of pleasure in it. She simply feels exploited,
           used, just like any commodity. It hurts. And the man is finished within two minutes -- at the most
           three minutes, but that is the record. The woman has not even started to get into it and the man is
           out! Naturally she hates it.
               Naturally she goes to listen to the monks talking about celibacy. She touches the feet of the
           saints, saying that "You are great people who live in celibacy, brahmacharya, and there is my
           husband, an idiot, every day ... I am tired after working the whole day, taking care of the children,
           taking care of the kitchen, taking care of the clothes, taking care of the house, of the servants. I am
           continuously tired, and he comes home and all that he wants is to make love. After making love --
           that is two minutes, average -- he turns to the other side and goes to sleep and starts snoring."
               When the man is snoring the woman is crying and has tears, because what kind of life is this? He
           has no respect for her. She is simply being used, and when she has been used she is of no more
           importance.
           And Christians say this is culture.
               The Eastern scriptures of Tantra know what culture is. They make it a point that the man should
           always be under the woman so he can remain static. If he remains unmoving, then he can remain
           without ejaculation for as long as he wants -- not two minutes, not three minutes. The woman should
           be on top and allowed to have as much joy of movement as possible so her clitoris gives her great
           orgasms -- multiple, one after another. She starts groaning, moaning, shouting, all kinds of gibberish.
           Only then is she happy.
               Seeing this disparity, that the man can have only one orgasm and the woman is capable of having
           multiple orgasms, man simply dropped the idea, because multiple orgasm is dangerous, he cannot
           cope with it. Keep the woman static so she never comes to know that there is anything like orgasm.
               I don't think in India you can find one percent of women who have known orgasm. I have asked
           hundreds of women; they don't know what orgasm is.
               Even in the West, only within these last thirty years, twenty percent of women have started
           having orgasms; still eighty percent are old-fashioned. They still belong to the church and they still
           believe in the Bible, they still listen to all kinds of nonsense called sermons.
               If a woman is satisfied, having multiple orgasms, she will never be a pain in the neck. She will
           love you, she will rejoice in you, she will celebrate you, she will wait for you; she will prepare better
           food, better clothes. But you have destroyed all her joy, and you still want her to respect you and to
           love you -- for what? And because she is not happy the children become miserable from the very
           beginning.
               The mother's impact on the children is immense. She is unhappy, frustrated, always tired. The
           children start learning all these things and they will repeat them in their lives. Now it is a
           well-established psychological fact that every boy loves his mother; every girl loves her father. That
           is absolutely natural, the other sex is attractive.
               But because the girl loves the father, she starts hating her mother -- because she is keeping
           control, complete control, of the father. And as the girl grows older the mother does not allow any
           intimacy between the father and the girl. She is standing in between, she is afraid -- and she is not
           wrong, because the father remembers for the first time, when his daughter becomes sixteen or
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           seventeen years old, how his wife used to look. This was the woman he had fallen in love with; the
           daughter looks almost like his wife when she was seventeen, when he had fallen in love with her.
               The same is true with the boys. They love their mothers, but there is no possibility of any love
           affair between the boy and the mother. The second opportunity for love is the sisters, who look like
           the mother and are younger, but Christianity and all other religions prohibit it absolutely: no love
           affair between the brother and the sister. So every child, whether girl or boy, grows up in a miserable
           situation, and the misery deepens at the age of fourteen.
               The girls become capable of giving birth at the age of thirteen. They are always one year ahead
           of the boys. They grow in intelligence one year ahead of the boys. Boys become sexually mature at
           fourteen. Once they are sexually mature they are prohibited by the Christian church, and by all other
           religions, from having any contact with any girl.
               So boys have their hostels, girls have their hostels -- guarded, so that no boy can enter into girls'
           hostels, and no girl can enter into boys' hostels. Naturally this creates perversion, the same
           perversion that is created in monasteries and nunneries. On a wider scale, boys become
           homosexuals, girls start becoming lesbians, because the energy is now arising to such a peak.
               By the time the boys and girls are seventeen and a half they have reached to the ultimate peak of
           their sexual energy; now there will be a decline. That is the best period to make love. That is the best
           period to reach to the greatest orgasmic experiences.
               And this you call society? This you call civilization? It is cutting human beings from their very
           roots, from all kinds of joys.
               If it was for me to decide, at seventeen and a half every boy and every girl should be allowed to
           make love, and particularly now when pregnancy is not necessary. There is the pill -- the greatest
           revolution in the whole history of man, which has made the woman equal. Pregnancy was her
           slavery, pregnancy was her dependence on the man.
               But the pill for the woman was not one hundred percent safe, because the woman may not be
           thinking to make love that night; she may not be taking the pills. The husband may be away and he
           suddenly comes back ... and the human mind is such that it always takes chances: "Just one night
           without the pill ... you are not going to get pregnant. You don't always get pregnant, it is only once in
           a while." But people do get pregnant, even though they were hoping they would not ....
               The Christian church is against abortion. Just a few days ago some Christians marched in
           America to the Senate, because the Supreme Court of America has allowed abortion to be legal.
           Against that legalization of abortion, thousands and thousands of fundamentalist Christians had a
           long procession in protest to the Senate. What was more puzzling to me was that President George
           Bush immediately, before the procession started, sent a message to the people who were going to
           protest -- missionaries, bishops, archbishops, priests and all kinds of fanatics.
               He sent the message that "I am with you. I am against the abortion bill, so don't think that your
           president is not with you. I am amongst you and I will support you, and I would like the Supreme
           Court to remove the law that has made abortion legal."
               Such fear of the crowd ... That's why I always say your politicians are not leaders. They don't
           create a revolutionary mind in the people. On the contrary, they are followers of the followers.
           Immediately the president sent the message that "I am with you" -- just to gain the favor of the
           voters, but with no consideration for the poor woman who cannot afford a child, or an unmarried
           woman who cannot say, "It was the Holy Ghost who made me pregnant!" Nobody is going to believe
           her.
               If a woman gives birth to a child while she is not married, her chances for marriage become
           almost nil, because the male chauvinist mind always wants a virgin.
               You will be surprised to know ... there are doctors who make women virgins. Their whole
           expertise is to put a small thin skin inside the woman's vagina; that is the proof that her vagina has
           not been penetrated by any male, otherwise the skin is broken. But the skin can be broken just by
           riding on a bicycle, the skin can be broken just by riding in a rickshaw in Poona! It does not need
           any male partner, the road will do the thing.
               In the Middle Ages, these so-called Christians, who think they have civilized the world, arranged
           that not only the skin has to be intact but blood should come out. So the doctors used to fix the skin
           and a little blood behind the skin, and the man who has married the woman would proudly show the
           next day the bedsheet with blood on it. Friends gathered, families gathered, to see whether the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           woman was a virgin or not, and it was a great pride for the man to see that "I have got a virgin
           woman."
              What is great in being a virgin? It simply means inexperienced. You will be better if you marry
           an experienced woman, if you marry an experienced man. Experience has a value. Inexperience
           cannot be supported in any argument.

                This family that Christians think is their foundation is their foundation only because it programs
           the children according to the church. It makes them slaves, it takes their dignity of individuality, it
           makes them hypocrites. It forces on them all kinds of lies -- and the greatest lie is God. From God
           arise all kinds of lies. The only begotten son Jesus Christ would not be there if there were no God
           fiction; hell and heaven would not be there if there were no God who is going to give punishment
           and reward.
                Creating this program in the child's mind is preventing him from going beyond the mind in
           search, in exploration. It is against truth. Every family stands against truth. Every family stands
           against enlightenment.
                That's why I say, for the first time in the whole of history, that Buddha and Mahavira had not
           renounced the world, they had simply renounced the family. It is a lie to say they renounced the
           world. They lived in the world, they moved with thousands of disciples. That was their world. They
           moved in the cities, they preached and taught meditation to people.
                They had not renounced the world. They were trying in every way to help humanity evolve into
           consciousness. They were not against humanity; they were not against human consciousness
           growing as high as the stars, as deep as the Pacific Ocean. All that they renounced was the family,
           because the family was not going to help them meditate.
                Many sannyasins have been reporting to me that, "Our families don't allow us to meditate. They
           say this is simply wasting time. `Closing your eyes and sitting in a lotus posture, whom are you
           deceiving? Just do some good work. Serve the poor, serve the sick.'"
                If one wants to meditate one needs seclusion, one needs no interference, in the beginning at least.
           When meditation becomes a ripe fruit in you then there is no problem. Then you can meditate in the
           marketplace, you can meditate anywhere, once you know the secret. But before you have known the
           secret, every disturbance brings you out.
                But Christianity is not interested in meditation at all. It is interested in prayer. Prayer to whom?
           -- to a fictitious God. Prayer to whom? -- to Jesus who is a crackpot. And no prayer is ever heard,
           because there is nobody to hear it. It is not the fault of somebody above the clouds who is not
           hearing your prayer. There is nobody.
                Prayer is not the right kind of religion. Any religion that is based on prayer is a wrong religion.
           Only religions which are based on meditation have some quality of religiousness, because meditation
           takes you inwards to your very foundation of life, to the source of your consciousness.
                Prayer is simply insane. Raising your hands upwards -- and there is nobody. When people talk to
           nobody you call them mad. If somebody is talking to nobody you will immediately take him to the
           hospital: something is wrong with this man, he was standing under a tree and there was nobody and
           he was talking and having a good dialogue!
                What is Christianity doing? And what are other prayer religions doing? Talking to nobody. These
           are insane people who need psychiatric help. And because every family teaches you hypocrisy, you
           become schizophrenic. You have your individuality repressed by a personality given by your family
           -- you are divided into two. You will remain always in conflict, fighting within yourself, with
           yourself. You will become two. You can become many, it depends ....

               I was staying with a family. They had only one child, a beautiful child. I was sitting on the lawn,
           and the child came and sat by my side. I asked him, "What are you going to become in life?"
               He said, "I don't know. My father wants me to become a doctor, my mother wants me to become
           an engineer, my uncle wants me to become an actor, my second uncle wants me to become a
           politician. They are all driving me crazy and they are all fighting and nobody is asking me, `What do
           you want to become?' You are the first person who is asking me."
           I said, "What do you want? -- just tell me."
           He said, "I have not figured it out."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I said, "Then don't listen to anybody -- your father, your mother, your uncles, your brothers.
           Don't listen to anybody. Wait till the time comes when you have to choose. Go into the library and
           look into different subjects, see which attracts you more, which seems to be having a certain
           harmony with you. Only decide then -- not according to anybody else but simply according to you."
               The boy stood up, smiled. He said, "I really want to become a guitarist -- in my neighborhood
           there is a man who plays the guitar -- but don't tell anybody."
               I said, "That's perfectly good. Forget all about being a doctor, there are enough -- enough doctors
           to kill people, don't be worried! And there are enough engineers whose bridges go on falling down.
           To be a guitarist is absolutely innocent; I will not tell anybody, but you remain firm. Those people
           will manipulate you in every way."
               My father loved me too much -- but it was what they think is love. He wanted me to go to a
           science college. "Either become a doctor or become a scientist or become an engineer, but first go to
           the science college. First graduate in science and then move into a specialization."
               I refused. I said, "I know your love, but I also know your love is unconscious. You simply want
           your ambition to be fulfilled, that your son is a great doctor, a great scientist or engineer. I am going
           to study religion, philosophy, logic, psychology."
               He said, "Then" -- it was just a threat and later he repented very much. He said, "Then I am not
           going to support you financially."
               I said, "That's settled. It is obvious: I am not following your idea, why should you support me? In
           fact, even if you change your mind, I am not going to take any support from you."
               He was wondering how I would manage, thinking perhaps I would drop my idea. He said,
           "Philosophy ...!" India has one hundred universities, one hundred philosophical departments, and
           there are many universities where the whole department is empty -- four professors and not a single
           student. " ... So what are you going to do?"
               I said, "I understand. I am not going to do anything. I am not going to use my education for any
           career, because I have decided to be good for nothing. I am going to relax and enjoy life!"
           He said, "But who is going to support you?"
           I said, "You don't be worried. You will see."
               So I left my house after matriculation, and entered into a department of philosophy. My father
           thought, "How will he manage?" But I entered into a night class. The whole day I was working in a
           newspaper, and in the night I would go to the university class.
               After six months he thought, "He must have managed somehow ...." He came to see me. The
           village was almost a hundred miles away. He came to see me and he found me perfectly well. I had
           managed. I had found a family who simply loved me. They were not my relatives; just the man had
           met me in the public park where I was discussing with a few students, my colleagues. Sitting by the
           side on a bench, he heard me discuss and he was immensely impressed. He took me to the side, and
           he said, "Where do you live?"
           I said, "I don't have any place to live."
           He said, "I have a big house. You just come with me."
               And when he saw the situation, what I was doing -- the whole day I was working in a press and
           the whole night, the first part of the night in the university, and the second part with my own books,
           not the textbooks -- he said, "You will fall sick. Don't be worried, I have enough money."
           I told him, "Remember one thing: I am not going to return it."
           He said, "That is settled."
               I said, "Think twice. It is a question of six years. You can have time to think. I will not return a
           single rupee because I will not have any money anytime in my whole life. If you are giving me out
           of your abundance, I will accept with gratitude, but no obligation. And no bragging about it, that you
           have helped me."
               He said, "No, that's not at all the question. In fact you have helped me. Since you have come in
           my house, a strange peace has come, a silence has come. I have never been so happy and so joyous. I
           have all the amenities, all that the world can provide, but there was a certain emptiness inside me.
           You have fulfilled it by teaching me meditation. I cannot repay it. Whatever money I spend on you is
           not even the interest on what you have given to me and what you are giving to me every day."
               My father came, and he wanted to help me. I said, "We have settled it. I did not follow your idea,
           and you simply did not arrange the financing. There is no bitterness about it. Our relationship
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remains the same. It was simply a disagreement, and I was at fault to disagree with you. You are just
           unnecessarily feeling guilty."
           But he said, "I will give you money, whatever you want to do with it."
               I said, "If you want to give without any condition, I can take as much money as you can give. I
           alone can use all the money in the world without any trouble."
               He used to send me money, and that money helped me to purchase as many books as possible.
               Now, the library you see -- it has one hundred and fifty thousand books. Most of them were
           purchased with his money. All the money he gave me went into purchasing books, and soon I was
           receiving scholarships -- and all that money went into books. Soon I had friends all over India, and I
           was purchasing everywhere -- in Poona, in Bombay, in New Delhi, in Amritsar, in Ludhiana, in
           Calcutta, in Allahabad, in Varanasi, in Madras. All over the country I was purchasing as many books
           as possible -- as many as the friend with whom I was staying could manage.

                The family gives you ambition, and ambition is one of the hindrances for enlightenment. It gives
           you desires, it gives you a longing to be successful, and all these things create your tensions, your
           anxieties: how to be a celebrity?
                The family wants you to be a celebrity. The family wants you to be known all over the world.
           The family wants you to be the richest person. The family wants you to be the president of the
           country ....
                All these ambitions the family creates, without knowing that all these ambitions are creating a
           mind which will remain continuously in anguish, suffering. Only one man can become the president
           of the country. What about the nine hundred million people in this country? -- they are all failures.
           This is an ugly situation, to keep people feeling they are failures, unsuccessful, inferior to others.
           Family is the base for all pathology.
                I would love a world where the family is replaced by the commune. Psychologically it is more
           healthy to have a commune, where children are not possessed by the parents, they belong to the
           commune; where children are not given the imprint of the mother and father only, they have many
           uncles in the commune, many aunts in the commune. Sometimes they sleep with this family,
           sometimes with that family.
                In my commune every child belongs to everybody; he does not have a single imprint. Because so
           many people love him, sometimes he will sleep with somebody, sometimes with somebody else. And
           they are invited ...
                Now Siddhartha has come back with a girlfriend. When he came for the first time he was so
           small, but so intelligent, that he rarely stayed with his mother or father. I would ask the mother, and
           she would say, "I have not seen him for fifteen days. He stays everywhere, he goes with anybody
           who invites him." He used to get money from anybody: "Just give me ten rupees!"
                Now he has become grown-up, is training to become an actor, has got a beautiful girlfriend who
           is a model. She has also become a sannyasin.
                I want the family to be replaced by the commune, and in a commune there is no need for
           marriage. You love a woman, you live with her. Love disappears, you say goodbye in deep gratitude:
           "All these days that I spent with you were memorable. I will carry these days in my mind, in my
           memory, as a beautiful fragrance. They will haunt me like a dream, a beautiful dream. But now it is
           time for us to depart, joyously. From now onwards we will be friends" -- there is no need to become
           enemies.
                And both get tired, it is simply human. The family is inhuman. It forces you to live with a woman
           you hate. It forces you to lie with a man you want to kill. It is prostitution, it is not family!
                My definition of prostitution is, making love to a woman you don't love, making love to a man
           you don't love. Then it is simply a long-term prostitution. A prostitute is available to you only for
           one night; you pay for it. Your wife is available to you for your whole life, and you pay for it. It is an
           economic arrangement, financial. You have purchased the woman for the whole life.
                In a commune there is no need of marriage. Marriage creates the family. People should be
           together out of love, sheer love. And the moment they feel the love is no more there, and now
           hanging around each other is creating tension and anxiety, it is better to say goodbye to each other
           before things become too bitter. At the first sign of frustration, boredom, depart. Find new friends.
                And if you have children ... you can have children only if the commune allows you. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           commune has to take care of the population; the commune is responsible not to expand the
           population so much that everybody becomes poor. So you can have a child only with the permission
           of the commune, and you can have the child only with the permission of the medical board of the
           commune.
                If the medical board suggests that your child will not be healthy, will not be very intelligent, that
           it is better to have a child through insemination, then have the child by insemination. Your love
           remains with your friend; insemination does not disturb you. People will be proud and say that "I
           have got the best insemination for my child, the best semen."
                You can even ask the medical board for the kind of child you want. A genius? -- a healthy child
           who will not suffer from unnecessary diseases his whole life? A child who will be able to live
           beyond the ordinary span of seventy years -- one hundred years, two hundred years, three hundred
           years ...?
                Three hundred years is a possibility; just the right semen is needed. Just as there are blood banks,
           every commune should have semen banks. And medical experts should find out different qualities of
           different semen cells, categorize them, keep them deep-frozen. And whenever somebody wants a
           mathematician, somebody wants a scientist, somebody wants a musician, somebody wants a mystic,
           just give the right insemination. The child will belong to the commune, so you need not be worried
           what will happen to the child.
                Children are keeping people together, although their love was finished a long time back.

                I have told you the story of a man who was ninety-five and a woman who was ninety-three ....
           They went to the court, they wanted a divorce. The judge looked at them and he said, "Your one foot
           is in the grave and you want a divorce? If you wanted a divorce why did you not come before? How
           long have you been married?"
           They said, "We don't exactly know, but maybe sixty years, seventy years."
                The judge said, "Strange. I have been dealing with these matters for years, and this is the first
           case .... Why did you remain married so long if you did not like each other?"
                They said, "Yes, from the very first day we did not like each other, but we had to remain married
           because of the children."
           So the magistrate asked, "What happened to the children?"
                They said, "They all died. Now we are free, and we want the divorce immediately! Just two,
           three years maybe, but to live in freedom ... Just even three years is enough, a taste of freedom at the
           last moment. Fortunately, all the children have died."

               It is the children who are keeping the family together, because where will the children go? What
           will happen to the children? If the commune takes responsibility for the children ...
               From the very beginning the children should move to the commune's hostel. On holidays they
           can come to be with their parents, or to be with their uncles or with their aunts, who will be
           thousands. They can choose.
               I want a new man in the world without any imprint. When a child lives with many women, if he
           is a boy, he will not have a single imprint. He will have so many imprints that they will become
           fuzzy. He will not be able to figure out what kind of woman ... Then any woman can be a
           tremendous satisfaction. Then a love affair can last far beyond the honeymoon; otherwise, by the
           time the honeymoon is finished, love is finished.
               Just watch when people are going on honeymoon with their suitcases -- "Just married." See how
           fast they are going. And when they come back, just look at their faces -- punctured. Look at their
           suitcases. Just in seven days, what catastrophe has happened?
           I am against the family, and I am for the commune.
               Family dispersed, the church will die automatically. Nations will disappear automatically. Races
           will disappear automatically. The world can become one only if there are communes, not families.
               And the last thing that I want to say about Christianity -- because this is the last lecture of this
           series -- is about a man I have loved very much through his writings, Thomas Merton. He was a
           Trappist Christian.
               He studied in many seminaries, in different theological sects of Christianity, and finally ended up
           with a Trappist monastery in America. It is the most arduous self-torturing kind of sect, it is really a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           trap. Once you get into the trap, it is very difficult to get out of it.
               Thomas Merton was a world-famous writer. The chief abbot of the Trappist monastery was very
           jealous of him. He wanted somehow to prevent his writings. Thomas Merton lived for many years in
           the Trappist monastery, but could not find any way to his inner world, which was his interest.
           Everything was just outward discipline, and a strange kind of torture.

                I have told you the story of a Trappist monastery. A man entered the monastery, and the abbot
           said to him, "This is our rule in the monastery: you can speak only once in seven years."
                He accepted it, and he was shown the cell where he was to live. He thought, "My God!" The
           glass of the window was broken, and the cell was a very small cell, just enough to lie down in.
                Rains came, and the water would come inside. He was suffering from cold, sneezing, and all his
           clothes were wet, but he could not speak. So for seven years he suffered the rain. The rain destroyed
           the mattress, and it destroyed his health also.
                But after seven years he ran to the abbot, and he said, "You have given me a cell which has no
           glass in the window. I have suffered too much from the rain."
                The abbot said, "Enough! Glass will be put in. Just go back, and for seven years, no more
           speaking."
                New glass was put in, but when he went back to the cell, then he remembered that the mattress
           was completely rotten. But now, seven years ... So he waited for seven years with that rotten
           mattress, with all kinds of cockroaches and rats. But seven years passed. They were too long, longer
           than seven years used to be! It was almost an eternity, suffering all those cockroaches moving on his
           face while he was lying down.
                After seven years he went running to the abbot, and he said, "You put in the glass, but I forgot to
           tell you at that time that the mattress was rotten, and cockroaches and rats and all kinds of animals
           are moving inside the cell. Please move that rotten mattress, and remove all the cockroaches and
           rats."
                The abbot said, "It shall be done -- but no more coming here for seven years!"
                So the mattress was removed, the cockroaches were removed, the rats were removed, but the
           people who brought the new mattress ... It was too big, so they forced it and broke the glass! Again
           the same story began, the rains started coming, and from the broken window the rats which had gone
           out, the cockroaches -- they all came back, the whole family.
                Now it was too much. He could not believe that he would survive seven years, but he survived.
           Man has immense capacity to adapt to any conditions.
                After seven years, as he approached the abbot, the abbot said, "Don't speak a single word. Since
           you have come into this monastery, complaints, complaints, complaints! I never hear anything else.
           Just get out of the monastery."
                The man could not say even what he had come to say. He had been thrown out of the monastery.
           After twenty-one years, this was the only result.

               Thomas Merton was an intelligent man, a genius. Because he was world-famous and he was
           writing books on Zen, I have looked at his books. For fifteen years I have not read anything, so it
           was fifteen years ago when I used to read his books. I always thought that sooner or later this man
           was going to land up in Japan. His understanding about Zen was purely intellectual. Beautiful ... he
           was writing beautiful sentences, beautiful poems, but it was all intellectual, he had no understanding
           of meditation.
           Christianity does not allow meditation.
               And just now I have heard ... Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk and a world-famous author.
           He wanted to go to Japan to study Zen, but again and again his superiors in the monastery refused
           him permission.
               Do you see the comparison with Zen masters? If a disciple asks to go to another monastery, he is
           welcomed by the master, "Be richer, find the truth anywhere. The question is truth, not me, or the
           monastery."
               But again and again he was refused permission to go to Japan, without being given any reason.
           There was no reason not to give it. All that he wanted was to know Zen directly, straight, by living in
           a Zen monastery for a few months or a few years, because he had not found anything in Christianity.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A letter from Rome, confirming the refusal, stated that, "His requested visit to Japan cannot
           possibly be the will of God." In the name of God, so many crimes ... In the name of God, people are
           being enslaved. Now, how does Rome know what the will of God is?
               If Thomas Merton's whole being wants to go to Japan to learn Zen, that may perhaps be the will
           of God. But Rome decides for a faraway monk in America ....
               But the reason is not exactly that it cannot possibly be the will of God -- that's why the refusal to
           allow him to go to Japan. The refusal is for the reason that anybody who will understand Zen will
           drop Christianity -- immediately. Christianity will look like a disease, a poison, in comparison to
           Zen.
               But finally it happened, not that they allowed him to go to Japan, but that he became decisive in
           his mind. There was going to be a Catholic conference in Thailand, so he asked permission to read
           some papers on the Catholic religion in the conference. The deep desire was that from Thailand he
           would reach to Japan, not bothering about the permission. At the most they can expel him from the
           church -- and the church has not given him anything, so there is nothing to lose.
               Finally, he was allowed to visit Thailand to address a Catholic conference. At the end of his
           speech he said, "And thus I fade off into the night." He had some suspicions ... some suspicions that
           they may poison him, they may kill him if he tries to go to Japan. The whole conference consisted of
           Catholic monks, and they were all informed, "Keep an eye on Thomas Merton. He should not escape
           from Thailand to Japan" -- which is very close.
               At the end of his speech he said to the conference, "And thus I fade off into the night." A few
           hours later he was found dead in suspicious circumstances in his room. There is every reason to
           believe that he was killed by the Catholics.
               There were rumors that he was killed so that he could not travel on to Japan to study Zen.
           Circumstantial evidence shows that the rumors may be true. No autopsy was done on the body --
           which is a regular process, and particularly in a suspicious case. He was perfectly healthy, he
           addressed the meeting; and just within two hours he was dead. And he had made the indication that
           "Perhaps I may fade off into the night."
               No autopsy was done on the body, and it was not embalmed -- which is a regular procedure for
           Catholic monks, Trappist monks. Their bodies have to be embalmed.
               It took seven days for the body to reach his monastery in the U.S. It is only a question of, at the
           most, twenty hours from Thailand to the U.S. -- and it took seven days. They wanted the body to
           decompose. Once the body starts decomposing, no autopsy is possible; you cannot know the reason
           why the person died. That's why it took seven days to reach his monastery in the U.S. He had to be
           buried in a special casket because the body was so decomposed, completely decomposed; there was
           no question of finding anything in it.
               In his last book, not published until twenty years after his death, Merton wrote, "I have a real
           sense that my own vocation demands a deepened and experiential study from within, as well as
           Japanese and particularly Zen experiences."
               He also wrote, "I cannot go to Asia to seek all their sources, some of the things I see to be vitally
           important -- the Zen ground of all the dimensions of expression and mystery. This is an
           imprisonment and confinement."
           With this I end my arguments against Christianity.
           And with this I discuss the last sutra of Zen.

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YAKUSAN ONCE ASKED HIS DISCIPLE, UNGAN, "I HEARD THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO DEAL
              WITH THE LIONS -- IS THAT TRUE?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "YES, IT IS."
              YAKUSAN ASKED, "HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU GET AND DEAL WITH?"
              "SIX," UNGAN SAID.
              YAKUSAN THEN SAID, "I ALSO KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE LION."
              UNGAN ASKED, "HOW MANY DO YOU GET?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "ONLY ONE."
              UNGAN THEN COMMENTED, "ONE IS SIX; SIX IS ONE."

              Now, it is a very mysterious anecdote. But once you understand the symbology, it becomes
           absolutely simple.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                There are seven chakras in the human body. In Zen they are called the seven lions. The first
           chakra is the sex center; the second chakra, which is just below the navel, is called in Japanese, hara.
                If somebody wants to commit suicide -- which in Japanese is called hara-kiri -- he simply pushes
           a knife into the hara center. That is the simplest strategy to commit suicide, and without pain -- no
           pain at all. That center is the second center. The sex center has all the life energy gathered in it. For
           ordinary human beings, all the energy is gathered at the lowest center. This is just above that. So if
           you put a knife into the hara, the life energy is released from the hara center, which is just above it,
           into the cosmos.
                So in Japan nobody shoots himself in the head, nobody cuts his own throat, nobody hangs
           himself. The only way to commit suicide in Japan is just to push a knife into the hara. A man may
           commit hara-kiri just sitting next to you and you may not even know that he has died. It is so silent.
           Life simply flies out.
                The third center is the navel, and the fourth center is the heart. The fifth center is the throat, and
           the sixth center is the third eye, just between your two eyebrows. The seventh center is just on top of
           your head.
                Once you understand that these centers are significant, that the sex center is the lowest point in
           your life, and the seventh ... If the energy moves from the first to the second, from the second to the
           third, from the third to the fourth -- every center has its own expression, and your life goes on
           changing.
                For example, if the energy moves from the sex center to the second center, the hara, you
           suddenly become aware of death. People are not aware, they think it always happens to somebody
           else; obviously, you always see somebody else dying, you have never seen yourself dying. Perhaps
           you are an exception. It happens to somebody else, always -- although the poet says, "Never ask for
           whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
                In Christian villages, the church bell tolls to inform all the farmers in the orchards, in the fields,
           to come to the village, somebody has died. It refers to that. "Never ask for whom the bell tolls, it
           always tolls for thee."
                When your energy is at the hara center -- the hara center is the death center -- you suddenly
           become aware that just as millions of people have been dying since centuries, "I cannot be an
           exception. I will have to die, if not today, then tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. But someday,
           that which is born always dies. I am born, I am going to die."
                Birth is the beginning of death. Birth contains death in itself. Birth is the seed, and death is the
           flower. It takes seventy years from the cradle to the grave; it is a seventy-year-old tree. But your
           death is growing side by side with your life.
                Once you are at the sex center, your whole concentration is on the other sex -- if you are not a
           perverted Christian monk. If you are a Christian monk then your whole attention is either towards
           other men, or if other men are not available, then other animals -- female animals, in the beginning.
           If female animals are not available, then male animals.
                Heterosexuality is between man and woman, a natural phenomenon. Homosexuality is between
           man and man, lesbianism is between woman and woman -- unnatural, perversions. And bestiality is
           between man and animals, or woman and animals.
           It is surprising how man can get perverted.
                I know an actual case of a woman .... I had just gone to the hospital to see a patient who had been
           meditating with me for many years, and as I was entering the hospital a woman was taken from a car.
           She had been making love to a dog.
                But to make love to a dog is very dangerous, one of the most dangerous things a woman can do,
           because a dog has a special sexual mechanism. His prick is very thin and long, so as it enters into the
           vagina it is very easy. But the mechanism is such that inside the vagina it starts becoming thicker and
           thicker, so getting out can be very difficult.
                You must have seen dogs making love, how difficult it can be. People are throwing stones, and
           the dogs are dragging each other in this direction and that direction, but they cannot get unhooked.
           For the first time I saw a beautiful woman, the wife of a very well known surgeon ... So there is
           bestiality.
                And this bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism, has brought the most dangerous disease in the
           world -- Christians are ninety percent responsible for it -- AIDS. That is the only positive
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           contribution to the world by Christianity: AIDS positive.
               But if you are not a pervert, as your energy moves to the second center, the hara, you become
           absolutely uninterested in sex. It is not celibacy, you have not taken any vow, your energy has
           simply moved higher. Its concern becomes death. In sex the concern was birth, because through sex
           is all reproduction.
               Moving from sex you have moved from birth to death, a small distance. Suddenly you become
           aware that "Death is coming and I am concerned only with trivia -- money, power, prestige,
           respectability. All this will be gone when death comes. I am unnecessarily making the effort of
           creating a signature on the sands. A little breeze of wind, a little tidal wave, and the signature will be
           finished."
               Death comes as a tidal wave, and all your personality, all your respectability, prestige, are erased.
           One becomes aware that, "I have to find something which is beyond death."
               Once the energy moves to the hara, the concern for the search for something immortal in you
           becomes very predominant, and when the energy moves to the third center, your concern is no more
           intellectual. You don't simply philosophize, you don't read the books which say, "Life is eternal";
           you don't believe. At the third center -- the navel -- your interest becomes experiential.
               Thomas Merton was at the third center. His interest in intellectual jargon was finished. He
           wanted something experiential. That happens at the navel.
               It is not a coincidence that people talk about meditators as "navel gazers." That is meaningful.
           You are gazing at the navel, not from the outside; that won't help. You have to close your eyes and
           go to the navel. That's what I am calling the center of your being. It is just behind the navel. That's
           why the navel joins you with the mother, because your being is just behind the navel. If you were not
           nourished by the mother, through the navel, you would not have survived nine months in the womb.
               Once your energy rises to the navel -- and it goes on happening, in all the meditations your
           energy is going up -- your concern becomes meditation. You want to know on your own, not through
           the scriptures, what is the truth, whether there is life beyond death or not.
               As you move above to the fourth center, that is the heart, your whole life becomes a sharing of
           love. The third center has created the abundance of love. By reaching to the third center in
           meditation, you have become so overflowing with love, with compassion, and you want to share. It
           happens at the fourth center -- the heart.
               That's why even in the ordinary world people think love comes out of the heart. For them it is
           just hearsay, they have heard it. They don't know it because they have never reached to their heart.
           But the meditator finally reaches to the heart.
               As he has reached to the center of his being -- the third center -- suddenly an explosion of love
           and compassion and joy and blissfulness and benediction has arisen in him with such a force that it
           hits his heart and opens the heart. The heart is just in the middle of all your seven centers -- three
           centers below, three centers above. You have come exactly to the middle.
               That's why the person of the heart is very balanced, utterly balanced. He has a tremendous grace,
           a beauty that seems to be not of this world. His eyes are showering love, his hands are showering
           love, even if he does nothing. Even his presence is radiating love. It is a vibration, multidimensional.
           All around him a love energy goes on flowing. Those who are receptive, their hearts will start
           ringing a bell. For the first time they will hear a new music, a new harmony, a new synchronicity.
               The fifth center is the throat. The throat is the center of expression. When you are too full of
           experience, you share love at the fourth center, and you share your experience through language,
           through devices, from the fifth center.
               The sixth center is just between the two eyebrows, inside. In India we have called it the third eye.
           It gives you a tremendous clarity, a vision of the whole existence as it is. And when you open your
           eyes ... it affects even your ordinary world. Trees are greener, roses are rosier, everything around you
           of which you were never aware becomes more graceful. Everything around you becomes more
           beautiful. Even wildflowers look so beautiful; they have their own individuality, they cannot be
           compared to roses, they cannot be compared to lotuses. There is no comparison at all.
               Once you have reached to the sixth -- the third eye -- everything in your life becomes crystal
           clear. No questions, no answers -- you know it. No belief, no disbelief -- you know it.
               And the seventh center is when you become enlightened: the center of samadhi, the center of
           ultimate awakening, the center where you become a buddha. Understanding this symbology it will be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           easy to understand this mysterious anecdote.
               YAKUSAN ONCE ASKED HIS DISCIPLE, UNGAN, "I HEARD THAT YOU KNOW HOW
           TO DEAL WITH THE LIONS" -- remember, by "THE LIONS" he means the centers -- "IS THAT
           TRUE?"
           UNGAN REPLIED, "YES, IT IS."
           YAKUSAN ASKED, "HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU GET AND DEAL WITH?"
           "SIX," UNGAN REPLIED.
               He has reached to the third eye -- the sixth center. He has managed and tamed six lions, six
           centers of immense energy.
               In fact, the Sanskrit word `chakra' is not rightly translated by `center'. A center gives you a sense
           of staticness -- just like a full point. Chakra means a wheel; the energy is constantly moving. Energy
           cannot be static, it cannot remain in one place. It is always on the go. So the chakra can be exactly
           represented by the wheel of energy -- but I am not using it because center has been used in English
           for centuries.
               The Christian missionaries who translated from ancient scriptures about the chakras could not
           make the distinction between a center and an energy wheel, and because it is an energy wheel, it is
           dealing with a lion. You are in a whirlpool. It is going to transform you totally.
               When Ungan said six, he was saying that he had not become enlightened yet -- but he was very
           close. He could see the seventh from his sixth center. It needs just a little more effort, a little more
           deepening, and the seventh chakra, the seventh energy wheel, will open up into a lotus flower -- it is
           just like a lotus flower, the opening of the petals -- and life will move into the ultimate.
               If you commit hara-kiri, life moves into another womb. If life moves from the head, then it
           moves into the cosmic. Then it is never born again.
               YAKUSAN THEN SAID, "I ALSO KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE LION." He is using
           the word `lion' not `lions'.
           UNGAN ASKED, "HOW MANY DO you GET?"
           YAKUSAN REPLIED, "ONLY ONE."
               Yakusan was an enlightened master, a buddha. He had reached to the seventh center. Once you
           have reached to the seventh center, all the six other centers disappear; the whole energy from all the
           six is moved to the seventh. Then you have only one energy field, and that is around your head.
               You have seen pictures of Krishna and Buddha and Jesus with an aura around their heads. That is
           symbolic, that shows the person is supposed to be enlightened. Those who can see, can see rays
           radiating all around his head. His face becomes almost a sun, or a moon.
           Yakusan said, "I have only one."
               Ungan then commented, and his comment shows that he was certainly at the sixth .... UNGAN
           SAID: "ONE IS SIX," because that one contains all the energy of the six. It pulls every energy from
           every center into the flowering of the ultimate being, into becoming a buddha. The whole energy is
           absorbed.
               Yakusan's answer did not create a puzzle to Ungan. He commented, "ONE IS SIX; SIX IS ONE.
           Just a little more time. I am moving towards the one. Six will become one just as one contains all the
           six."
               This can be said only by a man who has reached to the sixth center, because from the sixth, you
           can see the seventh. It is just there, a very small distance. Everything is clear.
               Ungan is only one step behind Yakusan, but he can see Yakusan. He has gathered the whole
           energy of the six centers into one. He is at the sixth, any moment he will be moving to the seventh.
           And then the six will become one.
               This is a beautiful anecdote between a master and a would-be master, one who is going to
           become a master soon.

              LATER ON, WHEN UNGAN VISITED ISAN, ANOTHER ENLIGHTENED MASTER, ISAN SAID, "I
              HAVE HEARD THAT WHEN YOU WERE WITH YAKUSAN, YOU HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT
              GETTING AND DEALING WITH LIONS. IS THAT TRUE?"
              "YES, IT IS," REPLIED UNGAN.
              ISAN ASKED, "DO YOU CONTINUE TO DEAL WITH THEM, OR DO YOU SOMETIMES STOP
              DOING THAT?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "WHEN I WANT TO, I DEAL WITH THEM; AND WHEN I WANT TO STOP, I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              STOP."

               His answer is immensely beautiful and significant. A man who has gone beyond the mind to the
           seventh center is capable, if he wants to use the mind, of using it. I am using it, but only when I am
           talking to you. When I am sitting in my room, I am not using it.
               A man who has reached to the highest center is capable of using any center of his being, even the
           lowest. If he wants to use even the lowest -- it will be difficult, because the distance is far away.
           Bringing the energy back down to the sex center will be a difficult job, but he can use it, it is not
           impossible. He can use any center if he wants, if there is any need; but otherwise, all those six
           centers remain silent. On their own they don't pull you, they have no power over you, but you have
           all power over them.
               Ungan replied perfectly well: "WHEN I WANT TO, I DEAL WITH THEM; AND WHEN I
           WANT TO STOP, I STOP."
              "WHEN YOU STOP," ASKED ISAN, "WHERE DO THE LIONS GO?"

               UNGAN REPLIED, "STOPPING IS STOPPING." There are no more lions. There are only
           wheels of energy.
               The man of enlightenment concentrates all the energy into one center. All other centers are no
           more moving wheels, they are stopped, just as a wheel stops moving. But if he wants, the man of
           enlightenment can bring the energy down. He can bring it to the sixth center and he can see far and
           wide with clarity. That will not be possible at the seventh center.
               The seventh center is beyond everything. You simply are no more. At the sixth, again you are.
           The energy comes, the circle, the wheel starts moving. You can bring it down to the fifth ....
               I have to bring it down to the fifth every day when I am talking to you. Without the throat, I
           cannot talk. But when I stop talking the energy goes back to the seventh. I can bring it to the fourth --
           then you feel tremendous love.
               The man who has reached to the seventh becomes the master of his whole life structure. He can
           do everything that he wants, and when he stops, the energy simply moves automatically back to the
           seventh.
               That's why Ungan replied, "STOPPING IS STOPPING." Don't ask what happens to the lions;
           they lie dead. But if we want to make them alive we have to bring the energy back. Then they start
           roaring again.
               It is one of the most important anecdotes that you have come across. It gives you the whole
           science of energy and transformation.

           Issa wrote:

              THE MOON IN THE PINE TREE;
              AND WITH THE CUCKOO,
              AH, HOW GLORIOUS!


               This is looking from the sixth center. From the seventh center you are simply silent. You cannot
           do anything, you cannot say anything. You are. It is pure isness.
              THE MOON IN THE PINE TREE;
              AND WITH THE CUCKOO,
              AH, HOW GLORIOUS!




              The question from Maneesha:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONE COULD IMAGINE THAT, BECAUSE CHRISTIANS ARE ANTI-LIFE, THEY WOULD
              CELEBRATE WHAT THEIR RELIGION TEACHES IS THE END OF LIFE. BUT EVEN DEATH -- AS
              WELL AS LIFE -- IS TABOO, ANOTHER REASON TO BE MISERABLE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO
              COMMENT?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Maneesha, life and death are not separate. If you deny life, you will have to deny death. If you
           accept and rejoice in life, you will rejoice and celebrate in death. They are not separate things, but
           two sides of the same coin.
               You cannot have one side of a coin and throw away the other side, it is impossible. The coin has
           to have two sides. You can have both or you can throw both.
               I have both. Christianity has thrown both. They have thrown life away, they have thrown death
           away. Both have become taboo. Neither can they rejoice in life, nor can they rejoice in death.
               I rejoice in life, I rejoice in death, because life and death are just small episodes in the eternal
           pilgrimage, the eternal caravan that goes from eternity to eternity.

           It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh ....

               Peanut Punghi is studying to be a Christian monk at the So-So Celibate Seminary in Poona. But
           Punghi is not really bright, and is shocked when he hears the story about how Jesus was nailed to the
           cross by the Jews.
               That afternoon, all the new recruits are sent out into the Poona streets to practice preaching.
           Punghi is walking down M.G. Road, looking for a good spot to do his Bible-bashing, when suddenly
           he sees Irving Saperstein, a Jewish tourist, haggling over the price of a big bunch of bananas.
               Enraged, Preacher Punghi kicks over the banana cart and jumps on top of Irving, knocking him
           to the ground. Then he beats on Irving until Irving finally shouts, "Stop! Stop! Why are you beating
           me?"
               "Because," replies Punghi, huffing and puffing, "you Jews killed Jesus on the cross!"
               "Hey!" says Irving, "it is not my fault! That happened two thousand years ago!"
           "So what?" snaps Punghi. "I only just heard about it!"

               Minnie Starlight, the glamorous California brunette, goes for a palm reading session with Madam
           Sawzall at the California Cosmic Pyramid Shopping Mall in L.A.
           "You are in love," announces Madam Sawzall, gazing into Minnie's hand.
           "Really?" exclaims Minnie. "You can see that?"
           "Sure!" replies Madam Sawzall.
           "Go on! Go on!" says Minnie excitedly.
           "He is tall, dark and very handsome," sees Madam Sawzall.
           "Right again!" cries Minnie. "That's amazing!"
               "Sure!" replies Madam Sawzall. "And he is twenty-eight years old, stands six foot tall, with a
           picture of his mother tatooed on his machinery."
           "My God! That's really incredible!" exclaims Minnie.
               "Yup," replies Madam Sawzall. "And he has a Swiss bank account, and drives a red Ferrari."
           "You mean you can see all that in my palm?" gasps Minnie.
               "Nope," replies Madam Sawzall, "I can see all that in your diamond engagement ring. It is the
           same one I gave back to him last month!"
               Tired of being just an ordinary Polack, and tired of being just a regular pope, Pope the Polack
           calls Cardinal Catsass into the secret library beneath the Vatican.
               When the cardinal arrives, the pope is thumbing through some pamphlets on Transcendental
           Meditation.
               "Catsass," says Pope the Polack, "I am getting old, and before I go I want to learn how to fly."
           "Fly?" asks Catsass. "Okay, no problem, poopsie! We can rent a plane."
               "No!" replies Pope the Polack. "I mean really fly. See here, just like that yogi, Maharishi Mahesh
           Bogus. He says here I can learn yogic hopping in one week. I want to fly!"
               Catsass just shakes his head at the old Polack, and goes off to phone the Maharishi. The holy
           yogi immediately sends Lulu Learjet to teach the pope the secrets of flying.
               When Lulu arrives, it is love at first sight for the old Polack. The luscious Lulu works day and
           night with the pope, teaching him everything she knows.
               After one week of intense study and practice, Pope the Polack is ready to blast off into the sky on
           his solo maiden voyage. He straps on his rocket-shaped hat, and then stands on his balcony rail high
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           above Saint Peter's Square, with his arms stretched out. He leaps into the air and starts flapping his
           arms wildly. Suddenly, he finds himself flying. Happy as a cuckoo, Pope the Polack aims towards
           Lulu's apartment to see if he can surprise her.
               When he arrives there, he looks down, and to his utter joy he sees Lulu stretched out naked on
           the roof, sunbathing.
               Quickly unfastening his robes in mid-air, Pope the Polack swoops down and lands BANG! right
           on top of Lulu, and makes wild love to her.
               "I bet that really surprised her!" exclaims Cardinal Catsass to the pope, two hours later.
               "It sure did," replies the battered and bruised Polack pope. "But not half as much as it surprised
           the Holy Ghost!"

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           (gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ... and feel your body to be completely frozen.
           This is the right moment to look inwards.
               You have to reach to the very center of your being. Gather your life energy and rush towards the
           center with total consciousness and an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment.
           Faster and faster, deeper and deeper ...
               As you start coming closer to your being a great serenity descends over you. A tremendous
           silence deepens, flowers of peace showering on you ...
               As you reach to the center you are no more the same person you used to be. At the center you are
           the buddha. At the center you are pure awareness, pure witnessing.
           Buddha consists only of one quality -- witnessing.
           Now witness ... you are not the body.
           Witness ... you are not the mind.
           Witness ... you are not the seven subtle bodies behind the physical body.
               Witness finally that you are only a witness, a pure mirror reflecting. No reaction -- just reflecting.
           This is the state of the buddha.

           To make this witnessing more clear, Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

           Relax ...
               Let go, but keep remembering you are a buddha, and the buddha has only one quality --
           witnessing.
               Witnessing is the alchemy of ultimate transformation. As you go on deepening the witnessing,
           you start melting just like ice into the ocean.
               Gautama the Buddha Auditorium suddenly turns into an ocean, without any waves, without any
           ripples -- utterly silent and peaceful.
           A great ecstasy takes possession of you.
               All around you there is a melody you have never heard before. All around you there is a dance of
           energy, pure energy, that you have never even dreamt of. All around you there are fountains of life
           juice.
               Drink as much as you can and gather as many flowers of the beyond as you can, and remember
           to persuade the buddha to come along with you. He has to become your reality. He has to become
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your daily ordinary routine life.
           You have to dissolve into him.
           He is your eternal being.
           He is your timeless beyond.
               With him you experience for the first time the ultimate blissfulness, and a great benediction you
           can share with the whole world, and still it will be increasingly flowing from your sources, which are
           infinite.
               Before Nivedano calls you back, gather all these experiences and persuade the buddha he has to
           come with you. First he will be a shadow behind you; soon you will be a shadow behind him, and
           finally there is no shadow to the buddha, because he is only pure transparent witnessing. A
           transparent thing does not make any shadow.
               The day you will experience this transparency of being will be the greatest day of your life.
           You have become awakened.
           You have arrived home.
               Long has been the night -- too long, too dark. But now, the day you become enlightened, all
           darkness disappears. Now there will be no sunset. You will live as light, as life, as laughter. Your
           whole existence will become just a pure dance.       ... I don't give you any philosophy,
           I don't give you any religion.
           I give you only that which you are.
           I take away all that is false from you
           and leave only that which is your eternal being --
           the buddha, the awakened one.

           Nivedano ...

           (drumbeat)

               Come back ... but come back in deep silence, in great grace, peacefully. Just sit down like
           buddhas, remembering the golden path that you have traveled, remembering the experiences at the
           center, remembering your eternity and remembering that buddha has come closer to you.
           Just go on meditating ....
               One never knows -- any moment you will disappear, and only buddha will be left behind. It is
           going to happen to everybody who is earnestly searching it. It is your nature.
               It does not come from outside, it grows from within, just like a lotus. It comes from all your
           uglinesses, all your trivia, mundane affairs, all your anger, greed, all your rage, all your hate -- just
           like the lotus comes out of dirty mud and dirty water.
               But it rises above the dirty mud and the dirty water and it opens its petals only when the sun
           comes on the horizon.
               Meditation will bring the sun on the horizon, and meditation also will bring your lotus to the
           seventh center.
               There is no other miracle in the world than meditation. It is the only science of transforming you
           into a new man, into a superman.
               The superman is needed very much, urgently, because only the superman can prevent this
           beautiful planet from being destroyed by pygmy politicians, by ugly religions, by this whole status
           quo. All these vested interests are going to destroy the most beautiful planet in the universe.
               You can do only one thing to save it, and that is to become a buddha and spread your
           buddhahood -- share it.
           We have to surround the whole globe with buddhas.
           They are our only hope.
           But I am not hoping in vain, you are going to be my witnesses.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                               Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                        Reflections on Jesus of Nazareth
                                  Talks given from 21/10/75 am to 30/10/75 am
                                            English Discourse series
                                                  10 Chapters
                                                 Year published:
           Originally the series was published as "Come Follow Me, Vols 1 + 2". Later to be
           republished as four volumes under the title "Come Follow To You".




                                       Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                 Chapter #1
                                Chapter title: And the Word was Made Flesh
           21 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510210
              ShortTitle: FOLL101
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 97 mins




              JOHN 1



              1 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD
              WAS GOD
              3 ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANYTHING MADE THAT WAS
              MADE.
              4 IN HIM WAS LIFE; AND LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN.
              5 AND THE LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT.
              6 THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROM GOD, WHOSE NAME WAS JOHN.

              7 THE SAME CAME FOR A WITNESS, TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE LIGHT, THAT ALL MEN
              THROUGH HIM MIGHT BELIEVE.
              8 HE WAS NOT THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT TO BEAR WITNESS OF THAT LIGHT.
              11 HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN,AND HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT.
              12 BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE SONS OF
              GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME:
              14 AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS
              GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER), FULL OF GRACE AND
              TRUTH.
              16 AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE RECEIVED, AND GRACE FOR GRACE.
              17 FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.


               I WILL SPEAK ON CHRIST, but not on Christianity. Christianity has nothing to do with Christ.
           In fact, Christianity is anti-Christ -- just as Buddhism is anti-Buddha and Jainism anti-Mahavir.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Christ has something in him which cannot be organized: the very nature of it is rebellion and a
           rebel]ion cannot be organized. The moment you organize it, you kill it. Then the dead corpse
           remains. You can worship it, but you cannot be transformed by it. You can carry the load for
           centuries and centuries, but it will only burden you, it will not liberate you. That's why, from the
           beginning, let it be absolutely clear: I am all for Christ, but not even a small part of me is for
           Christianity. If you want Christ, you have to go beyond Christianity. If you cling too much to
           Christianity, you will not be able to understand Christ. Christ is beyond all churches.
                Christ is the very principle of religion. In Christ all the aspirations of humanity are fulfilled. He
           is a rare synthesis. Ordinarily a human being lives in agony, anguish, anxiety, pain and misery. If
           you look at Krishna, he has moved to the other polarity: he lives in ecstasy. There is no agony left;
           the anguish has disappeared. You can love him, you can dance with him for a while, but the bridge
           will be missing. You are in agony, he is in ecstasy -- where is the bridge?
                A Buddha has gone even farther away. He is neither in agony, nor in ecstasy. He is absolutely
           quiet and calm. He is so far away that you can look at him, but you cannot believe that he is. It looks
           like a myth -- maybe a wish fulfillment of humanity. How can such a man walk on this earth, so
           transcendental to all agony and ecstasy? He is too far away.
                Jesus is the culmination of all aspiration. He is in agony as you are, as every human being is born
           -- in agony on the cross. He is in the ecstasy that sometimes a Krishna achieves: he celebrates; he is a
           song, a dance. And he is also transcendence. There are moments, when you come closer and closer
           to him, when you will see that his innermost being is neither the cross nor his celebration, but
           transcendence.
                That's the beauty of Christ: there exists a bridge. You can move towards him by and by, and he
           can lead you towards the unknown -- and so slowly that you will not even be aware when you cross
           the boundary, when you enter the unknown from the known, when the world disappears and God
           appears. You can trust him, because he is so like you and yet so unlike. You can believe in him
           because he is part of your agony; you can understand his language.
                That's why Jesus became a great milestone in the history of consciousness. It is not just
           coincidental that Jesus' birth has become the most important date in history. It has to be so. Before
           Christ, one world; after Christ, a totally different world has existed -- a demarcation in the
           consciousness of man. There are so many calendars, so many ways, but the calendar that is based on
           Christ is the most significant. With him something has changed in man; with him something has
           penetrated into the consciousness of man. Buddha is beautiful, superb, but not of this world; Krishna
           is lovable -- but still the bridge is missing. Christ is the bridge.
                Hence I have chosen to talk on Christ. But remember always, I am not talking on Christianity.
           The Church is always anti-Christ. Once you try to organize a rebellion, the rebellion has to be
           subsided. You cannot organize a storm -- how can you organize a rebellion? A rebellion is true and
           alive only when it is a chaos.
                With Jesus, a chaos entered into human consciousness. Now the organization is not to be done on
           the outside, in the society; the order has to be brought into the innermost core of your being. Christ
           has brought a chaos. Now, out of that chaos, you have to be born totally new, an order coming from
           the innermost being -- not a new Church but a new man, not a new society but a new human
           consciousness. That is the message.
                And these words from the gospel of St. John -- you must have heard them so many times, you
           must have read them so many times. They have become almost useless, meaningless, insignificant,
           trivial. They have been repeated so many times that now no bell rings within you when you hear
           them. But these words are tremendously potential. You may have lost the significance of them, but if
           you become a little alert, aware, the meaning of these words can be reclaimed. It is going to be a
           struggle to reclaim the meaning... just like you reclaim a land from the ocean.
                Christianity has covered these beautiful words with so many interpretations that the original
           freshness is lost -- through the mouths of the priests who are simply repeating like parrots without
           knowing what they are saying: without knowing, without hesitating, without trembling before the
           sacredness of these words. They are simply repeating words like mechanical robots. Their gestures
           are false, because everything has been trained.
                Once I was invited to a Christian theological college. I was surprised when they took me around
           the college. It is one of the greatest theological colleges in India: every year they prepare two
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hundred to three hundred Christian priests and missionaries there -- a five-year training. And
           everything has to be taught: even how to stand on the pulpit, how to speak, where to give more
           emphasis, how to move your hands -- everything has to be taught. Then everything becomes false,
           then the person is just making empty gestures.
               These words are like fire, but through centuries of repetition, parrot-like repetition, much dust
           has gathered around the fire My effort will be to uncover them again. Be very alert because we will
           be treading on a well-known path in a very unknown way, treading on very well-known territory
           with a very different, totally new attitude. The territory is going to be old. My effort will be to give
           you a new consciousness to see it. I would like to lend you my eyes so that you can see the old things
           in new light. And when you have new eyes, everything becomes new. Listen:

              IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS
              GOD.


              The Upanishads can feel poor, the Vedas can be jealous:
              IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD.

               What does it mean when the gospel says IN THE BEGINNING? Christians have been
           interpreting it as if IN THE BEGINNING means that there was a beginning. They have been using
           and interpreting these words 'IN THE BEGINNING' as if they show something about the beginning
           of time. But without time how can there be a beginning? To begin, time will be needed in the first
           place. If time was not in existence, then what do you mean by IN THE BEGINNING?
           IN THE BEGINNING is part of time and cannot precede time, so IN THE BEGINNING does not
           mean that there was a day when God created the world. That's absolutely foolish. IN THE
           BEGINNING is just a way of talking. IN THE BEGINNING does not mean in the beginning at all,
           because there has never been a beginning -- and there can be no end. God is eternal, His creativity is
           eternal. It has always been so and it will always be so.
               Because of these words 'IN THE BEGINNING' much controversy has continued for centuries.
           There have even been foolish priests and bishops who have tried to fix the exact date: four thousand
           four years before Christ, on a certain Monday, the world started. And what was God doing before
           that? Eternity must have preceded it -- four thousand years is nothing. What was he doing before
           that? Not doing anything at all? Then why suddenly on a certain date did he start the Creation?
               It has been a problem, but the problem arises because of a wrong interpretation. No, IN THE
           BEGINNING is just a way of speaking. One has to start from somewhere, the gospel has to begin
           from somewhere. Life is eternity, life never starts from anywhere, but every story has to start and
           every scripture has to start. Arbitrarily they have to choose a certain word and you could not choose
           better: IN THE BEGINNING. IN THE BEGINNING simply says that we don't know.
               But from the very beginning, if there was any beginning, God has been creative. Let me try to
           say it in a different way: God IS creativity. You can even drop the word 'God'. In fact the gospel
           itself does not want to use the word 'God'. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE
           WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.
           IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD. What word are you talking about, what is this word?
           Somebody who has known truth knows well that to name God is futile: there is no name, no
           definition -- and all words are small, they cannot contain the whole. THE WORD is again simply a
           way of indicating the nameless, the unknown. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD.
               Jews, who preceded Jesus, of whom Jesus was the very culmination.... The Judaic spirit came to
           a fulfillment in Jesus. Of course they denied Jesus; that is another story. Sometimes it happens that
           somebody amongst you attains to the fulfillment of the whole race, but the fulfillment is so vast and
           so great and you are so low that you cannot believe it; you have to deny it.
               Christ rose high. Jews had been waiting for centuries for this man -- look at the irony! -- they had
           been waiting for centuries for this man to happen, all their hope was with this man who would
           transform their lives and who would bring the kingdom of God on earth... and then this man
           happened and they themselves, who had been waiting for him, could not believe, could not trust.
           What happened?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They became too addicted to waiting itself. "Now, if this is the man, then what will we do?"
           Then the waiting will have to stop, will have to be stopped. And they had waited so long -- in fact,
           waiting itself had become their whole activity, their whole religious activity: waiting for the son of
           God to come. And now suddenly this man is there and says, "I am here."
               But now they would rather cling to their waiting than look at this man -- because to look at this
           man will be the end; now there is nothing else to wait for. Future disappears, hope disappears, desire
           disappears. This man will kill all hoping, all desiring, all future -- that is too much! The old mind has
           become addicted to its own waiting, the old mind has become addicted to its own misery, frustration
           -- now it is too much.
               It happens: if you have been ill very long, by and by you start having a certain investment in the
           illness. Then you become afraid -- if you become healthy again, fear arises because you will have to
           go to the office again, to the marketplace. For these few years you have been resting: there has been
           no anxiety; you could relax. Now again the responsibility. And not only that -- for these few years
           that you have been ill, everybody has been sympathetic to you, almost everybody tried to love you.
           You have become the center of your family, friends, acquaintances; everybody has been kind. To
           move again in the harsh and cruel world: the mind recoils back; it doesn't seem worth it.
               If a race has been waiting for too long.... And Jews have always been waiting. They are still
           waiting -- and the man has happened and gone. But they have invested too much in waiting: their
           waiting has become their prayer, their synagogues are nothing but waiting rooms for the messiah to
           come. And he has been here!
               And I tell you, if he comes again -- though I don't think he will commit the same mistake again --
           if he comes again, Jews still will not accept him, because then what will happen to their waiting?
           They have lived too much in it; their imprisonment has become their home and they have decorated
           it. And now to move in the harsh, open sky -- where sometimes the sun is burning too much, and
           sometimes it is raining, and sometimes it is cold or it is hot -- it is dangerous. They are sheltered.
              IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD...

                Jews have been insistently emphasizing that God's name should not be asserted because it is
           something to keep deep down in the heart. To assert it is to make it profane; to say it is to make it
           part of the ordinary world and language. To say it again and again is to make it lose its meaning and
           significance.
                If you love somebody and the whole day you say, "I love you, I love you," many times -- and you
           enjoy saying it -- in the beginning the other person may be happy, but sooner or later the thing is
           going to be too much. "I love you, I love you" -- you are making a beautiful word useless. Don't use
           it too much. Then it is significant, then it carries some meaning. In fact those who are really in love
           may not use it at all. If the love is not shown by itself it cannot be said -- there is no need to say it.
           And if it is shown by itself, then what is the need to say it? There should be a few key words which
           you use rarely, very rarely. They should be kept for rare occasions when you touch a peak.
                The Jews have always insisted that the name of God should not be taken. It was the custom in the
           old days, before Christ, that only the High Priest of the Temple of Solomon was allowed to use it --
           and once a year only. Nobody else was allowed. So THE WORD is the code, the code for God's
           name. Something has to be used to indicate it and this is a beautiful code: THE WORD. They don't
           use any words: they simply say: THE WORD. The same has been done in India also. If you ask
           Sikhs, the followers of Nanak, they will say: NAM, the Name. They don't say any name; they.simply
           say: the Name. It means the same as THE WORD.
                Only the High Priest was allowed, and the High Priest had to purify himself. The whole year he
           would purify himself and fast and pray and get ready. Then one day in the year the whole
           community would gather. Then too the High Priest would not utter the word before the crowd: he
           would move into the innermost shrine of the temple; the doors would be closed. Deep in silence
           where nobody could hear -- the crowd would be waiting outside and there was no possibility for
           them to hear -- he would assert the name in such sanctity, deep love, intimacy. He was asserting the
           name for the whole community.
                It was a blissful day when the name was asserted. Then for the whole year the name was not to
           be brought to the lips. You have to carry it in the heart; it has to become like a seed. If you bring the
           seed out of the soil again and again, it will never sprout. Keep it deep down. Water it, protect it, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           keep it deep in darkness so that it sprouts, dies and is reborn.
               The name of God has to be kept deep in the heart. Even you should not hear it; it should be so
           deep in your being, in your subliminal depths, that it never even reaches to your own mind. That is
           the meaning of why the High Priest goes into the innermost shrine. Nobody hears, the doors are
           closed, and he asserts the name once. The meaning is this: go into the deepest shrine of your temple
           of the heart, purify yourself, and once in a while, when you feel the fragrance of your being -- when
           you are at the peak of your energy, when you are really alive and not an iota of sadness lingers
           around you: you are happy, tremendously happy, ecstatically happy and tranquil and silent, you are
           in a state where you can thank, where you can feel grateful -- then go into the innermost shrine. Your
           mind will be left out -- that is the crowd. You move deeper in the heart and there you assert so
           silently that even your mind will not be able to hear it. There, the Word has to be carried.
              IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS
              GOD.

               There is no difference between God and His name. He has no name; He himself is His name. His
           `is-ness' is His name; His existence is His name. A child is born. What name does he have? -- no
           name. But he is. That `is-ness' is his name. Then, for utilitarian purposes, we give a name to him and
           by and by he will forget his `is-ness' and he will become identified with the name. If somebody
           insults the name, he will be angry; if somebody praises the name, he will be very happy. And the
           name never belonged to him!
               God is the child, always the child, always the innocence of the world. He has no name. That is
           the meaning of this saying: AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD. `Is-ness', existence, being: AND
           THE WORD WAS WITH GOD. His name is His being. Don't repeat His name, move into His being
           -- that is the only way to attain Him. In fact, forget about Him. Move into your own being and
           `is-ness', and you will attain to Him.
              ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM; AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANYTHING MADE THAT WAS
              MADE.

               God is creativity. To say that God is the Creator is already to falsify Him, but to say, "God is
           creativity," will not be understandable. Then people will think: then why use 'God'? -- just
           `creativity' will do. We say, "God is the Creator," but because of this expression much nonsense
           arises. Then when did He create the world? Then why didn't He create it before? Why couldn't He
           create it before, why did He create it at the time He created it? Why has He created it the way it is?
           Why can't He improve it?
               So much misery, so much suffering in the world, and He is the Creator. Then God becomes the
           culprit. Then we feel angry: if He is the Creator then He is responsible for all. Why can't He change
           it? Then all sorts of problems arise, and theologians go on answering these questions.
               In the first place, they need not arise if you look at the thing directly. God is not the Creator, He
           is creativity. Creativity is His being. He has always been creating; He cannot be on a holiday from
           His creativity. That is not possible; you cannot go on a holiday from your innermost nature -- no.
           Whatsoever you can leave is not your nature; that which you CANNOT leave is your nature.
               God's nature is creativity. He has always been creating. And there is no other way: the only way
           the world can exist is how it exists. It is the only way. Whatsoever you think or condemn or
           appreciate is meaningless. It is like going to a rose and asking, "Why do you only have so many
           petals? A few more could be there. What was wrong? " But if a few more were there, the same
           question would have again been relevant.
               Whatsoever the world, the mind will always create questions. So those who know, drop the mind
           and accept the world. And there are only two ways: either accept the mind and be against the world,
           or accept the world and drop the mind. This is the only way things are and can be, and there is
           nobody you can complain to and there is nobody who can listen to your complaints and improve.
           God is creativity, not a Creator.
               ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM -- all things really are made OF Him, not BY Him! --
           AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANYTHING MADE THAT WAS MADE. And not only in the
           past -- even now whenever a thing is created He is the creator, you are only the instrument.
               You paint a picture or you write a song. What do you think -- you are the creator? In the moment
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of deep creativity you disappear, God again starts functioning. So it is not a question of the past.
           Wherever and whenever creativity happens, it is always through Him. Ask all the great poets. They
           will say that whenever great poems have descended on them, they were, at the most, passive
           receivers. It happened; they were not the creators.
               The idea that you can create is simply your illusion. All creativity belongs to Him. Even through
           you, whatsoever is created He is the creator. To understand this is a great illumination. To
           understand this the ego disappears; to understand this is to allow Him to take total possession of you.
           You become an instrument, and in small things, great things become possible. Then He moves
           through you. If you dance, He dances. You are, at the most, the field where He dances. When you
           sing, He sings. You are, at the most, the flute, the empty flute, which just becomes a passage to it. At
           the most you can allow -- it is always He who is doing things.
               This is what I mean when I say `float', when I say `flow with the river'. Allow His creativity to
           flow through you. Don't impose any pattern on Him; don't impose your will. If you can allow
           yourself to be totally possessed, there is no misery and you are no more a human being. The Jesus
           within you has become Christ the very moment you allow total possession. Then the Jesus
           disappears and the Christ appears.
               Christ is the principle; Jesus is the son of the carpenter Joseph. Jesus disappeared at a certain
           moment and Christ entered. `Christ' simply means that now the man is no longer man, the man is
           God-possessed. Just like when somebody goes mad and you say, "The man is maddened," you can
           say "The man is 'goddened'." Now the man is no more there.
              IN HIM WAS LIFE; AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN.

               God is the only existence, the only being: the only life there is; the only dance there is; the only
           movement, the only energy there is. In the ocean and in the waves, in the illusory world and in the
           truth, in the dreams and the dreamer, the only energy there is, is God. All is He; He is all.
               IN HIM WAS LIFE; AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN. And whenever you come to
           understand this -- this: that He is the only life -- your life becomes enlightened. You are full of light
           then. GOD IS LIFE! If you understand this your whole life becomes full of light. His life becomes a
           light in your understanding. When His life is reflected within you, it becomes light.
              AND THE LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT.

               And the light is shining all around you. Life is all around you -- in the birds, in the trees, in the
           river. Life is all around you, there is nothing else -- you are living in the ocean of life. Out and in,
           within and without, only life is bubbling. A great stream of life, and you are just like a fish in it.
              AND THE LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT.

               But you don't comprehend it. You are still identified with darkness, your eyes are still closed.
           You are blind.
               This is a beautiful thing to understand: THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROM GOD...
               This should be so. These are parables but I say they should be so, because how will a man who
           has lived in darkness be able to come to light by himself, alone? A Master will be needed.
               If you are fast asleep, how will you awaken yourself? -- it seems impossible. Somebody who is
           already awake will be needed to shake you out of your sleep, to give you a jerk, so your needle of
           unconsciousness jumps out of the groove and takes a new route. For a single moment you open your
           eyes and you look.
              THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROM GOD, WHOSE NAME WAS JOHN.

               Unless God himself is going to do it, it seems almost impossible that you will be able to realize
           what is what. So all the religions of the world.... Hindus say AVATARS; they say, "Man himself is
           so helpless that God has to descend." AVATAR means descendence of God. He has to come himself
           to awaken you.
               This simply shows how deeply you are in sleep, nothing else -- not that you have to make it a
           fanatic belief that God comes down. It simply shows that you are so fast asleep that unless God
           comes down, there seems to be no possibility for you. And if sometimes you awaken, it simply
           shows that God must have come down to awaken you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROM GOD, WHOSE NAME WAS JOHN. THE SAME CAME FOR A
              WITNESS, TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE LIGHT, THAT ALL MEN THROUGH HIM MIGHT BELIEVE.

               I am here. If you can look into me, you will come to trust in things that you have not been able to
           realize yourself. Through me, you can have a little glimpse of that which is still unseen.
               And God is the unseen. Somebody is needed who can be a witness, who can bear witness, who
           can say, "Yes, I know Him," who can resound in your depths, who can give you a taste, by his touch,
           that "Yes, God exists." God can never be just a belief, because a belief will be impotent. It will be
           intellectual, heady, but it will not transform you. You can carry the belief for your whole life: it will
           be a part of your junkyard; it won't change you.
               Trust, faith, is different. Belief is intellectual; trust is existential. But how can you come to trust
           unless you come close to a man who can bear witness, who can say from his very depths of being
           that "Yes, God is"? If you allow yourself to become vulnerable to him, and his being stirs something
           within you, then a trust is born.
               THE SAME CAME FOR A WITNESS -- John became a witness -- TO BEAR WITNESS OF
           THE LIGHT.... He has known the Light, he is coming from the Light. And remember, whosoever
           knows the Light also knows that he is coming from the Light, because there is no other way of being
           here.
               You may not be knowing it, but you also come from the Light. That is the very source -- the seed
           and the source of all life. You may be unaware, you may have forgotten, you may have become
           completely oblivious of the fact of where you come from -- the source is so far away that you don't
           remember at all -- but whosoever within you will become aware of the Light will immediately
           become aware that "I am coming from Him." In fact he will immediately become aware that "I am
           Him; I am He. My father and I are one."
               As above, so below. He will claim, just as the seers of the Upanishads have claimed: "AHAM
           BRAHMASMI... I am that." Or he will say, like Mansoor: "ANALAHAK... I am the truth." Or like
           Jesus: "I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE." Jesus says, "If you trust me, you have trusted Him who
           has sent me; if you love me, you have loved the one that you know not."
               THE SAME CAME FOR A WITNESS, TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE LIGHT, THAT ALL
           MEN THROUGH HIM MIGHT BELIEVE. John is a door, a window, from whom you can have a
           glimpse of the faraway Himalayan peaks.
              HE WAS NOT THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT TO BEAR WITNESS OF THAT LIGHT.

               This has to be understood, this is one of the really significant things. Whenever a man like Jesus
           comes, he is always preceded by someone who prepares the ground. It has to be so because a ready
           ground is needed. Life is a deep continuity; everything is related, it is one whole. John came to
           prepare the ground because many weeds were there. Grass was growing, a thousand and one types of
           trees trespassed the whole land. They had to be cut -- weeds removed, the soil changed. Only then
           could the gardener come and sow the new seeds.
               Whenever there is a man like Jesus, he is always preceded. So the gospel says: HE WAS NOT
           THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT TO BEAR WITNESS OF THAT LIGHT -- he had come to
           prepare the ground.

              HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN, BUT HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT.

               He has come to help; he has come to fulfill the aspiration of ages. He has come unto his own...
           BUT HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. This is something very ironical, but it has always
           happened. Jesus is born a Jew: Jews will not accept him. Buddha was born a Hindu: Hindus will not
           accept him. This is how it has always been. Why? Because whenever a man like Jesus or Buddha is
           born, he is such a rebellion that all that is established is shaken.
               An ordinary man lives in the past -- and for the ordinary man the past is more important because
           the past is already established, grounded. He has much at stake in the past, much investment in the
           past. For example, if I suddenly come to you and tell you that the way you have been praying is
           wrong, and you have prayed that way for fifty years -- now there is much at stake. To believe me
           will be to believe that your fifty years have been useless. To believe me will be to disbelieve fifty
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years of your own life; to believe me will be to believe that you have been a fool for fifty years. This
           is too much! You will fight, you will defend.
                And when it is a question of a race.... Thousands of years the race has been doing certain things,
           and then a Jesus comes and he throws things upside down. Everything is again a chaos. He melts all
           that is established, uproots all that was thought to be very significant, creates confusion. He has to,
           because he has now brought you the right thing. But you have been believing that something else
           was right for so many centuries. What to choose -- Jesus or your own long past? What to choose --
           Jesus or the tradition?
                Do you know from where the word `tradition' comes? It comes from the same root as the word
           `trade'. It also comes from the same root as the word `traitor'. Tradition is a trade, it is a business --
           and tradition is also a betrayal.
                Tradition believes in certain things which are not true -- tradition is a traitor to truth -- so
           whenever truth comes, there is conflict. You can see this here. I am born a Jain, but Jains won't
           accept me. Here you can find Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, Hindus, Buddhists, but very few
           Jains. Impossible for them to accept me. HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN, BUT HIS OWN RECEIVED
           HIM NOT.
                Jains are too much against me. Hindus are not so much against me but they are also, a little. But
           Christians -- no. Jews -- not at all. The further away you go, the less is the antagonism. I am born a
           Jain -- Jains are a small community, surrounded from everywhere by Hindus; Jains are almost
           Hindus -- so Jains will be very antagonistic, Hindus a little less, and Mohammedans, Christians and
           Jews not so much.
                The further away you go, the less will be the antagonism. Hence you can understand why so
           many people from so many countries are here and not so many Indians. With Indians there is a
           problem: their tradition is at stake. If they believe me, then their tradition -- they will have to lose it.
                That's why you will see more young people near me and less old people, because young people
           do not have much investment in their past. In fact, a young man is looking for the future, an old man
           looking after the past. A young man has a future; an old man has only a past. The future means
           death: his whole life is past. So whenever a man of seventy comes to me, it is very difficult to change
           him because seventy years will be fighting me. When a small boy of seven comes, a little Siddharth,
           there is nothing to fight. He can surrender absolutely, there is nothing -- he has no past, just the
           future. He can be adventurous, he can take the risk; he has nothing to lose. But an old man -- he has
           much to lose. That's why if a pundit comes -- one who knows too much without knowing it -- he will
           have much fight, he will have all sorts of arguments, he will defend himself. He has much to lose.
           But when an innocent man comes who says, "I don't know much," he is easy, he is ready to let go.

              HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT.
              BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE SONS OF
              GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME:



              AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH....


               Very few people came to him. John lived near the River Jordan, in the wilderness, outside the
           cities and towns. People who really wanted to be transformed, they would seek him and come to
           him. Very few came, but those who came -- TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE
           SONS OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME. Those who could trust were
           transformed. And he prepared the ground: these were the first prepared people to whom Jesus was to
           appear.
              AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY,
              THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER), FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.


               AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH -- one of the most beautiful sentences in the gospel --
           AND DWELT AMONG US. Jesus is as if the Word has become flesh: God has become man. The
           secret has become open; the hidden has become unhidden; the mystery has become an open truth.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           All the doors of the temple are open.
               AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US.... John created the
           situation, because the Word can become flesh only when the listener is ready.
               If you are ready, then I can tell you what I carry within my heart. If you are not ready, it is
           impossible to utter it; it will be absolutely useless. In fact, it cannot be brought out unless you are
           ready. When your heart is ready, that very readiness will bring the truth that I carry within my heart.
           Then the heart can talk to the heart, depth can respond to depth.
               John created a group, a small group of chosen people who would be able to trust, who would be
           able to see with the eyes of trust. Only then is Jesus possible. Remember this: If the listener is ready,
           only then can the truth be uttered.
               I was travelling in this country for many years, all year round, just to find people who would be
           able to transform themselves so that whatsoever I carry within me can become flesh, it can be
           uttered. Now people ask me why I don't go anywhere. That work is done. Now those who are ready
           will come to me. Now this is the only way.
               That's why I don't want masses and crowds to come here -- because if they come, then I will not
           to able to utter that which I carry... and I would like to share it before I leave. If you are ready, then
           and only then can something of the beyond descend on you.
               AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD
           HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER).... And this is
           really something to be understood, because Christians have been misinterpreting it continuously.
           They go on saying Christ is the only begotten son of God. Yes, it is true in a way -- but not true in
           the way Christians say it.
               Buddha is also the only begotten son of God, and Krishna is also the only begotten son of God.
           Remember, I emphasize: THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD. And I am also the only begotten
           son of God, and you are also the only begotten son of God. Then why say `only begotten'? If all are
           His sons, then why say it?
               It has some significance, some meaning -- it has to be said. It is just like this: you fall in love
           with a woman and you say, "You are the only woman, the only beautiful woman in the world." Not
           that this is true, but still, in a certain moment of love, it is true. It is not an ordinary fact; it is a truth.
           When you say to a woman, "You are the only beautiful woman in the world who has ever existed or
           will ever exist," that doesn't mean that you know all the women who have existed in the world before
           or that you know that all the women who are going to exist will not be more beautiful than this. How
           can you know, how can you compare? This is not a logical fact; this is a poetic realization.
               In that moment of love it is not a question of statistics. Some logician can raise the argument:
           "Wait! Do you know all the women that exist right now in the world? Have you looked, searched,
           and have you found that this is the most beautiful woman in the world? What are you saying? You
           are using comparative language."
               But you will say, "I'm not worried about other women, and this is not comparative. I am not
           comparing: I am simply asserting a truth about my feeling. It is not a fact of the outside world; it is a
           truth of my inner feeling. This is how I feel: that this is the most beautiful woman in the world. I am
           not saying anything about the woman; I am saying something about my heart. I don't know all the
           women; there is no need." It is not comparison. It is a simple feeling. You are so possessed by the
           feeling that NOT to say this will be wrong.
               When you love Jesus, he is the only begotten son of God. So this sentence is good: it says... THE
           GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER. `As' -- as IF he is the only begotten
           son of God. Those who fall in love with Jesus -- for them he is the only begotten son of God. They
           are not saying anything about Buddha or against Buddha. They are not comparing.
               That's what I mean when I say Buddha is also the only begotten son, you are also. Everybody in
           this world is unique. Once you attain to your inner realization, you are the only begotten son of God
           -- as if the whole existence exists for you and only for you. The trees flower for you and the birds
           sing for you and the rivers flow for you and clouds gather together for you. You become the sole
           center of existence when you attain.
               Or, if you fall in love with a Buddha, a Jesus or anybody -- these assertions of lovers should not
           be taken as statements of fact. They are poetic realizations. You cannot argue with them; they are not
           arguments at all. They assert something of the heart.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US... FULL OF GRACE
           AND TRUTH. Wherever truth is, there is grace. And wherever there is grace, there is truth.
                Try to understand this. You can be graceful only when you are true. If you have a certain lie
           within you, that lie will disturb your grace, that lie will be poisonous to your beauty, because that lie
           has to be hidden, suppressed. Nobody is to be allowed to know it. You cannot be open; you will be
           shut by the lie.
                If you deceive, you cannot be free and flowing. You will be stuck with your deception. So I don't
           say that lies are bad because they are harmful to others -- no. They are bad because you will miss
           your own grace. Deceptions are not bad because you deceive others; deceptions are bad because they
           will disturb your flow and you will not be flowing. You will start freezing. In many places you will
           be stuck, dead. You will have blocks in your being.
                Look at a child. Every child has grace. Then where does it disappear to? When every child brings
           grace in the world, where does it disappear? By and by it is lost, and then everybody becomes
           graceless, ugly. It is rare that somebody is capable of being as graceful as he was when he was a
           child. What happens? Why is a child graceful?
                Have you seen a child whom you can say is ugly? No, that never exists. A child, and ugly, is
           impossible. All children are beautiful, unconditionally beautiful. They are flowing, and they are true.
           When they want to cry, they cry; when they want to laugh, they laugh. When they are angry, they are
           angry, and when they are loving, they are loving. They are true to the moment, they are never
           deceiving.
                But soon they learn the politics. Soon they will learn that: "Mother likes it if I smile. It is easier
           to persuade her, it is easier to manipulate her, if I smile." A small child is becoming a politician! He
           waits. He may be angry inside, but when the mother comes he smiles because that is the only way to
           get the ice-cream. Now the smile is false, and a false smile is ugly because the whole being is not in
           it; it is something painted from without. Then more and more things will be painted, more and more
           personalities will gather around, and the essence will be lost. Then you become ugly. Truth and
           grace are always together. Truth is grace, and grace is truth.

               The gospel catches the exact point of Jesus' being: truth and grace. He was true, profoundly true
           to the very core -- utmost, utterly true. That's how he got into trouble. To live with a society which is
           absolutely untrue, to live with it with utter truthfulness, is to get into trouble.
               And the grace. He was not a politician and he was not a priest. He simply loved life and lived it.
           He was not here to preach anything: he had no dogma to inculcate, he had no ideas to force on
           people. In fact, he lived a pure, graceful, flowing life, and he was infectious. With whomsoever he
           moved -- whomsoever came into contact with him was magnetized, hypnotized. This man was a
           child, an innocent child. People were attracted. People left their houses, their jobs: they simply
           started following him.
               He was not a preacher, he was not giving any political revolution to the world, he was not giving
           any reformation to the world. He was just giving you a way to live flowingly. And that was the
           trouble -- because Jews are one of the most suppressed races in the world. Very suppressive.
           moralistic, puritans. That became the troublesome thing. They live by principles. They live by the
           law, and the law has to be followed.
               Of course, they are very successful people in the world. If you live by the law you will be very
           successful. If you live by love, you are bound to be a failure. It is miserable, unfortunate, but it is so:
           law succeeds, love fails -- in the world. In God: love succeeds, law fails -- but who bothers about
           God?
               Jews are very lawful, very good citizens, and wherever they move they are always successful
           because they always move by the law. They live by arithmetic. That is why they get most of the
           Nobel prizes in the world. Nobody can compete with them. Very talented -- in business they are
           successful, in politics; whatsoever they do, they do exactly the right thing. But they are very
           formalistic puritans, in a deep bondage with the mind. A deep hangover in the mind continues.
               And Jesus started talking about law. The gospel says:
              AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE RECEIVED, AND GRACE FOR GRACE.
              FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES. Moses is the foundation of Judaism. Of course it was
           needed because unless law is established, love will not be possible. Law is a must, it is a necessity,
           but it is not enough.
                Moses gave the law to the world. The people were primitive, uncultured; they had no sense of
           society. Moses created a society, and one of the most enduring societies -- the Jews. In fact, Moses
           must have been a great genius because he provided the law, and Jews have survived all sorts of
           catastrophes. He must have given them a very permanent base. But he was a lawgiver, just as Manu
           was the lawgiver to Hindus. Moses is the Manu of Jews, he gave the law.
                Let me tell you a small story. It happened that Moses was passing and he came across a man who
           was praying. But he was doing such an absurd prayer (not only absurd, but insulting to God) that
           Moses stopped. It was absolutely unlawful. It is better not to pray than to pray in such a way,
           because the man was saying things which are impossible to believe. The man was saying, "Let me
           come close to you my God. my Lord, and I promise that I will clean your body when it is dirty. Even
           if lice are there, I will take them away.... And I am a good shoe-maker, I will make you perfect
           shoes. You are moving in such ancient shoes -- dirty, gone completely dirty.... And nobody looks
           after you, my Lord. I will look after you. When you are ill, I will serve and give you medicine. And I
           am a good cook also!"
                This type of prayer he was doing! So Moses said, "Stop! Stop your nonsense! What are you
           saying? To whom are. you talking -- to God? And He has lice on His body? And His clothes are
           dirty and you will clean them? And nobody is there to look after Him, and you will be His cook?
           From whom have you learned this prayer?"
                The man said, "I have not learned it from anywhere. I am a very poor and uneducated man, and I
           don't know how to pray. I have made it up myself and these are the things that I know. Lice trouble
           me very much, so He must be in trouble. And sometimes the food is not good -- my wife is not a
           good cook -- and my stomach aches. He must be also suffering. This is just my own experience that
           has become my prayer. But if you know the right prayer, you teach me."
                So Moses taught him the right prayer. The man bowed down to Moses, thanked him, tears of
           deep gratitude flowing, and he went away. Moses was very happy. He thought that he had done a
           good deed. He looked at the sky to see what God thought about it.
                And God was very angry! He said, "I have sent you there to bring people closer to me, but you
           have thrown away one of my greatest lovers. Now he will be doing the right prayer, but it won't be a
           prayer at all -- because prayer has nothing to do with the law. It is LOVE. Love is a law unto itself; it
           needs no other law."
                But Moses is the lawgiver. He founded the society: he brought the Ten Commandments. Those
           Ten Commandments have remained the foundation of the whole Western world: Judaic, Christian,
           Mohammedan -- all three religions depend on the law of Moses.
                So the whole world has known only two lawgivers: the East knows Manu and the West knows
           Moses. Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, they have been supplied the law by Manu, the law has been given
           by Manu, and Moses has given to Mohammedans, Christians, Jews.
                These two lawgivers have created the whole world. And there must be something -- both are `M':
           Manu and Moses. Then comes Marx who is the third `M'. China, Russia -- he has given the law to
           them. These are the three great `M's' -- lawgivers.
              FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES...

               Law is for the society; love is for the individual. Law is how you behave with others; love is how
           you behave with yourself. Love is an inner flowering; law is an outward performance. Because you
           live with people you have to be lawful, but that is not enough -- good, but not enough. If a person is
           simply lawful, he will be dead. He will be a good citizen, but he will be dead. Law can be the
           foundation of the society, but it cannot be the very building. You can live on the law, but you cannot
           LIVE in it. It has no space for that. For that, love is needed.
               Jesus was the fulfillment of Moses. What Moses started Jesus was completing, but Jews denied
           him; what Manu started Buddha was completing, but Hindus denied him. Marx still needs a Buddha
           or a Jesus in the world. Someday he will come, but Communists will deny him.
               They become law-oriented. Then love seems to be against law. In fact, law is needed only so that
           love can become possible. Law is needed so that people can live peacefully and love; law is not, in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           itself, the end. It is the means; love is the end. But when people become too law-abiding, then love
           itself seems to be unlawful. They become afraid of love because who knows? -- you are moving on a
           dangerous path.
                Love is mad; law is calculation. Law is dependable, the society can decide on it. But love is not
           reliable -- who will decide? Love knows no rules: it is not arithmetic, it is poetry. It is dangerous.
           Love is always wild, and law is social.
                Remember this: be lawful but don't end there, otherwise you lived in vain. In fact, you lived not.
           Be lawful because if you are not lawful you will be in trouble. You have to be in the society, you
           have to follow certain rules, but they are only rules. There is nothing ultimate about them, there is
           nothing from God about them.
                Let me tell you this: the Ten Commandments were created by Moses. They were not from God,
           they cannot be. Those Ten Commandments are human rules of the game. "Don't steal! " -- because
           property is individual. But if the game changes and the property becomes shared, then "Don't steal!"
           will not be much of a law. Or if someday the world becomes really affluent then there will be so
           much that nobody steals. Stealing is possible only if poverty is there. People are hungry and poor --
           they steal. But if the society is affluent, as it is going to be someday, and there are too many things --
           whatsoever you need, more is available -- then who will be a thief? Then the commandment will
           disappear. there will be no need for it.
                The Ten Commandments are social. Moses brings the law; Jesus brings truth, grace, love. Love
           is from God, law is from the mind. Love is of God, law is of man.
                And with love, grace happens. And with love -- truth. Remember this, because to understand
           Jesus is to understand the phenomenon of love. To understand Jesus is to understand the intricacies
           of grace. To understand Jesus is to understand truth. Remember, if you can understand truth, truth
           liberates. And there is no other liberation.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #2
                                             Chapter title: Gods in Exile
           22 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510220
              ShortTitle: FOLL102
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              WHO PREPARED THE WAY FOR YOU?


                NOBODY HAS PREPARED THE WAY FOR ME, and neither am I preparing the way for
           anybody. This has to be understood.
                There are four possibilities. One, the oldest and the most used, is what happened in Jesus' case.
           John the Baptist prepared the way; the disciple preceded the Master. It has its benefits, but it has its
           own limitations and defects also -- bound to be so. When the disciple precedes the Master he will
           create limitations which belong to him and the Master will have to function within those limitations.
           It has its benefits because when the Master comes he will not be worried about preparing the ground
           -- the ground will be ready; he can immediately start sowing the seeds -- but the ground will be ready
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           according to the disciple. It cannot be according to the Master, so he will have to function under
           limitations. That's what created the whole trouble in Jesus' story.
                John the Baptist is a different type of man from Jesus, a very fiery man, almost in flames -- and
           always in flames. He uses a language which fits him, but which can never fit Jesus. Jesus is very
           silent, very peaceful. John the Baptist is not that type of man.
                He is a prophet, Jesus is a messiah, and the difference between a prophet and a messiah is great.
           A prophet is a religious man, deeply religious, but functioning like a politician: using the language of
           revolution, using a very violent language -- arousing the hearts and beings of men, stirring them. A
           prophet is like an earthquake. A messiah is very soothing, silent like a Himalayan valley -- lazy,
           sleepy. You can rest in a messiah. With a prophet, you will always be on the go.
                Because of this, John the Baptist used the terminology of politics: revolution, the kingdom of
           God. And even that 'kingdom' has to be taken by force. It has to be, in fact. attacked. He was
           misunderstood because whenever you use the language of the outside world for the inner world, you
           are bound to be misunderstood. The politicians became afraid: "About what kingdom is this man
           talking? about what revolution? What does he mean by saying that the kingdom has to be taken by
           force?"
                John the Baptist is very impatient. He wants immediate change; he cannot wait. He created the
           atmosphere in which Jesus had to function. John the Baptist died in imprisonment. he was beheaded
           by the rulers -- he was absolutely misunderstood -- but nobody was at fault: he himself was.
                But because of him.... And Jesus was to follow him, Jesus was a disciple of his own disciple. He
           was initiated by John the Baptist because John the Baptist preceded him. He became linked. Then he
           had to use the same terminology. It was almost certain that he would be misunderstood.
                John the Baptist died in prison, beheaded. Jesus died on the cross -- killed, murdered. John the
           Baptist was also talking about the kingdom of God. Of course he was not aggressive, but the very
           terminology appeared political. He was a very innocent man, nothing to do with politics.
                But John the Baptist helped in a way. Jesus could work because all the disciples of John the
           Baptist were ready to receive him, he was not a stranger. John the Baptist had created a small
           opening, a small clearance in the wilderness of humanity. When he came he was received; there was
           a home ready for him -- a few people receptive to him. That would not have been possible if he had
           come alone without a predecessor. But the home was made by John the Baptist and the disciples
           whom he attracted were attracted by him. That created the trouble.
                This is the oldest format: the Master is preceded by a disciple who functions as a predecessor and
           prepares the ground. Because of its defects and limitations, there has been another, the opposite.
                Ramakrishna is succeeded by Vivekanand; he is not preceded by anybody. The Master comes
           first, then the disciple follows. This has its own benefits because the Master creates the whole
           climate, the Master creates the whole possibility of growth -- how the thing is to go. He gives
           language, pattern, direction, dimension.
                But there are defects because the Master is infinite and when the disciple comes he is very finite.
           Then the disciple has to choose, because he cannot move in all directions. The Master may be
           showing all the directions, he may be leading you towards infinity, but when the disciple comes he
           has to choose, he has to select, and then he forces his own pattern on it.
                Ramakrishna was succeeded by Vivekanand. Ramakrishna is one of the greatest flowerings that
           has ever happened; Vivekanand is the prophet. Ramakrishna is the messiah, but Vivekanand set the
           whole trend. Vivekanand's own inclinations were extrovert, not introvert. His own inclinations were
           more towards social reformation, political change. He was more interested in bringing riches to the
           people, destroying poverty and hunger and starvation. He turned the whole trend around.
                The Ramakrishna Mission is not true to Ramakrishna; the Ramakrishna Mission is true to
           Vivekanand. Now the Ramakrishna Mission functions as a social service. Wherever there is famine,
           they are there to serve people. Whenever there is an earthquake, they are there to serve people.
           Whenever there is flood -- and there is no lack of these things in India -- they are there. They are
           good servants, but Ramakrishna's inward revolution has completely disappeared into the desert land
           of Vivekanand.
                Ramakrishna functioned more freely than Jesus because there was no pattern for him. He lived
           more spontaneously than Jesus. There was no confinement anywhere; all the directions were open to
           him. He could fly just like a bird in the sky, no limitations existed. But then comes the disciple. He
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           organizes it. He organizes, of course, in his own way.
               Both ways have their benefits, both have their defects. Then there is a third possibility which has
           never been used before. Krishnamurti is the first in the world to have used the third possibility. The
           third possibility is to deny both: the predecessors and the successors both. It is negative.
               Krishnamurti's method is VIA NEGATIVA. So first he denied those who prepared the ground
           for him, That was the only way to get out of the limitations. He denied the whole Theosophical
           Movement: Annie Besant, Leadbetter -- they were the people who prepared the whole ground and
           they worked hard for Krishnamurti. They were the John the Baptists for him. They created a vast
           opportunity in the world for him, but then he looked, when he was ready, and he saw the defects and
           the limitations: that the same would be the case as happened with Jesus. He simply denied. He
           denied that they created a ground or that there was any need to create the ground.
               While denying them he was aware that he had to deny his messiahship also -- because if he said
           that he is the messiah then he could deny the predecessors, but the successors would follow. Then
           the same trouble would be there as it had been with Ramakrishna. So he denied: "There is nobody
           who has preceded me and there is nobody who is going to succeed me." He denied Leadbetter, Annie
           Besant and the Theosophical Movement, and for his whole life he has been denying that anybody is
           going to become his heir or successor.
               This has its own beauty, but its problems also. You may be free, very free, absolutely free --
           because there is no limitation on either side, before or after -- but your freedom is in negativity. You
           don't create. Your freedom comes to no fulfillment, it is futile -- you don't help. It is as if somebody
           is so conscious about not falling ill -- he continuously works and remains aware not to fall ill -- that
           he forgets that sometimes you have to enjoy the health also. Otherwise you may not fall ill but the
           very awareness that "one should not fall ill and must remain aware" becomes an illness of a sort.
               Krishnamurti is so much alert about it -- that no bondage should be created anywhere, no fetters
           should be created anywhere -- that he worked hard, but couldn't help anybody. It was beautiful for
           himself, but it has not been beneficial for humanity. He is a free man, but his freedom is his alone.
           That freedom could not become a taste in thousands and thousands of throats; it could not create an
           urge. He has remained a pinnacle of freedom, but no bridge exists. You can look at him -- he is like a
           beautiful painting or beautiful poetry -- but nothing can be done about it, it doesn't change you. He
           has broken all the bridges. This is the third possibility -- never tried before. He is the first to try it.
               I have tried the fourth. That has also never been tried. The fourth is that half of my life I have
           worked myself as John the Baptist, and now half of my life I will function as a Christ. That is the
           fourth possibility: to prepare the ground and to sow it also, to sow the seeds.
               There are problems about it also; it is impossible to find a way which has no problems. It has its
           own benefits, it has its own defects. The benefit is that I am both, so I am, in a way, totally free.
           Whatsoever I have done in my first step I have done knowing perfectly well what the second step is
           going to be. John the Baptist in me was perfectly aware of the Christ who was going to follow, they
           were in a deep harmony. They are one person; there is no problem about it. So John the Baptist in me
           could not create any limitations for the Jesus to follow -- a total freedom.
               And no Vivekanand is going to follow me. I am my own Vivekanand and I am my own John the
           Baptist, so nobody can put a limitation on me when I am gone. And I am positive: if Krishnamurti is
           VIA NEGATIVA, I am VIA POSITIVA. I have accepted both the roles and I have a certain freedom
           even Krishnamurti cannot have. He has to always deny, and denial in itself becomes a worry, a deep
           anxiety. I have nothing to deny; I just have to say yes to the total.
               But there are problems, and the greatest problem is that I will always be contradictory.
           Whatsoever John the Baptist has said, the Christ in me has to contradict it. I will always be
           contradictory.
               For many years I was moving around, reaching to every person, whomsoever had any capacity to
           grow. Nobody ever thought that someday the wanderer in me would simply sit in his closed room
           and would not even come out of the room -- contradictory! For years I was talking in terms of
           revolution: of course, John the Baptist has to talk that way. Then suddenly I stopped talking about
           revolution, the society, the welfare of humanity; I forgot all about it. Now only the individual exists.
               Contradictory. If you look you can find two currents parallel, and the first current has been
           continuously contradicted by the other current. For those many years the Acharya, the John the
           Baptist, was doing one thing. Now the Bhagwan, something totally different, is doing a very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           contradictory thing.
               It will be impossible later on to decide whether this man was one or two. And I suspect that
           somebody is going to suspect someday that this man was two, because the contradictions are so
           naked and there is no way to resolve them. This is the trouble with me -- but somebody had to try the
           fourth and I am happy that I tried it. On this earth everything has its own problem, so you cannot
           escape from the problem. From somewhere or other the problem will enter, so it is only a question of
           choice -- whatsoever fits you.
               This fits me perfectly. To be free to contradict is a great phenomenon because then I am not
           worried at all about what I say. I don't keep any accounts, I need not be worried about what I said
           yesterday. I can contradict: this is a great freedom.
               And if you love me I know that you will find somewhere deep within me that the contradictions
           are already resolved. But that will happen only to those who trust, that will happen only to those who
           come closer and closer to me. All the contradiction is on the surface: deep down within me they are
           already resolved because I am one.
               I functioned as John the Baptist; now I will function as Christ. So nobody has preceded me,
           nobody is going to succeed me. I am a perfect circle.


              WHY DO I FEEL HESITATION IN ENJOYING ANYTHING?


                Joy is not allowed; you are preconditioned against joy. From the very childhood you have been
           taught that if you are happy then something is wrong -- unhappy, everything is good. If you are
           miserable nobody is worried about it, but if you are too happy, everybody is worried about you. You
           must have done something wrong.
                Whenever a child is happy the parents start looking for the cause: he must have done some
           mischief or something. Why is he so happy? -- the parents are not happy. They have a deep jealousy
           towards the child because he is happy. They may not be aware of it, but they are jealous. It is easy to
           tolerate somebody else's misery, but it is almost impossible to tolerate anybody else's happiness.
                I was reading an anecdote. A very religious father was bringing up his son as perfectly as
           possible. One day when they were going to church he gave the boy two coins: one, a one rupee coin;
           another, a one paise coin. He also gave him the choice that whatsoever he thought was right he could
           put in the donation plate in the church. He could choose the rupee or the paise.
                Of course the father believed and hoped that he would put the rupee in the church plate. He had
           been brought up in such a way -- he could be expected to, relied upon.
                The father waited. After church he was very curious to know what happened. He asked the boy,
           "What did you do?"
                The boy admitted that he had donated the one paise coin and kept the rupee for himself.
                The father couldn't believe it. He said, "Why? Why did you do this? -- we have always been
           inculcating great principles in you."
                The boy said, "You ask why. I will tell you the reason. The priest in church talked right before.
           In his sermon he said, 'God loveth a cheerful donator.' I could donate the one paise coin cheerfully --
           not the one rupee!"
                God loveth the cheerful giver. I am absolutely in agreement with the boy: what you do is not the
           question; you are religious if you can do it cheerfully. It may be a one paise coin -- it doesn't matter.
           It is immaterial because the real coin that you are giving is your cheerfulness.
                But from the very beginning every child is taught not to be so cheerful. To be cheerful is to be
           childish. To be cheerful is to be natural, but not civilized; to be cheerful is somehow primitive, not
           cultured. So you have been brought up not to be cheerful and whatsoever you have ever enjoyed was
           condemned again and again. If you enjoyed just running and shouting around the house, somebody
           was bound to be there saying,"Stop that nonsense! I am reading the newspaper!"-as if the newspaper
           is something very valuable.
                A child shouting and running is a more beautiful sight than any newspaper. And the child cannot
           understand: "Why do I have to stop? Why can't you stop your newspaper reading?" The child cannot
           understand: "What is wrong in my being happy and running?"
           "Stop!" -- the whole cheerfulness is suppressed, the child becomes serious. Now he sits in a corner
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unhappy. The energy needs movement: the child is energy, he delights in energy. He wants to move
           shout and scream. He is full of energy he wants to overflow, but whatsoever he does is wrong. Either
           the mother is saying, "Keep quiet," or the father, or the servant, or the brother, or the neighbors.
           Everybody seems to be against his flowing energy.
               One day it happened: Mulla Nasrudin's wife was very angry. Her small boy was making too
           much of a nuisance, creating too much nuisance. Finally she was exhausted and she ran after him --
           she wanted to thrash him well -- but he escaped, escaped upstairs, and hid himself under a bed. She
           tried hard, but she couldn't get him out. And she was a very fat woman, she couldn't get underneath,
           so she said, "Wait, let your father come."
               When Mulla Nasrudin came, she told the whole story. He said, "Don't be worried; leave to me. I
           will go and put him right."
               So he went upstairs, walked very quietly, looked under the bed and he was surprised -- surprised
           the way the boy greeted him. The boy said, "Hello, Dad -- is she after you also?!"
               Everybody is after him. The overflowing energy is looked at as a nuisance. And that is
           DELIGHT for the child. He doesn't ask much; he simply asks a little freedom to be happy and to be
           himself. But that is not allowed.
           "It is time to go to sleep!" When he doesn't feel like going to sleep, it is time. He has to force
           himself. And how can you force sleep -- have you ever thought about it? Sleep is nothing voluntary,
           how can you force it? He turns in his bed -- unhappy, miserable -- and cannot think how to bring on
           sleep. But it is time; it has to be brought or it is against the rules.
               And then in the morning when he wants to sleep a little longer -- then he has to get up. When he
           wants to eat something, it is not allowed; when he doesn't want to eat something, it is forced. This
           goes on and on. By and by the child comes to understand one thing: that whatsoever is cheerful for
           him has something wrong about it. Whatsoever makes him happy is wrong, and whatsoever makes
           him sad and serious is right and good and accepted.
               That's the problem. You ask, "Why do I feel hesitation in enjoying anything? " Because your
           parents, your society, are still after you.
               If you are really with me, drop all that nonsense that has been forced on you. There is only one
           religion in the world and that religion is to be happy. Everything else is immaterial and irrelevant. If
           you are happy, you are right; if you are unhappy, you are wrong.
               Every day it happens, people come to me -- the wife comes or the husband comes and the wife
           says she is very unhappy because the husband is doing something wrong. I always tell such people
           that if the husband is doing something wrong, let him be unhappy. "Why are you unhappy? The
           wrong itself will lead him towards unhappiness -- why are you worried?"
               But the wife says, "But he is not unhappy. He goes to the pub and he enjoys. He is not unhappy
           at all."
               Then I say, "Something is wrong with you, not with him. Unhappiness is the indicator. You
           change yourself; forget about him. If he is happy, he is right."
               I tell you, if you can go happily to a pub, that is better than going unhappily to a temple --
           because finally one comes to discover that happiness is the temple. So what you do is not the
           question -- -what quality do you bring to it while doing it? Be happy and you are virtuous; be
           unhappy and you are committing what religious people have called sin. You must have heard them
           say that the sinner will suffer some day in the future, in some future life, and the saint will be happy
           somewhere in the future, in a future life. I say that is absolutely wrong. The saint is happy here and
           now, and the sinner is unhappy. Life does not wait for so long; it is immediate.
               So if you feel yourself unhappy, you have been doing something wrong with yourself. If you
           cannot enjoy -- if some hesitation comes in, if you feel afraid, guilty -- it means somewhere by the
           corner the shadows of your parents are still lurking.
               You may be enjoying, or trying to enjoy, ice cream, but deep in the unconscious the shadow of
           the mother or the father is lurking. "This is wrong. Don't eat too much, this is going to harm you." So
           you are eating, but the hesitation is there. The hesitation means that the contradiction is there.
               Try to understand your hesitation and drop it. And this is one of the most unbelievable
           phenomena: that if you drop the hesitation it may come to pass that you stop eating too much ice
           cream automatically (because eating too much may be part of it). Because they have denied it, they
           have created a certain attraction in it. Every denial brings attraction. They have said, "Don't eat it,"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and that has created a hypnotic, a magnetic, attraction to eat it.
               If you stop having any hesitations, you drop all the parental voices, all the upbringing that you
           have been forced to go through. You may suddenly see the ice cream as just an ordinary thing.
           Sometimes one can enjoy it, but it is not a food. It has no nutritious value -- it may even be harmful.
           But then you understand. If it is harmful you understand it, you don't eat it. And you can always eat
           it sometimes, sometimes even harmful things are not so harmful. Once in a while you can enjoy it,
           but there is no obsession to eat it too much. That obsession is part of the repression.
               Drop hesitations. People come to me and they say they want to love, they hesitate; they want to
           meditate, but they hesitate; they would like to dance, but they hesitate. If this hesitation is there and
           you go on feeding it, you will miss your whole life. It is time: drop it! And nothing else is to be
           done: just become aware that this is just the way you have been brought up, that's all.
               Consciously it can be dropped; it is not your being. It is just in your brain, it is just an idea which
           has been forced upon you. It has become a long habit -- and a very dangerous habit at that because if
           you can't enjoy, then what is this life for?
               And these people who cannot enjoy anything (love, life, food, a beautiful scene, a sunset, a
           morning, beautiful clothes, a good bath -- small things, ordinary things), if you cannot enjoy this
           things, and there are people who cannot enjoy anything: they become interested in God. They are the
           most impossible people; they can never reach to God. God enjoys these trees, otherwise why does
           He go on creating them? He is not fed up at all, not at all. For millennia He has been working on
           trees and flowers and birds, and He goes on listening.He goes on replacing: new beings, new earths,
           new planets. He is really very, very colorful! Look at life, watch it, and you will see the heart of God
           -- how it is.
               People who are very up-tight, unable to enjoy anything, unable to relax, incapable even of
           enjoying a good sleep, they are the very few people who become interested in God. And they
           become interested for the wrong reasons. They think that because life is useless, futile, they have to
           seek and search God. Their God is against life remember.
               Gurdjieff used to say, :I have searched into every religion, into every church, mosque and
           temple, and I have found that the God of the religious people is against life." And how can God be
           against life? If He is against, then there is no reason why life should exist or should be allowed to
           exist. So if your God is against life, in fact, deep down, you are against the real God. You are
           following a Godot, not a God.
               God is the very fulfillment of life, God is the very fragrance of life, God is the total organic unity
           of life. God is not some thing that exists like a dead rock, God is not static. God is a dynamic
           phenomenon. God does not exist, It happens When you are ready, It happens. Don't think that God
           exists somewhere and you will find a way to reach Him. No, there is nowhere, and there is no God
           existing somewhere waiting for you.
               God is something that happens to you when you are ready. When you are ready, when the
           sadness has disappeared and you can dance, when the heaviness has disappeared and you can sing,
           when the heavy weight of conditioning is no more on your heart and you can flow -- God happens.
           God is not a thing that exists; It is something that happens. It is a dynamic, organic unity.
               And when God happens, everything happens: the trees, the stars, the rivers. And to me, to be
           capable of enjoying is the door. Serious people have never been known to have reached Him.
           Seriousness is the barrier -- the wrong attitude. Anything that makes you serious is irreligious. Don't
           go to a church that makes you serious.
               It happened once:A woman purchased a parrot, but by the time she reached home she was very
           much puzzled, worried. She had paid a good price for it; the parrot was beautiful. Everything was
           good, only one thing was very dangerous -- once in a while the parrot would say loudly, "I am a very
           wicked woman." This was something!
               The woman lived alone. And she was a very religious woman -- otherwise why live alone? She
           was a very serious woman, and this parrot would say again and again -- and even passers-by would
           hear and listen -- and the parrot would say, "I am a very, very wicked woman."
               She went to the vicar because he was the only source of her wisdom and knowledge and
           information. She said, "This is very bad, and I am puzzled about what to do. The parrot is beautiful
           and everything is good except this."
               The vicar said, "Don`t be worried. I have two very religious parrots. Look!" -- one was in his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cage tolling the bell and another was praying in his cage. Very religious people -- "You bring your
           parrot. Good company always helps. Leave your parrot for a few days here with these religious
           people, and later on you can take your parrot back."
                The woman liked the idea. She agreed brought the parrot, and the vicar introduced the parrot to
           his parrots. But before he could say anything, the parrot said, "I am a very, very wicked woman."
                The vicar was also nonplussed -- what to do? In that moment the parrot who was praying
           stopped praying and said to the other parrot, "You fool! Stop tolling the bell, our prayers are
           fulfilled." They were praying for a woman! "Stop tolling the bell; the prayer is answered!".
                In fact whenever you see somebody praying, suspect something has gone wrong. They are
           praying for a woman, praying for money; praying for something, praying for happiness. A really
           happy person does not pray. Happiness is his prayer, and there cannot be a higher or a greater prayer
           than just to be happy.
                A happy person does not know anything about god, does not know anything about prayer. His
           happiness is his God, his happiness is his prayer-he is fulfilled. Be happy and you will be religious:
           happiness is the goal.
                I am a hedonist, and as far as I see it, all those who have known have always been hedonists,
           whatsoever they say. A Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna -- all hedonists. God is the ultimate in hedonism,
           He is the peakest peak of being happy.
                Drop all the conditioning that you carry with you. And don't try to condemn your parents because
           that won't help. You are a victim of there conditioning, but what could they have done? They where
           victims of there on conditionings of their parents, so it is a long succession. Nobody is responsible,
           so don't feel angry that your parents destroyed you. They couldn't help it. If you understand, you will
           feel pity for them. They were destroyed by their parents, and their parents were destroyed by
           somebody else, and it has always been going on. It is a succession, a chain.
                You simply get out of it. There is no point in condemning anybody and there is no point in being
           angry -- an angry young man and this and that. There is no point. That is again a foolishness. Once
           you are sad, then you become angry. That is as bad as sadness. Just look at the whole thing and get
           out of it. Simply slip out of it without making any noise. That's what I call rebellion.
                The revolutionary gets angry. He says the education has to be changed, he says the society has to
           be changed, he says a new type of parent is needed in the world. Then only will everybody be happy.
           But who will do this? The doers are always in the same mess, so who will be the help? "Create a new
           education" -- but who will create it? The teachers have to be taught first. And the revolutionaries are
           just as much a part of this nonsense as the reactionaries, so who will bring the revolution? The hope
           is futile.
                There is only one hope: you can bring light to your being. And it is available immediately, there
           is nothing to it. Have you ever seen a snake slipping out of his old skin? -- it is just like that. You
           simply slip out of it: forgive and forget. Don't be angry against your parents; they themselves were
           victims. Feel pity for them.
                Don't be angry against the society, it could not have been otherwise. But one thing is possible:
           you can slip out right now. Start being happy from this very moment. Everything is available -- only
           a deep attitudinal change is needed: that from now on you will look at happiness as the good and
           misery as the sin.


              WILL I BE ABLE TO TAKE ALL THAT I FEEL HERE WITH YOU WHEN I LEAVE OR WILL ALL THAT
              HAS HAPPENED JUST BE A MEMORY?


               When you leave, if you don't leave yourself here, if you take your 'I' with you, then whatsoever
           has happened will become a memory. Then whatsoever has happened will be left behind. If you want
           to carry it with you, then you cannot carry yourself within. The choice is open: either leave yourself
           here, then whatsoever has happened will be carried within you; or take yourself back home, then
           whatsoever has happened will be left here. The choice is yours.
               If you can drop the ego, then whatsoever is happening is real. But if you cannot drop the ego,
           then it is going to become a memory, and it will create more trouble for you because the memory
           will become a haunting. You have had a glimpse, and now it is lost. You will be more miserable than
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ever. You know that it exists, but now you have lost the track. You know it is somewhere: now you
           cannot simply say that it doesn't exist; that argument won't help. Now you cannot easily become an
           atheist and say there is no God and there is no meditation and there is no inner core to human beings
           -- you cannot say that. You have tasted it. Now the taste will surround you, haunt you, will call you.
                The choice is yours. You can drop your 'I' with me, and the vision that has happened will become
           part of your reality. It will be integrated in your organic unity, it will be crystallized. But you cannot
           have both, you can have only one, so before you leave, please make certain that you are leaving your
           'I' with me. Make certain that your surrender is real and total, make certain that you are really
           surrendered. Then wherever you are, you are close to me.
                It is because of your surrender that you are close to me, it is not a question of physical space.
           Surrendered, you are close to me -- you may be on another planet. Not surrendered, you may be just
           sitting close to me -- you are far away.


              YESTERDAY YOU MENTIONED THAT LAW IS ANTI-LOVE, BUT THAT WITHOUT IT LOVE
              CANNOT EXIST AND GROW. PLEASE EXPLAIN IN WHICH WAY LAW IS NEEDED FOR LOVE TO
              GROW.


               For every growth the opposite is needed because the opposite creates the tension. Without the
           opposite, things relax into death. This is one of the most fundamental things in life.
               Love cannot exist without the law; the law is the opposite. The law is the non-spontaneous, the
           mechanical; love is the spontaneous, the non-mechanical. Love is uncaused; law is within cause and
           effect. Love is individual; law is social. Can you exist without the society? Without the society you
           will not be born. You need a mother, a father, you need a family to grow in, you need a society to
           thrive in. Without a society you cannot exist.
               But remember, if you just become a part of society, you have already moved into non-existence
           again. Without the society you cannot exist, and you cannot exist just as a member of the society
           either. Jesus says, "Man cannot live by bread alone." Do you think it means you can live without
           bread? Man cannot live by bread alone -- true, absolutely true -- but can man live without bread? No,
           that too is not possible. Man needs bread. It is necessary, but not enough. It simply gives you a base,
           but it doesn't give you a jump, a flight. It is a jumping board. Don't get stuck at that.
               Jesus says: "The Sabbath is created for man, not man for the Sabbath." The law is needed
           because the society is needed. The law is the bread. But if there is only law -- if you exist as a
           member of the society, a law-abiding member of the society, and nothing else exists in you which is
           beyond law -- then you exist in vain; then you exist "just by bread alone". Then you eat well, you
           sleep well, and nothing else happens.
               It is good to eat well, but not enough -- something of the unknown is needed. Something from the
           invisible is needed to penetrate you; the romance of the unknown is needed. Without it you will be a
           syllogism of logic but you will not be a poetry. Without it you may be quite right, but just 'quite
           right' -- no romance, no poetry, no dance.
               Love is the mysterious, the law is the non-mysterious. The law helps you to be in the world; love
           gives you the reason to be. The law gives you the cause to be, and love gives you the reason to be.
           The law gives you the base; love becomes the home, the house.
               And remember one thing: that the base can exist without the house, but the house cannot exist
           without the base. The lower can exist without the higher, the higher cannot exist without the lower.
           A man can exist with just bread -- he will not have anything worth having, he will not have any
           reason to exist -- but he can exist; he can just vegetate. But even a great lover cannot exist without
           bread: even Jesus or Buddha cannot exist without bread. They have found the celestial home of love,
           but they cannot exist without bread.
               The lower is, in a way, independent of the higher. The higher is dependent, in a way, on the
           lower. But this is so. And it seems simple, it is easy. You make a temple.... What we call in India the
           kalash, the golden cap of the temple, cannot exist without the whole temple there. If you remove the
           temple, the kalash -- the golden cap -- will fall down. It cannot exist without the temple. Of course,
           the temple can exist without the cap; there is no problem about it.
               Just think: a man is hungry -- can he dance? Dance is impossible. The man is starving, he cannot
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even think. He cannot imagine what dance means. He may have known it in the past, but he will not
           even be able to believe that he has known it. It seems impossible, it seems almost nonexistential. It
           cannot exist in a starved body -- how can you think of a dance descending? But think of another man
           who is well fed and without any dance. There is no trouble -- you can vegetate.
                The higher is not a must, it is a freedom. If you want, you grow in it; if you don't want, there is
           nobody forcing you to grow in it. The lower is a need, it is not your choice. It has to be fulfilled.
                Law is anti-love. If you are too lawful, you will not be able to love anybody -- because the very
           quality of love is spontaneity. It comes from the blue, it can disappear in the blue. It has no reason,
           no cause here. It happens like a miracle, it is magical. Why it happens, how it happens, nobody
           knows. It cannot be manipulated: it is anti-law, it is anti-gravitation, it is anti-science, it is anti-logic.
           It is against all logic and against all law.
                Love cannot be proved in any lab, and love cannot be proved by any logic. If you try to prove it
           by logic, you will come to know that there is nothing like love, love is impossible. It cannot exist --
           but it exists! Even great scientists fall in love. They cannot prove it in their labs, they cannot argue
           for it, but they also fall in love. Even an Einstein falls in love.
                Love makes everybody humble. Even Einstein -- so proud of his logic, argument, science --
           suddenly falls in love one day: an ordinary woman -- Frau Einstein. Suddenly his whole science
           disappeared and he started believing in the impossible. Even in his later life he used to shrug his
           shoulders: "It happens, but if you ask me as a scientist I cannot vouch for it. But it happens -- if you
           ask me as a man."
                In his last days he said, "If love exists, then God must also exist. If one impossible is possible,
           then why not the other?" He died as a deeply humble and religious man.
                Somebody asked him, "If you are born again, what would you like to be?"
                He said, "Not a scientist again. I would rather be a plumber."
                What is he saying? He is saying that he has seen the falsity of all logic and he has seen the
           futility of all scientific argument.What he is saying that he has seen through and through that cause
           and effect maybe the base, but they are not the pinnacles. The real temple the real mystery of life,
           moves through love, prayer, happiness -- all impossibles. If you think of them you cannot believe,
           but if you allow them to happen then a great trust and a great grace arises in you.
                Moses is the law. The society cannot exist without Moses, he is a must. The society cannot
           afford to lose him; the society would be a chaos without a Moses. He is absolutely needed, he is the
           very foundation. BUT JESUS IS LOVE. Moses is needed, is necessary, but not enough. If Moses
           alone rules the world, the world will be not worth living.
                Jesus. A breeze from the unknown -nobody knows from where it comes, nobody knows where it
           goes. A penetration of eternity into time -the entry of the mysterious into the known.
                Jesus cannot come without Moses, remember. Moses will be needed. He is the bread, but the
           bread has nothing of romance in it. The wine -that is the romance, the poetry, the dance, the
           celebration, the joy, the ecstasy.
                Yes, Moses cannot exist without Jesus... Jesus cannot exist without Moses. That's why Jesus says
           again and again, "I have come to fulfil, not to destroy." Moses was just a foundation. Jesus raises the
           temple of God in it.
                Moses is the absolutely right citizen, the good man. Jesus is not so good. Sometimes one suspects
           whether he is good or bad; he confuses. He moves with drunkards, he stays with a prostitute. No,
           never... you cannot conceive of Moses doing that. Moses is an absolutely right man, but thats where
           he misses something: the beauty, the freedom. He always moves on the right track, he is a railway
           line. Jesus is like a river. He changes -sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes he changes the
           path completely.
                Moses is absolutely believable; Jesus not so. Sometimes one suspects whether this man is right
           or wrong. That was the problem for the Jews. They had lived on the bread of Moses, they had
           followed Moses and his Ten Commandments, and now this man comes and says, "I am the
           fulfillment of all that has preceded me," and, "I have come not to destroy, but to fulfill." But what
           type of fulfillment is this? He does not look like Moses at all.
                He has no condemnation of the bad. He says, "Judge ye not! " Moses is a great judge, and Jesus
           says, "Judge ye not, so that ye may not be judged." Moses says, "Don't do evil," and Jesus says,
           "Resist not the evil" -- very confusing. He must have created great chaos. Wherever he moved he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           must have brought confusion and conflict to people's minds, he must have created anxiety. That's
           why they took revenge and killed him; it is absolutely logical.
                Buddha was not killed in India, Mahavir was not killed -- sometimes a few stones were thrown or
           things like that, but they were not killed, crucified. They never confused the mind so much as Jesus.
           They had something of the Moses in them, and Jesus has nothing of the Moses in him. Mahavir has
           much of the Moses in him. He has something of the law and something of love, both.
                Jesus is pure love. That's why he was crucified. He had to be crucified -- such pure love cannot
           be tolerated, such pure grace is impossible to bear; the very presence is intolerable because it hurts.
           The very presence of Jesus throws you in confusion, and the only way to protect yourself and defend
           yourself is to kill this man, destroy this man.
                By destroying Jesus the people tried to live with Moses and law alone, and not be bothered by
           love. The day Jesus was crucified, it was nothing but an indication that the ordinary mind would like
           to live without love. Love was crucified, not Jesus. He is just symbolic.
                There are many complications. Jews have always been puzzled about why this man Jesus
           influenced the whole world so much and he could not influence the Jews at all. Jews are great
           scholars, their rabbis are great pundits, and they have been trying to prove that Jesus did not say a
           single new word, that all that he said is written in Jewish scriptures. Then why has this man become
           the very axis of humanity? What happened? -- it seems unbelievable.
                They are right in a way: Jesus has not said a single word that cannot be found in the sayings of
           old rabbis. No, he has not said a single new word. But that is not where he is unique, he is unique in
           the way he has said it -- not the word, but the way he has asserted it. In the Old Testament you come
           again and again across the expression: "The Lord hath said...." But that is not characteristic of Jesus.
           Whenever he says this, he says, "I say unto you..." -- not, "The Lord...." He is the Lord. The Old
           Testament says: "The Lord says this"; Jesus says, "I say unto you." The old rabbis stammer, Jesus
           speaks; the old rabbis have a borrowed glory, Jesus has his own. The old rabbis speak FROM
           authority; Jesus with authority -- and that is a great difference.
                It is said that once the enemies of Jesus sent a man to catch hold of him and bring him to the
           temple. He was teaching near the temple and a crowd had gathered. The man went there to catch
           hold of him, to imprison him, but the crowd was big and he had to enter the crowd to reach the man
           -- it took time. While he was penetrating the crowd, he had to hear what this man was saying. Then
           he stopped, he forgot that for which he had come. Then it became impossible to imprison this man.
           He came back.
                The enemies asked, "Why have you come back? Why have you not caught hold of him?"
                He said, "I was going to, but his words fell in my ear. And I tell you, no man has ever spoken
           like this man! The very quality, the authority, the power that he speaks with, overpowered me. I was
           hypnotized: it became impossible to catch hold of this man."
                Jesus is love. Love has authority of its own, it is not borrowed. The old rabbis and the Old
           Testament people are like the moon -- the borrowed light. Jesus is the sun; he has his own light.
           Love has its own authority; law never has its own authority. The authority is from Moses, Manu,
           Marx; the authority is from the scripture, the tradition, the convention. The authority is always of the
           old, it is never fresh and new.
                Love is anti-law. But if you have love, you can be lawful also; there is no problem in it. But then
           you are more than the law; you have something of love within you.
                You live in the society, you have to follow the rules. They are just like: 'keep to the left' or 'keep
           to the right' -- nothing ultimate about them; just rules to keep the traffic in control, otherwise it will
           be almost impossible to move. Good as far as it goes, but don't think of yourself that because you
           always keep to the left you have attained something. Of course it is good as far as it goes, but
           nothing much -- what have you attained? The traffic will be convenient, that's all -- but what have
           you attained?
                All morality, all law, is good as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. Love is needed. Love
           is a sort of madness: illogical, irrational.


              WITNESSING, AWARENESS, MEDITATION, SUDDENLY SEEM DISTANT AND STERILE ADULT
              IDEAS IN THE FACE OF THE FLOOD OF WILD AND CHILDISH ADORATION WHICH FILLS ME
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHILE I AM LISTENING TO YOU TALK ABOUT JESUS. MY ADULT SELF SAYS, "BEWARE;
              DON'T INDULGE IN SLOPPY, SLEEPY SENTIMENTALITY -- THIS IS JUST THE MIND,
              CHILDHOOD CHRISTIAN CONDITIONING." BUT THE IMPULSIVE, YEARNING SEVEN-YEAR-OLD
              FEELS LIKE STICKING OUT HER TONGUE AT THE TWENTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SERIOUSLY
              SPIRITUAL SEEKER. WHICH IS THE REAL ME?


               Neither -- but the one who is watching both, the one who has asked the question. You are neither
           a seven-year-old nor a seventy-year-old. Oldness is irrelevant to you, age does not belong to you.
           You are eternal -- neither the child, nor the young man, nor the old man.
               Always fall back to the witness, go deeper and deeper into witnessing. Never allow any other
           identification to settle: of the child or the adult -- no. All identifications are bondages.
               Total freedom is not in identification; total freedom is in non-identification with each and every
           thing. Someday, when all identifications are broken and they fall down -- like clothes drop -- and
           you are absolutely nude in your freedom, then you will know who you are.
               You are gods in exile. Only by witnessing will you remember who you are. Then all misery
           disappears, all poverty disappears. You are the very kingdom of God.


              WHY DO YOU GIVE SANNYAS TO SO MANY CREEPS?


               It is from Anand Bodhisattva. If not, then, Bodhisattva, how could you be a sannyasin?
               I love creeps. They are good people. Everybody is accepted, I make no conditions, because I
           don't look at how you look. I am not bothered by your appearance. I look at you, and you are gods in
           exile -- maybe sometimes with dirty clothes, sometimes with an unwashed face, but still a god.
               Sometimes you look like a creep, but you are not. Because I can see you deep within your reality,
           I accept you totally. Whatsoever you pretend to be, you cannot deceive me. These are all
           pretensions. You may be deceived by your own pretension; I am not deceived. I look direct and
           immediate; I look into you. And I always find the fresh, the eternal, the beautiful: truth and grace --
           divinity. You are sovereigns....




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                  Chapter #3
                                 Chapter title: And, Lo, The heavens Opened
           23 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510230
              ShortTitle: FOLL103
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              MATTHEW 3
              1 IN THOSE DAYS CAME JOHN THE BAPTIST, PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDAEA,
              2 AND SAYING, REPENT YE: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.
              11 I INDEED BAPTIZE YOU WITH WATER UNTO REPENTANCE: BUT HE THAT COMETH AFTER
              ME IS MIGHTIER THAN I, WHOSE SHOES I AM NOT WORTHY TO BEAR: HE SHALL BAPTIZE
              YOU WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND WITH FIRE:
              13 THEN COMETH JESUS FROM GALILEE TO JORDAN UNTO JOHN, TO BE BAPTIZED OF HIM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              14 BUT JOHN FORBAD HIM, SAYING, I HAVE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED OF THEE, AND COMEST
              THOU TO ME?
              15 AND JESUS ANSWERING SAID UNTO HIM, SUFFER IT TO BE SO NOW: FOR THUS IT
              BECOMETH US TO FULFILL ALL. RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEN HE SUFFERED HIM.
              16 AND JESUS, WHEN HE WAS BAPTIZED, WENT UP STRAIGHTWAY OUT OF THE WATER:
              AND, LO, THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED UNTO HIM, AND HE SAW THE SPIRIT OF GOD
              DESCENDING LIKE A DOVE, AND LIGHTING UPON HIM:
              17 AND LO A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL
              PLEASED.


               I HAVE HEARD A STORY -- it happened in the days of knights and castles. A young
           Englishman was searching for his fortune, wandering all over the land. Tired, he paused under a tree
           near a castle to rest. The duke of the castle was passing by. He stopped and inquired why the young
           man was waiting there, for what he was looking. The young man said, "I am an architect and I am in
           search of employment."
               The duke was very pleased because he needed an architect. He said, "You come with me. You be
           my architect, and whatsoever your needs are, they will be fulfilled from my castle and the land. You
           can live like a really rich man. But be faithful, and remember one thing: if you leave, you will have
           to leave as empty-handed as you are coming in."
               The young man agreed. Weeks passed and then months and he worked faithfully, and the duke
           was very pleased with him. All his needs were fulfilled, he was looked after -- he really lived like a
           rich man in the castle.
               But by and by he started feeling uneasy. In the beginning it was not clear what the cause of it was
           because, in fact, there was no cause to be uneasy. Every need was taken care of. It was like a cloud
           surrounding him, a heaviness, the feeling of something being missed. But not knowing exactly what
           it was, he was confused.
               Then one day it flashed like lightning before him -- he understood the cause. He went to the duke
           and said that he was leaving.
               The duke could not believe it. He said, "Why are you leaving? If there is any difficulty you
           simply tell me and it will be done. I have been very much pleased with your work. and I would like
           you to be here for your whole life."
               The young man said, "No, I am leaving. Please allow me to leave."
           The duke asked, "But why?"
               The young man said, "Because nothing belongs to me here. Empty-handed I have come;
           empty-handed I will have to leave. This is a dream: nothing belongs to me here."
               This is the point where a person starts becoming religious. If something belongs to you in this
           world, you are not yet ready to be religious. Empty-handed you come; empty-handed you go. Once
           you realize this, like a flash of lightning everything becomes clear. This world cannot be your home
           -- at the most an overnight stay. 'In the morning we go.'
               Once you have the feeling that you are here only momentarily -- you cannot possess anything,
           you cannot have anything here -- it becomes a dream, what Hindus call MAYA. It becomes illusory.
           That is the definition of MAYA: something which appears to be yours and is not; something which
           appears to be real and is not; something which seems to be eternal and is only momentary --
           something which is made of the stuff that dreams are made of.
               Unless one understands it, one goes on doing things which are eventually found to be
           meaningless. The day death comes, your whole life proves to be meaningless. Confronting death you
           will see that your hands are empty -- and you worked hard! You were in so much anguish and
           anxiety for things which cannot be possessed.
               It is not in the nature of things that they can be possessed. Possession is impossible because you
           are here only for a few moments. Things were here before you; things will be here after you. You
           come and go, the world remains.
               Be a guest, and don't start feeling and believing that you are the owner here. Then your life
           changes immediately; then your life takes on a new hue, a new color, a new dimension. That
           dimension is religion.
               Once you understand it, you need initiation -- initiation into the other world. It is available, just
           by the corner. Once this world is understood to be just a dream, the other becomes available.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This was the whole message of John the Baptist:

              REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.


               It has been tremendously, terribly misunderstood by Christians. From the very beginning the
           message was misunderstood. People thought that the world was going to end and John the Baptist
           was forecasting, was predicting, the end of the world.
               FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. People thought that this world was going to
           end -- this was the misunderstanding -- so they waited. John the Baptist died, and there was no sign
           of the kingdom coming. This kingdom continued, and that kingdom never came. Then Jesus was
           again saying the same thing: REPENT YE: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.
           Then they waited... then he was crucified... and the kingdom never came. And Christians have been
           waiting for twenty centuries since then.
               Now much doubt has arisen in the mind. The priest in the pulpit goes on repeating these words,
           but they are no longer meaningful. He knows himself they are not meaningful. He goes on saying,
           "Repent ye: for the kingdom of God is at hand," but he knows that for twenty centuries it has not
           happened and the world has continued.
               But this was not the meaning at all. The world is not going to end: you are going to end. When
           John the Baptist said, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," he never meant that this
           world is going to end. He simply meant that you are going to end, and before you die, make contact
           with the other world. Repent for all that you have done to possess this world, repent for the way you
           have lived in this dream as if it was reality, repent for all that you have been doing and thinking,
           because all that is baseless.
               Unless you repent, you will not be able to see that the kingdom of God is just by the corner. Your
           eyes will remain filled with this world; you will not be able to see the other. Before the other can be
           seen, your eyes have to be completely cleaned of this world -- the world af things; the world of
           matter; the world of lust, possession; the world of greed and anger; the world of jealousy, envy; the
           world of hatred; the world of the ego. Your eyes have to be completely cleaned, washed, before you
           can see the kingdom of God. In fact the moment your eyes attain to clarity, this world disappears --
           just like in the morning when you become awake, the world of dreams disappears; another world
           opens its door. The kingdom of God is a reality and THIS world is only a production of your mind.
               John the Baptist -- and later on, Christ -- were saying that you are going to end, but that is
           difficult for the mind to understand. The mind can think and believe that everything else is going to
           end but not that it is going to end. The mind goes on saving itself, defending itself.
               Somebody dies. You see the dead body, but it never occurs to you that you are going to die. You
           sympathize with the family of the dead man. You say, "Poor man. He could have lived a little longer.
           He was not yet old enough. His family was so dependent on him -- now what will happen?"
               The wife is crying and weeping, the children are mad. What will happen? You think about the
           dead man, you think about the dead man's family, you think about the future of the orphaned
           children, you think of the widowed wife, but you never think that this death is your death also. You
           always hide yourself, you always go on defending yourself. Deep down everybody thinks that he is
           not going to die. Death always happens to others.
               The mind interprets in such ways that it misses the whole point. The world is to continue: it has
           always been there and it will always be there. Only you will not be there; death will take you away.
           As empty-handed as you entered, you will have to leave. If that understanding penetrates your being,
           then repentance becomes possible. Repentance is nothing but attaining to this clarity of vision.
               This word 'repentance' is very, very significant. There is no other word that is more significant in
           Jesus' terminology because repentance will open the door of the divine. What is this repentance?
               You have been angry and you repent. You feel sorry: you have behaved badly with someone.
           You repent and you ask to be pardoned. Is Jesus' and John the Baptist's repentance the same? Then it
           cannot go very far, because you have repented many times and you have not changed. How many
           times have you repented? How many times have you been angry, greedy, violent, aggressive, and
           you have repented? But your repentance has not transformed you, it has not brought you near the
           kingdom of God. It has not opened any new doors, new dimensions; you remain the same. Your
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           repentance and Jesus' repentance are not the same. In fact they are almost diametrically opposite.
               So whatsoever you have been understanding about repentance is absolutely false. Try to
           understand. When you repent, you don't in fact repent. When you repent you are in fact trying to
           repair the image. It is not repentance; it is repairing the broken image that you had of yourself.
               For example, you have been angry and you have said many things. Later on when the rage is
           gone, the madness gone, you cool down and you look back. Now there is trouble. The trouble is that
           you have always been thinking that you are a very peaceful, peace-loving man; you have always
           been imagining that you never become angry. Now that image is broken. Your ego is shattered: now
           you know that whatsoever you have been believing has proved wrong. You have been angry, you
           have been very angry, and you have said and done things which are against your ego. You have
           shattered your own self-image. Now you have to repair it.
               The only way to repair it is to repent. You go and repent, you say good things. You say, "It
           happened in spite of me. I never wanted it to be so. I was mad; I was not in my senses. The anger so
           much possessed me that I was almost unconscious, so whatsoever I have said, forgive me, I never
           meant it. I may have uttered it, but I never meant it."
               What are you doing -- repenting? You are simply repairing. The other man relaxes: when
           somebody asks to be forgiven. he has to be forgiven. If he cannot forgive, then he is not a good man.
           He was angry about your anger, he was planning to take revenge, but now you have come to be
           forgiven. If he does not forgive, then he will not be able to forgive himself. Then his image will be
           broken.
               And that is the trick you are playing. Now if he does not forgive you, you are the good guy and
           he is the bad guy. Now the whole thing has been thrown upon him. This is a trick, a very cunning
           trick. If he does not forgive you, he is a bad man. Now you are at ease, your image repaired: you
           have thrown the whole guilt on him. Now he will feel guilty that he cannot forgive and a good man
           has to forgive. If he forgives, it is good; if he does not forgive, then too it is good for you. Now it is a
           question for him to decide.
               This is not repentance. When John the Baptist and Jesus say, "Repent!" they mean an absolutely,
           totally different thing. What do they mean?
               They mean: try to see, try to understand, what you have been doing. Look through and through,
           go to the very roots of your existence, being, behavior, and see what you have been doing, what you
           have been BEING. It is not a question of any particular act that you have to repent for, it is your
           whole quality of being. Not any anger, not any greed, not any hatred -- no. Not any enmity --
           nothing. It is nothing about any particular act. It is something about your very being: the way, the
           style, of your existence. It has no concern with any particular fragmentary act.
               When you repent, you repent about a certain act. Your repentance is always in reference to
           certain acts. Jesus' repentance is not about certain acts, it is about your being. The way you have
           been has been absolutely wrong. You may not have been angry -- still you have been wrong. You
           may not have been full of hatred -- still you have been wrong. You may not have possessed much
           wealth -- still you have been wrong. It is not a question of what you have done; it is a question of
           how you have been. You have been asleep, you have been unconscious. You have not lived with an
           inner light; you have lived in darkness.
               When they say, "Repent!" they mean repent for the whole way you have lived up to now, the
           way you are. It is not a question of asking forgiveness from somebody -- no, not at all. It is just a
           returning. The word 'repent' originally meant 'return'. In Aramaic, which Jesus and John used as their
           language, 'repent' means 'return, return to your source; come back to your original being'.
               What Zen Masters say -- "Search for your original face" -- is the meaning of REPENT YE. Drop
           all your masks. It is not a question between you and others, it is a question between you and your
           God. REPENT YE means drop all the masks and stand before God in your original face -- the way
           he has made you. Let that be your only face: the way he wanted you to be. Let that be your only
           being. Return to the original source, come back to your deepest core of being. Repentance is
           returning back; it is one of the greatest spiritual turnings.
               This is what Jesus means by conversion. A Hindu can become a Mohammedan, a Mohammedan
           can become a Christian, a Christian can become a Hindu -- that is not conversion. That is again
           changing masks. When a Christian becomes religious, a Hindu becomes religious, a Mohammedan
           becomes religious, then it is conversion. It does not mean to move from one religion to another
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because there are not two religions in the world. There cannot be two. Religion is one.
               Religiousness is a quality; it has nothing to do with sects and doctrines and dogmas, churches
           and temples and mosques. If you are in a mosque and you become religious, you will no longer be a
           Mohammedan; you will simply become a pure being who has no adjective attached to him. If you
           are praying in a temple, the temple disappears: you are no longer a Hindu; you have become
           religious. This is conversion.
               I was reading the life of a very famous bishop. He went to St. Mary's Church in Cambridge to
           deliver a university sermon. Thirty, forty years before, when he was a young man, he was an
           undergraduate there. He was full of reminiscences, memories of his young age. He looked around --
           could he recognize anybody who was there when he was an undergraduate?
               He recognized an old verger. After the sermon he went to him and said, "Do you recognize me? I
           was a student here forty years before. Everybody else has gone, I can only recognize your face.
           Thank God you have good health. You served Him well."
               The verger said, "Yes, I thank God, I thank Him very much, because after listening -- and I have
           been listening to each and every sermon that has been delivered in this church for fifty years! --
           thank God after listening to all sorts of nonsense for fifty years, I am still a Christian."
               It is difficult to be a Christian if you listen to all sorts of nonsense that has been preached in the
           name of Christianity. It is difficult to be a Hindu if you know all the nonsense that has been written
           in the name of Hinduism. It is difficult to be a Mohammedan if you know what it means to be a
           Mohammedan. Because you don't know, it is easy. You remain a Hindu because you don't know
           what it means: you don't know the hatred implied in it, you don't know the politics intrinsic to it.
               It is easy to be a Christian, not knowing what Christianity has done in the past. It has been
           murderous: Christianity has killed more people than Communism. But it is easy if you don't know.
           The more you know, the more it will become difficult to be a Christian, to be a Mohammedan, to be
           a Hindu. In fact, you will understand that these are the ways of not being religious, these are the
           ways which prevent you from being religious, these are the ways which are the barriers. They
           deceive you that you are religious, they give you a false coin; they are fakers, counterfeits. To be
           religious is not to be a Mohammedan, not to be a Christian, not to be a Hindu: to be religious is just
           to be religious, nothing else is needed. That is conversion.
               If you repent, conversion happens. Conversion is the by-product of repentance. One does not
           have to repent for his acts, because that is not real repentance. One has to repent for his whole being.
           Only then transformation is possible.
           Now, listen to these words of the gospel:

              IN THOSE DAYS CAME JOHN THE BAPTIST, PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDAEA.


                John's name has become JOHN THE BAPTIST. Nobody else's name in the whole history of the
           world has become so connected with baptism. He initiated hundreds of seekers, and his way of
           initiation was something unique. He initiated them in the River Jordan. First they would meditate
           with him for a few days, a few months, or sometimes for a few years. When they would be ready,
           then he would take them into the river. They would stand in the river and he would pour water on
           their heads -- and something would transpire, something would happen in their hidden-most being,
           and they would no longer be the same people as they were before. It was a secret rite, a secret
           ceremony. Something was being transferred from the Master to the disciple. The water was used as a
           medium.
                There have been two types of initiation in the world. In one type of initiation water has always
           been used, and in the other type of initiation fire has been used. In India, fire has been used as a
           medium of initiation for centuries. Zarathustra used fire as a medium of initiation.
                John the Baptist used water. Both can be used, and both have to be understood. Water and fire
           have different qualities, and yet they are very deeply joined together. They are opposites, but
           complementary. If you put a pot of water on a fire, the water disappears, evaporates. If you throw
           water on a fire, the fire disappears.
                They are opposite, but in a deep unity. Water flows downwards, fire flows upwards. Naturally
           water will never go upward; naturally fire will never go downward. They move in different
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dimensions, different directions. If something has to descend in you, water has to be used as a
           medium, as a vehicle. If something has to go upwards in you, fire has to be used as a medium and
           vehicle.
                John the Baptist would pour water, and with the falling water.... After a long preparation and
           meditation, your whole being would concentrate on the falling water and the coolness of it, which
           would cool you within also. And through the water, the magnetism of this man, John the Baptist,
           would flow in you. Water is a very, very vulnerable vehicle. If a man who has healing power in his
           hands just touches water, the water becomes a healing medicine. And water is deeply related to your
           body: eighty percent or more of your body is nothing but water.
                And have you watched what your breathing is doing to you? The breathing brings fire, it is
           oxidation. Your body is water, your breathing is fire: you exist with these two. When the breathing
           stops, the fire disappears: then the body loses warmth; then it is dead. If water is gone from the body,
           the body becomes too hot, feverish -- you will die soon. A deep communion between water and fire,
           a deep balance, is continuously needed.
                You eat food -- through food, fire from the sun reaches your body. You breathe -- through
           breathing, oxygen reaches in the body. You drink water, continuously water is being rep].:-ed in the
           body. Between fire and water you exist.
                John the Baptist used water to bring something within you from the above. That is one way of
           initiation. There is a higher way: to bring something within you upwards. Then it becomes initiation
           by fire.

              IN THOSE DAYS CAME JOHN THE BAPTIST, PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDAEA,
              AND SAYING, REPENT YE: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.


              Every moment the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This very moment the kingdom of heaven is at
           hand, so it is absolutely urgent to repent. That was his meaning. Don't waste a single moment! --
           because if you waste it, it can never be recaptured, regained. All time gone is gone. It could have
           been a deep celebration of God. You wasted it -- for nothings, for dreams. REPENT YE: FOR THE
           KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.

              I INDEED BAPTIZE YOU WITH WATER UNTO REPENTANCE: BUT HE THAT COMETH AFTER ME
              IS MIGHTIER THAN I, WHOSE SHOES I AM NOT WORTHY TO BEAR: HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU
              WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND WITH FIRE.


                John the Baptist prepared people so that God could descend in them. Then Jesus prepared people
           so that God could ascend in them. Both are the possibilities: either you ascend into God or God
           descends in you. Descendence is easier because you simply wait -- receptive, like a womb.
                You must have observed: Lao Tzu never talks about fire, he always talks about water. His
           method of initiation was just like John the Baptist's. That's why he talks about the feminine mind:
           one has to become feminine to receive. Just like water descends from the clouds, God descends.
           "Jesus," John the Baptist says, "will baptize you with fire. He will take you to God; he will help you
           to go upwards." It is difficult -- an uphill task. Before anybody can go uphill, he has to learn how to
           go downhill. Before one is ready to be baptized by fire, one has to be ready and baptized by water. If
           you cannot go downwards, you cannot go upwards. To go downwards is very easy, to just wait and
           receive is easy, but if even that is difficult, then what to say about going uphill? It is going to be very
           difficult.
                So first let God descend in you. The moment God descends in you, you will become very
           powerful because you will no longer be yourself. Then going uphill becomes very easy: then you can
           fly, then you can become fire.
                John the Baptist prepared people, prepared the ground for the seed to descend. Look -- when you
           throw a seed in the soil, it descends into the soil. When it breaks, it starts rising upwards. The first
           act is baptism by water: you throw the seed into the soil, it descends deep and rests there. The seed
           has nothing to do; it just has to rest and everything happens. Then an upward energy -- the seed starts
           moving, sprouts; becomes a big tree, goes to the sky.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The tree needs to be watered every day so that the roots can go deeper and deeper into the earth,
           and the tree needs sun, the fire, so that the branches can go higher and higher. In the deep forests of
           Africa, trees go very high because The forests are so dense that if they don't go high they will not
           reach the fire. They have to rise higher and higher so that they can open their being to the sun and
           the fire can be received. If you give only water to the tree, the tree will die; if you give only fire to
           the tree, the tree will die. The tree cannot exist with only water, it cannot exist in a desert only fire. It
           needs a deep combination.
               So a baptism of water is needed in the beginning: that is the first initiation. Then a baptism in fire
           is needed: that is the second initiation. And between the two, when the balance is achieved, is
           transcendence. Between the two -- when the balance is totally achieved and neither is too much and
           neither is too little: just the right proportion -- suddenly the transcendence. In balance is
           transcendence.

               I INDEED BAPTIZE YOU WITH WATER UNTO REPENTANCE: BUT HE THAT COMETH AFTER ME
               IS MIGHTIER THAN I, WHOSE SHOES I AM NOT WORTHY TO BEAR: HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU
               WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND WITH FIRE.


               HOLY GHOST is just symbolic of balance. In Christianity the concept of three exists as the
           Trinity. God, the father; Christ, the son -- but these are two poles: father and son. Something has to
           balance these two and that is the Holy Ghost. It is neither son nor father, just pure spirit which is in
           between the two -- the balance. Between fire and water, the Holy Ghost happens.
               These are symbolic terms: the Holy Ghost is not a being somewhere. The Holy Ghost is the
           music, the harmony, between duality. The Holy Ghost is the river between two banks. If you go on
           looking for him you will not find him. The Holy Ghost is there when any duality ceases within you.
           Love/hate ceases within you -- a sudden balance. You cannot say whether it is love, you cannot say
           whether it is hate -- it is neither. It is something absolutely unknown, you have never known it
           before... the Holy Ghost has happened.

               THEN COMETH JESUS FROM GALILEE TO JORDAN UNTO JOHN, TO BE BAPTIZED OF HIM.


             This must have been one of the rarest moments in the history of human consciousness: the
           Master was to be initiated by the disciple.

               BUT JOHN FORBAD HIM, SAYING, I HAVE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED OF THEE, AND COMEST
               THOU TO ME?

               A few things before we can understand it.

               Up to now Jesus had lived a very ordinary life. He was just the son of the carpenter Joseph --
           helping his father in the workshop, doing ordinary things which were needed. Nobody knew
           anything about him, not even his family was aware of what he was. A shroud surrounded him, a
           cloud which had to be broken.
               He was waiting for the right moment. When John's work was ready, the ground prepared, he
           could go to him. Then he would break down the shroud, and the cloud would disappear. He needed
           to be related to John because that was the only way to be related to John's disciples; otherwise there
           would be no link.
               John recognized immediately that "This is the man for whom I have been waiting, this is the man
           for whom I have been working. He has come."

               JOHN FORBAD HIM, SAYING, I HAVE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED OF THEE, AND COMEST THOU
               TO ME? -- AND YOU HAVE COME TO BE BAPTIZED BY ME; THAT SEEMS ABSURD.


               Jesus is on a higher plane, the plane of fire; John is on a lower plane, the plane of water. John is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not yet an absolutely realized soul. He has attained his first satori, otherwise he would not have been
           able to work for Jesus; he has attained the first glimpse, otherwise he would not have been able to
           recognize Jesus -- but he has not attained to absolute Buddhahood, he is not yet a Christ.
                I HAVE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED OF THEE, AND COMEST THOU TO ME? No, he forbad
           it: don't ask for this.

               AND JESUS ANSWERING SAID UNTO HIM, SUFFER IT TO BE SO NOW: FOR THUS IT
               BECOMETH US TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEN HE SUFFERED HIM.


               Jesus said, "Let it be so, because it is written in the scriptures that it will be so." Jesus lived a Jew
           and died a Jew -- he was never a Christian -- and he tried hard to become part of the Jewish milieu.
           These were the ways he tried:
               It was written in the old scriptures that the messiah who is to come will be baptized by a man
           named John who will be baptizing people near the River Jordan. It was a long-standing prophecy.
           Jesus said: "Let it be so -- as it is written in the scriptures." He tried in every way to become part of
           the tradition so that the innermost revolution that he was trying to bring did not become lost in the
           desert of politics.
               But still it happened, still it became lost in the desert of politics, because to bring that inner
           revolution is almost to ask the impossible from the human mind. The human mind clings to the old.
           That's why Jesus is saying, "Let it be so. Please baptize me so I don't look like a stranger and an
           intruder, so I become part of the tradition and from within I can work outwardly, from within I can
           create a great revolution. I would like to work from within."
               But that was not going to be so. Jesus tried, it was impossible; Buddha tried, it was impossible.
           Buddha remained a Hindu all his life -- he just wanted to create a revolution in the Hindu mind from
           within -- but the moment he started saying things, the traditional mind became alert.
               I have heard a story: There was a very old church -- very ancient, very beautiful, hallowed by
           tradition, but almost in ruins. It was in danger of falling any day. The worshippers had stopped
           coming in; any moment it might fall. Even the trustees of the church wouldn't meet in the church,
           they would meet somewhere else to decide things about the church.
               But they were reluctant to destroy it. They asked great architects, but they all suggested that the
           building was too dangerous, it was beyond repair. It had to be destroyed and a new church had to be
           built. Reluctantly -- they never wanted it to be destroyed: it was very ancient, it had a long tradition,
           if had become part of their being; to destroy it looked as if they were going to destroy themselves --
           reluctantly they called a meeting of the trustees, and they passed three resolutions. They are
           beautiful.
               The first resolution -- that the church, the old church, had to be destroyed and a new church had
           to be built -- passed unanimously. The second resolution -- that until the new church was ready they
           would continue to worship in the old church -- passed unanimously. And the third resolution -- that
           the new church had to be built on exactly the same spot where the old church stood... and with the
           stones of the old church! -- passed unanimously.
               This is how the traditional mind functions. It goes on clinging and clinging -- even if it becomes
           contradictory, it goes on clinging. It avoids seeing the contradiction. It avoids seeing the death that
           has already entered, it avoids seeing that the body is no longer alive -- it is a corpse: stinking,
           deteriorating.
               Jesus tried to relate himself to the old mind. He says to John: "You baptize me. Let it be so.
           SUFFER IT TO BE SO NOW: FOR THUS IT BECOMETH US TO FULFILL ALL
           RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEN HE SUFFERED HIM."
               John understood his point: otherwise Jesus would have been a foreigner from the very beginning
           and things would become almost impossible.
               Things were still impossible -- but nobody can say that Jesus has not tried; nobody can say that
           Buddha has not tried. On their part they did everything that could be done to become a continuous
           flow with the ancient, with the old, with the traditional. They wanted revolution not against tradition
           but in it. But it never happened; the old mind is really very, very obstinate, stubborn.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND JESUS, WHEN HE WAS BAPTIZED, WENT UP STRAIGHTWAY OUT OF THE WATER: AND,
              LO, THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED UNTO HIM. AND HE SAW THE SPIRIT OF GOD
              DESCENDING LIKE A DOVE, AND LIGHTING UPON HIM:


              The initiation by water, the baptism by water. Jesus saw God descending: AND, LO, THE
           HEAVENS WERE OPENED UNTO HIM, AND HE SAW THE SPIRIT OF GOD DESCENDING
           LIKE A DOVE, AND LIGHTING UPON HIM:

              AND LO A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL
              PLEASED.


               Immediately after the baptism by John. Jesus went out of the river and this vision happened on
           the river bank. This vision was not a dream because John was also a witness to it -- and not only
           John, a few other disciples who were present on the bank. It was an objective reality: everybody saw
           something descending like a dove -- very peaceful. pure... a white bird of heaven descending and
           lighting on Jesus as if heaven opened. It happens that way: when you become open to heaven,
           heaven becomes open to you. In fact heaven has always been open to you; only you were not open.
           "Up to now Jesus has lived a closed life. It was good; he needed it, otherwise he would have been in
           danger from the very beginning. Christians have no story about Jesus' youth, about what happened in
           his youth. He must have lived absolutely unknown. Nobody knew about him -- he was just an
           ordinary young man, like any other. His ministry lasted for only three years: when John baptized him
           he was thirty, and when he was crucified he was thirty-three. The ancient, the old, the traditional
           mind could not tolerate him for more than three years, within three years he was crucified. That's the
           reason he lived absolutely unknown, not revealing his identity -- an ordinary man amongst other
           ordinary mortals.
               But when he was baptized he immediately revealed who he was for the first time. John was a
           witness, a few other disciples on the bank were witnesses.

               The quality of John's being and of Jesus' being was very different. John was a fiery prophet and
           Jesus was a messenger of peace. Soon afterwards John was arrested and thrown into jail and Jesus
           started preaching. News started coming to John: he couldn't believe it because Jesus was saying
           something that he never meant for him to say. By and by the differences became so great that even
           John, who had initiated Jesus and who had seen with his own eyes the opening of heaven and the
           descending of the dove -- even he became suspicious.
               In the last days of his life, before he was beheaded, he sent a note to Jesus, just a small note
           asking: "Are you really the one for whom we were waiting? " He became suspicious because this
           man was saying something else, something absolutely different. "Be humble," this man was saying.
           "Blessed are the humble because they shall inherit the earth." John was not a humble man, he was
           really very proud -- a very strong man, believing that he could bring revolution to the whole world,
           almost mad with his strength -- and Jesus was saying, "Blessed are the poor...." John must have
           thought: what nonsense is this man talking about?
               Jesus was saying, "If somebody slaps you on one side of the face, give him the other side also" --
           absolutely unlike John. And Jesus was saying: "If somebody snatches your coat, give him your shirt
           also." How is this man going to bring revolution? These are not revolutionary teachings.
               These are the ONLY revolutionary teachings. But John could not understand them; he had his
           own idea of a revolution. He could have understood Lenin, he could have understood Trotsky, he
           could have understood Marx, but he could not understand Jesus, his own disciple. The problem was
           of a totally different kind of revolution. One revolution is social: it is brought by violence,
           aggression; it is, in a way, forced. Another revolution is of the heart: it is not brought by force, not
           even by discipline. It comes by spontaneity, it comes by understanding.
               Jesus was bringing a totally new kind of revolution to the world. Nobody had talked about that
           revolution before. That's why I say that Jesus is the turning point in the history of human
           consciousness -- even more than Buddha. There had been many others like Buddha, talking along the
           same lines; he was not new. He may have been the end of a long procession of Buddhas, but he was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not the first.
               Jesus brought something totally new to the earth; he was the beginning of a new line, of a new
           search, of a new inquiry. John could not understand. Lao Tzu, if he had been there, would have
           understood -- but not John. John was a totally different type of man. In his last days he was very
           worried that something had gone wrong: "Has this disciple betrayed me or what? " He sent a note:
           "Are you the one we were waiting for? " When you have a fixed idea of a certain thing, that becomes
           a barrier to understanding. What to say of the others? -- even John could not understand Jesus
           perfectly.
               I have heard one story: There was a very rich merchant who used to go all around the world to
           collect silk, spices, perfume. In these three things he was one of the most perfect merchants: he knew
           where to get them at a low price, from what markets of the world, and where to sell them and profit
           much. And he had profited much. That was his only interest: to find out more and more about
           perfumes and spices.
               One day, passing through a town. somebody told him that a very wise man lived there.
           "Whatsoever your inquiry, he is always helpful."
               The merchant thought. "Maybe he knows something about silk, spices, perfume. Maybe he can
           be helpful in showing me some market where I can get even more low-priced commodities."
               He went to the wise man. Before he had even asked, the wise man said, "Yes, I know. You go to
           the north, in the Himalayas," and he gave him a particular peak to go to. "Go to that peak and sit on
           that peak for three days. In those three days you will see something which you have never seen
           before. Then come back."
               The man rushed away. He had the fastest horse in the country and he rushed to the mountains
           and found the peak. Fasting, praying, for three days he sat there looking around and dreaming about
           silk, perfume, spices. He was waiting for some unknown door to open so that he would become the
           master of all the silk in the world, all the spices, all the perfumes. Within these three days, the key
           was going to be handed to him. He waited and waited; he fantasized, he dreamed. He could not even
           see the beautiful valley that was around or the beautiful, silent river that passed by, not making even
           a slight noise. He could not hear the birds singing in the morning, he could not see the beautiful
           sunset. He could see nothing because he was so full of dreams and so tense, waiting for something.
               Three days passed and nothing happened. He was very annoyed and angry. He rushed back to the
           wise man and he said, "Nothing happened. I could not see anything that I had not seen before. What
           went wrong?"
               The wise man laughed and said, "Your idea of riches." Then he said, "Don't go to that valley
           again, you will never find it, but all around on the bank of the river there were diamonds. Those were
           not stones, they were diamonds. But you missed them."
               Then the man remembered, as if through his dream: he HAD seen something -- dim, vague,
           cloudy, but he had seen something. Yes, in the morning in the sunrays many times he had a glimpse
           of many stones that were shining. But he had his own idea of riches.
               Even John had his own idea of revolution, of what religion is. He became suspicious. But that
           day, when Jesus was baptized, he was a witness. He had seen the opening of heaven.

              AND JESUS, WHEN HE WAS BAPTIZED, WENT UP STRAIGHTWAY OUT OF THE WATER: AND,
              LO, THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED UNTO HIM, AND HE SAW THE SPIRIT OF GOD
              DESCENDING LIKE A DOVE, AND LIGHTING UPON HIM:


               The dove is one of the oldest symbols of silence, of peace, of purity, of harmony. Have you ever
           seen a dove descending? Watch a dove descending.... In the very coming down you will feel a
           silence surrounding the dove. That's why it has become a symbol.
               Jesus is peace, silence. He is not war, he is not revolution in the ordinary sense of the word, he is
           not violence. He is the humblest man and the purest who has ever lived on earth.
               Baptism by water always brings descendence of the purest spirit. It is surrounding you always:
           the moment you are ready it descends in you. It is raining all the time, only your pot is upside down.
           You cannot collect it because your pot is upside down. Once your pot is right-side up you are
           immediately fulfilled. In deep initiation the Master tries to put your pot right-side up.
               In the West the science of initiation is completely lost. In the East it is also almost lost. In the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           West it is lost because it never existed there in its totality. Only fragments from the East travelled
           and reached the West. In the East it is lost because it has become almost a dead thing: everybody
           knows about it... and nobody knows about it. It has become a businesslike thing: you can go and be
           initiated by anybody.
                Initiation is not so easy. You can be initiated only by one who has attained at least the first satori,
           the first samadhi.
                There are three satoris. The first satori means that you have had a glimpse from far away: you
           have seen the Himalayas from far away, shining in the sun. That is the first satori. The second satori
           is when you have reached the peak. You have arrived. And the third satori is when you and the peak
           have become one. That is the last, the ultimate, SAMADHI.
                One who initiates you must have attained at least the first. If he has not attained the first,
           initiation is just bogus. This is on the part of the Master: that he should have attained at least the first
           satori.
                And much is needed on the part of the disciple, because unless the disciple is ready -- through
           deep meditation and purification, through deep catharsis and cleansing -- even if the Master is there,
           you will not allow him to put your pot right-side up. You will resist, you will not surrender, you will
           not be in a let-go. The disciple needs to be in deep, trust; only then can the Master do something in
           the innermost being of the disciple. It is a great turning, a conversion, so much is needed on the part
           of the disciple. Only then, is initiation possible.
                I was just reading a story about a seeker who went to see Bayazid, a great Master. The seeker
           asked, "Please allow me to be a part of your family."
                Bayazid said, "But there are requirements to be fulfilled. If you really want to be a disciple, there
           are many duties you will have to do."
           The seeker asked, "What are the duties? "
                The Master said, "First, winter is coming. You will have to go to the forest and collect and chop
           wood for the winter. Then you start working in the kitchen. And after that, I will show you what to
           do."
                The seeker said, "But I am in search of truth. How is it going to help to work in the forest and
           chop wood? What connection is there between chopping wood and attaining to truth? And working
           in the kitchen? What do you mean? I am a seeker."
                The Master said, "Then you seek somewhere else, because you will have to listen to me.
           Howsoever absurd the demand, you will have to fulfill it. That's how you will become ready to let
           go. I know chopping wood has nothing to do with truth, but to be ready to chop it -- because the
           Master has said it -- has something to do with truth. I know working in the kitchen has nothing to do
           with truth: so many people are working, every housewife is working -- if that was the way to attain,
           then everybody would attain. It has nothing to do with truth, but when I say that you have to do it,
           you have to do it in deep love and trust. That will prepare you, that has something to do with truth.
           But I cannot reveal that to you right now; you will have to wait."
                Reluctantly the seeker said, "Okay, but I would also like to know: what are the duties of a
           Master? "
                The Master said, "The duty of the Master is to sit around and order."
                The disciple said, "Then please help me to become a Master, train me to become a Master. I am
           ready."
                The ego is always seeking its own enhancement. The ego is the barrier: because of the ego, your
           pot is upside down. The rain goes on falling, and you remain empty.
                On the part of the disciple, initiation means allowing the Master to do WHATSOEVER --
           unconditionally. And on the part of the Master, it is possible only when he has attained at least the
           first satori. Otherwise you can be initiated by a thousand and one Masters and you will not attain
           anything. When these two things are fulfilled, these two requirements fulfilled, then a communion
           happens between the Master and the disciple.
                This communion happened that day. Jesus was opened, as they say in Subud. Jesus was opened
           by John the Baptist and the spirit of God descended on him like a dove:
              AND LO A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL
              PLEASED.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This happens always. Whenever someone opens up to heaven, it is always heard. Deep down in
           the heart it resounds: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.
                This has been taken wrongly in Christianity. They think Jesus is the only son of God -- foolish.
           The whole existence comes from God, the whole existence is related to God as son to father.
                A few things to be understood. It would have been better if we had thought of God as mother
           because the son is more deeply related to the mother. He lives in the womb, he is part of the mother
           -- blood and bones and flesh and everything. But there is a very significant meaning in thinking of
           God as father. It is not baseless.
                Father is indirect, mother is direct. You know who your mother is; you simply believe who your
           father is. The mother knows for certain that you are her son, but the father believes. Father is
           indirect, mother is very direct. And God is not so direct, God is very indirect. He fathered you. That
           means you are related to Him, but the relationship is one of trust: a belief, a deep faith. You will
           come to know your father only when you trust.
                Mother is more of a scientific fact, empirical; father is more a poetical fact, not so empirical.
           Mother is very close, in fact too close; father is very far away, somewhere up in the sky. To feel for
           the mother is instinctive; to feel for the father-one has to learn it. Mother is already there. God has to
           be discovered.
                So the symbol of father is also very meaningful, it carries some hidden meanings in it. And
           whenever it happens to anybody that the heart opens up and the dove descends, this is always heard:
           THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.
                Why is God well-pleased? You have come back home. You went astray, you did all sorts of
           things irrelevant to your being. You have repented, you have come back home.
                The whole existence is pleased. The whole existence is pleased whenever somebody becomes a
           Christ or a Buddha, the whole existence celebrates, because if even one person becomes a Buddha or
           a Christ the whole existence becomes, in a way, more aware and alert.
                Certainly the world was different before Jesus than after Jesus. The trees were more alert after
           Jesus and the rocks were more alive after Jesus because his consciousness, the attainment of his
           consciousness, spread all over the existence. It has to be so. Flowers flower more. They may not be
           aware, but the very quality of the whole has changed. If even one drop of consciousness attains to
           God, the whole ocean cannot be the same. That one drop has raised the being of the whole, the
           quality is different.
                You cannot conceive of yourself if there was no Buddha and no Christ, no Krishna. Just remove
           twelve names from history and the whole of history will disappear. Then humanity will not be there.
           In fact the existence that you know around you will not be there. You will be far more asleep and
           unconscious, you will have gone far more astray. You will be far more violent, aggressive: the
           glimmer of love that beats in your heart will not be there, the grace that sometimes appears in your
           eyes will not be there. Your eyes will be more like animals' -- ferocious, violent.
                But when a Jesus has happened, his eyes become part of your eyes -- a very minute part, but still.
           Sometimes it happens that that part spreads all over your eyes and you look at existence in a totally
           different way. The world remains the same but your eye changes and, with your eye, the whole
           changes.
                In your heart a very minute part has become Buddha with Buddha, Christ with Christ, Krishna
           with Krishna. I know it is a very minute part, but the possibility to grow exists with it. Look deep
           down within yourself to the part that has been contributed by Christ or Buddha. Protect it, help it to
           grow, sacrifice all that you have for it to grow, and you will be on the right track. Let that part win,
           let that part be victorious, let the Galilean win within you, and immediately -- whenever that part is
           victorious -- you are also going to hear: AND LO A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, THIS IS
           MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                        Chapter #4
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                            Chapter title: Mirroring Christ
           24 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510240
              ShortTitle: FOLL104
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              A SINGLE SESSION OF YOUR DYNAMIC MEDITATION HAS LEFT WITHIN ME A GREATER
              BLISS AND SENSE OF BEING THAN TWENTY YEARS OF HAVING HAD TO LISTEN TO THE
              STORIES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND TO PRAY TO AN ALMIGHTY AND DISTANT GOD WHO
              STAYED AN UNEXPERIENCEABLE GODOT TO ME. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE TEACHINGS OF
              JESUS JUST MIGHT NOT BE HELPFUL TO ALL SEEKERS -- YES, MIGHT EVEN BE POISONOUS
              TO THEM, OR TO SOME?


               CHRISTIANITY AND CHRIST should never be confused. Christ is totally different from
           Christianity so whenever you want to understand Christ, go directly and immediately -- not via
           Rome; then you will never understand Christ. Christ or Krishna or Buddha cannot be organized: they
           are so vast that no organization can do justice to them. Only small things can be organized. Politics
           can be organized, not religion, Nazism can be organized, communism can be organized -- not Christ,
           not Krishna. The sheer vastness is such that the moment you try to force them into a pattern they are
           already dead.
               It is as if you are trying to grasp the sky in your small hands -- with closed fists. With an open
           hand the sky may be touching, may be a little bit on your hand, but with a closed fist it has already
           escaped out of it.
               Whatsoever you have been hearing about Jesus is not about Jesus, the real man; it is about the
           Jesus that Christians have invented, decorated to be sold in the market. The Christian Jesus is a
           commodity to be sold; Christ himself is a revolution. You will have to be transformed through him;
           he is the baptism of fire. You can be a Christian conveniently... but you can never be a REAL
           Christian conveniently. If you are REALLY following Jesus, there is bound to be trouble.
               He himself ended on the cross; you cannot end on the throne, But if you follow Christianity there
           is no trouble. It is a very convenient way to adjust Christ to yourself rather than adjusting yourself to
           Christ. If you adjust YOURSELF TO CHRIST, there will be a transformation; if you adjust Christ
           TO YOURSELF, there can be none. Then Christ himself becomes part of the decoration of your
           imprisonment, part of your furniture -- your car, your house; a convenience at the most -- but you are
           not related to him. That's why twenty years look like they have been wasted.
               The same will happen with me. You are fortunate that you are doing meditation with me. Once I
           am gone the meditation is going to be organized -- it is impossible to prevent it; it is the way things
           move. Then you will do it for twenty years -- or two hundred years -- and nothing will happen. It
           does not happen through the technique; technique is just dead. It happens through the love that you
           feel for me, that I have for you. The technique is just an excuse. It is not the most important thing;
           the most important thing is your love, your trust. In that trust, the technique works and functions,
           becomes alive, gets roots into your heart.
               Sooner or later everything becomes organized: prayer, meditation, everything. Then the glory is
           lost. Then you can go on doing it -- you may become absolutely perfect, skilled; it may also give
           some sort of consolation -- but the mutation will be missing. You will remain the same, a continuity.
           It will not be a baptism: you will not die in it, and you will not be reborn.
               That's why my insistence is on searching for an alive Master. Scriptures are there, once those
           rivers were flowing, but now they are frozen. They are lost in the desert land of churches, temples
           and organizations. The poetry no longer throbs in them: they are dead dogmas, arguments; the love
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has disappeared.
                Remember this always: if you can find a living Master, forget all about scriptures. The living
           Master is the only scripture which is alive. Read his heart and allow your heart to be read by him. Be
           in a communion -- that is the only way.
                Jesus worked the same way as you feel I am working, but twenty centuries have passed. The first
           disciples who came around him staked their lives: they left all that they had, they moved with this
           man, they risked everything. It was worth it. This man was a treasure of the unknown world. Nothing
           was too much. Whatsoever was asked they did. And they had the opportunity to walk with a god on
           this earth, to be in close affinity with divinity.
                Others were saying, "This man is wrong," but those who were close to him knew that only this
           man is right -- and if this man is not right, then NOTHING can be right, then 'right' cannot exist.
           They crucified this man, but those who were close knew that you cannot crucify him. This man had
           already entered immortality, this man had already become part of their immortal souls. You can kill
           the body, but not the spirit.
                They had lived, walked, breathed, into the being of this man. They were transformed. It is not a
           question of technique. They prayed with this man but the real thing was not prayer, the real thing
           was just to be in the presence of this man. This man had a presence.
                Have you observed? -- very few people have what you call 'presence'. Rarely do you come across
           a person who has a presence -- something indefinable about him, something that you suddenly feel
           but cannot indicate, something that fills you but is ineffable, something very mysterious and
           unknown. You cannot deny it, you cannot prove it. It is not the body because anybody can have the
           body; it is not the mind because anybody can have the mind. Sometimes a very beautiful body may
           be there, tremendously beautiful, but the presence is not there; sometimes a genius mind is there, but
           the presence is not there; and sometimes you pass a beggar and you are filled, touched, stirred -- a
           presence.
                Those who were in the presence of Jesus, those who were in his SATSANG -- those who lived
           close, those who lived in his milieu -- breathed HIM. If you allow me to say it, those who drank him
           and ate him, who allowed him to enter into their innermost shrine.... THAT transformed, not the
           prayer; prayer was just an excuse to be with him. Even without prayer it would have happened, but
           without prayer they might not have found an excuse to be with him.
                You are here with me. I go on inventing meditations for you. They are just excuses so that you
           can be here a little longer, a little while more, so that you can linger around me -- because nobody
           knows when my presence will touch you. Nothing can be said about it; it cannot be manipulated. It
           happens when it happens; nothing can be done directly for it. Just be here. Even without meditations
           the thing will happen, but without meditations you won't have any excuse to be here.
                I go on talking to you. Even without talk it can happen, it WILL happen, but if I don't talk, by
           and by you will disappear because you won't have an excuse. What are you doing here? I have to
           give you something to do so that you can be. I have to engage you and occupy you so that you don't
           feel restless. The thing is going to happen from some other dimension, but when you are occupied
           that dimension remains open. If you are not occupied, you become too restless.
                All meditations and all prayers and all methods are toys invented for children to play with, but
           that is useful, very significant. Once you are occupied, your innermost shrine is open to me. You are
           not restless -- you are doing meditation -- and then I can do my work. It is not good to say that I do
           my work. Then it starts happening.
                You are right, twenty years of Christian teaching, listening to The New Testament stories, may
           have been futile -- but not because those stories are futile. They are superb as far as stories go. The
           poetry of The New Testament, the poetry of the whole Bible, is something not of this world. There
           are great poets -- Shakespeare and Milton and Dante -- but nobody can surpass the Bible. The poetry
           is tremendously simple, but it has some quality which ordinary poetry cannot have. It has awe; that
           is, the religious quality.
                Have you watched sometimes? You see a beautiful flower. You may appreciate it, it has an
           aesthetic quality. You appreciate it and you move ahead. You may see a beautiful face -- even the
           face of a Cleopatra: the lines, the proportion, the marble-like body -- but that too is aesthetic. And
           sometimes you come across a few things or a few beings that inspire not only aesthetic appreciation,
           but awe. What is awe?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Facing some thing or some being, thinking stops. Your mind cannot cope with it. You can cope
           with a Cleopatra, you can even cope with an Einstein -- howsoever abstruse, abstract, difficult, you
           can cope with it. Just a little more training of the mind may be needed. But when you come across a
           Jesus or a Buddha the mind falls flat, it bogs down. SOMETHING is too much for it. You cannot
           think about anything, you are as if in a deep shock -- and yet the shock is blissful. That is awe.
               The Bible has awe in it -- the quality of putting your mind completely at a stop -- but that you
           will have to reach directly. The missionary, the priest, the bishop, they destroy because they start
           interpreting. They put their minds in it and their minds are mediocre. It is as if you are looking at a
           tremendously beautiful thing from the mind of a very stupid man. Or you are looking into a mirror
           that is broken, completely broken -- it has gathered rust, nothing can be mirrored perfectly -- and you
           look in the mirror and see the moon. Distorted. That is how it has been happening.
               The Bible is one of the greatest events in the world -- very pure, purer than the Bhagavad Gita
           because the Bhagavad Gita is very refined. The people who created it were very cultured and
           educated, and of course whenever a thing becomes very refined it becomes ethereal, unearthly. The
           Bible is rooted in the earth.
               All the prophets of the Bible are people of the earth. Even Jesus moves on the earth; he is the son
           of a carpenter, uneducated, not knowing anything about aesthetics, poetics -- nothing. If he speaks
           poetry, it is because he IS, not knowing it at all, a poet. His poetry is raw and wild.
               Jesus has something of the peasant in him: the wisdom without knowledge. He is not a man of
           knowledge; no university would be willing to confer an honorary degree on him, no. He wouldn't fit
           in at Oxford or Cambridge; he would look very foolish in the gowns and clown-like caps. He would
           look very foolish; he wouldn't fit. He belongs to the earth, to the village, to ordinary, plain people.
               Just the other night I was reading a small story, an Arabian story. A man died. He had seventeen
           camels and three sons and he left a will in which, when it was opened and read, it was said that one
           half of the camels should go to the first son, one third to the second and one ninth to the third.
               The sons were nonplussed -- what to do? Seventeen camels: one half is to go to the first son -- is
           one to cut one camel in two? And that too won't solve much because then one third has to go to the
           second. That too won't solve much: one ninth has to go to the third. Almost all the camels would be
           killed.
               Of course, they went to the man of the town who was most knowledgeable: the Mulla -- the
           pundit, the scholar, the mathematician. He thought hard, he tried hard, but he couldn't find any
           solution because mathematics is mathematics. He said, "I have never divided camels in my life, this
           whole thing seems to be foolish. But you will have to cut them. If the will is to be followed exactly
           then the camels have to be cut, they have to be divided."
               The sons were not ready to cut the camels. So what to do? Then somebody suggested, "It is
           better that you go to someone who knows something about camels, not about mathematics." So they
           went to the sheikh of the town who was an old man, uneducated but wise through experience. They
           told him their problem.
               The old man laughed. He said, "Don't be worried. It is simple." He loaned one of his own camels
           to them -- now there were eighteen camels -- and then he divided. Nine camels were given to the first
           and he was satisfied, perfectly satisfied. Six camels were given to the second, one third; he was also
           perfectly satisfied. And two camels were given to the third, one ninth; he was also satisfied. One
           camel was left. That was loaned. He took his camel back and said, "You can go."
               Wisdom is practical, knowledge impractical. Knowledge is abstract, wisdom is earthly;
           knowledge is just words, wisdom is experience.
               The Bible is very simple. Don't be deceived by its simplicity. In its simplicity it has the wisdom
           of the ages. It is very poetic; I have never come across anything more poetic than the Bible. One can
           simply go on relishing it, one can go on repeating the words of Jesus. They come from the heart and
           they go to the heart.
               But don't go through a mediator. Those mediators are mediocres, they destroy the whole thing. I
           have looked through many commentaries on the Bible, but I have never come across a single
           intelligent commentary. They all destroy. I have never seen any single commentary from any
           theologian who has added anything to the Bible, who has in any way made its glory more manifest.
           They DIM it.
               And that is bound to be so. Only a man of the quality of Jesus can reveal the truth of it, only a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man of the quality of Jesus can enhance its beauty. People who live in the dark valleys and people
           who live on the sunny peaks of the Himalayas don't understand each other's language. When the man
           from the peak speaks and the man from the valley interprets, everything goes wrong.
                Yes, you are right -- your twenty years may have been wasted. But it will be a total
           misunderstanding if you think that Jesus is not for you. Jesus is for all, that is not the question. But
           go direct: become more meditative, become more prayerful, and go direct. And forget all that has
           been told to you about the Bible; the Bible is enough.
                If you want to understand the Upanishads, it may be difficult to understand them directly because
           they are very refined. The people who have been talking in the Upanishads were great philosophers;
           they need commentaries. But Jesus is I plain, his truth is plain. He is a very ordinary villager; no
           commentary is needed. He is his own light. And if you cannot understand Jesus, then who will you
           be able to understand? Throw all the foolish commentaries away. Go direct. Jesus is so simple, you
           can have a direct contact,
                I am not commenting on Jesus, I am simply responding. I am not a commentator. To be a
           commentator is to do a very ugly job. Why should I comment on Jesus? He is plain, he is absolutely
           simple. Just like two plus two make four -- he is that simple. Just like in the morning the sun rises
           and everybody knows it is morning. He is so simple.
                I am not commenting on him, I am responding. I read his words: something echoes in me. That is
           not a commentary. i My heart throbs with him, something parallel echoes in me, and I tell you what
           it is.
                So don't take my words as commentaries. I am not trying to explain Jesus to you, there is no
           need. I am simply mirroring. I am telling you MY heart. What happens to me when I am listening to
           Jesus: I am telling you that.


              OFTEN DURING THE LECTURE I FIND A PART OF ME WAITING FOR YOUR GLANCE. WHEN
              YOU FINALLY LOOK AT ME, SOMETHING IN ME RUNS AWAY. THE FEELING IS LIKE BEING IN A
              DESERT, WAITING FOR AGES FOR SOME WATER TO COME, AND WHEN IT FINALLY RAINS,
              THE MOUTH SNAPS SHUT. WHY IS THIS?


               This is from Krishna Radha. No need to think that there is some great secret in it: it is just the
           woman within you. That is the way of the woman. She waits for something, she attracts something,
           she invites something, and when it comes she becomes afraid and escapes. It is the way of all
           women. And unless you understand it and drop it, your whole life will become miserable.
               First you attract, and when the thing that you have invited comes to you, you become afraid and
           you escape. This hide-and-seek goes on. This has been my observation: that the feminine mind asks
           for something but when it comes, you are never there to receive it. Then the feminine mind becomes
           a long, endless waiting. Every moment the fulfillment was possible but whenever it comes close, the
           woman becomes afraid.
               The woman asks for love and is afraid of love because when love comes, it brings death with it.
           Love has to bring death because only then can you be reborn. There is no other way.
               I will read the question again: "Often during the lecture I find a part of me waiting for your
           glance. When you finally look at me, something in me runs away."
               You wait for my glance. A deep love arises in you, a waiting. But when my glance comes to you,
           it brings death. Then you become afraid, you escape, because you were waiting for love and the
           glance brings death also. It brings love also, but love and death are two aspects of the same glance. If
           I really love you, I have to be a death to you. There is no other way; the love cannot happen in any
           other way. And when the glance penetrates you, something shrinks, escapes; something runs away,
           becomes afraid. Then my glance moves. Then you are again at ease waiting for me.
               There is no other secret in it: just the woman. And when I say 'the woman' you should not
           misunderstand me. Many men behave just like a woman.
               In love everybody behaves like a woman. You would like to take a jump into the unknown, but
           you don't want to renounce the known. You want to move on two boats together and they are moving
           in different dimensions, diametrically opposite. You want to be yourself, and you would like to have
           a new life also. You ask the impossible. You want to cling to whatsoever you have and you would
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           like to grow also -- and that very clinging is preventing you from growth. Both are not possible
           together.
               When you wait for my glance you wait as you are, but when I come and knock at your door, I
           have come to destroy you as you are, because I know that only then will the hidden within you be
           released. Then you become afraid.
               People like freedom, but they are fearful also. When the freedom is not there they think about it,
           they dream about it, they fantasize, but when freedom comes they become afraid because freedom
           brings with it many more things than they ever thought about. Freedom brings insecurity. Freedom
           brings adventure, but insecurity also. Freedom brings a bigger sky, it gives you wings, but the bigger
           sky can be dangerous also. Freedom is very dangerous. To live in freedom is to live dangerously.
               You come to me, you seek freedom, but deep down I see you are also saying, "Don't make us
           free, please don't push us into freedom. Let us cling to you, let us depend on you." And you go on
           asking and praying, "Give us freedom." With one hand you ask, with another hand you deny; one
           part of you says yes, another part of you goes on saying NO.
               Have you watched your mind? You say yes/no together. Maybe one is a little louder and the
           other is not so loud, maybe you are very cunning and you don't listen to one when you say the other,
           but just be a little watchful. Whenever you say yes; just by the side lingers the NO. Then you are in a
           constant conflict.
               You would like for me to come to your door, but then you close the door because I will come as I
           am, not as you expect me. I will come as I am, not according to your dreams.

                Always remember to find small causes for the things that happen in you and around you.
           Sometimes you start asking for very deep and great reasons which are not there -- particularly in the
           West because of the two hundred years of psychology and the training in psychology and psychiatry.
           The knowledge of psychology has become common knowledge, everybody knows about it -- about
           small things which have nothing much in them, simple facts. People go on digging deep and they go
           on bringing things up which are not at all connected.
                Just this morning I was reading an anecdote. A psychoanalyst and a friend were standing,
           looking at the sky through the window, and discussing something. The psychoanalyst said,
           "Remarkable! Look!" Some work was going on. A building was to be demolished and a few laborers
           were working with barrows. He said, "Look, twelve persons are working with barrows -- eleven are
           pushing them in front of them and one is pulling it. Eleven pushing, one pulling: there must be an
           explanation for it. There must be some deep-rooted inhibition in that man. Or something happened in
           childhood with his parents, something to do with a primal. There must be some deep-rooted problem
           involved. We must go and ask." So they went down.
                They stopped the laborer who was pulling the barrow behind him and the psychoanalyst said,
           "Please, just help us to discover something very deep-rooted in you. Eleven persons are pushing their
           barrows in front of themselves; only you are pulling your barrow. There must be some explanation
           for it. Something tremendously traumatic must have happened in your childhood, a deep repression,
           obsession, compulsion -- some complex. Please tell us something about it. What do you feel? "
                The laborer looked at them and said, "Blimey, guv'nor, I just hates the sight of the thing, that's
           all. That's why I'm carrying it behind." Just HATES the sight of the thing!
                Krishna Radha, there is nothing to it, you are just a woman. Go beyond it. Man has to go beyond
           his manhood and woman has to go beyond her womanhood. And when you are neither man nor
           woman, then you will be able to allow my glance to reach to the deepest core of your being. Then
           you will be able to open your doors. Then my knock will not go unanswered.


              SURELY THAT WHICH HAPPENS IN THE INSTANT OF DEATH BY DROWNING IS THE TRUE
              EXPLANATION OF JESUS' BAPTISM AT THE HANDS OF JOHN. WAS NOT THE SKILL AND
              STRENGTH OF THE BAPTIST THAT OF TAKING A MAN TO THAT POINT, AND THE
              PREPARATION YOU TALK OF BEFOREHAND EMPLOYED SO THAT A MAN BE TRANSFORMED
              BY THE EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN TERRIFIED BY IT?


              Yes, exactly so. The baptism is possible only when you are ready to die. That is the symbolic
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meaning: that John the Baptist used to take his disciples to the river when they were ready to die,
           when they were ready to let go, when they were ready to flow with the river. When the resistance
           was broken, when they were no longer fighting, when the whole struggle to survive had disappeared,
           only then would he take them to the river. They were ready to be drowned by him, to be murdered by
           him.
                There is a story I would like to tell you about a Sufi mystic, Sheikh Farid. He was going towards
           the river one day to take his morning bath. A seeker followed him and asked him, "Please, just wait
           for one minute. You look so filled with the divine, but I don't even feel a desire for it. You look so
           mad and just watching you I have come to feel that there must be something in it. You are so happy
           and blissful and I am so miserable, but even the desire to seek the divine is not there. So what to do?
           How to create the desire? "
                Farid looked at the man and said, "You come with me. I am going to take my morning bath. You
           also take a bath with me in the river and maybe, right while you are taking a bath, the answer can be
           given. Otherwise we will see after the bath. You come with me."
                The man became a little puzzled. This Sheikh Farid looked a little mad: while taking a bath how
           was he going to answer? But nobody knows the ways of the mystics, so the man followed.
                They both went into the river and when the man was taking a dip, Farid jumped on him and
           pressed him down in the river. The man started feeling restless. What type of answer was this? At
           first he thought Farid was joking, but then it became dangerous. He was not going to leave him! He
           struggled hard.
                Farid was a very heavy, strong man and the seeker was very thin -- as seekers are. But when your
           life is at stake.... Even that thin-looking man threw Farid off, jumped on him and said, "Are you a
           murderer? What are you doing? I am a poor man. I have just come to ask you how the desire can
           arise in one's heart to seek the divine and you were going to kill me!"
                Farid said, "Wait. A few questions first. When I was pressing you down in the river and you were
           suffocating, how many thoughts were in your mind?"
                The man said, "How many? Only one thought -- how to get back to the air to take a breath."
           Farid asked, "How long did that one thought stay?"
                The man said, "That, too, did not stay long because my life was at stake. You can afford thinking
           when nothing is at stake. Life was in danger -- even that thought disappeared. Then to come out of
           the river was not a thought; it was my whole being."
                Farid said, "You have understood. This is the answer. If you are feeling suffocated in this world,
           pressed from all sides, and if you feel nothing is going to happen in this world except death, then the
           desire to seek truth or God, or whatsoever you name it, will arise. And that, too, will not last long.
           By and by that desire is no more a desire, it becomes your being. The very thirst becomes your
           being.
           "I have shown you the path," said Farid. "Now you can go."
                Just try to understand the whole situation in the world. If it is already destroying you, jump out of
           it. The real question is not how to seek God; the real question is how to understand that where you
           are thinking life is, there is no life but only death.
                John the Baptist, or anybody who has ever baptized anybody else, who has ever initiated
           anybody else, who has ever brought anybody to the world of truth out of the world of dreams, has to
           prepare you for death. Yes, that is the meaning. By baptism he was saying, "Your old self has gone
           down the river; you are no more the same. A new identity has arisen; now you have a new nucleus.
           Function through it and don't function through the past."
                The same has been done through initiation by fire. In India initiation by fire, not by water, has
           been used traditionally. There have been a few side-currents that have been using water baptism also,
           but the main current in India has been using fire. So in every Master's house -- what they used to call
           GURUKUL, the family of the Master -- there was a fire constantly burning in the middle of the
           house: a constantly burning fire, twenty-four hours a day. All the teachings were delivered near the
           fire. By and by, the fire symbol became deep-rooted in the disciples.
                There is a beautiful story in the old Upanishads about when a disciple, a very famous disciple,
           Svetketu, was with his Master. The Master waited for twelve years and wouldn't initiate him into the
           mysteries. The disciple served and served, tending the fire in the house -- for twenty-four hours the
           fire had to be kept alive. It is said that the fire itself became very much worried about this Svetketu.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           For twelve years he had been serving the fire, tending it, bringing wood from the forest.
                The story is beautiful. It says that the fire became worried. Even the fire started feeling that the
           Master was a little too hard, a little unjust. The fire started feeling compassion for Svetketu.
                The fire talked to the Master's wife when the Master was out and said, "This is going too far.
           This Svetketu has been serving so silently for twelve years. He has earned it already; the secret has
           to be revealed to him. You persuade your husband."
                The wife said, "But he won't listen. If I say anything, he may even become harder. He is not a
           man who can be persuaded. One has to wait. He knows how to work and how not to work, what to
           do and what not to do, and I cannot say anything."
                It is said that the fire became so much concerned that the fire itself revealed the secret to
           Svetketu. And when the secret was revealed, the Master danced. He said, "Svetketu, I was waiting.
           Because when the fire reveals itself, that's something. I was forcing the fire itself to reveal the secret
           because compassion WILL arise, existence is compassionate. I could have given you the secret any
           day, but that would not have been so vital. It would have been from me. But now the doors of
           existence have been opened for you by the existence itself. Now you are in communion with fire
           itself -- you have been initiated by fire."
                What secret can the fire give to you? The secret of death. In India we have been burning dead
           bodies so that fire becomes associated with death. Even those who are not seekers also know that fire
           is the symbol of death -- one dies in it. But those who know and seek on the path also know that one
           is resurrected through it: dies and is reborn.
                In both the cases, whether through water or fire, death is the point. One has to die to attain to life
           abundant, one has to carry one's cross. Nobody else can initiate you, only death. Death is the Master.
           Or, the Master is death.
                If you are ready to die, then nobody can prevent you from being reborn. But this death should not
           be suicidal. Many people commit suicide. They are not resurrected. A suicidal death is not a death
           through understanding; a suicidal death is a death through misunderstanding. You die confused, in
           agony. You die obsessed with the world, you die attached to the world. You die as a complaint.
                Watch people who think of committing suicide. They are not against life. In fact, on the contrary,
           they are so attached to life that life cannot fulfill them. They take revenge, they complain. They
           murder, kill themselves, just to lodge a complaint against the whole existence -- that it was not a
           fulfillment. They are grumbling; they are saying, "Life is not worth it."
                But why is life not worth living? They expected too much; that's why it is not worth it. They
           asked too much; they never earned it. They asked too much and it was not delivered. They are
           frustrated.
                One who is ready to die WITHOUT frustration.... Seeing the truth of life, seeing the truth that
           life is just a dream.... It cannot fulfill anything, it cannot frustrate also. Fulfillment, frustration, both
           are parts of the illusion that life is real. One who sees that life is unreal, just like a dream, becomes
           detached. A renunciation comes.
                In the Upanishads there is one very vital saying: "TEN TYKTEN BHUNJITHA... those who
           have indulged in life have always renounced." It is very revolutionary; the implication is
           tremendous. It says: those who have indulged in life are bound to renounce because they have seen
           the truth -- that life is false. They have looked into it and found nothing. Not that they are frustrated,
           because if you are frustrated that only shows that you were still expecting something. Frustration
           shows deep expectation.
                One who has become aware that life can only promise but can never deliver -- it is a dream! -- is
           neither frustrated nor fulfilled in life. Then comes renunciation. Renunciation is not leaving life;
           renunciation is seeing life as it is. Then one is ready to die because there is nothing in life.
                That readiness for death is the point John the Baptist was driving people towards. When they
           were ready he would bring them to the River Jordan and perform the ritual, the final touch. With the
           water flowing over the head and down the river, the ego, the old personality, is gone. Pure essence --
           bathed in a new sense of being, with a new mystery of being alive, with a new sense of existence --
           is born.
                Of course, death can either be a very terrifying experience or tremendously beautiful. It depends
           on the attitude. If you feel terrified in death then you will die, but you will not be resurrected. If
           death becomes a beautiful experience, then you are dying and at the same time resurrecting.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Ordinarily death is terror; that's why you are so afraid to die. In life nothing beautiful happens until
           you die, but you are terrified.
               A Master has to persuade you, by and by, about the beauty of death. He has to sing the glories of
           death. He has, by and by, to convince you and create a trust in death so that you can let go. Once you
           let go nothing dies, only the ego. You remain for ever and ever.
               You are eternity, you cannot die -- the fear is absolutely futile and unbased -- but the ego has to
           die. The ego is a created phenomenon. It was not there when you were born, society created it.
           Society has given you the ego -- and that ego can be taken by the society... and that ego is absolutely
           going to be taken by death. You will go as you came: empty-handed you come, empty-handed you
           go -- the ego is just an illusion in between.
               That ego is afraid of death. Once you understand that you are not going to die -- only the ego,
           only the disease -- you are ready. You are ready for baptism.


              YOU SAY THAT SERIOUSNESS IS A DISEASE. WHENEVER I REMEMBER MYSELF I FEEL
              SERIOUS, SO WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               Don't get serious about it. Let it be so, and laugh. If you can laugh at yourself, everything is
           okay. People laugh at others, but never laugh at themselves. It has to be learned. If you can laugh at
           yourself, seriousness is already gone. It cannot make its abode within you if you are capable of
           laughing at yourself.
               In Zen monasteries every monk has to laugh. The first thing in the morning to do is to laugh, the
           very first thing. The moment the monk becomes aware that he is no longer asleep, he has to jump out
           of bed, stand in a posture like a buffoon, like a circus joker, and start laughing, laughing at himself.
           There cannot be any better beginning of the day.
               Laughing at oneself kills the ego and you are more transparent, more light, when you move in the
           world. And if you have laughed at yourself, then others' laughter toward you won't disturb you. In
           fact they are simply cooperating, they are doing the same thing that you were doing. You will feel
           happy.
               To laugh at others is egoistic; to laugh at oneself is very humble. Learn to laugh at yourself --
           about your seriousness and things like that. You can get serious about seriousness. Then instead of
           one, you have created two diseases. Then you can get serious about that also, and you can go on and
           on. There is no end to it; it can go on AD NAUSEAM.
               So take hold of it from the very beginning. The moment you feel you are serious, laugh about it
           and look for where the seriousness is. Laugh, give a good laugh, close the eyes and look for where it
           is. You will not find it. It exists only in a being who cannot laugh.
               A more unfortunate situation cannot be conceived, a poorer being cannot be conceived of, than
           the man who cannot laugh at himself. So start the morning by laughing at yourself, and whenever
           you can find a moment in the day when you have nothing to do, have a good laugh. For no particular
           reason -- just because the whole world is so absurd, just because the way you are is so absurd. There
           is no need to find any particular reason, The whole thing is so absurd that one has to laugh.
               Let the laughter be a belly laughter, not a head-thing. One can laugh from the head: then it is
           dead. From the head everything is dead; the head is absolutely mechanical. You can laugh from the
           head: then your head will create the laughter, but it will not go deep in the belly to the HARA. It will
           not go to your toes, it will not go to your whole body. A real laugh is just like a small child laughs.
           Watch his belly shaking, his whole body throbbing with it -- he wants to roll on the floor. It is a
           question of totality. He laughs so much that he starts crying; he laughs so deeply that the laughter
           becomes tears, tears come out of him. A laughter should be deep and total. This is the medicine that I
           prescribe for seriousness.
               You would like me to give you some serious medicine. That won't help. You have to be a little
           foolish. In fact, the highest pinnacle of wisdom always carries foolishness in it, the greatest wise men
           of the world were also the greatest fools.
               It will be hard to understand. You cannot think that they can be fools because your mind always
           divides: a wise man can never be a fool, and a fool can never be a wise man. Both attitudes are
           wrong. There have been great fools who were very wise.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In the old days, in every king's court, there was a great fool -- the court fool. He was a balancing
           force because too much wisdom can be foolish, too much of anything can be foolish. Somebody was
           needed who could bring things back to earth. A fool was needed in the kings' courts who would help
           them to laugh, otherwise wise people tend to become serious, and seriousness is an illness. Out of
           seriousness you lose proportion, you lose perspective. So every king's court had a fool, a great fool,
           who would say things and do things and bring things back to earth.
               I have heard that one emperor had a fool. One day the emperor was looking in the mirror. The
           fool came, jumped, and hit him with his feet in the back. The emperor fell against the mirror. He
           was, of course, very angry and he said, "Unless you can give some reason for your foolish act which
           is more criminal than the act itself, you will be sentenced to death."
               The fool said, "My Lord, I never thought that you were here. I thought the queen was standing
           here."
               He had to be pardoned because he had given a reason that was even more foolish. But to find
           such a reason, the fool must have been very wise.
               Every great wise man -- Lao Tzu, Jesus -- they have a certain quality of sublime foolishness.
           This has to be so because a wise man otherwise will be a man without salt, he will taste awful. He
           has to be a little foolish also. Then things are balanced. Look at Jesus -- riding on a donkey and
           saying to people, "I am the Son of God." Look at it! He must have been both. People must have
           laughed: "What are you saying? Saying such things, and behaving in such a way...."
               But I know that's how perfect wisdom appears. Lao Tzu says, "Everybody is wise, except me. I
           seem to be foolish. Everybody's mind is clear; only my mind seems to be murky and muddled.
           Everybody knows what to do and what not to do: only I am confused." What does he mean? He is
           saying that "In me, wisdom and foolishness meet together." And when wisdom and foolishness meet
           together, there is a transcendence.
               So don't be serious about seriousness. Laugh about it, be a little foolish. Don't condemn
           foolishness; it has its own beauties. If you can be both, you will have a quality of transcendence
           within you.
               The world has become more and more serious. Hence so much cancer, so much heart disease, so
           much high blood pressure, so much madness. The world has been moved, forced, towards one
           extreme too much. Be a little foolish also. Laugh a little, be like a child. Enjoy a little, don't carry a
           serious face everywhere, and suddenly you will find a deeper health arising in you -- deeper sources
           of your health become available.
               Have you ever heard about any fool who went mad? It has never happened. I have always been
           searching for a report of any foolish man who went mad. I have not come across one. Of course a
           fool cannot go mad because to be mad you need to be very serious.
               I have also been searching to see if fools are in any way prone to be more healthy than the
           so-called wise. And it is so: fools are more healthy than the so-called wise. They live in the moment
           and they know that they are fools, so they are not worried about what others think about them. That
           worry becomes a cancerous phenomenon in the mind and body. They live long, and they have the
           last laugh.
               Remember that life should be a deep balancing, a very deep balancing. Then, just in the middle,
           you escape. The energy surges high, you start moving upwards. And this should be so about all
           opposites. Don't be a man and don't be a woman: be both, so that you can be neither. Don't be wise,
           don't be a fool: be both, so you go beyond.


              PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY WE DON'T FEEL THE DIVINE WHICH IS HERE/ NOW, WITHIN/WITHOUT,
              WHICH IS YOU, ME AND ALL.


               This is from Swami Yoga Chinmaya. Because you are too much, and too heavy on yourself.
               Because you cannot laugh, the divine is hidden. Because you are too tense, you are closed. And
           these things that you think -- that the divine is here/now, within/without, you/me -- are only head
           things, they are not your feelings. They are thoughts, not realizations. And if you go on thinking
           along these lines, they will never become experiences. You can convince yourself by a thousand and
           one arguments that this is so, but they will never become your experience. You will go on missing. It
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not a question of argument, philosophy, thinking, contemplation -- no. It is a question of drowning
           yourself deeply in the feeling of the phenomenon. One has to feel it, not think about it. And to feel it,
           one has to disappear.
               You are trying an absolutely impossible thing: by thinking, you are trying to realize God. It will
           remain a philosophy, it will never become your experience. And unless it is an experience, it is not
           liberating. It will become a bondage; you will die in that bondage of words.
               You are too much. Yoga Chinmaya's head has to be beheaded -- cut completely. You are too
           much in the head, and there is too much of yourself. God is not more important; you are more
           important. You want to know God: God is not the emphasis, YOU are the emphasis. YOU want to
           achieve God: not that God is important; YOU are important, and how can you live without achieving
           God? God has to be possessed, but the emphasis is on YOU. That's why you go on missing.
               Drop the 'you'. Then there is no need to worry about God -- He comes by Himself. Once you are
           not, He comes. Once you are absent, His presence is felt. Once you are empty, He is rushing towards
           you. Drop all the philosophies and all that you have learned, all that you have borrowed, all that has
           become heavy on the head. Drop it! Be clean of it; it is all rot.
               Once you are clean, in that cleanliness you start feeling something arising. In that innocence is
           virginity. God is always available.


               HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE MIND CAN GO ON PRODUCING THOUGHTS CONSTANTLY,
               AND HOW CAN WE STOP THAT WHICH WE HAVE NOT STARTED?


               You cannot stop that which you have not started. Don't try it, otherwise you will simply be
           wasting time, energy, life. You cannot stop the mind because you have not started it. You can simply
           watch, and in watching it stops. Not that you stop it: in watching. it stops. The stopping is a function
           of watching, it is a consequence of watching.
               It is not that you stop it; there is no way to stop the mind. If you try to stop it, it will go faster; if
           you try to stop it, it will fight with you and create a thousand and one troubles for you. Never try to
           stop it.
               This is the truth: you have not started it, so who are you to stop it? It has come through your
           unawareness; it will go through your awareness. You have to do nothing to stop it except become
           more and more alert.
               Even the idea that one wants to stop the mind will be the barrier because you say, "Okay, now I
           will try to be aware so that I can stop it." Then you miss the point. Then even your awareness will
           not be of much help because again the same idea is there -- how to stop it. Then after a few days of
           futile effort -- futile because the idea is there, so it will not happen -- you will come to me and you
           will say, "I have been trying to be aware, but the mind doesn't stop."
               It cannot be stopped; no method exists to stop it. But it stops! Not that you stop it; it stops by
           itself. You simply watch. In watching, you withdraw the energy that helps it to run. In watching, the
           energy goes into watching, and thinking automatically becomes feebler and feebler and feebler.
           Thoughts are there, but they become impotent because the energy is not available. They will move
           around you, half dead, but by and by more energy will be coming to the awareness. One day
           suddenly energy is no longer moving into thoughts. They have disappeared. They cannot exist
           without your energy. So please forget about stopping them. That is none of your business.
               And the second thing, you ask: "How is it possible that the mind can go on producing thoughts
           constantly?" It is just a natural process. Just like your heart goes on beating constantly, your mind
           goes on thinking constantly; just like your body goes on breathing constantly, your mind goes on
           thinking constantly; just like your blood goes on circulating constantly and your stomach goes on
           digesting continuously, the mind goes on thinking constantly. There is no problem in it; it is simple.
           But you are not identified with the blood circulation; you don't think that YOU are circulating. In
           fact you are not even conscious that the blood circulates; it goes on circulating, you have nothing to
           do with it. The heart goes on beating; you don't think that YOU are beating.
               With the mind the problem has arisen because you think that you are thinking; the mind has
           become a focus of identity. The identity just has to be broken. It is not that when the mind has
           stopped, then it will not think forever, no. It will think only when it is needed; it will not think when
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is not needed. Thinking will be there, but now it will be natural: a response, a spontaneous activity,
           not an obsession.
                For example, you eat when you are hungry. But you can get obsessed and can go on eating the
           whole day. Then you will go mad; then you will commit suicide. You walk when you want to walk.
           When you want to go somewhere, then you move your legs. But if you go on moving your legs when
           you are sitting on the chair, people will think you are mad and that something has to be done to stop
           you. If you ask how to stop your legs from moving and if somebody says, "Stop them by holding
           them with your hands. Force them!" then you will be in even more trouble. The legs are moving and
           now the hands are also engaged, and your whole effort is how to stop them. Now your energy is
           fighting with itself.
                You have become identified with the mind, that's all. It is natural because the mind is so close to
           you and you have to use the mind so much. One is constantly in the mind. It is as if a driver has been
           driving a car for years and has never been out of the car. He has forgotten that he can go out, that he
           is a driver. He has forgotten completely; he thinks that he himself is a car. He cannot go out because
           who is there to go out? He has forgotten how to open the door, or the door is completely blocked by
           not having been used for years. It has gathered rust, it cannot open easily. The driver has been in the
           car so much that he has become the car, that's all. A misunderstanding has arisen. Now he cannot
           stop the car, because how is he to stop it? Who is going to stop it?
                You are just the driver of the mind. It is a mechanism around you, your consciousness goes on
           using it. But you have never been out of your head. That's why I insist: drop a little out of the head,
           go to the heart. From the heart you will have a better perspective that the car is separate from you.
                Or, try to go out of the body. That too is possible. Out of the body you will be absolutely out of
           the car. You will be able to see that neither the body nor the heart nor the mind is you; you are
           separate.
                Right now, continue to remember only one thing: that you are separate. From everything that
           surrounds you, you are separate. The knower is not the known. Go on feeling it more and more so
           that it becomes a substantial crystallization in you that the knower is not the known. You KNOW the
           thought, you SEE the thought -- how can you be the thought? You KNOW the mind, how can you be
           the mind? Just drop away; a little distance is needed. One day, when you are really distant, thinking
           stops. When the driver is out, the car stops because there is nobody to drive it now. Then you will
           have a good laugh, seeing that it has just been a misunderstanding. Now, whenever you need it,
           think.
                You ask a question to me: I respond. The mind functions. I have to talk to you through the mind;
           there is no other way to talk. But when I am alone, the mind doesn't function.
                The mind has not lost the capacity to function. In fact, it has gained more capacity to function
           and to function rightly. Because it is not functioning constantly, it gathers energy; it becomes more
           clear. So 'when the mind stops' does not mean that you will not be able to think again. In fact, only
           after that will you be able to think for the first time. Just to be engaged in relevantly irrelevant
           thoughts is not thinking. It is a mad sort of thing. To be clear, clean, innocent, is to be on the right
           path for thinking.
                Then when a problem arises you are not confused; you don't look at the problem through
           prejudices. You look directly at it, and in that direct look the problem starts melting. If the problem
           is a problem, it will melt and disappear. If the problem is not a problem but a mystery, it will melt
           and deepen. Then you will be able to see what is a problem.
                A problem is that which can be solved by the mind; a mystery is that which cannot be solved by
           the mind. A mystery has to be lived; a problem has to be solved. But when you are too much in your
           thoughts, you cannot know what is a mystery and what is a problem. Sometimes you take a mystery
           as a problem. Then your whole life you struggle and it is never solved. And sometimes you think of
           a problem as a mystery and you foolishly wait: it could have been solved.
                A clarity, a perspective, is needed. When thinking -- this constant inner chattering and inner talk
           -- stops, and you have become alert and aware, you are capable of seeing things as they are, you are
           capable of finding solutions -- and you are also capable of knowing what is a mystery. And when
           you come to feel that something is a mystery, you feel reverence, you feel awe.
                That is the religious quality of being. To feel reverence is to be religious; to feel awe is to be
           religious. To be so deeply in wonder that you have again become a child is to enter into the kingdom
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of God.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                 Chapter #5
                              Chapter title: And He Saith unto them: Follow me
           25 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510250
              ShortTitle: FOLL105
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              MATTHEW 4



              17 FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND TO SAY, REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM
              OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.



              18 AND JESUS, WALKING BY THE SEA OF GALILEE, SAW TWO BRETHREN, SIMON CALLED
              PETER, AND ANDREW HIS BROTHER, CASTING A NET INTO THE SEA: FOR THEY WERE
              FISHERS.
              19 AND HE SAITH UNTO THEM, FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN.
              20 AND THEY STRAIGHTWAY LEFT THEIR NETS, AND FOLLOWED HIM.
              23 AND JESUS WENT ABOUT ALL GALILEE, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, AND
              PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KlNGDOM, AND HEALING ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS AND
              ALL MANNER OF DISEASE AMONG THE PEOPLE.
              24 AND HIS FAME WENT THROUGHOUT ALL SYRIA: AND THEY BROUGHT UNTO HIM ALL SICK
              PEOPLE THAT WERE TAKEN WITH DIVERS DISEASES AND TORMENTS, AND THOSE WHICH
              WERE POSSESSED WITH DEVILS AND THOSE WHICH WERE LUNATICK, AND THOSE THAT
              HAD THE PALSY; AND HE HEALED THEM.
              25 AND THERE FOLLOWED HIM GREAT MULTITUDES OF PEOPLE FROM GALILEE, AND FROM
              DECAPOLIS, AND FROM JERUSALEM, AND FROM JUDAEA, AND FROM BEYOND JORDAN.


               ONCE A RABBI WAS ASKED to tell the whole Bible message in brief. He replied that the
           whole Bible message is very simple and short. It is God shouting to man: "Enthrone me!"
               This is what happened that morning in the River Jordan. Jesus disappeared, God was
           enenthroned. Jesus vacated the house, God entered. Either you can be or God can be; both cannot
           exist together. If you insist on existing, then drop the search for God; it is not going to be fulfilled.
           Then it is impossible, absolutely impossible. If you are there, then God cannot be: your very being,
           your very presence, is the hindrance. You disappear, and God is. He has always been there.
               Man can live as a part, separated from the whole. Man can create around him ideas, dreams, ego,
           personality, and can think of himself as an island, unconnected with the whole, unrelated with the
           whole. Have you ever seen any relationship between you and the trees? Have you seen any
           relationship between you and the rocks, have you seen any relationship between you and the sea? If
           you don't see the relationship, then you can never come to know what God is. God is nothing but the
           whole, the total, the one. If you exist as a separate part, you unnecessarily exist as a beggar, You
           could have been the whole. And even while you think that you are separate, you are not separate --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that is just a thought in the mind. The thought is not befooling God, it is only befooling you. The
           thought is just a barrier for your eyes to open.
               That morning in the River Jordan when John the Baptist initiated Jesus, he killed Jesus utterly.
           Jesus disappeared. And in that moment of nothingness, a Buddha -- what Buddha calls SUNYATA,
           emptiness.... The heavens opened and the spirit of God, like a dove, descended on Jesus, lighted on
           him.
               This is just symbolic. Jesus died, God was enthroned. This is what they call in Zen a special
           transmission, outside the scriptures. No knowledge was given by John the Baptist to Jesus, no
           scripture was conveyed -- not even a single word was uttered. No dependence on words or letters,
           just a direct pointing to the soul of man: seeing into one's nature -- an attainment of Buddhahood.
               This is what happened that day. Christians have missed that point: it was not knowledge that was
           transferred from John the Baptist to Jesus, it was a vision. It was not verbal, it was existential. It was
           more like knowing than knowledge. Eyes were transferred: a new way of seeing the world and being
           in the world was transferred. A special transmission outside the scriptures.
               That's why Jesus immediately felt one with God, but cut off from Jews. Jews are 'the people of
           the book'. The Bible doesn't mean anything else; it simply means 'the book'. Jews are the people of
           the book -- the people who have believed in the scriptures tremendously, who have loved and relied
           on the scriptures for centuries.
               Jesus became one with God, but immediately was cut off from his own tradition. Then he tried in
           a thousand and one ways to remain part of the community, but it was impossible. He could not be
           part of the scriptures, could not be part of the tradition. Something of the beyond entered in him and
           when God enters, all scriptures become useless. When you yourself have come to know, all
           knowledge is rubbish.
               That was the struggle between Jesus and the rabbis. They had knowledge, Jesus had knowing --
           and the two never meet. The man of knowing is rebellious: the man of knowing has his own eyes; he
           says whatsoever he sees. The man of knowledge is blind: he carries the scripture, he never looks
           around; he just goes on repeating the scripture. The man of knowledge is mechanical, he has no
           personal contact with reality.
               Just a few days before. I was reading about a very highpowered New York psychiatrist. He was
           talking to one of his new patients and he told the patient, "I am very busy, in fact too busy. It will be
           good if you can help me. The first interview is always one-sided: you will be telling me all that you
           want to tell me. If I can get it down and look at it, and study it later on at my own convenience, it
           will be a great help. So here is the tape recorder. I will leave the tape recorder -- put the machine on
           and talk to the tape recorder. Whatsoever you have to say.... Say all that you would like to say to me
           and then later on I will listen to it." The psychiatrist asked, "Are you willing? "
           The man said, "Of course. It is perfectly alright."
               The tape recorder was put on and the psychiatrist left, but after just two minutes he saw the man
           leaving the office. He ran after him, stopped him and said, "So soon? You could not have talked
           much to the tape recorder."
               The man said, "Listen, I am also a very busy man. In fact more busy than you. And you are not
           the first psychiatrist I have consulted. Go back to the consulting room and you will see, sitting just
           by the side of your tape recorder, my small dictaphone -- talking to the tape recorder."
               Knowledge is just like this. Nobody is present: dictaphones talking to tape recorders. You mind
           is just a tape recorder and scriptures are old dictaphones -- an old medium, but still the same.
           Somebody has said something: it is recorded there. Then you read it and it becomes recorded in your
           own tape recorder, but there is no personal touch.
               Knowing is personal, knowledge mechanical. Through a mechanical approach you can never
           come to discover the reality, the truth. It is going to be a dead affair. You will attain much
           information, but you will never attain to transformation. You may come to know many things, but
           you will never know the thing which needs to be known: the being that you are and the being that
           surrounds you -- and that which surrounds you is the same as that which is within you.
               A deep personal contact is needed. That morning in the River Jordan, Jesus came in personal
           contact with the divine. John the Baptist initiated him TO BE A NOTHING.
               When you come to me, you are not coming to a man who knows much. You are coming to a man
           who has a lot of nothingness in him. I can share that nothingness with you. The day you are ready to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           share my nothingness, you are initiated.
               You can be here in two ways. You can be a student. Then you will be related to me in a
           mechanical way, you will collect information from me -- which was never meant to be done. You
           will start knowing many things from me. That is an addiction. The ego may feel stronger, but the
           soul will become more and more impoverished.
               Or you can be a disciple here and not a student. Then you share in my nothingness. Then by and
           by you disappear completely. Then there is nobody inside you who knows -- and that nobodiness is
           the only way to know. In that nothingness your heart is open, in that nothingness the island
           disappears and you become the continent. In that nothingness the separation disappears: you become
           the whole. Then the whole exists through you.
               The rabbi was right who said, "God shouting to man: 'Enthrone Me!' " Jesus, Krishna, Christ,
           Mohammed, Lao Tzu, all are shouts of God to man: "Enthrone Me!"

              FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH...


               Immediately: knowledge needs time, knowing is immediate. If I want to share my knowledge
           with you it will take time, but if I want to share my nothingness with you, time is not needed.
           Immediately, right here now, it is possible. Only your readiness is needed. Time is not a requirement
           at all, it can happen in a split second.
               Whenever I read this gospel the thing that strikes me immediately is: the moment Jesus was
           baptized, and the heavens opened and the spirit of God descended like a dove, he moved out of the
           river, went to the bank -- a crowd was gathering -- and he started to preach. Before that he had never
           uttered a single word, before that he had not taught anything to anybody.
               That's how it should be. A teacher can go on teaching without knowing, but not a Master.
           Teachers are many, Masters few. A Master is one who teaches through his knowing and a teacher is
           one who teaches through his knowledge.
               A teacher prepares himself for years, then he can teach But a Master -- in a single moment of
           courage, in a single moment of daring, in a single moment of death, in a single moment of jumping
           into the unknown -- becomes capable of teaching. Once you know, that very knowing wants to be
           shared; once you are blissful, that very blissfulness starts flowing, it starts seeking the heart. Once
           you are, you are already on the way to be shared by many.
           Jesus moved out of the river:

              FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND
              TO SAY, REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.


               John the Baptist was saying the same thing. Jesus could have said the same thing just by hearing
           John the Baptist. He was a well-known preacher, great multitudes used visit him, great crowds used
           to wait and listen to him Everybody knew that his message was this: "Repent ye for the kingdom of
           heaven is at hand." Jesus must have known about it, but he never uttered those words before.
               To utter such great words without knowing is sacrilegious it is a betrayal. Never utter such great
           words unless yr know yourself, because you can destroy others' minds. You can fill their minds with
           your rot. If you don't know a] you go on saying things to people.... As it has happenened all over the
           world.
               Go and look at the priests in the churches and the temple and the mosques -- they go on teaching
           and they go o preaching, not knowing anything whatsoever that they a saying. They are not aware of
           what they are doing at all -- dictaphones! They have learned, but they have not know They have
           studied, but they don't have their own eyes; their own hearts are as dead as those to whom they are
           preaching. Their minds may be more cultivated, but their hearts are as ill as anybody else's.
               Jesus never uttered these words before. Nobody knew abo this man Jesus before. He remained in
           his father's workshop; he worked, he helped his father. Suddenly a new quality of man, fresh -- an
           altogether new man -- was born. Baptism is a birth.
               From that very moment he BEGAN TO PREACH AND TO SAY REPENT -- because now he
           can utter those words wi authority. Now they are no longer John the Baptist's word he is repeating,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now they are his own. He has repented ar he has come to know what they mean. Now they are n
           futile, parrot-like words; they are pregnant, alive. He has touched the reality of those words, he has
           come to see the mystery of them.
               The actual word in Hebrew is TESHUVAH: repent. TESHUVAH.means 'return' and
           TESHUVAH also means 'answer'. Both meanings are beautiful. To return to God is an answer to
           Him. This is one of the most beautiful things in Judaism, one of the greatest contributions of Judaism
           to the world. It has to be understood because without it you will never be able to understand Jesus.
               Judaism is the only religion in the world which says that not only is man seeking God, but God is
           also seeking man Nobody else in the world believes that. There are Hindus, Mohammedans and
           other religions: they all believe man is seeking God. Judaism believes God is also seeking man. And
           this should be so if He is a father. This should be so. He is the whole, and if a part has gone astray,
           the whole -- out of His compassion -- must seek the part.
               Judaism has a beauty of its own. Man seeking God is just like stumbling in darkness. Unless God
           is also seeking you, there seems to be no possibility of any meeting. How will you seek Him who is
           unknown? Where will you seek Him? You don't know the address -- where will you address your
           prayers? Where will you move, where will you go, what will you do? You can only stumble, cry and
           weep; tears can be your only prayer. A deep desire -- but how to fulfill it? You can burn with it, but
           how to arrive? Judaism says: man can seek, but man cannot find unless God wills it so.
               God is within reach, but not within grasp. You can spread your hands -- He is within reach, but
           not within grasp. He comes within grasp because He is also seeking you. He can seek you
           immediately and directly. He knows exactly where you are. But He cannot seek you unless you are
           on the search. He can seek you only when you are searching, when you are doing everything that can
           be done, when you are not withholding anything, when your search is total. When your search is
           total, immediately heaven opens and the spirit of God descends in you. He is waiting, waiting with a
           deep urge to meet you.
               This should be so, because existence is a love affair. It is a hide-and-seek play, it is a game. The
           mother is playing with the child and hiding. The mother is waiting and if the child does not come,
           the mother will start seeking him. But God gives you total freedom: if you don't want to seek, He
           will not interfere; He will not be an intruder. If you want to seek, only then does He knock at your
           door.
               If you have invited, only then does the guest come. The guest may be just waiting to knock on
           the door; only your invitation is needed. Otherwise He can wait for eternity, there is no hurry. God is
           not in any haste.
               REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. It would have been absolutely
           different if the word was not translated as 'repent', if it was left to the original: 'return'. That is what
           Patanjali says in his yoga sutras -- that PRATYAHAR is 'returning to oneself'. That is what Mahavir
           means when he says to move within-wards: PRATIKRAMAN, to go in.
               The word TESHUVAH has a totally different meaning from repent. The moment you say 'repent'
           it seems that man is a sinner: a deep condemnation comes in. But if you say 'return', there is no
           question of sin, no condemnation enters. It simply says that you have gone far away, you have
           played too long -- please come back. The child has been playing outside and evening is descending.
           The sun is setting and the mother calls, "Please return." A totally different quality, a totally different
           connotation. There is no condemnation in it, just a deep love call: "Return!"
               Just listen to the sentence if I say: "Return ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." All
           condemnation, all sin, and the whole nonsense that has created guilt in man, disappears just by a
           single word translated rightly. A single word can be significant, but the whole of Christianity will
           disappear if you translate repent as 'return'. All churches, the Vatican -- everything will disappear
           because they depend on repentance.
               If it is a question of return -- and you are not condemned and you have not committed any sin --
           then guilt disappears. And without guilt there cannot be churches, without guilt the priest cannot
           live. He exploits the guilt, he makes you feel guilty -- that is his trade secret. Once you are made to
           feel guilty, you have to seek his help because he will ask for forgiveness for you, he will pray for
           you; he knows the way to pray. He is in a deeper relationship with God: he will defend you, he will
           persuade God for you, and he will show you how not to be a sinner again, how to be virtuous. He
           will give you the commandments: do this and don't do that.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                All the churches of the world are founded on the word 'repentance'. If it is only a question of
           return, the priest is not needed; you can return home. It is not a question of condemnation: nobody is
           needed to purify you; you have never been wrong. You HAD gone a little farther away, but nothing
           is wrong in it. In fact it could not have been so if God were not willing for you to go so far. There
           must be something in it: that going far away must be a way of coming back. because when you have
           gone too far and then you come back home, for the first time you realize what home is.
                It is said that travellers in foreign countries realize for the first time -- as you must be realizing in
           Poona -- how beautiful home is. It is difficult to realize when you are at home; everything is taken
           for granted. But when you go away, now everything is difficult. It is no longer home, you cannot
           take anything for granted. There are a thousand and one inconveniences, discomforts -- and nobody
           is there to look after you; you have to look after yourself. Nobody cares; you move in an alien world,
           a stranger.
                In contrast, suddenly for the first time, the home, the meaning of the home, arises. First it was
           just a house to live in; now it is a home. Now you know that houses are different from homes. A
           house is just a house; a home is not just a house, it is something plus. Plus love. Maybe it is needed
           that man should go a little astray -- off the track, into the wilderness -- so that, in contrast, coming
           back to home becomes significant, meaningful.
                I say 'return'; I don't say 'repent'. Jesus never said 'repent'. He would laugh at the word, because
           the whole thing is corrupted by the word. Churches know well no that the word is a wrong
           translation, but they still insist on it because it has become their foundation. 'To return' is so simple:
           it depends on you and your God; no mediatator is needed, no agent is needed. FROM THAT TIME
           JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND TO SAY, RETURN: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS
           AT HAND.
                Another meaning of the Hebrew word TESHUVAH 'answer'. Your return is your answer.
           Answer to what Answer to the shout: "Enthrone me!"; answer to the question God has been asking
           you: "Come back home."
                This is again a very beautiful contribution of Judaism. Every religion has contributed something
           original. Judaism says: "God asks the question; man answers." Other religions say that man asks the
           question and God answers. Judaism says, "No, God asks the question; man answers."
                The moment you answer, that is the return. The moment the child says, "Yes, I am coming," he is
           already on th way. Have you heard the question? If you have not heard it yet, how will you be able to
           answer?
           People come to me and they say, "Where is God? "
                I say, "Forget about God -- have you heard the question?
           They say, "What question?"
           "The question that God asks! "
                If you have not heard the question, you cannot know where God is. The moment you hear the
           question the direction is clear -- the moment you hear the question that arises deepest in your being,
           at the deepest core, and becomes; constant haunting in the heart: who are you, why are you here,
           why do you go on existing? For what?
                If the question has arisen in the heart, you will know God is, because who is asking this
           question? YOU cannot ask it. You are unconsciousness, a deep sleep -- you cannot ask. Somewhere
           deeper within you God is asking the question, "Who are you?" If you have heard the question, you
           know the direction. And the answer can only be: "Return back. Follow that direction, move back."
                But your questions are false. You have not heard them; somebody else has taught them to you.
           Your questions are false, and then your answer becomes false. You learn the question from others,
           you learn the answer from others, and you remain phoney.
                The word 'phoney' comes from 'telephone'. Have you ever observed that listening to a man
           directly -- listening to your wife or husband or friend directly, face-to-face -- is a reality because
           personal contact is there, but listening to him on the phone everything becomes phoney? One never
           knows who is there -- whether the person is really there or if it is a tape recorder, a dictaphone.
           Nobody knows. And the sound seems to be coming not from the heart, but from the mechanism.
                Have you sometimes watched people...? I have watched a few people, I know a few people, who
           will put their specs on whenever they phone. I was worried: "What is the matter? The person is not
           there, so who are you trying to see?" Just a deep urge to see the person. A deep urge -- otherwise the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing seems to be phoney. But this is how the mind has become corrupted.
               I went with a friend once to visit the Taj Mahal. He is a good photographer -- and he had no time
           to see the Taj Mahal, he was seeing it through the camera lens. I told him, "We have come here to
           see the Taj Mahal."
               He said, "Forget about it. It is so beautiful that I will take pictures and see them at home! " But
           those pictures are available everywhere -- what is the need to come to the Taj Mahal? The direct
           vision is lost.
               Mulla Nasrudin's first child was born. I went to see him The Mulla was sitting with the boy, a
           small boy -- beautiful. I said, "How beautiful! "
               He said, "This is nothing -- you should see the photagraphs!"
               Phoney.... Everything becomes more and more indirect. Then it loses the touch of reality, the
           concreteness, the clarity. The it goes far away, far away.

                The answer can be true only if the question has bee really heard. Every day I come across
           somebody or other who says, "I want to meditate, I want to search, but nothing happens." He is
           complaining as if existence has not beer just to him -- "Nothing happens." But I look into his eyes his
           desire is phoney. In the first place he never wanted to meditate, he has come as part of a crowd.
           Somebody els was coming, a friend was coming, and he followed. Or ht had a holiday and he
           thought, "Let's go and see." Now nothing is happening.
                Nothing can happen because meditation, God and prayer are not questions of technique. You can
           learn the technique, bu nothing will happen unless the question has been heard first unless it has
           become a deep desire in you, for which you caL_ stake your life -- unless it has become a question of
           life and death, unless it penetrates to the very center of your being, unless it becomes a thorn in the
           heart, unless it becomes a deep anguish and pain. If the question is heard, then the answer....
                We can translate this sentence in two ways: FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH,
           AND TO SAY, REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. Either we can
           translate it, "RETURN: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," or "ANSWER: for the kingdom of
           heaven is at hand."
                And the kingdom of heaven is always at hand, it is its nature. It has nothing to do with Jesus'
           time: it is true right now, exactly as it was then. It was true before Jesus and it will always be true.
                The kingdom of God is ALWAYS at hand -- just grope. His hand has always been seeking you,
           but your hand is not groping. You answer, you return, and He is available. All that you need is
           available, only you are not ready to move towards it. You are afraid to lose something which you
           don't have, and because of that fear you cannot attain to that which has always been yours to take.

              AND JESUS, WALKING BY THE SEA OF GALILEE, SAW TWO BRETHREN, SIMON CALLED
              PETER, AND ANDREW HIS BROTHER, CASTING A NET INTO THE SEA: FOR THEY WERE
              FISHERS.
              AND HE SAITH UNTO THEM, FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN.
              AND THEY STRAIGHTWAY LEFT THEIR NETS, AND FOLLOWED HIM.


               This will come many times in Jesus' life. You will be surprised at the quality of people in whom
           and with whom he was moving. Simple people: farmers, villagers, fishermen, carpenters, but real
           people, not phoney.
               People who live with nature are real because with nature you have to be real, otherwise nature
           won't yield to you. With nature you have to be alive, otherwise you will not be able to cope with it.
           The more surrounded you are with unnatural things, the more unnatural you become. If you just live
           surrounded by mechanisms, you will become a mechanism yourself.
               It is said that a man is known by his company. I say to you: a man is MADE by his company. If
           you live surrounded by mechanical gadgets, as modern man is living, by and by you become unreal.
           If you live with nature -- with trees and rocks and the sea and the stars and the clouds and the sun --
           you cannot be unreal, you cannot be phoney. You HAVE to be real because when you are
           encountering nature, nature creates something in you which is natural. Responding to nature
           continuously, you become natural.
               A man who lives with nature is always trusting. A farmer who goes on sowing seeds has to trust.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           If he doubts, he will never sow the seeds -- because there are a thousand and one doubts possible:
           whether this year the earth is going to do the same as it did last year or not. And who knows? -- the
           earth may have changed its mind. Who knows if the rains are going to rain or not? Who knows about
           the sun -- whether it will rise tomorrow morning or not? Sitting in your easy chair surrounded by
           your books you can doubt, there is nothing at stake, but if a farmer working in the field with the
           earth doubts, he is lost; if a fisherman doubts, he is lost.
               Living with nature, trust arises. Trust is natural to man just like health is natural; doubt is
           unnatural just like disease is unnatural. A child is born trusting. I'm not talking about the modern
           child -- maybe a modern child is not born trusting because he is born in a climate of skepticism.
               I was reading a story one day: A mother was telling a story to her daughter -- the daughter was
           restless, it was getting late, and the mother was telling her a bedtime story to put her to sleep. The
           mother said. "There was a princess -- very charming, beautiful... and very wise, very loving. The
           whole court of the king loved and respected her. She was very kind, particularly to animals.
               One day she came across a frog in the courtyard. She became afraid that somebody might tread
           on him, so she brought the frog into her bedroom. And in the morning she was surprised: the frog
           had turned into a beautiful prince! And the prince asked her hand in marriage."
               At this point the mother looked at her daughter and felt, that she was completely skeptical. Her
           eyes, her manner, her face -- everything was saying, "No, I cannot believe it." Complete incredulity
           was on her face. So the mother said, "What? -- don't you believe it? "
               The girl said, "No... and I'll bet the princess' mother didn't either! "
               Today's climate is one of skepticism. Even a child is doubtful -- doubting, skeptical. In the old
           days, even old men were trusting; the whole climate was one of trust, faith. They were healthy
           people.
               Watch yourself -- whenever you doubt, something shrinks in you; you become small and tiny.
           You become hard, you become dead, and you are no longer flowing -- frozen. Whenever trust arises,
           you are again flowing. The blocks are melting and you expand, you become vast. Whenever you
           trust, you reach a peak of being alive, and whenever you doubt, you fall into death.
               Because modern man is lacking in trust, drugs have started to have so much appeal for him.
           There seems to be no other way to have the feeling of an expanded being and consciousness. Drugs
           are chemical methods to feel, for a few moments or a few hours, an expansion of consciousness.
           Trust gives it to you easily and freely. Trust gives it to you not for a few moments -- it becomes an
           eternal quality in you. And trust has no side-effects!
               If you ask me, I will tell you: trust is the only reliable drug if you want expansion of
           consciousness -- and those who have never known what expansion of consciousness is, have not
           lived yet. Consciousness can expand and can go on expanding, waves of bliss going to the very
           corners of existence, expanding with the infinity of existence. When you expand you become part of
           the whole; when you shrink you become an island.
           Those people were really simple, trusting:

              AND JESUS, WALKING BY THE SEA OF GALILEE, SAW TWO BRETHREN, SIMON CALLED
              PETER, AND ANDREW HIS BROTHER, CASTING A NET INTO THE SEA: FOR THEY WERE
              FISHERS.
              AND HE SAITH UNTO THEM, FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN.


              Nothing is strange about his saying this. The strange thing is:

              AND THEY STRAIGHTWAY LEFT THEIR NETS, AND FOLLOWED HIM.


               Such deep trust. Not for even a single moment did they doubt, for not even a single moment did
           they say, "What do you mean -- fishers of men? " Not for a single moment did they ask, "Who are
           you? By what authority do you speak?" No, it was not needed because they were simple fishermen.
           They must have looked at Jesus: his very presence was the authority.
               If you have eyes of trust, nobody can deceive you. You are deceived because of your doubt, and
           then you think that you need more doubt, otherwise people are going to deceive you more. Then you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are deceived more and a vicious circle is created. You doubt so that you will not be deceived but you
           are deceived because of your doubt.
               If you trust, nobody can deceive you. What do I mean when I say: if you trust, nobody can
           deceive you? Is your trust going to prevent somebody from deceiving you? No, but when you trust
           you have eyes to see: the deceiver will be revealed immediately -- naked.
               I would like you to remember this as a criterion: that a man who trusts cannot be deceived. If he
           is deceived then he must have some doubts within himself because only when the eyes are full of
           clouds of doubt are you not able to see. When you are capable of seeing and your vision is clear, the
           very presence of the person says whether he is a deceiver or not.

                They must have looked. The sun must have been rising on the sea, they were ready to throw their
           net into the sea. They must have looked back at this man: "What manner of man is this Jesus?"
                In that silent morning they must have felt the presence of this man Jesus. The presence was
           conviction; the presence was the proof. They threw away their nets, they straightway followed this
           man. In a single moment their whole life was turned completely upside down. In a single moment of
           vision they were converted.
                Jesus says: "Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. How long will you go on
           throwing your nets into the sea? How long are you going to just catch fish? I will make you fishers
           of men." And he did make them.
                It was almost unbelievable in those days -- it is almost unbelievable even now -- how Jesus
           transformed ordinary people into extraordinary people. Buddha transformed Mahakashyap,
           Sariputta, Modgalayan, Anand, but the credit goes more to Mahakashyap, Sariputta, Anand and
           Modgalayan and less to Buddha because they were rare beings. If Mahavir transformed Gautam,
           Sudharana, the credit goes more to the disciples because they were rare beings.
                But Jesus is tremendously powerful. Peter -- a fisherman, uneducated -- or Andrew or Matthew
           or Thomas or John -- all poor, uneducated people who would have been lost in any crowd and you
           would not have been able to find them. They were just stones, ordinary pebbles on the way, and
           Jesus transformed them into Koh-i-noors.
                Mahakashyap was a rare being in his own right; there is every possibility that even without
           Buddha he would have become a Buddha. It would have taken a little longer, maybe he would have
           taken a little more time, but it seems almost certain that he would have become a Buddha even
           without Buddha. But think of Simon called Peter or his brother Andrew. Nobody can conceive that
           without Jesus they could have become anything whatsoever.
                He not only promised, he DID the miracle. FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS
           OF MEN -- and more men have certainly been caught in the net Jesus has thrown into the sea of
           humanity than in any other net. Half of the world is caught in the net. All the apostles, all twelve of
           the apostles, were very ordinary, uneducated, common people, and upon them he built the whole
           structure.
                Peter, Simon called Peter -- Jesus has made him the very rock on which the whole of Christianity
           stands. The word 'Peter' means 'rock'. On Peter's rock the whole of Christianity stands and is
           supported by him. Yes, Jesus did make them fishers of men -- and not only fishers of men. He
           delivered more than he promised: he made them fishers of God. AND THEY STRAIGHTWAY
           LEFT THEIR NETS, AND FOLLOWED HIM.
                When Mahakashyap came to Buddha, he argued. When Mahakashyap came to Buddha he had
           five thousand of his own disciples, he was a great teacher in his own name. When Sariputta came he
           had thousands of disciples of his own, he was a great scholar. For years he waited and argued. They
           were not men of trust, they were men of doubt and skepticism -- very cultured minds, cultivated
           minds, geniuses in a way.
                But Jesus worked with ordinary mud and transformed it into gold. You cannot find a greater
           alchemist than Jesus. AND THEY STRAIGHTWAY LEFT THEIR NETS, AND FOLLOWED HIM
           -- this is the miracle.
                People went to Mahavir and argued, people went to Buddha and argued, because the whole
           Indian continent has been arguing for millennia. People have become trained here; they are born
           with philosophies. People come to me, very ordinary people, but they never come down below the
           level of BRAHMA, the ultimate. They talk about BRAHMA; it has become part of their blood.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But Jesus worked with very simple people. His VERY PRESENCE was the proof. In religion:
           presence is first, proof is second. In philosophy: proof is first, presence is second. Sariputta would
           open his eyes to Buddha only when Buddha had proved himself, argued for himself, when he had
           defeated Sariputta and his mind totally. Then he would open his eyes. Proof was first, presence was
           second.
               But with Jesus and the people he worked with -- they were not theologians, they were not
           philosophers, not 'argumentators' -- no. They were simple people, ordinary people of nature, just like
           trees and rocks and rivers. For them presence is first, proof is later. In fact, presence is the proof.
           They fell in love -- that's the only way to express it rightly. They looked at Jesus: they fell in love.
           When you fall in love, you follow. Then there is no question, then you simply follow, because your
           heart knows better than your mind can prove. Your heart has felt something, something of the
           mysterium, something of God. Your heart has felt the presence, something which is not of this earth.
           That is enough. You have tasted something... you simply follow. AND THEY STRAIGHTWAY
           LEFT THEIR NETS, AND FOLLOWED HIM.

              AND JESUS WENT ABOUT ALL GALILEE, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, AND
              PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, AND HEALING ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS AND
              ALL MANNER OF DISEASE AMONG THE PEOPLE.


               This has to be understood in a totally new light -- not the way Christians have been trying but in
           a totally new light, the new light that modern science has thrown on the phenomenon of disease.
               A disease, any disease, first arises deep in the mind and then moves towards the body. It may
           take a long time to come to the body, it is a long distance. You are not aware of it when it is in the
           mind, you become aware of it only when it strikes hard at the roots of the body. You always feel the
           disease in the body, but it always originates in the mind.
               You are not aware of it then, so you cannot do anything about it, but when it comes to the body
           then of course you start seeking a physician, some help. The physician, seeing it in the body, starts
           treating it in the body. It can be treated in the body -- but then some other disease will arise, because
           the treatment has not gone to the very source. You have been changing the effect, but not the cause.
               If it can be changed in the mind, then the disease will disappear from the body immediately.
           That's how modern research on hypnosis proves that every disease -- at least in principle -- can be
           transformed, changed, can be dropped, if the mind is changed. And the vice versa is also true: if the
           mind is convinced by hypnosis, then disease can be created also.
               Just two or three days before, somebody sent me an article of deep significance. One man -- one
           physician, a doctor in California -- has treated many patients with cancer just through the
           imagination. This is the first clue which opens the door.... And not one patient, many.
               What he does is he simply tells them to imagine -- -if they have cancer of the throat, he tells
           them to relax and imagine that the whole energy of their body is moving towards the throat, and the
           gland is being attacked by their energy. Just like arrows from everywhere, all over -- moving
           towards the throat and attacking the disease. Within three, four or six weeks the gland simply
           disappears without leaving a trace behind. And cancer is thought to be incurable!
               Cancer is a modern disease; it has come because of the stress, tension and anxiety of life. There
           has, in fact, been no cure for it up to now through the body. If cancer can be treated through the
           mind, then everything can be treated through the mind.

               Jesus' miracles happened because the people were very trusting. Once it happened: he was
           walking and a woman -- a very poor woman, afraid and apprehensive about whether Jesus would
           treat her or not, because he was always crowded by so many people -- the woman thought to herself,
           "Just touch Jesus' garment from behind." She did, and she was cured.
               Jesus looked back and the woman started thanking him. She fell at his feet and was very grateful.
           He said, "Don't be grateful to me, be grateful to God. Your faith has healed you, not I."
               The world was deep in trust; people were rooted in faith. Then just the idea that "If Jesus touches
           my eyes, they will be cured" -- the very idea becomes the root cause of the cure. It is not that Jesus
           cures; if you are skeptical then Jesus can't help, then he will not be able to cure you.
               I was reading a story. One day Jesus was running out of a town. A farmer working in his fields
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saw him running, so he inquired, "What is the matter? Where are you going?"
               But he was in such a hurry that he would not answer. So the farmer followed him, stopped him
           after a while, and said, "Please tell me, I have become too curious. If you don't tell me, then why you
           were running will haunt me again and again. Where are you going? From whom are you escaping?"
           Jesus said, "From a fool."
               The farmer started laughing. He said, "What are you saying? I know well that you have cured
           blind people, you have cured people who were almost dying -- I have heard that you have cured
           people who were dead already! Can't you cure a fool? "
               Jesus said, "No. I tried, but I can't because he is a fool and he won't believe. I have cured all sorts
           of illnesses and I have never failed, but with this fool I have failed. He goes on following me and he
           says, 'Cure me,' but I have tried every way that I know and everything fails. That's why I am
           escaping from the town."
               A fool cannot be cured... and a fool cannot be hypnotized. Ordinarily, amongst the common
           masses, the idea is prevalent that very intelligent people cannot be hypnotized. That is absolutely
           wrong. Only fools cannot be hypnotized, idiots cannot be hypnotized, mad people cannot be
           hypnotized. The greater the intelligence, the more possibility there is of your going deep into
           hypnosis -- because in hypnosis your trust is needed, the first requirement is your trust. The first
           requirement is your cooperation, and an idiot, a madman, cannot cooperate and cannot trust.

                Jesus could do miracles. Those miracles were simple; they happened because people were
           trusting. If you can trust, then the mind starts functioning from within, spreads to the body and
           changes everything. But if you can't trust, then nothing can help.
                Even ordinary medicine helps you because you trust it. There has been an observation that
           whenever a new medicine is invented it works very well for six months to two years -- people are
           affected by it -- but after six months, eight months, ten months, it doesn't work so well. Physicians
           have been worried -- what happens?
                Whenever a new medicine is invented you believe in it more than in an old medicine. Now you
           know the panacea is there "... and I will be helped by it." And you are helped! The trust in a new
           medicine, a new discovery, helps. They talk about it on TV, on the radio, in the newspapers, and a
           climate of trust and hope is there. But after a few months, when many people have taken it -- and a
           few fools have also taken it, which cannot be helped -- then a suspicion arises, because this man has
           taken the medicine and nothing happened. These fools then create an anti-climate, and after a while
           the medicine loses its effect.
                Even more than medicine, the physician helps if you trust him. Have you watched that whenever
           you are ill and the doctor comes, if you trust the doctor then you feel relief just by his coming? He
           has not given any medicine up to now. He has just been checking your body -- blood pressure, this
           and that -- and already you feel that fifty percent of the disease is gone. A man you can trust has
           come. Now there is no need to carry the burden on yourself. You can leave it to him and he will see
           to it. But if you don't trust the physician, he cannot do anything.
                In medicine, they call a certain false medicine 'placebo'. It is just water -- or something which has
           nothing to do with the illness -- but if it is given to you by a physician you trust, it helps as much as
           the real medicine; there is no difference. Mind is more powerful than matter; mind is more powerful
           than the body.

              AND JESUS WENT ABOUT ALL GALILEE, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, AND
              PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, AND HEALING ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS AND
              ALL MANNER OF DISEASE AMONG THE PEOPLE.
              AND HIS FAME WENT THROUGHOUT ALL SYRIA: AND THEY BROUGHT UNTO HIM ALL SICK
              PEOPLE THAT WERE TAKEN WITH DIVERS DISEASES AND TORMENTS, AND THOSE WHICH
              WERE POSSESSED WITH DEVILS, AND THOSE WHICH WERE LUNATICK, AND THOSE THAT
              HAD THE PALSY; AND HE HEALED THEM.
              AND THERE FOLLOWED HIM GREAT MULTITUDES OF PEOPLE FROM GALILEE, AND FROM
              DECAPOLIS, AND FROM JERUSALEM, AND FROM JUDAEA, AND FROM BEYOND JORDAN.


               Jesus was less a teacher and more a healer. A healer not only of the body, not only of the mind,
           but of the soul also. He was a physician, a physician of the soul. That's what every Master has to be.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You are divided within yourself, you are fragmentary, you are not whole. If you become whole,
           you will be healed. If the tensions for the future and the accumulated tensions of the past disappear
           from within you, you will be healed, your wounds will disappear. If you can be in the present you
           will be whole, fully alive, utterly alive, and a deep delight will happen to you.
               Jesus is not a philosopher, teaching some dogma to people. He is a physician. not a philosopher.
           He is trying to teach trust and if trust happens, everything becomes possible. He goes on saying: "If
           you have faith, faith can move mountains." It may not be the mountains that exist outside, but the
           mountains of ignorance, the mountains of ugliness, the mountains of unconsciousness that exist
           within. He does not have a creed, a dogma. He is, rather, releasing a healing force through himself.
           His whole effort is to help you to return to God. That's why he said, "Don't be thankful towards me.
           Thank God."
               Then, too, he says, "Your faith has healed you." Not even God can help to heal you -- only your
           faith. His insistence is on faith. And remember the distinction between belief and faith: belief is in an
           idea; faith is in total reality, faith is a reverence for the whole. Belief is of the mind; faith is of your
           totality.
               When you believe in God, you believe in the God of philosophers. When you believe in God,
           God is an idea, a doctrine. It can be proved or disproved and it will not transform you. But if you
           have faith, it has already transformed you. I will not say that it WILL transform you. If you have
           faith, it has ALREADY transformed you.
               Faith knows no future, it is immediately effective. But faith is not of the head. When you have
           faith, you have faith in your blood, in your bones, in your marrow, in your heart. In your whole
           being, you have faith. A man of faith is a man of God.
               Jesus' whole effort is how to bring you back home. Yes, God is shouting through him: "Enthrone
           me! " If you have faith, you will become available and God will be enthroned in you. That is the
           only way of being blissful. Unless God is enthroned in you, you will remain a beggar, you will
           remain poor, you will remain ill. You will never be whole and healthy, and you will never know the
           ecstasy of existence. You will never be able to dance and laugh and sing, and just be.
               Only if God is enthroned in you -- that means if you are dethroned and God is enthroned. So
           there is this choice, the greatest choice that ever encounters man: either to continue yourself on the
           throne... or dethrone yourself, and let God come in.




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #6
                                           Chapter title: The luxury of God
           26 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510260
              ShortTitle: FOLL106
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




              WHAT IS THE NEED FOR SECRECY IN MASTERDISCIPLE RELATIONSHIPS AND ALSO IN
              ORDINARY HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS?


              THE BEING HAS TWO SIDES, the without and the within. The without can be public, but the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           within cannot be. If you make the within public, you will lose your soul, you will lose your original
           face. Then you will live as if you have no inner being. Life will become drab, futile. It happens tO
           people who lead a public life: politicians, film actors. They become public, they lose their inner
           being completely, they don't know who they are except what the public says about them. They
           depend on others' opinion, they don't have a sense of their being.
                One of the most famous actresses, Marilyn Monroe, committed suicide, and psychoanalysts have
           been brooding on the reason why. She was one of the beautiful women ever, one of the most
           successful. Even the President of America Kennedy, was in love with here, and she had thousands of
           lovers. One cannot think of what more you can have. She had everything.
                But she was public and she knew it. Even in her love chamber when President Kennedy would be
           there she used to address him as Mr. President -- as if one was making love not to man, but to an
           institution.
                She was an institution. By and by she came aware that she had nothing private. Once somebody
           asked here -- she had just posed for a nude calendar and somebody asked, "Did you have anything on
           while you posed for the nude calendar?"
           She said, "Yes, I had something on. The radio."
                Exposed, nude, no private self. My feeling is that she committed suicide because that was the
           only thing left she could have done privately. Everything was public, that was the only thing left she
           could do on her own, alone, something absolutely intimate and secret. Public figures are always
           tempted towards suicide because only through suicide can they have a glimpse of who they are.
                All that is beautiful is inner, and the inner means privacy. Have you watched women making
           love? They always close their eyes. They know something. A man goes on making love with open
           eyes, he remains a watcher also. He is not completely in the act, he is not totally in it. He remains a
           voyeur, as if somebody else is making love and he is watching, as if the love-making is going on a
           TV screen or in a movie. But a woman knows better because she is more delicately tuned to the
           inner. She always closes her eyes. Then love has a totally different fragrance.
                Do one thing one day: run the bath and then switch on and off the light. When there is darkness
           you will hear the water falling more clearly, the sound will be sharp. When the light is on, the sound
           will be not so sharp. What happens in darkness?
                In darkness, everything else disappears because you cannot see. Only you and the sound are
           there. That's why, in all good restaurants, light is avoided; sharp light is avoided. They are candle-lit.
           Whenever a restaurant is candle-lit, taste is deeper: you eat well and you taste more. The fragrance
           surrounds you. If there is very bright light the taste is no longer there. The eyes make everything
           public.
                In the very first sentence of his METAPHYSICS, Aristotle says that sight is the highest sense of
           man. It is not. In fact, sight has become too domineering. It has monopolized the whole self and it
           has destroyed all the other senses. His master -- Aristotle's master, Plato -- says that there is a
           hierarchy in the senses: sight at the top, touch at the bottom. He is absolutely wrong. There is no
           hierarchy.
                All senses are on the same level and there should not be any hierarchy. But you live through the
           eyes: eighty percent of your life is eye-oriented. This should not be so; a balance has to be restored.
           You should touch also, because touch has something which eyes cannot give. But try: try to touch
           the woman you love or the man you love in bright light and then touch in darkness. In darkness, the
           body reveals itself; in bright light, it hides.
                Have you seen Renoir's paintings of feminine bodies? They have something miraculous in them.
           Many painters have painted the feminine body, but there is no comparison with Renoir. What is the
           difference? All other painters have painted the feminine body as it looks to the eyes. Renoir has
           painted it as it feels to the hands, so the painting has a warmth and a closeness, an aliveness.
                When you touch, something happens very close. When you see, something is far away. In
           darkness, in secrecy, in privacy, something is revealed which cannot be revealed in openness, in the
           marketplace. Others are seeing and observing; something deep within you shrinks, it cannot flower.
           It is just as if you put seeds down on the open ground, for everybody to look at. They will never
           sprout. They need to be thrown deep in the womb of the earth, in deep darkness where nobody can
           see them. There they start sprouting and a great tree is born.
                Just like seeds need darkness and privacy in the earth, al} relationships which are deep and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intimate remain inner. They need privacy, they need a place where only two exist. Then a moment
           comes when even the two dissolve and only one exists.
                Two lovers deeply in tune with each other dissolve. Only one exists. They breathe together, they
           are together; a togetherness exists. This would not be possible if observers were there. They would
           never be able to let go if others were watching. The very eyes of others would become the barrier. So
           all that is beautiful, all that is deep, happens in darkness.
                In ordinary human relationships, privacy is needed. And when you ask about the relationship of a
           Master and disciple, even more privacy is needed because it is a transmission of the highest energy
           possible to man. It is the highest peak of love, where one man pours himself into another and the
           other becomes a receptive womb. Even a slight disturbance -- somebody watching -- will be enough
           of a barrier.
                Secrecy has its own reason to be there. Remember that, and always remember that you will
           behave very foolishly in life if you become completely public. It will be as if somebody has turned
           his pockets inside-out. That will be your shape -- like pockets turned inside-out. Nothing is wrong in
           being outward but remember, that is only part of life. It should not become the whole.
                I am not saying to move in darkness forever. Light has its own beauty and its own reason. If the
           seed remains in the dark forever and ever, and never comes up to receive the sun in the morning, it
           will be dead. It has to go into darkness to sprout, to gather strength, to become vital, to be reborn,
           and then it has to come out and face the world and the light and the storm and the rains. It has to
           accept the challenge of the outside.
                But that challenge can only be accepted if you are deeply rooted within. I am not saying to
           become escapists, I am not saying to close your eyes, move within and never come out. I am simply
           saying: go in so that you can come out with energy, with love, with compassion. Go in so that when
           you come out you are not a beggar, but a king; go in so that when you come out you have something
           to share -- the flowers, the leaves.
                Go in so that your coming out becomes richer and is not impoverished. And always remember
           that whenever you feel exhausted, the source of energy is within. Close your eyes and go in.
                Make outer relationships; make inner relationships also. Of course there are bound to be outer
           relationships -- you move in the world, business relationships will be there -- but they should not be
           all. They have their part to play, but there must be something absolutely secret and private,
           something that you can call your own.
                That is what Marilyn Monroe lacked. She was a public woman -- successful, yet completely a
           failure. While she was at the top of her success and fame, she committed suicide. Why she
           committed suicide has remained an enigma. She had everything to live for; you cannot conceive of
           more fame, more success, more charisma, more beauty, more health. Everything was there, nothing
           could be improved upon, and still something was lacking. The inside, the within, was empty. Then,
           suicide is the only way.
                You may not be daring enough to commit suicide like Marilyn Monroe. You may be very
           cowardly and you may commit suicide very slowly -- you may take seventy years to commit it. But
           still it will be a suicide. Unless you have something inside you which is not dependent on anything
           outside, which is just your own -- a world, a space of your own where you can close your eyes and
           move, and you can forget that anything else exists -- you will be committing suicide.
                Life arises from that inner source and spreads into the sky outside. There has to be a balance -- I
           am always for balance. So I will not say, like Mahatma Gandhi, that your life should be an open
           book -- no. A few chapters open, okay. And a few chapters completely closed, completely a mystery.
           If you are just an open book you will be a prostitute, you will just be standing in the marketplace
           naked, with just the radio on. No, that won't do.
                If the whole book is open, you will just be the day with no night, just the summer with no winter.
           Then where will you rest and where will you center yourself and where will you take refuge? Where
           will you move when the world is too much with you? Where will you go to pray and meditate? No,
           half and half is perfect. Let half of your book be open -- open to everybody, available to everybody
           -- and let the other half of your book be so secret that only rare guests are allowed there.
                Only rarely is somebody allowed to move within your temple. That is how it should be. If the
           crowd is coming in and going out, then the temple is no longer a temple. It may be a waiting room in
           an airport, but it cannot be a temple. Only rarely, very rarely, do you allow somebody to enter your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           self. That is what love is.


               SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT I AM DOING HERE, SITTING BEFORE YOU. AND THEN
               SUDDENLY YOU ARE TOO MUCH FOR ME, TOO MUCH LIGHT AND LOVE. YET I WANT TO
               LEAVE YOU. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS TO ME?


               Yes. The question is bound to happen to everybody some day or other.
               What are you doing here? The question arises because my emphasis is not on doing; I am
           teaching you non-doing. The question is relevant. If I was teaching you something to do, the
           question wouldn't arise because you would be occupied. If you go to somebody else -- there are a
           thousand and one ashrams in the world where they will teach you something to do. They will not
           leave you unoccupied at all because they think that an unoccupied mind is the devil's workshop.
               My understanding is totally, diametrically, opposite. When you are absolutely empty, God fills
           you. When you are unoccupied, only then you are. While you are doing something, it is just on the
           periphery. All acts are on the periphery: good and bad, all. Be a sinner -- you are on the periphery; be
           a saint -- you are on the periphery. To do bad you have to come out of yourself; to do good you also
           have to come out of yourself.
               Doing is outside, non-doing is inside. Non-doing is your private self, doing is your public self. I
           am not teaching you to become saints, otherwise it would have been very easy: don't do this, do that;
           just change the periphery, change your acts.
               I am trying a totally different thing, a mutation -- not a change from one part of the periphery to
           another part of the periphery, but a transmutation from the periphery to the center. The center is
           empty, it is absolutely void. There, you ARE. There is being, not doing.
               It is bound to happen to you sometimes: sitting before me you will wonder what you are doing
           here. Nothing -- you are not doing anything here. You are learning how to just be, not to do -- how
           not to do anything: no action, no movement... as if everything stops, time stops. And in that
           non-moving moment you are in tune with the present, you are in tune with God.
               Actions become part of the past. Actions can be in the future, they can be in the past, but God is
           always in the present. God has no past and no future. And God has not done a thing: when you think
           that He has created the world, you are creating His image according to yourself. You cannot remain
           without doing anything -- you become too restless, it makes you too uneasy -- so you have conceived
           of God also as a creator.
               Not only as a creator -- Christians say that for six days He created and on the seventh day,
           Sunday, He rested: a holiday. The Bible says God created man in His own image. Just the reverse
           seems to be the case: man has created God in his own image. Because you cannot remain
           unoccupied, you think: what will God do if He is not creating the world? And because you get tired
           by doing, you think God must also have gotten tired after six days -- so on the seventh day He rested.
               This is just anthropomorphic. You are thinking about God just as you would think about
           yourself. No, God has not created the world; the world comes out of His non-activity, the world
           comes out of His non-doing. The world is a flowering of God, just like a tree.
               Do you think a tree is creating the flowers -- making much effort, doing exercises, planning,
           asking the experts? The tree is not doing anything at all. The tree is just there, absolutely
           unoccupied. In that unoccupied state, the flower flowers by itself. And remember, if some day trees
           become foolish -- as foolish as man is -- and they start trying to bring the flowers, then flowers will
           stop coming. They will not come because they always come effortlessly.
               Just watch a flower: can you see anything of effort in it? The very being of a flower is so
           effortless, it simply opens. But we cannot conceive of it. The birds singing in the morning: do you
           think they go to Ravi Shankar to learn? Do you think they are doing something in the morning when
           they start singing? No, nothing of that sort. The sun arises, and out of their emptiness the song arises.
           The greatest miracle in the world is that God has created without doing a thing. It is out of
           nothingness.
               I was reading about the life of Wagner, a German composer and great musician. Somebody asked
           Wagner, "Can you say anything about the secret of why you have created such beautiful music -- and
           how? "
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Wagner said, "Because I was unhappy." He said, "If I had been happy, I would not have written
           down a single note." He said, "People who are unhappy have to fill their lives with imagination
           because their reality is lacking something." And he is right in many ways. People who have never
           loved write poetry about love. It is a substitute. If love has really happened in life, who bothers to
           write poetry about it? One would be a poem himself; there would be no need to write it.
                Wagner said, "Poets write about love because they have missed love." And then he made a
           statement which is tremendously meaningful. He said, "And I think God created the world because
           He was unhappy." A great insight -- but the insight is relevant to man, not to God.
                If you ask me, God created the world -- in the first place, He is not a creator but a creativity; but
           to use the old expression -- God created the world not because He was unhappy, but because He was
           so happy that He overflowed; He had so much.
                The tree is flowering there in the garden not because it is unhappy. The flower comes only when
           the tree has too much to share and does not know what to do with it. The flower is an overflowing.
           When the tree is not well-fed, not well-watered, has not received the right quota of sunlight and care
           and love, it doesn't flower because flowering is a luxury. It happens only when you have too much,
           more than you need. Whenever you have too much, what will you do? It will become a heaviness, it
           will be a burden; it has to be released.;The tree bursts and blooms, it has come to its luxurious
           moment.
                The world is the luxury of God: a flowering. He has so much -- what to do with it? He shares, He
           throws it out, He starts expanding, He starts creating.
                But remember always, He is not a creator like a painter who paints. The painter is separate from
           the painting. If the painter dies, the painting will still live. God is a creator like a dancer: the dance
           and the dancer are one. If the dancer stops, the dance stops.
                You cannot separate the dance from the dancer, you cannot say to the dancer, "Give your dance
           to me, I will take it home. I am ready to purchase it." The dance cannot be purchased. It is one of the
           most spiritual things in the world because it cannot be purchased. You cannot carry it away, you
           cannot make a commodity out of it. When the dancer is dancing, it is there; when the dancer has
           stopped, it has disappeared as if it never existed.
                God IS creativity. It is not that He created somewhere in the past and then stopped and rested.
           And since then what has He been doing? No, He is continuously creating. God is not an event, He is
           a process.
                It is not that once He created and then stopped. Then the world would be dead. He is
           continuously creating, just like birds are singing and trees are flowering and the clouds are moving in
           the sky. He is creating -- and He need not take any rest because creativity is not an act; you cannot
           be tired. It is out of His nothingness.
                This is the meaning when we have said in the East that God is emptiness. Only nothingness can
           be infinite; somethingness is bound to be finite. Only out of nothingness is an infinite expanse of life,
           existence, possible -- not out of somethingness. God is not somebody: He is nobody or, more
           correctly, nobodiness. God is not something: He is nothing or, even more correctly, no-thingness. He
           is a creative void -- what Buddha has called SUNYA. He is a creative void.
                What am I teaching to you? I am teaching you the same: to become creative voids, non-doers,
           delighters in just being. That is why the question is bound to come to everybody's mind sometime or
           other. You ask: "Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here." You wonder rightly -- you are doing
           nothing here. Your mind may supply answers, but don't listen to them. Listen to my answer. You are
           not doing anything here; I am not teaching you to do something. Your mind may say that you are
           learning meditation: you are doing meditation, yoga, this, that or you are trying to achieve
           enlightenment, satori, SAMADHI -- all nonsense.
                This is your mind supplying because the mind is an achiever, the mind cannot remain without
           activity. The mind goes on creating some activity or other. Earn money; if you are finished with that,
           then earn meditation -- but earn. Achieve something, do something.
                You become afraid when you are not doing anything, because then suddenly you are face to face
           with the creative void. That is the face of God. You are in a chaos, you are falling in an infinite abyss
           and you cannot see the bottom. There is none.
                Sitting before me, what are you doing? Just sitting. That is the meaning of ZAZEN. In Zen they
           call meditation 'zazen'. Zazen means just sitting, doing nothing. If you can just sit near me that is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enough, more than enough; nothing else is needed. If you can just sit without doing anything -- not
           even doing thinking or dreaming -- if you can just sit near me, that will do everything.
           "Suddenly you are too.much for me," you say. Yes, if you just sit I will be too much -- because if
           you just sit, suddenly I will be flowing within you. If you just sit, you will immediately become
           aware of light and love, and then you will say, "I want to leave you," because you are afraid of love
           and light.
               You have become a denizen of darkness. You have lived in darkness so long that your eyes are
           afraid. No matter what you say -- that you would like to live in the light -- your deep-rooted habits
           shrink and say, "Where are you going? " You have a great investment in darkness.
               All your knowledge is related to darkness. In light you will be absolutely ignorant. All your
           wisdom and experience is out of darkness; in light you will be naked, nude. All that you know
           belongs to darkness; in the light you will find yourself just like an innocent babe, a small child, not
           knowing anything.
               You have lived in bondage and now you are afraid to be free. You go on talking about freedom
           and MOKSHA -- absolute freedom -- but if you watch yourself you will know that whenever
           freedom comes your way, you escape. You become afraid. Maybe you talk about freedom just to
           deceive yourself; maybe it is a substitute, the substitute Wagner is talking about.
               You are in bondage; you have never known freedom. You talk about freedom, you sing songs of
           freedom and through those songs you have a vicarious satisfaction -- as if you have become free. It is
           an as-if freedom. But with me it is not going to be as-if, it is going to be a reality. You become afraid
           of the reality.
               You go on asking for love, but when it comes you escape because love is dangerous. One of the
           greatest dangers in life J is love. The mind can become settled with marriage, but not
               with love. t The mind always wants law, not love. The mind always
               loves order, not the chaos that love is. The mind wants to remain in security, and love is the
           greatest insecurity you
               can come across. Whenever love comes you become afraid to the very roots, you shake and
           tremble, because that love, if allowed to enter in you, will destroy your mind. The mind
               says: "Escape! Escape immediately! " The mind is trying to save itself.
               You have lived too deeply in contact with the mind and you have become too attached. You
           think that whatever the mind says is right; you are confident that whatever is security for mind is
           security for you. There is the whole misunderstanding. The death of the mind will be life for you,
           and the life of the mind is nothing but death for you.
               The identity has to be broken. You have to become aware that you are not the mind. Only then
           can you be near me, only then will the effort to leave and escape dissolve. Otherwise you can find
           reasons to leave, but those reasons will all be phoney. The real reason will be this: that you were not
           able to let light come in, you were not able to let love come in and destroy your mind and destroy
           your ego and give you a rebirth.


              YOUR TEACHING SEEMS TO BE: TO BE ABSOLUTELY ONESELF. THIS IS BEYOND ME. HOW
              CAN ONE BE ONESELF IF ONE IS NOT ONESELF?


               Let me ask you another question: how can you not be yourself? You can believe it, but you
           cannot be anything other than yourself. You can think that you are somebody else, you can imagine
           that you are somebody else, but all the time you are just yourself, nothing else.
               So whether you believe you are yourself or not is irrelevant. You remain, all the time, yourself.
           You can go on running and chasing shadows, but one day or the other you will have to realize that
           you have just been doing an absurd thing.
               How can you be other than yourself7 How? You ask me how one can be oneself. I ask you how
           one can be other than oneself -- and in my questioning is the answer. Nobody has even been other
           than himself; nobody can ever be other than himself. To be oneself is the only way to be, nothing can
           be done about it.
               You can believe.... It is just like you sleep at night in Poona and you dream that you are in
           Philadelphia. That doesn't make any change in reality. You remain in Poona -- here, somewhere in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mobo's. You remain in Poona; Philadelphia remains just a dream. In the morning you will not wake
           up in Philadelphia, remember. You will wake up in Mobo's, in Poona. Howsoever miserable, but it is
           the case! Nothing can be done about it; at the most you can again dream of Philadelphia.
               You are gods. That is your reality. You can believe... you have believed in many things.
           Sometimes you believed you were a tree -- many trees are still believing that. Sometimes you
           believed you were an animal: a tiger, a lion. There are a few people who belong to Lion Clubs --
           Lion Bhabhutmal Sanghvi. They are not satisfied in being men -- lions! Sometimes you believed that
           you were a lion, and then you WERE a lion: a dream. Sometimes you believed that you were a rock
           and you WERE a rock: a dream. You have been changing your dreams.
               Now the time has arrived. Wake up! I'm not giving you another dream, remember. You hanker
           for it, you would like me to give you another dream, but I am not going to give you another dream.
           That's why to be with me is difficult and arduous -- because I am insisting that you wake up. Enough
           is enough. You have dreamed a lot; since eternity you have been dreaming. You have just been
           changing dreams. When you get fed up with one dream, you start changing it; you dream another
           dream. My whole effort is to shake you, to shock you -- to wake you.
               It is not a question of achieving any new thing. It is already your being. Just opening the eyes,
           just dropping the dreams, just dropping the clouds and the vision. It is a question of clarity and
           understanding, that's all. Between you and Jesus, between you and me, between you and Buddha,
           there is no difference of being -- nothing. You are exactly the same. The difference, at the most, is
           that you are asleep and Jesus is not asleep, that's all.
               So don't ask me how to be oneself; you cannot be otherwise. Just ask me how to be awake. You
           are yourself ALL THE TIME! Just become a little more alert, just bring a new quality of waking
           consciousness -- just watch. Don't try to be anything because that will again be a dream. Just watch:
           whosoever you are, wheresoever you are, just watch and be... and allow it. Then the happening, the
           sudden happening, can come any moment. The heavens can open and the spirit of God, like a dove,
           can enter in you.
               In fact, this is just a way of saying something that cannot be said. It can be said in just the
           opposite terms also. Let me say it: that when John the Baptist initiated, baptized, Jesus -- Jesus
           opened and the spirit of God, like a dove, was released from him and flew into the infinite sky. That
           is also exactly the same truth. It is just a way of saying it from two polarities.
               You are gods and you have never been anything else. That's why I am not worried if you want to
           sleep a little longer. Nothing is wrong; the choice is up to you. You can have a little more sleep --
           turn over and have a little more sleep; snore a little longer -- nothing is wrong. But don't try to
           improve, don't try to achieve anything. Don't try to become anything because you are already that
           which you can become! The being is your only becoming, you carry your destiny within yourself.
           Relax... and be.


              ARE YOU STILL LEARNING TOO?


               Yes, because if learning stops, you are dead. Learning is life. You can ask me, "Are you still
           alive? " -- that will be the same question.
               The ego is a perfectionist and the ego thinks that when you have attained, when you have become
           enlightened, then there is no learning; then you know all. But if you know all, that 'all' will be finite.
           Just by being known it has become finite.
               You cannot know the infinite. The infinite simply means that you can go on learning and
           learning and learning and the end never comes, it is an eternal journey. It begins, but it never ends.
               But then the ego thinks: then what is the difference when we are also learning? The difference is
           that you are learning while fast asleep, unconscious, and a man who is enlightened learns
           consciously. Your learning is not knowing; your learning is knowledge, dead information. A man
           who is awakened -- his learning is not like knowledge; his learning is simply knowing.
               He is like a mirror. The mirror goes on mirroring. A bird flies before a mirror and the mirror
           mirrors it. Is there a point where you can say, "Now the mirror is perfect. It mirrors nothing"? When
           the mirror is perfect it will mirror perfectly, that's all.
               When you are awakened, you learn perfectly. Not that you stop learning, not that you have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become perfect and now there is nothing more to know -- just the contrary. The more you know, the
           more there is to know; the more you open your eyes, the more the infinite surrounds you. It is an
           infinite journey.
               I am still learning. And I am happy, I would not like it to be otherwise. I would not like to come
           to a point where I could say, "I have known all," because that would be death. Then what? -- then the
           river is frozen, then it no longer flows. No, a perfect river goes on flowing; it is never frozen. I will
           go on learning, Buddha and Jesus are still learning. It has to be so.
               Mahavir is still learning, notwithstanding what Jains say. They say that he has known all, he has
           become all-knowing, because their ego is involved. Their Master: how can he still be learning? That
           means he is still not perfect. So Jains say Mahavir has known all, he has become a SARVAGYA --
           all-knowing, omniscient. This is their ego, not Mahavir.
               If you say to Christians that Jesus is still learning, they will be very angry. The son of God, the
           only begotten son of God -- how can he be still learning? He knows all! But I tell you, he is still
           learning because he is still alive, alive with the infinity -- learning infinitely, but of course learning
           perfectly.
               This is very difficult to understand because your ego always seeks goals and if learning continues
           forever and ever, then there is no goal. But I tell you, that's how life is. Life has no goal, it is an
           ever-flowing river: always reaching, but never reaching; always arriving -- but every arrival becomes
           a new departure.
               Go to the Himalayas. You trek, you move, you go high to the peak. All the time you were
           trekking up, there was no peak beyond it. Then you reach the peak and many more peaks are
           revealed. You go on and on and on; it is an ongoing Process.
               God is the process. Even God is learning. It has to be so, otherwise He will be stupid. He is not
           stupid, He is learning. He is evolving -- and that's beautiful. Nothing is static, everything is dynamic.
           That's what I mean when I say: don't say 'God is', always say 'God is happening'. Don't use a static
           term; don't use a noun for Him -- use a verb. Say, "He is happening"; say, "He is learning"; say, "He
           is evolving"; say, "He is a process, He is a river," and you will have struck truth.
               Yes, I am continuously learning. Every moment life is so tremendously beautiful and so
           tremendously vast, so tremendously infinite and so tremendously mysterious. To say that one has
           known all will be sacrilegious.


              WHY DID JESUS CONSTANTLY TALK IN OBSCURE PARABLES WHICH BAFFLED EVEN HIS
              DISCIPLES MOST OF THE TIME? WAS THIS A DELIBERATE TECHNIQUE? WHY COULDN'T HE
              BE MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD LIKE YOU?


               Whoever told you that I am straightforward? While listening to me you may get that impression.
           Think and meditate on it later on: you will find me more baffling than Jesus. At least he is
           consistent!
               And never ask such questions because these questions show that you are sitting as a judge. Why
           did Jesus do this or that? If you cannot leave even Jesus out of your judgement, how will you be able
           to leave out anybody else? Why can't you accept things as they are? " Why is this flower white and
           not red?" -- is it not a foolish question? This flower is red, that flower is white -- why?
               A small child was walking with D. H. Lawrence in a garden and the child asked, "Why are the
           trees green?"
               D. H. Lawrence looked at the child and said, "They are green because they are green!"
               Jesus is Jesus, I am me. Jesus is not there to follow me, nor am I there to follow him. And it is
           good that everybody is unique, otherwise life would be a boredom, a monotony. But people are
           foolish -- they go on co *ming to me and asking me: "Why did Buddha say this, why did Mahavir
           never say this?" But Mahavir is Mahavir, Buddha is Buddha. The Ganges flows towards the east and
           the Narmada goes on flowing towards the west -- what to do? If all the rivers were flowing towards
           the east, do you think the world would be better? Just think of a world with four thousand million
           Buddhas -- can you think of anything m ore boring? They would start committing suicide: wherever
           you went you would meet your replica, wherever you would look it would be as if you were always
           looking in the mirror -- only people exactly alike.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               No, it is good that everybody is unique. Why do you hanker after such things? Jesus is-beautiful
           in his parables; without parables he would not be beautiful, without parables something would be
           missing. He is one of the most beautiful storytellers.
               And of course the beauty of a parable is that it baffles the reason. But you are childish: you think
           that a story is perfect when the story gives you the conclusion, the motto. You are just like
           schoolchildren who can't be satisfied unless the story comes to a conclusion, and unless there is an
           exact mathematical conclusion to it. Then they are satisfied, but then the story is dead. A perfectly
           concluded story is dead.
               A parable tries to show something, not to say it. It indicates very indirectly; the conclusion has to
           be supplied by you. It leaves a gap, it gives you some space to find out the conclusion. A parable is
           creative. When a story is totally complete (like two plus two equals four) then it gives no scope for
           your imagination, no scope for your meditation. Then it is simply mathematical. It is no longer
           poetic, it is dead.
               You would like for somebody to say absolutely, exactly, what he means, but that which is the
           ultimate meaning cannot be shown to you. The ultimate meaning is always going to be indirect,
           indicated -- said and yet not said. You feel a vague something, but it is never concrete. If it becomes
           concrete, it is of this world. If it remains vague, and you follow it and you try to find out the clue, in
           the very effort to find the clue you rise above it -- you have already entered into another world.
               A parable is not an ordinary story: it is symbolic, it is creative. If you listen to it, if you try to
           understand it, your understanding will become greater than it was before you heard it. An ordinary
           story remains below your understanding; you can understand it perfectly because it has nothing
           beyond it. Parables are of the beyond: one step within your mind, one step without -- another step
           beyond. It is a persuasion.
               Jesus constantly talks in parables. He really wants to baffle you because he is talking about
           something which is ineffable, elusive -- mysterium. He is talking about the mysterious. Gaps have to
           be left for you to fill. Parables should be like puzzles which challenge you, and through the
           challenge, you grow.
               And never compare: Why is Jesus like this? The trees are green because they are green. Jesus is
           just Jesus-like, and he is not like anybody else.
               That is what I have been continuously insisting for you to be also: just be yourself, never be
           anybody else. Never be a Christian, never be a Hindu, never be a Jain, because then you are
           following a pattern and you will miss your soul. The soul is yours -- individual, unique -- and the
           pattern is public, collective, social. Never try to be somebody else. Just try to find out who you are
           and allow it, accept it, welcome it, delight in it, relish it, so that it is nourished, so that it grows.
           Through you, God is trying to become somebody He has never tried before.
               God is not repetitive; His creativity is infinite. He never drives the same model again -- He is not
           a Henry Ford. He is absolutely inventive; every day He goes on trying the new, the fresh. He never
           bothers to repeat a model again, He always goes on improving. He is a great innovator. That's what
           creativity is. So don't try to become a Jesus -- because then God won't receive you.
               One Hassid was dying. His name was Josiah. Somebody asked him, "Have you prayed to God,
           have you made your peace with God? Are you certain that Moses will be a witness to you? "
               Josiah looked at the questioner and said, "I am not worried about Moses because when I am
           facing God I know perfectly well that He will not ask me, 'Josiah, why were you not a Moses?' He
           will ask me. 'Josiah, why were you not a Josiah?' So I am worried about myself. Stop talking
           nonsense! Moses -- what am I to do with Moses? My whole life has been wasted in it. Now I am
           dying and I am facing the real question that He will ask me: 'Were you a Josiah or not? I made you to
           be somebody special, somebody unique. Did you achieve that peak or not? Have you missed the
           opportunity?'"
               God will certainly ask you. "Were you able to become yourself?" No other question can be
           asked.
               Don't ask such questions: "Why did Jesus constantly talk in obscure parables?" He loves it that
           way! And a parable has to be obscure, dim, candle-lit. Too bright a light kills a parable; too much
           analysis kills. It is poetry.
           "Was this a deliberate technique?" You can never go beyond the technique, you are too obsessed
           with the technique. Everything becomes a technique to you. This is the way Jesus is, it is not a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           question of technique. He is not following a certain technique -- he is not a follower of Dale
           Carnegie, he has never read the book HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. He is
           not following a technique, he was not an American.
               In America, everything has become a technique. Even if you want to make love you go and learn
           the technique. Can you imagine a more unfortunate day for humanity? Even animals don't ask. They
           know perfectly well how to make love, they don't go to a school to learn the technique. But in
           America, everything has become a technique. How to be friendly -- even that has to be learned. Is
           man so completely lost that even friendship has to be learned?
               People come to me and I go on saying to them, "Laugh!" They ask me how to laugh. How to
           laugh? -- learn from Swami Sardar Gurudayal, he is a perfect master! But I have come across the
           rumor that people don't allow him to laugh. They say, "Our meditation is disturbed." Because of
           laughter your meditation is disturbed? Then it is not worth anything.
               You have to learn everything. I think sooner or later you will have to learn how to breathe. It is
           possible because you follow many other things in the same way. You have to ask how to sleep, how
           to relax. They were natural one day, just like breathing. Go and ask a primitive: he will simply laugh
           if you ask, "How do you go so deeply into sleep?"
               He will say, "What a foolish question! I simply put my head down and go to sleep. There is no
           HOW to it."
               But you will say, "Still, there must be a trick because I try hard and nothing happens. You must
           be knowing a secret which you are hiding."
               He is not hiding anything; that's how it happens. He simply puts down his head and goes to sleep.
           There is no gap between these two states.
               One day or another, man is going to ask how to breathe and then, if you say, 'You just breathe;
           there is no HOW to it," he will not believe you. How to love, how to live, how to laugh, how to be
           happy -- these are all simple things, no HOW is needed. These are natural things, they are not
           techniques.
               This is how Jesus is. He loves the way he says his parables. He loves it! He knows he has an
           intrinsic knack of telling parables.
               A parable is not arithmetic. It should not be too clear, otherwise the point is lost. It should be a
           persuasion, it should not be an advertisement. It should not argue because then the point is lost --
           then why not argue, why say a parable? It should not give proofs, it should only supply hints; and
           that, too, not completely. Just a few hints so that your being is challenged, you become alert.
               I have heard about Chuang Tzu that he was talking to his disciples and many of them were fast
           asleep, as disciples are. It must have been late at night and they were tired, and Chuang Tzu was
           saying difficult things that were beyond them. When something is beyond you, it seems better to rest
           and sleep than to bother with it.
               Suddenly Chuang Tzu became aware that many of the disciples were fast asleep and it was
           useless. They were even snoring and disturbing him. So he told a parable. He said: "Once it
           happened that a man had a donkey and he was travelling on a pilgrimage towards some holy place.
           But he was very poor, and it came to pass that he was hungry. No money was left, so he sold the
           donkey, on which he was riding, to another traveller who was rich. But the next afternoon, when the
           sun was very hot, the first owner rested in the shadow by the side of the donkey.
           "The second owner said, 'This is not good. You have sold the donkey.'
           "The first owner said, 'I have sold the donkey, but not the shadow.' "
               Everybody became alert -- nobody was asleep, nobody was snoring. When you talk about
           donkeys, donkeys hear it immediately! Chuang Tzu said, "I am finished with the story. Now I come
           to my point."
           But they all said, "Wait! Please finish the story."
               Chuang Tzu said, "It was a parable, not a story. You are more interested in donkeys than you are
           in me".
               Now everybody was throbbing with excitement: "What happened? Then what happened?" -- but
           Chuang Tzu left it there, he never completed it. It was not meant to be completed, it was just an
           indication that the human mind is more interested in stupidities than in higher values and higher
           things, more interested in foolish things.
               But I loved it. It was beautiful of him. He brought all the stupid minds to a certain point -- to an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           indication, to a hint.
               Jesus talks in parables for many reasons. But those reasons are not techniques. You can think
           about them, but they are not techniques. It simply happened naturally to him, he was a good
           storyteller.
               But you can think about the reasons he talked in parables. The first: great things can be said if
           you create a drama around them. If you say them without the drama they fall flat. That's why stories
           have a tendency to live, to live forever and ever. The Vedas may disappear, but RAMAYANA, the
           story of Ram, will not disappear. It is a story; it will be preserved. The Upanishads may disappear,
           but the parables of Jesus will remain. They hang around you, they become a climate.
               You never forget a beautiful story. It is just like -- if you sing a beautiful song, you will
           remember it better than if it was prose. If it is poetry, it is remembered well. Somehow it fits with the
           deepest quality of your mind. If it is a parable, if there is a drama in it, it has a tendency to cling to
           you. It will come again and again and again; it will become an inner climate.
               Bare principles are soon forgotten. And in the days of jesus, books were not written. All that
           Jesus was saying was recorded many, many years afterwards. For those many, many years it was just
           in the memory of the people who had heard him.
               A parable can be remembered well. You will forget what I say, but you will never forget the
           parables, the anecdotes, the jokes. You may forget Mahavir and Moses, but you will not forget Mulla
           Nasrudin. Mahavir is too far away; Mulla is your neighbor. Mahavir may be somewhere in
           MOKSHA, Mulla is just within you. He is you; you can recognize yourself in him.
               So there may be reasons, but don't be bothered about them. It is Jesus' way, and it is good that he
           never tried anybody else's way.
               In Judaism there were Prophets, great prophets: Jeremiah, Ezekiel.... They had their own way.
           Even John the Baptist never used any parable.
               This has to be understood. Prophets are something special to Judaism. They don't exist anywhere
           else. Mystics are everywhere: Buddha is a mystic, not a prophet; Mahavir is a mystic, not a prophet.
           A mystic is one who has attained to God; a prophet is one to whom God has come. It exists only in
           Judaism -- the concept of prophets -- because only in Judaism does God seek man. In all other
           religions, man seeks God.
               When man seeks God and finds Him, he is a mystic. When God seeks man and finds him, he is a
           prophet. When man comes to God he is a mystic; when God comes to man he is a prophet. When the
           drop drops into the ocean he is a mystic. When the ocean drops into the drop then he is a prophet.
               A prophet is a very mad and fiery man. Of course, he has to be: the ocean has come to him.
           Jeremiah, Ezekiel, John the Baptist -- they are prophets, mad people, mad people of God. They speak
           fire, they don't talk in parables. Their sentences are acidic; they will burn you.
               They cannot soothe you. Buddha is very soothing, Krishna is just like a lullaby that surrounds
           you, soothes you, consoles you, heals you. A prophet simply burns you with an unknown desire,
           makes you mad.
               Jesus is both a prophet and a mystic, one who has come to God and one to whom God has also
           come. Sometimes he talks like John the Baptist and sometimes he talks like Krishna. Sometimes he
           soothes and sometimes he wounds. He is a very deep balancing phenomenon: a prophet and a mystic
           both. That's why you will find in him a synthesis. You will find in him all that is in Judaism -- all
           that is beautiful and great -- and you will find in him all that is beautiful in Krishna, Buddha,
           Mahavir; Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism.
               Jesus is a culmination point, as if all the religions of the world meet in him and reach to a
           crescendo. He talks sometimes as a prophet: he invokes, provokes -- he calls you. But that is not his
           only quality. He soothes; he says parables; he consoles; he gives you a lullaby. He wakes you, and he
           helps you to sleep. But that is the way he is. All explanations are explanations after the fact,
           remember. The basic thing is that this is the way he is, and no other way is possible for him.
               Socrates was poisoned. The court decided that he should be murdered, but the people loved him
           very much -- even in the court almost half of them were in favor of him. So they gave him an
           opportunity. They told him, "If you stop talking about the truth, if you keep quiet, you can be
           pardoned and your death can be avoided."
               Socrates said, "That will be impossible. That will be more deathly than death, because to talk
           about truth is the only way I know to be. It will be worse than death. So please kill me, because if
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you leave me and you say I have to keep quiet, it will be impossible. That's not the way I am.
           "To talk about truth is the only business I know -- the ONLY business I know. It is the only way I
           am. I cannot promise that I will stop talking truth because even if I stop, even in my silence only
           truth will be spoken. So I cannot promise that. You better kill me" -- and he was killed.
               This is very meaningful. A Socrates is a Socrates. A Socrates is a Socrates, and there is no other
           way. All explanations are explanations AFTER. But don't be bothered about them. Love if you can --
           and if you cannot love Jesus, forget about him and find somebody else you can love. Don't be
           bothered about explanations and reasonings and proofs.
               Only love will help you to understand, nothing else. When you love a person -- whosoever he is:
           Jesus or Krishna -- when you love a person, you immediately understand that that's the way he is.
           Then you don't want him to be otherwise. Love never wants to change anybody. Love accepts,
           understands.


              IS THERE ANY MYSTERY BEHIND YOUR ANSWER WHEN YOU ALSO TELL THE NAME OF THE
              QUESTIONER? PLEASE EXPLAIN IT -- BUT PLEASE DON'T TELL MY NAME BECAUSE
              SOMETIMES IT IS TOO HEAVY.


               This is from a sannyasin.... I will not tell you the name, because deep down she wants her name
           to be told. This is not the first time she has asked the question; I have been avoiding this question
           many times.
               Deep down she wants her name to be told so that it becomes a part of history, part of the record.
           This is her last effort now. She is trying to play a trick by saying, "Please don't tell my name," so that
           I can be provoked.
           But you cannot provoke me....




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                   Chapter #7
                               Chapter title: I am not come to call the righteous
           27 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510270
              ShortTitle: FOLL107
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 99 mins




              MATTHEW 9
              9 AND AS JESUS PASSED FORTH FROM THENCE, HE SAW A MAN, NAMED MATTHEW,
              SITTING AT RECEIPT OF CUSTOM: AND HE SAITH UNTO HIM, FOLLOW ME. AND HE AROSE,
              AND FOLLOWED HIM.
              .10 AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS JESUS SAT AT MEAT IN THE HOUSE, BEHOLD, MANY
              PUBLICANS AND SINNERS CAME AND SAT DOWN WITH HIM AND HIS DISCIPLES.
              11 AND WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT, THEY SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, WHY EATETH
              YOUR MASTER WITH PUBLICANS AND SlNNERS?
              12 BUT WHEN JESUS HEARD THAT, HE SAID UNTO THEM, THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT
              A PHYSICIAN, BUT THEY THAT ARE SICK.
              13 BUT GO YE AND LEARN WHAT THAT MEANETH, I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND NOT
              SACRIFICE: FOR I AM NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS TO REPENTANCE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              LUKE 9



              23 AND HE SAID TO THEM ALL, IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF,
              AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, AND FOLLOW ME.
              24 FOR WHOSOEVER WILL SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL LOSE IT: BUT WHOSOEVER WILL LOSE HIS
              LIFE FOR MY SAKE, THE SAME SHALL SAVE IT.
              25 FOR WHAT IS A MAN ADVANTAGED, IF HE GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIMSELF,
              OR BE CAST AWAY?


                RELIGION IS BASICALLY, essentially, a rebellion. It is not conformity, it is not belonging to
           any organization, society, church, because all belonging comes out of fear -- and religion is freedom.
           There is fear in being alone. One likes to belong -- to a nation, tb a church, to a society, because
           when you belong to the crowd you forget your loneliness. It does not disappear, but you become
           oblivious to it. You deceive yourself, you create a dream around you, as if you are not alone. You
           remain alone all the same; this is just an intoxicant.
                Religion is not an intoxicant. It does not give you unconsciousness, it gives you awareness. And
           awareness is rebellious. When you become aware, you cannot belong to any society, to any nation, to
           any church, because when you become aware you become aware of the austere beauty of aloneness.
           You become aware of the music that is continuously happening within your soul... but you have
           never allowed yourself to be alone to hear it, to be in rapport with it, to be one with it.
                Religion is not conformity because all conformity is mechanical. You do certain things because
           you are expected to do them. You do them because you have to live with people and you have to
           follow their rules; you do them because you have been conditioned to do them. You go to church,
           you go to temple, you pray, you follow rituals, but everything is empty. Unless your heart is in it,
           everything is dead and mechanical. You may do everything exactly as it is prescribed, with no error
           -- it may be perfect -- but then, too, it is dead.
                I have heard that President Kennedy had to sign so many letters, autographs and personalized
           pictures that a small mechanism was invented for him. The machine used to sign for him, and the
           signature was so perfect that no expert was able to say which was mechanical and which was true --
           not even President Kennedy himself was able to say which was false and which was true. Malcolm
           Muggeridge reports that when Kennedy was killed they forgot to turn the machine off, so it
           continued. The President continued to sign personalized letters even when he was dead. A
           mechanism is a mechanism.
                You become a Christian: then you become a mechanism. You go on behaving as if you really
           loved Christ, but that 'as if' has to be remembered. You become a Buddhist: you go on behaving as if
           you follow Buddha, but that 'as if' should not be forgotten. Your signature may be perfect, but it is
           coming out of a dead mechanism.
                Religion is not conformity. Conformity is between the individual and the past, and religion is
           something between the individual and the present -- poetry is something between the individual and
           the future. Conformity means to conform with those people who are no more, the dead -- to conform
           with Moses, with Mahavir. Now to conform with jesus is a dead thing; you are conforming with the
           past. If you relate to the present, it is totally different. It revolutionizes you; it gives you a rebirth.
                Conformity is between the individual and the society. Religion is something between the
           individual and existence itself. Society is our creation: God created Adam -- not humanity; God
           created Eve -- not humanity. God creates individuals; humanity is our fiction.
                But the fiction can take possession of you and you can forget the real and cling to the fiction. I
           know persons who want to love humanity and they cannot love another human being. Where is
           humanity and how are you going to love humanity? You can only make empty gestures in the air.
                Humanity is nowhere. Wherever you come across it, you will come across real, concrete human
           beings. Humanity is an abstraction, a mere word. It has no reality in it -- a soapbubble, nothing more.
           You can only come across real human beings. To love a real human being is very difficult, but to
           love humanity is very easy. It is almost as if you love nobody. To love humanity is equal to loving
           nobody. Then there is no problem, no difficulty.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Religion is something that happens between you and the concrete existence. It is not concerned
           with fictions. And religion is not tradition. Tradition belongs to time; religion belongs to eternity. To
           move into religion you have to move in the eternal now. Religion has no history. In this, the West
           has to learn something from the East.
                In the East we have never bothered about history. The reason... the reason is simple. All history
           is about time, that which happens in time is recorded in history. History is a dead book. We have
           never bothered about history because religion belongs to eternity: you cannot record it as an event; it
           is an eternal process. You can only record the essential fact of it, the essential truth of it, not the
           ripples that are made in the river of time.
                That's why if you go to a Jain temple and see the twenty-four TEERTHANKARAS you will be
           confused about who is who. They all look alike. You will not be able to make any sense out of it --
           why do these twenty-four TEERTHANKARAS of the Jains all look alike? They cannot be alike --
           they existed in different ages, they were different individuals -- but we have not bothered about
           events in time. 'Body' is an event in time. The difference in bodies is past history, but the innermost
           being, which is in eternity, is the same within me, within you, within everybody. The form differs,
           but the innermost center is the same. Those twenty-four TEERTHANKARAS in the Jain temples say
           something about the innermost being. That's why they have been sculptured to be similar. Look at
           Buddha. He also looks like Mahavir: there is no difference. They are not facts, they are truths.
                Religion is not concerned with facts, it is concerned with truth. The facts can be learned from
           books -- truth, never. If you become too involved with the facts, your eyes will be clouded and
           confused, and you will not be able to know the truth. Beware of facts! -- they can lead you astray.
           Sort out the truth. Always try to find the truth; don't be bothered too much about facts. Facts are
           irrelevant.
                That which changes is the fact and that which remains always the same is the truth. Your body is
           a fact: one day you were a child, now you are a young man or an old man; one day you were born,
           one day you will die -- the body changes. But the YOU who abides in the body, who has made it a
           temporary abode -- that 'you' is eternal, that is the truth. It is formless, it has no qualities. It is
           immortal; it is eternity.
                Religion is not a tradition, so you cannot borrow religion. You will have to risk yourself; you
           will have to earn it. You will have to stake your life for it; that is the only way there is. You cannot
           get it cheap. If you want to get it cheap, you will get a counterfeit.
                Religion is not consolation. It is, on the contrary, a challenge: God challenges man, God haunts
           man, God goes on crying, "Return! Enthrone me!" He will not leave you at rest. He will go on
           knocking at your doors; He will go on creating storms in your being, in your spirit; He will go on
           stirring you. He will not allow you to settle for anything less. Unless you attain to the ultimate you
           will not be allowed to rest. Religion is a challenge, it is a great storm. It is like death; it is not a
           consolation.
                The so-called religions, the organized religions, are consolations. They console you, they hide
           your wounds. They don't stir you, they don't call and invoke you. They don't ask you to be
           adventurous, they don't ask you to be daring, they don't attract you to move in a dangerous life. They
           are like lubricants.
                In a society with so many people you need lubricants around you so that there is not so much
           conflict. You can move easily, movement is not very difficult, and you don't rub against your
           neighbor. No conflict arises -- the lubricant goes on flowing around you.
                You go to church as a lubricant. It helps, it helps in a social way; it is a formality. If you fulfill it,
           you become respectable. It is just like becoming a member of the Rotary Club -- it is respectable, it
           helps. You become a member of a church and that too helps. You become a member of a religion
           and that too helps. People think you are religious.
                When people believe you are religious, then you can deceive them more easily. When you have a
           garb around you of religiousness, you have a potential weapon with you. Your religion is a
           consolation to yourself and a respectability. In fact it is politics, a diplomacy -- part of your struggle
           to survive, part of your ambition, part of the whole politics of the ego. It is power politics.
                These things have tc be remembered when you try to understand Jesus. Religion is not morality
           either. Morality, again, is just the rules of the game. Those who want to play the game of society
           have to follow the rules of it -- just like when you play cards you have to follow certain rules. Not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that those rules have any ultimacy about them, not that they come from God. You create the game;
           you create the rules, you follow the rules. But if you want to play, you have to follow the rules.
               Morality has nothing ultimate in it. That's why every society has its own morality, every culture
           has its own morality. One thing can be moral in India and immoral in America; another thing can be
           moral in America and may be immoral in India. If morality was really real, then it could not differ.
               In India, to divorce a woman or a man is immoral. It is not thought to be good. Once you are
           married you have to live with your partner. But in America, if you live with a woman you don't love,
           it will be thought immoral. If you don't love, then it is immoral to sleep with that woman. Only love,
           only a deep love, allows you to be with the woman. Otherwise, leave her. Don't deceive her; don't
           waste her life.
               Morality is a game; it changes. From society to society, age to age, period to period, it goes on
           changing. It depends, it has nothing ultimate about it.
               But religion is ultimate. It has nothing to do with America or India. It has something to do with a
           new consciousness within the individual. It is a sunrise in the individual, it is a new being arising and
           expanding in the individual. You have a new look, you have new eyes through it. You can see the
           old problems, but they disappear. Not that they are solved -- they simply disappear, they dissolve.
           With a new eye, they cannot be there. You have a new vision, a new dimension.
               These things have to be remembered because when a Jesus -- a man like Jesus -- comes, these
           things become the problem.
               I have heard an Arabian proverb: it says -- "Show a man too many camels' bones, or show them
           to him too often, and he will not be able to recognize a camel when he comes across a live one."
           "Show a man camels' bones too many times, or too often, and" -- the Arabian saying says -- "that
           man will not be able to recognize a camel when he comes across a live one." This happens when a
           Jesus comes to the world. You have seen so many phoney priests, you have seen so many
           hocus-pocus preachers, you have seen so many scholars, not knowing anything but creating much
           fuss about it, that when a Jesus comes you cannot recognize him. Whenever a Jesus or a Buddha
           comes, it becomes almost impossible to recognize him. For the majority, it is almost impossible.
           Only a few rare beings who have some potentiality or who are a little alert -- only they can have a
           few glimpses:
               To recognize a Jesus is a great achievement because that means you have a certain consciousness
           which can relate to Jesus. You have a certain quality which can relate to Jesus: you are already on
           the way to becoming a Jesus yourself. You can only recognize that which you already have within
           you -- opening, flowering. It may be just a bud, but you can recognize a little bit; your eyes are not
           completely closed.
               There are priests who are Pretenders. To them, religion is a trade. It is a livelihood, not their life.
           To Jesus, religion is life; to the rabbis, to the priests, it is a livelihood. Then there are scholars who
           go on talking about nothing -- and they can talk so much, they are so articulate, that you will never
           be able to recognize the fact that, deep within, they are empty.
               I have heard about one international competition. A competition was arranged and essays were
           invited from many countries. The subject of the competition was 'The Elephant'. The Englishman
           immediately went to South Africa with cameras and a group of followers, and he investigated the
           whole thing. He came back after six months and wrote a book -- wellprinted, illustrated. The title of
           the book was HUNTING THE ELEPHANT IN SOUTH AFRICA.
               The Frenchman never went anywhere. He simply went, every day, to visit the elephant house in
           the zoo in Paris. After two or three weeks he started to write a book -- a very carelessly printed book,
           not even hard-cover, just a paperback. The title of the book was THE LOVE LIFE OF THE
           ELEPHANT.
               The Indian, who had been appointed by the Indian Government, was a man who had never seen
           an elephant because he had always remained in the Himalayas. He was a great yogi and poet and
           Sanskrit scholar. He never even went to the zoo. He wrote a big book, a great treatise. The title was
           THE DIVINE ELEPHANT. It was written in the form of poetry and he quoted great Sanskrit books,
           from the Vedas to Shree Aurobindo. Anybody who read the book had the impression that this man
           had never seen an elephant. He was a poet, he may have seen one in his dreams. He talked about the
           elephant which was seen by Buddha's mother before he was conceived -- mythology, a white
           elephant.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And last of all, the Germans. They appointed six professors of philosophy to write the book.
           They went all over the world, to all the museums and libraries, to study everything that is written
           about the elephant. They never went to see any elephant or any zoo -- just museums and libraries.
           They searched all over, they took almost six years, and they wrote a book -- twelve volumes, almost
           an Encyclopaedia Britannica. The title of the book was A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE
           STUDY OF THE ELEPHANT! Professors of philosophy -- what do they have to do with elephants?
           And that, too, a short introduction -- a prolegomena. It was not even about the elephant. It was just
           an INTRODUCTION to the study of the elephant.
                When a Jesus comes, you are already too much in the know. You have read the books, you have
           listened to the scholars, you have listened to the priests. You are too full of ideas and when Jesus, or
           a man like Jesus, comes, you simply cannot recognize him. The live animal is there and you have
           become too addicted to the dead bones. To recognize Jesus means you will have to put aside all that
           you know already.
                Jesus was not murdered by bad men, he was not murdered by criminals; he was murdered by
           very respectable rabbis. In fact, religious people killed him. Religion is never in danger from
           irreligious people because they don't bother about it. Religion is always in danger from the so-called
           religious, because their whole life is at stake. If Jesus is right, then all the rabbis are wrong. If Jesus
           is right, then the whole tradition is wrong. If Jesus is right, then the whole Church is wrong.
                Everybody stands against Jesus. Jesus is always alone, very alone. You cannot understand his
           aloneness. Whatsoever you know about aloneness is a physical aloneness. Sometimes no one is in
           the house, the house is dark, and you are alone. The electricity has also gone so you cannot put on
           the light, you cannot put on the radio or the TV. You are suddenly thrown into aloneness. But this is
           a physical sense of aloneness; you don't know what Jesus feels.
                He is spiritually alone, amidst strangers, where it is so difficult to find a friend who will
           recognize you. He goes on looking into each and everybody he meets on the path, penetrating,
           gazing deep in the eyes. Nobody recognizes him, nobody understands him. Rather, people
           misunderstand him. They are ready to jump into misunderstanding, but nobody is ready in any way
           to understand him.
                Whenever there is a religious being, the so-called religious are all against him. They would like
           to kill him immediately so the danger is avoided and their security again becomes certain.
                Remember, he was killed by very good people! You go... it is still the same. Go around Poona
           and ask the so-called good people: you will always find them against me. They have to be. Their
           whole way of life is in danger. They are afraid to even listen to me, because who knows? -- a truth
           may strike home. They won't come near me, they won't read my books; they cannot take that much
           risk. They always have opinions of their own.
                One day it happened: I witnessed a beautiful scene. A man was talking to Mulla Nasrudin. The
           man said, "Why are you so miserly and so stingy towards your wife?"
                Mulla said, "You must have heard something wrong about me because, as far as I know, I am
           generally a very generous man."
                The man became angry, because whenever you challenge anybody's opinion he becomes angry.
           He became angry and he said, "Stop defending yourself. Everybody in the whole town knows that
           you are too hard on your wife. Even for day-today expenses she has to beg you like a beggar. And
           stop defending yourself. Everybody knows it!"
                Nasrudin said, "Okay, if you are so angry, I will not defend myself. But can I say one thing, just
           one thing?"
           The man said loudly, "What?"
           Nasrudin said, "That I am not married."
                Since that day that man is against Nasrudin. Once I met him and I told him that since Mulla
           Nasrudin is not married, the whole thing is baseless. "Your whole argument is baseless. Why are you
           angry?"
                He said, "It makes no difference, it is only a question of time. Wait, sooner or later he will be
           married and then I will be right! I am still telling the truth. It is only a question of time. Wait, my
           opinion cannot be wrong."
                People cling to their opinions. They are baseless but still they cling. The more baseless the
           opinion, the more people cling to it. If it is based on right grounds there is no need to cling; it is true
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in itself. When it is baseless your clinging is needed because only your clinging can become the
           base. Remember always, if you know something is true, you never get angry if somebody contradicts
           it. You get angry in the same proportion as you know it is not true. Anger shows that you have just a
           mere opinion, no knowledge.
                People were very much against Jesus because he was ruining all their edifices. They were
           thinking their houses were built on rocks and just his presence showed them that their houses were
           built on sand, they were already falling. They jumped on him, they killed him. He was not killed by
           the political powers, he was killed by the pseudo-religious powers, by the priests.
                This is my understanding: that if religion has disappeared in the world today, it is not because of
           science -- no. It is not because of atheists -- no. It is not because of rationalists -- no. It is because of
           pseudo-religion. There is too much pseudoreligion and it is so bogus, phoney, that only people who
           are phoney can be interested in religion. People who have even an iota of reality will go against it,
           they will rebel.
                Real people have always been rebellious, because reality wants to assert its being, to express its
           freedom. Real people are not slaves. Remember this, then we will enter into the sutras.

               AND AS JESUS PASSED FORTH FROM THENCE, HE SAW A MAN, NAMED MATTHEW, SITTING
               AT THE RECEIPT OF CUSTOM: AND HE SAITH UNTO HIM, FOLLOW ME. AND HE AROSE, AND
               FOLLOWED HIM.


               The whole thing seems to be a little unreal. The world has changed so much. It looks more like
           drama than real life. Jesus comes and says to a man who is sitting in the customs, working there --
           maybe a clerk or somebody -- he simply looks at him and says, "Follow me." AND HE AROSE,
           AND FOLLOWED HIM. It looks like a drama, not reality; because the reality that we know today is
           absolutely different. The world has changed, the human mind has changed.
               The human mind has been trained for three centuries to doubt. Before Jesus, for centuries
           continuously, the human mind lived on trust, lived on the simplicity of the heart. People's eyes were
           clear. This Matthew, an ordinary man, must have looked into Jesus' eyes, the way he walked, the
           presence that he brought with himself, the penetrating look that stirred the heart. It touched
           something deep.
               It rarely happens today. I come across so many people, but rarely do I see a person so open that
           whatsoever I say simply reaches to the heart and becomes a seed immediately, with no time wasted.
           Otherwise, people are protecting.
               They come to me and they say they would like to surrender, they would like to follow me, but I
           see a great armor around them -- very subtle, but from everywhere they are protecting. They won't
           allow any space for me to enter in them. If I try too hard, then they become too protective. They go
           on saying that they would like to relax and let go: their mouths say something, their bodies show
           something else. Their thoughts are one thing; their reality is just the opposite.
               People were simple in Jesus' time. They must have just looked, and when Jesus said, "Follow
           me," they simply followed. It was natural. When these gospels were written, those who were writing
           these gospels were not aware that some day these things would look fictitious. It was so natural in
           those days that the gospel writers could not imagine that some day the thing would look false, would
           not sound rea].
               It is happening now all over the world. Move with Buddha -- a different quality of humanity
           surrounds him.
               Prasanjit, a king, came to see Buddha. He was Buddha's father's friend -- both were kings -- and
           when he heard that his friend's son had renounced the world, he was very worried. When Buddha
           came to his capital town, he went to see him and to persuade him. He said to Buddha, "What have
           you done? If you are not happy with your father, come and be in my palace. Get married to my
           daughter -- I have only one daughter -- and this kingdom will be yours. But don't move like a beggar;
           it hurts. You are the only son of your father -- what are you doing? Both these kingdoms will be
           yours. Come to my home."
               Buddha looked into Prasanjit's eyes and said, "Just one question. Have you attained to any
           happiness through your kingdom? Just say YES or NO. If you say YES, I follow you. If you say NO,
           then you have to follow me."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Prasanjit fell to Buddha's feet and said, "No. I renounce; initiate me. I leave all this" -- a very
           different quality of immediacy.
               The same thing happened to me, the same. One of my father's friends was a lawyer, a very
           cunning lawyer. When I came back home from the university, of course my parents were worried.
           They wanted me to get married and settle, but they didn't want to say it directly to me. They knew
           that to say it directly would be like interfering in my life, and they are very non-aggressive -- silent,
           simple. So they thought about their friend and they asked the friend to come.
               He came with all his arguments ready -- he was a lawyer! He said, "If I convince you that
           marriage is a must, will you get married? "
               I said, "Of course. But if you cannot, then are you ready tc leave your wife and children?"
               The man had not thought of that! He said, "Then I will have to think."
               He never came back. The quality of the mind has changed -- otherwise there was an opportunity
           for him, an opening of the sky. I waited and waited, but he never came. He became afraid because
           everybody knows that life, as you have lived it, has not given you anything. But one needs courage
           to say that, because just in saying that, a deep renunciation happens. You have already moved on
           another path once you realize the fact that life, as you have lived it, has been futile, fruitless,
           irrelevant.

               Saith Jesus unto him: FOLLOW ME. AND HE AROSE, AND FOLLOWED HIM. What a
           beautiful world, what a beautiful consciousness! You can have that consciousness, and through it
           everything becomes possible, even the impossible becomes possible.
               Try. Drop the doubts, because whenever you doubt you are destructive. Doubt is destructive;
           trust is creative. Doubt kills, doubt is poison. Trust gives you life, life abundant, infinite life, because
           when you trust you relax.
           In trust there is no fear, in trust there is no
           ht the whole opportunity is lost in who struggle. You let go, you flow with the river. You don't even
           swim, the river takes you to the ocean. It is already going to the ocean. You fight unnecessarily and,
           through fight, you destroy your energy. Through fight you get frustrated and through fight the whole
           opportunity is lost in which you could have danced, in which you could have celebrated. The same
           energy becomes a struggle. The same energy can become surrender.

              AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS JESUS SAT AT MEAT IN THE HOUSE, BEHOLD, MANY PUBLICANS
              AND SINNERS CAME AND SAT DOWN WITH HIM AND HIS DISCIPLES.


               This has to be understood. It is a very delicate point: that whenever a man like Jesus is on the
           earth, sinners recognize him before your so-called righteous people -- because sinners have nothing
           to lose except their sins. Sinners don't have opinionated minds; they don't have theologies and
           scriptures. Sinners have a sense that their lives have been futile, sinners have an urgency to repent
           and return.
               But the so-called respectable people -- trustees of temples and churches, mayors, politicians,
           leaders, pundits, scholars -- have much to lose and no urgency of being, no intensity to transform
           themselves -- no desire in fact. They are dull and dead. Sinners are more alive than your so-called
           saints, and sinners are more courageous than your so-called saints. To come near, to come close to
           Jesus, needs courage.
               Have you watched that your so-called saints are not really religious, but simply people who are
           afraid? Afraid of hell, afraid of God's punishment... or greedy, greedy and ambitious to achieve
           heaven: the awards and blessings of God. But they are not truly religious. When you are truly
           religious you don't bother about hell and heaven, you don't bother about anything. This very moment
           you are so deeply in heaven -- who bothers about the heaven which comes after death?
               Sinners are more courageous, they risk. And, BEHOLD, many PUBLICANS AND SINNERS
           CAME AND SAT DOWN WITH HIM AND HIS DISCIPLES.

             AND WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT -- the respectable people, the righteous -- THEY SAID
           UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, WHY EATETH YOUR MASTER WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Their mind is always concerned with such foolish things: with whom you are eating, with whom
           you are sitting. They don't look directly into Jesus; they are more interested in whom he is sitting
           with. He is sitting with sinners -- that is their problem now. Jesus does not create any ripple in their
           being, but the sinners create anxiety. How can they come and sit with this Master?
               Sinners are there. The condemned people for whom they have invented hell are sitting there.
           Your so-called saints won't allow those sinners to be so close -- never. They would not like to be in
           their company at all. Why? Why are your saints so afraid of sinners?
               They are afraid of their own inner fear, afraid that if they are with sinners it is more possible that
           the sinners WILL CONVERT THEM than the possibility of the sinners being converted by the
           saints. They are afraid. They are afraid of the sinner inside them. That's why there is the fear of the
           sinner outside. Always remember that whatsoever you say ultimately refers to you, not to anything
           else. If you are afraid to go to a place where drunkards gather together, it shows simply that you have
           a certain tendency towards alcohol, intoxicants, and you are afraid. Otherwise why fear? -- you can
           be at ease there. Nobody can corrupt you except yourself.
               THEY SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES.... This too has to be remembered: they didn't say it to
           him. I know those Pharisees who are around. They will say it to you, they will not come to say it to
           me. They say it to the disciples -- because even to come to Jesus to say it is dangerous. The man may
           hypnotize you, it is risky -- just talk to the disciples. Such impotent people have become important;
           they hold all the key posts in the world, they hold all power, and they are absolutely impotent. They
           are not even ready to come and face Jesus.
               WHY EATETH YOUR MASTER WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS? -- as if sinners are not
           human beings. And as if they themselves are not sinners. Who is there who can say, "I am not a
           sinner"? To be here in this world is to be somehow or other involved in sin. Nobody can claim
           otherwise.
               When the whole humanity is involved in sin, how can you be out of it? You are part. If sin is
           happening somewhere, I am part of it because I am part of humanity. I create the climate -- maybe a
           very tiny part of it, but I also create the climate. A Vietnam happens: I am part of it; I am the sinner.
           How can I think of myself as out of it? Whatsoever any human being is doing anywhere, he is part of
           me and I am part of him. We are members of each other.
               A real saint always feels humble because he knows that he is also a sinner. Only a false saint
           feels proud and thinks that he is above. Nobody is above. If there is any God, He must be part of
           your sin also. And He knows it, because He is involved in you. He beats in your heart, He breathes
           in you, and if you commit sin, He is a part of it. Only so-called saints -- dummies, not real -- can
           think otherwise and be proud.

              BUT WHEN JESUS HEARD THAT, HE SAID UNTO THEM, THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT A
              PHYSICIAN, BUT THEY THAT ARE SICK.


               He simply said, "Those who are sick need the physician. I am the physician, so the sick people
           have come to me." It should be the criterion: around a saint, sinners will gather together. This should
           be the criterion. If you see a saint and only respectable people are around him, he is no saint at all.
           The physician is false, because whenever a great physician comes into the world, people who are ill
           are bound to rush to him. They are bound to crowd the man because their need is there. They want to
           be whole and healed, and the physician has come.
               THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT A PHYSICIAN, BUT THEY THAT ARE SICK. But
           the reverse is not true, remember. A sinner needs a saint, but if you think that you don't need a saint,
           it does not mean that you are not a sinner. A sick man seeks a physician and there is no need for a
           healthy man to seek a physician, but, just by not seeking a physician, don't deceive yourself that you
           are healthy. Remember that the reverse is not true. That's why in the next sutra Jesus says:

              BUT GO YE AND LEARN WHAT THAT MEANETH...


              He said, "This is the truth: sinners are bound to seek me and sick people are bound to come to
           me. I am a physician of their soul. Those who are healthy, I am not for them; they need not come.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           BUT GO YE AND LEARN WHAT THAT MEANETH; it is not simple. Go and meditate over it.
           You may be ill yourself and you need me, but you have just been thinking that you are not ill."
              The greatest illness that can happen to a man is when he is ill and thinks that he is not ill. Then
           nobody can cure him, then no medicine will help him. Then the physician may be next door, but the
           man will die uncured. This is the greatest misfortune that can befall a man: to be sick and to think
           himself healthy.

              BUT GO YE AND LEARN WHAT THAT MEANETH,
              I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE:


               This is one of the most significant sayings that Jesus has ever uttered. This is his whole secret: I
           WILL HAVE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE. Mahavir is not so merciful, Mohammed not so
           merciful, even the compassionate Buddha is not so merciful as Jesus; because they all say that you
           will have to sacrifice, you will have to change your ways and you will have to account for your past
           karmas.
               In India we have talked about compassion long enough, but we have continuously been talking
           about karma. One has to keep all accounts and whatever bad deeds you have done, you will have to
           cancel them by good deeds. You will have to come to a balance; only then can the accounts be
           closed. This is what Jesus means by sacrifice.
               He says: I WILL HAVE MERCY. This is his key secret. What does he mean when he says: I will
           have mercy? He means that it is almost impossible for you to cancel all the bad karmas that you have
           committed because the whole thing is tremendous, vast. Millions of lives you have been doing things
           and all that you have done has been wrong, has to be wrong, because you have been unconscious.
           How can you do anything good while unconscious? You have done millions of things, but all are
           wrong.
               While one is asleep one cannot do anything that is good. Virtue is impossible in
           unconsciousness, only sin is possible. Unconsciousness is the source of sin. You have done so many
           sins that it seems almost impossible. How will you get out of this? -- the very effort doesn't seem
           probable, the very effort seems hopeless. Jesus says, "Mercy will do it. Just surrender to me," Jesus
           says, "and I will have mercy." What does he mean? He simply means that "If you can trust me, and
           trust that you have been forgiven, you are forgiven" -- because all those karmas have been
           committed in an unconscious sleep. You are not responsible for them.
               This is the key message of Jesus: that man is not responsible unless he is alert. It is as if a child
           has committed a sin. No court will punish the child because they will say the child does not know, he
           has done it unaware. He had no intention of doing it, it has simply happened. He is not responsible.
           Or a madman has committed a crime, murdered somebody. Once it is proved that the man is mad,
           the court has to forgive because a madman cannot be responsible. Or a drunkard has done something
           and it is proved that he was drunk, absolutely drunk. You can, at the most, punish him for his
           drinking. You cannot punish him for the act.
               Jesus says, "I have come. I will have mercy." It does not mean that it is up to Jesus to forgive
           you, remember. That has been a mistake. Christians have been thinking that since Jesus is the only
           begotten son of God, and he is merciful, there is no need to do anything. Just Fay to him, confess
           your sin. He is merciful, he will forgive you.
               In fact, Jesus is just an excuse. He is saying this: that if you become alert, and become aware that
           whatsoever you have been doing up to now, hitherto, you were unconscious -- the very awareness
           that you were unconscious, the very realization, forgives, becomes the forgiveness. Not that Jesus is
           doing anything.
               It is just like when I promise you that if you surrender to me, I will transform you. There is no
           promise and I am not going to do anything. You surrender, that's all -- and the transformation
           happens. But it will be difficult for you to surrender if there is nobody to surrender to. Then you will
           say, "To whom do I surrender?" It will be almost impossible, absurd. Just surrendering, without
           anybody there to surrender to? You will feel yourself absurd: what are you doing? -- somebody is
           needed to surrender to. That somebody is just an excuse to surrender.
               When I say, "I promise I will transform you," I am not going to do anything, because nobody can
           transform you. But if you surrender, in the very effort.... When you surrender, the ego is surrendered
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and transformation happens -- because the ego is the only barrier. It is because of the ego that you
           are not changing; it is because of the ego that your heart is burdened by rock and you are not
           throbbing well. Once the rock has been removed....
               You have become so addicted to the rock that you say, "Unless I find some golden lotus feet, I
           am not going to surrender this rock."
               So I say, "Okay, let my feet be the excuse." You have become so addicted to the rock that you
           think that unless you find lotus feet, golden feet, unless you find a god, you are not going to
           surrender, because the rock is very valuable. It is because of your foolishness that I have to play god.
           So I say, "Okay, let me be the god. But please, surrender your rock so your heart starts throbbing
           well; you start feeling, loving, being."
               When Jesus says, "I will have mercy," he is saying the same thing. He is saying, "I am here to
           forgive you. You just surrender. Come follow me, and I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT
           SACRIFICE: FOR L AM NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS TO
           REPENTANCE." This is tremendously beautiful. Every time a Jesus, a Buddha or a Krishna
           happens, this is what they come for.
               I AM NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS.... In the first place, they never listen to the
           call. The righteous are dead people; they are deaf, they are too full of their own noise. And they are
           so certain about their virtues. They don't have any earth to stand on, but in their beliefs, in their
           imagination, they think that they are standing on a well-founded ground. They have no foundation --
           their edifice is just as if a child has made a house of playing cards: a little breeze and the house will
           be gone. But they believe in it. The house exists only in their imagination.
               In the first place, they will not listen to the call. In the second place, if you insist too much, they
           will get angry. In the third place, if you are stubborn, as Jesus was, they will kill you. And in the
           fourth place, when you are dead, they will worship you. This is how things go.
               FOR I AM NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS TO REPENTANCE. In
           fact, to realize that you are a sinner is already a transformation. The moment you recognize that you
           are a sinner, you have repented. There is no other repentance.
               Look at it this way. In the night you are fast asleep and dreaming. If you realize that you are
           dreaming, what does it mean? It means that you are no longer asleep now. Once you become aware
           that you are dreaming, you are aware. Once you become aware that you are asleep, you are no longer
           asleep -- finished. The sleep has already left you.
               To remain a sinner one needs to continuously think to himself that he is not a sinner, he is a
           virtuous man. To hide the sin, one needs the confidence that one is righteous, not a sinner.
           Sometimes the people who call themselves righteous think that even if they sin sometimes, it is just
           to protect their virtue, to protect their righteousness.
               It happened: India and Pakistan were at war and everybody was in a war mood. Even Jain saints
           were in a war mood. At least THEY shouldn't have been -- they have been preaching non-violence
           for centuries. But I came across the news that Acharya Tulsi, one of the greatest Jain MUNIS, had
           given his blessings to the war. What did he say?
               He said it was to protect 'the country of non-violence'. "Even if violence has to be done, it has to
           be done -- to protect the country of Buddha, Mahavir, Gandhi." Do you see the trick? Non-violence
           has to be protected by violence. One has to go to war so that peace reigns. I have to kill you because
           I love you; I am doing it for your sake.
               A man who thinks he is a sinner has already surrendered. He realizes, "I am a sinner and I have
           done nothing else except sin and sin. It is not that sometimes I have committed a sin. Rather, on the
           contrary, I am a sinner. It is not a question of actions; it is a continuity of unconsciousness. I am a
           sinner and whether I have done something wrong or not is irrelevant. Sometimes I don't do anything
           wrong, but still I am a sinner."
               To be a sinner is a quality of unconsciousness. It has nothing to do with actions. For twenty-four
           hours you may not have done anything wrong -- you may have remained in the house, fasting, sitting
           silently, meditating; you have not done anything wrong -- but still you remain a sinner. If you are
           unconscious, you are a sinner.
               Your being a sinner is not the result of the sins you have committed. Your being a sinner is
           simply the state of unconsciousness. You are not a sinner because you do sins. YOU DO SINS
           BECAUSE YOU ARE A SINNER. It is a continuity of unconsciousness -- a continuum, without any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gap. Once you realize this, the very realization is an awakening. The morning has come, it has
           knocked on the door: you are aware. Fragile is the awareness as yet, very delicate -- you can fall
           asleep again, yes, that is a possibility -- but still you are aware. You can use this moment and come
           out of bed.

              ... FOR I AM NOT COME COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS BUT SINNERS TO REPENTANCE.
              AND HE SAID TO THEM ALL, IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF,
              AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, AND FOLLOW ME.


               IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME.... If you have decided to come after me, then this is
           what you have to do. This is the discipline, the only discipline Jesus ever gave: LET HIM DENY
           HIMSELF.
               When you come to a man like Jesus, you have to drop your own ideas and your ego. You have to
           drop completely your own decisions because only if you drop your ideas, decisions, ego, can Jesus
           penetrate you. Soon you will not need Jesus -- once you have dropped your ego, things will start
           happening to you on your own -- but as a first step: LET HIM DENY HIMSELF.
               Look... you can come to me and surrender. But it is possible that the surrender may be your idea.
           Then it is no longer a surrender. The surrender is surrender when it is my idea, not yours. If it is your
           idea, then it is not surrender -- you are following your idea.
               It happens every day. Somebody comes and I ask him, "Would you like to move into sannyas?"
           He says, "Wait, I have to think about it."
               I say to him, "If you think about it, then it will be your sannyas, not mine."
               Then you think and you come to a conclusion, but it is your ego thinking and coming to a
           conclusion. Then you take sannyas, but you have missed the opportunity. When I asked you, the
           opportunity was there to take a jump. Had you taken it, without any consideration on your part, that
           would have been a repentance, a turning, a conversion. If you think that it is okay, but it is simply
           okay and nothing more, then you have come in, but it is your idea you are following. There is no
           surrender in it.
               Deny yourself. And the second thing: AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY. A life with Jesus is
           a moment-to-moment life. It is not a planning for the future. It has no plan; it is spontaneous. One
           has to live moment to moment AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY.
               And why a cross? -- because surrender is death. And why a cross? -- because surrender is pain.
           Why a cross? -- because surrender is suffering. Your whole ego will suffer and burn. Your ideas,
           your past, your personality, will be on fire continuously. Hence, the cross. The cross is a symbol of
           death... and until you die, nothing is possible; until you die, the resurrection is not possible.
               LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY. This has to be done daily,
           every morning. You cannot think that "Yes, I have surrendered once. It is finished." It is not so easy.
           You will have to surrender a million times. You will have to surrender every moment because the
           mind is very cunning. It will try to reclaim you. If you think that you have surrendered once and it is
           finished, the mind will recapture you. It has to be done every moment -- until you are completely
           dead and a new entity has arisen, until a new man is born within you, until you are no more
           continuous with the past: a breakthrough has happened.
               You will know it because you will not recognize yourself. Who are you? You will not be able to
           see how you were connected with the past. You will recognize only one thing -- that there has been a
           sudden gap. The line has been broken, the past has disappeared, and something new has entered
           within you which has nothing to do with the past, which is not connected with it at all. The religious
           man is not a modified man, the religious man is not a newly decorated man. The religious man has
           nothing to do with the past. He is absolutely new.

              FOR WHOSOEVER WILL SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL LOSE IT -- DON'T CLING TO THE EGO.
              FOR WHOSOEVER WILL SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL LOSE IT: BUT WHOSOEVER WILL LOSE HIS
              LIFE FOR MY SAKE, THE SAME SHALL SAVE IT.


              Lose it and you will have it; cling to it and you will lose it. Looks paradoxical, but it is a simple
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           truth. The seed dies in the soil and becomes a great tree. But the seed can cling to its own self, go on
           protecting itself and defending itself, because for the seed it looks like death. The seed will never be
           able to see the plant, so it is a death.
               You will never be able to see the man I am talking about, so it is a perfect death. You cannot
           even imagine that man because if you can imagine him, it will be your continuity. You cannot hope
           about that man because if it is your hope, then your hope will be the bridge. No, you are completely
           in the dark about that new man -- that's why trust is needed.
               I cannot prove it to you, I cannot argue about it, because the more I argue about it and prove it to
           you, the more it will become impossible for you. If you become convinced then the barrier is perfect
           because your conviction will be your conviction -- and the new will come only when 'you' have gone
           totally. All your convictions, ideologies, arguments, proofs, have gone -- wholesale -- and only
           absence is left. And in that absence, the heavens open and the spirit of God descends like a dove and
           lights on you.

              BUT WHOSOEVER WILL LOSE HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE, THE SAME SHALL SAVE IT.


               Why does Jesus insist: FOR MY SAKE? Look at the problem: if you are going to die completely
           and a new man is going to come only when you are no more, then who will be the bridge between
           you and the new? Who will be the bridge? You cannot be the bridge otherwise the new will not be
           new; it will just be a modified old.
               The Master becomes the bridge. He says, "Die silently. I am there to look after you. Move into
           death; I will take care so that the new can come in. Don't be worried, you relax... FOR MY SAKE."
               That's why religion will never become a philosophy, it will never become a theology. It will
           never be based on arguments; it cannot be. The very nature of it forbids it. It will remain a trust. If
           you trust me, you can die easily without fear. You know that I am there. You love me and you know
           that I love you, so why fear?
               It happened: a young man, recently married, was going on his honeymoon. He was a samurai, a
           Japanese warrior. They were going on a boat to an island when suddenly a storm came. The boat was
           small and the storm was tremendously terrible, so there was every possibility that they would be
           drowned.
               The wife became very much afraid. She started trembling. She looked at the samurai, her
           husband, but he was sitting silently. It was as if nothing was happening. And they were in the throes
           of death! At any moment the boat would go under water.
               The woman said, "What are you doing? Why are you sitting like a statue?"
               The samurai pulled his sword out of its sheath -- the wife could not believe it: what was he
           doing? -- and he put his naked sword right near the throat of the wife. She started laughing, and he
           said, "Why are you laughing? The sword is so near your throat -- just a little move and your head
           will go."
               The wife said, "But it is in your hands, so there is no problem. The sword is dangerous, but it is
           in your hands."
               The samurai put his sword back and said, "The storm is in my God's hands. The storm is
           dangerous, but it is in the hands of somebody whom I love and who loves me. That's why I am
           unafraid."
               When the sword is in your Master's hand and he is going to kill you, if you trust him, only then
           will you die peacefully, lovingly, gracefully. And out of that grace... and out of that peace... and out
           of that love... you will create the possibility where the new can arrive. If you die afraid, the new will
           not arrive. You will simply die. That's why Jesus says: FOR MY SAKE -- let me be the bridge.

              FOR WHAT IS A MAN ADVANTAGED, IF HE GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIMSELF,
              OR BE CAST AWAY?


               And remember, you can gain the whole world and lose yourself -- as people are doing all over
           the world, throughout time: gaining the world and losing themselves. Then one day they suddenly
           find that all they have gained is not theirs. Empty-handed they come; empty-handed they go.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nothing belongs to them. Then, anguish takes over.
               FOR WHAT IS A MAN ADVANTAGED, IF HE GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE
           HIMSELF, OR BE CAST AWAY? The only way to be really intelligent in the world is first to gain
           yourself. Even if the whole world is to be lost, it is worth it. If you gain your own being, your own
           soul, your own innermost core, and the whole world is lost, it is worth it.
               To gain that innermost core you will not only have to lose the world. You will have to lose the
           idea of yourself -- because that is the innermost barrier: the ego. The ego is a false identity. Not
           knowing who you are, you go on thinking that you are somebody. That somebody -- the false
           identity -- is the ego. And unless the false goes, the true cannot enter.
               Let the false go and the true is ready. Repent, return, answer; the kingdom of God is at hand.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                   Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title: God: The ultimate synthesis
           28 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510280
              ShortTitle: FOLL108
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins




              HOW IS ONE WHO HAS BEEN TRAINED ALL HIS LIFE TO ANALYZE AND QUESTION AND
              DOUBT TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN DOUBT AND TRUST?


               DOUBT IS BEAUTIFUL in itself. The problem arises when you are stuck in it. Then doubt
           becomes death. Analysis is perfect if you remain seperate and aloof from it. If you become
           identified, then the problem arises. Then analysis becomes a paralysis.       If you feel that you have
           become trained to analyze, question and doubt, don't get miserable. Doubt, analyze, question, but
           remain seperate. You are not the doubt. Use it as a methodology, a method.              If analysis is a
           method, then synthesis is also a method. Analysis in itself is half. Unless it is complemented by
           synthesis it will never be the whole. And you are neither analysis nor synthesis -- you are just a
           transcendental awareness.      To question is good, but a question is obviously only half; the answer
           will be the other half. Doubt is good, but one part; trust is the other part.    Remain aloof. When I
           say remain aloof, I say remain aloof not only from doubt but from trust also. That too is a method;
           one has to use it. One should not allow oneself to be used by it -- then a tyrrany arises.    A tyrrany
           can either be of doubt or of trust. The tyrrany of doubt will cripple you; you will never be able to
           move a single step because doubt will be everywhere. How can you do anything while doubt is
           there? It will cripple you. And if trust becomes a tyrrany...?   And it can become one; it has become
           a tyrrany for millions. The churches, the temples, the mosques are full of those people for whom
           trust has become a tyrrany. Then it does not give you eyes, it blinds you. Then religion becomes a
           superstition.
               If trust is not a method and you are identified with it, then religion becomes superstition and
           science becomes technology. Then the purity of science is lost and the purity of religion is also lost.
           Remember this: doubt and trust are like two wings. Use both of them. But, you are neither.
               A man of discretion, a man who is wise, will use doubt if his search is concerned with matter. If
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his inquiry is about the outside, the other, he will use doubt as the method. If his search is towards
           the inner, towards himself, then he will use trust. Science and religion are two wings.
               In India we have tried one foolishness. Now the West is committing another. In India we have
           tried to live only by trust; hence the poverty, the starvation, the misery. The whole country is like a
           wound, continuously suffering. And the suffering has been so long that people have even become
           accustomed to it, they have accepted it so deeply that they have become insensitive to it. They are
           almost dead: they drift, they are not alive.
               This happened because of the tyranny of trust. How can a bird fly with one wing?
               Now in the West, another tyranny is happening: the tyranny of doubt. It works perfectly well as
           far as Objective inquiry is concerned: you think about matter, doubt is needed; it is a scientific
           method. But when you start moving within-wards it simply doesn't work; it doesn't fit. There, trust is
           needed.
               The perfect man is a man who has a deep harmony between doubt and trust. A perfect man will
           look inconsistent to you, but he is not inconsistent. He is simply harmonious -- contradictions
           dissolve in him. He uses everything.
               If you have doubt, use it for scientific inquiry. And look at great scientists: by the time they reach
           their age of understanding and wisdom, by the time their youthful enthusiasm is gone and wisdom
           settles, they are always very deep in trust. Eddington, Einstein, Lodge -- I'm not talking about
           mediocre scientists, they are not scientists at all -- but all the great pinnacles in science are very
           religious. They trust because they have known doubt, they have used doubt, and they have come to
           understand that doubt has its limitations.
               It is just like: my eyes can see and my ears can hear. If I try to hear from my eyes then it is going
           to be impossible, and if I try to see by my ears then it is going to be impossible. The eye has its own
           limitation, the ear has its own limitation. They are experts, and every expert has a limitation.
               The eye can see -- and it is good that it can only see because if the eye could do many things then
           it would not be so efficient in seeing. In the eye the whole energy becomes sight, and the whole
           energy in the ear becomes hearing.
               Doubt is an expert. It works if you are inquiring about the world. But when you start inquiring
           about God through the same method, then you are using a wrong method. The method was perfectly
           suited to the world, to the world of law, but it is not suited to the world of love. For the world of
           love, trust is needed.
               Nothing is wrong in doubt, don't be worried about it. Use it well, use it in the right way. If you
           use it in the right way and use it well, you will come to an understanding: you will come to a doubt
           of doubt itself. You will see -- you will become doubtful of doubt. You will see where it works and
           where it doesn't work. When you come to that understanding, the door of trust opens.
               If you are trained for analysis -- good. But don't be caught in it, don't allow it to become a
           bondage. Remain free to synthesize also, because if you go on analyzing and analyzing and you
           never synthesize, you will come to the minutest part but you will never come to the whole.
               God is the ultimate synthesis; the atom, the ultimate analysis. Science reaches to the atom: it
           goes on analyzing, dividing, until finally it comes to the minutest part which cannot be divided any
           more. And religion comes to God: it goes on adding, synthesizing. God is the ultimate synthesis;
           more cannot be added to it. It is already the whole. Nothing exists beyond it. Science is atomic;
           religion is 'wholly'. Use both.
               I am always in favor of using everything that you have. Even if you have some poison I will say,
           "Preserve it, don't throw it." In some circumstance it can become medicinal -- it depends on you.
           You can commit suicide by the same poison, and by the same poison you can be saved from dying.
           The poison is the same; the difference is right use.
               Everything depends on right use. So when you go to the lab, use doubt; when you come to the
           temple, use trust. Be loose and free so that when you go from the lab to the temple you don't carry
           the lab around with you. Then you can enter the temple totally free of the lab -- you can pray, dance,
           sing. And when you move towards the lab again, leave the temple behind, because dancing in the lab
           will be very absurd -- you may destroy things.
               Bringing the serious face that you use in the lab to the temple won't be appropriate. A temple is a
           celebration; a lab is a search. Search has to be serious; a celebration is a play. You delight in it, you
           become children again. A temple is a place to become children again and again, so you never lose
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           touch with your original source. In the lab you are an adult; in the temple you are a child. And Jesus
           says, "The kingdom of God is for those who are like children."
               Remember always not to throw away anything that God has given to you -- not even doubt. It
           must be He who has given it to you, and there must be a reason behind it, because nothing is given
           without reason. There must be a use for it.
               Don't discard any stone, because many times it has happened that the stone that was discarded by
           the builders became the very cornerstone of the building in the end.


              THE BIBLE USES THE WORD 'REPENT'. SOMETIMES YOU TRANSLATE IT AS 'RETURN',
              SOMETIMES AS 'ANSWER' AND SOMETIMES YOU LEAVE IT AS 'REPENT'. DO YOU CHANGE
              THE MEANING AS YOU NEED IT?


               I am not talking about the Bible at all. I am talking about me. I am not confined by the Bible; I
           am not a slave to any scripture. I am totally free, and I behave as a free man.
               I love the Bible, the poetry of it, but I am not a Christian. Neither am I a Hindu, nor am I a Jain. I
           am simply me. I love the poetry, but I sing it in my own way. WHERE I should emphasize WHAT is
           finally decided by me, not by the Bible.
               I love the spirit of it, not the letter. And the word that I translate sometimes as 'repent', sometimes
           as 'return' and sometimes as 'answer' means all three things. That is the beauty of old languages.
           Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic -- all the old languages are poetic. When you use a poetic language it
           means many things. It says more than the words contain and it can be interpreted in different ways. It
           has many levels of meaning.
               Sometimes the word means 'repent'. When I am talking about sin and I use the word 'repent', it
           means 'repent'. When I am talking about God calling you, then the word 'repent' means 'answer', it
           means 'responsibility'. God has asked -- you answer. And when I say that the kingdom is at hand, the
           word means 'return'.
               All three meanings are there. The word is not one-dimensional; it is three-dimensional. All the
           old languages are three-dimensional. Modern languages are one-dimensional, because our insistence
           is not on poetry but on prose.
               Our insistence is not on multi-meaningfulness, but exactness. The word should be exact: it
           should only mean one thing so that there is no confusion. And that's good. If you are writing about
           science the language has to be exact, otherwise confusion is possible.
               It happened in the Second World War: The American general wrote a letter to the emperor of
           Japan before Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The letter was in English and then it was translated into
           Japanese which is more poetic, more flowery -- and one word means many things.
               A certain word was translated in a certain way. It could have been translated in some other way
           also; it depended on the translator. Now they have been inquiring about it, and they have come to the
           conclusion that if it had been translated in the other way that was also possible, there would have
           been no Hiroshima and no Nagasaki.
               The American general meant something else, but the way it was translated it was felt to be an
           insult. The Japanese emperor simply declined to answer it; it was too insulting. And Nagasaki and
           Hiroshima happened, the atom bomb had to be thrown.
               If the emperor had replied to it, then there would have been no need for Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
           Just one word translated in a different way and one lakh people died within minutes, within seconds.
           Very costly -- just a single word. Words can be dangerous.
               In politics, in science, in economics, in history, words should be linear, one-dimensional. But if
           the whole language becomes one-dimensional, then religion will suffer very much, poetry will suffer
           very much, romance will suffer very much. For poetry a word should be multi-dimensional, it should
           mean many things, so that the poetry has a depth and you can go on and on and on.
               That's the beauty of old books. You can go on reading the Gita every day, you can go on reading
           the gospels every day, and every day you can come upon a new and fresh meaning. You may have
           read the same passage a thousand times and it never occurred to you before that this can be the
           meaning. But this morning it occurred, you were in a different mood. You were happy, flowing -- a
           new meaning arises. Another day you are not so happy, not so flowing, and the meaning changes.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The meaning changes according to you, according to your mood and climate.
               You carry an inner climate that goes on changing just like the outer climate. Have you watched
           it? Sometimes you are sad and you look at the moon and the moon looks sad, very sad. You are sad
           and a fragrance comes from the garden and it seems very sad. You look at the flowers: rather than
           making you happy, they make you heavy.
               Then in another moment you are happy, alive, flowing, smiling -- the same fragrance comes and
           surrounds you, dances around you, and makes you tremendously happy. The same flower... and
           when you see it opening, something opens in you also. The same moon, and you cannot believe how
           much silence and how much beauty descends on you.
               There is a deep participation: you become partners in some deep mystery. But it depends on you.
           The moon is the same, the flower is the same -- it depends on you.
               Old languages are very flowing. In Sanskrit there are words.... One word can have twelve
           meanings. You can go on playing with it and it will reveal many things to you. It will change with
           you, it will always adjust to you. That's why great works of classical literature are eternal. They are
           never exhausted.
               But today's newspaper will be worthless tomorrow, because it has no vitality of meaning. It
           simply says what it means; it has nothing more in it. Tomorrow you will look foolish reading it. It is
           ordinary prose; it gives you information but it has no depth, it is flat.
               Two thousand years have passed since Jesus spoke and his words are still as alive and fresh as
           ever. They are never going to be old. They don't age, they remain fresh and young. What is their
           secret?
               The secret is that they mean so many things that you can always find a new door in them. It is not
           a one-room apartment. Jesus says, "My God's house has many mansions." There are many doors, and
           there are always new treasures to be revealed, to be discovered. You never come on the old
           landscape again. It has a certain infinity.
               That's why I go on changing. Yes, whenever I feel, I change the meaning. But that is the way
           Jesus himself has done it.
               In translating the Hebrew Bible into English, much has been lost. In translating the Gita into
           modern languages, much has been lost. In translating the Koran, the whole beauty is gone because
           the Koran is a poetry. It is something to be sung, it is something you should dance with. It is not
           prose. Prose is not the way of religion; poetry is the way.
               Remember this always and don't get confined. Jesus is vast and the English Bible is very small. I
           can understand the resistance of old people that their books should not be translated. It has a deep
           significance.
               You can translate prose, there is no trouble. If you want to translate a book on the theory of
           relativity into any language, it may be difficult, but the difficulty is not the same as it is with the
           Bible, the Gita or the Koran. It can be translated: nothing will be lost; it has no poetry in it.
               But when you translate poetry, much will be lost because each language has its own rhythm and
           each language has its own ways of expression. Each language has its own meter and music; it cannot
           be translated into another language. That music will be missed, that rhythm will be missed. You will
           have to replace it by some other rhythm and some other music.
               So it is possible -- ordinary poetry may be translated. But when the poetry is really superb, of the
           other world.... The more deep and great it is, the more difficult it is -- almost impossible.

               I treat Jesus as a poet. And he is. Van Gogh has said about him that he is the greatest artist that
           has ever been on this earth. He is. He talks in parables and poetry, and he means many more things
           than his words can convey. Allow me to give you the feeling of that infinity of meanings.
               Poetry is not so clear -- cannot be. It is a mystery. It is just early in the morning: a]l over you see
           a mist -- fresh, just born, But there are clouds; you cannot see far away. There is no need: poetry is
           not for the far away. It gives you an insight in looking to the near and the close and the intimate
               Science goes on searching for the far away; poetry goes on revealing, in a new way, the intimate
           the close, that which you had always known, that which is familiar -- the same path that you have
           been treading all your life. Poetry reveals the same path but with a new hue, a new color, a new light
           Suddenly you are transported to a new plane.
               I treat Jesus as a poet. He is a poet. And this has been very much misunderstood. People go on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           treating him as a scientist You are fools if you treat him as a scientist. Then he will look absurd, and
           the whole thing will look miraculous. Then if you want to believe in him, you have to be very
           superstitious. Or you have to throw him completely: the baby with the bath water.
               He's so absurd. You can believe in him, but then you have to believe very blindly. That belief
           cannot be natural, spontaneous. You have to force it. You have to believe for the sake of belief and
           you have to force it on yourself. Or, you throw him completely. Both are wrong. Jesus should be
           loved, not believed. There is no need to think for or against him.
               Have you ever watched? -- you never think for or against Shakespeare. Why? You never think
           for or against Kalidas. Why? You never think for and against Rabindranath. Why? Because you
           know they are poets. You enjoy them, you don't think for and against.
               But with Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, you think for and against because you think they are arguing.
           Let me tell you: they are not arguing. They have no thesis to prove, they have no dogma. They are
           great poets -- greater than Rabindranath, greater than Shakespeare, greater than Kalidas, because
           what has happened to Rabindranath, Kalidas and Shakespeare is just a glimpse. What has happened
           to Jesus, Krishna and Buddha is a realization.
               The same that is a glimpse to a poet is reality to a mystic. They have seen. Not only seen -- they
           have touched. Not only touched -- they have lived. It is a live experience.
               Always look at them as great artists. A painter simply paints a picture; a poet simply writes a
           poem... a Jesus creates a human being. A poet changes a canvas: it was plain, ordinary; it becomes
           precious by his touch. But can't you see that Jesus touches very ordinary people -- a fisherman,
           Simon called Peter -- he touches, and by his very touch this man is transformed into a great apostle, a
           great human being. A height arises, a depth is opened. This man is no longer ordinary. He was just a
           fisherman throwing his net in the sea and he would have done that his whole life -- even for many
           lives -- and would never even have thought, imagined, dreamt, what Jesus transformed into a reality.
               In India we have a mythology about a stone called paras. The stone paras is alchemical. You
           touch iron with the paras and it is transformed into gold. Jesus is a paras. He touches ordinary metal
           and immediately the metal is transformed, it becomes gold. He transforms ordinary human beings
           into deities, and you don't see the art in it. Greater art is not possible.
               To me, the gospels are poetic. If I speak again on the same gospel, I will not speak the same,
           remember. I don't know in what mood, in what climate, I will be then. I don't know from which door
           I will enter then. And my house of God has many mansions. It is not finite.


              YESTERDAY AFTER THE LECTURE I APPROACHED SMALL SIDDHARTHA BY THE DRINKING
              WATER. HAVING READ WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT HIM BEING ONE OF THE ANCIENT ONES, I
              CROUCHED DOWN, LOOKED INTO HIS EYES AND SAID, "OSHO TOLD ME WHO YOU ARE." HE
              SMILED, LOOKED DEEPLY AT ME, AND TWICE THREW WATER ON MY HEAD. HE THEN
              SOFTLY HIT ME ON THE HEAD AND SAID QUIETLY, "SHUT UP." THERE WAS SILENCE. IT WAS
              VERY BEAUTIFUL.


               It must have been. He baptized you by water. It was a baptism. And he is very innocent; more
           than John the Baptist. His innocence is very spontaneous.
               You should crouch more often before him. And you should allow him to throw water and hit you
           more. And when he says, "Shut up," then shut up and remain in silence.
           He is a tremendously beautiful child.


              WHEN I REFLECT ON CHRIST'S PERSECUTION TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, I FEEL THAT IN
              THE MEANTIME NOTHING MUCH HAS CHANGED IN PEOPLE'S ATTITUDES TOWARDS A
              LIVING MESSIAH IN THEIR MIDST. SUSPICION, CYNICISM AND MISTRUST SEEM TO BE ALL
              AROUND JUST AS BEFORE. COULD IT BE THAT YOU, TOO, ONE DAY WILL BE PERSECUTED
              BY THE ESTABLISHMENT? LOOKING AROUND THE AUDITORIUM, I FANCY THAT I CAN SPOT
              THE DOUBTING THOMAS, THE JOHN, THE SIMON PETER, MARY MAGDALEN, EVEN JUDAS
              AND THE REST OF THE GANG. COULD THIS ALL BE A LIVE-ACTION REPLAY?


              It is. They are all here. They have to be -- because the gang leader is here! And nothing ever
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           changes, all changes are superficial. Deep down, humanity remains the same.
               It is natural. I'm not condemning it; I'm not saying that anything is wrong in it. It has to be so;
           that's the way it is. When Jesus comes, the Doubting Thomases are bound to be there.
               When people who trust come, people who can't trust also come. They create a contrast. And it is
           good, otherwise your trust will not be of much value. It becomes precious because of the Doubting
           Thomases around. You can compare, you can feel. You can see what doubt is, what trust is.
               The weeds will also come when you plant a garden. The weeds are also part. When a Jesus
           comes, the Judas is bound to be there because the whole thing is so tremendously significant that
           somebody is bound to betray it. It has such a great height that somebody is bound to feel very much
           hurt by it. The ego.
               Judas was hurt very much. And he was not a bad man, remember. In fact, he was the only one
           amongst all of Jesus' disciples who was well-educated, cultured, belonged to a sophisticated society
           and family. He was, of course, the most egoistic. The others were just fishermen, farmers, carpenters
           -- people like that, ordinary people, from the ordinary rung of society.
               Judas was special. And whenever somebody feels special there is trouble. He wanted to guide
           even Jesus. Many times he tried. And if you listen to him, there is a possibility that you will be more
           convinced by Judas than by Jesus.
               It happened: Jesus came to visit the home of Mary Magdalen. Mary was deeply in love. She
           poured precious, very precious, perfume on his feet -- the whole bottle. It was rare perfume; it could
           have been sold.
               Judas immediately objected. He said, "You should prohibit people from doing such nonsense.
           The whole thing is wasted, and in town there are people who are poor and who don't have anything
           to eat. We could have distributed the money to poor people."
               He looks like a socialist -- a forerunner of Marx. Mao, Lenin, Trotsky, all would agree with him.
               What did Jesus say? He said, "You don't be worried about it. The poor and the hungry will
           always be here, but I will be gone. You can serve them always and always -- there is no hurry -- but I
           will be gone. Look at the love, not at the precious perfume. Look at Mary's love, her heart."
               With whom will you agree? Jesus seems to be very bourgeois and Judas seems to be perfectly
           economical. Judas is talking about the poor and Jesus simply says, "It is okay. I will be gone soon, so
           let her welcome me as she would like. Let her heart do whatsoever she wants and don't bring your
           philosophy in. Poor people will always be there; I will not be here always. I am only here for a tiny
           while."
               Ordinarily your mind will agree with Judas. He seems to be perfectly right. He was a very
           cultured, polished man of manners -- sophisticated, a thinker.
               And he betrayed. Only he could betray, because on each step his ego was hurt. He always felt
           himself superior to all of Jesus' disciples. He would always keep himself aloof, he would not move in
           the crowd. He always thought that he was not part of the crowd. At the most he was second only to
           Jesus -- and that, too, reluctantly. Deep down he must have been thinking himself first. He could not
           say it, but it was in his heart.
               He was madly hurt. Continuously jesus was hurting their egos. A Master has to, because if a
           Master goes on pampering your egos then he will not be of any help, he will be poisonous. Then you
           can commit suicide through him but you cannot resurrect.
               Because Judas was the most egoistic, he was hurt more. And Jesus HAD to hurt him more. He
           took revenge. And he was a good man; there is no doubt about it. That is the problem with good
           men.
               He sold Jesus for thirty rupees. He was so concerned with the perfume and its cost -- look at the
           mind! -- and he sold Jesus for thirty rupees, thirty silver pieces. Jesus was not even that costly.
               But then, when jesus was murdered, crucified, he started feeling guilty. That's how a good man
           functions. He started feeling very guilty, his conscience started pricking him. He committed suicide.
           He was a good man, he had a conscience. But he had no consciousness.
               This distinction has to be felt deeply. Conscience is borrowed, given by the society;
           consciousness is your attainment. The society teaches you what is right and what is wrong: do this
           and don't do that. It gives you the law, the morality, the code, the rules of the game. That is your
           conscience. Outside, the constable; inside, the conscience. That is the way that the society controls
           you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you go to steal, the constable is outside to prevent you. But you can deceive the constable, you
           can find ways. So the society has placed a deep electrode within you: the conscience. Your hand
           starts trembling, your whole inner being -- you feel that your inner being is saying, "Don-t do this;
           this is wrong." This is society speaking through you. This is just society, implanted within you.
                Judas had a conscience, but Jesus had consciousness. That was the rift. The man of conscience
           can never understand the man of consciousness because the man of consciousness lives moment to
           moment, he has no rules to follow.
                Jesus was more concerned with the love of the woman. Mary. It was such a deep thing that to
           prevent her would be wounding her love; she would shrink within herself. Pouring the perfume on
           Jesus' feet was just a gesture. Behind it, Mary Magdalen was saying. "I would like to pour the whole
           of the world on your feet. This is all that I have -- the most precious thing I have. To pour water
           won't be enough; it is too cheap. This is the most precious thing that I have, but even this is nothing.
           I would like to pour my heart, I would like to pour my whole being...."
                But Judas was blind to it. He was a man of conscience: he looked at the perfume and he said, "It
           is costly." He was completely blind to the woman and her heart, and the expansion of consciousness
           in the gesture. Perfume looked too precious and love -- love was completely unknown to him.
                Love was there. The immaterial was there and the material was there. The material is the
           perfume, the immaterial is the love. But the immaterial Judas could not see. For that, you need eyes
           of consciousness.
                A man of conscience will always be in conflict with a man of consciousness because the man of
           consciousness sees things which the man of conscience cannot see. And the man of consciousness
           follows his consciousness: he has no rules to follow.
                If you have rules you are always consistent because rules are dead. You are also dead with them:
           you are predictable. But if you have consciousness, you are unpredictable -- one never knows. You
           remain a total freedom. You respond, you don't have any ready-made answers to give. When the
           question arises, you respond and the answer is born. Not only is the listener surprised by your answer
           -- you are also surprised.
                When I answer you, it is not only that you are listening to it. I am also a listener. It is not only
           that you hear it for the first time; I also hear it for the first time. I don't know what the next word or
           sentence is going to be. It can move in any direction, it can move in any dimension.
                That's what I mean when I say that I remain a learner. Not only are you learning with me; I am
           also learning with you.
                I am never in a state of knowledge because a state of knowledge is dead. You have known
           something: it is readymade. Now if somebody asks you can give it to him; it is already material.
                I am never in a state of knowledge; I am always in the process of knowing. To be in the process
           of knowing is what I mean when I say I am learning. Knowledge is already past; knowing is Present.
           Life is not a noun, it is a verb. God is also not a noun, God is a verb. Whatever the grammarians say,
           I am not concerned. God is a verb, life is a verb.
                Knowing, learning, means that you always remain in a vacuum. You never gather anything. You
           always remain empty like a mirror, not like a photographic plate. A photographic plate immediately
           comes to a state of know]edge. Once exposed, it is already dead. Now it will never mirror anybody
           else; it has mirrored once, forever. But a mirror goes on mirroring. When you come before it, it
           mirrors you. When you are gone, it is again empty.
                This is what I mean: a man of learning remains empty. You raise a question. It is mirrored in my
           emptiness... an answer comes and flows to you. The question gone, the answer disappeared, the
           mirror is again in a state of nonknowing -- empty, again ready to reflect. It is not hindered by its past,
           it is always in the present and always ready. Not ready-made, but always ready to reflect, to respond.
                When Jesus comes -- a man of consciousness, a man of learning not of knowledge -- Judas is
           bound to be there. He's a scholar, the man of knowledge. He must have felt many times that he knew
           more than Jesus. And maybe he was right also.
                He may know more, but he does not know the state of knowing. He knows only knowledge, dead
           information. He is a collector of dead information. He will betray Jesus.
                And, of course, when Jesus is there, there will be women who will love him deeply: a Mary
           Magdalen, a Martha. They are bound to be there because whenever a man the quality of Jesus arises,
           that quality has to be understood first by women and then by men. Trust is the door to it, and women
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are more trusting, more innocently trusting.
               That's why it is so difficult to find a woman scientist. Sometimes a Madame Curie happens -- that
           must be a freak of nature. Or the woman may not have been much of a woman.
               Deep down, a woman is a poet. Not that she writes poetry. She lives it. And she knows how to
           trust -- it comes easy to her, it comes spontaneously to her. In fact, for a woman to doubt is a difficult
           training. She will have to learn it from a man, just like she will have to learn science from a man. She
           is illogical, irrational. Those are not good qualities as far as the world is concerned -- they are
           disqualifications in the world -- but as far as the inner kingdom of God is concerned, they are the
           qualifications.
               Man cannot have both worlds. At the most he can have one where he's topmost: the outer world.
           He can have it, but then he will have to lose the other. There he cannot be the top; he will have to
           follow women.
               Have you seen Jesus being crucified? No male disciple was near him, only women -- because the
           male disciples started doubting. This man cured illnesses, this man revived dead people, and now he
           cannot save himself? Then what is the point of believing in him and trusting in him?
               They were waiting for a miracle. They were hiding in the crowd and waiting for a miracle, for
           something miraculous to happen. Then they would have believed. They needed proof and the proof
           never happened; Jesus simply died like an ordinary man.
               But the women were not waiting for any proof. Jesus was enough proof, there was no need for
           any miracle. HE was the miracle. They could see the miracle that happened that moment -- that Jesus
           died with such deep love and compassion. Even for his murderers he had a prayer in his heart. His
           last words were, "God, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing."
               The miracle had happened, but for the male eye it never happened. The women around there
           understood immediately. They trusted this man and this man's innermost heart was opened to them.
           They understood that the miracle had happened. The man had been crucified and he was dying with
           love, which is the most impossible thing in the world: to die on the cross with a prayer for those who
           are killing you.
               But this was love. Only the feminine mind can understand it. They were close to him.
               When Jesus revived, resurrected, after the third day, he tried to approach his male disciples. They
           could not see him because they had settled the fact that he was dead, and you see only things which
           you expect to see. If you don't expect, you don't see.
               Your eyes are very choosy. If you are waiting for a friend, then even in a crowd you can see him.
           But if you are not waiting for him, if you have completely forgotten about him, then when he comes
           and knocks on the door, for a moment you are puzzled: who is he?
               They had settled the fact that Jesus was dead, so when Jesus came across their path they could
           not recognize him, they could not see him. It is even said that he walked for miles with two disciples
           while they talked about Jesus' death. They were very miserable because of it -- and Jesus was
           walking with them, they were talking to him! But they could not recognize him.
               Only love can recognize, even after death -- because love recognized when you were alive. For
           love, death and life are irrelevant.
               Jesus was recognized first by Mary Magdalen, a prostitute. She went running to the male
           disciples who were holding a great conference: what to do? how to spread the word to the whole
           world? how to create the church? When they were planning for the future, she came running and
           said, "What are you doing? Jesus is alive! "
               They laughed. They said, "Mad woman, you must have imagined it" -- man's mind always thinks
           that such things are imaginations. They started talking to each other: "That poor woman, Mary
           Magdalen. She has gone mad. Jesus' crucifixion has been such a shock to her." They felt pity on her.
               She insisted, "Don't feel pity on me. Jesus IS resurrected!"
               They laughed and they said, "We understand. You need rest, you are too shocked by the fact that
           he is dead. It is your imagination."
               Around Buddha, around Krishna, around Jesus, around Mahavir, a great number of women have
           always been there. They were the first-comers, they were the first disciples. It is natural.

              So don't be surprised. Two thousand or two million years... the human mind will remain the
           same. Humanity as a whole remains the same; the revolution is individual. You can be transformed
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as an individual. Then you go beyond the crowd.
               But don't be worried about such things. This question is from Chaitanya Sagar. He's always
           worried about such things. I never answer him, but he's always worried: worried about others,
           worried about the world, worried about the organization, worried about the ashram, worried about
           my disciples, worried about me -- never worried about himself. All these worries won't help. Time is
           short, life is very short. Use it.
               Just the other night I was reading a play by Samuel Beckett: a small book, the smallest possible
           in the world -- a short play. The name of the play is BREATH. The length of the whole play is only
           thirty seconds... thirty seconds. There is no actor in it, no dialogue. Just a stage.
               The curtain opens. Many things are lying around. Rubbish -- just as if somebody has left the
           house in a hurry. All sorts of things are jumbled, with no order. Just a disorder -- rubbish. And from
           the background, a sigh is heard of a small child, just born. Then, after thirty seconds, the gasp of an
           old man who has died. This is all -- but this is all life is. Thirty seconds: a sigh and a gasp. The first
           effort to inhale and the last effort to cling to the breathing... and everything is gone.
               Life is short, not even thirty seconds. Use it. Use it as an opportunity to grow, use it as an
           opportunity to be, and don't be worried about other things; that is all rubbish. Only this is true: the
           sigh and the gasp, and all else is just rubbish. Forget about it -- what do you have to do about it?
               You should not be concerned with whether the world has changed or not. The world is the same,
           it has to be the same. Only you can be different; the world will never be different. When you become
           aware, conscious, you transcend the world.


              WHAT DOES CHRIST REALLY MEAN WHEN HE SAYS, "COME FOLLOW ME"

              Exactly what he says: "Come follow me."




              TO FOLLOW JESUS A DEEP TRUST, SURRENDER AND LOVE IS NEEDED BUT TODAY A DEEP
              SKEPTICISM IS PREVALENT ALL OVER THE WORLD. WHAT IS THE WAY?


               This is from Swami Yoga Chinmaya. Think about yourself. Is deep skepticism within you?
           That's the question to be asked. A deep skepticism is prevalent all over the world: who are you to be
           worried about the whole world? This is a way to escape the real problem. Skepticism is deep within,
           the worm of doubt is there in your heart, but you project it; you see it on the whole world's screen.
           "The world is skeptical -- what is the way out?" Now you are transferring the problem. Look within
           yourself. If there is doubt, then find it out. Then something can be done. The world won't listen to
           you, and there is no need, because if they are happy in their skepticism they have the right to be
           happy in their skepticism. Who are you?
               Never try to think in terms of missionaries; they are the most dangerous people. They are always
           saving the world and if the world doesn't want to be saved, then still they are trying. They say, "Even
           if you don't like it, we will save you."
               But why the bother? If somebody is happy -- eating, drinking, enjoying life -- and is not in any
           way concerned with God, what is the point of forcing him? Who are you? Let him come to his own
           understanding. Some day he will come.
               But people are very much worried: how to save others? Save yourself! If you can, save yourself
           -- because that too is a very difficult, almost impossible, job.
               This is a trick of the mind: the problem is inside -- it projects it on the outside. Then you are not
           worried about it, then you are not worried about your own anguish. Then you become concerned
           with the whole world and in this way you can postpone your own transformation.
               I insist again and again that you should be concerned with yourself. I am not here to make
           missionaries. Missionaries are the most mischievous people. Never be a missionary; that is a very
           dirty job. Don't try to change anybody. Just change yourself.
               And it happens. When you change, many come to share you in your light. Share -- but don't try to
           save. Many will be saved that way. If you try to save, you may drown them before they were going
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be drowned by themselves.
               Don't try to force God on anybody. If they are doubting, it is perfectly okay. If God allows them
           to doubt there must be some reason in it. They need it: that is their training; that is from where
           everybody has to pass.
               The world has always been skeptical. How many people gathered around Buddha? Not the whole
           world. How many people gathered around Jesus? Not the whole world, just a very small minority --
           they can be counted on your fingers. The whole world was never worried about these things.
               And nobody has the authority to force something on anybody else. Not even on your own child!
           Not even on your own wife! Keep whatsoever you feel is the goal to your life to yourself. Never
           force it on anybody else. That is violence, sheer violence.
               If you want to meditate, meditate. But this IS a problem: if the husband wants to meditate he tries
           to force the wife also. If the wife does not want to meditate, she forces the husband also not to
           meditate. Can't you allow people their own souls? Can't you allow them to have their own way?
               This I call a religious attitude: to allow freedom. A religious man will always allow freedom to
           everybody. Even if you want to be an atheist, a theist is going to allow you. That is your way,
           perfectly good for you. You move through it because everyone who has come to God has come
           through atheism. The desert of atheism has to be crossed; it is part of growth.
               The world will always remain skeptical, in doubt. Only a few attain to trust. Make haste so that
           you can attain.


              WHY DO YOU ALWAYS TELL US TO BE HAPPY IF, BEFORE ENLIGHTENMENT, ONE HAS TO
              REACH A PEAK OF PAIN AND ANGUISH?


                If I don't tell you to be happy, you will never reach the peak of pain and anguish. I go on telling
           you to be happy, and the more I say, "Be happy," the more you become aware of your unhappiness.
                The more you listen to me, the more you will find anguish arising. That is the only way to make
           you unhappy -- to go on constantly forcing on you: be happy! You cannot be, so you feel the
           unhappiness all around you. Even what you used to think was happiness, even those points disappear
           and you feel absolutely hopeless. Even momentary happinesses disappear and the desert becomes
           complete. All hopes and all oases disappear.
                But that's where the jump happens. When you are REALLY unhappy, totally unhappy, with not
           even a ray of hope, suddenly you drop all unhappiness. Why? -- why does it happen? It happens
           because unhappiness is not clinging to you; you are clinging to unhappiness. Once you feel the total
           anguish of it, you drop it; there is nobody else to carry it for you.
                But you have never felt it so intensely; you have always been lukewarm. You feel a little
           unhappiness, but always there is a hope for the future: "Tomorrow there is going to be happiness. A
           little desert, but the oasis is coming closer." Through this hope, you go on.
                Through your hope, the unhappiness remains. My whole effort is to kill the hope, to leave you in
           such total darkness that you cannot allow any dream any longer.
                Once this intensity reaches to the hundredth degree, you evaporate. Then you cannot carry it any
           more, then suddenly whatsoever you call it -- unhappiness, the ego, ignorance, unawareness, or what
           have you: anything that you want to call it -- drops. I will tell you one story:
                It happened -- a farmer had a pedigree ram. It was a beautiful animal, but sometimes it got mad
           and the shepherd who looked after the ram was very worried. He always wanted to get rid of it, but
           the farmer loved it.
                One day it became too much so the shepherd came and said, "Now you choose: either me or the
           ram. I resign... take my notice. Or -- this ram goes. He is a mad animal and continuously creating
           trouble. He gets so angry and so dangerous that sometimes one feels that he will kill."
                The farmer now had to decide, so he asked his friends what to do. He never wanted the ram to be
           sold. They suggested an animal psychologist: "Ask...."
                The psychologist was called. The farmer was skeptical but he wanted to do anything so that the
           ram could be saved. The psychologist remained for four days. He watched, observed, took notes,
           analyzed, and then he said, "There will be no trouble. You just go to the market, purchase a
           gramophone, and bring Beethoven records, Mozart, Wagner -- classical music. Whenever the ram
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gets mad, in a rage, just put on a classical record. Play it and it will soothe him, and he will be
           perfectly calmed down."
               The farmer couldn't believe it -- that this was going to be so -- but it had to be tried, so he tried it.
           It worked! Immediately the ram would become silent and cool down.
               For one year there was no trouble. Then one day the shepherd came running and said,
           "Something has gone wrong -- I don't know what. The ram has killed himself! As usual, seeing that
           he was getting in a rage again, I had put a record on. But he worsened. Then he became more and
           more mad and he simply charged into the wall. His neck is broken -- he is dead."
               The farmer went there. The ram was Iying dead there near the wall. Then he looked on the
           gramophone to see what record was there. There had been a terrible mistake: it was not classical
           music, but Frank Sinatra's record... singing:'There Shall Never Be Another Like You'. That created
           the trouble.      'There shall never be another like you' -- the ego is the cause of all madness,
           unhappiness, misery. That is going to be the cause of your death, that is going to break your neck.
               You can cope with it if it is lukewarm. My whole effort is to bring it to a peak where you cannot
           cope with it. Either you have to drop it, or you will drop. And whenever such a choice arises -- that
           you have to drop the misery or you have to drop yourself -- you will drop the misery.
               And with the misery: the ego, the ignorance, the unawareness -- they all disappear. They are
           names of the same phenomenon.




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                  Chapter #9
                            Chapter title: Go thou and preach the kingdom of god
           29 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510290
              ShortTitle: FOLL109
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




               LUKE 9



               57 AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT, AS THEY WENT IN THE WAY, A CERTAIN MAN SAID UNTO
               HIM, LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE WHITHERSOEVER THOU GOEST.
               58 AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, FOXES HAVE HOLES, AND BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS;
               BUT THE SON OF MAN HATH NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD.
               59 AND HE SAID UNTO ANOTHER, FOLLOW ME. BUT HE SAID, LORD, SUFFER ME FIRST TO
               GO AND BURY MY FATHER.
               60 AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD: BUT GO THOU AND
               PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
               61 AND ANOTHER ALSO SAID, LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE; BUT LET ME FIRST GO BID THEM
               FAREWELL, WHICH ARE AT HOME AT MY HOUSE.
               62 AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, No MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND
               LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.


               ONCE A MAN owned a very big pond. A small lily plant was growing on it. The man was very
           happy; he had always liked the white flowers of lilies. But then he became very concerned because
           the plant was doubling itself every day: sooner or later it would cover the whole pond. He had trout
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the pond and he loved to eat those trout. Once the pond was covered by the lilies all the life would
           disappear from it, including the trout.
                He didn't want to cut the plants, he didn't want his trout to disappear -- he was in a dilemma. He
           went to an expert. The expert calculated and said, "Don't be worried. It will take one thousand days
           for the lily to cover the whole pond. The plant is very small and the pond is very big, so there is no
           need to worry." Then the expert suggested a solution which appeared absolutely right. He said,
           "Wait, and when half the pond is covered with lilies, then cut the plant. Always keep it only
           half-covered so that you will enjoy the white flowers and your trout will not be in danger. Fifty-fifty
           -- half the pond for the lilies, half for the trout."
                The solution looked perfectly right, and one thousand days -- there was enough time, so there
           was no need to worry. The man relaxed. He said, "When the pond is half-covered, then I will cut the
           lilies."
                The pond was half-covered -- but it was half-covered on the nine hundred ninety-ninth day.
           Ordinarily you would think that it would be half-covered after five hundred days -- no. The plant
           used to double itself so half the pond would be covered on the nine hundred ninety-ninth day and
           only one day would be left. But that would not be sufficient time to cut the plant or to keep it to the
           half.
                And it happened. On the nine hundred ninety-ninth day the pond was half-covered and the man
           said -- he was not feeling very well, a little sick -- he said, "There is no hurry. I have waited nine
           hundred ninety-nine days and there was no trouble. Now it is just a question of one more day. After
           one day I will do it."
                The next morning the whole pond was covered and all the trout were dead.
                This is the puzzle of life. It is a dilemma; one has to choose. If you go on accumulating things
           and possessions, the plant is doubling on the pond. Every day your things go on growing and your
           life is suffocated. Life looks too long -- seventy years, eighty years. There is no hurry. People think,
           "When we reach to the mid-point, we will change."
                People always wait for religion until they get old. People go on saying that religion is for old
           people. Go into the churches, into the temples, and you will find old people -- just on the verge of
           death. Their one foot is already in the grave: the nine hundred ninety-ninth day. The next morning,
           life is going to be suffocated. Then they start praying, then they start meditating, then they start
           thinking of what life is -- what is the meaning of existence? But then it is too late.
                Religion needs a deep urgency. If you postpone it, you will never be able to become religious. It
           has to be done right now. As it is you are already late, as it is you have already wasted much time --
           and wasted it in futile things, wasted it in things that are going to be taken away from you.
                You have to pay for all those things, with life. Whatsoever you possess, you lose life for it. It is
           not cheap; it is very costly. One day you have many possessions, but you are no longer there. Things
           are there; the owner, dead. Great piles of things... but the one who wanted to live through them; no
           more.
                People go on preparing for life -- and they die before their preparation is complete. People
           prepare, and never live. To be religious is to live life, not to prepare for it. You are doing a very
           absurd thing: your rehearsal goes on and on and the real drama never starts.
                I have heard about a small drama company. They were rehearsing. The real drama was getting
           postponed every day because the rehearsal was never complete. One day the heroine was not there,
           another day some other actor was not there, one day something else happened -- the electricity failed
           or something -- and it went on being postponed. But the manager was happy for at least one thing:
           that the hero of the drama had always been present, he had never been absent.
                The last rehearsal day he thanked the hero. He said, "You are the only person who can be relied
           upon. All these other people are unreliable. You are the only one who has never been absent.
           Summer or winter, cold or hot, you have always been here."
                The hero said, "There is something I would like to say. I am going to get married on the day the
           real drama is going to be played, so I thought that I should at least attend the rehearsals. I will not be
           here on that day -- that's why I have never absented myself."
                Know well that exactly on the day when the real drama is to start, you will not be here. It is just
           the rehearsal: preparation and preparation.
                Possessing things is simply preparing to live, arranging so that you will be able to live. But to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           live, no arrangement is needed; everything is already ready.
               Everything is absolutely ready; only you are needed to participate. Nothing is lacking. This is
           what I call the religious attitude: this urgency that you have to live now and there is no other way to
           live. Now is the only way to live and to be, and here is the only ho me. There and then are
           deceptions, mirages.... Beware of them.
               Now try to understand these very significant sutras of the gospel:

              AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT, AS THEY WENT IN THE WAY, A CERTAIN MAN SAID UNTO HIM,
              LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE WHITHERSOEVER THOU GOEST.


               When you come across a man like Jesus or Buddha, something suddenly strikes. They have a
           magnetism, a presence which attracts you, which surrounds you, invokes you, invites you, becomes a
           deep call in the heart of hearts. You simply forget yourself; you forget your way of life. In the
           presence of a Jesus, you are almost absent. His presence is so much that for a moment you are
           dazzled, for a moment you don't know what you are saying, for a moment you utter things you never
           meant to utter -- as if you are hypnotized.
               It IS a hypnosis. Not that Jesus is hypnotizing you -- his very presence becomes a concentration
           of your being. It becomes such a deep attraction that the whole world is forgotten. You must have
           been going so mew here to do something: you have forgotten it. You must have been coming from so
           mew here: you have forgotten about it. Suddenly, in his presence, the past and future disappear.
           Suddenly you are here and now and a different world opens: new dimension is revealed.

              AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT, AS THEY WENT IN THE WAY, A CERTAIN MAN SAID UNTO HIM,
              LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE WHITHERSOEVER THOU GOEST.


               This man doesn't know himself what he is saying. It is an urge of the moment. After a moment he
           will repent for it, after a moment he will start looking backwards, after a moment he will start
           thinking about what he has done.
               When you come to me, sometimes you say things which I know you don't mean, which I know
           you can't mean, because they are so irrelevant, they don't fit -- as if you are raised to a higher level of
           being, as if you are in a new state of consciousness and you utter strange things. Later on, when you
           fall back to your ordinary state, either you will forget what you have said or you will shrug your
           shoulders -- you will not be able to believe that you said this.
               You come to me: you bring a thousand and one questions but when you are near me, suddenly
           you forget. You start mumbling. I ask you for what you have come and you say, "I have forgotten."
           You think that I am doing something to you. Nothing -- I am not doing anything to you. The
           questions and problems belong to a lower state of mind. When your state is changed, those questions
           and problems disappear, they are not there.
               Back home, when you have settled down, they are there waiting for you again. Again you will
           come and you will forget.
               Your question is something deep within you. When you are near me, you start looking at things
           through me. You are no longer in the dark, you are in my light, and the problems that were relevant
           in your darkness are no longer relevant. To ask them looks foolish, silly. You cannot articulate your
           problems because they are no longer there, but when we part -- you on your way, I on mine -- again
           the suddenness of darkness. And now the darkness is there even more than before, and the problems
           are multiplied.
               This man: the gospel doesn't mention his name, knowingly. It simply says A CERTAIN MAN
           because it is not a question of a particular man. It is not a question of a particular man: A CERTAIN
           MAN. Every man is implied in it.
               Many people will meet Jesus on the way and it is always on the way. That too has to be
           understood.
               Jesus is always moving. That is the meaning: that he is always on the way. Not that he was
           continuously moving and never resting, but the meaning of ON THE WAY is that Jesus is a river.
           You may know it or you may not know it, but the river is flowing. The river is a flowing: to conceive
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of the river as non-flowing is not possible because then it will no longer be a river. A Jesus is a flow,
           a tremendous flood. It is always on the way, it is always moving.
               You came to me yesterday, but I am no longer there. That land is already lost in the past, those
           banks are no longer anywhere. You may carry them in your memory, but the river has moved. And if
           you carry the past in your memory, you will not be able to see the river: where exactly it is now, at
           this point of time.
               AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT, AS THEY WENT IN THE WAY.... Jesus is a wanderer,
           because once your consciousness is freed, once your consciousness has entered the eternal, it is
           going to remain an eternal wandering. Then the whole is the home; then the home is nowhere.
               Then you will be continuously flowing. There will never come a moment of knowledge; you will
           only be knowing and knowing and knowing. It will never be completed because once knowing is
           completed, it is dead. You will be learning, but you will never become a man of knowledge. You
           will always remain empty.
               That's why a man like Jesus is so humble. Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." What does
           he mean by 'poor in spirit'? He means exactly what I am saying: people who don't attain to
           knowledge -- because knowledge is the riches of the spirit. You accumulate things outside, around
           the body; and you accumulate knowledge inside, around the soul.
               A man may be poor as far as things are concerned and he may be rich as far as knowledge is
           concerned. Jesus says that just to be poor in body won't help; that is nothing much, that is not
           authentic poverty. The authentic poverty is when you don't accumulate things inside, when you don't
           come to the point where you declare, "I know!" You are always knowing, you remain a process --
           always on the way.
               Many times we will come across the expression: 'Jesus on the way'. He is a wanderer, but this
           wandering is an indication of the innermost flow. He is dynamic, he is not static. He is not like a
           stone; he is like a flower -- always flowering. A movement, not an event.
               A CERTAIN MAN: that certain man can be you, can be anybody. He has no name. It is good
           that the gospel has not mentioned a name. It has been done knowingly because if you mention a
           name then people think that it must be about this certain man. No, it simply says that it is about the
           human mind -- any man will be quite representative.

               ... A CERTAIN MAN SAID UNTO HIM, LORD...


                When you come across, when you encounter, Jesus, suddenly you feel something of the divine.
           When you have lost contact with Jesus you may start thinking whether this man was a god or not, but
           in his presence he's so much, he's so powerful in his inner poverty, his humbleness has such a
           glory.... His poverty is a kingdom: he's enthroned. He's in the highest of consciousnesses. He
           suddenly surrounds you, envelops you, wraps you from everywhere like a cloud. You forget yourself
           in it.
                LORD: that's the only expression that can be used for Jesus. LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE
           WHITHERSOEVER THOU GOEST. And in that moment of awakening, in that moment of
           exhilaration, in that moment of intensity, you utter something which you may not be aware of.
                That certain man said: LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE. He doesn't know what he is saying. To
           follow Jesus is very arduous, because to follow Jesus means to become a Jesus. There is no other
           following. It is to risk your all and everything -- for nothing. It is to risk all for nothing; it is to risk
           your life for a death. The resurrection may come or it may not come -- who knows? You can never
           be certain about it and no guarantee can be given. It is just a hope: to sacrifice all that you have for
           just a hope.
                The man is not in his senses -- what is he saying? He is intoxicated by Jesus, he has drunk too
           much of his presence. He is no longer in his right mind, in his common sense mind. Back home he
           will think, "What happened? Why did I say this? Is this man a sorcerer, is this man a hypnotist, a
           mesmerizer? This man must have played a trick upon me; I was almost tricked. What have I said?"
                No, Jesus is not a sorcerer and he is not a magnetizer. He is not a mesmerizer, he is not a
           hypnotist, but his presence -- and you become poetic. In his Presence, something rises to a peak in
           you and you assert something from your innermost core of being. Even your surface, your peripheral
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           self is surprised.
               LORD -- this man may not have said 'Lord' to anybody else before. But suddenly, when a Jesus
           comes, you have to call him 'Lord'; when you encounter Buddha you have to call him 'Bhagwan'. It
           has to be so, because you cannot find any other expression. All other words seem to be insignificant
           -- only 'Lord', 'God'.
               LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE -- and when you say to somebody 'Lord', it immediately
           follows that you have fallen in love.
               I WILL FOLLOW THEE WHITHERSOEVER THOU GOEST. What a commitment! -- made in
           a moment of ecstasy. You may repent of it forever, but this happens.
           Jesus knows it well:

              AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, FOXES HAVE HOLES...


              Jesus is saying, "Poor man, think again. What are you saying? Don't commit yourself so deeply,
           don't get involved with me. Watch, wait, think, ponder -- and then come back to me."

              FOXES HAVE HOLES, AND BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS; BUT THE SON OF MAN HATH
              NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD.


               Whom are you going to follow? Even foxes have holes -- if you follow a fox, at least you will
           have a hole in which to lay your head. Even birds of the air have nests, BUT THE SON OF MAN
           HATH NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD. The greatest the highest, the sublimest, are homeless.
               This has to be understood, this is one of the very penetrating sayings. It has tremendous meaning.
           Watch:
               Trees, animals, birds, all have deep roots in nature. Only man is without roots. Birds don't need
           families, they can survive without families -- nature itself protects. The trees are not in need of
           anybody: if nobody was there, then too trees would be there, and flowering. Nature itself protects;
           they have a home.
               But think of a small child, a human child. If the family was not there to look after the child, can
           you conceive how he would survive? He would be dead. Without society, without the family,
           without the artificial home, he would not be able to survive. Upon this earth only man is homeless,
           only man is the outsider -- everybody else is an insider.
               Hence, religion. Religion is nothing but the search for a home. This earth doesn't seem to be a
           home. If you think about it, you will feel yourself a stranger there. Sooner or later you will be thrown
           out -- this life is momentary. You don't feel that you are welcome: you have to force yourself upon it.
               The trees are welcome; it seems as though the earth is happy through them. The earth goes on
           giving, sharing. The birds are singing -- as if the earth is singing through them. Look at the animals
           -- so alive and vital. Only man seems to be an intruder, as if he has come from somewhere else.
               This earth may be a sojourn, but it is not a home. Maybe we are staying here for a time being: a
           CARAVANSERAI, but not a home. In the morning, we have to go.

               Jesus' saying has many meanings, and I would like you to enter them all.
               One: man is not rooted. Because he is not rooted he is always in search: where to find a home?
           God is nothing but the search to find a home where we can feel at ease and relaxed, where we can
           feel that there is no need to struggle. We are accepted, and not only accepted -- welcomed.
               There is no need to fight your way. You can be whatsoever you are, and relax. You know that the
           love will continue flowing, life will continue flowing. There is no fear of punishment and no greed
           for any reward. You are at home: you are not a stranger in a foreign land.
               This is the search of religion. That's why animals don't have religion. Birds don't have religion:
           they make nests, but they don't make temples. Otherwise a temple is not very difficult: they can
           make a big nest and gather together and sing together, and pray. But they don't pray; they don't need
           to.
               Man is the only animal who makes temples, churches, mosques. Prayer is a very strange
           phenomenon. Just think if somebody comes from some other planet and watches humanity....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you are making love to a woman, the watcher will be able to understand: something like it
           must happen on the other planet also. He may not be able to understand what you are saying, but he
           will know what you MUST be saying. He may not understand the language, but he will understand
           what lovers say to each other. When you kiss and embrace each other, he will understand the
           gesture.
               When you are doing business he will understand; when you are reading a book he will
           understand; when you are doing some exercise he will understand. But when you are praying, if
           something like religion does not exist on his planet, he will not be able to understand at all. What are
           you doing? Just sitting alone? Looking at the sky? talking? To whom? What are you saying?
               And if he comes on a certain day, like a religious day of Mohammedans, Christians or Hindus....
           All over the earth. millions of Mohammedans praying -- not talking to each other, talking to the sky.
           He will simply feel that something has gone wrong: "Humanity has gone mad -- what is happening?
           What are these people gesturing about, why are they gesticulating? To whom are they talking, who
           are they calling 'Allah'? To whom are they bowing their heads? -- nobody seems to be there."
               God is not visible, God is somewhere in the mind of man. Prayer is a monologue; it is not a
           dialogue. A man from another planet would think that something had gone wrong in the nervous
           system of humanity. He would think that it must be a failure of the nerves: millions of people
           gesticulating to nobody, talking to the sky, looking at the sky and crying "Allah! Allah!" Something
           must be wrong: it seems that the whole of humanity has gone mad.
               Prayer will not be understood because prayer is absolutely human. It is the only thing that only
           man does; all other things animals also do. Love: yes, they also make love. Search for food: they also
           do that. They do singing, they do dancing, they talk -- communication is there. They are sad, they are
           happy -- but prayer? That is non-existential.
           Jesus says:

              FOXES HAVE HOLES, AND BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS; BUT THE SON OF MAN HATH
              NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD.


                Man is a stranger. That's why we go on creating the fiction that we are at home, not a stranger.
           The home is a fiction: we create a togetherness with people; we create communities, nations,
           families, so that we are not alone and we can feel the other is there -- someone who is familiar,
           someone who is known: your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your wife, your husband,
           your children -- somebody who is known, familiar.
                But have you ever thought about it? Is your wife really known to you? Is there really a way to
           know the wife or the husband or the child? A child is born to you. Do you know him -- who he is?
                But you never ask such uncomfortable questions. You immediately give him a name so that you
           know who he is. Without the name he will create trouble: without the name the child will move in
           the house and whenever you will encounter him, the unknown will be looking at you.
                To forget that some stranger has come, you label him; you call him some name. Then you start
           managing his character -- what he should do, what he should not do -- so that you know, and you can
           predict him. This is a way to create false familiarity. The child remains unknown: whatsoever you do
           will be on the surface; deep inside he is a stranger.
                There are moments, some rare moments, in which you suddenly become aware of this. Sitting by
           the side of your beloved, suddenly you become aware that you are far apart. Suddenly you look at
           the face of your beloved and you cannot recognize who she is or who he is. But you forget.such
           moments immediately. You start talking: you say some thing, you start planning, you start thinking.
                That's why people don't sit in silence -- because silence creates a restlessness. In silence, the
           fiction of familiarity is broken.
                If a guest comes to your house and you don't say anything, you simply sit silently, he will be very
           angry, he will be in a rage. If you go on sitting, just looking at him, he will get mad. He will say,
           "What are you doing? Has something gone wrong with you? Say something! Have you become
           dumb? Why are you keeping silent? Speak!"
                Speaking is a way of avoiding, avoiding the fact that we are unfamiliar. When somebody starts
           speaking, everything is good. That's why, with foreigners, you feel a little uneasy -- because you
           cannot speak the same language.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you have to stay in the same room with a foreigner and you cannot understand each other, it is
           going to be very difficult. Continuously he will remind you that "We are strangers." And when the
           feeling comes that somebody is a stranger, you immediately feel danger. Who knows what he will
           do? Who knows if he will not jump on you suddenly in the night and cut your throat? He's a
           stranger!
                That's why foreigners are always suspected. There is nothing in fact to suspect -- everybody is a
           foreigner everywhere. Even in your own land you are a foreigner, but there the fiction is established:
           you speak the same language, you believe in the same religion, you go to the same church, you
           believe in the same party, you believe in the same flag -- familiarity. Then you think you know about
           each other. These are just tricks.
           Jesus says, "The son of man is homeless."
                Jesus uses two words again and again for himself: sometimes he uses 'son of God' and sometimes
           he uses 'son of man'. 'Son of God' he rarely uses; 'son of man', more often. It has been a problem for
           Christian theology. If he is the son of God, why does he go on saying 'son of man'?
                Those who are against Christ say, "If he is a son of man, then why does he insist that he is the
           son of God also? You cannot be both. If you are the son of man -- everybody is the son of man. But
           if you are the son of God, then why use the other expression?"
                But Jesus insists on both because he is both. And I tell you, everybody is both. From one side:
           son of man; from another side: son of God. You are born to man, but you are not born only to be
           man. You are born to man, but you are born to be a god.
                Humanity is your form; divinity is your being. Humanity is your clothing; divinity is your soul.
           Jesus goes on using both expressions. Whenever he says 'son of man', he says that "I am joined with
           you. I am just as you are -- plus. I am just as you are, and more." To indicate that MORE, sometimes
           he says 'son of God'. But rarely does he use that -- rarely, because very few people will be able to
           understand it.
                When he says 'son of man', he is not saying something only about himself. Just look at this
           sentence -- he is saying something about every man, that the essential man is homeless. If you think
           you are rooted, if you think you have a home, you are below humanity -- you may belong to animals.
           Foxes have holes, birds have nests... THE SON OF MAN HATH NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS
           HEAD.
                If you think that you are rooted and you are at home in this world, you must be living below
           humanity, because anyone who is REALLY human immediately becomes aware that this cannot be
           life. It may be a passage, a journey, but this cannot be the goal. And once you feel homeless in this
           world, then the search starts.

                That certain man said:LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE WHITHERSOEVER THOU GOEST.He
           may be thinking that Jesus is going to the east or the west or the south or the north. "I will follow
           him.'' But he does not know the direction where Jesus is going.
                Jesus is going God-ward and that is not north, that is not east, that is not west, that is not south;
           that is neither up nor down -- it is none of these. To go God-ward is to go within. In fact, that is not a
           direction at all. It is to lose all directions: north, east, south, west, up, down -- to lose all directions.
           To go within-ward means to move in the dimensionless, directionless.
                He doesn't know what he is saying: LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE WHITHERSOEVER
           THOU GOEST. In his WHITHERSOEVER, the God-wardness is not implied. He does not know
           what he is saying. Jesus is not going anywhere. He is going within himself -- which is not a point in
           space.
                To go within is to go beyond space. That's why the soul can never be found in any experiment.
           An experiment can find anything which belongs to space. You can kill a man, cut and dissect him,
           and bones will be found, blood will be found, everything else will be found -- only the soul, only the
           essential man, will not be found. It does not exist in space. It touches space, but it doesn't exist in it.
           It is only touching it... and if you destroy the body, and cut the body, even the touch is lost. The
           fragrance flies into the unknown.
                Jesus is moving within-ward. And he knows that this man is committing too much, and he will
           not be able to forgive himself for it.
                When you commit too much, you will take revenge. This happens. I come across many people
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who -- in a moment, like lightning -- say to me, "We would like to surrender. Now, whatsoever you
           will say, we will do."
               I know that if I accept them, they will take revenge because they will not be able to fulfill what
           they are saying. They don't know what they are saying and they don't know in what dimension I am
           moving They will not be able to keep pace with me, and then there are only two possibilities: either
           they will become angry against themselves, which is not the usual way of the mind, or they will
           become angry with me.
               That's simply the normal course: whenever you are in trouble, somebody else is responsible.
           Whenever they feel that trouble has arisen.... And it is going to arise. From the very first step it is
           going to be arduous, it is going to be a razor's edge. Then they will take revenge, then they will be
           against me, because that will be their only way to protect themselves. That will be the only way: if
           they can prove that I am wrong so that they can take their commitment back.
               Jesus knows: he says, "I am homeless. With me, you will never find rest; with me, you will
           always be on the way. I am a wanderer, a vagabond. With me, you will always be on the road. And
           my journey is such that it starts, but never ends.
           "You don't know where I am going. I am going towards God. I am moving away from things and the
           world of things: I am moving towards consciousness. I am leaving the visible and moving towards
           the invisible."

               You can't understand what the invisible is because, at the most, you can think about it negatively
           -- you can think it is that which is not visible. No, the invisible is also visible, but you need different
           eyes to see it.
               It happened: Mulla Nasrudin had opened a small school and he invited me. I looked around the
           school: he had gathered many students. I asked him, "Nasrudin, what are you going to teach these
           students?"
               He said, "Two things, basically: to fear God, and to wash the back of the neck."
               I couldn't see the relationship: to fear God and to wash the back of the neck? I said, "It is okay as
           far as teaching them to fear God goes, but I cannot see the relevance of why to learn to wash the
           back of the neck!"
               He said, "If they can do that, they can cope with the invisible!" -- the back of the neck is the
           invisible because you cannot see it. "If they can do that, they can cope with the invisible."
               Your invisible can be just like the back of your neck: it is also part of the world. Your God is
           also part of the world; that's why your temples become part of the market and your scriptures
           become commodities. Your doctrines are just like things you purchase and sell.
               The God of Jesus or Buddha is not your God. Your God is not Jesus' God. His God is a
           withinness, a beyondness; his God is a transformation of your being, a mutation, a birth of a new
           being with a new consciousness. Your God is something to be worshipped; Jesus' God is something
           to be lived. Your God is in your hands; Jesus' God is one to whom you leave yourself, in whose
           hands you surrender. Your God is right in your hands; you can do whatsoever you want with your
           God. Jesus' God is one to whom you surrender -- and surrender totally.
               That man did not know what he was saying. Jesus prohibited him by saying this.

              AND HE SAID UNTO ANOTHER, FOLLOW ME.


               To the one who was ready to follow, he said, "Wait, please. You don't know what you are doing,
           you don't know what commitment you are making, what you are getting involved in."
               The first man acted in a moment of inspiration, in a moment of enthusiasm, in a moment of
           intoxication. He's not reliable, he's being influenced -- and if you do something under influence, it's
           just as if you are drunk. You say something and the next day you have forgotten it.
               AND HE SAID UNTO ANOTHER, FOLLOW ME. To one who has not said anything he says,
           "Follow me."

              BUT HE SAID, LORD, SUFFER ME FIRST TO GO AND BURY MY FATHER.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               To the other man Jesus said, "Follow me" -- and the man had not asked. But the man was more
           ready, the man was more prepared, the man was more mature.
               Just a few days before, a Dutch woman came to me. A very simple and good-hearted woman, in
           fact too good-hearted. Even good-heartedness can become a disease if it is too much. She comes to
           me again and again, and she writes notes and letters that she cannot tolerate poverty. When she goes
           to her hotel she meets beggars on the road and she cries and weeps, she feels guilty and she suffers
           much. She cannot meditate -- even in meditation, those beggars' faces come. She thinks that it is
           selfishness to meditate while there is so much poverty.
               A very good-hearted woman, but not mature. Simple, good -- but childish.
               I told her, "You do either of two things. Go and first remove the poverty from the world and then
           come -- if time is left and I am here. First remove the poverty and then come and meditate so you
           don't feel guilty. Or, if you think that is impossible, then drop the idea. Meditate, and out of your
           meditation, whatsoever help you can give to people, give."
               Then she became worried about sannyas. She wanted to take it and yet was afraid -- her Christian
           upbringing. Then she came again and she said, "There is a problem. My father has been very good to
           me. He has taught me how to be. Now if I take sannyas I will be betraying my father: his teachings.
           But if I don't take sannyas it is a constant haunting around me that I should move into it so I can be
           transformed."
           I said, "You decide either way."
               That too she couldn't decide. Then one day she came and she was very worried so I told her,
           "One thing is certain now: that even if you ask for sannyas, I am not going to give it to you. So you
           be at rest now. I'm not going to give you sannyas."
               Since then I have seen her -- she has not come to see me, but she is here. Now she seems to be
           worried -- I can watch her face -- that if she comes to me for sannyas, I will not give sannyas to her.
               Good, but immature. Commitment can only be out of maturity. A certain ripeness is needed.

               And Jesus SAID UNTO ANOTHER, FOLLOW ME -- but that man's father had died. He could
           not contain himself: that's why he may have come to see Jesus on the road. He was passing by the
           village, his father was Lying dead, and he said, LORD, SUFFER ME FIRST TO GO AND BURY
           MY FATHER.
               This is a very symbolic situation: the father who has given birth to the body is dead, and another
           father is present who can give birth to the soul. The question is between the soul and the body, the
           question is between life and death. From a worldly father you don't attain to life. In fact, you are
           born to die, you are born to death.
               The father is dead. The man said, "Suffer me, Lord, to go and bury my father -- a formality, but
           let me do it."

             JESUS SAID UNTO HIM -- one of the most poignant, penetrating sayings of Jesus -- LET THE
           DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD: BUT GO THOU AND PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

               It looks a little harsh, it does not show compassion. The father is Lying dead and the son is
           expected to bury him. It is a formality: a social mannerism and a duty. But Jesus said, LET THE
           DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD. Jesus said, "In the village there are many dead people. They will do
           that. You don't be worried about it. There is no need for you to go."
               The symbolic meaning is that one who moves into religion need not bother about duties,
           morality, forma]ities, because morality is a lower religion, duty is a lower religion, formality is part
           of the personality. When you attain to religion, you can drop all morality because you will be
           fulfilling something deeper and higher. Now there is no need to carry mannerisms, no need to carry
           social etiquettes. "There are enough dead people in the town who will do it, and who will do it
           happily. You don't be worried about it. Let the dead bury the dead; you go and preach the kingdom
           of God."
               What manner of man is this Jesus? Some man's father is lying dead and he wants to make him a
           preacher of the king dom of God? Is this the moment to go and become a preacher of God?
               But it is symbolic. He's saying, "Don't be worried about death, be worried about God. And don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be worried about the father who gave birth to your body; think about the father, go and preach about
           the father, who has given your soul to you."
                BUT GO THOU AND PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD. In a way. if you watch the death of
           anybody who has been very intimate to you -- a father, a mother, a wife, a husband, a friend who has
           been very intimate to you and is dead -- only in that moment is conversion towards God possible. If
           you miss that moment, you will again be in the mess of the world.
                Death gives you a shock. Nothing can give you a shock like that -- death is the greatest shock. If
           that shock does not make you awake then you are incurable, impossible. Jesus used that moment. He
           is one of the greatest artists who has ever walked on the earth, the greatest alchemist.
                The situation is death. The father is Lying dead in the home, the family must be crying and
           weeping -- this is no time to go and preach the kingdom of God. It looks absurd, looks harsh. Jesus
           looks too hard.
                He is not. It is because of his compassion that he says this. He knows that if this moment of death
           is missed -- in burying the dead body -- then there will be no possibility to awaken. Maybe that's
           why he turned to this man and said, "Follow me." He must have seen death in his eyes, he must have
           felt death around him. Of course, it was bound to be so -- the father was dead.
                But still the man could not contain himself. He had to come to see this man, Jesus. Maybe
           because of death Jesus became significant, maybe because of death he became aware that everybody
           is going to die. Maybe because of that he had come to Jesus in search of life.
                The first man was just an onlooker; the second man was ready. Death prepares you. If you can
           use death, if you can use pain and anguish, if you can use suffering, misery, that can become a step
           towards the divine.
                Shocked, this man must have been standing there almost as if he himself was dead. Thinking
           must have stopped. In such a shock you cannot afford thinking. If the shock is really total, even tears
           cannot flow. For tears to flow, the shock has to be not total. If the shock is total, one is simply
           shocked. Nothing moves: time stops, the world disappears, thoughts drop. One is dazed, one just
           looks with empty eyes -- hollow. One simply looks, not looking at anything. Have you seen that type
           of look sometimes in madmen's eyes, or sometimes immediately after somebody has died who was
           very intimate?
                Jesus must have watched: this man was ready. Let me tell you, unless you have experienced
           death, you are not ready. Life is very superficial; it is just on the periphery, just on the surface. Death
           is deep -- it is as deep as God -- so only from death is the conversion possible. Only in the moment
           of death do you change. Your outlook changes, your attitudes change, the old world becomes
           irrelevant. Buddha was transformed by seeing a dead man....
                Jesus must have looked -- AND HE SAID UNTO ANOTHER, FOLLOW ME. Only one who
           has known death can follow Jesus.
                If you have known death, only then can you follow me. If you have known suffering and the
           cleansing that comes out of suffering, if you have known pain and the shock that is a by-product of
           pain, then and only then can you be with me. Otherwise sooner or later you disperse because life
           goes on calling you back; there are a thousand and one things to be fulfilled yet. You will continually
           be going backwards.
                Only when death cuts the bridge, breaks all the ties with life, is there a possibility that you will
           turn -- turn your back to the world and face God. That's why, in one sentence, Jesus says two things
           which on the surface look irrelevant: LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD: BUT GO THOU
           AND PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
                This man is not even a disciple -- he is a stranger standing by the side of the road -- and Jesus
           says, "Go and preach the kingdom of God." This is my observation also: that the best way to learn a
           thing is to teach it.
                The best way to learn a thing is to teach it, I repeat it, because when you start teaching, you are
           learning. When you are simply learning you are too self-centered and that very selfcentering
           becomes a barrier.
                When you start teaching you are not self-centered: you look at the other; you look at the need of
           the other. You watch and observe HIS problem. You are completely aloof, detached -- a witness.
           And whenever you can become a witness, God starts flowing from you.
                There is only one way to learn great things and that is to teach them. That's why I go on saying to
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you that if you have shared my being in any way, go and spread, go and teach, go and help other
           people to meditate, and you will suddenly be surprised one day: the greatest meditation will happen
           to you when you are helping somebody to go into meditation.
               While meditating, things will happen. While you yourself are meditating many things will
           happen, but the greatest will happen only when you are able to teach meditation to somebody else. In
           that moment you become completely detached -- and in that detachment, you are complete]y silent.
           You are so filled with compassion -- that's why you're helping the other -- that something
           immediately happens to you.
           Jesus said:

              ... BUT GO THOU AND PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD.



              AND ANOTHER ALSO SAID, LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE; BUT LET ME FIRST GO BID THEM
              FAREWELL, WHICH ARE AT HOME AT MY HOUSE.


              And another said, "I would also like to be with you. I'm ready to follow you, but I would have to
           go back, at least just to say goodbye to my family, my friends, to those who are at home."

              AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND
              LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.


               No man who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God -- why? Because no man who looks in the
           past can be capable of being in the present.
               A Zen seeker came to Rinzai, the great Master. He wanted to meditate and he wanted to become
           enlightened, but Rinzai said, "Wait, a few other things first. First things first. From where are you
           coming?"
               The man said, "I always break the bridges which I have passed over."
               Rinzai said, "Okay, from wherever you are coming is not the point. But what is the price of rice
           these days there?"
               The disciple laughed and he said, "Don't provoke me, otherwise I will slap you."
               Rinzai bowed down to the seeker and said, "You are accepted" -- because if a man still
           remembers the price of rice from where he is coming, he is not worthy. Whatsoever you carry from
           the past is a burden, a barrier; it will not allow you to be open to the present.
           Jesus said:

              NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE
              KINGDOM OF GOD.

              "If you want to follow me, follow me. There is no way of going back. There is no need: what is the point
              of saying goodbye? What is it going to serve? If you want to follow me," Jesus says again and again in
              the gospel, "then you will have to deny your father, your mother; you will have to deny your family."

               Sometimes he looks almost cruel. One day he was standing in the village market and a crowd
           was surrounding him. Somebody said, "Lord, your mother is waiting outside the crowd."
               Jesus said, "Who is my mother, who is my brother, who is my father? Those who follow me,
           those who are with me -- they are my brother, they are my father, they are my mother."
               Looks really cruel -- but he was not. He's not saying anything to his mother: he's saying to those
           people that if you're clinging to much to the family, the inner revolution will not be possible, because
           the family is the first imprisonment. Then the religion you belong to is the second imprisonment...
           then the nation that you belong to is the third imprisonment. One has to break them all, one has to go
           beyond them all. Only then can one find the source: the source which is freedom, the source which is
           God.
               NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND LOOKING BACK, IS FIT
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD. One has to renounce all that is futile to gain that which is
           meaningful.
                Once it happened that a group of friends were sitting and talking about what the most essential
           thing is that cannot be renounced.
                Somebody said, "I cannot renounce my mother. She has given birth to me; I owe my life to her. I
           can renounce everything, but not my mother."
                Somebody else said, "I cannot renounce my wife because mother and father were given to me --
           they were never my choice -- but my wife I have chosen. I have a responsibility towards her, I
           cannot renounce her. But I can renounce everybody else."
                They went on this way. Somebody said he could not renounce his house, somebody else said
           something else. Mulla Nasrudin said, "I can do without everything except my navel."
                Everybody was puzzled -- just a navel? So they pressed him to explain it. He said, "Whenever
           there is a holiday and I am at ease, I have leisure time, I lie down on my bed and eat celery."
                They said, "But how is that concerned with the navel? You can eat celery...."
                He said, "You don't understand. Without the navel I have nowhere to put the salt." He puts the
           salt in his navel when he eats celery!
                But all your attachments are just that absurd. Except for your innermost consciousness,
           everything can be renounced. Not that I say 'renounce it', but deep down one should live in
           renouncement -- one should be in the world, but one should remain in renouncement.
                You can live in the family, not being part of it; you can live in the society and yet out of it. It is a
           question of inner attitude. It is not a question of changing places, it is a question of changing the
           mind.
                The things that you are too attached to are not bad in themselves, remember. Father, mother,
           family, wife, children, money, house -- they are not bad in themselves. The attachment is not bad
           because these things are bad or these persons and these relationships are bad: ATTACHMENT IS
           BAD.
                It can make you very stupid. Mulla Nasrudin suddenly became rich, he inherited a great treasure.
           And, of course, what happens with newly rich people happened with him also: he wanted to show it,
           exhibit it.
                He called the greatest painter in the country to make a portrait of his wife. Nasrudin said that
           there was only one condition. "Remember it, don't forget it: the pearls must be in the painting." His
           wife was wearing many pearls and diamonds: they must be there. He's not worried about the woman
           -- what she looks like in the painting is not the question -- but the pearls and the diamonds should be
           there.
                After a while when the painting was ready, the painter brought the painting. Mulla Nasrudin said,
           "Quite good, quite good. Only one thing: can't you make the breasts a little smaller and the pearls a
           little bigger?"
                The mind of an exhibitionist, the mind of showing that you have something Precious, valuable,
           the mind of the ego. The question is not of living in a palace: live in a palace, that's not the point; or
           live in a hut or live just by the side of the road, that is not the point. The question is of the ego.
                You can be an exhibitionist in a palace; you can be an exhibitionist on the road. If your mind is
           wanting somebody to know that you possess something, or you have renounced something, then you
           are in a deep darkness that has to be broken.
                Jesus says that one should not be attached and one should not look backwards. Looking back is
           an old habit with the human mind; you go on looking back. Either you look back or you look in the
           future -- and this is how you miss the present.
                The present is divine. The past is dead memory; the future is just hope, fiction. Reality is only in
           the present. That reality is God, that reality is the kingdom of God.
           Jesus said:

               NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE
               KINGDOM OF GOD.


               Just this is to be understood; nothing else has to be done. Just listen to me: you know well that
           the past is past; it is no more, nothing can be done about it. Don't go on ruminating about it, wasting
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           time and energy. That rumination about the past creates a screen around you, and you cannot see that
           which is already here.
                You have been missing it, and it has become a habit. Whenever you are sitting, you are thinking
           about the past. Become aware! I'm not saying to try to stop it because if you try to stop it, you will
           still be engaged with it. I am saying: be disengaged with it!
                So what will you do? -- because whatsoever you do will be an engagement with it.
                You just have to be aware. When the past starts coming in the mind, just relax, quiet yourself,
           still yourself. Just remain alert, not even verbalization is needed. Just know that the past is gone:
           there is no use chewing over it again and again.
                People use the past as a chewing gum; they go on chewing it. Nothing comes out of a gum -- it is
           not nutritious; it is just futile -- but just through the exercise of the mouth one feels good. Just the
           exercise of the mind, and one feels as if one is doing something worthwhile.
                Just remain alert, and if you can be alert about the past you will become aware, by and by, that
           the future has disappeared automatically. The future is nothing but the projection of the past: the
           future is the desire to have that part of the past that was beautiful, again and again, in more beautiful
           ways; and not to have the part of the past which was painful -- to never have it again.
                This is what future is. You are choosing a part of the past, glorifying it, decorating it, and
           imagining that in the future you will again and again have those moments of happiness -- of course
           more magnified, more inflated. And you will never have the pain that you had to pass through in the
           past. This is what future is.
                Once the past disappears, it does not disappear a]one. It also takes the future with it. Suddenly
           you are here, now -- time stops. This moment which is not of time I call meditation... this moment
           which is not of time Jesus calls 'the kingdom of God'.
                Just remember it more and more. Nothing is to be done, only remembrance -- a deep
           remembrance which follows you like breathing whatsoever you are doing, which remains
           somewhere in the heart. Just a deep remembrance that the past has to be dropped -- and future goes
           with it. Here/now is the door; from here/now you pass from the world into God, you pass from the
           without to the within.
                Suddenly, in the marketplace, the temple descends: the heavens open and the spirit of God
           descends like a dove. It can happen anywhere. Every place is holy and sacred; only ripeness, your
           maturity, your awareness, is needed.
                The word 'awareness' is the master key. We will come across many situations in the gospel where
           Jesus goes on saying: "Awake! Be alert! Be conscious! Remember! " Buddha goes on saying to his
           disciples: "Right mindfulness is needed"; Krishnamurti goes on saying: "Awareness"; Gurdjieff's
           whole teaching is based on one word: 'self-remembering'.
           This is the whole of the gospel: self-remembering.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 1
                                                   Chapter #10
                                    Chapter title: Moving towards Christhood
           30 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510300
              ShortTitle: FOLL110
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 78 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              DO YOU EVER CRY?


               YES, WHENEVER I LOOK AT YOU. You may not see my tears, you may not hear my cry, but
           when I look at you the cry is always there. Because of that, I go on working on you. It is not only to
           help you to come out of your misery; it is to help myself also. If you come out of your misery, I will
           come out of my misery that is created by your misery.
               It is said that when Buddha reached to the door of the ultimate he stopped there; he wouldn't
           enter. The door was open, the devas, the gods, were ready to welcome him in, but he wouldn't enter.
           The DEVAS asked him, "Why are you standing there? Come in. We have been waiting for many
           ages. You are welcome. You have returned home."
               Buddha said, "I will stay here, I will have to stay here. Until the last human being passes by me
           and enters the door, I cannot enter."
               This is a beautiful parable. Don't take it literally....
               But it is true. Once you become aware, once you become a being -- once you ARE -- infinite
           compassion arises in you. Buddha has made compassion the criterion of enlightenment. Once you
           have attained you don't suffer for yourself, but you suffer for others -- seeing the misery all around,
           seeing the whole absurdity of it; seeing the possibility that you can come out of it immediately, right
           now, and still you go on clinging.
               By one hand you push it away, by another hand you pull it close. You go on creating your own
           prisons and still you would like to be free. Your whole effort is just contradictory. You want to come
           to the east and you go towards the west.
           Seeing you... yes, I always cry.


              FOR TEN YEARS I HAVE IDENTIFIED MYSELF AS A POET. BUT SINCE I TOOK SANNYAS TEN
              DAYS AGO IT HAS BECOME UNIMPORTANT TO ME WHETHER OR NOT I EVER WRITE
              ANOTHER VERSE, EVEN THOUGH I HAVE OFTEN HEARD YOU PRAISE THE POET. WHAT HAS
              HAPPENED?


                The first thing: you cannot be identified as being a poet, because poetry is something that
           happens only when you are not there. If you are there, it will just be rubbish. It happens only when
           you are absent.
                That's why it is so beautiful. It comes into your emptiness: it fills you -- your vacuum. You
           become pregnant with the unknown, with the strange.
                The poet is just a mother. The mother is not going to produce the child. The child has been
           conceived: at the most the mother is tending it, caring for it deep within her heart, trying to give it a
           body -- not the soul.
                Poetry comes to you just like a child is conceived -- in deep love. In deep receptivity you become
           a womb and the poetry is conceived. It is a pregnancy. And one has to be very careful because
           miscarriage is always possible: you can abort; you can be too much in a hurry and you can destroy it.
                Allow it to settle within your being, It will take its own time; it will grow by and by. It will grow
           in your unconscious. Your conscious is not needed; your conscious will be an interference. Forget
           about it, let it grow.
                You will feel heavy -- your whole being will be as if you are carrying a burden. Nice, pleasant,
           but still a burden. And then one day, the child is born. In that moment, not only the child is born --
           the mother is also born.
                When the poetry is born, then the poet is born. It is not the poet who writes the poetry. In fact, it
           is the birth of poetry which creates the poet. You were not a poet before it -- only by its birth.
                A woman becomes a mother. A mother is a totally different category from the ordinary woman.
           A woman is a woman -- a mother is totally different. She has conceived something of the beyond;
           she has carried the beyond into her womb and she has given it a body.
                The poet is born when the poetry is born. It is a shadow of the poetry, a consequence of the
           poetry. It succeeds poetry, it does not precede it. There was no poet before, there was no mother
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           before. There was a man, there was a woman, but there was no poet, there was no mother. The
           mother comes into existence after the poetry has happened.

               But ordinarily, whatsoever you call poetry is not poetry. It is just a mind thing. You think it; you
           write it. Whatsoever you write is prose and whatsoever God writes through you is poetry. It may
           have the form of prose -- it doesn't matter. Whatsoever Buddha says or Jesus says is poetry. The
           form is prose, that is not the point. It is poetry because God writes it: the whole writes it through the
           part; the ocean tries to give you a message through the drop.
               Whenever YOU write, it is prose -- ordinary prose. Whenever God writes THROUGH you, it is
           poetry. It may be prose... it is still poetry.
               You cannot be identified with being a poet. That will be a disturbance, that will destroy the
           whole music and the whole harmony. So it is good -- good that the identification has dropped, good
           that you have forgotten about poetry, good that it doesn't seem to affect you in any way now whether
           you write or not. This is the right situation. Now for the first time there is a possibility that poetry
           may happen.
               I cannot say, "It WILL happen," because poetry cannot be predicted. If you predict it, again the
           mind will start functioning and waiting and trying and doing something about it. No, you completely
           forget about it. It may take months, it may take years, it may take your whole life, but some day -- if
           you have really completely forgotten your identification -- you will become the medium. Something
           will flow through you.
               It will come through you, but it will be of the beyond. Then you will be a watcher, a witness to it.
           You won't be a poet; you will be a witness. And when it is born, a different quality of being will
           come in its wake.
               That's what a poet is. All great poets are humble, they don't claim.
               The Upanishads are not even signed -- nobody knows who wrote them. The greatest poetry and
           the poets have not even tried to sign it, they have not left their signatures. That would have been
           profane. They have left the poetry, but they have not claimed. They were just vehicles.
               A real poet is a vehicle, a medium. That's why I praise poetry so much -- because it is very close
           to meditation, very close to religion -- the closest neighbor. The politician works with the practical,
           the scientist with the possible, the poet with the probable, and the mystic with the impossible. The
           probable is the closest neighbor of the impossible -- that's why I praise poetry.
               But when I praise poetry, I am not praising your poets. Ninety-nine percent of them are just
           writing junk. They are doing a mind thing, an ego-trip. They manage, that's all -- but poetry doesn't
           come through them.
               You can write poetry. Technically it may even be correct, but it may be dead. Sometimes it
           happens that a poem is technically not correct but it is alive. Who bothers about whether a thing is
           technically correct or not? The real thing is whether it is alive or not.
               If you are going to become a mother, would you like a child who is technically correct but dead?
           A plastic child: technically, absolutely right; you cannot find a fault....
               In fact, if you want technically correct human beings, then only plastic beings are possible, Only
           they can be absolutely correct. A real, alive child has so many defects -- bound to be so, because life
           exists in danger and death.
               Only a dead thing is out of danger. Life is always a hazard: there are a thousand and one
           difficulties to be crossed, riddles to be solved. The very phenomenon that life exists is a miracle,
           with so many imperfections....
               Life is imperfect because life is a growing phenomenon. Anything that is growing will be
           imperfect, otherwise how will it grow? Anything that is perfect is already dead: it is good for the
           grave -- you cannot do anything else with
               Ninety-nine percent of your poets are just writing junk; they give birth to dead children.
           Sometimes -- and only sometimes, rarely -- a poet is there. And whenever such a phenomenon as the
           poet exists, which is a miracle on this earth, just next to him is the mystic. One step more and he will
           become a mystic.
               If the poet tries to take wing a little more, he will become a mystic. And if the mystic, in his
           compassion, descends a step towards you, he will become a poet.
               Poetry is a communication of the mystery of life. Unless you have felt it, how can you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           communicate? Poetry is a relationship between you and the whole. Something transpires between the
           drop and the ocean, between the leaf and the tree. Something transpires between the whole and the
           part, and the part starts dancing, the part is so overflowing with joy that it sings... so delighted that its
           movements become poetic. It no longer walks on the earth -- it flies.
               Prose is just walking on the earth; poetry is a flight into the sky. Prose is just walking, poetry is
           dancing. The movements are the same, but the quality is tremendously different.
               Good -- you are blessed if the identification is gone. And that's what I'm trying to do through
           sannyas. When your old identification is gone, you are left in a vacuum. Only in the vacuum can the
           hands of God descend in you and create something out of the mud that you are, create something
           beautiful. It will not be-yours -- it will come through you.
               Rejoice that the identification is gone; don't try to bring it back. Forget all about it, forget all
           about everything that you know in relation to poetry, poetics. Forget everything -- just rejoice in
           being yourself.
               Suddenly one day you will fall in line with the whole -- a turning in, a tuning in, and a song will
           descend like a dove. Then you will be, for the first time, a poet. You will not claim it, but you will be
           it.

               Those who are, don't claim. Those who are not -- only they claim.


               I FEEL LIKE ON ACTOR IN A PLAY AND I DON'T ALWAYS LIKE MY ROLE IN IT. JUST WHEN I
               FEEL IT IS DROPPING, YOU PUSH ME BACK IN IT -- DEFINING IT, DEFINING ME. IT APPEARS
               YOU GIVE A FORM, WHILE MY BEING IS BURSTING AT THE SEAMS. I WANT TO EXPLODE
               AND SPREAD. WHY DO YOU MOLD ME SO?


                The first thing: if you really feel' that you are an actor in a play then there is no question of your
           like or dislike. Then you cannot say, "Sometimes I don't like my role in it," because like and dislike
           come only when you think of yourself not as an actor but as a doer.
                To the actor, all roles are the same. What difference does it make whether you become Jesus or
           Judas in a drama? If you really know that this is a drama, and Judas and Jesus are all the same
           behind the curtain, behind the stage -- it is just an act -- then what is wrong in being a Judas? How
           can you dislike it? And what is good in being Jesus? How can you like it?
                Like and dislike exist only when you think you are the doer. Then good' and bad come in then
           judgement, evaluation; then condemnation, appreciation. Then the duality enters. The duality enters
           only with the doer. If you are an actor it is all the same whether you are a Judas or a Jesus.
                Once you understand the point that life is just a great drama, you are finished with likes and
           dislikes. Then whatsoever the whole bids, you do it. You are not the doer: you fulfill the desire of the
           whole.
                That is one of the greatest teachings of all religions: to become an actor in life. Then like/dislike
           disappears. When like/dislike disappears, choice disappears -- and when you are choiceless, you are
           free. MOKSHA, nirvana, is attained.
                Become an actor. Play the role, play it beautifully... because when one has to play;t, why not play
           it beautifully? You are a Judas -- perfectly okay. Be a Judas. Enjoy the role and let the audience also
           enjoy the role. Behind the stage, Judas and Jesus are meeting and having tea. They are friends there.
           They have to be.
                In fact without Judas, Jesus cannot be. Something in the story will be missing, something very
           essential will be missing. Just think of Jesus without Judas. Christianity will not be possible.
                There might not have been any record of Jesus without Judas. Because he betrayed, Jesus was
           crucified; and because Jesus was crucified, the event stuck hard in the heart of humanity.
                Christianity is born not because of Christ but because of the cross. So I would prefer that
           Christianity be called "Crossianity'. It should not be connected with Christ but with the cross.
                If you look at the Church, you will see the cross raised higher than Jesus. The bishops and the
           popes wear the cross:the Church is born out of the cross. But if you think about it like this, then who
           is the author of this crucifixion? Judas -- not Jesus.
                At the last moment on the cross, just before he died, Jesus hesitated. The part hesitated to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dissolve into the whole, the river hesitated to fall into the ocean. It's natural, it's human: Jesus is son
           of man AND son of God.
               Every river must be tremendously apprehensive and afraid when it comes to the ocean. It was
           coming there all the time -- it may have journeyed thousands of miles to meet the ocean -- but
           whenever the river falls into the ocean, a deep turmoil is bound to be in the heart. The river is going
           to disappear. The ocean is so vast -- where will she be?
               She will be lost, her identity gone: the name, the form, the dreams, the desires -- all gone. The
           ocean is so vast, she will simply disappear. Falling into the ocean is a death. It is the cross. When the
           river falls into the ocean, the cross is there.
               At the last moment Jesus looked at the sky and said, "God, have you forsaken me? Why is this
           happening to me? " -- deep cry of anguish.        'Why have you forsaken me?' shows the humanity of
           Jesus. That is where Jesus is tremendously beautiful, incomparably beautiful.
               Buddha is more inhuman. You may call it 'superhuman', but he is inhuman. If he was going to
           die on the cross, he would not have cried toward the sky: "Why have you forsaken me? " He knows
           that there is nobody to cry to, he knows no God exists, that that is all human foolishness. He knows
           that all that is born is going to die; he has understood it totally. He will not cry, he will simply
           dissolve. The river of Buddha will not hesitate, it will not hesitate for a single moment. There will
           not be a cross.
               Buddha is inhuman, very far away from the human heart. Mahavir is even more inhuman. They
           are not of this world at all; they are very abstract, as if they are not concrete human beings. They
           look more like disembodied ideas. They look fictitious, they look mythological -- but not real.
               Jesus is very real. He's as real as you are. And this cry.... Buddha would have laughed. If he had
           been there he would have laughed at how foolish this man was: "What are you crying about? To
           whom are you crying?"
               In Lewis Carroll's beautiful book, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, there is a small dialogue:
               Tweedledum says to Alice. "Why are you crying? You are unreal -- just a dream of the king."
           Alice looks at him and says, "But I AM real."
               Tweedledum laughs and says, "You are foolish. If he (the king) stops dreaming, where will you
           be?"
           Alice says, "I will be here of course."
               Tweedledum laughs again. He says, "You fool! If he stops dreaming, you will simply disappear.
           You are a figment of his dream. Don't cry. How can you cry? -- you are unreal."
               Alice goes on crying. She says, "If I am unreal, then who is crying? If I am unreal, then what
           about these tears?"
               Tweedledum says, "You fool, do you think these tears are real or your crying is real? "

               Buddha would have laughed at Jesus, Shankara would have laughed: "What are you doing? This
           whole world is MAYA: the dream of the king. You are just part, a figment of it; you are not real, you
           are unreal. Just disappear. Why are you saying, 'You have forsaken me?' Who is there to forsake
           you?"
               But not Jesus. He cries -- tears may have flowed through his eyes. He is human, as human as you
           are -- rooted in the earth as you are. He is very earthly... but not just earthly, not merely earthly. He
           is more.
               He cried. For a moment he even became angry and annoyed. He said, "What are you doing to
           me? Have you forsaken me? " And then he understood. The river hesitated, then understood and
           moved into the ocean.
               Then he said, "I understand. Thy will should be done. not mine." The part was ready to fall into
           the whole.
               He's earthly and he's heavenly -- both. He is a great bridge. At the last moment he understood the
           whole thing as just a role to be played.
           "Thy will should be done, not mine" -- -then it becomes acting. If it is your will, then it becomes
           doing. This is the difference.

               You say to me, "I feel like an actor in a play." You must be just THINKING of yourself as an
           actor in a play because the next part of the sentence denies it: "... and I don't always like my role in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it." If it's just a play, then why bother? Be a Judas or be a Jesus -- it's all the same. From where does
           the evaluation of like and dislike come?
                The ego exists in your likes and dislikes. In choice, the ego exists; when you don't choose, the
           ego disappears. That is what I'm doing to you.
           "When I feel it is dropping, you push me back into it." I will go on pushing you until the choice
           disappears completely. Don't resist me because if you resist then you will not be able to understand
           for long. Don't get annoyed and don't say, "What are you doing to me?"
           "It appears you give me a form, while my being is bursting at the seams. I want to explode and
           spread...." That 'I want' is the barrier to exploding and spreading. The 'I' cannot explode and cannot
           spread. It can only think, it can dream.
                My whole effort is so that you can drop the 'I' and just be. Then you will spread; then there will
           be no barrier for you, then you can become infinite. You ARE infinite: the ego won't allow you to
           see it, the ego won't allow you to see the truth.
           "Why do you mold me so? " I will go on molding you from one form to another, and again from one
           form to another, so that you can understand that you are formless.
                Only the formless can be molded into form. If you have a form, then you cannot be molded into
           another form; you are already fixed.
                If you want to mold steel it will be difficult, but you can mold mud easily. Why? Why not steel?
           Steel has a more fixed form. You can say it in this way: steel believes in a more fixed form, the steel
           is deceived by a more fixed form. The mud is not so deceived.
                Then there is water: formless, fluid. You put it in a jar; it takes that form. You move it into
           another jar: never for a single moment does it resist -- it takes another form. It is fluid.
                Allow me to mold you in many forms because only in changing from one form to another --
           somewhere in between -- will you become aware of the formless. There is no other way to become
           aware of the formless. Moving from one form to another -- just in the middle somewhere, when the
           old form has gone and the new has not arisen -- in that interval, some day you will become aware.
                That's what God himself is doing. He goes on changing your forms. Sometimes you were a
           plant... then you were a bird... then you became an animal.... Then you became a man: sometimes a
           woman, sometimes a man; sometimes black, sometimes white; sometimes stupid, sometimes
           intelligent. He goes on changing your form because that is the only opportunity....
                By changing the form, one day, somewhere in the middle, you will become aware. Then the
           whole thing is just acting; then you will be able to say: "Thy will should be done, not mine."
                That moment you are freed. When you can say with your whole heart, "Thy will should be done,
           not mine," you have disappeared. The river has fallen.


               I FEEL THAT I HAVE BEEN DISHONEST AND INSINCERE IN ALL MY RELATIONS THROUGHOUT
               MY LIFE. YES, SIR, I HAVE NOT DONE JUSTICE TO MY PARENTS, MY WIFE, NOR MY
               CHILDREN, NOR MY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, AND SO ON. AND NOW I FEEL I AM NOT
               JUST AND SINCERE TO MY MASTER AND MY SANNYAS ALSO. THIS IS THE CAUSE OF GREAT
               AGONY TO ME, TO MY MIND. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               If you start thinking in terms of doing, you will again be insincere because in whatsoever you
           have done, you have been insincere. Your doing has become corrupted.
               So the first thing is: resist doing! Just remain alert, alert to your insincerity. Don't be in a haste to
           do anything because that will be done again by you; your whole past will be involved in your doing.
               Resist! Just remain with this feeling that you have been insincere, that's enough. It is purifying, it
           has a tremendous capacity to purify and cleanse you.
               Just remain with the feeling that "I have been insincere': that "I am insincere" -- and don't try to
           do anything about it. That is again trying to create a good image of yourself: that you are not
           insincere, that you are a sincere man. Your ego is hurting because you have been insincere.
               Try to be aware of the fact; don't try to do anything about it. Anything that you do will be
           immature. It is too early. Just remain with the idea; live with it.
               Live with the idea that you are insincere. If you can live with it, the very idea, the very
           awareness, will kill your ego completely. The ego cannot remain alive if you think you are insincere.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The ego needs a good image: that you are a sincere man -- very honest. That's what the ego is saying:
           "Do something so you can repaint the image, renovate the image."
                You have been insincere. This has been revealed to you through meditation. Now the ego is in
           danger of death. The ego says: do something. Through doing, it will try to again reclaim the fallen
           image, resettle with the old, so you can feel again that "lam good, I am beautiful. I am sincere, I am
           moral, I am this and that."
                The first thing -- very difficult, arduous, but this has to be done: just remain alert to the
           insincerity. Look at the idea of it and don't be bothered to change it.
                It will change of its own accord because once you understand that you are insincere, you cannot
           remain insincere. It is impossible; it has never happened. It cannot happen; the very thing is
           impossible. If you know that you are insincere, it will drop. So if you want it to stay, then do
           something to create the feeling that you are sincere.
                If you know that you are a liar, the Lying will stop of its own accord. If you feel you are
           immoral, don't try to do anything: don't repent, don't feel guilty -- those are tricks. Remain with the
           idea: the naked fact of who you are. Don't move, don't get occupied in doing something. Remain
           naked, with the naked idea, the naked reality, and you will see a change is happening. Not by your
           doing....
                And when a change comes to you not by your doing, it comes from God. Only God can make
           you moral, sincere; only God can make you religious; only God can make you pure. It is PRASAD,
           it is His gift; you cannot do it.
                All your doing will be an undoing. Please, remind yourself again and again that you are not to do
           anything.
                You say, "This is the cause of great agony to my mind.'! Yes, it is a great cause of agony to your
           mind and to the ego -- which is the same: mind or ego -- because the ego feels hurt. YOU -- and
           insincere? You had always believed that you were a very sincere man, you had always believed that
           you were a pinnacle of a man: a crescendo of humanity, the purest gold. You had always believed
           that.
                Now meditation has broken a window into the falseness. You have been able to look into
           yourself: the reality. You have come across a mirror. Now don't try to escape from it, remain with
           the fact. Whosoever you are -- that is your reality. Remain with the fact. If you can remain with the
           fact, you will change. But that change will not be your doing, it will happen.
                When a transformation comes to you, it has a totally different grace. Whatsoever you do will
           always be tiny, mediocre and finally useless. Whatsoever God does to you is infinite. Only that can
           be infinite which comes from the infinite.
                Don't try to do anything. Accept the fact, remain with it, relax, and suddenly there will come a
           transformation.
                I teach sudden transformation, and I teach transformation by God, not by you. You are just to
           allow Him. That is all you have to do on your part. Open the door, wait. Just open the door -- that
           much you have to do.
                Allow... so that when He knocks at the door you can welcome Him, when He comes you can
           recognize Him, when He comes you can call Him in. Just don't sit with closed doors, that's all.
           Meditation is nothing but that: opening the door.
                Meditation will not give you enlightenment, remember. No technique can ever give you
           enlightenment; enlightenment is not technical. Meditation can only prepare the ground. meditation
           can only open the door. Meditation can only do something negatively; the positive will come. Once
           you are ready, it always comes.
           Please don't try to do anything. Just be.


              YOU SAID THAT THE FAMILY IS THE FIRST THING TO RENOUNCE. I DON'T UNDERSTAND
              WHY WE WERE SERVED PRASAD ON THE DAY OF YOUR FATHER'S INITIATION.


               The family has to be renounced, that's true. I have renounced my family. But my family is rare:
           they have not renounced me. And it is rare, I say, because it has not happened before.
               Jesus' father never came to Jesus to be initiated. John the Baptist initiated many, but his own
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           father never came to be initiated. Krishna's father was not a disciple of his.
               My father is rare -- not because he's my father: he s simply rare. There was every possibility....
               As human nature goes, there is every possibility that a father cannot come and bow down to his
           own son. It is almost humanly impossible. He has done that. You will not find a parallel in the whole
           history of man. And it may not happen again.
               But you are blind and you cannot see the fact, so even the PRASAD became a problem to you.
           Just think of bowing down to your own son, coming to the feet of your own son. being initiated. A
           tremendous humbleness, a tremendous innocence, is needed.
               That is one of the most difficult things in human relationships. It is not accidental that Jesus'
           father never came to him. It is simple: to believe in the son to whom you have given birth, whom you
           have seen from the very first day, from his first cry how can you believe that he has become
           enlightened? Your own son? -- impossible. Your own blood and bone? -- impossible. How can you
           think that he has become something, someone, from whom you have to learn?
               A son remains a son..;. and to a father he remains a child always, because the distance is always
           the same. If my father was twenty when I was born, that twenty years' distance has remained the
           same; it will always remain the same. If I am forty-five, he will be sixty-five. I cannot come closer to
           him in age: he will always be twenty years more experienced than I am.
               And to come to me and to surrender... you cannot realize the significance of it! That is why you
           ask such foolish questions. It is one of the rarest moments.
               I again repeat: my father is rare -- not because he is my father. He's simply rare.


              DID JESUS BECOME THE CHRIST ON THE CROSS, OR WHEN HE CAME OUT OF THE JORDAN
              RIVER? ARE THERE STAGES OF CHRISTHOOD ALSO?


                There are no stages. Enlightenment -- or Christhood or Buddhahood -- happens in a single split
           second, there are not gradual stages. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the River
           Jordan, the journey started -- not Christhood.
                The seed started moving towards being a tree, the seed was broken in the soil. Now the tree and
           its coming is only a question of time. You cannot say that when the seed has broken in the soil the
           tree is there -- you cannot say it because the tree is NOT there.
                You cannot say that the tree is. You cannot say it because where can you see the tree? You
           cannot rest under the tree, you cannot pluck the fruits, you cannot have the fragrance of the flowers.
           The tree is non-existential.
                Yes, in one way you cannot say the tree is. But in another way the tree is, because the seed is
           broken. The tree is on the way; it is coming. Now it is only a question of time. It has come, in a way,
           because it has started.
                The day John the Baptist initiated Jesus, the seed was broken. The heavens opened and the spirit
           of God, like a dove, descended. This was the beginning -- not of Christhood, the beginning
           TOWARDS Christhood; the seed moving towards the tree.
                Jesus became Christ on the cross, when he said, "Thy will be done. not mine." That day he
           became a tree, he became a big, vast tree. Thousands could take shelter under him now. The tree
           bloomed, it filled the whole earth with fragrance.
                So in a way you can say that when he was initiated in the River Jordan, the first glimpse was
           achieved. On the cross, the last. It depends how you want to express it. But I think I have conveyed
           the meaning to you: he started on the journey towards being a Christ on that day.
                You can also call him Christ on that day; it is just a question of how to express it, But my
           emphasis is that he moved towards Christhood. He became Christ on the cross.
                Christhood or Buddhahood or nirvana, MOKSHA, enlightenment -- they happen in a split
           second, they have no gradualness about them. They are sudden transformations.


              THE RETURN IS ENTIRELY A PERSONAL AFFAIR. EVEN A VERY NEAR ONE CANNOT
              UNDERSTAND. IT IS ACTUALLY EASILY POSSIBLE ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED.
              BUT, LORD, YOU ARE CALLING ALL. IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO HEAR YOU CALL YOUR
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              CALL OF LOVE?


               That is not the point. Whether they hear it or not is not the point: I should go on calling. They
           may be deaf, but I am not dumb. If they don't listen I will have to call more loudly, that's all.
               And when you call a thousand, only a hundred will listen. One can never know who the hundred
           will be. You call a thousand -- a hundred will listen. The very nature of the call is such that only
           those who are just near awakening can listen to it. Only those whose sleep is almost complete, who
           are nearing the morning and are getting ready to wake -- only they can listen. But you cannot see
           who those will be.
               Call a thousand: a hundred will listen and only ten will start moving. Ninety will listen and still
           will not move. They will listen but they will not understand or they will understand something else --
           or they will misunderstand. Ten will start moving. And when ten move, only one reaches; nine will
           be lost on the way. Call a thousand and you have called only one. But this is how things are, so one
           has to go on calling.
               So I don't bother a bit whether you listen or not -- I go on calling. One is bound to come and
           that's enough. If you call a thousand and one comes, if you call ten thousand and ten come, that's
           enough. One should not ask for more; that is already too much.
               You are right that only those who have suffered will be able to understand me. Pain purifies,
           suffering gives understanding. Suffering gives a certain crystallization: unless you suffer you don't
           know what life is, unless you suffer you don't know how difficult it is to get out of life.
               I was reading the life of a great Japanese poet, Issa. He suffered. He must have been a very, very
           sensitive man: he was a great poet, he's one of the greatest haiku poets.
               When he was only thirty he had already lost his five children; five children had died by the time
           he was thirty -- almost every year a child died. Then his wife died and he was almost completely
           mad -- in anguish, in suffering.
               I{e went to a Zen Master. The Zen Master asked, "What is the problem?" The Zen Master must
           have been almost like a Buddha, not like Jesus. One who has attained but one who has completely
           forgotten human misery.
               Issa said, "My five children are dead and now my wife is dead. Why is there so much suffering? I
           can't see the reason for it. What is the explanation? I have not done anything wrong to anybody, I
           have lived as innocently as possible. In fact I have lived very much aloof. I'm not very related to
           people -- I'm a poet, I live in my own world. I have not done anything wrong to anybody.
           "I have lived a very poor life, but I was happy. Now suddenly my five children are gone, my wife is
           also gone -- why is there so much suffering, and for no reason? I here must be an explanation."
               The Zen Master said, "Life is just like a dew-drop in the morning. It is the nature of life that
           death happens. I here is no explanation; it is the nature of life. There is no need for any special
           reason to be given. Life's nature is like a dew-drop: it hangs. for a while on a leaf of grass; a small
           breeze and it is gone; the sun rises and it evaporates. That is the nature of life. Remember that."
               Issa was a man of deep intelligence. He understood it. He came back and he wrote a haiku. The
           haiku means: Life, a dew-drop? Yes, I understand. Life is a dew-drop. Yet... and yet....
               In that 'yet... and yet...' he's saying something superbly human. "Life is a dew-drop -- I
           understand. And yet...." The wife is gone, the children are gone and the eyes are full of tears:'and
           yet... and yet....'
           "Yes, life is a dew-drop, but...." And that 'but' is great. Only those who have suffered can understand
           that life is a dew-drop, but even then -- 'yet, and yet' remains. Even when you understand,
           understanding is difficult.
               And those who have not suffered, what to say of them? They live a superficial life. Happiness is
           always superficial; it has no depth to it. Only sadness has depth. Life is superficial; only death has
           depth.
               Life is very ordinary: eating, earning, loving -- very ordinary. Suffering has a depth; it awakens
           you, it shocks you out of your sleep.
               Yes, only those who have suffered will understand what I'm saying. 'And yet, and yet' -- even
           they may not understand. But this is so, this is how life is. If one becomes despondent because of this
           and thinks not to call, not to say anything....
               It happened: when Buddha became enlightened, he remained silent for seven days. He thought,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Who will listen?" He thought, "What am I going to say? Who will understand? " He thought, "The
           things that have happened to me -- if somebody had told them to me when they had not happened to
           me, even I would not have understood. So who will understand? Why bother? "
                For seven days he sat and sat and sat under the Bodhi Tree. Tradition says that the DEVAS in
           heaven became very disturbed. "Why is he keeping quiet? Only after thousands of years does one
           become enlightened. Why is he not calling people?"
                They came -- a beautiful story. They bowed down to Buddha and said, "You should say
           something. You have attained; you should give the call. The word should spread to people -- why are
           you keeping quiet? We waited and waited. Seven days looked like seven centuries. What are you
           doing? -- don't waste time. You will only be for a little while more and then you will disappear
           forever and ever. Before you disappear, give a call."
                Buddha said, "Who will listen? Who will understand? "
                But those DEVAS were very cunning. And it is good That they were cunning. They argued, they
           persuaded. They said, "Yes, you are right. Rare -- rare is the possibility of someone's listening, and
           rarest is the possibility of someone understanding. But it is there. Call a thousand: a hundred will
           listen, ninety will not understand; ten will walk, nine will be lost on the way. Somewhere or other
           they will think that they have achieved; they will sit by the side and they will think they have come
           home. Only one will arrive -- but one is more than enough."
           Buddha understood. He started preaching.
                I know it is a very hopeless effort. Knowing well that you will not understand, I go on talking to
           you. It is as if one is talking to a wall.
                When Bodhidharma became enlightened he was sitting near a wall, his back to the wall.
           Immediately he turned and faced the wall. For nine years he would not sit in any other way.
           Whenever he would sit, he would face the wall. If somebody was there -- an inquirer, a seeker -- he
           would have to ask his questions from the back.
                People asked, "What foolish posture have you chosen? There have been many Buddhas in the
           world but nobody has sat facing the wall. Why are you sitting this way? Why are you so crazy? "
                Bodhidharma said, "As far as I know, all the Buddhas have been facing walls" -- because
           wherever you look, there is a wall. That's not the point.
                Bodhidharma would say, "They all have faced walls but they were a little more polite." He would
           say, "I'm not so polite, that's all. I don't bother a bit what you think of me. I will turn my face towards
           you only when I see that someone is there who can understand me."
                For nine years he faced the wall. Then one man came. The man said, "Turn towards me or I will
           kill myself" -- he had a sword in his hand. Still Bodhidharma wouldn't turn. He cut off his hand and
           said, "Look, the hand is gone. The second thing will be the head."
                Then Bodhidharma turned. He said, "Wait! So you have come" -- because only those who are
           ready to behead themselves can understand.




                                 Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                           Reflections on Jesus of Nazareth
                                     Talks given from 31/10/75 am to 10/11/75 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     11 Chapters
                                                    Year published:
           Originally the series was published as "Come Follow Me, Vols 1 + 2". Later to be
           republished as four volumes under the title "Come Follow To You".
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                Chapter #1
                          Chapter title: When the bridegroom shall be taken away
           31 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7510310
              ShortTitle: FOLL201
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 84 mins




              MATTHEW 9
              14 THEN CAME TO HIM THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN, SAYING, WHY DO WE AND THE PHARISEES
              FAST OFT, BUT THY DISCIPLES FAST NOT?
              15 AND JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, CAN THE CHILDREN OF THE BRIDECHAMBER MOURN, AS
              LONG AS THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM? BUT THE DAYS WILL COME, WHEN THE
              BRIDEGROOM SHALL BE TAKEN FROM THEM, AND THEN SHALL THEY FAST.
              16 No MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF NEW CLOTH UNTO AN OLD GARMENT,FOR THAT WHICH IS
              PUT IN TO FILL IT UP TAKETH FROM THE GARMENT, AND THE RENT IS MADE WORSE.
              17 NEITHER DO MEN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES: ELSE THE BOTTLES BREAK,AND
              THE WINE RUNNETH OUT, AND THE BOTTLES PERISH: BUT THEY PUT NEW WINE INTO NEW
              BOTTLES, AND BOTH ARE PRESERVED.


                RELIGION CAN BE HEALTHY -- as healthy as a new born babe, as healthy as the songs of the
           birds in the morning, as healthy as a newly opening lotus. Or religion can be ill, diseased, dying --
           just like an old man: shrinking, sad, moving.into death.
                When religion is young, it has a fragrance -- the fragrance of life, It has a song, it has a mystery
           around it. It has the quality of dance, joy, delight. It is a celebration. When religion is young, alive,
           fresh, religion is always a celebration. It is a feast. It is life-enhancing, life-affirmative.
                When religion is old, dying, or already dead -- just a stinking corpse -- then it is renunciation;
           then it is not celebration. Then it is anti-life, then it is life-negating. Then it leaves the world, it
           leaves all that is alive. It starts being suicidal -- it shrinks.
                Life expands, death is a shrinkage. When you are young, you are flowing in all directions. When
           you are old, you are frozen. You no longer flow. You only grumble: you become hard, the flexibility
           is lost.
                When religion is young, alive, it is ordinary. It has nothing in it to fulfill the ego -- it is very
           ordinary. In fact, in its very ordinariness, it is extraordinary. It is superb in being just ordinary. Life
           is enough when religion is young; no other God is needed. Then life is God, life is divine.
                When religion becomes old and ill.... Everything becomes old and ill, whatsoever is born has to
           die. Even a religion is born one day, lives for a while and then dies. But followers go on clinging to
           the dead body. Then the dead body kills the followers also: it becomes a source of illness, neurosis:
           it becomes an abnormality, a cancerous growth. When religion becomes ill or dead, it kills you; it is
           poisonous. This has to be understood from many directions.
                Firstly, people are more willing to be in a dead religion than to be in an alive one, because you
           have been taught to be afraid of life, of love, of happiness. Every child is brought up in the world
           with a conditioning: with a feeling that there is something wrong in being happy. A very vague
           feeling, but it is there. It influences your whole life, you think that there is something wrong in being
           happy. So whenever you feel happy, you feel guilty -- as if you have been committing some wrong,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as if you have been sinning.
               Only sinners seem to be happy, saints seem to be very sad. So whenever you are sad, everything
           is okay. You never feel guilty if you are sad -- have you observed it? But if you are very happy,
           suddenly you try to hide it; nobody should know it. Why has this happened to the human mind?
               Every child is taught to be serious, somber, to be long faced. Every child is taught not to jump,
           not to run, not to shriek, not to be too delighted, not to laugh loudly. "Sit quietly" -- as if there is
           something wrong in energy expressing itself. Whenever the child is happy the family, the people
           around, all start teaching him, as if something has gone wrong. And when the child is not happy,
           when he is unhappy, everybody sympathizes with him.
               When the child is ill, everybody takes care of him; when he is healthy, everybody goes on
           stopping him: "Don't do this, don't do that." When the child is Lying on the bed ill, the father comes,
           the mother comes, the relatives come. They are all very careful about him. By and by he starts
           learning that there is something basically wrong in energy, in happiness, in joy. In dancing, running
           around, shrieking with delight, there is something basically wrong. He gets the hint.
               And there is something basically good in being sad, ill. Whenever he is sad, he is appreciated,
           sympathized with. Whenever he is healthy, everybody seems to be against him; the whole world is
           against him. This creates a guilt, a deep guilt in the child, and that guilt follows him his whole life.
               If you go to see a saint and you see him laughing loudly, you will be shocked. You will be
           shocked -- a saint, and laughing so loudly? A saint should be sad; you have a particular idea about
           the saint. It is okay to laugh in the pub, to laugh in the hotel -- gamblers can do that -- but to laugh in
           church? No, it is not allowed. One has to become serious when one goes to church; one has to
           become almost corpse-like.
               Because of this training.... And the training has a vicious circle about it: you were trained by your
           parents, your parents were trained by their parents. Somewhere in the past, hidden deeply in
           unknown history, something went wrong.
               It may be that one who is happy cannot be forced to work because happiness is a play. Only sad
           people can be forced to work. That's why, when you work, you become sad; when you are on duty,
           you become sad. A holiday has a different quality to it. You can laugh, you can enjoy.
               Life was difficult in the past, man was in a constant struggle with nature. To survive was the only
           aim, and everybody had to work hard. If you are happy, you would like to dance not work; if you are
           happy, you would like to sing, play a flute, and not go hunting. If you are happy, who bothers about
           duty and about the office? If you are happy you would like to rest and relax. That was dangerous.
               That's why happiness was condemned, laziness was condemned, rest was condemned. It has been
           taught, it is deep in your blood. that work is the goal of life. A good man is always working; a bad
           man seems to be always on holiday.
               Mulla Nasruddin has not worked for a long time, for years. One day he was sitting by my side.
           The day was very sunny and he said, "If I had been working somewhere, I would have taken a
           holiday today." And he has not been working for many days, for years! He is missing work because
           he cannot take a holiday. From where to take a holiday? He remembers the working only when it
           comes to taking a holiday.
               The whole human mind has been trained for work. That's why duty has been praised, playfulness
           condemned; business praised, gambling condemned. A gambler is playful; a businessman is serious.
           The businessman is respected; a gambler, simply condemned. He is thought to be below humanity.
               Religion is a totally different dimension. There is every possibility that a gambler may enter in it,
           but a businessman is debarred. A drunkard may enter into religion. I am not saying that you should
           become drunkards; I am just emphasizing the quality of playfulness, the quality that can enjoy and
           be, and is not worried about results. But a very serious man is debarred by his own seriousness.
               Jesus created trouble for himself. He was a religious man -- healthy, young, vibrant with life.
           Life was his God. In the gospels, many times you come across scenes that depict him as sitting at the
           dining table -- eating, drinking. How could the Jews and the people, his people, believe that he was
           religious? Fasting should be done and he was always feasting, he was always creating a feast around
           him. Wherever he moved he created happiness. What type of religious man was he?
               His own relatives thought that he was a little beside himself, his own relatives thought that he
           was a little mad. And the society in which he lived thought that he was a glutton, a drunkard -- he
           could be a sinner, but he could not be a saint.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's why he was crucified outside the town. Jews had it as a law, they used to crucify in two
           ways: either in town or outside the town. When a person who belonged to the society had done
           something wrong, then he was crucified in the town. But if somebody who had done wrong was, at
           the same time, an outsider, to symbolize the fact that he didn't belong to society, he was an outcast,
           he was crucified outside the town.
               Jesus was crucified outside the town. Not only that: to emphasize the fact, two very dangerous
           criminals were crucified with him. On either side: two dangerous criminals. Right between these two
           he was crucified, just to emphasize the fact, to hit it hard in people's minds, that he was just a
           criminal, a dangerous man -- not at all respectable, an outcast. He had to be cut down like a worm,
           not like a man. What had he done? What sin had he committed? The sin of being happy.
               That's how I am condemned. People would have liked me if I was a sad man; they would have
           liked me if I was fasting and killing my body. They would have liked me if I was teaching to you
           some type of masochism -- to be cruel to yourself. They would have liked me, they would have
           praised me like anything; they would have called me an avatar.
               But I teach you to be alive, I teach you to be happy. I give you only one gospel: the gospel of joy
           and love. That is a crime. That is creating a dangerous situation, that is corrupting people.
               Jesus committed the crime of being happy. That was his only crime, nothing else.
               Christians have been trying to change his face. They say he never laughed. Can you imagine a
           man who is always seen at dining tables, eating well, drinking -- and not laughing? Impossible! But
           Christians have to create a respectable Christ, a Jesus who is not a criminal. They have painted his
           face. You can't find any picture of Jesus depicted by Christians, any statue of Jesus created by
           Christians, which is real or true. It is absolutely unreal. The man has been betrayed.
               Just the other night I was reading a poem. I liked it. I would like you to listen to it. It is a poem
           by Adrian Mitchell.
           The Liberated Christ Gives An Interview

           I would have walked on the water
           But I wasn't fully insured.
           And the B.M.A. sent a writ my way
           With the very first leper I cured.

           I would've preached a golden sermon
           But I didn't like the look of the mount.
           And I would've fed fifty thousand
           But the press wasn't there to count.

           And the businessmen in the temple
           Had a team of coppers on the door
           And if I'd spent a year in the desert
           I would've lost my pension for sure.

           I would've turned the water into wine
           But they weren't giving licenses.
           And I would have died and been crucified
           But like -- you know how it is.

           I am going to shave off my beard and cut my hair
           Buy myself some bullet-proof underwear
           I am the liberated Christ
           And I have got no blood to spare.

               Christians have made him totally different. He was not like that. He was a rebellious man, an
           extraordinary revolutionary. And he lived it, he lived his rebellion. He was not a theoretician: he
           lived it, he died for it. He loved life so much that he was ready to die for it. But he was not ready to
           be anti-life. That was his crime.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Even with John the Baptist and his disciples there was trouble. John the Baptist was an old,
           traditional prophet. His disciples were ascetics: fasting, praying. They were anti-life. There was
           conflict between Jesus and the disciples of John the Baptist. These sutras are about that conflict.

              THEN CAME TO HIM THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, SAYING, WHY DO WE AND THE
              PHARISEES FAST OFT, BUT THY DISCIPLES FAST NOT?


                Why has fasting become so important? Why has brahmacharya, celibacy, become so important?
                There are two things on which life depends: food and sex. If you are anti-life you will be against
           both food and sex, because they are the very base of life. Through food, you live: through sex, the
           coming generations will live.
                If you fast, you will die. If you become a celibate, you cut the passage for the future generations
           to come. If celibacy and fasting become absolute, life will disappear from earth. Those who are
           against life -- they have praised fasting as a method, celibacy as a goal.
                The question is relevant: "Why do we, the disciples of the Baptist, fast often, and the rabbis and
           the Pharisees do the same, but your disciples fast not?"
                People come to me also. They say, "Why don't you teach people to fast? " I am always surprised.
           Why are people so much concerned with food? If you study Gandhi's life, his whole life he is
           concerned with food: food and stomach. Eating and enema -- these are continuously the two basic
           problems. Why is he so afraid of food?
                With food, a fear arises. The fear is of sex. If you eat well, sex energy will be created. And if you
           don't know how this energy can move upwards in your being, it will start moving downwards. If you
           don't know how this energy can move like fire, it will move like water. So with food, the fear of sex
           arises.
                Go and see. In India there are many saints, particularly Jains. Jains have a great number of saints
           who are continuously fasting. The fear is of sex, because if they eat well, energy is created. And if
           energy is there, what will you do with it? You cannot laugh, you cannot dance, you cannot love.
           What will you do with that energy? That energy will become a heavy load on you. It is better not to
           create it.
                Fasting is trying not to create energy. You live on a starvation level so a minimum of energy is
           created and that is used by your day-to-day work. You never have any to spare. Even for a good
           laugh, you will need energy; for dancing, you will need energy. So live at the minimum -- because if
           energy is at the maximum, then joy will burst forth.
                If you don't give sufficient water to a tree, if you don't give sufficient manure, food, to a tree, the
           tree may remain, but flowers will not come. Flowers come only when the tree has energy to spare.
           Flowers are a luxury: when the tree has enough -- more than enough -- and it wants to share, then
           flowers come and the fragrance is released.
                That is how the tree enjoys its energy. It has too much of it; it would like to share it with the
           world. But when you don't have enough, how can you share? The tree may live, but it will not be
           really green. It will be almost dying -- always on the verge of death.
                People have learned the trick: that if you fast, you can live a minimal life. Then there is less
           danger. Anger will not be possible, because anger needs energy; love will not be possible, love needs
           energy; joy will not be possible, joy needs energy._ Life is a play of energy; everything needs
           energy. So if you live at the minimum, you are just barely alive. Death is always at hand.
                Remember, the kingdom of God is at hand only when you live maximally, when you live an
           optimal life, when you live at the peak. Then the kingdom of God is at hand.
                Those who are living at the minimum are suicidal people. They are not courageous enough,
           otherwise they would commit suicide in a second. They are cowards, committing suicide slowly,
           poisoning themselves very slowly. They will live, and they will not live at all.
                John the Baptist and his disciples were ascetics, they lived at the minimum. Jesus was thought by
           his brother-disciples, because he was also a disciple of John the Baptist -- he was thought to be a
           traitor. He had betrayed the master because he started moving in a totally different dimension. He
           became the source of an alive religion. He started celebrating.
                That real Jesus is completely lost in the desert of Christian theology. He is completely lost. In the
           rubbish that Christian theology goes on producing in great quantity, the real gospel is completely lost
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and forgotten. The message of the man was to delight in life, because only that can be a prayer of
           gratefulness to God. Life should be a feast and not a fast.

              WHY DO WE AND THE PHARISEES FAST OFT, BUT THY DISCIPLES FAST NOT?
              AND JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, CAN THE CHILDREN OF THE BRIDECHAMBER MOURN, AS
              LONG AS THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM? BUT THE DAYS WILL COME, WHEN THE
              BRIDEGROOM SHALL BE TAKEN FROM THEM, AND THEN SHALL THEY FAST.


               It is a very pregnant sutra. He's saying: "When the bridegroom is there, can the children of the
           bridechamber mourn?" That will look absolutely foolish, absurd, neurotic when the bridegroom is in
           the house, there is no question of mourning and fasting and being sad. The children of the
           bridechamber will dance, feast and enjoy: the bridegroom is with them.

              BUT THE DAYS WILL COME, WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM,
              AND THEN SHALL THEY FAST.


               Those days have come. Those days have been on the earth now for a long time, almost two
           thousand years. Churches are mourning: the bridegroom is no longer there. Popes are sad, bishops
           are not able to laugh. Their faces are almost dead: life frozen and stuck, flexibility gone. They
           simply go on repeating mechanically what Jesus has said.
               Jesus is saying that while the religion is alive, there is no question of fasting. It is the time to
           feast and be grateful, and be thankful that the bridegroom is with you. It is the time to dance and sing
           -- and go mad in sheer delight! Yes, the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away,
           Jesus will no longer be there. Then you can mourn and fast at your ease. Jesus is saying, "Because I
           am here, how can they be sad? When I am here, why should they fast? This is the time to rejoice!"
               Jesus says, again and again: "Rejoice! " He never says renounce, he says rejoice. The world is
           yours if you rejoice; the whole is yours if you are happy.
               The saying is true which says: "Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Weep and you weep
           alone." In deep laughter, suddenly trees and birds and animals, and the sky and the earth, join
           together with you. It is an invitation, an opening. When you cry, moan, you are closed. Then you are
           not available to the sea and the sands, and the sea and the sands are not available to you. You have
           become a nomad: windowless, doorless -- everything closed in.
               A sad man is closed, completely closed in himself. His being is not expanding; his being is not
           like a river flowing towards the sea. He is a dead pool that goes nowhere. The movement, and the
           process of life, has stopped.
               JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, CAN THE CHILDREN OF THE BRIDECHAMBER MOURN,
           AS LONG AS THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM? While the religion is alive and young, don't
           miss the chance, because the days when the bridegroom will not be with you will be long. Then you
           can mourn and fast and do whatsoever you like.
               But this is the trouble: when Jesus is there, people kill him; and when he is gone, they worship
           him. When Buddha is there, people throw stones at him; when he is gone, he is worshipped. This has
           always been so. Human stupidity is tremendous!
               When Jesus is gone.... A totally different type of religion is created at his death, diametrically
           opposite to his being, because those who create the religion when Jesus is gone are the sad people.
           They are head-people, hung-up in the head. They create the religion: they gather together, they call
           conferences, they decide what Jesus was. They paint/repaint: the original face is completely lost.
           They take charge. When Jesus was there, these same people would never come close to him because
           he was not respectable enough.
               What a misfortune -- that when Jesus is alive he is not respectable enough for these pundits,
           Pharisees, rabbis, to come and listen to him. They will not come, he is below them. They already
           know too much. But when the smell is gone, they immediately come to fill the vacuum, to fill the
           place that Jesus has left, because now they can discuss what Jesus meant and what he never meant.
           Now they can decide the whole character of Jesus. That character is going to be a caricature, it is
           going to be absolutely false, because these are the people who cannot understand him: the men of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge.
               The man of knowledge cannot understand Jesus. He can understand only scriptures, the dead
           word. Jesus is the word become flesh. It is alive, throbbing, living.
               The man of knowledge is expert only in post-mortem. He can dissect the dead body, and then he
           creates something which is absolutely, diametrically opposite to the real man who was there. These
           people create Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism. Buddha was not the originator of Buddhism, and
           Christ was not the originator of Christianity.
               Christianity was created by the same type of people who crucified Jesus -- the same type. They
           may not be exactly the same people, but they are the same type. Those who crucified him were the
           priests, and those who created Christianity were also the priests.
               It makes no difference whether the priest is a Jew or a Christian. These are only labels; it makes
           no difference. The priest is always against the alive religious man, he is always for the dead, because
           the dead can be manipulated by him. The alive Jesus won't listen to the rabbi. The rabbi is afraid of
           the alive Jesus; he will never cross his path, he will try to avoid him. But when he is dead, the rabbis
           will gather together. They will create a church on his corpse.
           That's what Jesus says:

              CAN THE CHILDREN OF THE BRIDECHAMBER MOURN, AS LONG AS THE BRIDEGROOM IS
              WITH THEM? BUT THE DAYS WILL COME, WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY
              FROM THEM, AND THEN SHALL THEY FAST.

              "When I am dead," Jesus says, "when the freshness of religion is gone," Jesus says, "then people will
              fast, they will mourn. But right now, fasting is irrelevant."

              So remember this: when a religion is feasting, it is alive. Join it! But when a religion is fasting,
           escape from it as fast as you can, because it is not only dead: it will make you dead if you allow
           yourself to be close to it.

              NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF NEW CLOTH UNTO AN OLD GARMENT, FOR THAT WHICH IS
              PUT IN TO FILL IT UP TAKETH FROM THE GARMENT, AND THE RENT IS MADE WORSE.


               Jesus says, "The traditional religion, the old religion, cannot celebrate." Celebration is new.
           Every moment it is new, it is never old. NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF NEW CLOTH UNTO
           AN OLD GARMENT....
               A new, fresh, young religion never fits with the tradition. It will fit someday when the newness
           of it has gone, and it has become a tradition itself, a dead past.
               Religion, alive, is a presence. It is in the present. A tradition is just a memory. Can you feel the
           difference distinctly? It has to be felt.
               You love a woman. The woman is there, you are there -- love is flowing between you two. It is a
           presence: something indefinable surrounds you, something which you cannot catch hold of,
           something immaterial, something spiritual. Something of the other world has descended around you.
           You live in a totally different type of world. The moment is no more a part of this world: you are
           transcended, transferred to some unknown dimension.
               But then, the woman has gone, the love has gone. Years have passed. Now it is just a memory.
           Sometimes you can ruminate about: you can close your eyes and again see that moment of bliss. But
           now it is dusty, much dust has gathered upon it. Now it is no longer alive. You can feel it, but now
           that feeling is only a feeling through the mind -- it is not immediate.
               When the love was there, it was immediate. It was something you could have touched, something
           that was there surrounding you. It was more alive than your own body, it was more vital than your
           own mind. But now it is just a memory.
               A flower: alive in the morning, welcoming the sun, dancing in the breeze. By the evening, the
           petals have withered, the fragrance is gone. A memory of something past. You cannot live it, you
           can only think about it.
               That thinking can create a clinging to the past. That's how tradition is born. Buddha lived two
           thousand five hundred years ago; Jesus, two thousand years ago; Krishna, maybe five thousand years
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ago. Something happened in the moment Jesus was here on the earth. Now it is only a memory: the
           flower is gone, the fragrance gone. Only the emptiness is left. And you go on worshipping that
           emptiness; you create temples around it, churches around it. You worship that emptiness. It is just a
           memory.
               What type of foolishness has settled in the human heart? When the flower is there, you avoid;
           and when only the emptiness is left, then you worship. You are afraid of real religion. That's why
           you become a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian. This is a trick of the mind, a deception. This is a
           way to avoid religion, because religion will transform you. Religion will destroy you as you are, and
           religion will give a new birth to you. Something unknown will come into existence through religion
           and you are afraid of that -- of dying. of being reborn. So you belong to old traditions.
               Jesus says: NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF NEW CLOTH UNTO AN OLD GARMENT.
           The traditions are old, like old garments. Celebration is always new, it is never old. It is herenow.
           Religions which are dead go on fasting, they are ascetic. Religions which are new -- they are
           celebrating, they have a type of spiritual hedonism around them.
               Have you read Kazantzakis' ZORBA THE GREEK: Read it! Jesus must have had something of
           the quality of Zorba the Greek -- a tremendous capacity to enjoy life, an infinite trust in life, a deep
           attunement with the present. Kazantzakis' novel, ZORBA THE GREEK, has some of the quality of
           Jesus in it.
               Of course, the pope in the Vatican will be very much offended if he comes to know that I say
           Jesus has the quality of Zorba the Greek. But I say it. He has; I can't help it. A spiritual hedonism.
               Allow me to coin the term'spiritual hedonism', because ordinarily you think of hedonism as very
           earthy. "Eat, drink, be merry" -- that is earthy hedonism. In spiritual hedonism that is there, and more
           also. "Eat, drink, be merry" is there -- plus God. Eat, drink and be merry in the name of the holy, in
           the name of your God, your Father who is in heaven.
               Eat, drink, be merry -- make them your prayer. Let your eating and drinking and merrying be a
           sort of ritual, a sort of prayer -- a gesture of happiness that "I am okay, and I am happy that you have
           given birth to me. I am happy that I am, and my whole thankfulness goes to you."
               A spiritual hedonism is always there when religion is alive. When the religion becomes dead,
           hedonism disappears completely and the religion becomes antagonistic to everything that man can
           enjoy. Then religion goes on seeking ways and means of how to be sad, how to be more and more
           sorrowful, how to kill all avenues of delight and joy. Then it becomes ascetic.

              NEITHER DO MEN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES: ELSE THE BOTTLES BREAK, AND THE
              WINE RUNNETH OUT, AND THE BOTTLES PERILS: BUT THEY PUT NEW WINE INTO NEW
              BOTTLES, AND BOTH ARE PRESERVED.


               Only a new religion -- just born, fresh, original -- can celebrate. Then celebration fits with it. It
           can love, can trust, can enjoy.
               NEITHER DO MEN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES.... A very enigmatic answer.
           They had asked, "Why don't your disciples fast?" and jesus answered in a very indirect way. There
           are things which can only be said in an indirect way. You cannot indicate them directly.
               I was staying with a friend. He has a beautiful child, a young boy -- just eight or nine years old.
           The child was playing outside in the garden and I watched him. He was running after butterflies,
           collecting flowers, rolling on the grass and enjoying the wetness of the grass and the dewdrops. The
           gardener was cutting the hedge and the freshly cut hedge was giving a beautiful fragrance to the
           whole garden. The boy was jumping and dancing and running around in sheer delight.
               Then he came inside. The mother asked, "Where have you been?"
           He said, "Out."
           "What have you been doing? "
           He said, "Nothing."
               Then I called him and I said, "That's not correct. You have been doing so many things. And you
           say you have been doing nothing?"
               He said, "That's why I say'nothing'. Those things cannot be said. The fragrance...."
               Yes, I understood his point. The fragrance that was filling his nostrils -- how can you say it? And
           when he was rolling on the grass: the touch of the grass, the dewdrops clinging to his body; a subtle
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           coldness, a freshness. How can you say it? And running after butterflies.... What happens in the mind
           of a child when he runs after butterflies? How can it be said? And the sun, and the showering of light
           -- how can you say what happens in the heart?
               Yes, I understood his point. He avoided. He said, "Out." And when his mother insisted, "What
           were you doing?" he said, "Nothing." He was doing so many things that there was no other way to
           say it. Only'nothing' can cover it. And only'out' -- a blanket word that covers many things. Out: the
           whole world is included. Out: the sun, the trees, the butterflies, the grass, the dewdrops. These are
           the outer things. And what was happening inside the child? The sheer delight, for no visible reason.
           Just happiness. How to say it?
               When Jesus was asked, "Why do your disciples fast not? " -- how to say it? He says, CAN THE
           CHILDREN OF THE BRIDECHAMBER MOURN, AS LONG AS THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH
           THEM? He answers by another question:

              ... BUT THE DAYS WILL COME, WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM WILL BE TAKEN FROM THEM, AND
              THEN SHALL THEY FAST.
              NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF NEW CLOTH UNTO AN OLD GARMENT, FOR THAT WHICH IS
              PUT IN TO FILL IT UP TAKETH FROM THE GARMENT, AND THE RENT IS MADE WORSE.
              NEITHER DO MEN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES ELSE THE BOTTLES BREAK AND THE
              WINE RUNNETH OUT, AND THE BOTTLES PERISH: BUT THEY PUT NEW WINE INTO NEW
              BOTTLES, AND BOTH ARE PRESERVED.


                A very indirect answer, but it gives you the right clue.
                There are things which cannot be said directly. They are so vital that you have to go around
           them. They are like live wires. You cannot touch them directly; it will be dangerous. Hence, Jesus
           goes on talking in parables.
                Once Adolf Hitler said, "I cannot see why man should not be as cruel as nature." Why should
           man not be as cruel as nature? And in a way, man has been as cruel as nature, or even more.
           Sometimes you are cruel with others; sometimes you are cruel with yourself. These are the ordinary
           categories into which the whole of humanity can be divided. Rarely does a man come who is neither
           cruel to others nor to himself. That is the man I call the man of God, the Godman.
                It is very easy to change from one extreme to another. Ordinarily, people are cruel to others:
           violent, aggressive. Then that violence towards others, that cruelty towards others, has to be paid for
           deeply, because when you are violent to others, they will be violent to you. You cannot go on being
           aggressive to others, the violence will return back. It is dangerous, it is costly -- even an Adolf Hitler
           or a Napoleon has to pay for it. They die a death of sheer violence which is returning back to them,
           falling upon them.
                You spit in the sky and it falls on you; you dig a ditch for others and someday you fall into it
           yourself. Cunning, calculating minds understand the fact that to be violent with others is very costly
           and dangerous, but they want to be violent and they want to be cruel. Cruelty is deep down in their
           bones, in their animality, so what to do?
                The best and the most diplomatic way is to be violent with yourself. Then there will be no
           revenge taken. So the ordinary man is violent towards others, and your so-called saints are violent
           towards themselves. They are simply more calculating. They are cowards, escapists. But they are
           violent towards themselves.
                Do you know that there was a sect of Christians -- they still exist; they are not so prominent now,
           but they still exist -- who used to flagellate themselves every morning, beat their own bodies? Blood
           started flowing -- that was their prayer. As if God was hungry for their blood, as if God was thirsty
           for their blood. What type of God did they have in mind? Some murderer? Some murderous power?
                No, they were sacrificing themselves. They were trying to show God: "Look, we are not happy,
           we are very unhappy. Have mercy on us." That was their prayer: "We are so sad. Look, blood is
           flowing. We are in such deep misery. Have mercy on us." But I tell you, God's mercy is available
           only to those who are happy.
                Jesus says one of the most enigmatic sentences: "If you have, more will be given to you. And if
           you don't have, even that should be taken away from you." Nobody has said it in that way. Jesus is
           simply incomparable: "If you don't have anything, even that should be taken away from you. And if
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you really have something, more will be given to you."
                It looks very anti-communistic! But it is tremendously true, absolutely true. When you are happy,
           more happiness becomes available; when you are unhappy, more unhappiness becomes available.
           When you are happy, you get more: doors open, God's mercy is on you. He loves those who dance,
           those who come to Him singing. But those who come to Him with complaints -- with sad faces,
           blood flowing -- they cannot be loved. They have not even been able to love themselves -- how can
           God love them? They have missed. They could not love themselves, how could God love them?
           Remember this: if you cannot love yourself, nobody can love you. Forget about God -- even ordinary
           human beings will not love you.
                First you should love yourself. Only then, others love you. And you should love yourself so
           infinitely, so totally, that not even a little bit of hatred towards yourself is left. Only then does God's
           love and mercy become available.
                He loves tremendously those who love themselves. He is a lover of lovers. His grace descends on
           you when you are dancing and not standing in the posture of a martyr. That is one of the ugliest
           postures one can take. Never try to become a martyr! But look -- Jesus is something totally different,
           but Christians have been martyrs, flagellating themselves.
                In Russia, there was a Christian community -- -a big community before the revolution -- who
           used to cut their genital organs as a sacrifice to God. What type of sacrifice is this? What are they
           saying? They are saying, "God, look! We have cut our genital organs as a symbolic act, to show that
           we are no longer interested in life, in love, in happiness. We are no longer interested in any ecstasy."
           And they would fast, they would pray.
                God loves life, He creates life every moment. God is not against life: He is the innermost core of
           life, He loves life.
                You have an expression in English: "To live your life out." I would like to change it a little. I
           would like to say:
           "To love your life out." Don't just live your life out, that is very poor. Love your life out. Be a flame,
           and burn from both ends. If you can burn from both ends even for a single moment, and flow in love
           in all directions, you have immediately entered into the divine. This I call spiritual hedonism. Jesus
           is a spiritual hedonist.
                Always watch your attitudes, because there is every possibility that the ascetic may be hidden
           within you. And always watch your attitudes because, from the awareness of those attitudes, clues
           will come to you which will open many doors.
                For example, if somebody is sad, in pain, suffering, sympathy is very easy; you are full of
           sympathy. But if somebody is happy, in great pleasure, what happens? You cannot sympathize with
           someone who is happy. You feel jealous: maybe the person has won the lottery, and you feel very
           jealous. Then his wife dies, he is robbed, the lottery is gone, and you are so full of sympathy. What is
           happening? Why are you so sympathetic towards sadness?
                You must get a certain hidden pleasure from it. You are violent. You are never sympathetic with
           somebody's happiness, and you are always sympathetic with anybody's unhappiness. You must get
           some hidden pleasure from it.
                When somebody is unhappy, deep down you feel very good that it has happened to him -- "not to
           me". You have the upper hand. You can be sympathetic, it costs nothing.
                But can you dance with somebody who is happy? Can you be really happy in somebody's
           happiness? Many times you have been sad in people's sadnesses, but can you be really happy when
           people are happy? Yes, you can pretend, but you know. You smile and you say, "Good. God has
           been merciful to you," but deep down you are jealous.
                You can be in sympathy with happiness only if you yourself know how to be happy. You don't
           know -- you are miserable, a miserable lot. Whenever somebody is comparatively in more misery
           than you, you feel a little happy. He is in even darker depths. You feel better. At least you are a little
           happier than that man.
                But whenever somebody is happy, you feel that you are at the depths; he is at the peak. You feel
           jealous. Jealousy will never go unless you become really happy. Your sympathy is false, your
           sympathy is immoral, because, deep down, it has pleasure in it -- in somebody else's misery.
                Remember these things: a religious person is one who is so happy that he will never be able to
           feel jealous. He is so happy, he lacks nothing. I cannot see how I can be jealous of anybody.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Impossible. I am so happy that more is not possible. And if more is not possible, then how can you
           be jealous?
                People try not to be jealous. That is not possible. Be happy and you will be nonjealous. Be happy
           and you will be nonambitious; be happy and the ego will disappear. The ego can exist only in deep
           unhappiness and misery. It is a dweller in hell; it abides only in hell.
                Go and watch your own life. When you say'God', what do you mean? Do you know any other
           God than the green trees and the red flowers... and the clouds floating in the sky... and the sunlight...
           and the moon in the night and the silent stars...? Do you know any other God? And the heart within,
           and the hearts without -- do you know any other God?
                The whole is God, the only God. But the religious, the so-called religious, have created a God
           against life. They say, "Renounce life. Only then can you attain to God."
                Jesus says, "Live life as a prayer." Love life as God's own. Love life! Move into life deeper and
           deeper, and at the deepest core, suddenly one day you will find God. He is beating in every heart and
           He is flowering in every flower and He is hidden in every stone.
                Religions have done a horrible thing, they have created a horrible mess. They have put
           everything upside down.
                When Ho-Chi-Minh was alive, he used to say to every American visitor: "Tell me, is the Statue
           of Liberty still standing in America? Don't be shy." He used to say, "Please tell me, because I am
           suspicious. Even if it is standing, it must be standing on its head."
                All the churches are standing on their heads, and all the so-called religions are upside down. God
           is not important.
                If God is against life, God is just a concept, just an abstraction -- an empty word. It has no flesh
           in it: it has no blood in it; it has no warmth in it. It is just a cold, abstract concept.
                Pascal, one of the greatest thinkers of the West, had a dream once. In the dream he received a
           message. He woke up -- the dream was so deeply stirring. He got up immediately and wrote in his
           notebook the message he had received. He read the message in the morning. It was of tremendous
           import. He sewed it in his coat; for his whole life it was sewed in his coat. Many times, when he was
           walking on the road or talking to somebody, he would just look, then close his coat again. It was a
           very simple sentence: "I don't want the God of philosophers; I want the God of David, Abraham,
           Jacob" -- the God of life, not of philosophy; the God of the ordinary man, not of the extraordinary
           egoists.
                The God of Jacob, Abraham, David -- the God of those who love life and live life -- is the real
           God. A God who is against life is a counterfeit, any temple that is against life is a counterfeit.
           Beware of it. The temple that enshrines life itself as God is the only true temple.
                Jesus replied rightly, and if you can see life as God, then you are always in the bridechamber.
           Then the bridegroom is always and always and always there. If you can see life as God, then the
           bridegroom will never leave you.
                That God expressed himself through Jesus; that God expressed himself through Krishna. He
           danced through Krishna, he played on the flute through Krishna. That God sometimes penetrates and
           comes to the marketplace, but you don't recognize him because you have a counterfeit God.
                I have heard, once it happened that a man took his grandmother to a great art exhibition. There,
           for the first time, she saw a real painting, an authentic painting, of Vincent Van Gogh. She looked at
           the painting and laughed.
                The man asked, "Why are you laughing? Do you like the painting? "
                She said, "This is a copy. For almost twenty years I have had a calendar hanging on my wall, and
           this is just a copy of it."
                The calendar was a copy of this painting -- this was the true, authentic painting -- but she laughed
           and said, "Why are these ordinary things being shown here? This painting has been hanging in my
           room for twenty years."
                If you are too influenced by the counterfeit, you will miss the real. If your eyes become too filled
           with the counterfeit, when the real encounters you, you may not even be able to recognize it.
                God is life, and there is no other God. God is you, me and all, and there is no other God.
           Celebrate, rejoice that God is there in everything. Every pebble and every leaf is full of God, every
           drop of water is full of God. When you are thirsty, God is thirsty within you. And when you drink
           cold water, it is God flowing within your being; it is God who will quench your thirst. the thirst is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God, the quenching is God, the water that quenches is God. All is God.
               What to renounce? For what reason should you fast? Celebrate and dance! A real religion is
           celebration; a false religion is renunciation.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                      Chapter #2
                                                      Chapter title:
           1 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511010
              ShortTitle: FOLL202
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 79 mins




              "ROSES ARE RED
              VIOLETS ARE BLUISH
              IF IT WASN'T FOR JESUS
              WE'D ALL BE JEWISH."
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                WE STILL ARE. Jesus could not succeed. To be Jewish has nothing to do with any race; it is an
           attitude. To be Jewish means to be calculating, to be under the world of law and not love. To be
           Jewish means not to be poetic, but to be arithmetical. To be Jewish means not to be in awe of the
           wonder that surrounds you.
                It is not just accidental that this whole century has been dominated by three Jews -- Marx, Freud
           and Einstein -- because the world is materialistic. It has never been so materialistic as it is now. One
           Jew, Marx, invented the idea that life is nothing but economics. That's what I mean: the calculation.
           Even religion is economics, even poetry is economics. Marx says that even consciousness depends
           on economical situations; it is a by-product. Consciousness is a by-product of economic situations,
           the structure of the society. Marx is the perfect Jew. You cannot find a better specimen.
                Then there is Freud who tried to invent the idea that the whole of life moves according to
           unconscious laws, instincts. There is no conscious event in human life; everything is dominated by
           the unconscious. He was a fatalist; fatalism is another idea that the world is run by dead rules.
                To Marx, it is economics which rules everything. To Freud, it is unconscious instinct which rules
           everything. Then there is Einstein who tried to invent the idea that the whole of life is nothing but a
           combination of atoms. All three are calculators.
                To be a Jew has nothing to do with the Jewish race. There are Jews who are Hindus, there are
           Jews who are Jains, there are Jews who are Buddhists. To be a Jew is an attitude.
                Christ has not succeeded: Christians are Jews! Christ can succeed only when law is defeated by
           love, when matter is defeated by spirit, when language is defeated by silence, when prose is defeated
           by poetry. When life is not ruled by economic, instinctive, historical laws, but life is ruled by grace
           -- then Jesus succeeds.
                So don't think that you are not Jews. Out of a hundred people, ninety-nine percent are Jews. Only
           sometimes one person is not Jewish. That person lives a life of love. He has no pattern to force his
           life into: he lives moment to moment; he flows from one moment to another moment with no idea of
           where he is going, with no goal. Then freedom happens.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Only in freedom is there consciousness, only in freedom is there God. God is total freedom. If
           you live moment to moment, not knowing where you are going, not knowing from where you are
           coming -- if the past is irrelevant and the future also, if only the present has any relevance, any
           reality -- you go beyond being Jewish.
                Everybody is born a Jew. Rarely, very rarely, does somebody die not a Jew. That is a rare
           blessing. Just by calling yourselves Christians nothing is changed. Only labels change. The container
           changes, but the content remains the same.
                Jesus has failed -- but not because his revolution was not worth succeeding. Jesus has failed
           because his revolution was too much for you, it was beyond you. Just to look that far away, that
           high, is impossible. Your eyes are fixed on the earth; you have completely forgotten the sky. And
           because you have forgotten the sky, you have forgotten that you have wings. Looking down, groping
           in the darkness of the earth, you have become creepers -- like a snake. You are no longer birds, birds
           of heaven.
                Jesus failed because you are so deep in unconsciousness. And Jesus will go on failing; his very
           effort is such that success is almost impossible. As far as society is concerned, he may never
           succeed. Only with individuals is success possible.
                Hence, all those who have known.... Ask the awakened: Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Zarathustra.
           You will always find their insistence is on the individual. They know well that at the most you can
           expect a few individuals to rise high. The greater part of humanity will do everything it can to hold
           onto its bondage, to remain secure in the imprisonment, to remain comfortable -- and live somehow,
           dragging life as a burden; and die somehow. The greater masses will not listen, will not understand,
           will not try to transform themselves. Religion is individual.
                And religion has no name. Whenever somebody becomes religious, immediately he is no longer
           a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian. He's simply religious. It is an understanding; it is a different
           kind of knowing, a different way of seeing. And when you see differently, you see a different reality.
           The reality depends on your eyes. If your eyes change, the reality changes.
                If you are calculating you will never be able to know more than matter, because calculation has
           its limitation. If you are too arithmetical, you will never be able to know that which is beauty, that
           which is good, that which is true. You will never be able to know, because calculation cannot lead to
           that.
                How can you know a beautiful flower by being arithmetical? You can count the petals, but you
           will miss the beauty. You can count the parts, but you will miss the whole. And you are certain to
           miss the beauty which surrounds the flower, which exists like a climate around the flower, but
           cannot be caught hold of by counting the petals. You have to forget counting, you have to forget the
           mind that counts.
                Mind is Jewish. Once you go beyond mind you enter a different world: the world which cannot
           be accounted for, which cannot be explained; which is a mystery and which remains a mystery. The
           deeper you go in it, the greater the mystery; the more you know, the less you know. And there comes
           a moment -- when you really know it, you know only one thing: that you don't know.


              OH, OSHO, TODAY I WANTED TO DANCE AS YOU WERE SPEAKING. AND YOU EVEN
              MENTIONED KAZANTZAKIS WHOM I LOVE. BUT I FEEL INHIBITED TO DANCE, THOUGH I WAS
              SITTING IN THE BACK. THE ASHRAM FEELS CONSERVATIVE TO ME, BUT PROBABLY I DIDN'T
              DANCE BECAUSE OF MY OWN CONSERVATISM. IS THIS A QUESTION?

              Not at all. It is a confession.

               The ashram is not conservative. But you all are conservative, and you make the ashram. The
           ashram is not mine, it is yours. If it was mine it wouldn't be conservative, but I am alone and I cannot
           make the ashram. I am a stranger here. It consists of you, and you are conservative so the ashram
           becomes conservative. It cannot go beyond you because you are the constituent parts. It is the total
           of your conservatisms.
               But who bothers about it? If you are really in a state of dance, who bothers? Then you can dance
           even on the road. Maybe the police will come and take you to prison, but that's okay. What can you
           do? If you could stop the dance then it was not worth doing. It must have been a mind game, it must
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have been just an idea, an idea in the mind that you would like to dance.
                But you did not really want to dance. When dance happens, it is not an idea in the mind; not at
           all. It is a tremendous energy in the body. It has its own force. You are possessed, you cannot do
           anything about it, You forget the ashram, you forget the society, you forget the world. You are
           helpless; you are possessed by dance. Then something from the beyond enters.
                It must have been just an idea in the mind. That's why you stopped it. Ideas can be stopped, but
           when you are possessed you cannot do anything about it. It happens; it is not done. And when it
           happens, it is divine. When you do it, it is human and ordinary.
           It is not a question. It is a confession.
                And you say that you love Kazantzakis. That, too, may be just an idea in the mind. People love
           things which they lack in their life. Reading ZORBA THE GREEK you may love Zorba, but if you
           met Zorba you might not like him. He is such a totally different, altogether different, being than you.
           Even Kazantzakis was never at ease with Zorba. They were friends, Zorba was a real person, he is
           not just a fictional character. Even Kazantzakis was very uneasy with him, because he was a totally
           different type of man. He was an absolute hedonist, absolutely in the moment. Nothing else but
           happiness mattered.
                Of course it looks very selfish. Only sad people look unselfish, happy people always look selfish.
           And happy people are always condemned. Because the whole society is unhappy, how dare you be
           happy? When everybody is so unhappy you must be very selfish to be happy. Don't smile when
           everybody is weeping and crying. And don't laugh. Life is very miserable, and it looks unmannerly.
                A man like Zorba will never be accepted in any home. You would not allow him to stay with you
           because his very presence would be a disturbance. He does not believe in any morality. He knows
           only one morality: of happiness.
                And I say to you, that is the only morality there is. All else is rubbish. Only a happy person can
           be moral. Only a happy person is not interested in making other persons unhappy; only a happy
           person creates an atmosphere around him where others can also be happy. But those others will not
           like the idea of your being happy when they are miserable.
                You may love Zorba, but you wouldn't allow Zorba to become a guest in your home. He is
           unreliable. Such happy persons are dangerous! With sad, dead people you can rely. They will not
           escape with your wife! Zorba can escape with her. He lives in the moment. He has no future, no past;
           no heaven, no hell. He is true to the real moment.
                But you may have loved him. This happens. This has to be understood.
                You always love the opposite, the opposite attracts you. But only in fantasy. In reality it will be
           troublesome. People who have never loved go on reading poetry about love. Sometimes they even
           try to write poetry about love. I have come across many poets. This has been my observation: they
           have missed love in life, so they go on writing poetry about it. That's a substitute. A very pale
           substitute, useless, but a little satisfying still. At least something is here. Plastic flowers... but they
           look like flowers. Love is dangerous. To write poetry about love has no danger in it.
                Watch! If somebody is reciting a poem on love you may welcome him, but if the man really
           moves into love then the society will condemn him. You can read the story of Laila and Majanu, or
           Shiri and Farahad, and you will love it. But the people who were alive in the days of Majanu hated
           the man. Who loves a lover? Try to be a lover and you will be condemned by the society. Write
           poetry about it and maybe the president will give you an award, you may get the Nobel Prize. No
           lover ever gets a Nobel Prize -- people who write poetry about love get Nobel Prizes.
                Man has become afraid of the real, but about the phony -- there is no danger in it. Have you
           watched this? Sometimes you are sitting in your room or in your house, waiting or doing something,
           and somebody knocks at the door. You feel very bad: somebody has come to disturb you. You don't
           even want to answer, you would like to avoid it. You send the servant to the door, you don't go
           yourself. Or you send your child to tell the visitor that "Daddy is not at home." But if somebody
           gives you a call on the phone then you are not disturbed. Then you immediately pick up the phone,
           because the reality is so far away.
                Once it happened that a thief entered somebody's house and was caught -- caught because of an
           old habit. The phone was ringing. He could not resist, he had to answer it. A phone has to be
           answered! So he picked up the phone and he was caught. When he was asked, "Why did you
           bother?" he said, "I completely forgot that I was a thief in the house. When the phone rings, one has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to answer."
                One man was doing some research work on this phenomenon. He called twenty public phones
           and somebody or the other answered. Then he inquired of the man: "Why did you answer? It was not
           for you."
           The man said, "I was just passing."
           "Then why did you answer?"
           He said, "But the phone was ringing!"
                It has a certain power. When the phone rings you have to answer. It has a certain quality about it,
           something hypnotic. You are not concerned with the phone, it is certain that it is not ringing for you.
           It is a public phone; you pass by it while you are going to your office. It is certain that it is not
           ringing for you. Why do you answer it?
                When the reality is far away, it is very easy to answer. When the reality comes nearer, it becomes
           more and more difficult. The greatest difficulties of life are concerned with the people who are very
           real to you and very near to you: your wife, your children, your husband. They are very close, they
           are real. There is the trouble.
                You may have liked Zorba. Even Kazantzakis liked the man -- when he was not with him! But
           when they lived together it was really difficult. Sometimes he would come home drunk, and he
           would start dancing and would dance the whole night. And he was a powerful man -- very strong.
           When you live with such a man it will be very difficult, unless you yourself are such a man.
                Don't create substitutes. That's a trick of the mind to deceive you. Love the real, don't love the
           phony. It is better to love than to write poetry about love. Love will transform you, love will give
           you insight. Love will give you insight into the human heart -- into your own and into the other's.
           Through love there will be many unhappy moments, anguish, but there will be peaks of joy also.
           And that's how one grows: through the night of anguish, then through the day of joy. One moves
           through the duality: it is a dialectical process.
                Just reading poetry about love is so convenient, but don't think that you really love. Reading
           poetry about love is very easy because nothing is at stake.
                Leo Tolstoy has written in his memoirs that when he was a small child his mother used to go to
           the theater. They were very rich people; they belonged to the royal family. In Moscow the snow
           would be falling -- a winter night -- and the mother and the child would be in the theater.
                Tolstoy remembers that whenever there was a tragedy playing, his mother would weep and cry
           and sob, and tears would flow down. Tolstoy used to think: "What deep compassion she has!" But by
           and by, later on, he became aware that she had no compassion at all. This was a substitute.
                When they would come out of the theater the driver, sitting with the buggy and waiting for them,
           would be dead -- frozen to death. He could not leave the buggy, he had to be there -- any moment
           they might come. Frozen stiff, he would be dead. And Tolstoy's mother wouldn't pay even a little
           attention to him. The man would be thrown out, thrown away, another driver would be called and
           they would move. The mother would not weep or cry. Tolstoy says, "Then I became aware that her
           compassion was phony. It was a trick."
                It is very easy to cry in the theater because nothing is involved. It is very easy to cry while
           looking at a movie. Everybody cries at the movies. But to cry in life will be difficult because then
           something is involved. If you cry for this man who is dead, your driver, then next time you will have
           to change your style of life. Then, if it is snowing too much, you will not go to the theater. Or you
           will make arrangements for the driver to sit somewhere, or you will make arrangements for him to
           have warmer clothing. But that will affect your style of life.
                Who bothers for the real man? People cry when they read novels, when they see a movie, when
           they go to the theater. But in real life their eyes are simply vacant, empty -- no tears come.
                Remember this: if you really love Zorba, you will become a Zorba; if you love Jesus, you will
           become Jesus. This is one of the fundamental laws of life: that if you love somebody, if you love
           something, by and by the object of your love transforms you and you become alike.
                Have you observed? Sometimes you come across a couple, a wife and husband, who look alike.
           They talk in the same way, they walk in the same way, they smile in the same way. There is a deep
           affinity. What has happened? They are not brother and sister, so why are they so alike?
                They love each other and they love deeply. When you love somebody you are vulnerable. The
           other changes you, and you go on changing the other. By the time life comes to an end, if wives and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           husbands really love each other, they will be almost alike. It has to be so. Love transforms.
               But the theater and movies and novels and poetry -- they will not transform you much. In fact,
           they are ways to avoid the transformation. They are ways not to look at life, but to live in fantasy.
               This is not a question; this is a confession. If you really wanted to dance, who could prevent you?
           And when that type of dance happens, who would WANT to prevent you? When you are possessed
           and it is not a mind thing....
               Next time you are possessed, don't be worried about the ashram. Let them do whatsoever they
           want to do. It is not your business to be worried about it. Dance! But remember, this should not be a
           mind thing. Otherwise you will simply create a disturbance. Be possessed. When you are possessed,
           the dance is holy.


              YOU SAID, "IF THERE WERE NO REFORMERS, THEN THE WORLD WOULD BE A MORE
              NATURAL AND BEAUTIFUL PLACE. "THEN WHY IS YOUR ASHRAM SO FULL OF REFORMERS?


               To reform the reformers. The world is full of reformers -- what to do? They have to be reformed.
           I am training people who can reform the reformers.
               The question is not signed. The person who has asked this must be afraid. You should not be
           afraid. You should sign your question so that I know exactly in whose mind this question is arising.
           Because I don't answer the question, I answer the questioner. The question is useless if you are so
           afraid that you cannot even sign it. If you don't want to reveal your identity, your whole heart is not
           in the question.
               Why do you try to deceive? Even if the question is foolish you have to show your identity. Here
           you are not to hide yourself, here you are to expose yourself -- expose yourself to me so that I can
           change you. If you go on hiding then how can I change you? If you are foolish, it's okay. Be foolish,
           but let it be exposed. If you are in darkness, don't be afraid. Open the doors, otherwise from where
           will the light enter?
               There is not going to be any argument or discussion here; I am not interested in any discussion or
           any argument. If I say something to you I do not say it as an argument, I do not say it for the sake of
           any argument. I am not trying to defend any dogma, any religion, any scripture. I have none: no
           dogma, no scripture, no religion to defend. I am trying to create a communion between you and me.
           But if you are hiding, you will miss.
               Always reveal your identity. And don't try to polish your question because that, too, I feel. You
           write the question, you polish it, you try to write it in such a way that it looks very sophisticated,
           very cultured. The more you polish it, the further away it is from your reality. Let it be raw so that it
           is close to your heart.
               If your question itself has gone very far away from your heart, then how can my answer be close
           to you? My answer will hit the question and you will be very far away from it. Let it be raw like a
           wound so I can hit it directly.
               It will hurt. That's why you try to push it away *om you. But if you are so afraid of being hurt,
           then the surgery that I am trying to do will not be possible.
               It is a surgery. You have a very ill mind, a cancerous growth in the mind. It has to be operated
           upon. It will hurt, certainly it will hurt, but that hurt is beneficial, because once it hurts and the
           cancerous growth is removed, you will be healthy and whole. So don't try to hide. Be true.
               Remember, you can move to the other extreme: you can try to look very raw. That won't help.
           Just be yourself.


              WHILE AT ONE PLACE CHRIST ASKS HIS DISCIPLES TO CARRY THEIR CROSS EVERY DAY,
              AT ANOTHER HE BIDS THEM TO CELEBRATE HIS PRESENCE AS THAT OF A BRIDEGROOM.
              WHY THIS CONTRADICTION?


              There is none. It only appears to be a contradiction.
              Every moment one has to remember death, because any moment it is possible. That is the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meaning of'to carry the cross every day' -- that you should not forget death. Once you forget death
           you relapse into unconsciousness. If you remember death you remain alert, awake.
               But when we say'remember death', we don't mean that you should become oppressed by the idea,
           obsessed by the idea. We don't mean that you should create a deep fear about death and tremble
           continuously. That will be morbidity, that will be perversion.
               In relationship to death, there are two types of perverted people. One: those who have completely
           forgotten, or try to forget, that death is. They try to avoid it. They would not even like to talk about
           death. If you start talking with them about death they will think that you are uncivilized. unmannerly.
           They will avoid the very topic. They will not go to the cemetery. That's why cemeteries are built
           outside of the town. Nobody comes across them accidentally. Only when one has to come to the
           cemetery does one come. Otherwise it can be avoided.
               Death is a taboo subject, more tabooed than sex. Nobody talks about it... and everybody knows it
           is coming. Humanity lives in a great deception. This is one morbidity.
               Then there is another morbidity. You can move to the other extreme and you can become
           obsessed with death. You can constantly tremble and you can lie awake at night, because who
           knows? -- you may not get up in the morning. You cannot eat well, because how can you eat when
           death is coming? You cannot love, because how can you love anybody when everybody is going to
           die? That, too, is morbid; that, too, is perversion.
               Jesus says, "Carry your cross every day." He says to remember death... and still let every
           moment be a celebration of life. Death is coming: that is all the more deep a reason to celebrate.
           Because who knows? -- this may be the last moment.
               This moment of life is not to be destroyed by the fear of death, but AGAINST death, in contrast
           to death, this moment has to be celebrated. It has to be celebrated even more deeply, because who
           knows? -- the next moment we may not be here. While the bridegroom is here, celebrate it.
               The parable of the bridegroom can have a very inner meaning. Within you, your body is the body
           of death and your consciousness is life, the source of life. You are both. Your body is going to die: it
           belongs to the earth -- dust unto dust. It will have to go, it will return to its source.
               You belong to the sky, you belong to God -- your consciousness is separate from your body. This
           is the meaning of Jesus on the cross. Everybody is on the cross because consciousness lives in the
           body and the body is death.
               If you understand, you know that everybody is on the cross. But that should not become a
           pessimism. On the contrary, that should be all the more reason to celebrate. The bridegroom is
           within you and the body is the chamber of the bridegroom. Celebrate it!
               Jesus is not contradictory; Jesus is absolutely simple. The contradiction is in life itself: that life
           exists through death and death exists through life. Life itself is the paradox. But that is the beauty
           also. All beauty exists in contrast and all of life exists as a tension between opposites. It is a bridge
           built on two banks: death and life.
               Celebrate every moment because this may be the last moment. But while celebrating, don't forget
           that death is coming. Remember it.
               Remembering should not become an obsession; remembrance should become a celebration.
           Carry the cross but carry it dancing; carry the cross but carry it singing; carry the cross but carry it
           with a deep celebration within. Then you live both: you live life, you live death. And you live both
           of them deeply and intensely. When you can live both intensely, they become one. Then you know
           that life and death are two aspects of the same thing, of the same energy. Life is expression,
           manifestation. Death is a returning.


              WOULD YOU DEFINE AND DISCUSS THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS? HOW DOES
              CONSCIOUSNESS RELATE TO EGO? IS CONSCIOUSNESS THE CREATIVE PRINCIPLE? (THAT
              IS, COULD YOU SAY EQUALLY, "IN THE BEGINNING WAS CONSCIOUSNESS" INSTEAD OF "IN
              THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD OR THE LOGOS"?) HOW DOES CONSCIOUSNESS RELATE
              TO GOD?


              In the BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, or the logos. The same cannot be said about
           consciousness, because in the beginning unconsciousness was also there. Consciousness is just a part
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of your reality, the reality of the within. Unconsciousness is also there. So just consciousness was not
           there in the beginning. Unconsciousness was also there, as much as consciousness. Or you can say
           that something was there in the beginning in which both consciousness and unconsciousness were
           involved.
               That is the meaning of'God'. God is not only consciousness: God is consciousness PLUS
           unconsciousness. God is both the dark night and the bright day, both summer and winter, both life
           and death. God is the beginning and the end, both. God is beyond duality and the duality is intrinsic
           in him. He is both matter and mind; the manifest and the unmanifest.
               Consciousness is just a part of the great oceanic unconsciousness. Consciousness is just on the
           surface; deeply hidden are layers and layers of unconsciousness. One has to transcend both to know
           that which was in the beginning -- which is God.
           "Would you define and discuss the nature of consciousness? How does consciousness relate to ego?
           " One part of you is conscious, one-tenth. Nine-tenths of you is unconscious. If the conscious part
           thinks itself to be the whole, it becomes the ego. Then it forgets about the unconscious; then the part
           imagines itself to be the whole. Then it is the ego.
               If the conscious becomes aware of the unconscious also.... That is the whole effort of religion,
           that is the whole effort of meditation. If the conscious turns back, looks back, and becomes aware of
           the unconscious also -- the dark night within -- then the conscious knows that "I am conscious, I am
           unconscious also. My consciousness is just a wave on the ocean. The unconscious is vast." Then the
           ego disappears. Ego is the part, thinking itself to be the whole. Non-ego is the part, becoming aware
           of the whole. Then the ego disappears.
               How to define the nature of consciousness? It has never been defined, it never will be defined.
           Who will define it? To define it you have to be away from it. To define anything you have to stand
           out of it, you need a distance. Perspective will not be possible if the distance is not there.
               You are consciousness, you ARE unconsciousness. There is nobody who can stand outside and
           define it. You can know it, but you cannot define it. That's why all religion is mysterious, mystical,
           vague, cloudy -- because no term which is very basic to religion can be defined.
               The subject cannot be made an object. I cannot put myself in front of me, so I cannot define.
           Neither has Buddha defined, nor Jesus. Definition as such is debarred by the very nature of the
           phenomenon.
               Everything else can be defined because consciousness is the definer. Everything else is before
           consciousness. The consciousness can know -- it can go around, watch, observe, experiment, define,
           dissect -- but who will define consciousness? You cannot go away from it: you ARE it. You can
           know it, but you cannot define it. Knowledge is not possible, only knowing.
               I can help you to create a meditative state where you can know what it is, I can give you the
           method, but I cannot give you the definition. That's why religion always looks a little suspicious.
           "Why don't you define your terms? Just do as science does. Define! If you cannot define your terms
           that simply shows you don't know what you are talking about."
               A great linguist and positivist philosopher, A.J. Aiyer, says that if we take two terms -- 'God'
           and'dog' -- the second is true and the first is false. Nobody can define'God', the word is
           meaningless.'God' cannot be defined.'Dog' can be defined -- 'dog' is more meaningful than'God'.
               If you insist on definitions, then only things can be defined; persons cannot be defined. Laws can
           be defined, love cannot be defined. Gravitation can be defined, but grace -- grace cannot be defined.
           That which is without is definable; that which is within is elusive. One has to understand it... and
           move into meditation.
               Buddha says, "Buddhas can only show you the way. YOU have to move. One day you come
           upon the goal. Nobody can give you the goal beforehand."
               Not even a definition is possible. And it is good that a definition is not possible. Otherwise you
           will settle for the definition, you will settle for the information, and you will never travel, you will
           never journey to the goal. And sometimes it happens that the very map you were thinking to use for
           the journey becomes the barrier. You become satisfied with the map itself.
               I was reading a very rare autobiography by a man who belonged to a very primitive race in the
           Amazon. He was the son of the chief. His father was a great lover of the Amazon River, and he had
           moved to the very source of the river.
               The boy, the son of the chief, went to America -- some missionaries helped him to go there to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           study. He studied there, graduated, and was on his way back home. Thinking that "My father loves
           the Amazon so much. He would be very happy if I brought him a map, a detailed map, of the
           Amazon," he purchased the best map available and brought it to his father.
                He thought that his father would be very happy, but the father looked at the map and was very
           sad. He threw the map away. The son was very hurt. "I have brought a gift, a present, and my father
           has thrown it away. Why?"
                He asked his father. The father said, "This is absolutely bogus because I don't see the Amazon
           anywhere. How can the Amazon exist on paper? You are a fool, and you are deceiving me. I have
           moved on the Amazon, I know what it is. "Don't be deceived by this map. Only lines are there."
                Definitions of God are maps: lines on paper. Definitions of consciousness are maps. And
           sometimes people get too obsessed with maps.
                The best way to be lost is to have a map. You cannot fail: if you have a really detailed map, you
           will get lost in it. And the mind will think, "Now I know everything." The living Amazon is
           beautiful, dangerous, terrible. At any moment life may be at stake. With a map -- conveniently sitting
           in your easy chair -- you can study it, and you can think that you know all about the Amazon.
                In the world outside you, maps have a little relevance, but in the inside world they are absolutely
           irrelevant. If you have any maps, throw them away. All the religions have given you maps. Throw
           them away! Enough of the maps. Now let there be a real journey!
                When you will attain to consciousness, you will laugh at the stupidity of the mapmakers. Then
           you will know that they have never been to the innermost source of life. They have been copying
           other mapmakers. For centuries they have been copying, and they go on adding their own fantasy
           and their own ideas. They go on changing and decorating. All maps are false, because the innermost
           remains indefinable.
                But there is no need to define. Consciousness is there within you. Return, and the kingdom of
           God is at hand. Why be bothered by the definition? When the real thing is so close, why not taste it?
                When the river is flowing, you ask me about the definition of water. I know you are thirsty, and I
           know that a definition cannot quench the thirst. But you say, "Unless water is defined, how can I
           drink the water? I can't see the point."
                If people had waited for the definition -- only then would they quench their thirst -- humanity
           would have disappeared long ago, because water is still indefinable. Don't be befooled by what
           scientists say. They may say that water is H20 -- -two parts hydrogen to one part oxygen -- but when
           a scientist is thirsty, if you give him oxygen and hydrogen to drink, he will say, "What are you
           doing? Have you gone mad? Water quenches thirst, not two parts of hydrogen and one part of
           oxygen."
                Mulla Nasruddin's son came back from the university. He was studying logic there and he had
           become a great philosopher -- as everybody is prone to become in youth. Youth is foolish, and to
           become a philosopher is easy.
                The son was very interested in showing off his knowledge. Fresh from the university, everybody
           is. They were sitting at the dining table and the mother brought in two apples. Seeing an opportunity,
           Mulla Nasruddin's son said, "Mummy, I will show you something which I have learned. What do
           you see on this plate?"
           The mother said, "Two apples."
                He said, "No, logic says something else. There are three apples, not two."
                The poor mother looked again, but there were two apples. She said, "What do you mean?"
                He said, "Look. Watch. This apple is one, this apple is two. How many are one plus two?"
                The mother said, "Of course, one plus two is three." The son was very happy.
                Mulla Nasruddin was watching. He said, "Good, very good. I will eat the first and your mother
           will eat the second. You eat the third!"
                You cannot eat logic, you cannot eat science, you cannot eat philosophy. Religion is concerned
           with how to quench your thirst, religion is concerned with your hunger -- not definitions, maps.


              YOU SAID, "WE ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING HERE," BUT THOSE OF US WHO LIVE AND WORK
              HERE IN THE ASHRAM ARE CONTINUOUSLY OCCUPIED WITH'DOING'. IN FACT THE MORE
              WE DO, THE MORE WE ARE PRAISED; AND ANYONE WHO DOES NOT, OR DOES LESS, IS
              SCOLDED. PLEASE EXPLAIN.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               When I said, "We are not doing anything here," I meant I am not doing anything here. Because I
           love you. When you love, the doing is not a doing at all.
               If you love me, then you will also not think that you are doing very much. In fact you will not
           think that you are doing anything. Love is not a duty. In love, work becomes worship.
               You work in the ashram. The whole quality of the work, and your attitude, will be different if
           you love me. If you don't love me, of course it is work. Then your mind will hanker for praise. Then
           in many ways you will try to avoid the work -- as many of you are doing! You go on finding ways
           and means: how to avoid it, how not to do it.
               I never avoid, because I love you. The more I can do. the better I feel. But you avoid -- as if work
           is something that you are dragging: a burden. If work is a burden, only then it looks like work.
               If work comes out of love, it becomes worship. Then there is no need for any other meditation. It
           is enough. The work itself becomes the meditation. You are so deeply in it that the mind stops.
               Energy needs work otherwise the energy will become restlessness. Energy needs expression,
           energy needs to be creative. Otherwise the same energy, coiled up within you, will become diseased,
           an illness. You have energy. The energy has to be creative. There is no happiness except in
           creativity.
               But creativity is work, with love. A painter paints. He is not working; he is loving. He is
           completely absorbed in it -- the doer is not there. A singer sings or a dancer dances. If the dancer is
           just a professional then it is work. Then he will be tired. But if a dancer really loves dancing, then the
           more he moves into it, the more energy he gets to move further on.
               It is said about Nijinsky -- one of the greatest dancers that has ever walked on earth -- that even
           scientists were surprised: they couldn't believe his jumping. When he would dance he would take
           jumps that were so big they were against gravitation. They were not possible: one cannot jump that
           much. And the way he would jump -- so gracefully! And when he would be coming down he would
           come like a dove -- so slowly, as if gravitation was not functioning. Many times Nijinsky was asked,
           "What is the secret?"
               He said, "I don't know. Except that I love dancing." And once he said, "When you love dancing,
           then you don't function under the law of gravitation. You function under the law of grace."
               That is the difference between Moses and Jesus. Moses brings the law of gravitation into the
           world -- all those Ten Commandments are laws, just like gravitation -- and Jesus brings the law of
           grace, which is not a law at all.
               When you love deeply, you function in a totally different dimension. If you loved me, this
           question would not have arisen. You would not think of it as work.
               Watch a mother -- how much she does for the child. But if you ask her, she will say, "I have not
           been doing anything. In fact many more things were needed to be done and I have not done them. I
           always feel that my child has not received as much care as was needed." Then go to the secretary of
           a club or an institute and ask him. He will give you a long list of everything that he has been doing
           there. Even things which he has not done will be included in the list! He is a doer; a mother is a
           lover.
               I was reading the biography of a Hindu sannyasin who lived in South Africa. He came to the
           Himalayas on a pilgrimage. He was going uphill and it was hot. He was perspiring and gasping for
           breath; the journey was hard.
               Just in front of him was a girl, not more than ten years of age, carrying a very heavy, fat child on
           her shoulders. She was perspiring. The sannyasin spoke to the girl and said, "My daughter, the child
           seems to be very heavy."
               The girl looked at the sannyasin and said, "Swamiji, he is not a burden. He is my brother. He is
           not a burden at all, he has no weight -- he is my brother." When you love, weight disappears; when
           you love, you function in a different world.


              IS THIS IT? AM I EXPERIENCING YOU? HAS THE FINAL JOURNEY BEGUN?


              This is from Dharmateerth Bodhisattva. Yes....
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                 Chapter #3
                             Chapter title: Your Names Are Written In Heaven.
           2 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511020
              ShortTitle: FOLL203
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 108 mins




              LUKE 10
              1 AFTER THESE THINGS THE LORD APPOINTED OTHER SEVENTY ALSO, AND SENT THEM
              TWO AND TWO BEFORE HIS FACE INTO EVERY CITY AND PLACE, WHITHER HE HIMSELF
              WOULD COME.
              2 THEREFORE SAID HE UNTO THEM, THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT, BUT THE LABORERS
              ARE FEW: PRAY YE THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE WOULD SEND
              FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST.
              3 GO YOUR WAYS: BEHOLD, I SEND YOU FORTH AS LAMBS AMONG WOLVES.
              4 CARRY NEITHER PURSE, NOR SCRIP, NOR SHOES: AND SALUTE NO MAN BY THE WAY.
              5 AND INTO WHATSOEVER HOUSE YE ENTER, FIRST SAY, PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE.
              6 AND IF THE SON OF PEACE BE THERE, YOUR PEACE SHALL REST UPON IT: IF NOT, IT
              SHALL TURN TO YOU AGAIN.
              16 HE THAT HEARETH YOU HEARETH ME; AND HE THAT DESPISETH YOU DESPISETH ME;
              AND HE THAT DESPISETH ME DESPISETH HIM THAT SENT ME.
              17 AND THE SEVENTY RETURNED AGAIN WITH JOY, SAYING, LORD, EVEN THE DEVILS ARE
              SUBJECT UNTO US THROUGH THY NAME.
              18 AND HE SAID UNTO THEM...
              20 NOTWITHSTANDING IN THIS REJOICE NOT, THAT THE SPIRITS ARE SUBJECT UNTO YOU;
              BUT RATHER REJOICE, BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.
              21 IN THAT HOUR JESUS REJOICED IN SPIRIT, AND SAID, I THANK THEE, O FATHER, LORD
              OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, THAT THOU HAST HID THESE THINGS FROM THE WISE AND
              PRUDENT, AND HAST REVEALED THEM UNTO BABES: EVEN SO, FATHER; FOR SO IT
              SEEMED GOOD IN THY SIGHT.
              22 ALL THINGS ARE DELIVERED TO ME OF MY FATHER: AND NO MAN KNOWETH WHO THE
              SON IS, BUT THE FATHER; AND WHO THE FATHER IS, BUT THE SON, AND HE TO WHOM THE
              SON WILL REVEAL HIM.


               ONCE UPON A TIME, two explorers came to a clearing in the jungle. It was a beautiful place --
           thousands and thousands of flowers were blossoming. One of the explorers said, "There must be a
           gardener tending these flowers, looking after this plot." He was a believer.
               The other disagreed and said, "I don't see any gardener here. I don't even see anybody's
           footprints. And there seems to be no point in making such a beautiful garden in such a dense and
           deep forest. Who will come to look? Who will enjoy these flowers? Nobody ever passes by. No,
           there is no gardener. The whole garden is just an accident."
               They argued. The second was a nonbeliever, a skeptic. But there was no way to decide who was
           right, so they pitched their tent and waited for seven days. No gardener ever appeared.
               The skeptic was very happy. He said, "Look, there is no gardener. It has been proven now."
               But the believer said, "The gardener is invisible. He comes, but we cannot see him; he comes, but
           we cannot hear his footsteps. This garden is impossible without a gardener."
               So they set a barbed wire fence up around the garden. They electrified the wires, they brought
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bloodhounds, and they patrolled day and night. But nobody ever entered. No shriek was ever heard
           from the shock of the electricity flowing in the wires. The bloodhounds never gave a cry.
                After seven days, the skeptic said. "Finished! Now it is proven beyond doubt that there is no
           gardener -- visible or invisible."
                But the believer waS not convinced. He said, "The gardener is not only invisible, he is intangible.
           He has no scent. He is eternally elusive: you cannot catch him by electrified wires, you cannot catch
           him by bloodhounds, and our eyes cannot see him. But he is -- for certain he is."
                Now the skeptical friend, in great despair, said, "What happened to your original statement?
           What is the difference between an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive God, or gardener, and one
           which is just imaginary, or one which does not exist at all? What is the difference between the two?"
                I was reading this parable. I liked it, because this is how the argument has been going on, on
           earth. Believers go on talking about an invisible God, skeptical minds go on disproving any
           possibility of it, and they both seem to be right. Or, they both are wrong. The argument never comes
           to a conclusion.
                From the very beginning, the whole line of inquiry has taken the wrong route. Once you separate
           the gardener from the garden -- God from the creation -- the problem arises. Then it can never be
           settled.
                The garden is enough proof of the gardener. But the gardener is not separate. He does not come
           to tend the garden: He is in the garden; He IS the garden. He does not look after the flowers: He is
           IN the flowers; He IS the flowers. Not that HE is invisible -- He is visible, but visible as flowers.
                If you have an idea of God, you will never find Him. The very idea will become the barrier. Only
           those who have no idea of God come upon Him, or allow God to come upon themselves. If you have
           a certain idea, the very idea is going to be the wall, the brick wall, between you and the truth.
                The believer was not wrong, but he took a wrong line of argument: he divided the gardener from
           the garden. The gardener cannot be proved because the gardener doesn't exist. A gardener separate
           from the garden is nonexistential.
                That's why the skeptical friend could argue. And his argument is valid -- valid not against God or
           the gardener; valid against the believer. The believer has taken the wrong argument.
                To me, God is herenow. All that you see is God. God is not something beyond; God is something
           within. Or, if you like paradoxes, you can call God the within beyond or the beyond within. But God
           is intrinsic, God is the innermost core of existence.
                Unless you start in the right direction, you will go on missing. Never believe in a God who is
           separate from His creatures and the creation. He is not, He cannot be. He is one with it: He is in it,
           He is it. Once this is understood, you start flowing; your whole life becomes a prayer.
                That is the basic message of Jesus. That's why he goes on saying that "God is my father." It is a
           way of saying what I am saying to you.
                Between the father and the son, or between the mother and the child, there is a continuity. The
           father goes on living in the son; the mother continues in the child. The son is nothing but an
           extension of the existence of the father -- an extended hand: as if the old body has become incapable
           of existing and is going to disappear, and the father has created a new body to live within.
                When Jesus says, "God is my father," he simply means that "I am continuous with Him; there has
           never been a separation. He is flowing in me: in my every cell He is flowing. Nowhere has there
           been a discontinuity." That is the whole meaning of it, but he uses the word'father' because he is
           talking to very simple, unsophisticated people. He is talking to real people, not to plastic people; he
           is not talking in a university. He is talking to real people -- people who are alive.
                He uses the word'father'. And it is beautiful in a way, because unless religion becomes personal,
           it remains a philosophy. When religion becomes personal, it becomes life. Religion is something to
           be lived, not something to brood about. It is something that should become a milieu around you; it is
           something that should become a continuous breathing, continuous beating of the heart.
                Religion is a way of life, a way of being. It has nothing to do with thinking. When Jesus says,
           "God is father," he means this existence is not alien, this existence is a home. You can rest in it, you
           can rely on it; you need not be afraid.
                This is one of the most significant things to be understood, because modern man is so much
           afraid. Never before has that been so. Never before in the history of humankind has man been as
           afraid as he is now.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Every day I go on talking to people about their problems, and almost always, deeply hidden
           somewhere, is fear. Whenever they come deeper to their being, other problems finally disappear.
           Only one problem remains: fear. Why is modern man so afraid? It has never been so before.
                Something has happened, something that is like a catastrophe. Once God is not there in your
           consciousness, you will be afraid -- because without God, existence becomes alien. Then you are not
           at home, then it is as if everybody is against you.
                If God is not there, then existence becomes inimical. Not that it really becomes inimical, but it
           looks that way to you. It appears to you that it is inimical. Life looks just like a competition, a
           struggle to survive. Great jealousy surrounds you. Love disappears if there is no God; at-homeness
           disappears if there is no God.          'God' is just a symbolic word. It simply denotes an attitude: an
           attitude that "I am at home." If God is the father, then the whole existence is your home. You can be
           at ease, there is nothing to fear -- everything is in the hands of your father.
                Religion is personal. The whole effort is to look at life as if it is a family. The tree, howsoever far
           away, is related to you; it is a relative. And the rock also... and the oceans also... and the moon and
           the stars also. Everything is related to everything else; you exist in a related family.
                You are a part of it -- as if existence is trying to reach somewhere through you, reach to a higher
           peak of consciousness. Through you, God is trying to reach to a new existence, to a new peak of
           ecstasy, to a new peak of awareness, to a new way. It is as if God is trying to achieve a breakthrough,
           through you. Suddenly, you are accepted.
                Not only accepted: God is trying to do something through you. History is being created through
           you, existence is being created through you. You are significant; you have a tremendous
           significance. Without you, God will lack something.
                Just think: without the son, the father will no longer be a father. Without the son, not only will
           the father lack something -- he will no longer be a father. He will be barren, a desert. The son is a
           fulfillment.
                YOU are the fulfillment. But once you forget God, or you drop the idea of God -- as modern man
           has done -- suddenly you are alien. Suddenly you are never at ease. Wherever you move, you move
           like a stranger -- amongst enemies, not amongst friends.
                One friend of mine stayed with me. He was a vice-chancellor in a university -- a very atheistic
           man. I always liked trees, and I always liked trees to be so close to the house that they almost touch
           it and cover it. People don't like that because there is a danger that the tree may destroy the wall, may
           destroy the foundation. But to me it is worth it. Even if the building disappears, it is beautiful.
                In the morning the friend looked around and he said, "What have you done? You are creating a
           jungle. Don't you know that trees are enemies of man? "
                He is right in a way, because trees have been constantly fighting with man, and man has been
           constantly fighting with trees. All the cities that you know were once forests. Man has destroyed the
           trees, cleared the ground, claimed it. But now if you don't do anything about the trees for even
           twenty years, they will spread and take over the land again. They will destroy the buildings and the
           roads and everything.
                So he said, "What are you doing? Trees are enemies."
                For the first time, I heard the idea. It is historically true, but existentially false; scientifically true,
           but religiously false.
                Scientifically, all of life is a struggle. Everybody else is fighting you, and you are fighting
           everybody else.'Survival of the fittest' -- it is murderous competition, c.ut-throat competition.
           Nobody is friendly. Even those who you think are friends are not friends, cannot be -- scientifically.
                A new child is born. Now he is a new competitor in the world; one more enemy will be there. He
           will breathe, and he will destroy much oxygen which you could have used. Now he will be using it.
           He will need space, he will need food; he will need water and this and that. Now there is one more
           enemy.
                Whenever a man dies, one enemy is dead. You can celebrate the fact. Now that much oxygen is
           free, that much food will be available -- one competitor is gone. It is scientifically true. Ask Malthus.
                Yes, it is true. But religiously... religiously the world is a unity. Existence is a family; we exist
           together. Life is togetherness, and that togetherness is God. If you cannot feel that togetherness, you
           will feel alien and you will always be afraid. To a religious man, fearlessness happens
           spontaneously. To a non-religious man, fear is the only way to be.                   'God, the father' can be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           translated. It means: existence is one; it is a togetherness. It is a harmony, not a conflict.
               We are members of each other. Whenever somebody dies, something in me also dies. Whenever
           a new child is born, something is born into me also. Whenever a new child is there, life becomes
           more alive through him -- life smiles. Whenever somebody dies, there are tears.
               It has to be so, because I come out of life; I go back into life. Life was trying to do something
           through me.
               Everybody is a messenger; everybody is a messiah; everybody has a destiny to fulfill. And until
           you fulfill that destiny, you will never feel fulfilled. You can have much money, but fulfillment will
           not come through it. You can have much sex; fulfillment will not come through it. You can have
           much power; fulfillment will not come through it.
               Fulfillment comes only when you have fulfilled a certain destiny that you were carrying, that was
           coded within you, that was deep in your blueprint. Unless you have become that for which you were
           made -- unless you have attained to being -- you will never be fulfilled.
               Fulfillment is peace, fulfillment is bliss, fulfillment is contentment. And only a fulfilled heart can
           pray, because only a fulfilled heart can be grateful and can feel the grace descending: the spirit of
           God, like a dove.

           Now the sutras:

              AFTER THESE THINGS THE LORD APPOINTED OTHER SEVENTY ALSO, AND SENT THEM
              TWO AND TWO BEFORE HIS FACE INTO EVERY CITY AND PLACE, WHITHER HE HIMSELF
              WOULD COME.


               The gospels are telegraphic because they were meant to be remembered, memorized. Not even a
           single word is used which is superfluous; they are very economic. So whatsoever is said has to be
           understood with deep trust and reverence, because that is the only way to understand things like
           these. A deep reverence is a basic climate and a basic requirement. Only in that deep reverence
           something enters in you and hits the heart, stirs your soul.
               If you just listen with a skeptical mind -- closed, doubting -- you will miss, because these are not
           principles, these are poetries. They indicate, and the indication is very subtle. They intimate... and
           only in deep intimacy can these things be understood.

              AFTER THESE THINGS THE LORD APPOINTED OTHER SEVENTY ALSO, AND SENT THEM
              TWO AND TWO BEFORE HIS FACE INTO EVERY CITY AND PLACE, WHITHER HE HIMSELF
              WOULD COME.


                Why TWO AND TWO? Why not three? Why not one? Why TWO AND TWO?
                Jesus shows a deep understanding of the human mind. More than two is a crowd, and a crowd is
           never united. It falls apart with more than two. There is every possibility they will start arguing
           within themselves, there is every possibility there will be a conflict of leadership.
                More than two is a crowd. Less than two, one is lonely. In loneliness, doubts arise. In loneliness
           one loses confidence, in loneliness one becomes afraid, suspicious. Jesus says two and two. It should
           not be a crowd, and one should not be alone. "Go two together."
                Two persons -- intimate, close to each other -- bring out in each other whatsoever is great. That's
           why love is so meaningful, because only in love you touch the optimum. Alone, you exist at the
           minimum. In love, you touch the maximum.
                Have you watched it? Have you seen a single person when he falls in love? Have you observed
           the change that comes to him? Suddenly he walks in a different way. He walks less and dances more.
           His movement suddenly takes on a new grace. The eyes sparkle, the face becomes more beautiful.
           Something deep inside relaxes and rejoices. He is more vibrant, radiant. You can see that the energy
           is flowing. Just a few days before, he was low, shrunken. Now, in love, he has opened, bloomed. He
           is overflowing. What has happened?
                The other has given a deep call. That call has touched his soul, it has awakened him. His
           energies, which were lying dormant, have become dynamic. Now he has meaning in his life, a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           purpose. Now his life is no longer like a desert. It starts blooming. It gains tremendously. And the
           beauty is this: that the other is not losing; the other is also gaining the same. Two persons in love
           both gain tremendously and nobody loses.,Both come to their peaks because each stirs the depth of
           the other and each brings out the most beautiful in the other. Each provokes the divine in the other.
               Lovers become gods to each other. And when somebody believes that you are a god, you have to
           fulfill it. What can you do? When somebody believes that you are a god, unknowingly you start
           fulfilling it. Unknowingly you attain to your destiny -- you become a god.
               If nobody has ever believed in you, you will miss much. If nobody has ever loved you, you will
           remain barren. If nobody has ever loved you so deeply that at least for him you have become divine,
           then the divine in you will go on Lying dormant; it will not become dynamic.
               When Jesus says TWO AND TWO, he says: "Go not alone" -- alone you will be at your
           minimum -- "and not more than two" -- because otherwise conflict will arise. Go two and two: in
           deep friendship, in deep love, in deep trust, so that you can help each other and provoke each other
           to the greatest height it is possible to obtain. Potentially, whatsoever the one can attain he will attain
           through the other. "Go two and two".

              THEREFORE SAID HE UNTO THEM, THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT...


              He speaks in the language of the farmers, the fishers, the carpenters.

              THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT, BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW: PRAY YE THEREFORE THE
              LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE WOULD SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST.


               It has always been so. When a Buddha is there, it is so. When a Zarathustra is there, it is so.
           When a Mahavir is there, it is so. The harvest is truly great, but there are not enough laborers. The
           treasure is vast, but there are not enough sharers. A tremendous energy is released, but nobody is
           open to receive it. The flower has opened but nobody passes by to be filled by its scent. The
           fragrance is wasted. It could have been used and people would have attained to their highest peak.
           But the fragrance goes on spreading into the emptiness of the sky. Yes: THE HARVEST TRULY IS
           GREAT, BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW.

              PRAY YE THEREFORE, JESUS SAYS TO HIS DISCIPLES,PRAY TO THE LORD OF THE
              HARVEST, THAT HE WOULD SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST.


               The crop is ready to be cut, and if it is not cut in time it will be wasted. There is a time to sow
           and there is a time to reap. Jesus is ready, the crop is ready -- there is nobody to share it.
               Why does it happen? Why are people so blind? Why do people want to remain in their
           unhappiness and when the door opens to be happy they don't look at it?
               They have certain investments in their unhappiness; they have become attuned to their
           unhappiness. This is my experience also. You come to me and you say to me that you would like to
           be happy. But at that very moment I can see that somewhere within you a part, a greater part of you,
           is against it. That part doesn't want to be happy because that part has invested much in being
           unhappy. Now the whole investment will be gone.
               You want to be happy, but you don't want to lose the investment that you have made in
           unhappiness. In many, many lives you have tried to use unhappiness for certain ends. For example,
           people talk too much about their miseries. They exaggerate. Why do they exaggerate about their
           miseries? What is the point in telling everybody about your misery?
               A certain happiness is attained through this. Whenever you talk about your misery, people show
           sympathy. This is a way to gain sympathy. Of course you must have missed love, otherwise who
           bothers about sympathy? Sympathy is a poor substitute for love; it is a counterfeit. If you have ever
           been loved by somebody, and if you have ever loved somebody, you will not ask for sympathy, no.
           Sympathy is an insult; love is totally different. But sympathy looks like love. It is a counterfeit. It
           appears like love; it is not.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When somebody loves you, you are the end; when somebody sympathizes with you, you are not
           the end. When somebody loves you, you are the emperor; when somebody sympathizes with you,
           you are the beggar. Sympathy is given to you because you are in such a misery; love is given to you
           because you are so happy. When you are happy, people love you. When you are unhappy, people
           sympathize with you.
                But sympathy gives a false appearance of love, and you have invested much in sympathy. Now
           how can you drop your unhappiness? You cannot. Whenever somebody like Jesus comes and opens
           the doors of paradise, you don't listen to him. You say, "There must be some deception. Paradise? --
           it is not possible. We are not fools; we have also been struggling. Paradise is not possible. Only
           unhappiness is possible."
                In the last years of his life, Sigmund Freud became very pessimistic. For fifty years he had been
           working with the human mind. Nobody had worked so hard, so persistently, so scientifically. He had
           watched thousands and thousands of human minds: their functioning, their mechanism. In the last
           years he started feeling that man, as he is, cannot be happy. "There seems to be no possibility that
           man can be happy. Something seems to be basically wrong."
                Nothing is basically wrong. It is only because man has invested too much in unhappiness.
                A child is born. Whenever the child is happy, nobody cares about him. But when he is ill,
           everybody sympathizes, cares, loves. The child learns the trick. If you want sympathy, if you want
           attention, be ill. Don't be happy because when you are happy you create jealousy in others. Jealousy
           means enmity. When you are unhappy you create compassion in others. Compassion means
           friendship.
                That's why you cannot respect Jesus. He is so happy; he is a bridegroom. He is always feasting,
           never fasting.
                You go to saints who are fasting, unhappy, because they don't create jealousy in you. They are so
           unhappy that they create sympathy in you. And when you sympathize with them you make their
           unhappiness even more valuable than it was before.
                This is a vicious circle. In India it is happening all over. Go and see your saints: the more
           unhappy they are -- the more they fast, the more they commit suicide, the more they poison their
           being and body, the more pale and dying they are, the more they look unhealthy -- the more they are
           respected, the more a crowd gathers around them. People say they are great ascetics. Their
           unhappiness creates sympathy.
                How can Jesus get that sympathy? It is impossible. When you go to see him, he is sitting at the
           dining table with his friends. He enjoys eating and drinking. He must have enjoyed singing and
           dancing -- I cannot conceive otherwise. He is a man who enjoys eating and makes eating a
           sacrament. He says that it is holy, that it is a way of prayer. It is God who is hungry within you, and
           when God is satisfied, you have prayed.
                Not only that. Jesus even drinks and allows his disciples to drink because he says, "Life should
           be lived in its abundance." Not only needs should be fulfilled because if only needs are fulfilled life
           is just okay; it is not ecstatic. The wine is simply a symbol for ecstasy: that life should not only be
           lived for the fulfillment of needs. It should be overflowing, it should be a dance. Wine is not a need,
           nobody needs it. It is a celebration. Bread is a need, everybody needs it, but wine is not a need, it is a
           celebration.
                If you see Jesus, he will not create sympathy in you. Rather, he will create jealousy. That's why
           he was crucified. He created so much jealousy around him. Everybody became somehow inimical to
           him: "This is not the way to be a saint."
                You always like pessimists, dead people, people who are almost in the grave. Why? And there is
           little wonder that you also become like them by and by -- because whomsoever you respect, you will
           become like.
                Respect people who are happy, don't respect people who live in misery and create their misery.
           They are ill, morbid. Don't bow down to anybody who is in any way masochistic, creating his own
           suffering. In that way you will be helping him also.
                Just think: if nobody goes to your masochistic saints, do you think they will remain there? They
           will escape from their temples. They will come to the marketplace, they will say, "What is the point?
           We go on fasting and nobody comes. No procession is arranged, nobody respects us -- what is the
           point? We go on fasting, dying, and nobody respects us." Then the whole point is lost.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It will be a great help to them also; it will be real compassion towards them. If you don't come to
           them, they will come back to life. But you go on respecting them, you go on fulfilling their egos.
           Now unhappiness becomes a great investment.
                That's also how you are working in your own life. People cling to their miseries because that is
           all they have. That's why it happens: THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT, BUT THE LABORERS
           ARE FEW.
                Only people who are really understanding, and who are really aware that life exists to be
           celebrated, will be able to enter from the door Jesus has opened for them. The others will not come.
           Not only will they not come -- they will deny that the door exists. If they accept that the door exists,
           then it will be a constant uneasiness in their hearts, a restlessness, that the door exists and they have
           not gone there. No, they will simply deny that the door exists. Not only that, they will say that this
           Jesus is a deceiver, he is not a true prophet. "True prophets are always miserable, they live in
           unhappiness" -- and you can understand their language, because you live in unhappiness also.
                The language of happiness is absolutely foreign to you; you cannot understand it. You can
           understand pain and suffering, but ecstasy? "The man must have gone mad!" -- ecstasy looks mad.
           Pain you can understand, but pleasure? That you cannot understand.
                This is the trouble. I also say to you: THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT, BUT THE
           LABORERS ARE FEW: PRAY YE THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE
           WOULD SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST.

              GO YOUR WAYS: BEHOLD I SEND YOU FORTH AS LAMBS AMONG THE WOLVES.


               It is very dangerous to send ecstatic people amongst miserable people -- very dangerous. If you
           dance on the street, sooner or later you will find yourself in the police station. If you are miserable
           and crying and weeping, even the constable will sympathize with you; but if you are laughing and
           dancing, something seems to have gone wrong. It doesn't happen. Ecstasy? -- "The man is mad! "
           You cannot be allowed to move in the world. You are dangerous.
               Look at the absurdity. A happy person seems dangerous, an unhappy person seems to be okay.
           The unhappy fits with you; the happy does not fit.
               GO YOUR WAYS: BEHOLD, I SEND YOU FORTH AS LAMBS AMONG THE WOLVES.
           Jesus knows that he is sending his disciples into a dangerous world. First, people will not understand
           what they say. People will misunderstand. But even in their misunderstanding there will be a doubt
           lurking in the minds of the people: "These people may be right."
               That creates more danger. Whenever you feel that something may be right, an uneasiness arises.
           Either you have to cope with it or destroy it -- so the proof is destroyed.
               Jesus was crucified just so that the proof was destroyed that a man can be so happy and so
           ecstatic. A man can really be a son of God -- the proof has to be destroyed. You go on asking about
           proofs: what Proof is there of God? And whenever there is proof, you destroy it.
               Jesus was the proof. If you could have understood him, you could have understood that God
           exists. There is no other way to know about God: you can know the tree only by the fruits. Jesus is
           the fruit, the crop, the harvest. He was a living proof. But he had to be destroyed because if God
           exists. how can you go on living in your miserable holes? You will have to come out into the light.
               It is better to deny God than to come out of your darkness, because you have lived in that
           darkness so long. You are attuned to it. Yes, it is miserable, but it is your own misery. Yes, it is
           miserable, but you have lived with it so long that a sort of attachment has arisen. You are attached to
           it.
               Doctors fear that whenever somebody has lived with an illness for long, he clings to it and deep
           down does not wish to be well again. Then no medicine can help because he is struggling against the
           medicine. He WANTS the illness to continue.
               I know one person: I have watched him; he has been in bed for almost seven years. He was a
           politician until he fell ill.
               I have been watching him all these years. He fell ill because he was defeated in one election. His
           illness was psychological: he could not accept the fact that he could be defeated. His ego was
           shattered; he fell ill. The body was simply reflecting something deep that was happening in the ego.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then it continued. One illness would disappear; another would come. Another would go; then
           something else would happen. It continued. After one year, everybody in the family became aware
           that he was not going to be well again.
               Lying down on his bed, for the first time he became relaxed. You can understand the whole
           misery of a politician's life: the conflict, the tension, the anxiety. For one year he rested. Now,
           somewhere in the unconscious, a deep desire arose that this is better. Now he knows that if he gets
           up again he will again be the same way. That is the only way he knows how to be in the world; he
           cannot do anything other than be a politician. That is his profession, the only business he knows.
           Now he is afraid.
               Seven years have passed and things are going well. When he was working and was in the world,
           his son was not at all worried about the family affairs. Now the son is doing well. His wife has taken
           many things in her own hands. Even his old father has started to go to the shop again. Everything is
           going well, perfectly well -- better than ever. So why bother to get up? Now illness is an excuse.
               I went to see him and I talked to him. I told him the truth. He became very angry. He said, "What
           do you mean? Do you mean that I am prolonging my illness? I hoped that at least you would
           understand. You don't understand me. Why should I be Lying down here? "
               But at the very same time I knew he had understood. I said, "You be true -- there is nobody here.
           I will keep it between us and I will not tell anybody."
               He relaxed and he said, "Maybe. I will think about it."
               The next day I went again and he confessed. He said, "You are right. I thought about it again and
           again; the whole night I couldn't sleep. It seems to be the case. But I don't want to get well. Life has
           never been so good. And now, to go back into politics after seven years will be almost impossible."
               Once you are out of politics even for seven days, you are finished. Seven years -- people have
           completely forgotten about him. Just seven days is enough. A politician has to be constantly in the
           eyes of the public. He has to go on doing something or other, some mischief or other -- some strike
           or hunger strike or anything. Whatsoever it is, he has to be in the public eyes, in the newspapers. If
           he is not in the newspapers for even seven days, he is finished. The public's memory is very short --
           who bothers to remember? People will not even recognize now that once he was a great leader. And
           now there are other great leaders who have replaced him. They won't allow him to re-enter.
               So he said, "It is going to be very difficult. It was difficult in the very beginning; now it is going
           to be almost impossible. And everything is going good."
               This is the situation. Then even unhappiness becomes an attachment, even illness becomes an
           attachment. Illness can become an excuse for many things. Remember this, otherwise you will never
           be able to be happy. Don't play games with yourself.

               Jesus says, I SEND YOU FORTH AS LAMBS AMONG THE WOLVES. Why? Why lambs
           among the wolves? Because he knows that truth is going to be attacked; he knows that love is going
           to be attacked; he knows that ecstasy is going to be attacked.

              CARRY NEITHER PURSE, NOR SCRIP, NOR SHOES; AND SALUTE NO MAN BY THE WAY.


               Why does Jesus say this? CARRY NEITHER PURSE, NOR SCRIP, NOR SHOES; AND
           SALUTE NO MAN BY THE WAY. He is saying that now you are so happy and ecstatic, you are so
           blissful, you have tasted something of the divine -- that is enough to create trouble for you. "Now
           don't carry a purse -- go like beggars, so that at least they can sympathize with you. You are
           emperors, but go like beggars. Don't even wear shoes, so you look like a beggar. Only the poorest
           beggar has no shoes. Go barefoot so that they can at least sympathize with you."
               That seems to be the reason why Buddha called his sannyasins BHIKKUS, beggars; why
           Mahavir insisted that you move like beggars. "Because you have the quality of an emperor, that is
           enough to create trouble for you. Now if your appearance is also like an emperor, you will be
           immediately attacked. At least let your appearance be that of a beggar. There is no guarantee that
           you will be saved because you will still be like lambs among wolves. Sooner or later they are going
           to find that you are an emperor. Your appearance is just a protection." This Jesus says to protect his
           disciples.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               CARRY NEITHER PURSE, NOR SCRIP, NOR SHOES. Why does he say NOR SCRIP? He
           means: "Don't go as knowers."
               These are the two riches: the riches of the outside and the riches of the inside. Don't go as rich
           people and don't go as rich in knowledge. Let them think that you don't know anything. They will
           sympathize. Don't carry scriptures with you, otherwise you will be unnecessarily attacked. They will
           argue and you will be dragged into arguments.
               That, too, has to be remembered. Don't carry scriptures, don't carry knowledge. Go like innocent
           children. That will be a protection. Talk out of your experience, but don't bring the scriptures in.
           People are very clever about scriptures. Once you bring the scriptures in, you will be defeated. They
           can argue better than you can.
               This is something to be remembered. A man of experience always hesitates because he knows
           that whatsoever he has experienced cannot be expressed. He hesitates. But a man who has not known
           anything except the scripture is absolutely certain. Only fools are certain. Wise people are always
           hesitant.
               So don't go with scriptures, otherwise you will be caught in the net of the pundits, the rabbis, and
           you will be unnecessarily distracted. Then the whole point will be lost.
               Jesus says: I SEND YOU LIKE LAMBS -- pure beings with no corruption; not corrupted by
           knowledge, not corrupted by outward things. "I send you like virgins -- uncorrupted. It is dangerous,
           but that is the only way you can carry my message," he says.
               ... AND SALUTE NO MAN BY THE WAY. Why does he say this: SALUTE NO MAN BY
           THE WAY? He's saying that on the way there are a thousand and one distractions -- "so keep the
           goal where I am sending you. Just keep in mind the goal where I'm sending you. Even an ordinary
           salute to a person, a stranger on the road, can become a distraction."
               I will tell you one story. It happened in Tibet. A lama who, was working in a faraway valley
           wrote a letter to the chief monastery, to his master, to send one more lama: "We need him here."
               The chief of the monastery called all his disciples, read the letter, and then said, "I would like to
           send five of you."
               One lama asked, "But only one has been asked for. Why five? "
               The old chief said, "You will know later. I will send five and then, too, it is not certain that one
           will reach because the way is long, and distractions a thousand and one."
               They laughed. They said, "The old man has gone out of his mind. Why send five when one is
           needed?" But the old man was insistent, so five started on the journey.
               The next morning when they were passing a village, a messenger came running to them from the
           chief of the village. "Our priest has died and we need a priest. The salary is good." The village
           looked rich, prosperous, so one of the five said, "I would like to stay because that, too, is Buddha's
           work. Why go to the valley? There, too, I am going to do the same work. You four will be enough --
           only one is needed -- so I will stay here." One dropped.
               The next day they were passing by the outskirts of a town. The king of the town passed by them
           on his horse. He looked at them. One young monk was very beautiful and healthy and radiant. The
           king said, "Wait. I am looking for a young man because my daughter is ready to be married. I have
           been watching and looking, but you seem to be exactly right. Are you ready? I have only one
           daughter. My whole kingdom will be yours."
               Of course, the young man said to his friends: "Goodbye!" He left; the second disappeared.
               Now the other three became aware that the old man was not mad. The way was really long and
           distractions a thousand and one!
               Now the three decided, "But we will not do such a thing" -- although deep down they were
           feeling jealous that one man had become a king and another had become a great priest. And who
           knows about what is going to happen in that valley?
               The third night they lost the way. From far away on a hilltop only one lamp was seen, only one
           house. Somehow they reached there. There was only one young woman there and she said, "It is
           good that you have come. You are a godsend because my mother and my father were to come back
           this evening and they have not come back. I was very afraid to be alone in this house so far away
           from the town. It is good that you are here. You are a godsend, you are sent by Buddha himself.
           Please stay with me and don't leave me until my parents come."
               The next morning they had to leave. But one of them -- who, deep down, had fallen in love with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the woman -- said, "I cannot go until her parents are back. That would not be compassion."
           Compassion was not the thing, PASSION was the thing! But when there is passion, people talk about
           compassion.
                The other two said, "This is not good. We have to reach and you are dropping out. And we had
           decided that now we would not do that."
                The man said, "I have been taught my whole life to be compassionate. The woman is alone, the
           parents have not returned. To leave won't be good, it won't be virtuous. Buddha will never forgive
           me. You can go" -- in fact, he wanted them to go -- "but I will stay here." The third dropped.
                In a village the next morning they were surrounded by a crowd, because the village was atheistic;
           they didn't believe in Buddha. The two were challenged: "You have to prove that what Buddha says
           is true." They had a great atheistic scholar in the village and the scholar challenged them.
                One of the two accepted the challenge. The second said, "What are you doing? Who knows how
           long it will go on?"
                He said, "Even if my whole life is wasted.... I am devoted to Buddha, and this man has
           challenged Buddha and his philosophy." It was not a challenge to Buddha; it was a challenge to his
           ego. "I cannot leave this village, I will convert this village. You can go. In fact, only one is needed."
                And that's how it happened. The man remained there to argue and only one reached!
                Jesus says: AND SALUTE NO MAN BY THE WAY. This is just a way of saying, "Please,
           remember the goal."

              AND INTO WHATSOEVER HOUSE YE ENTER, FIRST SAY, PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE.


               This is a mantra, a blessing. It changes the whole atmosphere. Jesus says, "Before you enter a
           house, say: PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE. It is not only a saying. Feel it, be it. Be peace. Bring
           peace to the house because only in that peaceful milieu can my message be delivered. Create a
           spiritual vibration of peace, spread the feeling of peace."
               And if you are really feeling it, it will spread. You try it. When somebody comes to see you or
           meet you, just settle within yourself. Become silent. When the man enters, deep down feel peace for
           him. Feel: "Peace be to this man." Don't just say it, feel it. Suddenly you will see a change in the
           man, as if something unknown has entered into his being. He will be totally different.
               Try it. It is experimental. It is absolutely scientific -- no need to believe in it. There is a thought
           transference continuously happening.
               Sometimes you destroy yourself by your own thoughts. Somebody comes and you become
           suspicious: this man seems to be dangerous. You are giving this thought to the man. Now he MAY
           be dangerous! If he is dangerous you will say, "I was right! " but in fact YOU created the vibe; in
           fact YOU started it.
               A husband coming home starts thinking in his mind that his wife is going to be nasty and he
           starts planning how to answer her, how to find an excuse for why he is late. He may be creating
           doubts in the wife's mind. Women are very intuitive. You may not be able to transfer a thought to a
           man, but with a woman it is almost impossible NOT to transfer it. They are more intuitive. They are
           less in their heads and more in their hearts. Now the wife is getting ready to be angry. And the
           husband is preparing her. Then when she becomes nasty he thinks, "I was right." The next time he
           will be more afraid, and his fear will create the circumstance.
               Try just the opposite. While coming back home, think that your wife is going to be perfectly
           beautiful. Feel it! Just saying it, and feeling the opposite, won't help. Feel it, and one day, suddenly,
           you will see that it works.
               We are joined together by our hearts; we exist as parts of one feeling heart. That heart is God. He
           beats in our hearts: the beat is His. He lives: the life is His.
               If you can create a great, strong thought or feeling around you, the ripples go and spread. You
           live in the world you create and you get the world you deserve.

              AND INTO WHATSOEVER HOUSE YOU ENTER, FIRST SAY, PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND IF THE SON OF PEACE BE THERE, YOUR PEACE SHALL REST UPON IT: IF NOT, IT SHALL
              TURN TO YOU AGAIN.


              If whatsoever you give is accepted, it will be good, because in that deep peace you will be
           welcomed. If it is not accepted, if the people (or the person) are hard, very closed, not open at all,
           and your message, your deep love and peace, is rejected, don't be worried. That peace will fall upon
           you, you will be showered by it. It will still be good, nothing will be lost.

              HE THAT HEARETH YOU, HEARETH ME; AND HE THAT DESPISETH YOU DESPISETH ME; AND
              HE THAT DESPISETH ME DESPISETH HIM THAT SENT ME.


                Jesus says, "If people love you" -- his disciples -- "they love me, because I am coming to them
           through you. And if they love me, they love He who has sent me because He has come through me.
           If they hate you, they hate me. If they hate me, they hate the source of all life."
                Remember: whatsoever you do, finally you do it to God. Meanwhile you may be doing it to
           somebody else, but finally it turns out that you have done it to God. If you hate a man, ultimately
           you hate God; if you love, ultimately you love God. All others are just mediums. Whatsoever you do
           to them is not to them. It is finally to the source, to the very seed.

              AND THE SEVENTY RETURNED AGAIN WITH JOY, SAYING, LORD, EVEN THE DEVILS ARE
              SUBJECT UNTO US THROUGH THY NAME.
              AND HE SAID UNTO THEM...
              NOTWITHSTANDING IN THIS REJOICE NOT, THAT THE SPIRITS ARE SUBJECT UNTO YOU;
              BUT RATHER REJOICE, BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.


               The disciples are disciples; they are not yet awakened. They have come in deep contact with an
           awakened man. That awakened man has become infectious to them, they are impressed deeply, the
           impact has gone to their roots, but they are still disciples; they are not awakened themselves.
               When they came back were very happy. They had completely forgotten God in their happiness.
           Wherever they went, people listened to them with tremendous attention; wherever they went, they
           were received with love. They could not believe what had happened. They came back rejoicing and
           saying, LORD, EVEN THE DEVILS ARE SUBJECT UNTO US THROUGH THY NAME.
               Their reach is only up to Jesus. They have not yet seen God through him. Jesus is not yet
           transparent to them; they cannot see God. At the most they see God reflected, at the most they feel
           something of the unknown, but it has not become a settled, centered feeling in them.
               They have completely forgotten God. They say: EVEN THE DEVILS ARE SUBJECT UNTO
           US. Now their egos are inflated. But they remember one thing: THROUGH THY NAME. "It is your
           name that has done miracles. Even devils are in our power."
               Jesus immediately says: "NOTWITHSTANDING IN THIS REJOICE NOT. Don't rejoice that
           the spirits are subject unto you. If you really want to rejoice, rejoice about something else that you
           are not aware of: BUT RATHER REJOICE, BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN
           HEAVEN. Rather rejoice that God has heard your prayers. Don't think about yourself and don't think
           about my name. Rather feel happy that God has heard you and helped you. YOUR NAMES ARE
           WRITTEN IN HEAVEN."

              IN THAT HOUR JESUS REJOICED IN SPIRIT, AND SAID, I THANK THEE, O FATHER...


              The disciples were aware that they had done miracles. They had become very important. They
           remember Jesus. But Jesus REJOICED IN SPIRIT, AND SAID, I THANK THEE, O FATHER -- he
           remembers God. Jesus' name is of no use. If his name is so powerful it is because of God. He is just a
           medium, a flute on which God has decided, in his mercy, to play a tune or sing a song.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I THANK THEE, O FATHER, LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, THAT THOU HAST HID THESE
              THINGS FROM THE WISE AND PRUDENT, AND HAST REVEALED THEM UNTO BABES:


               These disciples are just babes. They are neither wise nor prudent. They don't know the scriptures,
           they don't know the tradition. They are not priests or scholars, they are just babes: simple,
           innocent.... THAT THOU HAST HID THESE THINGS FROM THE WISE AND PRUDENT, AND
           HAST REVEALED THEM UNTO BABES: EVEN SO, FATHER; FOR SO IT SEEMED GOOD
           IN THY SIGHT.

              ALL THINGS ARE DELIVERED TO ME OF MY FATHER; AND NO MAN KNOWETH WHO THE SON
              IS, BUT THE FATHER; AND WHO THE FATHER IS, BUT THE SON, AND HE TO WHOM THE SON
              WILL REVEAL HIM.


                ALL THINGS ARE DELIVERED TO ME OF MY FATHER.... He simply says that "I am no
           more than a medium. If you pay respect to me, don't pay respect to me. At the most you can pay the
           respect THROUGH me, but the respect should go to God." ALL THINGS ARE DELIVERED TO
           ME OF MY FATHER....
           ... AND NO MAN KNOWETH WHO THE SON IS, because once you know who the son is, you
           have already known the father. If you recognize Jesus, you have recognized God; if you crucify
           Jesus, you have crucified God -- because whatsoever you do with Jesus, you do with God.
                Not only Jesus was crucified on Golgotha; God was crucified that day. You could not believe in
           God who was expressing himself through Jesus; you could not recognize the son. You could not see
           from where the song was coming, you destroyed the flute. But in destroying the flute, the song also
           disappeared.
                ALL THINGS ARE DELIVERED TO ME OF MY FATHER; AND NO MAN KNOWETH
           WHO THE SON IS, BUT THE FATHER -- "Only he knows me," Jesus says -- AND WHO THE
           FATHER IS, BUT THE SON -- "and only I know who he is," because that revelation is possible
           only when you become part of God and God becomes part of you. When you are so deeply related to
           the whole existence that you are no longer separate, then you know who God is.
                ... AND WHO THE FATHER IS, BUT THE SON, AND HE TO WHOM THE SON WILL
           REVEAL HIM. And for ordinary humanity there is no other way than to look through the son, to
           accept the revelation, to see God through him who has become one with Him. Once you see it, you
           have already become a son. Then others can see through you, and the thing can go on spreading.
                Every person who has recognized Jesus has become a Jesus immediately. Every person who has
           recognized Buddha has become a Buddha immediately. In your recognition you have attained. Then
           anybody who recognizes you is linked, is bridged, with God. One man can transform the whole
           world: it becomes a chain of openings.
                If you recognize me, you have become me. Then somebody recognizes you; he has become you.
           And this can go on and on. Just a small pebble thrown in the sea, and ripples arise and go on
           spreading.
                Jesus is just the pebble. You can become Jesus if you recognize him. That is the real meaning of
           being a Christian: that you recognize Jesus as the son of God and you say, "My eyes are not yet able
           to look at the sun, the light is too much. I look at the lamp... but I recognize that the light is the
           same."
                To look at God directly will be blinding. To look at Jesus will be beautiful -- he's not blinding.
           But through him you can recognize, and by and by your eyes can become attuned. Once you have
           become attuned to Jesus, you can look directly at God. By and by, Jesus will disappear -- will
           become transparent, transparent, and will be gone -- and only God will be left there. That's why
           Jesus goes on saying again and again that "I and my father are one."
                Recognition is one of the turning points in life. The search for a master is the search for a man in
           whom you can recognize that God is, in whom you can recognize that now there is no need for any
           proof, in whom you can recognize -- not intellectually, but existentially -- that yes, God is. That man
           becomes your master. he becomes the door. That's why jesus goes on saying: "I am the door, I am
           the opening through whom you can come."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Otherwise you can go on arguing. Your arguments are all futile. Whether you prove that God is,
           or you prove that God is not, does not matter much. They are all intellectual gymnastics; nothing is
           proven. No atheist ever becomes capable of converting a theist and no theist is ever capable of
           converting an atheist. For centuries the argument has continued. Nobody seems to win, the whole
           thing seems to be futile and meaningless. You cannot convince anybody about anything unless he
           opens his eyes and recognizes something which is of the beyond.
               Once it happened: Mulla Nasruddin woke up one morning and started crying and weeping. His
           wife was worried. She said, "What has happened? Have you had a nightmare?"
               He said, "No, it is not a nightmare. I have died. I am dead."
               Now, how to convince him that he is not dead? The wife tried, the neighbors tried, but there was
           no way to prove it to him. He insisted that he was dead.
               He was taken to a psychoanalyst. The psychoanalyst watched him, talked to him -- a very
           rational man, argumentative, and he argues that he is dead! And says, "Give me some proof that I am
           alive"!
               The psychoanalyst thought it over and said, "Yes" -- an idea struck him. He said, "Come with
           me."
               He took Nasruddin to the hospital, to the post-mortem department, and told the situation to the
           doctors. The dead bodies were cut and the psychoanalyst said, "Look, is there any blood flowing?"
               No blood was flowing. The psychoanalyst had the idea that if Nasruddin could be convinced that
           dead bodies don't bleed then something might be possible. At least if he could prove that dead bodies
           don't bleed and live bodies bleed....
               For seven days he took Mulla to see the autopsies. He was intellectually convinced. "Are you
           convinced? " the psychoanalyst asked.
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "Now there is no need to continue. I am convinced that dead bodies don't
           bleed. But that makes no change in my attitude."
               The psychoanalyst said, "Wait." He took Mulla's hand, took a sharp knife and made a small cut
           on the finger. Blood started flowing. The psychoanalyst was thinking that this would be absolute
           proof that he was not dead.
               But Mulla Nasruddin looked at the blood and said, "My God! So dead men bleed after all!"
               No proof can be a proof. If you are convinced that God is not, all proofs will prove that He is not.
           If you are convinced He is, then all proofs will prove that He is. No conviction can be changed, so
           whether you believe in God or you don't believe in God, both are bogus, both are headtrips. Unless
           you recognize.... It is not a question of argument. Unless you open your eyes and see something
           which suddenly fills you, your total being, and a certainty arises in you which is not intellectual but
           existential....
               To seek a master is to seek somebody in whom you can recognize, somebody who becomes the
           proof -- in whose being you can taste something of the divine; in whose eyes you can glimpse and
           see something of the divine; in whose love you can feel something being showered; in whose song
           you can feel, you can know beyond doubt, that the infinite is flowing. The master is nothing but a
           reed, a flute -- an empty flute, an emptiness. God flows through him. If you can recognize it, already
           you yourself have become one with it. Now others can recognize it in you and it can spread.
               One man, attaining to God, can become a total transformation of the whole humanity. It has not
           happened because people insist on being miserable, they insist on being blind, they insist on being
           howsoever they are. They protect their hell, they defend their misery: they are armored against God.
               That is why it has not happened. Otherwise one Buddha would have been enough; one Jesus
           would have been enough. But thousands of Buddhas and Jesuses and Mahavirs have been, and you
           go on living in your darkness. It is simply unbelievable, but it has been so.
               Don't wait for the whole humanity. Nobody can say when the whole humanity will listen. But if
           you can listen, if you can recognize. you also become a door.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                       Chapter #4
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                  Chapter title: Are You The Greatest Master?
           3 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511030
              ShortTitle: FOLL204
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 84 mins




              I RECOIL FROM THE WHOLE IDEA OF THE CRUCIFIXION. THE MURDER OF JESUS AT
              THIRTY-THREE, EVEN MORE THAN THE MURDER OF JOHN THE BAPTIST OR THE MURDER
              OF SOCRATES, SEEMS SUPREMELY UNNECESSARY. COULD NOT HE, THE PRINCE OF
              COMPASSION, HAVE MANAGED TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE HIGH PRIESTS, SEEING THE
              IMPOSSIBILITY OF THEIR SITUATION? AFTER ALL, THEY WERE BISHOPS, NOT THE
              GESTAPO; BENIGHTED NO DOUBT, BUT NOT MURDEROUS. OR WORSE STILL, DID HE
              DELIBERATELY PUSH THEN TO THE ULTIMATE IMPOSSIBILITY -- WHERE THEY WERE BOUND
              TO KILL HIM AND SET THEM UP AS THE VILLAINS?


               ONE VERY FOUNDATIONAL THING will have to be understood, and that is that the people
           you call bad are never so bad as the people you call good. The bad people are bad, but they have no
           excuse about being bad. They know they are bad, and they have nowhere to hide themselves. But the
           people who are thought to be good -- respectable, honored, respected, religious -- they are the real
           dangerous people because their badness can hide in their goodness. They can murder and will not
           feel that they are murderous. They can kill and can go on feeling that they are doing that killing for
           the good of those who are being killed.
               The ordinarily bad, the criminal, is exposed. He knows that he is not good And that is the
           possibility of transformation: he can understand and can co me out of it. But the so-called good hides
           under his personality. He may not be able to understand w hat he is doing, for what reasons he is
           doing it. He can always manage to rationalize.
               That's how it happened. And not only in the case of Jesus; it has been happening always. The
           priests w ho were murderous never thought that they were doing anything bad. They thought that
           they were saving their religion; they thought that they were saving the m orality. They thought: "This
           m an is dangerous. He is corrupting the youth."
               That was the charge against Jesus -- that he was corrupting people, he was destroying the old
           morality, he was creating a chaos. And that was the charge against Socrates, and that is the charge
           against me. It has always been so.
               The priests: whether they are Hindus or Greeks or Jews, it makes no difference. The priests are
           the protectors of the old. The temple is of the past; they are the protectors, the guardians of tradition.
           Of course Jesus looked dangerous to them. He could destroy the whole structure.
               It is not that they were deceiving themselves. They may have thought, without a single suspicion,
           that they were perfectly right. "This man is dangerous. To destroy this man is to save the society."
           And of course whenever there is such an alternative -- that you can save the whole society by killing
           one man -- the murder is worth it. The priests killed him because of their goodness, because of their
           virtue, because of their m orality. They killed him in the name of God; they killed him very
           innocently.
               This situation has been arising again and again in history. There seems to be no possibility to
           change it. The only possibility is that Jesus should be so moderate that he doesn't hurt anybody. But
           then he is useless. He could have managed -- you ask me rightly. He could have managed, he could
           have been very moderate and liberal. He could have talked like a politician who talks much but
           never says anything, who says many things but is always vague. He never clearly asserts anything;
           you can never pinpoint what he has said.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The crime of Jesus was that he was clear, certain: that whatsoever he was saying, he was not
           saying like a politician. He was opening his heart. He was not diplomatic. If he had diluted his
           teaching there would have been no trouble. But then there would have been no Christ also. And that
           would have been a greater murder. Then the Christ would have committed suicide.
               As I see it, as things are, this is the only way it could have been. Jesus had to be as hard as he
           was, had to be as rebellious as he was. He could not dilute his message and he could not
           compromise.
               The priests would have been happy if he himself had become a rabbi, a priest. Then there would
           have been no trouble. If he had just kept himself within the imprisonment of the tradition, if he had
           not tried to open new dimensions to humanity, there would have been no trouble. Then they would
           have worshipped him, loved him, sanctified him as a saint. They would have remembered him.
               But he tried to open up new dimensions. That was moving in danger. But that danger was worth
           taking. If Jesus was crucified it is nothing to be worried about. That was the only way. He pushed
           humanity to a higher level of being and consciousness.
               It is not that he tried to manage in any way to be murdered. There was no need. Priests are
           enough; you need not provoke them. They will be provoked automatically, they move in a
           mechanical way. There was no need to provoke them -- the very being of Jesus was enough.
               You recoil from the whole idea of crucifixion because you cannot understand. It is not an
           ordinary murder. It is meaningful, it is significant. It has done much: it has created something new
           that never existed before. Through that crucifixion, Jesus changed almost half of humanity, forced
           them to move on a different path than they had ever moved on.
               When you think about crucifixion you become afraid, as if you are being crucified. You don't
           know that Jesus cannot be crucified. Only his body' not him. When you think about crucifixion, you
           think of yourself being completely crucified and killed. You do not yet understand about life and
           death.
               That is the meaning of the story of the resurrection: that after the third day Jesus was again alive,
           resurrected. It simply means that you can crucify the body of a Jesus, but you can never crucify his
           spirit. After three days he will again be moving on the earth. He is deathless. Crucifixion became a
           situation in which he could assert his deathlessness.
               So it is perfectly okay as it is. It is nothing to be worried about. And this will continue to be so.
           The only possibility there is for a Jesus to exist and not be crucified is if people have become so
           indifferent to religion that they don't bother. And that is not a good possibility, that would be very
           sad. Jesus comes and walks on the earth -- and nobody is hurt, and no priest bothers about him?
           Rather, people enjoy it; they gather around him. Jesus looks amusing, he looks like a fool or a
           buffoon -- he seems to be talking nonsense.
               That's what the modern philosophers say: that to talk about God is to talk nonsense. It makes no
           sense, it is meaningless. You are using words which are only containers, and there is no content in
           them. God, moksha, nirvana -- what do you mean?
               If Jesus comes someday and nobody is bothered, that will be the most sad possibility. Jesus hurts
           because people are concerned. Jesus hurts because religion is meaningful; Jesus provokes
           antagonism because, with religion, life is at stake. The most unfortunate moment in human history
           will be when Jesus comes and nobody bothers to stone him, nobody bothers to crucify him. He
           moves around the earth and people laugh, they are amused. He looks like a buffoon.
               No, the crucifixion of Jesus simply means that religion is so meaningful that when a man like
           Jesus comes he creates a rift between humanity. The whole humanity is divided between those who
           love him and those who hate him. He is significant.
               Many times I think about it -- that it has never happened in India. Buddha was not crucified,
           Mahavir was not crucified, Krishna was not crucified. Why? This country is too sophisticated about
           religion and when you become too sophisticated, you become indifferent.
               This country could tolerate Buddha, Mahavir, Krishna. Ordinarily people think that it is because
           this country is so religious. That's not my opinion. This country is so sophisticated that people have
           become indifferent. Nobody bothered about what Buddha was saying. In fact everybody already
           knew what he was saying. Everybody knows all that can be known -- who bothers?
               It is like Jesus walking in Cambridge or Oxford University, where philosophers think that God is
           meaningless. If Jesus comes to Oxford and stands on the crossroads and cries, "I and my Father are
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one," those philosophers will gather together and they will laugh.
           "About whom are you talking? Which father? Where is he? What do you mean by'father'? Then who
           is your mother? " They will ask irrelevant questions and they will laugh. Jesus will simply feel
           embarrassed.
                This is my understanding: that the Jews of Jesus' days were very simple people, not
           sophisticated. Religion was very meaningful, not just a philosophy. Their whole life was at stake.
           And this man was destroying it: this man was uprooting all that they had been protecting for
           centuries; this man was trying to create a revolution, a chaos. They had deep love for the tradition,
           for the values that they had always cherished. They were not indifferent, they COULD not be
           indifferent. Either they had to follow Jesus or they had to kill him. There was no other alternative.
                India is more philosophical -- too much in the head. Jews were not that much in the head.
                To me, the crucifixion of Jesus simply shows one thing: that they took Jesus seriously. Buddha
           was never taken that seriously. We could tolerate him. "lt's okay, let him do his thing. Nothing much
           is going to happen out of it. Why kill him unnecessarily? By killing him, there may even be more
           danger because the death will create a stir."
                Jesus, if he was in India, would have become one of the AVATARS. But nothing much. Nothing
           much -- we would have included him in the tradition.
                Even Buddha has been included. Buddha denied all that is basic to Hinduism, but Hindus are
           very sophisticated people. They said, "Yes, this too is a message from God." He was contradicting
           all that is meaningful to Hindus, but they were not bothered. They said, "He is also an incarnation of
           God."
                Hindus have written a story about Buddha that shows how sophisticated minds function. When
           Buddha died.... Of course, he was a very important man, one of the most important ever born in
           India, one of the most influential. How to cope with him when he has denied Hinduism? Hindus
           have created a story about it.
                They say that God created the world, heaven and hell. Centuries and centuries passed. People
           would die and immediately they would go to heaven. Nobody would go to hell because nobody was
           a sinner. So the people who were managing hell -- the devil and his disciples -- went to God and
           said, "Why have you created hell? Nobody ever comes. Our whole existence is futile. We go on
           sitting and sitting and waiting, and nobody knocks at the door. Either cancel it -- or send people!"
                God said. "Wait. Soon I am going to a womb to be born as Gautam Buddha. I will destroy
           people's minds, I will poison their minds, and then they will be coming to hell."
                That's why Buddha was born. An incarnation of God: to spoil people's minds. And since then,
           hell is overflowing. This is a sophisticated way to tackle with a man like Buddha.
                Jews were simple. They simply could not tolerate this man. They killed him. That means they
           paid great respect to him. They realized the significance of the man, the dangerousness of the man.
           Either he lives or their tradition lives. Both cannot live together.
                Try to meditate on the crucifixion of Jesus and you will not be so much puzzled, confused. And
           you will not recoil so much from it.


               ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE MADE ME ALIVE TOWARDS CHRIST, BUDDHA, MAHAVIR, KRISHNA,
               LAO TZU AND ALL THOSE KNOWN AS ENLIGHTENED ONES, AND IT IS REALLY DIFFICULT
               FOR ME TO CONCEIVE OF YOU AS SEPARATE, YET WHEN SOMEONE STARTS TALKING HIGH
               OF ANYONE, IT AUTOMATICALLY COMES OUT OF MY MOUTH, THAT THERE HAS NEVER
               BEEN A GREATER MASTER THAN SHREE RAJNEESH AND MAYBE THERE WILL BE NONE IN
               THE FUTURE ALSO. IS THIS DUE TO MY LOVE TOWARDS YOU, DUE TO MY EGO, OR IS IT
               REALITY? OR AM I BIASED? PLEASE ENLIGHTEN.


               The disciples of jesus thought in the same way. The disciples of Buddha also thought in the same
           way. It is part of love, not of reality.
               It is part of love. You fall in love with a woman and you think, "Never has there been such a
           woman before; never shall there be such a woman again." What do you mean? Is it reality? In a
           sense it is; it is the reality for you. It is not an objective reality, it is a subjective reality. This is your
           feeling. And feelings are as real as stones; they exist.
               But this is not a comparison. You are not saying that there has really never been such a beautiful
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           woman before. How can you know? Millions and millions of women have been on the earth -- how
           can you know, how can you compare? You don't even know all the women that are on the earth right
           now. Who knows? -- there may be somebody who is more beautiful than your beloved.
               But that is irrelevant, that is not the point. You are not making a comparative statement; it is not
           that you have studied all the statistics. You are simply making a statement of love. It has nothing to
           do with any other woman, it is not comparative. In the moment of love a truth arises, a subjective
           truth. It is your feeling. For you this is the woman and all other women have become irrelevant.
               The same happens when you love a master. It happens even more extremely because the love is
           even deeper. You love a woman physically; at the most, psychologically. A master you love
           spiritually. You touch the deepest core, he touches the deepest core in you. In that ecstasy, a
           subjective truth arises.
               This is not new. This is nothing new with you, this has always been happening. Ask Jesus'
           disciples and they say, "He is he only begotten son of God." They cannot conceive that Jesus can be
           compared in any way with anybody else. He is incomparable, unique -- the only begotten son. It is
           impossible for them to conceive that there is another son of God. Ask the followers of Buddha and
           they say, "He has attained. And only he has attained the unattainable. Never before was it attained."
           Ask the followers of Mahavir. They say, "He is the only one: all-knowing, omniscient. There is
           nobody else."
               What is happening? A simple phenomenon of subjective love. It is impossible for the lover to
           conceive that there can be anybody else. In a moment of love you are in such deep ecstasy, so
           intoxicated. Love is an intoxicant. In that intoxication, whatsoever you say is poetic, is not scientific.
               And there is no contradiction in it. That's why when I speak on Jesus I forget all about Buddha,
           Mahavir, Krishna. They grow pale. They disappear, they fade. Then, out of the whole history, Jesus
           arises as the only one. That is the only way to understand him. You have to be deeply in love.
               When I talk about Buddha I forget about Jesus, because even to remember jesus will be a
           disturbance. When I talk about Lao Tzu I forget about everybody else. He is enough, more than
           enough. He himself is such a vast sky that you can go on and on and on, and there is no end to it.
           They all are vast skies.
               But the standpoint of the disciple is the standpoint of a lover. He is making a poetic statement. It
           is not reality and yet it is reality. It is not reality in the objective sense of the word. It is reality as a
           subjective feeling.
               But I would like you to get out of it. I would like you to attain to a greater love which is less like
           intoxication and more like awareness.
               There are two stages with a master. First is falling in love with him. Absolutely necessary;
           without it you will never be in contact with him. But that is only the beginning, that should not
           become the end. In that state of ecstasy you will be poetic. Be poetic! Don't be worried, there is
           nothing to worry about it. Declare your love. Go on the housetops and declare your love because the
           more you declare it, the more it grows.
               But that is just the beginning. That is necessary to come close to the master. But come still closer
           and there comes a moment when the two flames of the disciple and master become one. There is a
           jump, a leap, and the two flames become one. Then you become aware. Then you will laugh at your
           own statements.
               Now you know that enlightened people are not different at all. Only names differ. Buddha is a
           name, Jesus is a name, Krishna is a name, but the enlightenment that has happened to them is the
           same. The closer you come to Buddha, the closer you will come to Christ also.
               It is as if you are moving from the periphery of a circle towards the center. On the periphery one
           point is Buddha, another point is Jesus, another point is Ramakrishna. The closer you come to the
           center, the more those lines are not so separate, so different, so distant. Ramakrishna approaches
           Christ, Christ approaches Buddha, Buddha approaches Krishna. They are coming closer. As you
           move more and more to the center, they are meeting and merging into each other. When you reach
           the exact center, suddenly they have all disappeared. Only enlightenment is, only light is. All have
           disappeared. Those were just the personalities.
               Whatsoever you see in me is a personality. It is not the quality of the light; it is the mode of the
           lamp. It is the body of the lamp, not the quality of the light.
               The quality of the light is the same. Lamps differ. Some lamp may be just an earthen lamp, some
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other may be a golden lamp -- vast is the difference. But that difference makes no difference in the
           quality of light. In an earthen lamp or in a golden lamp: the same light.
               It is the same. Buddha is reported to have said, "Go to the sea and taste the sea water. Anywhere
           you go the sea water tastes the same." The same is the quality of Buddhas. You can taste from me,
           you can taste from Ramakrishna, you can taste from Krishnamurti, you can taste from Jesus -- the
           difference is only from where you taste it The ghat may be different, the bank, but the ocean is the
           same. Wherever you taste it, it will taste the same. The same saltiness. The same flame.
               So nothing is wrong about it. Don't feel guilty in any way. When you are in love, you have to be
           mad. In love and reasonable? -- nobody has ever heard about it. If your love is reasonable it will not
           be much of a love. When you are in love, you are mad.
               When Majanu says anything about Laila it is not a scientific statement. But still it has a truth: the
           truth of Majanu's heart. It does not say anything about Laila; it says something about Majanu's love.
           But that love is also true.
               So don't feel guilty in any way about it, because this love is the only way you will proceed on.
           But don't cling to it. Move. Go on and on. A greater consciousness is awaiting you. Where love
           becomes aware, where love becomes consciousness, where love flares up and becomes light -- there
           you will understand that all are one and the same. In enlightenment the personality disappears, the
           personality of a Buddha or Jesus, and only the ocean remains, with the same taste.
               It is your love. Good -- be happy about it. But don't be content with it, don't think that it is
           enough. Good, but more is possible.
               Always look ahead and always try to transcend the state you are in. There comes a moment when
           nothing remains to be transcended. That is realization.


              DO ALL ENLIGHTENED MASTERS SOUND AS EGOISTIC AS YOU DO?


               It is bound to be so. They sound egoistic because they cannot be humble in the sense you
           understand humility. Try to understand. It is a delicate point.
               Whatsoever you call humbleness is a function of the ego. It is a modified ego. The enlightened
           person has no ego so he cannot have a modified ego. He cannot be humble. In the sense you can
           understand it, he cannot be humble.
               Otherwise Krishna would not be able to say to Arjuna: "Leave all, and come to my feet. I am the
           God who created the whole existence. SARVA DHARMAN PARITYAJYA MAMEKAM
           SHARANAM VRAJA. Come to my feet." What egoism! Jesus would not be able to say: "I am the
           door, I am the way, I am the truth." "I and my Father in heaven are one." "Those who follow me will
           be saved... only those who follow me will be saved." And when Buddha attained to Buddhahood, he
           declared to the skies, to the heavens: "I have attained the unattainable!"
               They sound very egoistic. First, they cannot be humble in the sense you understand humbleness.
           Your humbleness is a modified, polished, cultured ego. But then why do they sound egoistic?
               They are not humble and you know only two qualities, two ways of being: humble or egoistic.
           They are not humble -- then they must be egoistic. You have only tWo categories. And egoism is
           easy for you to understand, it is your language.
               When you say'I', you mean one thing; when I say'I', I mean something else. But when I say'I', you
           will understand it in your way, not in my way. When Krishna said to Arjuna, "Come to my feet!"
           what did he mean? Of course you would understand your meaning if you said to somebody, "Come
           to my feet!" The same must be Krishna's meaning. No, that is not his meaning. He has no'I' left, he
           has no'my' left.
               But he has to use your language. And you understand it in your own way. So all enlightened
           masters sound egoistic because you are egoistic. You will understand their humbleness only when
           your ego disappears. Otherwise it won't allow you. The only way to understand those who have
           awakened is to become awake.
               Continuously I go on observing: I say something; you understand something else. But that's
           natural. How can you understand my meaning? When I say something, the word goes to you not my
           meaning. My meaning remains in my heart. Then the word goes within you and you color it, you
           give it a meaning. That meaning is yours.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                They sound egoistic, but they are not. Because if they are, then the enlightenment has not
           happened yet. The enlightenment happens only when the ego has disappeared. The ego is the
           darkness of the soul, the ego is the imprisonment of the soul, the'I' is the barrier to the ultimate.
                A Buddha is an emptiness and when he says, "I have attained to the unattainable," he is simply
           saying that the emptiness has realized its emptiness, nothing else. But how to translate it into your
           terms? He is simply saying that the emptiness has realized its emptiness, but he has to say, "I have
           attained to the unattainable."
                When Krishna says, "Come to my feet! " he is saying, "Here, look! The emptiness is standing
           before you. Dissolve into it! " But that won't be direct. He has to use Arjuna's language. He says,
           "Come to my feet." If Arjuna is ready and willing to surrender, if he trusts and surrenders, when he
           touches the feet of Krishna he will touch emptiness. Only then will there be a realization of what
           Krishna was saying. There are no feet, no Krishna -- just a tremendous quality of emptiness. The
           temple of God is emptiness. Touching Krishna's feet he will bow down to emptiness and the
           emptiness will pour down into him. But that will be possible only when he trusts.
                Yes, many times I must be sounding very egoistic to you. But don't be deceived, because if you
           cling to the idea that I am egoistic, you will never be able to let go, to surrender, and then your ego
           will go on. Then there is no need to be here with me because then the whole point is lost. You are
           wasting your time.
                There is only one way to be here with me: if you want to surrender. Otherwise go away, find
           somebody somewhere else to whom you find it easy to surrender, because unless you surrender you
           will not come to know who you are. And without knowing yourself, you will not be able to know
           what has happened to a man whom we called enlightened. Only through your own experience will
           things become clear to you.
                Yes, it sounds egoistic. Now there are two ways. If you think that it not only sounds egoistic, it is
           -- then go away from me. The sooner you go the better, because all the time that you are here will be
           wasted. Or, if you think it simply sounds egoistic but it is not so, then surrender. Then don't wait
           because sometimes waiting too long can become habitual, you can get addicted to it. Then you can
           go on waiting and waiting and waiting.
                And I will not be waiting here for long. A little while more and I will be gone. Then you will
           repent, then you will suffer, then you will be sad, but then it will be of no use.
                It will be easy for you to touch my feet when I am gone because then there is no surrender. You
           can go and touch the feet of a statue: the statue is dead; there is no surrender. When you touch the
           feet of an alive man -- alive just like you, in the body just like you -- then the problem comes. The
           ego resists.
                So either believe in your ego or believe in me. These are the only two alternatives. Up to now
           you have believed in your ego. What have you attained? I open another alternative for you. Try it....


              WHO ARE YOU?


               Whomsoever you think, because it depends on you. If you look at me with total emptiness, I will
           be different. If you look at me with ideas, those ideas will color me; if you come to me with a
           prejudice, then I will be different. I am just a mirror. Your own face will be reflected. There is a
           saying that if a monkey looks into the mirror he will not find an apostle looking at him through the
           mirror. Only a monkey will be looking through the mirror.
               So it depends on the way you look at me. I have disappeared completely so I cannot impose on
           you who I am. I have nothing to impose. There is just a nothingness, a mirror. Now you have
           complete freedom.
               If you really want to know who I am, you have to be as absolutely empty as I am. Then two
           mirrors will be facing each other, and only emptiness will be mirrored. Infinite emptiness will be
           mirrored: two mirrors facing each other. But if you have some idea, then you will see your own idea
           in me.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DURING THE LECTURES I FIND MY EYES FIXED ON YOUR FACE. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE
              THERE IS A SUDDEN SHIFT AND FOR A FEW MOMENTS YOUR FACE APPEARS SATANIC. I
              KNOW THIS IS A PROJECTION. WHAT IS INSIDE OF ME?

              Is there any need for me to tell you!?

                You have both sides within you: the divine and the devil. Sometimes, when you are flowing
           through your divine side. you will see the divine in me. Then things shift: you are flowing through
           the devilish side. Then the devil will be seen in me. But always remember that it is you. I am just a
           mirror, a situation to reveal yourself to yourself, that's all. So whatsoever you see -- meditate on it,
           because that must be some quality within you.
                It is very easy for the mind to project and forget that it is a projection. There are people who
           believe that I am really a devil and there are people who believe that I am really divine. Both are
           taking their projections as real. I am just'I am'. I am just a mirror; I show your face to you. That's the
           function of a master: to show your face to you.
                So whatsoever you see, meditate upon it. If you see the devil then try to find out the devil within
           yourself and try to drop it. Don't get the idea that the devil is within me because then you wi]l never
           be able to get rid of your devil. If it is within me, then what can you do? Then you are helpless. But
           if it is within you, something can be done. You can drop it.


              WHY ARE THE ASHRAMITE SANNYASINS NOT ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN ALL THE
              MEDITATIONS? WHY ARE THEY TOLD TO PARTICIPATE IN ONLY ONE MEDITATION EVERY
              DAY?


                It is because of you, ladies and gentlemen. It is because of your laziness.
                I go on talking about non-doing and my text becomes your pretext. Non-doing has nothing to do
           with laziness. In fact, a lazy person can never move into non-doing. A lazy person is almost suicidal.
           He is closed; his energy is not flowing. A non-doer is a flowing person: alive.
                A non-doer does not mean that he does not do anything. He does many things, many more than
           ordinary doers, but he is still not a doer. All that he does is a happening. He is instrumental: as if the
           divine possesses him and functions through him. He never thinks, "I am doing it." At the most he
           thinks, "I am allowing it,"
                A non-doer will do many things and will not be tired because there will be no tension. A
           non-doer will do many things and will not accumulate any ego because he is not the doer. Things are
           just happening. A non-doer loves his work, and the work becomes worship.
                People who are in the ashram -- they are allowed to be in the ashram only for a certain work.
           That certain work i.s: they have to transform their work into worship. But they would like to be lazy.
           And particularly in India, sannyas is thought to be a type of laziness. People who don't want to do
           anything become sannyasins.
                I am not a shelter for them; I am not a shelter for escapists. I am here to teach you life and more
           life and still more life, because only when your energy is flowing will you be able to love; only when
           your energy is flowing will you be able to know; only when your energy is flowing will you
           someday be able to transcend death -- otherwise not.
                But very few in the ashram work as a worship. Many go on avoiding. Not that they want to
           meditate, because if they want to meditate then the thing will be totally different: they can meditate
           with their work. But they would like to d3 all the meditations just to avoid the work.
                A few are absolutely lazy and they think that they can rationalize it. For example, let me tell you
           about one day in one sannyasin's life. From six to seven in the morning he will meditate, Then comes
           breakfast. Then eight to nine-thirty or ten is the lecture. Then of course by ten o'clock he has already
           done too much: meditated, listened to such a long lecture.... So a little gossiping -- it is obviously
           needed. Then by eleven, eleven-thirty, he is ready for lunch. By twelve, of course, he has already
           done too much -- meditating, listening, even eating -- so by twelve o'clock he goes to sleep. Up till
           three o'clock, rest is needed. Three to three-thirty: tea or coffee time. Three-thirty to four-thirty:
           Nadabrahma, an individual meditation. Four-thirty to five-thirty he goes for a walk of course. One
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           needs a little physical exercise. Five-thirty to six-thirty: Kundalini meditation. Then dinner time.
           And then, of course, the girlfriend comes, so the day is complete. Still more meditations you need?
                I talk every day for ninety minutes. That means, at the most, thirty pages. In the ashram we have
           twenty persons who are doing editing. Every day they have to edit, transcribe, proofread, thirty
           pages. Twenty persons -- that means one and a half pages per sannyasin. Still the work goes on
           piling up. And they are always carrying long faces, as if they are doing too much work. It looks
           ridiculous: one person speaks; twenty persons edit. It simply looks ridiculous. And then, too, the
           work is never done. It goes on piling up.
                They are told not to meditate too much because listening to me is meditation. Can you do a better
           meditation than listening to me? If you love the work, if you love me, that is meditation. Your whole
           life should be meditation. People who come for a few days from the outside have to learn meditation,
           but those who are living in the ashram -- their whole life should be meditation. Their walking, their
           sitting, even their sleep; everything should become meditative. Meditation should be a climate here.
           Not something that you do, but something that you are.
                And don't carry faces that show you are doing very great work. Love it! Nobody is helped by
           carrying a long face and a burden. And nobody is deceived by you because the whole thing seems to
           be ridiculous. You just have the idea of feeling burdened. That burden kills you. And if you go on
           thinking about it, it will become a burden. It will create ulcers, it will make your body feel ill, and
           you will become tense and nervous. Then you will try to show even more that you are burdened very
           much. You are moving in a vicious circle now.
                Here you are to enjoy, to be, to delight. And there is so little work that, in fact, it can be done
           within minutes. Just one and a half pages of editing, transcribing and proofreading -- how long will
           it take? And this is just an example. The same is true with the other work.
                But there ARE people who take it as worship. They are flowing and growing and flowering.
           There are people who work -- and work lovingly. That's why some work is done; otherwise it would
           be impossible.
                But these questions come from the people who are lazy. I will not give the name of the person
           who has asked this question because it is the same sannyasin who wants her name to be told.


               ARE FEAR AND GUILT THE SAME THING? AND SURELY AS LIGHT SHOWS UP DARKNESS, SO
               JESUS MUST HAVE MADE PEOPLE AWARE OF THEIR GUILT.


                Fear and guilt are not the same thing. Fear accepted becomes freedom; fear denied, rejected,
           condemned, becomes guilt. If you accept fear as part of the situation....
                It is part of the situation. Man is a part, a very small, tiny part, and the whole is vast: a drop, a
           very small drop, and the whole is the whole ocean. A trembling arises: "I may be lost in the whole;
           my identity may be lost." That is the fear of death. All fear is the fear of death. And the fear of death
           is the fear of annihilation.
                It is natural that man is afraid, trembling. If you accept it, if you say that this is how life is, if you
           accept it totally, trembling stops immediately and fear -- the same energy that was becoming fear --
           uncoils and becomes freedom. Then you know that even if the drop disappears in the ocean, it will
           be there. In fact, it will become the whole ocean. Then death becomes nirvana, then you are not
           afraid to lose yourself. Then you understand the saying of Jesus: "If you save your life you will lose
           it and if you lose it you will save it."
                The only way to go beyond death is to accept death. Then it disappears. The only way to be
           fearless is to accept fear. Then the energy is released and becomes freedom. But if you condemn it, if
           you suppress it, if you hide the fact that you are afraid -- if you armor yourself and protect yourself
           and are defensive -- then a guilt arises.
                Anything repressed creates guilt; anything not allowed creates guilt; anything against nature
           creates guilt. Then you feel guilty that you have been Lying to others and Lying to yourself. That
           inauthenticity is guilt.
                You ask: "Are fear and guilt the same thing? " No. Fear can be guilt, but it may not be. It
           depends what you do with fear. If you do something wrong with it, it becomes guilt. If you simply
           accept it and don't do anything about it -- there is nothing to do! -- then it becomes freedom, it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becomes fearlessness.
           "And surely as light shows up darkness, Jesus must have made people aware of their guilt." No, not
           at all. Jesus tried to help people not to feel guilty. That was his whole effort. The whole effort was to
           tell people to accept themselves and not feel guilty, not feel condemned. Don't say to yourself that
           you are ugly, wrong, a sinner. Don't condemn. Whatsoever you are, you are., Accept the fact, and the
           very acceptance becomes a transformation.
                Jesus never created guilt in people. That was one of his crimes. He tried to cheer up guilty people
           -- that was his crime. He tried to tell them, "Don't be guilty, don't feel guilty. Even if there is
           something wrong, you are not wrong. Maybe you have acted wrongly, but your being is not wrong
           because of that." Some action may be wrong, but the being is always right.
                He accepted people; sinners were at ease with him, at home with him. That became the trouble.
           The rabbis, the bishops, the priests, started saying: "Why? Why do you allow sinners to be with you?
           Why do you eat with them, why do you sleep with them? Why are so many outcasts following you?"
                Jesus said, "It is bound to be so. I come for those who are sick. The sick seek the physician; those
           who are already healthy, they need not. Go and think about it." Jesus said: "I have come for the sick,
           for the ill. I have to support them and I have to make them strong. I have to bring light to them, I
           have to bring life to them again, so that their energy becomes dynamic and flowing."
                No, Jesus is a light that does not show darkness. In fact, when the light is there, darkness
           disappears. Darkness is not shown by light; it disappears by light.
                This is the difference. If a priest is there, he will show darkness. He is not a light; he cannot
           destroy darkness. He will make you feel guilty. He will create sinners -- he will condemn and he will
           make you afraid of hell. He will create a greed and a desire for heaven and its awards. At the most he
           can create more fear and more greed in you. That's what heaven and hell are: projections of fear and
           greed.
                But when a Jesus, a sage, appears, darkness is simply destroyed. When the light is there,
           darkness is not shown. Darkness simply is not, because darkness is nothing but the absence of light.
                If there is darkness in the room and I give you a lamp and tell you, "Go. And take the lamp with
           you, because with the lamp it will be easy to see the darkness..." If you go in darkness, how will you
           be able to see the darkness? -- it looks logical. But absurd! Darkness can be seen only when there is
           no light. If you take the light with you, you will never be able to see darkness, because once the light
           is there, darkness is no longer there.
                Jesus simply destroys darkness, he destroys guilt. He creates hope, he creates confidence and
           trust. People who have been condemned for long, have lost all hope. They have accepted their sin,
           they have accepted their ugly life, and they know that nothing can be done now. They can only wait
           for hell. They have accepted that they are going to be thrown in hell and they have to suffer.
                Jesus comes and helps people to come out of their closed darkness. He says, "There is no hell."
           He says, "Come out. Except for your ignorance, there is no hell; except for your own closedness,
           there is no hell. Come out of it, flow again. Unfreeze and melt, and live life again. Come in the
           sunlight. God is available."
                That's why he says, "Return, the kingdom of God is at hand." He does not say that if you are a
           sinner then returning will take much time, and if you are a respectable religious man then returning
           will take less time, no.
                Just think of the whole thing as if you have dreamed a long dream that you are a sinner.
           Somebody else in the same room is dreaming that he is a saint. Will it take a longer time for you to
           get out of your sleep than it will take for one who is dreaming that he is a saint? The saint and the
           sinner both have been dreaming. They will take the same time to awaken from their sleep.
                Paradoxically, sometimes it may take a little longer time for the saint, because he is having such
           a beautiful dream. He does not want to come out of it. The sinner is already in a nightmare. He
           would like to come out; he is crying, shrieking, that somehow he should come out of it. He is making
           every effort to come out. The dream is not beautiful, the dream is ugly. He is in hell. But the saint
           may not want to be disturbed. He would like to turn over to the other side and sleep a little more.
                Remember, when you feel happy, returning is difficult; when you feel unhappy, returning is easy.
           That's the meaning of the saying: "There are blessings hidden in misfortunes, hidden in curses."
           When somebody is happy and everything is running smoothly, who bothers to transform oneself?
           When one is sad, in deep sorrow, in misery, in tears, then one would like to come out of it. Suffering
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is also good because it gives you an opportunity to awaken, to come out of your sleep. Nothing is
           wrong if you can use it rightly. Even poisons can be used as medicines and they can become
           life-enhancing.
               If you feel guilty, try to see why you are feeling guilty. Yes, man is helpless. Right! And man is
           ignorant -- that is right, too. In his ignorance he has done many things which were not as they should
           be -- that, too, is right. Accept this helplessness, this ignorance, and pray. Let your tears come down,
           confess, repent, say to God, "I was helpless, I was ignorant, and I could not do better. And I still
           cannot do better, unless you help. As I am, I will again go wrong. As I am, I will again betray you. I
           cannot rely on myself. Help me. Only your grace can save me."
               That's what Jesus' whole teaching is: ask for God's grace, don't believe in yourself -- because that
           very belief has been your whole undoing.
               No, he never created guilt in anybody. He tried to free people from guilt.

           The last question but one:

              OSHO, HOW?


              Now. And there is no 'how' to it.

           And the last question:

              OSHO! OSHO! OSHO!!!...???


               That is the way. If you can cry, if you can pray, if you can call from your very innermost core,
           the divine is always available. The divine is always close; it is just that you have not called, that you
           have not knocked at his door. Jesus says, "Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you. Ask, and it
           shall be given...."




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                      Chapter #5
                                    Chapter title:... And Who Are My Brethren?
           4 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511040
              ShortTitle: FOLL205
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 76 mins




              MATTHEW 12
              46 WHILE HE YET TALKED TO THE PEOPLE, BEHOLD, HIS MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN
              STOOD WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH HIM.
              47 THEN ONE SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY MOTHER AND THY BRETHREN STAND
              WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH THEE.
              48 BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM THAT TOLD HIM, WHO IS MY MOTHER? AND
              WHO ARE MY BRETHREN?
              49 AND HE STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND TOWARD HIS DISCIPLES, AND SAID, BEHOLD MY
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN!
              50 FOR WHOMSOEVER SHALL DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THE SAME
              IS MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER.
              LUKE I4

              25 AND THERE WENT GREAT MULTITUDES WITH HIM: AND HE TURNED, AND SAID UNTO
              THEM,
              26 IF ANY MAN COME TO ME, AND HATE NOT His FATHER, AND MOTHER, AND WIFE, AND
              CHILDREN, AND BRETHREN, AND SISTERS, YEA, AND HIS OWN LIFE ALSO, HE CANNOT BE
              MY DISCIPLE.
              27 AND WHOSOEVER DOTH NOT BEAR HIS CROSS, AND COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY
              DISCIPLE


               THOMAS CARLYLE ONCE SAID about one of his friends that he was born a man and died a
           grocer. Everybody is born great and dies very small. Everybody is born like a god and almost always
           dies like a dog. What happens in between? Why is man crippled by life? One should hope that man
           grows to greater dimensions, grows to greater heights, grows to greater life -- what Jesus calls'life
           abundant' -- but that rarely happens. As it happens usually, man starts shrinking. The moment man is
           born he starts shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller and smaller. This has to be understood.
               When a child is born he has no identity. He simply is. That'is-ness' is vast, it has magnitude, it
           has no limitation. The child has no name yet, the name cripples; the child has no identity, the child
           does not know who he is. That is his greatness, that is his vastness. He is one with existence, he is
           not yet separated. He has no boundary, no finitude.
               A child has no character. That is his beauty, Character kills. The more character you have, the
           smaller you have become. Character is an armor around you, it defines you. And every definition is a
           death. Let me repeat: every definition is a death; only the undefined is alive.
               The child has a body, but he has no form. In his consciousness no form yet exists. Even if you
           put a mirror before the child he will not recognize himself. He will look at the mirror, but he will not
           recognize that he is reflected there because he does not know yet who he is. That is his innocence.
           Then things start gathering around: the name, which becomes an imprisonment; the form, the
           identity. The religion, the society, the color, the nation -- they all become confinements. Now the
           child is shrinking, the vastness of the sky disappearing. Clouds are gathering and they go on
           suffocating your being. By the time you die, you were already dead long before.
               That is the meaning of these sutras: that if one is to attain to one's real glory again, one has to
           become indefinable, one has to lose character.
               It will be very difficult to understand me. I say that one has to lose character because character is
           what gives you limitations. Character is a fixity, a frozenness. Unless the character melts and you
           start flowing again, unless you become unknown to yourself and unpredictable.... Nobody, not even
           you yourself, knows what is going to happen in the next moment. You start living moment to
           moment. The calculation is gone. the planning disappears, you float like a white cloud in the sky:
           moving but without any motivation; moving but not knowing where you are going; moving but
           remaining in the moment, so totally herenow that past and future make no sense, only present is
           meaningful.
               Then what will be your identity? Who will be you? You cannot say anything about it; it is
           unutterable. That is what Buddha calls the inner emptiness: ANATTA, no self; that's what Jesus calls
           the kingdom of God. Something mysterious that you are. Not that you have to become -- you are
           already that.
               It happened in the Second World War in a Japanese concentration camp. The guards of the
           concentration camp had come to know that the arrival of the American army was imminent. Any
           moment they could reach and Japan would be defeated. They became afraid for their own lives. They
           unlocked the doors and fled to the woods.
               But those who were imprisoned in the camp never came to know that now the doors were not
           locked. They were still imprisoned. The guards had gone, the locks were unlocked, but the prisoners
           were still prisoners. They were already free, but they did not know about it. The next day when the
           liberators came they had only to announce to them that "You are already free. We have to do
           nothing."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This is what I say to you: that you are already free. The guards have never been there except in
           your imagination and the locks were never locked. You have seen a dream and you are imprisoned in
           it. This is the only good news that Jesus brings to you or I bring to you: that you are already free.
                Not that you have to become free. All your imprisonment is just a mental attitude. You call
           yourself a Hindu or a Christian or a Mohammedan. Not that you are a Christian. How can you be a
           Christian and how can you be a Mohammedan? How can just a mere ideology confine you, how can
           just words make prisons for you? To such a vital energy, to such a vital reality, how can just mere
           words -- Hinduism, Christianity -- become imprisonments? Impossible.
                But you believe in them. Then the impossible becomes possible. You think of yourself that you
           are this or that. That very thinking makes you this or that. But you are not. In the innermost core of
           your being you remain total freedom, absolute freedom.

               Now, try to enter these sutras. They are very delicate and there is every possibility of
           misunderstanding them. Jesus has been misunderstood on many points. One of the points is covered
           by these sutras.
               People have been finding fault with him because of these sutras. On the one hand he goes on
           talking about love -- he even says, "God is love" -- and on the other hand he goes on saying such
           contradictory things. How can a man of love say these things? But he has said them. So there is
           every possibility that they have not been understood rightly. Let us try....

              WHILE HE YET TALKED TO THE PEOPLE, BEHOLD, HIS MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN STOOD
              WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH HIM.
              THEN ONE SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY MOTHER AND THY BRETHREN STAND WITHOUT,
              DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH THEE.
              BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM THAT TOLD HIM, WHO IS MY MOTHER? AND WHO
              ARE MY BRETHREN?
              AND HE STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND TOWARD HIS DISCIPLES, AND SAID, BEHOLD MY
              MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN! THIS IS MY MOTHER AND THESE ARE MY BROTHERS.


              Up to now, whatsoever he has said can be understood. The next sutra is really very dangerous.
           He says:

              FOR WHOMSOEVER SHALL DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THE SAME IS
              MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER.
              AND THERE WENT GREAT MULTITUDES WITH HIM: AND HE TURNED, AND SAID UNTO THEM,
              IF ANY MAN COME TO ME, AND HATE NOT HIS FATHER, AND MOTHER, AND WIFE, AND
              CHILDREN, AND BRETHREN. AND SISTERS, YEA, AND HIS OWN LIFE ALSO, HE CANNOT BE
              MY DISCIPLE.
              AND WHOSOEVER DOTH NOT BEAR HIS CROSS, AND COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY
              DISCIPLE.


               He says: "If any man come to me and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brothers and
           sisters, he cannot be my disciple." A man who has always been talking about love -- why so
           suddenly does he talk about hate? The word'hate' does not fit on the lips of Jesus. The man seems to
           be contradictory, paradoxical, but that is only an appearance. We have to go deep. If Jesus says'hate'
           he must mean something. And he means....
               First: man is born as part of the divine, as part of the totality, the whole. The child in the mother's
           womb is not in the mother's womb: the child is in the womb of the whole. Mother is nothing but part
           of the whole. Mother is the nearest part of the whole, but the child exists in the divine, in the totality.
           He does not know the mother; he simply exists. Then he is born, he is separated from the mother.
           But even while separate from the mother, he has not yet got an identity. He cannot say'I am'. Still the
           purity of'am-ness' continues.
               Then by and by, he will start loving the mother. The moment he starts loving the mother he will
           forget the wholeness of'am-ness', the totality. Love of the mother will become oblivion of the total.
           Then he starts loving the father -- he forgets the total completely. Then his brothers, sisters.... Then a
           family is created, a small family, and he has forgotten the great family of existence.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Unless his consciousness shifts again from the mother, from the father, from the brothers and
           sisters, and the whole gestalt changes -- again he looks at the whole and the whole becomes the
           family, again he lives with the stars and the trees are the rivers and the ocean and the sands -- he will
           not'be able to follow Jesus; you will not be able to follow me. Because what is the meaning of
           following Jesus? The only meaning is to shift the focus of consciousness. If you have fallen in love
           with a family, you have to go beyond that love. Otherwise that very love, that very attachment, will
           not allow you to enter into the greater whole.
                When he says'hate' he simply means: don't love. When he says'hate' he uses a very strong word:
           to emphasize. Because love has made you part of a small family, only hate can again make you a part
           of the whole. But by'hate' he does not mean'hatred'. By'hate' he simply means: annihilate the love,
           the attachment.
                In India we have been using the word ASUKTI RAG: attachment, being colored by the
           attachment. Be nonattached, renounce. Renounce the small so that you can find the whole. And this
           is the beauty: that if you renounce the part, the small family, and attain to the great family, suddenly
           you will realize that the small family is there in the great. Because where will it go? In the small
           family, the great family is not there; but in the great family, the small family is there.
                When the whole earth becomes your home, your home is included in it. But when your only
           home is your home, the whole earth is not included in it. When the whole sky becomes yours, the
           small sky that you used to think is yours is there.
                The greater includes the smaller, the smaller cannot include the greater. Your father, your
           mother, your children, your wife, will be there -- not as your mother, as your father, as your wife, but
           as gods. In fact, you have not taken anything away from them. On the contrary, you have given
           something to them. Before they were ordinary human beings; now they will be divine. Your
           renunciation has not destroyed anything. On the contrary, it has revealed much. Lose the small so
           that you can gain the whole, and that small will be regained again, in greater glory.
                But in the beginning it will seem that you are moving away from love, because that is the only
           love you know: the love of the family, the love of the country. That is the only love you know. And
           it is a false love because unless the love includes the whole it can never be satisfactory. Love is vast
           and can only be fulfilled by the vast.
                Unless you love God, you will love in vain. Your love will create frustrations, it will never give
           you a contentment. Love needs such a vast phenomenon to fill it that only God can do that. No
           father, no mother, no wife, no children, no brother, no sister, no friend can do that -- unless God
           comes to you as a father, or your father appears to you to be a god.
                Unless the wife becomes the whole, or the whole become.s the wife, you will not be fulfilled.
           That's why there is so much misery because of love. You love the part and you expect the whole.
           That's the misery. You love the small and you want the great. It cannot be fulfilled. Hence,
           frustration. Whenever you fall in love with a man, you expect something divine. Every lover expects
           it. And when it is not delivered you are hurt, and you feel you have been cheated. Then the misery of
           love arises.
                Expectations are great and the reality is very tiny. You expect from the wrong sources: you want
           a small stream to become the ocean. It cannot, it is helpless. When your eyes are open to the reality,
           and the dream disappears and the honeymoon is over... a small tiny stream. And you were thinking
           of the ocean! Now you are crestfallen, frustrated, wounded deeply in the heart.
                Love wounds because you expect the whole from the part. And this is the only love that you
           know. This love is not exactly love. It is attachment. There is a greater love which arises only when
           your eyes are open to the vast, to the infinite, to God.
                When Jesus says'hate' he simply says: whatsoever your love is, is worth nothing. Move to the
           opposite, move to the other extreme. Drop all this nonsense that you call love. It is not love. It may
           be fear -- fear of loneliness -- but it is not a sharing of being. It is a game of the ego, and love cannot
           be a game of the ego. You drop all this -- and by dropping all this, tremendous possibilities open.
                First, if you drop all so-called love -- the love of the father, the mother, the brother, the sister, the
           family, the wife -- if you really drop it, suddenly your identity will be lost. Who will be then, who
           will be you then? If somebody asks you right now you say, "I am somebody's son, somebody's
           brother, somebody's husband, somebody's father. This is my religion. This is my country. This is the
           group I belong to." You have something to say about yourself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Think: if you belong to no country, if you belong to no sect, no church, no denomination; if you
           have cut all bonds from your family -- father, mother, wife -- and you are absolutely alone, who are
           you then? How will you say who you are? By cutting the attachments you have killed your ego.
               That is the meaning of Jesus. He says: through your attachments, your ego exists and gets
           nourishment. Cut all the attachments and suddenly the ego collapses. It has nowhere to stand,
           nothing to be supported by. Suddenly it collapses, and in that collapse you are born for the first time.
           For the first time you are YOU -- not somebody's son, not somebody's husband, not somebody's
           father. For the first time you are simply there, in your absolute nakedness, purity, innocence. You are
           undefined, all definitions gone. Suddenly you start throbbing with a new heart; you become part of
           the whole. That small family that was surrounding you and creating a boundary is no more there.
               You became small because of the attachment to the family. You become vast once that
           attachment is transcended. That's why Jesus uses a very strong word. He says HATE because less
           than that won't do.
           Listen:

              WHILE HE YET TALKED TO THE PEOPLE, BEHOLD, HIS MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN STOOD
              WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH HIM.


               Many more things have to be understood. Jesus knows well that his mother and his brothers don't
           understand him. They think, really, that he has gone a little crazy. Their own brother and he thinks of
           himself as the son of God! Just think about your brother. If he starts thinking that he is the son of
           God and always talks about God who is in heaven, naturally you will think that he has gone out of
           his mind. You will seek the help of a psychiatrist; you will give him electric shocks to bring him
           back to earth.
               Jesus' relatives thought that he was beside himself; he was a little eccentric, crazy, mad. When he
           went to his village, people would simply laugh, they would ridicule. At the most they were amused:
           "Look, this son of the carpenter Joseph -- and now suddenly he thinks that he is the son of God!"
           And they know well whose son he is. Just a few years before, he was working with his father in the
           workshop: carrying wood from the forest, helping his father. And now suddenly he has gone mad.
           "Poor Jesus!"
               That was the idea of his family also. They felt pity for him. So when somebody said, "Your
           brothers and your mother are waiting without, desiring to speak with you," he knows what they are
           going to speak to him about. He knows that their whole effort is somehow to bring him back home
           and make him normal.
               This is one of the problems with humanity. People you call normal are not normal at all, but they
           are in the majority. A Buddha always looks abnormal. A Jesus looks abnormal. In a sense he is,
           because he doesn't behave like you, he doesn't follow the ordinary rules. He does not fit with the
           society, he is a misfit. And to allow him, creates a suspicion in your mind: if he is right, then you are
           wrong. That creates a doubt and a trembling. He must be wrong, he must be proved wrong. He must
           have somehow gone wrong somewhere. Of course the ordinary is thought to be normal -- and the
           normal is thought to be the norm -- so the exceptional, the unique, looks abnormal.
               Even psychoanalysts think that Jesus was neurotic. Many books have been written against Jesus,
           proving that he was neurotic, that he was not in his senses. Look at what he was saying! Of course if
           suddenly someone amongst you declares that he is the son of God, you will start laughing. What
           does he mean?
               Jesus knows well what they want to talk about. And they have not come to HIM. They have
           come only to the son of Joseph, which he is no more. He was, but since John the Baptist initiated
           him into a different life -- changed and converted him to a new plane of consciousness, initiated him,
           led him into a new door to existence -- since then he is no longer the same.
               When Buddha came back to his home after twelve years, his father could not believe that he had
           become enlightened. He said, "Drop all this nonsense! You can befool others, but you cannot befool
           me. I have given birth to you, I have known you from the very beginning. Drop this game and come
           back home. I am your father and because I love you my doors are yet open for you. Though you
           don't deserve! You are an escapist. In my old age you escaped. You are my only hope. Come back
           home!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Of course the father cannot see what has happened. He is too full of his own ideas, too full of his
           memories, his remembrance of this boy who was born to him. And now suddenly he has become a
           Buddha, enlightened, attained to truth? If he had been somebody else's son the father might have
           looked again, might have watched, observed, might have been more open; but this is his own son.
           The eyes are full of tears, anger, attachment, memories. The eyes are clouded by the past; he cannot
           see the reality that is standing before him.
               Buddha laughed and he said, "Just look at me. I'm not the same one who left your house.
           Somebody else comes to you. That man is dead! I'm totally new."
               The father looked again and then said, "You cannot deceive me. You are the same. I know you
           well. I know you more than you can know yourself."
               Jesus knows what they want to talk about. And they don't want to talk to him, the reality that he
           is now. They want to talk to someone who exists no more. Jesus disappeared that day in the River
           Jordan when John the Baptist initiated him into a different life. The man who used to be there has
           disappeared. The house is old, but the resident has changed. The same person doesn't live in the
           same body. The body is the same, but a new consciousness has entered. A new consciousness abides
           there and they have come to talk to the old, who is no more.

              THEN ONE SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY MOTHER AND THY BRETHREN STAND WITHOUT,
              DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH THEE.
              BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM THAT TOLD HIM, WHO IS MY MOTHER? AND WHO
              ARE MY BRETHREN?


               This new consciousness -- call it'Christ' -- this new consciousness says, WHO IS MY MOTHER?
           AND WHO ARE MY BRETHREN?
               Unless you can see two personalities -- one of Jesus, which is no more; and one of Christ, which
           has come like a dove and has entered his soul -- you will not be able to understand these sentences.
           These sutras become very simple once you see that this man Jesus is no more the Jesus who used to
           be.
               It happens many times to my sannyasins. When they want to go back to their homes they become
           a little apprehensive. They come to me and they say, "It is going to be difficult. My father won't
           understand me, my mother will not be able to see what has happened. When I go back they will not
           be able to see the fact: what has happened to me."
               I tell them, "Don't be worried. You simply go and you remain new. Don't try in any way to
           behave like the old." That has to be remembered because the temptation will be there. I he mother is
           there, the father is there, the brothers are there, the whole milieu of the old, and the temptation will
           be that even if you have changed why create a disturbance for them? Just act like the old.
               But if you act like the old, that will be a deep disturbance for you. That will be a deception, that
           won't be authenticity. And in that way you are not going to help your family. That way you will be
           untrue to them.
               Be true. Even if they misunderstand in the beginning, accept that misunderstanding. It is natural.
           But you remain the one that you have become. Don't act; remain true. Sooner or later they will
           understand, and once they understand, your reality will start transforming them also. Reality is a
           great force.
               This happens many times. One sannyasin from England just wrote to me that "I was afraid,
           notwithstanding whatsoever you had said. I was afraid and as I came nearer to England my fear was
           tremendous. My father is very stubborn" -- as fathers are-"and I thought: he won't understand, he
           won't even listen. He will think that I am mad and he will try and force me to go to a
           psychoanalyst.'What has happened? Why are you wearing orange?' He is an old Christian, orthodox.
           It will be almost a shock."
               But he had to go back so he went. Now he has written: "They were shocked. They couldn't
           believe it. But as you had said, I tried not to be tempted to act. I remained true. And for the first time,
           after three or four days, they relaxed. Now for the first time something has transpired between me
           and my parents, something which I can call love -- which has never been there before. Fear was
           there, but not love. And they are asking me questions: what has happened to me? And they have
           even tried to meditate! " -- which he thinks is a miracle. He thinks that I must be doing something
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from here.
               I'm not doing anything from here. Your truth, your authenticity, has a great power in it. Truth
           transforms not only you. Wherever you move, with whomsoever you relate, if you are true you
           become a great force.
               Jesus knows that they have not come for him. They are not yet ready. They don't understand that
           a discontinuity has happened in the life of Jesus. The old is gone and the new has come, and they are
           not in any way related.
               That is the problem: when the new comes, the new is absolutely new. It is not a modified form of
           the old. When the old goes, it goes totally. There comes a gap, a silence, an emptiness.
               The old goes and the new comes -- the body remains the same. Nobody will be able to see what
           has happened, but everybody will FEEL something has happened. Even you yourself will become
           aware, by and by, that you are no longer the old.
               Recognition takes time. Sometimes months, sometimes years. Recognition takes time, but by and
           by you become aware that "I am no longer the same person I used to be." When this realization
           surrounds you, you flower. A different grace becomes available to you. The old man lives under the
           law; the new man lives under love. The old man lives in the society; the new man becomes a peak of
           absolute aloneness. The old man lives in the past, in the future; the new man lives only in the
           present. The new man has a presence, a different quality of being. A magnetism, a charisma.

              HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM THAT TOLD HIM, WHO IS MY MOTHER? AND WHO ARE
              MY BRETHREN?
              AND HE STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND TOWARD HIS DISCIPLES, AND SAID, BEHOLD MY
              MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN!

              He has created a new community.

               Buddha called his community SANGHA. Buddha says to his disciples to seek three refuges.
           When anybody comes to surrender he has to surrender to three things. He says: "I surrender to
           Buddha, I surrender to sangha, I surrender to DHAMMA." Buddha is the alive, the presence
           herenow. But he will not be there always. Sooner or later he will disappear, just as a lamp disappears
           and then you cannot find where the flame has gone. Buddha will disappear -- this body cannot
           contain him for long, because the body is mortal and he is immortal. The vehicle is weak, the vehicle
           cannot persist for long. Sooner or later the body will fall and the flame will disappear. Then to whom
           will you surrender? So Buddha says, "I am creating a community: the sangha."
               Sangha is a community of those who live with the same attitude, who live a life in common, who
           commune with each other. It is a community, a community of seekers on the same path, a
           community of those who have been in love with the same Buddha, whose love joins them together.
               The community is a group. When the buddha is there you can look at him -- he can be helpful, he
           can guide you, he can take you out of your misery and darkness -- but when he is gone, then there is
           only one possibility: you should join together to help each other. A few will be a little ahead, a few
           will not be so. A few may be lagging behind, a few may be marching forcibly, a few may just be fast
           asleep; but if there is a community, then those who are lagging behind can also be helped. The
           community can take care of them: the community can think about them, can love them, can help
           them, can guide them. When a Buddha is alive there is no need, but when the Buddha is gone a
           community is the only refuge.
               Jesus was creating a community. This community is not the church, remember; this community
           is not a sect, remember. This community is a family of fellow seekers, not of fellow believers. When
           you believe, the community becomes a sect. When you seek, then it is a community. A community is
           an alive phenomenon of those who are all seeking together and helping each other.
               There is a parable in India that once it happened that a great fire broke out in a forest. Two men
           were helpless there in the forest, they couldn't get out of it, because one was blind and another was
           crippled in the legs. The crippled one could not run: he could see, but he could not run. The blind
           one could run fast, but he couldn't see. So they formed a community. They talked to each other and
           they said, "We can help each other." So the blind man took the crippled man on his shoulders. They
           became one man. The blind could walk, the crippled could see. They helped each other. They came
           out of the fire; they were saved. Separate they would have died; together they found the way out.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A community is a community of blind people and crippled people. When a Buddha is there, there
           is no need. But when Buddha is gone, the master is gone, then the source of life disappears. The
           whole forest is on fire and everywhere there is darkness. Somebody is crippled and somebody is
           blind -- everybody lacks something. But everybody also has something. Then the community can
           arise.
           That is the family of Jesus. He says:

              AND HE STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND TOWARD HIS DISCIPLES, AND SAID, BEHOLD MY
              MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN!

              "And then," Buddha says, "a time comes when the community will also become dead. It will become a
              sect." The family of Christ will become Christianity; the family of Buddha, the sangha of Buddha, will
              become Buddhists. Dead: fellow believers, not fellow seekers. Nobody is going anywhere; they simply
              believe. The community is not a community at all now. They talk, they discuss, but nobody is ready to
              risk anything, to search, to inquire.

               Then, DHAMMA. Then you have to take refuge, you have to surrender and take refuge, only in
           the pure principle of dharma. The pure principle, the basic law: what Lao Tzu calls tao, what Buddha
           calls DHAMMA, what Jesus calls the kingdom of God. Then you have to surrender to the unknown.
               It will be difficult because Buddha is visible; you can touch him. The community is also visible.
           Not so enlightened as Buddha, but some fragments of life, some fragments of light, are carried by the
           community. You can put them together, a certain light can be created. But when the community has
           become a sect, a dead religion, an organization and not a brotherhood....
               Remember, a brotherhood is not an organization. A brotherhood may be organized, but it is not
           an organization. It is fluid. A brotherhood is organized because of love: organization is a by-product,
           a consequence. But an organization is simply organization. It is forced, rigid. It exists not because of
           love but because of law.
               Then one has to look to God, whom you cannot see anywhere, whose address is not known,
           whose whereabouts are absolutely unknown.
           Jesus says:

              BEHOLD MY MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN!

              "This is my family, my community in which I am spreading my being, with whom I am sharing my new
              life, with whom I am sharing my new vision and my new eyes."



              FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THE SAME IS
              MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER.

              "Whosoever is ready to follow the path of God -- he is my mother, he is my brother, he is my sister."
              Jesus is saying, "Only those who are related to God are related to me. Now, no other relationship is
              possible."

               Even if Jesus' mother wants to be related to him again, she cannot be related just because of the
           old relationship. She will have to seek a new relationship, and that new relation ship is possible only
           if she becomes attuned to God. Only through God, via God, can you be related to Jesus.
           There is no other way.
               If you come to me and you are really a seeker of truth, you immediately become related to me.
           Otherwise there is no relationship. Only via God -- you cannot be related to me directly. All direct
           relationship is impossible now. Unless you seek that which I have found, there is no possibility.
           There is no possibility at all.
               It happens: many times people ask me -- just a few days before, Vivek was asking me -- "Why do
           we never see any of your college friends, your school friends, coming to you? Why don't they
           come?"
               In the first place, I never had many friends because from the very beginning only if somebody
           was a seeker was there a possibility of any friendship. There was no other way to relate to me. So --
           very few friends. But even those are lost, because unless they now relate to my new reality there is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no possibility. Either I have to come down to relate to them, which is not possible, or they have to
           come up -- which is difficult.
               By and by, they have disappeared. They continue to think about me as of old, but that man is no
           more there; that man is dead. They would like to relate to me as of old, but that man is dead. How
           can you relate to a dead man?
               So it becomes embarrassing for them. If they come, it becomes embarrassing. They don't know
           what to talk about, what to say. If they say something of the past and then they look at me, the whole
           thing looks absurd. It carries no meaning. At the most I can listen, but I cannot say a single word.
           Then they feel awkward.
               They used to come; by and by they dropped. But my family has not dropped me. They have tried
           hard to cope with me. And they have tried hard to feel my new reality. That's a rare phenomenon.
           Jesus was not so fortunate as I am.

              FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THE SAME IS
              MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER.
              AND THERE WENT GREAT MULTITUDES WITH HIM: AND HE TURNED, AND SAID UNTO THEM,
              IF ANY MAN COME TO ME, AND HATE NOT HIS FATHER, AND MOTHER, AND WIFE, AND
              CHILDREN, AND BRETHREN, AND SISTERS, YEA, AND HIS OWN LIFE ALSO, HE CANNOT BE
              MY DISCIPLE.


               Unless you deny your worldly family, you cannot be part of a spiritual family. Unless you deny
           the ordinary ties of the body, you cannot move into the world of the spirit. You have to leave behind
           the world of matter, the world of the body, to move into the world of the spirit.

              AND WHOSOEVER DOTH NOT BEAR HIS CROSS, AND COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY
              DISCIPLE.


               And until you die, you cannot follow. You have to die so that the new can be born in you. It can
           be born only when you are gone. It is not a question of transforming you, it is not a question of
           improving you, it is not a question of making something better of you. Howsoever better you are
           made, improved, modified, you will remain the same.
               Your ego can be more polished. It can even be taught to be humble. You can be taught to be
           simple: you can live naked, with no clothes. You can be taught to be nonpossessive: you can leave
           the whole world. But if you remain the same, your non-possessiveness will not help much; your
           nakedness will not help much. Your nakedness will become a new clothing for the ego.
               Now the ego will be satisfied that "I have renounced all. I don't possess anything. I have left my
           family" -- but the'I' will continue. And the'I' has to drop. Unless the'I' disappears, you will not be
           empty enough for the divine to enter. You will not have enough space for Him.
               That is the meaning of Jesus when he says: AND WHOSOEVER DOTH NOT BEAR HIS
           CROSS, AND COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE. To be a disciple is to die in the
           master and to relive in the master. It is to drop totally dead in the master so that his life flame can
           give you a new light and a new life.
               Until you die, nothing is possible. And that is the great fear. You would like to be improved, you
           would like to become better. Then don't come to a man like Jesus. He is not interested in bettering
           you, he is not interested in renovating the old house. He says, "We will demolish and we will make a
           new one," because if you renovate an old house it remains the old. It may deceive others, but it
           cannot deceive you. You know it is the old. The foundations remain the old, the structure remains
           the old. You polish it, you color it, you whitewash it -- a few patches here and there -- and then you
           think everything is new. It is not.
               In life, never try to renovate, because something is fundamentally wrong. The base is wrong, the
           whole foundation is wrong. And on that foundation, you will remain wrong.
               So I'm not interested in you becoming more religious, no. I'm not interested in you becoming
           more moral, no. I am not interested in you attaining a beautiful character, not at all. I am interested in
           you dying, so that a newness rushes in you. Only on your death is resurrection possible. And that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           which will resurrect will be the divine. That will be the divine!
               Once you are ready to die, moral/immoral, sinner or saint, are all irrelevant. Once you are ready
           to die, you have become capable. You open the door. You say to God, "Come in! "
               But remember, God comes from the same door from where death comes in. If you are afraid of
           death you will remain afraid of God. God and death are two names of one phenomenon. If you are
           afraid, you interpret God as death. If you accept, you interpret death as God. Death itself becomes
           the beloved.
               You wait. You wait as you would wait for your beloved. And death comes dancing! There is
           nothing like it. No longer can you conceive of anything which can transcend the beauty of it. Death
           becomes the beloved. Then death's garb is no more there. God is revealed!
               This has to be done every moment, because every moment death knocks at your door. Every
           moment when you exhale, death knocks. Exhalation is death, inhalation is life. The first thing a child
           has to do is to inhale and the last thing the old man dying will do will be to exhale. With exhalation,
           death; with inhalation, life.
               And this is happening every moment. Whenever you inhale, you are becoming alive again;
           whenever you exhale, again death. Death, life, death, life: that's how you move. They are two wings
           or two legs, two aspects of you. If you really die with each exhalation -- you relax and you surrender
           -- then with each inhalation you will revive. And you will feel such freshness that even the dew in
           the morning will be jealous! You will feel freshness such as the stars in the night feel.
               That is eternal life. One who has learned the secret of how to die moment to moment has learned
           the secret of how to live eternally. Now death is impossible. Death is possible only if you resist it. It
           is in your resistance that death exists. Resistance is ego, death exists because of the ego. If you
           surrender, death disappears. Surrender is the key.
           Jesus says:

              AND WHOSOEVER DOTH NOT BEAR HIS CROSS, AND COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY
              DISCIPLE.


               Not only does the father have to be denied, and the mother, and the sister and the brothers, but
           you have to deny your life also. Your life has to be denied so that God can live within you and
           through you. Both cannot live together within you, remember. Either you or God. You would like to
           also give Him a small room somewhere in your house, a small temple in a far corner of the house.
           You would like Him to live there, but that is not His way. He wants the whole house or nothing. This
           trick don't do.
               I was staying with a friend. In the morning I saw him going to the garage. I asked him, "Where
           are you going?"
               He said, "We have made a temple in the garage." They live in a palace and their God lives in the
           garage! Whom do you think you are befooling? And he was very happy. He thinks he is a very
           religious man.
               The God lives in the garage, He's not even a welcomed guest. Even with a guest you behave
           well, even with a poor relative you behave well. Even a poor relative will feel offended if you put
           him in the garage. The God lives in the garage! He was very happy and he said, "We have made a
           very beautiful temple there. You come and see."
               I said, "God cannot be there so I'm not coming. You go and do whatsoever you want to do, but
           this is not prayer."
               God comes to you only when you completely give in, when you are completely empty and you
           say, "I am no more. Now you can come in." When you have vacated the throne, then only is He
           enthroned.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                        Chapter #6
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                           Chapter title: Politics And Love
           5 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511050
              ShortTitle: FOLL206
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              YOU SAID, "TEACHING IS THE BEST WAY OF LEARNING BUT YOU HAVE ALSO SAID, "THE
              WORLD IS IRRELIGIOUS BECAUSE OF TOO MANY PREACHERS. "WOULD YOU PLEASE
              SPEAK ON THE SUBTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HELPING OTHERS AND TRYING TO CHANGE
              OTHERS.


               THERE IS A VAST DIFFERENCE, and tremendously significant, between trying to change the
           other and helping him. When you help somebody you help him to be himself; when you try to
           change somebody you try to change him according to your idea. When you try to change somebody
           you try to make a carbon copy of him. You are not interested in him. You have a certain ideology, a
           fixed idea, an ideal. You change him according to the ideal. The ideal is more important, the real
           man is not important at all.
               In fact, trying to change the other according to some ideal is very violent. It is aggression, it is an
           effort to destroy the other. It is not love, it is not compassion. Compassion always allows the other to
           be himself. Compassion has no ideology, compassion is just a climate. It does not give you direction,
           it only gives you energy. Then you move. Then your seed has to sprout according to its own nature.
           There is nobody forcing anything on you.
               When I say, "Go and help others," I mean: help them to be themselves. When I say, "The world
           is too irreligious because of too many preachers," I mean that so many people are trying to change,
           convert, transform others according to their own ideology. The idea should not be more important
           than the person. Even the whole humanity is not more important than a single human being.
           Humanity is an idea; a single human being is a reality.
               Forget about humanity, remember the human being -- the real, the concrete, the throbbing, the
           alive. It is very easy to sacrifice human beings for humanity. It is very easy to sacrifice human
           beings for Islam, Christianity, Hinduism; it is very easy to sacrifice them for the idea of Christ,
           Buddha, Mahavir. Help, but don't sacrifice. Who are you to sacrifice anybody? Each individual is his
           own end. Don't use him as a means.
               That is the meaning when Jesus says: "The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
           Everything is made for man; man is the supreme value. Even God, the idea of God, is for man, and
           man is not for the idea of God. Sacrifice everything to man and don't sacrifice man to anything
           whatsoever. Then you help.
               If you start sacrificing man, then you are not helping. You are destroying, you are crippling the
           other. You are violent, you are a criminal. So all your so-called mahatmas who try to change the
           other are criminals. One can just love, help, be ready to give unconditionally.
               Share your being, but let the other move towards his own destiny. That destiny is unknown;
           nobody knows what is going to flower. Don't give a pattern, otherwise the flower will be crushed.
           And remember that each individual being is unique. There has never been such a being before and
           there is never going to be again. God never repeats, he is not repetitive. He goes on inventing.
               If you are trying to make a man be like Jesus, you will be destructive. Jesus can never be
           repeated again. And there is no need. One is beautiful, many will just be boring. Don't try to make a
           man a Buddha. Let him become himself. That is HIS Buddhahood. And neither you know, nor he
           knows, what he is carrying within himself. Only the future will show. Not only will you be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           surprised; HE will be surprised when his flower opens. Everybody is carrying a flower of infinite
           potentiality and power, of infinite possibility.
               Help, give energy, love. Accept the other and give him a feeling that he is welcome. Don't give
           him a feeling of guilt, don't give him the idea that he is condemned. All those who are trying to
           change him give him a feeling of guilt, and guilt is poison.
               When somebody says, "Be like Jesus!" he has denied you AS YOU ARE. Whenever somebody
           says to be like somebody else, YOU are not accepted. You are not welcome, you are like an intruder.
           Unless you become somebody else, you will not be loved. What type of love is this which destroys
           you, and only when you become false, inauthentic...?
               You can, authentically, only be yourself. All else will be false, all else will be just masks,
           personalities, but not your essence. You can decorate yourself with the personality of Buddha, but it
           will never touch your heart. It will never be related to you, it will not be connected with you. It will
           just be on the outside. A face, but never yours.
               So whosoever is trying to make you somebody else and says, "I will love you if you become
           Buddha, Christ..." does not love you. He may be in love with Christ, but he hates you. And his love
           for Christ can also not be very deep, because if he has really loved Jesus, he would have understood
           the concrete uniqueness of every individual.
               Love is a deep understanding. If you have loved one person, you have started a different quality
           of vision within you. Now you can see with a clarity. If you have loved Jesus, then whosoever comes
           before you -- you will see the reality of this man, of this concrete human being, of this potentiality
           herenow. And you will love this man, you will help this man to become whatsoever he can become.
           You will not expect anything else. All expectation is condemning, all expectation is a denial, all
           expectation is a rejection. You will simply give your love -- for no reward, for no result. You will
           simply help, with no future in mind.
               When love flows without any future, it is a tremendous energy. When love flows without
           motivation it helps, and nothing helps like it. Once you feel that even one single human being
           accepts you as you are, you feel centered. You are not unwelcome in this existence. At least one
           human being accepts you unconditionally. That gives you a grounding, a centering; that gives you a
           feeling that you are at home. And the more you are at home, the more you will be closer to God,
           because deepest in your heart is He. When you are close to yourself you are close to Him. When you
           are centered, you are IN Him.
               When you are far away from yourself, you are far away from God. The distance between you and
           yourself is the distance between you and God, and there is no other distance. So whosoever says,
           "Become somebody else," is throwing you away from God. You will become false, you will carry
           masks. You will have personalities, character, and a thousand other things, but you won't have a
           soul; you won't have the essential. You will not be an awareness, you will be a deception: a
           pseudo-phenomenon, not authentic.
               So when I say help, teach, I'm not giving you the idea to teach them. I'm saying: just create a
           climate around people. Wherever you move, carry the climate of love and compassion, and help the
           other to be himself.
               That is the most difficult thing in the world -- to help the other to be himself -- because that is
           against your ego. Your ego would like to make imitators of people. You would like everybody to
           imitate you; you would like to become the archetype and have everybody follow you. Then your ego
           would be very, very fulfilled. You would think of yourself as the blueprint and everybody just has to
           follow you. You become the center and everybody becomes the false.
               No, the ego will not like the idea. It wants to change others according to you. But who are you to
           change anybody? Don't take that responsibility. That is dangerous; that is how Adolf Hitlers are
           born. They take the responsibility of changing the whole world according to them.
               There is much difference between a Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler. But deep down, no
           difference at all, because both have ideas of changing the world according to them. One may be
           using violent methods, the other may be using nonviolent methods, but both are using methods to
           change the other according to themselves. One may be using the bayonet, the other is threatening
           you that "I will go on a long fast if you don't follow me." One may be threatening to kill you and the
           other may be threatening that he will kill himself "if you don't follow me", but both are using force,
           both are creating situations in which you can be forced to be something that you don't want to be,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you never wanted to be. They both are politicians. Neither Hitler loves you, nor Gandhi loves
           you.
                Gandhi talks about love, but he does not love. He cannot love, because the very idea -- the ideal
           of how you should be -- creates trouble. There is only one way of loving people: to love them as they
           are.
                And this is the beauty: that when you love them as they are, they change. Not according to you --
           they change according to THEIR reality. When you love them, they are transformed. Not converted;
           transformed. They become new, they attain newer heights of being. But that happens in their being,
           and it happens according to their nature.
                Help people to be natural, help people to be free, help people to be themselves, and never try to
           force anybody, pull and push and manipulate. Those are the ways of the ego. And that is what all
           politics is.


              IT IS BELIEVED THAT CHRIST WAS THE FIRST POLITICIAN OF LOVE IN THAT HE TRIED TO
              SAVE THE WORLD BEFORE HE HAD SAVED HIMSELF, AND THAT WE ARE HIS CHILDREN:
              POLITICIANS OF LOVE, SEEKING HEAVEN ON EARTH.


                Politician, and Christ? Politics and love are impossible to be together. Love is anti-political;
           politics is anti-love.
                I know politicians talk about love, but don't be deceived by their talk. They talk about peace and
           prepare for war. Never listen to what the politician says; always watch what he is doing. Whatsoever
           he says may be just a distraction, to distract you so you cannot see what he is doing. He goes on
           saying things absolutely contrary to what he is doing. That saying is a camouflage. It is a cover to
           hide.
                That's why politicians go on talking -- so that you are not in any way helped to be aware of what
           they are doing. They distract by their talk. They don't communicate, they don't say much. In fact,
           they want to hide so that things are not known. They talk about peace and they all prepare for war.
           They talk about love and they all create hatred in the world.
                But they are tricky, very diplomatic. When they say, "Love your country," they are saying, "Hate
           your neighbors." But they hide their hatred in the love of the country. When you say, "Love your
           motherland," nobody is going to raise any question about it. There is no question: everybody has to
           love his motherland. But deep down in the teaching of the love of the motherland, they are preparing
           you for war. Then you start hating the neighbors: they don't belong to your nation, they don't belong
           to your race, they don't belong to your religion. Love your religion -- then what will you do with
           people who don't belong to your religion?
                Of course, it has to be understood that you will hate them. If you love your religion, you will hate
           other religions; if you love your country, you will hate other countries; if you love your color, you
           will hate people who are of a different color. If you really want to love human beings you have to
           stop loving the country, you have to stop loving the religion. you have to stop loving your color. If
           you really want to love human beings you have to stop all political nonsense.
                But they are very tricky -- diplomatic. They talk about love and they sow the seeds of hatred,
           they talk about nonviolence and they prepare you for violence. They say they are preparing for war
           because without war. peace will be impossible. And they have talked such nonsense for so long that
           you don't even understand how contradictory they are. Then the whole humanity goes on moving in
           darkness.
                Remember one thing: Christ is not a politician -- not even of love -- because politics is
           poisonous. It will poison love itself.
                Christ is not a politician at all. I lad he been a politician, he would not have been crucified. Just a
           little diplomacy would have saved him. Just a little diplomacy: there was nothing much in it. But he
           was not a politician. That was the trouble. He was very authentic and true, not diplomatic. He said
           whatsoever he felt.
                Look: your so-called mahatmas are politicians. They try to live according to their principles, they
           try to BE according to their ideology. Whatsoever they preach, they try to live it.
                Jesus is totally different. Whatsoever he lives, he preaches. There is the difference. A Mahatma
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Gandhi looks almost like Jesus. He's not. He tries to live whatsoever he preaches, but the preaching
           is important. He wants others also to live according to his preaching. and he himself tries to live
           according to his preaching.
               Jesus is totally different. He says and preaches whatsoever he lives. When you preach
           whatsoever you live, you are exposed. You are open and vulnerable. You are true to yourself, but
           then you start becoming unfit with the society. Society is politics, it is diplomacy. Many things are
           not to be said, many things have to be said which are not true.
               When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Jesus remained silent. He could have said
           something, he was an articulate man. He was a great poet in his utterances, he could have said
           something. And his whole life was depending on that. That was the last thing Pilate asked: "What is
           truth?" Jesus looked into his eyes and remained silent. Very undiplomatic, very nonpolitical. He
           embarrassed Pilate.
               In that silence, Pilate felt very restless and uncomfortable. Jesus penetrated him deeply. His
           silence was something that he was saying from his heart.
               But Pilate wanted words. Pilate was not asking, "Show me the truth!" He was asking, "What is
           truth? " He was asking for a definition. Jesus wouldn't give the definition because HE was truth --
           and he was standing in front of him!
               He looked into his eyes. He must have stirred his soul. Pilate became uneasy. He turned away
           from Jesus. He said to the priest, "Take this man away and do whatsoever you like. Crucify him."
               I always think about it. In that moment, Pilate must have felt as if he was being crucified in
           silence. Just think about Jesus looking at you. All your falseness, all your masks, fall away because
           they cannot be there when Jesus looks at you. Naked and nude you stand before him. Empty, with
           nothing.
               Pilate was the governor-general of the Roman Empire. But inside, a poor man, a beggar. All that
           falseness cannot deceive Jesus; he penetrates deeply. All your worldly riches are useless. He looks
           deep down into you and the beggar is caught. The beggar starts becoming restless. This was not
           asked for.
               If Jesus was a little diplomatic, he would have given a philosophical answer. Pilate was a student
           of philosophy; he would have understood. Jesus could have convinced him, argued, persuaded. Pilate
           may have saved Jesus his life. But rather than saying anything he created a climate, a situation in
           which Pilate became very restless.
               Just think: Jesus is looking in you. Silence becomes embarrassing. This man seems to be
           dangerous, as if he is pushing a dagger in your heart. Suddenly Pilate must have felt the emptiness,
           the poverty that he was. He turned aside. He said to the priest, "Take this man away and do
           whatsoever you like." But he must not have slept that night, or even for months. Jesus must have
           haunted him.
               A very nondiplomatic answer. Jesus should have said the same thing that Pilate believed. That
           would have been diplomacy. Politicians say only the things you already believe. Then you are with
           them. They don't disturb, they console. Their answers are like ointments.
               Jesus' answer to the question, "What is truth?" -- his answer is like a wound in the heart. For his
           whole life Pilate must have been haunted by the silence. "What did this man mean? Why did he
           remain silent, why did he look so deeply within me? Why?" In his dreams it must have become a
           nightmare.

               Jesus was not a politician, not even of love. Love cannot be politics.
               Love is simple, not complex. Politics is very complex and cunning. Love is intelligence; politics
           is stupidity. Only mediocre people get interested in politics. Love is tremendous intelligence; it is
           understanding. When you love, you are transformed through it.
               Politics is always concerned with the society, the nation, is always concerned with the
           collectivity. Love is always concerned with the individual. Love flows between two souls, there is no
           other way. Just like a river flows between two banks. Love flows between two souls. Love is
           individual, intimate, close.
               It can flow between one individual and the whole existence, because the whole existence has a
           soul. That soul is God. But it cannot flow between one individual and society. Society is just a word.
           It cannot flow between one individual and humanity. Humanity is just a word. There is nobody to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           receive it, there is nobody to respond to it.
                Jesus loved, but he was not a politician. And Jesus never tried to change the society, remember.
           That was a misunderstanding on the part of the priests: that he was trying to change the society. He
           was not trying to change the society at all. He was trying to change the individual. And that, too, not
           according to his ideology, hut according to the individual's potentiality. There are a thousand and
           one instances....
                Jesus never condemns, Jesus never creates any guilt. Jesus never says, "That is sin. Don't do it."
           He reveals what is sin, but he never says it. He makes you understand what is sin, but he never gives
           you a dead dogma in the hand.
                In life, dead dogmas are useless. Only an alive consciousness is useful because every moment the
           sin and the virtue changes. Something was a virtue in the morning. It may not be virtuous in the
           evening. It depends on you, on others, on circumstances. It is not a dead thing that you can carry
           with you. It is changing every moment. Unless you have a flexibility, a sensitivity to change with
           life, you will not be able to know what is sin. Every moment life goes on moving. Something was
           virtuous in a certain moment. The same thing can become a sin in another moment. So no dogma is
           possible.
                Jesus gives a sensitivity to people. an awareness, a mindfulness, a meditation, so that they can
           feel their way, so that they can understand every situation and respond accordingly. If you go deeply
           into Jesus you will understand only one thing: that to act with awareness is virtue and to act with
           unawareness is sin. Sin is not a quality of any act. Neither is virtue. Sin and virtue belong to the
           presence or absence of awareness. It is not WHAT you do which is sin or virtue. it is HOW you do
           it: aware or unaware. It doesn't depend on the action. It depends, deep down, on the consciousness --
           what quality you bring to it.
                Jesus loved. That was one of his crimes: that hc loved. A rabbi should preach, he should not love.
           A religious man should become an example, and induce and seduce people to follow his example.
           He was not an example at all. In the ordinary sense, he was not creating any ideal of his own. He was
           simply helping people to be more prayerful, to be more mindful, to be more watchful. And he lived,
           and loved.
                He lived like a very ordinary man. But with very extraordinary awareness. He lived like a Zen
           master. Jews could not understand him, or only later on. Hassids would have understood, but they
           came very late. They would have understood him, they would have understood him absolutely. He
           was a Hassidic master, or a Zen master.
                But his followers also misunderstood him. They thought that he was a politician and he had come
           to change the society. His enemies also misunderstood him.
                The same has happened again and again. I am here. I am not interested in society at all, not a bit.
           But the politicians go on thinking that I'm planning in some way or other. I'm a conspirator and I'm
           planning something in secret way.s to change the society or the government. It is difficult to
           convince them that I'm not interested at all in their government or in their society. They can go on
           playing with these stupid toys. I'm not interested.
                But they cannot understand because it is beyond them. They cannot see the point: that somebody
           is not interested in government, in governing people. They think there must be some deception;
           something is hidden behind it. They think my talk about religion -- changing the individual, loving
           the individual -- is just a facade. Behind it there must be politics. They can understand only politics,
           and they will see politics everywhere.
                It is understood. I can understand it. They cannot go beyond their own minds. It is just like a
           pickpocket who comes to see a saint. He cannot see the saint, he only looks at the pockets. He is a
           pickpocket.
                You walk on the road. Different people look at you in different ways. A shoemaker looks at your
           shoe and understands you according to the situation and the condition of the shoe. If the shoe is in a
           bad condition he knows that your economic position is not okay. If the shoe is not polished well he
           knows you may be unemployed. He need not see your face; he just Looks at your shoe.
                If a man has been working on shoes for thirty, forty years, he becomes almost a psychologist.
           From the shoe he can say everything: what your financial position is, what your status in society is.
           Even what your mind is right now. When you are happy, you walk differently. When you are
           unhappy, you drag. The shoe can show that you have been dragging for long, as if you are pulling
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the whole load, the weight.
               The shoe can show whether you are in love or not. Have you watched? When you are in love,
           you polish your shoes. Everything becomes significant. Some human being has become interested in
           you. Now everything is significant. When nobody loves you, you become careless. Who bothers
           whether the shoe is gathering dust? Let it gather. Nobody is interested in you -- why should you be
           interested in the shoe?
               A policeman has a different type of shoe than a schoolmaster. You can see the shoe and you will
           know which is which. The policeman has to be violent, his shoes will show that he is violent. A
           schoolmaster is just a schoolmaster. The shoes will tell the whole story.
               A shoemaker looks at the shoe, a pickpocket looks at the pocket, a hairdresser looks at the hair.
           He knows whether you are a square or a hippy. Your hair will show it. And this is not new. In India
           one of the names of Krishna is Keshava. Keshava means'long-haired'. He was the first hippy in the
           world.
               When a politician looks at a Jesus, or at me, immediately his understanding is political. He
           becomes afraid, he thinks a competitor has come. But Jesus is not a politician, a man who knows
           love cannot be a politician. Why? -- because politics is ambition; love is nonambitious.
               Politics is a way to rule over others. Love never wants to rule. The very effort to rule and possess
           and be powerful is violent. It is part of hatred. Love gives, and gives unconditionally. Love does not
           possess. Love is not a monopoly, is not a power-lust.
               How can love be politics? Please don't use that word with Jesus. He's not interested in changing
           the society. He is interested in changing the heart, the heart of man. Maybe society is changed
           through it, but that is irrelevant. It can happen as a consequence, but that is not a concern.
               If the heart of man changes, the society is bound to change, because with a different man a
           different society will arise. But that is a consequence. Jesus is not interested in that. His whole
           interest is in how the kingdom of God can be felt within. That's why he goes on insisting, "The
           kingdom of God is within." It has nothing to do with the without. Politics is without; religion is
           within.
               Love gives, politics takes; love shares, politics has nothing to share. It tries to possess.


              OSHO, I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM. I FEEL LIKE I NEED GROUNDING AT SOME LEVEL. IS THERE
              NO PLACE FOR GROUNDING?


               It is good that you don't know who you are, because all that you know will be wrong.
               The depth of your being is indefinable. It has no name, no form. The innermost of your being is
           always unknown and unknowable. Socrates said, "Know thyself!" Not that you can know. He's
           saying: "Try to know yourself, and one day you will know that it is impossible to know." And when
           you come to a point where all knowledge disappears, and you stand in deep ignorance before
           yourself, that is the most beautiful experience, the greatest ecstasy.
               Just think: if you can know yourself, by knowing you will become limited. You will become a
           commodity. By knowing about yourself you won't be happy; you will become very ordinary. Once
           known, you are finished with yourself. Then what will you do with it? Inquiry finished, you will be
           bored with yourself.
               Your being is a mystery. The more you know, the less you know it. The deeper you go, the more
           you see the infiniteness. The depth is such that you cannot touch the bottom of it -- never. People
           who think they know themselves are very superficial. People of depth always become aware of
           something unknown. And it is beautiful because the unknown is always alive, the unknown is always
           infinite. The unknown is eternal.
               Socrates said, "Know thyself!" He means: try to know thyself. Not that you will be able to know.
           And after Socrates, a Roman, Marcus Aurelius, said. "Be thyself!" He is better than Socrates. To
           know thyself is impossible, but to be thyself is possible. There is no need to know. Just be.
           Knowledge is irrelevant; being is enough. Just BE yourself.
               So don't try to find a definition of your being. It is impossible. Live it, you can. Know it, you
           cannot. But why be bothered about knowing? Is not being enough?
               There is an urge. a deep urge, a curiosity to open and know every mystery. But that urge is going
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to fail as you move within. If you move without, that urge can be fulfilled -- a little. Science can
           fulfill your urge because something can be known about matter. But that, too, I say'just a little'. If
           you go deeper, there also the unknown comes to be encountered. The deeper you go, the more
           knowledge becomes shaky. The deeper you go, the more everything is blurred.
                One of the greatest scientist of the West, Eddington, has written in his autobiography that "When
           I started, the whole world looked like a mechanism. When I started working, searching, inquiring,
           the world looked like a great mechanism, and I had the idea that someday or other the mechanism
           would be known."
                He thought that existence could be divided in two categories: the known and the unknown.
           Known: that which we have known; and unknown: that which we will know someday or other, it is
           only a question of time.
                At the end of his life he said, "Now life appears to be divided into three categories: the known,
           the unknown, and the unknowable." This unknowable.... The known and the unknown we can
           understand. It is only a question of time before the unknown can become known, because one day
           the known was unknown. But the unknowable? That which cannot be known, which is impossible to
           be known? With that category, religion enters in.
                Then Eddington said, "Now as I look at the world, it doesn't look like a mechanism. Rather, it
           looks like a thought. Very mysterious." Had he lived a little longer. he would have certainly said that
           "Now it does not even look like a thought, because a thought has a structure, a logic. It looks like a
           poem or a song."
                And a song just like birds sing in the morning. Beautiful -- but you cannot make anything out of
           it. Beautiful AND meaningless. Tremendously beautiful, it can be enjoyed. But the meaning? There
           is none.
                This is my understanding: unless you can enjoy the meaningless, you will never become
           religious. God, to me, is the meaningless beauty that surrounds you, the meaningless song that is
           heard all around: the meaningless murmur of a brook, the meaningless whisper of the winds, the
           meaningless silence of the stars. Tremendously beautiful, but meaningless. Why do I say
           meaningless? Because it is unknowable.
                A thing remains meaningless unless it is known. Once you know, then it is meaningful. And I tell
           you, stars are mysterious, but they are nothing compared to your inner being. Rivers are mysterious,
           but they are nothing compared to your inner stream of consciousness. The Himalayas are mysterious,
           but nothing as compared to your inner peaks of ecstasy.
                Be, rather than know. Marcus Aurelius looks to me to be of more and deeper understanding when
           he says, "Be thyself!" than Socrates when he says, "Know thyself!" Though I know well that you
           cannot be yourself unless you try the Socratic dictum: know thyself! Try to know. You will never be
           able to know, and by and by, you will drop the inquiry of knowing and you will start being. Knowing
           is philosophy, being is religion.
                One of the greatest American Christian theologians of this century, Paul Tillich, was once asked
           -- at the end of his life, somebody in Santa Barbara, a student, asked him -- "Sir, do you pray? "
           He said, "No, I meditate."
                But if you ask me, I will say, "No, I don't even meditate. I just am."
                Prayer is duality: you and God. Without God you cannot pray: the other is needed. It is a
           dependence. Right is Tillich. He says, "No, I don't pray." The answer is not Christian, the answer is
           Buddhist. He says: "I meditate."
                Meditation is a freedom -- freedom from God also, because-even He is not needed. You cannot
           pray without God, because to whom will you pray? To whom will you raise your head? To whom
           will you raise your eyes? To whom will you talk, with whom will the dialogue be? A God is needed.
           Maybe He is there or maybe He is not there -- that is irrelevant -- but prayer requires a God.
                It is a dependence. Without God, the man who is praying will immediately stop praying. If there
           is no God -- or the news comes that He is dead, or has been assassinated or something like that, or
           just died of old age -- the man who is praying will immediately stop, will throw his rosary and will
           say, "Finished! Now there is no point. To whom to pray? "
                Prayer is a dependence. That is how Buddhism goes higher than Christianity. Even if God dies, it
           will not disturb the man who is meditating. He will say, "It is okay. It matters not whether He is alive
           or not. It was never a requirement to me. I am enough unto myself."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The man who meditates, meditates alone. But if you ask me, "Do you meditate, Sir? " I will say,
           "No, I don't even meditate. I just am" -- because in meditation some activity is involved. The other is
           not there, you are not in a dialogue, but you are doing something. The doing is there. The doing
           becomes the other: the doer and the doing. You are meditating.
                Meditation is an action, you are doing something. Sometimes you meditate and sometimes you
           don't meditate. That is not worth much because something that sometimes is, and sometimes is not,
           cannot be your nature. Your nature is always there, it does not depend on any doing.
                I just am. And that is the greatest prayer, that is the greatest meditation. That is what Zen masters
           say. If you ask them what they do they say, "We chop wood, we carry water. When we feel hungry
           we eat, and when we feel tired we sleep." This is what I mean when I say I am. Even the dependence
           on doing something is no longer there.
                Prayer needs the other, meditation needs action -- being needs nothing. And when you are in tune
           with that which needs nothing, then for the first time you are in tune; then for the first time you are
           grounded.
                You ask me: "Osho, I don't know who I am." There is no need. There is no need to know who
           you are. The only need is: don't be anything else. just be that which you don't know you are. Lust be
           that. Don't move outside it. There is no need to know it because you ARE it already. Whether you
           know it or don't know it, makes no difference. Knowledge will not add anything to it. Not knowing
           will not take anything out of it, knowing will not add anything to it, so what is the point? You ARE!
                Call the rose by another name, it remains a rose. Whether you know the name of the rose or not,
           it remains a rose. And whether you call it'rose' or don't call it'rose', the rose is not bothered. It is.
           Emerson says somewhere in his diary that "Outside my window the rosebush is blooming. The
           rosebush is not bothered with who it is. The roses are not comparing themselves with other roses of
           the past and they are not thinking of the future roses. Just in this moment they are with God. This
           day, they are with God."
                In your being, you ARE God. I will not even say with God. In your being, just this very moment,
           you are God, you are divine. No knowledge is needed.
                Don't be worried about it. Nobody has ever known who he is. He is! And all those who have said
           that they know are just repeating cliches. They must have read it in the scriptures. But those are only
           words. You can say: "I am BRAHMA," or "I am ATMAN," or "I am the supreme self," but these
           words are cliches. They are ugly. They don't say anything, they don't mean anything.

           "I feel like I need grounding." Yes, that's good. You need it. But grounding has nothing to do with
           knowledge; grounding has something to do with being. That's why I say Marcus Aurelius is better
           than Socrates when he says, "Be thyself!"
           "Is there no place for grounding? " Place is part of space. Time and place are not there in being --
           space and time both disappear there. You will be grounded only when you come to a certain state
           within: where you cannot say who you are, where you cannot say where you are, where you cannot
           say when you are. Everything has stopped; time does not move. The clock may be moving: tick-tock,
           tick-tock; it may be moving. You can listen, but time does not move -- only the futile gesture of the
           clock. Something deep within you has stopped. That is the point I call'the point of no-when'.
               And there is no space. You cannot say where you are, the where is irrelevant. You cannot show
           on the map where you are. You are no more on the map, you don't belong to the map. You are no
           more part of the measured, you are no more part of the charted. You are transcendence.
               You can look at space, but you are not in space; you can look at time, but you are not in time.
           Then you are grounded. This is what I call'being'; this is what Jesus calls'the kingdom of God': this is
           what Buddha calls'nirvana'.
               Yes, you need grounding. But it would be better to say, "You are already grounded. You just
           need awareness." How can you be if you are not grounded? You are already in God. I-low can you
           be otherwise? There is no other way to be, that is the only way there is. But you are not aware.
           Become more and more alert, watchful. No need to be worried about knowledge: who you are. Just
           become aware,
               Whosoever you are: X,Y,Z -- that unknown acts. Whosoever you are, just become alert and
           aware. Let that unknown within you, or unknowable within you, not fall into a stupor and sleep.
           Awake it. Don't allow it to move into dreams anymore. Shake it out of sleep and suddenly you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           see that you are already grounded. In fact, whatsoever is needed is already there. Just a turning about
           is needed.
               That is what Jesus means when he says, "Return! The kingdom of God is at hand." He's talking
           about your hands. The kingdom of God is always at hand. Just stretch your hand a little and you will
           be able to touch it. That stretching of the hand is what I mean by awareness.


              HAVING NEVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRULY FALL IN LOVE, TO KNOW THAT
              SURRENDER, IS THAT KEEPING ME FROM TRULY FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU, BEING IN
              THAT MAD STATE OF LOVE? IS IT ENOUGH JUST TO FEEL QUIET LOVE, RESPECT -- THOUGH
              NOT NECESSARILY THAT ODD FORM OF INSANITY?


                Don't be worried. Because you must be comparing yourself with others, that creates the problem.
           This is YOUR odd kind of insanity.
                Everybody has his own way of being in love. Never compare it. Somebody may be dancing, may
           be ecstatic and singing, and somebody else may be sitting silently with closed eyes. Both are mad in
           their own ways. Don't think that you are not mad and the one who is dancing is mad, because one
           who is dancing will think, "Are you mad? You have fallen in love and are still sitting with closed
           eyes? What are you doing there? Dance!"
                Everybody has his own way of madness also. Just as nobody has the same face as you, nobody
           has the same eyes as you, nobody has the same fingerprints as you -- nobody has the madness that
           you have. Everything is unique.
                Everybody falls in love in his own way. And it is good; it has to be so. Never compare. With
           comparison the trouble arises. Then you feel that you are missing something. Your love is calm and
           quiet and respectful. Then you start thinking there must be something wrong. Why are you not so
           passionately in love? Why are you not like a storm, why are you blowing like a small breeze? But
           that is your way. And God needs both. Storm and storm and storm.... He also needs a little rest. A
           little breeze is always handy.
                Don't be worried. This is how God is happening to you. Never compare. Just look within you and
           enjoy whatsoever is happening so it can happen more. Enjoy it, delight in it, and it will happen more.
           You may become even more gentle; even the breeze may disappear and stop. It has happened that
           way also. There are as many ways towards God as there are seekers. Everybody has his own way and
           there are no superways, remember -- no superhighways. Everybody walks on his own path.
                In fact, the path is not found ready-made. You create it by walking, and it disappears when you
           have gone on ahead. Nobody else can walk on it; it is never left behind. It is just like the birds flying
           in the sky. Once they have flown, they don't leave any footprints. Nobody can follow it. There is no
           need.
                Don't compare. Be contented with yourself. Enjoy, delight -- help yourself to be yourself. This is
           YOUR way.


              I WAS NOT LOOKING FOR YOU, AND YET YOU FOUND ME. I WAS NOT DESERVING. THERE
              ARE OTHERS I KNOW WHO HAVE TRIED HARDER TO FIND THE TRUTH. WHY HAVE I BEEN
              SO LUCKY?

              Because you are so humble.

               It is possible that you may be trying hard, but the effort comes out of the ego. You may not be
           trying, you may be simply waiting, but that waiting can come out of humbleness. Effort, with ego,
           will fail. Even no effort, with humbleness, will succeed. If you feel that "I was not looking for you,
           and yet you found me," if you feel "I was not deserving" -- that's how you have deserved it. That's
           how!
               Feeling that you were not looking for me, I have found you. Your deep humbleness, deep
           humility, has created the situation. It is only in humbleness that a master is found, it is only in
           humbleness that the divine happens.
               Your effort is of no use because it is YOURS. The'you' is too much. That will hinder the path.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




               BEFORE YOU FOUND ME I HAD ALREADY RENOUNCED MY FAMILY. RACE AND RELIGION.
               NOW IT HAS ALL CHANGED. I HAVE NEVER FELT SO AFFECTED AS NOW, SINCE MY
               PARENTS AND SISTER ARE SANNYASINS TOO. SOMETHING SPECIAL AND INDESCRIBABLE
               HAS HAPPENED BETWEEN ME AND THEM, I FEEL. AND IN JUDAISM I FIND MYSELF AND
               ACCEPT MYSELF. WHAT IS HAPPENING?

               This is what should happen.

               Jesus says, "Hate your father, hate your mother, hate your brethren and sisters." He cannot teach
           hate -- he must be using hate as a means towards real love. And this is what has happened. You had
           already renounced your family, race and religion, but that renunciation must have been out of ego. It
           was not a rebellion; it must have been a reaction. You must have done it without knowing what you
           were doing.
               It may have broken you away from the family, but it didn't join you with the greater family of
           existence. It separated you from the family, but it simply separated you. It was just a divorce it was
           not a marriage to the greater. It was impotent.
               Then you came to me. You became different. You meditated, you became a little more alert and
           then, by and by, your change became a magnetic force to your family also, whom you had
           renounced. Then your father, your mother, and your sister also came.
               It simply happens that if you are changed you become a magnetic force. And of course, those
           who have been related to you very deeply are affected immediately. If one person in the family
           changes, the whole family is affected immediately, They may start defending. That, too, is the sign.
           They may start fighting. That, too, is a symbol that they are being affected. Now they cannot remain
           the same; something has to be done.
               They came, they also changed, and you again became a part of your family, in a totally new
           dimension. The marriage has happened now in a totally new dimension. Now your family is just part
           of the greater family I'm creating -- of the greater sangha, the community that I'm creating. Now,
           through me, you have become joined again.
               That's why Christians go on signing their signatures: "Yours in Jesus." That is very meaningful.
           Now there is no other bridge. If you love Jesus, Jesus has become the bridge. You may have been a
           friend to somebody. Then Jesus came to you. Now the friendship has taken on a totally different
           meaning, a different poetry. Now you are no longer directly related to the person. Jesus is always
           somewhere by the corner, Jesus is always somewhere in between, flowing. Now the friend is no
           more an ordinary friend. He has also become divine through Jesus, and you say, "Yours through
           Jesus."
               This will happen to you all by and by. You will be rejoined to the same family you renounced,
           through me.


               THE LAST FEW DAYS THIS HAPPENS: WHENEVER I FEEL I NEED TO BE IN TUNE WITH MY
               CENTER, IMMEDIATELY I SEE THE IMAGE OF A VERY CALM, DEEP LAKE SURROUNDED BY
               MOUNTAINS. ALL IS PEACE AND IN DEEP HARMONY. I SEE MYSELF SITTING EITHER ON THE
               BORDER OF THE LAKE OR ON THE MOUNTAINTOP -- JUST SITTING AND WATCHING IN CALM
               HAPPINESS. THERE ARE ALWAYS WHITE AND BLACK BIRDS SILENTLY FLYING AROUND.
               THE PLACE IS NOT FROM THIS WORLD, AND YET IT IS FROM THIS WORLD. THE IMAGE
               CENTERS ME IMMEDIATELY. I SEEM TO NEED IT, BUT STILL IT FEELS A BIT CHILDISH; AND
               ALTHOUGH IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE I AM DOING SOMETHING. I AM YET DOING. PLEASE
               COMMENT.


               This is good -- healthy and wholesome. This is one of the old meditation techniques. You may
           not be doing it knowingly, but you may have done it in some past life. It may have simply surfaced
           again. But it is one of the most beautiful techniques. As far as techniques go, this technique also
           goes.
               Use it. And don't feel it is childish because all happiness is childish, all joy is childish, all delight
           is childish. Enjoy it; become a child. And when the work is done, the technique will disappear. When
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the work is done, the picture of the lake and the mountains and the birds will disappear by and by.
           The picture will disappear but the calmness will remain. The lake will go but the rippleless lake of
           your consciousness will be left behind.
                Enjoy it as much as you can. This has something to do with your past. You may have done it
           before. Now it has again surfaced. It happens: if people have been doing certain methods in their past
           lives and they have been left incomplete, when they meditate again, suddenly some technique erupts,
           surfaces, and possesses them completely. Then you are not doing it. It is happening.
                And that is one of the most significant things to be understood. If a method happens to you
           without doing, that is the method for you. When you do something, it is different; when it
           HAPPENS, it is totally different. When it happens, it is nearer to the heart. When you DO. it is
           nearer to the head.
                Allow it, enjoy it, let the scenic beauty of the lake completely surround you. Forget yourself; be
           in it totally. It will center you. And once the work is done, all pictures will disappear. When only you
           are left -- the lake is no more, the birds are no more; nothing is there to be seen, only the seer is left
           -- then the real meditation happens. That's what I call'being', just being. That is the ultimate.
                But this technique can be helpful. When it is happening by itself, it can be very helpful. Allow it.
           It is healthy and wholesome. And don't think it is childish. All beauty, all happiness, all ecstasy is
           childish. God is childish!




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #7
                                      Chapter title: He that heareth the word
           6 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511060
              ShortTitle: FOLL207
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




              MATTHEW I3
              10 AND THE DISCIPLES CAME, AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHY SPEAKEST THOU UNTO THEM IN
              PARABLES?
              11 HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU TO KNOW THE
              MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT TO THEM IT IS NOT GIVEN.
              12 FOR WHOSOEVER HATH, TO HIM SHALL BE GIVEN, AND HE SHALL HAVE MORE
              ABUNDANCE: BUT WHOSOEVER HATH NOT, FROM HIM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY EVEN THAT
              HE HATH.
              18 HEAR YE THEREFORE THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
              19 WHEN ANYONE HEARETH THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, AND UNDERSTANDETH IT NOT,
              WHEN COMETH THE WICKED ONE, AND CATCHETH AWAY THAT WHICH WAS SOWN IN HIS
              HEART. THIS IS HE WHICH RECEIVED SEED BY THE WAY SIDE.
              20 BUT HE THAT RECEIVED THE SEED INTO STONY PLACES, THE SAME IS HE THAT
              HEARETH THE WORD, AND ANON WITH JOY RECEIVETH IT;
              21 YET HATH HE NOT ROOT IN HIMSELF, BUT DURETH FOR A WHILE: FOR WHEN
              TRIBULATION OR PERSECUTION ARISETH BECAUSE OF THE WORD, BY AND BY HE IS
              OFFENDED.
              22 HE ALSO THAT RECEIVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS IS HE THAT HEARETH THE WORD;
              AND THE CARE OF THIS WORLD, AND THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES, CHOKE THE WORD,
              AND HE BECOMETH UNFRUITFUL.
              23 BUT HE THAT RECEIVED SEED INTO THE GOOD GROUND IS HE THAT HEARETH THE
              WORD, AND UNDERSTANDETH IT; WHICH ALSO BEARETH FRUIT, AND BRINGETH FORTH,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SOME AN HUNDREDFOLD, SOME SIXTY, SOME THIRTY.


               JESUS IS LIKE A DIAMOND. Every facet of him contributes to the brilliance of the whole. To
           the sorrowing, he brings solace; to seekers, he brings knowledge; to the poor, he brings the kingdom
           of God; to the rich, he brings poverty of the spirit; to the strong humility; to the weak, strength. He's
           many things, and he's different to each one who comes to him. He has many faces, many aspects, and
           it has to be so.
               The same is with Buddha, the same is with all those who have awakened, because when they talk
           to YOU, or relate to YOU, they talk to you and they relate to you. They respond. They cannot give
           more than that which you can take: they cannot give you that for which you have not asked; they
           cannot give you that for which you are not ready. They can only give you that for which you have
           come.
               It depends on you who Jesus will prove to you to be. He is a response, he reflects you.
           Remember this. Because of this, many complexities have arisen. Many people will give you different
           reports. They all are true -- and no one is totally true. They all talk only of facets, parts of Jesus that
           have been revealed to them. Hence so many stories....
               Buddha died and immediately there was great turmoil amongst his followers. The sangha divided
           into many parts. The community could not remain one because there were different reports -- as if
           Buddha was not one man but many. He was one, absolutely one, but he reflected so many people
           that they knew him in different ways -- according to their capacity, according to their receptivity,
           according to their readiness. They all said different things. Not only different, but quite contradictory
           to each other. The community had to divide.
               The same happened with Mahavir: the community had to divide. The same happened with Jesus:
           the community could not remain one. And the reason is: Jesus is different to different people. He has
           to be, he is just a pure mirror. You come and he reveals your face to yourself. He exists so that you
           can realize yourself, He has no other idea to force upon you, He has no idea at all, he is simply a
           helper. If you come to him in search of knowledge, he will reveal that to you. If you come to him in
           search of love, you will be benefitted by his compassion and love. If you come to him as a sinner, he
           will give you salvation. But it depends on you; he echoes you.
               This has to be understood. Then these sutras will be very simple.

              AND THE DISCIPLES CAME, AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHY SPEAKEST THOU UNTO THEM IN
              PARABLES?


               The disciples were noticing that whenever he talks to the masses, he always talks in parables.
           Whenever he talks to them in privacy, he talks differently.
               It has to be so. A disciple is different. A disciple is one who has committed his a]l. He's not just a
           follower. A follower is one who is impressed and still hesitating. And the ordinary masses are
           neither followers nor disciples. They may be curious to know who this man is, they may be intrigued
           by this man, they may be amused by this man -- a few of them may become followers later on and a
           few of the followers may become disciples later on -- but the masses are still not related to him.
               They have come to him as curiosity seekers, just by the way. Somebody has told them, "Here
           comes Jesus. A great man, the son of God," and they got interested. They may lose interest again,
           they may go on their paths and forget everything about him -- or. at the most, he may remain a
           beautiful memory -- but he will not be a transformation to them.
               So these are the three types of people to whom Jesus is relating: the masses, the followers, and
           the disciples. The disciples are a chosen few. The disciples are those who have come to decide that
           this man is their salvation, and they have staked all that they had. Now they are ready to die for him.
           If they live, they will live for him; if they die, they will die for him. Now there is no turning back.
           They have come to the point of no return. They watch this man, they love this man -- now this man
           has become their very life. The innermost secrets can only be revealed to these disciples.
               The mysteries can be revealed only to those who are so ready that even if death is needed they
           will not shirk, they will not hesitate. And death is needed. To know the ultimate secret you will have
           to die, and until you die that ultimate secret cannot be born within you. To receive him, you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to disappear. So only to these few disciples can the truth be revealed in its directness, in its
           immediacy.
                To the followers: something of the truth, but not direct; something of the truth, but not
           immediate; something of the truth, but garbed; something of the truth, but hidden. They will have to
           work. Only then will they be able to know what has been said to them.
                To the masses: just parables. Parables are faraway echoes of truth. If somebody insists, then there
           is a thread in the parable. I use the word SUTRA. It is a Sanskrit word. It means'the thread'.
                It is very significant. When I say'these sutras', I mean'these threads'. If you catch hold of them,
           you can reach to the ultimate. They are like arrows from the ultimate which have reached to your
           heart. If you follow the path of the arrow backwards, you will reach to the ultimate. These are
           threads, sutras.
                A parable is a sutra. It simply gives you a thread, a hint, an indication. A very subtle hint and a
           very delicate thread it gives to you. You have to be in search. Then the parable, by and by, will
           reveal its treasure to you. It is not revealed on the surface. If you take the obvious as the actual, it
           will just be a beautiful story. If you are deceived by the obvious, you will lose track of the hidden,
           The obvious is not the actual in the parable. In the parable it has many coverings. You will have to
           uncover; you will have to work hard.
                I have heard a true story about a man who had parked his car in front of a supermarket. When he
           came back, his car was almost destroyed. Somebody has crashed into the car: the front was
           completely gone. And there was no visible sign of the other car or the other man. His heart sank.
                Then he found a small piece of paper tucked under the windshield wiper. He felt happy: the man
           had left his address and name. He took out the.scrap with trembling hands. He opened the paper. It
           was written on the paper: "While am writing this note to you, at least two hundred people are
           watching me, They all think that I am writing my name and address. I am not! " That was all. The
           obvious is not the actual. And they believed, those tWo hundred persons, that he had written his
           address and name and tucked the paper under the windshield. The man is gone... those two hundred
           people are gone. Nobody bothered to see what he had written.
                If you take a parable as the obvious, you will miss the whole point of it. The obvious i.s not the
           actual. The actual is hidden, very deeply hidden -- as if a diamond has been hidden in.side an onion.
           You uncover, you uncover: there are layers and layers of onion, and then the diamond is revealed.
                A parable is a diamond hidden in an onion. The obvious is not the actual; the actual is totally
           different. A parable i.s a way of saying some truth of tremendous import, but in such a way that even
           a child can understand, can feel that he has understood. But a parable needs deep understanding to be
           discovered. A child can feel he has understood and even a very mature person may feel that
           something goes on eluding him. A parable is both simple and very complex. It is a story on
           the.surface; it is a secret within.
                Jesus talked to the masses in parables, small stories. Ordinary people could understand them.
           And if you work on them, even extraordinary intelligences may miss the point. Nobody has talked
           like Jesus. His parables are the most beautiful in the whole history of the human mind.
                Buddha tells stories, but they cannot be compared to Jesus' parables. Buddha's stories are plain.
           They say something, but whatsoever they say is obvious. They are not parables, they are stories.
           They are to explain something. He will say something and to make it explicit, he will tell a story.
           The story is secondary. The story can be dropped because he has asserted the truth first and then he
           explains the truth by a story. It is not a parable. When the truth is hidden in the story and is not
           asserted outside of it. then it is a parable.
                Buddha's stories can be dropped, because whatsoever he has said in the stories he has said
           directly also. He will always say the truth first and then he will say the story -- to explain it.
           Buddha's stories are explanatory.
                Jesus' parables are not explanatory. Whatsoever he wants to say, he says IN them. You have to
           dig deep, you have to move inside the story. A parable is like a Chinese box: box within box, box
           within box. You go on and you find another smaller box inside. A parable has many layers, as many
           layers as there are types of man.
                Gurdjieff uses the categorization of seven types of man. The first type, number one, is
           body-oriented. If he listens to the parable, he will only touch the body of the parable, the surface.
           The obvious will be the actual for him. He will listen to the story, he will enjoy the story, he will go
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           home and tell the story to his children. They will also enjoy, and everybody will forget about it. It is
           a story: to be enjoyed.
               Number two, the man who lives in his feelings, will suspect something deeper than the body. He
           will suspect some poetry in it, some romantic dimension will open to him. The parable will not be
           only a parable, a story; it will be a poem, a condensed poetry. He will enjoy it deeply. He will be
           thrilled, tears may come to his eyes. Or he may dance to it. But that's all. A good poem is also a good
           poem. It does not transform you. It gives a thrill, and it is gone. It is like a breeze that comes, touches
           you, refreshes you, and then it is gone.
               Man number three, the rational man, will try to understand the meaning. The parable will become
           philosophy to him. He will rationalize about it and around it. It will be a dry thing, but he will make
           a theory out of it.
               These are ordinary categories: man number one, man number two, man number three. They're all
           here: you can find these three types everywhere. This is ordinary humanity, the masses.
               Man number four is not confined to the body or to the feelings or to the reason. Man number four
           has risen above them. He has become an awareness, a watcher. He will understand the deep
           significance of the parable and the significance will be life-transforming, He will become a follower.
           He may become, later on, a disciple. He may be transformed totally.

              AND THE DISCIPLES CAME. AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHY SPEAKEST THOU UNTO THEM IN
              PARABLES?

              "Why don't you say things directly? Why are you indirect and indirect? Why do you go around and
              around? Why not hit them directly and say things directly? "

               One very well-known Christian preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, has said that every man is an
           island. If you want to land on the island, you have to row around and around to find the right place
           for landing.
               Yes, he's right. Every man is an island and if you want to make contact, real contact, you have to
           row around and around to find the right place and the right time to land. If you land from the wrong
           place you will be rejected; if you land in the wrong moment you will not be accepted. If you land
           from the right place, in the right moment, you will be a welcome guest; otherwise you will be an
           intruder. One h3s to wait. A parable is a going around and around the island of man to find from
           where to land.
               But the disciples can't understand it. Why? Why does he speak in a different way to them? And
           whenever there are multitudes, why does he change his ways and start talking in roundabout
           language?
               The disciples are those whose gates are open for Jesus. There is no need to go round and round.
           The disciples are those whose landings have been already found. They ARE in contact with Jesus;
           Jesus is always welcome, ALWAYS welcome. They are waiting, intensely awaiting him. They have
           become just a deep waiting for him. He's the bridegroom: they have become his brides. Their hearts
           are open. There is no need to go around and around.
               But for the masses, each man is an island and the landing has to be found. And the right moment.

              WHY SPEAKEST THOU UNTO THEM IN PARABLES?
              HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU TO KNOW THE
              MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT TO THEM IT IS NOT GIVEN.


               To whom is it given to know the mysteries of heaven? To whom is it not given? Those who seek,
           those who knock at the door of heaven -- it is given for them. Those who are standing without
           knocking -- or those whose back is at the gate of heaven, or those who have become completely
           oblivious that heaven exists -- for them it is not given.
               Unless you are moving in the direction of God, God cannot move in your direction. If you are
           moving against Him, how can He reach you? If you are closed to Him. how can He open you? If you
           are denying Him, how can He come and become a guest in your heart? No, then it i.s not given;
           heaven is not given to you.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Jesus said:

              BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU TO KNOW THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,
              BUT TO THEM IT IS NOT GIVEN.


                But they can turn, they can start moving in the direction of God. It takes the same energy
           whether you move against Him Or for Him; the same effort is needed. In fact, to move against Him
           needs more effort because then you are moving against the current. To move towards God needs no
           effort because then you are flowing with the stream. There is no need for any effort.
                People think that when somebody attains to God it is a miracle. That is not right. The miracle is
           that which is done by you -- that you have lost God. That's a miracle. That is something, a great
           achievement. It is so hard to go against, it needs so much effort, it needs so much struggle. And
           struggle for nothing, because in the end the hands are empty.
                To achieve to God is to relax, to start flowing towards Him. You need not do anything. If you are
           just in a deep let-go, the river takes you over. God possesses you if you allow Him
           "Repent, return, the kingdom of God is at hand." It has always been at hand, but you have become
           deaf to the message. You listen to it and yet you don't hear it. You hear it sometimes, but you don't
           understand it. There are a few moments when you understand it also, but you never bring it to y our
           life. It never becomes existential. It remains a fragrance in the mind and then disappears.

              HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU TO KNOW THE
              MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. BUT TO THEM IT IS NOT GIVEN.

              "That's why I have to talk in parables to them." Only parables can they understand, only through
              parables will a possibility linger around them. They will remember the parable and in some moment of
              tranquility, calmness, collectedness, the parable may start functioning. The seed will remain with them
              and when the rains come, maybe it will sprout. It will wait for the right moment... and someday the right
              moment will be there.

               They may be feeling happy, or they may be feeling very calm and quiet, or they may be feeling
           relaxed. Suddenly they remember the parable, and some new meaning arises. It was not there when
           they heard it because a meaning depends on your being; it depends on you what meaning you give to
           a certain thing.
               I was reading a story. Two psychiatrists lived in the same building. Every evening they would
           come back from their offices and they often rode on the same elevator together. The elevator man
           was very much intrigued by one thing that happened again and again. The first psychiatrist, as he got
           out of the elevator, would invariably turn back and spit on the other psychiatrist. The other would
           smile, calmly take his handkerchief out of his pocket and wipe his face, or the tie, or the coat.
           Sometimes the elevator man even heard that he would chuckle to himself.
               He got more and more curious. One day he could not contain himself. As he was closing the door
           on the first psychiatrist he asked, "For heaven's sake, doctor, tell me why your colleague goes on
           doing this to you."
               The other psychiatrist laughed and said, "Oh, I don't know. This is his problem. How can I
           know? But why should
           be bothered? Poor man, that is HIS problem."
               Somebody spitting on your face.... Really, it is his problem; it has nothing to do with you. But
           you make it your problem. Then you are disturbed, then you are worried, then you start thinking of
           how to take revenge.
               Can you see the point of the story? The meaning depends on you, the interpretation is yours.
           Even when somebody is spitting on your face you can laugh, you can smile -- you can even feel
           compassion for the poor man. He must be having a great problem, otherwise why?
               A parable is just a seed given to you. How to uncover it, when to uncover it, will depend on you
           and your moods. Sometimes it happens that you may hear something today and you may not
           understand it. Years will pass and then suddenly one day you have understood it. Years have passed.
           What has happened in those years? You have changed. You have become more mature; you have
           gained more experience. You are no longer the same. The parable is the same, but you are no longer
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the same. Every moment you are changing, and a changed you will find a different meaning in the
           same parable.
                Jesus talks to the masses in parables because they are not yet ready. Nobody knows when they
           will be ready. But something has to be given to them. A gift from Jesus: a parable. Right now they
           may be simply amused, simply delighted in hearing a beautiful story, but while they are delighting,
           the parable is entering within them.
                Unaware, they have opened their heart. The parable will be there then. It will wait for its timing,
           its season. It will wait for the man to be ready. Then one day -- after years, and sometimes even after
           many lives -- the parable will come to a flowering, and the truth that the seed carried will be
           revealed.
                To those who are ready, the truth can be said right now. They will hear it and they will
           understand it. But for those who are not ready, something has to be given to them also.
                Then Jesus says a very paradoxical thing, one of the most paradoxical that he ever uttered -- but
           very significant. Always remember, whenever you find a paradox in Jesus, Lao Tzu, Krishna,
           remember, something very, very significant, tremendously significant, is being asserted. The greater
           the truth, the more difficult it is to assert it in ordinary language. A paradox has to be used for it
           because a paradox is a unity of dualism. It contains the opposites. And greater truths always contain
           the opposites.
           Jesus said:

              FOR WHOSOEVER HATH...

              Listen to it well!



              FOR WHOSOEVER HATH, TO HIM SHALL BE GIVEN, AND HE SHALL HAVE MORE
              ABUNDANCE: BUT WHOSOEVER HATH NOT, FROM HIM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY EVEN THAT
              HE HATH.


               Looks very cruel -- unkind, hard. We would have thought just the opposite: give to those who
           don't have, and if you want to take away, take away from those who already have too much. Jesus
           says just the reverse. He says: to those who have, more will be given: and those who have not, even
           that which they have will be taken away. This is one of the most fundamental laws. This is so.
               In ordinary life, in the worldly life, just the opposite law functions. In ordinary life this is how we
           think: that a poor man should be given more. If you take away from the rich, nothing is wrong; but if
           you take away from the poor and give it to the rich -- can you conceive anything more wrong than
           this? You give to the healthy and take away from the sick?
               Out of this law, communism is born. Communism says: give to those who don't have and take
           away from those who have. As far as this world goes it is okay, but in the other world, the kingdom
           of God, it is totally different. Only to those who have will more be given. And from those who don't
           have, will be taken away even that which they have. Why?
               If you meditate, more meditation will be happening to you. If you don't meditate, even those few
           moments which happen on their own of calm, of quiet, will be taken away. If you are getting
           crystallized within you, the whole existence will help you to be deeper in crystallization. Everything
           will help to integrate you. If you are not getting crystallized and you are becoming a bigger and
           bigger crowd every day, everything will help to make you become even a greater crowd.
               Whatsoever is happening to you in the inner world, existence helps it. Whatsoever. If you are
           growing inside, God helps you to grow more. If you are falling apart, getting split. getting
           fragmented, the whole helps you to become more fragmented. In the inner world you have to earn;
           you cannot get anything without earning it. You cannot get anything without working hard for it.
           You cannot get anything unless you deserve it.

              FOR WHOSOEVER HATH, TO HIM SHALL BE GIVEN, AND HE SHALL HAVE MORE
              ABUNDANCE: BUT WHOSOEVER HATH NOT, FROM HIM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY EVEN THAT
              HE HATH.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Jesus said to his disciples: "You have something. I give you more, I add more to it." More can be
           given only when you have something, because if you don't already have something, you will not be
           able to absorb the more that is given to you.
               If you don't have anything of the inner consciousness and I give to you, it will be lost. It will be a
           wastage. To absorb that which is given by Jesus or Buddha, or by any master, you need a foundation.
           If you don't have the foundation already, nobody is going to give to you because that is sheer
           wastage. It may even prove dangerous. Whatsoever you get without earning it will be a danger to
           you because it will never become a part of you. It will be a burden. It can crush you, but it cannot
           help you to grow.
               The more you absorb, the more will be flowing towards you. If you don't have, nothing can be
           added to it.

              HEAR YE THEREFORE THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

              And Jesus told them a parable:



              WHEN ANYONE HEARETH THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, AND UNDERSTANDETH IT NOT,
              THEN COMETH THE WICKED ONE. AND CATCHETH AWAY THAT WHICH WAS SOWN IN HIS
              HEART. THIS IS HE WHICH RECEIVETH SEED BY THE WAY SIDE.


               Jesus is saying something which is very meaningful, but he is saying it in the language that was
           prevalent in those days. The language has become out of date now. But Christians go on insisting on
           it. That creates a very embarrassing situation. The meaning will never be obsolete, but language
           always becomes obsolete; it is no longer in fashion.
           Jesus says:

              WHEN ANYONE HEARETH THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, AND UNDERSTANDETH IT NOT,
              THEN COMETH THE WICKED ONE -- THE DEVIL.


                That is the language of those days. I here is no devil, there is no personality. There is neither
           personality in the devil, nor in God. Both are impersonal phenomena. But this is a way of saying
           something. And beautiful, very poetic. It is a parable.
                Jesus says: "If you hear the kingdom of God" -- the word, the news, the good news -- "and you
           don't understand it, immediately the devil enters your heart and takes it away." This is just a way of
           saying something. Try to understand it.
                Science, today's science, has come to know many mysteries of life, without understanding them.
           They have come to know, but they have not understood. The secret of atomic energy was known:
           immediately the devil entered: it could not help humanity. Such a great secret... it could not help. On
           the contrary it became destructive: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And there is every fear that it may
           destroy the whole humanity. A secret is known, but not understood.
                Whenever you know something, you attain to some power because knowledge gives power;
           knowledge is power. What will you do with the power if you don't understand? If you understand it,
           the power will be absorbed by you; the power will give you light. The power will become silence,
           the power will become a deep calm. The power will become humility, humbleness -- it will kill your
           ego.
                But if you don't understand, then the power will become the ego. Then that power will become
           destructive to others. Then you will try to possess others; then the power will become political. That
           is the devil.
                Let me say it in a new language. Whenever you don't understand a new secret, it becomes
           political: the devil enters in. When you understand. it becomes religious. Then God enters in. All that
           is known without understanding will always go into the hands of the politicians. They are the evilest
           forces in the world; they are always in search of more power. Scientists are serving politicians, not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowing what they are doing.
                Unless you are deeply prayerful and meditative, any power that you attain is going to serve
           wrong purposes. That is the meaning of Jesus:
                WHEN ANYONE HEARETH THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM -- the word of the kingdom is
           the greatest secret to penetrate to the innermost core of existence -- and understandeth it not, THEN
           COMETH THE WICKED ONE, AND CATCHETH AWAY THAT WHICH WAS SOWN IN HIS
           HEART. And he will be poorer because of it; he will be poorer than he was before. At least before,
           the wicked one had not entered in him.
                People come to me -- sometimes for wrong reasons. I can understand, because people are wrong.
           How can they come for right reasons? I have to persuade them, by and by, to be here with me for
           right reasons.
                Otherwise they can be here for wrong reasons. They come to me to attain more power. I have to
           persuade them that power is not good. "Rather, you work for silence."
                Silence doesn't seem to be so attractive as power. Power is foolish but looks very attractive to the
           ego. They ask me, "If we meditate, will we become more powerful? If we meditate, will SIDDHIS
           come to us, will powers come to us? Will we be able to do miracles?"
                This is coming to me for wrong reasons. This is all foolish, because even if you can do miracles,
           what is going to happen? You may attract a crowd, you may be worshipped, but you will remain in
           the ego. Crowds may come around you, but God will be far away.
                Those who have been working deeply in the world of consciousness -- Patanjali or others -- have
           always warned disciples that sometimes, even without seeking, power comes on your path. Then
           beware! Don't start using it, because if you start using it, you will be distracted by it. Now you are no
           longer moving towards God. Now your path has changed; now you have taken a different track. You
           will be lost there.
                THIS IS HE WHICH RECEIVETH SEED BY THE WAY SIDE. If you throw seeds and they
           fall by the side of the road, they will not be able to sprout. People will be always walking on them;
           they will be destroyed.

              BUT HE THAT RECEIVED THE SEED INTO STONY PLACES, THE SAME IS HE THAT HEARETH
              THE WORD, AND ANON WITH JOY RECEIVETH IT;
              YET HATH HE NOT ROOT IN HIMSELF, BUT DURETH FOR A WHILE: FOR WHEN TRIBULATION
              OR PERSECUTION ARISETH BECAUSE OF THE WORD, BY AND BY HE IS OFFENDED.


               Then there is a second type who receives the word with joy -- but in a stony place. Your head is
           that stony place. You can listen to truth and receive it in the head. Head is very rocky, stony; it has
           no soil to help the seed to grow. You may rejoice that you have understood, but that understanding is
           not going to last very long. Sooner or later, that understanding will disappear.
               Don't be intellectuals when you are near a man like Jesus or Buddha. They are not teaching
           philosophy and they arc not teaching any doctrine. They are teaching life... and life can be received
           only in the heart, not in the head.
               The first, who Jesus calls THIS IS HE WHICH RECEIVETH SEED BY THE WAY SIDE, has
           not even received in the head. He simply listens. He listens from one ear and it goes out by another.
           He never receives anywhere; he's the worst. The second is a little better. He receives, hut receives in
           a stony place: in the head. The word enters into the head and becomes his reasoning, becomes an
           argument, a doctrine, a belief, a philosophy. Then, too, he may rejoice in it; he may be happy that he
           has understood. There are many here around me who think they have understood, and the seed has
           fallen in a stony place....
           YET HATH HE NOT ROOT IN HIMSELF -- in the head there is no soil and the seed cannot find
           roots -- BUT DURETH FOR A WHILE -- the seed will remain there for a while -- FOR WHEN
           TRIBULATION OR PERSECUTION ARISETH BECAUSE OF THE WORD, BY AND BY HE IS
           OFFENDED.
               Sooner or later, if the word has been understood, your life will start changing. You will become
           rebellious, you will start fa]ling off the society track. You will not be so much with the society as out
           of it. You will become a stranger in your own land. Then there is going to be trouble, persecution,
           tribulation.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And then... then you will betray the word. Because reason is not enough. Reason can carry the
           word if it is comfortable and convenient, but when trouble arises the reason will drop it and betray it.
           Only the heart can carry the word even when there is trouble, hardship. Even if death faces you, then
           too the heart will carry it. Only then can the seed have roots.

              HE ALSO THAT RECEIVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS IS HE THAT HEARETH THE WORD;
              AND THE CARE OF THIS WORLD, AND THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES, CHOKE THE WORD,
              AND HE BECOMETH UNFRUITFUL.


               Then there is one more type who heareth the word and who understands it in the reason -- or
           even allows a little of it to drop in the heart -- but he RECEIVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS.
           His heart is not pure, his heart is not solely and wholly devoted to the kingdom of God. He has a
           thousand and one desires, and there are many weeds growing in the heart. The seed is lost in those
           thorny bushes.
               Unless God becomes your only goal, THE only goal; unless God alone challenges you and all
           desires drop. He becomes the only desire: unless He is your only love and there is no competitor to it
           -- you will lose the seed. You will not be able to grow and become a vast tree of the divine. It will
           not be possible.
               You have many desires. Maybe God is also one desire in it. You have many loves. Maybe God is
           also one of them. But God cannot be one amongst many. Either He can be the only one or He will
           not be. You cannot divide your heart.
               Sometimes people come to me and they say they have some other master. I tell them, "It is good.
           You go to your master, don't come to me. Or if you come to me, then come to me. Then forget your
           old master. If you are happy with your old master, if things are growing, go back with my blessings.
           If things are not growing -- as there is every possibility; otherwise why should you have come to
           me? -- then be courageous and drop completely out of the old relationship."
               To be with a master, one needs to be wholly with him. Unless your heart is available to me
           completely and totally, the seed will fall in a thorny bush where many other plants are growing, and
           the seed may not have a chance to grow. The whole soil of your heart has to be cleared and cleaned
           before the seed can be sown.

              HE ALSO THAT RECEIVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS IS HE THAT HEARETH THE WORD;
              AND THE CARE OF THIS WORLD, AND THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES, CHOKE THE WORD,
              AND HE BECOMETH UNFRUITFUL.
              BUT HE THAT RECEIVED SEED INTO THE GOOD GROUND IS HE THAT HEARETH THE WORD,
              AND UNDERSTANDETH IT; WHICH ALSO BEARETH FRUIT, AND BRINGETH FORTH, SOME AN
              HUNDREDFOLD, SOME SIXTY, SOME THIRTY.


               Then there is the right person who receives the word in the heart, where no thorns and thorny
           bushes are growing -- where only one plant of the divine is received, where only one love exists and
           only one ambition and only one desire. Then your heart has become the temple.
               These are the four possibilities. Jesus says, "These are the people who come to me. I have to talk
           in parables so everybody receives according to his understanding." Somebody may be just enjoying
           the parable. Good!... but it does not go very far. Some will receive it in their reason, in their heads.
           Good as far as it goes, but it will not last long. Soon, whenever there is trouble, they will betray.
               The last night, when Jesus took leave from his disciples, one disciple followed him. Jesus had
           been caught, had been made a prisoner. The enemy was taking him to prison. One disciple followed.
           He said, "Lord, I will come with you wherever you go."
               Jesus said, "You don't know. Before the morning, before the sun rises, you will have denied me
           three times."
               But the disciple said, "Never! I will never deny you. How can I deny you? I will never betray
           you. Even if I am killed, I'm ready."
               Then he followed Jesus in the crowd. Somebody seeing him -- that there is some stranger --
           asked, "Who are you?"
           He said, "I come from another town."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "Are you a follower of Jesus?"
           The disciple said, "No, I don't know who Jesus is."
               Jesus looked back and he said, "The sun has not risen yet." Nobody understood, but the disciple
           understood.
               Then again, when they were reaching near the prison, somebody again looked at this man and
           said. "Why are you following us? Who are you? " They thought he was a spy or somebody.
               He said, "I am a stranger and just out of curiosity, to see what is happening, I'm following you."
           "So you don't belong to Jesus? "
               He said, "Who is this Jesus? I have never even heard of him.'
               Jesus looked back and said, "Yet the morning is far away."
               Again at the gate of the prison somebody asked and the disciple again denied -- three times
           before the sun had risen. The disciple must have understood the word in the stony place, in the head.
           The head cannot sacrifice. Only the heart can sacrifice.
               Unless you are ready to sacrifice your all, God cannot become a truth to you. He demands all, not
           a small bit less. He demands you totally. That is the challenge. Only the heart is mad enough to do
           that; the head is too clever. It can give a little, but it always holds much back. It can come out a little,
           but the major part remains inside: watching. seeing, calculating whether it is worth it. It is always
           ready to withdraw if things go too far.
               People were with Jesus when he was hailed as the son of God and the multitudes were there. But
           when he was crucified, those masses disappeared. Nobody was there. Only a few disciples were
           there, and even those disciples were hiding in the Crowd of the enemies. When Jesus was crucified,
           only three women came near. That is symbolic: that only the heart can come near in such moments.
               If Jesus was going to be enthroned, then all the disciples would have been near. In fact, there
           would have been a great competition. They had even been asking Jesus before he died: "Lord. when
           you will reach heaven and sit by the right side of God, please tell us what will be our positions? Who
           will be sitting by your side, and who will be next? " Ambitious heads, ambitious minds, ambitious
           egos. If Jesus was going to be enthroned, then they would have been in great competition to be near
           him.
               But he was crucified. Hiding in the crowd, they were watching. If some miracle happened, then
           they would rush and declare that "We are the closest to him, the most intimate to him." But nothing
           happened. He simply died like an ordinary man, just an ordinary man. And he was so capable of
           curing others. He had raised the dead from the graves and he could not save himself. He had cured
           incurable diseases, he had done all sorts of miracles. The disciples were waiting: if some miracle
           happened and Jesus attained to glory and to God -- if God came down and saved His son, the only
           begotten son; if the crucifixion became an enthronement and he was declared the king of the world --
           they would have rushed. But nothing happened, no miracle. Jesus died like an ordinary man.
               This was the miracle: that he accepted. Whatsoever the will of God was, was going to be his will.
           He accepted it in totality. "If he wants me to be killed on the cross, perfect. Then that is what is to be
           the case. Then that has to happen."
               He dropped his ego and will completely. In that moment, the greatest miracle happened.
               But it was so deep, so inner, that the disciples could not see it. Only three women reached Jesus,
           to take his body from the cross.
               This is symbolic. The heart came close even when he was dead, crucified, with nothing to give.
           The heart is always with. In glory, in success, in failure -- the heart is always with. The head is with
           you when you succeed. When you fail, the head fails you. It escapes. It is cunning, it knows when to
           be with somebody and when not to be. It withdraws, it simply denies. "Who is this Jesus? I have not
           even heard the name."
               Three poor women, one of them a prostitute, Mary Magdalen, came to take possession of the
           body. They brought down the body of Jesus from the cross. Whether crucified or enthroned makes
           no difference for the heart. The heart is not a calculator, the heart is not a Jew. The heart can stake all
           and all. That's why the heart becomes the door of God.
               That is the fourth possibility. Then the seed reaches to the right soil.

              ... AND BRINGETH FORTH, SOME AN HUNDREDFOLD, SOME SIXTY, SOME THIRTY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Much harvest comes out of a single seed. Remember, when Jesus gives you something, he is just
           giving you a seed. If you give it a chance to grow in your heart, it will become an hundredfold, even
           a thousandfold.
                You cannot understand whatsoever jesus is giving you until it grows in you. A seed looks just
           like a pebble. It does not look like a diamond -- an ordinary pebble. Sometimes the pebble may even
           look more colorful, more precious. But the pebble remains a pebble: it has no potentiality, it is dead.
           Even a diamond has no potentiality. But a seed.... That is the difference. The pebble is dead, the
           diamond is dead, but the seed is alive. It can grow, it can become more, and more, and more. An
           hundredfold, a thousandfold -- and then millions of seeds will come and they can again grow an
           hundredfold, a thousandfold.
                It is said that one single seed can fill the whole earth with greenery. Just a little time is needed.
           And if you give more time, a single seed can fill the whole universe with greenery, with flowers.
           Such is the potentiality of a seed.
                When Jesus talks to you, he is not giving you flowers. He's giving you seeds. You might have
           wanted to get flowers because their value is obvious, but he gives you seeds because he knows that a
           flower is just on its deathbed. A flower is at its last stage; a seed has not even begun yet. A seed is
           infinite potentiality; the flower is exhausted.
                That is the difference between an awakened one and the so-called pundits, rabbis. They give you
           flowers: exhausted. You can enjoy them a little, decorate your room for a while, but the flower is
           exhausted. A Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna -- they giVe seeds. That's why a rabbi can be very famous
           in his time, but then he is forgotten. A pundit may be very famous when he is alive, but when he is
           gone, he is gone. Jesus lives and lives and lives; Buddha goes on living. They give seeds. Millions of
           flowers come out of them and millions of seeds. They continue; there is a continuum of life.
                A parable is a seed. It depends on you how it will unfold itself. You can lose it like a dead thing
           if you hear it and don't understand. Or you can lose it if you hear it and understand only by the
           intellect. Then it falls on stony ground. Or you can lose it by understanding, even giving it a place in
           the heart, but amongst so many bushes. No, Jesus wants your whole heart. Nothing less will do. It is
           a total commitment.
                When you come to me to be initiated, it is a total commitment. It is a risk. You are taking a jump
           into the unknown. So only courageous, very courageous people can move onto the path. Only those
           who dare. It is risky and dangerous. You have never known it before. You will be moving for the
           first time, so you don't know.
                I was reading a story. In a desert it happened: a man came to a place where he was feeling very
           thirsty. There was a hand-pump by the side of the road. He went near, very hopeful, and there was a
           small note hanging with the handpump. On the note it was written: "Please. The road traffic is almost
           nil; years pass before some traveller comes by. The pump is in order, but for years nobody uses it, so
           first you will have to put water in it. I have hidden a big bottle full of water under the white rock.
           Please don't drink it. If you drink even a part of the water, then there will not be enough for the pump
           to start. Trust me. If you put all the water in the pump it will function and there will be enough water
           coming out for you. And remember, before you leave, fill the bottle again and put it under the rock."
           The note was signed -- and the date on it was twenty years before. For twenty years....
                The man ran to the white rock. The bottle was there. Many people had passed, but everybody had
           trusted the man. There was every possibility that you may have thought: who knows if this man is
           mad or crazy? Or is just a practical joker, playing a joke on you? If you put in the water, who
           knows? -- the water may be lost and the pump may not start. You are thirsty, amidst a desert; for
           miles there is no town. It is dangerous and risky to trust. And it is somebody unknown. You don't
           know who this man is. He has signed his name, but who is he? But everybody followed. This is trust.
                And this man also followed. It is moving into the unknown: he was dying of thirst -- all
           temptation was there to drink the water first. Who knows? And this water can save him! It is
           absolutely clear that this water can save him. TO pour the water in the pump... maybe it will be lost,
           and the pump won't work. It is a desert land.... Who knows? -- the pump might have been working
           when the last man came and it may not be working now. This is taking a risk; life is at stake. But he
           poured the water. With trembling hands. with fear, with death near.
                When you come to me and I.say something of the unknown. you have to trust me. There is no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other way. And it is dangerous. Who knows? -- this man may be just a practical joker, he may be just
           playing a joke. Or maybe he is mad, crazy. It is a risk.
               To walk with Jesus is a risk, to go with him is a risk, because wherever he is leading you have
           never been. The path is unknown, the goal is unknown. Only the heart can take that much risk
           because the heart is innocent, innocent like a child.

              BUT HE THAT RECEIVED SEED INTO THE GOOD GROUND...


               The heart is the good ground. And the good news can be received only in the good ground.
               Jesus says: "That's why I talk in parables." The parable can be understood according to the man.
           He can understand it according to himself. If he has something within him, then the parable will hit
           that source and will give much. If he has nothing in him, the parable will be lost.
               If you don't have the base, the parable will not reveal the source of power to you -- because then
           the wicked one enters, and you are possessed by the devil. Then the ego becomes more strong and
           rather than helping, you have been harmed.
               A parable is beautiful: it gives you only that much which you can take. It never gives you more.
           But if you are ready -- or someday you will be ready -- then it starts giving you more and more and
           more.
               I have heard that when President Abraham Lincoln was choosing people for his cabinet, one of
           his advisors suggested the name of a certain man. Abraham declined. The advisor asked why.
           Lincoln said, "I don't like his face." This can't be a reason! The advisor said, "But he's not
           responsible for his face. At least that should not be a reason. What can he do about it? He is
           helpless."
               Lincoln said, "No. After the age of forty, every man is responsible for his face."
               I agree with him. Absolutely true. After the age of forty, you are responsible for your face. It is
           the way you have lived, loved, worried. It is the way that you have behaved, related. It is how
           miserable you have allowed yourself to be, or how ecstatic. It is your autobiography. But after the
           age of forty.
               You are responsible for your face. But I would like to tell you something more. You are
           responsible for your soul also, not only for the face. Because you are whatsoever you have chosen to
           be. It you are miserable, this is your choice; if you are in deep darkness, that too is your choice.
           Unless you choose to return, God will not be available. Not that He is not available -- He is always
           available -- but He is helpless.
               Face Him, turn back, look at the source, and suddenly He showers on you. Yes, remember this
           fundamental law: FOR WHOSOEVER HATH, TO HIM SHALL BE GIVEN, AND HE SHALL
           HAVE MORE ABUNDANCE: BUT WHOSOEVER HATH NOT, FROM HIM SHALL BE
           TAKEN AWAY EVEN THAT HE HATH.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #8
                                       Chapter title: The fear of happiness
           7 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511070
              ShortTitle: FOLL208
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              OSHO, WILL I KNOW WHEN I AM READY TO FACE YOU?


                YOU WILL FACE ME; knowledge will come later on. Not the otherwise -- not that knowledge
           will come first and then you will face me. Knowledge will not precede; reality will precede.
           Knowledge is a shadow: it follows. Once you start thinking that knowledge precedes, you are in a
           mess. I will tell you one story:
                One evening a monk knocked at the doors of a Zen monastery. He wanted to stay over for the
           night. He was tired, hungry. I he host opened the door, but rather than greeting him by a hello or
           good evening, he encountered him with a Zen koan -- very famous. He said: "What is your original
           face, the face that you had before your father and mother were born? "
                The monk took off his sandal from his foot and hit the host hard on the face. The host stepped
           back, bowed down and said, "Welcome, you are welcome. Your understanding is tremendous."
                Then they had dinner. In the cold night they were sitting by the fireplace chitchatting, and the
           guest asked, "Have you got the answer yourself or not? The koan that you asked me -- have you got
           the answer of it yourself or not?"
                The host said, "I am not that fortunate. No, I have not got the answer. But I recognized it when
           you gave me the answer. Because I have read so much about Zen, and heard so much about Zen, I
           could recognize the immediacy of your answer. You didn't hesitate for a single moment, you didn't
           think it. It came out of your totality. It was not from the head -- that much I could recognize."
                The guest didn't answer. He continued sipping his tea. But then the host became a little
           suspicious. He looked again at the face of the guest and he found there was something he didn't like.
           So he asked again, "Please, tell me: do you really know the answer? Have you got the answer? "
                The guest started laughing, he starting rolling on the mat in deep mirth. He said, "No, sir. I have
           also read too much about Zen and heard too much about Zen."
                If knowledge becomes too much, that becomes the barrier. You can know without knowing. That
           is the danger of knowledge. You can know, not knowing at all. Deep inside you remain ignorant, but
           on the surface you know everything that can be known.
                You can deceive others, but the greater danger is that someday you may be deceived by yourself,
           you may deceive yourself. Then all possibility for growth stops.
                Never be bothered about knowledge. The whole quest should be for reality, for that which is.
           You should not be worried about it. That is the difference between theology and religion: theology
           goes on talking about God; religion TALKS God, not about. The'about' is the realm of theology. The
           priests, the preachers, they go on talking about and about. Religion is not talking about reality.
           Religion TALKS reality.
                You ask me, "Will I know when I am ready to face you?" You will face me first; then you will
           know. Knowledge always follows. It is a recognition when the real thing has happened. You will not
           know God before knowing Him. You will know Him first and then, as a shadow, knowledge will
           follow. You will recognize later on what has happened. The happening is first; recognition is later.
                Sometimes it may take much time to recognize, because mind is stupid. Sometimes it may take
           much time to recognize. It may happen many times in your life -- you may have attained a few
           moments of tremendous reality, authenticity, but you couldn't recognize them. They are lost in the
           desert. Before you could recognize them they were gone, and then there were other things: the mind
           became engaged. You missed.
                This is my observation: that you cannot find a single human being on the whole of the earth who
           has not had some moments of reality. In spite of yourself, sometimes the glimpse comes to you,
           because it is not only you who is seeking reality -- the reality is also seeking you. It is not only that
           you need God: God is in tremendous need of man. You cannot be without Him; He cannot be
           without you.
                You can forget Him, but He cannot ever forget you. You may be standing with your back
           towards Him, but He goes on trying to reach you. Your hands may be very small; His hands are not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           small. He can reach you wherever you are, even in the seventh hell. And He goes on groping for you,
           remember this.
                That's why many times -- not because of you, in spite of you -- a glimpse happens. But you
           cannot recognize it. Many people have religious experiences but they cannot recognize them as
           religious. Sometimes they are aesthetic experiences. No true aesthetic experience can be other than
           religious.
                When you see a beautiful face of a man or a woman or a child, if really you are struck by the
           beauty, the experience is not only aesthetic; it is religious. In that moment of beauty, God has looked
           at you through that face; God has revealed himself to you through that face. Through those eyes, the
           depth of existence has tried to communicate with the depth of your being. Depth has talked to depth,
           there has been a dialogue. It has not only been aesthetic.
                Suddenly one morning you are light and graceful. You are fresh and unburdened. The past is no
           more haunting you and the future has not yet started. You look at the sky, a vast emptiness, and
           everything stops within you. You also become a vast emptiness. It is not just an aesthetic experience;
           it is religious. Beauty is truth... and truth is beautiful!
                Sometimes you hear music and the mind stops. The music surrounds you, you are drowned in it.
           You are no more there. Just a transparent presence: the music goes through and through. In that
           moment, it is not only music that is happening; it is religion. But you don't recognize it.
                You think religion happens only in the church, where dead priests go on beating around the
           bush? In fact, the church is the last place for religion to happen. It is a graveyard; God is not alive
           there. A church is full of dead gods. They were alive once, somewhere in the past. They are just
           histories now.
                When Jesus walked on earth, around him religious experiences were happening. But now Jesus is
           a dead myth. He's worshipped in churches, preached about and about, but he's not there.
                The church, the temple, is the last place for religion to happen, for God to penetrate you. He
           comes to you in more alive ways. He comes through the wife, through the child, through the
           husband, through the friend. Sometimes, even through the enemy. Flowers and ocean and sand and
           the mountains and the stars and the birds: He comes in a thousand and one ways, but always alive.
                He's life; you can forget the name'God'. The word has become very dirty -- drop it! Just call Him
           life, that will do; call Him existence or being, that will do. If truth seems too harsh, call Him love,
           that will do. If truth has been too much monopolized by philosophers, drop it. Love is perfectly
           beautiful.
                Wherever you have had any poetic experience, wherever your heart has become a.small poem --
           something throbbed within you, something unknown -- there is religion. Recognition may take time.
           Sometimes for lives you may not be able to recognize. And when you recognize you will simply
           laugh, you will go mad with Laughter, because in that recognition many other things which were left
           unrecognized will also be recognized.
                I have heard about a Zen monk -- the story is simply unbelievable! He worked hard. His master
           had given him a koan, a Zen puzzle to work out. The koan was: if one hand claps, what will be the
           sound? Not two hands clapping with each other; just one hand clapping in emptiness. What will be
           the sound? Try to hear it.
                He tried and tried, but he couldn't hear it. Years passed. He would go to the master, he would
           always bring something that he had heard, and the master would reject it immediately. Even before
           he had said anything, the master would say, "No! Don't bring any.stupidity here. Go back. Work
           hard."
                It is said that twelve years passed and the master never even gave an appreciative look. He was
           harsh and the disciple lost his heart, he lost his nerve. He escaped from the monastery.
                Where to go? -- he had no home. And the people at home wouldn't accept him, because once you
           become a monk and you live in a monastery for twelve years, coming back home is failing. It is not
           respectable. The whole town would laugh at him, that he had failed, and his family would feel bad.
           Better not to go to them.
                Then where to go? He was just standing in the town, an unknown city, not knowing whore to go,
           what to do. A woman looked from the window. I he monk was standing there... he was a beautiful
           man. The woman called him. Not knowing who she was.... And even if he had known, there was no
           problem now. The woman, who was a prostitute, called him, and he went to live with her.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The prostitute fell in love with him. She danced and she played music. She was a great singer, a
           great musician, a great dancer, and he forgot everything that he had learned for twelve years with his
           master, the Zen koan and all, completely forgot -- as if everything was erased, as if he had never
           been to the monastery.
               He was making love that night to the woman -- I have never come across as beautiful a story as
           this -- and when he came to the climax, suddenly he heard one hand clapping! In deep love there
           comes a moment where two become one. The two energies meet: yin and yang, man and woman.
           The man disappears and the woman disappears; there is no yin and no yang. A circle, a non-duality.
               Suddenly, the koan was solved! He HEARD the sound of one hand clapping. It is said that he
           jumped out of bed, jumped out of the window.
               The woman couldn't believe it: "What are you doing? Have you gone mad? "
               He said, "Let me go to my master first. It has happened!"
               He went to the master and, wonder of wonders, the master was waiting outside the temple for the
           disciple. He said, "So it has happened? This is no time to come and see me. Two o'clock -- in the
           middle of the night!"
               The master was waiting for him. Before it happens to the disciple, the master knows. If you are
           tuned with the master, if you have really surrendered to the master, when it happens to you it will
           happen to your master also. The master lives, many times, many satoris through his disciples. His
           own satori is complete: he has arrived. But many times through his disciples.... Whenever a disciple
           arrives again, he again arrives through him. Again, the same dance.
               Life is God, love is God. Remember this much, and don't be worried about knowledge.
           "Will I know when I am ready to face you?" You will face me. You will jump out of the bed, you
           will jump out of the window and you will rush. And you will not know what is happening. That
           happening is greater than you. How can you know it? It is vaster than you. How can you comprehend
           it? You are just a drop in it; it is oceanic. But later on, when everything is settled again and you are
           at home with this ecstasy, this satori, SAMADHI, then the mind comes back. Recognition starts,
           thinking starts.
               Recognition is of the mind; the realization is not of the mind. In the deep moment of realization,
           the mind stops. The phenomenon is such, and so unknown, that the mind cannot function, cannot
           cope with it. When it has gone, then the mind comes back. Then it starts looking and watching and
           thinking and brooding. Then suddenly a recognition arises: so it has happened?
               So it has happened? The mind cannot believe in it because the mind is a doubter. But it has to
           believe it. Believe it or not, it has happened.
               Recognition will follow realization. you will know when it has happened, but you will not know
           beforehand. And there is no need. If you know beforehand, your knowledge will become the barrier.
           So please don't be concerned about


              HOW CAN I SERVE YOU?


               Just be yourself. There is no other service to me.
           Just be yourself; that's how you can serve me. That's how you have already served me -- if you are
           yourself. My whole effort is to help you to be yourself. If you are centered, rooted, grounded, if you
           have come to a point where you are not worried to become somebody else, where the ambition to
           become somebody else has dropped -- when there is no desire to move into the future, when the
           present is enough unto itself; when you are deeply contented as you are; when you can thank God,
           when you can be grateful and there arises no complaint; when your whole heart is simply full of
           gratitude -- you have served me. There is no other way.
               Of course it would have been easier if I had given you some other ways to serve me, because
           those things you can do. You can come and massage my feet. That won't help; that is not of much
           use. That is not going to lead you anywhere. You may feel happy, but that happiness is not bliss.
               My whole effort is: fall back on yourself. Don't move into the future and don't be motivated by
           the future. If THIS moment becomes your total reality, you have come close to me, the closest that
           one being can come to another. By being yourself, you will be near me; by trying to be something
           else, you will go far away.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Don't be imitators. The mind is an imitator, because it is easier to play the game of imitation than
           to become authentically true. Many ideas have been given to you: become like a Buddha, become
           like Jesus. become like Krishna -- as if you have to become everybody else EXCEPT yourself. As if
           God is only against you. He's for Krishna, for Christ, for Mahavir, for Buddha -- only against you.
           Then why does He create you? Then He seems simply foolish. Why does He go on creating you? If
           He's interested in Buddha, Hc can create Buddhas. Why you?
               It would be simpler. He can go on creating Buddhas... like Ford cars. They go on coming through
           the assembly line: one car after another: one Buddha after another. That will be good. But God is not
           interested in it. He never creates Buddha again, have you observed? He never creates, He never
           bothers to create, a Jesus again. Why?
               There is no need to repeat. All repetition is dead. He goes on creating the new, the novel. He
           creates you! He's more interested in you than in creating more Buddhas or more Christs. And
           remember, He will not repeat you either, so while you are here, be true and authentic. Be your.self.
               I have heard one story. One American made a beautiful teacup and then he wanted to
           mass-produce it. But to mass-produce it in the States would have been very expensive, so he sent it
           to Japan to be mass-produced.
               In transit, the cup handle was broken. The Japanese, as you know, are perfect imitators. They
           mass-produced it exactly as it was: with a broken handle. They repeated it exactly as it was!
               This has been going on. God goes on creating the new, God goes on creating the novel, God goes
           on creating you, and the imitators in the churches and temples go on saying, "Be like Jesus. be like
           Buddha, be like this." And in transit, everybody's handle is broken!
               The transit: two thousand years. Even if Jesus comes back, he will not be able to recognize the
           Jesus that is worshipped in the churches. Impossible. Jesus was totally a different man -- alive!
           Churches go on worshipping somebody who was never there. It is their invention.
               Why do I go on speaking on Jesus, Buddha or Krishna, or Zarathustra or Lao Tzu? This is the
           reason: I would like to bring you Jesus as he was before the transit: unbroken, complete -- before the
           priests entered.
               In one of my friends' house, there's a very valuable painting: a seventeenth-century painting of a
           great master -- very precious. He loves it so much that he's always afraid to even clean it. Something
           may be destroyed; it is old and very fragile.
               But much dust had gathered on it and an expert had to be called. When the expert started
           cleaning it, a new problem arose: the paint started peeling off. The expert was very worried. He said,
           "Should I stop? "
               I was staying with the friend. I said, "Don't stop. You go ahead." The friend was not there,
           otherwise he would have stopped the man.
           But he said, "It may be destroyed."
               I said, "Don't be worried. You just go ahead, because I can see something else behind the
           painting."
               And it was so. When the paint peeled off, it was discovered that the real painting was hidden
           behind. Some other painter had just tried to improve on the master. There were two paintings, and
           the real came out only when the imposed painting and the paint peeled off. Then everybody was
           happy. But the risk was there!
               When I talk on jesus, I am trying to peel off the paint with which Christianity has tried to
           improve upon the original face of the master. But it is natural in transit. Things change.
               You be true to yourself. Never try to be anybody else. That is the only sin I call sin. Accept
           yourself! Whatsoever you are, you are beautiful. God accepts you; you also accept yourself. He
           created you in His own image. He trusts; He has committed himself in your being. Don't betray Him,
           don't become imitators.
               That is the only way you can serve me: by being yourself. Be thyself! Suddenly you will be close
           to me, the closest that is possible. By being imitators, by trying to be somebody else, you falsify your
           being; you become a traitor. All ideals are treacherous and all ideals are betrayals.
               I don't teach you any ideal, and I don't want you to become anything that is not intrinsic to you.
           You don't know who you are; that is the difficulty in being oneself. One has to remain content with
           the unknown.
               I have heard: When the apostle, Paul, reached Athens, he told the people of Athens, "You are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           good, you are great in your thinking, you have given the greatest philosophies to the world. But one
           thing I have observed: I have seen one temple in your city which is devoted to the unknown God.
           Inside there is no statue -- just inscribed on a marble:'This temple is devoted to the unknown God.'"
               Paul said, "This is not enough: an unknown God. This is not sufficient. Your foundation is
           incomplete. I give you the known God, because only with the known God is a foundation possible.
           Your culture, your civilization, lacks foundation."
               But I tell you, only the unknown God IS the God. Once you are devoted to a known God you
           have started falsifying already, because the known will be knowledge, the known will be part of your
           mind. Buddha is known -- easy to imitate. Jesus is known -- easy to imitate. YOU are unknown. And
           I teach you to remain true to the unknown God.
               The known is easy. You can tackle it; you can cope with it. To move into the unknown needs
           much courage, needs daring. And religion is the greatest adventure. It is not a consolation, it is not a
           convenience, it is not respectability. It is to move into the unknown, the uncharted, and to risk life.
               What Paul said to the Greeks is dangerous. This man Paul talks sense but is very dangerous. You
           will also feel that a known God is better than an unknown God, because with the known we can
           relate easily; with a map we can move easily. But I tell you again and again, there is no better way to
           be lost than to have a map.
               In the world of truth, all maps are false, because the truth is undefined and remains indefinable.
           Defined, it becomes untrue. That's what Lao Tzu means when he says: "The truth cannot be said.
           Once said, it is no more the truth."
               God IS unknown. Or, it would be even better to say, the unknown is God. And that unknown
           resides in you, abides in you. If you want to serve me and to be close to me, be close to your
           unknown God which is within you. Serve that unknown God which is within you, help that unknown
           God to be: to expand, to become, to flow, to flower.


              THE STRANGEST THING HAS HAPPENED: I FEEL HAPPY! MY PROBLEMS SEEM
              TRANSPARENT, AND I FEEL MORE AND MORE ALIVE. YOU TALK ABOUT THE NEED TO DIE.
              HOW CAN MY HAPPINESS LEAD ME THROUGH'THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL'?


                This is from Sambuddha. Now, Sambuddha, please don't try to create new problems.
                This is how the mind functions. Even if you are happy, you feel uneasy. You, and happy? --
           impossible. Something must have gone wrong; it doesn't fit with the idea that you have of yourself.
           You, and happy? You must have gone mad, or you must be imagining, or this man, Rajneesh, has
           hypnotized you. You, and happy? -- impossible.
                Now, Sambuddha, don't try to create new problems. Forget all that I say about dying, because in
           the happiest moments one dies. The death I am talking about is not the death of misery; the death I
           am talking about is not the death of suffering, is not the death of agony. The death I am talking about
           is the death of ecstasy, the death of pure bliss, the death when you are so happy that you explode and
           simply disappear.
                But don't be worried about it. It will come by itself; it is already on the way. If you become
           worried and you become concerned about'why I am so happy'....
           "The strangest thing has happened: I feel happy! " If you become worried about it. soon the
           happiness will disappear and you will fall back to your old state of mind.
                Enjoy it. Move deeply into it. Dare! The mind has become so miserly and so miserable that when
           happiness happens. then too it clings to its old past. It is afraid to move. How to be happy? How to
           laugh? Even if it laughs, it laughs halfheartedly. Even if it moves, it moves ready to withdraw any
           moment if something goes wrong. And happiness wants you to be totally in it. It claims you totally!
                Enjoy it, move into it, be possessed by it, and in that possession will be death. Totally possessed
           by happiness, the ego dies.
                I don't teach suffering. I don't teach sacrifice, I don't teach renunciation. I teach the death that
           comes out of bliss; the death that comes at the highest peak of happiness; the death that comes when
           you are dancing, singing, loving; the death that comes when you are possessed by the whole and the
           ocean drops into the drop. Of course, the drop dies. Such a tremendous phenomenon: the ocean
           dropping in the drop. How can the drop live now? But what is the point of living? It the drop tries to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           live, that wi]l be a real death. If the drop disappears in the ocean.... This is what Jesus calls'life, and
           more abundant life'.
               Allow it! Very difficult. People go on seeking happiness but when it comes, they close their
           doors. People go on seeking love, but when it knock.s at the door, they hide somewhere in the closet.
           People go on seeking friendship and when somebody comes near, they become panicky; they
           become afraid.
               What is the fear of happiness? The fear of death. What is the fear in love? The fear of death.
           What is the fear of freedom? The fear of death. The ego is afraid. The ego can remain in misery., it
           can remain even in the seventh hell, but even a slight breeze of happiness and the house of the ego
           starts falling, collapsing.
               Nothing kills like happiness, nothing kills like ecstasy; but that risk is worth taking because only
           after that death does real life arise. You disappear. Then God lives in you.


              WHY IS RELIGION A DIRTY WORD FOR ME, AND WHY DOES IT THREATEN ME FAR MORE
              HERE IN POONA THAN IT EVER DID BEFORE?


               Religion HAS become a dirty word. It has been used too much and abused too much. It has
           passed through thousands and thousands of hands. It is just like an old coin or an old currency note
           which has been passing through many hands and has become dirty. Everything used too much
           becomes dirty -- not only religion.
               All beautiful words have become dirty.'God','love','ecstasy' -- all have become dirty. The reason
           is natural, obvious. Because the words are so beautiful, humanity tends to use them too much. Just
           look at advertisements and you will find all the beautiful words -- used for cigarettes, soaps, cars,
           furniture. All beautiful words. The advertisement for a cigarette can even say that the cigarette is
           ecstatic. Now, a beautiful word is being dirtied.
               Every film, every movie, is thought to be'marvelous','fabulous'. If everything is fabulous, and
           every movie is fabulous, then nothing is fabulous. The word does not mean much now. If you say
           something is fabulous, it doesn't mean anything. It simply means that you have been listening to TV
           too much!
               All beautiful words become dirty because the mind tends to use them more and more, for every
           and any thing. Religion has become dirty....
               It is the oldest thing in the world. There is a controversy about which profession is the oldest.
           Prostitutes and priests are the two competitors. I have also been thinking about it and I cannot
           conceive of how prostitutes can come before priests. Impossible! Unless the priest is there, how is
           prostitution imaginable? Impossible. The priest must have come first. He must have condemned sex;
           then prostitution follows. He must have condemned it so much that the whole thing becomes very
           attractive.
               Religion HAS become a dirty word. but remember well: when a word is dirty, that does not mean
           that the thing that is denoted by the word is dirty. Religion, the word, may have become dirty, but
           religion, the thing, is still fresh and will always remain fresh.
               You can use another word for it. Any word will do; that is not a problem. Remember, just
           because a word has become dirty, don't throw away the thing itself. That will be throwing out the
           baby with the bath water. The bath water has become dirty -- true, throw it! -- but at least save the
           baby. If you can save the baby, there is no trouble.
               Churches have made it dirty. They have made a profession out of it, they have corrupted it. They
           made it so low because they had to bring it to the masses. They made it very cheap, as if there is no
           need on your part to do anything. They come and give you the Bible free; they go on throwing
           religion on you, they go on imposing. They don't ask even your permission. They are intruders,
           pretenders. They have corrupted it.
               But they have not corrupted religion as such. They have corrupted only the word. Forget the
           word, but don't forget the reality that is indicated by it.
               That may be the cause: "... and why does it threaten me more here in Poona?" Because I am not
           concerned about the word; I am concerned about religion itself. It threatens more. If you go to a
           church you will come back intact. As you had gone in, you will come out: the same. But if you come
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to me, you cannot go back the same.
                If you really come close to me, in that very coming you will be transformed and changed. You
           may escape, you may get afraid, scared, but you will never be the same again. I will go on haunting
           you wherever you are. I will come in your dreams, I will follow you like a shadow.
                The fear is real, the threat is real. When you go to a church, the priest is a false threat. He may
           thunder, but the threat is false. He may shout at you in the name of God, but the threat is false.
                I have heard: it happened in a Zen temple. One morning there was a great earthquake -- as it
           happens in Japan. Half the temple collapsed. The priest, who had been pretending that he was a real
           Zen man, immediately gathered his disciples and said, "Look. Now you must have observed what is
           the real quality of a real Zen man. The earthquake was there, but there was not even an iota of fear in
           me. Have you observed? I remained as if nothing had happened. Not only that, you must have seen
           that after the earthquake stopped, I went to the kitchen because I was thirsty, and I drank a big glass
           of water. Did you observe that my hand was not trembling at all while I was holding the glass?"
                One disciple smiled. The priest felt annoyed. He said, "What is funny in it? Why are you
           smiling? "
                The disciple said, "Reverend sir, it was not a glass of water. It was a big glass of soy sauce that
           you drank!"
                When you want to show off, from somewhere or other the reality is bound to leak.
                Go to a priest. His talk is okay -- never more than okay, just okay -- but if you look into the
           reality of the man, there is no fear. He is just like you. He may pretend... and you may even pretend
           that whatsoever he is pretending is true. That's how it goes on. Pretensions need mutual cooperation.
           Hc pretends that he is a great master, you pretend that you are a great disciple. He accepts your
           pretension; you accept his pretension. That's how both are satisfied mutually. And things remain the
           same.
                When you are here, you are really near a danger point. I AM a dangerous man. You should be
           alert about it. Come close to me with full awareness -- there IS danger. I am not a priest. I'm not
           teaching religion here; I'm ready to give it to you. It is not a teaching, it is a transmission.
                In churches you have learned that the words'religion','God' -- they have all become dirty. Then
           you come to me and you start realizing that those words may have become dirty, but something is
           hidden behind them which is ever fresh, ever green, ever alive and capable of changing you totally.
           Then the fear arises.
                Just the other day, Atmada wrote me a letter, a beautiful letter, saying, "Why are you so worried
           about this Jesus being crucified? It is good that this idiot was crucified! Why are you worried about
           it? "
                In fact, this is all that the priests have done. Trying to force Jesus on you, trying to be aggressive,
           intruders on your being, somehow trying to convert you to Jesus, they have dirtied the very name of
           this beautiful man. Trying to prove that he is the greatest wise man in the world, they have only been
           able to magnify his defects and nothing else.
                That's why Atmada writes to me that he was an idiot. I know that he was, but that is how a wise
           man always is.
                That point has to be understood. A really wise man is a synthesis of whatever you call wisdom,
           and idiocy. He is as simple as an idiot and as complex as any wise man can be.
                You can look at him from both sides. If you look at him from one side. he will look like an idiot.
           You can find in Jesus all the things that you can find in idiots.
                Read Feodor Dostoevski's book, THE IDIOT. It is about an idiot, but in that idiot you will find
           all the beautiful qualities that Jesus has: the innocence, the quality of no-mind, the quality of trust.
           Never a doubt arises. These are all idiotic qualities. You call a man an idiot if he trusts everybody
           and anybody; you call a man an idiot if you go on deceiving him and he still goes on trusting you.
           You go on deceiving him and he goes on trusting you. You cannot create doubt in him because he
           has no mind.
                A man like Jesus is also like an idiot. Not because he has the same state of idiocy; he has come to
           the same state from a very different dimension. the circle is complete: he has again become a child.
                The idiot is below mind, Jesus is above mind -- both are no-minds. The idiot has got no mind.
           Jesus and Buddha also have got no minds, but there is a difference. They HAD, and they found out
           that to have a mind is foolish. They dropped it: they have become idiots voluntarily. They are not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stupid. They are idiots because they are wise.
               Yes, I know: Jesus, Lao Tzu, Buddha, look like idiots. In India we have a word for the idiot
           which comes from Buddha. It is BUDDHU. The word is derived from Buddha himself. Buddha:
           BUDDHU. BUDDHU means'idiot' and BUDDHA means'the awakened man'. How can both these
           words be together?
               When Buddha died, his impact was tremendous. Thousands and thousands of people became
           followers. Thousands and thousands of people were sitting under Bodhi trees with closed eyes,
           meditating. People would call to them: "BUDDHUS, go home! What are you doing? Don't be a
           BUDDHU. Do something, go home. Your wife is suffering, your children are hungry. Don't be an
           idiot! Don't be a BUDDHU!"
               I know, Jesus is so innocent that he looks foolish. But that foolishness is tremendously precious.
               I am also idiotic, Atmada. And whatsoever I am teaching is teaching you to be so simple and
           trusting that you also become idiots in a sense. But that idiocy is the supreme awareness, that idiocy
           is supreme wisdom. Polarities meet: dualities disappear.
               In a Jesus, you will always find a paradox: he's opposites together. You will find in him qualities
           which are feminine, you will find in him qualities which are absolutely male. They meet and mingle,
           and they have become one. In him, the feminine and the male have become one; the wise man and
           the fool have become one. The polarities have disappeared. The contradiction is no more a
           contradiction; it is a synthesis.
               Difficult for the mind to understand. The mind is a doubter the mind is skeptical. And the mind
           thinks that it is very intelligent. Mind is stupid, mind is mediocre. It has nothing to do with
           intelligence. Intelligence is a totally different flowering of your being; it has nothing to do with
           mind. Mind is just a mechanism; it is a computer, a bio-computer. Very complex, but still a
           mechanism. It has nothing to do with intelligence.
               Intelligence comes within you only when you have become so unidentified with the mind that
           you can see that mind is separate and you are separate. In that state, intelligence happens. That
           intelligence will be both wise and foolish.
               That is the mystery of a Jesus. That is the paradox, the poetry.


              THE PEAKS ARE GETTING PRETTY WONDERFUL, BUT THE VALLEYS ARE DEEPER AND
              DARKER THAN EVER. FINDING BALANCE SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT TO DO?


               There is no need to do anything. You are not to find balance, balance will find you. You simply
           move. When the valley comes, you go into the valley. When darkness surrounds you, enjoy it, feel
           blissful in the velvety touch of it. Move into it, into the infinite magnificence of it. Darkness has a
           soothing quality which no light can have. The valley is a rest: like the night, like death.
               No need to try to find balance. The balance will find you. You simply move into the valley.
           When the valley comes, you accept it. You not only accept it, you welcome it. You enjoy it, you
           delight in it -- darkness is beautiful. And when the valley goes and you move towards the peak, that
           too is perfectly beautiful. That is beautiful: the light, the morning, the sun.
               But don't cling to either. Clinging creates trouble; through clinging, anguish comes. If you cling
           to the peak and you say, "I would not like to go to the valley again," then you will be in trouble.
           Then at the very peak you have created the valley. Then, already, the suffering has started. You are
           afraid: fear has entered, the agony is already there. You are no longer happy. You have destroyed the
           peak.
               When you are in the valley you will suffer that "now the valley has come." You will suffer the
           valley, and you will not be able to enjoy the peak. This is the ordinary situation.
               When you are happy, you become afraid. Is this happiness going to stay or will it be gone? Now
           fear eats away at your happiness like a worm and poisons it. You are happy and yet you are not
           happy. Something is already dead: you have become apprehensive of the future. When you are
           unhappy, of course, you are unhappy. When you are happy you cannot be happy, so how can you be
           happy when you are unhappy? The whole life becomes a vicious circle of unhappiness.
               Now, listen! When you are at the peak, dance. I know, and you know, that the peak is not going
           to last forever. There is no need. If it lasts forever, it will be such a tension that you will not be able
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to tolerate it. It will be such an excitement that you will not find any rest in it. It will be dangerous, it
           will kill you. No need for it to last forever. But while it lasts, dance, enjoy, sing -- knowing well that
           it is going to he lost again. Knowing it, one has to enjoy it even more before it is lost.
                And remember, this is the miracle: when you enjoy it more it lasts longer. When you are happy
           in it and dancing, it forgets to go away from you. It lingers with you. When YOU don't cling to it, it
           clings to you. This is the whole secret.
                And when it is gone, then too it is not gone. It has given you such a deep blissfulness that now
           you go into the valley and you can rest in darkness. Then the valley becomes relaxation and the peak
           becomes enjoyment. Then the peak becomes the day and the valley becomes the night: then the peak
           becomes activity and the valley becomes passivity.
                One has to enjoy the night also. That is the only way to enjoy the day. And if you enjoy the day,
           a great night comes with great rest. It refreshes you, rejuvenates you.
                Always remember: the greater the peak, the greater will be the valley. Otherwise how can the
           peak be greater? If you go to the Himalayas you will find that the greater the peak the greater the
           valley. If you are afraid of the valley, then don't ask for the peaks. Then move on plain ground. There
           will be no peak and no valley.
                That is the most miserable life: where there is no peak, no valley. One simply vegetates. It is not
           a life. One simply drags. It is a monotony. It is not a dialogue; it is a monologue. A dialogue needs
           duality, a dialogue needs contradiction, a dialogue needs polarity, a dialogue needs paradox. And
           within the paradox, you move from one pole to another.
                Don't be worried about balance. Balance will seek you; I will see that balance seeks you. You
           simply do this much: while on the peak, dance; while in the valley, rest. Accept the valley; accept the
           peak. Both are parts of the one whole and you cannot deny one part. They are two aspects of the
           same coin.
                Remember, one who enjoys more is bound to suffer more because he becomes very sensitive.
           But suffering is not bad. If you understand it rightly, suffering is a cleansing. If you understand it
           rightly, sadness has a depth to it which no happiness can ever have. A person who is simply happy is
           always superficial. A person who has not known sorrow and has not known sadness, has not known
           the depths. He has not touched the bottom of his being; he has remained just on the periphery. One
           has to move within these two banks. Within these two banks flows the river.
                And I tell you, balance will seek you if you accept both and you live both. Whatsoever happens,
           you welcome it. Suddenly. one day you will see that balance has come. And when balance comes to
           you, it is something totally different than that balance which you can force upon yourself.
                If you force the balance, it will be a.sort of control. A control is always artificial, a control is
           always ugly. Control has a violence in it. It is forced, artificial. When balance comes to you, it is a
           happening. Suddenly it descends on you. Heavens open and the spirit of God, like a dove, descends
           in you.
                All that is great always comes. All that YOU make is always small, petty. It is never great. All
           that you do is going to be lesser than you. All that is great -- you have to allow it. Balance will find
           you. God will find you. You just be ready.
                And this is readiness: to accept whatsoever comes, to accept it with gratefulness. Even sorrow,
           even sadness. even the valley... dark.


               OSHO, THE OTHER DAY YOU LOVINGLY TOLD ME TO BE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT
               MYSELF AND LESS ABOUT OTHERS. THANK YOU OSHO. I GOT THE POINT. AND YET I MUST
               ASK ONE MORE QUESTION NOT TO DO WITH ME BUT WITH YOU. WHAT EXACTLY IS
               HAPPENING WITH YOU? EVERY MONTH YOUR BODY IS BECOMING MORE SENSITIVE IN
               EVERY WAY AND THE PHENOMENON. EVEN TO MY STATE OF UNAWARENESS, IS
               AWESOME. CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR CHANGES?


               This is from Chaitanya Sagar. Good that he says this is the last question that he is asking not
           about himself!
               I can understand your worry, your concern. The fact is simple. After the age of thirty-five life
           starts declining. Thirty-five is the peak: if you are going to live for seventy years, thirty-five is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           peak. After thirty-five you start declining. It is now downhill.
               If somebody becomes enlightened after thirty-five -- as Buddha became at forty, Mahavir
           became at forty -- then he can live a little longer, because he was already downhill. Enlightenment
           will not disturb the body more than it was already disturbed.
               If you become enlightened before the age of thirty-five then there is danger. Shankara became
           enlightened before the age of thirty-five. He died at thirty-three. When you are going uphill and life
           is moving strong -- and you become enlightened -- the connection between you and the body is
           disrupted. It has almost always happened that people who have become enlightened before
           thirty-five have not survived up to thirty-five. Difficult. The body and you become so separate that
           the uphill task becomes very difficult.
               It is just like: you were going uphill and suddenly you see that there is no more petrol in the tank
           of the car. The uphill task becomes almost impossible. Now you get out and you have to push the car
           uphill. Very difficult. But if you become aware when the car is going downhill that there is no more
           petrol, there is no trouble. In fact. there is no need for petrol. The car can go without petrol.
               Shankara died at thirty-three. Buddha lived up to eighty; Mahavir also lived up to eighty. It has
           to be understood. I should have died before thirty-five in fact. Somehow I have been pulling.
           That'somehow' can be understood.
               I have dropped out of life by and by; I have dropped all activity. Whatsoever energy my body
           has, I am using for you, that's all. Otherwise I have dropped all activity: stopped moving, stopped
           travelling -- I have almost stopped everything.
               I come out just to see you in the morning and in the evening. Otherwise I have become
           completely inactive. absolutely passive. Whatsoever small energy is there, I am using it as
           economically as possible.
               So every day my body is going to become more and more fragile, more and more sensitive. My
           ship is ready -- any moment I can depart. I am lingering on the bank for you a little while more.
           That's why I'm in a hurry. You have time to ask useless questions. I don't have time to answer them.
               You have time to waste. My time is finished. So if you really want to use this opportunity, don't
           miss a single moment. Don't hesitate, and don't put your half-heart in the effort. When I am gone,
           you will repent and you will be very sorry, but then nothing can be done. While I am still here, use
           every opportunity that I am giving to you and don't waste a single moment. I HAVE what you are
           seeking. I can pour it into you, but your cup is not ready.
               The thing is like this: you come to me and I have a full kettle of tea. And you are thirsty. I would
           like to give it to you, but I cannot pour it in your hands. It will burn you. I have to wait, because you
           will have to produce your cup. And that cup can be produced only from your innermost core of
           being.
               Only your innermost being can become the cup. Only then can I pour whatsoever I have got. I
           am waiting for you so that you can produce the cup. You are thirsty I know, and I have that which
           can quench your thirst, but the cup is not ready.
               So don't ask such questions. Rather, look at me and try to understand.
               Just the other night one sannyasin was saying, "How can you help us when you yourself are not
           well in the body?" True. If I am not well in the body, how can I help you? Looks absolutely logical.
           But do you know: was Buddha well in the body?
               No enlightened person has ever been well in the body -- cannot be! -- because the being with the
           body is disrupted, the bridge is broken. The body goes on moving on its own, and the being goes on
           residing in it, but the energy that was given by the identification is not given.
               You live as one with your body. I live as two. My body is just like my clothes -- absolutely
           separate. It is a miracle that it is functioning.
               Buddha had to keep a physician continuously with him because every moment was danger. The
           physician was not for HIM. His work was done; he had achieved. The physician was for those who
           were still thirsty. He had something which could quench their thirst. The physician was for them.
               If the doctor comes to see me, it is not for me. It is for you. If I see that there is no point and I
           cannot help you, this very moment I can disappear.
               But many of you are working hard. I have the largest number of sannyasins that is possible in
           this twentieth-century world: almost fifteen thousand all around the world. They are all working
           hard. If they can succeed, we will release one of the greatest energies. spiritual energies, in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world.
               I have to wait, and I have to linger on -- whatsoever the body says. The body says: "It is time, the
           ship is ready. You can go." The house is ready to collapse, but I am holding it.
               Don't waste my time in anything. Use it if you can. This is the trouble: that you may not
           understand now, but later on, when you understand, I will not be there. Then that understanding will
           not be of much help. It will simply give you deep anguish. and sorrow, and agony.
               While I am here, it you understand me, it can become your ecstasy. When I am gone, it will be
           just an agony.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                   Chapter #9
                                  Chapter title: He that soweth the good seed
           8 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511080
              ShortTitle: FOLL209
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 77 mins




              MATTHEW 13
              34 ALL THESE THINGS SPAKE JESUS UNTO THE MULTITUDE IN PARABLES; AND WITHOUT A
              PARABLE SPAKE HE NOT UNTO THEM:
              36 THEN JESUS SENT THE MULTITUDE AWAY, AND WENT INTO THE HOUSE: AND HIS
              DISCIPLES CAME UNTO HlM, SAYING, DECLARE UNTO US THE PARABLE OF THE TARES OF
              THE FIELD.
              37 HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON
              OF MAN;
              38 THE FIELD IS THE WORLD; THE GOOD SEED ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM; BUT
              THE TARES ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE WICKED ONE;
              39 THE ENEMY THAT SOWED THEM IS THE DEVIL; THE HARVEST IS THE END OF THE
              WORLD; AND THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS.
              40 AS THEREFORE THE TARES ARE GATHERED AND BURNED IN THE FIRE; SO SHALL IT BE
              IN THE END OF THIS WORLD.
              41 THE SON OF MAN SHALL SEND FORTH HIS ANGELS, AND THEY SHALL GATHER OUT OF
              HIS KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND THEM WHICH DO INIQUITY;
              42 AND SHALL CAST THEM INTO A FURNACE OF FIRE: THERE SHALL BE WAILING AND
              GNASHING OF TEETH.
              43 THEN SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR
              FATHER. WHO HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR.
              44 AGAIN, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO TREASURE HID IN A FIELD THE WHICH
              WHEN A MAN HATH FOUND, HE HIDETH, AND FOR JOY THEREOF GOETH AND SELLETH ALL
              THAT HE HATH, AND BUYETH THAT FIELD.


               THE OTHER DAY I WAS READING a few lines of Stephen Crane's. I would like to read them
           to you:

           A man said to the universe, "Sir, I exist."
           "However," replied the universe, "the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."

              Man can exist in two ways. One, that the whole celebrates him; one, that the whole welcomes
           him; one, that the whole feels blessed because of him -- and the other, that the whole feels cursed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Man can live a life of goodness, truth and beauty; and man can live a life of untruth, evil and
           ugliness. Man is free to live and to choose. Man is a tremendous freedom; that is his innermost
           nature. Nothing is forced. Hence the beauty of the adventure, and hence the danger also. You have to
           choose. Your choice will determine your being, your choice will become your destiny. On each step,
           every moment, you have to decide who you are.
                People come to me and they ask who they are. It is not a question of inquiry because the being is
           not a static thing waiting to be discovered by you. The being has to be created moment to moment.
           That is the only way to discover it.
                You create yourself moment to moment. You are not born as a fixed entity, but only as a infinite
           potentiality. You are born as a seed, not as a tree. You are born open, not closed. That opening is
           tremendous. You will have to choose every moment who you are going to be. Your decision is your
           destiny. And unless you live life so that the whole feels blessed, you are not religious.
                A religious life is a life of spontaneity. A religious life is a life of flow, of dynamism. A religious
           life is a life of prayer.
                Prayer is the supreme good. Let me explain to you what prayer is.
                It is not something that you do; it has nothing to do with doing. It is something that you become,
           by and by. It is something that you live; it is something that surrounds you like a climate. It is
           something like a deep gratitude. Looking at the trees, or looking at the sea, or looking at the grass, a
           tremendous urge arises in you to say thank you. That is prayer.
                Not that you say it. It is not in the saying but in the very urge, in the very mood that you would
           like to say, unconditionally: "Thank you." Not knowing to whom your thank-you is addressed... not
           knowing who is the creator of the morning, and the evening, and the stars, and the moon, and the
           sun... not knowing whose hands are hidden behind every grass-leaf and who is smiling in every
           dewdrop -- not knowing at all.
                Knowledge is ugly; not knowing is beautiful. Remember, not knowing is not ignorance. Not
           knowing is ultimate knowledge. It transcends even what you call knowledge. Not knowing is
           innocence. In deep innocence, a thank-you arises; unaddressed, not knowing to whom you are
           addressing. But that is not the point. Deep within your being, in your depths, you feel gratitude.
                Prayer is the feeling of the unknown presence. That feeling of the unknown presence becomes
           reverence. And prayer has to be just like breathing. It is not that you do it and you are finished with
           it. It is something that goes on and on and on like breathing. Awake or asleep, it surrounds you; it
           throbs within your heart. It becomes almost YOU; there exists no separation.
                A life of prayer is what I call a good life. A life of gratitude is what I call a religious life.
                This life of spontaneity, of flow, does not know what sin is. Sin comes from knowledge. That is
           the meaning of the Biblical story. When Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, he sinned. Then
           he was thrown out of the Garden of Eden. This story has no parallel, this story is simply unique.
           BECAUSE he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge....
                No other religion has emphasized, in such a crystal clear way, that knowledge is sin and unless
           you become like children again, you will not become good. Unless you again drop all knowledge and
           you become innocent, uncorrupted by knowledge, you will not be accepted back. The source will go
           on rejecting you.
                Not that the source wants to reject you. But the way you behave, through knowledge, you create
           the situation for your own rejection. God has to expel Adam and Eve. Not that He wanted to -- He
           must have wept, because they were His children -- but He was helpless.
                Whenever you create the feeling of helplessness in the whole, you commit sin. Whenever you
           force the whole to reject you, you commit sin. Whenever you force the whole to throw you out of the
           garden, you commit sin.
                Sin is behaving in a cunning way, behaving as if you know. Sin is to be self-complacent, sin is to
           think that you are enough unto yourself. A child is not enough unto himself, a child is helpless. A
           child does not know anything; he acts out of innocence. Then it is good. The moment you start acting
           out of knowledge, it is sin.
                Try to understand the import of what I'm saying. I'm saying that if, out of knowledge, you live a
           virtuous life, it is not virtuous. You can have character out of knowledge, you can have a quality of
           morality out of knowledge, but then it is not moral'When you are still eating the fruit or the tree of
           knowledge.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Deep down, your so-called saints are sinners, because they still go on getting nourishment from
           the tree of knowledge. The real sage is innocent. He acts -- but not because of the commandments,
           because all commandments are sin. He acts out of his totality; he responds in the moment.
               He does not act out of the mind. To act out of the mind is to sin, to act out of the mind is to be
           thrown out of the garden, out of the kingdom of God. Once you accept the mind as your source of
           activity, you have denied God. And in your denial of God, you are denied.
               Whenever you act out of the mind your act is going to be fragmented, because mind is a split
           phenomenon. Mind is not one: it is many, it is a multitude. Its names are legion. Whenever you act
           out of the mind, only a part acts -- against the whole. Whenever you act out of no-mind....
               Sometimes you act -- you know that there are moments when you act out of no-mind. You are
           walking. You have gone for a long morning walk or evening walk. and suddenly a snake crosses the
           path. You don't have time to think. Mind needs time; mind is a time process. You don't have time to
           think. If you think, you will be finished! The snake is there and the snake is not going to wait for you
           to think. The snake acts out of no-mind; you will be in danger if you believe in mind. But you will
           act out of no-mind. You will simply jump.
               Remember -- and watch! You will jump first, and then you will think about what has happened.
           That jump comes out of your totality; it is not of the mind. That jump is a spontaneous total. It is
           here and now. It has nothing to do with past, nothing to do with future. It has no past, no future. it is
           absolutely here, now.
               The duality of good is the quality of an act which comes out of your totality. You fall in love:
           you see a man or a woman and suddenly, in spite of you, something happens. Your total being
           responds in a new way. Even you are surprised! You throb, you sing, you have a dance within you,
           as if clouds have separated and you have seen the source of light. In a single moment.... In fact, that
           moment is not a part of time. In fact, it is a'no moment' -- as if time has stopped. Something has
           taken possession of you. This is out of no-mind.
               Whatsoever is like love is good. That's why Jesus says, "God is love." He's not.saying that God is
           loving. He's simply showing a quality: that God has the same quality as love.'Good' is love; good has
           the same quality as love.
               All that comes from the mind is from the devil -- DEVIL is just a way of saying it -- because the
           mind separates. Let mc define devil as one who separates, and God as one who unites. God and devil
           are both ways of speaking. They are not entities, they are symbols.
               Just a few days before, I read a beautiful story of DuBois'. I would like you to listen to it and try
           to understand it:

               It was one o'clock and I was hungry. I walked into a restaurant, seated myself, and reached for
           the bill of fare. My table companion rose. "Sir," said he, "do you wish to force your company on
           those who don't want you?"
           "No," I said. "I wish to eat."
           "Are you aware, sir, that this is social equality?"
           "Nothing of the sort, sir. It is hunger," I said, and I ate.
               The day's work done, I sought the theater. As I sank into my seat, the lady next to me shrank and
           squirmed. "I beg pardon," I said.
           "Do you enjoy where you're not wanted?" she asked coldly.
           "Oh, no," I said.
           "Well, you are not wanted here."
               I was surprised. "I fear you are mistaken," I said. "I certainly want the music, and I like to think
           the music wants me to listen to it."
           "Oh sir," said the lady, "this is social equality."
           "No, madam," said the usher. "It is the second movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony."
               After the theater, I sought the hotel where I had sent my baggage. The clerk scowled. "What do
           you want?"
           "Rest," I said.
           "This is a white hotel," he said.
               I looked around. "Such a color scheme requires a great deal of cleaning," I said. "But I don't
           know that I object."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "We object! " said he.
           "Then why -- " I began, but he interrupted.
           "We don't keep niggers," he said. "We don't want social equality."
           "Neither do I," I replied gently. "I want a bed."
               I walked thoughtfully to the train. "I will take a sleeper though Texas. I'm a little bit dissatisfied
           with this town."
           "Can't sell you one."
           "I only want to hire it," said I, "for a couple of nights."
           "Can't sell you a sleeper in Texas," he maintained. "They consider that social equality."
           "I consider it barbarism," I said, "and I think I will walk."
               Walking, I met another wayfarer who immediately walked to the other side of the road where it
           was very muddy. I asked his reason.
           "Niggers is dirty," he said.
           "So is mud," said I. "Moreover, I am not as dirty as you, vet."
           "But you are a nigger, aren't you?" he asked.
           "My grandfather was so called."
           "Well then?" he answered triumphantly.
           "Do you live in the south?" I persisted pleasantly.
           "Sure," he growled. "And starve there."
           "I should think that you and the Negroes should get together and vote out starvation."
           "We don't let them vote! We?"
           "Why not?" I said in surprise.
           "Niggers is too ignorant to vote."
           "But," I said,'I am not so ignorant as you."
           "But you are a nigger?"
           "Yes, I am certainly what you mean by that."
           "Well then?" he returned with that curiously inconsequential note of triumph. "Moreover," he said, "I
           don't want my sister to marry a nigger."
               I had not seen his sister, so I merely murmured, "Let her say no."
           "By God, you shall not marry her even if she said yes!"
           "But I don't want to marry her," I answered, a little perturbed at the personal turn.
           "Why not?" he yelled, angrier than ever.
           "Because I am already married. And I rather like my wife."
           "Is she a nigger?" he asked suspiciously.
           "Well," I said again, "her grandmother was called that."
           "Well then?" he shouted in that oddly illogical way.
               I gave up. "Go on," I said, "either you are crazy or I am."
           "We both are," he said as he trotted along in the mud.

              Mind is crazy; mind is mad. Mind creates divisions, fragments. Mind creates nations, races --
           white and black, poor and rich. Mind is the devil. When you can feel that you are one with all, you
           have gone beyond mind. To feel one with all, to feel a unison, is to be good. And to act out of that
           oneness is to be religious.
              A religious man has no character. A religious man has a spontaneity. A religious man has a
           moment to moment contact with the whole. That contact is never lost. He lives prayerfully. A
           nonreligious man may be apparently good, moral, he may have a character, but he is frozen, dead.
           He acts out of that character: out of the mind, out of knowledge, out of rules. He is never in contact
           with the whole; he is always out of step. That's what I call'devil'; that's what I call'bad'.
              And that's what Jesus means by this parable. He has not been understood, he has been very much
           misunderstood. But if you can carry this feeling of what good is and what bad is, you will be able to
           go deep into this parable.

              ALL THESE THINGS SPAKE JESUS UNTO THE MULTITUDE IN PARABLES; AND WITHOUT A
              PARABLE SPAKE HE NOT UNTO THEM:
              THEN JESUS SENT THE MULTITUDE AWAY, AND WENT INTO THE HOUSE: AND HIS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DISCIPLES CAME UNTO HIM, SAYING, DEC]ARE UNTO US THE PARABLE OF THE TARES OF
              THE FIELD.


               Jesus always talked in parables. A parable is a poetic way of saying things which cannot be said
           in prose. It is a very feeling way of saying things from the heart -- things which cannot be expressed
           by the head. A parable is a way of talking in pictures, not in words.
               Have you ever observed that children always understand pictures? That's why, in children's
           books, you have to have many colored pictures. Text, not much; pictures, many. First they
           understand the pictures, and then they understand the text.
               In your dreams, you are again living in parables. You have pictures and pictures and pictures --
           the text is not much. Your unconscious understands only pictures. Your conscious has become
           trained for language, words, but your unconscious is still that of a child.
               When Jesus, a man like Jesus, is talking, he is trying to bridge something between himself and
           your unconscious. He is not a preacher. When a preacher talks to you, he talks in concepts. He is
           trying to communicate from one head to another head. When a man like Jesus, Buddha or
           Zarathustra talks, he is trying to communicate something from his innermost depth to your innermost
           depth. He always uses parables.
               A parable becomes a picture. Logic is not needed to understand it. If you can love
           sympathetically, that will do: if you can listen sympathetically, that will do. If you can listen in deep
           trust, that is enough: no logic is needed. The parable will manifest itself, will surround you, will
           become part of your being. You may forget the message, but you will never forget the parable. It will
           be deeply imprinted it will remain within you forever and ever. Stories have a way of penetrating to
           the innermost core.

              ALL THESE THINGS SPAKE JESUS UNTO THE MULTITUDE IN PARABLES; AND WITHOUT A
              PARABLE SPAKE HE NOT UNTO THEM:
              THEN JESUS SENT THIS MULTITUDE AWAY. AND WENT INTO THE HOUSE: AND HIS
              DISCIPLES CAME UNTO HIM, SAYING, DECLARE UNTO US THE PARABLE OF THE TARES OF
              THE FIELD.


              He must have used that parable with the multitude, with the crowd. The disciples wanted to know
           what he means. The disciples wanted to know the exact significance of the parable.

              HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON OF
              MAN:
              THE FIELD IS THE WORLD; THE GOOD SEED ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM: BUT
              THE TARES ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE WICKED ONE;
              THE ENEMY THAT SOWED THEM IS THE DEVIL: THE HARVEST IS THE END OF THE WORLD;
              AND THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS.
              AS THEREFORE THE TARES ARE GATHERED AND BURNED IN THE FIRE; SO SHALL IT BE IN
              THE END OF THIS WORLD.
              THE SON OF MAN SHALL SEND FORTH HIS ANGELS, AND THEY SHALL GATHER OUT OF HIS
              KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND THEM WHICH DO INIQUITY;
              AND SHALL CAST THEM INTO THE FURNACE OF FIRE: THERE SHALL BE WAILING AND
              GNASHING OF TEETH.
              THEN SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR
              FATHER. WHO HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR.


              A simple parable, but very significant. Move step by step into it:

              HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON OF MAN.


              THE SON OF MAN has a very particular meaning in the Jewish literature. It is used only for the
           prophets. Ordinarily, whomsoever you call human beings are not yet human beings. They have the
           potentiality to be, but they have not actualized it. They are just like seeds. They have not yet
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sprouted, they have not yet bloomed. Their fragrance is just a possibility; it is not yet actual.
               Jews call a man'son of man' if he has become perfectly actualized: the perfect man. He is no
           more just potential. He has bloomed, flowered.           'The son of man' is a very, very respectful
           expression. It is next only to'son of God'. And unless you become son of man, you will not be able to
           become son of God. First become actualized human beings: real, authentic, true. Then the next step
           becomes possible. Then you can transcend humanity and you can become son of God.
               Again and again, Jesus uses for himself'son of man' -- more than he ever uses'son of God'. Rarely
           does he use'son of God' -- often he uses the expression'son of man' -- because for those who have not
           become even human beings, the son of God is a myth. They cannot understand it. You can
           understand only that which has become in some way actual within you; you can understand only that
           which has become part of you.
               You are part-human beings. When Jesus says'son of man', at least a part within you can respond
           that yes, he is true. A part within you can trust him. But when he says'son of God', he's moving in
           some direction about which you are completely oblivious. You have not known it, you have not even
           heard about it. It makes no sense to you.
               So he uses the expression'son of God' only very rarely, only with very close disciples who are
           growing, by and by, into divinity; whose hands are touching the divine, who have been groping and
           now they have come to the door; who have attained a small glimpse of the ultimate. Only then he
           uses'son of God'. Otherwise he says'son of man'.

              HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON OF
              MAN.


               One who has become actualized, one who has become really human -- how will you know him?
           Because this crystallization will be his innermost phenomenon, you will not be able to see it. You
           will not be able to look within him: you will not be able to understand what has happened within
           him. That will remain a mystery to you, it will remain hidden. But one thing you can watch, one
           thing you can see and understand, and that is: HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE
           SON OF MAN.
               You will see through his acts, through his words, even through his gestures, that he is sowing the
           seed of good. Whatsoever he does, howsoever he moves -- even walking. sitting, sleeping -- he is
           continuously sowing seeds of good. His whole life is nothing but a showering of good seeds all
           around. Wherever he moves, he goes on sowing good seeds.
               Not that he thinks about it deliberately, not that he plans about it, not that he makes any effort
           about it, not that he has become very skilled in a certain discipline -- no. Spontaneously.... He cannot
           help it. That's how he is. That's how it happens to him; that's how his whole being functions now.
           Goodness/good deeds/good is the functioning of one who has become actualized.
               Remember, you have been taught just the opposite. You have been taught: become good in your
           acts, so that you can realize yourself. That is wrong; that is looking at the thing from the wrong end.
           The real teachers have not said that. They have said just the opposite. They have said: become
           actualized. and you will find that your acts have become good.
               The character is not to be cultivated. A cultivated character is immoral, howsoever moral it
           appears. A cultivated character is a bondage, it is an imprisonment. and whomsoever you call men of
           character are all frozen: dead people, blocked. They need to be melted so that they can flow again.
               They may be good, but they stink. They may be good, but it is very difficult to live with them.
           They may be good, but they are very paralyzing to others -- crippling. If you live with them, they
           will become a heavy weight on your chest. They will c rush you and destroy you. They are
           destructive.
               When you are really in contact with a good man, a good man whose goodness is not forced and
           cultivated, but one who has realized his potentiality and now the goodness flows.... It is just like the
           fragrance of a flower which ha.s opened. When the flower opens, the fragrance spreads. Not
           otherwise. Otherwise you call just have a plastic flower that you can spray with perfume. A character
           that has to be maintained, controlled, is like sprayed perfume. The flower is not real.
               Jesus says: HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON OF MAN. Recognize that he
           is the son of man. You will be able to know it from his acts. He does not act through morality,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           through discipline. He acts out of his heart. You cannot see his heart without seeing his acts. That is
           your blindness.
               And never try to follow the acts of good people. That's how the whole world has become almost
           dead -- a great graveyard. I was just reading a few days before that Paul, St. Paul, said to his people:
           "I imitate Christ. You imitate me. That is the way."
               This is dangerous teaching. This man Paul has completely misunderstood. He says "I imitate
           Christ. You imitate me." He says: "Do whatsoever I do. That's the way." These are the people who
           destroy the message of Christ completely.
               If you imitate, you will remain false. You may become Christ-like, but you will not be a Christ.
           You may become Buddha-like, but you will not be a Buddha, You will be just a pseudo-Buddha, a
           false thing, an untrue thing. That is not going to make you blissful, and that is not going to create a
           sense of obligation in existence.
               HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, HE THAT SOWETH THE GOOD SEED IS THE
           SON OF MAN. This is the way you will recognize him, that's all.

              THE FIELD IS THE WORLD; THE GOOD SEED ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM; BUT
              THE TARES ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE WICKED ONE.


               How to translate this WICKED ONE -- the devil, the beelzebub, the satan -- into today's
           twentieth-century language? I call it: the mind.
               Buddha is more modern, more contemporary than Jesus. Buddha will never say this. He will say
           the mind corrupts, not the devil.'Devil' is a symbolic way of saying the same thing.
               But dangerous. Because then in Christianity, the devil became very, very important; and in the
           Christian mind, the devil became a reality. God also became a personalized reality. They are not
           persons; they are both interpretations of a certain inner phenomenon.
               the inner phenomenon is that your being can function in two ways: either through the mind or
           through the no-mind. If you work through the mind, that is what Jesus calls THE WICKED ONE. If
           you work through the no mind, then you function through your nature. That's what Buddha calls
           nirvana: selflessness, ANATTA, enlightenment.
               You are separate from the mind. Once you know how to function without the mind, how to
           bypass it, how to put the mind aside, then you are functioning in the totality, WITH the totality. Then
           you are in tune with it. Then you are not like an island. You have surrendered and you have become
           part of the mainland, the continent. Then you are not separate from existence. It is not that YOU
           exist: then God exists in you. Then the ego has disappeared like a dewdrop in the morning sun.

              THE FIELD IS THE WORLD; THE GOOD SEED ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM; BUT
              THE TARES ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE WICKED ONE: THE ENEMY THAT SOWED THEM IS
              THE DEVIL --


               The devil is not outside you. It is very tempting to think of him as outside, because then you can
           throw all the responsibility on him and you can become completely free of the responsibility. People
           have always been using scapegoats to throw their responsibilities on.
               Whatsoever is wrong with you, you will always find some cause for it in somebody else.
           Somebody says something and you feel angry. Now you think that he has insulted you. In fact, you
           have become angered -- not that he has insulted you. If you were a little more aware, there would
           have been no anger, and then there would have been no insult either.
               You throw responsibility. One feels good just putting the responsibility on others' shoulders. This
           is one of the oldest ways that the human mind has always been defending itself. Once you can say
           and argue that somebody else is responsible, you can relax and you can be yourself, whatsoever you
           are. There is no need to transform yourself.
               But if you see that the devil is within and that there is no point in throwing out the responsibility
           on somebody else -- you are the problem -- then to live with the problem becomes difficult. To live
           with the problem becomes almost impossible. A moment comes when you have to drop it; it is too
           much. It is foolish and stupid to carry it. You are not benefitted by it; you are simply crushed under
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the weight.
               Never throw the responsibility on some devil outside. The devil is within -- as much within as
           God is within. If you function through the mind, this is the devil. If you function without mind -- if
           you function through meditation, no-mind -- it is God. God is a function of you. The devil is also a
           function of you.
               If you function unaware, unalert, not remembering yourself, you have allowed the devil to enter
           in you. And remember, I am not being anthropomorphic at all. There is nobody outside who enters
           within you. These are only ways of speaking.

              THE ENEMY THAT SOWED THEM IS THE DEVIL; THE HARVEST IS THE END OF THE WORLD;
              AND THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS.
              AS THEREFORE THE TARES ARE GATHERED AND BURNED IN THE FIRE; SO SHALL IT BE IN
              THE END OF THIS WORLD.
              THE SON OF MAN SHALL SEND FORTH HIS ANGELS, AND THEY SHALL GATHER OUT OF HIS
              KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND THEM WHICH DO INIQUITY;
              AND SHALL CAST THEM INTO A FURNACE OF FIRE: THERE SHALL BE WAILING AND
              GNASHING OF TEETH.
              THEN SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR
              FATHER. WHO HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR.


               Jesus is saying that the good survives and the bad dies. Jesus is saying that the good is eternal
           and the bad temporary. Jesus is saying that the good remains and the bad is momentary. This has to
           be understood.
               Forget his words, they have become out of date. Christians go on talking about these words and
           explaining them. The words are dead. What he says is very significant, and will always remain
           significant, but the language has to be changed.
               Listen to how different it sounds if I say: good is that which is to survive. Maybe temporarily it is
           defeated, but eventually, finally, it wins. In India we say:'SATYA MEVA JAYATE... truth wins,
           eventually.' Maybe in the moment the lie appears to win, but that cannot be so, finally. A lie is a lie
           and will be exposed someday or other. It cannot become eternity. Just think: how can a lie become
           eternity? It has no roots in existence, it has no being of its own. Even if it exists for the moment, it
           has no being of its own. Even if it exists for the moment, it has to borrow its being from some truth.
               That's why, whenever you assert a lie, you defend it. You argue for it, you try to prove it, and
           you like to say that "This is truth." You are trying to borrow being and life from truth... for the lie.
           But a borrowed life is a lie. For a moment it may deceive, but it cannot deceive eternally; it cannot
           deceive for ever and ever. Someday or other, it is bound to be exposed.
               A lie is a lie, and cannot become true. And a truth is a truth, maybe hidden for the moment,
           misunderstood -- not heard, heard wrongly, interpreted wrongly -- but a truth is a truth. A diamond is
           a diamond. It may be lost in the mud, but it is not the mud and it cannot become the mud. Finally, it
           has to be discovered. Truth is eternal. Or, it will be better if we say it just the other way around: that
           which is eternal is true.
               Don't cling to anything which is not eternal. Otherwise you are living with a lie. And all the time
           that you lived with it is simply wasted. The lie will be exposed and you will find y our hands empty.
               Jesus is saying that, in the end, good survives and all that is bad dies in fire, is destroyed. So
           look, watch your life. What are you sowing? The world is a field, life is an opportunity. What are
           you sowing?
               Are you sowing love or are you sowing only lust' If yOU are sowing only lust, in the end you
           will come to know. And you will have to repent much, because that lust was just a momentary
           fantasy: ungrounded, without any roots. It was just in the mind. Love? Then you can rely upon it.
           Then you are building your house on a rock, not on the sand.
               What are you accumulating in the world? Possessions? things? wealth? Then you are deceived
           by the devil: by the mind, by ambition, desire.
               Or are you trying to realize who you are? The real wealth.'I he only thing that can be possessed is
           your being, because you already possess it. Nothing else can be possessed. If you are searching for
           one thing that you can possess and can be yours -- and can be yours for ever and ever, even death
           cannot take it away from you -- then you are sowing the seeds which Jesus calls THE CHILDREN
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           OF THE KINGDOM.
                If you are a little alert.... And I hope that you are. Otherwise you cannot be near me; you cannot
           be here. A part of you has become alert. Hence, you are here. A part has become awake. Just watch
           from that corner which has become lighted. Just look at your past. Do you find anything which can
           be eternal, which can be existential for ever and ever? If not, then your life has been wasted. Don't
           go on repeating it. Jump out of the vicious circle, stop that wheel. If you think that yes, there is
           something which can be eternal, then water it. Protect it; help it to grow.
                That is how one finds one's religion. It is not found in the Bible, it is not found in the Gita or
           Koran. It is found in one's own experience. Watch, observe, and go on separating the good seeds
           from the bad. Before God rejects them, please, you reject them. Don't carry anything with you that is
           to be thrown in the fire. Don't carry anything with you that is going to die.
                It is going to be hard, arduous, to separate yourself from false things, because you have attached
           so much significance to false things. You go on wasting your life for things of no import -- childish.
                A man goes on accumulating wealth. He goes on thinking that someday in the future he is going
           to live; right now he is preparing. But that preparation is never fulfilled. One day, suddenly, he dies.
           The accumulated wealth is there and somebody else will become the possessor. This man wasted his
           whole life. He could have lived, he could have lived beautifully -- because, in fact, if you want to
           live, all that is needed is already given to you.
                Let me repeat it: if you want to live, all that is needed is already given to you. There is no need to
           prepare. All preparation is a postponement, all preparation is a trick of the devil -- the mind. The
           mind says: how can you live now? How can you dance? First you need a marble floor; then you can
           dance.
                So first have a marble floor. Then you can dance. Do you see the fallacy in it? If you want to
           dance, the beach is enough; the earth is enough. If you want to dance, you can dance anywhere,
           anytime. Every moment is as good as any other. Nothing else is needed. Only life is needed in you,
           and that is there. You need a flowing life, that's all. To dance, that's all that's needed. Not even a
           training for dancing is needed. Life itself is the dance. You just allow it to happen.
                You want to sing? Then for what are you waiting? You want to love? Then for what are you
           postponing? This is the only moment there is, and this is the only life there is. Forget about the future
           and start being alive here and now. And remember, if you are alive this moment, the next moment
           you will find yourself more alive, because the next moment is born out of this moment.
                And if you miss this moment, a great punishment is there. Not that somebody who goes on
           punishing you is sitting there on a golden throne in heaven, If you miss this moment and you don't
           dance, by and by you lose the capacity to dance. That is the punishment. That is the only
           punishment; there is nobody who is punishing you.
                If you pray this moment, you are rewarded, because the next moment a great prayer is waiting. If
           you don't pray this moment, you lose the capacity to pray. By and by, you become absolutely
           incapable of praying. Then you go and ask people how to pray, how to meditate, how to love.
                Just look at the absurdity of the questions: how to love? how to pray? how to meditate? how to
           live? Absurd questions... but they show the poverty, the inner poverty of man. He has been
           postponing everything, and by and by he has forgotten. Every child knows how to Fay, and every
           child knows how to love, and every child knows how to dance, and every child knows how to live.
           Every child comes complete, with everything ready. One just has to start living.
                Have you seen? If you are crying and a small child is watching, he will come near you. He
           cannot say much, he cannot argue you out of your crying, but he puts his hand on your hand. Have
           you felt the touch? Never again will anybody touch you like that, like a child can touch. He knows
           how to touch. Later on, people are simply cold, hard. They touch, but nothing flows from their
           hands. When a child touches you -- the tenderness of it, the softness of it: the message -- he pours his
           whole being in it.
                Everybody is born complete to live. And the more you live, the more capable you become of life.
           That is the reward. The less you live, the less capable you are. That is the punishment.
                The religion you have to seek is within you. You have to watch your life moment to moment and
           drop all that seems to be momentary. It may be very exciting, but futile in the end. Drop it! Look
           deep into those moments which may not be so exciting. The eternal cannot be very exciting, because
           that which has to be for ever and ever has to be very silent, peaceful. Blissful, of course, but not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exciting. Deeply blissful, but with no noise around it. More like a silence than like sound.
               You will have to grow in awareness so you can sort it out. Otherwise, in the end, you will find
           that you have lived a futile life. That's what Jesus calls THE TARES OF THE FIELD.

              WHO HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR.
              AGAIN, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO TREASURE HID IN A FIELD; THE WHICH
              WHEN A MAN HATH FOUND, HE HIDETH, AND FOR JOY THEREOF GOETH AND SELLETH ALL
              THAT HE HATH, AND BUYETH THAT FIELD.


               Yes, that is how it is. Once you come to know the eternal, the essential, the infinite, once you
           have come to feel it, then you are ready to go and sell all that you have been possessing, that you
           have been accumulating. Then you are ready to sell everything just to have this treasure of eternity.
           I will repeat it again:

              AGAIN, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO TREASURE HID IN A FIELD; THE WHICH
              WHEN A MAN HATH FOUND, HE HIDETH, AND FOR JOY THEREOF GOETH AND SELLETH ALL
              THAT HE HATH, AND BUYETH THAT FIELD.

              This is what my sannyas is all about.

              Seek the eternal. Whatsoever the cost, stake all for it and you will not be a loser. Try to save that
           which you have accumulated and you will be lost. Says Jesus: "Those who.save their lives, lose
           them: and those who are ready to lose them, attain to life -- to life abundant."




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #10
                                     Chapter title: Every moment god knocks
           9 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511090
              ShortTitle: FOLL210
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 85 mins




              HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL ALL THE KING'S
              HORSES AND ALL THE KING'S MEN COULDN'T PUT HUMPTY DUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN.

                IT IS NOT ABOUT HUMPTY DUMPTY, It is about you. It is about humanity, the human mind:
           the fragmented human mind which is not a unity but has become a crowd -- a crowd fighting
           amongst itself, a crowd continuously in war. Look at your own mind and you will find the Humpty
           Dumpty there. There is no center in your mind. No master exists there, only servants. And each
           servant has the false idea that he is the master. Each servant has few moments when he is enthroned.
           He becomes the master: he behaves like a master and promises like a master. Then the next moment
           his kingdom is gone. Another servant has taken over. The other servant does not even know who the
           first servant was. He has never heard what the first servant has been promising. How can he fulfill
           the promises?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When you love a woman or a man, you promise a thousand and one things which you cannot
           fulfill. You say, "I will be yours for ever and ever." The next moment, when the love has withered.
           you do not have even a memory of what you had said. If somebody reminds you, you will shrug your
           shoulders. You will say, "I must have said it in spite of me. I must not have been in my right senses.
           I was intoxicated, hypnotized." Or, you will say, "Those words were only poetry. They don't mean
           much."
                For one moment, when you are in love, the servant'love', the emotion'love', sits on the throne, has
           become the king. The next moment, when love is gone and hate is enthroned, you are totally
           different. This goes on, the wheel goes on moving. Each moment, go within. You will find a new
           king being enthroned and the old being thrown out.
                You only think that you are. While this state of the mind, this Humpty Dumpty state continues,
           you cannot say meaningfully that you are. You are a multitude.
                It happened: a man came to Jesus and wanted to become his disciple and follow him to the very
           end of his life. Jesus asked him: "First, please tell me: what is your name? who are you? " In that
           impact, in that shock, in that light, in that dazzling light of Jesus, the man became aware that he is
           not. Who will follow? Who will go with Jesus to the very end of life?
                A thought is not a permanent thing. By the time you become aware of it, it has gone. It has faded,
           withered away. Another thought takes its place. It is a continuous process.
                He became aware that he is not. He became aware that he has not one single name. He looked at
           Jesus and in that impact he said, "My name? You ask my name? My name is legion -- a thousand
           and one are my names. And I don't know really which one is mine."
                Watch your life for twenty-four hours. A thousand and one persons you will find within yourself.
           Then you will become aware that you are not, yet. You are yet unborn; you are still in the womb.
           The body has come out of the womb, but not the soul. As a body you are born; but as a soul, not yet.
           As yet, you are hesitating to be born; as yet, you are afraid to be born. As yet, you have not decided
           to be born.
                Each birth is preceded by a death. You are born as a body outside the womb. The life of inside
           the womb dies before you are born to the life of the outside. And you can be born as ONE, only
           when all the Humpty Dumptys in you die, when all thoughts disappear, when all moods disappear.
           When the sky is no more clouded, is empty -- when you are empty -- the Humpty Dumpty
           disappears.
                When I talk about emptiness, remember, I'm not talking about a negative emptiness. Whenever I
           say'empty', I mean so empty that you are full. The sky is empty AND is full. Full of itself, empty of
           the clouds. Empty of the foreign element, full of its own nature.
                When you are empty of all thoughts, then you are. When you are empty of all moods, then for the
           first time you are born, resurrected. Then the son of man that Jesus talks about is born. You have
           become perfect.
                Right now you are a crowd, a madhouse. And yes, it is true: HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON, A
           WALL. You are also sitting on a wall from where any moment you can fall. The ego always goes on
           finding a higher and higher place to sit; it wants to be at the peak.
                HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL. The ego is always sitting on the wall. And the higher
           the wall goes, the more dangerous is going to be the fall.
                HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL. Whenever the ego falls, it falls tremendously --
           because it was rising and rising. higher and higher, There comes a point where you cannot balance
           yourself at that height. The whole life is a politics to reach higher and higher. The whole life is a
           desire and ambition to attain to the highest peak, the Everest -- higher than anybody else. But then
           when you fall, it is going to be a great fall.
                HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL/ALL THE KING'S HORSES/ AND ALL THE
           KING'S MEN/COULDN'T PUT HUMPTY DUMPTY/TOGETHER AGAIN. Then nobody can put
           you together. ALL THE KING'S HORSES AND ALL THE KING'S MEN.... Even if the whole
           world is engaged in putting you together again, it is impossible. The job is impossible.
                Every day I encounter people who would like me to put them together. Impossible! Nobody can
           put you together, because that togetherness will again be putting you on a wall. That togetherness
           will again be of the false. That togetherness will again be like a dream, and beneath it the fragments
           will be continuously fighting; the war will continue.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yes, somehow it can be managed. That is what psychoanalysts go on doing in the West. They are
           putting Humpty Dumpty together. Whenever somebody has a fall from the wall.... The wall may be
           Washington, or the Wall Street of New York; it may be Madison Avenue, or Delhi, or Moscow -- the
           wall may be anything. Whatever gives you a feeling that you are somebody, is the wall.
               Whenever somebody falls, psychoanalysts try to put him together. That is what they call'making
           him normal again'. He has become abnormal. Now he cannot hold his parts together: the parts are
           moving away from him, from each other. He's like a cloud dispersing. They force him from every
           side; they put him back. They pull him to the earth, they try somehow to give him a readjustment.
               This is where western psychoanalysis and eastern approaches differ, and differ tremendously. In
           the East, if you go to a Buddha, he is not going to put you together. He will say, "Blessed you are
           that you fell. Now, leave those parts there. No need to put them together. It is good, it is God's
           blessing that you became maladjusted" -- because only in deep maladjustment does a possibility of
           revolution exist.
               When you are adjusted you are not even aware that you are wasting your life -- in the club, in the
           marketplace, or even in the temple. If you are a respectable citizen that means you are still sitting on
           the wall. You have not yet had the great fall. Respectable citizen: respected by people, your integrity
           well-known.
               And what sort of integrity is possible to you? It cannot be more than a facade! a camouflage, a
           false face. The face seems to be one, but behind the mask there are a thousand and one masks
           hidden. The fall is imminent, any day.
               Then psychoanalysts will come together. All the king's horses and all the king's men will try to
           put you together, they will try to bind you together. But they are not helping you. They are really
           trying to make you normally abnormal, ordinarily mad, lukewarm mad, so you can fit with the other
           mad people who are around. They will give tranquilizers, they will give you electric shocks, they
           will do many things to help you to be back to your own self. And you don't have any self. You never
           had!
               A great fall is a great blessing. Don't try to put the parts together. Leave them there and escape. If
           you come to a Buddha, he will say, "Leave those parts there, Good that they have fallen apart. Now
           you rise beyond them." You come out of that Humpty Dumptyness, uncorrupted by it. You become a
           sky.
               Don't be bothered about the clouds. Don't be bothered about thoughts. Become awareness. In
           awareness, you are not put together. Suddenly, you realize that you have always been together. That
           Humpty Dumptyness was only on the periphery. Inside, the deepest core, the kernel of your being.
           has always been one. It has never been otherwise, but you are unaware of it.
               When you come to me, I am not here to put you together. In fact, if you come to me feeling that
           you ARE together, I will push you: push you hard, to the brink of the wall, so you have a great fall.
           Once scattered, there is a possibility. Once scattered, you can transcend. You can watch what has
           happened.
               The real, innermost core is one. That's what we call ATMAN the supreme self. That's what we
           call'Christ'. Jesus is Humpty Dumpty: Christ is the center, Gautama Siddhartha is the Humpty
           Dumpty; Buddha -- that is the innermost center. Vardhman is Humpty Dumpty; Mahavir is the
           center.


              I FEEL EMPTY... AND A DEEP YEARNING. AND THERE SEEMS NO WAY TO LET GO

              Remain with it.

               There are two types of emptinesses. One, negative emptiness; another, positive emptiness.
               Negative emptiness is a loneliness. You miss the presence of something or somebody. You are
           not enjoying the purity of aloneness. You are missing.... The wife has died and now you feel empty.
           Her presence was a sort of filling, her presence was giving you a feeling of fullness. Now she is
           dead. Now you feel empty, you miss her. This emptiness is negative.
               Then there is a positive emptiness. Positive emptiness does not miss the absence of somebody
           else. On the contrary, it cherishes, relishes, the presence of oneself. When you are sitting alone -- just
           enjoying yourself, just delighting in being -- you are empty, but this emptiness is positive.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The negative emptiness is of the devil and the positive emptiness is of God. Both are empty, but
           there is a tremendous difference in quality. One has to move towards the positive emptiness. And
           this is what is happening.
           "I feel empty... and a deep yearning. And there seems no way to let go." There is no need. Just allow
           this emptiness; don't try to change it. That's how the mind enters again from the back door.
               The Humpty Dumpty has gone out. Now, remain with this emptiness. Relish it! It is beautiful;
           there is nothing like it. It is innocence; it is silence; it is stillness; it is virginity. When the Humpty
           Dumpty goes out for the first time, because you have never known this positive emptiness -- you
           have always known the negative emptiness -- you misinterpret. You think this, too, is empty: the
           same negative emptiness. You want to come out of it.
               There is no need. Relax in it: BE it. Allow it, and don't try in any way to change it or modify it.
               Difficult! This is the death, the real death out of which the resurrection comes. This is the cross,
           the real cross. And everybody has to carry it daily. And not only to carry it daily, but dancingly --
           welcoming it, feeling a deep gratitude.
               When you enter into this emptiness for the first time, you feel that this is the same emptiness.
           Natural, because you have never known it before. Allow it, remain with it -- that's what I would like
           to say to you. Don't try in any way to think beyond it. Be it! Suddenly the focus changes, the gestalt
           changes. The attention shifts: you look into it and it is no longer loneliness; it is aloneness. It is no
           longer isolation; it is infinite presence. You have disappeared... and in that disappearance, God has
           appeared.
               God and you are just gestalts. If you are there, God remains hidden. When you disappear, He
           becomes manifest. When you come back again, He becomes hidden. Your very presence hides Him;
           your presence functions as a cloud.
               Enjoy it, allow it... love it. And remain more and more in it. Whenever you have time, don't
           waste it anywhere. Close your eyes; be empty. Soon the beauty of it will be revealed to you. By and
           by, you will have a taste of the new wine: absolutely new, because you have not known it before.
           Though it has always been there, you have never contacted it before. It will intoxicate you, it will
           make you ecstatic. You will be transformed through it.
               So don't try to find a way out. There is no way out of it because it is ALL. You cannot go
           anywhere else. The only way out is that you can bring Humpty Dumpty back in. The only out is that
           the mind starts functioning again, in fear. You gather thoughts around, you make relationships; you
           go to the marketplace, you get lost in the crowd. Then you are not empty, but you have missed -- you
           have missed the door that you have been seeking for lives.


               I FEEL EMPTY. I CRY. WHAT'S NEXT?


                This emptiness is negative. Otherwise you will not cry; you will laugh. This emptiness is like
           loneliness, not like aloneness. This emptiness is not a deep presence; it is simply absence. This
           emptiness is only death, and there is no resurrection in it.
                That's why the crying comes. You are filling your emptiness by crying, by tears. That is a trick of
           the mind. And that's why the question arises: "What's next?" -- because when you feel negatively
           empty, you want to fill it with something. You are hankering for something to happen: some
           relationship, some achievement, some lottery... something to happen. "What next? "
                Emptiness, when it is negative, is never at ease with itself. It is thinking of the future. It is hoping
           that in the future this emptiness will not be there "and I will be fulfilled".
                Emptiness, when it is negative, creates future. Emptiness, when it is positive, has no future to it.
           There is nothing next to it; you have arrived home. There is nothing next to it. It is enough unto
           itself.
                This type of emptiness. negative emptiness, has to be dropped. It has not come out of meditation;
           it is coming out of life's frustrations. It has not come out of love; it is coming out of the frustration
           that lust gives to everybody. It is a by-product of failure.
                Positive emptiness happens when you are in a deep inner contentment; negative emptiness
           happens when you are deeply frustrated. Your life seems meaningless. Whatsoever you do, you go
           on doing like a robot, mechanically. There is no romance in it. You drag your life; there is no dance
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to it. You cannot sing, you cannot be happy, you cannot celebrate.
                Drop this type of emptiness! And this type of emptiness can be dropped only if you try to change
           the negativity towards positivity. Meditate more, and meditate without expectations. Love more, and
           love without expectations.
                If you expect anything out of love, or meditation, you will get only frustration, and negative
           emptiness will happen. If you love for the sheer joy of it, if you meditate for the sheer delight of it
           and you don't have any result in mind -- you are not goal-oriented -- then there comes an emptiness
           which is positive. You start feeling full. You start feeling, for the first time, that you ARE. Being is
           felt, and that being is tremendously beautiful, blissful. It is SATCHITANANDA: it is existence, it is
           consciousness, it is bliss.
                Always remember to beware of the negative. Move from the negative towards the positive; and
           when the positive happens, then stay with it. Then allow it. Open yourself to it totally, be vulnerable
           to it -- all doors and windows open so it can come from everywhere and it can drown you
           completely. Then it becomes a resurrection.


              WHAT IS DIVINE WILL, AND HOW DOES IT ACT THROUGH THE SURRENDERED INDIVIDUAL?


                This is an intellectual question. Futile. Rot. It arises in the intellect because the intellect cannot
           understand. Remember always, intellect is not intelligence. You cannot find more stupid a thing than
           intellect.
                Intellect is not intelligence. Intelligence is existential, intellect is borrowed. You don't know what
           divine will is, you don't know what a surrendered individual is -- hence, the question.
                The question is like this: if you have not known what light is and you ask, "When we bring light
           in the room, does it have to fight with darkness to destroy it? " Or, "When we bring light into the
           room, how much time does it take for darkness to leave the room?"
                The question is absurd because you know, stupid because you know. The question looks stupid
           because you know that darkness has no existence of its own. When you bring light in, it is not that
           darkness goes out. Close all the doors and see! Put guards on the doors and see! Ask them, "Have
           you seen darkness going out?"
                When you bring light in, the very presence of light is the death, because darkness has no
           existence of its own. It is just the absence of light. When light is there, darkness is not there. In fact,
           it has never been there. It was just an absence. That's why you cannot bring darkness. If you need a
           little more darkness in your room you cannot bring it. You cannot go to the neighbor and ask for
           some, you cannot bring it in bags, you cannot force or persuade it to come.
                You cannot do anything directly with darkness. Have you observed the fact that if you want to do
           anything with darkness you will have to do something with light, not with darkness? If you want
           more darkness, you will have to put curtains on the windows. You are doing something with light, so
           that light cannot come in; that's all. If you want more darkness, then you have to put the light off. If
           you don't want darkness, you have to put light on. But you do something with light, you cannot do
           anything with darkness. It is an absence, it is nonexistential.
                Now look at the question: "What is divine will, and how does it act through the surrendered
           individual?" A surrendered will is divine; an unsurrendered will is not divine. Other than the
           surrendered will there is no will somewhere else which is divine.
                A surrendered will is divine; an unsurrendered will is not divine. An unsurrendered will is the
           ego and a surrendered will is the absence of the ego. When the ego disappears, how can the
           individual exist? With the disappearance of the ego, the individual also disappears, dies.
                It is not that there is a surrendered individual and a divine will working through him. A
           surrendered individual is the divine will. Now he is no more. Only God is. He has vacated, he has
           become empty. In that emptiness, God has entered. He is no more there.
                This word'individual' is very beautiful, but it has been very much misused. Individual
           means'indivisible': that which cannot be divided. You should not be called individuals, that is wrong
           language. You are DIVIDUALS, you can be divided. Only God is individual. When the DIVIDUAL
           disappears, the individual is. But there is no duality. It is not you, and God functioning through you.
           That is again the ego.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One day a Gandhian came to me and he said, "Mahatma Gandhi used to say that'I am just an
           instrument of the divine will.' But Krishna says,'I am God'; Jesus says,'I am God'; Mansoor says,'I am
           God'. The seers of the Upanishads say,'AHAM BRAMHASMI... I am the absolute.' " The Gandhian
           said to me: "These people look egoistic. Gandhi is humble."
               I told him, "Don't be deceived by the appearance. In fact, Gandhi is egoistic when he says,'I am
           an instrument of the divine.' The ego is there, functioning now as an instrument. If the ego is gone,
           then even that much difference is not possible: that God is doing something through me. That
           difference is not possible when the ego has gone completely. Then it is not God coming through
           something within you. YOU are God. You are not an instrument; you have become God himself."
               This is very difficult to understand. When Krishna says, "I am God!" it looks egoistic. It sounds
           egoistic; Gandhi sounds more humble, less egoistic. But don't be deceived by the appearance.
           Gandhi is more egoistic. Of course the ego is very humble, very pious -- you can call it religious --
           but it is there: polished, decorated, refined. And a refined poison is more poisonous, a refined ego is
           more dangerous.
               Krishna can say, "I am God," because he is not. In fact, it is not Krishna saying, "I am God." It is
           God saying, "I am." Krishna is not there. He appears to Arjuna because our eyes are blind. He
           appears to us because we cannot see. When Krishna says, "I am God," we think it is Krishna saying,
           "I am God." In fact, Krishna is no more there. It is God saying, "I am! I am! " -- that's all.


              IS SURRENDER A LEARNING PROCESS OR A HAPPENING?


               For you, it is going to be a learning process. For me, it is a happening.
               If I say it is a happening, you will say, "Then what can we do? We have to wait" -- and you will
           wait as you are. It has not happened up to now because, the way you are, it cannot happen. You will
           wait in the same way. It will never happen.
               I know it is a happening, but it happens in right moments. It happens when you are in a tuned
           existence. It happens when you are harmonious, when you are not a chaos, a conflict, but in a deep
           harmony.
               Yes, it cannot be learned. Because who will learn it? You? -- you are the barrier. And a learned
           barrier is even more of a barrier than an ignorant one. Who will practice it? All that is practiced is
           practiced by the ego. The ego is strengthened through all practices. So you cannot, in fact, learn it.
           You have to allow it.
               But that allowing has to be learned! You have to give way, and you are very stubborn. All that
           can be learned is a learning in a negative sense. Just like giving way: allowing, not resisting. These
           things have to be learned. Once you have learned these things, surrender happens.
               Surrender is nothing that you can do... but you can prevent. This has to be understood. It is just
           like you are sitting in your room: it is dark and the doors are closed. The light is waiting outside.
           You open the doors. When you open the doors, the light comes in. Not that you bring it in. How can
           you bring it in? There is no way. How can you bring the light in? You just open the door: it comes
           in. Coming-in happens, but the opening of the door has to be done. That is the negative part of it.
               You have to learn how to let go, you have to learn how to relax, you have to learn how not to
           resist, how not to be stubborn, how not to be negative when God knocks at your door. How to say
           YES and not say NO -- that has to be learned.
               And remember, God knocks every moment. Every beat of the heart may be His knocking. Every
           time you breathe in, He goes in; and every time you move, He surrounds you. He is always by the
           corner. Jesus goes on saying: "Return, repent, the kingdom of God is at hand." AT HAND is the
           emphasis.
               Surrender cannot be learned, it is a happening. And it is good that it is a happening. If you could
           learn it, it would be less than you. It is such a vast phenomenon. It is not like a drop falling in the
           ocean. It is just the reverse: the ocean falling in the drop, God descending in you.
               You just have to be not trembling and afraid, that's all. When He comes you say, "Yes, come in.
           Welcome." Bow down. Open the doors of your heart, be vulnerable. Let Him move through and
           through you.
               You can learn how to let go; you cannot learn how to surrender. When you are in a let-go,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suddenly one day.... Nobody can predict when. Don't be concerned about it; the'when' is irrelevant.
           When you are waiting, in a let-go, one day the tuning happens. By and by, you are becoming one
           with the whole; the fear is disappearing. You are no longer defensive, you are no longer afraid. You
           say, "Everything is welcome."
                That's why I go on telling you: learn to say YES more. And watch: your NO is too much. In fact,
           your very tendency is always to say NO. You say YES, but very reluctantly; you say NO with great
           gusto. Your NO has power; your YES is almost impotent. You have to say it, that's why you say. If
           there was any possibility to say NO, you would have said NO.
                Become a yea-sayer. Not only verbally, but existentially. Allow more and more yes in your
           being. That's what I call being a theist. A theist is one who says yes. A moment comes when he says
           YES even to suffering, even to pain, even to death. Then you are completely vulnerable. You are not
           defending yourself: you have no armor around you; you are totally naked. In that moment, someday,
           sometime, somewhere, tuning happens. You are in tune with the whole, and the whole drops in you.
           It is a happening.
                You cannot learn it. And it is good that you cannot learn it, otherwise you would make it a
           technique. It is not a technique. Finally, all that is beautiful, true and good is nontechnical. You
           cannot make a technology out of it. That's what religions have been doing -- trying to create a
           technology -- and they have destroyed everything beautiful.
                A prayer is nontechnical. It is a heart-to-heart talk. Or, a silence between two hearts. It is a deep
           understanding, a reverence. A feeling of the presence of the unknown all around, a deep reverence.
           You may not say a single word. In fact, how can you say anything? When you are really in deep
           reverence, all words look useless; all words look like a disturbance. When the silence and the music
           of silence surrounds you, to say a word will be foolish. You are in deep awe. Everything stops. Then,
           there is prayer.
                Churches and temples go on teaching you prayer. They tell you how to do it. It cannot be done
           that way. That way you can learn something which is absolutely false, pseudo. All that is great, all
           that is beyond, happens. It is nothing to do with your doing.
                But don't misunderstand me and don't think: then what is the point of doing anything?
           Meditating, praying -- what is the point? No, I am simply saying: you will have to meditate, you will
           have to pray, you will have to do many things to prepare yourself. When the cup is ready, God pours
           himself in you. You cannot force Him to pour himself, that's perfectly true, but you have to prepare
           the cup. You will have to produce the cup from your heart.
                He is already pouring. It has never been otherwise. He is raining, He is pouring, but your cup is
           not ready. Or, even if it is ready, it is upside down. He goes on pouring, and you remain empty. You
           are doing a SHIRSHASAN, a headstand. He goes on pouring but your cup cannot receive. It is not in
           the right position where contact is possible.
                Learn how to be a cup. Learn how to put the cup rightside up.


              OSHO, WHAT IS IT THAT I CAN GIVE TO YOU? AND WHAT IS IT THAT I CAN TAKE OF YOU?
              AND WHO AM I?

              "What is it that I can give to you? " You can give me nothing. And what is it that you can take of me?
              You can take nothing. But your nothingness is negative, and my nothingness is positive.
              "And who am l?" Between these two nothingnesses -- just a momentary wave between these two
              banks of nothingness. Between the nothingness which is negative and the nothingness which is
              positive, you ARE. Just a wave.

              Try to understand this. You cannot give me anything because you have nothing. I can give you
           everything, because I also have nothing. And between these two is your ego: just a trembling, just a
           wave, a tension. If you receive me, the ego will disappear. If you are ready to receive me, you would
           have already surrendered the ego.
              To move from a nothingness which is negative towards a nothingness which is positive is to
           move from the world to God. Between the two is the ego.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHEN YOU TALK OF THE ECSTASY THAT IS AVAILABLE NOW, WHICH WILL BECOME OUR
              AGONY WHEN YOU ARE GONE, I FEEL SO INADEQUATE AND IMPOTENT THAT I JUST FEEL
              THAT ALL I CAN DO IS BANG MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL.


               It will not help your head! The wall may become enlightened...!
               Banging of the head won't do, but dropping of the head can do. Banging: the head always wants
           to do it. That's what you are doing your whole life -- banging heads, fighting. Don't try to bang. Just
           drop it, be headless.
               Try it as a meditation. It is one of the most beautiful tantra meditations. Walk, and think that the
           head is no more there -- just the body. Sit, and think that the head is no more there -- just the body.
           Continuously remember that the head is not there. Visualize yourself without the head. Have a
           picture of yourself enlarged -- without the head. Look at it. Let your mirror be lowered in the
           bathroom so when you see, you cannot see your head -- just the body.
               A few days of remembrance, and you will feel such weightlessness happening to you, such
           tremendous silence, because it is the head that is the problem. If you can conceive of yourself as
           headless.... And that can be conceived, there is no trouble in it. Then more and more, you'll be
           centered near the heart.
               Just this very moment you can visualize yourself headless. Then you will understand what I am
           saying immediately. There will not be a gap between what I say and what you understand. It is the
           head creating the whole nonsense in between.
               But please don't bang it against the wall, because the wall might not like it. The wall might not be
           ready yet to get enlightened. Bang it with emptiness, not with the wall. Then it drops.
               To be headless is to be meditative. To be completely headless is to attain to the unattainable.
           Your head is your madness. If you can conceive of yourself without the head, all madness
               will disappear. Just try it. Give it a try. It is one of the most potential methods.


              IS IT POSSIBLE TO BECOME ENLIGHTENED IN A DREAM?


               Not only possible -- whenever it happens, it always happens in a dream. Whatsoever you think is
           your waking consciousness, that too is not waking; that too is dreaming. While sitting here in front
           of me, do you think you are awake? I don't see it. I can hear your snore. And if you listen minutely,
           you will be able to hear it yourself: a deep snoring inside, a deep sleep -- and dreams and dreams.
               In sleep, only dreams can happen. That's what we have been insisting in this country
           continuously: that your world is illusory, it is MAYA. When Shankara says the world is MAYA, he's
           not talking about HIS world. He's talking about YOUR world. Because in sleep, how can you know
           that which is real? The sleep distorts. A totally different world is created by sleep: a world of dream.
           Whatsoever you call your life is made of the same stuff as dreams. It is dream-stuff.
               So whenever you become awakened and enlightened, it will always be in a dream. Buddha
           became enlightened -- or Jesus, or Zarathustra, or Lao Tzu -- they all became enlightened in a dream.
           The dream was shattered; they awoke out of sleep. They looked around: the dream was never found
           anywhere; it was a totally different thing. That's what they call God, nirvana, truth, brahma, the
           kingdom of God. That's what they call it. It is not your world; it is a waking. Enlightenment is just an
           awakening out of sleep. It is to become aware.
               You are lost in your dreams. Your subjectivity is completely engulfed by the dreams. It is just
           like when you go to see a movie. You know well that there is nothing on the screen. Still, you get
           deceived. When the movie starts, the screen is full of pictures. Just a play of light and darkness, just
           very subtle dream-stuff, and you are lost. You forget yourself. You forget the spectator, you become
           part of it. Sometimes you cry and weep when some tragedy happens on the screen. Sometimes you
           laugh; sometimes you become very tense. You follow all that is happening on the screen. There is
           nothing happening, but for two, three hours, you are completely lost.
               This is what life is..For seventy years, eighty years, you are completely lost. Buddha is one who
           becomes awakened in a movie house and suddenly shakes himself and understands that there is
           nothing -- only a wide screen covered with white and black shades; just covered with false,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dreamlike stuff. He laughs -- not at what he is seeing; he laughs at himself -- and comes back home.
           There is no point being there now. He has understood. He is no more a part of sleep; he has become
           awakened.
               Try this. One day, go to the movies and watch how you become so unaware that that which is not
           real starts becoming real. Then bring yourself back and back, again and again. Become aware. Give a
           jerk to the body, look again, and remember it is a white screen and there is nothing there. Then again
           watch. Within seconds you are again gone. Again your consciousness has been taken possession of
           by the dreamstuff. Again you are enjoying, or moving with the story. Remember again!
               This is the same process that a Buddha is doing in the world. A movie house can be a perfect
           meditation place if you can remember. The day you can remember continuously for three hours that
           there is nothing.... And remember, don't repeat this: that there is nothing. That won't help. It has to be
           KNOWN that there is nothing. You have to remember constantly that you are a witness, you have to
           watch that you are not affected by anything happening there.
               When three-dimensional movies came for the first time, they created a stir in the world. When a
           new three-dimensional movie was shown for the first time in London.... A horse was coming,
           running. People got scared. It was a three-dimensional movie; the horse was almost real. People even
           gave way for the horse to pass by. It looked so real!
               Your reality is just a three-dimensional dream. One has to awake. And awakening is always
           bound to be in a dream, so it matters not what type of dream you are seeing.
               That's why I say there is no need to change the dream. You can wake up wherever you are. You
           may be seeing yourself as a sinner, a criminal; you may be in a prison. Or, you may be thinking of
           yourself as a great mahatma. You may be in a temple being worshipped by thousands and thousands
           of people. It makes no difference. The mahatma is as much in a dream if he believes what he is
           seeing and if he's affected by the worship that is being done to him. If somebody insults him and he
           feels angry, annoyed, then he is in a dream as much as the sinner in prison.
               It is not at all relevant to change the dream: to first become a mahatma instead of a criminal.
           From the sinner you become a saint. It is foolish. Why waste time when you can wake up directly
           from wherever you are? You can become enlightened while you are imprisoned, you can become
           enlightened directly from where you are. You are a sinner, okay -- because sin is as much a dream as
           all your sainthood. The awakening is the same.
               In the night, you dreamt that you are a murderer. By the morning, when you wake up, you are not
           worried. You don't go on saying, "I will repent. I have been a murderer in my dream." You simply
           laugh at the whole thing. You don't condemn yourself, because it was a dream. Or, you see in a
           dream that you have become a great mahatma, a great soul: a saint, worshipped by millions. In the
           morning when you wake up, you don't go on telling people how great a mahatma you were in the
           dream!
               There is a Zen story. A great master woke up in the morning. He called his chief disciple and
           said, "Come to me. I had a dream, I will tell it to you. Interpret it."
               If the disciple was a Freud or a Jung or an Adler, he would have been tremendously happy, and
           he would have immediately started interpreting the dream. But the disciple was a meditator, not a
           Jung, not a Freud. He said, "You wait. Don't talk rubbish. I will bring water so you can wash your
           face."
               He brought a bowl of water. While the master was washing his face, another disciple passed. The
           master said, "Come here. I had a dream. Would you like to interpret it?"
               The disciple looked. He said, "Wait. The tea is ready and I will bring you a cup of tea. Then you
           will come to your senses!" A dream is not worth even interpretation.
               The master was happy. It is said he danced that day. He said, "At least two disciples...." He said,
           "If you had interpreted my dream, I would have thrown you out of my monastery" -- because a
           dream is nonsense, and then trying to interpret it is even a higher nonsense.
               What the disciples did was the best interpretation. The first one brought a bowl of water and said
           to the old master, "You just wash your face so that you become more awake."
               The other brought tea. "Just drink tea, a little hot tea, and that will bring you back to your senses.
           You will be more conscious."
               Consciousness is needed, not interpretation. All dreams are the same: there are not good dreams
           and bad dreams. How can there be good dreams and bad dreams? Both are unreal. In unreality you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot make a distinction between good and bad. Moral, immoral; sinner, saint -- all are dreams.
           Don't try to change one dream for another. All are chains. Steel or gold, it doesn't matter.
               Wake up! All the awakened ones are just standing there with bowls of water and a hot cup of
           tea....


               WHEN YOU WERE SAYING YESTERDAY THAT IT IS OUR OWN CHOICE, OUR OWN DECISION
               WHATEVER HAPPENS TO US -- THEN SUDDENLY IT DAWNED ON ME THAT REALLY IT IS
               SIMPLE: SIMPLE TO BECOME POSITIVE, SIMPLE TO LET THE OLD PATTERNS DIE, SIMPLE TO
               BE, EVEN NATURAL FOR ENLIGHTENMENT TO HAPPEN. IS THIS'WAKING UP'?


                It is just thinking about waking up. A little more, one jump more.
                Don't be deceived by it. It is good as far as it goes, but it does not go very far, or far enough. It is
           good that you understand it, but it is still an intellectual understanding. Good -- at least you have not
           misunderstood. Feel blissful for it, feel fortunate. You have not misunderstood. That's what I'm
           saying: that it is simple, simple to be. But don't think that this is already waking up.
                I am talking about food. I am talking about it; you are understanding it. Then, the search for food
           begins. Don't try to eat the menu; it is not food. Don't try to enjoy the map so much that you
           completely forget about the goal. The map is not the territory. Even a beautiful picture of the
           Himalayas, perfectly true to it, even that is not the Himalayas.
                But good that you have understood. This is waking up: you have understood the point. Now let
           the point become your very being. Don't allow it to remain in the intellect, because sooner or later, if
           it remains there too much, it will be a dead concept. Let it become existential.
                Yes, it is simple. It is so simple that you can become awakened this very moment. Don't ask how,
           because once you ask how then it is no longer simple; then it becomes difficult. Because of
           your'hows' there are people who go on answering you. You ask how; they show you the way. In fact,
           there is no way: it is a pathless path. In fact, there is no how to it. It is just an understanding, a
           turning in.
                If you have understood the point, live it. Because only through living will it become a concrete
           reality.


               YOU SAID THAT MIND IS THE DEVIL: "DROP IT!" OH, BUT A MAN OF A CIVILIZED, COMPLEX
               SOCIETY OF TODAY, LIKE ME, FEELS HIM SELF SURROUNDED AND LOST IN MIND AND MIND
               AND NOTHING ELSE. HOW TO PROCEED? MOREOVER, IF ONE GOES WITH AN INNOCENT,
               CHILDLIKE MIND INTO THIS WORLD, HE WILL PROBABLY BE CHEATED.


               Be cheated. It is worth it. What have you got that you are so much afraid of being cheated? A
           naked fakir -- worried where he will dry his clothes if he takes a bath. Be cheated! You have nothing.
               This idea that "... with an innocent childlike mind into this world, he will probably be cheated,"
           is already cunning, clever, calculating. If you want to become childlike, even then you calculate what
           will happen? A child is just a child. Whatsoever happens, happens.
               And I tell you, if you allow yourself to be cheated, in the end you will find that those who were
           cheating you were really the victims. They have been cheated. They could not take anything from
           you because, in the first place, you had nothing.
               When death knocks at your door, you will be happy that you allowed people to cheat you rather
           than cheating them. Because there are only two possibilities: either you cheat or you allow people to
           cheat you. There is no other possibility. If you think: "I will not cheat others, but I will not allow
           anybody to cheat me," you have the wrong attitude. You don't understand what you are thinking, It is
           impossible.
               The only way not to be cheated is to cheat. Ask Machiavelli, he knows. Ask Kautilya or
           Chanakya, they know. Machiavelli says: "The only way to defend yourself is to attack." He is
           exactly your cunningness, embodied. He is the incarnation of cunningness. But he's saying a
           perfectly logical thing: if you want not to be cheated, cheat. That is the only way not to be cheated;
           there is no other way. But I tell you, if you cheat people, in the end you will find that you have been
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doing much and your hands are empty.
               When Alexander was dying he told his people, "My hands should be hanging out of the coffin,
           outside it."
               They were worried. They said, "This has never been done. What are you thinking, and why?
           Why should your hands be hanging out of the coffin?"
               He said, "So that people can see that I am going empty handed." A great understanding dawned
           on him. But very late, when nothing could be done. He had been accumulating the things of the
           world, he had become almost the conqueror of the world, and at the end he realized that his hands
           were empty.
               Hands will always be empty if you go on cheating people. Once you understand that there is
           nothing to fear, let them cheat. In their cheating you, they are not very clever; they are simply
           foolish.
               And the more you allow them to cheat you, the more you trust them, the more a different kind of
           treasure will open its doors to you. It is available only to a childlike consciousness -- innocent.


              OSHO, WHAT IS INNOCENCE?


              [Osho was silent, a long silence. The audience laughed... and the discourse ended.]




                                       Come Follow To You, Vol 2
                                                  Chapter #11
                                      Chapter title: And come, follow me
           10 November 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7511100
              ShortTitle: FOLL211
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins




              LUKE 18
              18 AND A CERTAIN RULER ASKED HIM, SAYING, GOOD MASTER, WHAT SHALL I DO TO
              INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?
              19 AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, WHY CALLEST THOU ME GOOD? NONE IS GOOD, SAVE ONE,
              THAT IS, GOD.
              20 THOU KNOWEST THE COMMANDMENTS, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT KILL, DO
              NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.
              21 AND HE SAID, ALL THESE HAVE I KEPT FROM MY YOUTH UP.
              22 NOW WHEN JESUS HEARD THESE THINGS, HE SAID UNTO HIM, YET LACKEST THOU ONE
              THING: SELL ALL THAT THOU HAST, AND DISTRIBUTE UNTO THE POOR, AND THOU SHALT
              HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN: AND COME, FOLLOW ME.
              23 AND WHEN HE HEARD THIS, HE WAS VERY SORROWFUL: FOR HE WAS VERY RICH.
              24 AND WHEN JESUS SAW THAT HE WAS VERY SORROWFUL, HE SAID, HOW HARDLY SHALL
              THEY THAT HAVE RICHES ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
              25 FOR IT IS EASIER FOR A CAMEL TO GO THROUGH A NEEDLE'S EYE, THAN FOR A RICH
              MAN TO ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
              26 AND THEY THAT HEARD IT SAID, WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?
              27 AND HE SAID, THE THINGS WHICH ARE IMPOSSIBLE WITH MEN ARE POSSIBLE WITH
              GOD.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               MAN IS A PARADOX. He is on the way: that s why he has to be a paradox. He has not yet
           arrived. The departure has happened, but the arrival is yet to come. Man is a process. Man is not yet
           a being, man is still becoming. Hence the paradox. The world of the animals is left behind, the
           departure has happened, but the world of the gods has not yet been achieved.
               Man is just a bridge between these two -- the past and the future -- and there is a constant
           tension. The past pulls him back, the future calls him forth. Man is always in anxiety. What to do?
           The anxiety is very deep: to be or not to be?
               Because of this, man is bound to remain contradictory unless he transcends humanity. A part of
           man will remain in the past and a part of man will remain in the future, the yet unborn. These two
           will go on continuously fighting within the heart of man: the good and the bad, or the night and the
           day, life and death, or whatsoever you want to call it -- the polarity.
               Because of this polarity, whatsoever you do is only halfhearted. It never gives satisfaction. You
           cannot withdraw from it and you cannot be committed to it totally. You love, but the love is
           half-hearted. Nothing happens out of it; you remain the same. You meditate, but the meditation is
           halfhearted. Nothing happens out of it, because you have never moved in it totally. All happening is
           possible only in total involvement: when you are not left behind, when you have moved completely,
           utterly completely. There is no holding back... a jump. In that jump the past disappears, the future
           disappears. Just here and now, being arises.
               That being is what we mean by'God'. You carry that possibility within you, but you go on
           fighting within the opposites. Because of this fight and turmoil you cannot see who you are, you
           cannot feel that which you are already, Deeply hidden within your own being is the truth. The enemy
           is within and the friend is also. The beloved is within and the wicked one also is within you. This has
           to be understood, because the very understanding will become a freedom, a liberation.
               One of Jesus' very significant parables has been lost completely. Just a reference is made to it in
           LUKE, but the complete parable is not in any of the authorized gospels, not even in the fifth gospel
           of Thomas. Some hidden sources, some secret societies, have continuously been meditating on that
           parable. I would like to tell it to you. The parable is so significant that it may be because of its
           significance that it has not been included in the authorized gospels. The parable seems to be
           dangerous. The implications of it are of tremendous import and significance.
               The parable is about someone secretly sowing weeds in a wheat field while the master and his
           servants slept. The servants were all for cutting them quickly out, but the master said that at harvest
           time one could more effectively separate the wheat from the tares.
               The servants consulted together, saying, "It would be much better to pull out those weeds right
           now rather than wait, but we must obey the master even when he is wrong. In the meantime, let us
           look for the enemy who would do this evil thing to our master who is so kind to everyone and
           doesn't deserve this treatment."
               They quietly inquired and made a search of the whole region, but they could not find anyone;
           they could not find the enemy.
               One of the servants came privately to the chief steward at night saying, "Sir, forgive me, but I
           can no longer bear to conceal my secret. I know the enemy who sowed the tares. I saw him do it."
               At this, the chief steward was astonished and full of anger. But before punishing him, he
           demanded of the servant why he had not come forward sooner.
           "I dared not," cried the servant. "I scarcely dared to come and tell you this even now. I was awake
           the night the weeds were sown, I saw the man who did it. He walked past me, seemingly awake and
           yet asleep. He did not appear to recognize me, but I recognized him."
           "And who was he indeed? " asked the chief steward in great excitement. "Tell me so he can be
           punished."
               The servant hung his head. Finally, in a low voice, he replied, "It was the master himself."
               And the two agreed to say nothing of this to any man.

              The enemy is not outside. If it was outside, it would not have been difficult to get rid of him. You
           could have escaped. But you cannot escape from the enemy because it is within.
              The beloved, the friend, is also not outside. Otherwise you could have searched, and once found
           by one man, there would have been no difficulty for others to follow. Just as it happens in science:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the truth is outside.
                Scientific truth IS outside. One man discovers, and the discovery becomes part of human
           knowledge. Then each and everybody knows about it. Einstein may have worked for twelve years to
           com e to the truth of the theory of relativity, but once he knew it, it became a co m m on inheritance.
           Even a schoolchild can learn it. Whosoever is ready now, need not waste time. Within minutes and
           hours it can be learned. It is always there.
                The truth of science is outside, but the truth of religion is within. Jesus m ay have discovered it,
           but his discovery will remain personal. It cannot be transferred to anybody else. Buddha may have
           discovered it, but the discovery will disappear w hen Buddha disappears. Each and every seeker will
           have to find the truth again and again, individually.
                Religious truth is personal. Religious truth cannot be borrowed; it has to be sought. Every seeker
           has to work it out on his own. You cannot stand on anybody else's shoulders, you cannot inherit it. It
           has to be earned.
                Both are within: the animal and the god. That creates the problem. Sometimes you get identified
           with the divine in you. Then everything flows beautifully. Then you feel a warmth all around you, all
           over you. Then you feel a calm, a deep tranquility. Then you feel ecstatic. Everything seems to be a
           blessing. Everything fits together with the whole, everything falls in line. A deep contentment
           surrounds you, descends in you. You are at home.
                Whenever you get identified with the divine, you feel happy. Whenever you get identified with
           the wicked one, you become unhappy; you become miserable. All your misery and all your
           happiness is just an identification: either with the divine part or with the devil part. Both are within
           you. The religious m an has to go beyond both. It is not only that he has to dis-identify himself fro m
           the devil. That has to be done, but he should also dis-identify himself from even the god.
           Identification, in itself, is the trouble.
                With the wicked one, you will be miserable. That is the myth of hell: one who has gone so
           deeply into an identification with the dark, with the devil, that his whole life has become a hell -- just
           a long misery, with no end in view.
                You have to get dis-identified with the dark part, but everybody wants to do that. The real
           problem arises when teachers like Jesus and Buddha say to get dis-identified with the good also,
           because, deep down, identification itself is the problem, not the object of identification. Then
           happiness also disappears, just as misery disappears.
                Whatsoever is left behind -- that'x' quality -- is bliss. It is neither misery nor happiness. It is
           totally different from both. It is indefinable, it is elusive. You cannot catch hold of it. The more you
           try, the more it will escape you. But you can live it. That'x' quality can be lived.
                The identification has to go. Don't get identified with anything. Remain a watcher, remain a
           witness. Whatsoever happens, happens to you, but you are not it. Remember that. Remind yourself
           continuously.
                Sadness has come. It has happened to you; it is not you. The moment you remember this,
           suddenly you will see a distance arising between you and the sadness. It does not affect you
           anymore. When you lose awareness, it affects you; when you gain awareness, there is a distance. The
           more awareness rises to a higher peak, the more the distance becomes greater and greater. A moment
           comes when you are so far away from your sadness that it is as if it is no longer there.
                The same has to be done with happiness also. It will be difficult, because one wants to cling to
           happiness. But if you want to cling to happiness, you are sowing the seeds of unhappiness.
                That's how this parable is of tremendous significance. The master himself -- in his sleep, in his
           unawareness -- came to the field, the wheat field, and sowed the seeds of weeds. In his deep
           sleep..He must have been a somnambulist; a person who walks in his sleep and does things. In the
           morning he started asking, "Who has done this?"
                You have been doing things to yourself. In the morning when you become awake you ask, "Who
           has done this? " and you start searching for the enemy. The enemy is within, the enemy is just your
           unconsciousness.
                There is a Sufi parable that is just like this parable:

              A man was very worried because every night somebody would enter his garden and destroy the
           garden. He did everything that could be done to protect it. Guards were posted all around the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           boundary, but never was anybody seen to go into the garden in the night. Everything was done, but
           nothing helped. The garden was being destroyed every day.
               He went to a Sufi master, thinking that the master must have the quality of seeing faraway things.
           The master closed his eyes and said, "You do one thing. Fix the alarm on your alarm clock for two
           o'clock in the night."
               The man said, "How is this going to help? My guards are continuously watching and patrolling
           around the house."
               The master said, "There is no need to argue. You simply do what I say. You fix the alarm for two
           o'clock. Then come the next day. Whatsoever happens you relate to me."
           The man was suspicious, but he tried it.
               Two o'clock, when the alarm went off, he became awake. He was standing in his garden,
           destroying his plants.

               He was a somnambulist. We all are. You have been sowing seeds and in your deep darkness -- in
           your night, in your sleep, in your unawareness, unconsciousness -- you have been throwing the seeds
           and destroying your own field.
               You love somebody, and then you start possessing him. Now tares are entering. You love, and
           then you become jealous. Now weeds are growing. You love, and for trivial things you get angry.
           You love: for nothing at all -- meaningless, petty things -- hate arises. Now the wheat is getting
           mixed with tares.
               When you love you feel happy. Every love starts with a deep happiness, a celebration, and every
           love ends in deep sadness.
               The other day I was reading a poem by T. S. Eliot. The poem ends with these lines:

              THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS THIS IS THE WAY
              THE WORLD ENDS NOT WITH A BANG BUT WITH A WHIMPER.


              This is how everything ends. Your love, your meditation, your virtue. Not even with a bang but
           with a whimper.
              Continuously you are contradicting yourself. Whatsoever you do, you undo it. With one hand
           you build the house; with another you destroy it. Watch, be alert, and the more alert you are, the
           more you will see that there is nobody else working against you. There is no devil working against
           you; the devil is within you. And there is no God helping you. That God is also within you. If you go
           beyond both, the good and the bad, you yourself become that God.

               These sutras of Jesus have to be understood with deep sympathy. You can listen to them without
           sympathy. Then you will hear them, but they will not become part of your heart. Only in deep
           sympathy you become open. These sutras are seeds. They have much in them which can grow if the
           right soil in the heart allows them to grow, if you help them to grow. They are just indications,
           gestures. If you allow them to grow, they can become your very life-style.

              AND A CERTAIN RULER ASKED HIM, SAYING, GOOD MASTER, WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT
              ETERNAL LIFE?


                To inherit? Exactly there, the man went wrong. In that word'inherit' he lost contact with Jesus.
           The eternal life cannot be inherited. It is not like a fortune or a worldly kingdom. You have to earn
           it; everybody has to earn it and seek it. You cannot inherit it. The father cannot give it to the son, the
           master cannot give it to the disciple, the lover cannot give it to the beloved, no. There is no way of
           inheriting it.
                Worldly things can be inherited because when a man dies, he has to leave all his worldly
           possessions here. He cannot take them with him. But when a man of spirituality dies, he leaves
           nothing here. His treasure goes with him; it cannot be inherited.
                A CERTAIN RULER ASKED -- he was a ruler, a very rich man -- SAYING, GOOD MASTER,
           WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? The first thing to remember is that you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot get it from somebody else. You have to earn it.
                There is a story in Mahavir's life. A great king came to visit him. The king was a great
           conqueror, he had almost become the ruler of the whole country. He knew only one language: the
           language of war, the language of conquering. He had conquered everything that was worth
           conquering; he had become the richest man in the country. Now somebody said that all these worldly
           possessions are of no use unless you conquer the inner kingdom. "Unless you attain DHYANA,
           SAMADHI, unless you attain inner ecstasy, these are useless."
                So he said, "From where can I get it? You just show me the place; I will conquer it." He knew
           only one language: of conquering.
                Ecstasy cannot be conquered. On the contrary, you have to allow it to conquer you. You cannot
           conquer it; you have to surrender to it. It conquers you. You cannot possess it, you have to allow it to
           possess you. That is the only way. But that was a language he had never known.
                Somebody said, "Mahavir is right nearby, staying in the forest. You go to him. He has attained."
           So the king went there with a great army -- the man knew only one language.
                He surrounded the forest. Then he approached Mahavir. He thought, "If he surrenders without a
           fight, it is okay." So he went to Mahavir and he said, "I have come to conquer the kingdom you have
           attained, the kingdom of inner ecstasy."
                Mahavir laughed. He said, "Good, your desire is good. But you seem to be absolutely unaware of
           what you are asking. It cannot be conquered by you. I HAVE got it here, but I cannot give it to you
           and you cannot conquer it."
                The king said, "You don't be worried about it. You just show me where it is. You cannot give it?
           What do you mean? That you don't want to give it to me? I can force you to give it. I have not come
           across anything which cannot be conquered. You simply show me where it is."
                Mahavir must have felt a deep compassion in his heart for this man. Foolish, stupid, but that's
           how humanity is. He said, "You do one thing. There is no need to come to me. In your own capital
           there is a very poor man and he may want to bargain with you. He has also attained. You go to him."
                The king had never heard the name of that poor man, but he said, "I will go." He went to that
           poor man. He was really a beggar, but with the same light in his eyes as Mahavir, with the same
           fragrance around him, with the same innocence. He was sitting under a tree. The king said, "You are
           part of my kingdom and whatsoever you have attained -- give it to me! Whatsoever you want in
           return, I am ready to give. Even if you want my whole kingdom, I will give it to you. But bring out,
           give me, your SAMADHI."
                The man laughed. He said, "I can give you my life, it is in your hands, but I cannot give you
           SAMADHI. Not that I don't want to give it, but the very nature of it is such that it cannot be given.
           You will have to earn it."
                The king said, "But I have never earned anything. I am a conqueror. Whatsoever I need, I simply
           conquer it. I'm not a businessman; I never earn anything. I am a KSHATRIYA, a warrior."
                The beggar said, "But here, your swords won't do, nor your army. Here you will have to go
           alone, because it is a going inward. You have to go to your own center. And it cannot be given
           because you already have it. It has only to be known, discovered."
                Our ignorance is the only reason that we don't have it. Not that we don't have it -- it has been
           always there -- but we have forgotten it. We have become oblivious to it, our eyes have become
           clouded. The vision has lost the crystal clarity that is needed to rediscover it.
                Have you watched? Sometimes you are trying to remember somebody's name. You know it, and
           still it is not coming. You feel very puzzled. You say it is just on the tip of the tongue. You say, "I
           KNOW it," but if somebody insists, "If you know it, then why don't you tell it?" you say, "But it is
           not coming."
                Have you watched this emptiness? You know the name, you know that you know it, but there is a
           gap. But that gap is not empty, that gap is not passive. That gap is very active, intensely active. That
           gap is searching, that gap itself is in search for the forgotten name.
                And another thing if you watch: somebody suggests some name and you say, "No, it is not that."
           This is beautiful. You don't know what is true, but you know what is false. You say, "That is not it."
           Somebody suggests some other name. You say, "No, even that is not it. I know what it is!" The gap
           is not just a dead gap; it is dynamic. It knows what is false, it knows what is not true, but it has
           forgotten the truth.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So if somebody is teaching you a false god, you will immediately understand. There is no
           problem about it. If somebody is giving you a false thing, you will immediately understand it. You
           don't know what is true, you don't know what is truth, but you can immediately feel what is untrue,
           because the truth is hidden within you. You may have forgotten it, but you have not forgotten that it
           is there.
                That's why, whenever you hear truth, suddenly something in you immediately perceives it. It is
           not a question of time. Others who cannot perceive it will think that you have been hypnotized.
           Argue, reason, think about it, brood then believe. But whenever you hear truth, the very quality of it
           is such that immediately it fills your gap, because your own truth has been called.
                Whenever you hear a truth, it is not coming from the outside. The outside is just an opportunity
           for the inside to open. Immediately, you know that this is true. Not that you can argue about it, not
           that you can prove it, not that you are convinced by it, no. You are transformed by it, not convinced.
           It is a conversion, not a conviction.

              AND A CERTAIN RULER ASKED HIM, SAYING, GOOD MASTER, WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT
              ETERNAL LIFE?

              Inherit? It cannot be inherited.



              AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, WHY CALLEST THOU ME GOOD?


                The man has said GOOD MASTER. You cannot deceive a man like Jesus. He was trying to
           flatter him: GOOD MASTER. In fact, to call him a master is enough because goodness is intrinsic to
           a master. To call him a good master is a repetition. A master, by being a master, is good. It is just
           flattery.
                The man is a man of the world. He knows his manners. If you want something from somebody,
           you have to flatter and buttress him. The man was trying the ordinary diplomatic ways. The man
           may have been a disciple of Dale Carnegie: GOOD MASTER. When you are after somebody and
           you want something, you have to behave in such a way that he can be persuaded.
                But you cannot deceive a man like Jesus, because he sees through and through you. He knows
           that you don't even know that he is a master, you don't believe that he is a master. But you call him
           GOOD MASTER.

              AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, WHY CALLEST THOU ME GOOD? NONE IS GOOD, SAVE ONE,
              THAT IS, GOD.


               How can man be good when man is by nature divided? Man is both good and bad, man is a
           polarity: a paradox, a contradiction. This has to be understood.
               Even the greatest saint has within him the sinner. And the reverse is also true: the greatest sinner
           has a saint within him. Emphasis differs, but a saint is a sinner also and a sinner is a saint also.
           Maybe the saint was a sinner in the past, maybe the sinner will be a saint in the future. The only
           emphasis is in time, otherwise there is no difference.
               Only the emphasis differs. Real saints know it; only false, pseudo-saints don't know it. A
           pseudo-saint believes that he is simply saintly; there is no sinner in him. He is wrong, because where
           will the sinner go? Maybe the sinner has become inactive, non-functioning, but it is there. It can
           function any moment, it can uncoil any moment.
               Go and behave with a saint the way he has not been expecting you to behave, and immediately
           you will see a different face arising. Immediately you will see that the man is annoyed, angry. He's
           no more that saintly man he was. Something has changed. You worship him, touch his feet, and he is
           smiling. He has a different face.
               Try the same thing sometimes with a sinner, a criminal. Go and touch his feet and just look at
           him. His face becomes saintly. When somebody touches your feet, you have to be a saint. What else
           can you do? And when somebody insults you, you have to be a sinner. What else can you do? Maybe
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ninety-nine percent a saint is a saint, but one percent the sinner is there. All great saints are aware of
           it. Jesus says:

              WHY CALLEST THOU ME GOOD? NONE IS GOOD, SAVE ONE, THAT IS, GOD.


                But there comes a point of transcendence. And those who transcend both the sinner and the saint
           -- them we have been calling sages.
                A saint is a very ordinary phenomenon. A sage is extraordinary. The sage is the transcendental.
           He's neither saint nor sinner. Remember, if you are trying to become a saint and trying to drop your
           sinner, the dropped sinner will remain hanging in your unconscious. A hangover will be there. If you
           are trying to become a sinner, then deep down, somewhere in the unconscious, the saint will wait to
           be realized sometime in future.
                This happens: that saints go on dreaming about sins that they have forced themselves not to do.
           The dreams of saints are ugly because they are substitutions, and the dreams of sinners are very
           beautiful. Sinners always dream that they have become saints. A sinner can dream that he has
           become a Buddha, sitting under the Bodhi tree. But saints, so-called saints, are afraid of sleep. In
           sleep, their dreams reveal their inner reality. They have eloped with somebody's wife -- because the
           dream is that part which you have been denying in your life.
                A sage does not dream, because he has no polarity. He's just a witness. When you become a
           witness in your life, life becomes absolutely simple. I'm not talking about the simplicity that you can
           discipline yourself into. I'm talking about the simplicity that comes by being alert and aware, that
           comes automatically, spontaneously. And when you are aware, dreams drop. A moment comes when
           sleep becomes dreamless.
                When sleep is dreamless, the day becomes thoughtless. They go together. Then a man is just like
           a small child, a newborn babe. Jesus says that is the quality which is needed if you want to enter into
           the kingdom of God.
           Jesus said:

              THOU KNOWEST THE COMMANDMENTS, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT KILL, DO NOT
              STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.


               Jesus said to that man, "You know the commandments. Follow them. If you want to enter into
           the kingdom of God, the eternal life, you know the commandments. Every child knows them: DO
           NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT KILL, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE
           WITNESS, HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER."

              AND HE SAID, ALL THESE HAVE L KEPT FROM MY YOUTH UP.


               This is very meaningful. Jesus gave him the law because the man was too worldly. He was even
           trying to flatter Jesus: GOOD MASTER. And the man was too worldly because he was thinking to
           INHERIT eternal life. He knows only one language: of this world. The other world -- he has not
           even heard about it.
               Jesus told him to follow the law, the commandments of Moses. AND THE MAN SAID, ALL
           THESE HAVE I KEPT FROM MY YOUTH UP. What is the meaning of it?
               The meaning is that you can follow all the commandments and still you will be missing the
           kingdom of God. Commandments are a lower-grade phenomenon. The law is for those who are
           unaware; love is for those who are aware. Love is the higher law; law is the lower love. Law is
           followed by moralists; love is followed by people who are religious. Religion is not law, it is love.
               Law has a discipline to it; it is a forced thing. It makes you robot-like. You move like a train
           moves on the track. Law moves in a fixed, routine way. It is mechanical.
               Love has no outer discipline to it. Love is freedom. You move like a river, not like a railway
           train. You move like a river. By your own movement, you create the path. The path is not fixed.
           Anytime, the river can change it. Love is like a river, a freedom.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Love is a great responsibility because you are free and there is no outer discipline to keep you
           under control. There is only an inner feeling. Only that inner feeling gives you a discipline.
                With law, you are always following a dead routine. It becomes part of your mechanical mind.
           You need not be responsible. You need not even bother about it; it becomes automatic. It is just like
           when you learn typing. You have to worry about it in the beginning, but then by and by it becomes a
           robot-like phenomenon. Then you can go on talking and typing, you can go on singing and typing.
           Your mind can think a thousand and one thoughts, and you can go on typing.
                It is just like driving. When you start driving you have to be very alert because there is danger
           everywhere. But once you know how to drive, you can even have a few moments of sleep. That
           happens. Drivers who have been driving the whole night start sleeping for a few seconds between
           two and four o'clock. They are not even aware of it. Even when their eyes close they go on seeing
           the road because their eyes are so focused on the road that the road has become a part of them. They
           can close their eyes and they go on seeing the road. They think that since they are seeing the road,
           they must be alert. Fifty percent of all accidents happen between two and four. Sometimes this too
           happens: that a driver becomes so attuned to driving that he can sleep with open eyes. Then it is even
           more dangerous. His eyes are open and he is fast asleep. And still he goes on driving.
                Law has to be practiced. Love has to be lived not practiced. Love is as if you are moving in a
           wilderness. By your walking you create the path; the path is not already there waiting for you. It is a
           tremendous responsibility.
                Jesus talked about the law. He must have seen the man, that he is a worldly man, a man of this
           world. He can follow the law.
                But the man said: "All these I have been following and yet nothing has happened." But by just
           following the law, nothing happens. You can become perfectly moral but you will not become
           religious. Religion has nothing to do with law; it has something to do with grace and love. Religion
           has nothing to do with the rules that we have invented.
                Those rules are social things. They are needed. They are just like rules of traffic:'keep to the left'.
           It has no ultimacy about it. If you keep to the right you are not committing a sin, but you will create
           trouble for yourself and others, because others are keeping to the left. If the whole country
           decides'keep to the right' then there is no problem: you keep to the right. In America, they keep to
           the right. In India, you keep to the left. When an American drives on an Indian road, it is dangerous
           because his mind is fixed: keep to the right. Both are good, nothing is wrong in it. Both are
           utilitarian; they are not ultimate. Love is ultimate. It has no utility about it.
                Jesus talked about the law. "Follow the law!" The man might be able to understand that.
                But the man said, "I have been doing all these things and nothing has happened." Through law,
           nothing happens. Through law you live a comfortable life, convenient, but no revolution is possible
           through law.
                If you don't follow the law you may be in trouble. If you follow the law you will not be in
           trouble, but no transformation will happen; you will not become a luminous soul. That has nothing to
           do with the law.

              NOW WHEN JESUS HEARD THESE THINGS, HE SAID UNTO HIM, YET LACKEST THOU ONE
              THING: SELL ALL THAT THOU HAST, AND DISTRIBUTE IT UNTO THE POOR, AND THOU SHALT
              HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN: AND COME, FOLLOW ME.


              Jesus said, "If you have done all these things then only one thing is left that you have not done.
           That is, love." Love means sharing. Love means giving, without any thought of return, of reward.
           Whatsoever you have, give to those who don't have it. Share your being, distribute yourself.

              YET LACKEST THOU ONE THING: SELL ALL THAT THOU HAST, AND DISTRIBUTE IT UNTO THE
              POOR, AND THOU SHALT HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN: AND COME, FOLLOW ME.


              If you have fulfilled the law and nothing has happened, then try to fulfill the higher
           commandment of love. Jesus says, "Moses gave you the law, I give you love. Moses brought you the
           law, and I bring you a higher law of grace."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              AND WHEN HE HEARD THIS, HE WAS VERY SORROWFUL: FOR HE WAS VERY RICH.


                When a poor man hears this -- "Go and distribute all that you have" -- he may not feel sorrowful
           because he has nothing to give. He can say, "Yes, I am already poor and I have nothing to give." But
           a rich man who has much.... The more you have, the more miserly you become. The more you have,
           the more you cling to it and protect it. The more you have, the more afraid; the more you have, the
           less willing to share it. A poor man can share easily. The problem arises with a rich man.
                Ordinarily we would think it should be otherwise, just the reverse: a rich man has so much that
           he can share. But he cannot share, because he has so much and he is afraid. If he shares he will be
           losing. A poor man has nothing to lose. That's why poor people are more loving than rich people.
           They can afford love because they have nothing to lose.
                If you go into the villages of India, people are very poor but very loving. They don't have much
           -- in fact they don't have anything -- but they will always be ready to share. They will invite you to
           eat with them. They may not have enough for two, but they will always be willing to share it.
                A rich man is bound to become sorrowful. He has so much. How can he just go and sell
           everything and distribute it? His whole identity is with riches: he is somebody because of all that he
           has. Remember, having becomes a substitute for being. If you have much, you think you are much.
           And once having is thought to be like your being it becomes difficult to share, because the less you
           have, the less will become your being. One clings because riches give you a feeling that you are full.
           If riches are gone, you will be empty.
                Only in deep emptiness does God descend. Only in emptiness the door opens. You are so full of
           worldly things that there is no space for the divine to enter in you. Jesus is simply saying, "Create a
           space. Create love."
                Love and space always go together. Whenever you have too many things around you, love is
           suffocated and dies. It is very rare to find a man who is rich AND loving -- very rare.
                People know it well. If you are a son of a rich man you know, if you are a wife of a rich man you
           know, if you are a husband of a rich woman you know that rich people are not loving. They are
           always afraid. Love seems dangerous because when you love you have to share. That is the fear.

              AND WHEN HE HEARD THIS, HE WAS VERY SORROWFUL: BECAUSE HE WAS VERY RICH.
              AND WHEN JESUS SAW THAT HE WAS VERY SORROWFUL, HE SAID, HOW HARDLY SHALL
              THEY THAT HAVE RICHES ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
              FOR IT IS EASIER FOR A CAMEL TO GO THROUGH A NEEDLE'S EYE THAN FOR A RICH MAN
              TO ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.


               ONE OF THE MOST PREGNANT SUTRAS OF JESUS: FOR IT IS EASIER FOR A CAMEL
           TO GO THROUGH A NEEDLE'S EYE -- which is impossible, but Jesus says even that is easier --
           THAN FOR A RICH MAN TO ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
               Why is it so difficult? Because the more you possess, the less you can love. And love is the door.
           Or, the less you can love, the more you start possessing things. Things become a substitute.
               Let us try to understand it. A child is born. If the mother loves him, psychoanalysts have been
           studying, much research has been done -- if the mother loves him, the child never drinks too much
           milk, never, because he knows, it is a tacit understanding, that the mother is always available and
           she's always ready to share. So what is the fear? If the mother loves the child, the child will drink
           only as much milk as is needed. If the child is loved, you will never see a big belly in the child. The
           child will be proportionate. In fact the mother will be constantly worried that the child is not eating
           or drinking or taking as much food as needed. But the child has understood that whenever the need
           arises, the mother is there. He can rely on love.
               But if the mother does not love the child, then he is afraid for the future. Love is not there, the
           tacit understanding is not there, so whenever he gets the opportunity he will eat as much as he can,
           he will drink as much milk as he can. Now he is already becoming a miser; he has already started
           accumulating things -- in the body. He's afraid. Who knows about tomorrow? This mother is not
           reliable; he has to accumulate for emergencies. So he will accumulate fat, eat more.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               People who have not been loved in their childhood continue to eat more. No dieting can help
           unless love arises. They will eat; eating has become a substitute for love. If somebody loves them,
           they will immediately see that their overeating has stopped.
               Love and food both come from the mother's breast. The first experience of love is from the
           mother's breast and the first experience of food is also from the mother's breast. So love and food
           become associated. If there is less love, it has to be substituted for by more food,
               If love is enough, you can afford not to eat much. There is no need. Have you watched it?
           Whenever you fall in deep love, hunger disappears. You don't feel hungry. Love fulfills so deeply
           that you feel full. Then one starts eating less and less.
               One woman was talking to me. She was very puzzled. Her husband had died and she told me,
           "One thing I have been keeping a secret. I have not told it to anybody because nobody will
           understand. But you may understand, so I'm telling you. And I will be unburdened whether you
           understand or not. But please don't tell this to anybody."
           I said, "What has happened?"
               She said, "When my husband died, at night I felt so hungry. The corpse was Lying in the
           house.'What will people think if I go to eat?' The whole family was awake, relatives had come and
           many friends were there together. And I felt such a deep hunger, such as I have never felt."
               So she had to go in her own kitchen like a thief. In darkness, she ate. And now, since then, she
           has been feeling guilty. "My husband had died. Was that the time to feel hungry? His corpse was
           Lying there. I was like a thief, eating in darkness in my kitchen." She asked me, "What happened?"
               I said, "It is a simple fact. The person you loved died. Immediately, you felt empty. Now that
           emptiness had to be filled by something."
               Since then I have been talking to many people and I have come to the conclusion that whenever
           you are sad, you eat more. Whenever you are in a deep sorrow, you feel more hungry. Whenever you
           are happy, flowing, cheerful and loving, and love is showering on you, who bothers to eat much?
           Even a small amount of food is enough nourishment then, because love is giving so much
           nourishment.
               People who can't love will always become misers: possessive, accumulators of things. People
           who accumulate things can't love, and those who can't love -- how can they enter into the kingdom of
           God? Yes, Jesus is right: FOR IT IS EASIER FOR A CAMEL TO GO THROUGH A NEEDLE'S
           EYE THAN FOR A RICH MAN TO ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
               Not that Jesus is condemning riches. He is condemning possessiveness. If this man, hearing that
           Jesus said to go and distribute all, would have said, "Wait! I am going, and I will distribute all. Then
           I am coming to follow you," there is every possibility Jesus would have said there is no need. If the
           man was ready to share, he may have remained a rich man AND entered the kingdom of God. The
           question is not of riches; the question is of possessiveness. Riches are not blocking the way.
           Possessiveness is blocking the way.

              AND THEY THAT HEARD IT SAID, WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?


                People must have become very much apprehensive about themselves. Jesus says, "It is
           impossible for a rich man to enter." The people ask: WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED? -- because
           everybody is a little rich, more or less. Everybody has something, everybody has accumulated
           something. Nobody is so poor that he has nothing. And nobody is so rich that he has everything.
                Even the poorest has his own clinging, and the richest yet has his own ambitions. Even a beggar
           is rich because he has something which he clings to. It may be just a begging-bowl, but it doesn't
           matter whether it's a kingdom or a begging bowl. The question is not of the objects you possess; the
           question is whether you are possessive. You can have a kingdom non-possessively, and you can be a
           beggar and very possessive.
                So when Jesus says that a rich man cannot enter into the kingdom of God, he's talking about the
           man who is possessive, who is miserly, the man who is closed and cannot share, the man who cannot
           participate in life -- who remains afraid and becomes an island unto himself, who separates himself
           from the whole and becomes a closed thing, who remains in a cocoon. This man is what Jesus means
           by a rich man.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And they heard and asked: WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?

              AND HE SAID, THE THINGS WHICH ARE IMPOSSIBLE WITH MAN ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD.


               That's what Jesus brings to the world: the law of grace.
               He said, "That is not the point. Who can be saved is not the point." If it depends on humanity,
           then nobody is capable of being saved. If it depends on you, then again and again you will find
           something within you which will be a hindrance. But once you understand your helplessness -- and
           once you cry, and once you raise your eyes towards the sky and ask for His help -- then that which is
           impossible with man becomes possible with God.
               Jesus says: "Ask, and it shall be given. Knock, and the doors shall be opened unto you." But
           because of your ego, you have not even knocked. Because of the ego, you have not even asked.
           That's why things are impossible.
               If you are helpless and a prayer arises in your helplessness, immediately the impossible becomes
           possible. But the ego has to be dropped. Only then, grace functions. Grace functions only when the
           ego is not there. When you are empty, suddenly you are no more a part of the world of gravitation.
           You have become part of the world of grace.
               I was reading Emerson. He says a very beautiful thing. He says sin is not just breaking the law.
           "Sin is not just breaking the law, but failing to discover the adventure at the very heart of living." It
           is not just a question of breaking the law that makes you become a sinner. You become a sinner if
           you are not adventurous, if you are not continuously in search of your innermost being. If you are
           not continuously in search of a higher and higher bliss, if your life is not an adventure in living, if
           you have become a dead fossil -- you drag on -- then it becomes a sin.
               One of the great Christian thinkers, Fosdick, was asked once, "What is sin?"
               In a very humorous way he said, "Sin is three things: the three letters of the word sin.'S' stands
           for stinking stupidity, stubbornness, skepticism;'N' for nagging negativity, nervousness, neurosis,
           narcissism, nihilism; and between the stinking'S' and the nagging'N' is'I' -- the ego."
               Once you drop that'I', sin disappears. Then there is no sin. But that'I' is very stubborn. It is
           stupid... but very reluctant to go.
               Just the other night I was reading a poem by Howard Nimrov:

           "You have lost your religion," the rabbi said.
           "It was not much to keep," said I.
           "You should affirm the spirits," said he, "and the communal solidarity."
           "I don't feel so solid." I said.

           "We are the people of the Book," the rabbi said.
           "Not of the phone book," said I.
           "Ours is a great tradition," said he, "and a wonderful history."
           "But history is over," I said.

           "We Jews are creative people," the rabbi said.
           "Make something then," said I.
           "In science and in art," said he, "violinists and physicists have we."
           "Fiddle and physic, indeed," I said.

           "Stubborn and stiff-necked," the rabbi cried.
           "The pain you give me," said I.
           "Instead of bowing down," said he, "you go on in your obstinacy."
           "We Jews are that way," I replied.

                But not only Jews are that way. Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, Jains -- everybody is that
           way. Obstinate, reluctant, resistant, stubborn. One goes on fighting, fighting for the ego which is
           killing you. One goes on saving the ego which is a poison in your system. One goes on seeking ways
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and means of how to rationalize that you are not an egoist: how to protect the ego, how to compete
           with it, for it, how to struggle for it.
               There are only two types of people in the world. One, those who go on protecting their ego. They
           are protecting their own death, they are protecting all that is foolish and stupid, they are protecting
           their ignorance. Then they go on being miserable and they ask how to be happy. Then there is the
           other type, very rare people, who see the whole thing, the whole stupidity of it: that'I' is the only
           problem.
               Not that God is not there, not that bliss is not possible. Things which are impossible for man are
           possible for God, but then you have to disappear completely. You have to give way; you have to bow
           down, surrender.
               In that surrender, what Jesus calls poverty -- the inner poverty of the spirit -- arises. What
           Buddha calls emptiness. In that emptiness, you are open. The breeze of God can flow through you,
           and birds of God can sing within you, and the rivers of God can dance within you. But then you not
           there.
               You are the only problem. There is no other problem. All other problems are by-products of the
           basic problem. The basic problem is the ego. 'Jesus on the cross' is a symbol that the ego has to be
           crucified. The third day after Jesus died on the cross, he was resurrected. A totally different being.
           Luminous. Not made of matter, but made of spirit; not born out of the earth, but out of heaven. A
           totally different type of being. But that happened only when'Jesus' died. Before that, he was son of
           man. After that, he was son of God.
               And everybody has to pass that cross. Jesus goes on saying, "Come, follow me. But every day
           you will have to carry your cross... until you die."
               Right he is. That truth is a universal truth. It has nothing to do with Jesus, Buddha, Mahavir,
           Zarathustra. Even when they were not in the world, this truth was there. And it will always be so.
           When people have completely forgotten about Jesus and Krishna, the truth will remain the same.
           Jesus, Krishna or Buddha -- they don't bring the truth to the world; they simply rediscover it. They
           simply reveal it again, they uncover it. Then again, because of our egos and ignorance, the curtain
           falls on it.
               Everybody has to pass through the death which brings resurrection. A rich man, one who
           possesses much, is afraid to lose what he possesses, because if he loses it, the ego will be lost. The'I'
           will disappear. Then comes fear; one starts trembling. If the'I' disappears, then what is the point?
           Then who will enter the kingdom of God?
               One day I was talking to a man -- a very intelligent man, a professor in a certain university -- and
           he said, "I can understand. But if I disappear, then what is the point? Then who will enter in the
           kingdom of God? Then it is better to be here."
               I told him George Bernard Shaw's last words. Just a few minutes before he died, he opened his
           eyes and he said, "I would like to go to heaven. But if I am not the first there, then it is better: I will
           choose hell. But I want to be first at any cost. Even hell is good if I am first there! And if I am
           number two, even heaven is not worth it."
               The'I' always wants to be the first. If you can enter heaven without the'I', it seems pointless. With
           the'I', even hell seems to be meaningful.
               What is this'I'? Have you ever watched, have you ever brooded, meditated, have you ever closed
           your eyes and observed where it is? You will not find it anywhere. It is just a thought, a concept. It is
           not there anywhere, it is not a reality. It is an illusion.
               If you can see the illusion: that it is not there, you have simply believed in it.... It was needed. It
           has a social function. It was needed just like you need a name. The name is not real; it has been
           given to you. When you came into the world, you came without a name. You were perfect. Nothing
           was lacking. But the name was needed, because otherwise how could others call you, how could
           others address you? A name was needed. The name has a function.
               The same is true with the'I'. When a person is born, he has no ego. The name is for others to call
           one and the'I' is to call oneself. If you are talking about yourself, how will you talk? You have to use
           something. That'I' is just a linguistic device.'I' is to use for yourself; your name is to be used by
           others. Both are linguistic devices.
               Language is society. Silence is God. In deep silence, all names disappear, all words disappear.
           Language itself disappears. And this is the paradox: then, for the first time, you are -- in your reality,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in your intrinsic reality, in your authentic reality. When you are not, only then you are. When you
           are, you simply appear to be. You are not.
           Jesus said to that man:

              YET THOU LACKEST ONE THING: SELL ALL THAT THOU HAST, AND DISTRIBUTE UNTO THE
              POOR, AND THOU SHALT HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN: AND COME, FOLLOW ME.


               That is the only way to follow Jesus or Buddha. You cannot follow unless you love so deeply
           that you are ready to share everything and all. Not only things. You are ready to share your being.
               The courage to love is the greatest courage. That is the only way to follow Jesus, that is the only
           way to become a Christian. By going to church every Sunday you don't become a Christian, by
           reading the Bible every day you don't become a Christian, but by sharing your love you become a
           Christian. But that Christianity has nothing to do with Christianity. That Christianity is the essential
           religion. That is essential Hinduism also, that is essential Judaism also. That is the essential religion
           itself.
               Love is the essential religion. Law is to live with man; love is to live with God. Follow the law
           because you are part of the society. Follow love, because you are even more a part of God.
               Society is temporary. God is eternal. Society is just made by man; it is just a human creation. Be
           part of it: follow the law. That is necessary, but not enough. Needed, but it can't be a fulfillment.
           Follow the law, but live love. That is the only way to follow Jesus.
               His invitation is open: COME, FOLLOW ME. But if you are egoistic, you will not hear the
           invitation. If you are too possessive, miserly, afraid, you will not be able to step into the world of
           love. But I tell you, unless you step into the world, you have not lived at all. There is no life except
           love, and there is no God except love. Love is the SUMMUM BONUM.




                                 Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                          Reflections on Jesus of Nazareth
                                    Talks given from 11/12/75 am to 20/12/75 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                   Year published:
           Originally the series was published as "Come Follow Me, Vols 1 + 2". Later in 1991
           republished as four volumes titled "Come Follow To You".




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                  Chapter #1
                           Chapter title: Jesus is like a wilderness: raw, but alive,
           11 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512110
              ShortTitle: FOLL301
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              MATTHEW 13
              54 AND WHEN HE WAS COME INTO HIS OWN COUNTRY, HE TAUGHT THEM IN THEIR
              SYNAGOGUE, INSOMUCH THAT THEY WERE ASTONISHED, AND SAID, WHENCE HATH THIS
              MAN THIS WISDOM, AND THESE MIGHTY WORKS?
              55 IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER'S SON? IS NOT HIS MOTHER CALLED MARY? AND HIS
              BRETHREN, JAMES, AND JOSES, AND SIMON, AND JUDAS?
              56 AND HIS SISTERS, ARE THEY NOT ALL WITH US? WHENCE THEN HATH THIS MAN ALL
              THESE THINGS?
              57 AND THEY WERE OFFENDED IN HIM. BUT JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, A PROPHET IS NOT
              WITHOUT HONOUR, SAVE IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND IN HIS OWN HOUSE.



              MATTHEW I4
              22... JESUS CONSTRAINED HIS DISCIPLES TO GET INTO A SHIP, AND TO GO BEFORE HIM
              UNTO THE OTHER SIDE...
              23 AND... HE WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN APART TO PRAY: AND WHEN THE EVENING WAS
              COME, HE WAS THERE ALONE.
              24 BUT THE SHIP WAS NOW IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA, TOSSED WITH WAVES: FOR THE
              WIND WAS CONTRARY.
              25 AND IN THE FOURTH WATCH OF THE NIGHT JESUS WENT UNTO THEM, WALKING ON THE
              SEA.
              26 AND WHEN THE DISCIPLES SAW HIM WALKING ON THE SEA, THEY WERE TROUBLED,
              SAYING, IT IS A SPIRIT; AND THEY CRIED OUT FOR FEAR.
              27 BUT STRAIGHTWAY JESUS SPAKE UNTO THEM, SAYING, BE OF GOOD CHEER; IT IS I; BE
              NOT AFRAID.
              28 AND PETER ANSWERED HIM AND SAID, LORD, IF IT BE THOU, BID ME COME UNTO THEE
              ON THE WATER.
              29 AND HE SAID, COME. AND WHEN PETER WAS COME DOWN OUT OF THE SHIP, HE
              WALKED ON THE WATER, TO GO TO JESUS.
              30 BUT WHEN HE SAW THE WIND BOISTEROUS, HE WAS AFRAID; AND BEGINNING TO SINK,
              HE CRIED, SAYING, LORD, SAVE ME.
              31 AND IMMEDIATELY JESUS STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND, AND CAUGHT HIM, AND SAID
              UNTO HIM, O THOU OF LITTLE FAITH, WHEREFORE DIDST THOU DOUBT?


                I AM A DRUNKARD. You may believe it or not, but I am a drunkard. You can look into my
           eyes and you can see it -- I. am drunk with Jesus. And Jesus is a wine; he is not a man, he's an
           intoxication. And once you have tasted of him, then nothing of this world will ever be meaningful to
           you. Once the meaning from the beyond enters into your life, this whole world becomes futile,
           immaterial, insignificant.
                Religion is a sort of intoxication. This has to be understood because without a deep intoxication,
           your life will never have any meaning. It will remain superficial prose and will never become a
           poem. You will walk but you will never be able to dance, and unless you dance you have missed.
           Unless you dance with such abundance, with such forgetfulness that you disappear in it, that the
           dancer is lost and only the dance remains... only then. And only then will you be able to know what
           life is.
                I remember: Once Alexander the Great asked Diogenes, "You are so learned, you know so much.
           Can't you tell me something about God, what God is?"
                Diogenes waited for a moment and then said, "Give me one day's time."
                Alexander came the next day but again Diogenes said, "Give me two days' time." And it
           happened again, and he said, "Give me three days' time," and then four days and then five days, and
           then six days and the whole week was gone.
                Alexander was annoyed and said, "What do you mean? If you don't know the answer you should
           have told me before. If you know, then what is the explanation for the delay?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Diogenes said, "That moment you asked me, I thought that I knew. But the more I tried to catch
           hold of it, the more it became elusive. The more I thought about it, the farther away it was. Right
           now, I don't know anything, and the only thing I can say to you," said Diogenes, "is that those who
           think they know God, they know not."
               God can be known only when you are not. This is the meaning when I say, "Until you become a
           drunkard" -- so that your ego is lost. I am a drunkard, drunk with Jesus. And when I will be talking
           to you about Jesus, it is not about Jesus. I am not a theologian, not a Christian, not a scholar.
           Theologians talk 'about', they go round and round, they beat around the bush. I am not going to talk
           about Jesus, I am going to talk Jesus. And when I talk about Jesus, it is not that I am talking about
           him, rather, he talks himself. I give him way, I become a passage. All that I do is that I don't hinder
           him. That is the only way to talk about Jesus or Buddha or Krishna. And when I will be talking Jesus
           I will not talk about Christ. Jesus is real, Christ is a principle. Jesus is concrete, Christ is abstract.
           Jesus is a man like you and me, of blood and bone. His heart beats. He laughs, he cries, he loves, he
           lives.
               Christ is a dead concept, bloodless; there is no heart beating there. Christianity is concerned with
           Christ, I am not concerned with Christ. The word'Christ' is beautiful, but corrupted, contaminated,
           polluted. The whole beauty of it has been destroyed. Whenever a word is used by theologians it loses
           meaning and purity and innocence -- then it is no more virgin. Jesus is still virgin, Christ is
           corrupted. Christ is a concept, Jesus is reality, concrete reality.
               Look! I love human beings, but not humanity. Humanity does not exist. Only concrete human
           beings exist -- someone here, someone there, but it is always someone. Humanity is an empty word.
           And just like that is Christ. Jesus exists, sometimes in Gautam the Buddha, sometimes in
           Mohammed the prophet, sometimes in Krishna the fluteplayer -- somewhere here, somewhere there,
           but it is always a concrete phenomenon. Christ is abstract. It exists only in the books of philosophy
           and theology. Christ has never walked on the earth. Or, we can say it another way: Christ is the son
           of God, Jesus the son of man.
               Let me talk about Jesus the son of man, because only the son of man is real, and only the son of
           man can grow and become the son of God. Only man can grow and become God, because man is the
           seed, the source; God is the flowering. God does not exist anywhere. When you flower, God comes
           into existence -- it comes into existence and disappears... it comes into existence and disappears.
           When Buddha was here, God existed. When Jesus was here, God existed. When Jesus disappears,
           God disappears -- just as when a flower disappears, it disappears. God is not somewhere, always
           existing, otherwise God will never be fresh and young -- it will gather too much dust, it will become
           dirty. It comes into existence whenever a man realises his sins, whenever a man really exists.
           Whenever a man exists in totality, God exists in those rare moments. So when you come and ask me,
           "Where is God?" I cannot show you. Unless you have proof of him in your own being, he will not be
           there. Until you become him he is not. Everybody has to realise him in his own innermost shrine, in
           his own being. You carry him as a seed. It is up to you to allow it to grow and become a great tree.
               So I will not be talking about Christ, but about Jesus. Let Christ be imprisoned in the churches --
           that is the right place for Christ to exist. I would like Jesus to enter your hearts. Forget Christ,
           remember Jesus. But just the opposite has happened. People have forgotten Jesus and their minds
           have been hammered continuously for two thousand years, hammered to remember Christ. Christ
           cannot transform you, because there exists no bridge between you and Christ. Then there exists an
           unbridgeable abyss. But with Jesus you are close. You can call Jesus 'brother', but you cannot call
           Christ 'brother'. And until you feel a deep brotherhood, a bridge, how can Jesus be of any help to
           you? Jesus is tremendously beautiful his beauty has a dimension of its own. Buddha is beautiful, but
           Jesus is totally different from Buddha. In Buddha a different type of silence was incarnated.
               l have heard about a Chinese emperor. He had two great painters in his court, and there was
           always rivalry. They were always fighting and competing, and it was almost impossible to decide
           who was the greater. Both were masters of their art. One day the emperor said, "Now you do one
           thing: you both paint on one theme so that it can be decided who is the greater, and the theme
           is'Rest'." The first painter, of course, chose a very obvious subject: he painted a very silent lake, far
           away in the mountains, lone, still, not even a ripple on the surface. Just looking at that painting you
           would feel sleepy. The other painter tried something absolutely opposite: he painted a thundering
           waterfall... for miles the white foam of it... and just near the waterfall a very fragile, delicate birch
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tree, the branches bowing down, touching the foam, and on the birch the small nest of a robin, and
           the robin sitting on the nest, with closed eyes, almost wet. The first is a non-dynamic silence: more
           like death, less like life. The opposite doesn't exist in it. The rest has no tension in it; the 'rest' is
           more like absence than like presence. The second is a dynamic concept:'rest', but not dead. It is alive,
           throbbing. The thunder, the waterfall, the tremendous activity, and the nest, and the robin sitting
           there, silent....
               Jesus is like the second painting, Buddha comes closer to the first painting. Of course it is very
           silent, but the opposite is missing -- and without the opposite, music cannot be created. Buddha has a
           single note, he is not an orchestra.Jesus has opposite notes meeting, merging and creating a harmony,
           a symphony. Buddha is silent, without revolution. Jesus is silent, with a deep rebellion around him.
           This has to be remembered. Only then you will understand how to penetrate into his very heart. Why
           did Jesus become so significant, why did he appeal to so many people all through these centuries? --
           he has something of the wild in him. He is not a garden, he is a wilderness. He is raw, not refined.
           You touch him and you will know. You feel him and you will know. Buddha is very cultured, very
           refined. He has something of the court of a king. Jesus comes from a village, a carpenter's son,
           uneducated, uncultured. He is like a wilderness: raw, but alive, rebellious. Hence, the appeal; hence
           he has touched millions of people's hearts. You can understand him. He is more than you but you are
           in him. You cannot understand Buddha. He is more than you but you are not there. With Jesus a
           bridge exists.
           Now these sutras.
              AND WHEN HE WAS COME INTO HIS OWN COUNTRY, HE TAUGHT THEM IN THEIR
              SYNAGOGUE, INSOMUCH THAT THEY WERE ASTONISHED, AND SAID, WHENCE HATH THIS
              MAN THIS WISDOM AND THESE MIGHTY WORKS?
              IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER'S SON? IS NOT HIS MOTHER CALLED MARY? AND HIS
              BRETHREN, JAMES, AND JOSES, AND SIMON, AND JUDAS? AND HIS SISTERS, ARE THEY
              NOT ALL WITH US? WHENCE THEN HATH THIS MAN ALL THESE THINGS? AND THEY WERE
              OFFENDED IN HIM.

               Nobody was so much offended in Buddha, ever; nobody was so much offended in Lao Tzu, ever;
           nobody was offended, as people were offended with Jesus. Why? A Buddha is a faraway peak. If
           you cannot understand him, how can you be offended with him? If you cannot understand him, how
           can you argue with him? -- he is so far away, so beyond. At the most, all you can do is to worship
           him. So Buddha was worshipped and Jesus crucified. Wherever Buddha moved nobody was
           offended in him. Either people could not understand him -- but then you could not be offended -- or
           people could understand him, but then they understood that he was the very essence of the
           Upanishads, the very incarnation of the Vedas. He is all essential tradition. There was no question of
           being offended in him.
               With Jesus people were offended, he was just like them. They could not understand him. They
           said, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Buddha was a son of a great emperor, Mahavir also, Krishna
           also, Ram also. All the great Indian incarnations came from royal families. Jesus is the first man who
           comes from a poor house. Nobody had ever known him. And if Jesus had not been born, nobody
           would ever have heard about the family. Buddha was already established with the family name, with
           a long tradition and heritage, a long lineage of prestige and power. Jesus comes from a powerless
           poor family, almost a beggar. People could not understand -- "From where comes his power? From
           where comes this wisdom? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?" The
           people wondered -- "He belongs to us and talks about God. He belongs to us and says,'I am the son
           of God.' He belongs to us, he was working in his father's workshop and suddenly, what has happened
           to him?" They were offended in him, the ego was offended.
               Buddha was always great. Even if he had not become enlightened, he would have been
           worshipped like an emperor. People had always touched his feet. He was always great and beyond
           them. When he moved amidst the people and renounced his kingdom, he became even greater
           because he had renounced his kingdom. People can understand the language of money and they
           cannot understand any other language. They worship you if you have money, they worship you if
           you renounce money. But they understand only one language the language of money. If you don't
           have anything, they don't bother about you. And if you don't have anything how can you renounce,
           what can you renounce?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is one of the most important things to understand about the Indian mind, the so-called
           Indian religious mind. Even that mind can understand only the language of money. Mahavir
           renounced. The Jain scriptures go on relating how much he renounced: how many elephants, how
           many horses, how many chariots, how much gold, how many diamonds. They go on and on and on.
           Why? Why have these accounts been kept? And the reality is that he was never a very great king. the
           kingdom was very small, not more than a small district. And his father was not more than a collector
           of a district, not more than that. Because in Mahavir's time India was divided into two thousand
           kingdoms, so it could not be very great. And it is almost impossible that he had so many elephants
           and so many chariots and so much gold, it is exaggeration. But people understand only the language
           of money. They exaggerate, because that is the only way to prove that Mahavir was very great. Had
           he been the son of a carpenter, nobody would have ever bothered about him.
               Jesus is a revolution in the world of religion. He is the first poor man who declared, "I am the son
           of God." He is the first poor man who dared to declare, "I am a prophet, a teerthankera, an avatar."
           Never before had such a thing happened in the history of man. He opened the way for many others to
           follow. Then Mohammed could declare, and then came Kabir, and Sena, and Nanak, and Dadu, and
           many more. Jesus opened the gate -- that even a poor man who had nothing to renounce, can
           renounce, because the real renunciation is not of wealth, but of the ego. The real renunciation is not
           of wealth, let me repeat it, but of the ego. It is not a question of renouncing what you have, it is a
           question of renouncing what you are. You can have much and you can renounce that. But if the ego
           continues -- and it can continue -- it can be fulfilled by having much, it can be fulfil]ed by
           renouncing much. And if the ego is there, you remain ordinary, you remain superficial.
               AND THEY WERE OFFENDED IN HIM. Had he been an emperor's son, they would have
           fallen at his feet. But he was just an ordinary carpenter's son and everybody in the village knew
           about him.
              BUT JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, A PROPHET IS NOT WITHOUT HONOUR, SAVE IN HIS OWN
              COUNTRY, AND IN HIS OWN HOUSE.

               A great insight. Why has it happened so many times, that people who are closest always
           misunderstand? We should have expected just the contrary, that the people of Jesus' village would
           understand him first. Before anyone else would understand him, the people of Jesus' house, family,
           relatives, would understand him first. But it doesn't happen. Why? A deep insight into the human ego
           is needed to understand it. With those who are close to you, it is very difficult to believe that they
           had gone beyond and above you. If somebody else who is not close to you goes beyond you, maybe
           you are not bothered -- he is so far away, the competitive ego does not arise. But if your own brother
           goes and you are left behind -- and you were born to the same parents, you lived in the same house,
           and you were educated in the same school; and your own brother goes so far away -- your ego is
           hurt. Then what have you been doing? You feel defeated, you feel a loser. Then the easiest way is to
           deny that he has gone beyond, then the easiest way is to prove that he is just as ordinary as you are
           ordinary. The easiest way is to disprove his claim, to deny.
               A PROPHET IS NOT WITHOUT HONOUR, SAVE IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND IN HIS
           OWN HOUSE. I would like to add one thing more: "And in his own time."
               You worship Buddha now, very easily. No problem arises because there is a distance of
           twenty-five centuries. You worship Mahavir. All over the world millions go on praying to Jesus.
           These same people crucified him. They are the same people who were offended in him, who denied
           him. What has happened? -- a distance of two thousand years. Now, your ego doesn't feel offended,
           you don't have any competition with him; maybe he was really a son of God. But he offended his
           own contemporaries. He was talking one day in a village and somebody asked "Do you believe in
           Abraham, the founder of Judaism?" Jesus said something which has been offending Jews since then.
           Jesus said, "Abraham? Before Abraham was, I am." Let me repeat it in another way: if Christians
           come to me and ask, "Do you believe in Jesus?" and I tell them, "Before Jesus was, I am," they will
           be offended. They will never be able to forgive me.
               This man Jesus is claiming that he is someone who was, even before Abraham. They had known
           that he was born in their village, they knew his birth date, they knew his father and his mother and
           his sisters and his brothers. They were still working in their workshop and this man said, "I am,
           before Abraham was." This was going too far -- "No, he cannot be forgiven for it." But what he was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saying was the truth, because Jesus is a quality, which has nothing to do with any person. It is a
           quality like love. If you say, "Before Abraham was, love is," nobody will be offended because love
           is not a person. You don't take it as a person, you take it as a quality. Jesus is a quality of tremendous
           love. Jesus is a quality of tremendous perception, vision, of tremendous realisation. Jesus is a quality
           -- but to see that quality you will have to drop your egos. Only then can you see, otherwise your egos
           will be heavy on your eyes and it will be almost impossible to see.
               Just a few days ago, I was reading G. K. Chesterton's life. He lived his whole life in London. One
           day he was preparing for a journey, a long journey, and everything was packed, everything was
           ready. A friend asked, "Where are you going?" Chesterton said, "I am going to London." The friend
           said, "Your wit, your remark escapes me. What do you mean? We ARE in London, so where are you
           going?" Chesterton said, "I am going to London via Paris, via Bombay, via Tokyo, via New York,
           because I have lived in London so long that my eyes have become clouded and I cannot see where
           London is, what London is."
               When Jesus is standing just in front of you, you cannot see him. You will have to go via -- via
           the Vatican, via Rome, via popes and preachers and churches. Only then may you be able to see who
           Jesus is. When Jesus confronts you, he offends. His very being, his height, his depth, become
           offensive. You feel that you have failed. You feel that you have not lived. You feel that you have not
           loved. You will become an enemy. With Jesus these are the two possibilities: either you follow him
           or you become the enemy. You cannot remain neutral, you cannot remain indifferent. Either you
           follow him if you can drop the ego -- then you take a jump, you flow with him; or, if you are
           defensive, you become the enemy, you become the foe and you start destroying him. Because his
           very presence is offensive, he has to be destroyed.
               When Jesus was crucified, a great weight disappeared from the Jewish mind. You felt relieved.
           He was somebody who was a constant reminder that you were failures, somebody who was a
           constant reminder that you had not lived, somebody who was a constant reminder that you were
           empty, hollow within, that you were not fulfilled. Contemporaries cannot understand. Very rare
           people, rare because they can drop their egos, can see what Jesus is. And even their vision is always
           shaking, even their vision is not very certain, even their vision has deep hesitation and doubt in it.
           Even those who follow, follow with much doubt in them
              .... JESUS CONSTRAINED HIS DISCIPLES TO GET INTO A SHIP, AND TO GO BEFORE HIM
              UNTO THE OTHER SIDE...
              AND... HE WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN APART TO PRAY.

                That was always a practice with him that whenever he would move into the multitudes, into the
           crowd, afterwards he would go alone into deep prayer and meditation. Why? If you have been
           meditating you will understand. Those who have been meditating with me, they will understand that
           once you start meditating, a very fragile quality, a very delicate quality of consciousness is born in
           you. A flower of the unknown starts opening -- it is delicate. And whenever you go into the crowd
           you lose something. Whenever you come back home from the crowd, you come lesser than you had
           gone. Something has been lost, some contact has been broken. The crowd pulls you down, it has a
           gravitation of its own.
                You may not feel it if you live on the same plane. Then there is no problem, then you have
           nothing to lose. In fact, when you live in the crowd, with the crowd, on the same plane, alone you
           feel very uneasy. Whenever you are with people you feel very good and happy. Your aloneness
           becomes sad, your aloneness is not aloneness, it is a loneliness; you miss the other. You don't find
           yourself in it, you simply miss the other. When you are alone, you are not alone, because you are not
           there. Only that desire to be with others is there -- that is what loneliness is. Always remember the
           distinction between aloneness and loneliness. Aloneness is a peak of experience. Loneliness is a
           valley. Aloneness has light in it, a flame. Loneliness is dark and damp. Loneliness is when you
           desire others; aloneness is when you enjoy yourself.
                Whenever Jesus would move into the multitudes, into the crowd, and particularly when he came
           to his own town, he would tell his disciples to go to the other shore of the lake, and he would move
           into total aloneness. Not even disciples were allowed to be with him. This was a constant practice
           with him, he knew the art. Whenever you go into the crowd you are infected by it. You need a higher
           altitude to purify yourself, you need to be alone so that you can become fresh again. You need to be
           alone with yourself, so that you become together again, so that you again become centered, rooted.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Whenever you move with others, they push you off centre.
              AND... HE WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN APART TO PRAY: AND WHEN THE EVENING WAS
              COME, HE WAS THERE ALONE.

               Nothing is said about his prayer, what he did there, just the word 'pray'. There is no prayer
           mentioned. To be in a prayerful mood is enough. When you say something it is not prayer. Before
           God or before existence, you need simply to be vulnerable -- that is prayer. You are not to say
           something. On the contrary, you have to listen -- what does existence want to say to you? So
           whenever you go to pray, don't start saying something. God already knows what you are going to
           say. It is foolish, it is ridiculous. And what can you say, what do you have to say? It will be all
           nonsense. It will all be nothing but desires, demands, and deep down, complaints. And a prayer with
           complaints is no prayer, a prayer with deep gratitude is prayer. There is no need to say anything, you
           can just be silent. A prayer is not talking, it is listening.
               Hence nothing is said about what Jesus did in his aloneness. It simply says 'apart to pray'. He
           went apart, he became alone. That is what prayer is, to be alone, where the other is not felt; where
           the other is not standing between you and existence, where you are vulnerable, open; when God's
           breeze can pass through you, unhindered. It is a cleansing experience. It rejuvenates your spirit. It
           takes away all the dust that ordinarily gathers around. To be with God simply means to be alone.
           You can miss the point -- if you start thinking about God, then you are not alone. If you start talking
           to God, then in your imagination you have created the other. And then your God is doing nothing; he
           is just a projection. In that projection you will find all the others that you have ever known: your
           father will be there -- whenever you say to God, "Father," your father will be there, a part of you
           projected. Or you say, "Mother," your mother will be there. All words are your words, so whatsoever
           you say will be your projection. A prayer is not to say anything. It is to be simply silent, open, ready
           to listen -- it is a listening. And there is no need to believe in God because that too is a projection.
           The only need is to be alone, to be capable of being alone -- and immediately, you are with God.
           Whenever you are alone, you are with God. To say 'with God' is not exactly right because that shows
           that you are here and God is there. It would be better to say that whenever you are alone, God is, and
           you are not, and there is prayer.
               Prayer is a fragrance that arises whenever you are ready to be alone. Whenever you are not afraid
           to be alone, it arises. Something opens within you like a lotus, and that lotus is in tune with the
           whole around you. You dissolve, you meet and merge, boundaries disappear. You are no more an
           island, you have become part of the continent. God is, you are not.
              AND... HE WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN APART TO PRAY: AND WHEN THE EVENING WAS
              COME, HE WAS THERE ALONE.

               Why not before? Because to be alone needs much preparation... he must have been throwing
           away all the impressions that he had gathered from the multitude and the crowd the whole day... he
           was throwing away those impressions... the dust... by the evening he was alone, by the evening he
           came to a point where no thought stirred; he came to a point when the flame of consciousness was
           there without any smoke. By the evening he became centered, by the evening he went into a deep
           rest within himself -- he returned home.
              BUT THE SHIP WAS NOW IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA, TOSSED WITH THE WAVES: FOR THE
              WIND WAS CONTRARY
              ... and the disciples were going to the other shore.
              "And the ship was in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary." This is a
              parable.Jesus is alone, or, Jesus is with his God. Jesus is beyond time and space, but the disciples
              are crossing from this shore to the other shore. The other shore means the God, the beyond.

              BUT THE SHIP WAS NOW IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA, TOSSED WITH THE WAVES: FOR THE
              WIND WAS CONTRARY.

               And the wind is always contrary in the world, and the sea is always troubled, because it is a sea
           of desires, because it is a sea of ignorance. And the wind is always contrary because it is a sea of
           competitiveness and jealousies and hatred, of violence and aggression -- the wind is always contrary.
           Jesus is beyond, alone, centered; but his disciples are struggling towards the other shore.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND IN THE FOURTH WATCH OF THE NIGHT JESUS WENT UNTO THEM, WALKING ON THE
              SEA.

               It is a beautiful parable. Christians have completely missed the point of it, because they think it is
           a historical fact, they think that jesus really walked on water. He was not a magician. He was a
           simple man. And this is a parable, not a historical event. Because of Christians, even Jesus looks
           ridiculous; he has fallen into bad company.
               AND IN THE FOURTH WATCH OF THE NIGHT... What is the meaning of the fourth watch of
           the night.? -- when the night is darkest, when the night has the most abysmal depth in it, the darkest
           part of it. The master can help the disciple only when the disciple reaches the fourth part of the night,
           the darkest part. That darkest part has always been known by the mystics as the dark night of the
           soul. Jesus was trained by certain mystics who were called Essenes. They say that on everybody's
           pilgrimage towards God, there comes a point when one has to pass through the darkest hour of the
           night: the dark night of the soul. And in the fourth watch of the night, the darkest part, Jesus went
           unto them.
               You can call your master for help only when you have done all that can be done. If you are lazy,
           and if you have not done anything, the master's help is impossible. Help becomes possible only when
           you have come to the darkest hour of your night beyond which you cannot do anything else; where
           you feel totally helpless, when you hang between life and death -- only then is help possible. When
           you are helpless, only then is help possible. If you go on thinking that you can still help yourself, or
           that life is still in your control, then the master is not needed. Only at a certain stage, when you feel
           yourself absolutely incapable of doing anything -you are simply in chaos, all control lost, helpless,
           totally helpless -- only then the master's help becomes possible. And in the fourth watch of the night
           Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
               And of course Jesus walks on the sea, the sea of desires, the sea of ignorance, the sea of the egos.
           In the East we understand the parable. One of the greatest masters of Zen, Lin-chi, has said, "Walk,
           but don't allow your feet to be touched by the water." One has to live in the world, but not be of the
           world -- one has to walk on the world. Jesus is not an escapist, he's not running from the world. He
           walks on the sea, he lives in the midst of the world, but he does not allow the water to touch his feet.
           This is what in the East we call 'to live like a lotus'. It lives in the water but the water cannot touch it
           -- even the dewdrops may settle on it, but they never touch it, there remains a gap. To become a lotus
           flower -- that is the meaning of this parable.
              AND IN THE FOURTH WATCH OF THE NIGHT JESUS WENT UNTO THEM, WALKING ON THE
              SEA.

               It is a parable of the inner turmoil of man, of the inner chaos of man, of the inner contrary wind,
           of the inner struggle to go to the other shore. It has nothing to do with the lake of Galilee. These
           things are of the inner world -- they are not events that have happened outside, they are processes of
           inner growth.
              AND WHEN THE DISCIPLES SAW HIM WALKING ON THE SEA, THEY WERE TROUBLED,
              SAYING, IT IS A SPIRIT; AND THEY CRIED OUT FOR FEAR.

               This is my experience also; many times it has happened. This is why I say that this is a parable.
           Somebody who is working deeply with me, growing, is in some dark night of the soul. He needs my
           help, and I go to him and he trembles, and he becomes afraid. Many times I say to my disciples, "If I
           come, don't get scared." At that time they laugh, they think I am joking. But when I reach them they
           tremble and they cannot believe that I have come. They can believe anything, but they cannot
           believe that I have come, because that is beyond their scope.
               AND WHEN THE DISCIPLES SAW HIM WALKING ON THE SEA, THEY WERE
           TROUBLED, SAYING, IT IS A SPIRIT; a ghost.
           How can Jesus walk on the sea? It must be a ghost.
              ... AND THEY CRIED OUT FOR FEAR.

               Even with your master, you are related with fear, not with love, because love believes and fear
           disbelieves. Love is trust, fear is distrust. In that moment the disciples showed that their trust was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just on the surface. If Jesus comes in the inner world, they cannot believe, they cannot trust.
              ... THEY CRIED OUT FOR FEAR. BUT STRAIGHTWAY JESUS SPAKE UNTO THEM, SAYING, BE
              OF GOOD CHEER; IT IS I; BE NOT AFRAID.

               It is I, be not afraid. Be of good cheer. But you have forgotten how to be cheerful, you have
           forgotten how to be blissful, you have forgotten the taste of happiness. You know only agony, you
           know only anguish, you understand only hell. Heaven looks like a dream, a utopia, so that exists in
           your hopes, but it is not a reality.
               Jesus said, "Be of good cheer! Be happy! I have come to you. And you are crying out for fear!
           Dance! Celebrate! It is I! Be not afraid -- at least, be not afraid. If you cannot dance, if you cannot
           celebrate, if you cannot sing a song, welcoming, then at least, be not afraid; be of good cheer." This
           has to be understood.
               When the disciple is in the darkest hour of the night he becomes capable of attracting the energy
           of the master towards him. He has earned it, but he can receive it only if he is of good cheer. If he
           has hard work behind him and he has been working with his total energy, total involvement and
           commitment, he has earned that the master should come to him. That is necessary but not enough. If
           he becomes afraid, he will again miss. If he becomes afraid when the master is there, he is in need,
           but because of the fear the contact is impossible. Be of good cheer. Energy can be received only
           when you are in a happy mood, welcoming, ready to receive: like a bride waiting for the bridegroom,
           like a beloved for the lover -- all... the whole waiting, as if the total energy has become just an
           awaiting. Be of good cheer, because without that the master cannot be of much help. He will be
           standing there with his hand ready to catch hold of you, but if you are not of good cheer your hand is
           not available.
               So, two things: first, the disciple has to work totally, not withholding anything; the commitment
           must be absolute. You should move in it without any fear of consequences and without any
           expectations of the results. You should take a jump, you should dare. A master is a challenge and a
           disciple is an adventure. A master is a call, and a disciple is one who dares to go into
               the dark. He has heard the call -- he's not very certain of the direction because it is all dark -- but
           he has heard the call. He starts groping and moving. When you have done all that you can do and
           beyond which nothing is possible, immediately the help of the master becomes available. But then
           too you can miss. Many times you had earned it and missed it, because unless you are of good cheer
           the energy will return back. Be a host, be of good cheer. The guest has come to the door; receive him
           with love and gratitude.
              AND PETER ANSWERED HIM AND SAID, LORD, IF IT BE THOU, BID ME COME UNTO THEE ON
              THE WATER.

               Only one disciple out of the twelve, only one -- and that too not absolutely certain. This Peter
           became the very rock of the Christian Church. He hesitated, doubted, demanded a proof, but at least
           he did that much. The other eleven remained trembling and in fear. The word 'peter' means: the rock.
           His name was Simon. Jesus called him Peter, the rock. And Jesus told his disciples, "I will call him
           Peter because he is going to become the rock of the great family I am going to create, the very
           foundation of the church."
              AND PETER ANSWERED HIM AND SAID, LORD, IF IT BE THOU...

               'If' is there. Even in the greatest of disciples, the 'if' remains.' "If it be thou" -- he needs some
           proof. This is one of the most unfortunate things, but it is so: that even when you have had enough of
           proofs, the mind is not satisfied. It goes on asking again and again and again. They had seen many
           miracles happening around Jesus, they had heard him, they had looked into him, they had been
           recipients of his love, they had followed him into the unknown parts of God. But still Peter says, "If
           it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. So let it be a proof, so if you are really you, then do
           this miracle: bid me come unto thee on the water. If I can also walk on the water, then only will I
           believe that it is you."
              AND HE SAID, COME.

              ... a very simple word, unconditional, with no 'if' and no 'but'. That is how Jesus is. He simply
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said, "Come." Just look at the simplicity of the word, with nothing behind, nothing before.
              AND HE SAID, COME. AND WHEN PETER WAS COME DOWN OUT OF THE SHIP, HE WALKED
              ON THE WATER, TO GO TO JESUS.

              If you listen to the master you can walk on the water. The world is the sea. If you listen to the
           master, the key can be delivered to you. And the key is as simple as the word 'come'; there are no
           conditions attached to it. Jesus has not said anything, he simply says, "Come." And Peter walked,
           walked on water.
              BUT WHEN HE SAW THE WIND BOISTEROUS, HE WAS AFRAID...

                Even walking on the water, himself walking now, and still the doubt. I face such problems every
           day. People come to me and say, "Everything has become beautifully silent: meditation is growing,
           the anger has disappeared, the sex has become a faraway thing, as if it never belonged to me. But is
           it all true, or am I simply imagining?" They come to me and they say, "We talk to our friends and
           they say'Beware. This man has hypnotised you'." It is their experience that they have become silent,
           that the anger has disappeared, that the sex has become less and less a boss, more and more a
           servant, and it is up to them -- they can fire the servant any day, and there is not even a union to
           protest and fight against them! But they become suspicious -- a doubt arises: "Am I imagining? Am I
           hypnotised? Am I dreaming all this?" They cannot believe even when the experiences are happening
           to them. How can they believe that it has happened to somebody else? Peter walked but could not
           believe himself He must have thought, "Maybe it is just a dream, or maybe this fellow is playing a
           trick."
              BUT WHEN HE SAW THE WIND BOISTEROUS, HE WAS AFRAID; AND BEGINNING TO SINK, HE
              CRIED, SAYING,
              LORD, SAVE ME.

               And the moment he became afraid, he started sinking... because it is faith, it is trust, that saves.
           Once the fear enters, you start sinking. It depends on you. If you have trust you can walk over all the
           seas of the world -- sinking is impossible. Even the water is not going to touch your feet; your feet
           will become a lotus. But if you become afraid, immediately -- not even a single moment's time will
           be lost -- you will be sinking. Doubt is sinking. Faith saves, doubt drowns.
              BUT WHEN HE SAW THE WIND BOISTEROUS, HE WAS AFRAID; AND BEGINNING TO SINK, HE
              CRIED, SAYING, LORD, SAVE ME. AND IMMEDIATELY JESUS STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND,
              AND CAUGHT HIM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, O THOU OF LITTLE FAITH, WHEREFORE DIDST
              THOU DOUBT?

               From where did this doubt come, and why? You were walking yourself and even then you
           couldn't trust? O THOU OF LITTLE FAITH -- your faith is very little, but even that little faith can
           create such a miracle. Peter walked, not even very far, a few steps. But to walk a few steps on water
           is enough -- if you can walk one step, you can walk all over the ocean. O man of little faith... faith
           was very little but still the miracle happened. Even a small seed of faith, and you can become a great
           tree of divine experience, of the flowering of the ultimate. And if with little faith this is possible,
           then what to say about great faith, of total faith? Then if total faith exists, immediately that seed will
           become the tree; there will be no time gap. The time gap exists because of little faith, the time gap
           exists because you cannot believe it right now. If you could believe it right now, the world
           disappears and only God is. The ocean disappears. You are on plain ground, because the world is not
           more than a dream. With doubt, the dream continues; with trust, suddenly you are awake.
               I have heard one anecdote: A man went to a great physician because he was suffering from much
           melancholy, sadness, depression, despair. The physician examined him; there was nothing wrong.
           The physician said, "I don't see anything wrong in your system, and I am not going to suggest any
           drugs for you. Rather, there is a show going on in the town and there is a man, Grimaldi. He is a
           comedian. You go, and just allow that comedian to help you laugh. If you can laugh, your
           melancholy will disappear, your depression will disappear, and that is going to help you more than
           any drugs because there is nothing wrong in your system. There is just one thing that you have
           forgotten: how to laugh. You have simply forgotten the language of laughter, that's all. You have to
           learn it, that's all. No treatment is needed. You go to the show of Grimaldi."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The man said, "My God, I AM Grimaldi!"
               And the same is the case with you. You have just forgotten a language of how to be divine. You
           are gods.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                 Chapter #2
                            Chapter title: Accept yourself as you are, and accept
           12 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512120
              ShortTitle: FOLL302
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins




              MANY TIMES I FEEL GUILTY BECAUSE I CANNOT RECEIVE YOU.


               The word "GUILT" should never be used. The very word has wrong associations; and once you
           use it you are caught in it. Guilt is not a natural phenomenon: it is created by the priests. Through
           guilt they have exploited humanity. The whole history of pseudo-religion is contained in the word
           guilt: it is the most poisoned word. Beware of it; never use it, because in your unconscious mind it
           also has deep roots. You cannot find guilt in any animal: the animal simply is. It has no ideals, it has
           no arts; it exists, and simply exists. It has no perfections to be attained and hence the animal is
           beautiful, innocent.
               Ideals corrupt. Once you have an ideal to fulfil you will never be at ease, and you will never be at
           home, and you can never be contented. Dissatisfaction follows ideals like a shadow, and the more
           dissatisfied you are with yourself, the more it becomes impossible to reach the ideal: this is the
           vicious circle. If you are not dissatisfied with yourself, if you accept yourself as you are, the ideal
           can be fulfilled immediately. And I emphasise the word 'immediately': with no time gap, right this
           moment, here and now, you can realize that you are perfect; it is not something to be attained in the
           future, it is something that you have always been carrying within you. Perfection is your nature --
           perfect you are.
               That is the difference between a pseudo-religion and an authentic religion. The pseudo-religion
           says you have to be perfect, and creates guilt because you are not perfect. It creates morality because
           you are not perfect, and creates a deep anguish, a continuous trembling and fear because you are not
           perfect; and it creates hell and heaven. If you become perfect you will be awarded by heaven; if you
           don't become perfect you are to be punished in hell.
               Authentic religion says you are perfect, not that you have to be. You cannot be imperfect,
           because out of God imperfection is impossible. If God has created the world, how can it be
           imperfect? And if you come from God, how can you be imperfect? You are gods -- that art thou,
           TATTVAMASI. And this is a realization, an understanding, not an achievement; it is not something
           to be worked out. If you are silent, this very moment it is realized: you are perfect. And once you
           realize it, that you are perfect, you live perfectly, because whatsoever you do comes from you, arises
           from you.
               So please, never use the word guilt: that word is dangerous, that word has been misleading you
           for centuries. If you cannot receive me, if you cannot understand me, let it be so; it is perfect. It may
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not be needed, it may not be your need. You are thirsty; then you seek water. Maybe the water is
           seeking you, and you are not thirsty. So what is wrong in it?
                This has to be remembered: if you cannot receive me, then that's how it has to be. Then you are
           not at the stage where you need me. Don't create any guilt. When you need me, you will receive me,
           otherwise it is not possible. Every state is right; every stage is right -- wherever you are is right; and
           whatsoever you need, you are capable of receiving it. When your needs grow, your receptivity will
           grow. Don't jump ahead; don't try to overtake yourself. Then you will be in a very stupid state of
           mind, and then you will create your own anguish, and you will feel guilty. There is nothing in the
           world for which one needs to feel guilty.
                Accept yourself as you are, and accept totally, unconditionally. That is the way God wants you to
           be: the way you are, exactly, precisely. That's how you are needed here in this moment. Don't try to
           change. The very effort to change is foolish, because who is going to change? You will change. The
           very effort is foolish, because you are trying to pull yourself up by your shoelaces. You may jump a
           little, but back again you will be on the same earth -- and in a worse condition, because guilt will
           come in -- you couldn't succeed, you failed.
                If you are here, at least learn one thing from me -- total acceptance. And total acceptance brings
           transformation of its own accord: that's the beauty of it. When you accept yourself you start moving
           -- not that you force; not that you push the river; not that you fight -- you flow with life. Wherever it
           leads is the goal. I am not giving you any goal. I am not giving you any ideal.
                All perfectionists are neurotic. The very effort to become perfect is obsessive -- it creates
           neurosis, it creates a sort of madness. Then you will never be sane. The only sanity there is, is to
           accept yourself as you are. Don't condemn, and don't judge. Don't make standards to judge and don't
           make criteria to judge. Suddenly you see that you have started moving, that the river is flowing. And
           the river reaches to the ocean of its own accord; nobody needs to force it. The more you try to
           change yourself, the more you will be in a vicious circle. And then guilt is created; and when you
           feel guilty, you feel condemned, and when you feel condemned, in that condemnation life becomes a
           hell. The hell does not exist somewhere; it exists in a wrong attitude. Then you live in hell, then your
           whole being is surrounded by a nightmare.
                Drop that nightmare. Start living and flowing -- a deep let-go, acceptance. And wherever you
           move, don't be worried, because God is everywhere. Wherever you reach, don't be worried: he is
           everywhere. You cannot miss him. How can you miss him? That is impossible. You can go on
           forgetting him, but you cannot miss him -- he is in you, he is everywhere; only he is. But when you
           create the idea of guilt, for whatsoever reason, then you create a gap; then you are surrounded by
           your own darkness. Drop that word guilt, and always remember that words are very potential and
           powerful.
                Just the other day I was reading about Rembrandt. He had become old, and he was working on
           one of his most famous paintings: The Anatomy Lesson. He was very tired the day it was completed,
           and he looked very exhausted. His disciple said, "Master, you look very exhausted, tired."
           Rembrandt, as if suddenly becoming alive, said, "Exhausted? No, never. Spent, yes. But exhausted,
           no." The disciple could not understand the difference. He said, "The dictionary says they both mean
           the same." Rembrandt said, "Forget about the dictionary, I say it through my experience: exhausted
           means wasted, empty, unfulfilled. Spent means flowered, completed, fulfilled." And what a
           difference!
                Don't say you feel guilty; never use a wrong word. Drop guilt, and with the guilt you drop
           Christianity; with the guilt you drop Hinduism; with the guilt you drop Jainism; with the guilt you
           drop all nonsense that has been gathering around you. Immediately you become religious -- not a
           Christian, not a Hindu, not a Mohammedan. Drop guilt and you become religious. Carry guilt, then
           guilt has many shapes -- it is sold in the market in many forms and with many labels: Hindu,
           Christian, Mohammedan, Jain, Buddhist. No guilt... and suddenly you accept existence, and
           existence accepts you. A deep covenant, a deep trust arises between you and the whole. If I am
           teaching anything here, if it can be called a teaching at all, a very simple teaching it is: to be
           yourself, and never try to become anything else. If you cannot understand me it's okay, you don't
           need. Whenever you need, it happens. If you can understand something which you don't need now, it
           will be dangerous. Let everything happen when it is needed; let everything follow its natural course.
                I am saying so many things, and I am saying them to so many people -- you are not all at the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same stage. Somebody is young, somebody is old; the young have not seen the life, the frustration of
           it -- the old have seen the frustration of it. When I say life is anguish, the old will understand, but the
           young will feel, somehow, that they can't receive it. But that's natural -- how can you receive it? A
           child may be here, and I may be saying something tremendously serious, and the child cannot
           understand it -- rather, he would like to play and jump around. But that's how it should be; nothing is
           wrong in it. Wherever you are, there is no other way to be anywhere else; you can only be there. Be
           there. If you try to be somewhere else, you cannot be somewhere else. On the contrary, you will miss
           that which you could have been. So be, wherever you are; whatsoever you can understand,
           understand, and whatsoever you can receive, receive, and move, and flow. Sometimes it will happen
           that you will hear me today, and you will understand me years afterwards. It will remain like a seed
           if you have heard it -- it will wait for its right time, for its right season: it will wait for ripening. Don't
           be worried about it. And if you start feeling guilt, then you are creating such turmoil that even the
           seed may be lost.
                I am not a priest. I don't want you to feel guilty, because the priest exists on your guilt. The more
           you feel guilty, the more the priest becomes powerful, because then he has the keys to help you, to
           bring you out of your guilt. First he creates guilt, then he gives you the keys to come out of it. First
           he creates the disease, then he sells the medicine.
                I am cutting the root of the disease itself. I am not here to sell any medicine to you, but just to tell
           you how to cut the very root of the disease. So remember, each stage is right, each stage is necessary.
           Pass through each, and don't try to jump ahead.


               CAN TRUST BE CULTIVATED?

               A cultivated trust will not be trust; it will be false, it will be insincere. It will just be on the
           surface; it will never touch your centre. Whatsoever is cultivated remains superficial, because
           whatsoever is cultivated remains of the mind. Trust cannot be cultivated, just as love cannot be
           cultivated: you can't teach people how to love. Dangerous will be the days when people are taught
           how to love, because they will learn the lesson, they will repeat it accurately -- it will be
           technological but it will not be of the heart.
               Anything that belongs to the depth has to come out of its own accord. So what is to be done? I
           understand the question you are asking. Then what to do? The only thing that can be done is to
           remove hindrances. Trust cannot be brought out; hindrances can be removed. When there is no
           hindrance, it comes, it flows. Trust cannot be cultivated; doubts can be dropped.
               So one has to understand the doubting mind, the very mechanism of doubt, why you doubt. One
           has to see through and through why one doubts, because doubt is the hindrance. When doubt
           disappears, suddenly trust is there. It has always been there. Only a rock was hindering the path, and
           the fountain could not flow. You come with trust. Every child is born with trust, every child is
           trusting, so trust need not be cultivated. That's how everybody is born: it is in-built. You are trust.
               But by and by, the child learns how to doubt. We teach, in fact -- the society, the family, the
           school, the university, they all teach how to doubt. Because unless you doubt, you cannot be very
           clever and cunning; unless you doubt, you cannot be left in this great world of competition: you will
           be destroyed. So doubt has to be learned; and once you learn it, by and by, trust is forgotten. It
           remains deep within you, but you cannot reach to it -- too many obstacles. You cannot cultivate it; it
           cannot be taught. The only thing is, you have to reverse the process -- you have learned doubt, now
           unlearn it.
               Trust was there, trust is there, trust will be there. All that has to be done is to be done with doubt;
           nothing is to be done with trust. Why do you doubt? Why are you so afraid? -- because doubt means
           fear. Whenever you love somebody, you don't doubt, because fear disappears. Whenever there is
           love, fear is not. But when you don't love, you doubt; when you don't know a person, you doubt
           more -- a stranger, then you doubt even more; unfamiliar, unknown, then you doubt more. Whenever
           there is fear, there is doubt. Deep down, doubt is fear. If you go still deeper, doubt is death, because
           you are afraid of death. And it seems that everybody is trying to kill you; fighting -- everybody
           competitive -- everybody trying to push you aside, dethrone you. Doubt is death.
               The whole mechanism has to be understood. Then what to do? Why is one afraid of death.? You
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have never known death. You may have seen somebody else dying, but you have never seen death.
           When somebody is dying, do you really know that he is dying -- or simply disappearing into some
           other world? Doubt is without base; fear is without base -- it is just an assumption of the mind. When
           somebody dies, do you think he is dying, or simply disappearing into another world, moving to
           another plane of life, or to another body? You will have to know it in deep meditation. When
           thinking stops, suddenly you see that you are separate from the body.
               So I don't say trust first; I say meditate first. That is the difference between meditation and
           prayer. People who teach prayer, they say, "Trust first, otherwise how can you pray?" Trust is
           needed as a basic condition, otherwise how can you pray? If you don't trust God, how can you pray?
           I teach meditation, because meditation doesn't require trust as a basic necessity. Meditation is a
           science, not a superstition. Meditation says you experiment with your mind -- it is too full of
           thoughts; thoughts can be dispersed, the clouds can be dispersed, and you can attain to an empty sky
           of your inner being. And it needs no trust -- just a little courage, a little effort, a little daring, a little
           persistence and perseverance, a little patience, yes, but no trust. You don't believe in God? That is
           not a hindrance to meditation. You don't believe in soul? That is not a hindrance in meditation. You
           don't believe at all? That is not an obstacle. You can meditate, because meditation simply says how
           to go withinwards: whether there is a soul or not doesn't matter; whether there is a God or not doesn't
           matter.
               One thing is certain: that you are. Whether you will be after death, or not, does not matter. Only
           one thing matters: right this moment, you are. Who are you? To enter into it is meditation: to go
           deeper into your own being. Maybe it is just momentary; maybe you are not eternal; maybe death
           finishes everything: we don't make any condition that you have to believe. We say only that you
           have to experiment. Just try. One day it happens: thoughts are not there, and suddenly when thoughts
           disappear, the body and you are separate, because thoughts are the bridge. Through thoughts you are
           joined with the body; it is the link. Suddenly the link disappears -you are there, the body is there, and
           there is an infinite abyss between the two. Then you know that the body will die, but you cannot die.
               Then it is not something like a dogma; it is not a creed, it is an experience -- self-evident. On that
           day, death disappears; on that day, doubt disappears, because now you are not always to be
           defending yourself. Nobody can destroy you; you are indestructible. Then trust arises, overflows.
           And to be in trust is to be in ecstasy; to be in trust is to be in God; to be in trust is to be fulfilled.
               So I don't say cultivate trust. I say experiment with meditation. From another angle try to
           understand it. Doubt means thinking. The more you doubt, the more you can think. All great thinkers
           are sceptical -- have to be. Scepticism creates thinking. When you say no, then thinking arises; if you
           say yes, finished -- there is no need to think. When you say no, then you have to think. Thinking is
           negative. Doubt is a basic necessity for thinking. People who cannot doubt, cannot think; they cannot
           become great thinkers. So, more doubt means more thinking, more thinking means more doubt.
           Meditation is a way to come out of thinking. Once the clouds of thoughts are not there, and the
           process of thinking ceases, even for a single moment, you have a glimpse of your being.
               One of the greatest thinkers in the West, Descartes, has said, "I think, therefore I am." COGITO
           ERGO SUM. And Descartes is the father of modern Western philosophy.'I think, therefore I am.'Just
           the opposite has been the experience in the East. Buddha, Nagarjuna, Sankara, Lao Tzu, Chuang
           Tzu, they will laugh, they will laugh tremendously when they hear Descartes' dictum,'I think,
           therefore I am'; because they say, "I don't think, therefore I am."
               Because when thinking ceases, only then does one know who one is. In a non-thinking state of
           consciousness one realizes one's being, not by thinking, but by non-thinking. Meditation is
           non-thinking; it is an effort to create a state of no-mind. Doubt is mind. In fact, to say 'doubting
           mind' is wrong; it is repetitive -- mind is doubt; doubt is mind. When doubt ceases, mind ceases; or
           when mind ceases, doubt ceases. And then self-evident truth arises within, a pinnacle of light,
           eternity, timelessness; and then there is trust.
               Right now how can you trust? Right now you don't know who you are -- how can you trust? And
           you ask, "Can trust be cultivated?" Never. Never try to cultivate it. Many have done that foolishness.
           Then they become false, inauthentic, pseudo. It is better to be a no-sayer, but sincere, because there
           is at least a possibility, through sincerity, that some day you may become an authentic yea-sayer. But
           never say yes until it arises from within and overwhelms you.
               The whole world is full of pseudo-religious people: churches, temples, gurudwaras, mosques, full
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of religious people. And can't you see the world is absolutely irreligious? With so many religious
           people, and the world is so irreligious, how is this miracle happening? Everybody is religious, and
           the total is irreligiousness. The religion is false. People have cultivated trust. Trust has become a
           belief, not an experience. They have been taught to believe; they have not been taught to know --
           that's where humanity has missed. Never believe. If you cannot trust, it is better to doubt, because
           through doubt, some day or other, the possibility will arise; because you cannot live with doubt
           eternally. Doubt is disease; it is an illness. In doubt you can never feel fulfilled; in doubt you will
           always tremble, in doubt you will always remain in anguish and divided and indecisive. In doubt you
           will remain in a nightmare; so one day or other you will start seeking how to go beyond it. So I say it
           is good to be an atheist rather than a theist, a pseudo-theist.
               You have been taught to believe -- from the very childhood, everybody's mind has been
           conditioned to believe: believe in God, believe in soul, believe in this and believe in that. Now that
           belief has entered into your bones and your blood, but it remains a belief: you have not known. And
           unless you know, you cannot be liberated. Knowledge liberates; only knowing liberates. All beliefs
           are borrowed; others have given them to you. They are not your flowerings. And how can a
           borrowed thing lead you towards the real, the absolutely real? Drop all that you have taken from
           others. It is better to be a beggar than to be rich; rich not by your own earning, but rich through
           stolen goods, rich through borrowed things, rich through tradition, rich through heritage. No, it is
           better to be a beggar, but to be on one's own. That poverty has a richness in it because it is true, and
           your richness of belief is very poor. Those beliefs can never go very deep; they remain skin-deep at
           the most. Scratch a little, and the disbelief comes out.
               You believe in God. Then your business fails, and suddenly, the disbelief is there. You say, "I
           don't believe, I cannot believe in God." You believe in God, and your beloved dies, and the disbelief
           comes up. You believe in God, and just by the death of your beloved the belief is destroyed? It is not
           worth much. Trust can never be destroyed -- once it is there, nothing can destroy it; nothing,
           absolutely nothing can destroy it.
               So remember, there is a great difference between trust and belief. Trust is personal; belief is
           social. Trust you have to grow in; belief you can remain in, whatsoever you are, and belief can be
           imposed on you. Drop beliefs. The fear will be there; because if you drop belief, doubt arises. Each
           belief is forcing doubt somewhere, repressing doubt. Don't be worried about it; let the doubt come.
           Everybody has to pass through a dark night before he reaches the sunrise. Everybody has to pass
           through doubt. Long is the journey, dark is the night. But when after the long journey and the dark
           night the morning arises, then you know it was all worthwhile. Trust cannot be cultivated. And never
           try to cultivate it -- that is what has been done by the whole of humanity. Cultivated trust becomes
           belief. Discover it within yourself, don't cultivate it. Go deeper into your being, to the very source of
           your being, and discover it.
               When Jawaharlal Nehru died, a small slip of paper was found on his pillow. In his own
           handwriting he had noted a few lines of Robert Frost:

                  THE WOODS ARE LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP.
                  BUT I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP,
                  AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP.
                  AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP.
               He must have written it just before he died.'The woods are lovely...' Everybody has to go alone;
           you cannot keep company. Because you have to go inwards you can only go alone.'The woods are
           lovely...' because the woods are of your inner being. If you go for an outer pilgrimage, you can have
           company; somebody can be with you: a beloved, a friend, a relative, a fellow-traveller. But the
           woods are lovely because the woods are of your inner being -- you have to go alone.
               'Dark and deep...' and there is much darkness within. You have always heard that if you go
           inwards, you will find infinite light. That is only half of the truth. You will find infinite light at the
           very centre, but before that centre is reached, much darkness has to be passed through. It is not that
           you just close your eyes and there is infinite light; no, there will be infinite darkness first because
           that is the price one has to pay. The dark night is the price one has to pay for the morning. And
           remember, until you pay for it, it won't be worthwhile -- unless you pay for it you cannot value it. If
           a morning is given to you, and you have not travelled and struggled for it, you will not be able to see
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                 Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it.
                Somewhere, Vincent van Gogh, one of the greatest Dutch painters, has written that he was in
           some part of France where sunsets are tremendously beautiful. One day when he was painting... a
           woman used to help him -- she asked van Gogh, "Can I run home and show my people: my father,
           my mother, my sisters and my brothers, this beautiful sunset?" Van Gogh said, "There is no need.
           The sunset is there; they will see it by themselves." The woman laughed, and she said, "I am thirty. I
           have lived on this seashore for thirty years, but until you came, we had never seen the sunset."
                Just because a thing is there it is not necessary that you will see it: one has to learn, one has to
           grow. One needs a Van Gogh to show you, to make you sensitive, to make you aware. I love that
           story. This is how it has been happening -- God is there, but a Van Gogh, a Buddha, is needed to
           show you. And then you will see; you will be surprised, amazed, that this has been always there.
           Why did you miss? One needs growth. When you go in, infinite light is there. The Upanishads are
           true. When Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is within," he is absolutely true. But when you go in,
           first you will enter the kingdom of the devil, not of God.
           Dark night of the soul....
                If you pass through it, if you dare to pass through it, if you are courageous to go alone in it, only
           then you will be capable, you will have earned; then you will have a right to claim the morning.

                  THE WOODS ARE LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP.
                  BUT I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP,
                  AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP.
               Before you can rest in your innermost core, in your innermost shrine of being, miles to go, miles
           to grow, miles to flow....
               'But I have promises to keep...' To whom have you given promises? -- every seed has promised to
           be a tree -- not to anybody: to one's own destiny, to one's own self. Every seed has given a promise
           to be a tree, and to flower, and to blossom, and to spread into millions of seeds. It is not a promise
           given verbally to anybody; it is a deep existential promise given to one's own being, to one's destiny.
           Call it God, or call it whatsoever you like, but everybody is a traveller on a great pilgrimage.

                  BUT I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP,
                  AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP.
                  AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP.
               There is a dark night to be crossed, to be gone through. Only then will you be able, will your
           eyes be capable, to see light.
               Remember, don't deceive yourself by beliefs. Beliefs can be given to you free; you need not earn
           them. Trust is a growth, a ripening of your being. It is painful, remember. Beliefs are very
           convenient -- to become a Mohammedan, to become a Christian, to become a Hindu -- nothing is
           needed, just the accident of birth is enough. That you are born into a family and you become a Hindu
           or a Mohammedan, is just an accident. If a child is born into a Hindu family and brought up by a
           Mohammedan family, he will become a Mohammedan. He will never know he was ever a Hindu --
           just an accident.
               No, life cannot be that cheap. Trust cannot be that cheap. Love cannot be that cheap; one has to
           stake one's whole soul for it. Never try to cultivate trust; never try to make trust function, because
           that will be belief. Drop doubt. Enter into doubt; realize the futility of doubt; realize the futility of
           thinking and try to come to a state of no-mind; and then trust arises. You simply remove the
           hindrances. Nothing positive is needed to be done, only something negative: something has to be
           removed. When the passage is clear, trust flows. You melt and you start flowing.
               It happened that when Alexander came to India he met a sannyasin, a great sage. The sage's
           name was Dandamis; that is how Greek historians have pronounced it. Alexander asked him, "Do
           you believe in God?" The sage remained silent. Alexander said, "I cannot see, so how can I believe?
           How do you believe without seeing him?" The naked sage laughed. He took Alexander by his hand
           towards the marketplace. Alexander followed -- maybe he was taking him somewhere where he
           could show him God. A small boy was flying a kite, and the kite had gone so far away that it was
           impossible to see it. The sage stopped there, and asked that boy, "Where is the kite? Because we
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot see it, and without seeing how can we believe? Where is the kite? How do you still believe
           that the kite exists?" The boy said, "I can feel the pull of it." And the sage said to Alexander, "I can
           also feel the pull of it."
                Trust is nothing but the feel of the pull. You don't see -- one has never seen God; only the pull is
           felt. But that is enough, that is more than enough. But then you have to be in a certain state where the
           pull can be felt. It cannot be learned from scriptures; it is not a doctrine. Nobody can explain it: you
           have to feel the pull.
                The old sage laughed. Alexander also realized that it had been a revelation. But the sage said,
           "Wait; no need to believe in me. You take the thread in your hand and feel the pull, because who
           knows? This boy may be deceiving. Never believe. Feel the pull." If Alexander had gone away just
           listening to the boy, it would have been a belief But he felt the pull: the kite was there on the other
           end, the pull was here on this end. He could feel the force. He thanked the old sage.
                Meditation is a state where you allow yourself to feel the pull of existence. That pull has been
           called by many names. In the Upanishads they say. EKAM SAD VIPARAH BAHUDHA
           VADANTI: that one is one. But sages have called it many names.

              OSHO, I SEEM TO HAVE FOUND MY QUESTION: THE CLOSER I SEEM TO GET TO MY
              BELOVED, THE CLOSER I SEEM TO GET TO MYSELF -- AND THE FURTHER AND FURTHER
              AWAY I SEEM TO GET FROM YOU. YET ACCORDING TO YOU, THE CLOSER ONE GETS TO
              ONE SELF THE CLOSER ONE GETS TO YOU. SO SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE, IS NOT WHAT IT
              SEEMS. WHAT IS IT?

                Let me share one anecdote with you. Henry David Thoreau was dying -- on his deathbed. An old
           friend asked him, "Thoreau, do you believe in the other world, the hereafter?" Thoreau was just
           going to die, almost on the verge. He opened his eyes and said, "One world at a time brother, one
           world at a time."
                If love is happening, forget all about me. One world at a time sister, one world at a time.
                Sooner or later, what you are understanding as love now, will disappear. But don't believe what I
           am saying -- go through it. It always disappears; it is just like the dewdrops in the morning. They
           look so beautiful, and while they last they are -- pearls. But as the sun rises, they evaporate and
           disappear without even a trace behind. Love is beautiful while it lasts. I am not against love; I am all
           for it. But it is like dewdrops. What can I do? I am helpless.
                So while it lasts, enjoy it. At your stage of mind it must be a need: it will fulfil something. Never
           drop out of it unless you have ripened, unless it disappears of its own accord; and then, don't
           complain; and then, don't feel frustrated. When love, love that you call love disappears, then a
           different kind of love arises. Only that love can bring you near me.
                Right now, the love that you feel can be of two types. Either it can be just a biological attraction
           of two bodies, feminine and male, yin and yang, positive and negative; of two energies -- because
           they are opposite they attract each other. That is the lowest type of love. Nothing wrong in it,
           remember, because the lowest love is also very beautiful. And there are people who are lower than
           the lowest love; there are people, millions of them, who have not even known the lowest love. That
           is the lowest rung of the ladder.
                There are people who are after money; they have not known even the biological attraction. There
           are people who are after power, politics, and have not known even the biological attraction. It is the
           lowest rung, but it is still a rung of a ladder which is of love; so, good. It has been called sex; the
           word has become very degraded, because religions have condemned it too much. I have no
           condemnation for anything. I am all for using everything, and going beyond. Step over everything
           and go beyond: every obstacle can become a stepping-stone. Use it.
                So either it can be the physical, the biological attraction of the body -- then it is sexual. Good, but
           much more is possible; don't cling there. Remember:... PROMISES TO KEEP, MILES TO GO
           BEFORE YOU SLEEP.
                Then there is a second rung of the ladder: the attraction of two minds. That is what is called love;
           the attraction of two minds, the feminine and the male. As bodies are feminine and male, minds are
           also feminine and male. The male mind is aggressive; the feminine mind is receptive and passive --
           they fit together. It is higher than the first. The first is almost of the animal kingdom; the second is
           human. In the first, there can be an oblivion, a forgetfulness, a deep intoxication for a few seconds.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           In the second, there is much more of poetry, much more of romance, much more of aesthetic
           sensitivity. Very few people reach to the second -- where the beloved becomes the friend; where the
           lover becomes the friend. In the first, possessiveness and jealousy spoil the whole game.
           Possessiveness has to disappear otherwise the second will not be possible. Then you are two
           fellow-travellers. In the first you face each other; in the second, you both face something else.
               For example, if two persons who are attracted to each other's body are sitting in a full-moon
           night, they will be looking at each other, holding hands, looking at each other. In the second stage,
           they may be holding hands, or they may not be holding hands, but they will not be looking at each
           other; they will both be looking at the moon -- a tremendous difference. Now they are being held
           together by something else higher than both, deeper than both. This second type of love is very
           beautiful, but still, like dewdrops, it disappears.
               If you are frustrated in the first and don't become hopeless, you then enter the second. If you are
           frustrated in the first, get so much caught in the frustration, and become hopeless, you never enter
           the second. Then you remain a body; you never come to know that you are also a mind. In the
           second, if you are frustrated, as you will be -- it has to be so, because the second is not the goal, not
           the end -- if you are frustrated and you become hopeless, then you are caught in the second. But if
           you are frustrated and don't become hopeless, and your search and enquiry goes higher and higher,
           and you try to see why this love failed... the first love failed because it was only bodily -- it could not
           satisfy the mind; the second failed because it was only of the mind -- it could not satisfy the soul:
           and when the third type of love arises, then you will be near me.

              WHEN I AM WITH YOU I AM SPEECHLESS. IF EEL MY MOUTH AND THROAT BECOME
              INAPPROPRIATE AND ALMOST LOSE THEIR FUNCTION. YET LANGUAGE IS MY BEST
              IMPLEMENT ALSO MY BEST WEAPON AND WITHOUT IT I FEEL CRIPPLED. AM I AS FOOLISH
              AS I FEEL TO BE SQUANDERING THESE CHANCES OF TALKING TO YOU?

               No. To be with me, you have to be in silence. If you talk, you miss the chance, because words
           become barriers. Words are not means of communication, they are means of avoiding
           communication. Whenever you want to be with someone, you want to be silent: only in silence there
           is communion. Only in deep silence there is a merger and a meeting and the boundaries dissolve.
           Something of me enters you, and something of you enters me.
               If you come to me and talk, and talk, and talk, you don't allow me to enter. And you don't allow
           yourself to be vulnerable. But it is natural when you come to see me for the first time and suddenly
           you feel that you cannot talk, that you cannot communicate through words. You feel as if you are not
           communicating at all, because all your life you have been communicating through words and you
           don't know that there is another dimension of communion, there is another way. With me words are
           useless.
               To be with me, the only way is to be in deep silence, deep receptivity, in a deep opening so that I
           can pour myself into you. If you are too full of words and talking too many things, you will miss me.
           Silence is the language with me.
               So don't be worried about it. It is exactly as it should be. Whenever people come to me, there are
           two types. The foolish ones are those who talk too much; the wiser ones are those who keep quiet,
           who remain silent. But you cannot deceive me just by being quiet because inside you go on
           chattering. It won't help. The question is not whether you utter, or not; the question is whether there
           are words, or not.
               Learn more and more to be in a state of non-chattering -- the inner talk has to stop. Then your
           mind is not hindering; then you are available; then your deepest shrine of being is available to me.
           But by and by, you will learn. In the beginning, it happens so. You have always been talking, and if
           you are very articulate in talking, then of course you feel crippled. If you are very articulate and you
           can talk beautifully, artistically, if you can play perfectly with language and then suddenly you come
           to me and your throat does not allow you to speak... and something goes wrong and the mechanism
           doesn't function: you feel that you are crippled. But you are not crippled -- the impact of my
           presence has simply given a shock to the mechanism of your mind. And it is good. Don't try to bring
           it back. Let it go. Be quiet, still, silent and waiting. Be feminine.
               A disciple needs to know how to be feminine, that is, how to be like a womb so that he can
           receive and he can become pregnant. Unless you become pregnant, nothing will happen to you. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can learn so many things here with me, but that learning will be more and more a burden to you, not
           a freedom; it will create more chains for you. Then you may not be chained by Christianity; you will
           be chained by my words. Then you may not believe in the Vedas, but then my words will become the
           Vedas.
                No, I am here to make you utterly liberated, including from myself
                You are my disciple only if you remember this: that one day or other you have to become
           liberated from me also. Only then have you obeyed me; only then will I be happy with you. But if
           you cling to my words.... What I say is not very meaningful, what I say is not significant: what I am
           not saying, what I cannot say -- nobody can say -- only that is significant. Listen to that which is not
           said. Listen to the gaps in the intervals. Read between the words and between the lines. If you forget
           the words, nothing is lost; but if you forget that which is between the words, much is lost.
                Your gestalt has to change. That is the difference between a student and a disciple: a change of
           gestalt, a change of attention, of focusing, a shift. The student listens to the word; the disciple listens
           to the gap between two words. The student reads the lines; the disciple, between the lines. If to a
           student I give an empty book, he will not be able to understand it. But if to a disciple I give an empty
           book, THE NOTHING BOOK, he will preserve it as a treasure.
                In the Sufi tradition there is a book called THE BOOK OF THE BOOKS. Nothing is written in
           it; empty pages, almost three hundred empty pages. You go on reading, but you can never finish it. It
           has been passed from one generation of masters to another. It has been lovingly preserved,
           worshipped, because it says nothing, but it shows much. It says nothing, but it indicates much. If all
           the Vedas and the Bibles and the Gitas and the Korans disappear, nothing will be lost. But if this
           BOOK OF THE BOOKS is lost, everything is lost. Because if you can read this book of nothing,
           THE BOOK OF THE BOOKS, Vedas can be rediscovered, Bibles can be written again; because all
           the blueprints are there. Out of the empty mind the Gita can be produced again, because that is how
           it was produced in the first place. A man, Krishna, became empty, and answered Arjuna's questions
           from his emptiness -- responded. Out of that emptiness, out of that BOOK OF THE BOOKS, the
           book Gita was born.
                That's how it happened in Mohammed's life. He was sitting on a mountain, meditating, fasting;
           absolutely empty. Suddenly he heard deep somewhere within himself -- which was also beyond
           himself.... From his own soul, but as if from some beyond, came an order: "Write." But he said, "My
           God, but I don't how to write. I am illiterate." And the voice said, "That's why you have been chosen.
           Write!" -- because those who are literate are corrupted, those who know are corrupted; those who are
           innocent, in their ignorance, only they can hear the voice of the beyond.
                Please, don't get caught with my words. Always remember that what I am trying to convey is
           always in the gaps. Don't be caught by the banks that the river is flowing between. And THAT you
           can hear only when you are silent; that you can hear only when the inner talk has stopped, when your
           mind is not clouded.

              YOU APPEARED TO ME YESTERDAY TO BE LITERALLY AS WELL AS FIGURATIVELY DRUNK.
              WERE YOU?

                I have always been -- and not figuratively, not symbolically. I am a drunkard, literally,
           absolutely, actually; because religion is the ultimate drug. Once you have tasted of it, you are gone
           for ever and ever. It is the ultimate high -- you never come down again. With other drugs you reach a
           high, but again you are thrown back. With religion, once you reach the high you never come back: it
           is a point of no return.
                I am drunk. Look into my eyes; come close to me and smell my breath. But beware, because such
           people are dangerous -- even their breath can make you drunk.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                        Chapter #3
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                           Chapter title: There is no Future God; there is no past
           13 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512130
              ShortTitle: FOLL303
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 72 mins




              MATTHEW I6
              13 WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE COASTS OF CAESAREA PHILLIPI, HE ASKED HIS
              DISCIPLES, SAYING, WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I, THE SON OF MAN, AM?
              14 AND THEY SAID, SOME SAY THAT THOU ART JOHN THE BAPTIST: SOME, ELIAS; AND
              OTHERS,JEREMIAS, OR ONE OF THE PROPHETS.
              15 HE SAITH UNTO THEM, BUT WHOM SAY YE THAT I AM?
              16 AND SIMON PETER ANSWERED AND SAID, THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE
              LIVING GOD.
              17 AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, BLESSED ART THOU, SIMON BARJONA:
              FOR FLESH AND BLOOD HATH NOT REVEALED IT UNTO THEE, BUT MY FATHER WHICH IS IN
              HEAVEN.
              18 AND I SAY ALSO UNTO THEE, THAT THOU ART PETER, AND UPON THIS ROCK I WILL
              BUILD MY CHURCH; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.
              19 AND I WILL GIVE UNTO THEE THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: AND
              WHATSOEVER THOU SHALT BIND ON EARTH SHALL BE BOUND IN HEAVEN: AND
              WHATSOEVER THOU SHALT LOOSE ON EARTH SHALL BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN.
              20 THEN CHARGED HE HIS DISCIPLES THAT THEY SHOULD TELL NO MAN THAT HE WAS
              JESUS THE CHRIST.


               ONCE IT HAPPENED: Aesop, the greatest master of story-telling, was going out of Athens. He
           met a man who was coming from Argos. They talked. The man from Argos asked Aesop, "You are
           coming from Athens. Please tell me some thing about the people there: what manner of men they are,
           what they are like."
               Aesop asked the man, "First you tell me what type of people are there in Argos."
               The man said, "Very disgusting, nauseating, violent, quarrelsome." And all these qualities
           flashed on the face of the man.
               Aesop said, "I am sorry. You will find the people of Athens just the same."
               Later on, he met another man who was also from Argos, and he also asked the same question:
           "You are coming from Athens and you have lived your whole life there -- what manner of men are
           they there? What are they like?"
               And Aesop again asked, "First tell me what manner of men are there in Argos."
               And the man became aflame with nostalgia... a very loving memory of the people of Argos. His
           face shone and he said, "Very pleasant, friendly, kind, and good neighbours."
               Aesop said, "I am happy to tell you that you will find the people of Athens just the same."
               The story is tremendously beautiful. It tells a very basic truth about man: wherever you go, you
           will always find yourself; wherever you look, you will always encounter yourself. The whole world
           is nothing but a mirror, and all relationships are mirrors. Again and again you encounter yourself --
           and again and again you misunderstand. You never realize the point, that it is your own face that you
           have looked at, that it is your own mood that you have come across.
               Why have I started with this story of Aesop? -- for a very basic reason. You can recognize Jesus
           only if you have recognized something of the beyond within yourself; otherwise not. You can
           recognize Buddha only if a part of you has become like Buddha; otherwise you cannot recognize.
           You cannot recognize that which has not happened to you.
               If you are dark, only darkness can be recognized. If you are light, then you become capable of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           recognizing light. Your eyes can see light because they are part of the sun, because something within
           you has become of the nature of light. A deep transformation has happened within you. Only then is
           it possible to recognize a Jesus, a Buddha, a Krishna, a Mohammed. Otherwise you will
           misunderstand them; you will think that you have understood them. It will be nothing but your own
           reflection, it will be nothing but your own echoes. It is your own voice that you have heard coming
           from them; it is your own face that you have looked at in their mirror.
               So before you can understand Jesus, you have to understand yourself. Before you can have the
           vision that Jesus has something, at least something of the same vision has to be allowed within you.
           These sutras are very significant.
              WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE COASTS OF CAESAREA PHILLIPI, HE ASKED HIS DISCIPLES,
              SAYING, WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I, THE SON OF MAN, AM?

               Why did he ask this? The people were saying all sorts of things about him. People have always
           been gossiping. They feed on rumours and they go on expressing their opinions without knowing
           what they are doing.
               Have you watched the same tendency in yourself? If you watch and observe, it will drop, and it
           is one of the basic requirements. If ever you want to know truth, you have to drop all gossiping. If
           you want to know what truth is, you have to stop making opinions without knowing anything. It is
           such a foolish attitude. You don't know anything about yourself, but if you come across a Jesus, you
           immediately create an opinion about him. Have you ever thought about it -- about what you are
           doing? You go on judging, not knowing anything even about yourself, which is the nearest point of
           consciousness to you. Who is more close to you than yourself? -- and you have not known even that.
               Jesus is far away from you. Stop rumouring, because those rumours will cloud your eyes; those
           rumours, those opinions, will destroy your perception, your clarity.
               Why does Jesus ask what people are saying about him? Whenever a man like Jesus happens, the
           whole world is agog with rumours. People go on talking about him. Sometimes I have come across
           people....
               Once it happened: I was travelling and I had another passenger in my compartment -- only two
           persons, he and I. He was reading a book, so I asked him -- he was reading one of my books, but he
           didn't know me, and he started saying things about me -- I asked him, "Are you certain?"
           He said, "Absolutely certain."
           "Have you seen this man you are talking about?"
               He said, "Yes. Not only seen, we have been class-fellows." Once you utter a lie, you have to utter
           many more lies.
               I told the man, "I'm the man you are talking about." He laughed. He said, "You are joking." He
           wouldn't believe me.
               Whenever a man like Jesus is there, a thousand and one rumours spread. People say all sorts of
           things. Why do they say them? -- to show that they know.
               There is a story of Gogol, the Russian master. He tells that in a small town there was a very
           simple man and people used to think that he was an idiot. A sage visited the town, and the idiot came
           to the sage and asked, "I'm in constant trouble. The whole town thinks that I am an idiot, and before I
           have said anything, people start laughing -- before I have even said anything, so I cannot say a single
           word. I am so afraid. I cannot move in the society, because wherever I go people ridicule me. You
           are a wise man. Help me. Give me some clue as to how I can protect myself. My whole life is
           destroyed."
               The sage said something in his ear. He said, "Do only one thing: whenever somebody says
           something, immediately deny it; contradict it, negate it. Whatsoever it is, don't be bothered.
           Somebody is saying,'Look, how beautiful the moon is!' Immediately say,'Who says so? Prove it!'
           Nobody can prove it. Somebody says that Buddha or Christ are enlightened people -- immediately
           deny it; contradict it -- 'Who says so? What is enlightenment? -- all nonsense, rubbish!' "
               The simple man said, "But I may not be able to prove that it is rubbish."
               The old sage said, "You need not worry; nobody will ask you. They will be trying to prove
           whatsoever they are saying."
           "Never say anything positively, and you will never be in trouble. Just negate. If somebody says,'God
           exists,' say,'No. Where is God? Prove it!' "
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man tried the trick and after seven days the whole town was simply surprised. People started
           saying, "We never knew that this man was so wise!"
               If you want to look wise, you have to utter nonsenses. And the best way is to deny, to say no,
           because life is such a mystery that nothing can be proved. If somebody says, "Look, this woman is so
           beautiful," say, "Who says so? What is there about her? Why do you call her beautiful? I don't see
           anything." Nobody can prove it. All the poets of the world can stand against you, but you are going
           to win. Things are so mysterious -- they cannot be proved; they cannot be reduced to an argument.
               Nobody wants to feel that he does not know. If you say that yes, Jesus is enlightened, it will be
           difficult to prove, almost impossible. Twenty centuries of constant argument have not proved
           anything. Jesus remains as mysterious, as riddlesome as he was. Twenty centuries of theology,
           constant argument, elaboration, explanation, analysis, interpretation -- nothing has been proved.
           Jesus remains as mysterious as he ever was -- maybe even more so -- because he is lost in these
           explanations.
               You cannot prove that Jesus is enlightened, because enlightenment is something beyond the
           mind. You have to taste it; you cannot talk about it; and when you taste it you become silent. But if
           you want to say that he is nothing, nobody, you can prove it. That is simply very easy.
               So people were saying many things, contradicting, negating, arguing that this man is nothing.

              WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE COASTS OF CAESAREA PHILLIPI, HE ASKED HIS DISCIPLES,
              SAYING, WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I, THE SON OF MAN, AM?
              What are people saying about me?

              AND THEY SAID, SOME SAY THAT THOU ART JOHN THE BAPTIST; SOME, ELIAS; AND
              OTHERS, JEREMIAS, OR ONE OF THE PROPHETS.


               This happens always. People have only one criterion and that is of the past. And a man like Jesus
           is of the present; he is not from the past. He does not belong to any tradition -- he cannot belong. A
           man like Jesus is a rebellion. He cannot be part of any tradition. But the ordinary human mind has no
           other criteria. At the most, you can think about the past. You can say, "Maybe he is John the Baptist,
           or Elias, or Ezekiel or Jeremias, or one of the old, past prophets." When those prophets were present,
           you never understood them. You never looked into them, directly and immediately. You never
           encountered them, because to encounter them is great daring. No other courage is more dangerous
           than to encounter a man who has known, because he is deathlike; he is an infinite abyss.
               If you look into Jeremias or Ezekiel or Elias, you are looking into a bottomless abyss. You will
           start shaking and trembling; you will start perspiring, and you will be afraid. One step, and you can
           be lost forever, and you cannot come back again.
               Jesus, Buddha, and Krishna, they are absolute emptinesses. Their ego has disappeared. They are
           just vast spaces of being -- no boundaries, no maps. The territory is uncharted. Look into it and you
           will lose your balance. The very earth below your feet will disappear. You will find yourself falling
           and falling and falling -- and the falling is endless.
               So people never look directly. When Jesus is there, they talk about John, they talk about Elias,
           they talk about Ezekiel, they talk about Jeremias, they talk about Abraham, Moses -- they can talk
           about the whole past, but they will not look at this man who is right now here. They have been doing
           the same to Moses, to Abraham and to everybody. When Moses is there, they will not encounter
           him. That is too dangerous and risky. Then they will talk of somebody else.
           The disciples said,

              SOME SAY THAT THOU ART JOHN THE BAPTIST: SOME, ELIAS; AND OTHERS, JEREMIAS, OR
              ONE OF THE PROPHETS.


              A few things are to be understood. Whenever a Jesus happens, he is absolutely fresh and virgin.
           He does not come from the past; he comes from above. That is the Hindu meaning of avatar: he
           descends. He is not part of the chain. He is not horizontal; he is vertical.
              Whenever YOU become alert and aware, immediately your whole being turns. Then you are no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more horizontal; suddenly you find yourself vertical. If a man is lying down and fast asleep, he is
           horizontal. Sleep is horizontal. It is very difficult to stand and sleep -- you have to lie down. That is
           the most comfortable position. If you try to sleep standing up, it will be almost impossible. Sleep is
           horizontal, unconsciousness is horizontal. But when a man awakes, he sits, he stands up, he becomes
           vertical. Take it symbolically.
                The same happens in the inner world. When a man is unconscious, unaware, he is horizontal; his
           consciousness is horizontal. When he becomes alert, aware, conscious, he stands. Then the
           consciousness becomes vertical.
                And this is the meaning of the Christian cross: two lines, one horizontal, one vertical. The
           horizontal line is of unconsciousness and the vertical line is of consciousness. The horizontal line
           you can call 'of matter', the vertical 'of consciousness'; the horizontal line, the world, the MAYA; and
           the vertical, the God, the BRAHMA.
                The cross is very, very significant and multi-dimensional. You must have seen Jesus on the cross.
           Have you observed that his hands are on the horizontal line and his whole body on the vertical?
           Why? -- because doing is horizontal and being is vertical. Hands are just representatives of doing.
           Whatsoever you do, you do with matter. Whatsoever you do, becomes part of the world. Whatsoever
           you do, moves into history. Whatsoever you do, becomes part of time; it becomes horizontal. But
           whatsoever you are -- the pure being -- is not part of the world. It may be in the world, but it is not of
           the world. It penetrates the world. That's why Hindus have given it a beautiful name -- AVATAR. It
           comes down from above. Like a ray of light it penetrates the darkness. The ray may be in the
           darkness, but it is not of the darkness. It comes from above.
                Zen says that by doing, you cannot attain, because whatsoever you do will move outwards. That's
           why Zen says even meditation is not to be done -- one has to be meditative. Prayer cannot be done;
           one has to be prayerful. Love cannot be done; one has to be loving. The difference is between doing
           and being. When you are loving, it is part of the vertical. When you are meditative, it is part of the
           vertical. When you start meditating, it becomes horizontal.
                All effort, all doing has to cease. That is the meaning of Jesus' hands on the horizontal line. And
           the whole, except the hands, is on the vertical. Except for what you do, all your being is part of God.
           Whatsoever you do is part of the world.
                But only hands arc seen. If I don't do anything, I will become invisible. You will not be able to
           see me. Not that you will not see me, but you will not recognize me. If I don't do anything, I will be
           as if I am not; because you know only one criterion: that something should be done.
                That's why in your books of history, Buddhas are just footnotes; not more than that. That, too,
           seems to be a concession. Alexanders, Napoleons, they make history; Buddhas? -- just footnotes.
           You are so kind towards them that you allow them a small space, a few lines. But they don't become
           the main part of history because you ask, "What have they done?" And if Buddha is there, and Jesus
           is there, that too is because they have done something -- maybe not much, but something.
                There have been Buddhas who have completely disappeared -- they have not even left a ripple in
           the history. Buddha himself talks about twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him. History does not
           know anything about them. They may have been absolutely silent people, people of being. Nothing
           is known about them, because how can you know if they don't DO anything? GUNDAS are known --
           hooligans. Sages become invisible, because unless you do something, you don't leave a trace.
                The more you DO, the more the horizontal line receives you. The more you ARE, you disappear.
           You only see hands; you don't see anything else.
                The disciples said, "People think that you are an incarnation of John the Baptist, or Elias or
           Jeremias. They think about you in terms of others of the past" -- and that is where you miss. A man
           like Jesus is absolutely fresh; he does not come from the past. He has no history. In fact, he has no
           autobiography. He is so fresh, like a dewdrop -- so fresh, just the fresh morning. It has nothing to do
           with the past. But then you will have to face him, then you will have to look directly.
                People come to me. One man came who is a follower of Ramakrishna. He said, "I see
           Ramakrishna in you." Why? Can't you see me directly? Why see Ramakrishna in me? And I know
           that if this man was to face Ramakrishna, he would see Ram or Krishna in him; but not
           Ramakrishna; again, the past.
                With the past you feel at ease because it is dead. With dead gods you feel very at ease and
           comfortable, because they cannot change you, and you can manipulate them. You can put your dead
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gods anywhere you like. They will not even say, "I don't like this place. " They cannot say anything;
           they cannot assert. They are not there It is good, comfortably good, conveniently good.
               In Jesus you can see Jeremias. Jeremias himself was a very dangerous man. You missed
           Jeremias; then you were seeing Moses in him. Now Jesus comes. By the time Jeremias is dead, he
           has become a statue, a fossil. Now his words don't carry any meaning to you; you have listened to
           them so much, they have lost significance. Now you want to see that fossil in Jesus.
               Why can't you see the truth that is facing you? Why do you go on avoiding? Why do you look
           sideways? Why can't you be immediate? Why can't you see that which is? Why are you obsessed
           with the past and why do you go on translating the present into the past?
               If I say something, immediately your mind starts translating it into the past. You don't listen to
           me; you listen to your translations. I say something -- the Hindu immediately translates it and he
           says, "Yes, this is what Krishna says in the Gita." The Mohammedan translates it immediately: "Yes,
           this is what Mohammed says in the Koran." Why can't you listen to ME? What is the need of
           bringing the Koran and the Gita in?
               No, this is some trick of the mind. If you bring the Gita in, you can avoid me. Then the Gita
           becomes the barrier. Then you are protected behind a dead Gita; then you need not listen to the song
           that is happening this moment. Then your ears are filled with the past, your eyes filled with dust.
           Your being, afraid, is defending itself. This is your armour -- the Gita, the Koran, the Vedas, the
           Talmud this is your armour. You look BEHIND the scriptures. That is a way of not looking. If you
           want to look really, drop all scriptures, because truth is always fresh and virgin. It has nothing to do
           with the past.

              SOME SAY THAT THOU ART JOHN THE BAPTIST: SOME, ELIAS; AND OTHERS, JEREMIAS, OR
              ONE OF THE PROPHETS.


               There are two types of people who are against. One will say, "You are nothing; just a pretender,
           a deception, a deceiver." The other -- who does not seem against it -- will say, "You represent, you
           are an incarnation of Krishna, Buddha, Jeremias, Moses." Both are avoiding you -- one by denying,
           one by accepting but not looking at you. Not only are enemies against, sometimes even followers are
           against. Not only are enemies trying to escape, even friends. Maybe the friend is more cunning --
           because the enemy simply says NO. The friend says YES, but says it in such a way that it ultimately
           means NO. The friend is more cunning.
               There is only one way to see Jesus, and that is to see him as he is; directly. No scriptures are
           needed to interpret him. He has to be seen untranslated. He has to be seen directly -- he has to be
           faced and encountered, eye to eye, heart to heart. Dangerous it is, I know, and risky, because you
           will never be the-same again once you encounter the reality, that which is, the truth.

              HE SAITH UNTO THEM, BUT WHOM SAY YE THAT I AM?


               Leave people aside. Now he asks his own disciples, "What do YOU think? Whom say ye that I
           am.?" Only one disciple spoke. The eleven remained silent. Nothing is said about them. They must
           have been puzzled. What to say? -- because whenever you say to Jesus, "You are Jeremias," you
           think you are praising him. You are condemning; you are rejecting. You are not explaining -- you are
           explaining him away.

              AND SIMON PETER ANSWERED AND SAID...


                Only one... a very innocent man. Just the other day we were talking about his story; the man of
           little faith. But at least a little faith was in him, and even if there is a little faith, it can grow. The
           mustard seed can become a big plant, a big bush, and birds of heaven can shelter in it. Yes, Peter was
           a man of little faith, but even a little faith is like a spark. It can burn the whole forest. The spark is
           never little. Even a little spark has tremendous energy, once it starts functioning.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND SIMON PETER ANSWERED AND SAID, THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING
              GOD.

              Very significant words -- try to understand them.

               Thou art the Christ. What does this word'Christ' mean? It has nothing to do with Jesus. Buddha is
           also a Christ, Krishna is also a Christ. And there is every possibility that the word'Christ' comes
           from'Krishna'. In Bengali, Krishna is called'Cristo'. There is every possibility that Christ is a form of
           the same root, Krishna.
               What does'Krishna' mean? The word means 'that which attracts'. Krishna is one who has become
           capable of attracting the divine in him. Christ is also the same. It means the drop has become capable
           of attracting the ocean in him. Christ is a meeting-point of the drop with the ocean, of the finite with
           the infinite, of the horizontal with the vertical. Where the horizontal and the vertical meet, that point
           of meeting is Christ.
               When Simon Peter said, "Thou art the Christ," this is what he meant. He said, "In YOU I can see
           the finite and the infinite meeting. In YOU I can see the Son of man and the Son of God meeting. In
           YOU I can see boundaries dissolving, matter and no-matter meeting. In YOU I can see time and
           eternity meeting, life and death meeting." That is the meaning of Christ: where the opposites meet
           and become one.
               Ordinarily the whole of life is divided into opposites -- day and night, summer and winter,
           morning and evening, birth and death. The point of Christ is the meeting of the opposites, where
           opposites become complementary and are no more opposites. Christ is a paradox, Christ is a very
           irrational, illogical point. If you try to understand Christ by logic you will miss -- you will have to
           find some other logic. They call it 'the logic by the side' -- not on the main road. The main road is
           possessed by Aristotle; he dominates there. If you want to understand Christ you will have to go
           down some bypath, but not the main road. No, you will never meet Christ on the superhighway. That
           is possessed by the logicians, the professors, the thinkers, the philosophers. You will have to get
           down and run into the wilderness.
               I am reminded of an old story. It happened: A merchant, very old man, was in heavy debt, and
           the money-lender was a very dangerous man. The money-lender came to the merchant's house. It
           must have been a morning like this, a winter morning. The merchant was sitting outside in his small
           garden. Where he was sitting the garden was paved with white and black pebbles.
               His young and beautiful daughter was also sitting by his side. The money-lender had come to
           threaten that if the man was not going to pay the money within a certain limit of time, he would be
           thrown into prison for at least twenty years. But he softened a little on looking at the beautiful girl.
           He proposed. He said, "I know that you cannot pay your debts, and I know that legally you can be
           thrown into prison for at least twenty years. You are almost seventy; that will be the end of your life.
           But I am kind and I have always been kind to you. I will give you an opportunity, and this is my
           proposal: I will take two pebbles, one black and one white, and put them in my bag, and then your
           daughter has to take one pebble from my bag. If she takes the white pebble out, you are freed of your
           debt, and nothing happens to your daughter. If she takes the black pebble out, then you are freed of
           your debt, but your daughter will have to marry me."
               Very reluctantly the father and daughter agreed, because there was no other possibility. The
           money-lender took two pebbles. When he was taking the two pebbles, the old merchant could not
           see, he was almost filled with tears, but the sharp eyes of the young girl could see that he had taken
           two black pebbles.
               Now, ordinary logic fails. What to do?. Two black pebbles in the bag! The obvious thing to do is
           to expose the fraud, but then he will be annoyed and will take revenge; and the father will be thrown
           into jail immediately. To annoy him didn't seem to be the right way. Then what to do? -- because
           whatsoever she does, a black pebble will be coming out. Logic fails.
               In the West there is one logician, a new type of logician. He calls his logic 'lateral' and his name
           is de Bono. He quotes this story again and again. And he says that wherever he quotes it he enquires
           of people, "Now what to do ~" And he says that only once did a woman stand up and answer the
           right thing. But she said at the same time, "My husband thinks that I'm illogical."
               What happened? What did the girl do? She didn't expose him; she didn't argue about the fact that
           he had taken two black pebbles. She withdrew one pebble out of the bag, fumbled, dropped the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pebble on the path -- it was lost. There were many pebbles and it could not be recognized. Profusely,
           she wanted to be excused, forgiven. And then she suggested a solution: "Look at the other pebble
           that is left inside. If it is black, then the one that I withdrew must have been white. If it is white, then
           the other was black." And the old money-lender could not do anything. The failure was absolute.
                This is logic by the side. It is not on the path; it is illogical, it is lateral. You don't go directly,
           you zig-zag.
                If you want to understand Jesus, you will have to go a little zig-zag. He is a paradox -- that is the
           meaning of Christ. In him the opposites meet. That's why he goes on calling himself son of man, and
           at the same time son of God. Anybody who thinks logically will say that you can say only one thing,
           not two together. Either you are son of man -- then finish, and don't say you are son of God. Or you
           are son of God, and don't say you are son of man. But he says both, he means both, and he is both.
                In fact, everybody is both. But you have not looked at yourself, and your mind is caught up in
           logical patterns. So whatsoever is illogical within you, whatsoever is wild within you, you don't look
           at it; you simply deny it, you suppress it. That's how the unconscious mind is created.
                You have only one mind.Jesus has one mind. I have one mind, but your mind you have divided
           in two. You have created a boundary. A small space of the mind you call 'mind' and the remainder
           you have denied. That denied part has become the unconscious, and it takes revenge. It goes on
           fighting with you. You are split.
                All humanity is schizophrenic. Only sometimes is there a man who is not schizophrenic, who is
           integrated and one. Jesus is one. That is the meaning *of'Christ'. In him, the infinite and the finite
           meet.

               THIS SIMPLE MAN SIMON, ALSO CALLED PETER,... ANSWERED AND SAID, THOU ART THE
               CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.


               What does this Peter mean when he says, "Son of the living God"? Is there a God who is dead?
           Yes! Not only is there a God, there are a thousand and one gods that are dead. The whole past is
           dead. If you cling to the past, you cling to dead gods. The living God is always here now, because
           God has only one time, and that is present. He has no past, no future. People believe in past gods,
           and people also believe in future gods. Jews who crucified Jesus believed in past incarnations --
           Moses, Abraham, Ezekiel, all the prophets; and they also believed in a messiah who was to come in
           the future. And Jesus was there. The future had already come and the past was already fulfilled in
           him. The past and future were meeting in him, the paradox, the Christ, but they wouldn't see. They
           are still waiting for a future messiah to come.
               Remember, God is never in the past. Past is already dead, and God cannot be dead, so all past
           gods are dead gods. That means they are not there, they are only in your memory. And there is no
           future for God. For God, only present exists. From that altitude, from that peak, there is no future --
           there is only present.
               Have you heard about the scientific discovery of the fact that if a watch moves as fast as light, it
           stops? It is a beautiful phenomenon: time stops itself And all scriptures say that God is light. At that
           speed, time stops. There is no past, no future, only the present. The hands of the clock don't move.
           They remain, they always remain, at the same point.
               There is no future God; there is no past God; there is only God as life herenow.
               That is the meaning of "the Son of the living God". Christians have been misinterpreting it. They
           say, "The god of the Hindus is dead, the god of the jews is dead, the god of the Mohammedans is
           dead, only the Christian god is alive." They have been misinterpreting the whole thing. No, the
           Christian god is also dead. The past is dead. Whatsoever become past is dead, and whatsoever is part
           of the future is not yet born. God is. Is-ness is God, present presence, absolute presence herenow.

               AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, BLESSED ART THOU, SIMON BARJONA: FOR
               FLESH AND BLOOD HATH NOT REVEALED IT UNTO THEE, BUT MY FATHER WHICH IS IN
               HEAVEN.


               Jesus said, "Blessed art thou, Simon. You are blessed. Because: FOR FLESH AND BLOOD
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           HATH NOT REVEALED IT UNTO THEE. Because whatsoever you have seen cannot be seen by
           the eyes of flesh. Whatsoever you have seen cannot be seen by YOU. It is possible only when God
           reveals it to you; it is possible only when the infinite descends in you, when the grace happens."
               You cannot realize God because you are the barrier. You are not there, God realizes himself in
           you.

               BLESSED ART THOU, SIMON BARJONA: FOR FLESH AND BLOOD HATH NOT REVEALED IT
               UNTO THEE, BUT MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN.


               Once Alexander asked Diogenes, "What do you think about God?"
               Diogenes said, "It does not matter what I think about God. The only thing that matters is what
           God thinks about me."
               Absolutely true: it does not matter what you think about God. How can it matter? The only thing
           that matters is what God thinks about you. Your philosophy, your thinking, your doctrines, your
           creeds, are useless, all rubbish, rot.
               Be silent. You need not think about God. When thinking disappears, God starts thinking about
           you, caring about you, fulfilling you. He comes. He becomes a guest.

               AND I SAY ALSO UNTO THEE, THAT THOU ART PETER, AND UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD
               MY CHURCH; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.


               ... the man of little faith, but at least of faith. Jesus says, "I will build my church upon your rock,
           and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
               Jesus gathered very simple people around him. He was a great master who could see deeply into
           the possibilities and potentialities.
               It is said of Michaelangelo that once he came across a great marble rock which was discarded by
           the builders. He asked the builders, "Why have you discarded this rock?"
           They said, "It is useless."
               Michaelangelo laughed and said, "Who told you it is useless? I can already see an angel waiting
           to be released in this rock, an angel imprisoned, an imprisoned splendour. Send it to my studio. The
           angel needs a little help. It is not useless."
               No man is useless. Unless you have decided to remain useless, no man is useless. If you allow, as
           the marble ALLOWS the artist, the sculptor, to transform it so that the imprisoned splendour can be
           released, faith -- even a little, that will do -- is needed. A little trust is needed, and Christ can release
           in Simon something which can become the rock for his church, for his family, for his community, for
           those people who are going to love him, and follow him.

               AND I WILL GIVE UNTO THEE THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: AND WHATSOEVER
               THOU SHALT BIND ON EARTH SHALL BE BOUND IN HEAVEN: AND WHATSOEVER THOU
               SHALT LOOSE ON EARTH SHALL BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN.
               THEN CHARGED HE HIS DISCIPLES THAT THEY SHOULD TELL NO MAN THAT HE WAS JESUS
               THE CHRIST.


               ... THE KEY OF HEAVEN. He says, "I will give you the keys of heaven, and whosoever is
           released on earth by those keys, will remain released in heaven; whosoever is freed on the earth will
           be free in heaven also, because whatsoever happens on the earth is going to happen in heaven also.
           Wherever you are right now, you will be there."
               And Jesus says, "I will give you keys..." What keys? There is only one key in fact, and the key is:
           how to commit ego suicide, how to commit self-murder, how to become a no-self, how to be, and at
           the same time be without the'I'. That is the only key and all other keys are just supportive; all other
           keys are just supports for the main and basic thing -- how to be egoless. And the door opens....
               I have heard a story that when Jesus died and reached heaven, the angel Gabriel met him at the
           gate and asked, "What plans do you have, so that the work you have started can be continued on
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           earth?"
               Jesus said, "I have left twelve men and a few women who are going to spread my message till it
           reaches to every heart, to every mind, on the earth."
               The angel said, "And if they fail you, have you made other plans also?"
               Jesus smiled and said, "I am counting on them. I have no other plan."
               Counting on love, counting on these simple villagers -- counting on them: there is no other plan,
           there cannot be.
               Meditation is the key. Egolessness is the key, and love is the only plan to spread it all over the
           earth.
               I am also counting on you, on your love, on your trust, on your courage. I am also giving you the
           key. Don't use it only for yourself -- use it first for yourself, then spread the message; because
           everybody is imprisoned in a rock and everybody needs to be released.

               THEN CHARGED HE HIS DISCIPLES THAT THEY SHOULD TELL NO MAN THAT HE WAS JESUS
               THE CHRIST.


               Why? Because these things are revealed in trust and cannot be told to others. These things are
           revealed in love.
               You call me Osho. That is because of your love. It can be revealed to you. When you talk to
           others, don't tell it to them. That will offend them and it will be pointless. They will start arguing
           about it.
               You love me. Through your love you have seen something which they cannot see, unless they
           also love.
               Jesus said, "Don't tell them. You have realized the truth. You have seen the vertical in me, but
           don't go on telling it to others. They will not understand. They will misunderstand. They will be
           offended: because that which is known through love can only be understood through love."




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                  Chapter #4
                            Chapter title: Surrender is the door to bliss, to beauty,
           14 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512140
              ShortTitle: FOLL304
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




               HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PARTICULAR PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT IN
               RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER TRADITIONAL PATHS SUCH AS THE VARIOUS KINDS OF YOGA,
               SUFISM, BUDDHISM, ZEN, CHRISTIANITY, ETCETERA?


               I HAVE NO particular path. I don't belong to any path whatsoever, and therefore all paths belong
           to me. Each path is perfect in itself, but each path can help only a very minor part of humanity. Each
           path exists for a particular type. It is complete in itself. Nothing is to be added to it -- nothing is to be
           deducted from it. As it is, it is perfect. But it can help only a particular type. Humanity is vast; one
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           path cannot carry the whole of humanity. All paths are needed. In fact, as the human mind changes,
           more new paths have to be evolved. With the mind changing, many old paths have become by and
           by useless, or can be used only by a very few individuals.
               I use all paths. Whenever I see a seeker, I start looking into him -- what type he is and what type
           of path will be helpful to him. I may not use the name of the path, because those names have become
           too much loaded. If a Hindu comes to me and I say to him, "Sufism is your path," he will not be able
           to understand; he will be immediately closed to it. A Hindu cannot conceive himself on the path of
           Mohammedans -- that's impossible for him.
               I will not talk about Sufism, but whatsoever I will give him will be Sufism. To me the path is not
           important, but the seeker. Paths exist for you, not vice versa. You don't exist for any path or any
           doctrine. All doctrines, all paths, all dogmas, exist for you. If they are helpful, good; if they are not
           helpful, they have to be thrown on to the rubbish heap.
               Man is important, because man carries the potentiality of being God. Paths are just means. Use
           them, but don't be used by them. Remain masters, and always remember that you are the end and
           nothing else is more important than you, than your innermost core. If you remember this, you can
           use many paths and you can be enriched by many ways.
               And this is my understanding, that the more you travel, the more you walk on many paths, the
           more open you become, the more enriched you are. The whole past of humanity belongs to you. If
           you are a Mohammedan, don't say that only Mohammed belongs to you -- Buddha is also yours,
           Christ also. The whole past of humanity is your heritage. Why be poor? Why say, "I am a Hindu and
           only Krishna belongs to me and Christ is a stranger. I won't allow him in my house; only Krishna is
           allowed"? If only Krishna is allowed, then you will have only one door to your house, only one room
           to your house -- then you cannot be multi-dimensional. But if Christ also comes, and Mohammed is
           also welcomed, then you will have an enrichment; then you have different flowers in your garden;
           then you will have many types of diamonds in your treasury.
               Don't confine yourself Remain open. Welcome everything that has happened on the earth, and
           that all is yours. Claim it, and use whatsoever you can use for your own growth. Don't stick and don't
           cling, otherwise you will be frozen. My whole effort here is to melt you, so that you can start
           flowing in many currents.
               You are frozen. Somebody is a frozen Christian. Somebody is a frozen Hindu. Somebody is a
           frozen Jain. Somebody is a frozen Buddhist -- all dead. Melt! Become a little warmer! You have
           become so cold and so closed. Become warm. Allow the sun's rays to work on you.
               And don't protect yourself Become vulnerable. Melt in a thousand and one currents -- unafraid
           and fearless, start flowing. God comes through a thousand and one ways. And if he comes through a
           thousand and one ways, let him come that way -- let yourself be introduced to God through as many
           possibilities as possible. Why cling to one form? Why cling to one name? All names are his and all
           forms are his. And the more you become acquainted that all forms are his, the more possibility there
           is that you will become aware that he is formless. Otherwise, how can all forms be his? Only the
           formless can manifest itself in millions of forms. Only the pathless can be travelled through so many
           paths, and only the gateless can be achieved through so many gates.
               Don't be poor. Become rich, and claim the whole heritage of man! That's why I go on talking of
           Christ, Mahavir, Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu. This is nothing but to show-you
           that the whole of humanity is yours. You are vast! You are not frozen dead particles -- you are alive
           beings, and life is infinite.
               I have no particular path. All paths are mine. I am not concerned with paths -- I am concerned
           with you. I look into you because you are important; you are the goal, and nothing else matters. Then
           I decide what will be suitable for you. Sometimes one path is suitable for you, sometimes two,
           sometimes three, sometimes many. It depends how you have grown in your past lives. You may once
           have been a Mohammedan and you worked a little on that path; you progressed a little on that way.
           Then you became a Christian, and you worked on that path a little. Then you became a Buddhist.
           You have lived so many lives. You have forgotten them -- I cannot forget them. You can be forgiven
           if you forget. I cannot be forgiven if I forget.
               When I look into you, I don't look only into your present because in your present all your past is
           involved: it is there in its totality, layer upon layer; you are an infinite territory... when I look into
           you, I look at how many ways you have been working upon yourself, a little on this path, a little on
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that. Then both of the paths will be helpful to you; then in you already a synthesis has happened.
               I'm not for synthesis, for any artificial combination -- I'm not in favour of it. I'm not in favour of
           synthesizing Christianity with Hinduism, but what can I do? I am helpless; it has happened in you.
           You have been once a Mohammedan, then a Hindu, then a Christian. What can I do? It is in your
           blood, in your consciousness; the synthesis has already happened. I'm not trying to synthesize, but
           for you a synthetic path in which all the three are involved, will be helpful. It will give you a sudden
           surge of energy -- it will release something within you. You will start flowering in many directions
           immediately, and many flowers are to come....
               When I see that a man has been consistently following one path, then there is no need for
           synthesis; then he has to follow that path. If one has been for at least seven lives a Buddhist, then
           there is no need -- then it will be confusing for him to give him something else. He has already
           worked hard on a particular path; now he has to be helped on the same path.
               So when YOU come to me, if you are a Buddhist and you have been a Buddhist in your past
           lives, I am here to make you a greater Buddhist. If you come to me and you have been a Christian in
           your past lives, I am here to make you a greater Christian. I may not tell you that I am helping you to
           be a Christian, but don't be deceived by the appearances. I may not be saying that I am helping you
           to be a Buddhist, but I am doing that. One day when the light will dawn on you, then you will
           suddenly realize that I was not a detractor. I have not taken you on another path which you were not
           on -- I have simply helped you on the same path, because all paths are mine. No particular path is
           mine. In that way I am richer than anybody else who has ever existed in the world. They had
           particular paths. The same Christ cannot say to you what I am saying. And the same Mahavir cannot
           say to you what I am saying. They had particular paths -- I have none. I claim the whole of
           humanity.


               WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING A FATALIST AND JUST FLOATING, FEELING
               EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL?


               A vast difference, a lot of difference. And the difference is not of quantity, the difference is of
           quality. The fatalist is one who has not understood life, but who has felt failure. A fatalist is one who
           feels helpless, frustrated. In fatalism he seeks consolation. He says, "It was going to be so." He's
           trying so avoid that he has failed. It was going to be so, so what can he do? He is throwing the
           responsibility on fate, on God, on XYZ. "I'm not responsible, what can I do? It was written in my
           fate. It was predetermined, predestined." He is saying, "I'm not responsible." He has failed. In deep
           frustration he is trying to find some refuge, some shelter. Fatalism is a consolation.
               And the other thing,'just floating, feeling everything is beautiful', is not a consolation -- it is an
           understanding. It is not fatalism; it is not failure; it is not helplessness. It is simply a deep insight into
           reality, as things are. It is to understand that you are a very small part of the cosmic whole. And you
           are not separate. You are one with the continent -- you are not an island.
               The understanding that the ego is false, the understanding that the separation is false, the
           understanding that you don't have a separate destiny than the whole, that a drop in the ocean need
           not worry about its own destiny -- the ocean has to worry about it -- is not helplessness. In fact it
           releases tremendous power. Once you are unburdened by yourself, once you are no more worried
           about yourself, you become a tremendous energy. Then the energy is no more struggling; now it
           floats. Now you are not fighting with the whole, now you are with the whole, marching with the
           whole. Then you are not trying to prove anything against the whole, because that is simply foolish.
               It is as if my own hand starts fighting with me and starts trying to have its own destiny, separate
           from me. I am going to the south, and my head starts going to the north. It is so foolish, it is
           impossible -- foolish, and impossible -- and frustration is bound to be there. Sooner or later the hand
           will see that the hand wanted to go to the north, but it is going to the south. Deep in frustration, the
           hand will say, "It is fate. I am helpless."
               In fact, the feeling of helplessness arises because of the struggle. When you understand that you
           are part of the whole, that you are not separate at all, that in fact the whole has been trying to attain
           some heights through you; you are only a passage, a vehicle -- suddenly all frustration disappears.
           When you don't have a goal of your own, how can you be frustrated?. When you don't have to prove
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything against anything; when you don't have to struggle, there is no need for fatalism; you need
           not have any consolation. You simply dance with the whole; you flow with the whole. You know
           you are the whole.
                That is the meaning when the Upanishads say: AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am God. That is the
           meaning when Jesus says, "I and my God are one" -- not fatalism, not settling in helplessness; rather,
           knowing the fact that we are one with the whole. Then your atomic tinyness disappears. You become
           cosmic.
                ... JUST FLOATING,FEELING EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL. Then it happens; then you
           just float; there is nothing else to do. The same energy that was trying to fight surrenders. Then you
           are not pushing the river: you simply float on the river, and the river takes you. The river is already
           going to the ocean. You are unnecessarily worried. You can simply Leave that responsibility to the
           river. Whether you leave it or not, it is already going.
                Don't fight, because in fight there is going to be frustration -- in fight is the seed of frustration,
           and in frustration you will seek some way to console yourself. Then fatalism is born.
                If you don't fight then everything is just beautiful. Why? Because then you don't have any idea of
           your own to compare it with. Everything is beautiful for how could it be otherwise? You don't have
           any conflict; hence everything is beautiful. If the river turns to the right, you turn to the right --
           beautiful. If the river turns to the left -- perfectly beautiful, you turn to the left. If you have some idea
           and some goal, if you say, "I am a leftist," then there is going to be trouble. When the river starts
           turning towards the right, you will say, "Now this is going too far; now I cannot surrender -- I am a
           leftist." Then you will start fighting against the river, and then the river will not be beautiful because
           your notion, your idea, your ideal, has come in.
                Whenever ideology comes in, things become ugly. All idealists live in hells. Ideology creates
           hells. If you don't have any ideology you have nothing to compare: you don't have any criterion.
           Then whatsoever is happening, is happening -- you have nothing to compare it with. Then wherever
           the river is going, that is the only way to go. Then one simply allows existence to have its own way.
           One never comes in the way; a deep let-go.
                Then everything is beautiful. And then you realize that it has never been otherwise. Everything
           was beautiful, always. Look at the animals; look at the birds; look at the clouds; look at the trees.
           Ask the trees; ask the stones. Everything is beautiful. The trees must be very much surprised that you
           look so sad. The trees must be puzzled that man looks so burdened, when everything is so light and
           so floating. The birds must be laughing at you that you go on carrying such a load -- the load seems
           to be nowhere except in your mind.
                So much burdened, you miss life. So much burdened, you miss love. So much burdened, you
           miss celebration. So much burdened, you miss laughter. You cannot sing; you cannot dance; you
           cannot laugh. And because of this, you become desperate and you start fighting more. You think you
           are not fighting as much as you should. That's why you are not so happy.
                Once a man came to me, a very rich man, but very reluctant to accept the fact that he was not
           happy. People don't accept that they are not happy. They are unhappy, but they won't accept it
           because that is very ego shattering. They, and unhappy? Impossible.
                I looked into that rich man. I see thousands of unhappy men, but he was rare -- I have not found
           another so unhappy. And he had everything. And he tried to smile. The smile was absolutely false,
           painted, just on the lips, not coming from anywhere; not coming from the inner being; just mentally
           created, a facade, a trick of the mind. I immediately looked at the man and felt that he was so
           unhappy, but also unable to accept being unhappy. So I said to the man, "You look so happy. What
           are the reasons for your happiness?"
                He looked surprised. He was never expecting that. He said, "What do you say -- I, and happy?"
           "Yes, I have never seen such a happy man. And that's why I would like -- enlighten me a little --
           what are the causes of your happiness?"
                The man started enumerating, "I have so much money, a beautiful wife, children, palaces, cars,
           swimming pools, this and that." But while he was enumerating, deep down, there was only hell and
           darkness. And he knew it, and he could not believe that he had deceived me. But still he was trying.
                Then I asked one question more: "You say that because of these things you are happy; just one
           question more. You say that you are happy. I would like to know, how much happiness has your
           happiness given you? How much happiness has your happiness really given you?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Then he caught the point. He started crying and he said, "I am not happy. And you have caught
           me. I go on deceiving myself that I am happy. I go on deceiving others. I am desperate to prove that I
           am happy."
                Remember, only an unhappy man tries to prove that he is happy; only a sad man tries to prove
           that he is not sad; only a dead man tries to prove that he is alive; only a coward tries to prove that he
           is brave. Only a man who knows his inferiority tries to prove that he is superior. You go on trying to
           prove the opposite of what you are, and the possibilities are ninety-nine out of a hundred that you are
           just the opposite. When you smile, I can see hidden tears. When you try to dance, I can see the
           rocklike heart within that cannot move. Dancing is impossible.
                Why is man in such a plight? The whole world laughs. The trees laugh at you. You may not hear;
           you may be escaping; you may have become deaf. The birds laugh; the animals laugh. Something
           has gone wrong with man. What has gone wrong with him? Only one thing: the whole of nature is
           flowing and man is fighting. In nature the ego does not exist. Trees are there, but without any egos --
           only man is with the ego. And that ego is the whole hell.
                That ego needs continuous fight, because it feeds on fight. The more you fight, the stronger your
           ego becomes. It is a fighter. That's why surrender is so difficult. But unless you surrender you will
           remain in misery. Surrender is the door to bliss, to beauty, to truth, to love, to life, to God. Surrender
           is the door. And when I say 'surrender', I don't mean that surrender has to be towards someone. That
           is just an excuse; because you cannot surrender unless you have someone to surrender to -- that's
           why someone is needed. Otherwise there is no need; you can simply surrender, and the door is open.
                That's what Buddha says. He said,''Simply surrender." But that looks very difficult for the mind.
           You need some excuse. Jesus says, "Surrender to God." If you cannot just surrender, then surrender
           to God. Krishna says, "If you cannot surrender, then surrender to me. Let me be the excuse." But
           when you surrender, then you know that Krishna tricked you. When you surrender you will not find
           Krishna there: you will find the whole cosmos and you floating in it, part of it. Then you are no more
           separate -- not going on your way. Then everything is beautiful, blissful. Without conflict ugliness
           disappears; without conflict sadness disappears; without conflict sorrow disappears. Then
           whatsoever is, is beautiful.
                And it is so. But it is not fatalism. It is not an 'ism' at all. It has nothing to do with a faith or
           predetermination or any nonsense. It has simply something to do with the insight that I belong to the
           whole and the whole belongs to me; that I am in my home, I am not a stranger. And there is no need
           to fight.
                With whom are you fighting? All fight is foolish, is stupid. Surrender is wisdom. Fight is stupid.
           Float; flow with the flow; move with the whole. Don't have private dreams and don't have private
           goals. Don't have a private ideology. Then this moment you live; and when the next moment comes,
           you live in it. If life is there, you live life; if death comes, you live death. Whatsoever happens, you
           are grateful.
                I have heard about a Sufi mystic who used to pray and every day thank God. His disciples were
           worried. Many times they were very much puzzled, because sometimes it was okay to thank God
           because things were going well. But the man was absolutely unconcerned about things -- sometimes
           when things were going very badly, then too he would give thanks.
                One day it was too much: the disciples for three days were hungry and starving, and they were
           not given refuge in any town. They were thrown out. The people were very orthodox, and the master
           was a revolutionary, a very unorthodox, non-traditional man, unconventional, nonconformist; so no
           village would allow them even to have shelter in the night. And they were without food. On the
           fourth day, in the morning, when the master started praying, the disciples said, "Now it is going too
           far -- he said to God,'How wonderful you are! You always give me whatsoever I need.' "
                Then one disciple said, "Wait, one minute. Now it is becoming absurd. What are you saying.?
           Three days we have been hungry. We are dying; no shelter in any town, and you are thanking God
           that whatsoever you need he always gives!"
                And the mystic started laughing, and he said, "Yes, for these three days we needed starvation; for
           these three days we needed to be rejected. He always gives whatsoever we need. For these three days
           we needed to be poor, absolutely poor. Whatsoever we need he always gives, and I am thankful."
           And he started praying and thanking God and being grateful.
                If you are not fighting, then an understanding arises that everything is beautiful and whatsoever
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is needed is happening, whatsoever is needed for your growth. Sometimes poverty is needed;
           sometimes starvation is needed; sometimes illness is needed. In fact, I have not come across
           anything which is not a need sometimes to someone. If you understand, you accept. If you accept,
           you grow. If you reject, your whole energy becomes a wastage in fighting. The same situation could
           have been a growth -- now it is simply a wastage, a leakage.
               Don't be a fatalist, because in the first place don't fight. If you fight and get frustrated, then
           fatalism enters in. In the first place, don't fight.
               One man came to me and he was in much trouble because he got married and he found a woman,
           as almost all people find, a very quarrelsome woman, continuously fighting and creating hell for
           him. He came to me and said, "Have compassion on me." And he said, "I would like to ask one
           question. What would you have done in my place?"
               I told him, "In the first place I would not have been in your place! Why should I be?"
               A man who is floating, accepting, understanding, has no need of fatalism. In the first place he is
           not fighting, so there is no need to seek some consolation.
               Fatalism is the end of a wrong life, and the feeling of let-go is the beginning of a right life. They
           are vastly different, tremendously different, qualitatively different. Remember the difference,
           because it happens that you would also like to say good things about your failures. When you fail,
           you start saying, "Now I am in a let-go." Don't try to deceive yourself, because you are deceiving
           only yourself; the existence is not deceived. If you have failed, try to understand why you have
           failed. In the first place you started fighting, that's why.
               If you understand that, then even your successes will look like failures. They are. Sooner or later
           each success becomes a failure. It is only a question of time. What you call success is failure on the
           way.
               So if every man is given enough time to fight then success and failure will all disappear and
           everybody will become a fatalist. That's why in old conditions, ancient conditions, fatalism exists --
           not in new countries. For example, in America fatalism does not exist. It is a child country, a baby
           country, just three hundred years of history; it is nothing. In India, fatalism exists:thousands and
           thousands of years of history, so old and so ancient that it has known all success, all failure; it has
           known all types of frustration. Now, finding no other way, it seeks consolation in fatalism.
               As a country grows old, it becomes fatalist. As a man grows old, he becomes a fatalist. Young
           people are not fatalists: they believe in themselves. Old people become fatalists, because by that time
           they have come to know at least one thing, that they have failed. Then they find consolation.
               The whole basis is wrong. In the first place don't fight, then there will be no need to fail; there
           will be no need to succeed; there will be no need to fight and there will be no need to console
           yourself Each moment is such a blessing if you don't fight.


              AS AN ARTIST, I TEND TO CLAIM MY PERCEPTIONS, DESIRING RECOGNITION FOR SHARING
              MY VISIONS WITH OTHERS. MY EGO IS STRONG. HOW CAN THE WESTERN ARTIST BE FREE
              OF EGO AND TRANSCEND THE DICHOTOMY OF THE AESTHETIC AND THE SPIRITUAL?


               First, there is no dichotomy between the aesthetic and the spiritual. The aesthetic is spiritual in
           the seed form; there is no dichotomy. The same sensitivity grows into spirituality. If you cannot see
           beauty, you will be absolutely incapable of seeing God. If you can see beauty, then you are
           approaching near God; the temple is coming closer. You may not be fully aware, but you are on the
           way. You have heard the first note of that music. Maybe you cannot yet recognize it; it is vague, but
           you have seen the first glimpse of the sun. Maybe it is too much clouded.
               Beauty is the first glimpse of the divine. Wherever you see beauty, remember you are on holy
           ground. Wherever, I say: in a human face, in a child's eyes, in a lotus flower, or in the wings of a bird
           in flight, in the rainbow, or in a silent rock. Wherever you see beauty, remember, you are on holy
           ground -- God is close. Beauty is the first glimpse of the divine; so there is no dichotomy between
           beauty and truth. The aesthetic and the spiritual are not two things, two points on the same path, two
           milestones on the same pilgrimage.
               But the so-called religions have created a dichotomy. They have created a dichotomy and they
           have poisoned the whole mind of humanity. The so-called religions are afraid of beauty because
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somehow, in beauty they feel sex hidden. That becomes the trouble. Wherever they feel beauty they
           feel the erotic, and they have been thinking that the erotic is against the divine. It is not. The erotic is
           the first glimpse of the divine. It is not the last; that has to be remembered. But it is the first arising
           of the same energy. The energy is the same; it is the first flood; it is the first tremor, but the energy is
           the same. If the energy goes higher and higher and higher, then it becomes a great wave of bliss; then
           it reaches to the heavens.
                Because religions became afraid of sex, because they became afraid of the body, they became
           afraid of beauty: because beauty is form. God is formless. Beauty is form, but the form is of the
           formless. Because religions became afraid of the world, they started thinking of God as against the
           world -- this is some absurdity that entered into all religions. They all say that God created the world,
           and at the same time they say that you cannot attain to God if you don't renounce the world. This is
           patent foolishness, because if the world is God's creation, then why should it be a basic requirement
           to renounce it? Rather, one would think that the basic requirement should be that one should rejoice
           in it. It is God's creation. If you love the painter, you love his paintings also. In fact, you come to
           know the painter only through his paintings; there is no other way. If you love the poet, you love his
           poetry also. How do you know that he is a poet? It is only through his poetry. No poet will say that
           you can love him only if you renounce his poetry.
                If God is the creator, then the world has to be loved, loved totally, loved deeply. You have to get
           involved in it: rejoice in it, delight in it. Only through your delight will you by and by have glimpses
           of the creator in the creation. If you look at the painting of a great painter, you will have glimpses of
           the master. It cannot be otherwise, because the master has come into those colours; his touch is there,
           the master touch. If you love the poetry and you penetrate into it, you will find the heart of the poet
           beating there. And unless you have penetrated that depth, you have not understood, you cannot
           understand it. Unless the poetry becomes the heart of the poet, it is not understood.
                The world has to be rejoiced. The body is beautiful -- delight in it. It is a gift of God. Don't try to
           renounce it, because renouncing it means you reject the master.
                Gurdjieff used to say that all religions are against God, and he is perfectly right. The so-called
           religions are all against God. They talk about God, but they are against God. They show it through
           their actions. They say, "Renounce the world, renounce the body."
                'Renounce' should be a dirty word. Rejoice! Replace 'renounce' by 'rejoice' and a totally different
           conception of religion arises. Then aesthetics, then beauty, then the sensitivity to beauty is not
           against spirituality. Then it becomes the beginning.
                And one has to deepen it. Be committed to beauty, and through it you will come to know what
           religions call'God'; you will come to know divinity, divineness.
                So this is the first thing, that there is no dichotomy between aesthetics and spirituality, between
           poetry and religion, between body and spirit, between the world and God. There is no dichotomy.
           The world is God become visible. Poetry is the poet expressed. Painting is the painter in form. The
           formless has descended into the form, but there is no dichotomy, there is no duality and there is no
           antagonism.
                Second thing: AS AN ARTIST I TEND TO CLAIM MY PERCEPTIONS DESIRING
           RECOGNITION FOR SHARING MY VISIONS WITH OTHERS. Sharing is beautiful, but seeking
           recognition is not so beautiful. In fact, both cannot exist together -- they are antagonistic. If you
           want, if you are desiring recognition, then you don't want to share really. You share as a means to be
           recognized. Then your painting or your poetry or your dance is just a means to fulfil the ego. That
           will make you separate from the whole. The ego is the separation. Then your whole life will become
           ugly, and how, out of an ugly life, can beauty be born? Impossible.
                If you are beautiful deep within you, only then can the beauty flow from you. Only out of a
           beautiful life, a beautiful painting is born. There is no other way. YOU are flowing into your
           painting, into your work of art, into your sculpture, into your music, into your poetry. It is coming
           from you. It brings you; it is your consciousness flowing. If it is only to gain recognition, then you
           are ugly. The ego is ugly because it is a separation from the whole, because it is false. You are not
           separate.
                The untruth cannot be beautiful, remember. Truth is beauty. The untrue, the lie, cannot be
           beautiful. It is ugly -- they are synonymous. The ego is the moss untrue thing in the world. It only
           seems to exist, it doesn't exist, it is a false phenomenon. And if you are seeking recognition, then you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are seeking the ego and you are trying to fulfil a false thing. Out of this ugliness, beauty cannot flow
           -- out of ugliness, only ugliness is possible.
                And if you are trying to fulfil the ego you are not interested in sharing, because sharing is an act
           of love. Not that there will not be recognition if you share -- but that is not the point. In fact if you
           share, much recognition will happen, but you are not seeking it; you were not after it. If it happens it
           is okay; if it doesn't happen it is the same. You want to share. Your happiness is in sharing, not in the
           after-effects of it; not in the result, not in the end, but in the act itself.
                For example, you love a man or a woman. While you love, you hold hands or you embrace each
           other. The very act in itself is the end, not that you are trying to prove that you are a man; not that the
           woman later on says to you that you are a great lover. If you love a woman just to hear from her that
           you are a great lover, you have not loved her at all. But if you love a woman, who bothers what she
           says? What she feels in the moment of sharing is the thing, is the real thing; it is enough unto itself.
                If a woman loves a man and she loves only as a means, so that the man can say later on, "How
           beautiful you are," she is seeking recognition for her beauty. That is an ego effort, an ego trip, but
           there is no love in it. And she cannot be beautiful.
                If she loves and shares her being, in that sharing she is beautiful. There is no need even to say,
           "You are beautiful." If someone says it, okay; if somebody doesn't say it, that doesn't mean that it has
           not been said, because there are deeper ways to say things. Sometimes to remain silent is the only
           way to speak.
                I have heard, that in one museum in Europe, there is a piano on which Wagner used to play. A
           woman came there to see it, and she was just a learner, just knowing only the ABC of it. She
           immediately started playing on the piano. The guide was shocked, but he was a very polite man, so
           he remained silent. After a few strokes, the woman said that many great musicians must have come
           to the museum to see this piano of Wagner, and they all must have played on it.
                The guide said, "Madam, you are the first. Great musicians come here. They stand absolutely
           silent. And I have heard them say,'We are not worthy even to touch it'. They remain in silence; they
           don't utter a single word. The moment they see this, the master's piano, it is as if they become dumb.
           They don't touch it. They say,'We are not worthy of it.' In their deep silence, they say something.
                When you love a woman, in deep silence much is said. When somebody comes to see a painting,
           if he starts chattering about it, that simply shows he has been not in deep rapport with it; otherwise
           the chattering would stop. If he starts saying something about it, that shows that he is trying to show
           his knowledge about paintings. Otherwise, before a great painting one becomes silent; one has
           nothing to say. Language is lost; one becomes dumb. The mind stops.
                When you love a person, you share; you don't ask for recognition. If you ask recognition, you
           don't share, you don't want to share. Your sharing is just an empty gesture, just a means to
           recognition. It is not love; it is prostitution. A great artist does not bother about recognition. He loves
           his art, his work. He loves to share it, but he's not asking for anything; it is unconditional sharing:
           and then it has tremendous beauty. That is the difference between great art and mediocre art, and that
           is the difference between Eastern art and Western art.
                Go to the Eastern temples. Go to Khajuraho or to Ellora, Ajanta -- tremendously beautiful works,
           but you don't even know who has made them; they have not even signed them. What of recognition?
           Nobody knows; they are anonymous. Nobody knows who has written the Upanishads -- anonymous.
           But they shared; they are still sharing and they will go on sharing to the very end of time. Whenever
           you go to Khajurao, your mind will stop. Such tremendous beauty has never been revealed anywhere
           in the world. Stones have never been so expressive as in Khajurao, sermons in stones. Even real
           women have never been so beautiful as the Khajurao sculpture. And to bring it into stone... such
           subtle, euphoric feelings, like two lovers making love! -- what happens to their faces, what type of
           energy surrounds them, what ecstasy travels between them-in stone, the hardest medium! But they
           have depicted even the ecstasy. When two lovers make love, what type of energy they have brought
           to those stones; it surrounds them still.
                Looking at those faces, you can see that they are not only erotic. The erotic is just the beginning,
           the first rung of the ladder. If you have insight you will see the ladder going higher and higher, and
           then it disappears into the clouds. Somewhere in the clouds the ecstasy is there. But nobody knows
           who made those beautiful images. Anonymous -- but they shared. And one still feels grateful and
           will always feel grateful.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Eastern art is anonymous and hence its beauty -- it is as if of the other world. Western art,
           particularly the modern, not the classical, is too much egoistic. Even a Picasso is too much egoistic.
           He may be a great painter, a great master, but neurotic all the same; a great genius, but gone astray,
           neurotic. He's mad. His madness may be a method, that's another thing, but he is mad. And the whole
           madness is because of the ego. Whatsoever he has painted, great works, but the neurosis is there
                And if you look and meditate on Picasso's paintings long enough, you will feel restless, uneasy.
           Something of the neurosis will start happening in you also, something of the quality of nightmare.
           Don't keep Picasso's paintings in your bedrooms; otherwise you will have nightmares! Have a small
           Buddha, by some anonymous sculptor. That will surround your sleep; that will protect your sleep;
           that will give you a subtle awareness even while you are asleep.
                So sharing is one thing, and asking for recognition is totally another. Share; don't ask for
           recognition. I'm not saying that recognition will not come -- it will come profusely. Ask for
           recognition and it won't come so profusely. Even if it comes, it will limp. Because when YOU ask
           for recognition, the other becomes reluctant to give it. Because when YOU are seeking your ego, the
           other also wants to seek his own ego. Then you provoke criticism rather than recognition. And the
           one who recognizes your art is deep down recognizing, through his recognition, his own recognition.
           So you say that you are great lover of art-then the ego game. Then the beauty is lost; two lies are
           trying to prove themselves to be true.
                Share. Recognition will come; it always comes, like a shadow. Don't be bothered by it. Only
           small mediocre minds are bothered by it.
                And the third thing: you say, "My ego is strong." If it is really strong then you can surrender.
           Only weaklings cannot surrender. To surrender, you need tremendous energy of will. Only a very
           mature ego can surrender;just as a ripe fruit falls, not an unripe. An unripe fruit cannot fall; you have
           to force it. A ripe fruit falls of its own accord, so easily that the tree does not even become aware that
           it has fallen. It falls so naturally.
                If the ego is strong, then you can surrender. This is the only thing in favour of the Western mind
           -- that people are being taught to be egoistic. The whole Western psychology has been teaching them
           to have ripe, mature egos. That is a beautiful thing -- dangerous, if one remains clinging to the ego,
           but with tremendous possibilities. If one really becomes strong in the ego, then surrender is possible.
                The Western mind is more egoistic. Surrender seems difficult. The Eastern mind is more humble.
           Surrender seems easy. But these are appearances. The Eastern mind can surrender very easily, but
           the surrender is impotent, because you don't have anything to surrender. The ego which has to be
           surrendered, is not there. It is just like an impotent man taking a vow of celibacy, or a poor man
           renouncing the kingdom -- it is meaningless.
                For the Western mind surrender is difficult but meaningful.It will take a long time and a long
           struggle for the Western mind to surrender, but once the Western mind surrenders, then there is
           nothing like it. The Eastern mind has to be brought up; the ego has to be ripened and matured. Only
           at a certain point of maturity, where the ego feels too heavy, the surrender is possible.
                The Eastern mind is so humble. It goes on surrendering everywhere and anywhere; it goes on
           touching everybody's and anybody's feet. The whole thing has become useless; it has become just a
           mannerism, an etiquette. But when a Western mind bows down and touches somebody's feet, it has
           significance; otherwise he would not have done it. It is not just a mannerism; it has happened.
           Something deep has been touched and stirred.
                So if you say, "The ego is strong," then prove it! That is the only way. Surrender; that is the only
           way to prove it. Otherwise I will say it is still weak.

              I AM SO CONFUSED. I WANT TO PERFECT MYSELF, BUT HAVE LOST ALL IDEA WHAT EFFORT
              TO MAKE IN WHAT WAY. YOUR PRESENCE MAKES ME WANT TO LET GO, BUT MUCH ELSE
              URGES ME TOWARD A DESPERATE PROGRAMME OF SELF-RENEWAL. WHAT CAN I DO?

               Perfectionism is a neurosis. It is an illness. And the more you try to become perfect, the more
           frustrated you will become. The goal of perfection has led the whole of humanity towards madness;
           the earth has almost become a madhouse.
               I don't teach perfection. What do I teach? I teach wholeness, not perfection. Be whole; be total;
           but don't think about perfection.
               Be whole. Whatsoever you do, do it totally. What is the difference? When you do it totally you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not worried about the result. You did it totally. You are finished. More you could not do. You are
           not holding anything; you have put all your energy in it, you were whole in it. Now if you fail, you
           fail. If you succeed, you succeed. But whether you fail or you succeed, you are fulfilled all the same.
           A deep contentment arises because you have done whatsoever you could do.
                You can never be perfect. How can the part be perfect? You can never be perfect. Whatsoever
           you do, you can always imagine that it could have been better -- whatsoever you do, you can imagine
           that better could have been done.
                I have heard about a great painter. He was seventy years old, and one day he finished his painting
           and started crying and weeping. His disciples surrounded the master and said, "Master, why are you
           crying? What has happened?"
                The master said, "I cannot see any imperfection in this painting. It seems I am dead, finished. It
           seems I have lost my imagination; that's why I'm crying. This is the first time I cannot see any defect
           in my painting. I must have lost my imagination."
                Whatsoever you do, you can always imagine better. So a perfectionist is always in misery. He
           can never be satisfied, never; that is not for him.
                I want you to be whole. Whatsoever you do, you do totally and you are not concerned with the
           result. You are only concerned that you are not withholding anything. You love; you love totally.
           You meditate; you meditate totally. You dance; you dance totally. You just become the dance and
           forget the dancer completely. Whether the dance was perfect or not is not the question at all. And
           who is to decide? Only one thing you have to decide -- whether you were totally in it or not. If you
           were totally in it, I say it is perfect -- if you were not totally in it, I say it is imperfect. That is my
           meaning of perfection.
                It is not comparative. If you dance, you may not dance like Udaya Shanker. Comparatively your
           dance may be poorer than Udaya Shanker's. But there is a possibility you may be more total in it
           than Udaya Shanker himself in his dance. Then I say you are more perfect: because it is not a
           question of form; it is a question of your inner involvement. If the ego drops, then it is whole, then it
           is total.
                I have heard that there was a man in Socrates' time -- his name was Alcibiades. He was a
           perfectionist and of course, he was the most miserable man. Always worried, because everything is
           going wrong. He was very rich, he could purchase anything. But he wasn't happy because there was
           always something else to be purchased, something else to be brought to his treasury. He travelled all
           over the world, but whenever he would come back to Athens he was more miserable than before.
                He came to see Socrates and he asked Socrates, "Why am I so miserable? -- and I have travelled
           all over the world. I am the most travelled man in Athens, and one would think that travelling gives
           experience and maturity. But nothing like that has happened to me. I have become more and more
           miserable. And I go to the far-off countries and then come back, from India, from China, but I'm not
           gaining any experience. I am becoming more and more imperfect day by day, rather than becoming
           perfect. What is the trouble with me?"
                Socrates said, "Because you take yourself always with yourself. Wherever you go you take
           yourself with yourself; that is the trouble. This time you go alone. Leave yourself in Athens. Then
           there is a possibility of maturity."
                If you drop the ego, there is a possibility you may become whole. The moment you become
           whole, you become holy. Then you are healed; then all wounds disappear. Then you are perfect in
           your total aloneness. It is not comparative -- that you are more perfect than others. No. You are
           simply perfect; you are a unique piece; there is nobody else like you; you are only like yourself
                In your wholeness you are perfect, and a deep contentment comes. It becomes a climate around
           you.

           The last question, and very important:

              YOU ARE SO SWEET AND RARE THAT I FEEL LIKE KIDNAPPING YOU BEFORE I LEAVE
              POONA. WHAT DO YOU SAY?

              I surrender
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                               Chapter #5
                       Chapter title: No man has ever found God. Whenever man is
           15 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512150
              ShortTitle: FOLL305
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 82 mins




              MATTHEW 21
              12 AND JESUS WENT INTO THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND CAST OUT ALL THEM THAT SOLD AND
              BOUGHT IN THE TEMPLE, AND OVERTHREW THE TABLES OF THE MONEY-CHANGERS, AND
              THE SEATS OF THEM THAT SOLD DOVES,
              13 AND SAID UNTO THEM, IT IS WRITTEN, MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED THE HOUSE OF
              PRAYER; BUT YE HAVE MADE IT A DEN OF THIEVES.
              23 AND WHEN HE WAS COME INTO THE TEMPLE, THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE ELDERS OF
              THE PEOPLE CAME UNTO HIM AS HE WAS TEACHING, AND SAID, BY WHAT AUTHORITY
              DOEST THOU THESE THINGS? AND WHO GAVE THEE THIS AUTHORITY?
              24 AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM...
              25... A CERTAIN MAN HAD TWO SONS; AND HE CAME TO THE FIRST, AND SAID, SON, GO
              WORK TODAY IN MY VINEYARD.
              29 HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I WILL NOT: BUT AFTERWARD HE REPENTED, AND WENT.
              30 AND HE CAME TO THE SECOND, AND SAID LIKEWISE. AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I
              GO, SIR: AND WENT NOT.
              31 WHETHER OF THEM TWAIN DID THE WILL OF HIS FATHER. THEY SAY UNTO HIM, THE
              FIRST. JESUS SAITH UNTO THEM, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT THE PUBLICANS AND THE
              HARLOTS GO INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE YOU.
              32 AND WHEN THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE PHARISEES HAD HEARD HIS PARABLES, THEY
              PERCEIVED THAT HE SPAKE OF THEM.
              33 BUT WHEN THEY SOUGHT TO LAY HANDS ON HIM, THEY FEARED THE MULTITUDE,
              BECAUSE THEY TOOK HIM FOR A PROPHET.


               ALL REVOLUTIONS have failed. And when I'say all`, I mean all. The very concept of
           revolution proved absolutely futile, a mirage. Revolution means a rebellion organized. But you
           cannot organize a rebellion -- that's impossible -- because in the very organization, the rebellion dies.
           Organization is against rebellion; so all revolutions fail because they try to succeed. To be successful
           they have to be organized. The moment they are organized they become another establishment. They
           may be anti-establishment but still, they have their own establishment. They cannot be
           non-establishment -- that is impossible. Organize a revolution and you have killed it. An organized
           revolution is aborted already.
               Rebellion is unorganized, rebellion is individual. It comes out of the authenticity of a single
           being; it comes out of the authenticity of a single being's heart. Revolution is political, rebellion is
           religious. Revolution means a social phenomenon; rebellion is meditative. This has to be understood,
           this distinction. It is very significant. And if you miss it, you will miss the very meaning of the life of
           Jesus, because he is a rebel -- he is not a revolutionary. Neither is Buddha a revolutionary, nor Lao
           Tzu. Manu is revolutionary, Marx is revolutionary, Mao is revolutionary, but not Jesus, not Krishna,
           not Buddha. They are rebels.
               A revolution is a planning. A revolution thinks of the future; a rebellion is herenow. Revolution
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is utopian -- a dream, somewhere in the future, the golden age, the utopia, the paradise. Rebellion is
           to live it here and now. To be rebellious means to be transformed totally.
                In revolution, and in the ideology of revolution, you try to change the others, you try to change
           the scene. In rebellion, you change yourself and the scene changes by itself, of its own accord,
           because your vision is different. You have different eyes to look with.
                Rebellion is spontaneous. It has nothing to do with any ideology. Rebellion is non-ideological.
           Rebellion is like love; you don't think about it; you cannot think about it. Either you live it or you
           don't live it; either it is there or it is not there. Rebellion is a happening. If you are ready, you start
           living a totally different life: the life of authenticity, the life of innerness, the life of God, or
           whatsoever you would like to call it.
                Jesus is a rebel, but even his followers misunderstood him -- they thought he was a
           revolutionary; they organized. Then Christ disappeared, and Christianity was left behind.
           Christianity is the corpse, the corpse of Christ.
                Christianity is again the same establishment against whom Jesus was rebellious. Christianity
           belongs to the same priests who crucified Jesus. Now the temple has moved. It is not in Jerusalem, it
           is in the Vatican; but it is the same temple. The money-changers have changed, but the
           money-changing is the same. The establishment is now owned by other people, by other names, in
           other names, but the establishment is the same. If Jesus comes back, and goes to the Vatican, he will
           again do the same thing. He was a rebel. A rebel simply lives out of his spontaneity; he has no idea
           what it should be. He acts out of his understanding; he responds to a situation, and something starts
           happening.

              AND JESUS WENT INTO THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND CAST OUT ALL THEM THAT SOLD AND
              BOUGHT IN THE TEMPLE, AND OVERTHREW THE TABLES OF THE MONEY-CHANGERS, AND
              THE SEATS OF THEM THAT SOLD DOVES.


               Remember, I tell you, he had not gone there with this idea. He had not planned it, he was not
           thinking about it, otherwise he would have organized it. He would have gone there with a group
           organized to do this. Even his own disciples were not aware what was going to happen. I tell you,
           even Jesus was not aware what was going to happen. A man like Jesus lives from moment to
           moment. He's available. Whatsoever happens, he will respond to it.
               It happened suddenly. He entered the temple and saw that the temple had been destroyed; that no
           more was it a house of prayer, that people were not praying, that people were not meditating, that
           people had completely forgotten the purpose of the temple, for what it existed, and that this temple
           was no more the abode of God. Now it had been captured by the priests.
               And priests have always been against God. They live in the name of God, but they have always
           been against God. They teach prayer, but whatsoever they teach is false. They teach doctrines; they
           don't teach the truth, because you can teach the truth only if you live it. There is no other teaching
           about it.
               I have heard a beautiful story about St. Francis, another Jesus. One day he said to his disciple,
           Leo, "Brother Leo, let us go to the town, and teach and preach to people."
               They went into the town. They went up and down the streets meeting people, smiling, talking to
           people -- sometimes patting a boy, sometimes smiling at a woman, and sometimes saying a cheery
           word to a tired traveller. And it went on and on. But now it was almost getting dark and the sun was
           setting. Leo asked, "Master, when are we going to preach?"
               And Francis said, "And what have we been doing? We have been preaching; we have been
           talking to people. They have observed us; they have listened to us. A few of them even looked into
           our eyes; a few of them have become aware what treasures we are carrying within our hearts. And
           there is no other teaching; there is no other preaching." Said St. Francis, "There is no use walking
           anywhere to preach, unless we preach as we walk."
               A priest is not living what he is speaking. A priest goes on talking about and about and about.
           And whenever a temple is possessed by a priest it is destroyed. The great temple of God in Jerusalem
           was not destroyed by the enemies; it was destroyed by the priests. But it has always been so -- the
           friends are the real enemies. Those who pretend they are the protectors, they are the ones who are
           destroying. And it has always been so, because rebellion has always been misunderstood as
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           revolution.
               Once Jesus is gone, his disciples start organizing -- the doctrine, the dogma. Then the doctrine
           and the dogma become more important; then the future becomes more important. Then they become
           missionaries; not people who live in the here and now, not people who are spontaneous, not people
           who love, but people who talk about love. And if you argue against them, they are ready to fight.
           They are even ready to go to wars to defend the doctrine of love.
               It happened that an authentic enquirer, a seeker, went to a rabbi, to a priest -- the most famous of
           course of those days, and he said, "Please tell me the whole Torah, but in short. I will be standing on
           one leg, and you have to finish the whole Torah while I am standing on one leg."
               The priest was annoyed, the rabbi became angry, and he told his disciples, "Throw this man
           outside the temple. He seems to be a sceptic. And this is insulting. He has insulted the sacred book;
           he has insulted our tradition."
               Then the same enquirer went to a mystic, Hillel, and he said the same thing to him. And this is
           the difference between a priest and a mystic: Hillel said, "Perfectly true. In fact, the Torah is so short
           that I can repeat it a thousand and one times while you are standing on one leg. You stand." The man
           stood on one leg. Hillel said, "Do unto others what you would like to be done to you. This is the
           whole Torah. All else is just commentary."
               You cannot annoy a mystic. The mystic cannot be forced by you to be angry, because he lives
           love. But the priest goes on talking about love. If you argue, if you are sceptical, if you are a doubter,
           he is angered -- he can even kill you to help you. He can kill you because he has to defend the
           doctrine of love.
               No other religion has created as many wars as Christianity, and all its preaching is about love.
           Nobody else has created as many wars as Islam, and the very word'Islam' means peace. The word
           'peace' creates war. The whole of Christianity is based on a single word 'love', but the ultimate result
           is crusades, wars, murders.
               Why does it happen? Once religion becomes a dogma it is bound to happen. Once rebellion turns
           into a revolution, into an organized thing, it is bound to happen. Rebellion is individual, pure, virgin;
           it comes out of the heart; it is not some doctrine.
               A man came to me once and he said, "I wish I had your creed. Then I would live a life like you."
           He repeated it: "I wish I had your creed; then I would live a life like yours."
               I told the man, "You please start living the life like me. Soon you will have the creed."
               The vice versa is not true -- you cannot have the creed first, and then the life. Life is the primary,
           the basic; creed is just a shadow.

              AND JESUS WENT INTO THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND CAST OUT ALL THEM THAT SOLD AND
              BOUGHT IN THE TEMPLE, AND OVERTHREW THE TABLES OF THE MONEY-CHANGERS, AND
              THE SEATS OF THEM THAT SOLD DOVES. AND SAID UNTO THEM, IT IS WRITTEN, MY HOUSE
              SHALL BE CALLED THE HOUSE OF PRAYER...


               Tremendously beautiful words -- he says, "... My house." When you are deeply centered in
           yourself, you are no more a man; you become god. That is the meaning of God: a centered
           consciousness. It has no other meaning. You can become a god if you are rooted deeply within
           yourself, centered. If your consciousness has become a flame, without any smoke around it, you are
           a god.
               When Jesus said, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer," he's not really
           quoting any scripture, he's creating a scripture. He says, "It is written..." because those priests won't
           be able to understand. He quotes the scripture, but he is not really bothering about the scripture; he is
           creating it. His each word is a scripture.

              ... MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED THE HOUSE OF PRAYER; BUT YE HAVE MADE IT A DEN OF
              THIEVES.


              It is no more a prayer-house, it is no more a temple.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND WHEN HE WAS COME INTO THE TEMPLE, THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE ELDERS OF
              THE PEOPLE CAME UNTO HIM AS HE WAS TEACHING, AND SAID, BY WHAT AUTHORITY
              DOEST THOU THESE THINGS? AND WHO GAVE THEE THIS AUTHORITY?


                The organized religion always asks, "By what authority?" -- as if the consciousness itself is not
           enough authority; as if some other authority is needed; as if something from the outside has to
           become the proof. But consciousness in itself is the authority, the only authority -- there is no other
           authority and no other proof. But when the priest faces a mystic like Jesus, even then he is asking
           about scriptures -- he says, "Who has given you this authority?" He's talking about the law, the legal
           code. He's talking the language of the establishment, "Who has given you this authority?" -- as if to
           be prayerful needs anybody else's authority; as if to be centered one needs any licence; as if to be
           centered one needs any sanction from the government.
                But that is what organized religion becomes. In Christianity ridiculous things have been
           happening. They issue orders, and they issue recognitions that somebody has become a saint. The
           very word 'saint' is ugly. It comes from a root term which means 'sanction'. It means the church has
           sanctioned that a certain person is now a saint -- the recognition of the church, as if it is a Nobel
           prize, or a government award. The court and the legal advisers of the government have to decide, as
           if it is a university degree, that now you are a Ph.D. or a D. Litt. Sainthood has no need of any
           sanction. Sainthood is its own sanction, it is an inner authority.
                Unless you speak with your inner authority, please don't speak, don't utter a word; because those
           words are going to be false, untrue. The true word arises out of your own being; it is born out of you
           as a child is born out of a mother. You have to become pregnant with God, and then the word is
           born. That is the only authority; no other authority is needed.

              AND WHEN HE WAS COME INTO THE TEMPLE, THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE ELDERS OF
              THE PEOPLE CAME UNTO HIM AS HE WAS TEACHING, AND SAID, BY WHAT AUTHORITY
              DOEST THOU THESE THINGS?

              "Who has given you the authority to overthrow the tables of the money-changers? Who has given you
              the authority to change the rules and regulations of the temple?"

               WHO GAVE THEE THIS AUTHORITY? Jesus must have laughed. He didn't answer them
           because even that is irrelevant; their question is absurd.
               I have heard a story about Diogenes. He was caught by thieves. And then they brought him to a
           slave market. He was a beautiful man; v ery few people have been so beautiful... a very strong body.
           And they put him on the slave-block to be sold. He stood there smiling, humming a song,
           unconcerned with what was happening. Then he saw a man, a young man, very rich -- his clothes
           were very rich, but he was standing there very absentmindedly, maybe drunk. He was standing there
           in the crowd, almost asleep, depressed, sad; a deep sorrow surrounded him. Diogenes said to the
           thieves who had caught him, and who had brought him to the slave market, "Sell me to that man. He
           looks as if he needs a master."
               Jesus or a Diogenes, Buddha or Mahavir, they have their own authority; they are masters of their
           being. It is said of Buddha that a great scholar came to him and said, "Sir, whatsoever you are
           saying, it is not written in the Vedas."
           Buddha said, "Then write it in the Vedas."
               The scholar was a little puzzled. He could not believe somebody could say that -- "Write it!" The
           man said, "Sir, not only is that the case but sometimes you contradict. Whatsoever is written in the
           Vedas, you say contrary things."
               Buddha said, "Then amend the Vedas. Because when I am here, when the Veda is alive here,
           then the dead Veda has to be corrected according to me."
               A Buddha is not to follow the Vedas; the Vedas have to follow him -- because they have been
           created by Buddhas, other centered beings. From where is their authority? If you ask Jesus, "From
           where is your authority?" then, because you are asking, "Has Moses given you a certificate?'' you
           will ask from where Moses gets his authority. And if Moses can get it directly from God, then why
           not Jesus?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You must have heard the beautiful story when Moses encountered God. He was moving on
           Mount Horeb and suddenly he heard God calling him from a thorn bush. He was afraid. He started
           trembling and God said, "Don't be afraid. It is I. Don't be afraid. But take your shoes off, because
           you are walking on holy ground." He threw off his shoes. He ran towards God, who was like a
           burning flame, a burning fire in the thorn bush. He could not believe his eyes, because the bush was
           green and the fire was burning and the bush was not burned and he asked, "Who are you? This is a
           miracle."
               And God said, "This is nothing -- because I am life, I am creative force. I am not a destroyer, I
           am a creator. So even when my fire is there, the bush is not burning. I cannot burn; I can only heal. I
           cannot wound; I can only heal."
               When Moses was coming back with the message God gave him, he was afraid, because his
           people would ask, "By what authority? From where have you brought these ten commandments?
           Who are you to force these ten commandments over our heads? What is your authority?"
               Moses was a little more legal than Jesus. Jesus himself says, "Moses gave you the law; I give you
           love." Love has something in it which is always beyond law. And if your love is legal, it is not love.
           "Moses gave you the law. I give you love. Moses gave you the commandments, the outer morality; I
           give you the inner source of all morality," says Jesus.
               Moses must have been a legal mind. He was. He asked, "People will ask,'From whom do you
           bring these commandments?' "
               And do you know what God said? God said, "Tell them it is from I."
               Moses asked, "Who are you, what is your name? They will ask your name."
           And God said, "Tell them, I am that I am."
               What does this mean, "I am that I am"? It means: "I am not talking from the outside, I am talking
           from the inside. I am your deepest am-ness. I am your deepest I. When the superficial I disappears,
           you will come to know me within yourself." All authority is from within. And they asked Jesus: BY
           WHAT AUTHORITY DOEST THOU THESE THINGS? AND WHO GAVE THIS AUTHORITY
           TO YOU? Jesus didn't answer. Many times it seems Jesus got into trouble by not answering. But
           there are things which cannot be answered. On the last day of his life, Pontius Pilate asked, "What is
           truth?" and he remained silent, because silence is truth and truth is silence. But the governor-general
           could not understand it.
               Governor-generals are almost always stupid people, otherwise why should they be
           governor-generals? Politicians are almost always mediocre people, otherwise why should they waste
           their lives in politics? Much more is available, and they waste their lives just in competition, they are
           just on the ego trip.
               If Jesus had said something, he may have understood, at least he may have thought that he
           understood. Jesus remained silent. He could not understand that. He must have thought, "This man is
           insulting me by not answering."
               The priest asked him: BY WHAT AUTHORITY DOEST THOU THESE THINGS? Who has
           given you the authority? -- and Jesus remained silent again. Because there are things which cannot
           be answered.
               He is his own authority. And this is his message, that everybody should be his own authority. Be
           your authority, be an authority unto yourself. You are not here to follow anybody; you are here to be
           yourself. Your life is yours; your love is yours; your innermost core of being is your authority for
           everything you do. And until you become an authority unto yourself you will be moving astray; you
           will be following this and that. You will be following shadows, and you will never be fulfilled. Jesus
           didn't say anything. Rather, he told them a parable. He is one of the greatest story-tellers.

              AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM.
              ... A CERTAIN MAN HAD TWO SONS; AND HE CAME TO THE FIRST, AND SAID, SON, GO WORK
              TODAY IN MY VINEYARD.
              HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I WILL NOT:
              BUT AFTERWARD HE REPENTED, AND WENT.


               He said, "No," but afterward he repented and went, and in reality said, "Yes." He said no through
           his mind, but he said yes from his totality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              AND HE CAME TO THE SECOND, AND SAID LIKEWISE, AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I GO,
              SIR: AND WENT NOT.


              He said yes through his mind, and said no from his totality.

              WHETHER OF THEM TWAIN DID THE WILL OF HIS FATHER?


               asked Jesus. Who did the will of his father? -- the one who said, "No," but transformed his no
           into a yes, or the one who said, "Yes," but whose yes was impotent, and whose yes was just a way, a
           polite way of saying no? Who followed? Who obeyed? WHETHER OF THEM TWAIN DID THE
           WILL OF HIS FATHER? asked Jesus.

              The priests SAY UNTO HIM, THE FIRST.
              JESUS SAITH UNTO THEM, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT THE PUBLICANS AND THE
              HARLOTS GO INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE YOU

                 -- because you have been saying yes but doing no. Your yes is just verbal, just skin-deep -- it
           doesn't come from your heart.
               Why is this the way Jesus is answering them? He has not said anything where his authority
           comes from, but in a way he has said everything. He says, "Because I have said yes to my God
           totally, from there comes my authority: because I have obeyed him, because I have surrendered
           myself to him."
               He's not saying that on the surface, but deep down he has asserted his authority.
               Who has done the will of his father -- the one who says yes and never goes to do anything about
           it? This is what has been done by priests and scholars, by men of learning and knowledge, and by
           pundits.
               I have heard one ancient Indian story. A sage had a parrot and the sage used to say to everybody,
           "Watch out for the trap. Don't sit on the trap." Of course he meant the MAYA, the illusion of the
           world, the trap of greed, the trap of possessiveness, the trap of anger and violence. So he used to say
           to his disciples, "Watch out for the trap. Don't sit on the trap."
               By and by the parrot also learned it. So whenever the sage would say it, the parrot would also
           repeat it, even louder than the sage. And the parrot would say, "Watch out for the trap! Don't sit on
           the trap!" And everybody enjoyed it.
               One day by mistake, the cage of the parrot was left open, and he flew out of it. Everybody had
           started to love the parrot, so the sage and his disciples, they all went all over the forest to search for
           him. When they were reaching deeper and deeper into the forest they heard the parrot saying,
           "Watch out for the trap. Don't sit on the trap." So they were very happy that he was there. So,
           following the direction of his voice, they reached there. And what did they see? They could not
           believe it: he was sitting on a trap. He was trapped -- sitting on a trap he was continuously repeating,
           "Watch out for the trap Don't sit on the trap."
               That happens to people who live in the head. Whatsoever they say, their life is just the contrary.
           They don't live it; they go on just repeating like a parrot. They become great scholars: they know
           everything about God and they have not tasted even a little bit what God means. Their life has
           remained untouched. Their knowledge has a separate world; it is a storage in the memory. Their
           heart has remained as ignorant as ever. They know much, and they know not. They seem to know
           much, but their ignorance is tremendous.
               I was reading the autobiography of a great mystic, a Chinese mystic, who used to be the librarian
           of the Chinese emperor. Once somebody asked him some question, and of course it was expected
           that the librarian should know all the answers. He was there to read and study for the king, so
           whenever the king wanted to know anything he could ask the librarian.
               But this librarian had a bad habit of saying to almost all questions, "I don't know." So when some
           minister of the emperor asked some significant question which needed to be answered and the
           librarian said, "I don't know," the minister became annoyed. He said, "The king pays you for it; you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to know it."
               The librarian said, "The king pays for my knowledge. If the king is ready to pay for my
           ignorance also.... He pays me for things I know, but if he starts paying me for things I don't know,
           then his treasures will not be enough. Only a few things I know. In fact, only one thing I know," he
           said, "and that is myself All else I can pretend to know. I can collect information, but that will not be
           knowledge."
               If you go on collecting information then this will happen -- you will go on saying yes in your
           head and you will go on saying no in your life. You will become a dichotomy, a split personality.
           Your head will be going north; your heart will be going south, and you will be in a constant tug of
           war.
               That's what has happened. You know everything about love, but have you loved? You know
           everything about prayer, but have you prayed? You know everything about beauty, but have you
           observed beauty, have you got lost in some beautiful phenomenon? Have you become in any
           moment so total that the head and heart lose their constant tug of war? Has there ever been a moment
           when you were so total that you were not? If that has not happened, then you can go on saying yes
           but it will not mean much -- maybe just a polite attitude.
               The so-called religious people of the world are just like the second son who said, "I go, sir" --
           and went not. Even an atheist is better because he says no. At least he is true, at least he says
           whatsoever he feels. He's authentic; he says, "No, I'm not going." A man who is authentic will
           sooner or later become aware. He will become remorseful about the no; he will repent.
               Remember this: the world is irreligious because of so-called religious people. It would be better
           if you were never taught to be religious. It would have been better if you were not conditioned to be
           religious, because all conditioning can create only a polite yes, but not a transformation, not a
           mutation. Better to say no -- because if you say no, and your no is true and authentic and honest,
           sooner or later you will have to say yes.
               Why? Because nobody can live in a no. This has to be understood -- one of the most fundamental
           things. Nobody can live in a no. No is negative. You cannot live in negativity; you can live only in
           the positive. To live in no is to live as if in death. No is absolutely poor; it has nothing in it; it is
           impotence. It is absence; it is like darkness. It is empty, hollow. To say no is to remain a beggar; to
           say yes is to become an emperor.
               Nobody can live in a no, but if you have said a false yes, you can think you are living, because
           you say that you have said yes. That false yes can deceive you. A real no is better than a false yes
           because a false yes becomes a mask.
               For example if you don't love someone, don't say that you love. It is better to say that you don't
           love; better to accept in deep humbleness that you are unable to love; then there is a possibility some
           day or other that love will arise, because nobody can live in a state of no-love. But if you go on
           saying that you love and you love not, then you can waste your whole life. That polite yes, that false
           yes, that false love, that dishonest love, that inauthentic attitude, can become a cloudlike thing
           behind which you can go on hiding. But you are wasting your life. Unless you say a total yes to life
           you will not have lived it to the maximum. Then you will live it at the minimum.
               Say yes, and that is what I call being religious. No is a first step, yes is a second step. Nobody
           can avoid the first step, of saying no. If you avoid it, the second step will be false because a true yes
           arises only from a true no.
               One who has really been an atheist can become a theist. One who has denied and doubted can
           attain to faith and trust. One who has from the very beginning believed, will never attain to trust. His
           belief is a defence. He cannot gather courage to say no, so he says yes. But if you don't have the
           courage to say no, how can you have courage enough to say yes? Your yes will be dead.
               This parable is really beautiful; it carries much implication and meaning in it.

              ... A CERTAIN MAN HAD TWO SONS; AND HE CAME TO THE FIRST, AND SAID, SON, GO WORK
              TODAY IN MY VINEYARD. HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I WILL NOT... A SINCERE MAN, AND
              SINCERITY ALWAYS PAYS... BUT AFTERWARD HE REPENTED, AND WENT.


              I tell you, even sinners -- that's what Jesus is saying, even harlots and publicans, even sinners --
           can reach to God, because through their life they were saying no, but nobody can go on saying no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           eternally. One day or other you become fed up with your no, because you are living a hollow and
           empty life; one day or other you divorce yourself from your no-saying, you get married to
           yes-saying; you become a yea-sayer, you become religious.
               One day or other you have to drop your doubt, because doubt is a disease. And nobody can
           remain ill forever; nobody would like to remain ill forever. There is a deep natural urge to be healthy
           and whole; there is a deep urge to be trusting; there is a deep urge to say yes. Have you watched?
           Whenever you say yes a certain freedom immediately bursts in you; whenever you say no you
           shrink. Whenever you say no you are left alone, cut off from the world. Whenever you say yes a
           bridge immediately starts spreading towards existence. Say yes and you are related to the world, to
           existence. Say no and you are cut off, unrelated.
               Hate is no; love is yes. Money is no; prayer is yes. People who are doubters, sceptical, go on
           accumulating money because they cannot trust life. They feel so insecure with life that they find
           security in money, in something dead. People who love, and who have loved tremendously, loved
           abundantly, loved totally and said yes to life in all the ways life demands, challenges, people who
           have always been ready to say yes, they don't gather money. There is no need. Life is such a security.
           In its deepest insecurity there is security.
               In its deepest challenge there is love; in its deepest hardship there is growth. Once you have said
           yes you are in a let-go, you have become religious.
               WHETHER OF THEM TWAIN DID THE WILL OF HIS FATHER? Even the priests had to
           say, "The first.'' But up till now they were not aware that the parable was about them. That is the
           beauty of a parable: you become aware only when the parable has penetrated your heart. That is the
           beauty of the parable: from the very beginning you are not defensive. You are simply listening to a
           story, unaware... and indirectly, something is penetrating your being like an arrow.
               A parable is like an arrow that appears in the beginning like a flower. You allow it because you
           are just listening to a story. You are not worried about it; you are not defensive. You are not alert;
           you are relaxed.
               The priests listened to the parable. Even they answered.

              THEY SAY UNTO HIM, THE FIRST. JESUS SAITH UNTO THEM, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT
              THE PUBLICANS AND THE HARLOTS GO INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE YOU.


               ... BEFORE YOU: the priests, the pundits, the rabbis, the moralists, the puritans, the so-called
           good guys. But they are so-called; the good has not happened. It is forced, cultivated; it may be a
           discipline. It gives respectability, it enhances the ego.
               Observe, whenever you say no you feel the ego strongly. That's why people say no so much,
           because each time you say no you feel you are somebody.
               Sometimes I have been watching people saying no where it was not at all necessary. A small
           child asks the mother, "Can I go outside and play?" and immediately she says, "No." He was not
           demanding anything -- just a little sunlight; just with the flowers a little bit, running after the
           butterflies. He was not asking much, and it costs nothing. The sun is available, free; the butterflies
           are waiting, because if nobody chases them they don't feel good; and the flowers are there --
           somebody should come and smell them; they would like to share their happiness with somebody.
               And the child asks, "Can I go outside?" And the mother says, "No." And the mother has not even
           pondered over it, not even for a single moment. No comes easy, as if it is always there, ready. You
           just say anything and she says no. And she knows well that the child will go out, because he will
           insist again and again; two, three times he will ask, and the fourth time she will say, "Yes, you go
           out. Don't bother me so much." And she knows, and the child knows, but still the no comes. The yes
           doesn't seem easy.
               The servant asks for his pay. You can give him it right now but you say, "Tomorrow." No comes
           easy, yes seems to be very hard. And whenever you say yes you feel as if you are missing, as if you
           are helpless.
               Just go to the railway station. Ask for a ticket and the booking clerk may be sitting doing
           nothing. He starts looking in the book. He is saying, "No. Who are you?" He's trying to feel he is
           also somebody. He can give it right now, but then who will say no?
               Look at the policeman standing on the crossroads, no written on his face. Look at people's faces;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this is the way to judge who is religious and who is not. If the face says no the man is irreligious,
           though he may be in the temple praying. If the face says yes, a welcoming yes, then the man is
           religious. He may not ever have gone to the temple; that doesn't matter.
               Yes has to be earned; one has to grow towards it. It's the most beautiful phenomenon that can
           happen to a man, ever. But that is possible only if you have been honest from the very beginning. If
           you have been honest in saying yes, if you have been honest in saying no, only then an honest yes
           can evolve out of it -- because nobody can live with a negative attitude. But you can live with a false
           positive attitude, and that's how you have been living.
               I have heard a story about a Hassid mystic. His name is Rabbi Mossey. He was very poor in the
           eyes of others. Himself, he was an emperor, tremendously rich, infinitely rich, but his richness was
           of the within.
               A beggar came one day as he was sitting with his disciples, and he gave him his last coin. One
           disciple objected. And the objection was also meaningful, because the man to whom he gave the coin
           was a drunkard, who would immediately go to the pub. So the disciple said two things: "First, you
           don't have enough to eat today, and this is your last coin. Now the whole day and the whole night
           you will have to starve. Second, you have given your coin to a man who is not worthy of it -- he is a
           thief and a drunkard. What do you say about it?"
               The Hassid mystic, Mossey, said, "Shall I be more particular than God who gave the coin to me?
           Shall I be more particular than God? If he can give to me, a worthless man, and has not asked
           whether I am a sinner or a drunkard, then who am I to bother whether this man is a sinner, a thief or
           a drunkard?"
               This is the quality of a real religious man; he's not condemnatory towards others. The false
           religious man is always condemnatory towards others; in fact, he tries to be a moralist just in order to
           condemn others. He wants to be respectable and he wants to be higher than others. He always wants
           to look bigger than he is, and he always tries the attitude of 'holier than you'. So whomsoever he
           looks at he's condemning -- his whole morality is just a decoration of the ego.
               Remember this: if your morality is just a decoration, and your prayer and meditation just flowers
           to decorate around the ego so that it looks a little beautiful, then you are not religious. And Jesus is
           right...

              VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU,
              THAT THE PUBLICANS AND THE HARLOTS GO INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE YOU

                -- because they have said no; and they will repent, and they will feel remorse, and they will not
           be able to live with the no. Nobody can live with the no.
               Try to live with any no -- anger, hatred, jealousy, possessiveness -- try to live with any no. Just
           remain with it. Don't try to change it; don't hide it and don't suppress it, and you will see you cannot
           live. And when you cannot live, you drop them and you start moving towards a yes. The yes is the
           temple of God.

              AND WHEN THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE PHARISEES HAD HEARD HIS PARABLES, THEY
              PERCEIVED THAT HE SPAKE OF THEM.


               But it was too late then -- he had made his point clear. And he had not only made his point clear
           to the rabbis and the priests, he had made his point clear, even more clear, to others who were
           standing there.
               Always remember, ordinary people have more understanding than the so-called religious people,
           because an ordinary man has no investment in religion. The priest has an investment in religion. He's
           on guard always. And people like Jesus can be dangerous. If they are heard and their message
           spreads, then the priest will disappear. Temples will be there, but the priests will disappear. Religion
           will be there, but the exploitation that goes on in the name of religion will disappear.
               The priest is always afraid of the prophet; the priest is always afraid of the mystic; the priest is
           always afraid of the really religious, the authentically religious person.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BUT WHEN THEY SOUGHT TO LAY HANDS ON HIM, THEY FEARED THE MULTITUDE,
              BECAUSE THEY TOOK HIM FOR A PROPHET.


               Now not only have they understood the parable, but the people who were listening there, they
           have also understood it. It was so clear. Now it is difficult to lay hands on Jesus. They had tried in
           every way to stop Jesus. They had wanted to throw him into prison; they had wanted to kill him.
           They did whatsoever they could, but they were always afraid of the multitude, of the crowd, of the
           ordinary people -- for these are more sensitive; they can see things more clearly; their eyes are not so
           clouded as the eyes of pundits and scholars, the knowers.
               They had to wait for the right moment. They crucified him in the end, but they had to wait for the
           right moment. And the right moment came, when they could persuade the political power that this
           man was not talking religion, that this man was not a rebel -- this man was a revolutionary. They
           persuaded the political powers: "This man is not talking about the kingdom of God -- that is just a
           strategy. This man is talking about this kingdom on the earth. This man is not trying to lead people
           towards God; this man is trying to possess power; the kingdom of this earth, for himself He is
           against the government."
               When they could persuade the government, only then.... And remember, there is always a
           conspiracy between the priests and the political leaders. They have always been in conspiracy; they
           help each other. Whenever the politician needs his position sanctified by religion, the priest comes to
           help. He says, "The king is no ordinary human being. He is an incarnation of God." He says, "He is
           made king by God himself. His authority is not in himself but in God; he's just a representative of
           God on earth."
               That's how the priests help the king, the political power, and give him an aura of religion and
           divineness; that's how kings have existed up to now.
               And so the priest is in difficulty from the mystics, and both the king and the priest are in
           difficulty from the mystics, because the mystic is a rebel. A mystic is a rebellion. His very being is
           so free that he would like to liberate everybody else. His message is liberation, freedom -- total,
           absolute freedom. The king is afraid; the priests help. The priest is afraid; the king helps.
               The priests and the political power both joined together to kill this innocent man who had no
           power at all; or, his power was not of this world -- his power was that of a meek and humble man;
           his power was that of a realized man. The power is not violent. His power is that of love, what Lao
           Tzu calls 'the man of tao'. He is powerful, because he is powerless. He is supremely high, because he
           lives at the lowest point. He's at the peak, because he lives in the darkest valley. He's great, because
           hc does not claim greatness. The power of the meek, the power of the humble, the power of the
           egoless, the power of one who is not... then the power of God enters. Then he becomes the vehicle
           for the whole.
               The last thing: be alert, because in each of you these three possibilities are all hidden. You can be
           a priest if you say a false yes and you can also be a scholar accumulating much knowledge and
           information. The second: if you say no, but cling to it and don't go ahead, if you make your abode in
           no, then you become an atheist, a doubter. The priest misses because of the false yes and you will
           miss because of a true no. But if these are the only alternatives, I would like you to say the no,
           because at least it is true and honest; and through honesty there is some possibility. Be an atheist, but
           don't be a false religious man.
               Then there is a third possibility: that you say an authentic no but don't cling to it; you don't make
           it your abode. Good, if you rest for a night, but then in the morning start moving -- because no will
           be a suicide. Don't commit suicide with no. Don't be a hypocrite with a false yes and don't be suicidal
           with a true no.
               The third is the right direction. Say an authentic no and go on moving. That is not the end -just
           the beginning, the first step. And the yes has to be born in you. If you allow it, it will be born. If you
           go on moving, observing, living, experiencing, and not falsifying things, looking at things as they
           are, sooner or later the yes is born; you become pregnant with yes. Then you are the temple. Then
           there is no need to go to any other temple. Then God descends in you. In fact, no man has ever found
           God. Whenever man is ready, God finds him.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                               Chapter #6
                        Chapter title: A man who is enlightened has no masks, has
           16 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512160
              ShortTitle: FOLL306
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




              I MYSELF AM A QUESTION. I KNOW NOT WHO I AM. WHAT TO DO? WHERE TO GO?


                REMAIN WITH THE QUESTION. Don t do anything, and don t go anywhere; and don't start
           believing in any answer. Remain with the question. That is one of the most difficult things to do -- to
           remain with a question, and not to seek the answer; because the mind is very cunning, it can supply a
           false answer. It can console you; it can give you something to cling to; and then the question is not
           answered but suppressed. Then you go on believing in the answer, and the question remains deep
           down in your unconsciousness like a wound. The healing has not happened.
                If you remain with the question, I'm not saying that you will receive the answer. Nobody has ever
           received any answer. If you remain with the question, by and by the question disappears. Not that the
           answer is received; there is no answer. There cannot be, because life is a mystery. If there is any
           answer, then life will not be a mystery.
                It has no answer to it, it cannot be solved. It is not a puzzle, it is a mystery. And that is the
           difference between a puzzle and a mystery. A puzzle can be solved, howsoever difficult it is to solve.
           A mystery cannot be solved -- not that it is difficult. It is very simple, but its nature is such that it
           cannot be solved.
                Remain with the question -- alert, aware, not seeking, not trying to find an answer. Very arduous
           it is, but if you can do that... it can be done. I have done it. And all those who have dissolved their
           questions have done it. The very awareness, the fire of awareness, burns the question. The sun of
           awareness melts the question; it disappears, it evaporates. One day, suddenly, you find you are there,
           and the question is not there. Not that the question is replaced by an answer. There is none. But the
           question has simply disappeared. You are there and without a question. That is the answer.
                YOU, without a question, is The answer. Not that you will be able to say who you are -- you will
           laugh at the very question. The question has become absurd. In the first place, the very asking was
           wrong. But right now you cannot understand that; you have to ask. You have to ask very intensely.
           Ask the question, but don't ask for The answer.
                That is the difference between theology and religion. Theology gives you the answer; religion
           gives you awareness. Theology supplies you answers -- ready-made, manufactured, polished,
           perfect. Religion doesn't give you any answer; it simply helps you to penetrate deep into the
           question. The deeper you go into the question, the more you find it is melting, it is disappearing. And
           when the question has disappeared, a tremendous energy is released within you. You ARE there,
           with no question.
                And when there is no question, of course, there is no mind. Mind is the questioner. When there is
           no questioning, the mind has also disappeared -- pure consciousness -- just the sky without any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clouds, the flame without any smoke.
                That's what God is. That's what a Buddha is; that's what a Christ is. Remember, I repeat it again
           and again, Buddha has not found the answer; that's why Buddha never answers. You ask him, "God
           exists?" He will avoid, he will not answer. You ask him, "What happens when a Buddha dies?" He
           will avoid, he will start talking about other things. He will not answer.
                He is not a metaphysician. He is not a philosopher. He has come to face the question, and the
           question has disappeared. The question disappears as darkness disappears when you kindle a light,
           when you bring a lamp. Bring more awareness to the question.
                You ask me: OSHO, I MYSELF AM A QUESTION. Beautiful -- that's how it should be --
           reduce all questions to the basic question and that is: Who am I? Don't go on moving on the
           periphery, like -- "Who made the world? Why did he make The world?" -- all nonsense questions.
           Come to the basic question, the most fundamental question: Who am I?
                WHO? Let your consciousness penetrate into it, like a deep arrow going deeper and deeper and
           deeper. And don't be in a hurry to find the answer -- because the mind is cunning. If you are in a
           hurry, impatient, the mind can supply you with it; the mind can quote scriptures; it is the devil. It can
           say, "Yes, you are god, you are BRAHMA, you are pure consciousness, SATCHITANANDA, you
           are The ultimate truth, the eternal soul, the deathless being." Those answers can destroy your very
           search.
                A seeker has to be aware of ready-made answers. They are available; from every side they are
           being supplied to you. In fact, your mind has already been conditioned: the answers have been given
           to you before you had even asked the question.
                A small child -- he has not asked who God is, and he is being supplied with the answer; he is
           being conditioned. He has not asked -- the question is still not there, and the answer is being given.
           Many people go on believing in these answers, and they never ask the question themselves.
                If you have not asked the question, whatsoever you know is. just rubbish. Throw it on the
           rubbish heap, all your knowledge -- because there is no knowledge; there is only knowing. There is
           no answer, only a state of consciousness where the questioning disappears; only a clarity, a clarity of
           vision and perception, a clarity of eyes, you can see through and through; not that you find an answer
           somewhere. Existence is so vast, so mysterious.
                And it is good that it is so. Just think of the misfortune if you could have found the answer. Then
           life would not be worth living; then it would not have any meaning. Because you cannot find the
           answer, the life goes on having infinite meaning. God is not the answer. God is the state of being
           where the question has disappeared. God is the state of no-mind.
                Remain with the question. I am here to help you to remain with the question. I am not going to
           give you any answer; you already have too many. I am not going to burden you any more. I am to
           teach you how to unlearn the answers that you have learned, so that the question becomes crystal
           pure; so the question becomes authentic and yours; so the question arises from your innermost being.
                And remain with it. Don't go here and there; don't be in a hurry. Be patient. Let this question
           become your constant companion. This is the only discipline I teach you: the discipline of
           questioning, and without being in any hurry for the answer.
                And it is beautiful to remain with the question because answers corrupt. They destroy your
           innocence; they destroy your pure ignorance. They fill your mind with words, theories, dogmas; then
           you are no more a virgin. They corrupt you. The question is pure; it does not corrupt you. In fact, it
           intensifies your purity; it makes you more and more clear.
                Become aware of the question. Not that you have to continuously ask, "Who am I?" Not that you
           have to verbalize it. Let the question be there without any verbalization. Let it be like your breathing;
           let it be like your being. Let it be there, silent, but continuously, as if you are pregnant with it. One
           day, if you have lived enough with the question, it starts disappearing. It evaporates, just as when the
           morning comes and the sun rises, and the dewdrops start disappearing. When the consciousness has
           become a fire, an intense light, the question starts disappearing.
                And when the question has disappeared, you cannot say who you are, but you know. It is not a
           knowledge; it is a knowing. You cannot answer, but you know. You can dance it; you cannot answer
           it. You can smile it; you cannot answer it. You will live it, but you cannot answer it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MY ANGER HAS LESSENED, MY SEXUAL DESIRE IS NOT MY MASTER, MY MIND IS MORE
              STILL, AND STILL I KNOW I AM NOT SURRENDERED TO YOU. WHAT WILL IT TAKE -- A
              THUNDERBOLT.?


               The first thing to be understood you cannot surrender; it is not something you can do. If YOU are
           there, then how is the surrender possible? If the doer is there, then how can the surrender happen? It
           is not an act. When YOU are not there, then the surrender IS. So you cannot surrender -- one thing is
           absolutely certain. YOU cannot surrender, because YOU is the barrier. And this is what you have
           been trying, trying to surrender. It is like trying to go to sleep: try hard, and then failure is absolute.
           Sleep comes when you are not there and the effort has ceased. When you are trying no more to go to
           sleep -- you have completely forgotten about it, because any activity is against sleep -- if you are
           trying to go to sleep.... That's what so many people who suffer from sleeplessness, insomnia, are
           doing all over the world. They try: they do many tricks; they count sheep, they do transcendental
           meditation, they do MANTRAS, and a thousand and one things they do to get to sleep, because they
           don't know that the DOER is the barrier. Sleep comes when you are not.
               Sometimes those mantras may appear to help, because by doing a MANTRA, you by and by get
           fed up with it; you are bored. That is the whole mechanism of a MANTRA, that it bores you. You
           become so bored that the mantra drops; and in your boredom the very effort to get to sleep also
           drops. Suddenly the sleep is there. Sleep comes when you are not. The truth comes when you are not.
           The God comes when you are not. Surrender is not something that you can do. You can only be
           receptive for it to happen; it is a happening.
               You ask: MY ANGER HAS LESSENED -- good! MY SEXUAL DESIRE IS NOT MY
           MASTER -- very good! MY MIND IS MORE STILL -- beautiful! The situation is building itself.
           Now don't be in a hurry to surrender. Everything happens only in its own time. Ripeness is all; just
           don't be in a hurry; the fruit is ripening every day. The moment is coming closer and closer when
           suddenly, without any previous notice, the fruit falls from the tree.
               Just like that, surrender happens. You will not be notified, remember. There is nobody going to
           say to you, "Now, surrender is going to happen!" There is not going to be any announcement of it. In
           fact when it happens, in that moment, you are surprised, taken unawares; you were not expecting it.
               Remember this, while you are expecting it, it is not going to happen, because when you are
           expecting, you are there. It happens only when you are not expecting at all; in fact, you have
           forgotten about it. Suddenly it is there.
               Have you observed? -- sometimes it happens you have forgotten the name of someone. And you
           know that you know. And you say, "It is just on the tip of my tongue." And still, you cannot recall it.
           Try hard. The more you try, the more it will be frustrating. The more you try hard, the more you will
           be in a weird situation. You know it -- it is right on the tip of the tongue -- and it is not coming. One
           feels at a loss; one cannot think what is happening.
               Then you try, and try, and try, and it doesn't come. You are fed up with the whole effort. You go
           out of the house; you start digging in the garden, and suddenly it is there. It bubbles up to the
           surface.
               What happened? Try to understand the mechanism. It was there, but the very effort made you
           tense. And a tense mind is a narrow mind, the tenser the narrower. The mind became so narrow and
           so tense, so one-pointed that the name could not pass through it. Your mind became like a needle's
           eye, and the camel could not pass through it. You knew it was there, but the very effort narrowed
           you, because effort means concentration.
               Remember, I don't teach concentration; I teach meditation. And the difference is this:
           concentration is a narrowing of the mind. And I tell you, that even a camel can pass through the eye
           of a needle, but one who is concentrating cannot pass through the gates of God -- because the mind
           becomes narrower and narrower. That is the whole meaning of concentration. Meditation is not
           concentration. Meditation is simple awareness -- widening of the mind, widening of consciousness --
           expansion, not narrowing.
               Meditation is all-inclusive. You listen to me... if you are listening to me, and at the same time the
           crowing of the crows is not reaching your consciousness, it is concentration. Then you may
           remember what I am saying, but you will never understand -- because a narrow mind cannot
           understand much. But while I'm speaking and the crow is crowing and the birds are singing -- and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are not narrowed; you are flowing in all directions, aware of all -- in this moment, your
           consciousness is open to every possibility that is happening. Then I am talking and the crow is
           crowing and there is no conflict, because the conflict arises only when you are concentrating.
                There is no conflict. In the same moment, simultaneously, all is happening. Each moment is
           multi-dimensional. If you are simply aware, you listen to me and you listen to the crow also. And
           you are not disturbed. Only people who concentrate are disturbed and distracted. A man who
           meditates is never distracted, because nothing can distract him. He's not narrowing his mind; he's not
           excluding anything -- he's all-including. He's simply here and now. And whatsoever happens -- if
           God feels like crowing through the crow perfectly good. And if he thinks of singing a song through a
           bird -- perfectly beautiful. Then everything is accepted; then the total is allowed.
                When you are trying to remember a name or a word, the more you try, the less possibility there is
           of succeeding -- because the mind is becoming narrower and narrower and narrower. Then you drop
           the whole effort; you relax in your chair and start smoking -- and suddenly it is there. The mind is
           narrow no more; the tension is gone -- effort is no more there; you have become effortless. Then you
           have become meditative.
                Meditation is effortless awareness; concentration is a narrowing of the mind with much effort. I
           teach meditation; I teach expansion of consciousness, an ability to flow in all directions
           simultaneously.
                Open up all the doors of your being. Why be narrow? Let the sky enter from all the doors; let the
           light come from all the windows; let the breeze blow from all the directions. Why be narrow? Accept
           -total, meditative. Then one day, suddenly, you are surprised: surrender has happened. You were not
           trying to do it, and it has happened. It has always been so. You cannot surrender. One day when you
           are in a relaxed mood....
                Remember, when you are in a relaxed mood, you are not. You are, only when you are in a tense
           mood. When you are relaxed you are part of the whole; you are not. Then boundaries are blurred;
           then the whole and the part are no more separate. They meet, they merge... surrender happens.
                So, good that anger is lessened; sexual desire is no more the master; the mind is getting still.
           Now please, don't make any effort to surrender. Otherwise the mind will again become tense, and the
           stillness will be lost. And again you will become angry -- because when you cannot surrender, you
           will find the sex has again become the master.
                When the mind is angry -- it doesn't matter, angry against others or against yourself, it doesn't
           matter -- when the mind is angry and when the mind is tense, sex becomes the master, because then
           sex is the only release. Then you are so much tense that you have to throw some energy out some
           way. Then sex becomes the outlet.
                It is a safety valve, a natural safety valve. The nature has given you an opening: if you cannot
           cope with your energy and you cannot remain relaxed, then the energy goes on accumulating, and
           there comes the point when it has to be released; otherwise you will go mad. Mad people all over the
           world are somehow or other mad, because they suppressed their sex energy. Either transform it, or
           don't suppress it.
                Sex becomes the master because you are so tense. You need it; you need its help. When you are
           relaxed, sex disappears. The more you are relaxed, the more sex disappears. If you are totally
           relaxed, sex disappears completely; and the energy that was involved in sex becomes love, becomes
           compassion, becomes awareness, becomes freedom.
                And the last thing: WHAT WILL IT TAKE -- A THUNDERBOLT? You go on thinking about
           ego as if it is a very big and strong thing. It is not. It is just a water bubble, a soap bubble. It does not
           need a thunderbolt; just a small prick and it is gone -- and the bigger it is; the weaker; the stronger it
           is, the weaker.
                This paradox has to be understood. It's just as if you make a soap bubble, and go on making it
           bigger and bigger and bigger. The bigger the bubble, the more the emptiness in it; the bigger The
           bubble, the weaker -- sooner or later it is going to explode. If it was small, it was stronger.
                That's why I say that the ego has to be strengthened, so that it becomes weak and bursts. The
           bigger the balloon, the more emptiness it carries. Just a prick.... That's why it was so easy for a
           Buddha to attain to truth, because he was the son of an emperor. A big balloon he must have carried
           within, a big ego -- he was no ordinary man. It must have been more difficult for Jesus than it was
           for Buddha. He was just a son of a carpenter, a poor man's son. It must have been very difficult for
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him to drop it. For Buddha it was simple; in fact it dropped of its own accord, it was so big, so
           empty.
               So don't wait for a thunderbolt. Just a small breeze.... Your ego is nothing but a dewdrop on a
           grass leaf. A small breeze and it slips and is gone. It happens very easily. But I am saying: it
           happens. You cannot do. If you do, then even thunderbolts won't help. It happens. You just go on
           becoming more and more still, silent, peaceful, loving; and one day, when the time has come, when
           the right moment has arrived, when the ego is ripe, it slips. And when it slips, it is beautiful, because
           it doesn't leave a trace behind.
               If you drop it, it never drops. First, you were thinking you were somebody; then you start
           thinking you are nobody. First, it was hiding behind 'somebodiness'; now it will hide behind
           'nobodiness'. First, you were thinking you were something extraordinary, a rare gem, a kohinoor;
           now you will think, "I am the most humble man in The world" -- but the MOST humble --
           remember. "There is nobody who is more humble than me -- I am the humblest." Now it is hiding in
           your humbleness. The wound has not disappeared; only the label has changed. You are the same;
           you have moved from one extreme to another, but nothing is transformed.
               A man whose ego has disappeared is not humble at all. Because how can you be humble without
           an ego? A man whose ego has disappeared -- his ego has disappeared, that's all; and with the ego, all
           humbleness also -- because humbleness is a quality of the ego; it is a function of the ego. A man who
           is egoless is not humble at all. He is neither humble nor arrogant; he simply is.


              WHAT CONSTITUTES THE BEHAVIOUR OF AN ENLIGHTENED MAN?


               An enlightened man is all emptiness. What constitutes an emptiness? It has no 'constitutes' in it;
           hence it is empty. A man who is enlightened has no character.
               Let me repeat it: an enlightened man has no character at all. He lives from moment to moment.
           He has no character to follow; he has no structure around him. A character is a structure, a character
           is an armour. An enlightened man has no character. Let me say he is characterless.
               But try to understand me -- because he has no structured consciousness. He HAS consciousness
           but the structure has been dropped. He's neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian. He is neither
           good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral, neither this nor that. He simply is. All duality has
           disappeared. You cannot evaluate him; you cannot categorize him; you cannot put him into any
           pigeon-holes of your logic. He exists like an emptiness -- nothingness he is. And out of that nothing,
           every moment the miracle -- that he goes on functioning without any armour around him, without
           any structure. He goes on flowing.
               It is difficult for you to understand, because you cannot think how you would function without a
           structure. If you don't have any morality conditioned on you, how will you behave morally? -- it
           seems difficult for you. It is just like saying to a blind man that we walk without groping. The blind
           man says, "I cannot believe you. How can one walk without groping? Groping is a must." The blind
           man has his stick; he goes on groping with his stick -- "Where is the door?" -- and if you say that we
           don't carry any sticks, he will laugh: "You must have gone mad, or you must be joking." And he will
           say to you, "Don't be funny. Don't try to be funny. Because if you don't grope with a stick, how can
           you walk?"
               Our character is like the blind man's staff. We grope in darkness; we somehow manage to be
           good; we somehow manage to be moral. And inside, the immorality goes on and on, ready to
           explode any moment -- a great turmoil within. And we go on managing somehow on the surface.
           That's what we call character.
               A man who is enlightened -- who has come to know who he is, who has faced himself -- has no
           masks, has no character, has no rules to follow. There is no need, because each moment his
           consciousness is there, and out of his consciousness arises his act.
               You act out of your conscience; he acts out of his consciousness. Conscience is given by the
           society; consciousness is your nature. You act 'good', because you have been told to act 'good'. Not
           that you are good. You ACT'good' because you know it pays to be good; you know honesty is the
           best policy. Just see: it is policy, it is politics. It is cunningness, because it pays. And if dishonesty
           pays -- if dishonesty is the best policy -- then you move to dishonesty.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That's how the hypocrite is born. He goes on pretending to be honest, and he goes on doing
           whatsoever pays. Sometimes honesty pays -- then he is honest; sometimes dishonesty pays -- more
           often dishonesty pays -- then he goes on being dishonest. Whatsoever pays, whatsoever fulfils your
           greed....
                A man who is enlightened lives out of his consciousness. He has no conscience. He has thrown
           out all that structure, that conditioned mind. Now he lives out of his purity, innocence. His act is here
           and now; your act is mind-manipulated. You do something, but either it comes from the past,
           because you have been conditioned to do it that way, or it comes from the future, because you have
           been told about awards in heaven and somewhere in the future. Either it comes out of fear, or it
           comes out of greed -- it never comes out of your consciousness. The enlightened man lives out of his
           consciousness.
                Let me say it in a different way: you react, he acts. Somebody insults you: immediately you
           react. There is no time gap. You become angry, you retaliate. If you insult a Buddha, there is a time
           gap. He does not react. He looks at you; he watches you; he observes you: "Why are you behaving in
           this way?" And out of that observation he responds. It is not a reaction; it is not a push-button thing.
           Somebody insults you; he has pushed a button. You react; you go mad. You cannot push any button
           in a Buddha; he has no buttons. That's what I mean: he has no character around him. You cannot
           push any button. He has dropped the whole mechanism. You can be angry; you can insult him; but
           you cannot decide his reaction, because he has none.
                Once it happened: A few people insulted him very badly... abused him. He listened, listened very
           silently -- you cannot find a greater listener than Buddha. Those people started feeling a little
           awkward, because they were waiting for him to react; and he was listening so silently, so
           meditatively, as if they were reciting the Vedas; and they were just abusing him. They started feeling
           awkward, because the expected reaction was not coming.
                One of them asked, "Are you listening or not to what we are saying? Your face has not changed
           even a little bit. You don't seem to be angry."
                Buddha said, "Because I am listening to you, I feel much compassion. Poor fellows -- why are
           you in such a rage, and why are you in such an anger? Why are you poisoning your systems?"
           Buddha is thinking about them.
                They said, "Forget about us. We have not come to ask for any advice. What about you?"
                Buddha said, "If you had come ten years before, then I would have reacted. You came a little
           late. Now you can insult me, but it never reaches me, because I never accept it. And unless I accept it
           -- unless at my end I receive it -- you cannot give me anything. You can give; but I don't take it."
                Buddha told them a parable. He said, "Just in The other village people had come with many
           sweets, but I told them that I didn't need sweets -- 'Please take them back.' I ask you, what should
           they have done about those sweets?"
                Those people gathered there said, "They must have distributed them in the town."
                Buddha laughed and said, "Now what will you do? You have brought abuses, insults, anger,
           hatred, and I say to you,'I don't take them.' Now you will have to take them back and distribute them
           in the village. I feel sorry for you."
                This is action. And remember, reaction binds; action is freedom, action has no bondage. If you
           act, you are free; if you react, you are in The bondage to it. Act means total -- out of your total
           consciousness a response comes -- not out of conscience, not out of concepts, not out of The mind,
           but out of your being, the innermost being, which is beyond you. Your nature is beyond you -- it
           comes from there.
                An enlightened man is a miracle every moment. He remains in absolute silence, and acts out of
           that silence, responds out of that silence. He has no ideas about good and bad, but whatsoever
           happens through him is good. Whatsoever happens through him is love, whatsoever happens through
           him is compassion, because it is not possible otherwise. Not that he decides, "I should love you." He
           has no 'shoulds', no ideals. Not that he decides, "I should not be bad; I should not sin" -- he has no
           ideas about 'bad' or' sin'.
                Out of awareness is virtue born. Whatsoever comes out of awareness is virtue, and whatsoever
           comes out of your sleep is sin. If you ask my definition of sin, I will say, "An unconscious act, which
           is a reaction, is sin. A conscious act which is not a reaction -- which is a response -- is virtue."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The fourth and The fifth question... but before I take them, I will tell you a parable; before I even
           read the questions to you, I will tell you The parable.
                It happened Once: There was a small village of artists in Tibet. For centuries they had developed
           one art. The art was of twisting wires, metals, into beautiful forms: of man, animals, birds, gods,
           angels. And they had become tremendously efficient in it. All over Tibet they were known as 'the
           expert twisters'. And by and by they also became very rich, because their goods were sold all over
           the country. Their goods had even started to be sold in India and China, and beyond the borders.
                The village became very very rich and affluent. And as it happens always: whenever a society, a
           village, a family, a man, becomes very affluent, the awareness dawns that this whole success has
           been a failure. Because riches are there, but the poverty is not destroyed by them. In fact, only a rich
           man knows how poor he is. A poor man is never so poor; he cannot compare, he has nothing to
           compare his poverty against. And a poor man is never hopeless; he goes on hoping. Some day or
           other, he will attain to happiness, he will attain to riches and success. But a rich man a man who has
           succeeded -- fails utterly, because suddenly he becomes hopeless; now there is no hope. Whatsoever
           could be attained, he has attained -- and nothing has been attained. For the first time, the inner
           poverty erupts into consciousness.
                In that village it happened -- as it is happening in America today -- in that village it happened:
           people had become affluent, very rich. Their goods were sold all over Asia. And by and by they
           became aware that this whole life seemed to be pointless... just continuously twisting wires, metals,
           and bringing more and more money into the homes. But for what? There seemed to be no meaning in
           it.
                So they decided to invite a sage who used to live in the hills, to tell them the secret of life.
           Because all that this world could give, they had, but everything seemed to be pointless.
                The sage came. Before he even uttered a single sentence, he knew what was going to happen. But
           still he spoke. He said, "Unless you die, you will not attain to the meaning you are asking for. Unless
           you lose yourself, you will not gain yourself." He talked about surrender, egolessness.
                One man stood up and he said, "Wait. This is impossible. I am; how can I surrender my am-ness?
           Who will surrender it? It is impossible. You are talking nonsense."
                Another man said, "If I lose myself, what is the guarantee that I will gain my self about which
           you are talking?"
                Another said, "You are just talking absurdities. We have asked you to come to teach us life, and
           you are teaching death. What you are saying to us means: should we commit suicide?"
                The sage laughed and he said, "I knew beforehand what was going to happen. I know your
           disease. For centuries, and for generations and generations, you have been twisting wires and metals;
           you have become expert twisters. So I knew it beforehand: whatsoever I would say, you would
           immediately twist it."
                It seems that from that village, one man has come here.
                Now I will read the two questions. He has asked many, but there is no need of them -- two will
           give you the vision of how things can be twisted.
           First question:


              YOU HAVE GIVEN ME YOUR LOVE. NOW I WANT YOU TO HATE ME. CAN YOU?


               My love is not the opposite of hate; it is the absence of hate. So I cannot hate you. Your love is
           just the opposite of hate, not the absence of hate; so in fact, when you say to somebody, "I love you,"
           at the same time hate is present in you. The very moment you say to somebody, "I love you," go and
           search within yourself, and you will find that you also hate the same person. That is what is going on
           between each and every lover. They fight, they love, they hate. They are continuously shifting from
           love to hate, from hate to love.
               My love is not the opposite of hate. So please don't challenge me: that I cannot do. There comes
           my limitation. That's why I say God cannot be omnipotent, because he cannot hate; it is impossible.
               But what is the point? -- I am here to teach you love, and you are challenging me to hate you.
           Twisters! And for what have you come here? And what is the point of such stupid questions? But
           you must be thinking in your mind that you are asking great questions.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Second question:


              DO YOU THINK THAT YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO WORK UPON ME IF I DO NOT TAKE YOUR
              SANNYAS?


               Have you come to find your capacities or have you come to find my capacities? Are you your
           problem, or am I your problem? Leave me to myself; you at least solve yourself. And you don't
           know what you are asking. What is sannyas? It is just a gesture, a gesture that you are receptive
           towards me, a gesture that you welcome me in your heart, a gesture that if I come you will not reject
           me, a gesture that you are ready to come with me, to walk with me, to follow me -- a gesture, I say.
               And you ask me, "Do, you think that you will be unable to work upon me if I do not take your
           sannyas?" You are asking the sunlight, "Will you be able to come to my house if I don't open my
           doors?" If you don't open your doors, how can the sunlight come in?
               To be a sannyasin is just to open your doors for me. I cannot force my way into you; that would
           be violence, that wouldn't be love. I cannot force any change in you. That would be violence; and
           through violence how can God be born? How can you be reborn out of violence?
               The sun will stand outside the door. It will not even knock, because you may be fast asleep and
           dreaming beautiful dreams; and who knows, you may be disturbed, and who am I to disturb you.? If
           you have decided to be fast asleep and dreaming, who am I to change your decision?
               I am not violent; I am not a mahatma?. You have become accustomed to know mahatmas.
           Mahatmas are violent people who are chasing you, chasing after you. Anyhow they have to change
           you -- obsessed with YOUR change. But why should I be obsessed with your change?. It is for you
           to decide; it is up to you to make it or not make it.
               I am like a river flowing by. If you feel thirsty, come. You challenge the river, "If I don't bend,
           and if I don't make a cup out of my hands, are you capable of quenching my thirst?. But why should
           I?. Thirst is yours. Who am I to quench it? If you have decided to remain thirsty, it is up to you -- I
           bless your thirst. Remain thirsty. If you have decided to remain a desert, who am I to change you,
           and why.? And how is it possible if you have decided to remain a desert, to make a garden out of
           you? Impossible... because you are alive, you are energy, cosmic energy. You will resist; you will
           fight; and whatsoever I will do, you will destroy.
               Sannyas is just a gesture -- a gesture from your side, a signal that you are ready. Just a signal
           from your heart that you are welcoming, that you will receive me. I cannot make love to you, but I
           cannot rape you. And you are asking for rape.
               Whatsoever I say, you will twist it. I am not asking these things for the person who has asked the
           question. He comes from that village; he will twist. I am saying these things for those who don't
           come from that village. They must understand.


              THIS MORNING IN THE DANCING MEDITATION I FOUND MYSELF CRYING HEART-RENT
              TEARS OF HAPPINESS. WHAT IS THIS STRANGE PARADOX?


               Life is a paradox; paradox in its nature. It is not strange. But you are so much addicted to logic
           that whenever life reveals itself to you, it looks strange. Logic has been continuously taught to you --
           that contradictory things cannot exist together. Logic has been teaching you that either it is day or it
           is night; either it is life or it is death, either it is happiness or it is unhappiness. The whole
           mechanism of logic is of 'either-or'.
               And life is both together. Life is all together. Whenever you reach to the deepest sadness,
           suddenly you will see it is turning into happiness. Or, you reach to the deepest happiness and you
           will see that it is turning into sadness. At the centre they meet; only on the periphery are they
           separate.
               It is just as if you make a circle, and from the centre you can draw many lines towards the
           periphery. On the periphery, the circumference, the lines are very far away. Move towards the centre
           and by and by they come closer and closer, and exactly on the centre they become one point.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                All paradoxes meet within you; all paradoxes meet in existence. Only on the periphery of the
           mind are they separate. Deep in you, life and death are both one. Deep in you, happiness and
           unhappiness are both one. Deep in you, God and the devil are both you. Deep in you, this world and
           the other are both one, this shore and the other shore are both one.
                But whenever you come for the first time to that point of realization, it looks strange, unfamiliar.
           But I tell you, if you are really happy, tears will come. It is impossible if the happiness has gone
           really deep -- it cannot be without tears. Of course, the quality of those tears is absolutely different.
           It is not of sadness; it is of overflow.
                And remember, if you have not known sadness together with happiness you have not known
           anything yet. Then your happiness is superficial; your sadness is also superficial. Then you have
           been living on the surface; then you have known only the waves; you have not known the depth of
           the ocean that you are.
                Life is contradictory, paradoxical. It has to be so, because only then can it be so rich. If your
           happiness cannot cry and weep, it will be shallow, it cannot be rich. And if your tears cannot laugh,
           and if your sadness cannot dance, then it is superficial. In the depth, the sadness becomes a song -- a
           tremendous beauty of silence surrounds you, and a song is born out of the depth.
                If you look into it, you will find you are not sad. The sadness is there, the happiness is there, and
           you are neither. This is the innermost triangle of existence; this is the point of transcendence where
           opposites meet. You immediately transcend. You become the third, immediately. When you see
           happiness and sadness meeting, suddenly you are separate from both; all identity is broken. Then
           you know you are a witness. Now it is for you to be identified -- either, if you want, you can be
           identified with sadness or you can be identified with happiness. When you are identified with
           happiness, sadness is suppressed; when you are identified with sadness, happiness is suppressed --
           but both are two aspects of the same coin; and you are the master. The coin is in your hand; you are
           not the coin at all.
                When opposites meet, you transcend. So don't be worried about the strange experience. Allow it!
           Because if you become worried, you will stop allowing it -- because you will start feeling it is
           something like madness. You have known only mad people who can both smile and cry together.
           The East knows better. In the West, if you cry and laugh together immediately you will be taken to
           the psychiatrist. Something has gone wrong. You are contradictory. You are mad. In the East we
           know better.
                Madmen and mystics have something in common: the mystic has transcended beyond the
           duality, and the madman has fallen below it; but they are both out of the duality; they have a
           similarity. A mystic can laugh and weep, and sometimes there have been rare mystics: for example,
           Gurdjieff, He could weep from one eye and laugh from another. He could deceive people -- one
           sitting on the left side, the other on the right. And when they would both go out they would both
           report different things about him. And they would both start quarrelling and saying, "You are wrong.
           That man was very sad; I have even seen a tear drop from his eye."
                And the other would contradict. He would say, "You must have gone mad, because I have seen
           his eyes so sparkling with happiness." Only later on, people became aware that he was playing
           games.
                A mystic has transcended. He has become the master through his transcendence. A madman has
           fallen below. But both have one thing in common -- the madman has something of the mystic, and
           the mystic has something of the madman. So sometimes in the West, mystics have been forced to
           live in madhouses; and sometimes in the East, madmen have been worshipped as mystics.
                The boundaries are a little blurred. But don't be afraid. The fear comes because you see
           something like madness inside; you become afraid. Don't be afraid -- otherwise what am I here for?
           Don't be afraid. Whenever something like this happens and you get scared, remember me, and go on
           and on. Never escape from the innermost core; because if you once escape from it, that will become
           a block. Then again and again you will go to the same point, and the fear will grip you and you will
           fall back.
                Don't create such blocks. Go on and on. That is the meaning of sannyas: so you can trust me
           when the need arises. When you feel too much alone, and when you feel paradoxical things
           happening in you -- where life looks like death and you are scared -- you can lean on my shoulder,
           you can remember me. You can gather courage and you can go on. Once you go on, you know that it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was nothing. That phase has passed; but that you will know only when you have gone on and on and
           on.
               Spiritual growth has many hazards, many danger points. If you escape from those points once,
           you become afraid forever. So trust me, and trust yourself, and go on. There is nothing to fear,
           because the closer you are coming to yourself, the closer you are coming to real sanity. The further
           away you are from your centre, the further away you are from sanity. The world may call you sane,
           but you know that you are not.


              OSHO, HERE WITH YOU IS THE DEEPEST, MOST GROWING PLACE FOR ME TO BE AND I
              DISLIKE MUCH OF WHAT I SEE HERE -- DEAD RAJNEESHIANITY RISING LIKE AN IKON,
              LICENTIOUSNESS NOT FREEDOM EMERGING, ARROGANCE AND AGGRESSIVENESS THE
              RULE, HUMILITY AND CARING THE EXCEPTION. OPENING TO THE AWARENESS THAT THESE
              ARE MY QUALITIES, PROJECTED, RETURNS ME TO A DEEP APPRECIATION IN BEING HERE.
              THANK YOU.


               This is from Amitabh. I can only say, "Thank you, Amitabh." If you can understand that it is
           your own mind projecting things, nothing need be said. You have understood the right thing. Always
           remember, the whole world acts like a screen, and you go on projecting yourself. Whatsoever you
           say about others, says more about you. It docs not say anything about others; because how can you
           know others? -- you don't even know yourself.
               If this awareness has come to you, that this is your own projection -- beautiful. Keep it; hold it
           fast so it does not slip away. And not only about this ashram: about the whole world. Always
           remember, that you go on seeing your own face. The world acts like a mirror.
               And that should never be your worry -- how the world is -- because nothing can be done about
           that. All that can be done has to be done by you, with you, upon yourself. Once you change, your
           projections will disappear. Once YOU change, the world will remain the same, but it will not be the
           same at all.
               Because you are your world. It comes out of you, and spreads outwards. Always remember,
           whenever you see something in somebody, first look within: the other may have functioned as a
           mirror. And try to change your inner being.
               It has always happened that when you become silent the whole world becomes silent; when you
           become loving the whole world becomes loving. It reflects you, it echoes you; it is you, magnified a
           million-fold. But it is you: you are your world; there is no other world. This is the meaning of the
           Hindu concept, MAYA -- illusion.
               The whole world is illusory because it is just your projection. once your projections disappear,
           then suddenly you become aware that world has disappeared, and another world has arisen, the real.
           When you don't have anything to project then the real arises, that which is. Call it God, call it truth,
           or whatsoever you like; but the only way to know that truth, is to become aware of your projections.
           And in awareness they start dropping by and by.
               The day is not far off when projections will disappear, if you can remain aware. Awareness is a
           tremendous fire: it burns all, root and all. It burns the very seeds. And only then, the truth is realized.




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                Chapter #7
                        Chapter title: The more you love, the more fear disappears.
           17 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512170
              ShortTitle: FOLL307
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




              MATTHEW 22
              35 THEN ONE OF THEM, WHICH WAS A LAWYER, ASKED HIM A QUESTION, TEMPTING HIM,
              AND SAYING,
              36 MASTER, WHICH IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW
              37 JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART,
              AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND.
              38 THIS IS THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT.
              39 AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF.
              40 ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS
              HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS.


               THESE TWO WORDS, law and love, are tremendously significant. They represent two types of
           mind: the polar opposites. The mind which is legal can never be loving, and the mind that loves can
           never be legal. The legal attitude is irreligious; it is political, social; and the attitude of love is
           non-political, non-social, individual, personal, religious. Moses, Manu, Marx, Mao, these are the
           legal minds: they have given the law to the world. Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu, these are the
           people of love. They have not given a legal commandment to the world; they have given a totally
           different vision.
               I have heard a story about Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia -- he was a very legal mind. A
           woman came to him and complained about her husband. She said, "Your Majesty, my husband treats
           me very mean."
               Frederick the Great said, "That is not my business."
               But the woman persisted. She said, "Not only that, Your Majesty, he speaks ill of you also."
               Frederick the Great said, "That is none of your business." This is the legal mind.
               The legal mind is always thinking of law, never of love. The legal mind thinks of justice, but
           never of compassion; and a justice which is without compassion can never be just. A justice which
           has not compassion in it is bound to be unjust; and a compassion which may appear unjust cannot be
           unjust. The very nature of compassion is to be just. Justice follows compassion.as a shadow. But
           compassion doesn't follow justice as a shadow, because compassion is the real thing, love is the real
           thing. Your shadow follows you; you don't follow your shadow. The shadow cannot be followed, the
           shadow has to follow. And this is one of the greatest controversies of human history: whether God is
           love, or law; whether he is just, or compassionate.
               The legal mind says God is law. He is just. But the legal mind cannot know what God is, because
           God is another name for love. The legal mind cannot reach to that dimension. The legal mind always
           goes on throwing responsibility on somebody else: the society, the economic structure, the history.
           Always the other is responsible, for the legal mind. Love takes the responsibility on itself: it is
           always'I' who is responsible, not you.
               I have heard a Chinese parable. In Chuang Tzu's garden there was one rose-bush which used to
           flower much. Then suddenly it stopped flowering. Chuang Tzu became, of course, worried -- he had
           always loved that rose-bush. He started showering his love on it, watching it more, taking more and
           more care. But nothing happened; the rose-bush remained barren unblossomed. Weeks passed, and
           then months passed. Then one day Chuang Tzu thought that something had gone basically wrong. It
           seemed the rose-bush could not be helped, and he was just going to decide not tO interfere, when the
           rose-bush spoke up. And the rose-bush said, "Sir, nothing is wrong with me -- it is because of the
           wrong surroundings that I cannot produce flowers. Look at the soil; look at those rocks near me.
           They are destroying my roots. Look at the hot sun -- it is so hot, burning hot. How can I flower?
           How can you expect me to? And, I am alone here; I need other rose-bushes as companions, as
           competitors. Only then can I flower."
               Chuang Tzu put a shield on the rose-bush to protect it from the sun. The beautiful rocks that he
           had arranged at the side were removed; the soil was changed. But nothing happened. Weeks passed;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then one day Chuang Tzu said, "Don't be hurt. Now let me tell you the truth. Nothing is wrong with
           the surroundings -- something has gone wrong in your mind. You remind me of one of my disciples
           who is a lawyer, who always goes on throwing responsibility onto somebody else. And, because of
           that, he cannot change."
                The rose-bush laughed, and said: "Sir, in fact that lawyer disciple of yours -- he has corrupted me
           also; I have been following him". And from the next day the rose-bush became different, became
           greener, and soon flowers were coming. The rocks were replaced, the shield was removed, and the
           surroundings were as of old. But bigger and bigger flowers were coming.
                Once you understand that you are responsible, you start blossoming. Law is an excuse. It is
           cunningness, of the mind, so that you can always protect yourself, defend yourself. It is a defence.
           Love is vulnerable, law is a defence arrangement. When you love somebody, you don't talk law.
           When you love, law disappears, because love is the ultimate law; it needs no other law. It is enough
           unto itself; and when love protects you, you don't need any protection. Don't be legal, otherwise you
           will miss all that is beautiful in life. Don't be a lawyer, be a lover; otherwise you will go on
           protecting yourself, and in the end you will find that there is nothing to protect -- you have been
           protecting just an empty ego. And you can always find ways and means to protect the empty ego.
                I have heard about one very famous artist, Oscar Wilde. His first play was dramatised. It failed
           completely; it was a flop. And when he came out of the theatre hall, friends asked, "How did it go?"
           He said, "It was a great success. The audience was a great failure."
                This is the legal mind, always trying to protect one's ego, the empty ego -- nothing but a soap
           bubble, hollow within, full of emptiness, and nothing in it. But the law goes on protecting.
           Remember, the moment you become legal, the moment you start looking at life through the law --
           maybe the law is that of the government, or the law is that of the churches, it makes no difference --
           the moment you start looking at life through the law, through the morality, the code, the scripture,
           the commandment, you start missing it. One needs to be vulnerable to know what life is; one needs
           to be totally open, insecure; one needs to be able to die in knowing it -- only then one comes to know
           life. If you are afraid of death, you will never know life, because fear can never know. If you are
           unafraid of death, if you are ready to die to know, you will know life, eternal life, which never
           dies.Law is hidden fear, love is expressed fearlessness.
                When you love, fear disappears -- have you observed? When you love, there is no fear. If you
           love a person, fear disappears. The more you love, the more fear disappears. If you love totally, fear
           is absolutely absent: fear arises only when you don't love. When love does not exist, then the fear
           arises. Fear is absence of love; law is absence of love, because law is basically nothing but a defence
           of your inner trembling heart, of your inner trembling -- you are afraid; you want to protect.
                If the society is based on law, the society will remain continuously in fear. If the society is based
           on love, the fear disappears and the law is not needed -- courts will not be needed; hell and heaven
           will not be needed. Hell is a legal attitude: all punishment is legal. The law says if you do wrong you
           will be punished; if you do right you will be rewarded. And then there are so-called religions -- they
           say if you commit sin you will be thrown into hell. Just think about their hell. These people who
           have created the idea of hell must have been very deeply sadistic. The way they have arranged hell,
           they have made every arrangement possible to make you suffer.
                I have heard about a priest who was teaching, and he came to talk about hell. He warmed up to
           the theme, and said, "There will be much fire, and you will be thrown into it. And there will be much
           trembling and gnashing of teeth." And an old woman stood up and she said, "Sir, I have lost my
           teeth." The priest said, "Don't be worried. False teeth will be provided."
                They have made every arrangement to make you suffer -- it comes out of a sadist's imagination.
           These people who have invented hell are dangerous. And they have invented heaven also: heaven for
           themselves and for those who follow them, hell for those who don't follow them and don't believe in
           them. But these are legal attitudes: the same attitude as punishment. And punishment has failed.
                Crime cannot be stopped, it has not been stopped, by punishment. It goes on growing, because in
           fact the legal mind and the criminal mind are two aspects of the same coin; they are not different. All
           legal minds are basically criminal, and all criminal minds can become good legal minds -- they have
           the potentiality. They are not two separate worlds; they are part of one world. Crime goes on
           increasing, and the law goes on becoming more and more complicated and complex.
                By punishment man has not been changed; in fact, man has been more corrupted. Courts have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not changed him; they have corrupted him more. And neither the concepts of reward, heaven,
           respectability, have been of any help, because hell depends on fear, and heaven depends on greed.
           Fear and greed, those are the problems. How can you change man through them? They are the
           diseases, and the legal mind goes on saying they are the medicines.
               A totally different attitude is needed: the attitude of love. Christ brings love to the world. He
           destroys law, the very basis of it. That was his crime; that's why he was crucified -- because he was
           destroying the whole basis of this criminal society; he was destroying the whole foundation rock of
           this criminal world, the world of wars, and violence, and aggression. He gave a totally new
           foundation stone. These few lines have to be understood as deeply as possible.

              THEN ONE OF THEM, WHICH WAS A LAWYER, ASKED HIM A QUESTION, TEMPTING HIM, AND
              SAYING...


                TEMPTING HIM... He wanted to pull him down into a legal argument. There are many
           instances in Jesus' life where he had been tempted to come down from the heights of love to the dark
           valleys of law. And the people who tempted were very tricky. Their questions were such that, if
           Jesus was not really a realized one, he would have fallen a victim. They gave him what is called in
           logic, dilemmas -- whatsoever you answer, you will be caught. If you say this, you will be caught; if
           you say the opposite, then you will also be caught.
                You must have heard the famous story. He is sitting by the side of the river; the crowd have
           come, and they have brought a woman. And they say to him that this woman has committed sin:
           "What do you say?" They tempted him; because it is said in the old scripture that if a woman
           commits sin, she should be stoned to death. Now they are giving two alternatives to Jesus. If he says
           follow the scripture, then they will ask, "Where has your concept of love, of compassion, gone?
           Can't you forgive her? So that talk of love is just talk." Then he will be caught. Or, if he says,
           "Forgive her," then they will say, "Then you are against the scripture; and you have been saying to
           people,'I have come to fulfil the scripture, not to destroy it.'" This is dilemma; now these are the only
           two alternatives.
                But the legal mind never knows that a man of love has also a third alternative, which the legal
           mind cannot know about, because the legal mind can only think in opposites. Only two alternatives
           exist: yes or no. The legal mind does not know about the third alternative, which de Bono has called
           po -- yes, no, and the third alternative is po: it is neither yes nor no; it is totally different.
                Jesus is the first man in the world to say po. He didn't use the term; the term has been invented
           by de Bono. But he said po, he actually did it. He said to these people, to the crowd, that the
           scripture is right: one who has committed sin should be stoned to death. But..."Only those people
           amongst you who have never sinned, and never thought of committing sins, you should come
           forward. You should take stones in your hands and kill this woman." Now there was not a single one
           who had not committed sin, or who had not thought of committing it.
                There may be people who have not committed sin, but they may be thinking continuously about
           it. In fact, they are bound to think about it. People who commit, think less about it: those who don't
           commit, continuously think and fantasise. And for the innermost core of your being, it makes no
           difference whether you think or you do.
                By and by the crowd started disappearing. People who were standing in front disappeared to the
           back -- the legal leaders of the society, the prominent citizens of the town, started disappearing. This
           man had used a third alternative. He didn't say yes, he didn't say no. He said, "Yes, kill the woman"
           -- but only those who have never committed sin or thought about it, they should kill her. The crowd
           disappeared. Only Jesus was left with the woman. The woman fell at his feet and said, "I have really
           committed sin. I am a bad woman. You can punish me." Jesus said: "Who am I to judge? This is
           between you and your Lord God. This is something between you and God. Who am I to interfere? If
           you realize that you have done something wrong, don't do it again. God bless you."
                Such situations were continuously repeated. The whole effort was to bring him into an argument
           where the legal mind can succeed. You cannot argue with the legal mind -- if you argue you will be
           defeated because in argument the legal mind is very efficient. Whatsoever position you take up, it
           matters not; you will be defeated. Jesus could not be defeated because he never argued. This is one
           of the signs, one of the indications that he had attained to love. He remained on his peak; he never
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           descended.

              THEN ONE OF THEM, WHICH WAS A LAWYER, ASKED HIM A QUESTION, TEMPTING HIM, AND
              SAYING, MASTER, WHICH IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW?


                That respect is false. He says, "Master," but that respect is not true. The legal respect is never
           true. Whenever you pay respect as an etiquette, as a social manner, if your respect is just because
           you have been taught to show respect -- you respect your father because you have been told again
           and again, conditioned -- then that respect is false. If you pay respect to your mother because you
           have been told that one should pay respect to the mother, then that respect is false. Unless it comes
           out of love, it is a false coin.
                And love is an unconditioned feeling -- you have never been taught anything about love. Love
           you have brought into the world with yourself; it has just come with you; it is your nature. Only
           when respect comes out of love is it true; otherwise it is a deception.
                The lawyer said: MASTER, WHICH IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW? Now,
           it is a very difficult question: which is the great commandment, which is the foremost
           commandment, which is the fundamental commandment in law? It is very difficult, because every
           law depends on other laws -- they are interlinked. You cannot find the basic law, because no law is
           basic. They depend on each other; they are interdependent.
                For example, if you ask somebody what is matter, he will say, "Not mind." Then ask him what is
           mind, and he will say, "Not matter." Both are undefined, both are indefinables, but you create a
           fallacy of definition. Asked what is matter, you say, "Not mind." The mind itself is undefined. You
           bring one indefinable to define something else -- which is stupid, but on the surface looks very wise
           -- it seems you have answered. Then you are asked what is mind, and you say, "Not matter." Neither
           mind is known, nor matter. Two unknowns are there, but you go on fooling yourself, and fooling
           others. The fundamental law is not known, cannot be known. It is not only unknown, it is
           unknowable; and all other laws are dependent on each other: for example, whether truth is the
           fundamental law, or nonviolence.
                In India it has been one of the controversies: which is basic -- non-violence or truth? If you are in
           a situation where you have to choose between truth or non-violence -- if you say the truth, then there
           will be violence; if you don't say the truth, the violence can be avoided. What will you do? Will you
           say the truth, and help the violence to be committed?
                For example, you are standing at a crossroad, and a group of policemen come. And they ask you,
           "Have you seen a man pass along this road? He has to be caught and killed. He has escaped from
           prison. He is sentenced to death." You have seen the man. You can say, "Yes," and be true; but then
           you will be responsible for the death of that man. You can say you have not seen him, or you can
           even give a wrong direction; then that man is saved. You remained non-violent, but you became
           untrue. What will you do? It seems impossible to choose, almost impossible. Which law is the most
           fundamental?

              JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, AND
              WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND.


               This is po: he is not answering the question at all; he is answering something else. He is not
           getting down to the legal world; he remains perched on his peak of love. He says,

              THIS IS THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT.


               Love thy God with a]l thy heart, all thy mind, and all thy soul. The question was about law, and
           the answer is about love. In fact, he has not answered the question; or, you can say he has answered
           the question because this is the only answer, there can be no other answer.
               This has to be understood. Only from a higher plane can the question of a lower plane be
           answered; remaining on the same plane, the answer is impossible. For example, from where you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the question arises, many questions arise. If you ask a person who remains on the same plane as you,
           he cannot answer you. His answers may look relevant, but cannot be relevant, because he is also in
           the same situation as you.
                It is like a madman helping another madman, the blind leading the b]ind, a confused man helping
           another confused man to attain to clarity. More muddledness, more confusion will happen out of it.
           That's what has happened in the world -- everybody is advising everybody else. Nothing is cheaper
           than advice; in fact, it costs nothing -- just for the asking, and everybody is ready to give you advice.
           Neither you think about it, nor those who are giving you advice, that they exist on the same plane,
           that their advice is simply useless; or, it can be even harmful. Only somebody who is on a higher
           plane than you can be of any help; one who has a clearer perception, a deeper clarity, a more
           crystallised being -- only he can answer your questions.
                I have heard -- it happened once: In a certain city in Tibet, wisdom was sold. A man who wanted
           to become wise went to the marketplace. There were many shops, and in every shop wisdom was
           sold. And it was plentiful; in fact so much so that it was very cheap. So he purchased thousands of
           wisdom bits. He came home loaded with many bullock carts. He became wise. Then he used to visit
           his friends to show the wisdom, because when you have it, you have to show it; otherwise what is its
           use? A wisdom that is borrowed or purchased can have only one function -- that of exhibition. It
           cannot be of any use to you; you can just use it as a decoration. But those friends had also purchased
           from the same market, and everybody was wise. In that town it was difficult to find a foolish man,
           because all fools had purchased. They discussed, they argued; every day they would meet and hurt
           each other by their arguments, and everybody would try to prove that 'my' view was right. And
           nobody was ready to listen to anybody. They created much confusion, much anger, much hostility.
           And they enjoyed it -- that fiery exchange of hostility -- -they became addicted to it.
                But this man, by and by, became fed up with the whole nonsense. He started thinking, "I was
           better before I purchased these wisdom bits. My mind is more burdened; I am more tense; I cannot
           sleep, with continuous arguments and discussions leading nowhere, moving in vicious circles." So he
           went to a wise man and asked what he should do. The wise man said, "It is natural. When people
           exist on the same plane, they cannot help each other. They can only fight, and they can only try to
           help each other; but they will basically cause harm. You throw away all this nonsense that you call
           wisdom. Wisdom cannot be purchased; one has to grow into it." And he said one very profound
           thing: he said, "If you purchase wisdom, if you learn from somebody else, if you borrow it, if it is
           not your own, then you will always be in trouble; because everything that you can borrow has its
           opposite. But if you grow in it, then it has no opposite to it."
                Let me explain it to you. Every law has its opposite, because law is borrowed wisdom. Love has
           not its opposite -- if it has, then it is not love at all. Every law has its opposite; every law can be
           argued against, every proof can be disproved, and there is no argument which is absolute or final.
                I used to know a very great lawyer. He founded a university in India -- he was one of the topmost
           men in his profession. Once it happened: he was a little absent-minded, and he was fighting a case in
           the Privy Council. Two Indian States were fighting. He forgot -- he had drunk too much the night
           before and he had a hangover. And when he went to the Privy Council, he forgot for whom he was
           fighting. So he started arguing for the opposite party; and he was a great lawyer, so he argued well.
           His assistant became very much worried -- what should he do? He pulled his coat many times, but he
           wouldn't listen; he was so much in the debate. When there was a break for tea, the assistant said,
           "You have destroyed the whole thing. You are arguing against yourself" But the lawyer didn't say
           anything. When the court started again, he said, "Up to now, I was giving you the arguments for the
           opposite party. Now I will give the arguments for my party." And he won the case.
                Every law has its opposite; every argument has its opposite. Every proof, if it is only logical, has
           its opposite. Only love has no opposite to it. The lawyer asked Jesus something; Jesus answered
           something else. As if the lawyer was only asking for stones, and Jesus gave him diamonds. In a way,
           it is irrelevant. In another way, in a deeper way, this is the only way it should be. Diamonds were not
           asked for -- the lawyer had no idea about those diamonds; he was only asking about some coloured
           stones, at the most, semi-precious. Jesus gave him diamonds -- tremendously valuable; he was
           asking about law, and Jesus talked about love.
                Always remember it: whenever you come to an enlightened man, whatsoever you say is not the
           point. He talks out of his heart. In fact, he does not answer your questions; he answers you, your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deepest need, about which you yourself are not aware.
               It happens so many times when I am answering your questions. Many times you feel as if your
           question has not been answered. I know it; I am aware of it. It need not be answered. But through
           your question I can feel a deep urge, a deep enquiry, about which you yourself are not aware. You
           cannot be aware in the state you are in -- in your unconsciousness you can ask only wrong questions.
           In my awareness I can answer only right answers. I will repeat: in your sleep you can ask only wrong
           questions; in my awareness I can answer only right answers. On the surface it will look absurd.
               There are three possibilities of dialogue: one, two ignorant persons talking. Much talking goes
           on, but nothing happens out of it; it is just bogus. They talk, but they don't mean what they are
           saying, they are not even aware of what they are saying -- it is just an occupation; it feels good to be
           occupied. They are talking like mechanical things, two computers talking. Then there is the
           possibility of two enlightened persons talking. They don't talk; there is no need to talk. The
           communion is silent; they understand each other without the words. Two ignorant persons talking --
           too many words, and no understanding. Two enlightened persons meeting -- no words, only
           understanding.
               The first situation happens every day, millions of times all over the earth; the second situation
           happens rarely after thousands and thousands of years -- rarely does it happen that two enlightened
           persons meet.
               There is a third possibility -- one enlightened person talking to an unenlightened person. Then
           there are two planes: one is on the earth, the other is in the sky; one is moving in a bullock cart, the
           other is flying in an aeroplane. The person on the earth asks one thing and the person in the sky
           answers something. else. But this is the only way, this is the only way the person on the earth can be
           helped. The lawyer had asked about the law. He had asked,

              MASTER, WHICH IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW?


               He is not asking about love; Jesus is trying to seduce him towards love -- he has changed the
           whole pattern. Once it is in Jesus' hands, then he will take you into a dimension you know not, into
           the unknown, into the unknowable.

              JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, AND
              WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND.


               WITH ALL THY HEART means with all thy feelings. That is what prayer is. When all your
           feelings are together, integrated into one unity, it is prayer. Prayer is your total heart, throbbing with
           the desire of the unknown, throbbing with a deep urge, a deep enquiry for the unknown, each beat of
           your heart devoted.
               WITH ALL THY MIND: that is the meaning of meditation, when all your thoughts have become
           one. When all your thoughts become one, thinking disappears; when all your feelings become one,
           feeling disappears. When your feelings are many, you are sentimental; when your feelings are one,
           all sentimentality disappears -- you are full of heart, but without any sentimentality. Prayer is not
           sentimentalism. Prayer is such a harmony of feelings, such a total unity of feelings that the quality of
           the feelings immediately changes. Just as you put water on to heat, it goes on becoming warmer,
           warmer, hot, more hot -- up to 99o it is still water. Then the 100o comes, and suddenly there is a
           transformation. The water is no more water, it starts evaporating; and the quality immediately
           changes. The water has a quality to flow downwards: when it evaporates, the vapour has a quality to
           float upwards. The dimension has changed.
               When you live in feelings, so many feelings, you are just a confusion, a madhouse. When all the
           feelings are integrated, there comes a moment of transformation. When they all become one, you are
           at the 100o point, the evaporating point. Immediately the nature of the feelings disappears. The old
           down-flowing is no more there; you start evaporating like vapour towards the sky. That is what
           prayer is.
               And the same thing happens when all your thoughts are one -- thinking stops. When thoughts are
           many, thinking is possible; when thoughts are one, then there comes a moment that this oneness of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thought becomes almost synonymous with no-thought. To have one thought is to have no thought,
           because the one cannot exist a]one. The one can exist only with the many, the one can exist only in a
           crowd. When the crowd has disappeared, the one also disappears, and there comes a state of
           no-thought.
                So Jesus, in his small sentence, has condensed the whole of religion.
                THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART: this is what prayer is
           all about.
                WITH ALL THY MIND: that is what meditation is all about.
                AND WITH ALL THY SOUL: the soul is the transcendence of thinking and feeling. The soul is
           beyond prayer and beyond meditation. The soul is your nature -- it is the transcendental
           consciousness in you. Look at yourself as a triangle -- on the lower base, feeling, thinking. But
           feeling and thinking are the only two that you have been feeling up to now; you don't know the third.
           The third can be known only when the feeling becomes prayer, and starts moving upwards, and
           thinking becomes meditation, and starts moving upwards. Then prayer and meditation meet at a
           point -- that point is soul. Somewhere your heart and your mind meet: that is you, that is a
           beyondness. That's what Jesus calls the soul.

              THIS IS THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT.


                Now he is using the language of the lawyer. He has said whatsoever he wanted to say; now he
           comes to the language of the lawyer. The first sentence belongs to Jesus' plane; the second sentence
           belongs to the lawyer's plane. And he has tried to create a bridge between the two.
                THIS IS THE FIRST AND THE GREAT COMMANDMENT: love is the first and the great
           commandment. In fact, love is not a commandment at all, because you cannot be commanded to
           love; you cannot be ordered to love, you cannot be forced to love, you cannot manage and control
           love. Love is bigger than you, higher than you -- how can you control it? And if you are commanded
           to love, if somebody comes just as they do in the army: "Right turn! Left turn!" -- and somebody
           comes and says, "Love!" what can you do ~'Right turn' is okay.'Left turn' is okay. But'Love turn'? --
           you don't know where to turn, where to go; you don't know that way -- it cannot be commanded.
                Yes, you can pretend; you can act. That's what has happened on this earth. The greatest curse that
           has happened on this earth is that love has been forced. From the very childhood everybody is taught
           to love, as if love can be taught.'Love your mother','Love your father','Love your brothers','Love your
           sisters', love this, love that: and the child starts trying -- because how can the child know that love
           cannot be an act? It is a happening.
                Just the other night I was saying... once it happened: A musician was playing on his organ -- just
           sitting idle, with nothing to do; in a playful mood, not serious at all -- in fun. Suddenly something
           happened for which he had been waiting his whole life. He struck a chord. For that chord he had
           been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. He had tried his utmost and he had never been able to
           manage it; and suddenly it was there... and he had just been fingering the keys. He was thrilled,
           ecstatic. He danced. And then he tried again. But he could not get it again. He tried hard -- the harder
           he tried, the more frustrated he was. For months he became almost mad. He tried and tried, day and
           night; and the more he tried, the further away it looked. In fact, after a few weeks he started to
           wonder if it had ever happened, or if he had imagined it. The memory of it had also gone so far away
           that he started thinking, "Maybe I simply dreamt about it, and it has not happened." Then he dropped
           the whole subject. Then he forgot about it.
                Again one day after a few months, he was just sitting at the organ, fingering the keys. Again it
           was there; again it happened. He was thrilled; he was ecstatic. But now he understood -- it happened
           only when he was not there. Then he never tried; then he never tried to bring it back. It started to
           happen almost every day. It started to happen, by and by, whenever he touched the keys. It became a
           natural flow.
                Love is just like that. You cannot force it. You have been missing because you have been trying
           too hard. The more I look and observe you, the more I feel your desert-like state. Everybody is in
           search of love. You may call it God, you may call it something else; but deep down I know you are
           in search of love. But you have become incapable, not because you have not tried, but because you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have tried too hard.
               Love is a happening; it cannot be commanded. Because you have been commanded to love, your
           love has been falsified from the very beginning, poisoned from the very source. Never say to a child
           -- never commit this sin -- never say to a child, "Love your mother." Love the child, and let love
           happen. Don't say, "Love. Love me, because I am your mother, or I am your father. Love me." Don't
           make it a commandment; otherwise your child will miss for ever and ever. Just love him. In a loving
           milieu, one day suddenly the chord just happens, the harmony is found in the innermost organ of
           your being. Something starts; some melody, some harmony arises, and then you know that it is your
           nature. But then you never try to do it; then you simply relax and allow it to be.
               THIS IS THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT. Jesus is using the language of the
           lawyer, because he is answering him; otherwise love is not a commandment, and cannot be a
           commandment.

              AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF:


               The first is, love thy God. God means the total, the tao, the brahma. God is not a very good word;
           tao is far better -the total, the whole, the existence -- love existence. That is the first, the most
           fundamental.

              AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF;


               ... because it is difficult to find God, and it is difficult to love God, if you have not found him
           already. How can you love God, who is unknown? How can you love the unknown? You need some
           bridge, you need some familiarity. How can you love God? It looks absurd; it is absurd.Hence the
           second commandment.

              AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF:


                I was reading a story -- I liked it. A learned man asked Rabbi Abraham, "They say that you give
           people mysterious drugs, and that your drugs are effective. Give me one, that I may attain to the fear
           of God."
           "I don't know any drug for the fear of God," said the Rabbi. "But, if you like, I can give you one for
           the love of God."
           'That is even better!" cried the scholar. "Just you give it to me.
           "It is the love of one's fellow men," answered the Rabbi.
                If you real]y want to love God, you have to start by loving your fellow men, because that is the
           nearest God is to you. And by and by, ripples of your love can go on expanding. Love is like a
           pebble thrown into a silent lake: ripples arise, and then they start spreading tO the faraway shores.
           But -- first the touch of the pebble on the lake; close to the pebble they arise, and then far and far
           away they spread.
                First, you will have to love those who are like you -- because you know them, because at least
           you can feel a certain familiarity, a certain at-homeness with them. Then the love can go on
           expanding. Then you can love animals, then you can love trees, then you can love rocks. And then
           only can you love existence as such, not before then.
                So, if you can love human beings, you have taken the first step. But just the opposite has been
           happening on this unfortunate earth -- people love God, and kill human beings. In fact, they say
           because they love God so much, they have to kill. Christians kill Mohammedans, Mohammedans kill
           Christians, Hindus kill Mohammedans, Mohammedans kill Hindus, because they all love God -- in
           the name of God, they kill human beings.
                Their gods are false. Because if your God is true, if you have really known what God means, if
           you have realised even a bit, if you have even attained to just a glimpse of what God is, you will love
           human beings; you will love animals, you will love trees, you will love rocks -- you will Love. Love
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will become your natural state of being. And if you cannot love human beings, don't be deceived --
           then no temple is going to help you.
                Just two or three days before, one beautiful woman, a rare person, came to see me. Her whole life
           she has been a humanist, not believing in God, a no-sayer. She told me, "I am surprised that I am
           here." Her surprise is natural. She had never been to any temple, to any church, to the so-called
           religious people; and then she has come here. And not only that she wanted to be initiated into
           sannyas. She could not believe herself -- what was happening. But I could look into her. She has
           been able to come to me because she has loved human beings. She has taken the first step towards
           the temple. She may not have gone to any temple -- that is not needed. She may not have ever
           thought about God -- that is not needed. But she has taken an authentic step; she has loved human
           beings. She has been a no-sayer, but that is the basis for saying yes. She has earned her sannyas.
                There are two types of people who come to me and want to be initiated: a few who have not
           earned it -- she has earned it. Some will start earning it only after they have taken sannyas -- for them
           it is a beginning. But for that old woman it is not a beginning, it is a culmination. She has arrived.
           Her whole life has been a preparation for it. She said no. To say yes to human beings she denied
           God: perfectly good -- as it should be. Say no to God, but never say no to human beings, because if
           you say no to human beings, the path is cut; then you will never be able to reach God. Say no to the
           church, to the temple; there is no problem about it. But never say no to love, because that is the real
           temple. All other temples are just false coins, pseudo-images, not authentic. There is only one
           authentic temple, and that temple is love. Never say no to love -- you will find God; God cannot hide
           for long.
           The second commandment, Jesus says,

              THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF.


               ... because, in fact, all humanity is you, in many faces and in many forms. Can't you see it -- that
           your neighbour is nobody else than you, your own being in a different shape and form
               Many rivers in the world are named after colours. In China we have the Yellow River;
           somewhere in South Africa they have the Red River; in the U.S., I have heard, they have the White
           River, the Green River, the Purple River. In Spain they have a river, the Rio Tinto -- it has three
           names. Somewhere it is known as the Green River, somewhere as the Red River, somewhere as the
           White River. The river itself has no colour; water is colourless, but the river takes the colour of the
           terrain it passes through, the colour of the shrubbery on the banks. If it passes a desert, of course it
           has a different colour; if it passes through a forest, the forest is reflected -- the shrubbery, the
           greenery -- it has a different colour. If it passes through a terrain where the mud is yellow, it
           becomes yellow. But no river has any colour. And every river, whether it is called white, or green, or
           yellow, reaches naturally to its end, to its destiny, falls into the ocean, and becomes oceanic.
               Your differences are because of your terrain. Your colours are different because of your terrain.
           But your innermost quality of being is colourless; it is the same. Somebody is black, a negro;
           somebody is white, an Englishman;somebody is just in them middle, an Indian; somebody is yellow,
           a Chinese -- so many colours. But remember, these are the colours of the terrain of the body you pass
           through. They are not your colours; you are colourless.
               In India, we have a name for the sannyasin -- we call him VIRAGI. That means colourless. RAG
           means colour; VIRAG means colourlessness; and VIRAGI is one who has come to know his
           colourless being.
               You are not the body; neither are you the mind, nor are you the heart. Your mind differs, because
           it has been conditioned differently; your body is different, because it has come through a different
           terrain, through a different heredity; but you are not different.
               Jesus says: THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF. As you love yourself,
           love your neighbour. And one thing very basic, which Christians have completely forgotten Jesus
           says, "Love thyself," and, "Love thy neighbour as thyself"
               Unless you love yourself, you cannot love your neighbour.All the so-called Christianity has been
           teaching you hatred towards yourself, condemnation towards yourself. Love yourself, because you
           are the nearest to God. It is there that the first ripple has to arise. Love yourself. Self-love is the most
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fundamental thing -- if you ever want to be religious, self-love is the basis. And all so-called
           religions go on teaching you self-hatred: "Condemn yourself, you are a sinner, guilty -- this and that
           -- you are worthless."
                You are not a sinner. They have made you so. You are not guilty. They have given you wrong
           interpretations of life. Accept yourself, and love yourself. Only then can you love your neighbour,
           otherwise there is no possibility. If you don't love yourself, how can you love another being.? I teach
           you self-love. At least do that; if you cannot do anything else -- love yourself. And out of your
           self-love, by and by you will see love is starting to flow; it is expanding; it is reaching to the
           neighbours.
                The whole problem today is that you hate yourself and you want to love somebody else, which is
           impossible. And the other also hates himself, and he wants to love you. That lesson has to be learned
           first within yourself.
                If you ask Freud and the psychoanalysts, they have come to discover a very basic thing. They say
           -- first, the child is autoerotic, masturbatory; the child loves himself. Then the child becomes
           homosexual -- the boys love boys and want to play with boys; girls want to play with girls, and they
           don't want to mix with each other. And then arises heterosexuality -- the boy wants to mix, and love
           a girl; a girl wants to meet a boy and love. First, auto-erotic, then homo-erotic, then hetero-erotic --
           this is about sex. The same is true about love.
                First, you love yourself Then you love your neighbour, other human beings. And then you move
           beyond: you love existence. But the basis is you. So don't condemn yourself; don't reject yourself.
           Accept. God has taken abode in you. He has loved you so much, that's why he has taken abode in
           you. He has made a temple of you; he lives in you. If you reject yourself, you reject the nearest to
           God that you can find. If you reject the nearest, it is impossible that you will love the faraway.
                When Jesus says: THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF, he is saying two
           things: first, love thyself, so that you can be capable of loving thy neighbour.

              ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS.


                In fact it is one commandment, Love. Love is the one and only order of things. If you have
           understood love, you have understood all. If you have not understood love, you may know many
           things, but all that knowledge is simply rot. Throw it on a rubbish heap and forget all about it. Start
           from the very beginning. Be a child again, and start loving yourself again.
                Your lake, as I see it, has no ripples. The first pebble of love has not fallen in it.
                I have heard a Danish story. Remember it -- let it become part of your mindfulness. The story
           tells about a spider who lived high up in the rafters of an old barn. One day he let himself down by a
           long thread to a lower beam, where he found the flies were more plentiful and more easily caught.
           He therefore decided to live permanently at this lower level, and spun himself a comfortable web
           there. But one day he happened to notice the line down which he had come, stretching away into the
           darkness above. "I don't need this any more," he said. "It only gets in the way." He snapped it, and
           with it destroyed his whole web, which needed it for support.
                This is the story of man also. A thread joins you with the ultimate, the highest; call it God. You
           may have completely forgotten that you have descended from there. You come from God, and you
           have to go back to him. Everything goes back to the original source; it has to be so. Then the circle is
           complete, and one is fulfilled. And you may even feel like this spider, that the thread that joins you
           to the highest comes in the way. Many times because of it you cannot do many things: again and
           again it comes in the way. You cannot be violent as you would like to be; you cannot be aggressive
           as you would like to be; you cannot hate as much as you would like to hate -- the line comes again
           and again in the way. And sometimes you may feel like this spider: to cut it, to snap at it, so that
           your path is clear.
                That's what Nietzsche says: "God is dead." He snapped at it. But immediately Nietzsche became
           mad. The moment he said, "God is dead," he became mad, because then you are cut away from the
           original source of all life. Then you are starved of something very vital, essential. Then you miss
           something, for you had become completely oblivious that it was the very base. The spider snapped at
           the thread, and with it destroyed his whole web, which needed it for support.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Wherever you are, in your darkest night, a ray of light is still joined with you from God, from
           existence. That is your life; that's how you are alive. Find out that thread, because that is going to be
           the way back home.
               On 5th June, 1910, O'Henry was dying. It was getting dark. Friends were surrounding him.
           Suddenly he opened his eyes and said, "Put the light up. I don't want to go home in darkness." The
           light was put up; he closed his eyes, smiled, and disappeared.
               The thread that is joining you, the single ray of life that is making you alive, is the way back
           home. Howsoever far you have gone, you are still joined with God -- otherwise it would not be
           possible. You may have forgotten him, but he has not forgotten you; and that is the real thing that
           matters.
               Try to find out something in you which joins you to existence. Search for it, and you will come
           to the commandment Jesus is talking about. If you search, you will come to know it is love, not
           knowledge, that joins you to existence; not riches, not power, not fame -- it is love that joins you to
           existence. And whenever you feel love, you are tremendously happy, because more and more life
           becomes available to you.
               Jesus, or a Buddha, both are like a honey-bee. The honey-bee goes and finds beautiful flowers in
           a valley. She comes back, she dances a dance of ecstasy near her friends to tell them that she has
           found a beautiful valley full of flowers. Come, follow me. A Jesus is just a honey-bee who has found
           the original source of life: a valley of beautiful flowers, flowers of eternity. He comes and dances
           near you to give you the message: Come, follow me.
               If you try to understand and seek within you, you will find it is love that is the most significant,
           most essential thing in your being. Don't starve it. Help it to grow, so that it can become a big tree;
           so that birds of heaven can take shelter in you; so that in your love, tired travellers on the path can
           rest; so that you can share your love; so that you can also become a honey-bee. In your ecstasy, you
           can also tell people to come and follow you. Each and everyone has to become a Jesus one day, and
           don't be contented for less. Unless you become a Jesus, you cannot be a Christian. If you are satisfied
           by being a Christian, you are fooling yourself. Be a Jesus -- less than that is not worthwhile. And you
           can be, because in fact you are. Only a recognition... just a recognition.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                   Chapter #8
                              Chapter title: I bring the greatest synthesis that is
           18 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512180
              ShortTitle: FOLL308
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 79 mins




              I OFTEN DESIRE TO HAVE AN ISOLATED, SECURE PLACE TO ALLOW SURRENDER.
              MEDITATIONS SEVERAL HOURS A DAY GOING DEEPER AND DEEPER WITHOUT
              DISTRACTION. AS I UNDERSTAND, MOST YOGA MASTERS TEACH THAT WITHDRAWAL FROM
              THE WORLD IS NECESSARY FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, ONCE KUNDALINI STARTS RISING,
              UNTIL ONE IS FINALLY ESTABLISHED IN SAMADHI; AT WHICH TIME ONE CAN REALLY BE IN
              THE WORLD, BUT NOT OF IT. YOUR TEACHING SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENT: TO ENGAGE IN
              THE WORLD WHILE THE TRANSFORMATION IS OCCURRING. IF THIS IS SO, HOW DO I AVOID
              THE DISTRACTION OF MAYA BEFORE I CLEARLY SEE THE REALITY?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               THE FIRST THING: the ego always seeks isolation, in a thousand and one ways. When you
           become very rich, you become isolated. When you become politically very powerful, you become
           isolated. An Adolf Hitler is alone, more alone than a yogi in the Himalayas. He has no friends,
           nobody equal to him; he has no relationships. A very rich man reaches to a Himalayan peak, where
           he is alone. Hence one seeks riches, hence one seeks political power.
               The ego is always in search of isolation, because when you are alone, only the ego remains; the
           ego becomes the whole world. Then there is nobody to fight with your ego; there is nobody to
           humiliate you; there is nobody with whom you can compare yourself. You become supreme in your
           own eyes. You can believe in your ego absolutely; there will be no distraction.
               I am against isolation. In fact you have to dissolve the ego, not to isolate it. You are not to
           become an island, independent, separate from the whole: you have to become a part of the continent,
           one with it. How can you be one with reality in isolation? The reality needs participation, not
           isolation. That's why the greatest SAMADHI occurs in love, not in isolation. And the greatest of
           yoga is love, because in love you have to dissolve yourself, in love you have to die, in love you have
           to melt, merge.
               I teach love, not isolation. Isolation is the way of the world, not the way of religion. But it
           happens: you have been seeking riches, political power, possessions; then you become frustrated;
           then you turn to the Himalayas -- you renounce the world. You don't renounce the ego, you renounce
           the world. I teach you: renounce the ego, don't renounce the world.
               The ego is very subtle. You could not attain to political power, then you try to attain to religious
           power. You call it KUNDALINI, but still it is power, still it is something that will make you
           separate, unique, independent, an island. If your religion is also a search for power, then isolation is
           needed.
               But religion is not a search for power; it is a search for silence. It is a search for peace; it is a
           search for inner poverty -- what Jesus calls 'poor in spirit'. It is a search to be, in such a way that
           there is no difference between to be and not to be. Non-being becomes your only being.
               This is possible not through independence, this is possible only if you realize interdependence.
           These three words have to be remembered: dependence, independence, and interdependence.
           Dependent you are; independence you seek; interdependence I teach. Dependent you are, because
           everywhere you will feel you are dependent, everywhere a limitation comes in. If you love
           somebody you become dependent on him or on her. Everywhere life brings dependence. Then the
           idea arises that in the world you can never be independent. Escape from the world. You can escape,
           but independent you can never be: you can only be deceived. Even in the Himalayas you are not
           independent; you are still dependent on the sun. If the sun does not rise, you will be dead
           immediately. You will be dependent on the oxygen and air: if the oxygen disappears, you will be
           dead. You will be dependent on water; you will be dependent on a thousand and one things.
               Dependence has to be understood, not to be avoided. If you understand dependence, you will
           understand immediately that hidden behind it is interdependence. Dependence is just a
           misinterpretation. Those who have known have also known that you are not dependent on the sun;
           the sun is also dependent on you. Without you the sun cannot be, as you cannot be without the sun.
           Even a small blade of grass will be missed from existence; the existence will never be complete
           without it. A gap, something missing, will be there.
               So don't think that the stars are great, and a blade of grass is very small and tiny. In existence,
           nothing is great and nothing is small, because existence is one.
               This is what is meant by ecology: interdependence. And ecology is not only of this earth, it is of
           the totality. Ecology is a spiritual phenomenon.
               You are misinterpreting. You are interpreting interdependence as dependence. That is a wrong
           notion, and because of that wrong notion, a wrong desire arises: how to be independent. Out of one
           error another error arises. You cannot be; and if somebody teaches you independence -- there are
           people who teach this -- they are teaching sheer stupidity. You are part, you are one with the whole,
           you are a wave in the ocean. The wave cannot be independent. How can you take the wave apart
           from the ocean? And I tell you, the ocean also cannot be separate from the wave. Without waves the
           ocean will also disappear. The waves cannot be without the ocean; the ocean cannot be without the
           waves, because waves are nothing but the ocean waving. Because of language the separation arises.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You say the waves and the ocean; in fact, there are not the waves and the ocean, it is all one -- the
           ocean waving. Waves are not things... a process, a movement, a breathing of the ocean. You and
           your breathing are not two things: you are the breathing, the breathing is you. You breathe and the
           breathing breathes you -- they are inseparable.

               Life is one. For this oneness,. interdependence, God is another name. Love is still another name,
           and even better than God, because God has been destroyed by the theologians. Love is still pure and
           virgin.
               So the first thing to be understood: I don't teach isolation, because I don't teach the ego. Your
           so-called yoga masters are all more or less egoists. Once a man came to me, and he thought he was a
           great seeker. The ego finds new ways to be fulfilled. He was a great seeker, and he was very old. He
           told me that throughout his whole life he had been seeking a perfect master, the greatest in the world,
           because he could not be satisfied with anything less than that. I asked him,"Could you find him?" He
           said, "Yes, I met many, but I had to leave them. A few were self-deceived; a few were deceiving
           others; a few were mad; a few were simply idiots; a few were greedy, exploiters; a few were just
           parrots, repeating the Vedas and the Upanishads. And many other wrong sorts of guides I met. But
           then," his eyes sparkled, and he said, "I came across a man who was a perfect master, and I
           immediately spoke up and told him,'You are the greatest master in the world.'" I asked this seeker,
           "When did you say this to him?" He said, "When he told me that I was the most perfect disciple in
           the world... immediately."
               The ego goes on seeking different ways to be enhanced. In the name of yoga many ego-trips goes
           on. Don't become a part of it. I don't teach isolation, because I want you to leave the ego, and not the
           world. The world is not the problem. The world is tremendously beautiful; it is pure joy; nothing is
           wrong in it. Something is wrong in you, not in the world. Drop the wrongness in you; don't renounce
           the world. I teach you to celebrate the world, not to renounce it. I affirm life, and affirm it
           unconditionally; and I say to you that those who tell you to renounce it are the poisoners, and that
           from the very beginning they are teaching you something absolutely wrong. They are saying
           something is wrong in the world: they call it MAYA. I call you MAYA -- not the world. The ego is
           the only MAYA, the only illusion -- not these trees, they are simply beautiful; not these flowers, not
           these birds, not this sky, not this sun, these stars -- no, they are simply beautiful; they are divine and
           holy.
               You are the MAYA. So, if you want to leave anything, leave yourself. If you want to renounce
           anything, renounce yourself. And the only way, the only way to renounce oneself is to celebrate.
           Because whenever you are happy, you are not; whenever you are sad, you are; whenever you are
           depressed, you are; whenever you are delighting, you are not. In bliss, in ecstasy, you disappear. In
           sadness and sorrow, you again appear. Watch. When you laugh, you are not. In real laughter, you
           simply are not. It comes out from somewhere you know not of. It comes from beyond you. You don't
           laugh: when laughter is there, you are not.
               Dance. When the dance really possesses you, when there really is a dance, the dancer is no more,
           the dancer has disappeared; he doesn't exist. The dance is so tremendously real that the unreal has to
           disappear before it. The unreal cannot face the real; the false cannot confront the real; the lie cannot
           face the truth; the darkness cannot encounter light. When the real arises -- and the real is when you
           are part of the whole, whether in laughter, in dancing, in love -- whenever you are part of the whole,
           the real is. Separate, you are MAYA. One with the whole, you are God.
               I OFTEN DESIRE TO HAVE AN ISOLATED, SECURE PLACE TO ALLOW SURRENDER.
           When you are alone, a false type of 'religiosity' arises. Because whenever you are alone, there is
           nobody to provoke your anger, nobody to create an opportunity where you can become sad, nobody
           to bring your own false faces before you. You are alone: anger does not arise. Not that anger has
           disappeared -- simply the situation for anger is not there. You are full of anger, but nobody is there to
           insult you, to hurt you. Only the opportunity is missing. Come back to the world: live fifty years in
           the Himalayas -- when you come back to the world, immediately you will find anger is there, as
           fresh as ever; even maybe more powerful now, because of fifty years accumulated anger,
           accumulated poison. Then one becomes afraid to come back to the world.
               Go to the Himalayas: you will see many people hanging around there. Cowards, they cannot
           come back to the world. What sort of purity is this, which is afraid? What sort of celibacy is this,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           which is afraid? What sort of reality is this, which is afraid of MAYA, of illusion? What sort of light
           is this, which is afraid of darkness: that it comes to the dark, the darkness will be powerful and may
           destroy it? Has darkness ever destroyed any light? But they go on hanging around. The more they
           hang around there, the more they become incapable of coming back to the world -- because there in
           the Himalayas they can have their beautiful image: nobody else to destroy it. In the world it is
           difficult. Somebody, from somewhere, treads to your toe; somebody, from somewhere, hurts you.
           You have to drop anger. My whole effort is so that you change. Don't try to change the scene, please
           change yourself. The change of the scene not going to help anybody; it has never helped anybody.
                And you think... MEDITATION SEVERAL HOURS A DAY. Even if you meditate twenty-four
           hours a day it is not going to help unless meditation becomes a way of life -- not that you meditate.
           Whether you meditate one hour, or two hours, or three hours, or six hours, or many hours -- you may
           meditate twenty-four hours: you will go mad, but you will not attain to SAMADHI.
           SAMADHI is when you completely forget what meditation is. You don't meditate; just the way you
           live is meditative. The way you may, the way you walk, the way you eat: that becomes meditative.
           Meditation becomes a quality of your life; it is not a question of quantity. Don't be quantitative.
           Don't think that if you meditate more, then more meditation will happen to you... foolish. The more
           is not the question -- quality, not quantity.
                Meditation is not money that you can go on gathering and piling up. Meditation is a way of
           being: you don't pile it up, you cannot accumulate it, it is not a wealth. It is the way you are.
                So whatsoever you are doing here are really not meditations. They are just situations through
           which I would like you -o see; they are just preparations for the meditation. We call them
           meditations, because they prepare you for the right meditation. That is just clearing the ground, just
           cleansing the ground: they are not real meditations, because real meditations cannot be done, as real
           love cannot be done. It happens. You are simply cleaning your mindbody; you are purifying yourself
           so that you can become a vehicle, so that you can be possessed. Then whatsoever you do, you do
           meditatively.

                There have been stories of people who are robbers, or butchers, who have attained to
           enlightenment. But they attained, because whatsoever they did was meditative. I have heard one
           taoist story: One Emperor of China had a butcher; and he always loved to see him whenever he came
           to kill the animals for his kitchen. The Emperor would come and see and watch, because the whole
           thing was so beautiful -- such an ugly thing, but the butcher was so beautiful. He did it as if he was
           doing a prayer; he did it as if he was in deep ecstasy. And for thirty years the Emperor watched and
           watched, and he was never fed up. Every day he waited with great excitement: the butcher would be
           coming. The butcher carried a certain climate around him, as if he was going to the temple to pray to
           God -- and he was just going to kill animals. First he would pray; then he would talk to the animal;
           then he would thank the animal. And when he killed the animal, each of his gestures had a
           tremendous beauty of its own. The Emperor used to watch.
                One day he asked, "I have been watching you for twenty years. I am never fed up; every day I
           wait excitedly -- I don't wait so excitedly for anything else in the twenty-four hours. What is the
           secret of it?" The butcher said, "Because it is meditation for me. I am a butcher: that is the way God
           has willed me to be. I was born the son of a butcher: that's how God has willed me to be. This is my
           life, and I have made it a meditation. If God wants me to be a butcher, let it be so. But I should be
           meditative, so this is my meditation. I go into deep ecstasy; it is not just an activity: it is an act of
           love. God is there in the animal, God is in me; and God wants to kill God himself. Perfectly okay.
           Who am I to interfere? I simply become a vehicle; I am simply possessed."
                There are stories of people who were robbers and thieves, who have also attained. What was
           their secret? Just the same. And I know people who have lived in a Himalayan retreat for their whole
           life, and have not attained to anything. It is not a question of quantity -- how much you do. the
           question is how you do it -- not how much: what quality you bring to it. You can just walk and it can
           be meditative; you can just sit and it can be meditative; you can eat and it can be meditative; and you
           can just take a shower and it can be meditative. Try to understand this.
                Meditation should become a climate around you, a milieu in which you live. And wherever you
           go, you carry your climate. This is my whole effort: that's why I don't send you to isolation, I don't
           send you to mountains so that you can meditate the whole day; because that would give you a wrong
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           notion about it, the notion of quantity.
                GOING DEEPER AND DEEPER WITHOUT DISTRACTION: you can never go deeper and
           deeper if you don't understand what distraction is. If you are trying to avoid distraction, you can
           never go deeper; because wherever you are, the distraction will follow you -- because it is in you.
                I will tell you one story: One man was very much distracted by his wife, because whenever he
           meditated the wife would talk loudly, or walk and close doors so loudly that plates would start
           falling; and he was very much distracted. So he left the house. He went into a forest. But then
           animals and crows started distracting him. Sometimes it was also happening that there was no
           distraction -- then this would become the distraction. What is the matter? -- there is no distraction.
           Absolute silence, and he would be distracted: what is happening? Have all the animals and the birds
           disappeared? Distraction is not something objective, not there outside you; it is something in you. If
           you cannot accept, you will be distracted; if you accept, distraction disappears.

               Once it happened: I was staying in a rest-house. And a political leader was also staying there -- a
           very small rest-house in a very small village. The political leader came to me in the middle of the
           night, and said, "It is impossible to sleep. How are you sleeping?" He shook me, and said, "How are
           you sleeping, there is so much distraction?"
               Somehow or other at least two dozen dogs... they must have made the rest-house their abode --
           the whole village's dogs. Maybe they were having a political gathering also -- and they were so
           many; there was such a loud barking and fighting.
               He said, "But how are you sleeping? These dogs won't allow me to sleep, and I am tired."
               So I said to the political leader, "But they are not aware of you. They don't read newspapers, they
           don't listen to the radio, they don't look at television; they are not aware of you. I was also here
           before you. That is their usual way: they are not doing it specially for you. You are fighting,
           resisting. The notion that they are disturbing you is disturbing you; not they. Accept them" I told him
           to do one small meditation. "Lie down on the bed. Enjoy their barking. Let it be a music. Enjoy it.
           Listen to it, as attentively as possible."
               He said, "How is it going to help me? I want to avoid, I want to forget that they are there, and
           you are telling me to listen to them. That will disturb me even more."
               I told him, "You just try. You have been trying your way, and it has failed. Now try my way; and
           you can see that it has been successful with me."
               He was not ready for it, and he didn't believe it; but there was no other way, so he tried. And
           within five minutes he was fast asleep, and snoring. So I went and shook him up, and I said, "How
           are you sleeping? How is it possible?"
               lf you accept, nothing can distract you. It is the very rejection in you that creates the distraction.
           So, if you want to meditate without distraction, don't reject anything. the traffic noise has to be
           accepted -- it is part of this world, and perfectly okay; the child crying and weeping is part of this
           world, and perfectly okay. Once you say that everything is okay, just watch the feeling that
           everything is okay and accept it. Something within you melts. Then nothing distracts. And unless
           this happens, you can go anywhere you like and you will be distracted by one thing or another.
               AS I UNDERSTAND, MOST YOGA MASTERS TEACH THAT WITHDRAWAL FROM
           THE WORLD IS NECESSARY. It is not necessary at all. Not only is it not necessary, it is harmful
           because who is withdrawing? In withdrawal, the ego will be strengthened. Don't withdraw; rather,
           melt. I teach you just the opposite. Melt.
               MOST YOGA MASTERS TEACH THAT WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WORLD IS
           NECESSARY FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, ONCE kundalini STARTS RISING, UNTIL ONE IS
           TOTALLY ESTABLISHED IN samadhi; AT WHICH TIME ONE CAN REALLY BE IN THE
           WORLD, BUT NOT OF IT. No... if you have not been that way from the very beginning, it is not
           going to happen suddenly in the end. If it has been that way from the very beginning only then will it
           flower in the end. If you withdraw from the world, you will never be capable of coming back to the
           world, and being in the world and not of it. No; because it cannot happen suddenly; it is a gradual
           process. By and by you have to imbibe the spirit of it. It is just like a small seed sprouting, becoming
           a plant, and becoming a tree. You say that suddenly -- first, we will withdraw from the world, and
           then we will come back to the world. In the very withdrawal you will be disconnected from the
           world; you will become afraid to come back.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Go and look at Catholic monasteries, Hindu monasteries: people have become afraid; they don't
           come back. There are monasteries in Europe where, once you enter, you never get out of the
           monastery again until you die. Why do these monasteries exist? There are monasteries where never
           in their history has any woman entered... Catholic monks. There are monasteries of nuns where no
           man has ever entered -- for centuries. What type of crystallisation is this? Fear crystallised, nothing
           else -- withdrawal crystallised. And they all go on saying that one should live in the world and be not
           of it. But that has not happened. Look at the Jain monks: they are afraid of everything. For fifty years
           a man has been a monk -- he cannot touch a woman's hand; he cannot look at a woman eye to eye.
           What type of SAMADHI is this? Maybe suicide, but not SAMADHI. What type of attainment is
           this? I cannot call it any attainment. It is not that KUNDALINI has arisen: KUNDALINI has slept
           completely, died completely. The fire has disappeared. There is no fire.
               If you really want to come to that beautiful space where you are in the world and not of it, then
           you have to be that way from the very beginning; you have to remain in the world and work it out. It
           is difficult, I know. That's why people escape to the forest, because that looked simple. You think
           those who have escaped from the world are very brave? Then you are in a totally wrong notion. They
           are cowards. They have escape because they could not cope; they have escaped because they could
           not grow; they have escaped because the world was too much for them. But they have decorated
           their escape beautifully; and for centuries those cowards have been writing scriptures and
           commentaries, because they had nothing else to do; and they go on doing that. Their whole energy
           has been wasted in verbalisation; and they go on convincing other cowards.
               Religion is courage; it is not cowardice. Be brave in facing the world. And whatsoever you want
           to be in the end, be from the very beginning: that is the only way. Carry it from the very first step,
           because the first step is the last step also.
               YOUR TEACHING SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENT: TO ENGAGE IN THE WORLD WHILE
           THE TRANSFORMATION IS OCCURING. IF THIS IS SO, HOW DO I AVOID THE
           DISTRACTION OF maya BEFORE I CLEARLY SEE THE REALITY? There is no need to avoid
           anything. All effort to avoid is out of fear. Live it; don't avoid it. Live the MAYA, and you will come
           to know reality, because this MAYA is also a hidden reality. The appearance is also of the reality.
           Let me repeat it: the appearance is also of the reality. Don't avoid it; otherwise reality will be
           avoided in it. Go deeply into it. Live it, enjoy it, penetrate it. Hindus have called MAYA the shroud
           of Brahma, his clothing: don't avoid it. If you avoid my clothes and escape, you will be escaping
           from me also. You will have to accept my clothes, you will have to come closer and closer; only then
           can you know me, who is hidden in the clothes.

               God is hidden in his MAYA. MAYA means his magic. God is hidden in his magic. The word
           'magic' comes from MAYA. God is hidden in these flowers, in these trees, in these rocks; in you, in
           me. From every eye he is looking out, from every flower it is his fragrance that is coming out. This is
           the way he is; this is his appearance. Avoid it, and you will avoid him; enter into it, enter into the
           fragrance of the flower, and you will find the fragrance of God hidden. Enter any human being in
           deep love, compassion, humbleness, and behind the body you will find him embodied, and behind
           the eyes you will find him looking at you. Look into somebody's eyes, and go deeper and deeper and
           deeper; and suddenly he is there, in his absolute beauty and purity.
               I don't say avoid; that word is dirty for me. I say enter. The MAYA of the temple of God. Enter
           into it: the world is the temple of God. The body is the temple of God: enter into it. Find as many
           ways as you can find to enter into it. Try to find God from everywhere and through everything, and
           you will find him everywhere and in everything. Says Jesus, "Underneath every stone I am hidden.
           Dig the rock up and you will find me there. Break wood and you will find me there." Everywhere he
           is. He is the very existence itself, the very is-ness.
               Don't try to avoid. Escape, avoid, renunciation, isolation, are wrong words: don't use them. Let
           them not be part of the vocabulary, your vocabulary; drop them out. Find out positive terms, find out
           positive words: involvement, commitment, enjoyment, celebration, delight, ecstasy -- and you will
           be on the right path.
               The reality and the illusion are not opposites. The God and his world are not opposites. The God
           is hidden in the world, and the reality is hiding behind the appearance; and the appearance is also
           beautiful.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The appearance is also beautiful. Not only is the soul beautiful, the body also is beautiful. And it
           has to be so, because the soul is hidden behind it. The soul goes on being expressed from the body in
           millions of ways. The body is just like a glass. Behind it is the name, and the flame goes on
           spreading its rays outside the glass. Whenever you see a beautiful person, it simply hints, it simply
           gives you an indication, that behind it there is some unknown beauty hiding. That's why a beautiful
           body attracts -- it is natural; a beautiful flower attracts -- it is natural; because it is simply an
           indication, a natural indication, an invitation, that something beautiful is hidden behind. Come,
           investigate me. Come. the beautiful body attracts because of the beautiful soul: you attain to a
           beautiful body if you attain to a beautiful soul -- it is not just coincidence; it is not chance. The more
           beautiful you become inside, the more beautiful you become on the outside also. If a very ugly body
           becomes more and more deeply involved in meditation, you will suddenly see the ugliness changing,
           and behind the ugliness, beauty being expressed more and more. Once the innermost core becomes
           beautiful, the outer periphery follows it.

               The appearance is also beautiful. It happened: a Zen master died, and his chief disciple started
           crying and weeping. A million people had gathered: the master was very famous; and the chief
           disciple was even more famous than the master. And those who were closest came to the chief
           disciple and said, "Please don't cry and weep, because that will create a bad name for you; because
           people think that you have become a realized soul, and you have been saying yourself that there is no
           death. Then why are you crying? And you yourself have been teaching your whole life that only the
           body dies, not the soul. Then why are you crying?
               The chief disciple said, "Yes, I have been telling you that the soul never dies, only the body dies.
           But who told you that I am crying for the soul? I am crying for the body, because my master's body
           was so beautiful, and it happens rarely in centuries. Such a beautiful flower surrounded him, because
           he was so beautiful within. I am crying for the body -- who told you that I am crying for the soul?
           The soul never dies; there is no need to cry for it. But my master's body was also tremendously
           beautiful, and I will miss it."
           This is what I call enlightenment.
               My enlightenment is paradoxical. It has to be so, because it is not logical. It is bigger than logic.
           That's why I go on teaching meditation and love together. Love is part of the MAYA, of the
           appearance; meditation is part of reality, of God. I go on teaching both. I say, "Love," so that you can
           penetrate a body deeply, so that you can become aware of the soul which is hidden behind it. And,
           "Meditate," so that you can attain to your own innermost soul. And let both be together: don't create
           any dichotomy between the two. It has always been a dichotomy. People who have been teaching
           meditation have always been against love; and poets and artists, who have been teaching love, have
           always been against meditation.
               I bring the greatest synthesis that is possible in the world to you, the synthesis of love and
           meditation. And I teach you to grow in both ways. Move in both dimensions: move inwards through
           meditation, move outwards through love. Go deeper inside yourself, and go farther and farther to the
           other shore also -- so that you don't become lopsided.
               Meditators who don't love become lopsided. Their inner being becomes rich, but their outer
           being becomes very poor. Lovers who are not also meditators -- their outer being becomes richer,
           but their inner being becomes very poor. I would like you to become richer in both ways love, and
           meditate.


              OSHO: YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN, IF I CAN CALL YOU MAN, WHOM I HAVE LOVED WITHOUT
              RESERVATION. WITH OTHER MEN I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO CHALLENGE, OR
              OVERCOME. BUT I HAD TO SURRENDER TO YOU WITHOUT EVEN OFFERING A TOKEN
              RESISTANCE. NOW, THROUGH YOUR LOVE, YOU ARE INTRODUCING ME TO JESUS FOR THE
              REALLY FIRST TIME. MY DEEP GRATITUDE FOR THIS GRACE. IS IT EASIER, AT LEAST IN THE
              BEGINNING, FOR WOMEN -- AS POTENTIAL MOTHERS AND LOVERS -- TO COME TO JESUS?
              DOES MAN COME TO HIM THROUGH HIS FEMININE?


               This is from Paritosh. I have initiated many thousands of people on the path, but persons like
           Paritosh are rare. He is an old man, but you cannot find a more childlike person: it would be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficult. Even little Siddhartha is older than Paritosh. Paritosh is simply innocent: even little
           Siddhartha is cunning and clever. When little Siddhartha comes to me, he comes like a grown-up
           man, defensive; but when Paritosh comes to me, he comes like a small child, totally vulnerable, shy
           like a small child.
                On eleventh December, thousands of people passed in front of me, but nobody like Paritosh. He
           could not even look at me directly: that is too aggressive. He just looked at me out of the side of his
           eyes, and passed on -- a small child -- a rare phenomenon. That's what Jesus called, "Unless you
           become like small children, you will not enter into the kingdom of God." Yes, unless you become
           like Paritosh, you will not enter into the kingdom of God.
                This is his question: OSHO: YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN, IF I CAN CALL YOU MAN... yes,
           you can call me man, son of man, just as Jesus calls himself But I am plus also -- son of man and son
           of God. You are also the same; only your other shore is still unrecognised by you, the other shore is
           still hidden in the morning mist. You have not come to see your own height. You have lived in the
           porch of your life; you have not entered the palace. The porch is not all: you are more than yourself,
           you are greater than yourself, you are higher than yourself, you are deeper than yourself That which
           is higher than yourself, deeper than yourself, is what we call God.
                You are just like me -- there is not a bit of difference. You are just like Jesus -- there is no
           difference at all. But Jesus has recognised his other shore, Jesus has recognised that he is more than
           himself. Hence he calls himself son of God and son of man, both.
                You can call me man; but Paritosh is hesitant, because he can see, at least he can feel, that
           something more is also there. He says: YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN, IF I CAN CALL YOU
           MAN... because he feels something more also. Grow into that feeling. And that should not be about
           me only; by and by let it be about yourself also. Then you will not only love yourself, you will even
           revere yourself, you will also respect. Just the other day I was telling you: love yourself. Now I tell
           you: worship also. If you love yourself you become man, rightly a human being; if you worship
           yourself also, which is tremendously difficult but not impossible, then you become God also. When
           the worshipper and the worshipped are one, then God has happened to you. Then you need not go to
           any temple; then the temple has come to you.
                YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN, IF I CAN CALL YOU MAN, WHOM I HAVE LOVED
           WITHOUT RESERVATION. I know it. From the very first day Paritosh came, his surrender has
           been total.
                WITH OTHER MEN I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO CHALLENGE, OR OVERCOME.
           BUT I HAD TO SURRENDER TO YOU WITHOUT EVEN OFFERING TOKEN RESISTANCE.
           Why has it happened? Because if you can see me, then I am not other than you; then there is no point
           in giving resistance, then there is no pont in struggling, then you will be struggling against yourself.
           When you surrender to me, what is happening actually is this: that your lower self is surrendering to
           your own higher self I am just an excuse.
                NOW, THROUGH YOUR LOVE, YOU ARE INTRODUCING ME TO JESUS FOR THE
           REALLY FIRST TIME. Jesus has been taught from a thousand and one pulpits; his name has been
           used for these two thousand years and nobody else's name has ever been used. More books are
           written on esus than on anybody else. More churches stand in his name than in anybody else's name.
           Millions of preachers all around the world, millions of missionaries, go on propagating his name and
           his word; and I tell you, Jesus is one of the very unown masters. In fact, the very dust that
           missionaries have raised around his name, the very smoke that theology has created, has become a
           barrier in understanding him. The moment the name Jesus is uttered, immediately the Vatican, the
           pope, the church and the whole establishment, come to mind. And whatsoever they have been doing
           in the name of esus has been simply ugly, horrible -- it has been a nightmare.
                That's why, when I talk about Jesus, you feel I am bringing a new breeze to you -- because I am
           not a missionary, I am not a Christian, I am not a priest. In fact I have nothing to do with Jesus
           except that I love him. When I bring Jesus to you, I am bringing myself; through his name, through
           his word, I am expressing myself It is not Jesus and me, as two; it is one phenomenon. Sometimes it
           is almost impossible to say whether I am speaking on Jesus or Jesus himself is speaking on himself.
           Sometimes the boundaries completely merge.
                Those moments come when you are listening from your heart. Then boundaries completely
           merge; then I disappear. Then Jesus talks through me; then I can become a vehicle. Because I have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no prejudice for or against, and I have no dogma to preach, Jesus can come in his crystal purity to
           you.
               IS IT EASIER, AT LEAST IN THE BEGINNING, FOR WOMEN -- AS POTENTIAL
           MOTHERS AND LOVERS -- TO COME TO JESUS? DOES MAN COME TO HIM THROUGH
           HIS FEMININE? Yes. In fact, God comes to you always through your feminine part -- because the
           feminine part means the receptivity, your receptivity. You cannot be aggressive towards God, you
           cannot possess him, you cannot attack and take him over: you can only allow, in deep humbleness, in
           deep receptivity -- you open. Just as a flower opens to the sun, you open to the divine. You cannot do
           anything about it, because your doing wi]l be from your male part. Every man is half-man and
           halfwoman; every woman is half-woman and half-man. The difference is not much. A man's
           man-part, male part, is on top, and the feminine part below. In man, the man is conscious and the
           woman is unconscious; in woman, the woman is conscious and the man unconscious.
               Of course it is true, absolutely true, that whenever a man like Jesus walks the earth, or a Buddha,
           or a Mahavir, then women arc attracted first -- because they can receive immediately: their conscious
           part is feminine. Mary Magdalene is closer to Jesus than any Peter; it has to be so, because she is not
           an intellect, she is a heart. She loves him, and love is always total. When men come to Jesus, they
           need to be convinced, they need to be convinced intellectually. When a woman comes, she needs
           only one conviction: the conviction of the heart. And the heart has its own reasons that reason knows
           not. It simply falls in love; it trusts.
               So Jesus or Buddha are easily understood by women; they come immediately and easily close to
           them, because they can be open naturally. Their whole biology is of receptivity. They have a
           passivity -- they can open; they are not aggressive, and they can open and allow. And Jesus can enter
           into them.
               For man it is difficult in the beginning, because he has to fight, to struggle; he has to be
           intellectually convinced. There is going to be a war. Unless he is defeated, unless he has tried all
           ways by which he could escape, he will not surrender. His surrender is only in the end. Once he
           surrenders, then his feminine part starts functioning.
               It is easy for women in the beginning; it is difficult for men in the beginning. But one thing more
           has to be understood: it is difficult for women in the end, and easier for men in the end. Because the
           deeper the love goes, the more woman passes from her feminine to her male part. You must have
           watched: you fall in love with a woman; she is so nice in the beginning. And there is no need to talk
           about the end -- how nasty a woman can become! When the male part comes up, she starts becoming
           nasty, starts fighting, quarrelling -- every woman. In the beginning she is just honey, not of this
           world; in the end, very poisonous.
               So it is easier for a woman to come closer to me, or to Jesus, in the beginning. It is difficult for
           men in the beginning: they will have to fight. But in the end the whole process reverses: the woman
           starts fighting, and the man starts surrendering.
               So they are equal on the whole. But if you are aware, if a man is aware, there is no need to fight
           in the beginning -- from the very beginning he can become open, as Paritosh has been from the very
           beginning. And if a woman is aware, there is no need to fight in the end. She can remain open. But
           for that, awareness will be needed. If you move unaware, then you are just victims of your own
           conscious and unconscious minds. Awareness leads you beyond; then you can use your conscious
           and unconscious minds, but you are not used by them.
               So, those who have feminine bodies and feminine minds should be alert. They should not be
           satisfied from the beginning; and they should not feel contented that they have come close to me --
           their real problem is going to arise later on. But if they remain aware, the problem need not arise:
           there is no necessity for it. The necessity exists in your unawareness. If you remain aware, you can
           pass through that barrier. And, if you are aware from the very beginning, and you have a male body
           and mind, the awareness will be enough: you need not fight, because fight leads nowhere.
               A deep rapport is needed, not fight. And it is not a question of intellectual conviction. A
           conversion is needed, not conviction. And conversion comes when you are in rapport with me. When
           you feel me, live me; when you allow me to go deepest in you, and you are not afraid, then
           conversion happens. And conversion is needed -- conviction won't help.
               So, if you are men, be alert from the very beginning. If you are women, then be alert: sooner or
           later the male part of you will arise. Both have to be alert.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Awareness is neither male nor female, because it does not belong to the body; it hovers above the
           body. People come to me and ask, "Where is the location of awareness" It cannot be located, because
           it is not part of the body. It hovers somewhere above you. It is not exactly in the body; it cannot be
           located. And once you become aware, you also hover over your body: you are not in the body. That
           is the meaning of the English word 'ecstasy'. Ecstasy means standing out of oneself, ecstasy: standing
           out.
                When you become aware, you become ecstatic: you stand outside yourself. You become a
           watcher on the hills.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                 Chapter #9
                           Chapter title: Jesus is water of eternity, a divine well.
           19 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512190
              ShortTitle: FOLL309
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              JOHN 7



              25 THEN SAID SOME OF THEM OF JERUSALEM...



              27 HOWBEIT WE KNOW THIS MAN WHENCE HE IS: BUT WHEN CHRIST COMETH, NO MAN
              KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS.



              28 THEN CRIED JESUS IN THE TEMPLE AS HE TAUGHT, SAYING, YE BOTH KNOW ME, AND YE
              KNOW WHENCE I AM: AND I AM NOT COME OF MYSELF, BUT HE THAT SENT ME IS TRUE,
              WHOM YE KNOW NOT.



              29 BUT I KNOW HIM: FOR I AM FROM HIM, AND HE HATH SENT ME.



              30 THEN THEY SOUGHT TO TAKE HIM: BUT NO MAN LAID HANDS ON HIM, BECAUSE HIS
              HOUR WAS NOT YET COME.



              31 AND MANY OF THE PEOPLE BELIEVED ON HIM, AND SAID, WHEN CHRIST COMETH, WILL
              HE DO MORE MIRACLES THAN THESE WHICH THIS MAN HATH DONE?



              32 THE PHARISEES HEARD THAT THE PEOPLE MURMURED SUCH THINGS CONCERNING
              HIM; AND THE PHARISEES AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS SENT OFFICERS TO TAKE HIM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              33 THEN SAID JESUS UNTO THEM, YET A LITTLE WHILE AM I WITH YOU, AND THEN I GO
              UNTO HIM THAT SENT ME...
              37 IN THE LAST DAY, THAT GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST, JESUS STOOD AND CRIED, SAYING,
              IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK.

              THE OTHER day I was reading a few lines from e.e.
              cummings:



              SEEKER OF TRUTH FOLLOW NO PATH ALL PATHS LEAD WHERE TRUTH IS HERE.


               Truth is always here. That's the only way truth can be. Truth cannot be anywhere else. The only
           time it can be is here, and the only place it can be is now. But the mind is never here and is never
           now. Hence, mind and truth never meet.
               The mind goes on thinking about truth, and the truth goes on waiting to be realized, but the
           meeting never happens. The meeting is possible only if mind stops functioning, because mind means
           the past, mind means the future. Mind is never herenow. Whenever you start thinking, you are going
           astray. If you stop thinking, suddenly you arc at home. You had never gone from there; the whole
           wandering is like a dream. Otherwise, you have lived in God, you have lived as gods -- that's the
           only way to be. But you don't realize it, because you go on thinking about it.
               The rose is before your eyes, but you are too full of ideas about the rose. Jesus was standing right
           there and people were thinking -- and he was in front of them. But they were not there; they were
           thinking about the scriptures, what the scriptures say.

              THEN SAID SOME OF THEM OF JERUSALEM


                It is meaningful that the gospel says, "Some of the people who said these words belonged to
           Jerusalem" -- the sacred place, the holy place. the holy place becomes the most unholy, because
           when people think they know, they are the most unholy. When people think they know, they are the
           most ignorant people, because those who know, know that they know not. It has happened always.
           Go to Varanasi and you will find only parrots -- great scholars, but without any realization. Go to
           Mecca, and you will find MAULWIS who know everything about, and know nothing; who can
           recite the whole Koran -- they have memorized it. They have become great computers, but the
           knowledge of reality has not dawned on them. Their innermost shrine remains dark, unlit, and they
           go on talking about light.
           It is meaningful that the gospel says:

              THEN SAID SOME OF THEM OF JERUSALEM...


               Jerusalem is the Mecca of the Jews. Then it became the Mecca of Christians also. It is the
           Varanasi of the West. Whenever a certain place becomes a sacred place, it loses all sacredness --
           otherwise, the whole existence is holy. But whenever religion is organized, truth made a doctrine,
           scholars becoming more important than mystics, information becoming more important than
           knowledge, then this misfortune happens.
               Those people of Jerusalem -- they knew all. "When Jesus comes," the scriptures say, "nobody
           will know from where he comes."

              HOWBEIT WE KNOW THIS MAN WHENCE HE IS: THEY SAID, BUT WHEN CHRIST COMETH, NO
              MAN KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS.


              A very pertinent question -- because they knew it well -- from where this man comes. They knew
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his father, his mother, brothers and sisters; they knew all about them. And this information clouded
           their minds. In fact, do you know from where you Come? Do you come from your father? Do you
           come from your mother? Maybe you come through them, but you don't come from them. Maybe you
           pass through them. They may be like crossroads, but you don't come out of them.
               It is said when Buddha became enlightened and came back to visit his father, the father was very
           angry and said, "I can forgive you because I have a father's heart. But drop all this nonsense. You
           belong to the family of an emperor. Don't move like a beggar. You are my son."
               Buddha laughed and said, "Sir, I may come through you, but I don't belong to you. I may come
           through you, but I don't belong to you. To whom do you belong?"
               If you go deeper into yourself, you will find a mysterious silence. No answer comes. Your body
           may have been contributed by your mother and father, but not your consciousness. Your mind may
           even have been contributed by the society, by the community, by your family, by the education -- but
           not your consciousness. That one who you are comes from nowhere.
           Yes, the scriptures say and they say rightly:

              ... WHEN CHRIST COMETH, NO MAN KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS.


               I tell you, the moment you come to know that you know not from where you are, you have
           become a Christ. This is the whole meaning of it. The moment you realize that your origin is
           shrouded in mystery, that your beginning and your end are mysterious, and there is no way to know
           them because you have been always and always and always.... In fact there has never been a
           beginning -- that's the meaning, when I say they are shrouded in mystery. They cannot be known,
           because there has been no beginning to know.
               You have been here before time started: you have been here before space ever existed. And you
           will be here to the very end of time, and even after that. Time came after you, so there is no
           beginning.
               Once you realize this, suddenly you have become the Christ. the realization that'I am beyond
           time', is the meaning of the word'Christ'. The scriptures say it perfectly and rightly, but when parrots
           recite scriptures the whole meaning is lost. Not only have they not understood what is said, they have
           also misunderstood.
               Christ is standing before them: a man who has realized that he comes from nowhere. God means
           'nowhere', God means 'no when', God means 'the source, which is beyond beginning and beyond
           end'. The source has to be beyond beginning and beyond end.

               It happened once: Diogenes put up a tent in the marketplace, in Athens, on a very busy
           crossroad. On the tent he wrote "Wisdom sold here."
               One of the richest men was passing and looked at it. He laughed and he told his servant to go
           with five gold coins and ask this braggard, "How much wisdom can you give for five gold coins?"
               The servant went while the rich man waited outside. Diogenes pocketed the money, and wrote a
           small wisdom-bit on a piece of paper, and gave it to the servant. It said, "Whatsoever you do, always
           remember your beginning and your end."
               The rich mall had laughed before, but now he became serious. And he loved that wisdom-bit so
           much that he had it written on his palace in gold letters: "Whatsoever you do, always remember your
           beginning and your end."
               Whatsoever you do is meaningless, unless somehow it is related to your beginning and your end.
           If you go on doing things which are not related to your beginning and to your end -- that means if
           they are not related to God -- then your life will be trivia, a heap of rubbish: it won't carry any
           meaning. Meaning belongs to the whole, Meaning belongs to the source and the culmination.
               If you forget the source and the end, your life will be just a drifting thing -- meaningless
           coincidences. There will not be a running theme in it, and there will not be significance in it. You
           will not really exist; you will just live. You may continue living, but your life will not have a rhythm,
           it will not be a song, it will not have inner consistency, it will not be relevant.

              HOWBEIT WE KNOW THIS MAN WHENCE HE IS:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              Nobody knows. You don't even know from where you come. But those people thought they knew
           well.

              ... FROM WHENCE HE IS: BUT WHEN CHRIST COMETH, NO MAN KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS.


               The scriptures speak absolute truth, but nobody knows from where anybody comes. The source is
           mysterious; it is shrouded. And there is no way to know it, because you are the knower and you can
           never become the known. Let me repeat it: you are the knower and you can never be reduced to be
           the known. You are the subjectivity and you can never become the object. So how can you know
           yourself, who you are? How can you know yourself, from where you come? How can you know the
           beginning?
               This feeling that I don't know who I am, this feeling that I don't know from where I come, this
           feeling that I don't know where I'm going -- if it becomes intense, the ego drops. Because then there
           are no props for it -- then the ego cannot stand.
               The ego needs three props. It is a three-legged stool: who am I? -- from where do I come? --
           where am I going? These three legs are needed for the ego. If these three legs disappear, the ego
           falls.
               Once it happened: One of the greatest rich men of this century, Andrew Carnegie, was asked by a
           man, "What do you think, sir, is the most important thing in industry -- money, labour or banks?"
           Andrew Carnegie said, "It is a three-legged stool."
               And which leg is more important? In fact, if you withdraw one leg, the stool will fall. The two
           legs won't be able to help it. If you withdraw one thing, if you start feeling, "I don't know who I am,"
           immediately the other two legs will be useless. Or, if you withdraw the first leg, "I don't know from
           where I come," then the other two will not be of any use. The props will drop and the ego will fall.
           Ego is a three-legged stool.
               You have at least to believe who you are -- your name, your form; from where you have come --
           your family; where you are going -- a certain idea about your destiny: then the ego can exist.
               A man becomes a Christ when all these three legs disappear. That's why the old scriptures say:

              ... WHEN CHRIST COMETH, NO MAN KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS...


                And Christ was standing before these blind people, and they were asking foolish questions and
           arguing about foolish things. And they were very clever people, the people of Jerusalem. They were
           very intelligent, clever people; they could argue and discuss. In fact, Jesus was not so educated, so
           well-informed, as they were. Jesus was an uneducated man -- in a sense, uncultured, unsophisticated.
           And remember, God has happened many more times to unsophisticated people than to sophisticated
           people, because the sophisticated person believes that he already knows. Once you think that you
           know, then there is no possibility of knowing.
                I will tell you a story. Once a prospector climbed a mountain to seek for gold. On the way up, he
           fell down and struck his head. In his dizziness, he imagined he had found hundreds of gold nuggets.
           So, wandering around town, he ordered nonexistent gold to everyone he met. Of course, he had
           become mad, and had become the laughing stock of the whole community.
                A sage took pity on him -- on the poor rich man. He hit him hard on the head. The blow cleared
           his head. In shock and dismay he realized his former folly. "How incredible of me to imagine I
           possessed gold," he told himself.
                Then an astonishing thing happened. Once he realized that he didn't possess gold, he began to
           search, and to find gold nuggets. Once realizing he didn't possess gold, he started to search. And
           when you seek, you find.

               Spiritual riches follow awareness of poverty. That is the one and the only order of things. Says
           Buddha, "AES DHAMMO SANANTANO." This is the eternal law, that once you realize you are
           spiritually poor, you are already on the way to being rich. Once you realize that you are ignorant,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have taken the first and the most basic step towards wisdom. Once you realize that you have
           gone astray, your life is already changing. Now the true path is not far away.
               But if you think that you are not astray, that you are on the right path, that you know, that you
           already possess that which you don't possess, then there is no possibility. Then you are closed.
               Anyone can see the difference between real and imaginary riches. He can enquire. You can
           enquire -- and always enquire! Let this be a criterion to find out whether your riches are imaginary or
           real: "Do I feel rich when all by myself, or do I constantly need others to reassure me?" Go on asking
           this question. If you can feel rich when just by yourself, alone -- and you don't need anybody else to
           reassure you, you don't need anybody else's opinion, anybody else's certificate that you are rich -- if
           you can be rich when all by yourself, then your riches are real. If you need constant reassurance from
           others, then your riches are unreal, imaginary. Then you are just depending on others' opinions.
           Remember this.
               Many times people come to me to be reassured. They ask, they say, "I'm feeling very happy and
           blissfu]. What do you say?" What is the need to say anything? The very need shows that the
           happiness is unreal and imaginary.
               If you are really feeling happy, you are feeling happy even if the whole world contradicts you. If
           the whole world agrees that you are not happy, then too it doesn't matter. Your happiness is real. It
           cannot be cancelled by anybody's opinion. But if your happiness is unreal, it can be cancelled by
           anybody. Even a small child can cancel it. You will be constantly looking towards people. You will
           be smiling, trying to show that you are happy so that they can say, "Yes. You are very happy. You
           look very happy."
               Always remember this criterion: only the false needs support; the real is self-evident. Only the
           false needs certificates; the real is self-evident.
               People used to ask Christ, "From where is your authority?" -- the authority is HIS.
               It happened: When I came out of the university, I applied for a government job. The education
           minister called me for an interview and asked for some character certificates.
               I said, "I am here; you look at me. I can sit here; you can watch me. I can live with you for a few
           days if you like. But don't ask about certificates. Who can give me a character certificate?"
               He couldn't understand. He said, "You can bring one from your vice-chancellor, or at least from
           the head of your department.'
               I said, "If my vice-chancellor asks for a character certificate from me, I am not going to give it to
           him. So how can I ask for a character certificate from him? I cannot give one to him. So that is
           impossible. I can ask for a character certificate only from a man whom I can see is a man of
           character. But that will be absurd. That means that first I give him a character certificate -- only then
           his character certificate becomes meaningful."
               But he couldn't follow me. He said, "Then it will be difficult, because at least two character
           certificates are needed."
               So I wrote a character certificate in the name of my vice-chancellor. And I went to the
           vice-chancellor later on and said, "I have given in the true copy, the original I don't have. This is the
           certificate I have given to myself. You have to sign it."
               He said, "But this is absurd." He said, "How can you give a character certificate to yourself?"
               I told him, "If I cannot give one to myself, then who can give one to me? I know myself more
           than anybody else knows me. You don't know me at all. If you can give a character certificate to me,
           then why can't I? This is the certificate. You have to sign it."
               He looked at the certificate and laughed, because I had written on the certificate that man is a
           freedom, and character is always of the past, and the future remains open. I may have been a good
           man up to now. Next moment? Nobody knows! I may have been a saint up to now, but the next
           moment I can become a sinner. In fact, each moment I have to give a new lease to my character;
           again and again and again I have to hold it.
               Character belongs to the past, and you ask for a character certificate to be reassured about the
           future -- which is foolish. The future remains open; the future remains always open. Next moment is
           always indeterminate. That's the difference between a stone and a man. You can give a character
           certificate to a rock. The rock is consistent; it has always remained a rock, and it is always going to
           remain a rock. It is predictable. But how can you give a character certificate to a man?
               A sinner sometimes becomes a saint, a saint becomes a sinner. That is the beauty of man: that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man has no character. Only rocks have character. The more alive you are, the less character --
           absolutely alive, no character. Then you are absolute freedom.
               Facing Christ, people ask about authority; they ask about character. They ask that Christ should
           fulfil the predictions of the scriptures. Why should Christ fulfil the predictions of the scriptures? He
           is not a rock. He is total freedom, absolute freedom -- that is his beauty and glory. But people believe
           in dead things, people believe in dead gods. They are dead; they feel comfortable with dead gods. If
           you are alive, only then can you feel comfortable with an alive God. An alive God means freedom.
               Each moment one has to decide again and again who one is going to be; each moment is a
           decisive moment, and each moment you can change everything. You may not change; that too is
           your decision. But each moment one has to decide continuously, constantly. Character is not
           something which is there just like a dead rock. It has to be lived, acted, decided. Each moment you
           are born again and again. Each moment you die, and each moment you are born again and again.
               But people go on asking. And the people of Jerusalem or Varanasi -- they are the deadest people
           there are. Jerusalem is one of the most ancient cities in the world. That means it carries a very long
           and dead past, and always thinks in terms of the past, never in terms of the future. They couldn't see
           the future. The Jews missed Christ.
               With Christ was the destiny and the future; but they were asking questions about the past. They
           couldn't see; they had no eyes to perceive that a new beginning had started. God had taken a new
           step in this man, God had taken a new decision in this man. God had taken a very decisive and
           historical decision. The whole humanity would be different through this man. Man will no more be
           the same as he was before -- a turning point. But that is all in the future.
               The Jews were standing there. Jesus was an opening towards the future, but they were looking at
           the past. They were looking at the clouds of dust that were left behind. They couldn't see the sun that
           was rising.

              HOWBEIT WE KNOW THIS MAN WHENCE HE IS: BUT WHEN CHRIST COMETH, NO MAN
              KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS.



              THEN CRIED JESUS IN THE TEMPLE AS HE TAUGHT, SAYING, YE BOTH KNOW ME, AND YE
              KNOW WHENCE I AM: AND I AM NOT COME OF MYSELF BUT HE THAT SENT ME IS TRUE,
              WHOM YE KNOW NOT.


                Jesus cried. People like Jesus have to cry, because we are deaf And even when they cry, we don't
           listen. And even when we listen, we don't understand. And even when we understand, we don't act.

                I will tell you one story: A group of unhappy men and women heard about a peaceful place
           called the Celestial City. Wishing to live in it, they consulted a wise man who told them: "Go to the
           edge of the town. There you will see footprints. Follow them all the way to the Celestial City."
                When locating the footprints, part of the group turned back immediately, complaining, "But they
           lead straight into the frightening wilderness."
                The rest of the group followed the footprints for a short distance, but several more stopped when
           it started to rain. After a few more miles, the group broke up into two quarrelling factions, each
           demanding the right to lead the expedition. The battle raged so fiercely that they forgot all about the
           Celestial City, and returned home to continue the fight.
                When observing all this, the wise man explained to his disciples: "Because of man's dazed mind,
           this is what always happens. Still, people must be told about the footprints. Every once in a while, a
           perservering man or woman follows them all the way to the Celestial City."
                Man goes on misunderstanding. God goes on sending his messengers; man goes on
           misinterpreting. God goes on making new efforts; man goes on crucifying. God goes on hoping, God
           hopes tremendously. He is not yet frustrated with you. He still hopes; his hope is eternal. Whatsoever
           you do makes no difference to his hope. He goes on making new efforts, he goes on devising new
           methods.
                A Jesus is a device, a Buddha is a device, a Krishna is a dev ice. God comes again and again in
           different forms. Maybe you rejected one form; you may accept another. He hopes continuously.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Remember this.
                And always remember that I'm not talking about those people who sometime lived in Jerusalem;
           I am talking about you. I am not talking about some fools who couldn't understand Jesus; I am
           talking about you -- because it is always the same. Always Jesus is there and always people are
           quarrelling about meaningless doctrines and dogmas -- quoting scriptures, creating smoke around
           themselves and not looking at the fact.
                Jesus is a divine fact. God is standing in front of them and they are asking whether he is really
           the God. What was the trouble that they could not believe in him -- because Jesus could not follow
           all the predictions of the old prophets. Nobody is there to follow anybody else's predictions. And this
           is the foolishness: Jews rejected Christ because they thought he didn't follow all the predictions;
           Christians go on proving that he followed all the predictions. That's why they accept him.
                Look at the foolishness -- it is the same. Nobody looks at Jesus directly. Jews reject him, but the
           argument is the same: that he does not follow all the predictions that the scriptures say a Christ has to
           follow. Christians say that he does follow them. The argument is the same; the mind is the same.
           They don't differ. Both are missing. They may be standing opposite each other, but their attitude is
           the same. Nobody is looking at Christ; nobody is following the footprints to the Celestial City. They
           have come back home to continue the fight.

              THEN CRIED JESUS IN THE TEMPLE AS HE TAUGHT, SAYING, YE BOTH KNOW ME, AND YE
              KNOW WHENCE I AM:


               He is saying, "You know not; you don't know me. You don't know whence I am, and I am not
           come of myself."
               Nobody has come that way. Everybody comes from God. In fact, nobody comes, everybody is
           sent. Everybody comes from the whole. Were you asked to decide whether you would like to come
           to the world or not? Nobody has ever asked. It has never been your decision. You have been sent; the
           whole has sent you. As the ocean waves itself into thousands and thousands of waves, so God waves
           in humanity, in life, in thousands and thousands of waves. You are a wave in his consciousness. You
           may have started to feel that you are separate, but that is illusion, that is MAYA.

              AND I AM NOT COME OF MYSELF BUT HE THAT SENT ME IS TRUE, WHOM YE KNOW NOT.


               Jesus is not saying anything about the man Jesus. He is talking about each human consciousness.
           Whatsoever he's saying about himself is relevant to you also. There, again, Jews thought that he was
           very egoistic: he claims that he comes from God -- and a prophet has to be humble. He doesn't seem
           to be humble at all. Christians think that he is claiming something about himself, not about
           everybody else.
               So if somebody else says, "I am the son of God," Christians will be immediately against him.
           "This man is a heretic. There has been one, and only one, son of God, and that's Jesus Christ, the
           only begotten son."
               What I am trying to show you is that the mind is the same -- whether it is Jewish or Christian
           makes no difference. Mind as such is stupid, and unless the mind is dropped you can become a Jew
           or a Christian or a Hindu; it is not going to make any difference.

              BUT I KNOW HIM: FOR I AM FROM HIM, AND HE HATH SENT ME.


               This is beautiful, the word 'sent'. Nobody comes; everybody is sent. Everybody is a messenger
           because everybody carries a message within himself, a destiny to be fulfilled, a seed. You are not
           from yourself. Nobody is, nobody can be. Everybody comes out of the whole and the whole must be
           sending a coded message in you. You may not have deciphered it yet, you may not have been able to
           decode it yet. One who decodes it understands. Jesus decoded it. He understood the message -- why
           he had been sent.
               The first thing to realize very deeply is that you have not come -- you have been sent. Small
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           words make a lot of difference.
               I have heard about a warrior in Japan. In the First World War, he was a samurai, a great warrior.
           One arm was hurt very much, wounded very much -- it had to be removed. After the operation, when
           the warrior came back to consciousness, the surgeon told him, "I am very sorry that you had to lose
           your arm.
               The warrior tried to raise himself up and protested. He said, "I have not lost it; I gave it."
           "I have not lost it; I gave it" -- tremendously different. He has given it.
               If you say Jesus lost his life, you will be wrong. He gave it, he gave it for us. He gave it for the
           message, he gave it for the mission for which he was sent.

              ... FOR I AM FROM HIM, AND HE HATH SENT ME.


               Always remember: whenever Jesus talks about God, he means the whole. His terminology is not
           as perfect as Buddha's. Even Buddha's terminology is not as perfect as Lao Tzu's. Terminology does
           not depend on Buddha, Jesus, or Lao Tzu; it depends on the people to whom they are talking.
               Jesus was talking to Hebrews, to Jews. They have a terminology. He has to use it; there was no
           other way. If he had started talking like a Buddha, nobody would have understood -- not at all. Even
           when he was using their own terminology, he was not understood. There is no possibility that if he
           had used the terminology of Buddha, that he would have been understood; because the terminology
           of Buddha needs a long heritage of Upanishadic teaching. Buddha was against the Upanishads, but
           the Upanishads prepared the background. Without the Upanishads he could not have been here.
               Lao Tzu uses such a beautiful terminology that nobody can ever find a fault with it. But that is
           the reason he could never become such a great religious leader as Buddha or Jesus: nobody
           understood him. He talks very simply; he is the simplest possible man. He has no jargon; he does not
           use the word'God' at all. He does not use any terminology of theology, religion. Because of this,
           nobody understood him. Nobody even tried to crucify him; nobody threw even a stone at him,
           because even for that you have at least to be misunderstood. If you don't understand, okay. But you
           have at least to misunderstand. Lao Tzu was simply neglected.
               I have heard a story. Once he was going from one town to another on his donkey. A messenger
           from the emperor came and told Lao Tzu, "The emperor has heard about you and he would like you
           to become a part of his court. He needs wise men there."
               Lao Tzu treated the messenger very courteously, but said, "No, it is impossible. I am grateful.
           Thank the emperor, but it is impossible."
               When the messenger was going, Lao Tzu washed his ears with water, and washed the ears of the
           donkey also.
               A man who was standing by the road asked, "What are you doing, sir?"
               He said, "I am washing my ears, because even the messenger from the world of politics is
           dangerous."
               The man asked, "But why arc you washing the ears of the donkey?"
               He said, "Donkeys are very political. He is already walking in a different way! The moment he
           heard and saw the messenger from the court, he became very egoistic. Donkeys tend to be political. I
           don't much understand the language of the court, but he understands, because similar donkeys are
           there. The language is the same."
               The man laughed. It is said, even when the story was reported to the king, that he also laughed.
               People laughed about Lao Tzu; at the most, a crazy old man, eccentric, but nobody took him
           seriously. And he could never influence people to such an extent that they should organize his
           teaching. No religion, no organization, could come out of his teachings. He remained alone. He
           remains alone, but purest.
               Jesus was talking to Jews. They have a particular terminology of God -- 'prophets','kingdom of
           God'. He has to use that. But remember always, whenever he says'God' hc means tao; he cannot
           mean anything else. Don't ask me by what authority I say this. I am not a pope; I am not a Vatican
           pope. I have no authority. But I say to you, by my own authority, whenever he says'God' he means
           tao. Whenever he says HE HATH SENT ME he means 'the whole has sent me'. Then Jesus will
           appear in a different light. Then you will be able to understand him more, and follow him more, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go further than ordinarily you could go with him.

              THEN THEY SOUGHT TO TAKE HIM: BUT NO MAN LAID HANDS ON HIM BECAUSE HIS HOUR
              WAS NOT YET COME.


               Existence is not a chaos, it is a cosmos. Existence is not just by chance. It has a story to tell, it
           has a running theme, it has a song to sing. It is a great drama; Hindus call it 'leela', a great drama, a
           great play. That is what is meant by this gospel sentence, this sutra: BECAUSE HIS HOUR WAS
           NOT YET COME. This is a deep acceptance of things.
               The people who wrote the gospel were closest to Jesus. They understood one thing: that
           whatsoever was happening, was happening as part of a great drama. If you have that feeling, you
           start accepting things. They could accept even the crucifixion of Jesus, because that was part of the
           great drama. It was meant to be so. They could accept it, because it was not just chance, not just
           coincidence -- it had to be so.
               A Judas has to betray Jesus, because whenever a Jesus is there a shadow falls; just as when you
           walk in the sun and a shadow follows you. Whenever in the world of consciousness somebody rises
           so high, a shadow falls; that shadow is the Judas. It has to be so.
               And whenever you want to transform humanity, whenever you want to bring a new truth into
           human consciousness, the human mind defends itself -- it becomes aggressive against you. Jesus has
           to be crucified. That's how the human mind functions. It is a great drama; it is a cosmos. Then
           everything is accepted. Once you look at life not as unrelated facts, but as a related whole, then
           everything fits in. Then there is no need to complain; then there is no need to feel frustrated, or to
           feel that there is injustice.
               Just try to see the beauty of it. Jesus was crucified, but the closest disciples never felt that
           something wrong had happened. Not that they didn't miss him. They missed him, they missed him
           tremendously. Not that they didn't cry for him. They cried -- but they accepted. They accepted,
           because it must be so. There must be a meaning in it; we may not be able to know the meaning, but
           there must be a meaning in it -- because nothing can happen which is meaningless, nothing can
           happen which is unrelated to the whole.
               We may not be able to know the meaning of a certain fact, because we know only the isolated
           fact; we cannot see the whole in relation to it. Whatsoever we see is just as if suddenly you have
           come across a page of a book -- a strong wind has just brought a page of a book to your door. Out of
           curiosity you start reading it; you cannot make any sense out of it because it is just a page. You don't
           know what happened before; you don't know what happened afterwards.
               All the facts that we know are just pages -- not even pages, broken sentences -- not even broken
           sentences, broken words. The whole book of existence is so vast, so eternal, we cannot know what it
           means, because meaning always means relevance concerning the whole, in relationship with the
           whole.
               Poetry is meaningful because you can relate words one with another; they are not unrelated. It is
           meaningful, because between the words you can see the flow of a certain meaning. If you cannot see
           the meaning, if you just cut a few words from a dictionary and paste them with closed eyes on paper,
           and then read it, there will be no meaning -- separate words, not connected.

              THEN THEY SOUGHT TO TAKE HIM: BUT NO MAN LAID HANDS ON HIM, BECAUSE HIS HOUR
              WAS NOT YET COME.



              AND MANY OF THE PEOPLE BELIEVED ON HIM, AND SAID, WHEN CHRIST COMETH, WILL HE
              DO MORE MIRACLES THAN THESE WHICH THIS MAN HATH DONE?


               Ordinary people believe in miracles -- they can't see the phenomenon, the tremendous
           phenomenon that has happened. They think only of miracles. This man touched somebody and the
           man was healed; or this man touched somebody else, and the man was blind, and his eyes were
           restored. These are great miracles for the ordinary mind. Magicians are more impressive. They can't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           see the only miracle that has happened in this man; the very being of this man is a miracle. All other
           miracles are just by-products. Not that he is doing them -- Jesus never said, "I have done miracles."
               Once a woman touched him. She was afraid-to come in front of him. She had leprosy and she
           was ugly. She was afraid to come in front of him and ask to be healed, but she had faith. She just
           touched him. When Jesus was passing through the crowd, just from behind she touched his body.
           Suddenly, Jesus turned. The woman was healed, and said, in deep gratefulness, "You healed me,
           Lord."
               Jesus said, "Don't say that. Your faith has healed you."
               Your faith -- not Jesus. Many times he says, "It is God who has healed you, not me." He is just a
           vehicle. But people are more interested in miracles. Scholars are interested in scriptures; ordinary
           people are more interested in miracles. Nobody seems to be interested in the facts of this man who is
           standing before them, this tremendously innocent energy, this flowering of consciousness. Nobody is
           interested in looking directly at Jesus.

              THE PHARISEES HEARD THAT THE PEOPLE MURMURED SUCH THINGS CONCERNING HIM;
              AND THE PHARISEES AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS SENT OFFICERS TO TAKE HIM.


               These are the three types of people Jesus is surrounded by continuously: the crowd who believe
           in miracles, the people who have their investments in religion -- the priests, the Pharisees, who are
           afraid that this man is becoming every day more and more important -- and the scholars, the pundits,
           the rabbis, who are interested only in dead scriptures, in dead words, in knowledge. These are the
           three types of people he is continuously surrounded by.
               The fourth type are very few, who are trying to understand who this man is, who are not worried
           about scriptures, because the scripture is alive herenow. They are not worried about miracles,
           because the greatest of all miracles has happened: that a man has realized that he is not separate from
           the whole. The ego has disappeared: that is the greatest miracle there is.
               The fourth type are people who have no investment in religion, who have no self-interest in
           religion, who are not worried about the temple and the establishment and other things -- a very few
           people who are interested just in this man as he is, without any prejudice, without any concept.
           These few people could see through Jesus and could find God through him. He became a door.
               Jesus says again and again, "I am the gate. I am the door. I am the way." Only for a few people
           he was so, for those whose eyes were not clouded by anything, who could look through this man,
           through and through.

              THEN SAID JESUS UNTO THEM, YET A LITTLE WHILE AM I WITH YOU, AND THEN I GO UNTO
              HIM THAT SENT ME...


               It is such a great phenomenon that it cannot be longer. The earth won't allow it.
               I was reading the life of one Urdu poet, Miraja Galib. In a poet's gathering, a very young boy,
           just twelve or thirteen years of age, recited such beautiful poetry of his own creation that Galib, a
           master, asked the boy again and again to recite it. And in the end, Galib started crying and weeping.
           Somebody asked, "Why are you crying?"
               Galib said, "This boy will not live long." And just within six months, the boy died.
           People asked, "Why do you say this?"
               Galib said, "He is so beautiful. He has something tremendous in him. Earth will not be able to
           tolerate such beauty. He is not ordinary, he is not mediocre."

               Whenever a man becomes enlightened, that is his last life. Then he cannot enter again into the
           world, because the world is too rough, and he becomes too refined. Then he is just a fragrance,
           subtle, with no solidity in it, and then the fragrance goes up higher and higher. It cannot come down.
           Whenever a man becomes enlightened, it is difficult to remain in the body -- almost impossible. One
           has to be continuously aware; any moment, the body can drop.
               Jesus continuously says to his disciples, "Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him
           that sent me... and then I return to the whole." Then the wave disappears in the ocean.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              IN THE LAST DAY, THAT GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST, JESUS STOOD AND CRIED, SAYING, IF
              ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK.


                I have heard: The day Woodrow Wilson died, the doctors, feeling that his death was coming
           closer and closer, apprised him about the nearness of death. Just a few seconds before he died, they
           decided to tell the old man. They told him that death was coming closer and closer. He opened his
           eyes and said, "Ready" -- that was all -- closed his eyes, a smile on his face, and disappeared.
                A Jesus is always ready -- readiness to go back, readiness to fall back onto the shores -- because
           a Jesus is ripe. And whenever a fruit is ripe, the fruit can say, "Yet a little while I am with you --
           with the tree, a little while -- and then I go unto him that sent me." And then the fruit drops to the
           earth, and disappears into the earth from where it came.
                Whenever you have become ripe, you disappear. That is the meaning of the Eastern concept of
           becoming free from birth and death. Whenever you become ready, there is no need for you to be
           thrown back into existence again and again. You are thrown back because you don't learn the lesson.
           It is like a child who fails every time and has to be sent back again to the same class. If he learns the
           lesson, passes the examination, then he is sent to another class, a higher one. And when he finishes
           his education, then there is no need to go back there. the world is a training, a discipline. You are
           sent again and again, because you have not yet learned the lesson. Once you learn it, you are back to
           the original source.
                Jesus is constantly aware, Buddha is constantly aware. Whether Buddha lasted for forty years
           and Jesus lasted only for three years, it doesn't make much difference, because in the vast eternity,
           forty years is just a little longer.

             IN THE LAST DAY, THAT GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST, JESUS STOOD AND CRIED,
           SAYING, -- before he was crucified -- IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND
           DRINK.

           "... because soon I will disappear and then you will not be able to drink from me. If any man thirsts,
           if somebody is thirsty, let him come and drink of me, because soon I will be gone, and then you can
           think about me, but you will not be able to quench your thirst."
                Jesus is water of eternity, a divine well. He can quench your thirst. But people are not aware even
           of their thirst. They have forgotten their thirst; they have suppressed it. That's why he says IF ANY
           MAN THIRST...
                Everybody is thirsty. There is no need to say 'if'. Have you come across a mall who is not thirsty?
           Have you come across a man who is not miserable? Have you come across a man who is not
           unhappy? Have you come across a man who is content, needs no more, who is fulfilled, needs
           nothing else to be added to him?
                If you have not come across such a man, that means every man is thirsty. But people have
           forgotten their thirst. It would be better to say they have suppressed their thirst because the thirst is
           dangerous. The thirst creates search and one has to seek, and one has to make effort, and one has to
           dig deep into oneself. People avoid their thirst.
                One man, a few days before, came to me and said, "I don't want to come and listen to you,
           because I am afraid. I am afraid I may really become interested in you and in what you say. I will
           come one day, but not now. I have other things to do."
                Have you thought that you may be avoiding your basic thirst?
                Religion is a basic thirst. No man can become satisfied and fulfilled unless he attains to a
           religious consciousness. There is no other way to be fulfilled.
                But people go on saying that there is no God. That may be just a defence, because once they
           prove to themselves there is no God, then there is no need to seek and search; then they can remain
           wherever they are. Then they can remain in their mud, and there is no need to seek the lotus.
           That's why Jesus says:

              IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Jesus is available. It has been always so. There are people who have attained and who are
           available -- and you are thirsty. But this is the misery: that you deny -- you deny such people who
           can quench your thirst. You deny that they have anything; you deny that there is any water in their
           well because you are afraid.
               The greatest fear in life is the fear of God, the fear of coming close to God -- because coming
           closer to God will mean coming closer to the death of the ego. Coming closer to God will mean
           going farther from yourself. Coming closer to God will mean dropping, surrendering, disappearing.
               The greatest fear in the world is that of God, because God is both death to the ego and birth, a
           rebirth of consciousness. But you don't know about the rebirth; you can only feel the death. You are
           just like a small child who is just going to be born, is in the womb. For nine months he has lived a
           certain life of comfort, convenience. in fact, never again will he be so comfortable. The womb is so
           comfortable, so warm. He is without any responsibility; he has not to go to work in the factory or
           office. He simply receives everything ready-made -- no worries, no fears, no responsibilities, no
           anxieties. He simply rests, sleeps twenty-four hours.
               And then suddenly comes the moment when he has to be born. The child becomes afraid,
           because the child can only see that this life is going to be destroyed -- the life that he has been living
           for these nine months. He cannot see a different life -- a life of open sky and air and sun, a
           tremendous opportunity to grow. He cannot see. How can he see? He has no idea of it.
               He can only see this: that the life he has been living is going to be destroyed. The birth to the
           child looks like death. He is afraid, he trembles, he doesn't want to get out of the womb.
               The same happens again when you reach nearer to another rebirth of consciousness, where again
           you find another world -- the world of God, called 'the kingdom of God' -- of infinite light, of eternal
           beauty, of absolute truth. But you know YOUR life: the life of the market, the life of the family, the
           house, the money, the ambition, the desire, the body -- you know this. And moving towards God
           means going away from this. It looks like death. God is death, because God is rebirth also.
           That's why Jesus says:

              IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK.


                And the same I say unto you. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, because yet a
           little while more am I with you. And then I go unto him that sent me. Remember, I am not repeating.
           I am not interested in commenting on Jesus. Through Jesus, I am again creating a situation which is
           absolutely new -- or absolutely ancient, which is the same.
                If any of you really feels thirsty, then the possibility is available. Don't miss it! And you can miss
           it. You can find a thousand and one excuses to miss it. Don't listen to those excuses; drop those
           excuses. Seek your thirst. If you are thirsty, then I am ready to become a well for you. The thirst can
           disappear, and only when your thirst disappears, for the first time you will feel what life is and its
           meaning -- the beauty of it, the glory of it. Then life will become a decoded message to you. Up until
           now, you are carrying the seed. The message is there, but undeciphered.
                Let me help you. If you are thirsty, don't try to escape from me. Let me help you.




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 3
                                                Chapter #10
              Chapter title: Love is fragile like a flower. Hatred is powerful like a sword.
           20 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512200
              ShortTitle: FOLL310
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              WILL YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME THE LORD'S PRAYER, AS GIVEN BY JESUS?


               MEDITATION CAN BE EXPLAINED, prayer never. It can be understood, but it cannot be
           explained. Prayer is something of the heart, very elusive, very indefinable. You can feel it, but you
           cannot think it. That is part of its nature. It is like love. It is not a technique.
               Meditation is a technique. Prayer is not a technique. Meditation you can do: prayer you cannot
           do. You can only be prayerful. It has nothing to do with words: what you say in prayer is
           meaningless. How you say it, the space from where it arises, is meaningful -- not the words.
               Prayer is a gratitude, a deep thankfulness towards the whole, that you are here, that you are glad
           to be. It is against complaint. When you complain, you say you are miserable to be; when you pray,
           whether you say it or not, you mean that you are glad to be, you are thankful that you are. And Jesus'
           prayer is tremendously beautiful. No other prayer is so beautiful. Vedas have prayers, but they come
           from very sophisticated minds, and whenever a prayer comes from a sophisticated mind, it loses
           much. It becomes very refined, meaningful: and that's why it loses all meaning.
               Jesus' prayer is almost childish. That's the beauty of it, the glory of it. If you want to understand
           Gayatri, the prayer in the Vedas, much can be said about it. It is a very condensed understanding; it
           is like a scientific formula; it is like Einstein's formula: E=MC2. Much can be said about it,
           thousands upon thousands of pages can be written about it.
               Jesus' prayer is not a scientific formula, it is just an outpouring of a simple heart; a child talking
           to his father -- simple, very simple, it cannot be more simple than that. So, if you talk to Hindus, they
           will say, "What type of prayer is this?" If you talk to Buddhists, they will laugh, because they have
           very refined prayers, very cultured, sophisticated, philosophical, speculative, saying much in them.
               Jesus' prayer does not say anything; it is simply an outpouring of the heart, as a lover talks to his
           beloved, or a child talks to his father. Let me repeat it: please don't ask for explanations; do it, and
           you will understand it.

               Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on
           earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
           those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
           kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.


              IF I CAN TRULY EXPERIENCE THE MUSIC OF THE FLUTEPLAYER, CAN THAT BE ON THE
              SAME LEVEL AS THE EXPERIENCE YOU WISH TO OCCUR WITH YOU? I AM THINKING OF THE
              SUFIS: I SEE, BUT I DO NOT SEE. I AM BEHIND A GLASS WALL.


                The object is irrelevant. Only the subjectivity is relevant. Whether listening to me, or listening to
           a fluteplayer, or listening to the birds in the morning, or sitting by the side of the waterfall and
           listening to it, the same experience can happen. It happens not from what you listen to, it happens
           because you listen. Just listening gives you total silence; in deep listening you disappear. The whole
           art is how to listen.
                Once you know how to listen, in deep receptivity, sensitivity, you are not there. The listener is
           not there, only listening. And when the listener is not there, there is no ego: there is no one who
           listens, only listening. And then it penetrates to the very core of your being.
                If you listen to me with mind, you will miss. If you listen to the waterfall without mind, you will
           get. It is not a question of listening to me; it is a question somewhere concerned with you, with the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           listener. What I am saying is irrelevant; who is saying it is irrelevant. The whole thing is: are you
           surrounded by a deep silence? Have you become non-existent in that moment? Do you find suddenly
           that you are not, that you are a deep emptiness, throbbing with life, full, but empty, a tremendous
           silence, with not a single ripple of thought? Only then do you attain to a plane where truth can
           penetrate you.
                So try to be a listener. Just hearing is not enough. Hear, you can; listening will need great
           discipline. It is the greatest discipline there is. If you listen, you are already delivered; because in that
           listening, suddenly you find yourself.
                This looks like a paradox. You disappear, I say, and in that disappearance you find yourself. You
           are empty, and in that emptiness arises a fullness, a fulfilment. No thought is there. And then there is
           understanding. And love flows, like breathing -- it goes in, it goes out, it goes in, it goes out. Then
           you start sharing your-your being with the existence that surrounds you. Then the part is no more
           part and separate -- it throbs with the whole. You fall in line with the whole, you are no more out of
           step. A harmony has arisen -- the celestial music, the music of the stars.
                Then suddenly you are open. From every dimension God flows into you. But the whole thing is
           how to be so receptive and silent. Just now it can happen, just now it is happening to many. I am not
           here; you are not there: and suddenly the meeting, suddenly the being.
                What can you do? Because all doing will be a disturbance. Whatsoever you do will bring you in
           from the back door; whatsoever you do will be an effort and a disturbance. Don't do anything; just
           be.
                The whole art of religion is nothing but this -- just be, allow, be in a let-go; sitting by the side of
           the tree, just sit -- nothing else is needed, just sitting. Buddha attained to truth just by sitting under
           the Bodhi Tree. Walking, just walk. Loving, just love. Being, just be. By and by you start feeling that
           within you the fragments arc disappearing, and an integration is arising. By and by it happens; by
           and by you start feeling that something is penetrating you from the unknown, from the beyond. You
           feel happy. You feel like a pregnant woman: the unknown has entered you. You don't know who has
           come to your womb, you have not seen the face yet, but you can feel the weight, you can feel the
           unknown kicking in your womb. You know the unknown has penetrated you.
                Then you walk more carefully, you sit more carefully, because you have to protect. The unknown
           has become your guest. You have to think and care about him, because the unknown is growing
           every day. the child grows and the mother disappears. One day, only the child is and the mother is
           gone. Mother means the past, and child means the present. Mother means you as you arc, and the
           child means you as you should be.
                Nothing can be done specifically. You have just to create a climate around you of waiting,
           contentment, acceptance, delight, silence. You start already as if you have attained.
                Listen to me again: you start already walking as if you have attained. It will be 'as if' only in the
           beginning: by and by, the 'as if' disappears. Walk like a Buddha, look like a Christ, delight like a
           Krishna. In the beginning it is going to be just 'as if'. But that 'as if' is not going to stay long, because
           you arc really that which you arc trying to act.
                The whole thing is as if you go to Jesus, not knowing that he is Jesus, and he also does not know
           that he is Jesus; and you tell him that you are going to stage a drama and, "You look like Jesus.
           Would you please come and act as Jesus in it?" He agrees, and he comes to act. Of course it is 'as if'
           in the beginning, because he does not know that he is Jesus. You don't know that he is Jesus; he only
           looks like, appears to be. And then he starts playing in the drama and, by and by, the 'as if'
           disappears because he is. By and by the reality takes possession, and suddenly it erupts, and he is no
           more acting. Hc is simply being himself.
                This is the case with you. You look like God. I tell you: act like God! And sooner or later you
           will discover that just by acting, you have discovered the reality. Because in reality you arc already
           that; only you have forgotten it. So, if you start acting, the forgotten-ness will disappear. You will
           start remembering.
                So, when you sit under a tree, sit like a Buddha. And don't be afraid, and don't be shy. Who is
           hindering you? And if you can sit like a Buddha, then why settle for less? When you play a flute,
           forget about yourself, play it like a Krishna. And I say to you: you are Krishna! And the flute is the
           same! Just you have to remember, and once you remember, immediately you will see the
           transformation -- that now the song is not coming from you, it is coming from the beyond: you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no more in the way.
               I have heard about Michaelangelo, that he used to use a device while working on his art pieces.
           Sometimes it would get dark; evening would come, and he would have to use candles. He would put
           the candles in a cup, because if you don't put candles in a cup, then your own shadow falls between
           you and your work, and it creates a disturbance. So he would put the candles into a cup -- then the
           cup protects; then his own shadow would not come between himself and his work, and he would not
           be disturbed.
               This is what is happening to you. Your own shadow is coming between you and your reality. The
           day you realize that it is only a shadow, then there is no problem.
               One of the greatest thinkers of the West, Jean-Paul Sartre, has a certain theory. It may not be
           absolutely true; it is not. But it moves in the right direction. Even for wrong reasons he moves in the
           right direction. He says that there are two types of philosophies in the world: one, the philosophy of
           being; and another, the philosophy of doing. He himself thinks that he belongs to the second, the
           philosophy of doing, because he says, "Being in itself is nothing." Unless you do something, how
           can you be? When you paint, you become a painter; when you sing, you become a singer; when you
           dance, you become a dancer. If you don't do anything, who are you? All identity is lost -- you
           become empty, you are no more there. So, he says, do something; because only by doing will you be
           something.
               Buddha belongs to the first philosophy. He says: just be. Realize, without doing, who you are.
           Buddha is perfectly right, but Sartre is not perfectly wrong. And I can feel that what Sartre is saying
           can lead to what Buddha is saying. It can become a technique.

               Act like a Jesus, and suddenly, your being is revealed. That being can be known without action
           also; but then it is more difficult, almost impossible, because you don't know where to look for a
           mirror. Without a mirror you cannot see your face. The face is there; you know it is there, but you
           cannot see without a mirror. The doing can become a mirror, and in the mirror the being can be
           revealed. Once it is revealed, you can forget about the mirror; you can throw the mirror away -- there
           is no need for it.
               Walk like a Jesus, sit like a Buddha, play on the flute like a Krishna, and by and by you will
           come to realize that it was not just an acting. You have stumbled upon something real. Your own
           shadow is no more falling -- the clarity is attained.
               When listening to me, sit like a Buddha, silent, receptive, feminine. That's why Buddha looks so
           feminine -- have you watched -- no moustache, no beard, and the face of a woman. The meaning is,
           when you sit silently, your feminine part comes up, surfaces. When you act, your male part comes
           up, the feminine recedes. When you do something, your male part comes up. When you are in a
           non-doing, your feminine comes up.
               Buddha attained to God through the feminine -- in fact there is no other way to attain. The
           ultimate has to be attained only when you become a womb, a receptivity. Then it makes no
           difference.
               Just sit and listen to the breeze passing through the pines, and you will find me there; or listen to
           me with no thought in the mind, and you will find the breeze passing through the pines. It is one and
           the same. But the whole depends on your listening -- the quality of your listening is the question, not
           what you listen to.


              I FEEL VERY IDENTIFIED WITH MY MOTHER. I TEND TO JUDGE HER AS HARSHLY AS I JUDGE
              MYSELF, AND BLAME HER FOR MY NEGATIVITY. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE NATURE OF
              THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP?


               This is a new disease created by the psychoanalysts in the West. In a way it is very old and
           ancient, a very old trick of the mind. But the garb that psychoanalysis has given it is very modern.
               The human mind always tends to throw the responsibility on to somebody else. Then you arc
           freed of it. In the old days people used to throw the responsibility on to God, fate, kismet -- a
           thousand and one words they had found. Then they were no more responsible; then they were
           unburdened.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But this unburdening is very dangerous, because once you feel that you are not responsible, then
           all doors for transformation are closed -- because to feel responsible is the very basic requirement for
           transformation. If I am not responsible for what I am, how can I be responsible for any
           transformation? If it happens, it happens; if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen; and if God is
           responsible, then he is responsible also for my change, or no change. Then you start feeling that you
           are just a puppet, and then you go on dragging yourself in the mud; then your whole life becomes
           driftwood.
               Don't think that this is a let-go. Let-go is a very alive thing. This is dead wood, driftwood -- it is
           not alive at all. A fatalist is not alive at all, because he has thrown away all responsibility. In
           throwing away responsibility he has also thrown away his soul -- he is no more a soul. The more
           responsible you feel, the more authentic is the soul you have. Responsibility is your soul.
               But those were old days, now we have forgotten about them. Then came Marx: following Hegel,
           hc created the same old pattern again. He called it historic necessity: history is responsible, not you.
           Economics is responsible, not you. Social structure is responsible, not you -- the old fatalism just
           garbed in new words.
               Then came Freud. And he said if a child is not loved by the mother, then when he is grown up he
           will not be able to love: the mother is responsible. If the mother was negative, then the child will be
           negative: the mother is responsible. Freud was a Jew, and must have suffered from a Jewish mother;
           so the whole thing is thrown on to the mother. Now the mother becomes the God, the fate; and the
           whole thing seems to be absurd. Because if you ask who has made the mother this way, then her
           mother is responsible. Then go on and on. Finally you have to fall back on God: that's why I say the
           logic is the same. God is the mother of the whole, the original source from where everything comes.
               You are destroyed by your mother. She is destroyed by her mother. Her mother is destroyed by
           hers, and go on and on and on. Finally you will have to fall back on God. This is the old trick, the old
           argument, just put in modern language. But the whole trick is to throw away responsibility.
           Psychoanalysis stopped Western consciousness from growth. Psychoanalysis has not been a
           treatment; it is the illness. And the sooner the West gets rid of psychoanalysis the better. Because
           once you think that you are not responsible, you start living a life of irresponsibility. And nobody
           can say that you have to change. How can you change?
               This question is from Nisha. I know her: she is negative. She is a miser. Her whole consciousness
           is constipated, closed; but a beautiful possibility, hidden. The bud has not opened, but once it opens
           there is going to be a beautiful flower in the world.
               Now the problem is: if she feels herself responsible, then she has to do something immediately. If
           the mother is responsible, then what can she do? Unless the mother changes, which is not possible --
           that means unless the past changes, the present cannot change. But how can you change the past? It
           has already happened; it cannot be undone; there is no way. Then you accept the closed state of your
           consciousness, and you feel helpless.
               The whole point of your being here with me is that you can do something. So try to understand
           my standpoint. Man's consciousness is absolute freedom. If you are negative, you have continuously
           to take the decision to remain negative. How the negativity was created is irrelevant, it is
           meaningless. It has happened; it is a given fact now, that you are negative, that you.don't have any
           positive flowing energy. You have just a closing energy, which closes up on you, caves in upon you;
           and you have no door to move out from. The sky is lost, and you live in a dark cave.
               It is irrelevant how it happened: there is no need to go into the past. I am telling you this is the
           foundation of Eastern esoteric psychology, that a man, whatsoever he is, has continuously to decide
           to be that way -- only then can he remain that way.
               It is like pedalling a cycle. You are pedalling a bicycle -- you have pedalled for miles, but if you
           want to continue the journey you have to go on pedalling. If you stop pedalling, the bicycle is going
           to stop. Maybe through past momentum it may go on a little, a furlong or two at the most. But it is
           going to stop. And there is no need to go into research on how you started pedalling in the first place,
           because that is an absurd research. You cannot go into that, because go on and on and you cannot
           find the beginning. The past is eternity; you cannot find the beginning, and the whole search will
           stop your growth.
               I tell you: you just stop pedalling, and the bicycle is going to stop. If you are negative, you are
           pedalling negativity continuously. If you take the decision just this moment not to pedal any more...
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your mother, or God -- nobody is there to prevent you. It is your decision. But if you don't want to
           take the decision, then you can find a thousand and one excuses. Freud gives you a very wonderful
           excuse, very scientific-looking. But don't be deceived by the appearance. Freud has created a new
           myth. It is not science yet; in fact, the science of human consciousness is impossible, because the
           science is possible only in the world of cause and effect. And human consciousness is freedom; it has
           no cause and effect chain -- science cannot be created in it.
                Religion is not science; it cannot be. More or less, religion is an art. It has no causality in it. So if
           you feel negative, that means somehow or other, knowingly or unknowingly, you have invested
           much in your negativity. Now you want to cling to it; you don't want to drop it. If you are miserly,
           you want to cling to it; you don't want to drop it. See the point. If you want to drop it, I say to you,
           "Immediately! This very moment!" Nobody is blocking the path. But you don't want to drop it; and
           you don't want to realize the fact that you don't want. Then you play a trick. You say, "I want to drop
           it, but how can? My mother gave me the whole negative attitude towards life." So you hate yourself
           for being negative, and you hate your mother because she has made you that way. Nobody has made
           you that way, nobody is responsible.
                Don't play these games. You are responsible. It may look like a burden I am putting on you. But
           if you look deeply, you will feel that this is the only possibility for your freedom. If you are
           responsible, only then can you be free. If others are responsible, how can you be free? If you are
           'caused', you are 'caused' by others; then you can never be free, then you are just like a rock.
                But I tell you: you are free. Your nature is freedom. That's why one word, moksha, does not exist
           in Western languages. There is no equivalent to it, no synonym for it: it means absolute freedom.
           The Eastern psychology is developed around the concept of moksha, absolute freedom. You can be
           free, because you are free. Realize this, this moment, and nobody is blocking the way -- there is no
           barrier, no wall. But if you don't want to become free, don't think that you want to become free.
           People talk about freedom, but they want to remain in bondage, because bondage has its own
           comforts, securities, conveniences. Freedom is risky.
                Miserliness has its own conveniences, otherwise nobody would be a miser. If you are not a
           miser, you become more insecure. If you cling to money, to things, you feel a certain security: at
           least there is something to ding to; you don't feel empty. Maybe you are full of rubbish; but at least
           something is there, you are not empty.
                You go on clinging. With negativity you feel powerful. Whenever you say no, you feel powerful;
           the ego is enhanced. Whenever you say yes, you feel humble; the ego is destroyed. That's why you
           don't want to say yes, and you go on saying no. When you love, you become humble; when you are
           angry, you become powerful. Have you watched? When you are angry, you have four times more
           energy than you ordinarily have. In anger, in rage, you can throw a rock, a big rock. Ordinarily, if
           somebody tells you to, you cannot even push it, you cannot even move it. When you are angry, you
           have much power. When you are loving, all power disappears.
                Can you find a more humble man than Jesus, more powerless than Jesus crucified? Just think of
           him. The people had gathered, the crowd was waiting: he would do some miracle -- he will prove
           that he is powerful, that he is the son of God -- this is the right moment and the right opportunity to
           prove it. But the crowd was very much disappointed. Nothing happened. Jesus simply prayed. Who
           had come to listen to the prayer? Jesus simply said, "Father, forgive these people, because they don't
           know what they are doing." He simply showed his love; and people had come to see his anger,
           people had come to see power. He will destroy everything; he will take over all power; he will
           become the high priest of the temple, or he will become the ruler of the country. He will become the
           King.
                They had come to see power, and what they saw was just simple humbleness -- a humble man, a
           poor man, crucified -- just praying. But that was the miracle. The greatest miracle that has ever
           happened on this earth happened that day. Being murdered and killed, he could still pray. That is the
           miracle. He could still pray for these people to be forgiven, because he knew they didn't know what
           they were doing; they were ignorant. "They are not doing, Father, knowingly; they are almost fast
           asleep, snoring. They are doing something unconsciously, so they are not responsible. Don't punish
           them."
                This prayer was the miracle. This is where Jesus is, the heart of Jesus. But when you say no, you
           feel powerful; whenever you are angry, you feel powerful. Hatred is powerful, love is meek. And
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek." Blessed are the meek? Nobody wants to be meek. Hatred seems
           to be powerful. Have you watched two countries at war, how powerful they become when they are at
           war? Everybody is vibrant with power. When countries are at peace, the power disappears. When
           two persons love each other, the egos disappear; there is no power. Two persons in deep love are
           blessed, but they are meek, delicate. Love is fragile like a flower. Hatred is powerful like a sword.
               So whenever you are negative, you feel powerful. And if you still want to feel powerful, you will
           cling to your negativity. Don't throw the responsibility on to your poor mother -- because that is
           absurd. Take the responsibility on yourself, because that is the only chance of your transformation.
               Look at the situation. And I am not saying, "Drop your negativity." I am simply saying,
           "Understand." If you want to carry it, it is up to you. Who am I to say to you, "Drop it"? If you are
           feeling good in it, I can simply bless you. Be blessed in your negativity. But then don't go on saying
           that you would like to drop it. Don't play this game. If you want to be negative, be negative. If you
           don't want to be negative, drop it. But this foolish game is not good: "I want to drop the negativity,
           but how can I? -- because I was brought up in such a way that now it is impossible." Look. Observe.
           Be honest. The mother is not the question. Your own honesty is the question, your own sincerity.
           And remember, I repeat again: I am not saying that you drop it, I am not trying to save anybody --
           because how can I save you against yourself? That's not possible.
               I am simply trying to get you to see the fact of it. The very fact delivers. That is the meaning of
           Jesus' saying 'truth liberates'; nothing else. Jesus cannot liberate you, neither can I. Truth liberates.
           Just see the truth. If you want to be negative, if you feel powerful through negativity, be negative and
           feel powerful. But then don't try the opposite; then forget all about religion. These people are mad --
           this Jesus and Buddha -- their minds are crazy. You are sane.
               You simply remain in your sanity; follow negativity. If you are honest, what will happen? If you
           arc honest, you will see that through your negativity you are creating a hell. Only you are suffering,
           nobody else. Let the suffering come to such a point where you cannot suffer any more; where you
           have to come out, as if your house is on fire. Then you don't cling to it, you simply run out; and you
           don't ask for the right way to get out. You don't ask for a master: that you will have to learn the right
           way and the right technique. Nobody bothers. You jump out of the window; you run out of the back
           door. You find a way out yourself, once you realize that the house is on fire.

               Be true. Don't create deceptions around yourself. Don't deceive yourself. And then, if you decide
           to be negative, be negative; be perfectly negative. And I know that will help, because it will create
           such a hell that you will have to come out of it. Right now you go on creating hell, and you also go
           on creating dreams of heaven.
               Because of those dreams of heaven your hell is clouded; you cannot see exactly what it is. It is as
           if the house is on fire, and you are fast asleep, dreaming about a golden palace. Because of that
           dream you cannot see the house is on fire. So you go on dreaming about religion, transformation,
           growth, this and that, enlightenment. These are dreams, and because of these dreams you can't see
           the hell that you are continuously creating, continuously deciding upon, continuously helping. On
           one side you go on helping, and go on throwing fuel on the fire. And on the other hand you go on
           asking for methods how to get out of it.
               Enough! Stop it! Look at the facts. If you want to live in hell, it is for you to decide; nobody else
           can interfere. Go into hell, but go totally; and that totality, that sincerity, will bring you out of it.
           Truth liberates.


              MY HEART ACHES. SUCH A TINY CREVICE OF IT FEELS ABLE TO OPEN TO YOU. I WANT TO
              MELT AND FLOW AROUND YOU LIKE A PUDDLE; AND I DON'T KNOW HOW. SOMEHOW MY
              HEART KNOWS WHAT IT WOULD FEEL LIKE TO OPEN TOTALLY TO YOU, AND BECAUSE IT
              DOES NOT, IT ACHES. AND I SHAKE AND WANT TO FORCE, KNOWING THAT I CAN'T. I LOVE
              YOU SUCH A TINY BIT AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.


              This is from Anupama. I can see that her heart aches, but that heartache is beautiful. Remember:
           headache is always ugly, heartache is always beautiful. Headache comes when you think too much,
           you are obsessed with thinking. Heartache comes when you start feeling, when you start melting.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Heartache is a good sign, a great indication that something is happening in your deepest core.
                MY HEART ACHES. SUCH A TINY CREVICE OF IT FEELS ABLE TO OPEN TO YOU.
           Good. Help it to ache more; and don't try to avoid it, and don't try to get rid of it, because heartache
           is a positive thing. Headache is a negative thing. Headache is a disease; heartache comes only to
           those who are starting to be healthy and whole. Heartache is holy.
                The word is the same: ache. That creates difficulty. Remember it, never forget it: whenever the
           heart aches, it shows that you are getting deeper into your being.
                Love has its own ache. But blessed are those who attain to that ache of love. By and by the
           heartache will grow more and more. It will become intenser and intenser. Help it, so that it becomes
           a flame. You burn, but that burning is beautiful, because that fire will burn only the ego, not you.
           You will come out of it purified, like pure gold.
                MY HEART ACHES. SUCH A TINY CREVICE OF IT FEELS ABLE TO OPEN TO YOU.
           Remember this too: that love never feels enough. Love always feels that it is not yet enough. That is
           a sign of love, it never feels enough. You can never feel enough love, you can never feel more than
           enough love. It is the very nature of love that it always feels that more is possible. "I can give more. I
           can flow more." Love is an infinity. So howsoever you open, you will always feel more is possible.
           It is a journey which begins, but never ends. Love's journey begins, but never ends. It is eternity.
                I WANT TO MELK AND FLOW AROUND YOU LIKE A PUDDLE; AND I DON'T KNOW
           HOW. Nobody knows, nobody has ever known, nobody will ever know, because it is not part of
           knowledge. But you are already on the way; so move in the same direction. Allow it to ache more.
           Enjoy that ache. Delight in it, and help it. Don't fight it. Surrender to it. Don't stand aloof, don't be a
           watcher, don't separate yourself. Be drunk with it, get involved in it, be absorbed in it -- so much so
           that only the heart aches and you are not there to watch and see. Only the heartache remains, and you
           have disappeared. Then it becomes a tremendous ecstasy. It is a birth pang; yes, a birth pain. One is
           reborn through it.
                SOMEHOW MY HEART KNOWS WHAT IT WOULD FEEL LIKE TO OPEN TOTALLY TO
           YOU. Yes, the heart knows, because heart has its own ways of knowing. They are not of the mind. It
           knows how it will be to be totally open. That knowledge is not something learned. That knowledge is
           inborn; that knowledge is carried like a blueprint in the heart. The day you come out of the original
           source -- call it God's home -- the day you are coming from the original source, that blueprint is put
           into your heart and sealed.
                So, in a very strange way, you always know how it will feel to be totally open, to be totally
           flowing, to be totally in love and prayer. Yet you don't know, because the mind knows nothing about
           it. And yet you know, because the heart carries something in it which only needs flowering. It is like
           the seed which carries the blueprint of the whole tree. I say, of the whole tree. Even of a single leaf,
           the blueprint is there. There will be mi]lions of leaves, but each single leaf has a blueprint hidden in
           the seed. The seed is very small, but it carries the whole plan, it carries the whole future in it.
                The heart is the seed of God. It carries the whole plan in it. It carries your destiny, and your
           destiny is tremendously great. The seed may be very small, maybe a mustard seed. The small ness of
           the seed is not the point -- don't be deceived by the smallness of it. It may just be atomic. It may not
           even be visible to the eyes, it may not even be visible to the greatest magnifying glass, it may be so
           tiny. It is very small -- very small, atomic.
                Nobody has known the atom, nobody has seen it yet. Only effects are known -- it is an inference.
           Nobody has ever seen the heart -- I am not talking about the physical heart. Nobody has seen the
           heart, the heart Jesus talks about, the heart Meera sings about, the heart Chaitanya dances about.
           Nobody has seen that heart yet; nobody is ever going to see it, because it is very, very small; it is
           invisible. But it carries God in it. It carries it, as every seed carries the tree.
                Just look at a small seed -- can you imagine what it can become? A tree can be born out of it, a
           great banyan tree, and then millions of seeds through this one seed. Scientists say that a single seed
           can fill the whole earth with greenery. A single seed can fill the whole universe with greenery,
           because there is no 'finitude' in it; it is infinite.
                Each single heart can fill the whole universe. You will never be able to know what it is if you try
           to know through the mind. But if you relax into the heart, you will know in a very strange way. That
           is the way of the mystics, not of the intellectuals; that is the way of the poets, not of the philosophers.
           You will know it in a poetic way; you will know it, and it will never become knowledge. It will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remain knowing, a groping; and it is beautiful, because whenever something becomes knowledge, it
           is already dead. Whenever you have known something, finished -- then you are no more interested in
           it.
                Love can never be known that way. It always remains unknown. It goes on alluring, it goes on
           invoking, it goes on calling you further and further. One peak, somehow, you reach; another peak is
           waiting. Another peak you reach; more doors open, more peaks are there waiting for you. It is an
           infinite journey. One knows, and yet one never knows.
                MY HEART KNOWS WHAT IT WOULD FEEL LIKE TO OPEN TOTALLY TO YOU, AND
           BECAUSE IT DOES NOT, IT ACHES. AND I SHAKE AND WANT TO FORCE KNOWING
           THAT I CAN'T. I understand. And you have observed your heart perfectly well. This is how it
           happens: you know nothing can be done, you know that doing will only disturb; yet you go on
           thinking, you go on wishing that something may be there, that something can be done -- maybe,
           perhaps. And you know all the time nothing can be done, because it is not a question of doing. But
           still, the heart goes on feeling that perhaps there is a way.
                One hangs, as if in a mist. But that is how one grows. Nothing can be done, and I know that
           nothing can also be done about the thinking that goes on thinking that maybe something can be done.
           Nothing can also be done about that. So accept that too; that too is part of the heartache. Accept
           whatsoever it is; and in total acceptance is transformation. You relax. Don't fight. Remember, this is
           very delicate. Because whenever I say relax, you think now you are not to think; now you are not to
           do anything; now you are not even allowed to think about what to do. Then you have misunderstood
           me.
                When I say relax, I mean relax; whatsoever goes on -- let it go. I am not saying.... Because if you
           start thinking that let-go means that you are not to think about what is to be done, then you will start
           fighting with the idea which will be coming again and again. What to do? -- you will start fighting
           with it. Let-go simply means no fight.
                Now it becomes even more subtle. If fight arises, what will you do? Let go, let the fight be there.
           This is the delicate thing about it, that at whatsoever level you start fighting, drop fighting. Do you
           understand me? When I say 'drop fighting', don't START dropping it, because then you are not
           dropping, then you have started a new fight against fight.
                It is tremendously significant. Let me repeat. I tell you not to fight, but fight arises. What will
           you do? Let it be. And I have been telling you not to fight, and fight arises. What should you do? Let
           it be. That is what I mean when I say don't fight -- at whatsoever level struggle arises and you
           become concerned and you become separate from the on-going process -- don't do that. Relax. Let it
           be, whatsoever it is. Accept whatsoever it is unconditionally, and by and by you will become aware
           that that is the only way to be, and the only way to be blissful, and the only way to be blessed. A
           totally different plenitude is attained when you relax.
                ... AND BECAUSE IT DOES NOT, IT ACHES. AND I SHAKE AND WANT TO FORCE,
           KNOWING THAT I CAN'T. Let it be so. Know that you can't... still it goes on: accept it.
                I LOVE YOU SUCH A TINY BIT, AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL. Love is beautiful, even a small
           window into the sky of love is beautiful. Of course, only a small part of the sky can be seen from the
           window, but it is still part of the sky. Sooner or later you will have to come out of the house; that
           which is beautiful will draw you. You will by and by be forced to come closer and closer to that
           which you love, that which is beautiful. Suddenly you will be running towards it; you will forget all
           about the house, the enclosure that you have been living in for lives together. Suddenly, in a deep
           ecstasy, you are out of the house, under the sky.
                Only love can bring you out of your misery, only love can bring you out of your hell, because
           only in love can you forget yourself And you are the misery, and you are the hell.


              IF YOU ARE NOT THERE, AND THERE IS NO THOUGHT ANY MORE, HOW CAN YOU GIVE
              SUCH COHERENT AND BEAUTIFUL DISCOURSES? IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE AWARE AND
              UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING.


               Such beautiful and coherent discourses are possible because I am not there. Once I am there, they
           will no more be beautiful. Not only that: they are beautiful because you are listening when you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not there. Once you are there they will no more be beautiful. The beauty exists only in an egoless
           space. You come, and ugliness follows.
                IF YOU ARE NOT THERE, AND THERE IS NO THOUGHT ANY MORE... yes, I am not
           there, and there is no thought any more. That's why this river goes on flowing, because there is
           nobody to hinder it, nobody to obstruct it.
                IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE AWARE AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. It
           only seems. Don't be deceived by the appearance. I am not aware. I am drunk -- drunk with
           awareness maybe, but I am drunk. But this drunkenness is called awareness. If your awareness is not
           also drunkenness, it is not awareness yet. If you are not drunk with awareness, you are not drunk yet.
           When awareness and drunkenness become almost synonymous, only then there is buddhahood, then
           there is enlightenment.
                IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE AWARE AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. It
           only seems: it is not so. I am drunk. And it seems that I understand what I am saying -- I don't
           understand what I am saying; I am simply allowing it to be said. I am not trying to understand what I
           am saying, because that would be a duality; then I would be two -- someone who is trying to
           understand what is being said. Then I would be in a dichotomy. And that's what happens when you
           say you are watching what you are saying all the time, whether you are saying it right or wrong. You
           are always trying to be consistent, logical, this and that. I am absolutely inconsistent. I am not trying
           in any way to understand what I am saying: I allow it. Because that is my understanding: that unless
           you allow, nothing of worth flows. If you try to say something which is meaningful, the meaning
           will be superficial. If you simply say it without any effort on your part, if you simply allow the
           divine, the whole, to flow through you, it is tremendously meaningful: the meaning is ultimate then.
                And I would also like you not to try to understand what I am saying -- because that is the only
           way to miss it, a perfect way to miss. If you want to miss what I am saying, try to understand. Just
           listen -- there is no other need. It is a song to be heard, it is a dance to be watched.

               I am a certain emptiness, and I would like you to participate in it. Be in rapport with me, don't try
           to understand; because then the intellect enters in, and then you are no more total. If you are total,
           whatsoever comes out is beautiful. If you are not total, at the most you can create an appearance of
           beauty, but it will not be beauty. Beauty is always of the total.
               Please don't try to understand me -- otherwise you will become a great knower, but you will miss
           knowing. Then you will become a rabbi, a pundit, a maulwi. But you will miss the real
           understanding that I am showering on you. Remember this: understanding is not needed -- only a
           deep drunkenness, which is also awareness, is needed.
               Be with me. When you are trying to understand, you are with yourself; you are trying to interpret
           me according to your mind, knowledge, information. According to your past you are trying to look at
           me; your eyes are clouded with dust, you will not be able to see me. Just be a mirror: reflect me;
           don't try to understand me. Echo me; don't try to understand me. And there will be understanding.


              I HAVE BEEN SO ANXIOUS TO UNDERSTAND THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE THAT I HAVE SPENT
              MANY YEARS READING AND LEARNING WHATEVER WAS AVAILABLE. ALL THAT I CAME TO
              KNOW IS MY IGNORANCE. MY QUESTION IS THIS: WHY, BEING SO HUNGRY OF KNOWING,
              AND AT THE SAME TIME SO AWARE OF LACK OF KNOWLEDGE, HAVE I NEVER BEEN ABLE
              TO FIND A SINGLE QUESTION AFTER YOUR LECTURES, EVEN IF I TRY, AS I AM TRYING NOW.


               This is from Sugita. She is a professor; and she has been in search, and she has been honestly in
           search. She has read much, and she has gathered much knowledge. But knowledge can deceive you
           only if you are not an honest seeker. If you are a sincere seeker, knowledge cannot deceive you: you
           know this is all dust. That's why whatsoever she has been reading, studying, has not been able to
           deceive her.
               ALL THAT I CAME TO KNOW IS MY IGNORANCE. That is the beginning of knowledge,
           that is the beginning of wisdom. And because of it she is listening to me, not to understand: she is
           just drinking me, she is drunk with me, and no question is arising. Because if you listen to me in
           such a drunk state, you understand me totally -- there is no gap, so questions cannot arise.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Remember: questions arise more out of your knowledge than out of you. If you know, and you
           think you know, then many questions arise. If you know that you don't know, then you simply listen.
           You are nourished by me, you drink me, you feel me. But there is no knowledge, so there is no
           struggle within you, no conflict within you: I immediately reach to your very heart. Questions do not
           arise because you immediately understand.
               When you listen through ignorance, understanding is total; when you listen through knowledge,
           there is no understanding, only chaos. Arguments arise, questions arise. There are two types of
           questions: one that comes out of ignorance -- then it is beautiful; one that comes out of knowledge --
           then it is ugly and quarrelsome. But if your ignorance is total, then even that question which comes
           out of ignorance does not arise.
               Sugita's ignorance is really total. She is a rare woman.


              AND PS: JUST BECAUSE WE WERE URGED TO CREATE QUESTIONS, I HAVE MADE THIS
              ONE. BUT TODAY'S LECTURE GAVE ME THE ANSWER. BEFORE I ASK YOU FOR WATER, YOU
              QUENCH MY THIRST. BUT NOW A REAL QUESTION AROSE. WHY, DRINKING AND EATING SO
              MUCH FROM YOU, AM I STILL HUNGRY AND THIRSTY? BUT PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER IT I
              WILL JUST GO ON DRINKING AND EATING.


                If the question is really sincere, it will be answered even before you have asked it. Because then
           it is simply transferred to me; it is simply communicated non-verbally. When I come here, those who
           are really in tune with me immediately communicate whatsoever is their real question. They need not
           even ask, but the answer will be there. Because I am not speaking here in a vacuum, I am speaking to
           you.
                That's why I don't like people who are not in deep communion with me to be here -- because they
           disturb; their vibrations create clouds around here: then those who are in tune with me cannot relate
           so easily. Even a single person who is antagonistic here will not allow me to flow, will not allow me
           to reach you. Those who are in tune with me need not ask. Their very tuning... they may not even be
           aware of their question, but the question has reached me. It is communicated.
                And from that communication the answer is going to arise. I am not there -- just an emptiness to
           respond to you, just a mirror to reflect you. And yet it is true that the more you drink of me, the more
           thirsty you will feel because a total thirst is needed.
                It has to be understood a little. I create thirst in you. I quench it? and then I create more thirst in
           you. Because once the thirst is total, then you will be able to drink out of God himself. Then the
           master is not needed; then I become just a door.
                So I will quench your thirst just to increase it more -- so that it becomes total; so that you are not
           there, only thirst throbbing... only thirst, and only thirst. The disciple is not there, the enquirer is not
           there. Then the master is not needed; then you simply pass through me. I become the door.
                So the master has to do two things: to create thirst; to quench it just to create more. I go on
           pouring into you water and new thirst; not only water, but thirst also. But each time your thirst will
           be on a higher level, and each time your thirst will have become more and more intense. Then a
           moment comes: you disappear, and only thirst remains. When the thirst is totally alone, and you are
           not there, then the master disappears. And through the master, the God becomes available.




                                 Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                           Reflections on Jesus of Nazareth
                                     Talks given from 21/12/75 am to 31/12/75 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     11 Chapters
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                  Year published:
           Originally the series was published as "Come Follow Me, Vols 1 + 2". Later in 1991
           republished as four volumes under the title "Come Follow To You".




                                     Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                Chapter #1
                                Chapter title: This in remembrance of me
           21 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512210
              ShortTitle: FOLL401
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              John 13
              1 NOW BEFORE THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER, WHEN JESUS KNEW THAT HIS HOUR WAS
              COME THAT HE SHOULD DEPART OUT OF THIS WORLD UNTO THE FATHER, HAVING LOVED
              HIS OWN WHICH WERE IN THE WORLD, HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END.

              Matthew 26



              17 NOW THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD THE DISCIPLES CAME TO
              JESUS, SAYING UNTO HIM: WHERE WILT THOU THAT WE PREPARE FOR THEE TO EAT THE
              PASSOVER?



              18 AND HE SAID: GO INTO THE CITY TO SUCH A MAN, AND SAY UNTO HIM: THE MASTER
              SAITH, MY TIME IS AT HAND; I WILL KEEP THE PASSOVER AT THY HOUSE WITH MY
              DISCIPLES.



              19 AND THE DISCIPLES DID AS JESUS HAD APPOINTED THEM; AND THEY MADE READY THE
              PASSOVER. 14

              Luke 22



              14 AND WHEN THE HOUR WAS COME, HE SAT DOWN, AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES WITH
              HIM.



              15 AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: WITH DESIRE I HAVE DESIRED TO EAT THIS PASSOVER WITH
              YOU BEFORE I SUFFER:



              16 FOR I SAY UNTO YOU, I WILL NOT ANY MORE EAT THEREOF, UNTIL IT BE FULFILLED IN
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THE KINGDOM OF GOD.



               17 AND HE TOOK THE CUP, AND GAVE THANKS, AND SAID: TAKE THIS, AND DIVIDE IT
               AMONG YOURSELVES:



               18 FOR I SAY UNTO YOU, I WILL NOT DRINK OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINE, UNTIL THE
               KINGDOM OF GOD SHALL COME.



               19 AND HE TOOK BREAD, AND GAVE THANKS, AND BRAKE IT, AND GAVE UNTO THEM,
               SAYING: THIS IS MY BODY WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU: THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.



               20 LIKEWISE ALSO THE CUP AFTER SUPPER, SAYING: THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN
               MY BLOOD, WHICH IS SHED FOR YOU.


                THE great German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, was on his death-bed in much pain and
           suffering. One evening, just before he died, he cried loudly,'Ah, my God!'
                The doctor who Was attending to him was surprised because there was no place for God in
           Schopenhauer's philosophy. So he said, 'Sir, is there any place for God in your philosophy?'
                Schopenhauer opened his eyes and said,'In suffering, philosophy without God is insufficient.'
                The word 'insufficient' is very significant. Let us contemplate on it a little more. Even on his
           death-bed, Schopenhauer remains a philosopher. A philosopher goes on thinking about God, at the
           most, as a hypothesis: sufficient or insufficient? But God remains, more or less, a hypothetical thing.
           God is not reality. Maybe the concept is needed because it is difficult to explain many things without
           it, but the hypothesis is a hypothesis and can be discarded at any moment. Any moment that we can
           explain life without Him, We will be ready to explain life without Him.
                God is not life. Rather, He is a hypothesis to explain the mystery of life. A hypothesis is a need
           of ignorance. When man becomes more and more knowledgeable, the darkness of ignorance is
           pushed away more and more. God will be thrown, God will be dethroned because then He will not
           be needed.
                Schopenhauer says,'In suffering, a philosophy without God is insufficient.' In suffering man feels
           his helplessness: fear, death, pain, and there is no explanation for it. The suffering is so much, and
           unexplained. Then one cries out of fear, anguish, anxiety, 'Ah God, my God!' But this God is bogus.
           It may be a need of human frailty, human limitation; it may be a need of human weakness, human
           helplessness, but it is not reality. It is not that you have come to realize the truth of it. At the most, it
           is NEEDED. You feel too much alone, in the dark, without the concept of God. At the most, it is a
           make-believe. It helps, it consoles, it gives a certain comfort when comfort is needed. It is what
           Marx calls 'the opium'. In suffering, opium is needed -- something through which you can forget the
           suffering -- but this is not the true God. The God of the philosophers is not a true God.
                Then there is another God -- the true God. The true God is not a hypothesis, it is a realization.
           And the true God reveals more when you are celebrating than when you are in suffering.
                Just try to understand this: whenever you are happy you don't need God. Who needs God when
           one is happy and enjoying life, full of energy and vigor? When life is a fulfillment who needs God?
           Then the philosophy is sufficient without God. In happiness, nobody remembers God. If you
           remember God when you are happy, there is more possibility to know Him than when you remember
           Him in suffering, because in suffering everybody remembers. It depends more on suffering than on
           you. It is part of a suffering mind that it feels helpless. If you can remember God while celebrating, it
           is not natural; it is supernatural. While you are perfectly happy and feeling fulfilled, each moment of
           life is being lived in delight, you are flowing, nothing seems impossible, you are succeeding, nothing
           seems far away, beyond your reach, you are at the peak of your life, young, alive, it is unnatural to
           remember God then. But if you remember Him then, there is more possibility of encountering the
           reality of God.
                Why? -- because in the first place it is almost impossible to remember. If you remember while
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are happy, then you are already moving out of the unconscious. You are making a conscious
           effort; you are already awakening; you are no more asleep. In sleep things simply happen to you.
           When you become a little more awake, then you are not just a victim, then you can choose.
                Remember this: the God which you remember in suffering is just a projection of your mind. The
           God which you remember in celebration is no more a projection of your mind, because mind is
           perfectly satisfied when you are happy. Mind means philosophy. When you are unhappy, then the
           mind is not sufficient -- then you need somebody's help, then you need somebody's shoulder to lean
           upon; then you invoke God. The God of Schopenhauer is false.
           Now let me tell you another anecdote.
                It happened in Pascal's life. One evening, for no reason whatsoever, he was feeling very, very
           happy.
                And remember this, that whenever happiness comes to you, it comes for no reason at all.
           Suffering has a cause, happiness none. Suffering is caused by something. It is part of cause and
           effect: the mechanical world. Happiness is not caused by anything. Whenever you are available, it
           happens, as if happiness is your nature; whenever you settle into it, it happens. Unhappiness is not
           your nature. It has to be caused, it has to be created.
                Remember, others can cause suffering for you, but they cannot cause happiness. Once you
           understand this, they cannot even cause suffering. You can cause suffering for others, you cannot
           cause happiness. Once you understand this, you stop causing suffering also. Suffering is part of the
           cause-and-effect chain. Happiness is a spontaneous arousal of life. Where there is no cause for
           suffering, suddenly it is there. It has always been there, but you have been too focused on suffering.
                That's why Buddha says,'Don't be worried about happiness, about bliss. Don't talk about
           SATCHITANAND, don't talk about ultimate bliss -- there is no need. Just know how not to cause
           suffering.' If suffering is not there, the very absence of suffering is bliss, because bliss is your
           intrinsic nature. It is not something that comes from the outside.
                Watch: whenever suffering is felt, you will always feel as if it is coming from the outside, and
           whenever you feel happy, you simply feel that happiness is arising from within you. Happiness is a
           flower of your own consciousness. Suffering is a thorn which has entered into you: alien, foreign,
           not of you. So whenever you suffer you start thinking that somebody, somewhere, must be
           responsible for it; known, not known, but somebody must be responsible for it. Whenever you are
           happy you never think that somebody is responsible for it. Whenever you suffer, you enquire as to
           the cause. Whenever you are happy, you never even ask.
                If somebody is happy and he asks,'Why am I happy?' it will look absurd, it will look foolish, it
           will look mad. You are happy -- that's all. There is no 'why' to it. But if somebody in suffering
           asks,'Why am I in suffering?' nobody can say that he is asking irrelevant things.'Why' with suffering
           is relevant, with bliss it is irrelevant.
                One evening Pascal was feeling happy, suddenly, for no visible cause -- because there is none.
           He was happy, calm and collected; quietly the inner river was flowing; there was no blocking, the
           flow was perfect. Floating, in a deep let-go, he fell asleep. In the middle of the night suddenly he
           awoke, and he was so happy that he couldn't believe it -- happiness was showering from everywhere!
           He danced -- he had never danced. He started singing and he wrote a few lines on paper. These are
           the lines:
           'Fire -- God of Abraham,
           Isaac and Jacob,
           God of Jesus,
           not of the philosophers and the scientists.
           Certainty, certainty, feeling, joy, peace;
           the world has not known you,
           but I have known you.
           Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy!'

              The next morning he was a totally different man. People who had known him for his whole life
           could not recognize him. He sewed the piece of paper in his coat and carried it the whole of his, life.
           Sometimes, suddenly he would look, read the lines and his face would again become radiant; again
           he would remember. Even the remembrance of that experience would bring the experience again to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him. It was a deep inner orgasm.
               Let me repeat: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- God of very simple men, ordinary men:
           Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; God of Jesus, not of the philosophers -- not of Hegel, Kant and
           Schopenhauer; God of very ordinary people: of Kabir, of Meera -- not of Radhakrishna, not of
           philosophers. Then, it is a fire in which you are burnt completely, in which you disappear and only
           God remains.
               Whenever the real God is faced, you disappear. There is a Jewish saying: Nobody can see the
           living God. True, absolutely true. Nobody has ever seen the living God, because before you open
           your eyes, you are gone. It is fire. It burns you utterly and there is no coming back. It is the point of
           no return. Remember that whenever Jesus talks about God, he talks about this fire.
               So, the God can be approached in two ways. In suffering, in old age, on the death-bed, you can
           take SANNYAS, as it has been done in India for centuries. When you are dying, the life is slipping
           out of your hands and you cannot cling anymore; in that impotence you say,'I renounce.' Just look at
           the absurdity of it: when life is renouncing you, you go on playing the ego game; you say,'I
           renounce. Wait a minute more; life is renouncing you itself. You are already being carried towards
           the rubbish heap!
               It is said that one day Diogenes and Alexander went out of the town for a morning walk. They
           came across a cemetery and Diogenes started looking at the skulls and the bones, and there was a big
           heap. Alexander was disgusted and he said,'What are you doing?'
               He said,'I am looking for your father's skull. He was such a great emperor, your father. Come
           please, because I cannot recognize which one is your father's skull. You may be able to recognize it
           because he was your father. And don't feel so disgusted, because sooner or later we will be on this
           heap also, and nobody will be able to recognize! Remember Alexander, nobody will even be able to
           recognize who was who.'
               When you are on your death-bed, just being carried toward the grave, then you start thinking of
           God. You have missed the opportunity. When you were young, you had something to offer to Him.
           Now you have nothing; you are a wasted opportunity. You are already empty, hollow. Now there is
           nothing to give to Him. How can you offer yourself to Him? -- you have nothing to offer. The song
           that you could have sung, you never sang; the dance that could have been your life, you missed; the
           flower that could have been offered to Him, you never helped it to open. In fact, you did all that was
           just the contrary, just the opposite of it. And then you think of renouncing, and then you think of
           God, and then you think of prayer. When the heart is already dead, you think of prayer....
               Remember this: while you are flowing and young, that is the moment of sannyas, that is the
           moment of offering yourself to God. Don't postpone it. All postponement is dangerous, because with
           the very idea of postponing there is no end to it. You will go on postponing.
               The God of Jesus is the God of youth. He died very young. He offered himself very young; he
           was fresh, he was young. He was at the very peak, only thirty-three when he offered himself; and he
           offered himself totally. That is the meaning of crucifixion, that is the meaning of sannyas. He was a
           sannyasin. He offered himself totally When you offer totally, it means death.
               While you still have life, offer it to God. It will look like death, but it will become a resurrection.
           If you give yourself totally, God will give Himself totally to you. You will lose nothing; you will
           gain much. For nothing, you will gain the Whole.
               There are a few lines from T. S. Eliot. You must have heard them. They are of the most beautiful
           poems of this century:


                  Between the idea and the reality,
                  between the notion and the act
                  falls the shadow.

                  Between the conception and the creation,
                  between the emotion and the response
                  falls the shadow.

                  Between the desire and the spasm,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  between the potency and the existence,
                  between the essence and the descent
                  falls the shadow.


               That shadow is the ego. Nothing is hindering you except your idea of'I am'. The more you feel
           you are, the farther you are from God. The more you dissolve your'I am-ness', the closer and closer
           you come to Him. Jesus crucified is nothing but a symbol of the ego crucified, the ego dissolved.
           Then the shadow disappears, and that shadow is hiding the reality.'
               Between the idea and the reality, between the notion and the act falls the shadow' -- and that
           shadow is yours. The bigger you think you are, the bigger is the shadow. The smaller you think you
           are, the smaller is the shadow. And if you think that you are not, the shadow disappears. Once the
           shadow disappears, you know what reality is.
           Now, the sutras:

              NOW BEFORE THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER, WHEN JESUS KNEW THAT HIS HOUR WAS
              COME THAT HE SHOULD DEPART OUT OF THIS WORLD UNTO THE FATHER, HAVING LOVED
              HIS OWN WHICH WERE IN THE WORLD, HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END.


                If the shadow disappears, suddenly you know eternity. If the shadow disappears, the division of
           time disappears. Then there is no past and there is no future; then there is no present also, just
           eternity. Then you see through and through. That's why Jesus could feel that his hour had come, the
           time had come, and he was to depart from this world. You cannot even see when death knocks on
           your door; you think that some guest has come, you think that maybe it is just the wind blowing.
           You cannot see death because you have not even seen life. You cannot see into the future because
           you are missing even the present. The present is the door.
                Remember that the present contains all past, and the present contains all future. In fact, the
           moment of present is eternal: nothing comes and nothing goes. It is always there; only we come and
           go, only we come and pass. The reality is always there in eternity. The divisions of past present and
           future are the divisions of our own minds, because we cannot see the total. Our eyes are very, very
           small; we cannot see. Our window is too small, so we can only see the parts.
                Have you observed that even with a small pebble, you cannot look at its totality? When you look
           to one side, the other side is hiding. You know the whole pebble is in your hand -- it is just on your
           palm, but you cannot see. It is such a small pebble, but you cannot see its totality in one glimpse.
           First you see one side, then you turn and you see another side, and you will never be able to see both
           sides together. Then, just in your imagination, you join both sides and think that you know the whole
           pebble. If you cannot see a small pebble in its totality, how can you see the reality in its totality? You
           see just parts of it.
                Because of this limited vision, that which has passed before your eyes becomes the past, that
           which has not passed yet and will be passing is the future, and that which is passing just between the
           two is the present.
                If there is a God -- I say 'if' because of you, not because of me -- if there is a God, there cannot be
           any past because nothing will ever pass beyond His vision, and there cannot be any future because
           nothing can be which is not yet in His vision. For God, only present exists. So to say'God was' is
           wrong; to say'God will be' is wrong. God is. In fact, to say'God is' is also repetitive, because God
           means is-ness. To say'God is' is just to repeat the same thing again and again. It is as if to say 'is-ness
           is'.
                A man like Jesus, whose shadow has disappeared and nothing else is to be renounced, just the
           shadow, can see when his hour has come, that he is going to depart. But it is not death. He knows
           that he is going to depart from the earth, but that departure is going to become a meeting with the
           Father. Jesus goes on using this beautiful word'Father' again and again. Contemplate upon it. The
           moment you say'Father', God becomes the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When you say'God', it
           is already a concept in philosophy. When you say'Father', an immediate personal relationship arises.
           Then you are not far off. You may have gone astray, but you remain the son. Even the one who has
           become absolutely corrupt is still the son. Even the one who has sinned, who has gone far away and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has forgotten his Father, still remains the son -- because there is no way to renounce your son-ship.
           Once a son, forever a son. And when you say'Father', God is not a concept; it becomes a relationship.
           It is not a word, it throbs with life. Now it has a heart. Once you say'Father', suddenly you feel that
           the whole existence has a deep compassion for you, just like a father. You can sin and you can ask to
           be forgiven -- that's the beauty of Jesus.
                In India we have missed that. In India we have been very calculating and very philosophical. We
           say,'If you have sinned, if you have done bad KARMAS, then you have to do good karmas to cancel
           them.' Because the God is more or less a philosophical concept; He is just. Whatsoever you have
           done, in the same coins you will be repaid; whatsoever you have sown, you will have to cut and
           reap.
                God is just, ultimate justice. But when Jesus says,'Father', God is more compassion and love than
           justice. Remember, if God is compassion, sometimes He can forgive. If He is simply just, He cannot
           forgive; you cannot ask for his mercy. And Jesus says that man is so ignorant, and man has
           committed so many sins, that if man has to cancel them by doing good deeds, it is almost impossible.
           Unless God's grace descends, man cannot be saved. When Jesus says'Father' he means all these
           things.
                The simple word 'father' implies much. It is a relationship, a love relationship. You can ask to be
           forgiven and He will have to forgive you. In fact, he is not a stranger. You need not be shy; you can
           confess, you can depend, and you can trust that He loves you. And His love is greater than your sin,
           His compassion greater than your mistakes, than your errors. He is greater than your ignorance; His
           light is more than your darkness. When Jesus says'Father', he creates a possibility for prayer. If God
           is just a bare concept, then how can you pray to a bare concept? You cannot pray to the absolute, you
           cannot pray to the BRAHMAN, because prayer will be absurd. You can pray to the Father; you can
           ask like a small child. In fact, you can DEMAND to be forgiven and you can trust. Prayer is fruitful
           because the existence is related to you. Existence has invested much in you, you are nothing but its
           extensions. That is the meaning of 'son' and 'father'.
                What is a son? -- an extension of the father. The father continues in the son; it is a continuum, a
           continuity, a replica, a reflection. Prayer is possible with Jesus. Prayer is not possible with Shankara;
           the God is absolute Brahman. You can change your life, and through your change you can achieve to
           Him. But Jesus says,'Pray, and the transformation will follow. The transformation is bound to follow.
           You pray. Don't you go on carrying the burden. You just say to Him, "Forgive us."'

              NOW BEFORE THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER, WHEN JESUS KNEW THAT HIS HOUR WAS
              COME THAT HE SHOULD DEPART OUT OF THIS WORLD UNTO THE FATHER, HAVING LOVED
              HIS OWN WHICH WERE IN THE WORLD, HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END.


                In fact, love is always 'unto the end'. If you love, you love forever. If you don't love, only then
           does love change. Love is eternal. Once you love, now there is no way to go back. Love is such a
           phenomenon: it absorbs you, it does not leave you outside. You cannot cancel it. You cannot
           say,'Now I have moved backwards.' There is no going back. Love is a total commitment. And unless
           it is total and whole it may be something else, a false coin, but it is not love.

              ... HAVING LOVED HIM OWN WHO WERE IN THE WORLD...


               Who are these 'his own'? -- the disciples, those who opened their hearts to his light, those who
           opened their beings to his being, those who loved him, and loved him so tremendously that they
           trusted him.
               Trust is the greatest thing in the world that can happen to a man, because it is the most
           impossible thing. To trust somebody else is almost impossible, because doubt continues. Howsoever
           you trust, the other is the other. Who knows? How can you penetrate the other? You can at the most
           know something ABOUT him. You can know his biography, but the biography is always less than
           the man, and the man is still there, alive. The book is not yet closed; much more is still going to be
           added. Who knows?
               And man is freedom. The man may have been good up to now, but what about the next moment?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The next moment he can change, he can suddenly change. He can throw all his past and move in a
           new direction. Who knows? How can you trust the other? It is the most absurd and impossible thing
           in the world. But impossibles also happen, and once they happen they give you a totally new being.
                I will tell you one story where a painter has described the way he recognized his calling.
           Somebody asked him,'How did you become a painter?' The man had not been a painter up until his
           fiftieth year. He had lived as a broker, and you cannot imagine a broker becoming a painter. The
           callings are so different. The broker lives in the world of calculation, mathematics, logic -- he lives
           in a very worldly world -- and the painter is very unworldly. He lives in some unknown dimension.
           He looks like a fool. He has no logic, he lives an illogical life: uneconomical, unworldly. Somebody
           asked,'What has happened?'
                The painter described his calling in a parable:'The Parable of the Ducks' he called it. He said,'In
           this parable is the whole story of how I was transformed.'
                He was living in a certain part of France. It was autumn, when the ducks and the wild geese fly
           south.
                'At the time of the migrations a strange trait is seen in the regions where duck and geese are in
           great numbers. The domestic birds are, as it were, magnetized by the wild birds' great triangular
           formations, and they themselves attempt an awkward flight but fall within a few feet. When the wild
           birds come, the domestic birds are magnetized by their triangular formations in the sky, by their
           flight, by their freedom. The domestic birds are magnetized and they also attempt, of course, an
           awkward flight. The call of the wild has been aroused in the strongest way possible. There is some
           strange vestige in the domestic birds. Something has happened: something in their unconscious is
           suddenly aroused, something deep in their hearts is touched by the wild birds. For a moment, the
           farm ducks are changed into migratory birds. In that little hard head of theirs where small images of
           tides, worms and ants whirl about, there appear continental distances; the thirst for the sea winds and
           the vast expanse of the oceans, and the duck staggers from left to right in his fenced-in enclosure,
           caught by this sudden passion, not knowing where it is taking him, and by his vast love of an object
           which is unknown to him.
                'Likewise man, gripped by evidence of something he is uncertain of, discovers this sudden truth
           of freedom. Just like the domestic duck, he is also unaware that his tiny head is large enough to
           contain oceans.'
                Whenever a Jesus walks by, you may be a domestic duck, but there comes a wild bird. Suddenly
           something in you is touched. Suddenly you are no more the domestic bird, no more in bondage, no
           more a GRASTHA, no more a householder. For a moment you have also become a sannyasin. Just
           the presence of a Jesus or a Buddha, and something which has always been asleep in you is
           awakened. He has touched your being -- and the deep desire for freedom, and a deep desire to move
           into the sky, to go in search of the unknown. This is trust. You cannot be certain of what has
           happened. You cannot be certain of what has touched your heart. You are uncertain, but this much is
           certain: that something was touched, and something which is so significant that you are ready to risk
           your whole life.
                This is trust: the courage to risk your secure life for an unknown end. Nobody knows whether
           you will be able to reach or not. Nobody knows whether anybody has ever reached or not. But now,
           nothing matters. Now you are no more a calculator; now you take the jump. Now only this adventure
           has meaning, and nothing else; and you are ready to sacrifice everything for it. This is what Jesus
           means when he says that he has loved his own in this world.
                You are my own. If I have touched your heart and released the desire, the utterly impossible
           desire to be free, if I have been a wild bird to you and I have broken the bondage of your domestic
           habits, and you are ready, even in an awkward way ready to fly, ready to try, then you are my own.
           Jesus says again and again,'Who is my family? -- those who have understood me. Those who have
           recognized me, they are my brothers and sisters, they are my family.' He loved them unto the end,
           and only a Jesus CAN love.
                Kahlil Gibran has written a parable. It is not reported in the Gospels. It may not have happened,
           but it seems absolutely true. If it has not happened, then it should have happened. But it IS true.
                One day Jesus was walking, moving from one town to another. He came across a big garden, and
           under a tree he rested. The garden belonged to Mary Magdalene. That's how for the first time
           Magdalene became aware of this man Jesus. She looked from her window. She was a famous
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prostitute, rich, and many rich men used to knock at her door. To attain to her love was very
           difficult; there was much competition. And she was one of the most beautiful women ever. Suddenly
           she looked at Jesus and she forgot who she was. She came out of the house as if magnetized -- the
           wild bird had brought the domestic bird out of its bondage. She went running; she forgot who she
           was. And this was just a wanderer, a vagabond. He must have looked like a hippy; he was poor and
           lived moment to moment. She awoke him and told him,'Young man, why are you resting here?
           Come into my house.' She became attracted to him. She fell in love.
               Jesus said,'Next time when I am passing through this road, I will come into your house, but now I
           am rested and I have still far to go, a long distance. Thank you. Next time if I pass, I will come.'
               She felt offended. She said,'You don't know who I am? Have you ever heard the name of Mary
           Magdalene?'
               Jesus said,'I know you, I have heard your name, I have looked at you, I recognize you. Thank
           you, but next time whenever I come, I will come into your house.'
               Mary Magdalene must have gone mad. She said,'I offer you my house, I offer you my heart and
           love. Can't you be a little polite, a little loving, a little compassionate?'
           And Jesus said,'Only I can love you, nobody else.'
           Here ends Kahlil Gibran's parable.
               Jesus says,'Only I can love you, nobody else.' And that's true, because to love one has to BE love.
           How can you love when you have not become love yourself, when you have not attained to the state
           of love? How can you give it when you don't have it? You are like two beggars standing before each
           other, begging. Both are beggars, and both are hoping that the other is going to give! That's the
           misery of all lovers: two beggars asking for love. And when they don't get it they feel frustrated, they
           feel cheated, they feel the other is holding. Become a little more alert -- the other has not got, as you
           have not got. Jesus is right when he says,'Only I can love you, and ONLY I can love you.' To love,
           one has to become love. To give, one has to have it in the first place.'He loved them unto the end' --
           and love knows only the beginning; it knows no end. In spite of everything it goes on loving. It is
           unconditional -- it is its very nature to be unconditional. A conditional love is a form of hatred. A
           conditional love is a form of exploitation. A conditional love is nothing but an infatuation, sexuality.
           Unconditional is the only way love can be. Wherever a condition comes in, love disappears. It
           cannot live in bondage, and a condition gives it an imprisonment. Love can only live like the vast
           sky. Love knows no boundaries.

             NOW THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD THE DISCIPLES
           CAME TO JESUS, SAYING UNTO HIM: WHERE WILT THOU THAT WE PREPARE FOR
           THEE TO EAT THE PASSOVER? -- he had nowhere to go.

                Jesus says to his disciples,'Even foxes have holes to take shelter, birds have their nests, but I have
           none.' That is the meaning of a sannyasin: a wanderer, homeless, not of this world, knowing well that
           it is only a journey. At the moment you can find some caravanserais here, but you cannot find the
           home here. In India we have two words: the world is called GRASTH -- the word 'grasth' means
           home-obsessed, he who thinks that the world is the home; and SANNYASTH -- one who has come
           to understand that the very existence here is homelessness. You may live in a home or not; that is not
           the point. But you understand that you are a stranger here, an overnight stay, and in the morning you
           go.
                He had no home and the feast of the passover had come. The disciples asked,'Where should we
           go to celebrate this?'

              AND HE SAID: GO INTO THE CITY TO SUCH A MAN AND SAY UNTO HIM: THE MASTER SAITH,
              MY TIME IS AT HAND; I WILL KEEP THE PASSOVER AT THY HOUSE WITH MY DISCIPLES.

                'The Master saith....' Only a Master can say that his time has come, because only a Master can see
           the future. Only for a Master is the future no more future; it is already here and now. You may take a
           little time to discover it, but it is already here and now, it has already arrived. The future is present.
           The more intense your consciousness, the more the future becomes present. If the intensity is total,
           the future disappears, the past disappears; there is only present.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              AND THE DISCIPLES DID AS JESUS HAD APPOINTED THEM; AND THEY MADE READY THE
              PASSOVER. AND WHEN THE HOUR WAS COME, HE SAT DOWN, AND THE TWELVE
              APOSTLES WITH HIM. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: WITH DESIRE I HAVE DESIRED TO EAT THIS
              PASSOVER WITH YOU BEFORE I SUFFER:


               Tremendously beautiful words, tremendously poetic! That's where Jesus is very unique. Even a
           Buddha will hesitate to use these words. Buddha will hesitate to use the word 'desire', and Jesus
           says,'With desire, I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.' Jesus is a unique
           synthesis of desire and desirelessness. An ordinary man is simply desire. An extraordinary man who
           has renounced the world becomes desirelessness. Jesus is both; he is a bridge. He lives in desire but
           lives in desirelessness also. He moves through the world but the world doesn't move through him. He
           never renounced the world, he never renounced any enjoyment that this world can give. On the
           contrary, he has made every delight of this world a celebration of God. Wherever he can find any
           enjoyment, he can always find a deep thankfulness towards God.
               'With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you. Soon I am going to suffer.' And this is
           his humanness -- the son of man. He is not only the son of God, he is also the son of man. Jesus is
           more human than Buddha, Mahavir -- they are superhuman, almost inhumanly superhuman. They
           are more like statues of marble.
               Jesus says,'I am going to suffer.' This is his beauty. He knows the deathless, but he also knows
           that which is going to suffer. He knows that his innermost being is immortal, but he also knows that
           his body is mortal. On the cross he cries, prays, almost shouts at God,'What are you doing to me?
           Have you forsaken me? Why this much suffering for me?' And immediately he says,'But let thy will
           be done, not mine.'
               These are the two opposites in him. On one point he is as human as any human being: fragile,
           weak, helpless. On another point he is as superhuman as any Buddha. That's why Jesus has a
           tremendous appeal. You can worship Buddha but you cannot become a fellow traveller with him.
           With Jesus it is different: you can take hold of his hand; you can become a fellow traveller with him.
           Jesus can be your friend, Buddha can only be your Master. Buddha has said that his next incarnation,
           sometime in the future, is going to be called'Maitreya' -- the friend. Jesus came after Buddha, five
           hundred years after. Maybe Buddha's indication was towards Jesus; MAITREYA, the friend. Jesus
           has a different quality: you can be friendly with him; you can sleep in the same room with him; you
           can eat on the same table with him; you can drink from the same pot. He is the friend, not only a
           guide. He is a friendly guide. He is almost like you, and these sentences, these sutras will show you.
               'With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer, because soon I will be
           gone. This is going to be our last celebration together. And with desire I have desired to celebrate
           this passover, this feast.' With Mahavir, with Buddha, the word 'feast' will not suit;'fast', but not
           'feast'. With Jesus it is 'feast', not 'fast'. It is always celebration, and celebrating SMALL things,
           celebrating small things. He does not create unnecessary problems. He does not force you to have a
           stony life, dry. He would like you to be green and flowering and alive, living an ordinary life. It is
           what Zen people call 'to be extraordinary in ordinariness'.

              WITH DESIRE I HAVE DESIRED TO EAT THIS PASSOVER WITH YOU BEFORE I SUFFER.


              Each suffering should be started in celebration. Then you change the quality of suffering itself.
           Each suffering should be welcomed through celebration; then the suffering is no more suffering.

              FOR I SAY UNTO YOU, I WILL NOT ANY MORE EAT THEREOF, UNTIL IT BE FULFILLED IN THE
              KINGDOM OF GOD --

              'This is going to be my last food, this is going to be my last feast upon this earth.'

              AND HE TOOK THE CUP, AND GAVE THANKS, AND SAID: TAKE THIS, AND DIVIDE IT AMONG
              YOURSELVES: FOR I SAY UNTO YOU, I WILL NOT DRINK OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINE, UNTIL
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE KINGDOM OF GOD SHALL COME.


               You cannot think of Buddha drinking wine -- impossible! But you can think of Jesus doing it.
           Jesus is superbly human. He accepts all that this life gives, and plus. Jesus' God is a plus; Buddha's
           God is a minus. Buddha says'God minus the world'; Jesus says'God plus the world.' Buddha's
           renunciation is negative; Jesus' renunciation is positive. And if you have to choose, choose Jesus,
           because THERE is more life. Unless you feel attuned to Buddha, unless you feel that your type fits
           with fasting rather than feasting; then of course Buddha is for you. Otherwise don't force, otherwise
           don't try to cripple your life. Rather than crippling your life, enjoy it in the name of God. Make every
           enjoyment a deep gratitude, a deep thankfulness.

              AND HE TOOK BREAD, AND GAVE THANKS, AND BRAKE IT, AND GAVE UNTO THEM, SAYING:
              THIS IS MY BODY WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU: THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.


               He says,'This is my body'. The body is earth, the body is bread, the body is food; the body is
           nothing else. You eat and it is transformed into body. Then you die and the body settles into the
           earth. It becomes earth, then again it rises into fruit, into trees, into wheat, into a thousand-and-one
           things, and again it will be eaten. The body is food. Jesus makes it a beautiful symbolic message, his
           last message.'Take this bread; this is my body which is given for you, and I give it to you.'
           Symbolically he is saying,'Soon I am going to give my body for you so that you can realize that
           which is beyond body. Soon the body will be crucified, but remember that I am beyond it. And
           whatsoever I have said to you and whatsoever I have lived with you, let it be like a food: deeply
           digested, transformed into your own blood, in your own bones, in your own marrow. Don't allow me
           to remain just in your mind. Let me move deeply down into your body, so that I can become part of
           you.'
               This has to be understood. I say something to you -- it can have two types of possibilities within
           you. One is that it may remain in the mind: you may become more knowledgeable, you may become
           a rabbi, a pundit, a scholar. That was not meant to be; you have misunderstood. Let it move deep
           down into the valley of your body. Let it become your blood, let it circulate, let it become your
           bones, let it become your breathing, let it become your very marrow so that you can live it. It
           becomes your life. Not that it adds to your information; it adds to your BEING. Let me be part of
           your being, not part of your knowledge. Eat me, drink me, absorb me, digest me.
               And Jesus says,'THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU: THIS DO IN
           REMEMBRANCE OF ME' -- and continue to do it in remembrance of me. Continue to absorb me
           deep in your being.

               LIKEWISE ALSO THE CUP AFTER SUPPER, SAYING: THIS CUP IS THE NEW
           TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD, WHICH IS SHED FOR YOU. And the same he did with the wine,
           the red wine. He said,'THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD...'

                You have heard about testaments, verbal testaments, but in blood? You have heard about
           testaments written in ink, but in blood? What does Jesus mean? He means: Unless I become your
           life, like your blood, futile was my being with you, futile was your being with me, fruitless. It was a
           wastage. Let me become your life. Let me come deep in you so that I am no more separate, so that I
           become your very heart and I can beat within you.
                Unless a Master becomes your very heart, you are not yet a disciple. You may be a student, but
           not a disciple. You may be learning through him but you are not gaining being.
                That last night, Jesus did not say much, but whatsoever he said had tremendous meaning in it.
           Much more must have happened in silence. Just his presence, and the very closeness of death and
           crucifixion -- much must have happened, much must have been communicated through silence.
                Let me tell you a story. Saint Louis, King of France, had been told of the high repute in which
           one mystic was held by many people. The mystic's name was Brother Igidio. The King heard so
           much about him that he travelled to the mountains where that mystic lived. The King went to visit
           the saint clad like a poor pilgrim, because when you go to a mystic you don't go like a king. When
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you go to a mystic you go like a beggar. You go with your heart like a begging bowl. If you go like a
           king you will miss, because the very ego, the shadow, will fall between you and the mystic.
               Like a poor pilgrim he reached, knocked at the door and begged to see him. The door-keeper
           went to the mystic and told him that a stranger had come to see him. Drunk with joy, he hastened to
           the door from his cell and there the two fell into each other's arms, greeting each other with a holy
           kiss. They fell down before each other as if they were old friends, and gave each other signs of
           devoted love, but neither of them said a word. They stayed like this, in total silence, until they bade
           each other farewell.
               But when the other brothers came to know that the stranger was no one but the King of France
           himself, they were indignant and said to Igidio,'How could you be so stupid as to say nothing to so
           great a King who has come to see you and to hear you speak?'
               'My dear brothers,' he replied,'do not be astonished that neither he nor I had anything to say to
           one another, for as soon as we embraced, his heart was open to me and mine to him, and we saw
           everything in the mirror of eternity. Silence said everything that can be said, and also that which
           cannot be said.'
               On that last meeting with the disciples this is all that was said, but there was much which was
           said without saying; the VERY presence was communicated. In fact, the last day with the disciples
           was the greatest day. That day, seeing that death was coming, they could not postpone, they could
           not say,'Tomorrow.' There was no tomorrow now; the Master would be gone. Now there is no future
           to postpone until. They had to be there with Jesus that night, all together. They didn't ask anything,
           because when death is coming nearer, how can you ask? That will be profane, sacrilegious. They
           were silent. In silence they must have eaten and drunk. The bread became Jesus, the wine became his
           blood.
               That night Jesus transferred himself to them. The same that happened to Mahakashyap and
           Buddha with the flower, happened with Jesus and the disciples with the bread and wine. And
           remember, a flower is something not of this world. Buddha gave the flower; a flower is almost
           other-worldly. Jesus gave bread and wine; he is very earthly, earth-based. Bread and wine is
           something to eat. A flower you cannot eat, you can appreciate. A flower you cannot drink. It remains
           far away; there is a distance.
               But bread will become your body; and wine? -- the drunkenness that is the basic teaching of
           Jesus: Be drunk with God. Bread and wine, such small, ordinary, everyday things; he made them
           sacred on that night. He transformed the very earth into paradise.'In remembrance,' says Jesus,'do it.'
           And since that day, wherever a real Christian has existed -- Christians are many, almost half of the
           earth, but I am not talking about those, but wherever a REAL Christian has existed -- every day,
           whenever he has eaten or drunk, it is Jesus that he is eating, it is Jesus that he is drinking. Every
           small, ordinary thing has become a sacrament.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: Between Adam and Jesus
           22 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512220
              ShortTitle: FOLL402
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              The first question:


              IN JESUS' PRAYER 'OUR FATHER', DOES GOD LEAD US INTO TEMPTATION?


              IT is a very subtle question, and you will have to be utterly attentive to understand it.

               God is good. He cannot lead you into temptation, but His very goodness leads you into
           temptation. The goodness of God is something which is already there. It exists; you have to do
           nothing to create it. You simply open to it and it showers on you. When you become good you have
           not done anything; you become good through God. But when you become bad, you have done
           something; you become bad through yourself. So when you are good, the ego cannot exist. It is a
           PRASAD, a gift from God.
               When you say 'yes', the ego cannot exist; you disappear. In the very moment you say 'yes', you
           are not there; that is the temptation. Only by doing bad can you be. Whenever you do evil, you are
           there; whenever you do good, you are not there -- good flows through you, evil you do. Through evil
           you are, through good you disappear -- that's the temptation. Adam means 'no'; Jesus means 'yes'.
           Between Adam and Jesus is the whole history of human consciousness.
               What was the temptation of Adam? Why did he disobey? God was good, but Adam was not
           there. Through his disobedience he created himself -- that is the temptation. In the Garden of Eden,
           God was there, everywhere. Adam was not there; he was a non-entity, a part of the whole. Through
           asserting, through saying 'no', through disobedience, through rejecting God, through doing evil, he
           became himself.
               Adam was the first man, not because he was the first man -- there may have been many others
           before him, but nobody said 'no'. So history cannot record them; they had no egos. And this is my
           feeling: how could Adam have been the first man? There may have been millions before him, but
           nobody said 'no'. They could not become men, they could not become egos. Adam said 'no'. Of
           course he suffered for saying that; he was thrown out of the garden of bliss.
               Evil leads you into suffering, but it has a temptation: it creates the'I', you can feel that you are.
           Jesus, Buddha; they are not. Hitler, Genghis Khan; they are. The more evil you do, the more your
           ego becomes strengthened. The more against you go, against the wind, against the current, the more
           you feel that you are. When you flow with the river, where are you? The river is, and the river goes
           on flowing through you also. God is good-that's the temptation.
               Just the other night I was reading a sentence from Baudelaire. It is simply, unbelievably true.
           Baudelaire says,'The truth is; the truth is beautiful; the truth is good; the truth is God. I believe in it.
           That's why I am going to oppose it.' From where does this opposition come? Baudelaire says,'If I
           don't oppose it, then I will not be. I have to say no; only then can I be.' Otherwise, truth is
           overpowering: it envelops you, it surrounds you. You simply disappear in it, you melt into it.
               You can say that you have done evil, but you cannot say that you have done good. Good is
           always done by God. Good is already there, you are not needed to create it. Evil has to be created.
           Good can only be discovered; evil has to be created. The reality is there, the dream has to be created.
           You can claim your authorship about dreams; you cannot claim your authorship about reality -- that's
           the temptation.'No' is very tempting. The very goodness of God tempts you against Him. You have
           to oppose Him, you have to go against, you have to betray, otherwise you will be lost. Adam
           says'No', Jesus says'Yes', and I say, this is the whole history of man. Adam is the first son of man,
           and Jesus is the first son of God. By saying yes, by surrendering, he disappears. Only then, God
           remains.
               In the prayer'Our Father', does God lead us in temptation?
               God cannot lead you, but you are led by your own mind. A temptation arises because God seems
           to be destroying you. I come across people every day who would like to say yes to me, who would
           like to surrender, but they cannot -- it is too risky, it is dangerous. I can feel that something in them
           tempts them not to surrender. Something in them says,'Go away, don't be here. It is dangerous to be
           here.' It is not that I am tempting them, but they are tempted. Wherever you see something which is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           already there, nothing is to be done. You have only to recognize it. But then where will you be? --
           that is the temptation. The ego is the temptation.

           The second question:


              YESTERDAY I HEARD THAT MY FRIEND HAD DIED. YET AS I WEPT, I FOUND MYSELF GIVING
              THANKS FOR THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE. IS THERE A PLACE FOR MOURNING?


                If you have loved somebody, really loved, and you didn't miss an opportunity to love, then there
           is no place for mourning because then there is no repentance. You never postpone anything, death
           cannot destroy anything. If you postpone, then death destroys. For example: you love somebody but
           you say,'I will love tomorrow,' and that's what you go on saying. You go on imagining tomorrow,
           tomorrow, tomorrow, You go on postponing: you fight today, you will love tomorrow. You are
           angry here-now, you will love tomorrow. You go on postponing.
                Then one day suddenly death comes, and it is always sudden. It gives no hint that it is coming.
           The foot sounds are never heard, the footsteps can never he guessed. It always comes suddenly,
           catches you unawares, and the friend is gone, the lover is gone, the beloved is gone; the mother, the
           father, the brother is gone. Then there is mourning because death destroys tomorrow, and you were
           depending on tomorrow. Now there will be no tomorrow. Now you cannot postpone, and the person
           is gone. Now you feel a deep repentance; out of that repentance mourning arises. You are not
           weeping for the friend who is gone, you are weeping for yourself, for the wasted opportunity.
                If you really love, and love here-now, death cannot take anything from you. I say to you: death
           may even become an opportunity, an opening, a new door.
                You loved the friend when he was visible, and you loved him so deeply that you started feeling,
           through your love, the invisibleness of him. Then death takes the body. Now in that gross element,
           body is no more there to hinder. Now love can flow totally. You may even feel thankful to death.
           You were already discovering the spiritual dimension of your beloved, lover, friend, and now death
           has taken the last obstacle. Now you can see through and through. Death has given you an
           opportunity to see whether you really loved or not, because if love's eyes cannot penetrate that much
           so that you can see that which is not body, that which is beyond matter, that which is invisible, then
           it is not love. Then those eyes may be of something else, but not of love. Love always reveals the
           God in the other; that's the definition of love. If it reveals the God in the other only then it is love,
           otherwise it is not. You will be crying and weeping and mourning, and will you be thinking that you
           are weeping for the friend who has gone? No, you are weeping for yourself, you are crying for
           yourself.
                I would like to tell a very famous story. King Pyrrhus of Epirus was asked by his friend
           Cyneas,'Sir, if you conquer Rome, what will you do next?'
                Pyrrhus replied,'Sicily is nearby and will be easy to take.'
                'And what will you do after Sicily?' Cyneas asked.
           'Then we will pass over to Africa and plunder Carthage.'
           'And after Carthage, sir?'
           'Greece.'
                Cyneas enquired,'And what do you expect as a reward from all these victories?'
           'Then,' said Pyrrhus,'we can sit down and enjoy ourselves.'
           'Can we not,' suggested Cyneas,'enjoy ourselves now?'
                If you can enjoy yourself now, then there will be no mourning, ever. I am not saying that you
           will not become sad when a friend departs, but there will be no mourning.,And that sadness will have
           a beauty of its own, a depth, a silence that always comes when you encounter death. That sadness
           will be very meditative. It will reveal something within you that life could not reveal. Life remains
           superficial; just like laughter, it remains superficial. Death is very deep, like sadness. But sadness is
           not mourning, sadness has its own delight; sadness is not sorrow, sadness is simply depth. Sadness
           means that thinking has stopped. How can you think in front of death? Thinking may be useful in
           life. Life may need your thinking because cunningness, cleverness is needed; but what is the point of
           thinking in front of death? If you are sad that simply means that suddenly, the thinking has stopped;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the death has been a shock -- you are stripped to your very depth. You cannot laugh, but there is a
           subtle delight in it, a silence, a sacred silence. The vulgarity of life is gone, and death has opened a
           new door; the door of the beyond. You will feel thankful towards death, but this is possible only if
           you live now. If this moment is lived in its total intensity, in its utter wholeness, only then is it
           possible.
               Don't go on postponing. Tomorrow, tomorrow -- drop that word from your vocabulary!
           Tomorrow does not exist, it CANNOT exist; it is not in the nature of things. Only this day exists.
               That is why Jesus says in his prayer,'God, give us our daily bread.' The meaning is: today is
           enough, we don't ask for tomorrow; give us our daily bread. It has nothing to do with bread, it has
           something to do with the present and how to live it: give us the capacity to live here and now. Then
           there is no mourning. Sadness will be there, but that is as it should be. When somebody departs you
           feel sad, but in that sadness soon you will discover a door: you have fallen to your own depth.
               This is what has happened.'Yesterday I heard that my friend had died, yet as I wept I found
           myself giving thanks for the sweetness of life. Is there a place for mourning?'
               Don't feel guilty. In fact, this is how it should be. If you have loved the friend you will feel deep
           thankfulness; not any complaint against death but just a gratefulness for life, for its sweetness. The
           very possibility is almost impossible: that one exists!
               Have you ever thought about it, that you exist? It seems so impossible; there is no reason why.
           But you don't look at it because it has been given to you as a gift. You have not paid for it. That's
           why you are unaware, oblivious of it: a tremendous richness, that you are, that this moment you are
           conscious and alive and you can see the flowers, and you can smell the fragrance, and you can listen
           to the songs, and you can even encounter a Jesus and a Buddha. The sheer impossibility of it! -- just
           think of it. There is no reason why you are; it is just out of the blue. That is the meaning of the grace
           of God. If you were not here, there would be no way to be. If you were not here, you could not
           complain anywhere; there is no court of appeal. If you are not here, you are simply not here; you
           cannot do anything about it.
               You ARE, and you are conscious, and you are full of love, and you are wasting it -- a great gift
           will b wasted. You are not using it, you are not using the opportunity to grow. The more you grow,
           the greater the gifts that can become available to you. This is just the beginning, this is just the alpha;
           and you don't know what the omega is. Christ is the omega point. But if you go on living now,
           deeply committed to life, not postponing, going deeper and deeper and deeper every moment, living
           as wholly as possible, you will reach to the omega point. Even at the alpha point life is tremendously
           beautiful; what to say about the omega point? And you will never find any point for mourning.
               If you live it, life is always a deep gratitude. If you don't live it, things go sour, things become
           bitter: one mourns, one complains, one loses the capacity for thankfulness. Prayer disappears and
           then you live an angry life or a sorrowful life -- that simply means that you have missed. Nobody
           else is responsible, only you; ONLY YOU, nobody else is responsible. The responsibility is totally
           yours because you are free to choose -- to die, or to commit a slow suicide.
               As I see it, millions of people go on simply committing slow suicide. They go on poisoning
           themselves. Through postponing, you poison yourself. Then, even that which is given to you will
           have to be taken away. And Jesus is perfectly true when he says this, and it is one of the most
           fundamental laws of life: that if you have, more will be given to you; if you don't have, even that
           which you have will be taken away. That is mourning.
               Use! Be creative! Let life be a great adventure. The only sin there is, is if your life is not an
           adventure. Then, you are a sinner.

           The third question:


              THE IMPLICATIONS OF SANNYAS ARE JUST NOW BECOMING CLEAR TO ME. YOUR POWER
              OVER US BECOMES AWESOME. YOU CAN PUSH US FAR BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR
              PERSONALITIES, YET OUR PERSONALITIES PERSIST, AND I FIND MYSELF FRIGHTENED BY
              THINGS I AM DOING WHICH SEEM INCONGRUOUS WITH MY CHARACTER. WHAT CAN I DO
              ABOUT THIS FEAR?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yes, the implications of sannyas become clear only when you are a sannyasin, never before.
           There are many people who would like to take sannyas, who would like to be initiated on the path,
           but they want to know what it means before they take the jump. That is impossible; nothing can be
           said to them. They want to be convinced before they take the decision. No, you cannot be convinced
           because it is not a question of intellect, it is something to be experienced. One knows about it only
           by being it, and there is no other way.
               So those who think that first they need an intellectual conviction will miss the opportunity
           available. They will miss the door. Sannyas is only for those who are courageous enough to move in
           the dark, to move in the unknown. Yes, the night is very dark, and the point at which you are
           standing is such that from there you cannot see any ray of light. In fact, you are standing with closed
           eyes and you say,'First, convince us intellectually that there is light. Only then will we open the
           eyes.' How is it possible? -- because light can be known only when you open the eyes. How can you
           prove that light exists to a man who is standing with closed eyes, and who insists, and insists
           logically,'Why should I open my eyes if there is no light? Why should I make the effort? First prove
           to me that there is light, then I will open my eyes.' But how can you prove that there is light? The
           only proof is to see it. The only proof of the pudding is in eating it.
           'The implications of sannyas are just now becoming clear to me.'
               Once you are a sannyasin, by and by, implications become more and more clear. There are
           infinite implications. The more you grow, the more they will become clear. It is not going to be an
           intellectual convict it is going to be an existential conversion -- hence the fear.
           'Your power over us becomes awesome.'
               That's one of the basic fears, because whenever you love somebody, the power of the other
           becomes awesome And THIS is no ordinary love; it is not love of the body, it is ultimate love. Once
           you fall in love with me you ar. already disappearing. Fear grips you -- 'What is going to happen?' --
           are you going to dissolve completely? The temptation will arise to escape, the temptation will arise
           to say 'no' to me, the temptation will arise to defend yourself against me. But this is the paradox: if
           you defend yourself against me you are destroying yours because then you will remain the old, the
           repetitive, the rotten. If you don't defend yourself against me, if you open the doors, in the beginning
           it may look destructive, but soon you will realize that the destruction was just a preparation to create
           something. Each creation needs to be begun by destruction, an equal amount of destruction is
           needed. If I am going to create you, totally new, then I will have to destroy you TOTALLY.
               Right now, you are just a mechanical thing. You go on repeating yourself, like a gramophone
           record which is stuck somewhere and goes on repeating the same line again and again and again.
           Just watch your life: have you not become a gramophone record, stuck? -- and the needle goes on
           moving in the same groove -- and goes on repeating the same thing every day: the same anger the
           same sex, the same jealousy, the same hatred, the same possessiveness, the same greed. Have you
           ever done anything new?
           I was reading a limerick yesterday. I liked it.


                  There was a young man
                  who said,'Damn,
                  I have just realized that I am,
                  a being that moves
                  in predictable grooves.
                  Not even a bus, I'm a tram!'


               Just watch yourself and you will find yourself not even a bus, but a tram: fixed grooves,
           well-trodden paths, repetitively. And you become more and more efficient in them. You completely
           forget how to live. It is as if you are being lived by a mechanical life; you are not living it because
           you are not conscious about it.
               It once happened to a man who was travelling by rail: he noticed that another man who was his
           sole companion in the compartment was behaving in an unusual way. For some time he seemed to be
           chuckling to himself very happily, and then a serious look would come over his face and he would
           make a gesture of impatience before resuming his chuckles again. After a while, the first man could
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not stand it any longer and said,'Excuse my asking, sir, but what is it that amuses you so much?'
               'Funny stories, of course,' he promptly replied,'I am telling myself funny stories.'
           'How very interesting,' murmured the first man soothingly, and then added,'but every now and then
           you look very serious. Why is that?'
           'That is when it is a story I have heard before.'
               This is how things go on. If you yourself are telling the story, how can you tell the new story?
           All stories are heard before; you can just repeat. Your life cannot be a life of newness, of freshness,
           of morning. Your life is bound to be stale, stuffed with just repetitions; at the most an efficient
           mechanism, but no consciousness.
               So whenever you are ready to take the journey for the unknown, the pilgrimage towards the
           divine, fear will arise -- fear of losing that which you have never had, fear of losing life. Life you
           have never had -- just a mechanical thing: the fear of losing a repetitive efficiency, the fear of losing
           your old pattern. It may be comfortable and convenient, but it is not alive. There is nothing like
           death, because death is the most comfortable state of being, convenient. In a grave you will be
           perfectly comfortable and convenient, and there is no trouble. Life always creates new troubles.
           Those troubles are not really troubles. If you look rightly, they are challenges to grow.
               I am a challenge. Only cowards can escape from he Those who are brave have to make up their
           minds to move into the unknown, to go in search of that which they don't know. But you feel a deep
           urge. You feel that some freedom is possible. It is just a vague feeling no but if you move into the
           unknown, soon it becomes the reality.
           'Your power over us becomes awesome. You can push us far beyond the limitations of our
           personalities.'
               That's my whole effort: to push you in fact, OUT of your personalities, so that your personality
           drops. Th personality is nothing but a mask, a PERSONA. It is false It is just a created thing; it is not
           your reality, it is not your essence. It is just a cultivated thing around you, just a decoration; it is not
           you. It is hiding you, and because of it you are unable to know yourself, who you are. It has become
           the only hindrance: layers upon layer of persona, of personality. And you have completely forgotten
           who you are, the original face. You cannot even remember that you ever had an original face.
               My whole effort is to push you out of your personalities. If even for a single moment the
           personalities drop and you are out of them, as if you were standing nude without your clothes, that
           one moment will have tremendous implications for your life. You will never be the same again
           because now you have known your original face, now you know who you are. And once you know
           who you are, you are total freedom.
               Personality is a bondage. It is as if you have become fixed only to being something, and you
           could have been all things. Personality is a fixed, routine way of being. You could have been all
           things and you have become just a grocer. You could have been a painter also, a poet also, a mystic
           also, and you have just become a grocer! Everybody is born with infinite possibilities, and almost
           everybody dies by becoming a grocer. Just think! That's why you look so miserable -- because you
           have been infinite and you have become bounded, finite.
           'Yet our personalities persist, and I find myself frightened by things I am doing which seem
           incongruous with my character.'
               I am against character, because character is a fixity. Character has a solidness about it; it is stony.
           Character means repetitiveness: you go on repeating yourself -- that is your 'character'. When
           somebody says that you are a good man, what is he saying? He is saying that you are predictable --
           in the past you have been good, in the future you are going to repeat the same. When somebody says
           that you are a bad man, what is he saying? He is saying that you are predictable -- that in the future
           also you are going to repeat the same song, you are going to tell the same story.
               A real man is always unpredictable. He is freedom. He has no character because each moment he
           finds a new challenge, each moment he moves in a new dimension, and each moment he looks with
           fresh eyes. Each moment he responds again and again from a new vision. He is never old; he is
           always young.
               In India we have not depicted Buddha, Mahavir, or Krishna as old men. It is not that they never
           became old; they became old, but we have not depicted that. Not even a single image of Buddha
           exists which shows him old. Not that he never became old; he became old, but we know that he
           never became 'old'. Deep down, he remained always fresh, unpredictable, young, infinitely young.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Even on the last day, in the last moments of his life he was young and fresh. Whatsoever he said, the
           last words that he uttered, they too were as fresh as ever; no old age, no repetition.
                Remember, character means a fixity, as if you were already dead. In a drama people have
           characters, but in life they should not have because a drama is predestined-everything is already
           fixed: who is who and what is going to happen. Nothing new is allowed: that is the meaning. In a
           drama there are characters -- a Jesus has to be a Jesus. He cannot turn in the middle and say,'I am
           not!' He has simply to follow, tram-like. He has tc repeat a particular routine.The man who wrote the
           play has fixed every role; now there is no change possible. In life, there are no characters.
                All over the world there is arising a new sort of drama which will not have characters. It will be
           more true to life. It is a new sort of drama -- you can almost call it 'no-drama' -- nobody knows what
           is going to happen. People simply start from anywhere, out of the blue, and there is no distinction
           between the audience and the stage. There should not be because in life there is no audience and no
           stage, there is no separation between the actors and the onlookers. The new drama must be played in
           such a way that if somebody from the audience feels to take part, immediately he jumps into it. And
           by hi very jump, the drama changes. He will bring something; nobody knows what, and nobody
           knows where it is going to end.
                It is just like life -- it begins, it ends, but in fact there is no beginning and no end. It is always the
           middle. You came into the world, the world didn't begin with you. You were born on a certain date;
           the drama was going on, things were already -- on the way. You simply came onto the stage, started
           doing things of your own, and started changing the whole character of the world drama. And then,
           just in the middle, one day you die, and by your death you again change: your wife may get married
           to somebody else now, your children will not be the same as you wished them to be -- the whole
           story is going to be different.
                Life is like an ocean -- wild. Waves upon waves come and go and nobody knows. And that's the
           beauty of it. A real man is wild; he has no character. I am not saying that he is not good. When I say
           that he is characterless, I am not saying that he is evil. You say that a person is characterless when he
           is immoral; that is wrong. He also has a character, an immoral character. Don't call him
           characterless.'Characterless' is a tremendously beautiful word -- only for a Buddha, or a Jesus, or a
           Krishna can you use that. Don't use it for ordinary people. Just ordinary people you call
           characterless. They have their character, they have their fixity, they have their routine of life. They
           may be bad, their characters may be bad, but they are not characterless. Only a Buddha is
           characterless. Characterlessness is the profoundest beauty possible because it means: a totally new
           response each moment. Each moment a Buddha faces life, a Jesus faces life. He does not carry
           ready-made answers. What he is going to say, nobody knows; what he is going to do, nobody knows;
           how he is going to act, nobody knows, not even he himself. If he himself knows, then he is just
           telling himself funny stories. Then it is all foolish.
                I don't know what sentence is going to follow this one, I don't know what act is going to follow:
           this is freedom. Then I am not confined.
                I can understand your difficulty. Whatsoever I am doing is trying to destroy your character. That
           was the condemnation of Socrates. The court in Athens had decided that he destroys the character of
           young people. It was absolutely true! That was the evidence against Christ also: that he destroys the
           character of young people. It has always been so. A Socrates, a Jesus, they are destroyers of
           character. Not that they are creators of immorality -- they bring the greatest morality there is: the
           morality of freedom, the morality of spontaneity. The only moral act is that act which is
           spontaneous, which comes out of your totality and is not just from your head. I will be destroying
           your character.
                People say the same thing against me, that I am a dangerous man. I am! They are perfectly true.
           My whole effort is in how to destroy your character so that at least you can become a bus, so that
           you don't move on rails. You can have a little freedom.
                Fear is natural. I am not saying that you can drop that fear, but there is one thing that I would like
           to say: in spite of the fear you can come with me. And that is the only way. If you wait, that once you
           have dropped the fear then you will come and follow me, then you never will. Follow, in spite of the
           fear. Let the fear be there, it is natural; but don't follow it, follow me. The fear is there, human,
           natural -- but come, follow me. By and by, the more you become attuned to the inner freedom the
           inner sky, the fear will disappear because through this characterlessness you are growing, you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becoming more mature, you are ripening. Now the morality will not be forced from outside, it will
           flow from your inside. It will be your inwardness, it will be your own understanding and
           consciousness. It will not be a conscience any more.
                The conscience is given by the society; consciousness you have to achieve. The society goes on
           telling you,'This is right, and that is wrong' -- that is conscience. It becomes ingrained, implanted in
           you. You go on repeating it. That is worthless; that is not the real thing The real thing is your own
           consciousness. It carries no ready-made answers: what is wrong and what is right, no. But
           immediately, in whatever situation arises, it gives you light -- you know immediately what to do.
           And that doing is total. That act is total because it is not being done because the society says so, it is
           done because you know it that way. In that moment the decision takes shape; it comes out of your
           innermost core. This is freedom, and this freedom is the goal. Don't stop before you have attained it.
                Fear will be there. There are many hazards on the path: many times you may go astray, many
           times you will feel tired, exhausted, many times you will find excuses to sit by the side of the road.
           But remember again and again, that unless you have attained to that consciousness which can act
           spontaneously, you have not fulfilled your being. You are betraying God, you are betraying the
           Whole. And how can you be happy, how can you be blissful if you betray the original source? Then
           you will remain miserable. Your misery is just an indication that you are not doing the right thing,
           and the right thing is not what is said by the society to be right. The right thing is that which you
           come to understand through your understanding. Be a light unto yourself -- that is the right thing.

           The fourth question:


              I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WON'T BE ON EARTH WITH US FOR SUCH A LONG TIME
              ANYMORE. YESTERDAY AT DARSHAN YOU EXPLAINED TO SOMEBODY THAT THE BODY
              CANNOT CONTAIN YOU, YOU WILL EVAPORATE, AND AFTER THAT YOU CAN'T BE OF ANY
              HELP ANYMORE. THIS CONFUSES ME ALL THE TIME. I USED TO CONSOLE MYSELF WITH
              THE WORDS OF JESUS,'I WILL STAY WITH THEE UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.' PLEASE
              MAKE THIS MORE CLEAR TO ME.


               Jesus is right, but I am righter than Jesus. Jesus is right, but because of his saying people could
           not use the opportunity when it was there. They consoled themselves. He is true; even now he is with
           you, even this moment he can help you. But when you miss Jesus when he is present, how can you
           use him when he is absent? Just look at the absurdity of it. You say,'Yes, we will take your help
           when you are absent,' and you cannot take the help while he is present. Only those who can take his
           help while he is present will be able to take his help while he is not present. And you always like
           consolation. I don't want to give you any consolation because all consolations become
           postponements.
               Yes, I repeat Jesus' saying: I will also be with you till the very end of the world -- but I don't
           want it to become a consolation for you. I can be with you only if you are with me now. If you are
           with me now, I can be with you to the very end of time, but you have to fulfill a certain growth in
           yourself. Otherwise you will say,'Okay, if you are going to be with us to the very end of time, then
           there is no need to hurry; we can fool around a little. And whenever we need, you will be available.'
           No, this is not going to be so. That's why I say that Jesus is right, but I am righter than him.
               Try to understand: I am not here to console you. If there is anything that I am here for, it is to
           transform you.
               Consolation is worthless; it is a trick of the mind. Don't settle for it. It is just like a mother who
           doesn't want to give her breast to the child, and she gives the child anything, just his own thumb in
           his mouth, to console him. That gives him a certain consolation, but no nourishment. He is simply
           deceived. Or you can get pacifiers from the market and give the child a pacifier. Just a rubber breast
           -- he goes on sucking it thinking and believing that something is going to come out of it. Nothing
           comes out of it.
               Consolation is a pacifier, it is not real nourishment. I am here; be nourished by me. Eat me, drink
           me; be nourished by me. Let me become a part of your being, then I will be available forever and
           forever. There is no other way.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The fifth question:


              MY LITTLE SON WAS NEVER BAPTIZED. WILL THIS BE OF IMPORTANCE 7


                It is very important! It is good that he was never baptized because baptism is such a significant
           thing -- it cannot be forced upon anybody. When you force it on a child you are creating an artificial
           religion for him, and if that artificial religion remains there he may forget all about the real religion.
           He may become a Christian and he will miss Christ.
                Good, your child is fortunate. Blessed is he who is not baptized by his parents -- then he is
           available, clean and clear. Whenever he becomes ripe enough, when he becomes aware, then he can
           seek his religion.
                A religion is to be sought. A religion has to be chosen consciously. Nobody should be made a
           Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Jain by birth. Birth has nothing to do with religion.
           Because of this association with birth, the whole world seems to be religious, and nobody is
           religious. Everybody is religious: somebody is a Hindu, somebody is a Christian. Nobody is a Hindu
           and nobody is a Christian -- people have been befooled.
                Leave children alone. Never impose any religion on them. Don't condition their minds. Leave
           their enquiry free. Help so that they can enquire, but don't give them answers. Help so that their
           questions become very penetrating, help so that they can ask intensely, help so that someday they
           can ask so intensely that their very intensity becomes a transformation, but never give them answers.
           Ready-made answers are very deceptive. Religion has to be lived, religion has to be chosen. It is a
           commitment -- how can you commit for your child? Who are you to commit for your child? Help the
           child to grow, love him deeply, and don't give him answers which you don't know yourself. If he
           asks,'Is there a God?' tell him the truth, that you don't know! Tell him the truth, that you are seeking;
           tell him the truth, that he has to seek himself; and tell him that if someday he finds, he has to tell it to
           you also. Be humble. Before the child, the temptation is great in the parents to be knowledgeable --
           that is foolishness. You don't know anything about God and you go on teaching the child, you go on
           conditioning his mind. Don`t condition anybody's mind. Leave him -- intact, untouched, virgin. One
           day....
                Because religion is such a deep urge, it need not be taught. Through the teachings the urge is
           corrupted. It need not be taught. Leave him to himself, love him. Through your love he will create
           the opportunity to understand prayer someday. Love him, and through your love he will become
           aware that existence must be a mother to him, a father to him. But don't talk about the Father who is
           in heaven, just be a father to him. Your being a father will have given him the first glimpse that the
           existence is not alien, that somebody takes care, that somebody loves. Love him, mother him so that
           he comes to feel that existence is a mother. Through your care through your love, through your
           mothering let him become aware of certain qualities in existence. Don't talk theology -- it is rubbish.
           Don't go on telling him,'Pray.' Wait, let the right moment come, but help the situation so that he
           becomes capable of prayer. Don't teach him the words of the prayer. Just create a situation in the
           family: the atmosphere of prayerfulness. The father prays, the mother prays, and when the child sees
           father praying he can feel the delight that comes on his face. He can see that he is transported to
           some other world. He can see that after prayer, for hours he is a totally different person -- more
           loving, more soft and delicate. He can see that after prayer there is an after-glow that follows the
           father the whole day.
                There is no need to teach anything. One day you will suddenly find when you open your eyes
           after your prayer, that your child is sitting by your side -- deep, somewhere else, his eyes closed. He
           does not know the words, but now he understands the feeling, and that is REAL baptism.
                Don't force him to go to church because church will corrupt him, and he will start thinking that
           religion is nothing but a business. He will understand by and by, that religion is nothing but politics.
                All mystics, without exception, know that all religions are true; all philosophers, without
           exception, know that all religions are false; and all politicians, without exception, know that all
           religions are useful.
                Don't teach the child the politics of religion. Leave him intact, alone, but give him an
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opportunity, a milieu, an atmosphere, a climate where he can feel in touch with what religion is.
           Then he will be religious. He may not be a Christian, but that is pointless, that is meaningless. He
           may not be a Hindu, but he will be religious. But parents are more interested that the child should be
           a Christian -- he should follow the same foolishness that they have been following. The child should
           be a Hindu -- he should be corrupted in the same way they have been corrupted. The child should
           have an identity of belonging to some organization -- the same that they belong to. This is the
           politics of religion; it is not religion at all.
                If you really love your child, will you want him to be a Christian, or a Hindu, or a
           Mohammedan? -- no, never! If you love your child you will never want him to be a Christian. What
           has Christianity done to the world? -- it is an ugly dis-ease. You will not like him to be a
           Mohammedan. What has Mohammedanism done to the world? -- it has been just violence. You will
           not like him to be a Hindu because what has Hinduism done? -- it is just a fossilized death: stale,
           dead for centuries, a corpse; it stinks. No, if you love your child you will make him aware not to fall
           into any trap, not to be trapped because there are enemies all around: the priest, the missionary, the
           temple, the church. You will make him aware,'Don't be trapped by anybody. Remain free, remain
           loving, search and seek and find your God. The God that you find is the only God. The God that is
           taught is not God; it is just a word. And when you have found YOUR religion, it is not separate from
           life, it is one with it. It is life itself!'
                And remember when I say that life is God, I don't mean life with a capital L, no; but just with a
           lower-case l. Just ordinary life is God.
                A journalist just a few days ago asked Jean-Paul Sartre,'What is the most important thing in your
           life today?' Sartre said,'I don't know. Everything: to live, to love, to smoke.' This is a Zen kind of
           answer. Sartre is not a religious man but the answer is very religious. He has never belonged to any
           church, he does not believe in God, but the answer is religious.'I don't know' -- that is the first
           religious quality of it because only foolish theologians know. A religious man is simply aware of his
           tremendous ignorance. Life is a mystery; how can you know it? He knows only one thing, that he
           does not know.'I don't know!' -- ask any priest, he cannot say that. He will immediately open his
           Bible and say,'Here is the answer. I know.' And he is simply repeating borrowed knowledge. He is a
           parrot.
                Once I went to Varanasi and a great scholar of the Vedas invited me to his home. He was very
           happy to show me his parrot, because the parrot could recite many things from the Vedas, from the
           Gita, from the Upanishads. I laughed. The pundit said,'What's the matter? Why are you laughing?' I
           said,'I am laughing because I don't see any difference between this parrot and you. The parrot is a
           scholar and you are a parrot.' He has been angry since then.
                No, a theologian can never say,'I don't know.' One needs courage to say that. One needs real guts
           to say,'I don't know.' One needs a certain realization to say that one doesn't know. And everything,
           when you lead a religious life, everything is beautiful, everything is important. There are no
           pigeon-holes, there are no categories. You cannot say that something is more important and
           something is less important. If you live a religious quality, all things are important: a dog is as
           important as God, not a single bit less important.
                Somebody asked Joshu -- a Zen Master, a rare being; the person who asked must have been a
           sceptic -- he said,'Joshu, I have heard that you say that God is in everything. What about a dog?'
           Nobody has answered this way: Joshu jumped on his four legs and started barking. He said,'I am a
           dog, and also a god.' Joshu barking is God barking.
                Then there is no difference. Nothing is small and nothing is great. The smallest carries the
           greatest, and the greatest carries the smallest; then the lowest is the highest, and the highest is the
           lowest; then the valley goes to the peak and the peak comes to the valley. That is the meaning when I
           say that sex is samadhi and samadhi is sex. Then there is no difference between the low and the high.
           Everything! -- to live, just to live today is the most important thing. To love, and to smoke.... Such
           an ordinary thing, to smoke, but when a religious man smokes he smokes religiously; there is no
           other way.
                Once a man came to me. I was in Calcutta. The man was a follower of Paramahansa
           Ramakrishna, but he was worried about one thing: Ramakrishna used very vulgar words, like
           'son-of-a-bitch', like that. Ramakrishna used very vulgar words. So he was very worried. He
           said,'Everything is good, but Ramakrishna seems to be a little... vulgar. What do you say, sir?' I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said,'His vulgarity is religious. Even when Ramakrishna says 'son-of-a-bitch', it is a blessing. Yes, it
           is a blessing because whatsoever he says is purified by his saying it. Even a vulgar word becomes
           sacred; the touch of a Ramakrishna transforms it.' So I told him,'Don't be worried. Wherever
           Ramakrishna treads, it becomes holy. If he goes to a prostitute's house, that becomes a temple.
           Because it is not a question of an outer house or an outer world, it is the quality that you bring to
           it.'To smoke,' Sartre says,'is the most important thing today.' Yes, I also say that smoking can be as
           beautiful and sacred as chanting -- it is a chanting in smoke. It depends on you.
                In Zen monasteries they have a small tea-house, like a temple. Whenever somebody enters the
           tea-house, he has to be very aware because the goddess of tea resides there. The goddess of tea --
           then why not the goddess of smoking? The nicotine is the same in tea as in tobacco.
                I have just instructed Laxmi to make a small temple for smoking here in the ashram. But you
           have to go very alert, aware, meditative! If you can smoke meditatively, it is perfectly beautiful. If it
           stops by being meditative, that too is perfectly beautiful. Life is sacred.
                So don't teach a child Christianity, HYinduism, Jainism. At the most, give him a milieu, if you
           love him, so that he can grow a sensitivity towards what religion is in its essence in its purity. Don't
           teach him about so many flowers, just let him become sensitive to the fragrance of it -- that will do.
           THAT is baptism.

              The last question, and the most important -- it is from Amitab:


              BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.


              So what am I to do? -- blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                     Chapter #3
                                        Chapter title: As I Have Loved You
           23 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512230
              ShortTitle: FOLL403
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 109 mins




              John 13
              2 AND SUPPER BEING ENDED,



              5... HE POURETH WATER INTO A BASIN, AND BEGAN TO WASH THE DISCIPLES' FEET, AND
              TO WIPE THEM WITH THE TOWEL WHEREWITH HE WAS GIRDED.



              6 THEN COMETH HE TO SIMON PETER, AND PETER SAITH UNTO HIM: LORD, DOST THOU
              WASH MY FEET?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              7 JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM: WHAT I DO THOU KNOWEST NOT NOW, BUT
              THOU SHALT KNOW HEREAFTER.



              8 PETER SAITH UNTO HIM: THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET! JESUS ANSWERED HIM: IF I
              WASH THEE NOT, THOU HAST NO PART WITH ME.



              12 SO AFTER HE HAD WASHED THEIR FEET, AND HAD TAKEN HIS GARMENTS, AND WAS SET
              DOWN AGAIN, HE SAID UNTO THEM: KNOW YE WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU?



              13 YE CALL ME MASTER AND LORD, AND YE SAY WELL; FOR SO I AM.



              14 IF I THEN, YOUR LORD AND MASTER, HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET, YE ALSO OUGHT TO
              WASH ONE ANOTHER'S FEET.



              15 FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE SHOULD DO AS I HAVE DONE TO YOU.



              21 WHEN JESUS HAD THUS SAID, HE WAS TROUBLED IN SPIRIT, AND TESTIFIED, AND SAID:
              VERILY VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT ONE OF YOU SHALL BETRAY ME.



              27... THEN SAID JESUS UNTO HIM: THAT THOU DOEST, DO QUICKLY.



              28 NOW NO MAN AT THE TABLE KNEW FOR WHAT INTENT HE SPAKE THIS UNTO HIM.



              31 THEREFORE, WHEN JUDAS WAS GONE OUT, JESUS SAID: NOW IS THE SON OF MAN
              GLORIFIED, AND GOD IS GLORIFIED IN HIM.



              34 A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER; AS I HAVE
              LOVED YOU, THAT YE ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.



              35 BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YE HAVE LOVE ONE TO
              ANOTHER.


                THE essence of religion is paradoxical -- opposites meet there and lose their oppositeness.
           Contraries become complementary there and lose their contrariness. Day and night are not separate
           there, neither are life and death, nor the lower and the higher. The earth is the sky there, and the sky
           is the earth. To the logical mind, to mind as such -- because all minds are logical -- it is very difficult
           to conceive.
                I will read a few words from A.N. Whitehead, a very perceptive man:'Religion is the vision of
           something which extends beyond, behind, and within the passing flux of immediate things:
           something which is real and yet waiting to be realized; something which is a remote possibility and
           yet the greatest of present facts; something which gives meaning to all that passes and yet eludes
           apprehension; something whose possession is the final good and yet is beyond reach; something
           which is the ultimate ideal and the hopeless quest.'
                Whitehead understands rightly the paradoxicalness of religion, but he is trying to see it through
           the mind, hence his final conclusion is that it is a 'hopeless quest -- hopeless because how can the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opposites meet? Jean-Paul Sartre says that God is impossible because to make God possible,
           opposites will have to disappear. Death and life should become one; only then can God exist. And
           how can the mind conceive of life and death becoming one, winter and summer becoming one, the
           beginning and end becoming one? For the mind, the quest becomes hopeless.
               The modern mind is basically without religion because the modern mind has lost the capacity,
           the elasticity, to be illogical. In the ordinary world, to be illogical is to be mad; in religion, to be
           illogical is the method. Madness itself is the method to know God. Unless you are mad enough so
           that you can put aside the categories of the mind and you can look directly without bringing any
           concepts between you and the reality, you can, at the most, know the matter, the dead part, the past,
           but you cannot know the real, the alive, the God. Essential religion will always look elusive to the
           mind. In fact, it looks like a sort of craziness.
               Just a few days ago I was reading R.C. Zaehner's books. This man has tried to understand Zen,
           Krishnamurti, but he could not; and in the end he has written a small; poem to ridicule them. That
           small poem not only ridicules Krishnamurti and Zen, it ridicules Jesus, Krishna -- it ridicules all
           religion. R.C. Zaehner writes in this poem, and he feels that he is giving you the very essence of this
           insanity called Zen:

           Tee-hee hee,
           you and me,
           me is you,
           you is me.
           Life is death,
           dead is life,
           I am my husband,
           you are your wife.
           We aren't God-children,
           they aren't God-us,
           we are all that happy,
           so why this fuss?
           Fuss, fuss, fuss,
           cuss, cuss, cuss.
           Total experience?
           Yes -- that's us.

               He thinks that he is ridiculing, and he is being ridiculous himself; but this is natural to the mind.
               Jesus goes on saying,'I and my Father are one.' That means that the son is the Father. The
           VICE-VERSA has never been said, but should be said. Only then will the truth become clear; that
           the Father is also the son. If the son is the Father, then the Father is also the son, but then things
           become elusive.
               On this last night with his disciples, he brings this meeting of opposites, this meeting of the
           distant and the near, to a peak point, to a climax. By touching the feet of his disciples, he is saying
           that the disciple is the Master, the Master is the disciple. This is a Zen act. Without saying anything,
           he is saying the very essence of all religions. He is saying,'I and thou are not two.' He is saying,'Thou
           is me, me is thou' -- he is making the circle complete. The Master touching the feet of the disciples is
           a rare phenomenon. Through this symbolic act, Jesus is taking his departure from his disciples,
           showing them the very essence of religion: where the Master touches the feet of the disciple, where
           the son becomes the Father and the Father becomes the son, where the night becomes the day and the
           day becomes the night, and opposites merge, disappear.
               This is difficult for R.C. Zaehner to understand. In his book he calls Aristotle many times,'Our
           father, Aristotle.' It must be so; Aristotle must be his father, not God. Aristotle is the logical mind.
           The very essence of the logical mind is that day and night are separate and can never meet. East and
           West are separate -- 'East is East, West is West, and the twain shall never meet.' But I tell you, they
           are meeting here, they are meeting everywhere. Wherever life exists, East and West are meeting;
           wherever life exists, men and women are meeting; wherever life exists, the Master and the disciple
           are meeting; wherever life exists, the soul and matter are meeting -- in you, everywhere: in a flower,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in a tree, in a rock, in a man -- the soul and matter are meeting. And still you go on dividing. Can
           you demark exactly where your body ends and your spirit begins, where your spirit ends and your
           body begins? They are ONE: the body is touching the feet of the spirit and the spirit is touching the
           feet of the body. It is a circle.
                Jesus says many things without saying them. He shows rather than says; he is a simple man. Zen
           people can understand what he did, Christians cannot understand. They go on saying,'Our Father
           who is in heaven...' but that is wrong.'Our father, Aristotle', they should say. Aristotle is their father:
           the mind that divides, the mind that makes clear-cut distinctions, the mind that categorizes, puts
           things into pigeon-holes. A very neat and clean job Aristotle has made of life. He has classified; he is
           the greatest classifier. But whenever you divide, something which cannot be divided disappears. You
           can dissect a flower and you can come to know of what it is constituted -- the matter part -- but the
           spirit part will disappear. You will never come to catch hold of beauty. In dissection, the beauty will
           disappear. You can dissect a man on an operating-theatre table, you can dissect minutely, you can
           take tremendous care in dissection and analysis, but only body will be left in your hands. The soul
           will disappear, because in fact the soul exists in a very deep synthesis where opposites meet.
                Life is a dialectical process where opposites go on meeting and go on creating a higher synthesis,
           a symphony, a harmony. And every moment it is happening -- the day becomes night every evening,
           and every morning the night again becomes the day. But you are blind and you cannot see it.
           Everywhere you can see opposites meeting: the earth is reaching to the sky in the trees and touching
           it, and the sky is every moment boring into the earth, penetrating it. That love affair continues
           between the earth and the sky; they are always meeting in deep embrace, infinitely one. The
           separation is only on the surface.

           Now the sutras:

              AND SUPPER BEING ENDED...


               It is the last supper with Jesus, and only Jesus knows it is the last. The disciples are absolutely
           ignorant. They cannot even feel what is going to happen, they cannot hear the footsteps of the future.
           Jesus is already going towards his crucifixion, Jesus is already ready, moving. The moment, the
           momentous moment is arriving -- every moment closer and closer -- but they are, in a way, blissfully
           unaware. Remember, that's what is happening to everybody. Death is coming closer and closer, and
           you are blissfully unaware. You go on making arrangements to live as if you were going to live
           forever. Your mind goes on planning for the future, not knowing that death is coming. Death is
           hiding in every bush; death can jump from anywhere.
               On that night of celebration, the last supper with the Master, who could have thought that this
           would be the last? Who could have thought that the next day Jesus would be gone? This unique man
           would be no more. There would no longer be this unique opportunity to touch God on earth. There
           would no longer be any possibility to look through his door, to have a glimpse of the divine from his
           window. Eating, drinking, they were happy. That's how life goes on: eating, drinking; and every
           moment death comes closer and closer, and you go on preparing to live as if you were going to live
           forever.
               The man who becomes aware of death becomes a totally different man. Then he is not always
           wasting his time in preparing for the future. Rather, he starts living in the present. Alas, the disciples
           didn't know. Later on they would repent, and they would cry and weep their hearts out. They would
           think again and again, and they would move again and again into the nostalgia of the past: Jesus was
           so close and they went on missing him.

              AND SUPPER BEING ENDED,... HE POURETH WATER INTO A BASIN, AND BEGAN TO WASH
              THE DISCIPLES' FEET, AND TO WIPE THEM WITH THE TOWEL WHEREWITH HE WAS GIRDED.


               I call this 'the Zen act'. What is a Zen act? -- a Zen act is an act in which you say that which
           cannot be said in any other way. There are things which can be said, there are things which cannot be
           said, and there are things which can only be acted upon. Through action, total action, they can be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said; there is no other way to say them. In Zen, the Master always gives a certain problem for the
           disciple to find out the answer to. They call it 'koan'. The disciple goes on finding out answers, and
           comes again and again, every morning, to see the Master and to give his answer. But the Master goes
           on saying,'No, this is not the answer.' Sometimes it happens that even before the disciple has said
           anything the Master says,'No, this is not the answer.' Sometimes this too happens: the disciple is
           coming, he is just outside the door and the Master shouts from inside,'No, this is not the answer.'
           Only later on, when the disciple becomes enlightened, does he understand what was the matter -- the
           Master had given a problem which could not be answered verbally. You can ACT upon it. Only
           action can answer it, nothing else, because only action can be total.
                Have you ever watched a small child in anger? That is total action; it is not only in the head.
           Every fibre of his body vibrates with anger -- ready to explode, red in the face, as if capable of
           destroying the whole world -- so tiny but so full of atomic energy. Watch a child in anger and you
           will see what total action is. Or, watch a lover who is in deep love: the mind stops. Even holding the
           hand of his beloved he is saying something which cannot be said. The very touch shows something,
           shows something which is beyond words, and the act is total. In anger, in love, in sadness, in bliss,
           sometimes it happens that the action is total. In dancing, when the dancer disappears and only the
           dance remains, then the action is total. And a total action is beautiful because a total action is no
           longer from you. THE MOMENT you are total, God is flowing through you.
                On that day, the last day of Jesus with his disciples, Jesus did a Zen act -- he washed his
           disciples' feet, he touched his disciples' feet with deep reverence. The disciples touch the feet of the
           Master, but their reverence can never be total. For the majority it is just a mannerism that has to be
           done. It is a sort of duty; they do it unconsciously. Something that has to be done, has to be done, but
           they are not in it. When they bow down, nothing hows down within them, just the body. It is a dead
           gesture. For a few others it may not be so dead. Maybe a little life flickers in it, but it is not a flame
           of totality. The disciples must have touched the feet of the Master many times, thousands of times.
           This time, the Master was going to touch the feet of the disciples to show them what reverence is, in
           its totality. That moment, there was nobody who was bowing down and washing. There was bowing,
           there was washing, but there was nobody -- because whenever you are total the ego disappears. The
           ego exists only when you are partial. If you have experienced it in some way, sometime... and I see
           that everybody has experienced it sometime, somewhere. Because it doesn't fit with your style of life
           you have forgotten; because it does not fit with your own pattern you do not pay much attention to it;
           because it doesn't fit, you by and by forget it, throw it into the unconscious, into the basement of the
           mind. Otherwise, it has happened to everybody, unknowingly, unawares. Sometimes, just swimming,
           and suddenly you are filled with an unknown bliss. It happens only if the swimming becomes total.
           When the swimmer disappears, then the cause of all misery disappears, and then suddenly, God is
           there.
                Whenever you are total, God is there. Whenever you are divided, God is unavailable. So let me
           say this: your totality is God. God is not a person, it is an experience. It is not waiting somewhere;
           you have to create it within you. God is not like an object, like a rock that some day you find and
           bring home, no. God is an inner harmony -- you have to create it to find it. It is not a search for a
           dead object. It is creativity, it is tremendous creativity; and there is no higher creativity than that. A
           painter paints a picture, a singer sings a song, a sculptor makes an image; a religious seeker creates
           God! And there is only one way to create God: to become total so that the act becomes whole.
                Jesus showed them; that was his farewell. He could not have given a greater gift to them. He
           showed them what reverence is, what love is, how one can totally surrender. They thought that they
           had surrendered, but a disciple's surrender is a disciple's surrender. A disciple is divided, he is a
           crowd; only a part of him surrenders. That part may not even be the majority, and the many other
           parts go on resisting. He surrenders in a reluctant way. A part goes on pulling away from the Master,
           withdrawing, another part goes on saying 'no'. One part says 'yes', one part says 'no'. The disciple is
           always 'yes plus no'. When Jesus touched their feet, there was only 'yes'. He gave them the greatest
           gift he could, the gift of reverence.
                I have heard that once a question was asked of Rabbi Joshua ben Karha:'Why did the Holy One,
           blessed be He, choose to speak to Moses at Mount Horeb out of a thorn bush?' It is relevant, why
           God chose to speak to Moses from a thorn bush. Could He not find a better place? -- a thorn bush?
           At least He could have found a rose bush. Why choose a thorn bush in the first place? It has been
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           asked for centuries, but never has anyone given such a beautiful answer as Rabbi Joshua gave. Rabbi
           Joshua answered so as to teach us that there is no place on this earth free from the presence of God.
           God is everywhere, even in the lowly, even in a thorn bush. The whole earth is holy.
               Why did Jesus touch their feet? He could have touched their heads, so why their feet? Feet are
           symbols of the lowly. In your body, they are the lowest part. Jesus touched their feet to show that
           God is there also; even in a thorn bush, in the lowliest, in the LOWEST depth God is there, because
           God is everywhere. In the darkest valley He is there. He is not only at the peaks, remember; in the
           valleys also, He is there. He is not only in the saints; in the sinners also, He is. When you pay
           respects, don't be bothered about whom to pay it to, because He is everywhere. You can touch the
           feet of a sinner and you have touched His feet, because there are no other feet. All feet, ALL feet are
           His. Jesus touched the feet of the disciples to show them that nothing is lowly. Everything is high,
           everything is superbly magnificent and everything is divine. Wherever you tread, you tread on God.
           Whatsoever you do, you do to God. Whomsoever you pay respect to or become angry with, you are
           doing it to God.

              ... HE POURETH WATER INTO A BASIN, AND BEGAN TO WASH THE DISCIPLES' FEET...


               The feet are symbolic of the earth, they touch the earth; the head is symbolic of the sky, it
           touches the sky. The head and the feet -- the highest and the lowest, the above and the below -- are
           the same, because only one flows. You are in your feet as much as you are in your head. Don't forget
           the earth, you are rooted there; remember it. Jesus touched their feet, washed those feet.

              THEN COMETH HE TO SIMON PETER, AND PETER SAITH UNTO HIM: LORD, DOST THOU
              WASH MY FEET?


                It doesn't look appropriate.'Dost thou wash MY feet? It is okay if I wash yours; you are our Lord,
           our Master.' A question arises in the mind of the disciple Simon Peter: one who loves, one who has a
           little more faith than the others. Even to him a question arises, just a question,'Is it appropriate that
           the Master should touch my feet?' A few didn't say anything. They may not even have grasped the
           meaning of it, it was so sudden. They may even have missed. They may not have been present there;
           they may not have been able to understand what was happening. Only Simon Peter, the man who
           was going to become the rock of Jesus' church, raised a question:'Dost thou wash my feet?' He had
           loved Jesus, he had respected him, but his faith was not yet total.'Man of little faith' Jesus had called
           him. He had faith, but very little. If the faith had been total, then there would have been no longer
           any distinction between the Master and the disciple.
                In Zen there are stories that sometimes the disciple would hit the Master, and the Master would
           laugh. They are stories of great love, they are stories of great faith and trust. They show that now the
           distinction is no more there; now nobody knows who is who. The Master is the absence of the ego,
           and when the disciple's ego also disappears, there cannot be two absences.
                For example: in your room there are two chairs; two chairs are present, two presences. You
           remove two chairs -- now can you say that there are two absences because two chairs have been
           removed? No, there is only one absence; simply absence. You can remove a thousand chairs but the
           absence will not be of a thousand chairs; it will simply be absence. A Master is an absence, an
           emptiness; there is no ego in it. It is on the part of the disciple that they appear as two. From the side
           of the Master, because he is not there, there cannot be the other. When the'I' disappears,'thou' also
           disappears.
                Peter loved him, respected him, but his love was not yet total. He was still present there; the
           disciple had not disappeared. The disciple asked,'Why? -- you, and touching my feet?' It didn't look
           appropriate. Remember, in love there is nothing appropriate or not appropriate. In love, all
           distinctions disappear.
                Just the other day somebody asked,'Can an enlightened man love an unenlightened man?' He
           asked a very pertinent question. He said that it is said of Ramakrishna's life that he would cry and
           weep for Vivekananda. Sometimes Vivekananda would not come to see him for a few days, so he
           would go to see him. He would find out where he was.'Is it possible,' the questioner had asked,'that a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man like Ramakrishna, in love, in such love that he cried and wept if Vivekananda did not come,
           went to where he was to search for him, and became very happy when Vivekananda came?'
                The questioner had asked,'Osho, do you weep for somebody?' I have so many Vivekanandas that
           if I start weeping, then there will be no time left. Hence, the difficulty. I cannot cry and weep, but I
           cry and weep for you because to me you are just potentialities of tremendous possibilities, seeds.
           Yes, Ramakrishna was deeply in love. And I tell you, only a Ramakrishna can be in deep love,
           ONLY a Ramakrishna. The unenlightened person can pretend that he loves, can deceive himself and
           others that he loves, but he cannot love. Love is the quality of enlightenment. It is the light that
           comes out of that inner lamp, that inner lamp of enlightenment. When that flame is burning inside,
           then the light flows outside. Wherever it falls, it is love.
                Jesus loved these disciples. To say that Jesus loved or that Ramakrishna loved is really not a
           right way of saying it, because Jesus is not, a Ramakrishna is not -- there is only love. When Jesus
           touched the feet of his disciples, love touched their feet. Not Jesus, remember, but love touched their
           feet. Ramakrishna went to seek and search where Vivekananda was, but Ramakrishna didn't go
           anywhere. He was no more -- where could he go? how could he go? who would go? -- love went in
           search. When Ramakrishna cried and tears fell down, it was love crying. Even Vivekananda felt
           embarrassed when Ramakrishna would stand and start dancing when he came, or he would hug him.
           Even he used to feel embarrassed. Somehow it looked a little outlandish, eccentric. And this old man
           seemed to be crazy. If psychoanalysts had been present there, they may have suspected
           homosexuality, because psychoanalysis tries to explain the flower through the fertilizer. Then, even
           the flower starts stinking; it smells of the fertilizer. But if you ask me such questions, I explain the
           fertilizer through the flower. Then, even the fertilizer has a fragrance in it. Jesus touched the feet, not
           of the fertilizer but of the flower, of the possibility.
                Ramakrishna went in search. To ordinary people Vivekananda was just ordinary, but not for
           Ramakrishna. Something extraordinary was waiting there: it needed help, care; it needed attention, it
           needed love to explode into being.
                Jesus touched those disciples' feet in deep reverence, in great hope. He touched their feet to show
           them,'You are not that which you think you are. You are that which you are seeking; you are my
           God.' Those were only seeds, but Jesus could see the flowering. He touched their feet because of the
           possibility of the flowering -- someday or other they would explode into beautiful flowers, they
           would blossom. He loved them, respected them for that. For him it was already a present
           phenomenon. They didn't know, they were unaware, they were fast asleep. The seed is nothing but a
           flower, fast asleep and snoring. And what is a flower? -- a seed that has discovered itself, a seed that
           has come to know itself, a seed that has become itself -- that's what a flower is. Even a weed is not a
           weed; a weed is one who is on the path to discover itself. Even a weed has tremendous possibilities.
           You may not know that even wheat was once thought to be a weed; even wheat! Humanity
           discovered, by and by, that it was nourishment. Now you cannot think of wheat as a weed. And if
           you find some weeds in the garden, always be respectful -- who knows? They are on the way; some
           day their capacities and possibilities will be discovered.
                They were ordinary weeds, those disciples, very ordinary human beings, but not to Jesus. Jesus
           could look into their future. Their future was present to Jesus, and he touched the feet of that future.
           Even a man like Peter could not believe, could not see the appropriateness of it. But in love, there is
           nothing appropriate and not appropriate. In love, everything takes a totally different flavour. Then,
           everything is holy.

              THEN COMETH HE TO SIMON PETER: AND PETER SAITH UNTO HIM: LORD, DOST THOU
              WASH MY FEET? JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM: WHAT I DO THOU KNOWEST NOT
              NOW, BUT THOU SHALT KNOW HEREAFTER.


               Maybe it would take many lives to know what Jesus did that day, but only hereafter would he be
           able to know, because to know it now, you would have to be present in your totality, here and now.
           But then, there would have been a totally different thing. Then Peter would not have felt a little
           uneasy about it. He may have laughed, he may even have blessed Jesus. That's what Mahakashyap
           would have done if Buddha had touched his feet -- he would have laughed, smiled and blessed him.
           That small joke of Mahakashyap touching Buddha's head and blessing him would have reverberated
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all through history. In fact, that is what he did when he laughed. That smile was a blessing showered
           from the side of the disciple; but that is possible only when the disciple is not. Everything is possible
           only when you are not, but Peter was there. He was a man of little faith.

              WHAT I DO THOU KNOWEST NOT NOW, BUT THOU SHALT KNOW HEREAFTER.


               Peter trusted, then he didn't say anything. When Jesus says,'You will know,' he believes that he
           will know.

              PETER SAITH UNTO HIM: THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET! JESUS ANSWERED HIM: IF I
              WASH THEE NOT, THOU HAST NO PART WITH ME.


                The part that believes in Jesus is not the only part in Peter; many other parts also exist. That part
           which loves Jesus and has trust is not asking now. The first question was from the part that had faith;
           it was simply a question. How do I make the distinction? You just try to listen to me.
                First, Peter said to him,'Lord, dost thou wash my feet?' -- it was a simple question; there was no
           'no' in it.'Yes' had not been said, but 'no' had also not been said. It was simply an enquiry:'Dost thou
           wash my feet?' It didn't look appropriate. When Jesus said,'What I am thou knowest not; but thou
           shalt know hereafter,' that part which believed and trusted became silent.
                Then, the second question from Peter was not from the same Peter. Then he said,'Thou shalt
           never wash my feet!' Now it is a positive assertion, now it is a positive 'no'. It is no more hesitant; it
           is no more an enquiry, it is a statement. This is some other part in Peter which says,'Thou shalt never
           wash my feet!' Jesus answered him,'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me -- so you decide. If I
           don't wash your feet and if you don't allow me, then you have nothing to do with me; you are not a
           part of me.'
                Why? Something very deep has to be understood, and that is: whatsoever you call opposites in
           life are not as opposite as they appear. You love a person, and you hate him also. When you hate a
           person you continue to love him, you remain divided. A man who loves riches one day becomes
           fed-up and then he renounces, then he escapes to the mountains. Then if you bring riches to him, he
           will not look at them. He is not indifferent; he has moved from 'yes' to 'no'. Now he has moved to the
           other extreme, but he remains the same man. Once he was infatuated, now he has renounced,
           rejected, but still he has a relationship with the riches. The relationship exists.
                For example: a disciple does not allow the Master to touch his feet. Why? -- because of the ego.
           It will look very, very difficult to understand, because you will say that ego should feel perfectly
           happy that the Master is touching the feet. Yes, there are people who have that type of ego also; we
           will come across them. But this too is ego, when Peter says,'No, I will not allow you to touch my
           feet. How can I allow you? I am your greatest disciple! How can I allow you to touch my feet?' -- the
           ego:'I am a humble person, the humblest; how can I allow you to touch my feet?' Deep down, Peter
           is afraid that if Jesus touches his feet, deep down somewhere some part of his being will feel very
           exhilarated and happy. That is the fear. He cannot be indifferent to it. Just see: if you cannot even
           allow your Master to touch your feet, what else are you going to allow? Peter will say,'I am ready to
           die for you. You can kill me if you want, but I won't allow you to touch my feet.'
                But the basic thing is in saying 'no' to the Master. You can feel ready to die because in dying you
           will feel very ego-fulfilled -- 'I am becoming a martyr.' The mind is so cunning, but still the same
           ego, the same mind is there.
                I was just reading a few days ago: Once it happened that a Roman Catholic priest and a Church
           of England clergyman were arguing about religion, as priests and clergymen have always argued.
           They have not done anything else; argument is their life! So the Catholic priest and the Church of
           England clergyman were arguing about religion, and they both became rather heated. Then the
           priest, the Catholic priest said,'We must not quarrel. We are both doing God's work -- you in your
           way and I in His.' Ego is VERY subtle.
                There is a sentence of St. Paul's; listen to it very carefully, it is very dangerous:'If your enemy is
           hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink, for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon
           his head.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mind is so cunning. The first part is from Jesus, but the second part? This sentence is from St.
           Paul, this second part is from him. Jesus says,'Forgive your enemies, love your enemies,' but St. Paul
           is saying that this is a device, a strategy:'If you do this you are heaping burning coals upon his head.
           Do it! You are destroying the enemy this way. He will be in hell and you will be in heaven because
           you have forgiven him. When he was hungry you fed him, and when he was thirsty you gave him to
           drink. Now you are pushing him towards hell. You are becoming holier and holier, and the distance
           is becoming greater and greater, and you can look towards him as if he were a worm.'
               Look at the tricks of the mind! Even if you do good, your reasons may not be good. You may
           serve, and your reasons may not be good. It looks perfectly right from the side of the disciple that he
           say,'I shall not allow you to touch my feet.' He thinks that this is how it should be -- Why and how
           can I allow my Master to touch my feet? He is so great.' But you are denying your Master; you are
           saying 'no'.
               A disciple is a total 'yes'. He should be. He says,'Whatsoever is right, you know better. You know
           better; if it is right, then do it, and I will be ready to participate in whatsoever you want me to
           participate in. Wherever you lead me, I will come with you, because I am no more. I am
           surrendered.'
               He said,'Thou shalt never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him,'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part
           with me -- then forget all about your discipleship, forget all about your love towards me. Then you
           are no more with me.' Jesus can understand the ego, the ego of the righteous man, the ego of the
           puritan, the ego of the holy man, the ego of the saint. But the ego, whether it is of a saint or a sinner
           makes no difference; it is the same ego.
               I came across a sentence of Richard Nixon's:'Violence has no place in America. Anyone who
           preaches violence should be shot like a dog!'
               Beware of the cunningness of the mind. This has been done on the earth millions of times: people
           have killed each other for love, people have destroyed countries because they wanted to help those
           countries to become religious. For their own sakes, they have killed thousands. Remember, the real
           cause deep down has to be looked at and searched out. Sometimes you are humble, but the reason is
           the ego; sometimes you are simple only because you are very complex; sometimes you renounce the
           world because you are too infatuated with it; sometimes you donate money because you are greedy,
           and sometimes you look very brave because deep down is the coward. Watch! Man can go on
           deceiving himself and others by posing and pretending to be something else which he is not. That's
           why Jesus is so hard. He says,'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.'

              SO AFTER HE HAD WASHED THEIR FEET, AND HAD TAKEN HIS GARMENTS, AND WAS SET
              DOWN AGAIN, HE SAID UNTO THEM: KNOW YE WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU?


                Jesus touched their feet; it is a communication of energy, it is a deep communion of energy. He
           asked,'Know ye what I have done to you?' -- and they were not aware. Even if God comes and
           touches your feet you may not be aware, because it does not depend on God, it depends on your
           sensitivity. The more deeply sensitive you are, the more you become aware of what is happening. If
           your sensitivity is so deep that it touches the very core of your being, only then will God's touch be
           felt. Then it will be a tremendous pouring of energy. When Jesus touched their feet, had they been
           aware, they would have felt exactly what Hindus call the rising of the kundalini. If they had been
           aware, they would have seen a tremendous rise, a tide of energy; Jesus was over-flooding them.
           There are two ways to do it: the Master touches your head and he pulls up your energy -- it is a little
           difficult. When he touches your feet then he forces it up, which is easier.
                Jesus had been touching their heads all the years that they had been with him. Now he touched
           their feet. From another side, he wanted to give them a push before he left. He wanted to let them
           become aware of their own energy before he left, because he would be gone and they would be left
           in darkness; their own flame was not lit. He tried to force the energy up from below, and
           asked,'Know ye what I have done to you?' but they knew not. They simply thought. A few who had a
           certain love for him must have felt awkward, and in that awkwardness they missed the opportunity.
           Someone who was just indifferent, who neither loved nor hated, would have watched the whole
           thing like a bystander, a spectator, not involved in it. One who did not love him, but hated him --
           Judas -- must have felt very good that now the right thing was being done.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Judas was the only educated, sophisticated disciple of Jesus, and he betrayed. It is a symbolic
           thing that intellect was the renegade; intellect was going to betray. He was the intellect of that group
           of disciples. He was the most scholarly, sophisticated, educated, the most articulate in logic, in
           thinking. But when you become too clever, your very cleverness becomes like a smokescreen. One
           great German philosopher, Hegel, has said that God is cunning. When you are cunning, eVen God
           looks cunning -- because you can only see yourself reflected.

              KNOW YE WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU? YE CALL ME MASTER AND LORD, AND YE SAY WELL;
              FOR SO I AM. IF I THEN, YOUR LORD AND MASTER, HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET, YE ALSO
              OUGHT TO WASH ONE ANOTHER'S FEET. FOU I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE
              SHOULD DO AS I HAVE DONE TO YOU.


               This is that which can be said, that which can be understood. Only Jesus is not trying to explain.
           THAT cannot be explained. The energy push that he gave, the arousal of energy -- that cannot be
           said. That was felt by a few, that may have been missed by others. Now he is saying that which can
           be said.

              YE CALL ME MASTER AND LORD, AND YE SAY WELL; FOR SO I AM. IF I THEN, YOUR LORD
              AND MASTER, HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET, YE ALSO OUGHT TO WASH ONE ANOTHER'S
              FEET. FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE SHOULD DO AS I HAVE DONE TO YOU.


               He is telling them to be respectful to each other, and that is very difficult for disciples. They are
           competitive. And a Master knows that the moment he disappears, the religion will be forgotten and
           politics will enter because disciples are politicians. In the presence of the Master they may forget
           their politics, but once the Master is gone they will forget about the Master, sooner or later. They
           will start fighting about who the leader is, who the greatest disciple is, who the successor is.
               This ugliness happens to everybody's, to every Master's disciples. It happened to Mahavir's
           disciples, it happened to Buddha's disciples, but it didn't happen immediately to Jesus' disciples. The
           reason is that Jesus touched their feet. It happened later on because the disciples didn't follow; the
           example was forgotten. When Jesus touched their feet he was saying,'You go on touching each
           other's feet -- be respectful and go on doing this to your own disciples also. Sooner or later you will
           become Masters and you will have disciples -- touch their feet. Let it become a tradition; not a dead
           one, but let it remain an alive current of reverence.' The disciples didn't fight amongst themselves
           because Jesus touched their feet. But later on, mind gathers dust and forgets. Then Christianity
           became divided.
               Now Christianity has a thousand and one divisions, all sorts of divisions for small and foolish
           things which don't mean anything. There are small things for which they go on fighting and creating
           new churches and new denominations, and if you look deeply, nothing seems to be so important.
           Their distinctions are just foolish. Their arguments are about very futile things. In the Middle Ages,
           the Christian theo-logicians were in a great argument, and the argument was: how many angels can
           stand on a pin-point? How many? -- things like this.
               You can find arguments, and then you can go on arguing. The whole thing seems to be that the
           ego is always in search of fight, because if you fight, only then does it exist. If you love, if you
           respect, it cannot exist. Jesus said to them through his example,'Don't be related to each other
           through the ego; be related through love, respect, humility, because soon I will be gone and then
           there will be no one who can help you to come out of your egos. Then you will be left to yourselves.
           Then you will have to continue something which can help you not to fall a victim of the ego. Go on
           touching each other's feet, and do the same to your own disciples.'

              WHEN JESUS HAD THUS SAID, HE WAS TROUBLED IN SPIRIT, AND TESTIFED, AND SAID:
              VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT ONE OF YOU SHALL BETRAY ME.


              For the first time he came to know exactly who was going to betray him. By touching the feet he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           felt the energy, and only Judas was happy that he had touched his feet. In fact, Judas was waiting for
           it too long. He had always been waiting; he had never thought Jesus higher than him. Deep down, he
           believed that he was more of a philosopher, of a thinker. Deep down, he used to think that he was of
           a deeper understanding than Jesus. Many times he had tried, many times he used to show faults to
           Jesus that'This you did wrong.'
                When Mary Magdalene came to see Jesus, she brought a bottle of very costly perfume and she
           poured it on his feet. Judas immediately said,'This is not right. You should have prohibited her from
           doing that. This is not good; this is wasting. This much money could have fed the poor of the whole
           town for many days.' Of course, your intellect will also agree with Judas. His argument was
           absolutely socialistic; he was a communist. He was speaking rightly, and he knew more economics
           than Jesus. It is true; why waste so costly a perfume? The feet can be washed with water. There was
           no need to pour such a costly perfume on them. The perfume could have been sold and the money
           could have been used for the poor of the town to be fed -- perfectly true. The argument was right, but
           what did Jesus say? Jesus said,'The poor will always be with you, but I will not always be with you.
           You can feed the poor later on when I am gone, but I cannot stop her. You can see only the perfume,
           I see her heart. I cannot say no to her. In deep love, in deep overflowing, not finding a way to
           express, she has poured that perfume. I cannot say no to her.' Hmm... but Jesus' argument is not so
           strong as Judas' argument. Marx would agree with Judas, Mao would also agree with Judas, and I
           don't think that anybody will agree with Jesus. Even Christians will feel a little embarrassed about
           the whole thing -- it doesn't fit, doesn't look good. But I agree with Jesus. He understands the
           language of the heart.
                When he touched Judas' feet, immediately he could feel his energy: that he was going to betray,
           and he was going to betray that very day, that very night.

              VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO VOU, THAT ONE OF YOU SHALL BETRAY ME.... THEN SAID
              JESUS UNTO HIM: THAT THOUB DOEST, DO QUICKLY.

               'Why are you waiting? Whatsoever you want to do, do it quick]y; be finished with it.' And even
           then Jesus could not understand; even then Judas could not see that this man could understand. Just
           by touching his feet, this man could understand the future, this man could see what was going to
           happen. This man had read his innermost thought: that he was going to betray, that he had become a
           conspirator against him, that he was now a part of the enemy group, that he had already bargained
           that he would deliver Jesus to them and they would have to pay for it. For only thirty silver coins,
           Jesus was sold.
               This is beautiful, because this is what you are also doing; you are selling your possibility of Jesus
           for not even thirty silver coins; for any rubbish thing you are ready to exchange. You are ready to
           give your life for any rubbish thing: for a car, for a house, for jewelry; for anything you are ready to
           sell your innermost Jesus.
           Your head is the Judas!
               And the Jesus within you is crucified every day, sold in the market, bargained away for nothing
           valuable.
               But people only repent later on. Even Judas repented after Jesus' crucifixion; the next day he
           killed himself, committed suicide. Because only afterwards, you become aware of what you have
           done: for just thirty rupees, thirty silver coins, you have sold the greatest man ever? But only later
           on, at the time of death, when you have crucified your Jesus completely, then you will repent and
           you will cry. And then you will see what you have done to yourself, to your God who was hiding
           within you.

              ... THEN SAID JESUS UNTO HIM: THAT THOU DOEST, DO
              QUICKLY...


              Why did he say this? He said this is as a last opportunity to make Judas aware that he was aware.
           But Judas would not understand. It is as if he had decided not to understand.
              If you have eyes to see, you will find God everywhere, good everywhere: scriptures in silence
           and sermons in stones.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But if you don't know how to see, or you have lost the capacity to see, or you have forgotten how
           to open your eyes and for all practical purposes you have become blind, then even when a Jesus is
           standing before you, the door open, you cannot see. If you could see, then even in the rock a door
           would open and you would find God there. You cannot see that even in Jesus, where God is dancing
           just in front of you, alive in its infinitude... but you cannot see.
               Judas missed. And remember, there are more Judases in the world; the majority consists of them.
           You may call them Christians, but that doesn't matter; the majority consists of Judases. The
           followers of Judas are millions, and it is rare that somebody follow Jesus, very rare -- because to
           follow Jesus you have to lose yourself. You have to pay the cost; you have to pay for it with your
           own life, your very being. But to follow Judas nothing is asked; it is free of cost. In fact, Judas
           promises that you can get many things if you follow him. Jesus simply says,'Lose yourself and then
           everything will happen'; but losing yourself is the beginning. Judas says,'I will give you everything
           and you need not lose anything.' The cunning mind agrees with Judas; only a trusting heart can agree
           with Jesus.

              ... THEN SAID JESUS? UNTO HIM: THAT THOU DOEST, DO QUICKLY. NOW NO MAN AT THE
              TABLE KNEW FOR WHAT INTENT HE SPAKE THIS UNTO HIM.


              No other disciple could understand why, why he had said suddenly to Judas,'Do it quickly if you
           want to do it. Don't wait. For whom are you waiting?' Why Jesus said it, no disciple could
           understand. Because no disciple was in the present, otherwise they could have seen. No disciple was
           perceptive enough, otherwise they could have understood.

              THEREFORE, WHEN JUDAS WAS GONE OUT, (immediately Judas left) JESUS SAID: NOW IS THE
              SON OF MAN GLORIFIED, AND GOD IS GLORIFIED IN HIM.

                'Now is the Son of man glorified'; because now soon he is going to be crucified. The Son of man
           is glorified only if the ego is crucified. The ego has its ways of protecting itself. In one way you stop
           -- it finds another. It goes on and on and on. Unless you look so deeply that you can see all the ways
           of the ego in one glimpse, in one lightning glimpse, you can do one thing and it starts flowing from
           another.
                I was reading a story: A tomcat who was always out at night caused the neighborhood great
           annoyance because of the noise from his revels with the female cats. The owners eventually had him
           doctored, but were disconcerted to find that he still stayed out all night and that the noise continued.
           So they went to the veterinary surgeon to complain about the ineffectiveness of his
           treatment.'Nothing unusual,' came the cheerful reply.'You see, he now acts in a consultative
           capacity.'
                If you cannot be active at least you can be consultative. If you stop one door of the ego, the ego
           starts opening another. You have to see the subtle ways of the ego in a lightning flash, so totally that
           all its cunning subtleties are seen. In that very vision, in that very fire of sudden lightning, the ego
           disappears and leaves no shadow behind, no trace behind.
                'Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.' Why both together? -- because
           crucifixion is a meeting point, it is a crossroad. The ego disappears, and man is glorified because
           man becomes pure when the ego disappears; but immediately that the ego disappears, God is there,
           and God is glorified. The ego functions as a double-edged sword: on this side man becomes pure,
           and in that purity, innocence, God is revealed on the other side. The whole thing is, the whole
           religion is -- how to drop the ego, how to become so aware, alert, that the ego cannot deceive you.
                Let me tell you first what ego is. Everybody is born without the ego. When a child is born, he is
           simply consciousness: floating, flowing, lucid, innocent, virgin -- no ego exists. By and by, the ego
           is created by others. The ego is the accumulated effect of others' opinions about you. Somebody
           comes, a neighbor, and says,'How beautiful a child,' and looks at the child with a very appreciative
           look. Now the ego starts functioning. Somebody smiles, somebody does not smile; sometimes the
           mother is very loving, sometimes she is very angry; and the child is learning that he is not accepted
           as he is. His being is not accepted unconditionally; there are conditions arouncl. If he cries and
           weeps and visitors are there in the house, then the mother is very angry. If he cries and weeps and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no visitor, the mother doesn't bother. If he does not cry and weep, the mother always awards
           with a loving kiss and caress. When the visitors are there, if he can keep quiet and silent, the mother
           is tremendously happy and awarding. He is learning others' opinions about himself; he is looking
           into the mirror of relationship.
                You cannot see your face directly. You have to look in a mirror and in the mirror you can
           recognize your face. That reflection becomes your idea of your face, and there are a thousand and
           one mirrors all around you -- they all reflect. Somebody loves you, somebody hates you, somebody
           is indifferent. And then, by and by, the child grows and goes on accumulating the opinions of others.
           The total essence of the opinions of others is the ego. Then he starts looking at himself the way
           others look at him. Then he starts looking at himself from the outside -- that s what ego is. If people
           appreciate and applaud, then he thinks that he is perfectly beautiful, accepted. If people don't applaud
           and don't appreciate, but reject, he feels condemned. Then he goes on seeking ways and means to be
           appreciated, to be assured again and again that he is worthy, that he has a worth, a meaning and
           significance. Then one becomes afraid to be oneself. One has to fit with the opinion of others.
                If you drop the ego, suddenly you become a child again. Now you are not worried about what
           others think about you, now you don't pay any attention to what others say about you. You are not
           concerned, not even a bit. Now you have dropped the mirror. It is pointless -- you have your face,
           why ask the mirror? And there are many types of mirrors: some make your face look long, some
           make your face look big, some make your face look small, some make your face look horrible,
           distorted.
                Don't ask the mirror, because then the quality of the glass will always be there in the reflection.
           And there are millions of mirrors all around you, millions of relationships, and you go on gathering.
           That's why ego is always inconsistent. It is a crowd; it is a heap with no inner coherence. Somebody
           says that you are beautiful, then somebody says that you are just homely. Somebody says,'You? --
           and beautiful? You make me feel horrible, terrible. You are nauseating. You? -- and beautiful? You
           are a nausea. I feel like vomiting whenever I see you.' Now what to do? You collect all these
           opinions -- inconsistent, contradicting each other -- and they all become part of your ego.
                Ego is a crowd. It is a marketplace because you have gathered it in the marketplace, because you
           have gathered it from the crowd. It is not you, it is others' opinions about you. Why be bothered?
           Drop all opinions of others about you. Why not be direct and immediate? Why not see within
           yourself, in your own nature? Why not face yourself? Why bring a mediator, a mirror into it? When
           you start looking into your own nature with closed eyes, you are moving beyond the ego. And once
           you know who you are -- even a slight glimpse -- then you will start laughing at the whole
           ridiculousness of it: that you were asking others who you are. They don't know themselves who they
           are, so why ask them? You become free; a freedom is attained. Without the ego, you come back to
           your own nature.

              JESUS SAID: NOW IS THE SON OF MAN GLORIFIED, AND GOD IS GLORIFIED IN HIM. A NEW
              COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER; AS I HAVE LOVED YOU,
              THAT YE ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE ARE MY
              DISCIPLES, IF YE HAVE LOVE ONE TO ANOTHER.


               Love is the essential message of Jesus, but it has been lost -- lost in arguments, debates,
           discussions, conflicting philosophies, wars.
               I would like to tell you one anecdote: One day a little boy asked his parents,'How do wars break
           out? How are they declared?' He was reading a book on history, and a book on history is nothing but
           wars, ugly wars. That is all your history is. The boy became worried, anxious.'Why do wars start?
           How do they start?' he asked his parents.
               So the father, who was very learned in political and economic affairs, started talking about the
           economic causes of u wars.
               But the mother thought that the little boy was too small to understand such complicated things
           and she said,'Let me explain it.' The mother began to explain and the father became very angry. He
           grew very angry and hostile, because he was going to teach the child and the mother jumped in. A
           great argument developed.
               The little boy was very frightened indeed, and held up his hands and cried loudly,'Stop, stop!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now I know how wars start.'
               Once you create a philosophy, an opinion, you are already on the warpath. If there is ideology,
           there is going to be fight. This is the predicament: there are people who want the world to be without
           wars, but they have ideologies and their ideologies create wars. There are communists who go on
           arranging peace conferences, and they have a particular ideology of how the world should be and
           how the society should be. There are Catholics who go on talking about peace, but they have an
           ideology; and there are Hindus who go on talking about peace, but they have an ideology. There are
           even Jains who talk of non-violence, peace, no war, but they have an ideology -- and if you have an
           ideology you are the cause of war.
               A world without wars will be a world without ideologies. A world without wars can be based
           only on a nonideological love. Love is not an ideology, it is not a theology, it is not a
           philosophy.'This,' Jesus says,'is my new commandment.'

              A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER; AS I HAVE LOVED
              YOU, THAT YE ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE ARE MY
              DISCIPLES, IF YE HAVE LOVE ONE TO ANOTHER.


                Verily, verily, I also say unto you, that only those who love are Christians. Catholics cannot be
           Christians; they are against Protestants. Protestants cannot be Christians; they are against Catholics.
           Christians cannot be Christians; they are against Hindus. Hindus cannot be Christians; they are
           against Mohammedans and Christians. To follow Christ, one has to follow love. This is his new
           commandment: follow love and forget everything. Everything is irrelevant; only love has relevance
           because only love leads you to the divine, only love leads you to the temple of God. Make love your
           only, and the ONLY commandment. There is nothing else. If you follow love, everything will be set
           right of its own accord.
                One man went to St. Augustine and asked,'Just in short, give me the very essence of religion. I
           am not a learned man; don't make it very complicated and don't give me many commandments,
           because I will get confused. You simply say one thing to me, just a key word.'
                St. Augustine said,'Then that word is 'love'. You love and don't be bothered by anything else.'
                If you love, everything falls in step of its own accord. Let love be your God; let love be your
           only commandment; let love be your religion. Please remember -- don't make an ideology of it. Act
           in a loving way, be in a loving way. Don't create a philosophy around love because that will create
           wars. A peaceful world is possible if love starts throbbing in the heart of man. Man has been so
           inhuman to man in the past that even animals look like angels in comparison. Because up to now we
           have only talked about love; we have not loved.
                Now let us love, and forget all talk about love. Lovers are needed.
                And remember one thing which Jesus says, because you may not have listened to it:'A new
           commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another' -- and now comes the most important
           clause in the sentence -- 'as I have loved you.'
                How does a Jesus love? His love is unconditional. He loves; he loves you without any
           expectations. He loves you just because you are beautiful. It is not that he has some expectations of
           you; it is not that you have to be in a certain way, then he will love. He simply loves you because
           you are, because you are God.
                You ARE gods; you are already worthy. Whatsoever you are, you have a worth of tremendous
           value, otherwise God wouldn't allow you to exist. So Jesus''as I have loved you' means: be in the
           attitude of unconditional love. And remember, only unconditional love is love.
                Love conditioned is love corrupted; love unconditioned is the vast sky of being. It is another
           word for God.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 4
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                   Chapter #4
                               Chapter title: All Who Hear It Lose Themselves
           24 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512240
              ShortTitle: FOLL404
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              The first question:


              YOU SAID THERE ARE ONLY TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE: THOSE WHOSE PATH IS AWARENESS
              AND THOSE WHOSE PATH IS SURRENDER OR BHAKTI. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT LAO TZU HAS
              NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER OF THEM -- IS THERE A THIRD TYPE THEN WHO FOLLOW
              NEITHER OR BOTH?


               LAO Tzu has no path, or, the no-path is his path. Lao Tzu says,'There is nowhere to go, you are
           already there.' So the very word 'path' becomes meaningless. A path is needed if you are going
           somewhere. If you are already there then the path is not needed at all. In fact, to have a path will be
           dangerous; you will go astray. Lao Tzu says,'Those who follow a path go astray.' By and by, they go
           further and further away from themselves.
           'Seeker, follow no path, because all paths lead there, truth is here.'
               Lao Tzu is the last word in spirituality; beyond him there is nothing.
               Ordinarily it is very difficult to conceive no-path because then you are suddenly thrown to
           yourself, with nothing to cling to, nothing to do: no method, no technique, no means. Suddenly you
           are thrown to yourself, and that has become almost impossible for you. You need something else to
           be occupied with. You leave the world, you leave your family, you renounce everything, but you
           never renounce the 'other'. In some form or other: in the form of God, in the form of yoga, in the
           form of a technique, you still have something. Lao Tzu takes that too away from you. He leaves you
           totally empty. That emptiness needs much courage. In fact, all other paths finally come to the same
           point.
               If you follow bhakti, surrender, one day you will come to understand that in the first place there
           was nothing to surrender; ego never existed. The ego was false, so the surrender was also false
           because the disease never existed. But it helped, surrender helped you to know that the ego never
           existed. Then suddenly you start laughing at the whole ridiculousness of it: that you were
           surrendering something to your Master that you never had, or you were surrendering something to
           God that was just a false notion. But this will come in the end; with Lao Tzu it comes in the
           beginning. With Lao Tzu, the first step is the last. In fact, no-step is the last; there is no beginning
           and no end. The same is true about Zen. These are not ideologies or philosophies. These are not
           scriptures; these are tremendous visions of instant mutation.
               It happened: When Bodhidharma reached China a great scholar went to see him, and he had
           brought with him the greatest book that he had written It was very famous; the book was almost in
           every home. The philosopher was acclaimed by the whole nation. He went to Bodhidharma, the
           founder of Zen. He wanted the Master's opinion about his book, in which he had talked about all the
           possible paths, all the possible ideologies, very minutely. Very subtle was his exposition. He was a
           very, very refined intellect, a master-mind. What did Bodhidharma do? He took the book in his hand,
           put it to his nose and said,'It has a kind of quarrelsome smell about it,' and threw the book away. He
           said,'Take it away from here! It will spoil my disciples, it will corrupt. It has a certain quarrelsome
           smell about it.'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All paths, all ideologies, all philosophies, all theologies are quarrelsome. They are in the
           marketplace claiming,'Only our path leads to truth.' Not on]y that: they are fighting, arguing with
           other paths, other ideologies. The world of ideologies is a marketplace.
               If you are ready to take the jump, then the truth is already present in you. There is no need to go
           anywhere; there is no need to look for it anywhere. Close the eyes and it is here. You ARE the truth.
           So now, let us try to understand the question.
               Yes, there are two types of people, two types of persons. Humanity is divided into two types: the
           male and the female, the yin and the yang, the negative and the positive, the aggressive and the
           passive. These two types of people both live in illusion, in a sort of dream, a kind of sleep; drunk
           with desire, blind with desire. The person who belongs to the male type needs some path upon which
           he can exercise his will; that will suit him. Finally, a day will come when by this exercising of his
           will, by and by, he will start understanding that he is engaging in a futile effort. But he will take a
           long time to understand this. He will have to fall many times, and he will again stand, and he will
           again make efforts, and he will again be a failure because the will cannot succeed.
               The will means the ego, the will means you. It is going to fail. But many times it will fail and you
           will go on hoping that the next time it will not fail. But one day -- how can you escape the fact
           forever and ever? -- one day or the other, you will stumble upon the fact that you are doing
           something stupid. In that realization the will will disappear, and suddenly you will see that the path
           has disappeared, the religion has disappeared, and you are illumined. It was always there, but you
           were so much occupied with the path, the will, the effort. All effort brings you to effortlessness, and
           all willing brings you to will-lessness, and all ego finally brings you to egolessness.
               The other part of humanity, the female part, the passive part, cannot move on the path of will. It
           needs another illusory path: the path of surrender, devotion, bhakti. One day or other, devoting
           yourself and still finding that something is lacking, because the devotion can never be total --
           anything illusory can never be total: surrendering and surrendering, and again and again finding that
           you are still standing behind, you are not yet surrendered -- one day suddenly you become aware of
           the fact. What are you going to do? Surrendering something which you don't have? -- how is it
           possible? Suddenly the ego has disappeared. Now there is no need to surrender, because there is no
           ego left.
               The path of surrender and the path of will both bring you to where Lao Tzu starts. Their end is
           the beginning of Lao Tzu. His path is of pathlessness. He is the ultimate word, beyond which nothing
           exists. He is the last word. Buddha can be improved upon, Jesus can be improved upon, Meera and
           Mahavir, Krishna and Chaitanya can be improved upon, but not Lao Tzu. You cannot improve upon
           him; there is nothing to improve. He simply does not play the game. From the very beginning he is a
           non-participant.
               The questioner has asked,'Is there a third type of person?' No, there are only two types of people.
           The third type is not a type, because all types belong to the ego. The third type is sheer humanness. It
           is not a being, it is not a person. It is simply sheer existence, pure existence, purity itself. These two
           are the types. When these types disappear, then you become aware of that which is universal, which
           has nothing to do with the person, because personality gathers around the ego. Whether you will or
           you surrender makes no difference. The personality needs a base in the ego.
               The ego has two types: the male and female. But a person who is egoless is not a type at all. You
           cannot categorize him, you cannot put him in any category. He simply transcends all categories. He
           is a flood -- he is flowing in all directions, he is spread all over. He is not like a stone, he is like the
           sky: indefinable, elusive. The third is not a type, Lao Tzu is not a type. He does not belong to the
           world of types, the world of categories; he is simply beyond.
               When Confucius went to see him, Confucius became very frightened, because to look into the
           eyes of Lao Tzu is to look into the eternal abyss... bottomless. It is what Buddha calls SHUNYA:
           eternal void, emptiness. He started trembling, he tried to escape from him. When his disciples
           said,'Say something about Lao Tzu, because you have been to see him,' he was still trembling and
           perspiring. He said,'Don't ask about that man! He is not a man at all; he is a dragon. And never go
           near him, he is dangerous! He can suck you in and you disappear.'
               Had Confucius known about black holes he would have said,'He is a black hole; don't go near
           him! Once you fall into him you will never be able to return. He is dangerous!' Only once did
           Confucius go to see him -- never again -- but his whole life, the shadow haunted him, because he had
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           known a man who was not bounded. He had known a man who had no limitations. He had known
           sheer humanity, pure humanity, pure beingness. He had seen the purity of death and life.
           No, the third does not belong to any types.

           The second question:


               I AM AWARE OF A DICHOTOMY WITHIN ME: WHEN I AM NEAR YOU, I AM DRAWN TOWARDS
               YOU AND AM CONSCIOUS OF BEING A THIRSTY SEEKER. WHEN I AM AWAY FROM THE
               ASHRAM I JUST HAVE A GOOD TIME AND FEEL DELICIOUSLY UNHOLY. IS SOMETHING
               WRONG?


               Nothing is wrong! It is as it should be. That's what I would like it to be -- exactly, precisely. This
           is what I am trying to teach you: don't be serious about holiness. Be playful, take it as a fun. It is the
           greatest fun there is -- but it is fun. Once you become serious, you will become a victim of some
           church or some priest. Once you become serious you are already ill.
               When you are near me, flow with me, be with me. When you go to the river, swim with the river;
           but there is no need to swim in the market. Then you will look ridiculous. In the marketplace move
           into the market, become part of the market. Retain the capacity of fluidity. Don't gather a character, a
           rigid structure around you. Remain capable of moving from one polarity to another; that is what life
           is. Don't get frozen. There is no dichotomy.
               This is the beauty of life, that it comprehends the opposites. While you are with me be with me,
           enjoy this search. At home, sipping your tea, or smoking, enjoy the tea, enjoy smoking. Nothing is
           unholy in it. In fact, the definition of 'holy' is: to be whole. And to be whole means to comprehend
           the contradictions. Don't be just the day, be the night also. Don't be just the light, be the darkness
           also, because darkness has its own beauties; you will miss them. And you will only be a half-person
           if you don't have any night in you where you can go and relax. If you are simply serious, then you
           will remain in the head, hung-up. But if you can become non-serious also, then you can move into
           the heart.
               The heart is a non-serious playfulness. The head is very serious. You should remain capable of
           flowing. That capacity to flow is to be religious. When you go into the temple, you become a part of
           the temple; when you go to the world, you become part of the world. But wherever you are, you are
           always capable of moving into the opposite. If you cannot do that then you become a dead thing.
           Only a dead thing cannot move to the opposite. A dead thing is a fixed character.
               I have heard: A great Zen Master died, and another Zen Master who had always been the
           opposite polarity to this Master, went to follow the dead body to the cemetery. There were thousands
           of people in the funeral procession. The man who had always remained the enemy of the Master was
           there. Somebody asked,'Why have you come? You were always antagonistic to him.' The man
           laughed. He said,'It was part of being holy -- I was the opposite of him, and he was my opposite.
           Between us two, we were creating life. People were moving from him to me, from me to him, and
           between us there was a conspiracy: we were creating life. Structured, frozen people... we were
           melting them. Now I will miss him tremendously.' And later on when he saw so many people,
           thousands following, he said,'This is really wonderful! In the wake of one living person, so many
           dead people are going!'
               Life is not a fixity. It is not like rock, it is like river -- rivering, flowing. It is a process, it is not a
           thing. If you understand me, I am here to make your whole life holy. So whatsoever you do, enjoy it
           totally and don't create the dichotomy. The dichotomy is of the mind; you are creating it. There is no
           problem at all. What is wrong? If you feel deliciously unholy, perfectly good. Don't become a holy
           man, otherwise you will miss wholeness and you will never be holy. Remain capable of being
           unholy also. Then holiness and unholiness become your two banks, and between the two flows the
           river which belongs to neither bank, which is always transcending and going far away and far away.
               Don't create a character. If you 're going to remain creative, don't create a character. Each
           moment, try to bring yourself out of the character that was being created in the past moment.
           Character means the past, you always mean the present. Consciousness is always the present, and
           character is always of the past. Whenever you talk about somebody's character, you talk about his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           past: whatsoever he has done, that is his character. Character is always dead. Try to understand
           character. Try to pull yourself up again and again, to remind yourself again and again. Remember
           yourself again and again so that you remain in the present -- alive, throbbing.
               Don't get caught in a character. Don't become holy, don't become unholy. A saint is dead, a
           sinner also, but not a man who can move between the two with no difficulty, who can move easily
           between the two, as easily as you come out of your house and go in. You feel cold, it is a winter
           morning -- you come out to sun yourself. And then it becomes hot, the sun rising high -- you move
           in, you go into your house. There is no difficulty in it. The difficulty will arise only if you are
           paralyzed. Then you cannot come out of the house; you are paralyzed. If somebody carries you out
           somehow, outside of the house, then you still cannot move because now you are paralyzed there.
               Don't be paralyzed; remain alive. Don't become a dead thing. And the only way is: every day, die
           to the past so that you can be alive here-now. Go on dying to the past. Never carry the past around
           with you, otherwise you are carrying a great imprisonment around you; a great prison surrounds you.
           I am not concerned about whether that prison is made of gold and decorated with diamonds, or if it is
           a poor man's prison, just a dark cell. Whether it is the prison you call 'saint' or the prison you call
           'sinner' does not matter. A prison is a prison, and you should not be a prisoner. Be free. Don't create
           any problem out of it.
               I would like to tell you a story. Many centuries ago, a temple of higher knowledge was being
           built on a hill overlooking the Nile. The man who would become its chief teacher wanted a suitable
           proverb to be inscribed over the front door. He thought about it many times as the work progressed.
           The morning fina]ly came when the foreman needed to have the selected proverb, so he asked the
           teacher for it.'Please come back in an hour,' requested the teacher,'I will then have it for you.' While
           thinking about it, the teacher wandered near a skilled workman who was gently correcting the work
           of a young man. The teacher heard the older man make the encouraging remark'There is another
           way.' Over the centuries, as troubled students and visitors entered the temple, their first lesson was
           inscribed over the door. It read: There is another way.
               You ask me how to get rid of this dichotomy? I tell you, there is another way: there is no need to
           get rid of it -- accept it, enjoy it. Don't try to choose; remain choicelessly aware. Then the whole life
           is holy, and the whole earth is God's temple. Then nothing is wrong.
               My definition of wrongness is: anything that becomes an imprisonment is wrong. And anything
           that remains freedom is right. Freedom is right, imprisonment is wrong. So remain alert, because
           each moment you are creating a past, and if you are not alert the dust of the past will go on gathering
           around you. As you clean your house every morning, every evening go on cleaning your inner
           consciousness, every moment. Only then can you remain fresh, like a fresh flower, a virgin-ness, a
           mirror which can reflect, which has not gathered any dust around it.

           The third question:


              IN INTENSIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY THE PATIENT MAY EITHER BE TALKING OR LISTENING,
              THAT IS, TRYING TO HEAR FROM WITHIN. ONLY THE LATTER IS OF VALUE. A GOOD
              THERAPIST, ESPECIALLY IF LOVE EXISTS, WILL HIT ON MANY WAYS OF HEIGHTENING THIS
              PROCESS OF LISTENING FOR THE UNEXPECTED. IS THIS A FORM OF MEDITATION? IN FACT,
              MIGHT IT BE SAID THAT IDEALLY, BOTH THERAPIST AND PATIENT ARE MEDITATING
              TOGETHER?


               Therapy is basically meditation and love, because without love and meditation there is no healing
           possible. When the therapist and the patient are not two, when the therapist is not only a therapist
           and when the patient is not a patient anymore, but a deep I-thou relationship arises where the
           therapist is not trying to treat the person, when the patient is not looking at the therapist as separate
           from himself -- in those rare moments, therapy happens. When the therapist has forgotten his
           knowledge, and the patient has forgotten his illness, and there is a dialogue, a dialogue of two
           beings, in that moment, between the two, healing happens. And if it happens, the therapist will
           always know that he functioned only as a vehicle for a divine force, for a divine healing. He will be
           as grateful for the experience as the patient. In fact, he will gain as much out of it as the patient.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When you treat a person as a patient, you treat him as if he is a machine. Just like a mechanic
           who is trying to change, to adjust a mechanism, trying to put it right, then the therapist is an expert,
           hung-up in his knowledge in the head. He is trying to help the other person as if the other person is
           not another person, but a machine. He may be technically expert, he may have the know-how, but he
           is not going to be of much help. Because this very look is destructive. This very looking at the
           patient and seeing him as an object creates a resistance in the patient; he feels hurt.
               Have you watched? There are only a very few doctors with whom you don't feel humiliated, with
           whom you don't feel as if you have been treated as an object, with whom you feel a deep respect for
           you, with whom you feel that you are taken as a person, not as a mechanism. And it is more so when
           it is a question of psychotherapy. A psychotherapist needs to forget all that he knows. In the
           moment, he has to become a love, a flowing love. In the moment, he has to accept the humanity of
           the other, the subjectivity of the other. The other should not be reduced to a thing, otherwise you
           have closed the doors for a greater healing force to descend, from the very beginning. To be a
           therapist is one of the most difficult things in the world, because you have to know to help, and on
           the other hand, you have to forget all that you know to help. You have to know much to help, and
           you have to forget all of it to help. A therapist has to do a very contradictory thing, and only then
           does therapy happen. When love flows and the therapist listens to the patient with tremendous
           attention, and the patient also tries to listen to his own inner being, to his own unconscious talking to
           him, when this listening happens, by and by, in that deep listening there are not two persons. Maybe
           there are two polarities....
               When you listen to me, healing is happening all the time. When you listen to me so attentively
           that you are not there -- no mind, no thinking -- you have become just the ears, you just listen, you
           absorb; and I am not here at all, so when in some rare moments you are also not there, there is
           healing. Suddenly you are healed. Without your knowing, you are being healed every day. Without
           your knowing, the healing surrounds you, the healing force surrounds you. Your wounds heal, your
           darkness disappears, your limitations are broken; this is a therapy.
               In the East we have never had anything like a psychotherapist, because the Master was more than
           enough. Whatsoever psychoanalysis knows today the East has known for centuries. Nothing is new
           in it. But in the East, we never gave birth to the category of the psychoanalyst, but the Master; not
           the patient but the disciple.
               Just look at the difference. When you come to me as a patient you bring a very ugly mind; when
           you come to me as a disciple you bring a beautiful mind. When I look at you as a therapist, that very
           look reduces you to a thing; when I look as Master that very look raises you to the heights of your
           innermost being. In the East we have never called the Master 'psychotherapist', and he is the greatest
           therapist that has ever been known in the world! Just sitting by the side of a Buddha, millions were
           healed. Wherever he moved there was healing, but healing was never talked about. It was simply
           happening; there was no need to talk about it. The very presence of a Buddha, and the loving look
           from the Master, and the readiness to absorb from the disciple....
               The word 'patient' is ugly. The word in itself is not ugly; it comes from a very beautiful root. It
           comes from the same root as 'patience', but it has become ugly by association. A disciple is totally
           different: you have come to learn something, not to be treated, and the treatment happens by itself.
           All therapy is learning. In fact, why have you become mentally ill? -- because you have learned
           something wrong. You have learned something so totally wrong that you are caught in it. You need
           somebody who can uncondition you, who can help you to unlearn it and channelize your energy in a
           different path, that's all.
               For example: one woman came to me. I have been watching her for many years; she has been
           coming to me for many years. The first time she came she told me that she was not interested in sex
           at all, but her husband was continuously after sex. She felt very bad about it; she was almost
           vomiting.'How to stop it? What should I do?' she asked. I talked to the husband and told the
           husband,'Just for one month, don't be interested sexually. After one month, things will be better and
           different.' For one month he followed me. The woman came again. She said,'I am feeling very hurt,
           because my husband is not at all interested in me sexually.' Then I told her,'Now, you have to
           understand what is happening. When the husband is sexually interested, you have a certain power
           over the husband. You enjoy that power, but at the same time you also feel that you are being used.
           Because the husband looks at you sexually, that means that he looks at you as a means towards a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certain satisfaction. You feel that you are being used.' Almost all women feel that they are being
           used, and that is their problem. But if the husband stops taking interest they forget all about being
           used, and they become afraid. Then they start thinking that the husband is going far away. Now they
           have no more power over him, they don't possess him. So I told the woman,'Just look at the fact: if
           you want to possess the husband you will have to be possessed by him. If you want to possess the
           husband, then you will have to be used by him.'
               A mind which is possessive will be possessed. To possess anything is to be possessed by it. The
           more you possess, the more slavery you create around yourself. The freedom comes when you
           unlearn possessiveness. When you unlearn possessiveness, then you are not in search of any power
           over anybody. Then jealousy does not arise. And when you are not trying to possess the other, you
           create such beauty around yourself that the other cannot look at you as a thing. You become a person
           -- glorified, vibrant, illuminated -- you become a light unto yourself; nobody can possess you.
           Whosoever comes near you will feel the tremendous beauty, and will not be able to think in terms of
           your being a thing.
               Now every woman suffers, because in the first place she wants to possess; when she wants to
           possess, she is possessed; when she is possessed she feels,'I am being used.' If she is not being used,
           then she feels that power is disappearing. So a woman always remains in a suffering, and it is the
           same with men.
               To look deeply into a problem is to be healed, because the very look shows you that you have
           learned some wrong trick. Unlearn... there is healing. People are mentally ill because they have been
           conditioned wrongly. Everybody has been conditioned to be competitive and everybody has been
           taught to be silent and peaceful. This is stupid; you cannot do both. Either you are competitive, then
           you remain tense; or you be silent and peace-loving, then you cannot be competitive.
               You have been taught dichotomies. You have been told to move in two directions together, and
           you have learned it. You have been taught to be humble, and you have been continuously taught to
           be egoistic.
               If your son is first in the class at university, you feel very happy. You give a party for his friends,
           and you go on showing your son that he is a great man; he is first in the class, he is being awarded a
           gold medal. Now this is an ego-trip, all medals are. And at the same time, you go on teaching him to
           be humble. Now you are creating a difficulty: if he becomes humble he will not be competitive; if he
           becomes competitive, he cannot be humble. If he wants to attain the gold medals that this life can
           give, then he cannot be humble. Then all his humbleness will be hypocrisy. One has to see. Now this
           man will be in trouble: continuously he will try to be humble, and continuously he will try to succeed
           in life. If he succeeds, he will never enjoy the success, because he will have become arrogant and
           egoistic, and he had an ideal of being humble and egoless. If he becomes humble and egoless he will
           not feel happy, because he has that ideal to succeed in the world, to show to the world the mettle that
           he is made of.
               The society goes on being contradictory, inconsistent, and the society goes on teaching you
           things which are absolutely wrong. Then illness happens. Then there is psychic turmoil within you,
           conflict within you. Then you come to a point where everything is in disorder, topsy-turvy. You can
           either go to a Master, or you can go to a psychotherapist. If you go to a Master you go as a disciple,
           to learn. You have learned something wrong; it has to be unlearned and something new has to be
           learned. When you go as a disciple you don't feel humiliated, you feel happy about it. But if you go
           as a mental case, if you go as a patient, you feel embarrassed. Going to a psychotherapist, you want
           to hide the facts -- 'People should not know because that means that my mind is not functioning
           well.' Going to the psychotherapist, you would like to hide it. A psychotherapist is an expert: he
           himself has problems, almost the same as you have; he may be of some help to you, but he has not
           been of much use to himself.
               But a Master has no problems. He can help you tremendously because he can see you through
           and through. You become transparent before him. A psychotherapist is a professional: even if he
           takes care of you, shows a certain love towards you, affection, it is a professional gesture. A Master
           is not professionally related to you. The relationship is totally different; it is heart to heart.
               In the West, now there are so many psychotherapies, but nothing is proving to be helpful.
           Patients go from one psychoanalyst to another, from one therapy to another. Their whole lives they
           are moving from one door to another. Masters are needed, realized ones are needed who have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           attained to love. But even in ordinary psychotherapy, if for some moments it happens that the patient
           is no longer a patient and the therapist is no longer a therapist -- a certain love, a certain humanity;
           they have forgotten their profession, their professional relationship, and love flows -- healing
           immediately happens.
               Healing is a function of love. Love is the greatest therapy, and the world needs therapists because
           the world lacks love. If people were loving: if parents were loving, if teachers and professors were
           loving, if the society had a loving climate around it, there would be no need.
               Everybody is born to remain healthy and happy. Everybody is seeking health and happiness, but
           somewhere something is missing and everybody becomes miserable. Misery should be an exception;
           it has become the rule. Happiness should be the rule; it has become an exception. I would like a
           world where buddhas are born, but nobody remembers them because they are the rule. Now Buddha
           is remembered, Christ is remembered, Lao Tzu is remembered, because they are exceptions.
           Otherwise, who would bother about them? If there were a buddha in every house, and if there were
           buddhas all over the marketplace and you could meet Lao Tzu anywhere, who would bother? Then
           that would be the simple rule. It should be so.
               Lao Tzu says,'When the world was really moral there was no possibility of becoming a saint.'
           When the world was really religious there was no need for religions. People were simply religious;
           religions were not needed. When there was order, a discipline, a NATURAL order and discipline,
           the words 'order' and 'discipline' didn't exist. The idea of order comes in only when there is disorder.
           People start talking about discipline where there is no discipline, and people talk about healing when
           illness is there. People talk about love when love is missing. But basically, therapy is a function of
           love.
               This question is from a psychotherapist, Buddhaghosha. I would like him to carry my message in
           his life. He will be going back soon: Now go, not as a therapist but as a human being. Never look at
           the patient as a patient. Look at him as if he has come to learn something -- a disciple. Help him, but
           not as an expert; help him like a human being, and there will be much healing. There will be less
           therapy and much healing. Otherwise, therapy continues for years and years on end, and the result is
           almost nil. Or, sometimes the result is even harmful.
               I have heard about one man who had a very curious habit: whenever he was in the pub he would
           drink wine and always leave a little part in the glass and throw it all around, over people. He was
           beaten many times. Then somebody suggested, the owner of the pub suggested,'Why don't you go to
           a psychoanalyst? You need therapy because you have been beaten and you have been thrown out of
           the pub. Again you come and again you do the same. Something seems to be wrong. You are
           obsessed.'
               So he went, and after three months he came back. He was looking better. The pub owner
           asked,'Have you been to some psychoanalyst? Because for three months you have disappeared.'
               He said,'Yes, and it helped me tremendously.'
           'Are you cured?' the owner asked.
               He said,'Perfectly cured.' But he did the same thing again.
               The owner said,'What type of treatment is this? You are doing the same thing!'
               He said,'But I am completely changed. Before, I used to do it and I used to feel guilty. I don't feel
           guilt anymore. The psychoanalyst helped me, cured me of the guilt. I used to feel embarrassed, now I
           don't bother.'
               This has happened in the West: psychoanalysis has helped many people just to feel that nothing
           matters. It has not given a deeper responsibility, it has only taken away the feeling of guilt. The
           feeling of guilt is bad; it has to be taken away. But, it should be taken away in such a way that the
           person unlearns the idea of guilt, but learns the idea of responsibility. Guilt is bad, guilt is very
           dangerous -- it destroys you. It is like a wound. But to feel responsible is very, very essential -- it
           gives you soul, it gives you an integration. And unless you feel responsibles you are not a healthy
           person. A healthy person is always aware that whatsoever he is doing, he is responsible. The very
           idea of responsibility will give you a freedom, a dignity. An authentic being will come out of it. You
           will become more present, you will be more here and now.
               The idea of guilt is a false coin. It looks like responsibility; it is not. Guilt makes you depressed.
           Responsibility will give you an intensity, a sharpness of awareness. You will have more integration
           in you, you will feel more together.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddhaghosha, go to the West, but not now as a psychotherapist. Now you are a sannyasin. Feel
           the responsibility of being a sannyasin. Go to help people, and if you help people you will be
           tremendous]y helped. If you love people, you will be loved. If you heal people, if you become a
           vehicle of healing force and energy, you will be healed. And always remember that while healing a
           person you are part of the process; you are also being healed. While teaching a person, you are also
           being taught. The best way in the world to learn anything is to teach it. The best way in the world to
           learn ANYTHING is to teach it. But remember that the Master is also a disciple. He continuously
           goes on learning. Each disciple is a new lesson, and to work with each patient or disciple is to open a
           new book, a new life.
                Great are the rewards of love. Go as a sannyasin and create a climate around you so that the
           patient comes to learn, to unlearn, to be transformed. He is not to be taken as a case but as a helpless
           human being, as helpless as you are. And don't look from a tower: holier than thou, higher than you,
           more knowledgeable than you. Don't look that way; that gaze is violent, and then love becomes
           impossible. Look as a human being, as helpless as the other -- in the same boat, in the same plight.
           You will be helpful, and much healing will happen through you.
                I have heard an anecdote about Harvard's famed professor, Charles T. Copeland. He was once
           asked by a student,'Is there anything I can do to learn the art of conversation?'
                'Yes, there is one thing,' said Copeland,'if you listen I will tell you.'
                For several minutes there was silence, then the student said,'I am listening, professor.'
           'You see,' said Copeland,'you are learning already.'
                Listening is learning, because when you listen silently the whole existence starts speaking to you.
           When you are absolutely silent, that is the greatest moment to learn.
           Life reveals its secrets when you are silent.
                So, whether helping a disciple, a fellow traveller, a friend, or trying to heal a patient, be a great
           listener. Listen so passionate]y, so attentively that the other becomes, by and by, capable of revealing
           his secret-most depths to you -- depths which he has not revealed to anybody because nobody was
           ready to listen; depths which he has not revealed to himself because he was also not ready to listen;
           depths which have remained always in the dark. Listen so tremendously that the very milieu of your
           listening brings out all that is hidden in the patient, in the disciple. He will be surprised that he is
           saying things to you; he never knew that those things existed in him. Through your listening you will
           make him aware of his own unconscious, and that is a healing thing. Once the unconscious becomes
           the conscious, many things disappear. All that is rubbish disappears and all that is significant
           deepens.
                But how can you teach listening? -- by being a great listener. While you are listening to a patient
           or a friend, don't become bored. If you are bored, please tell him that this is not the right
           moment:'Some other moment; I am not in a mood to listen.' Never listen to anybody when you are
           feeling bored, because your boredom creates a climate in which the other immediately feels that he is
           rejected. Your boredom goes on saying to him that,'Whatsoever you are saying is all rubbish. Stop,
           shut up.' Whether you say it or not doesn't matter. Your whole being is saying,'Shut up! Be finished
           with it.'
                Because of this, Freud used to use a certain method. The method was to hide himself from the
           patient. The patient would lie on a couch and Freud would sit just at the back. The patient would not
           be able to see what Freud was thinking about, whether he was listening or not. He would sit at the
           back, and the patient would talk a monologue to himself. Freudian analysis takes many years: three,
           four, five, even ten years. There are even patients who have been in analysis for twenty years, and
           nothing has happened. It is inhuman. Face the patient; look eye to eye, don't hide like a ghost. Be
           human, be open, and listen.
                Freud taught his disciples not to ever touch the patient. That is absolutely wrong, because then
           you become inhuman. There are moments when just holding the hand of the patient will do much,
           much more than all analysis can do. But Freud was very afraid that there was a possibility that
           intimacy might start between the doctor and the patient. The doctor should remain far away and
           aloof; he should not come down to the human world. Freud was very afraid, it seems, of his own
           humanity. He was very much afraid of his own mind. He could not allow intimacy; a very deep fear,
           a very deep complex must have existed in him. People who are afraid of relationship are afraid of
           themselves, because in relationship they are revealed, in relationship they are mirrored. Freud was a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           puritan.
               There is no need to be so far away, otherwise healing will not happen. Come closer. The patient
           has to be taken in deep intimacy, so that he can reveal, so that he can bring his whole heart to you.
               And respond! Don't listen like a marble statue -- respond. Sometimes laugh with him, sometimes
           weep and cry -- respond, because when you respond, the relationship, the moment, becomes alive. If
           you don't respond, the whole thing goes on like a stale, dead thing. Respond; make the whole thing
           alive, and much is possible. Much more is possible than through just analyzing, diagnosing. Freud's
           psychoanalysis remained a head-trip. The real therapy has to be total.

           The fourth question:


              THIS IS A MARXIST, A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN'S QUESTION -- SO MANY DISEASES
              TOGETHER!

              IN TRADITIONAL CHINA THERE WAS A SAYING,'CONFUCIAN IN OFFICE, TAOIST OUT OF
              OFFICE.' THIS REPRESENTED A DEEP DIVISION AND DILEMMA IN CHINESE SOCIETY,
              PERHAPS ALL SOCIETIES. CAN THERE BE AN ENLIGHTENED SOCIETY WHICH DOES NOT
              TEACH THE WAY OF THE EGO? OR IS SOCIETY BY NATURE OF ITS VERY ORDERED AND
              PATTERNED REALITY OF THE CALCULATING AND REPRESSIVE COLLECTIVE MIND OR EGO;
              IS SOCIETY, EVEN THAT OF ENLIGHTENED INDIVIDUALS OR WOULD-BE ENLIGHTENED
              INDIVIDUALS, BY ITS VERY NATURE, OPPOSED TO ENLIGHTENMENT?


               First, the old saying is perfectly beautiful: A Taoist out of office, and a Confucian in the office.
           When you live with people, you have to follow certain rules. Those rules have no ultimacy about
           them; they are rules of a game. For example: if you walk on the road you have to walk to the right or
           to the left, as the society has decided. If you start walking anywhere, you will be in trouble and you
           will create trouble for others. Keeping to the left is not something ultimate; it is utilitarian, it has
           uSe. It is not that God has commanded you to walk to the left; because in America they go on
           keeping to the right. Whether you keep to the right or to the left does not matter; but you have to
           keep to either the right or left. A rule has to exist because there are so many persons. If you are alone
           on the road, then there is no problem. If you have a private road where you walk alone, it is up to
           you. There is no need to keep to the left, because then that would be an obsession, foolish. Then you
           can walk in the middle of the road, or whatsoever you like you can do. In your privacy there should
           be no rules. One should live a life of total freedom -- that is what Lao Tzu is. But where there are
           others your freedom can become a chaos, and chaos is not freedom. Where others are involved you
           have to follow certain rules. There is no need to get obsessed about them. There are people who get
           obsessed about rules.
               I used to stay in Calcutta in one friend's house. He is a Justice of the High Court. His wife told
           me once when he was not at home,'My husband follows you, reads you, loves you tremendously. It
           will be great compassion on me if you can tell him one thing to do.' I asked,'What is that one thing?'
           The woman said,'Tell him not to be a Justice in the bed. Even in the bed he remains a High Court
           Justice; he never comes out of the role.'
               It is good to be a Justice in the court. It would be as wrong to be a husband in the court, as wrong
           as to be a Justice in the bed. In the court one has to be a Justice: this is what Confucianism means.
               Confucius thinks about the relationship between people, the society, the world: etiquette,
           manners, the law. Confucius is like Moses or Manu: the law-giver. Lao Tzu brings love, freedom to
           the world. And it is good to move in these two polarities. Don't think that they divide you. They don't
           divide you. In fact, they give you more freedom, more flow, more possibilities, because if you
           remain Taoist, then you will have to move to the Himalayas some day or other. You cannot live in
           the society because wherever you go, there will be trouble. Either you will have to go to the
           Himalayas, or people will crucify you. That's what happened to Jesus.
               One Christian bishop was saying to me,'Wherever Jesus went there was revolution, but wherever
           I go people serve tea!' Jesus was dangerous.
               The proverb is of a very deep wisdom: there is no need to be continuously creating revolution
           wherever you go; there is no need to be constantly forcing people to make a cross for you. It will be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wiser, sometimes it is good, if tea is served. To be an obsessed revolutionary is a disease. And to
           bring etiquette and manners back home so that you cannot even relax in your bathroom, that too is
           obsession.
               The proverb is perfectly beautiful. I approve of it totally. Be a Confucian in the world, and in
           your innermost world be a Taoist, a follower of Lao Tzu. And there is no division! There is nothing
           wrong with it. You simply have a fluidity: when the other comes you follow the rules, because with
           the other, rules come; when you are alone there is no need for any rules. Without the other, rules
           disappear. In your aloneness you are totally free, but whenever you are with somebody else you have
           a responsibility. The other is there and you have to be careful. That is part of love: to care about the
           other. So I don't see any dichotomy, and I don't see any dilemma. The dilemma is created if you have
           not understood the point. If you understand the point, there is no dilemma.
               And the second thing:'Is society, even that of enlightened individuals or would-be enlightened
           individuals. by its very nature opposed to enlightenment?'
               Yes, society, by its very nature, is opposed to enlightenment, because enlightenment is basically
           individual. It happens in your aloneness. When you are absolutely alone, only then does it happen.
           The other functions as a barrier. The society is opposed to enlightenment and will always remain
           opposed, because the society is an organization. The society, even if it calls itself revolutionary,
           cannot be revolutionary. All societies are traditional, even the society of Mao. It may be a new
           tradition, that's all, but it is a tradition. The Russian society now is as traditional as any society.
               Society cannot be revolutionary because the society has to settle, it has to have some type of
           establishment, it has to follow certain rules. Only the individual can be purely, innocently
           revolutionary, rebellious. There is no need for any organization and any structure. But once there is
           the other, organization comes in. Society can never be for enlightenment, because people who
           become enlightened go, in a certain way, beyond the society. They go beyond the rules; they start
           living their freedom. That will not happen if you follow the Chinese proverb. Then, the society will
           not be against enlightenment. It may not be for it, but it will not be against.
               If you move in the world and follow the rules there, and in your aloneness you go into the
           unknown, then there is no problem. The problem arises when just in the middle of the road you start
           meditating, or you start dancing. Nothing is wrong with dancing; you have just chosen a wrong
           place. Dancing is perfectly good, but choose a right place for it. There is a right time and a right
           place for everything. Don't just stand in the middle of the road and create a nuisance. If one
           understands the proverb, there will be no trouble.
               But society itself can never be for enlightenment, because enlightenment is basically individual.
           It happens to the individual, never to the society. You become enlightened, not the group, not the
           society. In fact, society is just a name for the collectivity, for the collective of individuals. There is
           no 'soul of society'; the soul is individual. The society is just the arrangement -- superficial. It is
           needed, necessary, but it is a necessary evil; it has to be tolerated. But society does not bother about
           whether you become enlightened or not. For society, Confucius is enough. For the individual,
           Confucius is not enough, Lao Tzu is needed. For society, Moses is enough. For the individual,
           Moses is not enough -- maybe necessary, but not enough -- Jesus is needed. And once you
           understand, you can create an inner synthesis of the two, and there is no problem.
               In the TALMUD is said one of the most beautiful sentences ever uttered: One man outweighs all
           creation. Not only society, not only this earth, but,'One man outweighs ALL creation.' This is true,
           because one man can become a vehicle for the divine. One man can become the opportunity for God
           to exist, to be present, for God to express Himself. One man can become the flowering of the
           ultimate. The society is utilitarian; one man outweighs all creation.
               There is another sentence in the TALMUD: Wherever you come across a footprint of man, God
           stands before you: bow down. Wherever you come across a footprint, God stands before you -- the
           possibility.
               Society is just a structure with no soul. The soul is of the individual. One individual outweighs
           all societies. And, one individual's revolution outweighs all revolutions in the whole of history,
           because one man can become the womb for God to be reborn.

           The fifth question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE CLOSER I COME, THE THIRSTIER I GET. WHEN IS THE QUENCHING GOING TO START?


               The very expectation will function as a barrier. You forget about the quenching; you simply be
           thirsty and enjoy it. When the thirst becomes total, it disappears.
           I would like to read a few lines from T. S. Eliot:

           We shall not cease from exploration.
           And the end of all our exploring
           will be to arrive where we started,
           and know the place for the first time;
           when the tongues of flame are enfolded
           into the crowned knot of fire
           and the fire and the rose are one...

               ... and the thirst and the quenching are one; and the rose and the fire are one. When the fire is
           total, suddenly it is transformed and there is only a rose, not the fire. When the thirst is total, its very
           totality changes its quality -- it becomes quenching; infinite contentment. The quenching is not
           something separate from thirst, remember it.
               Thirst. Become so total that you disappear in your thirst; and then, the fire and the rose are one.

           The last question:


              IF I LET GO I FEAR I AM GONE FOREVER.


                You fear rightly: you WILL be gone forever; but you cannot escape now. The very fear shows
           that you cannot escape now. The VERY fear shows that you are understanding rightly: that you will
           disappear if you let go. But you are your misery, nothing else; you are your hell, nothing else. So
           how long can you cling to it? Sooner or later, you will have to let go.
                I will tell you a story. The story is very old; the story is about King Midas.
                Midas was hunting for the wise, for someone who could become his Master. He heard about a
           companion of Dionysus; the name of Dionysus' companion was Silenus. He searched, he searched
           long, and finally he caught him. But when he finally fell into his hands, the King asked,'What is the
           very best, the most preferable thing for man?'
                The demon remained silent, stubborn and motionless, until he was finally compelled by the King,
           and then broke out into shrill laughter uttering these words:'Miserable, ephemeral species, children
           of chance and hardship; why do you compel me to tell you what is most profitable for you not to
           hear? The very best is quite unthinkable for you. It is: not to be born. It is impossible because you
           are already born. The very best is not to be born, not to exist, to be nothing. But the next best thing
           is: to die as soon as possible. The next best only is possible.'
                Midas became very angry. He said,'I have come in search of life, not of death.'
                Silenus said,'Nobody has ever come to know life until he dies.'
                So I know your fear, I understand it, and the fear is perfectly true. It is not deceiving you, it is
           telling you the truth: that if you let go, you are gone forever. But there arises a need, when one
           NEEDS to drop completely and die completely, because only then is there resurrection. When you
           die, something bigger than you will be born, and that is the search. Out of death comes life. Allow
           death.
                I understand your difficulty. In spite of your fear you will have to let go.
                There was one very famous Zen Master, Tosan. A disciple asked him,'Master, what is Tao?'
           The Master said,'A dragon singing in the dry wood.'
                The disciple said,'I wonder whether there is anybody who can hear this.'
                The Master said,'There is no one in the entire world who does not hear this.'
                The disciple said,'I don't know what kind of composition the dragon's song is.'
                The Master said,'I also do not know, but all who hear it lose themselves.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Whatsoever I am singing is the song of that dragon in the dry wood. Whosoever hears me will
           disappear. Now it is up to you: either you hear me or you hear your fear, the fear that you have been
           hearing forever and ever. Through the fear you have lived up to now, and nothing has been attained.
           Your life is just an empty barrenness, a desert with not even a single oasis in it. You have listened
           too long to your fear; now don't be bothered by it. Say to it'Shut up!'; and in spite of it, move. You
           will disappear, but that is the only way to gain yourself. Says Jesus,'If you try to save your life you
           will lose it. If you lose it you will gain it in abundance, in eternity.'
               Only the momentary is lost and the eternal is gained. Only the useless is lost and the ultimate is
           gained. Now it is for you to decide.
               Either you decide for your fear, or you decide for my love.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                   Chapter #5
                                            Chapter title: He Is At Hand
           25 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512250
              ShortTitle: FOLL405
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 77 mins




              Matthew 26



              36 THEN COMETH JESUS WITH THEM UNTO A PLACE CALLED GETHSEMANE, AND SAITH
              UNTO THE DISCIPLES: SIT YE HERE, WHILE I GO AND PRAY YONDER.



              37 AND HE TOOK WITH HIM PETER AND THE TWO SONS OF ZEBEDEE, AND BEGAN TO BE
              SORROWFUL AND VERY HEAVY.



              38 THEN SAITH HE UNTO THEM: MY SOUL IS EXCEEDING SORROWFUL, EVEN UNTO DEATH.
              TARRY YE HERE, AND WATCH WITH ME.



              39 AND HE WENT A LITTLE FARTHER, AND FELL ON HIS FACE, AND PRAYED, SAYING: O MY
              FATHER, IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME. NEVERTHELESS NOT AS I WILL,
              BUT AS THOU WILT.



              40 AND HE COMETH UNTO THE DISCIPLES, AND FINDETH THEM ASLEEP, AND SAITH UNTO
              PETER: WHAT, COULD YE NOT WATCH WITH ME ONE HOUR?



              41 WATCH AND PRAY, THAT YE ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION. THE SPIRIT INDEED IS
              WILLING, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              42 HE WENT AWAY AGAIN THE SECOND TIME, AND PRAYED, SAYING: O MY FATHER, IF THIS
              CUP MAY NOT PASS AWAY FROM ME, EXCEPT I DRINK IT, THY WILL BE DONE.



              43 AND HE CAME AND FOUND THEM ASLEEP AGAIN, FOR THEIR EYES WERE HEAVY.



              44 AND HE LEFT THEM, AND WENT AWAY AGAIN, AND PRAYED THE THIRD TIME, SAYING
              THE SAME WORDS.



              45 THEN COMETH HE TO HIS DISCIPLES, AND SAITH UNTO THEM: SLEEP ON NOW, AND
              TAKE YOUR REST. BEHOLD, THE HOUR IS AT HAND, AND THE SON OF MAN IS BETRAYED
              INTO THE HANDS OF SINNERS.



              46 RISE, LET US BE GOING. BEHOLD, HE IS AT HAND THAT DOTH BETRAY ME.

              We are the hollow men
              We are the stuffed men
              Leaning together
              Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
              Our dried voices, when
              We whisper together
              Are quiet and meaningless
              As wind in dry grass
              Or rats' feet over broken glass
              In our dry cellar.

              Shape without form, shade without colour,
              Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

              Those who have crossed
              With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
              Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
              Violent souls, but only
              As the hollow men
              The stuffed men.


               THESE lines from T.S. Eliot are very significant, tremendously meaningful. Man, in his
           ignorance, is just a negative emptiness; stuffed with straw, hollow within. Just observe yourself.
           What have you gained in life? You may have lost much, but you have not gained anything. It is not
           only that your hands are empty, your whole being is empty. And empty not in the Buddhist sense:
           empty not in the sense of silence, empty not in the sense of fullness of being; but empty because the
           consciousness is lacking, empty because the awareness is missing. You are not a presence, you are
           an absence -- hollow within, stuffed with straw. That straw may be gold, it may be money; that straw
           may be power. A thousand and one are the names of that straw, but it is straw because it does not
           nourish the soul. It does not create the soul, it is destructive. At the most, it gives you a feeling of
           fullness, a very deceptive feeling.
               These are the two ways to live: either to attain to true emptiness, a positive emptiness -- that is
           the way of meditation, prayer, the way that moves, by and by, towards God; the other way is just to
           go on stuffing yourself with useless, futile things, with no ultimate meaning in them. At the most, for
           the moment they keep you occupied. But sooner or later, one comeS to discover that one has missed
           the opportunity.
               When Woodrow Wilson became the President of America, the whole family was celebrating. His
           friends all over the country were dancing in happiness, he was crying and weeping in his room. The
           wife approached. She could not believe her eyes because Woodrow Wilson was sitting on his chair
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           near the window, head leaning downwards, as sad as he had ever been seen before, with tears rolling
           down. With deep love the wife asked the husband,'What has happened? Why are you crying and
           weeping?' Helooked up with sad eyes. He said,'Now that I have become the President of the most
           powerful country, now that I have become the most powerful man, I realize tremendously the whole
           absurdity of it. Nothing is gained, and I have wasted my whole life. Now I understand the futility of
           power, because sooner or later, death will be coming, and I am powerless against it.'
               And if your power is powerless against death, then it is just a deception. Unless you attain to the
           deathless, your power is not power, it is a false coin.
               And who can attain power against death? -- one who attains to true emptiness, positive
           emptiness. The other name for that emptiness is deep inner fulfillment. You are not filled with straw,
           but you are filled with your own awareness. You are not filled with furniture: cars, houses, money,
           and other nonsense. You are just filled with your being, the sheer am-ness, the sheer existence. Then
           there is no death for you. This is the last night of Jesus with his disciples, and it is very meaningful,
           because he will not ever be seen again. I have told you before, and it will be good to remember it
           again, to be reminded, that Jesus is a bridge. He is man plus God. Buddha is sheer godliness; the man
           has disappeared completely. You cannot conceive of Buddha being sorrowful, you cannot conceive
           of Buddha asking anything from God. Jesus is both; that is his paradox, and his beauty. He is a
           bridge between these two distant phenomena: man and God -- son of man and son of God. When
           Jesus is praying in these sutras, his son-ship is praying to his own father-ship. Christians have missed
           that point completely. It is not a prayer addressed to some God in heaven; his own two polarities are
           in deep dialogue: Jesus as son of man in deep dialogue, communion, with Jesus as son of God. This
           is an inner phenomenon. Let me read you the sutra.

              THEN COMETH JESUS WITH THEM UNTO A PLACE CALLED GETHSEMANE, AND SAITH UNTO
              THE DISCIPLES: SIT YE HERE, WHILE I GO AND PRAY YONDER.


                These words:'Sit ye here', are exactly the meaning of what Zen people call zazen. Zazen means:
           just sitting, doing nothing. When Jesus said,'Sit ye here,' he said to them:'You simply sit, don't do
           anything. Just remain alert, silent -- a silent pool with no ripples of thought, just sitting.' Zen people
           know the meaning of it, Christianity has completely forgotten. In Christianity, the very idea of just
           sitting has disappeared. Christian interpretations are there. They think Jesus is simply telling them to
           sit there. When a man like Jesus speaks, his words are not to be interpreted in an ordinary way. His
           language is not ordinary. The words may be ordinary, but his meaning never is. He is saying to his
           disciples,'Be in zazen.'
                Let me explain to you what zazen is. Zazen is a deep unoccupiedness -- not doing anything
           outwardly, not doing anything inwardly. It is not even meditation because when you meditate you
           are making some sort of effort, you are trying to do something: chanting a mantra, remembering
           God, or even remembering yourself. But these efforts create ripples, these efforts create vibrations
           and your sitting becomes corrupted. Then your sitting is not innocent. Zazen means: sit, and just sit,
           nothing else. There is no doing on the part of the body, no doing on the part of the mind. It's a state
           of non-doing. That does not mean that you are fast asleep, because sleep is a doing. That does not
           mean that you are dead, because if you are dead you cannot just sit. That simply means that you are
           tremendously alive, intensely alive, a fire of being, but not moving anywhere -- a reservoir of energy
           in a deep awaiting. You are just waiting for something to happen, not even expecting, because
           expectation will again create a ripple of thought and the mind will start functioning. Everything is
           suspended. You breathe, and that's all that you do. But that is not a doing, because breathing goes on
           its own accord. You have not to do anything but just sit silently.
                It is said about Bodhidharma that he sat for nine years facing the wall of his cave. The story says
           that his legs withered away. Nine years sitting silently, not doing anything: he was not chanting a
           mantra, he was not remembering any God, he was not doing any prayer. He was just sitting, facing a
           wall. His legs withered away. It is very significant, because legs are symbolic of activity, of
           movement. All movement disappeared. Whether his legs actually withered away or not is not the
           point. The point is that all movement disappeared. The consciousness became an unmoving reservoir
           of energy, just pure energy not going anywhere.
                Then came his first disciple, because he would not accept any disciple unless he showed a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendous intensity to follow. Hui Kujo came. It is said that he cut off his hand and offered it to
           Bodhidharma, and said,'Turn towards me, otherwise I will cut off my head.'
               Bodhidharma had to turn. That was the first movement he had made in nine years. He said,'Wait
           -- so the man has come to whom I can deliver my message.'
               Again it may or it may not be that the disciple offered his hand. Again, it is a symbol: hands
           mean activity. Legs mean movement, hands mean activity. With activity offered, only then is being
           revealed. Bodhidharma gave his message, his all, to this man who had symbolically shown that he
           was ready to lose activity.
               When Jesus said to his disciples,'Sit ye here,' he meant zazen: that,'You simply sit and wait,
           because a tremendous event is on the way. Something is going to happen that I will never be
           repeated again in the whole history of man. Something unrepeatable, something unique is on the
           way. You wait, sit, and watch. Don't make any movement, because even a slight movement of
           thought, emotion, body, and you may miss the point. The son of man is going to be delivered to God.
           The son of man is going to disappear, and the son of God is going to appear. The greatest event ever
           is going to happen: sit ye here.'
               And the word 'here' is also very, very meaningful.'Sitting' shows: don't move in space, and 'here'
           shows: don't move in time. Just be here, now -- no movement in space, no movement in time. It
           would have been easier for the disciples -- because it was late and they were tired of the whole day's
           celebration, activities, and they would have liked to fall asleep -- it would have been easier if they
           had been allowed to walk around. They would have kept awake. But Jesus said,'Sit. SIT HERE, don't
           walk around. Don't move in space and don't move in time.'
               The body moves in space; mind moves in time. Body is part of space, mind is part of time. Jesus
           says,'Sit -- here.' By sitting, you stop the movement in space; by being here, just being here, you stop
           the movement of mind. This is the whole meaning of zazen. If it can be rightly interpreted, Jesus said
           to his disciples: Do zazen...

              ... WHILE L GO AND PRAY YONDER.


               Jesus is going to pray; prayer is a bridge. The son is going to pray to the Father; the lower is
           going to pray to the higher; the earth is going to pray to the sky; the seed is going to pray to the tree,
           to the future.
           Prayer is love.
               Jesus says,'I am going to offer myself to my God. Sit silently, watchful, alert' -- as watchful as
           the beloved awaits the lover, as alert. If anything moves, she suspects that maybe the lover has come;
           these may be the footsteps of the lover.... She runs to the door. It may be just a wind passing by, it
           may be just wind playing with the dry leaves on the street, it may be just a beggar, it may be just a
           stranger, but a beloved remains alert, watchful, waiting -- passionately, intensely focused. Jesus
           says,'Watch ye, sit here. I am going to pray.'
               When a man like Jesus prays, God answers. If your prayers have not been answered, don't
           complain. It simply shows that you have not prayed. If your prayers have not been answered, it
           simply shows that you have done something else, not prayer. Prayer is a total, unconditional
           offering, saying,'I am yours. Thy will be done.' Jesus is going to pray. When Jesus goes to pray, the
           earth is going to meet the sky. If the disciples can be silently watchful, they will become witnesses to
           the greatest event, to a tremendous event: the sky coming down to meet the earth, the God
           descending to meet the son. A great phenomenon within Jesus' heart is going to happen: the
           polarities are going to become one, the opposites are going to meet. Rightly he said to his
           disciples,'Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.'
           One more thing, and then we can move on.
               A meditation is just sitting. A meditation is just being where you are. Prayer is a going,
           meditation is a sitting. In prayer you extend your being. In prayer you rise like high waves in the
           ocean to touch the beyond. In meditation you simply wait. Meditation is passive, prayer is not;
           prayer is active. In meditation, you simply open the doors of your heart and you wait. In prayer that
           is not enough -- you open the doors and you run towards the height. That's why Jesus says,'While I
           GO and pray yonder. You meditate while I pray.'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When a Master is praying, if the disciples can simply wait and meditate, much will happen to
           them. Because, when the love of the whole descends on the Master, it will naturally shower on the
           disciples also. Only a Master can pray; a disciple can only meditate. Because prayer is possible when
           you have known what God is. Prayer is possible when you have known the whole. Meditation is
           possible without knowing anything about God. In fact, for meditation, God is not needed. That's why
           the religions which are based on meditation are atheistic: Jainism and Buddhism are both atheistic;
           they don't believe in any God. There is no need. They are meditative religions: they simply sit and
           wait. Whenever they are ready, God comes. The religions of prayer: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam,
           don't just sit, they RUN towards God. They move. You can think of Buddhism or Jainism as a silent
           ocean with no ripples, no waves. You can think of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, as the ocean in
           high tide -- great waves rising to meet the sky.
               Prayer is different from meditation: meditation is passivity, prayer is activity. That's why
           Buddhism and Jainism teach renunciation, moving away from activity. Christianity teaches service,
           moving into the marketplace, going to seek and search God. But only a Master can pray, because
           love is possible only when you know the other. How can you call God? -- you don't know. How can
           you call Him 'thou'? -- you don't know. At the most, He remains a hypothesis, and a hypothesis
           cannot be called 'thou'. At the most it will remain 'it'; it can never become a 'thou'. It can be used, but
           cannot be loved. Nobody can love a mathematical theorem. Nobody can love the greatest formula
           there is, the Einsteinian formula: E = MC2. How can you love it? How can you call this formula
           'thou'? How can you bow down before it? How can tears go on flowing from your eyes; how can you
           dance around it? Maybe the formula is very great, explains much, but an explanation cannot be
           worshipped. God, when known, is touched as you touch your beloved, kissed as you kiss your
           beloved, looked deep into the eyes of as you look deep into the eyes of your beloved. Unless God
           comes to you like a lover, prayer is not possible. Your prayer will be false.
               But a Master can pray. When he is praying the sky descends over him, surrounds him, touches
           him from all over, from all dimensions. And if the disciples are just there, sitting silently in deep
           zazen, meditating, their hearts will be thrilled. The unknown will touch them also, the unknown will
           penetrate their beings also. Because when it rains, when God rains, it does not rain like a miser.
           When God rains, it rains tremendously; it fills the whole earth. Even one Jesus prays, and God rains
           and fills the whole earth. Wherever people are waiting silently, meditating, suddenly they will be full
           of Him. Then prayer becomes possible, not before it. A real touch is needed, a contact is needed.
           God has to be touched, one has to be touched by God; only then, trust arises.
               Meditation does not need God. You can discard the hypothesis and meditate. If you go on
           meditating, then one day God will fill your heart. But if you have a Master who can pray on your
           behalf, who can pray for you, who can simply pray, you will gain much of which you were not yet
           worthy.
               It is the last night, Jesus is going to leave the next day. He would like to give them a gift, a gift of
           God. He said to them,'Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.' He wants to go into deep isolation,
           alone, because even the presence of the disciples can be a disturbance. Meditation can be done in a
           group. Prayer is such an intimate phenomenon; it is a meeting of two lovers. Nobody should be a
           witness to it, nobody should be a bystander to it, nobody should observe it. Otherwise, the very fact
           that somebody is there will become a jarring note. Prayer is always in the alone.
               And look at the foolishness: people meditate alone, and pray together. Meditators move into
           loneliness, and when you want to pray you go to the church, you go to the temple and you pray
           together. Prayer has to be in absolute aloneness, because prayer is love. Meditation can be done in a
           group: it is a technique. In fact, if you meditate in a group, you will meditate deeply because the
           group helps, enhances. It fosters confidence. A group mind is created, a great wave of group
           consciousness is created and you simply move on the wave.
               But to pray is to love. One should pray as one loves. You cannot make love in a marketplace. In
           the West it is happening, and because of it love is losing all meaning. It needs privacy, it needs
           intimacy. In the West now, love has become a public affair. In a public garden you can find lovers in
           deep embrace, even making love publicly. This is profane; something sacred is being destroyed.
           Something very intimate is being made public, corrupted. The innocence will be lost.
               Love needs intimacy, love needs darkness. In fact, love needs so much aloneness that women
           always close their eyes while love is made to them. Even the presence of the lover, to see the lover,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is a disturbance. They close their eyes, they are totally alone. Even the lover is not to be seen,
           otherwise the other will be there, and the presence of the other is always a tension. When the other is
           completely forgotten, when deep in darkness the other is lost, then love arises to its highest peak, to
           the greatest orgasm.
               Remember this: Jesus was trying to give them his last gift; but the gift was invisible, and the gift
           was such that nothing could be said about it. Only those who were capable would receive it, and
           those who were not capable would miss it.

              THEN COMETH JESUS WITH THEM UNTO A PLACE CALLED GETHSEMANE, AND SAITH UNTO
              THE DISCIPLES: SIT YE HERE, WHILE I GO AND PRAY YONDER. AND HE TOOK WITH HIM
              PETER AND THE TWO SONS OF ZEBEDEE, AND BEGAN TO BE SORROWFUL AND VERY
              HEAVY.


               Three disciples he took with him. These three disciples were as if they were not. They had lost
           their egos; they could be allowed to be there. Their presence would not be a jarring note because
           they had no presence of their own. They were like shadows of Jesus, part of his being.

              ... AND BEGAN TO BE SORROWFUL AND VERY HEAVY.


               This is the beauty of Jesus, that he can be sorrowful. A Buddha cannot be. Jesus is more flowing;
           he can comprehend the opposites.
               I have heard about one great Zen Master, Lin Chi. Somebody asked,'You have become
           enlightened. Tell us something: what has happened to you after enlightenment?'
               He laughed and he said,'I was miserable before enlightenment. Enlightenment has happened, and
           I am miserable yet.'
               It is very difficult to understand what he means to say. He is saying that enlightenment is not
           going to destroy the polarity. Rather, on the contrary, enlightenment is going to create a higher
           synthesis of the paradox, of the polarity. It is not that an enlightened man does not become sad, but
           that he becomes sad in a different way. His sadness has a totally different quality to it. His sadness is
           happier than your happiness. His sadness has a depth, his sadness has a beauty -- a silent song
           without any sounds.

              ... AND BEGAN TO BE SORROWFUL AND VERY HEAVY.


               This is the son of man who began to be sorrowful, because soon this shore had to be left. The
           ship had arrived, and no more would he be here. But why is he sorrowful? -- because he is son of
           man, he belongs to this earth also. He is not only the sky. He would have to leave this earth, and he
           had loved this earth also, he had loved this body also. His love was great enough to comprehend all.
           He had enjoyed a thousand and one enjoyments. He delighted here; he was not an ascetic. He was
           celebrating life here; and now, no more of that celebration, no more of that delight. No more would
           he again be able to sing that song of the earth. Jesus was a very earth-rooted man.

              THEN SAITH HE UNTO THEM: MY SOUL IS EXCEEDING SORROWFUL, EVEN UNTO DEATH.
              TARRY YE HERE, AND WATCH WITH ME.


              To these three disciples he said,'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, my cup of sorrow is
           overflowing.' He is like a river that is going to fall into the ocean. The river hesitates; it looks
           backwards -- all those beautiful terrains, those beautiful Himalayas far off, those glaciers, those
           peaks: the trees, the forest, the banks, the people -- millions of experiences. Now, within a minute,
           everything would be ended. The river wants to linger a little on the verge before falling into the
           ocean and disappearing. The river hesitates. The speed slows down; it looks backwards, full of
           nostalgia. This is what was happening to Jesus. He had lived, and he lived profoundly. His true life
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has not been said, because Christians are afraid. They have made an ascetic out of him. He was not.
           He loved eating, he loved wine, he loved women; he loved the small joys of life. He was a man very
           much of this earth, plus. The earth was not denied, the earth was made holy in him. The earth was
           not rejected, the earth was celebrated as a gift of God.
                Buddha is different. He would not look when his river was going to fall, he would not look
           backwards. In fact, his speed would be increased: this is the ocean for which he had been waiting
           and longing. He would really jump into the ocean. He would not even give a 'thank you' to the earth.
                Jesus is different; their personalities are different. And it is good that life produces different types
           of buddhas. Life is richer for it -- so many types of flowers with such different fragrances. Life is not
           monotonous. Life does not produce buddhas as a Ford factory produces Ford cars. Each buddha is
           unique. Buddha has his own beauty, the beauty of the sky. Epicurus has his own beauty, the beauty
           of the earth. And Jesus is something: Epicurus plus Buddha -- the beauty of this earth and of that sky
           -- a great synthesis, an infinite harmony.

               MY SOUL IS EXCEEDING SORROWFUL, -- EVEN UNTO DEATH. TARRY YE HERE, AND WATCH
               WITH ME.


               He had left the other disciples a little behind. He told them to sit quietly, to be in zazen, to
           meditate. He had brought the closest ones near him, and he said to them,'Tarry ye here, and watch
           with me' -- move around near me, and be watchful. Why this difference? Why could he not bring all
           of the disciples close? Only those can be allowed to be very close who have almost disappeared.
           They will not be a disturbance.'Tarry ye here, and watch with me' -- something tremendous is on the
           way; be watchful.

               AND HE WENT A LITTLE FARTHER, AND FELL ON HIS FACE... the earth that he loved
           too much. He fell on the earth... AND PRAYED, SAYING: O MY FATHER, IF IT BE POSSIBLE,
           LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME.

               This is the son of man, the helpless man, the helpless earth, the earth speaking to the sky,'Oh
           Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.' Jesus would have liked to live a little longer.
           Jesus would not have liked to leave this earth so soon; he loved it.

               NEVERTHELESS, NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS THOU WILT.


               These two trends are continuously in him. The earth part says,'If it be possible, oh my God, oh
           my Father, let this cup pass from me. Don't force me to fall into the ocean so soon.' But the other
           part, the son of God, the other polarity of his being, says,'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.'

              AND HE COMETH UNTO THE DISCIPLES AND FINDETH THEM ASLEEP, AND SAITH
           UNTO PETER: WHAT, COULD YE NOT WATCH WITH ME ONE HOUR? -- because when he
           prayed, the earth and the sky met. When he prayed, the son and the God met. When he prayed, a
           great symphony arose within him where the son of man was no more separate from the son of God.
           His body and soul danced together in a mysterious harmony.

               AND HE COMETH UNTO THE DISCIPLES AND FINDETH THEM
               ASLEEP...

               They missed.

               There are gifts which cannot be given to you until you are ready to receive them. There are gifts
           which can be given to you whether you are ready to receive them or not, and those are the gifts of
           the world. There are gifts which can be given to you only when you are ready to receive them --
           those are the gifts of the invisible, of the other world, of the other shore. Jesus created a situation, but
           the disciples missed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               ... AND FINDETH THEM ASLEEP, AND SAITH UNTO PETER: WHAT, COULD YE NOT
           WATCH WITH ME ONE HOUR? -- is sleep that important? Could you not remain alert and aware
           for only one hour? WATCH AND PRAY, THAT YE ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION. THE
           SPIRIT INDEED IS WILLING, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK. He said to them again... the
           compassion of a Master is infinite! You go on missing, and he goes on giving to you.

               WATCH AND PRAY, THAT YE ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION. THE SPIRIT INDEED
           IS WILLING, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK. Deep down, who is not willing? But on the surface is
           the problem. Deep down, you would like to attain to truth, but the surface, the flesh, is unwilling.

              HE WENT AWAY AGAIN THE SECOND TIME, AND PRAYED, SAYING: O MY FATHER, IF THIS
              CUP MAY NOT PASS AWAY FROM ME, EXCEPT I DRINK IT, THY WILL BE DONE.


                Again he said the same prayer. Why did Jesus repeat these prayers? It was not for himself. For
           himself, once was enough. Twice, thrice he repeated them, for the disciples. He was trying to
           transfer the key. He was ready to give them the greatest science, the science of how to get out of
           their imprisonments. But they wouldn't listen, they wouldn't understand. They thought,'One hour's
           sleep is far better than being alert.'
                And remember, this is the case with you, and with everybody. You can miss a meditation just
           because in the morning you are feeling a little too lazy and too sleepy. And who knows? -- that
           meditation could have been a conversion. Nobody knows. You may have missed something, and you
           will never become aware that you missed. Your sleep is really deep. You live an almost unconscious
           life.
           I will tell you one story I was reading.
                A lion was captured and placed in a large yard surrounded by a high fence. He soon became
           acquainted with the social life of the other lions who had been there a long time. The lions had
           divided themselves into several clubs: political, religious, and others, each with its own activities,
           philosophies, dogmas, scriptures, ideologies. One group met regularly to hate and slander the
           captors, that was their whole activity -- as if just by hating and slandering the captors something was
           going to happen. Another group met to sing sentimentally about a future jungle having no fences.
           They must have been utopian, imaginary people who live in fantasy. They depicted a future jungle
           with no fences, in beautiful colors, and they sang about it in as beautiful poetry as possible. They
           must have been very romantic, utopian, imaginary people. And a third group met to secretly plan
           violence against the other groups, to plot violence against the other groups. Those were the
           conspirators; they were not so much against the captors as they were against the other groups of
           lions.
                Each club tried to pressure the newcomer into joining, but something held him back. His
           hesitation was caused by observing one particular lion who kept to himself, and who seemed always
           to be in deep thought and meditation. And this lion who used to be alone, a loner, attracted the
           newcomer. He had some quality of magnetism around him: a certain power, a certain magic. The
           newcomer shyly approached the solitary lion and requested an explanation of his apartness. The very
           apartness must have given him a quality of charisma, a glow around him. Because people who live in
           crowds lose their individuality and their charisma; people who live alone always gather around them
           an aura of authority, of majesty. This loner looked like a king. He had something of the imperial in
           him.
                'Join nothing!' replied the lion, the meditator.'These foolish creatures do everything but the
           necessary. I am doing what is essential, so one day I will be out of here. You are welcome to all the
           facts I have uncovered.'
                'But what is this necessary thing that you are doing?' asked the newcomer.
                'Listen carefully,' said the loner, the meditator lion.'I am studying the nature of the fence. That is
           the only essential thing to do in life: to understand the nature of the fence.'
                Where is your fence? Where are the walls of your prison? -- in your sleep, in your
           unconsciousness, in your behavior like a robot's. That's what Jesus was trying to show his disciples
           that night:'If you can be alert, you will be free.' Awareness is freedom, sleepiness is bondage. But
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even on that last night, the night of departure -- and these disciples will repent for centuries, and in
           their repentance they will worship Jesus, and they will create millions of churches for him -- when
           he was alive and he was departing, they were not even able to do that much for his sake: to be alert
           and watchful for a few hours.

              AND HE CAME AND FOUND THEM ASLEEP AGAIN, FOR THEIR EYES WERE HEAVY. AND HE
              LEFT THEM., AND WENT AWAY AGAIN, AND PRAYED THE THIRD TIME, SAYING THE SAME
              WORDS.


                Why did he do it the third time? He didn't wake them the third time; the compassion of a Master
           is infinite. He understood that it was impossible for them to be awake, so he tried to pray:'Let it be
           so, that they are fast asleep. But if God showers, even in their unconsciousness some seed may fall,
           even in their sleep they may hear something. Even fast asleep they may come to know something
           that they are unaware of; they may carry some quality.' Much would have been possible if they had
           been aware and alert, but that seemed impossible. He had tried twice. The hours were passing fast;
           soon he would be betrayed, caught and killed:'No time is to be lost. Let them sleep.'
                Many times, the same happens: here, I go on looking into your faces; you seem to be listening to
           me, but you rarely listen. You are more or less asleep. But I go on; I go on calling you, provoking
           you. Maybe even if a word falls deep down into you, even while you are asleep, that seed will some
           -- day bring fruit. Much would have been possible, much was available, but you were not present.
                Just the other day I was telling you that Buddha gave his flower to Mahakashyap, Jesus gave
           bread and wine to his disciples. And I told you that Buddha chose a flower because a flower is the
           most unearthly thing on the earth. So elusive is the beauty of the flower. In the morning it is there;
           by the evening, gone. It looks like a dream; it does not look material. It can be crushed, destroyed so
           easily; it gives no resistance. How it exists is a miracle. A rose flower -- how does it exist in this
           world of stones and rocks? It is a miracle; it is something from the beyond. Buddha chose the flower.
           Jesus chooses bread -- very ordinary, common; and wine, even more earthly. It is good, because he
           loved the earth. But there is one thing that I must tell you: when Buddha gave the flower to
           Mahakashyap, the flower was received in perfect awareness. When Buddha gave the flower,
           Mahakashyap was totally alert and aware. But when Jesus gave the bread and the wine, to whom did
           he give them? They were not like Mahakashyap; they were not so aware. It was given to them out of
           Jesus' compassion. When Buddha gave to Mahakashyap, Mahakashyap had earned it; it was not
           simply out of Buddha's compassion. Of course the compassion was there, but Mahakashyap had
           earned it. He was ready to receive it.
                In Jesus' case, there is only compassion, pure compassion. Those disciples were not yet ready.
           But the time had come for Jesus to leave; he gave them something they would become aware of only
           after many lives. He gave them the key to a treasure. They might not open it for lives, but the key
           would remain with them in their unconscious. Some day, whenever they become alert, they will be
           able to use the key.
                It is said by Zen people that whatsoever was given to Mahakashyap was beyond scripture,
           beyond words, beyond knowledge. Let it be said about Jesus also: that whatsoever he gave was not
           only beyond scripture and beyond words, it was also beyond consciousness. He gave to them in their
           unconsciousness. They were asleep, and his time had come. He simply gave the key, closed their
           fists, and withdrew to his eternal home. Some day, whenever their morning comes and they open
           their eyes, they will find the key in their hands.

              AND HE LEFT THEM, AND WENT AWAY AGAIN, AND PRAYED THE THIRD TIME,
           SAYING THE SAME WORDS. THEN COMETH HE TO HIS DISCIPLES, AND SAITH UNTO
           THEM: SLEEP ON NOW -- now you can sleep as much as you like, because the moment has been
           missed. Now you cannot miss anything by sleeping -- AND TAKE YOUR REST. BEHOLD, THE
           HOUR IS AT HAND, AND THE SON OF MAN IS BETRAYED INTO THE HANDS OF
           SINNERS. RISE, LET US BE GOING. BEHOLD, HE IS AT HAND THAT DOTH BETRAY ME.

              The crowd was approaching with Judas leading it. In the dark night their footsteps could be
           heard, their torches could be seen. And Jesus said -- he must have said it in deep sadness -- 'Sleep on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now, take your rest'; because one who was disturbing your sleep now has to be moving. The one who
           was trying to disturb your dreams, and your sleep, and your rest, has been betrayed, and the enemy is
           approaching.'RISE, LET US BE GOING. BEHOLD, HE IS AT HAND THAT DOTH BETRAY
           ME.'
               This sentence is very pregnant. Jesus could have waited there; the enemy was approaching. But
           the story says that he walked towards the enemy to meet them. It is symbolic of one who knows that
           death is not going to destroy. It is also symbolic of one who welcomes death, who goes to meet it. It
           is symbolic that Jesus accepts whatsoever is God's will. He has surrendered. The earth has
           surrendered to the sky; the body has surrendered to the soul; the son of man has surrendered to the
           son of God.

              RISE, LET US BE GOING. BEHOLD, HE IS AT HAND THAT DOTH BETRAY ME.




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                  Chapter #6
                                Chapter title: Happiness is that which Happens
           26 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512260
              ShortTitle: FOLL406
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 75 mins




              The first question:


              OSHO: L DON'T WANT TO BE THIS, I DON'T WANT TO BE THAT; I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE, I
              DON'T WANT TO BE THERE; I DON'T WANT TO LIVE, I DON'T WANT TO DIE; I DON'T WANT TO
              CRY, I DON'T WANT TO LAUGH; I CAN'T BE PASSIVE, I CAN'T BE ACTIVE; I CAN'T WILL AND I
              CAN'T SURRENDER.

              SO.... then just be in between.

               And this is not a question of one person, this is the state of all minds. The mind cannot be this
           and cannot be that. The mind does not want to be defined, does not want to be static, does not want
           to be confined; so whenever you want to try to be this, the mind starts working to be that. It goes on
           moving in the polarities. Mind is a movement; it is a constant movement.
               So what can be done? -- don't try to be this or that; just be in between. If you can be in between,
           you transcend mind. Just watch, be a witness. Don't to to do anything; just observe mind going from
           A to B, from B to A again; mind moving from one side to the other like a pendulum of an old clock:
           from left to right, from right to left.
               Have you watched a pendulum? When it is going to the left, it is gathering momentum to go to
           the right. On the surface it is going to the left; deep inside, it is gathering momentum to go to the
           opposite pole. When it is going to the right it is being prepared to go to the left.
               When you love a person through the mind, you are already getting ready to hate him. There is a
           poem by D. H. Lawrence in which he says,'The moment I say to my beloved'I love you', I have
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           already started hating her. The moment I say to my beloved'I will be forever and forever with you', I
           have already departed.' The divorce is on the way. In the very moment you are getting married,
           divorce is on the way.
                This is the way of the mind, how the mind functions. Just try to understand the functioning of the
           mind, otherwise you will always be in chaos, confusion, in a sort of insanity. Become a watcher. Get
           out of the traffic of the mind, stand by the side of the road and just see. And when I say just see, I
           mean don't evaluate, don't judge. Don't say,'This is good, that is wrong.' Once you say,'This is good,'
           you are no more a witness: you have jumped into the river; you are already identified, you are
           already in trouble. Just stand by the side of the road, or, sit on the bank of a river and let the river
           flow wherever it goes. You are not concerned; it is none of your business. Unconcerned, indifferent,
           just watching, you will suddenly be in between: neither this nor that. That in between point is the
           point of transcendence. Suddenly, the mind disappears with all its traffic. You are left alone, alone in
           tremendous purity, alone in absolute innocence, alone with no movement -- silent, eternal -- not
           going anywhere, just being here. You are not trying to become someone, something, this or that --
           just being yourself. And to be yourself is to be divine. To be yourself is to meditate. To be yourself is
           all that religion is about. This is what I'm teaching here.
                I'm not teaching you a particular pattern of life. I'm not giving you a style of life. At the most, I'm
           trying to give you a vision, a clarity, an understanding. I'm not trying to give you a character: moral
           or immoral, good or bad. I'm not giving you a philosophy to live by, I'm simply giving you an insight
           into yourself. Then, no philosophy is needed, no pattern is needed. Then, you can just be yourself
           with no condemnation, with no evaluation. And that purity of being oneself, that beauty of being
           oneself transcends all that you can desire, transcends all that you can even conceive of, transcends all
           that you can eve imagine or dream about. Just a glimpse of it, and you will never be the same again.
                So, this is not a question from somebody in particular. Krishna Radha has asked it, but it is not
           only her question; it is everybody's question. It is one of the most basic, essential questions of all
           human beings, of all those who are trapped in the mind. And there is only one way out of the trap:
           that you don't choose; neither this nor that -- you simply don't choose. You withdraw from choice
           and you become choiceless. Choicelessness is freedom. To choose is to choose a prison; to choose is
           to choose a bondage. To choose is wrong, to be choiceless is to be right.

           The second question:


                 HOW IS IT POSSIBLE? -- I'M AFRAID WHEN I FEEL YOUR LOVE DEEP INSIDE ME.


                 Love always creates fear because love is death, a greater death than the ordinary death you know
           of.
               In an ordinary death the body dies, but that is not death at all. Body is just like a dress: when it is
           tatty and old you change for a new one. It is not death, it is just a change: a change of a dress, or a
           change of a house or abode. But you continue, the mind continues -- just the same old mind in new
           bodies, just the same old wine in new bottles. The form changes but not the mind, the shape changes
           but not the mind. So the ordinary death is not a real death; love is a real death: the body does not die
           but the mind dies, the body continues to be the same but the ego disappears.
               If you love, you will have to drop all the conceptions that you have about yourself. If you love,
           you CANNOT be the ego because the ego will not allow love. They are antagonistic. If you choose
           the ego you will not be able to choose love. If you choose love you will have to drop the ego. Hence,
           the fear.
               A greater fear than death grips you whenever you are in love. That's why love has disappeared
           from the world. Rarely, very rarely does the phenomenon happen that love descends. What you call
           love is just a false coin: you have invented it because it is so difficult to live without love. It is
           difficult because without love, life carries no meaning; it is meaningless. Without love, life has no
           poetry in it. Without love, the tree exists but never flowers. Without love, you cannot dance, you
           cannot celebrate, you cannot feel grateful, you cannot pray. Without love, temples are just ordinary
           houses; with love an ordinary house is transformed, transfigured into a temple. Without love you
           remain just possibilities -- empty gestures. With love, for the first time you become substantial. With
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           love, for the first time, the soul arises in you. The ego drops but the soul arises.
               It is impossible to live without love, so humanity has created a trick. Humanity has invented a
           trick, a device. The device is: to live in a false love so that the ego continues on its own. Nothing is
           changed and you can play the game of being in love: you can go on thinking that you love, you can
           go on believing that you love. But look at your love -- what happens out of it? -- nothing except
           misery, nothing except hell, nothing except conflict, quarrel, violence. Look deeply into your love
           relationships. They are more akin to hate relationships than to love.It is better to call them hate
           relationships than to call them love relationships. But because everybody is living in the same way,
           you never become aware. Everybody is carrying the false coin; you never become aware. The real
           coin of love is Very costly: you can purchase it only at the cost of losing yourself. There is no other
           way.
               So the question is perfectly relevant. It is from one that I know. I know her love towards me, I
           know her deep possibilities. She is just on the brink. Any moment the ego can collapse, but she is
           somehow holding herself together. She will not be able to for long though; she will have to collapse.
           Hence, the fear.
               'How is it possible?' she asks.'I'm afraid when I feel your love deep inside me.'
               She thinks it is a sort of contradiction: if she loves so much, then why this fear? And I tell you,
           the fear is there because she loves so much. There is no contradiction in it. It is an absolutely
           consistent thing -- whenever you love you are afraid. Moving towards love is moving towards an
           abyss. One starts wavering, one feels dizzy. Go to a height in the Himalayas and look down at the
           valley; that valley is no-thing. When you look down at the valley of love, a TREMENDOUS fear
           grips you. You are almost paralyzed: you cannot run away, you cannot take the jump. You simply
           tremble in infinite fear. What to do? Going back is not possible because love attracts: love calls your
           depth, love calls your future, love calls your potentiality; love gives you a glimpse of what you can
           be. You cannot run away from it, and you cannot jump because the cost is too high. You will have to
           drop yourself -- all that you have been thinking yourself to be -- the image, the past, the identity.
               But I tell you, the cost only seems to be too much BEFORE the jump. Once you take the jump...
           then you will know that whatsoever you have given up is nothing, and what you have attained is
           INFINITELY valuable. Let me tell you a paradox: love demands that you drop that which you don't
           have, and love offers you that which you already have. Love wants you to get rid of that which you
           don't have.
               The ego is a false entity, just a notion, a cloud in the sky of your being; just smoke, nothing
           substantial; a dream. Love requires you to drop that which you don't have, and love is ready to give
           you that which you have and have always had. Love gives you your self back; the ego goes on hiding
           you from your self, love reveals you to your self. But the fear is there. The fear is natural, and one
           has to go in spite of the fear.
               Be courageous, don't be cowards. The real mettle of your being is tested only when love arises.
           Never before it do you know of what mettle you are made. In ordinary life, in the marketplace, doing
           this and that, in the world of ambition and power politics, your real mettle is never really tested. You
           never pass through the fire.
           Love is the fire.
               If you are really gold you will survive it. If you are not real gold, you will be gone. But I tell you
           that you are real gold.
               Trust me -- pass through the fire. Hesitation is natural, but don't make hesitation a barrier. Even
           with the hesitation, pass through it. In spite of the fear pass through the fire. And only through the
           fire will the rose of your consciousness flower. There is no other way.

           The third question:


              IT SEEMS THAT NOTHING EVER REALLY DROPS AWAY. SUDDENLY IT IS GONE, BUT JUST AS
              SUDDENLY IT IS BACK AGAIN. IT ALL SEEMS LIKE A MAGIC TRICK.


               ... A very meaningful question, with tremendous implications for understanding. Let us move
           into it very slowly.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yes, this is so: nothing ever really drops away. Nothing ever really drops away; suddenly it is
           gone, and as suddenly as it left, in the same way, at any moment, suddenly it is back again. Why is it
           so? -- because you have never tried to understand the nature of human consciousness. The nature of
           human consciousness is absolute freedom. When I say absolute freedom, I mean you are free at any
           moment to be whatsoever you decide. Nothing holds itself against you. You may have been a saint
           up to now. You may have lived in celibacy up to now. This very moment you can change: you can
           throw away your celibacy i you can fall in love with a woman or a man. Because you have been
           celibate in the past does not, CANNOT become a bondage. You remain free. If you want to be
           celibate in this moment also, you can be. But remember that it is not because of the past, it is again a
           fresh decision. You have to go on making your decision again and again and again, reviving it again
           and again and again. At any moment you can drop it.
               Existentialists are true. They say: existence precedes essence. It is a very pregnant sentence. Let
           me repeat it: existence precedes essence.
               A man is born; he is pure freedom. He has no essence, only existence. Then he will choose his
           essence, whom he is going to be -- and it will be his choice. He can be a saint, he can be a sinner; he
           can be a criminal, he can be a murderer, or he can ke a martyr. He brings pure existence into the
           world -- a blank sheet, a pure canvas. What colors he is going to use, and what sort of painting he is
           going to make of his life, is totally up to him. He does not bring a character. He simply brings a
           potentiality, pure potentiality. And this pure potentiality always remains pure; you cannot corrupt it.
           You become a saint: that means you decide that to be a saint is going to be your essence. But this is
           your decision, and if you want to keep it up to the very end of your life, every morning, in fact, every
           minute of your existence, you will have to decide again and again and vote for it. Any moment you
           stop deciding, any moment you say,'Enough is enough, now I want to change,' nobody is barring the
           path. You can cancel your whole past in a single moment, because that past was your decision,
           nobody else's. It is not like a destiny forced from above, from outside. It is your own inner decision.
           You can change it.
               That's why nothing ever disappears. You can become a sinner, but tomorrow you may again
           change. You can again take the vow of a Catholic priest and become a priest again, become celibate.
           Try to understand this.. This has tremendous implications for your life.
               Don't throw the responsibility on anybody else. Nobody else is a deciding factor, neither your
           mother nor your father. Whatsoever the psychoanalysts say is really irrelevant to your being. It is for
           you to decide. Even the people who are mad are mad because of their own decision. Somehow they
           found it to be convenient. Somehow they decided; they voted for it. Nobody has forced them.
           Nobody can force anybody because the innermost quality of being is freedom. It is not something
           accidental; it is your very nature.
               You have been smoking up to now. For thirty years you may have been a chain smoker and you
           come to me and you ask,'What to do? How to stop?' You are asking a wrong question. In fact, you
           don't want to stop. Go deep into your own mind: you don't want to stop; you are playing a game.
           You don't want to stop but you want to;show people that you want to stop. Or, this very idea that you
           want to stop gives you a very, very good image about yourself. Then you go on saying,'What can I
           do? It has become such a long habit; I cannot stop, though I want to stop.' This is simple, sheer
           foolishness and stupidity. You are not deceiving anybody except yourself. If you really want to Stop,
           there is no need to do anything about it. The very decision that you want to stop is enough: the
           half-smoked cigarette in your hand will drop of its own accord. But you remain free. That does not
           mean that again tomorrow you cannot take it up. You remain free; nobody can bind you. Again
           tomorrow you can take it up. Then please, don't start saying that it is because of old habit:'I tried my
           best, and I had stopped, and for twenty-four hours I didn't smoke. But because of a thirty-year-old
           habit, I am again taking it up. The urge is too much.'
               Do not try to befool anybody. There is nothing like that; you are again deciding. If you are
           deciding, then it is okay. You can find a thousand and one ways to decide again. But remember
           always, it is your decision, yours and nobody else's; and you remain free. That's why it happens that
           nothing seems to disappear forever. It comes again and again -- because you again invoke it to come,
           you again call it to come. I have heard: Mulla Nasrudin had once decided that he would never touch
           any alcoholic thing again in his life any intoxicant. And he was a drunkard. So just to test his own
           will-power, he walked on the path where the pub was. Just in front of the pub, he looked at the pub
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in avery proud way and said to himself,'I have decided that nothing can attract me and nothing can
           force me to g astray'; and he heartily walked a hundred feet away. Then he patted his own back and
           he said,'Nasrudin, you are great. Now I will treat you, come to the pub.' And on that day he drank
           twice.
               Don't play games with yourself. It is your freedom, but freedom is very dangerous because it
           does not leave any corner for you to hide in. You cannot throw responsibility on anybody else.
           Simply and absolutely, you are responsible. Just watch and see the fact of it, and truth liberates.
               If you can see this, then whether you decide to smoke or drink does not matter. Whether you
           decide to drop it does not matter. The only thing that matters is to be always mindful of your
           freedom. If you are not aware of that then this will happen: you will feel that nothing ever really
           drops away. It comes again and again, and of course it comes worse than ever. It comes with a
           vengeance.
               But don't think of yourself as a victim; you are not. Try what I am saying, just watch what I am
           saying. Smoking... let there be a decision that you are not going to smoke. Let the cigarette drop
           from your fingers, and then watch. Just go on observing. Whenever you again want to smoke, don't
           say that it is because of old habit.,It is again a fresh decision, not an old habit. You go on throwing
           the responsibility on the old habit to save your own face. Please don't do that. Say that,'Now I have
           decided to smoke again.' Nobody is barring you; it is your decision. You can cancel, or you can vote
           for it again. But always insist that it is a fresh decision, and you will never be in the grip of so-called
           habits, so-called mechanical habits. You will feel a free man. Smoking or not smoking is immaterial;
           to feel a free man is very significant. Nothing is more significant than that. And I am here to make
           you aware of your freedom. If you go to the so-called saints, they will make you aware of your
           mechanicalness: that is the difference. They will make you aware of your mechanicalness, and they
           will create a new mechanicalness in you. They will say,'You have been smoking for thirty years?
           Now take a vow that you will never smoke again.' Old habit is there; now they are telling you to
           create a greater habit in order to destroy the old habit. Then non-smoking will become a habit, but
           the freedom is nowhere there. Whether you smoke or don't smoke, you remain a victim.
               We have a sannyasin here, Narendra Bodhisattva. His father is a very beautiful man. People think
           that he is a little crazy, but he is really a beautiful man. He belongs to a certain sect of Jainism. He
           went on a visit, on a pilgrimage, and when you go to Jain monks they always ask you to take a vow
           because otherwise your going on the pilgrimage is meaningless. The monk there asked him to take
           some vow, so he decided to take a vow. He said,'I have never smoked in my life -- now I will
           smoke.' The monk must have thought him crazy. He came back and he told me,'This vow I have
           taken.' And now he RELIGIOUS smokes. I said,'You are a beautiful man. You did well.' Whether
           you smoke or don't smoke, all vows lead you to mechanicalness.
               My whole emphasis is that you should become aware of your freedom. Let your life flow out of
           your freedom. Whatsoever you decide is up to you. Who am I to tell you to smoke or not to smoke,
           to drink or not to drink? I am not worried about such foolishnesses; this is for you to decide. You are
           your own master. These are trivia; they are not significant. All that matters is that you remain alert,
           remain centered in your freedom. Never do anything which goes against your freedom. Do --
           everything is allowed if it is done out of freedom. To act out of freedom is to be virtuous, to act out
           of bondage is to sin.

           The fourth question:


              YOU SAY THAT IF A MAN IS THIRSTY HE SHOULD COME AND DRINK FROM YOU. WE ARE
              HERE AS MUCH AS WE CAN BE, AND YOU ARE HERE, ARE YOU NOT? SO WHAT IS MISSING?


               Nothing is missing! On the contrary, something is there which is not needed. Nothing is missing.
           There is something which is not needed: you are too much. Your too-muchness is creating the
           barrier. If you can somehow miss, the thing will happen immediately. When you come to me the
           next time, leave yourself back at home. Come alone; don't bring yourself here. But you go on
           bringing yourself. If it is too difficult to leave yourself at home, then leave yourself where you leave
           your shoes.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nothing is missing. The whole problem of man is not that something is lacking in him, but that
           something more it is a problem of plusses. I am here, available, but you are is there which is not
           needed. It is not a problem of minusses, not there to receive me. It is not because you are empty, but
           because you are too full, too full of yourself. There is no space for me to enter into you: so many
           thoughts, so many ideas, so many ideologies. Somebody is a Christian, somebody is a Hindu,
           somebody is a Mohammedan, somebody is a Jain -- so many diseases; this is the plus. And among
           these diseases is sitting the king of all diseases -- the ego; enthroned, crowned. This plus has to be
           dissolved.
               Here you have to be wakened, empty, void, open, so that the breeze that is blowing here can pass
           through you without any obstruction. And with the breeze, the dust that you have gathered through
           many lives will be blown out. You will be left clean and pure.
               So remember this: whenever you ask such questions, you think that you have to do something
           which you are not doing, that something is missing. No, you are doing something which is not
           needed to be done. While listening to me you are thinking -- that is the plus. While listening 'to me
           just be a listening. There is no need to think, because I am not propounding a philosophy here. I am
           simply stating a few facts. Those facts are not hypothetical; those facts are my realizations. I have
           come to see something which I would like to deliver to you. But if you are listening without
           thinking, only then is it possible. When I say don't think, I don't mean that whatsoever I say you have
           to accept blindly. No, I'm simply saying: just listen; no need to believe in it, no need to disbelieve in
           it. Don't bring that problem in right now. Just listen so that you can understand what I am saying.
           Later on you can think about it, and you can decide whether to be with me or not to be with me. That
           decision is possible only if you have listened rightly.
               And how will you decide if you have not been listening to me? This is the beauty of it, that if you
           have listened rightly, a fact has a certain quality in it: so that once it enters into you, you cannot deny
           it, you cannot be against it. A fact has a self-evidence about it. It does not need any proof or
           argument. It has a truth in it. Once you listen you can feed that truth within you. Just listen to me,
           and then there will be no need to think about it. You will be able to see the truth of it, and truth
           liberates.
               I cannot liberate you, nobody can liberate you; only truth can liberate you. And the truth has to
           be seen by YOU. I may be seeing it, I may be telling it to you. In a thousand and one ways I may be
           showering it upon you, but that is useless if you are not open, if your pot is upside down, if you are
           not listening When I am speaking, if simultaneously you go on thinking of what I am saying, if you
           go on like commentators in a cricket match and you go on commenting -- 'Yes, this is right, that is
           wrong; that I cannot believe; this goes against my philosophy; I am a Christian, what this man is
           saying is anti-Christian; this is not written in the Bible' -- if you go on commenting, while you are
           commenting you are missing me. Then you may listen to bits and fragments, and out of those bits
           and fragments you may create something within you which has nothing to do with me.
               Listen to me as totally as possible. Listening to me, be completely vacant, empty, so that there is
           no resistance. I can pass through and through you; you become transparent to me. Once the
           truth-seed falls into you, there is no need to be worried; it sprouts on its own. It brings much fruit on
           its own. It does not need your help. It simply needs one thing: please don't hinder it. You are not
           asked to help it to grow, you are only asked to allow it to fall in the right soil of your heart.

           The fifth question:


              SHOULD ONE FIRST COME TO TERMS WITH ONE'S OWN LONELINESS BEFORE ENTERING
              INTO RELATIONSHIP?


               Yes, you have to come to terms with your loneliness, so much so that the loneliness is
           transformed into aloneness. Only then will you be capable of moving into a deep enriching
           relationship. Only then will you be able to move into love. What do I mean when I say that one has
           to come to terms with one's loneliness, so much so that it becomes aloneness?
               Loneliness is a negative state of mind. Aloneness is positive, notwithstanding what the
           dictionaries say. In dictionaries, loneliness and aloneness are synonymous -- they are synonyms; in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life they are not. Loneliness is a state of mind when you are constantly missing the other, aloneness
           is the state of mind when you are constantly delighted in yourself. Loneliness is miserable, aloneness
           is blissful. Loneliness is always worried, missing something, hankering for something, desiring for
           something; aloneness is a deep fulfillment, not going out, tremendously content, happy, celebrating.
           In loneliness you are off center, in aloneness you are centered and rooted. Aloneness is beautiful. It
           has an elegance around it, a grace, a climate of tremendous satisfaction. Loneliness is; beggarly; all
           around it there is begging and nothing else. It has no grace around it. In fact it is ugly. Loneliness is a
           dependence, aloneness is SHEER independence. One feels as if one is one's whole world, one's
           whole existence.
                Now, if you move into a relationship when you are feeling lonely, then you will exploit the other.
           The other will become a means to satisfy you. You will use the other, and everybody resents being
           used because no man is here to become a means for anybody else. Every man is an end unto himself.
           Nobody is here to be used like a thing, everybody is here to be worshipped like a king. Nobody is
           here to fulfill anybody else's expectations, everybody is here just to be himself. So whenever you
           move in any relationship out of loneliness, the relationship is already on the rocks. Even before it has
           started, it is already on the rocks. Even before the birth, the child is dead. It is going to create more
           misery for you. And remember, when you move from your loneliness you will fall in relationship
           with somebody who is in the same plight, because no man who is really living his aloneness will be
           attracted towards you. You will be too below him. He can, at the most, sympathize, but cannot love
           you. One who is on his peak of aloneness can only be attracted towards somebody who is also alone.
           So whenever you move out of loneliness, you will find a man of the same type; you will find your
           own reflection somewhere. Two beggars will meet, two miserable people will meet. And remember,
           when two miserable people meet, it is not an ordinary addition, it is a multiplication. They create
           much more misery for each other than they could have created in their loneliness.
                First become alone. First start enjoying yourself. First love yourself. First become so
           authentically happy that if nobody comes it doesn't matter; you are full, overflowing. If nobody
           knocks at your door it is perfectly okay -- YOU are not missing. You are not waiting for somebody
           to come and knock at the door. You are at home. If somebody comes, good, beautiful. If nobody
           comes, that too is beautiful and good.
                THEN move into relationship. Now you move like a master, not like a beggar. Now you move
           like an emperor,. not like a beggar. And the person who has lived in his aloneness will always be
           attracted to another person who is also living his aloneness beautifully, because the same attracts the
           same. When two masters meet -- masters of their being, of their aloneness -- happiness is not just
           added, it is multiplied. It becomes a tremendous phenomenon of celebration. And they don't exploit,
           they share. They don't use each other. Rather, on the contrary, they both become one and enjoy the
           existence that surrounds them.
                Two lonely people are always facing each other, confronting. Two people who have known
           aloneness are together, facing something higher than both. I always give this example: two ordinary
           lovers who are both lonely always face each other; two real lovers, on a full moon night, will not be
           facing each other. They may be holding hands, but they will be facing the full moon high in the sky.
           They will not be facing each other, they will be together facing something else. Sometimes they will
           be listening to a symphony of Mozart or Beethoven or Wagner together. Sometimes they will be
           sitting by the side of a tree and enjoying the tremendous being of the tree enveloping them.
           Sometimes they may be sitting by a waterfall and listening to the wild music that is continuously
           being created there. Sometimes, by the ocean, they will both be looking to the farthest possibility
           that the eyes can see. Whenever two lonely persons meet, they look at each other, because they are
           constantly in search of ways and means to exploit the other: how to use the other, how to be happy
           through the other. But two persons who are deeply contented within themselves are not trying to use
           each other. Rather, they become fellow travellers; they move on a pilgrimage. The goal is high, the
           goal is far away. Their common interest joins them together.
                Ordinarily the common interest is sex. Sex can join two persons momentarily and casually, and
           very superficially. Real lovers have a greater common interest. It is not that sex will not be there; it
           may be there, but as part of a higher harmony. Listening to Mozart's or Beethoven's symphony, they
           may come so close, so close, so close, that there may be love. They may make love to each other, but
           it is in the greater harmony of a Beethoven symphony. The symphony was the real thing; the love
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happens as part of it. And when love happens of its own accord, unsought, unthought, simply
           happens as part of a higher harmony, it has a totally different quality to it. it is divine, it is no longer
           human.
               The word 'happiness' comes from a Scandanavian word 'hap'. The word'happening' also comes
           from the same Scandanavian root. Happiness is that which happens. You cannot produce it, you
           cannot command it, you cannot force it. At the most, you can be available to it. Whenever it
           happens, it happens.
               Two real lovers are always available, but never thinking, never trying to find happiness. Then
           they are never frustrated, because whenever it happens it happens. They create the situation. In fact,
           if you are happy with yourself, you are already the situation, and if the other is also happy with
           himself or herself, she is also the situation. When these two situations come close, a greater situation
           is created. In that greater situation much happens -- nothing is produced.
               Man has not to do anything to be happy. Man has just to flow and let go.
               So, the question is: should one first come to terms with his own loneliness before entering into
           relationship? Yes; yes, absolutely. It has to be so, otherwise you will be frustrated, and in the name
           of love you will be doing something else which is not love at all.

           The last question:


              OSHO, I FEEL YOUR GRACE MELTING ME. LOVE TO YOU MY MASTER.

              It is from Anup.

               It is not a question. A real question is never a question, it is a statement. This is a statement of
           Anup's state of being at this moment. I can also feel that he is melting, but this is just the beginning.
               Don't become too self-conscious about it, or else the melting will stop Allow it so that more and
           more becomes possible. Go on melting, and always remember that more is waiting. Always
           remember that it is always the beginning, never the end. In fact, there is no end to it.
               Life is such a mystery: there are only beginnings, no ends.
               So, go on melting, always remembering that more is coming. Never become satisfied. A
           complacent satisfaction can become suicidal. There come many moments when one feels that more
           is not possible. One comes to a peak and one feels,'Now, how is more possible?' Whenever this idea
           that more is not possible arises in your mind, remember me. More is always possible. There never
           comes a moment when more is not possible. That is the meaning when we say that God is infinite:
           you enter into God but you never reach. Let me repeat it again: you enter into God but you never
           reach Him. You can drown in Him but you cannot say that you have known Him. It is so vast, so
           infinitely vast, and man is just a tiny drop.
               Go on melting, always remembering that more is on the way.




                                          Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                      Chapter #7
                                         Chapter title: The Ego is the Judas
           27 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512270
              ShortTitle: FOLL407
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 76 mins
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              Matthew 26



              47 AND WHILE HE YET SPAKE, LO, JUDAS, ONE OF THE TWELVE, CAME, AND WITH HIM A
              GREAT MULTITUDE WITH SWORDS AND STAVES, FROM THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS
              OF THE PEOPLE.



              48 NOW HE THAT BETRAYED HIM GAVE THEM A SIGN, SAYING: WHOMSOEVER I SHALL KISS,
              THAT SAME IS HE; HOLD HIM FAST.



              49 AND FORTHWITH HE CAME TO JESUS, AND SAID: HAIL, MASTER; AND KISSED HIM.



              55 IN THAT SAME HOUR SAID JESUS TO THE MULTITUDES: ARE YE COME OUT AS AGAINST
              A THIEF WITH SWORDS AND STAVES FOR TO TAKE ME? I SAT DAILY WITH YOU TEACHING IN
              THE TEMPLE, AND YE LAID NO HOLD ON ME.



              56 BUT ALL THIS WAS DONE, THAT THE SCRIPTURES OF THE PROPHETS MIGHT BE
              FULFILLED. THEN ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED.

              Matthew 27



              1 WHEN THE MORNING WAS COME, ALL THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE
              TOOK COUNSEL AGAINST JESUS TO PUT HIM TO DEATH:



              2 AND WHEN THEY HAD BOUND HIM, THEY LED HIM AWAY, AND DELIVERED HIM TO
              PONTIUS PILATE, THE GOVERNOR.



              11 AND JESUS STOOD BEFORE THE GOVERNOR, AND THE GOVERNOR ASKED HIM, SAYING:
              ART THOU THE KING OF THE JEWS? AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM: THOU SAYEST.



              12 AND WHEN HE WAS ACCUSED OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS, HE ANSWERED
              NOTHING.



              THEN SAID PILATE UNTO HIM: HEAREST THOU NOT HOW MANY THINGS THEY WITNESS
              AGAINST THEE?



              14 AND HE ANSWERED TO HIM NEVER A WORD; INSOMUCH THAT THE GOVERNOR
              MARVELLED GREATLY.


              A MAN was travelling through the wilderness when he came across some animals having a
           speech contest. The judge was a lion who invited the man to become part of the audience. The man
           accepted.
              A fox stood up and gave a smooth and clever speech. At one point, he declared,'The moon is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           larger than the sun.'
                The next speaker was an elephant whose voice boomed out with power and authority. His talk
           included the sentence,'Summer is cooler than winter.'
                Then came a tiger whose eloquence impressed everyone. At one point he said,'The river runs
           uphill.'
                The observing man remarked to the lion,'They are superb orators. However, I'm puzzled. All of
           them made statements which were obviously untrue. Not only that, but the audience either did not
           notice or did not care. Why do your speakers make false statements?
                'That's an unworthy habit, alright,' admitted the lion,'but the audience is more interested in
           entertainment than in enlightenment. And, if you don't mind sir, I would like to tell you that we have
           picked up this bad habit from you human beings.'
                The priests, the politicians: they are great orators, superb; great thinkers, very complex weavers,
           spinners of theories, philosophies, but, they are not sincere about religion. They use religion.
           Religion is, at the most, a profession. And the audience is not interested in enlightenment, the
           audience is seeking entertainment. Whether you go to a cinema hall or to a theatre, to a dancing
           party, or to the church or the temple, your interest is the same: you are seeking some place where
           you can forget yourself. You are seeking entertainment.
                Enlightenment is just the opposite. You will have to seek a space within yourself where it
           becomes impossible to forget yourself; where even if you want, it is not possible to forget; where
           self-remembering becomes a constant flame.
                Here is the point where people like Jesus create trouble. They are not great orators. They are not
           interested in theories and they are not there to entertain anybody. They are not professionals. They
           are not using religion for their own ends. They are sincere people -- sincerely interested in helping,
           sincerely interested in creating a situation where man can realize himself. The trouble starts because
           the professionals are already there; the priests, the politicians are already there.
                Whenever a man like Jesus enters into the world, the priests and the politicians become alert. It is
           dangerous for them. If Jesus succeeds, they will be thrown, uprooted. The whole establishment will
           collapse. If the establishment has to remain, then Jesus has to be destroyed.
                This is the first thing to be understood because this is always happening, even today, and this will
           go on happening History goes on repeating itself not because there is any natural law that history
           should repeat itself, but only because man has not changed. Man remains the same, the old. He
           behaves again and again in the same way. You are here with me; many priests are worried about it,
           many politicians are worried about it. Why should they be worried? It is none of their business -- but
           it is. Their very base is that religion should not become a sincere search. It should remain, at the
           most, a superficial entertainment; at the most, a mannerism, an etiquette. And they are afraid,
           because if somebody like Jesus asserts himself, the very presence of Jesus creates a deep inferiority
           in them. Not that Jesus is trying to make them inferior; Jesus is not even aware of it. He has not even
           thought about it. But through his very presence... the sun rises in the morning, and the stars,
           disappear. Whenever Jesus is there, the priests start disappearing. The politicians are in a difficulty;
           they cannot hold their ground.
                I have heard a very beautiful anecdote about a certain doctor, Buzby. He was a great headmaster
           in England, a very famous headmaster. Even the king became interested. And once, the king went to
           see the headmaster in his school. The king was allowed in the school. Doctor Buzby started through
           the schoolrooms with his hat on his head, while His Majesty walked complacently behind him with
           his hat under his arm. The other people who had followed the king were a little disturbed and
           worried and restless:'Is this headmaster a little eccentric? He has not shown even that much respect
           to the king; he could have taken his hat off.' Even the king was a little uneasy about it, but he didn't
           say anything.
                When he was taking his leave at the door, the doctor, with great humility, then addressed the
           king,'I hope Your Majesty will excuse my want of respect hitherto, but if my boys were to imagine
           that there were a greater man in the kingdom than myself, I should never be able to rule them. So
           please excuse me.' He said,'They should know that even the king is not greater than their headmaster.
           Otherwise, it would be impossible to rule them again.'
                This is what happens when a Jesus walks on the earth: the politicians, the priests, become afraid.
           They cannot allow the common man to know that a greater possibility exists, that a greater man is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible. Otherwise, they will not be able to rule again. Hence, Jesus has to be crucified. He has to
           be destroyed before the public so the public can know well 'who is the boss here'.
           Listen to the sutras.

              AND WHILE HE YET SPAKE, LO, JUDAS, ONE OF THE TWELVE, CAME, AND WITH HIM A
              GREAT MULTITUDE WITH SWORDS AND STAVES, FROM THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS
              OF THE PEOPLE.


               Judas was Jesus' own disciple. He betrayed him. Only love can betray, because to betray
           somebody, you have to come close to him. To hate somebody, first you have to love him. Remember
           this complexity of love: whenever you love somebody, a part of you goes on hating because love
           requires surrender, and the ego resists. Love requires that you should be lost, that you should become
           one with your lover, your Master, your beloved, your friend, your God. Love requires that you
           should disappear, and the ego resists, the ego starts struggling against it. Judas is nothing but a
           representation of the ego. And remember that Judas exists in each of you; in everybody, the ego is
           the Judas.
               Let me repeat it again. Those twelve disciples of Jesus were very simple people, except for
           Judas. They were uneducated people, common people, people of the earth. You would not have
           recognized them anywhere in a crowd. They would have been lost. Only Judas was not ordinary. He
           was polished, educated, cultured, sophisticated: that's what the ego is. Ego is nothing but a
           sophistication. Ego is nothing but the part which has become extraordinary in you. When you love,
           you become ordinary.
               Remember, people who are very egoistic are always against love. In India you will find them in
           the monasteries, in the Himalayas. People who are very egoistic are against love. They may say that
           they are leaving the world, the world of love, to seek and search for God. They are deceiving nobody
           except themselves; because unless you love tremendously, you cannot seek God. In the Himalayan
           peaks, they are seeking nothing but their own egos. God is to be sought in love because God is to be
           sought in your own crucifixion; when the ego disappears, He is.
               Have you watched in your own mind that whenever you are moving in a love relationship, there
           arises a certain uneasiness? You are allured, fascinated. You would like to delve deeply into it, but a
           part of you starts becoming uneasy. Look at that part; that is Judas. That part says,'What are you
           going to do? -- surrender? What are you going to do? -- become ordinary?'
               Nothing is more ordinary than love. Love is very earthly. Nothing is more natural than love.
           Nobody needs to learn it; everybody is born knowing it. Love is all over. The whole existence throbs
           in love. Love is the very beat of life. Love is very natural, very ordinary.
               The ego is *unnatura1, extraordinary: you want to feel superior to others, you want to be
           crowned. You don't want to belong to the earth because all belong to the earth. You want something
           to be special, to be somebody special -- it is the Judas.
           To betray, one needs to be in love.
               Judas loved Jesus, but could not love totally. That is the problem: if you love and you don't love
           totally, you can betray at any moment, because the part that is not yet in love will go on finding ways
           and means to rebel, to go against. Then Jesus was crucified because of this betrayal. The next day,
           Judas committed suicide. That too is a very deep, a deeply meaningful parable. Why did he commit
           suicide himself the next day? Because then there was no point -- the whole ego had been existing
           against Jesus. He loved Jesus, but only a part, and a part was fighting. Now with Jesus crucified, that
           part which was fighting disappeared. There was no point now, and he could not have found a man
           like Jesus again to hate, to fight, to struggle against, to love. Once Jesus was gone, Judas was
           meaningless. Once Jesus was gone, the whole existence of Judas became empty. He committed
           suicide. In his life there was meaning because of Jesus; he loved and hated the man. On one side he
           loved, on another side he hated.
               A Judas means: one who is divided within himself. A Judas means: one who is schizophrenic,
           split. Judas is not just the name of a certain person who betrayed Jesus; Judas is a disease. Judas is a
           psychological split.
               So while listening to these sutras, always remember that you can be a Judas, and you can be a
           Jesus also. If the split disappears, you are a Jesus. If the split goes on existing, you remain a Judas.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Between Judas and Jesus there is just a little distance, and the distance is that of division. Are you
           divided in your love? -- then you are a Judas. Are you undivided in your love? -- then you are a
           Jesus.

              AND WHILE HE YET SPAKE, LO, JUDAS, ONE OF THE TWELVE, CAME, AND WITH HIM A
              GREAT MULTITUDE WITH SWORDS AND STAVES, FROM THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS
              OF THE PEOPLE.
              NOW HE THAT BETRAYED HIM GAVE THEM A SIGN, SAVING: WHOMSOEVER I SHALL KISS,
              THAT SAME IS HE; HOLD HIM FAST.


                Very symbolic -- betraying Jesus by kissing him -- the kiss of death. The same kiss that could
           have been of love, was of betrayal. The SAME kiss that could have been of love, was of betrayal.
           The same kiss that could been of life became part of death. The same kiss which could have been
           elixir, ambrosia, became poison. The kiss is the same, but the quality that you bring to it makes it
           either the ambrosia of eternal life or makes it poison.
                Remember: gestures are always the same; only you change behind them. Only you change;
           gestures are the same. You love, you hate, you surrender, you resist; gestures are the same. But the
           quality behind them changes, because gestures are only containers; whatsoever you put inside them
           is the real thing.
           Judas had chosen a kiss as an indication.
                He said to the multitude, to the enemies,'Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast.'
           He could have chosen some other gesture also. Anything would have been indicative, so why a kiss?
                A part of him loved Jesus; a part of him loved him tremendously. Never be very hard on Judas.
           Christians have been very hard. Have compassion. Never be very hard on Judas, because he is
           hidden within you also. Don't just hate him because he betrayed, because you also have the same
           tendency to betray. Every human being is prone to become a Judas. I say to you, have compassion on
           him. Try to understand him. Why had he chosen the kiss? He could have chosen any indication.
                A part of him really loved Jesus, but a part hated him. It was a love-hate relationship. It was both,
           a dichotomy. Remember, if your love is nothing but an opposition to hate, if your love is nothing but
           an opposite to hate, the hate will exist within you. There is another dimension of love where love is
           only the absence of hate, not opposite to it. I teach you THAT love: love as an absence of hate. The
           real problem is not how to love; the real problem is how to understand hate and drop it through that
           understanding. Don't hide your hate, don't suppress it; bring it out, get rid of it. Before you can be
           able to really love and love totally, hate has to be dropped. You can do a simple thing: you can hide
           the hate and you can go on loving. But the hate which is hiding behind you is going to betray, some
           day or other. You are a Judas, and you are going to be a Judas.
                Until Judas betrayed Jesus, he himself was not aware of what he was doing. He became aware
           only when Jesus was crucified, when he himself saw what he had done. Then he became aware.
           Then he repented, and committed suicide.

              ... I SHALL KISS, THE SAME IS HE; HOLD HIM FAST. AND FORTHWITH HE CAME TO JESUS,
              AND SAID: HAIL, MASTER; AND KISSED HIM.
              IN THAT SAME HOUR SAID JESUS TO THE MULTITUDES: ARE YE COME OUT AS AGAINST A
              THIEF WITH SWORDS AND STAVES FOR TO TAKE ME? I SAT DAILY WITH YOU TEACHING IN
              THE TEMPLE, AND YE LAID NO HOLD ON ME.


               Jesus was moving with the multitudes, in the marketplace, in the temple; he was teaching. He
           said to these people,'Why have you come with swords and staves, as if you have come against a
           thief? And I have always been a part of you, I have always lived amongst you, I have been teaching
           in the temple, so why do you come in the middle of the night with swords, with such a big crowd to
           catch me, to hold me? Why? You could have caught me any day. And there is no need for swords.
           You know well that I have got no swords to fight with.' What was Jesus saying to them? He had not
           said a single word to Judas. That's very, very meaningful.
               There was nothing to say to Judas. All that could have been said, had been said. On Judas he had
           been working for years, but it seemed that the disease was incurable. It seemed that the more he had
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tried to change him, the more he had become resistant and stubborn, It seemed the more attention
           had been given to him, the more he had become egoistic. He didn't say a single word to Judas, but he
           talked to the multitudes, to the crowd.
               Why had this crowd come with swords? They were afraid, afraid of what they were going to
           commit. Remember this, because to come to Jesus with swords is simply meaningless, absurd. He is
           a simple man who has always been moving everywhere, who could have been caught any day, by
           anybody; a fragile body. There was no problem, ever. Why with swords? Try to understand.
               Whenever you carry a sword, it is not against anybody else; it is only because you are afraid. It is
           because of your fear. They were afraid. For what they were going to commit, they were already
           guilty about it. These swords were not against Jesus because they were not needed against him.
           Those swords were against their own guilt, their own fear, their own cowardice. They knew well that
           to face Jesus was going to be difficult. Just to look into his eyes would be very difficult. And to catch
           hold of him, to make him a prisoner was going to be almost impossible.
               They came with swords to have courage, to not be afraid. They came with swords so there would
           be no need to look into this man's eyes. Bare-handed, he could have been caught anywhere. He was
           absolutely unprotected, insecure. And these people knew him well. There was no need, in fact, for
           Judas even to indicate who he was. Everybody knew about him.
               But the priests were also afraid, the politicians were also afraid. They also wanted to throw the
           responsibility on somebody else who could be, could become, the scapegoat for centuries to come.
           They found Judas. Then Judas became the symbol of betrayal. It is as if Judas became the real
           culprit.

               IN THAT SAME HOUR SAID JESUS TO THE MULTITUDES: ARE YE COME OUT AS AGAINST A
               THIEF WITH SWORDS AND STAVES FOR TO TAKE ME? I SAT DAILY WITH YOU TEACHING IN
               THE TEMPLE, AND YE LAID NO HOLD ON ME.
               BUT ALL THIS WAS DONE, THAT THE SCRIPTURES OF THE PROPHETS MIGHT BE FULFILLED.


                This point is significant. In the life of Jesus, or in the life of Krishna, or in the life of Buddha, this
           point is very significant. They always speak as if they are playing a part in a drama, as if they are
           simply acting, as if this earth is a great stage and they are fulfilling simple prophecies.
                It is said that before Rama was born, a great poet, Valmiki, wrote Rama's whole life; before he
           was born! And then Rama was born; he had to follow Valmiki, because when such a great poet
           writes something, it has to be followed. What else can you do?
                It may not have been so, but the story is beautiful. It says that life is a drama: as if it has been
           written already and it is only unfolding.
                Jesus said to those people,'But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be
           fulfilled.' It was said in the old scriptures that this was the way the Messiah was to be caught,
           crucified. This was the way that the Messiah was to be betrayed by his own disciple, Judas.
                What is Jesus saying? He's saying to Judas, in an indirect way,'Don't feel guilty about it. It is just
           a fulfillment of a prophecy. You are not responsible.' This is his love. He is taking the responsibility
           from Judas. He is saying,'Don't be afraid, don't feel guilty, don't feel responsible. You are not doing
           anything. You are just an instrument in the hands of history. It has been prophesied long before that
           one of my disciples would betray me. You are just instrumental.'
                This is what Krishna said to Arjuna in the Gita:'Don't be worried. You simply fight the war. You
           are just instrumental; NIMITTA MATRA -- you are not the doer. The doer is always God. You are
           just a vehicle that He is using. You just surrender yourself into the hands of the whole, and let things
           happen. Whatsoever is going to happen is going to happen. You relax. Please don't be tense about it.'
                The same is Jesus' meaning when he says,'But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets
           might be fulfilled.' He is saying to Judas,'Don't be worried.' He is saying to the multitudes,'Don't feel
           afraid. Nobody is doing anything wrong. Everything is okay, because this is how it had to happen.
           This is a beautiful gesture on Jesus' part.
                Just a few days ago I was reading the story of a Hassid mystic, Baal Shem. One day he was
           sitting just in front of his house. It must have been a winter morning like this, cold, and he was
           sunning himself. A beggar came. He told the beggar to wait and he would go in the house to search
           for something for him. But he could not find anything; there was nothing. The wife had gone to some
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           neighbor, and he could only find his wife's ring, the wedding ring that he had given her. He came
           with the ring and gave it to the beggar.
               When the wife returned and found her ring missing, she asked. Baal Shem told the whole story:'I
           searched, but nothing could be found.'
               The wife created much trouble for him. She said,'You run after him! Catch hold of the beggar.
           That ring is my wedding ring and it is very costly, almost a hundred gold coins!'
               Baal Shem ran to catch hold of the beggar, and many people followed him -- 'What is going to
           happen?' They could not believe that Baal Shem could do that, but he ran. In the marketplace, he
           found the beggar. He caught hold of him and said,'Wait! Listen to me! That ring is very costly. It can
           fetch almost one hundred gold coins. Don't allow anybody to cheat you.' That's all that he did, and he
           went back.
               You cannot understand the gesture of love. Everybody in the neighborhood thought that he was
           going to take hold of that beggar and take the ring back. The wife was very happy when he ran; she
           also thought so. Because we live in such a loveless heart, we cannot understand the gesture of love.
               It is a gesture of love when Jesus says,'But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets
           might be fulfilled.'
               Remember well, he does not mean what he says. Christians have been befooled by the words.
           They think that exactly what he is saying, he also means. No.
               Existence is freedom. It is not determined beforehand. It is not predestined. If it were predestined
           then all meaning would be lost. Life is not a drama, but you can take it as a drama. If you take it as a
           drama, you transcend life. But remember, life is not a drama; life is total freedom. Nobody can
           predict what is going to happen the next moment, because the next moment comes as if out of the
           blue, totally free and fresh. If it could be predicted, then all meaning would be lost.
               Jesus is not saying that he believes in fate. Jesus is not saying that he believes that life is
           absolutely determined, every bit of it, no. Then why does he say this:'But all this was done that the
           scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled'? This is a gesture of love. He is trying to create a
           situation in which Judas should not feel guilty. He is creating a situation in which the multitudes
           which have come to take over, to make him prisoner, should not feel guilty. He is saying that it has
           to be so, so it is happening; nobody is at fault. He is making everybody free of fault. This is a love
           gesture; tremendously loving and caring about people.
               His last words on the cross were again the same:'Father, forgive them, because they don't know
           what they are doing.

              BUT ALL THIS WAS DONE, THAT THE SCRIPTURES OF THE PROPHETS MIGHT BE FULFILLED.
              THEN THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED -- one betrayed, the remaining fled. To be a
              disciple is really a very arduous thing.


               When everything was going well, disciples were there. But now everything was going wrong.
           Jesus is being caught; disciples start disappearing. They fled. This is the moment, the moment which
           will decide who is a disciple. Judas betrayed, but the others who fled also betrayed in a way. Their
           betrayal was negative and Judas' betrayal was positive, but both were betrayals. It is really difficult
           to become a disciple, because when things are going good everything can be with the Master, but
           when things start going bad, and every hill has a valley, and every day has a night... even Jesus has a
           dark night following him. In the day you can be with Jesus, but in the night, when darkness
           surrounds and everywhere is fear; when death is lurking all around, then to be with Jesus -- there is
           the test, there is the criterion -- of whether you are really a disciple or not.
               I have heard a beautiful story. It is not exactly a story, but a real thing: it happened.
               Shortly after the Second World War, a devastated city in England began its heart-breaking and
           wearing work of restoration. In the old city square had stood a large statue of Jesus Christ with his
           hands outspread, in an attitude of invitation. On the pedestal were carved the words: Come unto me.
           In the process of the restoration of the statue, with the aid of master artists and sculptors, the figure
           eventually was reassembled except for the hands, of which no fragments could be discovered
           anywhere in the surrounding rubble. Someone made the suggestion that the artist would have to
           fashion new hands, since the former hands could not be found. Later came a public protest, couched
           in the words,'No, leave him without hands.' So today, in the public square of that English city, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           restored statue of Christ stands without hands, and on its base are carved the words: Christ has no
           hands but ours.
                Those twelve hands all betrayed: one positively, eleven negatively. And Christ has no hands
           except ours, because Christ is a being, PURE being. And all that is to be done is to be done through
           us, through the hands. In that moment, when Judas betrayed and the remaining eleven fled, Jesus was
           left without hands, a pure being. In fact, that moment was the moment of crucifixion. The next day,
           it was nothing new. In that moment, the hands of Christ were cut. In that moment, the real
           crucifixion happened. The next day was just a repetition of it in more materialistic terms, but
           spiritually, Jesus was left without hands.

              WHEN THE MORNING WAS COME, ALL THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE
              TOOK COUNSEL AGAINST JESUS TO PUT HIM TO DEATH:
              AND WHEN THEY HAD BOUND HIM, THEY LED HIM AWAY, AND DELIVERED HIM TO PONTIUS
              PILATE, THE GOVERNOR. AND JESUS STOOD BEFORE THE GOVERNOR, AND THE
              GOVERNOR ASKED HIM, SAYING: ART THOU THE KING OF THE JEWS? AND JESUS SAID
              UNTO HIM: THOU SAYEST.


               Jesus was tremendously misunderstood whenever he talked about the kingdom of God. He never
           talked about the kingdom of this earth. Whenever he said,'I am the King of the Jews,' he never meant
           to assert any throne on this earth. He was saying something very symbolically. He was saying that he
           was the cream of the Jewish genius. He was saying that he was the heart of the Jewish race. He was
           saying that he was the flower of the Jewish tree of life. When he said that he was the king, he never
           meant that he was the king politically.
               But this is always so: you have to use the language of the people you are talking to, and that very
           language which you wanted to communicate with becomes the barrier, becomes the cause of all
           misunderstanding.
               The people understood the superficial meaning of his words. Had they been a little more in tune
           with themselves, had they been a little more silent, had they been a little more meditative and
           prayerful, they would have understood what Jesus was saying.
               Many times I say things to you and immediately I feel that you must have misunderstood me. I
           have to use words. You hear my words, you cannot hear my meaning -- because the meaning is a
           silent shadow that follows the word. You hear the word and you supply the meaning. My meaning is
           lost.
           Words may be mine, but meanings are yours.
               Once it happened: A thirsty wanderer in the desert was in despair over finding water. He
           struggled frantically from one hilltop to the next in an effort to sight a stream which was supposed to
           be in that region. His eyes searched in every direction, but without success. While staggering
           through some dry bushes his foot caught on a branch, spilling him to the ground. Exhausted, and
           dejected, he remained there. Feeling no energy, feeling no motivation to move, feeling nowhere to
           go, he remained there as if dead on the ground, listening to the surrounding silence. The desert was
           absolutely silent. There was nothing except silence. Suddenly, his head jerked upwards. He heard
           something new. It was the faint but definite sound of running water. Strengthened by the sound, he
           followed it all the way to a clear and cool stream of water.
               A silent but alert mind can hear the first faint invitation to abundant supply and refreshment.
               When you are near a man like Jesus, listen to his silence, not to his words.If you only listen to his
           words you are bound to misunderstand him. Just listen to his silence, and each of his words is
           followed by silence. In fact, a man like Jesus speaks only so that you can hear his silence. You will
           say,'Then why does he speak in the first place?' If he did not speak, you would not be able to
           understand his silence. Speech becomes the contrast, words become the contrast. It is just as if you
           write on a blackboard with white chalk. You can write on a white board with white chalk, but then it
           will be impossible to read what is written.
               A man like Jesus speaks: through his words he creates the blackboard, and through his silence,
           the white chalk. Forget the blackboard. That is just a device to bring silence to your heart, to bring
           silence to your awareness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THE GOVERNOR ASKED JESUS: ART THOU THE KING OF THE JEWS? AND JESUS
           SAID UNTO HIM: THOU SAYEST.'I am not saying,' he said.'I have not said it. It is you who are
           saying it. If you say so, it's okay.'

              AND WHEN HE WAS ACCUSED OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS, HE ANSWERED
              NOTHING.


               This has to be understood also. He answered Pilate; at least he said,'Thou sayest.' But when the
           priests and the elders accused him of a thousand and one things, he answered nothing. Why?
               Pontius Pilate was a stranger. It is possible sometimes to speak to a stranger. It is very difficult to
           speak to people who think they are familiar with you, who already think that they know you. It is
           impossible to speak to the people who think they know you, because whatsoever you say is not
           going to help; they already know you. They will interpret you in the old way, in their way, so that
           they understand you. Pilate was absolutely a stranger. He was a Roman governor, he was not a Jew.
           He was not at all concerned with the Jewish religion. Jesus looked at the governor, and he said,'Thou
           sayest.' He may have been able to understand Jesus. And the story goes that Pilate felt very much for
           him. He understood, a little. Being a stranger, it was possible for him to understand this man. At least
           he could see him without any prejudice. It was none of his concern: he was not a Jew, he was not a
           priest, he was a foreigner. He could look at this man directly, without any clouds in his mind. He felt
           for this man. This man looked absolutely innocent. In fact, Pontius Pilate wanted him to be freed.
               Two more persons were going to be crucified that day: two thieves along with Jesus. And it was
           the custom that the people could ask for one person to be freed. One person could be freed by the
           governor, so the governor hoped that they would ask for Jesus to be freed. He even hinted; he sent
           messages to the elders, to the priests, saying,'It will be good if Jesus can be freed. The man seems to
           be innocent.' But no, the people wanted his blood. They asked that one of the thieves should be
           freed, not Jesus.
               A thief, a murderer, was freed and an absolutely innocent man was killed. The man, the thief
           who was freed, himself became a disciple of Jesus. Seeing the innocence of this man, he could not
           believe how he had been freed. He was not worthy. The very phenomenon changed his life.

              AND WHEN HE WAS ACCUSED OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS, HE ANSWERED
              NOTHING.
              THEN SAID PILATE UNTO HIM: HEAREST THOU NOT HOW MANY THINGS THEY WITNESS
              AGAINST THEE?
              AND HE ANSWERED TO HIM NEVER A WORD; INSOMUCH THAT THE GOVERNOR
              MARVELLED GREATLY.


               Why did the governor marvel greatly at the silence of Jesus? His silence was very, very eloquent.
           His remaining in silence showed much that could not be said. Whenever a person feels guilty he
           starts defending; that is natural. Whenever you feel wrong you start arguing; that is natural.
           Whenever you feel that something has gone amiss you start rationalizing; that is natural.
               If you are really innocent, then what is there to defend, argue, rationalize? If you are really
           innocent, only silence can say anything. Words won't help. Pilate, the governor, must have seen
           many criminals in his life, all arguing.
               I have heard a story: Once it happened that one great Russian Czar, Peter, went to see his prison.
           Once a year he used to go there, and it was up to him to free anybody. If he took the fancy of freeing
           anybody, there was nobody to hinder. So he would go from one cell to another, and all the criminals,
           great criminals, murderers, would say,'Sir, -- we are innocent. We have been unfairly caught.
           Somebody else has done it. Have mercy on us!'
               Only one man who was accused of murder and was sentenced for his whole life said,'Sir, I am a
           criminal; I have committed the murder. And I don't feel that even my whole life's imprisonment is
           enough punishment. Give me more punishment! I feel guilty!'
               Peter said,'Release this rascal immediately! He will corrupt others. All are so innocent but this
           rascal.' That man was freed immediately.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Innocence accepts. PURE innocence has nothing to reject, nothing to accept. If you are a
           criminal, your whole mind will work on how to get out of it. If you accept it, you are already out of
           it. But Jesus was not a criminal at all. He had not committed any crime. He was the purest soul ever.
           He had nothing to accept, nothing to reject that's the meaning of his silence.
                'And the governor marvelled'... he had never seen such a silent man, so close to death yet so
           peaceful; so close to death and so relaxed; so close to death and so un-defensive; so close to death
           and not trying in any way to save himself -- so surrendered.

              AND HE ANSWERED TO HIM NEVER A WORD; INSOMUCH THAT THE GOVERNOR
              MARVELLED GREATLY.


                Jesus succeeded as a rebel; he failed as a revolutionary. If you ask buddhas, they will say that he
           succeeded. If you ask ordinary people, they will say that he failed.
                A great crowd had gathered on the day when he was crucified to see whether he was going to do
           some miracle. They went home frustrated. No miracle happened, no miracle at all. He died silently,
           as any ordinary man would have died. There was not a difference, not a bit of difference.
                But I would like to tell you: give flowers to rebels who fail, because all the successful ones have
           always betrayed the revolution.
                Every revolution has been a betrayed revolution. Only a rebel who fails totally is a real rebel,
           because to succeed he will have to use the ways and means of this world. And in using those ways
           and means is the failure. Jesus died a humble man, in total surrender, without any power; this is his
           success.
                The church is a failure because the church has succeeded in becoming a great establishment.
           Now, upon this earth, the Christian church is the greatest establishment. Fords and Rockefellers,
           Morgans and Carnegies are nothing; the Christian church is the greatest business on the earth today.
           Other great companies are very, very small companies compared. to the Christian church. It is a
           world-wide establishment. The church succeeded and failed; Jesus failed and succeeded.
                Give your flowers to rebels who have failed, because they are the truly rebellious people.
                A rebellious person remains individual; there is no other way. He flowers, he blooms, and
           disappears. He does not leave any trace behind of his success. In fact, there are no proofs to show
           that Jesus ever existed; except for the Gospel, which is a Christian document, there is no other proof
           that he ever existed. Nowhere else is ke mentioned. How has it happened that such a great
           phenomenon has not left any footprints?
                The greater the phenomenon, the lesser the footprints in history. The greater the phenomenon,
           the lesser the footprints in time. He succeeds in eternity; he fails in time. Those who succeed in time
           fail in eternity.
                Give your flowers to those rebels who have failed....
                And Jesus is the topmost failure in the world. He failed tremendously, he failed beautifully. He is
           a pinnacle of failure, the climax, because he is a rebel, not a revolutionary. Lenin succeeded, Gandhi
           succeeded, Mao succeeded; these are revolutionaries, they are not rebels. They all betrayed the
           revolution. Once a rebellion becomes a revolution, it is already on the path of betrayal.
                If you really want to be a rebel -- and that is the only way to be a religious person -- then you
           have to be alone. Then you have to be an alone flame in the infinite darkness around; without any
           organization, without any establishment. You have to live alone. Only God is your companion,
           nobody else. And that too is not right to say, that God is your companion, because God is your
           innermost being.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                       Chapter #8
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                    Chapter title: The whole Sky belongs to You
           28 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512280
              ShortTitle: FOLL408
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 81 mins




              The first question:


              YOU SAID WE SUFFER BECAUSE OF THE EGO. AND THEN YOU ALSO SAY THAT THE EGO
              DOES NOT EXIST. MY SUFFERING IS REAL. HOW CAN IT BE CAUSED BY SOMETHING THAT
              IS NOT REAL, THAT DOESN'T EXIST?


               YOU can suffer in a dream, you can suffer in a nightmare. While it lasts, to all practical
           purposes, it appears real. But when you awake, then you know it was not real, and even then you
           know that you had suffered. You may still be perspiring, you may still be trembling because of the
           nightmare. Your heart may still be beating faster than usual. Awake, you know that it was just a
           dream, but still you suffered. Not only that, but even now when you are awake, there is a hang-over.
           The after-effects are still continuing.
               You suffer from an ego which does not exist. In fact, you suffer because it does not exist and you
           go on believing that it exists. If you believe in something which is not, you are bound to suffer
           because you will try in every possible way to feel that it exists. But it cannot exist. Just watch:
           whenever you suffer, watch; where does it hurt? -- you will always find that it is the'I', the ego that
           hurts.
               You would like to live a life where there is no suffering, but that life is not possible if you
           continuously carry the ego with you. You cannot make a life around you so that suffering disappears.
           If you carry the ego, again and again you will bump into some reality which will hurt the unreal.
           Whenever there is an encounter between reality and unreality, the unreal causes suffering.
               I have heard one anecdote about a very famous man, Oscar Wilde. At a function where the views
           of celebrities were being canvassed, Oscar Wilde was asked to compile his list of a hundred best
           books.'I fear,' said he,'that would be impossible.''Why?' he was asked. He said,'Because I have only
           written five.'
               You go on looking at life just from one single point -- you. Humanity used to believe that earth
           was the center of the universe; and man, of course, the center of the earth; and you, of course, the
           center of humanity.
               I have heard about a professor of philosophy in the university of Paris. One day he declared,'I am
           the greatest man in the world!'
               The disciples laughed: he was a poor philosopher. But whenever;he said something he must
           mean something, so they asked. And they asked,'You being a logician, please prove it.'
               He brought a map of the world into the class, and said to the students,'Which is the greatest
           country in the world? Can you tell me, can you show me?'
               They were all French, so of course France was the greatest country in the world.
               So he said,'Now, the whole world is hot the-question. If I can prove that I am the greatest man in
           France, then I am proved.'
               They said,'That looks right.' But now they started feeling a little uneasy.
           He said,'And which is the greatest city in France?'
               Of course, they were all Parisians, so it was Paris. Now they became even more afraid; he was
           bringing the truth home.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And then he said,'Which is the greatest and the holiest place in Paris?'
               Of course, it was the university.
           'And which is the greatest department in the university?'
           Of course, it was the department of philosophy.
           And he said,'I am the head of the department!'
               When for the first time it was discovered that the earth was not the center of the universe, it
           damaged the human ego tremendously. The church fought it because it was not only a question of
           the earth. Deep down it was a question of the human ego: if the earth is not the center, then man
           cannot be the center; and if earth is just a far-off outer post, and not at the center of existence, then
           man may be, at the most, a coincidence. The so-called religious people struggled against the idea.
               Galileo was called into the court, an old man, and was asked to confess his sin: that he had
           committed a mistake, and to admit it. He had said and proved that it is not the sun that moves around
           the earth; On the contrary, it is the earth that moves around the sun. If the earth moves around the
           sun, then the sun is the center. He said,'I can admit that I have committed a mistake, and I confess,
           but there is one thing I must tell: whether I confess, whether I admit it or not, makes no difference.
           The earth moves around the sun. It will not change its course just because Galileo asks to be
           forgiven. You can kill me, and I am ready to ask to be forgiven. I am ready to admit that I have
           committed a mistake, but my admission is not going to help; the earth will go on moving around the
           sun, the earth is not at the center.'
               Why was the church so adamant? There was reason in it, very, very significant reason in it: once
           earth is not at the center, man is not at the center. Then you disappear in a vast universe. In fact,
           religious people should have been in favor of it because they had been against ego. But then
           religious people, really religious people, are very rare and few.
               The whole effort of religion is how to drop the ego. The whole effort is how to penetrate into the
           phenomenon of the ego and to SEE the unreality of it.
               I It is unreal, and I know your suffering is real. The unreal can cause a real suffering; there is not
           a problem in it. Because the unreal becomes almost real when you believe in it -- you believe in a
           ghost, then the ghost is there.
               In my town, just near my house there was a very old tree. My window was just near the tree, and
           I didn't like people walking, coming and going, so I spread a rumor that there was a ghost. By and
           by, it became a reality. First people laughed, but even in their laughter there was fear.
               I had an old servant, so I told him one day to just sit in the tree, and when people passed by, to
           just create noise. The whole town recognized the fact that this was the truth. My family knew that I
           wanted absolute silence near that tree so that nobody would pass. But by and by, they also became
           afraid -- 'Who knows?' I told them,'You know that this is just a trick!' But they said,'When the whole
           town believes, and nobody walks on that path in the night, and even in the day people are afraid...
           who knows?'
               Once you believe, the unreal thing becomes real. Your belief makes it real: then it hurts, then it
           hurts almost as if it were real. It is only a question of belief. Man is a believing animal. Whatsoever
           you believe, you make it real by your belief And you can come to know the reality only when you
           drop all beliefs.
               Remember, you can face reality only when you drop all beliefs, all conceptions about it, and you
           come naked, nude and empty; carrying no philosophy, no belief, nothing -- not even the belief that'I
           am'. That too is a belief. Just come empty, innocent, not knowing anything, and then the mystery will
           be revealed to you; not before it. And the ego is one of the most unreal things; but one wants to
           believe in it, one wants to be someone. To be nobody needs much courage. To be a nothingness
           needs infinite daring. Only a Buddha or a Jesus -- rare human beings -- come to realize that
           emptiness. And through that emptiness is realized the fullness of life.

           The second question:


              SOMETIMES I FEEL I DON'T EXIST. WHEN I COME INTO A ROOM, NO ONE SEES ME. WHEN I
              SPEAK, NO ONE HEARS. WHEN A FRIEND TOUCHES ME, I AM NOT SOLID. I FEEL LIKE A
              PIECE OF QUICKSILVER THAT RUNS AWAY FROM BETWEEN YOUR FINGERS. HOW CAN I
              LOSE MYSELF IF I AM NOT THERE?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               It is a very basic question. It has to be understood in many steps.
               First: nobody can see you except yourself, because the others can see only. your periphery, not
           you. They can see your body: they can see your eyes, your face, but not you. You are hidden deep
           behind. These are all curtains; these are all like clouds. Your light, your flame of life, is hidden deep
           behind. Nobody can penetrate it, you are impenetrable.
               Except you, nobody can see you. Except you, nobody can touch you. Except you, nobody can
           feel who you are.
               People can move around and around you, just on the periphery; nobody can reach to the center.
           Neither can you reach to anybody else's center. The innermost core is absolutely private. Even lovers
           cannot penetrate it. Deep in love, still you cannot penetrate it.
               That is the misery of lovers: they would like to penetrate each other, they would like to go as far
           as possible, they would like to meet and mingle and become one, and all efforts fail. Whatsoever
           they do, they find that it doesn't succeed. Somewhere they remain two. Somewhere the separateness
           remains. They can forget that they are separate, but they cannot become one.
               That is the misery of love, the suffering, the anguish, because love would like to become one.
           Love would like to lose all separateness, all boundaries. But again and again; one comes to the
           boundary, the limitation.
               So, this is the first basic fact to understand: that except for yourself, nobody can penetrate your
           privacy. That is the difference between a rock and you. The rock can be penetrated to the very
           center; it has no privacy. That is the difference between matter and consciousness.
               Matter has no privacy; consciousness has privacy. Matter can be understood from the outside
           because matter has no inside. There is nothing like inner in matter; everything is outer. And in
           consciousness, just the opposite is the case: everything is inner and nothing is outer
           Consciousness is an infinite inwardness.
               Consciousness is depth, matter is surface. Matter is like the waves on the ocean; you,
           consciousness, you are the depth of the ocean. And this inwardness can never be penetrated because
           once it is penetrated it becomes a public thing; it becomes an object. It is no more inward, it becomes
           outward. If somebody can see you, you are reduced to an object, to a thing. You are not a man then.
           Try to understand this. That's why whenever somebody looks at you, stares at you, you feel uneasy.
               In Hindi we call that type of man LUCHA. The word means: one who stares at you. The word
           LUCHA comes from LOCHAN; LOCHAN means: the eye. One who goes on staring at you, goes on
           staring at you, is violating, is trespassing. He is not civilized. He is incivil, uncultured.
               There is a certain limit, a time limit: psychologists have come to discover that it is near about
           three seconds. If for three seconds you look at somebody there is no problem, it is just a casual look.
           Two strangers can look at each other passing on the road for three seconds. Up to that time, it is a
           casual look. If it is longer than that, then the look becomes not casual. Now you are trying to
           penetrate the other person. If you love the person it can be allowed, because lovers are open to each
           other. But if you don't love the person and the person doesn't love you, then you are offending. Then
           this is violence. Then you are trespassing on the privacy of the other person, and the other person
           will feel offended, will feel uneasy. He will retaliate. Why? -- watch: you are sitting alone in your
           room; you are totally a different person. Then somebody comes in; you immediately change because
           two eyes have come. You are no more in private. You are taking your bath in the bathroom,
           humming, making faces in the mirror, and then suddenly you become aware that somebody is
           looking through the keyhole; you change. That gaze, that look penetrates you like a sharp sword.
           You are no more -- the humming stops -- your privacy has been violated.
               Why do you feel offended if somebody is looking through the keyhole? -- because you have been
           reduced to a thing. Your subjectivity has not been respected. You are not a thing. Your permission
           should be asked before somebody looks at you. Without your permission, somebody looking at you
           like a thief is offending you. He is creating a thing out of you. You are a consciousness, a
           subjectivity. You cannot be reduced to a thing.
               Wherever you feel that you are reduced to a thing, you don't feel free, you don't feel good, you
           don't feel happy. You feel very, very suppressed. That's the misery in being a slave, or being a
           servant. You are reading a newspaper, sitting in your room; your servant passes by -- you don't even
           look at him, you don't even recognize that a man has passed. It is as if a robot has passed, a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mechanism, not a man. You don't say hello, you don't say good morning. Nothing is needed, he is a
           servant. You treat the man as if he had no inwardness, he is just outside, a servant. A servant is a
           role; it is not his being. He feels -- it hurts that he has been taken as a thing.
               You go to a prostitute: you pay because you will make love to her, she feels hurt because she is
           not a commodity-but you reduce her to a commodity. Life somehow has forced her to be a thing in
           the market. Even the ugliest woman is more beautiful than the most beautiful prostitute, because to
           be a woman and not to be a thing gives a grace, a dignity. Even the most beautiful prostitute is ugly.
           And people who go to her must be people who don't have any aesthetic sense. How can you make
           love to a woman if you have reduced her first to be a thing? You are making love to a dummy. You
           are making love to a dead body, a corpse. You are making love to your money. You are not making
           love to a person, because a person is an inwardness, and a person cannot be purchased.
               Always watch around yourself, and you will see that the person is elusive. You can catch hold of
           the body, but not the soul. Nobody can do that.
               The question is,'Sometimes I feel I don't exist. When I come into a room no one sees me' -- no
           one CAN see you. Just because nobody can see you, don't think that you are not. In fact, the
           vice-versa would have been a curse: if people could see you, you would be a thing, a chair, a rock.
               Feel blessed that nobody can see you, howsoever they try. Even if they brought magnifying
           glasses they could not see you. You are elusive -- this is your subjectivity, this is your soul, this is
           your dignity. This is the beauty and the mystery of life: that nobody can see you except you. This is
           your privacy. Beautiful is the world, because at least one thing is private -- your own consciousness.
           Otherwise everything would be sold in the marketplace. It cannot be objectified. That's what the
           Upanishads say: The knower cannot be known; the seer cannot be seen. The knower can feel
           himself, the seer can see himself.
               Secondly: because you cannot be seen by others, how can you ask that God should be seen by
           you? Even a human being has such a privacy deep within him that nobody can penetrate it, so what
           to say about God?
               People come to me and they say,'Tell us how to see God' -- foolish people. They think that they
           are very, very intelligent and they are asking a very intelligent question. Not even human
           consciousness has ever been seen; how can you see the consciousness of the whole? You can
           become one with it, but cannot see. You can dissolve in it, but you cannot see it.
               l have heard an anecdote: When Yuri Gagarin came back from space, many questions were asked
           of him. One of those questions was,'Did you meet God in space?' Yuri Gagarin is reported to have
           said,'I have been out in space and didn't see God; therefore, there is no God.' Now these words are
           emblazoned on the walls of the anti-God museum in Leningrad. On the very gate; in gold letters,
           these words are emblazoned: I have been out in space and didn't see God; therefore, there is no God.
               The first thing that Yuri Gagarin should ask is -- can HE be seen? Has anybody ever seen Yuri
           Gagarin's privacy, his innermost soul? God is not in outer space, because God is not matter. God is
           in the inner space because God is absolute consciousness. Man is partial consciousness; even that
           cannot be seen, so what to say about the total, about the whole?
               Just because you cannot be seen, don't think that you are not. You are, but you are not an object.
           You are subjectivity. You are the seer, not the seen. You see, but you cannot be seen. Your nature is
           to be a seer, a witness; your nature is not to be an object.
           'When I speak, no one hears. When a friend touches me, I am not solid.'
               Nobody can touch you. All that can be touched is not you. And I know -- that which can be
           touched is not solid at all. The body is flowing, continuously flowing.
               Ask the physiologists. They say that within seven years the body becomes completely new. Not
           even a single cell remains old. It is a river-like flow, continuously flowing. It looks solid, just the
           wall looks solid, but it is not. All the physicists say that the wall is in flux. The atoms are running at
           the same speed as light, moving continuously. The movement is so fast and the speed is so
           tremendous that you cannot see the movement. You cannot see the speed, and the wall appears to be
           solid.
               Your body is a continuous flux -- like a river it is flowing. But the flux is so fast that you cannot
           see. And you think that it is substantial, solid -- it is not. Neither is your mind solid: thoughts are
           continuously moving. Like clouds, forms come and disappear.
               But you? -- you are not a flux, you are not a changing phenomenon. You are eternity. I am not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saying that you are solid. You are neither solid nor liquid; you transcend all categories. You are just
           space, tremendous emptiness. And out of that emptiness all of these flowers flower.
           You are flowers of emptiness, forms of nothingness.
               That's what we mean when we say,'God has no form, but you are all His forms. God has no
           names, but all names belong to Him.' The formless descends into millions of forms, and the nameless
           takes millions of names.
               Nobody can touch you, nobody can see you, nobody can hear you; because all these hearings,
           seeings, touchings -- they belong to the body, not to you. You are always the elusive, that which
           eludes; the mysterious, the unknown and the unknowable.
               But because of this, don't start feeling that you are not. You are, but you are subjectivity,
           irreducible to an object. This is the whole effort of meditation: to bring you to the point where you
           can fall into your own subjectivity, where you can disappear into your own depth, where you can
           come to realize that which is abiding in you -- unborn, undying, eternal.
               'How can I lose myself if I am not here?' -- just to understand this is to lose. The'I' that you think
           you are is not you; and the you that you are, you have not even thought about. The'I' that you think
           you are is the'I' that is seen by others, touched by others, heard by others, loved by others, hated by
           others. The'I', the ego, is nothing but the opinions of others that you have gathered about yourself.
           This'I' you are not, but you are identified with it. You are that'I' which has never been seen by
           anybody, which has never been touched by anybody. Uncorrupted, untouched, uncontaminated,
           virgin, absolutely pure, purity itself; that you are.
               Drop that which you are not so that you can know that which you are. My whole teaching is: just
           to drop that which you are not. It looks paradoxical. I am telling you to renounce that which you
           don't have. Throw away that which you don't have so that which you are can become manifested to
           you, can be revealed to you.

           The third question:


              WHEN I WORKED WITH GURDJIEFF PEOPLE, THEY TOLD ME TO MAKE AN EFFORT,
              STRUGGLE, WORK. WHEN I WORKED WITH BUDDHIST MASTERS, THEY TOLD ME NOT TO
              TO, JUST SIT. YOU SAY BOTH. I FIND THAT AT TIMES I'M CONFUSED.


               Yes. I say both, and I can understand your confusion.
               Gurdjieff follows the path of will. He says,'Bring tremendous effort -- to the very climax, so that
           you can become crystallized. Struggle hard, make all the efforts that you can.'
               If you go to Zen Masters, Buddhists, they believe in effortlessness, they believe in surrender.
           They don't believe in struggle. They say,'Drop all efforts. Just sit silently, don't do anything:
           non-doing. Someday it will happen; because it cannot be done, it happens.'
               Both are clear-cut. If you follow Gurdjieff, you are against Zen people. If you follow Zen, you
           are against Gurdjieff. Things are clear-cut, logical. With me, confusion is bound to be there, because
           I say both. I say work hard. I say bring your total energy into effort so that one day effort can be
           dropped and you can become effortless. To me, will brings you to Surrender, and effort brings you to
           effortlessness. Let me give you a few examples, then it will be possible for you to understand.
               Lin Chi, a great Zen Master, worked with his own Master for years. The Master taught him
           painting; through painting he was teaching him meditation. For twelve years, Lin Chi worked. Then
           he became perfect, he became the greatest painter. Then the Master said,'Now, your effort is
           complete. Now throw these brushes, these colors, these paintings, and forget all about painting.'
               Twelve years' effort, day and night; and this Master was a hard taskmaster. After such effort,
           arduous hardship, something had been attained; and then the Master said,'Throw it away.' The
           Master has to be followed; Lin Chi threw the brushes, the ink, the paintings, and forgot all about it.
               Six years passed and then the Master said,'Now you can start painting.'
           Lin Chi asked,'What is the meaning of it?'
               The Master said,'Now you have attained to effortless effort.'
               First, one has to learn effort. Then one has to learn effortlessness. If in your art your art is
           present, then it is not great art. If you paint and effort is present, you are not a great master yet
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because the very effort shows that you are not one when you are painting. If you sing and in singing
           effort is present, then you are not a great singer. You are still trying hard to prove something. When
           you have really become a great singer, effort drops; you sing spontaneously. Your singing becomes
           like the singing of the birds; your singing becomes spontaneous.
               The great musician is one who can touch, who can play on his organ not knowing what he is
           going to do. He himself is surprised when something happens. Not only is the audience the audience,
           he himself is part of the audience. The great master becomes a vehicle, surrendered. But to attain to
           that surrender, you have to purify yourself.
               Tremendous effort is needed before you can become capable of dropping it. If you want to offer
           your will to God -- that is what surrender is -- first make it worthy. With ugly egos, stinking, you go
           to God and you want to offer it. Go with flowers. Let yourself become a flower, a fragrance first, and
           then.... If you just go and sit what do you think -- that something is going to happen? Nothing will
           happen; the market will go on moving in the mind. You can -go on sitting like a statue, dead.
               When Bokuju reached his Master, the Master asked,'For what have you come?' He said,'Get out!
           We have one thousand dead Buddhas already here.' Because he used to live in a temple which had
           one thousand stone Buddhas. He said,'Get out immediately! The place is already much too crowded
           with Buddhas. We don't need any more.'
               What was he saying? He was saying,'You will be a stone Buddha if you just sit.' You can learn
           the posture, you can learn the trick of sitting for hours, but what will happen to your mind? You may
           be sitting in a temple but you will not be there, you will be somewhere else. You are always there
           where your desire is.
               To drop effort, you will have to learn what effort is. Gurdjieff is the beginning; Zen is the end.
           Gurdjieff is the ABCD; Zen is the XYZ. You can reach to Zen only if you have passed Gurdjieff. If
           you try to reach directly to Zen, you will never reach.
               This is what is happening in the West now. Zen has been absolutely misunderstood. Go to Japan
           and see the Japanese monasteries: a Zen monk has to work hard for twenty years, twenty-four years,
           even thirty years. He has to meditate six hours, eight hours, ten hours, twelve hours, even eighteen
           hours per day. Then comes a moment when the Master says,'Now relax.' Only at the peak is
           relaxation allowed.
               In the West, Zen has been very, very misunderstood. It is very easy to misunderstand Zen
           because the language is so poetic. The language is so paradoxical that in the West, a hippie-type Zen
           has come into existence.'There is nothing to do,' Zen people say. There is nowhere to go,' Zen people
           say. It fits perfectly with your laziness.
               You sit, you be lazy; not doing anything, not going anywhere -- you will not become a Buddha.
           Buddha himself worked hard for six years in his last life. If you count his past lives, then for millions
           of lives he had been working hard. But in his last life, when he became enlightened, he also worked
           very hard. Then one day he dropped -- he became enlightened. When people asked,'How did you
           attain?' he said,'By dropping all effort.' He's true, but he can be misunderstood.
               First, you need effort to drop it one day. You don't have effort yet; how can you drop it? If you
           want to sit silently, you will have to run for miles and miles, and only then can you sit silently. To
           drop thinking you will have to think for miles and miles and miles; only then can you understand the
           futility of it all. In that understanding, thinking stops.
               So I may appear confusing to you; that is your misunderstanding. I am simply making it a whole.
           Gurdjieff is half -- just technique, just work. Zen is also misunderstood and has become half because
           of the misunderstanding -- doing nothing. I teach you to do, to do much, so that one day you can
           attain to the flower of non-doing. You can simply sit not doing anything, not even meditating.
               There is the reality -- when you are not doing anything and all the ripples of the mind have
           subsided, and your whole being is simply silent. This is not laziness. This is tremendous energy;
           unmotivated, not going anywhere. It is a reservoir of energy, not laziness. You are full of energy,
           tremendously at the peak of energy, but not going anywhere because there is no goal to reach,
           nothing to achieve, no desire left. Not even is God a desire now. Not even is MOKSHA, NIRVANA,
           the final attainment, a desire now. All desires have left; one is sitting at home.
               In that moment, the whole comes to you. The whole existence caves in upon you from every
           direction and every dimension. You are accepted. You become a.lotus flower. Without any effort,
           you just float on the water. The water does not touch you, cannot touch you. You remain in the world
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and not of the world.
                I teach you both effort and effortlessness, because unless you attain to effortless-effort, unless
           you attain to active passivity, unless you attain to a singing-silence -- they look paradoxical -- unless
           you attain to an unmoving dance, you have not attained.
                So please don't misinterpret it as confusion. What I am saying to you is a mystery. If you look at
           it logically, it will look like confusion. If you look at it through love, it will look a mystery. It is a
           mystery; you only need to have a look through love. Then you will immediately understand, and then
           you will connect the polarity, and you will see that much activity is needed to attain to passivity.

           The fourth question:


              IT HAS BEEN A YEAR NOW SINCE I HAVE TAKEN SANNYAS, BUT WHEN I HEAR YOU
              DESCRIBE WHAT A SANNYASIN IS, I DON'T FEEL LIKE ONE.


               This is how a sannyasin is always expected to feel. Once you feel that you have arrived, you
           have already gone astray. The very feeling that one has arrived is. egoistic. One goes on learning and
           learning and learning, and it never becomes knowledge. One goes on moving and moving, one
           comes closer and closer to the goal, but the goal is never achieved because the goal is infinite -- it
           cannot be achieved, you cannot grab it.
               If you are a real sannyasin, you will always be aware that much has to be done yet. You will
           never be satisfied. Life is so vast; only mediocre minds become satisfied. Life is so big; only small
           minds can think that they have attained. The more you understand, the more you will see that you
           don't understand. The more you know, the more you will know that you don't know. The ultimate of
           knowledge is to become as ignorant as a small child, not knowing anything. In that innocence is the
           goal.
               Remain always discontented; then you grow. Then growth knows no limits. To become a God is
           to go on growing. God is not a thing, it is an on-going process. It is infinite movement. To become a
           God means: to realize that the existence goes on and on. It is a continuous discovery of new
           continents of being. And being is infinite, so it is not going to end any day. It is never going to end.
           The journey starts, but never ends.

           The sixth question:


              DAY BY DAY, NEAR YOU, I FIND MYSELF LIKING MY SADNESS. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME,
              OSHO?


               That's how it should be. If you can like your sadness also, then the sadness is no longer sad. The
           sadness is sad because you dislike it. The sadness is sad because you would not like to be in it. The
           sadness is sad because you reject it. Even sadness becomes a flowering of tremendous beauty, of
           silence, of depth, if you like it. Nothing is wrong; that's what I want you to be: to like everything that
           happens, even sadness. Even death has to be loved; only then will you transcend death. If you can
           accept death, love and welcome it, now death cannot kill you; you have transcended it.
               When sadness comes, accept it. Listen to its song. It has something to give to you. It has a gift
           which no happiness can give to you, only sadness can give it.
               Happiness is always shallow; sadness, always deep. Happiness is like a wave, sadness is like the
           innermost depth of an ocean. In sadness you remain with yourself, left alone. In happiness you start
           moving with people, you start sharing In sadness you close your eyes; you delve deep within
           yourself. Sadness has a song -- a very deep phenomenon is sadness. Accept it. Enjoy it. Taste it
           without any rejection, and you will see that it brings many gifts to you which no happiness can ever
           bring.
               And if you can accept sadness, it is no more sadness. You have brought a new quality to it. You
           will grow through it. Now it will not be a stone, a rock on the path blocking the way; it will become
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a step.
                And remember always: a person who has not known deep sadness is a poor person. He will never
           have an inner richness. A person who has lived always happy, smiling, shallow, has not entered into
           the innermost temple of his being. He has missed the innermost shrine.
                Remain capable of moving with all the polarities. When sadness comes, be REALLY sad. Don't
           try to escape from it -- allow it, cooperate with it. Let it dissolve in you and you be dissolved in it.
           Become one with it. Be really sad: no resistance, no conflict, no struggle. When happiness comes, be
           happy: dance, be ecstatic. When happiness comes, don't try to cling to it. Don't say that it should
           remain always and always; that is the way to miss it. When sadness comes, don't say,'Don't come to
           me,' or,'If you have come, please go soon.' That is the way to miss it.
                Don't reject sadness and don't cling to happiness. and soon you will understand that happiness
           and sadness are two aspects of the same coin. Then you will see that happiness also has a sadness in
           it, and sadness also has a happiness in it. Then your inner being is enriched. Then you can enjoy
           everything: the morning and the evening also, the sunlight and the dark night also, the day and the
           night, the summer and the winter, life and death -- you can enjoy all.
                When you don't have a choice, you are already transcendental. You have transcended. Then the
           duality doesn't divide you. You remain undivided. And this is ADWAIT; this is what Shankara
           means when he says 'non-dualism'; this is what the Upanishads teach: to be non-dual, to be one.
                To be one means not to choose, because once you choose your choice divides you. You say,'I
           would like to be happy, and I don't want to be unhappy'; you are divided. You simply
           say,'Whatsoever happens, everything is welcome. My doors are open. Sadness comes; come be my
           guest. Happiness comes; come be my guest. I will be a host to everything, with no rejection, with no
           choice, with no like, no dislike.'
                Suddenly, nobody can divide you. You have attained to an inner unity, to an inner melody, to an
           inner music, an inner harmony.

           The seventh question:


              LOVE IS THE POINT. WHEN YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT LOVE, I FEEL LIKE I AM FACING A GUN.
              MAY I CALL YOU MY GANGSTER OF LOVE?


                Exactly, that's what I am. And you are facing a gun; you are facing death.
                To face love is to face death, because one who is not ready to die, to die to the ego, will not be
           capable of love. And you are not imprisoned by anybody else; it is your own ego, a false notion of
           yourself which is imprisoning you. Drop it! -- and the whole existence with all its beauty becomes
           available to you.
                I will tell you one story. It happened: A man fell heir to some property near the seashore. He
           wandered for a while in quiet enjoyment of his land, then decided to stroll down to the ocean. With
           the pleasant anticipation of sighting waves and -- sand, he followed the downward path, but he came
           to a sudden halt as a tall wall blocked his; path. With disappointment, he reflected to himself, --
           'Someone does not want me to trespass on his property. Well, it is his wall. There is nothing I can
           do.'
                Over the days, he felt a mounting urge to have direct access to the sea. He made up his mind to
           locate the owner of the frustrating wall. Checking land records, he identified the wall's owner. He
           then knew who blocked his path, and who could therefore open the way. The wall was on his own
           property; it was his own.
           We block our own path; we can unblock ourselves.
                Nobody is barring your path. You are heir to infinite possibilities. You are walling your own path
           blocking your own path. So whenever I talk about love, of course, you immediately become aware of
           the wall that surrounds you. Whenever I talk about love, you become aware of your imprisonment,
           naturally. Whenever I talk about freedom, if you are a prisoner you become aware of your prison.
           And you don't like that, because every time freedom is talked about you become aware that you are a
           prisoner. That you don't like. People in the prison don't like to talk about freedom. That hurts.
                Love is absolute freedom; it is freedom of consciousness. Love knows no bounds, no boundaries.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And unless you drop all boundaries, you will not be able to know love. Love is another name for
           God, and a better name, because the name'God' has been corrupted by the religious people. It has
           already become a commodity in the marketplace. Love is another name for God, and I say, a better
           one.
               And your feeling is right: that whenever I talk about it, you feel as if you are facing a gun. You
           are facing it; don't try to escape. Accept the death in love, accept surrender, trust. Because as you
           are, you 're just a beggar. I would like you to be emperors. Only lovers are emperors, nobody else.
               But for that, you will have to pay a price. It is nothing in fact: the price is to drop the ego.

           The eighth question:


              I HAVE IMBIBED MUCH OF YOUR GRACE BY WAY OF SHAKTIPAT, BUT AMIDST ATTRACTION
              AND DISTRACTION, I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO RETAIN IT. DOES THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF
              GAIN AND LOSS CONTINUOUSLY GO ON? UNDER SUCH A PLIGHT, IT HAS BECOME VERY
              DIFFICULT TO TAKE A JUMP. UNLESS YOU VIRTUALLY PULL ME OUT OF THE GRAVITY OF
              EGO, THE FINAL ENLIGHTENMENT SEEMS TO BE IMPOSSIBLE.


                The final enlightenment can never be forced by anybody on you. It is your freedom to choose it
           or reject it. At the most, I can give you an invitation; nothing more can be done. And the whole
           problem is that you are not surrendering. On the contrary, you are trying to use me; and these two
           things are totally different.
                When you surrender, you surrender. Then you don't bother about the final enlightenment. Then
           you say,'Whatsoever happens is good' If you want to use me, then you are always worried:'The
           enlightenment is not happening, the SAMADHI is not happening'; this is not happening, that is not
           happening. And then, by and by, you start feeling a certain grudge, a complaint against me, as if I am
           not pulling you out. Nobody can pull you out; only you can jump out of it. In the first place, nobody
           has forced and placed you there. You have entered into it, and you will have to come out of it. I can
           give you a hand, but you will have to hold my hand. In fact, my hand will not bring you out; that will
           be just an excuse.
           I will tell you one story.
                A Quaker put a sign on a vacant piece of ground next to his home.'I will give this to anyone who
           is really satisfied.' A wealthy farmer read it as he rode by. Stopping, he said,'Since my Quaker friend
           is going to give that lot away, I may as well have it as anyone else. I am rich, I have all I need, so I
           am able to qualify.' He went up to the door and explained why he had come.'And is thee really
           satisfied?' asked the Quaker.'Yes, I have all I need and am well satisfied.''Friend,' rejoined the
           Quaker,'if thee is satisfied, what does thee want with my lot?'
                If something is really happening to you, if you feel that through SHAKTIPAT something is
           happening to you by being near me, then you will forget all about final enlightenment. Because, even
           that much is too much. You will feel grateful for it. You will not ask more. You will say,'I was not
           worthy even of this. I am grateful.' And if you can feel that, more will become possible; because one
           who feels grateful becomes capable of achieving more, attracting more.
                Through gratefulness you attract grace. Gratefulness is the magnetic force that brings grace to
           you, but you don't seem to be satisfied with it. In fact, the same questioner has been asking many
           questions about final enlightenment again and again. I have not been answering, because those
           questions are meaningless.
                Be here and now in this moment with me, and forget about the future. If you can be here and
           now, totally with me, happy, grateful, the future is bound to come of its own accord. Enlightenment
           comes; nobody can bring it. You just be ready. Open your doors, windows; the wind will blow and
           the wind will bring many fragrances; the sun will come and the sunrays will enter into the darkest
           corner of your house. Nobody can bring those winds, nobody can bring the sunrays. You can simply
           remain open, that's all.
           Being open is all.
                And remember the human tendency, the tendency of the human mind, that first it clings to
           worldly things: money, power, prestige; then it leaves them, frustrated. Then it starts clinging to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God, SAMADHI, enlightenment, MOKSHA; but the mind is the same.
               All clinging must go. All desire must disappear. Only in a desireless moment, that for which you
           are asking. happens -- but only in a desireless moment.
               People come to me and they say,'Teach us how to be desireless.' Now they are desiring
           desirelessness, which is foolish, which is not possible. You cannot desire desirelessness. You can
           simply understand the futility of desire -- that it leads nowhere. Understanding it, it drops. Suddenly
           you are desireless.
               Let me tell you a story, a very famous and very old story.
               BHAGAWAT PUBRANA tells the story of a crow who was flying with a piece of meat in its
           beak. Twenty crows were pressing it, pursuing it, fighting with it, trying to grab the meat. Flying
           high to escape them, it became tired, wounded. Suddenly, it dropped the meat, and the twenty crows
           flew down shrieking, fighting for it. Then the crow, flying high, thought,'How good it is to carry
           nothing. The whole sky belongs to me.'
               He was just carrying a piece of meat in his mouth, and that piece of meat was creating the whole
           trouble: twenty crows were fighting, hurting him, trying to grab the piece of meat. Once the piece
           dropped, those fighters all went away. The crow was left alone. And beautiful is the sentence: The
           whole sky belongs to me.
               Once desires disappear, the meat of desire is dropped, the whole sky belongs to you. That is the
           meaning of enlightenment. Enlightenment is not a thing, it is the infinite space, without desire....
           The whole sky belongs to you.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #9
                                     Chapter title: Eli, Eli, Lamasabachthani
           29 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512290
              ShortTitle: FOLL409
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 82 mins




              Matthew 27



              26 THEN RELEASED HE BARABBAS UNTO THEM, AND WHEN HE HAD SCOURGED JESUS, HE
              DELIVERED HIM TO BE CRUCIFIED.



              46 AND ABOUT THE NINTH HOUR JESUS CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE, SAYING: ELI, ELI,
              LAMASABACHTHANI? THAT IS TO SAY: MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?



              47 SOME OF THEM THAT STOOD THERE, WHEN THEY HEARD THAT SAID: THIS MAN
              CALLETH FOR ELIAS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              48 AND STRAIGHTWAY ONE OF THEM RAN AND TOOK A SPONGE AND FILLED IT WITH
              VINEGAR AND PUT IT ON A REED, AND GAVE HIM TO DRINK.



              49 THE REST SAID: LET BE. LET US SEE WHETHER ELIAS WILL COME TO SAVE HIM.



              50 JESUS, WHEN HE HAD CRIED AGAIN WITH A LOUD VOICE, YIELDED UP THE GHOST.



              51 AND BEHOLD, THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT IN TWAIN FROM THE TOP TO THE
              BOTTOM, AND THE EARTH DID QUAKE, AND THE ROCKS RENT;



              52 AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED; AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHICH SLEPT
              AROSE,



              53 AND CAME OUT OF THE GRAVES AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, AND WENT INTO THE HOLY
              CITY, AND APPEARED UNTO MANY.


                NOTHING is new under the sun, and nothing is old also. It all depends on the mind. If the mind
           is old, then everything is old; if the mind is new, then everything is new. And a new mind is a
           no-mind; only an old mind is a mind.
                Mind means the past, the accumulated past, the accumulated dust of the past. Mind is a rut, a
           routine. It is never new. It goes on repeating itself: it is like a gramophone record, stuck. The needle
           is stuck somewhere, and it goes on repeating the same line, the same line. Centuries have passed, but
           the mind continues behaving in the same pattern. It killed Socrates, poisoned him. It crucified Jesus,
           it killed Mansur, and nothing has changed yet. If Jesus comes again, he is going to be crucified.
                I have heard a very beautiful story. It is a Sufi joke of tremendous import: A Bektasi dervish --
           Bektasi is an order of Sufis, one of the most important orders, very revolutionary -- a Bektasi dervish
           approached a certain bishop and said,'I have heard of a young man who harangues crowds, advocates
           their breaking the law, claims supernatural connections, performs miracles, and contradicts himself.'
                'Enough,' said the bishop,'he shall be tried, charged with blasphemy and upsetting public order. If
           he does not recant, he may be put to death as a heretic and a corruptor. Just tell me his name and I
           shall arrange his arrest.'
                'I wish you could realize how impressed I am by your competence,' said the Bektasi dervish.'His
           name is Jesus.'
                Even Christians would kill him if he came again. It is not only that Jews killed him; it was
           nothing to do with Jews. Let me repeat it: it had nothing to do with Jews. It has something to do with
           the mind itself. If he comes again, Christians will crucify him, because he will bring again the new
           and the fresh; and the mind is old, and is always afraid of the new and the fresh. He will again bring
           the unknown, and the mind is the known, and the known is always apprehensive of the unknown. He
           will again bring insecurity, and the mind is always in search of security. He will bring chaos and the
           mind wants a comfortable, convenient life, although a comfortable, convenient life is not a real life --
           the more comfortable, the less alive. The most comfortable life is in the grave.
                If you are alive there is inconvenience. If you are alive there are challenges. If you are alive then
           every moment you have to face reality, encounter reality. Every moment you have to be ready to
           change and to move. Reality has no security and that is its beauty. Life has no security and that is its
           beauty. Because there is no security, there is adventure. Because the future is unknown, nobody
           knows what is going to happen the next moment. That's why there is challenge, growth, adventure. If
           you miss adventure, you miss all. If your life is not that of an adventure, of a search into the
           unknown, then you are living in vain.
                Jesus, or a man like Jesus, always brings the unknown to you. He always brings the challenge.
           The comfortable mind, the settled mind, feels danger. Either Jesus will kill your mind, or you will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to kill Jesus to save your mind. These are the only two alternatives. Either you can go with
           Jesus -- then by and by you will dissolve -- or you will have to kill Jesus before he attracts you.
               Let me say it in this way: Jews killed Jesus not because he was against them, but because deep
           down, they were attracted towards him -- a deep attraction, a deep magnetism. That was the only
           way to protect themselves. Jews were not trying to kill him, they were simply trying to protect
           themselves. This man was dangerous; he was opening a window into adventure, He was calling them
           for a challenge, to go on a hazardous journey, to a pilgrimage without any maps, on a pilgrimage
           which wasuncharted. He was calling them to come to the wild sea, and they were secure on their
           banks. They had made small houses of convenience, and they were clinging to the bank. And this
           man went on calling them, this man went on haunting them, this man became a constant danger.
           They killed him to protect themselves. Don't be angry against them. If you are angry against them
           you miss the whole point
               Jesus will be killed again if he comes -- now Christians will kill him because the same problem
           will arise again. Now Christianity is a settled thing, and religion can never be a settled thing.
               Religion is a continuity in revolution; a continuous revolution. It is never a fixed thing. It is
           always a process, because religion is life. A church is just a graveyard. Dead religion becomes a
           church; dead religion becomes Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism. Alive religion is Jesus,
           Buddha: it has a totally different flavor.
               Christians will do the same because he again brings the wildness into your settled world. He
           again brings the chaotic into your so-called ordered life. He brings disorder, he is an anarchist. He
           brings anarchy. He is a rebel who destroys all with which you feel comfortable. Why is it so? Why is
           he so much against law, order? -- because he knows a greater law, because he knows a greater order.
               Let me explain it to you. There are two types of order in the world: one man-made, another
           divine. Man-made order is just a make believe. It is not really order, it only hides disorder. Deep
           down the anarchy continues. On the surface you are befooled, as if there is an order. Just the
           opposite is the case with the divine order. On the surface there is chaos, and deep down in the depths
           there is order. On the surface there are great waves, and the ocean is silent deep within. The center
           has a cosmos in it, and the periphery has a chaos on it. That is divine order. The human order is
           chaos within, a cosmos just on the periphery, skin deep at the most.
               Jesus brings disorder, chaos, because he knows that unless your periphery is in disorder, you will
           not be able to move towards your innermost core. When your periphery is in disorder, there is no
           way to go except within. When outside there is disorder and anarchy, where do you move, where do
           you go, where do you search and seek for a home? -- you start moving inwards, you come to your
           center. When you think that everything is okay outside, nothing is wrong, who bothers to go in?
           Only when the outside life is in chaos is the inner life born. The inner life is possible only in an outer
           chaos.
               All great religious people are rebels; they have to be. They have to destroy your illusion of order
           so that you can come to seek and search for the real order. It is what Lao Tzu calls the Tao.'Tao'
           means the real order which is not man-made, which is just part of reality, intrinsic to it. It is not the
           laws that man has managed to make, but the Law out of which man is born. Remember, there are
           many man-made laws, but there is only one Law, the Tao; what Buddha calls the DHAMMA.
               Jesus brings disorder to make you alert. He is like an alarm he wants to awake you but you feel
           offended. He disturbs your sleep, and maybe you were having a beautiful dream. He disturbs your
           dream. You want him not to disturb you. And yet there is a deep attraction because his call appeals
           to your depth; it is from depth to depth. Your mind says no, but your innermost being starts saying
           yes -- that is the fear. The Jews were not afraid of what Jesus was saying, the Jews were afraid
           because they were feeling, deep down, an attraction, a call, an appeal. By murdering Jesus they
           defended themselves. They defended their own periphery against their own center. Or, you can say,
           they defended the man-made order against the God-made order. They defended the law of Moses
           against the law of God Himself. That's what is meant when Jesus says,'Moses brings law to you, I
           bring love.' Love is the Tao.
               Have you watched? -- love is the most undisciplined and yet the most disciplined thing in the
           world; the most anarchic and yet the most disciplined thing in the world. When you love a person
           you don't follow any rules; all rules are thrown overboard. When you love a person, rules are not
           needed. They are needed only when you don't love a person. But then love brings its own rule, then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           love brings its own order. If you love me, then that very love brings a certain discipline. If you don't
           love me, then rules are to be forced. In old Indian scriptures it is said that whenever there is a
           Master, there is discipline. It is not that he forces discipline; just his presence and the love that he
           creates around him, brings its own discipline. Love has no discipline, and yet, love and ONLY love
           has the real discipline. When Jesus says,'I bring love to you,' he means: I bring a certain discipline of
           the innermost being, of the center.
               But people who were the guardians of the law naturally became afraid. They had to defend -- the
           society, the 'law, the discipline, the temple, the religion -- Jesus was a danger to everything. When
           they started to understand, or misunderstand Jesus, when they heard him, by and by they became
           aware of certain things -- certain things which were their securities, which were their comforts;
           certain things to which they were clinging and avoiding life; certain things, like walls, prisons, in
           which they were hiding and feeling safe. Jesus started shaking them out of their sleep. They could
           not see who Jesus was, they could not see him directly. They could see him only in relation to the
           securities which were going to be broken by this man. He was a tremendous phenomenon, but they
           could see only a few points.
               And that is how it always happens. What I am saying to you, you are not listening to its totality.
           Only to a few things do you listen which are in some way related to you in some way disturb you, or
           in some way console you. You don't listen to me, you listen to me in reference to yourself. And
           because of that reference, everything becomes confused. You lose clarity.
           Let me tell you a story.
               There is a story about a man who went to a dictionary compiler and asked him why he was so
           interested in sex. The lexicographer was quite surprised, and said,'Wherever did you get that idea?'
               'From your own writings!' said the angry visitor.
           'But I have only written that one dictionary. That's all of my writing,' said the author.
           'I know,' said the visitor,'and that is the book which I have read.'
               'But the book contains a hundred thousand words, and out of those I don't suppose that more than
           a dozen words are about sex.'
           'What are you talking about all the other words for,' said the visitor,'when I was asking you about the
           words for sex!'
               One hundred thousand words, but this man had read only the twelve words about sex. He must
           have been a celibate, he must have been suppressing sex. Out of a hundred thousand words, only a
           few words are important to him. In fact, for other words he is almost blind; only for those few words
           is he not blind.
               When you read a book, you never read the book that the author has written. You read some other
           book that you can read. When you listen to me, it is not to what I am saying that you listen. You may
           hear what I am saying, but you don't listen to what I am saying. You listen only to certain things
           which are in a certain way relevant to your mind. Hearing is not difficult, listening is the problem.
           Listening means that you don't choose.
               When Jesus, or a man like Jesus, explodes, the explosion is vast. He brings millions of suns in
           him; the light is tremendous and infinite. But you start thinking about yourself. You become worried
           about your own small luxuries, comforts, conveniences -- trivia. You become afraid about these
           things and you start defending yourself because this man attracts your center. Mind is the periphery,
           being is the center -- this man attracts your being. And let me tell you: when you crucify Jesus, you
           crucify your own being in favor of your mind. When you kill Jesus, you kill your own being in favor
           of your periphery. When Jews killed Jesus on that day, they decided to be in favor of the mind
           against their own being. Jesus was their essence. He was the very essence, the very flowering of their
           whole history. He was the very purpose of their whole being here. But they decided -- they decided
           in favor of the mind, and crucified being.'
           Jesus is BEING crucified.
               And this is not only an historic thing that once happened, and now you are finished with it. It is
           something that is happening in every moment of everybody's life. Remember It: you are always
           crucifying your Jesus in favor of your mind. Stop that crucifixion. If you understand me rightly, what
           I am saying to you, you will stop that crucifixion.
               I have heard a story: An incompetent carpenter once built a creaky house for himself, and
           maintained it carelessly. The roof threatened to collapse, the floors were rough to walk upon. His
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           neighbors warned him of the dangers and the unattractiveness of his house, but he angrily refused to
           listen because it was not only a house, it was also his ego-trip. It was his house, and he had made it.
           Whenever anybody said anything against the house, he took it as if that man was against him.
           This is how mind reacts.
                Finally getting tired of unwanted advice, he placed plugs in his ears. The warnings continued, but
           now the carpenter only smiled, not hearing a word. Inevitably, one day his house collapsed.
           Fortunately the man escaped with only minor injuries. His neighbors scolded. They said,'See? We
           warned you. You are punished by your own stubbornness.' The carpenter just smiled pleasantly; he
           still wore his ear-plugs. Incredibly, in spite of the disaster, the carpenter went right back to the same
           foolishness.
                Ego is very stubborn. Even if you feel that you have committed a mistake, you don't realize it.
           You try to rationalize in a thousand and one ways, to defend, to prove that it is not a mistake. And
           you again do it, hoping that this time everything is going to be okay. This is hoping against hope.
                Incredibly, in spite of the disaster, the carpenter went right back to the same foolishness -- he
           built and lived in another hazardous house. He was again warned, but never changed his perilous
           way. That was because he had, by this time, taken his ear-plugs as both a normal and an easy way of
           life.
                This explains the tragic life of men and women who insist on wearing psychological ear-plugs.
           And remember, not only are Jews obsessed with psychological ear-plugs, everybody on this earth is.
           Whenever your ego is in danger, you stop listening. Or, you start listening to something which is not
           said at all. Or, you start interpreting in favor of your own ego. Anybody who is in search of truth has
           to understand these tricks, because these tricks are the traps. These tricks are the ways in which you
           will miss the path. The path is very straight and clear, but your mind is very cunning and it goes on
           creating new, illusory paths; and you go on listening to it. And you have listened to it always and
           always, and always it has proved to be in the wrong But it is your mind. You think it is you; it is
           your ego. Just see the point of it.
                Jesus' message was very simple in a way, straight. Anybody could have understood it, but
           nobody understood it. And people became so enraged that they killed this simple and innocent man.
           He had not committed any sin. He was not a criminal, but he was treated as a criminal; not only like
           a criminal, he was treated, worse than that. This is the point of today's sutras.
                Three persons were going to be killed on that day: two thieves and Jesus. One of the thieves'
           name was Barabbas. Pontius Pilate was hoping -- because that was the tradition, the convention, that
           the Governor General would be allowed to forgive one person each year -- he was hoping that the
           Jews would ask that Jesus be forgiven, released, and should not be killed. But the Jews asked that
           Jesus be killed and Barabbas, a criminal, be released. They treated Jesus even worse than a criminal.
                What was his crime? -- the criminal had broken only one law, or at the most two laws; Jesus was
           breaking all the laws. He was not a criminal. In fact, he had not done anything wrong, but he was
           dangerous. The criminal was not dangerous; at the most he was a thief, or at the most he may have
           been a murderer -- but the whole society was not at stake, the whole society was not in danger. He
           may have been a law-breaker, but he was not against law. Even people who are criminals are for law;
           they feel guilty, and they know that they have done wrong. This man Jesus was dangerous. He had
           not done anything wrong, but he was against all law.
           He is for love, and against law.
                A thousand and one criminals are less than this man's danger. All the criminals together are less
           than the danger this man brings, because he is destroying the very foundation of your society. Maybe
           your society is nothing but a madhouse, but you think that it is your society. And this man is
           destroying the very foundations.
                They asked that a criminal should be forgiven, but Jesus had to be crucified. He was the greatest
           criminal, and he had not committed a crime at all! But he was bringing a revolution in the thinking of
           people, he was bringing a revolution in their minds. The greatest revolution there is, is the revolution
           for love and against law; because law creates the rigidity of life, and love gives it again a melting.
           Law makes your life frozen, love melts it through its warmth. Law is ugly. Jesus was not saying,'Be
           unlawful.' That is where the misunderstanding lay: he was against law, but he was not for
           lawlessness. He was against law and for love. He was against law, but he was not saying to become
           lawless. He was saying,'Rise above law, go beyond it; reach to the heights of love.' Then there is no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           need for law -- your love will take care. Love is enough, the law is not needed.
                I have overheard two small children walking on the road. The elder one was saying,'This is
           Sunday, and we should not work.' They must have been Christian. The younger one said,'Look at the
           policeman. He is working, he is on duty. And the priest says that those who work on Sunday will not
           go to heaven. What about policemen?' The elder one said,'Policemen are not needed there.'
                When love exists, law is not needed. Law is a poor substitute for love. Jesus was giving a higher
           law, and he was misunderstood. People thought he was destroying their law, their society, their
           structure, but he was giving a more fluid structure.
                I go on saying that I am against all character: you can misunderstand me. You can think that I am
           teaching characterlessness. No, I am simply teaching a higher character -- a character which is not
           rigid, a character which is not fixed, a character which is not dead; a character which is alive like a
           river, a character which flows; a character which knows no boundaries, a character which can
           respond spontaneously; a character which is not a clinging to the past but is always a response in the
           present. The greatest men of character are always characterless. Buddha and Jesus, they are lawless,
           characterless, unsocial, because they bring a higher law into the world. But your eyes cannot rise that
           high, and you cannot see what they bring. They bring sky to us, and we have become so accustomed
           to creeping on the earth in our small holes that we cannot see the freedom that they bring their
           freedom seems risky.
                It happened once: There were five fools travelling together. They were tired. They sat down
           against a tree, and all of them stretched out their legs. They said,'What are we going to do now? We
           won't be able to get up anymore. We are no longer able to tell which of those feet belong to who.'
           They were really in deep trouble -- 'What are we going to do now?' They started crying and
           weeping:'We will just have to stay here forever and ever. We are stuck. Now nobody knows which
           legs belong to whom.' There they were, crying and weeping, getting hungry and thirsty, and they
           couldn't get up.
                A man passed by, and he said,'What are you doing in there? Why are you crying and weeping?
           What has happened to you, what unfortunate accident has happened to you?'
           'Well, here we are,' said the fools,'we can't get up.'
                'But why can't you get up? I can't see any problem,' said the man.'You look perfectly healthy.'
           'Because we don't know which feet belong to which.'
           'For goodness sakes! How much will you give me if I tell you?'
           'Well, said the fools,'we will give you something, as long as you tell us which of those feet belong to
           which.'
                He took a big bag-needle and began to stick them with it. He stuck one of them:'Ouch!'
           'That's yours -- pull it in!'
                He stuck another one:'Ouch!'
           'That is yours, that one -- pull it in!'
                He stuck all of them the same way until he had the very last one on his feet.
                That is the situation of humanity. The whole of humanity has been behaving very foolishly.
           Somebody is needed to hit you hard, to make you aware. And whenever somebody comes and hits
           you out of his compassion, you get angry, you misunderstand him.
                Jesus was hammering people on their heads to bring a certain truth home: that nobody is
           imprisoning you except yourselves, that nobody has made this mess of your life except yourself, that
           nobody has prepared this trap for you -- it is you yourself. This ugly state of affairs, this miserable
           state of affairs, is your own doing: that's the whole message. But whenever somebody says,'This is
           your doing,' you want to retaliate. You would like him to say that somebody else is responsible; that
           saves your face. Whenever somebody says to you that only you are responsible, you retaliate, react
           you become angry. You? -- how can you be responsible? You are so wise. And to think oneself wise
           is the definition of being a foolish man.
           Now, the sutras:

              THEN RELEASED HE BARABBAS UNTO THEM, BECAUSE THEY HAD ASKED FOR HIM. AND
              WHEN HE HAD SCOURGED JESUS, HE DELIVERED HIM TO BE CRUCIFIED.
              AND ABOUT THE NINTH HOUR JESUS CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE, SAYING: ELI, ELI,
              LAMASABACHTHANI? THAT IS TO SAY: MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               This sentence has tremendous import and has to be understood very deeply and carefully.
           Whether you will be able to understand Jesus or not, much depends on your understanding of this
           sentence. There are many interpretations.
               A few think that Jesus became doubtful. They think, a few interpreters think, that he was also
           hoping for a miracle: that God would descend from heaven and save him, and there would be a great
           miracle. And that miracle did not happen, and he was just on the verge of being crucified. He was
           put on the cross, and he cried,'Eli, Eli! -- My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' -- What
           wrong have I done that you have forsaken me? Why have you left me alone? Why are you not doing
           something to save me? Where is your promise, where is your miracle?
               No, this interpretation is wrong. Jesus is not saying anything like that. He was not doubtful, and
           he was not expecting any miracle. Others were expecting, right; the crowd was expecting right; but
           Jesus was not expecting any miracle. Because a man like Jesus knows that just to be, is the greatest
           miracle; there is no greater miracle possible. Just to be is enough, more than enough. You cannot ask
           for more. Just to be alive amidst so much death, to be alive in the ocean of death is the greatest
           miracle. In so much darkness, dense darkness, to be conscious and alive is all. What more can you
           ask for? No, he was not waiting for any miracle. Then why did he say,'Why hast thou forsaken me?'
           This happens to everybody who comes to the last step to one who comes to the very verge of
           samadhi, the very verge of enlightenment. This happens to everybody. It is as if a river is just going
           to flow into the ocean -- the known is going to meet the unknown, life is going to embrace death. It
           is natural, it is absolutely natural. It is not a doubt, it is not anything like scepticism, it is not losing
           trust. No, it is simply human that before one dissolves, one has a shivering, a fear. One is being
           uprooted, uprooted from life.
               It is the same fear that a child feels when he is going to be born. When the child is going to just
           come out of the womb, EVERY child I tell you, says,'Eli, Eli -- my God, my God, why hast thou
           forsaken me?' He had a different life up to then. Now, that whole life is being uprooted, and one
           never knows where one is going. One faces eternal abyss, one faces a bottomless abyss. One starts
           trembling. That is the humanity of Jesus.
               In Jesus' cry,'Eli, Eli,' the whole of humanity cried that day. That's what is beautiful in Jesus.
           Buddha would not do that; he would not cry. It is as if he had no human part in him -- all stone,
           marble. Jesus is a man of flesh and bone, just like you and me; a fragile being facing eternal abyss. It
           is not because of any doubt that he cried -- because if there had been doubt he would not have
           said,'Eli, Eli! -- My God, my God!' He would not have said that. If there had been doubt, he would
           have said the thing that Nietsche said after twenty centuries:'God is dead. There is no God.'
               If he had been waiting for any miracle, that would have been the moment to say,'You don't exist,
           and I was befooled by my own illusions, my own dreams.' If Jesus had been sceptical, he would have
           said,'There is no God anymore. I was wrong to believe in you; you don't exist.' Or, he would have
           challenged,'This is the point to prove whether you are or not. NOW do the miracle and prove that
           you are!'
               It happened to one philosopher, Edmund Burke: he went to church when there was a
           congregation. He stood just before the congregation, took out his pocket watch and said,'I will
           believe in God if He can stop this watch, just now.' He looked upwards, and said,'If you are, if you
           exist, please do at least this much of a miracle. This is not a big miracle I am asking for. Stop this
           watch.' And the watch did not stop. It is proved that God doesn't exist. Edmund Burke was not
           asking for a big miracle, but a small miracle; very small, nothing much. But the question is not
           whether you ask for a big miracle or a small miracle; the question is: are you asking for a proof?
           Then the proof cannot be supplied, because the existence is not at all concerned to prove itself to
           anybody. In fact, those who try to prove that they are, are in a certain way suspicious of their being.
           God is not suspicious, so whatsoever you say, He goes on quietly, silently smiling. He does not
           bother. He is, and what is the need to prove it?
               Jesus was not asking for proof, otherwise he would not have said,'My God, my God' -- God
           remains still 'my' -- 'why hast thou forsaken me?' This is simple humanity, fragile humanness. Left
           alone, it comes to everybody; this crucifixion comes to everybody. If you go deeper in meditation,
           one day you will find the meaning of this sentence,'Eli, Eli, lamasabachthani.' One day you will find,
           moving slowly, slowly, slowly, that you come to the point where you are dissolving, disappearing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is the point of crucifixion, and you will also cry,'My God, why have you forsaken me? I am
           disappearing, evaporating!' It is simply an indication of fragile humanness, nothing else. And it
           shows the authenticity of the experience because it happens only when one really faces that moment
           of total cessation, crucifixion, where the ego completely disappears. One is left in total emptiness.
           There is no doubt in it, there is no asking for any miracle. It is not a question, it is a statement about
           Jesus' humanity:'I am a fragile human being, son of man, and I am afraid. I am trembling, and I
           would like to go back.'
               But there is no going back, because that is the point of no return. So, except for crying, what else
           can you do?'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'

              SOME OF THEM THAT STOOD THERE, WHEN THEY HEARD THAT SAID: THIS MAN CALLETH F
              OR ELIAS.


               That's what I mean: whenever you hear a man like Jesus, you interpret him in your own way.
           Elias is an old prophet. The people interpreted that he was calling for Elias. He was calling for the
           living God, who is now, and people thought he was calling for Elias who was sometime in the past.
           The mind thinks of the past, a no-mind responds to the present.
               Jesus was calling for God who is right now, and who is always now; who has, no past and no
           future, who is just present. He was, calling to God, the present, the living, just now facing him. But
           people thought he was calling to Elias, the old prophet.

              SOME OF THEM THAT STOOD THERE, WHEN THEY HEARD THAT SAID: THIS MAN CALLETH
              FOR ELIAS.
              AND STRAIGHTWAY ONE OF THEM RAN AND TOOK A SPONGE AND FILLED IT WITH VINEGAR
              AND PUT IT ON A REED, AND GAVE HIM TO DRINK.
              THE REST SAID: LET BE. LET'S SEE WHETHER ELIAS WILL COME TO SAVE HIM.
              JESUS, WHEN HE HAD CRIED AGAIN WITH A LOUD VOICE, YIELDED UP THE GHOST.


               Once more he cried,'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Why twice? First he cried;
           he must have hoped that there would be an answer, that there would be a response. Nothing
           happened.
           Existence is silent. You hear only your echoes.
               There was no answer coming from existence. He cried once more -- maybe he had not been
           heard? -- existence never answers. Not that it doesn't answer; it never answers verbally, it never
           answers your mind. It answers, in an existential way. It answered, but Jesus could not follow at that
           moment -- at that moment, nobody is able to follow. At that moment one simply trembles and sees
           earth slipping away underneath, and sees oneself evaporating. And there is no answer coming.
               Only later on, when Jesus was resurrected, could he then understand the answer.
               The answer is given in terms of existence, not in terms of intellect, mind. It is not verbal. The
           answer is resurrection. Die totally, and then you resurrect. And that was the answer:'I have not
           forsaken you. I am always there deep within you; how can I forsake you? -- because I am you. How
           can I forsake you? How can I go away from you? -- because I am your innermost core. That which
           has died on the cross is neither you nor I. It is just a vehicle, a house, a dream you were using. It is
           neither you nor I.' And these people who had crucified Jesus, they had crucified only the body, not
           the spirit. The spirit cannot be crucified. It is immortal. But that answer will come a little later on,
           when Jesus has died. He cried again:

              JESUS, WHEN HE HAD CRIED AGAIN WITH A LOUD VOICE, YIELDED UP THE GHOST.


               Once more he tried to find out the answer, any response from the whole, from the ocean. No
           response coming, he died, he disappeared.
               This is what Buddha calls NIRVANA, the cessation of the flame. He surrendered. That is the
           meaning of 'he yielded up the ghost' -- he surrendered. He said,'Yes, thy will be done. Let it be so, as
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will.'

               AND BEHOLD, THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT IN TWAIN FROM THE TOP TO THE
               BOTTOM, AND THE EARTH DID QUAKE, AND THE ROCKS RENT;


                A man like Jesus is the very pinnacle of consciousness, a cherished flower. He is someone who
           has been coming up, coming up for centuries after so many births, growing, growing. And then
           comes the flowering. The whole existence celebrates, the whole existence feels the glory of God.
           And when such a man drops dead, leaves the body, a sadness spreads all over existence. It has to be
           so... because we are not separate from each other; we are interlinked, we are joined together. We are
           one mass of consciousness. Individuality is just an egoistic notion. So whenever a Jesus flowers, the
           whole existence feels the blessing; and whenever a Jesus drops his body, the whole existence feels
           the sadness. These are the symbolic ways of saying this:'And behold, the veil of the temple was rent
           in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.' It has to be so.
                It is said about Mohammed that whenever he would walk in the desert, a cloud would follow him
           to give him shelter, like an umbrella. It may not be historical, but it is significant. It is poetic,
           symbolic -- it SAYS something.
                It is said about Buddha that when he became enlightened, trees flowered out of season. They may
           not have flowered; this may not be a scientific statement. But a statement need not be scientific to be
           true, a statement need not be historical to be true. There are planes and planes of truth. There is a
           certain quality in a poetic truth also. It is not historic, it is not scientific, but it is true all the same. It
           is a POETIC truth. And a poetic truth is on a higher plane than any scientific truth, because scientific
           truths go on changing; a poetic truth is eternal. Scientific truth is more or less a fact. A poetic truth is
           not a fact but a deep significance, a meaning, a myth.
                It is said about Mahavir that when he would walk and move from one village to another -- and he
           was nude, a naked man with no shoes, no clothes -- sometimes thorns would be on the path: they
           would immediately turn to protect his feet. Thorns may not have done this -- one cannot expect that
           much from thorns. Even from human beings it is too much to expect. But still, the idea is significant.
           It simply shows one thing: that we are members of each other. Thorns are also part of us, and we are
           part of thorns. Flowers are also part of us, and we are part of flowers. We are one family. We are not
           strangers, separate islands: a vast continent of being, interrelated.
                The earth may not have quaked, but I say that the gospel is true. And whenever there is any
           contradiction between a poetic truth and a scientific truth, always believe the poetic. The scientific is
           very ordinary. To believe in the poetic truth is extraordinary. It gives you vision, it raises you to a
           higher plane of being. Just to trust a poetic truth, you start flying, as if suddenly wings have grown to
           you. You are no longer moving on the earth, you fly in the sky. When a truth has wings, it becomes
           poetic.

               AND, BEHOLD, THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT IN TWAIN FROM THE TOP TO THE
               BOTTOM, AND THE EARTH DID QUAKE, AND THE ROCKS RENT;
               AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED, AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHICH SLEPT
               AROSE.


               Of course, it should be so. Even if it had not been so, it should have been so. Whenever a Jesus is
           crucified, all the saints of the past must feel it in their graves; they have to feel it.
               In fact, Buddha has said that whenever a Buddha is born, not only do the past Buddhas feel it,
           but even the future Buddhas feel it, those who are going to be. Because time is a human concept, but
           in fact there is no time. It is eternal. It is one whole, one piece.

               AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED, AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHICH SLEPT
               AROSE.


               Jesus being crucified was such a shock. It was such a shock, such a sword-like, sharp penetration
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           into the being. It was not only Jesus crucified, it was all religion crucified that day, all saints
           crucified in Jesus.
               What is the meaning of it? The meaning is that the present contains the whole past, this moment
           contains the whole past. Nothing disappears, nothing CAN disappear. Where will it go? This rose
           flower contains all the rose flowers of the past; and if you can understand, let me say, it contains all
           the future flowers also. This is just one flower representing all the flowers of the past and future. We
           are here; in this moment the whole existence converges. All the past and all the future converges in
           this moment. This moment is the bridge between the past and the future. In you, everything is
           meeting right now. If you can become aware, then you are the whole existence this very moment.
           This is the meaning of the Upanishadic saying: AHAM BRAHMASMI -- 'I am the whole.' This is
           the meaning of Jesus, repeating again and again,'I and my Father are one' -- I am the whole. This is
           the meaning of el-Hillaj Mansur who said, ANA-EL-HAQQ -- 'I am the truth.'
               In each moment the whole converges. Each moment represents the whole, the whole past and the
           whole future. Jesus is not only Jesus: all the Buddhas are involved, all the saints are involved; and
           not only of the past but, I say to you, of the future also.

              AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED, AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHICH SLEPT
              AROSE,
              AND CAME OUT OF THE GRAVES AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, AND. WENT INTO THE HOLY
              CITY AND APPEARED UNTO MANY.


                And this was felt by many. It was not just written by the few disciples. Even others who had the
           sensitivity felt it.
           It depends on your sensitivity.
                What I am saying to you this moment, if you are really sensitive, you can feel all -- the whole
           past and the whole future converging in you. And in that moment you are no more a tiny being, you
           are the whole. Those who were sensitive, they could see it. They could feel unknown forces moving
           around.
                That day of Jesus' crucifixion was not an ordinary day. People who had a little prayer in them
           must have felt certain unknown forces moving. People who had a little meditation in them must have
           felt, must have become perceptive. Those who had loved, or those who had a poetic vision, or the
           sense of an artist, they must have felt. People who had any quality of the heart must have felt many
           presences all around.
                The Gospel writers were not aware of Indian scriptures, otherwise they would have made it more
           clear. In India we have a very long tradition, and we have tried through many dimensions to interpret
           the unknown. When Buddha spoke, it is said that not only human beings were present there to listen
           to him; gods also came, animals also, trees also listened. If you read Buddhist scriptures you will be
           surprised, because the number of listeners was so great. You must be surprised, because no
           instruments existed -- how could Buddha have spoken to such great multitudes? -- the microphone
           was not there, there was no way to communicate. But there is a misunderstanding. Those numbers
           are not only of human beings. The greater part of them were DEVAS, gods who had come from
           above to listen to Buddha; then animals who could not understand language, but who could feel; then
           trees and plants and birds; who didn't need any verbal communication, just the very presence of
           Buddha was enough nourishment to them; and THEN human beings.
                Human beings were a very minor part of the whole audience. And the same is the story about
           Mahavir, and about other Teerthankaras and other Buddhas. About Mahavir, it is said that when first
           he spoke, only gods could understand and listen to him because he spoke on such a high plane that it
           was impossible for anybody else to understand. Then gods persuaded him,'Please come a little lower
           to help humanity.' Then, by and by, he spoke on a lower plane and humanity could understand. Then
           gods persuaded him to come still a little lower, because animals were there, and the trees and the
           rocks.
                These stories are beautiful. They say only one thing: that we all are interrelated, we are not
           separate. The highest point is related to the lowest. We are all rungs of one ladder -- the lowest is as
           much a part of the same ladder as the highest.
                Those who were sensitive must have felt unknown, strange presences all around.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the whole thing depends on your sensitivity; nothing else is needed. A great intellectual
           attainment is not needed, a great logical acumen is not needed. When Jesus comes to you and knocks
           at your door, all that is needed is deep sensitivity.
               Let me tell you a very small anecdote: A good and thoughtful king offered a ride in his carriage
           to a weary traveller on the road. Having been treated badly by evil kings, the traveller hesitantly
           asked,'Sir, what must I give in return?'
               The understanding king replied,'Just one thing: your acceptance of the offer.'
               Yes, that's all that a Jesus asks of you -- your acceptance of the offer.




                                         Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                      Chapter #10
                                    Chapter title: I am the See You are Seeking
           30 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512300
              ShortTitle: FOLL410
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              The first question:


              YOU APPEAR TO DEVOTE YOUR LIFE TO HELPING OTHER PEOPLE; BUT PEOPLE AROUND
              YOU APPEAR ONLY INTERESTED IN HELPING THEMSELVES. IF THEIR AIM IS TO LOSE THEIR
              EGOS, IS NOT A BETTER METHOD TO LOSE ONESELF IN HELPING OTHERS?


                THIS is from a new seeker, Virginia. Because she is new, she cannot understand what is
           happening here.
                The first thing to remember: you can help others only when you have helped yourself, not before
           it. You can help others only when you have disappeared, not before it. You cannot lose your ego by
           helping others. You can lose your ego, and THEN YOU can help others. In fact, if you have the ego
           already there and you help others, you will attain to a very cultivated, subtle, pious ego -- that's all.
           Egolessness won't come through it. The ego will become religious,'and when a poison becomes
           religious, it becomes more dangerous.
                I am helping you because I am not. You are here to help yourself in the first place. When you
           disappear, then in |fact there is no need to help others; it happens of its own accord.
                Let me tell you an anecdote: A woman always attended church, and after each sermon would
           remark,'My, they certainly did need the message this morning.' One snowy Sunday morning, she was
           the only one in the congregation. The minister delivered his message anyway. He walked with her to
           the door, where she said,'My, they certainly would have needed it if they had been here.' The
           message is for you. Don't play tricks with yourself; don't start a new ego-trip. It is not for them, it is
           for you. I am talking to each individual directly; I am not talking to a crowd. When I say something,
           I am saying it exactly to you, not to the neighbors.
                And the only way you can be of any help to the world is that you disappear, become an
           emptiness. Out of that emptiness arises the flame of love and compassion. Out of that emptiness
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           arises a fragrance of divineness. And then you help millions, but you never come to know that you
           are helping them. You become a vehicle of God, you become an incarnation. Before that you can
           become a missionary, which is a dirty word. Before that you can become a do-gooder, which is very
           dangerous. Before that you can become a very pious egoist: helping others one Feels oneself on top
           of them.'Holier than thou' becomes your attitude. In your very look there is condemnation and you
           cannot help anybody through condemnation, only through compassion.
               But how is compassion possible with the ego? With the ego, violence is possible, condemnation
           is possible. Love and compassion? no, they are not possible. So please be alert. It always happens
           when you come near a Master and you hear the message, that your mind starts spinning things. It
           says,'THEY need it.' The whole world needs it except you. Be aware: YOU need it. You are they.
               The world is not separate from you, the world is you multiplied.
               And let me say to you that I teach selfishness. I don't teach that you should go and serve others. I
           teach: love yourself, serve yourself, so that that which is hidden within you becomes manifest. The
           very flow of it will help others. Wherever you walk, whatsoever you do, will become a help. It is not
           that you are trying to help; your very being will become helpful.

           The second question:


              HAVING ATTAINED THE PEACEFUL STATE OF MIND WHICH YOU CALL INDIA, HOW CAN ONE
              SUSTAIN IT IN THE PRESSURES OF THE WEST? FOR ME, IT HAS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE.


                Yes, I call India not a country, but an inner space. I call India not something that exists there in
           geography, on the maps. I call India that which exists hidden within you, and that which you have
           not yet discovered. India is your innermost space. India is not a nation, it is a state of mind.
                The questioner asks,'Having attained the peaceful state of mind which you call India, how can
           one sustain it in the pressures of the West? For me, it has been impossible.'
                Once you attain it, you cannot lose it. Even if you want to lose it, you cannot lose it. No real
           attainment is ever lost. Then, you must have imagined that you had attained to the innermost peace.
           Then, you must have deceived yourself. Then, something must have given you the idea that you had
           attained to it.
                For example, if you go to the Himalayas, it is peaceful and silent. Eternal silence reigns there. In
           that silence you start feeling silent you reflect silence. Don't think that you have become silent; it is
           the Himalayas being reflected in you. The silence belongs to the Himalayas, not to you. When you
           come down to the plains, that silence is gone. Again you are in the turmoil, again you ARE the
           turmoil, again the anguish and the anxiety. And you think you have lost something which you had
           gained? No, in the first place you had never gained it. It belonged to the Himalayas; it still belongs
           there. You entered a certain situation, but you didn't enter a certain state. The situation is something
           outside you, the state is something within you. And you deceived yourself. It is so easy to deceive
           oneself. One wants to feel that one has attained, because that also gives a very deep nourishment to
           the ego: I have attained.
                Many people come to India. Coming from the West, India looks silent, peaceful, poor but
           contented. India is, in a way, almost two thousand years behind. When you come from New York to
           India, or from London to the Himalayas, you are moving backwards in time. You are moving in the
           times of Jesus, two thousand years back. Everything is primitive, wild, untamed. One feels good; one
           feels again a certain freedom. The noise, the anxiety, the tension, the constant hurry, the 'always
           going somewhere not knowing where one is going' of the West, is not here. Things move slowly.
           Everything seems to be moving nowhere, very silently. A certain music is still present. Indians may
           not feel it because they have been born to it, just as a fish never feels the ocean. But when people
           from the West come, they are shocked into a certain awareness. Their sleep is broken, and they start
           feeling and thinking that they have attained to a certain state. To attain a certain state is not so easy.
           It is not a plane trip: you cannot fly from one state of mind to another state of mind. It is not a
           journey, it is a pilgrimage.
                And this is the distinction between a journey and a pilgrimage: a journey is going from one point
           to another point in space, a pilgrimage is going from without to within, from space to no-space. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can be easily deceived here, not by anybody else, but by yourself.
               Then you go back, and that freedom, that silence, that meditation, that prayerfulness, is lost.
           Hence the question:'Having attained the peaceful state of mind which you call India, how can one
           sustain it?' There is no need to sustain it. It is so alive, it is so vital that it sustains itself. It has
           tremendous energy. It needs nobody's help. In fact, you are not needed to sustain it; it sustains you. It
           is greater than you, higher than you, deeper than you, bigger than you: it is your original nature. It is
           you in your ultimate glory. Nothing is needed to sustain it, and nothing can distract you from it.
           Once attained, it is attained forever. You cannot lose it. If you lose it, then know well that you
           deceived yourself.
               'How can one sustain it in the pressures of the West?' If it cannot be sustained in the pressures, it
           is not of worth. Any meditation that is of worth will be alive even in the marketplace. Because a
           marketplace is nothing once you attain to the meditative state. No market can disturb it, no market
           can distract you away from it. It becomes like breathing. In fact, you will feel it more in the
           marketplace than in the Himalayas, because in the Himalayas the contrast will be missing. If you
           have really tasted what aloneness is, you will feel it more in the crowd than on a Himalayan peak,
           because in the crowd, the contrast.... If you have listened to the inner music, you will hear it more in
           traffic noise because of the contrast. In the night you can see the stars in the sky, not in the day --
           because the contrast is missing. The night is so dark; in that velvety darkness you can see those stars,
           beautiful stars In the day they did appear. They are still there where they are, they have not gone
           anywhere, they remain in the sky -- but the contrast is missing because of the sunlight. Now there is
           no background to them.
               This, is my understanding, this is my experience: that whatsoever you attain, you will always
           taste it more, feel it more; it will surface in your being more clearly, crystal clear, whenever you
           move to the contrary. If the meditation is true, in New York it will be more clear to you, in London
           you will feel it more. Surrounding yourself with the opposite, it will throb more clearly. If it is not
           happening, you come to the East, you feel good, and then you go to the West and it is gone. It has
           been a journey, not a pilgrimage. You travelled from one point to another in space, you have not
           travelled from space to no-space. Meditation means a pilgrimage from the out to the in, from the
           without to the within. Once attained, even if you want to lose it you cannot lose it.

           The third question:


              WHEN I AM WRITING A BOOK, I AM FULL OF FLOWING ENERGY AND DELIGHT. BUT, WHEN I
              HAVE FINISHED, I AM SO EMPTY AND DEAD THAT I CAN HARDLY BEAR TO LIVE. NOW I AM
              MUST STARTING TO WRITE, BUT THOUGH I CAN GET INTO THE PLEASURE WHILE I AM
              WORKING, DURING THE MEDITATIONS I GET OVERWHELMED WITH FEAR OF THE
              EMPTINESS WHICH I EXPECT MONTHS FROM NOW.


                This is from Pankaja; she is a novelist. I have gone through her novels, and they are beautiful.
           She has the knack of it: how to tell a story beautifully, how to weave a story. And this experience is
           not only hers, it is of almost everybody who is in any way creative. But still, the interpretation is
           wrong, and much depends on the interpretation.
                When a woman carries a child, she is full. Of course, when the child is born, she will feel empty.
           She will miss the new life that was throbbing and kicking in her womb. The child has gone out; she
           will feel empty for a few days. But she can love the child, and she can forget her emptiness in loving
           the child and helping the child to grow. For an artist, even that is not possible. You paint, or you
           write a poem or a novel; once it is finished you feel deep emptiness. And what can you do with the
           book now? So the artist is in an even more difficult situation than a mother. Once a book is finished,
           it is finished. Now it needs no help, no love; it is not going to grow. It is perfect, it is born grown-up.
           A painting is finished, it is finished. an artist feels very empty. But, one has to look into this
           emptiness. Don't say that you are exhausted; rather, say that you are spent. Don't say that you are
           empty, because each emptiness also has a fullness in it. You are looking from the wrong end.
                You come into a room: there is furniture, pictures on the walls and things. Then those things and
           the pictures are removed and you come into the room: now what will you say? Will you call it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           empty, or will you call it a full room?'Room' means emptiness;'room' means space. With the
           furniture removed, the room is full. When furniture was there the room was not full; much of it was
           missing because of the furniture. Now the room is complete, the emptiness is total.
                You can look from two ends. If you are too furniture-oriented, so that you can only look at the
           chairs and tables and the sofa and you cannot see the roominess of the room, then it will feel empty.
           But if you know, and you can see emptiness directly, you will feel a tremendous freedom which was
           not there before because the room was missing; you could not move in it. Go on filling it with
           furniture, and there will come a point when you cannot move because the whole room is gone.
                Once I stayed in a very rich man's house. He was very rich, but had no taste. His house was so
           full that it was not a house at all. You could not move, and you were always afraid to move because
           he had precious antiques. He himself was afraid to move. The servants were constantly worried. He
           gave me the best, the most beautiful room in his house. And I told him,'This is not a room, it is a
           museum. Please give me something where I can move, then it will be a room. This is not a room.
           The room has almost disappeared.' The room means: the freedom that space gives you.
                When you are working, creating, your mind is full of many things. The mind is occupied.
           Writing a novel the mind is occupied; writing a poem the mind is occupied; there is too much
           furniture in it -- the furniture of the mind: thoughts, feelings, characters. Then the book is finished.
           Suddenly, the furniture is gone. You feel empty. But there is no need to become sad. If you look at it
           rightly -- this is what Buddha called right-vision, SAMYAK DRASTHI -- if you look rightly, you
           will feel freed of an obsession, of an occupation. You will feel clean again, unburdened. Those
           characters of the novel are no longer moving there. Those guests are gone and the host is totally at
           ease. Enjoy it. Your wrong interpretation is creating sadness for you, and fear. Enjoy it. Have you
           never observed that when a guest comes you feel good; when he goes you feel even better? He
           leaves you alone, and now you have your own space.
                To write a novel is maddening because so many characters become guests, and each character
           has his own way. It is not always that he listens to the writer, not always. Sometimes he has his own
           way, and he forces the writer in a certain direction. The writer starts the novel, but never ends it.
           Then those characters end it by themselves.
                It is just like giving birth to a child. You can give birth to a child, but then the child starts moving
           on his own. The mother may have been thinking that the child would become a doctor, and he
           becomes a hobo. What can you do? You try-hard, but he becomes a hobo.
                The same happens when you write a novel: you start with & character -- you were going to make
           a saint out of him, and he becomes a sinner. And I tell you, it is exactly as it happens to a child: the
           mother is worried; the novelist is worried. He wanted him to become a saint and he is becoming a
           sinner, and nothing can be done. He feels almost helpless, almost used by these characters. They are
           his fantasies, but once you cooperate with them they become almost real. And unless you get rid of
           them, you will never be at peace. If you have a book in your mind, it has to be written to get rid of it.
           It is a catharsis, it is unburdening yourself.
                That's why creative people almost always go mad. Mediocrities never go mad -- they have
           nothing to go mad over, they have nothing maddening in their lives. Creators almost always go mad.
           A Van Gogh will go mad, a Nijinsky will go mad, a Nietsche will go mad. Why does it happen that
           they go mad? -- because they are so occupied; so many things are happening in the mind. They don't
           have a space of their own within themselves. So many people are staying there, coming and going. It
           is almost as if they are sitting on a road and the traffic continues. Each artist has to pay for it.
                Remember, when a book is finished and a child is born, feel happy, enjoy that space, because
           sooner or later a new book will arise. As leaves come out of trees, as flowers come out of trees --
           exactly like that, poems come out of a poet, novels come out of a novelist, paintings come out of a
           painter, songs are born out of a singer. Nothing can be done; they are natural.
                So sometimes in the fall when the leaves have fallen and the tree stands alone without leaves
           against the sky, enjoy it. Don't call it emptiness, call it a new type of fullness -- full with yourself.
           There is nobody to interfere; you are resting in yourself. That period of rest is needed for every artist;
           it is a natural process. Each mother's body needs a little rest. One child is born and another is
           conceived it used to happen, it used to happen in the East, and in India it still continues: a woman is
           almost old by the age of thirty, continuously giving birth to children with no gap to recuperate, to
           rejuvenate her being, to be alone. She is exhausted, tired. Her youth, her freshness, her beauty, are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gone. A rest period is needed when you give birth to a child. You need a rest period. And if the child
           is going to be a lion, then a long rest period is needed. And a lion only gives birth to one child,
           because the whole being is involved in it. And then there is a rest period, a long rest period to
           recupe, to regain the energy that you have given to the child, to regain yourself again so that
           something can be born out of you.
                When you write a novel, if it has been really a great piece of art, then you will feel empty. If it
           has been just a sort of journalism that you have made for money because some publisher has made a
           contract with you, then, then it is not very deep. You will not feel empty after it, you will remain the
           same. The deeper your creation, the greater will be your emptiness afterwards, The greater the storm,
           the greater will be the silence that comes in its wake. Enjoy it. The storm is good, enjoy it; and the
           silence that follows it is also good. The day is beautiful, full of activity; night is also very beautiful,
           full of inactivity, passivity, emptiness. One sleeps. In the morning you are again back in the world
           with full energy to work, to act.
                Don't be afraid of the night. Many people are. There is one sannyasin, I have given her the name
           Nisha.'Nisha' means: the night. She comes to me again and again, and she says,'Please change my
           name.''Why?' She says,'I am afraid of night. Why have you given me, out of so many names, just this
           name? Change it.' But I am not going to change it. I have given it to her knowingly, because of her
           fear -- her fear of darkness, her fear of passivity, her fear of relaxation, her fear of surrender. That is
           all indicated in the word'night', nisha.
                One has to accept the night part also. Only then do you become complete, full, whole.
                So Pankaja, don't take it amiss. That emptiness is beautiful, more beautiful than the days of
           creativity, because that creativity comes out of emptiness, those flowers come out of emptiness.
           enjoy that emptiness, feel blissful and blessed. Accept it, welcome it like a benediction, and soon
           you will see that you are again full of activity, and a greater book is going to be born again. Don't be
           worried about it. There is no need to worry. It is just a misinterpretation of a beautiful phenomenon.
                But man lives in words. Once you call a thing by a wrong name, you start becoming afraid of it.
           Be very, very exact. Always remember what you say, because saying is not just saying; it has deep
           associations in your being. Once you call a thing emptiness, you become afraid -- the very word.
                In India, we have better words for emptiness. We call it SHUNYA. The very word is positive; it
           has nothing of negativity in it. It is beautiful. It simply means space, with no boundaries: SHUNYA.
           And we have called the ultimate goal shunya. Buddha says when you become shunya, when you
           become absolutely nothing, a nothingness, then you have attained.
                A poet, an artist, a painter, is on the way to becoming a mystic. All artistic activity is on the way
           towards becoming religious. When you are active, writing a poem, you are in the mind. When the
           poem is born you are spent, and the mind takes rest. Use these moments to fall into your being. Don't
           call it emptiness; call it wholeness, call it being, call it truth, call it God. And then you will be able to
           feel the benediction of it.

           The fourth question:


               I WANT TO COME CLOSE TO YOU, OSHO, BUT I ENJOY BEING IN OPEN SPACES AND BY THE
               SEA. SO WHAT TO DO?


               I don't see the problem. Can you find a more open space than me? And can you find a more wild
           sea than me?
           I am absolute lawlessness.
               There is no problem. Don't try to create a problem where none exists. Just look into my eyes: I
           am the sea you are seeking, and I am the vast empty space you have always been searching for
           through many of your Lives. Now by chance, just coincidentally you are close to me. Don't miss this
           opportunity. There are many ways to miss it, there is only one way not to miss it. There are a
           thousand and one ways to go away from me, there is only one way to come near me. So it is almost
           impossible that you will be able to come near me, because the possibility to go astray is more -- one
           thousand and one. You can find so many reasons to go away from me, and you can justify them, you
           can rationalize and you can feel perfectly right in going away from me. But to come close to me is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going to be arduous and difficult, because everybody wants freedom. At least, everybody THINKS
           that they want freedom. But I rarely come across a man who really wants freedom; he thinks he
           wants freedom. Because to be free means to be nobody. If you are somebody, that 'somebodiness'
           will be your imprisonment.
               To find infinite space means that you will have to dissolve. Because you create, you go on
           creating your boundaries around you. To move to the wild sea, uncharted, you will have to throw all
           your maps, all your scriptures, all your religions, all your concepts and ideologies. To move into
           space which has no boundaries to it, is to die: to die to the known and to trust the unknown, which is
           the most difficult thing in the world.
               I will tell you one story. It is a very ancient story, and one of the most beautiful I have ever come
           across.
               There was a very wise king. His own prime minister committed a betrayal: he delivered some
           secrets to the neighboring country, to the enemy. The prime minister was caught red-handed. There
           was only one punishment for it, and that was death. But the old king had always loved this man. He
           was sentenced to death, but the old man gave him an opportunity. The last day, he called his whole
           court. On one side there was a gun ready to kill the man, on the other side there was a black door.
           And the king said,'You can choose, either to die -- you have to die -- or you can choose this black
           door. It is up to you.' The prime minister asked,'What is behind that black door?' The king said,'That
           is not allowed. Nobody knows, because nobody has chosen it before. In the times of my father, in the
           times of my grandfather, many times the opportunity had been given, but nobody has chosen and
           nobody knows. And nobody is allowed; even I don't know. I have the key, but when my father died
           he said to me,'I will open the door and you can go in and I will close it. Don't look into it.' But you
           can see because -- you can choose. You can discover what is there. It is up to you.'
               The prime minister brooded and brooded, and then he chose the gun. He said,'Kill me with the
           gun. I don't want to go behind that black door.' The prime minister was killed. The queen was very
           curious. She persuaded the king somehow to see what was behind it. The king laughed. He said,'I
           know -- there is nothing behind it. It's simple freedom; there is not even a room. This door opens to
           the wide world. There is nothing, but nobody has chosen it yet.'
               People even choose death before choosing the unknown. People even choose to be miserable
           before choosing the unknown. The unknown seems to be more dangerous than death itself. And
           freedom is the door unknown. Freedom means moving into the unknown, not knowing where one is
           going, not knowing what is going to happen the next moment. It is a black door. Rarely, sometimes a
           Jesus or a Buddha choose the door; all else choose the gun.
               You are dying every day, but you still cling to this life which gives you nothing except death.
           You choose death, you don't choose real life. Real life is hazardous, insecure. You talk about wild
           seas, you talk about infinite spaces: look into me, and you will get scared. Look deeply into me, and
           you will become afraid. There is only one way to come near me, and that is to love. To love me is to
           die to the past. To love means to trust, to surrender. And there is no problem. If you really love open
           spaces and the wild sea, I invite you.

           The fifth question:


              IT IS FROM A NEW SEEKER, GREG EWART.
              OSHO, I WANT TO BECOME A SANNYASIN; BUT SURRENDER MEANS LOVE, AND I HAVE
              NEVER EXPERIENCED LOVE, NOR HAVE I EVER ESTABLISHED A MEANINGFUL
              RELATIONSHIP WITH ANYONE ELSE. IF I TAKE SANNYAS NOW, MY DECISION TO DO SO
              WOULD BE AN INTELLECTUAL, MAYBE A HYPOCRITICAL ONE. I WOULD FEEL AS THOUGH I
              WERE USING YOU. HOW CAN I BECOME A SIMPLE, SINCERE SANNYASIN?


               I am the black door -- and there is no other way to know me except by entering me. You say you
           have never loved. Unless you love, how will you know? You say you have never been in any deep,
           intimate relationship. Unless you are, how you are going to know it?
               Love, surrender, trust, are like swimming. You have to go to the river. You cannot make it a
           condition that you will not get into the river unless you know swimming. If you make that condition
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will never learn, because there is no other way to learn it. You have to go, cautiously of course,
           slowly of course; there is no need to go to the deepest part. But enter -- find a spot where you can
           learn swimming and where you are not afraid to die.
                Don't enter into me, just give your hand to me. That's what sannyas is. It is just a beginning, the
           beginning of the beginning. It is just a gesture on your part that you are ready to come with me.
           When you go swimming, you have to trust the Master who teaches you. It is dangerous, because who
           knows? But if you trust, by and by, you become capable, capable of going to the deeper parts of the
           river. Once you know swimming, then there iB no fear. Whether it is Six feet deep, or six thousand
           feet deep makes no difference once you know swimming.
                I don't say take the jump. I simply say, slowly enter the river. Remain near the bank where you
           can feel that any time, if there is danger, you can get back to the bank. Just give your hand to me,
           just trust. And there is no other way.
                To know what trust is, one haB to trust. To know what love is, one has to love.
                You have been missing your whole life because you have never allowed the unknown to enter
           into your life. You wanted first to make it known.
                Again you are doing the same. You want to become a sannyasin: it is natural that in the
           beginning it is going to be a decision on your mind's part. Your mind will have to decide. And
           naturally, it will only be part of your mind. It cannot be total. By and by, it will become total.
           Sometimes it may not even be the major part, it may be the minor part. Ten percent -- of you would
           like to become a sannyasin, and ninety percent of you is afraid, but the ninety percent that is afraid is
           already dead. You have lived that ninety percent, and you have found nothing.
                This is the quality of courage: to be always ready to search the unknown, the yet undiscovered.
           Because that which you have discovered has been found futile. Move, be courageous. There are
           treasures to be discovered; you are carrying them. I am not going to give you anything that you do
           not already have. You have it. You have the treasure, you have the key. At the most, I can show you
           how to unlock, how to use the key. At the most, I can show you where the Lock iB and where the
           key is within you. I can bring together the key part and the lock part? that's all. The treasure is yours,
           it is already there. But you will have to do something.
                In the beginning, you will do it hesitantly. In the beginning you may even feel that it is
           hypocritical, because you are not total. Good -- this is a good indication, that you are afraid of being
           hypocritical. It is a good indication that you would like to take sannyas, and yet you know that only
           part of you does, and that too you are not certain about whether it is real, imaginary, illusory, or
           deceptive.
                One has to move in spite of all the doubts: that's what courage is. To be a courageous man does
           not mean that you have no fears. A man who has courage, and a cowards are not different basically.
           The coward has idea to move into the dark, into the unknown, and the brave man also has the fear.
           But the brave man is one who listens to the call of the unknown in spite of the barriers of the known,
           and the coward is one who listens to the known in spite of the call of the unknown. He listens to the
           known, and the courageous man listens to the unknown; that is the only dirference.
                Both parts exist in every person. Every brave man has his coward behind him, but he does not
           listen to it. And every coward has his brave qualities hidden within him, but he has not listened to
           them. And to whatsoever part you listen, you become that.
                So take courage. Always take the invitation of the. unknown and your life will become an
           adventure.
                A sannyasin is one who has accepted life as an adventure, as a pilgrimage, as a river flowing to
           the ocean.

           The sixth question:


              I SOMETIMES FEEL SUCH A FEAR OF MISSING, AS IF I WERE IN A SCHOOL, AND IF I DIDN'T
              DO THE RIGHT THING I WOULD FLUNK OUT.


               Yes, you ARE in a school. This is a school. We are learning to be ourselves here; we are trying
           the greatest adventure there is -- of discovering oneself, of reaching to one's own innermost core. It is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a learning place, it is a school. But the whole point is, the whole teaching of THIS school is not to be
           worried about right and wrong, not to be worried about good and bad, not to be worried about
           morality and difference, not to be worried about lower and higher.
               The whole point of this school is to become choiceless.
               Now I will read the question again:'I sometimes feel such a fear of missing, as if I were in a
           school, and if I didn't do the right thing I would flunk out.'
               This is the right thing here: not to be worried about right and wrong. To accept oneself is the
           right thing here, to accept yourself, whatsoever you are, howsoever you are; to accept in totality and
           in deep humbleness that this is the way you are, that this is the way God intended you to be.
               We are not trying to change you, we are not trying to improve you, we are not trying any
           ego-trip. We are simply trying to help you discover who you are. So the right thing here is not to be
           worried about right and wrong, not to be worried about this and that. We are not going to choose a
           character, a morality, a code of conduct. No, we are trying to find out who we are. Once you know
           who you are, no code of conduct is needed, no conceptions of right and wrong are needed. Once you
           know who you are, all that you do is right. And, if you don't know who you are, all that you do is
           wrong.
           So, we are not worried about right and wrong.

           The seventh question:


              OSHO, PLEASE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?

              This is from Madhuri.

               I am killing you Madhuri. I am a murderer, and you are trapped. You cannot escape me now
           because once you have tasted a little death, you cannot escape. Because now you know much more is
           going to come. Once you have tasted a little death of the ego, you know, you can imagine now, you
           can dream of what a beautiful space is going to be there when the whole ego disappears: when you
           look within yourself and you don't find anybody there, just emptiness, vast emptiness. If you have
           found a little empty corner in your being, then you cannot move away now. You have tasted.
               Now, you cannot go back to the ordinary world. Unless you die, there is no going back. Once
           you die, I will send you back to the ordinary world, because then nothing can corrupt you. Who can
           corrupt an emptiness? How can an emptiness be corrupted? It is open, absolutely vulnerable, and yet
           invulnerable, because nobody can corrupt it. It is incorruptible, it is virgin.

           The eighth question:


              WHAT DID JESUS MEAN WHEN HE SAID IN HIS SERMON ON THE MOUNT,'BLESSED ARE THE
              POOR IN SPIRIT'?


               That's what I am calling emptiness, SHUNYA, poor in spirit: those who are nobodies, who
           cannot claim anything, who have no claims to make -- who are just nobodies.
               Let me tell you one anecdote: A Sufi sage once asked his disciples to tell him what their vanities
           had been before they began to study with him. The first said,'I imagined that I was the most
           handsome man in the world.' The second said,'I believed that, since I was religious, I was one of the
           elect, the chosen few.' The third said,'I believed I knew, and I also believed that I could teach.' And
           the fourth said,'My vanity was greater than all these, for I believed that I could learn.'
               The sage remarked,'And the fourth disciple's vanity still remains the greatest, for his vanity is to
           show that he once had the greatest vanity. It still remains the greatest.'
               You can become egoistic about your humbleness also. To be poor in spirit means simply to be
           nobody, not even humble. A humble man is not poor in spirit, a humble man is ego, upside-down,
           ego in a see saw, a head stand. A humble man is not REALLY humble. A humble man is not humble
           at all, because humility is also a function of the ego. When the ego disappears, humbleness also
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappears. When you are gone, where can the shadow fall? When you are gone, there is not even
           shadow. When the ego is gone, humbleness also disappears; it is a shadow of the same disease.
               The poor in spirit is one who has come to understand that he is not. To know that one is not is to
           know that one is part of the whole:'The whole is, I am not.' The ocean is, the drop is not. And the
           poor in spirit is the richest man there is, the richest that is possible. The poor in spirit is the richest,
           because the emptiest is the fullest. Here, death means life.
               And when I say I am a murderer, I simply mean that I am a midwife. Here, destroying you means
           giving you rebirth -- a new being, a being without any ego.

           The ninth question:


              WITHOUT ANY REASON I DO SOME JOBS IN A HURRY; ESPECIALLY EATING.

              This is from Vishnu Chaitanya.

                Vishnu Chaitanya, something is eating you: some deep worry is inside that creates hurry; some
           deep tension which does not allow you to relax.
                So, the next time you are eating something, watch what is eating you. When you are hurrying,
           just watch. Are you escaping from somewhere? Are you trying to avoid some situation? Are you
           trying not to see something which is there inside you? Are you trying to suppress something? Is there
           some worry and you don't even want to accept that it is there? Is there some wound which you are
           hiding in flowers? Watch deep down. All people who are in a hurry simply show that they are
           carrying some deep worry, and they are not even courageous enough to face it. Bring it up, let it
           surface. Encounter it, and you will be simply surprised. If you can encounter any problem face to
           face, directly, it disappears. In the inner world, to know that a problem is, to know exactly what it is,
           to diagnose, is to treat. There is no other medicine in the inner world. A problem only exists if you
           go on suppressing it. If you don't allow it to be confronted, it exists. And people go on piling many
           problems, and then they are always in a hurry. In their hurry they are trying to evade; because if they
           rest, silently sit, they Will have to face. So they are CONSTANTLY in a hurry, running, doing this
           and that. Only when they fall asleep, then apparently are they at rest; but deep down not even then.
           Then, in their dreams and in their nightmares, they are travelling, and hurrying, and running.
                Many people come to me and they say that a certain dream occurs continuously. And this is one
           of the most common dreams: that one is hurrying in the dream towards the station, and by the time
           one reaches the platform, the train leaves. This is a very common dream. What does it mean? It
           means that you are always and always missing the point, missing the target. And the whole point of
           worry is that it needs to be recognized, it needs to be paid attention to, it needs to be brought into the
           consciousness.
                All the group therapies that we are doing here are nothing but to bring out all that is repressed, to
           help it to surface so that it comes into the consciousness. Once any problem comes into the
           consciousness, it disappears. It is just as if you watch, sit near a river and watch. If the water is clean
           you can see bubbles coming up. A few bubbles, just on the bottom, go on clinging; they will remain.
           If any bubble comes up, the closer it comes to the surface the bigger it becomes; because with less
           pressure of the water, it becomes bigger. When it comes to the surface, it is the biggest. It may have
           been just a small bubble at the bottom, but on the surface it is a big bubble. But then within seconds
           it erupts, it is gone.
                The same, exactly the same happens whenever you are suppressing something. It may be a very
           small thing, and you are afraid to bring it to consciousness because when it comes towards the
           conscious it starts becoming bigger and bigger; the repression is less and less, and the pressure is
           less. It becomes bigger, you become afraid. You force it back again. Many people who start
           meditating here come to me and they say,'We were never so worried as we are now.' Or they
           say?'We were never so sad,' or,'We were never so miserable,' or,'We were never so much in anguish
           and anxiety.' Their bubbles are becoming bigger because they are coming nearer to the surface. This
           is a good sign, a healthy sign that something is happening I tell them: Be happy, feel grateful that
           something is happening. The bubbles are leaving the bottom of your being and coming to the
           surface. Once they come to the surface, they explode, because then there is no pressure on them and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they cannot exist.
               A problem can exist only through pressure. No problem can exist without pressure; it disappears.
           The whole point of all the therapies here is to bring all your problems to the surface. Know, watch,
           become aware, and the problem disappears. Knowledge -- rather, knowing -- is transformation. Don't
           ask,'Once we know the problem is there, what has to be done?' If you really know it, it is no more
           there.
               This is the beauty of the inner world: once you know a thing, it is no longer there. It remains only
           if you go on forcing it, repressing it, avoiding knowledge, avoiding recognition.
               Problems exist through your ignorance, through your unconsciousness. Consciousness is the
           solution. Remember, I call it the SOLUTION. It has nothing to do with any particular problem.
           Every and all problems disappear through it -- it is THE SOLUTION.

           The tenth question:


              SO MANY QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ASKED OF YOU. IS THERE A LIMIT AFTER WHICH NO
              MORE NEW QUESTIONS CAN BE FOUND?


               If your question is authentic, then there is a limit. But if your questions are borrowed, borrowed
           from the books, borrowed from others, borrowed from knowledge and information, then there is no
           limit. If your question is true, relevant to your being, then there is a limit. Sooner or later you will
           come to it; they are finished. But if they are scholarly, then there is no limit to it.
           Let me tell you one anecdote.
               It happened: The lady of the house was out when her new maid called at her home and rang the
           bell. The pet parrot answered by calling,'Who is that?'
               'It is the new maid,' was the reply. There was a pause. Then the girl rang the bell again, and the
           parrot answered,'Who is that?'
               'It is the new maid,' came the reply once more. She was a little annoyed. This went on until the
           exasperated girl fell on the ground and fainted, because she would say,'It is the new maid,' and the
           parrot would ask again,'Who is that?' because that was the only question he could ask. That was a
           borrowed question; it was not his question. He didn't even know what it meant.
               Returning home, the householder stumbled across the body, and exclaimed,'Who is that!'
               'It is the new maid,' answered the parrot, because by now he had learned it.

           The eleventh question:


              YOU SEEM TO ADVOCATE COMMITMENT AND NON-ATTACHMENT IN LOVE, WHETHER WITH
              MASTER OR LOVER. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW ONE CAN BE COMMITTED AND
              UNATTACHED AT THE SAME TIME.


               In fact, they always happen together, they cannot happen separately. It is impossible to separate
           them, because they are two aspects of the same coin: commitment and unattachment. If you are
           attached, then it is not a commitment. Then you are using the other for yourself because it is an
           attachment.
               You love a person and you say,'I am committed and attached.' What does attachment mean? It
           means that you are using the other person for yourself, you are using the other person as a means.
           How can one be committed to a means? Commitment is possible only towards an end, not towards a
           means. You cannot be committed to a car, you cannot be committed to a house. They are means;
           they have to be used. You can only Be committed to an alive person, because each person is the goal.
               Love is not using the person for your own pleasure. Much pleasure comes through it, but that is a
           by-product. You love the person as an end; you are committed. You can give your very life to the
           person, but there is no attachment, because attachment means that you are using the person for
           yourself. Commitment with nonattachment means that now the other has become the goal, the end,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the very end. They always happen together, and if they cannot happen together then you are missing
           something. If commitment is with attachment, then you are just deceiving yourself that it is a
           commitment. Sooner or later, if the person dies, you will find another person -- because you were
           using the person. Now that he is not available, you will find another person.
               A commitment is eternal. Your wife dies: on that day, all women disappear from the world for
           you. You loved her as a goal. Now it is even impossible to conceive that you can love another. It was
           so total that nothing is left behind. And it was so total that only the body can die, not the soul of that
           being. Death cannot part two lovers. If they really loved, they had conquered death already. Love is
           immortal. But if there was only an attachment, then after a few weeks or a few days the wound is
           healed. You loved the person because of you, for your own pleasure. Now you will find another
           person. In fact, you love your husband, you say that you love, and he's dying -- or your wife -- and
           when the wife is dying, on the deathbed, if somebody could open a window in your head and look,
           you are already planning and trying to find a new woman.
               The mind, at the most, exploits. It can never become a deep commitment. Deep commitment is of
           being. It knows no time, it knows no death. I am not saying that it is permanent, because permanence
           is part of time. It is eternal. It has the fragrance of divineness.
               Let me tell you one anecdote: A politician named Strange lay dying. A friend asked him what he
           would like inscribed on his tombstone,'Just put,' said the politician: Here lies an honest politician.
           'But,' said the friend,'that doesn't tell who it is.'
               'Oh yes, replied the politician,'the passer-by will say,'That is strange -- a politician, and honest?'
           -- no need to say the name. Passers-by will by themselves say,'That is strange.'
               Attachment and love never go together; commitment and attachment never go together. Love
           goes with unattachment. Then love has a purity of the other world. Then love is absolute essence,
           absolute pureness, innocence. And then there is a commitment. That commitment is eternal.

           The twelfth question:


              YOU SEEM TO EMPHASIZE DIFFERENT POINTS EVERY DAY: BEING ORDINARY, BEING
              AWARE, BEING MEDITATIVE, AND SO ON. IF I TRY TO PRACTICE THEM ALL I GET CONFUSED
              TRYING TO REACH A HARMONY OF ALL. SHOULD I JUST FORGET, AND BE SPONTANEOUS?


               You have got the point exactly, precisely. That is the whole point: be spontaneous.
               And whatsoever I am saying is not contradictory. You can get confused because you are already
           confused. And in your confusion, when my words enter they create even more confusion -- because a
           confused mind can only create more confusion, nothing else.
               What I am saying is not contradictory at all. It may appear so sometimes, but it is not.
           Let me tell you a Sufi story.
               An interchange between a Sufi and an enquirer:'Which statement should one choose if two Sufi
           sayings contradict each other?'
               'They only contradict one another if viewed separately. If you clap your hands and observe only
           the movement of the hands, they appear to oppose one another. You have not seen what is
           happening. The purpose of the opposition of the palms was, of course, to produce the hand clap. If I
           clap my hands they are opposing each other, but there is a synthesis in the sound; the opposition is
           creating a synthesis.'
               I go on talking of so many different things to create a certain sound in you. That sound is
           spontaneity. If you have understood that, you have understood rightly.

           The last question:


              DEAR OSHO, HELLO.


              I will tell you an anecdote.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           A persistent man said that he would teach a parrot to say 'hello' in an hour. He went close to the
           parrot's cage, and started saying,'Hello, hello.' This went on for a full thirty minutes without the
           parrot giving the slightest attention. At last the bird turned his head slowly, blinked at the man, and
           said,'Number engaged.'
           I will not say anything else about it.
           You say 'hello'? You don't know; it can be said to me only through your being. Otherwise, the
           number is engaged. Words won't reach me. You will have to say them through your total being;
           otherwise, the number is engaged.




                                        Come Follow To You, Vol 4
                                                  Chapter #11
                                 Chapter title: Behold my Hands and my Feet
           31 December 1975 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7512310
              ShortTitle: FOLL411
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              Luke 24



              36 AND AS THEY THUS SPAKE, JESUS HIMSELF STOOD IN THE MIDST OF THEM, AND SAITH
              UNTO THEM: PEACE BE UNTO YOU.



              37 BUT THEY WERE TERRIFIED AND AFRIGHTED, AND SUPPOSED THAT THEY HAD SEEN A
              SPIRIT.



              38 AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: WHY ARE YE TROUBLED? AND WHY DO THOUGHTS ARISE IN
              YOUR HEARTS?



              39 BEHOLD MY HANDS AND MY FEET, THAT IT IS I MYSELF. HANDLE ME AND SEE, FOR A
              SPIRIT HATH NOT FLESH AND BONES, AS YE SEE ME HAVE.



              40 AND WHEN HE HAD THUS SPOKEN, HE SHEWED THEM HIS HANDS AND HIS FEET.



              41 AND WHILE THEY YET BELIEVED NOT FOR JOY, AND WONDERED, HE SAID UNTO THEM:
              HAVE YE HERE ANY MEAT?



              42 AND THEY GAVE HIM A PIECE OF A BROILED FISH, AND OF AN HONEYCOMBE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              43 AND HE TOOK IT, AND DID EAT BEFORE THEM.



              45 THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE
              SCRIPTURES.



              46 AND SAID UNTO THEM: THUS IT IS WRITTEN, AND THUS IT BEHOVED CHRIST TO SUFFER,
              AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD THE THIRD DAY.



              47 AND THAT REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME
              AMONG ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.



              48 AND YE ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS.


               THE greatest problem that a man like Jesus faces is that whatsoever he is going to say will
           appear untrue to people -- because truth cannot be said; and the moment you say it, it is falsified.
           Truth cannot be uttered. The language in which you utter it is not big enough. It kills the truth, it can
           only express the untrue.
               But, out of compassion, a Jesus, a Buddha, will try to say that which cannot be said. But then
           they will be misunderstood. They bring news of the beyond. You have not even dreamed about it;
           how can you understand? You have no conception of it; how can you understand? Misunderstanding
           is natural. Nobody is actually at fault. Jesus brings something from the beyond. You have never been
           there -- something of the other world. You listen:'This man appears authentic. His very being gives
           some authority to whatsoever he is saying.' But that is a feeling -- you cannot understand what he is
           saying. At the most you can trust, which is very difficult, almost impossible.
               How to trust? How to trust somebody else about things which you know nothing about? Not only
           that, but how to trust about things which go diametrically opposite to your experience?
           I was reading a small story the other night.
               A man was walking along, and he saw a snail lodged in a crevice in a wall, and for no particular
           reason he said,'Hello snail.'
               And oddly enough the snail could speak, and the snail could hear, and it said,'Hello.' And it
           moved its eyes around as best it could on their stalks to try to see what it was that was confronting
           him.
               So the man said,'Can you hear me?' And the snail said,'Yes, of course. Who and what are you
           anyway?'
           The man said,'Well, I am a man.'
           And the snail said,'Whatever is that?'
               So the man said,'Well, we are something like you. For instance, you have got eyes on stalks and
           we have got stalks on the other end.'
           The snail said,'The other end?'
               And the man said,'Yes -- just a minute -- it is for putting our feet on, you see, these feet.'
           The snail said,'Whatever are these feet for?'
               And the man said,'The feet are for moving along very rapidly on.'
               The snail said,'Really? You amaze me. Is there anything, else about you that is peculiar?'
               And the man said,'Well, you know how you have got your house on your back?'
           The snail said,'Yes, yes.'
               And the man said,'Well, we don't know. You see, we have lots and lots of houses, and we go in
           and out of them almost at will.'
               The snail said,'You really are a most astonishing creature. Is there anything else that's strange
           about you?'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And the man said,'Well now, we are men, and a man can take a thing like a leaf; you know, a
           leaf?'
           And the snail said,'Yes. Yes, I know a leaf.'
                The man said,'Well, he can make marks on this leaf, and even hand the leaf to another man, who
           can give the leaf to a third man, who can tell from the marks on the leaf what the first man was
           thinking about.'
           'Ah,' said the snail,'I see, you are one of them. Hm....'
                The man said,'What do you mean?'
           'You are a liar,' said the snail.'The trouble with you liars is that you tell one lie, and then you tell a
           bigger one, and then finally you over-reach yourselves.'
                That's the feeling with a man like Jesus. Ordinary humanity feels that way: that Jesus is
           over-reaching himself. Maybe he has a magnetic personality, a charisma around him. Maybe he is a
           powerful man, a beautiful person. Maybe he has a certain convincing force in him. He is a man
           worth loving, but he is over-reaching himself. Whatever he is saying is beyond the ordinary human
           mind. In fact, it is beyond the human mind. He is bringing something into the world of the mind
           from the world of no-mind. This is an almost unbridgeable gap. He is bound to be misunderstood.
                In misunderstanding he was crucified. And when on the cross he said,'Father, forgive these
           people, because they know not what they are doing,' it was not just compassion, it was not just love.
           It was compassion, it was love; it was also fact. Those people who were crucifying him, in fact, were
           fast asleep, unconscious. Whatsoever they were doing, they were not aware of it. They had never
           thought about the implications of it. They were not crucifying Jesus, they were simply crucifying a
           liar, they were simply crucifying someone who had been disturbing their silent, peaceful lives, who
           had been forcing them against their wills on an adventure which seemed dangerous, who had been
           talking about God, which everybody knows does not exist, and yet everybody believes in as a social
           formality.
                Jesus was trying to prove that God exists, not as a social formality, not as a prop for morality, not
           as a hypothesis to explain the unexplainable. God exists. In fact, ONLY God exists: He is the
           ultimate fact. Whenever people like Jesus start talking about the ultimate fact, a suspicion arises in
           the ordinary mind:'They are over-reaching themselves. It's okay to believe in God, and to believe in
           the church and in the temple. It is good to pretend to be religious. It helps -- it is a social lubricant. It
           gives life a certain smoothness; it gives you a certain respectability. But one should not take these
           things too seriously. This man Jesus seems to be too serious about it, as if it is a life-and-death
           problem.'
                To him, it is the only problem worth encountering, and the only adventure worth going on, the
           only research. But to the people he was talking to, it looked like nonsense. They may not have said
           so; they may not have said so out of propriety. They may not have said that they didn't believe,
           because they would not like to have been known by others as unbelievers. But deep down, it didn't
           seem probable that God exists; it was the most improbable thing, that God exists. Jesus looks untrue,
           a Buddha looks untrue. Out of their sheer magnetism people are fascinated. But even those who are
           fascinated are not totally with them. Their deepest core goes on denying and saying,'You are
           hypnotized. This man has done something to you, like magic. He has trapped you, you have become
           a prisoner.' When the people start feeling like this, they take revenge. This revenge happens almost
           automatically.
                The people who killed Jesus killed in their sleep, as if it was just a dream.
                There is a Sufi anecdote: A group of merchants asked a certain disciple,'How can this Sufi
           nonsense mean anything to you?'
                To the ordinary mind, to the logical, to the rational part of you, anything that is not
           comprehensible is nonsense. In fact, it is, because it is beyond sense. If you love it, you may call it
           super-sense. If you don't love it, you may call it nonsense. But one thing is certain: that it is
           something beyond the scope of the senses.
                A group of merchants asked a certain disciple,'How can this Sufi nonsense mean anything to
           you?' He said,'Because it means everything to those whom I respect.' Because it means everything to
           those whom I respect... this is what trust is.
                Jesus creates a respect about his being. Because of that respect, you believe whatsoever he says.
           Because of that respect, a certain trust is created, but your rational mind goes on hammering within
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you and saying,'This is all nonsense. What are you doing?' And when I say this to you, you can
           understand, because this is happening to you every day also: whatsoever I am saying to you is
           nonsense. There is no need for anybody else to prove that it is nonsense; it is nonsense. But if you
           respect me and love me, that nonsense will start appearing as super-sense, as transcendental to mind,
           reason, logic -- not below, but above. If you respect me and love me, you may allow me to take you
           over to another world in which you cannot believe right now.
                Almost every day people come to me and they say,'How can we believe?' I understand their
           problem, their anguish: they would like to believe. It is not that they want not to believe, because
           belief gives such serenity, belief gives such tranquility, belief gives such a centeredness and
           rootedness, that who would not like to believe? Even an atheist is in search of belief. Maybe he is
           very desperate; maybe his saying that there is no God is nothing but an effort to avoid that great call
           that is constantly heard in his being -- 'Go on the adventure. Seek and find.' He does not want to hear
           that call. He says that there is no God.
                I have never come across an atheist who is really an atheist. All atheists are in search, all atheists
           are in deep search for a faith and trust. But they are afraid. The adventure seems to be so dangerous
           and risky. They start believing in no-God, but that no-God is also a belief. It is negative: it cannot be
           nourishing, it cannot give you life, energy; it cannot enhance your being, it cannot help you to
           become centered. It cannot help you to see the true and the real because it is a false belief, a negative
           belief. But, I say, it is still a belief.
                There are only believers and believers, because nobody can live in non-belief, in no-belief, in
           no-faith, in no-trust. To live without believing is absolutely impossible. But the first dawn of truth
           always happens with what this Sufi disciple is saying:'Because it means everything to those whom I
           respect.' If you respect, you are open to receive.
                The Judaic word 'kabala' originally means: capacity to receive. It is a beautiful word. It means:
           those who are ready to receive; they are kabalists. Respect creates the capacity to receive, to become
           pregnant. Not knowing what is going to happen, but you trust somebody, you respect somebody.
                People respected Jesus. They started following him, but then deep down they also always felt
           that he was over-reaching. He was taking them so fast and so beyond human comprehension, that by
           and by they became frightened and scared of this man. They had to kill him, there was no other way.
                They must have felt relieved when they killed Jesus. They must have felt a stillness descending,
           because this man had been creating a chaos. This man had been creating such turmoil. He had to
           create it, because only out of chaos are stars born, and only out of chaos and pain and anguish is a
           new birth possible. But he was looking into the future, and they were clinging to the past, and there
           was no meeting ground. Even today, between Christ and a Christian there is no meeting ground. The
           meeting ground is possible only if you also try to over-reach yourself. Otherwise, the meeting
           ground is not possible.
                A friend of mine, an old navy chaplain, tells of a terrible storm a couple of years ago, a storm so
           severe that even old seamen were scared.
                After it was all over, an old salt-crusted sailor said,'Chaplain, I sure did pray during the blow. I
           am not a praying man, but I prayed hard that time.'
                'What did you say in your prayer?' asked the chaplain.
                'Oh,' replied the sailor,'I said: Lord, you know that I have not asked you for anything for fifty
           years, and if you get me out of this storm alive, I promise that I won't bother you again for another
           fifty years!'
                Only in pain, in anguish, only in a chaos where everything is dissolving into nothingness, does
           one remember God. A Jesus has to create a chaos, a Jesus has to destroy your notions of security,
           your so-called comfortable life, the illusion of it. He has to dis-illusion you, and that's why he looks
           like the enemy. The friend looks like the enemy; the greatest friend looks like the greatest enemy
           because he has to disillusion you. He has to bring you out of your illusions and dreams. He has to
           create a chaos, because only in that anguish, you may start praying. Jesus did both. He lived a life of
           infinite delight; he lived a life of constant celebration, he was one of the most dancing men ever on
           this earth.
                Don't listen to the Christians who say that he never laughed: it is impossible. If Jesus never
           laughed, then I would like to say to you that he never existed. Then the whole story is false. Jesus,
           and never laughed? -- then who will be able to laugh? He laughed -- his laughter may have been very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           subtle -- you may not have heard it. That much I can understand. His delight must have been very
           subtle and profound. You may not have been able to see it; that I can understand. His celebration
           must have been so deep that you could not go that deep, and you could not feel it. He lived out of his
           heart, he lived out of his depth. You may have missed, because to look into the depth of a man like
           Jesus or Buddha is to look into abyss: one gets dizzy, one becomes frightened, one closes one's eyes.
                It is possible that people didn't become aware of Jesus' celebration, but he was a man of
           celebration. He enjoyed the small things of life. He made everything sacred. He was not an escapist,
           he did not renounce anything. In fact, whatsoever he touched became sacred, wherever he moved
           became holy ground. Whatsoever he did, just because he did it, the quality of it was transformed. He
           lived a life of celebration on the one hand; on the other hand, he continuously created chaos around
           you. He was living at two ends together: that is his cross.
                That is the meaning of his carrying his cross on his shoulders: he is living two polarities together.
           He is a paradox, he creates chaos, and you can see him dancing amidst the chaos; because these are
           the two points to remember God. Either you remember Him when you are in deep trouble -- which is
           the way of ordinary humanity -- or you remember Him when you are at a peak of happiness, of bliss
           -- which is not the way of ordinary humanity. When you are happy, you forget God; whenever you
           are unhappy, you remember.
                Jesus created both possibilities together. He created a disillusionment for you, so that you were in
           anguish and you could pray. Out of your anguish tears can come, and you melt into prayer. You can
           again call God 'the Father', the whole. And just near your chaos, He is celebrating. If you are capable
           of seeing, if you have eyes, then you will become aware that prayer has two possibilities: one, in
           unhappiness -- then it is out of helplessness; the other, in happiness -- then it is out of gratitude.
                Jesus' prayer is different from your prayer: his prayer is of deep thankfulness, your prayer is of
           helplessness. But he presented both the possibilities together.
                One day, a quivering man visited a Sufi Master to plead,'Please help me find myself.'
                During the discussion a messenger of the troubled man appeared.'I thought you would like to
           know,' said the messenger,'that your business affairs have taken a sudden turn towards prosperity.',
                The visitor exclaimed to the Master,'Oh, I feel better now. Good-bye.'
                A month later, the still troubled man returned to repeat his sorrowful request,'Please help me! I
           cannot bear my agony any longer.'
                The messenger appeared a second time, saying with a sly grin,'A beautiful woman awaits you at
           home.'
                The visitor Leapt up to gasp,'All is well. Good-bye.'
                A friend of the Master asked him,'How often will that quivering man repeat that pattern of
           foolish behavior?'
           Sighed the Master,'Until he sees.'
                Jesus created chaos for you, because only in deep discomfort, in deep disillusionment, in total
           helplessness, is your prayer possible. And just by the side there, he was standing, happy,
           tremendously happy, prayerful -- a deep gratitude, a sheer delight in being, an ecstasy. Your prayer
           is out of agony, his prayer is out of ecstasy. And he was just standing by the side.
                If you could see, you would take the jump. Your prayer would then no longer be of helplessness.
           Your prayer would also become of gratitude, of tremendous gratefulness. You are not helpless. You
           are helpless because you are thinking of yourself as separate from the whole.
                It is your illusion of separateness that creates helplessness.
                The helplessness is just your illusion. Once the illusion drops, you are the whole. Jesus goes on
           saying,'I, and my Father who is in heaven, are one.' Then suddenly, you are not helpless. You are at
           the very center of existence -- how can you be helpless? You are not separate from the whole -- how
           can you be helpless? Helplessness is the shadow of the ego. Jesus tries to disillusion you so that the
           shadow of ego disappears.
                But rather than moving with him, rather than accepting his invitation to go and follow him,
           people killed him. He was too much of a troublemaker; he was too much to be tolerated.
                Sigmund Freud has written in one of his significant letters to a friend, 'Man cannot live without
           illusions.' Take away the illusion of a man and his whole life becomes meaningless. Everybody has a
           life-lie around which he lives. Take away the life-lie and the whole meaning disappears, the whole
           life collapses. Just watch inside yourself: you must have a life-lie, a dream which is not true; and you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           know it, because you have created it. But you don't want to know that. You go on avoiding the fact,
           that this is untrue; you go on believing that this is true.
               Freud's insight was right. He should know, because for fifty years continuously he was dealing
           with people's lives, their innermost minds. He must have come across it again and again.
               The same is my observation: everybody is living for some illusion. Take the illusion away and
           the life collapses, and he will become your enemy. And that is what Jesus was doing, what Buddha
           was doing. This is what I am doing here: trying to take away your life-lie. Freud's insight was half
           true. It is true: take the life-lie of a man away and his life collapses; but this is only a half-truth. Help
           him to see the truth, then a new life arises. And until that new life arises you are simply waiting a
           great opportunity. A life of fantasy is not a life at all. Everybody has to pass through the cross'The
           cross' means: the cross of the life-lie. And everybody has to come to a resurrection. The resurrection
           means a life of truth, a life according to the real. The man, the ordinary man goes on trying to make
           the reality follow his lie. The courageous man, the religious man, drops the lie and follows reality.
           Don't try to make the truth follow you -- follow truth.
               That is the meaning when Jesus says,'Come, follow me.' He is saying: drop your life-lies, your
           illusions about power, prestige, money, greed, jealousy, ego, and a thousand and one things. Drop
           those life-lies, come, follow me. Follow the true, follow the real. Truth liberates. But in the
           beginning, it is painful.
               Rather than change themselves, people killed Jesus. Rather than killing their own egos, they
           found it easier to kill this man. Nobody is responsible, in fact. Jesus had to destroy their illusions,
           and in their sleep they had to react, so it is natural.
           The sutras.
               Jesus is crucified; the miracle has not happened. The crowd waited and went away home,
           frustrated. The disciples waited, hiding themselves in the crowd, because they were also suspicious,
           doubtful. They respected the man, they also had a certain faith in this man, but not that much. They
           could follow him when he was succeeding. Now, he was a failure. And nobody has failed like Jesus,
           because nobody has tried so hard to bring the beyond. Nobody has tried so hard to bring eternity into
           the world of time. He tried the impossible, and he failed.
           His failure is beautiful.
               He failed on the path of truth and it is better to fail on the path of truth than to succeed on the
           path of a lie. Failure and success don't mean anything. The effort, the intention, means everything.
               The disciples were hiding in the crowd. They were not revealing themselves, who they were,
           because they were afraid. Their teacher, their Master, was being hanged. If they revealed themselves,
           who they were, they would also be hanged, or killed, or mistreated; or at least beaten. They were
           afraid. They were waiting for the miracle:'If the Master succeeds, if God descends from heaven, or
           angels descend from heaven and they save Jesus, and he reveals the glory about which he was
           always talking and about which nobody has ever believed totally....' They were waiting. If the
           miracle happened, they would reveal themselves. Then they would shout,'We are the disciples!' But
           if he failed, they would simply disappear into the crowd. The fragile, the weak human mind.... There
           is nothing to condemn; one should just feel compassion.
               It is an old story. It happened that in India there existed a great university, Nalanda was the name
           of the university. One visitor went to see the university. The vice-chancellor of the university took
           the visitor. The visitor must have been a very important personage; he took him around. It is said that
           there were almost ten thousand students in the university. From almost all over the world, seekers
           would come to the university. The guest was very impressed.
               He said,'My, just how many students do you have here?' "Well,' answered the vice-chancellor
           thoughtfully,'I would say, about one in a hundred.'
               And if that was the number of students, what to say about disciples? -- about one in ten thousand.
           If you see ten thousand disciples, the possibility is that there may be, or may not even be, one
           disciple there. That is the proportion. When students are one in a hundred.... And a student has
           nothing to lose, just to gain. A disciple has everything to lose and nothing to gain, or ONLY
           NOTHING to gain.
               Jesus had disciples, but they all disappeared. He died alone. In fact, he lived alone, he walked
           alone on this earth. The multitude that followed him, and the disciples who were around him were
           just so-so. Lukewarm was their trust. There was no intense passion in it, because when the Master
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was being crucified, there was the test. They were hiding themselves. They must have been greedy
           people, as all so-called religious people are.
               Just before Jesus was caught and imprisoned they were discussing amongst themselves,'In
           heaven, when Jesus will be sitting by the right side of God, what will be the position of the disciples,
           the twelve? Who will be sitting next to Jesus?' Of course they allowed Jesus to sit next to God; but
           who would be sitting next to Jesus? There was great argument amongst them. They were greedy
           people. They were just extending their ordinary minds into their so-called religious heaven. Their
           heaven was nothing but an extension of this earth. It was nothing new. Jesus remained alone, died
           alone.
               Try to understand this, because just to think that you are following when there is no danger is not
           enough. When death comes, when danger comes, then there will be the test. Then, not even a single
           disciple declared to be with him.
               In fact, when Jesus was taken as a prisoner, Peter wanted to follow him. Jesus told him,'No need
           to follow me, because you will deny me.' Peter said,'Never! I will never deny you.' Jesus said,'You
           will deny me. Even before the cock crows and the sun has risen, you will have denied me thrice.'
           And it happened. All the disciples fled; only Peter followed. But those people who had made him
           prisoner became suspicious: somebody was amongst them who looked a stranger. They asked
           him,'Who are you? Are you a disciple of Jesus?' He said,'No, I don't know this man. Who is he?' And
           Jesus looked back and said,'The morning has not yet come.' And it happened a second time; and it
           happened thrice. Jesus laughed, and looked back at the crowd and said,'The cock has not crowed yet.'
               It is so difficult to follow a Master when he is moving into death. And this the ONLY way to
           follow a Master, there is no other. Because a Master has to lead you into death; that is the only way
           to be reborn. There is no other. Until you die, you will not be able to be reborn. Only through death
           is eternal life attained, only through losing yourself do you gain.
               Jesus died. No miracle happened. The crowd, feeling frustrated, disappeared.

              AND AS THEY THUS SPAKE, JESUS HIMSELF STOOD IN THE MIDST OF THEM, AND SAITH
              UNTO THEM. PEACE BE UNTO YOU.


               The disciples gathered and they discussed what to do now. They were feeling absolutely
           betrayed, deceived. This man simply proved not a real son of God. He had promised again and again
           that he would be resurrected, that he would come down out of death with a new, eternal body of
           light. And he died like an ordinary man; and he died complaining to God,'My God, my God, why
           have you forsaken me?' So.God had betrayed Jesus, Jesus had betrayed his disciples, and they were
           at a loss as to what to do now. They must have been a laughing-stock. People must have laughed at
           them:'These were Jesus' disciples -- fools, simpletons! They used to believe that this man would
           come out of death, and this man has simply died like an ordinary man.'

              AND AS THEY THUS SPAKE... as the disciples were discussing amongst themselves, JESUS
           HIMSELF STOOD IN THE MIDST OF THEM, AND SAITH UNTO THEM: PEACE BE UNTO
           YOU.

               They were very troubled, in deep turmoil; their whole lives were lost. They had followed this
           man, and this man had simply died. Now what to do, where to go? Where to hide oneself; how to
           accept the failure? They were very troubled. They must have been so troubled that Jesus was
           standing amongst them and they could not see him.
               In fact, you can only see that which you are expecting to see. They were not expecting. In fact,
           they were thinking,'We knew that this was going to happen; this man has died and there has been no
           miracle.' The miracle had happened, but to see the miracle, to be able to see it, you need a different
           quality of being. The miracle was not a part of ordinary reality, it is a separate reality. The miracle
           had happened: Jesus was standing amongst them, and they could not see. It was as if they were
           almost blind.
               We are -- almost blind, almost drunk. We only see that which we want to see, we only see that
           which we are expecting to see.
               Have you watched that your gestalt of vision continually changes? If you are hungry you see
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           different things. You go to the marketplace and you are hungry; you see the restaurants, the hotels,
           the displayed foods, the fruits. You see things through your hunger. If you are not hungry and you go
           to the same marketplace, you don't see the restaurants, you don't see the food, the food stalls, the
           fruit sellers. You simply bypass them. They don't become part of your attention. If you are sexually
           starved, you go on looking at women or men. If you are not sexually starved, it simply does not
           matter who is who. Whether somebody who is approaching you is a man or a woman does not matter
           if you are not sexually starved. Whatsoever you see, it is not only the object that you see; your
           subjectivity gets involved in it.
               Jesus was standing amongst them and he said to them,'Peace be unto you.' Why? He said,'Just
           become peaceful, be silent. I am here. About whom are you talking? Peace be unto you.'

              BUT THEY WERE TERRIFIED. When they heard, when they became aware of this man
           suddenly standing amongst them, THEY WERE TERRIFIED AND AFRIGHTED, AND
           SUPPOSED THAT THEY HAD SEEN A SPIRIT, a ghost.

               For this miracle they had been waiting. But just to wait is not enough; one has to be ready for it.
               It happened once: An old man used to come to me. He said one night -- it must have been near
           about eleven o'clock and he was departing -- he said,'I would take sannyas, I would surrender myself
           to you totally if you could do one miracle.' I said,'What is the miracle?' He said,'If you can come
           tonight in my dream, tomorrow morning I am going to take sannyas.' I said,'Okay, but don't get
           frightened. Don't be afraid, don't get scared.' He said,'I am not scared'; but the way he said it, I felt
           that he was very scared. Then he went up to the gate, and he came back, and he said?'It is too dark,
           and the road is very quiet, and my house is far away, five, six miles, and in this cold night I don't
           want to go. I would like to stay here.' I said,'What is the matter? Are you afraid to go back home?
           Don't be afraid. At the most, if the miracle happens, I will come in your dream.' But he said,'Now, I
           must confess. I am afraid' -- even in a dream!
               What is the fear? -- because, if this is possible, a separate reality, a different reality opens its door
           to you. You have to face the unknown. He had asked for it, but he was afraid. He said,'No need to
           come. I will come and take sannyas.'
               If I can enter in your dream, you will be scared. A dream is a very private thing: nobody can
           enter into anybody's dream. Ordinarily that is not possible. Even two lovers cannot enter into each
           other's dream. Dreaming is a totally private thing and if somebody can enter into your dream,
           suddenly your privacy is violated. One becomes afraid. If somebody can enter into your dream, then
           somebody can watch your thoughts, and somebody can watch your feelings, and somebody can see
           your within... and the fear. Just think about it. If somebody could look into you and see your
           thoughts and your feelings, you would be scared to death. Because everybody is carrying so many
           ugly things, and nobody can see that things are okay.
               'If you could see into each other,' psychologists say,'if people could see into each other, love
           would become impossible.' Friendship would never be possible; there would only be enemies in the
           world. Just think what you have been thinking about your lover: just a little anger, and you would
           like to kill him. If people could watch each other's minds, you would be completely violated; there
           would be fear. The man was afraid.
               These people were asking for the miracles to happen. It had happened, but they were not ready.
           Because, to see a miracle one needs the vision to see it, one needs a totally different gestalt. The
           miracle is happening every moment -- the whole existence is miraculous and every moment of life is
           a miracle. You cannot find greater miracles than are already happening all around you. But you
           cannot know, you cannot see, you are not ready. You go on living in your drab and dull mind, almost
           asleep.
               I have heard: A welfare worker once said to a confirmed drunkard,'The last time we met I was
           very happy, because you were sober. Today I am unhappy to see you drunk again.''Well,' said the
           drunkard,'it is my turn to be happy today, sir.'
               Your happiness consists only of your unconsciousness. Whenever you are conscious, you
           become unhappy. And unless you can be consciously happy, your happiness is not worth the bother.
           I work on so many people: the moment they start becoming conscious they become unhappy. They
           come to me and they say,'What are you doing? We had come here to become more happy, and the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more we become conscious, the more unhappy we feel.' Because the happiness that consisted of their
           unconsciousness is disappearing, and that was all the happiness they knew. They have not known
           any happiness which is conscious. They become unhappy, disillusioned.
                If they escape, they miss the opportunity. If they persist, first the happiness of unconsciousness
           will disappear, and there will be a time, an interval of much agony, much chaos, much anarchy. They
           will lose all their identity. They will not be able to know who they are, because all that they knew
           about themselves belonged to their unconsciousness. They will be completely lost, almost mad. But,
           if they persist, soon a new sort of happiness, a new sort of blissfulness which has nothing to do with
           illusions and unconsciousness arises. If you cannot be happy consciously, your happiness is not
           worthwhile; -it is useless. People go on living in their sleep -- sometimes their eyes are closed,
           sometimes their eyes are open, but the sleep continues. It is rarely broken!
                Those disciples were standing talking about Jesus, and Jesus was there. They could not see. It
           seems impossible. No, it is not impossible; it is just natural to human unconsciousness.
                One day it happened: Mulla Nasrudin came to see me.'Why have you wrapped a thread around
           your finger?' I asked the Mulla.
                He said,'My wife wrapped it to remind me that I should not forget to post a letter for her.'
           'Have you posted the letter?' I asked.
           'No,' said the Mulla,'she forgot to give it to me.'
                This is how we go on living: without any selfremembering, without any awareness, without any
           consciousness.
           Jesus said,'Peace be unto you'...

              BUT THEY WERE TERRIFIED AND AFRIGHTED, AND SUPPOSED THAT THEY HAD SEEN A
              SPIRIT.
              AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: WHY ARE YE TROUBLED? AND WHY DO THOUGHTS ARISE IN
              YOUR HEARTS?

               'Can't you see me? Why are these thoughts arising in your minds and in your hearts? Can't you
           see me? Can't you recognize me? I lived for years with you, and you lived for years with me. Don't
           you know my face?'

              AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: WHY ARE YE TROUBLED? AND WHY DO THOUGHTS ARISE IN
              YOUR HEARTS?
              BEHOLD MY HANDS AND MY FEET, THAT IT IS I MYSELF.
              HANDLE ME AND SEE, FOR THE SPIRIT HATH NOT FLESH AND BONES, AS YE SEE ME HAVE.


               Pitiable humanity... even Jesus has to bring proofs that he is. And the proofs that you ask are
           proofs of matter, of materiality. A Jesus, even a Jesus has to show you:'Behold my hands and my
           feet.' You cannot see, you cannot face the reality, the infinite reality that is confronting you. Hands
           and feet you can believe in; matter is needed. The immaterial becomes non-existential.'Handle me
           and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.'
               How far we have fallen into unconsciousness! How far we have become insensitive! We can
           only feel the most gross, we cannot feel the subtle.
               And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hand and his feet....
               Pitiable humanity, that a Jesus has to give you evidence for his existence, and the evidence has to
           be material. He showed his hands and his feet.
               AND WHILE THEY YET BELIEVED NOT... because they were so frightened:'Who knows?
           That ghost may be playing tricks? Who knows? How can a dead man come back?' Jesus was
           crucified, they had seen him die:'How could he come? It is impossible. It is some trick, some ghost
           playing a game.'

              AND WHILE THEY YET BELIEVED NOT FOR JOY, AND WONDERED,
              HE SAID UNTO THEM: HAVE YE HERE ANY MEAT?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              These are very symbolic words. Now he is coming to the grossest, because you cannot see the
           subtle. Even a Jesus has to descend to your plane; only then can you see him. You cannot see his
           peak, you can see only his feet, and even those are difficult to believe.
              HAVE YE HERE ANY MEAT?
              AND THEY GAVE HIM A PIECE OF A BROILED FISH, AND OF AN
              HONEYCOMBE.
              AND HE TOOK IT, AND DID EAT BEFORE THEM -- because a spirit cannot eat. Food is needed for
              the body. A Spirit has no body; food is irrelevant. And he ate meat, the grossest food. This is just
              symbolic.

              Jesus' whole life is a life of silence, defined by parables.

              AND HE TOOK IT AND DID EAT BEFORE THEM.... Only then could they believe.

               It is said that when he ate, then they recognized him because of the way, the manner. Nobody
           else could eat like Jesus. They had watched him eating with them for many years. Just three days
           before, there was the Last Supper. The manner of this man was totally different; it was not like
           anybody else. Whenever he ate, he would eat in such a prayerful mood, in such deep gratefulness, in
           such infinite delight, with such joy -- his eating was a celebration.
               Only when he ate could they understand -- 'Yes, this seems to be our Jesus, because nobody else
           can bring such quality to such ordinary things as eating.' Whatsoever he touched became holy,
           wherever he moved became holy ground.
               I have heard an anecdote: An impressive dinner was given by a literary society in Milwaukee. At
           the conclusion Madame Mordjeska asked if she might not express her appreciation by giving a short
           Polish recitation. Otis Skinner, one of the guests, describes what she did:'Her liquid voice became by
           turns melancholy and gay; impatient, tragic, light with happiness and blighting with bitterness. There
           was not a note in the gamut of emotions she did not touch. She finished with a recurrent rhythm,
           fateful and portentious. We were clutched by the spell. We did not know what it was about, but we
           knew it was something tremendous. Someone asked what it was. She answered with a sly smile,'I
           merely recited the alphabet.'
               But if you know how to sing, even an alphabet can become a tremendous song. If you know how
           to sing, if you know how to dance, then any movement of your body becomes tremendously
           meaningful. Then each gesture becomes graceful. Then each gesture exhibits something, manifests
           something of the unknown. Even an ordinary alphabet can become tremendously significant.
               Jesus knew how to eat, he knew how to live, he knew how to love. Even the ordinary act of
           eating food became totally different -- the quality of it. Nobody else has ever eaten that way, walked
           that way, looked that way. He had to Come down to the most ordinary thing only because he hoped
           that his disciples might be able to recognize. And they recognized.

              THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE
              SCRIPTURES....


               Once they recognized, they were happy. Why did he try? Why did he make any effort? -- so that
           they might understand the scriptures. The scriptures go. on saying that you are deathless; all the
           scriptures of the world. It has, nothing to do with the scriptures of the Jews alone; all the scriptures
           of the world go on saying that you are deathless. Nobody except Jesus had given such a proof of it.
           Nobody had come after death to give witness that those scriptures were right. Not even a Buddha
           had given that proof; not even a Krishna had given that proof. It is unique to Jesus to come back
           from the doors of death, to descend back into the world, to become a witness to all scriptures. Jesus
           is the very embodiment of the foundational law of life: that everything is eternal and immortal, that
           nothing dies, that nothing can die; that there is only one thing that is a lie, and that is death. Only
           death is impossible and everything else is possible.

             THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND
           THE SCRIPTURES... the message of centuries, the one and only message of all religion -- that you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are deathless... AND SAID UNTO THEM: THUS IT IS WRITTEN,. AND THUS IT BEHOVED
           CHRIST TO SUFFER, AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD THE THIRD DAY.

                This is very meaningful. Whenever you die, if you die unconsciously -- as everybody almost
           always dies -- then within three days you are reincarnated in a new body, you enter a womb. That's
           why in India the third day after anybody's death is very significant, because the third day is symbolic
           that person is reborn, has somewhere taken birth. If you die consciously, which only a Buddha. or a
           Jesus does, then it is up to you. You are not going to be born again in any other womb. Then it is up
           to you; you are totally free. If you want to descend, you can use the old body; if you don't want to
           descend back, you can disappear into the whole. In Jesus' case the old body was saved. After his
           crucification his body was put in a cave and the door of the cave was blocked by a rock. Now it is a
           mystery what happened, because the body disappeared from there.
                Jesus belonged to a certain sect called Essenes. Jesus himself was trained by the Essenes, he was
           a disciple in their school. They had worked for him, they were his' Masters, they had prepared him.
           The Essenes were an esoteric group working almost in secret. When Jesus was crucified, they
           removed his body, they protected his body for three days. They helped, because if the body is not
           protected then the soul cannot descend back.
                In India, we burn the body precisely for this purpose, so that the soul cannot enter into the old
           body. There is a tendency, even in unconscious souls -- a clinging to the old, a fear of the new. And
           if there is a choice between the old body and a new child's body in a womb, your mind will choose
           your old body. And there is a fear that the soul may enter back into the body, and that body is useless
           now rotten, old. It has to be dropped and changed. That's why in India we burn the body
           immediately, so that there is no possibility of the body being there for the soul to enter into. In any
           accident it should not be allowed. Only the bodies of saints, of people who die consciously, are not
           burned in India. They are preserved in special graves we call SAMADHIS. It is the same word we
           use for the fourth state of consciousness, of transcendence. We call the grave of a saint 'samadhi'. His
           body is preserved there as a link. People who cannot be in direct contact with the saint can come to
           the body, and the body can function as a medium. Through the body they can still be in contact with
           the soul which has been lost into the whole, and they can be helped.
                Jesus' body was preserved for three days by the Essenes, one of the most important groups on the
           earth, one of the most important esoteric groups. After three days Jesus entered his body again.
           Three days is a time limit. One needs to be out of the body for three days to be completely purified
           of all grossness, of all dust that clings to one's consciousness and soul.

              THUS IT IS WRITTEN, AND THUS IT BEHOVE CHRIST TO SUFFER, AND TO RISE
           FROM THE DEAD THE THIRD DAY. And it was a prophecy in the old scriptures that this would
           happen: the third day Christ would come back, just to show that life is immortal.

              AND THAT REPENTENCE AND REMISSION OF SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME
              AMONG ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.
              AND YE ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS.

               'And repentance and remission of sins': Jesus gave a proof that death is just a false notion.
           Nothing dies. Why is this proof needed? Because if the soul is immortal, then your whole life will
           have to be transformed. Then you will have to arrange your life in a totally different light. If only
           this life is all -- you begin with birth and you end with death -- then what is the meaning of virtue or
           sin? Whatsoever you do is irrelevant; one day everybody dies, sinner and saint. Dust unto dust --
           nothing remain so what is the difference between virtue and sin? If life is mortal, then there is no
           difference. Then it is just a social utility, a convenience, but nothing of much importance.
               But if the soul remains, if nothing dies, then there is a tremendous difference between virtue and
           sin. Virtue means: to live as if you are to live forever; sin means: to live without any consciousness
           of your eternity. Sin means to live in unconsciousness, virtue means to live in awareness.
               If you become aware, you become aware of the deathless within you.
               If you are unconscious, unaware, you are living only in the body, the mortal. And a person who
           lives for the body, in the body, and only for the body, lives in sin. Jesus gave the proof.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               AND THAT REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF THE SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME
               AMONG ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.


               And he said to his disciples,'Now go and spread whatsoever you have seen all over the earth. Go
           and tell everybody on the earth. Spread the good news that there is no death, that one man has
           proved that life is eternal, that one man has come back from death, that one man has proved that
           death can be conquered. And if you become a witness,' he said to his disciples,'you will be able to
           persuade people not to live in sin, not to live in unconsciousness. Tell them to repent for whatsoever
           they have done in the past, to ask forgiveness for it. And tell them, because you have been a witness,
           that the impossible has become possible: death can be conquered, because death does not exist. Tell
           them that if they ask, they will be forgiven.'
               Christianity, the whole of Christianity depends on this simple sentence:'If you repent, you can be
           forgiven.' Christianity is unique in this sense. No other religion, particularly Indian religions, talk of
           repentance and forgiveness. They are more scientific, in fact, more technological. They say: You
           have done something wrong, you have to undo it. You have to do something good, you have to keep
           everything in balance. Nobody can forgive you; you have to change your life, your karmas, your
           actions.
               Christianity has a tremendously beautiful concept of forgiveness. Christianity says: If you ask to
           be forgiven from your deepest core, you will be forgiven. Why? Is there somebody who can forgive
           you?, No, but if you ask in intense passion to be forgiven, the very idea of repentance becomes
           forgiveness. If you have really asked, realized that you have done something wrong; if it has been a
           total realization and you accept the responsibility that it was wrong and that you are ready to repent
           for it, and you repent wholeheartedly, the very repentance becomes the forgiveness. Then there is no
           need to do anything else, because all sins are nothing but unconscious acts. Repentance makes you
           conscious, alert.
               Sin is like darkness. You bring a light, a lamp into darkness and darkness disappears.
           Sin is because you are asleep.
               If you repent, you awake yourself. Because there is no other way to repent unless you awake
           yourself, unless you come to realize and see what you have been doing, how you have been living,
           how you have been wasting, how you have been hurting. When you come to realize it, a flame starts
           burning in you, an awareness; and in that awareness, in that light, darkness disappears. It is not that
           there is a God personified sitting somewhere on a throne in heaven who goes on forgiving you.
           There is nobody to forgive you. But if you repent, you will be forgiven.
               God is not a person; God is the totality. God is existence, the totality of being. It is not that you
           have to pray to Him so that He can forgive, no. In your praying you are forgiven. The very prayer,
           the very recognition that you have been wrong and you recognize it and you repent, is enough. All
           that you have been up to then is, wiped, washed. You are cleansed of it. The old is gone, the new is
           born. This is resurrection.

               AND THAT REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME
               AMONG ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.
               AND YE ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS.


               And Jesus told them,'You have witnessed the greatest thing that has ever happened: the
           resurrection. Now go and spread the good news to those who were not fortunate enough to be here.
           Go to the housetops and tell everybody.' And those disciples went all over the earth. They carried
           authority. They had seen something which nobody had seen before them. In their eyes you could see
           the reflection of Jesus coming back from death. In each of their gestures you could feel the presence
           of Jesus: they had seen, they had become witnesses to something. They carried authority. They
           created a great movement; beginning in Jerusalem it spread all over the earth. It is just as you throw
           a pebble in a silent lake: it falls at a certain point and then ripples arise, and ripples go to the farthest
           shores.
               Jesus is a whole art of inner transformation. I say art, I don't say science. When I talk on
           Patanjali, I can say that whatsoever Patanjali says is a science. When I talk on Buddha, I can say that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whatsoever Buddha says is a psychology. But not with Jesus. He has given an art, because he has
           given love, not law. If you understand Jesus, by and by, you will become aware that it is not a
           question of following a certain rule. Rather, it is a question of following a quality of love. Love is the
           only thing that transcends death, because love is the only thing that life exists for. Love is the very
           center of being. If you love, all is forgiven. If you love, you have repented. If you love, one day or
           other you yourself will become a witness that there is no death.
               Accept Jesus' invitation. He is not going to take anything from you. He is going to take only that
           which you don't have, and he is going to give you life abundant, life eternal.
               But don't be bothered about Christianity much. Jesus has been murdered twice. Once he was
           murdered in Jerusalem by Jews, but they could not murder him. He survived. After the third day he
           resurrected. Then he was murdered in Rome, in the Vatican. And they murdered him more
           efficiently, of course, because they knew that this man had once come out of death. Jews crucified
           him not knowing that this man could come out of death, so they did not take all the precautions.
           Christians killed this man again with all the precautions, and Jesus has not been able to come out
           again.
               Don't be bothered about Christianity. Christianity has nothing to do with Christ. Jesus is
           available to all. Jesus is for those who are ready to transform themselves; Jesus is an art of inner
           transformation, of rebirth.
               Listen to his invitation. He still goes on saying,'Come, follow me.'




                             Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                          Responses to Disciples Questions
                                     Talks given from 27/10/80 am to 10/11/80 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     15 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1980




                                       Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                 Chapter #1
                             Chapter title: Whoever Knocks is a Welcome Guest
           27 October 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8010270
              ShortTitle: COME01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM A SINNER. CAN I ALSO BECOME YOUR SANNYASIN?


                Govind, yes, absolutely yes! In fact, only a sinner can become a sannyasin. Those who think
           themselves saints, holier-than-thou, they are the closed people, they are the dead people. They have
           become incapable of living, incapable of celebrating.
                Sannyas is celebration of life, and sin is natural: natural in the sense that you are unconscious --
           what else can you do? In unconsciousness, sin is bound to happen. Sin simply means that you don't
           know what you are doing, you are unaware, so whatsoever you do goes wrong. But to recognize that
           "I am a sinner" is the beginning of a great pilgrimage. To recognize that "I am a sinner" is the
           beginning of real virtue. To see that "I am ignorant" is the first glimpse of wisdom.
                The real problem arises with people who are full of knowledge. All that knowledge is borrowed;
           hence, rubbish. The people who think they are virtuous because they have created a certain character
           around themselves are the people lost to God. Your so-called saints are the farthest away, because
           God is life, and your saints have renounced life. In renouncing life they have renounced God too.
                God is the hidden core of THIS life. This life is just the outermost part, the circumference; God is
           the center of it all. To renounce the circumference, to escape from it, is to renounce the center
           automatically. You will not find God anywhere. The farther away you go from life, the farther away
           you will be from God. One has to dive into life, and of course when you are unconscious you will
           miss the target many times.
                The original Hebrew word for sin is very beautiful. By translating it as "sin," Christians have
           missed the very message of Jesus. The original Hebrew word for sin is so totally different from your
           idea of sin that it will be a surprise to you. The root word means forgetfulness; it has nothing to do
           with what you are doing. The whole thing is whether you are doing it with conscious being or out of
           unconsciousness. Are you doing it with a self-remembering or have you completely forgotten
           yourself?
                Any action coming out of unconsciousness is sin. The action may look virtuous, but it cannot be.
           You may create a beautiful facade, a character, a certain virtuousness; you may speak the truth, you
           may avoid lies; you may try to be moral, and so on and so forth. But if all this is coming from
           unconsciousness, it is all sin.
                It is because of this that Jesus has a tremendously significant saying. He says, "If your right eye
           causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is much better for you to lose a part of your body
           than to have your whole body thrown into hell."
                Now, if you don't understand the real meaning of sin, you are bound to misinterpret the whole
           statement and Jesus will look too harsh, too hard, too violent. Saying, "If your right eye causes you
           to sin, take it out and throw it away," does not look like a statement of Jesus. A man of profound
           love and compassion -- he cannot say it, he cannot be so violent. But this is how Christians have
           interpreted him.
                What he means is: whatsoever causes you to forget yourself, even if it is your right eye.... That is
           just to emphasize the fact. It is simply a way of talking, an emphasis: "If your right eye causes you to
           forget yourself, then take it out and throw it away." He is not saying anything which has to be taken
           literally; it is a metaphor. He is saying that it is better to be blind than to be forgetful of yourself,
           because the blind man who remembers himself is not blind, he has the real eye. And the man who
           has eyes, if he has forgotten himself, what is the use of having eyes? He cannot see himself -- what
           ELSE can he see?
                Govind, your question is beautiful. You say, "I am a sinner...." Everybody is! To be born in this
           world means to be a sinner. But remember my emphasis: it means to forget oneself.
                That's the whole purpose of the world: to give you an opportunity to forget yourself. Why? -- so
           that you can remember. But you will ask -- and your question will look logical -- "If we already
           remembered before, then why this unnecessary torture that we have to forget ourselves and THEN
           remember again? What is the point of this whole exercise? It seems to be an exercise of utter
           futility!" It is not; there is great significance in it.
                The fish in the ocean is born in the ocean, lives in the ocean, but knows nothing about the ocean
           -- unless you take the fish out of the ocean. Then, suddenly, a recognition arises in the fish. Only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when you lose something do you remember. Only in that contrast does remembering happen. Then
           let the fish go back to the ocean. It is the same fish, it is the same ocean, the same situation -- yet
           everything is different. Now the fish knows that the ocean is her life, her very being. Before, she was
           in the ocean but unaware; now, she is in the ocean but aware. And that's the great difference, the
           difference that makes the difference.
                We have lived in God, we all come from the original source of existence, but we have to be
           thrown out into the world so that we can start searching for God again, searching for the ocean --
           thirsty, hungry, starving, longing. And the day we find it again there is great rejoicing. And it is not
           anything new.
                The day Buddha became enlightened he laughed and he said to himself, "This is very strange!
           What I have gained is not an achievement at all, it is only a recognition. I had it always, but I was
           unaware of it."
                The only difference between a sinner and a sage is that the sinner is full of forgetfulness, and the
           sage is full of remembering. And between these two is that hocus-pocus being called the saint. He
           does not know anything, he does not remember anything. He has heard other sages or may have read
           the scriptures, and he repeats those scriptures like a parrot -- not only repeats but practices also. He
           tries to behave like a sage. But any effort to behave like a sage shows only one thing: that you are
           not a sage yet.
                The sage lives simply, spontaneously; there is no question of effort at all. He lives life just as you
           breathe. He is very ordinary; there is nothing special about a sage. But the saint is very special,
           because the saint is trying to DO something. And of course he is making a great effort, because it is
           not his own understanding. So he is continuously torturing himself to behave rightly, violently
           forcing himself to behave rightly. Naturally, he expects much respect from you. He can go on doing
           all this masochism, this self-torture, if you give him respect. Just think: if the so-called respect given
           to the saints disappears, out of one hundred of your saints, ninety-nine point nine percent will
           immediately disappear. They are living only for the ego.
                It is good, Govind, that you realize that you are a sinner. This is the beginning of something
           tremendously significant. You can be a sage; all that you have to avoid is being a saint! That is the
           trouble: the saint is the false coin which looks exactly like the real coin; in fact, it looks more real
           than the real one. It has to, because it has to deceive people. Avoid being a saint.
                That's what my sannyas is: living your ordinary life with only one addition, that of awareness --
           and the sinner will become a sage. The sinner becomes a sage through awareness; the sinner
           becomes a saint through cultivating a character.
                I don't teach you character, I teach you consciousness. Hence, I am not at all interested that you
           are a sinner and that you have been doing all kinds of sins -- that is irrelevant. It is accepted that in
           your unconsciousness what else can you do?
           I accept you with total love, respect.
                Many times I have been told, particularly by the so-called saints, "You go on giving sannyas to
           everybody -- this is not right. Sannyas should be given only to people of character!"
                It is as if you go to a physician and he says, "My condition for giving you medicine is that I give
           it to you only when you are healthy. Come to me when you are healthy. I never give medicines to
           people who are ill, I never waste my medicines on ill people! First become healthy and then come to
           me." You can understand the absurdity of that.
                If I say to somebody, "First go and become WORTHY of sannyas, then come to me," that means
           that if he can become worthy of sannyas by his own effort, then why cannot he become a sannyasin
           by himself? What is the need for him to come to ME? He needs help, and anybody who ASKS for
           help should be given help, and it should be given unconditionally.
                There is a beautiful statement of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest Sufi masters ever.
           Govind, take it to your heart.

           COME, COME, WHOEVER YOU ARE;
           WANDERER, WORSHIPPER, LOVER OF LEARNING...
           IT DOES NOT MATTER.
           OURS IS NOT A CARAVAN OF DESPAIR.
           COME, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BROKEN YOUR VOW
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           A THOUSAND TIMES.
           COME, COME, YET AGAIN COME.

               COME, COME, WHOEVER YOU ARE...sinner, unconscious, living a life which is not
           glorious, divine, meaningful; living a life which has no poetry, no joy, a life of hell.... Whosoever
           you are, Mevlana says, "Come, I am ready to receive you. Be my guest!"
               The master is a host; he refuses nobody. True masters never refuse anybody. They cannot. If
           THEY start refusing people, then there is no hope. If you go under a tree, a shady tree -- tired of your
           journey and the burning sun on your head -- and the tree refuses you, it does not give you refuge, it
           does not shelter you...? It does not happen at all. The tree is always ready to give you shelter, its
           shadow, its fruits, its flowers, its fragrance.

           A great Tibetan story is....
                Once there lived a master who never initiated anybody. His fame slowly became very well
           known all over the country, even beyond the boundaries of the country. And people would come and
           fall at his feet and ask to be initiated. But his conditions were such that nobody was able to fulfill
           them, so nobody was ever thought worthy -- nobody deserved initiation.
                He had only a servant, not even a disciple. One day when he was ill and on his deathbed, he
           called his servant and told him, "Go to the marketplace, and whosoever wants to be initiated, bring
           them all. I am going to initiate!"
                The servant was shocked. He said, "Are you talking in a delirium or something? Your whole life
           you insisted on certain qualities -- unless those were fulfilled you would not initiate -- and nobody
           has ever been able to fulfill your conditions. Now you are telling me to go to the marketplace and tell
           people that anybody who wants to be initiated should come? What about the conditions? What about
           the prerequisites? What about the essential readiness? What about the groundwork?"
                The master said, "Don't waste my time anymore, because this is my last day on the earth. Simply
           go! Do what I am saying, don't argue. You are my servant -- simply follow the order. Go and find
           anybody who wants to come!"
                The servant went, puzzled. He could not believe his own ears, could not believe his own eyes.
           But because the master had ordered, and he was just a servant, he had to follow. He went into the
           marketplace very unwillingly. He shouted in the marketplace. Nobody believed him; they thought he
           had gone mad. He said, "I am not saying it, he himself has told me! I also think that he has gone
           mad, now you are thinking that I have gone mad. I am simply a servant. He must have gone mad! He
           is dying, he has lost all his senses. But give it a try -- you are not going to lose anything."
                A few people, just out of curiosity, a few people who had nothing to do.... It was a holiday, so
           they said, "Okay, we are coming. Let us see what happens!" Somebody had quarreled with his wife
           and had nowhere to go, so he said, "I am coming." A gambler and a drunkard who were just on the
           road, simply followed seeing this whole bunch of people, not knowing where they were going.
                So this strange crowd reached the master's place, and he started initiating them one by one. The
           first man he initiated was the drunkard. Of course he was so drunk that he could not even think that
           the master was mad -- he did not even realize that he was being initiated! He was not aware at all
           what was happening. When the master said, "Do you want to be initiated?" he simply nodded his
           head.
                The servant could not believe it. He said, "What are you doing? This man is completely drunk,
           he is an alcoholic, and you are giving him initiation! And there is a thief in the crowd, and one man
           has come because he is unemployed and he thought at least this way he would find some
           employment -- at least he could become a saint and people would feed him. And there are a few
           people who have come because it is a holiday. A few others have come just out of curiosity: `Let us
           see what is happening.' The man next to the drunkard has come here only because his wife has
           thrown him out and closed the doors. He was standing outside, and he said, `Okay, so I am coming
           also!' These are not seekers and searchers -- they are not religious at all! What are you doing? Your
           whole life you were waiting for worthy people, people who are deserving!"
                The master said, "Listen, the truth is -- now I can tell you -- I was not a master at all! Just this
           morning I have realized myself, but I could not tell anybody that I was not a master. So rather than
           telling the truth, I always tried to make some impossible demands which could not be fulfilled. In
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that way I saved my ego. But today I have come to know who I am, and now I know that everybody
           is capable of knowing because everybody is basically the same. Even this drunkard is no more
           unconscious than anybody else. Everybody is unconscious, and unconscious people need initiation;
           they need the help of those who have become conscious. The conscious person can function as a
           catalytic agent."

               Mevlana is right: COME, COME, WHOEVER YOU ARE; WANDERER, WORSHIPPER,
           LOVER OF LEARNING...IT DOES NOT MATTER. The master is ready; it does not matter who
           comes to him. Whoever knocks on his door is a welcome guest.
               OURS IS NOT A CARAVAN OF DESPAIR. Remember this beautiful statement: "Ours is not a
           caravan of despair." I can also say this. Ours is not a caravan of despair, it is a celebration -- it is the
           celebration of life.
               People become religious out of misery, and the person who becomes religious out of misery
           becomes religious for the wrong reasons. And if the very beginning is wrong, the end cannot be
           right.
               Become religious out of joy, out of the experience of beauty that surrounds you, out of the
           immense gift of life that God has given to you. Become religious out of gratitude, thankfulness. Your
           temples, your churches, your mosques and GURUDWARAS are full of miserable people. They have
           turned your temples also into hells. They are there because they are in agony. They don't know God,
           they have no interest in God; they are not concerned with truth; there is no inquiry. They are just
           there to be consoled, comforted. Hence they seek anybody who can give them cheap beliefs to patch
           up their lives, to hide their wounds, to cover up their misery. They are there in search of some false
           satisfaction.
               Ours is not a caravan of despair. It is a temple of joy, of song, of dance, of music, of creativity, of
           love and life.
           You are welcome, Govind -- join the caravan.

           COME, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BROKEN YOUR VOW A THOUSAND TIMES.

               It does not matter. You may have broken all the rules -- the rules of conduct, the rules of
           morality. In fact, anybody who has any guts is bound to break those rules. Only people who are
           without guts, who have no spine to their being can follow the priests and the politicians, the
           demagogues, the people who have vested interests in the establishment. But if you have any
           intelligence then you will be a rebel. And the rebel will be called a sinner, and the obedient fool will
           be called a saint.
               This starts happening from the very childhood. The obedient child is praised by the parents,
           obviously -- for the simple reason that he is not a pain in their necks. He is so dull, so dead that
           whatsoever they say he does. He is an imitator, he is a carbon copy, and the parents' egos feel very
           nourished by the child. He follows them, he believes in them, he adores them.
               But the intelligent child will not be respected by the parents. They will always feel some trouble
           with the intelligent child, because he will ask questions which they can't answer because they don't
           know themselves. He will ask such things as will be embarrassing to them. He will create situations
           in which they will see their impotence. They will not be able to control him -- and everybody is
           interested in controlling everybody else; nobody wants to give freedom. They will not be able to
           enslave the child; he will resist all efforts to enslave him, he will give them a good fight. In fact, he
           is the child to be loved, to be respected, because he has some life, he has some soul. But he will be
           condemned.
               Intelligence is condemned, imitativeness is respected. Original faces are distorted and masks are
           painted, beautifully decorated. The true, the authentic, is denied, and the false, the unauthentic, is
           raised as high as possible. And the same thing goes on happening in the schools, colleges,
           universities. The whole of society is a repetition of the same thing on a larger scale.
               Only very stupid people become your presidents, your prime ministers. You will not tolerate
           intelligent people, you will not give power to intelligent people, because you will be afraid of them.
           You will always want some stupid people to dominate you, because there will always be a certain
           affinity between you and the stupid. There will be a certain understanding, a communication.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Jesus is bound to be crucified, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta is going to win the Nobel Prize.
           Socrates is going to be poisoned and killed, but not the so-called professors of philosophy in the
           universities; they are very respectable people. Socrates was not respectable. If he had been
           respectable, then Athens would not have behaved in such an ugly way. He was condemned like a
           criminal, but the professors of philosophy who are teaching Socrates are very respected people; they
           all have respectability. They write great treatises on Socrates, and nobody poisons them.
               One of my professors wrote his thesis on the philosophy of Socrates, and he got a D.Litt. in it. He
           was very happy, and all his students gave him a party. I was also present. I asked him one thing:
           "Socrates was given poison and you are given a D.Litt. There must be something wrong with your
           treatise! It cannot be Socratic, that much is certain. I have not looked into your treatise, and I am not
           going to look into it at all -- I am not going to waste my time! One thing is certain: something is
           absolutely un-Socratic about it; otherwise, why should the society, the university, give you
           recognition?"
               He could not answer me, but he became an enemy. He started avoiding me, and I started
           haunting him! Wherever we would meet alone -- sometimes walking on the road to the university, or
           going for a morning walk, or in the night -- I would always look out for him and say, "Hello,
           Socrates!" He would become so angry!
               One day he told me, "Why are you after me? What wrong have I done to you?"
               I said, "You have not done anything wrong to me, I am simply trying to make the point clear to
           you that writing a treatise on Socrates is one thing, and to BE a Socrates is totally another. If you
           were a Socrates you would have been crucified, you would have been stoned to death. The same
           university would have condemned you; you would have been expelled from this university."
               And finally, HE was not expelled from the university, I was expelled. And when I was expelled,
           I went to him and told him, "Look! I am not even a professor, I have not written a treatise on
           Socrates, and they have expelled me!"
               And the reasons they gave me were: "You ask embarrassing questions of the professors. You
           disturb their classes. You don't allow them to finish their syllabus and you go on persisting with one
           question for months at a time."
               And I said, "How can I drop the question unless it is answered? If it is not answered, then what
           are months? -- even a whole life has to be devoted to it!"
               And they said, "You may be right, but people have come here to get their degrees. They are not
           interested in truth, nor are the professors interested in truth. Go and find some other place."
               And then no other university was ready to accept me, because I had become notorious! One
           university accepted me on the condition that I would never ask any question. Now, what kind of
           universities are these? So when the vice-chancellor said to me, "You have to put it in writing for me
           that you will not ask the professors any questions," I said, "I can do that, but then you have to
           understand one thing: that I will not attend the classes. But you have to give me permission to appear
           in the examination, because I will not be fulfilling the percentage of attendance required --
           seventy-five percent. It is impossible."
           He said, "Why? Why can't you attend the classes?"
               I said, "If I attend the classes, then I will not be able to resist the temptation to ask questions!
           Then I will ask questions. Either allow me to ask questions or give me the attendance mark;
           otherwise, what will be the point of my being there?"
               He said, "Okay, we will give you the attendance mark."
               So I never attended the classes -- it was against the rules, but they gave me a ninety percent
           attendance mark. I never went to any class, because one thing was certain, that once I saw a
           professor then I didn't care what I had given in writing -- I HAD to ask the questions!
               My father used to tell me wherever he would take me with him, "Keep silent, don't ask any
           question; otherwise, please don't come with me."
               I would promise him that I would not ask the question, and I would ask the question. And he
           would come home very heated -- "You promised...!"
               I said, "What can I do? I completely forget! When I see stupid people talking about great things,
           I cannot resist -- I simply forget. It is not that I want to hurt you or anything, but what can I do? That
           man was talking about the soul being immortal, and he knows nothing. I simply asked him, `If I kill
           you, will you be angry or not? If the soul is immortal, allow me to kill you! At least allow me to slap
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you -- what to say about killing! The soul is immortal!' And he was saying, `I am not the body.' `So
           perfectly okay -- I slap the body, and you are not the body!' And he became angry, and you are also
           becoming angry. I was not asking anything wrong, I was simply asking a question that HE had
           raised!"
               People go on talking nonsense, but this whole society exists for the lowest, for the mediocre.
               I agree with Mevlana -- MEVLANA means the master. Jalaluddin Rumi was called Mevlana by
           his disciples out of great love. Mevlana says:

           COME, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BROKEN YOUR VOW A THOUSAND TIMES.
               Intelligent people are bound to break all their vows many times, because life goes on changing,
           situations go on changing. And the vow is taken under pressure -- maybe the fear of hell, the greed
           for heaven, respectability in society.... It is not coming from your innermost core. When something
           comes from your own inner being, it is never broken. But then it is never a vow, it is a simple
           phenomenon like breathing.

           COME, COME, YET AGAIN COME!

               Govind, if you want to be a sannyasin, you are welcome. Everybody is welcome, without any
           conditions. You do not have to fulfill any requirements. Just the longing to be in deep contact with
           me is enough, more than enough. Just the desire to be close to me, to be intimate with me is enough.
           That's what sannyas is all about.
               And drop this idea of being a sinner, because that must be creating some guilt in you. That guilt
           is one of the oldest tricks of the priests for dominating people. They create guilt in you. They give
           you such stupid ideas that you cannot fulfill them. Then guilt arises, and once the guilt has arisen,
           you are trapped.
               Guilt is the trade secret of all the so-called, established religions. Create guilt in people, make
           them feel bad about themselves. Don't let them be respectful of their own lives; let them feel
           condemned. Let them feel, deep down, that they are ugly, that they are not of any worth, that they are
           dust, and then of course they will be ready to be guided by any fool. They will be more than ready to
           become dependent, in the hope that "somebody will lead us to the ultimate light." These are the
           people who have been exploiting you for centuries.
               The time has come when a great rebellion is needed against all established religions.
           Religiousness is needed in the world but no more religions -- no more Hindus, no more Christians,
           no more Mohammedans -- just pure religious people, people who have great respect for themselves.
               And remember, only a person who has respect for himself can respect others, because life is the
           same. If you are too hard upon yourself you will be more hard on others, obviously. You will
           magnify their sins; you have to, just to give yourself consolation that you are not the only sinner,
           there are greater sinners than you. That will be your only consolation in life: that you need not
           worry, you are just a small sinner, there are great sinners.
               That's why people go on creating rumors about everybody else. And people believe rumors very
           easily. If somebody says something ugly, derogatory about a person, you immediately believe it. But
           if somebody praises him, you don't believe it, you ask for proofs. You never ask for proofs about
           derogatory remarks and rumors. You are very willing to believe them for the simple reason that you
           WANT to believe that "everybody is far worse than I am." That's the only way to feel good, a little
           bit good, about yourself.
               The priests have given you only two alternatives. Either you follow the impossible rules that they
           impose; then you feel paralyzed, crippled, imprisoned. Or, if you want to live a life of freedom and
           you want to be natural, guilt arises. In both ways you are being exploited.
           I am here to free you from all exploitation.
               Freedom is the taste of sannyas, the fragrance of sannyas. My sannyasins are not trying to
           cultivate any character, they are trying a totally different phenomenon: they are raising their
           consciousness. And then I leave everybody free to live according to his own light.

           The second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE COME TO A DEAD END. I SEE THE IMPOTENCE OF THE MIND AND FEEL ALL ACTION
              USELESS. DOES THE MIND TOTALLY DIE ONLY IN samadhi?
              PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MIND AND ACTION IN WITNESSING.


                Vinod Bharti, you say, "I have come to a dead end" -- but I don't feel it so. Not yet, because
           when you really come to a dead end, a transformation immediately happens. You are coming closer
           to it, of that much I am certain. The dead end is not far away, but you have not come to it yet. Your
           whole question proves it.
                You are coming closer, you are feeling intuitively that it is not far away -- but it has not been
           reached yet. Still, there is hope. Still, deep down, you are dreaming that this is not going to be the
           dead end; hence the question arises.
                You say, "I see the impotence of the mind...." You have not seen it yet, you only think you have.
           Seeing and thinking are totally different, but one can get mixed up very easily. Thinking can pretend
           to be seeing. You are not seeing the impotence of the mind; otherwise even this question would not
           arise. If the mind is really impotent, what can it ask? What can it think about? It simply falls from
           you, it withers away.
                But the shadow is on you, and that's a good sign. The day is not far away when you WILL see
           the impotence of the mind -- and then immediately the transformation. Then, immediately, a sudden
           enlightening experience. All questions disappear, all answers disappear, because when the mind is
           seen, REALLY seen as impotent, what is there to ask and what is there to find? The mind simply
           evaporates. Then life is left, pure life, unhindered, undistorted by the mind.
                Then you will not say that you feel all action useless. If you see the impotence of the mind, the
           mind disappears but action becomes for the first time tremendously beautiful. There is no question of
           utility at all. Life has no utility in itself. What is the use of a roseflower? -- but still it goes on
           growing, still it goes on opening, still it goes on releasing its fragrance. What is the use of it? What is
           the use of the sun rising every day? Is there any use for the sun itself? What is the use of the starry
           night?
                The word "use" is part of the paraphernalia of the mind. Mind always thinks in terms of utility.
           The mind is a Jew; it always thinks in terms of purpose, profit, utility. When the mind disappears,
           action does not disappear, activity disappears -- and there is a great difference between the two.
           Activity has utility; action is pure joy, pure beauty. You act not because something has to be
           achieved, you act because action is a dance, is a song. You act because you are so full of energy.
                Have you watched a child running on the seabeach? You ask him, "Why are you running? What
           is the purpose of your running? What are you going to gain out of it?" Have you watched the child
           collecting seashells on the beach? You ask him, "What is the utility of it all? You can use your time
           in a more utilitarian way. Why waste your time?"
                The child is not concerned about utility at all, he is enjoying his energy. He is so full of energy,
           so bubbling with energy that it is a sheer dance -- any excuse will do. These are just excuses --
           seashells, pebbles, colored stones. These are just excuses -- the sun, the beautiful beach...just excuses
           to run and to jump and to shout with joy. There is no utility at all.
           "Energy is delight" -- that is a statement made by William Blake, one of the most mystical poets of
           the West. Energy IS delight. When there is great energy, what are you going to do with it? It is
           bound to explode.
                Action comes out of energy, out of delight. Activity is businesslike. Action is poetry. Activity
           creates a bondage because it is result oriented: you are doing it not for its own sake, you are doing it
           for some goal. There is a motive, and then there is frustration. Out of a hundred cases, ninety-nine
           times you will not achieve the goal, so ninety-nine times you will be in misery, frustration. You did
           not enjoy the activity itself, you were waiting for the result. Now the result has come, and
           ninety-nine times out of a hundred there is frustration. And don't hope for the remaining one percent,
           because when you achieve the goal, there is frustration also. The goal is achieved, but suddenly you
           realize that all the dreams you have been dreaming about the goal are not fulfilled.
                You have achieved the money, but where is the joy that you have always been hoping for when
           the money was there? You have that great marble palace, but you are the same poor man -- the same
           emptiness inside, the same hollowness. You used to live in a hut, now you start living in a palace --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but the SAME person. You were miserable in the hut, and you will be even more miserable in the
           palace, because the palace has more space and of course when there is more space you will be more
           miserable. What else can you do with that space? All that you know is how to be miserable.
                So you see poor people and you see rich people. The only difference is that the poor people are
           still hoping. There is hope, hence poor people are not so frustrated. Rich people have lost all their
           hopes; they are more frustrated. The poor person can still dream -- he can still go on counting in his
           mind how great a bank balance he will have next year and the year after. Soon the day will come
           when he will be rich and he will have a car and a good house and a good wife, and the children will
           be going to good schools. But what can the rich man dream? All that he can dream about he has
           already, and nothing is happening out of it. The money is there, but he is as empty as ever.
                There are two kinds of poor people: the poor poor and the rich poor. And remember, the second
           category is far worse.
                Activity means there is a goal; activity is only a means to that end. Action means that the means
           and the end are together in it. That's the difference between action and activity.
                Vinod Bharti, activity will become useless, but then action arises and action has a totally
           different dimension. You act for the sheer joy of acting. For example, I am speaking to you -- it is
           not activity, hence I am not concerned with the result at all. It is a pure act. I enjoy communicating
           with you, I enjoy communing with you. I am grateful to you that you allow me. If you don't allow
           me, I will have to talk to the trees or to the rocks, or I will have to talk to myself! I am obliged to
           you; you need not be obliged to me. It is a pure act. There is something in me that wants to relate.
           There is no goal orientation -- I am not expecting anything from you. If something happens, good; if
           nothing happens, even better! If you become enlightened, good; if you don't become enlightened, far
           out! -- for the simple reason that if you all become enlightened, who am I going to talk to? So please,
           delay your enlightenment as long as you can -- this much of a favor you have to do for me! It is a
           simple act. No motive, no future in it -- just the present.
                Hence I am not trying to create a system of thought -- I cannot, because to create a system of
           thought you have to be motivated. Then you have to link everything in a certain logical order. I can
           enjoy fragments.

               When P. D. Ouspensky wrote his first book on Gurdjieff, he gave it the title IN SEARCH OF
           THE MIRACULOUS. He was a man of a philosophic bent, a great mathematician, logician and
           philosopher. When he showed the book to George Gurdjieff, his master, Gurdjieff just looked here
           and there for a few minutes and then he said, "Give it a subtitle too: FRAGMENTS OF A
           TEACHING."
               He was a little puzzled, because he had tried to make a whole system and Gurdjieff was
           suggesting an extra title. "The main title, IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS," Gurdjieff said, "is
           okay, but it needs the subtitle, FRAGMENTS OF A TEACHING -- in fact, FRAGMENTS OF AN
           UNKNOWN TEACHING."
           Ouspensky asked, "Why?"
               Gurdjieff said, "Because I cannot create a system of thought -- these are all fragments."

                And you can see it happening here. You can collect all my thoughts, but they will be only
           fragments -- fragments but not a system. To create a system, you need to be goal oriented. You have
           to follow a certain structure, and you have to go on like an arrow towards a target.
                That is not possible either for a man like me or Gurdjieff. We cannot follow any goal. Our every
           act is complete in itself, entire in itself. It has no relationship with the past and no relationship with
           the future. It is total. If I die this very moment, there will be no desire in me even to have completed
           the sentence.
                Action is an end unto itself; it has no utility. When the mind is seen to be impotent, the mind
           disappears. In that very seeing, the mind disappears. And, of course, with it all utilitarian activities
           will also disappear, because mind is the cause of goal orientation. It contains all your motives. It
           contains your past and the future; it does not contain the present at all. And when there is no mind,
           all that is left is pure present. You act moment to moment, and each moment is enough unto itself.
           Hence the beauty of the statements of Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, because each statement is in itself
           perfect, it needs nothing. You can take any statement from anywhere, and you can meditate over it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and it will give you the taste of TAO, DHAMMA -- truth.
                Buddha used to say again and again that the taste of the sea is the same. You can taste it from
           anywhere, from any shore -- the taste is the same. This shore or that makes no difference. Each
           statement of a buddha has the taste of truth. But it is not concerned with utility....
                Vinod Bharti, you are feeling in an intuitive way that something is coming closer of which you
           are afraid: "the dead end." Everybody becomes afraid, and out of fear the question has arisen. You
           ask, "I have come to a dead end. I see the impotence of the mind and feel all action useless. Does the
           mind totally die only in SAMADHI?"
                Just the reverse is the case: when the mind dies totally, what is left is samadhi. So I cannot say
           that the mind dies totally only in samadhi; that will be putting things upside down. The mind dies
           first, and then what is left is called samadhi. That state of no-mind is called samadhi.
                But the death of the mind frightens, scares one. That's what you are feeling: the shadow of death.
           It is not YOUR death, it is the death of the mind which is not you. But for many lives we have lived
           identified with the mind, so when the death of the mind comes closer it feels as if WE are going to
           die. It is not a dead end for YOU, it is certainly a dead end for the mind. That too has not come yet,
           but the mind is freaking out, because once it has come, then there is no way out for the mind. If it
           can escape just before the dead end, then there is a possibility of surviving...hence the question.
                You say: "Please say something about mind and action in witnessing." In witnessing, mind
           remains only as a biocomputer, a mechanism, but separate from you; you are no longer identified
           with it. When you want any memory you can use the mind just as you can put on your tape recorder.
           Mind is REALLY a tape recorder. But it is not continuously on, not twenty-four hours on. When
           needed, the witness, the man of meditation, the man of awareness, is capable of putting the mind on
           or off. He puts it on when there is some need.
                If I am talking to you, I have to put the mind on; otherwise language will not be possible.
           No-mind is silent, there is no language; only mind can supply the language. I have to use the mind to
           relate with your mind; that's the only way to relate with your mind, so I put it on.
                When I go back and sit in the car, I put it off. Before Heeren turns the ignition on, I turn MY
           ignition off! In my room I don't need my mind. When my secretary comes with the letters, or with
           some work, I say to her, "Hello!" And inside I say, "Hello, mind. My secretary has come!"
           Otherwise there is no need for the mind.
                When you are witnessing, the mind remains, but not constantly working. Your identity is broken.
           You are the watcher; the mind is the watched. It is a beautiful mechanism, one of the most beautiful
           mechanisms that nature has given to you. So you can use it when needed for factual memory -- for
           phone numbers, for addresses, for names, for faces.... It is a good tool, but that's all it is. It need not
           sit upon you continuously twenty-four hours a day. Even while you are sleeping, it is sitting on your
           chest torturing you, giving you nightmares. All kinds of relevant and irrelevant thoughts go on and
           on.
                It does two harms. One: you lose your purity of witnessing, you don't remain a mirror. Your
           mirror becomes so covered with the dust of thoughts that you start becoming closed to existence, you
           cannot reflect existence. The full moon is there, but your mirror does not reflect it. How many people
           are there who see the full moon? Even if they see it, they don't SEE -- their seeing is not of any
           value. They don't rejoice, they don't dance. How many people are there who see the flowers? Just
           now the birds are singing, but how many people are there who are aware of the birds and the wind
           passing through the trees?
                When the mind is no longer hovering over you continuously, you become aware of infinite
           beauty, of truth, of the celebration that goes on and on in existence. But the mind is there, put aside
           -- you can put it on when needed.
                And when activity ceases, action is born. Action means response; activity means reaction. When
           you are in action, it means the mind is put aside and your consciousness is in a direct contact with
           existence; hence the response is immediate. Then whatsoever you do is not ready-made. It is not a
           ready-made answer given by the mind; you are responding to the reality as it is. Then there is beauty,
           because your action is true to the situation.
                But millions of people in the world are simply living through ready-made answers. They are
           already carrying the answer; they don't listen, they don't see the situation confronting them. They are
           more interested in the answer that they are carrying within themselves than in the question itself, and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they go on living their answer again and again. That's why their life becomes a boredom, a repetitive
           boredom, a drag. It is no longer a dance, it cannot be a dance.
                Action is a dance; activity is a drag. Activity is always untrue to the situation; action is always
           true to the situation. And activity is always inadequate because it carries an answer from the past,
           and life goes on changing every moment, so whatsoever you bring from the past is never adequate, it
           always falls short. So whatsoever you do, there is frustration; you feel that you have not been able to
           cope with reality. You always feel something is missing, you always feel your reaction was not
           exactly as it should have been. And the reason is that you have simply repeated, parrot-like, a
           ready-made answer, cheap but untrue -- untrue because the situation is new.
                Vinod Bharti, the mind will be there but with a new status, with a new functioning. It will be
           under your control: you will be the master, not the mind. You will use it when it is needed; you will
           not use it when it is not needed. It cannot insist that you have to listen to it, that you have to go on
           listening to it. Even if you are sleeping, it goes on knocking on your doors; it does not allow you
           even to have a beautiful sleep.
                The second loss is that because the mind is working twenty-four hours a day, from the cradle to
           the grave, it becomes mediocre, it becomes stupid. It never has enough energy, it becomes very
           weak; hence the impotence. If the mind has time to rest, it will again become rejuvenated, it will
           again be fresh.
                The mind of a buddha is always fresh, it is always young. It is always responding with such
           freshness, with such newness that it seems unbelievable. Your questions may be the same, but the
           answers of a buddha always have a new nuance to them, a new flavor, a new fragrance. You can go
           on listening to the buddha for years, and still you will remain enchanted. Even if he repeats
           something it is never the same -- the context is different, the color is different, the meaning is
           different.
                The mind will be there, more alive, more potent, more restful, younger, fresher -- not your master
           but a good servant, an obedient servant. Activity will disappear totally; there will arise action.
                Action means there is no goal to it. Just as the poets say "poetry for poetry's sake" or "art for art's
           sake," the same is the situation with the mystic. His action is for action's sake; there is no other goal
           to it. He enjoys it just like a small child, innocently he enjoys it.
                Vinod Bharti, witnessing is the miracle that changes everything in your life. Then the dead end is
           only a new beginning, a death and a birth -- the death of the old, a total death; a discontinuity with
           the old, and the arrival of something absolutely unknown, the arrival of the new. It is a resurrection
           -- a crucifixion and a resurrection. But the resurrection is possible only after crucifixion.
                The dead end is going to come, but it is the beginning also. And you will see the beginning
           immediately, when the dead end has come. If you are just thinking about it, that it is coming, it is
           coming...the mind can even say, "It has come -- beware, escape! While there is time, run away!"
           Then you will miss the other side of it. You will see only the cross, you will miss the resurrection.
                You are thinking the mind is impotent. Your thinking is on the right track, but thinking will not
           help, SEEING is needed. Become a witness so that you can see that the mind is impotent. FEEL that
           activities are useless, but not action. Action continues. Buddha lived for forty-two years after his
           enlightenment. Action continued, activities disappeared.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              PLEASE, A FEW JOKES TO TAKE BACK TO ENGLAND.


               Veetam, I am perfectly willing, but you'd better go to France or to Italy or to America. Taking
           jokes to England is absolutely futile! They will think you are mad. Take something serious for those
           people, something gloomy like their climate, with no sun shining, all clouds. Take an umbrella with
           you! And if you don't know how to be really English, meet Proper Sagar -- take a few lessons from
           him. He is so proper that even though he has been living here for seven years, I have not been able to
           destroy his Englishman.
               Ordinarily I never feel hopeless, but when I look at Proper Sagar sometimes I suspect that maybe
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with Sagar I have to feel hopeless. He is such a perfect English gentleman! Veetam, first look at
           him...! As for the jokes, a story about Jesus' birth....

               After Jesus was born, Joseph went with Mary to visit the in-laws.
           "We live in Nazareth now," said Mary. "The baby was born in Bethlehem just a few days ago, in a
           farmer's barn because we couldn't find a room!"
           "You mean with all the livestock?" exclaimed Mary's mother.
           "That's right," replied Mary, "and just as he was born, three old men appeared."
           "Three drunks," explained Joseph.
           "And three shepherds," continued Mary.
           "And they got drunk, too!" explained Joseph.
           "You mean, you all got drunk?" said Mary's father, shocked.
           "That's right!" said Joseph.

              Joseph must have been a drunkard. Jesus himself remained a drunkard his whole life. Those three
           wise men from the East...and Joseph says, "There were three drunkards, three drunks."

               An American and a Frenchman are discussing how many love-making positions there are. After
           much talk, they decide to enumerate them.
               The American begins by saying that there are one hundred positions. In the first one, the woman
           lies on her back and the man rests on top of her.
           "Voila!" cries the Frenchman. "That makes one hundred and one!"

           One can always miss the obvious!
           And the last....

               The Vatican announced that the pope was to visit one of the few Catholic churches in Poland.
           The local priest arranged for all the strong believers from his community to clean and make the place
           tidy. The church was blessed to have a special relic from the time of Christ: a bunch of St. Peter's
           pubic hairs. One of the helpers, thinking it was rubbish, threw it away.
               When the priest did a last minute check of the precious relic before the pope's arrival, he was
           shocked to find that the "holy remembrance" had disappeared. Desperate, he reached beneath his
           robe and grabbed a few of his own to place in the box.
               The priest was guiding the pope through the church. When they arrived at the box containing the
           relic, he said, "And this, Your Holiness, is our most holy gift from God!"
           "Ugh!" groaned the pope when he smelt it. "You can still tell our Peter was a fisherman!"

           Enough for today.




                                     Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                   Chapter #2
                                   Chapter title: From the Body to the Soul
           28 October 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8010280
              ShortTitle: COME02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              JESUS SAYS, "SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND." DOES A DESIRELESS SEARCH EXIST?


                Bernd, Jesus was in a very unfortunate situation: he had learned all the secrets in the East and he
           was introducing something that had never existed in the Jewish tradition before -- that was his crime.
           The orthodox, the traditional, the conventional mind could not understand him.
                Lao Tzu was far more fortunate -- he had the right people to talk to. Buddha was blessed -- he
           could say things in as subtle a way as possible. In that sense Jesus was hoping against hope. It was a
           great challenge and he took the risk -- he sacrificed his life. But he was misunderstood: it was bound
           to happen, it was inevitable. Whenever you introduce a new truth, you have to suffer for it, but it is a
           joy to suffer in the service of truth.
                Jesus could not even say the whole truth -- that would have been too much. So whatsoever
           statements have come down in the name of Jesus are only half the story; the other half has never
           been told. Jesus could not say it because of the Jews he was surrounded with, and Christians have
           been clinging to those half-truths for two thousand years.
                For example, this statement is only a half-truth: "Seek and ye shall find." The other half, which
           has been said by Lao Tzu, is far more important; without it the first half becomes not only
           meaningless but dangerous. Lao Tzu says, "Do not seek and you will find. Do not seek and you have
           found it already." Both statements will look contradictory to each other; they are not.
                The beginning of the pilgrimage starts with searching, seeking, inquiring; there is no other way
           to begin. Unless you inquire what is the meaning of life, unless you go in search of the essential core
           of existence, you will never move, you will not even take the first step. Hence, the search has to
           begin. But if you continue searching forever and ever, if your search never comes to an end, you will
           remain in the mind. It is the mind which searches.
                Search is also a subtle desire. Even the inquiry into knowing is ambitious. The very desire to
           achieve something -- money, power, prestige, meditation, God, whatsoever it is, any desire, any
           ambition -- leads you into the future; it distracts you from the present. And the present is the only
           reality, the only truth there is.
                The person who never begins the search will remain unconscious; the person who always
           remains in the search will go crazy. The search has to begin so that you become a little more alert, a
           little more observant, vigilant, aware. And then the search has to be dropped so that you become
           silent, so that the mind disappears, so that the future evaporates and you are simply herenow, neither
           seeking nor searching. In that stillness of no-search, truth is found.
                And Lao Tzu is right when he says, "Seek and ye shall miss. Seek not and find immediately." But
           his statement is the second part of the journey. Jesus was speaking to the beginners; he is like a
           primary school teacher. Lao Tzu is talking to the adepts, to those who have come a long way; he is
           talking to the initiates. He is talking to people who can understand the joy of not searching, the
           stillness, the tranquility, the calmness of simply being -- no ambition, no desire, no future, no time,
           no mind.
                Bernd, Jesus' statement is only half of the truth, and the beginning half. It is good for those who
           have not started the journey. It is meaningless, and not only that but harmful, for those who have
           started the journey and who are coming to realize the utter futility of all search.
                The truth is within you, and every search means going out, going somewhere else, leaving your
           home. When you drop searching you will come back home naturally, spontaneously; you will settle
           at the very core of your being.
           You also ask, "Does a desireless search exist?"
                No. All search is a manifestation of desire. But there is something like a state of consciousness
           which can be called non-searching, non-seeking, a state of total rest. In that total rest is samadhi. In
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that absolute tranquility is realization.

                Sylvia Moses has asked a similar question.... She says, "For many years I have been wondering
           what the difference is between spirituality and religiousness. Until now I have been unsuccessful in
           obtaining an answer. Can you tell me?"
                Sylvia, the statement of Jesus, "Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given to you, knock
           and the doors shall be opened unto you," contains religiousness. Lao Tzu's statement: "Seek not and
           find immediately," or Rabiya al-Adabiya's statement to Hassan....
                Hassan was a Sufi seeker; Rabiya was a Sufi master. Every day Rabiya used to pass through the
           marketplace, and she would see Hassan kneeling down in front of the mosque and praying to God
           with raised hands: "My Lord, how long have I to ask you? Open thy doors so that I can enter!"
                Rabiya had heard this prayer thousands of times. One day she came up to Hassan, shook him out
           of his prayer and shouted at him, "Stop all this nonsense. The doors are always open! Why don't you
           enter?"
                And it was a great revelation to Hassan. Suddenly he realized what he had been asking: "Lord,
           open thy doors so that I can enter!" And Rabiya was saying, "The doors are always open, God has
           never closed them. If you want to enter, enter, but don't go on playing with this stupid prayer again
           and again. Don't waste your time and don't waste his time! If you want to enter, enter; otherwise go
           home! I don't want to see you sitting here in front of the mosque again!"
                Hassan was shocked, bewildered. But it was the right moment, because when a person like
           Rabiya says something to somebody it is always at the right moment -- when the person is ready to
           understand. He understood, he followed Rabiya. He touched her feet and thanked her, and told her,
           "You are right. I was just being a fool! I wasted my life!"
                Rabiya said, "Stop! Don't talk nonsense again! It has not been a wastage. If you had not prayed
           all these years here you would not have understood me. It has helped. It has not helped God to open
           the doors because the doors are open, but it has helped you to understand my statement that the doors
           are open for you to enter. I cannot say this thing to anybody else in this town; only you were ripe.
           The spring has come only to you, that's why the flower has blossomed."
                Sylvia, religiousness means the circumference, and spirituality means the center. Religiousness
           has something of spirituality, but only something -- a vague radiation, something like a reflection in
           the lake of the starry night, of the full moon. Spirituality is the real thing; religiousness is just a
           by-product.
                And one of the greatest misfortunes that has happened to humanity is that people are being told
           to be religious not spiritual. Hence they start decorating their circumference, they cultivate character.
           Character is your circumference. By painting your circumference, the center is not changed. But if
           you change the center, the circumference automatically goes through a transformation.
                Change the center -- that is spirituality. Spirituality is an inner revolution. It certainly affects
           your behavior, but only as a by-product. Because you are more alert, more aware, so naturally your
           action is different, your behavior has a different quality, a different flavor, a different beauty. But
           vice versa does not.... If your body is healthy then your lips are red, but you can paint them with
           lipstick and they will look red -- and ugly. A woman with lipstick is the ugliest woman possible. I
           sometimes wonder who she is trying to deceive! Her whole face is saying something else, her whole
           body is saying something else, and her lips are so red.... Such redness does not happen naturally;
           they are painted. But there are fools in the world -- she will find some fool to kiss those painted lips
           too!
                I cannot believe it! -- just try tasting lipstick and you will understand what I mean when I say I
           cannot believe it! And layers and layers of lipstick, old, rotten!
                People are living with painted faces, wearing masks. These people are called religious.
           Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jainas -- these are religious people. Buddha, Jesus, Zarathustra,
           Krishna, Lao Tzu -- these people are spiritual.
                Spirituality belongs to your essential being, and religiousness only to the outermost: actions,
           behavior, morality. Religiousness is formal; going to the church every Sunday is a social affair. The
           church is nothing but a kind of club, a Rotary Club, a Lions Club -- and there are many clubs. The
           church is also a club, but with religious pretensions.
                The spiritual person belongs to no creed, to no dogma. He cannot belong to any church, Hindu,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Christian, Mohammedan...it is impossible for him to belong to any.
           Spirituality is one; religions are many.
           My insistence here is on inner transformation.
               I don't teach you religion, I teach you spirituality.
               I can understand, Sylvia, why you were unable to find any answer. You must have been asking
           the religious people -- the Christians, the bishops, the popes, the priests, or the rabbis. They will give
           you answers because they are supposed to know. They know nothing; they are just supposed to
           know.

           "Rabbi," asked Little Saul one day, "why do coachmen have brown, white, red or black beards, but
           never green ones?"
           "I have to ponder on this," replied the rabbi.
           "Rabbi," asked Little Saul again, "why do you always chain the horse with its tail towards the
           carriage instead of its head?"
           "I have to think about this," replied the rabbi.
               Next day the rabbi saw Little Saul and told him, "I have found the solution to both your
           questions: if the beard of a coachman were green and you put the horse with its head towards the
           carriage, the horse might think the beard was grass and eat it!"
               The rabbis, the priests, the bishops -- they are supposed to know everything. You can ask any
           question, sensible or not so sensible, making some sense or making no sense at all, but they will
           answer. It is their business to answer all kinds of stupid questions.
               You must have been asking these people, Sylvia, that's why you have not been successful in
           obtaining an answer. They don't have the answer. Only a Jesus can answer your question, or a
           Buddha or a Kabir or a Nanak -- somebody who knows life from his innermost being, who has come
           to know the eternal in himself.
               Spirituality belongs to the eternal, and religion belongs to the temporal. Religion belongs to
           people's behavior. It is really what Pavlov, Skinner, Delgado and others call a conditioning of the
           behavior. The child is brought up by Christians -- then he is conditioned in one way, he becomes a
           Christian. Or he is brought up by Hindus -- he is conditioned in another way, he becomes a Hindu.
           His conditioning is an imprisonment; he will remain a Hindu. He will think like a Hindu or a
           Christian his whole life. And those thoughts are not his own, they have been put into his head by
           others -- by the vested interests, by the establishment, by the state, by the church. They have their
           own interests: they want to dominate you. And the best way to dominate you is to condition you
           from the very beginning so deeply that you start thinking that this conditioning is what you are.
               You are not a Christian, or a Hindu, or a Mohammedan. You are born as a spiritual being and
           then you become a victim of your parents, teachers and priests. And of course these parents, these
           teachers and these priests go on telling you, "Respect your parents, respect your teachers, respect
           your priests." If you don't respect them you will fall into hell; if you respect them, then all the
           pleasures of heaven are yours. This is a simple psychological strategy to make you afraid and to
           make you greedy. These are the two things people are ruled by: fear and greed. And the spiritual
           person is one who is free of both.

               Just a few days ago I talked about one friend, Ajai Krishna Lakanpal. He wanted to take sannyas
           one month ago, but he wrote to me saying, "I am ready to take sannyas today if you say so;
           otherwise, I will feel happier taking sannyas on the twenty-fifth of October, on my birthday. I want
           to ask my mother. I know she will allow it, she will not prevent me."
               So I said, "Okay, ask your mother." And his mother has not prevented him, she has permitted
           him to take sannyas. Of course she said, "I will not feel very happy, but if you are feeling good about
           it you can take sannyas."
               Now he has written to me: "My mother will not feel happy, that's why I cannot take sannyas."
           First it was the permission of the mother; now the permission is there but the mother will not feel
           happy.
               Just a few days ago I discussed it, and he became very angry. He wrote an angry letter to me. A
           few points which he has written are worth considering -- it shows how people are being conditioned.
           The first thing he was angry about was that I told you he is forty-five years old. He was angry
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because he is only thirty-six. It does not matter -- forty-five or thirty-six, how does it matter? But the
           anger is caused by something else; this is just an excuse to find some fault.
               I was informed wrongly, so now I am putting it right. Ajai Krishna, you are not forty-five, you
           are twenty-seven...forty-five plus twenty-seven divided by two, and you will be thirty-six -- exactly
           thirty-six!
               And again he goes on rationalizing. He says, "My old master, Kamu Baba, has said, `Never hurt
           the feelings of your parents. If you hurt the feelings of your parents, then no master can ever help
           you.'"
               True. But are you sure, Ajai Krishna, that you are not hurting the feelings of your parents?
               He himself writes in his letter: "My father died and I feel guilty because I am an alcoholic and I
           did not listen to him. I continued to drink too much, and he died. And now I feel guilty that I was not
           up to his standards."
               Did you not remember your Kamu Baba's statement? Now, do you think, Ajai Krishna, your
           mother is happy with your alcoholism? Are you not hurting your mother by drinking too much? But
           that problem does not arise. The father has died, the son feels guilty and still he continues to drink --
           maybe a little more so that he does not feel guilty. The mother is old, sixty-eight, or maybe
           seventy-eight -- because again it is my secretary who has informed me! Is your mother very happy
           with your alcoholism? Are you not hurting her? Do you think alcohol can help when you hurt your
           mother? A master cannot help, that is true -- Kamu Baba must be right. But can alcohol help?
               And not only that, he quotes the KORAN. He says, "In the KORAN it is said, `Don't hurt your
           parents. To be surrendered to your parents, to sit at their feet, is to be in paradise.'"
               And do you think, Ajai Krishna, that the KORAN says to go on drinking as much as you want?
           The KORAN also says that if you drink you will fall into hell! So you choose only that part of the
           Koran which helps you to do what you want to do.
               He also quotes Jewish scriptures, that they too say to respect your parents. But they are all
           against alcohol. If you really respect your mother, then give one proof: stop drinking. If you really
           want to make her happy, stop drinking. That will be proof; otherwise this is sheer playing with
           words, rationalization. Neither are you interested in Kamu Baba, nor are you interested in your
           father, nor are you interested in your mother. Your whole interest is: you are afraid of sannyas.
               And the last thing which he says in his letter is: "It is not true that I am afraid of sannyas. It is
           because of compassion for my mother." And by being an alcoholic you are being very compassionate
           to your mother...?
               But all the religions down the ages have been teaching you to respect your parents. Why? Why
           do the religions teach that? It is a subtle strategy of exploitation. Your religion has been given to you
           by your parents, and if you go against your religion, they will be hurt.
               If a Hindu declares, "I am simply a human being, no longer a Hindu," the parents will be hurt. So
           the parents have also taught him to respect them and believe in whatsoever they have said -- they
           cannot be wrong. As if your parents are enlightened people! As if your parents know what they are
           doing! Their parents did the same thing to them, they have done it to you, and you will do it to your
           children. This is how diseases go on being transferred from one generation to another generation.
               Of course the priests will say, "Respect your parents," because there is a conspiracy. The
           conspiracy is that all their interests are involved together in keeping hold of you.
               To be my sannyasin means to be a rebel. I am not saying to hurt the feelings of your parents, I
           am saying to be yourself. Be lovingly yourself, be respectfully yourself. There is no need to go out of
           your way to hurt your parents, but if they don't allow you to be yourself then it is their responsibility.
           If they feel hurt, that is their responsibility, not yours. Don't harm them, but don't harm yourself
           either, because your first responsibility is towards your own self; everything else is secondary.
               But man's mind is very cunning: he will hide his cowardice in the beautiful word "compassion";
           he will rationalize everything.
               Sylvia, your religions are nothing but the rationalizations of fear, of greed. They are conspiracies
           against you by the establishment, by the people who are ruling you politically, religiously,
           philosophically, in every way -- by the people who have reduced humanity to a great concentration
           camp.
               And you must have asked these people, "What is the difference between spirituality and
           religiousness?" They cannot say -- they don't know themselves.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Spirituality is rebellion; religiousness is orthodoxy. Spirituality is individuality; religiousness is
           just remaining part of the crowd psychology. Religiousness keeps you a sheep, and spirituality is a
           lion's roar.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD THAT YOUR SANNYASINS CELEBRATE DEATH.


                Paul, you have heard rightly! My sannyasins celebrate everything. Celebration is the foundation
           of my sannyas -- not renunciation but rejoicing; rejoicing in all the beauties, all the joys, all that life
           offers, because this whole life is a gift of God.
                The old religions have taught you to renounce life. They are all life negative; their whole
           approach is pessimistic. They are all against life and its joys. To me, life and God are synonymous.
           In fact, life is a far better word than God itself, because God is only a philosophical term, while life
           is real, existential. The word "God" exists only in scriptures; it is a word, a mere word. Life is within
           you and without you -- in the trees, in the clouds, in the stars. This whole existence is a dance of life.
           I teach love for life.
                I teach the art of living your life totally, of being drunk with the divine THROUGH life. I am not
           an escapist. All your old religions have been teaching you escapism -- they were all in a certain sense
           hip. The word "hippie" has to be understood. It simply means one who escapes from the battle of
           life, who shows his hips...! All your old religions are hippie! They have shown their hips. They could
           not accept the challenge of life, they could not confront and encounter life. They were cowards; they
           escaped to the mountains, to the monasteries.
                But even if you escape to the mountains and to the monasteries, how can you leave yourself
           behind? You are part of life. Life pulsates in your blood, life breathes in you, life is your very being!
           Where can you escape? And all those efforts to escape, considered correctly, are suicidal. Your
           monks, your nuns, your mahatmas, your so-called saints, were all suicidal people; they were trying
           gradual suicide. Not only were they suicidal, they were cowards too -- cowards because they could
           not even commit suicide in a single blow. They were committing suicide gradually, in installments;
           by and by, slowly they were dying. And we have respected these unhealthy people, these
           unwholesome people, these insane people. They were against God because they were against life.
                I am in tremendous love with life, hence I teach celebration. Everything has to be celebrated,
           everything has to be lived, loved. To me nothing is mundane and nothing is sacred. To me all is
           sacred, from the lowest rung of the ladder to the highest rung. It is the same ladder: from the body to
           the soul, from the physical to the spiritual, from sex to SAMADHI -- everything is divine!

               An old neo-sannyasin told an actor playing Hamlet that he himself had once played the part.
           "What was your interpretation of the role?" asked the actor. "Did Hamlet really make love to
           Ophelia?"
           "I don't know if Hamlet did," replied the sannyasin, "but I certainly did!"

               Celebration has to be total, only then can you be multidimensionally rich. And to be
           multidimensionally rich is the only thing we can offer to God.
               If there is a God, and someday you have to face him, he will ask you only one question: "Have
           you lived your life totally or not?" -- because this opportunity is given to you to live, not to
           renounce.
               Paul, my sannyasins celebrate death too, because to me death is not the end of life but the very
           crescendo of life, the very climax. It is the ultimate of life. If you have lived rightly, if you have
           lived moment to moment totally, if you have squeezed out the whole juice of life, your death will be
           the ultimate orgasm.
               The sexual orgasm is nothing compared to the orgasm that death brings, but it brings it only to
           the person who knows the art of being total. The sexual orgasm is a very faint thing compared to the
           orgasm that death brings. What happens in sexual orgasm? For a moment you forget that you are a
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           body, for a moment two lovers become merged into one unity, into one organic union. For a moment
           they are not separate entities; they have melted into each other like two clouds which have become
           one.
               But it is only for a single moment, then they are again separate. Hence all sexual orgasms bring
           in their wake a kind of depression, because you fall from the height. You reached a crescendo, and
           for only a fragment of a moment you remained on the peak and then the peak disappeared. And when
           you fall from that height, you fall into the depth of depression.
               This is one of the contradictions of sex: it gives you the greatest pleasure and also the greatest
           agony. It gives you ecstasy and agony -- both. And each time you reach an orgasmic state, you know
           that soon it will disappear. Then there is disillusionment, disappointment.
               Death gives you the ultimate in orgasmic joy: the body is left behind forever and your being
           becomes one with the whole. It is immeasurable. If to become one with a single person gives you so
           much joy, just think how much joy will happen in becoming one with the infinite! But it does not
           happen to everybody who dies, because the people who have not lived rightly cannot die rightly
           either. The people who have lived in deep unconsciousness will die in deep unconsciousness. Death
           will give you only that which you have lived all your life; it is the essence of your whole life.
               If your life was of meditativeness, awareness, witnessing, then you will be able to witness death
           too. If your whole life you remained cool, centered in different situations, death will give you the
           ultimate challenge, the ultimate test. And if you can remain centered, calm and cool and watching,
           then you will not die an unconscious death, your death will bring you to the ultimate peak of
           consciousness. And then, certainly, it HAS to be celebrated.
               So whenever one of my sannyasins dies, we celebrate, we dance, we sing. We give him a good
           farewell.

               A midget had died and left a widow. Friends came to pay their condolences and look at the body
           lying in an upstairs room of the house. After one friend came down he was asked by the widow
           whether he had shut the door of the room where the body lay.
           "No," said the visitor, "I didn't think it was necessary."
           "Then I'd better go upstairs and shut it," replied the widow. "The cat has had him downstairs twice
           already. You know, my cat is a neo-sannyasin and he wants to celebrate the occasion!"

               Little Pierino goes camping with his parents. A little while after, at the end of a day doing many
           things, they bed down for the evening. Pierino cries, "Mummy, I can't sleep. There is a dead ant on
           my belly!"
           "Shhh, Pierino," says his mother, "be a good boy, just go to sleep -- it is nothing to worry about."
           After a few minutes Pierino's voice is heard again, "Mummy, Mummy, I can't go to sleep -- I've got a
           dead ant on my belly!"
           "Pierino," scolds his mother, "come on now, don't tell me that a small dead ant stops you from
           sleeping!"
           "Well," replies Pierino, "it is not the dead ant really, it is all his orange sannyasin friends that have
           come to celebrate his death!"

                Yes, Paul, my sannyasins celebrate death because they celebrate life. And death is not against
           life; it does not end life, it only brings life to a beautiful peak. Life continues even after death. It was
           there before birth, it is going to continue after death. Life is not confined to the small space that
           exists between birth and death; on the contrary, births and deaths are small episodes in the eternity of
           life.
                We celebrate everything. Celebration is our way to receive all the gifts from God. Life is his gift,
           death is his gift; the body is his gift, the soul is his gift. We celebrate everything. We love the body,
           we love the soul. We are materialist spiritualists. Nothing like this has ever happened in the world.
           This is a new experiment, a new beginning, and it has a great future.
                In the past there have been materialists who denied the soul, and there have been spiritualists
           who denied the body. Both were agreed on one point: that only one can be accepted, either the body
           or the soul. They were either/or people. They were not ready to accept the whole as it is; they were
           choosers.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My sannyasins live in choiceless awareness. We are not choosers; we simply accept whatsoever
           is the case. The materialists -- the Charvakas in India and the Epicureans in Greece -- denied the
           soul. They said, "There is no soul. The soul is just imagination. The soul is illusion." And the
           spiritualists -- Shankaracharya in India and Berkeley in Europe -- these people said that matter is
           illusory, maya. The body does not exist really, it is only your imagination. It is a dream, made of the
           same stuff as dreams are made of; you are a soul. But both are agreeing on one point: that they
           cannot accept reality as it is, they have to choose.
               It is as if one electrician chooses the positive pole and another electrician chooses the negative
           pole, and each denies the other pole. There will be no electricity, no light in the world.
               That's what has happened: the spiritualist has not been able to transform the world, the
           materialist has failed also -- because the world exists with polar opposites. Without polarity there is
           no world at all. The day is needed as much as the night; the body is needed as much as the soul; the
           world is needed as much as God. There can be no circumference without a center and there can be no
           center without a circumference. This is a simple fact.
               My sannyas is the acceptance of that which is. We are not choosers. Who are we to choose? And
           what difference is our choice going to make? You can choose whatsoever you like, but whatsoever
           you don't like is going to remain there. Just by not choosing it, it is not going to disappear. And
           because you have not chosen it, you will remain half, lopsided.
               The East has remained lopsided because of so-called spirituality. It has remained poor,
           unscientific -- without any technology, without industry. It has become lousy, lazy, lethargic; it has
           lost all joy in existence because "this is all a dream, why bother about it?" It is hungry, ill, poor, but
           "this is all illusion. You are simply dreaming that you are poor, you are not really poor. You are
           simply dreaming that you are starving, you are not starving."
               And the West has chosen materialism, so there is great technology, beautiful houses, better
           roads, better cars, better airplanes, but man is very empty and meaningless. Without spirituality there
           is no center; man falls apart. The Western man is half; the Eastern man is half.
               My effort here is to create the whole man. To me the whole man is the only holy man. The East
           and the West have to meet; they have to become complementaries, not antagonists. But this is
           possible only if we change the whole philosophical background. Hence I teach a very contradictory
           philosophy. Spiritual materialism is the name that I give to my philosophy.
               I want you to be materialists and spiritualists simultaneously, in a balanced way. I would love
           society to have all the facilities, all the comforts and conveniences that science and technology can
           provide, and I would also love people to have a great awareness inside them so that they can enjoy
           whatsoever science provides. I would like everybody to be a buddha, but at the same time I would
           also like the world to become more and more comfortable, more and more loving, more and more
           beautiful.
               We can transform this world into a paradise, but then we have to stop choosing. We have simply
           to accept the whole as it is, with all its contradictions. Those contradictions are contradictions only
           because of our logical obsession; otherwise they are complementaries. Life and death -- both are
           beautiful.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN A WOMAN SAYS SHE IS AFRAID OF A MAN?


                Anand Prageet, if you had asked me what it means when a man says that he is afraid of a woman,
           I would have answered you very accurately. But your question is such that it is almost unanswerable.
           It is very difficult to say what it means when a woman says she is afraid of a man -- the woman says
           one thing and means another thing! She may simply be making you feel at ease, Prageet -- "Don't be
           afraid, I myself am afraid of you!" She must see that you are trembling! She must be aware of your
           fear.
                Every man is afraid of the woman -- he has to be. From the very beginning he is in the hands of a
           woman, the mother, and the fear is created from those very early days. Your first impression of a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           woman is that of a mother, and the mother has made you immensely afraid. And you have seen that
           not only were you afraid, but your father was also afraid of your mother. Outside the house he was
           like a lion, and whenever he came home he started wagging his tail!
               You have seen this. Children are very perceptive; they go on looking at what is happening. They
           understand perfectly well who is really the master of the house. They are afraid of the mother, the
           father is afraid of the mother, everybody seems to be afraid of the mother, and naturally they become
           accustomed to the fear.
               And then man is capable of tackling any problem intellectually. He is afraid of the woman
           because her ways of tackling a problem are very intuitive, instinctive. No woman is intellectual --
           intelligent of course, but not intellectual. Man's intelligence is of one kind, and hers, the woman's
           intelligence, is of a totally different kind. Man's intelligence is the essence of his intellect, and
           woman's intelligence arises out of her intuitiveness. There is no meeting ground -- there is no
           possibility of it. They are polar opposites, that's why they are attracted to each other. Because they
           cannot understand each other there is mystery between them; that mystery is of great appeal.

               A frustrated man was staring hopelessly down the platform at the departing train. "If you hadn't
           taken so long getting ready," he accused his wife, "we would have caught it."
           "Yes," she replied, "and if you hadn't hurried me we wouldn't have so long to wait for the next one!"

              "Is this supposed to be art? Why on earth did they hang this picture here?" one woman asked
           another in an art gallery.
           "Maybe they couldn't find the painter," the other replied.

                A beautiful blonde filled in the job application.
           The personnel director looked it over, then said, "Miss Johnson, under `Experience' could you be a
           little more specific than just `Oh, boy!'?"

               A girl in a whorehouse of a red-light district told the madam one day that she was quitting.
           "You can't do that," protested the madam, "you're the best girl I've got. Why, I've seen you go
           upstairs thirty and more times a night."
           "That's right," the girl agreed. "That's why I'm quitting. My feet are killing me, and it's on account of
           those damn stairs!"

                It is very difficult for me, Prageet, to answer your question. You will have to ask your woman
           yourself.
                Schumann, the postman, was retiring. On his last day, as usual, he delivered to Mrs. Katz, who
           invited him in for a fine breakfast.
                When he finished and was about to leave, she beckoned him into the bedroom where they made
           love for an hour. When he was getting ready to leave, she handed him an envelope with a dollar bill
           in it.
                Schumann was overwhelmed. "Look, Mrs. Katz," he said finally, "I've been delivering your mail
           for the past twenty years and you have never so much as offered me a cup of coffee. So why today
           did all this happen?"
           "Well," she said, "I told my husband Sol that you were retiring today and he said, `Fuck him! Give
           him a buck!' -- the breakfast was my idea!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                    Chapter #3
                                    Chapter title: A Flute on the Lips of God
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           29 October 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8010290
              ShortTitle: COME03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

   BELOVED OSHO,
THIS POEM IS BY ROBERT GRAVES:

THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING
ARE LEFT WITH LESS THAN NOTHING;
DEAR HEART, YOU GIVE ME EVERYTHING,
WHICH LEAVES YOU MORE THAN EVERYTHING --
THOUGH THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING
MIGHT JUDGE IT LEFT YOU NOTHING.

GIVING YOU EVERYTHING,
I TOO, WHO ONCE HAD NOTHING,
AM LEFT WITH MORE THAN EVERYTHING
AS GIFTS FOR THOSE WITH NOTHING
WHO NEED, IF NOT OUR EVERYTHING,
AT LEAST A LOVING SOMETHING.


              BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF YOUR INFINITE SPRING OF GIVING?


               Chandrikanta Bharti, the source is always the same. We are just like rays of the same sun. The
           source of existence is what we call God; it is better to call it the ultimate source. From there
           everything comes, and to there everything returns.
               But the man who starts thinking himself separate from the source is bound to become miserly.
           Not knowing that he is part of the source, he becomes very small, afraid to give. Then his
           mathematics is: if you give you will have less; if you go on giving, one day you will be a beggar.
               Not knowing about the infinite source is the cause of our miserliness. And to be a miser is to be
           in misery, because the person who cannot give becomes incapable of receiving. The person who
           cannot give becomes closed -- he is afraid to give. He has to be very cautious to keep his windows
           and doors closed, tightly closed, so nothing escapes from him. But these are the same doors from
           where things come. If you keep your doors closed, the sunrays will not reach you, the wind will not
           come to you; you will not be able to see the stars and the flowers, and the fragrance will not float
           into your being. The miserly person is bound to be in misery -- he is cut off. He lives as if he were a
           tree without roots, ungrounded, uprooted. His life is nothing but a process of slow dying; he does not
           know anything of abundant life.
               Jesus says to his disciples, "Come, follow me and I will give you abundant life." What does he
           mean by abundant life? He simply means that if your ego can be surrendered, if you can drop the
           idea of being separate from existence, in that very dropping you become open -- open to give, open
           to receive. And the ultimate miracle is: the more you give, the more you receive; the more you give,
           the more you become worthy of receiving.
               It is like a well. You can lock up the well, you can cover it up in fear -- maybe in the coming year
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there are not going to be any rains. It is better, advisable, to preserve the water in your well, to
           prevent your neighbors, to prevent everybody from drinking or taking water from your well. You can
           keep the well closed, but when the time of need arises you will be surprised: the well water will no
           longer be worth drinking, it will have become poisoned. And, moreover, the well will have lost its
           springs.
               If you go on drawing water from the well, the springs go on feeding it. The more you draw the
           water, the bigger the springs which go on opening up. Your well is just a small window in the ocean,
           a faraway window; it is connected with the ocean. If you create a vacuum in the well, if you go on
           emptying it, then the waters will be rushing in from all sides to fill it up. Nature abhors a vacuum --
           physically, spiritually, on every dimension and plane.
               Be empty, and you will be surprised: the emptier you are, the more full you will be. Hence, by
           giving you don't have less; by giving you have more. By giving you don't become a beggar; by
           giving you become an emperor.

               Gautam the Buddha came to visit Vaishali, one of the big, beautiful capitals of those days. The
           king of Vaishali was very egoistic: he was not willing to go to receive Buddha in his capital.
               His chief minister was an old man his father's age. He had looked after the king's affairs for his
           whole life since he was just a child, because when the king was a child his father had died. He was
           almost like a father to him, and the king had great respect for the old man. The old man said, "If you
           don't go to receive Buddha, then take my resignation!"
               The king was puzzled, he could not believe it. Why this insistence? He said, "Why should a king
           go to receive a beggar?"
               The old man laughed and he said, "It is just the opposite! You are the beggar and he is the king,
           and the beggar has to go to receive the king. He is the king because he has given; he is the king
           because he goes on giving. The more he has given the more he has. Either see the point or here is my
           resignation, because I cannot serve a fool!"
               The king understood the point. He went, he fell at the feet of Buddha and he said, "Excuse me,
           forgive me! I had always thought that you were just a beggar; now I can see that I am a beggar
           because I go on clinging to whatsoever small things I have got. By not clinging you have declared
           your real power, your mastery."
               Clinging shows that you are not really the master but a slave.
               The king asked Buddha, "Bless me, so that one day I can also become an emperor like you."

               This poem by Robert Graves is beautiful. Poets come far closer to the truth than the
           philosophers, the theologians, the priests, the scholars, the so-called learned people. Poets are a little
           bit crazy; that's why they can have a few glimpses of the beyond. They are not logical; hence they
           can comprehend something which is bigger than logic. Theologians, philosophers, scholars -- they
           are just fools hiding their foolishness. And it is because of these so-called learned people that the
           world has become so poor physically, spiritually, in every way.
               Just the other day I was reading a news item from Pakistan. It says that great scholars of morality
           are nowadays busy banishing the word ISHQ, love, from prose and poetry prescribed for university
           students in Pakistan.
               Ishq is far more significant than the word "love." Love is only one of the dimensions of ishq.
           "Love" means of the world. "Ishq" has two aspects: either it can be an ordinary love, the love
           between a man and a woman, or it can be a love between man and existence.
               Banishing the word, the very word "ishq," from all prose and poetry prescribed for the university
           courses is such a foolish idea. And these are the great scholars of morality! I was puzzled because if
           you banish the word "ishq," then particularly in the language that is spoken in Pakistan -- that is the
           official language of Pakistan, Urdu -- there will not be anything left at all, because the whole of Urdu
           poetry and prose is centered on the word "ishq." All the great poets, from Mir and Ghalib to Iqbal,
           will have to be banished. In fact, no other language of the world has such beautiful poetry as Urdu.
           Urdu is tremendously expressive. In just two small lines, Urdu can say more than any other language
           can manage to say in a whole page. It is very telegraphic, and it is full of love.
               Banish the word "love" and you banish all the great poets, all the great mystics. You will have to
           banish all the Sufis because they talk about love. And they are not only banishing poetry and prose
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           devoted to love, even the word love, "ishq," has to be removed -- even the mention of the word!
               These are the fools who have been dominating humanity for centuries. They would like to
           destroy even the possibility of love. There is a certain logic in it, because humanity up to now has
           existed in a very insane way. It has continuously been preparing for war. There are only two periods
           in history: either people are fighting -- that is war time, hot war -- or people are preparing for the war
           that is going to happen sooner or later. You can call it peace time, but it is not peace time at all; it is
           only a gap between two wars. It is needed because unless you prepare, how are you going to fight? It
           is cold war.
               The whole of human history up to now can be divided into two periods: hot war and cold war.
           And because man has been continuously fighting, destroying, murdering, there is no possibility of
           growing roses of love. We have to make factories for war; we have to create soldiers, not lovers.
           My sannyasins are lovers, not soldiers.
           They herald a new beginning.
           To me, love is synonymous with God.
           These words of Graves are tremendously significant:

           THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING
           ARE LEFT WITH LESS THAN NOTHING....

              They look a little crazy because they are illogical, they are unmathematical -- but they are
           absolutely true. They transcend ordinary economics and its laws; they indicate a meta-economics.

           THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING
           ARE LEFT WITH LESS THAN NOTHING....

               Beware! While the time is there, give, give as much as you can, give whatsoever you can. Sing a
           song, share a joke, dance! Give whatsoever you can give. It costs you nothing, but it will bring you
           more and more joys.
               Existence goes on repaying you tremendously. Whatsoever you give to existence, it returns a
           thousandfold; it comes back to you. You give one flower, and a thousand flowers shower on you.
           Don't be clingers. If you really want to be rich, if you want to have an enriched inner world, then
           learn the art of giving.

           THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING
           ARE LEFT WITH LESS THAN NOTHING;
           DEAR HEART, YOU GIVE ME EVERYTHING,
           WHICH LEAVES YOU MORE THAN EVERYTHING --
           THOUGH THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING
           MIGHT JUDGE IT LEFT YOU NOTHING.
           GIVING YOU EVERYTHING,
           I TOO, WHO ONCE HAD NOTHING,
           AM LEFT WITH MORE THAN EVERYTHING
           AS GIFTS FOR THOSE WITH NOTHING
           WHO NEED, IF NOT OUR EVERYTHING,
           AT LEAST A LOVING SOMETHING.

               I don't have any other source than you have, but you are not ready to accept that source; it goes
           against your ego. You want to be an island unto yourself, and that is your misery, that is your
           poverty. Your soul will remain undernourished. You will not know how beautiful existence is, how
           blissful every moment can be, what an ecstasy it is just to breathe and to be.
           Give, give for giving's sake.
           Share for sharing's sake.
               Don't ask anything in return, because then it becomes a business -- and love is not a business. In
           fact, there is no need to be worried whether anything returns or not, because the very giving is such
           an ecstasy that who cares whether anything returns or not? Be obliged to the person who receives
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything from you. Don't think that he has to be obliged to you. That is wrong, that is absolutely
           wrong. That is still clinging to the miser's mind.
               You can be as vast as God himself, but your vastness is possible only if you start giving. And it
           is not a question of what you give; just a smile or just a gesture of love is enough. It costs nothing to
           be loving, to be kind, and still it brings you a great harvest -- thousands of flowers start blossoming
           in your being.
               Chandrikanta Bharti, you ask me, "What is the source of your infinite spring of giving?"
               I am not the source, I am not at all, because the more you are, the less is the flow from the
           source; the less you are, the more the flow from the source.
               When YOU are not at all, then you are just a hollow bamboo which becomes a flute on the lips
           of God. Then the song starts flowing. And to sing the song of God, to allow God to sing a song
           through you, is the greatest joy of life.
           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU OFTEN TELL US THAT WE LOST OUR AWARENESS OF OUR BUDDHA NATURE BECAUSE
              OF CONDITIONING PROCESSES OF EVERY KIND. THIS FAR, I CAN IMAGINE, BUT IF MANKIND
              ORIGINALLY HAD THIS AWARENESS, HOW DID WE LOSE IT IN THE BEGINNING? HOW DID
              CONDITIONING START ORIGINALLY? AND IF EXISTENCE IS JUST A FLOWING, WHY IS IT
              IMPORTANT THAT MANY PEOPLE BECOME ENLIGHTENED? WHY DO YOU MAKE THE
              EFFORT, OR DON'T YOU MAKE ANY? AND IS YOUR BEING HERE, AND EVERYTHING, ALSO
              JUST A FLOWING?


               Corry, to know is one thing and to imagine is totally different. Imagination can deceive you, it
           can go on giving you false coins. But remember: All that glitters is not gold. Imagination can give
           you very glittering coins, but they will not be real gold. You will have to know, and my knowing
           cannot be of any help to you. The moment I share my knowing with you, only imagination will be
           triggered in you; you will start imagining.
               There is no need to ask me why it happened originally; you can go to the origin within yourself
           and see why it happens. It is not a question of going into the past, going back to Adam and Eve; you
           have to go within yourself, because it is happening every moment. You are at the source, at the very
           origin of things, and still you are conditioned. And if you can watch the process within yourself, you
           will have known the whole of history. Then you will be able to understand the story, the biblical
           story, which is really beautiful and significant, of how Adam and Eve became conditioned.
               It was God the Father who started the whole nonsense....
               In the Garden of Eden there were millions of trees, and he pointed out two trees in particular --
           the fruits from these trees were not to be eaten. One was the Tree of Knowledge, and the other was
           the Tree of Immortal Life. My feeling is that if God had not prohibited it, Adam and Eve would
           never have been able to find those two trees in that tremendously vast garden. But because he
           pointedly said to them, "Don't eat the fruit from these two trees," naturally they became obsessed. It
           must have started their fantasies. They must have started dreaming about those two trees. They must
           have started thinking, "Why has God prohibited us? There must be something in it."
               I was a small child and my father told me, "Listen, you are mixing with a few people who smoke
           cigarettes -- don't ever start smoking!"
               I said, "You have started me on it! I have never thought about it; in fact I have always thought
           how foolish these people are. Rather than breathing the pure air, they waste money and breathe
           smoke! Taking the smoke in and out looks very stupid!"
               Things like that have always looked stupid to me. From my very childhood I have never taken
           part in any game -- volleyball, football...because I cannot imagine what the point is! You throw the
           ball from here to the other side; they throw the ball back to this side. You can have two balls and
           both go home! What is the point of it? And people are perspiring -- and not only the players, but the
           others who have gathered to watch...!
               So I told my father, "I was never interested, but now, because you tell me not to smoke I am
           going to! Why are you preventing me? If there is nothing in it, can't you trust my intelligence? And
           if YOU can't trust my intelligence, why should I trust your intelligence? It has to be a mutual
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understanding. You are not trusting my intelligence -- you are telling me not to smoke. If it is foolish
           I am not going to do it myself; if it is not foolish then nobody can prevent me. And how long can you
           prevent me? In what ways can you prevent me?"
               And he understood the point. He was a rare man in many ways. He brought home a packet of
           cigarettes, handed it over to me and he said, "You experiment, you be finished with it! I have
           understood your point."
               And I tried and I was finished. Tears started coming to my eyes, I started coughing, and I could
           not understand why people should do such stupid things and torture themselves. Since then,
           whenever I see anybody smoking, I think he must be an ascetic, a great saint doing some penance!
               But Adam and Eve were treated by God the Father as every father treats every child. No father
           trusts the intelligence of the child. And in fact, the child has more intelligence than the father
           because the father has lived, experienced many things. His mirror has become covered with many
           experiences, with much knowledge. His clarity is no longer the same as that of the child. The child is
           utterly perceptive, he can see immediately; there is nothing to hinder him. The father's intelligence is
           covered with much dust.
               But the father on his side feels afraid. He thinks the child is still a child who does not know what
           to do, what not to do. He may go astray. Out of his concern, he prevents -- and that's how
           conditioning begins.
               The biblical story is significant. It is not an historical story because the world never began in that
           sense, it has always been there. There is no beginning and no end. The whole idea of beginning and
           end is absurd; the world is eternal. But the story is significant, and it is repeated in each child's life. It
           is a psychological story, not historical, of tremendous importance. Every father, every mother is
           doing the same.
               I have come across thousands of parables, but there is no parable comparable to this story. The
           Father was anxious that Adam and Eve should not become interested in two things: one was the Tree
           of Knowledge...because the moment you become knowledgeable you lose your intelligence.
               That's my whole teaching: unburden yourself of knowledge so that you can again discover the
           purity of your intelligence. Wisdom is freedom from knowledge. And God wanted Adam to be wise,
           not knowledgeable. He wanted him to be intelligent, not an intellectual. Hence he prohibited him:
           "Don't eat from the Tree of Knowledge."
               This is significant; it shows the father's concern, his love, but it also shows that he does not trust
           the child's own perceptiveness. No father ever trusts, no mother ever trusts, howsoever old the son
           may be.
               Makima's mother, Shunyo, is old. She must be over sixty-five, and HER mother who is ninety
           goes on writing letters to her: "You are still a fool! What are you doing there? Come home! Have
           you gone crazy or something? I have always known that you would do something like this!"
               Now, the ninety-year-old mother giving messages to the seventy-year-old daughter...! But one
           can see the point because the distance is the same -- twenty years' distance. When Shunyo was one
           year old, the mother must have been twenty-one years old; now she is seventy, and the mother is
           ninety. When she will be ninety, if the mother is still alive she will be one hundred and ten -- the
           difference will remain the same! And the mother will always go on thinking in those terms -- that she
           is a fool, she does not know anything. Now what is she doing with these orange people and
           meditating and wearing orange clothes? She has gone crazy! The mother wants to protect her.
               The Father was concerned for Adam and Eve, and his concern is significant: "Don't become
           knowledgeable." It is a tremendously meaningful story, because if you become knowledgeable you
           will lose your intelligence. Intellectuals have no intelligence at all.
               I have come across thousands of intellectuals, the so-called intelligentsia, and they are the most
           stupid people you can ever come across. You will find farmers, gardeners, carpenters, who are far
           more intelligent than professors, theologians, scholars. They are full of rubbish! Of course, they have
           read much and they can repeat all that they have read; they have great information, but information
           is not wisdom. Information can be collected by a computer, and far more efficiently, but a computer
           is never wise. I don't think there will come a time when you will come across a computer who has
           become a buddha! It is not going to happen ever. Yes, a computer can become an Albert Einstein,
           certainly, there is no doubt about it. And he will function far better than Albert Einstein, because it
           will be just a mechanical thing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Mathematics is mechanical, but love is not mechanical. No computer is going to fall in love, no
           computer is going to experience beauty, no computer is going to understand truth. Yes, facts it can
           accumulate....
                God wanted Adam and Eve not to become computers; hence he told them, "Beware of this tree."
           But his telling them not to eat from this Tree of Knowledge became a temptation.
                That's how conditioning begins: with should nots, with all good intentions -- but the ultimate
           result is harmful. Even God committed the same mistake; he had to commit it if he was to be a
           father. And he is the supreme father, hence he committed the supreme mistake!
                And the poor serpent is unnecessarily dragged into the story. It has nothing to do with the
           serpent. How can the serpent seduce Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?
           God had already done the basic work; he had already triggered their desires for knowledge. The
           serpent only convinced them about their own suspicions.
                The serpent told them something very significant. He told them, "God has prohibited you from
           eating of this tree because he is afraid if you become knowledgeable you will be just as great as he
           is. So he wants to eat the fruit of this tree himself and he does not want you to eat from the same tree,
           so you will remain always inferior and lower."
                Now the ego is set on fire! And the logic seems to be very relevant. Adam and Eve are convinced
           that this must be the cause. Knowledge cannot be a bad thing -- how can knowledge be bad? God
           must have been afraid; that's why he has prohibited it.
                And the serpent told them, "He has also prohibited you from eating from a second tree, because
           if you eat from it you will also become immortal just like God. Then there will be no difference
           between you and God; you will be equal."
                Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge and were thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
           They were not given the chance to eat from the other tree. But why had God prohibited them from
           eating from the other tree? There is also some significance on his side. God wanted them to live in
           the immediate, because that is true life -- to live now and here. The moment you start thinking of
           immortality, you enter into the world of the future, you enter into the world of time. You lose contact
           with the real moment, you lose your grounding in the now; that's how mind is created.
                These are the two ways in which the mind is created. These are the two parents -- father and
           mother. They give birth to the mind. One is the desire for the future -- the desire, the ultimate desire,
           to become deathless so that the future is absolutely certain. And the other is the desire to accumulate
           knowledge. These two desires function as father and mother for the mind. The mind is the child of
           these two desires meeting; the mind is a by-product.
                God was basically right. He wanted Adam and Eve to live in the present, because reality is
           always present. But he was wrong psychologically. To tell them not to eat from the Tree of
           Immortality made them suspicious, and the suspicion was exploited by the serpent. Of course, they
           were thrown out before they could eat from the second tree, but since then man has been searching
           for immortality. And the search still goes on.
                Science is still working continuously to find a way to prolong life -- to make it longer and longer
           and longer, and then ultimately to make life immortal. And now science says that the body has no
           need to die; maybe they have come very close to the Tree of Knowledge and to the Tree of
           Immortality. Science says the body can go on renewing itself. If it can renew itself for seventy years,
           why not seven hundred years? Or if some parts become useless, then they can be replaced.
                Sooner or later science is going to replace many of your parts. Then it will be very simple. If
           something goes wrong, you go to the workshop and your parts can be replaced. Your heart is not
           functioning well -- you go to the garage and a plastic heart can be implanted in you. Slowly slowly,
           all the parts will become plastic, because plastic is the most immortal thing in existence. It goes on
           living and living. You cannot destroy plastic. There is no natural process for plastic to dissolve into
           the earth. That is creating a problem for ecologists, because so many plastic bottles and jugs and toys
           are gathering under the earth, in the riverbeds, in the ocean. There is a danger that because plastic is
           never reabsorbed by the earth like everything else, it creates a hindrance to the natural rhythm and
           cycle of nature. Sooner or later there will be so much plastic that it will hinder all natural processes.
           Plastic is very immortal!
                But just think of a man who slowly slowly becomes plastic: his head goes cuckoo, it is changed;
           his heart is not functioning well, it is changed; his hands, his legs...slowly slowly all is changed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nothing is left of the old man, just the name, the label.
                Once I saw Mulla Nasruddin with a very beautiful umbrella, and I asked him, "Nasruddin, when
           did you purchase it?"
                He said, "I have not purchased it, it is very old, twenty years old."
                So I said, "It is a miracle -- twenty years old! It looks so fresh and so new! How did you manage
           that for twenty years?"
                He said, "I am absolutely certain it is twenty years old. Of course, it got changed at least two
           hundred times. Just the other day, when I was coming out of the mosque, it got changed again -- but
           it is twenty years old."

                Man can be changed, and still the label will remain the same. Man is coming closer and closer to
           discovering the secret of immortality. Scientists say that if we can reprogram the basic cell out of
           which man grows, then everything is possible. When your mother's and your father's basic cells meet
           and you are created, many things are determined at that moment. For example, what kind of body
           you will have, what kind of hair you will have, how long you will live. Those two cells meeting and
           merging decide it; they are programmed. Their meeting becomes a new program: you will live
           seventy years, eighty years.... If that program can be changed -- for example if they can be told that
           you will live seven hundred years -- just a little change, in some hormones, in some chemicals, that
           will do the miracle. And it is very close. My feeling is that within this century we will be able to
           discover the secret.
                Since Adam was thrown out of the garden he has been working, looking, searching, for some
           way to find the secret of immortality. In the past, alchemists were doing the same -- trying to find the
           way, some alchemical way, for man to be immortal. And now science is trying to do the same. The
           obsession is still there.
                You ask me, Corry, "How did conditioning start originally?" It starts with every child, because
           the parents would like the child to be just a carbon copy of them. Their ego would like the child to
           represent them -- their philosophy, their religion, their ideology, their politics, their nationality, their
           race, everything. The child has to be the carrier, the vehicle, the medium of all their ambitions and
           desires, of all their frustrations, failures. They are hoping, "We will die but part of us will live in the
           child" -- so program the child in such a way that "what we have not been able to achieve, he will
           achieve."
                They are trying to enforce their ambitions on the child; that's how conditioning begins. They are
           not allowing the child to be himself. No parent ever allows the child to be himself; it has not
           happened up to now. That's why humanity is living in such misery: because no child is allowed to be
           himself. How can he be happy? Happiness happens only when you are authentically yourself.
                And don't ask me how it happened in the very beginning, because there has been no beginning.
           Whenever a child is born there is a beginning; otherwise existence has continued forever and
           forever.
                And you also ask, "And if existence is just a flowing, why is it important that many people
           become enlightened?" That's why: existence is just a flowing, and many people are not flowing.
                Only the buddhas know how to flow. The enlightened person knows how to flow, how to be in
           tune with existence, how to relax, how to let go. The others are fighting, not flowing; they are
           pushing the river. And you are taught to fight, to compete, to struggle, to achieve, to be ambitious; to
           be this, to be that, to become a president or a prime minister. You are told from the very beginning
           until you come back from the university that you have to become this -- and others are deciding it.
           Nobody is bothered about your intrinsic nature.
                It is as if marigolds are being educated in the university and told, "Become roses." They will go
           berserk! They cannot become roses; that is not possible. At the most they can pretend -- they can
           pretend that they are roses, they can put up masks. They will become deceivers, hypocrites, but deep
           down they will know, "We are marigolds" -- and they will hate that they are marigolds. But that's
           what they are. They cannot become roses because that is not in their nature, and they cannot allow
           their marigolds to dance in the sun because that is against their education.
                You have created a real problem; now the person will always remain schizophrenic. If he tries to
           be a rose he will know that he is just a hypocrite. If he tries to be a marigold he will know that he is
           falling short of the ambitions of his parents, teachers, professors, priests, politicians. He will feel
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           guilty. You will not allow him to rest in any way; either he will feel guilty or he will feel unnatural.
           In both ways he will remain tense, anxiety ridden, full of anguish. The same energy that might have
           become a dance, a song, an ecstasy, has become poisoned. It is now only anguish and nothing else,
           an agony and nothing else.
                Enlightenment does not mean any ambition. If it is an ambition, then again you will start fighting
           for it. Enlightenment simply means being in a state of let-go. Enlightenment simply means undoing
           what the society has done to you. What your parents have imposed upon you, throw it away; what
           the society has conditioned you to be, put it aside. Reassert your being. Love yourself and respect
           yourself, and try to be just yourself.
                Socrates says, "Know thyself." That is not possible. First BE thyself; otherwise how will you
           know? If you try right now to know yourself you will not be able to; you will know somebody else
           who you are not but you are supposed to be. You will know only that which you are supposed to be;
           you will not know yourself.
                Hence I say to you, first BE thyself. And the miracle is, if you ARE just yourself, knowing is not
           difficult at all; that is very simple. Being oneself, one knows automatically who one is.
                Enlightenment is not a desire, is not a goal, is not an ambition. It is a dropping of all goals, a
           dropping of all desires, a dropping of all ambitions. It is just being natural. That's what is meant by
           flowing.
                You ask, "And if existence is just a flowing" -- yes it is -- "why is it important that many people
           become enlightened?"
                It is important because people are not natural -- they have not been allowed to be natural. Your
           parents are sitting on your shoulders, they are guiding you. Maybe they are dead, but still their
           voices are alive in you. Try to do something against your father, and you will immediately hear his
           voice saying: "Don't do this, you are offending me!" Try to do something which your mother has put
           inside you, and immediately you will hear your mama's voice -- immediately! Whether she is alive
           or not, that's not the question; it's now inbuilt in you. It is there like a gramophone record; it will
           immediately start playing. It will immediately say, "Stop! Think of your dead mother! She never
           wanted you to do this. Be respectful at least to your dead mother! You were never respectful while
           she was alive, but at least now one should be respectful towards the dead."
                This is bondage. But everybody is living in bondage, because everybody who brought you up
           wanted to have power over you, to enjoy the mastery over you. And children are the most helpless
           people in the world, the most exploited class. It is not the proletariat who are the most exploited
           class, it is not women who are the most exploited class. It is the children who are the most exploited
           class -- and so helpless. The proletariat can revolt -- they have revolted in Russia, in China and in
           other communist countries. The women all over the world are making efforts to revolt, but it is
           impossible to imagine how children will revolt. They are so helplessly dependent on their parents,
           they cannot think of any revolt. And unless revolution happens in them all other revolutions are
           going to be superficial. The basic conditioning, the basic imprisonment is created in childhood when
           the child is so helpless that he has to accept whatsoever conditions you put upon him just to survive.
                Corry, enlightenment simply means putting aside all that has been imposed upon you forcibly. It
           is coming back to your nature; it is a second birth. Jesus says, "Unless you are born again you shall
           not enter into my kingdom of God." That's what he means.
                In the East, particularly in India, the person who comes to know existence is called DWIJ. Dwij
           means twice born, one who has attained the second birth. The first birth is destroyed by others; now
           you can have a second birth and it will not be destroyed by others because now you are on your feet,
           strong enough to survive.
                You ask me, "Why do you make the effort, or don't you make any? And is your being here, and
           everything, also just flowing?"
                I am not making any effort at all. It is not an effort, it is not work, it is just play. I am enjoying it
           -- it is a beautiful drama. These orange people, this Buddha Hall...this is just a stage and all my
           sannyasins are just actors. It is just a play. It is rooted in playfulness. I am not doing anything. I am
           the laziest person you can find in the world. That's why I say I am the lazy man's guide to
           enlightenment!

           The third question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU SAY THAT ONE NEEDS A MASTER IN ORDER TO BECOME ENLIGHTENED, YET YOU ARE
              ENLIGHTENED AND YOU HAVE HAD NO MASTER. HOW CAN THIS BE?


               Sharon, I am just crazy! I was just fooling around with the idea of enlightenment and went a little
           too far!

               An unhappy elderly woman was pushing a baby in a pram down the street when she encountered
           an acquaintance.
           "Whose baby is it, Mrs. Johnson?" asked the other. "I know it is not yours."
           "It is, my dear," said Mrs. Johnson; "it is my husband. He was fooling around with a rejuvenation
           remedy and he went too far!"

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY ARE THERE SO MANY JEWS HERE?


                Gandharva, why not? The last time they missed Jesus; this time they don't want to miss! It is so
           simple. And they are very intelligent people: once they missed -- and they really missed! -- and now
           they feel very sorry because if they had been with Jesus they would have been doing the greatest
           business in the world! They feel very jealous of the Vatican. They cannot believe how these dumb
           Italians defeated them! It was basically their right. This time they don't want to miss. They have
           arrived.
                A Jewish father and his son are standing in front of a cathedral.
           "Father, what is this house with the high steeple?"
           "Son, you should know this. It is a church."
           "What is a church?"
           "Well, the Christians say that God lives there."
           "But, Father, isn't God living in Heaven?"
           "Yes, son, you're right. But this is where he does his business."

              Gandharva, they are really some of the most intelligent people on the earth; hence they can see
           what is going to happen.

               During the second world war, a German officer went into Moishe Finkelstein's grocery shop to
           buy some matches.
           "Matches!" he ordered.
           Finkelstein passed him some matches.
           "I want the tips on the left side instead of the right!" the officer demanded.
               Finkelstein acted as though he was finding another box of matches, but instead he gave the
           officer back the same box of matches, reversed.
               Satisfied, the officer left the shop. Once outside, he said to his friend, "Fucking Jews -- always
           trying to fool you!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                     Chapter #4
                                        Chapter title: You Are the Question
           30 October 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8010300
              ShortTitle: COME04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE ARE NO ANSWERS.


               Anand Shari, yes, there are no answers, because there are no questions either. Life is not a
           problem. Had it been a problem there would have been no need for religion -- philosophy would
           have solved it, science would have found all the answers. Because life is not a problem it cannot be
           reduced to a question or to many questions. No question is really relevant to life.
               Life is a quest not a question, a mystery not a problem, and the difference is vast. The problem
           has to be solved, can be solved, must be solved, but the mystery is insoluble; it has to be lived,
           experienced. The question has to be solved so that it disappears; encountering a mystery, you have to
           dissolve in it. The mystery remains, you disappear. It is a totally different phenomenon. In
           philosophy the problem disappears, but YOU remain; in religion the mystery remains, you disappear,
           you evaporate.
               The ego is very much interested in questions and very much afraid of the mystery. The questions
           arise out of the ego. It plays with the questions, tries to find out answers -- and each answer in its
           own turn brings more questions. It is an unending process; that's why philosophy has not come to
           any conclusion. Five thousand years of philosophizing, and not even a single conclusion! It is proof
           enough that philosophy is an exercise in sheer futility; its claims are very bombastic.
               In India we have a proverb that you dig the whole mountain and in the end you find only one rat
           -- but philosophy has not even been able to find the rat. It has been trying, and with great effort, to
           find some way out of the questions, but it gets more and more lost in the jungle. Now there are more
           philosophical problems than there were before, and they will go on increasing because the moment
           you assert a single answer it immediately explodes into many questions. It solves nothing, it simply
           gives you more work to do.
               Religion takes life from a totally different vision. Its intrinsic quality is to be mysterious, and a
           mystery is that which cannot be reduced into the game of questions and answers. You have to be
           utterly silent to experience it, you have to be a no-mind to experience it. It can be experienced, but
           the experience cannot be put into words; it remains inexpressible.
               Hence Buddha has no answer. Not that he never answered questions -- he answered questions for
           forty-two years just to be polite to you. But if you look deeply into his answers you will find that
           rather than answering he is simply seducing you towards silence. The answers are not answers but
           strategies to bring you to a point of deep understanding that nothing can be solved. The moment you
           understand that nothing can be solved, your mind simply dies. The mind can live on only with
           questions, problems, puzzles, riddles. The moment there is nothing to be solved, the whole function
           of the mind is destroyed. The very earth underneath its feet has been taken away. Questions are
           nourishment for the mind.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have been answering you, but none of my answers is an answer. It is simply a way of bringing
           you to that ultimate jump from mind to no-mind, from thoughts to no-thought, from questioning to
           living. And when you start living the mystery, I call it a quest. Then it becomes a totally different
           phenomenon -- you are not standing outside it. When it is a question, you are standing outside. You
           tackle the question, you look from all sides, you search all the aspects, all the possibilities; you
           dissect it, you look in, you try to find some clue; you propose some hypothesis, you experiment. The
           question is there outside you, on the table, but you are not part of it.
               In a quest YOU are the question; there is no division between you and the question. The quest
           means you are diving deep within yourself. In a real quest there is only one question: "Who am I?"
           All else fades away, and finally even "Who am I?" starts dissolving. Then a great mystery descends
           on you; you are surrounded by miracles. The whole of life is transformed; it becomes translucent.
           Then it is a song, a dance, a celebration.
               This is the whole approach of religion. Religion is anti-philosophical, and philosophy is basically
           anti-religious. There can be no religious philosophy, and there can be no philosophical religion.
               Shari, you are right when you say, "There are no answers."
               But before that, remember, there are no questions either.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS SANNYAS?


               Moses, sannyas is a crazy way of living life. The ordinary way is very sane, mathematical,
           calculated, cautious. The way of sannyas is non-calculative, beyond mathematics, beyond
           cunningness, cleverness. It is not cautious at all; it is knowingly moving into danger.
               Friedrich Nietzsche says, "Live dangerously." He had it written on his table in golden letters:
           "Live dangerously" -- but he never lived dangerously! In fact, a person who is not living dangerously
           needs to be reminded of the fact again and again every day. On his table, when he comes to work --
           "Live dangerously." If you are living it, there is no need to be reminded.
               Friedrich Nietzsche lived in a very cowardly way. He had great ideas -- just as all philosophers
           have -- but they were mere ideas. The life and the ideas of philosophers are polar opposites: they say
           one thing; they do exactly the opposite. There is no rhythm in their being; they are going in all
           directions simultaneously.
               But those two words, "Live dangerously," are significant. Sannyas is a way to live your life in
           total danger. What do I mean when I say sannyas is living dangerously? It means living moment to
           moment without any past. The past makes your life convenient, comfortable, because the past is
           known; you are familiar with it, you are very efficient with it. But life is never past, it is always
           present. The past is that which is no more, and life is that which is. Life is always now, here, and all
           your knowledge comes from the past. Trying to live the present through the past is the way of the
           coward; it is the calculated way. People call it sanity, but it is very superficial and never adequate.
           There is no rapport with the present.
               That's why millions of people are so utterly fed up with life. Life is such a gift, and people are
           fed up with it. It is very strange and amazing. Why should people be so fed up with life? The reason
           is not life itself; the reason is they are carrying the mountainous load of the past: all their
           experiences, knowledge, information -- what others have told them. They have accumulated great
           junk and they are carrying that junk. And the load is so heavy, and their eyes are covered with so
           much dust, that they cannot see the beauty of the present. And whatsoever they do see is something
           other than the reality.

               The rural preacher ended his long, dull sermon by requesting the board of deacons to remain for
           a few minutes after the service. In the group which stayed on was a stranger.
           "Pardon me, sir," said the minister politely, "but I asked that only the board remain."
           "That's why I stayed on," retorted the man. "I was never more bored in my life!"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Your religions are boring you, your philosophies are boring you, your scriptures are boring you.
           Thousands of years of the past are the cause of your boredom. You cannot dance -- you are chained
           to the past, you are imprisoned in the past.
               Sannyas means escaping from that prison. The prison may be of Hinduism or Mohammedanism
           or Christianity or Judaism or Jainism -- it does not matter what the name of the prison is. On the
           earth there are three hundred religions; that means three hundred kinds of religious prisons. And
           there are thousands of ideologies; they are also prisons within prisons. And there are sects and
           subsects.... You must have seen Chinese boxes -- boxes within boxes within boxes. You open one
           box, then another; you open that and then another; you go on opening and you always find a smaller
           box within. Each prison has more prisons inside it. Ultimately you are left only in a dark cell.
               Sannyas is rebellion against all slavery; it is living life in absolute freedom. To live life in
           absolute freedom, without traditions, without conventions, without religions, without philosophies,
           without ideologies -- political, social, and others -- to live unburdened is sannyas. But it will look
           crazy to the whole world. Freedom looks crazy because everybody is living an imprisoned life. To
           prisoners, the person who escapes from the prison looks crazy, because for them prison is
           comfortable, convenient, secure, safe.

               A Hungarian secret police colonel was inspecting a strip of the border.
           "Too many people have been slipping across at this point," he informed the guards. "I have been
           ordered to test your security precautions."
               After deploying the guards at strategic points, the colonel began creeping on all fours toward the
           barbed wire.
           "Can you see me now?" he called out. When they cried back "Yes," he started again. On the third
           attempt he slipped under the fence.
           "Can you see me now?" he called back.
           "No, Comrade Colonel," was the answer.
           "Then you will never see me again!" the officer shouted as he hastened on his way to freedom.

                Sannyas is an escape from the prison -- Catholic or communist, it does not matter; it is an escape
           into the open. To live moment to moment is a crazy way, a poetic way, the way of the lover. People
           are living lives of prose -- clear-cut but mundane, superficial. Anything which is very clear-cut is
           bound to be superficial. Life is mystery, and the only way to commune with it is through poetry, not
           prose.
           The prose style of life is the ordinary lifestyle.
           The poetic style of life is sannyas.
                It is bound to be a little bit crazy -- all poets are crazy, all painters are crazy, all dancers are
           crazy, all musicians are crazy. All that is great on this earth has something of madness in it.
                Zorba the Greek says to his boss, "Boss, everything is right in you, only one thing is missing -- a
           little bit of madness!"
                And I agree with Zorba. Sannyas gives you a little bit of madness, but that little bit of madness
           brings rainbows to your life. Multidimensional is that little bit of madness. It opens many doors
           which have remained closed for thousands of years. It allows the sun and the rain and the wind to
           come in. It gives you a chance to whisper with the clouds and the stars. It is a way of falling in love
           with existence. To live without falling in love with this tremendously beautiful existence is very
           stupid, ridiculous. That is missing the whole opportunity of being, of being alive, of being intensely
           alive, passionately alive.
                Sannyas is a risk! The people who cannot take any risk cannot be sannyasins. Hence the people
           who are Hindu sannyasins are not real sannyasins; they are still clinging to the safety of the Hindu
           tradition. The VEDAS and the BHAGAVADGITA and the RAMAYANA -- the whole past gives
           them the feeling that they are on the right track: "How can so many people be wrong?" They are
           following like sheep -- a large crowd of sheep, ancient, very ancient, prehistoric! The more ancient a
           tradition is, the safer it looks.
                The person who cannot risk, deals with life in a businesslike way -- tries to cheat life, exploit life.
           He tries to give less and get more, because that is the way of profit.
                The sannyasin does not care at all about getting anything back from life; he simply gives in sheer
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           trust, and he receives a millionfold. But that's another matter; that is not his consideration at all. The
           man who is trying to exploit life will not get much out of it, and whatsoever he does get will remain
           inessential. He will remain a beggar and he will die a beggar. He will never know what it means to
           be an emperor.
                The sannyasin knows what it means to be an emperor, because he simply gives; he enjoys giving,
           he loves sharing. And the miracle of life is: the more you give the more you have. When you give
           totally, the whole sky descends on you, the whole beyond becomes your within.
                Sannyas is hope -- hope against all hope. People have lost all hope; they are living hopelessly.
           They are living simply because they are cowards and cannot commit suicide.
                The existentialist philosophers are right when they say that the most important philosophical
           problem is suicide: to live or not to live, to be or not to be. If this is life that ordinary people are
           living, then it does not seem to be worth living at all. What is the point of getting up every morning
           and going through the same empty gestures you have gone through thousands of times? The same
           breakfast, the same nagging wife, the same ugly husband; the same suspicions, the same
           possessiveness, the same jealousy, the same anger, the same ambition; rushing to the office, the same
           boss -- everything is the same, a constant repetition.
                And again coming back home and sitting in front of that idiot box called the television, and
           looking at the same story, the same triangles -- two women and one man or two men and one woman
           -- the same story, the same triangle! And you already know the conclusion; in fact, you can write the
           whole story yourself. But what else to do? Playing cards, listening to the radio, reading the
           newspaper -- it is almost the same. And then to bed again, and the same nightmares.... Nothing
           seems to be of any significance, and you have done it all, and many times.
                The existentialists are raising a significant question: Why go on living? The only reason seems to
           be that people are afraid of dying, they are cowardly. They are living hopelessly because at least they
           have not chosen to live. Death has to be chosen, and they cannot take any decision on their own.
                Sannyas is choosing your life and also choosing your death. Sannyas means becoming decisive,
           conscious, deliberate.

               No matter how bad the news might be, there was one man who had a stock comment: "Ah well,
           it might have been worse."
               One day a friend said to him, "I have had an experience to which you can't apply your favorite
           cliche. I dreamed the other night that I died, went to hell, and was doomed to everlasting torment."
           "Ah well, it might have been worse," said the optimist.
           "How in hell could it have been worse?" cried the other.
           The optimist replied, "It might have been true!"

               The way of sannyas is the way of tremendous hope, trust. Life is basically good, beautiful,
           divine, so if we are missing then something is wrong with us, not with life itself. Life is so beautiful
           that it makes even death beautiful.
               Sannyas, Moses, is not a way of doing anything, it is a way of being. It changes your inner world
           and, of course, your outer world changes with it, but that is secondary. It changes your center, it
           changes your awareness, and then your behavior, your actions. Whatsoever you do has a new quality
           to it, a grace that descends from the beyond -- a song said or unsaid, sung or unsung, but it is there
           within your heart, a dance, the quality of dance to your feet....
               Hence, Moses, I say it is a crazy way of living, but that's the only way to live life rightly. A
           poetic way, the way of the lover -- but only love knows.
           Logic is blind, love has eyes.
               Only love can see the ultimate truth that surrounds you within and without.

           The third question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT DO I WANT?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Krishna, nobody knows exactly because nobody is even aware of who he is. The question of
           wanting is secondary; the basic question is: Who are you? Out of that, things can be settled -- what
           your desires, your wants, your ambitions will be.
               If you are an ego then of course you want money, power, prestige. Then your life will have a
           political structure. You will be in constant struggle with other people, you will be competitive --
           ambition means competition. You will be continuously at others' throats and they will be
           continuously at your throat. Then life becomes what Charles Darwin says: the survival of the fittest.
           In fact, his use of the word "fittest" is not right. What he really means by the fittest is the most
           cunning, the most animal-like, the most stubborn, the most stupid, the most ugly. Charles Darwin
           will not say that Buddha is the fittest or Jesus is the fittest or Socrates is the fittest. These people
           were killed so easily, and the people who killed them survived. Jesus could not survive. Certainly,
           according to Darwin, Jesus is not the fittest person. Pontius Pilate is far more fit, more on the right
           track. Socrates is not the fittest, but the people who poisoned him, who condemned him to death are.
           His use of the word "fittest" is very unfortunate.
               If you are living in the ego, Krishna, then your life will be a struggle; it will be violent,
           aggressive. You will create misery for others and misery for yourself too, because the life of conflict
           cannot be anything else. So it all depends on you, who you are. If you are the ego, still thinking of
           yourself in terms of the ego, then you will have a certain stinking quality. Or if you have come to
           understand that you are not the ego, then your life will have a fragrance. If you don't know yourself,
           you are living out of unconsciousness, and a life of unconsciousness can only be one of
           misunderstanding. You may listen to Buddha, you may listen to me, you may listen to Jesus, but you
           will interpret according to your own unconsciousness -- you will MISinterpret.
               Christianity is the misinterpretation of Jesus; so is Buddhism the misinterpretation of Buddha,
           and so is Jainism the misinterpretation of Mahavira. All these religions are misinterpretations,
           distortions, because the people who follow Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna, are ordinary people without
           any awareness. Whatsoever they do, they will save the letter and kill the spirit.

              A philosopher was walking around a park and noticed a man who was sitting in the lotus posture,
           eyes open, looking at the ground. The philosopher saw that the man was totally absorbed in his
           gazing downwards. After watching him for a long time, the philosopher could no longer resist and
           went over to the strange fellow asking, "What are you looking for? What are you doing?"
              The man answered without shifting his gaze, "I am following the Zen tradition of sitting silently
           doing nothing and then the spring comes and the grass grows by itself. I am watching the grass
           growing, and it is not growing at all!"

               There is no need to watch the grass growing -- but that's what always happens. Jesus says one
           thing, people hear it, but they hear only the words and they give to those words THEIR meaning.

                A mother took her small son to the psychiatrist and for at least three hours told the psychiatrist
           the whole story of her son. The psychiatrist was getting tired, fed up, but the woman was so absorbed
           in the telling that she was not even giving the psychiatrist an opportunity to prevent her. One
           sentence followed another with no gap.
                Finally the psychiatrist had to say, "Please, now stop! Let me ask the son something!"
                And he asked the son, "Your mother is complaining that you don't listen to whatsoever she says
           to you. Have you difficulty in hearing?"
                The son said, "No, I have no difficulty hearing -- my ears are perfectly okay -- but as far as
           listening is concerned, now you can judge for yourself. Can you listen to my mother? Hear I can; I
           have to. I have even been watching you -- you were fidgeting. One has to hear, but listening -- at
           least I am free to listen or not. Whether I listen or not, that is up to me. If she is shouting at me,
           hearing it is natural, but listening is a totally different matter."

              You have heard, but you have not listened, and all kinds of distortions have gathered around.
           And people go on repeating those words without any idea of what they are repeating.
              You ask me, Krishna, "What do I want?" I should ask you rather than you asking me, because it
           depends where you are. If you are identified with the body, then your wants will be different; then
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           food and sex will be your only wants, your only desires. These two are animal desires, the lowest. I
           am not condemning them by calling them the lowest, I am not evaluating them. Remember, I am just
           stating a fact: the lowest rung of the ladder. But if you are identified with the mind, your desires will
           be different: music, dance, poetry, and then there are thousands of things....
                The body is very limited; it has a simple polarity: food and sex. It moves like a pendulum
           between these two, food and sex; it has nothing more to it. But if you are identified with the mind,
           then mind has many dimensions. You can be interested in philosophy, you can be interested in
           science, you can be interested in religion -- you can be interested in as many things as you can
           imagine.
                If you are identified with the heart, then your desires will be of a still higher nature, higher than
           the mind. You will become more aesthetic, more sensitive, more alert, more loving.
           The mind is aggressive, the heart is receptive.
           The mind is male, the heart is female.
           The mind is logic, the heart is love.
                So it depends where you are stuck: at the body, at the mind, at the heart. These are the three most
           important places from which one can function. But there is also the fourth in you; in the East it is
           called TURIYA. Turiya simply means the fourth, the transcendental. If you are aware of your
           transcendentalness, then all desires disappear. Then one simply IS with no desire at all, with nothing
           to be asked, to be fulfilled. There is no future and no past. Then one lives just in the moment, utterly
           contented, fulfilled. In the fourth, your one-thousand-petaled lotus opens up; you become divine.
                You are asking me, Krishna, "What do I want?" That simply shows you don't even know where
           you are, where you are stuck. You will have to inquire within yourself -- and it is not very difficult.
           If it is food and sex that takes up the major part of you, then that is where you are identified; if it is
           something concerned with thinking, then it is the mind; if it is concerned with feeling, then it is the
           heart. And, of course, Krishna, it cannot be the fourth; otherwise the question would not have arisen
           at all!
                So rather than answering you I would like to ask you where you are. Inquire!
                Three pigs entered a bar. The first pig ordered a drink and then asked the way to the bathroom.
           The second pig ordered a drink and also asked the bartender the way to the bathroom. Then the third
           pig came up to the bar and ordered a drink.
           "Don't YOU want to know where the bathroom is?" sneered the bartender.
           "No!" replied the little pig. "I am the one that goes, `Wee, wee, wee...all the way home!'"

               I should ask you, "Where are you? What kind of identification? Where are you stuck?" Only then
           can things be clear -- and it is not difficult. But it happens again and again that people ask beautiful
           questions, particularly Indians, Krishna. They may be stuck at their sex center, but they will ask
           about SAMADHI. They will ask, "What is NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI, where all thoughts disappear,
           that thoughtless consciousness? What is it? What is NIRBEEJ SAMADHI, the seedless, where even
           the seeds for any future are completely burnt? What is that ultimate state when one need not return to
           the earth, to the womb, to life again?" These are just foolish questions they are asking; they are not
           their questions. They are not at all concerned with their real situation. They are asking beautiful
           questions, metaphysical, esoteric, to show that they are higher quality beings; that they are scholarly,
           that they know the scriptures, that they are seekers; that they are not ordinary people, they are
           extraordinary, religious. That is driving the Indians into more and more of a mess.
               It is always good to ask something which is relevant to you rather than to ask something which is
           of no concern to you. People ask me whether God exists or not, and they don't even know whether
           they exist or not!
               Just the other day, Divakar Bharti, another Indian, asked me, "Why am I here?"
               Divakar, are you really here? Ask yourself, are you really here? I don't think that you are here.
           Physically of course you are here, but spiritually, REALLY, you are not here. Unless you drop that
           idea of being Indian, of being a Hindu, you cannot be here, you cannot be part of MY commune.
           You have carried all kinds of nonsense inside you and you are still clinging to it.
               Krishna, it is always good to ask realistic questions, because then it can be of some help to you.
           If you are suffering from the common cold and you go to the physician and you ask about cancer,
           because a man like you -- how can he suffer from such an ordinary thing as the common cold...?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Every ordinary person suffers from the common cold, that's why it is called the common cold. But
           you are such an uncommon person -- you are not any Tom, Harry or Dick. You are so special, you
           have to suffer from something very special, so you ask a question about cancer. And if the physician
           helps you in curing the cancer you will get into more trouble -- that treatment is not going to fit you
           at all. It will create more complications in you because those medicines can kill you, because there is
           nothing for them to work upon; there is no cancer in you and they cannot be of any use for the
           common cold.
               In fact, for the common cold there is no medicine. If you take medicine, the common cold goes
           within seven days; if you don't take any, it goes within one week! In fact, it is so common that
           medical science has not bothered about it at all. Who cares about such small things? People are
           concerned about going to the moon, and about such small matters as the common cold or a leaking
           fountain pen, who bothers? The fountain pen still leaks! People have reached the moon and they
           have not yet been able to make a one-hundred-percent-guaranteed fountain pen which is not going to
           leak!
               Just look inside yourself, Krishna. Where exactly is your problem?

               A general visiting a field hospital asks one of the bed-ridden soldiers, "What is wrong with you?"
           "Sir," replies the soldier, "I've got boils."
           "What treatment do you get?"
           "They swab me down with iodine tincture, sir."
           "And that helps?" asks the general.
           "Yes, sir!" replies the soldier.
               Then the general goes to the soldier in the next bed and finds out that this guy has hemorrhoids.
           He too gets swabbed down with iodine; it helps, and he does not have any other wishes. The general
           then asks the third soldier, "What is wrong with you?"
           "Sir, I've got swollen tonsils. I get swabbed down with iodine, and yes, it helps."
           "Anything you would like?" asks the concerned general.
           "Yes, sir!" replied the soldier. "I'd like to be the first to be swabbed down."

                First you have to see your situation, where you are; only then can you say what you want. If you
           are being swabbed down with iodine tincture after these two fellows -- one who has got boils and
           one who has got hemorrhoids -- and you are suffering only from swollen tonsils, then the problem is
           clear!
                Inquire, look for the exact place where you are. As far as I am concerned, all desire is a sheer
           wastage, all wanting is wrong. But if you are identified with the body I cannot say that to you
           because that will be too far away from you. If you are identified with the body I will say: move a
           little towards higher desires, the desires of the mind, and then a little higher, the desires of the heart,
           and then ultimately to the state of desirelessness. No desire can ever be fulfilled. This is the
           difference between the scientific approach and the religious approach. Science tries to fulfill your
           desires and of course science has succeeded in doing many things, but man remains in the same
           misery. Religion tries to wake you up to that great understanding from where you can see that all
           desires are intrinsically unfulfillable.
                One has to go beyond all desires; only then is there contentment. Contentment is not at the end of
           a desire, contentment is not by fulfilling the desire, because the desire cannot be fulfilled. By the
           time you come to the fulfillment of your desire, you will find a thousand and one other desires have
           arisen. Each desire branches out into many new desires. And again and again it will happen, and
           your whole life will be wasted.
                Those who have known, those who have seen -- the buddhas, the awakened ones -- have all
           agreed on one point. It is not a philosophical thing, it is factual, the fact of the inner world: that
           contentment is when all desires have been dropped. It is with the absence of the desires that
           contentment arises within you -- in the absence. In fact, the very absence of desires IS contentment,
           IS fulfillment, fruition, flowering.
                Krishna, move from lower desires to higher desires, from gross desires to more subtle desires,
           then to the subtlest, because from the subtlest the jump into no-desire, into desirelessness, is easy.
           Desirelessness is NIRVANA.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nirvana has two meanings. It is one of the most beautiful words; any language can be proud of
           this word. It has two meanings, but those two meanings are like two sides of the same coin. One
           meaning is cessation of the ego, and the other meaning is cessation of all desires. It happens
           simultaneously. The ego and the desires are intrinsically together, they are inseparably together. The
           moment ego dies, desires disappear, or vice versa: the moment desires are transcended, ego is
           transcended. And to be desireless, to be egoless, is to know the ultimate bliss, is to know the eternal
           ecstasy.
               Krishna, that's what sannyas is all about: the quest for the eternal ecstasy that begins but never
           ends.

           The fourth question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS COURAGE?


                Premo, courage means going into the unknown in spite of all the fears. Courage does not mean
           fearlessness. Fearlessness happens if you go on being courageous and more courageous. That is the
           ultimate experience of courage -- fearlessness; that is the fragrance when the courage has become
           absolute. But in the beginning there is not much difference between the coward and the courageous
           person. The only difference is, the coward listens to his fears and follows them, and the courageous
           person puts them aside and goes ahead. The courageous person goes into the unknown in spite of all
           the fears. He knows the fears, the fears are there.
                When you go into the uncharted sea, like Columbus did, there is fear, immense fear, because one
           never knows what is going to happen and you are leaving the shore of safety. You were perfectly
           okay, in a way; only one thing was missing -- adventure. Going into the unknown gives you a thrill.
           The heart starts pulsating again; again you are alive, fully alive. Every fiber of your being is alive
           because you have accepted the challenge of the unknown.
                To accept the challenge of the unknown in spite of all fears, is courage. The fears are there, but if
           you go on accepting the challenge again and again, slowly slowly those fears disappear. The
           experience of the joy that the unknown brings, the great ecstasy that starts happening with the
           unknown, makes you strong enough, gives you a certain integrity, makes your intelligence sharp. For
           the first time you start feeling that life is not just a boredom but an adventure. Then slowly slowly
           fears disappear; then you are always seeking and searching for some adventure.
                But basically courage is risking the known for the unknown, the familiar for the unfamiliar, the
           comfortable for the uncomfortable arduous pilgrimage to some unknown destination. One never
           knows whether one will be able to make it or not. It is gambling, but only the gamblers know what
           life is.

               An African delegation to Moscow was being treated to all aspects of Russian culture. One of the
           secret service agents was telling an African how to play Russian roulette with a six-shooter handgun
           with only one bullet in the chamber.
           "You put it to your head," he said, "and pull the trigger."
               The African was not impressed. "African roulette is much more fearsome!" he said.
           "Impossible!" exclaimed the Russian, "Please explain."
           "There are six naked women," said the African, "and each one will give you a blowjob -- you just
           choose any one."
           "That needs no courage," sneered the Russian.
           "Aha!" exclaimed the African. "But one of them is a cannibal!"

           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                       Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                     Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Let Sannyas Happen
           31 October 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8010310
              ShortTitle: COME05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              EVERY TIME I HEAR YOU PRAISING CAPITALISM I GET ANGRY. YOU SAY SANNYAS MEANS
              TO GET RID OF ALL CONDITIONING AND TO ESCAPE OUT OF EVERY CAGE WHETHER IT IS
              RELIGIOUS, PHILOSOPHICAL OR POLITICAL. BUT ISN'T CAPITALISM A CAGE TOO? WHY
              CAN'T WE LIVE A CREATIVE LIFE IN WEALTH AND FREEDOM WITHOUT ANY "ISMS"?


               Swami Prem Vardan, capitalism is not an "ism" at all; just don't get too obsessed by the word.
           Sometimes words become too important to us and we tend to forget the reality.
               Capitalism is not an ideology; it is not imposed on the society, it is a natural growth. It is not like
           communism, or fascism, or socialism -- these are ideologies; they have to be imposed. Capitalism
           has come on its own. In fact, the word "capitalism" has been given by the anticapitalist thinkers: the
           communists, the socialists and others. Capitalism is a state of freedom; that's exactly why I am in
           support of it. It allows you all kinds of freedoms. Communism will not allow you all kinds of
           freedoms; communism will give you only one ideology to believe in -- there is no question of choice.
           I am reminded of Henry Ford....
               When he made his first model, those cars were only made in one color -- black. And he himself
           used to take the customers round his showroom; he would go around with them and show them the
           cars. He used to say to people, "You are free to choose any color, provided it is black!"
               That's exactly the attitude of communism: you are free to choose any ideology, any philosophy,
           any religion, provided it is communism. In a communist society there is no hope for a
           multidimensional humanity to grow; it can allow only a certain type to grow: it is linear. You cannot
           conceive that in a communist pattern even Karl Marx would be possible; he would not be allowed.
           You cannot conceive a Jesus, a Buddha, a Krishna, or a Lao Tzu being born in a communist society;
           they would be destroyed at the very beginning.
               Before the Russian revolution, Russia produced the greatest novelists in the world. Before the
           revolution, Russia passed through an immense period of creativity; it was almost an explosion.
           Nowhere else, in no other time, were so many great artists born together: Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor
           Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Turgenev, and many more. What happened to all that
           creativity after the Russian revolution? Not a single Tolstoy, not a single Dostoevsky, not a single
           Maxim Gorky has appeared. It is impossible, because the government directs you about what to
           write, what not to write. The bureaucracy dictates everything. You cannot paint according to your
           own heart, you cannot sing the song that you want to sing; you have to dance to the tune that the
           government plays. Naturally, only mediocre people have been happy in Russia. Untalented people
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will find it very good, but talented people, who are the salt of the earth, will be retarded.
               Only one outlet is there, to go into politics, and that too is not easy. Once you are in power it is
           very difficult for anybody else to replace you. Joseph Stalin remained in power longer than any other
           person, and he was hated by the people from their very guts, but nobody was able to say anything.
           He killed more people than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah; even Adolf Hitler comes second
           to him. And he killed very methodically. It is estimated that he must have killed several million
           people at least, with no guilt.
               The day he died and Krushchev came into power, Krushchev started saying things against him.
           Even his dead body was removed from the Kremlin, from the place where it had been ceremoniously
           placed. It was dragged from the grave in a very insulting way and removed to a faraway place which
           nobody visits.
               Krushchev had always served Stalin as a servant, and when he started saying things against
           him.... In one of the meetings of communist workers he was talking against Stalin, and a worker
           shouted from the back row, "Where were you when he was alive? Why didn't you say these things
           when he was alive?"
               For a moment there was a very uneasy silence. Even Krushchev could not find any words. Then
           he asked, "Can I ask one thing, sir? Can you stand up, comrade? Who has asked this question?" And
           Krushchev laughed and he said, "Now you know! That's my answer!"
               Communism is an "ism"; capitalism is not an "ism." Capitalism is simply a natural phenomenon
           that has come on its own. There are no capitalist philosophers, there is no capitalist party, there is no
           capitalist economy which has been enforced on people; it is a growth.
               But you seem, Vardan, to be too attached to the word. Rather than looking at the reality you have
           become distracted by the word "capitalism." It simply means a state of LAISSEZ-FAIRE, a state of
           freedom where one is allowed to be himself. Capitalism is not an "ism" but a natural state of society
           which is capable of producing capital, which is capable of producing wealth.
               Now for sixty years or more communism has existed in Russia. Still, communism existing in
           Russia has not been able to make it a rich society; it is a poor country. Of course they go on
           competing as far as war technology is concerned, but the people are poor. America is far richer; in
           fact, it is the richest society that has ever existed on the earth. Even the poorest man in America is in
           a far better situation than any Russian, for the simple reason that people are allowed to produce
           wealth if they choose to. If they choose not to produce wealth, if they want to be painters, poets, they
           are allowed -- that is their freedom, that is their birthright. In communism you don't have any
           birthright.
               And remember, equality is a very unpsychological idea. People are not equal. Albert Einstein,
           Karl Marx, Gautam Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Ghalib -- can you consider that these people are
           equal? The society consists of thousands of types; it is beautiful because of the variety. Communism
           destroys variety. It makes people in a certain pattern, it gives them a certain structure. The whole
           society becomes like an army: everybody is regimented, everybody is following a certain ideal.
               Don't be too obsessed with the simple word "capitalism." But we live in words...the very word,
           the mention of the word, can create anger in you. That simply shows anger is there. And it is a
           natural phenomenon, particularly when you are the disciple of a master -- deep down you are angry
           at him. There are reasons for it, because surrendering is going against your ego, and the ego is
           always ready to take revenge -- any excuse will do.
               Judas betrayed Jesus. Do you think he simply betrayed Jesus because of thirty silver coins? That
           is not the case. Judas would not have betrayed him for only thirty silver coins. He had lived for a
           long time with Jesus, had loved him, worshipped him, was surrendered to him. Then what came over
           him? And he felt immensely guilty: the day Jesus was crucified...within twenty-four hours Judas
           committed suicide out of sheer guilt. What had he done? He could not survive, he could not live --
           the guilt was too heavy.
               But nobody has looked into the psychology of Judas. So many people have researched deeply
           into the psychology of Jesus, but nobody has bothered to look into the psychology of Judas, which is
           worth studying because masters are few and disciples are many, and their psychology should be
           understood. And it is not the first case....
               Gautam Buddha was betrayed by his own cousin-brother who was a disciple; Devadatta was his
           name. Mahavira was betrayed by his own son-in-law who was his disciple. It is almost an inevitable
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           phenomenon that each master has been betrayed by somebody who was very close. Why? There
           must be some hidden reason. Don't just condemn Judas; Judas is only one of the examples.
               To surrender to a master creates anger. Unwillingly you have to surrender, finding no other way.
           You have tried every possible way to be on your own, but the more efforts you have made, the
           deeper you have gone into the mess. So ultimately, as a last resort, you surrender. But the
           unwillingness is there. You would have been far more happy if there had been no need to surrender.
           But because there is nothing else to do -- you have done everything and it has all failed -- you need
           somebody's help and support, you need somebody's guidance. And in spiritual matters, guidance is
           possible only if you trust, if you surrender, if you put your ego aside. So you put it aside, but very
           unwillingly, reluctantly, and it waits for its own time to take revenge. So any small excuse becomes
           a very big thing.
               Now the word "capitalism" is torturing you. If you understand me, what you are saying is exactly
           what I mean by capitalism.
               You say: "Why can't we live a creative life in wealth and freedom without any `isms'?"
               That's exactly what capitalism is! Drop the word "ism," find something else. I am not much
           concerned with words. I am not a linguist, not a grammarian.

              Noah Webster, the lexicographer, was in his office making love to his secretary, when Mrs.
           Webster walked in.
           "Noah!" she gasped. "I am surprised!"
              Quickly pulling his trousers up, he replied, "Not so, my dear. You are shocked, I am surprised!"

               The grammarian, the lexicographer, the linguist, is continuously thinking of words. He is right!
           He says, "No, you are shocked -- you are using the wrong word -- I am surprised!" But it is not a
           question of words at all.
               Don't get too obsessed with words; otherwise you will be getting angry again and again. If you
           want to be angry, that's another matter; then you can find any excuse. And you will find a thousand
           and one -- I can provide you with as many excuses as possible!
           "You say sannyas means to get rid of all conditioning...." Yes, and it includes the obsession with
           words too. And you say, "to escape out of every cage...." True.
               Capitalism is the only state where you are not forced to live in a cage, you are free. But
           capitalism is in a very dangerous state, for the simple reason that there are only a few people who are
           capable of creating wealth, and they create great jealousy in others. Those who cannot create wealth
           become jealous -- and there are more of them.
               Just think: if society were ruled by poets, people would be angry at poetry, because only a few
           people are capable of creating poetry -- a Shakespeare, a Milton, a Kalidas, a Rabindranath.... Only
           very few people are able to create poetry, and they would be the rulers. What about the ninety-nine
           point nine percent of people who are absolutely unpoetic? They would become very angry. Or if the
           society were ruled by musicians, then what about those who cannot produce music, who are not
           creative in that dimension? Then Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner...a few people would be able to
           dominate; they would be at the top. And what about the others? The millions would feel angry. The
           same is true with capitalism: very few people are capable of creating wealth; it is a dimension of
           creativity. Not everybody is a Ford or a Morgan or a Rockefeller. This is bound to be so.
               But to understand your jealousy and to get rid of it is sannyas. To understand your jealousy will
           help you tremendously to find your dimension of creativity. Everybody is born with a certain
           potential, but it is not the same and it is good that it is not the same.
               If everybody was a Shakespeare, literature would lose all joy. If everybody was a Jesus, carrying
           his own cross, the whole scene would look very crazy! And those Jesuses would go on carrying their
           crosses, and who would crucify them? They would not find anyone to crucify them! It would be a
           very very long and tedious journey to nowhere. They would die natural deaths, carrying their crosses
           unnecessarily. It is good that everybody is not a Jesus, not a Buddha....
               Everybody has to be himself, and capitalism simply gives you the possibility to be yourself.
           Certainly you will have to prove your mettle, you will have to work; you will have to create, you will
           have to bring your total energy to a focus. But only then will you be able to shine forth.
               Capitalism is basically individualism, it is not a social structure. It is more than that; it is just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           democracy and freedom. But when you allow everybody to be himself, certainly you will feel very
           jealous, because you can only be one thing and there will be many people who can be many other
           things. Somebody will be a poet, somebody will be a sculptor, somebody will be a novelist,
           somebody will be a musician, a dancer, an architect, a scientist...and maybe you are just a boxer. But
           there is no need to be worried -- you can be the greatest boxer in the world! One has to look within
           oneself and discover one's potential.
                Capitalism gives you the freedom to be yourself; that's why I support it. My support has reasons
           behind it. I am not supporting it as an economical phenomenon; there is much more involved in my
           support. And to my understanding, capitalism will bring a socialism of its own kind as a by-product,
           because when people have created too much wealth, what are they going to do with it? What will
           you do with the wealth when you have created it?
                Albert Einstein discovers the theory of relativity, the secret of atomic energy; then it becomes
           part of the whole society, then sooner or later everybody is going to be benefited by it. A few people
           will create wealth, but they will reveal the secrets of how to create wealth. Sooner or later this whole
           society will be benefited by it.
                A real socialism will come out of capitalism as a by-product. When too much wealth is created,
           people will not be so greedy; the greed arises only because the wealth is very scarce. And you can
           see it very clearly -- you can see it here. The poor person is very greedy, the rich person is not so
           greedy. The people who are coming from the West are less greedy than the people who are living in
           India. The Indians TALK about no-greed, greedlessness, but they are the most greedy people in the
           world. They have to be -- they are so poor, they have to cling.
                It happens almost every day: some Western sannyasin will turn up at the office and will say, "I
           would like to donate ten lakh rupees, but I don't want my name to be mentioned because this is not
           such a big thing." But no Indian turns up even with ten rupees! If you want ten rupees from Indians
           you have to go to them and persuade them. Then too it will be very difficult for them. They will give
           you ten rupees only if you convince them: "You will be getting a thousandfold more in the other
           world." Then they will give; otherwise not. Unless they are convinced and you prove through the
           scriptures that they will get a thousandfold, exactly a thousandfold more; unless it is a business
           proposal.... And it is a really good business! You give ten rupees here, and you get a thousandfold
           more there! Where can you get that much interest? It is almost like winning a lottery! Then it is
           worth risking ten rupees.
                I had to stop Indians completely. I have told my office people, "Don't accept from Indians,
           because we don't want money with any conditions." They bring their conditions also -- they are
           donating ten rupees, but they will bring their conditions. And these conditions have to be fulfilled:
           "Osho should not say this; Osho should say this." Just because they are donating ten rupees they
           want to control everything -- how sannyasins should behave, how they should move around in the
           society. Just because of their ten rupees all the sannyasins have to follow a certain moral code
           decided by them.
                You can see it easily: the West has created enough wealth; the greed is disappearing. But in the
           East, the greed has gone on increasing more and more. In fact, because there is so much greed,
           people talk about greedlessness. The saints go on teaching people, "Don't be greedy," because they
           know they are greedy; otherwise, why would they teach that? It would be stupid to talk that way.
                I have seen the most ancient scriptures. They all talk about greedlessness, nonattachment; they
           all talk about nonviolence, no stealing, no adultery. Look on everybody's wife as your mother or
           sister or daughter, as the case may be...the most ancient scriptures! All these rules of conduct prove
           only one thing: that man has always been just the opposite; otherwise, why so much fuss about
           committing adultery? The most ancient scriptures talk about it: "Don't commit adultery." People
           must have been committing adultery! Either the people were committing adultery or these people
           who were writing the scriptures were crazy!
                People must have been very greedy, because all the Jaina scriptures, almost on every page, talk
           about greedlessness, as if that was the only obsession of the people. "Renounce," they all say; "gold
           is dust." If gold is dust, why renounce it? Nobody renounces dust! Even those scriptures don't say,
           "Renounce dust because dust is just gold and nothing else, so renounce it. Don't touch dust because it
           is just gold." But they all talk about renouncing gold, and in the same breath they go on saying it is
           dust. They are contradicting themselves. And the people they are talking to must have been very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           greedy, must have been clutching at gold.
               And the people who are talking, at the same time as they say to people, "Renounce gold," they
           say, "Donate gold to the temples." Donate dust to the temples...? Donate the dust of the whole world
           to the temples -- will that make any sense? But, "Donate gold...." And that too, Jaina monks in their
           scriptures say, "Donate only to Jaina temples." Donating dust only to Jaina temples? Why not to
           Hindu temples too? Why not to Buddhist temples too? And the Buddhists go on saying the same:
           "Donate only to the Buddhist temples, because they are TRUE temples." What difference does it
           make whether the temple is true or untrue? You are only donating dust! Even if you donate to the
           untrue temple, what is wrong with it?
               Brahmins say, "Only donate to the brahmins." Jainas say, "Only donate to the Jaina monks." And
           Buddhists say, "Only donate to the Buddhist monks." All others are charlatans; THEY are the true
           people. That shows their real intention.
               Remember, a society is possible which will not be greedy, but that is possible not through
           socialism; it is possible only through the growth of capitalism, through the growth of freedom.
           Talented people have to be given absolute freedom to create whatsoever they can -- poetry, wealth,
           music. Whatsoever they can create let them create, and their creativity will raise the society to higher
           levels.
               Capitalism is pure freedom. Of course, everybody is not capable of creating wealth, hence it
           creates jealousy. But we should not be dominated by jealousy, we should not be dominated by those
           who are uncreative. If we are dominated by the uncreative, by the jealous, then we will destroy all
           the talented people. And they are the real people, they are the people who raise humanity to higher
           levels.
               Humanity owes all its growth to very few people, not to the masses -- not at all. The masses have
           been the hindrance; they are like rocks preventing the growth of society. Society has been benefited
           only by a few scientists, a few mystics, a few creators; the others have been just hindering in every
           possible way. And these others constitute the majority, and of course they are jealous. But nobody
           says directly, "I am jealous." They will talk about equality, socialism, communism...beautiful words
           to hide something ugly.
               Prem Vardan, whenever I say something, meditate over it. Being angry is not going to help.
           Anger simply shows that something in you is hurt, some wound is there. Maybe you have come
           believing in socialism, communism, and all that kind of nonsense. There are many sannyasins who
           have belonged to political ideologies in their past. When they come to me it becomes difficult for
           them to drop all their rubbish -- but you have to drop all your rubbish.
               It is easy for you when I say, "Don't be a Christian," because in fact you are not a Christian at all.
           When I say, "Don't be a Mohammedan or a Hindu," who is a Mohammedan, who is a Hindu? These
           are only formalities. But when I say, "Don't be a communist or a socialist," then it hurts more,
           because particularly the new generation is very much addicted to the communist ideology.
               Capitalism is not an ideology at all, that's why I prefer it.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD. I WANT TO BECOME A SANNYASIN, BUT I DON'T KNOW
              WHY I AM HESITATING.


                Prakash Chandra Sethia, I think you should wait a little more! Let death come first, then I can
           initiate you into sannyas...because when death has already happened, there will be no hesitation: you
           will not be there at all. Seventy-five years old and still hesitating? One leg is already in the grave!
           Ninety-nine percent is almost dead. Only one percent can become a sannyasin now, and even then
           you are hesitating. It almost always happens with old people.
                The people who followed Jesus were all young, almost all of them his own age. The people who
           followed Buddha were his age or nearabout. The same was true with Mahavira. The older a person
           becomes, the more cautious he becomes, and one can understand why. He has lived in the world with
           so many deceptive people all around. He has been deceived again and again, he has been cheated, so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he becomes very cautious, hesitant. He clings to the familiar and becomes afraid of the unknown.
                But sometimes it happens that your very cautiousness can be the most destructive thing in your
           life, because to be very cautious means to die before your death. It is a well-known psychological
           fact that people die nearabout thirty years of age. Of course, they live on afterwards, and they
           actually die nearabout seventy or eighty. So what are these fifty years? It is a kind of posthumous
           existence.

               The gay couple were strolling down a Paris street. One kept saying to the other, "Watch out,
           dearie, don't step in the doggie-doo! Watch out dearie, don't step in the doggie-doo. Oh shit! I just
           stepped in the doggie-doo!"

               Making the other cautious, he has forgotten completely about himself!
               You are becoming too wary, too cautious, and soon you will fall in the doggie-doo! And then it
           will be too late -- it is already late. It is evening time, the sun is setting. Don't waste time.

                An old man of ninety-seven and his wife of ninety-two were appearing before the judge because
           they wanted a divorce.
                The judge was very surprised. "You're so old," he said. "Why do you want to separate now, after
           all these years of being together?"
                The old man did not answer. But after some minutes his wife said very shyly, "Your honor, we
           wanted to wait till all our children died."

                Now, Prakash Chandra Sethia, what are you waiting for -- all the children to die first? Now, what
           is the point of waiting? You have waited enough! And remember, death will not ask you, it will not
           even inform you, it will not even knock on your doors. It simply comes, and before you have
           recognized it you are finished.
                Before death happens, let sannyas happen, because sannyas in fact has two functions. For you
           now it can fulfill only one function. It has two functions: the first is the art of life and the second is
           the art of dying. The first you have missed -- next time you are around don't miss it! But the second
           is still possible; you can learn the art of dying. You can die peacefully, silently, blissfully,
           surrendered to God. And in fact, the second part is far more important than the first part, because the
           first ultimately leads to the second. The art of life is only a preparation for the art of death.
                If one can dance, sing and celebrate one's own death, if one can die in deep consciousness, with
           no complaint, with no grudge, but in immense gratitude towards God, one has fulfilled one's mission
           in life.

           The third question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              ARE ALL DESIRES INSANE?


                Narayano, yes, all desires are insane. Desire as such is insane because desire means living in the
           future, and the future does not exist at all. What exists is the present.
                To live in the present is the only sanity there is, but to live in the present you have to drop all
           desiring. Desire takes you away from now and here. Desire means fantasizing about the tomorrow.
           Desire means: "If this happens, if I can manage this, then I will live." You are sacrificing the present
           for the future, and the present is and the future is not. Sacrificing that which is, for that which is not,
           is insanity, sheer insanity.

               A high-pressure salesman for a milking-machine company seemed unable to convince a farmer
           to buy his appliance.
           "There's no use talking," persisted the farmer, "I've only got one cow to milk."
           "But this machine will save you time in milking even one cow," he insisted. "Look! It is just about
           milking time now. Let's go to the barn and I'll show you."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In the barn the salesman set up his machine and began the demonstration, carrying on meanwhile
           his persuasive flow of talk. The old man began to take a keen interest in the proceedings as he beheld
           the wondrous efficiency of the milker.
           "Well, mister," the farmer conceded at last, "I admit it's wonderful. I'd like mighty well to have it,
           but I've got no money and no way of borrowing any."
               He paused and looked longingly at the shining machine. "I tell you, though, what I'm willing to
           do," he went on, "I'll let you take the cow as the first payment."

               That's what you all are doing -- sacrificing the present for the future, sacrificing that which you
           have for that which you have not yet and may not have ever. The tomorrow never comes. All that
           comes is always today, and you can become addicted to sacrificing the today for the tomorrow. Then
           you will go on doing the same thing your whole life -- always sacrificing the now for something
           which is not.
               This is how people are living. That's why their life remains a desert with no oasis; nothing
           flowers, nothing blossoms, no fragrance, no festivity. People look so sad, with such long faces. The
           whole earth seems to have suddenly turned very religious. Everybody looks like a saint -- so dead, so
           serious, so sad, that if the old saints come back to the earth they will be very much puzzled: "What
           has happened? Has the whole world become saintly?" Of course, they will find a few exceptions --
           my sannyasins! And they will think that my sannyasins are crazy. That's what the whole world thinks
           about my sannyasins because they are still enjoying, living, loving, dancing, singing.

               Just the other day I received a letter from an old woman -- I loved her letter. Her son was a
           sannyasin and he died just two weeks ago in a car accident. She writes to me: "I am grateful to you,
           because just before he died he came to see me after many many days, and he was so happy. I have
           never seen him so happy -- he was almost dancing. And he was so loving to me...I have never seen
           him so loving. There has never been such a communion between me and him. There was always
           something like a wall separating us, but the day he came to see me, all barriers dropped. Although he
           died and I will never be able to see him again, I am immensely happy and grateful to you that you
           had made him laugh and sing and enjoy and you had helped him to drop his seriousness. He died
           joyously."
               It is from a mother. It is very difficult for a mother to accept the death of her son. But she could
           accept even the death, although she knows nothing of sannyas and she has never been here. But the
           one thing she understood was that something very essential had changed in the life of her son. She is
           not at all sad about his death. She is happy that before he died he had attained something; he had not
           lived in vain.
               Desires are crazy. They make you sad in two ways: if they are not fulfilled you will be sad,
           frustrated; if they are fulfilled you will be sad and frustrated -- in fact, more so, because when your
           desires are fulfilled, then you suddenly recognize that you have been chasing shadows, illusions.
           You have been trying to catch hold of a rainbow, and all that you find is that your hands are wet,
           that's all!
               People go on asking for the impossible; in fact, the more impossible a thing is, the more
           attractive it appears because it gives a challenge to your ego. The ego is not interested in the easy, it
           is interested in the difficult, and if it is impossible it is immensely interested. The ego exists only
           through the difficult and the impossible. That's why the ego is not interested in God, because God is
           the most simple phenomenon in the world. You don't have to do anything to achieve God, because
           he is already inside. You don't have to do a thing. You have just to sit silently and watch and look in,
           and you will find him. It is so easy; that's why the ego is not interested in it at all. The ego is
           interested in climbing Everest. And what are you going to find there? What did Edmund Hillary find
           on Everest? Nobody asks him; there was nothing to find.
           I have just heard one story....
               When he reached the peak of Everest, Edmund Hillary was feeling very great to be the first man
           to reach there. Then he suddenly saw an Indian monk squatting on the ground. He was very shocked
           -- somebody had already reached there before him! He was so shocked he could not even say, "Hi!
           How are you?"
               Before he could say anything, the Indian monk said, "How much for the watch?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And people are going to the moon! And what do you think there is on the moon? Nothing at all!
           They go on bringing back a few rocks. You could have gathered those rocks here, anywhere; there
           was no need to go so far away!
           One story I have heard....
               When the Americans reached the moon for the first time they were very puzzled, because from
           the other side of the moon there was such a noise. So they went to see what was happening, and there
           were at least ten thousand Chinese talking and talking. And when the Chinese talk, "Ching, ching,
           chang, ching...."
               The Americans were very puzzled. They said, "What is going on? How did you manage to get
           here? We didn't think you had the technology yet."
               And the Chinese said, "What technology are you talking about? There is no need for any
           technology. We simply went on standing upon each other and we reached! What technology? Our
           population is enough that we can reach any planet we decide to -- and we have only come for a
           holiday, a picnic!"

               People are more interested in reaching Everest, the moon, Mars, than in reaching their own
           innermost self, because that is no challenge to the ego.
               God is so obvious; that's why he is missed. Truth is so easily available; that's why nobody is
           interested in it. Nirvana is now, and the mind is not interested in now at all, it is always somewhere
           else.

               A long time ago in China, a mandarin had three beautiful daughters. He wished to marry them off
           to nobles of wealth and status. In those days a man's position in society was indicated by the number
           of dragons embroidered on the front of his robe.
               The mandarin called his daughters, announced his intentions and asked the eldest what kind of
           man she wished to marry.
           "Oh, Daddy," she said, "I'd like to marry a man with three dragons on his chest!"
           "Very good," replied the father, "I will arrange it." Then turning to the second daughter he asked,
           "What kind of man would YOU like?"
           "Oh, Daddy, get me a man with two dragons on his chest!"
               The father was very pleased, and turning to the youngest daughter said, "I suppose you want to
           marry a man with one dragon on his chest?"
               In a voice charged with emotion she replied, "Oh no, Daddy, I want a man with one draggin' on
           the floor!"

           All desires are insane!
           The only sanity is to be desireless.
           The only sanity is to be herenow.
           This moment is more than enough.

           And the last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM A CATHOLIC NUN. CAN I ALSO BECOME A SANNYASIN?


               Mary, certainly! I am here just to destroy monks and nuns; that's my very purpose for hanging
           around. It is to sabotage the old idea of monks and nuns, it is to bring a new kind of sannyasin into
           the world. The monks and nuns of all the religions -- Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Mohammedan,
           Jaina, Buddhist -- have all been escapists. They are people who are basically afraid of life.
           I teach you fearlessness.
               Live as totally and passionately as possible, because it is through intense living that you will find
           God. God is nothing but life lived at the optimum, with total abandon, a dance danced so totally that
           the dancer disappears; only the dance remains. Then you have found and you have come home.
               Mary, if you are a Catholic nun, then be quick! There is no time to waste, because it will take
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           time for me to uncondition you. The Catholics condition people in a very scientific way, in a far
           more scientific way than Hindus and Mohammedans and Buddhists can do, because the West knows
           the latest methods, techniques, strategies to condition people. Buddhist strategies are twenty-five
           centuries old; Jaina strategies are even older, perhaps fifty centuries old. Christianity has been
           learning continuously whatsoever becomes available through psychological research, and has been
           trying to use all the modern methods of conditioning which have been developed by Pavlov, Skinner,
           Delgado and others.
               So it will take a little longer for me to help you get rid of your nunhood. But I am also aware of
           the latest -- not only the latest, I am also aware of many other techniques which have not yet been
           developed. I have come a little ahead of my time, at least one hundred years before, so all those
           things can be sabotaged. I can dynamite....
           You are welcome. Don't hesitate at all.

               The saints were really bored, so they sent Mary, The Holy Virgin, to Poona to see what was
           going on and make a daily telephone report back to them.
               The first call was answered by Peter. "Hello, Peter, this is Mary, The Holy Virgin. Today I dyed
           all my clothes orange. What do you think about it?"
           "That's okay," said Peter, "if everybody does it."
               The next call came: "Hello, Peter, this is Mary, The Holy Virgin. Today I did Dynamic
           Meditation, what do you think about that?"
           "Well," responded Peter, "if everybody does it, it's all right."
               On the third day the call came: "Hey, Peetsey Weetsey, this is Veet Mary, the Holy...um...er....
           Ciao, bello!"

           Mary, don't waste time!
               Malcolm and Eddie were out joyriding when they smashed into a brick wall. When they arrived
           at the gates of Heaven, Saint Peter said to Malcolm, "Since you were a good boy and didn't sin very
           much we're going to give you this new Buick to get around in up here."
               Peter turned to Eddie and said, "You were not so good, my son, so you drive this Volkswagen."
               Just as the boys were about to get into their new cars, a big Lincoln Continental pulled up. Inside,
           a fat guy smoking a big cigar sat behind the wheel. He smiled and drove on.
           "Who was that?" Malcolm asked.
           "Oh," said St. Peter, "that was the last pope John!"
               Malcolm and Eddie drove off in their new cars, out to tour Heaven. Later that day Malcolm saw
           Eddie's Volkswagen parked along the side of the road. Eddie was a little way away, rolling on the
           grass, laughing hysterically.
           "What's so funny, Eddie?"
           "You won't believe this!" Eddie roared. "I just saw Jesus coming down the road on roller skates!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                 Chapter #6
                             Chapter title: A Thousand and One Ways to Laugh
           1 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011010
              ShortTitle: COME06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Q2 on video




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER DAY IN DISCOURSE YOU MENTIONED THAT WHEN A WOMAN WEARS RED
              LIPSTICK IT IS UGLY, BECAUSE IT IS NOT NATURAL. I AM FROM NEW YORK WHERE IT IS
              REQUIRED THAT WOMEN SHAVE THEIR LEGS, UNDERARMS, DRESS STYLISHLY, HAVE
              THEIR HAIR NEATLY COMBED, WEAR MAKEUP, AND ACT IN A LADYLIKE MANNER.
              YES, IT IS ALL VERY ADMIRABLE HOW YOUR SANNYASINS ARE SO NATURAL, BUT THE
              GIRLS AT THE ASHRAM DO NOT EXCITE ME. YOU SEE, NATURAL IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST
              OR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL.
              MY FEELING IS THAT YOU ARE SO AGAINST MAKEUP BECAUSE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN
              GOOD MAKEUP. I AM A FREELANCE MAKEUP ARTIST AND WOULD LIKE TO DO A MAKEOVER
              ON AN ASHRAMITE SO THAT YOU CAN SEE HOW MAKEUP CAN BE USED TO SPIRITUALLY
              ENHANCE A WOMAN'S NATURAL BEAUTY. ANYTHING TO SAY?


               Philip Sobel, there are many things to say. First, makeup is the invention of the ugly people. It is
           not that makeup is ugly, but makeup itself is the invention of the ugly. The ugly feels inferior
           compared to the naturally beautiful -- jealous, competitive. The ugly tries to compensate for it with
           artificial methods. The natural has no need to compensate. But naturally beautiful people are very
           few; hence makeup has become almost a routine thing.
               For thousands of years, man has been trying to hide in every possible way all that is ugly in him
           -- in the body, in the mind, in the soul. Even people who were naturally beautiful started imitating
           the ugly and the artificial, for the simple reason that the artificial can deceive. For example, breasts
           naturally are not as good looking as they can be made to look. Even if a woman has naturally
           beautiful breasts, she will start feeling that the women who have no natural beauty in their breasts
           can at least pretend and show that they are far more beautiful. So the naturally beautiful also start
           imitating.
               Makeup, and the whole idea of makeup, is basically hypocrisy. One should love and accept one's
           nature -- and not only on the physical level, because that is where the journey starts. If you are false
           there, then why not pretend the same falseness as far as mind is concerned? Then what is wrong in
           pretending to be a saint, a sage, when you are not? The logic will be the same. And sometimes it
           happens that the pretender can defeat the real, because the pretender can practice, can rehearse, can
           manage and manipulate in many ways.
           It happened in the life of Charlie Chaplin....
               On one of his birthdays his friends arranged a competition for who could act most like Charlie
           Chaplin. There were going to be three prizes, and from all over the world many people participated
           in the competition. And the final competition was going to be held in London. Charlie Chaplin, just
           to have fun, entered the competition from a faraway place. And because there were so many
           pretenders, nobody could even see that Charlie Chaplin was part of the competition. He was
           certainly hoping -- in fact, he was absolutely certain -- that he would win the first prize and that he
           would have the last laugh. But it turned out otherwise. He got the second prize. Somebody else was
           more authentically Charlie Chaplin than Charlie Chaplin himself.
               It is possible that a woman with makeup can, as you say, Sobel, look very beautiful. But she has
           to be ugly in the first place; otherwise why should she bother? And it is not that I have not seen good
           makeup; I have seen it. For thousands of lives what have I been doing here? Although I have not
           seen YOU, I have seen so many people like you that I can say many things even about you.
               The first thing is that you must be fat. If you are not you can stand up and everybody can judge.
           Only fat people become interested in makeup. Secondly, you must be a "homo," because only
           "homos" become interested in the artificial. And if so many beautiful women here are not turning
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you on, that simply means one thing: that a woman as such cannot turn you on; you need men to turn
           you on. In that way, homosexuality is a very great spiritual development, because heterosexuality is
           just natural, it is biological; homosexuality is an invention of man. The bisexual person, who is both,
           of course, is far more rich. He can be turned on by both men and women; he has a far richer
           sexuality.
                And from your name it is clear that you are a Jew. Now, a Jew, "homo" and fat...what else is
           needed to become a freelance makeup artist? You have all the qualifications for it.
                You say, "The other day in discourse you mentioned that when a woman wears red lipstick it is
           ugly because it is not natural." In the first place, that woman is ugly -- that's why she wears lipstick.
           If she had beautiful lips, who would bother to paint those beautiful lips with something tasteless,
           ugly? -- ugly in the sense that your lips are no longer part of your face. They stand out, they become
           separate; they are no longer an organic unity.
                I would like women to have red lips, but those red lips should come through the inner health --
           through blood circulating within your body, through exercise, through breathing; through long
           walks, through sunbaths, lips should become red. It is beautiful to have red lips, but to pretend...!
           And for whom are you trying to pretend? Everybody can see the lipstick is there. The lipstick does
           not hide your lips, it simply reveals that something ugly is hidden behind it. And I am not saying that
           all that is not natural is bad. Nature CAN be improved upon. That's what intelligence is for, but it
           should not be against nature. For example, the lips can be red through better food, through better
           exercise, through better medicine. That too is improving upon nature, but improving upon nature in a
           natural way.
                Putting on lipstick is cheap; it is not really improving. It is good for the stage. Makeup artists are
           needed for the stage, not for real life. On the stage it is good, because the people who are looking at
           you are far away from you; they don't have to kiss you. They can throw kisses from far away; that's
           perfectly okay. But they don't have to taste your lipstick. Layers and layers of lipstick! It is so rotten
           and old, and continuously your saliva is giving it all kinds of germs. In each single kiss at least one
           hundred thousand germs pass between the lovers. And that is when the lips are without lipstick. With
           lipstick nobody has yet counted what is being transferred. And when the lipstick is there you never
           come in contact with the lips.
                You must have misunderstood me. I am not saying that improving upon nature is bad. I am not
           saying that. Women can shave their legs and underarms. It is good, it is hygenic; nothing is wrong in
           it. Unless you take every care to clean your body....
                Sobel, your New York women must not be taking baths every day it seems. If you take a bath
           every day and clean your body, then the hairs under your arms are not bad. There is nothing wrong
           about it. There is no need to remove them, they have their place. But if you are not taking a bath and
           if you are not being hygenic and clean, then certainly they will collect dust and they will collect
           perspiration and they will stink. Then it is good to remove them. I am not against removing them. It
           is beautiful to shave the hairs on your legs and give your legs a beautiful shape.
                Improve upon nature, rather than impose. Make people more aware of their beauty and how to
           take care of it. Help them in natural ways. Man is the only animal who can go beyond nature, but he
           should go through nature, not cover nature. So I am not saying that that which is not natural is
           necessarily ugly.
                But you must have misunderstood me. You must have heard with your freelance makeup artist's
           mind.

               One Negro from South Africa was sent by his family to study at the university. So he went to the
           director to ask for admission.
           "Which branch would you like to take?" asked the director.
           "Can't I have a desk like everybody else?"
               Now the poor fellow is coming from Africa. His mind can understand only in his own way...!
               Sex was a big problem on the American nuclear submarine which was at sea for months at a
           stretch. The captain, however, had solved the problem by buying a lifesize rubber doll which he put
           to frequent use. In fact, he became so satisfied that his crew became suspicious of his good moods
           and soon discovered the reason.
               When the captain was on the bridge, they began to sneak into his cabin to visit the doll.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A few months later, when the submarine returned to San Francisco, the captain went along to the
           shop where he had originally purchased the doll.
           "Look," he said, "I want to congratulate you guys on the lifelike qualities of that doll I bought. You
           know, it is so good I even got syphilis."

           Be natural. Try to improve upon it.
               It is good in films, on the stage and in theater to have makeup, because people are simply looking
           at you -- and from a distance. You can deceive them. But when you are living with a person, in love,
           as a wife, as a husband, as a son, as a father, as a mother -- how can you go on deceiving? The truth
           will be known -- your false breasts will be discovered!
               You can deceive others, but how can you deceive people who are close to you? And is it right to
           deceive them? And if they love you because of your breasts, the moment they discover that the
           breasts are false -- plastic or rubber -- will their love remain? It will disappear. The whole of
           humanity has become false. The idea seems to be to deceive, to pretend.
               I am not against your art, Sobel, but it has its own place. Life is not its place; life should be lived
           naturally. Yes, if some woman is so ugly, or some man is so ugly that he is disgusting, help him.
           Then your art can be helpful, because to be disgusting is immoral. When a woman passes by and you
           feel like vomiting, then certainly Philip Sobel is needed, just to protect people from falling sick!
               He has written a letter to me in which he says that he is not turned on by any sannyasin, although
           they are so beautiful. But he was turned on by an Indian woman in the Blue Diamond Hotel who was
           wearing lipstick and everything that he would like everyone else to wear.
               My own understanding is that people become attracted only to persons who are unavailable. Now
           that Indian woman is almost an impossibility for Sobel. She will not be available -- that creates
           attraction. Whatsoever is impossible is attractive.
               My sannyasins are very natural people; they are not pretenders. They are open, vulnerable,
           available. If love knocks on their doors, they will not reject it. But there are many people who are
           attracted only to the impossible, for the simple reason that they cannot get it. Getting it creates
           troubles, so it is better to be infatuated with something you can never get.
               Indian women can be very attractive to Westerners, because they are closed, completely closed,
           and they are absolutely unavailable. And that very thing makes them so far away, like stars, that you
           can become interested. In fact it is one of the oldest strategies of women to make themselves as
           unavailable as possible. That creates infatuation in people, that creates sexuality in people. That
           keeps people tethered to the lowest kind of sexuality. Hence, people are interested in Indian women,
           they are interested in film actresses, because they will not be available to them. They will not be able
           to pay, they will not be able to afford them. They are always attracted to something which is beyond
           their reach. It gives them a challenge.
               My effort here is to make this commune sexually free. And when I say sexually free, it has two
           meanings. In the beginning, people will be easily available to each other, and in the end the very
           availability will make their minds transcend sex. And that is happening every day.
               Hundreds of sannyasins write to me, "What has happened? When we came, we were so full of
           sex, and now all that has disappeared. There seems to be no desire for it. Even if we are interested in
           somebody, it is more like friendship than any sexual relationship. We love to be together, but there is
           no need to jump into bed immediately."
               In fact, there are many sannyasins writing to me that sex has so completely disappeared, that for
           months or for years they have been celibate. Go and ask a Catholic monk or a Hindu sannyasin: they
           are trying to be celibate, and their minds are full of sex. We are not trying to be celibate here, but
           celibacy is happening.
               Whatsoever is easily available, automatically becomes uninteresting.
               In the West many people are turning towards homosexuality, lesbianism, for the simple reason
           that a man seems for another man to be a faraway goal because he is so unnatural; a woman, for a
           woman, seems to be a faraway goal, it seems so unnatural. A man and woman relationship is natural.
           So people are turning into homosexuals, lesbians. The reason is that when you make anything
           difficult, condemn it, repress it, it will become more and more attractive.
               In my commune nothing is repressed, hence everything, by and by, loses its attraction. One
           becomes more and more calm and quiet and settled.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You say, Sobel, that in New York the women act in a ladylike manner. They have been forced
           for centuries to act in a ladylike manner. They have been changed from women into ladies. To be a
           woman is beautiful; to be a lady is ugly -- ugly for the simple reason that acting like a lady is phony,
           it is snobbish. Acting like a woman is a natural phenomenon. And of course, when you want to act
           like a lady then you will have to have many kinds of makeups on many planes: physical,
           psychological, spiritual. You will go on hiding yourself behind curtains. You will never show your
           real face, your authenticity. You will become just a phony phenomenon.
                The word "phony" is beautiful. It came into current use when telephones were invented, because
           when you speak on a telephone you do not sound real. It does not sound exactly like you; it becomes
           PHONEY. The word "phony" is beautiful -- you are not in direct contact.
                When I am talking to you, it is a direct contact. When it is a long-distance call, you sound phony,
           I sound phony. But that's how people are living. They are not allowing closeness; they are creating
           all kinds of barriers to create distance. Lipstick is a distance, so that lips should not come in direct
           contact. It gives a phoniness. All makeup is phony.
                But let me remind you, Sobel, I am not saying that anything that is natural is good. It is not
           inevitably good. It can be improved upon -- it has to be improved upon. But it should be improved
           according to nature, not against nature. Nature should be helped to go beyond itself, it should not be
           repressed.
                If nature is repressed, you start becoming schizophrenic. You start having double individualities:
           one that you are; one that you show to others. And you can get very messed up within yourself. Who
           are you? -- this or that? It is not only a question of having two personalities, you will have to have
           many personalities. The mother will have one personality towards the child -- she has to pretend to
           be a mother -- and to the husband she has to pretend to be a wife. And to the lover she has to pretend
           to be a lover, and so on, so forth. So she will have many personalities around herself, and in the
           jungle of all these personalities her own individuality will be lost. She will find it very difficult to
           discover her original face.
                You say to me, "Makeup can be used to spiritually enhance a woman's natural beauty...."
                That is sheer nonsense. Spirituality cannot be enhanced by any makeup. Spiritual beauty has
           nothing to do with anything that can be done from the outside. Spirituality is your original face; it is
           the discovery of your intrinsic nature. It has not to be tampered with, it has not to be painted, it has
           not to be arranged. It has no hairs on the legs because there are no legs, no armpits, no lips.
           Your innermost being is pure consciousness.
           It needs no makeup.
                But I understand Sobel's standpoint. People are even pretending there. That's what your so-called
           saints are doing. They are trying to cultivate spirituality. They are trying to condition themselves in a
           certain pattern of being holier-than-thou. But the really spiritual person is very simple, simple in the
           sense that he is in a natural flow; he is in a let-go with existence.
                I will not allow you, Sobel, to work on any one of my sannyasins -- not at all. It is hard work for
           me somehow to remove their lipstick, and somehow to make them drop their phoniness, and
           somehow to help them to discover their original face. I don't want you to do some makeup, and I
           don't see that you can make any of my sannyasins more beautiful in any way by makeup. The
           makeup will simply make her somebody else; she will not be herself. She may look like an actress,
           she may look like a model, but she will not be herself.
                My whole effort here is to help you to be yourself, to be totally free from personalities.
           Personality is the false thing that surrounds you, and individuality is the gift of God. It is already
           there inside you. If you drop your personalities, you will discover it. The moment personalities are
           removed, it wells up.
                Rather than doing that, Philip Sobel, I can help you to be natural. If you are fat, your fatness can
           disappear. Become a little more loving, become a little more natural. Your fatness will disappear. Fat
           people are people who are in some way repressing their sexuality. Whenever you repress your
           sexuality, you will start eating more. That's a substitute. You will go on stuffing yourself. Hence, I
           suspect your Hindu monks -- because they are all so fat.
                Have you seen Muktananda's guru's picture? If you have not seen it, it is worth seeing. It is a rare
           treat. I think he is unique -- Nityananda IS unique. You may have seen people with big bellies:
           Nityananda is a belly with a head! The belly is so big, you cannot say that he has a big belly. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can only say that the belly has a small man. And this is bound to happen to sexually repressed
           people.
               But rationalizations.... Muktananda writes in his memoirs that when he was practicing his great
           SIDDHA YOGA, his KUNDALINI started rising. And what really happened he describes in detail.
           Not knowing anything about Freud, Jung, Adler, Wilhelm Reich...these Indian so-called gurus are
           absolutely uncontemporary. They don't know anything that has happened in these last one thousand
           years. They are at least one thousand years behind. So when he talks about kundalini, he says that his
           genital organs became so strong, so erect, that they started hurting; that his prick was so erect it
           started touching his belly button. Kundalini rising...!
               These fools go on teaching the West that this is the kundalini rising. This is simply repressed sex
           and nothing else. It is such a simple fact.
               When the kundalini rises, something just the opposite happens.
               An African native was bathing in the river by his village when a group of tourists arrived on the
           scene. They stared in awe at the enormity of his prick.
               The native looked back at them, embarrassed, and said, "Why is it so amusing? Don't yours
           shrink in cold water?"

               When the kundalini rises it is taking a bath in cold water, in ice-cold water...!
               But Nityananda's disciple cannot be anything else. Whenever you repress your sex, you will start
           eating more, you will become fat. You will become ugly, you will lose all proportion.
               Philip Sobel, rather than trying makeup out on any of my sannyasins, allow some of my
           sannyasins to remove some fat from you. That will be far more enhancing for your spiritual beauty.
           And if you are not turned on by the beautiful sannyasins here, that simply shows that you have
           become fixed, fixated on homosexuality. Jews have suffered the longest from homosexuality -- from
           the days of the Old Testament. Three thousand years of homosexuality -- it has become almost
           natural to them by now.
               Let my people help you to become a little bit natural. It is beautiful to be attracted to a woman. It
           is a little bit berserk to be attracted to a man; something is wrong. It never happens to the wild
           animals when they are in a natural state. It always happens when you put them in a zoo. In a zoo,
           animals start behaving homosexually.
               The reason is that each animal needs a certain space and freedom. There is a categorical
           imperative: each animal needs a certain space for his territory. When that space is disturbed, he goes
           crazy. Then he cannot see any difference, who is who -- who is man, who is woman; who is male,
           who is female. He forgets all that, and he becomes so tense that he wants to release his sexual energy
           on anybody.
               Mankind has become too overcrowded; that is creating homosexuality. The earth has become
           like a zoo. Nobody has space, which is an absolute necessity for growth, for natural growth. So
           everybody is becoming a little crazy. Homosexuality is not a good sign. It simply shows something
           has remained retarded in you.
               When a child is born, he passes through many stages. The first stage is masturbatory, because he
           loves himself. So every child wants to play with his genital organ; that's a natural development. Then
           he moves to a second phase, and that is homosexuality. The boys become interested in boys, and the
           girls become interested in girls. That's how friendships arise, and that's how later on you will always
           feel that those friendships of your childhood were something superb. Nothing like that happens
           again. It cannot happen; it was confined to a particular phase of your life. And if things don't go
           wrong, then homosexuality turns into heterosexuality. This is natural growth.
               The child first loves himself. He is the center of his world, he does not relate with anybody else.
           That is dangerous, because if he remains stuck there he will never be able to get on with people. He
           will remain very egoistic, selfish; he will never be able to share.
               The second step is: he moves towards the boys if he is a boy, or towards girls if she is a girl,
           because moving from oneself to the same sex is easier. And then from that point he can move to the
           opposite sex. The boy starts becoming interested in girls, the girls become interested in the boys --
           that's natural growth.
               These are the three natural phenomena. And the fourth, celibacy, is going beyond nature. That is
           the most beautiful phenomenon.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So I am not saying all that is natural is beautiful, but that the transcendental should come through
           the natural. The natural should be transformed into the transcendental.
               Celibacy comes at the fourth stage, when you have lived with the woman or with the man, and
           you have gone through all the pleasures and all the pains. You have suffered, you have enjoyed, and
           you have become ripe enough, mature enough, to see that that too is a game -- a beautiful game, very
           engaging, but a game is a game. Then you start moving beyond it. Then sexuality disappears; then
           silence descends in you. You relate with people without any sexual idea behind it. Your relating with
           people then has a pure fragrance of love, and it comes more and more close to prayer.
               I am all for transcendence, Sobel, and transcendence is not natural. But I am not for artificiality.
           Your art can be used by my theater group, by my fashion people, by my other artists; you can be of
           immense help to them. But remember, it is only for the stage. It is showmanship; it has nothing to do
           with the real life.
               The real life has to be natural, and the real life has to go one day beyond nature. But nature has to
           become its foundation -- not against nature, not hiding it, but discovering the innermost core of
           nature. Then is the transcendence, and that is the most beautiful experience. It beautifies you, your
           body, your mind, your soul. It not only beautifies you, it beautifies even people who come in contact
           with you. This beauty belongs to the beyond; it is called grace. Something descends from the above
           and floods you.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR ME TO LAUGH?


               Sudheer, it must be that you have come here conditioned by wrong people. And the wrong
           people constitute the majority, almost ninety-nine point nine percent. The religious, the moralists, the
           puritans -- they are all serious people. They destroy the very possibility of laughter in you. They
           destroy the very sense of humor in you. To them, humor is something earthly, mundane.
               That's why Christians say Jesus never laughed. That is absolutely wrong. I know Jesus. It is
           impossible that Jesus never laughed. It cannot happen. But the Christians go on believing in this --
           that Jesus never laughed. Two thousand years of seriousness has made it incomprehensible that a
           man like Jesus can have a sense of humor.
               Look at the statues of Jesus that Christians have made. He looks so serious, as if he has been on
           the cross for thirty-three years. And the cross became very significant to Christianity for the simple
           reason that the very idea of the cross will destroy all sense of humor in you. The cross has become
           the symbol of their religion.
               Krishna is far closer to life. The flute is the symbol of life, not the cross. And have you seen the
           pictures of Krishna? Dressed beautifully, standing in a dancing posture, the flute in his hands on his
           lips, it looks like he is going to sing a song at any moment. He looks so alive, and he is wearing a
           beautiful crown of flowers with peacock feathers. This is far truer to life. That's how life is. It is
           tremendous joy.
               But Buddhists say that Buddha does not even smile. And Jainas say that Mahavira has no sense
           of humor, cannot have. All these people are trying to create a certain idea of religiousness which is
           devoid of laughter. It is as if man's misery is not enough for them, and they want man to become
           even more miserable. They tell you, "Carry your cross on your shoulders" -- as if your life is not
           already a cross.
               Sudheer, your conditioning of a wrong approach towards life is why you cannot laugh. But you
           will have to learn laughter here, because to me laughter is one of the most essential qualities of a
           religious man. If you cannot laugh you can never be a sage. If you cannot laugh totally, then
           something is missing in you. Then you have not understood the beauty of existence, you have not
           understood the mystery of existence.
               Bodhidharma laughed for seven days when he became enlightened -- nonstop. His friends
           became very worried; they thought he had gone insane. They asked him, "What is the matter? Why
           are you laughing?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "I am laughing because now I see the whole ridiculousness of my search. I have been
           searching for lives together for the truth, and it has always been within me. What I was searching for
           was in the seeker himself. I was looking everywhere and it was within me. I was running hither and
           thither and there was no need to run anywhere. I could have just calmed myself down, and it was
           mine. It has always been mine. From the very beginning it was within me. It is my innermost being,
           my very being.
           "The seeker is the sought -- that's why I am laughing. I cannot believe how I could remain in such a
           deception for so long, how I managed to be such a fool. And I am also laughing because I see all
           around millions of people searching in the same way -- searching for bliss, for God, for truth, for
           nirvana -- and all that they are searching and seeking and looking for can be found within
           themselves. There is no need to go anywhere. There is no need to do anything. Just close your eyes
           and look within, and the kingdom of God is yours. Hence, I cannot stop laughing."
               The sense of humor is very significant, particularly for my sannyasins, because I am introducing
           a new kind of religiousness to the world: a non-escapist religiousness, a religiousness which is not
           against life. I would like you to be Zorba the Greek and Gautam the Buddha together,
           simultaneously. Less than that won't do. Zorba represents the earth with all its flowers and greenery
           and mountains and rivers and oceans. Buddha represents the sky with all its stars and clouds, and the
           rainbows.
           The sky without the earth will be empty.
           The sky cannot laugh without the earth.
           The earth without the sky will be dead.
               Both together -- and a dance comes into existence. The earth and the sky dancing together -- and
           there is laughter, there is joy, there is celebration.
               Sudheer, look around, watch life. Don't be too bothered with religious scriptures. Ninety-nine
           percent of those religious scriptures are written by people who know nothing of religion. They are
           written by scholars, theologians. They are written by ascetics, anti-life people. The person who is
           anti-life is bound to be anti-laughter, anti-love -- he will be anti-everything. His whole life is nothing
           but a denial, a constant denial. He is suicidal, he goes on cutting himself chunk by chunk. He is
           destructive, he destroys himself -- how can he laugh?
               I teach you life, I teach you love, I teach you how to sing, how to dance. I teach you how to
           transform your life into a festival, into a carnival of delight. Hence, laughter has to be one of the
           most essential qualities. Even if you cry and weep, your tears should have the quality of laughter in
           them. They should come dancing and singing; they should not be tears of sadness and misery. They
           should be tears of overflowing cheerfulness, of bliss. This is possible not through scriptures, but only
           if you look at life. All that is needed is a clarity.
               Sudheer, you are an Indian -- that creates difficulty. When you look at life, inside you are
           reciting the BHAGAVADGITA, RAMAYANA...VEDAS are going on and on. You are chanting
           VISHNU SAHASTRANAM -- the one thousand names of God. How can you see life? Stop all this
           nonsense.
               Be silent and look at life, and you will find surprises everywhere -- each moment, on each step.

               During the second world war, a house in a London suburb is nearly totally destroyed by a direct
           hit of a rocket. All the inhabitants survive; only one man is missing. Suddenly, they hear a
           tremendous laughter coming out of the toilet which stands undestroyed amongst the ruins.
           The man climbs out of it still laughing loudly, and they ask him, "What the hell are you laughing
           about?"
           "Well," he says, "isn't it funny? I pull the chain and the whole house collapses!"

              Just look around and you will find a thousand and one ways to laugh....

              Little Siddhartha, our great sannyasin, walks up to a little girl, another sannyasin, and asks her to
           dance.
           She replies, "No, thank you."
              He replies, "Don't thank me. Thank God someone asked."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A few sannyasins were talking. One asked the others, "What is long, hard, and when put into
           something warm and wet, gets soft and drippy?"
           And little Siddhartha answered, "Spaghetti."

              The big boss and his wife had accepted the junior executive's dinner invitation. And as dinner
           was being served, the little son and daughter of the host left their beds and walked through the dining
           room absolutely naked. The polite guests ignored them.
           At the first opportunity, the furious father went upstairs to scold them. But before he could say
           anything, the little boy cried, "Ah, Daddy, it is wonderful. We rubbed ourselves all over with
           Mummy's vanishing cream, and when we went downstairs to the dining room nobody saw us!"

               In a small German town a Catholic priest caught red-handed a young boy picking out all of the
           raisins from a big loaf of bread which the priest had just brought from a nearby bakery shop.
           "Are you not ashamed, my son, picking out all the raisins from this bread?" inquired the priest.
           The boy looked straight at him and said, "Firstly, I am not your son. Secondly, my mother ordered a
           loaf without raisins. And thirdly, I am Protestant anyway."

               While visiting Pierino's parents, a woman keeps telling them how much she would like to have a
           child like him, but that the stork has unfortunately not brought her anything.
           Pierino says, "Why don't you change to a cock?"

               Just look around, Sudheer, and you will find a thousand and one things to laugh about.
               Life is full of laughter, full of ridiculousness, full of absurdities. But if you are serious you will
           miss all that. If you are nonserious you will be available. If you are nonserious you will be capable of
           seeing it.

               Paddy had died from dysentery. While they prepared the body for burial, it was still excreting.
           The undertaker thought carefully for a moment, then went away to get a cork.
           Two hours later, O'Reilly and Muldoon came to carry the prepared corpse downstairs for the wake.
           As soft music played, the two friends solemnly carried the body down the stairs. Suddenly there was
           a loud pop, and a fountain of shit poured over O'Reilly's head. He promptly dropped the body, which
           slid down the stairs into the crowd of waiting guests.
           The undertaker rushed up to O'Reilly saying, "What did you do, you clumsy bastard?"
           O'Reilly looked at him coolly and said, "Look man, if he can shit, he can fucking walk!"

               Sartini stalked into a police station and told the desk sergeant he wanted to swear out a complaint
           against a truck driver for assault and battery.
           "What happened?" asked the bored cop.
           "I was in a phone booth, and this creep came along and wanted to use the phone," explained Sartini.
           "I told him to wait a while, but he could not. Finally, he slammed open the door and yanked me out
           of there."
           "No wonder you got mad," agreed the sergeant.
           "Damned right, I got mad," said the Italian. "The son-of-a-bitch did not even give my girlfriend time
           to put her panties on."

               Lady Maria's business is doing badly. As a whore in downtown Rome she tries hard, but for
           some reason or other it does not work out well.
           One night she gets a great idea: "I will buy me a few small firecrackers, and when I am making love
           to a guy I will set one on fire and start screaming that something inside me has been torn and he
           should pay extra for it."
           That night she happens to meet a man and takes him to her room, where they start making love on
           the bed. She slips one hand under the bed and lights a firecracker. Unfortunately she lights the whole
           box full of fireworks, and an enormous explosion follows.
           "Oh, oh!" she screams, "you hurt me inside. Ten dollars extra."
           The man looks at her and groans, "How about a hundred dollars if you can find my balls?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                    Chapter #7
                                     Chapter title: Aes Dhammo Sanantano
           2 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011020
              ShortTitle: COME07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU ARE NOT ENLIGHTENED? IF IT IS THE CASE, WOULD THAT MAKE
              ANY DIFFERENCE FOR ME?


               Devaprem, it is not only possible, it is absolutely certain that I am not enlightened!
           Enlightenment happens only when one is not, hence ONE cannot be enlightened. Either one is, or
           enlightenment is; both cannot be together -- that is an impossibility, that is not in the very nature of
           things. Buddha will say: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO, "This is the ultimate law of life."
               One cannot be enlightened. To be is the barrier, not the bridge. It hinders; in fact, it is the only
           hindrance. To dissolve, not to be, that becomes the bridge.
               Hence the word Buddha uses for enlightenment is tremendously significant and beautiful. It
           contains the most profound truth ever uttered, but it is untranslatable; "enlightenment" is a very
           faraway echo of it. The very word "enlightenment" gives you a totally different sense. Buddha's
           word is nirvana; nirvana means cessation, disappearance. Literally it means when you blow a candle
           out, when the light of the candle is blown out, when the light disappears.... One cannot ask where it
           has gone, one cannot say where it is now; it is simply no more. This is nirvana: the disappearance of
           the light.
           "Enlightenment" gives you just the opposite meaning. It makes you feel that YOU become
           enlightened, that YOU become full of light, that darkness disappears, not you. You remain; in fact
           you are far more than you were before. Before, you were hidden in darkness; now, all the darkness is
           gone and your being is revealed.
               Buddha says there is no being in you; you are a non-being -- ANATTA is his word. Anatta
           means no-self, no-soul, no-being. He not only denies the ego, he denies every possibility of the ego;
           otherwise, the ego is so cunning it will go on coming back again and again. It will find subtle ways
           to catch hold of you. It will come in the name of the self; in fact it will come very loudly in the name
           of the self.
               Ordinarily people write "self" with a lower case "s," and the people who philosophize about the
           ultimate reality start writing "Self" with a capital "S." It is ego magnified, it is ego decorated, it is
           ego pretending to be holy, it is ego pretending to be eternal.
               Buddha uses the words "no-self," "no-soul," "no-being." He leaves no possibility for the ego to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sprout again; he simply cuts it from the very roots. Never before Gautam the Buddha had it been
           done so efficiently.
                My understanding, my experience, is exactly the same: nirvana cannot be claimed by anyone; to
           claim it is to falsify it. The UPANISHADS say: "Those who know cannot claim, and those who
           claim cannot know." The knower cannot say "I know," because in the knowing the "I" melts -- there
           is nobody to claim, there is nobody to brag. Hence, Devaprem, I can only say one thing: it is
           absolutely certain that I am not enlightened. What is enlightened is not ME; it is beyond the idea of I.
           It is transcendental to the ego, and in that sense you are also enlightened. You may not know it, that's
           another matter. Knowing or not knowing makes no difference to your nature; your nature remains
           the same, exactly the same. When you become enlightened you don't become a new person. In fact
           you don't gain anything, you only lose something: you lose your chains, you lose your bondage, you
           lose your misery, you go on losing.
                Enlightenment is a process of losing; you don't gain anything. When there is nothing left to lose,
           that state is nirvana; that state of utter silence can be called enlightenment. I don't claim anything....
                And you ask me, "If it is the case, would that make any difference for me?" It will make a
           difference, because you are not HERE with me. You are not here in a love relationship, you are here
           out of your greed. If it were not so, the question would not have arisen at all. Your questions show
           much about you. Your questions as questions may be meaningless, absurd, but they show much
           about you; they are indicators.
                If you become absolutely certain that I am not enlightened, then your relationship with me is
           finished. Then you will start searching for somebody else who is enlightened; then you have to move
           to some other master. You will be caught by someone who brags, by someone who has a very subtle
           spiritual ego, who claims, who tries to prove his enlightenment through the scriptures or through
           miracles or through some other things. You need to be convinced that you are with the right person.
           The greedy person asks for proofs; love never asks for any proofs.
                The people who were with Jesus were very greedy. They were all Jews -- obviously they could
           not have been otherwise. They were continuously asking him, "Are you really the son of God --
           REALLY?" In their question there is suspicion, doubt. They want Jesus to do miracles -- walk on
           water, raise the dead, cure the blind. And even then they are not convinced -- maybe there is some
           trick in it. Walking on water or curing the blind man or raising the dead -- who knows, there may be
           some trick; there is every possibility.
                The whole story of Lazarus may just have been a managed act. Lazarus was one of the friends of
           Jesus. Jesus could have told him, "Lie down; pretend to be dead." He may have taught him a few
           yoga tricks -- how not to breathe. Yogis know the tricks, and Jesus had been to India. He may have
           learned a few tricks, how not to breathe, how to stop breathing. Now it is a proven fact that there are
           yoga exercises which can do it.
                One yogi from south India, Brahma Yogi, demonstrated it in many universities -- in Oxford, in
           Cambridge, in Calcutta, in Tokyo, in many universities -- in front of very learned scientific
           gatherings. He used to stop his breathing for ten minutes; for all practical purposes he was not
           breathing. Only very sophisticated instruments showed that there was some slight breathing still
           going on, but that was not visible to the eyes; the pulse had stopped.
                The pulse can be stopped very easily, you can learn the trick -- the trick is so easy. You do only
           one thing: count your pulse. Then, every day early in the morning when you get up, fresh -- don't do
           anything else -- sit on your bed and count your pulse. For five minutes focus your mind on the pulse
           and go on repeating inside, "It is slowing down, slowing down, slowing down..." and you will be
           surprised: within a week you will have learned the art of slowing it down. You can bring it lower and
           lower as your practice grows. Within three months you will be able to stop it for a few moments, and
           if you practice for years you can stop it for a few minutes. The same is true about the heartbeat and
           about breathing.
                In front of scientists Brahma Yogi proved that he was capable of stopping the breath. Now,
           Lazarus may have been just pretending that he was dead. Suspicions can never be put aside; if you
           doubt, you will doubt everything. And I don't say that there is something wrong in doubting -- the
           only thing is that you have not fallen in love with Jesus; the master-disciple relationship has not
           happened. Hence the questions, hence the desire for proofs. But your doubting mind will create new
           questions, will ask for new proofs. And it is an infinite regression.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I know of a Bengali saint, Bengali Baba, who once stopped a train at Calcutta station. He created
           much news all over Bengal and became famous because of that; otherwise nobody had heard about
           him. He entered a first-class compartment. The ticket collector came, he asked for the ticket, and
           Bengali Baba said, "I am a fakir, a saint, and saints don't need any tickets. You get lost!"
               Of course the conductor became very angry. He said, "You have to produce the ticket; otherwise
           I will throw you out!"
               Bengali Baba said, "You can throw me out, but remember, without me this train cannot move
           even a single inch!"
               Now it was a great challenge! He was thrown out; the police were called and he was taken out.
           He stood there on the platform, closed his eyes, went into deep SAMADHI, and the miracle
           happened! The driver tried hard, the guard was waving his flag -- but nothing happened. And the
           guard was puzzled because there was nothing wrong with the engine. Everything was working
           perfectly, but the train would not move a single inch.
               A great crowd gathered, all the passengers gathered. Even the station master came and touched
           the feet of Bengali Baba and said, "Please, let the train go!"
               Bengali Baba said, "It cannot happen this way. Bring that man who threw me out. He has to
           touch my feet, apologize, and promise never to ask a fakir for a ticket!"
               The conductor was very unwilling, but the whole crowd pressed him, forced him, virtually
           dragged him: "We have other work to do and the train is getting late -- somebody has to attend the
           courts, somebody has to go somewhere else -- and just because of your foolish ego! What is wrong
           with asking forgiveness? And you have seen the power of the man!"
               Finally, he touched his feet, asked the Baba to enter the train, and promised never to ask any
           fakir for a ticket. And the moment the Baba entered the train, the train moved.
               He became famous all over Bengal, and the secret was very simple. He was a very good man;
           before he died he revealed his secret. He said, "The secret was this: I had bribed two persons, one
           was the ticket collector and the other was the driver. Just two persons were bribed, and the whole
           show was so perfect!"
               So who knows whether Lazarus was pretending to be dead. It is possible. If you doubt, you can
           doubt anything. After all these miracles, still the apostles were asking Jesus again and again, "Give
           us proof!" Even at the last moment, when he was crucified, they were hiding in the crowd and
           waiting for the ultimate miracle to happen. And when it did not happen they were really very
           disappointed. So their whole life was wasted by this man! He had been doing all kinds of tricks, and
           now on the cross everything failed. So there was no God behind him; otherwise this was the time to
           prove it! They were all greedy people.
               Devaprem, your question is full of greed. So when you ask me, "If it is the case, would that make
           any difference for me?" even in asking, you know it will make a difference, because you are not here
           for any love affair -- not out of trust but out of greed. You want to gain something -- and if the man
           is not enlightened, then why waste your time here? Move somewhere else, find the right person who
           can help you. If I am not enlightened, how can I help you to be enlightened? So what is the point of
           being here? And I say to you it is better that you move, because I have said clearly it is not only
           possible, it is absolutely certain that I am not enlightened.
               So those who are here out of greed, spiritual greed, should not be here; this is not the place for
           them. This is not a business place! It is only for those who are gamblers, who can risk. It is only for
           those who are a little bit mad, drunkards.
               I don't promise you anything. I don't promise you the kingdom of God, I don't promise you
           enlightenment -- I don't promise at all. My whole approach is of living moment to moment;
           enlightened or unenlightened, what does it matter? Living moment to moment joyously, ecstatically,
           living moment to moment totally, intensely, passionately....
               If one lives passionately, the ego dissolves. If one is total in one's acts, the ego is BOUND to
           dissolve. It is like when a dancer goes on and on dancing: a moment comes when only the dance
           remains and the dancer disappears. That is the moment of enlightenment.
               Whenever the doer is not there, the manipulator is not there; whenever there is nobody inside you
           and there is only emptiness, nothingness, that is enlightenment. And out of that beautiful space
           whatsoever is born has grace, has glory.
               Paradise is not something geographical, it is not somewhere else; it is a way of living. It belongs
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to those who can live totally and intensely. Then immediately, herenow, paradise descends -- or,
           even better, wells up within their own sources, within their own beings. Just the space is needed for
           it to well up.
                And I don't tell you to drop the ego, because if YOU drop the ego then the dropper will become
           the ego. I don't say become humble, because if YOU become humble then behind the facade of
           humbleness there will be a very subtle ego hiding.
                So my devices are different. I say dance to abandon, sing, play music! Do whatsoever you like
           doing and move into it so totally that nothing is left behind. When nothing is left behind, the ego
           dissolves of its own accord.
                That's the meaning of nirvana: you have blown the candle out, suddenly it is not there. Then
           whatsoever is, is divine.
           The ego is human; egolessness is divine.
           The ego is hell; egolessness is paradise.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              CAN I EVER BE HAPPY WITH MY WIFE?


               Girdharilal Jain, it is almost impossible. Nothing is wrong with your wife, but the very institution
           of marriage is ugly, the very institution is anti-love. It is based on denying love a chance to flower
           within you. Marriage is an invention of those who don't want the earth to be full of flowers of love.
               Love is dangerous to the establishment, the most dangerous thing, because if people are loving
           then this society is doomed. This society depends on hatred, not on love. Our whole politics and our
           whole so-called religions are based on hatred. Nations are divided -- for what? The earth is one, what
           is the need for nations? India and Pakistan and Afghanistan...what is the need for nations? Can't
           humanity live together? Why all these boundaries? These boundaries are needed by the politicians.
               Without the boundaries the politicians will disappear; without the boundaries there will be no
           politics. These boundaries create the whole game, and these boundaries are just big prisons. You
           don't feel as if you are imprisoned because the prison is so big you cannot see it. But try to cross over
           the boundary from India to Pakistan, or from Pakistan to India, and then you will see that it was all
           nonsense to think of yourself as free. You cannot go beyond the boundary: you need a passport, a
           visa, a permit, a this and that. Then suddenly you become aware that the prison was so big that you
           were not aware of its walls -- but there are walls all around you.
               Man has not yet become civilized enough to be allowed to move around the earth in freedom.
           When you pass from one prison to another, you have to fulfill many conditions. And these nations go
           on fighting, continuously fighting. Seventy percent of human energy is wasted on war -- and the
           people are starving and the people are dying. The same energy can transform the whole earth into
           such a rich planet that nobody will bother about heaven at all. We can create a far better heaven here;
           we are more scientifically equipped. I have read the descriptions of your heavens in all the scriptures
           of the world. They are all living in the world of the bullock cart; they don't even know anything
           about bicycles. I have never come across any description of angels on bicycles! -- what to say about
           anything else.
               Your conceptions of heaven were developed at least three thousand years ago. Man has come of
           age. We now have a far better technology, far greater efficiency in creating, in producing, but for
           stupid reasons the whole thing goes into the war effort.
               Now, what is the point of Iraq and Iran fighting? Utterly foolish -- but they are destroying each
           other. And in destroying each other they will be destroying everybody else too, because the whole
           world depends on these two countries for all kinds of things: diesel, petrol and other petroleum
           products. These are two giant countries, and they are destroying each other's capacities. Once they
           are successful in destroying each other, they will have destroyed the whole world in a way; the
           whole world will be dragged back. And there seems to be no point: the whole question is of
           boundaries, where the boundaries should be. On the earth there are no boundaries, only on the maps!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mulla Nasruddin was going on an airplane trip -- it was his first trip. When he was passing the
           boundary of India and Pakistan, he was looking out of the window with his big binoculars trying to
           see the boundary, and he could not see anything.
               And the pilot was saying, "Just two miles ahead is the boundary of India and Pakistan, and within
           seconds we will be crossing it." So he was looking very intently...but no boundary!
               He asked the passenger sitting by his side, "Where is the boundary? I cannot see it!"
               The very idea that the boundary existed on the earth was so foolish that his neighbor played a
           joke on him. He said, "You look carefully, concentrate on it. It is a very delicate thing and we are
           miles away, but if you look minutely you will see it."
               He put one of the hairs from Mulla Nasruddin's beard on the lens of the binoculars, and Mulla
           said, "Yes, now I can see! Yes, there is the boundary! And at the end of the boundary line I can see
           there is a camel also, but such a very strange-looking camel I have never seen!"
               The neighbor said, "This is a Pakistani camel -- how can you have seen it before?"

           He was looking at his own beard!
                On the earth there are no boundaries, but politicians need boundaries. Religiousness has no
           boundaries, but priests need them. Religiousness is neither Christian nor Hindu nor Mohammedan,
           but then what will the priests do? They will be out of a job, completely out of a job, and millions of
           people depend on these boundaries. Their whole business is to go on insisting: "Only Christianity is
           the right religion; only Hinduism is the right religion. Unless you are a Christian there is no hope for
           you." And the same is the claim of all the other religions. Everybody is trying to pull you into his
           fold because numbers create power.
                Society, up to now, has existed in deep hatred -- hatred for other countries, hatred for other
           religions, hatred for other-colored people, hatred in every possible way. So the love quality has to be
           destroyed, and we start destroying the qualities of love from the very childhood. We start teaching
           the child: "You are a Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian -- hate others." But we don't say it directly, it
           is a very indirect maneuver. We start making every child ambitious, and ambition means you cannot
           love; ambition is anti-love. Ambition needs fight, ambition needs struggle, ambition needs you to use
           others as a means.
                Love is a totally different perspective. Love says respect the other as an end unto himself or
           herself; never use the other as a means. Nobody is a means for you, everybody is an end. But then
           ambition will flop, and our whole educational system depends on ambitiousness, our politics
           depends on ambition, our religions depend on ambition. Politics is the religion of this world and
           religion is the politics of the other world; that's the only difference between the two. And the
           politician and the priest have been in a deep conspiracy for centuries. They have divided everything
           up amongst themselves: "You will rule here, we will rule there; you will rule before death, we will
           rule after death -- fifty-fifty!" But both have to do one thing: destroy any potential for love.
                For thousands of years only child marriages were allowed. It was a subtle strategy. Girdharilal
           Jain himself may have got married when he was a child, not knowing what was going to happen.
           Once you become older it becomes difficult for you to accept any woman or any man as your wife or
           husband: you will start asking your parents embarrassing questions: "I don't love this man, I don't
           love this woman...?" Love is something that cannot be enforced -- if it happens, it happens; if it does
           not happen it does not happen. So the cunning people decide that before you start asking about love
           it is better to arrange a marriage.
                All other relationships are given by birth. There was only one freedom for you: to choose your
           wife or your husband. Even that has been destroyed. You cannot choose your mother, you cannot
           choose your father, you cannot choose your brothers and your sisters -- that is all accidental. You
           cannot choose your uncles, your aunts; that is beyond your choice. The only freedom was that you
           could choose your beloved -- but that too was denied.
                People were married when they were so small, six years old, seven years old. In India marriages
           used to be arranged even while the child was inside the womb. People used to arrange that "if your
           child turns out to be a boy, and my child turns out to be a girl, or vice versa, we will marry them."
           The marriage was already decided before the birth! This was a strategy to poison love. So the child
           would grow with the wife or the husband just as one grows with one's brothers and sisters: he would
           become accustomed, love would never happen.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The society is very much afraid of love. It condemns love, it calls love blind. The fact is, love is
           the only phenomenon which is not blind; everything else is blind. Logic is blind, not love, but you
           have been told that love is blind, you have been told that love is mad. In all the languages of the
           world this type of expression exists: "falling in love" -- as if one falls! I would like to change it.
           Whenever you are in love never say, "I have fallen in love," say, "I have RISEN in love." It is
           reaching higher than you have ever been before. It is not a fall, it is growth.
                Girdharilal Jain, you ask me, "Can I ever be happy with my wife?" It is not a personal question at
           all, remember, and I am not answering you in a personal way either; it is a general question. You
           cannot be happy with your wife unless you respect her as a person and not as a wife. Unless you
           accept her as independent, free to be herself, you cannot be happy. And the man has been told that he
           is the possessor, the wife is only a possession.
                In China, for centuries the husband was allowed to kill his wife if he wanted, because the wife
           was just a thing. In India, the wife is thought to be the property of the husband. Certainly, if the wife
           is your property, how can you be happy with her? You are insulting her, you are humiliating her, you
           are destroying her individuality. She will take revenge. Of course her ways will be feminine ways of
           taking revenge, but she will take revenge. She will create a situation in which you will be in constant
           hell.
                Society has been dominated by the man for too long, and he has reduced the woman to a
           commodity. Now it cannot be done anymore. The woman has equal rights with any man; and she has
           to be respected -- she is a human being and nobody's property! At the most, the husband and the wife
           are friends -- not more than that. And don't take her for granted, because nobody can take anybody
           for granted. One cannot be certain about the tomorrow. Tomorrow she may be yours, she may not be
           yours. This risk has to be accepted; only then can there be joy in relationship. When relationship is
           free, when there is freedom in it, there is joy, because freedom is the ultimate value; nothing is
           higher than that.
                If your love leads you towards freedom, then your love will be a blessing; if it leads towards
           slavery it is not a blessing, it is a curse.

               On his golden wedding anniversary a man was asked if his marriage had turned out better or
           worse than he had anticipated.
           "Well," he said, "originally I thought our marriage would be a fifty-fifty proposition. It has turned
           out that way, but not as I expected. My wife has had her way the first fifty years, and I'll have my
           way the second fifty!"

                Something like this arrangement happens between husbands and wives. It is an arranged
           phenomenon, it is not out of love. Both are trying to get as much out of it as possible and to give as
           little as possible.

           "We got a divorce because we were incompatible," explained one bar fly to another. "My wife hated
           me when I was drunk, and I couldn't stand her when I was sober."

           These are arrangements!

               The newly-enlisted rookie was being examined by the army psychiatrist. "What do you do for
           social life?" he was asked.
           "I just hang around the house."
           "Do you ever go out with girls?"
           "No."
           "Don't you ever want to?"
           "Yes."
           "Then why don't you?"
           "My wife won't let me!"

              Husbands and wives are protecting each other, guarding, detecting. They are not friends but
           enemies, trying to prove in every possible way who the master is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               How can you be happy with your wife, Girdharilal Jain? If you are a husband you cannot be
           happy. The very word "husband" is ugly; it comes from husbandry. The wife is thought to be like a
           field and you are the farmer; you have to sow the seeds -- the wife is just like a field. You are the
           owner, the sower of the seeds, the reaper of the crops, and she is just the earth. We should change
           our language. Very ugly words still go on being used. "Husband" is an ugly word; it should be
           dropped from all languages.
               The wife and the husband should come to a better understanding. They are together to make life
           a joy; they are together not to quarrel, not to nag, not to destroy each other but to enhance each other
           in every possible way -- physical, psychological, spiritual. Love should be a journey, a pilgrimage
           towards the ultimate.

               An elderly couple are lying in bed. "Joseph," she says, "you remember the days you used to kiss
           my ear?"
           Joseph turns over and kisses her ear.
           "And Joseph," she says, "you remember the days you used to fondle my hair?"
           Joseph gently strokes her hair.
           "And Joseph," she continues, "you remember the days you used to bite my neck?"
               Joseph gets up and walks through the room, "Hey, Marge," he says, "do you remember where I
           put my false teeth?"

               Love is not a demand, love is a deep understanding. One cannot ask for it; one should give for
           the sheer joy of giving. Certainly it comes, a thousandfold it comes, but it has not to be asked for.
               There is no future for the institution of marriage. We will have to discover new forms of relating,
           new forms of loving, new dimensions in which people can join together. Marriage is out of date, but
           old habits die hard -- we go on clinging. Even young people....
               Just the other day a girl who is only twenty-two -- and not even Indian, she comes from Germany
           -- told me, "I want to get married." For what? Can't you see the insanity all around? Her father has
           divorced her mother; her mother has gone with some other man. Her father is living with some other
           woman, and still, she wants to get married! Everybody thinks that his life is going to be an
           exception. That foolish idea destroys people's whole lives.
               The first thing is love: love deeply. If you have been with a person for a few years, in deep love,
           and you have experienced all the joys and all the miseries, and still you decide to be with the person,
           then marriage is okay. Because marriage is only a legal arrangement, it cannot make anything more
           beautiful than it is. It can only make it ugly, it cannot beautify it. Once it is settled legally, once you
           start taking each other for granted, things will start going down rather than rising high.
               So before one settles with anybody, one should learn to live with as many people as possible. My
           own understanding is that there are no two persons alike; hence, unless you have experienced many
           love affairs you will not know the multidimensionality of love. Only after knowing the
           multidimensionality of love will you feel enriched. Only when you know that now you have known
           the world enough and you have experienced and observed many kinds of relationships with many
           types of people...only then can you choose. No astrologer can decide it for you, and no parents can
           decide it for you. Even YOU, just by your instinct, cannot decide it.
               Love affairs have been failing, and parents feel very happy. People come to me and they say,
           "Look, in the West love affairs have been failing. Then why are you against marriage?" they ask me.
           Love affairs are failing because first the marriage was arranged by the astrologer, then it was
           arranged by the parents, and now it is being arranged by biology, by instinct. You suddenly feel that
           you like a woman, but you don't know how long this is going to last and you are not even aware why
           you like her. You are not even alert to what it is in you that likes her. Maybe it is just her hairstyle.
           Now, are you going to get married to a hairstyle? You can get married, but tomorrow morning when
           you see her hair disheveled you will be at a loss: "Is this the same woman I fell in love with?" How
           long can you be interested in the hairstyle? Soon you will get fed up. The same hairstyle again and
           again -- the whole day, twenty-four hours a day...!
               People are falling in love because a certain man has a certain type of nose. People are falling in
           love with fragments! Nobody is bothered about the totality of the person -- and it is a vast thing. The
           nose does not count for much -- after two days you won't look at it at all. Or the color, or the shape,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           or the proportion of the body -- all these things are very minor. The real thing is the total functioning
           of the person, and that can be experienced only when you live together. Before one decides to get
           married, one should live with many people so one can choose in awareness, and one should live with
           the person one is choosing for a few months, for a few years.
               My own observation is that nobody should get married before the age of thirty-five. If you are
           going to live seventy years, then thirty-five is the right time; if you are going to live more than that,
           then you can prolong it. If you are going to die at eighty, then forty. If you have decided to live a
           hundred years, then fifty. The longer you wait the better, because if you wait long enough you may
           decide not to get into it at all! That's the most beautiful thing: if you wait long enough.

               Just the other day Amrit Chinmayo asked me.... Now, she is nearabout fifty; she is a beautiful
           woman and I like her because she is outrageous! She asked me, "I don't see many sannyasins of my
           age here. There are beautiful people, stunning people, but they are nearabout thirty or at the most
           thirty-five, and I am fifty. There are very few people who are fifty or beyond fifty. Am I
           transcending sex or is it just because I cannot find people of my own age?"
               My feeling about you, Chinmayo, is that you have lived an outrageous life and it is time to
           transcend. Only outrageous people can transcend quickly. The orthodox, the conventional, the
           people who live in a lukewarm way go on and on repeating the same stupidity to the very end. Even
           when they are dying they will be thinking of sex, women -- and you can always find a copy of
           PLAYBOY under their pillow! Maybe a very old copy from when they were young, or just a
           hangover they are still carrying, or something like a memoir of their youth, their young days....
               Chinmayo is a woman who has really lived, and if you live totally and really authentically, you
           will get beyond all this nonsense sooner. Fifty is the right time to go beyond, but don't force it
           because forcing will not help. Transcendence has to happen in a silent, whisperlike manner. One
           becomes aware of it only when it has happened.
               But it is going to happen sooner or later, Chinmayo; it will not take long for you. Those who live
           intensely can live more in ten years than ordinary people can live in fifty years.

           Once a man asked Emerson, "What is your age?"
           Emerson said, "Three hundred and sixty years."
               The man could not believe it -- he looked no more than sixty. And he could not believe that
           Emerson would lie because he was well known for his authenticity. He thought, "I must have heard
           wrongly." He said, "Pardon me, I could not hear. What did you say? What is your age?"
               And Emerson said, "Three hundred and sixty. And you have not heard wrongly, I said exactly
           that: three hundred and sixty."
           The man said, "I cannot believe it."
               Emerson said, "I cannot believe it myself, so I don't expect you to believe it. But I say I have
           lived three hundred and sixty years because ordinarily people live in such a lukewarm way that if
           they live three hundred and sixty years then they will come close to me, although I have lived only
           sixty years. But I have lived intensely and totally. Each moment I have squeezed the juice of life; I
           have not left a single drop behind. So in sixty years I have lived six times more than people
           ordinarily live."

              And that's my feeling about Chinmayo: she has lived more in fifty years than people will live in a
           hundred years. And it is time to transcend, it is time to go beyond.
           Sex is animal, love is human.
           And to go beyond love is divine.
           Then arises prayer.
              Sex, love, prayer: these are the three stages of life.
              If you die without knowing prayer, you have lived in vain.
           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY ARE YOU NOT SERIOUS? WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS JOKING?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Gunga Prasad, God is not serious -- what can I do? God is always joking. Look at your own life
           -- it is a joke! Look at other people's lives, and you will find jokes and jokes and jokes.
                Seriousness is illness; seriousness has nothing spiritual about it. Spirituality is laughter,
           spirituality is joy, spirituality is fun.

                Two hunters were in a forest looking for game, when they came across a huge black bear. The
           first hunter took aim, but missed. The second hunter took careful aim as the bear drew closer to
           them, but his gun jammed. The two hunters fled in terror with the bear in hot pursuit. They came to a
           small cabin at the edge of the forest, ran inside and bolted the door just before the bear reached them.
                The enormous bear circled the cabin, found an open window and climbed in after them. Loud
           crashing and terror-stricken screams ensued, then silence....
                Finally, after three days, the door burst open and the first hunter staggered out, walked ten paces
           then fell face first onto the ground.
                Not long after, the second hunter staggered out, walked about twenty paces then fell to the
           ground. Hours later the bear appeared, staggered up the track about half a mile, then collapsed.
                Shortly after, a beautiful young lady appeared at the door of the cabin. She walked up to the first
           hunter and said, "Him, he owes me ten dollars!"
                Walking up to the second hunter, she said, "Him, he owes me twenty dollars." Then she looked
           up and began scanning the horizon. "Now, I wonder what happened to that big guy in the fur coat?
           He had another free one comin'!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                    Chapter #8
                                      Chapter title: Silence and Song Meet
           3 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011030
              ShortTitle: COME08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHEN I AM AMONG PEOPLE, AFTER A WHILE I WANT TO BE ALONE. WHEN I AM ALONE,
              AFTER A WHILE I WANT TO BE AMONG PEOPLE. SO I CANNOT ENJOY ONE OR THE OTHER
              FULLY. SHOULD I LIVE ON THE INSIDE OR ON THE OUTSIDE?


               Robert, this is one of the most fundamental questions every human being has to encounter; it is
           part of the challenge that life presents to us. The mind functions in duality; it is like a pendulum.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When the pendulum moves towards the right, you see it moving towards the right, but at the very
           same time it is gathering momentum to go to the left. When it is moving towards the left it is
           gathering momentum to go to the right.
                This inner duality in the pendulum represents your mind. The mind is a pendulum; hence, when
           you are alone you cannot enjoy aloneness, you start gathering momentum to be with people, and as
           you start thinking of people, aloneness turns into loneliness. Aloneness is tremendously beautiful; it
           is like a sunlit peak, something beyond the clouds. But loneliness is ugly; it is a dark hole. If you
           cannot enjoy aloneness everything goes upside down: the peak becomes the valley, the light
           becomes darkness. You are bored, you don't know what to do with yourself; you feel empty, and you
           want to stuff yourself with something -- either with people or with food or with a movie. These are
           all different ways not to feel lonely. And when you are with people, the same will happen again from
           the other end. When you are with people you feel interfered with, trespassed upon, because others
           start encroaching on your space, they destroy your freedom. So being with others is no longer love; it
           becomes a bondage. And one hates bondage -- one wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible. It is a
           prison; you start feeling suffocated. Even with the person you think you love, you start feeling fed
           up. You cannot enjoy love because suddenly you realize that to be alone is beautiful, because now
           you can see that aloneness is freedom. But when you are alone you see love as joy!
                This is the dichotomy of the mind. It exists in every dimension. If you are poor you hanker to be
           rich; this is a well-known fact. But the other side has not been recognized: everybody knows the
           beggar wants to be the emperor, but have you not watched Mahavira renouncing his kingdom,
           Buddha escaping from his marble palaces? What is that? It is the same phenomenon! The poor man
           wants to be rich, and the rich man wants to be poor. And when Buddha started initiating disciples he
           called them BHIKKHUS. The word "bhikkhu" means beggar.
                Alexander the Great, at the last moment of his life, realized that he had wasted his life in
           accumulating unnecessary, nonessential things, and now death would take everything away.
           Suddenly he remembered the great Greek mystic Diogenes whom he had met just a year before.
           Diogenes was naked and lived without any possessions, and Alexander had felt tremendously
           infatuated with him. He had told Diogenes exactly this, that "If I am to come back to the world I will
           ask God to make me Diogenes next time, and not Alexander."
                This is the same dichotomy; there is no difference. When you are a child you want to be older,
           and when you are older you start thinking how beautiful were the days when you were a child.
           Everybody as he grows older starts fantasizing about his childhood; he starts decorating it in every
           possible way. And when he was a child he was in a hurry to grow up.
                When you are alive you think of the life that is after death. People come to me and say, "Tell us
           something about what happens after death." And I am always intrigued with their question. Rather
           than answering them, I ask them, "First tell me what happens before death!" Nobody seems to be
           interested in that -- what happens before death; everybody is interested in what happens after death.
           And if you meet a ghost, it is absolutely certain he will tell you, "I am suffering very badly. I missed
           my life, now I am hankering for it. I would like to have the body again, the mind again, to have all
           the senses again."
                Different aspects, but the problem is the same: you hanker for the opposite because the grass
           looks greener -- not your own grass but the grass beyond the fence in the neighbor's garden. It
           always looks greener. It is a simple phenomenon: whatsoever you have loses meaning -- the moment
           you have it, it loses meaning -- whatsoever you have not becomes immensely significant. The mind
           hankers for that which it has not got, and the mind gets bored with whatsoever it has got.

               It is said about the great English poet Byron that he must have loved at least sixty women. He did
           not live so long; he died young -- and this number, sixty, is a very conservative estimate. This is
           from the known stories; there may have been other relationships which are not known. When he
           would go mad about a woman, he would risk everything. He risked his whole respectability. He was
           expelled from England for the simple reason that he was creating chaos. He was a beautiful man --
           very beautiful, extraordinarily beautiful -- and a great poet. He had all those qualities which women
           are attracted to. He was a legend in his own time.
               It had become a routine phenomenon that if he entered a restaurant the men would clutch the
           hands of their wives and run away! He was not allowed into clubs, he was not allowed into good
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           society. Everybody was afraid of the man; he had some charm, some magnetism, some charisma.
           And for months he would go mad and chase a woman. And the moment he got the woman he would
           lose all interest, all interest would absolutely disappear. He represents mind in its purity, in its
           essential quality.
               One woman forced him to marry her because she insisted that she would not allow him even to
           kiss her, or even to hug her, or even to hold her hand unless he married her. And he was so mad
           about her that he agreed to marriage. When they were coming out of the church, just married, and the
           guests were taking leave of them, standing on the steps, holding the hand of his wife, he saw another
           woman walking down the road and he forgot his wife. His wife immediately recognized it; she could
           see that he had forgotten all about her, and she told him so.
               But he was a sincere man too. He said, "It is true, I have lost all interest in you. For six months I
           was mad -- day in, day out, I dreamed about you, fantasized about you, wrote poems about you. I
           was dying! I was thinking that without you I could not live a single moment longer. And now that
           you are mine and your hand is in my hand, I only feel perspiration! That woman for a moment
           caught my whole being. I simply forgot you." He apologized -- but apology is not love.

                This is the way the mind functions: its whole interest is in that which you have not got. Hence,
           Robert, your question is significant and it has tortured humanity since the very beginning. And
           people have been choosing, just as you are asking: "Should I live on the inside or on the outside?"
                Wherever you live you will be in trouble. If you live on the outside, the inside will function like a
           magnet. If you live on the inside, the outside will go on sending invitations to you: "Come out! It is a
           beautiful morning. The flowers are blossoming and the air is fragrant," or, "It is a tremendously
           ecstatic sunset. Look, the starry night...." And if you are outside you will continuously worry, "What
           is inside me? Who am I? What is this consciousness?"
                Science has become focused on the outside; religion has become focused on the inside. Both are
           lopsided, because the inside and the outside are not two separate things, they are inseparably one. To
           separate them is arbitrary, artificial.
                In the past the monks decided to be alone because they saw the misery of love, they saw that to
           be with someone is to suffer. What Jean-Paul Sartre said in this century, the monks all over the world
           -- Christian, Hindu, Jaina, Buddhist, Mohammedan -- have known all along; it is one of the most
           ancient experiences. Jean-Paul Sartre is not original at all; he looks original because nobody has said
           it in exactly that way. Jean-Paul Sartre says, "The other is hell" -- and this is the experience of all the
           monks, of all the mahatmas, of all the saints. Whatsoever denomination they belong to does not
           matter; on one point they all agree: "The other is hell -- escape from the other!"
                They escaped to the Himalayan caves, they escaped to the monasteries, they escaped from the
           world -- they were really escaping from the other. But were they happy in their monasteries, in their
           caves? That question has not been raised. It has to be raised. Were they blissful? Maybe they were
           more silent than you are -- but silence is not bliss, silence is not a song. Silence has no warmth; it can
           be cold and dead. And it WAS cold and dead.
                Your so-called monks have lived in such a suicidal way that they have become living corpses.
           They chose half of life, and whenever you chose half you will be in trouble, because what are you
           going to do with the other half? You will remain only fragmentary, and the other half will take its
           revenge.
                The remainder of humanity has chosen to live in the world, and it is very rare to find a person in
           the world who does not feel once in a while the desire to escape from all this. The world is too much;
           it is anxiety, anguish; it is nothing but suffering.
                Psychologists say that the average person thinks at least four times in his life of committing
           suicide -- at least! Why do people think of committing suicide? And not only do people think of it,
           many commit suicide. That's also a way of escaping from the world, escaping totally, because if you
           go to a monastery you can come back. You know it yourself: if you go to the Himalayas, who can
           prevent you? -- you can come back again.
                Suicide seems to be irreversible. Suicide is a total renunciation of life, and what you have called
           the renunciation of life is nothing but slow suicide, suicide in installments -- the American way, part
           by part!
                My own observation is that both extremes have been wrong, and both have created a very ugly
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           situation. There is no need to choose; we have to live both. Of course it is easier to be silent in a
           cave, but that silence will not give you a dance, and without a dance you will remain dead. If you are
           in the world it will give you a song, but the song will not have any depth; it will be superficial,
           formal.
               One needs silence in the heart, and yet a silence which is not cold but warm, a silence which can
           sing and dance.
           When silence and song meet, the man is whole.
               When you are capable of moving between the inner and the outer easily, just as you move in and
           out of your house...in the same way as when it is too cold in the morning you simply move out of the
           house into the sun. You enjoy the warmth of the sun, and when it becomes too hot you move inside.
           There is no problem in it -- it is YOUR house! The inner is as much yours as the outer, and to be
           capable of moving from the inner to the outer and vice versa, in a flexible way, creates the whole
           man. And I call the WHOLE man the holy man.
           My sannyasins have to be whole.
               Robert, you are not yet a sannyasin. If you are really interested in solving this problem, my
           sannyas is the only way to solve it, because I teach flexibility. All the old ideas are rigid: "Either be
           extrovert or be introvert" -- but both are pathological. The introvert becomes moribund, the introvert
           becomes a little bit insane because he loses contact with objective reality; he starts hallucinating.
           That's why it is easy to experience God if you go to the Himalayan caves. There is no objective
           reality to hinder you from deceiving yourself. There is no objective reality to remind you that this is
           a dream, that what you are seeing is not there, it is a hallucination.
               It is a well-known psychological fact that if you live in deep isolation for just three weeks you
           will start hallucinating. And you can hallucinate whatsoever you want: if you are a Christian you will
           see Christ, if you are a Hindu you will see Krishna, if you are a Buddhist you will see Buddha. This
           is very strange! No Christian ever sees Buddha, no Buddhist ever sees Christ! Whatsoever you have
           been conditioned for, your hallucination will be colored by it. You will start visiting heaven, but
           your heavens will be different.
               The Tibetan heaven is very warm; it has to be -- Tibet suffers so much from cold. The Tibetan
           hell is cold, ice-cold, but the Indian hell is just fire. The very idea of ice to the Indian will give him
           great joy! The Indian idea of heaven is that it is very cool -- it is air-conditioned! The Indian will
           dream about his heaven, and the Tibetan will dream about his heaven.
               In the Mohammedan heaven there are rivers and streams flowing with wine, because the
           KORAN is very much against wine. It is repression. When you repress you are bound to erupt in
           hallucination. The Mohammedan idea of heaven is that you will have beautiful women there, and not
           only beautiful women but beautiful boys too, because in the Arabic nations homosexuality has been
           one of the longest traditions -- repressed, very much repressed. But whatsoever is repressed is bound
           to assert itself somewhere. In heaven even homosexuality is allowed, available. Here it is
           condemned; there it is allowed.
               Hindus go on saying that all desires are wrong, but in heaven you have wish-fulfilling trees. You
           just sit underneath the tree -- KALPATARUS, wish-fulfilling trees -- you desire anything, and
           immediately, instantly it is fulfilled. Instant coffee is a very new thing -- Hindus have known instant
           fulfillment for all desires! Just sit under the KALPAVRISKSHA. Here they go on talking against
           desires, and there the same desires are going to be fulfilled. Here they go on talking against
           women....
               The Hindu saint goes on saying that the woman is the door to hell, and in their heaven there are
           beautiful APSARAS, beautiful women -- Uruvasi, Menaka...thousands.... They have golden bodies;
           they are always young. In fact, they have been stuck at the age of sixteen for millions of years; they
           have never grown beyond it. It seems they were born at exactly sixteen and they have remained
           sixteen. Here, the woman is the door to hell, and the saints are hoping that sooner or later all this
           austerity, asceticism will be finished and they will enjoy heaven forever and forever. And what are
           you going to enjoy there? -- the same women who are the doors to hell here!
               The same money, the same gold which you go on calling dust...in heaven even the flowers are
           made of gold. I would not like such a heaven! Flowers made of gold cannot have any perfume. A
           roseflower made of gold will be ugly, it will be dead. Gold cannot be alive.
               The extrovert is half: he is continuously running after things and continuously feeling guilty that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he is missing the inner -- maybe the real bliss is there. Perhaps the Buddha and the Jina and the
           Christ are right, that the kingdom of God is within. And the person who is sitting silently, looking
           inside, is continuously wondering, "Am I wasting my time? People are enjoying and I am foolishly
           sitting here, waiting for the spring to come and the grass to grow by itself! And who knows whether
           it grows by itself or not? And even if it does grow, so what? It will still grow whether I am sitting
           silently or not! The spring will come and the grass will grow, so let it grow! And there is some juicy
           party going on, and there are so many beautiful hotels and restaurants and clubs and nightclubs...."
                Even a man like Morarji Desai...can you imagine Morarji Desai visiting a nightclub? Now he has
           confessed that when he was the prime minister -- he must have been eighty-three at that time -- he
           went to visit a nightclub in Canada, of course without declaring it. He has kept it a secret up to now.
           Why did he suddenly talk about it? He was bragging; he did not think that he was saying something
           wrong -- he was bragging. He was telling the Gujarat Vidyapeeth students in Ahmedabad, "I have
           attained to the ultimate celibacy. For example, I visited a nightclub in Canada just to see what was
           going on there." But why should a man who has attained to ultimate celibacy even be interested to
           know what is going on there? Some rationalization, some strategy of the mind entering from the
           backdoor. He was not even being honest enough to say, "I wanted to see the naked women." No, he
           says, "I wanted to see what was going on there." But why should he be worried about it?"
                And he says, "When I went there, knowing that I was the prime minister, the four most beautiful
           girls were sent to me and they started dancing around me, making all kinds of gestures -- very
           inviting, very appealing -- but I remained controlled! I was not affected at all." He emphasized it so
           much that it simply shows he must have been affected.
                And those girls seem to have been far more intelligent than this poor guy. After a while they
           said, "We thought you were a man, but you are just a Morarji Desai!" Now do you know what
           Morarji Desai means? The girls said, "We thought you were a man, but you are nothing -- just a
           Morarji Desai!"
                But he even brags about that -- stupidity is such! He thought they recognized that he was no
           ordinary person, he was Morarji Desai -- that he was not a man in the ordinary sense, he had
           transcended all human weaknesses.
                The people who are living extrovertly will remain interested in the inner world, and the people
           who are living introvertly will remain interested in the extrovert world, and they will both be torn
           apart. That creates anguish, strain.
                Robert, my own suggestion is to live a relaxed life. It is beautiful to be alone, it is also beautiful
           to be in love, to be with people. And both are complementary, not contradictory. When you are
           enjoying others, enjoy, and enjoy to the full; there is no need to bother about aloneness. And when
           you are fed up with others, then move into aloneness and enjoy it to the full.
                Don't try to choose -- if you try to choose you will be in difficulty. Every choice is going to
           create a division in you, a kind of split in you. Why choose? When you can have both, why have
           one? And it is a very natural process. It is just like when you are hungry you eat, and when you are
           full you stop eating. You don't start saying, "What should I choose? Should I always remain hungry
           or should I eat continuously?" When you are hungry, eat, and when you are full, stop eating and
           forget all about it; there are a thousand and one other things to do. There is no need to go on a fast,
           and there is no need to go on stuffing yourself continuously; both are pathological states.
                The same is true about love and aloneness. Enjoy people because they are manifestations of God,
           but remember the other side is also there. So when you start feeling fed up there is no need to remain
           with people just out of politeness. Don't try to be British -- be authentic! It is very difficult not to be
           British, because we have always been told to be polite, to have certain manners, to follow a certain
           etiquette. Even if you are bored you go on smiling. Even if you don't feel good with somebody you
           say, "It is a blessing to meet you," and you are cursing them.
                Why do you go on creating such strange splits in yourself? It is time -- man has come of age -- it
           is time to be authentic. When you are feeling good with somebody, say so and say it totally, and
           when you are not feeling good, then you can just say, "Excuse me...." I am not saying to be rude, but
           there is no need to suffer the presence of the other. Just say, "I would like to be alone, I would like
           my own space."
                Up to now this has not been possible. If you love somebody you cannot say, "I would like to
           have my own space." This is sheer nonsense, inhuman! If you love somebody you should be sincere
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- that is the indication of love -- you should be able to say, "Now I would like to have my own
           space." And you should allow the other also the same freedom to be with you or not to be with you.
               It is good if two persons agree to be together for a time; it is beautiful. But it is also good to be
           alone. Aloneness will give you peace, silence, equanimity, meditativeness, awareness, a sense of
           integrity, centering, rootedness, groundedness -- all these are great values. And love will help you to
           learn compassion, prayer, service -- they are also great values, and they will enhance each other.
               That's what I am doing here with my sannyasins -- letting them enhance each other, letting them
           become backgrounds to each other.
           Let your love help your aloneness.
               It is like...when you look at the sky in the day you will not see any stars. It is not that they have
           all died or disappeared or evaporated; they are still there, but the background of darkness is missing,
           that's why you cannot see them. The sky is always full of stars; day or night makes no difference, but
           in the night you can see the stars clearly. The darker the night, the brighter the stars look. They are
           not against each other; they are complementary, not contradictory.
               So are the inner and the outer world: the outer is part of the inner, Robert, just as the inner is part
           of the outer. They are like two wings -- you cannot fly with one wing. Enjoy both, and don't create
           any rift, don't create any fight between them. Learn the art of being together AND of being alone.
               Hence my whole teaching consists of two words, "meditation" and "love." Meditate so that you
           can feel immense silence, and love so that your life can become a song, a dance, a celebration. You
           will have to move between the two, and if you can move easily, if you can move without any effort,
           you have learned the greatest thing in life.
               God is both the creator and the creation -- this infinite universe outside and this infinite
           consciousness inside. And he has to be tasted and known in both aspects.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              CHOGYAM TRUNGPA WRITES IN ONE OF HIS BOOKS:
              "NOR IS IT HELPFUL TO CHOOSE SOMEONE FOR YOUR MASTER SIMPLY BECAUSE HE IS
              FAMOUS -- SOMEONE WHO IS RENOWNED FOR HAVING PUBLISHED STACKS OF BOOKS
              AND CONVERTED THOUSANDS OR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. INSTEAD, THE GUIDELINE IS
              WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE ABLE TO ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE WITH THE PERSON
              DIRECTLY AND THOROUGHLY."
              THE KEY WORDS ARE "DIRECTLY" AND "THOROUGHLY." HOW DOES THIS WORK FROM THE
              SANNYASIN'S END, IN VIEW OF YOUR VIRTUALLY COMPLETE PHYSICAL INACCESSIBILITY?


               James, it is true that one should not choose someone as a master JUST because he is famous.
           Jesus was not famous when he was alive nor was Lao Tzu famous when he was alive. To be famous
           is one thing; to know the truth is totally another. In fact, there is a greater possibility that the master,
           the real master, will be notorious rather than famous.
               Jesus must have been very notorious; otherwise why should he be crucified? And he was
           crucified with two thieves, one on either side, just to show the world that the people who were
           crucifying him did not consider him in any way more significant than two ordinary thieves. In fact
           they thought he was worse. It was a tradition in the Jerusalem of those days that each year one
           person could be forgiven. The day Jesus was crucified there were four persons to be crucified, and
           there was a possibility of one person being forgiven. Pontius Pilate asked the Jews, "Whom would
           you like to forgive?" He was thinking they would ask for Jesus to be forgiven, because in fact he had
           not done any harm to anybody -- he was not a murderer, he was not a thief, he was not a criminal.
           But the people asked for a thief to be forgiven and insisted that Jesus could not be forgiven: "You
           can forgive any of the thieves, but not Jesus." He must have been very notorious -- people were so
           angry with him.
               They killed Socrates, they killed al-Hillaj Mansoor, they made many attempts on the life of
           Gautam Buddha. It simply shows these people were not famous, not respected by the crowd; the
           crowd was utterly against them. Hence it is true that you should not choose your master simply
           because he is famous. He can easily be famous if he fulfills your expectations. And everybody has
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certain expectations, everybody has in mind certain qualities that a master has to fulfill -- and
           anybody who fulfills your expectations is not a master at all. No master can fulfill your expectations;
           in fact he will sabotage all your expectations, he will destroy all your expectations. To fulfill your
           expectations is to strengthen your ego, and no master can do that.
                And how can you decide what the qualifications of a master are? The Hindu will decide in one
           way, the Jaina will decide in another way; in fact, their decisions will be diametrically opposite to
           each other. The Hindu thinks Krishna is the perfect master, and the Jainas have thrown Krishna into
           the seventh hell. Hindus think Krishna is the perfect master because he lived a multidimensional life.
           Jainas think that he is one of the greatest criminals because he was the cause of the great war that
           destroyed India forever. Since that war five thousand years have passed and India has not been able
           to stand on her own feet again.
                Millions of people were killed, and Krishna rationalized this killing with beautiful logic. He said
           to Arjuna, "Don't be worried about killing people, because the soul is immortal and the body is
           already dead, so you are not killing. There is no murder, there is no violence at all. The body is
           already dead, so dust will fall unto dust; and the soul is immortal, so you are only disconnecting
           them, that's all. You are not killing anybody; nothing is ever killed. NA HANYATE HANYAMANE
           SHARIRE -- "By killing the body, nothing is killed."
                A beautiful argument for violence! Now, the Jainas cannot forgive it. Their criterion for a perfect
           master is that he should be absolutely nonviolent -- Mahavira is their ideal. Mahavira used to sleep in
           one position the whole night, for the simple reason that if he changed his posture, turned over on his
           other side, some ants or some insects might be killed. It was better to remain in one position the
           whole night. It is unnatural; the body needs the change. It helps the digestion to change your position
           -- it is a little bit of exercise. But Mahavira remained like a statue the whole night. This is their ideal.
                Krishna cannot fulfill it, Rama cannot fulfill it. Rama carries a bow and arrow, and they
           symbolize violence. Even Jesus cannot fulfill their criterion, because according to the Jainas you
           suffer only because of your past karmas. Jesus suffered on the cross, and that simply shows one thing
           and very definitively -- that in his past lives he must have committed a great crime; otherwise why
           should he be crucified?
                Who is going to decide? How are you going to know who the master is? Fame cannot decide,
           thousands of followers cannot decide. Then what is the way to decide? In fact, logic cannot decide.
           This is logic: looking at the fame of the man, looking at how many disciples he has. This is all logic,
           calculation, mathematics; these cannot be decisive. Only one thing can decide: if in your heart some
           bells start ringing for no reason at all, illogically. Even if you want to stop them they don't stop, they
           go on ringing. It is a heart-to-heart phenomenon.
                So it is true: one should not choose a master just because he is famous, but the second part is not
           right either.
                Trungpa says: "Instead, the guideline is whether or not you are able to actually communicate
           with the person...." The master has no personality, he is not a person -- he has dropped personality.
           In fact, in the ultimate sense he is just a nothing, what Buddha calls SHUNYATA; he is pure
           nothingness. How can you communicate with nothingness? Yes, communion is possible, but
           communication is not possible. And communion needs no direct personal contact; you can commune
           with the master from thousands of miles away. The physical presence is not needed. The physical
           presence is needed only for the beginners, for the people who are in the kindergarten class.
                As the master starts working deeper and deeper, as he starts finding his people, he will become
           more and more inaccessible physically, because once he has found the right people, who are ready to
           commune, there is no need for communication.
                So that part is sheer bullshit, that the guideline is whether or not "you are able to actually
           communicate with the person directly and thoroughly." The whole thing depends on the disciple. If
           he can surrender his ego, then wherever he is there is communion.
                Communion is a totally different phenomenon from communication. Communication is from
           intellect to intellect -- and for that the physical presence is helpful -- but communion is a totally
           different phenomenon. It is a love affair. The hearts can beat in the same rhythm thousands of miles
           apart. Even if you are on another planet, it doesn't matter; the hearts can dance in the same rhythm
           with the master, and then there is communion. You can be here physically with me, but if your heart
           is not beating with me, if you are not attuned to me, then communication is happening -- I am talking
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to you, you are listening to me -- but communion is not happening. The relationship between a
           disciple and a master is that of communion; it is a love affair.
               Trungpa knows nothing about it. He is not a master, just a teacher. And remember the difference
           between a master and a teacher: the teacher is one who can inform you, the master is one who can
           transform you. The teacher teaches you, the master gives you a new birth. The master is like a
           midwife: he helps you come out of the cocoon of your mind; he makes you twice born.
               There is no question of physical communication, so "directly and thoroughly" does not mean
           physically; "directly and thoroughly" means something different. According to me, if your ego is
           completely put aside, if the disciple is ready to trust, then there is a direct communication -- direct,
           immediate. Even words are not needed; nothing is needed. And it is thorough communion too --
           total; it is an immersion.
               It is like two lovers getting into a deep orgasmic state; that is a physical orgasm. The same thing
           happens on a higher plane with the master; it is a spiritual orgasm. Your soul and the soul of the
           master meet and merge, melt, lose their boundaries. There is tremendous joy; a great bliss surrounds
           you, a great grace descends in you.
               James, Buddha had forty thousand disciples. Do you think it was possible for him to physically
           communicate "directly and thoroughly" with each one? Mahavira also had forty thousand disciples;
           it would have been impossible. But Buddha helped many more people to become enlightened than
           anybody else on the whole earth and in the whole history of man. And how did he help? Yes, there
           was a direct and thorough communion, but it was a silent phenomenon.

               When Maulingaputta, a great philosopher, came to Buddha to ask questions, Buddha said, "If
           you really want your questions to be answered, for two years sit silently by my side, don't ask
           anything, and after two years I will answer you."
               While Buddha was saying this, Mahakashyapa, one of Buddha's great disciples, started laughing.
           Maulingaputta felt a little embarrassed and he asked, "Why is this man laughing? He looks a little
           crazy!"
           Buddha said, "You ask him!"
               And Maulingaputta asked Mahakashyapa, "Why are you laughing?"
               Mahakashyapa said, "I am laughing because this man deceived me too! And I warn you, if you
           want to ask your questions, ask right now! After two years you will not be able to ask. He played the
           same trick on me! For two years I was sitting silently by his side, and then slowly slowly all
           questions disappeared."
               Buddha said to Maulingaputta, "I will stick to my promise. If your questions disappear, then
           what can I do? But after two years I will remind you."
               And after two years Buddha actually reminded him. Mahakashyapa was also present.
           Maulingaputta was sitting somewhere behind, afraid that Buddha would ask. Two years had passed,
           and Buddha asked Mahakashyapa, "Where is Maulingaputta? Find him! Two years have passed,
           exactly two years since the day he came. Now he can ask."
               Maulingaputta stood and he said, "Forgive me, I have no questions. Now I know why you
           insisted that I should be silent."
               When the mind becomes completely silent, there happens a direct and thorough communion.
           Answers are not given but received. Nothing is said but everything is heard. So it is not a question,
           James, of how many sannyasins I have. I will tell you a beautiful story.

               Two sannyasins meet in London and get into conversation. The first says, "Yeah, I just came
           back from Poona. Osho asked me to come back to the West and start up a few small buddhafields
           here and there to help His work."
               The second swami says, "Oh, if there were only a hundred sannyasins like you!"
               The first continues, "Well, I'm really close to Osho, I suppose. I think He's starting to send future
           BODHISATTVAS out into the world. You know -- to be in the world and yet not of it."
               The second swami says, "Oh! If there were only a hundred sannyasins like you!"
               The first swami goes on speaking, "I'm going to try to raise enough money to buy an island in the
           Pacific for the new ashram. I know He wants to leave India, and so I'm going to find the perfect
           place for Him. I expect I will get to live in His house there."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The second swami sighs, "Oh! If there were only a hundred sannyasins like you!"
           "Well," the first swami says, "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but when He told me to go back to
           the West, I knew He was preparing me for something special. I have a feeling that I'm going to be
           the first male medium when I go back there. He said a few of us were ready and I could swear He
           was looking straight at me."
           "Oh! If there were only a hundred sannyasins like you!" said his listener.
           "Look," laughed the first swami, "I'm just an ordinary guy like you. Why do you go on saying if only
           there were a hundred like me?"
           "That's why!" said the other. "If only there were only a hundred sannyasins like you instead of two
           hundred thousand!"

               But it does not matter -- communion is possible. Two hundred thousand or twenty hundred
           thousand makes no difference. As far as I am concerned, to commune with one person or to
           commune with one hundred million people is the same, because communion from my side is a
           simple phenomenon. I am just a zero. All that is needed is a preparation on your part: if you are also
           a zero, then two zeros become one zero. And thousands of zeros can go on meeting and disappearing
           into one zero.
               Neither fame should be decisive nor your expectations, but only your heart. If your heart says
           take the jump, then take the jump, then risk, then be adventurous.
               And I will become more and more inaccessible. As the new commune arrives I will become more
           and more inaccessible to you physically so that I can become more accessible spiritually. I am going
           to be silent sooner or later, I am not going to speak at all. So be quick -- get out of your kindergarten
           classes. Be fast! Don't waste time and don't postpone.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              DO YOU WANT TO ATTRACT OR PREVENT POLACKS WITH YOUR JOKES?


               Deva Yachana, I never thought that you were also a Polack! There are many Polacks here --
           through my jokes I have discovered them; otherwise they hide themselves so perfectly! It is my way
           of discovering who are the Polacks among my sannyasins.
               In Poland all are not Polacks, and outside Poland all are not non-Polacks either. So don't be
           worried -- I am not saying anything against Polacks as such. They are beautiful people, innocent
           people; they are simple people. And sometimes simple people are also simpletons, but I love them.
           Those who can understand me will be attracted, and those who cannot understand me, whether I tell
           the jokes or not will not make any difference to them.
               A Polack traveling on a train goes to the toilet for a piss. As soon as he opens the door to the
           toilet he sees himself in the mirror opposite and thinks that he is someone else. He apologizes for the
           intrusion and closes the door.
               Ten minutes later he returns. "Oh, sorry!" he says, closing the door.
               He comes back a third time and the same thing happens. He can't hold on any longer. With his
           hands thrust tightly in his pockets, he goes to the conductor to complain.
               The conductor, another Polack, is outraged and goes to the toilet with the passenger to see what
           the problem is. He opens the door and shuts it again immediately, saying, "Oh, the conductor is in
           there. Use another toilet!"

               Prisoner Pozinski, serving a twenty-year sentence in a Michigan jail, was reminiscing with a
           fellow inmate about his wife. "We used to have such fun at the seaside burying each other in the soft
           white sand!"
           "Must have been nice!" said his cell mate.
           "Yeah!" said the Polack. "When I get out I think I'll go back and dig her up!"

              How many Polacks are needed for an electrical repair job?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Seven: one to be the negative pole, one to be the positive pole, and five to keep them apart!

           Do you know why we have a Polish pope?
               During the conference of cardinals, when they were trying to choose a successor to John Paul the
           First, the conference was deadlocked at three candidates.
               Then one of the Italian cardinals who had been to America suggested, "Look, in the United
           States when they have elections, they always have a poll!" And that decided the matter.

                Finkelbaum and Protski worked as chefs in a fine hotel.
                In time they quit and Finkelbaum opened up a Jewish restaurant. Protski opened up an eatery
           directly across the street.
                Within six months Finkelbaum's was thriving, and Protski's was practically out of business. He
           decided to ask his old friend for advice.
           "It's easy," said Finkelbaum. "You gotta excite the customers. One day I have my waitresses go
           topless, the next day I have them go bottomless."
                Protski, exhilarated by the idea, rushed back to his restaurant and called his waitresses together.
           "From now on," announced the Polack, "one day you are all gonna go topless, the next day
           bottomless. So, tomorrow no baboushkas! The next day, no boots!"

                A Polack went to the dentist. The diagnosis was grim. "All the teeth need to be removed, my
           friend," said the dentist.
           "My God!" said the Polack.
           "But no need to worry, it won't hurt a bit. We'll fix you up with an immediate denture -- it will be
           fitted straight into the sockets, it will look great, and it won't hurt at all."
           "My God!" said the Polack.
           "If you have any doubts you can phone Goldstein, the town's famous Jew. He had the same thing six
           months ago," the dentist told the worried Polack.
           "My God! My God!" said the Polack. "I'll phone Goldstein -- I know him -- and let you know."
                He phoned Mr. Goldstein and asked if there had been any pain with his new teeth.
                Goldstein replied, "Pain! In the last six months I've taken up rowing on Sundays with my
           grandchildren. Last Sunday, in the middle of the lake I lost one oar. As I reached over to get the oar,
           it floated away. The boat rocked, and I caught my balls in the rowlock -- that was the first time in six
           months I have forgotten the pain of my new teeth!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                    Chapter #9
                                    Chapter title: The Very alphabet of Love
           4 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011040
              ShortTitle: COME09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




               BELOVED OSHO,
               I LOVE YOU, AND I HAVE BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE AND BEEN HURT. I AM AFRAID. WILL YOU
               HELP ME?


                Mimi Levinson, love never hurts anybody. It is something else pretending to be love which feels
           hurt. Unless you see this you will go on moving in the same circle again and again. Love can hide
           many unloving things in you. Man has been very clever, cunning, in deceiving others and in
           deceiving himself too. He puts beautiful labels on ugly things, he covers wounds with flowers. This
           is the first thing you have to go into.
                Love ordinarily is not love, it is lust. And lust is bound to feel hurt, because to desire somebody
           as an object is to offend. It is an insult, it is violent. When you move with lust towards somebody,
           how long can you pretend it is love? Something which is superficial will look like love, but scratch a
           little bit and hidden behind it is sheer lust. Lust is animalistic. To look at anybody with lust is to
           insult, humiliate, is to reduce the other person to a thing, to a commodity. No person ever likes to be
           used; that's the most ugly thing you can do to anybody. No person is a commodity, no person is a
           means towards any end.
                This is the difference between lust and love. Lust uses the other person to fulfill some of your
           desires. The other is only used, and when the use is complete you can throw the other person away.
           It has no more use to you; its function is fulfilled. This is the greatest immoral act in existence: using
           the other as a means.
                Love is just the opposite of it: respecting the other as an end unto himself or herself. Had you
           loved anybody, Mimi, as an end unto himself, then there would have been no feeling of hurt; you
           would have become more enriched through it. Love makes everybody rich.
                Secondly, love can only be true if there is no ego hiding behind it; otherwise love becomes only
           an ego trip. It is a subtle way to dominate. And one has to be very conscious because this desire to
           dominate is very deep rooted. It never comes naked; it always comes hidden behind beautiful
           garments, ornaments.
                Parents never say that their children are their possessions, they never say that they want to
           dominate the children, but that's actually what they do. They say they want to help, they say they
           want them to be intelligent, to be healthy, to be blissful, but -- and that "but" is a great but -- it has to
           be according to their ideas. Even their happiness has to be decided by their ideas; they have to be
           happy according to their expectations. They have to be intelligent, but at the same time obedient too.
           This is asking for the impossible.
                The intelligent person cannot be obedient; the obedient person has to lose some of his
           intelligence. Intelligence can say yes only when it feels deep agreement with you. It cannot say yes
           just because you are bigger, more powerful, authoritative -- a father, a mother, a priest, a politician.
           It cannot say yes just because of the authority that you carry with you. Intelligence is rebellious, and
           no parents would like their children to be rebellious. Rebellion will be against their hidden desire to
           dominate.
                Husbands say they love their wives, but it is just domination. They are so jealous, so possessive,
           how can they be loving? Wives go on saying they love their husbands, but twenty-four hours they
           are creating hell; in every possible way they are reducing the husband to something ugly.
                The henpecked husband is an ugly phenomenon. And the problem is that first the wife reduces
           the husband to a henpecked husband and then she loses interest in him, because who can remain
           interested in a henpecked husband? He seems to be worthless; he does not seem to be man enough.
                First the husband tries to make the wife just his possession, and once she is a possession he loses
           interest. There is some hidden logic in it: his whole interest was to possess; now that is finished, and
           he would like to try some other women so he can again go on another trip of possession.
                Beware of these ego numbers. Then you will feel hurt, because the person you are trying to
           possess is bound to revolt in some way or other, is bound to sabotage your tricks, strategies, because
           nobody loves anything more than freedom. Even love is secondary to freedom; freedom is the
           highest value. Love can be sacrificed for freedom, but freedom cannot be sacrificed for love. And
           that's what we have been doing for centuries: sacrificing freedom for love. Then there is antagonism,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conflict, and every opportunity is used to hurt each other.
                Mimi, you say to me, "I love you, and I have been in love before and been hurt...." If you love
           me in the same way as you have loved before, you will be very hurt. In fact, all your past hurts will
           be nothing compared to this hurt; this will be the greatest wound in your life. Then you will never
           think of love again, because with me there can be no relationship of lust, no relationship of ego, no
           relationship of any subtle kind of domination. With me the only possibility is of the purest love, of a
           love that is almost a prayer. And then there is no question of your being hurt.
                Love in its purest form is a sharing of joy. It asks nothing in return, it expects nothing; hence
           how can you feel hurt? When you don't expect, there is no possibility of being hurt. Then whatsoever
           comes is good; if nothing comes, that too is good. Your joy was to give, not to get. Then one can
           love from thousands of miles away; there is no need to be physically present even.
           Love is a spiritual phenomenon; lust is physical.
           Ego is psychological; love is spiritual.
                Mimi, you don't know what love is. You will have to learn the very alphabet of love. You will
           have to start from the very beginning, from scratch; otherwise you will be hurt again and again. And
           remember, except you nobody else is responsible. Now even in this question you are trying to lay
           your trip on me! You are asking: "I am afraid. Will you help me?"
                Only you can help yourself. How can I help you? I cannot destroy your ego. If you cling to it,
           nobody can destroy it; if you have invested in it, nobody can destroy it. I can only share my
           understanding with you. The buddhas can only show the way; then YOU have to go, then you have
           to follow the way. I cannot lead you holding your hand in my hand.
                That's what you would like: you would like to play the game of being dependent on me. And
           remember, the person who plays the game of being dependent will take revenge. Soon he would like
           in some way for the other to be dependent on him or on her.
                If the wife is dependent on the husband for money, then the wife makes the husband dependent
           on her for other things. It is a mutual arrangement. They both become crippled, they both become
           paralyzed; they cannot exist without each other. Even the idea that the husband was happy without
           the wife hurts the wife, that he was laughing with the boys in the club hurts her. She is not interested
           in his happiness; in fact she cannot believe: "How did he dare to be happy without me? He has to
           depend on me!"
                The husband does not feel good that the wife was laughing with somebody, was enjoying, was
           cheerful. He wants all her cheerfulness to be totally possessed; it is HIS property. The dependent
           person will make you dependent also.
                My sannyasins are not dependent on me; I am not dependent on them. This is a relationship of
           total freedom. They are here because of themselves; I am here because of myself. It is beautiful that
           somehow we have coincided to be here in this place -- but nobody is dependent on anybody else.
                There are a few sannyasins who think that they are dependent on me. And how do I know they
           think that? I have come to know from their questions and their letters. They write angry letters to me,
           angry questions to me. Then I know that in some way they must be feeling dependent on me -- this is
           their revenge. Otherwise there is no need to be angry with me. I do not possess you -- you can leave
           at any moment. Not even for a single moment will you be prevented from leaving. It is absolutely up
           to you to be here or not to be here, to be a sannyasin or not to be a sannyasin. I am not obliging you
           to be a sannyasin, I am not obliging you by initiating you into sannyas. It is my joy.
                Remember, it is my joy to share my vision with you and it is your joy to commune with me.
           Otherwise there is no dependence at all.
                Even in your question, Mimi, you are repeating your old pattern: "I am afraid...."
                Fear is never love, and love is never afraid. There is nothing to lose for love. Why should love be
           afraid? Love only gives. It is not business, so there is no question of loss or profit. Love enjoys
           giving, just as flowers enjoy releasing their fragrance. Why should they be afraid? Why should you
           be afraid? Remember, fear and love never exist together; they cannot. No coexistence is possible.
           Fear is just the opposite of love.
                People ordinarily think hate is the opposite of love. That is wrong, absolutely wrong. Fear is the
           exact opposite of love. Hate is love standing on its head; it is a SHIRSHASAN, a headstand, but it is
           not opposite to love. The person who hates simply shows he still loves. Love has gone sour, but love
           is still there. Fear is the real opposite. Fear means that now the whole love energy has disappeared.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Love is outgoing, fearlessly reaching to the other, tremendously trusting itself that it will be
           received -- and it is always received. Fear is shrinking within yourself, closing yourself, closing all
           the doors, all the windows so no sun, no wind, no rain can reach you -- you are so afraid. You are
           entering into your grave alive.
           Fear is a grave, love is a temple.
           In love life comes to its ultimate peak.
           In fear life falls to the level of death.
           Fear stinks, love is fragrant.
               Why should you be afraid? Be afraid of your ego, be afraid of your lust, be afraid of your greed,
           be afraid of your possessiveness; be afraid of your jealousy -- but there is no question of being afraid
           of love.
           Love is divine!
           Love is like light.
           When there is light, darkness cannot exist.
           When there is love, fear cannot exist.
               Hence I am against all words like "God-fearing," because the person who is God-fearing is not
           religious at all, although in all the languages of the world such words exist or such phrases exist; the
           religious person is known as God-fearing. That is the most stupid idea one can imagine. The
           religious person is God-LOVING, not God-fearing. The God-fearing person will be angry at God.
               Friedrich Nietzsche is God-FEARING, that's why in his outburst of anger he says, "God is dead."
           You have heard this statement, but it is only half of the statement. The full statement is worth
           consideration, because unless you know the full statement you will not understand the meaning of
           the first half. The full statement is: God is dead, and now man is free. The second part shows reality:
           he is so afraid of God that even his presence seems to be anti-freedom.
               And not only Nietzsche is convinced of this fact, that God's presence means fear; there have been
           other thinkers who have simply denied God. The Charvakas in India, the Epicureans in Greece --
           they all denied God for the simple reason that if God exists, man cannot be free. If God has made
           you, he can destroy you at any moment. You are just a puppet, and what right has the puppet? The
           strings are in God's hands: you are dancing his dance, it is nothing to do with you. He pulls this way
           and that way, and you start dancing. You are just manipulated. This will create fear, and unless God
           is dead, man cannot be free of this fear. Nietzsche seems to be the really religious person according
           to the traditional idea of God-fearing.
               God-loving is a totally different phenomenon. Jesus says, "God is love." If God is love, how can
           you be afraid of God?
               Omar Khayyam, one of the Sufi mystics, says in his RUBAIYAT: "Don't be worried about your
           small sins. They are so small that God, out of his love, cannot even count them. And God is
           compassionate, he will forgive you." Omar Khayyam says, "I guarantee that you will be forgiven,
           don't be worried. What you are doing are just small things, and God cannot take note of these small
           things. He cannot be so nasty, so small minded, so pigheaded!"
               Omar Khayyam is right. God means love, God means forgiveness; there is no question of fear.
           But people are afraid of God also for the simple reason that their God is again a projection of
           ambition.
               The day Jesus was going to be crucified, he gave a farewell party for his disciples -- The Last
           Supper. He was going to die the next day, and do you know what the disciples were asking? They
           were asking, "Lord, tell us one thing, because now this is the last time we will be able to ask you.
           You will be raised to divine glory, you will sit by the side of God on the golden throne, on the right
           hand of course. What will our positions be?"
               These twelve apostles, these twelve who had been so long with Jesus, remained utterly deaf,
           blind; they did not understood a single word. They may have heard him, but they had not listened.
           They were asking, "What will our positions be? Who will be next to you?" Jealousy, politics,
           ambition, ego! Now they were worried about who was going to be next to him -- who would be
           chosen as the most beloved disciple of Jesus.
               It is the same politics! It does not matter that it will be in paradise; the mind is the same. Then
           there will be the fear -- who is Jesus going to choose? All twelve cannot sit next to him; one person
           will be next to him. Who is this person?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Jesus must have wept -- the question was so stupid! And these are the apostles who created
           Christianity. These are the people who are the pillars of Christianity.
               And this is so in every religion, everywhere; small people gather around the enlightened masters.
           The enlightened master talks about his peak, the sunlit peak, and the disciples listen from their dark
           holes, and everything becomes distorted.
               Mimi, you ask me, "I am afraid. Will you help me?" That is a strategy. I never help anybody --
           you have to help yourself. I am available like a river is available, but if you are thirsty you have to
           help yourself. You have to come down to the river, you have to make a cup out of your hands, you
           have to take the water up to your mouth, you have to drink it.
           The river is available -- I am available.
               You can drink out of me as much as you want -- there will be no condition from my side -- but I
           cannot help you. In that very desire you are creating your old gestalt, your old pattern: "Will you
           help me?" And then immediately you will start complaining that help has not arrived, or it is not
           according to your needs, your expectations, or it is not enough, as much as is needed. You will start
           complaining, you will become grumpy. That's how you must have destroyed all your love
           experiences before. Please don't destroy it again.
               Here, be loving. I am available. Drink as much as you can, take as much as you can. Remove all
           the hindrances -- and that is all your responsibility. I am doing my work; about my own work I am
           absolutely open and available, but that's all I can do. I am like a light: I can show you the path, but
           you have to walk.
               My feeling is, Mimi, that you have not yet taken any mature step in your life; you have remained
           immature, UNgrown up, you are still behaving like a child. You would like a father figure -- I am
           not. Then you can go to the Polack pope! The word "pope" means father; in Italian it sounds even
           better, PAPA. It is exactly the same as "papa" in English; it means father. These are all childish
           desires: calling God, "the Father"; then calling his representative in the Vatican, "Father"; then
           calling his representative in your local church, "Father." These are just substitutes. You want some
           father figure to take care of you; you don't want to take responsibility.
               This is my first requirement: the people who are around me have to be absolutely responsible for
           themselves. Nobody else is responsible. There is no church here, no father figure here, no creed, no
           dogma. Everybody is here out of his own personal love, out of his own individual understanding.
               To be totally responsible is the beginning of freedom, and freedom is the highest phenomenon.
           Out of the peaks of freedom flows the Ganges of love. Attain to freedom, and love will surround you
           naturally, spontaneously. And then love has never hurt anybody -- how can it hurt you?
               Something else is masquerading -- uncover it. At least be naked in front of yourself, and then by
           and by be naked, totally naked, to your friends, to your lovers. And you will be surprised: to be true
           is such a joy, to be authentic is such a blessing; there is nothing compared to it.
               Love can make a great celebration out of your life -- but only love, not lust, not ego, not
           possessiveness, not jealousy, not dependence.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM CONVINCED THAT THE RICH EXPLOIT THE MASSES. NOW YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT
              CAPITALISM IS THE BEST SYSTEM FOR FREEDOM. I HAVE NEVER SUPPORTED RUSSIAN
              TOTALITARIANISM, BUT I THOUGHT THAT MAO ZEDONG IMPROVED LIFE FOR THE MAJORITY
              IN CHINA.
              YOUR STATEMENT ABOUT ANTI-CAPITALISTS BEING JEALOUS RINGS TRUE, BUT DON'T
              SOME RICH CAPITALISTS USE THEIR POWER TO EXPLOIT OTHERS THROUGH SUCH MEANS
              AS MONOPOLIES, SELLING AT A LOSS FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME IN ORDER TO RUIN
              SMALLER BUSINESSMEN, ACQUIRING MORE LAND THAN THEY NEED, AND THUS DENYING
              POOR PEOPLE THE ABILITY TO OWN AND USE LAND, ET CETERA?
              ALTHOUGH THE SOVIET-BLOC COUNTRIES RESTRICT FREEDOM, ARE NOT THE SOCIALIST
              AND COMMUNIST PARTIES IN THE WEST DEDICATED TO MORE PERSONAL FREEDOM --
              THAT IS, FREEDOM FROM THE POWERFUL, MANIPULATIVE, RICH CAPITALIST?


              Dhyan John, it is true that the rich exploit the masses, but the powerful in Russia exploit the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           masses in the same way, and the powerful in China also exploit the masses. Only the name has
           changed. Now the capitalist is not called a capitalist in Russia or China; now the Communist Party
           functions instead. The people who belong to the Communist Party, the power elite, they exploit.
               So the question is not who exploits, the question is: unless we produce so much that the need for
           exploitation disappears, exploitation will continue. Names will change; structures will be different.
               Before capitalism arrived on the scene there was feudalism, and then the kings and the queens
           and their prime ministers were exploiting. Capitalism started a different pattern of exploitation.
           Feudalism disappeared, but the exploitation continued. Communism has changed the structure again,
           but the exploitation continues.
               It is time to understand that two things are needed, and the most important is that the earth should
           be provided with more richness than it needs. Only then will exploitation disappear; otherwise not.
           The educated will exploit the uneducated; how can you prevent it? In India the exploitation is there.
           The educated will exploit the uneducated; the brahmin will exploit the sudra, the untouchable; the
           politician will destroy and exploit the non-political masses.
               If water is available nobody accumulates water, but if water is scarce then people will start
           accumulating. And of course those who are powerful -- and there will be some who will always be
           more powerful than others -- they will accumulate water for the times when water will become so
           scarce that people will be dying without water.
               Right now, in poor countries the air is not polluted -- nobody bothers about it. But sooner or later
           in cities like New York, Los Angeles, the rich people will start finding ways to have more oxygen
           for themselves. The poor will suffer from the pollution, not the rich. And by "rich" I don't mean only
           the rich who have more wealth, I mean the rich in any way -- the educated who have more education,
           the politician who has more power. In any way, whosoever is powerful will have the first right.
               In the feudal days the king would have the first right about everything. If a beautiful girl was
           born she would first go to the king's palace; if he rejected her, then somebody else could have her.
           The first fruits would go to the king, the first flowers would go to the king.
               Everything is bound to go to the hands of the powerful. For example, if the earth becomes too
           polluted then the rich and the powerful will be the first who will start moving to the moon or to
           Mars. Of course everybody cannot go there; it will be too costly to live there. Only the few will be
           able to afford it, and they will dominate the earth from there.
               The question is two-sided. One is the extrovert side, that the earth has to be provided with more
           facilities than are available. And it can be done by science today; there is no problem about it.
           Science can produce as much wealth as we need or even more, so that is not a big problem. It is not
           really a political problem; it is changing more towards being a scientific problem: more technology,
           more industry, more science, and in tune with ecology. Then the earth need not in any way suffer
           through exploitation.
               This is the outside of the problem, and the inside of the problem is to change the greed to have
           more than others, because even if the earth has enough there will be mad people -- the braggarts, the
           egoists -- who would like to say that they have more than you have.
               Krishna is said to have had sixteen thousand wives. That was the time when a person's wealth
           and power was measured by wives, how many wives he had. The more wives you could afford, the
           richer you were. And obviously, how could a poor man afford sixteen thousand wives? Even to
           afford one is very difficult!
               And I don't think that this is just a story; it must have been true -- because even in the beginning
           of this century, the twentieth century, the Nizam of Hyderabad had five hundred wives. So if in the
           twentieth century a person can have five hundred wives, what is wrong in having thirty-two times
           more? And that was five thousand years ago, so it doesn't seem to be improbable or impossible. It
           was traditional in the Nizam's family to have at least five hundred wives so that you could say that
           you were not an ordinary man.
               So from the inside, the greed has to disappear. On the outside, more science is needed. On the
           inside, more meditativeness is needed -- or you can call it science AND religion, it is the same.
           Science will help to produce more, and religion will help to make you less greedy. This is the
           solution that is going to help, not communism, not socialism.
               And to me, capitalism is the only state where we can experiment with all these things; in a
           communist society it is impossible. There are nearabout fifty sannyasins in Russia, but they cannot
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wear orange, they cannot wear the mala -- they cannot show that they are sannyasins. They meditate
           but they have to meditate underground in some friend's basement; they cannot make it public. They
           cannot publish a book of mine -- and they want to publish books there. They have translated at least
           five books into Russian -- handwritten, typed, cyclostyled. They are mixing with thousands of
           people, but underground. If even a single copy is seized they will be in trouble.
                Now, in such a society, how can you think of tackling the problems to change them? There is no
           freedom to think at all. And the same is true about Mao Zedong's China. Just as Russians insulted
           Joseph Stalin after his death...when he was alive they could not say anything because he was too
           powerful. To say anything against him only meant one thing: death. You would disappear the next
           day and you would never be heard of again.
                Now the same is happening to Mao Zedong. Now his portraits are being removed, his statues are
           being removed, his name is being brought down. Soon you will see that Mao Zedong has become an
           ugly name in China, just as Stalin has become an ugly name in Russia. In China Mao Zedong's name
           is going to become just the same. Why? Why this revenge? If Mao Zedong has done such great work
           and helped the masses, why should the masses behave with such enmity? It was not really a help, it
           was just an imposition. Forcing people violently to do something is not going to help. Any society
           that creates slavery is not going to help humanity.
                And you say to me: "Your statement about anti-capitalists being jealous rings true, but don't
           some rich capitalists use their power to exploit others through such means as monopolies...?" Yes,
           they do, but somebody else will be doing the same -- the communists will do it.
                And you ask, "Are not the socialist and communist parties in the West dedicated to more
           personal freedom...?" Until they achieve power, everybody is dedicated to more freedom. The
           Russian Communist Party was also dedicated to absolute freedom, and what came to exist was
           absolute slavery. The Russian Communist Party was dedicated to absolute freedom, but the moment
           you get the power you are the same type of people. Your communists and your socialists are not
           meditators, they are not buddhas.
                Only a buddha will not change; whether he gets the power or not he will remain the same. But
           your so-called socialists and communists, once they get the power will behave in the same way; it is
           absolutely predictable. When you don't have power then it is different.
           It happened in India....
                The followers of Mahatma Gandhi were great servants of the people. They lived in poverty,
           praised poverty, and even started calling the poor, DHARIDRA NARAYAN -- the real people of
           God, God's people. And when they came to power, all that changed. Immediately all that changed;
           all their service disappeared. They became masters and rulers, and they started exploiting more than
           anybody else. Even the Britishers have not exploited this country so much as the Gandhians have
           done. This country has never been in such a dark space as it is today. The whole responsibility goes
           to Gandhian followers, and they were all good people when they were not in power.
                Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
                The people who are communists and socialists -- who are they? They are by-products of the same
           society, with the same ambitions, with the same desires.
                Once Diogenes saw a man being led to the gallows by the magistrates and officers of justice. The
           criminal had stolen a silver cup from the public treasury. A bystander asked him what was going on.
           "Nothing unusual," the philosopher replied. "It is merely the big thieves bringing the little thief to
           justice."
                Whosoever is in power becomes the big thief and starts torturing the small thieves.
                We have to change the outer world by more science, and the inner world by more religion. Then
           only can there be a real revolution, not otherwise.

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                     Chapter #10
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                        Chapter title: Everybody Can Laugh
           5 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011050
              ShortTitle: COME10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU SAY FEAR IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE. HAVE YOU ANY PRACTICAL OR IMPRACTICAL
              SUGGESTIONS HOW ONE CAN DROP FEAR?


                Atta, love is existential; fear is only the absence of love. And the problem with any absence is
           that you cannot do anything directly about it.
                Fear is like darkness. What can you do about darkness directly? You cannot drop it, you cannot
           throw it out, you cannot bring it in. There is no way to relate with darkness without bringing light in.
           The way to darkness goes via light. If you want darkness, put the light off; if you don't want
           darkness, put the light on. But you will have to do something with light, not with darkness at all.
                The same is true about love and fear: love is light, fear is darkness. The person who becomes
           obsessed with fear will never be able to resolve the problem. It is like wrestling with darkness -- you
           are bound to be exhausted sooner or later, tired and defeated. And the miracle is, defeated by
           something which is not there at all! And when one is defeated, one certainly feels how powerful the
           darkness is, how powerful the fear is, how powerful the ignorance is, how powerful the unconscious
           is. They are not powerful at all -- they don't exist in the first place.
                Never fight with the nonexistential. That's where all the ancient religions got lost. Once you start
           fighting with the nonexistential you are doomed. Your small river of consciousness will be lost in the
           nonexistential desert -- and it is infinite.
                Hence, Atta, the first thing to remember is: don't make a problem out of fear. Love is the
           question. Something can be done about love immediately; there is no need to wait or postpone. Start
           loving! And it is a natural gift from God to you, or from the whole, whichever term you like. If you
           are brought up in a religious way, then God; if you are not brought up in a religious way, then the
           whole, the universe, the existence.
                Remember, love is born with you; it is your intrinsic quality. All that is needed is to give it a way
           -- to make a passage for it, to let it flow, to allow it to happen. We are all blocking it, holding it back.
           We are so miserly about love, for the simple reason that we have been taught a certain economics.
           That economics is perfectly right about the outside world: if you have so much money and you go on
           giving that money to people, soon you will be a beggar, soon you will have to beg yourself. By
           giving money you will lose it. This economics, this arithmetic has entered into our blood, bones and
           marrow. It is true about the outside world -- nothing is wrong in it -- but it is not true about the inner
           journey. There, a totally different arithmetic functions: the more you give, the more you have; the
           less you give, the less you have. If you don't give at all you will lose your natural qualities. They will
           become stagnant, closed; they will go underground. Finding no expression they will shrink and die.
                It is like a musician: if he goes on playing on his guitar or on his flute, more and more music will
           come. It is not that by playing on the flute he is losing music -- he is gaining. It is like a dancer: the
           more you dance, the more efficient you become. It is like painting -- the more you paint, the better
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the painting.
               Once, while Picasso was painting, a critic and friend stopped him in the middle and said, "One
           question has been bothering me and I cannot wait anymore, I cannot contain it. I want to know: you
           have painted hundreds of paintings; which is your best painting?"
               Picasso said, "This one that I am painting right now."
               The critic said, "This one? And what about the others that you have painted before?"
               Picasso said, "They are all contained in it. And the next one that I do will be even better than this
           -- because the more you paint the greater is your skill, the greater is your art."
               Such is love, such is joy! Share it, Atta. In the beginning it will come only like dewdrops,
           because the miserliness has been very long, very ancient. But once even dewdrops of love have been
           shared, you will soon become capable of sharing the whole oceanic flood of your being -- and you
           contain infinities. Once you have known the higher mathematics of giving and gaining, you will find
           that just by giving you gain. Not that something is returned; in the very giving you are becoming
           richer. Then love starts spreading, radiating. And one day you will be surprised: where is the fear?
           Even if you want to find it you will not be able to find it at all.
               So it is not a question of dropping the fear; nobody has ever been able to drop it. It is only a
           question of sharing your love, and the fear is dropped on its own accord.
               You ask me: "Have you any practical or impractical suggestions...?" Practical suggestions, no --
           that is not my business at all. Impractical suggestions, yes -- and many!

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE ARE SO MANY RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD WHICH CAUSE SO MANY DIVISIONS
              AMONGST PEOPLE, ALTHOUGH ALL RELIGIONS HAVE GOOD THINGS IN THEM.
              WHY CAN'T THERE BE A RELIGION WHICH HAS THE GOOD THINGS OF ALL RELIGIONS,
              WHICH IS ACCEPTED UNIVERSALLY AND WHICH BREAKS DOWN ALL DIVISIONS, THUS
              CAUSING A WORLD FRATERNITY? KINDLY SHOW THE WAY.


               Ashoka Agrawal, the first thing to be understood is: there are many types of people in the world,
           and they can't belong to one religion. It is inevitable that there will be many religions. To impose one
           religion on the whole of humanity will be ugly, it will destroy the immense richness that variety
           brings. Just think of a world where only THE BIBLE exists -- no VEDAS, no UPANISHADS, no
           KORAN; no DHAMMAPADA, no BHAGAVADGITA, no TAO TE CHING. It will be a very poor
           world. The world certainly needs a brotherhood, a fraternity, a great love, a universality, but that
           cannot come by imposing a certain religion. Any religion that you choose will be applicable only to
           a few people, and the majority will feel imprisoned.
               For example, just look around.... Mahavira has a certain appeal, but only to a few people. I
           myself would not like the life that he lived. Still I say he lived beautifully, as far as he is concerned.
           He lived beautifully, authentically, but he is not the person that I would like to follow. He lived
           naked, fasting for days at a time. To me that seems to be a kind of self-torture.
               Animals live naked -- they can, because they have a totally different kind of skin, a thicker skin.
           And moreover, whenever winter comes their bodies start growing thicker hair. Man is no longer an
           animal, he has lost that hairy growth on his body. To leave him in the cold, standing naked, is an
           unnecessary masochistic attitude. It may suit a few people, because people are different in many
           ways. It must have suited Mahavira -- nobody was imposing the idea on him to live naked. He may
           have had a certain different kind of body structure, different hormones, hotter blood, a thicker skin.
               I am not saying that he should not have lived naked, and I am not saying that there is nothing
           beautiful in it. If somebody enjoys it, if somebody feels beautiful in it, it is good, but it cannot be
           made into any universal religion. The whole of humanity shivering in the cold, in great fraternity,
           chattering their teeth, will not be a very good scene. I cannot support it.
               Buddha ate only one time every day. It may suit a few people's bodies; in fact, it cannot suit the
           majority -- because man has come from the monkeys, that's what scientific research proves. And you
           can watch the monkeys on the trees: they are all Americans, munching the whole day! To force a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           monkey to stick to one meal a day will destroy his life. In fact, only lions eat one time a day, because
           their diet is nonvegetarian. Only nonvegetarians can live on one meal a day. The vegetarian cannot
           survive, or even if he survives, the survival will be only at the minimum level of his energies. The
           vegetarian has to eat many times, at least two times and at the most five times. One meal a day is not
           good for vegetarians, and if you are pure vegetarians, just living on vegetables and fruits, then you
           will have to eat many more times because larger quantities have to be taken and absorbed. Meat is
           digested food; the animal has already done the work, but eating vegetables you have to do the whole
           work of digesting.
                Now, it is very strange that Mahavira and Buddha are both in favor of vegetarianism, and still
           they insist on one meal a day. I think the reason is that they both came from nonvegetarian families,
           they both belonged to the race of the warriors. They must have become accustomed to eating meat,
           and so it was easy for them. But if people who have lived for centuries on vegetables try to live on
           one meal a day, they will be living in a state of undernourishment, malnutrition. And it not only
           disturbs your body, it disturbs your mental faculties too. You can see it happening all over the world:
           only very rarely does a vegetarian win a Nobel Prize -- it affects your intelligence. You become a
           vegetable! If you are uneducated, you are a cabbage, or at the most a cauliflower. A cauliflower is a
           cabbage with a college education!
                People are different, their systems are different. For example, women and men cannot belong to
           the same system. The women can accumulate more fat, men cannot; that is a biological difference.
           The woman needs it because when she becomes pregnant and a child is growing in her womb she
           cannot eat well. She starts vomiting, eating becomes difficult, she feels sick and nauseous. For those
           emergencies the body accumulates layers of fat. Man has no need to be fat because he is not going to
           become pregnant; hence man's physiology is different. That's why women can fast very easily.
                This is my observation: the Jaina nuns are far more true to their religion than the Jaina monks.
           The Jaina nuns can fast very easily; they accumulate fat. And what is fasting in fact? When you fast
           you are eating your own meat; that's why when you fast one kilo of weight disappears every day.
           Where does it go? You have eaten it! Fasting, in fact, is a nonvegetarian activity -- I don't believe in
           it! It is eating yourself! The woman can fast more easily; the man cannot -- he does not accumulate
           so much fat.
                Then in different climates, in different geographies, different kinds of things are bound to
           happen. You cannot have one religion around the earth. Yes, you can have one kind of religiousness,
           but not one religion.
                You can see gathered around me here all kinds of people from all countries, all races -- but we
           are not a new religion. I am not trying to create one religion; we are just creating a quality:
           religiousness, meditativeness, prayerfulness, trust, gratitude towards existence. Yes, on these things
           humanity can become a great brotherhood, but about details many things are bound to remain
           different -- and they should remain different. There is no reason to destroy this variety. It will be like
           when you love roses, so you start growing only roses.
                One of my friends is a lover of roses. He has a very big garden. Because he loves roses, in his
           garden there are only roses -- no other flowers, no other plants. When I went to see his garden I told
           him, "This is not a garden, this looks like a field. Just as somebody grows wheat, you grow roses.
           But this is not a garden!"
                He was a little bit shocked, but his manager understood it immediately. He said, "You are right;
           that's my feeling too. For years we have forgotten about the garden. We are selling roses; we are
           treating roses as a crop."
                When you have only roses, the variety, the multidimensionality is lost. The world will be really
           very poor if you have only Mahaviras or only Christs, or only Buddhas or only Krishnas. Jesus is
           beautiful with his cross, but so many Jesuses all trying to hang themselves on their crosses won't
           make a beautiful scene. It will be like a nightmare! Krishna is beautiful playing on his flute, but how
           many Krishnas can you allow...? If the whole world is playing the flute you will go mad!
                I accept multidimensionality in every field of life.
                Ashoka Agrawal, you say: "There are so many religions in the world which cause so many
           divisions amongst people...." The divisions are not needed; that is human stupidity. If you love the
           rose, good; there is no question of fighting with you. I love the lotus and you love the rose, but we
           both are lovers of flowers. That's the meeting point, that we both love flowers. You love Christ, that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is one flower; I love Buddha, that is another flower; somebody else loves Lao Tzu, that is another
           flower. We are all friends because we love flowers. And I can appreciate your rose, you can
           appreciate my lotus. There is no need to create any divisions.
               The divisions come from man's political mind; it has nothing to do with religions. It is man's
           politics that brings divisions, conflicts, quarrels, wars, bloodshed. The whole history of humanity is
           full of calamities created in the name of religion, but not created by religious people.
               A Buddha, a Zarathustra, a Chuang Tzu -- these are not the people who create trouble. It is the
           priests and the politicians. They are a totally different kind of person, a different species, but they
           hide behind masks. They hide behind religious doctrines, churches, and they start playing their
           games in a very subtle way. The manyness of religions is not bad, but divisions in the name of
           religion are ugly. That simply shows man is not religious yet.
               You say that "Although all religions have good things in them...."
               True, but they also have many bad things in them. Each religion has some good things and some
           bad things, and the problem is, those good things and those bad things are not separable; you cannot
           separate them. You CANNOT separate them. You cannot choose just the good and leave the bad;
           that's impossible. If you choose the good, the bad comes in through the backdoor.
               For example, if you choose the idea of fate.... Many religions believe in the idea of fate. It has
           something good in it because it helps you to relax, it helps you to trust existence, it helps you to be
           unworried. But then there is something bad in it too: it makes you lazy, lousy. It makes you Indian!
           It makes you slaves, it makes you accept any humiliation.
               For twenty-two centuries India has been in slavery for the simple reason that it believes in fate.
           Now, how can you separate these two things? If everything happens according to God, it will give
           you a few good things. You will be able to tolerate, to accept many miseries, sufferings, with
           equanimity, with a certain tranquility, calmness, quietness. That will give you strength, integrity, a
           grace, but then you will also become a slave. Anybody can dominate you, anybody can exploit you.
           And the same is true about every other idea.
               For example, Jainas believe that life is dominated by the theory of karma, and not only Jainas but
           Hindus and Buddhists too. All the three great religions of India believe in the theory of karma -- that
           whatsoever you are now, you are the by-product of your past karmas. You have something to fulfill.
           You have to suffer if you have done anything bad and you will be rewarded if you have done
           anything good.
               Now there is the Jaina sect of Acharya Tulsi, Terapanth. It says that because of the theory of
           karma, one should not interfere in anybody's life. For example, somebody is dying of thirst in a
           desert, and a Jaina monk from the sect of Acharya Tulsi comes by. If the man begs for water, the
           follower of Acharya Tulsi has to remain utterly cool, indifferent, because the man is suffering his
           karma. You should not interfere; interference is bad. If you give him water, then he will have to
           suffer someday again. You cannot escape from the inevitability of your karma, so why postpone? Let
           him be finished with it! You go on your way. Let him die, let him suffer. This is a logical
           consequence of the idea. Moreover, they say, if you save him, if you give him water and he is saved
           and tomorrow he commits a murder, then you will also be responsible for that murder; without you
           the murder would not have happened at all. Then YOU will suffer in your next life for a murder that
           you have not done, but in a way you have been part of it. So it is better not to interfere for his sake
           and for your own sake. It is a beautiful theory but it has also a dark side to it. You have heard the
           saying that every dark cloud has a silver lining. I would like to remind you that every silver lining
           also has a dark cloud to it.
               Yes, Ashoka Agrawal, the religions have good things in them, that is true, but those good things
           also have bad sides. And a truly religious person will not bother about choosing; he will start living
           according to his consciousness. He will not follow Jesus, Buddha or Mahavira or Mohammed. To
           follow is to be political. Only the blind follow, the superstitious people follow, gullible people
           follow. The people who are intelligent try to understand Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna, but it is just an
           effort to understand the message, what these people were doing, what they were living. Finally, you
           have to discover your own inner light.
               That's what I call meditation: the moment you have discovered your own inner insight, you
           follow it. Then you are religious -- neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian. A religious
           quality, a fragrance will surround you. You will be more loving, more compassionate. And these will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be the qualities: you will be more authentic, more sincere, and you will be able to understand
           different points, different angles and the different paths leading to the same goal.
               Truth is like the sunlit top of Everest: thousands of paths can reach there; there is no need to
           make one asphalt road. Let people follow their own paths, let them discover. The joy of discovery is
           far greater than the joy of arrival. Let them discover their path, let them inquire, and let them follow
           their own insight. Of course they will fall many times, they will go astray; that is part of freedom.
           That is beautiful; nothing is wrong in it.
               You say: "Why can't there be a religion which has the good things of all religions...?"
               That is impossible; that will be just a hotchpotch. It will be the same as if you are suffering from
           an illness and you go to the druggist and tell him, "Make a medicine out of all the good medicines
           that you have got. All that is good in every medicine, put it into one combination." That combination
           will kill you! Certainly it will destroy your illness, because it will destroy you too. Your illness
           needs a certain medicine only; you don't need all the medicines and all that is good in all the
           medicines.
               You ask why one religion cannot be accepted universally. People have so many different minds,
           different attitudes, different visions, different lifestyles -- why should they live in one uniform way?
           They should be allowed freedom. Freedom is one of the greatest religious qualities. And if they are
           allowed freedom, then they are free to choose.
               If somebody loves the KORAN I don't think he will be able to love the TAO TE CHING; they
           are totally different visions. You can recite the KORAN; there is no need even to understand the
           meaning of it. The very reciting is tremendously beautiful, ecstatic. The KORAN IS really meant to
           be recited, not understood; there is not much to understand in it.
               Many Mohammedan friends, many of my Mohammedan sannyasins go on writing to me, "When
           are you going to speak on the KORAN?" I cannot really speak on it -- I have thought about it many
           times -- because there is not much to say about the KORAN. It is a song, it is a shout of joy. What
           can you say about it? You can dance and sing, you can recite, but nothing can be said about it.
               But one can go on commenting for years on the TAO TE CHING; it is inexhaustible. But you
           cannot sing it; there is no song in it. For those people who have a musical ear, the KORAN will be
           the right thing. For those people who have a philosophical bent, the TAO TE CHING will be of
           immense value. But to reduce the whole of humanity to one type is not a good idea.
               Ashoka Agrawal, man can become a family without destroying the variety. There is no need to
           destroy the different angles of seeing; they all enhance existence. The birds sing differently, the
           flowers bloom differently, the trees have different colors, shades, different leaves. Every river has its
           own song, every mountain has its own poetry, and so is the case with every individual.
               To me, each individual is far more valuable than society as a whole. Let me say it in this way: the
           individual is the goal, not the universal. The universal is only an abstract idea. Have you ever seen
           the universal? Have you ever met the universal? Have you ever said to the universal, "Hello! How
           are you?" You will always meet the individual. The individual is the real; the universal is only an
           abstraction, an idea.
               Don't be too interested in ideas; they don't exist. Remain more concrete, more realistic. Each
           individual has uniqueness, and I respect that uniqueness, and it is his freedom, whatsoever he
           chooses. And it is nobody else's business to give you a religion. It is not even your parents' business,
           or the priests', or the society's, or the state's. It is nobody's business to give you your religion.
           Everybody should be allowed to find his own religion. That will be the real state of fraternity. We
           have to respect the other with all his uniqueness. And we have to say to the other, "If it is good for
           you, you follow it; it is not good for me so I am going on another route. And if by chance we meet
           somewhere, it will be beautiful. I will share my journey with you, and you will share your journey
           with me, and we both will be enriched in that way."

           The third question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I LOVE IT WHEN YOU CALL A SPADE A SPADE -- OR THE POPE A POLACK. I REALIZE THE
              RELIGION OF MY CHILDHOOD HAUNTS ME STILL, WHEN I FEEL RELIEF IN LAUGHING AT THE
              POPE AND ALL HE REPRESENTS. THEN SOON MY LAUGHTER CHANGES TO ANGER AT HOW
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ORGANIZED RELIGION HAS EXPLOITED MY FRIENDS, MY FAMILY AND MYSELF.
              WHAT TO DO WITH THIS FEELING OF OUTRAGE?


                Anand Mary, it is natural. Humanity has been dominated by the priests and the politicians for so
           long that the people who are able to understand are bound to feel enraged, angry. They would like to
           destroy this whole stupidity that has prevailed all through human history. But just by being enraged,
           you are not going to help. The past is no more; nothing can be done about it. The future is not yet;
           nothing can be done about it either. All that we have got is the present, this moment. This very
           moment is all that is there!
                And my feeling is, Anand Mary, that when you laugh, your laughter is not total. Something
           remains locked up within you, something remains unexpressed, repressed. You are not going totally
           into the laughter; you are holding back something unknowingly, unconsciously. But now become
           conscious. You must be holding something; that which you are holding becomes anger. If you totally
           allow the laughter, the anger will disappear.
                It is the same as I was saying a few moments ago: when there is love, fear disappears; when there
           is laughter, anger disappears. Anger is because you are not allowing the laughter totally. It may be
           just because of your conditionings. We have so much conditioning that whatsoever we do is only
           half-hearted, fragmentary, and the remaining part remains imprisoned and wants to come out. That
           creates anger.
                It is not a question of your feeling angry against organized religions. They have been there, but
           now you are out of it. Why remain so related? Now you are a sannyasin, you are finished with your
           childhood religion that has been given to you. Now you have found your own kind of religiousness.
           You have found that which fits with you, that which is natural to you.
           Allow your laughter to be total.
                A total laughter is a rare phenomenon. When each cell of your body laughs, when each fiber of
           your being pulsates with joy, then it brings a great relaxation. There are a few activities which are
           immensely valuable; laughter is one of those activities. Singing and dancing, are also of the same
           quality, but laughter is the quickest. Dancing you will have to learn; it may take years. Singing is a
           talent; it may not be possible for you. Everybody can sing, but to sing a beautiful song, talent is
           needed. You can sing and drive your neighbors crazy!
                Once, in the middle of the night, a neighbor knocked on Mulla Nasruddin's door. Mulla
           staggered out of his bed, opened the door and asked, "What is the matter?"
                The man said, "Stop singing, otherwise I will go mad!"
                Mulla said, "What are you talking about? I stopped one hour ago!"
                That man had already gone mad. He could still hear that Mulla singing.
                Everybody can sing in that way. That's why people sing and hum in their bathrooms -- except
           me! I have never managed to hum or sing in the bathroom. I have tried, but utterly failed, for the
           simple reason that I am not repressing anything. If I want to sing I will sing anywhere, I will not care
           whether it is the bathroom or not. If I want to sing I will sing in the marketplace; whatsoever
           happens to others, that is their problem!
                Dancing, singing, laughing -- of these three, laughter is the most simple, the most natural and the
           most spontaneous phenomenon. You don't want to learn, you don't need to learn -- it is a natural gift.
           Everybody can laugh.
                And what happens when you laugh totally? What happens when you dance totally? The dancer
           disappears in a total dance. That's my definition of the total dance: the dancer disappears, dissolves;
           only the dancing remains. When there is only dancing and no dancer, this is the ultimate of
           meditation -- the taste of nectar, bliss, God, truth, ecstasy, freedom, freedom from the ego, freedom
           from the doer.
                And when there is no ego, no doer, and the dance is going on and there is no dancer, a great
           witnessing arises, a great awareness like a cloud of light surrounding you. You are watching it, you
           can see it happen. You are not the doer; it is happening on its own. God has taken possession of you.
           That's exactly the meaning of possession: when the ego is no longer there, God immediately enters
           and takes possession of you. You become a vehicle, a passage, a medium, a hollow bamboo, and on
           the lips of the whole the hollow bamboo becomes a flute.
                In laughter it happens more easily because it needs no talent, no learning, no discipline -- unless
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are a born donkey, and that's another matter. Laughter is simple -- but let it be total. It has been
           crippled. Society has stopped you from going totally into it. If you go into a total laughter people
           think it is hysterical. It is not, it is historical!
               Anand Mary, a few jokes for you -- and let it be a total laughter!

               A businessman was about to enter a hotel bar after a heavy day at the office when he was stopped
           by a nun who delivered him a lecture on the evils of alcohol, assuring him that drink was the most
           certain path to hell.
           "Sister," he interrupted at last, "I am a most temperate man and only have one drink every few days
           to relax me. One drink never hurt anyone. Even Jesus had the odd glass of wine! Besides, how can
           you condemn something you have never experienced? You should try just one drink yourself, just so
           you know what you are talking about!"
               The nun protested indignantly at this suggestion, but in the ensuing discussion found it more and
           more difficult to rebuke the logic of the executive. "Okay," she said in the end, "you have convinced
           me. I will try a small drink of whiskey -- may God forgive me! But you better bring it out to me in a
           teacup in case anyone sees me."
               The businessman agreed happily and entered the hotel. "A pint of beer, please," he called to the
           barman, "and one Scotch, in a teacup, if you don't mind."
               The barman looked up with a frown. "Don't tell me that bloody nun is still out there!"

               A man visiting a whorehouse was astonished at the quality of the girl he was assigned. He said,
           "You look so beautiful and have such fine manners. You actually look like you come from a very
           fine, wealthy family."
           "Actually, I do!" she said, "My family is Catholic and they are aristocrats."
               He then noted how intelligent she was and she told him she had graduated cum laude from
           Vassar. He noted then that she must have traveled worldwide because of her cultured ways. And she
           said that indeed she had traveled the world many times.
               Thereupon he said, "Well how in the world did you ever come to work in a place like this?"
           She replied, "Just lucky, I guess!"

               There was once a young man whose mind was filled with many burning questions about life. He
           learned of a wise old Catholic sage who lived on a high mountain, and decided to undertake the
           arduous journey.
               After many months of caravans, hiking and climbing, he came upon the hermit sitting outside a
           small cave as still and peaceful as any statue.
               The seeker knelt in front of him, bowed his head respectfully, and humbly asked, "Why am I
           here?"
           "Why indeed!" grumbled the old man. "I told them to send up a girl!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                   Chapter #11
                                     Chapter title: The Suchness of Things
           6 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011060
              ShortTitle: COME11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              LAO TZU IS SAID TO HAVE SAID:
              "KNOWING THE NOT-KNOWING --
              THAT IS HIGH.
              NOT KNOWING THE KNOWING --
              THAT IS AN ILLNESS.
              THE ONE WHO SUFFERS FROM THIS ILLNESS
              IS NOT ILL.
              THE WISE IS NOT ILL
              BECAUSE HE SUFFERS FROM THIS ILLNESS --
              THAT'S WHY HE IS NOT ILL."


                Eiko, Lao Tzu is one of those few masters who have tried to say the truth as accurately as it is
           humanly possible. He has made tremendous effort to bring the inexpressible to the world of
           expression, to bring the wordless experience within the confinement of small words.
                The words we know are mundane; they are meant for ordinary day-to-day use. And the
           experience that happens in absolute silence is absolutely beyond them. But still it has to be expressed
           -- if not expressed, at least hinted at.
                Lao Tzu's words are fingers pointing to the moon. Don't cling to the fingers. Forget the fingers
           and look at the moon, and great insight will descend upon you.
                There is no other scripture like the TAO TE CHING for the simple reason that each single word
           in it is immensely pregnant, not only with the unknown but also with the unknowable. Words have
           been used only as indicators, milestones showing the way, telling you to go ahead, not to stop there.
                These words are very significant, but at the first reading they will look very puzzling, confusing,
           paradoxical, contradictory -- unless you have tasted something of meditation. That taste makes
           everything clear.
                Meditation is like eyes. When you talk about light to a man who has eyes, he immediately
           understands what you mean. When you talk to the blind man about light, he HEARS the word but
           listens to nothing, understands nothing. His ears are perfect; the word reaches him but empty, with
           no content. The content has always to be put by your experience.
                These words are not ordinary words. Unless you come to them with great meditation it is
           impossible to figure out what is what. If you come with meditation, then things cannot be more
           simple than Lao Tzu's words are. He says, "Knowing the not-knowing -- that is high."
                The highest point is that nothing can be known, that everything is unknowable -- and not only
           unknown, but unknowable. A distinction has to be made between the unknown and the unknowable;
           these two words have to be pondered over. The first is the known. That which is known today was
           unknown yesterday. That which is unknown today may become known tomorrow or the day after
           tomorrow. Hence the difference between the known and the unknown. It is not a difference that
           makes any difference; it is only a question of time. There is no qualitative difference between the
           two.
                But the unknowable is qualitatively different. The unknowable is that which has never been
           known and will never be known; unknowability is its intrinsic nature.
                This is the most profound truth, that life in its totality, in its organic wholeness is absolutely a
           mystery. It is not a problem that can be solved, it is not a question that can be answered. No amount
           of knowledge is going to demystify it. It will remain mysterious. Mysteriousness is not something
           accidental to it. You cannot take it away from it; it is its very soul. And whatsoever we know is just
           superficial, very superficial. Whatsoever we know is only befooling ourselves.
                D.H.Lawrence, one of the mystic poets of this age, and a man I love and respect very much, was
           walking in a garden with a small child. The child asked him -- and only a child can ask such a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendously significant question.... The knowledgeable people always ask foolish questions
           because they ask out of their knowledge. In fact, they have already got the answer and they are
           asking just to see whether you have also got the answer or not. They are searching for an argument
           to prove their knowledge. Their question is not authentic, is not true. Any question arising out of
           your knowledge is pseudo.
               But when small children ask something they mean it; it is not out of knowledge, it is out of
           innocence, out of a state of not knowing. Whenever there is a question out of not knowing it has
           immense beauty, splendor.
               The child asked D.H.Lawrence, "Can you tell me one thing: why are the trees green? Why not
           red? Why not blue? Why not black? Why not this, why not that? Why are they green and always
           green?"
               A man of knowledge would have answered very easily. He would have told the child the
           chemistry of the trees, the biology of the trees. He may have told the child about chlorophyll: "Why
           are the trees green? -- it is because of the presence of chlorophyll."
               But D.H.Lawrence remained silent; he closed his eyes.
               The child was puzzled -- such a great man, world famous, author of many books, who could not
           answer such a small question? The child nudged him and said, "Why have you closed your eyes?
           Either you know or you don't know! What are you doing with closed eyes? If you know, say it; if
           you don't know, say so."
               D.H.Lawrence said, "The trees are green because they are green."
               And the child said, "That's right!" He was absolutely satisfied, contented. He said, "That's right --
           trees are green because they are green!"
               But only a child can ask such a question, and only a child can receive such an answer. What
           Lawrence is saying is exactly what Lao Tzu is saying. To say that trees are green because they are
           green, is to accept the ultimate mystery, that nothing can be said. It is so.
               That was Buddha's way of answering. His word was TATHATA. Tathata can be translated
           approximately as suchness. He was asked a thousand and one times, "Why is there death?"
               And he would say, "Tathata -- such is the nature of things." It is not an answer, remember. What
           kind of answer is this? "Such is the nature of things -- that the water flows downwards and the fire
           rises upwards." Such is the nature of things...?
               In fact, the word DHAMMA, used by Buddha, which is ordinarily translated as religion, exactly
           means suchness, the suchness of things, the dhamma of things. "Aes dhammo sanantano" -- such is
           the ultimate nature of things. Nothing more can be said about it.
               That which is born will have to die. The young will become old, the child will become young,
           the beautiful will become ugly, the healthy will become ill. Such is the nature of things -- but this is
           not an answer, remember. And Buddha insisted again and again, "I am not answering your questions,
           I am only making your questions clear to you."
               This is the difference between a philosopher and a mystic: the philosopher tries to answer your
           questions, the mystic simply helps you to understand your questions.
               Whenever Buddha used to go to a new place, his disciples would go ahead and declare to the
           people: "Please don't ask these eleven questions. It will be a sheer waste of time, because all that he
           is going to say is, `Such is the nature of things.' So WE can say it to you! This will be his answer to
           these eleven questions: `Such is the nature of things.' So don't ask these questions."
               Neither is Buddha a philosopher, nor Lao Tzu; in fact, no one who has KNOWN is a
           philosopher. Philosophers are blind people thinking about light.
               You must have heard the ancient Panchtantra story....

               Five blind men went to see an elephant. They were not five blind men, they were five
           philosophers, but all these philosophers were blind. That story has two meanings: one for small
           children -- then it is five blind people -- and one for those who are a little more mature, and then it
           means five philosophers.
               Those five blind men touched the elephant from different sides. Somebody touched his feet and
           declared that the elephant was like a pillar -- and so on, so forth. They all described the elephant
           according to their very limited, partial observation. And they started quarreling, arguing. A great
           argument arose, and the whole village gathered. They were very argumentative people. They quoted
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scriptures, they tried to prove that what they were saying was right. They were philosophers,
           theologians and scholars. Of course there could not have been any conclusion. Philosophers have
           never come to any conclusion -- they cannot, because a conclusion is possible only through
           experience, and the experience has to be total, absolute, categorical.

               The first experience of the mystic is that existence is not a problem but a mystery; it is
           unknowable -- not only unknown. Science divides existence into two categories: the known and the
           unknown. Hence science assumes that a day is bound to come when the whole unknown will be
           transformed into the known. That will be the end of all inquiry.
               But religion believes in three categories. The known and the unknown belong to the lower world
           of knowledge, and the unknowable belongs to the higher world of knowledge. That higher will
           always remain the same; it will be always there to inquire into, to go into; to merge with, to melt
           into, to become one with.
               Lao Tzu says: KNOWING THE NOT-KNOWING -- knowing that life is absolutely mysterious,
           that there is no way to know it -- THAT IS HIGH. That is the ultimate of experience. There is no
           beyond to it, nothing more transcendental than that; one has arrived home. The moment you enter the
           mysterious, you have found the home. No knowledge can satisfy you unless you are merged with the
           unknowable.

           NOT KNOWING THE KNOWING -- THAT IS AN ILLNESS.

              Lao Tzu calls even wisdom an illness, because you are falling from the ultimate health, ultimate
           well-being.

           NOT KNOWING THE KNOWING....

                Even by saying, "I don't know," you have asserted something, you have said something, you
           have claimed some knowledge. For example, if Socrates had met Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu would have said,
           "You are ill -- ill with wisdom! A good illness, but you are just a step below," because Socrates'
           famous statement is: "I know only one thing, that I know nothing." But there is a claim: "I know."
           Although the claim is that "I know nothing," still it is a claim of knowing, a claim of knowledge.
           Even though it claims that life is mysterious, the claim has come in.
                Even to say that God is indefinable is a kind of definition. To say that truth is inexpressible is in
           a certain sense giving it some expression. To say that the truth cannot be said means you have said
           something about it. Your very statement falsifies it; it is self-contradictory. Hence he calls it illness
           -- it is self-contradictory.
                Lao Tzu was one of the most consistent men; it is rare to find a buddha so consistent as Lao Tzu.
           His whole life he never wrote. All the teaching that he gave to his disciples was not a teaching at all;
           his whole method was VIA NEGATIVA. The disciple would come to him with all his knowledge,
           and Lao Tzu would start dismantling his knowledge, destroying his knowledge; that was his whole
           and sole purpose. He would go on taking away your knowledge brick by brick. A moment comes
           when the whole building of your knowledge collapses; then you are left in a vacuum. That is the
           moment Lao Tzu would say, "Now you can sit by my side -- just sit in this vacuum." And of course
           in a vacuum you cannot ask any question, you cannot expect any answer. If you can ask, if you can
           expect, it is not a true vacuum yet. A true vacuum means no answer, no question; nothing is left, all
           has disappeared. The very earth beneath your feet has been taken away; you are falling into a
           bottomless abyss.
                These were the people Lao Tzu had gathered around himself. They would sit with him, they
           would walk with him, they would move from one village to another village. But he was not like
           Buddha or Mahavira, who were teaching, who were trying to convey something of the
           unconveyable.
                His whole life he was asked again and again by the kings, by the emperors, by the rich people,
           "Please write something about your experience for the coming generations. Don't take it away with
           you. We know you know, whether you say it or not. We know, because your very presence is so
           pregnant it is almost tangible. We can touch it, we feel it, we become flooded with it. We know you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           know! Please write something, just a few words for the future generations to know that a man like
           Lao Tzu has been in existence." But he was very reluctant. He would simply laugh, he would not
           even say no.
               Once a disciple asked, "At least just to be polite you can say no!"
               And Lao Tzu said, "To say no means you are on the way to saying yes! If they can get a no out
           of me, sooner or later they will get a yes too, because yes and no are two sides of the same coin."
               And he is right, he is absolutely right. If somebody says no to you, that means there is hope -- yes
           IS possible. There is a possibility; however far away it may be, there is a possibility. The no can turn
           into yes because yes can turn into no; they go on changing into each other. And you know that your
           no in the morning becomes yes in the evening, your yes in the evening becomes no in the morning;
           they are interchangeable. They are not so contradictory as they appear. Somewhere deep down they
           are joined.
               Lao Tzu would not even say no, he would only laugh. Now, what to make of this laugh? You
           cannot make anything out of it. He is neither saying yes nor saying no; he is not falling from his high
           state. But at the last moment he was forced to write -- this is the only document in the whole history
           of humanity which has been written under compulsion, which has been coerced -- because he wanted
           to go to the Himalayas. The Himalayas divide China and India; in one sense they divide, in another
           sense they join. You can see -- yes and no are not very different!
               He wanted to go to the Himalayas. His disciples asked, "Why?" He had become very old. He
           must have been very old for the simple reason that.... The story is beautiful; true or not, that is not
           the point. I am a lover of beauty; I don't bother whether it is true or not!
           Beauty is something higher than truth.
           Truth is logical, beauty is aesthetic.
               Truth is of the head, beauty is something deeper -- of the heart.
           I love the story....
               Lao Tzu lived in his mother's womb for eighty-two years! It is almost impossible. When he was
           born he was already eighty-two years old, with a long beard, long hair, and all white. He was already
           an ancient man -- and then he must have lived at least eighty years more. That has been the habit in
           the East of all the enlightened people. Buddha lived eighty-two years, Mahavira lived eighty-two
           years, Krishna lived eighty-two years, but Lao Tzu defeated all of them. He lived eighty-two years in
           the mother's womb first! Then to balance things he must have lived at least eighty-two years outside
           the womb. He was a man of balance!
               So by the time he started thinking about finding a right place to die, he must have been nearabout
           one hundred and sixty years old. He asked his friends and disciples, "Now give me permission. I
           would like to go to a faraway virgin peak of the Himalayas to die so that no trace of me is left
           behind, not even footprints on the sands of time. I would simply like to disappear into the wildness
           of the Himalayas. Nobody will ever know where I died, where my bones are, where my body is,
           where my grave is. I just want to melt into existence."
               They were sad, but they knew their master -- that when he said something he meant it.
           Reluctantly, they gave him the farewell.
               When he was leaving the country, the emperor of the country ordered all the guards at all the
           posts: "Lao Tzu is not to be allowed to leave the country unless he writes down his experience in
           short, to be preserved for future generations."
               He was caught at the border, and the military guards wouldn't allow him leave until he wrote
           something. Under such compulsion, he sat in one of the guards' homes for three days. Day in, day
           out he wrote his small treatise, TAO TE CHING. These are words from that treatise. And when the
           treatise was complete, he left.
               But he begins the treatise with a very strange statement: "TAO cannot be spoken. The moment it
           is spoken, it is no longer true. Now you can read whatsoever I am writing, it is no longer true; it has
           already fallen. It has come down from its profound silence into the noisy world of words."
               That's what he calls illness. To say something about the ultimate is a fall -- you have lost the
           wholeness. To be whole is to be healthy. That's exactly the meaning of healthy: to be whole. Nothing
           is missing; all parts are functioning in deep harmony, in accord, in tune with each other. It is an
           organic unity. To be ill means some parts are missing, nonfunctioning. The accord is lost, the
           harmony is no longer there; some trouble has arisen, the balance has been lost. That's the meaning of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           illness.

           NOT KNOWING THE KNOWING....

               So even if you say, "I don't know anything except one thing -- that I know nothing," you have
           already fallen; you have said already something.
           There is a Sufi story....

                Four disciples of a mystic were told by the master, "It is time for you to go to the mountains and
           sit in silence for at least seven days, and then come back."
                They went with the vow to sit there for seven days, in absolute silence. After just a few minutes
           the first said, "I wonder whether I have locked my house or not."
                Another said, "You fool! We have come here to be silent and you have spoken!"
                The third said, "You are a greater fool! What has it to do with you? If he spoke, at least YOU
           could have kept silent!"
                The fourth said, "Thank God, I am the only one who has not spoken yet!"

               There is an irresistible urge to say when you experience. You want to share it -- it is
           uncontainable. You can see other people searching for it, and you have got it. It is as if you are
           standing at a crossroads: you know the right way, and people are searching for it; how can you
           remain silent? It is irresistible! But the problem is, the moment you say, "This is the right road," it
           becomes wrong. Saying it is falsifying it. Truth is infinite and words are very finite.
               Hence Lao Tzu says: The best is not to say, the next best is to say. The best is to be whole, the
           next best is to be partially true. But remember: because truth is indivisible, you cannot be partially
           true. Hence his insistence that the moment you say it, it becomes false. To be partially true means to
           be false, because truth is indivisible. But still he could understand the need of the person who has
           experienced to convey it, and the need of others who are in search of it, so he allowed it. He says:

           THE ONE WHO SUFFERS FROM THIS ILLNESS IS NOT ILL.

                ...I am not condemning him, I am not saying that he is pathological. All that I am saying is that
           he is no longer the total, he is now only a glimpse, a faraway glimpse. He is now only a picture of
           the sunset, not the sunset itself. He is now only an echo. If this can be remembered, then even the
           echo can be used to find the original source. Then even the picture of a sunset can be of immense
           help. But people are such fools: they worship the pictures of the sunset, they forget all about the
           sunset. In fact, if you tell them, "This is not the sunset that you are worshipping, this is only a
           picture," they will be angry.
                Go and tell the Hindus, "The gods that you are worshipping in your temples are not real gods.
           These are only pictures, photographs, and that too not true to the original, just imaginary,
           metaphorical!" They will be angry, they will throw you out of their temple. Or to the Christians, or
           to the Mohammedans, or to the Jainas...go anywhere, they will not listen to you.
                Go to a Jaina temple and you will find twenty-four statues of their masters. And you will be
           surprised -- they all look alike, exactly alike. Even Jainas cannot make the distinction! To be able to
           make the distinction, who is who, they have made small symbols underneath the statues. So they can
           tell who is who -- that this is Mahavira and this is Parshvanath and this is Neminath -- they just make
           small symbols; otherwise the statues are exactly the same. These statues cannot be authentic; they
           can only at the most be symbolic. Who has ever heard of twenty-four persons exactly alike? -- the
           same noses, the same ears....
                You will be puzzled: all their ears are touching their shoulders. The earlobes...all! It may have
           been that one person's earlobes may have touched, but now it has become absolutely necessary for a
           Jaina TIRTHANKARA'S earlobes to touch the shoulders; otherwise he is not a tirthankara. And you
           can find some absolutely dumb, dull, stupid person whose earlobes are touching his shoulders -- just
           a donkey! That does not mean that he has become a tirthankara, that he has become a great
           enlightened master; otherwise all donkeys will become great enlightened masters! This is simply
           symbolic.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               What can the symbol be? The Jaina method of meditation is to listen, to listen so absolutely and
           so silently, as if you have become all ears -- that is the symbol. So they have made big ears just to
           indicate their method of meditation. Their method of meditation is listening: listening to the sound of
           the wind passing through the pine trees, listening to the birds, just listening to anything. The dog
           barking or the call of a distant cuckoo...just listening, with no judgment, no evaluation. Jainas say
           that if a person can listen totally, without any interference of the mind, he can become enlightened --
           just by listening: nothing else is needed. To show this, to represent it in the statue, they have made
           big ears. But people are worshipping the statues. They are not trying to find out where the sunset is,
           they have forgotten all about the sunset. It is as if you have seen the sunset through the window. You
           have forgotten about the sunset, and you are worshipping the frame of the window. Hence, Lao Tzu
           says that the best is not to say anything about the truth, about your experience.
               Then what is a master supposed to do? He can say how he achieved, he can say what the pitfalls
           to be avoided are, he can help you to refine your methods; again and again he can put you on the
           right path, he can stop you from going astray. He can tell you about all the means that lead to the
           end, but about the end he should remain absolutely silent.
               That's what I am doing to you: about the end I am absolutely silent. What I am talking about is
           the method -- the meditation, the prayer. These are the ways. When you have arrived, only then will
           you know what it is; it cannot be said. The moment you say it, something goes "ill" -- something
           goes wrong, something goes sour.
               But still, Lao Tzu feels that sometimes the masters have spoken out of compassion for those who
           are still lost in darkness. Hence he says: "The one who suffers from this illness is not ill." He himself
           is not ill, but what he says is ill. He himself is whole, but his statement cannot be whole.

           THE WISE IS NOT ILL
           BECAUSE HE SUFFERS FROM THIS ILLNESS --
           THAT'S WHY HE IS NOT ILL.

                A strange statement! THE WISE IS NOT ILL BECAUSE HE SUFFERS FROM THIS ILLNESS
           -- THAT'S WHY HE IS NOT ILL. This illness is worth suffering, because it is the closest point to
           perfect health. It is a great blessing! Hence, don't be misguided by the word "ill." It is illness if you
           compare it to the highest, but if you look back at the journey, it is not illness. And if it comes out of
           compassion -- and it does come out of compassion....
                The story about Buddha is that when he became enlightened, for seven days he remained silent.
           He remained in that ultimate wholeness, health, and he was not willing to come down from there. It
           has happened to everybody who has become enlightened; hence the story of Buddha is very
           representative.
                But, the story says, the gods in heaven became very much disturbed because somebody
           becoming enlightened is such a rare phenomenon. Buddha was hesitating to say anything about it.
           He was deciding, coming closer and closer to the decision that it is better to remain silent. But before
           he came to a decision, the gods rushed from heaven, fell at his feet, and said, "Wait! Don't decide,
           because once you have decided then nothing can be done. Just listen to us before you come to a
           decision. It is rare that a man becomes enlightened and there are millions who would like your
           advice, your help. Don't be so hard! And you yourself have suffered -- don't you feel anything for the
           suffering humanity? Tell them how YOU arrived!"
                Buddha said to them, "I have pondered over all pros and cons, I have thought about all these
           things. My own reasoning is that whatsoever I say will not be the same as I have experienced, and
           that is betraying the truth. Secondly, I am ready to betray it, because I am not going to lose anything
           by betraying it, but the moment I say something, people will understand something else which I have
           not said at all. The first loss happens when I say something, I come down from my silence. And the
           second loss -- which is far greater -- happens when people hear it, because they start coloring it
           according to their ideas, according to their mind.
           "The third loss, the greatest, happens when they start telling it to other people. And then it goes on
           falling. Soon the flower of the sky falls into the mud of the earth and is lost, trampled over by
           people. So what is the point? I have also thought of their suffering, but then too my reasoning is:
           those who can understand me will be able to find it by themselves. If they are so capable of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understanding me, it won't take them long to find it on their own, so why bother? Those who can
           understand me will find it sooner or later. It is only a question of time, and time does not matter as
           far as eternity is concerned. And telling those who cannot understand me is not right; they will
           MISunderstand."
               The gods were at a loss; they could not find how to persuade this man. They asked for some time
           so they could go in private to discuss the matter amongst themselves and find a way. They just
           wanted to be given one chance.
               They went into seclusion, meditated, talked, discussed, and finally they came with a solution.
           They brought a really very beautiful solution. They said, "We agree with you that out of one hundred
           persons there may be one person who may attain it by himself sooner or later, just as you have
           attained. And we agree that out of one hundred, at least ninety-eight percent of people will
           misunderstand you, but they don't matter. They are already in misunderstanding -- what more
           misunderstanding can there be? So you will not be harming them. So two things are certain: you will
           not be helping the one percent who is going to attain it by himself, and you will not be harming the
           ninety-eight percent who are anyway confused and will remain confused whether you speak or not.
           "But what about the remaining one percent, the borderline case who is neither here nor there, who
           does not belong to the ninety-eight percent and does not belong to the one percent either -- who is
           just in the middle of both? If you say something, he may be helped; if you don't say something, he
           may not be helped at all for centuries to come. Can't you feel any compassion for that one person?"
               And Buddha had to agree with them that the one percent certainly had to be considered: "I will
           speak for that one person."
               In fact, all the masters have been speaking for that one percent. They have been taking this risk
           of coming down from their sunlit peaks into the dark valleys of humanity for that one person. The
           message of the enlightened people can never be for the masses, has never been for the masses. The
           masses are always against it; it can only be for very few people. But even those very few people are
           enough to give life, beauty, grandeur, splendor. They are the salt of the earth.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO RECOGNIZE YOU?


                Prem Cordula, it is a simple phenomenon: you can recognize only that which comes within your
           experience. How can you recognize something which you have not experienced? What I am saying
           to you and what I am being to you is something utterly unknown to you -- not only unknown, but
           much of it is unknowable too. Recognition needs some experience within you to coincide with my
           experience.
                Those who are falling in tune with me, recognize me, and only they can recognize; it is not for
           all. It is only for the disciples to have a glimpse of recognition and it is only for the devotees to be
           absolutely certain of the recognition.
                But many of you have come here only as students searching for more knowledge, and I am
           imparting being, not knowledge. You have come with greed in your heart. Many types of greed are
           there....
                Just the other day I received a letter from a very rich Marwari from Orissa. He has never written
           to me before; this is the first time. He writes, "I recognize you as the greatest incarnation of God.
           This is the time for you to prove whether you are really a god or not, because we Marwaris" --
           Marwaris are the Jews of India -- "are in very great difficulty in Orissa."
                In Orissa, Marwaris are being thrown out. They have exploited the poor people for so long that it
           has come to a climax. Now, suddenly, he remembers me. I have never heard of the man; he has never
           written to me. Now he writes that this is the time for me to prove...! "We will worship you forever if
           you can save us from the anger of the masses." They are being burned, killed, looted. Naturally he
           can recognize me. But this is not recognition; this is greed, it is fear.
                Just one day before that, a young man from Delhi has written another letter: "I am rich enough,
           but I don't see any meaning in life. I am so afraid of committing suicide that I am staying in a
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hospital permanently. I am afraid that if I am not looked after continuously by doctors and nurses, I
           may kill myself any moment. If you promise to save me then I am ready to come to you. I am ready
           even to become a sannyasin!"
           Now, such a conditional sannyas is not possible.
               Many people come to me -- they may not say exactly why they have come, but there are deep
           motives. Then it will be very difficult for you to recognize, because I am not here to fulfill any of
           your greed, to fulfill any of your desire, to fulfill any of your expectations.
               I can share my bliss, I can share my truth, I can share my being, but very few people are longing
           for all those things; their longings are of a very ordinary nature, almost animalistic.

           "While fishing one day," said the old angler, "I ran short of bait and did not know what to do. I
           looked around, and there at my feet I noticed a snake which held a frog in his mouth. I removed the
           frog and cut it up for bait, feeling very elated that I had seen the snake at that moment.
           "I did, however, feel somewhat guilty at stealing the poor reptile's meal, so to repay him for my
           supply of bait I poured a few drops of whiskey into his mouth. My conscience was relieved when I
           saw the snake crawl away in a contented mood, and I went back to my fishing.
           "Some time had passed when I felt something hitting against my leg. Imagine my surprise when,
           looking down, I saw the same snake, carrying three more frogs in his mouth!"

               Prem Cordula, you ask: "Why is it so difficult to recognize you?" You come with a greedy heart
           -- and then it is difficult to recognize me. You come to see something according to your own ideas --
           and I don't exist according to anybody's ideas.
           I am simply just being myself!
               Hindus come to look for a Krishna -- I am not. Jainas come to look for a Mahavira -- I am not.
           Christians come to look for a Christ -- I am not. If you have come to look for somebody else in me,
           you will not be able to recognize me, because I am simply myself. I have no obligation to be a Christ
           or a Buddha or a Lao Tzu. If Christ is free to be himself, he need not be me, why should I be him?
           There is no need. Such expectations create a barrier.

              An elephant is walking through a forest and spies a naked man. He looks at him bewildered and
           asks, "Tell me, how do you breathe through that short thing?"

              Just expectations! The elephant has his own ideas....

               A sannyasin was sitting by a cliff, sobbing uncontrollably. A passerby stopped and asked what
           the matter was.
           "A busload of politicians just plunged over this cliff to certain death!" sobbed the swami.
           "That certainly is a catastrophe," sympathized the stranger, "but I did not think you sannyasins had
           much love for politicians!"
           "That's true!" said the swami as he doubled up with a fresh wave of grief. "The fact is, five of the
           seats were empty!"

                You will have to drop your old ideas if you want to recognize me. My whole approach towards
           life is different from anybody who has preceded me. It has to be so. Krishna lived on this earth five
           thousand years ago; Buddha, twenty-five centuries ago; Jesus twenty centuries ago; Mohammed
           fourteen centuries ago; Kabir and Nanak five centuries ago. Since then, so much water has gone
           down the Ganges!
                Man has changed, the whole life pattern has changed. I am living in the twentieth century; I
           cannot adjust myself to anybody five thousand years old -- that is impossible. That would be
           crippling myself, paralyzing myself, poisoning myself. I have to be now, here!
                But you are all conditioned. Although your conditioning has not given you any joy, it has not
           given you any ecstatic lifestyle, still people cling to the familiar.

               At a bar, a disheartened drinker complained to the man next to him that he had gone to the tracks
           for a whole month without backing a winner.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Why don't you quit betting?" advised the other.
           "What!" snapped the gambler. "And give up twenty years' experience in horse betting?"

               Twenty years' experience! How can anybody give up so easily? And your experience of religion
           is five thousand years old or even more. How can you give it up? But unless you give it up, you
           cannot see me; your eyes will remain covered. That's why you see very few old people around me.
           Even the people who are old and around me are in some way not old, they are very young and fresh.
               Sephalie, one of my sannyasins who is near seventy, writes to me again and again, "I am very
           puzzled. I feel myself so young, and nobody believes me!" Just the other day she wrote, "Not even
           your sannyasins believe me! They try to help me, thinking that I am an old woman. They are very
           good, but it hurts me because I am young! I don't feel old age at all! The body has become old, but
           they don't see ME, and I am not the body!" And she is right.
               Back in Europe she was creating much confusion amongst people because she started playing
           with small children. Her family and her friends said, "What are you doing? A seventy-year-old
           woman playing with small children, laughing, giggling, dancing -- it does not look right!"
               But she said, "I feel so young! I feel just like a child!" And her experience is right. Her feeling is
           coming from within her being.
               So even the people around me who are old are not old in the ordinary sense, they are all young.
           Actually, only young people have come to me. This has been always so. The twelve apostles of Jesus
           were all young people, younger than Jesus. The people who surrounded Gautam Buddha were all
           young people. The people who lived with Lao Tzu were very young people. It has always been so for
           the simple reason that the old mind has so many conditionings that unless those conditionings are
           fulfilled he cannot see. Only somebody who is a fraud is going to fulfill your conditions.
               No original man is going to fulfill your conditions because no original man has any desire for all
           the respectability that you can give to him. He is so blissful; what does he need your respectability
           for? Respectability is a substitute. Only miserable people hanker for respectability; the blissful
           people have never cared a bit about your respectability.
               I am perfectly happy. Famous, notorious, it doesn't matter. It makes no difference to me, so I am
           not going to fulfill any of your expectations. You must be carrying expectations somewhere.

              A Jewish father and his son go together to a Turkish bath.
           "Yuk! Your feet are so dirty!" says the father.
           "But, father, your feet are much dirtier!"
           "How can you compare?" says the angry father. "I am thirty years older than you!"

               The old mind always goes on bragging, as if oldness is something very valuable. Oldness simply
           means you have been accumulating junk! A really alive person is always young; to the very moment
           of death he is young.
               For example, I know Sephalie -- when she dies she will die young and fresh, as fresh as the
           freshly opened rosebud. I have given her the name Sephalie because "sephali" is the name of a
           beautiful flower. She will die like fresh dewdrops in the early morning sun.
               My people have to live freshly and die freshly. They have to remain continuously young. The
           only way to remain young is go on dying to the past, go on discarding the old, go on dropping all
           your accumulated knowledge so you are always in a state of not knowing. That is the highest
           according to Lao Tzu, and according to me also: remaining in a state of not knowing. "Not even
           knowing that I know nothing" -- that's the highest, the most beautiful space one can ever be in. And
           only then can you recognize me; otherwise there is no way to recognize me.
               Prem Cordula, meditate, become silent, so that you can feel some meeting, some merging with
           me, so that you can taste something of the joy that I have brought to you. It is a pure gift! All that is
           needed on your part is a little receptivity.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN LAUGHTER AND SEX?


                Anand Devopama, there is certainly a connection; the connection is simple. Sexual orgasms and
           laughter happen in the same way; their process is similar. In sexual orgasm you go on reaching a
           climax of tension. You are coming closer and closer to burst forth, and then at the peak, suddenly,
           the orgasmic release happens. After such a mounting tension, everything suddenly relaxes. The
           contrast between the mounting tension and the relaxation is so vast that you feel as if you have fallen
           into a calm, quiet ocean -- a deep relaxation, a deep let-go.
                That's why nobody has ever been known to have died from a heart attack while making love.
           This is strange, because love-making is an arduous exercise! It is great yoga! But nobody has ever
           died for the simple reason that it brings such relaxation. In fact, cardiologists and heart specialists
           have now started recommending sex as medicinal to the people who are suffering from heart trouble.
           Sex can be of immense help to them; it relaxes tensions, and when the tensions are gone, your heart
           functions more naturally.
                The same is the process of laughter: it also builds up a tension in you. A certain story, and you go
           on expecting that something is going to happen. Then when something really happens it is so
           unexpected that it releases the tension. The happening is not logical -- that is the most important
           thing to understand about laughter. The happening has to be ridiculous, it has to be absurd. If you
           can logically conclude it, then there will be no laughter.
                While you are listening to a joke, if you can logically conclude what is going to happen, and if it
           actually happens the way you concluded, then there will be no laughter because there will be no
           build up of tension in the first place; and secondly, there will be no sudden change. These two things
           are needed: a building up of tension so you become more and more narrowed, more and more tense,
           and then suddenly an unexpected turn -- the punch line. It triggers a new process; the whole logic
           falls flat. All jokes are illogical, and because they are illogical they bring great laughter to you.
                In one other sense also sex and laughter are joined together deep in the mind. Your sex organs
           are only the outermost part of your sexuality; the sex is not really there, the sex is somewhere in the
           brain center. So, sooner or later man is going to get rid of this old-style sexuality. It is really
           ridiculous! That's why people make love in the dark, at night, under the blankets. It is such an absurd
           activity that if you watch yourself making love, you will never think of it again! So people hide; they
           close their doors, they lock their doors. They are very much afraid of children in particular, because
           they will see the absurdity immediately -- "What are you doing? Daddy, what are you doing? Have
           you gone crazy?" And it looks crazy -- it is like an epileptic fit!
                Sooner or later it is going to be changed, because now science has found that the real center is in
           the brain, not in the sex organs. So now a small electrode can be fitted in the head, and you need not
           know about it, because inside the skull there is no sensitivity at all; anything can be put there. Even
           if a small rock is put there you will not know. In fact, that's how many people are -- they are carrying
           rocks inside, not knowing! So a small electrode can be put inside your brain, just inserted inside your
           brain close to the sex center, and you can use a remote control. You can keep the remote control in
           your pocket so that whenever you feel like having an orgasm, you just push it. Just a little push on
           the button will trigger the sex center in the brain, and you can have an orgasm anywhere!
                Then you can discard this wife, this husband, this relationship, and all this nonsense. It will be a
           great freedom! In fact, it is the only way humanity will be liberated. All the buddhas have failed;
           they could not liberate you from sex. Now Delgado is the name of the latest person who is going to
           free you from all sexuality. He has freed many white rats! Sometimes I wonder why they never try
           black rats. Maybe they think that they are Indians and may not like the idea because they are
           religious people, spiritual. They always try white rats!
                But you will be surprised to know -- and it is good to remember -- that whenever he tried with
           rats, a very strange thing happened. That's what prevented him from making it a device on the
           market available to anybody wanting to purchase it. The thing that stopped him was that when he
           fixed the electrode inside the head of the white rat and showed him the remote control button, the rat
           pushed the switch in front of him and went through a beautiful spasm, a total orgasmic joy. And then
           Delgado watched....
                The rat looked all around, and seeing that nobody was looking, he pushed the button, and went
           through it again. You will be surprised: in one hour, he pushed the button six thousand times -- till he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           died! He forgot all about food, forgot all about everything. Beautiful damsels were passing by, and
           he didn't even care about all those beautiful girls after whom he had been going crazy; there was no
           need now. No woman can give a man such a total orgasm, and no man can give a woman such a total
           orgasm, because the sexual organs are far away from the center. By the time the message reaches to
           the center, it is already very, very diluted. Hence, ninety-seven percent of women never achieve
           orgasmic joy. And those are Western statistics. Ninety-seven percent in America -- what to say about
           India? I don't think I have ever come across a single woman who has said that she achieves orgasmic
           joy. She cannot -- the culture does not allow it. She has to lie down almost dead. She simply suffers
           the whole foolishness of the man, and deep down she thinks that this man is a sinner dragging her
           into hell. She is not interested at all because she knows nothing about orgasmic joy. And her
           orgasmic joy is far more profound than man's. Her whole body is erotic; man's whole body is not
           erotic. He is only partially erotic, locally erotic.
               These centers of sex and laughter are very close in the brain, so sometimes they can overlap. So
           when you are making love, if you really allow it, the woman will start giggling. It tickles, because
           the center is very close! She may not giggle just out of politeness, because the man may feel
           offended -- but the centers are very close together, and sometimes when you are really in deep
           laughter you may have the same orgasmic joy as you have in sex.
               It is not a coincidence that many beautiful jokes are sexual. The centers are so close...what can I
           do?

              The wealthy woman woke up, looked around her bedroom, then rang for her Chinese houseboy,
           Fu Ling.
              She asked him how she got home the night before, and he said, "I bring missy home."
              Then she asked him how she got undressed. Fu Ling said, "I undress missy."
              She asked then how she got into bed, and he said, "I put missy to bed."
           Whereupon she said, "God, I must have been tight!"
              Fu Ling replied, "First time, yes, missy! Second time...no!"

               Makowski, the agent, called his friend Lyssky, the producer of striptease shows. "Lyssky," he
           shouted, "I've got a girl for you that is gonna make a fortune for both of us. She is incredible -- gotta
           a pair of lungs that will knock your eyes out! Listen to these statistics: hips -- forty; waist --
           twenty-seven; chest -- ninety-nine!"
           "Incredible!" said Lyssky. "What kind of act does she do?"
           "Act? What act?! She just crawls out and tries to stand up!"

                The newlyweds arrived at their honeymoon hotel. The excited groom, quite pleased with his
           reputation as a lover, and eager to thrill his bride with his expertise, quickly threw her upon the bed
           and performed with the skill of a champion sexual athlete.
                When it was over he whispered to his bride, "Ah yes, my dear, I could tell how pleased you were
           -- I noticed your toes curling up in ecstasy. I promise you I will always bring you such joy!"
                She whispered in reply, "Perhaps next time, Romeo, you could remove my pantyhose first!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                    Chapter #12
                                        Chapter title: From Italy to Nirvana
           7 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011070
              ShortTitle: COME12
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I FELT SO MUCH LOVE POURING FROM YOU WHEN I COULD NOT GET THE MICROPHONE TO
              WORK THE OTHER DAY. WITH MY HANDS SHAKING, AND MY HEART THUMPING, I KNEW I
              HAD TO DO SOMETHING -- YET WITH YOUR BIG, BROWN EYES SMILING AT ME, I JUST
              WANTED TO SIT THERE AND MELT INTO YOU. IT WAS AN EXQUISITE TENSION.


              Anand Prateek, that's exactly what I was telling you to do. Sit silently and do nothing -- and the
           microphone starts working by itself! But you wouldn't listen; you continued doing something or
           other -- and that was creating the whole mess! But it is natural, it happens.
              One day my Rolls didn't start, and I was telling Heeren again and again, "Wait a minute!" But he
           wouldn't wait, he went on turning the ignition. Just one minute I was telling him to wait, and the
           moment I left in the other car, exactly after one minute it started. Then he realized that there are
           some times when if you don't do anything, things settle on their own accord. But it is difficult....

              A man goes to a cocktail party. When the waiter brings round the salmon rolls, the lady standing
           next to him bends over to pick one up and loses her glass eye amongst the hors d'oeuvres. Before she
           can do anything, the man picks up a salmon roll containing the glass eye and eats it.
              A week later he finds himself suffering from severe constipation. The doctors cannot seem to
           cure it so they decide to get him into the operating theater to stick a tube inside him and see what the
           problem is.
              The doctor takes one look down the tube, looks up at the patient and says, "You really don't trust
           me, do you?"

               And moreover, Prateek, what was the hurry? We were all enjoying! It was such a beautiful joke
           that without a single punchline to it people were bursting in laughter. I have received many letters:
           "What happened that day? Even when you are telling a beautiful joke, the laughter never goes so
           deep and so total. But that day neither were you telling a joke, nor had we heard anything, but the
           laughter was happening!"

               Recently some tapes other than Watergate have been discovered by archaeologists, and they shed
           light on Daniel in the lion's den.
               You must know the old story of Saint Daniel who was thrown into a den of lions because he
           refused to betray his faith. He came out of the den unharmed. It was thought to be a great miracle.
           But this recent discovery by the archaeologists says something else. It says, the tapes reveal, that at
           the precise moment when the lion was going to eat Daniel, Daniel quickly grabbed one of the lion's
           ears and whispered into it, "Don't eat me! Remember, after dinner come the speeches!"
               So there was no hurry -- only a speech was going to come after. Even if the microphone was not
           going to work, there was no harm at all. We would have sat, enjoyed, laughed and said goodbye to
           each other!
           Learn to do nothing....

           "What are you doing here?" asks one mouse to his friend.
           "Nothing really, just sitting in the sun."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Ah!" says the first mouse. "I guess that's what I am doing too!"

               And that's what all these orange people are here to do -- nothing.
               Prateek, you missed one opportunity. But next time, remember, imitation won't do! Just because I
           am telling you, "Do nothing," it won't help -- you have to be original. But once it is said and if you
           follow it, the microphone is not going to work at all. That opportunity is lost, at least for this life!

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE WORLD SEEMS TO BE GETTING MORE AND MORE CRAZY FROM DAY TO DAY. NOBODY
              KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON AND EVERYTHING IS UPSIDE DOWN AND CONFUSED. THIS IS
              WHAT IS TOLD IN THE NEWSPAPERS. IS IT REAL? AND IF SO, IS THERE ANY INTRINSIC
              BALANCE IN LIFE WHICH IS KEEPING EVERYTHING STABLE?


               Buddhaprem, the world is the same; it has always been the same -- upside down, crazy, insane.
           In fact, only one thing new has happened in the world, and that is the awareness that we ARE crazy,
           that we are upside down, that something is basically wrong with us. And this is a great blessing --
           this awareness. Of course it is only a beginning, just the abc of a long process, just a seed, but
           immensely pregnant.
               The world was never so aware of its insane ways as it is today. It has always been the same. In
           three thousand years man has fought five thousand wars. Can you say this humanity is sane? One
           cannot remember a time in human history when people were not destroying each other either in the
           name of religion or in the name of God or even in the name of peace, humanity, universal
           brotherhood. Great words hiding ugly realities! Christians have been killing Mohammedans,
           Mohammedans have been killing Christians, Mohammedans have been killing Hindus, Hindus have
           been killing Mohammedans. Political ideologies, religious ideologies, philosophical ideologies are
           just facades for murder -- to murder in a justified way.
               And all these religions were promising the people, "If you die in a religious war, your heaven is
           absolutely certain. Killing in war is not sin; being killed in war is a great virtue." This is sheer
           stupidity! But ten thousand years of conditioning has seeped deep into the blood, into the bones, in
           the very marrow of humanity.
               Each religion, each country, each race was claiming, "We are the chosen people of God. We are
           the highest; everyone is lower than us." This is insanity, and everybody has suffered because of it.
           Jews have suffered immensely for one single folly that they committed: the idea that "We are the
           chosen people of God." Once you have the idea that you are the chosen people of God, then you
           cannot be forgiven by others because they are also the chosen people of God, and how to decide it?
           No argument can be conclusive, and nobody knows where God is hiding so you cannot ask him
           either; he cannot be brought in the court to be a witness. Then only the sword is going to decide.
           Whosoever is mighty is going to be right. Might has been right.
               Jews really suffered for centuries, but the suffering has not changed them. In fact it has
           strengthened the idea that they are the chosen people of God. The same people who tell them, "You
           are the chosen people," also tell them that the chosen people have to go through many tests, many
           fires to prove their mettle.

               I have heard about an old rabbi -- he must have been a very sane man -- praying to God. He was
           praying for years and years and never asking for anything -- and you know, prayer is a kind of
           nagging: you go on nagging God every day, morning, afternoon, evening, night, five times every
           day. God must be getting tired, utterly bored....
               And the rabbi was not asking for anything; otherwise there was a way out. If he had been asking
           for something it would have been given and the rabbi would have been told, "Get lost!" But he was
           not asking for anything, just praying.
               Finally God asked him, "Why do you go on torturing me? What do you want?"
               And the old rabbi said, "Just one thing. Is it not time for you to choose some other people?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Please, make some other people your chosen people. We have suffered enough!"
                But this is not only so with the Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Hindus; it is exactly the
           same with all the people that have existed up to now. The racial ego, the religious ego, the spiritual
           ego is far more dangerous than the individual ego, because the individual ego is gross. You can see it
           -- everybody can see it, it is so visible on the surface. But when the ego becomes racial -- "Hinduism
           is great" -- you don't think you are claiming anything for yourself. Indirectly you are claiming, "I am
           great because I am a Hindu, and Hinduism is great." This is an indirect way, a subtle, cunning way:
           "I am great because I am a Japanese, because Japanese are the direct descendants of the sun God";
           or, "I am a Chinese and the Chinese are the most civilized people, the most cultured."
                When the Westerners reached China for the first time, looking at the Chinese, they laughed. They
           looked more like caricatures; cartoons rather than men -- just four or five hairs sticking out of your
           face and that's your whole beard! What kind of people are these? The first Europeans wrote in their
           diaries, "It seems we have discovered the missing link between the monkeys and man."
                And what were the Chinese writing in their journals? Even the emperor of China was very much
           interested in seeing the Europeans because he had heard many stories about them. They were invited
           to his court, not because he respected the Europeans, but just to see what kind of people these were.
           Never before...! And he could not contain his laughter; he started laughing when he saw the
           Europeans.
                The Europeans were very much embarrassed: "Why is he laughing?" They were told, "That is his
           way of appreciating. He always laughs, enjoys; that is his way of welcoming the guests." But the
           reality was that he could not believe that these are human beings! He asked his people, "Have you
           brought them from African jungles? They look like monkeys!"
                That's how the ego functions: the other is always reduced to the lowest possible; and compared to
           the other, one raises oneself higher.
                You say, Buddhaprem, "The world seems to be getting more and more crazy from day to day."
           That is not right; it has always been so. Only one thing new is happening, and that is a blessing, not a
           curse at all. For the first time in the whole history of humanity, a few people are becoming aware
           that the way we have existed up to now is somehow wrong; something basically is missing in our
           very foundation. There is something which does not allow us to grow into sane human beings. In our
           very conditioning are the seeds of insanity.
                Every child is born sane, and then, slowly slowly, we civilize him -- we call it the process of
           civilization. We prepare him to become part of the great culture, the great church, the great state to
           which we belong. Our whole politics is stupid, and then HE becomes stupid. Our whole education is
           ugly. Our politics means nothing but ambition, naked ambition -- ambition for power. And only the
           lowest kind of people become interested in power. Only the people who are suffering from a deep
           inferiority complex become politicians. They want to prove that they are not inferior; they want to
           prove it to others, they want to prove to themselves that they are not inferior, they are superior.
                But what is the need to prove it if you are superior? The superior man does not try to prove
           anything, he is so at ease with his superiority. That's what Lao Tzu says: The superior man is not
           even conscious of his superiority; there is no need at all. It is only the ill person who starts thinking
           of health; the healthy person never thinks about health. The healthy person is not self-conscious
           about his health; only the sick, only the ill. The beautiful person, the really beautiful person is not
           self-conscious about his or her beauty. It is only the ugly person who is constantly worried and
           making every effort to prove that it is not so.
                In fact, in proving to others that "I am not inferior, I am not ugly," he is trying to prove it to
           himself. The others function as a mirror. If the others can say, "Yes, you are great...." But they will
           say it only when you are powerful, when you are rich; otherwise they are not going to say anything.
           Who is interested in your ego? They are interested in THEIR egos, but reluctantly, when you have
           power to destroy, they have to accept.
                Adolf Hitler was mad, but nobody in Germany dared to say it. Many felt that he was mad, but the
           moment he was defeated and committed suicide, many people started writing that they had always
           felt it. Even his own physicians who had never dared to tell the person himself -- at least THEY were
           supposed to say the truth, they were the physicians -- they had not said that he was sick, badly sick,
           and not only physiologically but psychologically too.
                He suffered from many nightmares, he was constantly afraid of being killed. He was obsessed
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with the idea that he was going to be killed, so much so that he never got married. He got married
           only when he had decided to commit suicide, just three hours before. To avoid having a woman in
           the same room, he never got married -- because who knows, the woman may be a spy, an enemy, and
           while he is asleep she may kill him, poison him. He never trusted even the woman he pretended to
           love. He had no friends, because to be friendly with someone means to trust, and he was so doubtful.
               The politicians are insane, but we teach our children to be politicians. We teach our children the
           same culture that has tortured us, the same values that have been heavy on us, that have only proved
           to be subtle chains, imprisonment. But we go on conditioning our children. The same education that
           has destroyed our grace, our innocence -- we go on stuffing the same knowledge into our children's
           heads. And we go on lying to our children as our parents lied to us.
               And this has been going on and on for centuries. How can humanity be healthy, wholesome,
           relaxed? It is bound to be crazy. Just look what lies you go on telling your children.

               A little boy rushed into his mother's room and said, "Mommy, I had always wanted to ask one
           question, but today it is very urgent -- I want the answer right now."
               The mother was changing her clothes, getting ready to go out, and the son asked, "What are these
           two things on your chest?"
               The mother felt a little embarrassed: How to explain to the child about the breasts?
               Now, it is a simple thing to explain, and children are very understanding. It could easily have
           been explained that they are meant for small children to get their nourishment, and the thing would
           have been finished then and there. But we have become accustomed to such lies -- and the mother
           immediately invented a lie.
               She said, "These are balloons. When a woman dies, God puffs up these balloons. They become
           bigger and bigger and bigger, and then the woman's body starts rising towards heaven."
           The child said, "Now I know what is happening."
           The mother said, "What is happening?"
               He said, "Our maid servant is dying, but poor daddy is trying hard to prevent her. He is lying on
           top of the servant, holding her down, sucking her balloons to pull the air out, and the maid servant is
           saying, `God, I am coming!'"

               Now, these stupid lies -- and you think humanity is going to be sane? It has always been insane.
           It has always remained upside down and confused, because you have been brought up on lies.
               But one thing good is happening today: at least a few intelligent young people are becoming
           aware that our whole past has been wrong and it needs a radical change. "We need a discontinuity
           from our past. We want to start afresh, we NEED to start afresh. The whole past has been an
           experiment in utter futility!"
               Buddhaprem, once we accept the truth as it is, man can become sane. Man is born sane; WE
           drive him crazy. Once we accept that there are no nations and no races, man will become very calm
           and quiet. All this continuous violence and aggression will disappear. If we accept man's body, its
           sexuality, naturally, then all kinds of stupidities preached in the name of religion will evaporate.
           Ninety-nine percent of psychological diseases exist because of man's sexual repression.
               We have to make man free of his past. That's my whole work here: to help you to get rid of the
           past. Whatsoever the society has done to you has to be undone. Your consciousness has to be
           cleaned, emptied so that you can become like a pure mirror reflecting reality. To be able to reflect
           reality is to know God. God is just another name for reality: that which is. And a man is really sane
           when he knows the truth.
           Truth brings liberation, truth brings sanity.
           Truth brings intelligence, truth brings innocence.
           Truth brings bliss, truth brings celebration.
               We have to change this whole earth into a tremendous festival, and it is possible because man
           brings all that is needed to transform this earth into a paradise.

           The third question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS IT TRUE THAT YOU ARE REALLY AN ITALIAN?


                Antar Vittorio, not now, but I must have been in some of my past lives. One has to pass through
           all kinds of things; one has to be an Italian too. Without being an Italian you cannot become
           enlightened -- that much is absolutely certain. If somebody becomes enlightened without being an
           Italian he will have to come back; he will relapse from his enlightenment. Hence it is a must to pass
           through.
                To be an Italian is just the opposite of being enlightened. Have you ever heard about any Italian
           becoming enlightened? But it helps -- to touch the opposite pole is very necessary; only then the
           journey begins towards the source. You have gone as much astray as you could, then the prodigal
           sons return. You have to come back -- there is nowhere else to go. Once you are an Italian, where
           else can you go? What else can you do? You have reached the dead end of the road. So it is good to
           be an Italian -- the sooner it happens the better!
                To be an Italian is to be really upside down, and not half-heartedly! I must have been an Italian;
           otherwise whatsoever I am now today would not have been possible. And I can say the same about
           Gautama the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Bahauddin: all these people must have been Italian in some of
           their lives! You cannot bypass being an Italian. If you bypass, you are bypassing it at your own risk;
           you will have to come back. The Italian experience is something nobody can afford to miss.

               Why is there such a low suicide rate among Italians?
               It's pretty hard to kill yourself jumping out of a basement window!
               A German, a Frenchman and an Italian were captured during the second world war and brought
           to a prison camp.
           "How many pairs of underwear do you need?" asked the quartermaster sergeant.
           "Seven," said the German; "a pair for each day of the week."
           "Four," said the Frenchman; "one for each week in the month."
           "And how about you, Luigi?" asked the sergeant. "How many pairs of underwear do YOU need?"
           "Twelve," replied the Italian.
           "What the hell do you need twelve for?"
           "One-a for January, one-a for February, one-a...."

              Luigi met his best friend Giancarlo in the street one day. "Hello, Giancarlo, what-a you got-a
           inna your coat?"
           "Well-a," said Giancarlo, "you know-a that fascist bastard Francesco? Well-a, every time I come-a to
           town, he says-a to me, `Hey, Giancarlo, how you doing today-a?' Then he punches me in the chest-a
           with his fist-a and breaks-a all my cigars. So today I got-a four sticks-a of dynamite in my pocket.
           When he comes-a, I am-a gonna blow his goddamn hand-a off!"

               Pierino comes home from school and asks his father, "Papa, what does `simultaneously' mean?"
           "It means at the same time," replies the father. But Pierino still does not understand, so the father
           explains it.
           "Well," he says, "if you were born from a relationship between your mother and another man, not
           me, what would I be?"
           "A cuckold!" replies the little boy.
           "Right!" says the father. "And simultaneously you would be the son of a bitch!"

               The Italian experience is very fundamental for spiritual growth. If you are not born an Italian,
           you can learn to be an Italian -- it is easy. All that you need to do is exactly the same that you do in
           meditation, just a little bit different. In meditation you go beyond the mind; in being Italian you go
           below the mind. In both cases you go out of the mind! And it is better first to try to go below the
           mind; that will give you an out-of-the-mind experience -- and then there is no possibility of
           relapsing.
               Once you have tasted being an Italian, then you start praying to God, "No more of it! Enough is
           enough!" Then you start praying, "I don't want any more birth and death. I am fed up with time, I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           want to dissolve into eternity." But without being an Italian, this longing will not arise in you.
               That's why I am so much in love with Italians -- every moment they are coming closer to
           enlightenment. The deeper they become Italians, the closer they are coming to enlightenment; then
           the jump can happen at any moment.
               There are people who are just in the middle -- neither here nor there; they don't have much hope.
           For example, Indians -- they don't have much hope. They are middle-of-the-road walkers -- very
           careful, very cautious; they never go to the extremes. Keeping themselves in the middle they miss
           both the ultimate in misery and the ultimate in ecstasy.
               To be an Italian is to be in ultimate misery. The only hope is spaghetti; otherwise all is misery!
           Once you have experienced the ultimate in misery, now the only possible way left for you is to
           search for the ultimate bliss, and nothing less than that will help you. The ultimate misery can be
           removed only by ultimate bliss.
               It is not an accident that so many Italians are here. They have tasted the misery there, they have
           seen. If you have seen Italy you have seen the whole world. It is a miniature world, and once you are
           fed up with Italy you are fed up with the world too. Then nirvana is possible. In fact, from Italy to
           nirvana there is a direct route; that is the most simple, direct and the shortest route.
               Italians live a very earthy life; they are earthy people. That's what is good about them -- they are
           down to earth. They are not too interested in heaven and paradise; they don't care much about that.
           This earth is enough. But because it is not enough, sooner or later they start feeling an urge to seek
           for something else.
               The Indians live on the earth, they are very mundane, but they go on talking about spirituality.
           That keeps them in a kind of illusion. Because of their talk they think they are spiritual. Because of
           their beautiful words which they have become very efficient in repeating...thousands of years of
           repeating and chanting mantras. They can do it very easily and befool others, but that is secondary --
           they can befool themselves. Hearing themselves using beautiful words, they can become infatuated
           with their own words. Words have then their own magnetism. If you use great words you will be
           influenced by those words -- and your reality will be the same, it will not change. Words cannot
           change your reality, but they can hide, they can cover it up. They can give you a respectability.
               The Indian lives in respectability. His whole effort is how to remain respectable, religious,
           spiritual; how to show others that he is a holy man. He is continuously making deliberate and not so
           deliberate efforts at pretending greatness, other-worldliness. You can see around him that stinking,
           ugly phenomenon of holier-than-thou.
               Italians are beautiful in that way. They are simple people, down-to-earth, no-nonsense people.
           They don't bother about spiritual rubbish. And it is good to be earthly. My own experience is, if you
           have never been earthly, down-to-earth, if you have never been really materialistic, absolutely
           earthly, if you have never been really an atheist, you will not become spiritual, ever. Materialism has
           to become the base; your down-to-earthness has to become your foundation. Then the temple, the
           shrine of spirituality can rise on top of it.
               First be a Charvaka, an Epicurean, a Zorba the Greek; only then can you be Gautama the
           Buddha, Jesus Christ, Bahauddin, Nanak, Kabir.... If your foundation is missing, then your
           spirituality is hocus-pocus; it is just verbal.
               I love the Italian rootedness into the earth, because from there the work can start. The body has
           to be accepted first, not only accepted but respected too. If you have not explored your body you will
           not be able to explore the soul. The methodology of exploration is the same, but begin with the body
           because the body is the visible part of your soul. Start with the visible and then slowly move towards
           the invisible. Start with the known and then move towards the unknown. Start from the periphery
           and then go deeper towards the center.
               There are millions of people in the world who live in words -- repeating THE BIBLE, the
           KORAN, the GITA, the DHAMMAPADA -- but they are like parrots, mechanical; they are
           gramophone records. They can repeat the scriptures perfectly, but they know nothing. Knowledge
           needs roots in the earth, just as a tree needs roots in the earth. The branches will rise towards the sky,
           the branches will try to reach to the stars. But at the same time the roots have to go deeper and
           deeper into the earth. Remember, there is a balance: the higher the tree goes, the deeper its roots
           have to go; it is totally balanced. You cannot have a big tree with small roots. It will fall, it will not
           be able to stand.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's how India has fallen...a big tree with very small roots. The most basic thing is to grow
           roots. But the roots cannot be grown into the sky, they have to grow into the earth, into the body,
           into matter. Then your branches can rise into the sky, into the world of the spiritual. They can reach
           to God.
               Friedrich Nietzsche is right when he says, "When a tree wants to touch the feet of God, it has to
           reach to the very center of hell through its roots. The roots have to go to the very rock bottom; then
           only can the branches and the flowers be offered to the feet of God.
               By Italian I simply mean a certain symbol, just as by Indian I mean a certain symbol. The Indian
           represents the hypocrite. Wherever he is born, that doesn't matter; he may be born even in Italy. But
           wherever you find a hypocrite you will find an Indian, and wherever you find a realistic, pragmatic,
           practical person he will be an Italian. To me these words don't represent geography, they represent
           something metaphorical.
               My commune is going to be one of the richest communes that has ever happened on the earth. I
           have chosen Deeksha to take care of your bodies -- an Italian, a perfect mamma! And she is taking
           care as beautifully as possible.
               My commune consists of all kinds of people. They will all pool their different energies to make it
           the richest commune in the whole of existence that has ever existed. Around Buddha there were only
           Indians, around Jesus there were only Jews, around Mohammed there were only Mohammedans.
           Around me there are all kinds of people -- theists, atheists, materialists, spiritualists, Catholics,
           Communists, Jainas, Jews, Italians, Indians, Germans...all kinds of people, and they have all
           developed different sides of humanity. No country has developed the whole human being, only
           partial human beings.
               We can create the whole human being, multidimensional, immensely rich, rooted in the earth and
           yet longing for the stars.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I AM LEAVING THIS WONDERFUL BUDDHAFIELD TO VENTURE FORTH INTO THE BIG, WIDE
              WORLD TO GET EVERYTHING READY TO BECOME PART OF OUR NEW COMMUNE.
              PLEASE TELL ME A JOKE THAT WILL ACCOMPANY ME ON MY ADVENTURES AND THAT WILL
              REMIND ME OF YOUR ETERNAL LAUGHTER.


              Deva Darshan, this is the joke for you:

               A recently-married traveling salesman came home early from his business trip. He arrived at one
           o'clock in the morning and tiptoed up the stairs to his bedroom, not wishing to disturb his young
           wife. When he opened the door, to his horror he saw another man sleeping in his bed, next to his
           wife.
           In a burst of rage he grabbed the man by the hair and pulled him out of bed. He kicked him and
           pushed him down the stairs and out of the back door. He forced the naked man into the garden shed,
           grabbed his prick and put it in a vice, which he then tightened and padlocked. He took a hacksaw
           from the shelf, very methodically removed the blade and fitted a new one in.
           The terrified young man's eyes bulged at this prospect.
           "You-you are no-no-not going to-to cut my prick off, are you?" he stammered.
           "No," smiled the husband, handing the saw to the relieved young man. "YOU are! I am going to set
           fire to the shed!"

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                 Chapter #13
                              Chapter title: Of Course the Grass Grows by Itself
           8 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011080
              ShortTitle: COME13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              PEOPLE OF ALMOST ALL THE RELIGIONS TRY TO CONVINCE OTHER PEOPLE TO FOLLOW
              THEIR RESPECTIVE RELIGIONS. BUT I HAVE MET MANY OF YOUR FOLLOWERS AND THEY
              ALWAYS DISCOURAGE ME FROM ADOPTING THE WAY YOU ARE PREACHING. WHY SO?


               Harrinder Singh, the first thing: what I am teaching is not a religion but a religiousness. A
           religion is a creed, a dogma, an ideology; it is intellectual. You can be convinced about it --
           arguments can be given, proofs can be supplied, you can be silenced. Argumentation is a kind of
           violence, a very subtle violence. It is an attempt to manipulate you, control you, enslave you. All the
           religions have been doing that for thousands of years; it is a subtle strategy to create mental slavery.
               What I am doing here has nothing to do with religion at all. It is a kind of religiousness -- no
           belief, no dogma, no church. It is a love affair; you cannot be convinced of it. Do you think Majnu
           can convince others about the beauty of Laila? It is impossible. Nobody can convince anybody else
           about his love affair. It is far deeper than the intellect, it is of the heart, and the heart knows no
           arguments, no proofs; it is simply so. One can dance, one can sing, but one cannot prove it. One can
           shout with joy, one can say "Alleluia!" but those are not arguments, they are not convincing.
               The story about Majnu is very significant. It is a Sufi story. It is not an ordinary love story as
           people have been thinking, it is an allegory.

               Majnu fell in love with a woman called Laila who was not beautiful according to others.
           According to the public opinion she was very ordinary, homely -- not only that but ugly too. And
           Majnu was mad, so mad that the very name of Majnu has become synonymous with madness. He
           was continuously praying to God, continuously moving around the city asking people for help,
           because he was a poor man and the woman he had fallen in love with belonged to an aristocratic
           family. Even to see Laila from far away was not easy. It was a Mohammedan country, and in a
           Mohammedan country it is very difficult to see even the face of a woman.
               Seeing his agony, his anguish, even the king became a little concerned. He called Majnu; he felt
           great compassion for him. He told him, "I know that woman; that family is well known to me, and if
           Laila had been a beautiful woman she would have been part of my harem. I have not chosen her --
           she is not worth choosing. I have got all the beautiful women from all over the country, and I feel so
           much for you that I will give you a chance. You can choose any woman from my harem and she will
           be yours!" -- and he called the most beautiful women.
               Majnu looked at each woman in minute detail and said, "This is not Laila!" Again and again...he
           passed over a dozen women, and the remark was always the same: "This is not Laila!"
               The king said, "You must have gone utterly crazy! Laila is nothing compared to these beautiful
           women! You can choose anyone. I KNOW your Laila, I have known the most beautiful women of
           the world, and my women are some of the greatest that have ever been on the earth."
               Majnu said, "But you don't understand me. And I can understand that you cannot understand. It
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not a question of choosing somebody else; the choice is not in my hands. It has happened already;
           the heart has chosen! I am nobody, I cannot interfere in it. The mind is only the circumference; the
           heart is the center. The center has chosen, how can the circumference interfere?
           "And moreover -- forgive me for saying so, because you have been so kind -- I still insist that there
           has never been a woman like Laila and there will never be again. But to see the beauty of Laila you
           need the eyes of a Majnu, and you don't have those eyes so nothing can be done about it. You have
           to see her through MY eyes; only then will you be able to see the grandeur, the splendor of her
           being."

               Remember these words: To see the beauty of Laila you need the eyes of a Majnu.
               This is not a religion. The people who have gathered around me are lovers -- not intellectually
           convinced of what I am saying, but existentially convinced of what I am. It is a question not decided
           by the mind but something to be felt.
               Harrinder Singh, that's why my people never try to convince anybody. Knowing perfectly well
           that you don't have the eyes of a Majnu, what is the point of going into hairsplitting logic? It is
           futile! They know perfectly well that it is not their intellect that has made them part of my
           buddhafield, it is their hearts. Something has started ringing in their hearts -- a bell has started
           ringing in their hearts.
               Their hearts have felt a new release of energy, a new dance. A new melody has been heard, not a
           new argument but a new melody. Their hearts were asleep, now they are awake. Their hearts were
           like a desert. Now the spring has come, now roses are flowering, bees are humming. Their inner
           beings are transformed. It is religiousness.
               Religiousness happens only when a Buddha or a Krishna or a Mahavira or a Christ is alive.
           When Christ dies there is religion. Religion is the corpse of religiousness; it only looks like a real
           person. When a person dies he looks exactly like he was when he was alive. Just something very
           small is missing -- he is no longer breathing; otherwise everything is perfectly good! You can paint
           his face, you can put his hair in a beautiful style, you can give him beautiful garments, and he will
           look very young and very alive, with red cheeks -- everything can be done. In the West it has
           become an art: how to paint the dead man, how to make him look alive. But it is only an appearance;
           the real is no longer there. It is only a cage -- maybe a golden cage, but the bird has flown away.
               When religiousness dies, religion is born. Religiousness breathes; religion is a corpse. But many
           people feel good with religion; in fact, the majority. Ninety-nine point nine percent of people feel
           good with religion, because it is not dangerous at all. What can the corpse do to you? You can do
           anything to the corpse, but the corpse cannot do anything to you; the corpse is in your hands.
               But when religion is alive and breathing -- that's what I mean by religiousness -- then you are
           possessed by it, but you cannot possess it. You cannot possess a Buddha or a Lao Tzu or a
           Zarathustra. You cannot possess Bahauddin, Jalaluddin, al-Hillaj Mansoor...no, that is not possible.
           These are people who have known the ultimate freedom -- how can you possess them? They cannot
           fulfill your expectations, they cannot move according to you; they will have their own way. If it suits
           you, you have to be with them. You will not be able to force them to be with you; there is no way
           possible.
               The truth cannot be with you -- YOU have to be with the truth. But the lie is in your hands. You
           can manipulate it, you can make it look the way you want it to look, you can give it colors, you can
           cut it; you can give it form and shape, you can make it fit with your unconscious life. You can be a
           Hindu; it does not disturb your unconsciousness.
               You can be a Mohammedan; it makes no transformation in you. You can be a Buddhist with no
           trouble at all, with no danger, with no insecurity. But to be with a buddha is to walk on fire! All that
           is nonessential in you will be burned and only the essential will survive -- and the essential is very
           small in you. So much of you is false, and it is going to die.
           To be with a buddha means a death.
           Life comes afterwards, but death comes first.
               Resurrection first is not possible; it can follow only if crucifixion has happened. It comes after
           the crucifixion. To be with a master is to be ready to die and ready to be born anew.
           Religion is consolation, conformation.
           Religiousness is revolution, rebellion.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ajai Krishna Lakanpal has asked a long question about the Sufis who have died in the past --
           Muhinuddin Chisti, Nijamuddin Auliya, Baba Jan and others. He has asked about their MAJALS,
           their graves -- have they any power? He is a worshipper of these majals -- a worshipper of graves!
           And he is asking me, "Are they not still vibrating with the energy of those great mystics?"
                Being here with me he has no courage, no guts to be a sannyasin, but he goes to Ajmer to pay his
           respects to somebody who was alive a few hundred years ago. And I know perfectly well that if
           Muhinuddin Chisti was alive today, Ajai Krishna Lakanpal would not go there at all. And even if he
           did go there he would ask about the Kaaba, Bodhgaya, the graves of Buddha, Mahavira, Christ....
           Asking about the graves of other enlightened people is such a stupidity, but it looks as if you are
           asking a religious question.
                Being here with me, if you cannot risk then of course you have to go and worship graves. And if
           you cannot feel the energy here, where else can you feel the energy? All that energy is your
           projection and nothing else. I am not saying that there is not any energy, but that energy can only be
           felt by those who have felt it with someone who is still alive. If you can feel the energy here, if you
           can get in harmony with this energy, you may be able to feel it at the DARGA of Muhinuddin Chisti
           in Ajmer. But if you cannot feel it here, you cannot feel it there -- that is impossible. If you cannot
           see God in man how can you see God in a rock? First you have to see God in man; only then will
           your insight deepen and will you be able to see God in the rock too.
                First you have to be in contact with a living religiousness, then all religions become true in a new
           sense; otherwise they are just corpses. But they are comfortable -- you can go and offer flowers and
           you can bow down, and the grave cannot do anything to you! You can come back with good
           feelings, that you have done something great, and you are the same old fool -- nothing has happened
           to you. At the most you are a little more foolish than you were before, because now you are a
           religious fool. Before you were just an ordinary fool; now you have some pretensions of religion too.
           Now you will come home with that haughty feeling of holier-than-thou -- just by going to a grave!
           And let me remind you, I am not saying that those graves have nothing; they have much, but only for
           those who have eyes. If you cannot see it in a living Sufi, in a living master, you are blind, you
           cannot see it in a grave at all.
                But graves are good, because you are also dead and there is a certain adjustment. You are dead,
           the grave is dead; it feels very good -- in the right company. You are a ghost and you would like very
           much to live with the ghosts.
                Harrinder Singh, you ask me: "People of almost all the religions try to convince other people to
           follow their respective religions. Why so?" That's a significant thing to ask. You may be surprised:
           they are not really trying to convince others; by convincing others they are trying to convince
           themselves that "We are not wrong." When they are able to convince somebody, again they feel at
           ease: "My religion is right, I am not wrong. Look, even somebody who never belonged to my
           religion is convinced." Christians go on converting people all over the world. The only reason is that
           THEY are not convinced of Christ yet.
                The two most ancient religions in the world have been non-converting religions: the Jews and the
           Hindus. The Jews never converted anybody -- they were so utterly convinced that there was no need
           to convince anybody else -- the Hindus never tried to convince anybody. And these are the oldest
           religions in the world; in fact, all other religions are, in a sense, branches. Christianity and Islam are
           branches of Judaism; Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism are branches of Hinduism. The most ancient
           traditions have been non-converting. Why? The reason was that they were convinced; they were so
           ancient and they were not in need of new converts. Their very ancientness gave them enough ground
           to be convinced that they were right. Not that they were right, but they had this illusion of being
           right because of their long heritage going back into prehistoric times. They had the ancientmost
           scriptures, and that was enough for them; that served their purpose.
                But Christianity was a new religion; Christ had to start from abc. Buddhism was new; Buddha
           had to start from abc. Mohammedanism was new; Mohammed had to start from abc -- he had
           nothing behind him to fall back upon. The only way for the Mohammedans was to convert others.
           They were substituting tradition by converting people and creating a great mass of followers; that
           was their way of convincing themselves.
                Hindus and Jews were convincing themselves in a different way, but Christians, Mohammedans
           and Buddhists could not do that; that was not possible for them. That avenue was closed; they had to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           open a new door. They became converting religions. The most unconvinced of all these were the
           Christians for the simple reason that the Jews had crucified Jesus. Now there was a great fear in the
           followers.
               When Jesus left the world, the followers were in a deep darkness: their founder had been
           crucified with two criminals, two thieves...on both sides. He was treated like a criminal and he could
           not manage to do any miracle on the cross. There was a great shaking of the foundations. The
           Christians were very shaky, they were not grounded. They were very much afraid: "Who knows, we
           may have fallen into a trap. Jesus may not be the right messiah. The Jews could not recognize him --
           great scholars, rabbis, saints, could not recognize him at all. Who knows...?" That doubt persisted.
           The only way to destroy that doubt was to convert as many people to Christianity as possible -- "If
           we can convert the whole earth, then it will be proof that we are right."
               People think that a majority in numbers proves whether you are right or wrong. Now, you can
           take numbers in two ways: either you can count all the people who have gone before you in the past,
           or you can count the people who are still alive. If the door of tradition is closed, then you have to
           convert the contemporaries.
               Christians became great converters, and they have converted almost half of humanity. Still some
           wound remains, still the doubt has not disappeared -- and this is not the way to make it disappear.
           The heart has not yet become convinced, but the doubt still persists, the shadow lingers on.
               Christians go on writing thousands of books proving that Jesus was the right messiah. What is
           the point? Who are you trying to convince? You cannot convince the Jews; you have tried for two
           thousand years and you have not been successful. Hindus are not at all interested whether Jesus was
           the right messiah; Jainas are not interested; Buddhists are not interested. Who are you trying to
           convince? You are trying to convince yourself.
               You must have known this psychological phenomenon.... When you are going alone into the
           forest on a dark night, you start whistling or singing a song, as if by singing a song the danger is
           averted, or that whistling is going to help. But in a psychological way it does something. When you
           start whistling you forget all about the fear -- because the mind can do only one thing at a time, so
           when you are whistling you forget the fear. Moreover, when you start whistling you start hearing the
           whistle, and when you start hearing the whistle it gives you the fallacious idea that somebody else is
           there who is whistling, and that makes you feel a little at ease. It is the same phenomenon.
               Christians are still whistling, still doubtful. And they have to be doubtful -- they are responsible
           for their doubts. To prove to the Jews that Jesus is the right messiah, they have to brag and tell lies.
           For example, they say that he was born out of a virgin mother. That is sheer nonsense! Now, how
           can you ever be convinced of it? You may turn the whole earth towards Christianity, yet the doubt
           will persist. Any man who has even a little bit of intelligence can see the point, that this is stupid --
           Jesus cannot have been born out of a virgin mother. And then they have been saying that Jesus raised
           the dead, cured the blind....
               But Jesus could not prove anything on the cross, where the real test was, when one hundred
           thousand people had gathered to see the miracle. And he had been doing all these small miracles, but
           only in front of his disciples, and they were not many. He had only twelve apostles and they were all
           villagers, uneducated -- fishermen, woodcutters, carpenters, farmers, gardeners -- simple people. He
           walked on water in front of these people; he raised the dead in front of these people; he cured the
           blind in front of these people. And when one hundred thousand people had gathered, the most
           educated and sophisticated of all the rabbis and all the scholars and all the professors in Jerusalem,
           he could not do anything.
               Jesus was thirsty on the cross, and he could not even produce a cup of water for himself. And he
           had done miracles like transforming water into wine! He was thirsty and begging for water -- he was
           dying. A great doubt had arisen even in his own mind whether he was really the messiah, whether he
           was really the son of God. He asked God, "Have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? Is
           this the time to leave me alone, to betray me? I lived the whole of my life in trust -- why are you not
           doing something to save me?"
               And nothing happened. The sky remained silent -- no miracle. The people must have gone home
           laughing. They must have all enjoyed the picnic and laughed. It must have been the gossip for a few
           days in the town, and people must have giggled about the whole affair -- that this man was a fool, a
           pretender. Christians have not yet forgotten it; the wound has gone deep. But they are trying to cover
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it up.
               Mohammed came later still; he came just fourteen hundred years ago. By that time humanity was
           almost divided; it was very difficult to find converts. Of course when he was alive he turned many
           people on, but the moment he was gone it was impossible for his followers to find converts. And, as
           far as argument was concerned, Mohammedans could not argue with the Buddhists. Buddhism had
           reached as far as central Asia. By that time there were temples of Buddha all over Asia, particularly
           in central Asia. And to argue with Buddhist logicians is the most difficult thing. The Buddhist
           logicians and philosophers have touched the highest possibility of intellectual grasp. It is impossible
           to argue with the Jaina philosophers. Even Pythagoras remembers them. He met them in Egypt. He
           calls them gymnosophists, and he describes them as naked people who argued with such intelligence
           that it was impossible to refute them. It is very difficult to refute Buddhists and Jainas; it is very
           difficult to prove that Mohammed was a greater miracle man than Jesus.
               So Mohammedans were in a difficulty, and the only way was the sword. Intellect was not going
           to work, so they started cutting off people's heads. If you cannot cut their arguments, cut their heads
           -- because might is right! They went on a rampage. They killed thousands, murdered, butchered, and
           converted people forcibly: "For YOUR sake, of course, for your own good, because if you are not a
           Mohammedan you are not going to achieve paradise, you will fall into hell." They were trying hard
           to save people, but in fact they were trying to convince themselves that Mohammed was as good as
           Buddha or Jesus or Mahavira or Krishna.
               My people are not interested in converting anybody, because they don't have any doubt. They are
           not here with me to be convinced, they are here with me because they are already convinced as far as
           their hearts are concerned. And if they are not convinced, they are free to leave; there is no need to
           be here at all.
               I am not interested in the masses and the crowds; I am interested only in the chosen few, I am
           interested only in the spiritually aristocratic, the very few intelligent people. So if your heart is
           dancing with me, good. If it is not dancing with me, then this is not the right place for you -- you are
           free to leave.
               And my people will never try to convince anybody -- at least not while I am alive! When I am
           gone, nothing can be done about it; then there is no guarantee. While I am alive they will not try to
           convince anybody.
               But, Harrinder Singh, without any of my people convincing you, you have come here; that is far
           more important. Something of their joy has caught you, some glimpse in their eyes has touched you.
           Something special in their vibe has brought you here. This would not have been possible if they had
           argued. Argument is very gross and the work of real energy is very subtle.
               I receive thousands of letters from all over the world: "There is certainly something strange in
           your orange people. They don't argue, they are not like Jehovah's Witnesses. They are not like Hare
           Krishna people, always carrying the BHAGAVADGITA and trying to force things into your head
           whether you are willing or not. They don't interfere in anybody's life."
               But their non-interference is far more effective. That shows that they have found something, that
           shows that they have discovered something. Their very being is vibrant with their discovery. They
           are joyous, they are happy, they are cheerful. They are living their life as creatively as possible.
               Now all kinds of creativity are happening here. There are dance groups, there are music groups,
           there is a theater group, there is an art group, and soon there will be many more -- sculptors,
           architects, scientists, poets, novelists. Everybody is going to be here, and they will all share their joy
           through creativity. If their creativity can convince you, then that is a totally different matter. If their
           very life can become a light to you, that is a totally different thing. But they are not going to force
           anybody. I am not in favour of coercing people.
               You say to me: "People of almost all the religions try to convince other people to follow their
           respective religions." They are religious and this is only a religiousness -- at least right now it is only
           a religiousness. It is only a quality, vague, fluid, flowing, dynamic; it has not become stagnant yet. It
           can become stagnant only when I am gone. While I am alive I will go on stirring -- I will never allow
           you to settle anywhere. I will go on and on calling you to new adventures, challenging you to new
           explorations.
               Harrinder Singh, you also say: "But I have met many of your followers and they always
           discourage me from adopting the way you are preaching." They are not my followers, just my
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           friends. To be a follower is ugly. I am not a leader, so how can you be a follower? For you to be a
           follower, first I have to be a leader, and that very word is ugly.
                I am nobody's leader; I am just living my life, doing my thing. And the people who enjoy being
           with me, they are welcome. It is a friendship. We are fellow travelers. Maybe there is a little
           difference: I am awake, they are asleep -- so what? I was asleep, now I am awake. They are asleep,
           tomorrow they will be awake. Their very sleep proves only one thing, that they have the capacity to
           be awake.
                And I don't disturb anybody's sleep prematurely! When I see the person is going to wake up
           anyhow, then I just give him a little nudge. I don't nag people, I don't go on nagging them, "Wake
           up! Wake up!" because if you nag a sleepy person to wake up too much, he may start dreaming that
           he has awakened. That is a difficulty...because the mind can create all kinds of dreams. It can even
           create the dream that one is awakened, that one is enlightened. And even here it happens to a few
           people.
                Now Siddhartha is here from Germany; it is happening to him. In his dream he has become
           enlightened -- or approximately. And, be aware, when a German becomes enlightened, then he
           becomes perfectly enlightened!
                Just a few days ago I was talking about Proper Sagar, the perfect Englishman. Somebody has
           asked me, "Do you know why he is perfect?" I know, but I cannot tell you because he will feel very
           offended, very offended. He is such a perfect Englishman that if I tell you the truth he will be very
           offended. If you promise me not to tell anybody, then I can share it: he is really a German pretending
           to be an Englishman. No Englishman can defeat him! There are hundreds of Englishmen here -- has
           anybody the guts to defeat Proper Sagar? Impossible! When a German tries to be anybody he is
           always perfect. To be German means to be perfect -- they are synonymous.
                So it is happening in Germany: Siddhartha is dreaming that he has become enlightened. And I go
           on playing jokes: I have given him one of my chairs and one of my robes! So with my robe on he sits
           in the chair -- and being a German he is very methodical: on one side sits a woman who is Mukta; on
           the other side are two women, one who is Vivek, the other Laxmi. And in front of Laxmi is a man
           who is Shiva. Germans do things perfectly!
                Another German, Gunakar, is here. Siddhartha is very simple, a nice guy, but Gunakar is an
           advocate, a great legal expert, so he is going about it more methodically, more legally. Now he has
           closed himself in a room...just the way I live in a room he lives in a room; he does not come out, he
           does not write.... He has a secretary -- a woman, of course. He does not allow anybody to touch his
           body.
                The reason people are prevented from touching my feet has nothing to do with enlightenment --
           it is just that my toes are in difficulty. To touch my toes hurts them badly, so people have to be
           prevented. Gunakar must have seen that nobody is allowed to touch my feet anymore, so he is
           preventing people from touching him "because his energy gets disturbed"! And both of them are
           here!
                So if you try to wake up people in their sleep, the great danger is that they may wake up, but not
           really, only in sleep; they may dream that they are awake and in their dreams they may start playing
           all kinds of games of enlightenment, spirituality, religiousness. One has to be very aware not to
           disturb anybody before the right time.
                So I persuade you, I seduce you towards awakening. But I am not in a hurry -- it cannot be done
           in a hurry. I have to wait, and when I see that you are just coming out of your sleep, only then a little
           shaking helps and you are fully awake. Even if you are not shaken up at the last moment, you may
           awaken. It may be a little later; it is just a question of time. The master has to be watchful not to be
           in a hurry, because sometimes it happens that you see people in misery and you would like to help
           them immediately, but to help them immediately may harm them more if they are not ready to wake
           up.
                So my people are not my followers, they are just my friends, my lovers -- they have fallen in love
           with me. And as you know, love is blind; it is not a logical thing, so how can they convince you?
           They have not connected themselves with me through logic; it has been an illogical jump. They can
           only share their joy with you, and if that brings you here it is good.
                And certainly my sannyasins will tell you not to follow me, because that's exactly what my
           teaching is: not to follow me. Each individual is unique; nobody has to become an imitator. And they
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will discourage you from adopting the way I am preaching -- they will discourage you so that you
           can find yourself. Otherwise, people are very willing to believe. Belief is so cheap; it costs nothing
           to believe.
               My people will discourage you from believing, from following, from adopting the way I am
           teaching. If you become interested you have to come here and explore yourself. It is an exploration.
           It is an adventure into the unknown. It is going beyond the familiar, beyond that which can be
           comprehended, beyond that which the mind can cope with. It is a journey into the beyond. It is very
           delicate, far more delicate than the petals of a rose. You can destroy it very easily; any coercive
           effort and it is destroyed. So they bring you here without any coercion, without any logic. They only
           invite you, and that too not directly -- very indirectly. And they will discourage you from following
           me, because it is not a question of following me; the real question is of following your own light.
               All that I can do is to help you find the way that reaches to your own innermost light. I can show
           you the way. And when you have found your light you will have to live your own life. It will not be
           as a Christian, it will not be as a Hindu, it will not be Mohammedan; it will simply be your life,
           nobody else's.

           The second question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THIS GUY MURPHY AND SOME OF HIS
              GOLDEN RULES. PLEASE TELL US SOME!


                Premraja, I don't know much about this guy Murphy, but I don't know much about anything else
           either!
                I am not a man of knowledge; I function from a state of not knowing, and I have found that that
           is the most beautiful space to function from.
                I have heard a few of the golden rules of this guy Murphy, so I will tell you a few.
                George Bernard Shaw has written a beautiful book, MAXIMS FOR A REVOLUTIONARY. The
           first maxim is a beautiful one: The first golden rule is that there are no golden rules. But Murphy has
           improved upon it, and George Bernard Shaw would have appreciated it very much.

              Murphy's first golden rule is: Whoever has the gold makes the rules.

              Second: Never think of the future -- it comes soon enough.

              Third: For every credibility gap there is a gullibility fill.

              Fourth: Youth looks ahead, old age looks back, middle age looks worried.

              Fifth: Youth is when you blame all your troubles on your parents; maturity is when you learn that
           everything is the fault of the younger generation.

              Sixth: The best thing about the golden old days is that they cannot come back.

              Seventh: Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters in life begin when you get what
           you want.

              Eighth: The solution to a problem changes the problems.

              Ninth: Almost anything is easier to get into than to get out of.

              Tenth: Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes to the bone.

           Eleventh: Celibacy is not hereditary.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Twelfth: Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.

              And thirteenth: If you think education is experience, try ignorance.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YESTERDAY IN LECTURE YOU SAID THAT LAUGHTER WAS NATURAL. I HAVE ALSO HEARD
              YOU SAY THAT WHAT IS NATURAL IS EASY AND RIGHT.
              WHY DO I FIND IT SO DIFFICULT TO LAUGH -- EVEN AT YOUR JOKES?


                Anand Kevala, laughter is natural, but you are not natural; hence the meeting cannot happen.
           You will have to be natural too. And, yes, I say what is natural is easy and right, but because you are
           not natural you are neither easy nor right. Your whole upbringing makes you artificial, arbitrary; it
           destroys your nature. It imposes something else that others want -- it imposes the opinions of others
           upon you. There are vested interests that would like you to be a certain way. They don't want you to
           be natural -- they are afraid of nature.
                Somewhere deep down in man there is fear of nature. That fear of nature has created many
           problems. It has created an ugly civilization, a rotten culture, an anti-nature technology, a science
           against ecology, a religion which is not in tune with your innermost being. It is time for man to
           revolt against all this that has happened to humanity in the past!
                But why is man afraid of nature? There are reasons. The first is: nature is bigger than your ego,
           and if nature is allowed, the ego cannot be in control. Then nature will control you. Then you will
           not feel that you are in control, and you would like to be in control. So rather than being natural, you
           repress your nature and you claim only a small spot of your being. Only one tenth of your being can
           be controlled by the ego. Then you feel the master, you are the master. With nature you are not the
           master; with nature you are nowhere, you don't exist at all. And the ego creates everything -- the ego
           creates morality, and morality is against nature.
                For example, what can you do if you fall in love with a woman who is not your wife? That
           falling in love is natural, but you have to look to other things -- your marriage, your prestige, your
           respectability, your society, your religion, your future, your salary, your job, your business -- and not
           only in this world but in the other world too. You will have to answer to God why you fell in love. It
           is better to prevent nature, to close nature completely, so you remain confined in the rules and
           regulations of your society, culture, religion.
                You are taught ambitiousness, and nature is nonambitious. Nature has no instinct in it to be the
           president of a country or to be the prime minister of a country. Nature would like to dance, sing,
           love, eat, sleep, to go swimming, take a sunbath.... But nature will not bother to become the president
           of a country -- nature is not that stupid. Who wants to become President Reagan? A third-rate film
           actor has become the president of America. Now all the third-rate people will be feeling great, will
           be feeling that now they can also make it. All kinds of stupid fools, mediocre people, become so
           prominent that if you want to be prominent you have to be mediocre.
                Nature is very intelligent. It is not mediocre, it is not stupid; it is tremendously clear, clean,
           transparent. You have to destroy its transparence, and then naturally you become sad. Then you
           cannot laugh. Laughter becomes impossible...because laughter is a natural phenomenon. You can be
           sad, you can be miserable; that is not natural, that is cultivated.
                Kevala, you cannot laugh because you are not natural. Relax and drop all that is unnatural in you
           -- all pretensions, pseudo coverings, masks. Be just ordinary. To be ordinary is the greatest thing in
           the world. Let me say it in this way: to be ordinary is the most extraordinary thing in the world. And
           why is it extraordinary? -- because the desire to be extraordinary is very ordinary. Hence, to be
           ordinary is really extraordinary. Only very few people have been able to manage it up to now.
                Just be ordinary and laughter will come to you, unless it has gone very deep in you -- unless,
           Kevala, you have been brought up by Catholics, Jainas, or in some other kind of unnatural way of
           life; unless you are an ex-nun! Then it will be difficult, but not impossible. I have destroyed many
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nuns here! Now even if you try to find them you will be surprised -- you will not be able to find any
           monks and nuns.
              If you want to know a really destroyed nun, meet Chintana. She has been a great nun. When she
           came it was impossible for her to laugh, and now I think she is the most laughing woman around
           here! Whenever she comes to see me I always tell her to go into gibberish. She is the most perfect at
           gibberish. She makes such beautiful sounds, meaningless; she starts speaking all kinds of languages
           which nobody understands. But she goes into it really passionately, deeply. One would never have
           thought that a nun could do this!

              How do nuns and monks make love?
           Out of habit.

              Kevala, are you a nun? Then drop the habit! Or perhaps you are in more dangerous waters -- you
           may be a Polack! To be a nun is only a question of a few years of conditioning, but to be a Polack
           needs many incarnations!

              Have you heard the story of the Polack lesbian?
           She loved men.

               The Polack patient lying on the operating table whispers to the surgical-masked doctor, "You can
           take your mask off now, doctor, I have recognized you!"

               In a school in Poland the teacher asks, "Has any of you ever saved somebody's life?"
           A little boy raises his arm, "Yes, my little nephew's."
           "How did it happen? Tell us!" asks the teacher.
           The little Polack says, "I hid my sister's birth control pills!"

               The unmarried Polack cleaning woman had a baby. When asked by a social worker about the
           father of the child, she replied curtly, "Dunno! You think I turn around every time I clean the stairs?"

               The phone is ringing in the doctor's office. He picks it up and hears the desperate voice of a
           Polack woman: "Hello, Doc! Did I leave my underpants in your room after the medical
           examination?"
           "No," replies the doctor, "they are not here."
           Half an hour later she calls again. "Hello, Doc, it's me again. Don't worry anymore, I found them --
           they were at the dentist's!"

               Come out of your unnaturalness! Come out of your Polackness! Kevala, laughter is one of the
           most important things in life. The person who misses laughter is going to miss God too.
               I can tell you categorically that when you reach God he is not going to ask you what sins you
           have committed and what virtues you have accumulated. He will ask, "Have you brought some new
           jokes?" He always asks that! He must be getting tired -- since eternity he has been sitting there doing
           nothing. Of course the grass grows by itself, but what can you do with the grass? One gets tired
           seeing the grass growing by itself!
               Kevala, collect a few beautiful jokes before you leave this body. Listen to my suggestion -- I am
           really serious about it!

           Enough for today.




                                      Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                      Chapter #14
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                 Chapter title: The Forgotten But Not the Lost
           9 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011090
              ShortTitle: COME14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 0 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DOES EVERYBODY THINK ENLIGHTENMENT IS A JOKE?


               Sarito, it is! But only a child can ask such a beautiful question -- Sarito is only twelve years of
           age. Enlightenment is a joke because it is not something that you have to achieve, yet you have to
           make all possible efforts to achieve it. It is already the case: you are born enlightened.
               The word "enlightenment" is beautiful. We come from the source, the ultimate source of light.
           We are small rays of that sun, and howsoever far away we may have gone, our nature remains the
           same. Nobody can go against his real nature: you can forget about it, but you cannot lose it. Hence
           attaining it is not the right expression; it is not attained, it is only remembered. That's why Buddha
           called his method SAMMASATI.
               Sammasati means right remembrance of that which is already there. Nanak, Kabir, Raidas, they
           have all called it SURATI. Surati means remembering the forgotten, but not the lost. Whether you
           remember or not, it is there -- it is there exactly the same. You can keep your eyes closed to it -- it is
           there. You can open your eyes -- it is there. You can keep it behind your back -- it is there. You can
           take a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and see it -- it is there. It is the same.
               George Gurdjieff used to call his method self-remembering. Nothing has to be achieved, nothing
           at all, but only to be discovered. And the discovery is needed because we go on gathering dust on our
           mirrors. The mirror is there covered by the dust. Remove the dust, and the mirror starts reflecting the
           stars, the beyond. Krishnamurti calls it awareness, alertness, attentiveness. These are different
           expressions for the same phenomenon. They are to remind you that you are not to go anywhere, not
           to be somebody else. You just have to find out who you are, and the finding is not difficult because it
           is your nature -- just a little reshuffling inside, a little cleaning.
               It is said that when Bodhidharma attained enlightenment, he laughed for seven days
           continuously. His friends, his disciples, thought he had gone mad. They asked him, "Have you gone
           mad?"
               He said, "I WAS mad, now I have become sane. I have gone sane!"
           "Then why are you laughing?" they asked.
               He said, "I am laughing because I have been searching for thousands of lives for something
           which was already within me! The seeker was the sought, and I was looking everywhere else -- I was
           looking everywhere except inside."

               The famous Sufi woman, Rabiya al-Adabiya, one evening when the sun was setting, was found
           searching for something just in front of her door on the road. A few people gathered and they said,
           "Rabiya, what have you lost? We can help you."
               She was an old woman and loved by the people, loved because she was beautifully crazy. Rabiya
           said, "I have lost my needle. I was sewing and I lost my needle. I am searching for it, and there is not
           much time because the sun is setting. If you want to help me, help quickly, because once the sun has
           set and darkness has descended, it will be impossible to find the needle."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So they all started a hectic search for the needle. One of them suddenly thought, "The needle is
           such a small thing and the road is so big, and the sun is going down every moment, the light is
           disappearing -- unless we know the exact spot where it has fallen it will be impossible to find it." So
           he asked Rabiya, "Will you please tell us where the needle has fallen exactly? Then it will be
           possible to find it. Otherwise soon there will be darkness, and the road is very big and the needle is
           very small."
               Rabiya started laughing. She said, "Please don't ask that, because I feel embarrassed by the
           question!"
               They all stopped searching. They said, "What is the matter? Why should you feel embarrassed?"
               She said, "I feel embarrassed because I lost the needle INSIDE the house, but because there is no
           light there, how can I find it? Outside on the road there is just a little light from the setting sun."
               They all said, "Now you have gone completely crazy! We had always suspected that you were
           not sane, but this is an absolute proof!"
               Rabiya said, "You think me insane, yet you have been doing the same for lives together -- and
           YOU are sane? Where have you lost yourself, and where are you trying to find it? Where have you
           lost your bliss, and where are you trying to find it? It is lost in your inner world, and you are
           searching on the outside!"

                Everywhere people are running with great speed. Time is short, the sun is setting; any moment
           the darkness can descend. Run as fast as you can! Man has been inventing faster and faster ways to
           reach, but if you ask him, "Where do you want to reach?" he feels embarrassed; he is not really clear
           where he wants to reach. One thing he is clear about is that he wants to reach there quickly, because
           life is short and much has to be found. The soul, God, bliss, truth, freedom...so many things have to
           be found, and his hands are absolutely empty.
                Sarito, in that sense enlightenment is certainly a joke. If you understand it, there is no need to
           seek and search; you can just close your eyes and find it. But this question coming from a small child
           is beautiful. The grown-up person will not be able to ask such a sane question. The grown-up person
           will ask, "What is enlightenment? How has it to be found? What are the right methods, ways and
           means? How should one live? What virtues should be cultivated? What prayers should be said?"
           And all those questions look very relevant.
                Sarito, your question does not look very relevant, but it IS relevant, more relevant than any
           grown-up person can ever ask. Grown-up people ask questions which look good in the asking, but
           they are not really interested in asking an authentic question -- they are AFRAID of asking the
           authentic question.

               In an old Scottish mansion the resident ghost is floating through the living room. Everybody
           seems to be scared to death except a little boy who is watching the spectacle with a curious look on
           his face.
           "Hey, Mister Ghost," he says, "have you lost your handkerchief?"
           "No," replied the ghost, "that's not a handkerchief, that's my son!"

              But only a small boy could have asked, "Hey, Mister Ghost...." All the grown-ups were very
           much scared; they must have been trembling, avoiding, pretending that they had not seen anything.

              One little boy asked the other, "Did that play you saw last night have a happy ending?"
              The other one said, "I'll say. Everybody was happy when it was over."

               The Christian priest was telling the little boy, "Herb, I want you to remember that we are here to
           help others."
               Herb said, "Sure, but what are the others here for?"

           "I never slept with a man until I married your father!" she declared emphatically to her
           unconventional teenage daughter. "Will you be able to say the same thing to your daughter?"
           "Yes, Mother," replied the girl, "but not with such a straight face!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Mummy and Daddy are talking about the Millers who live next door. "Well, the stork is going to
           pay them a visit for the fourth time soon," says Daddy.
              Their little son laments, "They get one baby after another. And you -- what are you doing?
           Hanging around doing nothing!"

              Children are very perceptive! You cannot deceive them.

              They were discussing the attraction older men have for young girls.
           "My grandfather was like that. Young girls were crazy about him."
           "Was he crazy about them too?"
           "He certainly was. He used to cut a notch on his cane after every conquest. And that's what killed
           him."
           "How?"
           "Well, one day he made the mistake of leaning on his cane!"

               Sarito, you must have heard this comment amongst the small sannyasins in the ashram: "Why
           does everybody think enlightenment is a joke?" This must be coming from the small boys and girls;
           they must be thinking, "Enlightenment must be a joke. What is the need for enlightenment?" You
           need a teddy bear -- you can understand that. You need a tricycle -- that you can understand. You
           need a toy gun -- that you can understand.
               Just a few days ago a new visitor was seen carrying a big gun. The guards became a little bit
           concerned; he was continuously carrying it and even trying to hide it, but it was too big to hide. Then
           one woman sannyasin saw him also carrying the gun in the marketplace. The visitor was asked,
           "Why do you carry this gun?"
               He said, "I feel so embarrassed, but what to do? I have brought my little son with me and he
           loves the gun! Without the gun he goes nowhere, and the gun is so big he cannot carry it himself, so
           I have to carry it; otherwise he won't go anywhere, and I cannot leave him alone! His mother has not
           come; I was not aware that I would have to do this thing. Everywhere people are asking me, `Why
           are you carrying this gun?' And this is only a toy gun! I feel embarrassed, I try to hide it, but the
           more I try to hide it the more people become curious -- `Why?'"
               Children have their own interests and they must be wondering, "Why? What is this
           enlightenment? And why are so many people interested in it? It must be some kind of joke!"
               In fact, it is a cosmic joke. It is God seeking himself. It is a game of hide-and-seek: God hides
           himself and then tries to find himself! Being alone, what else to do?
               When I used to travel in India -- for twenty years continuously -- many times it happened that I
           would be in a train compartment with only one passenger. And because I was not interested in
           talking to the passenger, he would start playing patience -- a game of cards you can play alone, you
           need not have any partner. They would feel a little embarrassed, but I would not pay any attention to
           them so they would start playing cards.
               One day one man said, "You must think that I am crazy playing cards alone."
               I said, "I don't think you are crazy. This is my business too!"
               He said, "What do you mean? You also play patience?"
           I said, "No, but enlightenment is like patience!"
               Enlightenment is a dialogue with yourself, it is a monologue. You have to ask the question and
           you have to give the answer. When you see the futility, you become silent. That's how Buddha
           became silent! Then one sits under the tree "doing nothing, and the spring comes and the grass grows
           by itself." And what to do? -- when the grass grows you have to cut it and AGAIN sit silently, and
           AGAIN the grass grows so you cut it again. Again and again...!
               Just the other day I was talking about Gunakar. This is the third time he has become enlightened,
           and he will become enlightened many more times. Now he is feeling very sad -- after each
           enlightenment he feels very sad. He is doing something impossible; nobody has done it before. After
           enlightenment people never feel sad again, but after each enlightenment he feels very sad. In fact,
           one enlightenment has always proved enough, more than enough! Three times he become
           enlightened; then he becomes unenlightened again -- and then the great sadness.
               But he cannot control himself. The urge to become enlightened is so irrestible that within three or
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           four months he will again forget and will become enlightened. To be enlightened may be a joke, but
           to become unenlightened is not a joke, it is a really serious affair!
               So when he came for blessing the other night he could not even look at me. I tried in every way,
           but he went on looking down, up, here, there, but he wouldn't look at me. I forced his third eye very
           much, but what can you do? -- Germans don't have any third eye! You can go on pushing and
           pushing, and nothing happens!
           The second question:


               BELOVED OSHO,
               WHAT PART OF MOSES' TEACHING IN THE SINAI DESERT COULD BRING DOWN THE AGES
               SUCH A CHAIN OF SUFFERING TO THE ISRAELI NATION?
               IS THERE ANY FATE FOR A NATION?
               AND FROM YOUR KNOWLEDGE, DID THE JEWS HAVE ANY CHAIN FOR TRANSFERRING THE
               TORAH FROM ONE MASTER TO THE OTHER?


                Adam Shapira, these two religions, Judaism and Hinduism, are the most ancient religions in the
           world. Just because they are the most ancient, they are the most rotten too! And out of this
           rottenness, what else can you expect? The mind of man clings to the old. And religion is not like
           wine, that the older it is the better; the fresher it is, the better. Religion is not wine, it is just a hot cup
           of tea, an old, ancient cup of tea.... But thousands of flies, and pundits and rabbis will be found in it;
           there will not be much tea in it at all! And it was bound to happen.
                The Hindus and the Jews both became dominated by the pundits, the scholars, theologians,
           rabbis. They lost track of the enlightened masters. Even though sometimes enlightened people
           happened in spite of the rotten tradition, they were not accepted, they were rejected.
                Hinduism rejected Buddha, and Buddha was the peak of the whole Hindu consciousness -- the
           greatest peak, the Everest. But Hindus rejected him for the simple reason that if he had been
           accepted that would have meant the death of the whole establishment -- the exploitation and
           oppression by the priests -- and they had great vested interests in it.
                The same has been true of Judaism. Jesus was the peak, but the Jews rejected Jesus. In that very
           rejection, they rejected their own flowering. They remained a tree without flowers, in fact even
           without foliage -- just a dead tree with no leaves, with no greenery, with no flowers, with no birds
           singing, no shade for travelers to sit underneath.
                Whenever enlightened masters are rejected by any tradition, that is an indication that the
           tradition is absolutely dead; it cannot absorb any new, fresh insight. The living tradition is that which
           is capable of absorbing new insights. And they are always coming -- God is not finished yet with
           creation. The idea that God finished within six days and then rested on the seventh is sheer nonsense.
           God is not finished yet -- he will never be finished. God is not a person but creativity, not a creator
           but creativity. It goes on and on; God is still working. And there is no holiday for God, because the
           work itself is holy, the work itself is joy. When the work is not a joy, then you need a holiday; when
           it is tiring, when you are not in love with it, then you need a holiday. When you love it, it is a
           holiday, it is relaxation, it is rest. God is still at work, but the priest cannot accept it.
                The Hindu priest says that God gave his message in the Vedas and that was the end of it. He gave
           all that was needed by man; nothing more is needed at all. And the Jews think that the Old Testament
           is the end of the story. It is only the beginning, not the end. And beginnings cannot be very great,
           remember, they are bound to be childish.
                Remember the difference between childlike and childish: to be childlike is to be a sage, to be
           childish is not to be a sage. To be childish means to be immature; it needs much improvement,
           growth, maturity.
                Judaism and Hinduism both have remained immature. They had the opportunity to become
           mature. Buddha could have transformed the whole Hindu world, he could have given it splendor, but
           he was rejected; the priests would not allow him entry. The Jews would have been the most
           significant people on the earth if Jesus had been absorbed. But strange are the ways of man, very
           strange: the Jews have been waiting and waiting for centuries for this same man, Jesus, to come.
           They were waiting for the Messiah to come, and when he came they rejected him -- they rejected
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him absolutely.
               The priesthood is like a cancer to every religion. The priesthood destroys every religious
           possibility, the very potential; it poisons the very source. Adam Shapira, that is the first thing to be
           understood. The priests are businesslike, they are businessmen. They are selling some invisible
           commodity to the world, and because the commodity is invisible, it is very easy to sell. Because it is
           invisible you cannot catch them at what they are doing.
               I have heard that a New York shop advertised that invisible hairpins had arrived, and there was a
           great queue of women. Invisible hairpins -- who can miss? And they were selling like hotcakes.
               A woman went in, she looked in the box -- they were invisible hairpins, so what was there to
           see? -- an empty box! She said, "But are they really there?"
               And the salesman said, "Lady, they are INVISIBLE hairpins! In fact, the truth is for three weeks
           we have been out of stock, but still they are selling! What difference can it make? When the pins are
           invisible, whether they are in stock or out of stock makes no difference!"

               Whether God exists or not, whether there is a heaven or not, whether there is a hell or not does
           not matter -- these are invisible commodities, and priests have been selling these invisible
           commodities.
               People like Jesus or Buddha are very pragmatic, very realistic. They don't sell invisible
           commodities; they start making a great effort to make God visible on the earth. They themselves are
           a visible expression of God. Now, the priests cannot tolerate this. What will happen to their invisible
           commodities? And it is such a vast establishment.
               The Jews have been dominated by the rabbis, not by masters. The rabbi is the exact equivalent of
           a pundit. He knows the scriptures, but he is cunning, clever. He theorizes, he exploits your misery,
           he consoles you, he gives you comforts...but he is in business. And because the enlightened masters
           have not been accepted by the Jews, the whole community has become a community of
           businessmen; it has lost all other qualities.

           I have heard the old story....
                God wanted to sell the commandments. He asked a great Vedic seer, Yagnavalka, "Would you
           like to have the commandments?"
                Yagnavalka looked at the commandments and he said, "No, because if you prohibit us from
           killing, our whole religion will be destroyed, because in our YAGNAS, in our worship, in our
           religious rituals, killing is a must."
                You will be surprised to know that today Hindus talk so much about nonviolence, but they are
           the most ancient of violent people on the earth. Not only that, but they gave violence a religious
           color. Even cows were slaughtered in their religious rituals, and not only cows, but even men were
           slaughtered. And still, once in a while, it happens that small children are slaughtered in a religious
           ceremony, in a religious ritual. And this country calls itself nonviolent!
                Yagnavalka said, "No, we don't want the commandments. `Thou shalt not kill' -- then what will
           happen to our religion?"
                God asked the French people. They said, "No, without adultery our whole joy will be lost! How
           can we exist without adultery? Adultery is the whole game of life that makes it enchanting,
           meaningful, that gives it some ecstasy, some excitement. No, it is not possible" -- and so on and so
           forth.
                God went to all the races, and then finally, as a last resort he asked Moses, "Would you like to
           have the commandments?"
           Moses asked, "How much?"
           And God said, "Free of charge."
                Then Moses said, "I will have ten!" He never looked to see what those commandments were -- if
           they are free, then why not have ten?
                That's how the Ten Commandments came into the hands of the Jews! The Jews became a society
           basically of businessmen. That created great hatred against the Jews. They became cunning, clever,
           and people became jealous of them.

              You ask me: "What part of Moses' teaching in the Sinai desert could bring down the ages such a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           chain of suffering to the Israeli nation?"
                Moses' basic revolution was not religious, it was political. He was fighting against the slavery
           imposed by the Egyptians on the Israelis. Hence the color of his revolution was less religious and
           more political. That's why in Judaism you will not find enlightened masters like Buddha, Lao Tzu or
           Krishna, but you will find prophets.
                The word "prophet" is absolutely irrelevant in the Eastern context. You cannot call Buddha a
           prophet; he has nothing to do with prophecy. You cannot call Mahavira a prophet, you cannot call
           Lao Tzu a prophet -- the word will not fit -- but all the Jewish religious leaders are prophets. The
           prophet is a special thing that has happened to Judaism. The prophet is something in between the
           religious master and the political leader -- a crossbreed. He is religious AND political.
                Moses' inspiration was basically political. Nothing is wrong with it -- he was fighting for
           freedom, he was fighting against slavery. It is good, but the fight was on the outside; the religious
           fight is inner. That beginning made Jews very outward, very extrovert. That extroversion made them
           businesslike. They lost track of the inner world. Yes, once in a while a few people escaped from this
           pattern -- Jesus escaped, but he was crucified. Then other masters learned that if you want to escape
           it is better to escape silently. Then silent societies existed, silent mystery schools existed in the
           deserts, in the caves. And Hassidism in particular is the fragrance of the whole Judaic religion. If the
           whole Judaic religion is destroyed and we can save Hassidism, then all is saved. It is exactly the
           same: if we can save Sufism and the whole of Mohammedanism disappears from the world, nothing
           is lost. If we can save Zen then the whole of Buddhism can be forgotten, because that is the very
           essence of it.
                But the Hassids learned that it was better to live inside the conventional mode; it was
           unnecessary to get crucified. After Jesus they learned one thing: don't proclaim; Jews won't accept it.
           The extrovert people become desertlike inside, and that creates hatred against them.

           A beggar asked a rich Jew for something to eat.
                The Jew says, "You look very Jewish and I am in a good mood today, so if you can guess rightly
           which of my eyes is a glass eye I will give you something."
                The beggar looks into the Jew's face and after a short glance says, "Your left one is the glass
           eye."
           "That's right! But, tell me, how did you find out?" asks the Jew.
           "It looks human."

                Jacob gets off the plane and arrives at customs with three bags and one parrot. The customs
           officer, opening the first bag, sees that it is full of coffee. "Who's all this coffee for?" he inquires.
           "It's for the parrot to eat!" replies Jacob.
                The customs officer then opens the second bag which is full of tape recorders, radios and
           watches. "And who is THIS for?" he demands.
           "For the parrot to eat!" responds calm Jacob.
                Opening the third bag, the officer stares unbelievingly at a suitcase full of gold and precious
           jewels. "And these jewels?" he shouts. "Are these for the parrot to eat too?"
           "Yes," replies our traveler. "Everything is for the parrot to eat!"
           "And if the parrot doesn't eat these things?" says the officer sarcastically."
           "If the parrot doesn't eat them? If the parrot doesn't eat them?" repeats an unbelieving Jacob. "Well
           then, if the parrot doesn't eat, Jacob sells everything!"

               Sergeant Kazawinsky of the Polish police force was attending the entrance examination for
           officer training.
           "What are rabies, and how would you treat them?" he was asked.
               The Polack was obviously puzzled and thought for a few moments. Then he brightened visibly.
           "Rabies are Jewish ministers, and I treats them with contempt!"

              In a German prisoner-of-war camp the commandant announced over the loudspeakers: "I have
           some good news for you. Today is sports day. The English will play cricket on the cricket field, the
           Americans will play baseball on the baseball field, the Indians will play hockey on the hockey field,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and the Jews will play hopscotch...in the mine field!"

               Adolf, the greatest conqueror of all times, asks Satan for a forty-eight-hour holiday on earth.
           After some hesitation, his wish is granted. However, he is back in hell after only twenty-four hours.
               His comment: "Everything is topsy-turvy on earth. The Jews are into wars and the Germans are
           into money making!"

               But things are changing, Adam Shapira. The time for a great change has come. The Jews have
           suffered much, but the basic cause is within themselves. Their rejection of Jesus has been the major
           part of their suffering. Secondly, they became extroverts, interested only in money and power; they
           lost their interiority. And any man who loses his inner world becomes shallow, empty, hollow,
           meaningless.
           You ask me: "Is there any fate for a nation?"
               No, we create our fate; hence we can change it any moment we decide. We are born in absolute
           freedom; then it is our choice what to be.
               You ask me: "And from your knowledge, did the Jews have any chain for transferring the Torah
           from one master to the other?"
               It has been there, but only in the Hassidic tradition, not in the ordinary formal Jewish religion.
           The Hassids have been thought to be mad people, but they carry the real essence, and that essence
           has nothing to do with Jews or Hindus or Mohammedans or Christians or Jainas or Buddhists. It is
           the same -- it is a kind of religiousness. It has been carried from the master to the disciple. But that is
           not part of the main tradition; that has gone to the side -- small labyrinths, but not the main asphalt
           road. The main Jewish current has been very worldly; it has lost track of all religion. But a few
           people have dared to go into the jungles on their own, alone, and they are the most beautiful people
           the world has ever known.
               My love is for Hassids, for Sufis, for Zen people, for Tantrikas, for Yogis, for Taoists. These are
           NONformal people; they don't really belong to any tradition as such, to any church as such, to any
           race as such, but they are the real people of God.

           The last question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              THERE ARE SANNYASINS LIVING ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO FEEL A DEEP CONNECTION
              WITH YOU. HOWEVER, ON CELEBRATION DAYS THERE IS ALWAYS THAT LONGING TO BE IN
              YOUR SILENT PRESENCE IN BUDDHA HALL. CAN YOU PLEASE SEND A MESSAGE TO THE
              THOUSANDS OF SANNYASINS WHO WILL BE CELEBRATING IN MANY COUNTRIES, BUT NOT
              IN YOUR PHYSICAL PRESENCE?
              HOW ABOUT A FEW SPECIAL JOKES FOR US?

               Prem Vanya, remember one thing: that each of my sannyasins carries something of me, each of
           my sannyasins becomes a part of me, spiritually, physically, in every possible way. My sannyasins
           are not believers, my sannyasins are in a love affair. It is a MAD phenomenon! So wherever my
           sannyasins meet, my presence will be felt. Wherever my sannyasins celebrate, my message is
           realized, because celebration is my message.
           Rejoice! Sing! Dance!
           Dance so totally that your egos melt and disappear.
               Dance so totally that the dancer is no longer there, but only the dance remains. Then you will
           find me wherever you are.
               And it has now to be a known and recognized fact that my buddhafield is not going to be
           confined to the small place where I will be living with a few thousand sannyasins. All the small
           communes, ashrams, centers, all over the world will become little buddhafields. We have to fill the
           whole earth with buddhafields! We have to create a chain of buddhafields. And it can be done: if you
           can take some of my joy and some of my love and some of my laughter with you wherever you go,
           you will be taking the fragrance of the buddhafield there. You will be taking seeds.
               Scientists say that in the beginning only one seed must have reached the earth by some
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           coincidence -- maybe a collision of stars, the explosion of a star. One seed, and the whole earth
           slowly slowly became green. One seed is enough to transform the whole earth into a garden.
                The same is true on higher planes too. Just a single seed of love, awareness, joy, is enough to
           create the buddhafield. So wherever you go, wherever you are, never forget for a moment that you
           are not far away from me.
                Between a master and the disciple the question is not of physical distance at all. You can be
           sitting here physically, but you may not be in tune with me; then you are not here. You may be
           thousands of miles away, maybe on the moon, on Mars, it does not make any difference. But if your
           heart is beating with me, if you are attuned to me, if there is an inner connection, then you are in my
           physical presence. Neither time makes any difference nor space. The thing that makes the difference
           is love.
                Vanya, next time when you celebrate, celebrate with the full recognition that I am there amongst
           you. Just a recognition is needed and you will find me there.
                Jesus is reported to have said, "Wherever four of my disciples are gathered together, I will be
           there." And he was not so fortunate as I am -- his disciples were very ordinary people. I am fortunate
           in many ways: my disciples are in many ways very creative, talented, very intelligent, exploding in
           love. So I can say to you that not even four are needed; just a single sannyasin is enough to make my
           presence felt by others.
                So next time you are celebrating, Vanya, make it a point that I am there, and you will feel it. It
           only needs a recognition. If the recognition is not there, and even if I suddenly reach your
           celebration, you will not recognize me at all.
           It happened with Jesus...the story is:
                When he escaped from the cave in which his body was kept, when he resurrected after three
           days, obviously he tried to find out where his followers were. He found two followers who had lived
           with him for years, and he waited for them to recognize him. He walked with them for miles,
           because they were going to another town. They talked -- they talked about Jesus, they talked about
           the crucifixion, they talked about many things -- but those two disciples could not recognize that the
           man they were talking to was Jesus himself. It was as if a cloud prevented them. The cloud was that
           they were thinking that he was dead, finished, so there was no question of even asking, thinking,
           reconsidering who this man was. They recognized him only when they sat in a small hotel to eat
           their lunch. When Jesus poured the wine and served the bread and the sweets to the disciples, then
           suddenly a recognition arose in them. This was the way Jesus always used to serve them -- the way
           he poured the wine, the way he gave them the bread and the butter and the sweets. The gestures, the
           very gestures were so unique to Jesus that suddenly a cloud disappeared and they fell at his feet.
                And Jesus said, "Why could you not recognize me? For two hours we walked together and talked
           about every kind of thing and gossiped, and yet you could not recognize me?"
                They said, "There was no question of it, because a cloud was there in our eyes that you are dead.
           We did not even ask the question to ourselves."
                Remember, we take note only of things if we are consciously ready to take note. If you are not
           consciously ready to take note, somebody may pass by your side and you may not see him at all.
                Vanya, next time you are celebrating, make it a known fact to all the sannyasins that I am there.
           And those who are in tune with me, those who really love me, those who are surrendered, those who
           have known some trust, will immediately feel the presence. The presence can even be felt more there
           than here, because here you take it for granted that I am present; you need not make any effort. But
           there you will have to make a conscious effort to feel it. That very effort will make my presence
           more penetrating.
           And these are a few jokes for you to laugh at:

             Salesgirl to shopper: "Yes, madam, these bras come in four sizes: small, medium, large and
           wow!"

              The light in the whorehouse was out so Mimi came into the room and did not even look at the
           body of the man whom she was in bed with. After rolling around on the bed for a while, she stopped,
           looked at the guy and said, "What is this, man, don't you have one?"
           "Oh yes, I do!" answered the guy. "What I am missing is my left leg!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Two Italian woodcutters were working in the forest. Suddenly one of them missed the tree with
           his axe and cut off his companion's right leg in one blow.
               In between screams and yells the other woodcutter angrily shouts, "If you do that again, I'm-a
           gonna kick-a the shit-a out of you!"

              A Frenchman who recently arrived in New York was invited to a golden wedding anniversary.
           He didn't understand the celebration and asked his American friend about it.
           "Do you see those two old people?" asked his friend. "Well, they have been living together for fifty
           years and now they are celebrating their golden wedding."
           "Ah, ah!" exclaimed the Frenchman. "He live with the lady fifty years, and now he marry her. How
           noble!"

               It was morning, and she was still in her robe. Pausing in the half-open entrance door of her home,
           she called to the milkman who had just then pulled up to the curb.
           "Pardon me, but do you have the time?" she asked.
           "Yes," he said, "but not the inclination."

               The Polish Police Department send their officers for an examination before giving them
           promotion. Kazowinsky came back from the examination with his extra stripe and was warmly
           congratulated by his commanding officer.
           "Good work! Tell us all about it!" said the inspector.
           "Well," replied Kazowinsky, "we were all close until the final question of the mathematics paper.
           They asked us to add two and two -- I said five!" he announced proudly.
           "But Kazowinsky, two and two are four, not five!" said the inspector.
           "I know that now," he grinned, "but I was the closest!"

                A Polack answered a nationwide quiz program that gave away money even to the dumbest
           people.
           "Okay, Mr Kozakowsky, for one thousand dollars, tell us, which famous French general was
           defeated at the battle of Waterloo?"
           The Polack looked puzzled.
           "We'll give you a clue," smiled the questioner, and opened the door of a large refrigerator. Inside was
           a bottle of Napoleon brandy. Kozakowsky still looked bewildered and scratched his head.
           "Just read the name you see and you win one thousand dollars. Now, what was the name of the
           general?"
           The Polack stared for a moment, then smiled.
           "Of course," he said, "it must have been General Electric!"
                An Italian frog was traveling to America. On his way he passed a beautiful swamp where he met
           a big fat American frog. He said, "How-a are you doing-a?"
           "Great!" replied the frog. "In swamp, out swamp, lots of food. Far out!"
                The Italian leaped on and met another big American frog. "How-a are you doing-a?" he asked.
           "Groovy, man, just great!" came the reply. "In swamp, out swamp, lots of food -- great!"
                The Italian began to feel very happy about his new land. He leaped on and met a tiny, skinny
           little girl frog.
           "What's-a wrong-a here?" he asked. "I have-a met-a two big-a fat-a frogs who said, `In-a swamp-a,
           out-a swamp-a, lots-a of food-a!' But what-a has happened to you?"
           The tiny frog whispered in answer, "I am Swamp!"

           And the last:

           "That parapsychology course at the Osho Meditation University is fabulous!" says Swami Francesco.
           "My ESP talents are developing so fast!"
           "That's hard to believe," states his friend, Swami Giovanni, "you'd better prove it."
           "For instance, my telepathy," says Francesco. "You just point at any door, and I shall give you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remarkable particulars about the person who answers."
           "Okay, THAT door," points his friend. "Tell me what will happen."
           "Well," meditates Francesco. "I feel that a man whose girlfriend is having her period will open the
           door...."
           "Hello, friends," greets Swami Mariano, entering the room through the same door.
           "Does your girlfriend have her period?" asks Giovanni.
           "Shit!" answers Mariano, wiping his mouth and chin. "Can you see it?"

           Enough for today.




                                       Come, Come, Yet Again Come
                                                  Chapter #15
                                 Chapter title: No Question Means the Answer
           10 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8011100
              ShortTitle: COME15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              I FEEL TOO LAZY TO THINK OF A QUESTION. WHAT TO DO?


              Anand Chinmaya, it cannot be true that you really feel too lazy; otherwise who has written this
           question?

               A man was lying down on the couch of a very famous psychoanalyst, and he was continuously
           talking about his failures in life, failures of all kinds in all directions. He was trying to prove that he
           was an utter failure, the ultimate in failure, that there was nobody in the world who was more of a
           failure than he was.
               The psychoanalyst listened to him silently as long as he could tolerate, and then he said, "Stop all
           this nonsense! You cannot be such a failure!"
           The man said, "Why?"
               The psychoanalyst said, "If you were a failure you would not be able to afford my fee! If you can
           afford my fee for years -- and I am the most expensive psychoanalyst in the world -- how can you be
           a failure?"

               You can ask such a beautiful question and you think you are lazy? And still you are asking what
           to do. If you are really lazy you should ask what NOT to do. Lazy you can be, but at least be
           consistently lazy. Either you are a philosopher or a Polack! In fact, both are synonymous! If you like
           big names, beautiful words, then think of yourself as a philosopher.
               In the past, particularly in the Middle Ages, many mystics used the word "foolosopher" for
           philosopher -- and they were right. If you want to be down to earth, then the fact is that you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           simply a Polack. Philosophers are expected to ask such things....
               Centuries after Hamlet had told us what the question is -- "To be or not to be?" -- Gertrude
           Stein's deathbed utterance became a familiar quotation. Remember it, Chinmaya, when you are
           dying! Just before dying she opened her eyes and said, "What is the answer?"
               The people who were around her were a little bit puzzled: "How can one suddenly ask, `What is
           the answer?' when even the question has not been mentioned?"
               Somebody gathered courage and responded to Stein's remark, "But we don't know the question!"
               She smiled her beautiful smile and said, "Okay, then what is the question?"

               Neither the question is known nor the answer is known, and you need not do anything. If there is
           no question at all, it is simply far out! Why create trouble for yourself? Why hanker after trouble? If
           there is no question, you have attained the answer! No question means the answer.
               You are not here to ask questions. I am not here to answer your questions. You are here to be
           ready to destroy all your questions; I am here to go on hammering on your questions so that they are
           shattered. I will not give you any answer, I will only destroy your questions. And a moment comes
           when there is no question, no answer, and that is the state of samadhi, that is the state of ultimate
           consciousness. When words disappear, thoughts disappear, knowledge disappears, ignorance
           disappears. When only pure consciousness is left just like a mirror reflecting that which is, just like
           THIS moment...a silent pause.... You can hear the traffic noise...it always happens! That's why the
           mystics say existence is such a harmony! You can hear the birds, you can even hear the silence...this
           throbbing of the hearts. This is the state which we are searching for -- not for questions, not for
           answers.
               The philosopher was at his favorite occupation -- lying in the sun. The flies buzzed around and
           settled thickly on his face, but he was too lazy to shoo them away. Finally a hornet lit among the
           flies and stung his nose. This was different. He slowly wiped his hand across his face.
           "As long as some of you won't behave," he muttered, "all of you will have to get off!"

                Questions don't know how to behave. They are all like hornets lit amongst the flies. Your
           answers are like flies and your questions are like hornets lit amongst the flies. They all have to be
           wiped off.
           The mind has to be utterly emptied.
           The empty mind is the buddha mind.
                But if you don't want to be a philosopher, if you are not interested in wiping off all the problems,
           all the questions, then you can be a Polack. That is the same in a more gross way. The philosopher is
           subtle, the Polack is gross, but they belong to the same ladder. The Polack may be the lowest rung
           and the philosopher the highest rung, but the ladder is the same.

              Frankowski showed up at the practice field to try out for the high school football team.
           "What position do you want to play?" asked the coach.
           "Quarterback!" answered Frankowski.
           The coach handed him a football and said, "Do you think you can pass this ball?"
           "Hell," said the Polack, "if I can swallow it, I can pass it too!"

                A journalist visiting a local penitentiary in the heart of Poland is being shown around by warden
           Poltowsky. As they enter the maximum security block, the reporter is surprised to hear a shout from
           one of the cells, "Twenty-two!" followed by raucous laughter from all the other cells.
           Another voice then shouts, "Forty-three!" which is again followed by loud outbursts of laughter.
           "What is going on, warden?" asked the bewildered journalist.
           "It is quite simple really," replies the warden. "These fellas have been in this block so long that they
           know each other's jokes. So now when someone wants to tell a joke he simply shouts out the
           number. Everyone remembers the joke and laughs."
           "Quite a good idea really," remarks the reporter, as the number thirty-seven is called out and
           followed by peals of laughter.
           Then there is a loud, "Seventeen!" and then silence. Puzzled by the lack of response, the reporter
           asks the warden what went wrong.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Ah, that was Jakowsky in cell eight," sighs the warden, "he told it wrong again!"

               An American, a German and a Polack were going on safari. They split up in the morning and met
           again in the evening. Sitting around the camp fire they started telling of their adventures.
           The German says, "I shot two tigers, an elephant and some apes."
           The American, says, "Ah, I shot much more: six crows, four tigers and about three elephants."
           They both look at the Polack, who's saying nothing at all. "What about you, Polanski?" they ask.
           "I shot sixty-seven no-no's," he says.
           Although the American and the German had quite a bit of experience in the jungle, they had never
           heard of such an animal. "What is a no-no?" they ask.
           "Well," Polanski replies, "they are about six feet high, black, curly hair, big lips, and when you point
           your rifle at them they shout, `No! No!'"

               Anand Chinmaya, you need not be a philosopher, you need not be a Polack; just be a sannyasin!
           And to be a sannyasin means not to be bothered about questions and answers. The whole process of
           sannyas is getting rid of the mind. Mind consists of questions and answers. The moment you get rid
           of the mind, then only consciousness is left in its purity, with not even a ripple. The lake is so silent,
           so unperturbed, so still, it starts reflecting the stars, the clouds, the moon, the trees, the flowers, the
           birds on the wing.
               There is a Zen saying that the birds have no desire to be reflected in the lake, the lake has no
           desire to reflect the birds -- but it still happens. The birds are reflected, the lake reflects, although the
           desire exists neither on the part of the birds nor on the part of the lake. In this desirelessness
           everything happens, nothing is done.
               A sannyasin has to relax to that total state of let-go when everything happens and nothing is
           done. Much happens, miracles happen, but don't ask me what to do. Ask me only one thing: "How to
           get out of the old rut of the mind?" And it consists of question and answers; it is a
           question-and-answer game.
               Slip out of the mind like a snake slips out of the old skin. The mind is always old. It belongs to
           the past; it is not in the present, it has no future. Mind means the past, the dead. Mind is like a
           rearview mirror in the car. If you go on continuously looking in the rearview mirror, you are bound
           for a great disaster. The car has to go ahead, and you will be looking in the rearview mirror at the
           road that you have already passed, at the dust on the road that you have raised. That is not the way
           you are going, and you are not looking where you are going. Disaster is absolutely certain.
               And this is happening in everybody's life. You go on reading the VEDAS -- that is looking in the
           rearview mirror. Five thousand years have passed, and still you go on looking at the VEDAS, you go
           on reading THE BIBLE, you go on reciting the KORAN, you go on discussing Kanad, Kapil,
           Aristotle, Plato, Confucius, Ma Tzu...but all this is sheer wastage of time.
           Look at the present.
           This very moment God is within you and without you.
               And if you can live this God in total serenity, in total attunement, at-onement, you would know
           the ecstasy that I am talking about, the bliss, the benediction.

           The second question:


               BELOVED OSHO,
               GOD KNOWS I WOULD NEVER WISH TO CONTRADICT MY MASTER, BUT THE OTHER DAY
               YOU WENT TOO FAR! YOU SAID THAT ALL THE ENLIGHTENED ONES HAVE BEEN ITALIANS IN
               ONE LIFE OR OTHER. NO DOUBT ABOUT YOU, OR JESUS OR BUDDHA, LAO TZU OR EVEN
               NANAK, AND RAMANA...BUT KRISHNAMURTI?
               MY GOD! HOW CAN YOU HONESTLY ASSERT THAT SOMEONE SO SANE AND SOBER AS
               KRISHNAMURTI HAS EVER BEEN AN ITALIAN? WE HOPE YOU APOLOGIZE.


              Svatantra Sarjano, in fact, I myself, Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Nanak and Ramana may not have
           been Italians at all; hence still the attraction. I love the Italians -- that is proof enough I have never
           been an Italian before! But Krishnamurti? -- it is absolutely certain that he has been an Italian, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not only in one life but many lives; otherwise, how can he be so sane and sober? The Italians have
           done so much damage to him, he has not been able to recover yet -- he is still under the impact. He is
           so much afraid of laughing in case somebody may discover that he has been an Italian! His
           seriousness is just the other extreme.
                I can understand, Sarjano, your question, because Krishnamurti is deadly serious about things;
           that is one of his flaws. A really totally enlightened person cannot be so serious.
                Seriousness is a disease of the mind. When the mind is no longer there, seriousness has no
           ground to stand upon. But Indians have respected seriousness very much; it is a long tradition. And
           Krishnamurti has been brought up by very serious people, the Theosophists.
                That whole bunch of Theosophists was very determined to show the world that they are the only
           spiritual people. Their whole investment was in proving to the world that they had come to redeem
           the world of all its problems, illnesses, diseases. They were bound to be serious. When you are a
           savior you cannot joke around; you have to destroy your sense of humor absolutely. You have to be
           continuously concerned about the misery and the suffering that people are passing through. And
           when people are passing through so much suffering, how can you laugh? how can you enjoy? how
           can you even smile? That will be cruel.
                The Theosophists had this idea -- a very ancient idea that has clouded many people's beings --
           that they wanted to redeem the whole world. In fact, it is nobody's business to redeem the whole
           world -- and who has the right to redeem anybody else? If the other person is enjoying his dream,
           you have no right to wake him up. At least his permission is needed, at least you have to ask him.
           Unless he wishes, you have to keep off. It is interference -- maybe for his own good, but who are you
           to decide? If somebody chooses hell, then it is his freedom to choose it. You can feel compassion for
           him, you would have liked him not to choose hell, but what can you do? Who are you?
                But these saviors of humanity are bound to be serious people; they are bent upon it. Whether you
           want it or not, they will force you into paradise! They will not leave you alone. And the
           Theosophists were preparing for a great event: to declare a world teacher. They had chosen
           Krishnamurti to be the messiah. Of course they conditioned him in every possible way: they
           regimented him, disciplined him for so long that the traces of it have not left him yet; the wounds are
           still there. For twenty-five years continuously he was in this wrong company.
                Sarjano, look into the training of J. Krishnamurti, and it will help you to understand why he is so
           serious. He was never allowed to mix with ordinary children -- to play with them, to laugh, to giggle,
           to climb the trees, to swim the rivers, to fight, to be beaten. He was never allowed to do anything that
           every child has a right to do. His childhood was completely crushed. He was only nine years of age
           when he was taken away from his parents. His mother had died, and his father was a poor clerk, so
           poor, and he was not economically in a situation to educate his children. He had two children, two
           boys, Nityananda and Krishnamurti.
                Seeing that the Theosophists were interested in the children he was thrilled -- a great opportunity
           was opening up. They would not only teach him in ordinary schools, they were promising that they
           would educate him at Oxford, and in some very special schools meant only for royalty. They would
           take him around the world, they would arrange for private tutors, the best possible. What more could
           the poor father have desired and dreamt of? He willingly gave the children to the Theosophists.
                And then a long struggle began between Krishnamurti's father and the Theosophists, because
           when the father became aware of what they were doing to his children, he was aghast. He could not
           believe it, that they were being forced like slaves.... They had to get up at three o'clock in the
           morning and read the scriptures -- Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit. And they were almost
           asleep, repeating them in their sleep. Even in sleep they were not allowed to have a normal sleep;
           they would be sleeping, and the man who was in charge, Leadbeater, would go on repeating sutras
           and scriptures softly in their ears.
                That was the first experiment in teaching children through hypnosis. Now it is a recognized
           scientific method, and particularly in Russia where hypno-teaching is becoming very common.
           Children can be taught with no need even for somebody to sit by their bed. Earphones can be put on,
           and the tape recorder can go on repeating silently, very whisperlike, so their sleep is not disturbed
           but still the message can go on penetrating to their unconscious. Even in their sleep they were not
           allowed the freedom to dream. Even their dreams were controlled.
                You will be surprised to know that dreams can be controlled -- your dreams can be managed by
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           others. For example, when you are falling asleep, a certain program can be given to you for the
           whole night so that these will be your dreams. And those dreams can be manipulated from the
           outside also. For example, when you are falling asleep, there comes a moment, an interval, when you
           are not awake and you are not yet asleep either -- just in between, that boundary line. That boundary
           line is the most sensitive part of your existence because you are changing the gears from one gear to
           another gear. Before you change gears you have to pass through the neutral gear, and when you are
           in a neutral gear anything can be put into your head. That's the whole secret of hypnosis: the neutral
           gear. That is the time when you are absolutely vulnerable; you cannot defend, you cannot argue.
                So Leadbeater, Annie Besant and others would be sitting around when Krishnamurti was falling
           asleep, waiting for the moment, for indications. And there are very simple methods to know whether
           the child is in the interval or not. For example, the child can be told, "Go on looking at the roof
           continuously without blinking your eyes." A moment comes when the eyes become glassy; they are
           seeing and yet not seeing. That is the time when the neutral gear has come into existence.
           Wakefulness has gone, sleep has yet to come. It is the evening time; the day is no more, the night is
           entering. It is the most vulnerable, the most sensitive time. Say anything and it will go directly to the
           heart of the child. It will condition the child the deepest.
                So they were conditioning the child, even managing his dreams, telling him, "You will be
           dreaming of a great desert. For miles and miles there is nobody -- sand and sand and sand, and you
           go on and on...." And you can help the dream from the outside too. You have put the seed inside;
           then just a little heat near the feet and the child will start dreaming of the desert, because the heat
           near the feet will give him the feeling of walking on hot sand. A little heat near the head and he will
           feel he is under the hot sun, and you have triggered.... You have done both the things: you have put
           the idea in the unconscious, and you have triggered the process from the body. The child is bound to
           dream about the desert, and of course he will follow the program that you have given.
                This way Krishnamurti was conditioned while awake, while asleep. He was moved from one
           country to another country. He was never allowed to become friendly with anybody; he had no
           friends. How can he know what laughter is? He was never allowed to fall in love with a woman, with
           a girl -- how can he know what laughter is?
                And the people he was with were really a strange group of people. This Leadbeater was a
           homosexual; he was not interested in women and hence he was very much against women. And he
           was found in very suspicious postures with Krishnamurti -- a small child.
                When the father became aware of what was going on, he went to the courts. The case went on for
           years in the high court of Madras. The father proved in every way that Leadbeater was a
           homosexual. He produced witnesses who had seen him doing wrong things with his children. But
           then Leadbeater escaped from India, and before the court could decide that the children should be
           returned to the father, Annie Besant escaped with the children out of India, and the father could
           never get the children back.
                Nityananda, the elder brother, died because of all the work that was being imposed upon them.
           When he was suffering from delirium, they thought that he was being influenced by great spiritual
           masters -- Kuthumi, et cetera -- that he was being transformed by the spiritual hierarchy. And that is
           all bullshit! There is no spiritual hierarchy, nothing.
                Even Gunakar has started writing about spiritual hierarchy. He has issued letters and messages to
           all the U.N. members, and they must think that I am behind it, because my name, my picture is on his
           letterhead. And Gunakar goes on suggesting to them that there is a spiritual hierarchy working in the
           world. First he used to call me "Master," now he calls me "Elder Brother." Sooner or later I am
           waiting for him to write, "Dear Younger Brother." He is rising higher in the hierarchy! Now I am
           just an elder brother. It will not be a surprise if one day he writes, "My dear son."
                Leadbeater was the most cunning of the people who were trying to manipulate these small
           children in the name of some hierarchy. He was writing books in the name of Krishnamurti. He has
           written a book THE PAST LIVES OF ALKAYONI. Alkayoni is the fictitious name for the many
           many lives of Krishnamurti. Because in each life there was a different name, Alkayoni is the
           fictitious name for all these lives, thousands of lives. Leadbeater wrote these books and they were all
           signed by Krishnamurti. And now Krishnamurti says, "I don't remember at all when I wrote these
           books, when I even signed. I know nothing about them." They were all written by Leadbeater.
                In fact, a child of ten or twelve years cannot have written those books; he cannot have any such
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stupid ideas -- no child can be so stupid. And all this spiritual jargon.... And then, finally, Leadbeater
           and his colleagues started writing a very famous book which became a world-famous spiritual
           treatise: AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER. That too was published in the name of Krishnamurti,
           and Krishnamurti simply says he knows nothing about it.
                These twenty-five years of all kinds of unnecessary torture, no ordinary life available.... He was
           not allowed to walk in the gardens where other people were. He was not allowed to meet and mix
           with people, because he was "the world teacher" -- how could he mix with ordinary human beings?
           Naturally he has lost all sense of humor. It is sad -- and all because of that idea of the world teacher.
           He renounced the idea finally, and that is the only good thing that he has ever done in his life. He
           renounced the idea that "I am a world teacher," but that renunciation was only superficial; it never
           came through his innermost core. Deep down he continues to be the world teacher still. That's why
           he becomes very angry if you don't listen to him; he even starts hitting his own head. Even talking to
           people, if they don't understand him and the way he talks -- it is so monotonous, it is so boring, that
           unless somebody is doing some research on boredom, nobody can be interested, people cannot
           understand -- then he starts beating his head, shouting, becomes enraged. But the whole idea deep
           down is to redeem the world.
                If you don't understand me it doesn't matter, it is your freedom. It is my freedom to talk; it is your
           freedom to understand or not to understand or to misunderstand. How can I decide for you? I cannot
           be enraged. Even if you all fall asleep I cannot be enraged. I will have a good laugh! Even the idea of
           giving so many people a good morning sleep is such a consolation that one is doing some service to
           people!
                You say, Sarjano: "...but Krishnamurti? My God! How can you honestly assert that someone so
           sane and sober as Krishnamurti has ever been an Italian?"
                For me to assert anything honestly or dishonestly makes no difference. Whatsoever is right at the
           moment, honest or dishonest, right or wrong, true or untrue.... I believe in Gautam Buddha's
           definition of truth: that which works. If honesty works, perfectly okay. I am a nonserious person;
           these are also serious things. Honest? -- why should I be honest? Things should be taken playfully.
           What is wrong in being dishonest once in a while, just for a change?
                And you say, "...so sane and sober...." If a man is one hundred percent sane, then he is insane.
           Something of insanity is a basic ingredient of real sanity.
                Zorba the Greek says to his boss, "Boss, everything is right in you, only one thing is missing -- a
           little touch of madness."
                A man without a little madness is flat -- flat like a flat tire! A little bit of madness brings some
           spice to your life -- some color, some intensity, some passion, some dance, some celebration.
                Krishnamurti, even if he enters paradise, will remain sane and serious. I don't think he will be
           welcome there. He will start talking about the same things he has been talking about on the earth for
           sixty years, and he will beat his head because even the angels are not going to listen to him! Angels
           don't listen to spiritual discourses. Their whole work is playing their harps, sitting on the clouds and
           shouting "Alleluia!" They will fit with me perfectly, but can you imagine angels playing "Alleluia!"
           on their harps and dancing around Krishnamurti? He will commit suicide: All this "Alleluia!" and
           the whole world has to be redeemed! Everybody is suffering, and these fools.... But I can enjoy! I
           may even start learning how to play on the harp. I have tried a little bit, just in order to be ready at
           least, so I am not an absolute outsider there!
                But if he is so sane and sober, it must be the spaghetti that has gone to his head! Too much
           spaghetti in the head makes people very sane and sober.
           And you say to me, "We hope you apologize."
                I have never done that, and I am never going to do it -- that is not my way. I never repent, I never
           apologize -- for what? I am doing my thing. If somebody feels angry he can do whatsoever he wants
           to do. He can shout at me, he can condemn me; there is no problem for me at all. In fact, I enjoy all
           this. Whenever people become interested -- this is a kind of interest, if somebody is offended -- I
           rejoice. A connection has been made -- not a very good connection, but a connection is a connection
           anyway! If it is bad today, tomorrow it can be good.

              Mrs. Carbotti went to the doctor complaining of fatigue. After the examination, the doctor
           decided she needed a rest.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Can you stop having relations with your husband for about three weeks?" he asked.
           "Sure," she replied, "I got two boyfriends who can take care of me for that long!"
              That's why I like the Italians -- they are so human, so truly human!

              Giovanni said to his daughter, "I no like-a that Irish boy taking you out-a. He is-a rough and
           common, and besides-a, he is-a a big-a dumbell!"
           "No, papa," replied the girl, "Tim is the most clever fella I know."
           "Why-a you say-a that?"
           "We have only been dating nine weeks and already he has cured me of that little illness I used to get
           every month!"

                A vet goes to Giuseppe's farm to artificially inseminate his cows. While there, he gets an urgent
           call to another farm. He decides to give Giuseppe the syringe and explain how to do it, then rushes
           off.
           A little while later the local parish priest doing his rounds knocks on the farmer's door. Pierino opens
           the door and the priest asks where his father is.
           "He is-a down at-a the cow-shed," replies the little boy, "but it is-a better not-a to go there. It is-a the
           third-a time that he tries to inseminate the cow and he is-a swearing like hell-a!"
           "What, what...what are you saying?" says the priest. "Ah, my God! And does your mother know
           what he is doing?"
           "Of course-a," replies Pierino. "She is-a the one-a who keeps-a the cow's fanny open and shouts,
           `Come on-a, Giuseppe, this is-a time you will-a make it!'"

              Now these beautiful Italians...who cares about enlightenment?

                A teacher was getting acquainted with her fourth-grade pupils by letting them get up and talk
           about the best thing they did during the summer holidays.
           "And you, Johnny?" asked the teacher.
           "Well, I played with my train set," reported Johnny.
           "What about you, Gloria?"
           "Ah, we took a wonderful trip to the mountains for the whole summer," said Gloria.
           "And you, Liza?" asked the teacher of Little Black Liza.
           "I like to fuck!" reported Liza.
           "Ah, Liza, what a terrible thing to say! I want you to go home and not return until you have a note
           from your mother, informing me that she is aware of what you have said!" demanded the teacher.
           Two days passed before Liza finally returns to class.
           "Do you have that note I asked you to bring, Liza?" asked the teacher.
           "No, teacher, I ain't got no note. I told Momma what I said, then I told Momma what you said, and
           Momma said that if somebody don't like to fuck they must be a cocksucker, and she don't want to
           correspond with your kind!"

           The third question:


              BELOVED OSHO,
              PLEASE TELL US A FEW MORE MURPHY SUTRAS AND A FEW MURPHY ANECDOTES TOO.


              Gandharva, the Murphy sutras are really beautiful!
           The first sutra: If wives were good, God would have one.

              Second: Some people are born silly, some people acquire silliness, and some fall in love.

              Third: After man came woman, and she has been after him ever since.

              Fourth: Be thrifty when you are young, and when you are old you will be able to afford the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           things that only the young can enjoy.

              Fifth: Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone.

              Sixth: Heredity is something people believe in if they have bright children.

              Seventh: When in Rome, do as the Romans do -- eat spaghetti.

              Eighth: Some men have no solution for any difficulty, but will find a difficulty for any solution.

               If you don't believe in this eighth sutra you can ask Asheesh. He is the perfect personification of
           this sutra! He has no solution for any difficulty, but you give him any solution and he will find the
           difficulty!

              Ninth: There is no time like the present for postponing what you don't want to do.

              Tenth: Teamwork is essential -- it allows you to blame someone else.

              Eleventh: You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it damn foolproof.

              Twelfth: The height of futility is to tell a hair-raising story to a bald man.

              Thirteenth: What is dumber than a dumb Italian? A dumb Indian.

               Fourteenth: Adam was the happiest man on earth. Eve's mother never told her that nice girls did
           not do it that way.

              Fifteenth: You can't get there from here, and besides there is no place else to go.

           And a few anecdotes about Murphy....

              The first: "I am getting more and more absent minded," said Murphy to a few of his cronies.
           "Sometimes in the middle of a sentence I...."

           "That fellow Bobo is so rude: this morning he was snoring in church!"
           "Yes, I know," said Murphy. "He woke me up!"
              Murphy had recently become the father of triplets, and the priest stopped him on the street to
           congratulate him.
           "Well, Murphy," he said, "so the stork smiled on you."
           "Smiled on me!" exclaimed Murphy. "He laughed out loud!"

               One friend met Murphy at the station. "Where are you going?" the friend asked.
           "To Paris, for my honeymoon," said Murphy.
           "Without your wife?"
           "Listen, when you go to Munich, do you take beer with you?"

               One Sunday morning the preacher was ill and could not come to the church to perform his duties,
           so Murphy was doing his work. He was urging his congregation to sing.
           "Now is the opportunity for all of you gifted with wonderful voices to show your gratitude towards
           the Lord. And for all of you without good voices, this is the time to get even with him!"

               Murphy came home an hour earlier than usual and found his wife stark naked in bed. When he
           asked why, she explained, "I am protesting because I don't have anything to wear."
           Murphy pulled open the closet door. "That's ridiculous," he said, "Look in here. There is a yellow
           dress, a red dress, a print dress, a pant suit...Hi Chris!...a green dress...."
10/28/07                                          Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              And the last: The son was sitting at the bedside of the elderly gentleman, Murphy, who was
           dying. "Where do you want to be buried," the kid asked, "in Forest Lawn or Hillside Memorial
           Park?"
           The old man creaked up on his elbow and answered, "Surprise me!"

           Enough for today.




                     Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                 Talks given from 30/01/89 pm to 05/02/89 pm
                                           English Discourse series
                                                  7 Chapters
                                             Year published: 1989




                               Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                Chapter #1
                               Chapter title: Marx and buddha hand in hand
           30 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901305
              ShortTitle: FIRE01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 140 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YAKUSAN ASKED A MONK, "WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?"
              "FROM NANSEN," WAS THE REPLY.
              "HOW LONG WERE YOU THERE?" YAKUSAN CONTINUED.
              "FROM LAST WINTER TO SUMMER," REPLIED THE MONK.
              "THEN YOU MUST HAVE BECOME A GOOD OX," COMMENTED YAKUSAN.
              THE MONK SAID, "THE THING IS, I WAS THERE, BUT I DIDN'T EVEN GO TO THE DINING HALL."
              "BUT YOU CANNOT GET BY JUST THROUGH BREATHING THE WIND!" YAKUSAN
              COMMENTED.
              "IT WAS NOT THAT BAD, OSHO," SAID THE MONK. "THERE IS SURELY A MAN WHO WILL
              HOLD A SPOON FOR ME."
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, YAKUSAN WAS RETURNING TO HIS TEMPLE WITH A BUNDLE OF
              FIREWOOD WHEN A MONK ASKED HIM, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "I'VE GOT FIREWOOD."
              THE MONK POINTED TO YAKUSAN'S SWORD AND SAID, "IT MAKES THE SOUND `TAP-TAP'.
              WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IT?"
              AT THIS THE MASTER UNSHEATHED THE SWORD AND ASSUMED A WARRIOR'S STANCE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              Friends,
              There is a group of Soviet comrades present here today. They have a few very beautiful and
           simple questions. First I am going to answer them.


              The first question:
              YOU HAVE DEDICATED A BOOK TO GORBACHEV. SINCE YOU ARE AGAINST POLITICIANS, IS
              THIS A CONTRADICTION?


               Not at all, because Gorbachev is not a politician. His every act proves that he is a man in politics
           but not a politician. My dedication to Gorbachev and the academic scientist Sakharov was for this
           simple reason, that he is not a politician and is immensely interested in having peace in the world.
           He is for friendship in the world, not for war.
               The politician's mind is always concerned with war. Adolf Hitler in his autobiography, MY
           STRUGGLE, says that if a politician wants to remain in politics he has to continue creating enemies.
           If there are no real enemies, create fictions that somebody is going to attack you, that you are
           surrounded by enemies. Only that will keep you in power -- not peace.
               And it is a factual thing to know; your whole history is filled with heroes who were nothing but
           warmongers, people who massacred millions of people. Your history does not consist of a single
           name who was a peacemaker.
               I have dedicated my book with deep love to Gorbachev and Sakharov because they are both
           working for world peace. That is not the way of the politician, that is the way of a humanitarian.
           That is the way of one who loves humanity, who loves this beautiful planet and wants to save it at
           any cost. And all his actions prove what I am saying.


              Their second question is:
              AS A RELIGIOUS LEADER, YOU ARE ABOVE HUMAN HURTS, BUT DO YOU CRITICIZE
              AMERICA AND CHRISTIANITY SO MUCH BECAUSE YOU FEEL HURT?


                In the first place I am not a religious leader. I am a religious man. A leader is fundamentally a
           politician. Whether or not his politics is hidden behind religion does not matter; the very word
           `leader' comes from politics.
                I don't have any followers here; these are all my friends. So please don't call me a religious leader
           -- I am just religious.
                Secondly, I am not criticizing America and Christianity because they have tried to destroy my
           body. That does not matter to me. It does not hurt me, because I know something which is
           indestructible; no poison, no bombs, no nuclear weapons can destroy it. My being, my spirituality is
           beyond any destruction. It is eternal and immortal. So it is not a question of hurting me.
                My criticism of America and Christianity has nothing to do with my personal attitude. I am
           against all religions, not only Christianity. I am against God because I am against all fictions. I am
           against hell and against heaven because I don't want to create a schizophrenia in humanity. I don't
           want human beings to live in fear of hell and greed for heaven.
                And I don't want people to have any kind of belief system. Whether it is Christianity or Hinduism
           or Buddhism, it does not matter. To me, any organized religion -- and Christianity is the most
           organized religion in the world -- is a danger to human beings. Their individuality, their freedom,
           their dignity is destroyed.
                Jesus goes on saying to people, "You are sheep, and I am the shepherd." That is the attitude of all
           so-called religions: "You don't know -- I know. And you have simply to believe in me and all your
           sins will be forgiven." Just believing in Jesus, or in Krishna, or in Buddha, cannot erase anybody's
           crimes and sins. Every action has its reaction: if you have done something wrong, you will have
           some bitter experiences following it. If you are doing something good, you will have flowers
           showering on you, a deep peace, a deep silence, and a growth of your inner consciousness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have criticized America because I have been there for five years and seen with my own eyes
           that this is the most hypocritical country in the world. Talking about democracy, talking about
           freedom, talking about freedom of speech -- and none of these things exist there.
               Because they were against me they could not follow their own constitution concerning freedom
           of speech. They had no argument against me. Naturally, they became absolutely mad: how to destroy
           me, how to destroy the commune?
               The commune was a far superior version of communism. No dictatorship, no money -- in the
           commune there was no need for money. People donated to the commune, but as far as their needs
           were concerned, the commune was responsible to fulfill their needs. And the commune was living at
           a far better, higher standard than any American. The richest American was jealous of the commune.
               The commune was in the midst of a capitalist world. And when they deported me the
           representative of the attorney general of America, Ed Meese, admitted in a press conference that I
           had not committed any crime. The reason he gave for deporting me was: "We wanted to destroy the
           commune. That was our priority." And without deporting me, it was impossible to destroy the
           commune.
               But why? Why did you want to destroy the commune? Our commune was not at all concerned
           with America. The commune was located in a desert, one hundred twenty-six square miles of desert
           which had been for sale for forty years. And nobody had purchased it, at any price, because what
           will you do with a desert?
               But my people converted the desert into an oasis. That hurt America very much. My people were
           living with such joy, such laughter, and they were working hard. All their needs were fulfilled. They
           had the whole commune centrally air-conditioned; they had everything that they wanted, and there
           was no exchange of money in the commune. This made the American government completely mad.
               They arrested me without any arrest warrant, and without showing me any reason for arresting
           me. Just a piece of paper on which there were a few names -- "We have been ordered from above
           that these people should be immediately arrested."
               I said, "But you should look at our passports! My name is not on this paper; neither are the
           names of the six people who are with me on this paper. You are absolutely absurd. Just look at our
           passports and compare with your names; you are arresting the wrong people." Still, we were
           arrested.
               In fact, they had no evidence at all to arrest me. But they did not give me bail for twelve days.
           They arrested me in North Carolina, and the flight from North Carolina to Oregon, where the
           commune was located, was only five hours. It took twelve days for me to reach Portland, and they
           dragged me from jail to jail; in twelve days I was dragged to six jails.
               Only later on I became aware of it, when the British experts in poisoning looked into my
           symptoms and gave the verdict, that I was given a certain poison, thallium. It is not detectable either
           from blood or from urine; it simply disappears. I had all the symptoms -- when the poison
           disappears, it leaves certain kinds of sicknesses in the body. This poison has been used against
           political prisoners. But if you give it in a bigger dose, the person dies immediately. That's why they
           wanted twelve days, to give it to me in small doses so I would not die in their jails -- they would be
           condemned by the whole world.
               And when they released me, I was ordered to leave America immediately, within fifteen minutes.
           My car was in front of the courthouse, and my jet plane was kept with its engine running at the
           airport; I should leave immediately. They were afraid that if I stayed one day more, I might appeal to
           the Supreme Court. And there was every reason for me to win the case, because none of their
           charges... thirty-four charges against a man who was in silence, had never moved out of his house.
           How can he commit thirty-four crimes? And they had no evidence of any crime.
               When I saw democracy, American style, at work... it was absolute nonsense to talk about
           democracy. Their constitution is just a showpiece for the world. The country consists of criminals
           talking about freedom.
               I raised the question that they are all foreigners. I said, "All Americans are foreigners in
           America. It belongs to the Red Indians whom you have killed, whom you have forced into deep
           forests which you call reservations. In fact, they are the same as the concentration camps of Adolf
           Hitler. You are occupying the land of somebody else and you talk about freedom?"
               Looking at American crime... when I moved through those six jails I could not believe my eyes.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Every jail had at least six hundred, seven hundred criminals -- all were black! Not a single white
           man did I come across in six jails. It seems only black people commit crimes. And these black
           people are all young people. America is very much afraid of a black revolution, so all these young
           people have been forced into jail, without any trial.
               Whenever I arrived in a jail, the prisoners shouted to me... because they had been seeing my face
           on television continually. They were rejoiced to see me, and they said, "You will be going out of jail
           soon. The whole world has been alerted about your arrest; thousands of telegrams from the most
           prominent people around the world -- painters, poets, actors, film producers, mystics, Nobel Prize
           winners..."
               In the first jail so many telegrams came that the jailer came to me saying that "We don't have
           space for so many telegrams, and we don't have space for so many flowers, and we don't have
           enough personnel to receive all the telephone calls that are coming from all over the world! What do
           you suppose? What should we do?"
           I said, "It is your problem. Why have you arrested me?"
               Because they were afraid of my death -- that may create great opposition around the world,
           particularly among the intellectuals, intelligentsia, artists; all kinds of creative people will be
           opposed to it -- they gave me the poison in small doses. And still they were afraid that perhaps those
           small doses were not going to kill me, so finally they put a bomb under my chair. It is by the
           courtesy of the bomb that I am alive; it did not go off at the right time. I had left the chair. I heard it
           at the airport from the journalists that the bomb did not go off, something went wrong.

               I am not against the American people. I love them as I love all the people of the earth, and I have
           received much love from the American population. But I am absolutely against the American
           politicians and the American bureaucracy. It is absolutely against humanity. It is suicidal, murderous
           -- it is preparing to destroy this world.
               Every day, more and more nuclear weapons are gathering. They have spent trillions of dollars on
           nuclear weapons. And Ronald Reagan has left the post of president, but he has given a budget of one
           and half trillion dollars to create more weapons. Now George Bush is at a loss -- from where to get
           this money?
               My criticism of American politicians is based not on my personal hurts -- they don't matter. At
           least to me they don't matter. But I am certainly hurt because of America's anti-human attitude.
           There are three million street people and this winter they are dying in thousands. America goes on
           sending aid to poor countries, and it cannot save its own poor.

               Karl Marx had never an idea that communism would happen in the Soviet Union. His idea was
           that communism would happen first in America, where exploitation of the poor has reached its
           climax.
               Russia was a poor country with a small group of rich people, the czar and a few other rich
           people. The whole country was poor; there were not yet class distinctions. It was a feudal country, it
           had not yet become capitalist. According to Karl Marx's analysis, only a capitalist country can move
           towards communism; a feudal country first has to become capitalist. Capitalism means a clear-cut
           division of the poor and the rich, and the middle class simply disappears. A few move into the rich,
           most of them fall back into the poor, and when one country is divided clearly into the poor and the
           rich, revolution is possible. Russia was not in such a position. It was a feudal country. The czar was a
           feudal lord.
               But existence does not work according to logic. It was a certain situation that made Russia
           communist. The situation was the first world war. The czar's own soldiers did not have sufficient
           clothes, boots, food. They turned against czar -- his own army -- and it was a great strategy of
           Lenin to ride on the wave. It was not really a conflict between the poor and the rich; it was a conflict
           between the czar and his own armies. And Lenin took advantage of the opportunity. He rushed back
           -- he was in Germany -- he rushed back immediately. And he was a man of immense clarity. He
           immediately rode on the wave of the armies. And when the czar had no armies, his own armies were
           against him....
               Communism happened as an accident in Russia. It was not according to the economic analysis by
           Karl Marx. But whatever the cause, it happened. It is the first communist country in the world, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only hope.
               And I am not against only Christianity. I am against all religions except Zen, because Zen is not
           a religion but only religiousness. I have to make it clear to you that religion is a doctrine, an
           organized church, a belief system, a fictitious God, heaven and hell, and a great priesthood which
           functions as a mediator between you and God and exploits you in the name of religion, in the name
           of God.
               Zen is the only religious phenomenon in the world which has no doctrine, no scripture, which
           has no God, no belief system, no organized church. It is an individual phenomenon, just like love.
           You don't have a church of love. You don't have a political party for love. It is an individual
           freedom.
               Just as love is individual, so is meditation. And to me, religion only means one thing: meditation,
           going inwards and exploring your consciousness. Just the way science explores matter, meditation is
           the science of the inner; it explores consciousness.
               I have my points of agreement with Karl Marx, with Engels, with Lenin, with Gorbachev. I have
           my points of disagreement.
               Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were aware only of two religions, Judaism and Christianity,
           which are both just so-so religions. Marx and Engels were not aware of Zen, they were not aware of
           Tao, they were not aware of meditation. It is not their fault; their whole concern was how to make
           society economically equal. So they said that man is only matter, and consciousness is a by-product
           of matter. When the man dies, the consciousness also dies. On that point I am in absolute
           disagreement.
               I am against all religions because they have been exploiting humanity, and they are exactly what
           Karl Marx called the "opium of the people." They are giving the poor consolation, that "Your
           poverty is a fire test. Just listen to the words of Jesus. He says, `Blessed are the poor, for they shall
           inherit the earth.'"
               If blessed are the poor, then there is no need to remove poverty. In fact, make more poor people
           so they can become more blessed people and can inherit the kingdom of God! Spread poverty, breed
           like animals, as many children as you can. These all will be the inheritors of God's kingdom.
               Such consolation has been given by all religions in different ways. The Bible says, "Don't change
           anything, because God has made it so, and he is wiser than you." So don't change any structure of the
           society, don't change the family. But God never made the family. In fact, God is the greatest lie in
           existence. And from one central lie, thousands of lies go on growing.
               I am against not only Christianity, I am against Hinduism, I am against Buddhism, I am against
           Mohammedanism, because they are functioning in the same way -- only their names are different.
               It is not that Christianity has hurt me so I am against it. Judaism has not hurt me,
           Mohammedanism has not hurt me, Buddhism has not hurt me, but I am against them on principle.
           These are the people who have been exploiting humanity and protecting the vested interests.
               Hinduism says that you are poor because of your past life's bad actions, and you are rich because
           of your past life's good actions. They distract the mind from the reality. The reality is that you are
           poor because you are being exploited by the rich continuously. You are sucked, your blood is
           continuously being taken out of you; your very life is at the minimum so that you can function as a
           slave. You are allowed to live just because without you, who is going to be able to create a vast army
           of slaves?
               And all religions are in favor of the rich because the rich are donating to the churches, to the
           temples, to the religions, a small part, not even one percent, of their exploitation. But they keep the
           priests rich, comfortable, because the priests are protecting the status quo.
               I am against the status quo. I want to change the whole society, its structure. I want a classless
           society, a world without boundaries, without nations. A world which is one, neither black nor white,
           neither Indian nor Russian nor American.
           This small planet can live in peace.
               In three thousand years the politicians have dragged humanity into five thousand wars, but you
           will be surprised: even in five thousand wars politicians have not been able to kill more people than
           religions have killed. They have their religions wars: crusades, jihad....
               Jesus says, "Whoever is not with me is against me." Now these are the words of a politician --
           not the words of a religious man, not the words of a man who is meditative, who can see things. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           person who is not with me may be just indifferent; it is not necessary that he should be against me.
           The person who is with me can be against me any day, and the person who is against me can be in
           favor of me any day. And there is a third category which Jesus completely forgets: the indifferent,
           the agnostic who is neither theist nor atheist, who does not believe in any `ism', who simply wants to
           inquire into truth.
               I am against Christianity and other religions because they are preventing people from finding out
           the truth of their own being.
               To me, religiousness is acceptable. It is a quality -- a quality which brings grace to you, which
           brings blissfulness to you, which brings a silence to your mind, which brings an encounter with your
           original being. It is absolutely a science -- a science of the inner space, just as there is a science of
           the objective world. It is not a belief system. You don't have to believe in any savior, in any messiah,
           in any prophet, in any reincarnation of God -- these are all arch-egoists who are pretending to save
           you.


              Their third question is:
              YOU ONCE SAID IN A DISCOURSE THAT LENIN WAS AGAINST MARRIAGE AND WANTED TO
              DISSOLVE THE FAMILY.
              IN REALITY, LENIN ALWAYS FOLLOWED ENGELS IN SAYING THAT THE FAMILY IS THE
              NUCLEUS.


               Nucleus of what? Nucleus of the capitalist society!
               Both Marx and Engels, in their analysis of the economic structure, are very clear about it: the
           family came into being only with private property. Before private property there was no family;
           hence it follows logically that if private property is dissolved, marriage will be dissolved
           automatically. It is a logical conclusion; whether Lenin agrees with it or not, does not matter. I don't
           care about anybody -- I care about intelligence. It is not a question whether Engels contradicts
           himself.
               The family has been the nucleus of all the organized religions; it has been the nucleus of all the
           feudal and capitalist societies; it has been the nucleus of all exploitation and war. That nucleus has to
           be completely withdrawn. Without the family dying out, you cannot have a real humanity arising, of
           individuals.
               I have not said that Lenin was against marriage. I have said that it is the logical conclusion from
           Marx and Engels' analysis of society. They say that the family came into being with private property.
           Why did it come into being with private property? -- because every father wanted his property to be
           inherited by his son. Hence, he had to guard his wife so that she would not get pregnant with
           somebody else.
               The family became an imprisonment of the woman, so that the child would certainly be the son
           of the father. The father has no other evidence; only the mother knows exactly to whom the child
           belongs. So keep the mother completely out of society: no education, no economic freedom, no
           financial status. In Mohammedan countries she cannot even show her face to anybody. Keep the
           woman completely imprisoned -- that is the only security you have that your son is your son, and
           the property that you have gathered will be inherited by your son.
               But in a communist society, when the property is not private, there is no need for any family to
           protect it. The property belongs to everyone. Then why bother about it, that "My son has to be my
           son." In fact, I had said that this was the logical conclusion.
               I have read all the communist literature that has been published from Marx, Engels, Lenin,
           Stalin, and I have read all the literature that has been published against communism. I would like my
           Soviet comrades to look at my library, and they will find all the communist literature and all the
           anti-communist literature there.
               It is my understanding that marriage cannot exist in a communist society. A commune will take
           the place of marriage. And I have read somewhere... because for fifteen years I have not been
           reading at all. I have read somewhere that when the revolution happened in 1917 in Russia, in the
           beginning they had tried for three, four, or five years to dissolve marriage, to dissolve the family. But
           they found it very difficult.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is one of the most ancient institutions. Emotionally, sentimentally, psychologically, it is very
           difficult to dissolve it. It was difficult to dissolve private ownership of property and make it public --
           Stalin had to kill at least one million Russians just to make a classless society possible. They found it
           was difficult: "It can be taken care of later on when communism becomes more established; don't
           take on too many problems."
               The whole world was against Russia when it went through its revolution. The whole world
           wanted to destroy communism. If communism succeeded, that would be a danger for other nations;
           then the poor in other nations would start rising up and asking for the same equality.
               After five years of failure, they could not dissolve the family. But my understanding is that they
           could not dissolve the family unit because they themselves have betrayed Karl Marx and Engels. The
           Soviet Union has become another class society: the bureaucrats have become a class and the
           non-bureaucrats, the public, are another class. So the bureaucrats, who are the communists, have
           replaced the capitalists. The Soviet Union is still not classless; it has created a new class friction.
           Because it is not classless, it could not dissolve the family; otherwise there would be no problem to
           dissolve marriage and the family. Now the family has become the nucleus of communism, which is a
           contradiction.
               I follow my own intelligence, and my conclusions don't have to be in agreement with anybody
           else's. But anybody who is intelligent enough can see the problem.


              Their fourth question is:
              WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WENT TO THE SOVIET UNION?


               A revolution!
           It has been too long since the Soviet Union has seen revolution. Of course, my revolution will be of
           spirituality. I want the Soviet Union to add something more to its dignity: meditation. Just economic
           equality is not enough -- a spiritual equality is needed.
               Just being a body is so poor. I want the Soviet Union to become richer -- not only richer in
           objects but richer in consciousness, in enlightenment. I want the Soviet Union also to have awakened
           people like Gautam Buddha, or Lao Tzu, or Chuang Tzu.
           I would like to introduce Zen to the Soviet Union. That is my revolution.

                One of the most famous spiritualists of Europe, Francis Israel Regardie, a famous occult
           magician who was regarded as a great magus and scholar of the Golden Dawn Society, stated just
           prior to his death: "If I were to choose in what form I would come back in terms of reincarnation, I
           would like to continue the great work until I become a Rajneesh."
                Just today I received his book, and I could not believe what kind of spiritualist this fellow
           Francis Israel Regardie was.
                A spiritualist, in the first place, knows he is not going to be born again. If he has not come to that
           point, he has no right to call himself a spiritualist. A person who has known his spirituality has no
           need to come back to any body, in any reincarnation. This imprisonment in the body is only up to the
           point when you become a buddha. When you become a buddha, you have learned everything that life
           could teach you, and you have not only learned the outside world, you have learned your inner world
           also. Now there is nothing left.
                What happens to a Gautam Buddha? He simply dissolves into the universal life, into the eternal
           life. He does not come back to the earth in a body.
                This man Francis Israel Regardie knows nothing of spirituality. But in the West it is very easy to
           befool people, because the West has no understanding of the inner world. So any idiot can manage to
           deceive them -- occultism, esotericism, spiritualism, just big words without any experience
           supporting them.
                Because if this man was really spiritual, he would not... at the point of death he wants a
           reincarnation! But he has a condition also: "I would like to continue the work until I become a
           Rajneesh." I was alive, he was alive, he could have come here. Rather than having the courage and
           guts to come here, he is thinking of becoming a Rajneesh after death -- if there is a reincarnation.
           That is a big if!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He could have come here. Thousands of people come and go every day, and ten thousand people
           remain around me continuously. And I am not a leader, and I am not a priest, and I am not teaching
           any philosophy or any doctrine. I am simply helping them to enter inwards -- how to turn your eyes
           inwards so you can see yourself. Once you have seen it, you are the buddha.
                Then there is no birth, no death. You have gone beyond the circle of birth and death.
                This is the only spirituality, the only religiousness that I would like to teach to my Soviet friends.
                I have already in the Soviet Union at least three hundred sannyasins, underground. Because I was
           in America, the KGB was thinking that I was an American agent. They were harassing my people in
           the Soviet Union; they burned my books, they took away all the books, and my people were meeting
           underground, writing and typing my books by hand.
                I would like, through my comrades here, to help my people. I am not against communism. I am a
           far bigger communist than you have ever known, because I am a spiritual communist!
                Marx and Engels are out-of-date. The Soviet Union needs a new revolution, a spiritual
           revolution, and I think Gorbachev is making a great mistake in allowing the old priests back in the
           name of opening the doors of the Soviet Union.
                Perhaps he does not understand these old priests -- Catholic and Protestant, or old Russian
           Orthodox. They belonged to a certain society; they belonged to a feudal society. They cannot belong
           to a communist society.
                Opening the doors of Russia is beautiful. Open the doors for science, open the doors for art, open
           the doors for meditation. But that does not mean that you have to open the doors to all kinds of
           diseases.
                Christianity is a disease, and if you open the doors for the pope you are going against Karl Marx,
           you are going against communism. You don't understand the implications: these are the people who
           are the real agents of capitalism. They are against any revolution.
                You can see it in India. In India, for five thousand years, as far back as history can approach...
           India is far more ancient than five thousand years, but for five thousand years we have not known
           anything like revolution against the social structure. And India is one of the poorest countries, but
           the poor are given the opium continuously, that "You are poor because of your past evil acts. It has
           nothing to do with the capitalist people; they have money because they did good deeds in the past."
                Now do you want shankaracharyas from India to be imported to the Soviet Union? They will
           teach reincarnation, they will teach that "You are poor because of your past actions, it has nothing to
           do with the capitalists. And the capitalist is a capitalist because he has done good deeds in the past, it
           is a reward from God."
                Please tell Gorbachev from me: allow everything, but don't allow Christianity again! Christianity
           will bring homosexuality, it will bring sodomy, it will bring bestiality, it will bring AIDS to the
           Soviet Union. Are you opening the door for all this?
                Be careful, and very alert. It has taken seventy years to preserve a communist country against the
           whole world. Don't take any risk. Opening the door is good, but be on guard that the Pope the Polack
           does not enter Russia, and that Christianity has no revival in Russia.
                Communism can be at ease with Zen, because Zen has nothing to do with your social structure.
           Zen has nothing to do with your poverty or with your richness. Zen has nothing to do with the
           outside world. Zen is a science to explore the inner. Invite Zen masters, Zen mystics; that will be
           inviting health and wholeness.
                A man who believes only in the body is half, and a man who believes only in the spirit is also
           half. I have called Gautam Buddha only half, because he denies the body, he renounces the body. I
           am not in absolute favor of Gautam Buddha -- only fifty percent. And that is my situation with Karl
           Marx also: I am in agreement only with fifty percent. His acceptance of the body is good, but his
           denial of the spirit is wrong.
                Buddha and Marx have to join hands -- that is my revolution. Bring Buddha and Marx both
           together, hand in hand, dancing in the Soviet Union!
                If you cannot find Gautam Buddha and Karl Marx -- because both are dead -- I can bring my
           ten thousand buddhas you see all around! These people are living a whole life -- of the body and of
           the soul in absolute synchronicity. I can bring all my ten thousand buddhas to reach to every nook
           and corner of the Soviet Union.
                And these are not the only people with me; there are two million people around the earth. If you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have a real opening, I can even bring two million people to the Soviet Union, to bring a new
           revolution, a fresh revolution which will make the Soviet citizen a complete citizen, body and soul
           together.
               We have to live outside and we have to live inside, in deep balance, in harmony.
               This man Regardie must have been a hocus-pocus. At least I hope that he does not become a
           Rajneesh! He can have reincarnation as whatever he wants. He can become a buffalo, he can become
           a donkey, there are so many species available -- just please don't think about me! If you had
           courage, then... at the moment of death you talked about me; in your whole life you never talked
           about me. Such chickens! Talking about occultism, spiritualism... I have been here, he could have
           come. I could have turned him into a meditator.
               And if your meditation starts blossoming you will not have any other birth in the body. You will
           simply disappear, like incense disappearing into the blue sky, or fragrance of roses disappearing into
           the blue sky. You will become part of the cosmos.
               And as far as I am concerned, unless you are a meditator you cannot be truly a communist.
           Because as far as the body is concerned, no two persons are exactly equal. In their talents, in their
           intelligence, in their body, physical strength -- no two persons are equal as far as the body is
           concerned. You can give equal opportunity for growth, but the growth will bring unequal persons.
           Somebody will become a scientist and somebody will become a shoemaker; somebody will become
           a great novelist like Tolstoy, or Turgenev, or Chekhov, or Dostoevsky, or Gorky, and somebody may
           become just a flutist.
               Everybody needs equal opportunity to grow unequal! But as far as spirituality is concerned,
           everybody can be equally a buddha. That is true communism -- deeper, higher, more authentic. And
           if we can create a situation, an education for people to understand their inner being, they will come
           out of it with great compassion, with love for every being. They will have a tremendous reverence
           for life. They cannot exploit. In fact, spiritual communism should be first; only then can the
           economic communism follow it as a shadow.
               Just tell Comrade Gorbachev: I am ready to come any moment. Just gather courage, because I am
           not in absolute agreement... Marx is now old-fashioned, and I don't know any communist who ever
           reads DAS KAPITAL. It gathers dust just like the Holy Bible. I have never come across any
           communist in India who has read DAS KAPITAL. It is complicated, it is old, it is out-of-date. In its
           own time it was a great phenomenon, but time goes on changing. Now neither Engels nor Lenin nor
           Stalin are relevant. They were very relevant in their own time.
               Now Gorbachev can open the door because for seventy years Lenin kept it closed, Stalin kept it
           closed, to protect communism. Now communism is strong enough to open the doors. But be careful
           -- don't open the doors to old diseases. They are just lurking by the side, and very anxious to enter
           in.
               Mohammedan priests, because you have so many Mohammedan countries in the Soviet Union,
           are ready to go in. And that is a third-rate religion. Christians are very anxious, and Christianity is
           also not worthy to be called a religion. It is just an old cult.
               I suggest there is only religiousness, which has come as a crossbreed between Buddha and Lao
           Tzu. And the crossbreed is always better than both the parents. That crossbreed is Zen. Its Sanskrit
           name is dhyan; its Pali name, which Buddha used, is zhan. When it reached China with
           Bodhidharma it became ch'an. When it reached Japan with Rinzai it became Zen. Now I am bringing
           it back to the land of Buddha -- the circle is going to be complete.
               It went out of India because of the brahmin priests. You will be surprised to know that for two
           thousand years India has had no Buddhists. At the time of Buddha almost the whole country was
           impressed by the man. But what happened? The moment Buddha died -- he was against the caste
           system, he was against the rituals of the brahmins, he was against exploitation by the priesthood --
           the moment he died, the whole priesthood started killing Buddhists, burning them alive, destroying
           their scriptures. Those who could save themselves rushed all over Asia, to Tibet, to Ladakh, to
           Nepal, to Thailand, to China, to Korea, to Taiwan, to Japan, to Sri Lanka -- the whole of Asia
           became Buddhist EXCEPT India.
               This is a strange phenomenon. Buddha was born here; here he used to teach meditation, and this
           country simply rejected him.
               Beware! Don't allow any priests of any religion in the Soviet Union if you want to save
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           communism. Otherwise, these priests will prove just like a cancer. They will destroy the whole of
           communism and they will bring all the old rotten ideologies back into people's minds. Beware of
           so-called religions.
                This is my message to the Soviet people. I love them. I would love to bring meditation into their
           life, because meditation brings grace, peace, silence, blissfulness... a freedom which nobody can take
           away from you.

           The new series begins today: COMMUNISM AND ZEN FIRE, ZEN WIND.
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              YAKUSAN ASKED A MONK, "WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?"
              "FROM NANSEN..."

              Nansen was one of the great masters of Zen. The monk's reply is that he is coming from Nansen,
           and Yakusan immediately asks,
              "HOW LONG WERE YOU THERE?"
              "FROM LAST WINTER TO SUMMER," REPLIED THE MONK.
              "THEN YOU MUST HAVE BECOME A GOOD OX," COMMENTED YAKUSAN.


                I have to tell you about the ox -- I have told you about it before.
                In ancient China, there used to be ten cards, ten beautiful pictures about ox-herding, mastering
           the ox.
                In the first picture, the ox has escaped from its owner into the deep forest. The owner is looking
           all around, but he can see only trees and trees and trees, and no ox.
                In the second picture, he finds the footprints of the ox. Now there is some hope he may find the
           ox -- he follows the footprints. In the third picture, he finds that the ox is hiding behind a bush; just
           his tail and the backside he can see. But he is immediately happy -- "He is trying to deceive me!"
                In the fourth picture he has seen the whole ox. In the fifth picture, he takes hold of the ox by the
           horns. It is a difficult struggle; the ox is far more powerful an animal than man. With difficulty he
           manages. In the sixth picture, he is riding on the ox. In the seventh he is moving towards home.
                In the eighth, he has put the ox in its stable. In the ninth picture, he is sitting before his cottage,
           playing a flute.
                When these pictures came to Japan, the tenth picture was dropped out, thinking that it might be
           dangerous, particularly for people who are very new and don't know the whole world of Zen.
                The tenth picture shows that the man is so happy... he takes a bottle of wine and rushes towards
           the marketplace, perhaps towards the pub, to enjoy with his friends. He has found his ox -- now this
           is a celebration.
                Being afraid that this will mean that you can drink wine -- and this will go against Buddha --
           they dropped the tenth picture.
                But I love the tenth picture, because it does not represent wine; wine is only a symbol of being
           drunk with the divine. Wine is only a symbol of being utterly at ease with existence -- relaxed, in
           tune, in harmony, in accord. And his rushing towards the pub is also symbolic. It is rushing towards
           your own juices of life, to the very center of your being, where you will get drunk.
                This kind of getting drunk is unending. Once you have tasted it, you have tasted it; it is not going
           to fade way. It is going to overwhelm your whole life. Your whole life will become a festival of
           lights; your whole life will become a ceremony of laughter, of dance, of song, of music.
                The tenth picture was dropped out of fear, but I want to bring that tenth picture back -- even to
           Japan.
                Ishida is here, sitting. She has come from Japan, from a Shinto temple. I will make her my
           ambassador in Japan -- I have my ambassadors all over the world. Soon I will appoint an
           ambassador to the Soviet Union.
                I would like to tell Ishida that the tenth picture has to be added to the nine pictures, because those
           nine pictures are incomplete.
           This is the story of the ox.
           So when Yakusan said, "THEN YOU MUST HAVE BECOME A GOOD OX," the monk said:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "THE THING IS, I WAS THERE, BUT I DID NOT EVEN GO TO THE DINING HALL."
              "BUT YOU CANNOT GET BY JUST THROUGH BREATHING THE WIND!" YAKUSAN
              COMMENTED.
              "IT WAS NOT THAT BAD, OSHO..."

               Osho is a very beautiful word. It should be added to every language. Just the sound is beautiful in
           the first place: Osho. It shows respect, it shows love, it shows gratitude. It is not just a dry word like
           "Reverend." It is a very loving and friendly word, almost having the sense of "The Beloved."
               The man said, "IT WAS NOT THAT BAD, OSHO." -- Yakusan was also a great master --
           "THERE IS SURELY A MAN WHO WILL HOLD A SPOON FOR ME."

               Zen talks in symbols; that's why it has remained a very small stream of great mystics but it has
           never became a mass phenomenon. Perhaps it is good that it never became a mass phenomenon.
           Everything that becomes a mass phenomenon becomes degraded, because the majority of the people
           consist of idiots. And every second, one idiot is born in the world. They go on increasing.
               When I was in America, I just made a comment to a television interviewer, that "All Oregonians"
           -- where I was -- "are retarded people." Obviously, Oregonians were very furious, particularly the
           attorney general of Oregon, David Frohnmeyer. And the governor, and the all the politicians were
           absolutely angry that I had called the whole of Oregon "retarded."
               But the University of Oregon took the case in hand. They surveyed a cross section of Oregon
           society, and they surveyed my commune. And their results silenced the governor, the attorney
           general and all the politicians. The results were that the average mental age of Oregonians is seven
           years -- that is the age of retarded persons. And the age of the commune people was fourteen --
           double that of the Oregonians.
               But the idiots destroyed the most intelligent commune in the world. It had great surgeons,
           doctors, professors; almost everybody was a postgraduate in some subject, hundreds were Ph.Ds,
           hundreds were D.Litts. It was absolutely an utterly intelligent group of people.
               Zen has remained a small, thin line, but immensely rich. It deals in symbols. If you don't
           understand the symbols, the story is meaningless.
               What is the symbolism of what the monk said? -- "It was not that bad, Osho. Don't think that I
           was hungry because I never went into the kitchen. There was always a man who would hold a spoon
           for me. That was Nansen, who was my nourishment. Seeing that I would not enter the dining hall, he
           was always -- and he was the master! -- always bringing food for me. Not only physical food, he
           was also my nourishment spiritually."
               "Holding a spoon for me" means nourishment. "There was someone who took care of me: my
           master, Nansen. I simply waited outside the dining room just to see whether the master takes care of
           everybody, whether he will look out of the window and see one monk standing outside, not coming
           in.
               "So it was not so bad that I was hungry and starving; Nansen was always holding out
           nourishment for me, through the window. And it was not only nourishment for my body; his
           attention, his care for me was also nourishment. I am nobody, and he took so much care. Every day
           he remembered me, that I would be standing outside.
               "Leaving his dining table, he would come and give me food, and he never asked, `Why do you
           go on standing outside?'" -- because that is one of the fundamentals of Zen: don't interfere into
           anybody's life. Everybody has a territorial imperative, a certain area. Don't enter into it; that is his
           dignity, that is his pride. Leave it to his intelligence.
               "And he was not only giving me food, he was giving me spiritual nourishment. It was not bad,
           Osho. Don't misunderstand me, and don't misunderstand my master, Nansen."

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, YAKUSAN WAS RETURNING TO HIS TEMPLE WITH A BUNDLE OF
              FIREWOOD WHEN A MONK ASKED HIM, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "I HAVE GOT FIREWOOD."
              THE MONK POINTED TO YAKUSAN'S SWORD AND SAID, "IT MAKES THE SOUND `TAP-TAP'."

              Perhaps because he was carrying the firewood, and the sword was hanging around his waist... it
           may have been hitting the firewood and making the sound `tap-tap'. He said, "What is that which
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           makes the sound `tap-tap'?"
              AT THIS THE MASTER UNSHEATHED THE SWORD AND ASSUMED A WARRIOR'S STANCE.

                He stood like a warrior.
           What is Yakusan intending to show to the monk?
           First, the monk has asked, "Where have you been?" He has not answered that, because what is past is
           past, and what is future is future. They are not the concern of Zen.
                The concern of Zen is the present moment. You can ask a question about the past, but you cannot
           distract the master from the present. So he did not answer where he had been; on the contrary, he
           simply said, "I HAVE GOT FIREWOOD. Just in the present, right now, you can see the firewood
           and you can understand where I must have been -- collecting firewood. But that has not to be said.
           That is a past thing. I simply show you the present. And the present implies the past, and in a subtle
           way it implies the future, but nothing can be said about that. That which is gone, is gone, and that
           which has not come yet, has not come yet."
                We can live only in the present moment. That is our only time. One never knows what is going to
           happen in the next moment.
                Just three days ago, a Canadian sannyasin who had been here for only three days, was
           meditating. And before meditating he had expressed the desire that, "I want to become a sannyasin
           this evening." While meditating, he died. The evening never came.
                People thought, for two and a half hours, that he was meditating. But when he did not move at
           all, somebody shook him and found that he was dead. But as far as I am concerned, because he was
           intending to become a sannyasin in the evening it is enough. He has become a sannyasin.
                Sannyas is not something outward, it is something that arises in you, an urge, a deep longing.
           And he died in meditation -- what better initiation can there be? He died as a sannyasin. In utter
           silence, in absolute peace, he disappeared into the beyond.

               Zen does not talk about past and future. Its whole concentration is in the now and here.
           I always love to tell a small story....
               A great atheist advocate had written in his sitting room, on the wall, in capital letters: GOD IS
           NOWHERE. Of course, everybody who came to see him had to read it; it was in such big letters, just
           in front of their eyes.
               His first child was born, and one day he was playing with the child. The child was learning the
           language slowly, so he started reading the sentence on the wall. He could read, "God is nowhere,"
           but "nowhere" was such a big word, the child could not manage to read it in one go. He cut it in two.
           He read, "GOD IS NOW HERE." The word `nowhere' has been cut into two pieces.
               For the first time the father looked at the sentence, and he said, "My God! This child has made
           me aware. Now I can never read that sentence completely; I will always remember "Now Here."
               It was a moment of transformation for the advocate. For the first time he started thinking, "Do I
           know really that God is nowhere? Have I explored the whole space? Have I explored my inner
           being?"

               Just as the theists are blind, so are the atheists. Both are believers. The only right person is an
           agnostic, who is neither theist nor atheist, who is simply in search of the truth. He has no belief
           system, no prejudice, no ideology already programmed.
               I don't see much difference in the atheism of the Soviet Union and the theism of the Vatican. The
           theism of the Vatican is based on a belief. DAS KAPITAL is the bible for the Soviet Union --
           because Marx says there is no God, it has become a program for every child. In seventy years the old
           generation has disappeared. Now every child believes there is no God. In India every child believes
           there is God. Both are beliefs: one is positive belief, one is negative belief, but belief is belief.
           Neither the Soviet Union knows, nor the Vatican.
               The people who know, say it is impossible to say anything about the ultimate reality. It cannot be
           brought into language; it remains mysterious. You can enter into it, but you cannot say anything
           about it. You can enjoy it, you can rejoice it, you can dance it, but language is too poor.
               This is the real poverty of philosophy, that it cannot express the ultimate experience of
           meditators.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Only the agnostic can be a meditator. He puts aside all programming, whether the programming
           is from the theist or from the atheist does not matter. All programming, the whole mind, has to be put
           aside, and you have to enter into a space of no-mind.
           In that no-mind there is no time,
           just the present moment and utter silence,
           and great clarity,
           and you are a luminous being,
           Now, Here.
           That's why Yakusan said, "I have got firewood. The rest you can understand. But don't ask me about
           the past."

              THE MONK THEN POINTED TO YAKUSAN'S SWORD AND SAID, "IT MAKES THE SOUND
              `TAP-TAP'. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IT?"

               Have you ever thought about it? -- even small things cannot be defined. If somebody asks you,
           "What is yellow?" what will you do? You can point to the color yellow, but you cannot give any
           definition. What is yellow? What is red? You will say, "Red is red." But that is not giving the
           answer. This is tautology; you are simply repeating "A rose is a rose is a rose," but you have gone
           nowhere. You have not defined what is rose. You can only indicate -- "This is." No definition is
           possible -- only indication.
               So when the man asked, "What is that which is making the sound `tap-tap'?" the master did not
           answer, "It is a sword," because Zen does not believe in language; it believes in existence.
               He took out the sword and showed the man a warrior's stance, the way the warrior stands with his
           sword: "This is it! If you have eyes you can see. If you don't have eyes I am helpless." But no
           dialogue, just existential indications.

           Shiro wrote:
              IN SNOW-WHITE MIST
              WHERE SEA AND SKY ARE ONE,
              A SINGLE DISK OF RED -- THE RISING SUN.


              Haikus are pictures, visualize them. They are not poetries in the ordinary sense. Just visualize:
              IN SNOW-WHITE MIST
              WHERE SEA AND SKY ARE ONE,
              A SINGLE DISK OF RED -- THE RISING SUN.

              These haikus have come out of meditation.
           Perhaps Shiro was meditating by the seaside, and as he opened his eyes
              IN SNOW-WHITE MIST WHERE SEA AND SKY ARE ONE,

              on the horizon, suddenly
              A SINGLE DISK OF RED -- THE RISING SUN.

              And utter silence on his part, he is no more there. He is completely absorbed in the ocean, in the
           mist, in the rising sun.

           It happened to Picasso -- it will help you to understand.
               He was painting. One man was watching continuously for one and a half hours. Finally he could
           not resist the temptation -- because he could not understand what Picasso was painting. Just colors,
           colors, but no idea what he was painting. Finally he shook Picasso and asked, "What are you
           painting?"
               As if from a trance, Picasso was awakened. He said, "What...? I was not there. Just the painting
           was happening, I was not painting. I don't know what. When the painting is complete, the critics will
           find out what I have painted, because I am not. I am simply my brush, my colors, my canvas.
           Something is happening, something is cooking, but I don't know exactly."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A rich young woman, very super-rich, asked him, "You have never made any portrait..." He has
           never made any portrait, because who will ask him to make a portrait? Just look at his paintings!
           He said, "I have never done any portrait."
               The woman said, "I am willing to pay any amount of money. Don't bother about money, money
           does not matter." She was a widow of a super-rich American.
               Just to avoid the woman, Picasso said, "It will cost one million dollars." She said, "Agreed,
           start!"
               He started painting her portrait. When the portrait was complete, the woman was completely in
           amazement! She said, "Just one question. Where is my nose in this portrait? Because from the nose I
           can find out where my eyes are, where my mouth is, where my ears are. A central point... Just one
           question, I will not ask anything more."
               Picasso said, "I told you before, I don't do portraits! I knew perfectly well where it was, but now I
           don't know. I was so lost in painting it -- who cares about your nose? You can take it to the critics,
           art connoisseurs. Show them; perhaps they can find it."

                When a meditator is in deep meditation, he is no more. And the morning, early morning, when it
           is still dark and the sun is still under the horizon, is the best time, the most cool. And if you are near
           the sea...
           the cool crisp salty breeze
           and the silence surrounding you
           and the continuous sound of the waves
           creating a certain vibration of music...
                It works almost like a lullaby. Just as your mother moves you in her arms and sings a song...
           continuous waves, making the same sound again and again and again... it creates a lullaby. It helps
           you to relax. Now people are using that sound for sleep.
                Shiro must be sitting on the sea beach, utterly relaxed, and then he opened his eyes, clean and
           clear, just like mirrors, and there is a reflection: the mist meeting the sea. And suddenly out of the
           mist and out of the sea rises a red disk -- the rising sun.
                These haikus are word-pictures. The necessity of a meditative mind as a background is absolute.
           No one except a meditator can write haiku.
                Now many Westerners are writing haiku. They don't understand that without meditation you
           cannot write haiku. You can compose a poem, you know how many syllables are in a haiku. You can
           compose, but that composition is from the mind, and haiku is from the no-mind, from the utter
           silence when you are nothing but a mirror -- not out of thought, but from no thought.


              Maneesha has asked a question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IS NOT THE URGE TO UNDERSTAND, ACTUALLY THE URGE TO BECOME ONE -- BOTH
              INWARDLY AND WITH OUR OUTER WORLD?


               Yes, Maneesha. It is a very complicated question that you have asked -- it looks simple. I have
           to bring Sigmund Freud in.
               Sigmund Freud was the first man in the world who said that the whole urge for finding the truth,
           liberation, salvation, is arising out of nothing but a deprivation. The child lived in the mother's womb
           for nine months, one with the mother. That was his whole world, his whole cosmos; he knew nothing
           else.
               The womb was the whole universe, and it was so beautiful, so relaxed. He had no worries of
           going bankrupt, he had no worries about the wife, and the children becoming hippies. He had no
           worries at all. All nourishment was given by mother, all oxygen was given by the mother --
           everything was supplied without asking. He had lived for nine months in paradise.
               But after nine months he is thrown out of paradise, just the way Adam and Eve were thrown out
           of the Garden of Eden. Then he encounters the whole world -- such a helpless child -- and the
           world is too big, and every day brings new problems. Every day he has to learn new things, problem
           upon problem.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Soon he will be going to school -- and there are so many subjects. Soon he will be getting
           married -- and there are so many troubles. Soon he will be in business, or in service... and all kinds
           of masks he will have to wear: before the wife, before the girlfriend, before the boss, before the
           servant. He will have to change his mask continually. A tremendous desire is to go back to the
           womb.
               According to Sigmund Freud -- and I agree with him -- the desire to know the truth, the desire
           to be liberated, the desire to become one with existence, is an extension of the experience in the
           womb of the mother. The whole cosmos becomes your womb the moment you enter into deep
           meditation.
               At the very center of your being you are connected with the cosmos; otherwise you cannot live
           even for a single moment. Your life is not your life, it is the life that the cosmos is pouring in you
           continuously. Your breath is not your breath, it is the cosmos that is continuously pouring oxygen in
           the exact proportion needed by you. If it were left to you to breathe, I don't think anybody would
           survive. You will forget. Somebody insults you and you will forget breathing -- first things first!
           You see a beautiful woman and you will forget that the heart has to continue beating; it stops. It will
           be so difficult....
               Existence has taken care to keep every essential thing in its own hands. What is given to you is
           trivia; all essential things that are absolutely necessary for life are still in the hands of existence.
               When you reach in deep meditation to your roots, you will find that a door opens into the beyond
           and you know that every moment life is rushing into you. The more you become open, at the center,
           the more life you have -- abundance of life, so much that you would like to share with the whole
           world; still it is inexhaustible.
               Yes, Maneesha, the desire, the urge to understand is really the urge to become one with the
           cosmos. Then there is no birth; then there is no death. The cosmos is eternal. It has never been
           created, as Christians have been telling you, and other religions also. It is evolving from eternity to
           eternity.
               I am against America, Christianity, I am against President Ronald Reagan, not because of
           personal hurts that they have done to me and to my commune. I am against them because Ronald
           Reagan made a tremendous wound in the whole intelligentsia of the world by trying to burn all
           Charles Darwin's books -- in every library, in every college, in every school, in every university --
           because it teaches evolution, and Christianity teaches creation.
               These are two contradictory concepts. Creation means once and forever complete. Evolution
           means never complete, always going on and on. Always the goal is just nearby -- but as you move
           on, the goal also moves on. It is just like the horizon: it looks just a few miles away. You drive, and
           as you drive the horizon goes on moving, further and further. The distance between you and the
           horizon will remain exactly the same -- you can go around the earth -- because the horizon is just
           an illusion.
               The goal, every goal, is an illusion. The man of understanding lives without any goal. He simply
           loves to live, he simply loves to love. He simply loves to sing and dance and enjoy the moment, the
           opportunity that existence has given to him.
               In that total dance, you become one. In that total singing, when the singer disappears, you
           become one.
               I have told you about Nijinsky, one of the greatest dancers the world has ever known. His
           greatness was not just his dance. His greatness was that once in a while, while dancing, he would
           jump so high... which is not possible according to scientists. Because gravitation is pulling you
           down, there is a limit, but he always transcended the limit so much that it was a miracle -- what
           happens? What happens to gravitation?
               And not only this, when he would come back down... Gravitation pulls with force; you will fall
           on the stage with a thump! But Nijinsky would fall down like a feather, just slowly moving. That too
           is against gravitation.
               He was asked again and again, "What is the secret?" He said, "The secret I don't know. All that I
           know is, whenever I try to do it I never succeed. In my aloneness I try to do it -- I never succeed.
           When I forget myself completely in the dance, when there is no Nijinsky, only the dance, suddenly it
           happens. It is a surprise to you, it is a surprise to me. It is not my doing."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Meditation is not your doing. You simply make the effort, but it is not your doing. Your effort is
           needed to prepare the ground. As the ground is ready, immediately you see you are no more; the
           whole cosmos is. You have entered a greater womb, an eternal womb of tremendous peace and
           ecstasy.

           Now it is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

           ("SARDARJI," AS HE IS AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN, HAS EARNED THE DISTINCTION OF
           BEING "THE ONLY MAN WHO LAUGHS BEFORE THE JOKE IS TOLD," AND THE HONOR
           OF HAVING THIS PART OF THE DISCOURSE ANNOUNCED AS HIS SPECIAL TIME.
           TONIGHT, HIS HEARTY AND INFECTIOUS LAUGHTER IS NOT HEARD....)

              Where is Sardar?! Absent? Perhaps in deep meditation....

               That old dried-up prune, Mother Teresa, invites that old rotten fruitcake, Pope the Polack, to
           come and visit her Bleeding Hearts Home for the Dead and Dying in Calcutta.
               The Polack is thrilled to receive the invitation, so he gets Cardinal Catzass to pack their bags,
           and they fly off to India.
               Their first day is spent touring Mother Teresa's Bleeding Hearts Home, blessing all the half-dead
           Christian converts.
               The next morning, the two Catholic cowboys from Rome go out into the streets of Calcutta, to
           wave at the crowds of starving Hindus. But all day long, Pope the Polack has been acting very
           strangely.
               Cardinal Catzass is worried about the old Polack and asks him, "Your Holiness, what is the
           matter?"
               "Listen," says the old fruitcake, "as soon as we get back to that Bleeding Hearts Home, the first
           thing I want to do is rip off Mother Teresa's knickers!"
           "Really?" replies the shocked cardinal. "Why do you want to do that?"
           "Because," says the pope with a groan, "they are much too tight for me!"

              "How much for a roast beef sandwich?" asks Little Feenie Finkelstein, standing in Chicken
           Chopper's Sandwich Shop.
           "Two dollars," replies Chicken Chopper, from behind the counter.
           "How much for a cheese sandwich?" asks the little Jew.
           "One dollar," replies Chicken.
              "What about a ham sandwich?" asks Feenie. But before Chicken Chopper can reply there is a
           loud clap of thunder in the sky overhead.
              Feenie Finkelstein falls to his knees, looks up at the sky and prays out loud, "Okay! Okay! -- I
           was only asking!"

               Dimmel Himmel, a nice Jewish boy from Berlin, goes to live in America to make his fortune,
           and ends up in L.A., California.
               After a few years, he comes back to Berlin to visit his old mother, Mrs. Hattie Himmel. He walks
           through the door in his stone-washed Levi jeans, alligator tennis shirt, and Reebok sneakers.
           "Oy, veh!" cries Mamma Himmel, "but where are your beautiful long whiskers?"
           "Ah, Mamma!" replies Dimmel. "Nobody wears a beard in L.A."
               "Oy, my baby!" cries Hettie Himmel. "But tell me, you have at least been keeping the Sabbath?"
               "Look, Mamma," says Himmel. "Business is business! In America, people work on the Sabbath."
           "Ah, God!" cries Mamma Himmel. "But kosher food you still eat?"
               "Listen, Mamma," replies Himmel, "I am an American now. It is very difficult to keep kosher in
           America."
               The old lady looks at her son in shock. She hesitates for a moment and then goes up to him and
           whispers, "Dimmel, my son, tell me one thing -- are you still circumcised?"

           Nivedano...
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano...

           Be silent...
           Close your eyes... and feel your body to be completely frozen.
               This is the right moment to look inwards. With your whole life energy, rush towards the center of
           your being.
           Your total consciousness is needed
           to become just an arrow,
           forcing itself deeper and deeper,
           faster and faster,
           with an urgency as if this is going to be
           your last moment on the earth.
               Without this urgency you will never be able to reach to the center of your being.

               That is the point from where you are connected with the cosmos. And that is also the point which
           transforms you into a buddha, into an awakened one. That is also the point when you learn you are
           immortal: you have been here always, and you will be here always -- whether in body or no body.

               As you are coming closer and closer to your being, a great silence descends over you, and a great
           peace arises within your being.
           The moment you reach to the very center
           you are no more,
           the buddha is.
           The only quality that buddha has
           is pure awareness
           consciousness
           witnessing.
           Witnessing is a key word for all meditators.
           Witness that you are not the body...
           Witness that you are not the mind...
           Witness that you are only a witness.

           Suddenly, great bliss arises in you
           out of nowhere
           flowers of invisible ecstasy
           start showering on you.
           You are at the very source of your life juices.

           To make the witnessing clear, Nivedano...

           Relax.
           Let go... but keep on witnessing.
                That is the only thing you have to remember -- you are a witness -- and everything else will
           happen on its own.
                I can see ten thousand buddhas utterly relaxed in their center. Gautam the Buddha Auditorium is
           changing into an ocean of consciousness, because you are all melting, dissolving your separation
           from existence.
           The ocean of consciousness is without any waves,
           without any ripples.
           It is utterly calm and quiet.

              This moment you are the most blessed people on the earth, because everybody is concerned only
           with the trivia -- money, prestige, power. Nobody seems to be concerned to know themselves, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nobody seems to be concerned to know their eternity.
                This moment, now and here, you are experiencing the most intimate, the most ultimate
           experience that is possible to man.
                This experience is going to become your Zen Fire, Zen Wind. The fire will burn everything that
           is false in you, and the wind will take away all that is only a personality.
           Out of this fire and wind
           will arise your pure gold.
                You will need to understand the transformation that happens in this moment. You have lived
           your whole life horizontally, in a line, from the cradle to the graveyard. In meditation the
           transformation happens: you are no more a horizontal line, you become vertical. You reach to the
           highest peak of your consciousness, and you reach to the deepest point of your consciousness.
           The height
           and the depth
           reveal you
           your godliness.
                There is no God, but there is certainly a quality I call godliness. It comprises compassion, love,
           friendship, joy, creativity. It brings you new songs, it brings you new dances. It brings you the truth,
           and the immersion of you into the truth.

               Collect as much experience you can collect, because you have to bring it with you. It has to
           become part of your day-to-day routine life.
               Chopping wood, you should be as silent as you are now. Drawing water from the well, you
           should be as blissful and ecstatic as you are now.
           Sitting silently, doing nothing, you should be as blissful as you are now.
               And persuade the buddha, which is your eternal nature, to come along with you.
               First, the buddha will come as a shadow to you, following you -- but even that shadow will
           bring great grace and abundance of life, great benediction you can shower all over the world. But
           this is only the beginning -- buddha as a shadow. Soon, buddha will be ahead of you, and you will
           become the shadow. That is the second step.
               And the third step... you merge into the buddha; even the shadow disappears, only buddha is,
           only pure awareness is.
           You have entered into the cosmic womb.

           Nivedano...

               Come back, but come as a buddha, with the same grace, with the same silence, with the same
           bliss.
               Sit down for a few moments just to recollect the golden path that you have followed.
           And feel -- the presence of buddha is just behind you.
               Remember -- in every activity, howsoever ordinary, the buddha is present behind you. His
           presence transforms every ordinary action into an extraordinary act. Every word becomes so rich and
           so full of poetry, so full of truth, so full of silence. Every silence is as deep as the Pacific Ocean.
           Every moment in your life you are just moving upward in consciousness, as if you are moving on the
           greatest peak of the Himalayas, the Everest.

           I teach you this Fire of Zen.
           I teach you this Wind of Zen.
               That is going to burn everything that is wrong, that is going to take away everything that is
           wrong in you and leave only the truth, the ultimate truth.
           That ultimate truth brings freedom.
           This is the only spirituality,
           the only religion.
               It is individual -- it has nothing to do with any church, with any organized religion. It has
           nothing to do with any scripture. It has to do only with your inner search and finding your authentic
           nature -- what Zen people call "the original face."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The buddha is your original face.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                  Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                  Chapter #2
                              Chapter title: Raise the temple of consciousness
           31 January 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8901315
              ShortTitle: FIRE02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 171 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THE MONK IN CHARGE OF THE MONASTERY ONCE SAID TO YAKUSAN, "I HAVE RUNG THE
              BELL; PLEASE, OSHO, IT IS TIME FOR THE REGULAR DISCOURSE."
              YAKUSAN SAID, "OKAY. YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME, HOLDING UP MY BOWL."
              THE MONK DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE MASTER'S MEANING, AND UNGAN -- WHO WAS ALSO
              PRESENT -- ASKED, "MASTER, WHEN DID YOU LOSE YOUR ARMS AND LEGS?"
              YAKUSAN SAID, "YOU ARE SIMPLY WEARING THE MONK'S HABIT."
              UNGAN REPLIED, "I AM NOT OTHER THAN THIS. WHAT ABOUT YOU, MASTER?"
              "I DON'T HAVE SUCH A FAMILY," COMMENTED YAKUSAN.
              ONCE YAKUSAN CALLED A BOY MONK TO HIM. DOGO ASKED, "WHY DO YOU CALL SUCH
              PEOPLE?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "BECAUSE OF THIS."
              DOGO ASKED, "WHY DON'T YOU THROW IT AWAY?"
              "BECAUSE I HAVE USED IT FOR A LONG TIME," REPLIED YAKUSAN.


              Friends,

              One of the sannyasins has asked a question:
              WHAT IS MISSING IN COMMUNISM?


               Zen Fire and Zen Wind -- that is what is missing in communism.
           I have to go into a deeper analysis...
               Karl Marx was an intellectual giant, but he had no idea of religiousness other than Judaism and
           Christianity. Both are religions of prayer. Both believe in God, which is a fiction. Both believe in
           things which are irrational. For example, Moses passing through the sea, and the sea giving way --
           nature makes no exceptions. And Jesus pretending to be the only begotten son of God is absolutely
           absurd to any rational man like Karl Marx.
               Jesus' miracles are mythological. He made Lazarus come out of his grave, raised him back to life
           -- and he could not do anything when he was on the cross! He could not even produce a little water
           -- he was thirsty, it was a hot day, and he was asking continuously for water. And this man has
           touched people and restored their eyes; even by touching his robe people have lost their paralysis.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He has walked on water, and this man could not fly with the cross towards God, his father? He was
           utterly helpless on the cross. That shows all those miracles are simply invented by the Christians to
           befool the world.
               Even Christian scholars are being embarrassed by all these miracles, by his virgin birth, by his
           shouting towards God on the cross, "Have you forsaken me?"
               Karl Marx was aware only of Judaism -- he was a Jew, just as Jesus was a Jew -- and he was
           aware of Christianity and all its crimes against humanity. Burning millions of women alive, forcing
           them to confess that they are having intercourse with the devil, continuous torture to any woman --
           beating, not letting her sleep, not giving her food, putting ice on her chest for hours....
               These were the people who, by chance, invented the traction machine, because they were putting
           women on a traction machine which pulled the legs from one side and the head and the arms from
           the other side. One woman was suffering from backache -- suddenly her backache disappeared.
           Now that traction machine has been transferred from the churches to the medical colleges, to
           hospitals. I know it from my personal experience!
               And when they were torturing those people on the traction machine, sometimes the legs would
           come out, sometimes the arms would be broken. Sometimes the head would be stretched so much
           that the woman would start saying, "I confess that I have been having sex with the devil." And once
           she confessed, then they told her how to describe the devil: that he has two horns, that his sexual
           machinery is forked -- all the details that she had to confess in a special court appointed by the
           pope, the grand jury. The poor woman has to accept it; otherwise they will torture her to death. So
           what is the point? She knows that confessing it means being burnt, but death seems to be more
           peaceful than this life of continuous torture.
           More people have been killed by the Christian church than by anybody else.
               Karl Marx was reacting to these two religions, which are not religions at all but fictions,
           superstitions, cults. He was not aware of Taoism, he was not aware of Lao Tzu, he was not aware of
           Gautam Buddha and Mahavira. He was not aware that there are religions in the world which don't
           believe in God, which don't believe in prayer, which don't believe in heaven and hell. Because of this
           unawareness of the whole Eastern phenomenon, he created communism as materialism, dialectical
           materialism.
               It was out of ignorance. Otherwise I have absolute trust that if he had been aware of the Eastern
           research into the interior space of man... Karl Marx was not an ordinary being, but a very
           extraordinarily intelligent person. He would have understood that Christianity and Judaism are not
           the only religions in the world.
               Buddhism has not killed a single person, and converted the whole of Asia just by simple
           dialogue, just by intellectual conversation, just by leading people into meditation.
               Karl Marx was right in his reaction against Christianity and Judaism. There is certainly no God
           as a creator. And because he denied God, as a corollary -- a logical corollary -- he denied the
           human soul. It was not his experience, it was simply a logical thing. To accept the human soul,
           which is not material, would be self-contradictory in his philosophy.
               By vocation I am a logician, and by mistake I am a mystic. But my mistake has paid me
           tremendously. Now I know that logic is just mental gymnastics.
               All the conclusions derived by Marx were based on logic, were based on thinking,
           philosophizing. He was not aware at all that there is something like meditation, that there is some
           way to go inwards.
               And the human soul, the human spirit, is not a by-product of matter. It has its own existence. The
           matter in the body seems to be alive, only because of the presence of consciousness in it. Once the
           consciousness leaves the body, the body is simply dead, a corpse.
               But because Karl Marx had no experience of meditation... And the West was not the right place
           for meditation; the whole Western mind was objective, and both Judaism and Christianity are
           objective -- their God is outside.
           There is no God outside, it is fiction.
               Karl Marx was denying fiction, not religiousness, but he thought this fiction was the only
           religiousness. Based on Karl Marx's logic, the Soviet Union -- the first communist country, the
           greatest experiment in the whole history of mankind -- has remained hollow within. There is a deep
           urge for significance, for meaning, for eternity.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A life which is just material has no meaning. You are just a machine, a robot. At birth you start
           breathing, mechanically, and at death you stop breathing. If this is the only life, between the cradle
           and the grave, then this life has no meaning. What meaning can it have?
                And then there is no good and no bad. Even killing a person you are not committing a murder,
           because it is only matter. If you kill your chair I don't think any court is going to take action against
           you, that you murdered the chair.
                In China, because they believed that women have no souls, husbands used to kill their wives. In
           China there was no law against murdering your wife, because she is just like furniture. You use it,
           and when you think it is useless, just finish with it! Find some new furniture. The same is the
           situation in Thailand. The woman has no soul and no rights; she is not human.
                But in accordance with Karl Marx, the Soviet Union was based on materialism. It was good in
           the beginning because it destroyed all the orthodox Christians and their monasteries and their monks.
           It turned the churches into hospitals, into schools, into colleges. Big monasteries -- because the
           Russian Orthodox church is one of the oldest churches, older than the Vatican, and much more
           orthodox than any other church in the world.
                You will not believe that in the name of celibacy, the Russian Orthodox church allowed men to
           cut off their genitals. Every year when Christmas came, hundreds of people would cut off their
           genitals in the name of becoming celibate. Women were not left behind: they would cut off their
           breasts. But neither by cutting off your breasts do you become celibate, nor by cutting off your
           genitals do you become celibate, because the sex center exists in the brain, not in the genitals. The
           genitals are an extension of a center in the brain.
                That's why if you start just imagining about a beautiful woman, immediately your genitals start
           moving. You are only thinking -- you can do it right now! The thought is in the mind. It is
           immediately transferred to the genitals, but it always begins in the mind. The genitals don't have any
           thinking power. They don't have eyes to see which woman is beautiful. It is your eyes which see and
           inform the brain, and then the genitals start functioning.
                If you really want celibate people, then they need a brain operation. The center of sex should be
           removed. But then you will be simply impotent -- not celibate.
                Karl Marx was right, that such religions should be finished. They are against humanity. They
           protect poverty and they protect the rich. They are against revolution, they are against any change --
           obviously, he was right to call them the opium of the people, the hope of the hopeless. If Christianity
           and Judaism were the only religions, then the Soviet Union would not have any need, any urge to
           find the inner world!
                But just think about it. You cannot have the outside world without having the inside world; they
           exist together like two sides of the coin.
                And there are scientific methods available. Zen is the most scientific method to inquire into your
           consciousness. It takes you beyond mind into a space called no-mind. No self, but pure awareness,
           and you have a taste of eternity and immortality. This is what is missing in Soviet communism.
                And the danger is that Gorbachev is opening the doors and all those Christians will immediately
           come back. All those cockroaches and rats who have been thrown out in seventy years' time will be
           the first to enter. Just this Christmas thousands and thousands of Christians entered to celebrate
           Christmas in the Soviet Union.
                Today I received the news.... One of the most idiotic cults is the cult of HARE KRISHNA,
           HARE RAMA. I have come across every kind of idiot, but these two cults, the Witnesses of Jehovah
           and this movement of HARE KRISHNA, HARE RAMA -- these are the worst idiots in the whole
           world! Now the Soviet Union has allotted them land to make a temple for Krishna.
                Now, these idiots... who are mostly American; not a single Hindu is involved in the Krishna
           movement. It is only the Americans, ex-hippies. I have even talked with their founder, Prabhupad,
           and he was such a senile idiot! But he managed to find other idiots to be followers. Now giving them
           space on Soviet land, allowing them to make a temple for Krishna, and allowing them to translate
           SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA into Russian, is bringing poison into the country.
                Gorbachev is not aware what SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA'S message is. It is war. This is the
           only religious scripture in the world which teaches war, violence, destruction. Now allowing these
           idiots to translate SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA into Russian... And on the other hand, Gorbachev
           is trying to make a peaceful world. It is contradictory.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But these people will rush in from all sides -- all kinds of cults which have no base in reality,
           which don't have any logic, which don't have any rationale, which don't have any scientific approach
           -- they will destroy the whole Soviet Union's mind. Whatever has been achieved in seventy years is
           in immense danger. Again monks will be living as parasites, because they don't work. Again these
           people -- HARE KRISHNA, HARE RAMA -- will be parasites. They don't work.
                The danger is great, because the Soviet people who are present today have no idea of the
           revolution. They are almost all born after the revolution, or when they were very small children the
           revolution happened. They don't have any memory of it.
                I don't think Gorbachev has any idea what happened in that revolution and how difficult it was to
           destroy these stupid religions, superstitions. It took tremendous labor to clean the whole of the
           Soviet land from the past, the hangover of primitive, barbarious fears, greed, possessiveness.
                Now calling these people back again, opening the doors for all kinds of diseases... And the
           Soviet people are feeling a certain hollowness within themselves. Something is missing, because
           Karl Marx cannot provide any spirituality to them. But these bogus preachers will talk about
           spirituality, and it is pure talk. They don't know anything about spirituality either, but they can
           manage to fill the vacuum in the Soviet heart with all their belief systems, with all their superstitions.
           It is going backwards, not forwards.
                I warn the Soviet people: please be careful. Whatever Gorbachev is doing, he is doing with great
           and good intentions. But he is not aware that once you open the doors, all the CIA agents and FBI
           agents, all the detectives from all over the world, will be entering into the country -- as monks, as
           priests, as bishops, as archbishops.
                Just now, a few Soviet states which have never raised their voices, are raising their voices that
           "We want independence; we want to separate from the Soviet Union."
                In one of the Soviet countries they have tried experimental elections, democratic elections. The
           Soviet Union has been a dictatorship of the proletariat -- only one party, the party of the proletariat,
           the Communist Party. So there was no question of any election. Although elections were held, there
           was only one candidate to vote for.
                Under Gorbachev's direction they have tried in one or two places to have the Communist Party's
           candidate -- which is decided by the central bureau in Kremlin -- and to allow the people of that
           state to have their own candidates. Of course, they are also communists. But it should be a warning,
           that those people of the locality have won the election against the centrally nominated candidates.
           Now nationalism is coming up. Mohammedans would like to separate -- there are a few
           Mohammedan countries in the Soviet Union. And every state which constitutes the Union is bound
           to become more and more nationalistic, which is a disease. So without knowing the consequences,
           Gorbachev is going ahead. He can spoil the whole great experiment of seventy years.
                Once the Soviet Union is destroyed, there is no hope for other communist countries either. They
           are small countries, they can be destroyed without difficulty. The Soviet Union is the central force of
           the whole of communism in the world. It has to survive!
                But the trouble is, the idiots will rush in, the vested interests will rush in. No right person, no
           Gautam Buddha is going to go there unless Gorbachev and the Soviet Union invite him. Nobody like
           that is going there. Those who will be rushing there on their own have their motivations.
                If Gorbachev really wants peace in the world at the cost of communism, that peace is not worth
           it. Communism is one of the greatest experiments in human evolution. It has laid the foundation of a
           new temple for humanity. But it has only laid the foundation; the pillars are missing, the roof is
           missing.
                That can be done only by people who are fully awakened, people whom I am calling the buddhas
           -- not Buddhists. Buddhists are as superstitious as any other organized religion. But the awakened
           people should be invited from all over the world. There are a few people still, in the same space as
           Gautam Buddha. They should be invited to teach meditation in the universities, to teach meditation
           in the colleges, to teach meditation to the public -- and meditation has nothing against communism.
                Meditation will use communism as the base, and will put the pillars and the roof on the base. The
           Soviet citizen needs something of meditative experience that will fill his hollowness. Otherwise just
           work, and death... there seems to be no meaning and significance. If you had not been born there
           would be no harm; if you die nobody is going to miss you, you will be replaced.
                Soviet citizens need dignity and individuality and a certain sense of direction into eternity. That
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is what is missing. And the danger is, before the right people can be invited, the wrong people will
           rush in and start destroying the seventy years' great experiment.
                I would prefer a third world war rather than the destruction of the Soviet Union. In the name of
           peace Gorbachev can go beyond the limits -- he is already going.
                The death of the Soviet Union will be the death of all evolution, of all possibilities of a world
           without boundaries, of a world without classes, of a world richer in every sense of the word -- not
           only money but consciousness too; not only power but art and music and dance.
                Have you ever observed? -- there is a simple phenomenon that will give you the right direction.
                Before the revolution, the Soviet Union produced people like Leo Tolstoy, Gorky, Turgenev,
           Chekhov, Dostoevsky. These five names are so great, as far as literature is concerned, that if you
           want to find ten great names in the whole world, these five will be the first five. The other five will
           be sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth. But these five cannot be dropped in any calculation, their
           creation is so great. Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative
           novelists of the world.
                But what happened? After the revolution, no Gorky, no Turgenev, no Dostoevsky, no Tolstoy --
           what happened? In these seventy years the Soviet Union has not been able to create a single person
           of that quality.
                The reason is clear. The Soviet citizen has lost his soul, has lost his consciousness, has believed
           in Karl Marx blindly, that the soul of man is only a by-product of matter. If the soul is just a
           by-product of matter, then there is no possibility of haikus, no possibility for poetry.
                I have read the poetry written before the revolution and after the revolution. In fact, after the
           revolution the poetry should have risen higher, but that is not the case.
                Before the revolution when Russia was the poorest of countries... it was not even a capitalist
           country, it was a feudal country. Karl Marx had never expected that the Soviet Union was going to
           be born out of the poorest country, the most traditional, backward in every sense. He never expected
           that it was going to become the first communist country. It was not even capitalist.
                According to Karl Marx's calculation, a feudal society cannot move directly to communism. It
           has to move through capitalism. Only capitalism creates classes clearly, the proletariat and the
           bourgeois.
                But I told you, logic is not everything. Life has its own ways. It happened in Russia. But because
           the philosophy of Karl Marx has been the foundation, it has destroyed all flowers of consciousness.
           No literature of great status... even Tolstoy's son was just a poor novelist after the revolution. And
           before the revolution, in a poor country, such great literature was born.
                It shows something. It shows that unless you have a fulfillment, a certain contentment inside you,
           you cannot share it in poetry, in music. From where will you bring it? It has to flow from you -- you
           cannot share it because you don't have it.
           The Soviet citizen is the poorest, as far as consciousness is concerned.
                But Karl Marx has given it a right foundation. That foundation is missing in the East. This has
           been the dilemma of the whole of humanity....
                In the East people have condemned the body, condemned matter, called matter "illusory," maya
           -- it does not really exist, it only appears to exist; it is made of the same stuff as dreams are made of.
           They denied the world, and that is the reason for the East remaining poor, sick, in starvation.
                Half of humanity has been accepting the inner world but denying the outer world. The other half
           of humanity has been accepting the material world and denying the inner world. Both are half, and
           no man who is half can be contented.
                You have to be whole: rich in the body, rich in science; rich in meditation, rich in consciousness.
           Only a whole person is a holy person, according to me.
                I want Zorba and Buddha to meet together. Zorba alone is hollow. His dance has not an eternal
           significance, it is momentary pleasure. Soon he will be tired of it. Unless you have inexhaustible
           sources, available to you from the cosmos itself... unless you become existential, you cannot become
           whole.
           This is my contribution to humanity: THE WHOLE PERSON.
                The East has denied the body and the outside world, and the West has denied the soul and the
           inner world; both have lived half. And just as there is no half-circle in the world... a circle means a
           complete circle. A half-circle is only an arc, it is not a circle. So the West has remained half, an arc;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the East has remained half, an arc. And a man like Lord Kipling wrote, "East is East, West is West,
           and the twain shall never meet." Just bullshit! They are meeting here, now. And unless they meet
           there is no hope for humanity.
                Russia has the foundation. It needs right pillars and a roof. What will you do with the foundation
           alone? It needs to fill its hollowness with light, with blissfulness, with ecstasy, with a new
           luminousness. Ask the awakened ones of the world to enter into Russia and teach people a scientific
           religiousness -- not Christianity, not Hinduism, not SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA or the Holy
           Bible.
                The Holy Bible has three hundred eighty-eight pages of pornography, sheer pornography. And
           SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA is a sermon by Lord Krishna of the Hindus, the perfect incarnation
           of God, in favor of war.
                A great war happened because of SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA. It happened five thousand
           years ago and it broke India's backbone. After that war, India has never risen beyond poverty,
           beyond small things. It cannot look up to the stars and the blue sky. When you are hungry....
                It will be interesting for you to know that there are biblical scholars who have been prohibited by
           the pope. The pope has said that no priests should listen to these biblical scholars -- and they are
           really the great scholars of the Bible, how it was born, how the gospels were created, what has been
           left out....
                The four gospels in the New Testament are not the only gospels. There were other gospels which
           have been denied and destroyed. Only one gospel has survived, because it was written in India. One
           of the direct disciples of Jesus, Thomas, immediately moved to India and he remained in South
           India, learned all the arts of yoga and meditation.
                And you will be surprised: he is the only person in the whole world whose body is still intact... it
           is in Goa. Every year the body is taken out and you can see it -- it is as if he has just died. And it is
           not by any scientific method that it has been preserved. Scientists have been observing it, watching it
           with amazement: two thousand years ago, how did those people manage? Because there is no sign of
           anything, and the body seems to be still flushed with blood. After two thousand years it has not
           deteriorated.
                The body usually starts deteriorating immediately; within three days it is stinking. But every year
           the body of Thomas is taken out -- this is a real miracle -- and it is the only body in the whole
           world which has been preserved and scientists cannot figure out how.
                It has been preserved by yoga and meditation, not by any scientific method from the outside.
           There was no science in those days. But Thomas became almost a sannyasin in India. He forgot all
           about Jesus and his miracles and all his teachings. He became almost a man of the East; he started
           wearing the robe of a sannyasin, the ochre robe. He started using the sannyasins' ancient sandals,
           made of wood -- it was very difficult to walk on them. He was even using the thread that Hindus
           wear around their neck and waist. He shaved his head, just like any yogi, and he was well respected.
           He was allowed into the Buddhist monasteries of Nalanda and Takshashila.
                Both these monasteries Jesus had also visited, but not for a long time. So he could not get into
           meditation. He heard about things -- which he repeats in the Bible, which are really Buddha's
           statements.
                The biblical scholars who are the authentic scholars -- and they are all Christians -- say there is
           every possibility there was no Jesus at all. It is a myth and it is simply Krishna whose name has
           become Christ.
                The Sanskrit name `Krishna' in Bengali becomes `Kristo'. If it can become Kristo, there is not
           much to do to make it Christ -- from Krishna to Kristo and from Kristo to Christ. These biblical
           scholars have found many things which are amazing. It is possible that it is a myth, traveling, that
           has created Jesus Christ.
                But Gorbachev knows nothing, and to allow SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA to be translated into
           Russian will be one of the most dangerous steps against peace.
                Five thousand years ago, the great warrior Arjuna, seeing millions of people ready to fight --
           because it was a family fight....
                Arjuna and Duryodhana were cousin-brothers. Duryodhana's father was blind -- in fact, he was
           the elder brother of the father of Arjuna. He was supposed to be the king but he was blind, so
           naturally the second oldest son, Dhritrashtra, was made king when the father died. But the older
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man, who could not get into power, was very ambitious that his son should get into power.
                He had one hundred sons, because he had many wives. And a blind man... nothing else to do! He
           knows neither day nor night, and no other work was allotted to him, so he had one hundred sons.
           And the father of Arjuna had only five sons.
                Arjuna was a great archer, perhaps the greatest the world has ever known. The whole thing
           depended on Arjuna: if he refused to fight with his own brothers... And all the relatives were divided
           between the two sides. The teacher of Arjuna, who had taught him archery, was on the other side.
           And there was every possibility that the other side would win; they were one hundred brothers and
           these were only five. But they had many relatives -- they had all come from all over the world.
                You will be surprised that Arjuna's wife had come from Mexico. In Sanskrit the name of Mexico
           is Makshika. It is from Makshika that `Mexico' is derived. So even the Mexican princes had come to
           fight for Arjuna. These five brothers had only one wife, because all five were interested in this
           woman, who was Krishna's sister. So it was a dangerous problem! All the five brothers -- and the
           eldest was Yudhishthir, second was Bhima, third was Arjuna, and then two other brothers. So
           obviously, Yudhishthir had the first right to her....
                But Arjuna was the most beautiful and the most important person in all those millions of soldiers
           who had gathered.
                It was a strange war, because on both sides there were relatives of relatives, friends -- even
           Krishna.
                When Krishna was asleep, Duryodhana, the head of the other side, and Arjuna, both approached
           him. And of course, Arjuna was Krishna's sister's husband. But Arjuna was a humble man, as all
           great men are humble. He sat by the side of Krishna's feet -- he was asleep -- and Duryodhana was
           an arch-egoist; he sat just by the side of Krishna's head. So when Krishna opened his eyes, first he
           saw Arjuna. And he asked, "For what have you come?"
                Arjuna said, "Look behind you, my cousin-brother is also present. We have both come for the
           same purpose: With whom are you going to fight in the war? The preparations are going on and we
           want you to decide on which side you are going to be."
                Krishna was a great politician, a very great politician. He said, "Because Duryodhana is older
           than you, let him decide first. I will divide: on one side I will be, and on the other side my whole
           army. You are both my friends. So let Duryodhana choose."
                Duryodhana certainly chose the army, because what to do with one man? And Krishna had the
           greatest army in the country. And Arjuna said, "That's exactly what I wanted! You be my
           charioteer."
                So on that first day of the war, both the armies are standing face to face and Krishna brings the
           chariot of Arjuna to confront the enemy. But seeing all the faces of the friends on both sides, all
           relatives in some way or other, seeing his own teacher on the other side, seeing his own
           great-granduncle, who loved Arjuna very much but was considerate of the blind man who had
           missed the kingdom which was his right... he was there. Arjuna became puzzled.
                He said, "What will I gain if I kill all these people? Just sitting on a golden throne with all these
           people dead? I don't see any point in this war. Take my chariot away from the front, I am going to
           the Himalayas to meditate. This world is not for me. If I have to kill so many people just to be here,
           it is better to renounce it."
                It was Krishna who forced him. In eighteen chapters of SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA is his
           continuous argument in favor of war. And when finally he could not convince him, at last he took the
           same step as all religions have taken: "It is God's will! You cannot go out of the war. What God has
           chosen has to happen."
                That's what the Bible says: "Don't change anything. Whatever is God's will is going to happen."
                Now if I had been in place of Arjuna, I would have said to Krishna, "That's okay. This is what
           God has chosen, I am going to the Himalayas."
                But Krishna has been respected as the incarnation of God. Not only incarnation -- Hindus have
           many incarnations of God -- Krishna is the only "perfect" incarnation. He was so powerful that the
           brahmins simply praised him. It is always power that is praised.
                A man who has captured sixteen thousand women from all over his kingdom, all the beautiful
           women... whether married, unmarried, it did not matter. His army would just catch any woman who
           was seen by Krishna, and he simply gave the indication, "Take her to the palace." He collected
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sixteen thousand women -- you cannot even remember their names! -- and he was married only to
           one woman. All these women had their children, their husbands, their old parents to take care of.
           Sixteen thousand families were destroyed by this man. And he forced Arjuna, saying, "This is God's
           will -- you have to fight! You cannot go against God's will."
                God has been used for all kinds of crimes. The war happened. It was a massacre, millions of
           people died. And the backbone of India was broken. India became so afraid of war, because from
           every family somebody was killed -- the husband, the father, the son, every family was deprived of
           somebody. The whole country was sad, and that sadness has become so deeply settled in India's
           mind that when small tribes, primitive tribes of Turks, of Mongols, of Hunas, of Moguls, of British,
           came to India, India simply gave way. They had no desire to fight.
                Whoever came was accepted without any difficulty -- small groups! Turks came with only five
           hundred people, and India was a country of thirty-three million people at that time, two thousand
           years ago. Still India simply accepted them; it was not ready to fight. It had seen the war, it had seen
           its destructiveness.
                And who was responsible for all this? Krishna was responsible for all this. To me, he is not even
           a human being, nothing to say about an incarnation of God.
                When I saw today that they are giving a place to him in the Soviet Union, making a temple for
           Krishna and allowing these hippies from America... that means all kinds of idiots and stupids and
           superstitious people will enter into the Soviet Union. This opening can be dangerous.
                Certainly the Soviet Union needs spirituality. It has materialism -- that is the base. It needs
           spirituality -- that will raise the temple of the soul. Just as you need scientists for material wealth,
           technology, you need buddhas, enlightened people, to help you become also a buddha.
                But this kind of people will not come on their own. You will have to persuade them, you will
           have to invite them. Only then they can help you. To a welcoming heart, they will pour all that they
           know.
                And Marxism will become a complete philosophy if it can be joined with Zen. That's why I say,
           "What is missing? Zen Fire, Zen Wind."
                But Christianity should be prohibited. Judaism should be prohibited. Hinduism should be
           prohibited. Islam should be prohibited. These people have been the cause of the trouble. Again you
           are falling back. Seventy years of struggle to create a new society, and then one single man who
           knows nothing of the revolution, who knows nothing of how hard it was to preserve the country
           amongst all the anti-communist countries... they were all ready, like vultures all around, to destroy
           the Soviet Union and its communism. Because if even one country becomes communist, it is
           dangerous. It is dangerous to all the capitalist countries because that fragrance will start spreading.
           The Soviet Union is a hope for humanity.
                Gorbachev should not take the responsibility of destroying the Soviet Union. But by opening it,
           he is being praised by the capitalist press, by the capitalist news media all over the world. That is
           very cunning. They are making him a great hero, and by becoming a hero he will completely forget
           the implications that will follow the opening of the doors of the Soviet Union to all and sundry, to
           Tom, and Dick, and Harry.
                It is a scientific experiment. The Soviet Union has done half the work, with great difficulty, with
           tremendous sacrifice. The new generation is not aware. I have gone to the deepest roots of the
           revolution, and I can see how much the Soviet Union has suffered to be a communist country, how
           much it has sacrificed. And it has lived in constant danger of being destroyed, but now it has come to
           a point where it is one of the biggest world powers. It should not be reduced from its power.
                It is good to be a peacemaker, and perhaps soon Gorbachev will receive a Nobel Prize....
                That is not very noble. I call it The "Ignoble" Prize, because the man who created the Nobel Prize
           -- it was his name, Nobel. But his function was -- in the first world war and before that -- that he
           was the biggest manufacturer of arms. He was supplying arms to the whole world. Every war was
           fought with his weapons, both sides would be using his arms, and through these arms he collected
           great richness.
                Then his Christian guilt came over him at the time of his death, that "I am the greatest creator of
           war material -- and all the people who have died because of my weapons... everybody who has
           died, has died because of my arms."
                In any country, anywhere, both the parties were using his weapons. He was the only person who
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was refining and refining, and making better and better war material. He became afraid of hellfire.
           He donated all his money and created a trust, so that every year, just out of the interest, Nobel Prizes
           should be given to different branches of science, art, literature, music... any contribution to
           humanity. It was simply trying to erase his guilt.
                And this Nobel Prize committee... the chairman of the committee is the King of Sweden. One of
           my sannyasins, who is a Nobel Prize winner, asked the king -- because only a Nobel Prize winner
           can nominate somebody else's name to the committee which decides to whom the Nobel Prizes
           should go. He told the King of Sweden, "What about this man?" -- and he mentioned my name. The
           king said, "Never utter that name again! My suggestion for you is, don't bring that name to the Nobel
           committee, because you will feel embarrassed. It is impossible for us to give this man a Nobel
           Prize."
                But in the same way, Leo Tolstoy was denied. Every fifty years the Nobel committee opens its
           records for the public to view. Last time when they opened their public records, the people found
           that Leo Tolstoy had been nominated for a Nobel Prize, but was denied on the grounds that he was
           not an orthodox Christian. He was a Christian, but he was not orthodox, he was very flexible. On
           these grounds -- and the question was literature, not Christianity! They did not even talk about his
           literature.
                The man has created the greatest novels in the world: ANNA KARENINA... or WAR AND
           PEACE, which is such a vast world that the man must have been the greatest mind of his century.
           But the literature was not discussed. The man who nominated him, had nominated him for a literary
           prize, for literature, but he was denied on the grounds that he was not an orthodox Christian.
                That is strange -- is this prize only for orthodox Christians? And this Nobel Prize has been used
           as a political weapon. They always give Nobel Prizes to Soviet scientists. It is tricky game, because
           the Soviet government up to now would prohibit the person from accepting this prize from the
           capitalist world, and prohibit the person from going to the Nobel Prize convention to accept the
           prize...
                Because from there, the man becomes persuaded by the capitalists. The Nobel Prize comes with
           almost two hundred thousand dollars. The man for the first time... In the Soviet Union you don't have
           private property; for the first time he sees two hundred thousand dollars, and for the first time he is
           out of the Soviet Union. He can escape and ask for refuge in any capitalist country, and he can
           release the secrets of Soviet scientists to the capitalists and gain prestige, awards, money and
           everything.
                So the Soviet government up to now has been preventing people like Sakharov and others. It was
           a very dangerous thing. If you prevent, then the scientist becomes angry with the Soviet government.
           He freaks out, he wants to accept the prize. Because he freaks out, the Soviet government has to take
           measures to prevent him from escaping out of the country.
                Even Sakharov's insistence that he would accept the Nobel Prize... immediately the Soviet
           government had to take action. He was removed as the director general of the science academy, his
           car was taken back... because nobody possesses anything, everything belongs to the nation. The
           government allots things to people. And he was reduced to being an ordinary member of the
           academy.
                But his wife, who is also a scientist, was having an operation in Paris. From Paris she managed to
           go to the Nobel Prize convention, and on behalf of her husband she accepted the Nobel Prize.
                So either the Nobel Prize is a kind of bribe to take secrets out of the Soviet Union, or it creates a
           trouble for the scientist. If the government prevents him, and if he wants to go out, then he has to be
           jailed. In some way, one scientist's life and his contribution to the Soviet Union is destroyed.
                Now the Nobel Prize has been given to politicians -- even a man like Kissinger gets a Nobel
           Prize! And what is his contribution to humanity?
                I call it the Ignoble Prize because it is full of blood, the blood of millions of people who were
           massacred by Nobel's weapons. No man of dignity should accept it.
                I told my sannyasin, "You should not have mentioned my name. I will reject the Nobel Prize if
           they give it to me. It is a bribe and nothing else, a bribe to shut people's mouths who speak against
           capitalism, a bribe to take secrets from the Soviet Union."
                Now opening the doors of the Soviet Union is really dangerous -- and I am saying it as a friend.
           The Soviet Union has done half the work; the base is completely solid. All that it needs is a few
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pillars and a roof, and the shrine for the human soul will be ready.
               The new man can come only out of the Soviet Union. But what is happening makes me
           suspicious. Soon Gorbachev will have the Nobel Prize, I predict it. He is being praised by all the
           capitalist press for the simple reason so that this praise gets into his head and he forgets all the
           implications of what he is doing that may destroy the Soviet Union.
               A seventy-year great experiment in changing the structure of the society... and they have
           succeeded! Now the second step is to change the consciousness of man. You have changed the
           structure of the society, it was an economic revolution. That's why I said yesterday that if I come to
           Soviet Union, I am bringing another revolution, a revolution which will be spiritual. That is what is
           missing: a spiritual revolution. If that revolution happens, the Soviet Union will be the pride of
           humanity.
               I see both sides of Gorbachev. He is doing good in bringing freedom, but he is also taking a risk
           -- which he will not be able to prevent once all these people enter in. Then he will have to start from
           ABC; it will take another seventy years to bring back this same situation.
               I would like him open the door for scientists, open the door for poets, open the door for mystics,
           open the door for musicians, dancers, painters. Open the door for novelists, open the door for all
           creative people, open the door for meditators -- but not for all and sundry; particularly not for any
           organized religion, and not for any stupid and idiotic ideology.
               He does not know anything about BHAGAVADGITA, and he has allowed these Hare Krishna
           people to translate it into Russian. He does not know that this is the only scripture in the whole world
           devoted completely to war. It was perfectly good for Adolf Hitler, it was perfectly good for Benito
           Mussolini. It is not good for people who want peace, for people who want this earth to drop its
           boundaries of nations, of religions. It is not good for those who want one world, one earth, one
           humanity.


              The second question is from another sannyasin. He has asked:
              WHY DO YOU NOT WANT TO ALLOW CHRISTIANITY TO ENTER THE SOVIET UNION?


               Because I love the Soviet Union, and I would not like a poisonous snake, a cobra hiding inside
           the pope, to enter the Soviet Union. He can come to India, there is no problem. He can go around in
           any capitalist country, there is no problem. But not the Soviet Union, because I consider Christianity
           to be the most criminal religion in the world.
               In seventy years they have with great difficulty been erasing the programming of Christianity
           from the Soviet mind. Now the Soviet mind at least is free of Christianity, free of God, free of
           heaven, free of hell. This is perfectly good. Don't introduce all these things again.
               But one thing certainly the Soviet Union needs, which Christianity cannot provide. That can be
           provided only by Zen.
               Zen is pure meditation. It has nothing to do with hell, heaven, God. Jesus' miracles, it has nothing
           to do with. It does not even talk about any of these things. It simply talks about the science, step by
           step, of how to enter your own inner world and see the life eternal.
               Once you have seen your life as eternity -- from eternity to eternity -- you are a totally
           different man.
               Your life becomes of great significance. Thousands of blossoms start arising in you. Your life
           becomes creative. You know that existence cares for you.
               You know that existence never creates a carbon copy, that existence always comes up with
           absolutely original faces. Nobody is dispensable. Once you are gone, your place will remain empty
           forever. This gives significance, this gives meaning, this gives you a feeling you are needed by
           existence. Without you, something will be missing; some place will remain empty and nobody else
           can fill it.
               That's why yesterday I argued against Regardie, because he wanted to be a "Rajneesh" in his next
           incarnation. Existence never repeats, and you cannot be anybody else than yourself.
               That is authentic religiousness. Every individual has his own uniqueness, and that gives him
           dignity and grace.
               I don't want Christianity or Hinduism or Mohammedanism to enter the Soviet Union because all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           these religions are of prayer. Prayer is extrovert; meditation is introvert. If you want to allow people,
           then allow the people whose religion is based on meditation, not on prayer. That should be the
           clear-cut distinction, a criterion that can be followed without any fear.
                Allow Lao Tzu, allow people of Tao, allow people of Zen, allow people who belong to Sufism,
           allow people who belong to Hassidism. These are all people who in some way or other are
           meditative.
                But Zen comes to the very highest peak -- the purest meditation, refined by centuries of mystics
           in India, mystics in China, mystics in Japan. It has moved through so much refinement, sharpening
           -- continuous sharpening -- that there is nothing else compared to it.
                What will the poor pope do in the Soviet Union? -- just kiss the land! So he can kiss in the
           Vatican, he has enough land -- eight square miles, a sovereign country. Eight square miles is not
           enough for him to kiss? Go on kissing!
                He wastes so much money in kissing different lands. He came to India and kissed the New Delhi
           airport. I was in Kathmandu -- I immediately gave a press conference and told them, "If he wanted
           to kiss cow dung, we could have sent him a parcel full of cow dung! Why waste eight million dollars
           in visiting India just to kiss the cow dung?" But cow dung gives you a taste of Hinduism....
                What has Christianity done for the whole world? It has created more poverty by preventing
           people from using birth control methods. Now birth control methods are a hundred percent effective;
           at first they were not. The pill had to be taken before you made love. Now there is another pill that
           you can take afterwards; there is no need to take it beforehand. This is far safer. And sometimes the
           pill disturbs the hormonal system of the woman, so a third pill has come into being which the man
           can take. The woman need not take anything. Now things are so simple, why go on increasing
           unnecessary population?
                And all Christian priests are insisting for more poverty, for more orphans. The reason is that they
           need more Catholics, more Christians -- from these orphans, from these poor people, they can get
           new converts. Already the Catholic church has six hundred million people in its fold; still there is no
           satisfaction. It wants more and more people, at the risk of the whole planet committing suicide! It is
           because of Christianity -- and they have influenced all the religions because it is the greatest
           religion as far as membership is concerned, the most powerful. Other religions have also followed
           the same ideas.
                Mohammed married nine wives. He was absolutely uneducated; he used to have epileptic fits and
           he married a woman just for money. The woman was forty years old and he was only twenty-six, but
           the woman was a widow and had an immense amount of money. She was the first Mohammedan!
           She turned Mohammed's epileptic fits into "trances." In his epileptic fit, he would tremble and foam
           would come out of his mouth, and he would feel so much trembling that all the blankets in the house
           could be put over him; still he was trembling. And whatever he uttered in that unconscious state, his
           wife would write.
                Khadija -- the woman, who was well educated, super-rich -- it is she who has written the
           Koran, it is not Mohammed. He could not even sign his name. And the Koran has been written over
           thirty years' time, because you have to wait for the epileptic fit to come again. Then nobody knows
           whether Khadija was writing what Mohammed was saying or she was inventing, because it is a very
           poor scripture. There is nothing much in it.
                Mohammedan friends have asked me. "Talk about the holy Koran!" They have been sending me
           copies, the latest editions, most beautifully printed. I looked into them many times, but I could not
           find a single sentence worthy to be commented upon. I can criticize, but then all the Mohammedans
           will be just ready to burn my community!
                That's what the Greek church threatened to do to me. When I was in Greece it was only for a
           four-week tourist visa. After two weeks... and I had not gone out of the house. The house was on a
           small island; it belonged to the best film producer in Greece, he was my host. It was just on a hilltop,
           a direct drop to the ocean -- a very beautiful place, a beautiful garden, and I had never gone out of
           the gate.
                But friends from all over Europe came running to Greece and the archbishop of the Greek
           Orthodox church... which is the oldest church in the world. It is the Greek church which has changed
           Christianity completely, according to itself. The archbishop threatened the president of the country,
           the prime minister of the country, and threatened me: "If the government does not deport him
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately I am going to dynamite the house and burn all the people inside -- alive." This is
           religion!
               And I have nothing to do with Greeks. There were at the most ten or twelve Greek friends, whom
           I have already corrupted, so there was no problem; they were my sannyasins. And he was threatening
           the government and saying that my stay in Greece would corrupt the morality, destroy the religion.
               I said when they deported me, to the world press representatives who had gathered at the airport
           to take my interview, "This country has the weakest religion and the weakest morality. They have
           had two thousand years to condition the mind of the country to a certain kind of morality which they
           think is virtuous, to certain superstitions that they think are religion -- and they are afraid of a tourist
           who is going to be here only two weeks more! If a religion two thousand years old can be corrupted
           by a tourist in two weeks, it is worth corrupting. It should be corrupted."
           He was threatening me: "I will organize a procession against you."
           I informed him, "I will enjoy it!" I enjoy all kinds of things....
               But the procession never came, so I asked Amrito, my ambassador in Greece -- a beautiful
           woman, used to be a model, once was chosen to be the beauty queen of Greece. I love beauty. I love
           everything that is beautiful in this world. The flowers, the faces, the stars, the moon, the ocean --
           everything. Beauty is my religion.
           I asked Amrito, "How many people here are Christians?"
           She said, "Almost ninety percent."
           And I asked her: "How many attend the church?"
           She said, "Not more than four percent!"
           I said, "Who are those four percent people?"
               She laughed, she said, "You won't believe -- they are the oldest women, ancient women, those
           whose one foot is in the grave and one foot in the church."
           I said, "How many women listen to this archbishop?"
               She counted. She went there -- only six women were listening to his thundering sermon! Of
           course he could not bring a procession of six old women, it would have been really a great circus. I
           had told my people, "When he comes, we should join the procession!"
               That old idiot wanted to burn all my people who were living with me -- just for two weeks!
           What has Christianity done for the world that you are asking me why I don't want to allow
           Christianity to enter the Soviet Union?
               I love the Soviet Union because it is a great experiment. It is a milestone in the history of man.
           Of course it is only half, but still -- half is better than nothing. The other half can be raised on top of
           it.
               What Lenin and Stalin have produced has given a good foundation for anybody to raise the
           temple of consciousness. And this temple will not belong to any religion; it will belong to all
           individuals who want to enter into initiation, who want to enter on the path.
               The buddhas don't lead you, they simply indicate the way. You have to follow your way alone,
           because nobody can go inside you. The buddhas can point to the place, but you have to go there.
           And it is good that nobody can go inside you; otherwise politicians would have reached before any
           buddha! It is your privilege, your absolute privilege and freedom -- nobody else can enter there.
               But if you go, you will start growing in a new dimension -- vertical. Just as all animals move
           horizontally... at a certain point in history some animals, according to Charles Darwin, stood up
           vertically. That's how man was born: from the horizontal animal, walking on all fours, he started
           walking on two feet, and two hands were free for the first time. These two hands have created all
           science, all technology -- the houses, the roads, the electricity, the television. Everything that you
           enjoy, everything that is needed for humanity has been created because these two hands were free.
           No animal can do these things: all four legs are engaged in walking.
               This is one revolution: the gorilla becomes man -- from horizontal to vertical.
               A similar kind of state exists inside. Your consciousness is still horizontal. Your body is vertical;
           your consciousness is still moving in time -- horizontally. The function of meditation is to turn your
           consciousness also in a vertical direction. When your body and consciousness are together, vertical,
           you are an enlightened one. The vertical consciousness knows the ultimate truth, the beauty, the
           good, the godliness of existence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The sutras:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THE MONK IN CHARGE OF THE MONASTERY ONCE SAID TO YAKUSAN, "I HAVE RUNG THE
              BELL; PLEASE, OSHO, IT IS TIME FOR THE REGULAR DISCOURSE."

                You should understand one thing about Zen as a foundation: nothing is regular. Everything is
           spontaneous. The whole emphasis is not on routine but on spontaneity. If the master feels like
           speaking, if existence wants to become through him a song, then he sings the song -- otherwise not.
           There is no question of regularity.
                Spontaneity... it has happened thousands of times that the master will come to the podium, stand
           there for a few minutes, and nothing is coming. He will bow down to the assembly and return to his
           room. This is how Zen was born....
                Buddha had never come to his morning discourse with anything in his hand. One day he came
           with a lotus flower -- so strange! People who had lived with him for years had never seen him
           carrying anything. And more strange was his silence. He just went on looking at the lotus flower.
           The minutes started becoming longer and longer and longer; one hour passed, and it seemed almost
           as if a whole life had passed. Ten thousand sannyasins waiting, watching, and Buddha is completely
           silent, looking at the lotus flower.
                Then Mahakashyapa, for the first time... He had been for twenty years a disciple of Buddha; he
           had not spoken a single word, he had not even taken initiation. He never asked Buddha to initiate
           him, he simply got initiated on his own. He shaved his head, brought yellow robes, became a monk,
           gave himself a name, sat under a tree -- the same tree where he continued to sit year after year.
           Everybody was wondering -- "This fellow is strange, he seems to be insane!" They would ask him
           something and he would simply say, "Keep quiet."
                But that day, when they were all silent, he simply started laughing out loud. Everybody looked at
           him. "What happened to this man? He has been insane for twenty years, and suddenly he has become
           sane? Or vice versa?"
                Buddha looked at him and beckoned him with his hand: "Come close to me." This was for the
           first time in twenty years that Buddha had called him. Mahakashyapa came, and Buddha told the
           assembly of the sannyasins, "What I could say in words I have said to you. What I could not say in
           words I am transferring to Mahakashyapa."
           And he gave the lotus flower to Mahakashyapa.
                This is how Zen was born. This was the beginning of the river of Zen -- no word, just
           something invisible. People just watched in awe -- what is happening? And for the first time
           Mahakashyapa touched Buddha's feet -- but did not say a single word.
                In Buddhist scriptures there is no other mention of Mahakashyapa, simply this mention. But
           Mahakashyapa is the first Zen master.
                From one master to another master, Zen has been coming down -- up to me. If Mahakashyapa is
           the beginning, I am perhaps at the very end of a long, long heritage -- twenty-five centuries,
           hundreds of masters, transferring in deep silence and meditation what cannot be said in words.
           So the monk asked Yakusan... Yakusan is a great master, without any doubt:
              "I HAVE RUNG THE BELL..."

              The bell is rung to call all the sannyasins together in the assembly hall.
              "PLEASE, OSHO, IT IS TIME FOR THE REGULAR DISCOURSE."

               He used the word `regular' wrongly. With a master things are spontaneous -- nothing is regular.
           Even when you see regularity, it is only in your conception. For the master, it is spontaneous.
               YAKUSAN SAID, "OKAY. YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME, HOLDING UP MY BOWL" --
           because I have not finished my breakfast.
               Now this was a very strange situation, going to the assembly hall... is he going to deliver the
           discourse, or eat his rice? And the monk felt a little embarrassed: "I am following him with the bowl
           of rice. What will people think of me? -- `That idiot! Why is he carrying the bowl with the rice,
           behind the master?'"
              THE MONK DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE MASTER'S MEANING, AND UNGAN -- WHO WAS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ALSO PRESENT -- ASKED, "MASTER, WHEN DID YOU LOSE YOUR ARMS AND LEGS?"

               Why are you not carrying your bowl yourself? When did you lose your arms and legs?
               Even Ungan, who finally became enlightened, could not understand the meaning.
               The meaning was that the discourse is nothing but a nourishment. It is a spiritual nourishment.
           Just as the body needs food, your spirituality needs nourishment. Carrying the bowl behind him, he
           was giving the monk an insight: "Think of all your meditations and discourses in terms of
           nourishment."
               The master is nothing but food -- food for your soul. But Ungan did not understand either. He
           thought, "What is the matter?" because every monk carries his own bowl unless he is sick, unless he
           has lost his arms in some accident. What happened? "WHEN DID YOU LOSE YOUR ARMS AND
           LEGS?"
              YAKUSAN SAID, "YOU ARE SIMPLY WEARING THE MONK'S HABIT."

               You don't know, and you cannot know. You are only wearing the monk's habit, the monk's robe,
           but you don't understand anything.
              UNGAN REPLIED, "I AM NOT OTHER THAN THIS."

              This is what I am. I am standing utterly naked before you. If you call me just the monk's habit...
           perhaps. This is what I am.
           This was coming from a deeper source, indicating THISNESS....
              Buddha's whole philosophy can be contained in the simple word `thisness' -- suchness,
           TATHATA. "This moment, this is what I am. You can call me anything you like, it does not matter."
           This was a great answer.
              UNGAN REPLIED, "I AM NOT OTHER THAN THIS. WHAT ABOUT YOU, MASTER?"
              YAKUSAN SAID: "I DON'T HAVE SUCH A FAMILY."

               Strange answer from the master....
           What does he mean that he does not have such a family? I will tell you one anecdote to have some
           feel of it.
               When al-Hillaj Mansoor, who was killed finally by the Mohammedans... just like Jesus, but in a
           far worse way. They cut him piece by piece. But this happened later on, when he became enlightened
           and declared: "Ana'l haq -- I am the truth." And Mohammedans cannot forgive anybody saying this.
           Only god is truth. Calling yourself truth, you are indirectly calling yourself God.
               But he was not calling himself God. He was simply saying, "I am the truth." And he was not
           claiming any monopoly on it. He was saying, "You are also the truth, it is just that you don't know it.
           I know it." But this came later on.
               When he first went to his master, Junnaid... it was a very sad affair. His family, his wife, his
           children, his old parents, his friends, his neighbors -- all loved the young man. He was so beautiful,
           so joyous, just his presence was a light.
               He had been visiting all kinds of masters. Finally he decided to leave the family and to go to
           Junnaid, who was residing just outside the village in the forest. Junnaid was a very famous master.
           So out of the town the family came, friends came, wife, children, neighbors, to say goodbye, to give
           him a good send-off. And he went towards the forest... but again and again he looked back. Those
           people were still standing on the boundary of the town.
               Finally, when he was entering into the forest, he looked for the last time. They were still
           standing, far away; he could not figure out who was who. And then he reached Junnaid's hut. He
           knocked on the door. Junnaid said -- from the inside; he has not seen the person yet -- he said,
           "First leave the crowd outside and come alone!"
           What crowd? He looked all around, there was no crowd. He opened the door.
               Junnaid said, "You did not follow my order! Leave the crowd outside and then come in."
               But he said, "What crowd? I don't see anybody. I looked everywhere -- there is nobody."
               He said, "You are looking outside -- look inside. The whole crowd is present. Your wife, your
           children, your family, your parents, your neighbors, your friends -- everybody is present. Just close
           your eyes: that is the crowd you have to leave outside. Get out! When you are finished with the
           crowd, come in."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It took three years for al-Hillaj Mansoor to sit outside till he was finished with the family, with
           the crowd, till he became utterly silent. He forgot completely to enter into the hut. Three years is a
           long time. He had forgotten the family, and he had also forgotten the master. There was no need
           now, he was completely fulfilled.
           Exactly at that moment Junnaid came out and said, "Come in now."
           He said, "But now there is no need."
               Junnaid said, "Only now, when there is no need, can I start my work on you. Come in and close
           the doors."
               This is the "family" that Yakusan means. He is saying, "I am absolutely alone. I am utterly silent.
           I don't have a crowd of thoughts, images, dreams in my mind. And you, standing before me,
           although you are saying, `This is what I am,' I can see the crowd inside, the family. You are not just
           this, you are that too."
               Ungan must have understood, because he did not say a single word. The master was absolutely
           correct.
               When the master is absolutely correct, the disciple simply has to bow down in silence. There is
           no question of argument -- with the master you cannot argue, and if you argue you are creating a
           distance between yourself and the master.
               Come close to the master without any argument, without any mind, without any thought, without
           any images, and suddenly there is a synchronicity -- your heart starts beating in tune with the
           master's heart.
               And the master's heart is already beating in tune with the heart of the universe. So in an indirect
           way, coming closer to the master is the first step of coming closer to existence. He is the window, the
           door. He opens into existence. He gives you the first taste of dropping the self, of dropping the
           crowd, of dropping everything and just being a pure consciousness.

              ONCE YAKUSAN CALLED A BOY MONK TO HIM. DOGO ASKED, "WHY DO YOU CALL SUCH
              PEOPLE?"

               Dogo also became, finally, enlightened. He was a brother of Ungan. Both the brothers were
           disciples of Yakusan.
              DOGO ASKED, "WHY DO YOU CALL SUCH PEOPLE?"

               Just a young boy -- how can he understand the great teachings?
           That's where the mind distracts you. The mind is interested in the scriptures, in the teachings, in the
           theology, philosophy -- in all kinds of gymnastics of words, beliefs, disbeliefs, arguments. And
           truth comes to those who are innocent. It can come more easily to a child than to a grown-up,
           because what you call growing up is nothing but gathering more rubbish. You have more knowledge,
           but nothing of knowing.
               Knowing is a totally different experience than knowledge. Knowledge is borrowed. Knowing is
           just like a man opening his eyes to the sun, and knowledge is just like a blind man writing a thesis on
           light. He can write....
               Now there are ways -- the blind man can read, the blind man can write. But a blind man writing
           about light... will it have any relevance, any truth? It will be all borrowed. It will be all rubbish. You
           can know light only with your own eyes.
               So when Yakusan called this young boy monk... Dogo was a scholar, a great knower of the
           scriptures. He said, "Why do you call such people? What will this boy understand?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "BECAUSE OF THIS."

               Because he is so young, because he is so fresh, because he knows nothing, he is available. You
           are not available. Your mind is full of thoughts, and thoughts are a China wall, thick -- they prevent
           any master from approaching your heart, your being.
               Yakusan said, "Simply because of this -- because he is so young, so fresh, so new. He knows
           nothing about anything. He is innocent."
               And the innocent has more capacity to know the truth. Those who have already become
           knowledgeable will have to drop their knowledge and become again childlike.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Unless you become childlike, innocent, you cannot know the truth. Innocence is the path that
           leads to ultimate truth.
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "BECAUSE OF THIS."
              DOGO ASKED, "WHY DON'T YOU THROW IT AWAY?"

               He was still not understanding the master. That is the difficulty with so-called scholars,
           professors, knowledgeable people. He did not hear what the master has said; on the contrary, he is
           saying, "Why don't you throw it away? This kind of boy is not going to become a buddha."
               Yakusan replied, "BECAUSE I HAVE USED IT FOR A LONG TIME. I cannot throw him
           away, because I have used innocence as a path towards enlightenment my whole life." A beautiful
           anecdote....
               Meditation makes you innocent, it makes you childlike. In that state, miracles are possible. That
           state is pure magic. A great transformation happens -- in innocence you transcend the mind, and to
           transcend the mind is to become the awakened one, the enlightened one.
               This is the only revolution, real revolution: the great rebellion that happens within you. This is
           what the Soviet Union needs today.

           Basho wrote:
              LONELY IS MY WAY!
              NO ONE PASSES HERE BUT I,
              LATE THIS AUTUMN DAY.


               Just visualize the late autumn day: soon the sunset, soon there will be multi-colors, psychedelic
           colors, on the horizon -- a beautiful autumn day. No one passes here but I.
               He is talking about his inside. "No one passes here but I -- lonely is my way." Lonely is
           everybody's way. The master can only indicate, can point his finger to the moon, but you should look
           at the moon, not at the finger. If you look at the finger, you miss the moon; you miss the master, his
           indication.
               And that's what has happened to all so-called religions. They are holding fingers: somebody the
           finger of Jesus, somebody the finger of Krishna, somebody the finger of Mohammed. Nobody is
           looking at the moon. And because these people themselves don't understand, they are very joyful --
           "My finger is being caught by six hundred million Catholics!" The pope is immensely happy: "Six
           hundred million Catholics holding my finger?"
           But the question is not the finger; the question is the moon.
               And the path is alone. It is the moon within you. The master can indicate....
               I am doing it every day, indicating where to go, how to go, how much energy is needed to reach
           there, what kind of experiences will be happening on the path and what kind of experiences will be
           happening when you have reached to the center of your being. I can only indicate, but you have to
           go. If you don't go, I am helpless.


              Maneesha has asked a question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              NEITHER COMMUNISM NOR ZEN HAVE A GOD AS A CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS ON WHICH A
              BELIEF SYSTEM IS BASED. DOES THIS IMPLY THAT RUSSIA MIGHT HAVE A GREATER
              AFFINITY WITH ZEN THAN THE WEST HAS?


               Certainly, Maneesha. The Soviet Union will be more capable and receptive because it has
           dropped all gods and all the superstitions surrounding God. It has dropped all consolations, all
           opium. It has dropped all that has been forced on man for millennia.
               The Soviet Union is almost in a state of innocence. But the danger is that this innocence can be
           exploited if the Soviet leaders are not conscious about it, that there is an innocent mind which has
           been created in seventy years and this can be exploited by organized religions very easily.
               Keep the organized religions out! The Soviet Union needs a totally different kind of
           religiousness which these organized religions cannot supply -- they don't have it themselves. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Soviet Union needs a contemporary man -- with no past, absolutely present, now and here -- who
           can help this innocence to blossom into blue lotuses.
               The Soviet Union has much more possibility than the capitalist West. In fact, the capitalist
           countries of the West used to call the Soviet Union "the East," although it is not the East. But they
           include it in the East; they don't consider it to be a Western country.
               Perhaps it is a good sign! Unconsciously they have called it the East. It can really become the
           East, and far better than the East is, because the East is poor. The East has the roof, but it does not
           have the pillars, it does not have the foundation. Under the roof people are being crushed, dying of
           starvation. It knows the inner world but it has no idea that the outer world is not unreal; it is as real
           as the inner.
               Both are real, both are existential, and both need to have a synchronicity, a harmony between
           matter and spirit, between that which can be seen and that which cannot be seen. A deep accord is
           needed.
               Yes, Maneesha, the Soviet Union has much more vulnerability, much more receptivity than the
           capitalist West. The capitalist West is too much in the mind, too much in the thinking. The Western
           part of the world still follows people like Aristotle and Socrates -- great giants, but confined only to
           the refinement of the mind. Socrates and his dialogues are beautiful, the highest that mind can reach.
           And Aristotle is the father of Western logic. All the philosophers of the West, from ancient Greece to
           Germany... Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach... to the contemporary world -- Sartre, Jaspers, Marcel, Soren
           Kierkegaard, Bertrand Russell, Whitehead, G.E. Moore -- they are all in the same line of
           intellectual giants. But they don't know anything about meditation, and they will argue against
           meditation. They will say there is nothing beyond the mind -- and without experimenting!
               A strange thing I remember... In Greece, traditionally it was believed that women don't have the
           same number of teeth as men. Obviously, the reason is that the woman should be in every way
           second-rate to man. How can she have the same number of teeth as man?
               Aristotle had two wives, not one -- he could have asked wife number one, or number two, "Just
           let me count your teeth." Or while they were asleep, he could have counted their teeth. And most
           women are continuously talking, and they don't have a moustache like me. You cannot count my
           teeth. Even just when they were talking he could have managed to count, but he depended on his
           logic that certainly women are a lower category than men -- just a male chauvinist idea. In his book
           of logic, he writes that "Women have fewer teeth than men."
           Logic is non-experimental.
               Science is experimental, and Zen -- which is the science of the inner -- is also experimental.
           Just the inner experiment is called "experience," and the outer experience is called "experiment."
               But unless you experience and experiment with the inner, you don't have any right to deny that
           there is anything beyond the mind. Have you gone beyond the mind? Have you reached beyond the
           mind, just trying to find out whether there is something beyond the mind? No one -- neither Russell
           nor Soren Kierkegaard nor Martin Heidegger -- nobody has tried to reach beyond the mind.
               Martin Heidegger has written a book on Zen, but that book is also just intellectual. And you can
           see that the man was not a meditator, because he was a follower of Adolf Hitler. That was a great
           intellectual giant of Germany, and still he followed a madman, a crackpot, Adolf Hitler. That shows
           the level of his insight, that he knows nothing about the inner. No man of meditation will follow
           Adolf Hitler.
               That's why I said, by vocation I am a logician, by mistake I am a mystic. Because to be sane in an
           insane world is very difficult and hard. That's why I call it a mistake.
               But I would love you to commit the mistake. I love to corrupt people! Their morality, their
           religion... anything you give me and I will corrupt it! Corruption is my business.

               It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh. Now he has come back, with his rainbow turban. Where is
           he sitting...?

           (OSHO LOCATES SARDARJI BY HIS UNMISTAKEABLE                                        LAUGHTER,       AND
           ACKNOWLEDGES HIS RETURN WITH A SMILE.)

              There is a job opening at the local zoo for two men to clean out the gorilla cages. Paddy and
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Seamus go directly from the pub to apply.
              "Before I give you lads the job," says Duckworth Bird, the head keeper, "I want to ask you a few
           questions."
           "Okay," says Paddy, "I am ready!"
              "The first question," says Duckworth. "What bird does not build its own nest?"
           "That's easy," says Seamus. "It is a canary. He lives in a cage."
              "That's not it, you idiot," says Paddy, digging Seamus in the ribs with his elbow. "It's a cuckoo!"
           "Very good, Paddy," says Duckworth Bird. "How did you know?"
           "Ah!" replies Paddy, "everybody knows that a cuckoo lives in a clock!"

               Hamish MacTavish and Sandy MacPherson go mountaineering in the Swiss Alps. Suddenly,
           Hamish loses his footing, slips and falls off a cliff into a deep crevasse.
               Sandy MacPherson pokes his head over the cliff and just sees the fingertips of his Scottish friend
           clinging to a rock.
           "Are you all right, Hamish?" shouts Sandy.
               "Not exactly," gasps Hamish. "But if you run down to the village ten miles back, and get some
           rope, I will try to hang on until you get back. But hurry, for God's sake!"
           Sandy MacPherson goes running off down the mountainside.
           An hour later, his face suddenly reappears over the edge of the precipice.
           "Are you still there, Hamish?" he shouts.
               "Jeezus Christ! Just barely!" shouts back Hamish, hanging on by one hand. "Have you got the
           rope?"
               "Ah!" replies MacPherson, "No! Those tight Swiss bastards wanted two francs for it!"

               Old Father Fumble is invited to the local high school for its graduation ceremonies. But he is
           shocked and scandalized by some of the latest fashion outfits worn by the girls.
               "Look at that youngster!" cries Fumble to the person next to him -- "the one with the orange
           hair, the cigarette, and the purple pants. Is it a boy or a girl?"
           "A girl!" snaps his companion. "And by the way, she is my daughter."
               "I am sorry, sir," says the flustered Fumble. "Do forgive me -- I would never had said anything
           had I known you were her father."
           "I'm not, you idiot!" says the other. "I am her mother!"

           Nivedano...
           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano...

           Be silent.
           Close your eyes.
           Feel your body to be completely frozen.
              This is the right moment to look inwards. Gather your whole life energy and rush towards the
           center of your being -- with total consciousness, with an urgency as if this is going to be your last
           moment on the earth. Without this urgency you will never reach to the center.
           Faster and faster... deeper and deeper.

               As you start coming closer to your center, a great silence descends over you.
               The closer you are... you find fountains of peace and serenity surrounding you. As you reach to
           the very center, for the first time you know who you are -- the buddha.

               The buddha simply means the awakened one -- it has nothing to do with Gautam Buddha. He
           was one of the buddhas among thousands of buddhas... of course the most well-known buddha. But
           his name was not Buddha, his name was Gautam Siddharth. Buddha was his awakening.
               The same awakening, the same silence you are in... the same blossoming of your center into a
           lotus flower. You must have seen Gautam Buddha's statues sitting on a lotus flower....
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This moment, Gautam the Buddha Auditorium is full of ten thousand buddhas.

               You have to remember only one quality. Buddha consists only of one quality: witnessing. Just
           being a witness -- without any judgment, without any identification; just watching as if you are only
           a mirror.
           Witness that you are not the body.
           Witness that you are not the mind.
           Witness that you are only a witness. Just pure consciousness....
               And suddenly you come in touch with your eternal life, with your immortal being. Suddenly you
           have come very close to the heartbeat of the cosmos. Your being a buddha is the door to the cosmos.

           To make this witnessing more clear, Nivedano...

           Relax...
              Let go of the body, but keep remembering one thing: that you are a buddha. And the buddha has
           only one quality; he is made up of only one thing -- that is witnessing.
           The whole religious experience
           can be reduced to a single word:
           witnessing.
              And as you get deeper into witnessing, you start melting like ice into the ocean; the Buddha
           Auditorium suddenly turns into an ocean of pure consciousness without any ripples, without any
           waves -- just so utterly silent.

              Flowers from the beyond start raining on you in celebration of your achievement. This moment
           you are the most blessed people on the earth.
              The evening was beautiful on its own. But in coming closer to your ultimate nature, buddhahood,
           you have made it a splendor, a miracle, a magical moment.

           Just gather all the flowers
           and the fragrances
           and the juices of life.
           You have to bring them with you.
           And don't forget
           to persuade the buddha
           to come along.
               First he will come, slowly slowly, as a shadow to you. He has been hiding at the center for
           millions of years. You have to bring him back from the center to the circumference of your life.
           First he will be just behind you as a shadow.
               In the second step, you will be behind him as a shadow. In the third step, you will merge into the
           buddha -- and the buddha is pure consciousness; hence it casts no shadow. It is absolutely
           transparent.
               The moment you become a buddha in your day-to-day existence -- chopping wood, carrying
           water from the well -- that day will be the greatest day in your life.

           The day of awakening... the day of being reborn as a buddha.
           In this very moment you are so close to it.

              Persuade him to come along with you. He is your ultimate nature, so he cannot deny your
           request. Welcome him.

           Nivedano...

              Come back, but come back with great peace, silence, tranquility, serenity. Come back as a
           buddha, with all grace.
              Sit for a few seconds just to remember where you have been, what golden path you have
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           followed.
           Remember who is behind you -- the buddha.
           He has to come in front of you.
           These are the three steps of Zen:
           First the buddha comes behind you as a shadow.
           Second, he comes in front of you; you become the shadow.
               Third, the shadow disappears into the buddha. Only a transparent consciousness remains which is
           eternal -- absolute freedom, love, compassion, beauty, godliness.
           This I call the Zen Fire and the Zen Wind.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                  Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                   Chapter #3
                                  Chapter title: This I call Zen Fire, Zen Wind
           1 February 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8902015
              ShortTitle: FIRE03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 200 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THE MONK, SOMPU, WAS ONCE WASHING A BUDDHA STATUE. YAKUSAN CAME AND ASKED
              HIM, "NOW YOU ARE WASHING THIS, BUT CAN YOU WASH THAT?"
              SOMPU REPLIED, "PLEASE GET THAT AND BRING IT TO ME."
              THE MASTER DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING.
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, WHEN YAKUSAN WAS SITTING DOWN, A MONK CAME UP TO HIM
              AND SAID, "OSHO, YOU ARE SITTING SILENTLY. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "I'M THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE."
              THE MONK SAID, "HOW DO YOU THINK THE UNTHINKABLE?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "NON-THINKING."
              WHEN YAKUSAN WAS ABOUT TO DIE, HE YELLED OUT, "THE HALL IS FALLING DOWN! THE
              HALL IS FALLING DOWN!"
              THE MONKS BROUGHT VARIOUS THINGS AND BEGAN TO PROP IT UP. YAKUSAN THREW UP
              HIS HANDS AND SAID, "NO ONE OF YOU UNDERSTOOD WHAT I MEANT!"


              Friends,

              One of the sannyasins has asked:
              WHY DOES COMMUNISM NEED A DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT? WHY NOT
              DEMOCRACY?


               In a democracy you cannot change the status quo, you cannot change the class-divided society
           into a classless society.
               The dictatorship of the proletariat is not an ordinary dictatorship of an Adolf Hitler or Benito
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mussolini. It is a dictatorship of the poor, the have-nots. Unless the have-nots have the power, they
           cannot stop the exploitation by the rich.
               In a democracy it is almost impossible for the poor to have the power for the simple reason that
           the rich people have enough money to fight elections, enough money even to buy the poor and their
           votes, enough money to buy the politicians. It is impossible in a democracy for the poor to have
           power, and without power there is no possibility of changing the society. Hence, Karl Marx
           proposed the idea of a dictatorship of the proletariat.
               Karl Marx was not a practical man. He was a great thinker, a great dreamer, a great utopian; in
           short, he was a stargazer. He spent his whole life in the library of the British Museum. Before the
           museum would open he was standing at the door, and it was with difficulty that the museum staff
           would force him out, physically, when the museum was closing.
               It happened many times that without eating, without drinking... he was so deeply concentrated in
           finding the root causes of poverty and how to destroy it, looking into different sources, all the
           possible literature that might give some clue, that the museum staff had to call the ambulance from
           the hospital, because he would faint on his table. He would become unconscious -- no food, no
           water, just working out the whole plan for a utopia.
               Communism is his great contribution to the world. But it has come out of a thinker's mind,
           dreamer's mind, and practical life is totally different from logic. His whole idea was that soon the
           poor would become poorer and the rich would become richer -- it seems perfectly logical -- and
           the middle class would disperse. A few would rise up and become richer, and more would fall down
           and become poor. When the society is absolutely divided between the proletariat, the have-nots, and
           the bourgeois, the haves....
               Obviously the bourgeois cannot be in the majority, because there is tremendous competition;
           every rich man is trying to pull down other rich men by the legs. Everybody is trying to climb the
           ladder higher than the others. So those who reach the highest point of being super-rich are going to
           be, obviously, a minority. The poor will be the majority, and because they don't have anything... Karl
           Marx's great work, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, ends with the line: "Proletariat of the world
           unite. You don't have anything to lose except your chains, and you have the whole world to gain, the
           whole power, the whole society in your hands."
               This is how logic functions, but life does not agree with it. He completely forgot the
           implications. He was thinking that the first country to become a communist country would be
           America, but America seems to be going perfectly well. There is no question at all of America
           becoming a communist country unless it is invaded and forced to become communist. From its inner
           sources, it is not going to become a communist country for a simple reason: the middle class has not
           disappeared and is not going to disappear.
               That was completely overlooked by Marx. He thought that a few people would become richer,
           more ambitious, more competitive, more efficient. The others would fall down and become poorer.
           But he forgot the other side of the coin: that a few rich people will go bankrupt and become middle
           class, and a few poor people will start struggling and fighting and will join the middle class, so the
           middle class is not going to disappear. And it has not disappeared.
               And the middle class is absolutely against any revolution, for the simple reason that they have
           much to lose. In revolution there is going to be chaos. And the middle class is not going to share its
           possessions with the millions of poor people.
               Marx also forgot completely -- that shows how just thinking is not enough; a practical,
           down-to-earth approach is needed to change the society -- he forgot completely that even the poor
           may not be complete have-nots. The American poor may not have a Rolls Royce, but he has a
           Chevrolet, he has a house, he has a wife, he has children. His children are his ambitions, he is
           teaching them and they will become richer. But even the poor man has a car, a house, and he is
           afraid that in the sharing of wealth he may lose his car, his house. The proletariat has not turned out
           completely to be have-nots, so they are not ready for any revolution. Yes, they are ready for more
           and more facilities for the poor, but they are not going to be for the revolution.
               America has the poorest and smallest Communist Party in the world, which has no power at all.

              It happened in the Soviet Union: after the revolution a journalist was asking a poor man, "Are
           you really a communist?" He said, "Yes, I am a communist." The journalist asked, "If you had two
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cars, would you give one to your neighbor?" He said, "Of course."
               "If you had two horses, would you give one to your neighbors?" He said, "Of course."
               "If you had two cows, would you give one cow to your poor neighbors?" He said, "Yes."
               And the journalist finally asked, "If you have two hens, are you going to give one hen to your
           neighbors?" He said, "No!"
           The journalist said, "But this is absolutely illogical."
               The man said, "It is not illogical. I have two hens -- I don't have two cars, I don't have two
           houses, I don't have two horses, two cows. That which I don't have, who cares? -- I can give. But
           two hens I have got, and I'm not going to give them!"
           When you have something, then the problem arises.
               So according to Marx nobody is really a have-not in America; hence there is no possibility of a
           communist revolution.
               In Russia it was a miracle, because it was not even a capitalist country. And that was the idea of
           Karl Marx, that communist revolution can happen only in a capitalist country where there will be
           poor people in the majority, and rich people in the minority. The poor can overthrow the rich very
           easily, there is no question of much violence or any trouble.
               Russia was not even a capitalist country. It was a feudal country, far more backward than a
           capitalist country. There were no poor, no proletariat, no labor unions. And there was not a class of
           rich people; there were just a few -- the emperor, the czar, a small aristocracy. They were not
           owners of factories, they were owners of land, and on their land they had slaves to do the work.
               Now a slave is taken care of by the landlord because unless he is strong enough, he will not be
           able to work on the land. The slave is not a machine, so he has to be given good food, good clothes...
           in winter he has to be given warmer clothes. So the slaves were not have-nots; in fact, they were
           enjoying everything. The aristocrats had to keep them in good health -- medical facilities, good
           clothes, houses which are healthy and hygienic, because unless those slaves are powerful and strong
           they will not be able to work the vast lands, thousands of acres. Miles and miles of land one
           aristocrat would have, and thousands of slaves. It was a totally different situation.
               Marx never thought about a Soviet Russia. He never thought that Russia was going to become a
           communist country. That's how theorization fails. Life takes its own course; it does not follow your
           logic, your philosophy.
               In Russia the revolution happened. It was not a communist revolution in fact, because it was not
           a fight between the have-nots and the haves.
               It happened during the first world war. The czar was not equipped well enough to fight Germany.
           Neither were the communists ready to fight in Russia -- a small group of thinkers, they were not
           hoping that there was going to be a revolution there. Even capitalism had not come, which was going
           to produce the haves and have-nots, so it was very far away.
               Even Lenin, who was to become the head of the first communist country in the world, was in
           Germany -- because in Germany the emperor had relaxed the power and given it to the people. It
           was becoming a democracy, and the Communist Party in Germany was the biggest party so there
           was every chance it would come into power. Lenin was there to direct them.
               But instead of the Communist Party -- which it was logical to conclude would succeed --
           Adolf Hitler came in between. And Adolf Hitler was neither a thinker nor a philosopher. He was
           absolutely a fanatic, insane man, and his party, the Nazi Party, began with only nineteen soldiers.
           These soldiers had been found to be unfit for the army, so they were unemployed and they wanted to
           do something. Adolf Hitler himself was thrown out of the army because he was psychologically
           unfit.
               These nineteen people gathered together in a small hotel and created the Nazi Party of Germany,
           with Adolf Hitler as the leader. Because he was a fanatic, he was very emphatic about everything he
           said. And his strategy was very strange -- because he had not a great following, he created a new
           strategy. It looks absurd, but it worked.
               His whole strategy was not to bother about gathering more and more people, gathering
           membership for the Nazi Party; he knew that was not going to happen. He had no philosophy to
           offer, no program for the future -- why should they join his party? So he started disturbing the
           communist meetings. Those nineteen people -- they were all soldiers -- would sit in the communist
           meetings in separate places, and whenever the communist leader would start speaking, they would
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           create trouble. They would start beating people, whoever was by their side; it was not a question of
           whom. Just nineteen people would disturb a meeting of ten thousand people or twenty thousand
           people. And when there are beatings going on, you cannot speak. They were throwing stones at the
           speaker, they were hitting the audience.
               Slowly slowly, it became clear that you are safe only in Adolf Hitler's meetings; you are not safe
           in any other meeting. When Adolf Hitler would speak, obviously, those nineteen people were
           standing around the crowd watching that nobody creates any mischief.
               People went to hear Adolf Hitler just because that was the only safe meeting. You could come
           home alive! This is how Adolf Hitler came to power, because he disturbed all meetings of the
           communists, which was the greatest party and was logically bound to succeed -- but could not
           succeed because it could not approach the masses. Communist leaders would call a meeting and
           nobody would come.
               Only Adolf Hitler was listened to all over the country, and slowly slowly he started gathering
           followers because he seemed to be the only savior. All others had left the area. And nobody knew his
           strategy; it became known only after Adolf Hitler wrote in his autobiography about how he came
           into power. Just those nineteen people managed to do the work.
               The first thing was to disturb everybody's meeting. And there was no propaganda from anybody
           else -- if the Communist Party was putting up posters, those nineteen people were removing the
           posters in the night. In the morning people would see only Adolf Hitler's posters; every other poster
           was removed. They would never know that there were any other posters.
               A very strange strategy, but he succeeded the emperor. The emperor had to leave his monarchy
           because in the first world war Germany was defeated badly, and the whole blame went to the
           emperor because he was not adequate to create enthusiasm in the people to fight for their country.
           Because of the defeat of Germany in the first world war, the emperor had to leave it in the hands of
           democracy.
               At the same time the Russian armies, who were fighting with Germany, became very frustrated
           with the czar, because the czar had a very primitive army, absolutely out-of-date. No proper clothes
           in the falling snow, no proper boots, no leather coats, not enough guns, not enough food either. So
           the Russian armies became so frustrated that they turned against the czar.
               At that moment, Lenin immediately rushed from Germany to Russia. Soldiers are soldiers; they
           are not leaders of men. Lenin was a great organizer; he immediately organized the soldiers and
           became the head of the revolt against the czar. It was the birth of the Soviet Union, not out of the
           fight between the proletariat and the bourgeois, but out of the fight between the czar and his own
           army. The army was angry, frustrated -- "We have been thrown into a war for which we are not
           ready. We are being killed unnecessarily." And Lenin provoked them.
               He was a very good organizer. He organized the army and now the czar was left alone. Nineteen
           persons of the czar's family -- even a six-month-old baby -- were immediately murdered. If his own
           armies are against him, how can he remain in power?
               Lenin was a good organizer. But if he had remained in power, perhaps communism would not
           have been possible. He was a man of great compassion and love. He was a communist out of
           compassion and love; he wanted the poor to disappear from the earth. But he was not perfectly clear.
           When the power comes into your hands, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to
           destroy poverty?
               We have seen it in India. This is a very difficult problem, very complex problem. After forty-two
           years of freedom, India is in a worse position than it was under slavery. More poor people, more
           poverty, more population, and problems have doubled. Prices have gone up twenty, thirty, fifty times
           more, and the salaries have remained almost the same. The poor have become immensely poor and
           are on the verge of starving to death. What happened? These great revolutionaries who were fighting
           against the British Empire had no program.
               My whole family was involved in the freedom struggle. My uncles lost their whole lives; one of
           my uncles was in his graduation class in the university and he was caught and jailed. And once a
           person was jailed under the British Empire, he was never again allowed to enter any university or
           college. Another uncle, who had just passed matriculation, was caught in the freedom struggle and
           after he was released, could not go back to any educational institution. Both the uncles lost their
           careers and the family suffered immensely.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Even in my very childhood, I remember I used to ask my father, "I can understand that you are
           against the British Empire. This is freedom from. But what are you going to do when you have got
           the freedom -- freedom for what?"
                And he would shrug his shoulders. He would say to me, "The leaders know." But the leaders
           were as much unaware....
                You may have sometimes seen a dog who runs after a car, barking, and with great speed. And if
           the man in the car stops, the dog looks all around, embarrassed -- "What to do now?" -- miles of
           unnecessary running and barking. And that happens to all revolutionaries. Miles of trouble! Fighting,
           murder, being killed, jailed, and when they get into power they look just like the dog, embarrassed.
           "What to do now?"
                India has been in the hands of the revolutionaries, but they could not do anything. In fact, a
           revolutionary is not the right person to be in power. But this is a very difficult problem. Because the
           revolutionary wins the freedom, naturally he comes into power. But he knows only how to revolt, he
           does not know how to consolidate a society. He does not know anything of the economics, of the
           finances, of the people's psychology.
                He can provoke people to fight, to destroy the empire, to destroy all kinds of slavery. He is a
           good orator, influential; he has an impressive personality, charisma, but when he comes into power
           he looks just like the dog, embarrassed: "Now whom to provoke?" He is in power, and his whole life
           has been just a life of provocation, revolt. He has never learned anything about how to rule.
                But in Russia the miracle happened. All the great revolutionaries in Russia... Lenin was the main
           one, but he had no charisma. He was an organizer behind the scenes, he had no personality which
           you can call impressive. In fact he had a very deep inferiority complex for a strange reason. His legs
           were very small in comparison to his upper body. His legs never reached to the earth while he was
           sitting on a chair, they were just dangling. This was his immense inferiority complex. So only behind
           the scenes... He could organize, manage, give whole programs for how to do things, but he was not a
           charismatic man.
                But he had at his right hand a really charismatic philosopher, thinker, dreamer, and a great orator,
           Trotsky. So Lenin was behind the scenes organizing, and Trotsky was the great revolutionary orator,
           very impressive personality, to provoke people. But he was only a good orator. A charismatic
           personality is not needed when you come into power. What are you going to do with your charisma?
           There is no public, no speech, no oratory....
                It was a strange coincidence that a man who was not in the forefront of the revolutionaries,
           Joseph Stalin... he was just the general secretary of the party, which was a position of no importance.
           Sitting in his secretariat's room, he was working on the files and membership, and this and that,
           correspondence, letters. The public had no idea of Joseph Stalin.
                Stalin was not his real name. In Russian, Stalin means "a man of steel." This man was absolutely
           practical. He had no philosophical bent of the mind. Not a theoretician, he had nothing to do with
           any philosophical background; he looked to the reality and faced it brutally.
                He kept Lenin under the influence of poison, because he was the head, and so that after the
           revolution Lenin could not really come into power. He was suffering under continuous poisoning,
           slow poisoning. It took two years for him to die. And Joseph Stalin was behind the poisoning, he was
           keeping his own doctor to look after Lenin. Lenin's wife, Krupskaya, wrote in her autobiography, "I
           am absolutely certain that my husband has been killed by poisoning, because he never became as
           healthy as he had always been." For two years he was continuously sick, and the doctor was treating
           him, and his treatment was making him sicker and sicker. And Stalin was absolutely adamant not to
           bring in any other doctor.
                Just keeping Lenin sick, Stalin became more and more powerful. In the name of Lenin, who was
           almost in a coma, he started ordering a mass murder of all the revolutionaries -- Kamenev,
           Zinovyev, Trotsky, all the great revolutionaries who had come into power.
                Trotsky was the defense minister. Nine revolutionaries... eight simply disappeared, nobody
           knows to where. Stalin killed them quickly. He was a very quick man. Seeing the situation... as the
           defense minister, Trotsky had all the power over the army. But he was just a revolutionary; he had
           no idea what to do with the army. He escaped from Russia, but Stalin was not a man to take any risk.
           His murderer, a paid murderer, followed Trotsky.
                Trotsky was staying in Mexico, hiding, and was writing the biography of Joseph Stalin to make
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clear to the world that this man had killed all the revolutionaries and taken over all the power. As he
           was finishing the biography of Stalin -- it is a big book, perhaps one thousand pages of very
           detailed description of each murder, how it happened, how the person was removed in the middle of
           the night -- just the last page he was finishing, when he was killed with an axe. Behind him was
           standing the murderer. As he finished the paragraph, the last paragraph, an axe cut his head in two
           parts. The last page is full of blood.
                It looks very cruel, inhuman. But it was Joseph Stalin who managed the Soviet Union, because it
           was confronting on enemies two sides. Enemies from within... the Russian Orthodox Church, the
           intellectuals, the people who did not want to share their property -- even the poor masses. As I told
           you, a man who has only two hens will not share -- that's all he has. The masses are the greatest
           enemy of their own welfare. So you will be surprised to know that one million Russians were killed
           by Joseph Stalin, and these were not the rich people. These were the poor people who were adamant,
           stubborn.
                Without Joseph Stalin, communism would not have succeeded -- although it succeeded out of
           violence, murder, massacre. First he had to finish all the enemies inside the country, and then he had
           to make an iron wall around the Soviet Union, because the whole world was against him. All the
           capitalist countries were against him, against communism, because if communism succeeds in one
           country it is going to succeed in every country. It is better to kill it in the beginning, because soon it
           will be gaining more and more strength and it will become impossible to stop it.
                The whole credit for protecting the Soviet Union and communism goes to Joseph Stalin. But of
           course he had to use murder, no trials in the courts, no wastage of time. He had not much time to
           waste in fighting in the courts. Simply finishing people immediately, just on a suspicion....
                It used to be said, and is still said in every capitalist country, that "You cannot kill one innocent
           man, even if you have to leave ninety-nine criminals just to save one innocent man." Joseph Stalin
           turned the whole thing upside down. He said, "You cannot leave one criminal, even if you have to
           kill ninety-nine innocent men."
                So it is not a question of individuals, it is not a question of innocence, it is a question of saving
           communism at any cost.
                Although he is the architect of Soviet Union, his successors started condemning him for his
           dictatorial methods -- murder, massacre, mass massacre. But the successors don't know that they
           would not have been here if Stalin had not done the dirty work for them.
                You will be surprised to know that he was buried by the side of Lenin's grave in Red Square near
           the Kremlin, because he was the man second to Lenin. His successors dragged his body from Red
           Square, and sent it back to the Caucasus from where he had come -- a mountainous country,
           primitive, tribal, so nobody can even go there to see his grave.
                I can understand the successors. Khrushchev was giving his first talk when he became head of
           the Soviet Union after Stalin. And he had been a colleague to Stalin for almost his whole life. In his
           first speech he exposed Stalin, and he said, "He was the greatest murderer humanity has known."
                Now the question of communism became secondary. His murders... which were not his personal
           grudge against anybody; he was simply trying to save one of the greatest experiments in human
           history, and there was no other way to do it. So I know it is evil, but there was no alternative. When
           there is no alternative you have to choose the evil.
                Khrushchev, addressing the Communist Party, said, "Stalin was the greatest murderer, and I am
           going to remove his grave from Red Square. He should not be given any respect. And I am going to
           burn all his books."
                One man from the back, sitting in the dark, said, "You have been with him your whole life. Why
           did you not say it before?"
                There was utter silence for a moment. Then Khrushchev said, "Comrade, whoever has said it,
           please stand up." Nobody stood. Khrushchev said, "Now you know why I was silent. I did not want
           to be murdered, just as you don't want to be murdered. Just stand up and you would disappear! So I
           had to keep my thoughts to myself; even walls had ears at the time of Stalin."
                He had managed in such a way... he had a party, a Communist Party for small children, and they
           were trained to spy on their parents. What they said in their houses the children had to report to the
           Party. Then the youth had their own youth league, and they had to be aware that anything against
           communism -- it does not matter whether it is your mother or your father -- had to be reported
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           immediately.
                Women had their own Communist Party and they were taught the same programming, that it is a
           question of saving this great experiment. Anybody, it does not matter -- he may be your husband,
           but you have to report it. It may be your wife, you have to report it. And once reported it was never
           asked whether the report was true, whether the report was reason to kill the man. In the middle of the
           night the KGB, the Russian equivalent of the CIA, would knock on the door. The man would open
           the door, and the KGB agent would tell him to follow, and the family knew: "That man is gone. You
           will never hear anything about that man."
                So it is true, it was a very cruel effort. But the reason was that without this cruelty... all around
           the Soviet Union there were sitting vultures, all the capitalist countries of the world, ready to destroy
           it.
                He had to give as little nourishment to the people as possible; his whole concentration was to
           create more arms and a bigger army, because the enemies were too many, and all around. People can
           eat one time a day, people can have only two or three sets of clothes -- there is no need to have
           many. We need the army as a priority; otherwise we will be destroyed.
                It was Stalin who managed to bring the Soviet Union out of a small feudal state, into a world
           power, the world's biggest power.
                Now Gorbachev is again a visionary, like Marx, and does not understand the practical necessities
           of reality. And you will be surprised to know -- the whole American propaganda machine is
           pressurizing the world news media to make Gorbachev a great hero. It is the American strategy to
           make him a great hero and praise all the things he is doing by withdrawing all the iron curtains, by
           reducing armaments, by reducing the budget for the army -- forty percent of the budget has been
           reduced right now, and every year he is going to cut it. Nuclear weapons have been stopped; for two
           years they have not created any nuclear weapons. They want Gorbachev to become such a big
           celebrity that it becomes a matter of his personal prestige -- not communism, not the Soviet Union.
           Whatever happens to the Soviet Union is not the issue: Gorbachev becomes the great man of history
           who changed a dictatorship into a democracy.
                But once this starts happening, communism will disappear -- not only from the Soviet Union
           but from every small communist pocket around the world, because they all depend on the Soviet
           Union's support.
                Yesterday I told you the Hare Krishna movement has been given land there. Today I received the
           news that a Vivekananda center is being opened, a branch of the Ramakrishna Mission. Now this is
           going to destroy the whole country. These were the people Stalin killed! These were the people...
           he'd throw them into Siberia just to die. These people are now entering in the name of democracy.
                My understanding is that the Soviet Union is not yet ready to open its doors. It is an American
           conspiracy to praise Gorbachev through the news media --not directly; directly they will oppose
           him, but in the news media praise him highly: "He is doing a great service to the Soviet people. What
           Stalin has done, he has to undo. Withdraw the dictatorship, make the country democratic, open all
           the doors."
                Now what has the Vivekananda center to do in Russia? What has Ramakrishna to do with
           Russia?
                Ramakrishna became enlightened only in the last stage of his life, and that too because of a
           wandering mystic, Totapuri. I have told you the story. But his whole life he was just suffering from
           epileptic fits. His whole religion was based on the Mother Goddess; it was emotional, it was a
           religion of prayer. He was a nice man, he would dance before the Mother Goddess, he would sing
           songs and praise the Mother Goddess, but the Mother Goddess is more primitive than the Father
           God!
                The Mother Goddess came into existence before the family came into existence. At that time you
           were not certain who was your father. You were certain who was your mother because the mother
           gave birth, and the mother was raising the children. The family had not yet come into existence. Of
           all the people who were the right age, one of them must be the father, but nobody knew.
                So you will not be surprised to know that the word `uncle' is more ancient than the word `father'.
           All people of the age of the probable father, were called uncles. It was a tribal world; the mother was
           certain and everybody else was an uncle, someone anonymous must have been the father. And
           because there was no fixed family, the mother was not bound to have only one person to love her;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even she might not be certain who made her pregnant. It was a very flowing world, in which partners
           were continuously changing and there was nobody who was called father.
                So the Father God is a very recent invention. After the family became established and the father
           became the head of the family, then God the Father came as a fiction. Before that, the whole world
           was a matriarchy; the mother was the most important phenomenon. Obviously, the mother was
           projected as the goddess who has created the world.
                Ramakrishna was worshipping in the most primitive religion, and I don't support him until the
           point when he met Totapuri -- that was the very last phase.
                I was surprised... I have met many Ramakrishna Mission sannyasins, monks, well known, world
           famous, but they don't mention the last phase when Ramakrishna accepted Totapuri as his master.
           They hide that fact, because Ramakrishna accepting somebody as a master feels humiliating to these
           people. Totapuri helped Ramakrishna to become enlightened, but it happened only in the last days of
           his life. Those days and the meeting of Totapuri are not mentioned, are not even known by the monks
           of Ramakrishna Mission. They go on propagating Ramakrishna's emotional worship of the Mother
           Goddess.
                Now today they have been given land to build a big center, Vivekananda Center, a branch of the
           Ramakrishna Mission. What will they do? They will teach worship of a very primitive kind.
                As I told you, whatever Gorbachev is doing looks right, but it can backfire. It can destroy the
           whole experiment. Dictatorship was absolutely needed because there were so many enemies all
           around.
                You know perfectly well how our commune in America has been destroyed, because we had no
           armies to fight, and we were just a small pocket with a vast world power around us. Violently,
           illegally, against their constitution they destroyed the commune.
                The same was the situation of the Soviet Union after the revolution. It was surrounded by the
           whole world, and everybody wanted to destroy it. It was Joseph Stalin's great, earthbound policies
           that protected the Soviet Union. He finished with all the monks, all the Christians, all the priests.
           And the Russian Orthodox Church is one of the most orthodox churches in the world -- used to be,
           now perhaps it will be again. He forced the monks to work in the fields. This is possible only in a
           dictatorship. In a democracy it is not possible, and if you do it in a democracy then your democracy
           is a hypocrisy.
                At least Joseph Stalin was absolutely honest: he called it dictatorship. And he made it clear, that
           "I don't want to waste time. Any suspicion that you are against communism and you will be
           finished."
                He changed all the churches into schools, hospitals, universities -- there were great monasteries
           that became universities -- and he made the monks work in the fields, in the orchards, because "You
           cannot have food if you don't work. Worship is your private affair, but work. The society feeds you,
           you have to work. In the night you can pray and do whatever you want, it is your private time." And
           he completely destroyed the organized religions of the Jews, of the Christians, of the Mohammedans.
                It looks bad to our eyes, but I have a more comprehensive vision. I am against dictatorship, but
           for the interim course, while the society is moving from capitalism to communism, dictatorship is
           one of the necessary steps.
                And Marx also thought in the same way, that dictatorship will remain only as an interim process.
           Once the society becomes classless, there is no need of dictatorship; there is no need of the state. He
           was in favor of no classes, no government, no bureaucracy. That will be the ultimate flowering.
                But as I told you, he was a thinker, not a practical man. He did not see the point that one country
           may become communist, may become classless, but all the other countries around it are capitalist.
           You cannot withdraw the state, you cannot withdraw the dictatorship; otherwise all the surrounding
           countries will enter into it. All the superstitions you have thrown out will come back with
           tremendous force. And they are coming....
                Gorbachev seems to be a nice man, has a very deep respect for democracy, but does not
           understand that in the name of democracy America is conspiring, and puffing up his personal ego
           that he is a great leader, a great pacifier. If all this gets into his head it is going to kill communism,
           and that will be a great loss to humanity.

              The second question is connected with the first. Another sannyasin has asked:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHY HAS THE STATE NOT DISAPPEARED AFTER SEVENTY YEARS?


               Because the world is still not communist. Unless the whole world is communist, the state cannot
           disappear; neither can dictatorship disappear. You will have to wait.

               Marx's idea was that once the whole world becomes capitalist, it will soon turn to communism.
           That idea did not work. The capitalist countries have remained capitalist, and two great countries...
           the Soviet Union, which was not capitalist, has become the first communist country. And the second
           great country, China, which was also not capitalist, has become the second great communist country.
               And he was not aware of personal egos. He was not a student of psychology, he was purely a
           student of economics. But in the hands of man, you have to understand everything through his
           psychology. The money may be the same, but in a miser's hand it has a different meaning; in a
           playboy's hand it has a different meaning. In a businessman's hand it has a different meaning, in a
           hungry man's hand it has a different meaning.
               And it has different value in different hands. In a rich man's hand, one rupee has no value at all,
           but in a beggar's hand one rupee, perhaps, has come for the first time into his vision. It is the greatest
           richness. So the value differs according to the psychology and the personality. And Marx was not
           aware of the total personality of man.
               I have been interested in the total personality of man: his body, his mind, his no-mind, his mortal
           existence and his immortal existence.
               Marx was a pure economist, so he thought that once the society is equal... He forgot two things:
           one, those who will be in power for the interim period -- who is going to take the power out of their
           hands? Because power corrupts and corrupts absolutely. The people who are in power are not going
           to leave the power so easily as Marx thought. "When the society becomes classless, the state will
           disappear" -- but it is not so easy. Those who are in power are not going to leave their power. He
           was not aware of the psychology.
               He thought that when two countries became communist, they would drop their boundaries. He
           was not at all aware of personal egos. For instance, China is against the Soviet Union, and both are
           communist countries. And the reason is absolutely trivial. The reason is, communism believes in
           Marx as the founder and Engels as the second founder -- both were together. Engels himself was a
           capitalist, he owned many factories. It was because of Engels that Marx could live without working,
           just studying, studying, and finding causes and finding clues. It was possible because of the support,
           financial support from Engels; otherwise Marx would have been working and there would not have
           been a DAS KAPITAL or COMMUNIST MANIFESTO.
               So Engels is number two in the hierarchy of the founders. Number three is Lenin. Stalin was
           hoping that when he died he would be number four, and certainly he deserves it. With all his faults,
           with all his violence, he has protected a great experiment. Men after all, have to die; it is not such a
           great problem to make so much fuss.
               Mao Zedong, who brought China to communism, was supported by Stalin for thirty years --
           because the revolution continued for thirty years; it was the greatest and longest revolution in world
           history.
               Chiang Kai-Shek, who was the dictator of China, was a very strong man. He was thought to be
           one of the strongest men amongst five strong men in the world. And China is such a vast country.
           Over each inch there was a fight, inch by inch. Stalin gave them complete support: arms, armies,
           training for the Chinese -- because they share their boundaries; China and Russia meet on their
           boundaries. So he was training Chinese communists to be soldiers, and he was sending all kinds of
           arms to Mao Zedong. For thirty years he supported him financially and in every possible way.
               And when Mao Zedong came to power and Chiang Kai-shek was thrown out to his small island
           of Taiwan, which he had kept as his personal property, Mao wanted to be number five in the
           hierarchy. After Stalin, he wanted his name; that was the clash. The Communist Party of the Soviet
           Union was not willing, because he had not contributed anything new, anything original, to
           communism.
               And in fact, it was the Soviet Union who had supported him and brought him to power. He
           himself had not even been a success on his own, so he could not be put as fifth in the hierarchy. This
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was the clash, a personal clash, which Karl Marx would have never thought -- that even personal
           clashes, egos, will keep two communist countries, based on the same idea, separate. Not only
           separate but inimical.
               Now China is moving closer and closer to America, because China is afraid: the Soviet Union is
           far more powerful; unless America supports China, there is danger. And America is very happy that
           a great communist country is coming closer. China is also opening its doors because, who was
           trained by Stalin, is dead.
               In forty years in India, nothing has happened. China became communist in 1951, four years after
           India became independent. Within ten years, by 1961, China became a world power. It was because
           of the training of Stalin and following the whole strategy of Stalin that China has raised itself to a
           world power.
               Now America wants China to open its doors. That will be the end of Chinese communism. And
           the world press is praising Gorbachev too much, puffing up his ego, pumping up his personality into
           that of a big hero. That is the greatest danger to Soviet communism.
               It is true that Marx has this idea that the state will disappear, and I love the idea because I am an
           anarchist myself. I don't want any government in the world, but my not wanting is not going to
           change anything. Till all crime disappears, till all rapes disappear, the state will be needed. So when
           Marx says that finally the state will disappear, don't think that the "finally" is coming soon. It will be
           finally.
               It is a good idea -- the greatest idea is anarchism. And if out of communism, anarchism can
           grow -- which is not practical, because those who are in power will not easily leave their power --
           and two communist countries, as Marx thought, would dissolve into one... that has not happened.
           Yugoslavia remained under Tito, a separate country, because Tito himself wanted to be in the
           hierarchy. Just personal egos, of which Marx never thought anything; he was not a psychoanalyst.
               And now again Gorbachev has completely forgotten the great struggle, the great bloodshed out
           of which communism has somehow survived. They have removed Stalin's name from the hierarchy.
           Now there are only three -- Marx, Engels and Lenin -- and perhaps Gorbachev is thinking he will
           be the fourth. But most probably he will be the end of communism in the Soviet Union.
               To be absolutely frank and truthful, if he is not awakened quickly, and closes the doors to all
           kinds of enemies which are entering fast and quick, he will be the end of a tremendously beautiful
           idea. And humanity will never forgive him.
               But he has now become absolutely powerful. The president in the Soviet Union used to be
           nominal, the prime minister was the real power. And behind the prime minister, the more real power
           was the secretary general of the Communist Party and the Communist Party's central group, the
           Politburo.
               All the states had their one representative in the Politburo -- that was the commanding body --
           and the general secretary was the head of the commanding body. Stalin continued to be the general
           secretary and the prime minister, so he was holding total power.
               The same Gorbachev has done. He has changed the constitution of the Soviet Union according to
           America -- perhaps he must have been feeling, meeting "President" Ronald Reagan and he is just a
           prime minister... So now he is the president of the Soviet Union. The prime minister is no longer
           powerful; it is a nominal post, just a rubber stamp. The president has all the power. And he has
           changed the whole commanding body of the Communist Party; he has put in his men. And he is also
           the general secretary of the Communist Party.
               The third powerful agency is the KGB. That is their central intelligence, which has immense
           power, more power than any other intelligence body around the world. He has changed the head of
           the KGB and put his own man as head of the KGB. So now everything is in his hands -- president,
           general secretary of the Communist Party, and the KGB is in his hands -- his man is there. So he
           has in fact more power than any man on the earth. If he uses it rightly, by making communism more
           prosperous, by making communism more creative, more spiritual, more scientific, he will be a great
           benediction not only to the Soviet Union but to the whole world.
               But he can go wrong. And when one person has all the power and goes wrong it is a suicidal
           phenomenon. And there seems to be every possibility; he can go either way.
               I would like him to understand clearly that we need the Soviet Union as a communist stronghold
           in the world, because sooner or later the whole world has to be turned to communism. Communism
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has to become the base, because it is a materialist philosophy and on that base can be raised the
           temple of spirituality.
               But that temple will not be created by orthodox Christians or Hare Krishna people, or Jehovah's
           Witnesses, or the Ramakrishna Mission. These out-of-date, absolutely belonging to the bullock-cart
           age... when the bullock cart was invented, nobody knows. These religions belong to the bullock-cart
           age. They are not going to help communism, which is a contemporary phenomenon. It needs not to
           go backwards. It needs a future orientation, not a past orientation. That's what is possible from
           Gorbachev's opening the doors -- all past-oriented people will enter into the country and destroy it.
               He should be absolutely clear: open the doors, but open the doors for the future-oriented people.
           Open the doors not for organized religions, not for missions and missionaries -- they may be
           Christian or Hindu, it does not matter -- open the doors for individual awakened people who will
           not create any kind of organized obstacles for the growth of communism.
               Every religion will be against communism -- Gorbachev does not understand it. Hinduism is
           against communism -- now what is a Vivekananda center going to do in Russia? Teaching people
           that poverty has nothing to do with the capitalists, that your whole revolution is wrong, that you
           were suffering from your past lives' karmas, bad and evil acts, and you have done a great injustice to
           the capitalist people who were enjoying their past lives' good karmas, good acts. This is the Hindu
           philosophy. This is what Ramakrishna believed in and this is what Vivekananda believed in.
               What is Christianity going to say to them? Don't disturb anything; let the world be as God
           created it. No revolution -- God has not given the idea of revolution at all, in any of his scriptures.
               He has written so many scriptures! He is a great scholar; he writes the four Vedas of the Hindus,
           Koran Sharif of the Mohammedans, the Holy Bible of the Christians. God seems to be a great
           scholar -- but very contradictory, because all these scriptures contradict each other. And these
           religions will again bring God into the Soviet Union -- who has been forced out by Joseph Stalin,
           out of the gates of the Soviet Union the same way he turned Adam and Eve out of the gates of
           paradise.
               The Soviet Union is in a very vulnerable state, because all the old people who have seen the
           revolution, who have been participants in the revolution, are dead. The new generation knows
           nothing.
               Here is Haridas. He is one of my oldest sannyasins. He is German and he heard Adolf Hitler's
           name for the first time from me! Can you believe it? But he was born after the second world war.
               Now in Russia nobody exists who has seen the revolution, who has seen how Stalin established
           communism with difficulty.
               Gorbachev is not aware of the whole past and he is bringing the same enemies back in. They will
           disrupt the whole society. And for seventy years the new generation that has come into existence
           after the revolution has been taught: "There is no God, there is no hell, there is no heaven. There is
           no future life, there is no past life -- this is all." But they are feeling a tremendous hollowness
           within themselves and that is a red signal for danger. Because they are feeling a hollowness -- that
           everything is good outside, but inside there seems to be nothing -- these people will rush in and fill
           their inside with beliefs, with SHRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA, with the Koran, with the Bible, with
           Vedas, and destroy a great opportunity for meditation. None of these people are meditative.
               Open the doors for scientists, for mystics, for meditators, for poets, for painters, for engineers,
           for doctors, for psychoanalysts. But don't open the door for orthodox, fanatic, organized religions.
           Don't open the door for capitalists and their agents. Otherwise you will spoil something so precious
           that all the utopians, all the people who have any vision for the future, have been dreaming of for
           centuries.
               In the RIGVEDA, the ancientmost book in the world, comes the sentence, VASUDHAIVA
           KUTUMBAKAM -- "this whole earth should become one family." Ninety thousand years ago
           some visionary, some mystic, was thinking in terms of this whole earth turning into one family. That
           was the old language for communism: this whole world becomes one commune.
               Rather than looking at possibilities for how to turn the whole world into communes, which will
           be supportive to all communist revolutions... and as I said, I can bring to the Soviet Union the second
           revolution. The first revolution was material; the second revolution will be spiritual. Only then will
           Soviet citizens be able to cope with all kinds of idiots. Right now these idiots will destroy their
           innocence. Then they will turn them towards being exactly as the whole world is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A great country -- one of the biggest countries in the world; it is one sixth of the whole earth --
           and it is going to be a tremendous loss if Gorbachev does not understand the implications.
           Communism has to be saved and communism has to be transformed into a great spiritual revolution.
           He can do it; he has all the power. And only when the whole of humanity is meditative is the state of
           no use.
               When the whole of humanity has become one family there is no need of anybody to dictate.
           When the whole of humanity has become intelligent, when the whole of humanity has dropped all
           miseries and is immensely blissful, the state has no function. The powerful will feel absolutely
           out-of-date, old hat. They will disappear because their function is no more.
               When no criminal turns up in the courts, what is the function of the courts? When there is no
           prostitution -- and that is possible only if there is no marriage -- what is the need of a registrar for
           marriage, and licenses for prostitutes?
               Things are very clear if you have the clarity that comes only when you go beyond the mind. The
           higher you go the more you have a bird's-eye view of the whole situation of humanity.
               Gorbachev himself, before he does any act against communism, needs a great training in
           meditation. And after that, whatever he will do will be right. I can see the man is certainly intelligent
           and has good intentions for humanity, is a peace-loving person, but he has no depth of meditation.
           These are all superficial mind values, which don't go deep enough. They are only skin deep --
           scratch just a little and all those values disappear.
               Meditation brings transformation from the inside. It is not an imposition of morality and
           commandments from outside. Anything that comes from outside is worthless -- morality, religion,
           spirituality, whatever you call it. Only that which blossoms within you like a lotus has ultimate
           value. Out of that arising of consciousness, you cannot do evil. Your every action will be
           spontaneous; it will come from your deepest being, and the deepest being cannot do any harm.
               Then the state disappears. Then the world needs no hierarchy, no bureaucracy, no presidents, no
           prime ministers, no KGB, no CIA.
               Every individual has to contribute to that final utopia -- and I am preparing you for that final
           stage when the state is useless, when the police are useless, when armaments are useless, when
           armies are just stupid, when we can all work together, create together, love together, rejoice together.
               This very body the buddha -- this very earth the lotus paradise. But it will happen only -- not
           according to Marx but according to me -- it will happen only when the whole world is full of
           buddhas. There is no other way. It is not an economic revolution; neither is it a social revolution. It is
           a spiritual revolution, an individual-to-individual rebellion. Every heart starts blossoming.
               When millions of hearts start blossoming it becomes a chain reaction. Just like one candle aflame
           can make thousands of candles aflame -- just bring the other candle close enough and suddenly the
           flame jumps to the unlit candle. The lit candle loses nothing and the unlit candle gains everything.
           The whole life is in the flame.
           This I call Zen Fire, Zen Wind.
               Unless the whole world goes through the Zen Fire and becomes pure gold, unless the whole
           world becomes a Zen Wind passing through every heart, connecting every heart to the universal
           heartbeat -- this utopia is not possible.
               But I hope, I am absolutely certain, that every man's destiny is to become a buddha. So whether it
           happens today or tomorrow or day after tomorrow does not matter. There are only seven days in the
           week. It will happen Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday --
           on some day, it is going to happen, I am absolutely certain. Because I understand human nature. It
           cannot be satisfied with this miserable world. It cannot be satisfied with this ugly and violent world.
           It can only be satisfied when it finds its ultimate source of blissfulness, eternal source of life.
           And that is what meditation is a scientific methodology for.

           The sutra:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THE MONK, SOMPU, WAS ONCE WASHING A BUDDHA STATUE. YAKUSAN CAME AND ASKED
              HIM, "NOW YOU ARE WASHING THIS, BUT CAN YOU WASH THAT?"

               What does Yakusan mean? The monk is washing the statue of the buddha -- Yakusan calls the
           statue this and he calls the living buddha that. "You are only washing a stone statue -- this is okay,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but can you wash that, the living buddha which is within you?"
               THE MONK, SOMPU WAS ONCE WASHING A BUDDHA STATUE. YAKUSAN CAME
           AND ASKED HIM, "NOW YOU ARE WASHING THIS, BUT CAN YOU WASH THAT?" He is
           indicating towards the interiormost hidden buddha, the living buddha: "Can you wash that?"
           I call that washing "meditation."
               People condemn me around the world that I am washing people's brains. I am washing something
           deeper -- brains I don't care about at all. I am throwing the brains out of the door! I am washing the
           buddha inside who has been covered in dust for centuries. A dry-cleaning is needed, and I am doing
           the dry-cleaning. So when anybody says to you -- and there are millions of people around who will
           say it -- that I am doing brainwashing, tell him, "Our master does not do ordinary things. Certainly
           he does a dry-washing, but that is not of the mind. He does a dry-cleaning of the ancient buddha, the
           eternal buddha who is covered with dust and all kinds of garbage." Don't feel offended. Rather, turn
           the question against them.
               There is now a new profession arising in the West of deprogrammers. And many of my
           sannyasins have been forced... just now one sannyasin is back from Canada. The parents had called
           her with great love, saying, "Come here and visit because we have not seen you for so long." And
           when the sannyasin reached there, it was a totally different matter. They had two deprogrammers
           arranged and they started talking against me and telling her that I have brainwashed her. "You are
           living in a trance, in hypnosis, and we are here to take you out of your trance." But the reality is, they
           are brainwashing you!
               I don't wash such dirty things. Only Christians do such dirty things: they are brainwashing you
           and forcing you back again into the old program.
               They call themselves "deprogrammers." That is a wrong word they are using for themselves; they
           are REprogrammers. What has been thrown out by meditation, they are forcing back into your head.
               You will be facing this, many of you, when you go back home. Parents have been known even to
           abduct their children -- who are young people, adults, and keep them physically imprisoned in
           houses with deprogrammers who continuously harass them. And there is a certain stage when you
           become very weak. If you are not allowed to sleep for three days, on the fourth day you will become
           very vulnerable. If somebody says: "God is," you don't have enough strength to say no. Perhaps in
           this weakness... God is born out of weakness, out of fear, out of dread, and they have created all the
           dread and fear and weakness and now they say, "God is. If you pray, everything will be alright."
               These are reprogrammers. As far as I am concerned I have no interest in your mind at all, or in
           your brain. My concern is far more ultimate. It is beyond the mind. My function is to clean the space
           of no-mind.
               Those deprogrammers or reprogrammers have not even heard about the no-mind. They are
           ordinary psychoanalysts turned into deprogrammers. But they can do harm if you listen to them, so I
           have to tell you because I received the letter from the Canadian sannyasin. She said, "I have been
           treated very badly. I am still shaking. All the old stuff that has been dropped they have again forced
           into the mind."
               So if you come across any deprogrammer, remember this. Rather than them deprogramming you,
           you should deprogram them! Never answer their questions. Whenever they ask you, answer with
           another question. If they ask you, "Is there God?" -- you ask them, "Have you any proof? Give me
           the proof. I want absolute evidence of God. And if you cannot prove his existence, don't speak
           nonsense. Have you been to hell? Then how are you back? -- because from the Christian hell
           nobody comes back, it is eternal. Do you know anything about hell?" If they say no then ask them:
           "Do you know anything about heaven? Have you seen Socrates in heaven? Have you seen Gautam
           Buddha in heaven? -- because these people did not believe in God."
               Have I told you the story of Edmund Burke? He had a great friendship with the archbishop of
           England. He was a great orator, Edmund Burke, and the archbishop used to come to listen to his
           lectures. They were delicious, just a deep nourishment, but the archbishop was surprised that
           although every Sunday he gave a sermon, Edmund Burke had never come. At least for courtesy's
           sake he should have come one time.
               Finally, seeing that he was not going to come, the archbishop invited him. He said, "I come to all
           your lectures, whenever I know that you are going to deliver a lecture. This Sunday I am preparing
           specially for you; you have to come to the church."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Edmund Burke said, "You should have asked before. I will be coming."
           He went....
                The archbishop of England is the highest authority of the Church of England, equivalent to the
           pope. He had prepared with great effort; otherwise Christian preachers don't prepare. They have four
           or five ready-made sermons.
                I used to know a Christian monk. He became very friendly to me. I asked him, "How many
           sermons do you have?"
                He said, "How did you come to know...?" He said, "I have three sermons. One for ten minutes,
           one for twenty minutes, one for forty minutes, as the occasion demands. And I never stay in a city
           more than three days, so I am always original!"
                But Edmund Burke was coming so the archbishop prepared with great effort, consulted
           dictionaries and encyclopedias and theological books and biblical research, and he made it really a
           very scholarly sermon. But he was surprised. He was watching -- Edmund Burke was sitting just in
           front of him -- and there was no sign whether he was appreciating it or not. He was sitting just like
           a statue.
                When the sermon was over, they walked out together. The archbishop could not gather courage
           to ask him, "How was it?" But finally he managed. As he was entering his car he asked Edmund
           Burke, "One thing at least you should say, whether you liked it or not."
                He said, "That is not the point. The point is, you were saying that those who believe in Jesus
           Christ, God, and the Holy Ghost, and those who follow all the Christian virtues and don't commit
           sins, will go to heaven. Do you remember saying this?"
           The archbishop said, "But perfectly -- I have said exactly this."
           "Do you see any contradiction in it?"
           The archbishop said: "I don't see any contradiction in it."
                Edmund Burke said, "I see the contradiction and I want you to answer. This is my question: If a
           man believes in Jesus and his virgin birth, the Holy Ghost, God, all the miracles, resurrection, but
           does not do what you call `virtue' and commits sins, what will happen?
                "Secondly: The person who does not believe in God, does not believe in the Holy Ghost, does
           not believe in Jesus Christ, but follows all the virtues and commits no sin -- what will happen?"
                The archbishop was at a loss, completely at a loss. The question was immensely important. He
           said, "You will have to give me at least seven days' time to figure it out."
           Edmund Burke said, "I will come again next Sunday; you prepare."
                But for seven days, day and night, the archbishop could not sleep. Howsoever he tried it was not
           fitting. If he says that a person who commits sins and does not follow the virtues, but believes in
           Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and God, goes to paradise, it does not look right. The person is a sinner!
                If he says that a person who follows the virtues and does not commit any sin, but does not
           believe in God or Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, goes to paradise, that means the belief in God, the
           Holy Ghost and Jesus, is absolute nonsense. You can go directly -- why unnecessarily have this
           hypothesis? So he was caught, in what is called in logic, on the horns. Both the sides -- if you go
           this side, this horn; if you go that side, that horn. This is called "the horns of a dilemma."
                Seven days passed, but no possibility of any answer. He went early to the church to pray to Jesus
           before the gathering came in and Edmund Burke appeared. But he had not slept for seven days, so
           while he was praying he fell asleep. And he saw in a dream... because for seven days that was his
           only thought, how to solve it. He saw in the dream that a train is running fast and he is in the train.
           He inquired, "Where is this train going?"
           They said, "It is going to heaven."
                He said, "This is good!" He thought inside, that "This is good. I will be able to see for myself.
           Because Buddha never believed in God, never believed in anything. Socrates never believed in God,
           never believed in heaven, never believed in hell. If I find these people in paradise, the answer is that
           whether you believe in God or not, that is not the issue. If I do not find these people in heaven, that
           means that even if you follow the virtues and you don't commit sins, still you will go to hell."
                But if he finds these people in heaven, that means believing in God or Jesus does not matter; all
           that you have to do is to be virtuous and not to commit sins. He was immensely happy.
                But as the train stopped at the station in paradise, he could not believe his eyes. It looked so dull
           and dismal, far more dismal than England, and he saw all kinds of saints, so ugly and shrunken, just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           skeletons moving here and there around the station. Even the signboard on the station which said
           `Paradise' had faded millions of years before. You had to concentrate very much on the board and
           only then you could figure out, yes it says Paradise.
               He asked the stationmaster, "Have you heard anything of Socrates, Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu,
           Bodhidharma? Are they here?"
               The stationmaster said, "Never heard. Nobody with those names has ever appeared here. But you
           can go around, have a look; there are only a few saints playing on their harps, `Alleluia, Alleluia' --
           no other work. Everybody is dull."
               So he went around... no work, because in paradise you don't need any food. Everybody was so
           sad, because in paradise you cannot have any entertainment. No parties or going anywhere -- no
           restaurants, not even a Zorba the Buddha! Everything was so dull and dirty, stinking.
               He rushed back to the station and he said, "Is there any train direct to hell from here?"
           The stationmaster said, "It is going just now, you get in."
               So he went to hell and he was surprised. As the train entered hell... such lush greenery, such
           beautiful roses, ponds with flowers and swans. The whole station looked as if it had been freshly
           painted.
               He said, "This is strange! This should be paradise, but right on top of the station in neon lights it
           is written -- Hell." He got down, he met the stationmaster, a very nice and beautiful fellow who was
           just going to the golf course.
           The archbishop said, "Golf? In hell?"
               He said, "Since these people have come here -- Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu, Socrates, Pythagoras,
           Heraclitus, Bodhidharma -- since these people have come here they have changed the whole scene.
           It used to be very dirty, but now we have the best golf course in the whole world, the best roses, the
           best food. Just go! See, there in the field, Socrates is sowing seeds."
               He saw Socrates, who looked so beautiful, so healthy, so young, as he had never been on earth.
           He asked about Gautam Buddha.
               Socrates said, "Look under that tree. He is meditating. But since he has come, the whole air is
           fragrant with his meditations. You will find all the great people here."
           "But," he said, "what about sinners?"
               The stationmaster said, "We don't know any sinners. Since these people have come, they have
           transformed all sinners into sannyasins. Hell is no more the old place. You don't know about me -- I
           used to be the devil! Now they have posted me as the head stationmaster. And so many people are
           coming that we don't have one station, we have twelve stations. All around hell, beautiful stations --
           gardens, lawns, beautiful houses... and since scientists started coming we have electricity, ecology
           programs. They don't allow me to cut the trees to create hellfire -- they have air-conditioned the
           whole of hell!"
               At that moment, from shock, he woke up. He said, "My God! What a dream!" He saw that people
           had started coming, and the first to enter was Edmund Burke.
               He was an honest man, the archbishop. He said, "I don't know the answer, but I have seen this
           dream. I will relate the dream and you can conclude whatever you want."

               It is not a question of belief in any God, in any Jesus, in any Krishna, in any Rama. It is a
           question of being a meditative person, so all that you do is virtuous. Out of meditation only --
           flowers of virtue, eternal flowers of good, of love, of laughter.

               So when Yakusan said to the monk, "Now you are washing this stone statue, but can you wash
           that?" he must have pointed to the heart, the very being of the monk.
              SOMPU REPLIED, "PLEASE GET THAT AND BRING IT TO ME."

               He said, "I don't know who you are indicating within me; just please bring it out."
               ... When I was looking at "Sompu," I thought of "shampoo," because shampoo seems to be the
           right thing for washing. So I will call him "Shampoo."
               Shampoo replied, "PLEASE GET THAT AND BRING IT TO ME. I will give him a good
           washing."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE MASTER DID NOT SAY ANYTHING.

               Because that which is hidden within you... only you can go there. It cannot be brought to you.
           You are asking an absurd question; hence the silence. The master must have thought, "The man is
           not yet ready."

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, WHEN YAKUSAN WAS SITTING DOWN, A MONK CAME UP TO HIM
              AND SAID, "OSHO, YOU ARE SITTING SILENTLY. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"

               That's how ordinary people will ask. If you are sitting silently, they will ask, "What are you
           thinking?" because people do that continuously. "Perhaps there is some great problem that you are
           solving? Some anxiety that you are figuring out how to deal with? What are you thinking?"
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "I AM THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE."

                He is saying, "I am not thinking. I am just being, and facing the unthinkable. You cannot think it;
           it is not a thought, it is not a thing. It is an experience, a taste."
                You taste something sweet. What can you say about sweetness? You will say, "Sweetness is
           sweetness." But that is not the answer. All you can do is to give the other person a little sweet to
           taste, and tell him, "This is it."
                Experiences, especially deeper experiences, are far beyond language, far beyond thought, far
           beyond mind. Thinking the unthinkable is not thinking at all, but facing the clarity of space within
           you.
              THE MONK SAID, "HOW DO YOU THINK THE UNTHINKABLE?"

               He could not understand. He thought, "Perhaps there is something unthinkable that he is
           thinking. If it is unthinkable, how can you think it?" -- HOW DO YOU THINK THE
           UNTHINKABLE?
              YAKUSAN REPLIED, "NON-THINKING."

               That is the way to think the unthinkable: stop thinking. Just be in a space of meditation, utterly
           silent. Not even a single thought moving on the screen of your mind -- just the pure screen, and
           suddenly you are able to see the eternal, the ultimate, the very beyond which never even comes close
           to language or thought.

              WHEN YAKUSAN WAS ABOUT TO DIE, HE YELLED OUT, "THE HALL IS FALLING DOWN! THE
              HALL IS FALLING DOWN!"
              THE MONKS BROUGHT VARIOUS THINGS AND BEGAN TO PROP IT UP. YAKUSAN THREW UP
              HIS HANDS AND SAID, "NO ONE OF YOU UNDERSTOOD WHAT I MEANT!"

                He was not talking about the hall, he was talking about himself -- "My body, where I used to
           live for so many years, is falling all apart. The moment for my departure has come."
                But Zen always uses symbols, and those monks were just like ordinary people. They could not
           see that it is not that the hall is falling... But because the master is saying the hall is falling, perhaps
           he is predicting some future catastrophe. So they started putting up props to keep the hall together.
                And poor Yakusan threw up his hands in utter frustration -- "NO ONE OF YOU
           UNDERSTOOD WHAT I MEANT! -- I am falling down. The body which used to be my house is
           falling apart. Soon I will be on the wings moving into the eternal sky." And saying this, he died. That
           was his last statement: "NO ONE OF YOU UNDERSTOOD WHAT I MEANT."
                It is very rare that a master is understood; most probably he is misunderstood. Only very few
           people have such courage and such sharpening of their innermost space that they can understand the
           master.
           To understand the master is to understand the whole mystery of existence.

           After attending a funeral, Ikkyu wrote:
              WHEN WE COME AND SEE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HERE ALSO
              IS THE BURNING HOUSE --
              WHY DO PEOPLE SAY
              "GOOD TO LIVE IN"?


               He is saying, "At a funeral a body is burning, and people are standing around the funeral pyre,
           but nobody is aware that it is not just this body that is burning. It is not an exception, it is the rule.
           Your body is also going to burn on a funeral pyre."
               This house is not eternal. This house made of matter is going to collapse any moment. Then why
           do people say, "GOOD TO LIVE IN -- to live in this body is good"? Why do people say this, when
           the body is nothing but a carriage that takes you from the cradle towards the grave?
               To live in the body is not good. To be in the body but be as a witness, to know that "It is not me"
           -- that is a great experience. You are discarding the body even while you are alive; you are
           discarding the mind even while you are alive. So when death comes it cannot take anything from
           you, you have discarded all that it can take and you have saved the eternal, which it cannot touch.
               It is absolutely essential for every intelligent person: before death comes he should become
           completely clear that he is not the body and he is not the mind; he is only a pure consciousness.


              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE WAS NO PLACE FOR ANY GOD IN THE WORK OF THE RUSSIAN MYSTIC, GEORGE
              GURDJIEFF, YET HE DID NOT ATTRACT A LARGE NUMBER OF DISCIPLES IN WESTERN
              EUROPE OR IN HIS HOME COUNTRY. WAS THIS MORE A REFLECTION OF HIS ABILITIES AS A
              COMMUNICATOR OR WERE THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE SIMPLY NOT READY TO RECEIVE HIM?


               In the beginning of the revolution, communism was programming people for atheism.
           Communism as propagated by Marx and Engels is atheist, and to be an atheist is to be again a
           believer. The only difference between the theist and the atheist is, the theist is a positive believer --
           he believes that God is. The atheist is also a believer -- his belief is that God is not.
               In the beginning of the revolution -- George Gurdjieff was in Russia at the time when the
           revolution began -- he had to escape from Russia; otherwise he would have been killed by the
           atheist revolutionaries.
               Now it is a different matter. The reason why it is different after seventy years is because a
           negative belief cannot be a nourishment to your inner being. One can go on deceiving oneself with a
           positive belief for centuries, because a positive belief fills a gap. A negative belief does not fill any
           gap.
               In seventy years' time, the Russian people have become aware of an immense hollowness within
           them. The negative belief is not of any help. The positive belief at least gives you a false religion --
           a prayer, a god, a church, a bible, something to fill in the gap. All junk! -- but still you can fill your
           hollowness with the junk.
               What do you think you go on keeping in your refrigerators? All kinds of junk -- chocolate, ice
           cream, and you go on stuffing....
               Have you ever watched? Whenever a man or a woman are in love, they don't eat much. What
           happens? Why don't they eat much? Because love is such a nourishment, who cares about chocolate
           and chewing gum and ice cream? But once they get married, the woman starts getting bigger and
           bigger and bigger. What happened? Now there is no more love; now she is replacing love with ice
           cream.
               Why do husbands bring ice cream when they come home? Love is no more there; perhaps ice
           cream will cool down the atmosphere! And whenever a husband brings ice cream the wife suspects:
           "He must have committed something that he is trying to cover up."
               So it is very difficult. If you don't bring ice cream, the atmosphere is very hot. If you bring ice
           cream, the wife looks out of the corner of her eye, looks at your coat -- any hair from some woman?
               Mulla Nasruddin was caught again and again with some woman's hair on his coat. He asked a
           friend what to do. The friend said, "It is simple. Before entering the house, you just clean your coat.
           Keep a brush with yourself."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He said, "That's a good idea! It never occurred to me -- so simple!" So one day he found a
           brush. Outside the house he completely cleaned his coat, and suit, and shirt, and entered the house.
                The wife looked at his coat, at his pants, and simply started beating her head and crying and
           screaming! He said, "What has happened? There is no hair at all!"
                She said, "That's why I am crying. It seems you have started loving some bald woman!"
           It is difficult any way. Whichever way you try, it does not work.

               Today the situation is totally different than it was seventy years before. Today the Russian
           people feel immense emptiness. You cannot live on negatives. Positive things may not be authentic,
           but at least they help you to fill the hollowness. Hence I say theism is more dangerous than atheism,
           because the atheist sooner or later has to realize that "It is not helping me in any way. I am utterly
           empty."
               The theist may be able to deceive himself for lives together, because he feels full. He knows the
           prayer, he knows the scripture, he knows God is taking care. But the atheist sooner or later is bound
           to be aware that atheism is not fulfilling, it is negative. No God, no heaven, no scripture, nothing.
           You have to encounter your hollowness.
               So I say it is better to be an atheist than to be a theist. But still better is the agnostic, who does
           not believe in God, who does not disbelieve in God, who is simply open and ready to find out what is
           the truth -- in his own consciousness, because that is the closest thing which is alive.
               Look deep into your throbbing life and you will find the quality of the divine. You will not find a
           God but you will find a godliness, a truth, an awakening, a buddha.
               Gurdjieff could not attract many disciples in the West. The reason was, he was not an articulate
           person. He knew only the Caucasian language. He was born, strangely, in the same place where
           Joseph Stalin was born. They both learned in the same seminary, they were colleagues when they
           were small children. And both had the same quality of steel.
               Joseph Stalin proved his steel, and in the same way but in a different direction, George Gurdjieff
           also proved his steel. He was perhaps the strongest man you can imagine, stronger than Stalin,
           because Gurdjieff had no power; his power was inner. You could give him as much alcohol as
           possible, and you could not make him drunk -- that was his power -- no drug had any effect on
           him, his witnessing was so great. He would go on moving behind the alcohol, the alcohol would not
           be able to distract his witnessing.
               But he knew only his mother tongue, the Caucasian language. He learned a little bit of English
           but it was very broken, he could not make a complete sentence. So language was a barrier, and his
           methods were a barrier.
               His methods he learned because his father died when he was nine and his mother had died
           already, before his father died, so he was left an orphan. His father was a gypsy, so he was left with a
           gypsy group, and he learned whatsoever he could learn with the gypsies. They are not great scholars;
           they are vagabonds moving from one place to another place.
               You will be surprised to know that gypsies belong to India, Rajasthan. They moved from
           Rajasthan to Egypt, and from Egypt to Europe. It is because they moved from Egypt to Europe that
           they are called "gypsies." The name is derived from "Egypt," but their language is Hindi. It has
           changed, but you will find that seventy percent is Hindi and thirty percent is derived from Hindi
           words, changed.
               So Gurdjieff was moving with one gypsy group, and when he had learned everything from that
           group, he would move to other gypsy groups -- they are always on the move. He learned every
           method from the gypsies, and those methods are very crude, very hard -- and not at all attractive to
           the Western people who were living in comfort, luxury. So those who came to him turned back
           immediately, seeing his methods.
               First, he would feed people -- he was a great cook -- and very exotic foods, which Western
           people had never known. He had learned from different gypsy groups to prepare strange kinds of
           foods, with strange spices. His whole monastery where he used to live near Paris was full of
           foodstuff, spices, alcohol, all kinds of drugs. These were his methods.
               He would force people to eat too much till they started vomiting; he would force people to go on
           drinking, go on drinking, till they fell flat on the ground and started doing gibberish -- what you do
           every day without any alcohol! And he would sit by them and listen to what they were saying,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because what they were saying was more true than what they say when they are in their
           consciousness. It was a very crude psychoanalysis.
                He would tell people to dig trenches in the ground, the whole day in the hot sun. People who had
           never worked were digging trenches, people who were philosophers, professors of philosophy. They
           had dealt with books and libraries, they were not laborers, but they were digging. The master was
           walking by the side, looking at all the disciples digging ditches. And in the evening when the ditches
           were complete he would say, "Now fill the ditches back in. Bring them back to the same condition as
           they were before you started digging."
                Now, by the evening they are utterly exhausted! A few will faint, just out of exertion. And he
           will watch their faces when they faint. A few will succeed, to find a strange phenomenon: when they
           feel absolutely exhausted, he will go on insisting, "Don't be worried. Continue!" And if somebody
           followed him -- which was difficult -- then suddenly he would find, when the exhaustion came to
           the peak, a sudden release of a new energy and he would be as fresh as one is fresh in the morning.
           What happened?
                He was teaching that you have three layers of energy. The first layer is for day-to-day work; it
           exhausts itself very easily. Exhaust it completely -- and if you exhaust it completely the second
           layer will immediately come up and you will be filled with fresh energy, as you have never known.
           If you continue to work for months and months together, the second layer will also be one day
           finished; then the third layer -- which is inexhaustible, which is the very life itself -- will pop up in
           you. You will see that you have an eternal source of energy.
                But this is a very crude method. I can do it within six minutes! Gurdjieff needed six years to do it
           -- just bullock-cart methods. Certainly he was not very attractive to the Western intelligentsia. Only
           very few people -- not more than twelve, or at the most, twenty -- used to live in his monastery.
           Most of them were refugees from Soviet Russia. They were just seeking shelter because the
           communists had thrown out everybody who was not with them. They followed Jesus on that point --
           anybody who is not with you is against you. Either kill him or throw him out of the country.
                He had a beautiful campus near Paris, a few miles away. Huge trees and a big forest, an old
           monastery deserted by the monks... Now professors, painters, poets -- almost half the group of
           people in his campus -- were those who became interested in him because of his great disciple P.D.
           Ouspensky, who was a very great mathematician and had a tremendous quality of articulateness.
                I have never come across books written so well as P.D. Ouspensky's. His every sentence is so
           condensed; it has so much to say... It was because of Ouspensky -- Ouspensky had a school in
           London -- that people were attracted. And then he would send them to Gurdjieff and from there,
           ninety percent would escape within twenty-four hours: "That man was crazy! The whole day no
           food, the whole day you had to work hard, to exhaust your energy, and in the night he would cook
           exotic foods which were not suitable to your stomach..."
                So his assembly was a very strange assembly. Somebody is vomiting, somebody is flat, foaming
           at the mouth. Somebody is making some utterances and nobody understands what he is saying. Only
           Gurdjieff was conscious; everybody else was unconscious. First food, then drink -- and hard liquor,
           not soft wine that you sip and enjoy just to relax. It was not to relax, it was to bring you inside out.
           Next morning, when you wake up amongst all kinds of strange people shouting, screaming, vomiting
           all around you, it is better to get out of the doors before Gurdjieff catches you again!
                His methods were certainly useful but they were too old, too tribal; hence he could not attract the
           Western intelligentsia. And he could not attract the Russians because they were going through the
           revolution and atheism was their theme.
                He died a frustrated master, one of the great masters of this century. He died just in 1950. His life
           is a sad life....

           Hence comes the time of Sardar Gurudayal Singh!

              Manuel Labor, the defeated South American dictator, is trying to get back into power. He is
           addressing a meeting of workmen to organize support for himself.
              "When the revolution comes," shouts Manuel, "you will enjoy the pleasures of the rich! You will
           walk down Main Street wearing a gold watch!"
              "Excuse me," interrupts Pancho, the dog catcher, "but I like to wear my old Timex watch."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "Or if you prefer it -- a Timex watch!" continues Manuel. "You will wear an Yves St. Laurent
           three-piece suit and Gucci shoes..."
               "Excuse me," interrupts Pancho, again. "But I am more comfortable in my blue jeans and
           sneakers."
               "Very well -- blue jeans and sneakers, if you insist," snaps Manuel Labor, getting annoyed.
           "And you will ride to work in a Cadillac..."
           "Excuse me," interrupts Pancho, "but I would rather use my bicycle."
               Furious, Manuel jumps off the platform, strides through the crowd and grabs Pancho by the neck.
               "Listen, you idiot!" hisses the ex-dictator. "When the revolution comes, you will do what you are
           bloody well told!"

               Newton Hooton gets up one morning, walks into the bathroom, turns on the tap, but it does not
           work. So he calls out to his wife, Helen Hooton, in the bedroom, "Hey, honey, the water tap doesn't
           work!"
               "Well, sweetie," calls back Helen, "you are the man in the house -- you fix it!"
           "Hey, I'm no plumber," replies Newton.
               Then he goes over to the clothes closet to get his suit, and the door handle comes off in his hand.
           "Hey, Helen," shouts Newton, "the closet door handle is broken!"
               "Well, darling, you are the man in the house," shouts back Helen, "You fix it!"
               "Hey, I'm no carpenter!" snaps Newton, and he goes downstairs for his breakfast. But when he
           switches on the light in the kitchen, the bulb pops.
           "Hey, honey," shouts out Newton. "The light is busted!"
           "Well, sugar-pie," calls back Helen, "why don't you fix it?"
           "Hey, I'm no electrician," shouts back Newton, and he goes off to work.
               That evening, Newton comes home and sees a new light bulb in the kitchen. He goes upstairs,
           and the door handle on the closet is fixed. Then he goes into the bathroom, and the water tap works.
               "Hey, honey," shouts out Newton. "Who fixed all these broken things in the house?"
               "Well, baby-cakes," calls back Helen, "Burton Belch from next door must have heard us shouting
           this morning, so he came over and offered to fix everything."
           "That's great, honey," shouts Newton. "But what did he want in payment?"
               "Well dearie," replies Helen, "he said I could either screw him or bake him a cake."
               "Hey, honey," shouts Newton, "that is nice -- what kind of cake did you bake him?"
           "Hey, poopsie," calls out Helen, "I'm no baker!"

           Little Ernie is doing his homework one evening and has a problem.
           "Dad," he says, "what is the difference between `anger' and `exasperation'?"
           "Well, son," says his father, "I will give you a practical demonstration."
           His dad then goes to the phone and dials a random number.
           "Hello," comes a voice at the other end.
           "Hello," says Ernie's father. "Is Melvin there?"
               "There is no one called Melvin here!" comes the reply. "Why don't you learn to look up numbers
           before you dial them?"
           "You see?" says Ernie's father.
           "That man was not at all happy with our call. But watch this!"
           He then dials the same number again, and says, "Hello, is Melvin there?"
               "Now look here!" comes the angry reply. "I told you there is no Melvin here! You have got a lot
           of nerve calling again!" And then he slams down the receiver.
               "Did you hear that?" asks Ernie's father. "That was anger. Now, I will show you what
           exasperation is!"
               He picks up the phone and dials the same number again, and when a violent voice shouts,
           "HELLO!" Ernie's father says, "Hello! This is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?"

           Nivedano
           (Gibberish)
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nivedano

               Be silent. Close your eyes and feel your body to be completely frozen. This is the right moment
           to look inwards.
               Gather your whole life energy and rush towards your center with total consciousness and with an
           urgency as if this is going to be the last moment of your life on the earth. Without this urgency,
           nobody has ever reached to his center.
           Faster and faster, deeper and deeper....
               As you come closer to your center, a great silence descends over you. A little closer and flowers
           of peace start springing up all around you.
           A little more close and you start feeling the Zen Wind -- a cool breeze.
               Still closer and you start feeling the Zen Fire -- it is not the fire that you have known. It is the
           very energy arising from your center of being. These flames are cool, they are like lotus petals.
           Reaching to the center, you suddenly realize you are no more but buddha is.

                The buddha simply means pure witnessing. The buddha is only a symbol of your eternal
           existence.
           Just remember one word -- witnessing.
           This simple word is the whole of religion,
           is the whole of spirituality,
           is the whole of all that is known
           as truth, as beauty, as good, as godliness.
                Just witness -- you are not the body. Witness you are not the mind, witness that you are only a
           witness, just a pure consciousness.
           This is your buddha.
           This is your very nature.
           This is your intrinsic potential.

              A great ecstasy will arise. You will feel almost drunk, but remain a witness.
           To make the witnessing more clear, and deeper...
           Nivedano

              Relax, let go. Just remember one thing -- forget everything else -- you are only a witness and
           nothing else.
              The moment you are only a witness you are a buddha, and your consciousness starts melting and
           merging into the cosmos.
              Gautam the Buddha Auditorium at this moment is turning into an ocean of consciousness. Ten
           thousand buddhas have melted into one pure, oceanic consciousness.

               The evening was beautiful on its own, but your entering the innermost mystery of being has
           made it a great splendor, a miracle, a magical evening. At this moment you are the most blessed
           people on the earth.
               Collect all the experience that is happening at the center. Collect all the flowers, the fragrances of
           the beyond, the flames of Zen Fire -- they are so cool, so serene.
               Gather the Zen Wind which is passing through you like a song, like a melody, and persuade the
           buddha to come along with you.
               Every day he is coming closer and closer, inch by inch. Your life is going through a
           transformation, a breakthrough. You will never be the same again. The past is dropping and you are
           settling into the herenow.
           The buddha is your nature.
               It has remained hidden at the deepest center of your being because you never called it, you never
           welcomed it.
           It does not come without invitation.
           Invite him, request him; he will come.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The first step of meditation is, buddha comes behind you like a shadow.
           The second step: the buddha is in front of you, and you become the shadow.
              And the third step: you merge into the buddha. There is no shadow anymore -- only pure
           awareness, so transparent that it cannot create a shadow.
              That day when it happens to you will be the most fortunate, the most blessed day. You will
           become the awakened one.
              We have to spread this Zen Fire and this Zen Wind around the globe. This is the only hope for
           humanity.
           Now Nivedano...

               Come back, but come as a buddha with great peace, silence, grace. And sit for a few moments
           just to recollect where you have been, which space you have touched, what golden path you have
           traveled. And look who is standing behind you, just behind your consciousness.
           A new guest -- the buddha.
           Every day you are gaining more and more.
               Your victory is absolutely guaranteed, because you are not struggling against anyone; you are
           simply trying to bring your own nature to its ultimate blossoming.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                  Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                  Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: I am a spiritual terrorist
           2 February 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8902025
              ShortTitle: FIRE04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 147 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONE DAY, UNGAN WAS SWEEPING THE GARDEN WITH A BAMBOO BROOM. HIS BROTHER
              DOGO CAME OVER TO HIM AND SAID, "HEY, YOU LOOK TERRIBLY BUSY!"
              UNGAN SAID, "ALTHOUGH BUSY, THERE IS SOMETHING WHICH IS NOT BUSY."
              DOGO SAID, "THAT MEANS THERE ARE TWO MOONS."
              THEN UNGAN PUT THE BROOM ON THE GROUND AND SAID, "WHAT MOON IS THIS?"
              DOGO SILENTLY LEFT.
              AT ANOTHER TIME, UNGAN ASKED A MONK, "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?"
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I CAME WITH INCENSE."
              UNGAN ASKED, "DID YOU SEE BUDDHA?"
              THE MONK REPLIED, "YES, I DID."
              "WHERE DID YOU SEE HIM?" UNGAN ASKED.
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I SAW HIM IN THE LOWER WORLD."
              UNGAN SAID, "THE OLD BUDDHA! THE OLD BUDDHA!"


              Friends,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              One sannyasin has asked:
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM?


                A vast difference -- the same difference that there is between me and Comrade Gorbachev. I am
           a spiritual communist, and Comrade Gorbachev is a socialist.
                Socialism is a compromise, a compromise with capitalism. Communism is a totally revolutionary
           step. The closer I have been looking at Gorbachev and his statements, the sadder I am feeling. He is
           not a revolutionary; he is a reactionary, he is going backwards.
                Just today Anando has given me a small summary of his books. Just a few sentences I heard, and
           I told her, "Close it" -- because he is talking about bringing private property back into the Soviet
           Union, and with private property capitalism comes in. He is saying that the communist motto was,
           "Each according to his need" -- and what is his motto? "Each according to his work."
                But that's exactly the motto of capitalism: each according to his work. Obviously, if you give to
           people according to their work and efficiency, then there will be richer people and there will be
           poorer people. The classes will come back again.
                As I have told you again and again, physically, people are not equal. You can give equal
           opportunity to all, but still a Picasso will be a Picasso, all people are not going to become Picassos.
           A Henry Ford will be a Henry Ford; to create wealth is an art in itself, and everybody cannot be a
           Henry Ford.
                Now if Gorbachev introduces the idea of each according to his work and his efficiency... his
           intentions are absolutely good. I don't have even a small doubt about his good intentions for his
           people, for his land, but he is not a buddha. He is an unconscious man as everybody else is. The
           unconscious man does not know that his intentions may be good but the results may go wrong.
                I am in absolute favor of communism because I think it is the foundation for spiritual growth.
           But I am against socialism. It is a compromise with capitalism, and when you compromise with
           capitalism, capitalism will drown you.
                It seems Gorbachev has become too much interested in America -- the high-rise buildings,
           miles and miles of cars -- the richness has overwhelmed his mind. He has been reported to have
           said, "What should I call my revolution?" It is not a revolution in the first place, it is
           anti-revolutionary. And then he thought about it, and said, "Perhaps I should call it socialist
           capitalism, or capitalist socialism." In both ways, capitalism will be the victor and communism will
           be the defeated. He has already stopped talking about communism, he is talking about socialism.
                Socialism I have been against always, because it is an effort to keep the capitalist incentive for
           people to work. What is the capitalist incentive for people? Private property: my house, my car, my
           wife, my children. That is the incentive, and it creates competition. My house should be better than
           your house. My wife should be more beautiful than your wife. My children should be educated better
           than your children. It starts competition, it starts ambition. Of course, people start working harder.
           That's what Gorbachev is thinking, that people are not working as hard in the Soviet Union as they
           are working in every capitalist country.
                It is true, because Karl Marx is not a complete communist. He has no idea that man is not just an
           economic animal; he has a mind and he has a soul. He thought, absolutely wrongly, that once the
           financial conditions change, once the society changes its structure, consciousness will change also.
           That is wrong. It is taking things from the wrong end.
                If consciousness changes, then certainly the social structure will change, because the social
           structure is just a projection of man's mind. But Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, or Vladimir Ilyich
           Lenin, have no idea what the mind is. The question of going beyond the mind does not arise.
                They worked hard for seventy years to bring communism in Russia, but slowly slowly... In the
           beginning there was some incentive, because the poor were thinking they would become rich, that
           everybody would be equal. But slowly slowly it was found that as all the property was taken from
           the individuals it was a great struggle. In that struggle one million people were killed. By not
           changing the mind first, this was the outcome. People's minds have lived for centuries, thousands of
           years, with the idea of private property. Their only incentive is that if it is going to help their ego, if
           it is going to help them rise higher than others, only then they are going to work hard.
                It is said about Henry Ford -- he was a poor man as far as his birth is concerned, but he became
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one of the richest men in the world -- it is said that he used to come to his office at eight o'clock,
           early in the morning. The peon used to come at ten o'clock to open the doors and clean the office.
           The clerks used to come at eleven o'clock, the manager used to come at twelve o'clock. And the
           manager would leave by two o'clock, the clerks would leave at five o'clock. The peon would leave at
           six o'clock, and Henry Ford? -- there was no time for him. Sometimes eight o'clock in the night,
           sometimes nine o'clock, sometimes ten o'clock. A great incentive to work hard, because he was such
           an ambitious man and he wanted to be the richest man in the world. And he succeeded.
               In Russia that incentive has disappeared. As the years went on, people saw that instead of
           becoming rich they were as poor as ever. Because Russia was not a capitalist country, there was no
           capital to be distributed -- only poverty to be distributed. There were a few landlords, and their
           property was taken. Their property was the land, but that land was not given to the poor because of
           the communist ideology. Everything had to be centralized; nobody had anything private.
               People saw that their poverty was the same, and they could not adjust to the new phase. Their
           minds were hankering to be better than others, to be more successful, to be richer -- and that
           possibility had disappeared. Now what is the point of working hard? Now there were vast lands
           belonging to the state, running for miles on. It was a beautiful phenomenon... not small patches,
           pieces of land which go on being divided every generation into even smaller pieces.
               You can see it in India. If the father has five acres and five sons, each son will have one acre of
           land. And then the son will have his own sons. Then that one acre of land will be divided again into
           as many sons as he has. Such small patches of land that they cannot nourish you, and you cannot use
           tractors, new technology on those small patches of land. You don't have the means; neither is the
           land big enough to use bigger machines, more chemicals. The poor go on becoming poorer.
               Private property will certainly bring an incentive. People will work hard. But all people are not
           equal as far as working hard is concerned. Those who are able to work hard will become richer, and
           those who are not able to work that hard will become even poorer than they are now.
               This was the whole program to dissolve the classes, and Gorbachev is bringing those classes
           back. Soon... just now he has dropped the word `communism'; he is no longer mentioning the word
           `communism' at all. He is talking about socialism, and has started talking about whether to call it
           "capitalist socialism" or "socialist capitalism." Whatever you call it, it is capitalism! Socialism is just
           a word to deceive the masses.
               Gorbachev is going against all the basic principles of communism. First he is talking about
           patriotism -- communism is absolutely against nations and patriotism. Its whole idea is to dissolve
           all nations into one humanity; it was from its very foundation an international movement. Now
           Gorbachev is talking about patriotism, nationalism.
               He is also talking about decentralization, which is against the foundation of all communism.
           Decentralization is an idea of Gandhism. Soon Gorbachev will be having, just like Morarji Desai, a
           spinning wheel! Decentralization means you cannot use modern technology; modern technology can
           be used only in a centralized world where the fields are miles and miles long. But if you decentralize
           and divide the land back again to the same people from whom it has been taken... They were poor
           then and they will be poor again, far poorer than they are now.
               But he is too much infatuated by America. I want him to remember: American capitalism has a
           three-hundred-year-old life. It will take at least three hundred years for you to have the same
           pollution as L.A., the same high-rise buildings, one hundred stories, one hundred twenty stories high.
           You cannot do it just like a miracle. And still, America has three million beggars. At least the Soviet
           Union has no beggars. It is not as rich as America, but it is not as poor as India. Dividing the land,
           distributing property to individual hands, will not make it America; it will make it India.
               And because he has opened the doors, it will be too late now for him to close them. Journalists
           are there; each nook and corner of the Soviet Union is being filmed, televised, and they are bringing
           out all those things which the closed doors were hiding. Twenty percent of the people in the Soviet
           Union are living below the minimum nourishment level. Now he has to go against all the statistics
           that have been given to the world by the Soviet leaders up to now.
               He is against vodka. He himself does not drink. That is the trouble of people who don't drink:
           they become saints. It is very difficult to not drink without becoming a saint. Then they want
           everybody to stop drinking. Now he is proposing prohibition of all alcohol. That has been the poor
           Russian's only relaxation, only enjoyment, only entertainment -- vodka. Otherwise he has no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beautiful car, no house, nowhere to go, no money... it was vodka that was keeping him alive! At least
           in the evening he can drink, and with his friends he can dance and rejoice. Even that is being taken
           away.
               I have heard that the youth of the Soviet Union are absolutely against prohibition. They should
           be against it, because prohibition has never succeeded anywhere in the world. It seems people never
           learn.
               In India we have tried twice -- and India must be the best place to try prohibition -- but both
           times we have failed. It was Morarji Desai, both times, who was responsible for prohibition: once
           when he was the deputy prime minister under Indira Gandhi. Then he enforced prohibition, and
           prohibition killed thousands of Indians, because people started drinking spirit, people started making
           alcohol -- homemade, and they don't know how to make it! So hundreds and hundreds of people --
           in Calcutta, in Patna, in Madras, everywhere -- were dying of poisoning.
               It is an art to create a refined wine that gives you a little forgetfulness about your anxieties, gives
           you a little laughter, a little dance, a little music. There are connoisseurs....
               I have heard about one connoisseur, one man who could, just by tasting the wine or any kind of
           alcoholic beverage, tell what trademark the wine is, and how old. Ten years old, twenty years old,
           thirty years? -- because the older the wine is, the better.
               He used to go to pubs and he would put one hundred dollars on the table, and convince the
           owner: "Give me any alcohol and I will tell you the trademark, the country in which it was
           manufactured, and how old it is. If I fail, these hundred dollars are yours. If I succeed... put a
           hundred dollars by the side; both the notes will be mine."
               And every pub owner thought that this would be an impossible job. He had so many kinds of
           alcohol -- how is this man going to manage? So he would give him a glass and the man would
           immediately say, "Thirty years old, a French wine," and a certain trademark. Amazed, the whole pub
           crowd would gather around, and he would take both the notes and say, "Do you want another try?"
               The owner would say, "Okay, you put another hundred dollars." So he would put down one
           hundred dollars. The owner would again put one hundred dollars, give him another wine, and
           immediately, just by tasting it -- such a refined taste, such sensitivity -- he would tell everything
           about it.
               Once it went on for ten times, and the owner was losing one hundred dollars every time. He said,
           "My God! This man is unbelievable." Then suddenly a man came from the crowd and gave the man
           a cup. He took one sip, and he said, "My God! This is human urine!" And the man, who had gone
           behind the crowd again, asked, "But whose? Unless you tell whose, you are a loser! How old...?"

               Intoxicating drugs are as ancient as man. No country has ever been able to prohibit them.
           Alcohol has been prohibited by many countries, and they all failed finally because it turned out to be
           more dangerous. People were taking all kinds of things, and people were creating all kinds of things
           in the name of "medicine." But it was all illegal so there was no way to check on it and see whether
           it was the right stuff. Nobody knew its constituents. So it killed thousands of people in every
           country, wherever there was prohibition. And it attracted more people who had never been drinking
           before.
               Prohibition always attracts. You prohibit anything, and just see: people who have never bothered
           about it will start searching for it, thinking that "There must be something in it; otherwise why is the
           government so interested in prohibiting it?"
               Just try. Prohibit ice cream, and suddenly you will see the whole country becomes interested in
           ice cream -- people who have never bothered about it. And when there is such a great demand, there
           will be suppliers. And it will not be the right stuff, because ice cream can be made of blotting paper;
           just the blotting paper has to be soaked in water, mixed with milk, and you can have ice cream made
           out of blotting paper! It looks exactly like ice cream! Just prohibit it and people will find ways, and
           even those who were never interested will become interested.
               Now Gorbachev wants to prohibit Russians from drinking alcohol. This is not revolution. If you
           want people not to drink, you have to give them something higher that takes away their anxieties.
           They drink because they are tense, they drink because there is anxiety, they drink because they want
           to forget. They want to forget the wife, they want to forget the husband, they want to forget the small
           kids, they want to forget their business, they want to forget their financial troubles.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Unless you give them a higher consciousness which can solve these problems -- then there is no
           need to forget anything -- unless you give them such a deep alertness and awareness that they can
           see the root cause of their misery, and they don't want just to cover it with alcohol but want to cut it
           from the roots... Except meditation there is no way that intoxicant drugs can be prohibited.
               Meditation is real spiritual alcohol! It takes you to such deep blissfulness... you don't have to
           forget your blissfulness. Do you want to forget your blissfulness? Alcohol only helps you to forget.
           Whether it is anxiety or ecstasy, whether it is tension or relaxation, it simply helps you to forget.
           Once you are blissful, happy, once you don't have any tensions, you will not drink because the drink
           will simply destroy your blissfulness, your joy, your dance, your song.
           Give people some new spiritual awakening.
           That is revolution.
               This is not revolution, this is a very reactionary step. People are already sad, and you want them
           to become sadder. But what reason has he to prohibit alcohol? The reason is that he thinks that
           because of alcohol people don't work efficiently. He wants people to work efficiently, to work hard.
           The harder they work, the more they will need alcohol just to relax for the night! -- because in the
           morning again the torture begins.
               If you take away the alcohol it will not help efficiency, it will not help people work more, it will
           simply make people more sad, more aloof, not interested in anything. It is not going to make the
           country richer, just sadder.
               And creating the idea of patriotism is the foundation of fascism. Fascism lives on patriotism: you
           are Germans, you are born to rule over the world; you are Russians, you are the chosen people. But
           you will have to find God if you want to be chosen people -- and Gorbachev is allowing churches,
           the Ramakrishna Mission, the Hare Krishna movement. And other idiots will soon follow: snake
           charmers from India, Satya Sai Baba from India, making miracles, and all those miracles are nothing
           but street magic. Magicians will be coming. Russia will soon become an ordinary capitalist country;
           it will lose its dignity and power.
               One man in Germany has found a certain program which can transform the armies into only
           defensive forces, they will never attack on their own. And Gorbachev has sent his personal aides to
           learn the technique. I think he is naive. He does not know: if a person cannot attack, he cannot
           defend either, because in defense also he will have to attack. How are you going to defend without
           attacking?
               The oldest policy of all warmongers -- from Chanakya in India, three thousand years ago, to
           Machiavelli in Europe -- has been the same policy. Chanakya and Machiavelli -- three thousand
           years' difference, but the policy is the same: the best way to defend is to attack. Once you are on the
           defensive, you have already lost half the battle, and particularly in a time when the war is not going
           to be a slow war with small weapons. When the war is going to be nuclear, it is only a question of
           ten minutes and the whole world will be finished. Whoever attacks, perhaps may survive. If you are
           on the defensive there is no chance to survive.
               My own understanding is, America is playing a great role behind the whole scene. It is a great
           conspiracy of American politicians, but very indirect: they are influencing Gorbachev towards a
           suicidal step for communism.
               I am absolutely in support if the country is opened for chosen persons who will help the country
           become a spiritual land, who will help the country with new economic plans, a new financial
           structure. But the churches and the Witnesses of Jehovah are not going to change the economic
           status of the country. They are going to destroy whatever has been achieved in seventy years.
               Mahatma Gandhi was in favor of decentralization -- but even his own followers saw the point,
           that it is good to make his statues, it is good to call him the "Father of the land"; it is good to put his
           pictures everywhere, in all the government offices, but don't listen to him. Because if you listen to
           him, he will take you back to the age, thousands of years back, when the spinning wheel was
           invented.
               Gandhi wanted the spinning wheel to be the last word in technology: after the spinning wheel,
           whatever has been invented should be destroyed. The bullock cart should be the only vehicle in the
           world and the spinning wheel the only technology. He was in favor of decentralization.
               Of course, if you decentralize you cannot have new technology; it needs centralization, and
           particularly in a country which is communist. In a capitalist country the state and the capitalists are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           separate. The capitalists have individual freedom to exploit people, although they are supported by
           the government from the back door, because they support the politicians in their elections. So it is a
           combination, but on the surface it seems to be separate.
               The capitalist has no power and the politician has no money, so they go together well. But at
           least the capitalist has no power, so he cannot harass people; and the politician depends on votes, so
           he has also to be aware not to harass people too much; otherwise they won't give him their votes.
               In a communist country the state is both: it is the only capitalist -- it owns everything in the
           country -- and it has all the power. And because there is only one party, the communist party, there
           is no question of any voting. Elections happen, but they are just mock elections. Only the communist
           party is there -- who is going to fight? And anybody who stands against the communist candidate
           will disappear in the middle of the night; it will not be known where that man has gone. So nobody
           else has been standing for election. One person stands and the whole population is told to vote for
           him; it is not a question of choice. In a communist country everything is centralized. But if
           communism knows how to transform people's minds, how to make them clear of the past of private
           ownership, of possessiveness, how to make them more meditative and silent so that their actions
           come out of their silence and peace and love and compassion, then communism becomes a spiritual
           revolution.
               Gorbachev is calling what he is doing a revolution. I say, absolutely no! If you want to be really
           a revolutionary, the only way is bring spiritualism to your country, not capitalism. That is going
           backwards in time, and destroying the whole effort of seventy years, and destroying the whole
           sacrifice of millions of people who died.
               I am a spiritual communist -- a spiritual terrorist! And I don't care either for George Bush or
           Comrade Gorbachev. His books have come into my hand just today -- they are ugly. He is
           sabotaging his own people! And he has taken all the power into his hands, so there is no
           possibility....
               But he is not aware that even presidents can be shot dead, and if he is trying to make the Soviet
           Union another America, remember: twenty percent of the presidents of America have been shot
           dead!
               What Gorbachev is doing is going against the whole revolution, and not only in the Soviet
           Union. If the Soviet Union turns into a country of capitalism it will not only destroy itself, its dignity
           and power, it will destroy other small communist countries which are dependent on it. He has
           already started cutting support to other small countries. He has stopped supporting Cuba. Now Cuba
           is so small -- once the Soviet Union is not supporting it, America is going to take it over within a
           minute.
               What will happen to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia? And China is already on the way towards
           being capitalist again, but it has not been talked about much because the communist leaders of China
           are very silent. They are not doing it in the cities, in big towns, but eighty percent of China is in the
           villages; they have already been for two years distributing land to private owners in the villages. But
           they have not been making much fuss about it. They know that they are betraying the communist
           revolution and coming closer and closer to America.
               When Richard Nixon was found guilty of immense crimes against his own people and had to lose
           his presidentship... that was the only way for him to be forgiven. The president has the power to
           forgive crimes, so his vice-president, Ford -- as Nixon retired from the presidency, Ford became the
           president, and this was the mutual understanding, that once Ford becomes the president he will
           immediately forgive Nixon. So Nixon had not to face the Supreme Court, he had not to face any
           court, and he had not to face the Senate or the people.
               The first man to invite Richard Nixon, after he was no longer the president, was Mao Zedong of
           China. He sent his own plane to take Nixon to China, and what he said to him is worthy of being
           remembered. He said, "What kind of people are yours? Just small things, listening and taping other
           people's phone calls -- this is not a crime. Every politician does it. I do it!" Mao Zedong said it
           clearly: "Every politician has to do it out of necessity, to be alert about where enmity is growing,
           from the where attacks can come. Because once you are in power, you are always in danger."
               Now nobody is going to kill Richard Nixon. You don't know where he is, you never see his name
           in the newspapers. You will see some time, when he dies, a small note on the fourth page, that "The
           ex-president of America, Richard Nixon, is dead" -- finished. And he was in the headlines for years.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mao was surprised: "What kind of people are Americans? They forced out their own president?
           If I was in your place, I would have killed the whole country!" But once Mao died his enemies,
           whom he had been keeping out of power, came into power. They immediately killed Mao's wife,
           who was a very powerful influence on Mao. In fact, she was behind Mao, ruling the country. Mao
           was getting old; she was young. She was a film actress. There was great age difference between her
           and Mao. Mao was getting senile, and thirty years of revolution can destroy anybody's mind. Just
           fighting and fighting and fighting, and escaping and fighting.... In his old age he married this film
           actress. And the film actress was not interested in Mao, certainly, because neither was he beautiful,
           nor was he young. No child was born out of the marriage, so you can understand where he stood.
               The only reason for this woman to marry Mao -- a very beautiful woman -- was simply to have
           power. She was dictating in the name of Mao -- she was the real dictator. And she threw all the
           people out of the Communist Party, out of their powerful positions, who she thought were against
           Mao, or who she thought were against her.
               When Mao died those people returned to power, and the first thing they did was to hang the
           woman and the four other people who were her supporters. Then many others were hanged, and the
           whole group around Mao was completely erased.
               Now, these people have no idea exactly what communism is. And seeing that America is
           flourishing, they started distributing the land to private ownership. The next step will be in the cities,
           in the towns: distribute everything to individual owners, because that brings incentive. People start
           struggling hard for success, out of ambition. That is the old mind.
               Unless that old mind is completely transformed, and people start feeling for the whole
           humanity... Then they work out of love, not out of ambition. And I have actual experience of it --
           you are here. In the American commune people were working not out of any ambition but just out of
           love, out of joy, the very joy of creating a new kind of commune that the world has never known.
           But their foundation was meditation.
               What Russia needs is not capitalism. Comrade Gorbachev, you should not deceive your people
           by calling it "socialist capitalism" -- that is a contradiction in terms. And it is not going to help, it is
           going just to help America destroy you without any war -- and not only destroy you, but all the
           communist countries that are dependent on you and your support. The great utopian experiment
           evaporates just because of one man's misunderstanding.
               And if Gorbachev wants his armies not to attack, he should be aware: they will not be able to
           defend either. These are two sides of one coin. That man in Germany, if he is given the job, must be
           an agent of America. America has not sent anybody to that man to learn the art of how not to attack
           but only to defend. Gorbachev was the first, immediately sending people to him.
               I have asked German sannyasins to immediately send me the literature about what kind of
           programming that man is suggesting. It cannot be anything else but post-hypnotic suggestion. You
           can suggest to a person in deep hypnosis that, "You will never attack anybody, but if somebody
           attacks you, you can defend yourself." Just a few sessions to the whole army and they will become
           absolutely immobile when the question of attack comes.
               I have been working on every dimension of your mind and no-mind. I was working on a young
           student of mine with post-hypnotic suggestions. I hypnotized him.... Hypnosis is a simple matter:
           you just look at something very bright that dazzles your eyes. These lights of Niskriya's are enough
           -- you just look at them, and without blinking your eyes... hold your eyes so they do not blink,
           whatever happens.
               The hypnotist is sitting by your side, telling you, "Hold on, don't close your eyes." And when he
           sees... and it is very clear when a person is going to close his eyes, and has come to his limit. Just
           within three minutes, his face starts relaxing and you can see it; it is not something that you have to
           infer. You can see exactly that the man is feeling sleepy, the face is relaxing.
               Then you start suggesting to him, "Your eyes are feeling very heavy. Although you are trying
           your best, you will not be able to succeed any longer, they are closing, they are closing, they are
           closing"... in a very sleepy voice.
               And the person is told beforehand that he has to fight: at the last moment when it becomes
           impossible, when he cannot do anything, when in spite of him the eyes close, and what can he do...?
           There comes a moment that in spite of him, he feels his eyes are closing and he cannot do anything
           about it anymore. And the person is giving instructions: "Your eyes are becoming heavy, you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feeling very sleepy. You will fall into a deep sleep." Just within five minutes the person is snoring.
                And while you are going deeper into sleep... Hypnosis means sleep. The very root of the word
           simply means sleep, nothing else; deliberate sleep, created sleep. But the created sleep goes much
           deeper than your natural sleep.
                And the medium, the person who is being hypnotized, is told, "You will hear only my voice and
           nothing else. No other sound will reach to you, only my voice." And that actually happens. All his
           senses become relaxed and closed; he hears nobody. If you shout his name he will not hear, but if the
           hypnotist just whispers he will hear. That is the only opening left, a very narrow opening; everything
           else is closed.
                That is the time when you can give any post-hypnotic suggestion. Post-hypnotic suggestion
           means that it will be applicable when you are out of hypnosis. For example, I told this boy, "The
           pillow you are sleeping on right now -- I am making on the pillow a cross with red ink. And
           tomorrow, exactly at eleven o'clock, you will kiss that cross." This is a post-hypnotic suggestion for
           tomorrow, when he will not be in hypnosis, but it has entered into his unconscious.
                The next day, nearabout fifteen minutes before eleven, he became fidgety -- not knowing why. I
           asked, "What is the problem? Why do you look so tense?"
           He said, "I don't know, but something seems to be happening inside me."
                I said, "Nothing is happening." I took his pillow -- he watched -- and I put the pillow in my
           suitcase and locked it. He became more and more troubled. Exactly as it was coming to be eleven, he
           looked at the clock and he asked me, "Please give me the key."
           I said, "Why?"
           He said, "I want my pillow back."
                I said, "What are you going to do with it at eleven o'clock? In the night I will give it to you."
           He said, "No! Just give me the key!"
                I gave him the key, he opened the suitcase. It was exactly eleven; the clock was striking the hour
           of eleven. He pulled out the pillow, hugged it as if it was his girlfriend, and started kissing exactly
           the point where I had marked with red ink.
           I said, "What are you doing?"
                He said, "I don't know! I am feeling absolutely insane. This is a pillow, I know -- why I am
           hugging it I don't know. And why am I kissing it? I have never kissed any pillow in my whole life!"
                But such romance! You should have seen his face, so romantic. He had fallen in love, just as you
           fall in love.
                Do you think you fall in love in a different way? It is biological hypnosis! And do you think you
           are kissing something else than a pillow? What are you kissing, have you ever thought about it? It is
           just a biological insistence from inside. The same insistence can be created by hypnosis.

               But it is a dangerous program. If Gorbachev agrees to use that man, whole armies can be
           hypnotized without any trouble. And armies are the most easily hypnotized because they are
           obedient to orders. So when the hypnotist orders, they will follow more easily than anybody else,
           because they have spent their whole life turning left, turning right, going backwards, going forwards,
           nobody asking why. They are trained for obedience; they are more vulnerable to hypnosis than
           anybody else in the world. And you can just tell them that they will never attack.
               But this is a dangerous policy: a person who cannot attack cannot defend either. And that is what
           he is saying, that "I will simply take away the idea of attacking and leave the defensive idea." But in
           defense also you have to attack! They will be simply paralyzed, they will not know what to do.
               And in the conditions we are living in... It is a nuclear age. If America attacks the Soviet Union,
           the Soviet Union is finished, because it is only a question of ten minutes. If the Soviet soldiers are
           not able to attack they will not be able to defend either; they will be in a confusion about what to do.
           They will feel paralyzed. And because it is a question of a very small amount of time, ten minutes,
           the whole country can be blasted, finished.
               With good intentions, Gorbachev is going in a wrong direction, suicidal. And America is trying
           to puff up his ego as much as possible so that whatever he is doing he should go on doing. Bring all
           kinds of snake charmers, street magicians, bishops, cardinals, the pope. Soon the Shankaracharya of
           Puri, Mohammedan priests, Ayatollah Khomeini, will be visiting the Soviet Union. This one man
           can destroy a great hope for the whole of humanity.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I am saying these words just to make him aware. He has all the powers at this moment. He can
           transform the the Soviet Union into a spiritual country. And out of meditation creativity arises; out of
           love people will work. Not out of ambition -- that is the old strategy. Not out of possessiveness --
           that is falling back into the dark ages again.
                I know the Soviet Union is not as rich as America, but there is no need to be so rich. Just bring
           about a comfortable existence: and bring meditativeness to people; then they will work. But this
           work will be a work of dedication, a work dedicated to the ultimate revolution which will involve the
           whole humanity.
                He's talking of patriotism -- which is a disease. All wars have come out of patriotism,
           nationalism. And soon he is bound to allow foreign money to be invested in the Soviet Union, on the
           condition -- this is my prediction -- on the condition that foreign money will not be nationalized,
           that the foreign money will be available to the outside owners and they can take it back any time
           they want. This is the only way left for him to make the social economy of the Soviet Union rise
           higher.
                But this will create the capitalist class again, and the laborers, the proletariat.
                Without knowing, Gorbachev is working against Marx, against Engels, against Lenin -- against
           all the people who have worked so hard to create a new kind of social structure, but they were
           missing on one point. That point was spirituality. Just add spirituality to the Soviet Union and it will
           have the most joyous, most loving, most compassionate people in the world.
                You have seen the Soviet crew which was here from Soviet television. There have been all kinds
           of television crews, all kinds of journalists from all over the world, but it is only the Soviet crew who
           went with tears in their eyes. They loved you; they loved your commune so much, so deeply. They
           have gone with the promise that when they have their holidays for ten days in June, they are not
           going anywhere else. They are going to come here for ten days to live in the commune as sannyasins,
           meditating, doing groups.
                You can see the difference. When the American journalist comes, he starts looking immediately
           to find something sensational. If he cannot find it, he creates and invents it, because America is
           interested only in sensationalism. These people behaved in a totally different way. This was for the
           first time that a Russian crew has come. When you were doing your meditations, dancing, they
           forgot all about photographing. They dropped their cameras and started dancing! They loved the
           sannyasins.
                Their questions were absolutely non-sensational. Significant, meaningful, but not sensational --
           utterly concerned with human welfare. And Anando told me that they had tears in their eyes when
           they left the gate; they did not want to go. They wanted to stay for the whole series, but their office
           from Delhi called them, saying, "You come back, there are other assignments."
                They will be back in June for ten days, to have more experience of what you have. They want to
           taste it. They want to be insiders, not outsiders.
                And this is the state of the whole Soviet Union: the people have become like children. No
           church, no programming, no God, no prayer -- they have become so innocent that meditation will
           go deep down in them, faster than in any other country.


              The second question, which is connected:
              IS IT NOT TRUE THAT IN THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE THE ZORBA IS ALREADY SO MUCH ALIVE
              THAT IT IS EASIER TO BRING BUDDHA IN THAT COUNTRY THAN IN ANY OTHER? AND IS IT
              REALLY DEPENDENT ON COMMUNISM, BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE LESS CONDITIONED?


               Zorba is certainly there. But if vodka is denied to the Zorba, that will be a disaster!
               I am absolutely against Gorbachev's idea of prohibition. Vodka is every Russian's birthright!
           That is all they have. Don't take away their dance and their joy unless you can provide something
           better. That's my very simple arithmetic: don't take anything from anybody unless you can give
           something better in its place.
               And I don't know that Gorbachev has anything better to offer. He himself does not know
           anything better.
               Rather than sending those people to Germany to learn the art of how not to attack, he should
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come here, and send his people here. I will teach them how to dance, how to love. And if there is a
           need to attack you should be the first, not the second! You have the tremendous responsibility of
           protecting a great experiment that has never been done before.
                Yes, it is true: they are less conditioned, simpler people; hence they can more easily enter into
           the world of no-mind. The Zorba is there; I can introduce the Buddha also. But Gorbachev has no
           idea of the Buddha. His eyes are fixed on America and American money, and American capitalism's
           success. He is not looking eastward towards Zen, which is the only solution for the Soviet Union to
           protect communism and its dignity, and to spread communism all over the world.
                Zorba has to come first; Buddha will come once Zorba becomes established. I can take away the
           vodka because I can give the Buddha. Who cares about vodka when you have the Buddha in you?
                But Gorbachev seems to be on a power trip, utterly dangerous. A single man's ego has to be
           fulfilled by destroying a valuable, immensely valuable experiment! And once the Soviet Union fails,
           is scattered, it will take centuries for humanity to again take the risk of creating communism. Once a
           thing fails people lose their hope; it takes centuries for them to forget and begin anew. So it is not
           only a question for today, it is a question for future generations too.
                And my concern is absolutely impartial. I have been interested in communism from my very
           childhood. The Soviet crew has been to my library, and they were amazed to see the communist
           literature there -- perhaps there is no book that is missing from my library. And they were amazed to
           see that I have signed and dated each book before 1950. I was absolutely concerned to know about
           communism, everything. For three years, 1948, 1949, and 1950, I had collected all the literature
           possible. And I stopped at 1950. I have not read anything after 1950 about communism, for or
           against.
                It is very strange... I go on forgetting small things. I cannot count up to five -- after the third
           finger I start hesitating, whether it is fourth or third. But in these forty years I have not forgotten a
           single name of the communist revolutionaries. Small details are so vivid before me, because that was
           my first entry into the intellectual world. It got deeply rooted in me. But I never became a member of
           a communist party, because I could see something was missing.
                It is a grand plan for humanity, but something central is missing: it has no soul, it is a corpse.
                Because nothing new was happening, I stopped reading. And nothing new has happened since
           then, except Gorbachev. So I am talking about Gorbachev.
                First I was deeply interested in communism, but finding that it is a corpse I became interested in
           anarchism -- that was also a Russian phenomenon -- Prince Kropotkin, Bakunin, Leo Tolstoy. All
           three were anarchists: no state, no government in the world. But I saw the point that they have a
           beautiful dream but with this criminal humanity, with this stupid mass, if there is no government and
           no court and no police there will be simply chaos, not anarchism.
                I have been always very scientific in my approach, either outside or inside. Communism can be
           the base. Then spiritualism has to be its growth, to provide what is missing. Once a society is given
           equal opportunity -- to be unequal, to be unique -- and once that society becomes interested in
           meditation and spiritual growth, then there is a possibility of anarchism. That will be the very final
           stage, when there is nobody who is interested in committing crime. Only then can the state be
           removed, not before it. Bakunin, Kropotkin, and Leo Tolstoy are perfectly right, but not relevant
           now. First communism has to be aided by spirituality.
                Once spirituality gains ground in your very being, crime becomes impossible. To do anything
           wrong becomes impossible. Obviously, the state will wither away. When there is nobody committing
           any crime, how long are you going to keep your courts empty and judges sitting there? Soon you will
           feel that it is better that these judges go into the fields and work. How long are you going to keep
           unnecessary policemen standing around? Armies, millions of people unnecessarily being fed, clothed
           -- and they are getting the best food, the best clothes, and they are not working at all. Every country
           is filled with millions of people in armies. They should be brought back to the world, to work.
                But this is possible only if communism steps into spiritualism; then spiritualism can flower into
           anarchism. These are simple steps. But if communism disappears, then it becomes very difficult to
           transform the capitalist world towards spirituality. It is a difficult job. And anarchism becomes a
           very faraway, remote possibility -- may be, may not be.
                Hence my support for communism: because I would love the world one day to have no nations,
           no religions, no boundaries, no policemen, no armies, no guns, no murderers. Healthy people,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spiritually loving, growing deeper and growing higher simultaneously, getting roots and getting
           wings together, simultaneously -- these will be the real superhuman beings, the new man I have
           been working for.
               I see in the Soviet Union great possibilities, great potentialities. If Gorbachev does not go wrong,
           those opportunities can be transformed into a reality.

           The sutra:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONE DAY, UNGAN WAS SWEEPING THE GARDEN WITH A BAMBOO BROOM. HIS BROTHER,
              DOGO, CAME OVER TO HIM AND SAID, "HEY, YOU LOOK TERRIBLY BUSY!"
              UNGAN SAID, "ALTHOUGH BUSY, THERE IS SOMETHING WHICH IS NOT BUSY."

               That is your consciousness, that is your buddha inside. You may be busy but there is someone,
           the witness, who is never busy. It has no business at all. It simply is, like a mirror.
               When the mirror reflects you, do you think it is doing something? It is not doing anything. To
           mirror is its nature; it is simply there. It is just a coincidence that you happen to stand before it. Once
           you are gone the empty mirror will be there.
               When Ungan said, "Although busy, there is something which is not busy," he was saying, "On
           the surface you can see me busy but inside I know someone who is just sitting silently, doing
           nothing. And that is more essential and more fundamental. This busy-ness will end soon."
           DOGO SAID, "THAT MEANS THERE ARE TWO MOONS" -- one busy and one not busy.
              THEN UNGAN PUT THE BROOM ON THE GROUND AND SAID, "WHAT MOON IS THIS?"

               Now he is no longer busy. He dropped the broom on the ground and sat silently and asked,
           "What moon is this?"
           DOGO SILENTLY LEFT -- not knowing what to say now.
               In a metaphorical way there are millions of moons. When the full moon arises in the night, in
           every small pond, in every river, in every ocean... millions of reflections, uncountable reflections.
           But they are only reflections, not realities. The moon is one -- reflections many, millions. The
           consciousness is one -- reflections many, millions.
               As you move towards your consciousness, you are moving towards oneness. As you go back
           towards the circumference there are millions of moons, but they are only reflections.
               Whatever you are doing is nothing more than a reflection. What you are is a reality, eternal
           reality. Only the eternal can be called the real. The momentary is so passing, it does not matter.
               So when Ungan put the broom down on the ground and sat there and asked, "What moon is
           this?" Dogo could not understand.
               They were brothers. Both finally became enlightened, but Ungan seems to have a deeper
           understanding. Even before his enlightenment, he is coming very close.

              AT ANOTHER TIME, UNGAN ASKED A MONK, "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?"
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I CAME WITH INCENSE."

              This is the world of Zen. You should not expect Socratic dialogues. There is nothing else in the
           world to compare with Zen, it is unique and a category in itself.
              Ungan has asked, "Where are you from?" and the man does not answer the question.
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I CAME WITH INCENSE."

               The present moment. "What are you bothering about, from where I am coming and where I am
           going? Just look at my hand: I have come with incense." And incense also is symbolic. It is offered
           to the Buddha, the fragrance and the smoke of the incense continuously rising towards the blue sky
           and disappearing.
               All these are very significant symbols. People have forgotten their symbology because people
           very quickly become ritualistic.
               I have told you about a woman, a nun, who had a small golden Buddha. Now there are temples in
           Japan, in China -- and she was in China. One temple has ten thousand statues of Buddha --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unbelievable! The whole mountain has been carved; the mountain has disappeared, only Buddha's
           statues, statues upon statues, ten thousand Buddhas. And every temple has many Buddhas.
               So this nun was always in trouble: "MY Buddha!" When she would worship in the morning...
           now the incense knows nothing about whose Buddha and whose incense... sometimes it would start
           moving with the breeze to some other Buddha.
               All the statues were of the same man, but such is the possessive mind: she wanted the incense to
           reach to HER Buddha. And her Buddha was very small -- it was pure gold -- and there were huge
           Buddhas standing, sitting, lying down, in all kinds of postures. The incense has no idea of
           possessiveness, and the wind has no idea. So the wind would come and the incense would go to this
           Buddha or that Buddha, and that woman was very angry. "This is absolutely wrong. It is my incense
           and MY Buddha is not getting anything!"
               So she devised a small technique: she cut a bamboo, hollow bamboo, and she put the hollow
           bamboo over the incense and the smoke which was going to other Buddhas. She put the other end of
           the bamboo to her golden Buddha's nose. But a disaster happened. The golden Buddha's nose
           became black! So she went to the priest of the temple: "How to clean my Buddha's nose?"
               He said, "How did it happen?" Then she told the whole story. The priest was a master. He
           laughed; he said, "Such is the human mind, so utterly retarded! All these Buddhas are just the
           reflection of one Buddha -- your Buddha included. So whosoever is getting the incense, Buddha is
           getting the incense. You should not have been so possessive. My Buddha, my incense! -- now your
           possessiveness has destroyed your Buddha's nose. I cannot help."
               She was in tears. She said, "You are an old master, and you know everything. Some way to clean
           my Buddha's nose... and I don't want to scratch it, I don't want to destroy my beautiful Buddha."
               He said, "This whole idea of `MY Buddha, MY Buddha' is the cause of your Buddha's nose
           becoming black! Drop this idea! And leave your Buddha with me. Tomorrow morning you can take
           it away. The nose will be cleaned, but first drop this idea; otherwise it will happen again. What is the
           point? If you are going to use that hollow bamboo you will destroy your Buddha. Let the wind take
           the incense anywhere it takes it. It always reaches to the one Buddha."

           There are not two Buddhas; all are reflections.
           The moon is one, reflected in millions of ponds, millions of rivers, oceans.
           But reflections are reflections.
              Our actions are nothing more than reflections, momentary; they go and come, the buddha
           remains. He is always there, the eternal presence.
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I CAME WITH INCENSE."

              He is saying, "I have come in search of a buddha. I came with incense, and you are asking
           nonsense questions." Ungan immediately understood.
              UNGAN ASKED, "DID YOU SEE BUDDHA?"

              If you have come with incense, that means you are looking for the buddha. Did you see the
           buddha?"
              THE MONK REPLIED, "YES, I DID."
              "WHERE DID YOU SEE HIM?" UNGAN ASKED.
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I SAW HIM IN THE LOWER WORLD."
              UNGAN SAID, "THE OLD BUDDHA! THE OLD BUDDHA!"


               This is a very strange anecdote. The monk said, "I SAW HIM IN THE LOWER WORLD."
           You have to understand the idea of the lower world....
               Buddha said in his statements, "If there is a hell I will go there, because who will take care of the
           people in hell? Who will teach them the way to be out of hell and misery? Until hell is emptied, I
           will remain there."
               And the second story says, when he emptied hell completely of all the people, he reached the
           gate of heaven. There was great rejoicing and the doors were opened for him. There were roses on
           the road, and people were standing on both sides of the road leading to the place they had chosen for
           Buddha to live. But Buddha said, "I am not going to enter -- please close the doors. I will stand here
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           till every living being has passed through. I have emptied hell, but the earth is full of unconscious
           people. Let them all pass, there is no hurry. I will stand here outside the gate." And the parable says,
           he is still standing there.
                That will help you to understand the monk when he says, "I saw him in the lower world." `Lower
           world' is the Buddhist way of saying hell. The upper world is heaven; in the middle is this earth. We
           are the middle world.
                UNGAN SAID, "THE OLD BUDDHA! THE OLD BUDDHA! His compassion is so great, he
           must have entered hell."
                He is immensely touched by the fact that Buddha has gone into hell. "The old Buddha, with his
           eternal compassion, can't resist the temptation to go into hell! He will suffer hellfire, that is not a
           problem, but he will empty hell."
                So this statement -- "THE OLD BUDDHA! THE OLD BUDDHA!" -- is of great gratitude. He
           is remembering the old Gautam Buddha, his compassion, his love, his effort to transform the whole
           world into absolute awareness.
                "Every living being has to become a buddha." That was his message -- not a Buddhist, but THE
           BUDDHA.

              Buson wrote:
              PLUM SCENT
              HALOING
              THE MOON.


               The scent of the plum is reaching the moon, and creating a halo around the moon. Only
           meditators can experience such refined, beautiful experiences.
               Plum scent reaching to the moon, haloing, making a halo around the moon. A tremendous,
           beautiful, vivid picture.
               Sometimes you see the halo of the moon. When it goes behind a cloud, then you can see the halo.
           Inside you can see the moon and just around it, a little fainter but still beautiful, very beautiful, a
           round circle.
               Buson must have arisen out of his meditation and seen the moon, and smelled the plum perfume.
               Zen masters used to write their experiences immediately after meditation. And every Zen master
           was asked before his death to write one haiku to be remembered for centuries -- "This is your last
           word." So every Zen master has written before dying a small haiku which comprehends his whole
           experience of life. Before moving beyond life he leaves the last signature and the last message,
           compressed, of his whole life's experience.
               It happened in one Zen master's life that the disciples forgot -- they were in such sadness -- to
           ask him to write.
               So he died, it is said, and they took him out of his cottage and were preparing the funeral pyre.
           Then the master opened his eyes and he said, "Listen, you have forgotten one thing..." They were
           shocked! He said, "Bring the book. Otherwise what will the coming generations say? `What kind of
           master died without giving any message?' Bring the book!"
               The book was immediately brought. He wrote a small haiku, signed it, closed his eyes, and died
           again.
               Now they were very cautious, they took their time. Somebody put his ear to the master's heart --
           no sound, no beat. Somebody brought a mirror close to his nose -- maybe some small breath, then
           the mirror will show the vapor. But no vapor. They shook him -- no reaction, no response. Finally,
           they decided, "It seems he has died." And he laughed.
               He said, "Now I am really dying. This time don't try to check. Because you were checking, I
           waited. Laughter is my last message -- write it down!" And he really died.
           But he tricked them two times. So when I die, remember: Don't be in a hurry!


              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IT SEEMS THAT THE FREEDOM OF CAPITALISM ALWAYS MEANT THE FREEDOM OF THE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              JUNGLE AND THE VICTOR OF THE MOST POWERFUL EGO. IN AMERICA, NORTH AS WELL AS
              SOUTH AMERICA, IT ALSO MEANT STARVATION OF THE POOR AND ORGANIZED
              PROSTITUTION AND CRIME ON A VERY WIDE SCALE. IS NOT SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM A
              NECESSARY STEP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MORE HUMANE SOCIETY?


               Maneesha, communism is certainly a necessary step for a more humane society, but not
           socialism. You don't understand the difference between socialism and communism. Most people
           think they are synonymous.
               Socialism is a cowardly compromise with capitalism. Communism is absolutely no compromise
           with capitalism, and no compromise with anything that constitutes capitalism.
               Up to now the Soviet Union has been a communist country. Now Comrade Gorbachev is trying
           to bring it down to socialism. That is destroying its dignity; that is a defeat. I hope he understands
           before it is too late.

           It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh... because I don't want to be too late!

           (THE ASSEMBLY LAUGHS APPRECIATIVELY, REMEMBERING LAST NIGHTS' THREE
           AND A HALF HOUR DISCOURSE)

               Dick Puller is the office playboy, and all the guys go to him for advice on how to score with
           women. One afternoon, Muffin Snuffler takes Dick aside, and asks him, "Tell me, Dick, how do you
           manage it? You are a married man but you have a different girlfriend every night. What is your
           secret?"
               "It is simple," replies Dick Puller. "It is all in the approach. I will tell you how to do it. Tonight,
           take the five o'clock train from Penn Central Station and get off at Trenton. At Trenton you will find
           dozens of women waiting for their husbands. And there are always some husbands who have to work
           late, so all you have to do is be charming and let nature take its course."
               So Muffin catches the five o'clock train from Penn Station but dozes off in his seat. He wakes up
           with a start and finds that he has gone past Trenton and he has to get out at Westchester.
               Muffin is about to catch a train to go back, when he sees a woman standing on the platform,
           looking very available.
               Muffin casually walks over to her -- one thing leads to another and they end up in bed together
           at her place.
               They are really beginning to enjoy themselves when the door swings open and Dick Puller comes
           in.
               Dick takes one look at his wife in bed and shouts, "Dammit, Betty! So this is what you do when I
           work late! And as for you, Muffin, you idiot -- I told you to get off at Trenton!"

               It is four o'clock on that fateful day on Calvary Hill. Jesus has been nailed up to the cross since
           lunchtime and is beginning to feel really hang-dog.
               All of his disciples have deserted him, except one. Alone and standing right underneath the cross,
           in the hot baking sun, is Jesus' unknown thirteenth apostle, Reginald the homosexual. Reginald looks
           up at the nearly-naked Jesus on the cross, and whispers, "Jesus! Ah! Jesus!"
           Jesus looks down and says, "What is it, Reggie?"
               "My Lord!" replies Reginald, looking up at him. "From where I am standing, I have to say --
           you are really well hung!"

              Jack Jerk is watching as his wife, Jill, tries on her new "Betty Boobs" brand bra.
              "What the hell did you buy that thing for?" asks Jack Jerk. "You have nothing to put into it!"
           "Cool it, Jack!" snaps Jill. "Do I complain about you wearing underpants?"

           Nivedano...
           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Be silent...
           Close your eyes... and feel your bodies to be completely frozen.
           This is the right moment for looking inwards.
               Gather your life forces, and rush towards the center of your being -- with your total
           consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be the last moment of your life.
           Faster and faster...
           Deeper and deeper...
               As you come closer to your being, a great silence descends over you just like rain, very soft rain
           of silence, cool.
           Closer... and you find flowers of peace blossoming all around you.
               Still closer... and you see for the first time your original face. This is the buddha.
               The buddha is everyone's original face, and the buddha simply means witnessing.
           Witness: you are not the body.
           Witness: you are not the mind.
               Witness that you are only a witness and nothing else, and suddenly you are at the very center of
           your being.
           A great ecstasy arises in you, a deep blissfulness is felt.
               You disappear... just like incense smoke disappearing into the blue sky... only the buddha is left.

           To make the witnessing deeper and clearer, Nivedano...

           Relax.
           Let go... but continue to witness. Continue to be a buddha.
           This is your nature.
           This is your ultimate, eternal existence.

           At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth.
               The evening was beautiful on its own, but your meditation, your becoming a buddha, a witness,
           has added to the beauty of the evening tremendously. Now it is a miracle.
               As your witnessing becomes more and more clear, you start melting like ice in the ocean.
               Gautam the Buddha Auditorium is turning into an ocean of consciousness without waves,
           without any ripples, just a silent ocean.
               Ten thousand buddhas were just reflections -- now there is only one buddha. Ten thousand
           reflections have disappeared into oneness, the ocean.
           This is the authentic buddha.
               When you become one with existence, the cosmos, you have entered the ultimate immortal
           existence.
               Collect as much of the juices of life as possible. You have to bring them back with you. Collect
           the fragrances of the beyond, the flowers that are showering on you, the silence, the ecstasy, the
           peace, the serenity.
               And don't forget to persuade the buddha to come a little closer to your ordinary day-to-day
           existence.
           These are the three steps:
               First, buddha will become a shadow to you, always following behind you. Second step, you will
           become a shadow of buddha, always following him.
               The third and final step, you will merge into the buddha -- a transparent consciousness, it does
           not make any shadow. The moment you merge into the buddha, only buddha remains: you are no
           more. That is the greatest, most blissful day of your life.

           Nivedano...

              Come back, but remember the grace of a buddha, the beauty, the silence, the serenity.
              Sit down for a few moments just to remember where you have been, what has been the
           experience at the center of your being, what golden paths you have traveled on....
              And feel the presence of buddha just behind you. He is almost touching you; every day he is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           coming closer and closer. Every day your life is becoming more and more graceful, more and more
           of a deeper understanding of the secrets of the cosmos, more and more mysterious. Soon you will
           find yourself one of the greatest mysteries in existence. That day will be the day of your awakening,
           of your enlightenment.
           It is not far away.
                It is only a question of bringing more intensity, more totality, more sense of urgency. And the
           Zen Fire will burn all that is false in you, and the Zen Wind will take it away from you. You will
           remain just pure gold.
           This pure gold of your being has the face of the buddha.

                To be a buddha is the only meaning, the only significance of life. Those who miss it have missed
           all. Those who have found it have found everything that is valuable in this existence.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                  Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                    Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Socialism is a judas
           3 February 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8902035
              ShortTitle: FIRE05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 180 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ON ONE OCCASION, A MONK ASKED MASTER DOGO: "EVEN IF THERE IS NO CLOUD FOR
              THOUSANDS OF MILES, IT IS NOT YET THE ORIGINAL SKY. WHAT IS THE ORIGINAL SKY?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "TODAY, IT IS GOOD TO DRY WHEAT."
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, DOGO WAS ASKED BY ANOTHER MONK, "WHAT IS THE
              DEEPEST?"
              DOGO CAME DOWN FROM HIS SEAT, MADE OBEISANCE IN THE MANNER OF WOMEN AND
              SAID, "YOU HAVE COME FROM FAR, AND I HAVE NO ANSWER FOR YOU."
              AT ANOTHER TIME, SEKISO KEISHO ASKED DOGO, "AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS, IF
              SOMEONE ASKS ABOUT THE ABSOLUTE MEANING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHAT SHALL I SAY
              TO HIM?"
              DOGO CALLED THE BOY ATTENDANT, WHO CAME, AND TOLD HIM TO FILL UP THE WATER
              BOTTLE. DOGO WAITED A WHILE, AND THEN SAID TO SEKISO, "WHAT WAS IT YOU ASKED
              JUST NOW?"
              SEKISO REPEATED THE QUESTION. DOGO THEREUPON WENT BACK TO HIS ROOM, AND AT
              THIS, SEKISO BECAME ENLIGHTENED.


               Friends,
               First, I am going to answer a few questions from the Australian TV crew. They have been here
           for almost one month. When they had come, they were very serious people, as Australians are
           supposed to be. But this morning they filmed me, and they have completely changed. They were
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           smiling and laughing and enjoying.
               Ecstasy is contagious. It is dangerous to enter this gateless gate! But they are very nice people
           and very perfectionist. They have been doing a film on the commune, its lifestyle, its philosophical
           approach to existence. And of course, on me, the spiritual terrorist behind the commune! -- or in
           other words, the center of this cyclone which is going to grow every day bigger and bigger and is
           going to envelop the whole earth.
               When they go back to their homes, their wives will be absolutely surprised -- whatever
           happened to these guys? The very air of the commune changes personalities. Your joy, your
           laughter, your blissfulness, your silence, touches the very heart of anyone who is alive.
               This morning I saw, these people are not dead. They are really alive! So now I can trust that their
           film and their program for television is going to be a real shock to the whole of Australia. If they can
           create the shock, I am coming!


              Their first question is:
              ARE EITHER COMMUNISTS OR CAPITALISTS READY FOR THE CONSCIOUSNESS
              REVOLUTION OF A SPIRITUAL TERRORIST LIKE YOURSELF?


                They are not ready, but I am going to make them ready! The time is ripe. They will have to be
           ready, because unless they become more and more conscious and alert, the destiny of this earth is
           doomed.
                If anyone loves this earth, the beautiful birds and animals and human beings, if anyone has a
           sense of this tremendous phenomenon... because the whole universe is without any greenery, without
           any flowers, without any oceans, without any rivers. This place, this small earth -- very small --
           has a special position in the world. In the whole of existence it is only this earth that has produced
           buddhas, enlightened people. This earth has become holy, just because so many buddhas have
           traveled on it.
                And because the criminal politicians have come to the end of the rope, now they don't know what
           to do except create a war. To counteract, to create an atmosphere in the world against any possible
           war, the only way is to raise the consciousness of the people.
                I know perfectly well that neither capitalists are ready nor communists are ready. But first
           communists will be ready -- then the capitalists, because the capitalists are full of vested interest.
           The Soviet Union and the people living there have nothing to lose. They are all equally poor, and
           seventy years of revolution have created a complete vacuum in their being. That vacuum can be
           filled only by meditative awareness.
                As I have told you again and again, nobody can live on negative ideas. The positive idea may be
           wrong, may be fiction, may be just a hope, a consolation, but still it fills your being. It keeps you
           unaware of the hollowness. But the negative idea does not fill your inner being. The positive means
           your fridge may be full of rubbish, junk, but still -- when you open it, it is full.
                When somebody starts believing in no God, in no heaven, in no hell -- drops all fictions, all the
           consolations humanity has lived with for thousands of years -- then suddenly he feels a great
           vacuum, a hollowness, a meaninglessness. Hence, I always give more priority to the atheist than the
           theist. The atheist is in every way ready, he just has to be hit on the right point. He has no God, he
           has nothing to cling to.
                In the communist ideology he is left absolutely alone. That's what is missing in communist
           ideology: it cannot fill people's hearts, it cannot nourish their beings; hence the communists are
           going to be first to rise in consciousness. The capitalist has too much vested interest. He has so many
           troubles and problems, so much money, so many businesses. He has no time even to look inside and
           see that he is hollow.

               I have heard about a very super-rich man. When he died, then he realized that he used to be alive
           -- but only when he died. In the grave where he was buried, he realized for the first time, "My God! I
           have been alive for eighty years and never thought about what it is to be alive!"
               There are many people who only realize the value of life at the point of death. But then it is too
           late. Life keeps them engaged. The capitalist has too many things to remain engaged and involved in.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The communist has nothing; hence the great possibility that the communist may be ahead of the
           capitalist as far as consciousness-raising is concerned.
               The capitalist goes on postponing. Even though he sees the poverty he is creating, the beggars he
           is creating, the starving people he is creating, he goes on thinking that a few reforms will do. A little
           higher wages, a few more facilities for the poor, for the proletariat -- that's what I call socialism.
           Socialism is an invention of the capitalist mind to distract people from communism. Socialism is
           reformist, it is not revolutionary. And reforms can keep people hoping. It is a welfare state; it is just
           renovating the old house which is getting ready to fall down any moment.
               Revolution means demolishing the old completely and creating the new, discontinuous with the
           past.
           I love always to tell a small story....

               There used to be a very ancient church, so ancient that even the priest was afraid to go inside.
           When there was a strong wind, the church used to wave like a tree. Any moment there was a
           possibility that it would fall down.
               So the priest used to hold his assembly outside, far away from the church, under the trees. But
           finally something had to be done. The trustees of the church met -- they also met outside -- and
           they proposed a few things to be done.
               First, the church was too old, a new church was needed. But this is how the reformist mind
           functions.... Their second proposal was, "We will create the new church, but we will make the new
           church from the materials -- the doors, the bricks, the statues, everything -- of the old church. We
           will make the new church exactly the same as the old church, with the same materials."
               And their third proposal was, "We will not destroy the old church until the new one is ready."
               Now how can you manage it? The reformist goes on patching things, covering things, covering
           wounds and cancers.
               Socialism is a renegade, it is a Judas. It is because of the communist danger to the capitalists that
           they are proposing a new form, socialism. It sounds good, but the intention is very evil.
               I am worried about Gorbachev because he is not using the word `communism' anymore. He is
           using the word `socialism' -- perhaps unconsciously, not being aware that socialism is a conspiracy
           of the capitalist world to prevent an international revolution that will transform the whole world into
           a communist world, with equal opportunity for everybody to attain to his potential.
               And when the world is one, there is no need of any government -- that's why Karl Marx says the
           state will wither away. But it can wither away only when the whole world is communist.
               I have every hope that because of the oncoming possibility of a third world war... if it happens it
           will be the last world war, and there will be no one left even to write the history about it.
               When Albert Einstein was asked, "Can you say something about the third world war?" his reply
           was amazing. He said, "No, I cannot say a single thing about the third world war, but I can say
           something about the fourth."
               The questioner said, "You can say something about the fourth and you cannot say anything about
           the third? This is strange."
               Albert Einstein laughed; he said, "It is not strange. I can say about the fourth that it will never
           happen. But about the third, it is impossible to say. The calamity will be so big that man will have
           never seen such calamity. Within ten to fifteen minutes the whole world, all life, every living thing
           on the earth, will be dead."
               Just America alone has enough nuclear weapons to destroy life on this earth seven times,
           although there is no need. Only one man, Jesus, is supposed to have been resurrected, and I don't
           think even he will be able to resurrect seven times. One time he managed to escape from a cave and
           befool the whole world, but seven times? It will be impossible. He never went back to Jerusalem,
           because once he managed to befool people; now it is impossible. If he is caught again he will be
           crucified.
               What is the purpose of accumulating so many nuclear weapons? And seeing the situation, the
           Soviet Union has stopped creating more nuclear weapons. There are enough in the Soviet Union also
           to destroy the whole of humanity, all living beings. Now there is no point. They seem to be more
           intelligent, understanding that if you have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the whole world, why
           go on wasting money piling up nuclear weapons?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The totality of the war is a new phenomenon to be encountered. All the wars in the past were
           small, local. Even our second world war was nothing compared to the possibility of the third world
           war. I call it a total war, because it will be a total destruction of the planet Earth. This creates a
           certain situation which has never been there before.
               The time is short, perhaps not more than ten or eleven years. By the year 2000, most probably we
           will have either committed suicide or we will have changed the whole structure of the human mind
           and raised the consciousness and created millions of meditators and thousands of buddhas. That is
           the only alternative:
           War or meditation.
           War or spiritual revolution.
               And the war has to be understood as the culmination of our whole human history. It is not
           coming from the sky -- it is coming from our past, accumulating more and more anger, more and
           more violence, more and more weapons. The first world war was smaller, the second became bigger.
           The third is going to be total.
               Because it is a total war, every person has to understand his responsibility. In smaller wars it was
           nothing to be worried about. If it was going on in Vietnam... who cares about Vietnam? Many people
           have not even heard the NAME Vietnam. If it is happening in Afghanistan, who cares? -- small
           pieces of humanity are involved. But this time it is the whole existence of life and all living beings
           with us: trees, and roses, and lotuses....
               And we are coming closer to the point where man can become a superman. Now we cannot
           afford a war. We cannot afford a global suicide. We have to understand how to transcend the mind
           that the past has created and programmed for wars and destruction and violence.
               That's my whole work: to erase the past from your mind and give you a present orientation to
           look at reality with clean eyes. And your future will be golden if your present is clean. Out of this
           clean presence will arise a new future, which will not have any continuity with the past; it will be a
           quantum leap.
               If communists are turned towards a revolution for consciousness, capitalists will not be far
           behind -- just as they are not far behind as far as war is concerned, destruction is concerned. It is a
           competitive world. If communists turn towards consciousness, that will be a great impetus for the
           capitalists to try to be ahead of them. Nobody wants to be behind!
               So my whole strategy is, the communists should be turned towards a revolution of consciousness.
           That will become a Zen Fire and a Zen Wind, going around the earth, and turning everybody towards
           a new competition that they have never known before: who becomes the buddha first?


              The second question:
              YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE GREAT RUSSIAN EXPERIMENT. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE
              GREAT EXPERIMENT OF YOUR COMMUNE HERE?


               My commune here is a far greater experiment than any communism. Communism was only an
           economic revolution, changing the economic structure of the society. It was very partial; that's why
           the Russians are feeling a little sad, something is missing.
               A partial revolution is bound to fail. It is as if only one part of your body is healthy and the rest
           of the body is sick. What are you going to do with one hand healthy and the whole body sick?
               Revolution has to be total on every plane -- economic, social, psychological, spiritual. Unless it
           is a total revolution man is going to feel himself crippled, as if your head goes on becoming bigger
           and bigger and your body remains the same. Soon you will be in trouble.

           I have heard about a circus....
               The manager declared, "Now comes our last and greatest entertainment for you. Wake up
           everybody! We bring to the stage our greatest dancer." So a few people who had fallen asleep woke
           up, sat up in their chairs, alert. The greatest dancer?
               Then the curtain opened and they saw a woman lying flat on her chest on the floor. They could
           not think what kind of dance was going to be happening. Finally, the woman tried hard to get up. Her
           breasts were so big that just to get up was the dance! When she stood up everybody was clapping!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They had never seen such a dance -- the woman was doing a miracle! Her breasts were still
           touching the earth!
                The manager came back and he said, "Have you seen the dance?" And people laughed; they said,
           "It is really the greatest dance we could have ever imagined!"

               Partial revolution is not revolution. Only the total revolution -- and total revolution has to arise
           from your very center.
               That is my work here. I want every individual to clean the past from his mind completely. All his
           prejudices, all his thoughts -- political, social, religious -- everything has to be dropped. Just a
           clean slate, and you have arrived to the space of no-mind.
               No-mind is meditation, and no-mind is the revelation, and no-mind is the greatest rebellion that
           has ever happened.
               In the past only very few people... a Gautam Buddha here and there, thousands of years pass and
           then comes one person who blossoms into a buddha. But now there is no more time. You cannot
           postpone for tomorrow. Whatever you want to do has to be done now!
               For the first time the present is becoming more and more important. Each day you are coming
           closer to choosing the alternative: either move towards becoming a buddha, or move towards
           becoming a corpse.
           I don't think anybody wants to die, particularly when all life is at risk.
           This third world war cannot happen. We are going to prevent it!
               Our ways are very different... that's why I love your expression for me, a "spiritual terrorist." I
           don't have any weapons, I don't have any nuclear missiles, but I have something greater and
           something far more effective. It is not to kill, it is to bring life to those who are living almost as if
           they are dead. It is bringing awareness to those who are behaving like somnambulists, walking in
           their sleep, talking in their sleep, not knowing exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it.
               I want people to be so awake that their whole consciousness goes to the deepest part of their
           being, and also to the highest peak. A vertical growth -- just like a tree grows. Its roots go down into
           the earth, and its branches spread towards the stars. Its blossoms flower into the sky, its nourishment
           comes from the deepest part of the earth. It is always balanced: the higher the tree goes, the deeper
           the roots. You cannot have a cedar of Lebanon tree, four hundred or five hundred years old, rising so
           high in the sky, with small roots. It will fall down immediately.
               Life needs a balance between the depth and the height. I teach you both simultaneously. In your
           entering to the center in meditation, you are growing your roots deeper into the cosmos. And
           bringing the buddha out from the hidden center is bringing your fragrance, bringing your grace,
           bringing your ecstasy higher, where it can blossom into the sky.
               Your ecstasy is a movement towards the height and your meditation is a movement towards the
           depth. And once you have both, your life becomes a celebration.
               That is my work, to transform your life from a sad affair into a celebration.
               If we can fill the earth with laughter there is not going to be any war. If we can teach the soldiers
           to tell jokes to the enemy, there is not going to be any war. They will throw their guns and sit down
           and share jokes! And when somebody is telling a joke, can you kill him? When he is bringing
           laughter to you, can you destroy him?
               Every man now is responsible to create a buddhafield around himself, an energy field that goes
           on becoming bigger and bigger. Create as many vibrations of laughter, joy, celebration, as possible;
           dance, sing, let the whole of humanity by and by catch the fire of Zen and the wind of Zen.
               Nobody is really interested to be sad. Nobody is interested to torture himself. It is your religions
           and your politicians who go on making you sad and miserable, because in your misery is their whole
           business. If you start laughing, if you start dancing, throwing the gun away; if you take up a guitar....
               Jesus says to his disciples, "Carry your cross on your shoulders." I say, don't listen to such
           nonsense. Carry your guitar on your shoulders, and fresh and fragrant laughter on your lips. Make
           this whole world a merry-go-round. You don't have that word. You have the word
           `SORRY-go-round'. I have to create language for you!
               Just your laughter will be enough to prevent the war. Your celebration, your dance, will be
           enough to prevent the war. Your ecstasy, your meditation, will create a tremendous force which will
           be far higher because it is life-affirmative.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Your religions are life-negative. Your politicians are life-negative. Your religions prepare you
           for beyond life, not to live here joyously. And your politicians create weapons to kill you. Politicians
           kill you and priests console you: "Don't be worried. After your death you will be entering paradise --
           beautiful women and rivers of wine." No prohibition, no marriage... have you ever heard that in
           paradise there are marriages?
                I am creating a paradise herenow. I don't wait for death -- why should one wait for death? And
           if there is going to be a paradise after death, please prepare for it! Be ready for it! Enjoy here, so that
           you can enjoy there. Only those who are capable of enjoying here, and dancing here, and singing
           here, and loving here, will be able to enjoy paradise... not your saints, only my people!
                Your saints will be sitting there miserable, not looking at beautiful women -- with closed eyes,
           shrinking into themselves. And what to do? -- there is no water available, only wine, and all around
           beautiful women, naked, dancing.

              One Hindu saint died a few years ago, Swami Muktananda. You must have heard his name;
           many of you may have seen him. But you don't know what happened in paradise.
              One of his disciples was so miserable because his guru had died, he committed suicide. He
           wanted to go with the guru. He reached just a little late, but he reached. And what he saw -- he
           could not believe his eyes! He saw Muktananda lying naked under a tree, and on top of him was an
           American actress, Marilyn Monroe, making love to Muktananda. He could not believe that
           Muktananda, who was always teaching celibacy....

               In his book, CHIDVILAS -- "Play of Consciousness", he describes that his discipline of
           celibacy came to such a point that his prick would rise so high that it would touch his navel.... The
           disciple had read it. And what is Muktananda doing? Has he forgotten everything? But anyway,
           Muktananda is his master, so he has to pay his respects.
               He did not look at what was happening, he just touched Muktananda's feet and said, "Baba, I
           think this must be the reward for all your virtues."
               And Marilyn Monroe said, "You idiot! This is not the reward for this idiot, this is punishment for
           me!"

                I want you to prepare, because paradise is going to be really great! Far out! But you have to be
           ready. So love, drink, dance -- this is the preparation, the discipline for entering into paradise. I am
           an utter hedonist, and only a hedonist has the right to enter into paradise.
                People who are masochists, torturing themselves, need to go to hell because there they will not
           have to torture themselves, the Devil and his whole army will torture them. That will be their joy.
                Hell is for saints, heaven is for sinners -- this is absolutely logical. This is my revolution! Once
           we enter into heaven, we are going to throw all the saints into hell: "You enjoy torture -- get
           tortured! We enjoy luxury, we enjoy every comfort. Let us possess paradise; you have lived here
           long enough. Just get out!"
                I am not going alone, you are all coming with me! Because I am a lazy guy, I will be going still
           sitting in my chair. If Mohammed can go riding on his horse, what is wrong with it? If Jesus can go
           directly, alive, and pulls his mother up after him, what is the problem?
                Perhaps I may reach a little earlier than you, because my podium is a little higher -- but you
           won't be too late. I will greet you there, "Hi! So you have arrived. Now do the work -- throw all
           those saints towards hell."
                They deserve it. They have been disciplining themselves for it. We have been disciplining
           ourselves for paradise. Our whole expertise, our whole specialization is to possess the kingdom of
           God.


              The third question is from a sannyasin. A sannyasin has asked:
              I CANNOT HELP FEELING SHOCKED AT THE IDEA THAT SINCE PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE
              ANYWAY, THERE IS NO HARM IN THEM DYING BY THE THOUSANDS TO PRESERVE
              COMMUNISM. WHAT IS IT THAT HORRIFIES ME ABOUT THIS?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is not only you, there may be a few more who have been shocked. Majid is sitting there -- he
           must be shocked, and other Italians, because they have a political prejudice in their mind. They think
           they are radicals, and they don't understand even the ABC of radicalism.
               When I said that Joseph Stalin killed one million people to save communism, you did not give
           much thought to it. Who were the one million people? Priests, bishops, cardinals, archbishops --
           those were the people, and they were not ready to give away the possessions of the church to the
           society. These were the people, whether rich or poor it does not matter, who resisted revolution, who
           wanted their things to be theirs.
               Those things may not be much -- a house, a little piece of land, maybe a few trees, maybe a few
           cows or horses. But for centuries man has been programmed to possess, and to go on possessing
           more and protect and defend whatever he already possesses.
               So these were the people who were obstacles to revolution. The revolution was for twenty
           million people in the Soviet Union. And at that time the idea of revolution was not national, it was an
           idea of international revolution.
               You will be surprised to know... I was very small when I became acquainted with a man, one of
           the most intelligent men I have come across, who was with Lenin and Trotsky in the Soviet
           revolution. His name was Manvendra Nath Roy. He was one of the members of the international
           commanding body of the communists, the Politburo. He was the only Indian who ever rose to that
           status, and he fought in the revolution side by side with Lenin.
               After the revolution he thought, "Now my work is in India. I have to go and create revolution in
           India." But here he found himself in utter difficulty, because the Hindu mind is more possessive than
           any other mind. It talks about non-possessiveness, it talks about celibacy, it talks about morality. But
           always remember, people who talk about these things are the people who are suppressing just the
           opposite.
               A person who praises celibacy knows perfectly well that he is not celibate. People who are
           greedy, their religion will be teaching no greed. Otherwise why should religions teach no greed? For
           five thousand years, from Manu to Yagnavalkya to Buddha to Mahavira to Mahatma Gandhi -- all
           the teachers of this country are talking to people about "non-attachment." Why? Certainly people are
           too much attached; otherwise... their whole history is the teaching of non-attachment! People must
           be greedy; hence the teaching, "no greed." People must be violent; hence the teaching of
           non-violence.
               Always remember this as a fundamental. Look at the teachings of the scriptures and you will
           know what kind of people they were -- just the opposite, otherwise there is no need. Why does
           Buddha go on telling people his whole life, forty-two years after his enlightenment, "Don't be
           attached to things. Be non-possessive." And the same continues....
               When M.N. Roy came to India, he found himself in an absolutely different world. He was
           thinking that because everybody had been teaching non-possessiveness, communism would be the
           easiest thing in India. This is where logic fails. He had read -- he had lived his whole life in the
           West -- he had only read about Indian scriptures, that they have been teaching non-possessiveness
           for centuries and centuries. So he thought people must be ready to give all their possessions to the
           collective; they will not have much difficulty in dropping their private possessions.
               But when he came to India he was utterly surprised. Nobody was ready; the very word
           `communism' was anathema. And because he was a well-educated man, well dressed, used to smoke
           cigarettes, the Indian mind turned absolutely against him.
               Mahatma Gandhi crushed that man, who was far more intellectual, far more significant than
           Mahatma Gandhi himself. But Mahatma Gandhi crushed him because people would rather follow
           Mahatma Gandhi, half-naked -- it appeals to people. "This is a mahatma. And what kind of
           mahatma is this who is smoking cigarettes, who is well dressed in a poor country?"
               Nobody listened to M.N. Roy. Perhaps I was the only person who became very deeply interested
           in him. It was just by chance that I met him, in a train. I was going for my studies, traveling from my
           village to the bigger city to join a university. And just on the platform we were both waiting for the
           train... because in India no train ever arrives on time. Only once has it arrived on time in my
           experience. For twenty years I was traveling in trains continually -- only one time....
               In Allahabad, the train arrived exactly at six o'clock in the morning. It was a miracle! I ran to
           thank the driver, and I told him, "You have done it! I was waiting for a day when somebody would
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bring the train at the right time."
               He looked very ashamed. I said, "Why are you looking ashamed?" He said, "This is yesterday's
           train."
               By that time the conductor had come, and the stationmaster had come. I asked the stationmaster,
           "This seems to be stupid. If every train is going to be late, why publish the timetable?"
               He said, "The timetable is absolutely needed; otherwise how will we know how much the train is
           late?" So the timetable is published in India to know how much the train is late.
           I said, "That seems to be absolutely right."

               The train was late and I was sitting on the bench, and M.N. Roy came and sat by my side. I was
           reading a book by Lenin, his collected works. He was surprised, because I was so young -- may
           have been seventeen years old. He looked at the big volume, and he asked me, "Where did you get
           this collected works of Lenin?"
               I said, "I have the whole library of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, everybody."
               He said, "You are the first man... I have been here for seven years, continuously trying. Are you
           a communist?"
               I said, "Right now I am nobody. But who knows? I may turn out a communist. I am looking in
           every direction without any prejudice. Whichever dimension fulfills me totally, I will be that.
           Communism is my study, I am not a communist. I have to study many more things before I can
           decide. I have to look into anarchism, I have to look into socialism, I have to look into capitalism, I
           have to look into spiritualism. Before that I cannot say anything. I am just a seeker."
               We became friends. He talked about his experiences in the Soviet revolution, and he became a
           constant visitor to my small house.
               I was living outside the city in a very small house. Nobody else was ready to take that house
           because it was known as being haunted by ghosts. So when I asked the owner, he said, "Without any
           rent you can live there. At least somebody living there may create the idea in people that it is not
           haunted. If a small boy is living there alone..." So he said, "It is good. If you need anything I will
           support you. I want to sell it, but neither can I sell it nor is anybody ready to rent it. And I myself am
           afraid! My wife is not willing to move with me, otherwise we could sell this house and move there.
           That house is in a very beautiful location."
               It was absolutely alone. For miles there were no other houses, and behind were the beautiful
           Satpura Mountains. It was so peaceful there. He said, "I purchased it just to live there, but nobody is
           willing. So you start living there."
               I started living there, but I continued to create the fear in everybody that it was haunted by ghosts
           because if somebody purchased it, I would be thrown out. The owner heard that I was continuing to
           create the rumor. He came to me: "This is strange. I gave it to you free of charge..."
               I said, "I will keep it free of charge! But remember, it is haunted with ghosts. Don't come here --
           whenever you want me, just phone me and I will come -- it is dangerous!"
           He said, "And it is not dangerous for you?"
               I said, "I know a few secrets about ghosts. They are afraid of me. Do you know anything?" He
           said, "No, I don't..." I said, "You simply go back."
               And I lived in that house for almost ten years without any rent. On the contrary, I would order
           him, "Send me something" -- and he would bring it -- "otherwise I will leave the house."
               M.N. Roy used to come, and he loved the place. He used to live in the Himalayas in Nainital, but
           he said, "Even there it is too crowded, too many people have come. Roads, airport, buses -- it is no
           more the old Nainital I used to know in my childhood before I left India. But your place..."
               I said, "This place will remain as it is, as long as I want to live in it. For miles nobody can build a
           house, because not only this house is haunted, the whole area is haunted!" I went on creating the
           rumor and making the area bigger. Nobody was ready, even at the cheapest rate, to purchase the
           land.
               When I talked with M.N. Roy, he said, "What do you think is the cause of my unsuccessfulness?
           I was such a successful member of the international high command of the communists. I fought in
           the revolution, I was a close friend of Lenin and Trotsky, who were the architects of the revolution.
           And here? I am nobody; nobody is ready to listen."
               I said, "Here, you will have to change. You will have to be a hypocrite. You will have to smoke
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in your bathroom, not in public -- in public, speak against smoking. You will have to wrap yourself
           in a small cloth just covering you down to your knees, just like Mahatma Gandhi -- or even smaller
           will be better. Shave your head and become a mahatma, and I can manage everything for you. But
           first become a mahatma. I will call a barber here, and he will make you a mahatma."
           He said, "My God -- first I have to become a mahatma?"
                I said, "Without becoming a mahatma, in this country you don't have any appeal. This country is
           so fucked up that first you have to pretend all kinds of things. You don't drink tea -- if somebody
           sees you drinking tea, finished! You are not a mahatma.
                "In the cold, you have to remain half-naked. You will get accustomed, don't be worried. All the
           animals are accustomed, and you are an intelligent animal so you will get accustomed. It is only a
           question of two or three years and then heat or cold, all are the same, because your skin becomes
           thicker and thicker. And your skull also becomes thicker and thicker! You will be a mahatma, and
           everybody will be listening to you."
           He said, "I cannot do that."
                I said, "Then forget all about leadership." And he died an unknown man. If he had lived in the
           Soviet Union he would have been a cabinet minister.
           This country is so prejudiced.

                Your question comes out of a prejudice. You don't understand the mechanism, the dynamics of
           life.
                Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Hirohito of Japan -- all three together killed thirty million
           people, and for no purpose at all, just a personal egoistic desire to become the whole and sole owner
           of the earth. Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Nadirshah -- three generations of one family --
           amongst the three they killed one hundred million people for no purpose. And you don't bother about
           these people.
                How many people did Napoleon kill? How many people did Alexander kill? And how many
           people has the Catholic church killed? -- you don't bother about it -- and for no reason!
                Stalin was not killing for any personal reason, and he was not killing those who were ready to
           understand the revolution and participate in it. He had to kill to remove all obstacles from within,
           because he was surrounded on all sides by enemies ready to enter the country and finish it. If he had
           had to face both the enemies, inside and outside, there would have been no possibility for that
           experiment ever to succeed.
                And the people he killed... don't think they were individuals. They were just robots, as the masses
           are. No individuality, no dignity, no understanding -- just greed and lust and the old mind, that "My
           things are mine. I will not give them to the collective." And he is miserable because what he has is
           not enough for his own nourishment or his family, but he is not ready to create a collective land
           where tractors and other modern mechanisms can be used to sow the seeds. When the land is miles
           long, airplanes can be used to sow seeds. Tractors can be used to prepare the land. On a small piece
           of land this is not possible.
                Whatever communism was saying to them was absolutely correct, but just their prejudices....
                And when I said that it does not matter, everybody has to die anyway, I meant it. Unless you are
           a buddha, it does not matter. Only the death of a buddha matters.
                What are you going to contribute? What are you going to do tomorrow, except repeat today? You
           can live for thirty years repeating the same circle, morning to evening, evening to morning, what is
           the point? Where are you going? Round and round, reaching nowhere.
                To these people the experiment of communism was not at all important. Their own prejudice was
           important, that "Our things cannot be taken away by anybody." And those things were their misery!
           Even a beggar was not ready to give his things, and what did he have?
                The whole idea was that all the land, the whole property and everything in it, should belong to
           the collective. Soviet means a commune. The village turns into a soviet, it becomes a commune.
           Families disappear; only individual members contribute whatsoever they can and the commune will
           fulfill their needs -- not according to their worth, but according to their need.
                Somebody may not be such a hard worker and somebody else may be a hard worker, but in a
           commune it is a bigger family. You have to understand that somebody is weaker, somebody is sick,
           somebody is old, but their needs have to be fulfilled.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now Gorbachev is saying, "Each according to his work." What about the old people? They will
           not be able to work the same way as the young people. What about the children? They will not be
           able to work the same as the young people. What about the women? They cannot be put into any
           muscular work.
                The communist idea was far higher and superior: "Each according to his needs." An old man has
           his own needs. He may not be able to work, but he has worked enough his whole life. A child has not
           worked yet, but one day he will work. And he has needs right now.
                Now Gorbachev is saying, "Each according to his work," and that is the motto of capitalism. He
           is deceiving and betraying the whole communist approach.
                Just think -- Majid is here -- if revolution comes to Italy, are you going to allow the pope to
           continue the Vatican? Are you going to allow the Vatican Bank to change black money, heroin
           money, into white money and earn billions of dollars per year? Are you going to allow all the priests
           and bishops and archbishops and all the churches to continue as they are? They will all resist,
           because it is their vested interest. Then what are you going to do? Just sit before the churches and cry
           like small babies? You will have to finish these people or throw them out in the ocean -- and you
           have such a beautiful ocean.
                Revolution does not care for these parasites. It is against these parasites, and these parasites will
           create every kind of difficulty for you, from inside and from outside. Now the Catholics number six
           hundred million around the world. If you do anything against the pope he will fight, and the six
           hundred million Catholics around the world will create great pressure on you from every
           government: "Don't touch the Vatican; otherwise we will disconnect our relationship with you."
                That's what had happened in Russia. All other countries dropped their connections with Russia.
           All the countries called their ambassadors back, there was no communication with Russia --
           boycott, absolute boycott.
                You have only heard one side of the story, which America goes on propagating, that Stalin
           created an "iron curtain." It was not Stalin who created the iron curtain, it was all the countries who
           withdrew from the Soviet Union, boycotting it completely. Then it was absolutely necessary that the
           Soviet Union should create a situation where nobody could enter. All kinds of agents to provoke
           people... and people were ready to be provoked because they were very sad that their personal things
           had been taken. People become so attached to their personal things -- small things. They were ready
           to be provoked, and the whole country was full of spies from every capitalist country trying to
           provoke people to destroy the collectives, to burn the collectives.
                All the different Christian sects agreed on the point that communism is against religion -- and
           all the Mohammedans, all the Buddhists... because the Soviet Union has three religions. One part,
           Mongolia, is Buddhist; another part near Afghanistan is Mohammedan. The third part is orthodox
           Christian. Now these three religions were agreed: "Communism is against religion, so we have to
           give a fight." And all the people had belonged to some religion. Everybody had belonged to some
           religion -- either to the Buddhists, to the Mohammedans, or to Christianity. How to deal with the
           situation?
                I don't see that except Stalin there was anybody else in the Communist Party at that time to deal
           with the situation. And the poor fellow has been condemned because he saved communism;
           otherwise these people would have destroyed it.
                It was a chaos. Once the czar was killed there was no system, there was no order in the country.
           Trains were running -- nobody knew where they would end up, where they were going, because
           people had taken out railway lines, had destroyed the bridges. Trains were moving -- burning.
           These were the people for whom the revolution had been made, who were burning the trains, who
           were burning the palaces of the governors, who were burning the palaces of the czar. And the
           Communist Party was trying to tell them, "Now all these belong to you. Don't destroy them! The czar
           is finished, it is your property." But nobody was listening, and people were carrying things to their
           homes.
                I have heard that after the Czar's family was taken out of his palace -- it used to be one of the
           biggest palaces in the world, the richest; it was one of the oldest royalties -- people were taking
           everything from the palace to their homes. Even the carpet... it was so huge that nobody could take it
           alone, so people were cutting the carpet with scissors, just enough for their home -- take-away!
           Now what can you do with these people?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                There was no time to convince them. There was no time to make them understand that,
           "Everything belongs to you and you are destroying it." Except Stalin... neither Lenin was able to do
           it nor Trotsky was able to do it. This man had certainly a heart of steel: at any cost, revolution had to
           survive.
                And as I have told you again and again, the masses are the greatest enemy of themselves; they
           don't know what they are doing. So the bullet was the only answer, and he killed for an absolutely
           right end. There are times when you have to use means which are apparently wrong -- violence,
           murder. But what can you do with this humanity? If you are in power you will suddenly realize that
           the only way is to put people back to their senses. When one person is killed, a hundred persons
           absolutely understand that "this is a difficult problem, keep quiet." Those one million people killed
           made twenty million people silent, settled.
                But you have your prejudices. You are shocked -- but that is my business. When I was
           criticizing Christianity you were not shocked, you were happy. Now let the Christians be happy,
           because everybody has his own time. The Catholics would have been shaken -- they were shaken.
           The whole seminary, *which consists of five hundred missionaries being trained, and must be at
           least one hundred professors to teach them, was agog with only one thing: they wanted to hear what I
           have said. One student came here the next day, saying, "The whole seminary is talking about only
           one thing -- so you bring the tape or the video." And I sent Prasad, because he had already been to
           the seminary to talk to them, to explain my philosophy to them, so he was acquainted with the
           authorities there. He went there but the authorities said, "We don't have equipment and it will take
           time to arrange for equipment, so we cannot do it."
                A group of students from a local seminary attended one discourse recently, and their questions
           were addressed throughout the series, CHRISTIANITY, THE GREATEST POISON AND ZEN,
           THE ANTIDOTE TO ALL POISONS.
                Prasad said, "Don't be worried about the equipment. I will bring all the equipment with me."
                Then they changed immediately. They said, "But first, permission from higher authorities is
           needed." It was not needed before. Now the permission from higher authorities is needed!
                The next day he went again and asked, "Has permission been granted?" They said, "We are
           waiting." And finally they phoned: "You don't have to come here. We hope that within two and a
           half weeks permission will be obtained."
                I don't think permission will be obtained. It is just a delaying process; after another two and a
           half weeks... and who are the higher authorities? They live there in the campus! It takes two and a
           half weeks to reach their bungalow? And they go every day to the office....
                But you were not worried then. Somebody else was being hit and you were enjoying. Now it is
           your turn. Let others enjoy!
                I am against every kind of prejudice. This is just a prejudice. If you understand the practicality of
           it you will not be against it. Theoretically you can go on and on thinking about it: "One million
           individuals..." Forget that word -- there is rarely an individual. One million phonies, who were
           obstructing a revolution which was going to be one of the greatest experiments in human history.
                It was worth it. And when I said anyway you have to die, I could immediately feel that you
           became very shocked. But still I repeat: Anyway you have to die. Don't die against revolution. If you
           have to die, die for revolution. Don't die for the status quo; if you have to die, die for rebellion.
                Everyone has to die, and as far as I am concerned, whether Stalin kills them or Adolf Hitler or
           Mussolini or Hirohito, it doesn't matter; he only kills the body. The soul immediately gets into
           another woman's womb. Nothing is killed, only houses are changed. Do you think those one million
           people are finished? Many of them may be here! If not now, soon.
                To me, these people seem to be absolutely absurd, who are against violence and still talk about
           eternal life. They don't see their contradiction. If life is eternal, then death does not matter: life will
           continue in new forms somewhere else. If not in the Soviet Union, then in China, and if you are
           killing China then India is always available. From where do you think all these Indians go on
           growing?
                Hitler kills, Stalin kills, Hirohito kills -- whoever kills, India's population goes on growing. India
           gives ready-made wombs to everybody. People may be dying of starvation but they brag that they
           have twenty children. So what is great about it? Look at a bull -- a bull has thousands of children,
           so do you think the bull is greater than you?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And poor people are bound to produce more children because they have no other entertainment.
           By the evening -- they don't have electricity, they don't have television, they don't have too much to
           eat so that their bellies become too big and they cannot reach the woman. So the whole dark night,
           and cold, not enough blankets... the woman is warm, is a good blanket, and no other thing to do in
           the dark, so people go on producing children. They cannot go to see a film, it takes money; they
           cannot go to have dinner in a restaurant, it takes money. Sex is free.
               So everywhere you kill, India is ready to receive! From four hundred million people, just forty
           years ago, today there are more than nine hundred million people. It seems every year, ten million
           people are added. By the end of this century the population will have gone beyond one billion
           people. From where are all these people coming?
               Richer countries, more educated countries, are losing population -- because educated people
           understand that this is stupid, creating people and making the country poorer. They are using all
           kinds of methods to prevent the explosion of population, in spite of all the popes and the bishops.
           Who cares? These people, even Catholics, don't care; it is just a formal respectability. But there are
           countries which are promoting programs for giving birth to more children. Their population is
           shrinking and the fear is that they may disappear in the vast third-world population which is
           growing. Soon they will be rushing all over Europe; no boundaries will be able to prevent them.
               Already in Germany, that is the problem. From Turkey, so many people have entered Germany
           that there is a great problem of unemployment. And you will be surprised to know that the Nazi
           Party of Adolf Hitler is again raising its head. One of Adolf Hitler's men has organized a party which
           won eleven seats in the parliament just now, on the basis that all these Turkish people should be
           thrown out of Germany, otherwise Germany will be drowned.
               Adolf Hitler was throwing out Jews -- now it is the Turkish people. And this party has won
           eleven seats. This is the beginning... and why have people supported an ex-Nazi officer? Because the
           German people are becoming afraid: "If these populations go on immigrating to Germany, we will be
           poorer. We will have to give employment to these people. We will have to share our money with
           these people, our land with these people, our houses with these people." And this caravan of
           immigrants is going to grow every day, because Mohammedan countries allow one man to marry
           four women, so Mohammedans increase four times more than anybody else.
               You can create only one child in a year, at the most, with great difficulty. Mohammedans can
           create four children. That's why in India, just forty years ago, Mohammedans took away Bangladesh
           and Pakistan, but within forty years again they are so many that the biggest Mohammedan country in
           the world is India -- not Saudi Arabia, not Pakistan, not Bangladesh or any of the other Middle East
           countries. The biggest Mohammedan country is India -- second to the Hindus are the
           Mohammedans, and soon they will be the first because they have four women and you have only
           one. And it continues in the name of not interfering in anybody's religion -- the government allows
           Mohammedans to have four wives and Hindus only one.
           This kind of stupidity can be prevented only if you are really hard.
               I would like the population explosion in India to be stopped, on a war scale. The whole army
           should be sent to every village and if people are not ready voluntarily, then compulsorily they have
           to be sterilized. You will say, "It is not democratic." But is it democratic that five hundred million
           people will die by the end of this century? Problems are very connected. Whenever you look at a
           problem, look from all sides and you will be able to understand what I am saying.
           And drop your preconceived ideology.
               My effort here is to bring you to a space of no-mind. And from no-mind, function -- then you
           function directly, looking at the situation. Whatever is right immediately arises in you, and you do it.
           Neither is it a question of morality nor is it a question of religion; it is a question of immediate
           response to a situation. And immediate response comes only through meditation.
               I shock your mind on purpose, and I go on finding ways. I will not leave anyone! People are
           wondering -- Jews are wondering, "Maybe our turn is coming." Wait, it will come!
               I am going to speak against all ideologies of the past, all moralities of the past. I am against the
           whole past of humanity -- in toto -- I don't make any exception. I want a totally new man to arise
           on the earth -- the superman.

           The sutra:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ON ONE OCCASION, A MONK ASKED MASTER DOGO: "EVEN IF THERE IS NO CLOUD FOR
              THOUSANDS OF MILES, IT IS NOT YET THE ORIGINAL SKY. WHAT IS THE ORIGINAL SKY?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "TODAY, IT IS GOOD TO DRY WHEAT."

               This is the way of Zen. Don't waste your time in unnecessary theoretical things -- "Although
           there are thousands of miles with no cloud... but this sky is not the original sky, because beyond this
           sky there will be another sky and beyond that another sky. Where is the original sky?"
               But Master Dogo said, "Forget all about it! Today, it is good to dry wheat. The day is sunny, the
           sky is open, there is no cloud. Be in the present! Today it is good to dry wheat."
               And once you are in the present you will become aware of the original sky -- which is not said.
           The original sky is within you. It is not outside, thousands of miles or millions of miles don't matter.
           You will never come to the end of the sky outside.
               But there is a sky inside which is the original, out of which you are living, you are getting your
           nourishment. Your roots are in that original sky. Just go inwards and it is not thousands of miles
           away. It is only thousands of thoughts away.
               So it is only a question of reducing the thoughts and the mileage is reduced.
           If you don't have any thoughts, you are in it.
           You are it.
               You don't have to go anywhere; you have to simply go on throwing your thoughts.
               That is the purpose of our gibberish before the meditation. Just a time to throw everything,
           without inhibition.
               These creatures that you throw out are eating your head continuously, destroying your
           intelligence. Catch them and throw them out, and don't be worried with a moral question that they
           may enter into somebody else's mind. No, your creatures are accustomed to your mind. Even if you
           throw them, they will wait outside on the bamboos, and when you are going to the canteen they will
           jump!
               And you can see in the canteen -- I never go there -- but so much talk, discussion... all the
           creatures are back. So beware of the bamboos! Just watch out that these creatures don't enter in your
           head again -- run! And in the canteen be silent. The more you open your mouth, the more they get
           in. They know you perfectly well, they will not enter into anybody else. Nobody wants foreigners,
           strangers; everybody wants to enter into his own place, into his own house. You don't enter
           somebody else's house. You don't pick up somebody else's rented bicycle....
           Everybody finds his own rented bicycle, in thousands of bicycles. Strange!
               Those creatures are very well acquainted with you and they know how much you love them.
           What is the guarantee that the other person will be loving towards them? -- may not be even
           friendly, and you have been feeding them year after year.
               So when you are throwing, throw them so far away that they get mixed up, start fighting with
           each other, and meanwhile you escape to the canteen.

              The inner sky is only as far away as the number of thoughts you have. If you don't have any
           thoughts, you are just in the present. That's what Dogo means:
              "TODAY, IT IS GOOD TO DRY WHEAT."

              Just be now and here, and without saying anything about the original sky... that is the way of
           Zen, to indicate. If you have intelligence, just an indication is enough. If you don't have intelligence,
           even if one goes on hammering on your head, it doesn't matter.
              Dogo showed the monk where the original sky is. It is within you, if you are in the present.
              To be in the present is to be out of the mind. To be in the present is to be in the beyond, in the
           space, in the sky which is your very being.

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION DOGO WAS ASKED BY ANOTHER MONK, "WHAT IS THE DEEPEST?"
              DOGO CAME DOWN FROM HIS SEAT, MADE OBEISANCE IN THE MANNER OF WOMEN AND
              SAID, "YOU HAVE COME FROM FAR, AND I HAVE NO ANSWER FOR YOU."

              In fact, he has given the answer. What is the deepest? -- humbleness, gratitude, nobodiness. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is a man, but he bowed down in the manner of a woman -- no distinction between man and woman,
           because it is not a question of the body. And a woman is more humble, more grateful, more loving.
           So he is showing it: create the female qualities of love, of gratitude, of compassion, of humbleness;
           just be a nobody. And he came down and made obeisance, bowed, to the stranger.
               He has answered. But the stranger, the monk, has not understood -- that's why he is saying,
           "YOU HAVE COME FROM FAR, AND I HAVE NO ANSWER FOR YOU." If you want an
           answer in language, I don't have it.
               This is also done out of compassion. He has answered that humbleness is the deepest, nobodiness
           is the deepest; to be nothing, to be utterly selfless is the deepest. There is no further depth possible.
           He has given the answer by his action, but the man looked as if he did not understand. It is also out
           of compassion, not to make the man feel embarrassed, not to make him feel that he has not
           understood.
               Dogo said, "You have come from very far away, and I have no answer for you." He takes the
           responsibility on himself: "It is not your fault. You have done great work, you have come from very
           far, and I don't have any answer for you." He takes the responsibility on himself -- although the
           reality is that the monk has missed the answer.
               This is the beauty of a master. It shows in so many different colors, in so many rainbows. Unless
           you understand it, you will not be able even to see it. Just reading it, you would have missed it.

              AT ANOTHER TIME SEKISO KEISHO ASKED DOGO, "AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS, IF SOMEONE
              ASKS ABOUT THE ABSOLUTE MEANING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHAT SHALL I SAY TO HIM?"

               You will be gone. After a hundred years you will be no more; otherwise, you could have
           answered him. Just give me the answer so if somebody asks the question after you are gone, I can
           give him your answer.
               But that is impossible. You cannot give my answer unless it is also your answer. Repeating my
           answer will be simply borrowed, it won't have life and it won't have any charisma in it. It won't
           penetrate the heart of the person. Unless it is alive, throbbing with life and radiant with life and
           luminous with great energy, coming out of your own experience... Then perhaps the other, if he is
           intelligent enough, meditative enough, receptive enough, may get it.
              DOGO CALLED THE BOY ATTENDANT, WHO CAME, AND TOLD HIM TO FILL UP THE WATER
              BOTTLE.

                He did not pay any attention to Sekiso's question. Not paying attention to Sekiso's question is
           also an answer. He is saying, "Don't ask absurd things. Find out the answer yourself, by your own
           experience. My answer is not going to help so I am not going to give it."
                So he simply, as if he has not heard -- he has heard it perfectly -- calls the boy attendant and
           tells him to fill up the water bottle.
              DOGO WAITED A WHILE...

              It is strange: the master is not answering the question.
              AND THEN SAID TO SEKISO, "WHAT WAS IT YOU ASKED JUST NOW?"

              As if he has not heard: "What was it you asked just now?"
              SEKISO REPEATED THE QUESTION. DOGO THEREUPON WENT BACK TO HIS ROOM, AND AT
              THIS, SEKISO BECAME ENLIGHTENED.

              He had answered the first time, but Sekiso did not get it, that what he was saying was, "Don't ask
           such things which are available only to your own experience, alone." But because he did not
           understand, Dogo waited a while: perhaps he may catch it.
              AND THEN SAID TO SEKISO, "WHAT WAS IT YOU ASKED JUST NOW?"
              SEKISO REPEATED THE QUESTION.

               That shows he had not understood the answer that Dogo had indicated by not paying attention to
           his question. At this, Dogo went back to his room without answering him again.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This time he got it, that it is not a question which can be answered: you have to go inside your
           room.
               The word `room' is very beautiful. It simply means space. And you sometimes use it in the sense
           of space, that this place has "enough room." What do you mean by it, "enough room"? Enough
           space, no unnecessary furniture.

                I used to stay with a very rich man in a place called Saugar. He was an accumulator of junk. He
           had enough money, so all kinds of things... whether he needed them or not was not the question, he
           could afford.
                There was no television in those days in Saugar.... I used to stay with him, and he had a special
           guest room, filled with all his junk. I saw a television there. I asked, "Are you mad? There is no
           television!" At that time it was not even in Bombay, not in New Delhi; television had not been
           introduced in India. "What are you doing with a TV set?"
                He said, "I had gone to London, and I just liked it." I said, "Just liked it?" He said, "Sometime
           television will come." And he was at that time seventy-five years old.
                I said, "At least not in your lifetime." He said, "What?" I said, "You don't understand that you are
           seventy-five..." But he said, "It is not good to say to anybody `not in your lifetime'. That means you
           are already thinking about my death!"
                I said, "I am not thinking about your death, I am thinking about your city. It is still one thousand
           years behind! Even in New Delhi the television has not come. In your city it will take at least a
           century, and I don't think you will be able to make it."
                But he was very angry, and he said, "I have put it here for your entertainment."
                I said, "I am not mad. This box cannot make any kind of entertainment. It is dead, because there
           is no connection to it anywhere."
                And then I saw many radios, lined up, all kinds of models of radios. I said, "One is enough." He
           said, "But I can afford them, so whenever some new model comes, some new manufacturer comes
           in..."
                I said, "In this room I cannot stay. I will go insane, because there is no room at all!" Things upon
           things, things upon things! Just... you had to somehow make your way to the bed, and if it was night
           -- and there was no electricity there -- you could not even go to the bathroom without having
           multiple fractures and destroying his many valuable things.
                So I said, "Forgive me. You just give me a plain room." He said, "Plain room?"
                I said, "Yes, because I sometimes go to the bathroom also." He said, "The bathroom is there."
                I said, "In the dark night, and there is no electricity.... And your room is simply mad! I will have
           nightmares here, I cannot tolerate all this!"
                There were all kinds of clocks, old, ancient, and they were all making noise at different times. No
           clock was at the same time as another clock. I said, "Do you want me to sleep or not?"
                He said, "You are the first guest who is making so much fuss." I said, "I am not making fuss, I
           simply want a room." He said, "This is a room!"
                I said, "You don't understand the meaning of the word `room'. This is not a room, this is a
           junkyard!"

               So when the master Dogo went to his room, he was again giving another chance to Sekiso: "Just
           go into the silent space within you. As I am going into my room, you go into your room, into your
           own space." And this time Sekiso got it. He became enlightened.
               The master goes on repeating the same thing in different ways, in different words, in different
           gestures, with the hope that some day, at some point, you are going to get it. How can you escape?
               I will go on hitting you from every angle, poking you from every possibility, into every rib. I
           don't care whether you are getting fractures or not, I will go on hitting you. My hits are more subtle
           than those of the Zen people. Their hits are more primitive.
               So whenever you get upset and disturbed, remember, it is a hit. Just take a shower and sit down
           to meditate. No need to think about it, it was just a hit to wake you up.
               My speaking to you is not that of an orator or that of a philosopher. My talking to you is that of a
           master who knows how to disturb you. And your function is not to be disturbed whatever happens,
           whatever I say.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I may call Jesus a crackpot, don't be worried. Just enjoy and have a good shower if some trouble
           arises... because what have I to do with Jesus? My concern is with you! If I see somewhere in your
           head Jesus lurking, then I immediately hit Jesus. I am hitting you. What concern have I with Jesus?
           In fact, nobody knows whether this fellow ever was there or not.
               But when I talk about Stalin, don't get worried. I have nothing to be concerned with Stalin. He is
           not my disciple, you are! And you are on your own -- in spite of me. I am trying every possible way
           to throw you out, but you still go on coming.
               You know perfectly well that my words should not be taken at face value. They are strategies and
           devices. The whole problem is how to shock you and shatter your mind completely so you can enter
           into the inner room and see with your own eyes your vast sky.

           Basho wrote:
              A COLD RAIN STARTING,
              AND ME WITHOUT A HAT.
              ON SECOND THOUGHT, WHO CARES?


              This is the beauty of Zen.
              A COLD RAIN STARTING,
              AND ME WITHOUT A HAT.
              ON SECOND THOUGHT, WHO CARES?

              Remember it. On second thought, don't care at all about anything. Perhaps on the first thought
           you may not be able, but on second thought, don't miss it. Sekiso did not miss on second thought.


              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              EMMA GOLDMAN, THE ANARCHIST, WROTE IN ONE OF HER REVOLUTIONARY ESSAYS,
              EARLIER THIS CENTURY, THAT "FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE IS DESCRIBED AS A HATER OF THE
              WEAK BECAUSE HE BELIEVED IN THE SUPERMAN. IT DOES NOT OCCUR TO THE SHALLOW
              INTERPRETERS OF THAT GIANT MIND THAT THIS VISION OF THE SUPERMAN ALSO CALLS
              FOR A STATE OF SOCIETY WHICH WILL NOT GIVE BIRTH TO A RACE OF WEAKLINGS AND
              SLAVES."
              WITH THE FLAME OF ZEN IN ONE HAND, YOU ARE THE COMPLETION OF THE CIRCLE OF
              MAN'S SEARCH FOR INNER INTEGRITY; WITH THE FLAME OF SPIRITUAL ANARCHISM IN THE
              OTHER HAND, ARE YOU NOT ALSO THE COMPLETION OF THE CIRCLE OF MAN'S SEARCH
              FOR OUTER INTEGRITY?


               Maneesha, Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most misunderstood giants of mankind. And nobody
           can feel for him more than I feel, because I am also in the same category -- even more
           misunderstood a man than Friedrich Nietzsche.
               When I say I hate poverty, people think I hate the poor people. I hate poverty because I want to
           destroy poverty completely! There will be no poor people when the poverty is destroyed.
               The same was the situation with Nietzsche. When he said, "I hate weaklings, and I proclaim the
           coming of the superman," people misunderstood. They thought, "This man is in favor only of the
           powerful, superior people, and he is against the ordinary, average humanity." That was not the case.
               Emma Goldman is right. She is one of the few women of history who has had a very clear-cut
           intellectual understanding. Very few women think about great problems, their world is very limited
           -- the neighborhood, who has got a new sari....
               A woman rushed into the house and said to her husband, "You have to do either one thing or the
           other."
           He said, "What?"
               The woman said, "The neighbor has purchased a new car. Either you purchase a new car, or
           change neighborhoods. We will move into some other house, we cannot live in this house. I cannot
           stand to see a new car in his garage, when in our garage is an old Ford. So you be quick! Either find
           a new house -- we move out of this house -- or bring home a new Cadillac!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The woman's world has been very limited. It has been made limited by man, but the woman is
           also responsible; she accepted it. When somebody enslaves you, of course that person is responsible
           -- but don't think that you are not responsible. You are also responsible: you could have died instead
           of becoming a slave; then how could he have made you a slave?
                So whenever there is such a phenomenon, people only think with compassion and pity about the
           victim, but they don't think that the victim somehow agrees with the status quo. Otherwise, if all the
           women just go on a one-day strike all over the world, men will be massaging their feet: "You are not
           only equal, you are superior! Just come back to the kitchen."
                I know about myself... I cannot even make a cup of tea. I have tried and burned myself. Just once
           was enough, then I said, "It is not my thing."
                Have you ever thought, if you have to sleep with your little baby what is going to happen in the
           night? Either you will throw the baby out of the window... because these small babies are such
           rascals, you won't believe. They will sleep the whole day and they will stay awake the whole night.
           And every moment they want this, and they want that; and if nothing else, they want to go to the
           bathroom! They will drive you crazy just within one night. Either you will shoot yourself, or throw
           out the baby and have a peaceful night.
                The woman is immensely patient. She has no problems about what will happen when third world
           war happens. Who cares? Right now, the question is that the husband has not come home. Where is
           he? With which woman? She is just going down the list of all the women she knows....
                And when the husband comes back in the middle of the night, she immediately inquires, "Where
           have you been?" And he says, "I was with my friend such-and-such."
                And the wife has all the information. She has phoned all the friends. "That friend is not at home,
           so where have you been? Be truthful and honest! I have inquired, I have your diary, all the phone
           numbers. That fellow is not at home! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
                Now you are caught red-handed! Nobody can escape a wife's scrutiny. I have never heard of a
           single man who has escaped the scrutiny of a wife. They are such great detectives that sometimes I
           think they should all enroll in the CIA, the FBI, the CID -- they will do far greater work! Their
           concern is so limited, so their whole concentration....
                Very few women, like Emma Goldman, have ever thought about such problems as anarchism.
           She was really a rare woman. No husband could tolerate her, she was too intellectual. Every husband
           will feel inferior to her.
                She is perfectly right about Friedrich Nietzsche, that when he talked about superman and he said,
           "I hate the weaklings" -- people have missed the point. They think he is a hater of the average
           humanity and only wants the superman, a superior quality, intellectual giants. That is not the case.
                His conception of the superman and the society that will come with the superman is that such a
           society will not allow weaklings to be born. That's exactly my conception too. And I am being
           criticized all around the world because I have been saying that man should not be allowed anymore
           to give birth to accidental children.
                Up to now the whole humanity has been accidental. Now we have every means to choose the
           right child. We can create a humanity in which everybody will be a superman.
                Nietzsche was only an intellectual -- a great intellectual, perhaps the greatest. I have left
           intellect far behind. I use it just for you.
                In my vision we don't have to wait for biological engineering to create the superman. It will go
           against all the masses, all the societies. All the religions will become hindrances, they won't allow it.
           Because I have proposed it, I am being criticized. I have received from all over the world criticism of
           my book, *THE GREATEST CHALLENGE, THE GOLDEN FUTURE, saying that I am a fascist
           just like Friedrich Nietzsche was a fascist.
                But they don't understand me. Neither have they understood Friedrich Nietzsche. And they will
           misunderstand me even more because I am not going to wait for biological engineering. I am going
           to create the superman by a very different methodology.
           My methodology is meditation.
                I can change the ordinary, average human being into a buddha. There is no need right now to go
           into changing the ordinary structure of reproduction. Finally it has to be done, because that will be
           the easiest way. And if I have supermen to work with, then meditation will be so easy, immediately
           understood.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But Friedrich Nietzsche had no idea about meditation. I can change, through meditation, the very
           ordinary and average person into a superman. The moment you enter into your being -- centered,
           silent, the whole sky within has no clouds of thought -- you are turning into a superman. I call that
           superman the buddha.
               Maneesha, you are right -- because I am looking at man from every angle: from his body, from
           his mind, from his soul. I am looking at man as a totality. So many half-circles are going to be
           complete in me. Buddha was looking only at the spiritual; Marx was looking only at the material;
           Sigmund Freud was looking only at the psychological. My approach is total, from all dimensions and
           directions. And I have gone through all these people as deeply as possible, and I know where they
           stand, where they have stopped. Nietzsche has stopped with intellectual analysis, Sigmund Freud has
           stopped with psychoanalysis, Marx has stopped with an economic analysis of the society.
           But man is not partial. Don't deal with man part by part.
               You can deal with a machine in a partial way -- you can change one part if it is not functioning
           well -- but man is an organic unity; you cannot do that with man. You have to take the whole man
           into your vision. My vision is for the whole man.
               And the moment you also understand all your dimensions, all your directions, all your
           potentialities, suddenly a great transformation happens: the superman is born in you. You don't have
           to wait because you cannot change your programming of biology now. Perhaps your children's
           children may gather courage enough to change the biology of man.
               When I am talking to you, I am taking care not only about you but about your children's
           children's children. My approach is not only concerned with you -- it is certainly concerned with
           you, but not only with you. My vision reaches far deeper. I am saying many things which should be
           said only one century from now. That's what creates controversies about me, unnecessary
           condemnation of me, but I am helpless.
               In fact, I enjoy all the controversies, all the condemnation. At this moment, I am the most
           condemned man in the whole world. That gives me great joy! At least I am something....

           This brings us to Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

               Guiseppe and Martino, two Italians, are at the movie house watching a spaghetti western and
           feeling bored.
               Martino leans over in the dark and taps his friend on the arm. "Hey-a, Guiseppe," whispers
           Martino, "I am-a really bored! You see-a this guy in front with the bald-a head? I give-a you a
           thousand lira if you smack him over the head!"
               Guiseppe immediately takes the money, stands up and hits the bald man in front -- POW! --
           over the head.
           The man turns around in a daze.
           "Hey-a! Francesco!" says Guiseppe. "Good-a to see you!"
               "I am not-a Francesco!" replies the man, shakily, and he turns back to watching the movie.
           Five minutes pass, and Martino is bored again.
               "Hey-a Guiseppe!" he whispers. "I give-a you two thousand lira if you hit-a the bald-a guy
           again!"
               Guiseppe takes the money, stands up and hits the bald-headed man -- BONK! -- on the head.
               The bald man spins around and is just about to climb over the back of his seat, when Guiseppe
           says, "Hey-a! Francesco! Good-a to see you!"
               "I tell-a you!" snaps the bald man. "I am not-a Francesco!" and he storms out and goes and sits
           upstairs in the balcony.
           Ten minutes later, Martino is bored again.
           "Hey-a! Guiseppe!" he whispers, "I am-a bored! Let's-a go upstairs!"
           The two friends go to sit in the balcony just behind the bald-headed man.
               "Hey-a! Guiseppe!" whispers Martino. "I give-a you ten thousand lira if you hit-a the man with
           the bald-a head again!"
               Guiseppe puts the money into his pocket, gets to his feet, and hits the bald head -- SMACK! --
           with his hand.
           The man spins around in his seat.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "Hey-a! Francesco!" says Guiseppe. "You know, downstairs there is a guy that looks just-a like
           you!"

                One day, Joseph Stalin wants to find out what the people of Russia really think about him. So he
           disguises himself with a big black beard and an overcoat and goes out into the streets of Moscow. He
           walks around for a while and then goes into a favorite communist pub, the Czar's Head.
                He walks up to the bar, orders a double vodka and begins to sip it slowly. Then he turns to the
           man next to him, Comrade Popov, and casually asks, "Tell me, comrade, what do you think of
           Joseph Stalin?"
                Comrade Popov turns white, looks over both shoulders, grabs Stalin by the arm, and whispers,
           "Are you crazy? We can't talk here -- follow me!"
                The two Russians go outside through the back door, into the quiet back street. Popov looks
           around frantically, then leads Stalin into a dark alley. Then Popov looks around and says, "We are
           still not safe here! These walls have ears! Come with me."
                He takes Stalin through a maze of unlit passages and side streets before arriving at a small,
           hidden garden. They climb over the fence, and finally crouch behind some bushes.
                "Okay," says Popov, "we can talk here. You want to know what I think of Joseph Stalin?"
           "That's right," replies Stalin.
                "Well," says Popov, "I could not say it in the pub, but personally -- I like the guy!"

               Igor and Becky Ivanovich, a Moscow couple, keep a parrot called Boris in their apartment. Boris
           likes to cry, "Down with communism!" at the top of his voice, and one day the neighbors hear him
           and report him to the KGB.
           When the police arrive, Igor quickly hides Boris in the freezer.
               The KGB officers search everywhere throughout the apartment and cannot find anything. But
           just before they leave, one of them decides to have a look in the freezer and finds a frozen Boris.
               When Boris finally thaws out he starts shouting at the top of his voice: "Hurray for Gorbachev!
           Long live communism!" The KGB men are very happy and leave the apartment.
           When they are gone, Igor grabs Boris.
               "I don't understand," says Igor. "Why did you suddenly start praising communism?"
               "Look," replies Boris, "you would do the same if you had just returned from Siberia!"

           Nivedano...
           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano...

           Be silent.
           Close your eyes.
           And feel your body to be completely frozen.
           This is the right moment to look inwards.
               Gather your whole life energy and rush towards your very center of being, with total
           consciousness and with an urgency as if this is going to be the last moment in your life.
               Without such urgency nobody has ever reached to his very being, the center which is your
           original face, which is your door into the divine.
           Faster and faster,
           deeper and deeper....
               As you come closer to yourself, a great silence descends over you, almost like soft rain.
           A little closer... and you find a tremendous peace blossoming around you.
           A little more... and fragrances from the beyond fulfill your being.

              Now you can see your original face. This is the buddha, hidden at the center of your being for
           centuries. This is your superman.

              The only quality of the buddha is witnessing, and as your witnessing deepens, your blissfulness
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deepens also.
               As your witnessing becomes greater, a tremendous ecstasy arises in your very being. It is not
           something coming from outside, it is something that is arising in you and blossoming in you like a
           lotus flower.
               But it all happens -- this whole miracle of meditation is nothing but witnessing. A single word,
           and the whole of religion is intrinsic in it.
           At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth.

           To make the witnessing a little deeper, Nivedano...

               Relax, let go. Just continue to witness. Witness that you are not the body, witness that you are
           not the mind.
           Witness that you are only a witness,
           just a buddha,
           a pure consciousness,
           and eternal life
           suddenly becomes clear to you.
               You have been changing bodies again and again and again but your life goes on flowing from
           eternity to eternity. It is infinite; it is immortal.
               And as you relax you start melting like ice. All separations dissolve. Gautam the Buddha
           Auditorium suddenly becomes an ocean of ten thousand buddhas melting their consciousness into
           oneness, without any waves, without any ripples.

              The evening was very beautiful on its own but your totality, your urgency, your tremendous
           longing to reach to the center have made it a miraculous evening -- a great splendor.
           Meditation is the only magic in the world and the only miracle.

               Before Nivedano calls you back, gather all the flowers that are showering on you -- of ecstasy,
           of joy, of peace, of a deep serenity, silence, a fire within you. The fire of eternal life, which is very
           cool, and a breeze which is so fragrant, of the beyond.
               This I have called Zen Fire, Zen Wind. We have to fill the whole earth with Zen Fire and Zen
           Wind. This is the only possibility for saving humanity and this beautiful planet from destruction,
           from the politicians and from the priests.

               And don't forget to persuade the buddha to come with you. He has to become your daily life. In
           each of your activities, in each of your gestures, in every bird, in every silence -- he has to be a
           constant presence, just behind you. Just his presence behind you will start changing your lifestyle. It
           will bring grace and beauty and benediction and compassion that you have never dreamt of.

           Meditation makes the greatest dream a reality.

           Nivedano...

               Come back, but come back as buddhas, silently, peacefully, with deep gratitude and great grace.
               Sit for a few seconds just to remember where you have been, to what sky, to what space, what
           golden path you have traveled. And just feel who is behind you, the presence of the buddha.
           These are the three steps before you become enlightened:
           Buddha comes behind you like a shadow, the first step.
           Buddha comes before you and you become the shadow, the second step.
               Your shadow disappears in the buddha. You are no more, only buddha is... the third and the final
           step.
               The moment your shadow disappears in the buddha, you will find, suddenly, that buddha is only
           a transparent consciousness. When there is something transparent it makes no shadow.

              And buddha is your very nature, so there is not much problem to bring him from the hidden
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sources and to make him your whole being.
              He is just a seed at the center. As you bring it out the seed breaks down and suddenly out of your
           mud, dirty mud, of all kinds of desires, jealousies, anger, violence, arises a beautiful lotus.
              This lotus is the flowering of your very potential. This will make you a superman.
           Nietzsche can only talk about you: I can transform you into the superman.
           Superman is my very teaching.
              I teach you the superman, the buddha. I don't give you any discipline, any philosophy -- I
           simply help you to bring out your own consciousness into a state of flowering.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                  Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                   Chapter #6
                                    Chapter title: Wolves in a sheep's skin
           4 February 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8902045
              ShortTitle: FIRE06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 240 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGO VISITED NANSEN, WHO ASKED HIM, "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "MY NAME IS ENCHI."
              NANSEN ASKED, "HOW DO YOU EXPRESS THE PLACE WHERE WISDOM DOESN'T REACH?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "I WOULD NEVER EXPRESS IT."
              NANSEN SAID, "THAT'S RIGHT. IF YOU EXPRESS IT, HORNS WILL GROW AND YOU WILL
              BECOME A BEAST."
              A FEW DAYS LATER, DOGO AND UNGAN WERE SITTING OUTSIDE THE DORMITORY AND
              DOING SOME WORK. NANSEN WAS TAKING A WALK, AND WHEN HE SAW DOGO, HE ASKED,
              "ENCHI, THE OTHER DAY, YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER EXPRESS THE PLACE WHERE
              WISDOM DOESN'T REACH. NOW, HOW ARE YOU PRACTICING IT?"
              HEARING THIS, DOGO SLIPPED INTO THE DORMITORY, WAITED THERE UNTIL NANSEN
              WALKED AWAY AND THEN APPEARED AGAIN.
              UNGAN ASKED DOGO, "WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER WHEN OSHO ASKED YOU THE
              QUESTION?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "WHAT A CLEVER CHAP YOU ARE!"
              THEN UNGAN CAME UP TO NANSEN AND ASKED, "OSHO, YOU HAVE ASKED A QUESTION
              JUST NOW OF MY BROTHER-DISCIPLE, ENCHI. HOW SHOULD ONE ANSWER TO IT?"
              NANSEN SAID, "HE IS QUITE GOOD AT THE BEASTS' WAY."
              UNGAN ASKED, "WHAT is THE BEASTS' WAY?"
              NANSEN SAID, "YOU MUST HAVE HEARD THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER EXPRESS THE PLACE
              WHERE WISDOM DOESN'T REACH. IF YOU EXPRESS IT, HORNS WILL GROW. IF YOU NAME IT
              SO-AND-SO, IT WILL ALREADY BE WRONG. YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY GO THE BEASTS'
              WAY."


             Friends,
           Comrade Gorbachev seems to be bent upon destroying communism, root and all. He has even
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stopped using the word `comrade'.
               Sangeet has been going through his books, because I don't waste my time on any rubbish. She
           has found a few points which I would like to discuss with you. The first point is about women.
               It was one of the great contributions of Joseph Stalin to bring about equality between men and
           women in every sphere of life. He allowed women the same education, the same financial freedom
           as the men. He allowed the women freedom to work equally with men. He brought the woman out of
           the prison of the home. Russia was the only country in the world where women were given back
           their dignity, and the whole credit goes to Joseph Stalin.
               Now Gorbachev is forcing the woman back into the kitchen. His idea is only valid in the sense
           that unless the family is again enforced, it will be difficult to bring private property and capitalism to
           the Soviet Union. He is almost playing into the hands of the Western capitalist countries. Now he
           wants the woman not to be given equal work, or equal education; she should go back and be a wife, a
           mother. The house and the family is to be her only field.
               All over the world women are fighting for freedom. And freedom is possible only if the woman
           is educated, has the capacity to earn money for herself, is not dependent on the husband's bank
           account; if she is not forced to remain within the boundaries of the house, taking care of the children,
           preparing food, washing dishes and clothes. But that's what Gorbachev is trying to do now.
               All the women of the Soviet Union should revolt against it, and all the women outside the Soviet
           Union should support the Soviet woman's fight for freedom.
               These are small strategies for bringing capitalism back. Once the family is solid, and the woman
           has lost her equality, private property can be brought back in very easily. Gorbachev is already
           talking about private property; he is already talking about socialism, he has dropped the word
           `communism' also. And socialism is a cunning conspiracy of the capitalists.
               All over the world there are socialist parties, and their only function is to prevent people from
           becoming communist. They are being paid by the capitalists -- as far as India is concerned I am
           absolutely certain. I know, because the same man offered me money also....
               The head of India's biggest super-rich family was Jugal Kishore Birla. He was giving monthly
           salaries to Jaiprakash Narayan, who was the head of the Socialist Party of India. Seeing my
           meetings, where fifty thousand or one hundred thousand people would attend, he was immensely
           interested.
               And I used to stay in Delhi with one of the members of parliament from my constituency, Dr.
           Seth Govinddas. Both Seth Govinddas and Jugal Kishore Birla belong to the same caste, of
           marwaris -- they are the Jews of India -- so he had found a medium to reach me. He asked
           Govinddas, "A meeting is absolutely necessary. You arrange it."
               Govinddas said to me, when I was staying with him in Delhi for a few days, "It will be
           immensely helpful for your work."
               I said, "In what way can Jugal Kishore Birla help my work? My work is to destroy Birlas, and
           Tatas, and Sahus" -- the three great super-rich families of India -- "how can he help me?"
           He said, "But there is nothing wrong in meeting the man." I said, "Okay."
               So I met the man, and he immediately made an offer to me: "I will give you a blank check, as I
           have given to Mahatma Gandhi." And he had been supporting the freedom movement, and had a
           very clear vision of the future, that sooner or later these people would be the presidents, the prime
           ministers, so whatever he was giving them was an investment. Then he would take the advantage --
           and he was taking advantage, after the freedom of India. People who had been on a monthly salary
           from him... he had purchased their souls.
           He told me, "Jaiprakash Narayan is on my payroll."
               I said, "If you can give me a blank check without any conditions, I will be grateful to you. But I
           don't accept any conditions. I cannot sell myself."
               He said, "Conditions are bound to be there; otherwise why should I give you a blank check? I am
           a businessman."
           I said, "You may be a businessman, I am not."
               He said, "But my conditions are very simple: preach Hinduism to the world. And the second
           condition is, create a great movement in India to protect the cows from being slaughtered."
               I simply got up and I said, "Throw your blank check to the dogs! I am going." Govinddas was
           very much embarrassed, because they all felt great respect for his money and his support.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And I told him, "You have asked me to come, and you have insulted me! Nothing can be more
           insulting than offering money as a bribe, trying to purchase a man. You cannot purchase me --
           nobody can purchase me. I am going to speak against Hinduism my whole life! You have
           strengthened my idea; you have reminded me that I have to take care of Hinduism. And I am going
           to fight with all those people who are trying to stop cow slaughter."
                That's how I came to be the arch-enemy of the Shankaracharya of Puri, because he is the head of
           the movement to stop cow slaughter.
                So I know from the very man himself, Jugal Kishore Birla, that the head of the Socialist Party
           and perhaps other leaders were on his payroll.
                Why was he paying the socialists? What is the function of the socialist? The function is to divide
           the proletariat, to create barriers so the proletariat, the poor people, the labor unions, don't go to the
           communists.
                And it is easy for the socialists to do it, because the socialists agree with all the superstitions of
           the masses. They agree with all their superstitions, they don't disturb their religion. They don't
           disturb anything in their prejudices, they support it, so obviously the masses are attracted to them
           more easily than to the communists who are non-compromising, who hit hard on everybody's
           religion, on everybody's theism, belief in God, and all kinds of fictitious ideas and superstitions.
           Naturally, the Communist Party in India -- which is one of the oldest communist parties in the
           world -- has not been able to gather any power or any great number of people to be members. And
           it is not going to.
                Socialists pretend that they are Marxists, and that they are going to bring equality, they are going
           to bring social justice, but without disturbing anybody's superstitions. Now they are talking in
           absolute contradictions! Without destroying the masses' prejudices, their past-orientation, their
           superstitions, you cannot bring equality.
                God has created only man in his own image, not woman. The woman has been created by taking
           a rib out of man, so she is just to be a servant to the husband. She cannot claim equality. How can a
           rib bone be equal to a man? She is almost reduced to being just a body and not a soul.
                How are you going to make people equal when God has made them unequal, unless you strike
           God completely dead? And how are you going to bring social justice to the masses who believe that
           their poverty is because of their past life's evil acts? They are perfectly satisfied with their poverty --
           it is a punishment. And they don't think that the rich people are responsible for their poverty -- they
           are enjoying the good acts of their past life. If you don't disturb these superstitions, how are you
           going to bring equality to man?
                So socialism is a strategy to prevent the proletariat from going to the communists. It is a very
           deep and subtle conspiracy against communism. And Gorbachev has started calling the Soviet Union
           a socialist country, not a communist country. Already he has started making compromises.
                The second thing Sangeet has found is about democracy. He wants a democracy of the people --
           the same way as America has democracy "for the people, of the people, by the people." But a
           democracy can exist only the way it existed in Athens, in a city-state -- even there it was not perfect
           -- with direct democracy, no representatives. The whole city would gather and decide.
                That's how they decided to poison Socrates. Fifty-one percent of the population of Athens voted
           that he should be given the punishment of death by poisoning: "He has been corrupting people's
           morals, he has been corrupting people's religion. He does not believe in God. He does not believe in
           anything -- he believes only in rational, logical things, and that destroys our morality. That destroys
           our religion, our superstitions, and those are our only consolations in life." Just by a very small
           majority -- fifty-one percent were against him, and forty-nine percent were in favor of his being set
           free. But a majority is a majority; whether it is one man's majority or two men's majority does not
           matter.
                But even in Athens it was not a total democracy. It was direct, there were no representatives --
           because once the representatives come in, it is not the people who rule, it is the representatives who
           rule. And for five years they have absolute power. Just once every five years they become servants
           of the people, just for a few days while the election is on; after the election the people don't matter at
           all. Then they go on doing whatever they want to do. But in Athens, the larger part was made up of
           slaves. What kind of democracy? -- where people were auctioned, women were auctioned. And
           these slaves were not citizens, so the greater part of the population of the Athens was not able to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           vote, not able to participate in the so-called direct democracy. Athens has come closest, but that kind
           of demacracy is possible only in small cities, not in vast nations.
               In vast nations you can't have a government by the people, of the people, for the people. In vast
           lands you have to fall back on mediators. So it is just making people blind, giving them good
           slogans, but in fact democracy exists nowhere. It is always the politicians who are the rulers of the
           people.
               But as I have told you, Gorbachev is too much impressed by America and wants the Soviet
           Union to be another America. He is not saying it directly, but slowly slowly he is coming closer to it.
               Democracy will destroy seventy years' experiment completely. Democracy will bring the rich
           back, the poor back; a classless society will become again a society with classes. And whenever
           there are rich people, they are the real rulers of the country because they can purchase the politicians.
           Politicians don't have money, and they need money for their elections. No poor man can stand for
           election because it takes so much money to fight an election.
               Even in a poor country like India you need at least a million rupees to fight an election. From
           where are the people going to get that much money? And that one million rupees is the minimum. It
           depends on the constituency, and it depends on the rival candidate. If he is throwing away two
           million rupees, you have to throw away more than two millions; otherwise you are finished. And in a
           poor country, an uneducated country, people are ready to sell their votes.
               In India, anybody who has money can win an election. Not a single poor man has reached the
           parliament in forty years' time, and it will never be possible, because how can you fight? You need
           hundreds of jeeps, you need to pay the poor -- because the poor are not interested in who goes to
           the parliament. It is all the same; only faces change, nothing else changes. The poor go on becoming
           poorer, the rich go on becoming richer, and all these politicians only go on giving promises.
               Even a man like Mahatma Gandhi had promised that the first president of India would be a
           woman, and not only a woman but a woman belonging to the sudras, the untouchables. These two
           classes have suffered the most, because of the Hindu ideology that the untouchables are not human
           beings but beasts of burden, and the woman has no rights of her own. For centuries....
               So just to get the attention of the women, and the votes and the attention of the untouchables...
           And Gandhi changed the name -- politicians are very clever in changing names -- he started
           calling the untouchables, harijans. Harijan means "people of God." Now if harijans are the people of
           God, then why are they suffering for five thousand years? And those who are not the people of God
           are exploiting them, reducing them to cattle.
               Strange... but even the untouchables enjoyed the word, the change of the word. It gave them a
           great consolation that they are the chosen people of God. It does not take away your poverty, it does
           not give you food, it does not give you any dignity, but just the change of the name....
           It happened a few years before....
               There is a certain animal in the Himalayas which looks like a cow, but it is not a cow. Its color is
           bluish, so it is called the "blue cow." For centuries that has been its name. It is not a cow -- it is a
           wild, ferocious animal, and it comes down from the Himalayas and destroys whole crops in North
           India. And it has been growing in population, just like the Indians are growing.
               A time came that the population of these blue cows grew so big that the parliament had to decide
           to do something, otherwise on the one hand there is a population explosion of human beings and on
           the other hand this animal goes on destroying the crops. But Hindus were absolutely against it
           because of the name, "blue cow." They are worshippers of the cow. So there was great agitation all
           over India, "You cannot kill or shoot the blue cows."
               And in this way you can understand how cunning politicians are. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the
           grandfather of Rajiv Gandhi, changed the name. He proposed to the parliament that "We have to kill
           these blue horses." Instead of neelgaay, blue cow, he called them neelghora, blue horses.
               And no Hindu protested! They were shot in the thousands and thousands, almost their whole race
           was finished. They don't come anymore to North India. And not a single Hindu, not even this mad
           Shankaracharya of Puri, could understand a simple strategy of the politicians. When they were blue
           cows, the whole of India was in an uproar. When they became blue horses, who cares? And they are
           the same people!
               Gandhi promised that he would make the first president of India a woman, and not only a woman
           but an untouchable woman. But when India became independent, he completely forgot the promise.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And he is worshipped, not only in India but outside India, as a great man of truth -- just because he
           has written his autobiography and titled it, AN EXPERIMENT WITH TRUTH. But he was
           continuously lying to his own people.
               The first president of India, and the first prime minister of India... all were high-caste people.
           Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was a brahmin, and the brahmins have been ruling this country for
           centuries. Again the rule goes to the brahmin priests. And the miracle of the name....
           Rajiv Gandhi is not a Hindu, but nobody has said it.
               I have to say it: Rajiv Gandhi is a crossbreed. His father, Feroze Gandhi, was a Parsee; and his
           mother, Indira Gandhi, was a Hindu. But the name -- Gandhi -- gives the feeling as if he is Hindu,
           because Mahatma Gandhi was Hindu. So people think....
               And Parsees are not known very much; they are confined to Bombay, and a few people in Poona,
           a few people in Surat -- just this small territory. Basically they are confined to Bombay, so all over
           most of India nobody knows about them, that they also have a surname, Gandhi.
               The word gandhi comes not from caste or religion; it means a man who sells perfumes. Gandh
           means perfume, and gandhi means a perfume seller. So anybody who sells perfumes becomes
           "Gandhi." It has nothing to do with religion, it has nothing to do with caste.
               Feroze Gandhi's family, sometime in the past, must have been selling perfume. And that was also
           true of Mahatma Gandhi's parents or forefathers. Somewhere back, they must have been selling
           perfume; both are called "gandhis."
               This word `Gandhi' gives the impression to the whole of India that Rajiv is a Hindu. He is not.
           Rajiv is half Hindu and half Parsee. If the whole of India comes to know it, it will be very difficult
           for Rajiv to come back to power again. I want the whole of India to know it: he is a crossbreed, but
           the word `Gandhi' is hiding him. And he goes to the shankaracharyas and to all the so-called Hindu
           saints and nobody objects, because they all think he is a Hindu. I have to expose him. This man is
           just like a blue horse who used to be a blue cow.

               Changing names is an old, very ancient strategy of the politicians. Now "comrade" is dropped
           because it was very significant, and only communists used it. And it is a beautiful word. Comrade
           means friend, brother, belonging to the same path. And Gorbachev has dropped the word
           `communism' and is continually talking in his two books about socialism, which was never before
           mentioned in the seventy years of the Soviet Union's life. It was a communist country. For the first
           time we hear it is a socialist country.
               And he wants private property to come back, he wants foreign money to be invested in the Soviet
           land. He is completely destroying everything for which so much sacrifice has been made.
               It is still time for the Soviet Union to stand up against this man. His whole desire is to be a world
           leader.
               Just a few days ago I had told you that soon he will be getting a Nobel Prize. Today his name has
           been nominated. It has not been long, and my prediction has come true. These names have been
           nominated: Gorbachev is first, Ronald Reagan is second, Rajiv Gandhi is third, Dalai Lama is fourth.
           And the head of the International Football Federation is the fifth!
               Nobody has ever heard that the head of the International Football Federation is contributing
           something to human evolution -- football! And in what way is this football contributing to peace?
           -- because he has been nominated to be given a Nobel Prize for peace. Strange...?
               And what has the Dalai Lama done? He escaped from Tibet when China attacked. If he was
           really in favor of the Tibetan people he should have remained with his people, even if he was to be
           murdered.
               And when he escaped he did not bring the Buddhist scriptures with him, he brought seventeen
           camels loaded with gold, because he knew that it would be impossible to get back to Tibet. A man
           who has betrayed his own people... and they are being killed every day. He has taken the money of
           the people. It was not his private money. No lama can have private money -- a lama is a Buddhist
           bhikkshu, he cannot possess anything. The money belonged to the taxpayers, the poor Tibetans. All
           the gold that was in the possession of the Lhasa Palace of Dalai Lama -- he ran away with all the
           gold, leaving the Tibetan people in the hands of China. And they are being killed every day,
           butchered, tortured.
               And you will not believe... Every child has to learn Chinese now, not Tibetan. So they are not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only destroying people's political freedom, they are even destroying their literature, their whole
           heritage. The children will be Chinese, because they will be speaking Chinese. Soon, when the old
           people die, even the Tibetan language will die. And Tibetan scriptures will disappear.
               This is an absolute crime against a culture -- they have brought not just a political slavery to
           Tibet, they are destroying Tibet's whole ancient culture, which has something beautiful in it. They
           have destroyed all the monasteries of Buddhist monks. They have been turned into hospitals, into
           schools. And they have brought a great number of Chinese to become residents of Tibet. The number
           of Chinese is now more than the Tibetans. So now they will bring democracy to Tibet, because now
           in any case Tibetans cannot win the elections; more Chinese have been infiltrated.
           And what has Dalai Lama done?
               His younger brother has died just a few days before, because his younger brother -- his name
           was Panchen Lama -- proved far more courageous than Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama was the head of
           state and Panchen Lama was number two; if Dalai Lama dies or something happens, then Panchen
           Lama would be the head. He was not the head, but he took over as Dalai Lama escaped. He did not
           escape with Dalai Lama, he remained with his people, and he tried in every possible way to prevent
           this invasion. But Tibet had no armies, Tibet had no arms. Tibet had nothing to fight with, no roads,
           no tanks, no bombs. Tibet had only twenty-one guns belonging to the guards of Dalai Lama's palace
           -- that was all. There were no courts, no police -- because the Tibetan people are such a silent
           people, such a meditative people.
           That's why I feel for the Tibetan people.
               If the Nobel Prize was given to the Tibetan people, it would have been absolutely right. They are
           suffering and their meditativeness is being laughed at. They are being forced not to meditate, but to
           go to the fields and work. Under loaded machine guns, meditators are being forced to work.
               And Panchen Lama died just four or five days ago, because in a international conference in
           Beijing he directly hit the Chinese government. He made it clear that Tibet is being completely
           destroyed -- not only its people are being killed, its scriptures are being burnt, its temples are being
           destroyed. Nobody can learn Tibetan anymore. The language is being destroyed, the children are
           being forced to learn Chinese and to speak Chinese.
               This is a real generation gap, where children will not be able to understand their own parents.
           Their parents will not be able to say anything to the children; they will not understand each other's
           language.
               And he lashed out against China, risking his life. Because the conference was international, he
           wanted the whole world to know what is happening in Tibet at the hands of the Chinese. So he
           exposed the whole situation, and that very night he was found dead in his hotel. No autopsy was
           made, no certificate from a doctor that he has died a normal, natural death -- he was a young man,
           perfectly healthy -- and he was buried. Now they will put someone, their agent -- he may be
           Tibetan -- as the head of Tibet.
               For what is the Dalai Lama getting a nomination? He is not even the head of the International
           Football Federation! And he is a coward. Cowardice is being rewarded by a Nobel Prize.
               And what has Rajiv Gandhi done? He has come accidentally into power because his mother,
           Indira Gandhi, was assassinated. Naturally the whole nation's sympathy was with Rajiv, her only
           son. The other son, Sanjay, had died in an airplane accident. But one should see the politician's
           mind....
               Sanjay Gandhi was very much interested in flying airplanes; he had a small airplane and he went
           flying in it just over his own house. Just two or three blocks from Indira Gandhi's house, where
           Sanjay lived with his mother, something went wrong. And there is every suspicion that there must
           have been some political conspiracy, because the examiner at the airport who checked the plane
           before Sanjay took it said that there was nothing wrong with it, it was absolutely perfect. But just
           within five minutes... there is a possibility of some sabotage.
               And as Indira was informed -- immediately, because she was just two blocks away; she had
           seen the airplane falling down -- as she was informed, she rushed immediately to the place. I have
           heard that her first question was not about whether Sanjay was alive or dead -- this is the
           politician's mind -- her first question was, "He was carrying two keys. Where are those two keys?"
               One of those two keys belonged to all the money that she was gathering for the coming elections,
           and the other key was to a safe in which she was keeping all the files against all the politicians, files
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that she inherited from her father.
                Those files are immensely valuable, because all politicians commit crimes but if they are in the
           ruling party then nobody ever knows what they have done. But the prime minister knows. He keeps a
           record of it, what this man has done. If he turns against the prime minister, then he will be exposed
           immediately to the public as a criminal.
                So all those files belonged to Indira. And Sanjay was very ambitious to become the prime
           minister after Indira Gandhi. He was younger than Rajiv but more political and more crazy for
           power. The rumor is that he even slapped Indira Gandhi once because she would not give him the
           keys.
                Finally he got those two keys, which were of immense importance: all the money -- one never
           knows how much money it was; it must have been a few million rupees or even more. And the
           second was even more important. To control all enemies completely, just the fear was enough, that
           the file is there and immediately an investigation can be started and they will lose all face, all their
           hypocrisy will be exposed.
                She did not ask what happened to Sanjay. She immediately asked, "Where are those two keys he
           was carrying with him?" So they said, "Those two keys have been put in the hands of the police. You
           can get them from the police station." She did not go directly to the hospital to see Sanjay, who was
           dead; first she went to the police station, got the keys. Then she went to the hospital.
                When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, he told the country, "I promise you that I will lead the
           country into the twenty-first century." And after the election he never said that again. Now he is
           talking about simple methods, simple solutions for complex problems. He is talking about the past
           and the heritage, the great culture, of India. Now he is not looking forward.
                Nobody can take the country into the twenty-first century except me! I can take it to the
           twenty-second century! There is no problem, we can have quantum jumps. But he cannot. He has no
           plan for the country; all his promises are lies.
                Four days ago he spoke to an international conference of scientists in New Delhi, and then he
           said, "Nations should disappear; there should be no boundaries on the earth. The whole earth is one."
           I suspect he must have been reading my books! If he is not reading them, then it must be the
           secretary who is preparing his speeches. "We should dissolve all differences -- nations, boundaries,
           races -- and create one humanity." That was in front of the international conference.
                And four days later he was speaking to a Hindu conference, and there he completely forgot about
           dissolving the boundaries. He started talking about the great Indian heritage -- "We have to protect
           it." The great Indian morality -- "We have to protect it."
                If you are going to protect the Indian heritage, why should Germans not protect their heritage?
           Why shouldn't Japanese protect their heritage, and Americans protect their heritage? Where has the
           one earth gone?
                But people are blind and utterly in darkness; they cannot see simple contradictions. The man
           talks to the international conference, and talks in terms of one world. And when he talks to the
           Hindus, then he says, "Our culture is the best in the world."
                But that's the stupidity which everybody is doing. That's how nations are divided, races are
           divided against each other, religions are divided, because everybody is claiming, "We are the best!"
                He talks about making things simple, and on the other hand he has started creating nuclear
           weapons. Nuclear weapons are simple things? It is the most complex and the most ultra-modern.
           And in what way does it belong to the Hindu heritage? You should go back to bullock carts, and you
           should go back to the spinning wheel -- that is the only technology that belongs to the Hindu
           heritage. You should return to satipratha -- killing women alive on their husband's funeral pyre, and
           you should keep the untouchables as animals, as Hindus have kept them for centuries. This is the
           Hindu heritage!
                But all these people have no dedication to any truths. These are all opportunists.
                A Nobel Prize for Rajiv Gandhi? What has he done? But this is part of bringing him together
           with Gorbachev, because India and Russia are in a treaty for another thirty years in the future: they
           will be friends and they will defend each other, and they will fight for each other. If somebody
           attacks Russia, India will fight. If somebody attacks India, Russia will fight. And Russia has been
           absolutely supporting India, in every possible way. But now, as Gorbachev is moving towards
           America, it is good to give a Nobel Prize to Rajiv Gandhi also, so both can move together towards
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           America. There is no other reason except a political strategy to give these people a super-ego.
               And I was surprised... it is perfectly okay to give a Nobel Prize to the International Football
           Federation's head, but what has Ronald Reagan done? There are so many crimes that he has
           committed under his regime that it is just a coincidence that he has not been arrested and brought to
           the Supreme Court -- a coincidence, a very strange coincidence.
               The American Constitution gives the Supreme Court absolute power. Even the president cannot
           overrule the Supreme Court's orders. But the president has one power in his hands: if one of the
           judges -- and there are nine judges on the whole Supreme Court bench -- if one of the judges dies,
           then the president can appoint a new judge. From the best judges of all the state supreme courts, or
           high courts... anybody he wants he can appoint.
               Those people who made the constitution never conceived that five judges could suddenly retire.
           The time of retirement for five judges had come when Ronald Reagan was in power, so if five of the
           judges retired -- it is just a rare coincidence -- he could appoint five men of his own. Now in the
           Supreme Court, five out of nine judges are Reagan's men, and four are a minority. That's how he has
           escaped being punished for his criminal acts during his presidency. The Supreme Court cannot do
           anything because the majority of the judges are his men. He has come out of the White House
           completely white, snow-white, clean.
               There were rumors all over America and all around the world -- "What will happen about all the
           crimes he has commited? Will he be impeached?" But nothing has been done. And he has been doing
           things against the Senate, he has been doing things against the constitution, he has been doing things
           against the common law of the country... and now he deserves a Nobel Prize!
               They should start giving Nobel Prizes to the great criminals. Why not be frank? That will be
           more truthful.
           None of these people deserve anything.
               Gorbachev is getting a Nobel Prize because he is destroying a seventy-year-old great experiment
           for the human future.
               Ronald Reagan is being given the Nobel Prize for all his crimes which prevented any change in
           the social structure, in the social status quo of America.
               Rajiv Gandhi is being given the Nobel Prize because he is preventing the communists, he is
           preventing any kind of revolutionary step in India. He is keeping the same bureaucracy....

                Albert Einstein during his whole life was working on the speed of light, and finally he figured it
           out. And then he wondered: the speed of light is the greatest speed in the world... what is the lowest?
           He could not find out, and he died before I could have told him.
                The lowest speed is the Indian bureaucracy. The file moves so slowly from one table to another
           table... and on each table you have to bribe. Then the file moves to another table. Then you have to
           bribe again. Then it moves to the third table. By the time it reaches the final table, perhaps you may
           be finished!
                I know about a case against one of my very respected friends. He was an old man, but it has been
           my strange fate to be in contact with the oldest people. This man was a revolutionary, Pandit
           Sunderlal, and he fought his whole life against the British government. Somewhere in 1914, when he
           was young, very young, he wrote a book on Indian history in which he contradicted what the British
           were teaching in the schools about Indian history.
                Those histories were written by the British, so naturally they were not talking about the
           brutalities the British had committed. But he collected all the facts and he wrote a history.
                The British government started a case against four persons: the publisher, the writer, the editor,
           and the printer. In the Allahabad high court the case started.
                I saw Pandit Sunderlal in 1970 for the last time -- he was very old. I asked him what had
           happened with the case. He said, "Don't ask. Somebody has to write a history about the case, because
           all the judges who tried it are dead; all the advocates from my side and from the government's side
           are dead. The case was started against four persons -- three are dead, only I am alive. The case was
           started by a government which is no longer here! Now India is free, but the case continues. It will
           end only when I am dead."
                There is no way. Such is the bureaucracy... sixty years continuously, an ordinary case, and
           everybody died! Even the British Empire died! And now the Indian government is carrying the case.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Great bureaucracy....
               I could have told Albert Einstein that I have found that the Indian bureaucratic files have the
           slowest speed in the world. Nothing moves slower. And if you don't bribe, it does not move at all.
               You can go into any bureaucrat's office and you will see on every clerk's table, piles of files. You
           won't see the clerk, you will see two piles; the clerk is hiding behind. You give, from underneath the
           table, a ten-rupee note, and your file is brought to the top. But after half an hour another person
           comes and he gives ten rupees -- his file goes on top of your file. After a month you find your file
           has reached to the same old place, it is on the same table. And the clerk needs high piles so you can't
           see his face. You just find his hand underneath the table with your hand, and you cannot even report
           who has asked you for money because you have never seen the face, you just see the hand!
               And these people like Rajiv Gandhi are keeping the same British Empire bureaucracy -- no
           change at all.
               The country is becoming every day poorer, with more population, more population.... No guts in
           this man Rajiv Gandhi! Because now, birth control needs almost military action -- nothing else will
           help. And armies are sitting around unnecessarily. Bring those armies to every village and sterilize
           people!
               But the fear... in the election these people will defeat you, and the fear is right. Indira Gandhi got
           defeated on the same point, because Sanjay was too much interested in birth control, sterilization.
           And he was absolutely right, but because of him Indira Gandhi was condemned that she was giving
           him the power and he was going too far.
               Not voluntary birth control -- because voluntary birth control won't succeed. People believe that
           children are given by God and to interfere in the work of God is a sin. So unless it is compulsory,
           such that either you get sterilized or otherwise you get shot... You can choose -- this is freedom of
           choice. But no politician has the guts to give this freedom of choice.
               Just within two days all this nonsense of population explosion can be stopped. Within two days!
           Just bring the guns and give the freedom to the people to choose -- either the doctor or the army!
           But please don't misunderstand me -- I simply want that something drastic should be done to
           prevent the population explosion. Things can be done only Stalin-style, there is no other way. But
           Joseph Stalin never got the Nobel Prize, and these pygmies are getting Nobel Prizes.

               The third thing Sangeet has found in Gorbachev's book is about cutting back the army and
           weapons.
               American experts are suggesting to President George Bush that he go on increasing weapons,
           nuclear weapons, more refined missiles, and not stop it. What will be the outcome of it? If Russia
           cuts back its army and weapons, and America goes on piling up nuclear weapons, there will be no
           need of any war. Just a threat will be enough to finish Russia -- just a threat, that "If you don't listen
           to us we are going to attack you."
               A great world power, just because of one man, is losing all its dignity. I hope that somebody
           shoots this man! He deserves it; rather than destroying a whole country, it is better to get rid of
           Gorbachev. Just put him to eternal peace -- I don't mean it literally, but Gorbachev has to be
           removed from office. There is still time....
               And you can see his workings. He is talking about democracy and he has taken all the power in
           his hands. He is the most powerful man in the whole of Russia's history -- even Stalin had not that
           much power.
               He has become the president of the country, and the prime minister has become nominal, and has
           no power. He has changed the whole Communist Party's high command, the Politburo. All the old
           people have been thrown out, and he has put all his own people into the commanding body. He has
           changed the head of the KGB, which is the country's most powerful agency, and he has put his own
           man as the head.
               Now he is in complete control of the KGB, the Communist Party, and he is also the secretary of
           the Politburo, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. So he has all the
           powers -- and he is the president of the government. These are the three most important posts; he is
           holding all three himself.
           You can see that he is not a democratic man at all.
               The academician Sakharov used to be the director general of the Academy of Sciences. Because
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he accepted the Nobel Prize... Gorbachev himself asked him not to accept the Nobel Prize. And
           because he did not listen... Sakharov is a man of some integrity; he knew perfectly well that this
           could mean a lifelong sentence in a concentration camp in Siberia. Before him, three scientists from
           his own academy had received the Nobel Prize, but because they did not listen to the government
           they were thrown into Siberia, into labor camps. He knew this could happen to him also, but he
           risked. And he had some influence over the Russian masses as a very great scientist. Perhaps he is
           the greatest scientist alive in the world.
                Gorbachev removed him from the directorship of the academy. And a small meanness... he took
           away his car also, which was given to him as a director, so he could not have much freedom of
           movement. Now Sakharov is only a member of the academy.
                The Academy of Sciences in Russia has a certain quota in the parliament. A few members are
           chosen by the academy for the parliament, and Sakharov stood for a post, and he was perfectly
           certain that he would be chosen. He has been the director of the academy, all these people know him,
           they have worked under him. There was no question that he would not be chosen. But he was not
           chosen because Gorbachev is behind the idea that he should not be chosen. He does not want any
           other man of world renown in the parliament except him. This is democracy!
                And now Gorbachev has to see what happens to his Nobel Prize. If he is a man of any honesty he
           should refuse it -- because he has been forcing Soviet scientists to refuse the Nobel Prize; now the
           question has come to him. If he accepts the Nobel Prize, that man is a chicken! He should refuse
           immediately; even the nomination he should refuse: "I don't want to be nominated."
                Show some consistency, some honesty! And why have you prevented Sakharov from being
           chosen? The whole academy must have been forced by the KGB -- "You cannot choose him, or
           your life is at risk."
                Now Sakharov has led thousands and thousands of people in a procession -- this must be the
           first procession in seventy years -- to President Gorbachev's Kremlin, shouting slogans like "Where
           is your democracy?" and "Where is your socialism?" and "Where is your openness to the world?
           What happened to all that?" Thousands and thousands of people joined the march at the risk of their
           lives.
                Sakharov is loved immensely. Gorbachev must have felt, "This man can be a competitor, so don't
           let him enter into the parliament." Now Sakharov is being supported by the people, and they have
           asked him: "You stand -- not from the academy, you stand as a general candidate against the
           Communist Party candidate, and we will support you." Now he is standing for election from his
           district where he lives, and I hope he succeeds. I hope he confronts Gorbachev in the parliament on
           every point.
                People say one thing, do something else, and think something else. These are the politicians of
           the world.
                Now it is absolutely stupid, but it is a compromise: Gorbachev will get a Nobel Prize if he cuts
           down his army and weapons. If he opens the doors of the Soviet Union to capitalism, he will be
           given a Nobel Prize. And a world-famous leader... he will become the topmost leader in the world,
           but at the risk of destroying the sacrifice of twenty million Russians and a tremendously great
           experiment in changing the social structure of the society. Nobody for hundreds of years will be able
           to do it again.

               The fourth thing he has been insisting is to cut down military aid to small communist countries.
               One can see clearly that his mind is determined to completely demolish communism from the
           earth. Now those small countries like Cuba, or Czechoslovakia, or Yugoslavia -- they are so small
           that if the Soviet Union is not behind them, capitalist countries can run over them, there is no
           problem. Cuba will be immediately finished. Once the Soviet Union withdraws its armies from
           Cuba, America will take over it without any difficulty.
               Gorbachev is behaving very unconsciously, not understanding exactly the implications for
           humanity. He is playing into the hands of enemies.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

             One sannyasin from the Soviet Union -- she is here -- has asked me a question:
           WHILE GROWING UP IN THE SOVIET UNION I HAD ALWAYS OPPOSED THE USSR'S
           CLOSED-DOOR POLICIES, AND SOMEWHERE FELT DISAPPOINTED THAT I WAS BORN
           THERE. NOW AFTER EXPERIENCING LIFE IN THE WEST AND HEARING YOUR
           REVOLUTIONARY, MIND-BLOWING DISCOURSES ON THE VALUE OF THE
           SEVENTY-YEAR DICTATORIAL REGIME, I CAN SO CLEARLY SEE THE DEPTH, THE
           WISDOM, THE TRUTH OF YOUR WORDS. AND IN THE DEPTH OF MY HEART I FEEL SO
           FORTUNATE AND GRATEFUL THAT I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE THERE.
           DO YOU THINK THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE SOVIET LAND WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THE
           VALUES OF THEIR COUNTRY'S PAST DICTATORIAL REGIME WITHOUT HAVING TO GO
           THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE OF THE WESTERN STYLE LIVING, AND WITHOUT
           FALLING INTO THE TRAP OF TRYING TO IMITATE THE WEST?

               It is very difficult to predict, and I am not a prophet. I can only hope for the best, that one man
           cannot undermine twenty million people. Somebody is bound to finish him, because other than that,
           nothing is going to help.
               And anyway the Soviet Union has enough experience of what the dictatorship of Stalin managed
           to do: raise the poorest country in the world to the highest peak of power. Even America was
           threatened, continuously living in paranoia. A single man managed to raise the country to such a
           power....
               Millions of people in the Soviet Union must be feeling that Gorbachev is destroying their dignity.
           They will belong to a backward country. Once their doors are open to capitalist money and to all
           kinds of spies from capitalist countries, once Gorbachev reduces his army and weapons, the country
           will be in need, just as other poor countries are in need, of foreign aid.
               I hope somebody in the Soviet Union, or somebody who understands the revolutionary strategy
           from outside the Soviet Union, can do something to stop this insane man from the destructive step
           that he is going to take -- that he is already taking.


              The second question:
              REVOLUTIONARIES HAVE ALWAYS CLAIMED THAT IT IS SOCIETY'S REPRESSIVE
              INSTRUMENTS OF CONTROL THAT DEFORM HUMANITY AND PRODUCE THE UGLY
              BEHAVIOR OF MAN.
              THE REACTIONARIES HAVE CLAIMED THE OPPOSITE: THAT HUMAN NATURE IS INHERENTLY
              UGLY, AND THAT IT IS ONLY THE INSTRUMENTS OF CONTROL THAT LIMIT THIS UGLINESS
              AND ALLOW WHAT LITTLE CIVILIZATION THERE IS. THEY SAY THAT WITHOUT SUCH
              CONTROL, THIS UGLY BEHAVIOR WOULD RAPIDLY REDUCE US TO BARBARITY.
              IT SEEMS THAT, AS ALWAYS, YOUR APPROACH IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND TOTALLY
              UNIQUE. WOULD YOU TALK ABOUT THIS CENTURIES-OLD CONTROVERSY?


               The truth is, the whole controversy is absolutely wrong. It is based on prejudices, not on an
           experience of human nature.
               I speak from the experience of my own humanity, that the deeper you go the more cultured you
           are; the deeper you go the more graceful you are. The deeper you reach the more human you
           become. So I can say with absolute certainty and guarantee that man is not by nature ugly.
               Man by nature is born absolutely innocent, neither ugly nor cultured, just a tabula rasa.
           Whatever you want to write on him he will become.
               If you are alert and aware, you will not write anything; you will leave the child alone. You will
           help him to be stronger, you will help him to be well-nourished, you will help him to be more
           healthy, you will take every care, in the way a gardener takes care of a rosebush. You will not force
           anything on the rosebush -- roses will come in their own time, they are hidden; you have just to
           take care.
               Every child has roses, lotuses, buddhas hidden in him, in his innocence. Help him to remain
           innocent. Don't force so-called culture, society, in the fear that "if we don't force, he will become a
           barbarian."
               Without any experimentation, this controversy has been going on for centuries. I know; I have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been fighting in my university with my professors, because the same thing comes up again and again
           in every psychological and social effort to understand what to do with the child. And my standpoint
           from the very beginning has been not to do anything with the child; you simply protect.
                Your function is to nourish the child, to make him healthy, to keep him intelligent. Let him be
           himself, his innocence intact -- he will find meditativeness very easy. If you want, if your
           temptation to teach is too much, teach meditation. That will make him more innocent. Don't teach
           knowledge, culture, civilization. That becomes the burden, that becomes the false personality, that
           becomes the hypocrisy.
                We are living in a hypocrite world, not a cultured world. It is not really a cultured or civilized
           world. H.G. Wells was right.... He was writing a world history and he had almost completed it -- it
           is one of the greatest histories ever written, by a man of a very clear insight into things. A friend
           asked, "You know about the whole of world history. What is your idea about civilization?"
                H.G. Wells said, "It is a good idea, but it has to happen. It has not happened yet. Somebody has
           to bring it to humanity. Humanity is still barbaric."
                Just look at your armies, just look at your arms, just look at your nuclear weapons. Even
           barbarians are not that barbaric; even animals are not that animalistic. Have you seen any animal
           killing his own species?
                A dog will never kill another dog. Sometimes you can see them fighting, but watch closely. Be a
           witness, and you will be surprised to discover... because I have been watching. I have not only been
           watching human beings, I have been watching all kinds of beings. I have never missed any
           opportunity to watch, to figure out what is happening.
                When two dogs are fighting, you can see they are not really hitting each other, they are just
           barking. Everybody is showing his power and both are watching each other: "Who is more
           powerful?" This is arithmetic! Once it is decided, both understand clearly that one is weaker, then
           the weaker one simply puts his tail underneath his legs. Just a symbol, that "There is no point. I am
           weaker, you are stronger. Finished." And they stop barking, and the stronger does not take advantage
           of the weaker. That will be too un-dogly.
                Once the weaker has accepted that he is weaker, then the stronger simply moves away; there is
           no point in fighting. In fact, they may become friends -- most often they become friends. Once
           things are settled, that one is weaker and one is stronger, what is the point of fighting, unnecessary
           killing?
                And there is no humiliation in accepting your weakness. If you are weak, what can you do? You
           are weak, you are simply accepting the truth. There is no insult, there is no humiliation. You are
           simply giving the signal to the other person that "I am weak, and if you want to kill me you can kill."
           But that will not be fair, and that will not be just, and the stronger person immediately understands
           that "this poor fellow needs protection rather than attack." They become friends.
                No animal species kills its own people except man. And no animals have weapons, so the fight is
           face to face, it is an encounter, direct. It has a dignity in it. It is only man who has invented weapons.
           And what is the purpose of the weapons? To shoot the enemy from far away, so you don't have
           encounter him face to face, eye to eye.
                First, man invented arrows and the bow to kill faraway animals, faraway birds. You don't know...
           you cannot fight even with a strong dog. You cannot fight with a monkey, although Charles Darwin
           says you are the evolution of monkeys. But your retarded brothers are far stronger than you.
                Even a man like Vivekananda, who was really fat, big, and an arch-egoist... He was passing
           somewhere in the Himalayas and one monkey started threatening him. And Vivekananda started
           running, forgot all about God, forgot all about spiritual powers. The monkey looked very strong --
           they are strong, you cannot compete with them. From tree to tree they go, from house to house they
           jump. You cannot do that.
                As far as monkeys are concerned, my feeling is they must be thinking that human beings are a
           fallen race, not evolved, because you have fallen from the trees onto the ground. They are still higher
           than you! They must be laughing at Charles Darwin's one-sided judgment. Nobody has asked a
           monkey -- it is a one-sided judgment. Man is deciding on his own that he is the evolution of apes,
           of gorillas, of chimpanzees.
                Have you seen chimpanzees and gorillas and apes? Just one chimpanzee is enough for five men!
           Within minutes you will be finished.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Man started with arrows, but the idea was to be able to kill from a distance. This was a cowardly
           idea, so that the animal cannot attack you; the animal is far away. Then came gunpowder, even more
           powerful. And your so-called great hunters sit up in a tree where the lion cannot reach. To deceive
           the lion they put a goat underneath the tree, so the lion smells the goat, and he comes to catch the
           goat. And when he is killing the goat, you -- from the top of the tree where he cannot reach --
           shoot him. And you are a great hunter!

               I have heard about a hunter. His wife was always asking him, "Sometimes you should take me
           also." This time she was adamant. She said, "Either I come, or you don't go. And not only I am
           coming, my mother is also coming."
               The hunter thought for a moment, and he said, "If your mother is also coming, then come."
               They put the old woman in a cave to watch the scene and they both sat in the tree, the husband
           and wife. The wife suddenly nudged the husband and told him, "Look! One lion has entered into the
           cave where my mother is!"
               The hunter said, "It is the lion's own fault. I cannot help. Why has that idiot entered there? Now
           he will suffer as I am suffering."

               Now there are missiles, which are the ultimate: you can kill somebody in America from here, and
           you don't have to see the enemy at all. Missiles are computerized -- you simply tell the computer,
           you press a button. And you don't know where the missile is. It may be somewhere in the ocean on a
           warship, but the computer knows where it is and the computer knows where it has to go. You can sit
           inside your house and destroy the whole of America, or the whole of the Soviet Union, or the whole
           of India, just by pressing buttons on the computer -- it is exactly like a typewriter. This is the
           remotest way of killing millions of people, not encountering them.
               Now there are airplanes without pilots; the computer manages the plane. It will go to any city, it
           will drop the hydrogen bombs, or atom bombs, whatever you want the computer to do. The computer
           manages the flight, and the airplane will drop the bombs at the right place and turn back and come
           home. And there is no need for any human being to be inside the plane, because that is dangerous.
               This is the latest development of the arrow. The arrow was the beginning of remote killing. The
           highest development of the arrow are the missiles controlled by computers.
               Man is the most barbarious animal, and he kills man. And just now it had been discovered...
           perhaps it has been discovered before but was kept secret for a right time to release it. Hirohito, the
           emperor of Japan, has died, and immediately America released the news that after the second world
           war when Japan was defeated, there were many Japanese on small islands, in the forests --
           guerillas, fighting. Because Japan was defeated, Germany was defeated, these people were left in the
           jungles of Burma. Having no food, they started eating the dead bodies of the British soldiers in the
           jungles of Burma. They have released that news just now, when Hirohito's funeral was about to take
           place. That has created a great problem. The Prince of Wales was going to attend, but he refused.
           Then Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, was asked to go to the funeral of the emperor of
           Japan. He said, "I can go, but I belong to a special club that has been created by Mountbatten."
           Mountbatten was the viceroy in Burma for almost his whole life; only in the last part of his life he
           came to India. He created a special club of all the royal princes and old royalties of the world. So
           Prince Philip is a member of that Burma Club.
               I had never heard about the club, because it was a secret club. Just now Prince Philip has said, "If
           I go, then I will be immediately expelled from the Burma Club. So I don't think it is right for me to
           go."
               Just to prevent every important person around the world from participating in Hirohito's funeral,
           that news release was waiting.
               Now, it is... The second world war ended in 1945. For what reason has this release been kept
           back? Just to insult Emperor Hirohito in his death! This is ugly behavior. And my feeling is that even
           Prince Philip, in the position of those Japanese soldiers who had been hungry for months, would
           have eaten the corpses. He should just think for a moment, "If I was in their position, what would I
           do?"
               I know about the famous famine in Bengal -- even mothers ate their own children. There is a
           limit... man is very frail. A woman who has been hungry for one month, and the breast is no longer
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bringing any milk, the child is hungry... it is a double problem. She is suffering from hunger so she
           cannot give milk. There is no milk, she has become a skeleton, and the child is dying without milk.
           Just put yourself in that situation....
               So the women ate their own children, or those who were a little more conscientious sold their
           children, so others ate them and they got the money to purchase something to eat. But it is the same,
           just a little roundabout.
               And there are cannibals, you know, in Africa. All the missionaries know -- missionaries are the
           only people who get caught by the cannibals, because nobody else goes into their forests. They used
           to be three thousand in the beginning of this century; now they are only three hundred. They have
           eaten their own people -- what to do?
               Once in a while a missionary comes. Then there is great rejoicing, drums are beaten, the whole
           tribe gathers, and the missionary thinks that they are gathering to listen his sermon. And sometimes,
           if the missionary is thin and not worth boiling at this point, they keep him, feeding him fruits,
           whatever is possible, and the missionary thinks these are very good people: "Unnecessarily they
           have been called cannibals, and they are serving me!" And when he becomes really fat, then the
           drums beat again....
               I have heard about one missionary. When he was put in a big pot in boiling water, he could not
           think what to say to these people. He said, "Just wait a little. You can kill me later on -- first let me
           give you a little taste of Christianity."
               They said, "Wait! That's what we are trying. When we drink the soup, we will have a taste of
           Christianity! You just wait, don't be in a hurry -- and anyway you cannot escape."

                Man is the ugliest animal in the sense that the people who think they have civilized him, they
           have cultured him, are absolutely wrong. All their culture and civilization only goes skindeep. Just
           scratch, and immediately comes the barbarian.
                The only thing to make man really and authentically cultured is to bring up children in their
           innocence, and help their bodies to be healthy and their innocence to be meditative. The child can
           reach his center very easily because he has nothing to obstruct him, no ideas, no thoughts, no
           prejudices. He is not Catholic, he is not Hindu; he knows nothing. So when you say, "Go in," he
           simply goes in. And the road is clean, because no Bibles, no Korans, no Bhagavadgitas are standing
           like a China Wall preventing him. Children can learn meditation more easily than anybody else.
                So my suggestion in response to your question is that every child is born innocent. Neither
           barbaric nor a very cultured and religious person -- just innocent. And all that the child needs from
           the parents and the society is not knowledge, but a deepening of innocence. Meditation is the only
           way of deepening innocence, and if a child grows with his center blossoming you will have for the
           first time a society which is cultured, a society of the buddhas, the awakened ones. That's my whole
           effort here.

           Now the sutras:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGO VISITED NANSEN, WHO ASKED HIM, "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
              DOGO REPLIED, "MY NAME IS ENCHI."

               Enchi in Chinese means "round" and "wisdom." A man of wisdom becomes round.
               Not physically -- if he becomes round physically, he will have to become a member of the TV
           Couch Potatoes! He will have to be in America. Then just sit on your sofa and watch television for
           seven and a half hours per day, average. And you cannot leave a sensational murder or rape story.
           You cannot leave a man who is raping a woman, in the middle, can you? So a special club is being
           created which is called the TV Couch Potato Club. You become a member of the club with a certain
           fee, and you have a card and a number. Whenever you feel that you need ice cream, or you need your
           lunch, or your supper, or your dinner, whatever -- you simply... By your side is the phone. You go
           on watching the TV, the rape. Nobody wants to miss any details. Just phone the number and give
           your membership number from the Potato Club, and tell the hotel, "Bring my dinner here." And
           immediately your dinner will be served just in front of you. You can go on watching.
               People are even making love doggie-style because the man wants to watch the TV and the
           woman also wants to watch the TV. So a totally new fashion, absolutely original and American --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more particularly, Californian.
                I don't know who gave this name to California, because it should be Californiac. "Fornication"
           -- that is the basic root from which California should come. Whether it comes from that or not I don't
           bother.

               Enchi means a man who is wise. And when a man is wise he does not have corners. His whole
           consciousness becomes round, shapely, graceful. The roundness represents grace. And if you have
           sharp corners here and there, that means you are dangerous, you can kill anybody with your corners.
               You know, in America they call the old-fashioned people "squares." The square has four corners.
           Hippies brought that word into existence. "Squares" -- they have corners, they are just looking to
           hit somebody. They are just ready to be angry and enraged.
               In ancient Chinese symbolism, roundness, enchi, is a symbol of wisdom. One has lost all the
           corners of anger, violence, murder, rape, crime. One has lost all corners and has become completely
           round. The round shape certainly gives a feeling of peacefulness, settledness, grace, beauty,
           perfection.
               So when Nansen asked Dogo, "What is your name?" DOGO REPLIED, "MY NAME IS
           ENCHI" -- wise and round. Certainly it was not his name. He was describing his inner being.
               The name is just a label put on you by your parents. You can change it. Just go to any court and
           change your name, there is nothing in it. It has no deep connection with you, it is just on your skin.
           You are labeled, it is a social convenience, because if everybody lives namelessly it will be very
           difficult. Somebody wants to call you -- now what to do? How to call you? How to address you?
           Somebody falls in love with you and wants to write a love letter. To whom? He will have to write,
           "To Whomsoever It May Concern"!
               You are all nameless, born nameless. And you know it: that name is a fiction. So when a man
           like Nansen, a great master, a great buddha, asks Dogo, "What is your name?"... Dogo was his name,
           but he did not say, "Dogo is my name." Because a master like Nansen will not ask about labels, he
           will ask about your very being.
               Nansen could not deceive Dogo, although there was every possibility to be trapped, because he
           was asking, "What is your name?" And if Dogo had said, "My name is Dogo," he would have fallen
           in the eyes of the master -- "He is not worth much. It may be a wastage of time to accept him as a
           disciple."
           But Dogo said, "My name is Enchi" -- wisdom, and perfectly round.
               NANSEN ASKED, "HOW DO YOU EXPRESS THE PLACE WHERE WISDOM DOES NOT REACH?"

               You are saying you are wise, and you are saying you are perfectly round. Okay, just tell me the
           place where wisdom does not reach.
               Certainly there is a place inside you where there is only silence, absolute silence. An eternal
           space, infinite sky, but nothing can reach there, not even wisdom.
               DOGO REPLIED, "I WOULD NEVER EXPRESS IT."

               The master is asking, "How do you express the place where wisdom does not reach?" Another
           trap. But Dogo is really meditative. He says, "I would never express it."
               Nobody can express that space where wisdom cannot reach. If wisdom cannot reach it, how can
           you express it? -- "So I will never express it. I will experience it, enjoy it, love it, dance it, but I will
           not express it. No explanation is possible."
               NANSEN SAID, "THAT'S RIGHT. IF YOU EXPRESS IT, HORNS WILL GROW AND YOU WILL
               BECOME A BEAST."

               You will become just an idiot, a buffalo. If you start expressing that which is inexpressible, you
           will fall below human intelligence. It is right that you are saying you will never express it.
           Remember: IF YOU EXPRESS IT, HORNS WILL GROW AND YOU WILL BECOME A BEAST
           -- a buffalo, utterly content, chewing grass.
               Still, buffalos are not prohibited by any government: "Don't chew grass" -- "grass" in inverted
           commas; you know what grass I mean. But buffalos don't bother, they go on chewing the whole day.
           And so contented... they have never shown their discontent, they have never taken a procession
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           against the government. They are not interested in any revolution, they are perfectly at ease with
           existence.
               In utter ignorance, also, a certain contentment happens. But it is a contentment of ignorance.
           Another contentment happens when you are luminous; all darkness disappears, all ignorance is gone.
           That contentment is possible only if you are a buddha, not a buffalo.
               Nansen said, "That's right. You are a right person who has come to me. But remember, even by
           mistake if you express it, immediately you will become subhuman." That's what symbolically he
           means: you will become an animal, a beast, you will grow horns. So please keep it a secret, hidden
           deep inside you. You know it, that's enough. Don't make it a knowledge, and don't make it an
           explanation, an expression.

                A FEW DAYS LATER, DOGO AND UNGAN WERE SITTING OUTSIDE THE
           DORMITORY AND DOING SOME WORK. NANSEN WAS TAKING A WALK, AND WHEN
           HE SAW DOGO, HE ASKED, "ENCHI" -- HE DID NOT USE THE NAME `DOGO'; he said,
           "Enchi, the other day you said you would never express the place where wisdom does not reach.
           Now, how are you practicing it?"
                Another trap. The master's function is to create traps and your function is to jump, not to get
           trapped. This way the master helps you to come closer and closer to the truth.
                He asked, "ENCHI, THE OTHER DAY YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER EXPRESS THE
           PLACE WHERE WISDOM DOES NOT REACH. NOW, HOW ARE YOU PRACTICING IT?"
                In a very different way... If the man is bogus and not authentic, if he is simply repeating some
           answer which he has heard or read, he will be caught. The master will try from every angle possible.
           Now he is not asking about expressing, he is asking about practicing.
                You cannot practice your enlightenment. You may not have thought about it....
                Enlightenment simply is. You cannot practice it. It overflows you, it expresses in every gesture.
           It is all around you, but you don't have to practice it. It is your very nature. Do you practice anything
           that is your very nature?
                The blood is circulating in your body -- are you practicing it? The food is being digested by
           your stomach -- are you practicing it? One day try: try to practice digesting the food, and your
           whole stomach will be upset for the first time in your life, and it will be very difficult to put it back.
                You cannot practice. What is natural is already happening. Your practice may be a disturbance
           but not a help, a hindrance but not a help.
                When he asked, "How are you practicing it?" very nicely, he was setting the trap. If Dogo says,
           "I am practicing it this way or that way," he is caught. Then Nansen could have said, "All that you
           have said before is borrowed, it is not yours."
           But it was certainly his.
              HEARING THIS, DOGO SLIPPED INTO THE DORMITORY, WAITED THERE UNTIL NANSEN
              WALKED AWAY, AND THEN APPEARED AGAIN.
              UNGAN ASKED DOGO, "WHY DID YOU NOT ANSWER WHEN OSHO ASKED YOU THE
              QUESTION?"

               When the master asked you the question, why did you not answer? Ungan was Dogo's brother.
               But he has answered. By slipping into the dormitory and waiting there until Nansen walked
           away, he has answered by his action. He is saying, "It is so deep, just like my slipping back into the
           dormitory so that you cannot even see me. It is so deep, there is no question of practicing it; it is
           simply there. It is spontaneously functioning, not practicing!"
               So just to avoid the answer in language, he gave it in a gesture: "Whenever I want to feel it, to
           experience it, I simply slip inside myself, hide myself from the whole world. There is no question of
           practicing. Don't ask such a question." That's why he has not paid any attention to the master's
           question.
               UNGAN ASKED DOGO, "WHY DID YOU NOT ANSWER WHEN OSHO, the master,
           aSKED YOU THE QUESTION?"
           DOGO REPLIED, "WHAT A CLEVER CHAP YOU ARE!"
           You are just a clever chap; you don't understand anything.
               A "clever chap" does not mean a man who knows. A "clever chap" simply means a man who
           intellectually comprehends that which is incomprehensible.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Dogo became enlightened before Ungan. Ungan lagged far behind because of his intellectuality,
           his cunningness. His clevernesses were all obstacles. They are good in the outside world, but in the
           inner world they are great obstacles. Don't be clever, just be innocent.

              THEN UNGAN CAME UP TO NANSEN AND ASKED, "OSHO, YOU HAVE ASKED A QUESTION
              JUST NOW OF MY BROTHER-DISCIPLE, ENCHI. HOW SHOULD ONE ANSWER TO IT?"
              NANSEN SAID, "HE IS QUITE GOOD AT THE BEASTS' WAY."
              UNGAN ASKED, "WHAT IS THE BEASTS' WAY?"
              NANSEN SAID, "YOU MUST HAVE HEARD THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER EXPRESS THE PLACE
              WHERE WISDOM DOES NOT REACH. IF YOU EXPRESS IT, HORNS WILL GROW. IF YOU NAME
              IT SO-AND-SO, IT WILL ALREADY BE WRONG. YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY GO THE BEASTS'
              WAY."

                Your brother is very wise. He knows how to avoid the beasts' way.
                When he said, "He is quite good at the beasts' way," he is saying that he is quite good at knowing
           what is the beasts' way and how to avoid it. "He avoided my question completely, did not answer.
           And in a subtle way he expressed by his gesture of hiding deep in the dormitory, that in the same
           way that space is hidden inside you. It comes to explosion on its own accord. There is no question of
           practicing it."
           You cannot practice enlightenment; you can become enlightened.
                So all those who are trying to practice are going on the beasts' way. Those who are not practicing
           but just relaxing into their innermost being, are avoiding the beasts' way. And they will be the only
           ones who will become enlightened.
           It is a beautiful anecdote to be understood.

           Shiki wrote:
              ALONE, I GO THROUGH A TINY VILLAGE,
              A DARK WINTER DAY.
              A DOG BARKS AND BARKS.


               These haikus are so different in every way from anything that has been written by man anywhere
           else. Superficially you will see what is here:
              ALONE, I GO THROUGH A TINY VILLAGE,
              A DARK WINTER DAY.
              A DOG BARKS AND BARKS.

                Unless I give you the key you will not be able to understand it.
                What is he saying? ALONE, I GO THROUGH A TINY VILLAGE... He is saying, alone I go
           through the tiny village of the mind. It is full of thoughts, but I pass alone, silently, without getting
           identified with the villagers of my mind, the whole crowd. I remain alone even in the crowd.
                ALONE, I GO THROUGH A TINY VILLAGE. Of course, your skull is a very tiny place -- but
           still so full of crowd, so many images, so many dreams, so many projections, so many thoughts,
           almost incalculable.
              ... A DARK WINTER DAY.
              A DOG BARKS AND BARKS.

               The mind, when you enter into meditation, becomes almost a barking dog. It creates as much
           noise as possible to bring you back: "Where are you going? Are you mad? Leaving the mind and
           going out of it? -- that is the way of madness! Just come back in immediately and close the door!"
               In India they have a beautiful proverb. The elephant is thought by the Indians, symbolically, to
           be one of the wisest animals in existence. And why have they thought that it is the wisest? --
           because whenever an elephant passes through a village all the dogs gather... they cannot tolerate
           such a big animal; it is too hurtful to their egos. Just a mountain! and they look so tiny. Now it is
           unbearable; something has to be done.
               So all the dogs -- and every village in India has so many stray dogs you won't believe, because
           no corporation, no municipal committee is allowed to kill anything, not even mad dogs. So they go
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on, everything in India goes on growing. As many dogs start barking, others who are far away
           immediately run -- "Something great is happening." So the whole population of dogs follows an
           elephant.
               The proverb says, "Dogs go on barking, but the elephant does not even pay attention." He does
           not even stand and look at the dogs, he just goes on his way as if he has not heard them. It is because
           of this -- that he does not get into a fighting mood with the dogs. He pays no attention, remains
           absolutely indifferent.
               And that is the way of a meditator: be indifferent to all the barking dogs of your mind. It is a tiny
           village and there are many stray dogs, which are going to bark at you with great arguments. They
           will give evidence: "It is wrong to go out of the mind. Have you not heard that every man who
           becomes mad, becomes mad because he has gone out of the mind? And where are you going? Out of
           the mind! Just come back. Regain your intelligence, don't lose it."
               All the dogs bark, but the meditator goes on like an elephant without paying any attention. What
           they are saying is, in a way, true: you can go out of the mind from two doors. Either you fall below
           the mind -- then you are insane. If you fall above the mind, then you are enlightened.
               There is a little similarity between the madman and the enlightened man, because both are out of
           the mind. That is the similarity. But one has gone beyond the mind, and one has gone below the mind
           -- although both have gone outside the mind. So the mind has a certain truth in the argument, "Don't
           go out of the mind; that is the way of becoming mad. Come back home."
               But the meditator goes alone, just like an elephant -- dogs barking, barking, barking.... Slowly
           slowly, their barking fades away, far away, as if it is just an echo in the valleys, or maybe a dream
           you have seen somewhere. The farther you go beyond the mind, the less and less you hear the
           barking of the dogs, their arguments, their ideologies, their philosophies. Their religions, their
           theologies, their political beliefs, their social beliefs, their educational conditioning... all goes on
           barking, barking, but you go on like an elephant, reaching farther and farther, deeper into yourself.
           Soon you will be so far away, you won't even listen to the barking of the dogs.
               And once you are that far away, dogs lose interest. They go on their way to do the work they had
           been doing, separately. Now there is no need of the assembly, the elephant has gone. Perhaps they
           believe he has gone because they were barking -- this is how mind functions: "Perhaps the elephant
           became afraid."
           I have heard...
               One elephant was passing over a bridge with a small fly sitting on his head. The bridge started
           wavering -- it was an old bridge -- and the fly said to the elephant after they had passed the
           bridge... It didn't fall, but it was wavering and there was every possibility. The fly said to the
           elephant, "Son, we were too much for the bridge!"
               The elephant heard somebody saying something. He said, "Who are you? And where are you?
           And as far as my mother is concerned, she cannot sit on my head."
               The fly came closer to his eyes... and it is strange that elephants are so big, but their eyes are very
           small. That shows God has not made this world. Such an unscientific attitude! Such a big animal,
           and with such tiny eyes... must be the work of some idiot. It cannot be the work of an intelligent
           God.
               So the elephant looked at the fly, and he said, "Mother, it is right. Because of us two, the bridge
           was shaking."
               The idea that elephants are very wise comes from such stories. He accepted it: "Don't bother,
           don't argue with this stupid fly who calls me her son, and thinks that because of both of us the bridge
           was shaking. There is no point in arguing. It is better to accept that, `Mother, you are right,' and just
           go on your way."
           Don't be distracted.
           Not to be distracted is wisdom.
               Flies will be there, and mosquitoes will be there -- although you have the biggest mosquito net
           in the whole world! But they are waiting outside! They are very silent people, and very musical;
           when they get you caught, they sing a small song. And they are the ancient enemies of the
           meditators, but you have not to bother. You have to go on.

              Mosquitoes, and flies, and dogs -- the whole world in fact, is against the meditator. They will all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be barking at you! If you are sitting silently your wife will come rushing in, "What are you doing?
           Why are you silent? Speak!" And if you speak, you are in trouble. Just open your mouth, and you
           have not even completed the sentence, and the wife jumps on you. Whatever you do you are in
           trouble.
                The whole world is against the meditator, because the meditator is doing something which the
           world is avoiding. He is trying to become a buddha, an Everest of consciousness -- that hurts
           everybody. Everybody will try to distract you. The priest, the politician, the parents, the neighbors,
           the friends -- everybody will try to bring you out: "What are you doing wasting time?"
                My whole childhood I had to listen to everybody... finally they decided, "Either he is going to be
           insane, or who knows? He may become a buddha. But he is not going to be a normal human being."
           Because everybody was telling me...
                My uncles would come to me, my aunts would come to me, and it was a big joint family.
           Wherever you go somebody is watching, "What are you doing? Why are you sitting silently?"
                I would just tell them, "I am not sitting silently; silence is just happening to me, what can I do?"
           "Happening to you? It does not happen to us."
                I said, "What can I do if it does not happen to you? It happens to me! Don't disturb me."
                By and by they became accustomed of me, so much accustomed that... My mother is here. I
           would be sitting in the house and she would ask me, "Have you seen anybody here? Because I want
           some vegetables to be fetched from the market."
                And I would say, "I have not seen anybody. If I see anybody I will report to you." People finally
           accepted that "This man is absent. Just don't count on him." Once or twice they depended on me, and
           felt, "He is not reliable." In the morning they would send me to fetch some vegetables. In the middle
           of night I would come back to ask, "I have forgotten for what you have sent me." And they had been
           waiting the whole day, and they would beat their heads: "Where have you been the whole day?"
                I said, "You know, on every point there are people ready to argue with me. And then I get so
           much involved in the argument, by the time I reach the market I have completely forgotten for what I
           had gone there. Seeing no reason, I went into meditation; I went to the river."
           One day one of my aunts sent me, saying, "You can bring some bananas."
                I said, "You really mean bananas? I can bring many! The whole city consists of bananas."
           She said, "I don't mean that banana, I mean the fruit!"
                I said, "Okay, I am going." So I went to the first shop in the market, the vegetable market, and I
           asked the man, "Which are the most precious and best bananas you have?"
                And the man knew me, that I had never come into the vegetable market. He was the first shop
           near the door of the market. He knew that I was a little eccentric, so he gave me the worst bananas,
           almost rotten, and asked me the highest price. I gave him the highest price and brought those rotten
           bananas back.
                I could see what was happening, but I said, "This is a good device to get rid of these bananas
           forever." So I gave those bananas to my aunt. She said, "Are you mad? These are all rotten!"
                I said, "I asked the man to give me the best and said I would pay the highest price. So I have paid
           the highest, and you call them rotten? Now that man knows better about bananas than I know. I have
           no concern with bananas, either human or fruit."
                She said, "Just take them out! There is a beggar woman sitting under the tree; just give them to
           her."
                Even she did not accept them. She told me, "Throw them away. Do you think I am mad just like
           you? These bananas... In your whole life, for the first time you have come to give me something.
           These rotten bananas -- just throw them! Nobody is going to accept them."
                I said, "That's okay." So I threw them into the gutter. After that nobody asked me to bring
           anything. I was accepted as an absent member of the family. And I enjoyed it because that relieved
           me of all the trouble, all kinds of barking. Nobody talked with me; nobody even took any note that I
           was present.
                Even my mother was asking me, "Have you seen anybody?" -- and I am there, present! And I
           would say, "Although I have not seen anybody in the house -- the whole house seems to be empty
           -- if I come across somebody, I will inform you."

              The whole world is against the meditator because the meditator is becoming a stranger.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Everybody is going outward and you are going inward.

               One drunkard was driving his car and his wife was continuously nagging him, "Be careful, be
           careful, be careful!"
               The drunkard said, "Don't be worried. We must be reaching home because I am hitting more
           people. As I go ahead, hitting more and more people, that means the village is coming closer. Don't
           be worried! And I am going fast so that I will hit less people; otherwise, if I go slow, I will hit more.
           So don't be worried, you keep quiet."
           And she told him, "Where are your glasses?"
               He said, "With glasses on and this drunk, one starts seeing elephants and kangaroos and zebras
           and all kinds of things! I never wear my glasses when I am driving. Then you simply hit human
           beings. If you hit an elephant which does not exist, you are in trouble."
               The wife simply sat silently. "There is no point, this man is absolutely drunk -- can't see,
           because I know his eyesight. And going so fast and hitting so many people... but still he is logical.
           That village is coming closer."

               When everybody is going outward and you are going inward then you are hitting many, many
           people and everybody is angry: "Where are you going? When the whole crowd is going this way,
           where are you going? Against the current, against us all -- do you think we are mad?"
               So remember: don't pay any attention to barking dogs. That's what Shiki is saying:
               Alone, move silently. Don't pay any attention to anybody. Dogs or no dogs, they will be barking;
           that is their nature.


              A question from Maneesha:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              ONCE AGAIN YOU ARE THE ICONOCLASTIC VISIONARY WHO HAS A TOTALLY ORIGINAL
              VIEW OF WHAT IS HAPPENING, WHILE WE HAVE SWALLOWED WHOLESALE THE NEW
              GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION INDUSTRY, WHOSE CURRENT CREED IS THAT
              STALIN IS BAD AND GORBACHEV, GOOD.
              WHY DO WE KEEP BUYING INTO NEW GOSPELS?


               Maneesha, there is a tendency in the human mind always to be a victim of the new. To prevent
           this tendency every society tries to program you that the old is gold. Every society from the very
           childhood conditions the mind against the natural tendency for the new -- turns it almost
           diametrically opposite: "Everything old is good. The more ancient the scripture, the more truthful."
           Every religion tries to prove that their scripture is the most ancient.
               Why this attraction for the ancient? Every society thinks they have passed the golden age. These
           are the conditionings from society. Culture -- whatever you have -- religion, education... these are
           to prevent you from falling for the new.
               Otherwise, the natural tendency is to believe the new. But neither to believe the old is right, nor
           to believe the new is right. Not to believe is right.
               Without believing anything, just be clear, like a mirror without any dust, and respond to reality
           with your totality. And you will always find the truth. No news media can deceive you -- nobody
           can deceive you. You get deceived because your clarity is not there, your mirrorlike ability to reflect
           the reality as it is, is not there. You are thinking through prejudices.
               When the whole news media says that Stalin is a bad guy, it fits with your morality, with your
           puritan upbringing, your Christianity, your Hinduism. It fits with your upbringing that because he
           killed so many people....
               Majid was saying to Amrito, my personal physician, that it is not only in the Soviet Union that
           Stalin killed one million people; he also killed revolutionaries in Spain, in Italy, in other countries. It
           is true, but I want Majid to know that there are revolutionaries and revolutionaries. There are
           revolutionaries who are really counter-revolutionaries, but they pretend to be revolutionaries. They
           are in the service of the status quo.
               And Stalin certainly murdered people outside the Soviet Union because his conception was not
           that of a nationalist. His conception belonged to the original Marxian idea of one earth; the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           revolution has to happen all over the world, and if it is not coming from within a country on its own,
           then the countries which have become communist should help to bring the revolution to these other
           countries also. And every country which is capitalist, to prevent the communists, create
           pseudo-revolutionaries. They talk of socialism, they talk of beautiful things, but all these things are
           just to create barriers and confusion in the proletariat.
               So Majid is right that Stalin killed many revolutionaries outside the Soviet Union, but he does
           not know whether those revolutionaries were revolutionaries, or anti-revolutionaries pretending to be
           revolutionaries. Their whole effort was to counteract the oncoming revolution of communism, and
           they succeeded to a large extent in deceiving people. Stalin was not deceived.
               I see that man with very clear eyes. He knew who was a counter-revolutionary, who was a wolf
           in the skin of a sheep. So you see that he is killing a sheep, but he is killing a wolf. And so much fuss
           will be made by the countries where so-called revolutionaries are killed because those are the agents
           of the capitalists.
           They were not revolutionaries.
               Joseph Stalin's understanding about revolution was very pragmatic and practical. He was not a
           dreamer. He could see exactly how things are happening.
               I can see it happening in India. The Socialist Party of India is known all over the world as a
           revolutionary party, but they are paid by the capitalists and they are the agents of the capitalists. One
           of Mahatma Gandhi's closest disciples, Vinoba Bhave... it is said that Gandhi had two successors.
           One was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, his political successor, and one was Vinoba Bhave, his spiritual
           successor.
               Vinoba Bhave created a very great movement. He walked all over the country for almost twelve
           or thirteen years, and he created the idea in the mind of the people that this was real revolution,
           because he was asking from the landlords.... Eighty percent of India is in the villages, and eighty
           percent of its poor people are in the villages. So Vinoba Bhave would approach the village, sing
           devotional songs, his disciples would sing devotional songs... and he was considered to be Mahatma
           Gandhi's spiritual successor, almost a "mini-mahatma."
               So people would gather, the landlords would gather, and he would talk about VEDAS and
           UPANISHADS -- which are appealing to the people -- he would talk about Ramayana, and give
           interpretations which are absolutely wrong, but appealing to the people.
               And he would ask, after he had talked to people, that "Those who have lands -- if you have five
           children, let me be your sixth child. Give me the sixth part of your land and I will distribute it to the
           poor." And he collected millions of acres of land. But he became very much disappointed....
               He was supported by all the landlords, capitalists, the government -- even Pandit Jawaharlal
           Nehru, who never liked the man before India became independent, because Jawaharlal was an
           ultra-modern man, educated in the West. Although he was a brahmin, he was not a vegetarian; he
           was eating meat, he was drinking alcohol. He was an ultra-modern, Western man, and Vinoba Bhave
           is absolutely antique. So Jawaharlal never liked the man, but he was very close to Gandhi so he had
           to suffer his presence.
               But after freedom Jawaharlal started going to Vinoba Bhave. Whenever Vinoba Bhave was
           having annual conventions, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was present there, because thousands and
           thousands of people would gather. He could not miss the opportunity to show them that he was in
           support of Vinoba Bhave, and Vinoba Bhave would feel great that the prime minister comes to his
           every conference.
               So it was a mutual conspiracy. And it was said even by the capitalists that Vinoba Bhave had to
           be supported because he was diverting the poor people from the communists. Poor people were
           thinking that if just by being asked, the landlords are giving their land, what is the problem? Why
           unnecessary violence? Why does revolution have to be violent when without violence people are
           giving their land?
               And they thought, if people are giving land, they will also give money... because Vinoba Bhave
           was not yet working in the big cities. First he wanted to transform the bigger part of India which
           lives in the villages and later on... the big cities are not many. If he succeeds in transforming eighty
           percent of India, he will be able to transform the remaining twenty percent without any difficulty.
           And he certainly became one of the greatest hindrances for the communists.
               Communists believe that revolution has to be violent, there is no way out of it. People are not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going to drop their private property easily. But Vinoba proved that they were dropping it, so even
           communist strongholds became weaker.
                But the reality is that all the land that was given... and when it was distributed, somebody got
           half an acre, somebody got one acre because they had a bigger family. It was distributed according to
           the number of people in the family. But what are you going to do with one acre? And finally it was
           found that all the land that he had received was absolutely useless, unfertile. Those landlords were
           giving land that was so stony, on the hills... Vinoba never went to those places to see what kind of
           land he was receiving, he was just receiving it in public meetings. When it was distributed, then it
           was found that the poor people refused to take it, saying, "What will we do with this land?"
                And those who received it were at a loss, because just the land is not enough. In the first place it
           was too small a piece of land; it was not going to give them enough nourishment, they would remain
           undernourished. Secondly, they need bullocks, they need a plow, they need seeds, they need manure.
           They don't have anything, what to do with the land? And the land is so stony, unless hard work is
           done those stones cannot be removed.
                They needed tractors and bigger mechanical devices to make their land fertile; but they were so
           poor, from where to get all these technological devices? They could not even purchase two oxes to
           work for them. And not only that, it became a trouble for them because they had to pay property tax.
           And the land is not even giving anything to them -- property tax!
                So they gave the land back to the distributing committee of Vinoba Bhave, and Vinoba Bhave
           was so disappointed that he went back to his ashram in Pavnar near Wardha.
                But for thirteen years he was thought to be one of the great spiritual revolutionaries. And the
           government and the capitalists all supported him, because "this man can divert the poor from the
           communist party." And he certainly diverted them for a time.
                So you have to understand, Majid, that all revolutionaries are not revolutionaries. Many of them
           are wolves wearing a sheep's skin. They could not deceive Josef Stalin. He killed them -- he was
           killing the wolf. You saw that he was killing a sheep.
                It needs immense clarity to see the world as it really is, and to see how society creates certain
           dynamics, certain pseudo phenomena to protect itself. There are more counter-revolutionaries in the
           world pretending to be revolutionaries than there are authentic revolutionaries. But it needs a
           tremendous clarity, coming only out of meditation, so that you can figure it out.
                I know you have been in deep love with me. That's why I can hit you without mercy -- mercy is
           for the enemies, not for the friends. Even Jesus has not said, "Love your friends." He has said, "Love
           your enemies." That's good! As far as friends are concerned, hit them! This is my improvement on
           Jesus.
                Majid belongs to a radical party in Italy. The head of that radical party wanted to come to me and
           discuss with me how things should to be done. Of course Majid was the mediator; he had persuaded
           the man to come to me. But I saw an interview he had given to a journalist, in which the journalist
           asks, "We hear that you are going to Poona. Are you interested in the philosophy, in the ideology of
           Osho Rajneesh?"
                And he said, "I have nothing to do with his philosophy or with his meditations or with his
           ideology. My sole concern is that if he can give me ten thousand sannyasins in Italy to become
           members of the Radical Party, I will go and kiss his feet."
                When I saw that interview, I could see that the man is bogus. And I informed Majid that "I don't
           want to see that man. His whole interest is that I should tell sannyasins in Italy to join the party."
                It is not a radical party, Majid; it is not revolutionary. And you can see it, even though you are
           not so clear about things. Just to get votes, your Radical Party leader arranged a woman... she must
           have been a prostitute or must have been having the mind of a prostitute. She remained sitting in the
           square, the main square of Rome, with uncovered breasts and said to people, "I will allow you to
           play with my breasts, I will allow you to kiss my breast, or to kiss me, if you become part of the
           Radical Party." A membership drive, and she managed to get ten thousand people to become party
           members.
                Do you think this is revolution? This is absolutely prostitution! And the people who have become
           members of your party don't understand anything about your party. These must be the most third-rate
           people in Italy, because I can't think that people who were standing in queues to play with her
           breasts... I don't think any intelligent person, any person who has any self-respect, will stand in those
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           queues. These must have been the worst people, pimps and all kinds of idiots.
               A crowd was there watching all this scene. And that woman must be just a vegetable -- a
           cabbage, not even a cauliflower. I make a distinction between the two, although they are the same.
           But a cauliflower is a cabbage with a college education. These people who have become members of
           the Radical Party just by touching the breast of an idiot woman, you think are revolutionaries?
               But the head of your party was behind the whole scene. I refused. I said, "Don't bring him here
           because he is not a revolutionary. He simply wants to have a great ego, become more powerful."
           Perhaps he hopes to become the prime minister of Italy.
               I don't prevent my sannyasins. They are free to join anything, but I would always remind them:
           join something out of your meditativeness, out of your clarity. I am not in any way preventing
           anybody. Your freedom is absolutely sacred to me. I will not interfere -- even if you are going
           wrong, I will not interfere. I will tell you that you are going wrong, but you are free to go.
               Now I could not tell my people to belong to the Radical Party. It is not a radical party. Majid, I
           would like you to create a real, authentic revolutionary party. Don't collect pimps and prostitutes.
               And Maneesha, just as Stalin is a bad guy, and you have accepted it because all the propaganda
           of the communist world was small in comparison to the propaganda of the capitalist world... The
           capitalist world has all the newspapers, magazines, television stations, radio stations. They have the
           whole propaganda machine in their hands. So when they propagated that Stalin is a bad guy... just
           repeat any lie again and again and again and it becomes almost true. If not truth, then at least a
           truism.
               Now those same people of the same capitalist propaganda machine are telling you Gorbachev is
           a good guy. I don't bother what they are saying. I look who is behind the screen. Who is forcing
           these people to propagate the idea that Gorbachev is a good guy? The same people, because they
           want Gorbachev to become personally involved in his ego. That will be their success and that will be
           the destruction of the Soviet Union and the great experiment of communism I have been telling you
           about.
               But unless you have the eyes of a meditator, it is very difficult. One German Biblical scholar has
           written a book comparing me and Jesus. A very honest man -- because he is a Christian; still he
           praises me higher than Jesus, compares us point by point, and on every point my score is better than
           that of Jesus. He writes in his book a few very revealing facts about why in Germany the whole news
           media is creating rumors and lies about me. And that's what people read, that's what people believe.
               The reason is that the whole propaganda machine in Germany is owned by Christians, and they
           are cutting out anything positive about me. I know what happened to one of the STERN journalists.
           He had come here and STERN was interested only in something sensational. Whether it is true or
           not, who cares? Sensational stories sell. They bring more subscribers to the magazine.
               But Satyananda became so interested and involved that he became a sannyasin -- I don't know
           what his German name used to be. He became a sannyasin. He thought that it would be far better to
           write the story from the inside, joining all the meditations, joining all the groups. "I will be reporting
           more intimately, honestly. Just being a spectator from outside is one thing, but to be a meditator..."
               So he became a sannyasin and he meditated and he joined the groups and he really became
           involved. In the beginning it was just to have an inside view. But once you are inside, it is very
           difficult to get outside! He wrote a beautiful story about the commune and what is happening here,
           and when he went back, the STERN owners simply refused to print anything because, "He has been
           hypnotized. Otherwise how can he write such a story? He has been completely brainwashed -- and
           why have you become a sannyasin?"
               He said, "I wanted to write honestly, and to write honestly was possible only if I became an
           insider. In the beginning it was just a show that I was a sannyasin, so I could get in. But as I
           experienced meditation and groups and the change that came to me, now I am really a sannyasin.
           And I am not hypnotized and I am not brainwashed."
               But they would not publish his story. He simply renounced his post -- and he was their best
           journalist -- and came back to India. And he lived here, he lived in the commune in Germany, in
           America, and he is making money to come back here so that he can be here forever.
               This man writes that all the magazines that go on propagating against me in Germany are owned
           by the Christians, Catholics or Protestants. So they cut out anything that will strike a sympathetic
           note in people's minds. They just go on creating antagonism; on any point, they invent something.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And it is very easy to invent lies.
               Now Gorbachev is a "good guy" because this is the way to persuade him to destroy communism.
           I would like Majid to create a really revolutionary party, and my sannyasins will be helping you.
           And Italy is one of the lands I own! It is very strange -- Italy I own, Germany I own, Japan I own.
           These are the three countries which were fighting together against the whole world!
               It is very strange that amongst my sannyasins number one are the Germans, number two are the
           Japanese, number three are the Italians; others are here in very small numbers. But these three
           countries were together in the second world war, so something brings them to me. They are utterly
           fed up with war, they are utterly fed up with fascism, they are utterly fed up with people like Adolf
           Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Hirohito. That frustration brings them here in search of a world which will
           not have wars, because they have suffered so badly. Others have not suffered so badly. That's why I
           own these three countries.
               And I would like you to create a revolutionary party on your own. Why be a second-hand man in
           that Radical Party? Be the leader of a revolutionary party and I will support you! And more and
           more Italians are going to come; just all that we need is more spaghetti!

              It is time for Gurudayal Singh. He always manages to find the right place and the right time.

               Gorbachev is intent upon really getting rid of the memory of Joseph Stalin. So he orders Stalin's
           bones to be removed from his grave in the little village in the Caucasus, and tries to find some other
           country where Stalin can be buried.
               Gorbachev calls up Margaret Thatcher in London, and asks her if Stalin can be buried in
           England.
               "Sorry, old chap," replies Thatcher, "but we already have Karl Marx buried here. Two big-time
           communists would be too much and too many for us!"
           Then Gorbachev dials Berlin, and asks if Stalin can be buried there.
               "Sorry, comrade," says Helmut Hamburger, the government spokesman, "but we already have
           Adolf Hitler buried here. Two such tyrants in one place would be too much for us."
               But Rubin Rosenbaum, from the Israeli government, hears of Gorbachev's problem and phones
           the Kremlin.
               "Since Stalin fought against the Nazis," says Rubin, "we agree to bury him here, in Jerusalem."
               "Thanks," replies Gorbachev, "but no thanks! We cannot risk another idiot getting resurrected!"

               Gorgeous Gloria goes to have her eyes checked with Doctor Peek, the eye specialist.
           "Doctor," says Gloria, anxiously, "I think I am going blind!"
               So Doctor Peek gives Gloria a thorough check-up, but cannot find anything wrong.
           "Your eyesight seems perfect to me," says Peek. "Twenty-twenty vision."
               "Yes, but you don't understand!" insists Gloria. "The problem happens every time I make love."
               "Really?" says Doctor Peek, eyeing Gloria. "Well, in that case, I shall have to make a more
           thorough examination!"
               "Ah! Doctor!" says Gloria, taking off her clothes, and lying down on the couch. "If you insist!"
               A few minutes later, Doctor Peek is huffing and puffing, and Gloria is moaning and groaning.
           "I still don't see any problem," gasps Doctor Peek.
           "Go on! Go on!" cries Gloria, moaning louder and louder.
               Suddenly, Gloria lets out a loud, orgasmic shriek -- "Now, doctor! NOW! I cannot see a thing!"

               Paddy makes a lot of money on his used furniture stall one year, so he shuts up shop and goes to
           Paris for a holiday.
               Two weeks later he is back in Ireland, sitting in the pub and telling Seamus all about his
           adventures.
           "Oh! It was great!" says Paddy. "Paris is out of this world!"
               "Really?" says Seamus. "But how did you get on, without knowing a word of French?"
               "It was simple," says Paddy. "For example, I met a girl in the park. So I took out a pencil and a
           piece of paper and drew a picture of a taxi. She knew what I meant, so we went for a drive. Then I
           drew a picture of a knife and fork and she knew that I wanted to take her out to dinner."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "That sounds great," says Seamus.
              "I'm not finished yet," says Paddy. "Then I drew two people dancing and we went to a
           night-club. At the end of the evening, she took the pencil from me and drew a big double bed."
              "Amazing!" cries Seamus. "She even knew that you were in the furniture business!"

           Nivedano...
           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano...

           Be silent. Close your eyes and feel your bodies to be completely frozen.
               This is the right moment to enter in and rush towards your very center of being.
               Gather your whole energy, your total consciousness and rush faster and faster, deeper and
           deeper....
           As you come close to your center, a great silence descends over you.
               Just like soft rain... so cool, so serene, so peaceful... as if in the Buddha Auditorium there is no
           one.
           A little deeper and you will find tremendous blissfulness.
           Just one step more and you are at the very center of your being.

              A great ecstasy arises in you, a great divine drunkenness; you feel almost drowned in ecstasy,
           and you encounter your original face for the first time.
           Your original face is the same as the buddha's face.
              Everybody is a born buddha. Whether he realizes it or not, that is his choice. The buddha has
           only one quality, and you have to understand that quality because only if you understand that quality,
           buddha can become your reality, your day-to-day reality.
              Then you don't need meditation. Your whole life is meditative. That quality is witnessing.
           Witness that you are not the body.
           Witness that you are not the mind.
           Witness that you are only the witness.

              At this moment you are the buddha, the awakened one. This is your birthright.
              At this moment you enter into an eternal life, immortal existence. All the cosmic doors open for
           you.
              At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth because everybody on the earth is
           involved in trivia -- money, power, prestige. You are moving into a totally different dimension,
           diametrically opposite -- just trying to find the origin of your life.
           The origin is also the goal.
              When the origin is found, you have found the goal. The circle is complete. From the same silent
           space you had arisen, just like a wave arises in the ocean and again disappears in the ocean...
           Meditation is a way of disappearing as a dewdrop, as a wave, and appearing as the ocean.
           To make the witnessing more clear,
           Nivedano...

           Relax, let go. But remember only one thing: You are a witness.
               As your witnessing deepens, Gautam the Buddha Auditorium starts turning into an ocean. You
           start disappearing like dewdrops, slipping from the lotus leaf into the ocean.
           No waves, no ripples. Absolute, perfect silence.
           This is your very nature, dhamma.
           This is your very being, the buddha.
               This very body is the buddha and this very earth the lotus paradise. Only people in deep
           meditation can understand such a tremendous sutra.

              Gather the many flowers that are growing all around you, gather the ecstasy and drunkenness
           which is divine.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You have to bring this drunkenness, this ecstasy, all these flowers of blissfulness, to your
           day-to-day life. And don't forget, you have to persuade buddha to come along with you. He has to
           come, he is your nature. It is just that you have never asked him, never invited him. He has remained
           just a seed hidden deep in the center of your being.
           Once you start asking him, requesting him, welcoming him, he has to come.
           These are the three steps of your enlightenment:
               First he will be coming just like a shadow behind you. But his shadow will be almost tangible,
           you can touch it, you can feel it. He will surround you with a strange fragrance from the beyond.
           Second step: you will become his shadow.
               And the third step: you will disappear into the buddha. You will not be anymore; only the
           buddha, only the existence. You are burned in the Zen Fire, and the Zen Wind has taken all your
           ashes far away.
           Nothing is left.
           This nothing is your inner sky.
           This nothing is your very nature.

              Buddha is nobody. Buddha is a pure nothingness, an open space, infinite and eternal.
           Nivedano...

               Come back, but remember to come as a buddha -- with the same grace, the same silence, the
           same beauty, the same blissfulness.
               Sit for a few moments just to recollect what space you had entered. Remember you had gone
           beyond your mind, remember you had touched the greatest experience in the world -- of witnessing
           -- and you followed a golden path which leads exactly to the hidden buddha, to the hidden splendor
           inside you.
               And just feel, the buddha is behind you. His coolness is almost tangible, his fragrance fills your
           whole being. His luminosity makes you more and more drunk.

              My whole effort here is to create drunkards, drunks of the divine -- people who have found their
           buddha, their dhamma, their nature. Once you find it, everything starts growing in you, to your very
           potential. You will reach the highest peak, the Everest of consciousness, and you will reach to the
           greatest depth of the Pacific Ocean of your being.

              The day you merge with the buddha, the day you disappear and only buddha remains, will be the
           greatest day of your life.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                  Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind
                                                    Chapter #7
                                        Chapter title: My interest is in you
           5 February 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8902055
              ShortTitle: FIRE07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 142 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN UNGAN HIMSELF BECAME A MASTER, HE ONCE SAID -- WHEN ADDRESSING AN
              ASSEMBLY OF MONKS -- "HERE IS A CHILD FROM A RESPECTABLE FAMILY: WHATEVER
              YOU ASK, THERE IS NOTHING HE CAN'T ANSWER."
              ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, TOZAN, STEPPED FORWARD AND ASKED, "HOW MANY BOOKS ARE
              THERE IN HIS HOUSE?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY BOOKS, NOT EVEN A SINGLE LETTER."
              TOZAN THEN ASKED, "HOW COULD HE BE SO WELL INFORMED?"
              "HE SELDOM SLEEPS DAY OR NIGHT," WAS UNGAN'S RESPONSE.
              "I WANT TO ASK SOMETHING OF THE CHILD," CONTINUED TOZAN. "IS IS POSSIBLE?"
              "HE COULD ANSWER, BUT HE WOULD NOT," REPLIED UNGAN.
              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, UNGAN ASKED A MONK, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE DHARMA TO A ROCK."
              UNGAN ASKED, "DID THE ROCK NOD?"
              THE MONK HAD NO ANSWER AND UNGAN COMMENTED, "IT NODS BEFORE YOU TALK."


               Friends,
           First, a little bit of news.
           The first failure of Comrade Gorbachev:
               The central committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has declared that
           Gorbachev's first act of reform, to eradicate alcoholism, has failed. The party declared that
           Gorbachev's radical changes have not yet been achieved; on the contrary, the sale of illicit liquor has
           grown, state liquor revenues have fallen, and the masses have been constantly complaining about
           long queues to buy vodka.
           Second:
               Over the past year Comrade Gorbachev has allowed the following symbols of capitalism to do
           business in Russia: Coca-Cola, MacDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Fast Food Pizza.
               This is all junk that America wants to pour on the very innocent people of the Soviet Union.
           Third:
               Just today he has allowed the world's largest advertising agency, Saachi and Saachi, to begin
           advertising campaigns in Russia for western goods. Saachi's, who are advertising agents for
           Margaret Thatcher, said they would also like a contract "to polish Gorbachev's image, although he
           does not really need it at the moment."
               On the one hand, he is saying that Russia's economy is failing, and on the other hand, he is
           giving contracts to advertising companies to advertise western goods in Russia. Do you see the
           contradiction?
               The latest data about the economy of Russia is that twenty percent of the people are living below
           an adequate nourishment level. But in America, fourteen percent of the people are below this level
           -- the difference is only six percent. For just six percent, if communism has to be thrown out and
           American capitalism has to be brought in, it is a total tragedy. Six percent of the people can be
           helped without bringing American capitalism in.
               There was no need to declare to the world that they are no longer making nuclear weapons.
           There was no need to tell the world that they are cutting their military budgets and armies. They
           should have done it silently, and raised the level of those six percent without any problem! It is so
           simple, but Gorbachev is going about things absolutely irrationally. He is throwing out the baby with
           the wash water!
               His effort is absolutely against the Soviet Union, and this first failure of his policy will not be the
           only failure. This is the beginning of the end. All his policies are going to fail because all his policies
           are against basic fundamentals of communism. And one man cannot undo seventy years' sacrifice of
           millions of people who have created communism -- the first experiment in human history to bring a
           classless society into existence.
           Now the questions....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The first question:
              ACCORDING TO YOUR VISION, WHAT EXACTLY IS COMMUNISM?


               Communism simply means moving private property into the hands of the collective -- because
           private ownership of property creates classes, the oppressed and the oppressors. Money brings more
           money, attracts more money; poverty attracts more poverty. And a man who sees all around him
           people having money, beautiful houses, cars, and he has not even food to eat... his dignity as a
           human being is destroyed. He starts feeling subhuman, inferior, unsuccessful, and to create this
           feeling in millions of people just for the sake of a few who will be rich is against the whole of
           humanity.
               Communism brings dignity to everybody because all the properties, the land and everything,
           belong to the collective. Nobody can be richer than you and nobody can be poorer than you. Equality
           is equivalent to communism, and equal opportunity for everyone to blossom into whatsoever he has
           hidden in his potentiality.
               Communism is only the first step of a great experiment. Once people are without inferiority
           complex, once religions are removed -- that is part of communism, that there is no god and the
           so-called religions are just the opium of the people. Once religions are removed, soon a tremendous
           vacuum will be felt by everybody, because these religions have been stuffing you with systems of
           belief which are all fiction. But they help you to feel that you are full.
               I have come across poor aboriginals in Bastar, in the central provinces of India, who sometimes
           don't get even one meal in a day. And without food, sleep becomes absolutely difficult. The stomach
           is asking for food, goes into cramps, and you cannot sleep. I have seen with my own eyes, people
           just drinking water to fill the stomach, to deceive the stomach, and putting a brick on their bellies
           and binding it around themselves with a rope, so the stomach feels that it is not empty -- inside
           water, outside the brick. You can deceive the stomach by such false methods, but that is not going to
           give you nourishment. So they are just skeletons.
           Religions have been giving you false ideas, fictions, to console you.
               Communism means removing all fictions from the human mind, giving it a good cleaning of all
           the past that has filled it with rubbish.
               Marx's vision never reached beyond that, but my understanding and my vision is far more
           perfect. To me, communism is only the first stage -- not the last. And as communism succeeds,
           people will drop the inferiority complex -- which is needed by the priests, which is needed by the
           people who are driving humanity into different kinds of slavery. And when there is no God, there is
           no guilt -- without guilt no organized religion can live. It is guilt that takes people to the churches,
           because they become afraid: they have committed sins, now they will suffer hellfire for eternity. So
           something has to be done to remove the guilt.
           All religions provide fictions.
               In India just now there has been a kumbha mela; it is going on in Allahabad. Millions of people
           -- perhaps this is the biggest fair in the world -- just go to the Ganges.... To take a dip in the Ganges
           means all your sins are taken by the Ganges and you come out absolutely clean. That does not mean
           that you will stop committing sins; that simply means you have found a very cheap method to get rid
           of your sins and guilt, so you can commit as many sins as you want! There is no problem, just a
           small journey to Allahabad, take a dip in the Ganges, and all your rapes and murders, and anything
           that you have committed, the Ganges takes away. This is the Hindu strategy to keep you feeling
           guilty.
               And the priests are there, you cannot take the dip alone. The priest has to take you into the
           Ganges in a boat. And he will be reciting mantras, and then you take the dip, and you have to pay the
           priest. The priest is the agent of the God who does not exist.
               In the Catholic religion, you have to go to the priest to confess your sins, and for just ten dollars
           and five "Hail Marys" your sins are erased. God has forgiven you.
               I have always wondered that not a single Catholic theologian -- and they have great theologians,
           very intellectual -- has raised the question that when a man rapes a woman and God forgives him
           just because he has given ten dollars to the priest and done five "Hail Marys," is God absolutely
           unaware of the woman who has been raped? The criminal is forgiven -- and the victim? Not a
           single theologian of any religion has ever thought, "What about the victim who has suffered?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A man kills someone and he goes to the priest and he is forgiven. He goes to the Ganges, gives
           some money to the priest, takes a dip, and he is forgiven. What about the murdered?
               God does not seem to be just. He is in favor of the criminals and sinners. For them he is a father
           who forgives -- but what about the victims? There is not a single word in any scripture of the
           organized religions which takes note of the victims. God seems to be favorable to the sinners, to the
           criminals, but not favorable to the victims. He has no sympathy for the victims.
               Just today I received a letter from a sannyasin who has been abused by her father in her
           childhood, sexually abused. And now she suffers continuously the nightmare that her father
           exploited her innocence. She did not know anything about sex, and her own father....
               Now that father must have gone to the church and been forgiven by God. What about this girl,
           who is suffering even now? God has no consideration for this girl. Because the father has abused her,
           she has become afraid of sex, so she cannot fall in love. The image of the father comes in between.
           So she is suffering because of the father, she has nightmares about her father and all the abuse that
           he has done to her, and because of all that, she has become frightened of love. If anybody approaches
           her she will escape, so she will suffer more because she will never be nourished by love. Because her
           own father has destroyed her trust in love, her trust is completely finished. If the father cannot be
           relied upon, then on whom are you going to rely? But God has no consideration....
               This God is an absolute fiction created by the priests. Communism dissolves these priests,
           dissolves organized religion, takes away all the opium that they have been giving to the people.
               Marx was not aware that this was not going to be the complete phenomenon. I can see with more
           clarity than any Karl Marx or Lenin or Stalin.
           Communism has created a vacuum.
               You must be surprised, you must be continuously talking amongst yourselves; Amrito informed
           me that in the canteen it seems like the early days of the Soviet Union before the revolution, when all
           the young people were discussing about communism and revolution. The whole Soviet Union before
           the revolution was agog; everybody was talking about what this revolution is going to be -- "What
           is communism?" And there were anarchists like Prince Kropotkin and Bakunin, who were talking
           about a world without the state, without government, without any kind of domination, and all this
           was discussed.
               For all these days you have been discussing -- only the Indians had disappeared. They have
           come back today, knowing that this is the last day. Such cowards -- and they think they are
           spiritual! And if any problem is going to happen, it is going to happen to me, not to them. They are
           just listeners, nobody is going to put them in jail, and they are not going to be shot, but they all
           disappeared. I have been watching. Already there are no more than half a dozen people who come
           from Poona, but they also disappeared, seeing the danger.
               Communism creates a vacuum -- that is why I support it. My whole vision is that that vacuum
           can be only filled by meditation. And I am against Gorbachev because he is filling it with
           Coca-Cola, bringing the priests back, opening the churches. I have some fundamental reason to
           oppose him because he is opening the doors to all the rubbish that took the communists seventy
           years to finish.
               Now is the time that meditation should be introduced in the Soviet Union. The door should be
           opened only to the people who are awakened, enlightened -- the buddhas -- because they can fill
           the vacuum, not with any fiction but with your own potential growing into the vacuum and
           blossoming into lotus flowers.
               So communism is a first step. The second step is spiritualism, and the third step is anarchism.
           Anarchism is not possible unless people are really, authentically spiritual. Prince Kropotkin, Tolstoy,
           Bakunin -- all were unaware of the fact that they were talking about the flowers but they had
           forgotten about the roots and the trunk. You cannot create flowers without roots, without a trunk.
               Communism is just the roots, and the trunk will be meditation. And the flowers will be a world
           without any domination, without any interference with individual growth -- a world without states,
           a world without boundaries. Just a world consisting of individuals -- not organizations, not nations,
           not races.
               These are the three steps, and I can see them clearly because I have no identification with any --
           neither communism nor spiritualism nor anarchism. I am just a witness. I have no involvement with
           anybody. I am just a mirror who can reflect the whole situation as it is, and even the future as it can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           grow if the right nourishment is given.
                So don't think that I am a communist. I don't identify with anything. Don't think that I am an
           anarchist. I don't identify with anything. Don't think that I am a spiritualist. I don't identify with
           anything.
                I am just a pure awakened being, just a mirror who reflects -- who has no involvement, no
           commitment to anything.
                I don't belong to any organization, I don't belong to any party, I don't belong to any 'ism'.
           You have to understand clearly:
                I simply see things because I have gone beyond thoughts. My no-mind is just a pure space in
           which I can see the actual growth of consciousness and how it should happen.
                So communism, to me, is just a basic ground. It is the roots. Spirituality is going to be the trunk
           and the branches and the foliage. And then at the highest peak comes the absolute freedom from all
           kinds of dominations, oppressions, suppressions, from all priests, from all politicians.
           You blossom like a buddha.
                My only interest is to bring out your buddha as a fully-opened lotus in the early morning sun,
           with small dewdrops shining so beautifully that even real pearls cannot compete with them.
                I am not a politician, but that does not mean that I am not interested in human welfare. And I will
           say things which may hurt your prejudices. I want to destroy your prejudices completely. I want to
           create a vacuum. That vacuum is absolutely needed; otherwise you don't have space to grow your
           potential.
                You are filled with religious rubbish, you are filled with political rubbish, you are filled with
           economic rubbish, all kinds of ideas that you have borrowed. You are not having your own insights
           -- that rubbish prevents it, it keeps you blind, it gives you a sense of fulfillment which is false.
                So remember it. It will be very difficult for outsiders to understand me, almost impossible.
           Misunderstanding is the only possibility for me as far as the outside world is concerned. But at least
           you should not misunderstand me.
                I have no interest in Stalin, and I have no interest in Gorbachev. My interest is in you! And when
           I see that you are filled with a certain prejudice I have to bring that prejudice to the surface so you
           can see it. All kinds of moral, puritan programming -- I have to fight so many enemies that you are
           nursing within you! But my whole concern is to make you utterly empty.
                So I am not preaching anything; I am not supporting anything. I don't have any doctrine, no
           philosophy, no cult, no creed. My whole effort is to clean your inside completely from all that the
           society, the education, the religion, the family, have forced into you. Unless you get rid of it you
           cannot grow in meditation. You cannot become a buddha.
                Communism is a better opportunity than any other kind of social structure because it is negative,
           because it is without God, without heaven, without hell, without the idea of reincarnation. And it
           creates a certain equality of opportunity for man and woman.
                I have told you just a few days ago that Gorbachev cannot succeed in prohibition. You cannot
           succeed in prohibition even in India, a hot country which does not need any alcohol. It is absolute
           nonsense in a country like the Soviet Union which is half the year covered with snow. Taking poor
           people's vodka, which keeps them warm, is an absolute impossibility! He started with a wrong
           policy. That shows he does not understand simple arithmetic. If he wanted to be successful he should
           have declared that nobody can drink his own urine. He would have been successful -- of course you
           are allowed to drink anybody else's, but not your own -- and he would have been hailed as a
           messiah! Only one person, Morarji Desai in India, would have felt a heart attack, but who cares
           about Morarji Desai? In fact, he needs a heart attack! That program would have successful
           immediately. The whole of the Soviet Union would have hailed Gorbachev as the greatest man of
           their history.
                Just choose the right things, which are going to be a success. Gorbachev is choosing wrong
           things.
                Now his second policy is that women should go backwards. No woman is going to go back to the
           kitchen. Women are professors, women are engineers, women are doctors. They are pilots in the
           army, and they proved in the second world war that they could fight shoulder to shoulder with any
           man on every front. They were bombers, they were flying planes to bomb. Now you cannot force
           them back. It is as impossible as... once you have taken the toothpaste out of the tube, then try to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           force it back, and you will understand how unsuccessful Gorbachev is going to be. Just a small
           experiment you can do in your bathroom -- nobody will know about your failure....
               Now these women who have lived as professors, doctors, and engineers and pilots and scientists
           and academicians -- you want them to go back to the kitchen? It is impossible! The whole of
           womankind in the Soviet Union will oppose Gorbachev.
               I have heard that his wife is very intelligent, is a law graduate just as he is a law graduate. In fact,
           she should start a revolution against Gorbachev! She can understand the situation of women far
           better than Gorbachev.
               And for what is he doing this? Again reducing women to a second-class category of citizens --
           what is the reason? Just those six percent... If women are forced back into kitchens and imprisoned
           to take care of the babies and the husband, and their financial independence is destroyed, there will
           be more posts vacant for men to occupy. It is because of this small unemployment that is creating a
           certain undernourishment -- just to give men more opportunities, withdraw all women from the
           status that they have gained. Do you think he can succeed in it? A woman who has lived as a free
           individual, not dependent on her husband's bank account... Only in the Soviet Union do women have
           their own bank accounts, their own salaries, their own way of living. Only in the Soviet Union are
           women free to move. They have their own clubs, they have their own societies, they have everything
           they want.
               All over the world the woman is immobile. She is completely crushed, and her birthright to
           freedom of movement has been taken from her. She can go only to the church -- that's why in
           churches and temples you will find only women.
               Once I was addressing a meeting on the birthday of Krishna, and I was amazed: there were only
           women! It was a huge temple devoted to Krishna, and the speaker of the assembly in that state where
           the meeting was held was the inaugurator of the meeting. And that's why I say these politicians are
           retarded.... He was the speaker and the chancellor of the university. And he was inaugurating the
           meeting, not even seeing that these women were sitting keeping their backs towards him because
           they were gossiping with each other and looking at each other's clothes and each other's ornaments.
           Who cares about Krishna? They have only this possibility, only this chance to meet with other
           women.
               There must have been at least twenty thousand people, maybe one thousand men and nineteen
           thousand women. And they were grouped in separate small groups, because you cannot talk with
           nineteen thousand women, so four women, five women were making a group. The whole meeting
           was divided into small groups, and great gossip, and so much noise!
               And that idiot speaker... his name was Pandit Kunjilal Dube. Kunji means key, but it can also be
           kunj. Kunj means a beautiful grove of flowering trees. So the name was given by his parents because
           Krishna used to play his flute by the side of the Jamuna River in a beautiful kunj, in a beautiful grove
           of mango trees. So he was named after Kunjbihari, which is another name for Krishna. His parents
           must have given him the name `Kunjilal' thinking that kunj is a sacred word for the worshippers of
           Krishna.
               But in Hindi kunji also means key -- and chabi means key. But with kunji there is a difficulty, it
           can also mean kunj. So the whole university where he was the chancellor called him Pandit Chabilal
           Dube, because chabi exactly means kunji, exactly means "key." No problem about chabi, there is
           only one meaning to it.
               ... So Pandit Chabilal Dube was inaugurating the meeting, and I pulled on his shirt and I told
           him, "To whom are you talking? Nobody is listening! Women are sitting, keeping their backs to you
           -- what kind of retarded mind have you got? Perhaps the students are right when they call you
           Pandit Chabilal Dube. You are just retarded!"
               And he was very angry with me, because I was in his university -- a professor in his own
           university...! But he knew me, and that if he makes any fuss, I will take him to task and I won't care
           about any professorship. I used to carry my resignation always in my pocket. And I used to show
           people that, "Only the date has to be signed. Any moment you want my resignation it is here. I keep
           it -- typed -- in my pocket. Who knows at what time...?"
               I refused to speak. The organizers were very much disturbed. They said, "What to do with these
           women?" They were shouting on the mike again and again, "Stop gossiping! Turn towards the
           speaker!" Nobody was interested. Everybody knows about Krishna, what are you going to say about
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Krishna?
                And I simply refused to speak. I said, "I am not an idiot. And this is my last time. I will never
           again accept any invitation by any organized religion. Anyway you are fortunate that I am not
           speaking, because I was going to condemn Krishna as much as possible! So these women have saved
           you. I am going." And I told Pandit Chabilal, "You come with me. Why are you sitting here? You
           have inaugurated, just be finished! Come with me."
                I had to call him out because he had the car. And out of fear he started calling me "Panditji." I
           said, "Never use that dirty word for me. You are Pandit Chabilal, I am not. I am not a pandit!" --
           Pandit means rabbi, bishop, priest. "You think it is honorable -- I think it is a four-letter word. You
           just drop it. Don't ever use that word for me, otherwise I will hit you" -- in his own car!
           He said, "Don't say it so loudly, the chauffeur is there."
                I said, "I don't care! He knows absolutely about you, who you are." And the chauffeur started
           laughing. It was a limousine, so he immediately closed the window; he said, "You are a dangerous
           man -- in my own car...?"
                I said, "This car belongs to the state, it is not your own car. It belongs to me as much as it
           belongs to you."
           He said, "What?"
                I said, "Yes! It is owned by the state, and I am as much a citizen of this state as you are. And you
           are a public servant -- I am the public."
                He started looking out the window just to avoid me. But I said, "I will continue -- you have to
           listen. Why have you taken me in your car?"
           He said, "Strange. You called me out!"
                I said, "I had to call you, because I have not brought my car. The organizers brought me in their
           car; now that I have told them I am going to speak against Krishna, they are not going to give me
           their car. I needed a car, I don't need you. You can get out if you want! And your chauffeur is in my
           favor: you saw how he laughed."
                He said, "You don't understand that I am also the chancellor of the university."
                I said, "I don't care about chancellors and vice-chancellors." I showed him the card that was my
           resignation.
           He said, "Why are you showing me this card?"
                I said, "I have just to put the date, and finished! You are no more my chancellor and I can throw
           you out of the car. I am just being courteous to your old age, because the danger is you may be
           finished if I throw you out. So keep quiet, and don't harass me."
                He said, "Strange!? You are harassing me -- in my own car!"
                And it used to happen with that Pandit Chabilal Dube in many places, because he was a speaker
           of the state and a great scholar of Hinduism, and the chancellor of the university. Just by virtue of
           holding the office, every speaker of the parliament becomes the chancellor of that particular
           university where I was a professor.
                So I told him, "You are not really even worthy to be a lecturer in the university. You are only
           B.A., Ll.B. -- that too, third class."
           He said, "Who told you?"
                I said, "I have my sources -- your wife. She showed me your certificates also. I have taken
           photocopies of them, and if you make any trouble for me I am going to publish all those certificates
           in the newspapers. A third-class B.A., Ll.B. who is not even a postgraduate is the chancellor of the
           university!"
                He said, "It is better not to fight. I am sorry that I disturbed you, but don't publish anything." I
           had no copies of the certificates or anything, but I knew he was a third-class Ll.B. and had become a
           politician because he could not succeed in the court.
                The same was the situation of Mahatma Gandhi. He became a politician because the first time he
           entered court... The whole night he had been preparing and preparing his first appearance in the
           Bombay High Court. And he was a barrister from England. As he entered the court, his legs started
           trembling, and he could speak only two words -- "Your Honor" -- and he flopped down perspiring
           and had to be carried out. That's why he became a politician!
                But nobody bothers about the realities of life. These failures become politicians because politics
           needs no qualifications, has no standards. This is the only profession which any idiot can enter.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Communism, to me, is a very significant step towards the ultimate buddhahood.


              The second question:
              APPARENTLY WHEN RONALD REAGAN OR GEORGE BUSH GO TO THE CHURCH TO KNEEL
              AND PRAY TO THEIR GOD, AT THEIR SIDE IS AN AIDE WHO CARRIES THE BRIEFCASE WITH
              THE CODES THAT ALLOW THE PRESIDENT TO SIGNAL AN IMMEDIATE LAUNCH OF THEIR
              NUCLEAR ARSENAL, THEREBY EFFECTIVELY TERMINATING ALL LIFE ON EARTH. BUT STILL
              STALIN IS THE BAD GUY. IS THERE ANY LIMIT TO OUR HYPOCRISY?


               Even in the church -- this is a fact! When Ronald Reagan used to go to the church -- and now
           George Bush, because the White House has its own church, the presidential church -- one aide
           would carry a briefcase. And people became concerned: what is in the briefcase? Why every day
           when Ronald Reagan is kneeling down and praying to God, does one man stand by his side with a
           briefcase?
               Finally it was discovered that the briefcase is not an ordinary briefcase, it has all the buttons
           inside for nuclear weapons to be launched, immediately -- from the church! If there is not time
           enough to reach to the White House where they have all the buttons for the nuclear weapons... This
           was a portable death to the whole earth.
               But it is still carried; now it is George Bush who is kneeling. And one never thinks about what
           kind of hypocrisy... You are praying to God, you are kneeling down, and you are keeping by your
           side death for the whole planet.
               There is certainly no limit to our hypocrisy. We have succeeded only in creating a hypocrite
           world. It is not civilized, it is not cultured.


              The third question:
              IN THE USA, AWASH WITH DRUGS, VIOLENCE, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND GENERAL
              ALIENATION, IT SEEMS THAT MARX'S MUCH-AWAITED CRISIS OF CAPITALISM HAS COME.
              BUT IT IS A SPIRITUAL RATHER THAN AN ECONOMIC CRISIS. WOULD YOU PLEASE
              COMMENT?


                This is the USA: full of drugs, and full of nuclear weapons, mental illnesses, violence --
           violence without purpose. I have told you that just recently six people were killed in L.A. because
           the cars were delayed, some accident somewhere miles away must have happened. Now people get
           angry, they want to reach their home as quickly as possible. In L.A. or in New York, in San
           Francisco, you can reach your home from the office by walking more quickly than by driving.
                This was discovered when once it happened that for three days the electricity went out in almost
           half the northern part of America. All the lights disappeared; elevators could not work, signals on the
           road stopped working. So the traffic had to stop; otherwise there would have been tremendous
           clashes. When there are no signals giving a red or green light to stop or to go... so all the traffic had
           to be stopped, and people had to walk. Then they discovered that by walking they reached to the
           office more quickly, they reached their homes more quickly!
                Now cars in America are moving with less speed than bullock carts in India! For hours the traffic
           is jammed, and it certainly creates anger. You are hungry, you want to go home to eat something, to
           drink something, and here you are sitting in the car just boiling, honking your horn. But that is
           useless because everybody is honking his horn for miles. So you only hear horns, honking and
           honking.
                Then a few people became so furious that they forgot completely that the man ahead is in the
           same trouble. He is not preventing you -- nobody knows who is preventing; nobody knows what
           has happened far away. Maybe a truck has upturned, maybe a crash of six cars, and unless that is
           removed....
                Until the police come, it cannot be removed, because the police have to take care. Until the
           insurance agent comes it cannot be removed, because the insurance agency has to pay the price of
           the car. If a man has died, there is even more delay. One never knows what is happening.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But people -- six people, not one; just in one day! -- went so mad that they took out their guns
           and shot the people just ahead, who were not at all responsible.
                But in anger, in rage, you become absolutely blind. It is not only that love is blind -- hate is
           much blinder, but nobody has said it. "Love is blind" -- nobody says about hate, how blind hate can
           be.
                Now this anger is absolute madness -- shooting the poor fellow ahead, who is in the same jam
           as you are. And then immediately the sale of machine guns, automatic rifles went up. Every person
           who had a car purchased an automatic gun, because it is dangerous -- at least if somebody kills you,
           you can also kill somebody. It does not matter who is killed, but somebody is killed. At least you can
           show the gun. And people hang their guns above their heads in the car, so everybody can know:
           "Beware! If you honk too much behind me or ahead of me, I am going to shoot!"
                America is perhaps the only country where there is no special license needed for keeping such
           dangerous arms, automatic guns. One gun can kill one hundred sixty people without reloading the
           bullets, and you can purchase one from any dealer. The dealer needs the license to sell, but the
           people who purchase don't need any license.
                And in mental illness, America is far ahead of any other country. So many psychoanalysts, so
           many different schools of psychoanalysis, psychiatry, psychology, psychosynthesis, analytical
           psychology, and many kinds of therapies are available to people. Millions of people are suffering
           from mental sickness. Millions of people are suffering from too much eating. Millions of people are
           suffering because they don't have any food, any clothes.
                This decadent America, this absolutely sick country -- and Gorbachev wants to imitate
           America! He wants to become another President Ronald Reagan or George Bush, and he wants his
           beautiful Soviet land to be turned into a sick, decadent, rotten America.
                Yesterday I was telling you that Ronald Reagan has also been nominated for a Nobel peace prize.
           I thought and thought: What peace has he created in the world? Then I remembered that he has done
           something peaceful, and he needs a Nobel Prize for it.
                Many of you must remember Rajneeshpuram, our commune in Oregon, in America. It was a
           desert, one hundred twenty-six square miles of just pure desert. It had been for sale for forty years
           and nobody purchased it -- what will you do with a desert? We purchased it, and we transformed
           the desert into a beautiful oasis. Five thousand sannyasins were living there, working there, dancing,
           singing, meditating. It was one of the most joyous places in the whole world -- so much dancing, so
           much joy, so much love, such friendliness. No family -- the whole commune was one.
                So I remembered: Ronald Reagan has destroyed Rajneeshpuram violently, and he has restored
           the peace of the desert. That seems to be the reason for his nomination for the Nobel peace prize.
           Now it is peaceful again: no dance, no singing....
                The day I arrived there was only one house which they had made for me. There was not a single
           bird. I was amazed to see, it looked like a nightmare! All around just bare mountains with no trees,
           with no birds. In the morning you could not hear a cuckoo, you could not hear any chirping and
           tweeting of all kinds of birds. Neither in the evening could you see thousands of birds coming back
           to their trees. It was a dead desert!
                We cultivated it, we made it green. We made small artificial rivers, we made a big dam. Even if
           for five years there had been no rain, we had enough water for five thousand people. And at the time
           of festivals there were twenty thousand people, and we had beautiful tents for fifteen thousand
           people. We had created a new kind of tent. And rather than giving us a reward for the new tent, we
           were punished! A court case was put against us saying that these people have created, without
           permission, a permanent structure. A tent is not a permanent structure!
                We had made a tent which can work all the year round -- in rains, in summer, when the snow is
           falling in winter, when it is too cold. It could be heated, it could be air-conditioned; there was no
           question of any rains or any snow getting inside it. It was a totally new phenomenon. All those who
           saw it were immensely impressed, that we had made something which could have a world market. In
           Saudi Arabia, or in deserts where people live in tents, but in the hot sun the tent is just boiling... an
           air-conditioned tent you have never heard of! And in snow, in winter, the tent can be heated. It was
           absolutely safe all the year round.
                And a court case was filed against us saying that we had made a permanent structure. I told my
           attorneys, "Just take a tent in a truck, take it inside the court" -- because it takes only ten minutes to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           put it up, and ten minutes to take it down. "A building that can be put up in ten minutes and taken
           down in ten minutes cannot be called permanent. If the judge has any eyes to see, there is no need for
           any argument. It is not a question of law, it is a question of whether the judge has eyes or is blind."
               Can you put the White House together in ten minutes and then within another ten minutes take it
           down?
               They called it a "permanent structure." A permanent structure needs a license or permission from
           the government. We never thought that a tent could be a "permanent structure."
               With violence, with lawlessness against their own constitution, they destroyed the commune.
           That I remembered yesterday, that perhaps because he has restored the peace of that dead desert,
           Ronald Reagan deserves the Nobel Prize. I don't know of any other peace that he has created.

               Gorbachev is trying to bring this decadent and mentally sick America into the Soviet Union
           where there is no psychoanalysis, no psychiatry. People are as mentally healthy as they have ever
           been anywhere, for the simple reason that their food is simple, nourishing but not fattening; their
           work is simple, their life has no complications. The wife earns, so there is no problem of continuous
           fighting that she wants a fur coat, she wants a new car, or she wants this and she wants that and you
           cannot afford it, you are going bankrupt, so rather than fulfilling her wishes you jump from a one
           hundred-story building. The business is finished, the wife is torturing you, what else to do?
               So many people jump out of their windows. Do you think all these people are taking LSD? --
           because LSD is the only drug that gives the idea that you can fly. So LSD has to be taken only under
           guidance and all doors and windows have to be closed, because it creates the absolute certainty in
           the mind that you can fly: you just jump out of the window and open your wings.
               America has been discovered many times, and always has been hushed back up. Now that
           moment has come again. America has to be hushed up again and forgotten. Columbus has not done a
           great service to humanity. He is one of the enemies.
               Seven hundred years ago, America was known but then hushed up. Five thousand years ago
           America was known but was hushed up, because whenever... it seems the very land is poisonous. It
           drives people crazy.
               So it is not for the first time that we will have to hush it. It has been hushed many times,
           discovered again, hushed again. Now if you don't hush it again, it is going to destroy the whole
           world.
               And this poor fellow Comrade Gorbachev, who is no more a comrade, wants the Soviet Union to
           become America. He has forgotten that even if you become like America you will be second-rate.
           The Soviet Union had a dignity of its own, far more healthy mentally, far more healthy physically.
               It was the Soviet Union who stopped the second world war. If Adolf Hitler had not gone more
           insane... because for years he had success, continuous success, and no western power was able to
           prevent him. Great nations like France surrendered in twenty-four hours. Naturally, he had a pact
           with Stalin before he started the war, that "We will remain friends. Neither you have to attack
           Germany, nor will we attack you." Because he knew perfectly well that in the first world war it was
           because of Russia's snows that Germany was defeated -- not by Russia's armies; just the snow is
           enough to destroy any enemy.
               When Russian snow starts falling, you cannot move an inch. All your tanks, all your trucks, all
           your food supply is blocked. The snow is heavy, and it goes on falling for six months continuously.
           Your soldiers are covered, your tanks are covered; even helicopters cannot find where to drop the
           food. Everything has disappeared under a vast cover of white snow.
               In the first world war it was not the czar's soldiers, because they had returned home, but snow
           started falling and Germany got defeated. Hitler was aware of it. He first made a pact and treaty with
           Stalin, that "You will not attack us, and we will not attack you." Hitler went on winning for years
           continuously, all over Europe, and Japan was winning continuously for years -- even Calcutta was
           ordered to be evacuated because Japanese armies had reached Rangoon, and the second attack was to
           be on Calcutta. The third attack was to be on Jabalpur -- where I used to teach, but not at the time
           of the second world war -- because Jabalpur was the very center of India and because of its position
           the British government had its biggest factory for armaments there. So after Calcutta, the next target
           was Jabalpur. Even Jabalpur was getting ready to be evacuated. Once they attacked Calcutta,
           Jabalpur would have to be evacuated.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Such tremendous success got into the head of that madman Adolf Hitler, and he started attacking
           the Soviet Union. He forgot the treaty, he forgot that the Soviet Union had kept its word and had not
           interfered at all. And that was the point of his defeat. It was Stalin who was responsible for saving
           the world from Adolf Hitler and Hirohito and Benito Mussolini.
               Just not to give the whole glory to the Soviet Union, America immediately rushed to help
           Europe. Up to now, America had been keeping aloof, but when they saw that the Soviet Union was
           going to have the whole glory of saving Europe and the whole world, they immediately rushed in on
           both fronts. MacArthur was sent with great armies to fight Japan, and Eisenhower was sent to
           Europe. If Adolf Hitler was going to be finished, the glory should be shared by the Soviet Union and
           America both, not only the Soviet Union. But it was, in fact, only the Soviet Union who ended the
           second world war and the desire of fascism to rule over the whole world.


              The fourth question:
              HEARING YOU TALK, I HAVE THE FEELING THAT CHRISTIAN FASCISM WON'T REST UNTIL IT
              HAS DESTROYED EVERY TRACE OF COMMUNISM. I FEEL CHRISTIANS' VENGEANCE
              AGAINST COMMUNISM FOR POWERFULLY CHALLENGING THEIR WORD OF GOD.


               That's true. The whole of Christianity is against communism for the simple reason that the
           communists have thrown the Bible and thrown God and thrown all the Christian missionaries and
           Christian priests out of the Soviet land.
               The whole of Christianity is sitting on a volcano. And America is basically a fundamentalist,
           fascist Christian country. It is so fascist in its ideologies that all Charles Darwin's books, Ronald
           Reagan wanted to burn. His teachings should be prevented in every school, college, university,
           research institute, and all his books in all the libraries, all the colleges, schools, universities, should
           be burned. Why? Because his idea of evolution goes against the Christian idea of creation. This is
           real fascism.
               Certainly Christianity will take every chance to destroy communism, but it is not going to
           succeed. Seventy years has made the Soviet Union strong enough. Gorbachev will be thrown out;
           Russia is not going on the way of capitalism and Christianity. The time has come when the Soviet
           Union should say to Gorbachev, "Good-bye comrade," and expel him from the Soviet Union. He can
           have the Nobel Prize and go to America and become a Yankee.

           The sutra:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN UNGAN HIMSELF BECAME A MASTER, HE ONCE SAID -- WHEN ADDRESSING AN
              ASSEMBLY OF MONKS -- "HERE IS A CHILD FROM A RESPECTABLE FAMILY: WHATEVER
              YOU ASK, THERE IS NOTHING HE CAN'T ANSWER."

               You have to understand a few symbols. Ungan himself became a master, became an enlightened
           buddha. Addressing an assembly of monks, he said, "Here is a child..." Unless you become a child
           again, you cannot be a buddha. That innocence is needed, and I am destroying all your conceptions
           in every possible way, just to clean your mind and bring it closer to that of a child who knows
           nothing.
              "HERE IS A CHILD FROM A RESPECTABLE FAMILY."

               He is not talking about ordinary families. In Zen the "family" means the whole lineage of Zen
           masters. That is called the "dhamma family," from Buddha to Mahakashyapa, to Bodhidharma, to
           Rinzai -- this is the family. He is not referring to his ordinary family.
               Whenever you come across the word `family' in a Zen anecdote, remember: they are referring to
           their masters, who have given them their second birth. The first birth is physical, which parents give
           to you; the second birth is spiritual, which only one who is enlightened can give you. It comes from
           master to disciple.
               This is the family; it goes back twenty-five centuries to Gautam Buddha. So when Ungan said,
           "HERE IS A CHILD FROM A RESPECTABLE FAMILY," he is saying, "Here is another buddha
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           again, from the lineage of thousands of buddhas. That is my family, I am coming out of it. My
           master has given me a new birth.
              "WHATEVER YOU ASK, THERE IS NOTHING HE CAN'T ANSWER."

               This child, this innocent clarity, can answer any question. Whatever you want to ask, you can ask
           and you will receive the answer.
               ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, TOZAN -- who finally became an enlightened master -- STEPPED
           FORWARD AND ASKED, "HOW MANY BOOKS ARE THERE IN HIS HOUSE?"
               You are talking about the child, and he is asking, "How many books are in the house of the
           child?" Because at that moment he was only a scholar and he knew only that unless you have
           scriptures, you cannot answer all the questions. From where will you get the information? He had no
           idea that there is another source, transformation, from where answers simply arise -- not out of
           information, but out of an inner revolution. At this moment he was only a scholar, so of course he
           asked, "How many books are in that child's house?"
              UNGAN REPLIED, "HE DOES NOT HAVE ANY BOOKS, NOT EVEN A SINGLE LETTER."

               He is saying that for a man who is awakened there is not even a single letter, nothing to say about
           a thought, nothing to say about scriptures. That child is absolutely innocent. There is no knowledge,
           no information; there is only a clarity.
               Out of that clarity a response comes. That response is original and authentic, to any question.
              TOZAN THEN ASKED, "HOW COULD HE BE SO WELL INFORMED?"

               If the child you are talking about has no books, not even a letter, then how he can be so well
           informed that, as you are saying, he can answer all your questions?
               This is the way of the scholar. He cannot go beyond the words, he cannot go beyond the
           scripture. He cannot go beyond information.
               Information comes from outside and transformation comes from inside. He is not aware that
           there is another way also. Not that the childlike consciousness -- that purity, that innocence of a
           buddha -- has all the answers in it. No, nothing -- it has no answers, but as your question arises
           that purity responds. It is a mirror. It shows your face; it reflects. Out of nothingness, out of silence,
           arises a right answer.
              TOZAN ASKED, "HOW COULD HE BE SO WELL INFORMED?"

              Ungan's response is very important. He says,
              "HE SELDOM SLEEPS DAY OR NIGHT."

              His awareness is so complete that there is no trace of sleep left in him. No trace of any
           unconsciousness, no trace of any darkness -- everything has become so luminous and light....
              It is from this alertness, day and night -- awareness, day and night -- that his answers come.

               Anando comes to wake me up at 3:30 in the afternoon. It is a difficult task, to wake somebody
           who is awake. So poor Anando, as she opens the door I say, "Hello, Anando." She has never had a
           chance to wake me up to now. Just hiding behind my blanket, I say, "Hello, Anando!"
               Just the other day she was asking, "It is strange -- I open the door so silently and you are hiding
           in your blanket and you immediately respond."
               Amrito knows that it is absolutely impossible for me to sleep. He tries every possible medicine
           and he brings all kinds of compact disks which create sleep, and the whole night I have to listen! But
           I am not at all tired. In the morning when I wake up from my whole night of awakening, I have lost
           the very sense of time.
               That's why last night I went on and on. I would have gone on and on, just I remembered Sardar
           Gurudayal Singh; otherwise there was no question. Only in the car, Anando told me, "You know it is
           11:05!"
               I said, "My God, that is a record! If I had not remembered Sardar Gurudayal Singh, last night
           was going to be a marathon discourse. Only early in the morning when sun was rising, I would have
           allowed you to go for breakfast! Some day it is going to happen....
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              "I WANT TO ASK SOMETHING OF THE CHILD," CONTINUED TOZAN. "IS IT POSSIBLE?"
              "HE could ANSWER, BUT HE WOULD NOT," REPLIED UNGAN.

               Now he is saying something very important. He could answer, but he would not because the
           answer will not be as authentic as his experience. The answer will be far below the truth. He can
           answer, he knows the truth, but he would not answer because he cannot betray the truth.
               So every buddha is talking around and around, hoping that somehow you will look at the center
           at some point. But he goes on round and round, taking you in circles, pointing always to the center
           but never saying a single word about your center.
           You have to experience it.
           You are the answer.
               So Ungan replied, "HE COULD ANSWER," because he knows it, "BUT HE WOULD NOT,"
           because language does not allow it.

              ON ANOTHER OCCASION, UNGAN ASKED A MONK, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
              THE MONK REPLIED, "I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE DHARMA TO A ROCK."
              UNGAN ASKED, "DID THE ROCK NOD?"

                ... Because in Zen the rocks are as alive as you are. They grow. The trees are as sensitive as you
           are -- perhaps more sensitive. You can talk to them. So Ungan does not question the fellow -- "Are
           you mad, talking to a rock?" -- on the contrary, he asks, "DID THE ROCK NOD?"
                The question is not that you were talking, the question is whether the rock was listening. If it was
           listening it would have nodded.
              THE MONK HAD NO ANSWER AND UNGAN COMMENTED, "IT NODS BEFORE YOU TALK."

                That's what makes Sardar Gurudayal Singh special. He laughs before you tell the joke.
           Everybody laughs after the joke, that is very normal, but laughing before the joke shows immense
           trust that something great is going to happen.
                Ungan said, "IT NODS BEFORE YOU TALK. If you are really in tune with the rock, it nods
           before you start talking. And you have not even received the nod after you stopped talking." Of
           course the man was completely embarrassed, shocked: what is this man saying, that the rock nods
           before?
           It really nods before.
                You have to be a master -- then everything around you is always receptive, always ready to
           receive something from you. Even rocks are not rocks; they also have a heart, perhaps of a different
           kind.
                The whole existence is alive. Nothing is without life. This is one of the fundamentals of Zen, that
           the whole existence is alive. That's why it can discard the concept of God. There is no need. The
           whole existence is alive, sensitive, intelligent, is capable of growing into a divine experience of
           being the awakened one.
           Basho wrote:
              ALL THE CUCKOOS
              DANCING
              IN THE TREES.


               The cuckoo is the sweetest musician. The cuckoo creates the sweetest songs. Its body is ordinary;
           if you see the cuckoo, it looks just like a crow, not much different, but it has a tremendous spirit.
           When it sings there is no comparison to it.
               Basho must have opened his eyes, sitting in a mango grove, because cuckoos are found more
           often in mango groves. They like the mangoes. The mango is thought, particularly in the East, to be
           the king of all the fruits. It is! Its sweetness is such that wherever there are mango trees, you will find
           cuckoos waiting for the mangoes to become ripe. And when they become ripe then they go really
           cuckoo! Dancing, singing, "The mangoes are ripe!" They love the mangoes. So Basho must have
           been either by the side of a mango grove or inside it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha always loved, his whole life, to have his camps -- because he was continuously moving
           -- in mango groves. Perhaps India has more mango trees than any other country, and at Buddha's
           time it had even more because it was thought to be one of the virtues to plant mango trees. All the
           kings, all the rich people tried to create as many mango trees as possible; all roads were surrounded
           for hundreds of miles by mango trees. And every village, every town, had its own mango grove
           outside the town, by the riverside or by the lake, because the mango grove was the shelter of all the
           wandering mystics.
               The trees are very thick, shadowy trees, and when there are thousands of mango trees they give a
           great cool breeze even in the hottest summer. When the mangoes are ripe, cuckoos come running
           from all over because the mango has a very special fragrance. That fragrance brings the cuckoos
           from far away and as long as the mangoes last, they remain in the mango groves, singing and
           dancing. Their song is certainly the sweetest song in existence.
               So Basho must have come out of his meditation, and suddenly he saw all the cuckoos dancing in
           the trees.
               Just visualize these haikus, always. See the mango trees, see the hundreds of cuckoos dancing,
           singing, and their sweet song will fill your very heart.

              Maneesha's question:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              HEARING YOU TALK ABOUT COMMUNISM BEING COMBINED WITH ZEN, MARX COMBINED
              WITH BUDDHA, I HAD THE FLASH THAT ROSA LUXEMBURG WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO HEAR
              YOU.
              I HAVE THE FEELING THAT THIS IS WHAT SHE WAS LOOKING FOR AND COULD NOT FIND OR
              EXPRESS IN HER TIME, BUT SHE MUST HAVE HAD THE LONGING IN HER ALREADY.
              SHE WROTE THE FOLLOWING WHILE SHE WAS IN PRISON IN BRESLAU, GERMANY, IN 1917.
              "HERE I AM LYING, ALONE, WRAPPED IN THESE BLACK FOLDS OF DARKNESS, BOREDOM,
              IMPRISONMENT, THE WINTER -- AND AT THE SAME TIME, MY HEART BEATS WITH AN
              UNBELIEVABLE, UNKNOWABLE, UNKNOWN INNER JOY....
              "IN THE DARKNESS OF LIFE I'M SMILING, AS IF I KNOW SOME MAGIC SECRET THAT GIVES
              THE LIE TO ALL EVIL AND SADNESS AND CHANGES IT INTO BRIGHT LIGHT AND HAPPINESS.
              I'M LOOKING FOR A REASON FOR THIS HAPPINESS AND I DON'T FIND ANY, AND I HAVE TO
              SMILE AGAIN. I THINK THAT THE SECRET IS NOTHING ELSE THAN LIFE IN ITSELF."
              WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMMENT?


                Maneesha, I have always loved the woman revolutionary, Rosa Luxemburg. She is the topmost
           revolutionary as far as women are concerned. She had the same quality of revolution as Lenin --
           and she was a woman, so certainly she had a totally different approach to revolution. It has not to be
           just of the body, it has also to be of the soul. It has not be just on the outside of man, in the social
           structure; it has to be of man in his consciousness also.
                Certainly she was not aware of any meditative rebellion within. That's why she says, "I'm
           looking for the reason." And she thinks she has found the reason in life itself -- but that is a very
           superficial reason. Without meditation you don't know the secrets of life, you know only the surface
           of life. Even that much gives you enough joy, but you don't know the depth, the abysmal depth and
           the infinite height, immeasurable both. Once you know this vertical dimension of height and depth,
           life becomes a pure joy, a laughter, a song, a dance, an ecstasy.
                Rosa Luxemburg was in a wrong place. She should have been in the East. Out of all the
           revolutionaries in the West, perhaps she was more sensitive and would have learned the Eastern way
           of getting deeper into life, not just on the surface.
                On the surface life becomes "eat, drink, be merry." It is superficial, you get bored sooner or later.
           Unless you reach to the abysmal depth and infinite height, simultaneously, you don't know what a
           miracle life is, what a mystery life is.
                But she was in search; she died before she could have found it. But death is not death. Rosa
           Luxemburg may be here -- if not today, then tomorrow.
                All those who are seeking the depth of life and the secret, the ultimate secret of consciousness,
           are bound to move -- knowingly or unknowingly -- towards someone who has already reached the
           whole.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ... It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh again.

                Officer Dopeski, of the Warsaw Police traffic control team, is sitting in his car eating a potato
           sandwich when he sees a bright red Ferrari speed past him at one hundred and eighty miles per hour.
                Officer Dopeski nearly chokes on his sandwich in excitement as he slams his door, starts his car,
           flicks on his red flashing lights, flicks on his siren, fastens his seat belt, checks his pistol, opens the
           glovebox and looks for his ticket book, slams the gearshift into GO, and stomps on the gas pedal.
                One hour and two hundred miles later, Officer Dopeski finally manages to stop the speeding
           Italian sports car.
                "Okay," says Dopeski, fumbling nervously with his ticket book. "Just tell me your name!"
                The driver of the Ferrari looks up and says, "My name is-a Alfonso de Villa Martino Rivera
           Giovanni Tortoni Baloni."
           "Well..." replies Officer Dopeski, perspiring, "... don't do it again!"

               Newton Hooton drops into the Lucky Luke Saloon one evening, and orders a triple martini.
               "What a coincidence," says Max, the bartender. "Just an hour ago, I was saying that nobody ever
           orders a triple martini any more."
               As Max is mixing the drink, both he and Newton look up as Lucy Leggs rushes in and asks for a
           triple martini.
           Newton and Max look at each other in amazement.
               "Hey, lady!" cries Max. "That is incredible! The gentleman here just ordered a triple martini, and
           we were just discussing how nobody ever orders that drink these days. This is really a coincidence!"
               "Well," says Lucy, "I am celebrating a very special occasion. My husband and I have been
           married for nine years, and we have always wanted a child. Just today, I have learned that I am
           pregnant!"
               The two men congratulate Lucy and then Newton says, "Well that is a coincidence, because I am
           also celebrating a very special occasion. I have been breeding exotic chickens for years, and I have
           been trying to produce a purple-spotted hen. And just today, I found out that I have been successful."
           "What a coincidence," says Lucy. "How did you manage it?"
           "Well," replies Newton, "I just changed cocks."
           "Wow!" cries Lucy. "That really is a coincidence! Me too!"

              Comrade Gorbachev has heard rumors that his policies are being discussed in Poona, India, so he
           decides to go and check it out. When his plane arrives at Poona airport, the Indian Army is there to
           welcome him.
              As Gorbachev steps off the plane, the military guard of honor fires off the traditional twenty-one
           gun salute.
           "What were those shots?" asks Swami Deva Coconut, standing in the crowd.
           "Gorbachev has arrived!" says the man next to him.
              "Really?" replies Coconut. "You mean they could not get him with just one shot?"

           Nivedano...
           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano...

           Be silent. Close your eyes and feel your body to be completely frozen.
               This is the right moment to turn in. Gather your whole energy and rush towards your center of
           being, with your total consciousness and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment
           of life on the earth.
           This urgency is absolutely needed to reach to the center.
           Faster and faster, deeper and deeper...
               As you start coming closer to your center, a great silence descends over you like soft rain. It is so
           tangible, you can feel it.
           As you come even closer
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a great peace arises from your very sources
           surrounding you
           into great fragrance
           of the beyond.
           Just a little more
           and you are on the center
           facing your original face.
           Your original face
           is the face of the buddha,
           the awakened one.
                At this moment you are the buddha. I teach the buddha, I don't teach Buddhism. The only quality
           buddha has is witnessing. He is a pure witness -- no judgment, no identification, just watching
           without having any opinion.
                Witness, you are not the body. Witness, you are not the mind. And witness... you are only the
           witness. And as you relax into witnessing, a great ecstasy, a great divine drunkenness overtakes you.
           You suddenly become aware of your immortality, of your eternal life.
           To make this witnessing deeper, Nivedano...

           Relax, let go.
               But go on remembering you are a buddha, a pure witness. And as your witnessing goes on
           becoming deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, you start melting like ice in the ocean.
               I can see it. Gautam the Buddha Auditorium is turning into an ocean of consciousness. Ten
           thousand buddhas have melted into one ocean.
           A pure ocean of consciousness
           without any ripples or waves.
               At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth, just because you are centered at
           your very ultimate nature.
           The buddha is your dhamma,
           he is your very nature.
               The evening was beautiful on its own, but your totality, your intensity, your urgency, your
           honesty, has made it a great splendor. The whole existence surrounding you is celebrating your great
           victory.
           There is no other victory greater than this.
               To become a buddha is the most important, the most significant, the only meaningful act in your
           whole life.

                Gather as much experience and as many juices of life... and the blossoms and the flowers and the
           fragrances,
           the peace, the silence, the serenity,
           the divine drunkenness, the ecstasy.
                Collect all of them. You have to bring them to your life. Your life has to become a life of songs,
           a life of dances, a life of eternal music, a life of divine ecstasy.

           This is the transformation which Zen Fire and Zen Wind brings to you.
               And never forget to persuade the buddha to come along with you. He is coming every day closer
           and closer and closer. You will feel his presence just behind you, coming, following, like a shadow.
               This is the first step of meditation: buddha coming behind you as a shadow. But the shadow is
           very solid, very tangible; you can touch it, you can feel it, you can have a tremendous fragrance
           arising from it.
               The second step: you become the shadow and buddha comes ahead of you, in front of you.
               The third step: your shadow disappears into the transparent awareness, awakening,
           enlightenment of the buddha.
           You are no more, only the buddha is.
           You are no more, only the existence is.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              This is the ultimate revolution, the ultimate evolution -- the ultimate truth, beauty, godliness.

           Nivedano...

                Come back. But come as buddhas, with the same grace, the same beauty, the same joy, the same
           ecstasy.
                Sit just for a few seconds to remember and to remind yourself where you have been -- to what
           depth, to what height you have reached... to what opening of space you have experienced.
                And see that the fragrance of the innermost has come with you, surrounding your being. And
           watch, feel... the buddha is standing behind you.
           He is your very nature, he is your blissfulness. He is your benediction.
                And the day is not far away when you will take the second step and become the shadow of the
           buddha. Once you become the shadow of the buddha, the third step becomes very easy. The shadow
           can disappear into the buddha without any trouble.
           When only the buddha is left, alone, you have come home.
                This is the search of all human consciousness; this is the search of all living beings. This is the
           source from where we have come, and this is the goal to where we are going.
                Once the circle is complete -- the source and goal meet together -- you have come to a
           perfection of which you cannot even have a dream. You cannot even visualize what that perfection
           is. Even after reaching it, you cannot manage to describe it, you cannot manage to explain it, you can
           simply dance.
           Your eyes will shine with it,
           your silence will become a song about it.
           Your words may carry a little fragrance of it.
           Your very existence will radiate
           with the light that you have found
           in the completion of the circle.
                The source and the goal meeting... now, once this happens to any consciousness, any human
           being, he is not to be born again into a prison of body, of bones and blood and flesh. Then he
           disappears into the cosmos and becomes one with the cosmos.
           Just a sincere passion
           to disappear into the cosmos
           is needed.
           It is not a long journey,
           it is just a quantum leap.
           And you are trying the best that you can do.
                I am absolutely happy about you. And the day when you all will start blossoming into buddhas
           will not only be a day of happiness for you, it will be a day of great celebration for the whole of
           existence.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                                     Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Talks on Zen
                                    Talks given from 11/06/76 am to 20/06/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1977
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                            Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                  Chapter #1
                               Chapter title: Never Pretend, Even About Skulls
           11 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606110
              ShortTitle: DANG01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              THE MASTER FUGAI WAS CONSIDERED VERY WISE AND GENEROUS, YET HE WAS MOST
              SEVERE BOTH WITH HIMSELF AND HIS DISCIPLES.

              HE WENT TO THE MOUNTAINS TO SIT IN ZEN. HE LIVED IN A CAVE, AND WHEN HE WAS
              HUNGRY HE WENT TO THE VILLAGE FOR SCRAPS.

              ONE DAY A MONK CALLED BUNDO, ATTRACTED BY FUGAI'S AUSTERITIES, CALLED AT THE
              CAVE AND ASKED TO STAY THE NIGHT.

              THE MASTER SEEMED HAPPY TO PUT HIM UP, AND NEXT MORNING PREPARED RICE GRUEL
              FOR HIM. NOT HAVING AN EXTRA BOWL HE WENT OUT AND RETURNED WITH A SKULL HE
              FOUND LYING NEAR A TOMB. HE FILLED IT WITH GRUEL AND OF OFFERED IT TO BUNDO.

              THE GUEST REFUSED TO TOUCH IT, AND STARED AT FUGAI AS IF HE HAD GONE MAD.

              AT THIS FUGAI BECAME FURIOUS AND DROVE HIM OUT OF THE CAVE WITH BLOWS. 'FOOL!'
              HE SHOUTED AFTER HIM.'HOW CAN YOU, WITH YOUR WORLDLY NOTIONS OF FILTH AND
              PURITY, THINK YOURSELF A BUDDHIST?'

              SOME MONTHS LATER THE MASTER TETSGYU VISITED HIM AND TOLD HIM THAT HE
              THOUGHT IT A GREAT PITY THAT HE HAD FORSAKEN THE WORLD. FUGAI LAUGHED LOUDLY
              AND SAID:'OH, IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO FORSAKE THE WORLD AND BECOME A BONZAI, THE
              DIFFICULT THING IS THEN TO BECOME A TRUE BUDDHIST.'


               TRUTH IS ONE, but it can be approached in many ways. Truth is one, but it can be expressed in
           many ways.
               Two ways are very essential; all the ways can be divided into two categories. It will be good to
           understand that basic polarity.
               Either you approach truth through the mind or you approach truth through the heart. So there are
           two types of religions in the world -- both true, both meaningful, but both opposite to each other --
           the religion of the mind and the religion of the heart.
               The religion of the mind believes that if you become thoughtless, if the mind is dropped, you
           attain to truth. The mind is the barrier; the no-mind will be the gate. Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism --
           these are the religions of the mind. They are religions of deep analysis, religions of deep awareness,
           religions of enlightenment.
               Then there are religions of the heart: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism. They believe that
           the path goes through the heart, that the heart has to be dissolved into the beloved, into the Divine.
               The first religions are the religions of meditation. The word 'meditation' is not exactly right but
           there is no other word to translate DHYANA into English, because the language has never known a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religion of meditation so the word does not exist. All Western languages, in fact, have known only
           the religion of the heart so they have the perfect word for that path -- prayer. But for DHYANA they
           don't have any word so meditation is the only word that can be used. In fact, DHYANA means
           exactly the opposite; DHYANA means just the contrary. The word 'meditation' comes from a Greek
           root 'medonai' which means to think about. The word 'meditation' means to think about, and
           DHYANA, which we are translating as meditation, means how not to think about; how to be in a
           state of no thought; how to come to a point where you are but there is no thinking; a state of
           no-mind, pure awareness. But meditation is the only word so we will use it.
               Zen is the culmination of the Buddhist search. Zen is the uttermost flowering of the path of
           meditation. The word 'zen' comes from DHYANA. DHYANA became 'chen' in China, then 'chen'
           became 'zen' in Japan. Remember this: Zen originated in India with Gautam Buddha. When Gautam
           Buddha attained to his ultimate enlightenment, the state of no-mind, the world came to know the
           path of analysis, the path of right thinking, the path of right remembering, and the path of how to
           dissolve all thinking by becoming more and more aware of thoughts. Just by watching thoughts,
           slowly, slowly, they fade out -- you become simply a watcher, you are not identified with your
           thinking, you stand aside and you go on watching, just as if you are standing by the side of the road
           and watching the traffic. The mind is like traffic, very circular, goes on moving in a circle, very
           repetitive, almost a mechanism. You go on doing the same thing again and again and again. Your
           whole life is nothing but a prolonged repetition, very circular. The mind is a mandala, a circle, and it
           moves. If you watch, by and by you become aware of the circle, of the vicious circle of the mind.
           Again and again it brings the same emotions: the same anger, the same hatred, the same greed, the
           same ego.... And you go on. You are just a victim.
               Once you become aware of the mind and you start watching it, the bridge is broken, you are no
           more identified with the mind. Once you are not identified with the mind, the mind disappears
           because it needs your co-operation to be there.
               These coming ten days we will be talking about Zen. But to understand it rightly, you have to
           understand the opposite also -- the opposite becomes a contrast, a background.
               The path of prayer does not analyse; it does not try to be aware or alert. On the contrary, the path
           of prayer dissolves itself completely into the prayer. You should not witness, you should not be a
           watcher; you should be drunk like a drunkard and lost, completely lost.
               On the path of prayer, love is the goal. You should be loving; you should be so full of love that
           your ego dissolves into your love, melts into your love. On the path of prayer, God is a necessary
           hypothesis. I call it a hypothesis because it is a need on the path of prayer but it is not a need on the
           path of meditation.
               On the path of meditation no God is needed, hence the influence and the appeal of Zen in the
           West. God has become almost incomprehensible. The very word 'God' looks dirty. The moment you
           say 'God' you put people off. Hence the appeal of Zen in the West. Christianity is dying because that
           hypothesis has been used too much, has been exploited too much. The other, just the opposite, is
           needed.
               On the path of prayer you are to be drunk; on the path of meditation you have to be alert. In both
           the ways the ego disappears. If you are fully alert there is no ego because in full awareness you
           become so transparent that you don't create any shadow. If you are fully drunk, in deep love with
           God, again you disappear -- because in LOVE you cannot be. The ultimate is the same: the ego
           disappears. And when the ego is not there you come to know what truth is.
               Nobody has ever been able to say what it is; nobody will ever be able to say what it is. The
           experience is so ultimate, so vast, that it is indefinable. It is so unlimited it cannot be put into words
           -- words are very narrow and the experience is tremendously vast. But from both the paths, people
           reach to the same goal.
               Truth is one. Vedas say, 'Truth is one but it has been seen in different ways by the seers.'
               So remember that. All religions are basically, intrinsically, leading to the same goal. Even when
           they appear very opposite, even when they appear diametrically opposite, they are leading to the
           same goal.
               So it depends on you which path you would like to choose. If you have a feeling for God -- not a
           belief, belief alone won't do, belief is just a dead thing -- if you have a feeling for God, if, by hearing
           the word 'God', you start a subtle throbbing, you feel a trembling, you feel inspired, your heart starts
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beating faster, if the very word 'God' gives you a great awe, then you can move on the path of prayer.
           Then Zen is not for you, then Zen is to be simply forgotten, because then Zen will be a disturbance.
               But if the word 'God' has no meaning for you, if it has really died for you, if God is really dead, it
           provokes no feeling in you, no emotion in you, it does not vibrate you, it does not pulsate you, it
           does not whirl your being into the unknown, then Zen is for you. More and more people will have to
           be moving on the path of Zen because Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism -- all, in a way, have
           been exploited too much. They have lost their appeal.
               Buddhism is still unspoiled, still fertile, and for the modern mind particularly it has a very deep
           appeal -- because the modern mind is made of a scientific attitude and Zen is absolutely scientific,
           super-scientific. It goes to the very roots of your mind and it does not ask you to believe in anything.
           It has no hypothesis whatsoever. It does not ask that you should believe in something, it has no
           superstition.
               The word 'superstition' is very beautiful. It comes from the Latin 'superstes' which means: that
           which survives, remnants of the past, things which have become futile but persist out of habit. You
           go to the church but you don't have any feeling for going there, and every night before going to the
           bed you may pray also -- but it is just an impotent gesture because there is no heart in it. You simply
           repeat with the lips; you pay lip-service to it. It is maybe just an old habit, an old conditioning: you
           have been taught from your very childhood to pray, so you continue. The mind goes on repeating the
           familiar.
               So this has to be decided by you. Nobody else can decide it for you. You have to search in your
           own heart. If you still have that innocence which is needed for the path of prayer, if you are still like
           a child, if you still can trust, can believe, if you still can have faith, then there is no need to bother
           about Zen because it will be an unnecessarily arduous path. You can simply melt and merge into
           God.
           I was reading one anecdote -- I loved it.
               One evening a priest who was visiting Ireland was walking along a country road, when he came
           upon an elderly gentleman. As they walked along enjoying the evening together, a storm suddenly
           arose and they took shelter. They talked for a while and then when silence came upon them, the old
           man took out a prayer book and began to pray.
               The American priest, observing him, was struck very deeply by a certain kind of hallowedness
           around him as he prayed. Unintentionally he said aloud,
           'You must be very close to God.'
               The old man paused, smiled and said, 'Yes, he is very fond of me.'
               'Yes, he is very fond of me.' That is what prayer is all about. It is not only that you love God --
           that alone won't help. If you can also feel God's love flowing towards you, only then; if you can feel
           his presence all around you, only then will prayer become possible.
               Prayer is possible as a shadow of his felt presence. You cannot pray in an empty room if he is not
           present. To whom will you pray? To whom will you utter your heart? To whom? Prayer is futile if
           the presence is not felt. If the presence is felt, then you are in prayer -- whether you say something or
           not. You may not say a single word, you may be simply so full with awe that you remain silent, but
           you will feel the presence. Yes, to feel the presence of God is what prayer is all about.
               But if God is dead, if you don't feel anything, if no song arises in your heart for God, if the
           presence has disappeared from the world -- you look at trees and you only see trees and no God
           hidden there, you look at the sky and you only see the sky and not his infinite presence -- then Zen is
           going to be your path.
               Zen is going to be the religion of the coming century because science has killed, or damaged
           very badly, the capacity to trust. But there is nothing to be worried about -- you can move from
           another direction. But then there is no question of love, of presence, of God, of prayer -- nothing of
           the sort.
               When the Western world for the first time became aware of Buddhism, Jainism, Tao, they could
           not believe it. What type of religions are these? There is no God in them. They could not believe that
           religion could exist without the concept of God; God has always been the centre of religion. So they
           thought that these must be just moral codes. They are not. They are a totally different kind of
           religion. And India, in the days of Buddha and Mahavir, twenty-five centuries before, reached to the
           same scientific attitude as the Western world has reached now. Twenty-five centuries before, India
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           realised -- at least, those who were very, very intelligent, brilliant, alert -- they realised that the old
           God was dead. They realised that the God of prayer was dead.
                To say this was simply to say that the heart of man was dead; it was no longer functioning. So a
           new path had to be found in which heart was not a basic necessity. Buddha and Mahavir worked out
           a new sort of religion -- the religion of meditation, without any God, without any prayer, without any
           belief. Nothing is required of you except a seeking, except a searching mind, except a deep enquiry
           -- that's all.
                The world is going to be more and more 'zenist'. Zen is the ultimate flowering of the
           Buddha-mind.
                Before we enter into the world of Zen, some things are needed to be understood about the mind.
           One thing: mind functions because of your co-operation. You can stop it if you withdraw your
           co-operation. Without withdrawing your co-operation you cannot stop it. So the whole method of
           Zen is how to withdraw the co-operation. Many people try to stop the mind without withdrawing the
           co-operation -- then you will go crazy, then you will do something absurd, impossible. On one hand
           you go on pouring energy into the mind and on the other hand you go on trying to stop it.
                It is as if you are driving a car and you go on pushing the accelerator and at the same time you go
           on pushing the brake as well. You will destroy the whole mechanism; you are doing two
           contradictory things together.
                Zen is not in favour of stopping the mind directly, it is in favour of withdrawing your
           co-operation from the mind in a subtle way. As more energy is withdrawn from the mind it starts
           falling on its own accord and a moment comes when the mind simply disappears -- because it is you
           who are supporting it; it is you who are maintaining it; it is you who unknowingly, continuously,
           goes on pouring energy into it. Through your desires, through your discriminations, through your
           choices, through your likes and dislikes, you go on pouring energy into it.
                So Zen says, if you really want the mind to stop.... There is no other way for Zen to come to
           know the truth unless the mind stops. Because if the mind goes on functioning, it is a projector. Then
           the reality functions as a screen and you go on projecting your mind onto it, you go on seeing that
           which you want to see, you go on hearing what you want to hear. You never see reality as it is, you
           never see that which is, you corrupt reality. Mind is a great corruptor.
                So mind, the projector, has to be stopped. Then suddenly the reality appears as it is, because
           nothing is projected onto it. You are sitting in a movie house, you just see a white screen, and then
           the projector starts. Then the screen disappears and you see the film, a great story unfolding. You
           forget completely the screen, the whiteness, the purity of it, the virginity of it -- everything is
           forgotten. You are lost in a dream-world. Then the projector stops and suddenly you realise there has
           been nothing. The screen has been empty. It was just a game of shadows -- you were befooled, you
           were deceived.
                In India we call the world MAYA, illusion. It means: it is not that there is no truth in it, but the
           truth is hidden. The truth is hidden like a white screen in a movie house and you have projected your
           desires and your dreams on top of it and have forgotten completely what reality is.
                Zen says stop the projector, put it off, and you will be able to know what is. And to know that
           which is, is freedom; to know that which is, is to be liberated; to know that which is, is to be
           enlightened.
                So mind is the barrier. And mind is a continuous repetition. Because you have never watched it,
           you are not aware of it. Nothing new ever happens in the mind; it is always the rotten old. Nothing
           new can ever happen in the mind because it is a mechanism. The mechanism can only go on playing
           the same thing again and again -- it is like a gramophone record.
                Look at it and by and by you will be able to see the mechanicalness of it. Gurdjieff used to say
           that if a man realises that he is a mechanism then there is a possibility. If a man realises that he is
           only a machine, then there is a possibility to go beyond the machine. Then a man can become
           conscious.
                I was reading a very beautiful anecdote. There is no story in it, just an extract from a petty-cash
           ledger.
           Nov. 1 Advertisement for secretary             .50
           Nov. 2 Flowers for secretary's desk           .80
           Nov. 8 Week's salary for secretary          L30.00
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Nov. 9 Perfume for secretary            L6.00
           Nov. 11 Sweets for wife                .10
           Nov. 13 Lunch for secretary and self       L9.45
           Nov. 15 Weeks salary for secretary        L35.00
           Nov. 17 Bingo for wife and self          L1.00
           Nov. 18 Theatre for secretary and self     L6.00
           Nov. 19 Sweets for wife                .10
           Nov. 20 Doreen's salary             L40.00
           Nov. 21 Theatre and dinner for D and self L20.00
           Dec. 2 Harley Street Clinic         L150.00
           Dec. 3 Fur coat for wife           L700.00
           Dec. 4 Advertisement for male secretary       .50

               Just take note. Make a small diary of your mind and you will see circles and circles moving. To
           make a diary is good, but make it for yourself, not for somebody else to read it. Then look at it,
           watch it, and you will see -- the same pattern again and again bubbles, surfaces. This is a sheer
           wastage of life because nothing new is happening in it.
               Truth is always new and mind is always old. That's why mind and truth never meet. Mind is
           always of the past, truth is always of the present. That's why mind and truth never meet. Mind is that
           which you have already known; truth is that which is yet to be known. Mind is the known and truth
           is the unknowable or the unknown. Mind is just a record of all that has happened. Mind is not an
           adventure; truth is an adventure.
               There is an old proverb which says, 'There is nothing new under the sun.' If you think about the
           mind the proverb is true. But if you think about truth, the proverb is absolutely false. Then there is
           another proverb -- which is true -- which says, 'There is nothing old under the sun.' Everything is
           absolutely fresh and new -- like a fresh leaf coming out of the tree. Truth is always young, mind is
           always old. That's why Jesus says to his disciples, 'Unless you become like small children, you will
           not be able to enter into my Kingdom of God.'
               Mind is very cunning and clever, but not intelligent. Intelligence is a quality of awareness and
           cunningness and cleverness are just substitutes for intelligence. So mind goes on playing tricks of
           cleverness and;n that cleverness, mind itself is caught. In its own cleverness and cunningness it is
           lost. Remember this that you will not become intelligent by being clever, you will become intelligent
           by being more aware. Cleverness need not be necessarily a sign of intelligence. Even stupid people
           can be clever. Cleverness comes out of experience: you do things many times, you learn. The mind
           becomes like a computer -- each experience is fed into it and it goes on learning and accumulating
           knowledge and it goes on using that knowledge.
               Intelligence has a totally different quality: it has nothing to do with experience, it has something
           to do with awareness. Cunningness comes out of experience; intelligence comes out of awareness.
           That's why old people become very cunning... and hippies are right when they say never believe a
           person who is more than thirty. Because by that time a person becomes cunning, one has learned the
           tricks and the ways of the world.
               But a child is intelligent because a child is more alert, more radiantly alert. See a child watching
           something. If a child is watching a snail just watch the child -- how alert, how totally in the moment
           he is. It is as if he has become just the eyes; his whole being is pouring through the eyes. A child is
           intelligent, an old man becomes cunning and clever. A child has no experience so he cannot use the
           past. He has to face the present.
               And the whole Zen attitude is that you will have to become a child again; you will have to attain
           a second childhood in which you drop all experiences. Mind is nothing but a name for the whole
           accumulated past. Mind is not an entity really, just a piled-up past. If you disperse it, if the dust of
           the past is cleaned away from the mirror of your being, you will become intelligent. And only
           intelligence can know what truth is.
               After a lecture a student said to Hegel, 'Professor Hegel, I am confused by your teaching because
           reality looks quite different.'
               Hegel said, 'My dear friend, all the worse for reality.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Zen is not a philosophy because philosophy means some doctrine about reality. Zen is a pure
           encounter with reality. It has no doctrine, it has no philosophy, it has no scriptures. It is just a direct
           encounter with reality. All scriptures belong to the mind, all philosophies belong to the mind and all
           doctrines are the cleverness of the mind. The mind goes on consoling itself through creating
           philosophies that it knows.
               It is very difficult to remain in ignorance because it is very ego-shattering. So the mind creates
           philosophies and gives you an illusion of knowledge.
               Zen is a way of knowing. It has no knowledge. It is just a methodology to know, to face, to
           encounter -- immediate, herenow, direct. It is a direct transmission.

               Clemenceau, the French statesman, was asked by a diplomat what he thought about diplomats.
               Clemenceau said, 'Diplomats are people who solve problems that have been created by other
           diplomats.'

                That's what philosophers also do and that's what the whole function of the mind is. Mind creates
           the problem and then mind tries to solve it.
                Zen completely drops out of this whole game. It is not a mind game. Zen says there are no
           problems to be solved and there are no solutions to be made, because there are no problems in the
           first place. Zen says there has never been a problem in existence. It is the tricky mind which first
           creates a problem -- and of course, when you have a problem, you have to solve it. So it creates a
           solution. The problem is false, so how can you find a true solution for a false problem? The solution
           is also false. Then the solution creates ten more problems -- and so on and so forth it goes.
           Philosophies upon philosophies are created and they are all empty, all gibberish, all scrap. Zen is
           absolutely against philosophising because Zen is against mind.

           Now this Zen story.

              THE MASTER FUGAI WAS CONSIDERED VERY WISE AND GENEROUS, YET HE WAS MOST
              SEVERE -- BOTH WITH HIMSELF AND HIS DISCIPLES.


                Zen is severe. It is a very arduous path. It is not a game to play with, it is playing with fire. You
           will never be the same again once you enter into the world of Zen. You will be totally transformed,
           so much so that you will not be able to recognise yourself. The person who enters into the world of
           Zen and the person who comes out are two totally different entities. There is no continuity, you
           become discontinuous with your past. All continuity is of the mind; all identity is of the mind; all
           name, all form, is of the mind. When the mind is dropped you suddenly become discontinuous with
           the past -- not only with the past, you become unconnected with time.
                And that is the whole secret of Zen: to become unconnected with time. Then you become
           connected with eternity. And eternity is here-now; eternity knows no past and no future; eternity is
           pure present. Time knows no present -- time is past and future. Ordinarily we think that time is
           divided into three categories: past, present and future. That is absolutely wrong. Time is divided only
           into two categories: past and future. The present is not part of time at all. Just watch, just see. When
           is the present? The moment you recognise that this is the present, it is already past. The moment you
           say, 'Yes, this is the present,' it is already gone, it is past. Or if you say, 'This is going to be the
           present,' it is still future. You cannot recognise present, you cannot finger present, you cannot
           indicate present. In the world of time there is no present.
                When you look at the clock it is already moving, not for a single moment has it stopped. When
           you were watching it, then too it was moving. That's what Heraclitus means when he says, 'You
           cannot step twice in the same river.' The river is flowing. The past is there, the future is there, and
           the future is continuously being converted into the past. Not for a single moment is there present, not
           for a single moment does the clock stop, not for a single moment does the river stop. Heraclitus is
           right. You cannot step twice in the same river. One of his disciples said to him, 'Master, I tried, you
           are right. But one thing more I would like to add -- you cannot step even once in a river.' That's
           exactly how it is. When you touch the river, when your foot touches the river, the river is flowing.
           When you penetrate one inch into the river, the river is flowing. When you penetrate two inches into
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the river, the river is flowing. By the time you reach the bottom the river has flowed so much that
           you cannot say you stepped even ONCE in the same river.
               In time there is no present; present is not part of time. Present is part of eternity. Present means
           now and now knows no past and no future.
               Once you are discontinuous with mind, you are discontinuous with time. And time and space are
           together.
               In this century Einstein discovered that time and space are not two separate things; they are one
           thing, or two aspects of the one thing. So he called the whole thing 'spatio-time' to emphasise the fact
           that time is nothing but the fourth dimension of space. If time disappears, space also disappears.
               So a man who has gone beyond his mind is beyond time and space. He is, but you cannot say
           where he is; he is, but you cannot say when he is. When and where all dissolve. He simply is,
           without any definition of where and when. This is what Buddha called enlightenment. This is
           freedom, absolute freedom. Nothing confines you.
               But the path is very severe. It has to be so because it is a sort of ultimate suicide. You commit
           suicide. You commit a mind suicide. You drop out of the mind, you drop out of time, you drop out of
           space. The world that you have known up to now disappears and something totally new, something
           indefinable, arises in your consciousness.

              THE MASTER FUGAI WAS CONSIDERED VERY WISE AND GENEROUS, YET HE WAS MOST
              SEVERE...


               A Zen Master has to be severe because he is trying to kill you.
               Just a few days before, a sannyasin came and I asked her how long she was going to stay here.
           She said three months. So I said, 'Okay, that will be enough to kill you.' She said, 'What!?' But now
           she has understood the point -- getting ready to die.

              ... BOTH WITH HIMSELF AND HIS DISCIPLES. HE WENT TO THE MOUNTAINS TO SIT IN ZEN.


               Zen simply means sitting. In Japanese they have the full word, 'zazen'. It means sitting silently,
           doing nothing.
               All doing is of the mind. Whenever you do, the mind comes into being. Whenever you want to
           do something, the mind immediately starts planning. With even the idea of doing you start pouring
           energy into the mind.
               Zen is a simple sitting. Not doing anything, not even meditating... because to meditate, from the
           back door the doing again comes in. Zen simply says, sit and don't do anything. Don't think in terms
           of doing, think in terms of being. Just be. So for years a seeker of Zen simply sits. It is the hardest
           thing in the world to do and I can feel you will understand it. It is the hardest thing in the world to do
           -- just to sit. You would like something to do because that something keeps you preoccupied, and
           you go on feeling that you are doing something, that you are somebody. And at least it never gives
           you any opportunity to face yourself. Your doing is an escape from yourself, so that you never come
           face to face, so that you never encounter your own being. You go on avoiding.
               So people go on doing a thousand and one things, many of them absolutely unnecessary. Not
           only are they unnecessary, many of them simply create trouble for them. Just think about yourself.
           What have you done? You have created a hell around you but still you go on doing.
               People come to me and they ask, 'What should we meditate upon? What mantra should we
           chant?' And if I say, 'Nothing, you simply sit. You just face the wall and sit silently and let time pass
           and don't do anything. Things will settle on their own accord. You simply sit. Because if you come
           in and interfere you will muddle things more. You please just sit on the bank. Let the river flow -- '
           they say, 'But how can one sit without doing anything? At least give us a mantra so we can repeat it
           inside. If there is no activity outside, then let us have some activity inside.'
               That's why in America, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has certain appeal. The transcendental
           meditation is nothing but the transfer of activity from the outside to the inside. And the American
           mind is almost neurotic. Something has to be done. If you are not doing something you are wasting
           time. Do something! What it is is not the point, but do something. Speech and activity and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aggressiveness -- do something, go on doing something, go on moving, fast, fast.
               Now, if you simply say, 'Don't do anything, sit silently,' it looks almost impossible. How can one
           sit silently?'Give us some inner activity.' So a mantra is given. So you repeat inside, 'Aum, aum,
           aum; Ram, Ram, Ram,' -- anything will do. Any abracadabra. You can make your own mantra. You
           are foolish to go and ask somebody else for a mantra, you can create your own:'Blah, blah, blah!'
           That will give you the same silence and tranquillity as any transcendental meditation. Just an inner
           activity and you feel good.
               Zen has no mantra. Zen is not transcendental meditation. It is the most arduous thing man has
           ever tried...not to do anything, zazen, just sitting.
               It is unbelievable that sometimes a Zen seeker has sat for twenty years not doing anything -- then
           came the light. Everything became so silent in him, not even a flicker of energy, no occupation,
           nothing. He was almost dead because all activities disappeared. Then one comes face to face with
           being, then you come to know who you are.
               Mind is activity. And if one has to drop mind, one has to drop activity.

              HE WENT TO THE MOUNTAINS TO SIT IN ZEN. HE LIVED IN A CAVE, AND WHEN HE WAS
              HUNGRY HE WENT TO THE VILLAGE FOR SCRAPS.


               Only for a few scraps would he come down to the village, otherwise he was sitting in his cave
           doing nothing.
               That which you are seeking is already within you. But you are too much occupied with other
           things so you cannot fall into it. When all activity is lost, all clinging disappears. You cannot cling to
           anything, you simply go on falling in and in and in. Your troubles arise because you hanker for
           activity. Have you ever heard about anybody who was troubled by the 'in'? The 'in' has never
           troubled anybody. That 'in', the inner, that very core of your being, is available to you right now, but
           you are not available to it. You are standing with your back towards it.
               Activity is SANSAR, activity is the world; and when Zen people say leave the world, they don't
           mean leave the house, leave the market, they mean leave the attachment to activity. Even if you have
           to do something, do it very passively. If you are walking on the street, walk, but walk very passively.
           Inside, zazen continues; inside, you remain sitting, only outside you move. If you are eating, eat, but
           inside you remain sitting. By and by that inner posture is attained -- when one can do things and yet
           be without activity. Taoists call it WU WEI, action without action. Once you know how to sit inside,
           then you can do things, then it will not be a disturbance. But first one has to come to roots, to a deep
           grounding, to a centering.

              ONE DAY A MONK CALLED BUNDO, ATTRACTED BY FUGAI'S AUSTERITIES, CALLED AT THE
              CAVE AND ASKED TO STAY THE NIGHT.



              THE MASTER SEEMED HAPPY TO PUT HIM UP, AND NEXT MORNING PREPARED RICE GRUEL
              FOR HIM. NOT HAVING AN EXTRA BOWL HE WENT OUT AND RETURNED WITH A SKULL HE
              FOUND LYING NEAR A TOMB. HE FILLED IT WITH GRUEL AND OFFERED IT TO BUNDO.



              THE GUEST REFUSED TO TOUCH IT, AND STARED AT FUGAI AS IF HE HAD GONE MAD.


               You can go mad in two ways. One is a wrong way, another is a right way. You can go mad if you
           are completely lost in your mind. Then you are uprooted from your being. And you may not appear
           mad to others but you will be mad. You may not appear mad to others because others are also mad
           like you. This earth is a great madhouse. Normally everybody is mad; in fact, not to be mad is almost
           an abnormality. People differ in degrees but all are mad. And when psychiatrists help you to be
           normal they simply bring you back to the level of the social madness, they bring you to the level
           which is allowed legally. You were going a little beyond the social limit so they pull you back.
           That's what they call readjustment.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But a man can become mad in another way, in a right way. One can fall out of the mind into the
           inner silence, into the inner thoughtlessness, inner emptiness. Then he will immediately appear mad
           to us. If you look into the eyes of a man who has attained to zazen you will be frightened. His eyes
           will be like an abyss, bottomless; you will avoid his eyes. His eyes will be empty. He will look to
           you and yet he will not be looking at you. His eyes will be vacant, and you will feel that he has gone
           mad. In a way he has gone beyond the mind, and to go beyond the mind is to go mad.
               So all great people like Jesus or Buddha or Mansoor, they all appeared mad to their
           contemporaries. When Jesus was crucified he was crucified as a neurotic who was creating trouble,
           who had gone out of his mind. He was crucified as one of the most dangerous criminals. When
           Socrates was poisoned, he was poisoned because he was mad in a certain way. He was leading other
           people to madness.
               Society has always been afraid of people who attain to zazen because their appeal is great but
           their behaviour is incomprehensible. Their behaviour has to be incomprehensible because they
           function from a totally different centre than yours.
               For a man of zazen there is no difference between a skull or a bowl. A skull is made of earth as a
           bowl is made of earth. All skulls by and by will dissolve into earth again and then you can make a
           bowl of the earth and you will not be bothered. But if a skull is brought to you it will be impossible
           to touch even; to drink, to eat out of it will be nauseating, vomiting. Impossible.
               But for a man of zazen the inside has happened -- all is the same. It is the same reality in
           different forms. Out of the same gold you can make one sort of ornament or another sort of
           ornament, it makes no difference. It is the same reality which becomes the skull, it is the same reality
           which becomes the bowl. So what is the difference?
               A man who has been deep inside himself knows that the whole reality consists of one elemental
           force, it is one energy even if it takes different forms.
               And the man could not touch the skull, could not believe that somebody could offer it as a bowl
           to eat out of. What was he thinking? His mind was weaving, spinning, 'This is a skull of man.' The
           idea, the very idea, was nauseating. He thought that this man Fugai had gone mad.

              AT THIS FUGAI BECAME FURIOUS AND DROVE HIM OUT OF THE CAVE WITH BLOWS.'FOOL!'
              HE SHOUTED AFTER HIM, 'HOW CAN YOU, WITH YOUR WORLDLY NOTIONS OF FILTH AND
              PURITY, THINK YOURSELF A BUDDHIST?'


               All notions are of the mind. To say that this is beautiful and this is ugly is of the mind. In fact,
           nothing is beautiful and nothing is ugly. If the mind disappears, then what will be beautiful and what
           will be ugly? Likes and dislikes all belong to the mind.
               You just think of the world. Man has disappeared, the third world war has happened and man has
           disappeared. The earth will remain the same. The flowers will flower, but will they be beautiful?
           They will be simply themselves, not beautiful, not ugly. Everything will be itself but there will be no
           evaluation about it because the valuer has disappeared.
               The mind of a man who attains to zazen has disappeared. He is no more a man, because all his
           conceptions, values, attitudes, prejudices, have disappeared. Now he looks without any prejudices,
           without for and against. He simply looks. His eyes are empty because he has nothing to project. Then
           things appear in a totally different way.
               But to ordinary human beings he will look almost mad because madness simply means one who
           is out of his mind. In fact, he is out of his mind -- but he has moved into his being.
               So there are two types of madnesses: you can be out of your mind and not in your being, then
           you are unhealthy; you can be out of your mind and in your being, then you attain to real health. You
           become whole, you become holy.
              'FOOL!' HE SHOUTED AFTER HIM, 'HOW CAN YOU, WITH YOUR WORLDLY NOTIONS OF FILTH
              AND PURITY, THINK YOURSELF A BUDDHIST?'


              Discrimination is of the mind; non-discrimination is of the no-mind.
              Fugai was trying to create a situation for this poor man. The man missed. Fugai was creating a
           device so that this man could be awakened. He was shaking him hard to pull him out of his dreams
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of likes and dislikes, purity and filth, beauty and ugliness, good and bad. The whole effort was to
           shatter his mind because the whole of Buddhism consists only of that -- how to shatter the mind.
               It is said of a Zen Master, who, in his younger days, was a disciple of another Master, that he had
           been working hard at his meditation for months together. The one day the Master came, sat in front
           of him with a brick and started rubbing the brick on the stone. The sound was there and it was
           distracting and disturbing to the young disciple.
               Finally, irritated, the young man asked, 'What are you doing?'
           The Master said, 'I am trying to make a mirror.'
               The disciple said, 'Have you gone mad?' Just by polishing a brick a mirror cannot be made, you
           may polish it for your whole life. Mirrors are not made that way.'
               And the Master said, 'Then I have nothing to say to you. You are trying to polish your mind.
           Mirrors are not made that way either. I throw this brick -- see -- you do the same.'
               Drop the mind. It is not a question of polishing the mind, modifying the mind, making it more
           and more clear. It is not a question of changing the mind, it is a question of dropping it utterly.
               Buddhism is an effort to drop the mind totally. But how to drop the mind? If you continue in
           thinking -- likes and dislikes, prejudices, this is good, this is bad -- then you cannot drop the mind
           because it is the mind which distinguishes, discriminates, it is the mind which divides, categorises.
           All categories are of the mind. That's why Buddhists don't say that God is good and Devil is bad,
           because for a Buddhist God and Devil are both of the mind -- good and bad. That's why Buddhists
           don't say choose heaven and avoid hell because they say both are of the mind -- hell and heaven.
           Drop the whole mind. And by the dropping of the mind, all distinctions are dropped and you are in a
           deep, undiscriminated reality.
               That is what truth is. It is not God, it is not Devil; it is not light, it is not darkness -- it is beyond
           both.

               SOME MONTHS LATER THE MASTER TETSGYU VISITED HIM AND TOLD HIM THAT HE
               THOUGHT IT A GREAT PITY THAT HE HAD FORSAKEN THE WORLD. FUGAI LAUGHED AND
               SAID: 'OH, IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO FORSAKE THE WORLD AND BECOME A BONZAI, THE
               DIFFICULT THING IS THEN TO BECOME A TRUE BUDDHIST.'


               It is very easy to forsake the world, it is very easy to renounce. Any coward can do that. It is easy
           to escape from the world, but escape is not a transformation. It is very easy to sit outwardly like a
           bonzai -- you can become a statue, still not moving at all -- but the real problem is to drop the
           movement of the mind, the inner working of the mind. You can sit silently from the outside but if the
           inside turmoil continues then you are not a Buddhist.
               A Buddhist means one who has become a Buddha, one who has attained to enlightenment. And
           that happens only when inner movements have ceased, when thinking has stopped, when the mind is
           no more the master. When the mind no longer manipulates you, when the mind no longer controls
           you, when the mind is just a mechanism -- if you need, you use it, otherwise you put it aside -- you
           are free of the mind, you have attained your own masterhood.
               It is easy to change from the outside, the real change has to happen inside. Remember that. Use
           the outside to help the inside to change, but never believe that the outside change is all. Sit silently,
           because the sitting posture will help. When the body sits completely immobile it helps the mind to
           relax, because body and mind are not two separate things -- they are one. You are not body and
           mind, you are bodymind. You are psychosomatic, so everything that happens in the body has subtle
           vibrations in the mind; and anything that happens in the mind reaches to the body.
               That's how if you take alcohol, the mind becomes drunk. The alcohol goes into the body but it
           affects the mind. If you take LSD or marijuana or some other drug, it affects the mind. You take it
           into the body, you inject it into the body, and it reaches to the mind. Or, if you train your mind,
           discipline your mind, that reaches to your body also. If your mind is happy, if you have trained it....
               For example, there are positive philosophies to train the mind, like Emile Coue's philosophy: go
           on auto-hypnotising yourself, suggesting to yourself, 'I am getting.better and better and every day I
           am becoming more and more compassionate, kind, loving.' If you go on repeating this again and
           again, the subtle idea will settle in the mind, it will affect your body. That's how many diseases can
           be cured by hypnosis -- because in the first place they may be just your suggestions and not real
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           diseases. Out of a hundred diseases almost seventy-five are just pure mental things, but they affect
           the body. If the mind takes them in, if the mind is affected, then sooner or later the body follows.
           Both mind and body are one, so whatsoever affects one affects the other also. They are parallel,
           running together. A deep subtle balance is kept between the two.
               So I am not saying don't use the outside -- you have to use it, but don't think that that is all. Use
           the outside to change the inside. Then you will not just become a bonzai, then you will not be just a
           statue, you will become a real Buddha.

              It happened that a Zen seeker came to a Master and asked him,
              'I have come from a very long distance, I have travelled thousands of miles to come to your feet.'
           The Master asked, 'For what? What do you want?'
           The man said, 'I would like to become a Buddha.'
              The Master said, 'Get out from here! Already we have too many Buddhas here.'
              The Master used to live in a temple which is called 'the Temple of One Thousand and One
           Buddhas'. There were one thousand and one statues of Buddha.
              So he said, 'Get out of it! Immediately out of it. We are tired. We already have one thousand and
           one Buddhas here, we don't need anyone else. But if you want to become yourself, you can come in.'

                Remember, Zen is not an imitation. No Zen Master can ever think of writing a book like Thomas
           Campus' book 'imitation of Christ'. Impossible. The very title will be laughed at.
                The real religion is not imitation of anybody else, it is a search to find out your own authentic
           self, who you are. So just outer discipline will not help; outer discipline can be used as a means, but
           it is not the goal.
                So remember that the basic thing has to happen inside you.
              'OH, IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO FORSAKE THE WORLD AND BECOME A BONZAI, THE DIFFICULT
              THING IS THEN TO BECOME A TRUE BUDDHIST.'


               The difficult thing is always to become a true Christian, a true Mohammedan, a true Hindu, a
           true Buddhist, a true Sikkha, because the difficult thing is to become true.
               Man is a deceiver. He goes on deceiving himself. And it is much easier to become someone, to
           pretend to be someone; it is much easier to act like someone, than to be. To be is arduous. You will
           have to pass through many fires; you will have to pass through many deaths and rebirths; you will
           have to move through a great revolution, a total mutation. It is difficult. It is very easy to pretend, it
           is very easy to be pseudo. The whole world is full of pesudo-religious people. They go to the church,
           they go to the mosque, they pray, they pretend to meditate, but one is simply surprised. Whom are
           they deceiving? They are deceiving themselves and nobody else.
               This should be remembered because you are on the path, you are here as seekers. The greatest
           pitfall for a seeker is to become a victim of self-deception; it is cheap and it looks like a short-cut.
           Never pretend. Once pretension settles in, you have taken a wrong move and it will be very difficult
           for you to attain to any reality. And you will have to go back one day or other because unless you
           drop that pretension you will never grow.
               For example. If you are at the age of twenty-five and you pretend and you go on pretending up to
           the age of fifty, and then you realise that a certain pretension happened at the age of twenty-five, you
           will have to go back and undo it. You will have to relive those twenty-five years again. You will
           create an unnecessary complexity and life is already too complex. Unless you go and drop that layer
           of pretension at the age of twenty-five, all your house will be on a wrong base.
               That's what the meaning of Primal Therapy is: you have to go back, regress. Wherever something
           has gone wrong, you have to re-traverse the path, move to that point, undo that knot and move again.
               So don't create any unnecessary complexity. You are here with me -- remember one thing: not to
           pretend. Because you will not be deceiving anybody, you will only be deceiving yourself.
               Don't become a bonzai. Truth has to be earned. It is not cheap and there is no short-cut to it.

              I was reading a story about a famous Hassid rabbi. He used to tell this story to his disciples.
              There was once a man who was very stupid. When he got up in the morning it was so hard for
           him to find his clothes that at night he almost hesitated to go to bed for thinking of the trouble he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would have on waking.
               One evening he finally made a great effort, took paper and pencil, and as he undressed, noted
           down exactly where he put everything he had on. The next morning, very well pleased with himself,
           he took the slip of paper and read:'Cap' -- there it was. He set it on his head.'Pants' -- there they lay.
               He got into them. And so it went until he was fully dressed.
               'That's all very well, but now where am I myself?' he asked with consternation.'Where in the
           world am I?'
               He looked and looked but it was a vain search. He could not find himself.
           'And that is how it is with us, ' said the rabbi to his disciples.

               Remember, you may dress like a SANNYASIN, you may be in the ochre robe, but that doesn't
           make much difference unless you know where you are, unless you know who you are. You may be
           well -- dressed like a SANNYASIN but that is not going to help much. So don't believe in cheap
           things. It is a great help in a way it is a gesture that you have become SANNYASINS, it is a gesture
           that you are ready to come to yourself, it is a great gesture that you are ready to go into the unknown,
           into the unfamiliar, it is going to make great difference -- but don't take it as the whole. It is just the
           beginning of the journey, not the end.
               One great poet, Robert Frost, used to say, 'TWO ROADS DIVERGED IN A WOOD AND I, I
           TOOK THE ONE LESS TRAVELLED BY AND THAT HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
               You have chosen with me a path not ordinarily travelled by people, not travelled by the majority,
           by the crowd, by the mass. It is going to make a great difference, but it is just a beginning. Never for
           a single moment forget it that this is just a beginning. And the end is very far and much effort, much
           discipline, much inner transformation will be needed. And nobody else can do it for you. You have
           to be born for yourself, nobody else can be born for you. You have to live for yourself, nobody else
           can live in your place. And you have to love and you have to die, nobody else can do it for you. Life
           is intrinsically individual. All that is meaningful, all that is significant, has to be done by you. That
           which can be done by servants is irrelevant; that which can be done by the priest is irrelevant. This
           transformation you have to bring to yourself. It is going to be arduous, but take it as a challenge. It is
           good that the path is arduous otherwise where are we going to prove our soul? Where are we going
           to prove our crystallised soul?
               This challenge is a blessing. But never try to pretend.




                                             Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Chapter #2
                                           Chapter title: Magicless Magic
           12 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606120
              ShortTitle: DANG02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              The first question:


              YESTERDAY WHILE SITTING IN ZAZEN I FELT MYSELF GET HIT WITH A STICK ON MY HEAD.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BUT PRADEEPA THAT TIME HAD NOT HIT ME. ALSO TODAY DURING THE LECTURE I GOT HIT
              TWICE ON THE HEAD BUT NO STICK-HITTER WAS AROUND. IS THIS MAGICLESS MAGIC?


                It is sheer imagination, and on the path of meditation imagination is the greatest pitfall. Be aware
           of it. You can imagine so deeply and you can believe in your imagination so intensely that it can
           appear more real than the real.
                Imagination is a great force. On the path of meditation, imagination is a barrier; on the path of
           love, imagination is a help. On the path of love, imagination is used as a device: you are told to
           imagine as intensely and passionately as possible. But on the path of meditation the same thing
           becomes a barrier.
                Imagination simply means that you visualise a certain thing but you put so much energy into it
           that it almost becomes real. Every night we all dream. While dreaming, every dream looks real. To
           come to know in a dream that this is a dream will be the end of it; then you will find yourself awake.
           The dream can continue only if you believe that it is real. And even people who are very skeptical,
           doubting, of the scientific attitude, even they go on believing in the night, they go on believing in
           their dreams.
                Every morning you find that it was just imagination but again every night you become a victim
           to it. And again when the dream unfolds you start believing it. On the path of meditation that hold of
           the dream faculty has to be loosened. Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples. 'Unless you can
           remember in a dream that it is a dream, you will never awake.' This whole world is a dream -- a
           dream is a private world, the world is a common dream. If you cannot awake while dreaming, it will
           be impossible to awake while you are awake, because now the dream is very big, and it is not only
           your energy that is creating the dream, it is the energy of all. It will be difficult. If you cannot come
           to see that something in your dream is false, when you alone are to decide and nobody else can
           interfere.... It is nobody else's business. You cannot invite anybody else into your dream because it is
           so private.

                It happened that two patients of a psychoanalyst tried to play a trick on the analyst. It was the
           first of April and perfectly appropriate.
                They decided that the next day they would come, separately, and they would relate the same
           dream -- they decided on the details of the dream -- to the psychiatrist and watch how he feels. It is
           impossible to dream the same dream together, two persons have never dreamed one dream together,
           so they wanted to shock him.
                The first related his dream. When he left the second came and he related his dream. And he
           waited for some hint that the psychiatrist was shocked or surprised, but he was not surprised at all.
           He simply listened as if there was nothing out of common, as if it was just usual, as if it were an
           everyday affair.
           The man asked, 'Are you not surprised?'
                The psychiatrist said, 'This is the third time I have heard this dream.'
                The man said, 'Third time? Who is the third person?'
                He was shocked because only two persons knew about the dream. Who was this third person?
                The psychiatrist laughed. He said, 'You cannot play a trick like that on me, because no two
           persons can dream the same dream. It is impossible.'

                It does not happen that way because a dream is an absolutely private world. You cannot invite
           anybody else into your dream, you cannot ask anybody else's opinion about your dream -- whether it
           is true or untrue. It depends absolutely on you. And if you cannot even awake in this, how will it be
           possible for you to awake in the great MAYA, the great illusion that the world is?
                So Gurdjieff used to say that the first effort is to awake in a dream and see the dream as a dream.
           He had a few techniques for how to awake in a dream. He would teach his disciples that every night,
           when they went to sleep, they should go on repeating as deeply as possible, as passionately as
           possible, 'This time when I start dreaming in the night I will raise my hand and touch my head. And
           immediately when I touch my head the remembrance will happen to me that this is a dream.' For
           months together the disciple would think, auto-suggest. Every night falling into sleep they would
           repeat it again and again with deep passion, so that it entered into the very unconscious layers of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind.
                When it enters deeper than the dream then one day it happens; while dreaming, automatically the
           hand goes to the head and suddenly he remembers that this is a dream. But the moment he
           remembers that it is a dream, the dream simply withers away, fades out. He is awake while asleep,
           and the dream has left him.
                If it happens that you awake in a dream, in the morning the whole world has changed. It is no
           more the same world because your eyes are clear, you have attained to a certain clarity of perception.
           Now dreams cannot deceive you, now you see things as they are. You don't project.
                Beware of imagination. You would like me to tell you that yes it was me. You will feel very
           much fulfilled if it was me hitting your head. People like to believe in miracles; hence miracles
           happen because people like to believe. People feel happy believing in their dreams; they go on
           giving energy to their dreams. That's how you have lived for many, many lives in a dream world.
                I am not going to cooperate with you in any way. It was sheer imagination, you imagined it. Now
           you want my help also.
           I have heard.
                The rabbi of Chelm was distracted by children as he was preparing a sermon. He hollered out the
           window to chase them away, 'Hurry down to the river where a terrible monster is in the water. He is
           breathing fire, and is an ugly dragon.'
                The children ran to see what was going on. People followed them, the crowd grew.
                As the rabbi saw the mob running, he asked, 'Where is everyone going?'
                'Down to the river where there is a monster breathing fire. It is an ugly green dragon.'
                The rabbi joined the race.'True, I did make it up, ' he thought as he panted.'Still, you never can
           tell.'

               You may be creating something but if others start believing it you will start believing it. This is
           your imagination. If I say, 'Yes, it was true,' then you will suddenly believe in it, and you will think
           that you have believed in me. You have simply taken my support for your own dream.
               Mind is a great liar, it goes on lying to you. Beware of the tricks of the mind.

               A little girl was always lying. She was given a St. Bernard dog, and this little girl went out and
           told all the neighbors that she had been given a lion.
               The mother called her and said, 'I told you not to lie. You go upstairs and tell God you are sorry.
           Promise God you will never lie again.'
               She went upstairs and said her prayers and then came down.
           Her mother said, 'Did you tell God you are sorry?'
               The little girl said, 'Yes, I did and God said that sometimes he finds it hard to tell my dog form a
           lion too.'

                That's how it goes on. But I am not going to help you in any way, because any hint of help will
           be destructive for you. On the path of meditation, on the path of Zen, all imagination has to be
           avoided. You have to be indifferent about it.
                And the more you enter into meditation, the more and more imagination will try to distract you.
           It is not a new phenomenon, it has always happened. All the great meditators have come across it.
           Buddha is distracted by Mara, the god of devils. Jesus is distracted by the devil. Sufi mystics are
           distracted by Satan. There is no Satan, no Mara, no devil -- the real devil is in your mind, the
           imagination.
                There are stories of Hindu seers that when they reach to the final step of their meditation they are
           distracted by Indra. He sends beautiful maidens, APSARAS, to distract them. But why should
           anybody distract these poor saints? Why? They are not doing anybody any harm. They have left the
           world, they are sitting under their trees or in their caves in the Himalayas, why send beautiful
           maidens to them?
                Nobody is sending anybody. There is no agency like that. Imagination is playing the last tricks,
           and when your meditation goes deep, deeper layers of imagination are provoked. Ordinarily, when
           meditation is not there, you live on the surface of the mind. Of course, your imagination is also
           superficial then. The deeper you move in meditation, the more the deeper layers of imagination will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be revealed to you, they will be more real. They will be so real that you cannot even think that they
           can be imagination.
                Now you can even bring proofs that they are not imagination. For example, this SANNYASIN
           who has been hit twice, he can even show his head and you can find the marks. Now, he will say,
           'How can it be imagination? Nobody has hit me -- and these marks are here?' Then you ask people
           who know about hypnosis. In deep hypnosis, the hypnotist suggests that he is putting fire in your
           hand, and he puts nothing -- but the hand gets burnt. Now what happened? It was just that the
           imagination worked so tremendously. The body is also under control of imagination. So if you think
           yourself beautiful you will become beautiful. If you think yourself ugly you will become ugly. Your
           imagination will give a mould to your body.
                That's how there are fire-walkers. If your imagination takes it deeply that you are not going to be
           burnt and God is protecting you, you will not be burnt. You can pass through a pit full of burning
           coals without being burnt. But even if a slight suspicion arises in your mind, then immediately you
           will be burnt. Because that slight suspicion is a loophole in your imagination. Then you are no longer
           protected by the seal of your own imagination.
                So the deeper you go in meditation, the deeper will be the games of imagination. Sometimes it
           will come as APSARAS, beautiful maidens, dancing, provoking, seducing you. Sometimes it will
           come as tremendous fire-monsters throwing fire from their mouths. Or, anything that you can
           imagine will surround you. And if you get caught into it, if for a single moment you forget that this is
           imagination, then the imagination has destroyed your penetration into meditation. You are thrown
           back to the surface again. Then you will have to seek the path again. So if you are sitting in zazen, as
           the SANNYASIN has said, then remember it.
                But this is a good indication. That you could imagine so deeply shows that meditation is going
           deep. The deeper the meditation, the deeper will be the imagination. Only at the last point does
           meditation take over. Until the last, the struggle continues between imagination and meditation. And
           sometimes the imagination is so beautiful.... This is not such a beautiful imagination, you have been
           hit twice! Still you want to believe in it, because just to think that miracles have started to happen to
           you, just to think that your Master is working hard on you, just to think that he goes on making you
           aware and hits on your head when you were falling asleep, is very ego fulfilling.
                There are many beautiful imaginations -- they will come. Flowers will shower on you and you
           can almost smell them. It is possible that you can imagine very deeply that roses are falling on you
           and you can smell them. That's okay -- but somebody else passing by your side may be able to smell
           your roses! Then it becomes tremendously powerful.
                It means your imagination is not only passive, it has become active. You are creating a certain
           smell inside your body by your imagination. Your body has all that the earth has. The earth creates
           the rose. If the rosebush is not there you cannot smell roses in the earth, there is no smell. But if you
           put a rosebush there, one day suddenly it flowers and the smell is there. The earth was containing the
           smell and the rosebush helped the smell to come to an expression. Your body is earth, it contains all
           that is contained by earth. If your imagination is tremendous, not only you will smell, others also can
           smell the rose. But still it is imagination. Your imagination functioned just like a rosebush; it helped
           to express something that was hidden within you.
                Man is earth. The word human comes from 'humus'. Humus means the earth. The Hebrew word
           'adam' comes from a Hebrew root which means the earth. We are made of earth, we are miniature
           earths. We carry all that is hidden in the earth, that is our potentiality also. Once you help through
           imagination your potential starts becoming actual.
                But on the path of meditation even beautiful experiences like these are to be avoided. Because
           once you get into them you are getting into the mind, and the whole effort is how to drop the mind,
           how to get rid of the mind. Once the mind is not there then you are completely separate from the
           body -- mind is the bridge, mind connects you with the body. Mind dropped, there is the body, the
           earth, and there is you, the sky -- totally separate realities. Then you have become a witness.
                So if next time it happens -- this magicless magic -- to you, and you feel a hit on the head, don't
           be concerned by the hit, simply remain aware. Just watch. Whether it is true or untrue is irrelevant,
           remain a witness. Simply remain a watcher, don't get involved in it in any way and soon it will
           disappear. And once you have learned the technique of how to drop the games of imagination it is
           going to be tremendously beneficial to you. Because the more you go into meditation, the more and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more imagination will be coming. Stronger and stronger waves of imagination will pass through
           your being, and you will have to be aware and alert.
               If it is difficult for you, impossible for you, then the path of meditation is not for you. Then the
           path of love, then the path of BHAKTI and devotion, where imagination is not avoided but used, is
           for you. Then you forget all about zazen, that path is not for you. Then you forget all about Buddha,
           Mahavira, that path is not for you. Then you move into the world of Meera, Chaitanya, Mohammed.
           Then you move into the world of devotion.
               Remember, one thing can be a help on one path, and the same thing can be a hindrance on
           another path. For example, there are rails, the train runs on them, they are a help, without rails the
           train will not run. But if you start moving a car on those rails you will be in difficulty. They are a
           help for trains but they cannot be a help for cars. Cars need a more free way, more freedom. So
           remember always, a thing which is a hindrance on one path need not be a hindrance on another path.
               But if you choose zazen.... I think the SANNYASIN who has asked this question will be
           tremendously benefited on the path of zazen because such imagination that he could believe it to be
           true simply shows that his sitting is helping. He is relaxing into deeper layers of consciousness.

           The second question:


              WHILE PRACTICING ZAZEN, JUST SITTING, I DISCOVERED THAT I HAD BECOME THE
              GREATEST FOOL ON EARTH. BUT SUDDENLY I REMEMBERED ONE PROVERB: WHEN
              IGNORANCE IS BLISS, IT IS FOLLY TO BE WISE. THOUGH THIS STUPIDITY HAS MADE ME A
              FOOL, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO FULL AS I AM NOW. I HAVE NOW FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THIS
              ZAZEN STUPIDITY. I INVOKE YOUR BLESSINGS SO THAT I REMAIN A FOOL TILL ETERNITY.


                Yes, there is a foolishness which is wisdom, there is a foolishness which is enlightened. There is
           a foolishness of the wise. Why call it foolishness? It is foolish in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of
           the worldly because it belongs to a different realm. It is not of the world of calculation, cleverness. It
           is innocent.
                Jesus looked like a fool. Lao Tzu also looked like a fool. In India for the fool we have a term,
           BUDDHU -- it comes from Buddha. Buddha must have looked like a fool, tremendously like a fool,
           hence the term BUDDHU. We call a man BUDDHU if we want to call him an idiot. BUDDHU
           means buddha-like.
                Buddha must have looked like a fool when he renounced his empire. He was going to be the king
           and he became a beggar. Can you find more foolish a person? He had the most beautiful women
           around him and he escaped from the palace. What foolishness! When Buddha escaped, renounced,
           he didn't stay in his father's kingdom because the spies of his father would have followed him and
           they would have caught hold of him again. He immediately left the kingdom, went outside, and
           entered into another kingdom.
                But the king was a friend of his father. So when the king came to know he came to see Buddha
           and he said, 'What foolishness you are doing! If you are angry with your father, don't be worried, you
           come to my palace. Get married to my daughter and be a king here. If there is some trouble with
           your father, forget all about it. I am just as loving towards you as your father. He is my old friend,
           and my kingdom is not lesser than your father's kingdom. So come! But what nonsense you are
           doing! Begging on the street? You are not a beggar. Your family has been royal for centuries.'
                Buddha laughed and he said, 'As far as I know I have been a beggar for many lives. I don't know
           about my family, but I know about me. And I come through my father but I don't belong to him. He
           has just been a passage.'
                Yes, if you move deeper than the mind, you will start looking foolish to others -- even to yourself
           you will start looking foolish, because you will fall out of line. That is the meaning of the word 'idiot'
           -- one who has his own idiom of life, his own private style of life. That is the meaning of 'idiot'. If
           you have a language of your own nobody will be able to understand it. Then people will say, 'Why
           are you talking like an idiot? It is gibberish.' You may be using a perfect language of your own
           coinage, but unless it is social it cannot be accepted as language. Unless your life belongs to the
           society you cannot be thought intelligent. People who are thought to be intelligent are those who are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the rat race in this competitive world, hankering to cut each other's throat, trying to reach to the
           topmost, trying to become the first in the world.
               Jesus says blessed are the meek, the non-competitive; blessed are the poor, those who have
           nothing. Of course he's talking nonsense. If Jesus is right then all the politicians are foolish. If Jesus
           is right then all the rich men are foolish. Then what about Alexander the Great? If Alexander the
           Great is right, then of course Jesus is a fool. And Alexander the Great seems to be right because the
           crowd believes in him. Jesus is lonely, Lao Tzu is lonely, Zen Masters are lonely -- solitary beings,
           idiots, they have their own idiom. They live their life according to their own being, they don't bother
           a bit, they don't fulfil the formalities of the society. They live as individuals, that is their foolishness.
           They don't live just like mechanical parts of society, they are not robots. They are alive beings.
               If you are alive, if you are really alive and vibrating with life, you will look foolish; that's why
           children look like fools. Old people look wise because they are dead, stiff -- all life has oozed out of
           them. They are alive only for name's sake. They may have died a long time before.

              I have heard about one man who made a will when he died. And in the will he said, 'Write on my
           tomb: Born such-and-such year, died when thirty, buried when seventy.'

              Almost always it happens that people die near about thirty, then they are buried at seventy. That's
           another thing: burial is one thing, dying is another thing. When society comes to know that you are
           dead that's another thing.

               I have heard about a priest -- a Catholic priest of course -- who died, and for three days he could
           not understand what had happened. Then he came to his church and tried to communicate with his
           successor, and said, 'Be aware. I died, but for three days I did not think that I was dead because I was
           more dead while I was alive. I was feeling more alive so I did not think that I was dead. It took three
           days for me to realise the fact that I had died.'

                Children look foolish, and Jesus says, 'Unless you are like small children you will not be able to
           enter into my Kingdom of God. In fact he is saying, 'Blessed are the fools.'
                Children are fools, that's why everybody tries to make the children wise. The very effort to make
           them wise simply kills them. By and by they become afraid to live; their streaming life is crippled
           from everywhere, only a very narrow passage which is socially acceptable is allowed for them to live
           in. Then through that tunnel only, they somehow cling to life. That tunnel is just a very small thread
           -- they don't die, that's all, but they don't live either. They don't live at all. They somehow drag.
                So if you sit in zazen and you move deeply into it, your mind will start falling away, and your
           mind has up to now been your cleverness, your so-called intelligence. Your mind has accumulated
           all your experiences, your past. And when the past starts withering away and you become fresh and
           alive in the moment, you are again like a child, again a fool.
                Lao Tzu said, 'Everybody is clever except me. Everybody seems to be very calculating, I am just
           muddle-headed.'

           It is related that Rabbi Hanuk told this story.
                For a whole year I felt a longing to go to my master, Rabbi Bonon, and talk with him. But every
           time I entered the house I felt I was not man enough. Once though, when I was walking across the
           field and weeping, I knew that I must run to the rabbi without delay.
           He asked, 'Why are you weeping?'
                I answered, 'I am after all alive in this world, a being created with all the senses and all the limbs,
           but I do not know what it is I was created for, and what I am good for in this world.'
                'Little fool,' he replied.'That's the same question I have carried around with me all my life. You
           will come and eat the evening meal with me today.'

               Ordinarily we think people who know answers are wise. They may be learned but they are not
           wise. They may be very well informed, but information has nothing to do with wisdom. People who
           are really wise, in fact, have no answers. They have a quest, an enquiry, a tremendous enquiry in
           them, but no answers. By and by they come to understand that all questions are meaningless, so they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           drop questions also. A man becomes perfectly wise when he has no answers and no questions.

                Ordinarily, if you have many answers you will be thought wise. But religiously, in the Zen way,
           if you don't have any answers and no questions.... Questions exist in the mind and then mind tries to
           find out answers, then through answers mind creates more questions, and so on and so forth it goes.
           It is an endless chain, it goes on ad nauseam. Once you understand this -- that this whole game is a
           mind game -- you simply drop it. You don't hesitate in dropping it, you don't postpone it for
           tomorrow -- 'I will drop it tomorrow' -- you drop it right now. You say, 'This is just foolish.'
                Then, of course, when you drop your foolishness, you will look a fool to the world. If somebody
           asks you, 'Who are you?' and you say, 'I don't know,' will you look wise? He will think either you are
           a fool or a madman.'You don't know? You don't know your name? You don't know who you are?
           You don't know your identity?' The man will become suspicious of you, he will report to the police
           immediately that here is a man who seems to be suspect, who could be dangerous. But if you say,
           'Yes, my name is this. My address is this,' then everything is settled.
                Socrates said in his last days, 'When I was young I knew many things, and I used to think of
           myself as the wisest man in the world. The more I grew, the more I became aware that I didn't know
           much. And then the last thing happened -- one day I suddenly realised that I knew nothing.'
                It is said that the oracle at Delphi declared that Socrates was the wisest man in the world. People
           who had heard the oracle came to Socrates and told him that the oracle has declared that he was the
           wisest man in the world. Socrates looked shocked and he said, 'There must have been some mistake,
           because just today I have realised that I don't know anything at all. I am the most ignorant man in the
           world! You please go and correct the oracle.' And they went and they told the oracle that Socrates
           himself says that he is the most ignorant man in the world. The oracle said, 'That's why I have
           declared him the wisest.'
                The more open you become, the more innocent, the more childlike you become, the more the
           winds of existence start flowing in and out of you. The more you are knowing and have the gesture
           of knowledge, the more you are closed. Then you don't allow the winds of existence to enter you,
           then you are always distrustful, you don't trust life. A fool is one who goes on trusting; a fool is one
           who goes on trusting against all his experience. You deceive him, and he trusts you; and you deceive
           him again, and he trusts you; and you deceive him again, and he trusts you. Then you will say that he
           is a fool, he does not learn. His trust is tremendous; his trust is so pure that nobody can corrupt it.
                Be a fool in the Taoist sense, in the Zen sense. Don't try to create a wall of knowledge around
           you. Whatsoever experience comes to you, let it happen, and then go on dropping it. Go on cleaning
           your mind continuously; go on dying to the past so you remain in the present, here-now, as if just
           born, just a babe. In the beginning it is going to be very difficult. The world will start taking
           advantage of you... let them. They are poor fellows. Even if you are cheated and deceived and
           robbed, let it happen because that which is really yours cannot be robbed from you, that which is
           really yours nobody can steal from you. And each time you don't allow situations to corrupt you, that
           opportunity will become an integration inside. Your soul will become more crystallised.

           I have heard.
               A thief visited the house of a Sufi mystic at night, and spread his shawl to wrap up the loot. After
           a long search he had not found anything. In the meantime the dervish sleeping on the floor had rolled
           over onto the shawl. When the thief came to pick up his shawl, he saw the dervish sleeping on it.
               Just as he was leaving empty-handed, the dervish woke up and called after him, 'Please shut the
           front door.'
               'Why should I?' the thief answered.'I came and supplied your mattress, someone else might come
           and bring your blanket too.'

               So remain open, don't be worried -- even a thief cannot steal anything from you. He may supply a
           mattress or a blanket, that is another matter. He may give something to you but he cannot take
           anything from you, because that which can be taken is not yours. That which cannot be taken, only
           that is yours.
               Be a fool. Zen is the effort of dropping the mind, destructuring it, so that your innocence that has
           become hidden behind the structure reveals itself again. You were born without knowing anything.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You were born with clear eyes with no thoughts in them, with no clouds. Your inner sky was pure.
           Then you were taught, conditioned -- a thousand and one things -- and you became cluttered with
           knowledge, from the school, the college, the university, and life's experiences. And you were taught
           how to doubt -- because doubt is the intelligence of the wordly man.
               Trust is the intelligence of the religious man. You were taught to doubt, trained to doubt, but
           because of doubt you became closed. A man who doubts cannot remain open; a man who doubts
           always feels;insecure. A man who doubts always thinks about the world as if it is the enemy; the
           man who doubts is constantly fighting. That fight is going to end in your defeat because the part
           cannot win over the whole. That's not possible.
               So you are fighting a doomed fight. You are going to be defeated finally. You may have small
           victories here and there, but they don't count. Finally death comes, and all is taken away. And in this
           fight you could not enjoy, you could not delight in life. To delight in life one needs to be a fool,
           trusting.
               Read Dosteovsky's 'the Idiot'. The main character in 'The Idiot' is a Zen character, a Tao
           character, a prince who is foolish, totally foolish. But his doors are open, he is not in any way
           fighting the world. He is relaxed. All tensions gather in you because of doubt, all tensions make their
           abode in your being because of fear, insecurity. And you are just a small wave in the ocean but you
           are afraid of the ocean and you are trying to fight with the ocean. You will simply waste an
           opportunity which could have become a celebration, which could have become festive.
               The same energy which could have laughed is turned sour and bitter and becomes poisonous. To
           be alive.... When I say 'to be alive' I mean to be alive in the whole spectrum of life. Alive to cry and
           alive to laugh; alive to weep and alive to love -- the whole spectrum. I see thousands of people living
           half-heartedly. They have chosen a certain colour of the spetrum and they have narrowed down their
           being. Now they are missing, they are missing much -- because you can enjoy life only when you are
           a rainbow.
               A man was deeply in love with a woman, but he was a very shy man. Finally he succeeded in
           persuading her to be at least friendly towards him.
               This man was a friend of Henry Miller, and Henry Miller was asking again and again, 'What is
           happening in your love affairs?'
               One day he came and he said, 'I was almost on the verge of succeeding. I had succeeded so much
           that I persuaded her to undress completely, but more than that she would not do. What do you
           suggest I should have done?'
               Miller said, 'Why, you should have wept.'
           'Wept?' The man could not believe what he was saying.
               He said, 'What else can you do? Laughter I cannot see in you, it is impossible. It is very, very far
           away because you have not even wept yet.'

               Laughter is possible only if one is able to cry and weep deeply. The child cries -- that is the first
           relationship with the world. Every child born cries first. That is the first rung of the ladder. Miller
           says rightly, 'You should have wept because I don't know that you can do anything else. But this
           much you can do because this much you must have done when you were born. You should have
           wept.'
               A fool is one who lives the whole rainbow -- he cries, tears are flowing from his eyes, he is not
           blocked in any way. He can cry in the marketplace, he is not ashamed of life. Unashamedly he lives,
           and lives totally. That's why he is a fool, or thought to be a fool. He laughs, and he delights. He is a
           rainbow. And God comes only to those who are like a rainbow.
           Blessed are the fools.

           The third question:


              I FEEL THE WORD 'GOD' HAS NO HEARTFELT POTENTIAL, YET THE SKY AND PLANTS CAN
              BRING ME TO MY KNEES AND THERE IS A HEARTACHE FOR SOMETHING UNKNOWN. ZEN
              ATTRACTS ME WITH ITS FRESHNESS, COOLNESS, BUT ITS DEMANDS MAKE ME FEEL
              IMPOTENT. YOU SEEM THE MOST ATTRACTIVE, YOU WARM MY HEART AND HAVE THE
              COOLNESS OF A STREAM. ARE YOU POSSIBLY A THIRD WAY? BECAUSE I CAN'T DECIDE.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                I am not a way at all, I am just a presence. You have to understand it because you are going to be
           with me. You have to understand it as deeply as possible.
                I am not a way. A way leads you somewhere, it connects you with the there, and my whole effort
           is to bring you HERE. A way is there -- oriented, and I am here-oriented. A way is needed if the goal
           is far away from you. If the goal is away, distant, then the way is needed. As I see it, the goal is
           within you; you are the goal, you are the target. So there is nowhere to go, a way is not needed. In
           fact, dropping all the ways, dropping the very search and just being yourself is enough. Because you
           cannot do that you have to be shown a few ways to walk and get tired on. That is just to exhaust you.
                The whole effort is to exhaust you. When the effort is exhausted and you are really tired and you
           fall down, and you say, 'Now I don't want to go anywhere,' and you relax... you reach. Seeking is not
           the way to reach, but seeking is needed because you are very active.
                Even to reach God, ways are needed -- and God is here-now. He is your surround, he is within
           you and without. It is as foolish as a fish seeking the ocean and living already in the ocean. You are
           in truth because there is no other way; only in truth can you be. You may have forgotten it or you
           may not be able to recognise it because it is so obvious. It is so close that there is no distance to see it
           -- distance is needed to have a perspective, you cannot see things from very close. And God is not
           only close, he is not only the closest -- he is you. God is not a 'seen', he is in the see-er; God is not a
           goal, he is in the seeker. The seeker is the sought.
                So I am not a way. I talk about ways because you are mad. I talk about medicines because you
           are ill and you cannot understand the vision of no-way. You will have to walk, seek, get frustrated.
           When I say there are two ways, I mean there are two ways to get frustrated. One is of love, and
           another is of meditation.
                But I am not a way. I am just a presence. And those who will understand me will not need
           anything more than just being with me. That's what in the East we call SATSANG -- just being with
           me, just being in my presence, just relaxing in my presence, just allowing me to enter you, not
           resisting, not fighting with me.
                And suddenly one day you will start dancing, singing, celebrating. One day suddenly you will
           start laughing. What were you seeking? You were seeking yourself. How can you seek yourself?
           You are already that.
                The questioner says: I FEEL THAT THE WORD 'GOD' HAS NO HEARTFELT
           POTENTIAL.... I know it. Theologians have killed it. They have killed a very beautiful word, 'God'.
                Jews were right because they were very reluctant to call the name of God in any way. They were
           very reluctant. They were right because if you use the name of God, too much use will destroy its
           beauty. Before Jesus, Jews were not allowed to utter the name of God. Even now, if you look in
           Jewish books, and if they write God, they don't write G-o-d. They simply write G-d; they leave out
           the 'o'. Because how can you pronounce his name in totality? He is so big. Whatsoever you call him
           is going to be incomplete, so they write G-d, not G-o-d -- the 'o' is left out. And it is good that they
           leave out 'o' -- 'o' is the symbol of emptiness, SHUNYA. 'O' is void, zero. That is the very soul of
           God, 'O', zero, that is his very being -- so they leave it out.
                For many centuries only the high priest in the temple of Jerusalem was allowed to utter the name
           of God, and that too only once in a year, and that too in total aloneness. People would wait, millions
           of people would wait together outside the temple. Then the high priest would go into the innermost
           shrine, all the doors would be closed, nobody will be able to hear, and there, in the innermost shrine,
           he would whisper the name. That's all.
                It was good because words like 'God', 'love', should not be used too much otherwise their beauty
           is lost. Theologians killed the beautiful word 'God'. Now it is almost ugly, it is almost vulgar.
                How theologians have killed it has to be understood. Each of you has a theologian inside. You
           have been conditioned for so many centuries that the theologian has almost become a part of you.
           God is wild, has to be, but the theologian is always afraid of the wild God, the theologian is always
           afraid of anything alive. So by and by he cuts out all wildness from God. He polishes, trains, and
           conditions the very word 'God'.
                If you go to the old scriptures of the world, God was wild, as wild as you can imagine. He used
           to be angry also; he used to fall in love also; he used to run after women also. He was very human,
           down-to-earth, and very alive, throbbing and kicking.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But then it was not acceptable to the theologians because it was difficult to categorise him and it
           was difficult to use him. So by and by, limb by limb, they destroyed God. Now only a mummy, a
           dead body exists, preserved by chemicals, in churches. Churches are the tombs of God, their God has
           died. They made God more and more further away from man because it was impossible for their
           egos to understand that God could be in any way related to man. The creator and the created, the
           creator and the creature, how can they be related? No! The creator is far away in the seventh heaven
           and we are just like worms crawling on the earth, sinners asking to be forgiven. They condemned
           man and they went on raising God higher and higher. A moment came when the bridge broke.
               It is so simple to see that the creator has to be related with the creation. A poet is deeply related
           with his poetry, has to be so, he loves his poetry. A painter is deeply related with his painting -- it is
           his life, his flowering, his expression. A sculptor loves the statue he has made. Watch a sculptor
           when he has finished a statue, how he touches and feels it -- almost as if it is the girl of his dreams,
           his beloved. Watch a sculptor when, in difficult circumstances, he has to sell his art work. Tears
           come to his eyes.
               If God is the creator, he has to be close to creation, he has to be deeply in love with his creation.
           But then you cannot condemn man and then you cannot make man feel guilty. And if you cannot
           force man to feel guilty, then churches cannot exist, then their whole business disappears. The whole
           business of the church exists only if you are guilty. Because of your guilt you need their help;
           because of your guilt you need salvation.
               If God is already close to you, and if God is already breathing in you, singing in your heart, then
           what is the need of any salvation? If God has created you, then how can you be sinners? Then you
           cannot be condemned, the signature of God is on you.
               But then the whole business of religion disappears. So they went on making God more and more
           clinical. Now he smells almost like a hospital -- no life, but everything clean. They became so afraid
           of the germs of life that they killed all the germs. But God also is killed.
           The word 'God' has lost the heartfelt potential.

               One of my SANNYASINS has sent a beautiful anecdote to me. Listen to it, meditate over it.
           The anecdote:
               Yesterday somebody knocked on my door, and I opened it and it was God. And he asked me if
           he could use my bathroom. I said, 'Sure, come on in.'
               When he finally came out of the bathroom, he explained that he had been having some trouble
           finding somebody who would let him use their bathroom because most people like to think God
           never has to go to the bathroom. Then he thanked me and told me he was looking for somebody to be
           the Messiah and he thought I showed promise.
               I asked him if he really thought so. And he said he liked my bathroom.

                God is eccentric, otherwise why should he create such an eccentric world?
                But theologians have killed him completely. They cannot think that he needs a bathroom, there is
           no provision in heaven for that. He simply sits on his throne, he never goes to the bathroom. An
           inhuman God is a dead God. God has to be made alive again, he has to be brought home. Then your
           heart will start throbbing for him. If you drop theology then religion is beautiful, but if theology is
           always there between you and religion, then the theology is ugly and it makes religion look ugly
           also.
                I FEEL THAT THE WORD 'GOD' HAS NO HEARTFELT POTENTIAL, YET THE SKY AND
           THE PLANTS CAN BRING ME TO MY KNEES. AND THERE IS A HEARTACHE FOR
           SOMETHING UNKNOWN.... That's good. That's how one should approach God, without theology.
           Don't use even the word 'God', there is no need, because the word 'God' is not God. The word 'love'
           is not love -- drop the word, you just carry the innermost core of it, the significance of it, the song of
           it. That's the only real way to enter into his temple -- nature, the trees, the birds, the sun and the stars.
           He is all around you, calling you in many, many ways. Don't go to the church. That is the last place
           you can hope for him to visit. Last! Maybe in some crisis, but otherwise not.
                He's alive in the flowers, he's alive in the rainbows, he's alive in the birds. Listen to him. In fact,
           if you learn how to listen, you cannot avoid him for long. Love -- if you know how to love you
           cannot escape from him for long. Love is his shrine and listening is the way to help him come into
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you.

               There is an anecdote in the annals of Hasidism.
               'Where is the dwelling of God?' This was the question with which the Rabbi of Coates surprised
           a number of learned men who happened to be visiting him.
               They laughed at him.'What a thing to ask, Rabbi! Is not the whole world full of his glory?'
               Then the Rabbi answered his own question.'God dwells wherever man lets him in.'

               Let him in. He is knocking at your doors, allow him in. You need not go anywhere. Just relax,
           trust. His hand is already searching you. Just allow him to find you, and immediately a great
           transformation happens.
           So that is the right way.

              ...THE SKY AND THE PLANTS CAN BRING ME TO MY KNEES AND THERE IS A HEARTACHE
              FOR SOMETHING UNKNOWN.

               Yes, God is the eternally unknown. Even by knowing him, one never knows him; even by
           knowing him, he remains unknown. His unknowability is his mystery. And it is good that man
           cannot know him, otherwise he will become part of science, otherwise he will be just caught in a test
           tube somewhere in a lab. And you know what scientists can do. They will torture him if they can
           find him. They will poke him from here and there to find out secrets, just as they are torturing
           monkeys and other animals. They will torture God if they can find him.
               No, God can never become knowledge. The word 'science' means knowledge. God can never
           become knowledge and can never become science. He is not a riddle to be solved, he is a mystery to
           be lived, a dance to be danced, a song to be sung, a love to be dissolved in. Yes, you can come to feel
           him but you can never come to know him. The unknown God is the only God there is.

               There is a story about St. Paul. When he came to Athens to the Greek world to preach
           Christianity, he was very much surprised. In the centre of Athens there was a temple dedicated to the
           Unknown God. There was no image, the temple was absolutely empty and silent. There was no one
           inside it. Just on the door of the temple there was an inscription: Dedicated to the Unknown God.
           And people used to come to pray there, to feel God there. There was no priest and there was no
           theology and no philosophy around it.
               St. Paul destroyed it because he started teaching people and he laughed at the stupidity of this
           temple. He is reported to have said that it was absolute foolishness. How can you love an unknown
           God? Here he was and he would show them the known God. God had become known in Jesus
           Christ.
               He was thinking that he was doing a great service to humanity but he is one of the greatest
           criminals. He destroyed the concept, or no-concept, of an unknown God. That is the only God there
           is. He may have been reflected in the eyes of Jesus but he still remains unknown. In fact, by knowing
           him, he is not known, you also become part of his mystery and become unknown. Jesus has become
           a mystery by knowing him -- not that he has become known through Jesus. There is no way. He is so
           vast it is impossible to put him down as a formula, as a theory, as a dogma, as a creed.
               Forget the word 'God'. Don't make that your obsession. It has nothing to do with God. You can
           drop the word. Dropping the word will be helpful, because with that word, all that theologians have
           done up to now will be dropped. You just look around, look into the eyes of a child, or into the eyes
           of your beloved, your mother, your friend -- or just feel a tree. Have you ever hugged a tree? Hug a
           tree. And one day you will come to know that it is not only that you have hugged the tree but that the
           tree also responds, the tree also hugs you. Then for the first time you will be able to know that the
           tree is not just the form, it is not just a certain species the botanists talk about, it is an unknown God
           -- so green in your courtyard, so full of flowers in your courtyard, so close to you, beckoning you,
           calling you again and again.
               Forget the word. Forget all words! If you can dedicate your being to the unknown, that is the best
           dedication possible. Theologians, priests, and people who do the business of religion have different
           things in their minds. They are not concerned with you or with God. Religion has become a great
           investment. In fact, it is the biggest trade in the world. No millionaire is so rich -- and he cannot be --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as churches are. No company Burmah Shell or Standard Oil -- is so rich, they cannot be. When
           religion becomes an investment, then there are other reasons than religious, other considerations.

               I have heard an anecdote -- it happened in a Jewish temple. Jewish temples and synagogues do
           not pass the plate as do the Christian churches, consequently they have to raise money in other ways.
           One of them is the sale of tickets for reserved seats for the high holy days when business is best.
               On one holiday a young man went to the synagogue in Philadelphia to look for his uncle. The
           guard refused him admittance because he had no ticket.
           'Look', the youngster said,'it is very important.'
               'Not a chance,' said the guard.'Everybody says that. Nobody gets in here without a ticket.'
               But the boy pleaded,' It is a matter of life and death. Please, I will only be two minutes.'
               'Well okay, if it is so important,' the guard said.'But don't let me catch you praying!'

               This can happen in this ashram also. This happens always. Because whenever something of the
           unknown descends on the earth, immediately man's cunning mind starts changing it into a
           commodity that can be sold in the market. Immediately the profit motive comes in. The word 'God',
           the churches, the temples, the synagogues, they have become marketplaces. You cannot find your
           heart there. The only way to find your heart is to see the unknown again. You will have to move
           alone, you will have to go alone. You cannot follow a crowd. If you follow a crowd you will reach
           some temple, or some synagogue, or some church. If you want to find the wild God, the God of this
           universe, the unity, the cosmos, then you will have to seek on your own, alone.
               Pray to a tree, pray to a river, pray to a rock. Feel, there is no need for words. Let your heart
           communicate. Melt yourself into the world and let the world melt into you. This communion is
           prayer.
               The person who has asked the question will be helped if he moves on the path of love. Zen will
           not be helpful for him. He has a very feeling heart. Listen to the heart.
               Many other questions are there, questions about making a synthesis of love and meditation, of
           heart and mind, of thought and feeling -- because many people would like to move on both the ways
           together.
               Synthesis comes, but you cannot make it. If you follow the path of meditation, one day you will
           attain to love as a consequence. If you follow the path of love, one day you will attain to meditation
           as a consequence. Synthesis comes, but you will have to follow one path. If you try to follow two
           you will be in confusion. Synthesis comes at the end on its own accord, so don't be worried.
               It is always so: if meditation happens, love is bound to happen. If love does not happen, then that
           simply shows meditation has not happened yet. If love happens, meditation also happens as a
           shadow. If meditation has not happened through love, then your love is not yet real. If it has not
           happened yet, you may be thinking about it, but you have not moved into the world of love. So don't
           be worried about synthesis. You cannot make a synthesis. It is not for you to worry about it. Follow
           one, whichever feels more close to you.
               There are a few questions which ask, 'Both seem to be almost fifty-fifty, so what to do?' If both
           seem fifty-fifty, then Zen is your way. Because a person who cannot decide is not the man of the
           heart; a person who cannot decide is the man of the mind. If it is heart it is always decisive. Have
           you ever fallen in love with two women together, fifty-fifty? If you fall that way, then one thing is
           certain, it is not love. There may be other considerations. One is rich, another is a daughter of a
           prime minister or something like that. Love is not a consideration. If love is the consideration then
           immediately you choose one, then there is no problem.
               So if you have a problem to decide, then it is decided: you are the mind type, you will have to
           follow Zen. If you can decide, then good; if you cannot decide then take it for granted that the very
           doubt, the indecisiveness, shows that you are a mind type, thinking, doubting, analyzing, thinking
           about pros and cons. And then your greed says, 'Is there not a way to make a compromise of both?'
               Remember, compromise is not a synthesis. Compromise is a dead thing; synthesis is organic
           unity. You can make a compromise but through compromise nobody has ever grown; you cannot
           make a synthesis, it comes.
               You start growing on one path, because both the paths use different devices, not only different,
           diametrically opposite. If you try to make a compromise, it will be impossible because one goes to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the south, another goes to the north. So one leg will be going to the south, another will be going to
           the north. You will not be able to reach, you will be divided, you will become split. In making the
           compromise you will become a schizophrenic. That's how the human mind has become
           schizophrenic, split.
               Don't bother about compromise. It always comes. Those who have attained through zazen have
           attained to the same love as those who have reached through devotion, BHAKTI.

              A man, a Christian, came with the Bible to a Zen Master and started reading the Sermon on the
           Mount. After a few lines the Master said, 'Stop, there is no need. Whosoever has said these words is
           a Buddha.'

               He had never known anything about the Bible, he had never heard anything about Jesus, he used
           to live in a far-away cave, completely out of the society. But he said, 'No need to read it anymore.
           Even one sentence is enough. It has the taste of the sea. Whosoever has said this is a Buddha -- is
           enlightened.' If you ask Buddha, Meera is enlightened, Chaitanya is enlightened. If you ask Meera
           and Chaitanya, Buddha is enlightened, Bodhidharma is enlightened.
               Let me put in this way. If you follow love, devotion, surrender, one day you will suddenly find
           you are full of meditation. If you follow meditation, one day you will find the beloved has come, he
           has knocked at the door.




                                           Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Chapter #3
                                       Chapter title: 'As within, so without'
           13 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606130
              ShortTitle: DANG03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              AFTER BANKEI HAD PASSED AWAY, A BLIND MAN WHO LIVED NEAR THE MASTER'S TEMPLE
              SAID TO A FRIEND: 'SINCE I AM BLIND I CANNOT WATCH A PERSON'S FACE, SO I MUST
              JUDGE HIS CHARACTER BY THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE.



              ORDINARILY WHEN I HEAR SOMEONE CONGRATULATE ANOTHER UPON HIS HAPPINESS OR
              SUCCESS, I ALSO HEAR A SECRET TONE OF ENVY. WHEN CONDOLENCE IS EXPRESSED
              FOR THE MISFORTUNE OF ANOTHER, I HEAR PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION, AS IF THE
              ONE CONDOLING WAS REALLY GLAD THERE WAS SOMETHING LEFT TO GAIN IN HIS OWN
              WORLD.
              'IN ALL MY EXPERIENCE HOWEVER, BANKEI'S VOICE WAS ALWAYS SINCERE. WHENEVER
              HE EXPRESSED HAPPINESS, I HEARD NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS, AND WHENEVER HE
              EXPRESSED SORROW, SORROW WAS ALL I HEARD.'


              MAN IS SPLIT. Schizophrenia is a normal condition of man -- at least now. It may not have
           been so in the primitive world, but centuries of conditioning, civilization, culture and religion have
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           made man a crowd -- divided, split, contradictory. One part goes one way, the other part goes in just
           the diametrically opposite way and it is almost impossible to keep oneself together. It is a miracle
           that man is existing at all. He should by now have disappeared long before.
                But because this split is against his nature, deep down somewhere hidden the unity still survives.
           Because the soul of.man is one, all the conditionings at the most destroy the periphery of the man.
           But the centre remains untouched -- that's how man continues to live. But his life has become a hell.
                The whole effort of Zen is how to drop this schizophrenia, how to drop this split personality, how
           to drop the divided mind of man, how to become undivided, integrated, centred, crystallised.
                The way you are, you cannot say that you are. You don't have a being. You are a marketplace --
           many voices. If you want to say 'yes', immediately the 'no' is there. You cannot even utter a simple
           word 'yes' with totality. Watch... say 'yes', and deep inside the 'no' also arises with it. You cannot say
           a simple word like 'no' without contradicting it at the same time. In this way happiness is not
           possible; unhappiness is a natural consequence of a split personality. Unhappiness, because you are
           constantly in conflict with yourself. It is not that you are fighting with the world, you are every
           moment fighting with yourself. How can there be peace? How can there be silence? How can you be
           for even a single moment at rest? Not for a single moment are you at rest. Even while you are
           sleeping you are dreaming a thousand and one things. Even while sleeping you are tossing this way
           and that -- a continuous conflict. You are a battlefield.
                You say to somebody 'I love you', and the more you say it, the more you have to repeat it. It
           appears there is suspicion behind it. If you really love there is no need even to say it, because words
           do not matter. Your whole being will show your love; your eyes will show your love. There will be
           no need to say it, there will be no need to repeat it continuously. You repeat to convince the other
           and at the same time to convince yourself -- because deep down, jealousy, possessiveness, hatred,
           the urge to dominate, a deep power politics, are hidden.
                In his epistles St. Paul uses 'in Christ' one hundred and sixty-four times. He must have been a
           little doubtful about it.'In Christ. In Christ. In Christ...' one hundred and sixty-four times! It is too
           much. Once would have been enough. Even once is more than enough. It should be your being that
           shows that you live in Christ -- and then there is no need to say it.
                Watch. Whenever you repeat a thing too many times, go deep within yourself. You must be
           carrying it. But you cannot falsify it, that is the problem. Your eyes will show that it is hidden
           behind.
                Have you watched? You go to somebody's house and he welcomes you. But there is no welcome
           in his presence. He says, 'I am very happy to see you, glad to see you.' But you don't see any
           gladness anywhere; in fact, he looks a little anxious, worried, apprehensive. He looks at you as if
           trouble has come to his home. Have you watched people saying to you 'take any seat' and
           simultaneously showing you a certain seat to take? They say 'take any seat' but they show you, in a
           subtle gesture, 'take this seat'. They go on contradicting themselves.
                Parents go on telling their children, 'Be yourself,' and at the same time they go on teaching how
           one should be.'Be independent' -- and at the same time they go on forcing the child to be obedient.
           They have their own idea about how the child should be and when they say, 'Be yourself,' they mean,
           'Be the way we want you to be.' They don't mean, 'Be yourself.'
                Continuously something else is there present and you cannot really falsify it. But man has
           become cunning about that also. We don't look into each other's eyes because eyes can show the
           truth, so it is thought to be part of etiquette to avoid eyes. Don't look into somebody's eyes too much
           or you will be thought a little uncultured -- transgressing, trespassing. It is very difficult to falsify the
           eyes. You can falsify the tongue very easily, because the tongue, the language, is a social by-product.
           But eyes belong to your being. You say something but your eyes continually show something else,
           hence in all the societies of the world people avoid each other's eyes. They don't encounter --
           because that will be looking into the truth.
                But you can watch these contradictions in yourself and it will be a great help. Because unless
           your 'in' is just like your 'out' and your 'out' is just like your 'in', you can never be at rest.
                In Tibet, in Egypt, they say, 'As above, so below.' Zen says, 'As within, so without.'
                Unless your within becomes as your without you can never be at rest because your periphery will
           continuously be in conflict with your centre. The problem is that the periphery cannot win.
           Ultimately only the centre can win. But the periphery can delay, postpone; the periphery can waste
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           time and life and energy. If you go on living on the periphery and just go on pretending, not really
           living, you will have many faces but you will not have your original face.

           I have heard.
               Abrahamson had reached the grand old age of eighty and decided to celebrate. All his life he had
           been orthodox, had worn a long beard, black hat, black suit and black overcoat. Now to celebrate his
           birthday the old man shaved off the beard, replaced his sombre black clothes with the latest style
           green checked suit, a burgundy tie and blue striped shirt and headed for the massage parlour.
               As Abrahamson crossed the street he was struck by a truck and killed. In heaven he spoke to his
           maker, God, 'Why me? I was a good husband, I gave to all the charities, I have always been a
           religious man.''To tell the truth,' said the Lord, 'I did not recognise you.'

                And I would like to tell you even God will not be able to recognise YOU either. He changed his
           dress only once and became unrecognisable and you change your periphery every moment, you
           change your dress every moment, you change your face, your mask, every moment. Forget about
           God -- you cannot recognise yourself. You cannot say who you are.
                In Zen they have a koan, a deep object for meditation, to find out one's original face. The Master
           says to the disciple: 'Go and sit silently and find out your original face.' They mean the face you had
           before you were born or the face that you will have after you have died -- because the moment the
           child is born, the society starts giving him false faces; the moment the child takes his first breath,
           corruption starts. The child has entered into the world of politics, falsification, untruth. Now, layer
           upon layer, there will be many faces.
                And the clever man has many more faces than the simple man. So whatsoever the need he
           immediately changes his face. He adjusts his face.
                Have you watched? You are sitting in your room and your servant passes by. You have a
           different face for the servant, a very indifferent face. In fact, you don't look at your servant, he is not
           worth looking at. You don't recognise that a man, a human being just like you, has entered the room.
           It is as if a mechanism has passed. You don't recognise the humanity of the servant. But if your boss
           comes into the room immediately you are standing, wagging your tail, smiling -- all smiles. You
           have a different face for your boss. If your wife comes you have a different face, if your mistress
           comes you have a different face.
                Continuously you go on adjusting, manipulating. One has to understand otherwise one cannot
           find one's original face.
                A man who has an original face has a unity. He remains the same. Buddha is reported to have
           said that the taste of an enlightened man is just like the taste of seawater -- wherever you taste it,
           whenever you taste it, it always tastes of the salt.
                The enlightened person always shows one face. Not that he is monotonous.... Remember, don't
           misunderstand me -- he is not monotonous at all. In fact, you are monotonous because your faces are
           all dead. He is alive, growing, but his face is his. The face goes on growing, it goes on becoming
           richer and richer, it goes on taking on more and more awareness, it goes on becoming more and more
           radiant, alive, beautiful, a grace goes on increasing around it, it is surrounded by a light, but, it
           remains the same face. You can recognise it. There is a discontinuous continuity or, a continuous
           discontinuity. He changes yet he remains the same. He remains the same and yet he goes on
           changing. You can recognise the continuity and you can also recognise a constant growth.
                Growth always happens to the original face -- remember. False faces cannot grow, they are dead.
           They have no life in them, how can they grow? You can bring plastic flowers -- they cannot grow.
           You can keep them, you can deceive people, but they cannot grow. Real flowers grow. Only life
           grows.
                If you are not growing you are dead. Remember that each moment should be a growth moment.
           One should continuously go on moving and yet remain centred, rooted in one's being.
                You can deceive others, you cannot deceive yourself. But there are also very, very clever people
           who can deceive themselves also. They are the worst enemies of themselves.

             Mulla Nasruddin had been pulled from the river in what the police decided was a suicide attempt.
           When they were questioning him at headquarters he admitted that he had tried to kill himself. This is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the story he told:
               'Yes, I tried to kill myself. The world is against me and I wanted to end it all. I was determined
           not to do a half-way job so I bought a piece of rope, some matches, some kerosene and a pistol. Just
           in case none of those worked I went down by the river. I threw the rope over a limb hanging out over
           the river, I tied the rope around my neck, poured kerosene all over myself and lit the match. I jumped
           off the bank, put the pistol to my head and pulled the trigger.
               'Guess what happened! I missed. The bullet hit the rope before I could hang myself so I fell into
           the river and the water put out the fire before I could burn myself. And you know, if I had not been a
           good swimmer, I would have ended up drowning my fool self!'

               That's how things go.... You want to do a thing and yet you don't want to do it.
               You go on and yet you don't want to go. You live and yet you don't want to live. You even try to
           commit suicide and yet you don't want to commit suicide. That's why out of ten suicide attempts only
           one succeeds. And that too seems to be by some error. Nine attempts fail.
               People are contradictory. They just don't know how to do a thing totally. And it is natural. It can
           be understood that when they try to commit suicide they cannot be total, because they have never
           been total in their lives. They don't know what totality is. They have never done a single act with
           their total being. Whenever an act is total, it liberates; whenever it is half-hearted it simply creates a
           conflict. It dissipates energy, it is destructive, it creates bondage.
               In India you have heard the word KARMA -- the very cause of all bondage. A KARMA is a
           KARMA only if it is half-hearted -- then it binds you. If it is total it never binds you, then there is no
           bondage for you. Any act lived totally is finished. You transcend it, you never look back. Any
           moment lived totally leaves no trace on you -- you remain unscratched, untouched by it. Your
           memory remains clean, you don't carry a psychological memory about it. There is no wound.
               If you have loved a woman totally and she dies, there is no wound left. But if you have not loved
           her totally and she dies then she continues to live in the memory. Then you weep for her, you cry for
           her, because now you repent. There was time, there was opportunity when you could have loved her,
           but you could not love her. And now there is no opportunity; now she is there no more. Now there is
           no way to fulfil your love.
               Nobody weeps and cries for somebody's death -- you cry and weep for the lost opportunity to
           love. Your mother dies. If you have loved her really, totally, then death is beautiful, there is nothing
           wrong in it. You go and say goodbye to her and you don't carry any wound. You may be a little sad
           -- naturally, she has occupied your heart for so long and now she will not be there -- but that is just a
           passing mood. You don't carry a wound, you don't go on crying continuously, you don't hang with
           the past. You did whatsoever you could -- you loved her, you respected her -- now it is finished. One
           understands the helplessness of life. You are also going to be finished one day. Death is natural; one
           accepts it.
               If you cannot accept death that simply shows there has been a contradiction in your life. You
           loved and yet you were withholding yourself. Now that withholding creates the problem.
               If you have enjoyed food, you forget all about it. Once you are finished, you are finished. You
           don't go on thinking about it. But if you were eating and you were not eating totally, if you were
           thinking about a thousand and one other things and you were not at the dining table at all -- you were
           just physically there but psychologically you were somewhere else -- then you will think about food.
           Then food will become an obsession.
               That's how sex has become an obsession in the West. Making love to a woman or to a man you
           are somewhere else. It is not a total act, it is not orgasmic, you are not lost in it, so a greed arises.
           You try to satisfy that greed, that unfulfilled desire, in a thousand ways: pornography, blue movies,
           and fantasy, your private movie. You go on fantasizing about women. When a real woman is there
           and she is ready to love you, you are not there. And when the woman is not there, you have a woman
           in your fantasy.
               This is a very sad state of affairs. When you are eating, you are not there and then you are
           thinking about food, fantasizing about it. This is happening because you are not total in your act, you
           are always divided. While making love you are thinking of BRAHMACHARYA, celibacy. Then
           while being a celibate you.are thinking of making love. You are never in tune, never in harmony.
               And one goes on pretending that everything is okay so one never faces the problem.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               I have heard about one couple who was known all over Poland as the most ideal couple ever.
           Sixty years of married life and never had there been a conflict. The wife was never known to nag the
           husband, the husband was never known to be rude to the wife. They had lived very peacefully -- at
           least it appeared so.
               They were celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary. A journalist came to interview them.
           'How old is your wife?' enquired the journalist.
               'She is eighty-seven,' said the husband, 'and God willing, she will live to be a hundred.'
           'And how old are you?' enquired the journalist.
               'Eight-seven too,' answered the husband, 'and God willing, I will live to be a hundred and one.'
               'But why,' asked the journalist, 'would you like to live a year longer than your wife?'
               'To tell the truth,' said the old octogenarian, 'I would like to have at least one year of peace.'

                Appearances are very deceptive. Appearances may give you respectability but they cannot give
           you contentment. And some day or other, in some way or other, the truth has a way of surfacing.
                Truth cannot be repressed forever. If it can be repressed forever, eternally, then it is not truth. In
           the very definition of truth one should include the fact that truth has a way of bubbling up. You
           cannot go on avoiding it forever and ever. One day or other, knowingly or unknowingly, it surfaces,
           it reveals itself.
                Truth is that which reveals itself. And just the opposite are lies. You cannot make a lie appear as
           truth forever and ever. One day or other the truth will surface and the lie will be there condemned.
                You cannot avoid truth. It is better to face it, it is better to accept it, it is better to live it. Once
           you start living the life of truth, authenticity, of your original face, all troubles by and by disappear
           because the conflict drops and you are no more divided. Your voice has a unity then, your whole
           being becomes an orchestra. Right now, when you say something, your body says something else;
           when your tongue says something, your eyes go on saying something else simultaneously.
                Many times people come to me and I ask them, 'How are you?' And they say, 'We are very, very
           happy.' And I cannot believe it because their faces are so dull -- no joy, no delight! Their eyes have
           no shining in them, no light. And when they say, 'We are happy,' even the word 'happy' does not
           sound very happy. It sounds as if they are dragging it. Their tone, their voice, their face, the way they
           are sitting or standing -- everything belies, says something else. Start watching people. When they
           say that they are happy, watch. Watch for a clue. Are they really happy? And immediately you will
           be aware that something else is saying something else.
                And then by and by watch yourself. When you are saying that you are happy and you are not,
           there will be a disturbance in your breathing. Your breathing cannot be natural. It is impossible.
           Because the truth was that you were. not happy. If you had said, 'I am unhappy,' your breathing
           would have remained natural. There was no conflict. But you said, 'I am happy.' Immediately you are
           repressing something -- something that was coming up, you have forced down. In this very effort
           your breathing changes its rhythm; it is no longer rhythmical. Your face is no longer graceful, your
           eyes become cunning.
                First watch others because it will be easier to watch others. You can be more objective about
           them. And when you have found clues about them use the same clues about yourself. And see --
           when you speak truth, your voice has a musical tone to it; when you speak untruth, something is
           there like a jarring note. When you speak truth you are one, together; when you speak untruth you
           are not together, a conflict has arisen.
                Watch these subtle phenomena, because they are the consequence of togetherness or
           untogetherness. Whenever you are together, not falling apart; whenever you are one, in unison,
           suddenly you will see you are happy. That is the meaning of the word 'yoga'. That's what we mean
           by a yogi: one who is together, in unison; whose parts are all interrelated and not contradictory,
           interdependent, not in conflict, at rest with each other. A great friendship exists within his being. He
           is whole.
                Sometimes it happens that you become one, in some rare moment. Watch the ocean, the
           tremendous wildness of it -- and suddenly you forget your split, your schizophrenia; you relax. Or,
           moving in the Himalayas, seeing the virgin snow on the Himalaya peaks, suddenly a coolness
           surrounds you and you need not be false because there is no other human being to be false to. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fall together. Or, listening to beautiful music, you fall together.
                Whenever, in whatsoever situation, you become one, a peace, a happiness, a bliss, surrounds you,
           arises in you. You feel fulfilled.
                There is no need to wait for these moments -- these moments can become your natural life. These
           extraordinary moments can become ordinary moments -- that is the whole effort of Zen. You can live
           an extraordinary life in a very ordinary life: cutting wood, chopping wood, carrying water from the
           well, you can be tremendously at ease with yourself. Cleaning the floor, cooking food, washing the
           clothes, you can be perfectly at ease -- because the whole question is of you doing your action
           totally, enjoying, delighting in it.
                The society is not in favour of an integrated man, so remember, society cannot help you. It will
           create all sorts of hindrances for your growth. Because only a disintegrated man can be manipulated
           -- the politicians can dominate him, the teachers can dominate him, the religious priests can
           dominate him, the parents can dominate him. Only a disintegrated soul can be forced into slavery.
                Integrated, you are free; integrated, you become rebellious; integrated, you start doing your own
           thing; integrated, you listen to your own heart, wherever it leads. Such types of individuals can be
           dangerous for the dead so-called society. They can create trouble -- they have always created trouble.
           A Jesus, a Socrates, a Buddha... they have always been troublesome because they are so integrated
           that they can be independent. And they are living so blissfully that they don't bother about other
           nonsense.
                Try to understand it. If you are unhappy, you will become ambitious; if you are happy, ambition
           will disappear. Who bothers to become a prime minister unless you are a little insane? Who bothers
           to become the richest man in the world unless you are mad? Who bothers about fame? You cannot
           eat it, you cannot love it, you cannot sleep with it. In fact, the more famous you become, the more
           difficult it becomes to be happy.
                The richer you are, the more worries you have -- problems of security, future. Whatsoever you
           have, you have to hold it. You have to hold it against others because they are constantly watching for
           a right opportunity to take it back. Whatsoever you hold, you hold out of violence. And of course, if
           you have been violent then others can be violent to you. They are just waiting for the right moment.
           The richer you get, the more worries, more problems, more fears you have. Who bothers, if one is
           happy?

               It is said that a Taoist mystic was sought by the emperor of China because he had heard that the
           mystic was very wise and he wanted him to become his prime minister. Ambassadors, with a golden
           chariot following them and with many presents from the court, were sent to him.
               The two ambassadors were puzzled because they found this wise man sitting on the bank of a
           small river fishing, very poor, just ordinary. But the king had ordered so they told him, 'The king
           wants you to become his prime minister. You are welcome. We have come to take you.'
               The mystic looked at the ambassadors and then he looked around. A turtle was wagging his tail
           in the mud, enjoying, just by the side of the river, by a small pool.
           The mystic said, 'Look at that turtle!'
               The ambassadors said, 'We don't understand. What do you mean?'
               He said, 'I have heard there is a turtle in the emperor's palace three thousand years old -- dead of
           course -- encased in gold, with valuable diamonds, very precious. The dead turtle is worshipped. If
           you ask this alive turtle, 'Would you like to become the dead turtle in the king's palace? You will be
           encased in gold, surrounded with precious stones and you will be worshipped by the king himself, '
           what do you think this turtle will choose? Would he like to go to the palace or would he like to wag
           his tail in the mud?'
               They said, 'Of course, he would like to wag his tail in the mud.'
               The mystic said, 'Do you think I am more foolish than the turtle? Go back! I would like to wag
           my tail here in this mud -- I would like to be alive.'

               Who has ever heard of anybody living in a palace and being alive? Difficult, almost impossible.
           If you are unhappy then you become ambitious, because an unhappy person thinks, 'If I attain much
           wealth I will become happy.' The unhappy person thinks, 'If I become the prime minister, the
           president, then I will become happy.' An unhappy person starts projecting into the future; a happy
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           person lives here and now. And he is so happy, so infinitely happy, that he has no future. He has no
           concern for the future.
               That's just what Jesus means when he says, 'Think not of the morrow. Look at the lilies in the
           fields. Even the great Emperor Solomon was not so beautiful, arrayed in his precious dresses, as
           these poor lily flowers. Look at the grandeur! And they toil not and they think not of the morrow.'
               The whole society depends on creating ambition in you. Ambition means a conflict, ambition
           means that whatsoever you are, you are wrong -- you have to be somewhere else. Wherever you are,
           you are wrong -- you have to be somewhere else. A constant madness to be somewhere else, to be
           somebody else, is what ambition is.
               So every child is corrupted, destroyed. The parents were destroyed by their parents, and they go
           on destroying their children -- and so on and so forth. Of course they don't know what else to do.
           They simply repeat the old pattern: whatsoever was done to them by their parents, they do to their
           children. The parents say, 'Go to school and come first. Go to university and attain the gold medal.'
           Then for their whole life they are always chasing and chasing the gold medals. They live in a dream
           -- and because of this they have to follow many things which are against their nature, they have to do
           many things which are against their nature. If they are to attain some goals in society they have to
           follow the society.
               And society is constantly trying to force something on you: a certain morality, a certain religion.
           Whether it suits you or not is not the problem; whether it is going to help your being flower is not the
           problem. The society goes on enforcing things on you.

               One day I met Mulla Nasruddin on the road. He was walking with his two children.
           So I said, 'How are your two children?'
           He said, 'Both are good.'
           I said, 'How old are they?'
               He said, 'The doctor is five and the lawyer is seven!'

               Already the future is fixed in the mind of the father. One has to become a doctor, the other has to
           become something else. The children have not been asked. Now the father will enforce. He can
           enforce, he has power. The children are helpless. And if the child was going to become a singer and
           he cannot become a singer but has to become a doctor, he will never feel at ease. He will be false. He
           will be carrying something false -- continuously dragging himself. His whole life will be destroyed.
           It will be a sheer wastage. There are doctors who would have been beautiful singers or dancers or
           poets and there are poets who would have been better to have been doctors or surgeons. There are
           poets who should have been engineers, scientists, and there are scientists who should have been
           somewhere else. It seems that everybody is in some wrong place because nobody has been allowed
           to be spontaneous and to be himself.
               The society forces you to be something that you are not meant to be. Nobody else can know who
           you are meant to be, your destiny has to unfold within you. It is only you, left to yourself. A society
           can help. If a real, right society exists some day in the world, it will simply help you. It will not give
           you directions, it will give you all support to be yourself. But this society first tries you to make
           somebody else -- imitators, carbon copies -- and when you have become carbon copies then people
           start saying that you are not yourself.
               A Jewish momma found herself sitting next to a young man on a bus. She looked at him
           quizzically for a few moments, then nudged him in the ribs and said confidentially, 'You are a Jewish
           boy, aren't you?'
           He said, 'Er, no, as a matter of fact, I'm not.'
               She laughed and said, 'Oh, go on, I'm Jewish myself -- I can always tell. You're Jewish, aren't
           you?'
           He said, 'No, missus, I'm not.'
               She said, 'What's the matter? You ashamed of it or something? You're Jewish.'
               So just to keep her quiet, the young chap said, 'All right, if it'll make you happy -- yes, I'm
           Jewish.'
           She said, 'That's funny, you don't look Jewish....'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's how it goes on. First everybody is trying to convince you that you are this, and once you
           are this, suddenly you find -- and everybody else starts saying -- that you don't look yourself.'What is
           wrong with you? You look unhappy, you look sad, you look frustrated, you look depressed -- what is
           the matter with you?' First they try to force you to be somebody else that you are not and then they
           want you to be happy also. This is impossible!
               You can be happy only if you become yourself. Nothing can be done about it, that is how it is.
           You can be happy only if you are yourself -- but it is very difficult to find out now who you are
           because you have been so confused, you have been so crippled. And society has entered so deep
           down in you that it has become your conscience. Now your parents may be dead, your teachers may
           be dead -- or even if they are alive they are no longer sitting on your head -- but still whatsoever they
           have taught you goes on speaking in subtle whisperings within you.
               It has become your conscience. The parental voice has become your ego. If you do something
           against it, it immediately condemns you. If you do something accordingly, it applauds you,
           appreciates you. Still you go on being dominated by the dead.

           I have heard.
               Rothstein owed a hundred dollars to Wiener. The debt was past due and Rothstein was broke, so
           he borrowed the hundred dollars from Spevak and paid Wiener. A week later Rothstein borrowed
           back the hundred dollars from Wiener and paid Spevak. Another week went by and Rothstein
           borrowed back the hundred dollars from Spevak to pay back Wiener. He repeated this transaction
           several times until finally he called them up and said.
               'Fellers, this is a lot of bother. Why don't you two exchange the hundred dollars every week and
           keep me out of it!'

               This is how it has happened. First your mother, your father, your teachers, your priests -- they
           have put things in your mind. Then one day they come and they say, 'Now you be on your own.
           Keep us out.' Now the conscience goes on functioning as a subtle agent.
               Remember, the conscience is your bondage. A real man is conscious but he has no conscience.
           An unreal man is unconscious and has a very strong conscience. Conscience is given by others to
           you; consciousness has to be attained by you. Consciousness is your earned being, your earned
           quality of awareness. Conscience is given by others who wanted to manipulate you in their own
           ways. They had their own ideas and they manipulated you, they coerced you, tortured you into
           certain directions. They may not have been aware of it themselves because they were tortured by
           their parents.
               This is how the future is dominated by the past and the present is dominated by the dead.
               A real man has to drop his conscience. The parental voice has to be dropped.
               There are a few sayings of Jesus which are very rude but true to the very core. He says, 'Unless
           you hate your father and mother you will not be able to follow me.' Now this looks very rude. The
           language is rude but what he means is what I am saying to you -- drop the conscience. He is not
           saying you should hate your father and mother, he is saying you should hate the mother's and father's
           voice inside you. Unless you drop that you will never be free; you will remain split, you will have
           many voices in you, you will never become one.
               You have lost your original face. People have painted your face too much according to their own
           ideas. They have made you. Now you have to take the whole process in your hands you have to
           become aware that you are not here to fulfil anybody's expectations. You are here to attain your
           destiny.
               So don't choose the safer way which you have been choosing up to now. It is safer to follow
           society because then society does not create trouble for you. It is very, very dangerous to follow your
           own voice, very dangerous to follow yourself, because then you are alone and society is not there to
           support you.

               They used to tell a story of the Russian dictator, Stalin. The dictator walked into a movie
           incognito and sat in the last row. Suddenly his picture flashed on the screen and everybody rose in
           salute. He remained seated, enjoying the spectacle of his power, when suddenly an usher poked him
           in the back and whispered harshly: 'You'd better get up too if you know what's good for you. I don't
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           like him any more than you do, but you'd better get up. It's safer.'

                We have been choosing the safer, the secure, the socially approved. You will have to get out of
           it. There are two ways to get out of the socially approved: one is the way of the sinner, the criminal;
           another is the way of the saint, the holy man. These are the two ways to get out of the structured
           being that the society has given to you, cut of the role that the society has given you to play.
                One is the criminal way. That is a reactionary way, foolish. It is not going to help you. You may
           get out of the social structure but you will find yourself in prison. That is not going to help much;
           you cannot go very far on that way. That too is a way of getting out of the bondage of society -- the
           criminal is also trying to be free. Of course, he does not know how to be free, so he gets more into
           bondage. But his desire is the same as that of the saints. He is moving in the wrong direction, but his
           desire is the same. Society has forced many people to be criminals because the structure is too strong
           and people don't know how to get out of it. So they do something wrong, just to get out of it.
                The saint is also doing the same but he is trying to create devices. Meditation is a device, zazen
           is a device to get out of society without becoming a criminal.
                So remember, that danger is there. If you understand me and you think, 'Right, I will get out of
           society,' and you don't understand what I mean by meditation, you will become a criminal.
                That's what hippies are doing in the West. They are hankering for freedom and their desire is
           right, absolutely right, they have absolute birthright to be free -- but they don't yet know the way of
           the saint. So knowingly, unknowingly, they are moving onto the path of the sinners. Sooner or later
           they will be crushed by society.
                Just to be free of society is not enough. To be free and responsible, to be free and responsibly
           free -- only then are you free, otherwise you will be caught in another pattern. The hippie is reacting,
           the people of Zen are rebelling. In reaction you just go to the opposite: if the society says no drugs,
           you say drugs are the only panacea. If the society says do this, you immediately do just the opposite.
           But remember, in doing the opposite, you are still in the trap of society because society has decided
           what you should do. Even the opposite is decided by society. The society said no drugs so you say, 'I
           am going to take drugs.' By saying no, the society has decided your direction.
                So the one who is conventional is within the society and the one who has reacted against it, again
           gets caught in the society. One says yes to the society, another says no the society, but both react to
           the society. The man who really wants to be free says neither yes nor no.
                The language is created by the society so the language is simply contradictory. Either you have
           to say yes or you have to say no. Sometimes you don't want to say either yes or no but there is no
           word. Just lately Edward de Bono has done a great service to humanity. He has invented a new word,
           'po' -- just in the middle of no and yes. Because there are situations when you would like to say po.
           You mean, 'I don't want to say yes, I don't want to say no, I don't want to take any alternative
           between these two. I want to be free. If I say yes, I am caught -- you decided my yes; if I say no, you
           decided my no in the opposite direction. I say po.'
                A Zen person says po, the hippie says no -- and much is the difference, great is the difference.
                The language is decided by the contradictory mind so everything is divided into two: heaven and
           hell, god and devil, yes and no, good and bad, the sinner and the saint. Everything is divided into
           two, and in life, in fact, it is totally different -- it is a rainbow. All the seven colours are there. There
           are many stages between the saint and the sinner; there are many possibilities between yes and no.
           And dark and light are not only two possibilities -- they are two poles. Between these two poles are
           all the rays, all the colours of the rainbow.
                But the aristotelian logic, which is the logic of the society, divides only into two. That two
           creates a falsity in man. If you don't want to say yes and you don't want to say no, the language does
           not give you any other alternative. Somebody says, 'Do you love me?' What are you going to say? If
           you say yes it may not be true, if you say no that also may not be true. You may like to remain
           uncommitted, you may like simply to shrug your shoulders -- but in language there is no way to
           shrug your shoulders.

               I have heard about a man who went to visit a church with his wife. The church had over the
           portal the inscription: This is the house of God. This is the Gate of Heaven.
               The man must have been a logician, a follower of Aristotle.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He glanced at these words, tried the door and found it locked.
               Then he turned to his wife and said, 'In other words, go to
           hell!'

               Because the door to heaven is closed, where to go?'In other words, go to hell!'
               Life is divided into two -- that is too miserly a division. Life is much richer. Life is neither white
           nor black, it is grey. White is one end of it, black is another end of it, but life is grey.
               If you don't know that language is also a social trap, morality is also a social trap, formality is
           also a social trap, etiquette is also a social trap, you will not be able to get out of it. And this is
           possible only if you become very, very aware, very keenly aware, sincerely aware. Then you will see
           traps all around. Don't react to them. Sinners have always been there, criminals have always been
           there -- they tried to break out of the bounds of the society, but they never could get very far; they
           were always caught.
               The only way to get out of it is a very subtle one, and that is to get within yourself so deeply that
           the society cannot reach there. That's the only way -- to become true, to get to your centre. That's
           what Zen is all about.

              Once, at a scientific gathering, a young physicist approached the British astronomer Sir Arthur
           Eddington and asked:
              'Is it true, Sir Arthur, that you are one of the only three men in the world who really understands
           Einstein's theory of relativity?'
              Then noticing the look of discomfort that came into the astronomer's face, he apologised.
              'I'm sorry,' he said.'I didn't mean to embarrass you. I know how modest you are.'
              'Not at all,' said Eddington.'I was just wondering who the third man could be.'

              All your social formality, modesty, politeness, is just a layer, a very thin layer -- like when you
           pour oil on water and a thin film of the oil covers it. It is not even skin deep. Don't be deceived by it.
           The only way to get beyond is to go within. You can become rude -- that is happening. Just to
           become sincere, some people are becoming rude. That is not the way. Just to be honest, people are
           becoming violent. Just to be true, they are becoming angry and insane. That is not the way. If you
           want to be true, move to the centre -- because if you remain on periphery you will remain untrue. Let
           your centre dominate the periphery. You move to the centre.
              And be in a hurry. I don't mean be impatient. I mean don't be lazy. Because the problem is that if
           you have lived too long in the society and you have followed its rules and regulations for too long,
           one becomes accustomed to it. One forgets that it is a bondage, one forgets that these are chains. The
           chains start appearing like ornaments. You in fact start protecting them.

           It happened.
                To celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary, Mulla Nasruddin came home and presented his
           wife with a little monkey.'Are you crazy or something?' shouted Mistress Nasruddin.'Where the hell
           are we gonna keep a monkey?'
           'Don't worry,' said Nasruddin.'He will sleep right in the bed with us.'
           'And what about the smell?'
           'If I could stand it for thirty years, he will get used to it soon.'

               Be in a hurry because once you get settled it will be difficult. Difficult because you will not
           realise that you are in bondage. If you can escape younger, it will be easier. The older you grow, the
           more difficult it becomes.

           Now, the story.

              AFTER BANKEI HAD PASSED AWAY, A BLIND MAN WHO LIVED NEAR THE MASTER'S TEMPLE
              SAID TO A FRIEND: 'SINCE I AM BLIND I CANNOT WATCH A PERSON'S FACE, SO I MUST
              JUDGE HIS CHARACTER BY THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE.'
              'ORDINARILY WHEN I HEAR SOMEONE CONGRATULATE ANOTHER UPON HIS HAPPINESS OR
              SUCCESS, I ALSO HEAR A SECRET TONE OF ENVY. WHEN CONDOLENCE IS EXPRESSED
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               FOR THE MISFORTUNE OF ANOTHER, I HEAR PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION, AS IF THE
               ONE CONDOLING WAS REALLY GLAD THERE WAS SOMETHING LEFT TO GAIN IN HIS OWN
               WORLD.'
               'IN ALL MY EXPERIENCE, HOWEVER, BANKEI'S VOICE WAS ALWAYS SINCERE. WHENEVER
               HE EXPRESSED HAPPINESS, I HEARD NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS, AND WHENEVER HE
               EXPRESSED SORROW, SORROW WAS ALL I HEARD.'


                This is the greatest homage that can be done to a man, to the memory of a man.
                Bankei was one of the greatest Zen Masters. This blind man who used to live near the temple
           could not see people's faces. Blind people become very, very perceptive. Because they are blind they
           become very perceptive. Because their eyes are not functioning, the whole energy and the capacity to
           see moves to their ears. Their ears become substitutes for eyes.
                And there is a difference between eyes and ears. Eyes are linear, they look only in one direction.
           Ears are not linear. The ears hear from all directions, the sound is caught from all directions. Ears are
           more total than eyes. Eyes just focus; eyes are more concentrated. Ears are more meditative; hence
           all the meditators close the eyes, because with the eyes the mind becomes linear. It is easy to
           concentrate with the eyes; difficult to meditate. Remember the difference: when you concentrate,
           you focus your mind exclusively on something, and everything else is excluded out of it. You
           include only the certain thing on which you are concentrating, and everything is excluded. You
           focus. But ears are more meditative. They include all, everything that happens around. If you are
           listening to me, you are also listening to the birds. It is simultaneously happening. To the ears,
           existence is simultaneous; to the eyes it is linear, gradual. If I start looking from this side to that side,
           first I will see Amida, then Teertha, then somebody else, then somebody else -- you are all here
           together. But eyes will create a linear procession which is a falsification of reality. You are not here
           in a queue, you are all here together. But if I listen with my ears, with closed eyes, to your breathing,
           your being -- then you are all here together.
                Ears are closer to existence than eyes, and it is a misfortune that ears have been neglected and
           eyes have become very predominant. Psychologists say that eighty per cent of human knowledge is
           gained through the eyes. Eighty per cent! It is too much. It has become almost dictatorial. The eyes
           have become the dictators. Ears are closer to the existence, to the diffused existence, to the
           togetherness of existence.
                There are methods, particularly in Zen, where one simply sits and listens -- listens to existence,
           not concentrating anywhere. It is easier for eyes to be closed; you can open them, you can close
           them. Your mind can manipulate your eyes, but your ears you cannot close. They are always open.
                So if your emphasis moves from eyes to ears, you will become more open. The eyes can be
           manipulated more easily, the mind can play tricks with the eyes. With ears it is more difficult to play
           tricks.
                If you have come across a blind man, you will see, it happens. He starts seeing by his ears. And
           he can see many subtle nuances which eyes cannot see. He becomes more perceptive. By the sound,
           by the tone, by small waverings in the tone, fluctuations, he starts seeing deeply into you. And
           because he is not part of the society -- society belongs to those who have eyes -- a blind man is
           almost an outcast, out of the society. So you don't know how to deceive a blind man. You know how
           to deceive people who have eyes but you don't know how to deceive a blind man. You have never
           practised it, it has never happened. Rarely do you come across a blind man.
                He starts seeing many things. Even by your footsteps, by the sound of your footsteps, he starts
           recognising many things in you. Are you a man rooted in the earth? Grounded in the earth? A blind
           man can see just by your footsteps -- he can hear whether you are grounded or not.
                Every person moves in a different way, walks in a different way. If a Buddha walks he is
           tremendously grounded. His legs are almost like the roots of a tree. He is in deep contact with the
           earth. He is nourished by the earth, the earth is nourished by him. There is a continuous transfer of
           energy.
                Ordinarily people are uprooted trees. They walk as if they are uprooted; they don't have roots in
           the earth, they are not grounded. You try sometimes. Just stand with naked feet on the earth or on the
           sand on a beach and just feel that your legs are like roots and that they are reaching deep into the
           earth. And start swaying with the wind like a tree. Forget that you are a man, think of yourself as a
           tree, and soon you will see something transpiring between you and the earth. It may take a little time
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because you have forgotten the language but one day you will see something is transpiring.
           Something is given by the earth to the feet and you are also returning, responding. And the day it
           happens you will start walking in a totally new way -- rooted, solid, not fragile, not sad, more alive,
           full of energy. You will be less tired and your footsteps will have a different quality.
               A blind man can immediately say whether this man is rooted in the earth or not.
               A man who is a thief walks in a different way -- continuously afraid. The fear enters into the
           footsteps, into the sound of the footsteps. A man who is walking in his own home -- at home, at ease
           -- walks in a different way.
               The blind man who lived near Bankei's temple must have known thousands of people. He was a
           beggar. He said, when Bankei died,
              'ORDINARILY WHEN I HEAR SOMEONE CONGRATULATE ANOTHER UPON HIS HAPPINESS OR
              SUCCESS, I ALSO HEAR A SECRET TONE OF ENVY.'


               When people congratulate others, deep down they are jealous. The envy is there. It is just a social
           formality that they are fulfilling. Their voice will show it. You watch, you start watching life. It is a
           beautiful thing to watch. Many things are happening around you continuously. You are missing
           tremendous experiences. Watch people's voices -- someone congratulating someone. Try to see what
           his voice says -- not what he is saying, but what his voice says. And immediately you will
           understand what this blind man means. There is a subtle jealousy, envy, pain, misery, frustration --
           that somebody else has succeeded and he has not succeeded. It is just a lip service.
              'WHEN CONDOLENCE IS EXPRESSED FOR THE MISFORTUNE OF ANOTHER, I HEAR
              PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION....'


                The second thing is still deeper. The first thing you can understand. You can say, 'Right, true.
           There is jealousy when you congratulate somebody.' But the blind man says that when you condole,
           when you see somebody has died or somebody has gone bankrupt or somebody's house has burned,
           and you go and you sympathize and you say, 'It was very bad,' deep down there is a subtle
           satisfaction and pleasure. Because deep down you are feeling good that your house has not been
           burned, somebody else's has; that your wife has not died, somebody else's has; at least your child is
           still alive, somebody else's has died. God has not been so cruel to you. You feel a subtle joy.
                Whenever you sympathize or express condolence, watch. Or when you watch others doing that,
           just look deep down into their voice -- something else is also present; bound to be so. In your love,
           hatred is present. Even when you laugh, something deep down goes on crying within you. Your
           laughter is not pure; your laughter can be changed into crying very easily, your crying can be
           changed into laughter very easily. You know it. You love a person and you can hate him any
           moment. You were ready to die for him, and now you are ready to kill him. A friend can become foe
           any moment. Man is contradictory, schizophrenic.
           And the blind man said,
              'IN ALL MY EXPERIENCE, HOWEVER, BANKEI'S VOICE WAS ALWAYS SINCERE. WHENEVER
              HE EXPRESSED HAPPINESS, I HEARD NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS...'


               It was pure, uncontaminated by the opposite, uncorrupted, uncontradicted. It was simple. It was
           not complex. It was sincere.
              '...AND WHENEVER HE EXPRESSED SORROW, SORROW WAS ALL I HEARD.'


              This simplicity is the goal of Zen; this sincerity is the goal of Zen.
              I was reading a few lines of T. S. Eliot the other day:

              A CONDITION OF COMPLETE SIMPLICITY (COSTING NOT LESS THAN EVERYTHING) AND ALL
              SHALL BE WELL AND ALL MANNER OF THINGS SHALL BE WELL WHEN THE TONGUES OF
              FLAME ARE IN-FOLDED INTO THE CROWNED KNOT OF FIRE AND THE FIRE AND THE ROSE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ARE ONE.

               They express the very essence of Zen. AND THE FIRE AND THE ROSE ARE ONE. There
           comes a moment of simplicity when the energy that is invested in hatred and the energy that is
           invested in love are released from their polar opposites. AND THE FIRE AND THE ROSE ARE
           ONE.
               Then a man is simply simple. He has no contradictions in him. You can taste him; his taste is
           always the same. And whatsoever he does he does it totally -- there is no other way. He cannot do
           even a small thing without being total in it. Even a small gesture of his hand and he is totally there in
           that gesture. He looks at you and he is there in his look -- totally there. He touches you -- it is not
           only his hand that touches you, it is his whole being.
               Ordinarily we are manipulating things -- chairs, tables, a thousand and one things -- and we have
           forgotten that hands are meant for something more also, not just manipulating things. So when you
           touch your beloved's hand, you touch as if you were touching a table. You have forgotten that hands
           are not just to manipulate, they are to give also. The hands have become dead.
               When a man like Bankei touches, then you will know what touch is. He will flow through his
           touch totally into you; he will pour himself into you. His touch will be a gift, his look will be a gift,
           because he has attained. He has given the ultimate gift of his own being to himself -- AND THE
           FIRE AND THE ROSE ARE ONE.
               Listen to your heart, move according to your heart, whatsoever the stake:

              A CONDITION OF COMPLETE SIMPLICITY
              COSTING NOT LESS THAN EVERYTHING....


                To be simple is arduous, because to be simple it costs everything that you have. You have to lose
           all to be simple. That's why people have chosen to be complex and they have forgotten how to be
           simple.
                But only a simple heart throbs with God, hand in hand. Only a simple heart sings with God in
           deep harmony. To reach to that point you will have to find your heart, your own throb, your own
           beat.
                'THIS IS MY WAY,' Nietzsche used to say. 'WHERE IS YOURS? THUS I ANSWERED
           THOSE WHO ASKED ME THE WAY. FOR THE WAY...THAT DOES NOT EXIST.'
                'THIS IS MY WAY, WHERE IS YOURS? THUS I ANSWERED THOSE WHO ASKED ME
           THE WAY. FOR THE WAY...THAT DOES NOT EXIST.' Only ways exist -- THE way does not
           exist. Your way, my way, yes -- but THE way, no.
                Zen is an absolutely individual path. It is not a religion in the sense of Christianity, it is not a
           religion in the sense of any organization. One has to become individual. The word 'individual' is
           good. It simply means: one who cannot be divided. Indivisible means individual. You are not yet
           individuals because you are split. Become one and you will become individuals.
                Great is the stake, great is the risk, but it is worth it.




                                            Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Chapter #4
                                      Chapter title: When Grapes Are Sour
           14 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606140
              ShortTitle: DANG04
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              The first question:
              'HAPPINESS IS NOT BEING SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT TO WORRY ABOUT.'
           PLEASE COMMENT.

               This must have been said by a very unhappy man, and yet a very egoistic one. He cannot
           recognise the fact that unhappiness is created by being unintelligent. He is trying to save his ego. He
           is saying that the grapes are sour.
               To be unhappy no intelligence is needed. Everybody is capable of being unhappy but happiness
           is very, very rare. Great talent is needed. Not only intellect, intelligence is needed. Only rarely does a
           Buddha, a Krishna, become happy. It is almost impossible to be happy.
               So let us try to understand what unhappiness is. Unhappiness is the incapacity to understand life,
           the incapacity to understand oneself, the incapacity to create a harmony between you and the
           existence. Unhappiness is a discord between you and reality; something is in conflict between you
           and existence. Happiness is when nothing is in conflict -- when you are together, and you are
           together with existence also. When there is a harmony, when everything is flowing without any
           conflict, smooth, relaxed, then you are happy. Happiness is possible only with great understanding,
           an understanding like the peaks of the Himalayas. Less than that won't do
               Anybody is capable of being unhappy any moment, that's how the whole world is so unhappy. To
           be happy you will have to create such a great understanding about you and about the existence in
           which you exist, that everything falls in line, in deep accord, in rhythm. And between your energy
           and the energy that surrounds you a dance happens and you start moving in step with life.
               Happiness is when you disappear. Unhappiness is when you are too much. You are the discord,
           your absence will be the accord. Sometimes you have glimpses of happiness -- when by some
           accident you are not there. Looking at nature, or looking at the stars, or holding the hand of your
           beloved, or making love...in some moments you are not there. If you are there, even there there will
           be no happiness. If you are making love to your beloved and it is really as you express it, a 'making',
           then there will be no happiness.
               Love cannot be made. You can be in it or not in it, but there ii no way to make it. The English
           expression is ugly. To 'make love' is absurd. How can you make it? If the maker is there, the doer is
           there, the technician goes on existing. And if you are following some techniques from Masters and
           Johnson or Vatasyayana or some other source, and you are not lost in it, happiness will not happen.
           When you are lost you don't know where you are going, you don't know what you are doing, you are
           possessed by the whole, the part does not exist separate from the whole... then there is an orgasmic
           experience. That is what happiness is.
               For happiness you will need tremendous intelligence. And I say INTELLIGENCE, not intellect,
           knowingly. Intellect you can get from the market, intellect you can get from the books, intellect you
           can get from the university. Intellect is transferable, intellect is mechanical, intellect is of the
           bio-computer you call mind. Intelligence is not of the mind, intelligence is of the no-mind -- what
           Zen people call no-mind. Intelligence has nothing to do with information, knowledge; it has only one
           element and that element is of awareness.
               If you are intelligent then your life will be of happiness. Why is intelligence needed? Because
           life in itself is meaningless. Meaning is not something sitting there and you have just to reach and
           possess it. Meaning has to be created. People come to me and they ask,'What is the meaning of life?'
           As if life has any meaning. Life has no meaning -- that is the beauty of life. That's why it is freedom.
           You are free to create your own meaning and I am free to create my meaning. If life has a meaning
           then we will all be just slaves and that meaning will not be worth anything. Life is freedom. It does
           not impose any meaning on you; it simply gives you an opportunity to create your own meaning. The
           meaning has to be created. It is not like a thing that you can uncover, you will have to become your
           meaning, you will have to give a rebirth to yourself. That's why I say much intelligence is needed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Only when you feel meaning in life will you be happy, not before it.
               Life has no meaning in itself, you have to bring meaning into it. Life is just raw material, you
           have to create your meaning out of it. You have to create your God. God is not there waiting for you.
           You have to create it within your heart, within your innermost core of being. Only then will you be
           happy.
               To create meaning you will have to be a creator. Painters paint, create paintings; poets write,
           create poetry; dancers create dance... but these are all just fragments. A religious person creates
           himself; the religious person is the greatest artist there is. All other artists are just finding substitutes
           and one day or other they will become frustrated. You have written many poems, then one day you
           realise,'What is the point? Why go on writing?' You have painted, then one day suddenly you
           realise,'What is the point? For whom? For what?' One day you will die and all will be left and will
           disappear. So what is the point?
               Unless you feel a point of immortality in whatsoever you are doing you cannot be happy, and
           that point of immortality is felt only when you create immortality within yourself.
               Gurdjieff used to say, and very rightly, that man is not born with a soul. All other religions say
           that man is born with a soul, but Gurdjieff's saying is tremendously significant -- man is not born
           with a soul. And unless you create it you will not have any soul, you will exist empty and you will
           die empty. You will have to create it, that's why I say great intelligence is needed.
               This statement must have been made by someone who was very unhappy and yet so egoistic that
           he could not or would not recognise the fact that it is he who is creating his unhappiness. So he says,
           'HAPPINESS IS NOT BEING SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT TO WORRY ABOUT.' He is
           saying that to be happy one has to be ignorant, to be happy one has to be stupid. Then a Buddha is
           stupid, then a Jesus is stupid, then people who are in madhouses are the only intelligent people in the
           world.
               But this man is trying to save his ego. To be intelligent is arduous, it will need tremendous effort
           on your part. You will have to destroy much that is rubbish within you, you will have to create
           almost a fire of consciousness so that what is useless is burned and only that which is pure gold is
           saved. Very few people are ready to go through that hardship, through that discipline which creates
           intelligence. People want short-cuts.

              A man went to see his psychiatrist and said that every night he was visited by a ten-foot monster
           with two heads. And he was suffering tremendously, sleep was not possible, he was becoming more
           and more miserable and any day he could collapse. He had even thought about committing suicide.
              'Well, I think I might be able to cure you,' said the psychiatrist,'but I am afraid it will be a lengthy
           process and it will cost you about three hundred dollars.'
              'Three hundred dollars?' said the man.'Forget it! I will just go home and make friends with it.'

               That's how to be intelligent is so difficult and it costs so much. You have to put at stake
           whatsoever you have. It is a cross. In fact, you have to die to be intelligent because only when you
           are reborn will you be intelligent, not before it. And the cross has to be carried on one's own
           shoulders, nobody else can carry your cross. You will have to carry your cross to your own
           Golgotha, there is no other way. Many times you will stumble on the road, many times you will be
           so tired and exhausted that you will have to rest. Many times you will think that people who have
           never desired intelligence, awareness, are blessed.'What have I chosen?' Many times doubt and
           suspicion will arise in your mind.'Is there any goal or am I simply carrying a cross and wasting my
           life?' Many times you would like to go back to the world, many will be the temptations. But if you
           can stick it, if you can remain on the path against all odds, one day intelligence flowers.
               It is almost like a seed: the seed cannot know what is going to happen, the seed has never known
           the flower. And the seed cannot even believe that he has the potentiality to become a beautiful
           flower. Long is the journey, and it is always safer not to go on that journey because unknown is the
           path, nothing is guaranteed. Nothing can be guaranteed. Thousand and one are the hazards of the
           journey, many are the pitfalls -- and the seed is secure, hidden inside a hard core. But the seed tries,
           it makes an effort, it drops the hard shell which is its security, it starts moving. Immediately the fight
           starts: the struggle with the soil, with the stones, with the rocks. And the seed was very hard and the
           sprout will be very, very soft and dangers will be many.-
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There was no danger for the seed, the seed could have survived for millennia, but for the sprout
           many are the dangers. But the sprout starts: towards the unknown, towards the sun, towards the
           source of light, not knowing where, not knowing why. Great is the cross to be carried but a dream
           possesses the seed and the seed moves. One day.... And there is much competition: other trees are
           there, other plants are there, and he has to cross all of them because only then will the sun and the
           sky be available. And then, no one knows. But one day it flowers, it happens.
               The same is the path for man. It is arduous. Much courage will be needed.

               It is said about Dr. Albert Schweitzer that he was playing host to several European visitors at the
           hospital in Lambarene in French Equatorial Africa.
               'This heat is unbearable,' one of the visitors moaned.'What is the temperature?'
           'I don't know,' said Schweitzer.'I don't have a thermometer here.'
           'No thermometer?'
               'No,' replied the doctor. 'If I knew how hot it was I don't think I'd be able to endure it either.'

              People remain unintelligent because if you know, if you start understanding, it will be almost
           impossible to endure the life that you are living. You are living in hell.

               I have heard about a man, a very intellectual man, a philosopher, who died. He came naked
           before God and God opened the book of the life of the man. God went on to recount all the sins of
           the man written therein. The man had been guilty of practically all sins including cruelty, lack of
           charity, thievery, ingratitude, disloyalty, lust and lack of love. To all these charges the man
           answered, 'Even so did I.'
               Thereupon God closed the book of the life of the man and said, 'Surely, I will send you to hell.'
               The man said he could not do so because hell was where he had always lived.
               So then God, feeling a little disturbed that he could not send this man to hell, feeling almost
           impotent, not knowing what to do.... Because he was right -- how can you send a man to hell who
           has always lived in hell? So then God said he would send him to heaven -- -just to save his ego.
           And the man cried out,'Thou canst not!'
               And God said, 'Wherefore can I not send thee to heaven?'
               And the man answered and said, 'Because never, in no place, have I been able to imagine it.'
           And there was silence in the House of Judgement.

               How can you send a man to heaven who cannot even imagine it, who has never tasted it? How
           can you send a man to heaven who has not created it in his own soul? Impossible. He defeated God.
           Hell is not possible because he has lived there and there is no other hell. Heaven is not possible
           unless you create it. Unless you carry it within yourself you cannot find it anywhere.
               It is said in all the religious books of the world that saints go to heaven, but it is a half-statement.
           They go to heaven because they live in heaven; they go to heaven because they have created their
           heaven. In fact, to be in heaven, you will have to have heaven within you -- there is no other way.
               To be intelligent is to create your own heaven, is to create your own happiness, otherwise there is
           none. If you create it, you have it. It is just like breathing: if you breathe you are alive, if you don't
           breathe you are not alive. If you create happiness, you are happy; if you don't create, you are
           unhappy. Unhappiness needs no creativity on your part. Unhappiness is a negative state, it need not
           be created. Happiness is not negative, it is a positive state, it has to be created. Absence can be there
           but the presence has to be created.
               Remember it and don't become victims of such quotes. In the West there are many foolish
           statements in circulation. These statements may appear to be very penetrating -- they are not.

           The second question:


              DURING MY DANCING MEDITATION I KEPT HAVING FLASHES ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID
              CONCERNING THE SOCIETY, DRUGS, ETC. AND WONDERING THAT NOW THAT I AM
              INTOXICATED BY THE ULTIMATE DRUG, YOU, OSHO, CAN ANYONE TAKE THAT AWAY FROM
              ME? BRING ME DOWN FROM THAT ETERNAL HIGH?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               No one except you. You can destroy it, nobody else. It is totally your creation. You can destroy it
           or you can nourish it. Remember it, because it is very difficult to move on heights. We are not
           attuned for heights, we are attuned for crawling on the earth. That's why whenever you attain to a
           high you cannot remain on that altitude for long. Sooner or later you descend back into the dark
           valley of your life. Then it becomes just a memory. Not only that, it becomes a frustration because
           now you know that height is possible. And you have lost your path, you are back in the valley. In
           fact, you were better before, in a way -- you had not known the height, you had not known the light,
           so you were thinking that the valley is the only life. Now that you have tasted something you will
           never be at rest in the valley.
               So if you are feeling high, if you are touching some altitude within your consciousness, if some
           sky is opening, then be very careful because very fragile is the flower of consciousness -- very, very
           fragile. It can be destroyed in a single moment of unawareness. It needs lives together to create it and
           a single moment of unalertness to destroy it. It is very fragile.
               But nobody else can take it from you, that thing is certain, nobody can rob you of it. It is
           something within you. So you can be killed but it cannot be killed. It is absolutely yours. Even if I
           want to take it back from you, I cannot take it because, in fact, I have not given it to you. You have
           given it to yourself.
               My presence may have helped as a catalytic agent but that's all. Even I cannot take it back from
           you.
               But don't be satisfied with this -- that nobody can take it -- you can destroy it. The danger will
           come from you, the trouble will come from you. So don't look around for the enemy, look within. It
           is a great gift that you have given to yourself, now watch for the inner enemy: the anger, the hatred,
           the jealousy, the envy. They are watching. They are watching you flying so high, they are getting
           ready to pull you down, to pull you back to the valley where they think you belong. Watch there --
           the enemy is within just as the friend is within.
               Mahavir has said that you are your enemy if you are not alert, you are your friend if you are alert.
               A great treasure is happening to you. You cannot remain unconscious as you were before
           because before you had no treasure, there was nothing to be guarded. Now the more you grow inside,
           the more you will have to guard, to protect.

           The third question:


              I KEPT WONDERING WHAT YOU MEANT ABOUT OUR HAVING TO GO ASTRAY -- WONDERING
              WHAT I WOULD HAVE TO DO, AND THEN SUDDENLY REALISED, WE ARE ASTRAY.'


               True. A great insight has happened to you. Man is astray. The sin is not to be committed, it has
           already been committed. That is the meaning of the Christian parable that Adam committed the sin --
           the first man. Man is born astray, that is the meaning of it, we are already in sin.
               The word 'sin' is very, very beautiful. The original root from which it comes means 'missing the
           target'. Sin does not mean sin, it simply means missing the target.
               We have gone astray, from the very beginning man is astray, so there;s nothing for you to do to
           go astray. Wherever you are you are missing your goal, your target. You don't know who you are,
           you don't know why you are, you don't know where you are headed -- and for what. You just go on
           like driftwood, wherever the winds carry you.
               Remember, this is the first realisation,'I am astray,' which will make you come back to the path.
           The moment Adam realised,'I have committed the sin,' he was returning back home. The moment
           you realise that whatsoever you are and wherever you are you are wrong.... It is very difficult to
           realise it because the mind tries to protect, to rationalise. The mind belongs to the world. It goes on
           protecting you -- not exactly you but your 'astrayness'. You will have to drop all protections, all
           rationalisations. Once you understand that you are astray, you suddenly realise that you have nothing
           to save in this world -- the wealth, the power, the prestige, nothing is of worth. It is all rubbish. And
           you are losing something tremendously valuable for rubbish; you are selling yourself and purchasing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           toys; you are destroying the possibility of creating a soul for nothing.
                This is a basic realisation, the first breakthrough. Feel happy about it if you have recognised the
           fact that you are astray, if you have recognised the fact that you are wrong -- not wrong in any
           particular way, but in a general sense. Not wrong because you are angry, not wrong because you are
           full of hatred, not wrong because you have done this or that -- not in any particular way but in a
           general sense one feels one is astray. Then only the door opens for growth, then suddenly you start
           looking in another dimension. Then you don't look out, you start looking in because whatsoever you
           do outside will lead you more and more away. The more you chase shadows outside, the more you
           will be losing yourself in the world.
                One starts closing one's eyes, one starts feeling and touching one's being. The first thing to know
           is 'who am I?' -- everything else is secondary. And if this basic thing is solved, if this basic problem
           is solved, if this basic mystery is penetrated, then all else is solved automatically. And if you don't
           solve this, and you don't answer the basic quest of man -- 'Who am I?' -- 'then whatsoever you do is
           irrelevant.
                What are you doing? You are not trying to realise yourself, you are trying to compete with
           others. Nobody is trying to be oneself, everybody is trying to defeat the other. The whole world lives
           like a competitive madhouse: somebody purchases a car, now you have to purchase a car, and a
           bigger one. You may not need it but now your ego is hurt. Somebody makes a big house, now you
           have to make one, and a bigger one. This is how life goes on being wasted. Why should you be
           worried what others are doing? That is their thing to do; if they feel good, let them do it. You should
           look at your own need.
                But there are two types of people ordinarily: one who is competing with others and another type
           who goes on condemning others that they are doing wrong. Both are wrong. Who are you to decide?
           If somebody is making a big house, who are you to decide if he is doing right or wrong? It is none of
           your concern. It is for him to think about. You should only think about whether what you are doing
           is for you to do.
                People go to absurd lengths in competition, and people go on dying every day. One day death
           possesses you, then you remember that your whole life was wasted with fighting others. And it was
           pointless. You should have put your whole energy into realising yourself.

           I have heard a very beautiful anecdote.
               A Catholic church and a synagogue happened to be on opposite sides of the same street. And a
           rivalry sprang up between the parish priest and the rabbi. When the church was repainted, the
           synagogue had to be stuccoed. When the priest organised a parish procession of one thousand
           witnesses through the town, the rabbi organised a procession of two thousand of the faithful.
               The priest bought a new car, so the rabbi bought a bigger one. Then the priest had a solemn
           ceremony outside his church of blessing his new car and the rabbi came out with a large pair of
           pliers, went up to his car and cut three inches off the exhaust pipe.

               Circumcision! People go on to absurd lengths. One has to defeat the other anyhow. One has to
           take over the other.
               Remember, this foolishness is very ingrained in humanity, and unless you drop this foolishness
           you will not be able to know yourself, you will not be able to come back home. You will go on
           moving more and more further away, becoming more and more astray. And one day suddenly you
           will realise that the whole edifice has collapsed. It was foundationless, you were making a house of
           cards. A small breeze came and everything disappeared. Or, you were trying to sail in a paper boat.
               Man as he is, is simply living in a dream -- the dream of the ego, ambition, power, prestige. The
           religious man is one who has come to understand that all this is going astray.

                One day it happened that I was at Mulla Nasruddin's house. Mulla Nasruddin's teenager son had
           dented a fender of the family car.
           'What did your father say when you told him?' I asked him.
           'Should I leave out the cuss words?' he said.
           'Yes, of course.'
           'In that case,' said the boy,'he did not say a word.'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               One day when you look back on your life you will not see a single act that was intelligent -- all
           were stupidities, foolishnesses. You will feel simply ashamed. The sooner you realise it, the better.
               This is what SANNYAS is all about: a recognition that the way you have lived up to now was
           absurd; a gesture that you would like to discontinue with your past. By changing the name and by
           changing the dress nothing is changed, it is a simple gesture that now you feel ashamed with the old
           identity. It was so foolish that it is better to forget all about it. A new nucleus, a new name, so you
           can start afresh.
               And it is easier to drop the past than to renovate it. It is easier to be completely cut off from the
           past rather than to modify it. You can paint a foolish thing, you can modify it, but you cannot make it
           wise -- it will remain foolish. It is better to drop it.
               So if this recognition has come to you that we are astray, feel blessed, and don't forget it.
           Remember it continuously. Unless you have come back to the path, go on remembering it. Just
           recognising it once won't do, you will have to live it, remember it for a long time continuously, again
           and again, so the hammering continues -- whatsoever you have done in the past, it is finished.
               At least if you remember that it was all wrong... and I say ALL wrong. Don't try to decide that a
           few things were good. I insist: either ALL things are wrong or ALL things are right. There is no
           other way. It is not possible that a foolish man can do a few things that are right. And the vice versa
           is also not possible that a wise man can do a few things that are wrong. A wise man does ALL right
           and a fool goes on doing ALL wrong. But the fool would like to choose at least a few things right,
           the fool would say,'Yes, I have done many things wrong, but not all.' Then those things that he saves
           and says were right will become the centre for his ego again. So be totally frustrated with your past.
               Fritz Perls used to say that all therapy is nothing but skillful frustration. The great therapist is one
           who goes on frustrating you skillfully -- that's what I am doing here. I have to show you that
           whatsoever you have been doing was wrong, because only that understanding can save you. Once
           you recognise that the whole past was wrong, you simply drop it, you don't bother to choose. There
           is nothing to choose. It all came out of your unawareness and it was all wrong. Your hatred was
           wrong, your love also; your anger was wrong, your compassion also. If you seek deep down you will
           always find wrong reasons for your compassion and wrong reasons for your love. A foolish man is
           foolish and whatsoever he does is foolish.
               So it will have to be remembered continuously, it should become a constant remembrance --
           what Buddha used to call mindfulness. One should remain mindful so it is not repeated again.
           Because only mindfulness will protect and you will not be able to repeat your past again -- otherwise
           the mind tends to repeat it.
           The fourth question:


              OSHO, I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH CHUANG TZU, WITH JOSHU, WITH MUMON, WITH
              BODHIDHARMA. HOW CAN I NOT FOLLOW THEM? I FEEL ALREADY THEY HAVE
              TRANSFORMED ME. HOW CAN I NOT BE THANKFUL?

              Let me tell you one anecdote first.

               When Rabbi Nor, Rabbi Moudekai's son, assumed the succession after his father's death, his
           disciples noted that there were a number of ways in which he conducted himself differently to his
           father, and asked him about this.
               'I do just as my father did,' he replied.'He did not imitate and I do not imitate.'

               Meditate over this anecdote. He said,'I do just as my father did. He did not imitate and I do not
           imitate.' If you really understand Joshu, Bodhidharma or me, you will not imitate -- because I have
           not imitated, because Bodhidharma never imitated anybody.
               Joshu used to say to his disciples,'If you utter Buddha's name, go and rinse your mouth
           immediately.' Joshu also used to say,'If you meet the Buddha on the way, kill him immediately.' And
           he used to worship Buddha every day.
               Ordinarily Zen looks puzzling, but it is clear-cut. It is following Buddha. When Joshu says,'If
           you meet the Buddha on the way kill him,' he is a right disciple because that was Buddha's essential
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           message. When Buddha was dying, his last utterance in this world was,'APPO DEEPO BHAVA' --
           'Be a light unto yourself.' Don't follow anybody. Anand was crying, weeping because Buddha was
           leaving the body and he said to Buddha,'You are leaving and I have not yet become enlightened.
           What about me? What will happen to me? The world will be absolutely dark for me -- you were the
           light. And now you are going. Have compassion on us.' Buddha opened his eyes and said,'APPO
           DEEPO BHAVA. Be a light unto yourself, Anand, nobody can be a light for you.'
               When Joshu says,'Kill the Buddha if you meet him on the way,' he is a true follower of Buddha.
           In Zen, following is very, very delicate. Great intelligence will be needed if you want to be a
           follower of Zen. It is very easy to be a Christian or a Hindu; it is very mathematical. To follow Zen it
           is very, very delicate and poetic -- because the very following means not following; because that is
           the message of the Zen Masters, don't follow.

               It is reported that it happened in China that a Zen Master had organised a great celebration.
           People asked him about it because that type of celebration was only arranged at one's Master's
           birthday. Nobody had ever known this man to follow anybody. He had been to a certain Master but it
           was known that the Master had refused to accept him as a disciple. So for whom was he celebrating?
               He said,'Because that Master refused to accept me as his disciple, he is my Master.'
               They said,'We don't follow. What do you mean? When he refused, he refused. He never accepted
           you as his disciple.'
               He said,'That's why I am celebrating. If he had accepted me I would have been lost. He threw me
           to me, to myself. He said, "Be a light unto yourself." When he rejected, he accepted me. He said, "I
           will not allow you to imitate me. I will not allow you to become a disciple of mine. I will not allow
           you to become an imitator, a carbon copy." His compassion was great, he loved me tremendously,
           that's why he rejected me.'

                Zen is a little difficult to understand; its ways are very poetic, zig-zag. Christianity is like a
           super-highway; Zen is more like a zig-zag labyrinth in a forest. It turns, moves, sometimes in this
           direction, sometimes in that, sometimes in almost the opposite direction -- you were going to the east
           and suddenly you turn and start moving to the west. But that's how it is and that's how it should be,
           because life is not mathematics and life is not like a super-highway. Life is wild. In fact, no path
           exists -- you walk and you create your own path.
                The questioner has said, I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH CHUANG TZU.... Good, but
           falling in love with Chuang Tzu means falling in love with oneself. If you want to follow Chuang
           Tzu you will have to follow yourself, there is no other way. People like Chuang Tzu don't give you
           ordinary commandments, they don't give you ten commandments -- do this, don't do that. They don't
           give you a morality. In fact, they don't give you any discipline, they simply impart their awareness,
           because they know that any commandment, any fixed commandment, is going to become a slavery
           to you, it will not liberate you. And life changes so much that something that is right this moment
           may not be right the next moment, and you will be caught in your discipline. Discipline is rigid,
           discipline is dead, discipline never changes, discipline is not a process. Once fixed, it is fixed
           forever. Look at the Judaic ten commandments. Moses fixed them, he brought these commandments
           written on a stone, slabs of stone, dead. Now Jews and Christians have followed them and you may
           not improve upon them, you may not change them. Life goes on changing. They have become a dead
           weight and nobody follows them, but still people go on paying lip service to them.
                Zen Masters have not given any rigid discipline to anybody. They simply impart their awareness.
           They say,'You be aware and you will find your discipline moment to moment.'
           I have heard, it happened.
                The sales manager believed in super-efficiency.'Jones,' he said to the new traveller,'you will take
           the nine forty-five to Leeds. Your task there will take you two hours and fifty minutes and you will
           have time for a sandwich and a cup of tea in the station buffet before catching the three forty-five to
           Manchester. At Manchester go straight to Mennin and Company and get the details of that order.
           That will take you thirty-five minutes which will enable you to catch the five-thirty back here. Is that
           all clear?'
           'Yes, sir,' said the helpless representative. And off he went.
                But at one the sales manager was enraged to receive a telegram from the new salesman which
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           read: 'Leeds buffet out of sandwiches. Stop. What shall I do?'

               This is going to happen. If details are so important, this is going to happen.
               Zen Masters have not given any details. They simply impart their awareness and say,'You be
           aware. Awareness will show you the way in each moment. What is needed, you will know. Respond
           knowingly, alert, that's all.' How can it be decided beforehand what you should do? Who knows?
           Each circumstance is so unique that it is difficult to decide. And people who decide always encage
           humanity, imprison humanity.
               Zen is a path of liberation. It liberates. It is freedom from the first step to the last. You are not
           required to follow any rules; you are required to find out your own rules and your own life in the
           light of awareness.
               So keep your light of awareness there, keep your lamp burning -- that's all. Then you know what
           to do, where to move, where not to move. Once a rigid discipline is given it makes you a prisoner.
               So if you love Bodhidharma you are falling in a very dangerous love. If you love me you have
           fallen in a very dangerous love. I am not going to give you any rigid discipline. People ordinarily
           expect everything ready-made. They want somebody else to fix their lives -- because that's how they
           have been brought up. Everybody says to them from the very childhood,'Do this, don't do that.' They
           have lived on do's and don't's. From the mothers milk they have received commandments and they
           don't know, if they are left to themselves, what to do. Even if sometimes they want to be left by
           themselves -- because there is a deep urge to be free -- they don't know what to do. Again they will
           start finding somebody to lead them. People have been forced to become followers. You are not
           being trusted to become your own leader and your own follower.
               Zen is a way which makes you the follower and the master. The Master is there just to indicate:
           subtle indications, very indirect. And if you are looking for rigid rules you are looking in a wrong
           direction.
               And remember, you say that you have fallen in love with them, how can you not follow them?
           Love does not force anybody to follow: love wants to make you free, love wants to give you
           freedom. In fact, the person who is forcing you to follow him may be on an ego trip himself, may be
           trying to dominate you, may be trying to destroy you, may be trying to cripple you. No, people who
           have known don't destroy you. They help you to be yourself, they don't force you to follow them.
           They only want you to understand them. That's enough. Understanding is more than enough.
           Nothing else is needed.
               Imitation is a substitute for understanding, and a very poor substitute. If understanding is there,
           there is no question of imitating or of following: you will follow understanding. Keep this very clear:
           if you follow your understanding, you will be following me. By and by you will see that your path
           and my path are running parallel. By and by you will see that you are following me if you follow
           your understanding. If you follow me and forget your understanding sooner or later you will see that
           I am gone and you are left in darkness. The real way to follow me is not to follow me but to follow
           your understanding -- then even when I am gone you will be following me. It looks paradoxical but
           Zen is paradoxical.
               HOW CAN I NOT FOLLOW THEM? I FEEL THAT ALREADY THEY HAVE
           TRANSFORMED ME THROUGH YOU. HOW CAN I NOT BE THANKFUL? Be thankful, be
           grateful, but there is no need to follow them or imitate them.
               Gratefulness is a totally different thing. Thankfulness is a totally different thing than following a
           person. Gratitude is needed, it is good to be grateful, it will help you to flower. Gratitude never
           cripples anybody, but if just because of gratitude you think that you have to follow, then already you
           have destroyed gratitude, already you have destroyed the freedom, the flowering that gratitude gives
           to you, already you have started to pay.
               If you think by following, you are paying a debt, then you are not grateful, you are bargaining.
               One day suddenly you will see that you have paid enough. Or you may even get annoyed that
           you have paid more than enough. And if you are paying your Master in any way trying to pay the
           debt -- then you don't love your Master, because these things cannot be returned back, there is no
           way. You can pay everybody else back but you can never pay your Master back -- because it is not a
           bargain, it is not a commodity. He gives you out of his fullness, he gives you because he has too
           much and he does not know what to do with it, he gives you because he has to give -- in fact, he is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           grateful to you that you accept it, he is grateful to you that you didn't reject his gift. You could have
           rejected it. It is such a deep exchange that the Master is grateful to the disciple that the disciple
           accepted his gift, and the disciple is grateful to the Master that he thought him worthy. But there is
           no returning, you cannot pay it back. That would be almost profane, a sacrilege.
               Be grateful, be thankful forever and ever, but don't try to make it a duty -- that because you are
           grateful you have to follow -- otherwise sooner or later you will get very angry. If you are grateful
           towards me because you have to be, then sooner or later you will be angry also.
               Duty is not a good word, it is a four-letter dirty word. Love is religious; duty is social. Love is
           spiritual; duty is moral. Love is of the transcendental; duty is legal. You serve your mother because
           you say,'This is my duty.' Better not serve her, leave her and let her die, but don't call it duty, it is
           ugly. If it is love, from where does this word 'duty' come in? Duty is something forced upon you;
           reluctantly you have to do it, it is a social obligation, a commitment. It is because she is your mother
           that you have to do it -- not because of love. If you love her then you serve her, but then service has a
           fragrance. You are not burdened, deep down you are not thinking about when she is going to die,
           deep down you are not planning that when she dies you will be finished with this burden. You are
           flowing, flowing while you are serving her; you are enjoying it, it is a delight that your mother is still
           alive. When your wife is just your wife and not your beloved, then it is a duty, but when you love
           your wife, then it is different.

             A friend of Mulla Nasruddin was talking to him. He said,'My wife is an angel.'
           Mulla said,'But mine is still alive.'

              We don't love each other, we have forgotten the language of love.
              Feel thankful, feel loving, deep in gratitude, but go on your way. Try to create more awareness
           and understanding and intelligence. Radiate with intelligence to express your gratitude -- there is no
           other way.
           The fifth question:

              I HAVE GOT A FUTURE-EGO. IT KEEPS TELLING ME WHAT A SUPER PERSON I AM GOING TO
              TURN OUT TO BE IN A FEW YEARS' TIME WHEN I AM FINISHED WITH THIS TRIP. IT IS VERY
              SMUG AND IN THE MEANTIME, LIKE RIGHT NOW, IT IS PRETENDING TO BE SO HUMBLE, SO
              MALLEABLE, SO ADAPTABLE, AND SO UNTOUCHABLE. COULD YOU HELP ME TO GET AT IT?
              IT IS BUGGING ME.


               Who is this me?
           If you think the ego is bugging you, who are you? It is again an ego trip. Now the ego is taking a
           very subtle form. When the ego is not, you are not. Ego is all that defines you, that makes you say 'i'
           or 'me'. Ego is your definition, your boundary, ego divides you from others. It is ego, that's why you
           can say 'i' and 'you'. If the ego disappears, who is 'i' and who is 'you'?
               Now you are taking a very subtle form. You say the ego is bugging you. Who are you then? Just
           see the point. If you don't see the point you can go on playing the game ad infinitum. You can
           become humble and the ego will be there. You can even become egoless and the ego will be there.
           Ego is very subtle and very cunning are its ways.

               A psychiatrist once asked his patient, Mulla Nasruddin, if the latter suffered from fantasies of
           self-importance.
               'No,' replied the Mulla.'On the contrary, I think of myself as much less than I really am.'

                Now you are going on a very pious trip. The ego can become pious. It can become so humble
           that nobody can feel it. You may even start feeling,'Now it is not bugging me,' but if 'me' is there, it
           is there.
                The poison has become very purified but a purified poison is more poisonous. That's why
           ordinary people have ordinary egos, but the so-called religious people have pious egos -- they are
           more dangerous.
                And you say, I HAVE GOT A FUTURE-EGO. No, the ego is always of the past, it cannot be of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the future. Even when you are thinking of the future it is nothing but projected past. Even if you are
           thinking,'Tomorrow I am going to become the greatest man in the world,' the idea of the greatest
           man and the idea of the tomorrow both come from your past. The past accumulated is the substance
           of the ego. In the past many things were happy and many things were unhappy -- in the future you
           will like to modify. You would like to drop all that was unpleasant and you would like to collect all
           that was pleasant. That is your future ego, but it is not future, it is simply the past reshuffled, chosen
           again, selected. In the past there were many things you did not like -- in the future you will drop
           them. But the ego belongs to the past, ego IS of the past, ego is a ghost following you -- it comes
           from the past. And it is always dead.
                Just think: if you have no past, can you have any ego? Meditate over it. If your mind is suddenly
           completely washed of the past -- now there are techniques available, mindwashing techniques -- if
           your mind is completely washed of the past will you have any ego? How will you have an ego? You
           will again become like a child, again innocent, you will again have to start from ABC. Again you
           will create an ego because mindwashing cannot help, the roots are deeper. The seeds are hidden
           very, very deep inside you; they will again sprout, again the tree of the ego will start spreading. But
           it is of the ego, it is of the past.
                You don't know the future so how can you think about it? You can only think about the past
           redecorated, refined, modified.
                IT KEEPS TELLING ME WHAT A SUPER PERSON I WILL TURN OUT TO BE IN A FEW
           YEARS' TIME WHEN I AM FINISHED WITH THIS TRIP. If this is a trip, you will never be
           finished with it. You may be finished with this but then you will choose another trip. Trips never
           end, they never come to any end -- one changes one train for another, one town for another, one
           master for another, one religion for another, but the trip continues. If this is not a trip, only then can
           it end. If to be with me has nothing to do with the future, if to be with me is of the present, if you are
           here now with me, then it is not a trip. We are not going anywhere -- at least, I'm not going
           anywhere. You may be but I'm not going anywhere. So with me there is going to be no trip. If you
           want to be with me you have to drop all trips.
                SANNYAS is not a trip. It is an understanding in which you drop all the trips, in which you
           say,'Now I have arrived. Finished. Now I am not going anywhere. Now there is no future and no
           desire to go anywhere. Now I have to come to terms with the present, now I will be living in the
           herenow.'
                If SANNYAS is also a trip for you then it is not going to help much. It will become like other
           trips, sooner or later you will be fed up with it, frustrated with it. Every trip is going to end in a
           frustration, no trip can fulfil you, because the fulfillment is in the herenow. A trip is directed
           somewhere else. A trip is desire, hope. And fulfillment is not a desire, not a hope; fulfillment is just
           to be herenow and just to accept the way you are, the being you are.
                And start enjoying. I am not preparing you for any subtle enjoyment in the future, my whole
           method is to enjoy it right now. Who knows? There may be no future. Why waste this moment?
           Enjoy, delight! There is no need to sacrifice this moment for any other moment, because any other
           moment, if it is ever to come, is going to be just like this moment. So why sacrifice this moment? I
           am against all sacrifice. I don't tell you to sacrifice the present for the future -- that has been told to
           you by your parents, your teachers, your educational system, your society. They all say sacrifice the
           present for the future. I say don't sacrifice anything. Live it, delight in it, so that you can learn how to
           be blissful. Once you know it, even in the future you will be able to delight.
                Those moments are going to be the same, can't you see the fact? In the past it is the same time. In
           fact, the very idea that time is passing is stupid. We are in time, nothing is passing. It is our desire
           that gives the delusion of passing time. Once you drop the desire suddenly you start laughing:
           nothing is passing, everything IS. It is the same, it has always been the same, it will always be the
           same. It is the same eternity surrounding you like an ocean. Live in it, enjoy it. Through enjoyment
           you will become capable of more enjoyment -- more brings more. The richer people become richer,
           poorer people become poorer. Says Jesus -- a very Zen saying -- that if you have, more will be given
           to you, and if you don't have, even that will be taken away. Very anti-communist, very Zen. If you
           have, more will be given to you. And if you don't have, even that will be taken away from you. It
           looks unjust.
                But Jesus' saying is tremendous truth. Yes, that is the truth, one of the most fundamental. If you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have, more will be given to you because you will create the capacity by having it. Nobody is going
           to give unless you have more capacity.
                Have you watched? If you don't use a machine, it lasts. If a watch is guaranteed for ten years and
           you don't use it too much it will last for twenty years, thirty years.
                But just the opposite is the case with life. If you don't use it, it will not last more, it will simply
           disappear from you. If you don't use your legs, legs will disappear; if you don't use your eyes, eyes
           will disappear; if you don't use your awareness, awareness will disappear. That's why man is not a
           machine. Don't use the machine and it lasts longer; don't use man, don't use your potentiality, don't
           use your body-mind, and you will start disappearing.
                It is life's nature -- the more you use it, the more you get.
                Enjoy, otherwise your capacity to enjoy will disappear, will be atrophied, paralysed. And
           tomorrow you will be there paralysed, atrophied -- then who is going to enjoy tomorrow?
                Omar Khayam says that he is worried about these religious people. They say that in heaven wine
           is flowing in streams -- Mohammedans say that -- but they prohibit wine here on the earth. So Omar
           Khayam says,'I am very much worried about these people. If they don't get accustomed here, how
           are they going to enjoy heaven? And in heaven there are beautiful women, but these religious people
           say don't enjoy them here. That is a sin.' Omar Khayam seems to be absolutely logical. He
           says,'What will you be doing there?'

                When I was reading Omar Khayam I remembered an anecdote. Two old women were talking --
           eighty years old. One woman said to the other, 'Are you aware or not that your husband is chasing
           girls?' She said,'I know it, but let him chase them. He is like a dog who chases a car but when he gets
           it, he cannot drive it.'

               So these religious people, if they enter heaven some day, they will be like dogs chasing cars.
           Once they get it, they don't know what to do, they cannot drive it!
               Enjoy. Heaven is not in the future, it is herenow, already present. It is your surround. The more
           you enjoy, the more you become capable of enjoying.
               Yes, Jesus is right. If you have, more will be given to you; if you don't have, even that will be
           taken away from you.
               And when I say these things, remember, everything is addressed to you personally. The mind is
           very cunning. If I say something you can always rationalise that I am saying it to somebody else.
           This is not your question certainly, so I am addressing it to somebody else -- you can laugh and
           enjoy. The question may be anybody's but my answer is addressed to you personally. Never think of
           the neighbour; think only of yourself.

           I will tell you one anecdote.
               Father Loran was delivering his Sunday sermon.'Someday' he said,'every man in this parish will
           die.'
               Suddenly the priest heard MacLean laughing in the third row, but he continued.'As I was saying,
           every man in this parish will die.' Again MacLean began chortling.
               Father Loran looked at him and said,'Why, why do you laugh when I say everyone in this parish
           will die someday?'
           'Ha Ha!' exclaimed MacLean.'I am not from this parish.'

           Remember it!

           The sixth question:


              YESTERDAY IN YOUR DISCOURSE YOU SAID THAT ONE HAS TO CHOOSE THE PATH BEST
              SUITED TO ONE'S TEMPERAMENT -- EITHER THE PATH OF MEDITATION OR THE PATH OF
              THE HEART -- BUT I DO NOT FEEL BOTH PATHS TO BE TOTALLY SEPARATE. CAN ONE
              TRAVEL A PATH THAT IS SOMEHOW A FUSION OF THE TWO?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Never heard of it. A fusion is not possible and in the name of fusion only a dead compromise will
           happen.
                The directions are so totally, diametrically, opposite. If you love, you will have to use
           imagination, dreams, all the faculties of dreaming, of auto-hypnosis. If you meditate, you will have
           to drop all the dreaming faculties, auto-hypnosis, imagination, love -- everything you have to drop.
           But don't be afraid. If meditation happens, in the end you will find that love simply follows. And
           then that love is totally different from that love that you were trying to fuse with in the beginning. It
           is totally different. It comes out of your meditation, out of your silence. It has no desire in it, no
           passion in it. It is cool. It is not a disturbance, it is not an excitement, it has no madness in it.
                And if you follow the path of love, one day meditation will come, and the meditation will be
           totally different to what you can think of right now. That meditation will not be dry like a desert, it
           will be like an oasis. That meditation will not make you renounce the world, it will make you
           capable of enjoying and delighting in it more. That meditation will not be against love.
                But you have to follow one path. A fusion is not possible because both paths move in different
           directions, use different techniques.
                And if you make a fusion, who will be making it? You will be making the fusion. What is your
           understanding? How can you synthesise? Synthesis is possible only when you have gone beyond.
           When you have become greater than love and meditation both, then you can synthesise -- not before
           it. A Buddha can synthesise, but he never synthesises because he knows that synthesis has happened
           in him. And if he synthesises it will not be of use to anybody. It will be simply useless, abstract. He
           insists on the path of meditation -- so much so that he has to deny the path of love; he has to say that
           it is absolutely wrong. If he says,'Not absolutely wrong,' then you will start thinking,'Then why not
           move on both? Why not be safe? Who knows which is right? So be clever.' But your cleverness will
           help only your ego-confusion to persist and nothing else.

               I have heard. George M. Pullman decided to build a model community on the outskirts of
           Chicago many years ago. It was during the early part of 1880 and the Pullman Company had
           purchased more than four thousand acres of prairie, twelve miles south of the Chicago business
           district. On this tract there were going to be constructed shops and a town to house almost ten
           thousand people.
               Mr. Pullman engaged the services of Solon Spencer Berman, a well-known New York architect,
           who was to be the master designer of the master-town which was to be completed in 1884.
               As the town was nearing completion Berman was so proud of his new city with its public
           buildings, residences, paved streets, paths, playgrounds, freeway system and water-supply that he
           went to Mr. Pullman one day and suggested that it would be quite appropriate to name the city
           'berman' after its architect.
               Pullman freely admitted that Berman was a pretty name and that Berman had done a great deal to
           bring his dream to fruition but in response to Berman's request he said,
               'Berman, I will compromise with you. We will use the first syllable of my name and the second
           syllable of your name. The city will be called Pullman.'

               This is how ego goes on trying for its own way. It was going to be called Pullman anyway; now
           he shows that he has made a compromise -- he has taken in half of the name of the architect.
               Don't be clever otherwise you will remain the same, you will not change. Half-techniques on the
           path of love and half-techniques on the path of meditation will create much confusion in you. They
           will not help. They may destroy you. You may go berserk.
               It is as if you are trying two different'-pathies' together: allopathy and ayurvedic. It can be
           dangerous. Or allopathy and naturopathy, it can be dangerous. Their whole understanding is
           different, their gestalt is different. Both work, but they are complete systems. Once you accept one it
           is better to accept that and don't bother to create any synthesis on your own.
               Why does this idea of synthesis arise? Because you are so confused you cannot understand which
           path is your path. Rather than recognising your confusion you start creating a compromise. Drop all
           idea of compromise, just recognise that you are confused. These are the three possibilities: one, the
           person knows well that he is a man of the path of love, or, second, he knows that he is the man of the
           path of meditation, or, one knows the third possibility -- that he is confused.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If the first two are the case then there is no need; if the third is the case then I am here to help
           you. But to ask for help is against the ego, so you try to compromise. This compromise will be more
           dangerous, it will confuse you more, because, made out of confusion, it will create more confusion.
               So try to understand why you hanker for compromise. Sooner or later you will be able to
           understand that compromise is not going to help. And compromise may be a way of not going in
           either direction, or it may be just a repression of your confusion. It will assert itself. Never repress
           anything, be clearcut about your situation. And if you are confused, remember that you are confused.
           This will be the first clear-cut thing about you: that you are confused. You have started on the
           journey.

           I have heard.
               A friend of Mulla Nasruddin said to him,'Come and have a drink.'
               Mulla Nasruddin came up and took a drink of whisky.
               'How is this, Mulla?' asked a bystander.'How can you drink whisky? Sure it was only yesterday
           ye told me ye was a teetotaller.'
               'Well,' said Nasruddin,'you are right. I am a teetotaller, it is true, but I am not a bigotted one.'

              People go on finding some way or other. But on the path of growth these deceptions are not
           good.

           Another anecdote.
                Flagherty sneaked into the room and started making love to his sleeping wife until she awakened
           and shouted,'Is that you?'
           'It better be,' snorted Flagherty.
                'When are you gonna stop this sinning?' she demanded.'Moody quit smoking, Paine stopped
           gambling, what are you gonna give up? 'All right,' said Flagherty through bloodshot eyes, 'from now
           on, you sleep in the bedroom and I will sleep in the spare room.'
                Three weeks went by with Mrs. Flagherty sleeping alone. Finally, unable to contain herself for
           one night more, she tip-toed to the spare room and tapped lightly on the door.
           'What is it?' shouted Flagherty.
                'I just wanted to tell yer,' said his wife,'that Moody has started smoking again.'

               You cannot repress anything. Howsoever subtle are your ways you cannot repress anything, you
           will have to face it. If you are confused, face it.

           The last question:

              ARE YOU THE TRICK OR THE TREAT?


              Po!




                                            Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Chapter #5
                                     Chapter title: Two Ladies And A Monk
           15 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606150
              ShortTitle: DANG05
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN IN CHINA WHO HAD SUPPORTED A MONK FOR OVER TWENTY
              YEARS. SHE HAD BUILT A HUT FOR HIM, AND SHE FED HIM WHILE HE WAS MEDITATING.



              ONE DAY SHE DECIDED TO FIND OUT JUST WHAT PROGRESS HE HAD MADE IN ALL THIS
              TIME.



              SHE OBTAINED THE HELP OF A GIRL RICH IN DESIRE, AND SAID TO HER: 'GO AND EMBRACE
              HIM, AND THEN ASK HIM SUDDENLY, "WHAT NOW?"'



              THE GIRL CALLED UPON THE MONK AND IMMEDIATELY STARTED CARESSING HIM, AND
              ASKING HIM WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO ABOUT IT.
              'AN OLD TREE GROWS ON A ROCK IN WINTER,' REPLIED THE MONK SOMEWHAT
              POETICALLY, 'NOWHERE IS THERE ANY WARMTH.'



              THE GIRL RETURNED AND RELATED WHAT HE HAD SAID.
              'TO THINK I FED THAT FELLOW FOR TWENTY YEARS!' EXCLAIMED THE OLD WOMAN IN
              ANGER. 'HE SHOWED NO CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR NEED,NO DISPOSITION TO EXPLAIN
              YOUR CONDITION. HE NEED NOT HAVE RESPONDED TO PASSION, BUT AT LEAST HE
              SHOULD HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME COMPASSION.'



              SHE AT ONCE WENT TO THE HUT OF THE MONK AND BURNT IT DOWN.


              An ancient proverb says:

           SOW A THOUGHT, REAP AN ACT. SOW AN ACT, REAP A HABIT. SOW A HABIT, REAP A
           CHARACTER. SOW A CHARACTER, REAP A DESTINY.

               And I say to you: sow nothing, and reap meditation or love.
               Sowing nothing -- that's what meditation is all about. And its natural consequence is love. If, at
           the end of the journey of meditation, love has not flowered, then the whole journey has been futile.
           Something went wrong somewhere. You started but you never reached.
               Love is the test. For the path of meditation, love is the test. They are two sides of one coin, two
           aspects of the same energy. When one is there, the other has to be there. If the other is not there, then
           the first is also not there.
               Meditation is not concentration. A man of concentration may not reach to love; in fact, he will
           not. A man of concentration may become more violent because concentration is a training to remain
           tense, concentration is an effort to narrow down the Mind. It..is deep violence with your
           consciousness. And when you are violent with YOUR consciousness you cannot be non-violent with
           others. Whatsoever you are with yourself, you are going to be with others.
               Let this be a fundamental rule of life, one of the most fundamental: whatsoever you are towards
           yourself, you will be towards others. If you love yourself, you will love others. If you are flowing
           within your being, you will be flowing in relationships also. If you are frozen inside, you will be
           frozen outside also. The inner tends to become the outer; the inner goes on manifesting itself in the
           outer.
               Concentration is not meditation; concentration is the method of science. It is scientific
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           methodology. A man of science needs the deep discipline of concentration, but a man of science is
           not expected to be compassionate. There is no need. In fact, a man of science becomes more and
           more violent with nature. All scientific progress is based on violence towards nature. It is destructive
           because, in the first place, the scientific man is destructive to his own expanding consciousness.
           Rather than expanding his consciousness he narrows it down, makes it exclusive, one-pointed. It is a
           coercion, violence.
               So remember, meditation is not concentration but neither is meditation contemplation. It is not
           thinking. Maybe you are thinking about God -- even then, it is thinking. If there is 'about', there is
           thinking. You may be thinking about money, you may be thinking about God -- it basically makes no
           difference. Thinking continues, only objects change. So if you are thinking about the world, or about
           sex, nobody will call it contemplation. If you are thinking about God, virtue, if you are thinking
           about Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, then people will call it contemplation.
               But Zen is very strict about it -- it is not meditation, it is still thinking. You are still concerned
           with the other. In contemplation the other is there, although of course not so exclusively as it is in
           concentration. Contemplation has more fluidity than concentration. In concentration the mind is
           one-pointed; in contemplation the mind is oriented towards one subject, not towards one point. You
           can go on thinking about it, you can go on changing and flowing with the subject, but still, on the
           whole, the subject remains the same.
               Then what is meditation? Meditation is just being delighted in your own presence; meditation is
           a delight in your own being. It is very simple -- a totally relaxed state of consciousness where you
           are not doing anything. The moment doing enters, you become tense; anxiety enters immediately.
           How to do? What to do? How to succeed? How not to fail? You have already moved into the future.
               If you are contemplating, what can you contemplate? How can you contemplate the unknown?
           How can you contemplate the unknowable? You can contemplate only the known. You can chew it
           again and again, but it is the known. If you know something about Jesus, you can think again and
           again; if you know something about Krishna, you can think again and again. You can go on
           modifying, changing, decorating -- but it is not going to lead you towards the unknown. And God is
           the unknown.
               Meditation is just to be, not doing anything -- no action, no thought, no emotion. You just are.
           And it is a sheer delight. From where does this delight come when you are not doing anything? It
           comes from nowhere, or, it comes from everywhere. It is uncaused, because the existence is made of
           the stuff called joy. It needs no cause, no reason. If you are unhappy you have a reason to be
           unhappy; if you are happy you are simply happy -- there is no reason for it. Your mind tries to find a
           reason because it cannot believe in the uncaused because it can not control the uncaused -- with the
           uncaused the mind simply becomes impotent. So the mind goes on finding some reason or other. But
           I would like to tell you that whenever you are happy, you are happy for no reason at all, whenever
           you are unhappy, you have some reason to be unhappy -- because happiness is just the stuff you are
           made of. It is your very being, it is your innermost core. Joy is your innermost core.
               Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars...and if you have eyes you
           will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for
           no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to
           become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers -- for no reason. It is
           simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.
               The whole existence is made of the stuff called joy. Hindus call it SATCHITANAND,
           ANANDA, joy. That's why no reason, no cause is needed. If you can just be with yourself, not doing
           anything, just enjoying yourself, just being with yourself, just being happy that you are, just being
           happy that you are breathing, just being happy that you are listening to these cuckoos -- for no reason
           then you are in meditation. Meditation is being here now. And when one is happy for no reason, that
           happiness cannot be contained within yourself. It goes on spreading to others, it becomes a sharing.
           You cannot hold it, it is so much, it is so infinite. You cannot hold it in your hands, you have to
           allow it to spread.
               This is what compassion is. Meditation is being with yourself and compassion is overflowing
           with that being. It is the same energy that was moving into passion that becomes compassion. It is
           the same energy that was narrowed down into the body or into the mind. It is the same energy that
           was leaking from small holes.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               What is sex? Just a leakage of energy from a small hole in the body. Hindus call these -- exactly
           -- holes. When you are flowing, overflowing, when you are not moving through the holes, all walls
           disappear. You have become the whole. Now you spread. You cannot do anything about it.
               It is not that you have to be compassionate, no. In the state of meditation you are compassion.
           Compassion is as warm as passion -- hence the word 'compassion'. It is very passionate but the
           passion is unaddressed and the passion is not in search of any gratification. The whole process has
           become just the reverse. First you were seeking some happiness somewhere -- now you have found it
           and you are expressing it. Passion is a search for happiness; compassion is an expression of
           happiness. But it is passionate, it is warm, and you have to understand it because it has a paradox in
           it.
               The greater a thing, the more paradoxical it is, and this meditation and compassion is one of the
           highest peaks, the uttermost peak. So there is bound to be a paradox.
               The paradox is that a man of meditation is very cool, not cold; cool yet warm, not hot. Passion is
           hot, it is almost feverish, it has a temperature. Compassion is cool yet warm, welcoming, receptive,
           happy to share, ready to share, waiting to share. If a person of meditation becomes cold, he has
           missed. Then he is just a man of repression. If you repress your passion you will become cold --
           that's how the whole humanity has become cold.
           Passion has been repressed in everyone.
               From the very childhood your passion has been crippled and repressed. Whenever you started
           becoming passionate, there was somebody -- your mother, your father, your teacher, the police --
           there was somebody who immediately became suspicious of you. Your passion was curbed,
           repressed. 'Don't do it!' Immediately you shrunk within yourself. And by and by one learned that to
           survive it is better to listen to people who are around you. It is safer. So what to do? What is a child
           supposed to do when he feels passionate, when he feels full of energy and he wants to jump and run
           and dance and his father is reading the newspaper? It is rubbish, but he is reading his newspaper, and
           he is a very important man, he's the master of the house. What to do? The child is doing something
           really great -- in him it is God who is ready to dance -- but the father is reading his newspaper so
           there has to be silence. He cannot dance, he cannot run, he cannot scream. He will repress his
           energy; he will try to be cold, collected, controlled.
               Control has become such a supreme value. It is not a value at all. A controlled person is a dead
           person; a controlled person is not necessarily a disciplined person.
               Discipline is totally different. Discipline comes out of awareness; control comes out of fear.
           People who are around you are more powerful than you, they can punish you, they can destroy you.
           They have all the power to control, to corrupt, to repress. And the child has to become diplomatic.
               When sex energy arises, the child is in difficulty. The society is against it; the society says it has
           to be channelised. And it is flowing all over the child. It has to be cut.
               In the schools what are we doing? In fact, the schools are not so much instruments for imparting
           knowledge as instruments of control. For six, seven hours a child is sitting there. This is to curb his
           dancing, to curb his singing, to curb his joy; this is to control him. Sitting for six, seven hours every
           day in an almost prison-like atmosphere, by and by the energy deadens, the child becomes repressed,
           frozen. Now there is no streaming, the energy does not come, he lives at the minimum -- that's what
           we call control. He never goes to the maximum.
               Psychologists have been searching and they have come to recognise a great factor in human
           misfortune -- that is, that ordinarily persons live only ten per cent. They live ten per cent, they
           breathe ten per cent, they love ten per cent, they enjoy ten per cent -- ninety per cent of their life is
           simply not allowed. This is sheer wastage. One should live at the hundred per cent capacity, only
           then is flowering possible.
               So meditation is not control, it is not repression. If somehow you have got the wrong idea -- you
           are repressing yourself -- then you will become very controlled, but then you will be cold. Then you
           will become more and more indifferent, not detached. Indifferent, non-caring, unloving -- you will
           almost commit suicide. You will be alive at the minimum. You can be called 'just so-so' alive. You
           will not be burning from both sides, your flame will be very dim. Much smoke will be there but
           almost no light.
               It happens to people who are on the path of meditation -- Catholics, Buddhists, Jains -- that they
           become cold, because to control comes easily. Awareness is very arduous. Control is very easy
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because control needs only a cultivation of habits. You cultivate habits, then those habits possess
           you and you need not worry. Then you go on with your habits, they become mechanical and you live
           a robot life. You may look like a Buddha but you will not be. You will be just a dead stone statue.
               If compassion has not arisen in you, then apathy will arise. Apathy means absence of passion;
           compassion means transformation of passion. Go and watch Catholic monks, Jaina monks, Buddhist
           monks, and you will see very apathetic figures -- dull, stupid, non-radiant, closed, afraid,
           continuously anxious.

               Just the other day I was reading an article on Oscar, the founder of Arica. The man who was
           interviewing him was a little surprised to see that he was continuously smoking, so he asked, 'Why
           are you smoking so much and why do you smoke?' At least Oscar was true. He said, 'Whenever I
           feel nervous I smoke, it helps.'

               If a person like Oscar, who has become a master to many people in America, is still nervous and
           needs smoking to help his nervousness, then what is going to happen to help his followers? He must
           have controlled himself.
               Controlled persons are always nervous because deep down turmoil is still hidden. If you are
           uncontrolled, flowing, alive, then you are not nervous. There is no question of being nervous --
           whatsoever happens, happens. You have no expectations for the future, you are not performing. Then
           why should you be nervous?
               If you go to Catholic, Jaina, Buddhist monks, you will find them very nervous -- maybe not so
           nervous in their monasteries, but if you bring them out to the world, you will find them very, very
           nervous because on each step there is temptation.
               A man of meditation comes to a point where there is no temptation left. Try to understand it.
           Temptation never comes from without, it is the repressed desire, repressed energy, repressed anger,
           repressed sex, repressed greed, that creates temptation. Temptation comes from within YOU, it has
           nothing to do with the without. It is not that a devil comes and tempts you, it is your own repressed
           mind that becomes devilish and wants to take revenge. To control that mind one has to remain so
           cold and frozen that no life energy is allowed to move into your limbs, into your body. If energy is
           allowed to move, those repressions will surface. That's why people have learned how to be cold, how
           to touch others and yet not touch them, how to see people and yet not see them. People live with
           cliches -- 'Hallo. How are you?' Nobody means anything. These are just to avoid the real encounter
           of two persons. People don't look into each other's eyes, they don't hold hands, they don't try to feel
           each other's energy, they don't allow each Other to pour. Very afraid. Somehow just managing. Cold
           and dead. In a strait-jacket.
               A man of meditation has learned how to be full of energy, at the maximum, optimum. He lives at
           the peak, he makes his abode at the peak. Certainly he has a warmth but it is not feverish, it only
           shows life. He is not hot, he is cool, because he is not carried away by desires. He is so happy, that
           he is no longer seeking any happiness. He is so at ease, he is so at home, he is not going anywhere,
           he is not running and chasing... he is very cool.
               In Latin there is a dictum: agere sequitur esse -- to do follows to be; action follows being. It is
           tremendously beautiful.
               Don't try to change your action; try to find out your being, and action will follow. The action is
           secondary; being is primary. Action is something that you do; being is something that you are.
           Action comes out of you, action is just a fragment. Even if all of your actions are collected together
           they will not be equal to your being because all actions collected together will be your past. What
           about your future? Your being contains your past, your future, your present; your being contains
           your eternity. Your actions, even if all collected, will just be of the past. Past is limited. Future is
           unlimited. That which has happened is limited, it can be defined, it has already happened. That
           which has not happened is unlimited, indefinable. Your being contains eternity, your actions contain
           only your past.
               So it is possible that a man who has been a sinner up to this moment can become a saint the next.
           Never judge a man by his actions; judge a man by his being. Sinners have become saints and saints
           have fallen and become sinners. Each saint has a past and each sinner has a future. Never judge a
           man by his actions. But there is no other way because you have not known even your own being,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how can you see the being of others? Once you know your own being you will learn the language,
           you will know the clue of how to look into another's being. You can see into others only to the extent
           that you can see into yourself. If you have seen yourself through and through, you become capable of
           seeing into others through and through.
               So a few things before I enter into this beautiful story.
               If by your meditations you are becoming cold -- beware. If your meditation is making you more
           warm, more loving, more flowing -- good, you are on the right path. If you are becoming less loving,
           if your compassion is disappearing and an apathy is settling inside you -- then the sooner you change
           your direction, the better. Otherwise you will become a wall.
           I have heard.
               When Ford was Vice-President he went to Israel and asked Golda Meir to see the Wailing Wall.
           Prime Minister Meir took him to the wall whereupon the Vice-President began to pray, Help Mr.
           Nixon guide our country.'
               He turned to Mrs. Meir and asked, 'Is that nice?'
           'That's nice,' she answered.
               'Thank you for making me the Vice-President,' he directed to the wall and then to the Prime
           Minister, 'Is that nice?'
           'That's nice,' she replied.
               'Let Israel give back the land they took from the Arabs so there will be peace in the Middle-East.
           Is that nice?'
           And Golda Meir said, 'You are talking to a wall.'

                Don't become a wall. Remain alive, throbbing, streaming, flowing, melting.
                Of course there are problems. Why have people become walls? Because walls can be defined.
           They give you a boundary, a definite shape and form -- what Hindus call NAM ROOP, name and
           form. If you are melting and flowing you don't have boundaries; you don't know where you are and
           where you end and where the other begins. You go on being together with people so much that all
           the boundaries by and by become dream-like. And one day they disappear.
                That is how reality is. Reality is unbounded. Where do you think you stop? At your skin?
           Ordinarily we think, 'Of course, we are inside our skins and the skin is our wall, the boundary. ' But
           your skin could not be alive if the air was not surrounding it. If your skin is not constantly breathing
           the oxygen that is being supplied by the surround, your skin cannot be alive. Take away the
           atmosphere and you will die immediately. Even if your skin has not been scratched you will die. So
           that cannot be your boundary. There are two hundred miles of atmosphere all around the earth -- is
           that your boundary? That too cannot be your boundary. This oxygen and this atmosphere and the
           warmth and the life cannot exist without the sun. If the sun ceases to exist or drops dead.... One day
           it is going to happen. Scientists say that in four thousand years more the sun will cool down and drop
           dead. Then suddenly this atmosphere will not be alive. Immediately. you will be dead. So is the sun
           your boundary?
                But now physicists say this sun is connected to some central source of energy which we have not
           yet been able to find but is suspected -- because nothing is unrelated.
                So where do we decide where our boundary is? An apple on the tree is not you. Then you eat it,
           it becomes you. So it is just waiting to become you. It is you potentially. It is your future you. Then
           you have defecated and you have dropped much rubbish out of the body. Just a moment before, it
           was you. So where do you decide?
                I am breathing. The breath inside me is me, but just a moment before it may have been your
           breath. It must have been because we are breathing in a common atmosphere. We are all breathing
           into each other; we are members of each other. You are breathing in me, I am breathing in you.
                And it is not only so with breathing, it is exactly so with life. Have you watched? With certain
           people you feel very alive, they come just bubbling with energy. And something happens in you, a
           response, and you are also bubbling. And then there people...just their face and one feels one will
           flop down. Just their presence is enough poison. They must be pouring something into you which is
           poisonous. And when you come around a person and you become radiant and happy and suddenly
           something starts throbbing in your heart, and your heart beats faster, this man must have poured
           something into you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               We are pouring into each other. That's why, in the East, SATSANG has become very, very
           important. To be with a person who has known, just to be in his presence, is enough -- because he is
           constantly pouring his being into you. You may know or you may not know. You may recognise it
           today or you may not recognise it today, but someday or other the seeds will come to flower.
               We are pouring into each other. We are not separate islands. A cold person becomes like an
           island and it is a misfortune, it is a great misfortune because you could have become a vast continent
           and you decided to become an island. You decided to remain poor, when you could have become as
           rich as you wanted to be.
               Don't be a wall and never try to repress, otherwise you will become a wall. Repressed people are
           just like you...they have masks, faces. They are pretending to be somebody else.

           I have heard.
               A wealthy farmer went to the church one Sunday. After the service he said, 'Father, that was a
           damned good sermon you gave, damned good!'
               'I am happy you liked it,' said the priest, 'but I wish you would not use those terms in expressing
           yourself.'
               'I can't help it,' said the rich farmer. 'I still think it was a damned good sermon. In fact, I liked it
           so much I put a hundred dollar bill in the collection basket.'
           'The hell you did!' replied the priest.

               A repressed person is carrying the same world as you. Just an opportunity is needed, a
           provocation, and immediately the real will come out. That's why monks disappear from the world --
           because there are too many provocations, too many temptations. It is difficult for them to remain
           contained, to hold on. So they go to the Himalayas or to the caves, they retire from the world so that
           even if ideas, temptations, desires arise, there is no way to fulfil them.
           But this is not a way of transformation.
               The people who become cold are the people who were very hot. The people who take vows of
           remaining celibate are the people who were extremely sexual. The mind turns from one extreme to
           another very easily. It is my observation that many people who are too obsessed with food one day
           or other become obsessed with fasting. It has to happen because you cannot stay in one extreme
           long. You are doing too much of it, soon you will get fed up with it, tired of it. Then there is no other
           way, you have to move to the other extreme.
               The people who have become monks are very worldly people. The market was too much, they
           had moved too much in the market, then the pendulum moved to the other extreme. Greedy people
           renounce the world. This renunciation is not of understanding -- it is just greed upside-down. First
           they were holding, holding...now suddenly they see the pointlessness of it, the futility of it and they
           start throwing it. First they were afraid to lose a single pai, now they are afraid to keep a single pai,
           but the fear continues. First they were too greedy about this world, now they are too greedy about the
           other world, but the greed is there.

               Silverstein, the inveterate joiner, came rushing home proudly holding a membership card to his
           newest organisation....
               There are people who go on joining everything. I have known one person who was a member of
           five political parties, all against each other. When he told me I said, 'What are you doing?' He
           enjoyed membership.
               ....Silverstein, the inveterate joiner, came rushing home, proudly holding a membership card to
           his newest organisation. 'Look,' said Silverstein to his son, 'I just joined the Prostitute Club.'
               'What?' said the boy. 'Let me see that card.' After reading it he announced, 'Pa, that is the
           Parachute Club.'
               'All I know is,' said Silverstein, 'they guaranteed me three hundred and sixty-five jumps a year.'

              These people one day or other are bound to join a monastery -- then they become great celibates,
           great renouncers. But it does not change their nature. Except awareness, nothing changes a man,
           nothing at all.
              So don't try to pretend. That which has not happened, has not happened. Understand it, and don't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           try to pretend and don't try to make others believe that it has happened, because nobody is going to
           lose in this deception except you.
                People who try to control themselves have chosen a very foolish way. Control will not happen,
           but they will become cold. That is the only way a man can control himself -- to become frozen so
           that energy does not arise. People who take the vows of celibacy will not eat much; in fact, they will
           starve their bodies. If more energy is created in the body, then there will be more sex energy, and
           then they don't know what to do with it. So Buddhist monks eat only once a day -- and then too, not
           enough. They eat only enough that bodily needs are fulfilled, very minimum needs, so no energy is
           left. This type of celibacy is not celibacy. When you are flowing with energy and the energy starts
           transforming itself into love, then a celibacy, a BRAHMACHARYA, which is beautiful, happens.

               The sweet old lady came into the store and bought a package of mothballs. The next day she was
           back for another five packets. Another day passed and she came in for a dozen more.
           'You must have a lot of moths,' said the salesman.
               'Yes,' replied the old dear, 'and I have been throwing these things at them for three days now and
           I have only managed to hit one!'

               Through control you will not even be able to hit one. That is not the way. You are fighting with
           leaves, branches -- cutting them here and there. That is not the way to destroy the tree of desire; the
           way is to cut the roots. And roots can be cut only when you have reached to the roots of desire. On
           the surface there are only branches -- jealousy, anger, envy, hatred, lust. They are just on the surface.
           The deeper you move, the more you will understand: they are all coming out of one root and that
           root is unawareness.
               Meditation means awareness. It cuts the very root. Then the whole tree disappears on its own
           accord. Then passion becomes compassion.

               I have heard about a very great Zen Master who had become old and almost blind at the age of
           ninety-six and no longer able to teach or work about the monastery. Yama Moto was his name.
               The old man then decided it was time to die because he was of no use to anybody, he could not
           be of any help. So he stopped eating.
               When asked by his monks why he refused his food, he replied that he had outlived his usefulness
           and was only a bother to everybody.
               They told him, 'If you die now' -- it was January -- 'when it is so cold, everybody will be
           uncomfortable at your funeral and you will be an even greater nuisance. So please eat.'
               This can happen only in a Zen monastery, because disciples love the Master so deeply, their
           respect is so deep, that there is no need for any formality. Just see what they were saying. They were
           saying, 'If you die now, and it is January, see, it is so cold, everybody will be uncomfortable at the
           funeral and you will be an even greater nuisance. So please eat.'

              He thereupon resumed eating. But when it became warm again he stopped, and not long after he
           quietly toppled over and died.

               Such compassion! One-lives then for compassion; one dies then for compassion. One is even
           ready to choose a right time to so that nobody is bothered and one need not be a nuisance.

               I have heard about another Zen Master who was going to die.
           He said, 'Where are my shoes? Bring them.'
               Somebody asked, 'Where are you going? The doctors say are going to die.'
               He said, 'I am going to the cemetery.'
           'But why?'
               He said, 'I don't want to trouble anybody. Otherwise you will have to carry me on your
           shoulders.' He walked to the cemetery and died there.

              Tremendous compassion! What manner of man is this, not to give even that much trouble to
           anybody? And these people helped thousands. Thousands were grateful to them, thousands became
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           full of light and love because of them. Yet they would not like to bother anybody. If they are useful
           they would like to live and help, if they are not useful then it is time to leave and go.

           Now, the story.

              THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN IN CHINA WHO HAD SUPPORTED A MONK FOR OVER TWENTY
              YEARS. SHE HAD BUILT A HUT FOR HIM, AND SHE FED HIM WHILE HE WAS MEDITATING.


                It is a miracle that has happened in the East. The West is still unable to understand it. For
           centuries in the East, if somebody was meditating, the society would feed him. It was enough that he
           was meditating. Nobody would think that he was a burden on the society -- 'Why should we work for
           him?' Just because he was meditating was enough, because the East came to know that if even one
           man becomes enlightened, his energy is shared by all; if even one man comes to flower in
           meditation, his fragrance becomes part of the whole society. And the gain is so tremendous that the
           East has never said, 'Don't sit there and meditate. Who is going to feed you? Who is going to clothe
           you? And who is going to give you shelter?' Thousands and thousands -- Buddha had ten thousand
           monks, SANNYASINS, moving with him but people were happy to feed them, to shelter them, to
           clothe them, to look after them, because they were meditating.
                Now it is very, very impossible in the West to think that way. Even in the East it is becoming
           difficult. In China now, monasteries are being closed, meditation halls are being converted into
           hospitals or school rooms. Great Masters are disappearing. They are forced to work in the fields or in
           the factories. Nobody is allowed to meditate because a great understanding is lost. The whole mind
           is full of materialism, as if matter is all that exists.
                If a man in a town becomes enlightened, the whole town is benefited. It is not a wastage to
           support him. For nothing you are going to get such tremendous treasure. People were happy to help.
           For twenty years this woman helped a monk who was meditating and meditating and meditating and
           doing nothing. He was sitting in zazen. She built a hut for him, she looked after him, she took every
           care. One day when she had become very old and was going to die she wanted to know whether
           meditation had flowered or not, or whether this man had been simply sitting and sitting and sitting.
           Twenty years is a long enough time, the woman was getting old and was going to die, so she wanted
           to know whether she had been serving a man of real meditation or just a hocus-pocus.
              ONE DAY SHE DECIDED TO FIND OUT...


               The woman must have been of great understanding herself because the examination, the test that
           she tried, was full of understanding.

              ONE DAY SHE DECIDED TO FIND OUT JUST WHAT PROGRESS HE HAD MADE IN ALL THIS
              TIME.


               If meditation is progressing then the ONLY criterion of its progress is love, the ONLY criterion
           of its progress is compassion.

              SHE OBTAINED THE HELP OF A GIRL RICH IN DESIRE, AND SAID TO HER: 'GO AND EMBRACE
              HIM, AND THEN ASK HIM SUDDENLY, " WHAT NOW?"'


                Three are the possibilities. One: if for twenty years he had not touched a beautiful woman, the
           first possibility was that he would be tempted, would be a victim, would forget all about meditation
           and would make love with this girl. The other possibility was that he would remain cold, controlled
           and would not show any compassion towards this girl. He would simply hold himself back, hard, so
           that he could not be tempted. And the third possibility was: if meditation had come to fruition, he
           would be full of love, understanding, compassion and he would try to understand this girl and would
           try to help her. She was just a test for these possibilities.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If the first was the possibility, then all his meditation was simply a wastage. If the second was the
           possibility then he had fulfilled the ordinary criterion of being a monk but he had not fulfilled the
           real criterion of being a man of meditation. If the second was the possibility then it simply showed
           that he was a behaviourist, that he had made a habit, controlled his behaviour.
                You must have heard the name of Pavlov the Russian behaviourist. He said there is no
           consciousness in man or in animals or anywhere -- the whole thing is just a mind mechanism. You
           can train the mind mechanism and then it starts working in that way -- it is all a question of
           conditioning. Mind functions as a conditioned reflex.
                If you put food before your dog he immediately comes running, his tongue hanging forward,
           dripping. He starts to salivate. Pavlov tried. Whenever he gave food to the dog he would ring a bell.
           By and by, the bell and the food became associated. Then one day he simply rang the bell and the
           dog came running, tongue hanging out, dripping.
                Now this is absurd, no dog has ever been known to react to a ringing bell in this way. The bell is
           not food. But now the association has conditioned the mind.
                Pavlov says man can be changed in the same way. Whenever sex arises in you, punish yourself.
           Go for a seven day fast, flog your body, stand in the cold the whole night, or beat yourself, and by
           and by the body will learn a trick. Whenever sex arises, it will repress it automatically because of the
           fear of the punishment.
                Reward and punishment -- this is the way to condition the mind if you follow Pavlov.
                This monk must have been doing that, many are doing that. Almost ninety-nine per cent of
           people in the monasteries are doing that -- just reconditioning their minds and bodies.
                But consciousness has nothing to do with it. Consciousness is not a new habit; consciousness is
           to live a life with awareness, not confined to any habit, not possessed by any mechanism -- above the
           mechanism.

              AND SHE SAID TO HER:'GO AND EMBRACE HIM, AND THEN ASK HIM SUDDENLY, " WHAT
              NOW?"'

               'Suddenly' is the clue to the whole thing. If you give a little time then the mind can start working
           in the conditioned way for which it has been prepared.
               'So don't give any time. Go in the middle of the night when he will be alone meditating. Just go
           inside the hut' -- he must have been living outside the town, alone -- 'go inside the hut and simply
           start caressing him, embracing him, kiss him. And then immediately ask, "What now?" Watch his
           reaction, what happens to him, what he says, what colours pass on his face, what his eyes indicate,
           how he reacts and responds to you.'

              THE GIRL CALLED UPON THE MONK AND IMMEDIATELY STARTED CARESSING HIM, AND
              ASKING HIM WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO ABOUT IT.
              'AN OLD TREE GROWS ON A COLD ROCK IN WINTER,' REPLIED THE MONK SOMEWHAT
              POETICALLY, 'NOWHERE IS THERE ANY WARMTH.'


               He has conditioned his dog; he has conditioned his body/mind. Twenty years is a long enough
           time to condition. Even this sudden attack could not break his habitual pattern. He remained
           controlled. He must have been a man of tremendous control. He remained cold, with not even a
           flicker of energy, and he said, 'AN OLD TREE GROWS ON A COLD ROCK IN WINTER.' Not
           only was he controlled and cold, he was so controlled, he remained so cold, that in such a dangerous
           situation, provocative, seductive, he could use poetic words to reply. The conditioning must have
           gone very, very deep, to the roots.
              'AN OLD TREE GROWS ON A COLD ROCK IN WINTER,' REPLIED THE MONK SOMEWHAT
              POETICALLY, 'NOWHERE IS THERE ANY WARMTH.'


              He said, 'I am like a cold rock in winter. Nowhere is there any warmth.' That's all he said.

              THE GIRL RETURNED AND RELATED WHAT HE HAD SAID.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              'TO THINK I FED THAT FELLOW FOR TWENTY YEARS!' EXCLAIMED THE OLD WOMAN IN
              ANGER.


               His meditation had not flowered. He had become cold and dead, corpse-like; he had not become
           enlightened or a Buddha.
              'HE SHOWED NO CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR NEED...'


               A man of compassion always thinks about you, about your need. He remained coldly
           self-centred. He simply said something about himself -- 'An old tree grows on a cold rock in winter,
           nowhere is there any warmth.' He did not utter a single word about the woman. He did not even ask,
           'Why did you come? Why? What do you need? And why have you chosen me out of so many
           people? Sit down.'
               He should have listened to her. She must be in a deep need. Nobody comes in the middle of the
           night to a withered-away monk who has been sitting in meditation for twenty years. Why had she
           come? He did not pay any attention to her.
               Love always thinks of the other; ego only thinks of oneself. Love is always considerate; ego is
           absolutely inconsiderate. Ego has only one language and that is of self. Ego always uses the other;
           love is ready to be used, love is ready to serve.
              'HE SHOWED NO CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR NEED,NO DISPOSITION TO EXPLAIN YOUR
              CONDITION.'


               When you go to a man of compassion he looks at you, he looks deeply into your heart. He tries to
           find out what your problem is, why you are in such a situation, why you are doing the thing that you
           are doing. He forgets himself. He simply becomes focused on the person who has come to him -- his
           need, his problem, his anxiety, is his consideration. He tries to help. Whatsoever he can do he will
           do.
              '...NO DISPOSITION TO EXPLAIN YOUR CONDITION.
              HE NEED NOT HAVE RESPONDED TO PASSION...'


               That's true. A man of compassion cannot respond in a passionate way. He is not cold but he is
           cool. He can give you his warmth, nourishing warmth, but he cannot give you any fever. He has
           none. Remember the difference between a feverish body and a warm body. A feverish body is not
           healthy, a warm body is simply healthy. In passion, people become feverish. Have you watched
           yourself deep in passion? You are almost a raving maniac, mad, wild, doing something you don't
           know why -- and in a great fever, with the whole body trembling, in a cyclone with no centre.
               A man of warmth is simply healthy. Just as when a mother takes her child to her breast and the
           child feels the warmth, surrounded by the warmth, nourished by it, welcomed by it, so when you
           enter into the aura of a compassionate man you enter a motherlike warmth, you enter into a very
           nourishing energy field. In fact, if you come to a man of compassion, your passion will simply
           disappear. His compassion will be so powerful, his warmth will be so great, his love will be
           showering on you so much that you will become cool, you will become centred.
              'HE NEED NOT HAVE RESPONDED TO PASSION, BUT AT LEAST HE SHOULD HAVE
              EXPERIENCED SOME COMPASSION.'



              SHE AT ONCE WENT TO THE HUT OF THE MONK AND BURNED IT DOWN.


               It was just a symbolic gesture that those twenty years that he was meditating there -- during
           which they had been hoping that he had been progressing -- had been a wastage.
               It is not enough just to be a monk superficially, just to be a monk repressed and cold -- coldness
           is an indication of repression, a very deep repression.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's what I have been telling you: if you move into meditation, compassion and love will come
           automatically, on its own accord. It follows meditation like a shadow. So you need not be worried
           about any synthesis. The synthesis will come. It comes by itself, you don't have to bring it. You
           choose one path. Either you follow the path of love, devotion, dancing, KIRTAN, BHAJAN,
           dissolve yourself completely into your love towards the Divine. That path is of dissolving, no
           awareness is needed. You are needed to be drunk, completely drunk with God, you will need to
           become a drunkard. Or, choose the path of meditation. There you are not needed to be dissolved into
           anything. You are needed to become very crystallised, you are needed to become very integrated,
           alert, aware.
               Follow the path of love and one day, suddenly, you will see that meditation has flowered within
           you -- thousands of white lotuses. And you have not done anything for them, you were doing
           something else and they flowered. When love or devotion comes to its climax, meditation flowers.
               And the same happens on the path of meditation. Just forget all about love, devotion. You simply
           become aware, sit silently, enjoy your being -- that's all. Be with yourself that's all. Learn how to be
           alone -- that's all. And remember, a person who knows how to be alone is never lonely. People who
           don't know how to be alone, they are lonely.
               On the path of meditation, aloneness is sought, desired, hoped for, prayed for. Be alone. So much
           so that not even in your consciousness does any shadow of the other move. On the path of love, get
           so dissolved that only the other becomes real and you become a shadow and by and by you
           completely disappear. On the path of love, God remains, you disappear; on the path of meditation,
           God disappears, you appear. But the total and the ultimate result is the same. A great synthesis
           happens.
               Never try to synthesise these two paths in the beginning. They meet in the end, they meet at the
           peak, they meet in the temple.

               One of Rabbi Moshe's disciples was very poor. He complained to the Zaddik that his wretched
           circumstances were an obstacle to learning and praying.
               'In this day and age,' said Rabbi Moshe, 'the greatest devotion, greater than learning and praying,
           consists in accepting the world exactly as it happens to be.'

               The person who is moving into meditation, or who is moving on the path of love, will be helped
           if he accepts the world as it is. Worldly people never accept the world as it is -- they are always
           trying to change it. They are always trying to make something else, they are always trying to fix
           things into a different order, they are always trying to do something outside. The religious person
           accepts whatsoever is on the outside as it is. He is not disturbed, he is not distracted by the outside.
           His whole work consists of moving inside. One moves through love, another moves through
           meditation, but both move inside. The religious world is the world of the within. And the within is
           the beyond.
               In Latin 'sin' has two meanings: one is 'missing the target', and another that is even more
           beautiful -- 'without'. Sin means to be without, to be outside yourself. Virtue means to be within -- to
           be inside yourself.

              Soon after the death of Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Mendel of Kotyk asked one of his disciples: 'What
           was most important to your teacher?'
              The disciple thought and then replied: 'Whatever he happened to be doing at the moment.'

               The moment is the most important thing. So whatsoever you are doing at the moment, if you are
           on the path of love, do it with deep love, as if you are doing it for God. Make it a sacrifice. The word
           'sacrifice' comes from the same root as 'the sacred'. Sacrifice means making a thing sacred. If you are
           on the path of love, make everything that you are doing a sacrifice, a holy thing, as if you are
           preparing for God. He is to come, the guest is to come and you are doing everything for him.
               And in fact, it is so. The whole of life is a preparation for the guest and the whole of life is a
           preparation to become the host, so that when he comes, you are ready, when he knocks at the door
           everything is ready to receive him.
               If you are on the path of meditation, then too -- this moment is the most important moment. On
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the path of meditation, the past has to be dropped, the future has to be dropped. You have to be just
           here-now.
               So remember, on both paths many things are similar; many things are basic requirements on both
           paths. But many things are very, very polar opposite.
               So please, don't you try to make a synthesis. You simply follow one path. Whatsoever is essential
           is similar -- that is, to be in the moment, accepting the world as it is, remaining in a mood of
           celebration. The BHAKTO., the devotee, goes on celebrating life because God is; and on the path of
           meditation the SADHAKA, the yogi, the Zen follower, goes on celebrating because, 'I am here, I
           AM.' That very amness, that very amness, is his celebration.
               So don't be worried. Many questions have come to me full of worries, anxieties, as if, if you
           follow one path, you will be missing something. Nothing. You will be missing nothing. By following
           one, you will be following both; by following both, you will not be following either.




                                             Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                     Chapter #6
                                         Chapter title: Joy Is The Criterion
           16 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606160
              ShortTitle: DANG06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              The first question:


              HOW CAN I KNOW IF DETACHMENT OR INDIFFERENCE IS GROWING WITHIN?


               It is not difficult to know. How do you know when you have a headache and how do you know
           when you don't have a headache? It is simply clear. When you are growing in detachment you will
           become healthier, happier; your life will become a life of joy. That is the criterion of all that is good.
           Joy is the criterion. If you are growing in joy, you are growing, and you are getting towards home.
               With indifference there is no possibility that joy can grow. In fact, if you have any joy, that will
           disappear.
               Happiness is health, and, to me, religion is basically hedonistic. Hedonism is the very essence of
           religion. To be happy is all.
               So remember, if things are going right, and you are moving in the right direction, each moment
           will bring more joy -- as if you are going towards a beautiful garden. The closer you come, the air
           will be fresher, cooler, more fragrant. That will be the indication that you are moving in the right
           direction. If the air becomes less fresh, less cool, less fragrant, then you are moving in the opposite
           direction.
               The existence is made out of joy. That is its very stuff. Joy is the stuff existence is made of. So
           whenever you are moving towards becoming more existential you will be becoming more and more
           full of joy, delight, for no reason at all. If you are moving into detachment, love will grow, joy will
           grow, only attachments will drop -- because attachments bring misery, because attachments bring
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bondage, because attachments destroy your freedom. But if you are becoming indifferent....
           Indifference is a pseudo-coin, it looks like detachment, but it only LOOKS like detachment. Nothing
           will be growing in it. You will simply shrink and die.
                So go and see: there are so many monks in the world -- catholic, Hindu, Jaina, Buddhist -- watch
           them. They don't give a radiant feeling, they don't have the aura of fragrance, they don't look more
           alive than you are; in fact, they look less alive, crippled, paralysed. Controlled of course, but not in a
           deeper, inner discipline; controlled but not conscious; following a certain conscience that society has
           given to them but not yet aware, not yet free, not yet individuals. They live as if they are already in
           their grave, just waiting to die. Their life becomes morose, monotonous, sad -- it is a sort of despair.
                Beware. Whenever something goes wrong there are indications in your being. Sadness is an
           indicator, depression is an indicator; joy, celebration is also an indicator. More songs will happen to
           you if you are moving towards detachment. You will be dancing more and you will become more
           loving. Remember, love is not attachment, love knows no attachment, and that which knows
           attachment is not love. That is possessiveness, domination, clinging, fear, greed -- it may be a
           thousand and one things, but it is not love. In the name of love other things are parading, in the name
           of love other things are hiding behind, but on the container the label 'love' is stuck. Inside you will
           find many sorts of things but not love at all.
                Watch. If you are attached to a person, are you in love? Or are you afraid of your aloneness, so
           you cling? Because you cannot be alone you use this person so as not to be alone. Then you are
           afraid. If the person dies or moves somewhere else or falls in love with someone else then you will
           kill this person and you will say, 'I was so much attached.' Or you may kill yourself and you will say,
           'I was so much attached that I cannot live without her or without him.' It is sheer foolishness. It is not
           love, it is something else. You are afraid of your aloneness, you are not capable of being with
           yourself, you need somebody to distract you. And you want to possess the other person, you want to
           use the other person as a means for your own ends. To use another person as a means is violence.
                Immanuel Kant has made it one of his fundamentals of moral life. It is. He used to say that to
           treat a person as a means is the greatest immoral act there is. It is. Because when you treat another
           person as a means -- for your gratification, for your sexual desire, for your fear, or for something else
           -- when you use another person as a means, you are reducing the other person to be a thing, you are
           destroying his or her freedom, you are killing his or her soul.
                The soul can grow only in freedom. Love gives freedom. And when you give freedom, you are
           free, that's what detachment is. If you enforce bondage on the other, you will be in imprisonment on
           your own accord. If you bind the other, the other will bind you; if you define the other, the other will
           define you; if you are trying to possess the other, the other will possess you. That's how couples go
           on fighting for domination for their whole life: the man in his own way, the woman in her own way.
           Both struggle. It is a continuous nagging and fighting. And the man thinks that in some ways he
           controls the woman and the woman thinks that in some ways she controls the man. Control is not
           love.
                Never treat any person as a means. Treat everybody as an end in himself, in herself -- then you
           are a religious person. Then you don't cling, then you are not attached. You love but your love gives
           freedom -- and, when you give freedom to the other, you are free. Only in freedom does your soul
           grow. You will feel very, very happy.
                The world has become a very unhappy thing. Not because the world is an unhappy thing, but
           because we have done something wrong to it. The same world can become a celebration.
                You ask, HOW CAN I KNOW IF DETACHMENT OR INDIFFERENCE IS GROWING
           WITHIN? If you are feeling happy, if you are feeling happy with whatsoever is growing, more
           centred, more grounded, more alive than before, then go headlong into it. Then there is no fear. Let
           happiness be the touchstone, the criterion -- nothing else can be the criterion. Whatsoever the
           scriptures say is not a criterion unless your heart is throbbing with happiness; whatsoever I say
           cannot be the criterion for you unless your heart is throbbing with happiness.
                The moment you were were born, a subtle indicator is placed within you. It is part of life that you
           can always know what is happening, you can always feel whether you are happy or unhappy.
           Nobody asks how to know whether he is happy or unhappy. Nobody has ever asked. When you are
           unhappy, you know; when you are happy, you know. Then it is an intrinsic value. You know it, you
           are born knowing it, so let that intrinsic indication be used and it will never falsify your life.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But if you look in the scriptures there is danger, because for the person who wrote a certain book
           it may have been a growth, but it may not be a growth for you. He felt happy. Mahavir felt very
           happy with fasting; Buddha never felt so happy with fasting. So what to do? To whom to listen?
           Both are perfect beings. If you listen to Buddha there is a possibility that you will start distorting
           your own feelings; if you listen to Mahavir, there is the same possibility. Krishna lived in the world,
           loved many women, enjoyed himself. He was a totally different man, perfectly happy. He was
           always singing and dancing. He had his own feeling -- maybe his feeling suits you or not.
               So never try any outer criterion; never try the outside criterion for your inside otherwise there is
           a danger you may falsify your inner mechanism, the intrinsic mechanism. Listen to your heart.
               I am here not to give you any criterion but to make you aware of your own criterion, just to make
           you aware of your own intrinsic awareness. Feel -- and it is so clear that nothing else is needed to
           help it.

           The second question:


              WHEN MY MIND IS THE CAUSE OF MY UNHAPPINESS EITHER I DON'T KNOW HOW TO COME
              OUT OF MIND OR I MUST STILL ENJOY BEING IN MY MIND, DREAMS, FANTASIES.


               If the house is on fire and you see the flames of fire you will escape. And you will know how to
           escape, you will find a way. When the house is on fire who worries whether you are getting out of
           the right door or whether you are getting out of the back door or getting out of the window? Who
           bothers? Once you feel that the house is on fire you will not even think about how to get out. You
           will get out first and then you will think. And then you will wonder how it happened.
               Buddha used to say that you ask about techniques because you are not yet aware that the house is
           on fire.
               When you come across a snake on the path do you ask how to get out of the way? And you may
           not have come across a snake in your whole life. This may be for the first time. And you may never
           ever have heard anybody talking about how to get out of the way of a snake, but still you will get out
           of the way -- you will jump. You will not sit there and think about what to do, how to do it, whom to
           consult, where to find a guru. You will not think, you will simply jump.
               The questioner says, WHEN MIND IS THE CAUSE OF MY UNHAPPINESS EITHER I
           DON'T KNOW HOW TO COME OUT OF MIND OR I MUST STILL ENJOY BEING IN MY
           MIND, DREAMS, FANTASIES.
           WHEN MIND IS THE CAUSE OF MY UNHAPPINESS.... Still it is not clear to you. You may
           have heard me saying again and again that mind is the cause of all unhappiness. You have listened to
           me, you have become like a parrot -- now the question arises. But you have not yet felt it. If you
           have felt that mind is the cause then you will jump out of it, you will know the way. The way is
           there, the way has always been there.
               It is not your realisation. And you must still be enjoying your dreams, your fantasies, because the
           mind stops immediately, the moment you stop enjoying it. There is no other way to stop it. It is just
           like a bicycle: you go on pedaling it, it goes on moving. If you stop pedaling it, it may go a little
           further because of the past momentum but then it will stop.
               Mind needs constant co-operation, constant infusion of energy from your side, constant
           identification. The mind needs your help, it is a mechanism, it cannot run on its own accord. Deep
           down you are helping it. When the body lies there and the soul has disappeared, the mind stops
           instantly. It cannot work without you.
               You must be enjoying it. In fact, religion is also one of your fantasies; God is your biggest
           dream. Listening to religious people, seeing their ecstasy, watching their grace, a greed has arisen in
           you. Your mind fantasises. It would be beautiful to be in nirvana, it would be beautiful to be
           enlightened. Your mind starts dreaming about it. Then you come to hear that the mind has to be
           dropped.

              Three persons were talking. One said, 'If in a dream you get one million rupees, what are you
           going to do? As far as I am concerned, I am going for a world tour. That has been my dream from
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           my very childhood. What are you going to do?'
               The other said, 'If I get one million rupees, I am not going anywhere. I am just going to rest in
           my house. Why bother? I am going to stop going and just rest and relax and enjoy. Who bothers to
           go from here to there?'
               And they asked the third man, 'If you get one million rupees in a dream, what are you going to
           do?'
               He said, 'I will immediately close my eyes and sleep again, to dream more to get many more
           millions. If you can get one million rupees in one dream, I will dream the same dream again to get
           one million more.'

              Your mind is your dream, your fantasy. You are still in it. Even when you are thinking about
           how to get out of the mind, that too is a mind fantasy. And you must be enjoying it.

           I have heard.
               Mulla Nasruddin stormed out of his office and yelled, 'Something has got to be done about those
           six phones on my desk. For the past five minutes I have been talking to myself.'

                Mind is nothing but talking to yourself. What else is it? The inner talk, the inner chattering, the
           rehearsing for the future, the chewing again and again the past experiences -- you are talking to
           yourself. It is a monologue. With nobody else to talk to, you talk to yourself.
                If windows were possible into your mind and people could look inside, or there was a system....
           Someday there may be. Science will find a way to magnify your mind. Your mind can be attached,
           wired, to an instrument and the instrument will start broadcasting what is going on inside your mind.
           Then you will be simply amazed to see that you are mad. You will not allow anybody to connect
           your mind to an instrument. Sometimes write down what goes on in your mind on some blank paper.
           Close the doors and windows so nobody comes in and just write it down. Don't deceive, because
           nobody will ever see, you can burn it immediately. Just write down whatsoever goes on. Don't
           improve upon it, don't add something, don't delete anything. Photographically simply write down the
           way the mind goes on. Within ten minutes you will see how mad you are. What is going on?
                But we never look. We look outside, we never look into the mind. Looking into the mind is what
           meditation is all about
                Bodhidharma, the real founder of Zen, used to say, "Looking face to face with the mind is all.
           Looking directly into your mind is all.' Once you start looking directly you will be surprised. You
           will come to know that you are carrying a madman; not one really, a madhouse -- many madmen
           inside, running hither and thither, all against each other, fighting, struggling, warring.
                If you look deep inside into the mind directly, first you will be amazed, mystified as to why you
           go on carrying this mind.
                And the second thing you will realise is that you are not the mind, you are the looker, the
           watcher, the witness, who is seeing into the mind. And that will give you a freedom that you have
           not yet known. You are confined in the body, then you are confined in the mind. Once you come to
           know that you are neither the body nor the mind, suddenly you become unconfined -- you are as big,
           as vast as the sky. Then there is no boundary line around you; then you are one with this ocean of
           life; then you are one with God.'That art thou -- 'TAT TWAMASI.' Then you come to know that 'i
           am that', the witness.
                So the only thing you can do is just to look deeply inside the mind. It will have two aspects. First
           you will feel very, very crazy, going mad. Don't try to escape from that madness because if you
           escape, again you will escape outside. Stick to it, let it be mad -- but go on looking into it, go on
           looking into it. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes it takes years but it is worth it, even if it takes
           lives. If you go on looking, unwaveringly, not getting distracted here and there, then one day the
           second aspect arises in you -- that you are a witness. Your mind looks very, very far away, very
           distant, on some other planet, only sounds are heard, a few flickering waves come to you. The more
           you become a witness, the more the energy gathers together in becoming a witness, the more and
           more energy is taken away from the mind. The mind starts withering. One day you are there all alone
           without any mind. Then you are in a state of 'nowhereness'.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have heard about two hobos who were caught by the police and were brought to the court. The
           policeman suspected they had not committed anything wrong, but their way of life, their style was
           suspicious.
               The magistrate asked the first hobo, 'Where do you live?'
           He said, 'Nowhere.'
           He asked the second, 'Where do you live?'
           He said, 'I am this guy's neighbour.'

                The first guy lives nowhere, the other is the neighbour -- the answer is pure Zen.
                When you come to know yourself, you come to know that you are nowhere, 'nowhen', because
           there is no time, no space. Suddenly you are the whole, spread all over reality. This is what we in the
           East call MOKSHA, absolute freedom.
                But you must be enjoying your mind, that's why you are asking how to get out of it, what the way
           is to get out of it. These are the questions of people who are trying to deceive themselves. You don't
           want to get out of it so you ask 'how?' because with the 'how?' postponement is possible. The 'how?'
           cannot be done right now, you will have to practise it, it can happen only tomorrow, it cannot happen
           right now. The 'how?' gives you time -- tomorrow. and then you say, 'Okay, so we will do it
           tomorrow. It cannot happen right now.'
                People ask me, 'Can enlightenment happen right now?' If I say 'yes', they say, 'Then why is it not
           happening?' Then they think it is not going to happen to them because if it was going to happen, it
           would have happened already. It happens right now! If I say to them, 'You will have to work for it,
           you will have to do hard, arduous work, you will have to move in deep discipline,' then they say,
           'Then it is okay. So somewhere in the future it will happen.' And they are relieved. So it is not going
           to happen right now -- someday -- so what is the hurry?
                Whether it is tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, it makes no difference -- it is tomorrow. Both
           ways they find a way to postpone.
                Now let me give you a paradox to meditate on: it always happens right now but one has to work
           for it. It never happens in the tomorrow, it always happens today, because there is no tomorrow. But
           one has to work hard; one has to gather together all one's energies and to put them at stake. If all
           your energies are together right now, if you desire intensely, passionately, if your desire has become
           almost a flame and you are aflame with one desire, only with one desire -- to attain to enlightenment
           -- it can happen right now. If you are so thirsty that you disappear and only thirst remains, then God
           starts pouring into you. Then you have earned, you have earned the capacity. You have become
           receptive.
                WHEN MIND IS THE CAUSE OF MY UNHAPPINESS.... Never ask such questions. You still
           think it is not so. This is a hypothetical question; when, if, etc., are hypothetical questions.
                WHEN MIND IS THE CAUSE OF MY UNHAPPINESS.... No, either it is or it is not, there is
           no question of 'when'. Either you know that it is the cause of unhappiness or you know that it is not
           the cause of unhappiness. Decide. If it is not the cause of unhappiness, then things are clear: there is
           nothing to be done with mind. In fact, if it is not the cause of unhappiness, then the cause must lie
           somewhere outside you. That's what Communists say -- Marx and Mao. That's what they say -- that
           the cause of happiness is somewhere outside you not inside you: in the structure of the society, the
           economic system of society, in the political world -- somewhere outside you.
                If your misery comes from outside there is no way to get out of it. Because the cause is outside
           you, how can you destroy it?
                Because of this fact, Freud by and by became very despondent in his later life and finally, before
           he died, he wrote in a letter: Man can never be happy; it is impossible. Man's desire to be happy is an
           impossible desire. Man can never be happy because it is not in his hands to be happy.
                But Freud is wrong. I am here and I say to you that I am happy. So it is not a question of my
           belief. It is not a belief that I am happy. Buddha is happy, Krishna is happy, Jesus is happy. But
           Freud -- why does he think that man cannot be happy? And he is not a man to make meaningless
           statements. He is a very sincere man. Forty, fifty years of deep observation has brought him to make
           the statement that man cannot be happy. The reason is that he was also looking for the cause
           somewhere beyond man.
                Marx looks for it in the social structure, Freud looks for it in the unconscious. But the very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           definition of unconscious is that which is not available to you, that of which you are not conscious. It
           is outside you, you are in your consciousness. It is outside you, it is somewhere you don't know
           where. From where does your misery come? How can you change it?
                Religion takes a radically and diametrically opposite standpoint: you are the cause. It makes one
           sad in the beginning that 'i am the cause of my misery' but really one should be happy. If I am the
           cause, then there is a possibility, then there is hope -- because I can stop it. I can try not to be the
           cause of my unhappiness.
                With religion, man becomes responsible; with communism, man becomes irresponsible. With
           religion, man becomes a free agent in this world; with communism, man becomes a mechanical
           thing, a robot-like thing. With religion, you attain to being a soul, you become a soul; with
           communism, the soul disappears, you are no more there.
                If the cause of happiness is outside, if the cause of misery is outside, then your soul is outside --
           it is not within you. Then you are to be manipulated by the state, then you are nothing but a hollow
           puppet and the strings are somewhere in the Kremlin -- somebody is manipulating from there. Then
           life is almost meaningless -- not only meaningless, horrible. Man is not a hollow puppet; man has a
           substantial being in him.
                So when you say, WHEN MIND IS THE THE CAUSE OF MY UNHAPPINESS, you have
           taken my statement as true without realising it, without becoming a witness to it. Never do that,
           otherwise questions arise unnecessarily. It is better not to answer hypothetical questions because
           they will create more hypothetical questions. If you are unhappy because of your mind, recognise the
           fact.
                Somebody insults you. Do you think you are unhappy because somebody insulted you or do you
           think you are unhappy because you have a very subtle ego which felt hurt by this insult? Now the
           possibilities are only two. Either you are unhappy because he insulted you. If that is the possibility,
           the only possibility, then you can never be happy because the world is vast and how can you manage
           that nobody will insult you ever? It is beyond you. If it is your ego which feels hurt, then the
           possibility exists that you can drop the ego. Then let the whole world insult you, you can go on
           laughing, it makes no difference.

              Mulla Nasruddin and one of his friends had been drinking all evening in a bar. The friend finally
           passed out and fell to the floor. The Mulla called a doctor who rushed him to a hospital.
              When he came to, the doctor asked him, 'Do you see any pink elephants or little green men?'
           'No,' groaned the patient.
           'No snakes or alligators?' the doctor asked.
           'No,' the drunk said.
           'Then just sleep it off. You will be all right in the morning,' said the doctor.
           But Mulla Nasruddin was worried.
           'Look, doctor,' he said, 'that boy is in bad shape. He said he could not see any of them animals and
           you and I know the room is full of them.'

               What I say will not make much difference if you know the room is full of them. Finally you are
           going to be the deciding factor. So watch your mind. Is your mind the cause of misery? If it is not
           then you cannot be a religious man. Then one day or other you are going to be a communist. These
           are the two alternatives: religion and communism. Everybody has to decide. And I would suggest to
           you that if you feel that your mind is not the cause of misery, then become a communist -- nothing
           wrong in it, be sincere. Sooner or later you will be frustrated, and a frustrated communist becomes
           religious very easily. Many people need that frustration because then that alternative is finished.
           Then there is only one alternative. Never hang between the two, never be in the limbo.
               Many people are in the limbo. They go to the church but their heart is communistic. When I say
           communistic I don't mean they belong to the communist party, I mean that they believe that the
           cause of their misery is outside.

              A stubborn old Dubliner stepped into the dentist's office with a terrific toothache. He could not,
           however, muster up enough courage to have the tooth pulled. So the dentist gave him a glass of
           whisky to bolster him.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then the dentist said, 'Right, ready now?'
           'Not quite,' said the man smacking his lips.
               Two more drinks of whisky and finally he finished up the entire bottle.
           'Now step into the chair,' the dentist begged.
               The Irishman came out swinging into the middle of the room.
           'I would like to see the swine who would dare to touch my tooth now!'

               You are almost drunk with your mind. And I am going to touch your teeth, remember. You have
           to become a little sober, you have to become a little more aware. Once you have a little awareness
           you will start seeing that it is your mind, nothing else but your mind that goes on spinning new webs
           of misery. It is just like a spider: he goes on creating a net and goes on being caught into himself.
               The first thing to be decided is whether you realise the fact that your mind is the cause of your
           misery, of your unhappiness. Once this is decided everything becomes clear. Then there is no need,
           really, to ask how to get out of it. And if you have not yet decided and I help you in some way to get
           out of it, I will be in trouble.

               Let me tell you one anecdote to make the thing clear.
               The woman bather had got into a hole and she could not swim. Nor could the young man on the
           end of the pier. But when she came up the first time and he caught sight of her face he could yell,
           and he did. Just then a big fisherman walked by.
           'What is up?' he asked.
               'There!' hoarsely cried the young man.'My wife, drowning. I can't swim. A hundred dollars if you
           save her!'
               In a moment the fisherman was in the water; in another he was out of it with the rescued woman.
               He approached the young man.'Well, what about the hundred dollars?'
               If the young man's face had been ashen-gray before, now it was dead white as he gazed upon the
           features of the rescued woman.
               'Yes I know,' he gasped, 'but when I made the offer I thought it was my wife who was drowning
           and now, now it turns out it was my wife's mother!'
               'Just my luck,' said the fisherman sadly, thrusting his hand into his trouser pocket.'How much do
           I owe you?'

               So first you decide whether your mind is your wife or your mother-in-law. Then only can
           something be done about it. Otherwise you will be angry with me. If I pull you out of your mind and
           you were still fantasising and dreaming, you will be tremendously angry and annoyed and irritated.
           And if you were dreaming sweet dreams, then more so, because you were hoping that something was
           just going to be fulfilled.

               One day Mulla Nasruddin's wife woke him up in the morning and he became very, very angry
           and he said, 'You foolish woman. Is this the right time?'
           She said, 'But the sun is up.'
               He said, 'It has nothing to do with the sun. I was dreaming about a man who was offering me a
           hundred rupees and just at the moment I was going to take it, you came. You have destroyed the
           whole thing.'
               He tried again to create sleep, tried to close his eyes, turned this way and that, but you cannot
           catch hold of a dream. Once it is gone it is gone. And he started saying, 'Okay, I will accept even
           ninety, eighty, seventy, whatsoever you give, I will accept, but give it!'
           But there was nobody to give.
               If you are dreaming, then dream a little more. Nobody is ever fulfilled by dreaming but one has
           to figure it out oneself -- 'Enough is enough. I have dreamed enough, fantasised enough, and nothing
           comes except misery, except frustration.' Each desire brings more frustration, each expectation turns
           finally into frustration.
               Once YOU understand it, there will be no need to take you out of it; once you understand it, the
           very understanding becomes the coming out of it. The very understanding means freedom from
           mind.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The third question:


              YOU TALK ABOUT A LIVING RELIGION YET IN SOME CENTRES PEOPLE KNEEL OVER THE
              CAST OF YOUR FEET. I AM REMINDED OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION WHERE I LOST THE
              MEANING OF THE TEACHINGS AND INSTEAD VENERATED THE SYMBOL. PLEASE TELL ME
              WHY WE NEED YOUR SYMBOLS. THEY ARE NOT YOU,NOR YOUR TEACHING.


              It is a very subtle question. You will have to be very alert to understand it.
              Yes, religion has nothing to do with symbols. Religion in its essence is absolutely pure, just an
           experiencing, a knowing. It has nothing to do with outside symbols. But that is not the question. That
           pure religion is not possible for you as you are; the way you are you will need symbols.

               Once it happened, Joshu was sitting in front of his temple. A great Zen Master. A seeker came
           and he asked Joshu, 'Master, where is Buddha? Who is Buddha? What is this Buddhahood?'
               Joshu looked into the eyes of the man and said, 'You ask who is Buddha? Go inside the temple.
           He is there.'
               The man laughed and said, 'There is only a stone statue. And I know and you know that a stone
           statue is not Buddha.'
               Joshu said, 'Perfectly right. A stone statue is not Buddha.'
           Then the man said, 'Then tell me, who is Buddha?'
               Joshu looked again into his eyes and said, 'Go into the temple, you will find the Buddha there.'

                Now this is very puzzling. The questioner is not yet able to understand the non-symbolic.
           Though intellectually he understands that the statue is just a stone statue and is not Buddha, it is only
           intellectual understanding
                If your lover gives you a small handkerchief, has it any more meaning than any other
           handkerchief of the same make, of the same value? If it is lost, tears may come to your eyes. Your
           mind is still symbolic, still lives in symbols. That handkerchief, a small, valueless handkerchief
           given by your lover or beloved, carries a certain meaning which nobody else can see. It is an
           ordinary handkerchief but to you it is very symbolic. It has a message, a love message. That
           handkerchief is worth a kingdom. It is personal and somebody has given it to you as a deep gesture
           of his love. It is no more a commodity in the marketplace, it is no more a part of the world of things
           -- that handkerchief has a personality, almost a soul. Have you not watched this inside you?
                If this is so, then symbols are still meaningful for you and you cannot just drop them unless the
           whole mind is dropped. It depends on you. If those symbols have a certain response in your heart
           they are alive.
                When a Buddhist goes to the Buddhist temple and bows down before the stone statue of Buddha,
           if it is really a heartfelt prayer, if he is really bowing down in deep humbleness, then don't bother
           about the statue. The real thing is the humbleness, the desire, the love, the heartfelt urge. That stone
           statue is just instrumental.
                If you go and you are not a Buddhist and you have no heart for Buddha, then, of course, it is a
           stone statue. A Buddhist has a love affair with Buddha. If you call that stone statue just a stone, he
           will be hurt because he sees something more in it. That something more is in his eyes, certainly so,
           absolutely so -- it is not there in the statue. But in front of the statue something responds in him,
           something starts singing in his heart. His heart beats faster, he feels transfigured. That transfiguration
           is meaningful. It does not matter if the statue is Buddha or not, it does not matter at all. But it helped.
                For example: you come across a rope. It is getting dark, the sun has set, the night is descending,
           and on a lonely path in the forest you come across the rope and you think it is a snake. You start
           running, perspiring. There is no snake but is your perspiration real or not? If there was a real snake
           would the perspiration be a more real? Is your running real or not? Would it have been more real if
           there had been a real snake? To you it is real.
                Buddha has a definition of truth -- a very strange definition. He says, 'That which affects is true.'
           That which affects is true. If a rope is taken as a snake and it affects you, it is true. To you it is true.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It is almost a snake.
                A symbol is real if it affects you; if it does not affect you, of course, it is not a symbol at all. The
           very word 'symbol' means that a thing has some greater value than is available to the naked eyes, a
           thing has some greater value than a scientist can give to it. That greater value makes it symbolic.

               I have heard about a Hasid rabbi, Rabbi Sadagora. He used to say to his hasidim, 'You can learn
           something from everything. Everything can teach us something, and not only everything God has
           made or created, but what man has made also has something to teach us.'
           'What can we learn from a train?' one Hasid asked dubiously.
           'That because of one second one can miss everything.'
           'And from the telegraph?'
           'That every word is counted and charged.'
           'And the telephone?'
           'That what we say here is heard there.'
               Then everything becomes symbolic, and life takes on a different dimension.
               If your heart feels something for the cross, then it is not just a cross, you become connected
           through it with Jesus. That's not a scientific thing but religion is not a scientific thing. It is more
           poetic; it is more like love and less like reason; it is more like feeling and less like analysis. It is not
           logic, it is a very deep romance with reality.

               If you drop all symbols -- as many people have, thinking that symbols are just empty symbols,
           there is nothing in them -- why do you shake hands with your friend? It is simply foolish taking
           somebody's hand and simply shaking it. Can't you see the foolishness of it? Why do you kiss your
           woman? Can't you see the lack of hygiene in it? The sheer unmedicalness of it? Two persons
           transferring their diseases...in each kiss millions of minute cells are transferred. What are you doing?
           When you say to your woman, 'I love you,' what are these words -- ' I love you'? Just words?
           Nothing more? Words are symbols. The word 'love' is not love, so drop it. If you go on dropping in
           that way what will be left?

           Let me tell you one anecdote.
               The battered old man got up one night during a revival meeting and said, 'Brothers and sisters,
           you know and I know I ain't been what I ought to have been. I have stole hard and told lies and got
           drunk and always been in fights and shooting crap and playing poker and I have cursed and swore,
           but I thank the Lord there is one thing I ain't never done. I ain't never lost my religion.'

               Then what type of religion is left? If you drop all symbols, you drop language; if you drop all
           symbols, you drop poetry; if you drop all symbols, you drop even mathematics. Then what is left?
               Man is a symbolic creature, man lives in a world of symbols. Even science cannot do without
           symbols. Science, which is expected to be absolutely factual, cannot work without symbols. In fact,
           there is no possibility of growing without symbols. That's why animals are not growing; they cannot
           grow unless they move into the dimension of symbols. So everything is a symbol.

               Once it happened that Ramakrishna was talking to his disciples. He was talking about ANAHAT
           NAD, the soundless sound, and he said that by the constant chanting of AUM YOU will come to a
           point where soundless sound is heard.
               An intellectual, a logician, was present there and he was getting very irritated by this uneducated
           man. Ramakrishna was uneducated, he went only to the second grade, he never studied anything,
           never knew anything about scriptures. So the man was getting annoyed. And people were listening
           so intently to this uneducated fellow that he was boiling inside and he tried to find a chance to show
           his knowledge.
               Then he said, 'Stop. This is all nonsense. Just by repeating a sound, AUM, AUM, AUM, nothing
           is going to happen. Because AUM is just a symbol, nothing else. It is just a word -- not even a word,
           a meaningless sound. So what is going to happen out of it? You can go on repeating and nothing will
           happen.'
               And he started quoting scriptures. He was a learned man. Ramakrishna listened to him for half an
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hour, very intently, then suddenly he looked at him and said, 'You stupid. Now stop! Don't utter a
           single word!'
               That man was very much disturbed. This illiterate fellow called him stupid! But he became afraid
           also because this man was thought to be very religious, a great mystic, and he said, 'Don't utter a
           single word otherwise you will repent.' So he became very afraid because when this mystic's
           devotees were there, if he said something, they might jump over him. And who knows? This man
           might know something. So he kept quiet but he was almost fire.
               For two or three minutes Ramakrishna again started talking about AUM and ANAHAT NAD,
           the soundless sound. Then after two minutes he looked at the man. He was perspiring yet it was a
           winter evening. Ramakrishna said, 'Look, sir. Just a small word 'stupid' and look what it has done.
           You are perspiring and you are getting so aflame that if these people were not here you would have
           killed me. Just look at it. Just a small symbol 'stupid' and look what it has done!'
               The whole human consciousness has grown out of symbolism. All our languages -- the language
           of science, the language of religion, the language of poetry -- are all symbols. Our whole life of love,
           relationship, is nothing but symbolism.
               Unless you have come to a point where the whole mind disappears, symbols are meaningful. The
           questioner asks: YOU TALK ABOUT A LIVING RELIGION YET IN SOME CENTRES PEOPLE
           KNEEL OVER THE CAST OF YOUR FEET. Those feet are irrelevant, their kneeling is relevant.
           Those feet are just symbolic, but their kneeling is real. That is not symbolic. They are affected by it.
               So when I say 'a living religion' I mean a religion which is still moving the hearts. If somebody is
           moved by a cross he is still encountering Christ -- the religion is living to him. And if you simply
           bow down because it is a formality to be fulfilled, then the religion is dead. Because the symbol is
           dead and there is nothing inside you, the religion is dead. The symbol is always dead but if it affects
           you and starts a movement in your energy, then it is alive.
               A religion is alive in the heart, it has nothing to do with temples and churches. If you are moved,
           if a rhythm arises in you, if you start dancing seeing Krishna or his statue, suddenly the flute on his
           lips is no longer just a symbol to you, it has become a real dance. You can listen to his tune, you can
           hear his tune.
               I AM REMINDED OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION WHERE I LOST THE MEANING OF
           THE TEACHINGS AND INSTEAD VENERATED THE SYMBOLS. It is your fault. It has nothing
           to do with the church. If you missed the meaning and started venerating the symbols, it is your fault.
           Now that you have become so afraid of symbols it simply means you have reacted to your
           upbringing; you have not yet become a revolutionary, you have just reacted.
               Because a few symbols were given to you in your childhood and they never became alive, now
           you are afraid of all symbols. You will be very poor for that. Don't be afraid. If one set of symbols
           has not worked, another set of symbols can work. And now you are not a child. Those symbols did
           not work because they were forced on you by your parents, but if you choose your own religion....
           Now remember this, this is my continuous emphasis: if you want to be religious, you have to choose
           your religion -- then it is alive. Only through choice, voluntary choice, is it alive. If it has been
           enforced on you then it is dead, then it is somebody else's religion, it is somebody else's trip -- your
           parents' trip. And you are simply carrying it like a load.
               You have chosen to walk with me, it is your choice, it is your voluntary choice. It is your will to
           be with me. Then between me and you whatsoever transpires is going to be alive. That may not be so
           with your children when I am gone. You would like your children also to be in orange -- then
           something may not happen because then it will be your trip and you will be enforcing your trip on
           your children. Never enforce your trip on anybody else.
               If YOU choose hell, even hell is heaven; if you are forced and coerced into heaven, then heaven
           will become a hell. Freedom is the most fundamental value; nothing is more valuable than freedom.
           If you choose Christ or Krishna or Buddha -- if you choose, remember -- then they become
           contemporaries, then there is no gap of twenty centuries between you and Christ, no. Then he walks
           with you, then he talks with you, then he is a constant companion. Then his cross is your cross and
           your cross is his cross. Then he is with you in your misery and he is with you in your happiness --
           and he shares himself with you. But it has to be your choice.
               PLEASE TELL ME WHY WE NEED YOUR SYMBOLS. THEY ARE NOT YOU NOR YOUR
           TEACHINGS HERE. They are neither me nor my teachings but you cannot see me yet. Whatsoever
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you see is just a symbol -- my body is just a symbol, it is not me; my photograph is a symbol, it is
           not me; whatsoever I am saying is symbolic, it is not me. And what I am saying is not my teaching
           because my teachings cannot be said. Nobody's -- Buddha's nor Christ's -- nobody's can be said.
           Whatsoever is being said is not the real thing. The real is elusive. Truth cannot be uttered.
               But I have to talk to you to persuade you to become silent. This is a very absurd effort, but this is
           how it is! I have to seduce you towards silence through words. Words are just symbols; silence is....
           Remember, when I say silence, the word 'silence' is not silence.
           Yes, Joshu was right. The Buddha is in the temple.

               The man said, 'But there is no Buddha, there is only a stone statue. How can an enlightened man
           like you say that a stone statue is a Buddha?'
               And Joshu said, 'You are right. It is just a stone statue.'
           Then the man said, 'Now tell me, where is Buddha?'
           Joshu said, 'Go into the temple, he is there.'

               If you have the eyes to see then you can see even in a stone. If you don't have the eyes to see you
           may come across Jesus and you may not recognise him. Many of you were there when Jesus was
           there, many of you were there when Buddha was there and you never recognised him. Many of you
           are here just in front of me and you may never recognise me. So the deepest question is of your
           recognition. If you can recognise something in a stone, if you can recognise something in a cast of
           my feet, yes, Buddha is there.
               The whole thing is yours -- your Buddha, your Christ, your me. Everything is yours, you are the
           only one. This is the beauty, the drama of life: you are the actor, you are the director, you are the
           audience, you are the story-writer, you are the play-back singer, you are all, alone.

           Let me tell you one anecdote.
               The wholesale company sold a bill of goods to a merchant at a small cross-road village. When
           the goods arrived he refused them. The wholesale firm prepared to start suit for collection and wrote
           to the railroad agent of the village for information about the arrival of the merchandise. They also
           wrote the president of the bank for information concerning the financial standing of the customer, to
           the Mayor of the town asking him to recommend a good lawyer to handle the case, and to the
           merchant threatening suit if he did not make payment at once.
               The company receive this reply: 'I received a letter telling me I had better pay up. I am the
           railroad agent here and also received the letter you wrote to the agent. I am president and sole owner
           of the local bank and can assure you as to my financial standing. As Mayor of the town I hesitate to
           refer to you a lawyer since I am the only member of the bar in this vicinity. If I were not also the
           pastor of the town's one church I would tell you to go to hell.'

                Now this is the case -- you are all in all. If a symbol is alive to you, it is alive -- you bring life to
           it, you pour life into it.
                When somebody is bowing down before the cast of my feet, for him they become alive -- he
           pours his life into them. You may be standing there looking at the foolishness. What is he doing?
                Yes, it is foolish for you because those feet are not alive for you, that symbol is not throbbing for
           you, you have not poured your life into it.
                So don't be bothered about others -- let them do their thing. They must be finding something in it.
           If you are not finding something there, then find it somewhere else. You may find something in my
           words -- words are as symbolic as the cast feet and, of course, less substantial. Words are less
           substantial: uttered, they disappear. They are very dreamlike. Or you may be pouring your energy
           into the symbol of this body here now -- that too will disappear, that too is not the ultimate thing.
                The ultimate is that which always remains. You can see that ultimate anywhere -- just make your
           eyes a little more perceptive.
                And don't still be dominated by your Catholic upbringing because that will be a great loss to you.
           If you go on dropping all symbols you will become very, very poor. Nobody will be at a loss, only
           you.
           Symbols make life rich, poetic.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           I have heard.
               Two businessmen were relaxing in the clubhouse after a round of golf.
           'I don't know why you don't sack your secretary,' said one.'Her typing is atrocious and she spends
           more time on your private phone than you do. Take away her gorgeous hair, her beautiful eyes, her
           sensuous lips, her lovely figure, and what have you got?'
           The other businessman grunted and said, 'My wife.'
               Beware. Don't go on dropping symbols otherwise nothing will be left.
               Yes, that is the highest peak; get ready for it. Symbols will help you to reach that highest peak
           but if you drop them right now you will never reach to that height. One has to move up a staircase.
           When one has reached the top one has to leave the staircase. But if you leave at the very beginning
           you will remain on the bottom floor.
               Symbols are to be left only when you have come to see the non-symbolic, not before that.
           Otherwise you will remain very low -- somewhere crawling on the earth.
               Once you have symbolism it gives a vision to your life, a style. Then you are not haphazard, then
           you become an order, you are not a chaos. Then things start crystallising inside you and everything
           starts gaining a significance -- your life has a direction, you have a sense of direction.
               'In the synagogue I heard men praying,' said the puzzled young boy.'It must be awfully hard for
           God.'
           'Why?' asked the rabbi gently.
           'The woodcutter was praying for cold weather.'
               'Naturally,' said the rabbi.'He makes his living cutting wood for our stoves. The colder it is, the
           more wood he sells.'
           'But the fruitseller prayed for mild weather.'
               'Well,' said the rabbi, 'he stores autumn fruit to sell in winter. Severe cold would freeze his stored
           fruit.'
               'The farmer prayed for rain and the brickmaker for dry weather. They are all godly men: how
           does God know how to answer all their prayers?'
           'How is the weather now?' asked the rabbi.
           'Dry and mild.'
           'And last week?'
           'Let me see. On Monday and Tuesday it rained and on Thursday it was cold.'
           'See?' said the rabbi.

               Once you have a symbol you can see. Then God is fulfilling everybody's needs: someday it is
           raining, someday it is dry, someday it is hot, someday it is cold -- God is fulfilling everybody's
           desires.
               But if you have the symbol of God then the whole thing is no longer disorderly. If you don't have
           that symbol then you are simply surprised: you find persons praying in the synagogue and everybody
           asking for different weather, and it looks almost foolish. And they all are good people, religious
           people -- how is God going to fulfil them? In fact, if you don't have the symbol of God, those five
           prayers are chaotic, you cannot make any sense out of them. Once you have the symbol, that symbol
           crystallises everything.
           'See?' said the rabbi.

           The last question:


              IT IS AN UNIMPORTANT POINT IN A VERY INTERESTING INSPIRING DISCOURSE, BUT WHY
              DO YOU SAY THAT THE SUN WILL BE FINISHED IN FOUR THOUSAND YEARS? MY ATLASES
              OF THE EARTH AND THE UNIVERSE GIVE A FIGURE FOR THE NEXT MAJOR CHANGE IN THE
              SUN'S PRESENT OUTPUT -- TO A RED GIANT STAGE -- TO BE ABOUT FIVE BILLION YEARS
              OR SO -- WHICH WOULD ANNIHILATE LIFE ON EARTH. ARE YOU TRYING TO START A
              STAMPEDE? OR IS THIS AN 'INTENTIONAL IMPERFECTION' INSERTED INTO YOUR
              DISCOURSE AS IN A PERSIAN RUG?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The questioner says: IT IS AN UNIMPORTANT POINT IN A VERY INSPIRING
           DISCOURSE -- but nothing else has inspired the questioner to ask. So this must have been the most
           important thing.
              There are people who are interested in non-essential things and they make much fuss about them.
           And they forget that because of that fuss much is being missed.
              If it makes you happy, you can make it five billion years -- or why five billion? Why not five
           hundred billion? If it makes you happy you can make as big a figure as you can.

           I have heard one anecdote.
                A scientist was speaking about the same truth and he said, 'In five billion years the sun will cool
           down.'
                A woman sitting in front of the audience started trembling, perspiring, was almost going to faint.
           So the scientist had to stop his talking.
                He said, 'What is going on? Why are you becoming so afraid? You need not be afraid, it is five
           billion years.'
                The woman said, 'Thank God! I thought you said five million.'

               What difference does it make? You will be dead within fifty years. Whether the earth continues
           or the sun continues for five billion or five million years makes no difference. These are irrelevant
           things.
               My point was that if the sun becomes cold someday, we will not be able to live. I was trying to
           explain to you that you don't end at your skin. I am not a scientist and I am very happy that I am not.
           I was simply saying that the skin is not your boundary. It is difficult to say where your boundary is
           because it is, in fact, nowhere.
               The sun is there -- without the sun you will not be able to live. Your skin will simply wither
           away and you will die. That was the whole point.
               And I am not trying to create a stampede. If a stampede is to be created, four thousand years
           won't help. Tomorrow... and that too is doubtful. Even if I said that tomorrow the sun is going to
           cool down completely then too it is difficult to see that a stampede will be created. You are so lazy
           you will say, 'Tomorrow? Tomorrow never comes.' And you may start living even more madly
           because, 'Tomorrow? Maybe this man is right.' So whatsoever you have not done up to now, do it.
           You were thinking about murdering a man -- murder. Or you were thinking about kidnapping a
           woman -- kidnap; because 'tommorrow? Who knows? Maybe this man is right.'
               No I am not creating, or trying to create, any stampede. To me it is an irrelevant thing: four
           thousand years, four million years, four billion years, four trillion years -- whatsoever.
               But you missed my point. And you showed your mind by raising a very unimportant question. If
           such questions are meaningful to you, you will go on missing me. Then you are simply watching for
           something absolutely meaningless.
           I have heard.
               Junior was in the habit of coming to the table with a dirty face and, of course, had to be sent to
           wash every day.
               One time his mother, losing her patience, said to him, 'Junior, why do you persist in coming to
           the table without washing? You know I always send you away.'
           'Well,' replied Junior, 'once you forgot.'

           Just once, and, who knows, you may forget again.
               There are minds who go on watching for such things. Be alert about this tendency.
               I am not a scientist, neither was Jesus or Buddha. There are many people now who deny Jesus
           because he was not a scientist because he said the world was created four thousand years before.
           Now look. This four thousand seems to be very meaningful. I said, 'After four thousand years it is
           going to drop,' and Jesus said, 'Just four thousand years ago the world was created.'
               Now scientists find fault. It is faulty. The world was not created four thousand years before. Then
           why was this man saying it? This man was not a scientist; this man was saying something not as a
           fact but as a parable. He was not talking about a scientific theory for the creation, he was not
           interested in any scientific theory -- he was simply talking in parables. He was emphasising one fact:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that the world is not going to be forever and it has not been there forever. It is dreamlike. It has been
           created and it will disappear. So don't be too involved in it, it is not the real thing -- seek the creator,
           find out who is the creator. Don't waste too much time with the creation.
                But now there are scientists who will prove that he is wrong and there are Christians who will try
           to prove that he is right. And both do the same foolishness: you must take a parable for a fact, you
           can't understand a beautiful story, you can't understand poetry. Now I have come across scientists
           who have written great treatises proving that Jesus is wrong. And I have come across treatises which
           have tried to refute him.
                For example, scientists say that now there are proofs -- and there are proofs -- that the world has
           existed for millions of years. We have found bones in the earth, skulls in the earth which are at least
           fifty thousand years old. So not only the world but man has existed for at least fifty thousand years
           and Jesus says that the world was created only four thousand years before. Now how to answer it?
                I was reading a Christian theologian. He says, 'God is Almighty. When he created the world, he
           created skulls fifty thousand years old, just to test the faith of people.' Now what to do with these
           people? He has put fifty thousand-year-old skulls inside the earth. He created the earth four thousand
           years ago just to see who the doubters are and who the real believers are!
           Don't waste your time in such things.




                                             Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                     Chapter #7
                                      Chapter title: Be A Light Unto Yourself
           17 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606170
              ShortTitle: DANG07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              LONG AGO, IN JAPAN, A BLIND MAN VISITING A FRIEND ONE NIGHT, WAS OFFERED A
              PAPER-AND-BAMBOO LANTERN TO CARRY HOME WITH HIM.
              'I DO NOT NEED A LANTERN,' HE SAID, 'DARKNESS OR LIGHT IS ALL THE SAME TO ME.'
              'I KNOW YOU DO NOT NEED A LANTERN TO FIND YOUR WAY, HIS FRIEND REPLIED, 'BUT
              YOU MUST TAKE IT BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE SOMEONE ELSE MAY RUN INTO
              YOU.'



              THE BLIND MAN STARTED OFF WITH THE LANTERN AND BEFORE HE HAD WALKED VERY
              FAR SOMEONE RAN SQUARELY INTO HIM. 'LOOK OUT WHERE YOU ARE GOING!' HE
              EXCLAIMED TO THE STRANGER. 'CAN'T YOU SEE THIS LANTERN?'
              'YOUR CANDLE HAS BURNT OUT, BROTHER,' REPLIED THE STRANGER.


               KNOWLEDGE IS not enough, to rely on it is dangerous. Knowledge is borrowed, it is not
           knowing. Knowing grows with you, knowing is a growth, an evolution, knowledge is implanted
           within you from me outside, knowledge is borrowed, it is counterfeit. It looks like knowing, it is not.
           It deceives, it gives you a feeling that you know you don't.
               On the path of Zen the first thing to be aware of is knowledge: the tradition, the scripture, that
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           which has been handed over to you others. Those eyes are not yours, that light is not yours, and it is
           better to remain ignorant than to become knowledgeable -- because at least ignorance is yours. A
           least it is authentic, at least it is true, at least it belongs to you
                Out of the truth of ignorance, knowing can grow, but out of the falsity of knowledge, you will be
           lost. Nothing can grow out of it. Knowledge is an accumulation of dead facts and information. It has
           no life in it. It is like stones piled up, one upon another. It can rise to a very great height, but it has no
           growth because it has no sap of life in it.
                A tree is totally different. It so goes higher and higher but it has an organic growth, a sap of life,
           running through it. It is growing on its own accord. It is rooted in life. It is an alive process. You can
           keep a plastic tree and it will look just like any other tree: it can be even more green, it can be even
           more deceptive, more beautiful -- but it will be dead. It will not have any roots anywhere, it will not
           be grounded in existence, it will not be at ease and at home, it will not be an insider. It will be a
           foreigner, it will be alien..
                This is the first thing to understand -- then only can you understand the radical attitude of Zen. It
           is very easy to borrow knowledge. That's what the schools, the colleges, the universities, are doing.
           They go on transferring information from one generation to another. They are the via media. And
           people who collect knowledge from them start feeling that they know. But how can you know if
           YOU have not known it?
                I can talk about love to you, you can listen to me, you can even agree with me, but your
           agreement is not the point. I may be logical and clever enough to persuade you to agree with me but
           that will not give you any taste of love. To know love, you will have to fall in love. To know love,
           you will have to travel the path of love. To know love, you will have to take the dangerous journey.
                Knowledge is more of a certainty; knowing is more uncertain. That's why people choose
           knowledge. Knowledge is more guaranteed, it has authority, centuries are standing behind it. That's
           why every religion tries to prove that it is the oldest religion in the world. Why? Because the older a
           religion is, the greater the authority it has. Hindus say that the Vedas are the oldest scriptures in the
           world; -- Bibles and Korans and Guru Nankers are just very late arrivals. The Vedas are very, very
           old. Why so much insistence? Because the older a scripture is, the longer it has stood the test of time,
           the greater the authority it has gathered around it. Millions of seers are witnesses to it.
                Zen says truth has nothing to do with authority, truth has nothing to do with tradition, truth has
           nothing to do with the past -- truth is a radical, personal realisation. YOU have to come to it.
                Knowledge is certain; the search for personal knowing is very, very hazardous. Nobody can
           guarantee it. If you ask me if I can guarantee you anything, I say I cannot guarantee you anything. I
           can only guarantee danger, that much is certain. I can only guarantee you a long adventure with
           every possibility of going astray and never reaching the goal. But one thing is certain: the very
           search will help you to grow. I can guarantee only growth. Danger will be there, sacrifice will be
           there; you will be moving every day into the unknown, into the uncharted, and there will be no map
           to follow, no guide to follow. Yes, there are millions of dangers and you can go astray and you can
           get lost, but that is the only way one grows. Insecurity is the only way to grow, to face danger is the
           only way to grow, to accept the challenge of the unknown is the only way to grow. So I can
           guarantee only growth.
                Knowledge guarantees everything. There will be no danger if you follow the Veda, if you follow
           the Bible -- then you need not worry. Now it is Christ who has to worry about it, and he knows. You
           have simply to imitate him. And the seers of the Vedas know and Mohammed knows, so there is no
           need for you to make your own private effort. It has already been known, you simply believe. All
           that is required from you by ordinary religions is belief.
           Zen says belief is counterfeit, borrowed.
                You have to grow and you have to take the risk. I can guarantee you risk. In the open sky of the
           truth one searches, with trial and error; many times going astray, and again and again coming back to
           the right path. That's the only way.
                Truth is not cheap; belief is very cheap. Truth is very costly -- you will have to pay with your
           life. Truth requires total sacrifice, nothing less will do.
                Zen says that if you are believing scriptures, tradition, others.... It is irrelevant if they are wrong
           or right, that is not the point. Remember, Zen doesn't say that the Bible is wrong, Zen doesn't say that
           the Veda is wrong -- Zen says they are irrelevant. I t has nothing to do with right and wrong. They
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may be right, they may be wrong, but that is not the point to be considered at all. Through them
           growth is not possible. Those who have written them were grown-up people, mature. They have
           asserted something that they have known -- but for them that was KNOWING, for you it will be
           knowledge.
               Knowing means that you have seen it with your own eyes; knowledge means you have heard it
           from others. It is very poor, and one who remains with knowledge remains poor. A pundit, a
           so-called learned man, is the poorest man in the world. He has only counterfeit money and he goes
           on counting it.
              WE ARE THE HOLLOW MEN, WE ARE THE STUFFED MEN LEANING TOGETHER HEADPIECE
              FILLED WITH STRAW. ALAS! OUR DRIED VOICES, WHEN WE WHISPER TOGETHER ARE
              QUIET AND MEANINGLESS AS WIND IN DRY GRASS OR RAT'S FEET OVER BROKEN GLASS IN
              OUR DRY CELLAR.


                These beautiful lines from T. S. Eliot described exactly the situation of the man, of the mind,
           who has remained with knowledge. STUFFED WITH STRAW and OUR VOICES...like RAT'S
           FEET OVER BROKEN GLASS.
                Look at your head -- it is almost rubbish. A collection, accumulation, but not knowing at all. And
           unless you are free from this rubbish your eyes will not have clarity, you will remain blind. I can
           give you my lamp in your hand, it will not help. Sooner or later the flame will be gone. In fact, the
           flame goes immediately, the moment I give my lamp to you. In the very transfer the flame goes out
           because the flame cannot be transferred. You will have to become a flame on your own accord.
                You can learn how to kindle your flame but you cannot borrow it, it is not a thing that can be
           transferred. At the most I can give you a thirst to seek it, I can give you almost a madness to search
           for it. I can drive you crazy enough to go after it, but I cannot give it to you. Nobody has ever given
           it to anybody else, it is untransferable.
                Wittgenstein says:'Philosophy leaves everything as it is.' You can become a great philosopher,
           you can know much, but philosophy leaves everything as it is. Nothing changes through it, it has no
           revolution in it.
                Belief is communal, knowledge is also communal; knowing is personal, trust is personal. You
           have to relate to God or to truth directly, immediately. You have to come to truth. And it is going to
           be arduous because each step will require tremendous changes in you. You cannot go to truth as you
           are, you will have to drop many things -- and the first thing, Zen says, is to drop borrowed
           knowledge.
                If you ask Christians what is to be dropped first, they will say sin. But they have forgotten what
           the original sin was. The original sin was that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. That
           story comes closer to Zen. They ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge -- that became the fall. That is
           the real sin, the original sin. Sin has nothing to do with your acts -- moral, immoral -- sin has
           something to do with knowledge. The parable is so clear but still Christian theologians have
           misinterpreted it for centuries.
                So the original sin is to become knowledgeable, to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
                Then what will be surrender? Then what will be virtue? Virtue will be surrendering the
           knowledge, vomiting the knowledge, cleaning your head completely, throwing all knowledge out.
           The apple that Adam swallowed is sticking in everyone's throat.
                And, of course, for Adam, knowledge was just a beginning. We have accumulated more than
           Adam because for centuries and centuries we have been eating from the same tree. We have
           completely lost the space, the inner purity, the inner innocence that comes when one throws,
           renounces, one's knowledge. Renounce your knowledge.
                In the Bible there is another beautiful parable -- the parable of the three wise men.
                Jesus is born in a stable in the poorest of poor situations. Then three wise men from the East go
           seeking and searching for him because according to their astrological analysis they have come to feel
           that something of the beyond was entering into time. They are very wise men -- learned, so learned
           that kings of many countries consult them and touch their feet. But still they go in search of this
           small child to touch his feet. Their learning is nothing compared to the innocence of this small child,
           just born.
                This child has not yet eaten the fruit of knowledge and this child is such that he is not going to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           eat the fruit of knowledge. He is going to insist on remaining pure of knowledge, he is not going to
           pollute his being, contaminate his being. Something from the beyond, something of the Divine has
           entered into the world of time.
               Those three wise men travel. It is arduous, the journey is long, and the three wise men are very,
           very old, very experienced, learned in many arts. They know all that can be known but they don't
           know how to be in a state of knowing. And they are going to search for this boy, this small boy, to
           look into his pure eyes, to look into his virgin eyes, to find out how one can be simply there without
           any knowledge.
               They are very old and nobody knows where Jesus is born -- but the story is beautiful. The story
           says: look into the sky to find a path on the earth. This is strange. To find a path on the earth, you
           have to look on the earth, but they look in the sky. And a star guides them.
               If you want to find a way on earth you have to look at the sky. If you want your feet to move
           rightly you will have to look at the uttermost height of life. You will have to look at the stars. If your
           eyes are moving towards the height your feet will follow the right track. That is the only way. If you
           are crawling on the earth and looking on the earth, you will miss all paths.
               A star guides them. They reach the town, they reach the stable and the star stops there. When you
           reach home everything stops because the home means simply that now there is nowhere to go. You
           have come to the point from where one has nowhere to go. The ultimate has come.
               These wise three men bow down into the feet of this small babe. This is knowledge bowing down
           before knowing, experience bowing down before innocence, Adam bowing down before Jesus,
           respectability bowing down before revolution.
               And they offer many presents to Jesus: gold they offer, incense they offer, myrrh they offer.
           Those are symbolic offerings. In the East, gold is offered to kings and this poorest of the poor is the
           king of the kings. So they offer gold. Incense is offered to the priests and this boy is not a priest yet
           he is going to be the highest priest possible. They offer incense. And in the East, myrrh is offered to
           somebody who is on their deathbed. Why do they offer myrrh to this boy who is just born? They
           know, they feel, that this boy is going to die on the cross -- is destined. Because unless somebody
           dies totally there is no resurrection.
               They offer whatsoever they have and they come back. The story says that they go back to their
           home...their home was in Iran. So they come back home and they bring the message that they have
           looked and found in the eyes of Jesus something of the unknown.
               They bring the message but Iran never became a Christian country, never. That too is very
           symbolic. The three wise men were the first to encounter Jesus but still they could not bring the
           message back home. The experience was so deep and profound that it could not be expressed. They
           may have become dumb, they may have remained silent for the rest of their life, they may not have
           talked to anybody, they may not have said anything to anybody. Nobody knows what happened to
           those three wise men. Because they had come to the very source, they may have become silent.
               This is a Zen parable. The first thing to be dropped is knowledge. Once you drop knowledge you
           attain to clarity. Look at small children -- let that be your ideal and become a child again. Only
           children have eyes to see. Our eyes are too full of ideas.
               We go on collecting knowledge, opinions, but deep down we remain the same, nothing changes.
           We just go on painting our personality on the surface.

           I have heard.
               Cohen and Goldberg were partners in the dress business. And business was terrible.
               A discouraged Cohen announced to his partner that he was going to change his name for good
           luck.
           'From now on,' he said, 'I am O'Brian.'
               That night Goldberg decided he would change his name too.
               Both men instructed the switchboard operator to answer the phones, 'O'Brian and O'Brian.'
               Everything went well until a caller demanded to speak to Mr. O'Brian. 'Which O'Brian do you
           want?' asked the operator. 'Cohen or Goldberg?'

              Everything that we go on doing on the surface will be just like changing a name. Inside you will
           remain the same. Your persona can never become more than skin deep -- your know ledge, your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           identity in the world is nothing but a persona, a dressing.
               Zen says you are wasting your life. Go deep, go beyond your knowledge, go beyond your name
           and your form, go beyond that identity that the society has given to you. Zen Masters give koans to
           their disciples to look into their original face -- the face that you had before you were born. Now you
           have a false face; it has been given to you by the society, it is just a formality. And if you think it is
           you, you are in a very bad shape.
               Somebody is a Christian, somebody is a Hindu, somebody is a Mohammedan, somebody is a
           Buddhist -- all these are just superficial things, accidents of birth. You are not a Christian, because
           Christ has not touched your heart yet. You are a Christian because you were born in a Christian
           home. You are a Buddhist because it was just an accident of birth, co-incidence. It happened that
           your father and mother were Buddhist -- hence you are a Buddhist. But Buddha has not yet happened
           to you.
               Remember, this is very cheap. Drop Christianity, drop Islam, drop Buddhism, drop that which
           has been given to you by the society, by birth, by association, by culture, by country. Drop all that so
           that you can find out who you really are.
               These things will be taken away by death; death will burn your persona. And then you will come
           face to face with your being and you will not even be able to recognise it, because you never knew
           that this was your face. We live very superficial lives.

           I have heard.
               A beggar clutched at the sleeve of a benevolent-looking passerby.
           'Five cents, sir, for a cup of coffee,' he whined.
               The other turned and surveyed him.
               'Why,' he asked, 'should I give you money? What brought you to this sad plight?'
               'A terrible catastrophe, sir, ' the beggar replied. 'Two years ago I was a prosperous business man
           like you, I worked industriously. On my desk was the motto 'Think Constructively, Act Decisively'.
           Money poured in and then, and then'...the beggar's frame shook convulsively...'the cleaning woman
           burnt my motto!'

               Just the burning of the motto!'The cleaning woman burnt my motto!' -- that has made him a
           beggar.
               Have you anything more than just a motto? What do you call your name? What do you call your
           identity? It can be burnt; death will take it away. Death is nothing but a cleaning woman. It will
           clean it away and you will cry convulsively. Then you will say, 'Death has killed ME.'
               Death has never killed anybody; death has no power to kill; death is the most impotent thing in
           the world. You make it potent by clinging to the superficial. The power of death is not intrinsic to
           death, the power of death is given by you. Death is empowered by you because you go on clinging to
           the superficial. Death can take only the superficial, it cannot enter the depths of your being.
               But if you think your clothes are you, your body is you, your mind is you, then you have given
           power to the hands of death. Death will destroy this and then you will convulsively weep that 'I have
           been killed' and for your whole life you will be afraid of death.
               Zen says that if you drop knowledge -- and within knowledge everything is included, your name,
           your identity, everything, because this has been given to you by others -- if you drop all that has been
           given by others, you will have a totally different quality to your being -- innocence. This will be a
           crucifixion of the persona, the personality, and there will be a resurrection of your innocence; you
           will become a child again, reborn.
               Hindus call this state DWIJ, twice born. This is a second birth. A man becomes really a Brahmin
           when he has gone through the cross -- the personality burnt and destroyed by death. Or he has
           renounced it himself voluntarily, then innocence arises and he is reborn. Then he is a Brahmin
           because then only does he come to know what truth is.
               But we have decided to follow the short-cut, the way of the belief. We are hoping against hope
           that somebody else's eyes will do the work for us.

           It happened.
               In Buddha's time there was a blind man in a certain village. He was a great logician, a great
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinker, and nobody was able to convince him that light existed because he would argue against it.
               He would say, 'If light exists, I would like to touch it, because anything that exists can be
           touched. If light exists, I would like to taste it or at least I would like to smell it. Or, you can throw it
           on the floor -- at least I can hear the sound of it.'
               He said, 'These are the four senses, so any sense that is available to me can become a proof for it.'
               But there is no way to touch light, no way to smell it -- it has no smell. And there is no way to
           throw it on the floor to create sound. There is no way to taste it. It is difficult, very difficult to prove.
               And then that blind man would laugh and he would say, 'You are trying to befool me! You
           simply want to prove that light is, so that you can prove that I am blind. But I am not blind.
           Everybody is blind -- and there exists nothing like light. You don't try to befool me.'
               One day the blind man was invited to a friend's house. A preparation of milk was made and he
           liked it very much and he asked of what it was made. They said, 'Of milk.'
               He said, 'Tell me something more about milk. How does it looks?'
           They said, 'It looks white.'
               He said, 'White? You will have to prove because I don't believe that colours exist. It is just
           imagination of man. What is white?'
           They said, 'White -- just like a white cow.'
               He said, 'Now you are creating more problems. What is a cow? What does it look like?'
               Finding no other way, one man invented a method. He came near the old man, he put his hand
           before him, made a gesture as if this is the head of the cow. And he said, 'Touch my hand. The head
           of the cow feels like this and these two fingers are the two horns. Feel.'
               He tried to feel and he laughed and said, 'Now I know. That milk looks like a bent hand.'
               Absolutely logical -- because his basic question was about milk.
               Finding it difficult they brought him to Buddha -- Buddha was in the vicinity -- and they said to
           Buddha, 'We have tried hard but we cannot convince this man that light exists or that colours exist.
           He is blind but he is very argumentative.'
               Buddha said, 'He is not wrong, you are wrong. Rather than bringing him to me, take him to a
           physician who can cure his eyes. He does not need any other conviction, no other conviction is
           possible. It cannot be proved to a blind man that light exists and if the blind man agrees he may be
           agreeing only to be polite. How can a blind man agree that light exists? If he cannot feel its
           existence, then there is no way to feel it. You take him to a physician.'
               And Buddha said, 'I know a great physician' -- Buddha's own physician, Jeevika was his name --
           'You go to Jeevika. He may be able to find some way.'
               And it happened that the man was not really blind, he had a certain disease in the eyes from the
           very birth. After six months of treatment he started seeing. He danced the whole way to Buddha's
           place, he fell at his feet and he said, 'Excuse me, light is, but there was no way for me to recognise it
           before I had my own eyes opened.'

               The same is true about God, the same is true about truth. No argument can prove that God exists,
           no proof exists which can help unless your eyes are opened.
               So Zen doesn't bother about philosophising, about concepts. It says the only effort worth doing,
           the only thing worth putting your whole energy into is how to attain eyes.
               Lopos Pachio, a great poet, has a few beautiful lines:
               REMOVE FROM MY EYES THIS MIST OF THE CENTURIES. I WANT TO SEE THINGS LIKE A
               CHILD.

               That is what the whole effort of Zen is -- removing the mist of centuries, removing the mist of
           the past. It is a great cleansing of the eyes, and your perception once is clear and once you have
           attained clarity to see, truth is, and nothing else is. Truth is not lost -- you have lost your eyes.
               People come to me and they say, 'Where is God?' I say, 'Drop that subject completely. That is
           irrelevant. Have you got eyes? That is the relevant question to ask. If you don't have eyes, even if I
           manage to produce God before you, you will not be able to see.'
               You can see only that which you can see. You will need a greater clarity to move into the subtle
           mysteries of life. God is the subtlest mystery. For it, very refined eyes are needed.
               So Zen says that there is no need to talk about God; all talk about God is useless. They don't talk
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about God; all talk about heaven and hell is useless. They don't talk about that, they don't talk about
           truth, they don't talk about reality -- they have no metaphysics.
               Buddha was very reluctant to talk about any metaphysical problem. He would either keep quiet,
           he would not answer, or he would say something which was totally different to what the questioner
           had in his mind. He was almost silent about all the great questions humanity has been discussing,
           arguing about, thinking about, contemplating, philosophising about. If Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Kant,
           and people like that had gone to him, they would have thought him mad. He would not answer a
           single question of Hegel's or Kant's or Plato's or Aristotle's. At the most he would laugh at their
           foolish questions. He will insist on only one thing, 'APPO DEEPO BHAVA -- Be a light unto
           yourself.' Kindle your inner light so you can see. We can see only that which we can see.
               A small girl came once to me and I asked her, 'Do you want to say something to me?'
           She said, 'I would like to sing a small song.'
               She was a very small girl and she sang a small song and I loved it.
           The song was:
              PUSSYCAT, PUSSYCAT, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I HAVE BEEN TO LONDON TO LOOK AT
              THE QUEEN. PUSSYCAT, PUSSYCAT, WHAT SAW YOU THERE? I SAW A MOUSE UNDER THE
              CHAIR.

               Of course, a cat cannot see the Queen, it is impossible. A cat can only see the rat. The Queen was
           there sitting on the chair, but the cat could not see -- she saw a mouse under the chair.
               And it is absolutely logical. A cat has eyes for the mouse and for the rat, she has no eyes for the
           Queen. We see only that which we can see.
               If you don't see God in existence then you have to remember one thing: you don't yet have eyes
           for God. So work hard to have eyes. And don't borrow eyes -- eyes are not like glasses. You can
           borrow somebody else's glasses and sometimes they may even fit, but eyes are not like glasses.
               And when I or Zen people are talking about eyes, they are not like your ordinary eyes. It is an
           inner vision. Even these eyes can be transferred -- you can have my eye, my physical eye, I can have
           your physical eye, they can be transplanted; but the inner vision, the inner eye, the third eye, is
           impossible to transfer.
               So remember, ignorance is better than borrowed knowledge. It is at least true. Recognise the fact
           that 'I don't know'; recognise it so deeply that your whole ego disappears. Because the ego exists
           through knowledge; knowledge is the most vital food for the ego. That's why we go on pretending
           about things which we don't know -- we go on pretending that we know.
               It happened in church. The old priest of the church was getting ready for his morning sermon. It
           was Sunday, early morning, and he was preparing his notes.
               A young priest came running and he said, 'Look! What are you doing? Jesus has come and he is
           worshipping at the altar.'
               The old priest said, 'Jesus?' It was almost a shock. Jesus had never come and nobody had ever
           thought that he was to come.
               Even priests who go on saying that he is going to come next time, that he will come again, even
           they don't believe. Who believes? Priests are the most unbelieving people because they know the
           very secrets of the trade. They say things for others.
               He could not believe it but he started trembling. He became afraid. Both came to the door and
           looked inside. Yes, there was a figure exactly like Jesus Christ and he was worshipping at the altar.
           The young priest said, 'Now what do we do?'
               He said, 'Look busy. What else can we do?' Look busy! That's how we go on pretending. It is the
           most difficult statement in the world to say 'I don't know'.
               If somebody asks, 'Is there God?' either you say, 'Yes, there is' or you say, 'No, there is no God in
           the world.' Both answers are stupid. If you have been brought up in a religious home, you say, 'Yes,
           there is.' If you have been brought up in Soviet Russia or China, you say, 'No, there is no God.' But
           these are your conditionings speaking, not you.
               Wait a minute, think twice -- do you know? Yes and no both show your knowledge. The man
           who says no is pretending absolute knowledge. He is saying that he has searched the whole of
           existence and has not found him. The man who says yes -- he says, 'Yes, I have looked into the
           Koran, into the Bible, into the Vedas, and they all say he is, and I believe that he is.' But the truth is
           that they both are asserting something which has no personal experience behind it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A real and true person will say, 'I don't know.' The moment you say 'I don't know' you are
           available, your doors are not closed. Then you can seek and search, then the whole journey opens for
           you. Once you say yes or no, doors are closed. You become smug in your knowledge.
               Knowledge makes you blind. It closes your eyes. It fills your eyes with dust. Knowledge is a sort
           of blindness -- you will have to come out of it, you will have to jump out of it. If you can show that
           much courage only then can you walk the path of truth, can you meditate, can you sit in zazen.
               'I don't know' is the beginning of zazen. 'I don't know 'this recognition is the first step towards
           knowledge.

           Now the story.

              LONG AGO IN JAPAN, A BLIND MAN, VISITING A FRIEND ONE NIGHT, WAS OFFERED A
              PAPER-AND-BAMBOO LANTERN TO CARRY HOME WITH HIM.

                Now, it is absurd to offer a lantern to a blind man because he cannot see. Darkness and light,
           both are the same to him. It is foolish. What is he going to do with the lamp? It will be just a burden.
           A lamp is beautiful and helpful and a light on your path -- if you have eyes; otherwise the lamp is a
           burden.
                Knowledge, if it is yours, is a light on the path. Knowledge, if it is just learned from others, is a
           burden. Then your head becomes heavy, then you are carrying stones in your head. Then you cannot
           fly because for flying you need to be weightless. Knowledge becomes a weight on you.
                It was foolish to offer a lantern to a blind man. But the man who offered it must have been very
           logical. He had some logic behind it. Whenever we do something foolish we always rationalise it --
           because it is very difficult for the ego to do a simple, foolish thing. We rationalise it, we find some
           argument for it. Whatsoever we do we always find some argument to give it support, to at least give
           it a face so that it doesn't look foolish.
              'I DO NOT NEED A LANTERN,' HE SAID, 'DARKNESS OR LIGHT IS ALL THE SAME TO ME.'


              The blind man is simple and he knows what a light can do for him. He cannot see -- day and
           night are the same to him.
              'I KNOW YOU DO NOT NEED A LANTERN TO FIND YOUR WAY,' HIS FRIEND REPLIED,' BUT
              YOU MUST TAKE IT BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE SOMEONE ELSE MAY RUN INTO
              YOU.'


               Now he has found a beautiful argument for it. And even to the blind man it appealed. It looks
           right. You may not be able to see, but with a lantern in your hands at least others will be able to see
           you and they will not run into you. It was difficult to deny this, the logic is clear.
               That's how we have accepted many things: for certain reasons, for certain logic behind them.
           You don't know if God is, then somebody says, 'Can you think of a watch being made without a
           maker?' Of course you cannot. It looks almost impossible that just by co-incidence, by chance, a
           watch will come into existence. Inconceivable. rt looks logical that if a small watch, a small
           mechanism, cannot come into existence by itself, then how can this whole universe, this cosmos, so
           infinite and so complex and yet running in such deep order and discipline? How can this whole
           existence come into being without there being a maker? It appeals, it looks logical, it is difficult to
           deny it. So the blind man agrees; so you say, 'Yes, there must be a God.'
               Look! You are accepting something which you cannot see, which you have never felt. But the
           argument seems to be weighty and it seems to be difficult to deny it. You have accepted God, you
           have accepted the soul, you have accepted a thousand and one-things just because they are supported
           by weighty arguments.
               But they don't help. Life is not an argument. You have to live it to know it. And the danger is that
           because of the argument, once you accept God -- 'Yes, God is, because the maker is needed, the
           creator is needed for the creation' -- you may forget by and by that you don't know this creator. This
           acceptance may become a dangerous thing, a fatal thing -- then you will not search, you will think
           you already know. Your knowledge can deceive you and you can start feeling that you already know.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Millions of people in the world go on thinking that they know God exists.
           That's what happened to this poor blind man.

              THE BLIND MAN STARTED O WITH THE LANTERN AND BEFORE HE HAD WALKED VERY FAR
              SOMEONE RAN SQUARELY INTO HIM. 'LOOK OUT WHERE YOU ARE GOING!' HE EXCLAIMED
              TO THE STRANGER. 'CAN'T YOU SEE THIS LANTERN?'
              'YOUR CANDLE HAS BURNT OUT, BROTHER,' REPLIED THE STRANGER.


               Now, the danger is that the blind man, if he had no lantern in his hand, would have walked more
           cautiously. He is a blind man and he has always been walking. He knows he is blind so he takes all
           precautions. Today he must have left all precautions behind -- he had a lantern in his hand. He
           believed in the lantern, so there was no need to be cautious. He must have walked at leisure, thinking
           that the lantern was there and nobody can run into him.
               For his whole life he had been walking the same road and nobody had run into him because he
           was cautious. Today there was no need to be cautious -- that is the danger of borrowed knowledge.
               If you are ignorant you are more cautious, you walk with more alertness, awareness, you behave
           more cautiously. If you think you know, then you start moving like a robot: there is no need to be
           cautious, there is no need to be alert, you can fall asleep, you can become unconscious.
               That's what happened to the blind man. He must have walked, thinking other thoughts. There was
           no need to think about the road, about other people, about himself. He trusted, he believed in the
           lantern.
               That's how millions of people are walking in life -- trusting in the Bible, in the Vedas, in the
           Koran, trusting in others. Their very belief is dangerous. It is better to be aware and alert and to
           move cautiously.

              THE BLIND MAN STARTED OF WITH THE LANTERN AND BEFORE HE HAD WALKED VERY FAR
              SOMEONE RAN SQUARELY INTO HIM. 'LOOK OUT WHERE YOU ARE GOING!'


               He must have been angry, annoyed. Somebody was going against the logic, somebody was
           behaving irrationally. He had a lantern and the friend had said, and said very convincingly, that
           nobody will run into him now. People will be able to see him. And here comes this man. 'Are you
           blind?' he must said to him. 'Can't you see this lantern in my hand? What are you doing? Are you
           mad? Don't you understand simple logic?'
               But life does not believe in logic; life is very illogical, it is very irrational, it is almost absurd.
           And here comes the absurdity; life always has surprises for you. The blind man was thinking that the
           lamp was there and so there was no problem.
              'CAN'T YOU SEE THIS LANTERN?''YOUR CANDLE HAS BURNT OUT, BROTHER.'


               Now this is a surprise. And how can the blind man see that the candle is burnt out, that he is
           carrying a dead lamp which has no light? He is carrying just a dead weight.
               All your beliefs are like the lamp which has no light in it. Your Koran is dead, it has no light
           although it may have been full of life and full of light in the hands of Mohammed. Your Gita is dead,
           the candle is burnt out. It may have been full of light in the hands of Krishna because that man had
           the eyes. He could have replaced the burnt-out candle any moment.
               For centuries you have carrying scriptures -- burnt-out candles. And everybody was running into
           everybody else. Can't you see that? The whole conflict of humanity -- Hindus fighting with
           Christians, Christians fighting with Mohammedans, Mohammedans fighting with Buddhists,
           everybody running into each other -- can't you see this agony, this conflict? The whole of humanity
           is struggling, is at war. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is cold, but all the time it is warm.
           Sometimes you are fighting, sometimes you are preparing for a fight, but all the time it is fight.
               And it is not only religions that are fighting -- nations are fighting, persons.... Everybody is
           fighting: the husband with the wife, the wife with the husband, the friend with the friend, the brother
           with the brother, the children with the parents, the parents with the children. Everybody, everywhere,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is running into each other.
               It is as if we are all blind and everybody thinks that he is carrying a lamp in his hand.... And the
           candle is burnt out.
               In fact, as far as the candle of truth is concerned, the moment it is transferred from one hand to
           another, it dies. The Gita died when Krishna was transferring it to Arjuna. It is not that Arjuna will
           carry the light at least a few steps, it is impossible. When I am saying something to you, I can see it
           dying continuously between you and me. The moment it reaches you it is already dead.
               There is no way to transfer it. Then why do I go on talking? Sometimes people come and ask me,
           'Why do you go on talking if there is no way to transfer it?' There is no way to transfer it, there has
           never been a way to transfer it. But still I have to talk, just to show you the impossibility. You cannot
           understand what I am saying but it will be impossible for you to understand if I am silent. If you
           cannot understand my words, you will not be able to understand my silence. If you misunderstand
           my words, you will misunderstand my silence. But still I have to talk to you because that is the only
           way possible to communicate that there is something within me which cannot be communicated, that
           I am carrying something, that I am pregnant with something which is incommunicable. Being with
           me, listening to me again and again, again and again, watching me, some day you may understand
           the point. I cannot make you understand it but if you persist long enough YOU may be able to
           understand it.
               But understanding will arise within you, it will not be a transfer from me. I can push you and pull
           you here and there but I will have to wait. And if you can also wait with me, someday your own
           inner flame will arise. It needs patience, it needs contact with a Master, but it cannot be transferred.
           The Master can function only as a catalytic agent. My presence will make you more and more
           thirsty; my presence will make you more and more mad; a great, an intense, an impossible desire
           will arise within you -- you will become a passionate search. In that passion your own candle will
           start burning. You will become your own fuel.
               So all that I can do is not to transfer truth but only to support, to help, so that you don't become
           impatient, so that you don't lose your interest in truth, so that you continue in your desire and you go
           on putting more and more at stake. The moment will come -- just as it comes when you heat water.
           You go on heating it and at a hundred degrees it jumps and becomes vapour, evaporates. All that I
           am doing is trying to heat you as much as I can. The jump will be yours, the evaporation will be
           yours.
               If you allow and if you are able to suffer patiently the pain of waiting and the pain that the heat
           will bring and the pain that your intense desire will create -- if you are ready to suffer happily,
           patiently, then one day it is your flame that will arise within you. It will be absolutely yours.
               And I talk also for this reason: whenever truth happens, it has to be shared. Unshared, it starts
           dying; shared, it lives. It is not that I can give you truth, but sharing with you, making an effort to
           share with you, truth can remain alive. I am talking for the same reason as birds sing or flowers
           bloom or stars shine. I dig it. If you also start digging it with me, if you co-operate with me, then
           when it happens to you, you will know that it has not been a transfer but that something authentically
           yours has arisen. It is individual. Truth is revealed individually.

           I would like to tell you a few anecdotes.

               The old fellow was a crossing-tender at a spot where an express train made quick work of an auto
           and its occupants. Naturally, he was the chief witness and the entire case hinged upon the energy
           with which he had displayed his warning signal.
               A gruelling cross-examination left him unshaken in this story: the night was dark and he had
           waved his lantern frantically, but the driver of the auto paid no attention to it.
               Later, the division superintendent called the flagman to his office to compliment him on the
           steadfastness with which he had stuck to his story.
               'You did wonderfully,' he said. 'I was afraid at first that you might waver in your testimony.'
           'No, sir,' said the fellow,'but I was afraid every minute that that damn lawyer was going to ask me if
           the lantern was lit.'

              Ask yourself again and again -- is the lantern that you are carrying lit? Otherwise waving it in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dark night is a sheer wastage of energy. Is your Bible lit? Is your Gita lit? If not, then drop them.
           Then it is better not to have these illusions.

           Another anecdote.
                 As the rookie cop passed a store he heard a noisy argument. He paused, listened again, then
           stepped inside to investigate. 'What's going on?' he demanded. 'What's all the noise about?'
           'It's nothing,' said the proprietor. 'There's no argument. I'm all alone!'
           'Wait a minute, mac,' said the cop. 'I distinctly heard an argument going on.'
           'You don't understand, officer,' said the store owner. 'I'm alone in the store. Business is terrible. So to
           pass the time away I talk to myself, and when I talk to myself, there's bound to be an argument.'
           'How can you argue with yourself?' asked the cop.
           'It's easy,' said the store owner, 'because I hate a liar!'

               Look, watch what goes on inside your mind. There is a continuous inner chattering, a continuous
           argument with yourself.
               Truth is possible only when this inner talk stops, when you are left in deep emptiness, no
           argument, no for/against, no pro con, no word, no thought. When the inner talk is simply suspended,
           in that moment of suspended inner talk a window opens towards the sky.

           The third anecdote.
               A miserly man was approached by a friend who did his best to persuade him to dress more in
           accordance with his station in life. 'I'm surprised,' said the friend, 'that you've allowed yourself to
           become shabby.'
           'But I'm not shabby,' said the miser.
               'Yes, you are,' insisted his friend. 'Take your grandfather. He was always neatly dressed. His
           clothes were always well tailored and of the best material.'
           'You see!' cried the other triumphantly. 'These clothes I'm wearing ARE grandfather's.'

              Watch, are the thoughts that you are carrying yours? Or somebody else's? Centuries old, long ago
           dead and buried and you go on carrying those dead thoughts. Gather courage, this shabbiness of the
           mind is a great disrespect towards yourself. Those clothes are dirty. People are not ready to use
           somebody else's clothes but you are very easily ready to use somebody else's thoughts.

           I have heard.
               A philosopher went to a shoemaker. He wanted his shoes to be repaired but he had only one pair.
           So he said, 'I will wait, you repair.'
               The shoemaker said, 'It is difficult, it is closing time. You come tomorrow and I will get them
           ready.'
               The philosopher said, 'I have got only one pair and it will be difficult for me to walk without
           shoes.'
               The shoemaker said, 'Okay, keep this pair' -- he gave him one pair -- 'with you and tomorrow you
           return it and take yours.'
               The philosopher was very annoyed. He said, 'What! To use somebody else's used shoes? What do
           you think I am?'
               The shoemaker laughed and he said, 'If you can carry others' used thoughts in your head, then
           what is wrong in using somebody else's shoes? They will just be on your feet. Your head is
           borrowed. So what is wrong in it?'

               We are at ease in borrowing our soul, hence we are beggars. Stop this borrowing. If you don't
           have your own soul it is better not to have any soul at all. And once you gather that courage you will
           start attaining to your own soul. It is not very far away, it is just hidden behind these borrowed
           clothes, thoughts, philosophies, doctrines, dogmas. Be yourself.
               You have heard the famous Greek dictum of Socrates:'Know thyself.' But that is not a primary
           thing. More primary is:'Be thyself.' Unless you are yourself, who are you going to know? So I would
           like to tell you that more basic and more fundamental is the dictum:'Be thyself.' Then there is a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possibility to:'Know thyself.' If you are not, then who are you going to know and WHO is going to
           know?
                A religious man is not a borrowed man, a religious man is not a hollow man, he is not a stuffed
           man. A religious man is absolutely empty of others -- and the moment you are empty of others you
           fill your own inner space -- that is what fulfillment is, that is what nirvana is, that is what liberation
           is.




                                                Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                     Chapter #8
                                            Chapter title: Another Sunday
           18 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606180
              ShortTitle: DANG08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              The first question:


              AS A CHILD, SUNDAYS HAVE BEEN SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL TO ME. NOW, SINCE A FEW
              DAYS, I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING AND GO OUT, SEE THE SUN SHINING THROUGH THE
              TREES, HEAR THE BIRDS SINGING AND GET THIS FEELING, 'AH, ANOTHER SUNDAY.' I PUT
              ON MY BEST CLOTHES AND HAVE SUNDAY FOR THE WHOLE DAY. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO
              ME?

              Don't make a problem out of it.

               The mind is constantly searching for something to pounce upon -- even happiness. It makes a
           problem out of happiness also. If you are feeling happy, you ask, 'Why?' That question is dangerous.
               If you are suffering it is good to ask 'why?' because the suffering has to be dissolved,
           transcended; ways and means have to be found to get out of it -- so the 'why?' is relevant. But when
           you are happy, then to ask 'why?' is to disturb it. There is no need to ask any questions. When
           happiness surrounds you accept it totally without any questioning.
               If you are ill, diagnosis is needed, analysis is needed, because the disease has to be found. But if
           you are healthy you don't go to the doctor to ask, 'Why am I healthy? Diagnose my health. What is
           happening to me?' You don't go.
               It is a habit of the mind because it has been always living in misery, unhappiness, and always the
           'why?' has been relevant. So when clouds disappear for the first time and the sun shines in your life,
           the old question goes on persisting -- 'Why?' Learn to accept happiness, learn to enjoy it without any
           questioning, learn to trust happiness, don't doubt it, because the very doubt will be a poisoning.
           Happiness rarely happens. Those moments are very few and far between. When they come, welcome
           them, open your door, receive them with your full heart, don't withhold anything. Even a question
           will become a very, very strong wall between you and your happiness.
               Every day is a Sunday. It should be so. Every day is a holiday. It should be so. Because all days
           belong to him. Each moment is holy. Once you understand it, you will stop asking questions like
           this.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Don't think that any particular day is needed for you to be happy -- only a particular mind. It has
           nothing to do with time; everything depends on the attitude, how you look at life. There are people
           for whom even a Sunday is not a Sunday. There is no light, no sun rising -- even on a Sunday. They
           are clouded in their own darkness, shrouded in their own misery. They carry their hell around them.
           Even if you force them into heaven, they will go on carrying their hell. They will live in their hell.
           Nobody can force them out of their hell unless they decide to drop it. It is your decision to be happy
           or to be unhappy.

               I have heard about a Sufi mystic who was always happy, always and always. Nobody had ever
           seen him unhappy. It was as if he did not know that language, as if the only way he knew how to be
           was happy.
               He became very old and one day a man asked him, 'Will you please tell me your secret? How
           you remain so happy? How you remain so unperturbed? How each moment you can be so blissful? It
           is impossible. It is unbelievable. What is your secret?'
               The old man laughed and he said, 'Long before, I found one simple thing: that each morning,
           when I opened my eyes, there are two alternatives to choose for that day -- either to be happy or to
           be unhappy. And I always chose to be happy. Simple is my secret: each day gives me only two
           alternatives to choose -- to be happy or to be unhappy. And I always choose to be happy, that's all.
           There is nothing more to it.'

               But you will not believe in this. You will say this old man is deceiving. He must have some other
           secret.
               But I also tell you this is the secret. All great truths are simple truths, very simple. Try tomorrow
           morning. Before you open your eyes have a clear-cut vision of two alternatives: being in hell or in
           heaven. Visualise misery on one hand, visualise blissfulness on another hand. See deeply into both.
           Don't be in a hurry. Look into both as deeply as possible and wait -- then decide. If you want to be
           unhappy then decide, let it be your decision -- and then be truly unhappy the whole day. Be
           committed to your decision and don't try to escape from it. Whatsoever happens, you remain
           miserable. And if you decide to be happy, then stick to it and soon you will realise that your life is
           your decision.
               You are suffering because you go on deciding in that way; you are suffering because you go on
           clinging to your suffering. You have made a habit out of it. It is just mechanical.
               Good, you should feel grateful that it is happening to you -- that every day is becoming a
           holiday. Holidays are disappearing from the world. In the legal sense people have more holidays.
           Workdays are being reduced all over the world, from six to five, from five to four, and soon even
           that will not be so -- in the very highly developed technological societies, one day of the week will
           do and for six days people can have holidays. But 'holiday' is disappearing -- that quality of
           sacredness, that quality of holiness is disappearing.

              I have heard about a very reformed temple. Of course it is in Southern California because
           everything in California is a little far-out, even religion.
              There is a reformed temple in Beverley Hills that is so reformed that on the holiest of the days,
           Yom Kippur, there is a sign on the door saying: Closed for the Jewish Holidays.

               That quality, that consciousness is disappearing from the world.
               People have more leisure -- that is another thing. But what do they do with their leisure? They
           create more misery for themselves or for others. Finding nothing to do, they do harm to themselves
           or to others. More accidents happen on the holidays -- more car accidents, more murders, more
           suicides. And after the holiday people are so tired that they need a whole week's rest to recuperate, to
           recover. They do a thousand and one things on holidays just to keep busy, because not to be busy is
           to be with oneself and that has become almost impossible.
               To be with oneself and to be happy with oneself -- that dimension is completely lost.
               That's what a holiday is, or should be. One is so full of God, so full of being, that there is no need
           to do anything, there is no need to be occupied. Occupation is just an escape. It is a good way to
           avoid encountering yourself, encountering life. Holidays are disappearing.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is good that every day a feeling arises in you that this is a holiday. It is. If it was not so before,
           then you were missing something. Now it has started happening, don't make it a question.

               I used to know a man who was an atheist. Once I heard that he had become a theist. I could not
           believe it. So when I came across him I asked him, 'How come you decided to become a theist?'
           'Well,' he said, 'I used to be an atheist but I gave it up.'
           'Why?' I enquired.
           He said, 'No holidays.'

                If you are an atheist then there are no holidays, then there is no God, then there are no Sundays.
           The Christian parable says that God created the world in six days and on the seventh day, Sunday, he
           rested. That rest was very beautiful, it was out of great creation. He was feeling fulfilled. He had
           created the whole world and, on the sixth day, he looked and he said, 'Good, very good.' And he
           rested. He was happy, like a small child who has made something and looks from every side and
           says, 'Good. I have done it.' He rested on the seventh day. That rest-day was a fulfillment-day.
                The parable has much significance. It says that you can have a rest-day only after creation. If you
           don't create anything, your life will be restless; you will not be able to have a holiday. Create
           something -- only then you can rest. Rest is a by-product. You cannot directly rest -- first you have to
           be so creative, you have to feel so good about yourself, so happy with yourself, so worthy, that you
           can allow rest for yourself, that you can allow a day just for fun.
                Ordinarily people can't allow a day of rest for themselves because they feel so condemnatory
           about themselves, they feel so unworthy because they have not done anything worthwhile, that they
           have not experienced any fulfillment, nothing has happened, they have not blossomed. Hence
           continuous occupation, continuous activity is needed.
                Many people go on working and working and working and one day they die...because their work
           is not creative. When is the work creative? The work is creative when you love it, the work is
           creative when you feel in tune with it, the work is creative when you enjoy it, the work is creative
           when you choose it, when it fits with your being and there is a great harmony between you and your
           work.
                Once that happens, whatsoever you do is creative. And when after each creative moment you can
           relax, that relaxation is earned. Yes, God earned relaxation for the seventh day. For six days he
           worked hard, he created the whole world; on the seventh day he had earned relaxation, he was
           worthy of it. That's the meaning of the parable.
                If you are creative only then can you have holidays, not otherwise. If you want to have holidays
           become more and more creative. I am not saying be creative in the eyes of others -- that is irrelevant
           -- just be creative in your own eyes, whatsoever you do. If you love it then do it, otherwise don't do it
           -- choose some other way. Life is vast. Says Jesus, 'There are many mansions in my God's house.'
           There are many dimensions in life. There is enough opportunity to choose.
                If you are not feeling fulfilled in something that you are doing, then don't do it, because this will
           be a sheer wastage and you will not have earned holidays. A man who has lived according to his
           being, who has done his own thing, earns death. Then he dies, but the death is a Sunday; then he
           dies, but he dies fulfilled. He has no complaints. He lived the way he wanted to live.
                If I am going to die and God asks me, 'If I send you back, how would you like to live?' I will say,
           'The same. I loved it. I enjoyed it. I would like to live the same way.' Just think about you. If you die
           and God asks you, 'If you are sent back to the world what changes would you like to make in your
           life?' Will you be able to say that you would like to live the same way, absolutely the same way? If
           not, then you are doing something wrong with your life. Then you are dragging your life, then you
           are not living it. Then you are simply killing time -- as they say. Then you are simply wasting your
           energies, they are simply dissipated. They will not become an integral force and there is not going to
           be any blossoming -- your tree is going to remain without any fruits and flowers. Then how can you
           be happy and how can you enjoy?
                Time as holy opportunity, that is the meaning of holiday -- a holy day, a day which is not
           profane, a day which is not ordinary. And once you know how to be creative, each moment becomes
           holy.
                Whenever you create something you participate with the creator -- you have become a small
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           creator in your own right. If you write a small poem or you sing a song, maybe nobody likes it,
           nobody applauds it, but that is irrelevant. You enjoyed it. Singing, you were happy, you participated
           in that moment with God, you helped him to create a song, you became instrumental. In fact,
           whatsoever is created is created by him -- you allowed him to create a small song through you. Then
           you feel tremendously good, good about yourself.
               And that is one of the basic qualities of a religious man: he always feels good about himself. He
           is not in any way guilty, guilt does not exist in him -- because he lived life as he wanted to live it; he
           loved his life the way it happened; it was the only life he wanted to live. Then there is no guilt.
           Remember, a guilty person is not a religious person. A guilty person is ill, a guilty person is neurotic,
           a guilty person needs psychiatric help.
               A religious person feels tremendously good about himself; whatsoever he is doing, he is doing
           something intrinsically valuable. This should be insisted upon as much as possible: worth in life
           arises only when you do something intrinsically valuable.
               There are two types of values in life. One is intrinsic value. You sing a song -- it has an intrinsic
           value, it is the means and it is the end also. Or you sing a song in the marketplace to earn a little
           money. That money is not intrinsic to the song, that money is an outside value. And if you are
           singing your song only for the money, the activity is no longer holy, it is profane. If you are singing
           your song for the happiness that it brings to you.... Maybe as a by-product it brings money also, but
           that is irrelevant. If it brings, it is good, if it does not bring, that too is good -- but your activity has
           an inner glow to it, it is intrinsically valuable in itself. If you are happy that you could sing, you are
           happy that you had an opportunity to sing, then every day will become meditative, holy.
               If you are doing the meditations here correctly, this is going to happen to everybody. That's my
           whole effort here: to help you enjoy each moment as it comes.

           AS A CHILD, SUNDAYS HAVE BEEN SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL TO ME. NOW, SINCE A
           FEW DAYS, I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING, SEE THE SUN SHINING THROUGH THE
           TREES, HEAR THE BIRDS SINGING AND GET THIS FEELING: 'AH, ANOTHER SUNDAY.' I
           PUT ON MY BEST CLOTHES AND HAVE SUNDAY FOR THE WHOLE DAY. WHAT IS
           HAPPENING TO ME?

               Something tremendously beautiful is happening to you. 'Allow it to happen. Don't help your
           mind to create any trouble.
               The mind will try because the mind feels happy only when there is some misery. Mind's
           happiness is not your happiness and your happiness is never mind's happiness. Your goals are
           different; in fact, diametrically opposite. Mind feels happy only when you are miserable -- then there
           is something to do, then mind becomes dominating, then he can dictate: do this, do that. One has to
           fight with the misery so one has to take the advice of the mind. When you are happy, mind is not
           needed. You can discard it, there is no need for it.
               It is just like when the country is at war the army is needed. Then suddenly you see the army
           becomes predominant -- everywhere you see soldiers, the military, moving from here to there, all the
           trains full of them. When the war disappears they also by and by disappear, then you don't see them
           so much, then they are discarded. Not completely -- because our peace is not complete; our so-called
           peace is nothing but the gap between two wars. They recede back into their cantonment areas, into
           their camps, but they go on parading there, preparing there for some war that can happen any
           moment. But they are no longer dominant. And if a country really attains to peace then the military
           will have to be disbanded, it will not be needed.
               Or think.... You are ill, then suddenly the physician, the doctor, becomes important in your mind.
           When you are healthy you forget completely that doctors exist. When you are ill, then suddenly,
           passing on the street, you read doctors' name plates -- they become predominant, they become the
           figure and the rest of life becomes just a background. When you are not ill and you are healthy they
           are no longer figures. The gestalt changes.
               The same is happening with the mind. If you are miserable, mind is needed to get rid of the
           misery. If you are happy, mind is not needed; you can simply throw it, you can put it aside.
               Mind feels neglected when you are happy so it starts creating problems about happiness. The
           mind can say, 'Look, don't be foolish. It is not possible. Every day cannot be a Sunday. Look at the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           calendar: this is Monday or Friday, it cannot be Sunday. This is just illusion. And every moment
           cannot be a moment of happiness -- who has ever heard that a person can live always in happiness?
           This is not possible. You must be getting some wrong notions, some delusions. Or you have
           hypnotised yourself. Or something has gone wrong. Beware! This is not humanly possible!'
               Mind thinks that only misery is possible; it has a great investment in misery.
               Remember it. Working here with me, by and by this moment will come to everybody. It has to
           come. That's what we are working for. When it comes, don't listen to the mind.
               People come to me. They say, 'We are feeling so happy. How come? We have never felt so
           happy.' And if I look at their faces it seems that something has gone wrong. Because they are feeling
           happy, it appears to them that something has gone wrong.
               I have heard about a great priest who was teaching his disciples how to give religious sermons.
               The priest was instructing his newly-minted ministers on the importance of facial expression
           harmonising with the speech.
               'When you speak of heaven, let your face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let
           your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of hell -- well, then your ordinary faces
           will do.'

               Misery has settled; it has almost become your character. To be miserable has become your
           ordinary existence. When happiness comes you cannot believe in it, you cannot trust in it.
               This is a very ill state of affairs, but it is how it is. You will have to learn how to trust happiness,
           you will have to learn how to trust joy, you will have to learn how to be nondoubting when
           happiness comes -- to be vulnerable, open. If you cannot learn that, happiness may knock at your
           door and you may not open it.
               Watch your patterns and don't be so identified with them. People go on repeating the old tapes
           again and again and again. It is not that happiness has not knocked at your door, it has knocked many
           times. And it is not that God has not stretched his hand towards you, he has been groping for you for
           millennia. But you have become very clever and cunning in dodging him.
               If the Devil comes and gets hold of you, you immediately surrender because you say, 'What can I
           do?' If God comes to you, you cannot surrender, because in the first place you cannot believe that
           God exists. This is really something! There are people who say there is no God but still they believe
           in the Devil. It is difficult to believe in God, it is not so difficult to believe in the Devil. It is easier;
           in fact, without the Devil how will you be miserable? Without the Devil, on whom will you throw
           your responsibilities? Whom will you find as an excuse? The Devil is your excuse. You can remain
           miserable and you can say that the Devil is making you miserable.
               And this Devil goes on changing his form. It has taken many forms: sometimes it was fate;
           sometimes it was the Devil. Now, according to Freudians, it is your unconscious; to Marxists, it is
           the social structure. But there is somebody who goes on creating misery for you.
               Nobody is creating misery for you. You are clinging to it.
               But this is very hard to accept because then your whole image becomes neurotic -- and you carry
           a very golden image of yourself.

               I have heard a very beautiful anecdote. It is a rare beauty.
               Senior citizens Israel and Emma met at a singles' dance on Miami Beach, and within two weeks
           they were married. They felt it was a perfect match, for they were both ninety years old.
               On the first night of their honeymoon, they got into bed and the old man squeezed Emma's hand.
           She squeezed back and they fell asleep.
               The second night, Israel squeezed her hand again. Emma squeezed back and they went right to
           sleep.
               On the third night, Israel once more squeezed his bride's hand. 'Not tonight,' said Emma, 'I've got
           a headache!'

           People go on repeating old tapes to the very end.
               This is an old tape that is creating the question, 'What is happening to me?' It is as if something
           like a catastrophe, or something like a calamity is happening to you. Nothing is happening to you,
           you are coming back home. Nothing is happening to you, you are dropping nonsense, you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dropping the rotten mind, you are stopping playing the old tapes.

           The second question:


              OSHO, I AM HAVING A GREAT STRUGGLE DEEP INSIDE ME BEFORE TAKING THE FINAL
              STEP, BUT LAST NIGHT, WHEN I SLEPT IN ORANGE CLOTHES, I FELT MYSELF A DIFFERENT
              PERSON. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?


               It is dangerous to take responsibility for you because one day things are going well, another day
           they are going bad. I'm not doing anything!

               I have heard about a Sufi mystic who had a small school and guests used to visit him from
           far-away places. One day a prince came to visit him and the Sufi did not have the right pots, utensils,
           in which to prepare and offer food to this prince. So he went to the king and he told him, 'A prince
           has come to our poor school and we will need a few pots, golden and silver, from you. We will
           return them tomorrow because by tomorrow morning he will be leaving.'
               So he took seven pots. The next day he came with nine pots. The king asked, 'You took only
           seven, why have you brought nine pots? These two small pots don't belong to me.'
               He said, 'What can I do? Last night your big pot gave birth to these two twins. These are the
           twins.'
               The king could not believe it, could not think that it could happen, but greed overtook him. He
           said, 'What is wrong in it? This man, by some mistake, has brought these pots, so why not accept?'
           He accepted. He said, 'Very good. You are a very honest man. Otherwise who brings babies? If pots
           give babies, people keep the babies.'
               After a month the Sufi came again. He said, 'Again the prince has come and we need more pots
           because he has brought a few friends also.' So he took almost twenty pots. But then he never came
           for two, three days.
               The king called him, 'What happened? You have not returned.'
           He said, 'I am sorry. Ten of them died.'
               Now the king was very mad. He said, 'Have you gone mad? How can pots die?'
               He said, 'Just think of that other time. If pots can give birth to babies, why can't they die?'

              So today it was good, but I am not going to accept responsibility because tomorrow it will be bad
           and then you will come to me and say, 'Osho, what are you doing to me?'
              It is you and only you. Don't throw your responsibilities anywhere.
              That night you were a little good to yourself, you allowed something to happen.


              I AM HAVING A GREAT STRUGGLE DEEP INSIDE BEFORE TAKING THE.FINAL STEP, BUT LAST
              NIGHT, WHEN I SLEPT IN ORANGE CLOTHES, I FELT MYSELF A DIFFERENT PERSON. WHAT
              ARE YOU DOING?

               I am not doing anything at all -- it was just the gesture of wearing orange. The person is not a
           sannyasin yet; that is his struggle. He is thinking continuously about whether to take sannyas or not
           to take sannyas.
               You allowed something. It was just like a rehearsal: you slept in orange clothes just to see what
           happens. The very idea that something was going to happen helped it happen. You relaxed in orange
           clothes, the mind was more at ease -- at least you have done something. A very small gesture but yet
           you have done something. At least you decided to sleep in orange.
               A person who has been continuously in conflict, for him even a slight decision gives such a
           relaxation that others cannot even imagine it. It will be difficult for others to see because they sleep
           in orange every night; they cannot believe that something could happen just because of orange.
               The person who has asked the question is in deep conflict, struggle, divided. Even this small
           gesture helped him to relax. Even this much courage...although it was not much, because he must
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have put the light off so nobody could see! It was not much but still something! He took courage in
           the darkness of the night to become a sannyasin. He must have felt good, relaxed.
               Whenever you come to any decision you feel good. And the greater the conflict, the greater the
           happiness that will come out of this decision.
               But don't bring me in because it is very dangerous. Don't play that game at all.

               Let me tell you one anecdote.
               'Rabbi Jacobs, I need fifty dollars to get out of debt,' sobbed Gottlieb. 'I keep praying to God for
           help but he doesn't send it!'
           'Don't lose faith,' said the rabbi. 'Keep praying.'
               After Gottlieb left his house, the rabbi felt sorry for him. 'I don't make much money,' he thought,
           'but that poor man needs it. I'll give him twenty-five dollars out of my own pocket.'
               A week later, the rabbi stopped Gottlieb and said, 'Here, God sent this to you!'
               Back in his home, Gottlieb bowed his head. 'Thank you, Lord!' he said. 'But next time you send
           money, don't send it through Rabbi Jacobs -- that crook kept half of it.'
               So please be direct. Don't bring me in. Otherwise some day or other you are going to be angry
           with me.
               From the very beginning it is better to be clear. This man is going to take sannyas some day -- he
           will have to -- so I have to make him completely clear that it is his decision to take sannyas, it is not
           my persuasion. It is his decision to jump into the fire. I will keep myself completely clear -- out of it.
           Only then does your decision help you to crystallise. When you take it on your own, absolutely on
           your own, you become centred.
               Sannyas will make you more free, not less. Sannyas is not a sort of slavery, it is freedom --
           freedom from the formalities of the society, freedom from the oppressive burdens of the others,
           freedom to be yourself. Sannyas is an effort to become an individual. My help is available here but it
           is only your decision which will change you. Even if YOU take my help, it is you who takes it. I am
           like a river flowing -- it is your decision to drink out of me or not. It is absolutely yours, and let it be
           so.
               It needs much courage to take all the responsibility on one's shoulders. But that courage is a
           device.

                Feingold, on his deathbed, was surrounded by his children. 'Don't worry, Papa, we'll have a big
           funeral,' declared his eldest son. 'There'll be a hundred limousines, ten cars with flowers.'
                'We don't need all that!' interrupted Feingold's second son. 'Fifty limos and five cars with flowers
           is more than enough!'
                'Whatta ya makin' such a big deal?' said the dying man's youngest son. 'We don't need any
           flowers. We'll just have the immediate family! Two cars is enough!'
                At that moment, Feingold raised himself up and said, 'Listen, boys! Just hand me my pants and
           I'll walk to the cemetery!'

               You have to walk! Don't wait for one hundred limousines and ten cars full of flowers. Nothing
           doing. Get into your pants and walk!
               But be on your own. Only that way one grows. There is no other way to grow.
               The mind always wants to throw responsibility onto somebody else; the mind always wants to
           become a slave. The mind is a slave. It is afraid of freedom, it is afraid of responsibility -- hence so
           many churches and so many organisations exist in the world, because so many people are ready to
           fall in their traps. In fact churches are not responsible, it is the people's need. Because they need
           certain types of imprisonments somebody is going to provide them.
               The economists say that in life there is a subtle law working of supply and demand, demand and
           supply. You demand and somebody is bound to come along to supply it. People demand slaveries for
           themselves -- hence the existence of Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and thousands of others who are
           ready to make a sheep out of you. They say, 'Come here. Here is the shepherd' and you become just
           part of the crowd.
               I am not here to make you a sheep. You have been a sheep for too long already. I am here to
           make a man out of you. It is going to be arduous, but you have to start becoming responsible for your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           own life. Once you start feeling responsible for your own life you start growing, because then there
           is no point in wasting time in postponing, in waiting. Nobody is coming to help you. All waiting is
           futile, all waiting is sheer wastage.
               So if there is a conflict go deep into it. Decide something. Only through decisions do you become
           more and more conscious, only through decisions do you become more and more crystallised, only
           through decisions do you become sharp. Otherwise one becomes dull.
               People go on from one guru to another, from one master to another, from one temple to another
           -- not because they are great seekers but because they are incapable of decision. So they go from one
           to another. This is their way to avoid commitment.
               The same happens in other human relationships: a man goes from one woman to another, goes on
           changing. People think he is a great lover -- he is not a lover at all. He is avoiding, he is trying to
           avoid any deep involvement because with deep involvement, problems have to be faced, much pain
           has to be gone through. So one simply plays safe; one makes it a point never to go too deeply into
           somebody. If you go too deep you may not be able to come back easily. And if you go deeply into
           somebody, somebody else will go deeply into you also -- it is always proportionate. If I go very deep
           in you the only way is to allow you also to go that deep in me. It is a give and take, it is a sharing.
           Then one may get entangled too much, and it will be difficult to escape and the pain may be much.
               So people learn how to play safe: just let surfaces meet -- hit-and-run love affairs. Before you are
           caught, run.
               This is what is happening in the modern world. People have become so juvenile, so childish; they
           are losing all maturity. Maturity comes only when you are ready to face the pain of your being;
           maturity comes only when you are ready to take the challenge. And there is no greater challenge
           than love. To live happily with another person is the greatest challenge in the world. It is very easy
           to live peacefully alone, it is very difficult to live peacefully with somebody else, because two
           worlds collide, two worlds meet -- totally different worlds. How are they attracted to each other?
           Because they are totally different, almost opposite, polar opposites.
               It is very difficult to be peaceful in a relationship, but that is the challenge. If you escape from
           that, you escape from maturity. If you go into it with all the pain, and still continue going into it, then
           by and by the pain becomes a blessing, the curse becomes a blessing. By and by, through the
           conflict, the friction, crystallisation arises. Through the struggle you become more alert, more aware.
               The other becomes like a mirror to you. You can see your ugliness in the other. The other
           provokes your unconscious, brings it to the surface. You will have to know all hidden parts of your
           being and the easiest way is to be mirrored, reflected, in a relationship. Easier, I call it, because there
           is no other way -- but it is hard. It is hard, arduous, because you will have to change through it.
               And when you come to a Master an even greater challenge exists before you: you have to decide,
           and the decision is for the unknown, and the decision has to be total and absolute, irreversible. It is
           not a child's game; it is a point of no return.
               So much conflict arises. But don't go on continuously changing, because this is the way to avoid
           yourself. And you will remain soft, you will remain babyish. Maturity will not happen to you.
           I have heard.
               After taking off her clothes for an examination, Mrs. Greenberg sat on the table.
               'Lady,' said the doctor, 'I have to tell you that you are by far the dirtiest, filthiest, most unclean
           woman I have ever examined in my life!'
               'How d'ya like that!' said Mrs. Greenberg. 'The doctor I went to yesterday said the same thing!'
           'Then why did you come here?'
           'I wanted to get another opinion!' answered Mrs. Greenberg.

               People go on collecting opinions. Be finished. Take courage. You have enough opinions with
           you already. Decide.
               One thing is certain: the past which you have lived has not been an enrichment for you, so there
           is nothing in deciding for it. The known has nothing to be decided for it, only the unknown. Only the
           unknown should have a call for you because that you have not yet lived; you have not moved in that
           territory. Move! Something new may happen there. Always decide for the unknown, whatsoever the
           risk, and you will grow continuously. But go on deciding for the known and you move in a circle
           with the past again and again. You go on repeating it; you have become a gramophone record.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And decide. The sooner you can do so, the better. Postponement is simply stupid. Tomorrow you
           will also have to decide, so why not today? And do you think that tomorrow you will be wiser than
           today? Do you think that tomorrow you will be livelier than today? Do you think that tomorrow you
           will be younger than today, fresher than today?
               Tomorrow you will be older, your courage will be less; tomorrow you will be more experienced,
           your cunningness will be more; tomorrow death will come closer -- you will start wavering and
           being more afraid. Never postpone for the tomorrow. And who knows? Tomorrow may come or may
           not come. If you have to decide you have to decide right now.

               Dr. Vogel, the dentist, finished his examination on a pretty young patient. 'Miss Baseman,' he
           said, 'I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull out your wisdom teeth!'
           'Oh, my!' exclaimed the girl. 'I'd rather have a baby!'
           'Well,' said Dr. Vogel, 'could you make up your mind so that I can adjust the chair?'

              Make up your mind. Don't go on postponing infinitely.

           The third question:

              SOMETIMES IT SEEMS LIKE WHEREVER I GO I AM FACING THE WALL.


               The wall is not outside, the wall is inside you. So wherever you go, you carry your wall. When
           you are alert, you feel it; when you are not alert, you don't feel it -- but the wall is inside you.
               The wall is of your own ego -- ego surrounds you like a wall. It persuades you that by
           surrounding you in this way it will protect you. That's the seduction of the ago. It goes on telling you
           again and again, 'If I am not there you will be unprotected, you will become too vulnerable, and there
           will be too much risk. So let me guard you, let me surround you.'
               Yes, there is a certain protection in the ego, but the wall becomes your imprisonment also. There
           is a certain protection, otherwise nobody would suffer the miseries that ego brings. There is a certain
           protection, it protects you against the enemy -- but then it protects you against the friends also.
               It is just like when you close your door and hide behind it because you are afraid of the enemy.
           Then a friend comes but the door is closed, he cannot enter. If you are too afraid of the enemy then
           the friend also cannot enter into you. And if you open the door for the friend, there is every risk that
           the enemy may also enter.
               One has to think about it deeply; it is one of the greatest problems in life. And only a very few
           courageous people tackle it rightly, others become cowards and hide and then their whole life is lost.
               Life is risky; death has no risk. Die, and then there is no problem for you and nobody is going to
           kill you because how can anybody kill you when you are already dead? Enter a grave and be
           finished. Then there is no illness, then there is no anxiety, then there is no problem -- you are out of
           all problems.
               But if you are alive, then there are millions of problems. The more alive the person, the more
           problems there are. But there is nothing wrong in it because struggling with problems, fighting with
           the challenge, is how you grow.
               The ego is a subtle wall around you. It does not allow anybody to enter into you. You feel
           protected, secure, but this security is deathlike. It is the security of the plant inside the seed. The
           plant is afraid to sprout because -- who knows? The world is so hazardous and the plant will be so
           soft, so fragile. Behind the wall of the seed, hiding inside the cell, everything is protected.
               Or think of a small child in the mother's womb. Everything is there -- whatsoever the need of the
           child it is fulfilled immediately. There is no anxiety, no fight, no future. The child simply lives
           blissfully. Every need is fulfilled by the mother.
               But would you like to remain always in your mother's womb? It is very protective. If it was given
           to you to choose, would you choose always to be in the mother's womb? It is very comfortable, what
           more comfort is possible? Scientists say that we have not yet been able to make a situation more
           comfortable than the womb. The womb seems to be the last, the ultimate in comfort. In fact, Freud
           and his followers say that the desire of moksha is nothing but the desire for the same lost womb of
           the mother. So comfortable -- no anxiety, no problem, no need to work. Sheer existence. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everything is supplied automatically -- the need arises and immediately it is supplied. There is not
           even the trouble of breathing -- the mother breathes for the child. There is no bother about food -- the
           mother eats for the child.
                But would you like to remain in the mother's womb? It is comfortable but it is not life. Life is
           always in the wild. Life is there outside.
                The English word 'ecstasy' is very, very significant. It means: to stand out. Ecstasy means to get
           out -- out of all shells and all protections and all egos and all comforts, all death-like walls. To be
           ecstatic means to get out, to be free, to be moving, to be a process, to be vulnerable so that winds can
           come and pass through you.
                We have an expression, sometimes we say, 'That experience was outstanding.' That exactly is the
           meaning of ecstasy: outstanding.
                When a seed breaks and the light hidden behind starts manifesting; when a child is born and
           leaves the womb behind, all the comforts and all the conveniences behind, moves into the unknown
           world -- it is ecstasy. When a bird breaks the egg and flies into the sky, it is ecstasy.
                The ego is the egg and you will have to come out of it. Be ecstatic! Get out of all protections and
           shells and securities. Then you will attain to the wider world, the vast, the infinite. Only then you
           live, and you live abundantly.
                But fear cripples you. The child, before he gets out of the womb, must also be hesitating about
           whether to get out or not. To be or not to be? It must take one step forward and another step back.
           Maybe that's why the mother goes through so much pain. The child is hesitating, the child is not yet
           totally ready to be ecstatic. The past pulls it back, the future calls it forth, and the child is divided.
                This is the wall of indecision, of clinging with the past, of clinging with the ego. And you carry it
           everywhere. Sometimes, in rare moments, when you are very alive and alert, you will be able to see
           it. Otherwise, although it is a very transparent wall, you will not be able to see it. One can live his
           whole life -- and not one life, many -- without becoming aware that one is living inside a cell, closed
           from everywhere, windowless -- what Leibnitz used to call 'monad'. No doors, no windows, just
           closed inside -- but it is transparent, a glass wall.

           SOMETIMES IT SEEMS THAT WHEREVER I GO I AM FACING THE WALL.

               Not facing it exactly, you are carrying the wall in front of your eyes. When your eyes have a
           clarity then you see it; when your eyes are dull and you are unconscious you can't see it.
               This ego has to be dropped. One has to gather courage and shatter it on the floor. People go on
           feeding it in millions of ways, not knowing that they feed their own hell.

               Mrs. Cochrane was standing beside the coffin of her dead husband. Their son stood at her elbow.
           The mourners, one by one, passed in review.
           'He's feeling no pain now,' said Mrs. Croy. 'What did he die of?'
           'Poor fella,' said Mrs. Cochrane. 'He died of gonorrhoea!'
               Another woman gazed at the corpse. 'He's well out of it now,' she said. 'He's got a smile of
           serenity on his face. What did he die from?'
           'He died of gonorrhoea!' said the widow.
               Suddenly, the son pulled the mother aside. 'Mom,' he said, 'that's a terrible thing to say about
           Pop. He didn't die of gonorrhoea. He died of diarrhoea!'
           'I know that!' said Mrs. Cochrane. 'But I'd rather have them thinkin' he died like a sport -- instead of
           the shit-he was!'

               To the very end they go on playing games continuously.
               The ego does not allow you to be true, it goes on forcing you to be false. The ego is the lie, but
           that one has to decide. It needs great courage because with it will shatter all that you have been
           nursing up to now. It will shatter your whole past. With it YOU will shatter completely. Somebody
           will be there but you will not be that person. A discontinuous entity will arise within you -- fresh,
           uncorrupted by the past. Then there will be no wall; then wherever you will be, you will see the
           infinite without any boundaries.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The old man, entering his favourite bar, found that the usual barmaid had been replaced by a
           stranger. He was nonplussed at first, but gallantly told her that she was 'the best-looking girl I've
           seen in a long time'.
               The new barmaid, a haughty type, tossed her head and replied acidly, 'I'm sorry I can't return the
           compliment.'
               'Oh well, my dear,' the old man answered placidly, 'Couldn't you have done as I did? Couldn't
           you have told a lie?'
               All our formalities are nothing but helping each other's ego. They ARE lies. You say something
           to somebody and he returns the compliment. Neither you nor he is true. We go on playing the game:
           etiquette, formalities, the civilised faces and masks.
               Then you will have to face the wall. And by and by, the wall will become so thick that you will
           not be able to see anything. The wall goes on getting more and more thick every day -- so don't wait.
           If you have come to feel that you are carrying a wall around you, drop it! Jump out of it! It takes
           only a decision to jump out of it, nothing else. Then from tomorrow don't feed it. Then whenever you
           see that you are again nursing it, stop. Within a few days you will see it has died, because it needs
           your constant support, it needs breastfeeding.

           The last question:


              WHEN THE OTHER BANK IS THIS VERY BANK, THEN THERE IS NO NEED FOR
              ENLIGHTENMENT. IF ONE IS ALIVE IN THIS MOMENT, THEN WHY SHOULD ONE DREAM OF
              ENLIGHTENMENT?


              These questions with 'then' and 'if' are very cunning questions. And you are not deceiving
           anybody else, you are deceiving yourself. Listen to the question again.

           WHEN THE OTHER BANK IS THIS VERY BANK, THEN THERE IS NO NEED FOR
           ENLIGHTENMENT.

               If you have come to know that the other bank is this very bank then you have already become
           enlightened, there is no need. This is what enlightenment is all about. If you have come to know that
           this moment is all and the place that you are in is the whole, and that this world is the other world --
           you have attained, you are liberated. Because if there is no other world there can be no desire. If this
           moment is all, all desire ceases.

           WHEN THE OTHER BANK IS THIS VERY BANK, THEN THERE IS NO NEED FOR
           ENLIGHTENMENT.
           Absolutely true.
           IF ONE IS ALIVE IN THIS MOMENT, THEN WHY SHOULD ONE DREAM OF
           ENLIGHTENMENT?

           There is no need.
               But these questions won't help. It has not happened to you. This bank is not yet the other bank
           and this moment is not yet the eternity.
               You have listened to me and you have become parrot-like. I say that there is no need for any
           enlightenment, the very search for enlightenment is nightmarish -- but that is not going to help. You
           will have to drop all searching, then you will be able to realise the fact that you are already
           enlightened.
               There is nowhere to go, you are already THERE; you have always been there from the very
           beginning, there has been no going astray. We have lived in God, we have lived as Gods, there is no
           other way.
               If you have understood this then there is no need for enlightenment, it has already happened. If
           you have not understood it -- you have simply listened to me and you are playing with words -- then
           you will be getting into more and more confusion.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Your desire will not stop by these 'whens' and 'ifs'; it will continue. Your ambition will not
           disappear. Be more practical -- don't become theoretical, don't become metaphysical, don't become
           philosophical. Be more practical. Listen to your own state. You have desires, you have desires for
           tomorrow, you have hopes for a future, you are continuously hoping that something is going to
           happen -- something great, something extraordinary, something special. And only to you and to
           nobody else.
               These 'ifs' and 'whens' will not stop that. If you can drop all hoping, all desiring -- what Zen
           people call TRISHNA -- if you can drop all desire to become somebody or something, if you can
           drop becoming, if you understand the foolishness of hoping and it disappears and you are left
           without any trace of desire, that's what enlightenment is.
           Then there is no need. But be practical.
           I have heard.
               Scientists concluded that the ice cap was going to melt and the whole world would be flooded
           within six months.
               When the news broke, religious leaders went into deep conference. The Protestant hierarchy
           released a statement: 'Because of the impending disaster, Protestants will go to church and pray for
           two hours every day.'
               The Catholics made an announcement: 'Because of the coming deluge, Catholics will make every
           other day, all day, a day of prayer, for the next six months.'
               Rabbis from all over the land convened, then they too issued a message to the world: 'Because
           the whole world will be flooded, learn how to live under water.'

           Be more practical, be more of a Jew.
               Otherwise my words can mislead you. I have no intention even to guide you, but my words can
           misguide you because you can take them on the surface.
               You can say, 'Yes, Osho says there is no need for enlightenment, so forget all meditation and be
           the fool you have always been.' This is not going to change you.
               Try to understand each word that I say to you-. Each word that I utter is pregnant with
           tremendous meaning but you will have to decode it.

               The rabbi had stood before the synagogue's board of directors for almost an hour pleading with
           them to buy a chandelier for the temple.
               When he'd finished, Blum, the elderly president, stood up. 'What're we wasting time talkin' for?'
           he demanded. 'First of all, a chandelier -- we ain't got nobody who could even SPELL it!'
           'Second, we ain't got nobody here who could PLAY it!'
           'And third, what we need in the synagogue is more LIGHT!'

               That's how things go. That's what the poor rabbi is saying all the time -- a chandelier is needed.
               What I am saying to you is that you need a deep centering in the herenow so that no desiring of
           the world distracts you, no desire of liberation distracts you. You are so deeply herenow that you
           ARE simply herenow; your mind is moving nowhere else, your mind is not wandering anywhere.
               In that pure moment, completely centred and grounded, YOU are enlightened -- but you will
           have to attain to that moment. And that cannot be attained by great philosophical talk -- you will
           have to work hard, you will have to be very practical.
               Right now, as you are, you are completely drunk, drunk with desire.

              He had been to a party and had imbibed a little too freely. Along about four in the morning he
           was staggering home. Crossing a bridge he met a policeman. The cop was a friend, and they leaned
           over the bridge rail to converse a bit.
           'What's that down there in the water?' the drunk suddenly asked.
           'Look again. That's the moon," said the cop.
              He looked again, shook his head, and then demanded, 'Okay, okay. But how the hell did I get
           way up here?'
           'Because the moon is so far down, how the hell did I get way up here?'
              I go on talking to you knowing well that you are drunk with a thousand and one desires. I am
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           telling you to drop these thousand and one desires. And you are ready to drop them...if I can give
           you a new desire for them, if I can give you a bigger substitute, if I can give you one great desire so
           that all desires can be sacrificed for it. You are ready to drop your desires but you are ready to drop
           them only for a greater desire. That I cannot do -- the greater desire will be a greater bondage to
           you. Hence Zen people say that enlightenment is a nightmare. Hence Zen people say don't try to
           become a Buddha otherwise you will fall into the seventh hell. Don't try to reach to the ultimate
           reality because your very desire to reach it will hinder you. All desiring is a hindrance -- the desire
           for God and liberation also.
                You would like me to give you a big desire, a desire with capital letters, so big that you can pour
           your small, tiny desires into it. But that is not what I am going to do. I want you to drop all your
           desires and not to substitute them with anything else. Only then can you be desireless.
           Desireless, you are enlightened.
                Enlightenment is not somewhere waiting for you, it is already here. It surrounds you right now. It
           is within you and without you. It is in every beat of your heart. But YOU are not here -- you are
           chasing your desires far away, somewhere in the future, on some planets. You are not to find
           enlightenment somewhere else, the only thing that you have to do is to come back home.
           Enlightenment is waiting for you there. You simply don't go anywhere -- that's all. The whole effort
           is negative -- don't go anywhere. Enlightenment is not a journey, it is your deepest core of being.
                It is like you sleep in Poona and you dream in the night that you are in Philadelphia. And you are
           in Poona all the same, whether you dream of Philadelphia or not. You are lying down here sleeping
           in your room and in your dream you are in Philadelphia. In the morning you open your eyes and you
           say it was all a dream because you find yourself in Poona, not in Philadelphia.
                Those who have awakened have found themselves in enlightenment. Philadelphia was a dream.
           This world is a dream -- when you awake, this world disappears and you find yourself in the other
           world. This bank is a dream. When you awake, suddenly you find you have been always on the other
           bank and you were dreaming about this bank. Desire is a dream, desire is a dreaming process. It
           leads you away, but it leads you away only in the mind not in reality. In reality you are gods -- in
           minds, it depends. You can make anything out of your mind.
                That's what Hindus say: that it is mind which makes you a tree, it is mind which makes you a
           tiger, it is mind which makes you a cuckoo, it is mind which makes you a man. When there is no
           mind, you are a god. God is your reality and everything else that you see is just dream.
                If you understand, there is no need for any enlightenment. If you don't understand then be alert:
           listening to me can be dangerous. You can stop all meditations, you can stop all work and you can
           say there is no need. But then you will remain in Philadelphia.




                                            Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Chapter #9
                                      Chapter title: Dang Dang Doko Dang
           19 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606190
              ShortTitle: DANG09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HO-SHAN USED TO GIVE THE FOLLOWING SERMON: 'TO DISCIPLINE OURSELVES IN
              LEARNING, IS CALLED HEARING; TO REACH A POINT WHERE ANY MORE LEARNING NO
              MORE AVAILS, IS CALLED APPROACHING. WHEN ONE GOES BEYOND THESE TWO STAGES
              HE IS SAID TO HAVE TRULY TRANSCENDED.'



              ONCE A MONK ASKED: 'WHAT THEN IS TRULY TRANSCENDING?'



              WITHOUT UTTERING A WORD HO-SHAN MOTIONED AS IF BEATING A DRUM, SAYING: 'DANG,
              DANG, DOKO DANG, DOKO DANG.'



              TO ALL SUCH QUESTIONS HO-SHAN'S ANSWER WAS ALWAYS THE SAME: 'DANG, DANG,
              DOKO DANG, DOKO DANG.'

              WHAT IS truth?

                This is the question every man has to answer on his own. And unless a man answers this question
           he is not truly a man.
                This question has haunted humanity down the centuries. It is as old as man himself -- because
           man became man only when he asked this question. Unless we know what truth is, our whole effort
           to live, our whole to make a meaning out of life is futile.
                It is ultimate, but urgent also, to know from where life has arisen -- and to want to know the
           source and the goal, to know the inner running current that holds everything, to know the thread
           which is the ultimate law of existence.
                When we ask the question, 'What is truth?' we are entering into the world of man for the first
           time. If you have not asked the question yet then you live below human beings. Ask the question,
           and you become part of humanity. And when the question is dissolved you go beyond humanity, you
           become a God.
                Below the questioning you remain part of the animal kingdom; with the question you enter on the
           path; and again being with out the question you have come to realise that you have come home.
                The question is very difficult because just by asking, it cannot be solved. One has to put one's
           whole life at the stake.
                This is the question that Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. At the last moment, when Jesus was going to
           be crucified, Pontius Pilate asked him, 'What is truth?' And Jesus did not answer him. Christian
           mystics have pondered over it. Why did Jesus not answer it? Why did he remain silent?
                There are three possibilities. One, that the question was not sincere. A man like Jesus answers
           only when the question is sincere. When is a question sincere? A question is sincere when a
           questioner is ready to do something about it. If it is just curiosity then it is not worth answering. If it
           has an intense passion, a deep desire, so deep that the questioner is ready to put his whole life at the
           stake -- nothing less will do -- then only is the question sincere. A man like Jesus will answer only
           when the question has been asked from the very core of one's being. So the first possibility is that
           Pilate's question was not sincere. Seeing the insincerity, Jesus remained silent.

               Pilate was a well-educated man, a man who had succeeded -- at least in the eyes of the world.
           He was the viceroy, a Roman Governor-general. He was at the peak of his career -- power, prestige,
           wealth, everything was his. Whatsoever he had been doing in his life had paid him well. Facing him
           was Jesus, almost a hobo, a failure, one who had not achieved anything -- at least in the eyes of the
           world. He had no power, no prestige, not even respectability. He was just at the other end of life, a
           tremendous failure, mocked, jeered, insulted. Whatsoever he had been doing had all failed. It had not
           paid him in any way. His life was futile -- at least for others.
               The successful man asked the failure, 'What is truth?'
               There are two types of successes in the world. One, the worldly, which is not really a success but
           just trying to deceive yourself, just trying to keep up faces, appearances. The eyes are full of tears
           but you go on smiling; the heart is miserable, but you go on showing something else, just the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opposite, to the world. They say 'nothing succeeds like success' but I would like to tell you 'nothing
           fails like success'. As far as the inner journey is concerned, as far as the transcendental is concerned,
           nothing fails like success and nothing succeeds like failure.
               The first possibility is that the question was not sincere, it was asked just by the way. The man
           was well-educated, well-trained in philosophical concepts. He could have asked the question as a
           philosophical question. Then Jesus remained silent because the question was not really asked and
           there was no need to answer it.
               The second possibility is that the question was sincere, that the question was not just a childish
           curiosity, that there was passion behind it, that it was authentic. Then why did Jesus remain silent?
           He remained silent because if this ultimate question is authentically asked then silence is the answer,
           because there is no way to answer it except silence. The question is so profound that words will not
           be capable of answering it. The question is so deep that words will not be able to reach it, to touch it
           -- only silence will.
               If the second is the case then Jesus did answer it, but he answered it by silence.
               A third possibility is also there: that the question was sincere and yet not so sincere, that it was
           ambiguous, split -- which was probably the case because where can you find a man who is total? A
           part of him was authentically asking, another part was pretending, 'Even if you don't answer I am not
           in a hurry. And even if you don't answer, I don't mind because in fact I don't need it. In fact, I know
           the answer already, I am asking just to test you.'
               The question was ambiguous, Janus-faced. That seems to be more probable because that is how
           man is and has always been -- split. A part of Pilate feels the truth of this man who is standing
           before him -- a complete, utter failure but yet his eyes are luminous, yet he has a glow. Pilate can
           feel it, can almost touch it. Yet another part, the egoist part, is not ready to surrender so he pretends
           he is asking only casually -- 'Even if you don't answer, don't be worried. It is not my need. In fact, I
           already know the answer.'
               If this ambiguity was the case, then Jesus would also remain silent because when a question is
           ambiguous and the person is divided, no answer is possible. Because the answer can be understood
           only in your undivided consciousness, the question can be answered only when you are no longer
           split, when you are one, when you are in a unison, unity. Only then can you understand it.
               Jesus' silence before Pontius Pilate is very significant, pregnant with many meanings. But Jesus
           has answered the question somewhere else, it is recorded in the New Testament. Somewhere else he
           says, 'I am the Truth.'
               I would like you to go a little bit into history then it will be very easy to understand today's
           parable.
               Homer asked the same question in 850 B.C. and he answered that 'the Whole is supported by
           Fate and Fate is the Truth'.
               This is not really an answer; in fact, it is avoiding. When you say, 'It is Fate,' you don't say much;
           in fact, you are not saying anything, you are simply playing with a word. You have simply shifted
           the question. It doesn't answer. If somebody is miserable and you say, 'It is Fate,' how have you
           answered it? Your answering has not added anything to the already known situation. You have
           simply labelled it. 'One is suffering because it is Fate.' But why is it so? Why is Fate so? No, it is not
           a real answer. In fact, it is a lie.
               But one can believe in such things. Many people still do as Homer did. They have not risen
           above that level of consciousness.
               Then came Thales, 575 B.C. He said that the whole consists of nothing but water. Water is the
           basic element of truth, of life, of existence.
               Better than Fate, something more tangible, but very fragmentary. Water does not go very deep,
           does not explain much. It is reducing the higher to the lowest. Thales must have had a scientific
           mind -- that's what science goes on doing. You ask about mind and they say it is nothing but matter.
           The higher is reduced to the lower; the sky is explained by the earth. Mind is a great evolution. To
           explain the mind by matter is a scientific fallacy.
               Thales was the first scientist of the world. He tried to explain the unknowable by something
           known: he called it water, the liquid element, the liquidity, the flow. But the answer is very
           fragmentary. It has something of truth in it but not all of it. And a fragmentary truth is almost more
           dangerous than a lie because it has a certain appearance of truth and it can deceive more. That
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fragment of truth can become very deceptive -- it can cover the whole lie and make it appear as if it
           is the truth.
                Then came Pythagoras, 530 B.C. He says that the whole consists only of numbers, mathematical
           symbols. He has even more of a scientific attitude than Thales -- mathematics. Meaningful, but
           mathematics is not life. In fact, all that is very alive is non-mathematical. Love is non-mathematical,
           you cannot reduce it to numbers. Poetry is non-mathematical. Just think of a life consisting only of
           numbers -- one, two, three, four -- all poetry disappears, all love disappears, all dreaming
           disappears. Life will not be worth living.
                That's how it is happening today. Scientists have reduced everything to mathematics. Life is not
           equal to equations howsoever accurate the equations; life is more than mathematics can ever explain.
           The mathematics cannot explain the mathematician, the mathematician who deals in numbers is
           higher and bigger than numbers. It has to be so -- those numbers are just toys in his hands. But who
           is this player? Whenever life is reduced to mathematics it loses charm, it loses charisma, it loses
           mystery. And suddenly everything seems to be worthless. Mystery is needed; it is subtle
           nourishment for growth.

               I have heard two mathematicians talking. One said to another, 'Is there any meaning in life? Is
           there any worth? Is there any purpose?'
           The other said, 'But what else can you do with it?'

               The first asked, 'Is there any meaning to live for in life?' and the other says, 'What else can you
           do with it?' If life has to be lived just as if you are a victim, as if somebody is playing a trick upon
           you, as if you are being thrown into this torture chamber, into this concentration camp called the
           earth, then even if you live, you don't live enough. You slowly commit suicide. You by and by, by
           and by, go on disappearing. Suicide becomes a constant thought in the mind if life has no mystery.

              Then came Anaxagoras, 450 B.C. and his answer is mind. Certainly he took a great leap from
           water, number, fate -- he took a great jump. Anaxagoras is a great milestone in the history of
           humanity. 'Mind,' he says. 'The whole existence is made up of the stuff called mind.'

              Better, but Jesus would not agree, Buddha would not agree. Yes, certainly better than what others
           were saying, but Zen would not agree. Matter, mind...Zen says no-mind. One has to go higher still
           because mind still carries the duality with matter.

               Good, great in a way, a radical step -- from object Anaxagoras turns to the subject, from the outer
           he turns to the inner. He opens the door. He is the first psychologist in the world because he
           emphasises mind more than matter. He says matter is also made of mind: he explains the lower with
           the higher.
               You can explain in two ways. Go and see beautiful white lotus flowers in a pond; they come out
           of the dirty mud. Then there are two possibilities: either you explain the lotus by the dirty mud or
           you explain the dirty mud by the lotus. And both will lead you in totally different dimensions. If you
           say that this lotus is nothing but dirty mud because it comes out of it, your life will lose all
           significance, meaning, beauty. Then you will live in the dirty mud.
               That's what Freud has been doing; that's what Marx has done. They have great skill in reducing
           everything to the dirty mud. Buddha attains to enlightenment...ask Freud and he will say it is nothing
           but sex energy. There is a truth in it, because it arises out of sex, but the sex functions like dirty mud
           and out of it arises the lotus.
               Ask Buddha...he will say sex is nothing but the beginning of enlightenment, the very first steps
           of nirvana. That's how Tantra was born.
               These are two ways and you will have to remember that your life will depend more or less on the
           way you interpret, on the way you choose. You can try to reduce the lotus to dirty mud -- it can be
           done and it is very scientific. It can be done very scientifically because all that this lotus has was in
           the mud. It can be dissected and everything can be found, and then the mud can be dissected, and
           whatsoever the lotus has, everything will be found in the mud -- nothing special, nothing extra,
           nothing from the outside has entered into the lotus so it is nothing but the mud. If you are choosing
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your life with this attitude, your life will be just nothing but mud.
                But the person who says that the mud is nothing but potential white lotuses, that the mud is
           nothing but a waiting to manifest its beauty in lotuses, has a higher standpoint...the standpoint of a
           religious man. Then the whole life becomes full of splendour, significance, glory. Then wherever
           you look, you can find God, you can find the white lotus. Then everything is moving towards a peak.
           Then there is evolution. Then there is future, possibility. Then even the impossible becomes
           possible.
                With the first attitude -- the dirty-mud-attitude I call it even the possible seems to be impossible.
           But with the second attitude -- the lotus-attitude I call it -- you can see deeply into mud and you can
           see hidden lotuses there. And the dirty mud is no more dirty mud, it is just potentiality. Then sex
           becomes potentiality for samadhi, the body becomes potentiality for the soul, the world becomes the
           abode of God.
                Anaxagoras was one of the greatest revolutionaries, a radical thinker. This word 'radical' is
           beautiful. It means: pertaining to the roots. He changed the outlook. He said mind. He took a
           necessary step, but that too was not enough.
                Then came Protagoras, 445 B.C. and he said 'Man'. Now his standpoint is more total. Mind is a
           fragment of man. Man is many things more, mind plus. If Anaxagoras is thought to be absolutely
           true then you will remain in the head -- that is what has happened to many people. They have not
           moved beyond Anaxagoras. They go on living in the head because mind is all. Then mind becomes
           dictatorial, it goes on a great ego trip. It starts dominating everything and crippling everything. It
           becomes a destructive force.
                No, you are not only mind. You are mind, certainly, but plus. Many more things are there.
                A lotus cannot exist alone; the flower cannot exist alone. It will need many more things to exist:
           the pond, the water, the air, the sun, its connection with the mud, and leaves -- and a thousand and
           one things. So if you think only in terms of the lotus and you forget all connections with the
           universe, your lotus will be a plastic lotus. It will not be a real lotus, it will not be inter-connected, it
           will not be rooted in existence.
                Protagoras has a more holy attitude, wholistic attitude. Man, and the totality of man -- the body,
           the mind, the soul -- becomes truth.
                Then came Socrates, 435 B. C. and he said: wisdom, knowing, knowledge. When man attains to
           maturity, he becomes wise; when man comes to fulfillment, then wisdom arises. Wisdom is the
           essence of man, the fragrance of the lotus flower. A still higher attitude.
                And then came Jesus who says, 'I am the truth.' This one statement is one of the greatest
           statements ever made in the world. Either it is the greatest truth ever uttered or it is the most egoistic
           and arrogant statement ever made.'I am the truth.' It depends how you decode it. Ordinarily, when
           you hear that Jesus says, 'I am the truth,' you think this man is a megalomaniac, has gone mad. He is
           uttering nonsense. This man is truth? Jesus is truth? Then what about us all?
                Jesus is not saying that, you have misunderstood him. When he says, 'I am truth,' he is not
           saying, 'Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, is the truth.' What he is saying is totally different. He is
           saying 'I am-ness, I am, is the truth, ' so wherever there is this 'I am-ness' there is truth. When you
           say 'I am' you are uttering truth. Your 'I am' and my 'I am' are not two things, we both participate
           there. Your name is different, your form is different, my name is different, my form is different, but
           when I say 'I, I am' and you say 'I am' we refer to some common experience, we refer to some
           common root. Your 'I am-ness' and my 'I am-ness' are not different, are not separate, they belong to
           one 'I am-ness' of God. When Jesus says 'I am the truth' he means wherever this integration is felt of
           being totally 'I am', there is truth.
                Ordinarily you are many i's. You don't have any capital I; you have many i's, lower case.
           Gurdjieff used to say that we should not use the word 'i', only God can use it -- because you don't
           have any single 'i', you have many i's like a crowd. For one moment one i comes on the top, and
           becomes the ruler; in another moment it is gone and another i comes over and rules. You can watch
           it. It is so simple. One moment you say, 'I am happy. I am tremendously happy, at the top of the
           world' and the next moment you are unhappy, at the lowest bottom of the world, in the seventh hell.
                Are both these i's the same? One moment you were flowing and you were compassionate and
           loving and another moment you were closed and frozen and dead. Are these two i's the same? One
           moment you could have forgiven anything and another moment just any small tiny thing and you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot forgive. Are these two i's the same? One moment you are sitting in silence, in zazen,
           meditating, and you look so Buddha-like, and another moment, for a small thing, you are nagging,
           fighting. You will yourself feel ridiculous later on. For what were you getting so hot? For what were
           you creating so much fuss? It was not worth it. But another i was ruling over you.
                You are like a wheel of many i's -- those i's are like spokes. The wheel goes on moving, one
           spoke comes on top -- hardly before it has come it starts declining. It goes on changing. Again it will
           come up and again you will feel a different being existing there within you.
                Watch. Have you got an 'i'? Any substantial 'i'? Any essential 'i'? Can you say that you have some
           permanent 'i' in you? A crystallised 'i' in you?
                You promise, and next moment you have forgotten your promise. Gurdjieff used to say that
           unless you have a permanent 'i', who will promise? You will not be able to fulfil it. Who will fulfil
           it? You say to a woman, 'I love you and I will love you forever and forever.' Wait! What are you
           uttering? What nonsense! Forever and ever? How can you promise? You don't know what is going to
           happen tomorrow, you don't know who is going to rule you tomorrow. Your promises will create
           trouble for you. You cannot promise because you are not there. Only a man like Gurdjieff or Jesus
           can promise. Yes, he can promise because he knows that he will remain the same; whatsoever
           changes in the world will not affect him. He will remain the same, he has come to a crystallised soul.
           Now he knows that his wheel has stopped. He is in total possession of his being. He can promise.
                But ordinarily people go on promising, and you never see the fact that no promise has ever been
           fulfilled by you. You completely forget about it. You don't even remember it because that
           remembrance will be like a wound. You find out ways and means to rationalise: you cannot fulfil it
           because the other person has changed, you cannot fulfil it because the circumstances have changed,
           you cannot fulfil it because you were foolish at the time you made;t. And again you will make
           promises.
                Man is an animal who goes on promising, never fulfilling any promise because he cannot fulfil it
           -- man as he exists has too many i's.
                When Jesus says 'I am the truth' he is saying that whosoever attains to 'I am-ness' is truth. And
           this truth is not something philosophical, this truth is something existential. You cannot come to it by
           logic, argumentation; you cannot come to it by finding a right premise and then moving to a right
           syllogism and then reaching to a right conclusion. No, that is not the way. You will have to come to
           it through an inner discipline. That's what Zen is all about.

           Now this story.
                This story says everything that is needed for a seeker to come to truth, the truth of 'I am-ness'. It
           is 'I am' that holds the whole existence together. Moses asked God on Mount Sinai, 'I will go back to
           my people and I will say that I have seen God, but they will not believe me. So please tell me how I
           am to convince them. And they will ask "Who is God?" So please tell me what is your name, who
           you are, so that I can convince them. Otherwise they will not be ready to believe me.' And God said
           to Moses, 'Go and tell them I am, I am.' No name, simply I am, I am. This is what Jesus is saying -- 'I
           am the truth.'
                It has nothing to do with Jesus, it has nothing to do with any person, it is your innermost core --
           which is absolutely impersonal. It is never born and never dies. It is your innermost current of life. It
           is from where you are connected with God. It is from where you are one with existence.
                This has to be found, not by thinking but by a great, deep discipline.
           Now this story.

              HO-SHAN USED TO GIVE THE FOLLOWING SERMON: TO DISCIPLINE OURSELVES IN
              LEARNING IS CALLED HEARING.

              This is the first step.



              TO DISCIPLINE OURSELVES IN LEARNING IS CALLED HEARING.


              First one has to discipline oneself. What is discipline?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ordinarily the word has very wrong connotations. Somebody else disciplines you -- your parents,
           the society. Always it is the other who disciplines you so the very word has wrong associations. It
           has been wrongly used, misused. A beautiful word has been very much corrupted. Discipline is not
           from the outside. Nobody else can discipline you. Discipline is from the inside; discipline is an
           understanding. And that is the word's meaning also. It comes from the same root as disciple. Can
           somebody make you a disciple? Think of it. Can disciplehood be thrown over you? Can you be
           forced to become a disciple? No, you can either take it or reject it. The ultimate decision is yours. To
           become a disciple means to voluntarily surrender. If the surrender is not voluntary, it is not a
           surrender. If you are being forced to surrender then deep down you will resist and you will wait for
           the right moment when you can throw off this slavery.
                The first Christians, those who had the great opportunity to live with Jesus, to imbibe his spirit,
           they used to call themselves slaves of Jesus. The first Christians used the word 'slave' but their
           slavery was not a slavery forced on them. Even if a freedom is forced on you it is a slavery and if
           you accept a slavery on your own it is freedom. They were freed by Jesus, liberated by Jesus, and
           they loved the man so much they called themselves slaves.
                A disciple is one who surrenders according to his own heart. Nobody is forcing him to surrender.
           If any force is used then exactly there something goes wrong. If you are a Christian because your
           parents forced you to become a Christian, or if you are a Hindu because your parents forced you to
           become a Hindu...that's how people are Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians. They have been
           forced. The parents have somehow conditioned their minds to be Hindus, Christians or
           Mohammedans. It is not their own choice. Then out of it discipline cannot arise; in fact, out of it
           rebellion arises, out of it a great resistance arises, out of it your innermost life energy becomes angry,
           annoyed, irritated, and for your whole life you can never forgive those people who forced you.
                And religion is a very delicate matter -- more delicate than love. Just think. If you are forced to
           love a woman or a man, the very effort that you are being coerced into loving will destroy love. Even
           if there was love it will disappear, it will evaporate.

                I have heard a very beautiful story about an Egyptian king. He was in love, deeply in love with a
           woman but the woman was not in love with him. He could have forced it on her but his wise
           advisors prevented him.
                They said, 'Don't do that. You can force it, she is your subject. You can simply bring her to your
           palace, but it will be almost a rape, not a love. You may even get children out of her but you will
           never get her heart. That is not the way.'
                The king said, 'What to do? I cannot live without her. And she is not in love with me, that's a
           fact, so the only way is to force. What do you suggest?'
                They asked him, 'Is she in love with somebody else?'
                The king said, 'Yes, she is in love with one of my servants. And this is foolish, stupid. She is
           blind!'
                That's what so-called clever people have always been saying. They think of other things:
           economics, finance, respect and other things -- but not of love.
                The king said, 'She is foolish. She cannot see the point It is so simple. She is blind, mad. I can
           give her a thousand and one slaves and she is in love with one of my poor servants. And I am the
           king. So what to do?'
                Those wise people suggested a very novel experiment. It has never been done before and I don't
           know that it has ever been done again.
                They said, 'Catch them both. Bring them both to the palace and just in front of the palace, bind
           them both together naked, in deep embrace. And bind them to the pillar and leave them there.'
           The king said, 'What will that do?'
           They said, 'Just wait.'
                So they both were caught and undressed. They were ordered to embrace each other, forced to be
           loving to each other, and they were bound to a marble pillar. And for twenty-four hours they were
           left there to be looked at by the whole town.
                By and by they started getting angry at each other because the lover thought, 'It is because of her
           I am suffering this calamity.' And the woman started thinking, 'Because of him.' And because they
           were forced to be together they started resisting. They wanted to separate but there was no way.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They were bound in chains. Twenty-four hours -- just think -- with your beloved, bound on a pillar.
               By and by, more and more anger came. Then they started smelling each other's perspiration, hot.
           And then they couldn't sleep. And they pissed on each other. And they vomited. And it became a
           very ugly affair, a nightmare.
               And the story says that after twenty-four hours, when they were released, they escaped in
           different directions and never saw each other ever again.

               If you are forced to love, forced to be together with someone, that very enforcement will kill
           something subtle within you. That's why husbands cannot forgive their wives and wives cannot
           forgive their husbands. It is impossible to forgive those with whom you are forced to live by the law,
           by society, by responsibility, or by your own conscience -- but forced.
               Disciplehood is an even higher thing than love. Nobody can force you to become a disciple. And
           discipline comes from the same root -- it means 'with full awareness you accept something on your
           own'. It is your heart's desire.

              TO DISCIPLINE OURSELVES IN LEARNING IS CALLED HEARING.


                And Buddhists call the first step of learning, of knowing, hearing; right hearing -- 'SAMYAK
           SHRAVAN'. If somebody has attained the truth, if somebody has attained, then listen to him.
           Nothing else is needed. Listen to his vibes, listen to his being, listen to the murmur of his inner
           sound. Just listen. If you can find a person who has come home, then just listen to his calmness, his
           tranquillity, his bliss.
                By 'right listening' is meant 'to be receptive'. Learning is not active, it is passive. You are not to
           do anything about it, you cannot be aggressive about truth, you can simply allow it -- that's all. You
           can simply be there in front of it, in close vicinity, passive, allowing, not resisting, not creating any
           barrier. Remove all barriers and be in the presence of a man who has attained this right listening. If
           he says something, listen to his word; if he does not say something, listen to his silence.
                When he is not saying something, then too, go on listening, and in his non-saying you will find
           tremendous expression. And when he is saying something, go on listening deeply, because when he
           is saying something he is at the same time transferring his silence to you. When he is speaking he is
           silent also, and when he is silent he is speaking also. A tremendous quality of listening is needed.
                If you cannot find any person, don't be worried, then listen to nature, then listen to the winds
           passing through the pines, then listen to the waterfall, go and listen to the ocean -- wild. Go and
           listen to the birds -- anything will do. This is something very important to remember: if right
           listening is there, then even listening to a waterfall will do. And if right listening is not there, then
           even listening to Jesus or Buddha won't do.
                The truth happens when you are in the mood of right listening. It has nothing to do with the
           object of listening; it has everything to do with the quality of listening. But we have forgotten how to
           listen. Even when we are silent we are not listening. Even when we pretend to show that yes, we are
           listening, we are not listening; we are doing a thousand and one things in the mind. Many thoughts
           are crowding in. Politely we show that yes, we are listening, politely sometimes we nod also -- we
           are listening -- but deep inside us is the madhouse. How can you listen?
                To listen you will have to drop your thinking. With thoughts, listening is not possible. If you are
           speaking inside and I am speaking here, how can you listen to me? Because you are closer to
           yourself than me, your thoughts will be closer to you, they will make a ring around you and they will
           not allow my thoughts to enter. They will allow only those thoughts which are in tune with them,
           they will choose and select. They will not allow anything that is strange, unfamiliar, unknown. Then
           it is not worth listening because you are simply listening to your own thoughts. And it is dangerous
           because now you will think that you have listened to me. Right listening means to be in a totally
           receptive, silent mood.
                In Zen the disciple sits for many months, sometimes years, before he becomes capable of
           listening. Whenever anybody came to Buddha he would say, 'For one year or two years you simply
           sit here. Nothing else has to be done. You simply learn how to sit.' People would say, 'We know
           already how to sit.' And Buddha would say,'I have never come across a person who knows how to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sit, because when I say sit, I mean sit -- no turmoil, no movement of thought, totally silent, utterly
           silent, no movement in the body, no movement in the mind. A pool of energy with no ripples.'

              TO DISCIPLINE OURSELVES IN LEARNING IS CALLED HEARING.


              So the whole Buddhist discipline, Zen discipline, starts by right listening.

              TO REACH A POINT W HERE ANY MORE LEARNING NO MORE AVAILS, IS CALLED
              APPROACHING.


                Then there comes a moment when you become so silent that the listener disappears. First your
           thoughts disappear, then your thinker disappears. The thinker is nothing but the inter-link between
           thoughts, the thinker cannot exist without thoughts; when thoughts are no more there, suddenly the
           thinker evaporates. When you are listening so totally that there is no thought arising, passing,
           coming and going, then the listener also disappears.
                ... WHERE ANY MORE LEARNING NO MORE AVAILS. This then is the moment where
           from the outside nothing can be got, learning no more avails, now there is no need, now you are
           enough unto yourself. This is what Zen people call 'approaching'. Now you are coming home,
           approaching, closer and closer and closer.
                So first you are full of thoughts. To drop those thoughts, hearing is emphasised -- hear the
           Master, or the winds, or the thundering clouds. Listening is used as a device to drop thoughts. When
           thoughts are dropped one day you will realise the thinker has disappeared. Now there is no longer
           anything like a listener. The device has worked, the work is over. Now there is no need to listen to
           the outside because now there is no need to learn from the outside. This is what Zen calls
           'approaching'. Now you are approaching home, now everything is within you, you are coming to the
           innermost shrine.
                Thought does not allow you to listen and the thinker does not allow you to enter into yourself.
           The thinker is the subtlest part of thoughts -- thoughts are gross-thinker and thinker is subtle
           thoughts. Thoughts prevent you from listening to the outside and the thinker prevents you from
           listening to the inside. First drop thoughts because the gross can be dropped more easily, then you
           can listen to the outside. Then the thinker disappears. Now you can listen to the inside. Then the
           Master speaks from the innermost core of your heart. The outer Master is just a help to create the
           inner Master; the outer Master is just a provocation for the inner Master to come into full swing, to
           come into its full being. The outer Master is just a situation so that the inner Master can awaken.

              AND WHEN ONE GOES BEYOND THESE TWO STAGES ONE IS SAID TO HAVE TRULY
              TRANSCENDED.


               Now comes the last point. First you drop thoughts, then you drop the thinker. First the outside
           Master disappears, the outside object disappears, then you come to the inside. But the inside can
           exist only with the outside. As I told you, the thinker can exist only with thoughts; in exactly the
           same way, the inside can exist only with the outside. If the outside disappears, the inside disappears,
           because they are both two aspects of the same coin. So first the outside disappears, then you come in
           and suddenly you find one day that the inside is also disappearing, because it is nothing but the
           innermost core of the outer. They are both together. How can you have an inside if you don't have an
           outside?
               Just think of a house which has only an inside, no outside. How can it have only an inside
           without the outside? Or how can it have only the outside without any inside? They both exist
           together.
               When inside and outside both disappear Ho-shan says, '...ONE IS SAID TO HAVE TRULY
           TRANSCENDED.' Then there is neither out nor in, neither thoughts nor thinking, neither outside
           Master nor inside Master. It is a tremendous emptiness. Nothing is, or, only nothing is. This is
           transcendence, this is nirvana, enlightenment. Then freedom is utterly complete because there is no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           boundary -- you are without boundary.
              This is what Jesus means when he says, 'I am the truth.' This is what 'I am' is.

              ONCE A MONK ASKED, ' WHAT THEN IS TRULY TRANSCENDING?'


                Now this is a foolish question to ask, a stupid question to ask. Because when there is no outside,
           no inside, no thinker, no thought, then there is no possibility of any answer. If you have understood,
           then you will not ask what this transcendence is. It is meaningless. You have come to a point where
           no question can be asked.
                This monk must not have understood. So he asked, 'WHAT THEN IS TRULY
           TRANSCENDING?' The question again brings you back to the first step. Now right listening is
           needed. You see it? The question again brings you to the first step. The monk has not transcended
           the first step. He has not listened, otherwise he would have understood. He must have been there
           listening ordinarily. He had ears so he could listen. And he must have understood these words,
           because he could use the words, 'THEN WHAT IS TRULY TRANSCENDING?' He must know
           language, of course, and he has ears so he can hear. He is not deaf that's certain.
                But still he missed. Now the Master has to start from the very beginning. And Ho-shan used to
           tell this story almost every day. That was his only one sermon. Every morning he will start his
           sermon the same way.

              TO DISCIPLINE OURSELVES IN LEARNING IS CALLED HEARING. TO REACH A POINT WHERE
              ANY MORE LEARNING NO MORE AVAILS IS CALLED APPROACHING. WHEN ONE GOES
              BEYOND THESE TWO STAGES ONE IS SAID TO HAVE TRULY TRANSCENDED.


              No question can be asked if you understand. You can touch the Master's feet and thank him, or
           you can have a good laugh, or you can roll your mat and go home. A question is now irrelevant.

              BUT THE MONK ASKED 'WHAT THEN IS TRULY TRANSCENDING?'

              And what did Ho-shan do?



              WITHOUT UTTERING A WORD....


              It is useless to utter a word now, because he will have to repeat the same.

              WITHOUT UTTERING A WORD HO-SHAN MOTIONED AS IF BEATING A DRUM.


               Many things are implied in it. With this gesture -- AS IF BEATING A DRUM -- he is saying,
           'Are you deaf or something? Do you need a drum to be beaten only then you will understand? Are
           you deaf or something? Your question simply shows that you have not heard what I have been
           saying all the time.'

              HO-SHAN MOTIONED AS IF BEATING A DRUM, SAYING, 'DANG, DANG, DOKO DANG, DOKO
              DANG.


               One meaning, just on the surface, is that he is saying to the person that he is deaf.'You don't need
           me, you need a drum to be beaten, only then will you listen, otherwise you will not listen. These
           things are very subtle. They are not for you.' That is one thing, just on the surface.
               The second thing: the drum is a very, very meaningful symbol in Buddhism because a drum is
           empty inside and Buddhism believes in emptiness. Emptiness is virtually the God of Buddhism. A
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           drum is empty but if you beat it, it creates much sound. Buddhism says that the innermost core of
           existence is empty, only just on the surface is it like a drum. You can go on beating and creating
           sound.
               All language is like beating a drum, but all meaning is more in tune with emptiness than in tune
           with the beating of the drum. All is noise; the innermost core can be known only in silence. All
           philosophy is beating the drum. If you enjoy, good, you can enjoy, but you will never enter into the
           really real, the ultimately real. It is empty.
               And the third meaning: answering a question in this way is very absurd. Only Zen Masters are
           courageous enough to do that. You cannot think of any other tradition which is so courageous to use
           such outlandish modes of expression: Dang, dang, doko dang, doko dang. He is saying, 'Your
           question can only be answered in an absurd way. The question is absurd, the answer cannot be
           anything else than that. You are illogical so I will have to be illogical with you.'
               One great Christian, Tertullian, has said a tremendously meaningful thing. He says, 'Credo quia
           impossible' -- 'I believe because it is impossible.' He says, 'I believe in God because God is
           impossible.' In fact, logically he should not be. In fact, if the world is rational, God should not be.
           Tertullian says, 'I believe because it is impossible.'
               Rationally there is no reason to believe, but life is more than reason, deeper than reason. Life is
           more than logic, vaster than logic -- logic is very narrow. Logic is man-made, life is not man-made --
           on the contrary, man is life-made. Life is bigger than man so naturally it has to be bigger than logic.
               The third meaning of Ho-shan's gesture is that you are asking such an absurd question that it can
           only be answered through an absurd gesture.

              TO ALL SUCH QUESTIONS HO-SHAN'S ANSWER WAS ALWAYS THE SAME: DANG, DANG,
              DOKO DANG, DOKO DANG.


               He had found even a better way than Buddha; he must have had a better sense of humour than
           Buddha himself. Buddha always kept silent whenever somebody asked a metaphysical question.
           About something which transcended language, logic, he would keep quiet or he would change the
           subject or he would talk about something else. But Ho-shan found a more alive way, with a certain
           sense of humour. Somebody was asking a question which by its very nature was absurd, because by
           its very definition the transcendental is that which goes beyond, beyond all dualities. We can talk
           about dualities but we cannot talk about the non-dual.

               Let me tell you a story, a very famous story from the Upanishads.
               Vidagdh Sakalya asked a great Upanishadic teacher, Yagyavalka, 'How many gods are there,
           Yagyavalka?'
               He answered in the words of a prayer, 'There are as many gods as there are in the hymn to the
           Vishwa-devas -- three thousand three hundred.'
           'Yes,' he said, 'but how many are there REALLY, Yagyavalkya?'
           'Thirty-three.'
           'How many?'
           'Six.'
           'How many?'
           'Three.'
           'No, how many really?'
           'Two.'
           'How many?'
           'One and a half.'
           'Now come on. How many really?'
           'One.'

              Now if you ask beyond this then Yagyavalkya will also have to beat a drum.

              It happened. There was a great discussion in the court of
              Janak, a great emperor and a very wise man. He had requested all the wise persons alive to come
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the court and they were trying to define the nature of God.
                Yagyavalkya went there, he defeated all the participants and he was just going to be declared
           victorious when a woman arose.
                Yagyavalkya must have felt a little afraid because it is very difficult to communicate with a
           woman. If you argue with a woman either you are defeated or the argument remains incomplete --
           there is no other way. Because the feminine mind functions in a totally different way; it has no
           logical coherence; it jumps from one place to another; it leaps. The male mind goes step by step... so
           they never meet. The greatest and most impossible thing is to communicate with a woman -- and if
           you are in love then it is even more impossible. If you are not in love then maybe a certain way can
           be found.
                Yagyavalkya must have felt a little shiver around his spine. The woman asked, 'Who is holding
           up this existence? Who is supporting this existence?' And Yagyavalkya said, 'Of course, God,
           Brahma, is the support of all.' He said, 'He is the support of all. He is the ultimate support.'
           And the woman asked, 'Then who is supporting him?'
                Now this was going beyond. He had said, 'He is the support of ALL. Nothing is left.' He had said
           that it was the ultimate, so you cannot ask logically who is supporting God because now nothing is
           left.
                Yagyavalkya said, 'This is an absurd question' -- what in India they call UTEE PRASAN, absurd
           question. Absurd, because by the very definition of the word 'ultimate', nothing is left. It cannot be
           asked. If you want to be logical, if you want to be coherent, if you want to communicate rightly, then
           it cannot be asked. And if it can be asked then there is going to be no end to it.
                He said to Janak, 'If this question is allowed then it is better that I should stop now because then
           there is no end. It will become a regress ad infinitum. If I say that God is supported by something
           then she will ask, "Who is supporting that something?" And if I say something else she will say,
           "Who is supporting that something?" It is going to be foolish and endless if it is going to be allowed;
           it is better that I should drop out of it right now.'
                He was right, because when we say 'all' then nothing is left.
                Ho-shan was saying, 'All duality is transcended' and language can function only in duality. A
           man has to be defined by a woman. A man is one who is not a woman and a woman is one who is
           not a man. Matter is to be defined by mind; night is to be defined by day; God is to be defined by the
           Devil -- language exists in duality otherwise there is no possibility of defining it. The other is
           needed, and the transcendental means that now there is no other, the nondual has come. Now it is all
           one, you have reached to the indefinable.
                But Ho-shan, of course, is a better man than Yagyavalkya. Yagyavalkya must have been very
           serious; he said to the king, 'I had better stop now because if this woman is allowed to ask, she will
           create regress ad infinitum.' And he was a little angry also. He said to the woman, 'No more
           questioning otherwise your head will fall off.' He was right but a little irritated and annoyed.
                Ho-shan has more sense of humour; he is not so serious. And that's how an enlightened person
           should be. About Yagyavalkya I have always felt that he may have been a great philosopher, a great
           man of learning, learned, but he was not yet enlightened. Otherwise there was no need. He could
           have laughed. He could have also gestured as if he was beating a drum; he could have said, 'Dang,
           dang, doko dang, doko dang.'
                But no, this quality of Zen is special to Zen. It is tremendously beautiful. They can turn an ugly
           situation into laughter, and laughter brings you home as nothing else.

               The one cannot be expressed. To know that one, one has to become more and more silent, silent
           and silent. To know that one, to experience that one, one has to lose language by and by, so that
           language completely disappears and you are left without any language, without any mind.
               Last night I was reading a few lines of Pablo Neruda -- beautiful.
              SO THAT YOU CAN HEAR ME, AT TIMES MY WORDS GET FAINTER AND FAINTER, LIKE THE
              MARKS MADE BY SEAGULLS ON THE SAND.


               A Master, the more you grow with him, starts becoming more and more silent and his words get
           fainter and fainter -- LIKE THE MARKS MADE BY SEAGULLS ON THE SAND. The more you
           become capable of hearing, the more the Master has nothing to say to you. When you are not capable
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of hearing he has to say many things to you to make you capable of hearing. When you become
           capable of hearing -- look at the absurdity of it all -- when you become capable of hearing, his words
           become fainter and fainter. When you are really capable of hearing, he stops, because now there is
           no need to say anything, now silence can meet with the silence, now silence can melt and merge into
           silence. Now, language dropped, mind put aside, being can communicate with being.
           Communication can be direct, immediate. Now something can transpire, existentially.
               But at that moment don't be stupid like that monk who asked, 'WHAT THEN IS TRULY
           TRANSCENDING?' Because his question, if accepted, brings you back to ABC. Again he has to be
           taught how to hear.
               Ho-shan did well. He said, 'Are you deaf or something?' by making the gesture of beating a
           drum. And he said, 'Sound and words and mind and language and concepts and philosophies and
           creeds and dogmas and scriptures are just on the surface. Deep inside the drum is nothing.'
               Have you ever tried to open a drum and see what it is inside which makes so much sound -- so
           much beautiful sound also? Small children do it sometimes.

               Somebody gave Mulla Nasruddin's child a drum and it became a nuisance for the whole
           neighbourhood. One day I was sitting at his home and the child came running in with a broken drum.
           He had a knife in his hand with which he had broken it.
           I said, 'What happened?'
               He said, 'The neighbour gave me the knife and said, "Try to see what is inside." So I looked
           inside, there is nothing.' The same happens with all philosophies. A Master is there to give you a
           knife to look inside the drum. If you push your knife deep enough into philosophies, there is nothing,
           only emptiness. All words are empty. They make much sound, that's right, but don't be befooled by
           the sound. Have a penetrating knife, a sharp knife, with you -- that's what meditation is all about. It is
           like sharpening a knife so you can put it through all words and reach to the innermost core of it all,
           which is emptiness.
               Yes, Ho-shan did well. His assertion about all metaphysical questions -- DANG, DANG, DOKO
           DANG, DOKO DANG -- was so absurd but tremendously beautiful. He says, 'We here in Zen are
           not concerned with words, logic, intellect, syllogism. We here in Zen are concerned with existence,
           with being. And if you ask an absurd question, you will get an absurd answer.'
               The story says nothing about what happened to the monk who asked it. If he had been a little
           alert he may have even become more alert. This sudden absurd response of the Master -- DANG,
           DANG, DOKO DANG, DOKO DANG -- may have brought him a little satori. But the story says
           nothing. The man may not have been even that alert that he could understand this. He may have
           turned away, thinking that this man was mad.
               The Zen people are mad in a way because they are trying to pull you towards the ultimate which
           is beyond you. They are trying to pull you beyond yourself; they are trying to pull you out of
           yourself. They ARE mad people, but if you allow them they can give you a glimpse of the eternal,
           and once the glimpse happens you are never the same again.
               Let this story penetrate your heart as deeply as possible and whenever you are becoming a victim
           again of theories, dogmas, doctrines, philosophies, say loudly, 'DANG, DANG, DOKO DANG,
           DOKO DANG.' It will be helpful; it will suddenly bring you back to the earth.
               Ludwig Wittgenstein used to say that he did not solve philosophical problems, he dissolved
           them. Everything is left as it is but perhaps for the first time we come to see things as they are.
               Zen is a way of dissolving philosophical problems, not of solving them. It is a way of getting rid
           of philosophy because philosophy is a sort of neurosis.




                                             Dang Dang Doko Dang
                                                    Chapter #10
                                        Chapter title: Lady You Need Love!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           20 June 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7606200
              ShortTitle: DANG10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 99 mins




              The first question:


              I HAVE TOO MUCH SEXUAL ENERGY BURNING WITHIN MY BODY. WHEN I DANCE,
              SOMETIMES I FEEL I AM GOING TO KILL THE WHOLE WORLD AND AT SOME STAGES SO
              MUCH ANGER AND VIOLENCE BUBBLES WITHIN MY BODY THAT I CAN'T CHANNELISE THE
              ENERGY INTO MEDITATION TECHNIQUES AND IT DRIVES ME CRAZY. I DON'T FEEL TO GO
              INTO THE SEX ACT BUT VIOLENT ENERGY IS STILL BURNING LIKE VOLCANIC FIRE. I CAN'T
              BEAR IT AND IT MAKES, ME SOMETIMES SUICIDAL. PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW TO GIVE A
              CREATIVE OUTLET TO THIS ENERGY.


               The problem is created by the mind, not by the energy. Listen to the energy. It is showing you
           the right direction. It is not sexual energy which is creating the problem -- it has never created any
           problems in the animals, in the trees, in the birds. The energy creates problems because your mind
           has a wrong attitude about it.
               This question is from an Indian lady. In India the whole upbringing is against sex. Then you
           create the problem. And then, whenever there is energy you will feel sexual because something is
           incomplete within you. Something that is unfulfilled will always wait and it will assert energy,
           exploit energy.
               In the dynamic methods of meditation much energy is created. Many hidden sources are tapped
           and new sources become available. If sex has remained an unfulfilled desire then this energy will
           start moving towards sex. You will become more and more sexual if you meditate.
               Let me tell you one thing that happened in India. Jaina monks completely stopped meditating
           because of sexual energy. They forgot all about meditation because they were repressing sex so
           much that whenever they meditated, energy would rise. Meditation gives you tremendous energy. It
           is a source of eternal energy, you cannot exhaust it. So whenever energy arose they would start
           feeling sexual. They became afraid of meditations. They dropped them. The most essential thing that
           Mahavira had given to them they dropped, and the non-essential -- fasting and keeping rituals -- they
           continued. They fit with an anti-sexual attitude.
               I am not anti-sexual because I am not anti-life. So there is not the problem where you think it is:
           the problem is in your head, not in your sexual glands. You will have to change your attitude
           otherwise whatsoever you do will be coloured by your sexuality. You meditate and it will become
           sexual; you look at somebody and your eyes will become sexual; you touch somebody and your hand
           will become sexual; you eat something and eating will become sexual.
               So people who deny sex start eating more. You can watch it in life. Freely flowing, sexually
           flowing people will not be very fat, they will not eat too much. Love is so satisfying, love is so
           fulfilling, they will not go on stuffing their body with food. When they can't love, or when they can't
           allow themselves to move into love, they start eating too much. That becomes a substitute activity.
               Go and see Hindu monks. They go on gathering unnecessary fat. They become ugly. That is
           another extreme. At one extreme are Jaina monks who cannot eat because they are afraid that once
           they eat, food will release energy and the energy will immediately move to the incomplete desire
           waiting for it. First it goes to the uncompleted experience which is hanging in the middle -- that is
           the first requirement so energy moves there. The body has a certain economy: wherever energy is
           needed first, energy moves there first. There is a hierarchy of needs. A person who has been denying
           sex will have a hierarchy -- sex will be first on the list. And whenever energy is available it will start
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moving to the most unfulfilled desire. So Jaina monks cannot eat well, they are afraid, and Hindu
           monks eat too much. The problem is the same but they have solved it in two extreme ways.
               If you eat too much you start getting a certain sexual enjoyment by eating, by filling your belly
           too much. Too much food brings lethargy. And too much food is always a substitute for love because
           the first thing the child comes in contact with is the mother's breast. That breast is the first
           experience in the world and the breast gives two things to the child: love and food.
               So love and food become deeply entangled with each other. Whenever love is missing, your
           childish mind will think,'Get more food. Supplement it.' Have you ever watched? When you are
           feeling very full of love your desire to eat disappears, you don't feel so much appetite. But whenever
           love is missing, you start eating too much, you don't know what to do now. Love was filling a certain
           space inside you, now that space is empty and you don't know any other way to fill it than food. You
           create problems by denying nature, by rejecting nature.
               So I would like to tell the questioner that it is not a question of meditation. Lady, you need love.
           You need a lover. And you need courage to move into it.
               It is difficult to move into love -- there are very hidden fears in it. Love creates as much fear as
           nothing else can because the moment you start approaching the other you have to go outside
           yourself. And who knows? The other may accept you or may reject you. The fear arises. You start
           feeling hesitant -- whether to take the move or not, whether to approach the other or not. Hence all
           over the world the coward ages of the past have decided for marriage instead of love, because if
           people were left open to love, very few people would be able to love. Most would die without love;
           they would live and drag out their lives without love.
               Because love is dangerous.... The moment you start moving towards somebody else you are
           coming close to colliding with another world. Who knows if your approach will be accepted or
           rejected? How can you be certain the other is going to say yes to your need and to your desire? That
           the other is going to be compassionate, loving? How do you know? He may reject you. He may say
           no. You may say,'I love you' but what is the guarantee that he will also feel love for you? He may
           not. There is no necessity for it. The fear of rejection is very shattering.
               So cunning and clever people decide not to move at all. Keep to yourself, then at least you are
           not rejected. And you can go on enhancing your ego with the idea that nobody has ever rejected you,
           even though that ego is absolutely impotent and is not enough to fulfil you. You need to be needed;
           you need somebody to accept you; you need somebody to love you because only when somebody
           else loves you, will you be able to love yourself, not before it. When somebody accepts you, you will
           be able to accept yourself, not before it. When somebody else feels happy with you; you will start
           feeling happy with yourself, not before it. The other becomes a mirror.
               Each relationship is a mirror. It reflects you. How can you know yourself without the mirror?
           There is no way. Others' eyes become mirror-like, and when somebody loves you, that mirror is
           very, very sympathetic towards you; very, very happy with you; delighted with you. In those
           delighted eyes you are reflected and for the first time a certain acceptability arises.
               Otherwise you have been rejected from the very beginning. It is part of the ugly structure of
           society that each child comes to feel that he is not accepted for himself. If he does something good --
           of course, whatsoever the parents think is good -- if he does that, he is accepted; if he does
           something wrong -- what the parents think is wrong -- he is rejected. The child sooner or later starts
           feeling,'I am not accepted for myself, not as I am, not intrinsically, but for what I do. Not my being is
           loved but my doing.' And that creates a deep self-rejection, a deep self-hatred. He starts hating
           himself.
               If you don't fall in love, if you don't find lovers and friends who can accept you, you will remain
           with that rejection your whole life. Love is a must. You must move through it. You can come out of
           it one day, you can transcend it one day -- it has to be transcended -- but how can you transcend it if
           you never enter into it?
               So don't be afraid. And drop all nonsense from the head. Yes, there is fear. You may be rejected
           but don't be afraid of that fear. That risk has to be taken, only then somebody will come and accept
           you. If you knock at a hundred doors and ninety-nine remain closed, don't be afraid -- one will open.
           Somebody is waiting for you. Somebody will be fulfilled through you and you will be fulfilled
           through somebody. Somebody is waiting to become a mirror for you because somebody is waiting to
           make you a mirror for himself. And there is no other way to find out who that one is than to go on
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knocking, groping. It is risky, but life is risky.
                So very clever people miss life, they never take the risk. Afraid of falling, they never walk; afraid
           of drowning, they never swim; afraid of rejection, they never move in love; afraid of failure, they
           never make any effort to succeed in anything -- their life is not life at all. They are dead before their
           death. They die many times before they really die. Their whole life is nothing but a gradual death.
                Live, and live intensely, and don't take it as a personal offence if somebody cannot love you --
           there is no necessity. You were ready, you were available. If the other is not willing, that is for him
           to decide. Don't make it a wound, it is not. It simply says that you two don't fit -- that's all -- it
           doesn't say anything about you or about the other. Don't say that the other is wrong and don't think
           that it is because you are wrong that you are not accepted. It is just you could not fit.
                And it is good that the other did not deceive you, that he said,'Sorry, I don't feel any love for
           you.' At least he was sincere and authentic. Because if he had said a formal yes, then your whole life
           would have been a mess. Be true. When you love, say it, and when you don't, say that too. Be true
           and sincere.
                And there are so many beautiful people in the world, why remain with yourself? Walk a few
           steps with somebody. Feel that rhythm also. That rhythm will satisfy you and the urge will
           disappear. And when the urge disappears, your meditation will be the first in the hierarchy.
           Meditation can be the first in the hierarchy only if you have not been denying yourself that which is
           natural.
                A person who has been fasting cannot meditate because whenever he meditates he thinks about
           food, whenever he closes his eyes he visualises food. A man who is denying love cannot meditate;
           whenever he meditates, immediately sexuality surrounds him.
                Fulfil all natural needs, nothing is wrong in them. What is wrong in food, in sex? Nothing is
           wrong. Fulfil them. Be so natural that when you meditate there is no other thing waiting for your
           attention. If you fulfil your natural needs you will see that your dreams will disappear. In the night
           you will not dream because there is nothing to dream about. Fast, then you will dream about food;
           force celibacy on yourself, then you will dream about sex. If you are moving naturally, if you have
           found a tune between you and nature.... That's what I call DHARMA, that's what I call the ultimate
           law of life. Find yourself almost always in rhythm. Sometimes even if you go out of step come back
           again; remember and fall into line again. Remain with nature and you will reach to the goal; remain
           with nature and you will find God. You can even forget about God, then too you will find him -- if
           you remain true to nature. Because when lower needs are fulfilled, higher needs arise; when higher
           needs are fulfilled, ultimate needs arise. This is the natural economy of life.
                If a person is hungry, how can he understand music? It is sheer absurdity to ask him to listen to
           classical music when he is hungry. Or to tell him to meditate or to sit in zazen. He cannot think
           anything about Buddha, cannot think anything about God or Jesus. He cannot meditate, his mind will
           flicker and waver; it will go again and again to his empty stomach. No, he cannot love poetry and he
           cannot love music when the first needs are unfulfilled. Give him fulfillment in the first, primary
           needs -- food, shelter, love -- and then suddenly the energy is released from the lower world and he
           will start reading poetry, listening to music; he will enjoy dancing. Now higher needs are arising: he
           would like to paint or sculpt. These are luxuries. They only come into existence when lower needs
           are fulfilled. And when these higher needs are also fulfilled -- you have loved music, listened to
           music; you have loved poetry, enjoyed it; you have painted, danced -- one day you will see a new
           realm of needs is arising called the ultimate needs: meditation, God, prayer.
                If the first needs are not fulfilled, the second will not arise -- and the third is out of the question.
           If the first needs are fulfilled then there is the possibility for the second needs to arise and a glimpse
           of the third to happen also. When the second is fulfilled, the third arises automatically on its own
           accord.

               Just the other day in kundalini meditation two dogs were watching. After a while one dog looked
           at the other and said,'When I act like that they give me worm pills.'

              Of course, a dog has a dog's mind. He has his own world, terminology, understanding, concepts.
           He can only think that people who are doing kundalini either have worms in their stomach or have
           gone crazy. And that is natural to a dog's understanding.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Your mind has been conditioned for centuries by people who have not understood your real
           needs. They have not bothered at all. They were looking for something else and they have managed
           that very well... they were looking for how to dominate people. And the easiest way is to create a
           guilty conscience -- then it is very easy to dominate people. Once the guilt exists you will be
           dominated by one or the other, by this or that, but you will be dominated. A guilty person never feels
           at ease with himself, he cannot have any confidence; he knows that he is wrong so he goes and finds
           a leader, he goes and finds some church, he goes and finds somebody to guide him. He is
           unconfident, hence the need arises. Politicians, priests, have worked very hard to create a guilty
           conscience in everybody. Now that guilty conscience is creating trouble.
                Drop it. Life is yours. It belongs to nobody else. No politician, no priest has anything to do with
           it. Don't allow anybody to meddle with your life. It is totally yours.
                And your body is giving you the right indication; the body is very wise. The mind is a very late
           arrival. The body has lived millions of years, it knows what is needed. It is the mind that interferes.
           Mind is very immature, body is very mature. Listen to the body.
                And when I say listen to the body, I don't mean remain confined to the body. If you listen to the
           body, the body will not have anything to say to you -- things will be settled. And when the body is at
           ease, relaxed, and there is no tension, and the body is not fighting for something, is not trying to
           attract your attention because you are not fulfilling a need, when the body is calm and quiet, you can
           float high, you can fly high, you can become a white cloud. But only when body needs are truly
           looked after. The body is not your enemy, it is your friend. The body is your earth, the body has all
           your roots. You have to find a bridge between you and your body. If you don't find that bridge, you
           will be constantly in conflict with your body -- and a person who is fighting with himself is always
           miserable.
                The first thing is to come to a peace-pact with your body and never break it. Once you have come
           to a peace-pact with your body, the body will become very, very friendly. You look after the body,
           the body will look after you -- it becomes a vehicle of tremendous value, it becomes the very temple.
           One day your body itself is revealed to you as the very shrine of God.

           The second question:


              FOR THE LAST TEN DAYS I HAVE FELT TREMENDOUSLY HAPPY -- AS I NEVER DID BEFORE.
              JUST BEING MYSELF AND ACCEPTING ME AS I AM FEELS GREAT. SOMETIMES THIS
              INCREDIBLY GOOD FEELING IS DISTURBED BY TWO THOUGHTS. FIRST, WILL THIS STAY
              THAT WAY? CAN I KEEP THIS FEELING IN THE FUTURE? AND SECOND, WHY DID I HAVE TO
              BECOME SO OLD BEFORE I REACHED THIS POINT? I CANNOT FORGET AND STILL I FEEL
              SORRY FOR ALL THOSE YEARS THAT I DID NOT LIVE AT ALL. PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW TO GET
              RID OF THESE DISTURBANCES OF MY HAPPINESS.


               This has been asked by Swami Prem Dhyan. When he came just six months before, he was one
           of the most miserable persons I have ever come across. And it has been a miracle! He has changed
           totally! Now I can say just the opposite,'He is one of the most happy persons around here.'
               These two questions are natural because now he is going to leave, he will be going back home.
           The fear arises. Will he be able to keep this happiness that has happened to him? The future.... And
           the second question: he feels sorry for all those years that he lived but did not really live, that he
           missed. He could have lived those years as happy as he is now. The past....
               These are the two dangers to be alert about. Whenever you become tremendously happy
           immediately mind starts spinning its web. And two are the methods of the mind, because mind exists
           either with the past or with the future. It immediately says,'Look, you could have been so happy your
           whole life.' Now the mind is distracting you. Say to the mind,'What does it matter? Those twenty
           years, or thirty years, or fifty years, are gone. Whether I lived them happily or unhappily, they are
           gone -- it makes no difference.' In the morning, when you awake, what difference does it make that
           you dreamed a very sweet dream or that it was a nightmare? What difference does it make? When
           you awake in the morning both were dreams. And the night is over and you are no more asleep.
               When the mind says, 'Look, you could have been this happy always,' the mind is creating an
           absurd desire. You cannot go back, you cannot do anything about the past, the past is gone and gone
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forever, irreversibly gone. Just think, even if you had been happy all those fifteen years, what
           difference does it make now? Whether happy or unhappy, it is just a memory. In fact, whether your
           past existed or not, what difference does it make now?
               Bertrand Russell has written somewhere that sometimes he starts brooding about whether the
           past really existed or whether he simply imagines that it existed; were you a child really or did you
           simply dream about being a child? How can you differentiate now? Both are in the memory --
           whether you dreamed about it or whether you lived it, both are part of memory and there is no way
           to differentiate. The past is in the memory -- real, unreal, both.
               And psychologists say that when people say something about their past, don't trust them, because
           in their past many imaginations and dreams have mingled and mixed. Their past is not factual. And
           there is no way now because everything is contained only in the memory. Whether you were really
           living it or you had just dreamed it, both have mixed and melted into each other.
               Past is just memory but the mind can create great trouble, and by creating that fuss it will deprive
           you of the happiness that is available right now. You just say to the mind,'I am finished with the past
           and I don't care a bit whether it was happy or unhappy, it is gone and gone forever. Now is the only
           moment.'
               If you don't listen to this trap then the mind has another trap for you. It will say,'Okay, the past is
           gone but the future -- what about the future? At least you can manage the future. It has yet to happen.
           You can plan for it. And this beautiful space in which you are now, won't you like it to be there
           forever and ever?' Again the desire will arise. Don't say yes to it because again it will lead you away
           from the present.
               And happiness is always herenow. Happiness is something that belongs to the present. Now say
           to the mind,'I am not worried about the future at all because if I can be happy now, this moment, I
           can be happy forever because the future never comes as future, it always comes as the present. And
           now I know the secret of being happy in the present so why bother about the future? Tomorrow will
           not come as tomorrow, it will come as today. And I have the key to open the door. At least this
           moment I am happy and I know how to be happy in this moment. All moments that will come will
           come always like this moment.'
               Have you watched? There is no difference between one moment and another moment. Time is
           completely beyond discrimination. It is always pure now.
               So beware. These are the two traps of the mind. Mind cannot live without misery so mind is
           trying to create misery so it can disturb your peace. Then it will be perfectly happy. Once you start
           feeling sorry for your past -- it does not matter for what you feel sorry -- if you feel sorry, you start
           getting sad, depressed. And once you start getting too concerned about the future, you become full of
           desire, tense -- worried whether you will be able to manage or not, whether you will be able to
           perform or not.
               Between these two rocks the fragile moment of the present is crushed. So you have to be very
           alert. When one is unhappy one can remain without alertness -- one has nothing to lose. When one is
           happy, one has to be very careful and cautious -- now one has a treasure to lose. And it can be lost
           within a second, within a split second. One step wrong and it can be lost. And these are the two
           directions in which you can lose your treasure.
               A person who is poor, a beggar, need not be worried that he can be robbed. But a person who has
           treasures has to be very cautious. When Buddha walked so cautiously, why was he walking so
           cautiously? He had something, something tremendously fragile which could be dropped in any
           moment of unawareness and be lost.

               There is a Zen story. A king in Japan used to visit his capital every night. He became aware that
           a beggar was always sitting alert under his tree; he never found him asleep. The king went at
           different times but he was alert the whole night, just sitting there, completely immobile, with his
           eyes open.
               Out of curiosity he asked the beggar,'What are you being so cautious for? For what are you
           guarding? I can't see that you have anything that could be stolen or that anybody could cheat you.
           Why do you go on sitting like that and watching?'
               The beggar laughed and he said,'Sir, as far as I am concerned I would like to ask you the same
           question. Why so many guards? Why so much army around the palace? I don't see that you have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything to be guarded. I have never seen a bigger beggar than you. You are completely empty, I can
           see through and through you. I don't see any treasure there. What are you creating so much fuss
           about? As far as I am concerned, I have a treasure and I have to be alert about it. A single moment of
           unconsciousness and it can be lost.'
               And the beggar said,'Look into my eyes, because my treasure is hidden within me.'
               And it is said that the king looked into the eyes of the beggar, entered into his eyes and was
           completely lost. It was a tremendously luminous space. He became a disciple to this beggar.
               This beggar was a Zen Master and the king had been in search for many years and he had been to
           many Masters but he could never feel the vibe of the' unknown. With this beggar he could feel it
           almost crystallised in front of his eyes, he could touch it. Something Divine had happened to this
           man.

               So when you have a little treasure to guard, guard it. Now these two will be the thieves -- the past
           and the future. You be alert. Nothing else is needed, just alertness. Just shake yourself out of sleep.
           Whenever you start falling into the trap, give yourself a jerk and remember.
               I would like to tell you one of the most beautiful parables that has been written down the
           centuries. Parables have almost disappeared from the world because those beautiful people -- Jesus,
           Buddha, who created many parables -- have disappeared.
               A parable is not an ordinary story, a parable is a device -- a device to say something which
           cannot ordinarily be said, a device to hint at something which can be hinted at only very indirectly.
               This parable is written in this age; a very rare man, Franz Kafka, has written it. He was really a
           rare man. He struggled hard not to write because, he said, what he wanted to write could not be
           written. So he struggled hard but he could not control the temptation to write, so he wrote.
               And he wrote in one of his diaries,'I am writing because it is difficult not to write, and knowing
           well that it is difficult also to write. Seeing no way out of it, I am writing.' And when he died, he left
           a will in the name of one of his friends to say,'Please burn everything that I have written -- my
           diaries, my stories, my parables, my sketches, my notes. And burn them without reading them.
           Because this is the only way that I can get rid of that constant anxiety that I have been trying to say
           something which cannot be said. And I could not resist so I have written. Now this is the only way. I
           have written it because I could not control myself. I had to write knowing well that it could not be
           written, so now, without reading it, destroy, burn everything utterly. Nothing should be left.'
               But the friend could not do it. And it is good that he did not.
               This is one of Kafka's parables. Listen to it, meditate over it. I gave order for my horse to be
           brought from the stable. The servant did not understand me. I myself went to the stable, saddled my
           horse and mounted. In the distance I heard a bugle call. I asked him what this meant. He knew
           nothing and had heard nothing.
               At the gate he stopped me, asking,'Where are you riding to, Master?'
               'I don't know,' I said, 'only away from here. Away from here, always away from here. Only by
           doing so can I reach my destination.'
           'And so you know your destination?' he asked.
               'Yes,' I answered. 'Did not I say so? Away from here -- that's my destination.'
           'You have no provisions with you, ' he said.
               'I need none,' I said. 'The journey is so long that I must die of hunger if I don't get anything along
           the way. No provisions can save me because the journey is so long, I cannot carry enough provisions
           for it. No provisions can save me because it is, fortunately, a truly immense journey.'

                Now this is the parable. 'The destination,' he says, 'is away from here. Away from here is my
           destination.' That's how the whole world is moving: away from here, away from now. You don't
           know where you are going but one thing is certain -- you are going away from here, away from now.
                The parable says it is an immense journey. It is really endless because you can never reach away
           from here. How can you reach 'away from here'? Wherever you will reach, it will be here. And again
           you will be trying to go away from here. There is no way to reach this destination. If away from here
           is the destiny then there is no way to reach it. And we are all escaping away from here.
                Watch. Don't allow this parable to become your life. Ordinarily everybody is doing this --
           knowingly, unknowingly. Start moving into the here, start moving into the now. And then there is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendous happiness -- so much so that it starts overflowing from you. Not only YOU delight in it,
           it starts overflowing, it starts becoming your climate, it becomes like a cloud around you. So
           whoever comes close to you becomes full of it. Even others will start partaking of it, participating in
           it.
               And the more you have, the more you will be drowning into the herenow. Then a moment comes
           when you don't have any space left for yourself -- only happiness exists; you disappear.
               But of two things -- the past and the future -- be alert.
               And now, Prem Dhyan, you have something to lose -- you are fortunate because you have
           something to lose. And you have a tremendous responsibility not to lose it. The mind will go on
           trying its ways for a time being. When you become so alert that the mind cannot penetrate you and
           cannot disturb and distract you, then by and by the mind starts dropping. Then one day it understands
           well that now there is no way with you -- so it leaves you. Then it stops haunting you.
               That day will also come. As you could not believe before that this happiness was possible, you
           may not be able to believe what I am saying now. The day will also come when there will be no
           distraction.
               Then again you will have to be even more alert because you will start crying,'Why did I waste so
           many years with this distraction?' And then you will become again concerned with the future. Many
           times you will come to face this past and future in many, many different ways. It is like a person
           going to the peak of a hill -- he moves round and round the hill, the path moves round and round, and
           many times you come to the same view, to the same place. A little higher, but the same place -- the
           same trees, the same sky. Again and again, many times before you reach to the peak, you come to the
           same point -- a little higher of course, but the same point, again and again. Many times you will
           come again and again to this same distraction of past and future. This is just the beginning.
               But one day one reaches the peak and when one reaches the peak, all becomes available
           simultaneously: the valley, the sky, the clouds, the height, the depth -- everything becomes available.
           That's what enlightenment is.
           The third question:


              THE OTHER DAY I TOOK A PIECE OF PAPER AND DID A LITTLE DOODLING OR FREE
              WRITING, AND I WAS PAINED TO FIND THAT I WAS FULL OF SELF-CONDEMNATION AND
              SELF-PITY. I HAD NOT A NICE WORD FOR ME IN THAT LONG NOTE. IS IT THAT I AM TOO
              IDEALISTIC AND SELF-CENTRED AND IS THERE A WAY OUT OF THIS DARKNESS?


               Everybody is brought up in such a way that everybody has become idealistic. Nobody is realistic.
           The ideal is the common disease of humanity.
               Everybody is brought up in such a way that everybody goes on thinking that they have to be
           something, somebody, somewhere in the future. An image is given and you have to be like it. That
           gives you a tension because you are not it, you are something else, yet you have to be it.
               So one goes on condemning the real for the unreal -- the unreal is unreal. And the ideal goes on
           pulling you towards the future, out of the present.
               The ideal becomes a constant nightmare because it goes on condemning. Whatsoever you do is
           imperfect because you have an ideal of perfection. Whatsoever you attain is still not fulfilling
           because you have a mad expectation which can never be satisfied.
               You are human, in a certain time, in a certain space, with certain limitations. Accept those
           limitations. Perfectionists are always on the brink of madness. They are obsessed people --
           whatsoever they do is not good enough. And there is no way to do something perfectly -- perfection
           is not humanly possible. In fact, imperfect is the only way to be.
               So what do I teach you here? I don't teach you perfection, I teach you wholeness. That is a totally
           different thing. Be whole. Don't bother about perfection. When I say be whole, I mean be real, be
           here; whatsoever you do, do it totally. You will be imperfect but your imperfection will be full of
           beauty, it will be full of your totality.
               Never try to be perfect otherwise you will create much anxiety. So many troubles are there
           already; don't create more troubles for yourself.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have heard.
               It happened that bedraggled, worried Garfinkel sat in a train holding a three-year-old boy. Every
           few minutes Garfinkel spanked the child.
               'If you strike that baby one more time,' said a woman sitting across from him, 'I'll give you so
           much trouble you won't forget it!'
               'Trouble?' said Garfinkel. 'You're gonna give me trouble? Lady, my partner stole all my money
           and ran off with my wife and car. My daughter is in the parlor car, six months pregnant, and she ain't
           got no husband. My baggage is lost, I'm on the wrong train, and this little stinker just ate the tickets
           and threw up all over me. And lady, YOU'RE gonna give me trouble?'

                Now what more trouble can there be? Don't you think enough is enough?
                Life itself is so complicated, please be a little more kinder towards yourself. Don't create ideals.
           Life is creating enough problems but those problems can be solved. If you are in a wrong train you
           can change the train; if the tickets are lost, they can be purchased again; if your wife has run away,
           you can find another woman. The problems that life gives to you can be solved but the problems that
           idealism gives to you can never be solved -- they are impossible.
                Somebody is trying to become Jesus.... Now there is no way; it does not happen that way, nature
           does not allow it. Jesus happens only once, and only once; nature does not tolerate any repetition.
           Somebody is trying to become a Buddha -- now he is trying to do the impossible. It simply does not
           happen, cannot happen; it is against nature. You can be only yourself. So be total. Wherever you are
           and whatsoever you are doing, do it totally. Move into it, let it become your meditation. Don't be
           worried whether it will be perfect or not -- it is not going to be perfect. If it is total it is enough. If it
           was total you enjoyed doing it, you felt a fulfillment through it, you moved into it, you were
           absorbed into it, you came out of it new, fresh, young, rejuvenated.
                Each act that is done totally rejuvenates, and each act that is done totally never brings any
           bondage. Love totally and attachment does not arise; love partially and attachment arises. Live
           totally and you are not afraid of death; live partially and you are afraid of death.
                But forget the word 'perfection'. It is one of the most criminal words. This word should be
           dropped from all the languages of the world, it should be dropped from the human mind. Nobody has
           ever been perfect and nobody can ever be. Can't you see it? Even if God is there and you come to
           meet him, can't you find faults with his creation? So many, that's why he is hiding. He is almost
           afraid of you. Faults and faults and faults. Can you count them? Infinite faults you will find. In fact,
           if you are a fault-finder you cannot find anything right -- in the right time, in the right place.
           Everything seems to be just a mess. Even God is not perfect; God is total. He enjoyed doing it, he is
           still enjoying doing it. But he is not perfect. If he were perfect then the creation could not be
           imperfect. Out of perfection, perfection will come.
                All the religions of the world say that God is perfect. I don't say so. I say God is whole, God is
           holy, God is total -- but not perfect. Although he may still be trying.... How can he be perfect? If he
           were, the world would be dead by now. Once something is perfect, death happens because there is no
           future, there is no way. Trees are still growing, babies are still born -- things continue. And he goes
           on improving. Can't you see the improvement? He goes on improving on everything. That's the
           meaning of evolution: things are being improved. Monkeys have become man -- that's an
           improvement. Then man will become Divine and God -- that is evolution.
                Teilhard de Chardin says there is an omega point where everything will become perfect. There is
           none. There is no omega point. There cannot be. The world is always in the process; evolution is
           there; we are approaching and approaching but we never reach because once we reach -- finished.
           God still goes on trying in different ways, improving.
                One thing is certain: he is happy with his work otherwise he would have abandoned it. He is still
           pouring his energy into it. When God is happy with you it is sheer nonsense to be unhappy with
           yourself. Be happy with yourself. Let happiness be the ultimate value. I am a hedonist. Always
           remember that happiness is the criterion. Whatsoever you do, be happy, that's all. Don't be bothered
           whether it is perfect or not.
                Why this obsession with perfection? Then you will be tense, anxious, nervous, always uneasy,
           troubled, in conflict. The English word 'agony' comes from a root which means: to be in conflict. To
           be constantly wrestling with oneself -- that is the meaning of agony. You will be in agony if you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not at ease with yourself. Don't demand the impossible, be natural, at ease, loving yourself, loving
           others.
                And remember, a person who cannot love himself because he goes on condemning, cannot love
           anybody else either. A perfectionist is not only a perfectionist about himself, he is about others also.
           A man who is hard on himself is bound to be hard on others. His demands are impossible.
                In India just a few years before, there was Mahatma Gandhi, a perfectionist, almost a neurotic.
           And he was very hard with his disciples -- even tea was not allowed. Teal Because it has nicotine. If
           somebody was found drinking tea in his ashram it was a great sin. Love was not allowed. If
           somebody fell in love with somebody it was such a great sin that it was as if the whole world was
           going to be drowned because of it. He was continuously spying on his disciples, always sitting at the
           keyhole. But he was that way with himself. You can be with others only as you are with yourself.
                But these types of people become great leaders because they create much guilt in others. The
           more guilt you can create in people, the greater the leader you can become. Because more and more
           people feel that yes, you can help them to become perfect. They are imperfect so you can help them
           to become perfect.
                I am not here to help you to become perfect; I am not concerned with any sort of nonsense. I am
           just here to help you to be yourself. If you are imperfect, beautiful; if you are perfect, that too is
           beautiful.
                Don't try to become imperfect because that can become an ideal! You may be perfect already --
           then listening to me can create a trouble for yourself! This man says be imperfect! There is no need.
           If you are perfect accept that too!
                Try to love yourself. Don't condemn. Once humanity starts a deep acceptance, all churches will
           disappear and all politicians and priests will disappear.
           I have heard.
                A man was fishing in the North Woods and one night around the campfire his guide was telling
           him of the time he had guided Harry Emerson Fosdick on a fishing trip.
           'Yes,' said the guide, 'he was a good man except for his swearing.'
                'But look,' said the fisherman, 'surely you don't mean to say that Dr. Fosdick was profane?'
                'Oh, but he was, sir,' protested the guide. 'Once he caught a fine bass. Just as he was about to land
           him in the boat, the fish wiggled off the hook. So I say to the Doctor, "That's a damned shame!" and
           the Doc comes right back and says, "Yes, it is!" But that's the only time I ever heard him use such
           language.'
                Now this is the mind of a perfectionist. The Doctor has not said anything. He simply says,'Yes, it
           is.' But that too is enough for a perfectionist to find fault with.
                A perfectionist is neurotic. And not only is he neurotic, he creates neurotic trends around him. So
           don't be a perfectionist, and if somebody is a perfectionist around you escape away from him as fast
           as you can before he pollutes your mind.
                All perfectionism is a sort of deep ego trip. Just to think of yourself in terms of ideals and
           perfection is nothing but to decorate your ego to its uttermost. A humble person accepts that life is
           not perfect. A humble person, a really religious person, accepts that we are limited, that there are
           limitations.
                Look... that is my definition of humbleness. Not to try to be perfect is to be humble.
                And a humble person becomes more and more total because he has nothing to deny, nothing to
           reject. He accepts whatsoever he is, good, bad. And a humble person is very rich because he accepts
           his wholeness; his anger, his sex, his greed -- everything is accepted. In that deep acceptance a great
           alchemical change happens. All that is ugly by and by disappears on its own accord. He becomes
           more and more harmonious, more and more whole.
                I am not in favour of a saint but I am in favour of a holy man. A saint is a perfectionist; a holy
           man is totally different. Zen Masters are holy men; Catholic saints are saints. The very word 'saint' is
           ugly. It comes from 'sanctos' -- one who has been given sanction by the authority that he is a saint.
           Now who can authorise anybody to be a saint? Is it a sort of degree? But the Christian Church goes
           on doing that foolish thing.
                Even posthumous degrees are awarded. A saint may have died three hundred years before, then
           the Church revises its ideas, or the world has changed, and after three hundred years the Church
           gives a posthumous degree -- a sanction that that man was really a saint, we could not understand
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him at the time. And the church may have killed that man -- that's how Joan of Arc became a saint.
           They killed her, but later on they changed their idea. People by and by came closer and closer to
           Joan of Arc and it became difficult not to accept her. First they killed her, then they worshipped her.
           After hundreds of years, her bones were found and worshipped. She was burned by the same people,
           the same Church.
               No, the word 'saint' is not good. A holy man is a holy man because of himself, not because some
           church decides to award him sainthood.

           I have heard.
               Jacobson, aged ninety, had lived through beatings in Polish pogroms, concentration camps in
           Germany, and dozens of other anti-Semitic experiences.
               'Oh, Lord!' he prayed, sitting in a synagogue. 'Isn't it true that we are your chosen people?'
               And from the heavens boomed a voice:'Yes, Jacobson, the Jews are my chosen people!'
           'Well, then,' wailed the old man,'isn't it time you chose somebody else?'

               Perfectionists are the chosen people of God, remember. In fact, the day you understand that you
           are creating your own misery because of your ideas, you break all ideas. Then you simply live out of
           your reality -- whatsoever it is. That is a great transformation.
               So don't try to be chosen people of God, just be human. For God's sake, just be human!

           The fourth question:


              THE OTHER DAY YOU SAID THAT EFFORT IS DANGEROUS, BUT HARD WORK IS NEEDED IN
              THE MEDITATIONS. FOR MY GERMAN MIND, EFFORT EQUALS HARD WORK. IS THERE HARD
              WORK WITHOUT EFFORT?


               The point is delicate. Effort is always half-hearted, effort is always partial. You are doing it
           because you don't see any way you can attain to the result you desire without doing it. If there was
           any way you would drop the effort and jump to the conclusion. One is never totally in his effort,
           cannot be, because the idea is of the future, the end result. Effort is future-oriented, result-oriented.
           One is doing it only for the sake of some future result, some profit, some greed, some good pay-off.
               That's why Zen Masters say effortless effort is needed. What do they mean by effortless effort?
           They say hard work is needed but it should not be future-oriented. You should enjoy it. Not for some
           other goal -- even if nothing is attained through it, it is beautiful in itself. And that is the hardest
           thing for the human mind to do. That's why I call it hard work. The hardest thing is to do something
           for its own sake, to sing a song for its own sake, to meditate for its own sake, to love for its own
           sake. That is the hardest thing for the human mind because mind is future-oriented. It says,'For its
           own sake? Then why? What is going to happen out of it?'
               People come to me and they ask,'We can meditate but what will we attain? We can become
           sannyasins but what are we going to gain out of it?' This is what mind is -- always greedy.

           Let me tell you....
               One day Mulla Nasruddin was watching the street through the window when he saw his creditor
           approaching the house. Knowing what the fellow was up to, Mulla called his wife and told her to
           handle the visitor.
               Accordingly, the wife opened the door and said,'Yes, sir, I know we haven't yet been able to pay
           you. And although Mulla himself is not home at this moment, he thinks day and night about ways to
           get some money and pay you back. He has even asked me to watch the street and whenever a flock
           of sheep passes to go out and pick up any pieces of wool that might have been caught on the bushes.
           This way, when we get enough wool, we can spin it, make a couple of shawls, sell them and with the
           money pay you back.'
               When she got to this point, the man started to laugh, whereupon Mulla came out of his hiding
           and said,'You rascal, now that you smell money, you start to grin.'
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The mind is that rascal. Once it gets any hint of any sort of future it starts to grin. It immediately
           jumps on it, catches hold of it -- you are no longer herenow. Meditation is for its own sake as love is
           for its own sake.
                Ask a rose why he flowers. He simply flowers. It is so beautiful to flower. There is no motive in
           it. Ask the birds why they are singing. They are simply singing. They enjoy, they delight in it, there
           is no motive in it.
                Drop the mind and motive disappears. So at least for a few hours in a day go on doing things for
           their own sake: dance, sing, play on the guitar, sit with friends, or just watch the sky. At least for a
           few hours go on devoting your time to intrinsic activities. These activities are the hard work. And I
           know, mind is very lazy. It likes to dream, it doesn't want to work, that's why it continuously thinks
           of the future. But mind is very lazy. It only thinks of the future so that the present can be avoided and
           the challenge of the present can be avoided.

           I have heard an anecdote.
               While walking along a creek bank a man came across a young fellow lying lazily under a tree
           with a fishing line in the water, on which the cork was bobbling frantically.
           'Hey, you've got a bite!' he said.
           'Yeah.' drawled the fisherman. 'Would you mind pulling it out?'
               The walker did so, only to have the recumbent one ask,'Would, you mind taking the fish off,
           rebaiting the hook, and tossing it back in the creek?'
               This was done and the man commented jokingly,'As lazy as you are, you ought to have some
           kids to do these things for you.'
               'Not a bad idea,' yawned the fisherman. 'Got any idea where I could find a pregnant woman?'

                That's how the mind is; it does not want to do anything. It simply hopes, desires, postpones. The
           future is a trick to postpone the present; the future is a trick to avoid the present. Not that you are
           going to do anything in the future, no -- because again the same mind will be there and it will say
           tomorrow, tomorrow. You will die and you will not do anything, you will only think. And that
           thinking helps you to keep face: you don't feel lazy because you think so much of doing, doing great
           things always, dreaming about great things and not doing the small things that are really to be done
           right now.
                Hard work means to be present and to do that which the present has brought you as a challenge.
                THE OTHER DAY YOU SAID THAT EFFORT IS DANGEROUS BUT HARD WORK WAS
           NEEDED IN THE MEDITATIONS. Yes, hard work -- because you will have to go against the
           mind. The hardness is not in the work -- the work is beautifully simple, the work is very easy -- the
           hardness comes from the fact that because you are so fogged by the mind you will have to come out
           of it.
                FOR MY GERMAN MIND, EFFORT EQUALS HARD WORK. That I understand -- but all
           minds are German. That's why everybody is in such trouble, that's why everybody finds his own
           fascism, his own nazism, his own Adolf Hitler. Everybody does. Mind is fascist and mind looks
           continuously for leaders, for somebody to lead. It was a surprise to the whole world when Germany
           fell into the trap of Adolf Hitler.
                Nobody could believe it, it was almost illogical. Such a beautiful race with such a great tradition
           of learning, of learned men, of great philosophy, of Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx.... Such a great
           culture with such refined intellect; a culture of great scientists, of great musicians, of great novelists
           and poets; the country of the philosophers and professors....'Professor' has never been such a
           respectable word in any other country as in Germany. What happened to such an intelligent race that
           it fell into the hands of a stupid, almost idiot person, Adolf Hitler?
                But this has to be understood: that all learning, if it is superficial, if it is of the mind, is not going
           to help. The learning only remains at the surface -- deep down you remain childish. Those
           professors, even a man like Martin Heidegger -- a great philosopher, you could say the greatest that
           this century has produced -- he also became a follower of Adolf Hitler. What happened to these
           giants following this man who was almost mad?
                It has to be understood; it can happen, it has always happened. These great minds are just great
           on the surface, deep down their existence is very childish; only their intellect has grown, they have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not grown.
                Martin Heidegger's mind is very grown-up,.his being is very childish. His being is childish; it is
           waiting for somebody to lead it. A really mature person does not throw his responsibility on to
           anybody else; he becomes responsible for his own being.
                Now this whole country of scientists, philosophers, professors, poets, giant intellectuals, fell
           victim to a very ordinary, mediocre man. And that man ruled over it.
                This must help everybody to understand the foolishness of intellect. Intellect is superficial. One
           should grow in being otherwise one is always prone, one always tends to become a victim of such
           people. They always happen.
                Mind is conditioned from the outside; it can be ruled from the outside. You have to grow into
           no-mind, only then can you not be ruled from the outside. Only a man of no-mind is a free man,
           independent. He is neither German, nor Indian, nor English, nor American -- he is simply free.
           American, Indian, German...these are the names of your prisons, these are not your freedom skies.
           These are not skies to fly in, these are the prisons to live in.
                A free man belongs to himself and nobody else. A free man is simply an energy with no name,
           no form, no race, no nation. The days of nations and races are past, the days of the individual are
           coming. In a better world there will be no Germans, no Indians, no Hindus, no Christians -- there
           will be pure individuals, perfectly free, living their life in their own way, not disturbing anybody's
           life and not allowing anybody to disturb their lives.
                Otherwise, mind is childish and yet cunning. It can fall victim to any Adolf Hitler, to any
           chauvinist, to any mad person who is bold enough...and people are bold, they never hesitate. That
           was the appeal of Adolf Hitler. He was so bold that he was absolutely bold. He would never hesitate,
           he was absolutely certain. And people who are uncertain in their being immediately find a deep
           appeal in such a person. This is a man who is so certain about truth that he must have attained to
           truth. They start falling in line with him. Because of your uncertainty you become a victim to
           somebody who is mad. But mad people are always certain, only very, very alert and aware people
           hesitate. Their hesitation shows their awareness and the complexity of life.
                And mind is very cunning. It can rationalise everything.

           I have heard.
               Berger, hiding with his wife from the Nazis in a secluded Berlin attic, decided to get a breath of
           fresh air. While out walking he came face to face with Adolf Hitler.
               The German leader pulled out a gun and pointed to a pile of horse manure in the street. 'All
           right,.Jew!' he shouted. 'Eat that or I'll kill you!' Trembling, Berger did as he was ordered.
               Hitler began laughing so hard he dropped the weapon. Berger picked it up and said,'Now, you eat
           the manure or I'll shoot!' The Fuhrer got down on his hands and knees and began eating.
               While he was occupied, Berger sneaked away, ran through an alley, climbed over a fence, and
           dashed up the stairs to the attic. He slammed the door shut, bolted and locked it securely. 'Hilda!
           Hilda!' he exclaimed to his wife. 'Guess who I had lunch with today!'

               Mind goes on rationalising. Even if you eat horse manure it can make it a lunch -- and 'Hilda,
           Hilda, guess who I had lunch with today'! Beware of the traps of the mind. And the more you
           become alert, the more you will be able to live in the moment, in the act, totally. Then there is no
           motivation: you do it because you delight in it.
               And that's why I call it the hardest work. To get out of the mind is the hardest work. But it is not
           effort, it is awareness; it is not effort, it is intense alertness.

           The last question:


              FOR ENLIGHTENMENT DOES ONE NEED A HUMAN BODY? CAN'T A DOG OR A TREE WHICH
              IS FLOWERING GET ENLIGHTENED?

              Dang, dang, doko dang, doko dang.
10/28/07                                          Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                 Talks given from 21/06/79 am to 30/04/80 am
                                           English Discourse series
                                                 10 Chapters
                                                Year published:
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                 Chapter #1
                                    Chapter title: We are what we think
           21 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906210
              ShortTitle: DHAM101
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 106 mins




              WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
              ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS.
              WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.
              SPEAK OR ACT WITH AN IMPURE MIND
              AND TROUBLE WILL FOLLOW YOU
              AS THE WHEEL FOLLOWS THE OX THAT DRAWS THE CART.



              WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
              ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS.
              WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.
              SPEAK OR ACT WITH A PURE MIND
              AND HAPPINESS WILL FOLLOW YOU
              AS YOUR SHADOW, UNSHAKABLE.

              "LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
              HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
              LIVE WITH SUCH THOUGHTS AND YOU LIVE IN HATE.

              "LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
              HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
              ABANDON SUCH THOUGHTS, AND LIVE IN LOVE.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IN THIS WORLD
               HATE NEVER YET DISPELLED HATE.
               ONLY LOVE DISPELS HATE.
               THIS IS THE LAW,
               ANCIENT AND INEXHAUSTIBLE.



               YOU TOO SHALL PASS AWAY.
               KNOWING THIS, HOW CAN YOU QUARREL?



               HOW EASILY THE WIND OVERTURNS A FRAIL TREE.
               SEEK HAPPINESS IN THE SENSES,
               INDULGE IN FOOD AND SLEEP,
               AND YOU TOO WILL BE UPROOTED.



               THE WIND CANNOT OVERTURN A MOUNTAIN.
               TEMPTATION CANNOT TOUCH THE MAN
               WHO IS AWAKE, STRONG AND HUMBLE,
               WHO MASTERS HIMSELF AND MINDS THE LAW.



               IF A MAN'S THOUGHTS ARE MUDDY,
               IF HE IS RECKLESS AND FULL OF DECEIT,
               HOW CAN HE WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE?



               WHOEVER IS MASTER OF HIS OWN NATURE,
               BRIGHT, CLEAR AND TRUE,
               HE MAY INDEED WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE.


               My beloved bodhisattvas.... Yes, that's how I look at you. That's how you have to start looking at
           yourselves. Bodhisattva means a buddha in essence, a buddha in seed, a buddha asleep, but with all
           the potential to be awake. In that sense everybody is a bodhisattva, but not everybody can be called a
           bodhisattva -- only those who have started groping for the light, who have started longing for the
           dawn, in whose hearts the seed is no longer a seed but has become a sprout, has started growing.
               You are bodhisattvas because of your longing to be conscious, to be alert, because of your quest
           for the truth. The truth is not far away, but there are very few fortunate ones in the world who long
           for it. It is not far away but it is arduous, it is hard to achieve. It is hard to achieve, not because of its
           nature, but because of our investment in lies.
               We have invested for lives and lives in lies. Our investment is so much that the very idea of truth
           makes us frightened. We want to avoid it, we want to escape from the truth. Lies are beautiful
           escapes -- convenient, comfortable dreams. But dreams are dreams. They can enchant you for the
           moment, they can enslave you for the moment, but only for the moment. And each dream is followed
           by tremendous frustration, and each desire is followed by deep failure.
               But we go on rushing into new lies; if old lies are known, we immediately invent new lies.
           Remember that only lies can be invented; truth cannot be invented. Truth already is! Truth has to be
           discovered, not invented. Lies cannot be discovered, they have to be invented.
               Mind feels very good with lies because the mind becomes the inventor, the doer. And as the
           mind becomes the doer, ego is created. With truth, you have nothing to do...and because you have
           nothing to do, mind ceases, and with the mind the ego disappears, evaporates. That's the risk, the
           ultimate risk.
               You have moved towards that risk. You have taken a few steps -- staggering, stumbling, groping,
           haltingly, with many doubts, but still you have taken a few steps; hence I call you bodhisattvas.
               And THE DHAMMAPADA, the teaching of Gautama the Buddha, can only be taught to the
           bodhisattvas. It cannot be taught to the ordinary, mediocre humanity, because it cannot be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understood by them.
                These words of Buddha come from eternal silence. They can reach you only if you receive them
           in silence. These words of Buddha come from immense purity. Unless you become a vehicle, a
           receptacle, humble, egoless, alert, aware, you will not be able to understand them. Intellectually you
           will understand them -- they are very simple words, the simplest possible. But their very simplicity is
           a problem, because you are not simple. To understand simplicity you need simplicity of the heart,
           because only the simple heart can understand the simple truth. Only the pure can understand that
           which has come out of purity.
                I have waited long...now the time is ripe, you are ready. The seeds can be sown. These
           tremendously important words can be uttered again. For twenty-five centuries, such a gathering has
           not existed at all. Yes, there have been a few enlightened masters with a few disciples -- half a dozen
           at the most -- and in small gatherings THE DHAMMAPADA has been taught. But those small
           gatherings cannot transform such a huge humanity. It is like throwing sugar in the ocean with
           spoons: it cannot make it sweet -- your sugar is simply wasted.
                A great, unheard-of experiment has to be done, on such a large scale that at least the most
           substantial part of humanity is touched by it -- at least the soul of humanity, the center of humanity,
           can be awakened by it. On the periphery, the mediocre minds will go on sleeping -- let them sleep --
           but at the center where intelligence exists a light can be kindled.
                The time is ripe, the time has come for it. My whole work here consists in creating a buddhafield,
           an energy field where these eternal truths can be uttered again. It is a rare opportunity. Only once in
           a while, after centuries, does such an opportunity exist. Don't miss it. Be very alert, mindful. Listen
           to these words not only with the head but with your heart, with every fiber of your being. Let your
           totality be stirred by them.
                And after these ten days of silence, it is exactly the right moment to bring Buddha back, to make
           him alive again amongst you, to let him move amongst you, to let the winds of Buddha pass through
           you. Yes, he can be called back again, because nobody every disappears. Buddha is no longer an
           embodied person; certainly he does not exist as an individual anywhere -- but his essence, his soul, is
           part of the cosmic soul now.
                If many many people -- with deep longing, with immense longing, with prayerful hearts -- desire
           it, passionately desire it, then the soul that has disappeared into the cosmic soul can again become
           manifest in millions of ways.
                No true master ever dies, he cannot die. Death does not appear for the masters, does not exist for
           them. Hence they are masters. They have known the eternity of life. They have seen that the body
           disappears but that the body is not all: the body is only the periphery, the body is only the garments.
           The body is the house, the abode, but the guest never disappears. The guest only moves from one
           abode to another. One day, ultimately, the guest starts living under the sky, with no shelter...but the
           guest continues. Only bodies, houses, come and go, are born and then die. But there is an inner
           continuum, an inner continuity -- that is eternal, timeless, deathless.
                Whenever you can love a master -- a master like Jesus, Buddha, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu -- if your
           passion is total, immediately you are bridged.
                My talking on Buddha is not just a commentary: it is creating a bridge. Buddha is one of the most
           important masters who has ever existed on the earth -- incomparable, unique. And if you can have a
           taste of his being, you will be infinitely benefited, blessed.
                I am immensely glad, because after these ten days of silence I can say to you that many of you
           are now ready to commune with me in silence. That is the ultimate in communication. Words are
           inadequate; words say, but only partially. Silence communes totally.
                And to use words is a dangerous game too, because the meaning will remain with me, only the
           word will reach you; and you will give it your own meaning, your own color. It will not contain the
           same truth that it was meant to contain. It will contain something else, something far poorer. It will
           contain your meaning, not my meaning. You can distort language -- in fact it is almost impossible to
           avoid distortion -- but you cannot distort silence. Either you understand or you don't understand.
                And for these ten days there were only two categories of people here: those who understood and
           those who did not. But there was not a single person who misunderstood. You cannot misunderstand
           silence -- that's the beauty of silence. The demarcation is absolute: either you understand or, simply,
           you don't understand -- there is nothing to misunderstand.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                With words the case is just the opposite: it is very difficult to understand, it is very difficult to
           understand that you don't understand; these two are almost impossibilities. And the third is the only
           possibility: misunderstanding.
                These ten days have been of strange beauty, and of a mysterious majesty too. I no longer really
           belong to this shore. My ship has been waiting for me for a long time -- I should have gone. It is a
           miracle that I am still in the body. The whole credit goes to you: to your love, to your prayers, to
           your longing. You would like me to linger a little while longer on this shore, hence the impossible
           has become possible.
                These ten days, I was not feeling together with my body. I was feeling very uprooted, dislocated.
           It is strange to be in the body when you don't feel that you are in the body. And it is also strange to
           go on living in a place which no longer belongs to you -- my home is on the other shore. And the call
           comes persistently. But because you need me, it is the compassion of the universe -- you can call it
           God's compassion -- that is allowing me to be in the body a little more.
                It was strange, it was beautiful, it was mysterious, it was majestic, it was magical. And many of
           you have felt it. Many of you have felt it in different ways. A few have felt it as a very frightening
           phenomenon, as if death is knocking on the door. A few have felt it as a great confusion. A few have
           felt shocked, utterly shocked. But everybody has been touched in some way or other.
                Only the newcomers were a little at a loss -- they could not comprehend what was going on. But
           I feel thankful to them too. Although they could not understand what was going on, they waited --
           they were waiting for me to speak, they were waiting for me to say something, they were hoping.
           Many were afraid that I might not speak ever again...that was also a possibility. I was not certain
           myself.
                Words are becoming more and more difficult for me. They are becoming more and more of an
           effort. I have to say something so I go on saying something to you. But I would like you to get ready
           as soon as possible so that we can simply sit in silence...listening to the birds and their songs...or
           listening just to your own heartbeat...just being here, doing nothing....
                Get ready as soon as possible, because I may stop speaking any day. And let the news be spread
           to all the nooks and corners of the world: those who want to understand me only through the words,
           they should come soon, because I may stop speaking any day. Unpredictably, any day, it may happen
           -- it may happen even in the middle of a sentence. Then I am not going to complete the sentence!
           Then it will hang forever and forever...incomplete.
           But this time you have pulled me back.
                These sayings of Buddha are called THE DHAMMAPADA. This name has to be understood.
           Dhamma means many things. It means the ultimate law, logos. By "ultimate law" is meant that
           which keeps the whole universe together. Invisible it is, intangible it is -- but it is certainly;
           otherwise the universe would fall apart. Such a vast, infinite universe, running so smoothly, so
           harmoniously, is enough proof that there must be an undercurrent that connects everything, that joins
           everything, that bridges everything -- that we are not islands, that the smallest grass leaf is joined to
           the greatest star. Destroy a small grass leaf and you have destroyed something of immense value to
           the existence itself.
                In existence there is no hierarchy, there is nothing small and nothing great. The greatest star and
           the smallest grass leaf, both exist as equals; hence the other meaning of the word 'dhamma'. The
           other meaning is justice, the equality, the nonhierarchic existence. Existence is absolutely
           communist; it knows no classes, it is all one. Hence the other meaning of the word 'dhamma' --
           justice.
                And the third meaning is righteousness, virtue. Existence is very virtuous. Even if you find
           something which you cannot call virtue, it must be because of your misunderstanding; otherwise the
           existence is absolutely virtuous. Whatsoever happens here, always happens rightly. The wrong never
           happens. It may appear wrong to you because you have a certain idea of what right is, but when you
           look without any prejudice, nothing is wrong, all is right. Birth is right, death is right. Beauty is right
           and ugliness is right.
                But our minds are small, our comprehension is limited; we cannot see the whole, we always see
           only a small part. We are like a person who is hiding behind his door and looking through the
           keyhole into the street. He always sees things...yes, somebody is moving, a car suddenly passes by.
           One moment it was not there, one moment it is there, and another moment it is gone forever. That's
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how we are looking at existence. We say something is in the future, then it comes into the present,
           and then it has gone into the past.
               In fact, time is a human invention. It is always now! Existence knows no past, no future -- it
           knows only the present.
               But we are sitting behind a keyhole and looking. A person is not there, then suddenly he appears;
           and then as suddenly as he appears he disappears too. Now you have to create time. Before the
           person appeared he was in the future; he was there, but for you he was in the future. Then he
           appeared; now he is in the present -- he is the same! And you cannot see him anymore through your
           small keyhole -- he has become past. Nothing is past, nothing is future -- all is always present. But
           our ways of seeing are very limited.
               Hence we go on asking why there is misery in the world, why there is this and that...why? If we
           can look at the whole, all these whys disappear. And to look at the whole, you will have to come out
           of your room, you will have to open the door...you will have to drop this keyhole vision.
               This is what mind is: a keyhole, and a very small keyhole it is. Compared to the vast universe,
           what are our eyes, ears, hands? What can we grasp? Nothing of much importance. And those tiny
           fragments of truth, we become too much attached to them.
               If you see the whole, everything is as it should be -- that is the meaning of "everything is right."
           Wrong exists not. Only God exists; the Devil is man's creation.
               The third meaning of 'dhamma' can be God -- but Buddha never uses the word 'God' because it
           has become wrongly associated with the idea of a person, and the law is a presence, not a person.
           Hence Buddha never uses the word 'God', but whenever he wants to convey something of God he
           uses the word 'dhamma'. His mind is that of a very profound scientist. Because of this, many have
           thought him to be an atheist -- he is not. He is the greatest theist the world has ever known or will
           ever know -- but he never talks about God. He never uses the word, that's all, but by 'dhamma' he
           means exactly the same. "That which is" is the meaning of the word 'God', and that's exactly the
           meaning of 'dhamma'.        'Dhamma' also means discipline -- different dimensions of the word. One
           who wants to know the truth will have to discipline himself in many ways. Don't forget the meaning
           of the word 'discipline' -- it simply means the capacity to learn, the availability to learn, the
           receptivity to learn. Hence the word 'disciple'. 'Disciple' means one who is ready to drop his old
           prejudices, to put his mind aside, and look into the matter without any prejudice, without any a priori
           conception.
               And 'dhamma' also means the ultimate truth. When mind disappears, when the ego disappears,
           then what remains? Something certainly remains, but it cannot be called 'something' -- hence Buddha
           calls it 'nothing'. But let me remind you, otherwise you will misunderstand him: whenever he uses
           the word 'nothing' he means no-thing. Divide the word in two; don't use it as one word -- bring a
           hyphen between 'no' and 'thing', then you know exactly the meaning of 'nothing'.
               The ultimate law is not a thing. It is not an object that you can observe. It is your interiority, it is
           subjectivity.
               Buddha would have agreed totally with the Danish thinker, Soren Kierkegaard. He says: Truth is
           subjectivity. That is the difference between fact and truth. A fact is an objective thing. Science goes
           on searching for more and more facts, and science will never arrive at truth -- it cannot by the very
           definition of the word. Truth is the interiority of the scientist, but he never looks at it. He goes on
           observing other things. He never becomes aware of his own being.
               That is the last meaning of 'dhamma': your interiority, your subjectivity, your truth.
               One thing very significant -- allow it to sink deep into your heart: truth is never a theory, a
           hypothesis; it is always an experience. Hence my truth cannot be your truth. My truth is inescapably
           my truth; it will remain my truth, it cannot be yours. We cannot share it. Truth is unsharable,
           untransferable, incommunicable, inexpressible.
               I can explain to you how I have attained it, but I cannot say what it is. The "how" is explainable,
           but not the "why." The discipline can be shown, but not the goal. Each one has to come to it in his
           own way. Each one has to come to it in his own inner being. In absolute aloneness it is revealed.
               And the second word is PADA. 'Pada' also has many meanings. One, the most fundamental
           meaning, is path. Religion has two dimensions: the dimension of "what" and the dimension of
           "how." The "what" cannot be talked about; it is impossible. But the "how" can be talked about, the
           "how" is sharable. That is the meaning of 'path'. I can indicate the path to you; I can show you how I
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have traveled, how I reached the sunlit peaks. I can tell you about the whole geography of it, the
           whole topography of it. I can give you a contour map, but I cannot say how it feels to be on the sunlit
           peak.
                It is like you can ask Edmund Hillary or Tensing how they reached the highest peak of the
           Himalayas, Gourishankar. They can give you the whole map of how they reached. But if you ask
           them what they felt when they reached, they can only shrug their shoulders. That freedom that they
           must have known is unspeakable; the beauty, the benediction, the vast sky, the height, and the
           colorful clouds, and the sun and the unpolluted air, and the virgin snow on which nobody had ever
           traveled before...all that is impossible to convey. One has to reach those sunlit peaks to know it.
           'Pada' means path, 'pada' also means step, foot, foundation. All these meanings are significant. You
           have to move from where you are. You have to become a great process, a growth. People have
           become stagnant pools; they have to become rivers, because only rivers reach the ocean. And it also
           means foundation, because it is the fundamental truth of life. Without dhamma, without relating in
           some way to the ultimate truth, your life has no foundation, no meaning, no significance, it cannot
           have any glory. It will be an exercise in utter futility. If you are not bridged with the total you cannot
           have any significance of your own. You will remain a driftwood -- at the mercy of the winds, not
           knowing where you are going and not knowing who you are. The search for truth, the passionate
           search for truth, creates the bridge, gives you a foundation. These sutras that are compiled as THE
           DHAMMAPADA are to be understood not intellectually but existentially. Become like sponges: let
           it soak, let it sink into you. Don't be sitting there judging; otherwise you will miss the Buddha. Don't
           sit there constantly chattering in your mind about whether it is right or wrong -- you will miss the
           point. Don't be bothered whether it is right or wrong.
                The first, the most primary thing, is to understand what it is -- what Buddha is saying, what
           Buddha is trying to say. There is no need to judge right now. The first, basic need is to understand
           exactly what he means. And the beauty of it is that if you understand exactly what it means, you will
           be convinced of its truth, you will know its truth. Truth has its own ways of convincing people; it
           needs no other proofs.
           Truth never argues: it is a song, not a syllogism.

           The sutras:

               WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
               ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS.
               WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.


                It has been said to you again and again that the Eastern mystics believe that the world is illusory.
           It is true: they not only believe that the world is untrue, illusory, maya -- they know that it is maya, it
           is an illusion, a dream. But when they use the word sansara -- the world -- they don't mean the
           objective world that science investigates; no, not at all. They don't mean the world of the trees and
           the mountains and the rivers; no, not at all. They mean the world that you create, spin and weave
           inside your mind, the wheel of the mind that goes on moving and spinning. Sansara has nothing to do
           with the outside world.
                There are three things to be remembered. One is the outside world, the objective world. Buddha
           will never say anything about it because that is not his concern; he is not an Albert Einstein. Then
           there is a second world: the world of the mind, the world that the psychoanalysts, the psychiatrists,
           the psychologists investigate. Buddha will have a few things to say about it, not many, just a few --
           in fact, one: that it is illusory, that it has no truth, either objective or subjective, that it is in between.
                The first world is the objective world, which science investigates. The second world is the world
           of the mind, which the psychologist investigates. And the third world is your subjectivity, your
           interiority, your inner self.
                Buddha's indication is towards the interiormost core of your being. But you are too much
           involved with the mind. Unless he helps you to become untrapped from the mind, you will never
           know the third, the real world: your inner substance. Hence he starts with the statement: WE ARE
           WHAT WE THINK. That's what everybody is: his mind. ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH
           OUR THOUGHTS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Just imagine for a single moment that all thoughts have ceased...then who are you? If all
           thoughts cease for a single moment, then who are you? No answer will be coming. You cannot say,
           "I am a Catholic," "I am a Protestant," "I am a Hindu," "I am a Mohammedan" -- you cannot say
           that. All thoughts have ceased. So the Koran has disappeared, the Bible, the Gita...all words have
           ceased! You cannot even utter your name. All language has disappeared so you cannot say to which
           country you belong, to which race. When thoughts cease, who are you? An utter emptiness,
           nothingness, no-thingness.
               It is because of this that Buddha has used a strange word; nobody has ever done such a thing
           before, or since. The mystics have always used the word 'self' for the interiormost core of your being
           -- Buddha uses the word 'no-self'. And I perfectly agree with him; he is far more accurate, closer to
           truth. To use the word 'self' -- even if you use the word 'Self' with a capital 'S', does not make much
           difference. It continues to give you the sense of the ego, and with a capital 'S' it may give you an
           even bigger ego.
               Buddha does not use the words atma, 'self', atta. He uses just the opposite word: 'no-self',
           anatma, anatta. He says when mind ceases, there is no self left -- you have become universal, you
           have overflowed the boundaries of the ego, you are a pure space, uncontaminated by anything. You
           are just a mirror reflecting nothing.
              WE ARE WHAT WE THINK. ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS. WITH OUR
              THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.

               If you really want to know who, in reality, you are, you will have to learn how to cease as a
           mind, how to stop thinking. That's what meditation is all about. Meditation means going out of the
           mind, dropping the mind and moving in the space called no-mind. And in no-mind you will know the
           ultimate truth, dhamma.
               And moving from mind to no-mind is the step, pada. And this is the whole secret of THE
           DHAMMAPADA.

              SPEAK OR ACT WITH AN IMPURE MIND
              AND TROUBLE WILL FOLLOW YOU
              AS THE WHEEL FOLLOWS THE OX THAT DRAWS THE CART.


                Whenever Buddha uses the phrase 'impure mind' you can misunderstand it. By 'impure mind' he
           means mind, because all mind is impure. Mind as such is impure, and no-mind is pure. Purity means
           no-mind; impurity means mind.
                SPEAK OR ACT WITH AN IMPURE MIND -- speak or act with mind -- AND TROUBLE
           WILL FOLLOW YOU.... Misery is a by-product, the shadow of the mind, the shadow of the illusory
           mind. Misery is a nightmare. You suffer only because you are asleep. And there is no way of
           escaping it while you are asleep. Unless you become awakened the nightmare will persist. It may
           change forms, it can have millions of forms, but it will persist.
                Misery is the shadow of the mind: mind means sleep, mind means unconsciousness, mind means
           unawareness. Mind means not knowing who you are and still pretending that you know. Mind means
           not knowing where you are going and still pretending that you know the goal, that you know what
           life is meant for -- not knowing anything about life and still believing that you know.
                This mind will bring misery as certainly AS THE WHEEL FOLLOWS THE OX THAT
           DRAWS THE CART.

              WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
              ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS.
              WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.
              SPEAK OR ACT WITH A PURE MIND
              AND HAPPINESS WILL FOLLOW YOU
              AS YOUR SHADOW, UNSHAKABLE.


               Again, remember: when Buddha says "pure mind" he means no-mind. It is very difficult to
           translate a man like Buddha. It is almost an impossible job, because a man like Buddha uses
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           language in his own way; he creates his own language. He cannot use the ordinary language with
           ordinary meanings, because he has something extraordinary to convey.
               Ordinary words are absolutely meaningless in reference to the experience of a Buddha. But you
           should understand the problem. The problem is, he cannot use an absolutely new language; nobody
           will understand. It will look like gibberish.
               That's how the word 'gibberish' came into existence. It comes from a Sufi; his name was Jabbar.
           He invented a new language. Nobody was able to make head or tail of it. How can you understand an
           absolutely new language? He looked like a madman, uttering nonsense, utter nonsense. That's how it
           happens! If you listen to a Chinese and you don't understand Chinese, it is utter nonsense.

               Somebody was asking a man who had gone to China, "How do they find such strange names for
           people? -- Ching, Chung, Chang...."
               The man said, "They have a way: they collect all the spoons in the house and they throw them
           upwards, and when those spoons fall down...ching! chung! chang! or whatsoever sound they make,
           that's how they name a child."

               But the same is the case: if a Chinese hears English he thinks, "What nonsense!"
               If that is the case with languages which millions of people use, what will be the case with a
           Buddha if he invents an original language? Only he will understand it and nobody else. Jabbar did
           that -- must have been a very courageous man. People thought that he was mad.
               The English word 'gibberish' comes from Jabbar. Nobody knows what he was saying. Nobody
           has even tried to collect it...how to collect it? There was no alphabet. And what he was saying was
           making no sense at all, so we don't know what treasures we have missed.
               The problem for Buddha is that either he has to use your language as you use it -- then he cannot
           convey his experience at all -- or he has to invent a new language nobody will understand. So all
           great masters have to be very much in the middle. They will use your language, but they will give
           your words their color, their flavor. The bottles will be yours, the wine will be theirs. And thinking
           that because the bottles are yours the wine is also yours, you will carry them for centuries. And there
           is a possibility that, thinking that it is your wine because the bottle is yours, sometimes you may
           drink out of it, you may become drunk.
               That's why it is very difficult to translate. Buddha used a language that was understood by the
           people who surrounded him, but he gave twists and turns to words in such a subtle way that even
           people who knew the language were not alerted, were not shocked. They thought they were hearing
           their own language.
               Buddha uses the words "pure mind" for no-mind, because if you say "no-mind," immediately it
           becomes impossible to understand. But if you say "pure mind," then some communication is
           possible. Slowly slowly, he will convince you that pure mind means no-mind. But that will take
           time; very slowly you have to be caught and trapped into a totally new experience. But remember
           always: pure mind means no-mind, impure means mind.
               By putting these adjectives, impure and pure, he is compromising with you so that you don't
           become alerted too early and escape. You have to be allured, seduced. All great masters are
           seductive -- that is their art. They seduce you in such a way that slowly slowly, you are ready to
           drink anything, whatsoever they give. First they supply you with ordinary water, then slowly slowly,
           wine has to be mixed in it. Then water has to be withdrawn...and one day you are completely drunk.
           But it has to be a very slow process.
               As you go deeper into the sutras you will understand. Impure mind means mind, pure mind
           means no-mind. And happiness will follow you if you have a pure mind or no mind.... HAPPINESS
           WILL FOLLOW YOU AS YOUR SHADOW, UNSHAKABLE.
               Misery is a by-product, so is bliss. Misery is a by-product of being asleep, bliss is a by-product
           of being awake. Hence you cannot seek and search for bliss directly, and those who seek and search
           for bliss directly are bound to fail, doomed to fail. Bliss can be attained only by those who don't seek
           bliss directly; on the contrary, they seek awareness. And when awareness comes, bliss comes of its
           own accord, just like your shadow, unshakable.

           "LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
           LIVE WITH SUCH THOUGHTS AND YOU LIVE IN HATE.

           "LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
           HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
           ABANDON SUCH THOUGHTS, AND LIVE IN LOVE.

                Something of profound importance: hate exists with the past and the future -- love needs no past,
           no future. Love exists in the present. Hate has a reference in the past: somebody abused you
           yesterday and you are carrying it like a wound, a hangover. Or you are afraid that somebody is going
           to abuse you tomorrow -- a fear, a shadow of the fear. And you are already getting ready, you are
           getting prepared to encounter it.
                Hate exists in the past and the future. You cannot hate in the present -- try, and you will be
           utterly impotent. Try it today: sit silently and hate somebody in the present, with no reference to the
           past or the future...you cannot do it. It cannot be done; in the very nature of things it is impossible.
           Hate can exist only if you remember the past: this man did something to you yesterday -- then hate is
           possible. Or this man is going to do something tomorrow -- then too hate is possible. But if you don't
           have any reference to the past or the future -- this man has not done anything to you and he is not
           going to do anything to you, this man is just sitting there -- how can you hate? But you can love.
                Love needs no reference -- that's the beauty of love and the freedom of love. Hate is a bondage.
           Hate is imprisonment -- imposed by you upon yourself. And hate creates hate, hate provokes hate. If
           you hate somebody you are creating hate in that person's heart for yourself. And the whole world
           exists in hate, in destructiveness, in violence, in jealousy, in competitiveness. People are at each
           other's throats either in reality, actuality, in action, or at least in their minds, in their thoughts,
           everybody is murdering, killing. That's why we have created a hell out of this beautiful earth --
           which could have become a paradise.
                Love, and the earth becomes a paradise again. And the immense beauty of love is that it has no
           reference. Love comes from you for no reason at all. It is your outpouring bliss, it is your sharing of
           your heart. It is the sharing of the song of your being. And sharing is so joyful -- hence one shares!
           Sharing for sharing's sake, for no other motive.
                But what love you have known in the past is not the love Buddha is talking about or I am talking
           about. Your love is nothing but the other side of hate. Hence your love has reference: somebody has
           been beautiful to you yesterday, so nice he was that you feel great love for him. This is not love; this
           is the other side of hate -- the reference proves it. Or somebody is going to be nice to you tomorrow:
           the way he smiled at you, the way he talked to you, the way he invited you to his house tomorrow --
           he is going to be loving to you. And great love arises.
                This is not the love buddhas talk about. This is hate disguised as love -- that's why your love can
           turn into hate any moment. Scratch a person just a little bit, and the love disappears and hate arises.
           It is not even skin-deep. Even so-called great lovers are continuously fighting, continuously at each
           other's throats -- nagging, destructive. And people think this is love....
                You can ask Astha and Abhiyana -- they are in such a love that Astha is having a black eye
           almost every day. Great fight! But when great fight goes on, people think something is happening.
           When nothing is happening -- no fight, no quarrel -- people feel empty. "It is better to be fighting
           than to be empty" -- that's the idea of millions of people in the world. At least the fight keeps you
           engaged, at least the fight keeps you involved, and the fight makes you important. Life seems to have
           some meaning -- ugly meaning, but at least some meaning.
                Your love is not really love: it is its very opposite. It is hate disguised as love, camouflaged as
           love, parading as love. True love has no reference. It thinks not of the yesterdays, it thinks not of the
           tomorrows. True love is a spontaneous welling up of joy in you...and the sharing of it...and the
           showering of it...for no other reason, for no other motive, than just the joy of sharing it.
                The birds singing in the morning, this cuckoo calling from the distance...for no reason. The heart
           is just so full of joy that a song bursts forth. When I am talking about love I am talking about such
           love. Remember it. And if you can move into the dimension of this love, you will be in paradise --
           immediately. And you will start creating a paradise on the earth.
           Love creates love just as hate creates hate.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              IN THIS WORLD
              HATE NEVER YET DISPELLED HATE.
              ONLY LOVE DISPELS HATE.
              THIS IS THE LAW,
              ANCIENT AND INEXHAUSTIBLE.


               Aes dhammo sanantano -- this the law, eternal, ancient and inexhaustible.
               What is the law? That hate never dispels hate -- darkness cannot dispel darkness -- that only love
           dispels hate. Only light can dispel darkness: love is light, the light of your being, and hate is the
           darkness of your being. If you are dark inside, you go on throwing hate all around you. If you are
           light within, luminous, then you go on radiating light around you.
               A sannyasin has to be a radiant love, a radiant light.
               AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.... Buddha repeats this again and again -- this is the eternal law.
           What is the eternal law? Only love dispels hate, only light dispels darkness. Why? -- because
           darkness in itself is only a negative state; it has no positive existence of its own. It does not exist
           really -- how can you dispel it? You cannot do anything directly to darkness. If you want to do
           anything to darkness you will have to do something with light. Bring light in and darkness is gone,
           take light out and darkness comes in. But you cannot bring darkness in or out directly -- you cannot
           do anything with darkness. Remember, you cannot do anything with hate either.
               And that's the difference between moral teachers and religious mystics: moral teachers go on
           propounding the false law. They go on propounding, "Fight with darkness -- fight with hate, fight
           with anger, fight with sex, fight with this, fight with that!" Their whole approach is, "Fight the
           negative," while the real, true master teaches you the positive law: aes dhammo sanantano -- the
           eternal law, "Do not fight with darkness." And hate is darkness, and sex is darkness, and jealousy is
           darkness, and greed is darkness and anger is darkness.
           Bring the light in....
               How is the light brought in? Become silent, thoughtless, conscious, alert, aware, awake -- this is
           how light is brought in. And the moment you are alert, aware, hate will not be found. Try to hate
           somebody with awareness....
               These are experiments to be done, not just words to be understood -- experiments to be done.
           That's why I say don't try to understand only intellectually: become existential experimenters.
               Try to hate somebody consciously and you will find it impossible. Either consciousness
           disappears, then you can hate; or if you are conscious, hate disappears. They can't exist together.
           There is no coexistence possible: light and darkness cannot exist together -- because darkness is
           nothing but the absence of light.
               The true masters teach you how to attain to God; they never say renounce the world.
           Renunciation is negative. They don't tell you to escape from the world, they teach you to escape into
           God. They teach you to attain to truth, not to fight with lies. And lies are millions. If you go on
           fighting it will take millions of lives, and still nothing will be attained. And truth is one; hence truth
           can be attained instantly, this very moment it is possible.

              YOU TOO SHALL PASS AWAY.
              KNOWING THIS, HOW CAN YOU QUARREL?


              Life is so short, so momentary, and you are wasting it in quarreling? Use the whole energy for
           meditation -- it is the same energy. You can fight with it or you can become a light through it.

              HOW EASILY THE WIND OVERTURNS A FRAIL TREE.
              SEEK HAPPINESS IN THE SENSES,
              INDULGE IN FOOD AND SLEEP,
              AND YOU TOO WILL BE UPROOTED.


              Buddha says: Remember, if you depend on the senses you will remain very fragile -- because
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           senses cannot give you strength. They cannot give you strength because they cannot give you a
           constant foundation. They are constantly in flux; everything is changing. Where can you have a
           shelter? Where can you make a foundation?
               One moment this woman looks beautiful and another moment another woman. If you just decide
           by the senses, you will be a constant turmoil -- you cannot decide because senses go on changing
           their opinions. One moment something seems so incredible, and another moment it is just ugly,
           unbearable. And we depend on these senses.
               Buddha says: Don't depend on senses -- depend on awareness. Awareness is something hidden
           behind the senses. It is not the eye that sees. If you go to the eye specialist he will say it is the eye
           that sees, but that is not true. The eye is only a mechanism -- through which somebody else sees. The
           eye is only a window; the window cannot see. When you stand at the window, you can look outside.
           Somebody passing in the street may think, "The window is seeing me." The eye is only a window, an
           aperture. Who is behind the eye?
               The ear does not hear -- who is behind the ear who hears? Who is the one who feels? Go on
           searching for that and you will find some foundation; otherwise, your life will be just a dry leaf in
           the wind.

              THE WIND CANNOT OVERTURN A MOUNTAIN.
              TEMPTATION CANNOT TOUCH THE MAN
              WHO IS AWAKE, STRONG AND HUMBLE,
              WHO MASTERS HIMSELF AND MINDS THE LAW.


               Meditation will make you awake, strong and humble. Meditation will make you awake because it
           will give you the first experience of yourself. You are not the body, you are not the mind -- you are
           the pure witnessing consciousness. And when this witnessing consciousness is touched, a great
           awakening happens -- as if a snake was sitting coiled up and suddenly it uncoils, as if somebody was
           asleep and has been shaken and awakened. Suddenly a great awakening inside: for the first time you
           feel you are. For the first time you feel the truth of your being.
               And certainly it makes you strong; you are no longer fragile, not like a frail tree that any wind
           can overturn. Now you become a mountain! Now you have a foundation, now you are rooted -- no
           wind can overturn a mountain. You become awake, you become strong, and still you become
           humble. This strength does not bring any ego in you. You become humble because you become
           aware that the same witnessing soul exists in everybody, even in animals, birds, plants, rocks.
               These are only different ways of sleeping! Somebody sleeps on the right side, and somebody
           sleeps on the left side, and somebody sleeps on the back...these are only different ways of sleeping.
           A rock has its own way of sleep, a tree a different way of sleep, a bird still a different way -- but only
           differences in the ways and methods of sleeping; otherwise deep down at the core of every being is
           the same witnessing, the same God. That makes you humble. Even before a rock you know you are
           nobody special, because the whole existence is made of the same stuff called consciousness. And if
           you are awake, strong, and humble, this gives you a mastery over yourself.

              IF A MAN'S THOUGHTS ARE MUDDY,
              IF HE IS RECKLESS AND FULL OF DECEIT,
              HOW CAN HE WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE?


               Buddha chose for his sannyasins the yellow robe, just as I have chosen the orange. That is the
           difference between my approach and the Buddha's approach. Yellow represents death -- the yellow
           leaf. Yellow represents the setting sun, the evening.
               Buddha emphasized death too much -- that's a way. If you emphasize death too much, it helps:
           people become more and more aware of life in contrast to death. And when you emphasize death
           again and again and again, you help people to awaken. They have to be awake because death is
           coming. Whenever a new sannyasin would be initiated by Buddha, he would tell him, "Go to the
           cemetery -- and just be there and go on watching funeral pyres, dead bodies being carried,
           burned...go on watching. And go on remembering this is going to happen to you too. Three months'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meditation on death, then come back." That was the beginning of sannyas.
                There are only two possible ways. One is, emphasize death; the other is, emphasize life. Because
           these are the only two things in existence -- life and death. Buddha chose death as a symbol; hence
           the yellow robe.
                The orange represents life; it is the color of blood. It represents the morning sun, the early dawn,
           the eastern sky becoming red. My emphasis is on life. But the purpose is the same. I want you to be
           so passionately in love with life that your very passion for life makes you aware, your very intensity
           to live it makes you awake.
                And death is in the future, and life is now, so if you think of death you will be thinking of the
           future. If you think of death it will be an inference: you will see somebody else dying, you will never
           see yourself dying. You can imagine, you can infer, you can think, but this will be a thinking.
                Life need not be thought, it can be lived. It can help you to be mindless more than death can.
           Hence my choice is far better than Buddha's choice, because life is right now; you need not go to a
           cemetery. All that you need is to be alert and life is everywhere...in the flowers, in the birds, in the
           people around you, the children laughing...and in you!...and right now! You need not think about it,
           you need not infer it. You can just close your eyes and feel it -- you can feel the tickle of it, you can
           feel the beat of it.
                But both methods can be used: death can be used for you to become a meditator, or life can be
           used -- my choice is life. And I emphasize and repeat that my choice is far better than Buddha's.
           Buddha's choice of death as a symbol helped this whole country to become dead, dull, insipid. My
           choice of life as the symbol can revive this country -- not only this country but the whole world --
           because it is not only the Buddha who has chosen death as a symbol, Christianity has also chosen
           death as a symbol -- the cross. So the two greatest religions of the world, Christianity and Buddhism,
           are death-oriented. And because of these two religions.... And their impact has been the greatest:
           Christianity has transformed the whole West, and Buddhism has transformed the whole East.
                Jesus and Buddha have been the two greatest teachers, but the choice of death as a symbol has
           been dangerous, has been a calamity. I choose life. I would like this whole earth to be full of life,
           more and more life, pulsating life. But what Buddha says about his yellow robe I would also say
           about my orange robe. He says: IF A MAN'S THOUGHTS ARE MUDDY, IF HE IS RECKLESS
           AND FULL OF DECEIT, HOW CAN HE WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE?

              WHOEVER IS MASTER OF HIS OWN NATURE,
              BRIGHT, CLEAR AND TRUE,
              HE MAY INDEED WEAR THE ORANGE ROBE.


              What he says about the yellow robe, I say about the orange robe: WHOEVER IS...BRIGHT,
           CLEAR AND TRUE, HE MAY INDEED WEAR THE ORANGE ROBE.
           AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #2
                                            Chapter title: An empty chair
           22 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906220
              ShortTitle: DHAM102
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Length: 108 mins




               The first question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               AN EMPTY CHAIR
               A SILENT HALL
               AN INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHA --
               HOW ELOQUENT!
               HOW RARE!


                Yes, Subhuti, that's the only way to introduce the Buddha to you. Silence is the only language he
           can be expressed in. Words are too profane, too inadequate, too limited. Only an empty
           space...utterly silent...can represent the being of a buddha.
                There is a temple in Japan, absolutely empty, not even a statue of the Buddha in the temple, and
           it is known as a temple dedicated to Buddha. When visitors come and they ask, "Where is the
           Buddha? The temple is dedicated to him..." the priest laughs and he says, "This empty space, this
           silence -- this is Buddha!"
                Stones cannot represent him, statues cannot represent him. Buddha is not a stone, not a statue.
           Buddha is not a form -- Buddha is a formless fragrance. Hence, it was not just accidental that ten
           days' silence preceded these talks on Buddha. That silence was the only possible preface.
                Subhuti, you are right: "An empty chair...." Yes, only an empty chair can represent him. This
           chair is empty, and this man talking to you is empty. It is an empty space pouring itself into you.
           There is nobody within, just a silence.
                Because you cannot understand silence, it has to be translated into language. It is because of your
           limitation that I have to speak; otherwise there is no need. Truth cannot be said, has never been said,
           will never be said. All scriptures talk about truth, go on talking about it, about and about, but no
           scripture has yet been capable of expressing it -- neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran --
           because it is impossible in the very nature of things to express it.
                It cannot be said -- it can only be shown. It cannot be logically proved, but love can prove it.
           Where logic fails, love succeeds. Where language fails, silence succeeds.
                I cannot prove it, but the absence of the 'I' within me can become an absolute proof for it. If you
           want to understand Buddha, really, you will have to come closer and closer to this silence that I am,
           you will have to become more and more intimate, available, vulnerable, to this nobody who is
           talking to you.
                I am not a person. The person died long ago. It is a presence -- an absence and a presence. I am
           absent as a person, as an individual; I am present as a vehicle, a passage, a hollow bamboo. It can
           become a flute -- only the hollow bamboo can become a flute.
                I have given myself to the whole. Now whatsoever the will of the whole...if he wants to speak
           through me, I am available; if he does not want to speak through me, I am available. His will is the
           only will now. I have no will of my own.
                That's why many times you will find contradictions in my statements -- because I cannot change
           anything. God is contradictory because God is a paradox. He contains the polar opposites: he is
           darkness and light, summer and winter, life and death. Sometimes he speaks as life and sometimes as
           death, and sometimes he comes as summer and sometimes as winter...what can I do?
                If I interfere, I will misrepresent. If I try to be consistent then I will be false. I can be true only if
           I will remain available to all the contradictions that God contains.
                This chair, Subhuti, is certainly empty. And the day you are able to see this chair empty, this
           body empty, this being empty, you will have seen me, you will have contacted me. That is the real
           moment when the disciple meets the master. It is a dissolution, a disappearance...the dewdrop
           slipping into the ocean, or the ocean slipping into the dewdrop. It is the same! -- the master
           disappearing into the disciple and the disciple disappearing into the master. And then there prevails a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           profound silence.
                It is not a dialogue! That's where Eastern religions, particularly Buddhism, have reached higher
           pinnacles than Christianity, Judaism, Islam -- because Islam, Judaism, Christianity, remain clinging
           somehow to the idea of a dialogue. But a dialogue presupposes duality, twoness. Islam, Christianity,
           Judaism, are religions of prayer. Prayer presupposes that there is a God separate from you, that you
           can address him.
                Hence Martin Buber's book became very famous -- I AND THOU. That is the essence of prayer.
           But 'I' and 'thou'...a duality is needed for a dialogue. And howsoever beautiful the dialogue may be, it
           is still a division, a split; it is not yet union. The river has not entered into the ocean. Maybe it has
           come very close, just on the verge, but it is holding back.
                Buddhism is not the religion of prayer, it is the religion of meditation. And that's the difference
           between prayer and meditation: prayer is a dialogue, meditation is a silence. Prayer has to be
           addressed to somebody -- real, unreal, but it has to be addressed to somebody. Meditation is not an
           address at all; one has simply to fall into silence, one has simply to disappear into nothingness. When
           one is not, meditation is.
                And Buddha is meditation -- that is his flavor. These ten days we remained silent, we remained
           in meditation. The real thing has been said. Those who have not heard the real thing, now for them I
           will be speaking.
                The meditation that prevailed for ten days was with a difference -- and that is the difference
           between Buddha's and my approach -- a little difference, but of tremendous import. And that has to
           be understood by you, because I am not a mere commentator on Buddha. I am not only echoing him,
           I am not simply a mirror to reflect him; I am a response, not a reflection. I am not a scholar, I am not
           going to make a scholarly analysis of his statements -- I am a poet!
                I have seen the same nothingness that he has seen, and, certainly, I have seen it in my own way.
           Buddha has his own way, I have my own way -- of seeing, of being. Both ways reach the same peak,
           but the ways are different. My way has a little difference -- little, but of profound import, remember.
                These ten days were not only of silent meditation -- these ten days were of music, silence, and
           meditation. Music is my contribution to it. Buddha would not have allowed it. On that point we
           would have quarreled. He would not have allowed music; he would have said that music is a
           disturbance. He would have insisted on pure silence, he would have said that is enough. But that is
           where we agree to disagree.
                To me, music and meditation are two aspects of the same phenomenon. And without music,
           meditation lacks something; without music, meditation is a little dull, unalive. Without meditation,
           music is simply noise -- harmonious, but noise. Without meditation, music is an entertainment. And
           without music, meditation becomes more and more negative, tends to be death-oriented.
                Hence my insistence that music and meditation should go together. That adds a new dimension --
           to both. Both are enriched by it.
                Remember three M's just as you remember three R's. The first M is mathematics; mathematics is
           the purest science. The second M is music; music is pure art. And the third M is meditation;
           meditation is pure religion. Where all these three meet, you attain the trinity.
                My approach is scientific. Even if I make illogical statements, I make them very very logically.
           Even if I assert paradoxes, they are asserted in a logical way. Whatsoever I am saying has a
           mathematics behind it, a method, a certain scientific approach. I am not an unscientific person. My
           science serves my religion; the science is not the end but it is a beautiful beginning.
                And my approach is artistic, aesthetic. I cannot help you unless this energy field becomes
           musical. Music is pure art. And if it is joined with mathematics, it becomes a tremendously powerful
           instrument to penetrate into your interiority. Of course, it will not be complete unless meditation is
           the highest peak, the purest religion.
                And we are trying to create the ultimate synthesis. This is my trinity: mathematics, music,
           meditation. This is my trimurti -- three faces of God. You can attain to God through one face, but
           then your experience of God will not be so rich as it will be when you attain two faces. But it will
           still lack something unless you attain all the three faces. When you know God as a trinity, when you
           have come through all the three dimensions, your experience, your nirvana, your enlightenment, will
           be the richest.
                Buddha insists on meditation alone; that is one face of God. Mohammed insists on prayer, music,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           singing; hence the Koran has the quality of music in it. No other scripture has so much music in it as
           the Koran. The very word koran simply means "Recite! Sing!" That was the first revelation to
           Mohammed. Something from the beyond called forth and said, "Recite! Recite! Sing!"
               Islam is another face of God. And there are religions which have approached God through the
           third M: mathematics. Jainism is the purest representative of the third approach. Mahavira speaks
           like Albert Einstein. It is not an accident that Mahavira was the first person in human history to talk
           about the theory of relativity. After twenty-five centuries, Albert Einstein was able to prove it
           scientifically, but Mahavira saw it in his vision.
               If you read Mahavira, his statements are absolutely logical, mathematical. Jaina scriptures have
           no juice in them -- dry, arithmetical. That is another face of God. And only three kinds of religion
           have existed in the world: the religions of mathematics, represented by Jainism; the religions of
           music, represented by Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism; and the religions of meditation,
           represented by Buddhism, Taoism.
               My effort here is to give you a total religion, which contains all the three M's in it. It is a very
           ambitious adventure. It has never been tried before; hence I am going to be opposed as nobody has
           ever been opposed before. You are moving with a dangerous person, but the journey is going to be of
           tremendous beauty. Dangers, hazards don't make a journey ugly; on the contrary, they make it
           tremendously beautiful. All the dangers that you will have to face with me are going to give you a
           thrill. The journey is not going to be dull, it is going to be very alive. We are going to move towards
           God in such a multidimensional way that each moment of the journey is going to be precious.
               I started these Buddha lectures with a ten-day silence deliberately. It was a device to start with
           silence -- Buddha would have been very happy. He must have shrugged his shoulders a little bit
           because of the music, but what can I do? It can't be helped.
               My religion has to be a religion of dance, love, laughter. It has to be life-oriented, it has to be
           life-affirmative. It has to be a love affair with life. It is not a renunciation but a rejoicing.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT IS ABOUT THIS FEELING THAT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE, AND AS SOON AS I FEEL IT,
              IT SEEMS SO FAR AWAY -- BUT WHAT IS THIS "IT"?


               Deva Prashantam, it is one of the perennial problems encountered by every seeker of truth. You
           cannot grasp truth -- if you try, it will be far far away. You cannot possess truth -- if you try, you will
           find your hands utterly empty. Truth cannot be possessed because it is not a thing. On the contrary,
           you have to be courageous enough to be possessed by truth -- because it is a love affair.
               Allow yourself to be possessed by it and you will know what it is. But you have been doing just
           the contrary: you have been trying to have a grip on it. That's what mind always longs for, desires.
           That's what mind calls "understanding." Unless the mind is capable of catching hold of something,
           the mind is not satisfied.
               But truth is mercurial: if you try to hold it in your hands, the firmer the grip, the more elusive it
           will become, and the farthest -- so far away that you will stop believing in it, trusting in it...so far
           away that you will not be able to see that it exists at all.
               Truth comes; it cannot be brought. Truth happens; you cannot do anything about it -- because the
           doer is the problem, the hindrance, the obstacle. The doer is the ego. And if you somehow manage
           and don't allow the doer to interfere, it comes by the back door -- as the one who experiences, as an
           observer, as an experiencer. It is the same ego again, in new garments.
               That's why when you feel it, it is lost -- the doer has come now as a feeler. The doer has to be
           dissolved totally; it has not to be allowed back in some subtle way, in some secret way.
               Let the truth be! Don't be in a hurry to understand it or to feel it -- just let it be there. You need
           not do anything about it. If you can remain in such a state of nondoing, of no-effort, of no-ego, you
           will understand, you will feel, you will know, you will have it. It can only be had indirectly, not
           directly.
               Prashantam, that's where you are missing it. And that's where everybody misses it. Yes, there are
           moments when suddenly it is so close by...you would like to grab it. The very desire to grab comes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           out of greed, the very desire to grab comes out of fear. The very desire to grab is a mind desire. And
           as the mind enters in, truth goes out.
               Can't you simply be silent, not doing anything at all -- not on the intellectual level, not on the
           physical level, not on the emotional level -- doing nothing at all, just being there, utterly quiet? And
           then you will be possessed by it. And the only way to know it is to be possessed by it.
               You say, "It is about this feeling that it has always been there...."
               Yes, it has always been there. It is our very being. It is the stuff we are made of. Truth is not
           something separate from you: you are truth. It is your very consciousness, the very ground of your
           being. You need not go anywhere else to seek and search, to Kashi or to Kaaba. Not even a single
           step is needed.
               Lao Tzu says: You can find it sitting in your own house, no need to go anywhere -- because it is
           already there! When you go on a search, when you move into seeking, you go farther away from it.
           Each search takes you away from the truth that is already there.
               And there are moments when you feel it, that it has always been there -- moments of joy, love,
           beauty. Moments when suddenly the world stops: a beautiful sunset...and you are gripped by it.
           Remember I am saying you are gripped by it, possessed by it, not that you possess it. How can you
           possess a sunset? The sunset possesses you, fills you; every nook and corner of your being is
           overflowing with the beauty of it.
               And then one knows, deep down in the depths of one's being, it has always been there. Not even
           the words are needed; one simply knows without words -- one feels.
               Or, when you are in love...or when you listen to beautiful poetry...or the songs of the birds...or
           just the wind blowing through the pine trees...or the sound of water.... Whenever you allow yourself
           to be possessed you will find, suddenly, out of nowhere, truth has appeared, God has appeared,
           dhamma has appeared. You have touched something intangible, you have seen something invisible.
           You have been in contact with something eternal...aes dhammo sanantano -- the eternal law, the
           inexhaustible law.
               Whenever you are in a state of harmony, everything humming, functioning in harmony,
           whenever you are in accord...and these moments happen to everybody. These moments have nothing
           to do with churches and the temples and the mosques. In fact, it is very rare to find a person
           becoming enlightened in a church or in a mosque, in a temple.
               Buddha became enlightened under a tree, watching the last morning star disappearing in the sky;
           not in a temple, not in a church -- under a tree, watching a star. Must have become possessed. And
           the disappearing star, slowly slowly disappearing...going, going, gone. One moment before it was
           there, and now it is no longer there. And in that moment, suddenly something in him, the last citadel
           of the ego, disappeared too. Just like the disappearing morning star, his ego disappeared too.
               The sky was empty, and he was empty. And whenever two things are empty, they become one --
           because two empty things cannot be demarcated. By what will you demarcate emptiness? Two
           nothings cannot be kept separate; two nothings become one nothing. The star disappeared there, and
           the sky was empty, and the ego disappeared inside and the sky was empty inside too...and suddenly
           the inner and the outer were gone. It was only one sky.
               That moment Buddha became enlightened. That moment he came to know dhamma, the logos,
           the tao, God, the cosmic principle of life.
               Mahavira became enlightened, not in a temple -- not even in a Jaina temple! There were Jaina
           temples in Mahavira's time. Mahavira was the twenty-fourth tirthankara of the Jainas -- the
           twenty-fourth great master. Twenty-three masters had preceded him. There were Jaina temples, but
           he didn't become enlightened in a Jaina temple -- the Jainas should note the fact. He became
           enlightened in the forest. Just sitting there, doing nothing, and suddenly it came. It comes like a
           flood.
               Mohammed became enlightened on a mountain. And so is the case with everybody: Lao Tzu,
           Zarathustra, Kabir, Nanak...not a single person has ever become enlightened in a temple, church or
           mosque. Why do you go there?
               Go early in the morning to see the sunrise. Sit in the middle of the night watching the sky full of
           stars. Go, befriend trees and rocks. Go, lie down by the side of the river and listen to its sound. And
           you will be coming closer and closer to the real temple of God. Nature is his real temple. And there,
           be possessed -- don't try to possess. The effort to possess is worldly; the desire to be possessed is
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           divine.
                 Prashantam, next time it happens, don't try to do anything about it. No need to understand, no
           need to observe, no need to examine, no need to analyze -- let it be there! Be possessed by it! Dance
           it! Sing it! And be totally one with it. That is the only way to know it.
                 You ask me, "It is about this feeling that it has always been there" -- the feeling is absolutely true
           -- "and as soon as I feel it, it seems so far away." Because with the feeling, the 'I' comes in -- and the
           'I' is the distance between you and truth. The bigger the 'I', the bigger the distance, the smaller the 'I',
           the smaller the distance. No 'I', no distance.
           And you ask me, "...but what is this 'it'?"
                 I cannot say it. It is now. Be possessed! It is here. Be possessed! It is not in my words but in the
           gaps. It is not in my statements but in the intervals. Read it between the lines.
                 But remember one thing very very significant: that you have to be possessed by it to understand
           it. And we are very much afraid of being possessed -- it seems as if we are losing control, it seems as
           if we are dissolving. "Who knows where it will land us? Who knows whether I will be able to come
           back from it or not?"
                 All these fears arise and you shrink back. And that is the moment you create the distance. The
           distance is your creation. Otherwise, it is always here, it is always now. Don't create the distance,
           don't bring fear in.
                 In all the languages of the world there are words for religious people like 'God-fearing' -- ugly
           words, absolute lies, because a religious person is not a God-fearing person at all. A religious person
           is a God-loving person, not a God-fearing person. But the priest depends on fear, he exploits your
           fear, and he creates fear in you. His whole business depends on whether you are afraid.
                 Drop your fears. There is no need to be afraid of God. God simply means the totality, the whole,
           that which is. We are part of it! How can the part be afraid of the whole? The whole cares for the
           part, the whole loves the part, because the whole will not be the whole without the part. It cannot be
           indifferent to the part.
                 Knowing this, one trusts. Knowing this, one allows the whole to possess. Knowing this, one
           drops all fears, one surrenders. And only in surrender it is, only in trust it is.
                 I can indicate towards it, but I cannot explain it to you. And it is already happening to you,
           Prashantam. You are blessed. Just stop your ways of creating distance between you and it. And that
           can be easily done: just take a little risk, a step into the unknown.... Fear will be there -- in spite of it,
           go into the unknown. Let the fear be there -- still go into the unknown. Only by going into the
           unknown will the fear disappear, because you will come to know there is nothing to fear.
                 And once you are enchanted by the unknown, then there is no end to this pilgrimage -- it is an
           eternal journey, never-ending, always ongoing; it is inexhaustible. aes dhammo sanantano -- it is
           eternal and inexhaustible....

           The third question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY?


               Anando, I have none. I don't need any. A hobby is needed to keep you occupied. When you are
           tired of your ordinary occupation -- and naturally one gets tired of earning bread and butter -- when
           you are tired of your ordinary occupation there are only two alternatives. Either be
           unoccupied...which creates great fear in you, because to be unoccupied means to be with oneself, to
           be utterly alone with oneself. It is to face one's own abysmal depth -- it frightens, it scares. It means
           to face one's life and one's death, it means to face one's own interiority -- which is infinite, so vast
           you cannot comprehend it. And the very vastness frightens. A great trembling arises in you.
               The one alternative is: meditate when you are unoccupied with your ordinary business. The other
           alternative is: get occupied again in some foolish activity, and call it a hobby.
               A few people collect postage stamps -- now, see the stupidity of it -- and they call it a hobby.
           And all hobbies are like that. These are ways and means to keep escaping from yourself.
               I am utterly blissful with myself. To be alone, to be, without doing anything, is such a profound
           experience that if once you have tasted it you will drop all these stupid activities called hobbies.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hobbies are pseudo occupations. When real occupations are not there, you get into pseudo
           occupations. Now, see the foolishness of it. Six days of the week you are waiting for Sunday -- so
           that you can relax, so that you can rest, so that you can be with yourself. You are tired of the world;
           the world is too much with you. You are tired of people, you are tired of everything. And you are
           hoping Sunday will come soon, and when Sunday comes you are again occupied -- now it is your
           hobby. You cannot remain unoccupied; that is your problem.
               And it often happens that a person is more tired after Sunday than after any other day, because of
           so many hobbies, and going for a picnic, and driving, and doing a thousand and one things for which
           you have been waiting for six days. And you were thinking you were going to rest?
               You cannot rest! You don't know how to rest. You cannot relax -- you don't know how to relax.
           Even in the name of relaxation you will get into some work, some kind of work; even in the name of
           rest you will start some kind of work. Simply because you are not paid for it, does it become rest?
           You will play cards or chess. You are not paid for it, that's true, but that doesn't make much
           difference; it is only unpaid work.
               Rather than searching for hobbies, use the opportunities. Whenever you are capable of having a
           time empty, utterly unoccupied, with yourself, remain...remain in it, don't move out of it. Don't start
           collecting stamps.

               Two old Jewish men were sitting on a park bench. "Well, what do you do now that you are
           retired?" asked one.
           "I have a hobby: I raise pigeons," replied the other.
           "Pigeons? Where do you keep them? You live in a condominium!"
           "I keep them in a closet."
           "In your closet? Don't they shit on your shoes and on your clothes?"
           "No," said the man. "I keep them in a box."
           "In a box? How do they breathe?"
           "Breathe? They don't breathe," said the man, "they are dead."
           "Dead?" exclaimed the friend, shocked. "You keep dead pigeons?"
           "What the hell, it is only a hobby!"

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THIS MORNING WHEN YOU ADDRESSED US "MY BELOVED BODHISATTVAS," IT FELT AT
              THAT MOMENT AS THOUGH IT WERE ACTUALLY TRUE. BUT LATER ON, EVEN A POSSIBILITY
              THAT WE ONE DAY WILL BECOME BODHISATTVAS SEEMED LIKE A DREAM....


               Sheela, it is a truth -- that's why when uttered with trust, with love, it immediately strikes
           something deep in your heart, it rings a bell. But it is because of my trust that it rings a bell. I say
           again: You are bodhisattvas -- buddhas in essence, in seed, in potentiality.
               When I say it, I mean it. When I say it, I say it because it is so. And in that moment you are so in
           tune with me that it appears absolutely true; no proof is needed, no argument is needed.
               I need not argue for the truths that I utter. In fact, no truth ever needs any argument; it is simple,
           but it immediately rings a bell. The only thing needed is that it should come from the heart, then it
           reaches your heart.
               I am not talking from my head. I am pouring my being into your being. It is a meeting of
           energies. It is a meeting of souls. Hence, when you are with me, it appears absolutely true -- you
           cannot doubt it, it is impossible. But when you are alone and I am not there, doubts arise. Your old
           mind comes back, with a vengeance, and says, "Sheela, you, and a bodhisattva? And what about
           your love with Veetrag? -- and you, a bodhisattva? And what about your jealousies, and what about
           your anger, and what about all that you are? You a bodhisattva? He must have been joking; he
           tricked you!" Great doubts arise because they are always there in your mind.
               It is like you come with me, we go along, we walk side by side for the time being. I have a light
           in my hand, but because of my light, your path is also lighted. Then the moment comes when we part
           -- we have to part; a crossroad has come, our paths separate. I move in one direction, you move in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           another. Suddenly you are in darkness and you are very much puzzled: "What happened to the
           light?"
                That light was not yours. Of course, your path was lighted, but the light was not yours. So when
           you are with me, there is a light surrounding you. In that light, things are very clear. When you are
           not with me suddenly there is darkness, and in that darkness you will doubt everything that you had
           trusted, and in that darkness you will doubt even the possibility of light. You will doubt even the
           reality of the light that you had lived just a few moments before. Your mind will say, "You must
           have been dreaming. You must have been hallucinating. What light? Where is the light? If it was
           there, where has it gone?"
                And this will happen again and again. This has a deep significance to be understood. When you
           are with me, here, listening to me, sitting by my side, the situation can remain the same even when
           you are not physically with me. You will have to go a little deeper in your love, so that even if
           physically you are far away, spiritually you are not. Then the trust will continue. Then doubts will
           not dare to come in.
                Right now doubts come in because you have a certain love for me but it is not yet total. There are
           spaces within your being you have not allowed access to me yet. And this is not only so with Sheela,
           it is so with many of you. You are keeping a few corners still hidden, separate, private, of your own.
           You have not opened your heart totally, you are not utterly naked. And if you are hiding something,
           then whatsoever you are hiding will remain a distance between me and you.
                So when you are here, under my impact, when you are here physically with me, my presence can
           put your mind aside. But when you are not physically with me, your mind will come back -- you
           have not put it aside! Learn a lesson: when you go away from me, when you cannot see me, try to
           still be with me. Imbibe the spirit of closeness, intimacy -- then even death cannot separate us. Then
           there is no question of space and time. Then you are with me forever. And the trust will persist, and
           the trust will continue; it will become a constant factor in you. The only thing that will be constant
           will be your trust. Everything else will change, but not the trust.
                You will have found the center of your being. And that finding is arriving home.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE IS SO MUCH NONSENSE ABOUT YOUR TEACHINGS AND THE ACTIVITIES OF YOUR
              ASHRAM IN THE PRESS RECENTLY. IT SOMEHOW INFURIATES ME BECAUSE IT SEEMS SO
              FAR FROM THE ACTUAL FACTS. LETTERS IN RESPONSE TO THE CONTRARY ARE NOT
              BEING PUBLISHED. NOW, I KNOW THIS MUST MAKE NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER TO
              YOU. IS THIS THEN WHAT JESUS MEANS WHEN HE SAYS TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK?


               Zareen, it is as it should be. A man like me cannot remain unopposed. A man like me is bound to
           divide people into two categories: those who are with me and those who are not with me.
               Just the other day, an old friend wrote a letter to me suggesting.... Right now there are only two
           kinds of people: those who are devotees, who are utterly in love with me, and those who are
           enemies, full of hatred for me. He wants to create a third category of people who are neither devotees
           nor enemies, but impartial thinkers.
               His idea looks logical, but it is not possible. It has never happened, and it is not going to happen.
           It cannot happen. In fact, he himself is finding it difficult to become a sannyasin. He has been an old
           friend and he feels it a little difficult to surrender now as a disciple. He cannot be a devotee and he
           cannot be an enemy either. He knows me, he loves me; he has been a friend of long standing. So it is
           really his problem.
               He cannot surrender because of his ego that he was a friend to me, a colleague. He cannot be
           against me because he feels for me. Now he is in a jam, so he wants to find a way out; he wants to
           create a third force -- people who are neither for nor against but impartial. Those people will be
           impotent. And I am not interested in impartial people. I am not interested in the third force at all, for
           a certain reason: because they will be utterly cold. I am far more interested in people who have a
           very strong hatred for me -- they are at least hot, and hot people are good people. They can be
           transformed; they are not ice-cold.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Those who are hotly in hate with me sooner or later will have become devotees -- because you
           cannot live in hate long. It hurts you. By hating me you cannot love me. Zareen, you are right, it
           doesn't matter at all to me. If the whole world hates me, it doesn't matter, it makes no difference. I
           remain in my absolute bliss.
               My bliss cannot be affected by people's hatred, opposition. But think of those people who are
           living in hatred -- they are torturing themselves, they are hurting themselves, they are wounding
           themselves. How long can they go on doing it? Sooner or later their wounds would like to heal. And
           sooner or later, their very heated antagonism itself will turn into a passionate love.

           I am reminded, Zareen, of a beautiful story:
               A Sufi mystic wrote a book on the Koran. It was opposed by all the authorities, by the official
           religion. They banned it, they made it a crime to read it. It was sacrilegious, they thought, dangerous,
           because he was interpreting the Koran in such a way as nobody had ever interpreted it. He was going
           against the tradition.
               He called his chief disciple, gave him the book, and told him to go the chief priest and present
           the book to him -- and watch everything. "Whatsoever happens, you have to report it correctly. So be
           very alert: whatsoever happens...when you give the book as a present, how he reacts, what he does,
           what he says, remember accurately because you have to report the whole scene. And let me tell you,"
           the master told him, "that this is a kind of test for you. It is not only the question of giving the book
           to the chief priest and coming back; the whole point is reporting everything as it happens."
               The man went, very alert, very cautious. Entering into the house of the chief priest, he made
           himself very alert, shook his body, because everything had to be observed minutely. Then he went
           in.
               As he presented the book to the chief priest and told the name of his master, the priest threw the
           book out of the house, onto the road, and said, "Why didn't you tell me before that this is from that
           dangerous man? I would not even have touched it. I will have to wash my hands now. It is a sin to
           touch his book!"
               The wife of the chief priest was sitting by his side. She said, "You are being unnecessarily hard
           on the poor man. He has not done any harm to you. Even if you wanted to throw the book, you could
           have thrown it later on. And I don't see the point in throwing it because you have a big library --
           thousands of books are there; this book can also be kept in the library. If you don't want to read it,
           there is no need to read it. But you could have done at least one thing: you could have thrown it
           afterwards, washed your hands, taken a bath, or whatsoever you wanted to do -- but why are you
           hurting this poor man?"
               The man went back, told the master the whole thing as it happened, in minute detail. The master
           asked, "What is your reaction, then?"
               The man said, "My reaction is that the wife of the chief priest is a very religious woman. I felt
           much respect for her. And the chief priest is simply ugly -- I wanted to cut his throat!"
               The master said, "Now listen: I am more interested in the chief priest -- he can be converted
           because he is hot. If he can be so full of hate, he can also be so full of love, because it is the same
           energy that becomes hate or love. Love standing upside-down is hate -- love doing shirshasana, a
           headstand, is hate. But it is very easy to put a man back on his feet. As far as the wife is concerned,
           she is cold, ice-cold. I have no hope for her; she cannot be converted."

                I totally agree with the Sufi master. Those who are against me, Zareen, why are they against me?
           Their hearts are stirred. Something has started happening to them, and they don't want it to happen. It
           is risky. I have started influencing their lives and they don't want to go with me.
                Their whole investment is against it. They want to avoid me, and they see that they cannot avoid
           me -- they are becoming heated up. Hence the hatred; hence they are inventing all kinds of lies. But I
           have great hope for these people -- in fact, I love these people. Sooner or later they are going to end
           up with me.
                The real problem is with those people who are indifferent, ice-cold, neither for nor against. I
           would like to divide the whole humanity into two camps: the friends and the enemies. And the more
           friends I have the more enemies are bound to be there. There is a certain balance in it; in life
           everything balances. If you have so many friends, you are bound to have so many enemies;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           otherwise the balance will be lost. If you have more friends, you will have more enemies; the
           balance has to be kept. Life continuously balances itself.
           I watch the whole scene and enjoy it.
                Zareen, you need not be worried about it. But I can understand your concern.
                You say, "There is so much nonsense about your teachings and the activities of your ashram in
           the press recently...."
                There will be more and more every day, because more and more people are going to come to me.
           Millions are on the way. And the more people become interested in me and the work that is going on
           here, the more and more people become involved in it, the more and more people will be against it --
           a kind of balance. It is how things happen in the world; it is a natural phenomenon.
                And all kinds of nonsense is bound to be told, because the people who are against have never
           been here. If they had been here they would have not been against, so they live on rumors. And
           negative things have a way of their own: they spread more easily, faster, quicker, because the whole
           of humanity lives in negativity.
                For example, just the other day I received a letter from Canada saying that the Canadian
           government is becoming concerned, very much concerned, about my sannyasins and the people
           coming to me from Canada. And they are seriously inquiring into the whole phenomenon, because
           they are afraid that my commune may turn into another Jonestown. Now, I feel happy, because when
           governments become concerned that means something is happening. When a faraway country
           becomes so much concerned that they are thinking of sending a team to investigate the whole
           phenomenon, that mean things are on the way, that I am becoming some kind of disturbance to them.
           I must be popping up in their dreams.
                And on what grounds are they becoming so much afraid? Because one American sannyasin
           committed suicide, another American sannyasin went mad. These two instances are enough.... Now,
           Americans are all mad! And have you seen an American who has never pondered the possibility of
           committing suicide? The psychologists say that every American, at least four times in his life, thinks
           of committing suicide. The greatest rate of suicide is in America.
                Out of one hundred thousand sannyasins, one sannyasin commits suicide -- that is enough! And
           that too an American sannyasin. What else were you expecting from an American sannyasin?
           Another American goes mad...it is absolutely normal! But the negative catches our attention
           immediately. How many Americans have gone sane, nobody bothers. And how many Americans
           have been prevented from committing suicide, nobody counts. They will never be counted.
                And journalists, the press, and other media, they are also only interested in the negative things.
           Unless you do something wrong, you are not news. George Bernard Shaw says: If a dog bites a man,
           it is not news. But if a man bites a dog, it is news.
                Something is newsworthy only if it is outlandish, if it is eye-catching.
                You can go on doing a thousand and one things and nobody will take any note. Do only one
           thing wrong and the whole world suddenly becomes interested in you.
                And then people are very inventive. When you tell a rumor to a person you add something to it.
           People are creative! And when that person shares the rumor with somebody else, do you think he
           will share it exactly as you told him? He will give it a new color, a little more depth, a little larger
           dimension. He will make it more attractive, he will exaggerate it. And it goes on and on from mouth
           to mouth.
                Rumors have a way of spreading, and everybody contributes to them. They don't have anything
           that relates to the facts. But this is how it always happens. And then it continues.... I will be gone and
           the rumors will continue, and they will go on increasing. They become independent forces; they go
           on growing.

           I have heard:
                God has the blues. Saint Peter suggests a trip to Earth to pick up a nice Greek girl, possibly in the
           old swan suit. God says, "No. As long as I stuck to those Greek girls it was alright. But once I made
           the mistake of knocking up a Jewish girl, two thousand years ago, and I'll be damned if they aren't
           still talking about it!"

              Rumors go on and on.... And what they are doing to me is nothing uncommon; it is expected.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They have always done such things to Jesus, to Socrates, to Mansoor, to Buddha, to Kabir. If they
           don't do these things to me, that will be a surprise. In fact, I will not feel good if they don't do these
           things to me. I would like to be counted with the buddhas -- and that is the only way!

               Jesus decided to return to earth. He had seen that in America there was a resurgence of Jesus
           freaks and born-again baptists, so he thought it was a good time to come. He brought Peter along
           with him.
               When he came to Earth he made the announcement that he was Jesus, the Son of God. No one
           would believe him; they thought he was some kind of nut. So Jesus asked Peter, "How can I get them
           to believe me, to convince them that I am the true savior?"
               Peter said, "Remember that trick you did in Galilee, when you walked across the water? I bet that
           would work."
               So they made a press announcement that tomorrow Jesus would walk on water. On the next day,
           the television and newspapers were at the lake to watch Jesus walk on water. Jesus and Peter arrived
           and rowed out to the middle of the lake, then Jesus climbed over the side of the boat and
           immediately sank. When he came back up, Peter, in shock, asked, "What happened? Why did you
           sink?"
           "Shut up, you fool!" said Jesus. "The last time I did this I didn't have these damned holes in my
           feet!"

                Things are more difficult than they were in the time of Jesus and Buddha! But I am enjoying, I
           am having a good time. Zareen, don't be worried at all. My suggestion is: you should enjoy it.
                You say, "It somehow infuriates me because it seems so far from the actual facts."
                Don't feel infuriated, don't feel angry -- that won't help. My people have to learn to laugh at all
           these stupid things that are bound to become more and more intense. As my work deepens, more and
           more nonsense rumors will go around -- which will have nothing to do with the facts. Or, even if
           they have something to do with the facts, they will distort them.
                People are going to invent many kinds of stories. If you become infuriated, in a way you help
           them. That's what they want. That's what they want! -- that if my people become infuriated, angry,
           then they can crush, destroy you. And, certainly, they can crush and they can destroy you. My people
           are very few, a chosen few.
                Don't feel infuriated; otherwise you will be playing into their hands. When such things come to
           your notice, have a good laugh. Learn to laugh -- respond with laughter! Laughter has to be your
           protection. And your laughter will make them look stupid. When somebody says something against
           me, have a good laugh. Pat him on the back, hug him! Give him a good kiss!
                That's what Jesus means, really: love your enemies. But I know, it is easy to love your enemies --
           it is more difficult to love your neighbors. So I say, just as Jesus says, again: Love your neighbors.
           They are the same people! Hug your neighbors; don't just go on loving them spiritually -- express it.
           When somebody is saying some nonsense thing about me, express your love. Let him feel puzzled --
           let him feel either he is mad or you are mad. He will never be able to figure it out, what happened --
           why you hugged him. He was not saying such nice things about your master...why did you hug him?
           That might give him a longing to come and see the master too. When the disciple is doing such a
           thing it is worth taking the trouble to go and see what is happening there.
           Zareen, no need to be angry.
                And you say, "Letters in response to the contrary are not being published."
                They will not be published, because the newspapers, the television, the radio, they are in the
           hands of the vested interests. They will publish everything that is against me, because some
           newspaper is owned by a Hindu, some newspaper is owned by a Jaina, some newspaper is owned by
           a Mohammedan, some newspaper is owned by a Christian -- and all the newspapers are owned by
           different kinds of politicians. Your letters will not be published. These things have to be taken for
           granted.
                You say, "Now, I know this must make no difference whatsoever to you. Is this then what Jesus
           means when he says to turn the other cheek?"
                Yes, that's exactly what Jesus means. That's the best way to transform people, to convert people.
           The best possible way to convert people to your own way is to give the other cheek. Love them.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Laugh at their nonsensical statements. Enjoy their rumors. Make jokes out of them, and make them
           puzzled.
              If you can do that much, you are doing my work, Zareen.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                 Chapter #3
                                           Chapter title: True or false
           23 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906230
              ShortTitle: DHAM103
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 106 mins




              MISTAKING THE FALSE FOR THE TRUE
              AND THE TRUE FOR THE FALSE,
              YOU OVERLOOK THE HEART
              AND FILL YOURSELF WITH DESIRE.



              SEE THE FALSE AS FALSE,
              THE TRUE AS TRUE.
              LOOK INTO YOUR HEART.
              FOLLOW YOUR NATURE.



              AN UNREFLECTING MIND IS A POOR ROOF.
              PASSION, LIKE THE RAIN, FLOODS THE HOUSE.
              BUT IF THE ROOF IS STRONG, THERE IS SHELTER.



              WHOEVER FOLLOWS IMPURE THOUGHTS
              SUFFERS IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT.
              IN BOTH WORLDS HE SUFFERS,
              AND HOW GREATLY,
              WHEN HE SEES THE WRONG HE HAS DONE.



              BUT WHOEVER FOLLOWS THE LAW
              IS JOYFUL HERE AND JOYFUL THERE.
              IN BOTH WORLDS HE REJOICES,
              AND HOW GREATLY,
              WHEN HE SEES THE GOOD HE HAS DONE.



              FOR GREAT IS THE HARVEST IN THIS WORLD,
              AND GREATER STILL IN THE NEXT.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              HOWEVER MANY HOLY WORDS YOU READ,
              HOWEVER MANY YOU SPEAK,
              WHAT GOOD WILL THEY DO YOU
              IF YOU DO NOT ACT UPON THEM?
              ARE YOU A SHEPHERD
              WHO COUNTS ANOTHER MAN'S SHEEP,
              NEVER SHARING THE WAY?
              READ AS FEW WORDS AS YOU LIKE
              AND SPEAK FEWER.
              BUT ACT UPON THE LAW.



              GIVE UP THE OLD WAYS --
              PASSION, ENMITY, FOLLY.
              KNOW THE TRUTH AND FIND PEACE.
              SHARE THE WAY.


                Truth is. It needs no effort on your part to invent it. Truth has to be discovered, not invented. And
           what is hindering us from discovering it? We have been taught many lies, mountains of lies. Those
           are the barriers which go on falsifying the truth, which do not allow our hearts to reflect that which
           is.
                Truth is not a logical conclusion. Truth is existence, reality. It is already here -- it has always
           been here. Only truth exists. Then why cannot we find it? How do we manage not to find it? Because
           from the very childhood we are taught falsities, prejudices, ideologies, religions, philosophies...all
           lead you astray.
                Truth is not an idea. You need not be a Hindu to know it, or a Mohammedan, or a Christian. If
           you are a Hindu you will never know it; your very being a Hindu will keep you blind. What do we
           mean when we say, "I am a Hindu, or a Mohammedan, or a Jew"? We mean, "I have already got
           ideas about truth -- ideas from the Bible or the Koran or the Gita, but I have got ideas already. I don't
           know the truth, but I know much about it." And that knowing much about it is the only problem that
           has to be solved.
                Once you drop your ideas about truth you will be confronting it, within and without both. You
           will be facing it -- because there is nothing else!
                But the parents, the society, the state, the church, the educational system, they all depend on lies.
           As the child is born they start trapping it into lies. And the child is helpless. He cannot escape his
           parents, he is utterly dependent. You can exploit his dependence...and it has been exploited down the
           ages.
                Nobody has been exploited so much as children -- neither the proletariat nor women, nobody has
           been exploited so much and so deeply and so destructively as the innocent children. Because they are
           helpless and dependent they have to learn whatsoever you teach them. They have to imbibe all the
           falsehoods that you go on forcing upon them. It is a question of survival for them -- they cannot
           survive without you. It is a question of life and death! They have to be Hindus, they have to be
           Mohammedans, they have to be Jainas, they have to be Buddhists, they have to be communists.
           Whatsoever you are interested in putting into their minds, you go on putting it in.
                Instead of making them more alert, more aware, more alive, more reflective, instead of making
           them more mirrorlike, pure, you make them full of ideas...layers and layers of dust. And then it
           becomes impossible for them to see that which is. They start seeing that which is not and they stop
           seeing that which is.
                Hence, to be really religious means a rebirth: again becoming like a child, dropping all that the
           society has given to you.
                Religion is a rebellion -- a rebellion against all that has been forced upon you, a rebellion against
           being reduced to a computer. Just look inside! Whatsoever you know, you have been told; it is not
           your knowing, it is not authentic. How can it be authentic if it is not yours? You are not a witness to
           it, you are just a victim -- a victim of circumstances.
                It is just an accident to be born in India or to be born in England. It is just an accident to be born
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in a Hindu family or in a Christian family. Because of these accidents your essential nature has been
           lost -- you have been forced to lose it. If you want to regain it you will have to be reborn.
               That's precisely what the meaning is when Jesus says to Nicodemus, "Unless you are born again
           you will not enter into the Kingdom of God." He does not mean that you actually have to die,
           commit suicide, and then be born again. That won't help, because again you will be born to some
           parents in a certain society, within a certain church, and again the same stupidity is going to be done
           to you.
               Jesus means by 'rebirth' that deliberately, consciously, now you are capable of dropping all that
           has been taught to you. Drop your knowledge and become innocent. And that is the only way to
           become innocent. Knowledge is a contamination. To be in a state of not-knowing is innocence, and
           to function from that state is the only way to know the truth.
               Meditate over these tremendously significant sutras of Gautama the Buddha. He says:

              MISTAKING THE FALSE FOR THE TRUE
              AND THE TRUE FOR THE FALSE,
              YOU OVERLOOK THE HEART
              AND FILL YOURSELF WITH DESIRE.


                Mind is nothing but desire. The heart knows no desire. You will be surprised to hear it, that all
           desires belong to the head. The heart lives in the present; it pulsates, beats, in the herenow. It knows
           nothing of the past and it knows nothing of the future. It is always now, here.
                And I am not talking about a certain philosophy. I am simply stating a fact so simple you can
           observe it within yourself: your heart is beating now. It cannot beat in the past, it cannot beat in the
           future. The heart only knows the present, hence it is utterly pure. It is not polluted by the past
           memories, by knowledge, by experience, by all that you have been told and taught, by the scriptures,
           by the traditions. It knows nothing of all that nonsense! And it knows nothing of the future, of the
           morrow. For it, past exists no more, the future not yet. It is utterly here. It is immediate.
                But the mind is just the opposite of the heart: the mind is never now, here. Either it thinks of
           beautiful experiences of the past or it desires the same beautiful experiences in the future. It goes on
           shuttling between past and future, it never stops at the present. It is utterly unaware of the present.
           For the mind, the present exists not. See the point: the present is the only thing that exists, but for the
           mind the present is the only thing that exists not. Past is nonexistential, future is nonexistential, but
           those are the things which are existential for the mind.
                The head is the problem...and the heart is the solution. The child functions from the heart. As you
           start growing, you start moving from the heart to the head. When you graduate from the university
           you have completely forgotten about the heart. You are hung up in the head, your whole energy has
           moved to the head. Now you don't know anything of reality. You are full of garbage -- scholarly
           garbage, academic nonsense. You may be a Ph.D., a D.Litt. You know much, knowing nothing at
           all! -- because real knowing happens in the heart, not in the head. And the universities exist to
           distract your energies from the heart to the head.
                All the universities in the world up to now have been enemies of humanity. Their whole function
           is to serve the state and the church. They are agents of the status quo, they are agents of the vested
           interests. They don't serve you, they serve the powers, the masters, the oppressors, the exploiters.
           Whosoever happens to be in power the universities serve. They are not in the service of humanity
           yet.
                If they were really in the service of humanity, then the university would be the place to learn
           rebellion. The university would create revolutionaries. The university would not create
           conventionalists, conformists; the university would create nonconformists, nonconventional people.
           It would create rebels -- adventurous, ready to risk their lives for truth. That has not happened yet.
                It is a sad fact that in the name of education something ugly is continued, something very ugly.
           Behind a facade, something very criminal continues. And this is the crime: that they divert your
           energies from the heart to the head, they destroy your capacity to love and they force you to learn
           logic. Logic is more important than love for them, thinking is more important than sensitivity. This is
           just putting the bullocks behind the cart. It is totally topsy-turvy.
                That's why humanity is in such a mess: the untrue seems to be true and the true seems to be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           untrue. They have succeeded in distorting your vision. The buddhas have been fighting against all
           these vested interests.
               Buddha says: MISTAKING THE FALSE FOR THE TRUE AND THE TRUE FOR THE
           FALSE, YOU OVERLOOK THE HEART AND FILL YOURSELF WITH DESIRE.
               Mind is desire, and you go on filling yourself with more and more desire, more and more
           ambition, more and more longing for power, prestige, wealth. And you completely forget that there
           is a heart beating within you which already lives in God, which is already part of the ultimate law --
           aes dhammo sanantano -- which is already part of the inexhaustible, eternal law. You are joined
           from the heart to God. Your hearts are the roots in the soil of God.
               Your hearts are still being nourished by God, by truth, but you are not there. You have vacated
           the place. You live in your head. Day in, day out, you live in your head; you never descend from
           there. Even in the night while asleep you go on rumbling in the head...dreams, and dreams upon
           dreams. In the day thoughts, in the night dreams. They are not different.
               The dream is only a translation of thinking in the language of sleep, and vice versa: thinking is
           nothing but a translation of dreaming in the language of the day. You go on moving between these
           two: dreaming and thinking. Both are desiring. What do you think? What is there to think except
           desire? And what do you dream except desire?
               Buddha says the false appears to be true because you have become false to your own truth, to
           your own heart. Come back to the heart, and then you will be able to know the truth as the truth and
           the false as the false. That is enlightenment, that is coming home.

              SEE THE FALSE AS FALSE.


               But from where to begin? Begin from seeing the false as the false. That's why all the buddhas
           appear to be negative, all buddhas appear to be destructive. They negate. Jesus negates. He says
           again and again: It has been told to you in the past, but I say to you.... And he changes the whole
           standpoint.
               For example, he says: It has been told to you in the past that tit for tat is the law. If somebody
           throws a brick at you, react by throwing a rock. But I say unto you, if somebody hits you on one
           cheek, give him the other cheek too. And if somebody takes away your coat, give him your shirt too.
           And if somebody forces you to go one mile with him, go two miles.
               Mohammed is against all kinds of images of God, because his people were worshipping for
           centuries; they had three hundred and sixty-five gods -- one god for every day of the year. The
           Kaaba of Mohammed's days was one of the greatest temples on the earth -- dedicated to three
           hundred and sixty-five gods! Mohammed destroyed all those idols. It looks negative....
               Buddha says: There is no truth in the Vedas, in the Upanishads. Beware of beautiful words,
           beware of philosophic speculation. Don't waste your time with hairsplitting, with logic. Be silent!
           Throw the Vedas out of your head, only then can you be silent. He looks negative, he looks
           nihilistic, he look dangerous -- but that is the only way you can be helped.
               You have to be told the false is false. You have to begin with this: neti, neti -- neither this nor
           that. The master has to say to you, "This is false, that is false." He has to go on pointing out to you
           whatsoever is false first, because when you have known all that is false, suddenly a transformation
           happens in your consciousness. When you have become aware of the false, you start becoming
           aware of the true.
               You cannot be taught what is truth, but you can certainly be taught what is not truth. You have
           been conditioned, you can be unconditioned. You have been hypnotized -- as Hindus,
           Mohammedans, Christians, Jainas.... The function of a master is to dehypnotize you. Once you are
           dehypnotized, suddenly you will be able to see the truth. The truth need not be taught.
              SEE THE FALSE AS FALSE, THE TRUE AS TRUE.



              LOOK INTO YOUR HEART.
              FOLLOW YOUR NATURE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One of the most significant statements ever: LOOK INTO YOUR HEART. FOLLOW YOUR
           NATURE. He is not saying follow scriptures. He is not saying follow me. He is not saying follow
           certain rules of conduct. He is not teaching you any morality. He is not trying to create a certain
           character around you, because all characters are beautiful prison cells. He is not giving you a certain
           way of life. Rather he is giving you courage, encouragement, to follow your own nature. He wants
           you to be brave enough to listen to your own heart and go accordingly.
           "Follow your nature" means flow with yourself. You are the scripture...and hidden deep down within
           you is a still, small voice. If you become silent you will be guided from there.
               The master has only to make you aware of your inner master. Then his function is fulfilled. Then
           he can leave you to yourself; he can throw you back upon yourself. A master is not to enslave the
           disciple; a master is to free him, to give him total freedom. And this is the only possibility of
           attaining total freedom: FOLLOW YOUR NATURE. By "nature" Buddha means dhamma. Just as it
           is the nature of water to flow downwards and it is the nature of fire to rise upwards, so there is a
           certain nature hidden in you. If all the conditionings that have been put around you by the society are
           removed, suddenly you will discover your nature. Your nature has become God. Aes dhammo
           sanantano -- this is the eternal, inexhaustible law: your nature is to become God.
               Man is a potential god -- a bodhisattva. Man is meant to become a god. Less than that won't
           satisfy you, less than that is of no use. You can have all the money in the world, all the power, all the
           prestige possible, and still you will remain empty -- unless your divine nature flowers, opens its
           buds, unless you become a lotus, a one-thousand-petaled lotus, unless your divinity is revealed to
           you, you can never be contented.
               The ordinary religious person is told to remain satisfied, contented, with whatsoever is the case.
           The so-called religious saints go on teaching people: Be satisfied. Satisfaction is one of their
           fundamental teachings. That is not the way of the true masters.
               The true master creates discontent in you -- and such a discontent that nothing of this world can
           ever satisfy it. He creates such a longing in you, that unless you attain to the ultimate you will remain
           aflame, afire. He creates pain in your heart, he creates anguish...because life is slipping by every
           moment, and each moment gone is gone forever, and you have not attained to God yet, and one day
           is over.
               He creates such a deep longing in you, such pain in the heart! He creates tears in your eyes,
           because only through such divine discontent will you move, will you take the quantum leap, the
           ultimate jump into the unknown. It is only through such divine discontent that you will gather
           together all your energies, and you will risk, and you will go on the ultimate adventure of finding
           who you are.
               Follow your own nature. Your nature is consciousness. But you have been told by the priests:
           follow certain rules of conduct, the ten commandments, follow certain principles -- not your nature.
           Priests are very much afraid of your nature, because if you follow your nature you will get out of
           their grip, you will be a slave no more. You won't go to the churches and the temples and the
           mosques, and you won't listen to your stupid priests, politicians, the so-called leaders. I call them
           "so-called leaders" because what is actually happening is that blind people are leading other blind
           people.
               You won't listen to them anymore if you listen to your own nature. If you know your own inner
           voice you will become free. Your inner voice has to be crushed, destroyed, utterly destroyed -- at
           least distorted so much that even if you hear it you can't understand it. And they have succeeded.
           Unless you struggle hard against them there is no possibility of succeeding. Their exploitation is so
           old, their oppression is so ancient, their strategies are so cunning...and they have infinite power in
           their hands. And what are you against them as an individual?
               But if you go in, if you listen to your heart, you will attain to such power that no power on the
           earth can enslave you again.
               FOLLOW YOUR NATURE.... But how to follow your nature if you don't know what it is? And
           you are not allowed to know it! You are given precise instructions as to what to do: what to eat,
           when to get up in the morning, when to go to bed. You have been given precise instructions. Those
           instructions, if followed, make you a slave. If not followed, they make you a criminal. If followed,
           you become a saint -- but a slave. People will worship you, respect you, but all that respect is a
           mutual understanding: "If you follow our instructions, we will respect you. If you don't follow, you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be thrown into jail."
                Either you are made a slave spiritually or a prisoner physically: these are the two alternatives the
           society gives to you. And it never lets you become aware that there is a source of infinite guidance
           within you, from where God speaks.
                God still speaks, he has not stopped speaking. He is not partial -- it is not that he spoke to
           Mohammed and to Moses and he does not speak to you. He is speaking to you as much as he was
           speaking to Mohammed. The only difference is, Mohammed was ready to listen and you are not
           ready to listen. Mohammed was available and you are not available.
                To become available to your inner nature is what I call meditation.
                Remember these two words. 'Character' is an invention of the politicians and the priests; it is a
           conspiracy against you. Consciousness is your nature. Yes, a man of consciousness has a certain
           character, but that character follows his consciousness. It is not imposed by anybody else on him; it
           is his own decision. And he is not encaged in it; he is totally free to change it any moment. As
           circumstances change, his consciousness gives him different directions and he changes his character.
                The man of character -- the so-called man of character -- is encaged. Even if circumstances
           change he goes on repeating the same character, although it is no longer relevant, it does not fit. The
           context in which it was meaningful has disappeared, but he goes on repeating the same nonsense. He
           is like a parrot. He is a machine: he does not respond, he only reacts.
                A man of consciousness responds, and his responses are spontaneous. He is mirrorlike: he
           reflects whatsoever confronts him. And out of this spontaneity, out of this consciousness, a new kind
           of action is born. That action never creates any bondage, any karma. That action frees you. You
           remain a freedom if you listen to your nature.
                But this simple advice seems to be very difficult for people. It should be the simplest thing in the
           world. Each child is born following his nature, but as you grow up, slowly you lose contact with it --
           you are forced to lose contact with it. The contact can be regained, it can be rediscovered. Later on,
           when you become very knowledgeable, encaged in a certain character, utterly blind to your own
           heart and nature, you start asking such questions.

           Just the other day Prem Vijen asked:
           "Beloved Master, what do you mean when you say 'Go in'?" Such a simple statement -- "Go in" --
           and you ask me, "What do you mean?" Can't you understand these simple words, 'go in'? I know you
           understand the words, but going in has become so difficult because you have been taught only how
           to go out. You can only go out, you only know how to go out. Your consciousness has been turned
           towards others; it has forgotten the way to itself. You go on knocking on others' doors, and whenever
           it is said to you, "Go home," you say, "What do you mean by 'going home'?" You know only others'
           houses, but you don't know your own home. And you are carrying it within yourself. You have been
           forced to become extroverts. One has to learn again ways of inwardness.
                Soren Kierkegaard has said: Religion means inwardness -- going into your own interiority. But
           the simple words, 'go in', have become so difficult to understand. Mind only knows how to go out; it
           has no reverse gear in it.
                I have heard that when Ford made his first cars they had no reverse gear. It was a later addition.
           Without a reverse gear it was really a problem: whenever you wanted to come back you had to go
           miles unnecessarily, you had to go round. Even if you wanted to go a few feet back, you might have
           to take a journey of miles. Then Ford became aware that a reverse gear was needed.
                I am teaching you here that the reverse gear is there, built in, you have just forgotten about it.
           You know how to go out. Nobody asks, "What does it mean when you say 'Go out'?" But everybody
           wants to ask, "What do you mean when you say 'Go in'?" Simple words!
                Thinking is going out: nonthinking is going in. Think, and you have started moving away from
           yourself. Thought is the way leading you farther away. Thought is a project. No-thought...and
           suddenly you are in. Without thought you cannot go out, without desire you cannot go out. You need
           the fuel of desire and the vehicle of thought to go out.
                Sitting silently, doing nothing...not even thinking, not even desiring...and where will you be?
                Going in is not really going in. It is simply stopping going out...and suddenly you find yourself
           in.
                Prem Vijen, you need not go in because if you go you will always go out. Going means going
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           out. Stop going! Stop going anywhere! Can't you sit silently without going anywhere? Yes,
           physically you can sit, that is not very difficult. You can learn a yoga posture and you can make your
           body almost a statue, but the problem is -- what are you doing inside? Desires, thoughts, memories,
           imagination, all kinds of projects? -- stop them too.
                How to stop them? Just become indifferent to them, unconcerned. Even if they are there, don't
           pay attention to them. Even if they are there, don't give them any importance. Even if they are there,
           let them be. You sit silently inside -- watching. Remember that word 'watching' -- witnessing, just
           being alert.
                And as watching grows, becomes deeper, the same energy that was becoming desires and
           thoughts and memories and imagination -- the same energy is absorbed in the new depth. The same
           energy is used by this deepening inwardness. And you will know what it means when I say "Go in."
                Don't start looking in the dictionaries or in the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. It is not a
           question of words! Words are simple to understand; when I say "Go in," that's exactly what I mean --
           go in! Don't start asking about the words -- listen to the hidden message; otherwise you will miss the
           train. What do I mean by 'missing the train'?

           Let me tell you a story:
               A naive farmer's wife arrived at Paddington Station to catch a train, and having some time to
           spare before the train arrived, she thought she would check out her weight on a nearby weighing
           machine.
               She got on, put in a penny and out popped a card which read, "You weigh one hundred and fifty
           pounds and in five minutes from now you will fart." Red with embarrassment and feeling a little
           outraged, she got off the scale and hurried away. Five minutes later, to her total amazement, she
           farted loud and long.
               Very embarrassed, but intrigued, she made her way back to the machine to see what it had to say
           this time. In went the penny -- out came the card: "You still weigh one hundred and fifty pounds and
           in five minutes from now you will be raped." She jumped off the machine in disgust and walked
           firmly away.
               A newspaper salesman, who was having a particularly slack morning, saw this country bumpkin
           and thought to have some fun, so before she knew what was happening, she was pulled behind the
           counter and raped. Emerging a few minutes later in a terrible state, with her hat on one side, the heel
           of her shoe broken, and in a total state of shock, she staggered back to the machine and blindly put in
           a penny. Out came the card: "You still weigh one hundred and fifty pounds, and with all this farting
           and fucking, you've missed the train!"

               If you become too much interested in words -- "What does it mean to go in? What does it mean,
           verbally, linguistically?" -- Vijen, you are going to miss the train. Don't waste time with words!
               And it is a particularly new kind of disease that has gripped the intellectuals of the world. For at
           least fifty years the philosophical world has become too much interested in words, linguistic
           analysis. They don't ask anymore what God is. They don't ask anymore whether God exists or not.
           The contemporary philosophers ask, "What does it mean when you use the word 'God'?" It is not a
           question of whether God exists or not. It is not a question of what God is. It is not a question of how
           to attain God. Now the question has taken a very new turn: "What do you mean when you use the
           word 'God'?"
               What do you mean when you use the word 'rose'? Now it is easy: you can take hold of the
           philosopher, force him to go to the garden, and you can show him the rose: "This is what I mean
           when I use the word 'rose'." But this cannot be done with the word 'God' -- and this cannot be done
           with the word 'meditation' and this cannot be done with the words 'going in'. These are subtle
           phenomena. Don't become linguistically interested. I am not here to teach you linguistic analysis.
               My whole approach is existential. If you really want to know what it means to go in, go in! And
           the way is: watch your thoughts and don't get identified with them. Just remain a watcher, utterly
           indifferent, neither for nor against. Don't judge, because every judgment brings identification. Don't
           say, "These thoughts are wrong," and don't say, "These thoughts are good." Don't comment on the
           thoughts. Just let them pass as if it is just traffic passing by, and you are standing by the side of the
           road unconcerned, looking at the traffic.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It does not matter what is passing by -- a bus, a truck, a bicycle. If you can watch the thought
           process of your mind with such unconcern, with such detachment, that moment is not very far away
           when one day the whole traffic disappears...because the traffic can exist only if you go on giving
           energy to it. If you stop giving energy to it.... And that's what watching is: stopping giving energy to
           it, stopping energy moving into the traffic. It is your energy that makes those thoughts move. When
           your energy is not coming they start falling; they cannot stand on their own.
                And when the road of the mind is utterly empty, you are in. That's what I mean, Vijen, when I
           say "Go in." And that's what Buddha means when he says: FOLLOW YOUR NATURE.

              AN UNREFLECTING MIND IS A POOR ROOF.
              PASSION, LIKE THE RAIN, FLOODS THE HOUSE.
              BUT IF THE ROOF IS STRONG, THERE IS SHELTER.


               AN UNREFLECTING MIND.... Buddha does not mean by "reflection" thinking, mind you. By
           "reflection" he simply means reflection, not thinking -- reflection in the sense that a mirror reflects.
           When you come before a mirror, the mirror is not thinking about you. The mirror simply mirrors!
           That mirroring is what Buddha means.
               AN UNREFLECTING MIND -- a mind that has forgotten how to mirror -- IS A POOR ROOF.
           And we have forgotten how to mirror. We know how to think, we don't know how to reflect.
               Just think of a child: a child is born, for the first time a child opens his eyes -- he will see the
           trees, but he will not be able to say to himself, "These are trees." He will see light, but he will not be
           able to say within himself, "This is electric light." He will see the redness of the rose, but he will not
           be able to say, "This is a roseflower and the color is red." He will see everything, but he will not say
           anything inside. That is mirroring: he will simply mirror. The trees will still be green, in fact far
           greener than they will ever be again, because the mirror is completely pure, crystalline. The mirror
           has no dust...thoughts gather dust.
               When you go into the garden and you say, "The rose is beautiful," you may not even be seeing
           the rose. You may be simply repeating a cliche. Because you have heard it said that the roses are
           beautiful you are saying it. Seeing a beautiful sunset, you may not be seeing it, you may not be
           attentive, you may not be aware...but unconsciously, automatically, you simply assert, "It is a
           beautiful sunset." You don't mean it at all; you are simply saying it because you have been told. You
           are repeating somebody else's statement. If you watch deeply, you may even be able to find whose
           statement this is -- your mother's, your father's, your teacher's, your friend's. If you watch closely you
           may be able to hear the exact voice of who had said for the first time that the sunset is beautiful...and
           you are simply repeating it. You have not seen this sunset. You have not seen the thisness, the
           present, the immediate beauty of it.
               Buddha says: AN UNREFLECTING MIND IS A POOR ROOF. PASSION, LIKE THE RAIN,
           FLOODS THE HOUSE.
               A mind that has forgotten how to mirror the truth is always a victim of desire -- a victim of the
           head, a victim of the future, a victim of constant longing for this and for that. And no desire can ever
           be fulfilled. By the time one desire is fulfilled it has created ten more desires.
               And this goes on and on...and life is short, and death may knock you down any moment.
               You come into the world to be fulfilled, but you go empty-handed, you go unfulfilled. Hence you
           will have to come again. Unless you learn the lesson you will have to be thrown back again and
           again into some womb, you will have to be reborn. You will be sent back to the school. Millions of
           times you have been sent, and if you don't pay attention, this life also you are going to miss the train.
               Be aware! Start cleansing your mirror so that you can reflect.
               PASSION, LIKE THE RAIN, FLOODS THE HOUSE. BUT IF THE ROOF IS STRONG,
           THERE IS SHELTER. If you know how to reflect reality there is shelter. You are secure because
           you are in God, because you are part of truth.

              WHOEVER FOLLOWS IMPURE THOUGHTS
              SUFFERS IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT.
              IN BOTH WORLDS HE SUFFERS,
              AND HOW GREATLY,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHEN HE SEES THE WRONG HE HAS DONE.


               All thoughts are impure. A thought cannot be pure. So let me remind you again: whenever
           Buddha says "impure thoughts" he means thoughts. He uses the adjective 'impure' to emphasize it,
           because if he simply says "thoughts" you may not understand rightly. So he says "impure thoughts,"
           but he always means thoughts. All thoughts are impure, because a thought means you are thinking of
           the other, a desire has arisen. And whenever he says "a pure thought" he means a no-thought.
               Only a no-thought is pure, because then you are utterly yourself, alone, nothing interfering.
               Jean-Paul Sartre says: The other is hell. And he is right in a way, because whenever you are
           thinking of the other you are in hell. And all thoughts are addressed to others. When you are in a
           state of no-thought you are alone, and aloneness is purity. And in that aloneness happens all that is
           worth happening.

              BUT WHOEVER FOLLOWS THE LAW
              IS JOYFUL HERE AND JOYFUL THERE.
              IN BOTH WORLDS HE REJOICES,
              AND HOW GREATLY,
              WHEN HE SEES THE GOOD HE HAS DONE.


               Retrospectively, when you see that you have created a hell for yourself -- nobody else is
           responsible but you -- when you see this you will suffer very much, terribly. There is not even an
           excuse, you cannot throw the responsibility on somebody else's shoulders: it is your responsibility.
               Suffering will be there and more so, more intensely so, because you will feel also, "I have been
           foolish. Nobody has made me suffer. It is because of my thoughts. It is because of my becoming
           more and more extrovert, becoming more and more interested in things of the outside, that I have
           suffered. I am solely responsible."
               This will give you great anguish -- and vice versa. If you follow the law, dhamma, tao, if you
           follow your innermost core, your nature, you will be joyful here and there.
               Buddha is not much concerned with the "there." But he says if you are joyful here you are bound
           to be joyful there. If this moment you are rejoicing, the next moment you will be rejoicing more,
           because the next moment is going to be born out of this moment.
               And your bliss gathers momentum, it is accumulative. If this moment you are suffering, the next
           moment you will be suffering more, because you are learning the ways of suffering, you are
           becoming habituated to suffering. You will create more suffering the next moment because you are
           becoming more efficient in creating it. So whatsoever the nature of this moment is, it is going to be
           strengthened more, deepened, in the next.
               But Buddha is not concerned with the next moment at all. He is simply stating a fact.
               Don't be bothered with the next moment, or the next life, or the next world. Make this moment
           rejoicing, make this moment a moment of bliss, and the next will follow it, and the next life, and the
           next world. And everything that you are this moment is going to become deepened more and more.
           And when you see that you are responsible for your bliss, your bliss will be far more. When you see
           that nobody has given it to you, that you have not been a beggar, that it is not a gift from somebody
           else -- because nobody has given it to you, nobody can take it away -- when you see this you will be
           far happier.

              FOR GREAT IS THE HARVEST IN THIS WORLD,
              AND GREATER STILL IN THE NEXT.



              HOWEVER MANY HOLY WORDS YOU READ,
              HOWEVER MANY YOU SPEAK,
              WHAT GOOD WILL THEY DO YOU
              IF YOU DO NOT ACT UPON THEM?
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But the whole thing depends on action. It is not a question of just thinking beautiful thoughts. It
           is not just a question of beautiful desires -- of God, of paradise, of moksha. It is not a question of
           thinking of meditation, but acting, doing something about it. Action and only action can help. You
           have to become involved, you have to become committed.
                Many people come to me and say, "We love your discourses, but we don't want to meditate and
           we don't want to become sannyasins. Isn't it enough," they ask, "just to listen to your beautiful
           discourses?" It is utterly futile!
                Just to listen to my discourses is very stupid. If you are not going to act, don't waste time -- it is
           an exercise in futility! If you just go on listening to me and never act, my words may be soothing, my
           words may be consoling, my words may be convincing, you may enjoy what I am saying
           intellectually, you may enjoy the space that is created by my presence, but this alone is not going to
           help. Action is absolutely needed.
                If you are convinced of some truth, act upon it, and act immediately! -- because mind is very
           cunning, and the greatest cunningness of the mind is postponement. It says, "Tomorrow..." and
           tomorrow never comes. It says, "Yes, we are going to meditate one day. Let us first understand what
           meditation is." And then you can go on understanding what meditation is your whole life, and you
           will never act. And unless you act nothing is ever going to happen, no transformation is going to
           happen.
                Sannyas is a commitment. It is actively showing your love towards me. It is getting involved
           with my destiny. It is entering into my boat. It is dangerous -- it is safer to stand on the bank and
           listen. Then it is a kind of entertainment -- a spiritual entertainment! -- but utterly useless, just killing
           time.
                And that's what people go on doing in the so-called spiritual gatherings -- satsangs. They go to
           the Sunday sermon and they listen very attentively and very seriously, but out of the church it has no
           effect on their lives. In fact, even the preacher is not affected by what he is saying. It is his business
           to say these things, he is paid for it. He is a professional. And it is a formality for the listeners -- just
           to have a good reputation in the community, that they are religious, that they go to the church every
           Sunday. And it is a beautiful social gathering too -- meeting people, talking to people, gossiping. It
           gives a good opportunity -- in the name of religion. A social gathering! It is an old kind of Rotary
           Club, Lions Club, etcetera. It does not matter, it does not change their lives.

               Once I used to live in the neighborhood of a Christian priest, a very eloquent speaker. One day
           he was showing his garden to me, and we started talking about this and that. And he said, "Can you
           help my son?"
           I said, "What is the matter with your son?"
               He said, "He has started taking my sermons too seriously. I have to preach and I have to talk
           about great things. He comes to listen and he has started to take them too seriously. Now he does not
           want to get married; he wants to become a holy man. Can't you help him?"
           "I can -- that's my business! I can help -- I help holy people to become unholy again. You send him
           to me. I will pull him down."
           "But listen," the priest said, "he is taking my words too seriously." Even the priest does not mean
           that anybody should take his words too seriously -- and nobody ever does except a few foolish
           people.

               But when you are around a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna, a Mohammed, it is not a question of
           taking their words seriously. It is a question of seeing the authenticity of their words and then acting
           upon it. If it stirs your heart, if a bell starts ringing in your heart, then don't stop it. Then follow, then
           go deeper into it, because that is the only way to be transformed. That is the only way to know the
           eternal -- aes dhammo sanantano. That is the only way to know the eternal harmony of existence.
               And to know the eternal harmony is to know bliss, is to know God, is to go beyond time, is to go
           beyond death, is to go beyond misery.

                Two women are talking in a tea room at four o'clock, over large gooey ice-cream sundaes and
           little sugary cakes. They have not seen each other since high-school days, and one is bragging about
           her very advantageous marriage.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "My husband buys me whole new sets of diamonds when the ones I have get dirty," she says. "I
           never even bother to clean them."
           "Fantastic!" says the other women.
           "Yes," says the first, "we get a new car every two months. None of this hire-purchase stuff! My
           husband buys them outright, and we give them to the Negro gardener and houseman and like that for
           presents."
           "Fantastic!" says the other.
           "And our house," pursues the first, "well, what's the use of talking about it? It's just...."
           "Fantastic!" finishes the other.
           "Yes, and tell me, what are you doing nowadays?" says the first woman.
           "I go to Charm School," says the other.
           "Charm School? Why, how quaint! What do you learn there?"
           "Well, we learn to say 'Fantastic' instead of 'Bullshit'!"

                You can start calling bullshit "fantastic," but it makes no difference. You can learn religious,
           spiritual garbage....
                There are many people here too who are very expert in so-called esoteric jargon. They always
           talk of so many planes, so many bodies, so many centers...and they talk so seriously that it seems
           they know what they are talking about. Avoid esoteric garbage! Avoid esoteric knowledge! It is not
           knowledge, it is just to befool people. If you are interested in such things you should read the great
           literature that has been created by theosophists.
                Anything goes, you just have to talk in such a way that it seems otherworldly. It can neither be
           proved nor disproved. Now how can you prove how many planes there are? Seven or thirteen?

                One man came to me. His religious sect believes in fourteen planes, and he had a chart, he had
           brought the chart. Mahavira has attained only to the fifth plane, Buddha to the sixth, Kabir, Nanak,
           to the ninth -- because he was a Punjabi he had been a little generous with Nanak and Kabir. But his
           own Radhaswami guru, he has attained to the fourteenth! Even Buddha is just hanging around the
           sixth! And Mohammed, do you know where Mohammed is? -- just the third! A Hindu and a Punjabi,
           how can you allow Mohammed to go beyond the third? He keeps him third-rate. Jesus he is a little
           more generous with -- on the fourth; he places Jesus on the fourth. But his own guru -- nobody
           knows about his guru -- he has reached the fourteenth! The fourteenth is called satch-khand -- the
           plane of truth.
           So I asked him, "What about the other thirteen?"
                He said, "They are just coming closer and closer to truth, only approximately true."
                Now, can there be an approximate truth? Either something is true or something is not true. Either
           I am here in the chair or I am not in the chair -- I cannot be approximately in the chair. So
           "approximate truth" is a beautiful name for a lie.
                He had come to ask me what my opinion is about the fourteen planes. I said, "I have reached the
           fifteenth. And just as you are asking about the planes, your Radhaswami guru asks me again and
           again how to enter into the fifteenth."
                He was very angry. He said, "Never heard about the fifteenth plane!"
                I said, "How can you hear? Your guru has only reached the fourteenth, so you have heard about
           fourteen. But I have reached the fifteenth!"
                Just nonsense! But it can be presented in such a way that it looks very spiritual. Avoid!

                Buddha says: HOWEVER MANY HOLY WORDS YOU READ, HOWEVER MANY YOU
           SPEAK, WHAT GOOD WILL THEY DO YOU IF YOU DO NOT ACT UPON THEM?
                Belief remains in the world of words. It is trust, it is deep trust, that takes you into action. Action
           is risky. To talk about the other shore is simple, but to swim to the other shore is dangerous, because
           no map exists. In fact nobody can be certain about the other shore, whether it exists or not.
                Just ordinary belief won't do. Unless you have a tremendous trust in life, unless you have a
           tremendous trust in your own inner voice, you can't go on the journey of the uncharted sea.
                But only action will prove that you trust, and only action can transform you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ARE YOU A SHEPHERD
              WHO COUNTS ANOTHER MAN'S SHEEP,
              NEVER SHARING THE WAY?


                Buddha used to say it again and again: that there are foolish people who go on counting other
           people's cows -- that this man has fifteen cows, this man has thirteen cows -- and they themselves
           don't have a single one! What is the point of counting other people's cows or sheep? It is not going to
           feed you, it is not going to nourish you. It is a sheer wastage of time!
                But this is what happens in the name of religion. What the Vedas say...people waste their whole
           lives in trying to decipher the meaning of the Vedas. There are people who have wasted their whole
           lives in finding out the true meaning of the Bible. This is counting other people's sheep!
                You can go in and you can hear the Bible arising there -- as Jesus heard it. Jesus has no privilege
           over you. Nobody is privileged! Before the eternal law, before dhamma, everybody is equal. In this
           world everybody is unequal and can never be equal. In this world communism is impossible.
                But in the inner world everybody is equal -- only communism is possible. Communism is an
           inner phenomenon. The efforts that are being made to make the outer world a communist world are
           futile; it cannot happen in the very nature of things.
                In Soviet Russia now the old classes are not there, but new classes have come up. Old classes are
           replaced by new classes. First there were the proletariat and the bourgeoisie; now there are the
           people who rule, the rulers, the Communist Party members, and the people who are ruled. It is the
           same game played in different names.
                In the outer world communism is impossible. Inequality is the law; everybody is unequal in the
           outer world. Somebody is stronger than you, somebody is more intelligent, somebody is more
           beautiful, somebody is talented, somebody is a genius.... People are different, and they cannot be
           forced to be equal; that will be destroying humanity. They will remain unequal.
                But in the inner, as you move inwards, inequality starts disappearing. At the innermost core there
           is absolute equality. Communism is an inner phenomenon.
                That's why I am going to call my new ashram a commune. Communism comes from the word
           'commune'. It is going to be an inner equality. People will remain different, as much as possible; in
           fact, as far as the outside world is concerned, everybody should have his unique individuality, his
           own flavor, his own signature. On the outside everybody should be allowed absolute freedom to be
           himself. In the inner, the ego disappears, the personality disappears, there is only pure consciousness.
           And two consciousnesses are not higher or lower. There is no hierarchy.
                Don't go on counting other people's sheep. Go in! Don't go on reading scriptures. Go in! Don't go
           on listening to others' words. Share the way! If you come across a buddha you are fortunate. If you
           fall in love with a buddha you are blessed. Don't just go on listening to his words. Follow the way,
           share the way! Look where he is pointing, don't start worshipping his finger. Look at the moon!

              READ AS FEW WORDS AS YOU LIKE
              AND SPEAK FEWER.
              BUT ACT UPON THE LAW.


               Let me remind you again, because the word 'law' in English has wrong associations. It is a
           translation for dhamma: the eternal law, the cosmic law, logos. ACT UPON THE LAW does not
           mean act according to the Indian Penal Code. Act according to the law means act according to your
           inner nature.

              GIVE UP THE OLD WAYS --
              PASSION, ENMITY, FOLLY.
              KNOW THE TRUTH AND FIND PEACE.
              SHARE THE WAY.


               GIVE UP THE OLD WAYS.... You have to become discontinuous from the past. You have to
           exist in a new way. You have to simply cut yourself from your past with a single stroke. And that's
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what sannyas is all about: cutting yourself from your past with a single stroke of the sword.
               What are the old ways? -- the way of desire, the way of hate, and the way of stupidity. Don't
           function out of hatred and don't desire things, possessions. And don't be superstitious, foolish. If you
           can do this much, if you can take this leap into the unknown...because the past is known and you are
           accustomed to doing things in a certain way. When you drop the past you will be at a loss for a few
           days, disoriented, not knowing what to do, how to do it. You will be in a vacuum. That vacuum has
           to be passed through. It is painful -- that is the price we have to pay for truth.
               Once you have passed that vacuum: KNOW THE TRUTH AND FIND PEACE. Then truth is
           known and truth follows peace like a shadow.
               SHARE THE WAY, Buddha insists again. But this can't happen just by listening, just by reading
           the works of the masters.
           SHARE THE WAY.
           AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: Just lucky, I guess!
           24 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906240
              ShortTitle: DHAM104
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 105 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              UPON RETURNING TO HOLLAND LAST YEAR I STARTED COMMUNICATING ABOUT YOU WITH
              AN OVERWHELMING SENSE OF URGENCY. I FELT YOU IMPARTED THIS URGENCY TO ME,
              BUT IT SEEMED ALSO TO BE A PART OF MY NATURE.
              THIS FEELING OF NOT HAVING A SECOND TO LOSE, THE WISH TO GET MORE DUTCH
              PEOPLE TO BECOME SANNYASINS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, MADE ME FAR FROM PLAYFUL.
              THE SERIOUSNESS LED TO MUCH ANGUISH BECAUSE I WAS CONFRONTED WITH
              INDIFFERENCE, RIDICULE AND CONTEMPT, ESPECIALLY FROM THE JOURNALISTS.
              OBJECTIVELY I DID NOT FAIL -- FAR FROM IT -- BUT IN TERMS OF BEING, MY TRIP WAS NOT
              EXACTLY wu-wei. I SIMPLY COULD NOT COMBINE THIS URGENCY WITH JOY AND
              RELAXATION.
              WILL YOU SAY A FEW WORDS ON THIS URGENCY, EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE GIVEN ME SO
              MUCH ALREADY?


               Deva Amrito, the playfulness that I talk about comes very slowly. You cannot just jump out of
           your seriousness which you have accumulated for lives. Now it has a force of its own.
               It is not a simple matter to relax; it is one of the most complex phenomena possible, because all
           that we are taught is tension, anxiety, anguish. Seriousness is the very core the society is built
           around. Playfulness is for small children, not for grown-up people. And I am teaching you to be
           children again, to be playful again. It is a quantum leap, a jump...but it takes time to understand.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And as far as I am concerned, you have been immensely successful: objectively, certainly, but
           subjectively too. Unexpectedly you have been successful. Anybody else in your place would have
           been in a madhouse.
               You were excited, and it is natural to be excited. When somebody understands me, feels me, he
           immediately starts feeling an urgency -- not a single moment to lose. And the word has to be spread.
           A kind of tremendous immediacy overwhelms. It is natural! It is true that there is not a single
           moment to lose. And if you love me, you would like all those people to come to me, because they
           may not get the opportunity again -- for centuries, for lives together!
               When you love, and you have found a treasure, you would like to share it. And if the treasure is
           such that it can disappear any moment, how can you avoid the feeling of immense urgency? You will
           have to shout from the tops of the houses.
               And the response that you will get is absolutely certain and fixed. The more you would like
           people to come to me, the more they will escape -- from you, from the very idea of coming to me.
           And the only way to escape is to ridicule you, to laugh at you, to call you mad. That is their way of
           defending themselves. If they listen to you understandingly, if they allow you to overwhelm their
           being, to overflow into their being, to flood their being, then they will also find themselves in the
           same grip. And it will be very difficult for them to avoid.
               Hence, from the very beginning they will ridicule you, criticize you, oppose you, laugh at you.
           They will do everything possible to create the feeling in you that you are wrong. But they failed.
           They could not create that feeling in you. The more they ridiculed you, the more they laughed, the
           more they criticized, the more you tried to convince them.
               And you have been objectively successful -- you have convinced thousands of people. Since your
           going to Holland, many many Dutch people have arrived, and more are arriving, and more will go on
           arriving. You have created a great stir. You have touched many people's hearts. And it has been a
           great experience for your inner growth too.
               The impact that you created has not got into your head yet; it has not made you more of an
           egoist. In fact, it has made you more humble. It may not have been exactly wu-wei, but it was very
           close. And I was not expecting it to be absolutely wu-wei, but it has been more than I was expecting.
               I was a little bit afraid, Amrito, that you might go mad. The urgency was such, your ecstasy was
           such, you were so passionately in love with me, that I was afraid deep down. I was sending you with
           all kinds of apprehensions. But you survived the test. You have come back. The turmoil that was
           created around you because of your talking about me -- in the newspapers, on the radio, the TV -- the
           way you talked, it gave the sense of your immense love, it gave the sense that you have found the
           home.
               Many have been convinced. And many who have not been convinced have also started thinking
           about it. And even those who have ridiculed you and have opposed you are impressed; otherwise
           who cares? Why should you oppose somebody if you are not impressed? Why should you ridicule
           and laugh if you are simply alert that he is mad? Nobody laughs at a madman, nobody ridicules a
           madman. It is enough to know that he is mad and everything is finished!
               You have created a chain which will go on. And I would like many of my sannyasins to be so
           excited, to feel the urgency, to go to their countries and spread the word. And you will have to shout
           from the tops of the houses.
               And whenever you are in love you look mad -- you are mad. Love is madness...but far higher
           than the so-called, mediocre, mundane sanity. And love is blindness, but a blindness that is capable
           of seeing the invisible.
               Love is not part of the ordinary world that we have created. We have expelled love from it. So
           whenever you are in love -- and to be in love with a master, to be in love with a buddha, is the
           ultimate love -- it drives you crazy. It makes you part of the beyond. Nobody can believe it.
               How can your friends, Amrito, believe it, that it has happened to you and it has not happened to
           them? It is so much against their egos that you have found and they have not found yet, and still they
           are struggling. No, the easier way for them is to deny, to say that you have not found, that you are in
           an illusion, that you have been hypnotized, that you are hallucinating, that you have been drugged.
           That gives them a consolation, that gives them a kind of at-easeness. If you have really found, then
           they will feel very very uneasy -- then their lives are failures.
               It has been a beautiful experience. I know you could not be very playful. It was difficult. Next
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           time when I send you, you will be more playful. Now don't get afraid! I know that you don't want to
           go back again. Enough is enough...but one more time. Next time the whole project is to be playful.
           Then people will laugh more and they will think that you have gone even more mad. But
           laugh...dance, sing. This time you were arguing. Next time no arguing -- singing, dancing, hugging
           people.
               But I am absolutely happy. Whatsoever has happened has been good objectively, has been good
           for others, has been good for you. It is a device: to send you for a particular purpose is a device for
           your inner growth. And you have been successful.
           There was every possibility of being a failure.

           I am reminded:
                Once George Gurdjieff asked P.D. Ouspensky, his chief disciple of those days, to come from
           London to a faraway place somewhere in the Caucasus. It was very difficult. Financially Ouspensky
           was bankrupt. He had no money, no house to live in, nobody to support him. And such a long
           journey! And the times were very dangerous. In those parts of the world it was dangerous to move,
           because the Russian revolution was happening. People were being massacred, killed, murdered.
           There was no peace. Even Gurdjieff had to leave Russia, and he was hiding in the mountains of the
           Caucasus.
                It was not a right time to go there; it was very dangerous. The journey was not easy: all the trains
           were unsettled, roads were cut, bridges were broken. It was chaos! But when the master calls, the
           disciple has to follow. Whatever belongings he had, he sold. He borrowed money from people, and
           traveled thousands of miles. It took him almost thirty days to reach Gurdjieff. Tired, tattered,
           thinking many times, "What am I doing? People are escaping from Russia, and I am going there!"
           And he was on the blacklist of the communists, because he was a well-known figure -- chief disciple
           of George Gurdjieff, a well-known, world-famous mathematician, a great author, one of the greatest
           the world has ever known. His books were translated into almost all the languages of the world.
           Going back to Russia was dangerous. He could be caught, imprisoned, killed. He was
           anticommunist! -- no sensible person can be a communist, because the whole idea is nonsense. But
           he traveled...and when he reached Gurdjieff, Gurdjieff looked at him and the first thing that he said
           was, "Go back to London and start work again."
                Now that was too much. Ouspensky failed. He could not trust this man. Now what kind of a joke
           is this? Playing with somebody's life in such a way...and immediately he said, "Go back right now! I
           have nothing else to say."
                Ouspensky went back -- turned against Gurdjieff, became an enemy. That was a great device of a
           great master. If he had trusted, he would have become enlightened. He missed the opportunity. He
           died an unenlightened person.

               When things are going smooth and easy, trust is easy -- but it is worthless. When things become
           difficult, arduous, impossible, and you can still trust, when it becomes absolutely illogical to trust
           and you can still trust, only such a trust becomes a transforming force.
               Amrito, I am going to send you one more time. And remember, I am not a very consistent man: it
           may be twice, thrice...it depends. But for the moment, one time I am going to send you -- that much
           is certain.
           And this time the project is being playful.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THERE SO MANY RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD, AND WHY DO THESE RELIGIONS
              CONTINUOUSLY QUARREL WITH EACH OTHER?


               Geetam, it is natural that there should be so many religions. In fact, more are needed. As I see it,
           each individual should have his own religion; there should be as many religions as there are people.
           The number is not so much: there are only three hundred religions -- and how many people on the
           earth?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Each individual should have his own religion, because each individual is so unique, so different
           from anybody else. How can two persons have one religion? It is impossible. But we have been
           asking the impossible. Each individual has to reach God in his own way, and that way is never going
           to be traveled by anybody else again.
               Hence, buddhas can only indicate, can only give you hints. They cannot provide you with
           certain, absolutely certain maps -- just hints, a few hints. And those hints have not to be taken very
           seriously -- very playfully. You are not to become a fanatic. If you become a fanatic you are no
           longer religious.
               A religious person is humble, available to all kinds of hints; he is a seeker, a searcher, an
           explorer, and he will learn from every possible source. He will learn from the Bible, and he will
           learn from the Vedas, and he will learn from THE DHAMMAPADA. He will listen to Buddha, to
           Jesus, to Zarathustra. He will learn from all possible sources, but still he will remain himself. He will
           not become an imitation, he will not become a carbon copy. He will retain his authenticity. He will
           be humble, sincere, authentic; he will not become pseudo. He will not be a follower, he will be a
           lover.
               He will love the buddha, but he will not follow him; he will not follow him in the details. How
           can you follow a buddha in the details? He is a totally different kind of person. You have never been
           before, nobody like you has ever been before, and nobody who is exactly like you will ever be there
           again. Hence your religion has to be your religion, your truth has to be your truth.
               And that is the beauty of truth, that it always comes in such a unique form that you can say, "This
           is a special gift from God to me." Hence there are so many religions. And it is beautiful! -- there
           should be many more. Many people have been trying to make one religion; that is utter stupidity.
           You cannot create one religion. You can enforce one religion on people, but that will destroy their
           spirit, their freedom; that will cripple their being and paralyze their growth.
               Just as there are so many languages, there are so many religions. The variety is beautiful, the
           variety makes it possible for you to choose according to your type. Religion is not and cannot be
           decided by birth, and those who decide their religion by their birth are utter fools. You cannot be
           born a Hindu and you cannot be born a Christian; birth has nothing to do with your religion. Religion
           is an inquiry. You may be born to Hindu parents -- that is one thing -- but if your parents really love
           you they will not convert you into a Hindu. Of course they will tell you all they have known and
           experienced, but they will leave you free. And they will tell you, "Become more alert, watchful,
           mature, and when you are mature enough and you want to decide, choose your own religion."
               Go to the mosque, go to the church, go to the temple, go to the gurudwara. Listen to all kinds of
           things, see all kinds of flowers: the garden of God is so full of variety, is so rich because of variety.
           There are roses and lotuses and a thousand and one other flowers. Go and choose your own perfume,
           your own fragrance, because unless you yourself choose you will not be dedicated to it, you will not
           be surrendered to it.
               The world is not religious because religion is imposed upon us. The parents are in a hurry to
           impose; the church, the state, the country -- everybody is in a hurry to impose a certain religion on
           the child. How foolish! How stupid! Religion needs maturity, great understanding, before one can
           choose.
               Nobody is born a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Parsi. Everybody is born clean, innocent, a
           TABULA RASA, and then everyone has to seek and search. This is the beauty of life because life is
           an inquiry. And don't be settled too early; there is no need. It is possible that no existing religion may
           satisfy you. But that is good; that means a new religion is born in you. The world becomes richer:
           one more religion, one more flower, one more tree -- a new phenomenon.
               Buddha brings a new religion into the world; the world was poorer before Buddha because it was
           missing Buddhism. Buddha could have followed the religion of his parents; then the world would
           have been still poor. The world would have missed something immensely valuable, a new door to
           God. Buddha opened a new door, a new vision, a new insight. He was not convinced by his parents'
           religion; otherwise, he would have remained a Hindu. He rebelled. All religious people are rebellious
           people.
               He went on an individual search -- all religious people are explorers, all religious people are
           adventurers. It would have been easy and convenient and comfortable to believe in the religion that
           had been believed in by the parents and the parents' parents, and for centuries. It would have been
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more convenient because you need not inquire, you need not go through the whole effort of finding
           the truth. It has been found by some seer in the past -- you can simply borrow it. But a borrowed
           truth is not a truth at all. A borrowed truth is a lie.
                Buddha went on a search; arduous was the inquiry. He risked all -- his kingdom, his life. But
           when you risk so much, life showers new treasures on you. A new religion, a new insight, a new
           vision, was born into the world.
                Mohammed could have followed his parents' religion. Jesus could have followed Judaism.
           Become a Jesus, become a Buddha, become a Mohammed! Don't be a Mohammedan and don't be a
           Buddhist and don't be a Christian -- explore! Don't waste life in imitating, because then you will
           remain pseudo. And a pseudo person cannot be religious. Great authenticity, sincerity is needed.
                So, Geetam, it is good that there are three hundred religions -- there should be more! I am always
           for variety. I want the world richer in every possible way. Would you like the whole world to have
           only one kind of flower -- just roses, or just lotuses? Will it not be an impoverished world, very
           poor? Would you like the world to have only one language? Then the different nuances of the
           different languages will disappear.
                There are things which can be said only in Arabic and cannot be said in any other language; and
           there are things which can be said only in Hebrew and cannot be said in any other language. There
           are things which can be said only in Chinese and cannot be said in any other language. If the world
           has only one language, many many beautiful things will remain unsaid.
                Lao Tzu can speak only Chinese. You may not have pondered over the problem: just think of
           Lao Tzu writing his TAO TEH CHING in English...and the book will be totally different. It will
           miss something of immense value; it will have something different, a totally different color to it, but
           it will miss the flavor that it has in Chinese.
                Now, Chinese has no alphabet; it is written in symbols. Because there is no alphabet, symbols
           can be interpreted in a thousand and one ways; symbols are more fluid, less fixed, more poetic, less
           prosaic. One symbol can mean many things. It is not scientific; it is very difficult to write scientific
           treatises in Chinese. For that, English is a far more adequate language.
                But what Lao Tzu has given to the world would not have been possible without Chinese. Each
           symbol has many meanings, a multiplicity of meanings. You can choose your meaning according to
           your state of mind. Each symbol has many layers of meaning. As you grow in your understanding,
           the meaning of the symbols changes.
                Hence, in the East a totally different kind of reading has existed which is nonexistent in the West.
           You would not like to read the same Bernard Shaw book again and again and again, or would you?
           Unless you are insane you would not like to read it again and again and again. What is the point?
           Once you have read it, it is finished! That's why the paperback has come into existence: read it and
           throw it. But in the East a different kind of reading exists: the same book is read again and again the
           whole life long.
                The TAO TEH CHING is not a book which can be published in paperback -- they are doing that
           now. It should not be published in paperback -- it cannot be, because it is a totally different kind of
           book. It has layers and layers of meaning. When for the first time you read it, it is one book because
           you know only one meaning, the superficial. After meditating for a few months you read it again;
           another meaning reveals itself; after meditating a few months more you read it again...a third
           meaning. It has to go on, it has to become a life's study.
                And you will go on finding the meanings -- they are inexhaustible. Aes dhammo sanantano: the
           ultimate is eternal and inexhaustible. It is not a fiction; you cannot just read it and be finished with it.
           One reading is not going to help you at all; it simply introduces you, it does not give you the core of
           it. It takes a whole life to come to the core of it.
                Now we need all kinds of languages. English is needed for its definiteness, for its certainty. Each
           word has a definition. Science cannot develop without such a language.
                Science could not be born in India because of the language; Sanskrit is a poetic language. You
           can sing it -- it has that quality -- you can chant it, but you cannot make much of a syllogism out of
           it. Many songs, certainly, but it is not argumentative; expressive but nonargumentative.
                Arabic has a very haunting quality. If you chant it, it will become a haunting in your heart. Stop
           chanting it and the chanting continues in the heart. Arabic has that quality in it because it is a desert
           language; desert languages have a haunting quality. When you are calling somebody in a desert, far
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           away, you have to call in a certain way -- and in a desert you can call people who are very far away;
           if you call them in a rhythmic way your sound will reach them.
               Hence the beauty of the Koran. It is not a book to be read -- those who read the Koran will miss
           its meaning -- it is a book to be sung. It is not a book to be studied: it is a book to be danced, only
           then will you reach its inner spirit.
               It is beautiful that there are many languages because there are many things to be said, expressed,
           communicated. And as the world grows, many more languages are needed, because as the world
           grows, many more things people are feeling, people are going through, people are reaching.
               Religion is nothing but a language for expressing the ultimate. Geetam, there is nothing wrong in
           there being many religions. Of course, there is certainly something wrong in their constant
           quarreling with each other. That shows that the so-called religions have lost their religious quality,
           they have become political; that these so-called religions no longer have alive masters in them but
           only dead, dull, mediocre priests. They go on quarreling, they go on trying to convert, because
           numbers create power. If there are more Christians then Christianity has more power and the pope in
           the Vatican becomes more powerful. If Hindus are more in number, of course they are more in
           power.
               Numbers give power. So Christianity wants everybody to be a Christian, and Mohammedans
           would like everybody to be a Mohammedan, Their ways and means may differ, but the effort and the
           desire is the same, a very deep political desire -- it is power politics. Then naturally quarreling will
           arise. Politics is quarreling; it has nothing to do with religion.
               Religions should be as many as possible. And there is no question of any conflict: it is a question
           of like and dislike. If I like roses, you don't try to come and convince me that I should like marigolds
           -- you simply accept my liking. And if you like marigolds, it's perfectly okay; there is no question of
           arguing, quarreling. We need not fight with each other -- actually or intellectually. I can leave you to
           your choice, and I don't feel offended because you like marigolds and I don't like them.
               Likes and dislikes are individual affairs. One may like the Bhagavadgita, another may like the
           Koran, somebody else may like THE DHAMMAPADA -- it's perfectly okay, absolutely okay. We
           should share our likings with each other, but we should not try to convert the other, to force the other
           into our fold. Yes, share by all means, because sharing shows your love. If you have found a source,
           share! But the sharing should be out of love, not for power politics. It is not to convince the other
           and to drag him into your fold. Religions have been doing such ugly things. People have been
           converted at the point of the bayonet; people are being converted by money, by bribing them...by any
           means, right or wrong. Become a Christian! Become a Mohammedan! Become a Hindu! Grab more
           and more people so you become more powerful, and don't allow anybody else to leave your fold.

              Mulla Nasruddin's son was asking him, "Papa, when a Christian becomes a Mohammedan, what
           do you call him?"
              Nasruddin smiled and said, "He has come to his senses, he is a man of understanding, wisdom.
           He has understood what is false as false and what is truth as truth."
              The boy asks again, "And Papa, if a Mohammedan becomes a Christian what do you call him?"
              Nasruddin was very angry and said, "He is a traitor! He has betrayed. He is stupid!"

                Now, if a Christian becomes a Mohammedan, he is a man of intelligence, a wise man; and if a
           Mohammedan becomes a Christian he is a traitor, stupid. And the same is the situation if you ask the
           Christian.
                A Hindu became a Christian. All the Hindus were against him, naturally -- he had betrayed them!
           But Christians made him a saint. Sadhu Sunder Singh was his name. They almost worshipped him as
           if he was an incarnation of Jesus, because he proved the truth of Christianity. And Hindus? -- they
           were so angry with the man that they wanted to kill him. And there is every possibility that they did
           kill him, because one day he suddenly disappeared and his body has not been found since then. It is
           still a mystery what happened to Sadhu Sunder Singh.
                I know a man who was a Hindu and became a Jaina. Hindus were very much against him,
           naturally, obviously. They tried in every way to destroy the man, but he became the most famous
           Jaina saint. Ganesh Varni was his name. He defeated all other Jaina saints; he reached the highest
           pinnacle. What was his real quality? Why did he reach the highest pinnacle? Because basically he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was a Hindu and became a Jaina. "He proved that Jainism is far higher than Hinduism; otherwise,
           why has this man, such a wise man, come to our fold?"
               Geetam, these religions quarrel because they are not religious; they have become more and more
           political. And when you quarrel, then everything is right -- in love and war everything is right.

               A Catholic is trying to convert a Jew and tells him that if he becomes a Catholic his prayers will
           certainly be answered -- because the priest will give them to the bishop, who will give them to the
           cardinal, who will give them to the pope, who will shove them up into heaven through a hole at the
           top of the Vatican, which just matches a hole in the floor of heaven, where Saint Peter will take them
           to the Virgin Mary, who will intercede on their behalf with Jesus, who will say a good word for them
           to God.
               The Jew repeats this whole itinerary with an astonished air, ending, "You know it must be true,
           because I have always wondered what they do with all the shit in heaven. They must throw it down
           that little hole in the Vatican, where the pope gives it to the cardinal, who gives it to the bishop, who
           gives it to the priest, who gives it to you -- and you are trying to hand it to me?"

               Religions are good -- many more are needed -- but quarreling religions are not religions. The
           very quarreling attitude makes them political. And the priest and the politician have been in a very
           subtle conspiracy down the ages -- because the politician can dominate the people through the priest
           very easily. The priest possesses the souls of the people and the politician possesses the bodies of the
           people. Both are oppressors, exploiters. Both are in the same business, both are partners. Both can
           help each other. The politician can help the priest because he has temporal power, and the priest can
           help the politician because people listen to him, worship him, take his word as divine.
               Do you know, Buddhism did not become a great religion because of Buddha; it became a great
           religion because of the emperor Ashoka. It was not because of Buddha that millions of people
           became Buddhists, no. While Buddha was alive, only a few, a few chosen people were courageous
           enough to walk with him in his light, to commune with him. And they were courageous -- because
           they had to suffer, they had to suffer much ridicule, opposition, because the established Hindu
           church was against this man Buddha.
               Buddhism became a world religion not because of Buddha but because of the emperor Ashoka.
           When the Buddhist priests joined hands with the emperor Ashoka, then the religion became a world
           religion. The whole of Asia was converted. Now the priests would help Ashoka to retain his power,
           and Ashoka would help the priests become more and more powerful.
               Christianity became a world religion not because of Jesus. Jesus was very alone -- only a few
           disciples, twelve disciples, and a few hundred sympathizers, that's all. And even those disciples
           disappeared when Jesus was being crucified, and the sympathizers simply forgot about him; they
           stopped talking about the man because it was dangerous even to show sympathy.
               It is said that the people who had sympathized with Jesus came to spit on his face while he was
           dying to show the people, "We are against, we are not for him." To prove to the people...because this
           man is dying -- now they will be in trouble. They have to live, they still have to live. They have to
           give some proof that they are against this man.
               They denied Jesus while he was dying. They threw mud, stones, they spat on his face, just to
           show the crowds, "See, isn't this enough proof that the rumors that you have heard that we are
           sympathizers are absolutely wrong, unfounded? We are against him as much as you are -- in fact, we
           are more against him than you are."
               The enemies were not spitting on him but the friends. Jesus became a world force not because of
           himself but only when the Roman emperors and Christian priests joined hands. Now, this is an irony.
           Jesus was crucified by a Roman emperor -- see how history moves! Pontius Pilate was just a
           representative of the Roman power, of the Roman emperor; he simply followed the orders from
           Rome. Who would ever have thought that Rome would become the central place of Christianity?
           Who would ever have thought while Jesus was being crucified that Rome would be the residence of
           the pope? But that's how it happened. When priests joined hands with Emperor Constantine and
           other Roman emperors, Christianity became a world force.
               Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism -- they have all depended on politics. They are not
           true religions anymore but political games being played in the name of religion.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I would like the world to have many more religions, so many that each individual has his own
           religion -- then no priest will be needed. That is the only way to drop the priests. If you have your
           own religion, no priest is needed -- you are the priest and you are the follower and you are
           everything.
               You have to listen to your inner voice. Buddha says: Follow your own nature; there is no need
           for anybody to intercede on your behalf.
               But I am not in favor of creating one religion; enough of that nonsense! In the past we have been
           trying to do that: make one religion so that quarreling can stop. But it is not possible. Even if you can
           enforce one religion, if the whole world becomes Christian, then again there will be Protestants and
           Catholics and a thousand and one sects. And the same game will start again: people will start
           quarreling -- because their needs are different, their understandings are different.

           I have heard:
               A beautiful young woman came home from London. She belonged to a small village, was from a
           Catholic family. After three or four years of living in London she had become very rich; she came
           back to see her parents. The mother could not believe her eyes. She asked, "How did you manage?
           You have become so rich -- such beautiful clothes, a diamond ring, a beautiful car!"
               And the girl said, "Mother, I have become a prostitute."
               Just hearing this the mother fainted, became unconscious. When she came back she asked again,
           "What did you say?"
               The girl said, "Mother, I said I have become a prostitute."
               And the mother started laughing and she said, "I misunderstood you -- I thought you said you
           had become a Protestant."

               To be a prostitute is okay, but to become a Protestant...? The same quarreling will start. Even
           small religions -- for example, Jainism, one of the smallest religions in the world -- have so many
           sects, sects within sects. In fact, we have not yet become aware of the great necessity that each
           individual needs his own version of God, and each individual has his own way of approaching God.

               A man picked up by a prostitute in a bar is amazed by the college pennants and diplomas
           ornamenting the walls of her room.
           "Are these your diplomas?" he asks.
           "Sure," she says airily. "I have my Master of Arts from Columbia, and took my Ph.D. in Shakespeare
           at Oxford."
               The man is incredulous. "But how did a girl like you get into a profession like this?"
           "I don't know," she says. "Just lucky, I guess."

               People have different understandings, different ways of looking at things, different
           interpretations. And they have to be allowed this freedom.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              MY PARENTS WERE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES IN INDIA FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. MY
              BROTHER WAS A JUNKIE, MY SISTER A COMPULSIVE LIAR. AS FOR ME, I AM SO SERIOUS
              THAT IF I SMILE MY MOUTH HURTS. HOW DID I END UP HERE?


               Prem Parijat, just lucky, I guess! You will live in ecstasy and you will die in ecstasy.
               Did you hear about the man eighty-seven years of age who married a nineteen-year-old girl?
               He died of a new disease called ecstasy. It took them three days to wipe the smile off his face.
               Now, this is going to happen to you too: living your life will be a laughter; dying, it will be
           difficult for the people to wipe off your smile.
               It may be just because your parents are Christian missionaries that you have landed here, because
           to be born to any kind of missionaries -- Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan -- is to be fed up with all
           that nonsense. To be born to a priest is to know one thing for certain: that priests don't believe in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God. It is their business; they pretend.
               It is a rare opportunity to be born in the house of a priest, because children are very perceptive
           and they can see through and through that all that nonsense that their father in preaching is just
           preaching -- he does not mean it because he never practices it. The children of the priests are bound
           to become aware of the hypocrisy of the so-called religious people.
               It may be just because of it, because it is almost impossible to be in the house of a priest and not
           to know that he is the most irreligious person possible in the world.
               Priests are exploiting religion. They are exploiting people's trust. They are the greatest cheaters
           in the world, because to exploit people's trust is the greatest crime. You are destroying their trust.
           But they live on that kind of cheating; that is their whole trade secret.

              The bishop was very proud of an elegant mansion he had constructed as his official residence.
           One day, a friend and the bishop were engaged in conversation and the bishop was pursuing a
           seemingly atheistic train of thought....

               That kind of thinking is becoming very prevalent in Christian circles: religionless religion,
           Godless Christianity -- these are being talked about, discussed. After Friedrich Nietzsche, who
           declared that God is dead, Christianity has been in a turmoil -- what to do now? They have been
           trying every possible way to create a Christianity which does not need God anymore, so that the
           profession can expand again.
               Now God has become a barrier; the moment you assert the word 'God', you put people off. So
           Christian theologians are discussing, thinking, meditating, how to create a Christianity that does not
           need God at all. And it is possible! -- because Buddhism is there without any God, and Jainism is
           there without any God, so why can't there be a Christianity without God?

               ...This bishop was pursuing a seemingly atheistic train of thought. The friend asked him,
           "Bishop, do you believe in God or not? Say it exactly, say it in short. Don't go round and round. Say
           simply yes or no -- do you believe in God?"
               After a long hesitation, the bishop replied, "Of course I do! Who do you think paid for this
           house?"
               Now, the house that he has made, a beautiful mansion, is possible only because people still
           believe in God; and because they believe in God, they believe in the bishop. He cannot publicly
           declare there is no God. If you drop God, then Jesus is no longer the Son of God, then the pope is no
           longer the representative of Jesus, and so on and so forth. And they all go down the drain. It needs a
           hierarchy: God at the top and the priest at the bottom, the whole ladder.
               And the priest certainly knows that there is no God. If he was aware that there is a God, he would
           not have been a priest in the first place -- he would be a Jesus, he would be a Buddha, but not a
           priest. He would be a prophet but not a priest. He would bring something of the unknown into
           people's lives, but he would not be part of a status quo, he would not be part of the established
           church. No man of understanding, no man who has some religious consciousness and experiences,
           can be part of any established church. It has never happened. Buddha has to leave his fold, Jesus has
           to leave his fold, Mohammed has to leave his fold -- this has always been so. Whenever a religious
           man is born, he has to leave his fold, because the fold is already in the hands of the politicians and
           the priests, whose whole interest is in exploiting people.

           Anand Moksha has written to me:
               During the time of the major earthquakes in Guatemala in 1976, the Catholic bishop at Lake
           Atitlan befriended me and allowed me to stay in his garden for a while.
               A few months passed and after-shock tremors were still common. At that time I discovered that a
           beautiful house on a hillside was for rent for very little money. The reason was that a large boulder
           ominously overhung the house and people were afraid. I felt the vibes and it seemed okay to me -- so
           I rented the place.
               When I told the bishop, he reacted with nervous dismay and swung his arms about, saying,
           "Aren't you worried about that rock tumbling down on the house?"
           I replied, "If the Lord wants to take me, he will."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The bishop shrugged his shoulders and said, "You don't believe that, do you?"

                It may be simply, Parijat, that just because you were born of Christian missionaries it became
           possible for you to be here. Christian missionaries, and twenty-five years in India! -- that is too
           much. In the first place, Christian missionaries and in the second place, twenty-five years in
           India...that is enough, more than enough, to convince the children that their parents are pseudo, that
           they are talking business, that they don't believe.
           It is not a question of belief at all.

           I have heard a small story:
               In a school, a Christian missionary school, the teacher asked the children, "Who is the greatest
           man in history?"
           An American boy says, "Abraham Lincoln."
           A Mohammedan boy says, "Hazrat Mohammed."
           A Hindu girl says, "Lord Krishna."
               And so on and so forth...and finally, the little Jewish boy stands up and says, "Jesus Christ."
               The teacher could not believe her ears -- the Jew and saying Jesus Christ? She asked, "Do you
           really mean that?"
               He said, "That is not the question. In my heart of hearts I know it is Moses -- but business is
           business."

               To be with Christian missionaries for twenty-five years, and in India, and seeing what they are
           doing, is enough to disillusion you. The whole credit goes to your parents and their twenty-five years
           in India. They have brought you here -- be thankful to them.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL THAT I AM A VERY SPECIAL PERSON. I AM SO SPECIAL THAT I WANT JUST TO BE
              ORDINARY. PLEASE CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?


               Anand Sangito, everybody here thinks exactly the same. And not only here, but everywhere else.
           Everyone deep in their heart knows that he is special. This is a joke God plays on people. When he
           makes a new man and pushes him down towards the earth, he whispers in his ear, "You are special.
           You are incomparable, you are just unique!"
               But this he goes on doing to everybody and everybody goes on carrying it deep in the heart,
           although people don't say it as loudly as you are doing, because they are afraid others may feel
           offended. And nobody is going to be convinced, so what is the point of saying it? If you tell
           somebody, "I am special," you cannot convince him because he himself knows that he is special.
           How can you convince anybody? Yes, maybe sometimes somebody may be convinced, at least
           pretend to be convinced. If he has some work with you, as a bribe he may say, "Yes, you are special,
           you are great." But deep down he knows business is business.

              A braggart is telling his friend about his three cars, etcetera, etcetera. When he also mentions that
           he has two kept mistresses in New York, but that he has made his ravishingly beautiful and terribly
           passionate private secretary pregnant, and must therefore take his gorgeous blond stenographer with
           him on his business trip to Rio de Janeiro to see the carnival, the listener suddenly begins to pant,
           grabs at his own necktie, and has a heart attack.
              The braggart interrupts his tale, gets water, pats the victim on the back, etcetera, etcetera, and he
           asks solicitously what the matter is. "Can I help it?" the man gasps. "I am allergic to bullshit."

              It is better to keep such bullshit hidden deep down inside yourself, because people are allergic.
           But in a way it is good that you exposed your mind.
              If you think you are special then you are bound to create misery for yourself. If you think that
           you are higher than others, wiser than others, then you will attain to a very strong ego. And the ego is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           poison, pure poison. And the more egoistic you become, the more it hurts, because it is a wound. The
           more egoistic you become, the more you become unbridged from life. You fall separate from life;
           you are no longer in the flow of existence, you have become a rock in the river. You have become
           ice-cold, you have lost all warmth, all love. A special person cannot love, because where are you
           going to find another special person?

               I have heard about a man who remained unmarried his whole life, and when he was dying, ninety
           years old, somebody asked him, "You have remained unmarried your whole life, but you have never
           said what the reason was. Now you are dying, at least quench our curiosity. If there is any secret,
           now you can tell it, because you are dying; you will be gone. Even if the secret is known, it can't
           harm you."
               The man said, "Yes, there is a secret. It is not that I am against marriage, but I was searching for
           a perfect woman. I searched and searched, and my whole life slipped by."
               The inquirer asked, "But upon this big earth, so many millions of people, half of them women,
           couldn't you find one perfect woman?"
               A tear rolled down from the eye of the dying man. He said, "Yes, I did find one."
               The inquirer was absolutely shocked. He said, "Then what happened? Why didn't you get
           married?"
               And the old man said, "But the woman was searching for a perfect husband."

                Your life will become very difficult if you live with such ideas. And yes, the ego is so tricky, so
           cunning, it can give you, Sangito, this new project: "You are so special, become just ordinary." But
           in your ordinariness you will know you are the most extraordinarily ordinary man. Nobody is more
           ordinary than you! It will be the same game, camouflaged.
                That's what so-called humble people go on doing. They say, "I am the most humble man. I am
           just the dust on your feet." But they don't mean it! Don't say, "Yes, I know you are," otherwise they
           will never be able to forgive you. They are waiting for you to say, "You are the most humble man I
           have ever seen, you are the most pious man I have ever seen." Then they will be satisfied, contented.
           It is ego hiding behind humbleness. You cannot drop the ego in this way.
                You ask, "I feel that I am a very very special person. I am so special that I want just to be
           ordinary. Please can you say something about this?"
                No one is special, or, everyone is special. No one is ordinary, or everyone is ordinary.
           Whatsoever you think about yourself, please think the same about everyone else, and the problem
           will be solved. You can choose. If you want the word 'special', you can think you are special -- but
           then everybody is special. Not only people, but trees, birds, animals, rocks -- the whole existence is
           special, because you come out of this existence and you will dissolve into this existence. But if you
           love the word 'ordinary' -- which is a beautiful word, more relaxed -- then know that everybody is
           ordinary. Then the whole existence is ordinary.
                One thing to be remembered: whatsoever you think about yourself, think the same for everybody
           else and the ego will disappear. The ego is the illusion that is created by thinking about yourself in
           one way and thinking about others in another. It is double thinking. If you drop the double thinking,
           ego dies of its own accord.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I CAME HERE I FELT GOD TO BE VERY NEAR -- ANY MOMENT AND I WOULD BE WITH
              HIM -- BUT AS TIME PASSES IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE. HE IS NOT AROUND; IT IS DIFFICULT TO
              SEE HIM.
              WHY IS IT SO? PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS.


               Vedant Bharti, you must be carrying a certain image of God in your mind; hence you are
           missing. And unless you drop that image you are going to miss. God has no obligation to fulfill your
           idea of him. You must be carrying a certain idea that "God looks like this, behaves like this...."
           That's why it is becoming impossible: you are making it impossible.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                God can be known only by those who are capable of dropping all ideas about God. Any idea that
           you have accumulated in yourself in your ignorance is a hindrance. Drop all ideas about God and
           you will be surprised, you will be shocked, you will not be able to believe your eyes...because only
           God is! Then you will never ask, "Where is God?" You will ask, "Is there any place where God is
           not?"
                Then in the very ordinariness of things you will see something tremendously extraordinary. Then
           ordinary pebbles are transformed into diamonds. Then ordinary humanity is no longer ordinary --
           then something luminous is in everybody's heart. Then man comes closer to the divine, and the
           divine comes closer to man; the human and the divine disappear into each other, the world and God
           disappear into each other. Then you are not searching for a God who is separate and high and far
           away, living in the seventh heaven; then he lives in your neighborhood as your neighbor. Then he is
           human, he is animal, he is vegetable, he is mineral...he is all.
                And when you can see that he surrounds you, not as a person but as a presence, then only does
           your inquiry come to a fulfillment. God is not hiding from you but you are keeping your eyes closed
           because of so many prejudices. Somebody has a Hindu idea of God, and somebody has a Christian
           idea of God, and somebody else a Mohammedan idea of God. Now, God is neither Mohammedan,
           nor Christian, nor Hindu, so all these people who are carrying these ideas are bound to go on
           stumbling in darkness and more darkness. From darkness to darkness will be their journey, from
           death to death they will move. They will never know the light.
                A Hindu cannot know God, a Mohammedan cannot know God. First you will have to cleanse
           your mind completely of all Hinduism, all Mohammedanism, all Buddhism. When you are utterly
           thoughtless, just alert, aware, watchful, then God explodes. And he explodes all over the place.
                Vedant Bharti, you say, "When I came here I felt God to be very near." That was your
           imagination.
           "...Any moment and I would be with him." That was your wish.
           "...But as time passes it seems impossible" -- because no imagination can ever become real. No
           dream of yours can ever be fulfilled. Reality has to be discovered, not imagined.
                Now you say, "He is not around; it is difficult to see him."
                Only he is around. It is difficult to see him because your eyes are too burdened with your own
           prejudices, concepts, systems of thought. Be a little more childlike, be a little more innocent. God
           comes only when the heart is innocent. God comes only when you are utterly empty of all ideas. He
           is always ready to come, he is standing at the door, but you cannot hear because your mind is so full
           of turmoil, full of thoughts, millions of thoughts clamoring around. Your mind is so noisy you
           cannot hear the silent knock on the door.
           Be silent, be innocent.
           God is. Only God is.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                   Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Wakefulness is life
           25 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906250
              ShortTitle: DHAM105
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 112 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              WAKEFULNESS IS THE WAY TO LIFE.
              THE FOOL SLEEPS
              AS IF HE WERE ALREADY DEAD,
              BUT THE MASTER IS AWAKE
              AND HE LIVES FOREVER.



              HE WATCHES.
              HE IS CLEAR.



              HOW HAPPY HE IS!
              FOR HE SEES THAT WAKEFULNESS IS LIFE.
              HOW HAPPY HE IS,
              FOLLOWING THE PATH OF THE AWAKENED.



              WITH GREAT PERSEVERANCE
              HE MEDITATES, SEEKING
              FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS.



              SO AWAKE, REFLECT, WATCH.
              WORK WITH CARE AND ATTENTION.
              LIVE IN THE WAY
              AND THE LIGHT WILL GROW IN YOU.



              BY WATCHING AND WORKING
              THE MASTER MAKES FOR HIMSELF AN ISLAND
              WHICH THE FLOOD CANNOT OVERWHELM.


               One of the most important things to be understood about man is that man is asleep. Even while
           he thinks he is awake, he is not. His wakefulness is very fragile; his wakefulness is so tiny it doesn't
           matter at all. His wakefulness is only a beautiful name, but utterly empty.
               You sleep in the night, you sleep in the day; from birth to death you go on changing your
           patterns of sleep, but you never really awake. Just by opening the eyes don't befool yourself that you
           are awake. Unless the inner eyes open, unless your inside becomes full of light, unless you can see
           yourself, who you are, don't think that you are awake.
               That is the greatest illusion man lives in. And once you accept that you are already awake, then
           there is no question of making any effort to be awake.
               The first thing to sink deep in your heart is that you are asleep, utterly asleep. You are dreaming,
           day in, day out. You are dreaming sometimes with open eyes and sometimes with closed eyes, but
           you are dreaming, you are a dream. You are not yet a reality.
               And, of course, in a dream whatsoever you do is meaningless, whatsoever you think is pointless,
           whatsoever you project remains part of your dreams and never allows you to see that which is.
           Hence Buddha's insistence...and not only Gautama the Buddha but all the buddhas have insisted on
           only one thing: Awake! Continuously, for centuries, their whole teaching can be contained in a
           single word: Be awake!
               And they have been devising methods, strategies, they have been creating contexts and spaces,
           and energy fields in which you can be shocked into awareness. Yes, unless you are shocked, shaken
           to your very foundations, you will not awaken. The sleep has been so long, it has reached to the very
           core of your being; you are soaked in it. Each cell of your body and each fiber of your mind has
           become full of sleep. It is not a small phenomenon. Hence great effort is needed to be alert, to be
           attentive, to be watchful, to become a witness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If on any one single theme all the buddhas of the world agree, this is the theme: that man as he is
           is asleep, and man as he should be should be awake. Wakefulness is the goal, and wakefulness is the
           taste of all their teachings. Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Buddha, Bahauddin, Kabir, Nanak -- all the
           awakened ones have been teaching one single theme, in different languages, in different metaphors,
           but their song is the same. Just as the sea tastes of salt -- whether the sea is tasted from the north or
           from the east or from the west, the sea always tastes of salt -- the taste of buddhahood is
           wakefulness.
               But you will not make any effort if you go on believing that you are already awake; then there is
           no question of making any effort. Why bother? And you have created religions, gods, prayers,
           rituals, out of your dreams -- your gods are as much part of your dreams as anything else. Your
           politics is part of your dreams, your religions are part of your dreams, your poetry, your painting,
           your art -- whatsoever you do, because you are asleep, you make it according to your own state of
           mind.
               The Bible says God created man in his own image -- the truth seems to be just the opposite: man
           has created God in his own image. Your gods are false because you are false. Your religion is pseudo
           because you are pseudo. Your scriptures cannot have any significance because you don't have any
           significance.

              Two priest are playing golf. The younger one misses an easy putt and says, "Shit!" The older one
           berates him for this, saying that if he continues to use profanity like that God will certainly blast him
           with a thunderbolt. They keep playing and the younger priest misses another putt, and again says,
           "Shit!"
              The skies suddenly open: a thunderbolt flashes out, and strikes the older priest dead. There is a
           pause, and the heavenly voice is heard saying in accents of thunder, "Shit!"

               Your gods cannot be different from you. Who will create them? Who will give them shape and
           color and form? You create them, you sculpt them; they have eyes like you, noses like you -- and
           minds like you! The Old Testament God says, "I am a very jealous God!" Now who has created this
           God who is jealous? God cannot be jealous. And if God is jealous, then what is wrong in being
           jealous? If even God is jealous, why should you be thought to be doing something wrong when you
           are jealous? Then jealousy is divine.
               The Old Testament God says, "I am a very angry God! If you don't follow my commandments, I
           will destroy you. You will be thrown into hellfire for eternity. And because I am very jealous," the
           God says, "don't worship anybody else. I cannot tolerate it."
               Who created such a God? It must be out of our own jealousy, out of our own anger, that we have
           created this image.

               A Jew who has a long run of bad luck goes out into the woods and lifts his voice in prayer and
           recrimination. "Oh, God," he asks heaven tearfully, "haven't I always been a good Jew? Haven't I
           always given charity, even to those damn goyim? Didn't I bring up my family decent? Never drink,
           swear, gamble; no bad women, nothing! Why do you do this to me God? Why? Why?"
               A dark cloud suddenly appears overhead, and a tremendous voice replies, "You piss me off!"

               The God certainly cannot be different from you. It is your projection, it is your shadow. It echoes
           you and nobody else. That's why there are so many gods in the world. The Hindus have a certain
           idea about God -- the Hindu idea -- it reflects the Hindu mind.
               If you go back into Hindu scriptures you will be surprised. You will not be able to believe what
           kind of gods Hindus have created -- very sexual. Adultery is very common amongst Hindu gods, and
           not only do they play their games of adultery in the Hindu paradise, they can't even leave the earth
           alone; they come to the earth too, to rape women, to seduce simple women. They don't even leave
           the wives of the great seers alone. And because they have infinite power they can even appear as the
           husbands, they can look like the husbands. And the women have no idea who is hiding behind the
           facade.
               Who has created these gods? -- it must have been deep down a very sexual mind.
               And the same is the case with all other gods of all other religions. It is because of this that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha never talked about God. He said: What is the point of talking about God to people who are
           asleep? They will listen in their sleep. They will dream about whatsoever is said to them, and they
           will create their own gods -- which will be utterly false, utterly impotent, utterly meaningless. It is
           better not to have such gods.
               That's why Buddha is not interested in talking about gods. His whole interest is in waking you
           up.

               It is said about a Buddhist enlightened master who was sitting by the side of the river one
           evening, enjoying the sound of the water, the sound of the wind passing through the trees.... A man
           came and asked him, "Can you tell me in a single word the essence of your religion?"
               The master remained silent, utterly silent, as if he had not heard the question. The questioner
           said, "Are you deaf or something?"
               The master said, "I have heard your question, and I have answered it too! Silence is the answer. I
           remained silent -- that pause, that interval, was my answer."
               The man said, "I cannot understand such a mysterious answer. Can't you be a little more clear?"
               So the master wrote on the sand "meditation," in small letters with his finger. The man said, "I
           can read now. It is a little better than at first. At least I have got a word to ponder over. But can't you
           make it a little more clear?"
               The master wrote again "MEDITATION." Of course this time he wrote in bigger letters. The
           man was feeling a little embarrassed, puzzled, offended, angry. He said, "Again you write
           meditation? Can't you be a little clear for me?"
               And the master wrote in very big letters, capital letters, "M E D I T A T I O N."
           The man said, "You seem to be mad."
               The master said, "I have already come down very much. The first answer was the right answer,
           the second was not so right, the third even more wrong, the fourth has gone very wrong" -- because
           when you write "MEDITATION" with capital letters you have made a god out of it.
               That's why the word 'God' is written with capital 'G'. Whenever you want to make something
           supreme, ultimate, you write it with a capital letter.
               The master said, "I have already committed a sin." He erased all those words he had written, and
           he said, "Please listen to my first answer -- only then I am true."

               Silence is the space in which one awakens, and the noisy mind is the space in which one remains
           asleep. If your mind continues chattering, you are asleep. Sitting silently, if the mind disappears and
           you can hear the chattering birds and no mind inside, a silence...this whistle of the bird, the chirping,
           and no mind functioning in your head, utter silence...then awareness wells up in you. It does not
           come from the outside, it arises in you, it grows in you. Otherwise remember: you are asleep.

               A husband and wife were asleep. About 3 AM the wife dreamt of secretly meeting another man.
           Then she dreamt she saw her husband coming.
           In her sleep she shrieked, "Heavens, my husband!"
               Her husband, waking suddenly, leapt out of the window.

               And remember, it is not a laughing matter; it is the reality, it is how you are living. It is how man
           exists in his ordinary state.

               A wife tries to win back her husband's love, on the advice of a woman friend, by bringing him
           his slippers and pipe when he comes home late one night, giving him a tall drink, cuddling up in his
           lap dressed only in a silk dressing gown, and ending with the murmured offer, "Let's go upstairs,
           darling!"
           "I might as well," says her bemused husband, "I'll get hell when I get home anyway!"

               We go on living absolutely inattentive to what is happening around us. Yes, we have become
           very efficient in doing things. What we are doing, we have become so efficient in doing that we don't
           need any awareness to do it. It has become mechanical, automatic. We function like robots. We are
           not men yet; we are machines.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's what George Gurdjieff used to say again and again, that man as he exists is a machine. He
           offended many people, because nobody likes to be called a machine. Machines like to be called
           gods; then they feel very happy, puffed up. Gurdjieff used to call people machines, and he was right.
           If you watch yourself you will know how mechanically you behave.
               The Russian psychologist Pavlov, and the American psychologist Skinner, are ninety-nine point
           nine percent right about man: they believe that man is a beautiful machine, that's all. There is no soul
           in him. I say ninety-nine point nine percent they are right; they only miss by a very small margin. In
           that small margin are the buddhas, the awakened ones. But they can be forgiven, because Pavlov
           never came across a buddha -- he came across millions of people like you.
               Skinner has been studying men and rats and finds no difference. Rats are simple beings, that's all;
           man is a little more complicated. Man is a highly sophisticated machine, rats are simple machines. It
           is easier to study rats; that's why psychologists go on studying rats. They study rats and they
           conclude about man -- and their conclusions are almost right. I say "almost," mind you, because that
           point one percent is the most important phenomenon that has happened: a Buddha, a Jesus, a
           Mohammed. These few awakened people are the real men, but where can B.F. Skinner find a
           buddha? Certainly not in America.

           I have heard:
               A man asked a rabbi, "Why didn't Jesus choose to be born in twentieth-century America?"
               The rabbi shrugged his shoulders and said, "In America? It would have been impossible. Where
           can you find a virgin, firstly? And secondly, where will you find three wise men?"

              And without a virgin mother and three wise men, how can Jesus be born?

           I have heard:
               In a church, the priest asked the audience, "Please stand up, all the women who are virgins!"
               Just one woman with a small baby girl stood up. Certainly she was a mother, and the priest said,
           "Do you think yourself to be a virgin? You are a mother!"
               She said, "Yes, I am -- but this girl is a virgin, and she cannot stand on her own."

               Where is B.F. Skinner going to find a buddha? And even if he can find a buddha, his
           preconceived prejudices, ideas, will not allow him to see. He will go on seeing his rats. He cannot
           understand anything that rats cannot do. Now, rats don't meditate, rats don't become enlightened.
           And his conception of man is only a magnified form of a rat. And still I say that he is right about the
           greater majority of people; his conclusions are not wrong. And buddhas will agree with him about
           the so-called normal humanity: the normal humanity is utterly asleep. Even animals are not so
           asleep.
               Have you seen a deer in the jungle -- how alert he looks, how watchfully he walks? Have you
           seen a bird sitting on the tree -- how intelligently he goes on watching what is happening all around?
           You move towards the bird -- there is a certain space he allows; beyond that, one step more, and he
           flies away. He has a certain alertness about his territory. If somebody enters into that territory then it
           is dangerous.
               If you look around you will be surprised: man seems to be the most asleep animal on the earth.

               A woman buys a parrot at an auction of the furnishings of a fancy whorehouse, and keeps the
           parrot's cage covered for two weeks to make it forget its profane vocabulary. When the cage is
           finally uncovered, the parrot looks around and remarks, "Awrrk! New house. New madam." When
           the woman's daughters come in, he adds, "Awrrk! New girls."
               When her husband comes home that night, the parrot says, "Awrrk! Awrrk! Same old customers.
           Hello, Joe!"

              Man is in a very fallen state. In fact, that is the meaning of the Christian parable of the fall of
           Adam, his expulsion. But why were Adam and Eve expelled from paradise? They were expelled
           because they had eaten the fruit of knowledge. They were expelled because they had become minds,
           and they had lost their consciousness. If you become a mind you lose consciousness -- mind means
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sleep, mind means noise, mind means mechanicalness.
                If you become a mind you lose consciousness. Hence, the whole work that has to be done is: how
           to become consciousness again and lose the mind. You have to throw out of your system all that you
           have gathered as knowledge. It is knowledge that keeps you asleep; hence, the more knowledgeable
           a person is, the more asleep.
                That has been my own observation too. Innocent villagers are far more alert and awake than the
           professors in the universities and the pundits in the temples. The pundits are nothing but parrots; the
           academicians in the universities are full of nothing but holy cow dung, full of absolutely meaningless
           noise -- just minds and no consciousness.
                People who work with nature -- farmers, gardeners, woodcutters, carpenters, painters -- they are
           far more alert than the people that function in the universities as deans and vice-chancellors and
           chancellors. Because when you work with nature, nature is alert, trees are alert; their form of
           alertness is certainly different, but they are very alert.
                Now there are scientific proofs of their alertness. If the woodcutter comes with an axe in his hand
           and with the deliberate desire to cut the tree, all the trees that see him coming tremble. Now there are
           scientific proofs about it; I am not talking poetry, I am talking science when I say this. Now there are
           instruments to measure whether the tree is happy or unhappy, afraid or unafraid, sad or ecstatic.
           When the woodcutter comes, all the trees that see him start trembling. They become aware that death
           is close by. And the woodcutter has not cut any tree yet -- just his coming....
                And one thing more, far more strange: if the woodcutter is simply passing by there with no
           deliberate idea to cut a tree, then no tree becomes afraid. It is the same woodcutter, with the same
           axe. It seems that his intention to cut a tree affects the trees. It means that his intention is being
           understood; it means the very vibe is being decoded by the trees.
                And one more significant fact has been observed scientifically: that if you go into the forest and
           kill an animal, it is not only the animal kingdom around that becomes shaken, but trees also. If you
           kill a deer, all the deer that are around feel the vibe of murder, become sad; a great trembling arises
           in them. Suddenly they are afraid for no particular reason at all. They may not have seen the deer
           being killed, but somehow, in a subtle way, they are affected -- instinctively, intuitively. But it is not
           only the deer which are affected -- the trees are affected, the parrots are affected, the tigers are
           affected, the eagles are affected, the grass leaves are affected. Murder has happened, destruction has
           happened, death has happened -- everything that is around is affected.
           Man seems to be the most asleep....

              These sutras of Buddha have to be meditated on deeply, imbibed, followed.

              WAKEFULNESS IS THE WAY TO LIFE.


               You are alive only in the proportion that you are aware. Awareness is the difference between
           death and life. You are not alive just because you are breathing, you are not alive just because your
           heart is beating. Physiologically you can be kept alive in a hospital, without any consciousness. Your
           heart will go on beating and you will be able to breathe. You can be kept in such a mechanical
           arrangement that you will remain alive for years -- in the sense of breathing and the heart beating
           and the blood circulating. There are now many people around the world in advanced countries who
           are just vegetating in the hospitals, because advanced technology has made it possible for your death
           to be postponed indefinitely -- for years, for centuries, you can be kept alive. If this is life, then you
           can be kept alive. But this is not life at all. Just to vegetate is not life.
               Buddhas have a different definition. Their definition consists of awareness. They don't say you
           are alive because you can breathe, they don't say you are alive because your blood circulates; they
           say you are alive if you are awake. So except for the awakened ones nobody is really alive. You are
           corpses -- walking, talking, doing things -- you are robots.
               WAKEFULNESS IS THE WAY TO LIFE, says Buddha. Become more wakeful and you will
           become more alive. And life is God -- there is no other God. Hence Buddha talks about life and
           awareness. Life is the goal and awareness is the methodology, the technique to attain it.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THE FOOL SLEEPS....


               And all are asleep, so all are foolish. Don't feel offended. The facts have to be stated as they are.
           You function in sleep; that's why you go on stumbling, you go on doing things you don't want to do.
           You go on doing things you have decided not to do. You go on doing things you know are not right
           to do, and you don't do things which you know are right.
               How is this possible? Why can't you walk straight? Why do you go on getting trapped into
           bypaths? Why do you go on going astray?

               A young man with a fine voice is asked to take part in a pageant play, though he tries to beg off,
           saying he always gets embarrassed under such circumstances. He is assured it will be very simple,
           and he will have only one line to say: "I come to snatch a kiss, and dart into the fray. Hark! I hear a
           pistol shot..." and then stride offstage.
               At the performance he comes onstage, very embarrassed already by the tight-fitting colonial
           knee-breeches he has been made to put on at the last moment, and becomes completely unstrung at
           the sight of the beautiful heroine lying back on a garden seat, awaiting him, in a white gown. He
           clears his throat and announces: "I come to kiss your snatch -- no! -- snatch a kiss, and fart into the
           dray -- I mean, dart into the fray! Hark! -- I hear a shistol pot -- no! -- a shostil pit, a pistil shit. Oh,
           bat shit, rat shit, shit on you all! I never wanted to be in this damned play anyhow!"

                This is what is happening. Watch your life: everything that you go on doing is so confused and
           so confusing. You don't have any clarity, you don't have any perceptiveness. You are not alert. You
           can't see! You can't hear! Certainly, you have ears so you can hear, but there is nobody inside to
           understand it. Certainly you have eyes so you can see, but there is nobody present inside. So your
           eyes go on seeing and your ears go on listening, but nothing is understood.
                If you really had eyes you would see God everywhere. And if you could hear you would hear the
           celestial music, you would hear the harmony of existence.
                And on each step you stumble, on each step you commit something wrong. And still you go on
           believing that you are aware. Drop that idea completely. Dropping it is a great leap, a great step,
           because once you drop the idea that "I am aware" you will start seeking and searching for ways and
           means to be aware. So the first thing to sink into you is that you are asleep, utterly asleep.
                Modern psychology has discovered a few things which are significant; although they have been
           discovered only intellectually, still it is a good beginning. If intellectually they have been discovered,
           then sooner or later existentially also they will be experienced.
                Freud is a great pioneer; of course, not a buddha, but still a man of great significance, because he
           was the first to make the idea accepted by the larger part of humanity that man has a great
           unconscious hidden in him. The conscious mind is only one tenth, and the unconscious mind is nine
           times bigger than the conscious.
                Then his disciple, Jung, went a little further, a little deeper, and discovered the collective
           unconscious. Behind the individual unconscious there is a collective unconscious. Now somebody is
           needed to discover one thing more which is there, and I hope.... Sooner or later the psychological
           investigations that are going on, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, are bound to discover it -- the
           cosmic unconscious. Buddhas have talked about it.
                So we can say: the conscious mind, a very fragile thing, a very small part of your being. Behind
           the conscious is the subconscious mind -- vague. You can hear its whispering but you cannot figure
           it out. It is always there, behind the conscious, pulling its strings.
                Third: the unconscious mind which you come across only in dreams or when you take drugs.
           Then, the collective unconscious mind. You come across it only when you go into a very deep
           inquiry into your unconscious mind; then you come across the collective unconscious. And if you go
           still further, deeper, you will come to the cosmic unconscious.
                The cosmic unconscious is nature. The collective unconscious is the whole of humanity that has
           lived up to now, it is part of you. The unconscious is your individual unconscious that the society has
           repressed in you, that has not been allowed expression. Hence it comes by the back door in the night,
           in your dreams. And the conscious mind...I will call it the so-called conscious mind because it is
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only so-called. It is so tiny, just a flicker, but even if it is just a flicker it is important because it has
           the seed; the seeds are always small. It has great potential.
               Now a totally new dimension is opening up. Just as Freud opened the dimension below the
           conscious, Sri Aurobindo opened the dimension above the conscious. Freud and Sri Aurobindo are
           the two most important people of this age. Both are intellectuals, neither of them is an awakened
           person, but both have done a great service to humanity. Intellectually they have made us aware that
           we are not so small as we appear from the surface, that the surface is hiding great depths and heights.
               Freud went into the depths, Sri Aurobindo tried to penetrate into the heights. Above our so-called
           conscious mind is the real conscious mind; that is attained only through meditation. When your
           ordinary conscious mind is added to meditation, when the ordinary conscious mind is plus
           meditation, it becomes the real conscious mind. Beyond the real conscious mind is the
           superconscious mind.
               When you are meditating you have only glimpses. Meditation is a groping in the dark. Yes, a few
           windows open up, but you fall back again and again. Superconscious mind means samadhi -- you
           have attained a crystal-clear perceptiveness, you have attained an integrated awareness. Now you
           cannot fall below it; it is yours. Even in sleep it will remain with you.
               Beyond the superconscious is the collective superconscious; the collective superconscious is
           what is known as "gods" in religions. And beyond the collective superconscious is the cosmic
           superconscious which even goes beyond gods. Buddha calls it nirvana, Mahavira calls it kaivalya,
           Hindu mystics have called it moksha; you can call it the truth.
               These are the nine states of your being, and you are just living in a small corner of your being --
           the tiny conscious mind; as if somebody has a palace and has completely forgotten about the palace
           and has started living on the porch -- and thinks this is all.
               Freud and Sri Aurobindo are both great intellectual giants, pioneers, philosophers, but both are
           doing great guesswork. Instead of teaching students the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, Alfred
           North Whitehead, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, it would be far better if people were taught
           more about Sri Aurobindo, because he is the greatest philosopher of this age. But he is completely
           neglected, ignored by the academic world -- for a certain reason.
               The reason is, even to read Sri Aurobindo will make you feel that you are unaware; and he
           himself is not a buddha yet, but still he will create a very embarrassing situation for you. If he is
           right, then what are you doing? Then why are you not exploring the heights of your being?
               Freud was accepted with great resistance, but finally he was accepted. Sri Aurobindo is not even
           accepted yet. In fact there is not even any opposition to him; he is simply ignored. And the reason is
           clear. Freud talks about something below you -- that is not so embarrassing; you can feel good
           knowing that you are conscious, and below your consciousness there is subconsciousness and
           unconsciousness and collective unconsciousness. But those states are all below you; you are at the
           top, you can feel very good. But if you study Sri Aurobindo, you will feel embarrassed, offended,
           because there are higher states than you -- and man's ego never wants to accept that there is anything
           higher than him. Man wants to believe that he is the highest pinnacle, the climax, the Gourishankar,
           the Everest -- that there is nothing higher than him....
               That's why the modern man wants to deny God, because to accept God means you have to accept
           something higher than you. And the modern ego is so puffed up that the modern mind says there is
           no God and there is no beyond and there is no afterlife. And it feels very good -- denying your own
           kingdom, denying your own heights, you feel very good. Look at the foolishness of it.
           Buddha is right. He says:

               THE FOOL SLEEPS
               AS IF HE WERE ALREADY DEAD,
               BUT THE MASTER IS AWAKE
               AND HE LIVES FOREVER.


               Awareness is eternal, it knows no death. Only unawareness dies. So if you remain unconscious,
           asleep, you will have to die again. If you want to get rid of this whole misery of being born and
           dying again and again, if you want to get rid of the wheel of birth and death, you will have to
           become absolutely alert. You will have to reach higher and higher into consciousness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And these things are not to be accepted on intellectual grounds; these things have to become
           experiential, these things have to become existential. I am not telling you to be convinced
           philosophically, because philosophical conviction brings nothing, no harvest. The real harvest comes
           only when you make great effort to wake yourself up.
               But these intellectual maps can create a desire, a longing in you; can make you aware of the
           potential, of the possible; can make you aware that you are not what you appear to be -- you are far
           more.
              THE FOOL SLEEPS AS IF HE WERE ALREADY DEAD, BUT THE MASTER IS AWAKE AND HE
              LIVES FOREVER.



              HE WATCHES.
              HE IS CLEAR.


               Simple and beautiful statements. Truth is always simple and always beautiful. Just to see the
           simplicity of these two statements...but how much they contain -- worlds within worlds, infinite
           worlds. HE WATCHES. HE IS CLEAR.
               The only thing that has to be learned is watchfulness. Watch! Watch every act that you do.
           Watch every thought that passes in your mind. Watch every desire that takes possession of you.
           Watch even small gestures -- walking, talking, eating, taking a bath. Go on watching everything. Let
           everything become an opportunity to watch.
               Don't eat mechanically, don't just go on stuffing yourself -- be very watchful. Chew well and
           watchfully...and you will be surprised how much you have been missing up to now, because each
           bite will give you tremendous satisfaction; if you eat watchfully, it will become more tasteful. Even
           ordinary food tastes if you are watchful; and if you are not watchful, you can eat the most tasteful
           food but there will be no taste in it, because there is nobody to watch. You simply go on stuffing
           yourself.
               Eat slowly, watchfully; each bite has to be chewed, tasted. Smell, touch, feel the breeze and the
           sunrays. Look at the moon and become just a silent pool of watchfulness, and the moon will be
           reflected in you with tremendous beauty. Move in life remaining continuously watchful.
               Again and again you will forget. Don't become miserable because of that; it is natural. For
           millions of lives you have never tried watchfulness, so it is simple, natural, that you go on forgetting
           again and again. But the moment you remember, again watch.
               Remember one thing: when you remember that you have forgotten watching, don't become
           repentful, don't repent; otherwise, again you are wasting time. Don't feel miserable: "I missed again."
           Don't start feeling, "I am a sinner." Don't start condemning yourself, because this is a sheer waste of
           time. Never repent for the past! Live in the moment. If you had forgotten, so what? It was natural --
           it has become a habit, and habits die hard. And these are not habits imbibed in one life; these are
           habits imbibed in millions of lives. So if you can remain watchful even for a few moments, feel
           thankful to God -- feel thankful. Even those few moments are more than expected.
              HE WATCHES. HE IS CLEAR.

               And when you watch, a clarity arises. Why does clarity arise out of watchfulness? Because the
           more watchful you become, the more all your hastiness slows down. You become more graceful. As
           you watch, your chattering mind chatters less, because the energy that was becoming chattering is
           turning and becoming watchfulness -- it is the same energy! Now more and more energy will be
           transformed into watchfulness and the mind will not get its nourishment. Thoughts will start
           becoming thinner, they will start losing weight. Slowly slowly, they will start dying. And as thoughts
           start dying, clarity arises. Now your mind becomes a mirror.
               HOW HAPPY HE IS! And when one is clear, one is blissful. It is confusion that is the root cause
           of misery; it is clarity that is the foundation of blissfulness.

              HOW HAPPY HE IS!
              FOR HE SEES THAT WAKEFULNESS IS LIFE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               And now he knows there is no death, because wakefulness can never be destroyed. When death
           comes, you will watch it too. You will die watching; watching will not die. Your body will
           disappear, dust unto dust, but your watchfulness will remain; it will become part of the cosmic
           whole. It will become cosmic consciousness.
               In these moments the seers of the Upanishads declare, "Aham brahmasmi! -- I am the cosmic
           consciousness!" It is in such spaces that al-Hillaj Mansoor announced, "Ana'l haq! -- I am the truth!"
               These are the heights which are your birthright. If you are not getting them, only you are
           responsible and nobody else.
              HOW HAPPY HE IS! FOR HE SEES THAT WAKEFULNESS IS LIFE.



              HOW HAPPY HE IS,
              FOLLOWING THE PATH OF THE AWAKENED.



              WITH GREAT PERSEVERANCE
              HE MEDITATES, SEEKING
              FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS.


               Listen to these words very attentively: WITH GREAT PERSEVERANCE.... Unless you bring
           total effort to waking yourself up it is not going to happen. Partial efforts are futile. You cannot be
           just so-so, you cannot be just lukewarm. It is not going to help. Lukewarm water cannot evaporate,
           and lukewarm efforts to be alert are bound to fail. Transformation happens only when you put your
           total energy into it. When you are boiling at a hundred degrees heat, then you evaporate, then the
           alchemical change happens. Then you start rising up.
               Have you not watched? -- water flows downwards, but vapor rises upwards. Exactly the same
           happens: unconsciousness goes downwards, consciousness goes upwards. And one thing more:
           upwards is synonymous with inwards, and downwards is synonymous with outwards. Consciousness
           goes inwards, unconsciousness goes outwards. Unconsciousness makes you interested in others --
           things, people, but it is always the others. Unconsciousness keeps you completely in darkness; your
           eyes go on being focused on others. It creates a kind of exteriority, it makes you extroverts.
           Consciousness creates interiority, it makes you introverts; it takes you inward, deeper and deeper.
               And deeper and deeper also means higher and higher; they grow simultaneously, just as a tree
           grows. You only see it going upwards, you don't see the roots going downwards. But first the roots
           have to go downwards, only then can the tree go upwards. If a tree wants to reach the sky, then it
           will have to send roots to the very bottom, to the lowest depths possible. The tree grows
           simultaneously in both directions. In exactly the same way consciousness grows
           upwards...downwards, it sends its roots into your being.
               I talked about nine states of consciousness. Your branches of consciousness will go upwards,
           from conscious -- so-called conscious -- to real conscious, from real conscious to superconscious,
           from superconscious to collective conscious, from collective conscious to cosmic conscious. And
           your roots will be growing from so-called conscious to subconscious, from subconscious to
           unconscious, from unconscious to collective unconscious, from collective unconscious to cosmic
           unconscious. The moment your roots reach nature, your flowers start blooming in God. Hence nature
           and God are not divided -- in the awakened one they are bridged.
               The really awakened one is not against nature, cannot be; he is all for nature. In fact, he helps
           you to go both ways -- on one side into nature, on the other side into God. That's my effort here. I
           would like you to be natural, so natural that your roots go to the deepest core of your being --
           because that is the only way to help you grow upwards. Roots have to be strongly in the soil, so
           strong that they can support a high-rising cedar of Lebanon. If it has to go hundreds of feet upwards,
           it will need great roots. Because of this I am being misunderstood all over this country particularly,
           and all over the world in general.
               Roots have to reach to the sex energy, because that is the lowest, the bottom in you; only then
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can your flowers bloom in superconsciousness, in samadhi. The lotus can bloom only if it is rooted
           in the mud deep down in the lake. This is possible only with great perseverance. Man as he is is very
           lazy; because he is asleep he is lazy.

               This story is of a husband and wife who agree that whoever speaks first will have to close the
           street door which has accidentally been left open. Robbers find the open door, enter, and seeing the
           silent couple making no move, eat the food on the table, take all the valuables, and finally rape the
           wife, and propose to shave off the husband's beard.
           "Alright," the husband cries at that point, "I'll close the goddamn door!"

               People are really lazy, utterly lazy. Laziness is part of sleep. Hence, perseverance, effort,
           continuous effort, constant effort, will be needed. You will fall back again and again. You are in the
           state of a drunkard; hence falling backward is forgivable. But the moment you recognize, whenever a
           ray of light happens and you remember, put your total energy into it again. Don't remain a fool, don't
           remain asleep, don't remain a drunkard.

              There were these three drunkards walking down the street. One was carrying a loaf of bread, the
           other a jug of wine and the third a car door. As they were walking along, a policeman stopped them
           and asked, "Where are you going?"
           "On a picnic," replied the man with the bread.
           "On a picnic?" said the cop. "The bread I can understand -- you can eat it when you get hungry; the
           wine you can drink when you get thirsty. But why the car door? -- that I can't understand."
           "Well," said the man with the door, "if it gets too cold I can roll up the window."

               You will have to come out of many layers of drunkenness. Greed is a state of drunkenness, and
           everybody is greedy -- greedy for more. Mind continuously asks for more and more, and the demand
           is never-ending. If you are after money, more money. If you are after political power, more power. If
           you are after prestige, more prestige. If you are interested in becoming humble, then more
           humbleness, because you have to be the most humble man in the world. If you are after renunciation,
           then more and more renunciation. There is never any end to this constant demand of the mind --
           more....
               Greed is a drunkenness, it is a sleep. So is anger. Have you not observed that in anger you can do
           things which you cannot do ordinarily? You say things for which you repent later on. And you
           cannot believe later on that you uttered such nonsense, that you are capable of uttering such
           nonsense. What happens when you are angry? You are in a state of drunkenness.
               Become more watchful and anger will be less and greed will be less and jealousy will be less.
               I don't say to you: Don't be angry, because that's what has been said to you down the ages. Your
           so-called saints have been telling you, "Don't be angry!" so you have learned ways of repressing
           anger. But the more you repress anger, the bigger the unconscious you are creating in yourself. You
           are throwing things into the basement, and then you will be afraid to enter into the basement,
           because all these things -- anger and greed and sex -- are there. You know! You have been throwing
           them there. All kinds of rubbish are there, and dangerous, poisonous. You will not be ready to go in.
               That's why people don't want to go in, because going in means encountering all these things. And
           nobody wants to encounter these things; one wants to avoid them. For thousands of years you have
           been told to repress, and because of repression you have become more and more unconscious. I
           cannot say to you repress. I would like to say to you just the opposite: don't repress -- watch, be alert.
           When anger arises, sit down in your room, close your doors and watch it.
               You know only two ways: either to be angry, be violent, destructive, or to repress it. You don't
           know the third way, and the third way is the way of the buddhas: neither indulge nor repress --
           watch. Indulgence creates habit. If you become angry today and again tomorrow, and the day after
           tomorrow again, you are creating a habit; you are conditioning yourself to be more and more angry.
               So indulgence cannot take you out of it. That's where the modern growth movement is stuck.
           Encounter groups, primal therapy, gestalt, bioenergetics...and so many beautiful things are
           happening in the world, but they are stuck at a certain point. Their problem is: they teach expression
           -- and it is good, it is far better than repression. If there is only this choice, repress or express, then I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would suggest express. But this is not the real choice; there is a third alternative far more important
           than both these. If you express, you become habitual; you learn by doing it again and again -- you
           can't get out of it.
               In this commune there are at least fifty therapy groups running, for a certain reason. It is just to
           balance the thousands of years of repression; it is just to balance. It is just to bring to light all that
           you have repressed as Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jainas, Buddhists. It is just to undo the
           centuries' old harm that has been done to you.
               But remember, these groups are not the end; they only prepare you for meditation. They are not
           the goal; they are just simple means to undo the wrong of the past. Once you have thrown out of
           your system all that you have been repressing all along, I have to lead you into watchfulness. Now it
           will be easier to watch.
               But you are not to become a group-addicted person, you are not to become a groupie. There are
           people now in the world who are group-addicted; they go from one group to another. One encounter
           finishes -- then another marathon, then gestalt, then this and that.... After just a few days the itch
           arises -- because where to express? In the normal society they cannot express, they have to repress.
               So the group becomes just an outlet. The normal society forces you to repress, the group helps
           you to express but you are not really growing. Again you will be back in the normal society, again
           repressing. And if you express in the normal society, you will be getting into far more dangerous
           situations. You may murder somebody -- you have so much anger. You will be in jail, imprisoned
           forever. Or if you go on fighting with everybody -- if you slap the boss in the office, if you beat your
           wife, your children, your husband -- then your whole life will become a chaos, it will be impossible
           to live it. So after a few days of accumulation you need another encounter. A few days of
           encountering and you feel unburdened; back in society you will be burdened again.
               This is not going to help. This is a temporary relief. You can scream to your heart's desire in a
           primal therapy group, but if you start screaming on the road, then you will be taken to the police
           station. You can scream in a group context -- it is allowed, helped, provoked; you are persuaded to
           scream, because since your childhood you have been repressing it. It has become a wound; it needs
           to be opened. If the pus oozes out and the wound is left open to the winds and to the sun and to the
           rain, it will heal itself, because you have a healing energy; it is inbuilt. But back in the society
           again...how long can you remain in a primal therapy group? Back in the same old society again, you
           will have to repress; you cannot go on screaming there.
               Then the scream gathers, then the steam gathers. Then one day you have to go into the group
           again. This is a temporary relief; good as far as it goes, but it cannot make you a buddha. That's
           where this commune is different from institutes like Esalen. They end with groups -- we begin with
           groups. Where they end, that's exactly the point from where we begin.
               And it is not a coincidence that thousands of therapists have become interested in my work. They
           have come here.... Among my sannyasins, the greatest group from any profession is that of
           psychotherapists. A great need is felt now all over the world that encounter, primal therapy, gestalt,
           can help a little bit to unburden people, but they cannot help to make them buddhas -- they cannot
           help them to become awakened.
               Indulgence creates habit, repression gathers the poison within. In indulgence you throw the
           poison on others, but they are not going to remain silent -- they will throw it back. It becomes a
           match: you throw your anger on others, they throw their anger on you -- but nobody is helped,
           everybody is harmed and hurt.
               And if you repress.... Because of this futility of indulgence, priests invented repression. It keeps
           you out of danger. Repression keeps you a good citizen, a gentleman. It keeps you out of the dangers
           of getting caught by the law, getting caught into enmity; it keeps you smooth. Repression helps you
           to become a better social person, that's true. But it makes you a wound inside, just a wound, and the
           pus goes on gathering inside. Outside it functions as a lubricating agent, but inside you become more
           and more mad.
               If this society and this century are the maddest in the whole history, the credit goes to the past.
           Five thousand years of saintly advice to people -- the credit goes to those saints. If people are
           becoming mad, if people are becoming insane, if people are committing suicide, if people are
           becoming murderous, the credit certainly goes to all your so-called saints, priests, preachers, leaders.
           They are responsible for it.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Just the other day I was telling you the Canadian government wants to investigate, make a deep
           investigation of this commune because one American citizen who was a sannyasin has committed
           suicide, and another American who was a sannyasin has gone mad too. Now, I wonder: the person
           who has committed suicide was sixty years old. He has been a Christian for sixty years, but
           Christianity is not investigated. And he has been a sannyasin for not even sixty days! The credit goes
           to Christianity, not to me.
               The man who went mad was a Protestant. Now, I am condemned because he was a sannyasin,
           but the Protestant church is not condemned. And he was brought up as a Protestant, he lived as a
           Protestant for thirty-five years, and for just a few days he was a sannyasin. Now, American society is
           not condemned.
               This is strange logic...and I am trying to help people. When he had come here, he was already
           mad. He has come here after six years of psychoanalysis; because psychoanalysis could not help him
           he had come here and became a sannyasin. Because the Protestant church and the priests could not
           help him, he had come here and become a sannyasin. But they had done such a good job that it was
           difficult to bring him back down to earth.
               And he did not remain here for long; he was here for only three weeks. Now, the credit cannot go
           to me. If he becomes mad, I cannot be held responsible. But this strange logic is there.
               Here, also, the same logic continues. If a sannyasin misbehaves, I am condemned. But so many
           Hindus are put in jail every day -- Hinduism is not condemned. So many Mohammedans misbehave,
           but Mohammedanism is not condemned. If a Sikh murders somebody, Sikhism is not condemned.
           This is a very stupid and absurd world.
               People come to me for help. Many are helped. Ninety-nine percent of people are helped. But the
           one percent has been damaged so much that it is almost impossible to help them. They can also be
           helped, but I am not allowed to help them.
               For example, an exhibitionist comes here who once in a while exposes himself naked. Now, he
           can be helped, easily helped -- if he is allowed to move naked. He is not dangerous; he is not doing
           any harm to anybody. He simply has this eccentric idea...he enjoys it to shock you. This is the way of
           shocking you, this is the way of gaining attention: he exposes himself naked. If he is simply allowed
           to move naked and nobody pays any attention to him, he will be cured.
               The cure is simple, very simple! Don't be shocked, and don't pay attention. It is to shock you and
           to get your attention that he is an exhibitionist. If nobody pays any attention, if he comes naked to
           you and you talk to him as if he is not naked, he will be puzzled. He will not be able to believe what
           is happening. He will go and look in the mirror to see whether he is naked or not! And what is the
           point? If nobody pays any attention and nobody is shocked, he may try wearing clothes -- maybe
           these are strange people and they can be shocked by wearing clothes!
               People can be helped, but the society does not allow me to help them. Even that one percent can
           be cured, because nobody is really incurable. But time will be needed, perseverance will be needed.
               Buddha says: WITH GREAT PERSEVERANCE HE MEDITATES, SEEKING FREEDOM
           AND HAPPINESS.
               Meditate -- meditation means watchfulness -- and you will attain to freedom and bliss.

              SO AWAKE, REFLECT, WATCH.
              WORK WITH CARE AND ATTENTION.
              LIVE IN THE WAY
              AND THE LIGHT WILL GROW IN YOU.


              The light grows of its own accord. You simply become more silent, more watchful, more
           meditative, and the light descends in you -- of its own accord. You need not go anywhere.

              BY WATCHING AND WORKING
              THE MASTER MAKES FOR HIMSELF AN ISLAND
              WHICH THE FLOOD CANNOT OVERWHELM.


              Your watchfulness becomes an island, a citadel, which no passion, no lust, no greed, no anger,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can possess. With that island, for the first time you become an integrated individual. For the first
           time you become a human being.
              This human being is absolutely needed today, this new human being -- homo novus.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                      Chapter #6
                                        Chapter title: Through a glass darkly
           26 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906260
              ShortTitle: DHAM106
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 107 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL LIKE I KNOW THE ANSWERS. WHY DO I STILL ALLOW THE QUESTIONS TO BECOME
              PROBLEMS?


               Savita, there are not answers, there is only the answer. And that answer is not of the mind, that
           answer cannot be of the mind. Mind is a multiplicity. Mind has answers and answers, but not the
           answer.
               That answer is a state of no-mind. It is not verbal. You can know it but you cannot reduce it to
           knowledge. You can know it, but you cannot say it. It is known in the innermost recesses of your
           being. It is light that simply illuminates your interiority.
               It is not an answer to any particular question. It is the end of all questioning, it refers to no
           question at all. It simply dissolves all the questions and a state is left without any question...that's the
           answer. Unless that is known, nothing is known.
               Hence, you may feel that you know the answers, but still questions will go on popping up, still
           questions will go on torturing you. Still questions are bound to arise because the root is not cut yet.
           New leaves will be sprouting, new branches will be arising.
               The root is cut only when you disconnect yourself from the mind, when you become so aware, so
           watchful that you can see the mind as separate from you. When all identity with the mind is dropped,
           when you are a watcher on the hills and the mind is left deep down in the darkness of the valleys,
           when you are on the sunlit peaks, just a pure witness, seeing, watching, but not getting identified
           with anything -- good or bad, sinner or saint, this or that -- in that witnessing all questions dissolve.
           The mind melts, evaporates. You are left as a pure being, just a pure existence -- a breathing, a
           beating of the heart, utterly in the moment, no past, no future, hence no present either.
               Unless that state arrives you will feel many times that you know the answers, but each answer
           will only create new questions. Each answer will trigger new chains of questions in you. You can
           read, you can study, you can think, but you will get more and more in the mire of the mind, more
           entangled, more entrapped. Slip out of the mind!
               Hence, I am not giving you answers, I am trying to point out the answer. You cannot use the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           plural for it because it is one. It is a state of utter silence, peace, no-thought. Buddha calls it right
           mindfulness -- sammasati. And he says that those who are rightly mindful, alert, aware, the truth
           comes to them of its own accord. You need not go anywhere, it comes. You need not even seek and
           search, because how can you seek and search? Out of your ignorance, whatsoever you do will bring
           more ignorance. Out of your ignorance, wherever you go you will go astray. Out of your confusion,
           how can you find clarity? Out of your confusion you will become more and more confused -- in
           search of clarity.
               Hence Buddha says: The master watches, the master is clear. Aes dhammo sanantano -- this is
           the law, the ultimate, eternal, inexhaustible law.
               To be silent is to have the answer. To be silent is to be without questions...and the root is cut,
           then no leaves arrive anymore.
           Savita, you say, "I feel like I know the answers."
               That is only an illusion. And the mind is very clever in creating new illusions. The mind is very
           deceptive: it can deceive you in knowledge too. It can deceive you in everything! It can even make
           you believe that you are enlightened, that you are a buddha already. Beware! The only enemy is the
           mind; there is no other enemy.
               The old scriptures talk about the mind. They have a special name for it -- they call it the Devil.
           The Devil is not somebody outside you; it is your own mind that goes on tempting you, that goes on
           cheating you, deceiving you, that goes on creating new illusions in you. Beware, watch the mind!
           And in watching, questions disappear -- not that they are answered, let me repeat it again.
               The buddha knows no answers -- not that he has come to the conclusion of all questions, no, not
           at all. On the contrary, he has no questions anymore. Because he has no questions anymore, his
           whole being has become the answer.
           Savita, that moment is possible.
               That's my whole work here. I am not here to give you more information; that you can get
           anywhere. Thousands of universities exist, thousands of libraries exist. Information you can get
           anywhere, you can become knowledgeable anywhere. My effort is to make you unlearn whatsoever
           you have learned up to now, to make you innocent so that you can start functioning from a state of
           not-knowing. So that you don't have any answers, so that you act spontaneously, not out of the past
           and out of the conclusions already arrived at. So that you don't have any ready-made formula for
           anything...so that you are like a small child mirroring reality.
               And when you are silent, no knowledge clamoring inside you, your perception is clear -- no dust
           on the mirror...you reflect that which is. And out of that reflection whatever action arises is virtue.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU WANT US TO BE INDIVIDUALS, BUT DURING WORK IN THE ASHRAM WE HAVE TO BE
              VERY DISCIPLINED. DISCIPLINE AND INDIVIDUALISM -- ARE THEY NOT DIAMETRICALLY
              OPPOSITE?


                Sudarshan, I would like you to be individuals, but not individualists. And there is a great
           difference. The individualist is not an individual yet. The individualist who believes in individualism
           is only an egoist. And to be an egoist is not to be an individual. Just the contrary: the individual has
           no ego, and the ego has no individuality.
                The ego is such an ordinary phenomenon -- everybody has it! There is nothing special about it,
           there is nothing unique about it. Everybody has the ego. It is so common! The uncommon thing is
           egolessness.
                Only an egoless consciousness attains to individuality. And by individuality I simply mean the
           literal meaning of the word: individual means indivisible, individual means integrated; individual
           means one who is not many, who is not a crowd, who is not multipsychic; one who has attained to
           unity, one who has become a crystallized being. Gurdjieff uses the word 'crystallization' for
           individuality. But the basic requirement for crystallization is to drop the ego, because ego is a false
           entity. It won't allow you to be real, it won't allow you to be authentically real. It won't allow you to
           grow. It is false, it is a deception, it is an illusion. You are not separate from existence, but the ego
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           goes on pretending separation.
                And the other word that you have used in the question also has to be understood: discipline.
           Discipline does not mean anything imposed upon you. Nothing is imposed in this commune. If you
           enter this commune it is at your own choice. The doors are open -- you can leave any moment. In
           fact, entry is difficult and we make every possible effort to help you to leave. Nobody is hindered
           from leaving, although every possible effort is made to hinder you from entering. Entry is very
           difficult.
                If you choose to become part of this commune it is your decision -- your readiness to commit
           yourself, to be involved.
                Out of this decision a discipline arises. You can choose to get out of the commune, but once you
           are in the commune it means that you have taken a responsibility. And it is only through
           responsibility that one grows. By fulfilling one's responsibility totally, growth becomes possible.
                There are a few people here, only a few, who go on trying to deceive the commune. They are
           simply befooling themselves; nobody is befooled! They don't want to work, they try to avoid it in
           every possible way. They find excuses, they even fall ill just to avoid work. But this is so stupid!
           You have entered the commune to work upon yourself. You have entered the commune to make a
           concentrated effort to become an integrated individual. You have entered the commune for your
           spiritual growth, for enlightenment. And if you avoid...and that seems to be the real question behind
           the apparent question.
                You say, Sudarshan, "Individualism and discipline -- are they not diametrically opposite?"
                They are not! An individual is always a disciplined phenomenon. One who is not disciplined is
           not an individual; he is just a chaos, he is many fragments. All those fragments are functioning
           separately, even in opposition to each other. That's how people are ordinarily: one part of the mind
           going to the south, another part going to the north; one part saying one thing, another part opposing
           it. You know it! I am simply stating a fact -- you can observe it. One part says "Do this." Another
           part immediately says "No!" Something says "Yes," and something immediately destroys it by
           saying "No."
                This is your situation! You are an individual in such a situation, when you cannot even say a total
           yes or a total no? Your no is always halfhearted and your yes too -- and you think you are an
           individual?
                An individual means one who can function as a totality, as an organic unity. How are you going
           to become an organic unity? It can only be through conscious discipline.
                That's what Buddha is saying again and again: perseverance, effort, a conscious, deliberate effort
           to grow -- and total effort, not lukewarm. You have to boil at a hundred degrees. Yes, sometimes it is
           painful, but it all depends on you, on how you interpret it. If you really want to grow it is not painful
           -- it is tremendously pleasant. Each step deeper into discipline brings more and more joy, because it
           gives you more and more soul, being.
                Discipline means readiness to learn; hence the word 'disciple', they come from the same root.
           Who is a disciple? -- one who bows down, surrenders, and is ready to learn. And what is discipline?
           -- the readiness, the openness, the vulnerability, to learn.
                Entering into this commune you are entering into a buddhafield. It is a surrender, it is a trust! I
           am here to make you individuals, but you will have to pass through many many devices. Many fires
           you will have to pass through, many tests. Only then, slowly slowly, will you be welded into one
           unity. And you have remained a multiplicity for so long, for so many lives, that unless concentrated
           effort is made, unless you are attacked from every nook and corner, unless your sleep is broken in
           every possible way, you are shaken and shocked, the individual is not going to be born.
                The work that is happening in the commune is not really what it appears from the surface. It is
           something else -- it is a device! We have to use devices.
                Somebody comes to me and wants to become part of the commune, and I say to him, "Go to
           Deeksha." Deeksha is my device! I have given her total power -- and I have given her total power
           because she is so loving, so soft, so caring. She wounds people, but she heals also. By one hand she
           hammers, by the other she consoles. She is a device.
                And when I say to you, "Go and work with Deeksha," and she shouts at you and in every
           possible way she provokes you, it is discipline to watch -- not to act in your old ways, as you have
           always acted. And she is so motherly that it is very simple to react to her as you have been reacting
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to your own parents. It is very simple that she will create a reaction in you that your mother creates
           in you. Mothers are intolerable creatures -- and Deeksha is a perfect mother!
               I know, Sudarshan, it is difficult -- but growth is difficult. Many more devices are going to be
           created. You will be sent to many dimensions. No corner of your being has to be left undeveloped,
           otherwise you will become lopsided.
               And the first principle of discipline is surrender. Apparently it looks contradictory, because that's
           what you have been told: that if you surrender, then you are no longer an individual. And I say to
           you, if you cannot surrender you are not an individual. Only an individual can surrender. Surrender
           is such a great phenomenon, only a man of great will can surrender. It is the ultimate in will. To drop
           your will is bound to be the ultimate in will. To put yourself aside, absolutely aside, and to say to
           something such a total yes -- which your mind resists, your old habits resist....
               And sometimes you are right -- and that's where the whole beauty lies. You are right, and still
           you have to surrender to something which does not appear at all right logically.
               Deeksha is crazy! You may be far more intellectual, far more rational -- but you have to
           surrender to Deeksha. Her craziness is her quality -- that's why I have chosen her. I have got many
           more rational people: I could have chosen a Ph.D. who would have convinced you that he is right.
           But when you are convinced and you follow, it is not surrender. When you are not convinced at all,
           you see the apparent stupidity of a certain thing, and still you surrender, that is a great step, a great
           step of getting out of your past.
               This commune is a lab, this commune is an alchemical process. You come here as a crowd and I
           have to weld you into unity. Much hammering is going to happen, and you will come out of this
           whole process as pure individuals.
               Discipline is the way to create individuality. But remember: to be an individual is not to be an
           individualist. Individualism is an ego trip. And the people who believe in individualism are not
           individuals, remember -- remember well. Deep down they know they are not individuals, hence they
           create a facade of philosophy, of logic, of argument, because deep down they don't feel they are
           individuals. They pretend on the outside that they are individuals -- they believe in individualism.
           Believing in individualism is not becoming an individual. Belief is always false.
               When you are an individual you need not believe in individualism. When it is a truth of your
           being, belief is not needed. Belief is needed only to cover things: you don't know about God and you
           believe in God. The believer is an atheist. He may be a Christian, a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a
           Buddhist, it doesn't matter: a believer is an atheist. He does not know about God, and still he
           believes. That means he is even trying to deceive God! He is a hypocrite, he is a parrot. Parrotlike he
           goes on repeating what the scriptures say, what others say. And parrots can repeat beautifully,
           without understanding a thing, without knowing a thing, mechanically.

               A Negro walked into a pet store in Harlem, wanting to buy a good talking parrot. The proprietor
           told him that they had a wide selection of parrots, so what sort did he want?
               The Negro asked to see a fifty-dollar parrot. "Polly wanna cracker? Polly wanna cracker?" he
           called as soon as the parrot appeared. The parrot said nothing.
           "I wanna parrot that talks good," he said. "Show me a good one."
               So the proprietor brought out a two-hundred-dollar parrot: "Polly wanna cracker? Polly wanna
           cracker?" No answer.
           "You gotta better parrot than this?" asked the Negro.
               The proprietor said yes, and led the Negro behind the counter, to where the thousand-dollar
           parrot, beautifully plumaged with sparkling beady eyes, clearly a very special parrot, sat proudly in a
           luxurious cage.
           "Polly wanna cracker? Polly wanna cracker?" came from the Negro, but the parrot didn't even look
           up.
           "Man, this your best parrot?" asked the Negro, "because I wanna a good talker and this one looks
           dumb."
               The proprietor took him to the back of the shop where in a special polished brass cage the size of
           a small room sat the pride of the proprietor's collection -- a five-thousand-dollar parrot. The parrot,
           dressed in a silk smoking jacket and sitting on a quilted perch, was smoking a pipe and reading the
           FINANCIAL TIMES.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Polly wanna a cracker? Polly wanna cracker?" the Negro yelled.
              The parrot sniffed and looked at him over his gold-rimmed spectacles with aristocratic disdain.
           "Polly wanna cracker? Polly wanna cracker?" the Negro yelled again.
           "Polly wanna cracker?" said the parrot in an impeccable Oxford accent. "Nigger wanna
           watermelon?"

               The believer is a parrot. The believer knows nothing. The believer is an atheist in disguise. He is
           trying to befool himself, the world and even God.
               The man who believes in individualism is not an individual. The man who is really an individual
           need not believe -- he knows it, so what is the point of believing? Belief is always needed in
           ignorance, and individualism is a belief. To be an individual is an experience! Individualism is very
           cheap, but to be an individual needs arduous discipline. It needs great perseverance, work,
           watchfulness. It comes only out of years of effort in awareness, in meditation.
               And whatsoever is happening here in this commune, Sudarshan, is nothing but different ways to
           introduce you to meditation. In the kitchen, in the carpentry shop, in the soap workshop, in the
           boutique -- whatsoever is happening, apparently it looks as if it is the same ordinary thing as happens
           everywhere else. It is not. If you go and see the carpenters working, of course they go on working
           like any other carpenters anywhere else -- but with a different quality. That quality cannot be seen.
           You will have to become a participant, only then will you slowly feel it. That quality is of trust, love.
               My sannyasins are here because they love me, for no other reason. They are simply here with me
           to be here with me. For the sake of being here with me they are ready to do anything. But whatsoever
           they are doing is only the outer part. You will see the body of the work but you will not be able to
           see the spirit of the work. For that you will have to become a participant.
               And, Sudarshan, it seems that you are still a spectator. Maybe you are working in the commune,
           but still you have not become a participant -- otherwise such a question would have been impossible.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY AM I FEELING I AM MISSING SOMETHING? THAT I SHOULD BE SOMETHING ELSE?
              PLEASE HELP ME LET GO OF THIS GARBAGE.


                Dhyana Yogi, if it is garbage, if you really understand that it is garbage, then there is no question
           of helping you drop it. Knowing it as garbage is dropping it!
                But is seems that you have heard me say that it is garbage. It has become a belief in you; it is not
           your own knowing, it is not your own experience. You are still clinging to it.
                Deep down you still think it is precious, it is not garbage. Deep down you still think these are
           diamonds not pebbles. Deep down somewhere you still believe it is a treasure to be protected and
           guarded.
                Don't start believing me, because that will make no difference. You were believing in
           Mohammed, or you were believing in Christ, or in Buddha, and then you come and you start
           believing in me. That is not a revolution, that is not conversion. You simply change the object of
           your belief, but the belief remains -- the same believing mind. You believe in Jesus, but Jesus speaks
           the language which is now two thousand years old. You cannot make much sense out of it; the
           context is lost in which it was relevant. I speak the language of the twentieth century. You can make
           sense out of it, so you withdraw your belief from Jesus and you start believing in me. This is very
           simple and cheap.
                I am not saying believe in me. I am saying drop all believing and start seeing, because belief will
           remain a blindness -- start seeing! Is it really garbage that you are carrying? Is it your understanding
           that it is garbage? Then you will not ask how to drop it. Nobody asks how to drop garbage. The
           problem arises only because deep down you know yourself that it is gold. And somebody says that it
           is garbage and says it very convincingly, and you cannot argue, and he silences you. And the man
           has such authenticity, such integrity, that in his presence you simply become overflooded with his
           being. You simply start saying, "Yes, it is garbage." But deep down you still know it is not garbage,
           it is gold! Hence the problem arises: how to drop it?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you understand on your own that it is garbage, you will never ask how to drop it. Seeing it as
           garbage is dropping it, knowing it as garbage is dropping it! The garbage is not clinging to you --
           you are clinging to it. The garbage cares nothing about you, the garbage is not interested in you. If
           you drop it, it is not going to make much fuss about it -- "Why are you dropping me?" It will not say
           a single word, it will not create any problem for you. It will not go to the court. You need not have a
           divorce! If you drop it, the garbage will be really more happy than it is now. It will be finished with
           you, it will be free from you. It must be getting tired of you. It is you who are clinging to it. Why are
           you clinging to it? Why does one cling to something? -- because deep down one goes on believing it
           is precious.
                Dhyana Yogi, you say, "Why am I feeling I am missing something?"
                Because from your very childhood you have been told that in yourself, intrinsically, you are
           worthless. As you are you have no value. The value has to be attained, the worth has to be proved.
           From your very childhood you have been taught this millions of times. The parents, the teachers, the
           priests, the politicians, they are all in a secret conspiracy to destroy the child. And the best way to
           destroy a child is to destroy his trust in himself.
                To destroy the trust in the child you have to prove to the child that worth is not a given
           phenomenon, that it has to be achieved in life and you can miss it. Unless you work, unless you are
           very ambitious, unless you struggle with others.... It is a tooth and nail fight and you have to cut each
           other's throats to achieve it. You are being conditioned to be violent, ambitious, full of desires: to
           have more money, to have more power, to have more prestige. Because you have been told that
           intrinsically you don't have any worth, this problem has arisen.
                And I say that you are intrinsically worthy, that you are born as buddhas. Unaware you are,
           utterly oblivious of the reality of your own being, but you are hidden gods. What I am saying is so
           totally different from what has been told to you, that a problem has arisen. I say you are buddhas --
           right now you are buddhas! -- but the whole training and teaching, conditioning is: How can you be a
           buddha right now? Tomorrow maybe, one day certainly, in some future life it is going to
           happen...but right now? It seems impossible.
                You have believed too much in your parents, in your teachers, in your politicians, in your priests,
           and whatsoever they have told you, you have collected it. It is garbage, but you have carried the
           garbage for so long that suddenly to drop it seems impossible -- so long you have remained attached
           to it, so long you have thought it beautiful, precious, nourishing. Now I say: It is all nonsense! Drop
           it, and just be a buddha from this very moment! It is not a question of attaining, it is only a question
           of becoming aware. It is only a question of becoming conscious, alert, awake, not a question of
           achievement.
                So you listen to me: one part of your mind says, "Yes, the Master must be right!" One part of you
           simply nods yes, because what is being said is a simple truth of life. But all your training is against
           it. When you are close to me you start feeling it is true. When you go away from me the mind jumps
           back upon you -- with vengeance. And of course it is very powerful. The mind is so powerful, that's
           why it destroys your intelligence.
                Intelligence has nothing to do with the mind; intelligence has something to do with the heart. It is
           the quality of the heart. Intellectuality is the quality of the head. The intellectual is not necessarily an
           intelligent person and the intelligent person is not necessarily an intellectual.
                Your intellect is full of garbage -- and I am trying to wake up your intelligence. And the whole
           society has tried to make you unaware of your intelligence. The society is against your intelligence.
           It wants you to be mediocre, because only mediocre people can be good slaves. It wants you to be
           unintelligent and stupid, because only stupid people can be dominated.
                And stupid people are obedient, stupid people are never rebellious, and stupid people simply
           vegetate. They don't make any effort to live their lives at the optimum. They don't try to burn their
           torch of life from both ends simultaneously. They don't have intensity. Stupidity is obedient, and
           obedience creates stupidity.

              A rather simple dude rode into town in the middle of the day stark naked. The sheriff called him
           over and said, "Jake, what are you doing riding into town with no clothes on?"
           "Well, sheriff," said Jake, "it is a long story. I was riding into town to get some provisions for my pa,
           when I came across this lady on the side of the road who asked me for some help. Now my daddy
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           always told me to help gentle lady folk, so I got off my horse and helped her carry her picnic basket
           down to the river. Then I helped her lay out her blanket, and helped her with everything she asked
           me to do. Then she said, 'How about taking your boots off, cowboy?' So I did, sheriff, and then she
           said, 'How about taking your clothes off, cowboy?' And I said, 'Sure thing, Ma'am.' And she was
           there on that rug, naked as the day she was born. Then she lay back and said, 'Go to town
           cowboy!'...and so here I am, sheriff."

                Obedience is a form of stupidity -- and the society wants you to be stupid. Stupid people are
           good people. They remain always with the status quo, they never go against it. Even if they see the
           rottenness of things, they simply close their eyes, or they are always ready to accept any stupid
           explanation.
                For example, this country has been poor for centuries, starving, suffering. But because people are
           religious, obedient, stupid, they have been given any kind of explanation and they have accepted it.
           Some believe that God has made them poor because poverty is something very pious. They worship
           poverty; in India poverty is worshipped. If you renounce your riches and you become a naked fakir,
           millions of people will think you are a great sage. You may be simply stupid, but just because you
           have renounced riches you are a great sage. I have seen many stupid sages.
                Now it is a contradiction in terms -- how can a stupid person be a sage? A sage has to be wise!
           But it is very difficult in this world to be wise and be worshipped. Wise people are to be murdered,
           crucified, poisoned. Stupid people are worshipped. Stupid people simply follow whatever the society
           says. Whatsoever the society wants them to do, they simply do it. So a few people have been
           worshipping poverty.
                Gandhi used to call poor people daridra narayana -- "the poor are divine." Poverty is divine!
           The poor people are gods! If this is true then who would not like to be poor? If poor people are gods,
           who would not like to be a god?
                And then there are other explanations: that you are poor because in your past lives you have
           committed sins. Those explanations have been invented for those people who don't believe in God.
           The Jainas, the Buddhists, they don't believe in God so you cannot give the first explanation to them.
           They need another explanation: the theory of karma. But the purpose is the same! If you have
           committed sins in your past life, then it is better to be finished with the karma. Go through poverty,
           and go through poverty without any resistance. If you create any resistance, you will again be
           creating bad karma and you will suffer in your future life. Enough, after all, is enough! Now be
           finished with the whole thing -- suffer at this moment contentedly. So people have become cows and
           buffaloes; they are suffering contentedly, no resistance, no rebellion.
                The society wants you to be stupid, not intelligent. Intelligence is dangerous. Intelligence means
           you will start thinking on your own, you will start looking around on your own. You will not believe
           in the scriptures; you will believe only in your own experience.
           Dhyana Yogi, please don't believe in what I say.
                Experiment, meditate, experience -- unless it becomes your own understanding, nothing is going
           to help.
                You ask me, "Why am I feeling that I am missing something?"
                ...Because you have been told always that you have to find something. Now you are not finding
           it, so the feeling arises that you are missing. And I am telling you, you have never lost it in the first
           place! Please stop trying to find it, stop seeking and searching. You have it already! Whatsoever is
           needed, you have it already. Just look within and you will find infinite treasures, inexhaustible
           treasures of joy, love, ecstasy.
                Nothing is being missed if you look in, but if you go on searching outside you will feel more and
           more frustrated. And as you grow older, of course, you will feel that your life is slipping out of your
           hands and you have not found it yet. And the whole irony is that you have not lost it in the first
           place. It has always been within you...it is this moment within you.
                But don't believe me. I am not here to create believers, I am here to help you experience. The
           moment it becomes your experience, it liberates. Truth liberates, says Jesus -- not belief but truth.
                But my truth cannot be your truth; my truth will be your belief. Only your truth can be true to
           you. Truth certainly liberates, but let me add that the truth has to be your truth. Nobody else's truth
           can liberate you. Somebody else's truth will become only an imprisonment.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Dhyana Yogi, you are not missing anything. Nobody is missing. In the nature of things we
           cannot miss it. We are part of God and God is part of us. There is no way, no possible way to miss it.
           How can you escape from yourself? Where? Wherever you go you will remain yourself. Even in hell
           you will remain yourself, because you cannot escape from yourself, you cannot escape from God.
               It is there waiting, patiently waiting for you to look in.
           You say, "...that I should be something else?"
               That has been told to you again and again: "Be somebody! Look at Gautam Buddha, at Krishna,
           at Christ. Be a Buddha, be a Krishna, be a Christ!" Then certainly you will die in misery, in anguish,
           frustrated -- utterly frustrated, crying and weeping -- because you cannot be a Buddha. You are not
           meant to be a Buddha! You cannot be a Christ, you cannot be a Krishna. You can only be yourself.

               A great Hassid master, Zusiya, was dying. People had gathered -- disciples, sympathizers.
           Somebody asked, an old man, "Zusiya, when you are facing God -- and soon you will be facing God
           because you are dying -- will you be able to say to him that you followed Moses absolutely,
           truthfully?"
               Zusiya opened his eyes, and these were his last words. He said, "Stop talking nonsense! God is
           not going to ask me, 'Zusiya, why were you not a Moses?' He will ask me, 'Zusiya, why were you not
           a Zusiya?'"

               You have to be just yourself and nobody else. And in fact that's what buddhahood means: to be
           yourself. That is what christ-consciousness means: just to be yourself. Buddha was not an imitation
           of somebody else. Don't you think there were many many great men who had preceded him? He
           must have been told, "Be a Krishna! Be a Parshvanath! Be an Adinatha!" He must have heard
           beautiful stories, mythologies. He must have read the PURANAS, ancient stories about the great
           men, Rama, Krishna, Parasuram. He must have heard all that, he must have received the heritage.
           But he never tried to be somebody. He wanted to be himself, he wanted to know who he is. He never
           became an imitator; that's why one day he became awakened.
               Jesus never tried to be Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel. Jesus simply tried to be himself. That was his
           crime, that's why he was crucified. The same people who crucified Jesus would have worshipped
           him if he had simply been an imitator, a carbon copy of Moses. If he had been just a gramophone
           record repeating the Ten Commandments, the Jews would have worshipped him. But they had to
           crucify the man -- he was just himself.
               The rotten society, the crowd, the mob mind, cannot tolerate individuals. It is impossible for
           them to tolerate a Socrates. Do you know what the charge was against Socrates? Exactly the same
           thing is said about me! This was the crime of Socrates, that he used to corrupt the minds of the
           youth. That's exactly what my enemies say: that I am corrupting people's minds, particularly the
           minds of the youth.
               Socrates was corrupting the minds of the youth? He was trying to awaken their intelligence, but
           the society became afraid. If so many people become so authentic, true, then the vested interests are
           in danger. Then you cannot drive people like cattle. And that's what priests enjoy, and the politicians
           too.
               There is a conspiracy between the priest and the politician to exploit people, to dominate people,
           to oppress people. And the fundamental is: never allow them to become intelligent. Give them
           substitutes. What is the substitute for intelligence? -- intellectuality. Give them education; send them
           to the school, to the college, to the university, so they become intellectuals.
               Have you ever heard of universities creating intelligence? They create intellectuals, they create
           scholars, they create people who know the scriptures -- to the very word they can repeat the
           scriptures -- but they don't create intelligent people. They serve society; the educational system is
           invented by this rotten society to serve its own purposes. It is not there to help you, it is there to keep
           you in bondage.
               Dhyana Yogi, I cannot help you let go of this garbage, I can only help you to be more conscious.
           And if you are conscious the garbage will be dropped of its own accord. One day suddenly you will
           find it disappearing...suddenly disappearing. As consciousness deepens, all garbage disappears -- just
           as you bring light in and darkness disperses.
               Buddha says: Become more aware and the light will start pouring in...aes dhammo sanantano.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I OFTEN READ THE 'HYMN TO LOVE' IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THIS
              IS EXACTLY YOUR MESSAGE. ALSO, IT IS SIGNIFICANT THAT IT NEVER ACTUALLY USES THE
              WORD 'GOD'. I CAN FIND NOTHING TO CONTRADICT YOUR BASIC MESSAGE IN THIS LOVELY
              POEM. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT SEEMS TO BE EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IN YOUR
              DISCOURSES. AM I RIGHT?
              YOU HAVE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL VOICE THAT IT WOULD BE REALLY NICE TO HEAR YOU SAY
              SOME OR ALL OF IT, ESPECIALLY AS I FEEL YOU WILL SOON STOP TALKING PUBLICLY
              ALTOGETHER. HERE IS A COPY OF THE HYMN.


               Premartha, the message of all the buddhas is always the same because the truth is one.
           Expressions may differ, different languages may be used, but that which is indicated towards is the
           same.
               Millions of fingers can point to the same moon. Fingers are bound to be different -- my finger is
           different from the finger of Jesus or Buddha or Moses or Abraham -- but the moon is the same. And
           this hymn is a beautiful finger pointing to the moon. It is the very essence of all the teachings of all
           the buddhas of all the ages -- past, present, and future too.

              THOUGH I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN AND ANGELS, AND HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM
              BECOME AS SOUNDING BRASS OR A TINKLING CYMBAL. AND THOUGH I HAVE THE GIFT OF
              PROPHECY, AND UNDERSTAND ALL MYSTERIES, AND ALL KNOWLEDGE; AND THOUGH I
              HAVE ALL FAITH, SO THAT I COULD REMOVE MOUNTAINS, AND HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM
              NOTHING. AND THOUGH I BESTOW ALL MY GOODS TO FEED THE POOR, AND THOUGH I
              GIVE MY BODY TO BE BURNED, AND HAVE NOT LOVE, IT PROFITETH ME NOTHING.



              LOVE SUFFERETH LONG, AND IS KIND; LOVE ENVIETH NOT; LOVE VAUNTETH NOT ITSELF, IS
              NOT PUFFED UP, DOTH NOT BEHAVE ITSELF UNSEEMLY, SEEKETH NOT HER OWN, IS NOT
              EASILY PROVOKED, THINKETH NO EVIL; REJOICETH NOT IN INIQUITY, BUT REJOICETH IN
              THE TRUTH; BEARETH ALL THINGS, BELIEVETH ALL THINGS, HOPETH ALL THINGS,
              ENDURETH ALL THINGS.



              LOVE NEVER FAILETH: BUT WHETHER THERE BE PROPHECIES, THEY SHALL FAIL;
              WHETHER THERE BE TONGUES, THEY SHALL CEASE; WHETHER THERE BE KNOWLEDGE, IT
              SHALL VANISH AWAY. FOR WE KNOW IN PART, AND WE PROPHESY IN PART. BUT WHEN
              THAT WHICH IS PERFECT IS COME THEN THAT WHICH IS PART SHALL BE DONE AWAY.
              WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I SPAKE AS A CHILD, I UNDERSTOOD AS A CHILD, I THOUGHT AS A
              CHILD; BUT WHEN I BECAME A MAN, I PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS. FOR NOW WE SEE
              THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY; BUT THEN FACE-TO-FACE. NOW I KNOW IN PART, BUT THEN
              SHALL I KNOW EVEN AS ALSO I AM KNOWN. AND NOW ABIDETH FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, THESE
              THREE; BUT THE GREATEST OF ALL THESE IS LOVE.


               These are the essential qualities of a religious person. This is my message -- this is the message!
               The language is old, and because it is old it has a beauty of its own, because the older the
           language is, the more poetry it has. As we have become more and more scientific our language has
           also become more and more scientific.
               As the hymn is two thousand years old, it has something of primitive innocence in it, the
           childlike quality of wonder, of being surprised at the mysterious. But, Premartha, you are perfectly
           right: there is nothing in it which contradicts me, and there is nothing in it which I would like to
           contradict either. Whosoever said it must have been an awakened one.
               But don't go on simply repeating it. It is beautiful to repeat, it is beautiful to sing it, but not
           enough. Practice it, let it become the very flavor of your life. Let it be dissolved into your blood, into
           your bones, into your marrow. Let it surround you like an invisible aura. Don't go on simply
           repeating it. It is beautiful -- and that is the danger. You can become so charmed, so hypnotized by
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           its beauty, that you may go on repeating it your whole life. And the more you repeat, the more
           beautiful it will look...because these ancient messages have tremendous power and many layers of
           meaning.
               But don't go into the linguistic or philosophical analysis of it. It is a prayer! -- and a prayer is not
           something to be said but something to be felt. A prayer is not something to be read but something to
           be lived. Live it!
               It is true: AND NOW ABIDETH FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, THESE THREE; BUT THE
           GREATEST OF ALL THESE IS LOVE.
               You can think about love, you can have beautiful flights of imagination about love, you can have
           beautiful dreams about love, but that is not going to help. What is going to help is, you have to
           become love. Love has to become your essential core. Everything else has to be sacrificed to love,
           everything else has to become part of your loving life.
               Then only will this prayer be true for you. And then it will not be Christian, then it will not
           belong to the New Testament. It will be something that is part of your heart; you will breathe it. And
           whosoever will come close to you will have a little glimpse of it. A little light will be shed on
           everybody's path...if you live it.
               Scriptures can be understood only if first they are practiced. People do just the opposite: they
           read the scripture and they try to understand it. Intellectually it is not difficult to understand those
           scriptures, they are simple. People become very proficient, very efficient, in repeating the scriptures
           -- and they end with that. They remain parrots.
               And what can you understand about it? Intellectually whatsoever you understand will not be
           right, because it will reflect your state of mind, not the state of the mind who uttered these words.

               A retired cattle rancher, aged sixty-five, who had sold his ranch and come to New York to see
           the sights, checked into a midtown hotel.
               Once upstairs, he made himself comfortable and relaxed on the bed. While he was resting, he
           saw the door slowly open, and there standing before him was a curvaceous blonde attired only in a
           sheer negligee.
           "Oh," she apologized when she saw the old fellow, "I must be in the wrong room."
           "No," he corrected, "you are in the right room, but you are about forty years too late!"

              The interpretation is always going to be yours. You can read Jesus, you can read Buddha, but
           who is going to interpret it? You will interpret it. And what is your understanding? What light have
           you got? Those beautiful sayings will remain just beautiful sayings, beautiful nothings. Yes, good
           poetry, but poetry cannot liberate you unless it becomes your own experience, unless you can
           become a witness to the scriptures.

           "Your continual unfaithfulness proves you are an absolute rotter," stormed the outraged wife who
           had just caught her husband for the seventh time in a sportive romp with another woman.
           "Quite the contrary!" came the cool reply. "It merely proves that I am too good to be true."

               Your interpretations will always reflect you. When you look in the mirror you will be looking at
           your face, you will be looking at yourself. You can't see the mirror, you can only see your face
           reflected in it. You will be able to see the mirror only when you have lost your face, when you have
           lost your head, when you are not. When you have become a nothing, a nobody, then stand before a
           mirror and you will see the mirror and its mirroring and you will not be mirrored in it, you will not
           be reflected in it. You will not be present there. Before you become an absence, going before the
           mirror is of no use.
               And that's what people go on doing: reading the Bible, the Koran, THE DHAMMAPADA, they
           read themselves.

               The worried mother was lecturing her teenage daughter on the subject of sex morality. "Of
           course I realize you may be tempted while you are out on a date. If you are, dear, please ask yourself
           this all-important question: is an hour of pleasure worth an entire life of humiliation?"
           "Gosh, mother," asked the daughter, "how do you make it last an hour?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Remember always, you cannot understand Jesus, Moses, Zarathustra. Your face will come in it
           too much.

              A newly wed patient was complaining to his doctor about his marital relations. It seems the first
           time he makes love to his spouse it is just wonderful, but the second time, he is perspired and
           sweaty.
              The medicine man decided to consult the wife. "Isn't it odd," the medico asks the missus when
           she arrives, "that it is just wonderful the first time and the second time he is all perspired and
           sweaty?"
           "Why should it be odd?" she smirks. "The first time it is in January and the second time it is July!"

               You cannot go directly into the sayings of the buddhas. First you will have to go inside yourself.
           The basic encounter has to be with your own originality, and then all the buddhas will become clear
           to you. And then one thing more starts happening: then Jesus and Buddha and Moses and
           Mohammed are not saying different things -- they are saying the same things.
               Unless a person becomes a witness to the ultimate truth himself, he will go on thinking that
           Buddha is saying one thing and Jesus is saying something contrary; that Buddhism is against
           Hinduism, that Hinduism is against Jainism, that Jainism is against Mohammedanism. Unless you
           witness the truth you will go on believing these three hundred religions, and you will be part of the
           quarrel, the conflict, the antagonism that goes on between these religions continuously. The day you
           see the truth of your own being, all these three hundred religions simply disappear, evaporate.

               Once -- just like Premartha -- a Christian missionary went to see a Zen master. He wanted to
           convert the Zen master, so he had brought the Sermon on the Mount with him. He started reading the
           Sermon on the Mount: he had read only the first two or three sentences, and the Zen master said,
           "Stop! Whosoever said it was a buddha!"
               The missionary was surprised. He said, "But these are the words of Jesus!"
               The master said, "It doesn't matter what the name of the buddha is, but whosoever said this was a
           buddha. He had arrived."

              And I say this to you because I know too. Once you have tasted, you will know. In whatsoever
           form the truth comes you will immediately recognize it. But first become a witness.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ONLY ONE STEP?


               Digambara, yes, in fact, not even one...because we are not to go anywhere. We are already in
           God! I say "only one step" just to console you, because without any steps you will be too puzzled. I
           reduce it to the minimum, only one step, so that something remains for you to do, because you
           understand only the language of doing. You are a doer! If I say, "Nothing has to be done, not even a
           single step has to be taken," you will be at a loss how to make any head or tail of it.
               The truth is, not even a single step is needed. Sitting silently doing nothing, the spring comes and
           the grass grows by itself. But that may be too much. Your doer mind may simply ignore it or may
           think it is all nonsense. How can you achieve God without doing anything? Yes, a shortcut the mind
           can understand; that's why I say, "a single step." That is the shortest -- it cannot be reduced to less
           than that.
               A single step! That is just to make you understand that doing is nonessential. To attain to being,
           doing is absolutely nonessential. When you are agreed and convinced that only one step is needed,
           then I will whisper in your ear, "Not even one -- you are already there!"

              Rabiya, a great Sufi mystic, was passing.... It was the street she used to pass every day on her
           way to the marketplace, because in the marketplace she would go every day and shout the truth that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           she had attained. And for many days she had been watching a mystic, a well-known mystic, Hassan,
           sitting before the door of the mosque and praying to God, "God, open the door! Please open the
           door! Let me in!"
                Rabiya could not tolerate it that day. Hassan was crying, tears were rolling down, and he was
           shouting again and again, "Open the door! Let me in! Why don't you listen? Why don't you hear my
           prayers?"
                Every day she had laughed, whenever she had heard Hassan she had laughed, but it was too
           much today. Tears...and Hassan was really crying, weeping, crying his heart out. She went, she
           shook Hassan, and said, "Stop all this nonsense! The door is open -- in fact you are already in!"
                Hassan looked at Rabiya, and that moment became a moment of revelation. Looking into the
           eyes of Rabiya, he bowed down, touched her feet, and said, "You came in time; otherwise I would
           have called my whole life! For years I have been doing this -- where have you been before? And I
           know you pass this street every day. You must have seen me crying, praying."
                Rabiya said, "Yes, but truth can only be said at a certain moment, in a certain space, in a certain
           context. I was waiting for the right, ripe moment. Today it has arrived; hence I came close to you.
           Yesterday if I had told you, you would have felt irritated; you may have even become angry. You
           may have reacted antagonistically; you may have told me, 'You have disturbed my prayer!' -- and it
           is not right to disturb anybody's prayer."
                Even the king is not allowed to disturb the prayer of a beggar. Even if a criminal, a murderer, is
           praying in Mohammedan countries, the police have to wait till he finishes his prayer, only then can
           he be caught. Prayer should not be disturbed.
                Rabiya said, "I had wanted to tell you this, that 'Hassan, don't be a fool, the door is open -- in
           fact, you are already in!' But I had to wait for the right moment."

               Digambara, I say "only one step" -- and even that seems to be unbelievable to you, hence the
           question.
           You ask me, "Beloved Master, only one step?"
               Not even one, Digambara. But the right moment has not come yet, at least for you. When it
           comes I will whisper in your ear, "You are already in. Not even a single step is needed" -- because
           we are not going outside. Steps are needed to go outside, steps are not needed to go in.
               It is like a man dreaming, and in his dreams he has gone far far away. Will he need a long
           journey to come back home? He is already home, he is sleeping in his home...but he may be in
           Timbuktu in his dream. All that is needed is that he has to be shaken up.
               As Rabiya shook Hassan, Digambara, one day I will shake you up! You just need cold water to
           be poured on you -- really cold water, ice-cold, so in shock you open your eyes. Do you think you
           will ask me, "How to go back home -- because I am in Timbuktu?" No, you will not ask, if you see
           that you are already in your home, had fallen asleep and dreamt about Timbuktu. You had never
           gone there.
               You have not gone out of God! You cannot, it is impossible, because only God exists. Where can
           we go, where can we go? There is no place where God is not. We are always in him and he is always
           in us. But that needs an awakening.
               Not even one step -- that is just to bring you closer to truth. Slowly slowly, you have to be
           persuaded. One thousand steps are reduced to one step, and then I will take that step away from you
           too. But that needs a right moment. Ultimate truths can be said only in a right, ripe situation.
           That moment will also come.
           Just be ready to receive it, welcome it....
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                       Chapter #7
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                           Chapter title: By watching....
           27 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906270
              ShortTitle: DHAM107
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 108 mins




              THE FOOL IS CARELESS.
              BUT THE MASTER GUARDS HIS WATCHING.
              IT IS HIS MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE.



              HE NEVER GIVES IN TO DESIRE.
              HE MEDITATES.
              AND IN THE STRENGTH OF HIS RESOLVE
              HE DISCOVERS TRUE HAPPINESS.



              HE OVERCOMES DESIRE --
              AND FROM THE TOWER OF WISDOM
              HE LOOKS DOWN WITH DISPASSION
              UPON THE SORROWING CROWD.
              FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP
              HE LOOKS DOWN ON THOSE
              WHO LIVE CLOSE TO THE GROUND.



              MINDFUL AMONG THE MINDLESS,
              AWAKE WHILE OTHERS DREAM,
              SWIFT AS THE RACE HORSE
              HE OUTSTRIPS THE FIELD.



              BY WATCHING
              INDRA BECAME KING OF THE GODS.
              HOW WONDERFUL IT IS TO WATCH,
              HOW FOOLISH TO SLEEP.



              THE BHIKKHU WHO GUARDS HIS MIND
              AND FEARS THE WAYWARDNESS OF HIS THOUGHTS
              BURNS THROUGH EVERY BOND
              WITH THE FIRE OF HIS VIGILANCE.



              THE BHIKKHU WHO GUARDS HIS MIND
              AND FEARS HIS OWN CONFUSION
              CANNOT FALL.
              HE HAS FOUND THE WAY TO PEACE.


              Life is three-dimensional, and man is free to choose. The freedom that man has is both a curse
           and a blessing. He can choose to rise, he can choose to fall. He can choose the way of darkness or he
           can choose the way of light.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                No other being has the freedom to choose. Their lives are predetermined. Because they are
           predetermined they cannot go astray -- that's the beauty of it. But because it is predetermined they
           are mechanical -- that's what is ugly about it.
                Man is not yet a being in the true sense. He is only a becoming, he is on the way. He is
           searching, seeking, groping; he is not yet crystallized. That's why he does not know who he is --
           because he is not yet; how can he know who he is? Before knowing, being has to happen. And the
           being is possible only if you choose rightly, consciously, with full awareness.
                Jean-Paul Sartre is right when he says that man is a project, that man creates himself by his own
           effort, that man is born only as an opportunity, as a possibility, not as an actuality. He has to become
           actual -- and there is every possibility that he may miss the target. Millions of people miss the target;
           it is very rarely that a person has found his being. When a person finds his being, he is a buddha.
                But the basic requirement is: choose your life with awareness. You have to choose anyway --
           whether you choose with awareness or not makes no difference, choice has to be made. You are not
           free in the sense that if you don't want to choose you will be allowed not to. You are not free not to
           choose -- even not choosing will be a choosing.
                The millions who miss, they miss because they don't choose. They simply wait; they go on
           hoping that something is going to happen. Nothing ever happens that way. You have to create the
           context, the space, for something valuable to happen to you, for something essential to happen to
           you.
                There are two schools of philosophers in the world. One believes that man is born as an essence:
           the essentialist school. It says that man is already born ready-made. This is the idea of all the
           fatalists. The other school is that of those who call themselves existentialists. They believe that man
           is born not as an essence but only as an existence.
                And what is the difference? The essence is predetermined; you bring it with your life, you bring
           it as a blueprint. You have only to unfold it; you are already made. There is no choice for you to
           make yourself, to create yourself. That is a very uncreative standpoint; that reduces man to a
           machine.
                The other school believes that man is born only as an existence. The essence has to be created; it
           is not already there. You have to create yourself, you have to find ways and means to become, to be.
           You have to become a womb to your own being, you have to give birth to yourself. The physical
           birth is not the true birth; you will have to be born again.
                Jesus says to Nicodemus, "Unless you are born again, you will not enter into the kingdom of my
           God." What does he mean? Is Nicodemus to die first physically? No. Jesus means something totally
           different: he has to die as an ego, he has to die as a personality. He has to die as a past. He has to die
           as mind. Only when you die as mind are you born as a being.
                In the East we have called the buddhas the twice-born -- dwij. Other people are only once-born; a
           buddha is twice-born. The first gift of life is through the parents; the second gift you have to give to
           yourself.
                You can choose between these three dimensions. If you choose one dimension you will attain a
           certain integrity, but because it is one-dimensional it will not be total and it will not be whole. The
           first dimension is the dimension of science, of the objective world, of objects, things, the other. The
           second dimension is of aesthetics: the world of music, poetry, painting, sculpture, the world of
           imagination. And the third dimension is that of religion -- subjective, inner.
                Science and religion are polar opposites: science is extrovert, religion is introvert. And between
           the two is the world of aesthetics. It is the bridge; it is both and neither. The world of aesthetics, the
           world of the artist, is in a way objective -- only in a way. He paints, and then a painting is born as an
           object. It is also subjective, because before he can paint he has to create the painting in his
           inwardness, in his subjectivity. Before a poet can sing his song, he sings it in his innermost recesses
           of being. It is sung there first, only then does it move into the outer world.
                It is scientific in the sense that art creates objects, and it is religious in the sense that whatsoever
           art creates is first envisioned in one's own inner being. It is the bridge between science and religion.
           Religion is absolute inwardness. It is moving into your innermost core, it is subjectivity.
           These are the three dimensions.
                If you become a scientist and lose contact with aesthetics and religion, you will be a
           one-dimensional man. You will be only one third; you will not be whole. You may attain to a certain
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           integrity that you will see in a man like Albert Einstein -- a certain individuality, a beauty, a truth,
           but only partial.
                You can choose to be an artist: you can be a Picasso, a Van Gogh, a Beethoven, a Rabindranath,
           but then too...you will be a little better because aesthetics is the world of in-between, the world of
           twilight. You will have something of religion in you. Each poet has something of religion in him --
           he may be aware of it, he may not be aware of it, but no poet can be without some flavor of religion.
           It is impossible. Even the most atheistic artist is bound to have some kind of religiousness. Without it
           he will not be a genius. Without it he will remain only a technician, a craftsman, but not an artist.
                Even a man like Jean-Paul Sartre -- who is determinedly an atheist, who will never concede that
           he is religious -- even he is in some way religious. He has created great novels, and those novels and
           the characters of those novels have great interiority. That interiority has been lived by this man,
           otherwise he could not write about it. That interiority is experienced.
                And the man that moves into aesthetics is bound to have some scientific qualities around him
           too. He will be more logical than the religious person, more object-oriented than the religious person
           -- less object-oriented than the scientist of course, less logical than the scientist, but more logical
           than the religious person. He will be in a more balanced state.
                It is better to move in the world of art because somehow it has something of all the three
           dimensions -- but only something, still it is not total.
                The religious man is again one-dimensional, just as the scientist is. Albert Einstein is
           one-dimensional, so is Gautama the Buddha. And because the East has become one-dimensionally
           religious it has suffered much. And now the West is suffering much, and the cause is
           one-dimensionality. The West is bankrupt as far as the inner world is concerned and the East is
           bankrupt as far as the outer world is concerned.
                The East is not accidentally poor and starving. It has chosen to be that way. It has denied science;
           it has even denied the world of objective reality. It says the world is illusory. If the world is illusory,
           how can you create a science? The very first requirement is missing. You cannot create a science out
           of maya, illusion. How can you create a science out of something which is not, which does not even
           exist? If you deny the world, you have denied the dimension of science altogether.
                That is the reason why the East is poor and starving. And unless the Eastern genius understands
           this, we can go on importing science from the West but it will not get roots into our beings. If our
           approach remains the same as it has been for five thousand years, science will only be something
           foreign. That's how it is.
                In India you can find a scientist, world famous in his field of work, and still living a very
           unscientific life. He may be consulting the palmist and the astrologer. He may be going to take a bath
           in the Ganges, so his sins of many many lives are washed away. He may still be believing in a
           thousand and one things which are simply superstitious -- and still he is a scientist! Science remains
           something peripheral; his soul still remains rooted in the ancient past of the East, which is
           unscientific.
                The East has suffered much because of one-dimensionality. And now the West is suffering again
           for the same reason: one-dimensionality. The West has chosen to be scientific at the cost of being
           religious. Now God is denied, the soul is denied. Man is reduced first to an animal and now to a
           machine. Man loses all glory, all grandeur. Man loses all hope, all future. The moment man loses his
           interiority he loses depth, he becomes superficial. The Western man is rich as far as things are
           concerned, but is very poor as far as soul is concerned -- inwardly poor, outwardly rich.
           This is the state of affairs right now.
                And between these two a few artists exist who have something of both the dimensions. But even
           the artist is not satisfied, because he is something of both but he is neither a scientist nor a religious
           person -- just having a few glimpses of both the worlds. He remains in a kind of limbo; he never
           settles, he remains a vagabond. He moves like a shuttle between these two worlds. He does not
           contribute much: because he is not a scientist he cannot contribute scientifically and he is not
           religious so he cannot contribute religiously. At the most his art remains decorative; at the most it
           can make life a little more beautiful, a little more comfortable, convenient. But that is not much.
                I propose the fourth way. The true man will be all three simultaneously: he will be a scientist, an
           artist, and religious. And I call the fourth man the spiritual man. That's where I differ from Albert
           Einstein and Gautam Buddha and Picasso -- from them all. You must remember my differences.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha is one-dimensional -- tremendously beautiful! As far as his own inner world is concerned
           he is the greatest master, the master of the inner, unsurpassable, but he remains one-dimensional. He
           attains to immense peace, silence, bliss, but does not contribute to the world in any objective way.
               Albert Einstein contributes to the world in a very objective way, but cannot contribute anything
           of the inner -- hence his contribution becomes a curse. He suffered his whole life because he was the
           man who proposed that atom bombs should be made. He had written a letter to the American
           president: "Now it is time -- unless atom bombs are made the war can go on for years and years and
           will be very destructive. Just making the atom bombs, the very threat of it, will stop the war."
               But once the power -- any kind of power -- reaches into the hands of the politicians, you cannot
           control them, you cannot prevent them from using it. The politician is the most stupid kind of person
           -- monkeyish, power-mad.
               Once the atom bomb was in the hands of the American politicians it had to be dropped
           somewhere. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, were bound to happen. And when they happened it was a wound,
           a great wound, for Albert Einstein. He repented his whole life.
               In the last moments, when somebody asked him, "Would you like to become a scientist again if
           God gives you an opportunity to be born in the world again?"
               He said, "No, certainly no, absolutely no! I would like rather to be a plumber than to be a
           physicist, a scientist. Enough is enough! I have not been a blessing to the world, I have been a
           curse."
               He enriched the outer world certainly, but without inner growth, the outer growth creates a
           lopsidedness. You possess many things, but you don't possess yourself. You have all that can make
           you happy but you are not happy, because happiness cannot be derived from your possessions.
           Happiness is an inner welling-up; it is an awakening of your own energies. It is an awakening of
           your soul.
               Buddha contributed tremendously to the subjective dimension. He is a master par excellence.
           Whatsoever he says is absolutely true, but it is one-dimensional -- never forget it.
               My effort here is to create the fourth way: a man who joins all these three dimensions of life into
           himself, who becomes a trinity, a trimurti, who has all these three faces of God to him. Who has as
           much of a logical mind as is needed by science and who is also as poetic as is needed by aesthetics,
           and who is also as meditative and watchful as is proposed by the buddhas.
               The fourth man is the hope of the world. The fourth way is the only possibility if man is to
           survive. If man is still to exist on this earth, we have to find a great synthesis between these three
           dimensions. And if all these three dimensions are meeting, merging, melting into one, of course that
           synthesis is the fourth.
               I am speaking on Buddha, on Mahavira, on Jesus, on Patanjali, on Lao Tzu, and many more. But
           always remember that all these people are one-dimensional. I want to enrich your life through their
           teachings, but I don't end with them. I would like you to go a little deeper into other dimensions too.
               Hence the new commune is going to be a meeting place of East and West, of the subjective and
           the objective. In the new commune we are going to have scientists, artists, poets, painters, singers,
           musicians, meditators, yogis, mystics -- all kinds of people pouring their energies into one great
           river. And that's how I would like the whole world to be.
               Buddha is to be incorporated in it, that's why I am speaking on him. And, of course, the third
           dimension, the religious, is one of the most important, the most important dimension. Without it
           everything is soulless.

           Today's sutras:

              THE FOOL IS CARELESS.
              BUT THE MASTER GUARDS HIS WATCHING.
              IT IS HIS MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE.


               Buddha calls a man foolish, not because he is ignorant, not because he is not knowledgeable.
           According to Buddha, a man is a fool if he is unconscious, if he behaves unconsciously, if he lives in
           sleep, if he is a somnambulist. If he goes on behaving without any mindfulness, then he is a fool. The
           word has a special meaning, remember: unconsciousness, unawareness, unmindfulness -- that's
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha's definition of the fool.
               He moves in life like driftwood, at the mercy of the winds. He does not know who he is, he does
           not know from where he comes, he does not know to where he is going. He is accidental; he simply
           lives by accident. He has no conscious, deliberate search for being, for truth, for reality. He follows
           the crowd; he remains a part of the mob psychology. He is not an individual. He has no authentic
           intelligence of his own; he simply follows others. The parents have said something, the teachers, the
           priests, the politicians, and he goes on following all kinds of advice. He has no idea why he is here,
           for what, and what he is doing, and why. He never raises such questions.
               These questions are very uncomfortable to him. They create anxiety in him; he avoids these
           questions. He simply believes in the answers that are handed over to him; he never doubts those
           answers. Not that he has attained to trust -- no, he has no trust either -- but he simply represses his
           doubt because doubt creates discomfort.
               He remains a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian. He never inquires and he never risks anything
           for his inquiry. He never goes into exploration. He is not an adventurer, his life is not an adventure.
           He is stuck, he is dormant, stagnant. You cannot separate him from his crowd; he is like a sheep.
           Buddha calls him the fool.
               The fool can be very knowledgeable -- in fact almost always he is. He can be a pundit, a scholar,
           a great professor -- that's how he hides his foolishness. By gathering knowledge on the
           circumference he hides the ignorance that exists at the center.
               There are two types of people: one, very knowledgeable people -- knowledgeable, but they know
           nothing. They have a kind of ignorant knowledge. And there is the other category: the people who
           are not knowledgeable -- but they know. They have a kind of knowing ignorance.
               When Buddha uses the word 'fool', he is not talking about the second category -- because Buddha
           himself is not very knowledgeable, neither is Jesus, nor is Mohammed. They are innocent people,
           simple people, but their simplicity is such, their innocence is such, their childlike quality is such, that
           they have been able to penetrate into the innermost core of their beings. They have been able to
           know their truth; they have been able to reach the very core of their existence. They know, but they
           are not knowledgeable. Their knowing is not through scriptures. Their knowing has happened
           through watchfulness. Remember the source: real knowing comes through meditation, awareness,
           consciousness, mindfulness, watchfulness, witnessing. And unreal knowledge comes through
           scriptures. You can learn the unreal knowledge very easily and you can brag about it, but you will
           remain a fool -- a learned fool, but a fool all the same.
               If you really want to know you will have to drop all your knowledge, you will have to unlearn it.
           You will have to become ignorant again, like a small child, with wondering eyes, with alertness. You
           will be able to know not only your own being but also the being that exists in the world...the being
           that exists in the trees and the birds and the animals and the rocks and the stars. If you are able to
           know yourself, you will be able to know all that is.
           God is another name for all that is.
               THE FOOL IS CARELESS. By "carelessness" Buddha means he behaves unconsciously. He
           does not know what he is doing. He simply goes on doing things because he cannot remain
           unoccupied; he wants constant occupation. He cannot remain alone; he wants constant company. He
           cannot remain unengaged even for a single moment, because whenever he is unengaged, unoccupied,
           alone, he starts facing himself -- and he is very afraid of that.
               He does not want to go into the abyss of his own being. All that he knows is meaningless there.
           All that he knows, he cannot carry it there. All his knowledge, all his efficiency, all his scriptures, all
           his theories, are utterly futile in the inner world. He clings to the outer because there he is somebody.
           In the inner world he is a nobody.
               Just watch people! In fact it is the greatest entertainment: stand by the side of the road and just
           watch people. What are they doing? Why are they doing it? And then watch yourself -- what are you
           doing? and why?

              A man picks up a young woman in a hotel lobby and goes to her apartment with her. They both
           undress, but then she says, "First chase me! I want to be inflamed, excited!"
              He chases her for two hours, but cannot catch her and leaves in disgust.
              The next night he sees her pick up another victim in the same lobby and he sneaks up on the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fire-escape to watch the new sucker's discomfiture through the window. As he watches the bare legs
           flashing by under the partly-drawn window shade, he says to himself out loud, "Ah, brother, get a
           load of that!"
           "You said it!" breathes a man's voice in his ear, "but you should have seen the sonofabitch that was
           here last night!"

              Just watch people -- what are they doing? Chasing shadows, chasing things which they don't
           need, trying to make great effort to attain something which once attained they will not know what to
           do with. That's how people are running after money, after political power. Once you have it you
           don't know what to do with it.

               A woman was saying to another woman, "Are you not worried about your husband? He
           continuously goes on chasing women, any woman -- and you know it!"
               And the other woman laughed. She said, "There is nothing to worry about: his chasing women is
           like dogs chasing cars."
               The other woman said, "I don't understand. What do you mean, dogs chasing cars?"
               She said, "Yes, dogs chasing cars -- once they have caught one they don't know what to do with
           the car, and that's how my husband is. He will chase a woman, he will catch hold of her. Then he
           does not know what to do with her. I know him! That's why I am not worried."

                This is the situation. Somebody wants to be very famous, and he will waste his whole life in
           becoming famous and then he will not know what to do with it. In fact, once you become very
           famous you want to become unfamous again, because it is such a weight. You cannot relax. You
           cannot go anywhere without being watched by the crowds. You have no privacy anymore, you
           cannot live any personal life. Everybody is looking, watching, investigating your life. You cannot
           laugh, you cannot talk with ease...everything becomes difficult.
                Just a few days ago Jimmy Carter said that if Kennedy stands against him in the presidential
           election he will "whip his ass." Now he is being condemned all over the world for using that word.
           You cannot even use an innocent word. Now he must be feeling very repentant for what he has done.
           He has committed a crime.
                You don't have a private life when you are famous -- when you are a president of a country, a
           Nobel Prize winner, you are a public thing. You are always on show, in the show-window; you
           always have to keep dressed up. You cannot make a simple gesture in freedom.
                People have money...and then they don't know what to do with it.
                The accidental man is foolish. The wise man moves deliberately, takes each step consciously.
           His life is a constant inquiry for truth. He does not go astray. He remains alert in every one of his
           acts -- not because of others. He remains alert because it is only by being alert that he will become
           integrated, that he will become crystallized.
                THE FOOL IS CARELESS. The wise man cares -- he cares about himself, he cares about his
           life, and he cares about others too. He cares about everything, because he values his life. He knows
           that it is very precious, that it is a God-given opportunity to grow, that is has not to be lost in a kind
           of drunkenness.

               A reformed prostitute has joined the Salvation Army and is giving testimony on a street corner.
           "I used to lie in the arms of men," she confesses, "white men, black men, Chinamen. But now I lie in
           the arms of Jesus."
           "That's right, sister," cries a drunk in the back row, "fuck 'em all!"

               Just watch people and watch yourself, and you will be surprised how unconscious, how drunk we
           are. How careless! We don't listen to what is said, we don't see what we see. Our eyes are clouded,
           our minds confused, our beings have no clarity. We are not perceptive, we are not sensitive.
               We go on uttering things which we don't mean, and then we suffer for them. We go on saying
           things which we never wanted to say. We go on doing things -- even while we are doing them we
           know that we don't want to do these things, still we go on doing them. Some unconscious force goes
           on driving us. Sometimes we even decide not to do a certain thing, not to say a certain thing -- still
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           we do it, even against our own decisions. We don't have any resolution, we don't have any resolve,
           we don't have any will.

               She knew that these were to be her last few hours on this earth, so she called her husband to her
           side and in a halting voice told him her last request.
           "I know," she said, "that you and mother have never gotten along. But would you as a special favor
           to me, ride to the cemetery in the same car with her?"
           "Alright," replied the unhappy husband. "But it will spoil my whole day."

               This is not really a joke -- this happens every day. You say things which you should have known
           are not right to say. But you know only later on, when the harm is done. Unconscious utterings.
               Now, this man may have been crying and saying to his wife, "Without you it will be impossible
           to live. I will always remain empty without you, a part of my soul will die with you..." and things
           like that. But now, in this moment, he has forgotten all.
               THE FOOL IS CARELESS. BUT THE MASTER GUARDS HIS WATCHING. IT IS HIS
           MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE. The fool remains a slave -- a slave of the instincts, a slave of
           unconscious desires, a slave of whims, a slave of the society in which he is born, a slave of the
           fashions -- a slave of anything that happens around him. He simply picks it up. If the neighbor is
           buying a new car, he has to buy a new car too. He does not need it. If the neighbor has purchased a
           house in the hills, he has to purchase one. It may be difficult and hard to manage for the money. He
           may have to borrow, it may take years for him to pay, but he has to purchase it. His ego is hurt.
           People are living imitatively, very carelessly.
               Among the Eskimos there is a tradition, a very beautiful tradition, that each year, the first day of
           the year, every family looks in the house for what is unnecessary and what is necessary -- they sort
           things out. And only what is absolutely necessary is saved; all that is unnecessary is given as gifts to
           people.
               And you will be surprised to know that the Eskimo's home is the cleanest home in the world, has
           a purity about it -- no garbage, nothing accumulates. Spacious -- small but spacious; only that much
           which is necessary, absolutely necessary....
               Just think of all the things that you go on accumulating: are they really necessary? do you really
           need them? Or is it just because people are accumulating that you also become accumulative?
               The watchful man becomes the master of his life. He lives it according to his light, not according
           to others' lives. He lives it according to his own needs. And remember, your needs are not many. If
           you are wise, watchful, you will have a very very contented life, and very simple, and with small
           things.
               But if you are imitative, then your life will become very complex, unnecessarily complex. And I
           am not giving you particular directions about what you should have and what you should not have. I
           am simply saying go on watching...whatsoever is necessary for you, have it; and whatsoever is not
           necessary for you, forget about it. This is the way of a sannyasin.
               I am not for renouncing things, but I am certainly for renouncing unnecessary garbage. And it is
           not only that you collect unnecessary things -- you desire unnecessary things, and you never
           meditate whether those things are really necessary. Are they going to help in any way? Are they
           going to make you more happy, more blissful?
               Before you start desiring a thing, think it over thrice...and you will be surprised. Out of a hundred
           of your desires, ninety-nine are absolutely useless. They simply keep you occupied; that is their only
           function. They keep you away from yourself; that is their only utility. They don't allow you time,
           space to be with yourself. They are dangerous. It is because of these unnecessary things that you will
           waste your life, and you will die a bankrupt.
              ...THE MASTER GUARDS HIS WATCHING.

              I have heard:

               The husband and wife are being driven crazy by the continued presence of the wife's brother,
           who came to spend the weekend but is still there six months later. They decide that the wife will
           cook a chicken and the husband will pretend it is overdone. They will put the matter to the
           brother-in-law. If he says the chicken is good, the husband will throw him out; if he says the chicken
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is bad the wife will throw him out. It can't fail!
               The scene is set up as planned, with much pretended shouting and recrimination, while the
           brother-in-law silently stows away his food. Suddenly the husband and wife stop shouting and turn
           to him.
           "Harry," says the husband, "what do you think?"
           "Me?" says Harry, biting into the chicken leg. "I think I am staying another three months."

               Must have been a very watchful man. Must have been very careful, alert. He is not caught in the
           trap. The trap was certainly very subtle. Unless he was very alert, it was bound to trap him. He does
           not give any opinion. He simply states a fact, that "I am going to stay three more months."
               Live watchfully and you will not be trapped. Live unconsciously and on each step you are
           trapped; your life becomes more and more imprisoned. And nobody is responsible except you.
               BUT THE MASTER GUARDS HIS WATCHING. IT IS HIS MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE.
           Whatsoever he does, he does with total awareness. Whatsoever you do, you do almost mechanically.
           You will have to de-automatize yourself. That's what meditation is all about: the process of
           de-automatization.
               You have become automatic. You go on driving the car, smoking the cigarette, talking to the
           friend, and thinking a thousand and one thoughts inside. Most accidents happen because of this.
           More men are dying every year in car, train, airplane and similar accidents than die in war. Adolf
           Hitler may not have killed as many people as are being killed every year by the mechanical behavior
           of man around the earth.
               But what can you do? That's your whole way of life, that's how you live. You eat -- you simply
           go on stuffing, you don't pay any attention to what you are eating. You make love to your wife or
           your husband -- you don't even see the face of the woman. You have become very insensitive; you
           just go on moving through empty gestures, with no significance. They can't have any significance
           unless you are fully alert.
               It is the light of awareness that makes things precious, extraordinary. Then small things are no
           longer small. When a man with alertness, sensitivity, love, touches an ordinary pebble on the
           seashore, that pebble becomes a kohinoor. And if you touch a kohinoor in your unconscious state, it
           is just an ordinary pebble -- not even that. Your life will have as much depth and as much meaning
           as you have awareness.
               Now people are asking all over the world, "What is the meaning of life?" Of course the meaning
           is lost, because you have lost the way to find the meaning -- and the way is awareness. IT IS HIS
           MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE.

              HE NEVER GIVES IN TO DESIRE.


                What does Buddha mean by "desire"? Desire means your whole mind. Desire means not to be
           herenow. Desire means moving somewhere in the future which is not yet. Desire means a thousand
           and one ways of escaping from the present. Desire is equivalent to mind. In Buddha's terminology,
           desire is mind.
                And desire is time too. When I say desire is time too, I don't mean the clock time, I mean the
           psychological time. How do you create future in your mind? -- by desiring. You want to do
           something tomorrow, you have created the tomorrow; otherwise the tomorrow is nowhere yet, it has
           not come. But you want to do something tomorrow, and because you want to do something
           tomorrow you have created a psychological tomorrow.
                And people are creating years ahead, lives ahead. They are even thinking about what to do after
           life, after death. They are even preparing for that! And these people are thought to be religious; they
           are not religious at all. Desire takes you away from the now-here, and now-here is the only reality.
                Hence Buddha says: HE NEVER GIVES IN TO DESIRE. He never moves into the future, he
           lives in the present. To live in the future is to live a false life, a pseudo life.

              A fashionable actress refuses a young man who begs for her favors, on the grounds that he is
           Jewish, and laughs at his offer of one hundred thousand francs. She tells him that to show him how
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           little she cares for his money he can make love to her for as long as it takes the hundred thousand
           francs to burn.
                He comes back the next day with the money, lays ten bills out in a line with the ends just
           overlapping, lights the first one and leaps into bed with her. As the last bill burns away, she pushes
           him off her.
           "Well, I have had you," he says triumphantly.
           "Yes," she smiles, "and your hundred thousand francs are burnt to ashes."
           "What does it matter?" he says, lighting a cigarette. "They were counterfeit."

                The man who lives in the future, lives a counterfeit life. He does not really live, he only pretends
           to live. He hopes to live, he desires to live, but he never lives. And the tomorrow never comes, it is
           always today. And whatsoever comes is always now and here, and he does not know how to live
           now-here; he knows only how to escape from now-here. The way to escape is called "desire," tanha
           -- that is Buddha's word for what is an escape from the present, from the real into the unreal.
           The man who desires is an escapist.
                Now, this is very strange, that meditators are thought to be escapists. That is utter nonsense. Only
           the meditator is not an escapist -- everybody else is. Meditation means getting out of desire, getting
           out of thoughts, getting out of mind. Meditation means relaxing in the moment, in the present.
           Meditation is the only thing in the world which is not escapist, although it is thought to be the most
           escapist thing. People who condemn meditation always condemn it with the argument that it is
           escape, escaping from life. They are simply talking nonsense; they don't understand what they are
           saying.
                Meditation is not escaping from life: it is escaping into life. Mind is escaping from life, desire is
           escaping from life.
              HE NEVER GIVES IN TO DESIRE....



              HE MEDITATES.


                He brings himself again and again to the present. Again and again the mind starts functioning
           and he brings it back to the present. Slowly slowly, it starts happening: the window opens and for the
           first time you see the sky as it is. And for the first time you feel the wind and the rain and the sun, in
           their immediacy, because you become meditative. You start touching life. Then life is no longer a
           word but a tangible reality; then love is no longer a word but an overflowing energy. Then blessing
           is no longer just a desire, a hope -- you feel it, you have it, you are it.
                HE MEDITATES.... Buddha is not for prayer, he is for meditation, because prayer is again
           somehow a kind of desiring. When you pray, you desire. Prayer is always for the future; prayer
           means you are asking for something. You may not be asking for money, you may be asking for God
           himself, but it is the same. Ask, and you have moved away. Meditation is a state of nonasking,
           nonquestioning, nonthinking. Prayer is still part of thinking -- a beautiful thinking, but thinking is
           thinking; a beautiful prison, but a prison is still a prison.
                And the mind who prays is greedy, and the mind who prays goes through no transformation. It
           remains the same mind. And the prayer is born out of the same mind; it cannot have a very different
           quality. How can you pray for something which is different from you? -- it will be your prayer. It
           will reflect your mind, it will come out of your mind, it will sprout out of your mind. How can it take
           you beyond the mind? Prayer cannot take you beyond the mind. Only meditation can take you
           beyond the mind.
                Meditation is a state of no-mind. Prayer is a state of religious mind, but mind is there. And when
           it has the beautiful garment of religiousness around it, it becomes even more dangerous.

              A little boy on a picnic strays away from his family, and suddenly realizes that he is lost and
           night is falling. Becoming frightened after wandering aimlessly for some time, and shouting for his
           parents but receiving no answer, he kneels down and prays with uplifted hands. "Dear Lord," he
           says, "please help me to find my daddy and mommy, and I won't hit my little sister anymore, honest
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I won't!"
                As he kneels praying, a bird flies over and drops a load of shit into his outstretched palm. The
           little boy examines it and turns his eyes back to heaven.
           "Oh please, Lord," he begs, "don't hand me that shit. I really and truly am lost!"

               Your prayer is your prayer; it is part of you, an extension of you. It cannot help you to surpass
           yourself. Meditation is the only way to surpass oneself, the only way to transcend oneself.
               And what is meditation? It does not mean meditating upon something; the English word is
           misleading. In English there is no word adequate enough to translate Buddha's word sammasati. It
           has been translated as meditation, as right mindfulness, as awareness, as consciousness, alertness,
           watchfulness, witnessing -- but there is not really a single word which has the quality of sammasati.
               Sammasati means: consciousness is, but without any content. There is no thought, no desire,
           nothing is stirred in you. You are not contemplating about God or about great things...nature and its
           beauty, the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas, and their immensely significant statements. You are not
           contemplating! You are not concentrating on any special object either. You are not chanting a
           mantra, because those are all things of the mind, those are all contents of the mind. You are not
           doing anything! The mind is utterly empty, and you are simply there in that emptiness. A kind of
           presence, a pure presence, with nowhere to go -- utterly relaxed into oneself, at rest, at home. That is
           the meaning of Buddha's meditation.
               And nobody else has ever reached such a beautiful expression about meditation as Buddha.
           Many people have attained, but nobody has been so expressive, so capable of conveying the
           message, as the Buddha. HE NEVER GIVES IN TO DESIRE. HE MEDITATES.

              AND IN THE STRENGTH OF HIS RESOLVE
              HE DISCOVERS TRUE HAPPINESS.


              Bliss is true happiness. What you call happiness is just misery in disguise. What you call
           happiness is nothing but entertainment, pleasure. It is momentary -- it cannot be true. Truth has to
           have one quality, and the quality is of eternity. If something is true it is eternal; if it is untrue it is
           momentary.
              True happiness is found only when the mind completely ceases functioning. It does not come
           from the outside. It wells up within your own being, it starts overflowing you. You become
           luminous. You become a fountain of bliss.

              HE OVERCOMES DESIRE --
              AND FROM THE TOWER OF WISDOM
              HE LOOKS DOWN WITH DISPASSION
              UPON THE SORROWING CROWD.
              FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP
              HE LOOKS DOWN ON THOSE
              WHO LIVE CLOSE TO THE GROUND.


               As someone becomes a buddha -- desire overcome, mind overcome, time overcome, the ego
           transcended -- he is no longer part of this earth. He still lives on the earth, but his soul soars so high
           that from the sunlit tops of his being he can see the sorrowing crowd in the dark valleys of life,
           stumbling, drunken, fighting, ambitious, greedy, angry, violent...a sheer wastage of great
           opportunities. Great compassion arises in his being. His whole passion passes through dispassion and
           becomes compassion.
               Passion means using the other as a means -- and that is the fundamental of immorality. To use
           somebody as a means is the most immoral act in the world, because each person is an end unto
           himself. To use him as a means is to exploit. And that's what we call love: the husband using the
           wife, the wife using the husband; the children using their parents, and the parents later on using their
           children -- that's what we call love!
               It is not love. It is a strategy of the mind; it is poison coated with sugar. This love is really
           disgusting. That's why you see the whole world in such disgust. This love is sickening. It has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sickened the whole soul of humanity because it is not love at all. It is passion, lust, using the other as
           a means.
               As you start meditating you move to the second stage, dispassion -- love disappears. You come
           into a neutral phase; just as you change gears in the car, and each time you change gear, the gear first
           has to move through neutral, so passion moves through a neutral phase -- it becomes dispassion.
           Love disappears. For the time being, in the interval, the man who is moving towards buddhahood
           becomes utterly cold, dispassionate.
               And then the third stage is reached. When he has attained buddhahood, he has found bliss and the
           inexhaustible fountains of bliss -- aes dhammo sanantano -- when he has found the principle of
           eternity, when he has found the inexhaustible treasure of life, he starts overflowing. Love comes
           back -- in fact, love comes for the first time. It is compassion. Now he showers his compassion on
           each and everybody; whosoever comes to him, he shares his bliss with him, he shares his way, he
           shares his insight.

              MINDFUL AMONG THE MINDLESS,
              AWAKE WHILE OTHERS DREAM,
              SWIFT AS THE RACE HORSE
              HE OUTSTRIPS THE FIELD.


               And when you have become established in meditation and compassion you no longer fall a
           victim of sleep and dream. You remain awake -- even while asleep. And then your life becomes a
           straight arrow, moves with tremendous speed, with the speed of light, towards the goal. You become,
           for the first time, being.
               SWIFT AS THE RACE HORSE HE OUTSTRIPS THE FIELD. MINDFUL AMONG THE
           MINDLESS, AWAKE WHILE OTHERS DREAM. That is the difference between Buddha and
           others. Others are only dreaming, not really living; hoping to live some day, preparing to live, but
           not living. And that day never comes -- before that day comes death.
               A buddha is awake. Even while he is asleep he does not dream. When desires disappear, dreams
           disappear too. Dreams are desires translated into the language of sleep. A buddha sleeps with
           absolute alertness. The light goes on burning within him. The body needs rest, hence the body
           sleeps, but he needs no rest -- the energy is inexhaustible. There, at the center of his being, a small
           light goes on burning. The whole circumference is fast asleep, but that light is alert, awake.
               We are asleep even while we are awake: he is awake even while he is asleep.

              BY WATCHING
              INDRA BECAME KING OF THE GODS.
              HOW WONDERFUL IT IS TO WATCH,
              HOW FOOLISH TO SLEEP.



              THE BHIKKHU WHO GUARDS HIS MIND
              AND FEARS THE WAYWARDNESS OF HIS THOUGHTS
              BURNS THROUGH EVERY BOND
              WITH THE FIRE OF HIS VIGILANCE.


               'Bhikkhu' is Buddha's word for sannyasin. 'Sannyasin' is my word for the bhikkhu. I have not
           chosen Buddha's word -- for a certain reason. Bhikkhu literally means beggar.
               Buddha renounced his kingdom and became a beggar. Of course, even while he is a beggar, he
           walks like an emperor; of course, he is far more graceful than he ever was before, and far richer that
           he ever was before. But because he renounced the kingdom, people started calling him a bhikkhu, a
           beggar. And, slowly slowly, the name was adopted by his followers too.
               I don't want you to be beggars, I want you to be masters. Hence I have chosen the word
           'sannyasin'. A sannyasin means one who knows how to live rightly. It is not renunciation; on the
           contrary, it is rejoicing, it is celebration.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE BHIKKHU WHO GUARDS HIS MIND AND FEARS THE WAYWARDNESS OF HIS THOUGHTS
              BURNS THROUGH EVERY BOND WITH THE FIRE OF HIS VIGILANCE.

               Yes, meditation is fire -- it burns your thoughts, your desires, your memories; it burns the past
           and the future. It burns your mind and the ego. It takes away all that you think that you are. It is a
           death and a rebirth, a crucifixion and a resurrection. You are born anew. You lose your own identity
           totally, and you attain to a new vision of life.
               That vision of life is what is meant by god, dhamma, tao, logos. You can choose your name for it
           because it has no name of its own. In fact it is not expressible at all; it can only be indicated, hinted
           at.

              THE BHIKKHU WHO GUARDS HIS MIND
              AND FEARS HIS OWN CONFUSION
              CANNOT FALL.
              HE HAS FOUND THE WAY TO PEACE.


               Mind is confusion. Thoughts and thoughts -- thousands of thoughts clamoring, clashing, fighting
           with each other, fighting for your attention. Thousands of thoughts pulling you into thousands of
           directions. It is a miracle how you go on keeping yourself together. Somehow you manage this
           togetherness -- it is only somehow, it is only a facade. Deep behind it there is a clamoring crowd, a
           civil war, a continuous civil war. Thoughts fighting with each other, thoughts wanting you to fulfill
           them. It is a great confusion, what you call your mind.
               But if you are aware that the mind is confusion, and you don't get identified with the mind, you
           will never fall. You will become fallproof! The mind will become impotent. And because you will be
           watching continuously, your energies will slowly be withdrawn, away from the mind; it will not be
           nourished any more.
               And once the mind dies, you are born as a no-mind. That birth is enlightenment. That birth brings
           you for the first time to the land of peace, the lotus paradise. It brings you to the world of bliss,
           benediction. Otherwise you remain in hell. Right now you are in hell. But if you resolve, if you
           decide, if you choose consciousness, right now you can take a jump, a leap from hell into heaven.
               It is up to you: you can choose hell, you can choose heaven. Hell is cheap. Heaven needs great
           effort, perseverance, resolve. Hell means you can remain unconscious, you can remain as you are.
           Heaven means you have to rise above yourself, you have to transcend. You have to move from the
           valley towards the peaks.
               And those peaks are yours, but you have to pay for them. Climbing to those peaks is arduous
           effort. Be watchful, be meditative, and one day you will find yourself on the sunlit peaks. That is
           liberation, moksha. That is nirvana -- cessation of the ego and the birth of God.
               You are entitled to be gods. If you are not, only you are responsible and nobody else. Listen to
           the Buddha. Don't only listen to the Buddha -- act, be committed to the life of consciousness, get
           involved.
               But let me remind you again: this is only one dimension of life -- immensely rich, but still one
           dimension. You will have to do something more. I am giving you a more arduous task than Buddha
           did. Buddha gave you one dimension; I want you to have all three dimensions, and a synthesis.
               A new man is needed on the earth. The old is rotten and finished, it has no future, it can't survive.
           It has come to the very end of its tether. It is on the deathbed. Unless a new man is born -- East and
           West meeting, all three dimensions together -- humanity is doomed.
               This experiment that I am doing here is just to create the first specimen of the new man. You are
           participating in a great experiment of tremendous import. Feel blessed. Feel fortunate. You may not
           be aware of what you are participating in, but you may create history! It all depends on how
           committed, how involved you become with me and with my experiment.
               This is the greatest synthesis possible, that has ever been tried....
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #8
                                    Chapter title: The beginning of a new phase
           28 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906280
              ShortTitle: DHAM108
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 105 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I NEVER DID GET TURNED ON BY CLASSICAL MUSIC, AND ART GALLERIES BORED ME SILLY.
              SO, IS IT POSSIBLE TO GO FROM THE FIRST LAYER, THE HEAD, TO THE THIRD LAYER, THE
              CENTER, AND SORT OF BYPASS ALL THIS AESTHETIC GARBAGE?


                Nirgun, yes, it is true: in the name of aesthetics, there is much garbage. But when I use the word
           'aesthetics' I don't mean the garbage collected in the museums and art galleries.
                When I use the word 'aesthetics' I mean a quality in you. It has nothing to do with objects --
           paintings, music, poetry -- it has something to do with a quality in your being, a sensitivity, a love
           for beauty, a sensitivity for the texture and taste of things, for the eternal dance that goes on all
           around, an awareness of it, a silence to hear this cuckoo calling from the distance....
                It is not garbage: it is the very core of existence.
                But I can understand that you must be getting bored with the so-called classical music and
           paintings collected in the art galleries. And you must be a little bit puzzled why people go on talking
           so much about all this nonsense.
                Aesthetics is just an artistic approach towards life, a poetic vision. Seeing colors so totally that
           each tree becomes a painting, that each cloud brings the presence of God, that colors are more
           colorful, that you don't go on ignoring the radiance of things, that you remain alert, aware, loving,
           that you remain receptive, welcoming, open. That's what I mean by the aesthetic attitude, the
           aesthetic approach.
                Music has to be in your heart, your very being has to be musical, it has to become a harmony. A
           man can exist as a chaos or as a cosmos. Music is the way from chaos to cosmos. A man can exist as
           a disorder, a discord, just noise, a market place, or a man can exist as a temple, a sacred silence,
           where celestial music is heard on its own, uncreated music is heard on its own.
                The Zen people call it the sound of one hand clapping. In India, for centuries mystics have been
           talking about anahat nad -- the unstruck sound. It is there in your very being; you need not go
           anywhere to listen to it. It is the ancientmost music, and the latest too. It is both the oldest and the
           newest. And it is the music of your own being, the hum of your own existence. And if you can't hear
           it, you are deaf.
                And there is no way, Nirgun, to bypass it. Museums you can bypass, art galleries you can bypass
           -- in fact, you should bypass them. You need not be worried about art and art criticism -- forget all
           about it. But you have to become an artist of life itself.
                I say Buddha is a poet, although he never composed a single poem. Still I insist that he is one of
           the greatest poets who has ever lived. He was not a Shakespeare, a Milton, a Kalidas, a Rabindranath
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- no, not at all. But still I say: Shakespeare, Milton, Kalidas, Rabindranath, are nothing compared to
           his poetry. His life was his poetry -- the way he walked, the way he looked at things....
               Just the other night I came across one of the most beautiful statements of Saint Teresa of Avila.
           She says: All that you need is to look. Her whole message is contained in this simple statement: All
           that you need is to look. The capacity to look -- and you will find God. The capacity to hear -- and
           you will find his music. The capacity to touch -- and every texture becomes his texture. Touch the
           rock and you find God.
               It is not a question of objects of art: it is a question of an inner approach, a vision -- of seeing
           things artistically. And, Nirgun, you have that quality! In fact, because of that quality you were
           bored by classical music and you were bored by galleries -- because in an unconscious way, in a
           groping way, you feel something far superior inside you. But you are not yet fully aware of it.
               Bypass the art galleries and you will not be losing anything. But you cannot bypass the aesthetic
           layer of your being: you have to go through it. Otherwise you will always remain impoverished;
           something will be missing, something of immense value. Your enlightenment will never be total. A
           part of your being will remain unenlightened; a corner of your soul will remain dark -- and that
           corner will remain heavy on you. One has to become totally enlightened. Nothing should be
           bypassed, no shortcuts are to be invented. One has to move very naturally through all the layers,
           because all those layers are opportunities to grow.
               Remember it: whenever I use the words 'music' or 'poetry' or 'painting' or 'sculpture', I have my
           own meaning.

               When Helen Keller, the blind woman, came to India, she visited Jawaharlal Nehru. She was
           blind, deaf. She touched Nehru's face; with both her hands she felt Nehru's face, and she was
           immensely delighted. She expressed her great joy. She stated, "I have felt the same quality in
           Nehru's face as I felt when I touched beautiful Roman statues -- the same coolness and the same
           proportion and the same form."
               Now this woman has a heart of a sculptor -- blind, deaf, but she has the genius of a great artist.
           Because she was deaf and blind, she had to find new ways to feel life. And sometimes curses prove
           blessings. She would touch water, she would feel its coolness, its flow, its life, its vibe. You will
           never feel it, because you can see the water; you can say, "What is there?" Because she could not
           see, she could only feel the texture of a rock...you can see and you will miss -- you will not feel the
           texture of it.
               Sometimes it is tremendously significant to close your eyes and just touch the rock, and feel as if
           you are blind and you have only hands and you have to use the hands as your eyes. And you will be
           surprised -- you are in for a surprise. For the first time you will see that the texture has its own
           dimension.
               Because she had no eyes and no ears, her sense of smell was just at the optimum. She could feel
           the perfume of things, of people. She could discriminate between one tree and another tree just by
           the fragrance of it. She could even distinguish persons just by their smell.
               Now she is as aesthetic as any Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh -- or even more so.

               Nirgun, the aesthetic garbage is certainly there, because whatsoever man creates in his
           unconsciousness is bound to be garbage. The paintings of Picasso represent the mind of Picasso.
           Now this man seems to be insane somewhere deep down. In fact, his paintings are a way to remain
           sane; his paintings are cathartic. What you do in your Dynamic Meditation he is doing through his
           paintings: throwing out tensions, nightmares, all the ugliness that is in the mind. It has to be thrown
           out of the system, and it can be done through painting very easily.
               Carl Gustav Jung used to tell his patients to paint. And many insane people have painted really
           beautiful paintings. But, certainly, those paintings are insane! How can an insane person paint a sane
           painting? It may have a certain beauty of its own -- the beauty of insanity -- it may have a certain
           proportion, a certain arrangement of colors, or it may even have a certain vision, but something of
           his insanity is bound to be lurking there around it. And Jung became aware, slowly slowly, that
           through painting insane people can be helped tremendously -- painting can become a therapy. And,
           certainly, he is right. If you can paint your nightmares, you will be getting free from them. It is an
           expression! Expression always brings freedom. Repression brings bondage, expression brings
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           freedom. And this is one of the beautiful ways to express, to paint.
                If you are afraid of death, tortured by the idea of death, if you have nightmares about death, and
           you can paint many paintings of death, you will get rid of those ideas. You have brought them to the
           conscious from the unconscious. Anything that is brought to the conscious from the unconscious,
           you become free of it.
                But humanity has been doing just the opposite. We have been told for centuries to throw things
           from the conscious to the unconscious -- that's what repression is. Yes, in a way, you appear to have
           got free of them, but not really. In fact, they have gone deeper in you, they have sunk deeper in you.
           They will trouble you even more. Now they will control you from the unconscious and you will not
           even be aware of them.
                The whole approach of psychoanalysis is against repression: bring all that is repressed in the
           unconscious to the conscious. It can be done in many ways. Psychoanalysis is the longest route; it
           takes three years, six years, even ten. Then too the analysis is never complete. There is not a single
           person in the whole world whose psychoanalysis is complete and finished.
                It cannot be finished, because the process is slow. Twice a week or thrice a week you see your
           psychoanalyst; lying on the psychoanalyst's couch you throw out your garbage for one hour. He
           listens patiently -- at least he pretends that he is listening patiently. And because he is listening you
           go on bringing it out. He gives you encouragement, so you go on digging deeper and deeper, and you
           bring things from the unconscious to the conscious. His presence, his expertise, his name, his
           authority, make you courageous. You are not afraid of bringing things up which would scare you if
           you brought them up when you were alone -- because you would see yourself on the verge of going
           mad. But his authority and his presence...and that may be only in your belief, because he himself
           may be more insane than you are. But you can have just the belief that he knows that he will be able
           to help, that he is there, so you need not be afraid; you can go and dig deep into your unconscious.
                The more you bring to the conscious, the more you are freed -- it is very unburdening. But once,
           twice or thrice a week you unburden, and the whole week you go on gathering again. The three
           hours' doing is undone; you remain the same. It becomes a vicious circle. In the society, in the
           family, you again accumulate repressions, and you go to the analyst and you express those
           suppressions. A little bit unburdened, you are back in the society -- the same society, the same
           people. You listen to the same priest, you read the same newspaper, you go to the same political
           rally. You remain a communist or you remain a Catholic. The same wife, the same husband, the
           same children, the same people to associate with.... Again repression happens.
           This is a very temporary relief.
                Many other ways are being found. Painting is one of the ways -- far more significant, because the
           unconscious knows the language of pictures and not the language of words. The unconscious
           expresses itself in pictures. That's why in your dreams your unconscious expresses itself more
           adequately. Hence the psychoanalyst wants to know about your dreams more and more. Dreams are
           a pictorial, primitive language, unsophisticated, more innocent. And that's exactly what happens
           when you paint.
                Painting is bringing your dreams out into the light -- it can help tremendously. My own feeling is
           that if Picasso had been prevented from painting he would have gone mad. It was his painting that
           saved him -- although he was unaware that it was his painting that was saving him. But his painting
           has the quality of madness in it.
                If you look at a Picasso painting and meditate over it you will feel dizzy, you will feel uneasy,
           you will feel tense, you will not feel relaxed. And if you live in a room where on all the walls are
           Picasso paintings, there is every danger that you will have nightmares, or you may go mad. Those
           paintings will provoke your insanity.
                So, Nirgun, you can avoid the art galleries, you can bypass Picassos, but you cannot bypass the
           aesthetic layer of your being. You cannot bypass the aesthetic dimension; otherwise you will remain
           impoverished, lopsided, something will be missing in you. And I would not like anything to be
           missing in my sannyasins. They have to be as scientific as possible. I don't mean -- again remember
           -- that you have to become a physicist or a chemist or a biologist or a physiologist. I don't mean that!
           When I say you have to be a scientist, I mean you have to be scientific -- it is a metaphor. Always
           remember: I am talking in metaphors and similes and parables.
                You have to be scientific. To approach the world, the objective world, rightly, the only way is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           science. If the Bible says that the earth is not round but flat, don't believe in it -- be scientific. The
           earth is round and not flat. The Bible has no right to say anything about something objective. The
           Bible is a religious book; it has its own dimension. Don't confuse these dimensions.
               Because of this confusion there has arisen a great conflict between science and religion. There is
           no need at all. Science has its own realm, its own territory. First the priests started interfering with
           science; now, the whole story is again being repeated in the opposite order. Now scientists are trying
           to interfere in the world of religion.
               Don't ask a scientist whether God exists or not -- that is none of his business. What does he know
           about God? That is not his dimension. And whatsoever he says about God is stupid; whatsoever he
           says is going to be wrong.
               It is like asking a great doctor about poetry -- he may be a great doctor, a great physician, but
           asking him about poetry just because he is a great physician is foolish. Or asking a great poet about
           your illness because he is a great poet...you can see the stupidity of it. You will not go to a great poet
           to be diagnosed just because he is a great poet. You will go to a doctor -- he may not be a poet at all.
               The scientist has no right to say anything about the interiority of humanity -- that is not his
           world. But now he is interfering. He is doing the same wrong that the priests have been doing for
           centuries.

               Galileo was called by the pope, forced in his old age to apologize because he had said that it is
           not the sun that goes round the earth, but the earth that goes round the sun. Now, it is against the
           Bible. The priests were very much annoyed: "How can you deny the Bible? Who are you?" In his old
           age -- he was seventy, ill, bed-ridden -- he was forced to go to the court, he was forced to kneel
           down before the pope, and he was asked to apologize.
               He must have been a man of humor, he must have had a great sense of humor. He said, "Yes, sir,
           I apologize. I declare that the Bible is right, that the earth does not go round the sun but the sun goes
           round the earth. Are you satisfied, sir?"
               And they were all happy. They said, "We are satisfied."
               And then Galileo laughed. He said, "But whatsoever I say, it makes no difference -- the earth
           goes round the sun. My statements, what do they mean? What can they do? What can I do? My
           saying it won't help -- the earth won't listen. But I apologize, I am wrong and the Bible is right. But
           remember well: the earth goes round the sun -- it has no obligation to fulfill my desire. I would like it
           to go according to the Bible and according to you, but I am helpless, utterly helpless."

               The Bible has many unscientific statements, the Vedas have many unscientific statements. All
           old scriptures have many unscientific statements, for a certain reason: because in those days there
           was no science as a separate phenomenon. The religious scripture was the only scripture available.
           So it used to collect everything; whatever knowledge was available was collected in the scripture. It
           contains art, it contains mathematics, it contains geography, it contains history, it contains science --
           it contains everything that was available. And the knowledge was so small that it could be contained
           in a single scripture.
               But now, centuries have passed, man has grown, has come of age. Now, science has its own
           world. We should drop all that is scientific from the religious scriptures -- they have nothing to do
           with it. Neither does science have anything to do with religious scriptures or the religious dimension.
           But this is how stupid minds go on quarreling.
               I would like you to be scientific -- as far as the world is concerned, be scientific. As far as your
           inner reality is concerned, be religious. And there is a world between the two, the world of
           in-between, the twilight world, where the objective and the subjective meet. That is the world of
           aesthetics. About that, be an artist, be a poet, be a musician.
               All these dimensions fulfilled and you will become spiritual; all these dimensions enriched will
           make you the fourth man, the spiritual man. My sannyasins have to be the fourth -- integrated,
           whole. Nothing has to be bypassed, Nirgun. Everything has to be lived, loved, experienced.
           Everything has to be absorbed, so that you become as rich as it is possible to become.

           The second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WILL YOU SAY SOMETHING MORE ABOUT RELAXATION? I AM AWARE OF A TENSION DEEP
              AT THE CORE OF ME AND SUSPECT THAT I HAVE PROBABLY NEVER BEEN TOTALLY
              RELAXED.
              WHEN YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY THAT TO RELAX IS ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX
              PHENOMENA POSSIBLE, I GLIMPSED A RICH TAPESTRY IN WHICH THE THREADS OF
              RELAXATION AND LET-GO WERE DEEPLY INTERWOVEN WITH TRUST, AND THEN LOVE
              CAME INTO IT, AND ACCEPTANCE, GOING WITH THE FLOW, UNION AND ECSTASY....


                Anurag, total relaxation is the ultimate. That's the moment when one becomes a buddha. That is
           the moment of realization, enlightenment, christ-consciousness. You cannot be totally relaxed right
           now. At the innermost core a tension will persist.
                But start relaxing. Start from the circumference -- that's where we are, and we can start only from
           where we are. Relax the circumference of your being -- relax your body, relax your behavior, relax
           your acts. Walk in a relaxed way, eat in a relaxed way, talk, listen in a relaxed way. Slow down
           every process. Don't be in a hurry and don't be in haste. Move as if all eternity is available to you --
           in fact, it is available to you. We are here from the beginning and we are going to be here to the very
           end, if there is a beginning and there is an end. In fact, there is no beginning and no end. We have
           always been here and we will be here always. Forms go on changing, but not the substance;
           garments go on changing, but not the soul.
                Tension means hurry, fear, doubt. Tension means a constant effort to protect, to be secure, to be
           safe. Tension means preparing for the tomorrow now, or for the afterlife -- afraid tomorrow you will
           not be able to face the reality, so be prepared. Tension means the past that you have not lived really
           but only somehow bypassed; it hangs, it is a hangover, it surrounds you.
                Remember one very fundamental thing about life: any experience that has not been lived will
           hang around you, will persist: "Finish me! Live me! Complete me!" There is an intrinsic quality in
           every experience that it tends and wants to be finished, completed. Once completed, it evaporates;
           incomplete, it persists, it tortures you, it haunts you, it attracts your attention. It says, "What are you
           going to do about me? I am still incomplete -- fulfill me!"
                Your whole past hangs around you with nothing completed -- because nothing has been lived
           really, everything somehow bypassed, partially lived, only so-so, in a lukewarm way. There has been
           no intensity, no passion. You have been moving like a somnambulist, a sleepwalker. So that past
           hangs, and the future creates fear. And between the past and the future is crushed your present, the
           only reality.
                You will have to relax from the circumference. The first step in relaxing is the body. Remember
           as many times as possible to look in the body, whether you are carrying some tension in the body
           somewhere -- at the neck, in the head, in the legs. Relax it consciously. Just go to that part of the
           body, and persuade that part, say to it lovingly "Relax!"
                And you will be surprised that if you approach any part of your body, it listens, it follows you --
           it is your body! With closed eyes, go inside the body from the toe to the head searching for any place
           where there is a tension. And then talk to that part as you talk to a friend; let there be a dialogue
           between you and your body. Tell it to relax, and tell it, "There is nothing to fear. Don't be afraid. I
           am here to take care -- you can relax." Slowly slowly, you will learn the knack of it. Then the body
           becomes relaxed.
                Then take another step, a little deeper; tell the mind to relax. And if the body listens, mind also
           listens, but you cannot start with the mind -- you have to start from the beginning. You cannot start
           from the middle. Many people start with the mind and they fail; they fail because they start from a
           wrong place. Everything should be done in the right order.
                If you become capable of relaxing the body voluntarily, then you will be able to help your mind
           relax voluntarily. Mind is a more complex phenomenon. Once you have become confident that the
           body listens to you, you will have a new trust in yourself. Now even the mind can listen to you. It
           will take a little longer with the mind, but it happens.
                When the mind is relaxed, then start relaxing your heart, the world of your feelings, emotions --
           which is even more complex, more subtle. But now you will be moving with trust, with great trust in
           yourself. Now you will know it is possible. If it is possible with the body and possible with the mind,
           it is possible with the heart too. And then only, when you have gone through these three steps, can
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you take the fourth. Now you can go to the innermost core of your being, which is beyond body,
           mind, heart: the very center of your existence. And you will be able to relax it too.
               And that relaxation certainly brings the greatest joy possible, the ultimate in ecstasy, acceptance.
           You will be full of bliss and rejoicing. Your life will have the quality of dance to it.
               The whole of existence is dancing, except man. The whole of existence is in a very relaxed
           movement; movement there is, certainly, but it is utterly relaxed. Trees are growing and birds are
           chirping and rivers are flowing, stars are moving: everything is going in a very relaxed way. No
           hurry, no haste, no worry, and no waste. Except man. Man has fallen a victim of his mind.
               Man can rise above gods and fall below animals. Man has a great spectrum. From the lowest to
           the highest, man is a ladder.
               Anurag, start from the body, and then go, slowly slowly, deeper. And don't start with anything
           else unless you have first solved the primary. If your body is tense, don't start with the mind. Wait.
           Work on the body. And just small things are of immense help.
               You walk at a certain pace; that has become habitual, automatic. Now try to walk slowly.
           Buddha used to say to his disciples, "Walk very slowly, and take each step very consciously." If you
           take each step very consciously, you are bound to walk slowly. If you are running, hurrying, you will
           forget to remember. Hence Buddha walks very slowly.
               Just try walking very slowly, and you will be surprised -- a new quality of awareness starts
           happening in the body. Eat slowly, and you will be surprised -- there is great relaxation. Do
           everything slowly...just to change the old pattern, just to come out of old habits.
               First the body has to become utterly relaxed, like a small child, then only start with the mind.
           Move scientifically: first the simplest, then the complex, then the more complex. And then only can
           you relax at the ultimate core.
               You ask me, Anurag, "Will you say something more about relaxation? I am aware of a tension
           deep in the core of me and suspect that I have probably never been totally relaxed."
               That is the situation of every human being. It is good that you are aware -- millions are unaware
           of it. You are blessed that you are aware, because if you are aware then something can be done. If
           you are not aware, then nothing is possible. Awareness is the beginning of transformation.
               And you say, "When you said the other day that to relax is one of the most complex phenomena
           possible, I glimpsed a rich tapestry in which the threads of relaxation and let-go were deeply
           interwoven with trust, and then love came into it, and acceptance, going with the flow, union and
           ecstasy...."
               Yes, Anurag, relaxation is one of the most complex phenomena -- very rich, multidimensional.
           All these things are part of it: let-go, trust, surrender, love, acceptance, going with the flow, union
           with existence, egolessness, ecstasy. All these are part of it, and all these start happening if you learn
           the ways of relaxation.
               Your so-called religions have made you very tense, because they have created guilt in you. My
           effort here is to help you get rid of all guilt and all fear. I would like to tell you: there is no hell and
           no heaven. So don't be afraid of hell and don't be greedy for heaven. All that exists is this moment.
           You can make this moment a hell or a heaven -- that certainly is possible -- but there is no heaven or
           hell somewhere else. Hell is when you are all tense, and heaven is when you are all relaxed. Total
           relaxation is paradise.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              EVERY TIME YOU HAVE SPOKEN ON A MASTER, I HAVE FELT YOU TO BE IN LOVE WITH
              THAT MASTER AND YOU FLOWING THROUGH HIS SUTRAS. IN THIS SERIES THOUGH, I FEEL
              YOU STANDING APART FROM THE BUDDHA AND NOT REALLY IN LOVE WITH HIS WORK.
              IS SOMETHING CHANGING OR AM I IMAGINING THINGS?


               Nishant, you are not imagining things. With me, you will have to be always on the move --
           things will be changing. As you grow up I will be telling you things which I could not tell you
           before. It is not that my love for Buddha is less -- my love cannot be less or more; my love is just
           love, it is a quality, it has no quantitative dimension to it. It can never be less or more -- it simply is.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I love Buddha, I love Jesus, I love Zarathustra, I love Lao Tzu, I love Patanjali -- BECAUSE I
           love...because I love you, because I love the trees, because I love the birds. My love is not less.
               And you are perfectly right that I am standing apart -- I will be standing apart more and more in
           the future. I am preparing for the new phase. The work has to take a quantum leap, and much
           preparation is needed. The work has to take on a totally different quality now. Now I have people
           with me of great trust, of love, people who are committed and surrendered.
               In the beginning I was talking to the masses. It was a totally different kind of work: I was in
           search of disciples. Talking to the masses I was using their language; talking to the masses was
           talking to a primary class. You can't go very deep; you have to talk superficially. You have to look to
           whom you are talking.
               Then, slowly slowly, a few people started turning from students to disciples. Then my approach
           changed. It was now possible to communicate on higher levels. Then disciples started changing into
           sannyasins -- they started becoming committed, they started becoming involved with me, with my
           destiny. My life became their life, my being became their being. Now communication took a jump: it
           became communion.
               Now I have got enough sannyasins...the work will have to move deeper.
               I was talking about Buddha before, and I was talking as if I was simply allowing him to flow
           through me. Now this is not going to be the case. This series is the beginning of a new phase.
               Nishant, you have suspected rightly. Now I will have to make it clear what the points are in
           which I differ from Buddha, from Jesus, from Krishna. I have to make it very clear where I differ
           from them.
               Twenty-five centuries have passed since Buddha. Much has happened since then -- much water
           has flowed down the Ganges. Everything has changed! If Buddha comes into the world he will not
           be able to recognize that it is the same world that he had left.
               I belong to this century. In these twenty-five centuries many new things have been added. For
           example, Buddha knew nothing about science -- he could not. I am not saying that he should have
           known -- he could not! It was impossible. Albert Einstein had not happened yet. Buddha was not
           aware of many things of which we are aware, I am aware. I have to incorporate all those things.
           Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx and Albert Einstein and many more have to be incorporated. Religion
           has to become more and more rich every day.
               I will have to make it clear where I differ. I will have to make clear what MORE I am trying to
           add to the religious heritage. I will not be just a vehicle anymore. That phase is complete. It was
           needed up to now, because I wanted...the people who loved Buddha, I wanted to approach them; the
           people who loved Mahavira, I wanted to approach them; the people who loved Jesus, I wanted to
           approach them.
               Humanity is divided: a few are with Jesus, a few are with Buddha, a few are with Krishna...and
           so on and so forth. There are no free human beings available. I had to pick and choose from different
           sects, from different communities, from different religions. The only way was: to speak the way
           Buddha spoke, then only would a few Buddhists become involved with me; otherwise it would have
           been impossible for them, they would not have understood me. Now they have become involved
           with me it is going to be a totally different matter. Now their love has arisen for me, it is easy for me
           to say where I differ from Buddha and they will be able to understand. It won't create any trouble for
           them, it will not be confusing to them.
               But remember, my love is not less because I am standing apart: my love is the same. My love is
           not going to change; it is not something that can change. But more and more it will happen: I will
           stand apart and separate.
               Now I have got my own people. And I have to make it very clear where I differ, where I am
           trying to give something new, something more; where I am trying to enrich the heritage, where I am
           contributing. And sometimes I will have to criticize too -- but I love so much that I can criticize.
               Sometimes I am going to criticize Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus. Not that I don't love them -- I love
           them, otherwise why should I speak on them? Even if I criticize them, that means my love is so
           much that I will take even that trouble, to criticize them.
               Buddha has given much to humanity, but humanity is an on-going process. And everything that
           happens to humanity brings its advantages and also brings its disadvantages.
               In this world, nothing can remain absolutely pure. When it rains the water is pure. The moment it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           touches the earth...in fact even before that: the moment it enters into the atmosphere, the polluted air
           starts contaminating it. The earth is surrounded by a thick layer of air; when the water enters into this
           layer of air, it starts becoming polluted. And when it falls on the earth it becomes muddy, it becomes
           dirty. Still it is water, but it is no longer pure.
               That's what happens to every truth. When Buddha uttered something, it was absolutely pure. The
           moment it was heard by people it became impure. When it was recorded -- and remember it was
           recorded after many years, after three hundred years...now can you imagine that people can record
           after three hundred years exactly the same thing that Buddha said? It is impossible! People are
           people; they will automatically destroy it, distort it -- they will give their own colors to it.
               The day Buddha died, his followers were divided into thirty-six schools -- immediately!
           Thirty-six interpretations. Nobody was agreeing on what he said, or even if they were agreeing about
           the words, they were not agreeing about the meaning that was given to the words.

           I am reminded:
               In the last year of his life, Sigmund Freud called all his disciples -- the important ones, the chief
           ones. He was feeling death coming close by, he must have heard the first steps of death, and he
           wanted to have a last gathering.
               They were sitting at the table, nearabout thirty people from all over the world -- all the chief
           disciples -- and they started arguing about something that Freud had said a few days before. Freud
           was there! He was the host, but they completely forgot about Freud. They became so involved in the
           argument: somebody was saying one thing, and somebody else was saying something else, and
           somebody else was contradicting both. And they were arguing about what Freud really meant.... And
           Freud watched, listened, and then shouted, "Stop all this nonsense! Do you think I am dead? I am
           here, present -- why don't you ask me what my meaning was? And if you can do this to me while I
           am alive, what are you going to do when I am dead? You don't bother to ask me, and you have
           wasted one hour in arguing with each other, fighting, getting irritated, annoyed, shouting at each
           other...and the master is present!"

               And Freud is not an enlightened man. If this can happen to an unenlightened person, what about
           the Buddha who speaks from the highest peaks of existence? The moment he utters something, it is
           no longer the same as it was in his heart. When it is heard, it is no longer the same as it was uttered.
           When it is interpreted, it is totally something else.
               Many times I will criticize. Many times I will tell you about all the advantages and all the
           disadvantages that have happened. Buddha is the purest religious dimension, the purest possible, but
           how can I avoid saying that he is a one-dimensional man? If I don't say it, it will be untrue. If I don't
           say it, my love for truth is not total then. I have to say it, that he is one-dimensional -- the purest in
           his dimension, but he lacks the other dimensions.
               He has no appreciation of beauty, not at all. He has no appreciation of music, not at all. He has
           no appreciation of love, not at all. The aesthetic dimension is missing, he has bypassed it. And he has
           no scientific approach; he cannot have -- science was not yet developed enough. He is
           one-dimensional purity, but one-dimensional.
               And because he is one-dimensional, this whole country has remained one-dimensional. Buddha
           is one-dimensional, Mahavira is one-dimensional, Patanjali is one-dimensional. All the great
           religious masters of this country were religious people. They reached to the purest religious
           experience, and they tried to convert the whole country to their vision. But the disadvantage was that
           the country became poor. Without science no country can ever become rich. The country became
           outwardly ugly, starving, ill. Without science and technology, no country can be outwardly beautiful,
           healthy, affluent.
               Now, I cannot avoid mentioning it -- that will not be true, and that will not be right either. That
           will be deceiving you! That will be a crime against humanity. It is time that somebody should have
           the guts to say it! Nobody in the whole world is doing it, and the time is ripe that somebody should
           shout and say that Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali, Lao Tzu, are immensely beautiful people, and they
           have contributed much -- humanity would not have been what it is without them -- they are our very
           soul, that is absolutely true, but there is a disadvantage because they are all one-dimensional. Other
           dimensions have remained paralyzed, crippled. And now the time has come: other dimensions have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be fulfilled too.
               I would like this country to become rich, scientific, technological, healthy, well nourished -- not
           only this country but the whole of humanity. And I don't see that it is against religion. On the
           contrary: the more rich a country is, the more religious it can become -- because richness gives you
           opportunity, richness gives you facility, richness gives you time and space and energy, to move
           inwards. If you don't move, that's your responsibility. Nothing is wrong in being rich. If a rich person
           is not religious, he is simply mediocre, stupid; it is nothing against richness: it is simply an
           indication that he is foolish.
               If a rich person is not religious, I call him stupid; and if a poor person is religious, I call him
           intelligent, really intelligent. Rare intelligence is needed for the poor man to become religious. When
           a Kabir becomes religious he shows more intelligence than Buddha himself -- because it is
           impossible, almost impossible to become religious when you are poor. When you have not known
           what riches are, how can you get beyond them? One can go beyond a certain thing only when it has
           been experienced; it is only through experience that one surpasses and transcends. If somebody
           transcends without experiencing something, that simply means that he has such intelligence that he
           learns from others' experiences; he need not go into all those things on his own.
               Kabir must have looked at the rich people and seen the futility of it all. Hence he dropped that
           ambition, that desire. Buddha was the son of a king; he lived richly, and through experience he came
           to understand that all is futile and all is vanity. He came through his own experience: Kabir came by
           watching others' experiences. Certainly, Kabir needs more intelligence.
               Poor persons can become religious, but poor societies cannot become religious. Rich persons
           may avoid religion, but rich societies cannot avoid religion.
               Now, this new dimension has to be added. Religion need not worship poverty. Religion need not
           console poor people by saying false things to them, by consoling them, by giving them invented
           theories of past lives and future lives and fate, etcetera. The whole earth is now capable of becoming
           affluent. Science has released so much power -- but it has to be used rightly!
               Hence I am not in favor of the Western approach. The West is missing the soul, the very soul -- it
           is only a body. And the danger is that the stupid politicians in the East are going to imitate the West.
               Now, every country wants to create atomic energy -- even India. Poor countries like India or
           Pakistan, they want to create atomic bombs. Why? People are poor and starving.
               Just a few days ago, India launched a satellite, Bhaskar, into the sky, to study.... Industries don't
           have electricity; five days in a week, industries are being closed. You don't have electricity, but you
           launch a satellite to study the possibilities of the sky -- competition, foolish competition.
               Now there are five hundred man-made satellites going round the earth. One of them, the
           American Skylab, is going to fall because it has gone out of control. It can create great danger.
           Poona is on its way; from Bombay to Poona, and from Poona up to Kannada, somewhere it will fall.
           And it will not fall in one piece in one place -- at least five hundred pieces, and each piece will be
           like a bomb. It can fall on an atomic generator and can destroy the whole earth.
               And all those five hundred satellites, sooner or later, are going to go out of control. If the
           American satellite can go out of control, what about the Indian? Just two years ago, India launched
           its first satellite. Now it is functioning almost like an Indian -- the name of the satellite was
           Aryabhatta -- now it goes on giving wrong information. It is a nuisance! You cannot believe it. In the
           beginning they used to believe it, but then they found that it was giving absolutely wrong
           information. How like the Indian mind! How representative! Now they want to get rid of it, they
           want it to shut up, but it won't...it continues to send information. You cannot shut it up.
               Poor countries imitating the West -- the whole thing is so foolish. The poor countries certainly
           need more scientific understanding, but they don't need sophisticated scientific instruments -- that is
           not their need.
               And now science has released enough energy for the whole earth to be transformed into a
           paradise.
               Buddha has contributed immensely, but as a side effect he has been one of the causes of India's
           poverty. I cannot ignore that fact. I have to state it. I have not stated it up to now, but now I have my
           own people who will understand.
               Mahavira has contributed tremendously to India's spiritual enrichment, but the by-product of his
           teachings has been slavery for one thousand years; because of his teaching of nonviolence, India
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           became one of the most cowardly countries in the world.
               Now, Krishna is right in saying to leave everything to God -- in the religious dimension that's
           how things should be: trust God. But not in the scientific dimension -- there is a totally different
           mechanism that functions: doubt, not trust. Trust is the foundation of the religious world, doubt the
           foundation of the scientific world.
               Krishna is perfectly right when he says to Arjuna, "Trust God! Surrender to God. Trust that
           whatsoever he is doing is right." Now, what has been the side effect? The side effect has been: "If
           you are poor, trust God; if you are ill, trust God. Whatsoever he is doing is right." This is the side
           effect. In the religious dimension it is perfectly right, but when you bring it to the scientific
           dimension it becomes absolutely wrong.
               Now I have to say it. And I know I am going to suffer much because of these statements, because
           in India people are not accustomed to hearing any criticism of Krishna, Mahavira or Buddha -- no,
           not at all.
               First I will make it clear to you where I differ. And soon I will start criticizing the side effects
           too.
               Nishant, wait a little more, because I have to tell you the whole truth -- the whole truth as it is,
           whatsoever the consequences. I will appreciate whatsoever is worth appreciating and I will condemn
           whatsoever needs to be condemned.
               India's poverty, slavery, long long suffering, cannot simply be tolerated, ignored. And Krishna,
           Mahavira and Buddha cannot be forgiven -- they are responsible. If they are to be praised for what
           they have contributed to the spiritual, they have to be criticized too because they have been the root
           cause of India's fall.
               And now the time has come when everything should be put right. And it is not only a question of
           India: it is a question of the whole world. Just as Indian fools can imitate the West, there are Western
           fools who can imitate India, and can go on committing the same kind of mistakes that India has
           committed in the past.
               We have to put things absolutely clear. We have to be very very dispassionate. That's why,
           Nishant, you are feeling there is a certain difference -- there is. You are not imagining things. My
           work is going into a new phase, I am entering into a new phase. Before the new commune happens, I
           am preparing for it....

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY AM I TIRED OF SEX?


               Sandhan, sex is tiring -- and that's why I say to you: Don't avoid it. Unless you know its stupidity
           you will not be able to get rid of it. Unless you know its sheer wastage, you will not be able to
           transcend it.
               It is good that you have started feeling tired -- that is natural. Sex simply means energy being
           dissipated downwards. The energy has to move upwards, then it is nourishing. Then it opens
           inexhaustible treasures in you -- aes dhammo sanantano. But if you go on and on into sex like a
           maniac, soon you will find yourself utterly exhausted, wasted.

               A newly married couple go to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. When they arrive, they
           immediately check into a hotel and are not heard of for three days, no room service or anything.
           After a while the manager gets a bit worried, so he decides to check up on them.
               He knocks on the door, hears a little scurrying in the room, and then a pale-looking man opens
           the door with just his shorts on. "We were worried," said the manager.
           "Well, we just got married," replied the man.
           "I understand," says the manager, "but you have one of the great wonders of the world...."
               At that a tiny voice from the back of the room interrupts, "If you show that thing to me one more
           time, I will jump out of the window."

              You don't get it! ...Three days continuously -- the woman is bound to jump out of the window.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Man can go on living stupidly only to a certain extent -- beyond that he has to become aware of
           what he is doing to himself. Sandhan, it is time now. There are far more important things in life than
           sex. Sex is not all. It is significant, but not all. If you remain trapped in it you will miss all the glories
           of life.
               And I am not against sex, remember. That's why my teaching becomes a little contradictory. I am
           a paradox. I cannot help it because truth itself is a paradox. I am not against sex, because those who
           are against sex, they will always remain sexual. I am for sex, because if you go deep into it you will
           come out of it soon. The more consciously you go into it, the sooner you will come out of it. And the
           day when a person comes out of sex totally is a day of great blessing.
               It is good that you are feeling tired. Now don't go to a physician for some medicine -- that won't
           help, or that may only postpone your tiredness a little bit more. If you are feeling tired that simply
           shows that you have come to the point from where you can jump out of it.
               What is the point of remaining in it if you are feeling tired? Get out of it! And I am not saying
           repress it. When you are feeling much energy for it and you try to get out, there will be repression.
           But when you are exhausted and tired and you see the futility of it, you can come out of it without
           repression. And to come out of sex without repression is to be free of it.
               Freedom from sex is a great experience. Freedom from sex makes your energies available for
           meditation, for samadhi.
           Enough for today.




                        The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                   Chapter #9
                                  Chapter title: Seated in the cave of the heart
           29 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906290
              ShortTitle: DHAM109
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 107 mins




               AS THE FLETCHER WHITTLES
               AND MAKES STRAIGHT HIS ARROWS,
               SO THE MASTER DIRECTS
               HIS STRAYING THOUGHTS.



               LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER,
               STRANDED ON THE SHORE,
               THOUGHTS THRASH AND QUIVER.
               FOR HOW CAN THEY SHAKE OFF DESIRE?



               THEY TREMBLE, THEY ARE UNSTEADY,
               THEY WANDER AT THEIR WILL.
               IT IS GOOD TO CONTROL THEM.
               AND TO MASTER THEM BRINGS HAPPINESS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BUT HOW SUBTLE THEY ARE,
              HOW ELUSIVE!
              THE TASK IS TO QUIETEN THEM,
              AND BY RULING THEM TO FIND HAPPINESS.



              WITH SINGLEMINDEDNESS
              THE MASTER QUELLS HIS THOUGHTS.
              HE ENDS THEIR WANDERING.
              SEATED IN THE CAVE OF THE HEART,
              HE FINDS FREEDOM.


               Freedom is the goal of life. Without freedom, life has no meaning at all. By "freedom" is not
           meant any political, social or economic freedom. By "freedom" is meant freedom from time,
           freedom from mind, freedom from desire. The moment mind is no more, you are one with the
           universe, you are as vast as the universe itself.
               It is the mind that is the barrier between you and the reality, and because of this barrier you
           remain confined in a dark cell where no light ever reaches and where no joy can ever penetrate. You
           live in misery because you are not meant to live in such a small, confined space. Your being wants to
           expand to the very ultimate source of existence. Your being longs to be oceanic, and you have
           become a dewdrop. How can you be happy? How can you be blissful? Man lives in misery because
           man lives imprisoned.
               And Gautama the Buddha says that tanha -- desire -- is the root cause of all our misery, because
           desire creates the mind. Desire means creating future, projecting yourself in the future, bringing
           tomorrow in. Bring the tomorrow in and the today disappears, you cannot see it anymore; your eyes
           are clouded by the tomorrow. Bring the tomorrow in and you will have to carry the load of all your
           yesterdays, because the tomorrow can only be there if the yesterdays go on nourishing it.
               Each desire is born out of the past and each desire is projected in the future. The past and the
           future, they constitute your whole mind. Analyze the mind, dissect it, and you will find only two
           things: the past and the future. You will not find even an iota of the present, not even a single atom.
           And the present is the only reality, the only existence, the only dance there is.
               The present can be found only when mind has ceased utterly. When the past no more overpowers
           you and the future no more possesses you, when you are disconnected from the memories and the
           imaginations, in that moment where are you? who are you? In that moment you are a nobody. And
           nobody can hurt you when you are a nobody, you cannot be wounded -- because the ego is very
           ready to receive wounds. The ego is almost seeking and searching to be wounded; it exists through
           wounds. Its whole existence depends on misery, pain.
               When you are a nobody, anguish is impossible, anxiety simply unbelievable. When you are a
           nobody there is great silence, stillness, no noise inside. Past gone, future disappeared, what is there
           to create noise? And the silence that is heard is celestial, is sacred. For the first time, in those spaces
           of no-mind, you become aware of the eternal celebration that goes on and on. That's what the
           existence is made of.
               Except man, the whole existence is blissful. Only man has fallen out of it, has gone astray. Only
           man can do it because only man has consciousness.
               Now, consciousness has two possibilities: either it can become a bright light in you, so bright
           that even the sun will look pale compared to it.... Buddha says it is as if a thousand suns have risen
           suddenly -- when you look within with no mind it is all light, eternal light. It is all joy, pure,
           uncontaminated, unpolluted. It is simple bliss, innocent. It is wonder. Its majesty is indescribable, its
           beauty inexpressible, and its benediction inexhaustible. Aes dhammo sanantano: so is the ultimate
           law.
               If you can only put your mind aside you will become aware of the cosmic play. Then you are
           only energy, and the energy is always herenow, it never leaves the herenow. That is one possibility:
           if you become pure consciousness.
               The other possibility is: you can become self-consciousness. Then you fall. Then you become a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           separate entity from the world. Then you become an island, defined, well defined. Then you are
           confined, because all definitions confine. Then you are in a prison cell, and the prison cell is dark,
           utterly dark. There is no light, no possibility of light. And the prison cell cripples you, paralyzes you.
                Self-consciousness becomes a bondage; the self is the bondage. And just consciousness becomes
           freedom.
                Drop the self and be conscious! That is the whole message -- the message of all the buddhas of
           all the ages, past, present, future. The essential core of the message is very simple: drop the self, the
           ego, the mind, and be.
                Just this moment when this silence pervades...who are you? A nobody, a nonentity. You don't
           have a name, you don't have a form. You are neither man nor woman, neither Hindu nor
           Mohammedan. You don't belong to any country, to any nation, to any race. You are not the body and
           you are not the mind.
                Then what are you? In this silence, what is your taste? How does it taste to be? Just a peace, just
           a silence...and out of that peace and silence a great joy starts surfacing, welling up, for no reason at
           all. It is your spontaneous nature.
                The art of putting the mind aside is the whole secret of religion, because as you put the mind
           aside your being explodes into a thousand and one colors. You become a rainbow, a lotus, a
           one-thousand-petaled lotus. Suddenly you open up, and then the whole beauty of existence -- which
           is infinite! -- is yours. Then all the stars in the sky are within you. Then even the sky is not your
           limit; you don't have any limits anymore.
                Silence gives you a chance to melt, merge, disappear, evaporate. And when you are not, you are
           -- for the first time you are. When you are not, God is, nirvana is, enlightenment is. When you are
           not, all is found -- and when you are, all is lost.
                Man has become a self-consciousness; that is his going astray, that is the original fall. All the
           religions talk about the original fall in some way or other, but the best story is contained in
           Christianity. The original fall is because man eats from the tree of knowledge. When you eat of the
           tree of knowledge, the fruits of knowledge, it creates self-consciousness.
                The more knowledgeable you are, the more egoistic you are -- hence the ego of the scholars,
           pundits, maulvis. The ego becomes decorated with great knowledge, scriptures, systems of thought.
           But they don't make you innocent; they don't bring you the childlike quality of openness, of trust, of
           love, of playfulness. Trust, love, playfulness, wonder, all disappear when you become very
           knowledgeable.
                And we are being taught to become knowledgeable. We are not taught to be innocent, we are not
           taught how to feel the wonder of existence. We are told the names of the flowers, but we are not
           taught how to dance around the flowers. We are told the names of the mountains, but we are not
           taught how to commune with the mountains, how to commune with the stars, how to commune with
           the trees, how to be in tune with existence.
                Out of tune, how can you be happy? Out of tune you are bound to remain in anguish, in great
           misery, in pain. You can be happy only when you are dancing with the dance of the whole, when you
           are just a part of the dance, when you are just a part of this great orchestra, when you are not singing
           your song separately. Only then, in that melting, is man free.
                That's what freedom is. It is not political, not economic, not social. Freedom is spiritual. The
           social, the economic, and the political freedom are freedoms only if they help people to be spiritually
           free. If they don't help people to become spiritually free, then they are pretenders. Then in the name
           of freedom man is made more and more a slave. Beautiful names become facades hiding ugly
           realities. If you are not spiritually free you are not free at all. Then all your freedoms are bogus,
           phony, pseudo. Then you have been duped. Then you have been given toys to play with.
                Buddha is talking about the reality -- the real freedom. He calls it nirvana. The word 'nirvana' is
           very beautiful; it means cessation of self-consciousness, utter cessation of the self, the naked state of
           egolessness. It brings great ecstasies, great harvest; inexhaustible treasures it brings.
                Hence Buddha goes on repeating again and again...two statements he repeats in THE
           DHAMMAPADA. One is: aes dhammo sanantano. This is the ultimate law of life: that you
           disappear and you will find yourself. Very paradoxical -- that just by disappearing one finds. By
           dropping the self one becomes the ultimate self. By disappearing as a dewdrop one becomes the
           ocean.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And the other statement that he repeats again and again is: aes dhammo visuddhya -- such is the
           law of purity, of becoming innocent, pure. What is the law of purity? A simple law: become
           disidentified with the mind, don't think of yourself as a mind. Not that Buddha is against the mind,
           not that he does not want you to use it -- he wants you to use it, but not to be used by it. And usually
           the second is the case: the mind is using you. You have become a slave. The master has become the
           slave and the slave has become the master. Everything has gone topsy-turvy.
                You are standing on your head! Now how can you walk, how can you move, how can you
           dance? Have you seen anybody dancing standing on his head? Your life will not be a life of
           movement anymore if you are standing on your head. Your life will be stagnant, it will become a
           dirty pool of water. You will start stinking soon. Standing on your head you are crippled, paralyzed.
                If you just stand on your legs again -- a small change, a very small change, but it brings a radical
           revolution -- immediately you are capable of movement, and movement is life. Not to move is to die.
                How do you define death? When a person cannot move in any possible way. He cannot breathe --
           that is one kind of movement; he cannot see -- that is another kind of movement; he cannot walk, he
           cannot talk -- these are all kinds of movement, different dimensions of movement. Because all
           movement has ceased we say the man is dead.
                The more movement you have, the more life, the livelier you are. Have multidimensional
           movement! But that is possible only if you stop standing on your head. You have to be put right.
                The day you come to me you come in a topsy-turvy state. Initiation into sannyas means nothing
           except that I persuade you to stand on your feet and not to go on doing this shirshasana -- headstand
           -- your whole life.
                Be natural, be part of nature. Don't brag. Don't go on puffing up your egos. We are tiny parts --
           immensely beautiful if we function with the whole, but absolutely ugly if we function against it.
                But you have been told by your societies to fight, to struggle, because life is a struggle for
           survival, because if you don't fight you will be defeated. And you have to be victorious, and you
           have to be famous. You have been given great ambitions and all those ambitions have become
           chains, all those ambitions are keeping you tethered. All those ambitions are the root cause of your
           mind; they create the mind.
                Buddha's word 'tanha' contains all the meanings of desire, ambition, achievement. These are the
           nourishments of the mind. If you go on nourishing the mind you are poisoning yourself. And the
           mind will become bigger and bigger and you will become smaller and smaller. The mind becomes
           almost a cancerous growth.
                Sannyas means an operation. Buddha transformed thousands of people through sannyas, through
           initiation. He was a great surgeon.
                And once you become aware that you are the cause of your own misery, things start changing.
           You no longer help your own misery, you no longer feed it. And once you become aware that you
           are not your mind but a witness to it, you start rising above the mind, you are no longer tethered.
           You start growing wings, you start soaring higher and higher. Mind remains always groping in the
           dark valleys of life, but you can become an eagle, you can soar high. You can be the master and then
           you can use the mind -- and very purposely it can be used.
                These sutras are how to become the master of your mind. They contain the science of becoming
           the master.
           The Buddha says:

              AS THE FLETCHER WHITTLES
              AND MAKES STRAIGHT HIS ARROWS,
              SO THE MASTER DIRECTS
              HIS STRAYING THOUGHTS.


               Now meditate: are your thoughts directing you, or do you direct your thoughts? -- because much
           depends on that insight. Are you being dominated by your thoughts? Do they go on driving you
           hither and thither? Do they suggest to you, do they fascinate you, do they obsess you? Do they pull
           your strings and are you simply a slave? Or are you the master, and can you say to your thoughts
           "Stop!" and they have to stop -- can you put them on or off?
               People never meditate over it because it makes them feel very humiliated. It shows them their
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           impotence: they cannot even stop thoughts, their own thoughts.

           There is a famous Tibetan parable:
                A man served a master for many many years. The service was not pure; there was a motivation in
           it. He wanted some secret from the master. He had heard that the master has the secret -- the secret to
           do miracles. With this hidden desire he was serving the master day in, day out, but he was afraid to
           say anything. But the master was continuously watching his motivation.
                One day the master asked, "It is better that you please speak your mind, because I am
           continuously seeing a motive in all your service that you do for me. It is not out of love, certainly not
           out of love. I don't see any love in it and I don't see any humility in it. It is a kind of bribery. So
           please, just tell me, what do you want?"
                The man was waiting for this opportunity. He said, "I want the secret of doing miracles."
                The master said, "Then why did you waste your time so long? You could have said it the very
           first day you had come. You tortured yourself and you tortured me too, because I don't like people
           around me who have motives. They are ugly to look at. They are basically greedy, and greed makes
           them ugly. The secret is simple -- why didn't you ask me the first day? This is the secret...."
                He wrote down a small mantra on a piece of paper, just three lines maybe: "Buddham sharanam
           gachchhami, sangham sharanam gachchhami, dhammam sharanam gachchhami -- I go to the feet of
           the Buddha, I go to the feet of the Buddha's commune, I go to the feet of the dhamma, the ultimate
           law."
                And the master told the man, "You take this small mantra with you, repeat it five times, just five
           times. It is a simple process. Just remember one condition: while you are repeating it, take a bath,
           close the door, sit silently -- and while you are repeating it, please don't remember monkeys."
                The man said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Why should I remember monkeys in the
           first place? I have never remembered them my whole life!"
                The master said, "That is up to you, but I have to tell you the condition. This is how the mantra
           was given to me, with this condition. If you have never remembered monkeys, so far so good. Now
           go home, and please never come back to me. You have the secret, you know the condition. Fulfill the
           condition and you will have miraculous powers, and whatsoever you want to do you can do: you can
           fly in the sky, you can read people's thoughts, you can materialize things, and so on and so forth."
                The man rushed home; he even forgot to thank the master. That's how greed functions: it does
           not know thankfulness, it does not know gratitude. Greed is absolutely unaware of gratitude; it never
           comes across it. Greed is a thief and thieves don't thank.
                The man rushed, but he was very much puzzled: even on the way to his home monkeys started
           appearing in his head. He saw many kinds of monkeys: small and big, and red-mouthed and
           black-mouthed, and he was very much puzzled -- "What is happening?" In fact he was not thinking
           of anything else but the monkeys. And they were becoming bigger and they were crowding all
           around.
                He went home, he took a bath, but the monkeys were not leaving him. Now he was becoming
           suspicious that they were not going to leave him while he would be chanting the mantra. He had not
           even chanted the mantra yet, he was simply preparing. And when he closed his doors the room was
           full of monkeys. It was so crowded that he had no space for himself! He closed his eyes and there
           were monkeys, and he opened his eyes and there were monkeys. He could not believe what was
           happening! The whole night he tried. Again and again he would take a bath, and again and again he
           would try and fail, and fail utterly.
                In the morning he went to the master, returned the mantra and said, "Keep this mantra with you.
           This is driving me mad! I don't want to do any miracles, but please help me to get rid of these
           monkeys!"

               It is so impossible to get rid of a single thought! And if you want to get rid of it, it becomes even
           more difficult, because when you want to get rid of a thought it is a question -- a very decisive
           moment -- of who is the master: the mind or you? The mind will try in every possible way to prove
           that he is the master and not you.
               The master has been a slave for centuries, and the slave has been the master for millions of lives.
           Now the slave cannot leave all his privileges, priorities, so easily. He is going to give you great
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           resistance.
               You try it! Today take a bath, close your doors, repeat this simple mantra: Buddham sharanam
           gachchhami, sangham sharanam gachchhami, dhammam sharanam gachchhami -- and don't let the
           monkeys come to you....
               You are laughing at the poor man. You will be surprised: you are that man.

           Sigmund Freud used to tell another story:
               It happened once in a big hotel that a man came to stay. The manager was a little hesitant in
           giving him a room although there was an empty room. The man said, "Why are you hesitating so
           much?"
               The man said, "The reason is, just below that room there is a politician staying, a very famous
           man and very powerful, a big gun. And he is annoyed by small things, so we have kept the room
           above him empty for three days since he has been here -- because if anybody walks some noise is
           created, if you move something some noise is created, and he becomes so irritated and so angry that
           he creates much fuss about it."
               The stranger said, "Don't be worried! I will be very careful. Moreover, I am going to stay only
           overnight. I will be coming nearabout twelve in the night because I have much work to do in the
           town, and I will be leaving early in the morning, five o'clock. There is not much possibility that
           between twelve and five I will do anything which will irritate the great man. At the most I will be
           asleep and dreaming, and I don't think my dreams will disturb him."
               The manager was convinced: "If he is going to stay just for five hours there is no problem." He
           was allowed.
               At twelve the man reached his room exhausted: the whole day's work, a thousand and one things
           clamoring in his head. He had completely forgotten the politician. He entered his room. He was so
           tired. He sat on his bed, took off one of his shoes and threw it in the corner of the room. Then
           suddenly the noise of the shoe reminded him that maybe the politician, the great leader, would get
           disturbed, may be awakened. So the other shoe he put down very silently.
               After one hour the politician knocked on his door. He came out of his sleep, opened the door and
           said, "Have I done anything? -- because for one hour I have been asleep."
               The politician was red with anger. He said; "Yes! Where is the other shoe? I cannot manage to
           sleep. That other shoe goes on hanging, a continuous question in my mind -- where has the other
           shoe gone? Is this man sleeping with one shoe on? One I know you have thrown, but what happened
           to the other one? I have tried in every possible way to get rid of the idea -- that this is not my
           concern. How am I concerned with his shoe? But the more I have tried to get rid of the idea the more
           I have become possessed by it. Now there is only one possible way to go to sleep: to come and wake
           you and ask you what happened. Unless I know I cannot sleep."

               It is very difficult even to get rid of an absurd thought, utterly meaningless to you, of no purpose,
           something which is just accidental, none of your business. But still it can pursue you, it can haunt
           you, it can torture you. It can become such a powerful thing that it can drive you mad.
               People don't look in. They know that it is better not to look in because it is very humiliating. To
           see oneself as a slave is humiliating. And the mind has been on the throne so long, it has become
           accustomed to being the master. And it is not the master.
               You are born as a consciousness, not as a mind. Your innermost core is consciousness, not mind.
           Mind is nothing but accumulated thoughts, junk of the past. You are totally different from it.
               Watching it, slowly slowly you will see the distance. A thought arises in you, watch it. Watch it
           without any judgment. Don't be for or against, simply look at it, see into it, just like a mirror
           reflecting it. And one thing will become certain: that it is separate from you. It comes and goes, and
           you abide forever. The reflection in the mirror is not the mirror. Many reflections come and go, the
           mirror remains. The mirror is only the capacity of mirroring. A thought is there -- anger, greed,
           jealousy -- some thought, some kind of thought is there. It is not you!
               But our whole training, our whole conditioning, is basically wrong. Our languages are basically
           wrong because they give us wrong notions. When you see the thought of hunger arise in your mind
           you immediately say, "I am hungry," which is utter nonsense. You have never been hungry and you
           cannot be hungry, because consciousness has nothing to do with hunger, food, satiation. What is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           actually happening is: the body is hungry -- you are aware of it. You are simply reflecting the
           situation of the body.
               To be exactly precise you should say, "I am aware that my body is hungry, I am seeing that my
           body needs food."
               But every language says, "I am hungry, I am thirsty." I know it is simpler to say, "I am thirsty,"
           than to say again and again, "I am aware that my body is thirsty."

               One of the great Indian mystics visited America -- his name was Swami Ram. He used to speak
           of himself in the third person, he never used to use the word 'I'. He would only call himself Ram. He
           would say, "Ram is hungry. Ram is thirsty. Now Ram is feeling sleepy." It is a very strange way
           because we are not accustomed to it.
               When he went to America for the first time, people could not understand him or would
           understand him only in a wrong way, misunderstand him. He would say, "Ram is hungry." They
           would look all around -- where is Ram? And then he would show them: "This body is Ram, this
           body is hungry."
               And they would say, "Then why don't you simply say 'I am hungry'? Why go so roundabout, why
           go in circles? 'Ram is hungry.' Then we have to ask, 'Who is Ram?' Then you have to say, 'This body
           is Ram.'"
               But Ram would say, "I cannot assert something which is not true. I cannot say 'I am hungry'
           because I am not."
               Once it happened that he was sitting in a park, a public park, and a few people who had gathered
           around him were asking questions. One man asked, "We have heard about Krishna that when he used
           to play on his flute that people would forget their jobs and just rush towards him enchanted, as if
           possessed. What was his secret?"
               Ram was only wearing one single cloth, he had just wrapped a blanket around himself. He threw
           the blanket -- rather than answering he created a situation. That's how great mystics work. He threw
           the blanket, he was utterly naked, and he ran away. All the people ran with him! Not only those who
           were surrounding him but others also who were standing here and there or who had come for a
           morning walk, and people who were sitting on the benches reading their newspapers, they threw
           their newspapers. A great crowd was following him, and he was laughing and giggling, and the
           whole crowd was following him.
               And then he stood under a tree and he said, "Why are you following me? For what? I have not
           even played on the flute! And you had asked me why people used to become possessed by Krishna's
           flute."
               Wherever something of the beyond happens, people become enchanted. "You are enchanted," he
           said. "And Ram has not done anything special. Ram has only become naked and has been running
           like a child in the morning sun."
               Somebody who was not acquainted with his way of talking asked, "Who is this Ram?" And again
           he said, "This body is Ram, this mind is Ram, and I am a watcher just as you are a watcher. Just as
           you watched this body running naked in the morning sun, I was also watching. You are watching
           from without, I am watching from within. We are both watchers."

               This is the way to become disidentified from the mind: be a watcher.
               Buddha says: AS THE FLETCHER WHITTLES AND MAKES STRAIGHT HIS ARROWS,
           SO THE MASTER DIRECTS HIS STRAYING THOUGHTS. Then it will be possible and only
           then: when you have become an observer, when you have reduced your thoughts to observed objects,
           the content of the mind is no longer powerful. You have slipped out of its power, you are standing
           apart. You are a spectator, a witness. When you have become a witness, you will be able to direct
           your thoughts. Then thoughts can be used, then thoughts are beautiful.
               The mind is the most sophisticated mechanism in the whole of existence, and the human mind
           more so than any other. It is the most evolved machine, it can be used for great things. But you have
           to be the master, only then can you use it.
               But the situation is such that the car is driving the driver.
               The driver has become completely unaware of himself; maybe he is drunk. He is simply moving
           wherever the car is leading him. Now he is bound for a ditch, bound for an accident! And if your life
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is so full of accidents it is not an accident at all -- it has to be so.
               You are following a machine. It is a biocomputer, your mind; beautiful if you can use it as a
           master, dangerous if it uses you. This is slavery. To be free of it is to know something of freedom.
               And the first effort should be like the fletcher who makes his arrows straight.
               Your minds are not in a state of harmony; your minds are in a mess, nothing is straight there.
           Everything has become a very complicated labyrinth, a riddle. You don't know what is what and
           which is which. You don't know what you are doing and why. And one moment one thought
           possesses you, another moment another thought possesses you, and both may be contradictory. So by
           one hand you make something and by the other hand you unmake it. Hence the utter failure of life, a
           sheer wastage of energy and time and opportunity.
               Watch how contradictory your thoughts are. One part says yes, another part immediately says no,
           never misses the opportunity to say no. Now saying yes and no together is wasting your energy.
           Either say yes and be total, then your thought is straight; or say no and be total, then your thought is
           straight. But saying yes and no together, or alternately -- one moment yes, another moment no --
           where are you going to reach? You take one step in one direction, another step in another direction.
           You will remain stuck in the same place, or at the most you will move in circles, But your life will
           not be a life of growth, you will not grow. You may certainly grow old but you will never grow up,
           you will never attain to maturity.
               Straighten out your thoughts! It is almost a complete jungle in your mind -- all paths are lost.
           You don't know what is happening. You can't stop either, because it makes you frightened to stop.
           Everybody else is doing so much, everybody else is achieving, reaching, fulfilling their ambitions,
           how can you stop? You have to go on, and you have to go on with great speed and great gusto and
           enthusiasm. And you don't know where you are going, what the goal is. What do you really want to
           achieve in life? Money? And even if you achieve much money what will you do with it?
               You can purchase more misery, of course, when you have more money; that's what you are going
           to do. You will go on purchasing the same things that you are purchasing now. Of course, you can
           purchase them in bigger quantities, that's all. You will live in bigger houses, but you will live; the
           house is not going to live it. If you are anxious in a small house you may be more anxious in a bigger
           house, because you will have more space to be anxious in. If you are ignorant, utterly ignorant of
           yourself, how is money going to help? How is being famous going to help? You may become a
           world-renowned person, but that will not change anything. Your inner darkness will remain the
           same; it may even become darker.
               The first thing Buddha says is: ...THE MASTER DIRECTS HIS STRAYING THOUGHTS. He
           does not allow the thoughts to go into contradictory pathways. He does not allow one thought to be
           destroyed by another. He does not allow thoughts to direct him -- he is the director. He masters
           them; he uses them as beautiful implements, instruments. And then certainly he comes to fulfillment,
           because he knows where he is going and he knows what he is doing.
               On each step of his journey he is perfectly aware of his whereabouts; he has a certain sense of
           direction. He does not go on running in all the directions simultaneously; he has a direction.
           Naturally he becomes integrated, he becomes a great power. Without attaining any political power
           he becomes a great power. His power arises from his own being, it is his own. Nobody can take it
           away; it does not depend on anybody. Even death cannot take it away from him, even death is
           impotent.
               But people are living in such an insane state. This state is insane! People feel offended when I
           say that the whole of humanity is insane, but what can I do? -- it is so. The fact has to be stated,
           howsoever painful it is. I am also pained by it, I feel sorry for humanity, but it has to be said: that the
           whole of humanity is mad. What you call normal human beings are not normal at all. They are
           normally mad, certainly; their madness is almost the same, hence they are normal. But they are not
           the norm, they are not the principle, they are not the criterion of health. The whole earth is a big
           madhouse.

           Kahlil Gibran has a beautiful story:
               One man becomes insane; he is put in an insane asylum. A friend comes to visit him. The friend
           is a professor, a professor of philosophy, has written many books, is a well-known scholar, is also a
           psychologist. The madman is sitting on a bench under a tree in the garden, surrounded by a big wall.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The professor comes, sits by his side and asks him, "How are you feeling inside this place?"
               The madman laughs. He says, "I am feeling so good -- as I have never felt before."
               The professor is puzzled. He says, "Why? Why are you feeling so happy being in this
           madhouse?"
               The madman says, "Madhouse? This you call a madhouse? I have left the madhouse outside --
           this is the sanest place in the world! The madhouse is outside; this wall protects us from mad people.
           If ever you become tired of the mad people outside, you are always welcome here. Come in! It is
           very peaceful here -- nobody interferes in anybody's work. It is very silent here. Very few people are
           here, and I have never seen such sane people in my whole life -- they are all like me!"

               That's his definition of sanity: he is sane and they are like him. The people who are outside are
           insane.
               But the same criterion is followed by the people outside: you think yourself sane because you are
           exactly like your neighbors. But who knows? -- the neighbors may be insane too.
               The whole history of humanity proves that this is an insane humanity; something is basically
           wrong with it. In three thousand years man has fought five thousand wars. Will you call this
           humanity sane? Everybody is greedy, jealous, possessive -- and you call this humanity sane?
           Everybody is at each other's throats -- and you call this humanity sane? Normal of course -- normal
           in the sense that they are all alike.

              Once Mark Twain advertised, as a hoax, that he had lost a cat so black that it could not be seen
           by ordinary light, and he wanted it back. Nearly a thousand people contacted him claiming to have
           seen it.

               Just look around, just observe people, and you will be surprised seeing the utterly insane state
           which is known as normal. What is normal? What is the definition of a normal human being?
               He should be full of love, he should be full of bliss. He should be fearless. He should be joyous
           and ecstatic. He should be able to sing and laugh and dance. He should be able to enjoy the small
           things of life. He should be total in whatsoever he is doing. His thoughts will be straight: if he says
           no he means no, if he says yes he means yes. He will not be diplomatic, he will not be political in
           that he says one thing, he means another, and will do a third thing. You cannot figure it out, you can
           never be sure what the political person is going to do. He has one face outside and another reality
           inside. He is double-faced, in a double bind. He smiles at you, he greets you -- and he hates you, he
           curses you inside. He is an enemy, yet he pretends to be a friend.
               This is insanity! This hypocrisy is insanity, this split is insanity. This schizophrenic atmosphere
           is insane. It is not a healthy human being that we have been able to produce. We have failed up to
           now...and we have to do something very drastic now, otherwise humanity is doomed. Now the
           insane people have so much destructive power in their hands that one war more and humanity is
           finished and this planet is finished.
               Something tremendously drastic is needed, a quantum leap is needed. But this is possible only
           through those people who listen to the buddhas.
              ...THE MASTER DIRECTS HIS STRAYING THOUGHTS.



              LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER,
              STRANDED ON THE SHORE,
              THOUGHTS THRASH AND QUIVER.
              FOR HOW CAN THEY SHAKE OFF DESIRE?


               Thoughts cannot live out of desire, just as a fish cannot live out of the sea. Thoughts cannot live
           out of the sea of desire: thoughts are basically instruments of a desiring state. And we are
           continuously desiring, desiring this and that. We cannot stop thinking if we go on desiring. First the
           desire, the very root, has to be cut.
               What is there to desire in life? Those who have known, those who have realized life, say there is
           nothing worth desiring in life. Live it! and live as wholly as possible, and live each moment to its
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           uttermost. Squeeze it totally. But there is nothing to desire. Desire leads you astray because it leads
           you into the future.
                Drink out of the present moment, because the present moment is the door to God. God has only
           one tense: the present. He knows no past and no future. If you also want to be part of God...and that's
           the only way to be sane, to be healthy. Only a religious person is sane and healthy. If you want to be
           part of God, you will have to learn to relax in the present moment.
                Die to the past and die to the future, and live in the present. Don't allow yourself to move from
           the present, not even a single inch here and there; otherwise you will always go on missing the train.
                And the mind is continuously running from one object to another, from one person to another.
           You have a wife, but the mind is running after other people's wives. You have children, but they
           never look so beautiful as other people's children. The grass is always greener on the other side of
           the hedge. Everybody else seems to be happier than you.
                And then, of course, you logically deduce: "They have bigger houses, better children, a beautiful
           woman, more money, more power, more prestige, so these are the things I also need. Unless I have
           all these things, how can I be happy?" You make your happiness conditional. And the moment a man
           makes his happiness conditional he is doomed; he will remain unhappy his whole life.
                Happiness is not conditional; nothing is needed to be happy. Only to be alive is needed -- and
           that you are, you already are. Only to be conscious is needed -- and that you already are. Hence the
           mystics and the buddhas say that bliss is our very nature. But the mind is a runner and it keeps
           dragging you.

               The sultan called for his eunuch. "I am in the mood," he said. "Go get me wife number 256."
               So the eunuch ran out of the palace and into the harem. He ran through the garden, past the
           orchard, and up the steps. Soon he returned with wife 256. A bit later the sultan sent for the eunuch
           again and said, "I want more. Go get me wife 87." The eunuch ran and got her. Then the king wanted
           wife 68, and soon after, wife 92.
               When he returned with wife number 92 the eunuch was panting heavily. Then he suddenly
           collapsed and died.
               Moral: It is not the loving that kills you, it is the running around.

               The mind is continuously running around. It never sits, it can't sit. Sitting seems to be death to it,
           and in a way it is. That's why Zen people say, if you can sit silently for a few hours every day, doing
           nothing, not even chanting a mantra, because that is again a running of the mind, the same mind.... It
           can sing pop songs, it can chant a religious mantra, it makes no difference. It wants some work, it
           wants activity, it wants occupation, it wants to run. Its life is in the running.
               The Zen people say just sit, don't do anything. The most difficult thing in the world is just to sit
           doing nothing. But once you have got the knack of it.... If you go on sitting for a few months doing
           nothing for a few hours every day, slowly slowly, many things will happen. You will feel sleepy,
           you will dream. Many thoughts will crowd your mind, many things. The mind will say, "Why are
           you wasting your time? You could have earned a little money. At least you could have gone to a
           film, entertained yourself, or you could have relaxed and gossiped. You could have watched the TV
           or listened to the radio, or at least you could have read the newspaper you have not seen. Why are
           you wasting your time?"
               Mind will give you a thousand and one arguments, but if you just go on listening without being
           bothered by the mind.... It will do all kinds of tricks: it will hallucinate, it will dream, it will become
           sleepy. It will do all that is possible to drag you out of just sitting. But if you go on, if you persevere,
           one day the sun rises.
               One day it happens, you are not feeling sleepy, the mind has become tired of you, is fed up with
           you, has dropped the idea that you can be trapped, is simply finished with you! There is no sleep, no
           hallucination, no dream, no thought. You are simply sitting there doing nothing...and all is silence
           and all is peace and all is bliss. You have entered God, you have entered truth.

              THEY TREMBLE, THEY ARE UNSTEADY,
              THEY WANDER AT THEIR WILL.
              IT IS GOOD TO CONTROL THEM.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND TO MASTER THEM BRINGS HAPPINESS.


               Watch, and you will see the trembling mind, the quivering thoughts chasing each other, running
           in every possible direction, consistent, inconsistent, meaningful, meaningless.
               Just one day sit down in your room, close the doors, and start writing the thoughts that are
           happening to you. That will help you to become aware. Just go on writing whatsoever is happening.
           Don't edit, don't make them look consistent, beautiful. It is not to be shown to anybody, it is just for
           your observation. For fifteen minutes go on writing, then read it, and you will be puzzled: are you
           mad or something? What kind of things are going on in your head? All kinds of things, so irrelevant
           that you cannot conceive any possible relationship with them. Anything leads to anything just
           accidentally.
               The dog starts barking in the neighborhood and your mind starts functioning. You remember a
           dog you used to have in your childhood, and suddenly the mind jumps from the dog to a friend who
           was also known in the childhood...and from the friend to the school, and the teacher. And this way
           the mind goes on hopping, and you will land nobody knows where. And it was just started by the
           barking of the dog who knows nothing about you, who is not interested at all in you, but he triggered
           a process. You may reach anywhere! And each time it happens you will reach some other place.
               Mind goes on jumping from one place to another, and mind has so much information that it can
           produce all kinds of worlds.
               Watching it you will see the truth of Buddha's statement: THEY TREMBLE, THEY ARE
           UNSTEADY, THEY WANDER AT THEIR WILL. They don't listen to you, they have their own
           will. Each thought has its own will and insists on remaining itself. It does not want to be tinkered
           with, it does not want you to interfere. If you interfere, it resists, it protests. Every thought wants its
           own individuality. And these millions of thoughts in your head destroy your individuality, because
           they all claim their own individuality and they all claim to be autonomous and free. And if you say
           anything, they ask, "Who are you?" And each time they will show you your place, they will reduce
           you to nothing.
               Unless they are controlled, Buddha says, there is no possibility of bliss happening to you. You
           will remain in a mess, you will remain a confusion.

              Inmate: "I have a mad, insane desire to crush you in my arms."
           Lady psychiatrist: "Now you are talking sense!"

                It depends on you what you call sense and what you call nonsense. There are philosophers in the
           world who say all is nonsense, and there are philosophers in the world who say everything is sense,
           sensible. This is the most rational world, they say, very logical. It all depends on you what you call
           sense and what you think is sensible. It depends on your training, your upbringing, your
           conditioning, the way you have been hypnotized.
                Now, eating meat is sensible if you have been brought up in a house where nobody ever thought
           of vegetarianism; even if they talked about it, they talked only to laugh at vegetarians: "These foolish
           people who think that by becoming vegetarians they are becoming religious." If you are born in a
           vegetarian house, in a vegetarian family, then the people who eat meat are monsters. They are not
           people at all; they are untouchable, they are not human beings, they are animals.
                You yourself never know what is right, what is wrong; you know only according to what others
           have said to you. This is not a way which can lead you into sanity. You will have to become more
           aware, more alert, more watchful. You will have to decide on your own. You have lived a borrowed
           life. You will have to reflect -- you become a human being only when you start reflecting on things
           on your own. When you observe accurately, precisely, when you judge, when you value, when you
           weigh things and you start living according to your own consciousness more and more, you will
           attain to freedom. And freedom brings bliss.
                Freedom means you have to control the mind, your so-called mind, which is not yours at all
           because it has been given to you by others, in fragments. A part of it belongs to your mother, another
           part to your father, another part to your uncle, and so on and so forth...to the priest, to the teacher, to
           the neighborhood boy.... You have gathered fragments from all over the world -- from the books you
           have been reading and the films you have been seeing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you look into it you will be surprised -- you don't have any mind of your own. Everything is
           borrowed! How can you be authentic? You are just a piled-up phenomenon, fragments from so many
           different sources that they can never melt and become one. But one thing is not borrowed in you and
           that is your consciousness, that is your awareness. That you have brought with you, that is part of
           your inner core. Depend on it and never depend on the mind. Become independent of the mind and
           absolutely dependent on consciousness, and you are taking the greatest step of your life.

              BUT HOW SUBTLE THEY ARE,
              HOW ELUSIVE!
              THE TASK IS TO QUIETEN THEM,
              AND BY RULING THEM TO FIND HAPPINESS.


              It is not going to be an easy job. It is arduous, because the mind is very cunning and thoughts are
           very subtle.

               One soldier is explaining transmigration of souls to another and tells him that if he is killed his
           body will decay on the battlefield and finally sink into the ground. In the spring a beautiful flower
           will come up on the spot.
           "And that is me, is it?" asks the other soldier.
           "No, wait a minute. Then a cow comes along and eats the flower and leaves behind a big pile of
           cowflop. Then I come strolling through the field with my girl, I sees this cowflop and I taps it with
           my walking-stick and I says, 'Hello, Bill! Why, you ain't changed a bit!'"

                Mind is very cunning -- it can always find its ways to remain the same. It can find new ways so
           that it can remain old. It can find new garments so it can hide behind them; it can find beautiful
           rationalizations.
                Beware! Mind is not a simple phenomenon, it is complex, subtle, very elusive. If you try to catch
           hold of it you will be in difficulty. If you push it out through the front door, it will come from the
           back. If you want to control it and repress it, it will start functioning from your unconscious -- which
           is far more dangerous because it will control you still, although now you will be absolutely unaware
           of its control. The enemy is no longer visible, that's all, but the enemy is there. And when the enemy
           is invisible the enemy is more powerful.
                ...HOW SUBTLE THEY ARE, and HOW ELUSIVE! THE TASK IS TO QUIETEN THEM....
           So remember, they are not to be repressed, they are not to be caught. THE TASK IS TO QUIETEN
           THEM, AND BY RULING THEM TO FIND HAPPINESS.
                It is through stilling them that one becomes a ruler, not by ruling them that you quieten them.
           Remember that process: it looks similar, it is not. It is very very different, diametrically opposite in
           fact. You have to quieten them first, still them first.
                And the way to still them is just to watch silently without judgment, without saying this is good,
           this is bad. The moment you say good and bad you have jumped into the mire. The mind has already
           caught you, you are already entrapped.
                You simply watch! Your moral teachers don't allow you watching. You sit and just look...a
           thought of murdering somebody comes. Your mind is enjoying the thought of murdering somebody.
           This is one part. Another part of the mind says, "This is very bad, this is a sin. You should not even
           think such a thought, even to think it is a sin." This is another part of the mind. You become
           identified with the other part, the moral part. You say, "This is my conscience." It is not your
           conscience: it has been put into you. It is the society controlling you from within; it is a strategy of
           the society to control you. You don't know what is right and what is wrong.
                Be innocent! Just watch, watch both. One part of the mind is saying, "Murder that man -- he has
           insulted you!" Another part of the mind is saying, "This is bad, this is immoral. You will fall into
           hell, you will suffer in your next birth, you will be punished for it." Know well, the second is also
           mind, and there is no choice between two fragments of the mind. Watch both, enjoy both. See the
           contradiction of the mind -- don't get identified with any part.
                Remember, the ego wants to be identified with the good part, the moral part. It feels beautiful: "I
           am against murder, look! I am not for it." You are just getting caught by another part of the mind.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are still a slave. Your sinners and your saints, both are slaves.
               The really free man is free from both good and bad. He is beyond good and evil. He is just
           consciousness and nothing else. He simply observes. And if you can just observe without being
           identified, slowly slowly mind quietens down, and in that quietening is your power. One day when
           the mind is completely gone, has become totally still, you are the sovereign.

              WITH SINGLEMINDEDNESS
              THE MASTER QUELLS HIS THOUGHTS.
              HE ENDS THEIR WANDERING.
              SEATED IN THE CAVE OF THE HEART,
              HE FINDS FREEDOM.


               And when the mind is no more, where do you go? Suddenly, when the mind is no more, you
           enter into the heart. You slip out of the mind, out of the grip of the head. And then the heart, the cave
           of the heart, is your palace. The mind is a by-product of the society: the heart is an extension of God.
               This is possible only if you work singlemindedly to still the mind, to be aware of the mind, to be
           utterly watchful, without any judgment and without any identification.
              THE MASTER QUELLS HIS THOUGHTS. HE ENDS THEIR WANDERING. SEATED IN THE CAVE
              OF THE HEART, HE FINDS FREEDOM.

              The head is a slavery, the heart the freedom. The head is a misery, the heart the ultimate bliss.
              AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.
              Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #10
                                         Chapter title: Neither this nor that
           30 June 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7906300
              ShortTitle: DHAM110
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND OTHER GODMEN?


               Sunil Sethi, I am not a godman, I am simply God -- as you are, as trees are, as birds are, as rocks
           are. I don't belong to any category. 'Godman' is a category invented by journalists. I simply don't
           belong to any category. You don't belong to any category either. All categories are false. The deeper
           you go into yourself, the more and more you will find that you simply are -- neither this not that. The
           seers of the Upanishads say: neti, neti -- neither this nor that. No category is applicable.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           There is a beautiful story about Buddha:
               He was sitting under a tree. One astrologer approached him -- he was very puzzled, because he
           saw the footprints of the Buddha on the wet sand and he could not believe his eyes. All the scriptures
           that he had been studying his whole life had been telling him about certain signs that exist in the feet
           of a man who rules the world -- a chakravartin -- a ruler of all the six continents, of the whole earth.
           And he saw in the footprints in the wet sand on the riverbank all the symbols so clearly that he could
           not believe his eyes! Either all his scriptures were wrong and he was wasting his life in
           astrology...otherwise, how was it possible on such a hot afternoon, in such a small, dirty village, a
           chakravartin would come and walk barefoot, on the burning hot sand?
               He followed the footprints, just in search of the man to whom these footprints belonged. He
           found the Buddha sitting under a tree. He was even more puzzled. The face was that of a
           chakravartin -- the grace, the beauty, the power, the aura -- but the man was a beggar, with a begging
           bowl!
               The astrologer touched the feet of the Buddha and asked him, "Who are you, sir? You have
           puzzled me. You should be a chakravartin, a world ruler. What are you doing here, sitting under this
           tree? Either all my astrology books are wrong, or I am hallucinating and you are not really there."
               Buddha said, "Your books are absolutely right -- but there is something which belongs to no
           category, not even to the category of a chakravartin. I am, but I am nobody in particular."
               The astrologer said, "You are puzzling me more. How can you be without being anybody in
           particular? You must be a god who has come to visit the earth -- I can see it in your eyes!"
           Buddha said, "I am not a god."
               The astrologer said, "Then you must be a gandharva -- a celestial musician."
           Buddha said, "No, I am not a gandharva either."
               And the astrologer went on asking, "Then are you a king in disguise? Who are you? You can't be
           an animal, you can't be a tree, you can't be a rock -- who exactly are you?"
               And the answer the Buddha gave is of immense importance to understand. He said, "I am just a
           buddha -- I am just awareness, and nothing else. I don't belong to any category. Every category is an
           identification and I don't have any identity."

               Sunil Sethi, exactly the same is my answer: I don't belong to any category, and godman is a
           category. I am simply awareness. I am simply a watchfulness. And this is not something special; this
           is part of your innermost core, too. You are as divine as anybody else -- a Buddha, a Krishna, a
           Christ. You are as divine as anybody else. The highest and the lowest, all are divine, because only
           God exists.
               This is the first thing to be remembered: that I don't belong to any category. Neither do you
           belong to any category. Are you a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian? Are you black or white?
           These are things which are outside -- you are not these things. Consciousness cannot be black and
           cannot be white; consciousness can't have any color. Are you rich or poor? Consciousness cannot be
           rich or poor either. Are you a man or a woman? Consciousness is neither a man nor a woman.
               Consciousness is simply consciousness! To realize this is to declare, "aham brahmasmi! -- I am
           God!" It is not a new category. When somebody declares "I am God!" it is not a new category, it is
           simply disappearing from all categories. That is exactly the meaning of the word 'God'.
               When Mansoor says, "ana'l haq! -- I am the truth!" he is saying the same thing. He is saying, "I
           am consciousness."
           I have no claim to be a godman -- I am not.
               The second thing: between me and the so-called godmen there are many differences. The most
           basic is that I am life-affirmative and they are life-negative. I love life; they hate life. I would like
           you to go deeper and deeper into life; they would like you to shrink back, withdraw. They are all for
           renunciation, I am all for rejoicing. To me "Rejoice!" is the only message. "Renounce!" is escaping.
           Renouncing is committing a slow suicide. Rejoice! and rejoice tremendously. Only then will you be
           able to know what God is all about.
               At the optimum of your being, when the intensity is total, when you are not holding anything
           back, when you dance with abandon, when you sing so totally that the singer disappears in the
           singing...when you love so infinitely that there is no lover left behind, you simply become the energy
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           called love, then you affirm life. And life IS God.
               I am life-affirmative; your so-called godmen are life-negative. And because basically life can not
           be negated -- you are life, how can you negate it? -- they create hypocrisy. It is bound to happen.
           Your so-called godmen down the ages have been creating hypocrisy. They don't allow you to be
           authentic. They don't allow you to be natural -- how can they allow you to be authentic? They create
           a division in you.
               They are the root cause of all schizophrenia, and the whole of humanity suffers from
           schizophrenia. The differences between one person's schizophrenia and another's are only of degrees.
           You are split! Who has done this wrong to you? Your so-called godmen, the so-called saints, the
           so-called mahatmas. They are at the very root of all your misery because their very teaching is
           "Deny nature! Fight nature! Go against the stream; push the river!" And you are part of nature, just a
           wave in the river -- how can you fight with nature? Fighting, you will be defeated. If you are a
           sincere person, you will go mad; if you are not yet mad, that will simply show that you are not a
           sincere person. You say one thing and you do another.

           I have heard:
               A sodomist was given a room in a hotel with another man, who, the room clerk assured him, was
           not averse to a bout, but that for form's sake he might put up a struggle. "But don't you pay any
           attention to him. You go ahead -- he likes it."
           Next morning, the sodomist came down and the clerk asked him how he had fared. "It was quite
           easy," he answered. "He put up no struggle at all."
           "My God!" said the clerk, "I put you in the wrong room. That was the archbishop!"

               It is bound to happen. Hypocrisy is a natural by-product of all your pseudo godmen. And they
           can only be pseudo! If someone has realized God, he is not a godman -- he is simply God! Why
           'godman'? And he knows that not only is he God but everybody is God. When he says "I am God,"
           he is not using the word in a comparative sense. He is not saying, "I am holier than thou." He is
           simply saying, "I am what you are, but I am aware and you are not aware yet." The difference is not
           in our qualities, in our beings, but only in our consciousness. You have the same treasure that I have,
           but I have stumbled upon it and you are still seeking and groping. Sooner or later you will find it. If
           you go on seeking, it is bound to be found -- because it is there. How long can you go on missing?
           Even in the deepest darkness, if you search for it you are bound to find it.
               When I say I am God, I am simply declaring that the whole of humanity is divine. I am simply
           declaring that all human beings are divine; I am simply declaring that all that exists is divine. A
           godman, a so-called godman, declares that he is God and you are sinners. He creates a new kind of
           superiority, a new hierarchy. And his whole trade secret is to make you feel guilty. And the more
           guilty you feel, the more you are in his grip.
               How to make you feel guilty? Just condemn natural things and it will start happening. Condemn
           sex -- you will have sexual desires arising and you will feel guilty. Condemn food...condemn
           everything that is a natural inclination in you.

               The wife-swapping party is raided by the crusading minister, who plans to put an end to these
           goings-on. When he rings the bell, the man of the house arrives and does not seem a bit embarrassed.
               The minister says, "I was told you had a party here tonight."
           "We do," says the man. "We are playing guessing games right now. The women are blindfolded
           trying to guess the men's names by feeling their pricks. You ought to come on in, Reverend, your
           name has been guessed eight times already!"

               The whole priesthood down the ages has proved only one thing: that you cannot fight against
           nature. Although there is a way to surpass it -- but the way does not go against it; it goes through it.
               That is my first and most fundamental difference: I affirm life as it is. That does not mean that
           there is no growth possible beyond life -- there is immense possibility of growth -- but all growth has
           to be founded on a deep, passionate love of life. It is only through experiencing life that
           transcendence happens.
               I would like you to go beyond sex, but I don't condemn sex. Sex is a natural desire, and is good
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in its own place. But one should not stop with it; it is only a beginning, a glimpse -- a glimpse of the
           beyond. In deep sexual orgasm, you become aware for the first time of something which is not of the
           ego, of something which is not of the mind, of something which is not of time. In deep orgasm,
           mind, time, all disappear; the whole world stops for a moment. For a moment you are no longer part
           of the material world; you are just a pure space.
                But this is only a glimpse -- and at great cost. You should move ahead. You should seek and
           search for ways and means so that this glimpse becomes your very state. That's what I call
           realization, enlightenment. An enlightened person is in a state of orgasmic joy twenty-four hours a
           day. What the sexual person attains only once in a while, with great effort, the spiritual man attains
           without any effort and without any wastage. The spiritual man simply lives there; on those ultimate
           peaks is his abode. You only see those peaks from thousands of miles away.
                I am not against sex, because sex is the first window into spiritual existence. I am not against
           food, because I am not against any enjoyment. There are all kinds of experiences that you will come
           across through enjoying things -- food, love, music, dance, nature...it is only through enjoying all
           these things that you will, slowly slowly, become aware of the invisible.
                It is because of this that the Upanishads say: annam brahma -- food is God. A tremendously
           significant statement: food, and God? made synonymous? -- annam Brahma. Food is God? What are
           they saying? These people knew, they knew what they were saying -- the taste of food is the taste of
           God. The taste of any joy is the taste of God -- howsoever far away, howsoever much a reflection.
                The moon reflected in the lake is still a reflection of the moon, although you will not find it in the
           lake. If you jump in the lake you will only disturb the reflection and you will not find the moon
           there. The reflection is not the moon, the reflection reflects the moon. And if you are a little
           intelligent you will not jump into the lake, you will look up into the sky where the real moon is.
                God is reflected when you enjoy food. God is reflected when you enjoy sex. God is reflected in a
           thousand and one lakes of life. Take the key from the reflection; take the indication, the clue, and
           start moving to the original.
                That's my fundamental difference. I am not against life or anything that life implies -- neither sex
           nor food, neither the body nor bodily pleasures. I am not averse to comfort, I am not against luxuries
           either.
                Just the other day there was a question. Somebody has asked -- he must be a newcomer and an
           Indian -- he has asked, "Are you not a hypocrite? Why do you live in luxury?" He does not know the
           meaning of the word 'hypocrite'. I may be the only person in the world who is not a hypocrite.
                A hypocrite is one who says one thing and does another. A hypocrite is one whose inner and
           outer lives are different -- not only different but diametrically opposite. I am not against luxury, so
           why should I be a hypocrite? I am not against comfort -- I am not a masochist, that's all. I don't
           believe in torturing myself or anybody else. I don't believe in torture.
                I would like the whole earth to live in luxury. Certainly, I know that today that is not the case.
           The whole earth is not even getting the minimum necessities of life. But I am not going to torture
           myself just because of that, because that is not going to help them either. If there are one thousand
           people in misery, there will be one thousand and one people in misery -- that's all.
                I don't believe in misery. And I am not living a double life. My life is very simple -- simple in the
           sense that it has a kind of integrity. I am doing what I am saying. I believe in luxury; to me, religion
           is the highest form of luxury. If I cannot make everybody live in luxury, at least I can manage to live
           in it myself. Otherwise people will say to me, "Physician, first heal thyself."
                But these so-called godmen, they all live in luxury and they are all against luxury. These are
           hypocrites! They talk about poverty and the spirituality of poverty, and they all live in luxury -- they
           are hypocrites.
                I hate poverty! I don't respect poverty, I don't appreciate poverty. It is out of stupidity that people
           are poor; it is out of superstitious minds that people are poor. People need not be poor. It is because
           of thousands of years of teaching that poverty has something spiritual in it that people are poor.
                A very famous German thinker, Count Keyserling, came to India. He wrote a diary while he was
           traveling in India. In his diary he notes many significant things. One thing he wrote was, "I became
           aware, visiting India, about two things. One: that to be poor is to be spiritual; and the other: that to
           be ill, starved, ugly, is to be holy."
                I am not teaching these things. I would like my whole commune to live in as much comfort as
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible. The commune has to become a model -- a model for the whole world. My sannyasins are to
           live in every possible joy: physical, psychological, spiritual. The joys of the body and the joys of the
           mind and the joys of the spirit -- all have to be lived in such a harmony that the fourth man is born
           out of that harmony.
               That's why I say: Be scientific, be aesthetic, and be religious. Out of these three dimensions, out
           of the meeting of these three rivers, the fourth will be created. And the fourth is my way.
               Any kind of unnatural approach towards life creates complexities, creates pathologies. It does not
           make people sane; it drives them insane.

               Patient in psychiatrist's office: "Doctor, you have got to help me. I keep dreaming about food,
           continually dreaming about food."
           Doctor: "Don't you ever dream about girls?"
           Patient: "Yes, but I keep pouring ketchup over them."

                Now, if you make somebody feel guilty about his food -- that's what so-called religious people
           are doing -- then he will start dreaming about food. And to eat is healthy, nourishing, good; to dream
           about it is ugly and pathological. Dreaming about food simply says that you are somehow depriving
           your body of what it needs.
                Who dreams about food? Only a person who represses his desire for food. You can try it: fast for
           one day and then see what happens.... The whole day you will think about food; from everywhere the
           mind will come again and again to the idea of food. And in the night you are bound to dream about
           food.
                Repress sex and you will dream about sex. Repress anything and you start becoming
           pathological. A really healthy man has no dreams -- he has nothing to dream about. He lives each
           moment totally; he never represses anything. Hence his unconscious remains utterly empty and
           clean. Repress, and your unconscious becomes cluttered with unnecessary furniture. And in dreams
           you are bound to face your unconscious. You have to face it; in deep sleep you have to pass through
           it. It creates a turmoil throughout your whole life.
                I am life-affirmative. I am in tremendous love with life, and that's my teaching. The so-called
           godmen are all against life; they are creating a pathological humanity.
                Secondly, they are all otherworldly; I am this-worldly. Not that I don't believe in the other world
           -- there is no question of believing in it; I know it is -- but one need not worry about it. Worrying is
           not going to help. The other world is going to be born out of this world. Make this life beautiful, live
           this life as sensitively as possible, and the other will be born out of it. It will be far more beautiful
           than this if you can make this beautiful.
                Buddha says just in the first sutras that if this life is beautiful, the other is going to be even more
           beautiful. But if you think of the other life, if you project about the other life, if you dream about the
           other life, life after death, you will make this life so ugly, so ill at ease, that the other will become
           more ugly.
                You need not think of the tomorrow, the today is enough unto itself. Live this day with such joy
           and ecstasy...from where is the tomorrow going to come? It will be born out of this ecstasy, it will be
           more ecstatic. And then you have the key -- the key that unlocks all the doors of life.
                Live the moment! I believe in the moment. Those godmen, they talk about the other life, life after
           death, heaven and hell -- all that is absolutely unnecessary. People are already much too puzzled;
           don't puzzle them any more.
                My teaching is very simple, to the point: live moment to moment, dying to the past, not
           projecting any future...enjoying the silence, the joy, the beauty, of this moment. And out of this, that
           will be born. It comes of its own accord. As Buddha says: Just as the shadow follows you, the future
           follows you. If your present is ugly, the future is going to be hell; if your present is beautiful, the
           future is going to be paradise.
                Thirdly, up to now, these so-called godmen have been dividing humanity into Hindus and
           Christians and Mohammedans and Jainas and Sikhs and Parsis...there are three hundred religions on
           the earth and at least three thousand sects within those three hundred religions. These godmen have
           been creating hatred amongst people. They talk about love, but they create the context in which only
           war happens. Religions have been fighting with each other, destroying each other, murdering each
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other, butchering each other. More blood has been shed in the name of religion than in the name of
           anything else. Not even politics is so criminal as your so-called religions.
               Now, all your godmen are either Hindus or Mohammedans or Christians. I am neither a Hindu
           nor a Christian -- I am nobody. And I help people to become nobodies. I help people to become
           unburdened of all this nonsense. It is enough to be -- there is no need to be a Mohammedan or a
           Hindu or a Christian. There is no need to go to any temple, mosque or church. The whole existence
           is their temple, and the trees are continuously in worship, and the clouds are in prayer, and the
           mountains are in meditation...just start looking around.
               Look rightly! Look without belief in your eyes, look without prejudices, and you will find God.
           You cannot miss him because he is everywhere! He is not like a target that you can miss; hit
           anywhere and you will find him, because he is everywhere. It is impossible to miss him. All that you
           need is an innocent heart. But a Hindu cannot be innocent, a Mohammedan cannot be innocent. He is
           full of garbage: full of theories, theologies, full of borrowed knowledge -- that's what I call garbage.
               I am not saying that Mohammed is not right, I am not saying that Buddha is not right; otherwise,
           why should I speak on Buddha, on Mohammed, on Christ? They are true, but their truth cannot be
           your truth -- you will have to find it on your own. Truth cannot be borrowed, truth is untransferable;
           it never becomes part of your heritage. You have to seek and search on your own; it has always to be
           individual.
               My truth is my truth. It's my experience. I can talk about it, I can sing songs in its praise, I can
           dance it. I can show you my ecstasy -- but still, that which has been experienced remains
           unexpressed. No scripture has been able to express it. All scriptures are efforts to express, but all
           efforts have failed: truth is inexpressible.
               The scriptures simply show the compassion of the people who attained, but they don't prove that
           the compassion has succeeded in expressing the truth.

               Rabindranath was dying and somebody said to him, "You should be happy and glad and thankful
           to God -- you are the greatest poet the earth has ever known. You have written six thousand poems;
           nobody else has done that. Even Shelley, who is thought to be the greatest poet in the West, has
           written only two thousand songs. You are thrice great!"
               But tears started rolling down from Rabindranath's eyes. The man was puzzled; he could not
           figure out why Rabindranath was crying. He said, "Why are you crying? Feel thankful to God! He
           has fulfilled your life. You have attained all that one aspires to attain."
               Rabindranath said, "I have not attained anything! Those six thousand songs are proof of my
           failure." Listen attentively. Rabindranath says, "Those six thousand songs are proofs of my failure. I
           was trying to say something, but I have not been able to say it. Each time I tried, I failed. I tried
           again and again and again, six thousand times I tried, and I have failed. The song that I had come to
           sing is still unsung. I am taking it with me."

               That is the case with a Buddha, a Mohammed, a Zarathustra -- with all those who have known.
           You cannot be a believer and religious together. If you want to be religious, you have to drop all
           beliefs. That is my third basic difference.
               I teach you to be religious, but not believers. You have to be inquirers, explorers. You cannot
           take things for granted: because so many people say it, then it must be true. Truth has to become
           your own experience -- you have to be a witness to it. And the moment you are a witness to it, you
           will not be able to say that you are a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian. These are all
           philosophies, guesswork, theologies, logic, calculation, cleverness -- but the experience is missing.
               My whole approach is existential, experiential. I am not giving you any dogma; I am not trying
           to give you a certain doctrine. On the contrary, I am trying to take all doctrines away. I would like
           you to be utterly empty of doctrines and beliefs and prejudices.
               In that emptiness you are God -- as much as I am, as much as Buddha is. That emptiness opens
           the doors to your divinity.
               I am not a godman. I am as ordinary as you are, as everybody else is; as ordinary or as
           extraordinary -- it means the same. I am not superior to anybody and I am not inferior to anybody.
           Nobody is superior and nobody is inferior. We belong to one reality -- how can we be inferior and
           superior?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE IS A QUESTION I HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO GET AN ANSWER TO. IT IS A STUPID
              QUESTION AND YET I FEEL THAT I WANT SO MUCH TO KNOW THE ANSWER.
              CAN YOU TELL US WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CREATION, WHY LIFE EXISTS, WHY
              EVERYTHING EXISTS? I DON'T BELIEVE IN ACCIDENTS.


                Prem Patrick, the question is certainly stupid, you are absolutely right about it. And the question
           is not answerable. Anybody who answers it will only create a few more questions in you. You have
           not been able to get any answer because there is none. Life is a mystery -- hence this question cannot
           be answered. You cannot ask "Why?" If the "Why?" is answered, life is no longer a mystery.
                That's the whole effort of science: to destroy the mystery of life. And the way is to find the
           answer to every why. And science believes -- of course, arrogantly and ignorantly -- that one day it
           will be able to answer all whys. It is not possible. Even if we answer all whys, the ultimate why will
           remain: Why does life exist at all? What is the meaning of existence? What is the purpose of all this?
           This question is ultimate -- it cannot be answered.
                If somebody gives you an answer, that will simply create another question. If somebody
           says...for example, these answers have been given -- a few people believe that God created the world
           because he wanted to help humanity. Now, what kind of answer is this? He created humanity to help
           humanity. What was the need to create? A few others say God created the world because he was
           feeling very lonely. If God too feels very lonely, then there is no possibility of anybody ever
           becoming a buddha.
                And suddenly God started feeling lonely -- what was he doing before he created the world? For
           eternity he had remained alone...then suddenly one day, one morning, he went crazy, or what?
           Suddenly he started feeling lonely after breakfast! And what need was there to create the whole
           world? Just one woman would have been enough!
                And now how is he feeling today? Too crowded? Too much in the marketplace? Must be
           planning to destroy the world soon. What kind of God are you talking about? Is your God a person
           who can feel lonely?
           These are foolish answers to foolish questions.
                Then there are a few people who say it is God's play -- his leela. Can't he sit silently? And what
           kind of play is this? Adolf Hitler and Mussolini and Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, Genghis Khan,
           Tamerlane, Nadirshah...God's play? Millions of people are being massacred and it is God's play? Six
           million Jews killed by Adolf Hitler and God is playing a game? Why can't he play golf? or chess?
           Why torture people? So much misery in the world, and these fools go on saying it is God's play?
           Children are being born paralyzed, blind, deaf, dumb...God's play? What kind of God is this? Either
           he is nuts or he is not God at all, at least not godly. Must be very evil.
                Now, these answers don't help -- they create more questions. Patrick, I can only say this much:
           that life has no purpose, cannot have any purpose.
                All purposes are within life. Yes, a car has a purpose; it can take you from one place to another.
           And food has a purpose; it can nourish you, it can keep you alive. A house has a purpose; it can give
           you shelter when it rains and when it is hot. And clothes have a purpose.... All purposes are within
           life, but life itself cannot have any purpose because it is not a means to some end. A car is a means, a
           house is a means.
                Life has no goal, life is not going anywhere. Life is simply here! It has never been created --
           forget that idea of creation. That creates many stupid questions in the mind. It has never been
           created, it has always been here, and it will always be here -- in different forms, in different ways,
           the dance will continue. It is eternal. Aes dhammo sanantano -- so is the ultimate law.
                There is no purpose -- that's the beauty of life! If there were some purpose, then life would not be
           so beautiful. Then there would be a motivation, then it would be businesslike, then it would be very
           serious. Look at the roses and the lotuses and the lilies -- what purpose? The lotus in the early
           morning sun opening up, and the cuckoo starts calling...what purpose? Is it not intrinsically
           beautiful? Does everything need a purpose outside itself?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Life is intrinsically beautiful. It has no extrinsic purpose, it is not purposive. It is just like the
           song of a bird in the dark of the night, or the sound of water, or the sound of the wind passing
           through the pine trees....
               Man is goal-oriented because your mind is goal-oriented. It creates questions like this: "What is
           the goal of life?" There must be some goal. But if somebody says, "This is the goal of life," then you
           will ask, "What is the goal of this goal? Why should we attain it? What purpose is it going to serve?"
           And then somebody says, "This is the goal of this goal." The same question arises again, and you fall
           into a regress, ad infinitum.
               You ask me, "Can you tell us what is the purpose of creation?"
               The world has never been created. The word 'creation' is not right. It has always been here, it is
           eternal. There is no creator. God is not the creator of the world: God is the very creative energy of
           existence -- creativity rather than a creator. He is not the poet but the poetry, not the dancer but the
           dance, not the flower but the fragrance.
           You ask me, "Why does life exist?"
               These questions look very philosophical, and can torture you very much, but are absurd. It is like
           asking, "What is the taste of the color green?" Now, it is irrelevant. The color green has no taste;
           color and taste are not related at all. "Why does life exist?" Just look at the words: 'life' and
           'existence' mean the same thing; it is a tautology. If you are asking: Why is life life? then it will be
           clear to you. But when you ask, "Why does life exist?" the language deceives you.
               You are asking: Why is life life? You are asking: Why is a rose a rose? Would you be satisfied if
           the rose were a marigold? Then you would ask: Why is a marigold a marigold? How are you going
           to be satisfied?
               If life does not exist, will you be satisfied? Just conceive of yourself without body, without mind,
           a ghost, asking the question: Why doesn't life exist? What happened to life? Why did it disappear?
           The same question will persist and persecute you.
               Life is a mystery. There is no why, no purpose, no reason. It is simply here. Take it or leave it,
           but it is simply here. And when it is here, why not take it? Why waste your time in philosophizing?
           Why not dance and sing and love and meditate? Why not go deeper and deeper into this thing called
           "life"? Maybe at the ultimate core you will know the answer. But the answer comes in such a way
           that it cannot be expressed. It is like the dumb man's taste of sugar. It is sweet -- he knows that it is
           sweet, but he cannot say it.
               The buddhas know but they cannot say. And the idiots know not and they go on saying, and they
           go on giving you answers. Idiots are very clever in that way -- in finding, fabricating, manufacturing
           answers. Ask any question and they will answer you.

               When Gautama the Buddha used to move in his country from one place to another, a few of his
           disciples would go ahead of him and declare in the town: "Buddha is coming, but please don't ask
           these eleven questions." And one of those eleven questions was: Why does life exist? and another
           was: Who created the world? In those eleven questions the whole of philosophy is contained. In fact,
           if you drop those eleven questions nothing remains to ask.
               Buddha used to say these are useless questions. They are not answerable -- not because nobody
           knows the answer. They are not answerable in the very nature of things.

               One great philosopher, Maulingaputta, came to Buddha, and he started asking
           questions...questions after questions. Must have been an incarnation of Patrick! Buddha listened
           silently for half an hour. Maulingaputta started feeling a little embarrassed because he was not
           answering, he was simply sitting there smiling, as if nothing had happened, and he had asked such
           important questions, such significant questions.
               Finally Buddha said, "Do you really want to know the answer?"
               Maulingaputta said, "Otherwise why should I have come to you? I have traveled at least one
           thousand miles to see you." And remember, in those days, one thousand miles was really one
           thousand miles! It was not hopping in a plane and reaching within minutes or within hours. One
           thousand miles was one thousand miles. It was with great longing, with great hope that he had come.
           He was tired, weary from the journey, and he must have followed Buddha because Buddha himself
           was traveling continuously. He must have reached one place and people said, "Yes, he was here
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           three months ago. He has gone to the north" -- so he must have traveled north.
               Slowly slowly, he was coming closer and closer and then the day came, the great day, when
           people said, "Just yesterday morning he left; he must have reached only the next village. If you rush,
           if you run, you may be able to catch him." And then one day he caught up with him, and he was so
           joyous he forgot all his arduous journey and he started asking all the questions he had planned all the
           way along, and Buddha smiled and sat there and asked, "Do you really want to have the answer?"
               Maulingaputta said, "Then why have I traveled so long? It has been a long suffering -- it seems I
           have been traveling my whole life, and you are asking, 'Do you really want the answer?'"
               Buddha said, "I am asking again: Do you really want the answer? Say yes or no, because much
           will depend on it."
           Maulingaputta said, "Yes!"
               Then Buddha said, "For two years sit silently by my side -- no asking, no questions, no talking.
           Just sit silently by my side for two years. And after two years you can ask whatsoever you want to
           ask, and I promise you I will answer it."
               A disciple, a great disciple of Buddha, Manjushree, who was sitting underneath another tree,
           started laughing so loudly, started almost rolling on the ground. Maulingaputta said, "What has
           happened to this man? Out of the blue, you are talking to me, you have not said a single word to him,
           nobody has said anything to him -- is he telling jokes to himself?"
           Buddha said, "You go and ask him."
               He asked Manjushree. Manjushree said, "Sir, if you really want to ask the question, ask right
           now -- this is his way of deceiving people. He deceived me. I used to be a foolish philosopher just
           like you. His answer was the same when I came; you have traveled one thousand miles, I had
           traveled two thousand."
               Manjushree certainly was a great philosopher, more well-known in the country. He had
           thousands of disciples. When he had come he had come with one thousand disciples -- a great
           philosopher coming with his following.
           "And Buddha said, 'Sit silently for two years.' And I sat silently for two years, but then I could not
           ask a single question. Those days of silence...slowly slowly, all questions withered away. And one
           thing I will tell you: he keeps his promise, he is a man of his word. After exactly two years -- I had
           completely forgotten, lost track of time, because who bothers to remember? As silence deepened I
           lost track of all time.
           "When two years passed, I was not even aware of it. I was enjoying the silence and his presence. I
           was drinking out of him. It was so incredible! In fact, deep down in my heart I never wanted those
           two years to be finished, because once they were finished he would say, 'Now give your place to
           somebody else to sit by my side, you move away a little. Now you are capable of being alone, you
           don't need me so much.' Just as the mother moves the child when he can eat and digest and no longer
           needs to be fed on the breast. So," Manjushree said, "I was simply hoping that he would forget all
           about those two years, but he remembered -- exactly after two years he asked, 'Manjushree, now you
           can ask your questions.' I looked within; there was no question and no questioner either -- a total
           silence. I laughed, he laughed, he patted my back and said, 'Now, move away.'
           "So, Maulingaputta, that's why I started laughing, because now he is playing the same trick again.
           And this poor Maulingaputta will sit for two years silently and will be lost forever, will never be able
           to ask a single question. So I insist, Maulingaputta, if you really want to ask, ASK NOW!"
               But Buddha said, "My conditions have to be fulfilled."

               And, Patrick, the same is my answer to you: fulfill my condition -- meditate, sit silently, just be
           here, and all questions will disappear. I am not interested in answering you, I am interested in
           dissolving your questions. And when all questions disappear, the questioner also disappears -- it
           cannot exist without questions. When there is no question and no questioner, what bliss, what
           ecstasy! You cannot imagine, you cannot dream, you cannot comprehend right now. Then the whole
           mystery of life opens up, mysteries upon mysteries...there is no end to it.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I HAVE HEARD MANY SPIRITUAL SAINTS IN MY LIFE -- WHY DO THEY ALL SPEAK A VERY
              DIFFICULT LANGUAGE?


               Kamla Kant, they have to, because they know nothing. If they speak simple language as I am
           speaking to you, the day-to-day language, they will not be able to hide their ignorance. Behind the
           camouflage of big words they can hide their ignorance; that is one of the trade secrets. And people
           are so foolish that if they can't understand what is being said to them, they think it must be
           something great.
               The incomprehensible looks to them as if it is something profound. The comprehensible seems to
           be superficial. Hence, down the ages your so-called saints have been using very complicated,
           complex, difficult language, using big words, using dead languages, so nobody understands. Latin,
           Sanskrit, Arabic -- that's what is being used by your so-called saints.
               When you hear them you can't figure it out, what it is all about, and, naturally, you cannot say, "I
           don't understand your language" -- that is humiliating. So you start nodding your head, "Yes, it is
           true." They are hiding their ignorance, you are hiding your ignorance -- this is a mutual conspiracy.
           You know it perfectly well.
               When you go to the physician, he writes the prescription in Latin or Greek. Why can't he write in
           simple English or Hindi or Marathi? If he writes in simple English that you understand, you will
           think him a fool, because he is writing such things -- how can such simple things help your great
           complex disease? And if he writes in simple language, you are not going to give the chemist fifty
           rupees for it; you will go to the marketplace and purchase the same things for two rupees.
               The physician writes the prescription in such a language...and it is always illegible. Even if you
           go back again to the doctor to ask what he has written, he will be in difficulty.

               I have heard that Mulla Nasruddin was using a prescription from a doctor for many things: he has
           used it as a ticket in a train, because the conductor could not read it; he used it in the moviehouse,
           because the ticket-checker could not read it -- he used it in many many ways. He used it as a pass to
           see a certain minister. He told me, "For two months this prescription has been such a help --
           wherever I want to enter and whatsoever I want to do, I just present this prescription because they
           cannot read it and they cannot admit that they cannot read it. They simply allow me, they have to
           allow me."

              This is a well-known secret, that saints who are bogus are bound to use very difficult language;
           otherwise, you will be able to see that they are as ignorant as you are, or sometimes even more
           ignorant than you are. They create a great camouflage, a facade, of big words from dead languages.
           They quote scriptures, high-sounding words, and you are simply at a loss as to what to do. Either
           accept your ignorance and ask them what they are saying, or simply say that it must be something
           very profound -- how can a man like you, a sinner, ignorant, unknowledgeable, irreligious,
           understand it?

               A preacher was asked to conduct a revival in a small southern town. There being no hotel, he
           was housed with one of the church sisters, a young widow. After the revival, taking his leave, he said
           to the hostess, "Sister Jones, never in all my ecclesiastical career have I encountered such an
           abundant, satisfying and abiding manifestation of thorough, complete, and delightful exemplification
           of gratitude, graciousness, appreciativeness and hospitality as you have demonstrated."
               Sister Jones smiled, simpered, and answered, "Parson, I don't know what all those big words
           mean, but want to say that you are a real world beater, a strong repeater, and that you do it neater,
           sweeter and more completer with less peter than any other person I ever had here!"

               You can use very complex language, but you cannot deceive those who know -- you can only
           deceive those who don't know. If you read Hegel's books you will come across sentences which go
           on running for pages. By the time you reach the end of the sentence, you have already forgotten the
           beginning. It is almost impossible to make any sense out of it. Hence, when Hegel was alive, he was
           thought to be the greatest philosopher who had ever lived on the earth. But as people went into his
           books more closely -- scholars worked and thrashed it out and figured things out -- it was found that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he was not saying anything very special. Much was absolute nonsense -- but with great words.
              Great words attract people, big words fascinate people, hypnotize people.
              You ask me, "Why do they all speak a very difficult language?"
              ...Otherwise, who is going to listen to them? For what?

               A farmer with two lazy sons, once ordered them to clean out the crapperhole. They simply dug a
           new one and moved the shit-house a few feet over. One night the old man had a call of nature and
           ran out back along the well-worn path, falling into the pit. Up to his neck in shit, he began hollering,
           "Fire! Fire!"
               People came running, pulled him out, and cleaned him off, then asked why he had yelled "Fire!"
           "Do you think anyone would have come if I hollered 'Shit!'?"

               The reason why they use difficult language is simple; otherwise, who is going to come? They
           can't talk like me -- I am simply using the language that you use. I am simply talking to you! This is
           not a sermon, just a dialogue between friends, gossiping -- it is not a gospel.
               And you can use simple words, day-to-day words only if you really have something to convey,
           otherwise not. If you don't have anything to convey, then you will have to use big words out of
           necessity.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE NOT ALL THE PRIESTS THE WORST ENEMIES OF GOD?


               Deepesh, not all the priests, but just the few -- the pope, the shankaracharyas. These are the
           people who are the enemies of God; otherwise, poor priests are simply trying somehow to make their
           bread and butter. They have nothing to do with God -- they are not friends, they are not enemies.
           They don't have any time for God. It is just a profession, and a poor profession at that. The poor
           priest doesn't get more money than the lowest clerk, and he runs the whole day from one temple to
           another, from one house to another -- he is almost a beggar! No, he is not the enemy of God. He just
           doesn't know any other way to earn his bread, particularly in India.
               In India, priests are brahmins, and brahmins are the poorest people. They don't know anything
           else, and they can't do anything else -- the traditional mind won't allow them. They can't be cobblers,
           they can't be carpenters, they can't be sweepers.... The brahmins down the ages have lived on only
           one thing: praying to gods. But if you simply go on praying to God, you will die, you will starve.
           Money is not going to shower on you from the skies; it has never happened. So you have to use your
           praying capacity, your scriptural knowledge, as a profession.
               But the poor priest is not the enemy or anything. He does not know anything about God, he is not
           really interested in God at all.

           I remember:
               A priest used to live just behind my house when I was a child. I used to torture him with great
           questions: "Does God exist? Is the soul immortal? What is the philosophy of karma?" One day he
           said to me, "You please don't bother me. I tell you the truth: I don't know anything. And you are a
           kind of nuisance! Nobody asks me these questions -- I am a simple priest. People just ask me to do
           puja -- worship -- so I go, and they pay me two rupees, three rupees, per day. Somehow I am
           managing. I have three children, an old father, mother, wife, and also I have to pretend that I am
           living perfectly well, because that's how a brahmin should pretend. He is the high caste, so I have to
           pretend that everything is going well.
           "And then after the whole day's work when I come home, you are sitting here! I have earned only
           three rupees in the whole day, and we are almost starving. Now, who bothers whether God exists or
           not! And I don't know at all. I only know how to worship, and I can worship any god -- just give me
           the money."

              So please, Deepesh, don't think that all the priests...not all the priests, only a few cunning ones
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are against God. They are worshippers of the Devil, they are the reason that very few people have
           been able to become buddhas. But the other priests, ninety-nine percent of them, are just poor people
           not knowing what to do. Traditionally, just knowing one thing, they can beg. But they are high caste,
           so they beg with a method. That method is their ritual for worship.

              A man sees signs on the highway saying ONE MILE TO GRANDMA'S CAT-HOUSE.
           Overcome by curiosity and surprise that anyone should have the nerve to advertise so plainly, he
           goes in.
              An old lady admits him and snaps, "Two dollars, please, and you can go right through the door
           ahead of you at the end of the hall."
              He pays, goes through the door, which slams shut behind him, and finds himself out in the yard,
           which is full of wooden boxes with wire fronts, inside of which are some mangy cats. Overhead is a
           small hand-lettered sign: "You have now been screwed by grandma. Please do not tell the secret -- I
           am just an old lady trying to make ends meet."

           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                   Talks given from 01/07/79 am to 10/07/79 am
                                             English Discourse series
                                                   10 Chapters
                                                  Year published:
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                   Chapter #1
                                    Chapter title: The wisdom of innocence
           1 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907010
              ShortTitle: DHAM201
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 103 mins




              HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND
              UNDERSTAND THE WAY?
              IF A MAN IS DISTURBED
              HE WILL NEVER BE FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               AN UNTROUBLED MIND,
               NO LONGER SEEKING TO CONSIDER
               WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG,
               A MIND BEYOND JUDGMENTS,
               WATCHES AND UNDERSTANDS.



               KNOW THAT THE BODY IS A FRAGILE JAR,
               AND MAKE A CASTLE OF YOUR MIND.
               IN EVERY TRIAL
               LET UNDERSTANDING FIGHT FOR YOU
               TO DEFEND WHAT YOU HAVE WON.



               FOR SOON THE BODY IS DISCARDED.
               THEN WHAT DOES IT FEEL?
               A USELESS LOG OF WOOD, IT LIES ON THE GROUND.
               THEN WHAT DOES IT KNOW?



               YOUR WORST ENEMY CANNOT HARM YOU
               AS MUCH AS YOUR OWN THOUGHTS, UNGUARDED.



               BUT ONCE MASTERED,
               NO ONE CAN HELP YOU AS MUCH,
               NOT EVEN YOUR FATHER OR YOUR MOTHER.


               Once I was asked, "What is philosophy?" I said, "Philosophy is the art of asking the wrong
           questions." The blind man asking "What is light?" -- this is philosophy. The deaf asking "What is
           music? What is sound?" -- this is philosophy.
               If the blind man asks, "How can I get my eyes back?" this is no longer philosophy, this is
           religion. If the deaf goes to the physician to be treated so that he can hear, then he is moving in the
           direction of religion and not in the direction of philosophy.
               Philosophy is guesswork, it is speculation; knowing nothing, one tries to invent the truth. And
           the truth cannot be invented, and anything invented cannot be true. The truth has to be discovered. It
           is already there...all that we need is open eyes -- eyes to see it, a heart to feel it, a being to be present
           to it. The truth is always present but we are absent, and because we are absent we cannot see the
           truth. And we go on asking about the truth, and we don't ask the right question: How to be present?
           How to become a presence?
               We ask about the truth and that asking is also going away from it, because the asking implies that
           an answer is possible from somebody else. Asking implies that somebody else can tell you what the
           truth is. Nobody can tell you it, it can't be told.
               Lao Tzu says: The truth that can be said is no longer truth. Once said, it becomes a lie.
               Why? -- because the person who knows, knows it not as information; otherwise, it would have
           been very easy to transfer the information to anybody who was ready to receive it. The truth is
           known as an inner experience. It is like a taste on the tongue. If a man has never tasted what
           sweetness is, you cannot explain it to him -- it is impossible. If a man has not seen color, you cannot
           explain to him what it is.
               There are things which can only be experienced, and through experience understood. God is that
           ultimate experience, which is utterly inexpressible, untransferable. It cannot be conveyed. At the
           most, a few hints can be given; but those hints are also to be received with a very sympathetic heart,
           otherwise you will miss them.
               If you interpret them with your mind you are going to miss them, because what can your mind do
           as far as interpretation is concerned? It can bring only its own past. It can bring only its own chaos. It
           can bring its conflicts, doubts, confusions. And all those it will impose on the truth, on the hint given
           to you, and immediately everything is distorted. Your mind is not in a state to see, to feel.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Religion simply means creating a space in your mind which is capable of seeing, which is
           capable of nonconflict, which is capable of being one without any split, which is capable of integrity,
           clarity, perceptiveness. A mind which is full of thoughts cannot perceive; those thoughts go on
           interfering. Those thoughts are there, layer upon layer. By the time something reaches your
           innermost core, if it ever reaches, it is no longer the same as it was delivered by someone who had
           known. It is a totally different phenomenon.
                Buddha used to repeat each hint thrice. Somebody asked him, "Why do you repeat one thing
           thrice?"
                He said, "Even thrice is not enough. When I say it for the first time, you only hear the words.
           Those words are empty, just empty, hollow shells, with no content. You cannot hear the content the
           first time. The second time, you hear the content with the words, a fragrance comes, but you are so
           dazed, you are so mystified by its presence, that you are not in a state to understand. You hear, but
           you don't understand. That's why I have to repeat it thrice."
                I go on repeating again and again for the simple reason that you are so asleep -- it has to be
           repeated, hammered. Maybe in some moment, some auspicious moment, you will not be so deep in
           sleep; you may be close, very close to awakening, and something may enter into you. You may be
           able to hear. Yes, there are moments when you are very close to awakening -- not awake, not asleep,
           just in the middle, somewhere in between.
                Each morning you know, there are a few moments when the sleep is no more but you are not yet
           awake, you cannot say you are awake. You can hear, in a very vague way, the sounds of the birds,
           and the milkman, and the wife talking to the neighbor and the children getting ready to go to school,
           and the traffic noise, and a train passing by -- but in a very vague way, not totally, partially. And you
           go on dozing off into sleep. One moment you hear the noise of the train passing by, another moment
           you have gone deeper into your sleep.
                Now the sleep researchers say that it happens continuously in your sleep: if you sleep for eight
           hours, you are not on the same level continuously, your level goes on changing, peaks and valleys.
           The whole night you are going up and down. Sometimes you are very deep in sleep where even
           dreams disappear -- Patanjali has called it SUSHUPTI, dreamless sleep -- and sometimes you are full
           of dreams. And sometimes you are just on the verge of awakening. If something shattering, shocking
           happens, you will be awake, suddenly awake.
                That's the effort of all the buddhas: waiting for that right moment when you are very close to
           awakening. Then a little push and your eyes open and you can see.
                God cannot be explained but can be seen, can be experienced -- can NOT be explained. Any
           explanation about God is nothing but explaining him away; hence, the more priests, theologians,
           professors there are, the less religion there is in the world. The more popes and the more
           shankaracharyas, the less religion there is in the world -- because these people go on explaining and
           God cannot be explained. They have stuffed your minds with so many explanations, now those
           explanations are in conflict. Now it is almost impossible to figure it out, what is what, which is
           which. You are in utter confusion. Man has never been in such confusion before, because humanity
           has never been so close before. The earth has REALLY become a village, a global village.
                In the ancient days the Buddhist knew only what the Buddha had said, and the Mohammedan
           knew only about what Mohammed had said, and the Christian knew only about Jesus. Now we have
           become inheritors of the whole heritage of humanity. Now you know Jesus, you know Zarathustra,
           you know Patanjali, you know Buddha, you know Mahavira, you know Lao Tzu and hundreds of
           other explanations, other hints -- and they are all jumbled up in you. Now it is very difficult to pull
           you out of this confusion. The only possible way is to drop this whole noise, not in parts but in toto.
           That's what my message is.
                And by dropping it, you will not be dropping Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha; by dropping it you
           will come closer to them. By dropping it, you will simply be dropping the priests and the traditions
           and the conventions and the exploitation that goes on in the name of tradition and convention. By
           being clear of all this, forgetting the Bible and the Vedas and the Gita, you will attain to a clarity, a
           cleanliness. Yes, you need a spring cleaning, you need a total unburdening of the heart. Only then, in
           that silence, will you be able to understand.

           Buddha says:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND
              UNDERSTAND THE WAY?


               Thousands had gathered around Buddha, just as you have gathered around me -- thousands of
           seekers had come to Buddha and they were asking all kinds of questions. And Buddha was not
           interested in their questions at all; he was not interested in answering them. He was interested,
           certainly, in showing them the way, but the problem was that they were so much troubled with their
           questions AND the answers that they had collected, they were so much disturbed by all the
           knowledge that they had been carrying all along, that it was impossible, almost completely
           impossible to show them the way. Hence this sutra: HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND
           UNDERSTAND THE WAY?
               So rather than giving them more answers, more explanations, more knowledge, Buddha started
           taking away their knowledge, their ready-made answers, their a priori conceptions, their prejudices.
           India has never been able to forgive Buddha for that. Immediately after he died the traditional mind
           of this country started uprooting all the plants that he had planted; all the rosebushes were burned.
           Buddha was completely thrown out of this country. The greatest son of this land had no shelter here;
           the teaching had to seek shelter in foreign lands.
               This is not accidental, this has happened always. Jesus was condemned by the Jews, crucified by
           the Jews, and Jesus was the greatest Jew who has ever been on the earth, the greatest flowering of
           the Jewish consciousness, the uttermost expression, the crescendo, the Everest. But why did the Jews
           deny him? They should have been happy, they should have danced and celebrated, but they could
           not -- they could not forgive him, because his presence made them feel very mediocre; that was his
           crime. He had to be punished for it, for being so high, for being so beyond, for being so superior, for
           being so graceful, for bringing such love. For his presence he had to be punished, because his
           presence was making people feel ugly by comparison. He had to be removed so the mediocre mind
           could feel at ease.
               Jesus was not killed by Jews, he was killed by the mediocre mind. It happened to be the Jewish
           mediocre mind in the case of Jesus. The same happened with Buddha. Buddha has not been forgiven
           by the Hindus, and he was the greatest Hindu ever. He was the purest Hindu possible, the very
           quintessence of Hinduism. What the Upanishads were saying, he had actualized it. He was the
           realization of the deepest longings of this land, but he was uprooted from here, he was thrown out of
           here.
               Buddhism disappeared from India, not even a trace was left behind -- utterly washed away.
           Why? He was tremendously respected in Tibet, in China, in Korea, in Japan, in Thailand, in Burma,
           in Sri Lanka. The whole of Asia loved the man, so unique is his teaching, so pregnant are his words.
           But India simply forgot all about him -- the Indian mediocre mind. It has nothing to do with the
           Indian -- again the mediocre mind. The mediocre mind never allows the genius; the mediocre person
           is happy with other mediocre people. The stupid people are happy with stupid leaders. The more
           stupid the leader is, the more people are happy -- because he looks so much like them.

           I have heard:
               A new superintendent was appointed in a mental asylum. The old one was giving his charge
           over, he was retiring, and a small feast was arranged for the old one to be thanked for all his services,
           for the new one to be received by the inmates. All the mad people gathered.
               The old superintendent was a little puzzled; he had never seen them so happy. All the mad
           people were so happy, so joyous, that he could not resist the temptation of asking them -- and he was
           to leave the same day, so he had to ask immediately; otherwise it would always remain a curiosity in
           his mind and he would never know the answer.
               He asked the mad people. "Why are you looking so happy?"
               They said, "Because of the new superintendent -- he looks just like us! You were a foreigner
           amongst us, you were sane. He looks mad!"
               And that was a truth -- the new superintendent was almost insane. But the insane people were
           very happy. Somebody had now come who would not make them feel insane.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This has always been the situation on the earth -- this earth is the madhouse -- and whenever a
           sane person happens, we misbehave with him. Thousands of people had come to Buddha to ask,
           "Where is God? What is God?" And especially the brahmins, the pundits, the scholars, who were
           fully informed, well informed about the scriptures, they used to come to him to ask, "Do you believe
           in God? Define your belief, explain your concept."
                And Buddha insisted again and again: HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND UNDERSTAND THE
           WAY? He used to say, "Please don't ask about God. Your asking about God is just like a blind man
           asking about light -- it cannot be explained. I am a physician," he insisted. "I can treat your eyes, I
           can give you your vision back. And then you will be able to see by yourself, and the light has to be
           seen by you. My seeing the light is not going to help. I may see the light, I may even describe it, but
           it is not going to give you any idea of what it is."
                In fact there is no possible way to explain to the blind man what light is. Light is an experience,
           something existential, unexplainable. And God is the ultimate light, the light of all the lights, the
           light behind all the lights, the source of all lights. How can God be explained to you if you are blind?
                Hence Buddha never talked about God. And the pundits and the brahmins would go back to their
           places spreading rumors and saying that "This man does not answer the question because he does not
           know; otherwise, why can't he say simply yes or no? We asked a very simple question, 'Do you
           believe in God?' He could have said yes or no -- if he knows then the answer is simple. But he talks
           in a roundabout way; we ask about God and he talks in parables. He says, 'How can it be said? How
           can it be explained?' The real fact is he does not know. The real fact is that he is an atheist in
           disguise; he is deceiving people, corrupting people."

               Hindus have invented a very cunning story about Buddha. They say that God created the world,
           and at the same time he created hell and heaven -- hell for those who were to be punished and heaven
           for those who were to be rewarded for their virtues. But it happened that thousands of years passed
           and nobody entered hell, because nobody committed a sin. Of course, the Devil was very tired of
           waiting and waiting and waiting -- with no work, with no business! Not even a single soul had turned
           up!
               Tremendously angry, he approached God and said, "Why have you made this hell, for what? And
           why have you put me there in charge? We are tired, my whole staff is tired. Nobody ever turns up.
           We open the shop and we sit the whole day and not a single customer! We keep the doors open -- not
           a single soul ever enters. What is the point? Please make us free from this job."
               God said, "Why didn't you come earlier? I had completely forgotten about it. I will make
           arrangements. Soon I will be born in the world as Gautama the Buddha, and I will corrupt people's
           minds. I will corrupt their minds so much that you will be overcrowded. You just go back to hell and
           wait."
               And that's how it happened. The story says, God came to the world as Gautama the Buddha,
           corrupted people's minds, destroyed their beliefs, uprooted their conventions, shook their faith,
           created doubt in their minds, suspicions. Since then hell is so crowded that the Devil goes again and
           again and says to God, "Now stop! Please stop! We are tired, so many people! We are running a
           twenty-four-hour service, day in and day out; even in the night the doors can't be closed. People
           simply go on coming!"

               A very cunning story. Do you see the delicate cunningness in it? In one sense Buddha is
           recognized as God's AVATARA. Hindus are more cunning in that way than Jews. They simply
           denied that Jesus was the Son of God, they rejected Jesus. Hindus are more sophisticated in that way,
           more polished, more cultured -- of course, a more ancient civilization. And the more ancient the
           civilization becomes, the more cunning it becomes.
               See the cunningness: Buddha is accepted as the tenth incarnation of God, and yet God takes this
           incarnation into the world to corrupt people's minds. So although Buddha is God, beware, don't listen
           to him! You see the strategy, the trick? They don't deny Buddha godhood -- in fact it was almost
           impossible to deny Buddha godhood.
               H.G. Wells has said that Gautama the Buddha is a paradox: the most godless man and yet the
           most godly. He never talked about God, he never told people to believe in God. God is simply
           missing from his teaching. It is not a necessary hypothesis, it is not needed. The most godless and yet
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the most godly...nobody seems to be so godly as Buddha, so graceful as Buddha -- just a lotus
           flower, the purest consciousness conceivable, as fresh as dewdrops in the early morning sun.
                They could not deny that, they had to accept that he was God. But they could not accept his
           approach because his approach, if accepted, would destroy the whole established religion, the whole
           establishment. He takes away all the beliefs; in fact he makes it a very important thing, very
           essential, that a man of belief will not be able to know ever. He does not mean become a disbeliever,
           because disbelief is again belief in a negative way. Neither be a believer nor be a disbeliever.
                Buddha's approach is that of an agnostic. He is neither a theist nor an atheist -- he is an inquirer.
           And he wants you to remain open to inquire. Go with no prejudice, go with no ready-made idea --
           because if you go with a certain idea, you will project your idea onto reality. And if you have some
           deep-rooted idea in your mind, you will see that idea being fulfilled in reality and it will be only a
           hallucination, a dream projected by you. You have to go utterly empty. If you really want to know
           the truth you have to be absolutely empty, you should not carry any idea, any ideology; you should
           go naked, nude, empty. You should function from the state of not knowing. The state of not knowing
           is the state of wonder.
                There is an ancient saying of Jesus, not recorded in the Bible, but Sufis have preserved it. Sufis
           have preserved many beautiful sayings of Jesus. The saying is so tremendously important that one
           wonders why it was not recorded in the Bible, but if you ponder over it the reason becomes clear.
                The saying is: Blessed is the one who marvels, because his is the kingdom of God. Blessed is one
           who wonders. This has not been recorded in the Bible. Why? -- because the Bible wants to create a
           certain religion, a certain sect; it wants to propagate a certain ideology. And the man of wonder has
           to drop all ideology.
                Blessed is the one who wonders, because only in wondering can you be like a child, innocent.
           And only in that innocence can you know that which is. HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND
           UNDERSTAND THE WAY?
                So whenever a person would come to Buddha and inquire -- great questions about life and life's
           mysteries -- Buddha would say, "You wait, you meditate. First let your troubled mind become
           untroubled. Let this storm of your mind go past. Let silence come, because silence will give you the
           eyes. I can show you the way to be silent, and then you don't need anybody's guidance. Once you are
           silent, you will be able to see the way and you will be able to reach the goal."
                And our minds are really troubled. A thousand and one troubles are there. First, everybody is in a
           state of schizophrenia, more or less; the differences are only of degrees. Everybody is split because
           the exploiters, both religious and political, have depended on this strategy: divide the man, don't
           allow man integrity, and he will remain a slave. A house divided against itself is bound to be weak.
           So you have been taught to fight with the body; that is the root strategy of division, of dividing you.
           "Fight the body, the body is your enemy. It is the body that is dragging you towards hell. Fight,
           dagger in hand! Fight day and night! Fight for lives together! Only then, one day, will you be able to
           win over it. And unless you are victorious over your body, you are not going to enter into the world
           of God."
                For centuries this nonsense has been taught to people. And the result is that everybody is divided,
           everybody is against his body. And if you are against your body, you are bound for trouble. You will
           fight with your body, and you and your body are one energy. The body is the visible soul, and the
           soul is the invisible body. The body and soul are not divided anywhere, they are parts of each other,
           they are parts of one whole. You have to accept the body, you have to love the body, you have to
           respect the body, you have to be grateful to your body. Only then will you attain to a certain kind of
           integrity, a crystallization will happen; otherwise you will remain troubled. And the body will not
           leave you so easily; even after hundreds of lives the fight will be there. You cannot defeat the body.
                I am not saying that the body cannot be won over, mind you, but you cannot defeat the body.
           You cannot defeat it by being inimical towards it. You can win over it by being friendly, by being
           loving, by being respectful, by trusting it. That's exactly my approach: the body is the temple, you
           are the deity of the temple. The temple protects you, shelters you against rain, against wind, against
           heat. It is in your service! Why should you fight? It is as stupid as the driver fighting the car. If the
           driver fights with his car, what is going to happen? He will destroy the car and he will destroy
           himself in fighting with it. The car is a beautiful vehicle, it can take you on the farthest journeys.
                The body is the most complex mechanism in existence. It is simply marvelous! -- and blessed are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           those who marvel. Begin the feeling of wonder with your own body, because that is the closest to
           you. The closest nature has approached to you, the closest God has come to you, is through the body.
           In your body is the water of the oceans, in your body is the fire of the stars and the suns, in your
           body is the air, your body is made of earth. Your body represents the whole existence, all the
           elements. And what a transformation! What a metamorphosis! Look at the earth and then look at
           your body -- what a transformation, and you have never marveled about it! Dust has become divine
           -- what greater mystery is possible? What greater miracles are you waiting for? And you see the
           miracle happening every day. Out of the mud comes the lotus...and out of the dust has arisen our
           beautiful body. And such a complex mechanism, running so smoothly -- no noise. And it is really
           complicated.
               Scientists have made very complicated machines, but nothing to be compared with the body.
           Even the most sophisticated computer is just a toy compared to the inner mechanism of the body.
           And you have been taught to fight with it. That creates a split, that keeps you troubled, that keeps
           you in a constant civil war.
               And because you fight with yourself -- which is utterly stupid -- your life becomes less and less
           one of intelligence and more and more one of stupidity. And then you want great transformations --
           you want jealousies to drop and you want anger to disappear and you want no greed in you. It is
           impossible! With such misunderstanding from the very beginning, how can you create the space
           where transformations happen, where anger becomes compassion, where hate becomes love, where
           greed becomes sharing, where sex becomes samadhi? How can you hope, how can you expect such
           great transformations, with such a troubled state?
               The fundamental thing is to drop the split, to become one. Be one, and then all else is possible;
           even the impossible is possible.
              HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND UNDERSTAND THE WAY?

               The way is very simple and direct. Even a child can understand it. It is as simple as two plus two
           equals four, or even more simple. It is as simple as the song of a bird, as simple as a roseflower --
           simple and beautiful, simple and of tremendous grandeur. But only an untroubled mind can
           understand it, only an untroubled mind has the capacity to see it; otherwise you will live in greed and
           you will live in anger, and you will live in jealousies and possessiveness, and you will live in hatred.
           You can pretend, you can become a saint on the surface, but you will remain a sinner deep down.
           And the greatest sin is to divide yourself. The greatest sin is not committed against others, it is
           always committed against yourself. This is a state of suicide, creating this division between your
           body and yourself. Condemning the body you can become only a hypocrite, you can only live a life
           of pretensions.

               In a first-class railroad compartment, two beautifully dressed ladies are discussing clothes while
           a gentleman in the corner pretends to be asleep. When one lady says she finds the cost of clothes
           impossible nowadays, the other suggests she should follow her example and take a boyfriend on the
           side: "He will give you five hundred a month for a little present -- your husband would never do
           that."
           "But what if I can't get a friend with five hundred dollars?"
           "Then take two with two hundred and fifty each."
               The gentleman speaks up: "Listen, ladies, I am going to sleep now. Wake me up when you get
           down to twenty bucks."

                People are pretending in every possible way. The person who is pretending to be a saint may be
           just the opposite, and the person who is pretending to be awake may be asleep, and the person who is
           pretending to be asleep may be awake...all kinds of pretensions, because the society creates the
           context where it allows you only either to live an utterly condemned life, the life of a criminal, or the
           life of a hypocrite, of a pretender. The society gives you only two alternatives: either be honest and
           be a criminal, or be dishonest and be respectable. It does not allow you the third alternative. Why
           does it not allow you the third alternative? -- because the third alternative creates a Jesus, a Buddha,
           a Krishna, and their presence makes the crowd feel very mediocre, very insulted, humiliated.
                So please don't decide by looking at people's appearances. More are the chances, almost
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ninety-nine point nine percent, that whatsoever they appear on the surface they will not be deep
           down. You can be certain about it; I say almost completely certain, because only point one percent
           can you miss -- which is not much. Only once in a while will you come across a Buddha, whose
           appearance is the same as his inwardness; otherwise you will come across people who are one thing
           on the outside and another on the inside. Don't be deceived by appearances.

               An actress picks up an out-of-work tramp and takes him to her apartment because he has very
           large shoes on and she has been told that men with big feet have big pricks. She gives him a steak
           dinner with plenty of pepper and beer, and then drags him off to bed.
               In the morning the man wakes up alone and finds a ten-dollar bill on the mantlepiece, with a
           brief note: "Buy yourself a pair of shoes that fit you."

              But that's how we all go on deciding...from the outside. In fact, because we don't even know our
           own insides, how can we look into other people's insides? We don't know the art of looking in. First
           you have to practice the art with yourself. First you have to go into your interiority, your inner
           world. You have to go deeper and deeper into your consciousness, to the very center of it. Once you
           have penetrated the core of your being, you will be able to see into anybody else's core of being.
           Then nobody can deceive you, because then you don't see the appearance -- you see the reality.
              HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND UNDERSTAND THE WAY?

               The troubled mind cannot understand anything. It is not a state where understanding is possible.
           Understanding does not mean knowledge. A troubled mind can become very knowledgeable -- you
           can go to the universities and you can see the professors, very knowledgeable -- but they are more
           troubled than you, far more in inner conflict than you. Their knowledge does not help them at all.
           Knowledge has never helped anybody, it only burdens. It gives you respectability, certainly. It is a
           great ego trip, and the ego feels very puffed up; but the more the ego is puffed up, the more you will
           be in trouble inside because the ego is a false phenomenon. And when you become too attached to
           the false, you start losing contact with the real. When you start growing roots in the false, you forget
           to grow roots in the real.
               The man of knowledge is as unconscious as you are. The ignorant and the knowledgeable are not
           in different boats; they are fellow-travelers. The difference between them is only of information --
           which is not a difference at all, which is not a difference that makes any difference. I may know only
           a few things, you may know a few more, somebody else may know a thousand and one things, and
           somebody else may be just a walking ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA -- that makes no
           difference at all.
               A buddha is not a man of knowledge, he is a man of understanding -- not full of information but
           full of insight. Full of vision, not full of thoughts -- a clarity, a mirrorlike clarity, and a great
           awareness.
               You are moving like a somnambulist, a sleepwalker. You don't know what you are doing, you
           don't know why you are doing it; you don't know where you are going, you don't know why you are
           going. Your life is accidental, and an accidental life is an unconscious life -- it is like a robot.

                A man at the theater with his wife goes out to the toilet at the intermission, but goes through the
           wrong door and finds himself in the garden. As it is too well kept to think of using the ground, he
           lifts a plant out of a flowerpot and uses that, then replaces the plant.
                He goes back and finds the next act has already begun. "What has happened so far in this act?"
           he asks his wife in a whisper.
           "You ought to know," she says coldly. "You were in it!"

               Man lives in unconsciousness. He is not aware, not at all aware. You can watch any person, you
           can watch yourself, slowly slowly, and you will see so many unconscious acts happening that it will
           be almost unbelievable how you have lived up to now. You are lying for no reason at all! And when
           you catch yourself red-handed lying, you will be surprised: why were you lying in the first place? --
           because there is no reason, you are not going to gain anything out of it. Just a habit, just a
           mechanical routine. You become sad for no reason at all.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now there are a few researchers who say you can make a calendar of your moods, and I find
           their research significant -- you can really make a calendar of your moods. Just go on noting down
           for one month: Monday in the morning how you felt, and in the afternoon and in the evening and in
           the night...just at least eight times per day, go on noting every day at the exact same times how you
           feel. And within three or four weeks you will be surprised that on each Monday at the same time you
           feel exactly the same.
               Now this cannot be because of any circumstances outside, because each Monday they are
           different. It is something inner -- although you will find excuses outside, because nobody wants to
           feel responsible for his own misery. It feels good to make others feel responsible for your misery.
           And you can find excuses, you can invent them if they are not there.
               That's where people have become very very creative. In fact their whole creativity consists in
           creating excuses: "Why am I sad?" and you can find a thousand and one reasons. The wife said this
           and the children are not behaving well and the neighbors and the boss in the office and the traffic and
           prices are rising high...and you can find a thousand and one things; they are always there. And you
           can paint the whole world very gloomy, dark, and then you can feel at ease that it is not your
           responsibility that you are sad.
               But the same world, and Tuesday morning you are feeling very bubbly, very joyous, radiant --
           again you can find excuses: "This is a beautiful morning, and the sun and the birds and the trees and
           the sky, and all is so full of light -- such a beautiful morning!" You can find excuses for all kinds of
           moods, but if you make a diary of four to eight weeks you will be really shocked that everything that
           happens to you is almost completely dependent on you. You have an inner wheel that goes on
           moving, and the same spokes go on coming on top again and again.
               Yes, there are circumstances outside, but they are not causes; at the most they trigger. A certain
           mood that is bound to happen is triggered by a certain circumstance. If this circumstance were not
           there, then something else would have been the triggering point -- but it was bound to be triggered.
               People who have lived in isolation have become aware of this fact. Buddha used to send his
           disciples for isolation. In the new commune we are going to have underground caves so I can send
           you for one month's isolation -- absolute isolation. You disappear from the world, so you cannot
           blame any circumstances outside because there is nothing outside...you and the walls of the cave.
           And you will be surprised: one day you are happy, one day you are unhappy, one day you are feeling
           very greedy, one day you are feeling angry and there is nobody who has insulted you, irritated you.
           One day you will find you are telling lies to yourself because you cannot find anybody else.

           "Could I buy you a drink?" he asked, by way of striking up a conversation.
           "No thank you," she said. "I don't drink."
           "What about a little dinner with me in my room?"
           "No, I don't think that would be proper," she said.
               Having had no success with the subtler approaches, the young man pressed directly to the point:
           "I am charmed by your refreshing beauty, mademoiselle, and will give you anything your heart
           desires if you will spend the night with me."
           "Oh, no, no, monsieur, I could never do a thing like that."
           "Tell me," the young man said, laughing, "don't you ever do anything the slightest bit improper?"
           "Oui," said the French girl, "I tell lies."

                You watch how many times in the day you tell lies -- and for no reason at all -- and how many
           times you become angry, for no reason at all, and then you will see that you are living in an inner
           world, a subjective world of your own. Understanding means understanding these fundamentals of
           life's functioning. And if you understand these fundamentals, transformation is not difficult. In fact,
           understanding itself becomes the transformation.
              HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND UNDERSTAND THE WAY?



              IF A MAN IS DISTURBED
              HE WILL NEVER BE FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The word 'knowledge' does not mean what YOU mean by knowledge. When Buddha uses the
           word 'knowledge' he means wisdom, not information; he means knowing, not knowledge.
                IF A MAN IS DISTURBED...is in conflict, is in confusion, is in a divide, is split inside, if a man
           is a crowd within...HE WILL NEVER BE FILLED WITH wisdom.
                Wisdom needs unity, wisdom needs integration, wisdom needs a crystallization of awareness, of
           watchfulness, of watching your acts, your moods, your thoughts, your emotions...of watching
           everything that is happening in your inner world. By just watching it, a miracle starts happening. If
           you start seeing that you tell lies for no reason at all, just that very awareness will become a
           hindrance. Next time you are just on the verge of telling a lie a voice within you will say, "Watch,
           beware -- you are moving into the trap again." The next time you are falling into sadness, something
           inside you will make you alert, will alarm you.
                This is the path of transforming your energies -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO. AES
           MAGGO VISUDDHYA -- this is the way of purification, this is the eternal law of transformation.

              AN UNTROUBLED MIND,
              NO LONGER SEEKING TO CONSIDER
              WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG,
              A MIND BEYOND JUDGMENTS,
              WATCHES AND UNDERSTANDS.


                So the first requirement for a sannyasin is: AN UNTROUBLED MIND,NO LONGER
           SEEKING TO CONSIDER WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG....
                A tremendously important and revolutionary statement. Buddha is saying: Don't consider what is
           right and what is wrong, because if you consider what is right and what is wrong you will be divided,
           you will become a hypocrite. You will pretend the right and you will do the wrong. And the moment
           you consider what is right and what is wrong, you become attached, you become identified. You
           certainly become identified with the right.
                For example, you see on the side of the road a hundred-rupee note; it may have fallen from
           somebody's pocket. Now the question arises: To take it or not to take it? One part of you says, "It is
           perfectly right to take it. Nobody is looking, nobody will ever suspect. And you are not stealing -- it
           is just lying there! If you don't take it, somebody else is going to take it anyway. So why miss it? It is
           perfectly right!"
                But another part says, "This is wrong -- this money does not belong to you, it is not yours. In a
           way, in an indirect way, it is stealing. You should inform the police, or if you don't want to be
           bothered with it, then go ahead, forget all about it. Don't even look back. This is greed and greed is a
           sin!"
                Now, these two minds are there. One says, "It is right, take it," the other says, "It is wrong, don't
           take it." With which mind are you going to identify yourself? You are certainly going to identify
           with the mind which says it is immoral, because that is more ego-satisfying. "You are a moral
           person, you are not ordinary; anybody else would have taken the hundred-rupee note. In such times
           of difficulties, people don't think of such delicacies." You will identify yourself with the moral mind.
           But there is every possibility you will take the note. You will identify yourself with the moral mind,
           and you will disidentify yourself from the mind which is going to take the note. You will condemn it
           deep down; you will say, "It is not right -- it is the sinner part of me, the lower part, the condemned
           part." You will keep yourself aloof from it. You will say, "I was against it. It was my instinct, it was
           my unconscious, it was my body, it was my mind, which persuaded me to do it; otherwise, I knew it,
           that it was wrong. I am the one who knows that it was wrong."
                You always identify yourself with the right, the moralistic attitude, and you disidentify from the
           immoral act -- although you do it. This is how hypocrisy arises.
                Saint Augustine has said in his confessions: God, forgive me, because I go on doing things which
           I know I should not do, and also I don't do things which I know I should do.
                This is the conflict, this is how one becomes troubled. Hence Buddha gives you a secret key.
           This is the key that can take you out of all identification: don't be identified with the moral mind --
           because that too is part of the mind. It is the same game: one part saying good, another part saying
           bad -- it is the same mind creating a conflict in you. Mind is always dual. Mind lives in polar
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opposites. It loves and it hates the same person; it wants to do the act and it does not want to do the
           act. It is conflict, mind is conflict. Don't get identified with either.
               Buddha is saying: Become just a watchfulness. See that one part is saying this, another part is
           saying that. "I am neither -- NETI, NETI, neither this nor that -- I am just a witness." Only then is
           there a possibility that understanding will arise.
              AN UNTROUBLED MIND,NO LONGER SEEKING TO CONSIDER WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS
              WRONG, A MIND BEYOND JUDGMENTS, WATCHES AND UNDERSTANDS.

                To go beyond judgments of good and bad is the way of watchfulness. And it is through
           watchfulness that transformations happen. This is the difference between morality and religion.
           Morality says, "Choose the right and reject the wrong. Choose the good and reject the bad." Religion
           says, "Simply watch both. Don't choose at all. Remain in a choiceless consciousness."
                Religion is very very different from morality. Morality is very ordinary, mundane, mediocre;
           morality cannot take you to the ultimate, it is not the way of the divine. Morality is only a social
           strategy. That's why one thing is right in one society and the same thing is wrong in another society;
           one thing is thought to be good in India and the same thing is thought to be bad in Japan. One thing
           is thought to be good today and may become wrong tomorrow. Morality is a social by-product, it is a
           social strategy to control. It is the policeman inside you, the judge inside you -- it is a trick of the
           society to hypnotize you according to certain conceptions that the society wants to be imposed upon
           people. So if you are born in a vegetarian family, then the nonvegetarians are the greatest of sinners.
                One Jaina monk once told me that "I love your books, but why do you mention Jesus,
           Mohammed and Ramakrishna with Mahavira? You should not mention them in the same line.
           Mahavira is Mahavira -- how can he be compared and put in the same way, in the same category
           with Jesus, Mohammed and Ramakrishna?"
           I said, "Why not?"
                He said, "Jesus drinks wine, eats meat -- what greater sin can one commit?"
                Mohammed ate meat and got married to nine women! One has to renounce the woman -- and not
           only one but nine! A perfect number. In fact, there are no more numbers; nine is the last number,
           then again repeats the same....
           "Mohammed got married to nine women, was a meat-eater -- how can you put Mohammed with
           Mahavira? And how can you put Ramakrishna with Mahavira? He used to eat fish."
           A Bengali is bound to eat fish.
                His only criticism of my books is that I have put these people together.
                Now ask a Christian.... I once asked a Christian missionary, "What do you say about this Jaina
           monk? He has said this...have you any objection?"
                He said, "Certainly! How can you put Mahavira with Jesus? Jesus lived for humanity, sacrificed
           himself for humanity -- what has Mahavira done? Mahavira is utterly selfish, he thinks only of his
           own salvation. He cares nothing about others! He never healed a blind person, he never raised a dead
           person from death. He was just meditating for twelve years in the mountains, in the forests -- what
           more selfishness...? And the world is suffering and people are in great pain, and he didn't come to
           console them. What more luxury can there be? Just meditating by the side of a river in the forest --
           what more luxury! What has he done for the poor humanity? Jesus sacrificed himself -- he lived and
           died for others. His whole life was nothing but pure sacrifice. How can you put Mahavira with
           Jesus?"
                And he too seems to be right. Now, how do you decide? Buddha never healed the sick, the blind,
           the deaf, the dumb -- just meditated. Seems to be selfish! He should have opened hospitals, or at
           least schools; should have distributed medicine, should have gone to the flood areas and served
           people...he never did anything like that. What kind of spirituality is this? According to a Christian, it
           is pure selfishness.
                Now, who is right? And who is going to decide? We live according to our prejudices.
                The Jaina monk is wrong and the Christian missionary is wrong, because both are judging -- and
           to judge is wrong. Jesus is Jesus -- he lives in his own way. Buddha is Buddha -- he lives in his own
           way. Unique personalities, unique expressions of God. Neither is a copy of the other, and neither
           needs to be a copy of the other. And it is beautiful that the world has variety. If there were only
           Jesuses and Jesuses again and again, they would look like Ford cars coming out on an assembly line
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- each second a Ford car coming out, the same, exactly the same as each other. It is beautiful that
           Jesus is one and simply one and unrepeatable. And it is good the Buddha is alone and unrepeatable.
               A really religious person has a nonjudgmental approach. The moralist cannot avoid judgments,
           he becomes a judge. Now, this Jaina monk, an ordinary person, stupid, is ready to judge Jesus,
           Ramakrishna, Mohammed. He knows nothing, understands nothing, has never meditated -- has not
           known himself yet. That's why he had come to me.
               He had come to me to understand what meditation is and how to meditate. Meditation has not
           happened yet, but judgment is there -- and he is ready to judge even a man like Jesus, is not even
           ashamed of what he is doing, is not shy, is very arrogant. And so is the case with the Christian
           missionary! He knows nothing of meditation, what Buddha was doing, what Mahavira was doing.
           He knows nothing of the subtle ways in which a Buddha functions. Just his becoming enlightened is
           the greatest service to humanity possible -- nothing more can be done. He has certainly not cured
           physical eyes, but he is the man who has cured thousands of people's spiritual eyes -- and that is real
           service! He has made thousands of people hear, listen, understand -- THAT is real service.
               But this Christian missionary, because he runs a primary school and a hospital, thinks himself
           somebody who is authorized to judge. The moralist always judges, the religious person never judges.
           He lives in a nonjudgmental consciousness.
               A MIND BEYOND JUDGMENTS, WATCHES AND UNDERSTANDS. He simply watches
           and understands. If Buddha had come across Jesus, he would have understood; if Jesus had come
           across Mahavira, he would have understood. Just watching, seeing, and there is understanding.

              KNOW THAT THE BODY IS A FRAGILE JAR,
              AND MAKE A CASTLE OF YOUR MIND.


               By 'mind' Buddha means consciousness. By 'mind' Buddha means Mind with a capital M -- not
           this ordinary mind that you have but the Mind which happens when all thoughts have disappeared,
           when the mind is utterly empty of thoughts. Make a castle of your Mind because this body is going
           to die -- don't depend on it.

              IN EVERY TRIAL
              LET UNDERSTANDING FIGHT FOR YOU
              TO DEFEND WHAT YOU HAVE WON.


               And remember continuously, because the struggle is long, and the journey is arduous. Many
           times you will fall and forget, many times you will start judging. Many times you will start getting
           identified with this or that, many times the ego will assert itself again and again. Whenever the ego
           asserts itself, whenever identification happens, whenever judgment arises, immediately remember:
           watch, simply watch, and there will be understanding.
               And understanding is the secret of transformation. If you can understand anger, immediately you
           will be showered with compassion. If you can understand sex, immediately you will attain to
           samadhi. 'Understanding' is the most important word to remember.

              FOR SOON THE BODY IS DISCARDED.
              THEN WHAT DOES IT FEEL?
              A USELESS LOG OF WOOD, IT LIES ON THE GROUND.
              THEN WHAT DOES IT KNOW?


               Don't depend on the body and don't remain confined to the body. Use it, respect it, love it, care
           for it, but remember: you have to leave it one day. It is only a cage, it will be left behind, and the bird
           will be gone. Before that happens, take care of the bird too. Cleanse your consciousness, because
           that will be going with you. Your understanding will go with you, not your body.
               So don't waste too much time in decorating it with cosmetics, with clothes, with ornaments --
           don't waste too much time with the body, because the body belongs to the earth and the earth will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           claim it back. Dust unto dust. You don't belong to the earth, you belong to some beyond, to some
           unknown. Your home is in the unknown, here you are only a visitor. Enjoy the visit and use it as
           much as possible to grow in understanding and maturity, so that you can take home your maturity,
           your understanding, your wisdom.

              YOUR WORST ENEMY CANNOT HARM YOU
              AS MUCH AS YOUR OWN THOUGHTS, UNGUARDED.


              When thoughts are unguarded, unwatched, your mind is your greatest enemy.

              BUT ONCE MASTERED,
              NO ONE CAN HELP YOU AS MUCH,
              NOT EVEN YOUR FATHER OR YOUR MOTHER.


               But the same mind, if mastered -- mastered by watchfulness, mastered by meditation -- is
           transformed. It becomes the greatest friend. Nobody can help you as much as it.
               The mind is a ladder: unguarded it takes you downwards, guarded it takes you upwards. The
           same ladder! The mind is a door: unguarded it takes you outward, guarded it takes you inward. The
           same mind unguarded becomes anger, hatred, jealousy; guarded it becomes compassion, love, light.
               Be watchful, be awake, be alert, be nonjudgmental. Don't be a moralist: create a religious
           consciousness. And by "religious consciousness" is meant a choiceless awareness. Let this phrase
           sink deep in your heart: choiceless awareness. This is the very essence of Buddha's teaching -- AES
           DHAMMO SANANTANO.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: Drink to the full and dance
           2 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907020
              ShortTitle: DHAM202
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 112 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WOULD YOU PLEASE SPEAK MORE ABOUT THE NEW PHASE OF YOUR WORK? SRI
              RAMAKRISHNA, SRI RAMAN, AND EVEN J. KRISHNAMURTI, APPEAR ONE-DIMENSIONAL. DID
              GURDJIEFF ATTEMPT A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH? WAS IT THE CAUSE OF HIS BEING
              SO GREATLY MISUNDERSTOOD?


              Ajit Saraswati, it is but natural to be misunderstood if you really want to help people. If you don't
           want to help them, you will never be misunderstood -- they will worship you, they will praise you. If
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you only talk, if you only philosophize, then they are not afraid of you. Then you don't touch their
           lives.
                And it is beautiful to know complex theories, systems of thought. It helps their egos, it nourishes
           their egos -- they become more knowledgeable. And everybody likes to be more knowledgeable. It is
           the subtlest nourishment for the ego.
                But if you REALLY want to help them, then the problem arises. Then you start changing their
           lives, then you start trespassing on their egos; then you start interfering with their centuries and
           centuries old habits and mechanisms. Then you create antagonism: they are afraid of you, they are
           inimical towards you. And they will try in every possible way to misunderstand you, to misrepresent
           you.
                One-dimensional people are beautiful flowers, but not of much use. Krishnamurti has been
           talking for forty or more years, and people listen. The same people have been listening to him for
           forty years...and not an iota of change in their consciousness. Certainly they have become very
           knowledgeable, argumentative, logical. If you discuss with them -- they are the best people to
           discuss anything with -- they go into the most subtle, delicate worlds of thought. They can analyze
           everything: awareness, meditation, consciousness.... They have become very efficient, very clever,
           but they remain as mediocre as ever, as stupid as ever, with only one difference: now their stupidity
           is garbed behind their so-called knowledge that they have gathered from J. Krishnamurti.
           Krishnamurti has remained just an intellectual phenomenon, because he never took the trouble to
           enter into people's lives. It is dangerous to enter into people's lives -- you are playing with fire.
                Sri Raman is perfectly okay: sitting silently in his temple, people can come, offer flowers,
           worship, and he will simply watch. And of course he has a beauty and a grace, but it is
           one-dimensional, it does not affect life in its totality. At the most, people can be moved by it
           emotionally. Just as J. Krishnamurti moves people intellectually, Sri Raman moves people
           emotionally.
                And the same was the case with Ramakrishna. Many people's emotions were touched, and they
           would cry tears of joy. But it is not going to transform you. Those tears of joy are momentary; back
           home you will be the same.
                Gurdjieff certainly is a pioneer. With Gurdjieff begins a totally new concept of spiritual life. He
           has actually called his way "the fourth way" -- just as I call my way "the fourth way" he also calls his
           way "the fourth way." He was immensely misunderstood, because he was not interested in imparting
           knowledge to you, he was not interested in consoling you. He was not interested in giving you
           beautiful theories, visions, hallucinations. He was not interested in your tears, in your emotions and
           sentiments. He was not interested in being worshipped by you, he was interested in transforming
           you.
                And to transform a person means you have to take a hammer in your hands, because many
           chunks of that person's being have to be cut. The person is so topsy-turvy that everything is wrong as
           it is, and it has to be put right. And he has invested so much in his wrong way of life that anybody
           who wants to change his style of life -- not only the circumference but the center too -- he becomes
           afraid of, he is scared of. Only a few courageous people can enter into the world of a man like
           Gurdjieff. Tremendous courage is needed, a courage to die, because only then is one reborn.
                Gurdjieff was a midwife. He was not a teacher, he was a master. Krishnamurti remained a
           teacher. Raman remained a beautiful individual -- enlightened, but just a faraway, distant star. You
           could watch and you could appreciate and you could write poetry about it, but that's all. It remained
           a distant phenomenon. You could never hope to reach him, the distance was vast. And there was no
           effort from his side to bridge it. And what could you do? How could YOU bridge it? If you had been
           capable of bridging yourself with a man like Raman, there would have been no need to make the
           bridge. A man of that capacity would be able to transform himself on his own; he would not need a
           master. Unless Raman tried to make the bridge, the bridge was not possible.
                And he was aloof, distant, cool. He was not involved. He knew all misery is false. And, certainly,
           it is so -- but not for those who are in misery. The man who is awake knows that the person who is
           crying and weeping in his sleep is seeing a dream, true. As far as the man who is awake is
           concerned, it's perfectly true. But even though it is a dream, a nightmare, for the person who is fast
           asleep it is a truth. And the man who is fast asleep cannot make any effort to connect himself with
           the awakened man. Obviously, it is impossible. He cannot even be aware that somebody is awake; he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is so much engrossed in his nightmare. Only the awakened can make the effort. But to disturb
           somebody's sleep, even though he is in a nightmare, is dangerous. Nobody wants to be disturbed,
           nobody wants to be interfered with.
               People have strange ideas -- sleepy people, idiotic people, but they have strange ideas of
           freedom. They have no freedom; they can't have. They can't afford it in their sleep. How can a sleepy
           man have any freedom? But they have ideas, great ideas of freedom, and a man like Gurdjieff
           interferes. His compassion is far greater than the compassion of J. Krishnamurti, Raman, and
           Ramakrishna.
               Ramakrishna is beautiful -- singing the praise of God, praying, worshipping, dancing. He is
           something of the beyond. He reminds you that much more is possible in life than is happening to you
           -- but that's all. Through him just a little remembrance can reach you. But your life is such that that
           remembrance is not going to create any mutation; it will be forgotten. You will enjoy it. Again and
           again you would like to go to the man and see him dancing and singing and praying...and you will
           feel good.
               This is what Buddha calls "counting the sheep of others." He is a beautiful flower, but by looking
           at a rose you cannot become the rose; neither can you become a Ramakrishna by looking at
           Ramakrishna. Great effort is needed. You have to climb the mountain against all hazards.
               Unless a master tries to approach you in your deep sleep, unless he stirs your being, holds you
           hard and takes you out of your ignorance, it is impossible, it is almost impossible. But you will be
           angry at this man -- who wants to be disturbed? One has become accustomed to a certain way of life;
           mind always likes the old, the known, the familiar. Even though it is miserable, still the mind is
           afraid of the new, because with the new you have to learn again how to behave, how to be. And who
           wants to learn? You are so efficient with the old, your ego is so satisfied with the old -- why bother?
               And when you come across a man like Gurdjieff, he shatters all the nonsense that you have
           gathered. He shatters mercilessly! Sometimes he has to say things which are not really true, but just
           to shatter your ideas he has to say them.
               A friend has asked, "How was it possible that a man like Gurdjieff, a man of such great
           understanding, did not understand the idea of kundalini energy?"
               He called it kundabuffer. He was very much against the idea of kundalini. He used to say that the
           worst thing that could happen to a person in life is the arousal of kundalini. The questioner,
           naturally, is bewildered.
               But you don't understand the real meaning of Gurdjieff. He called it kundabuffer because of the
           nonsense that theosophists have created in the world. They talked so much about kundalini, the
           serpent power, and it was all gibberish; they knew nothing about it. They were just fabricating, they
           were just inventing theories and ideas. It was all guesswork.
               In fact, out of a hundred books that are written about kundalini, ninety-nine are absolute
           nonsense. And the people who had gathered around Gurdjieff had come through theosophical
           philosophy, hypotheses, doctrines. He was shattering their knowledge; he was not saying anything
           against kundalini. How could he say that? He knew far better than Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Alcott,
           Leadbeater -- he knew far better than these people. These people were only experts in creating
           doctrines, and really they were great experts. They had created almost a world movement -- about
           auras and colors and kundalini...new words from the ancient spiritual lore. And they created worlds,
           imaginary worlds, around those words.
               Gurdjieff is right to call it kundabuffer. And Gurdjieff is right in saying that the worst thing that
           can happen to a man is the arousal of kundalini. But remember always that he was talking to his
           disciples, in a particular context. He was shattering the knowledge of his disciples about kundalini
           power -- because the first step of a master is to destroy your knowledge, because your knowledge is
           basically false, borrowed.
               Before you can be made familiar with the truth, the untrue has to be taken away. Sometimes the
           master has to be very merciless, and sometimes the master has to say things which are not really so.
           Kundalini is not a wrong idea, but for ninety-nine percent of people, Gurdjieff is right.
               Now there are again people like Gopi Krishna, who are writing books on kundalini and the
           serpent power, and the great genius that comes through it. It has not even happened to Gopi Krishna!
           What kind of genius has he? At the most, the only proof that he has given of his genius is some
           absolutely worthless poetry, just like the poetry schoolchildren write. He has been a clerk his whole
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life. His poetry smells of his whole life's clerkship -- it stinks! It has no beauty, it has no grandeur --
           it has nothing of the superb.
                And now he is propounding around the world that when kundalini arises your latent power of
           genius becomes manifest. How many yogis have won the Nobel Prize? And how many yogis have
           contributed to the world's scientific knowledge, art, poetry, painting, sculpture? How many of your
           people whose so-called kundalini has arisen have contributed in any way to the world's richness?
                What Gopi Krishna is talking about is not kundalini but kundabuffer. Gurdjieff would have put
           him right with a single blow. But he attracts people. People are very much attracted by mystical
           nonsense, by occult stupidity, by esoteric gibberish. Just start talking with people about chakras,
           centers of energy, and kundalini passing through them, and they are all-attentive. You just try it!
           There is no need to know anything about it -- just invent...because Jaina mystics have not talked
           about kundalini, Buddhist mystics have not talked about kundalini, Christian mystics have never
           known anything about it, Sufis are absolutely unaware of this energy called kundalini. Only Hindu
           yoga talks about it.
                There IS something in it, but not exactly the way it is told to people. The knowledge that is
           floating around about kundalini is all nonsense, and Gurdjieff was right to condemn it. He was
           condemning the whole theosophical movement. Theosophists were very much against Gurdjieff.
           They knew nothing, but they created a great movement. They were more or less political people,
           scholars, logic-choppers, but not in any way realized souls.
                Gurdjieff shattered many beliefs. He shattered one of the most fundamental beliefs of the whole
           of humanity. He said, "There is no soul. You are not born with a soul -- the soul has to be created by
           great effort. And only very rare people have been able to create it. The millions of people walking on
           the earth are all soulless."
                Now, can you create a greater shock? -- just telling people, "You are soulless. There is nothing
           inside you -- hollow, nobody inside you. You are not yet born; you are just a body, a mechanism.
           Yes, you have a possibility, a potentiality to become a soul, but then you have to do much work for
           it, great work for it, and only then is it possible to have a soul. It is the ultimate luxury to have a
           soul."
                Now, down the ages priests have been telling you that you are born with a soul. That has created
           a very wrong state of affairs. Because everybody has been told he is born with a soul, he thinks,
           "Then why bother? I am already a soul. I am immortal. The body will die but I am going to live."
           Gurdjieff said, "You are nothing but the body, and when the body dies YOU will die. Only once in a
           while does a person survive -- one who has created soul in his life survives death -- not all. A
           Buddha survives, a Jesus survives, but not you! You will simply die, not even a trace will be left."
                What was Gurdjieff trying to do? He was shocking you to the very roots; he was trying to take
           away all your consolations and foolish theories which go on helping you to postpone work upon
           yourself. Now, to tell people, "You don't have any souls, you are just vegetables, just a cabbage or
           maybe a cauliflower" -- a cauliflower is a cabbage with a college education -- "but nothing more
           than that." He was really a master par excellence. He was taking the very earth away from
           underneath your feet. He was giving you such a shock that you had to think over the whole situation:
           are you going to remain a cabbage? He was creating a situation around you in which you would have
           to seek and search for the soul, because who wants to die?
                And the idea that the soul is immortal has helped people to console themselves that they are not
           going to die, that death is just an appearance, just a long sleep, a restful sleep, and you will be born
           again. Gurdjieff says, "All nonsense. This is all nonsense! Dead, you are dead forever -- unless you
           have created the soul...."
                Now see the difference: you have been told you are already a soul, and Gurdjieff changes it
           totally. He says, "You are not already a soul, but only an opportunity. You can use it, you can miss
           it."
                And I would like to tell you that Gurdjieff was just using a device. It is not true. Everybody is
           born with a soul. But what to do with people who have been using truths as consolations? A great
           master sometimes has to lie -- and only a great master has the right to lie -- just to pull you out of
           your sleep.
                For example, you are fast asleep and I shake you and shake you and you don't budge. And then I
           start shouting, "Fire! Fire!" and you start running out of the house. Outside we will settle the matter.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I will say that there is no fire...but this was the only way to wake you up.
               Once you have known the soul, Gurdjieff will whisper in your ear, "Now don't be worried.
           Forget all about what I was telling you. But it was needed. It was a device. I had to shout 'Fire!'
           otherwise you were not going to get out of your sleep."
               But these people are bound to be misunderstood. To understand a man like Gurdjieff is an almost
           impossible job. You can understand him only if you go with him, if you go along with him. And the
           work that Gurdjieff did was a very secret work -- it can't be otherwise. Real work can be done only
           in a mystery school. It is hidden, it is underground. It is not public and it cannot be public.
               In the Middle Ages the mystics disappeared behind the garb of alchemy; they had to disappear
           because of the Christians. The Christians were destroying all kinds of sources which were in any
           way in conflict with Christian ideology. They were not allowing anybody to practice anything else;
           even to talk about anything else was not permitted: "Christianity and only Christianity is the way."
               The mystics had to disappear. They created a beautiful deception, they created the idea of
           alchemy. They started saying, "We are alchemists; we have nothing to do with spirituality. All that is
           rot. We are seeking and searching for the secret of immortal life, of eternal youth. We are trying to
           find ways and means to transform base metals into gold." And just to deceive the public they made
           chemistry labs. If you had entered into an alchemist's world, you would have encountered jars and
           medicines and herbs and test-tubes...and you would have seen a kind of lab where much chemical
           work was going on. But this was only a facade; this was not the real work -- the real work was
           happening somewhere else deep down in the school.
               The real work was to create integral, crystallized human beings, to create wakefulness. The real
           work was meditation. But Christianity does not allow meditation. It says prayer is enough. It does
           not allow inward search. It says worshipping God is enough, going every Sunday to the church is
           enough, reading the Bible is enough. It has given you toys -- and that's how it has happened in other
           countries too.
           In India too the mystics have lived in disguise.
               Just the other day I was reading a Sufi story -- and Gurdjieff is basically rooted in the Sufi
           tradition. He is a Sufi. He learned his secrets from the Sufis.

           I was reading a Sufi story:
                A disciple came to the master and said, "I am in trouble. The trouble is that the richest man of the
           town is going on a pilgrimage. He has a beautiful daughter, and I have a great reputation because of
           all the discipline that I have gone through and the character that I have cultivated. I have such a
           reputation in the town that he wants me to take care of his beautiful daughter while he is on his
           pilgrimage. And I am afraid -- I know my temptations. And the girl is really beautiful; in fact I have
           always been infatuated with her. I have been avoiding...! This is too much: for six months or nine
           months she will be living with me. I cannot trust myself. What should I do?"
                The master said, "I know a man who knows the secret. You go to him."
                And he told him to go to another village where a madman lived. He said, "But what can that
           madman do? I know about that madman, I have heard much about that madman. He is utterly mad!
           How can he help me?"
                The master said, "You just go, but go very watchfully. Watch everything that is happening
           there."
                He went to the madman. A very beautiful young boy was pouring wine and the madman was
           drinking.
                Now, Mohammedan countries have been, down the ages, homosexual, very much -- so much so
           that it is only the Mohammedan paradise which is gay. It is far more advanced than any other
           paradise. In the Hindu paradise there is no place for a gay person. In the Christian paradise, no, not at
           all. Even the Jewish God is very much against homosexuality, very angry. But the Mohammedan
           God is very lenient. Not only are beautiful women provided for the virtuous, but beautiful boys too.
                This beautiful young boy pouring wine and the madman drinking -- this man felt great hatred,
           condemnation. But because the master had said, "Watch and go and ask him for advice..." he forgot
           all about his problem. First he asked, "Please tell me what is happening. What are you doing?"
                The madman laughed and he said, "This boy is my son. And come close -- my glass contains
           only water. What he is pouring is not wine."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man asked, "Then why are you pretending that you are drinking wine? Nobody sips water
           the way you are sipping. The flask from which he is pouring water is not used for keeping water --
           then why?"
               The madman laughed and said, "So that nobody entrusts his beautiful daughter to me when he
           goes on a pilgrimage. This is a device!"
               He must have read the thought, he must have been telepathic. He must have seen this man
           through and through. "...So that nobody entrusts his beautiful daughter to me, so nobody bothers. So
           that I am left alone. But please don't tell my secret to anybody; otherwise I will have to move from
           this town to another town. My madness is a rumor created by me. My characterlessness is a rumor
           created by me. And if YOU really want to work on yourself," said the madman, "you should do
           likewise. Go back. Start behaving foolishly, stupidly, madly, immorally -- at least pretend! -- and
           nobody will bother you."

                Gurdjieff lived a life which was very mysterious; it was not public. His school was a hidden
           school. What was happening there, people were simply guessing.
                And that's what is going to happen in the new phase of my work. My commune will become
           hidden, underground. It will have a facade on the outside: the weavers and the carpenters and the
           potters...that will be the facade. People who will come as visitors, we will have a beautiful
           showroom for them; they can purchase things. They can see the creativity of the sannyasins:
           paintings, books, woodwork.... They can be shown around -- a beautiful lake, swimming pools, a
           five-star hotel for them -- but they will not know what is really happening. That which will be
           happening will be almost all underground. It has to be underground, otherwise it cannot happen.
                I have a few secrets to impart to you, and I would not like to die before I have imparted them to
           you -- because I don't know anybody else now alive in the world who can do that work. I have
           secrets from Taoism, secrets from tantra, secrets from yoga, secrets from Sufis, secrets from Zen
           people. I have lived in almost all the traditions of the world; I have been a wanderer in many lives. I
           have gathered much honey from many flowers.
                And the time, sooner or later, will come when I will have to depart -- and I will not be able to
           enter again in the body. This is going to be my last life. All the honey that I have gathered I would
           like to share with you, so that you can share it with others, so that it does not disappear from the
           earth.
                This is going to be a very secret work; hence, Ajit Saraswati, I cannot speak about it. I think I
           have already spoken too much! I should not have said even this. The work will be only for those who
           are utterly devoted.
                Right now, we have a big press office to make as many people as possible aware of the
           phenomenon that is happening here. But in the new commune the real work will simply disappear
           from the world's eyes. The press office will function -- it will function for other purposes. People
           will go on coming, because from the visitors we have to choose; we have to invite people who can be
           participants, who can dissolve in the commune. But the real work is going to be absolutely secret. It
           is going to be only between me and you.
                And there will not be much talk between me and you either. More and more I will become silent,
           because the real communion is through energy, not through words. As you will be getting ready to
           receive the energy in silence, I will become more and more silent. But I am keeping a great treasure
           for you. Be receptive....
                And as my work goes underground and becomes more secret and more mysterious, more and
           more rumors and gossip are bound to spread all over the world. People become very suspicious of
           anything secret, and because they cannot find any clue, they start inventing their own ideas about
           what is happening there. So be ready for that too.
                But don't be worried about it. It is going to be a mystery school. Such schools existed when
           Zarathustra was alive; he created such a school. Many such schools existed in Egypt, India, Tibet.
           When Pythagoras came and visited this country he noted the fact of the mystery schools. He was
           initiated into many mystery schools in Egypt and in India. Jesus was trained by the Essenes, a very
           secret mystery school.
                All that is beautiful and all that is great in human history has happened only through a few
           people who put their energies together for the inner exploration. My commune is going to be a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mystery school for inner exploration. It is the greatest adventure there is, and the greatest dance too.

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHAT IS THE KEY TO THIS PUZZLE?
               THE BUDDHA SAYS, SPEAK LESS: AND SILENCE FEELS BEAUTIFUL,
               FOR WHAT HAVE I TO SAY?
               TALES OF THE PAST, DREAMS OF THE FUTURE,
               GIDDY GOSSIP OR REASONED ARGUMENT,
               ALL TASTE PHONY TO THE TONGUE.
               SILENCE IS BEAUTIFUL,
               AND YET....
               THE SOUND OF MERRY CHATTER OVER TEACUPS
               ECHOES THE CAREFREE CHIRPING OF THE BIRDS --
               ENERGY FLOWING IN A JOYOUS COSMOS.
               BELOVED MASTER, TELL ME,
               WHAT IS THE KEY TO THIS PUZZLE?


                Nirgun, don't take Gautama the Buddha too seriously. Silence IS beautiful, certainly it is
           beautiful. But who has told you that gossiping is not beautiful? In fact, the more you enjoy
           gossiping, the deeper will be your silence.
                These are polar opposites and they balance each other. If you work hard in the day, you will
           sleep a deep sleep in the night. Polar opposites: hard work brings a deep sleep. Illogical! The logical
           thing would have been that you rested the whole day, practiced rest the whole day, and then you
           sleep a deep, deep sleep in the night. That would have been logical -- but God is illogical.
                That seems to be perfectly right: the whole day you practiced rest -- naturally you should have
           more rest in the night than anybody else who has not practiced it! And the man who has been doing
           just the opposite -- hard work, tilling the ground, digging in the earth, working in the garden,
           chopping wood, carrying water from the well -- the whole day he was perspiring, working hard, a
           tiring work, by the evening he is utterly tired. Logically he should not be able to sleep at all because
           he practiced the opposite. But this is not how life functions.
                Life functions through the polar opposites. Life is not logical, life is dialectical. It is a dialectics:
           thesis, antithesis, and they both balance and become synthesis. Then synthesis functions again as a
           thesis and creates its antithesis...and so on and so forth. Life is not Aristotelian but Hegelian.
                It is perfectly good to gossip. And when you gossip, gossip totally -- let it be a meditation!
           Knowing perfectly well that it is gossip, still it can be enjoyed. In fact, it can be enjoyed more
           because it is just gossip! And then fall silent.
                The chirping of the birds is beautiful, but have you watched that when suddenly it stops there is a
           great silence? The silence is deepened by the songs of the birds. The silence that follows the storm is
           the deepest, the most profound.
                Nirgun, don't take Buddha too seriously. He can be taken too seriously -- he is a one-dimensional
           man. What I am saying...if you had asked the same question of Buddha, he would not have said the
           same thing. He would have said, "Nirgun, you are coming to the right point. Stop gossiping and stop
           talking. Say only the minimum, the absolutely necessary." He would have suggested being very
           telegraphic. If it can be done in ten words, then don't do it in eleven words. If you can cut words
           more and more, so much the better.
                But my own experience is that if you cut all your gossiping, all your talking, your silence will be
           superficial, your silence will be just a kind of sadness. It will not have depth. From where will it get
           depth? It can get depth only from its polar opposite.
                If you really want to rest, first dance -- dance to abandon. Let every fiber of your body and being
           dance, and then follows a relaxation, a rest, which is total. You need not do it, it happens on its own.
                I am not saying that gossiping should be done to harm somebody. Then it is no longer gossip, it
           is violence; then it is no longer gossip, it is something else camouflaged as gossip. Gossip should be
           a pure art, with no motivation -- joking for joking's sake, gossiping for gossiping's sake. And then it
           will keep you cheerful. And when it stops...and how long can you gossip? There is a natural limit to
           everything. "The sound of merry chatter over teacups" cannot continue forever. Soon the teacups
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be empty and the chatter will disappear...and then there is a profound silence.
                It is good that the birds have not heard Buddha, that the trees have not heard Buddha.
                Nirgun, I would not like you to become a Buddhist. I know Buddhist monks: they become very
           serious, too serious, so that their seriousness is a kind of disease. They cannot laugh, they cannot
           joke. In fact, if they read my discourses on Buddha and they come across juicy jokes, they will just
           close their eyes. They will not even be capable of reading them. Their whole being will withdraw,
           they will shrink away. They will not be able to forgive me.
                Don't be too serious at all. My message is that of rejoicing. That's where I am different from
           Buddha. Buddha is a serious person; not a single statue exists in which he is shown laughing, or even
           smiling. Yes, there are Chinese and Japanese statues of Buddha in which he is shown smiling and
           laughing sometimes -- sometimes even a belly laughter, his belly shaking. But those are Chinese and
           Japanese buddhas.
                In fact, if you see a Chinese statue of Buddha and an Indian statue of Buddha you will not be
           able to conceive of any relationship between the two; they are so totally different. The Indian
           Buddha is very serious. His body is athletic: he has a big chest and a very very shrunken belly -- no
           belly at all. And if you see the Chinese Buddha it is just the opposite. You will not find the big chest
           at all, it is completely lost because the belly is so big. And you can see even in marble statues that
           the belly is shaking with laughter. His face is totally different, it is round and gives you the sense of
           a child. The Indian Buddha's face is very Roman -- it was made after Alexander had visited India --
           it is Greek and Roman. The features are not Indian. Look again at an Indian statue of Buddha, the
           features are not Indian. Alexander and his beauty impressed people so much that they imposed
           Alexander's face on Buddha's body.
                And he is very serious, utterly serious. You cannot conceive of him ever laughing. But when
           Buddhism reached China it met a very profound philosophy -- the polar opposite. The dialectics
           happened there. Buddhism became the thesis and Taoism became the antithesis: the meeting of
           Buddha and Lao Tzu. The Chinese statue of Buddha is a cross, it is half Gautam Buddha and half
           Lao Tzu -- they are mingled into each other. That belly belongs to Lao Tzu, that laughter belongs to
           Lao Tzu, and the silence belongs to Buddha. It has been the greatest meeting that has ever happened
           in the world. Out of it is born the most profound, the most significant phenomenon in all history:
           Zen.
                Zen is neither Buddhist nor Taoist, or it is both together. It is a strange meeting. In fact, Lao Tzu
           and Buddha, if they had met physically, would not have agreed on ANY point. Lao Tzu was a man
           of laughter. He used to move from one village to another sitting on his buffalo -- must have looked
           like a clown. And he was almost always laughing, rolling on the ground -- at the whole
           ridiculousness of existence, at the absurdity of life.
                Buddha and Lao Tzu are polar opposites. Maybe that's why both these philosophies became
           attracted to each other. Both were incomplete -- the meeting made them more complete. Neither will
           Lao Tzu agree with Zen nor will Buddha agree with Zen.

           I have heard a story:
               In heaven, in a cafe, Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu, all the three are sitting, chitchatting. And
           the woman, the owner of the cafe, a beautiful woman, comes. She brings the juice of life. Buddha
           immediately closes his eyes. He says, "I cannot look at it! It is not worth looking at -- life is misery.
           Birth is misery, life is misery, death is misery. Remove it from my sight; otherwise I cannot open my
           eyes!"
               Confucius opens his eyes half-way -- he believes in the golden mean, the middle way, just the
           half -- looks with half open eyes and says, "I cannot deny it without tasting it." He is a man of more
           scientific leanings. "How can you say anything unless you experiment? You should not declare such
           things offhand. So," he says, "just give me a sip." He tastes it and he says, "Buddha is right: it is
           bitter, it is miserable, and I completely agree and I am a witness to Buddha. But I will again say that
           Buddha is wrong -- without tasting it, nothing should be said. Although he is right -- I can approve
           him, on MY witnessing he is right -- but on his own he is not right."
               Lao Tzu takes the whole flask and before the owner woman can say anything, he takes it down in
           a gulp. He drinks the whole flask and he becomes so drunk that he starts dancing. He does not say a
           word -- bitter or sweet, misery or bliss. When he comes a little bit to his senses, Buddha and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Confucius ask him, "What do you say?"
                He says, "There is nothing to say. Life should be drunk to its totality, then only does one know.
           And when one knows, there is nothing to say. It cannot be put in any category. Misery or bliss are
           categories -- life is beyond all categories. But one should know it in its wholeness, and only I know it
           in its wholeness. You have not even tasted it. Confucius has only tasted it, but one should not decide
           by the part about the whole. Only I can say what it is, but I am not going to say because it is not
           sayable. If you really want to know, I can order another flask. Drink it to the full and dance -- that is
           the only way!"

           That is the only way to know anything.
               The meeting of Buddhism and Taoism is the strangest phenomenon in the world. But it was
           bound to happen; there is a certain inevitability in it because such polar opposites attract each other,
           just as negative and positive poles of magnetism or negative and positive electricity attract each
           other.
               Buddhism traveled from India to China. Taoism never traveled to India, because Taoism was so
           utterly drunk with ecstasy, with joy -- who cares? Buddhism traveled, had to travel. The seriousness
           became very very heavy. Once Buddha was gone, once the light was gone, then it was just like a
           rock on the chest of the followers -- it became too heavy. They had to move to find something
           nonserious to balance it.
               Nirgun, don't be serious about it. Enjoy your gossiping, enjoy the small things of life, the small
           joys of life. They all contribute to the enrichment of your being. And always remember:
           nonseriousness is one of the most fundamental qualities of a really religious person.

               A sincere young man went to an understanding old rabbi for advice. "The problem is my sexual
           appetite. When I shake hands with a woman it is aroused -- even when I pass a pretty woman on the
           street it is aroused. It disturbs me because I love my wife very much."
           "Don't worry, son," said the rabbi. "It doesn't matter where you work up an appetite as long as you
           dine at home."

               This rabbi is a wise man, nonserious, taking life playfully. My sannyasins have to take life very
           playfully -- then you can have both the worlds together. You can have the cake and eat it too. And
           that is a real art. This world and that, sound and silence, love and meditation, being with people,
           relating, and being alone. All these things have to be lived together in a kind of simultaneity; only
           then will you know the uttermost depth of your being and the uttermost height of your being.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THE FAMOUS STATEMENT OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE THAT GOD
              IS DEAD?


                Neeraj, Friedrich Nietzsche says God is dead -- that means he was alive before. As far as I know,
           he has never been alive. How can God be dead if he has never been alive? God is not a person, so he
           cannot be alive and he cannot be dead. To me, God is life itself! God is synonymous with existence;
           hence you cannot say God is alive or God is dead. God is life! And life is forever...it is a continuum,
           it is eternal, no beginning, no end.
                Nietzsche was really saying that the God that people had worshipped up to then had become
           irrelevant. But he was very much accustomed to making dramatic statements. Rather than saying:
           "The God that people have worshipped up to now is no longer relevant," he said: "God is dead." And
           in a way, dramatic statements penetrate people's consciousness more. If he had said it in a
           philosophical way it may have missed the target, but it became the most important statement made in
           these hundred years. No other statement has had such significance, or has had such an impact on
           human thinking, behavior, life.
                The Christian God is dead, the Jewish God is dead -- that's what Nietzsche was saying. But there
           have been so many gods and all have gone down the drain. If you make a list you will be surprised
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how many gods have been worshipped. One man has made a list. I was reading the list -- not even a
           single name that he mentions is known. Nearabout fifty gods he mentions. The Egyptian gods are no
           longer there -- not even in Egypt does anybody know about them. There was a time when for those
           gods even human beings were sacrificed, wars were fought, crusades, murders, rapes; villages were
           burned in the name of those gods. Now even the names are not known. I read the whole list; out of
           the fifty not a single name is known. There have been many gods invented by people, and when
           those people become tired of those gods, they invent new toys and they throw the old ones.
                These gods go on being born and dying, but these are not the true God. 'True God' simply means
           life -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- the inexhaustible law of existence. How can it die? There
           is no way. Forms change....

               It seems God visited the New York subways recently. Someone had scrawled on the wall: "God
           is dead -- signed Nietzsche," and underneath it was written: "Nietzsche is dead -- signed God."

               That seems to be far truer. But an even better message for you:

              A London subway has this cheerful message: "God is dead, but don't worry -- Mary is pregnant
           again!"

           The last question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT GUILT AND FEAR?


               Latifa, fear is natural, guilt is a creation of the priests. Guilt is man-made. Fear is in-built, and it
           is very essential. Without fear you will not be able to survive at all. Fear is normal. It is because of
           fear that you will not put your hand in the fire. It is because of fear that you will walk to the right or
           to the left, whatsoever is the law of the country. It is because of fear that you will avoid poison. It is
           because of fear that when the truck driver sounds his horn, you run out of the way.
               If the child has no fear there is no possibility that he will ever survive. His fear is a life-protective
           measure. But because of this natural tendency to protect oneself...and nothing is wrong in it -- you
           have the right to protect yourself. You have such a precious life to protect, and fear simply helps
           you. Fear is intelligence. Only idiots don't have fear, imbeciles don't have fear; hence you have to
           protect the idiots, otherwise they will burn themselves or they will jump out of a building, or they
           will go into the sea without knowing how to swim or they can eat a snake...or anything they can do!
               Fear is intelligence -- so when you see a snake crossing the path, you jump out of the way. It is
           not cowardly, it is simply intelligent. But there are two possibilities....
               Fear can become abnormal, it can become pathological. Then you are afraid of things of which
           there is no need to be afraid -- although you can find arguments even for your abnormal fear. For
           example, somebody is afraid of going inside a house. Logically you cannot prove that he is wrong.
           He says, "What is the guarantee that the house will not fall?" Now, houses are known to fall so this
           house can also fall. People have been crushed by houses falling. Nobody can give an absolute
           guarantee that this house is not going to fall -- an earthquake can happen...anything is possible!
           Another man is afraid -- he cannot travel because there are train accidents. Somebody else is afraid --
           he cannot go into a car, there are car accidents. And somebody else is afraid of an airplane....
               If you become afraid in this way, this is not intelligent. Then you should be afraid of your bed
           too, because almost ninety-seven percent of people die in their beds -- so that is the MOST
           dangerous place to be in. Logically you should remain as far away from the bed as possible, never go
           close to it. But then you will make your life impossible.
               Fear can become abnormal, then it is pathology. And because of this possibility, priests have
           used it, politicians have used it. All kinds of oppressors have used it. They make it pathological, and
           then it becomes very simple to exploit you. The priest makes you afraid of hell. Just look in the
           scriptures -- with what joy they depict all the tortures, with really great relish. Scriptures describe in
           detail, in great detail, each and every torture.
               Adolf Hitler must have been reading these scriptures; he must have found great ideas from these
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scriptures describing hell. He himself was not such a creative genius as to invent the concentration
           camps and all kinds of tortures. He must have found them in religious scriptures -- they are already
           there, priests have already done the work. He only practiced what priests have been preaching. He
           was really a religious man!
               Priests have only been talking about a hell that is waiting for you after death. He said, "Why wait
           so long? I will create a hell here and now. You can have a taste of it."

               I have heard that once a man died, reached hell, knocked on the door. The Devil looked at him --
           he looked German -- he asked him, "From where are you coming?"
           The man said, "From Germany."
               He said, "Then there is no need to come here -- you have already lived it! Now you can go to
           heaven. And you will find our place very boring because you had a far more improved edition of
           hell. We are still living in the bullock-cart age -- old tortures. You know far more sophisticated
           instruments, ways, means."

               Gas chambers are still not known in hell. In a single gas chamber, ten thousand people, within
           seconds, can become smoke. And you will be surprised to know that although we are living in the
           twentieth century, man is still an animal. Thousands of people used to go to see. Glass was fitted,
           fixed in, one-way. You could see what was happening inside, but the insiders could not see who was
           looking in from the outside.
               Thousands of people would stand outside watching through the glass: people disappearing in
           smoke -- simply disappearing in smoke -- thousands of people dying within seconds. And the people
           who were enjoying outside, can you call them human beings? But remember, it has nothing to do
           with Germany, this is so all over the world. Man is exactly the same everywhere.
               The priests became aware very early that the fear instinct in man can be exploited. He can be
           made so much afraid that he will fall at the feet of the priests and will tell them, "Save us! Only you
           can save us." And the priest will concede to save them if they follow the priest; if they follow the
           rituals prescribed by the priest, the priest will save them. And out of fear people have been following
           the priests, and all kinds of stupidities, superstitions.
               The politician also became aware soon that people can be made very much afraid. And if you
           make them afraid, you can dominate them. It is out of fear that nations exist. The fear of America
           keeps Russians slaves to the communists, and the fear of Russia keeps Americans slaves to the
           government. Fear of each other...the Indians are afraid of the Pakistanis, and the Pakistanis are afraid
           of the Indians. It is such a stupid world! We are afraid of each other, and because of our fear the
           politician becomes important. He says, "We will save you here, in this world," and the priest says,
           "We will save you in the other world." And they conspire together.
               It is fear that creates guilt -- but not fear itself. Fear creates guilt via the priests and politicians.
           The priests and the politicians create in you a pathology, a trembling. And, naturally, man is so
           delicate and so fragile, he becomes afraid. And then you can tell him to do anything and he will do it
           -- knowing perfectly well that it is stupid, knowing perfectly well deep down that it is all nonsense,
           but who knows...? Out of fear, man can be forced to do anything.

               A young woman who can't prevent herself from coughing and sneezing at the theater asks a
           doctor for a remedy before going to a first night. "Here, drink this," he says, offering her a glass. She
           drinks it, mouth awry, and asks what it was, imagining some type of bad-tasting cough medicine.
           "That's a double dose of Pluto water," he answers. "Now you won't dare sneeze or cough."

               ...You don't get it. You have never tasted Pluto water -- try, and neither you will dare to sneeze or
           cough. Do an experiment: you can ask Ajit Saraswati for Pluto water, only then will you understand
           the joke. It is very existential. Because you didn't get it I will have to tell another:

              One morning, a big she-bear raided Joe's cabin, scattered everything, ate everything, tore up
           everything, and ambled away.
              Joe trailed her, shot her, and then noticing how much she resembled a woman, he satisfied his
           passion with her carcass. Just then he noticed another hunter cowering in the branches of a nearby
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tree. Realizing his deed had been observed, Joe pointed his gun at the man, made him climb down
           and said, "Have you ever made love to a bear?"
               And the hunter said, "No, but I am getting ready to try."

               Man can be forced to do anything -- just to save himself. And because the pathology that the
           priests have created in you is unnatural, your nature rebels against it, and once in a while you do
           something which goes against it -- you do something natural -- then guilt arises.
               Latifa, guilt means you have an unnatural idea in your mind about how life should be, what
           should be done, and then one day you find yourself following nature and you do the natural thing.
           You go against the ideology. Because you go against the ideology, guilt arises, you are ashamed.
           You feel yourself very inferior, unworthy.
               But by giving people unnatural ideas you cannot transform them. Hence, priests have been able
           to exploit people, but they have not been able to transform them. They are not interested in
           transforming you either; their whole idea is to keep you always enslaved. They create a conscience
           in you. Your conscience is not really YOUR conscience -- it is created by the priests. They say,
           "This is wrong." You may know from the deepest core of your being that there seems to be nothing
           wrong in it, but they say it is wrong. And they go on hypnotizing you from your very childhood. The
           hypnosis goes deep, seeps deep in you, sinks deep in you, becomes almost part of your being. It
           holds you back.
               They have told you sex is wrong -- but sex is such a natural phenomenon that you are attracted
           towards it. And nothing is wrong in being attracted towards a woman or a man. It is just part of
           nature. But your conscience says, "This is wrong." So you hold yourself back. Half of you goes
           towards the woman, half of you is pulling you back. You can't make any decision; you are always
           divided, split. If you decide to go with the woman, your conscience will torture you: "You have
           committed a sin." If you don't go with the woman, your nature will torture you: "You are starving
           me."
               Now you are in a double bind. Whatsoever you do you will suffer. And that's what the priest has
           always wanted -- for you to suffer, because the more you suffer, the more you go to him for his
           advice. The more you suffer, the more you seek salvation.
               Bertrand Russell is absolutely right that if a man is given total, natural freedom -- freedom from
           this so-called conscience and morality -- and if man is helped to become an integrated, natural being
           -- intelligent, understanding, living his life according to his own light, not according to somebody
           else's advice -- the so-called religions will disappear from the world.
               I perfectly agree with him. The so-called religions will certainly disappear from the world if
           people are not in suffering; they won't seek salvation. But Bertrand Russell goes on and he says
           religion itself will disappear from the earth. There I don't agree with him. The so-called religions
           WILL disappear, and because the so-called religions will disappear there will be, for the first time in
           the world, an opportunity for religion to exist. Christians will not be there, Hindus will not be there,
           Mohammedans will not be there -- only then will a new kind of religiousness spread over the earth.
           People will be living according to their own consciousness. There will be no guilt, no repentance,
           because these things never change people. People remain the same; they just go on changing their
           outer garb, their form. Substantially, nothing changes through guilt, through fear, through heaven,
           through hell. All these ideas have utterly failed.
               Now it is time to recognize that all the old religions have failed. Yes, they have created a few
           beautiful people -- a Buddha here and a Jesus there -- but out of millions and millions of human
           beings, once in a while somebody has bloomed. It is an exception, it cannot be counted. It should not
           be taken into account. Buddhas can be counted on the fingers.
               If a gardener plants ten thousand trees and only one tree blooms in the spring, will you call him a
           gardener? What about the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine trees? If this tree has
           bloomed, it must have bloomed in spite of the gardener. The credit cannot go to him -- he must have
           somehow missed it.
               We have lived in a very wrong kind of world; we have created a wrong kind of situation. People
           only go on changing superficially -- the Hindu becomes a Christian, the Christian becomes a Hindu,
           and nothing ever changes. All remains the same.
10/28/07                                           Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The reformed prostitute is giving testimony with the Salvation Army on a street-corner on a
           Saturday night, punctuating her discourse by beating on a big brass drum.
           "I used to be a sinner!" she shouts (boom!) "Used to be a bad woman (boom!) I used to drink!
           (boom!) Gamble! (boom!) Whore! (boom! boom!) Used to go out Saturday nights and raise hell!
           (boom! boom! boom!) Now what do I do Saturday nights? I stand on this street corner, beating on
           this mother-fucking drum!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                 Chapter #3
                                          Chapter title: And travel on
           3 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907030
              ShortTitle: DHAM203
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 112 mins




              WHO SHALL CONQUER THIS WORLD
              AND THE WORLD OF DEATH WITH ALL ITS GODS?
              WHO SHALL DISCOVER
              THE SHINING WAY OF THE LAW?



              YOU SHALL, EVEN AS THE MAN
              WHO SEEKS FLOWERS
              FINDS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL,
              THE RAREST.



              UNDERSTAND THAT THE BODY
              IS MERELY THE FOAM OF A WAVE,
              THE SHADOW OF A SHADOW.
              SNAP THE FLOWER ARROWS OF DESIRE
              AND THEN, UNSEEN,
              ESCAPE THE KING OF DEATH.



              AND TRAVEL ON.



              DEATH OVERTAKES THE MAN
              WHO GATHERS FLOWERS
              WHEN WITH DISTRACTED MIND AND THIRSTY SENSES
              HE SEARCHES VAINLY FOR HAPPINESS
              IN THE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD.
              DEATH FETCHES HIM AWAY
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AS A FLOOD CARRIES OFF A SLEEPING VILLAGE.
              DEATH OVERCOMES HIM
              WHEN WITH DISTRACTED MIND AND THIRSTY SENSES
              HE GATHERS FLOWERS.
              HE WILL NEVER HAVE HIS FILL
              OF THE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD.



              THE BEE GATHERS NECTAR FROM THE FLOWER
              WITHOUT MARRING ITS BEAUTY OR PERFUME.
              SO LET THE MASTER SETTLE, AND WANDER.



              LOOK TO YOUR OWN FAULTS,
              WHAT YOU HAVE DONE OR LEFT UNDONE.
              OVERLOOK THE FAULTS OF OTHERS.



              LIKE A LOVELY FLOWER,
              BRIGHT BUT SCENTLESS,
              ARE THE FINE BUT EMPTY WORDS
              OF THE MAN WHO DOES NOT MEAN WHAT HE SAYS.



              LIKE A LOVELY FLOWER,
              BRIGHT AND FRAGRANT,
              ARE THE FINE AND TRUTHFUL WORDS
              OF THE MAN WHO MEANS WHAT HE SAYS.



              LIKE GARLANDS WOVEN FROM A HEAP OF FLOWERS,
              FASHION FROM YOUR LIFE AS MANY GOOD DEEDS.


               God is not really the center of religious inquiry -- death is. Without death there would have been
           no religion at all. It is death that makes man seek and search for the beyond, the deathless.
               Death surrounds us like an ocean surrounding a small island. The island can be flooded any
           moment. The next moment may never come, tomorrow may never arrive. Animals are not religious
           for the simple reason that they are not aware of death. They cannot conceive of themselves dying,
           although they see other animals dying. It is a quantum leap from seeing somebody else dying to
           concluding that "I am also going to die." Animals are not so alert, aware, to come to such a
           conclusion.
               And the majority of human beings are also subhuman. A man is really a mature man when he has
           come to this conclusion: "If death is happening to everybody else, then I cannot be an exception."
           Once this conclusion sinks deep into your heart, your life can never be the same again. You cannot
           remain attached to life in the old way. If it is going to be taken away, what is the point of being so
           possessive? If it is going to disappear one day, why cling and suffer? If it is not going to remain
           forever, then why be in such misery, anguish, worry? If it is going to go, it is going to go -- it does
           not matter when it goes. The time is not that important -- today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.
           But life is going to slip out of your hands.
               The day you become aware that you are going to die, that your death is an absolute certainty...in
           fact the only certainty in life is death. Nothing else is so absolutely certain. But somehow we go on
           avoiding this question, this question of death. We go on keeping ourselves occupied in other matters.
           Sometimes we talk about great things -- God, heaven and hell -- just to avoid the REAL question.
           The real question is not God, cannot be, because what acquaintance have you got with God? What
           do you know about God? How can you inquire about something which is absolutely unknown to
           you? It will be an empty inquiry. It will be at the most curiosity, it will be juvenile, childish, stupid.
               Stupid people ask about God, the intelligent person asks about death. The people who go on
           asking about God never find God, and the person who asks about death is bound to find God --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because it is death that transforms you, your vision. Your consciousness is sharpened because you
           have raised a real question, an authentic question, the most important question of life. You have
           created such a great challenge that you can't remain asleep for long; you will have to be awake, you
           will have to be alert enough to encounter the reality of death.

           That's how Buddha's inquiry began:
               The day Buddha was born...he was the son of a great king, and the only son, and he was born
           when the king was getting old, very old; hence there was great rejoicing in the kingdom. The people
           had waited long. The king was very much loved by the people; he had served them, he had been kind
           and compassionate, he had been very loving and very sharing. He had made his kingdom one of the
           richest, loveliest kingdoms of those days.
               People were praying that their king should have a son because there was nobody to inherit. And
           then Buddha was born in the king's very old age -- unexpected was his birth. Great celebration, great
           rejoicing! All the astrologers of the kingdom gathered to predict about Buddha. His name was
           Siddhartha -- he was given this name, Siddhartha, because it means fulfillment. The king was
           fulfilled, his desire was fulfilled, his deepest longing was fulfilled -- he wanted a son, he had wanted
           a son his whole life; hence the name Siddhartha. It simply means fulfillment of the deepest desire.
               This son made the king's life meaningful, significant. The astrologers, great astrologers,
           predicted -- they were all agreeing except one young astrologer. His name was Kodanna. The king
           asked, "What is going to happen in the life of my son?" And all the astrologers raised two fingers,
           except Kodanna who raised only one finger.
               The king asked, "Please don't talk in symbols -- I am a simple man, I don't know anything about
           astrology. Tell me, what do you mean by two fingers?"
               And they all said, "Either he is going to become a CHAKRAVARTIN -- a world ruler -- or he
           will renounce the world and will become a buddha, an enlightened person. These two alternatives are
           there, hence we raise two fingers."
               The king was worried about the second alternative, that he will renounce the world. "So again the
           problem: who will inherit my kingdom if he renounces the world?" And then he asked Kodanna,
           "Why do you raise only one finger?"
               Kodanna said, "I am absolutely certain that he will renounce the world -- he will become a
           buddha, an enlightened one, an awakened one."
               The king was not happy with Kodanna. Truth is very difficult to accept. He ignored Kodanna;
           Kodanna was not rewarded at all -- truth is not rewarded in this world. On the contrary, truth is
           punished in a thousand and one ways. In fact, Kodanna's prestige fell after that day. Because he was
           not rewarded by the king, the rumor spread that he was a fool. When all the astrologers were
           agreeing, he was the only one who was not agreeing.
               The king asked the other astrologers, "What do you suggest? What should I do so that he does
           not renounce the world? I would not want him to be a beggar, I would not like to see him a
           sannyasin. I would like him to become a chakravartin -- a ruler of all the six continents." The
           ambition of all the parents. Who would like his son or daughter to renounce the world and to move
           into the mountains, to go into one's own interiority, to seek and search for the self?
               Our desires are extrovert. The king was an ordinary man, just like everybody else -- with the
           same desires and the same ambitions. The astrologers said, "It can be arranged: give him as much
           pleasure as possible, keep him in as much comfort and luxury as is humanly possible. Don't allow
           him to know about illness, old age, and particularly death. Don't let him come to know about death
           and he will never renounce."
               They were right in a way, because death is the central question. Once it arises in your heart, your
           life-style is bound to change. You cannot go on living in the old foolish way. If this life is going to
           end in death, then this life cannot be real life, then this life must be an illusion. Truth has to be
           eternal if it is true -- only lies are momentary. If life is momentary, then it must be an illusion, a lie, a
           misconception, a misunderstanding; then life must be rooted somewhere in ignorance. We must be
           living it in such a way that it comes to an end.
               We can live in a different way so that we can become part of the eternal flow of existence. Only
           death can give you that radical shift.
               So the astrologers said, "Please don't let him know anything about death." And the king made all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the arrangements. He made three palaces for Siddhartha for different seasons in different places, so
           that he never came to know the discomfort of the season. When it was hot he had a palace in a
           certain place in the hills where it was always cool. When it was too cold he had another palace by the
           side of a river where it was always warm. He made all the arrangements so he never felt any
           discomfort.
                No old man or woman was allowed to enter the palaces where he lived -- only young people. He
           gathered all the beautiful young women of the kingdom around him so he would remain allured,
           fascinated, so he would remain in dreams, desires. A sweet dreamworld was created for him. The
           gardeners were told that dead leaves had to be removed in the night; fading, withering flowers had to
           be removed in the night -- because who knows? -- seeing a dead leaf he might start asking about
           what has happened to this leaf, and the question of death may arise. Seeing a withering rose, petals
           falling, he might ask, "What has happened to this rose?" and he might start brooding, meditating,
           about death.
                He was kept absolutely unaware of death for twenty-nine years. But how long can you avoid?
           Death is such an important phenomenon -- how long can you deceive? Sooner or later he had to
           enter into the world. Now the king was getting very old and the son had to know the ways of the
           world, so slowly slowly he was allowed, but whenever he would pass through any street of the
           capital, old men, old women, would be removed, beggars would be removed. No sannyasin was
           allowed to cross while he was passing, because seeing a sannyasin he might ask "What type of man
           is this? Why is he in orange? What has happened to him? Why does he look different, detached,
           distant? His eyes are different, his flavor is different, his presence has a different quality to it. What
           has happened to this man?" And then the question of renunciation, and fundamentally the question of
           death.... But one day, it had to happen. It can't be avoided.

                We are also doing the same. If somebody dies and the death procession is passing by, the mother
           pulls the child inside the house and closes the door.
                The story is very significant, symbolic, typical. No parents want the children to know about
           death, because they will immediately start asking uncomfortable questions. That's why we build the
           cemeteries outside the town, so that nobody need go there. Death is a central fact; the cemetery
           should be exactly in the middle of the city so everybody has to pass it many times in the day -- going
           to the office, coming to the home, going to the school, college, coming to the home, going to the
           factory...so that one is reminded again and again about death. But we make the cemetery outside the
           town, and we make the cemetery very beautiful: flowers, trees. We try to hide death -- particularly in
           the West, death is a taboo! Just as once sex was a taboo, now death is the taboo. Death is the last
           taboo.
                Someone like Sigmund Freud is needed -- a Sigmund Freud who can bring death back into the
           world, who can expose people to the phenomenon of death. When a person dies in the West, his
           body is decorated, bathed, perfumed, painted. Now there are experts who do this whole job. And if
           you see a dead man or a dead woman, you will be surprised -- he looks far more alive than he ever
           looked when he was alive! Painted, his cheeks are red, his face bright; he seems to be fast asleep in a
           calm and quiet space.
                We are deceiving ourselves! We are not deceiving him, he is no longer there. There is nobody,
           just a dead body, a corpse. But we are deceiving ourselves by painting his face, by garlanding his
           body, putting beautiful clothes on him, carrying his body in a costly car, and a great procession and
           much appreciation for the person who has died. He was never appreciated when he was alive, but
           now nobody criticizes him, everybody praises him.
                We are trying to deceive ourselves; we are making death as beautiful as we can so that the
           question does not arise. And we go on living in the illusion that it is always the other who dies --
           obviously, you will not see your own death, you will always see others dying. A logical conclusion
           -- that it is always the other who dies, so why be bothered? You seem to be the exceptional one, God
           has made a different rule for you.
                Remember, nobody is an exception. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- only one law rules all,
           one eternal law. Whatsoever happens to the ant is going to happen to the elephant too, and
           whatsoever happens to the beggar is going to happen to the emperor too. Poor or rich, ignorant or
           knowledgeable, sinner or saint, the law makes no distinction -- the law is very just.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And death is very communist -- it equalizes people. It takes no notice of who you are. It never
           looks in the pages of the books published, like WHO'S WHO. It simply never bothers whether you
           are a pauper or Alexander the Great.

               One day Siddhartha HAD to become aware, and he became aware. He was going to participate in
           a youth festival; he was going to inaugurate it. The prince, of course, was supposed to inaugurate the
           yearly youth festival. It was a beautiful evening; the youth of the kingdom had gathered to dance and
           sing and rejoice the whole night. The first day of the year -- a night-long celebration. And Siddhartha
           was going to open it.
               On the way he met what his father had been afraid of him ever seeing -- he came across those
           things. First he saw an ill man, his first experience of illness. He asked, "What has happened?"
               The story is very beautiful. It says the charioteer was going to lie, but a disembodied soul took
           possession of the charioteer, forced him to speak the truth. He had to say, in spite of himself, "This
           man is ill."
               And Buddha immediately asked the intelligent question, "Then can I also be ill?"
               The charioteer was again going to lie, but the soul of a god, an enlightened soul, a disembodied
           soul, forced him to say, "Yes." The charioteer was puzzled that he wanted to say no, but what came
           out of his mouth was, "Yes, you are also going to be ill."
               Then they came across an old man -- and the same questioning. Then they came across a dead
           body being carried to the burning GHAT, and the same question...and when Buddha saw the dead
           body and he asked, "Am I also going to die one day?" the charioteer said, "Yes, sir. Nobody is an
           exception. Sorry to say so, but nobody is an exception -- even you are going to die."
               Buddha said, "Then turn the chariot back. Then there is no point in going to a youth festival. I
           have already become ill, I have already become old, I am already on the verge of death. If one day I
           am going to die, then what is the point of all this nonsense? -- living and waiting for death. Before it
           comes, I would like to know something which never dies. Now I will devote my whole life to the
           search for something deathless. If there is something deathless, then the only significant thing in life
           can be the search for it."
               And while he was saying this, they saw the fourth sight -- a sannyasin, a monk, in orange,
           walking very meditatively. And Buddha said, "What has happened to this man?" And the charioteer
           said, "Sir, this is what you are thinking to do. This man has seen death happening and he has gone in
           search of the deathless."
               The same night, Buddha renounced the world; he left his home in search of the deathless, in
           search of truth.
               Death is the most important question in life. And those who accept the challenge of death, they
           are immensely rewarded.

           The sutras. Buddha says:

              WHO SHALL CONQUER THIS WORLD
              AND THE WORLD OF DEATH WITH ALL ITS GODS?
              WHO SHALL DISCOVER
              THE SHINING WAY OF THE LAW?


               He is throwing a challenge to you. He is raising a question in your heart. He is asking: WHO
           SHALL CONQUER THIS WORLD AND THE WORLD OF DEATH WITH ALL ITS GODS?
               This world is the world of death, and the gods that you have created out of your imagination are
           part of this world -- they are going to die. You, your world, your gods, they are all going to die,
           because this world is created by your desire, and the gods are also created by your desire and
           imagination.
               You don't know who you are -- how can you know the real God? And how can you know the real
           world? Whatsoever you know is a projection, is a kind of dream. Yes, when a dream is there, it
           appears real. Every night you dream, and you know that while in the dream you never suspect it, you
           never doubt it, you never raise a question.
               Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, "Every night when you are going to sleep, when you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just on the verge and the curtain of sleep is falling on you, a little bit you remember still, not yet
           drowned in the darkness of sleep, a little bit of awareness, and sleep is coming...those moments,
           those intervals between waking and sleep," Gurdjieff used to say, "those moments are very
           significant. Raise a question in your mind and go on repeating it while you are falling asleep. A
           simple question: Is it real? Is it for real? Go on repeating the question while you are falling asleep, so
           that one day in dream you can ask: Is it real?" That day brings a great benediction.
                If you can ask in a dream, "Is it real?" the dream immediately disappears. Here you ask, and
           there the dream is no more. Suddenly a great awakening happens inside. In sleep you become alert.
           The sleep continues; hence the tremendous beauty of its experience. The sleep continues; the body
           remains asleep, the mind remains asleep, but something beyond body and mind becomes alert; a
           witness arises in you. "Is it real?" -- if you ask it in your dream...very difficult to remember because
           when you are dreaming you have completely forgotten yourself. Hence the device -- while falling
           asleep, go on repeating this question: Is it real? Is it real? Fall asleep repeating this question.
                Somewhere between three and nine months, one day it happens -- in dream suddenly the question
           arises: Is it real? And you have one of the most profound experiences of your life. The moment the
           question is raised, the dream immediately disappears, and there is utter emptiness and silence. Sleep
           is there and yet a small light of awareness has happened.
                And then only will you be aware of this life and its illusoriness; then you will be able to see that
           the world of desires, jealousies, ambitions, is just a dream seen with open eyes. And if you can see
           that this world is also a dream, you are on the verge of enlightenment.
                But remember, belief won't help. You can believe this world is illusory -- in India millions of
           people believe and repeat continuously, parrotlike: "This world is MAYA, illusion" -- this and that.
           And what they are saying is all rubbish, nonsense, because it is not their authentic experience. They
           have heard people say it, and they are repeating. They don't KNOW on their own, they are not
           witnesses to it; hence it never changes their lives. They go on repeating, "This world is unreal," and
           they go on living in this world as much as those who think it is real -- there is no difference, no
           qualitative difference.
                What is the difference between the materialist and the so-called religious person? What
           difference? Because he goes to the church every Sunday? or because he goes to the temple once in a
           while? That is the only difference; otherwise, in actual life, you will find them exactly the same.
           Sometimes the irreligious person may be more honest, more authentic, more sincere, more truthful,
           than the religious -- because the religious person is already dishonest in being religious without any
           experience of his own. His religiousness is based on dishonesty; he has committed the greatest
           dishonesty a man can commit: he believes in God and he knows nothing of God; he believes in
           eternal life and he has no taste of it. He has not seen anything, and yet he goes on pretending. His
           religiousness is basically dishonest; hence it is not a wonder, not a surprise that in so-called religious
           countries like India, you will find the people more dishonest than in the so-called materialist
           countries of the West.
                The Western materialist is more sincere. The Indian religious person is very mean, dishonest,
           deceptive, because if you can even deceive God, whom are you going to leave out? If your religion
           is pseudo, your whole life is going to be pseudo. The person who has the guts to say, "Unless I know
           God I am not going to believe," is tacitly sincere, honest. This is my observation: that atheists have
           more possibility of knowing God than the so-called theists.
              WHO SHALL CONQUER THIS WORLD AND THE WORLD OF DEATH WITH ALL ITS GODS? WHO
              SHALL DISCOVER THE SHINING WAY OF THE LAW?
              AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- who is going to discover the eternal, inexhaustible law? AES
              MAGGO VISUDDHYA -- who is going to find the path of eternal purity, of eternal innocence? Who?
              Buddha throws you a challenge and then says:



              YOU SHALL, EVEN AS THE MAN
              WHO SEEKS FLOWERS
              FINDS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL,
              THE RAREST.


              Yes, you can conquer this world of death -- because at the deepest core of your being you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           part of eternity, you are not part of time. You exist in time, but you belong to eternity. You are a
           penetration of eternity into the world of time. You are deathless, living in a body of death. Your
           consciousness knows no death, no birth. It is only your body that is born and dies. But you are not
           aware of your consciousness; you are not conscious of your consciousness.
               And that is the whole art of meditation: becoming conscious of consciousness itself. The moment
           you know who is residing in the body, who you are, in that very revelation you have transcended
           death and the world of death. You have transcended all that is momentary.
               YOU SHALL, just AS THE MAN WHO SEEKS FLOWERS FINDS THE MOST
           BEAUTIFUL, THE RAREST.
               Jesus says: Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given to you, knock and the door shall be
           opened unto you.
               A great inquiry is needed, a great seeking is needed. Just as science inquires into the objective
           world, religion is an inquiry into the subjective. Science inquires into that which you see, and
           religion inquires into the seer itself. Religion, of course, is the science of the sciences.
               Science can never be more important than religion; it is impossible that science can be more
           important than religion, because science after all is a human endeavor. It is what you do -- but who is
           the doer inside you? The doer can never be less than his doing. The painter can never be less than his
           painting, and the poet can never be less than his poetry. The scientist knows about the world but
           knows nothing about the scientist himself.
               Albert Einstein in his last days used to say, "Sometimes I suspect my life has been a wastage. I
           inquired into the farthest of stars and forgot completely to inquire into myself -- and I was the closest
           star!"
               Just because we are conscious, we take it for granted -- the meditator never takes it for granted.
           He goes in, he knocks at the door of his own inner being, he seeks and searches inside, he leaves not
           a single stone unturned. He enters into his own being. And great is his fulfillment, the greatest,
           because he finds the rarest. Yes, there are many flowers, but there is no flower like the flower of
           your consciousness. It is the rarest -- it is the one-thousand-petaled lotus, it is a golden lotus. Unless
           one knows it, one knows nothing. Unless one finds it, all riches are useless, all power is futile.

              UNDERSTAND THAT THE BODY
              IS MERELY THE FOAM OF A WAVE,
              THE SHADOW OF A SHADOW.
              SNAP THE FLOWER ARROWS OF DESIRE
              AND THEN, UNSEEN,
              ESCAPE THE KING OF DEATH.


               The body is a momentary phenomenon. One day it was not, one day it will not be again. It exists
           only for the time being -- it is like foam; looks so beautiful from the shore, the foam, the white foam
           of a wave. And if the sun has risen, around the foam can be created a rainbow; looks so beautiful,
           looks like diamonds, looks so white and so pure. But if you take it in your hands, it starts
           disappearing. Only your hands are left wet, that's all.
               So is the case with the body. It looks beautiful, but death is growing in it, death is hiding in it,
           old age is waiting there. It is only a question of time.
               It is not that at a certain date you die. In fact, the reality is that the day you are born, you start
           dying. The child who is one day old has died a little bit, he has died one day. He will go on dying
           day by day. What you call your birthday is not really your birthday -- you should call it your
           deathday. The man who is celebrating his fiftieth birthday is really celebrating his fiftieth deathday.
           Death has come closer. Now, if he is going to live seventy years, only twenty years are left. Fifty
           years he has already died!
               We are continuously dying as far as the body is concerned...it is foam disappearing. Don't be
           deceived by seventy years because seventy years mean nothing in the expanse of eternity -- what is
           the meaning of seventy years? It is foam, it is momentary.
               UNDERSTAND THAT THE BODY IS MERELY THE FOAM OF A WAVE, THE SHADOW
           OF A SHADOW. It is not even the shadow, but the shadow of the shadow. Buddha wants to
           emphasize the unreality of it. It is the echo of the echo, very very far removed from reality. God is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the real -- call it truth. Buddha would like to call it dhamma -- the law. God is the ultimate reality;
           then the soul is his shadow and the body is the shadow of the shadow. Move from the body to the
           soul and from the soul to dhamma -- to God, to the eternal law.
               Unless you achieve the eternal law, don't rest, because nobody knows -- today you are here,
           tomorrow you may not be. Don't waste these precious days hankering, longing for futile things.
           People go on collecting junk, and then one day they are gone. And then all the junk that they
           collected their whole lives is left behind. They cannot take a single thing with them.

               It is said that when Alexander the Great died, he asked his ministers that when his casket was
           being carried to the grave, his hands should be left hanging outside the casket.
           "Why?" the ministers asked. "Nobody has ever heard of such a thing! It is never done! It is not
           traditional. Why this strange, eccentric idea? Why should your hands be left hanging outside the
           casket?"
               Alexander said, "I would like to let people know that even I, Alexander the Great, am going
           empty-handed. I am not taking anything with me. My whole life has been a sheer wastage. I worked
           hard" -- and he really worked hard, he struggled hard, he was a really ambitious person, mad after
           power, wanted to become the ruler of the world, and had more or less succeeded, had more or less
           become the ruler of the then known world.... But even he says, "I am dying and I cannot take
           anything with me; hence the whole effort has been just an exercise in futility. Let the people know,
           let them become aware, let them understand my foolishness, my idiocy. It may help them to
           understand their own life patterns, their life-styles."

              SNAP THE FLOWER ARROWS OF DESIRE AND THEN, UNSEEN, ESCAPE THE KING OF
              DEATH.

               If you can become desireless, then death cannot have any sway over you. It is the desiring mind
           that is caught in the net of death, and we are all full of desires: desire for money, for power, for
           prestige, respectability -- a thousand and one desires. Desires create greed, and greed creates
           competition, and competition creates jealousy. One thing leads to another, and we go on falling into
           the mess, into the turmoil of the world. It is a mad mad world, but the root cause of madness is
           desire.
               Once you sow the seeds of desire...desire means to have more. You have a certain quantity of
           money, you would like to have double that. Desire means the longing for more. And nobody thinks
           twice that any quantitative change is not going to satisfy you. If you cannot be satisfied by ten
           thousand rupees, how can you be satisfied by twenty thousand rupees? The rupees will be doubled.
           But if ten thousand rupees cannot give you any satisfaction, your satisfaction cannot be doubled;
           there has been no satisfaction in the first place. In fact, when you have ten thousand rupees you have
           a certain quantity of anxiety, fear -- those anxieties will be doubled when you have twenty thousand
           rupees, trebled when you have thirty thousand rupees, and so on and so forth. You can go on
           multiplying....
               And whatsoever you have, somebody will always be having more than that -- it is a big world.
           Hence jealousy, and jealousy is the fever of the soul. Except meditation, there is no medicine for it.
           The physician can help you if your body is suffering from a fever, but only a master can help you, a
           buddha can help you, if you are suffering from the fever of the soul. Very few people are suffering
           from the physical fever, and almost everybody is suffering from the spiritual fever -- jealousy.
               Jealousy means somebody else has more than you have. And it is impossible to be the first in
           everything. You may have the largest amount of money in the world, but you may not have a
           beautiful face. And a beggar may make you jealous -- his body, his face, his eyes, and you are
           jealous. A beggar can make an emperor jealous.

                Napoleon was not very tall -- he was only five feet five inches. I don't see anything wrong in it;
           it's perfectly alright -- I am five feet five inches and I have never suffered because of it, because
           whether you are six feet or five feet your feet reach to the earth all the same! So where is the
           problem? If the five-foot person was hanging one foot above the earth, then there would have been a
           problem! But Napoleon suffered very much. He was continuously conscious of the fact that he was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not tall. And, of course, he was amongst very tall people. The soldiers, the generals, they were all tall
           people and he was very short.
               He used to stand on something higher.... Exactly the same was the case with the first prime
           minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He was also five-five -- this five-five is something! And the last
           viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, was very tall -- Lady Mountbatten even taller. Now, when Lord
           Mountbatten gave him the oath of the first prime minister...you can see in the picture, those pictures
           are available everywhere: Nehru is standing on a step and Mountbatten is standing on the floor, just
           to look at least equal, if not taller than Mountbatten. Then too, he is not taller than Mountbatten,
           even standing on a step...a deep sense of inferiority.
               Napoleon was continuously self-conscious. One day he was fixing a clock and his hand could not
           reach it. The clock was high on the wall. His bodyguard -- and bodyguards are bound to be taller
           people, strong people -- his bodyguard said, "Wait, I am higher than you, I will fix it."
               Napoleon was very angry and he said, "Stupid! Apologize! You are not higher than me, you are
           simply taller. Change your word. Higher? What do you mean?" He was very much offended. And
           the poor bodyguard was not meaning anything insulting to him -- he was not even aware that saying
           "higher" is offensive. Now, Napoleon had everything, but the height was the problem.
               It is very difficult to have everything of the world and be the first in everything. It is impossible!
           Then the jealousy persists, it continues. Somebody has more money than you, somebody has more
           health than you, somebody has more beauty than you, somebody has more intelligence than
           you...and you are constantly comparing. The desiring mind continues to compare.

               Goldstein and Weinberg were in business together and having a bad time. One day Goldstein,
           while taking a stroll through the woods, was all of a sudden surprised by a real fairy godmother who
           said to him, "I will grant you three wishes, but remember, whatever you wish for, Weinberg will get
           double."
               On his way back Goldstein pondered, "I would not mind a spacious mansion." And before he
           realized what was happening, there it was -- his mansion. But at the same time he saw Weinberg
           across the road proudly viewing his two villas. Goldstein repressed his jealousy and went in to see
           his new home. As he walked into the bedroom, a second desire struck him: "I would not mind a
           woman like Sophia Loren." And sure enough, there she was -- a gorgeous piece looking just like
           Sophia Loren. But as he looked out of the bedroom window, he saw Weinberg on his balcony with
           two gorgeous women.
           "Well," he sighed as he thought of the fairy godmother, "you can cut off one of my balls!"

               Jealousy is jealousy.... If you cannot have all, at least you can stop anybody else having it.
           Jealousy becomes destructive, jealousy becomes violence. And jealousy is the shadow of desire.
           Desire always compares and, because of comparison there is suffering. People waste their lives in
           desiring, in being jealous, in comparing, and the precious time is simply lost. Even if God gives you
           three wishes, you will do the same as Goldstein -- because the Jew exists in everybody. Only a
           buddha is not a Jew; otherwise everybody else is.
               The nature of desire is Jewish. It wants more, it is mad for more. And those who live in desire are
           bound to be victims of death. Only the person who understands the foolishness of desiring, of greed,
           of constantly longing for more, of jealousy, of comparison, one who becomes aware of all this
           nonsense and drops it, goes beyond death. He becomes unseen. Buddha uses a beautiful word. He
           says: AND THEN, UNSEEN, ESCAPE THE KING OF DEATH.
               Death can only see a person who lives in the garments of desire. Death can only see desire. If
           desire is dropped, you become invisible to death; death cannot touch you, because without desire you
           are simply pure consciousness and nothing else. You are no longer identified with the body or the
           mind. You simply know one thing, that you are a witness. Death cannot see you -- you can see death.
               Ordinarily, death can see you, you cannot see death -- because desire is gross, can be seen by
           death. Consciousness is invisible, it is not matter -- it is pure energy, it is light. YOU can see death,
           but death cannot see you. And to see death is again a great experience, a hilarious experience. One
           starts laughing when one sees death -- death is so impotent. Its power is not its own, its power is in
           your desiring mind. YOU give power to it. The more you desire, the more you are afraid of death.
           The more greedy you are, the more afraid you are. The more you have, naturally the more anxious
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are -- death will be coming and everything will be taken away.
              SNAP THE FLOWER ARROWS OF DESIRE AND THEN, UNSEEN, ESCAPE THE KING OF
              DEATH.



              AND TRAVEL ON.

              Remember this sentence: AND TRAVEL ON.

               Then the real journey, the pilgrimage, begins. Before that you were just moving in circles -- the
           same desires: more money, more money, more power, more power...vicious circles, not going
           anywhere. Once you have dropped all desiring, your consciousness is freed from the grossness of
           desire. Now TRAVEL ON -- now you can go into the infinite existence, you can move into the
           eternity of existence. Now, mysteries upon mysteries go on opening in front of you. Now the whole
           existence is available to you, in its totality it is yours...now TRAVEL ON.

              DEATH OVERTAKES THE MAN
              WHO GATHERS FLOWERS
              WHEN WITH DISTRACTED MIND AND THIRSTY SENSES
              HE SEARCHES VAINLY FOR HAPPINESS
              IN THE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD.
              DEATH FETCHES HIM AWAY
              AS A FLOOD CARRIES OFF A SLEEPING VILLAGE.


               If you are too much distracted by desires, pleasures, gratifications, and if you are too thirsty in
           your senses for titillation, if you are searching foolishly for happiness in the outer world, then death
           comes and fetches you away like a flood which carries off a sleeping village.
               The man who is searching for happiness in the outside world is a man fast asleep. He is not
           aware of what he is doing, because happiness has never been found in the outside. And whatsoever
           appears as happiness proves ultimately to be the source of unhappiness and nothing else. The outer
           world promises only, but never delivers the goods. When you are far away, things appear very
           beautiful. The closer you come, the more they start disappearing. When you have got them after long
           and arduous effort, you are simply at a loss. You can't believe what happened -- it was a mirage.
               Things are beautiful only from the distance. When you have them, they have nothing in them.
           Money is significant only for those who don't have it. Those who have it, they know the futility of it.
           Fame is significant only for those who don't have it. Those who have it...ask them: they are tired of
           being famous, they are utterly tired of being famous. They want to be anonymous. They want to be
           nobodies.

               Voltaire has written in his memoirs that when he was not famous his only desire was to be
           famous; he was ready to sacrifice everything for fame. And if you go on searching for a certain
           thing, you are bound to get it, remember. One day he became famous, and then he wrote, "I was so
           tired of my fame, because all privacy in my life disappeared, all intimate relationships disappeared --
           I was so famous that I always was crowded by people, everywhere, wherever I would go. If I went
           for a stroll in the garden, then a crowd would follow. I was almost like a showpiece, a kind of
           walking circus."
               His fame reached such peaks that it became dangerous for his life. Once when he was coming
           from the station to his house after a journey, he reached home almost naked, scratched all over the
           body, blood oozing from many places -- because in France in those days this was the superstition,
           that if you can get a piece of the clothes of a famous man you can also become famous. So people
           tore his clothes, and in tearing his clothes, they scratched his body.
               He cried and wept that day, and said, "How foolish I was that I wanted to be famous. How
           beautiful it was when nobody knew me and I was a free man. Now I am no longer a free man."
               Then he wanted to be a nobody. And it happened too that the fame disappeared. In this life
           nothing is permanent -- one day you are famous, another day you are nobody. The day he died, only
           four people followed him to his grave; and out of those four one was his dog -- so only three really.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           People had completely forgotten about him, they had forgotten that he was alive. They came to know
           only when the newspapers published the report that Voltaire had died. Then people became aware
           and started asking each other, "Was he still alive?"

               If you have fame, you get tired of it. If you have money, you will not know what to do with it. If
           you are respected by people, you become a slave, because then you have to go on fulfilling their
           expectations; otherwise your respectability will disappear. Only when you are not famous do you
           think it is something significant. When you are not respected, you long for it. When you are
           respected, you have to pay for respectability. The more people respect you, the more closely they
           watch you -- whether you are fulfilling their expectations or not. All your freedom is gone. But this
           is how people are living.
               Buddha says it is like a sleeping village -- the flood comes and takes over the whole village, the
           flood of death comes.

              DEATH OVERCOMES HIM
              WHEN WITH DISTRACTED MIND AND THIRSTY SENSES
              HE GATHERS FLOWERS.
              HE WILL NEVER HAVE HIS FILL
              OF THE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD.


               And nobody can ever be contented in the world -- that's impossible. You can become more and
           more discontented, that's all, because contentment happens only when you go inwards. Contentment
           is your innermost nature. Contentment does not belong to things. You can be comfortable with
           things -- a beautiful house, a beautiful garden, no worries about money -- yes, you can be
           comfortable, but you remain the same: comfortably discontented. In fact, when you have all the
           comforts and you have nothing to do to earn money, twenty-four hours a day you are aware of your
           discontent, because no other occupation is left.
               That's why rich people are more discontented than the poor people. It should not be so --
           logically it should not be so -- but that's how life is. Life does not follow Aristotle and his logic. Rich
           people coming from the West become very puzzled when they see poor Indian people with faces of
           contentment. They cannot believe their eyes. These people don't have anything -- why do they look
           contented? And the Indian so-called saints and mahatmas and political leaders, they go on bragging
           to the world that "Our country is spiritual -- look! people are so contented even though they are poor,
           because they are inwardly rich."
               This is all nonsense. They are not inwardly rich. The contentment that you see on poor Indian
           faces is not that of inward realization. It is simply because they are so preoccupied with money,
           bread and butter, that they can't afford any time to be discontented. They can't afford to sit and brood
           about their miseries. They are so miserable that they have no time to feel miserable! They are so
           miserable and they have never known any pleasure, so they cannot have any comparison.
               When a society becomes rich, it has time to think, "Now what next...?" And there seems to be
           nothing left. When all outward things are available you start thinking, "What am I doing here? All
           things are there, but I am as empty as ever." One starts turning inwards.
               Beggars look contented because they don't have any taste of richness. But a rich person becomes
           very discontented. Because of his richness he becomes aware of the futility of all riches. DEATH
           OVERCOMES HIM WHEN WITH DISTRACTED MIND AND THIRSTY SENSES HE
           GATHERS FLOWERS. HE WILL NEVER HAVE HIS FILL OF THE PLEASURES OF THE
           WORLD.
               You cannot have your fill. It is impossible. You cannot be satisfied with things; the mind will go
           on asking for more. The more you have, the more troubles you will create for yourself -- because you
           can afford troubles, you have time. In fact, you have so much time on your hands you don't know
           what to do with it. You will start fooling around. You will create more miseries, more anxieties for
           yourself. And finding no satisfaction outside, you can become so dissatisfied that you may start
           thinking of committing suicide.
               Many more people commit suicide in rich countries than in poor countries. Or you may become
           so dissatisfied that you may go mad, you may go nuts. Many more people go mad in rich countries
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           than in poor countries.
               To be rich is in a way very dangerous: it can drive you towards suicide, it can drive you towards
           some kind of madness -- but it is also very significant because it can drive you towards religion,
           towards your inwardness, interiority, it can become an inward revolution. It depends on you --
           alternatives are open. A rich person either has to become neurotic, suicidal, or he has to become a
           meditator; there is no third alternative available for him.
               The poor man cannot be suicidal, cannot be neurotic; he has not even enough bread, what to say
           of the mind? He is so tired by the evening, he cannot think, no energy to think...falls asleep. In the
           morning again the old rut of earning bread. Every day he has to earn, somehow to remain alive, to
           survive. He cannot afford the luxuries of neuroses, he cannot afford the luxuries of psychoanalysis --
           these are luxuries only rich people can afford! And he cannot be really a meditator either. He will go
           to the temple, but he will ask for something worldly. His wife is ill, his children are not getting
           admission into school, he is unemployed. He goes to the temple to ask these things. The quality of
           the religion of the poor is very poor.
               There are two kinds of religiousness in the world: the religiousness of the poor -- it is very
           worldly, it is very materialistic -- and the religiousness of the rich -- it is very spiritual, very
           nonmaterialistic. When a rich man prays, his prayer cannot be for money. If he is still praying for
           money, he is not yet rich enough.

               There was a Sufi saint, Farid. Once the villagers asked him, "Farid, the great king, Akbar, comes
           to you so many times -- why don't you ask him to open a school for poor people in our village? We
           don't have a school."
               Farid said, "Good, so why should I wait for him to come? I will go."
               He went to Delhi, he was received -- everybody knew that Akbar respected him tremendously.
           Akbar was praying in his private mosque; Farid was allowed in. He went in, he saw Akbar praying.
           He was standing behind Akbar -- he could hear what he was saying. With hands spread, Akbar was
           just finishing his prayer, his NAMAZ, and he was saying to God, "Almighty Compassionate One,
           shower more riches on me! Give me a greater kingdom!"
               Farid immediately turned away. It was just the end of the prayer, so Akbar became aware that
           somebody had been and had gone away. He looked back, saw Farid going down the steps, ran,
           touched the feet of Farid and asked, "Why have you come?" -- because for the first time he had come
           -- "and why are you going away?"
               Farid said, "I had come with the idea that you are rich, but listening to your prayer I realized that
           you are still poor. And if you are still asking for money, for more power, then it is not good for me to
           ask for money, because I had come to ask for a little money to open a school in my village. No, I
           cannot ask from a poor man. You yourself need more. I will collect some from the village and give it
           to you! And as far as the school is concerned, if you are asking from God, I can ask from God
           directly -- why should I use you as a mediator?"
               The story is reported by Akbar himself in his autobiography. He says, "For the first time I
           became aware that, yes, I am not yet rich enough, I am not yet dissatisfied with all this money. It has
           not given me anything and I go on asking for more, almost completely unconsciously! It is time for
           me to be finished with it. Life has flown and I am still asking for rubbish. And I have accumulated
           much -- it has not given me anything."

               But almost mechanically one goes on asking. Remember, the religion that arises when you have
           lived in the world and known the world and the futility of it, has a totally different flavor to it from
           the religion which arises in you because your physical needs are not fulfilled.
               The poor man's religion is poor, the rich man's religion is rich. And I would like a rich religion in
           the world; hence I am not against technology, against industrialization. I am not against creating an
           affluent society, I am all for it, because this is my observation: that religion reaches its climax only
           when people are utterly frustrated with the worldly riches, and the only way to make them utterly
           frustrated is to let them experience them.

              THE BEE GATHERS NECTAR FROM THE FLOWER
              WITHOUT MARRING ITS BEAUTY OR PERFUME.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SO LET THE MASTER SETTLE, AND WANDER.


               Buddha has called his monks "begging," MADHUKARI. Madhukari means collecting honey like
           a bee. The BHIKKHU, the Buddhist sannyasin, goes from house to house; he never asks from just
           one house because that may be too much of a burden. So he asks from many houses, just a little bit
           from one house, a little bit from another, so he is not a burden on anybody. And he never goes to the
           same house again. This is called madhukari -- like a honey bee. The bee goes from one flower to
           another, and goes on moving from flower to flower -- it is nonpossessive.
               THE BEE GATHERS NECTAR FROM THE FLOWER WITHOUT MARRING ITS BEAUTY
           OR PERFUME. It only takes so little from one flower that the beauty is not marred, the perfume is
           not destroyed. The flower simply never becomes aware of the bee; it comes so silently and goes so
           silently.
               Buddha says: The man of awareness lives in this world like a bee. He never mars the beauty of
           this world, he never destroys the perfume of this world. He lives silently, moves silently. He asks
           only that much which is needed. His life is simple, it is not complex. He does not gather for
           tomorrow. The bee never gathers for tomorrow, the today is enough unto itself.
               SO LET THE MASTER SETTLE, AND WANDER. A very strange statement: ...SETTLE, AND
           WANDER. Settle inside, be centered inside, and outside be a wanderer:inside utterly rooted, and
           outside not staying long in any one place, not staying with one person for a long time, because
           attachments arise, possessiveness arises. So be just like a bee.
               Just the other night I was reading a poet's memoirs. He says, "I have found one thing very
           strange: when I fall in love with a really beautiful person, I cannot possess him or her. And if I
           possess, I immediately see that I am destroying the beauty of the person. If I become attached, in
           some way I am wounding the other person, his freedom."
               Poets are sensitive people; they can become aware of many things ordinary people never become
           aware of. But it is a beautiful insight, of profound depth: if you are really in love with a beautiful
           person you would not like to possess, because to possess is to destroy. You will be like a bee; you
           will enjoy the company, you will enjoy the friendship, you will share the love, but you will not
           possess. To possess is to reduce the person to a thing. It is to destroy his spirit, it is to make him a
           commodity -- and this can be done only if you don't love. This can be done only if your love is
           nothing but hate masquerading as love.
               Buddha says: Just like a bee, move in life -- enjoying, celebrating, dancing, singing, but like a
           bee -- from one flower to another flower. Have all the experiences, because it is only through
           experiences that you become mature. But don't be possessive, don't get stuck anywhere. Remain
           flowing like a river -- don't become stagnant. Settle inside, certainly, become crystallized inside, but
           on the outside remain a wanderer.

              LOOK TO YOUR OWN FAULTS,
              WHAT YOU HAVE DONE OR LEFT UNDONE.
              OVERLOOK THE FAULTS OF OTHERS.


               The ordinary way of human beings is to overlook one's own faults and to emphasize, magnify,
           others' faults. This is the way of the ego. The ego feels very good when it sees, "Everybody has so
           many faults and I have none." And the trick is: overlook your faults, magnify others' faults, so
           certainly everybody looks like a monster and you look like a saint.
               Buddha says: Reverse the process. If you really want to be transformed, overlook others' faults --
           that is none of your business. You are nobody, you are not asked to interfere, you have no right, so
           why bother? But don't overlook your own faults, because they have to be changed, overcome.
               When Buddha says, LOOK TO YOUR OWN FAULTS, WHAT YOU HAVE DONE OR LEFT
           UNDONE, he does not mean repent if you have done something wrong; he does not mean brag, pat
           your own back if you have done something good. No. He simply means to look so that you can
           remember in the future that no wrong should be repeated, so that you can remember in the future that
           the good should be enlarged, enhanced, and the evil should be reduced -- not for repentance but for
           remembrance.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That is the difference between the Christian attitude and the Buddhist attitude. The Christian
           remembers them to repent; hence Christianity creates great guilt. Buddhism never creates any guilt,
           it is not for repentance, it is for remembrance. The past is past; it is gone and gone forever -- no need
           to worry about it. Just remember not to repeat the same mistakes again. Be more mindful.

              LIKE A LOVELY FLOWER,
              BRIGHT BUT SCENTLESS,
              ARE THE FINE BUT EMPTY WORDS
              OF THE MAN WHO DOES NOT MEAN WHAT HE SAYS.


               Those who go on repeating scriptures mechanically, their words are fine but empty. They are like
           flowers, lovely, bright, but with no perfume. They are like paper flowers or plastic flowers -- they
           can't have perfume, they can't have aliveness. The aliveness, the perfume is possible only when you
           speak on your own, not on the authority of the scriptures; when you speak on your own authority,
           when you speak as a witness to truth, not as a learned scholar, not as a pundit, but when you speak as
           one who is awakened.

              LIKE A LOVELY FLOWER,
              BRIGHT AND FRAGRANT,
              ARE THE FINE AND TRUTHFUL WORDS
              OF THE MAN WHO MEANS WHAT HE SAYS.


               Remember not to repeat others' words. Experience, and only say that which you have
           experienced, and your words will have substance, weight; and your words will have a radiance, your
           words will have perfume. Your words will attract people; not only attract -- influence. Your words
           will be pregnant with great meaning, and those who are ready to hear them will be transformed
           through them. Your words will be breathing, alive; there will be a heartbeat in them.

              LIKE GARLANDS WOVEN FROM A HEAP OF FLOWERS,
              FASHION FROM YOUR LIFE AS MANY GOOD DEEDS.


               Let your life become a garland -- a garland of good deeds. But good deeds, according to Buddha,
           arise only if you become more mindful, more alert, more aware. Good deeds are not to be cultivated
           as character; good deeds have to be by-products of your being more conscious.
               Buddhism does not emphasize character but consciousness -- that's its greatest contribution to
           humanity and humanity's evolution.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #4
                                          Chapter title: Spread the rumor!
           4 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907040
              ShortTitle: DHAM204
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




               The first question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               EVERYTHING APPEARS TO BE VERY PARADOXICAL: HAVING TO BE TOTAL AND YET HAVING
               TO REMAIN A WITNESS, A WATCHER; HAVING TO BE DROWNED IN LOVE AND YET TO BE
               ALONE. IT SOUNDS VERY MYSTERIOUS, AND I FEEL UTTERLY LOST AND CONFUSED. AM I
               GETTING CONNED?


                Prem Urja, life is beautiful because it is paradoxical. It has salt because it is paradoxical -- it is
           not just sweet, it has salt in it too. If it was just sweet, it would become too sugary, saccharin.
                Life has tremendous mystery in it because it is based on paradox. You are feeling confused
           because you have a certain fixed idea about how life should be -- you don't allow life to be as it is.
           You want to impose a certain concept on it, a certain logic on it. The confusion is of your own
           creation.
                Try to impose some logical pattern on life and you will become very much confused, because life
           has no obligation to fulfill your logic. Life is as it is. You have to listen to it. It has all the colors, the
           whole spectrum -- it is a rainbow. But you have a certain idea that it should be only blue or it should
           be only green or it should be only red -- but it is all the seven colors. Then what are you going to do
           about the six other colors which are not part of your conception? Either you have to ignore them,
           block them, so that you don't become aware of them; repress them, simply deny them.... But
           whatsoever you do, life is not going to drop its colors; they will be there -- denied, rejected,
           repressed, they will be there, waiting for the right moment to explode into your consciousness.
                And whenever they explode you will be confused. The confusion is your responsibility. Life is
           not confusing at all. Life is mysterious but never confusing. Because you don't want it to be
           mysterious, you want it to be mathematical, you want it very clear-cut so that you can calculate and
           measure -- hence the difficulty. It is not created by life. Drop your conceptions and then look.... Then
           you will find the storm that comes brings a silence with it -- which is illogical! The silence that is felt
           after the storm is the deepest, the profoundest. If there is no storm, the silence remains superficial,
           the silence remains dull, it has no depth. After the storm...the greater the storm, the deeper the
           silence. Now, it is paradoxical.
                It is paradoxical only because you want to impose a certain logic. The storm, and creating
           silence? It does not fit with your idea -- that is true -- then you become confused. But why should it
           fit with your idea? Life has to be perceived -- not conceived. See what is the case, don't have
           ready-made answers. Don't go through life with prejudices, with a prejudiced mind, don't have any a
           priori conceptions. Go innocent, naked, go ignorant. Function from the state of not knowing. And
           then...then life is not confusing. It is a tremendous joy, it is ecstasy. Then what appears today as
           confusing, you will feel thankful for it, grateful for it, that it is so, that it is not logical.
                Life would have been utterly boring if God had followed Aristotle. It is a great relief that he is
           not an Aristotelian; it is a great relief that God knows nothing of Aristotle, that he has not read his
           books, that he does not believe in logic, that he believes in dialectics. Hence these paradoxes.
                One can be in deep love and yet be alone. In fact, one can be alone only when one is in deep
           love. The depth of love creates an ocean around you, a deep ocean, and you become an island, utterly
           alone. Yes, the ocean goes on throwing its waves on your shore, but the more the ocean crashes with
           its waves on your shore, the more integrated you are, the more rooted, the more centered you are.
                Love has value only because it gives you aloneness. It gives you space enough to be on your
           own.
                But you have an idea of love; that idea is creating trouble -- not love itself, but the idea. The idea
           is that, in love, lovers disappear into each other, dissolve into each other. Yes, there are moments of
           dissolution -- but this is the beauty of life and all that is existential: that when lovers dissolve into
           each other, the same are the moments when they become very conscious, very alert. That dissolution
           is not a kind of drunkenness, that dissolution is not unconscious. It brings great consciousness, it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           releases great awareness. On the one hand they are dissolved -- on the other hand for the first time
           they see their utter beauty in being alone. The other defines them, their aloneness; they define the
           other. And they are grateful to each other. It is because of the other that they have been able to see
           their own selves; the other has become a mirror in which they are reflected. Lovers are mirrors to
           each other. Love makes you aware of your original face.
                Hence, it looks very contradictory, paradoxical, when stated in such a way: "Love brings
           aloneness." You were thinking all along that love brings togetherness. I am not saying that it does
           not bring togetherness, but unless you are alone you cannot be together. Who is going to be together?
           Two persons are needed to be together, two independent persons are needed to be together. A
           togetherness will be rich, infinitely rich, if both the persons are utterly independent. If they are
           dependent on each other, it is not a togetherness -- it is a slavery, it is a bondage.
                If they are dependent on each other, clinging, possessive, if they don't allow each other to be
           alone, if they don't allow each other space enough to grow, they are enemies, not lovers; they are
           destructive to each other, they are not helping each other to find their souls, their beings. What kind
           of love is this? It may be just fear of being alone; hence they are clinging to each other. But real love
           knows no fear. Real love is capable of being alone, utterly alone, and out of that aloneness grows a
           togetherness.
                Kahlil Gibran says: Two lovers are like two pillars of a temple -- they support the same roof, but
           they stand separate; together as far as supporting the same roof is concerned, but utterly separate as
           far as their own being is concerned. Be pillars of a temple, supporting the same temple of love, the
           same roof of love, yet rooted in your own being, not distracted from there. And then you will know
           both the beauty, the purity, the cleanliness, the health, the wholeness of aloneness, and you will also
           know the joy, the dance, the music of being together.
                There is a beauty when somebody is playing a solo instrument -- a solo flute player -- there is
           tremendous beauty in that. And there is also beauty in an orchestra. And love knows both together: it
           knows how to be a solo flute player and it also knows how to be in rhythm, harmony with the other.
                There is no contradiction in reality -- the contradiction appears only because you have a certain
           idea. Drop the idea and then where is confusion? Confusion comes only out of conclusions. If you
           have a conclusion already and then life appears as something else, you are confused. Rather than
           trying to fix life, drop your conclusions.
                Never function out of conclusions! -- that's what I go on repeating every day to you: don't
           function from the state of knowledge. Knowledge means conclusions, and all conclusions are
           borrowed. Life is so vast that it cannot be condensed into a conclusion. All conclusions are partial.
           And whenever the part claims to be the whole, it creates a kind of fanaticism, orthodoxy; it creates a
           dull and stupid mind.
                Urja, you say, "Having to be total and yet having to remain a witness, a watcher...seems to be
           very paradoxical."
                It only seems, the paradox is only apparent; otherwise, to be total is to be a watcher. Whenever
           you are totally into something, a great awareness is released in you -- you become a witness.
           Suddenly! Not that you practice witnessing. If you are totally in it...one day, dance totally and see
           what I am saying.
                These are not logical conclusions that I am giving to you: these are existential indications, hints.
           Dance totally! -- and then you will be surprised. Something new will be felt. When the dance
           becomes total, and the dancer is almost completely dissolved in the dancing, there will be a new kind
           of awareness arising in you. You will be totally lost into the dance: the dancer gone, only dance
           remains. And yet you are not unconscious, not at all -- just the opposite. You are very conscious,
           more conscious than you have ever been before.
                But if you start thinking about it, then the paradox will come. Then you will not be able to
           manage, and you will become very confused.
                Experience it. Whatsoever is being said here is to help you to experience. I am not handing over
           to you any knowledge, any information -- just a few hints to taste the multidimensional qualities of
           life.
                You say, "It seems paradoxical...having to be drowned in love and yet be alone." It is not -- it
           only appears. But you seem to be too much attached to your conclusions; hence the idea arises: "Am
           I getting conned?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In a way, yes, you are being conned out of all your prejudices, out of all your conclusions, out of
           all your knowledge. I am trying to take you into the world of innocence again. I am trying to give
           you a new birth, so that you can become a child again -- full of awe and wonder.
               The child never sees any paradox anywhere -- and that is the beauty of the child. The child can
           be in tremendous love with you and can say, "I cannot live without you even for a single moment,"
           and the next moment he is angry and says, "I will never see your face again." He is total in both his
           statements, and after a few moments he is again sitting in your lap with great joy -- and that too is
           total.
               The child is total each moment, and the child never sees any contradiction. When he is angry, he
           is really anger; and when he is loving, he is really love. He moves from one moment to another
           moment without creating any confusion for himself. He is never confused. He never brings this
           paradox, because he has not yet arrived at conclusions. He does not know how one should be. He
           simply allows himself to be whatsoever is the case -- he flows with life.
               Urja, you have become stagnant somewhere. You have too much knowledge, and that is
           functioning as a barrier. It won't allow you to flow with me, and it won't allow you to flow with my
           people. It won't allow you to flow with life, it won't allow you to flow with God.
               God is both day and night, summer and winter, birth and death...and you have to be capable of
           absorbing all these so-called paradoxes. If you can absorb all these so-called paradoxes, without
           becoming confused, enlightenment is not far away.
               Enlightenment is the state when all paradoxes have disappeared. One simply takes note of life as
           it is. One has no conclusions to compare with, no ideas to judge with. Then how can you be
           confused? You cannot confuse me -- it is impossible -- because I have no conclusions. Without
           conclusions, without knowledge, just taste life as it is. It is a mystery, not a paradox.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I DON'T BELIEVE A WORD ABOUT THIS MYSTERY. NOTHING LIKE THAT EXISTS! MY GUESS IS
              THAT YOU ARE ADVERTISING YOUR NEW COMMUNE BECAUSE THE PRESS OFFICE IS TOO
              LAZY, AND NOT AS CLEVER AS YOU CAN BE.


               Sarjano, it is not a question of believing or not believing -- it is so. The question of belief arises
           only because you are not aware of it. Belief is significant, and disbelief too -- when you are not
           aware of the reality. Then either you believe or you disbelieve.
               I am not saying believe in the mystery I am talking about. I am not saying disbelieve either -- I
           am saying: Come with me! It is so! Let me wake you up...it is so.
               You say, "I don't believe a word about this mystery." It is very good. Please, don't believe a
           word, because if you start believing you will not be able to experience. I am not interested in
           believers, I am interested in inquirers. But please don't start guessing either, because a guess is a
           guess. A guess is not going to help. It will become a belief -- if you go on guessing for a long time,
           and if you go on repeating the same guess again and again, it becomes a belief. You create your own
           belief then, and that will become a barrier.
               And beliefs are such subtle barriers, and disbeliefs too. Remember, whenever I say belief I
           always include disbelief in it -- because that is the other side of the coin. Belief and disbelief, both
           are barriers. Once you have created a belief system around yourself -- either borrowed from others or
           guessed by yourself; either borrowed from the Bible, MEIN KAMPF, DAS KAPITAL,
           BHAGAVADGITA, or guessed by yourself, home-made, it does not matter -- a belief becomes a
           barrier, an invisible barrier. And once it settles, it won't allow you to see anything else that goes
           against it.

               Just the other day I was reading about an experiment. Sarjano, meditate over it.
               A certain naturalist made the following experiment: a glass jar was divided into two halves by a
           perfectly transparent glass partition. On one side of the partition he placed a pike; on the other a
           number of small fishes such as form the prey of the pike.
               The pike did not notice the partition, and hurled itself on its prey with, of course, the result of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only a bruised nose. The same happened many times, and always the same result. At last, seeing all
           its efforts ended so painfully, the pike abandoned the hunt; so that in a few days, when the partition
           had been removed, it continued to swim about among the small fry without daring to attack them....
           Does not the same happen with us?
                Now the partition is no longer there -- it has been removed -- but a belief system has arisen in the
           pike's mind. Now he believes that there is a transparent partition. Now the belief is enough; he never
           goes beyond that partition which is no longer there. Now he can go! Now there is nothing to debar
           him but his belief...he has created a belief. And, of course, out of his experience, Sarjano -- not even
           guesswork -- it was his experience, a repeated experience. He tried again and again and again, and
           each time a bruised nose and pain -- of course, a belief has arisen.
                You have to forgive him -- a poor pike has come to conclude that it is futile: "There is a barrier,
           transparent, so I cannot go..." and he never tries again. He will never try again his whole life. Now
           he can go and eat the fishes, they are available, but he will go only up to a certain line, and from that
           line he will come back.

                This is the situation of human beings too. A Hindu has a barrier around himself, a Mohammedan
           another, a Jaina still another -- all people live hidden behind transparent barriers, and because of
           those barriers they cannot see beyond.
                Life is a mystery, Sarjano. And my commune is going to be just an experiment in total living, an
           experiment in moving into life beyond all barriers -- barriers of belief, barriers of ideologies, barriers
           of Catholicism, and communism...going beyond words.
                Man is not what he appears to be: he is far more. Neither are flowers only what they appear to be
           -- it depends on you. When a scientist goes to a flower, he only sees a part of it, the scientific part of
           it; he has a barrier, a transparent barrier. He never goes beyond that. He will see the scientific part,
           the material part of the flower. The rose is no longer beautiful, because beauty is not his concept. He
           will weigh, measure; he will look into the constituents of the flower, how much color, how much
           water, how much earth etcetera...but he will never think of the beauty.
                When the poet goes, he never bothers about the weight, measurement, earth, water, and other
           elements that constitute the rose. For him, the rose is constituted of pure beauty; it is something from
           the beyond which has descended to the earth. He has a different kind of vision, far bigger than the
           scientist's, far more significant than the scientist's.
                But when a mystic goes to the same flower, he dances -- he dances in tremendous joy, because a
           rose is nothing but God. A rose contains the whole universe for him -- all the stars and all the suns
           and all the moons, all the possible worlds and impossible worlds are contained in the small
           roseflower. It is equivalent to God -- neither less nor more -- exactly equivalent to God. He may
           pray, he may bow down.
                The scientist will laugh, the poet will feel a little puzzled.... The scientist will laugh at the
           stupidity of the mystic: "What is he doing? -- praying to a rose, praying to a tree or praying to a river
           or praying to a mountain? All nonsense, superstition!" He rejects it. He simply denies the world of
           the mystic.
                The poet will feel a little puzzled. Enjoying the beauty of the rose he can understand, but praying
           to the rose, bowing down to the rose, shouting "Alleluia!" to the rose? That he cannot understand.
           That is beyond his perspective. He will feel puzzled. He will think this mystic a little mad.
                The scientist will think him superstitious, ignorant. The poet will think him a little eccentric, a
           little mad -- because he is going beyond his barrier, the mystic is going beyond the barrier of the
           poet. The mystic is going beyond all barriers -- that's why he is called the mystic, because he lives in
           the mysterious.
                Sarjano, what I am saying about the new commune is absolutely true. And I am not saying much
           about it, because it is dangerous to say much about it. I don't want to attract the wrong kind of people
           to it. So just a few hints only for those who will be able to understand the hints. I am speaking in a
           special code which can be understood only by those who are searching for the mysterious and the
           miraculous. Others will be debarred -- not by me, by their own prejudice, by their own transparent
           barrier.
                You can see it happening here! People are coming from all over the world -- who is debarring the
           Poonaites? They are welcome, but they won't come on their own -- their transparent barriers are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enough. And it is good that they are not coming, because they will be only a nuisance here. Only a
           few people from amongst them are coming who are capable of understanding the beyond, the
           incomprehensible, who are capable of comprehending something of the incomprehensible.
               But whether you believe in it or not, listen to this anecdote:

               Two homosexuals are talking. First homosexual: "Have you heard of the latest scientific
           discovery? Normal intercourse causes cancer."
           Second homosexual: "Is that so?"
               First homosexual: "No, of course not! But spread the rumor."

                Sarjano, whether you believe in it or not, please spread the rumor. The rumor has to reach to the
           farthest corners of the earth. Let it be a rumor! Don't be worried. It is up to me to make it a truth or
           not. If I find the right people -- and I am finding them -- it is going to materialize.
                This mystery that I am talking about is going to materialize. But it will be materialized only for
           those who are ready to risk all their prejudices, who are ready to sacrifice all their conclusions.
           Sarjano is one of those people. I trust in him. He has not asked this question for himself, he has
           asked it for others -- because I know he is perfectly mad. He is not only a poet, but just on the verge
           of becoming a mystic. He has asked this question for others, it is not his own heart's question. His
           heart agrees totally with me.
                You cannot hide your hearts from me. The moment you come close to me, the only thing that I
           am interested in is your heart. I talk to your head and I go on looking into your heart. Even in the
           first encounter with me, I know what is possible with you and what is impossible with you.
                I have loved Sarjano from the very first moment. In his head he may have many theories and
           much knowledge and information -- that is not my concern at all. My concern is that he has a
           beautiful heart -- the heart that can be transformed into the heart of a mystic.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              MY UNDERSTANDING ABOUT MYSELF IS THAT ALL MY DOING ARISES OUT OF A DESIRE TO
              COMMUNICATE. EVEN THE SUBTLEST THOUGHT IS A CONVERSATION, AN ATTEMPT TO
              HAVE OTHERS EXPERIENCE AND VERIFY MY EXISTENCE.
              WITH THE REALIZATION THAT I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN EXPERIENCE MY
              EXPERIENCES AND GIVE THEM VALIDITY, ALL OF THIS UNNECESSARY DOING SHOULD
              DISAPPEAR. IT IS SO SIMPLE AND OBVIOUS. WHY DOES NOT THIS REALIZATION REACH TO
              MY INNERMOST CORE?


               Prem Steven, it is not yet a realization -- it is still information, it is still guesswork, it is still
           thinking; on the right track, certainly, in the right direction, true, but it is not a realization yet.
           'Realization' is a great word. One should use that word very cautiously. You can think great
           thoughts, but they don't become your realization by thinking. You can think about God and you can
           come to the conclusion that God is, and you can feel that now there is no doubt in your mind about
           God's existence -- still it is not a realization.
               Realization means precisely realization -- it should become a reality to you, not just an idea!
           Even if a good idea is there, it is still an idea. The idea can't transform you, and the idea can't reach
           to the very core of your being. It remains on the circumference.
               All ideas are peripheral -- just as all waves remain on the surface. The wave cannot go deep into
           the ocean; there is no way for it to go. At the deepest core there are no waves. On the surface a storm
           may be raging, but at the deepest core, the ocean is calm and quiet -- and always so. Only the surface
           can get disturbed.
               All thinking is a disturbance on the circumference of your being. Bad ideas, good ideas, all are
           peripheral. People have this belief that bad ideas are peripheral and good ideas are central -- that's
           not so. Good or bad, it makes no difference. An idea is an idea, and the idea remains peripheral.
           Only witnessing can be at the center.
               So the first thing is to realize that you have not realized yet. Once something is realized, it is
           bound to transform you -- instantly it transforms you. Then the question cannot arise: "It is so simple
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and obvious. Why does not this realization reach to my innermost core?" This "why?" is not possible
           then. If you realize something, your character immediately changes. Your character is a shadow of
           your consciousness. Once the consciousness is new, the whole character becomes new.
               If you ask why, if you ask how to change, then the realization is only an idea -- and don't trust in
           ideas. They deceive you, they are great deceivers, they are false coins. You can go on accumulating
           them believing that you are becoming rich, but one day you will be shattered. The repentance will be
           great and the misery will be great, because all that time you were accumulating those false coins is
           simply wasted. And it cannot be reclaimed -- it is gone forever.
               The second thing...you say, Steven, "My understanding about myself is that all my doing arises
           out of a desire to communicate. Even the subtlest thought is a conversation, an attempt to have others
           experience and verify my existence."
               Why? Why should you want others to verify your existence, to give validity to your existence?
           Because you are suspicious about it, you are doubtful about your existence. You really don't know
           that you are; you know you are only when others say you are. You depend on others' opinions.
               If they say you are beautiful, you think you are beautiful. If they say you are intelligent, you
           think you are intelligent. Hence, you want to impress people -- with your intelligence, with your
           beauty, with all kinds of things you want to impress people, because if you can see something in
           their eyes, that becomes a validity for you.
               That's why it is so enraging when somebody insults you, so damaging to the image when
           somebody calls you an idiot; otherwise, why should you be bothered? It is none of your business. If
           he calls you an idiot, that is HIS problem. Just by his calling you an idiot, you don't become an idiot.
           But you become, because you depend on others' opinions.
               That's how we live in the society. We are continuously trying to impress each other. That's why
           we live as slaves, because if you want to impress other people you have to follow their ideas; only
           then are they impressed. You have to be good the way they want you to be good. If they are
           vegetarians, you have to be vegetarian, then they will be impressed -- they will say you are a saint. If
           they are living a certain kind of life-style, you have to live that; then only will they recognize you.
               You can gain respectability only if you follow people's ideas. It is a mutual understanding that
           you support their ideas so they feel good that their ideas are right; hence they are right. And then
           they support you and they give you respect because you are following right ideas, you are a right
           person. They appreciate you, they shower you with honors, they call you a saint, a sage...it feels very
           gratifying to you. It is gratifying to them because you pay respect to their ideology, and they pay
           respect to your personality. This is a mutual arrangement. And you are both in illusion. You are
           supporting their illusion, they are supporting your illusion. You are partners in the same business of
           hallucination.
               Why should one want to be verified, validated by others? If you know on your own, if you have
           experienced your being and its beauty and its joy and its grandeur and its glory, who cares what
           others say?

               Buddha was passing through a village, and the people of that village were very much against
           Buddha. Why were they against Buddha? -- because Buddha was born in that village, he had lived in
           that village for many years, and the villagers could not believe that a man who was born amongst
           them had become enlightened. It was offensive to their egos!
               That's why Jesus says: A prophet is not respected, is not loved, by his own people. Jesus himself
           was thrown out of his birthplace. He went only once -- after he became enlightened, he went only
           once. And the people were so enraged by his assertion, "I have become realized, I am the Son of
           God," that they took him to the hills to throw him from the mountains. They wanted to kill him. He
           had to escape somehow from their clutches, from their hands. And he never went back there.
               Buddha was passing through the village in which he was born, just somewhere on the border of
           India and Nepal, and the people gathered and started insulting him, abusing him, calling him names.
           And he listened silently for half an hour, and then he said, "It is getting hot and I have to reach the
           other village, and the people will be waiting for me. More time I cannot give you this time. If you
           have any more things to say to me, please wait. When I am coming back, then I will have a little
           more time. You can gather, and you can communicate whatsoever you want to communicate. But
           this time, excuse me. I have to go."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So cool, so calm, and they were really calling him dirty names. They could not believe their eyes.
           They said, "We are not saying something to you -- we are insulting you, we are abusing you! Can't
           you understand what we are saying?"
               Buddha said, "I can hear, I can understand everything that you are saying -- but that is not my
           problem! If you are angry, that is your problem. It is none of my business to interfere in your life. If
           you want to be angry, if you are enjoying it, enjoy! But I am not going to take any nonsense from
           you.
           "In fact, you have come a little late. If you really wanted me to be disturbed, you should have come
           ten years ago. Then I would have been really angry with you. I would have reacted, I would have hit
           you! But now, a great realization has happened that my being does not depend on other people's
           opinions. What you think about me only shows something about you, not about me! I know myself;
           hence I don't depend on anybody's opinions about me. People who are ignorant of their own selves,
           they have to depend on others."

               Steven, this whole mind of communicating with people in an attempt to be verified by them
           simply shows a deep darkness inside; otherwise, there is no need. And I am not saying that when a
           man becomes full of light he stops communication -- no. Only he can communicate, because he has
           something to communicate. What have you got to communicate? What is there that you can share
           with people? You are a beggar, you are begging. When you want to be verified, validated, certified,
           you are begging. You are telling them, "Please say something good to me, something nice, so I can
           feel nice about myself. I am feeling very down, I am feeling very worthless -- give me some worth!
           Make me feel significant." You are begging, it is not communication.
               Communication is possible only when a song has burst forth in your being, when a joy has
           arisen, when a bliss has been experienced -- then you can share. Then not only communication, not
           only verbal communication, but on a far deeper level, communion also starts happening. But then
           you are not a beggar, you are an emperor.
               Only buddhas can commune and communicate. Others have nothing to say, nothing to give. In
           fact, what you are doing while you are talking with people...and people are continuously talking,
           chattering, if not actually, then in their minds -- just as you say that deep in your mind you are also
           always talking with somebody, some imaginary person.... You are saying something from your side,
           and you are also answering from the other side; a continuous chattering, a dialogue inside you.
               This is a state of UNsanity. I will not call it a state of insanity but unsanity. The whole of
           humanity exists in the state of unsanity. The insane person has gone beyond the normal boundary.
           The unsane person is also insane but within boundaries. He remains insane inside, but on the outside
           he goes on behaving in a sane way. So for him I have this word 'unsanity'.
               Sanity happens only when you become so totally silent that all inner chattering disappears. When
           the mind is no more, you are sane. Mind is either unsane -- that is normally insane, or insane -- that
           means abnormally insane. No-mind is sanity. And in no-mind you understand, you realize, not only
           your own being but the being -- the very being -- of existence. Then you have something to share, to
           communicate, to commune, to dance, to celebrate.
               Before that, it is a desperate effort to somehow collect an image of yourself from others'
           opinions. And your image will remain a mess because you will be collecting opinions from so many
           sources -- they will remain contradictory.
               One person thinks you are ugly, hates you, dislikes you; another person thinks you are so
           beautiful, so graceful, that there is nobody who can be compared to you -- you are incomparable.
           Now what are you going to do with these two opinions? You don't know who you are; now these two
           opinions are there -- how can you judge which is right? You would like the opinion to be right which
           says you are beautiful; you don't like the opinion which says that you are ugly. But it is not a
           question of liking or disliking. You cannot be deaf to the other opinion, that too is there. You can
           repress it in the unconscious, but it will remain there.
               You will be collecting opinions from your parents, from your family, from your neighborhood,
           from the people you work with, from the teachers, from the priests...thousands of opinions clamoring
           inside you. And this is how you are going to create an image of yourself. It will be a mess. It will not
           have any face, any form, it will be a chaos. That's how everybody is, a chaos. No order is possible,
           because the very center is missing which can create the order.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That center I call awareness, meditation -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO. This is the
           inexhaustible law, the ultimate law, that only those who become aware know who they are. And
           when they know, then nobody can shake their knowing. Nobody can! The whole world may say one
           thing, but if you know, if you have realized yourself, it doesn't matter.
               The whole world was saying that Jesus was mad. The day he was crucified, there was not a
           single person...thousands had gathered -- not a single person who was in favor of him. All were
           thinking he was mad.
               It was the custom in those days that on particular holidays one criminal could be forgiven. That
           day was a holiday and three persons were being crucified: two thieves and Jesus. Pontius Pilate
           asked the people, "We can forgive one person out of the three. Which one would you like to be
           forgiven?" He was thinking that they would ask for Jesus to be forgiven, but they didn't ask for
           Jesus. They asked for a thief to be forgiven -- not Jesus but a thief, a well-known thief -- the whole
           city knew about him. But they could not forgive the innocent man Jesus. Why?
               But Jesus is not shaken. The whole world may be against him; he knows God is with him. He
           dies with a calm and quiet mind, undistracted, with a prayer on his lips -- a prayer which is unique.
           The last words of Jesus are: "Father, forgive them, because they know not what they are doing.
           Amen...." Forgive them, for they know not what they are doing! They are crucifying him, but his
           heart is full of compassion for all those people.
               When you know, you know so absolutely. When realization happens, it is so ultimate that even if
           the whole world is against it, it makes no difference at all. You don't need any validity from anybody
           else.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I ALWAYS FEEL THAT SEX AND MONEY ARE SOMEHOW DEEPLY CONNECTED WITH
              EACH OTHER?


               Nirmal, they are connected. Money is power; hence it can be used in many ways. It can purchase
           sex, and down the ages that has been the case. Kings have been keeping thousands of wives. Just in
           this century, the twentieth century, just thirty years ago, forty years ago, the nizam of Hyderabad had
           five hundred wives!
               It is said that Krishna had sixteen thousand wives. I used to think that this was too much, but
           when I came to know that the nizam of Hyderabad had five hundred wives just forty years ago, then
           it doesn't seem too much -- only thirty-two times more! It seems humanly possible. If you can
           manage five hundred, why not sixteen thousand?
               All the kings of the world were doing that. Women were used like cattle. In the great kings'
           palaces the women were numbered. It was difficult to remember names, so the king could say to his
           servants, "Bring number four hundred and one" -- because how to remember five hundred names?
           Numbers...just as soldiers are numbered; they don't have names but only numbers. And it makes a lot
           of difference.
               Numbers are absolutely mathematical. Numbers don't breathe, they don't have any heart.
           Numbers don't have any soul. When a soldier dies in the war, on the notice board you simply read,
           "Number 15 died." Now, "Number 15 died" is one thing; if you say exactly the name of the person,
           that is totally different. Then he was a husband and the wife will be a widow now; he was a father
           and the children will be orphans now; he was the only support of his old parents, now there will be
           no support. A family is deserted, the light of a family has disappeared. But when number fifteen dies,
           number fifteen has no wife, remember; number fifteen doesn't have any children, number fifteen
           doesn't have any old parents. Number fifteen is just number fifteen! And number fifteen is
           replaceable -- another person will come and will become number fifteen. But no individual human
           being is replaceable. It is a trick, a psychological trick, to give numbers to soldiers. It helps...nobody
           takes any note of numbers disappearing; new numbers go on coming and replacing the old numbers.
               Wives were numbered, and it depended on how much money you had. In fact, in the old days,
           that was the only way to know how rich a man was; it was a kind of measurement. How many wives
           has he?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now, Hindus, particularly ARYA SAMAJIS, criticize Hazrat Mohammed very much for having
           nine wives -- and they don't think of Krishna who had sixteen thousand wives. And he is not an
           exception, he is the rule. In this country, as in other countries, down the ages, the woman has been
           exploited -- and the way to exploit is money! The whole world has suffered through prostitution, it
           degrades human beings. And what is a prostitute? She has been reduced to a mechanism, and you
           can purchase her with money.
               But remember perfectly well that your wives are not very different either. A prostitute is like a
           taxi, and your wife is like your own car, it is a permanent arrangement. Poor people cannot make
           permanent arrangements, they have to use taxis. Rich people can make permanent arrangements --
           they can have their own cars. And the richer they are, the more cars they can have.
               I know one person who had three hundred and sixty-five cars -- one car for every day. And he
           had one car made in solid gold....
               Money is power, and power can purchase anything. So, Nirmal, you are not wrong that there is
           some connection between sex and money.
               One thing more has to be understood. The person who represses sex becomes more
           money-minded, because money becomes a substitute for sex. Money becomes his love. See the
           greedy person, the money maniac: the way he touches hundred-rupee notes -- he touches them as if
           he is caressing his beloved; the way he looks at gold, look at his eyes -- so romantic. Even great
           poets will feel inferior. Money has become his love, his goddess. In India, people even worship
           money. There is a particular day to worship money -- actual money -- notes and coins, rupees, they
           worship. Intelligent people doing such stupid things!
               Sex can be diverted in many ways. It can become anger if repressed. Hence the soldier has to be
           deprived of sex, so that the sex energy becomes his anger, his irritation, his destructiveness so he can
           be more violent than he ever was. Sex can be diverted into ambition. Repress sex: once sex is
           repressed, you have energy available, you can channel it into any direction. It can become a search
           for political power, it can become a search for more money, it can become a search for fame, name,
           respectability, asceticism, etcetera.
               Man has only one energy -- that energy is sex. There are not many energies within you. And only
           the one energy has been used for all kinds of drives. It is a tremendously potential energy.
               People are after money in the hope that when they have more money, they can have more sex.
           They can have far more beautiful women or men, they can have far more variety. Money gives them
           freedom of choice.
               The person who is free of sexuality, whose sexuality has become a transformed phenomenon, is
           also free of money, is also free of ambition, is also free of the desire to be famous. Immediately all
           these things disappear from his life. The moment sex energy starts rising upwards, the moment sex
           energy starts becoming love, prayer, meditation, then all lower manifestations disappear.
               But sex and money are deeply associated. Your idea, Nirmal, has some truth in it.

                A wizened little client in a fancy whorehouse is heard shouting from the upper floor: "No! Not
           that way! I want it my way, the way we do it in Brooklyn. So quit it! Do it my way or forget it!"
                The madam climbs the stairs and erupts into the girl's room. "What is the matter with you,
           Zelda?" she says. "Give it to him his way."
                She leaves, the girl lies down, and the man makes love to her in perfectly routine fashion. She
           sits up, puts on her dressing gown, lights a cigarette and says, "That's your way, Hymie, huh?"
           "That's it," he says proudly from the bed.
           "That's how you do it in Brooklyn?"
           "Right you are!"
           "So what is so different about it?"
           "In Brooklyn I get it for nothing."

               People can be so obsessed with money, as much as they are obsessed with sex. The obsession
           can be shifted towards money. But money gives you purchasing power and you can purchase
           anything. You cannot purchase love, of course, but you can purchase sex. Sex is a commodity, love
           is not.
               You cannot purchase prayer, but you can purchase priests. Priests are commodities -- prayer is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not a commodity. And that which can be purchased is ordinary, mundane. That which cannot be
           purchased is sacred. Remember it: the sacred is beyond money, the mundane is always within
           money's power.
           And sex is the most mundane thing in the world.

               A man enters a modern Chicago whorehouse-nightclub run by the gangland syndicate which is
           now planning to streamline its image. The whorehouse takes up various floors of a skyscraper hotel,
           and he is received by a lovely young receptionist in a sexy uniform, who sits him at a teakwood
           interview desk and asks how much money he wants to spend. She explains that prices range from
           five dollars up to one thousand dollars, depending on the quality and number of girls wanted.
           Everything is shown on the television intercom. The higher prices are for the lower floors, which
           have higher ceilings, mirrors over the beds, three and four girls in bed with you at one time, etcetera.
           Lower prices are for lesser delights, ending with five dollars for a "coal-black nigger mammy with
           big nostrils," as the lovely young receptionist explains.
               The client thinks it over. "Haven't you anything cheaper than five?" he asks at last.
           "Of course," says the receptionist. "Seventh floor -- roof garden. One dollar a shot. Self-service."

              Money is certainly associated with sex, because sex can be purchased. And anything that can be
           purchased is part of the world of money.
              Remember one thing: your life will remain empty if you know only things which can be
           purchased, if you know only things which can be sold. Your life will remain utterly futile if your
           acquaintance is only with commodities. Become acquainted with things which cannot be purchased
           and cannot be sold -- then for the first time you start growing wings, for the first time you start
           soaring high.

               One great king, Bimbisara, reached Mahavira. He had heard that Mahavira had attained
           DHYANA -- meditation, samadhi. In Jaina terminology it is called SAMAYIK -- the ultimate state
           of prayer or meditation. Bimbisara had everything of this world. He became worried: "What is this
           samayik? What is this samadhi?" He could not rest at ease, because now for the first time he was
           aware that there was one thing he had not got -- and he was not a man to remain contented without
           getting anything that took his fancy.
               He traveled to the mountains, found Mahavira, and said, "How much do you want for your
           samayik? I have come to purchase it. I can give you anything you desire, but give me this samayik,
           this samadhi, this meditation -- what is this? Where is it? First let me look at it!"
               Mahavira was surprised at the whole stupidity of the king, but he was a very polite man, soft,
           graceful. He said, "You need not have traveled so far. In your own capital I have a follower who has
           attained to the same state, and he is so poor that he may be willing to sell it. I am not willing,
           because I don't need any money. You can see I am naked, I don't need any clothes, I am utterly
           satisfied -- I don't have any needs, so what will I do with your money? Even if you give me your
           whole kingdom I am not going to accept it. I had my own kingdom -- that I have renounced. I had all
           that you have got!"
               And Bimbisara knew it, that Mahavira had had all and had renounced, so it was difficult to
           persuade this man to sell. Certainly, money meant nothing to him. So he said, "Okay, who is this
           man? Give me his address."
               And Mahavira told him, "He is very poor, lives in the poorest part of your city. You may never
           have visited that part. This is the address...you go and ask him. He is your subject, he can sell it to
           you, and he is in much need. He has a wife and children and a big family and is really poor."
               It was a joke. Bimbisara returned happy, went directly to the poor parts of his capital where he
           had never been. People could not believe their eyes -- his golden chariot and thousands of soldiers
           following him.
               They stopped in front of the poor man's hut. The poor man came, touched the feet of the king,
           and said, "What can I do? Just order me."
               The king said, "I have come to purchase the thing called samadhi, meditation, and I am ready to
           pay any price you ask."
               The poor man started crying, tears rolled down his cheeks, and he said, "I am sorry. I can give
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you my life, I can die for you right now, I can cut off my head -- but how can I give you my
           samadhi? It is not sellable, it is not purchasable -- it is not a commodity at all. It is a state of
           consciousness. Mahavira must have played a joke on you."

               Unless you know something which cannot be sold and cannot be purchased, unless you know
           something which is beyond money, you have not known real life. Sex is not beyond money -- love
           is. Transform your sex into love, and transform your love into prayer -- so one day even kings like
           Bimbisara may feel jealous of you. Become a Mahavira, a Buddha, become a Christ, a Zarathustra, a
           Lao Tzu. Only then have you lived, only then have you known the mysteries of life!
               Money and sex are the lowest, and people are living only in the world of money and sex -- and
           they think they are living. They are not living, they are only vegetating, they are only dying. This is
           not life. Life has many more kingdoms to be revealed, an infinite treasure which is not of this world.
           Neither sex can give it to you, nor money. But you can attain to it.
               You can use your sex energy to attain it, and you can use your money power to attain it. Of
           course, it cannot be attained by money or by sex, but you can use your sex energy, your money
           power, in such an artful way that you can create a space in which the beyond can descend.
               I am not against sex, and I am not against money, remember it. Always remember! But I am
           certainly for helping you go beyond them -- I am certainly for going beyond.
               Use everything as a step. Don't deny anything. If you have money, you can meditate more easily
           than the poor person. You can have more time to yourself. You can have a small temple in your
           house; you can have a garden, rosebushes, where meditation will be easier. You can allow yourself a
           few holidays in the mountains, you can go into isolation and live without worry. If you have money,
           use it for something which money cannot purchase, but for which money can create a space.
               Sexual energy is a wastage if it only remains confined to sex, but it becomes a great blessing if it
           starts transforming its quality: sex not for sex' sake -- use sex as a communion of love. Use sex as a
           meeting of two souls, not only of two bodies. Use sex as a meditative dance of two persons' energies.
           And the dance is far richer when man and woman are dancing together -- and sex is the ultimate in
           dance: two energies meeting, merging, dancing, rejoicing.
               But use it as a stepping-stone, as a jumping-board. And when you reach the climax of your sex
           orgasm, become aware of what is happening, and you will be surprised -- time has disappeared, mind
           has disappeared, ego has disappeared. For a moment there is utter silence. This silence is the real
           thing!
               This silence can be attained through other means, too, and with less wastage of energy. This
           silence, this mindlessness, this timelessness, can be attained through meditation. In fact, if a person
           consciously goes into his sex experience, he is bound to become a meditator sooner or later. His
           consciousness of the sex experience is bound to make him aware that the same can happen without
           any sexuality involved in it. The same can happen just sitting silently by yourself, doing nothing.
           The mind can be dropped, time can be dropped, and the moment you drop mind and time and the
           ego, you are orgasmic.
               The sexual orgasm is very momentary, and whatsoever is momentary brings frustration in its
           wake, brings misery and unhappiness and sadness and repentance. But the quality of being orgasmic
           can become a continuity in you, a continuum -- it can become your very flavor. But it is possible
           only through meditation, not through sex alone.
               Use sex, use money, use the body, use the world, but we have to reach God. Let God remain
           always the goal.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #5
                                     Chapter title: In the litter of the wayside
           5 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 7907050
              ShortTitle: DHAM205
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              THE PERFUME OF SANDALWOOD,
              ROSEBAY, OR JASMINE,
              CANNOT TRAVEL AGAINST THE WIND.



              BUT THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE
              TRAVELS EVEN AGAINST THE WIND,
              AS FAR AS THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.



              HOW MUCH FINER
              IS THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE
              THAN OF SANDALWOOD, ROSEBAY,
              OF THE BLUE LOTUS, OR JASMINE!



              THE FRAGRANCE OF SANDALWOOD OR ROSEBAY
              DOES NOT TRAVEL FAR.
              BUT THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE
              RISES TO THE HEAVENS.



              DESIRE NEVER CROSSES THE PATH
              OF VIRTUOUS AND WAKEFUL MEN.
              THEIR BRIGHTNESS SETS THEM FREE.



              HOW SWEETLY THE LOTUS GROWS
              IN THE LITTER OF THE WAYSIDE.
              ITS PURE FRAGRANCE DELIGHTS THE HEART.



              FOLLOW THE AWAKENED
              AND FROM AMONG THE BLIND
              THE LIGHT OF YOUR WISDOM
              WILL SHINE OUT PURELY.


               Man is not a being but only a becoming. Man is a process, a growth, a possibility, a potentiality.
           Man is not yet actual. Man has to be, he has yet to arrive. Man is born not as an essence but only as
           an existence...a great space where much can happen, or nothing may happen -- it all depends on you.
               Man has to create himself. He is not ready-made, he is not given. And the creation has to be a
           self-creation -- nobody else can make you. You are not a thing, a commodity; you cannot be
           produced or manufactured. You have to self-create yourself, you have to become awakened on your
           own, nobody can wake you up.
               This is man's grandeur, his glory, that he is the only being on the earth who is not a being but a
           freedom to be. All other beings are already fixed, patterned. They bring a blueprint, and they simply
           follow the blueprint. The parrot will become a parrot, the dog will become a dog, the lion a lion;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no question of the lion being somebody else. But with man it is relevant to ask whether he is
           really a man.
               Each lion is really a lion, and each elephant is an elephant too, but man is a question mark. A
           man may be a man, may not be. A man can fall below the animals, and a man can rise above the
           gods. That ultimate state above the gods is buddhahood -- the awakening, the ultimate awakening,
           the realization of your potential in its totality.
               The buddha is above gods. This was one of the reasons Hindus could not forgive Gautama the
           Buddha, because he said the buddha is above the gods. Gods are also asleep; of course, their dreams
           are nice, their dreams are not nightmares, they live in heaven. Their lives are only of pleasure.
           Heaven is nothing but pure hedonism, the very idea is hedonistic. Hell is just the opposite. Hell is
           pain, heaven is pleasure; hell is a nightmare, heaven a sweet dream. But dreams ARE dreams; sweet
           or bitter, it does not matter.
               The gods are also asleep and dreaming beautiful dreams. The buddha is awakened, he is no
           longer dreaming. The Buddhist scriptures say: The day Siddhartha Gautam became a buddha gods
           came from the sky to worship him, to wash his feet. Hindus could not forgive this idea, because for
           them the gods in heaven -- Indra and other gods -- are the suprememost. And look at the arrogance of
           the Buddhists who say gods came from heaven to wash the feet of a human being.
               Buddhism raised humanity to its highest pinnacle. No other religion has done that. Man becomes
           the center of existence. God is not the center of existence, according to Buddha, but the man who has
           become awakened. The periphery consists of those who are asleep and blind, and the center consists
           of those who have eyes, who are awakened. Gods are simply dropped; they are no longer relevant.
           What Nietzsche did after two thousand years, Buddha had done already.
               A great poet, Chandidas, was very much impressed by Gautam Buddha -- and who will not be
           impressed by this man? He has said: SABAR UPAR MANUS SATYA, TAHAR UPAR NAHIN --
           the truth of man is the highest truth, there is no other truth higher than that. But let me remind you
           again: when Buddha talks about man, he talks about the realized man, not about you -- you are only
           on the way, you are only in the process. You are a seed.
               The seed can have four possibilities. The seed may remain a seed forever, closed, windowless,
           not in communion with existence, dead, because life means communion with existence. The seed IS
           dead, it has not yet communicated with the earth, with the sky, with the air, with the wind, with the
           sun, with the stars. It has not yet made any attempt to have a dialogue with all that exists. It is utterly
           lonely, enclosed, encapsulated into itself, surrounded by a China Wall. The seed lives in its own
           grave.
               The first possibility is that the seed may remain a seed. That is very unfortunate -- a man may
           remain simply a seed. With all the potential at your disposal, with all the blessings ready to shower
           on you, you may never open your doors.
               The second possibility is that the seed may be courageous enough, may dive deep into the soil,
           may die as an ego, may drop its armor, may start a communion with existence, may become one with
           the earth. Great courage is needed, because who knows? -- this death may be ultimate, there may be
           no birth following it. What is the guarantee? There is no guarantee; it is a gamble. Only a few men
           gather courage enough to gamble, to risk.
               To be a sannyasin is the beginning of the gamble. You are risking your life, you are risking your
           ego. You are risking because you are dropping all your securities, all your safety arrangements. You
           are opening windows...who knows who is going to come in -- the friend or the enemy? Who knows?
           You are becoming vulnerable. That's what sannyas is all about. That's what Buddha was teaching his
           whole life. Forty-two years continuously, transforming seeds into plants -- that was his work --
           transforming ordinary human beings into sannyasins.
               A sannyasin is a plant, a sprout -- soft, delicate. The seed is never in danger, remember. What
           danger can there be for the seed? It is absolutely protected. But the plant is always in danger, the
           plant is very soft. The seed is like a stone, hard, hidden behind a hard crust. But the plant has to pass
           through a thousand and one hazards. That is the second stage: the seed dissolving into the soil, the
           man disappearing as an ego, disappearing as a personality, becoming a plant.
               The third possibility, which is even more rare, because not all plants are going to attain to that
           height where they can bloom into flowers, a thousand and one flowers.... Very few human beings
           attain to the second stage, and very few of those who attain the second stage attain the third, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stage of the flower. Why can't they attain the third stage, the stage of the flower? Because of greed,
           because of miserliness, they are not ready to share...because of a state of unlovingness.
               Courage is needed to become a plant, and love is needed to become a flower. A flower means the
           tree is opening up its heart, releasing its perfume, giving its soul, pouring its being into existence.
           The seed CAN become a plant although it is difficult to drop the armor, but in one way it is simple.
           The seed will only be gathering more and more, accumulating more and more; the seed only takes
           from the soil. The tree only takes from the water, from the air, from the sun; its greed is not
           disturbed, on the contrary, its ambition is fulfilled. It goes on becoming bigger and bigger. But a
           moment comes when you have taken so much that now you have to share. You have been benefited
           so much, now you have to serve. God has given you so much, now you have to thank, be grateful --
           and the only way to be grateful is to shower your treasures, give them back to existence, be as
           unmiserly as existence has been with you. Then the tree grows into flowers, it blossoms.
               And the fourth stage is that of fragrance. The flower is still gross, it is still material, but the
           fragrance is subtle, it is almost something nonmaterial. You cannot see it, it is invisible. You can
           only smell it, you cannot grab it, you cannot grasp it. A very sensitive understanding is needed to
           have a dialogue with the fragrance. And beyond fragrance there is nothing. The fragrance disappears
           into the universe, becomes one with it.
               These are the four stages of the seed, and these are the four stages of man too. Don't remain a
           seed. Gather courage -- courage to drop the ego, courage to drop the securities, courage to drop the
           safeties, courage to be vulnerable. But then don't remain a tree, because a tree without flowers is
           poor. A tree without flowers is empty, a tree without flowers is missing something very essential. It
           has no beauty -- without love there is no beauty. And it is only through flowers that the tree shows its
           love. It has taken so much from the sun and the moon and from the earth; now it is time to give!
               Life has to attain a balance always. You have taken so much, now give it. Become a flower!
           Only when you become a flower is there a possibility of disappearing as a fragrance. But then too,
           remember, don't remain a closed flower, don't remain a bud; otherwise your fragrance will not be
           released. And unless your fragrance is released, you are not free, you are in a bondage.
               This bondage Buddha calls SANSARA -- the world. And he calls the freedom, the freedom of
           the fragrance, nirvana: total cessation, disappearance, dissolution. The part disappears into the
           whole, the dewdrop slips into the ocean and becomes the ocean. The day you disappear and become
           the ocean is the day when in one sense you are no more, and in another sense you are for the first
           time -- you have attained beinghood.
               This beinghood is real godhood. This beinghood, this crystallized, oceanic experience, is
           liberation, salvation, MOKSHA, KAIVALYA, nirvana. You can use any word that you want to use
           but they all mean the same: absolute freedom of the soul, with no boundaries, with no limitations.

           The sutras:

              THE PERFUME OF SANDALWOOD,
              ROSEBAY, OR JASMINE,
              CANNOT TRAVEL AGAINST THE WIND.


               Obviously! The fragrance of sandalwood, rosebay or jasmine is part of the material world. It can
           travel only with the wind, not against the wind. It has to follow the laws of matter. It IS matter.
           Because it has to follow the laws of matter it is not really free -- free only in a relative sense. The
           fragrance is more free than the flower, the flower is more free than the tree, the tree is more free than
           the seed. But these freedoms are only relative, not absolute.
               And Buddha says, remember: the target is absolute freedom, transcendence of all laws. It is only
           in transcending all laws that you will become part of the ultimate law: AES DHAMMO
           SANANTANO. It is only by transcending all limitations of gross matter that you will be able to
           become as infinite as the sky.
               Unless you become universal you have not attained to your potential. You are meant to become
           universal, and you have become small persons, confined, almost as if you are living in a prison cell,
           dark and dismal, no door, no window, an ugly existence, surrounded by all kinds of pathologies --
           ego, greed, anger, lust, jealousy, possessiveness. These are your companions. What fragrance have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you experienced in life?
                You have not yet known love without lust. You have not known yet any state where no limitation
           exists. You are bound to certain very gross laws. You are part of the gravitation, you have not yet
           known anything of grace. You go on and on downwards, because those laws of gravitation go on
           pulling you downwards. You don't know how to rise, soar upwards. You don't know anything about
           levitation.
                In science, they don't talk about levitation, they only talk about gravitation, the downward pull.
           But this is such a simple phenomenon to understand, that in nature everything is balanced by its
           polar opposite. If there is a downward pull, gravitation, then there must be an upward pull to balance
           it -- that is levitation. In a more poetic language it is called grace.
                There are two laws: the law of gravitation, the earthly law, gross, material; and the law of grace,
           the divine law, what Buddha calls the divine law -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- the eternal,
           inexhaustible law, the divine law, which pulls you upwards.
              THE PERFUME OF SANDALWOOD, ROSEBAY, OR JASMINE, CANNOT TRAVEL AGAINST THE
              WIND.

               It has certain absolute limitations, it can only ride on the wind. It cannot have its own will, it is
           not really free. Unless you can exist in total freedom, something is missing. If you have to follow the
           laws, then you are a prisoner. The laws may give you enough rope, but still you are a prisoner.
               That's how things are: if enough rope is given to you, you forget about the prison. For example,
           these so-called nations -- India, Pakistan, Japan, Germany -- these are all great prisons, but they are
           so great that you cannot see the boundaries of your prison. Cross the boundaries of your nation and
           you will see that you were a prisoner. But the prison is big enough; you can move in the prison
           anywhere you want. But move out of the prison, try to enter another prison, and then you will see the
           limitation.
               These are man-made prisons; big enough so they can give you a false feeling of freedom, but
           there is no freedom. Unless all nations disappear from the world, the earth will remain a slave,
           humanity will remain in prisons, small and big. But it makes no difference whether the prison is very
           big and you cannot see the wall surrounding it.... The walls may be very subtle -- of passports and
           visas -- the walls may be VERY subtle, you may not see them, but they are there. You are not free to
           move.
               Almost all the constitutions of the world say that the freedom of movement is the birthright of
           every human being, but it is only written in the books, it is not true. You cannot move freely. If you
           want to go to Russia, impossible; if you want to enter into China, impossible.
               Nations have become such great prisons, and your presidents and your so-called prime ministers
           are all nothing but jailors. Those who talk about freedom are nothing but policemen. They say they
           are guarding you for your own safety, but in fact they are prison wardens watching so that you
           cannot escape.

           I have heard:
               An old Russian was dying, and he heard a knock on the door. He asked, "Who is there?"
           And some very ghostly voice said, "Death."
               The old Russian said, "Thank God! I was thinking it is the secret police."

               And there are prisons within prisons like Chinese boxes -- boxes within boxes.... India is a big
           prison; then there are Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians and Sikhs and Jainas and Buddhists
           -- now these are small prisons. The Christian can go to the church, he cannot go to the temple; the
           Hindu can go to the temple, he cannot go to the church. He has been taught and conditioned that the
           church is not a religious place; the Christian has been told that the church is the only right place to
           go -- all other religions are false, and all other religions lead you astray. Unless you are a Christian
           you cannot be saved. And then within Christianity there are Catholics and Protestants, and then
           among Protestants and Catholics there are smaller and smaller subsects. And prisons become smaller
           and smaller.
               Then there are political prisons: somebody is a communist and somebody is a socialist, and
           somebody is a capitalist...and so on and so forth. And you are not satisfied even with these: then you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           make Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs.... Your thirst to be a prisoner is such that you can't simply be a
           human being. You have to be a Rotarian and you proudly declare, "I am a Rotarian," "I am a Lion."
           You are not satisfied with being simply a human being, you have to be a Lion. And then there are
           smaller and smaller confinements.
              Rather than getting out of these prison cells, we go on decorating them, we go on making them
           more and more comfortable. We are living under the law of gravitation, we are living as prisoners.
           We cannot go against the wind -- our life is gross. Buddha says: Be aware of it: what are you doing
           with your life? Reconsider, meditate over it, what you have made of yourself.

              BUT THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE
              TRAVELS EVEN AGAINST THE WIND,
              AS FAR AS THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.


                Buddha says: But there is a flowering of your inner being, which is far more beautiful than
           sandalwood, rosebay or jasmine. Its beauty is its absolute freedom. It can go against the wind. The
           really virtuous man lives in freedom; he follows no commandments, he follows no scriptures, he
           follows nobody else but his own inner light. He lives according to his heart -- he is a rebel.
                But Buddha is talking about the fragrance of real virtue. He is not talking about the so-called
           righteous, he is not talking about the so-called "people of character," your so-called saints and
           mahatmas -- he is not talking about them. They are not free people. In fact, the fragrance of
           sandalwood, rosebay and jasmine is far more free than your so-called saints. They live according to
           man-made laws. The fragrance of rosewood, the fragrance of sandalwood, the fragrance of other
           flowers, at least follow the laws of nature. But your saints, your so-called virtuous people, they
           follow laws which are man-made -- laws made by blind people, laws made by ignorant people, laws
           made by people who are not yet awakened, who know nothing of awareness.
                Who makes your laws? Who makes your Constitutions? Who is responsible for running the
           society and arranging and managing the society? Just people as blind as you, maybe more learned,
           maybe more informed. But it makes no difference whether a blind man is more informed about light
           or less informed about light -- a blind man is a blind man. Just watch your saints, and you will be
           surprised! -- they live in far deeper bondage than ordinary people.
                A Jaina monk wanted to come to see me. He sent a message that he had been longing to see me
           for many years, and now he was in the town and he wanted to see me. But his followers didn't allow
           him, the Jainas don't allow him to come to this commune. Now what kind of saint is this man whose
           followers decide where he should go and where he should not go? But there is a mutual arrangement:
           the followers call him a saint, they worship him, now he has to concede, compromise. He has to
           follow the followers.
                Your so-called saints and leaders are followers of their own followers. It is such a stupid world,
           so ridiculous, the whole situation. On the surface it seems the saint is the decisive factor; he gives
           people advice to follow him. But if you look deep down, you will be surprised -- the saint is
           following his own followers. In fact, they decide. And they have decisive power because they can
           worship you and they can insult you. They can worship you if you follow them, if you go according
           to the ideas, prejudices, that they carry in their minds; otherwise you are no longer a saint. They can
           degrade you -- they have the power to raise you to sainthood or to degrade you to being a sinner. If
           you want to be a saint you have to follow all kinds of stupidities. You may know deep down that this
           is stupid.
                I sent him a message saying, "This is stupid, ridiculous! Why should you ask your followers?
           Who is the follower, you or they? Why should you ask them?"
                He said, "You are right, but I have to depend on them. At my age I cannot leave them because I
           have never worked in my life. I depend for my food, for my clothes, for everything on them."
                Now you see the arrangement. This is called spirituality, and the arrangement is financial!
                A really virtuous man is certainly free, and is so free that he can go against the wind, he can go
           against the whole society, he can go against the whole past, he can go against all conventions. In
           fact, he does -- because in going against all the conventions and the dead past he asserts his freedom.
                It is because of this that I am being condemned all over this country and now, slowly slowly, all
           over the world. The only reason is that they wanted me to go with the wind, they wanted me to be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conventional, orthodox. They were ready to worship me, they had come many times to me saying
           that if I could simply follow the traditional religion they would worship me as a saint. I said, "I am
           not interested in being worshipped or in being a saint. I want just simply to be myself. And I am not
           going to compromise with anybody, whoever he is. Compromise is not my way."
               Because I am going against the wind they are very much offended. But if you are virtuous...and
           what is virtue? It is not some character cultivated from the outside. Virtue is the fragrance of
           meditativeness, virtue is the fragrance of the flower of meditation; hence, I say it is not
           righteousness, it is not moralistic.

           I have heard:
               The town whore in Jerusalem is being stoned. When Jesus says, "Let whoever is without sin
           among you cast the first stone," an old lady struggles over with an enormous rock, drops it on the
           town whore's head and polishes the bitch off.
               Jesus looks down and says, "You know, mother, sometimes you really piss me off."

               The righteous, the moralistic, the puritan, is always ready...in fact his whole joy is how to
           condemn, how to send more and more people to hell, how to crucify people, how to kill and destroy.
           He is ready to suffer, he is ready to be a masochist, he is ready to go through all kinds of foolish
           austerities, just to enjoy the feeling of superiority, the feeling of holier-than-thou, the feeling that
           "You are all sinners and I am a saint."
               The real saint has a totally different quality. He is not moralistic; he knows how to forgive,
           because he knows God has forgiven him so much. He knows human limitations, because he himself
           has suffered through those human limitations. He can forgive. He is understanding.
               The moralist is never understanding, he is never forgiving; he cannot forgive because he has
           been so hard with himself. He has attained to his so-called character with such difficulty that the
           only joy, the only pleasure that he can get is that of holier-than-thou. How can he forgive? If he
           forgives then he cannot enjoy the egoistic trip that he has been on.
               The ascetic is the most egoistic person in the world. The virtuous person is not an ascetic.

           The story is told about Buddha himself:
               For six years when he left his palace he lived through great austerities -- that was the traditional
           way of seeking and searching for the truth. He tortured his body, he fasted, he fasted so much that it
           is said that he became absolutely thin, just bones; you could have counted his ribs. He became so
           thin that his stomach was touching his back -- there was nothing left between the stomach and the
           back. He became so weak that he could not cross a small river, the Niranjana. I had been to the place
           just to see. The Niranjana is such a small river, and it was not the rainy season, but he could not
           cross, he could not swim the river. He must have been utterly weak.
               That day, a great revelation happened to him: "I have been doing unnecessary violence to
           myself." He had five followers; they were all ascetics and they had become followers of Buddha
           because he was far ahead of them. They could only do so much, but he was doing many times more;
           hence they were followers. That evening Buddha decided, "It is stupid to torture the body, and how
           can you attain to the soul by torturing the body? There seems to be no logical relationship." And he
           saw, "If I cannot even cross the river, the poor river Niranjana, how am I going to cross this huge
           ocean of the world? The body needs food, the body needs nourishment, the body needs strength, so
           that I can meditate, so that I can contemplate, so that I can inquire, with zest, enthusiasm, energy."
               He decided to drop all austerities. His five disciples immediately left him. They said, "Gautam
           has fallen from his holy state, he is no longer a saint." They left him immediately; they were not with
           HIM. They were only with him because of his masochistic life-style -- they must have been
           masochists themselves.
               And Gautam Buddha became enlightened the next day. Dropping all austerities, dropping all that
           unnecessary inner conflict, that civil war, he became so quiet, so silent, that the next morning he
           could see, he became perceptive. In his silence, all turmoil, all chattering was dissolved. In the early
           morning as the sun was rising, he started rising within his being. He was awakened, he became a
           buddha.
               Virtue came out of silence, out of meditativeness, out of relaxation -- not out of effort, not out of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tension, not out of struggle. He went in search of his five old followers to give them the message:
           "Don't torture yourselves anymore. This has nothing to do with holiness. This has nothing to do with
           religion."
                Meditation has to happen first, then character comes as a shadow to it. And if meditation does
           not happen, then your character is just a hypocrisy and nothing else. Your saints are great hypocrites;
           they say one thing, they think another, maybe just the opposite. They do one thing, but they want to
           do something exactly the opposite. On the surface they show one thing, but deep down they are just
           its contrary.

              A girl confesses that she let her boyfriend put his hand on her knee. "And is that ALL he did?"
           asks the priest.
           "No. He slid his finger under the elastic of my panties too."
           "And then what?"
           "And then he spread open my fuzz and began to tickle my doo-funny."
           "And then? And then?"
           "And then my mother walked in."
           "Oh shit!" says the priest.

               These priests, these saints, they are far more ugly than you are, far more ugly than you ever can
           be, because they are far more split, divided. They are so much repressed that their conscious and
           unconscious have fallen apart. They preach one thing, they practice another. At their front door you
           will find one person, at the back door you will find a totally different person. You will not even be
           able to recognize them -- they wear masks.
               These are not virtuous people. Buddha is not talking about such virtue, he is talking about the
           virtue that arises out of the flowering of meditation. Buddha is insistent on DHYANA -- meditation.
           That is his basic contribution to the world. His most fundamental approach is that first you have to
           become awakened at the center, then your circumference will be full of light -- of its own accord, not
           vice versa.
               You have been told by the priest to first practice character, and then your center will change.
           That is nonsense. The center can never follow the circumference, because the center is far more
           important, far more basic -- it is the center, it CANNOT follow the circumference. But the
           circumference always follows the center. Transform the center first, and don't be worried about the
           circumference. That's my insistence too, there I absolutely agree with Buddha. Meditation first, and
           then all else shall follow of its own accord.
               Jesus says: Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all else shall be added unto you.
               What Jesus says with "kingdom of God" Buddha says with "meditation." Buddha's words are far
           more scientific than Jesus'. Jesus is more a poet than Buddha; Jesus talks more in parables than
           Buddha. Buddha talks in a clear-cut, logical, mathematical way. He is a man who does not want to
           say anything in any way which can be interpreted in many ways. He does not want to use poetry,
           because poetry is vague, can have many interpretations. He talks as a mathematician, he talks as a
           logician, so that each word has a fixed meaning and a fixed connotation.
              ...THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE TRAVELS EVEN AGAINST THE WIND, AS FAR AS THE ENDS
              OF THE WORLD.



              HOW MUCH FINER
              IS THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE
              THAN OF SANDALWOOD, ROSEBAY,
              OF THE BLUE LOTUS, OR JASMINE!


               The fragrance of a blue lotus or jasmine or sandalwood is fine, subtle, but compared to the
           fragrance of virtue it is very gross. Virtue really has a fragrance, and it travels to the farthest corners
           of the world.
               How have you come here to me? From different corners of the world you have traveled,
           sometimes not even exactly clear as to why; but something has been pulling you, some unknown
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           force has moved your heart, something has been felt by the deepest core of your being. Sometimes
           you have come even against yourself. Your mind was saying, "Don't go! There is no need to go
           anywhere." Still you have come. You must have smelled a perfume -- a perfume which has nothing
           to do with the visible. It is an invisible phenomenon.
                Many, many more people will be coming soon. The fragrance is reaching them, is bound to
           reach. Anybody anywhere who is really in search of truth is bound to come. It is irresistible, it HAS
           to happen. That's how it has been happening all along, down the ages. Thousands of people traveled
           to Buddha, thousands of people traveled to Mahavira, to Lao Tzu, to Zarathustra -- for no reason at
           all, because whatsoever they were saying was available in the scriptures.
                What I am saying here you can read in the Bhagavadgita, in the Bible, in the Koran, in THE
           DHAMMAPADA, what I am saying you can find easily in the Upanishads, in the TAO TEH
           CHING -- but you will not find the fragrance. Those are flowers -- old, dead, dried up. You can keep
           a roseflower in your Bible; soon it will be dry, the fragrance will be gone, it will be only a corpse, a
           remembrance of the real flower. So are the scriptures. They have to be made alive again by another
           buddha; otherwise they cannot breathe.
                That's why I am speaking on THE DHAMMAPADA, on the Gita, on the Bible -- to let them
           breathe again. I can breathe life into them. I can share my fragrance with them, I can pour my
           fragrance into them. Hence, the Christian who is really a Christian, not just by social conditioning
           but because of a great love for Christ, he will find Christ alive again in my words. Or if somebody is
           a Buddhist he will find in my words Buddha speaking again -- in twentieth-century language, with
           twentieth-century people.
                HOW MUCH FINER IS THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE THAN OF SANDALWOOD,
           ROSEBAY, OF THE BLUE LOTUS OR JASMINE! It is so fine it can travel against the wind, it
           can travel against all the laws. It can go against gravitation, it can rise upwards, it can reach the
           highest skies.

              THE FRAGRANCE OF SANDALWOOD OR ROSEBAY
              DOES NOT TRAVEL FAR.
              BUT THE FRAGRANCE OF VIRTUE
              RISES TO THE HEAVENS.


               The fragrance of the flowers cannot travel far. It is momentary, it is finite; it can go only so far
           and then it disappears. But the fragrance of buddhahood can travel to the very ends of the world
           because it is infinite, AND it is something beyond time, beyond space. In fact, even when the body
           of a buddha is gone, the fragrance continues to travel.
               Those who are really perceptive, sensitive, can catch hold of it even when a buddha has been
           gone for centuries. It is possible to be a contemporary of Buddha even now, to have a communion
           with Jesus even now. The flower is no more, but the fragrance has become part of the universe -- the
           trees have it, the winds have it, the clouds have it. Now Jesus is not in the physical body, but Jesus
           has become universal. If you know how to drink out of the universal, if you know how to contact the
           universal, you will be surprised: all the buddhas become alive because they are all contemporary,
           time makes no difference.
               That's my whole effort here: to make you contemporaries of Jesus, of Buddha, of Zarathustra, of
           Lao Tzu. If you can be contemporaries of these awakened souls, what is the point of remaining
           contemporaries to your ordinary world and its ordinary citizens, the so-called human beings, who
           have nothing of humanity in them, who have not yet become beings, who are just hollow, empty,
           meaningless? What is the point of living in the neighborhood of empty cells when you can be a
           neighbor of Gautama the Buddha?
               Yes, that is possible -- it is possible by transcending time and space. And in meditation you
           transcend both. In meditation you don't know where you are, you don't know the time, you don't
           know the space. In meditation, time and space both disappear -- you simply are.
               That moment, when you simply are, Buddha is just by your side; you are surrounded by buddhas
           of all the ages. You will be living for the first time a life worth living, a life of significance: when
           you can hold hands with buddhas and krishnas, when you can dance with Krishna and sing with
           Meera and sit with Kabir. It is possible -- because only the flowers have disappeared, but the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fragrance is eternal. It cannot disappear.
               And then all the scriptures become alive for you. Then reading the Bible, you are not just reading
           a book -- then Moses speaks to you, Abraham speaks to you, Jesus speaks to you, face-to-face!

              DESIRE NEVER CROSSES THE PATH
              OF VIRTUOUS AND WAKEFUL MEN.
              THEIR BRIGHTNESS SETS THEM FREE.


                Desire means greed for more and more. Desire means discontent, discontent with what is,
           discontent with the present; hence you seek contentment in your hopes for the future. Today is
           empty; you can live only by the hope of tomorrow. The tomorrow will bring something...although
           many tomorrows have come and gone and that something never happens, but you go on hoping
           against hope. Only death will come.
                Desires are never fulfilled. In the very nature of things they cannot be fulfilled. The wakeful
           person looks into the desiring mind and laughs. The desiring mind is the most stupid mind, because
           it is desiring something which cannot be fulfilled in the very nature of things. Just as you cannot get
           oil through sand -- you can go on and on working on the sand, but you will not get oil out of it, it
           does not exist in the sand, it is impossible -- exactly like that, desire is just a deception.
                It keeps you occupied -- obviously, that's its whole purpose -- it keeps you occupied, it keeps you
           hoping, it keeps promising you. Desire is a politician: it goes on promising you, "Just wait -- five
           years more and everything is going to be absolutely right. Just five years more and the world is going
           to become a paradise." And the politicians have been saying that for thousands of years. And look at
           the unintelligent humanity: it still goes on believing in the politicians. It changes politicians; when it
           becomes tired of one, it starts listening to another. But that is not a change at all. One politician is
           replaced by another; hence democracies live as two-party systems.
                One party remains in power for five years; according to the promises you go on hoping, then you
           are frustrated -- nothing happens. Things get worse than they were before. But by this time, the other
           party that is not in power starts promising you. And the stupidity is such that you start believing the
           other party. You bring the other party into power; for five years it will deceive you. By that time the
           first party that has deceived you before has again become creditable; again it has attained credit,
           again it has criticized the ruling party and again it has gained respect in your eyes. And AGAIN it
           has stirred your hoping mind. And people's memories are very short; hence politicians go on
           deceiving.
                Desire is a politician. One desire keeps you occupied for many years; then, frustration in your
           hands, you are tired of it, weary of it, you drop out of it -- but immediately you enter into another
           desire. Another politician is waiting for you. You were after money; then tired, you forget all about it
           and you start rushing for power or for fame.
                Desire is so cunning that it can even take the form of religion, it can become religious. It is ready
           to have any mask. It can start thinking of heaven and heavenly pleasures. It can give you the idea
           that this life it is not possible, but next life you are going to be in paradise, and in paradise all kinds
           of fulfillments...wish-fulfilling trees. You just sit underneath the tree, you wish, and it is fulfilled.
           What are you going to wish for? Your wishes will be stupid because they will come out of your
           mind. What pleasures are you going to seek in heaven? Just one day think that you have reached
           heaven: now what do you want? You will start asking for a hotel, for a moviehouse, for a woman, for
           a man...what else? The same things! And the same frustrations will follow.
                DESIRE NEVER CROSSES THE PATH OF VIRTUOUS AND WAKEFUL MEN. Buddha
           says: I call that man virtuous who has become utterly aware of the deceptiveness of desire and hence
           desire never crosses his mind. His mind remains desireless. The only way to be desireless is to be
           wakeful, watchful. Watchfulness creates a light in you, and in that light the darkness of desire cannot
           enter.
                THEIR BRIGHTNESS SETS THEM FREE. And when you are watchful there is a luminosity in
           your being; a great intelligence arises in you. Ordinary man lives in stupidity; the ordinary man lives
           in a very foolish way. The moment you become attuned to your inner music, you become attuned to
           meditativeness, great intelligence is released. In that intelligence it is impossible for you to be
           deceived by desire. In that intelligence for the first time you start understanding things as they are,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you stop MISunderstanding. Ordinarily all your understanding is nothing but misunderstanding. You
           may think that you are very intelligent, but only stupid people think that they are intelligent.
           Intelligence itself is very unselfconscious. It functions, functions perfectly, but it creates no
           self-consciousness, it brings no idea of the ego, no superiority. It is very humble, it is very simple.
               But as ordinary man exists, he goes on misunderstanding. You read the Bible and you
           misunderstand. Even those closest disciples of Jesus never understood him. I say again and again
           that Jesus is one of the most unfortunate masters who has ever walked on the earth -- not only
           because he was crucified and had only three years time to work, but because he had a very stupid lot
           of followers.
               The day Jesus is going to be caught, and it has become absolutely certain that he has been
           betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas, he asks his other eleven apostles, "Have you something to
           ask me?" And do you know what they asked? They asked such foolish things. Jesus must have cried.
           He may have prayed deep down in his heart, as he did later on again on the cross: "Father, forgive
           them, for they know not what they are asking."
               What were they asking? They were asking, "Master, now that you are leaving, a few things have
           to be made clear. In the world of God, in the kingdom of God, that you have talked about so much
           again and again, you will certainly be on the right hand of God; then who will be on your right hand?
           Amongst us who is going to be second to you and who is going to be third and the fourth? What will
           the hierarchy be?"
               See the question! The master is going to be crucified tomorrow, and these foolish people are
           worried about hierarchy, who will be the highest. They are ready to concede to Jesus, "Okay, that
           much we accept, that you will be second to God, but who will be third and the fourth and the fifth?
           Let it be decided clearly, because now you are leaving and we may not meet again soon, so
           everything has to be certain!"
               The desirous mind, the ambitious mind -- they have not understood Jesus at all. And it is said
           Jesus fell on his knees and prayed and tears rolled down his cheeks. Nobody knows what he prayed,
           but he must have been praying: "Forgive these people, they know not what they are asking." And he
           must have been crying because this was his whole life's work, these people. And he has been telling
           them not to desire, not to be ambitious. He has been telling them, "Those who are the first in this
           world will be the last in my kingdom of God, and those who are the last will be the first." But they
           have not understood that he is telling them not to be ambitious.

              Just the other day, Premgeet sent me a small anecdote on misinterpretation:
              The frantic nurse ran after a screaming patient down the corridor of the ward, carrying a bowl.
           She was stopped by the surgeon who said, "Nurse! Nurse! I told you to prick his boil!"

                You get it? She was boiling his prick! But this is exactly what goes on happening -- the mob
           mind cannot understand. Misunderstanding is inevitable, because the mass mind is deaf. While you
           are talking to people they are not really listening, they are only pretending to listen. A thousand and
           one thoughts are crossing through their minds; they are not really there, they are never present to any
           situation, they are always absent. They are not where they are, they are always somewhere else.
           When they are in Poona, they are in Beijing; when they are in Beijing, they are in Poona. Strange
           people! Wherever they are you can be certain that there at least they are not; anywhere else in the
           world they can be. How can they understand?
                And they listen only to words, they never listen to the meaning -- because the meaning can be
           listened to only by the heart. The words can be listened to by the head. Now, they don't know how to
           listen through the heart. Listening through the heart is the meaning of being a disciple; listening
           through the heart means listening in love, in trust, in deep sympathy, and finally in deep empathy.
           Listening through the heart means listening as if you have become one with what is being told to you
           -- when the disciple becomes so attuned to the master that even before the words are uttered he hears
           them, and not only the words but the meaning, the fragrance that is carried by the words. But it is
           very invisible. The head is gross.
                The invisible can be caught only in the net of the heart.
                People even follow, but then too they follow out of misunderstanding. Just by becoming a
           follower it does not change anything in your life. It is not a question of following somebody: it is a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           question of understanding somebody who is awakened. Hence, I don't call you my followers but only
           my friends. If you can be my friends, if you can be in deep love and trust here in my presence, if you
           can be present to my presence, if we can face each other and mirror each other, tremendously
           important things will start happening of their own accord -- because your heart will understand, and
           when the heart understands, IMMEDIATELY transformations happen.
                When the head understands, then it asks, "How? Yes it IS right; now, how can it be done?"
           Remember this difference: in the head, knowledge and action are two different things; in the heart,
           knowledge IS action.
                Socrates says: Knowledge is virtue -- and he has not been understood down the ages. Not even
           his own disciples, Plato and Aristotle, have understood him rightly. When he says knowledge is
           virtue, he means there is a way of listening and understanding in which the moment you understand a
           thing you can't do otherwise. When you see that this is the door, then you cannot try to get out
           through the wall, you will get out through the door. Seeing means acting, seeing brings action.
                If when I tell you, "This is the door. Whenever you want to get out, please get out through this
           door, because enough you have hurt your head by trying to get out through the wall," you say, "Yes,
           sir, I understand perfectly well, but how to get out through the door?" your question will show that
           the heart has not listened, only the head. The head always asks "How?"
                The head always asks questions which seem to be very pertinent on the surface but are absolutely
           ridiculous. The heart never asks -- it listens and acts. Listening and action are one in the heart; love
           knows and acts accordingly. It never asks "How?" The heart has an intelligence of its own. The head
           is intellectual, the heart is intelligence.

              HOW SWEETLY THE LOTUS GROWS
              IN THE LITTER OF THE WAYSIDE.
              ITS PURE FRAGRANCE DELIGHTS THE HEART.


               Remember it again and again because you will forget again and again that it is a question of the
           heart. If the heart delights in something, then you can be certain your life is growing, expanding;
           your consciousness is becoming clearer, your intelligence is being released from its bondage.
               HOW SWEETLY THE LOTUS GROWS IN THE LITTER OF THE WAYSIDE. The word for
           lotus that Buddha uses is PANKAJ; it is one of the most beautiful words. Pankaj means that which is
           born out of the mud, out of dirty mud. The lotus is one of the most miraculous phenomena in
           existence; hence in the East it has become the symbol of spiritual transformation. Buddha is seated
           on a lotus, Vishnu is standing on a lotus. Why a lotus? -- because the lotus has one very symbolic
           significance: it grows out of dirty mud. It is a transformation symbol, it is a metamorphosis. The mud
           is dirty, maybe stinking; the lotus is fragrant, and it has come out of the stinking mud.
               Buddha is saying: Exactly in the same way, life ordinarily is just stinking mud -- but the
           possibility of becoming a lotus is hidden there. The mud can be transformed, you can become a
           lotus. Sex can be transformed and it can become samadhi. Anger can be transformed and it can
           become compassion. Hate can be transformed and it can become love. Everything that you have that
           looks negative right now, mudlike, can be transformed. Your noisy mind can be emptied and
           transformed, and it becomes celestial music.

              FOLLOW THE AWAKENED
              AND FROM AMONG THE BLIND
              THE LIGHT OF YOUR WISDOM
              WILL SHINE OUT PURELY.


                But the only possible way out of this mess is being in tune with somebody who is already
           awakened. You are asleep; only somebody who is awake can shake you out of your sleep, can help
           you to come out of it.
                Gurdjieff used to say: If you are in a jail, only somebody who is out of jail can manage it, can
           arrange it so that you can escape from the jail; otherwise it is impossible. And you are not only in a
           jail -- you have been hypnotized and told that this is not a jail, this is your home. You are not only in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a jail -- you have believed it to be your home and you are decorating it. Your whole life is nothing
           but decorating the jail, and you are competing with other prisoners who are decorating their dark
           cells.
                Only somebody who is free, who has been in the jail once and is no longer in the jail, can
           manage to wake you, to make you aware of the reality. He can manage to dehypnotize you, he can
           help you to be unconditioned, and he can devise methods and means so that you can escape from the
           jail. He can bribe the warden, the jailor; he can bring a ladder close to the wall, he can throw a rope
           inside. He can make a hole in the wall from the outside...a thousand and one possibilities.
                But the only hope for you is to be in deep contact with somebody who is awakened. The
           awakened one is called the master -- SATGURU. If you can find a master, don't miss the opportunity
           -- surrender, relax into his being, imbibe his awareness, let his fragrance surround you. And the day
           is not far away when you will also be awakened, you will also be a buddha.
                Keep on reminding yourself that unless you are a buddha, your life is a wastage. Only by being a
           buddha does one's life have grace, beauty, intelligence, significance, benediction.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                      Chapter #6
                                                  Chapter title: This is it
           6 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907060
              ShortTitle: DHAM206
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 97 mins




               The first question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               YOU HAVE ALWAYS POINTED OUT THAT MOST THINGS AND STATES ARE TWO EXTREMES
               OF ONE STATE, POLAR OPPOSITES. THEN HATE IS THE OTHER END OF LOVE. DOES THIS
               MEAN IT IS AS EASY TO HATE AS IT IS TO LOVE? LOVE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. HATE IS SO UGLY,
               AND YET IT HAPPENS TOO.


                Zareen, love is a natural state of consciousness. It is neither easy nor difficult. Those words don't
           apply to it at all. It is not an effort; hence, it can't be easy and it can't be difficult either. It is like
           breathing! It is like your heartbeat, it is like blood circulating in your body.
                Love is your very being...but that love has become almost impossible. The society does not allow
           it. The society conditions you in such a way that love becomes impossible and hate becomes the only
           possible thing. Then hate is easy, and love is not only difficult but impossible. Man has been
           distorted. Man cannot be reduced to slavery if he is not distorted first. The politician and the priest
           have been in a deep conspiracy down the ages. They have been reducing humanity to a crowd of
           slaves. They are destroying every possibility of rebellion in man -- and love IS rebellion, because
           love listens only to the heart and does not care a bit about anything else.
                Love is dangerous because it makes you an individual, and the state and the church, they don't
           want individuals, not at all. They don't want human beings -- they want sheep. They want people
           who only look like human beings, but whose souls have been crushed so utterly, damaged so deeply,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that it seems almost irreparable.
                And the best way to destroy man is to destroy his spontaneity of love. If man has love, there can't
           be nations; nations exist on hate. The Indians hate the Pakistanis, and the Pakistanis hate the Indians
           -- only then can these two countries exist. If love appears, boundaries will disappear. If love appears,
           then who will be a Christian and then who will be a Jew? If love appears, religions will disappear.
                If love appears, who is going to go to the temple? For what? It is because love is missing that you
           are searching for God. God is nothing but a substitute for your missing love. Because you are not
           blissful, because you are not peaceful, because you are not ecstatic, hence you are searching for God
           -- otherwise, who bothers? Who cares? If your life is a dance, God has been attained already. The
           loving heart is full of God. There is no need for any search, there is no need for any prayer, there is
           no need to go to any temple, to any priest.
                Hence, the priest and the politician, these two are the enemies of humanity. And they are in a
           conspiracy, because the politician wants to rule your body and the priest wants to rule your soul. And
           the secret is the same: destroy love. Then a man is nothing but a hollowness, an emptiness, a
           meaningless existence. Then you can do whatsoever you want with humanity and nobody will rebel,
           nobody will have courage enough to rebel.
                Love gives courage, love takes all fear away -- and the oppressors depend on your fear. They
           create fear in you, a thousand and one kinds of fear. You are surrounded by fears, your whole
           psychology is full of fears. Deep down you are trembling. Only on the surface do you keep a certain
           facade; otherwise, inside there are layers and layers of fear.
                A man full of fear can only hate -- hate is a natural outcome of fear. A man full of fear is also full
           of anger, and a man full of fear is more against life than for life. Death seems to be a restful state to
           the fear-filled man. The fearful man is suicidal, he is life-negative. Life seems to be dangerous to
           him, because to live means you will have to love -- how can you live? Just as the body needs
           breathing to live, the soul needs love to live. And love is utterly poisoned.
                By poisoning your love energy they have created a split in you, they have made an enemy within
           you, they have divided you in two. They have created a civil war, and you are always in conflict.
           And in conflict your energy is dissipated; hence your life does not have zestfulness, cheerfulness. It
           is not overflowing with energy, it is dull, insipid, it is unintelligent.
                Love sharpens intelligence, fear dulls it. Who wants you to be intelligent? Not those who are in
           power. How can they want you to be intelligent? -- because if you are intelligent, you will start
           seeing the whole strategy, their games. They want you to be stupid and mediocre. They certainly
           want you to be efficient as far as work is concerned, but not intelligent; hence humanity lives at the
           lowest, at the minimum of its potential.
                The scientific researchers say that the ordinary man uses only five percent of his potential
           intelligence in his whole life. The ordinary man, only five percent -- what about the extraordinary?
           What about an Albert Einstein, a Mozart, a Beethoven? The researchers say that even those who are
           very talented, they don't use more than ten percent. And those whom we call geniuses, they use only
           fifteen percent.
                Think of a world where everybody is using one hundred percent of his potential...then the gods
           will be jealous of earth, then gods would like to be born on earth. Then the earth will be a paradise, a
           superparadise. Right now it is a hell.
                Zareen, you say that it should be easier to love than to hate. If man is left alone, unpoisoned, then
           love will be simple, very simple. There will be no problem. It will be just like water flowing
           downwards, or vapor rising upwards, trees blossoming, birds singing. It will be so natural and so
           spontaneous!
                But man is not left alone. As the child is born, the oppressors are ready to jump on him, to crush
           his energies, to distort them to such an extent, to distort them so deeply, that the person will never
           become aware that he is living a false life, a pseudo life, that he is not living as he was meant to live,
           as he was born to live; that he is living something synthetic, plastic, that this is not his real soul.
           That's why millions of people are in such misery -- because they feel somewhere that they have been
           distracted, that they are not their own selves, that something has gone basically wrong....
                Love is simple if the child is allowed to grow, helped to grow, in natural ways -- in the way of
           dhamma. If the child is helped to be in harmony with nature and in harmony with himself, if the
           child is in every way supported, nourished, encouraged to be natural and to be himself, a light unto
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           himself, then love is simple. One will be simply loving!
               Hate will be almost impossible, because before you can hate somebody else, first you have to
           create the poison within yourself. You can give something to somebody only if you have it. You can
           hate only if you are full of hate. And to be full of hate is to suffer hell. To be full of hate is to be in
           fire. To be full of hate means you are wounding yourself first. Before you can wound somebody else,
           you have to wound yourself. The other may not be wounded, it will depend on the other. But one
           thing is absolutely certain: that before you can hate, you have to go through long suffering and
           misery. The other may not accept your hatred, may reject it. The other may be a buddha -- he may
           simply laugh at it. He may forgive you, he may not react. You may not be able to wound him if he is
           not ready to react. If you cannot disturb him, what can you do? You will feel impotent before him.
               So it is not necessarily so, that the other is going to be wounded. But one thing is absolutely
           certain, that if you hate somebody, first you have to wound your own soul in so many ways; you
           have to be so full of poison that you can throw poison on others.
               Hate is unnatural. Love is a state of health; hate is a state of illness. Just like illness it is
           unnatural. It happens only when you lose track of nature, when you are no longer in harmony with
           existence, no longer in harmony with your being, with your innermost core; then you are ill,
           psychologically, spiritually ill. Hatred is only a symbol of illness, and love one of health and
           wholeness and holiness.
               Zareen, love should be one of the most natural things, but it is not. On the contrary, it has
           become the most difficult thing -- almost the impossible thing. Hate has become easy; you are
           trained, you are prepared for hate. To be a Hindu is to be full of hate for Mohammedans, for
           Christians, for Jews; to be a Christian is to be full of hate for other religions. To be a nationalist is to
           be full of hate for other nations.
               You know only one way of love: that is, hate others. You can show your love for your country
           only by hating other countries, and you can show your love for your church only by hating other
           churches. You are in a mess!
               These so-called religions go on talking about love, and all that they do in the world is create
           more and more hate. Christians talk about love and they have been creating wars, crusades.
           Mohammedans talk about love and they have been creating JIHADS -- religious wars. Hindus talk
           about love, but you can look into their scriptures -- they are full of hate, hate for other religions. You
           can study Dayanand's so-called great book, SATYARTH PRAKASH, and you will find hate on each
           page, in each sentence. And these books are thought to be spiritual books.
               And we accept all this nonsense! And we accept it without any resistance, because we have been
           conditioned to accept these things, we have been taught that this is how things are. And then you go
           on denying your own nature.

           Just the other day I was reading a joke:
               A woman was confessing -- she was a nun -- she was confessing to the mother superior, crying,
           tears rolling down her cheeks; she looked tremendously disturbed. And she was saying, "I have
           committed a sin -- something unforgivable. This man entered into my room last night, and I was
           alone. And at the point of a revolver he made love to me. He gave me only two alternatives: 'Either
           die or make love to me.' I am ruined!" she was saying. "My whole life is ruined!"
               The mother superior said, "Don't get so disturbed, don't get so worried -- God's compassion is
           infinite. And it is said in the old scriptures that a man is allowed to do anything if it is a question of
           survival -- except spitting on the Bible. A man is allowed to do anything if it is a question of
           survival, and it WAS a question of survival for you. So don't be worried -- you are forgiven!"
               But the woman remained disturbed and started crying again and said, "No. It won't help!"
           The mother superior said, "Why won't it help?"
               And the nun looked up and she said, "Because I liked it."

              You can deny nature but you cannot destroy it. It remains somewhere in the deepest recesses of
           your being, alive. And that's the only hope.
              Love has been poisoned, but not destroyed. The poison can be thrown out, out of your system --
           you can be cleansed. You can vomit all that the society has enforced upon you. You can drop all
           your beliefs and all your conditionings -- you can be free. The society cannot keep you a slave
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forever if you decide to be free.
           That's what sannyas is all about.
                Zareen, it is time -- now become a sannyasin. It is time to drop out of all old patterns and start a
           new way of life, a natural way of life, a nonrepressive way of life, a life not of renunciation but of
           rejoicing.
                Ordinarily, if you look at human beings, love is impossible, only hate is possible. But the space
           that I am creating here is totally different: here love is the only possibility. Hate will become more
           and more impossible. Hate is the polar opposite of love -- in the sense that illness is the polar
           opposite of health. But you need not choose illness.
                Illness has a few advantages which health cannot have; don't become attached to those
           advantages. Hate also has a few advantages which love cannot have. And you have to be very
           watchful. The ill person gets sympathy from everybody else; nobody hurts him, everybody remains
           careful what they say to him, he is so ill. He remains the focus, the center of everybody -- the family,
           the friends -- he becomes the central person. He becomes important. Now, if he becomes too much
           attached to this importance, to this ego-fulfillment, he will never want to be healthy again. He
           himself will cling to illness. And psychologists say there are many people who are clinging to
           illnesses because of the advantages illnesses have. And they have invested in their illnesses for so
           long that they have completely forgotten that they are clinging to those illnesses. They are afraid if
           they become healthy they will be nobody again.
                You teach that too. When a small child becomes ill, the whole family is so attentive. This is
           absolutely unscientific. When the child is ill, take care of his body but don't pay too much attention.
           It is dangerous, because if illness and your attention become associated...which is bound to happen if
           it happens again and again. Whenever the child is ill he becomes the center of the whole family:
           daddy comes and sits by his side and inquires about his health, and the doctor comes, and the
           neighbors start coming, and friends inquire, and people bring presents for him.... Now he can
           become too much attached to all this; it can be so nourishing to his ego that he may not like to be
           well again.
                And if this happens, then it is impossible to be healthy. No medicine can help now. The person
           has become decisively committed to illness. And that's what has happened to many people -- the
           majority.
                When you hate, your ego is fulfilled. The ego can exist only if it hates, because in hating you feel
           superior, in hating you become separate, in hating you become defined, in hating you attain a certain
           identity. In love the ego has to disappear. In love you are no longer separate -- love helps you to
           dissolve with others. It is a meeting and a merger.
                If you are too much attached to the ego, then hate is easy and love is most difficult. Be alert,
           watchful: hate is the shadow of ego, and love needs great courage. It needs great courage because it
           needs the sacrifice of the ego. Only those who are ready to become nobodies are able to love. Only
           those who are ready to become nothing, utterly empty of themselves, are able to receive the gift of
           love from the beyond.
                If you are watchful, Zareen, love will become very simple and hate will become impossible. And
           the day hate becomes impossible and love becomes natural, you have arrived home. Then there is
           nowhere to go -- God has been achieved.
                To be absolutely natural is all that is meant by finding God.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS?


               Prabhati, there are two kinds of things in existence: one, that which can be explained; and the
           other, that which can only be experienced. The things that can be explained are mundane, ordinary,
           have no intrinsic value in them. And the things that cannot be explained are really significant, have
           intrinsic value.
               For example, sex can be explained, love cannot be explained. Hence, sex becomes a commodity
           -- it can be sold, it can be purchased. Love is not a commodity; you cannot sell it, you cannot
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           purchase it -- there is no way. Sex can be explained because it is part of physiology. Love cannot be
           explained -- it is part of your inner mystery.
               Unless your sexuality rises and reaches to love it is mundane, it has nothing sacred about it.
           When your sex becomes love, then it is entering into a totally different dimension -- the dimension of
           the mysterious and the miraculous. Now it is becoming religious, sacred, it is no longer profane.
               And there is an even higher stage of love -- I call it prayer -- which is absolutely unexplainable,
           which is absolutely ineffable. Nothing can be said about it.
               When a disciple asked Jesus, "What is prayer?" Jesus fell on his knees and started praying. What
           else can you do? Prayer cannot be explained, nothing can be said about it, but it can be shown. What
           can you say about death, what can you say about life? Whatsoever you say will fall short; it cannot
           soar to the heights of life and death. Those are experiences.
               What can you say about beauty? Even if the lake is full of beautiful lotuses and it is a full-moon
           night, and all is benediction, somebody can ask, "What is beauty?" What can you say? You can
           show! You can say, "This it it!" But he will say, "I am asking for a definition."

               Rabindranath, one of the greatest poets of this country, was living on a small houseboat. He used
           to live for months together on that houseboat; he loved living on the houseboat. It was a full-moon
           night and he was reading in his room, a small cabin, just by a small candlelight, and he was reading
           about aesthetics -- what is beauty? And the full moon outside, and the cuckoo calling from the
           distant shore, and the moon reflecting all over the lake, and the whole lake was silver...! It was a
           tremendously silent night, nobody around, except that cuckoo calling. Once in a while a bird would
           fly over the boat, or a fish would jump in the lake -- and those sounds would deepen the silence even
           more. And he pondered over great books on aesthetics in search of the definition of what beauty is.
               Tired, exhausted, in the middle of the night, he blew out the candle...and he was shocked,
           surprised. As he blew out the candle, the moonrays entered through the window, through the door,
           inside the cabin. That pale light of the candle had been keeping the moon out. Suddenly, he heard the
           cuckoo calling from the distant shore. Suddenly, he became aware of the tremendous silence, the
           depth of the silence surrounding the boat. A fish jumped, and he came out.... He had never seen such
           a beautiful night. A few white clouds floating in the sky, and the moon and the lake and the cuckoo
           calling...he was transported into another world.
               He wrote in his diary, "I am foolish! I have been searching in books for what beauty is, and
           beauty was standing outside my door, knocking on my door! I was looking for beauty, searching for
           beauty, with a small candle, and the small candlelight was keeping the moonlight outside." He wrote
           in his diary, "It seems my small ego is keeping God out -- the small ego, like a pale small
           candlelight, keeping the light of God outside. And he is waiting outside. All that I need to do is to
           close the books, blow out the candle of the ego and go out -- AND SEE!"

           Prabhati, you ask me, "What is?"
               This...thisness...this moment you are surrounded by the is. It is within you and without you. The
           chirping of the birds...and this silence...and you ask me what is?
               It is not a question that can be answered. It is a dangerous question too, dangerous in the sense
           that you may find some foolish person who answers it, and then you may cling to that answer.
           Somebody will say, "God is," and you will cling to that answer. And then another question will arise:
           "What is God?" And now you are ready to fall into an infinite regress.

              A man who once did God a favor received as his reward the promise of an answer to one
           question, any question. But God warned him that some things can only be experienced and cannot be
           explained. As he pondered and then started to ask his one cosmic question, God warned him again
           about experience versus explanations.
              The man could contain his question no longer, and demanded to know, "What is after death?"
           and God slew him where he stood.

              What else could God do? He slew him where he stood, immediately he killed him, because if you
           want to know what is after death, you have to die! Be very careful. You can be given explanations
           about things which belong to the world, to the objective world. For that you should ask the scientist;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he knows, it is his concern. Don't ask the mystic about things which can be explained; that is not his
           concern. His concern is with things which can be experienced.
                Don't ask me any question which cannot be explained. Be in my presence, feel my presence, be
           open and vulnerable. We are here to experience something. All explanations about the mysteries of
           life are nothing but explaining away those things.
                The basic, root meaning of the word 'explanation' is 'to flatten a thing' -- but to flatten a thing is
           to destroy it. If anybody could answer, "What is God? What is love? What is prayer? What is?" he
           would have flattened a beautiful, tremendously beautiful, incredible experience, into ugly words. All
           words are inadequate.
                Be and know! Be still and know! You are here not to learn more words; you are here to get
           deeper into silence. Use my words as hints towards a wordless existence.
                This is it! What are you asking about? Feel this moment...in its totality, in all its dimensionality,
           and a great beauty will descend, a great beautitude, a great benediction will surround you; a grace, a
           very silent ecstasy will start rising in you. You will feel drunk with existence.
                Be drunk with existence -- that is the only way to know it.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF SCIENTOLOGY?


               Aida, it is fantastic...I mean bullshit, utter bullshit! Be aware of such stupid things. They move in
           the world in the name of science because science has credit, so any kind of stupidity can pretend to
           be scientific. And people are very much impressed by words: 'scientology'. People are very much
           impressed by shining gadgets, instruments.... Man is so unaware and unconscious of himself that he
           falls a victim to anything! You just need to propagate it, advertise it -- and our century has the most
           efficient media to advertise, to propagate things.
               Scientology is nothing but a kind of hypnosis -- it can hypnotize you. And real religion is just the
           opposite: it is dehypnosis. You are already hypnotized, you don't need any scientology anymore.
           You need a process of dehypnosis, you need deconditioning, you need to come out of all kinds of
           ideologies. Scientology is an ideology. It talks in terms of science, and science has great appeal.
           Science is the modern superstition.
               The modern man is immediately impressed if you bring science in. So anything and everything
           has to be proved scientifically. And there are quacks who even go on proving God scientifically, and
           who are trying to measure states of meditation -- as if meditation can be measured. Whatsoever you
           can measure will be mind; no-mind cannot be measured. All your alpha waves, etcetera, are not
           going to help. They can only go to a certain extent IN the mind. But meditation begins only where
           mind ends.
               Mind is measurable, because mind IS a machine. But no-mind is immeasurable, it has no limits.
           So all the nonsense that goes on in the name of measuring...and people are very much impressed.
           They are sitting before very shiny gadgets -- it gives an impression of science -- wires attached to the
           head, to the hands, just like a cardiogram. They are trying to figure out the inner silence. It is
           impossible! Whatsoever you come to record is mind. All waves are of the mind.
               Meditation is wavelessness because it is thoughtlessness. Meditation cannot be recorded; there
           can be no cardiogram, there can be no machine which can record it. It is very elusive, it is very
           subjective, it cannot be reduced to an object. But because the Western mind is very objective, is
           trained in science, now there are quacks around who are cashing in on this attraction and this
           training.
               Scientology is one of those pseudo religions. The real religion has no need of any such thing.
           And scientology is destroying many people's minds.
               Modern man is in a special situation: the old religions have lost their grip, their credibility, and
           the new religion has not yet arrived -- there is a gap. And man cannot live without religion, it is
           impossible; religion is such a need. So if the true is not available, the false becomes prevalent, the
           false becomes a substitute. Scientology is a false religion, and there are many like scientology.
               Real religion consists of becoming utterly silent, unconditioned, unhypnotized. It is going
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beyond mind, beyond ideology; it is going beyond scripture and beyond knowledge. It is simply
           falling into your own interiority, becoming utterly silent, not knowing a thing, and functioning from
           that state of not knowing, from that innocence. When you function out of innocence, your actions
           have a beauty of their own. That's what virtue is -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CANNOT PSYCHOANALYSIS SOLVE MAN'S PROBLEMS? IS RELIGION REALLY NEEDED AT
              ALL?


                Neelima, psychoanalysis is a superficial thing -- helpful but very superficial. It only analyzes the
           surface rumblings of your mind. It is far better than scientology certainly, because at least it analyzes
           ACTUAL reality. It is concerned with the mind that you have got. It tries to penetrate into your
           unconscious, into the repressed part of your mind. It can help you, but it cannot solve all your
           problems because its reach is very limited. Hence, Freud could not satisfy, he could only touch a part
           of your mind. Adler touched another part of your mind -- he could not satisfy either. Jung touched
           still another part of your mind -- he could not satisfy, because parts are parts and the problem
           belongs to the whole.
                Assagioli goes a little deeper than all these three. He drops psychoanalysis and starts calling his
           endeavor "psychosynthesis." That is a little better -- he synthesizes. Freud is a fanatic; he claims that
           whatsoever he is saying is the truth and the only truth and the whole truth. And anybody who is
           against it is against truth. There can be no other possibility -- this is the only way. The fanatic always
           claims, "This is the only way." The fanatic does not allow life its richness, its variety.
                And so is Adler. They were all basically disciples of Freud, although they rejected his
           knowledge. But they never could reject his basic fanaticism. They rejected what he said, but they
           never could reject the impression that he had left on their beings.
                Jung was also a follower, a disciple, then rebelled against him. But even in his rebellion he
           remained, deep down, the same person -- the same emphasis of claiming the whole, of knowing the
           whole.
                Assagioli is far better, because he says all these three persons are talking sense but they are
           partial -- they have to be synthesized. A synthetic approach is needed which combines all the
           endeavors. But Assagioli commits a mistake which is very fundamental. You can dissect a man's
           body to know what is inside; once you have dissected it you will not find any soul -- that is not the
           way to find a soul. You will find hands and legs and head and eyes and heart and kidneys, and
           thousands of things you will find, and you can make a long list...but you will not find the soul. And
           naturally you will conclude there is no soul.
                That's what was done by Freud, Adler and Jung. Then came Assagioli. He said, "This is not right.
           Dissection is not the way, analysis is not the way -- I will try synthesis." So he puts all those parts
           together again, stitches them together; does a good job of stitching, but still the man is not alive, the
           soul is not there. Once the soul has left, just by putting the body together you cannot bring it back.
           So now it is a corpse -- better than Freud, Adler and Jung, because they were only like the proverbial
           blind men, the five blind men, who had gone to see the elephant. Each was claiming, "My experience
           of the elephant IS the elephant." The one who had touched the leg of the elephant was saying that the
           elephant is nothing but a pillar...and so on and so forth. Freud, Jung and Adler are all blind, feeling
           parts of the elephant. And the elephant of life is really huge, enormous.
                Now what Assagioli has done is that he has collected the opinions of the five blind men and he
           has put all those opinions together, and he says, "This is the right thing. I have made the synthesis,
           this is the truth." This is not the way to find the truth. By putting five blind men's opinions together,
           you don't arrive at the real elephant.
                The real elephant needs EYES to be seen. Psychoanalysis is blind and so is psychosynthesis -- a
           little wiser but blind all the same. They cannot solve man's problems because man's basic problem is
           not psychological but spiritual, not psychological but existential. Man is not only the body;
           otherwise the physiologist would have solved all his problems. And man is not only a psyche;
           otherwise the psychologist would have solved his problems. Man is far more: man is an organic
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unity -- body, mind, soul...these three plus something mysterious: the fourth. The mystics in India
           have called it just the fourth -- TURIYA. They don't give it any name because no name can be given
           to it.
                Body, mind, soul, these three are nameable. The body is available for objective observation. The
           mind is available for both objective and subjective observation -- you can observe it from the outside
           as behavior and from the inside as ideas, thoughts, imagination, memory, instinct, feeling, and so on
           and so forth. The soul is available only as a subjective experience. And beyond all these three is the
           fourth that keeps them all together: turiya -- the fourth, unnameable. That fourth has been called
           God, the fourth has been called nirvana, the fourth has been called enlightenment.
                Man's problem is complex. If he were only the body, things would have been simple; science
           would have solved everything. If he were only the mind, psychology would have been enough. But
           he is a very complex phenomenon, four-dimensional. And unless you know the fourth, unless you
           enter the fourth, you don't know the man in his totality. And without knowing him in his totality, the
           problem cannot be solved.
                Psychoanalysis can give you a philosophic approach, but not an existential transformation.

               During the last days of a psychiatrists' convention, one of the doctors present at the closing
           lecture noticed an attractive female Ph.D. being pawed by the man seated next to her.
           "Is he bothering you?" the gallant observer asked the woman.
           "Why should I be bothered?" she replied. "It is HIS problem."

               Psychoanalysis, psychiatry, psychology, can give you a philosophical approach towards life.
           They can give you the quality of being distant from life's problems, but the problems are not solved.
           And the psychiatrist has not even solved his own problems -- how can he help others to solve theirs?
               Even Sigmund Freud is not a buddha, is full of problems -- in fact more than the so-called human
           beings. He was very much afraid of death, too much afraid of death -- so much so that even the word
           'death' was not uttered in front of him by his disciples, because once or twice, just hearing the word
           'death' he had fainted. Just the word 'death' was enough! He would faint, he would become
           unconscious, he would fall down from his chair.
               Freud brought sex into the light. He did a great work:he destroyed one taboo, the taboo that had
           remained for centuries. Sex was a taboo subject, not to be talked about. He brought it into the light.
           He did a great pioneer work -- he should be respected for it. But death was taboo to him; he could
           not even hear the word. There seems to be a connection.
               This is MY observation: that there have been two kinds of societies in the world -- one society
           which makes sex taboo, then it is not afraid of death; and the other society which drops the taboo
           against sex, then it immediately becomes afraid of death. We have not yet been able to create a
           society in which neither sex nor death are taboos.
           My sannyasin has to do that.
           Why does it happen so?
               For example, in India, sex is taboo -- you should not talk about it -- but death is not taboo. You
           can talk about it; in fact, all the religious teachers talk about death. They make people so much afraid
           of death, talking again and again and again about it. They create so much fear in people that out of
           fear people start becoming religious. All Indian scriptures are full of the description of death. Death
           seems to be one of the most talked about subjects in India -- not sex. Sex is taboo. Sex is life, and if
           you choose death you cannot choose sex -- either/or.
               Freud did a great service to humanity; he brought sex from the dark corners of the soul into the
           open world. But immediately death became taboo; he himself became afraid of death. They are polar
           opposites, and the total man will be able to understand both.
               And the total man, the whole man, is my definition of a holy man. He will be able to talk about
           sex, observe, analyze, dissect, go into it, meditate -- and he will be able to do the same with death.
           ...Because you are neither sex nor death: you are the witness of both. You are neither life nor death:
           you are a witness to both. This witnessing will bring you to the fourth -- turiya. And only when you
           enter the fourth do all problems disappear, dissolve. Before that, problems remain.
               You can become very very expert in analyzing problems -- that is not going to help.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A beautiful woman visits a psychoanalyst. "Take off your clothes," says the psychoanalyst as
           soon as she enters.
           "But really I was...."
           "I am telling you to take off your clothes," insists the shrink without giving her time to answer.
           "But, doctor, I came because I have a problem and I thought...."
           "Don't think. Take off your clothes and don't waste my time," insists the shrink even more rudely.
               The astonished and embarrassed woman takes off her clothes and immediately the shrink jumps
           on her.
               After half an hour, the shrink, zipping up his trousers, looks at the woman who still does not
           understand what is happening and more calmly says, "Well, now that I have solved my problem, let
           us see if I can solve yours."

               Only a buddha can help you to solve your problems -- one who has no problems of his own.
               Religion cannot be dropped, can never be dropped. Religion is not something superficial and
           accidental: it is an intrinsic need, it is absolutely needed.
               Neelima, you ask me, "Cannot psychoanalysis solve man's problems?" No. It can help you to
           understand your problems a little bit more, and by understanding your problems you can control
           your life in a certain way, to a certain extent. Psychoanalysis can help you to become a little more
           normal than you are; it can reduce your heated, excited abnormality to a little calmer and cooler
           space -- that's all. It can bring your temperature down a little, but it cannot solve. It can only help, it
           can console.

               I have heard about a man who used to smoke three cigarettes at one time -- that was his
           obsession. Now, it was very embarrassing; people would look at him, what he was doing, and he
           would feel very shy and ashamed. But it was impossible, he couldn't help it, he had to do it that way;
           otherwise he would remain very dissatisfied.
               He had tried every possible way, whatsoever was suggested to him. Nothing helped.
               Then somebody suggested, "You go to a psychoanalyst."
               After one year of psychoanalysis and thousands of dollars wasted, a friend asked him, "Did
           psychoanalysis help you?"
           He said, "Certainly!"
               But the man could not believe it, because he saw he was still smoking three cigarettes. So he
           asked, "But you are still smoking three cigarettes, so I don't understand how psychoanalysis has
           helped you."
               He said, "Now I am no longer ashamed! My psychoanalyst has helped me to understand that this
           is just normal. What is wrong in it? A few people smoke one, I have heard of one person who
           smokes two, I smoke three! The difference is only of quantity -- and what is wrong in smoking three
           cigarettes? For one year my psychoanalyst has persistently said that there is nothing wrong in it; now
           I don't feel ashamed. In fact, I am the only person in the world who smokes three cigarettes
           simultaneously! Now I feel very superior."

               Psychoanalysis can give you many consolations. It can help you rationalize, it can help you
           normalize, it can help you not to feel ashamed -- but it doesn't solve. It cannot. Problems are never
           solved if you remain at the same plane of existence. This is something very fundamental to be
           understood.
               If you want to solve a problem you have to rise above the plane. It can't be solved on the same
           plane. The moment you reach a higher plane, the lower-plane problems simply disappear. That is the
           way of religion: to help you go higher and higher and higher. The moment you have reached the
           fourth state, turiya, all problems disappear, dissolve, lose meaning. Not that you have found
           solutions, no, not at all -- religion is not interested in solutions. No solution can ever solve a
           problem; it may help you to solve one problem, but it will create another. The solution itself may
           become the problem. You may become so much attached and dependent on the solution....
               It happens almost every day in your life: you are ill, you take a certain medicine, it helps, and
           then you become dependent on the medicine; then you are addicted, then you cannot leave the
           medicine. Now the medicine has its own side effects -- now they start torturing you. Now for them
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will need other medicines...and so on and so forth. There is no end to it.
              No solution can really become a solution. Religion has a totally different approach. It does not
           give you a solution, it simply helps you to raise the level of your consciousness. Religion is
           consciousness-raising. It raises you higher than the problem, it gives you a bird's-eye view. Now you
           are standing on a hilltop looking at the valley...and the problems of the valley are simply
           meaningless. They don't have any significance for the man who is standing on the sunlit hilltop.
           They have simply lost all relevance.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE BEEN HERE NINE MONTHS AND AM GIVING BIRTH TO MY FIRST QUESTION.
              TODAY IN LECTURE YOU SAID, "SEX IS TIRING...." FOR ME, SEX IS THE SWEETEST
              EXPLOSION OF MUSIC, COLOR, LIGHT, BRIMMING AND BURSTING EVERY CELL OF MY
              BEING. IT IS SLIPPING THE NET OF MY SKIN, MELTING WITH LOVE IN GOD'S ARMS, BEING
              EXQUISITELY LOST, OUT OF TIME, OUT OF MIND -- BEING GOD. AND THOSE WORDS DON'T
              SAY IT. IT IS THESE EXPERIENCES THAT LED ME TO YOU. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A GLIMPSE
              OF THE "STUPIDITY OF SEX." SEX IS MY SOURCE OF DEEPEST RELAXATION AND
              BOUNDLESS ENERGY, AS WELL AS HIGHEST BLISS: THE OPPOSITE OF TIRING.
              DO MEN FIND SEX MORE TIRING THAN WOMEN, OR DO I JUST HAVE SO FAR TO GO
              TOWARDS DROPPING IT? OR WHAT?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Apurna, your experience is perfectly valid, but because it is such an ecstasy, such an excitement,
           how long can you go on repeating it? Sooner or later a moment arrives when it becomes repetitive,
           the same, and then it will start losing its joy. That moment it becomes tiring.
               Your experience is perfectly valid, but very limited. Life is far more. It begins in sex, but it
           doesn't end in it. I am perfectly happy that you are enjoying your sex -- enjoy it as much as possible
           while it lasts. And the more you enjoy it, the sooner you will be tired of it.
               But no need to worry about that. I was answering somebody else's question, who is tired of it. He
           has lived all these joys, he has played with all these toys. You are giving big names to those toys --
           these are all teddy bears. You can call your teddy bear "God," and nothing is wrong.... When a child
           is carrying his teddy bear and calling him "God" and cannot go to sleep without him, it is very
           relaxing, and if you take the teddy bear he becomes very tense! Even dirty teddy bears...and he will
           carry them. Even parents feel ashamed because if they are going on a holiday he is carrying his teddy
           bear -- dirty, smelly...but the child cannot live without it. It is his very life. But one day, hopefully,
           he will be tired of it and he will throw it in a corner and will forget all about it forever.
               It is really difficult to answer your questions, because one person's question is relevant only to
           him, and the answer that I give is relevant only to him. It may not be your experience.
               On one day I said that homosexuality is a perversion. Immediately a few letters arrived -- very
           angry, because there are a few homosexuals here. And they said, "What are you talking about? We
           have come here only because we thought that you accept all, that you don't reject, don't condemn
           anything." I have not condemned. But the question and the answer were for a particular person. You
           need not be worried about it; it may not be relevant to you.
               To a homosexual, homosexuality is religion -- his religion -- he does not believe in
           heterosexuality. He thinks the heterosexuals are a little perverted, or at least very orthodox,
           out-of-date people...should not exist anymore, are no longer contemporaries -- what nonsense are
           they talking about?
               To the heterosexual, the homosexual seems to be very perverted, animalistic, even below the
           animals. And to the homosexual, the heterosexual is animalistic, because homosexuality is the
           invention of man, the superior man. Animals are not homosexual -- at least not in their wild state. In
           zoos sometimes, yes, but there they become affected by human beings, they learn from human
           beings. But in the wild they are not homosexuals.
               So homosexuality is something special that man has discovered. It is a defining phenomenon.
           Just as Aristotle says man is a rational being, the homosexual says man is a homosexual being --
           only man has the capacity to rise to such heights. Heterosexuality is just ordinary: dogs do it and...it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is nothing special! One should not brag about it.

               Two camels slowly approach each other in the desert, their riders identically dressed in
           excessively long Bermuda shorts and topi helmets. They pause, and the riders speak -- in an
           exaggerated British accent:
           "English?"
           "Of cawss."
           "Foreign Office?"
           "Cinema photography."
           "Oxford?"
           "Cambridge."
           "Homosexual?"
           "Certainly not!"
           "Pity!"
               And the two camels continue their separate ways across the desert.

              I have to talk to many kinds of people -- camels are there. So if it is not your question, don't be
           bothered by my answer, forget all about it. It concerns somebody else, who is far more mature than
           you....

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT ARE YOUR LAST WORDS GOING TO BE TO THE WORLD?

               It reminds me of a story George Gurdjieff used to tell his closest disciples. The story is about a
           great past master, a buddha, who had a self-appointed right-hand man who was a faithful follower
           for year after year. And when the master was in his room on his deathbed, all of the followers
           silently waited by the door not knowing what to do and incapable of believing that their mystical
           master was really dying.
               Finally, through the sorrowful stillness, the master's voice was faintly heard to call the name of
           the right-hand man, and all of the followers looked at him intently as he made his way to the master's
           door. As he reached for the knob he glanced at the peering faces around him and imagined their envy
           and respect for him at being the only one to be called to the master's side during his final moments.
           He already imagined how after the master's death he would slowly emerge from the room as the new
           head of the system, a veritable Peter-of-the-Rock.
               Quietly he entered the darkened room and slowly he made his way and knelt by the bed. The old
           master nodded for him to come nearer, and he leaned over with his awaiting ear by the old man's
           mouth, and the master whispered, "Fuck you."

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                  Chapter #7
                                Chapter title: Does the spoon taste the soup?
           7 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907070
              ShortTitle: DHAM207
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 104 mins




              HOW LONG THE NIGHT TO THE WATCHMAN,
              HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE WEARY TRAVELER,
              HOW LONG THE WANDERING OF MANY LIVES
              TO THE FOOL WHO MISSES THE WAY.



              IF THE TRAVELER CANNOT FIND
              MASTER OR FRIEND TO GO WITH HIM,
              LET HIM TRAVEL ON ALONE
              RATHER THAN WITH A FOOL FOR COMPANY.

              "MY CHILDREN, MY WEALTH!"
              SO THE FOOL TROUBLES HIMSELF.
              BUT HOW HAS HE CHILDREN OR WEALTH?
              HE IS NOT EVEN HIS OWN MASTER.



              THE FOOL WHO KNOWS HE IS A FOOL
              IS THAT MUCH WISER.
              THE FOOL WHO THINKS HE IS WISE
              IS A FOOL INDEED.



              DOES THE SPOON TASTE THE SOUP?
              A FOOL MAY LIVE ALL HIS LIFE
              IN THE COMPANY OF A MASTER
              AND STILL MISS THE WAY.



              THE TONGUE TASTES THE SOUP.
              IF YOU ARE AWAKE IN THE PRESENCE OF A MASTER
              ONE MOMENT WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY.



              THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY.
              THE MISCHIEF HE DOES IS HIS UNDOING.
              HOW BITTERLY HE SUFFERS!



              WHY DO WHAT YOU WILL REGRET?
              WHY BRING TEARS UPON YOURSELF?
              DO ONLY WHAT YOU DO NOT REGRET,
              AND FILL YOURSELF WITH JOY.


               Man is a bridge between the known and the unknown. To remain confined in the known is to be
           a fool. To go in search of the unknown is the beginning of wisdom. To become one with the
           unknown is to become the awakened one, the buddha.
               Remember, again and again, that man is not yet a being -- he is on the way, a traveler, a pilgrim.
           He is not yet at home, he is in search of the home. One who thinks that he is at home is a fool,
           because then the search stops, then the seeking is no longer there. And the moment you stop seeking
           and searching, you become a stagnant pool of energy, you start stinking. Then you only die, then you
           don't live at all.
               Life is in flowing, life is in remaining a river -- because only the river will reach the ocean. If
           you become a stagnant pool then you are going nowhere. Then you are not really alive. The fool
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           does not live, he only pretends to live. He does not know, he only pretends to know. He does not
           love, he only pretends to love. The fool is a pretension.
                The wise lives, loves, the wise inquires. The wise is ready, always ready, to go into the uncharted
           sea. The wise is adventurous. The fool is afraid.
                When Buddha uses the word 'fool' you have to remember all these meanings of the word. It is not
           the ordinary meaning that Buddha gives to the word 'fool'. For him, the fool means one who lives in
           the mind and knows nothing of the no-mind; one who lives in information, knowledge, and has not
           tasted anything of wisdom; one who lives a borrowed life, imitative, but knows nothing of anything
           that arises in his own being.
                By "the fool" Buddha means one who is well acquainted with the scriptures, but has not tasted a
           single moment of truth. He may be a great scholar, very learned -- in fact, fools ARE scholars; they
           have to be because that is the only way to hide their foolishness. Fools are very learned people; they
           have to be, because it is only through learning words, theories, philosophies, that they can hide their
           inner ignorance, that they can hide their emptiness, that they can believe that they also know.
                If you want to find the fools, go to the universities, go to the academies. There you will find them
           -- in their utter ignorance, but pretending to know. They certainly know what others have said, but
           that is not real knowing. A blind man can collect all the information there is about light, but he will
           still remain blind. He can talk about light, he can write treatises on light; he may be very clever in
           guessing, in fabricating theories, but still he remains a blind man and he knows nothing of light. But
           the information that he collects may not only deceive others, it may deceive himself too. He may
           start thinking that he knows, that he is no longer blind.
                When Buddha uses the word 'fool' he does not mean simply the ignorant, because if the ignorant
           person is aware that he is ignorant, he is not a fool. And it is more possible for the ignorant person to
           be aware that he is ignorant than it is for the so-called learned people. Their egos are so puffed up; it
           is very difficult for them to see -- it goes against their investment. They have devoted their whole
           lives to knowledge, and now, to recognize the fact that all this knowledge is meaningless, futile,
           because they have not tasted truth themselves, is difficult, is hard.
                The ignorant person can remember that he is ignorant -- he has nothing to lose; but the learned,
           he cannot recognize that he is ignorant -- he has much to lose. The knowledgeable person is the real
           fool. The ignorant person is innocent; he knows that he knows not, and because he knows that he
           knows not, because he is ignorant, he is just on the threshold of wisdom. Because he knows he
           knows not, he can inquire, and his inquiry will be pure, unprejudiced. He will inquire without any
           conclusions. He will inquire without being a Christian or a Mohammedan or a Hindu. He will simply
           inquire as an inquirer. His inquiry will not come out of ready-made answers, his inquiry will come
           out of his own heart. His inquiry will not be a by-product of knowledge, his inquiry will be
           existential. He inquires because it is a question of life and death to him. He inquires because he
           really wants to know. He knows that he knows not -- that's why he inquires. His inquiry has a beauty
           of its own. He is not a fool, he is simply ignorant. The real fool is one who thinks he knows without
           knowing at all.
                Socrates was trying to do the same thing in Athens: he was trying to make these learned fools
           aware that all their learning was false, that they were really fools, pretenders, hypocrites. Naturally,
           all the professors and all the philosophers and all the so-called thinkers...and Athens was full of
           them. Athens was the capital of knowledge in those days. Just as today people look towards Oxford
           or Cambridge, people used to look towards Athens. It was full of the learned fools, and Socrates was
           trying to bring them down to the earth, was shattering their knowledge, was raising such questions --
           simple in a way, but difficult to be answered by those who have only acquired knowledge from
           others.
                Athens became very angry with Socrates. They poisoned this man. Socrates is one of the greatest
           men who has ever walked on the earth; and what he did very few people have done. His method is a
           basic method. The Socratic method of inquiry is such that it exposes the fools as fools. To expose a
           fool as a fool is dangerous, of course, because he will take revenge. Socrates was poisoned, Jesus
           was crucified, Buddha was condemned.
                The day Buddha died, Buddhism was thrown out of the country, expelled from the country. The
           scholars, the pundits, the brahmins, could not allow it to remain. It was too uncomfortable for them.
           Its basic attack was on the brahmins, the learned fools, and naturally they were offended. They could
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not face Buddha, they could not encounter him. They waited for their opportunity in a cunning way:
           when Buddha died, then they started fighting the followers. When the light was gone, then it was the
           time for the owls, the learned fools, to reign over the country again. And since that time they have
           reigned even up to now -- they are still in power. The same fools!
               The world has suffered much. Man could have become the glory of the earth, but because of
           these fools...and because they are powerful they can harm, and because they are powerful they can
           destroy any possibility, any opportunity for man to evolve. Man has been moving in circles, and
           these fools would not like man to become wise, because if man becomes wise these fools will be
           nowhere. They won't be in power anymore -- religiously, politically, socially, financially, all their
           power will be gone. They can remain in power only if they can go on destroying all possibilities of
           wisdom for man.
               My effort here is to create a Socratic inquiry again, to ask again the fundamental questions that
           Buddha raised.
               In the new commune we are going to have seven concentric circles of people. The first, the most
           superficial circle, will consist of those who come only out of childish curiosity, or out of already
           accumulated prejudices, who are, deep down, antagonistic -- the journalists, etcetera.
               They will be allowed only to see the superficial part of the commune -- not that anything will be
           hidden, but just because of their approach they will not be able to see anything more than the most
           superficial. They will see only the garments. Here also the same goes on happening. They come and
           they see only the superficial.
               Just the other day I was reading a journalist's report; he was here for five days. He writes, "for
           five days," as if it is a very long time to be here; five days, as if he has been here for five lives!
           Because he has been here for five days he has become an authority. Now he knows what is
           happening here because he has watched people meditating. How can you watch people meditating?
           Either you can meditate or not, but you cannot watch people meditating. Yes, you can watch people's
           physical gestures, movements, dance, or their sitting silently under a tree, but you cannot SEE
           meditation! You can see the physical posture of the meditator, but you cannot see his inner
           experience. For that, you have to meditate, you have to become a participant.
               And the basic condition for being a participant is that you should drop this idea of being a
           watcher. Even if you participate, if you dance with the meditators, with this idea that you are
           participating only to watch what happens, then nothing will happen. And, of course, you will go with
           the conclusion that it is all nonsense -- nothing happens. And you will feel perfectly right inside
           yourself that nothing happens, because you even participated and nothing happened.
               That man writes that he was in darshan and much was happening to sannyasins -- so much was
           happening that after a deep energy contact with me they were not even able to walk back to their
           places -- they had to be carried away. And then he mentions, "But nothing happened to me." That is
           enough proof that all that was happening was either hypnosis, or people were pretending just
           because the journalist was there, or it was just an arranged show, something managed -- because
           nothing was happening to him.
               There are things which can happen only when you are available, open, unprejudiced. There are
           things which can happen only when you put aside your mind.
               The journalist writes again, "The people who go there, they leave their minds where they leave
           their shoes -- but I could not do that. Of course," he says, "if I had left my mind behind, then I would
           have also been impressed." But he thinks the mind that he has is something so valuable -- how can
           he leave it behind? He feels himself very clever because he didn't leave his mind behind.
               Mind is the barrier, not the bridge. In the new commune, the first concentric circle will be for
           those who come like journalists -- prejudiced people, who already know that they know. In short, for
           the fools.
               The second concentric circle will be for those who are inquirers -- unprejudiced, neither Hindus
           nor Mohammedans nor Christians, who come without any conclusion, who come with an open mind.
           They will be able to see a little deeper. Something of the mysterious will stir their hearts. They will
           cross the barrier of the mind. They will become aware that something of immense importance is
           happening -- what exactly it is they will not be able to figure out immediately, but they will become
           aware vaguely that something of value IS happening. They may not be courageous enough to
           participate in it; their inquiry may be more intellectual than existential, they may not be able to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become part, but they will become aware -- of course, in a very vague and confused way, but
           certainly aware -- that something more is going on than is apparent.
                The third circle will be for those who are sympathetic, who are in deep sympathy, who are ready
           to move with the commune a little bit, who are ready to dance and sing and participate, who are not
           only inquirers but are ready to change themselves if the inquiry requires it. They will become aware
           more clearly of deeper realms.
                And the fourth will be the empathic. Sympathy means one is friendly, one is not antagonistic.
           Empathy means one is not only friendly; one feels a kind of unity, oneness. Empathy means one
           feels with the commune, with the people, with what is happening. One meets, merges, melts,
           becomes one.
                The fifth circle will be of the initiates, the sannyasins -- one who is not only feeling in his heart
           but who is ready to be committed, to be involved. One who is ready to risk. One who is ready to
           commit, because he feels a great, mad love -- mad, mad love -- arising in him. The sannyasin, the
           initiate.
                And the sixth will be of those who have started arriving -- the adepts. Those whose journey is
           coming closer to the end, who are no longer sannyasins only but are becoming SIDDHAS, whose
           journey is coming to a full stop, is getting closer and closer to the conclusion. The home is not far
           away, a few steps more. In a way, they have already arrived.
                And the seventh circle will consist of ARHATAS and BODHISATTVAS. The arhatas are those
           sannyasins who have arrived but are not interested in helping others to arrive. Buddhism has a
           special name for them: arhata -- the lonely traveler who arrives and then disappears into the ultimate.
           And the bodhisattvas are those who have arrived but they feel a great compassion for those who have
           not yet arrived. The bodhisattva is an arhata with compassion. He holds on, goes on looking back
           and goes on calling forth those who are still stumbling in darkness. He is a helper, a servant of
           humanity.
                There are two types of people. The one who is at ease only when he is alone; he feels a little
           uncomfortable in relationship, he feels a little disturbed, distracted, in relationship. That type of
           person becomes an arhata. When he has arrived, he is finished with everything. Now he does not
           look back.
                The bodhisattva is the second type of person: one who feels at ease in relationship, in fact far
           more comfortable when he is relating than when he is alone. He leans more towards love. The arhata
           leans more towards meditation. The path of the arhata is of pure meditation, and the path of the
           bodhisattva is that of pure love. The pure love contains meditation, and the pure meditation contains
           love -- but the pure meditation contains love only as a flavor, a perfume; it is not the central force in
           it. And the pure love contains meditation as a perfume; it is not the center of it.
                These two types exist in the world. The second type -- the follower on the path of love --
           becomes a bodhisattva. The seventh circle will consist of arhatas and bodhisattvas.
                Now, the seventh circle will be aware of all the six other circles, and the sixth circle will be
           aware of the other five circles -- the higher will be aware of the lower, but the lower will not be
           aware of the higher. The first circle will not be aware of anything other than the first circle. He will
           see the buildings and the hotel and the swimming pool and the shopping center and weaving and
           pottery and carpentry. He will see the trees, the whole landscape...he will see all these things. He
           will see thousands of sannyasins, and he will shrug his shoulders: "What are these people doing
           here?" He will be a little puzzled, because he was not thinking that so many mad people can be
           found in one place: "All are hypnotized!" He will find explanations. He will go perfectly satisfied
           that he has known the commune. He will not be aware of the higher -- the lower cannot be aware of
           the higher. That is one of the fundamental laws of life -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- only the
           higher knows the lower, because he has passed from the lower.
                When you are standing on the sunlit mountain peak, you know everything down in the valley.
           The valley people may not be aware of you at all, it is not possible for them. The valley has its own
           occupations, its own problems. The valley is preoccupied with its own darkness.
                The fool can come to a master but will remain unbenefited because he will see only the outer. He
           will not be able to see the essential, he will not be able to see the core. The fool comes here too, but
           he listens only to the words -- and he goes on interpreting those words according to his own ideas.
           He goes perfectly satisfied that he knows what is happening.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There are many fools who don't come here -- they don't feel the need. They simply depend on
           other fools' reports. That's enough. Just one fool can convince thousands of fools, because their
           language is the same, their prejudices are the same, their conceptions are the same...there is no
           problem! One fool has seen, and all the other fools are convinced. One fool reports in the newspaper
           and all the other fools read it early in the morning, and are convinced.

           The sutras:

              HOW LONG THE NIGHT TO THE WATCHMAN,
              HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE WEARY TRAVELER,
              HOW LONG THE WANDERING OF MANY LIVES
              TO THE FOOL WHO MISSES THE WAY.


                The night is very long to the watchman -- why? He cannot relax, he has to keep himself
           somehow awake. It is a struggle. He has to keep himself awake against nature, because the night is
           meant for relaxing and resting and going to sleep. He is fighting against nature -- so is the fool. The
           fool goes on fighting against nature. He tries to swim against the current; hence, his misery is long,
           unnecessarily long. He multiplies it a thousandfold because he cannot let go, he cannot relax.
                The first indication of a foolish mind is that it cannot relax, it is always tense, it is always on
           guard, it is always afraid.
                HOW LONG THE NIGHT TO THE WATCHMAN.... It is not so long for those who are resting,
           relaxing, and have gone into deep sleep. It goes so fast! Just one moment you were awake, then you
           fall asleep...and the next moment you are awake, it is morning. You cannot believe the night has
           flown so fast. If you have been really restful...the more you rest, the faster the night flies. If your rest
           is total, time disappears. This is something to be understood.
                Time is a psychological phenomenon. I am not talking about the time that you see on the clock, I
           am talking about the psychological time. When you are happy, relaxed, peaceful, time flies fast.
           When you are in pain, misery, anguish, time goes very slowly; it seems unending.
                Have you sat by the side of a dying man in the night? It seems as if the morning will never come.
           The night seems so long...it is the same night. The same night you can sit with your beloved, and it
           flies so fast that you cannot believe it -- because you were happy and you were relaxed and you were
           enjoying and you were moving with nature, not fighting. Love means surrender, love means
           relaxation.
                Albert Einstein was asked again and again in his life, "What is the theory of relativity?" It is a
           complicated theory and it cannot be explained easily to people who are not aware of higher
           mathematics. In fact, it is said that only twelve persons on the whole earth understood exactly what
           Einstein meant by the theory of relativity. How to explain it to a layman?
                So he had made this beautiful explanation. He would say, "Sit on a hot stove and then one second
           seems to be almost like eternity, nonending -- it is so hot, is it so painful. And then you hold the hand
           of your beloved and sit by her side on the bank of the river on a full-moon night, and hours go like
           moments." This, he used to say, is the theory of relativity.
                Everything depends on you, on your psychological state. Time is not a physical, material
           phenomenon; it is psychological. Hence, in deep meditation time disappears totally. And this is not
           something new, the mystics have known it down the ages. They have said, all the mystics of all
           countries, that time stops when meditation really begins.
                Jesus is asked by somebody, "You talk so much about the kingdom of God -- what is going to be
           very special about it, something that we don't know at all? Tell us something about the kingdom of
           God which will be absolutely special."
                And do you know what he said? A very strange answer -- he said, "There shall be time no
           longer."
                Yes, in the kingdom of God there can be time no longer, because time exists only in proportion
           to pain, anguish, anxiety. If all anxiety, all pain, all nightmares disappear, time disappears. Time is a
           mind phenomenon: if there is no mind, there is no time. And you also know about it. This relativity
           you have felt.
                Vivek was saying just the other day, and many times she has said it, that time flies so fast here
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that she cannot believe that she has been here for seven years. It looks as if just seven days ago she
           had come here.
                And still we are amidst the world! Once we have moved away from the world, once we have our
           own small world, once we drop all the bridges, time will start disappearing. My effort is to give you
           a taste of timelessness. Once you have tasted it, then you can go back into the world and it will
           remain with you. The most important thing is to taste it once at least -- no-time -- and suddenly you
           are transported into another world.
                This world consists of time and space. That's how Albert Einstein defines it: spaciotime. He
           makes one word out of the two, because he says time is nothing but the fourth dimension of space.
           So this world consists of space and time, and in meditation you disappear from both, or both
           disappear from your being. You don't know where you are. YOU ARE, certainly, more than you
           have ever been; you are totally there but there is no space confining you and no time defining you. A
           pure existence. Once tasted, all foolishness disappears.
                The fool lives in time, the wise man lives in timelessness.
                The fool lives in mind, the wise man lives in no-mind.
                HOW LONG THE NIGHT TO THE WATCHMAN, HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE
           WEARY TRAVELER.... Just look at people's faces -- how tired, weary, utterly frustrated they look.
           And they not only look it, they are. Their souls are tired, their very beings have become a kind of
           boredom. They are dragging themselves -- no joy, no dance in their steps, no song in their hearts, no
           gratitude, no thankfulness that they are...on the contrary, so many complaints.
                One of Dostoevsky's characters in THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV says, "I would like to
           return this life to God if I meet him. I don't want to live anymore. Life is such an anguish!" He wants
           to return the ticket. How can he be thankful?
                Just think: if you meet God some day, what are you going to say to him? It will be difficult even
           to say "Hi!" You will be so angry with him, so utterly annoyed, irritated, that this is the man who
           created you, this is the man who created the world! It is simply because of this that God goes on
           hiding; otherwise people are bound to kill him. They won't leave him alive; he has to hide, just to
           survive he has to hide.
                HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE WEARY TRAVELER, HOW LONG THE WANDERING
           OF MANY LIVES TO THE FOOL WHO MISSES THE WAY. And the fool is bound to miss the
           way. Why? -- because he thinks he already knows the way, because he thinks he is on the way.
           Everybody else is wrong, he is right. He believes that if everybody follows him, everything will be
           right in the world. He is a fanatic. He has the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas -- what else is needed? He
           knows all the beautiful dogmas of all the religions -- what more is needed? He knows the way!
                But when Buddha uses the word 'way', he means dhamma -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.
           He means the way that takes you out of your ego, the way that takes you out of your mind, the way
           that takes you out of your identities, the way that makes you an absolute nothingness...the way that
           helps you to dissolve into the whole.
                He is not talking about religions, he is not talking about so-called techniques, devices, methods.
           When he uses the word 'way', he means exactly what Lao Tzu means by 'tao'. Tao exactly means "the
           way" -- the way to what? The way beyond yourself, the way that leads you out of your confined,
           imprisoned state, into the open.
                HOW LONG THE WANDERING OF MANY LIVES.... And it is really a long long wandering
           -- not of one day or of one life, but of many lives, of millions of lives. And if people are tired it is not
           surprising. If their eyes look full of dust, it is not surprising. If their souls are covered with layers of
           dust, it is not surprising. If they no longer reflect, if their mirrors are lost, it is not an accident -- it is
           understandable, although unforgivable, because nobody else is responsible for this situation except
           you. If you decide, you can drop all the layers of dust THIS very moment, and the moment you drop
           all the dust of your thoughts, you are on the way. You ARE the way!
                Jesus says, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the door." Christians go on interpreting it as if
           Jesus is the way; that is not true, that is falsifying Jesus utterly. When Jesus says, "I am the way," he
           is saying, "Whoever can say 'I am', there is the way." He is not talking about Jesus, the son of Joseph
           and Mary; he is talking about this "I-amness."
                The moment, in deep silent meditation, you come across this I-amness, you are the way. It is not
           a question of being a Christian. It is not what Christians go on telling the whole world, "Unless you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come to Jesus, you will not find the way to God." That is sheer nonsense! -- because Buddha has
           found without being a Christian, and Mohammed has found without being a Christian, and Mahavira
           has found and Krishna has found and Lao Tzu has found...I have found without being a Christian.
           That is nonsense.
           But what Jesus really means IS true.
                Moses asked God when he encountered him...a beautiful story; remember, it is a story, not
           history. History is a very ordinary thing; history consists of Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan and Adolf
           Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong -- history is very ordinary. It consists of all that is ugly. It
           is not history, it is a parable, a metaphor, of tremendous poetry and beauty.
                It says when Moses encountered God he asked, "Who are you?" And God is reported to have
           said, "I am that I am."
                That's what Jesus means when he says, "I am the way."
                If you can feel your own being, your own "amness," you will find the way. The fool cannot find
           it. He goes on and on...living in the same desires, in the same stupid thoughts, in the same memories.
           The fool is repetitive; he only repeats what he knows -- he never endeavors to go beyond his
           knowledge. And truth is unknown.
                Just watch your mind and you will be able to understand what I am trying to convey to you. Your
           mind is repetitive! It says, "Yesterday the food was very good, let us go to the same hotel again....
           Yesterday that man was very friendly, let us find him again." It wants to repeat the yesterdays, and it
           does not allow the today to have its own being. It does not allow even the tomorrow to have its own
           being; for tomorrows also, it has plans to repeat just what it has known in the past. And what have
           you known in the past except misery? But you have become familiar with it and you go on repeating
           it.
                The fool is repetitive: the wise lives every moment anew.

               All the soldiers of an American regiment in Korea put up a dollar apiece and draw lots for which
           of them will take the resultant money and spend one night in the finest brothel in the Orient.
               Hymie Kaplowitz, the terror of Brooklyn, naturally wins, and on his return from the legendary
           brothel describes to his assembled bunk-mates what happened: the hanging gold curtains, the
           sensuous oriental music, the exotic aphrodisiacal meal served by little naked twelve-year-old girls
           beforehand, etcetera, ending every passage with "...nothing like Brooklyn!"
               Finally he describes how the most beautiful woman he had ever seen comes slowly down the
           ornate staircase, wearing only a pagoda-headdress with trailing veils of white lace, and leads him up
           the stairs by the hand to her perfumed bed "...nothing like Brooklyn!"
           "And then?" all the other soldiers ask feverishly.
           "And then?" answers Hymie. "Oh, then it was just like Brooklyn."

               The fool's mind goes on repetitively doing the same thing again and again. The fool's mind is a
           vicious circle -- it moves in circles. The wise man is not at all repetitive. He lives each moment
           anew, he is born anew each moment. He dies to the past every moment, and is born again.
               The wise man's whole life is a process of rebirthing. The wise man is not born once, he is born
           every moment again and again. The old never takes hold of him. But the fool is born only once, and
           then he goes on repeating.
               If you go on repeating you will miss the way, because your amness, your being, is absolutely
           fresh and always young. It is never old. The mind grows old, the body grows old, but the being
           knows nothing of time -- how can it grow old? It is always young, it is always youthful. It is as fresh
           as dewdrops in the early morning sun, it is as fresh as lotus leaves in the lake.

              IF THE TRAVELER CANNOT FIND
              MASTER OR FRIEND TO GO WITH HIM,
              LET HIM TRAVEL ON ALONE
              RATHER THAN WITH A FOOL FOR COMPANY.


              The best thing is to find a master, because the master is the greatest friend possible; hence
           Buddha says MASTER OR FRIEND.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           IF THE TRAVELER CANNOT FIND MASTER OR FRIEND TO GO WITH HIM, LET HIM
           TRAVEL ON ALONE RATHER THAN WITH A FOOL FOR COMPANY. But avoid fools. And
           that's what you never do. You collect fools around yourself. There is some secret in it: when you are
           surrounded by fools, you appear superior. It is very ego-fulfilling; hence nobody wants to live with
           somebody who is superior. People want to live with their inferiors, because your inferiors give you
           the idea that you are great.
                To be with a master you will have to drop that idea that you are great, you will have to drop all
           that rubbish, you will have to drop your whole ego, you will have to surrender. You will have to
           dissolve in the master; hence people avoid masters. How many people went to Jesus? Very few, they
           can be counted on the fingers. How many people went to Buddha? Very few.... This has been always
           so. But people are very happy going to the Rotary Club. It feels very good when you are surrounded
           by fools -- it feels very good: all fools dressed up, and every fool feeling better than the others, and
           every fool bragging about himself, and every fool is being supported by other fools.
                People love to be in the crowds, because in the crowds you can forget your inferiority. That's
           why people don't leave crowds. One crowd is that of Hindus, another is that of Mohammedans, the
           third is that of Christians and so on and so forth. Nobody wants to leave the crowd.
                And even if sometimes people leave one crowd, they immediately join another. They escape
           somehow from one prison just to enter into another -- they cannot live alone. Buddha says it is better
           to live alone than with fools. If you can find a master or a friend, good; if you cannot, then it is better
           to be alone. Of course, it will be hard to be alone, it will be difficult because the crowd will create so
           many difficulties for you. The crowd does not love individuals, it does not want anybody to be
           independent; it wants everybody to be dependent on the crowd. It will create trouble for you. But all
           those troubles are cleansing, all those troubles are challenges. They sharpen your intelligence, they
           will make you wise.

           "MY CHILDREN, MY WEALTH!"
           SO THE FOOL TROUBLES HIMSELF.
           BUT HOW HAS HE CHILDREN OR WEALTH?
           HE IS NOT EVEN HIS OWN MASTER.

               The fool lives around the idea of "my" and "mine": my nation, my religion, my race, my family,
           my wealth, my children, my parents...he lives around "my" and "mine." And he has come alone and
           he will go alone; nobody brings anything into the world and nobody takes anything from the world.
           Alone, empty-handed we come; alone, empty-handed we go. The wise knows it; hence the wise
           claims nothing as "mine." He uses things, but he does not possess them. Using is perfectly good --
           use all the things of the world, they ARE for you. The world is a gift from God -- use it, but don't
           possess it. The moment you become a possessor, you cannot use things -- the things start using you.
           The moment you become a possessor, in fact you are possessed by your things, you become a slave.
           And the very idea of possessing is stupid. How can you possess anything? You don't even possess
           your own being. What else can you possess? You are not even a master of yourself.
               Buddha says: "MY CHILDREN, MY WEALTH!" SO THE FOOL TROUBLES HIMSELF. And
           how many anxieties arise out of this "mine," "my" business? Totally false! Basically false, but it can
           create many many miseries. It is like when in the dark night you see a rope and you think that it is a
           snake. Now you are running, screaming, trembling, you may have a heart attack. And there was no
           snake at all -- there was only a rope! But the heart attack will be real, remember: an unreal snake can
           create a real heart attack.
               These are unreal problems. Claiming "mine" -- anything! Country, church, children, wealth,
           anything -- when you claim "It is mine!" you are creating a great source of anxiety, anguish for
           yourself. You are creating a hell around yourself.
               BUT HOW HAS HE CHILDREN OR WEALTH? Buddha asks. HE IS NOT EVEN HIS OWN
           MASTER.

              A fool fell out of a sixth-story window. He is lying on the ground with a big crowd around him.
           A cop walks over and says, "What happened?"
           The fool says, "I don't know. I just got here."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              What do you know about how you got here? What do you know about from where you come?
           What do you know about where you are bound to go? What do you know about who you are? The
           most fundamental questions remain in darkness, and still you go on claiming, "This is my house...."

                When Buddha became enlightened, he came back home. The father was very angry, obviously --
           this was his only child and he became a drop-out. The father was getting old, and he had managed a
           big kingdom. He was very much worried: "Who is going to own it? Who is going to rule it? That
           fool, my son, has escaped."
                Many efforts were made to persuade Buddha to come back, but all efforts failed. When he
           became enlightened he came on his own -- that encounter is one of the most beautiful encounters in
           human history.
                Buddha's old father is very angry, so angry that out of anger tears start coming into his old eyes.
           He shouts, screams, abuses, and Buddha stands there, utterly calm and quiet, as if nothing is
           happening. Maybe for half an hour, or for one hour...then the father, the old man, is exhausted. Then
           he becomes aware that the son has not even uttered a single word, he has not reacted at all. "And he
           looks so calm and quiet! What is the matter? Is he deaf or something? Has he gone mad or
           something?" He asks, "Why aren't you answering me?"
                Buddha says, "The man who had left you is no more. You are not talking to ME -- you are
           talking to your son, who is no more. Much water has gone down the Ganges since then. Twelve
           years have passed. I am a totally different person."
                Buddha, of course, means metaphorically. He means, "I am no longer the same consciousness, no
           longer in the same mind. My attitudes have dropped, my prejudices gone. I am a totally fresh being.
           Now I know who I am. That time I was a fool. Now the light has come within my soul. That's why,"
           he says, "I am no longer the same."
                Buddha's old father again becomes infuriated. He says, "What do you mean that you are not the
           same? Can't I recognize my son? Don't I know you? I have given birth to you, my blood flows in
           your veins, you are made of my blood and bones -- and I don't know you? You have some nerve to
           say this!"
                And Buddha again says, "Excuse me, but I say again that my body may be a part of your body --
           I am not. Now I know that I am not my body, not my mind. Now I know who I am. And you have
           nothing to do with my being; you have not created my being, you have not given birth to my being. I
           have been before my birth, and I will be after my death. Please try to understand me; don't get
           irritated, don't be annoyed. I have come only to share my joy that I have found."

              But parents think the children are theirs, the children think the parents are theirs. In this world,
           your being is absolutely alone. Yes, share your joy with others, but never possess. Only the fool
           possesses, the wise man has no possessiveness.

              THE FOOL WHO KNOWS HE IS A FOOL
              IS THAT MUCH WISER.
              THE FOOL WHO THINKS HE IS WISE
              IS A FOOL INDEED.


               Ponder over it: what do you think about yourself? It is going to be painful to see your
           foolishness. It is easy to see other people as fools -- in fact, everybody knows that everybody else is
           a fool -- but to see your own foolishness is a great step towards wisdom. To see your own
           foolishness is already transforming your being, your consciousness.

               A man is visiting in France. Does a little wandering the first night. Makes love to the host's wife,
           his daughter, the cook, the second maid, etcetera. The host berates him in the morning.
           "What is the big idea? Here you are my guest. I receive you as a friend. And what do you do? You
           make love to my wife, my daughter, and half the servants -- and for me, nothing?"

              The fool is always concerned with only one thing -- his ego. Anything that is for him is good --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything. And he is ready to cling to it. The fool even clings to misery, because it is HIS misery. He
           goes on accumulating whatsoever he can get, because the fool has no idea of his inner kingdom, of
           his inner treasures; he goes on accumulating junk because he thinks this is all that can be possessed.
           Junk outside and junk inside; that's what people go on collecting -- things they collect and thoughts
           they collect. Things are junk outside, thoughts are junk inside, and you are drowned in your junk.
               Have a look, a dispassionate, detached look at your life, what you have been doing with it, and
           what you have got out of it. And don't try to befool yourself, because this is how mind goes on. It
           says, "Look how much you have got! So much money in the bank, so many people know you,
           respect you, honor you; you have such a great post, politically you are powerful...what else? What
           else can one hope for? Life has given all that one can hope for."
               But money or power or prestige are nothing, because death will come and all your great citadels
           of wealth, power, prestige, respectability, will just start falling as if you have made them with
           playing cards. Just a blow of death and everything shatters.
               Unless you have something that you can take beyond death, remember, you don't have anything
           at all -- your hands are empty. Unless you have something deathless, eternal, you are a fool. The
           Buddha calls that man wise who has attained some real treasure -- of meditation, of compassion, of
           enlightenment.

              DOES THE SPOON TASTE THE SOUP?
              A FOOL MAY LIVE ALL HIS LIFE
              IN THE COMPANY OF A MASTER
              AND STILL MISS THE WAY.


               The spoon cannot taste the soup, the spoon is dead -- so is the fool. He only appears to be alive;
           otherwise, his heart is dead, almost dead, because his heart is not functioning. He lives only through
           the head, and the head is only a spoon.
               Through the head you cannot taste any joy of life. Can you see beauty through the head? You can
           see the flower, but you will miss the beauty; you will see the moon, but you will miss the beauty;
           you will see the sunset, but you will miss the beauty. Your head cannot know anything of beauty.
               Your head can know something about sex but cannot know anything about love. Your head can
           understand the prose part of life, your head is a calculating machine -- but it cannot know the poetry
           of existence. And the poetry of existence contains the truth. The music of existence contains the real
           benediction. It can be known only by the heart. Only the heart can experience it.
               Remember, all that is meaningless, the head is efficient with it; and all that is significant, only
           the heart is capable of it. And we all are living in the head. Our schools, colleges, universities, exist
           only for a single purpose, for a single crime they exist, and that crime is: divert people's energies
           from the heart to the head so that they can all become calculating machines, efficient clerks and
           deputy collectors, stationmasters.... But the education system does not allow you to become a lover,
           a poet, a singer. It does not allow you to know the real significance of life. It does not allow you to
           enter into the temple, it keeps you outside.
               The head is superficial, the heart is at the center. And if the heart is not functioning, you are a
           spoon, a wooden spoon. You will not taste the soup. A FOOL MAY LIVE ALL HIS LIFE IN THE
           COMPANY OF A MASTER AND STILL MISS THE WAY.
               To be in the company of a master is the greatest blessing possible, because being in the company
           of one who is awakened, the possibility opens up for you also to be awakened. One who is awake
           can make you awake, because awakening is contagious. He can shake you out of your dreams and
           nightmares. But the fool can live in the company of a master his whole life and miss. How does he
           miss? Because with the master also he is connected through the head -- that is his way of missing the
           master.
               Now, there are a few people here who ARE missing and who will go on missing if they remain
           head-oriented. This is not a place to live in the head. Be headless! A true sannyasin will be headless.
           He will be heartful, because it is only through the heart that I can penetrate into you. It is only
           through the heart that there is any possibility of communion. Otherwise, you will listen to my words
           and you will collect my words, and you will become parrots and you will repeat my words -- and that
           is all futile...unless you taste, unless you drink out of me.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THE TONGUE TASTES THE SOUP. Please don't be spoons, be tongues. When you are around
           a buddha, don't be spoons, be tongues -- be alive, be sensitive, be heartful, be loving, be trusting.

              THE TONGUE TASTES THE SOUP.
              IF YOU ARE AWAKE IN THE PRESENCE OF A MASTER
              ONE MOMENT WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY.


               A SINGLE moment is enough! It is not a question of being with a master for a long time; time
           does not enter into it. It is not a question of quantity, of how long you have lived with the master.
           The question is how deep you have loved the master, not how long you lived with the master -- how
           intensely, passionately you have become involved with the master...not the length of time, but the
           depth of your feeling. Then a single moment of awareness, of heart wakefulness, a single moment of
           silence...and the transmission, the transmission beyond all scriptures.

              THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY.
              THE MISCHIEF HE DOES IS HIS UNDOING.
              HOW BITTERLY HE SUFFERS!


                THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY, says Buddha. Why? -- because it is simply of his own
           accord that he goes on missing all that is significant in existence. Nobody is barring the way. The
           poetry of life is available to all. The fool remains deaf, he keeps his ears closed. Life is full of light,
           but the fool keeps his eyes closed. Life is continuously showering divine joy, flowers go on
           showering, but the fool remains completely oblivious. Even if sometimes in spite of himself he
           comes across a flower, he does not believe in it. He says, "I must be deceived."
                It happens almost every day. People write to me that in their meditation something strange is
           happening: they are feeling very happy -- it can't be true! Nobody ever writes to me, "I am feeling
           unhappy -- it can't be true!" But whenever happiness is felt, joy arises, they become afraid, they can't
           believe it. They start suspecting. They start suspecting and they start theorizing that it must be the
           hypnosis of the place, it must be the many orange people around, that's why they are being affected.
           How can they be happy?! They have known only misery their whole lives, they have become
           accustomed to it, misery has become their being. Now, ecstasy? No, these flowers can't be true --
           something is wrong.
                In almost all the languages of the world there are proverbs such as this one in English: you say,
           "It can't be true because it is so good." The good can't be true? Nobody believes in the good. "Too
           good to be true," you say. Nobody says, "Too bad to be true." No proverb like that exists in any
           language of the world: "Too bad to be true." The bad is accepted, the ugly is accepted, the mundane
           is accepted -- and the sacred is denied.
                And even if you accept the sacred, you only accept it formally. You go to the temple and the
           church as a social formality; you don't really believe in God, you don't really believe in the temple. It
           is good, it keeps things smooth, it is like a lubricant. If you go to the temple and the church, people
           think you are a good man, honest, religious; and if people think you are religious, honest and good,
           you can cheat them in a better way than you could otherwise. They will trust you, and you can cheat
           them and deceive them only if they trust you. It is a social formality, maybe a social strategy to cheat
           and deceive people. But you don't believe.
                Whenever something immense, huge, bigger than you, descends on you, you simply shrink back,
           you close your eyes, you become an ostrich. You simply deny it! It can't be so. It is not that God has
           not come on your way -- he has come many times, he has knocked on your doors many times, but
           you don't open the doors. On the contrary, you go on finding rationalizations. Sometimes you say, "It
           must be the wind, it must be the rain, it must be some neighborhood child playing on the steps,
           knocking on the door." You go on explaining to yourself...but you never open the door and see who
           is there.
              THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY. THE MISCHIEF HE DOES IS HIS UNDOING. HOW BITTERLY HE
              SUFFERS!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              WHY DO WHAT YOU WILL REGRET?
              WHY BRING TEARS UPON YOURSELF?


             Out of his great compassion he raises this question -- he is talking to YOU -- WHY DO WHAT
           YOU WILL REGRET? WHY BRING TEARS UPON YOURSELF?

              DO ONLY WHAT YOU DO NOT REGRET,
              AND FILL YOURSELF WITH JOY.


               Remember, let this be the criterion: whatsoever brings joy and bliss and benediction IS true --
           because bliss is God's nature. Truth is another name for bliss. Untruth brings misery. If you live in
           lies, you will live in misery. And if you are living in misery, remember and find out on what lies you
           have based your life. Withdraw yourself from those lies. Don't waste time and don't postpone.
           Immediately withdraw! That withdrawal I call sannyas.
               It is not withdrawing from the world, it is withdrawing from the lies that you have been living up
           to now. It is not renouncing the world, it is renouncing the lies that you have based your life upon.
           The moment you withdraw yourself from the lies, they start falling, start dying, because they depend
           on you, they nourish themselves on you -- they cannot live without your support. Withdraw your
           cooperation, and all lies disappear. And when all lies disappear, what is left is truth.
               Truth is your innermost nature. Truth has not to be found anywhere else. AES DHAMMO
           SANANTANO -- this is the ultimate law, the inexhaustible law, the ultimate truth, that it is within
           you. You need not go anywhere. You can find it within yourself if you can fulfill only one condition:
           withdraw the lies in which you have invested so much -- withdraw from them. Renounce all that is
           untrue. Misery is an indication of untruth.
               Whenever some bliss happens, trust it, and go in that direction...and you will be moving towards
           God. Bliss is his fragrance. If you can follow bliss, you will never go astray. If you follow bliss, you
           will be following nature. And if you are natural, blissful, relaxed, wisdom arises.
               Wisdom is a very relaxed state of being. Wisdom is not knowledge, not information; wisdom is
           your inner being awake, alert, watchful, witnessing, full of light. Be full of light -- it is your
           birthright. If you miss, you are a fool. And you have missed many lives already -- this time, please,
           be a little more compassionate towards yourself.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #8
                                         Chapter title: God loves laughter
           8 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907080
              ShortTitle: DHAM208
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 102 mins




              The first question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE WEST I WAS TRAINED AS A SOCIAL WORKER. I WAS TAUGHT THAT IT IS IMPORTANT
              THAT A PERSON RESPECTS AND LOVES HIMSELF AND FEELS WORTHWHILE. I WAS TAUGHT
              THAT IT IS IMPORTANT TO GIVE SUPPORT TO HELP STRENGTHEN THE EGO. YOU SAY KILL
              THE EGO. I AM CONFUSED.


                Prem Aradhana, the ego is needed because the true self is not known. The ego is a substitute, it is
           a pseudo entity. Because you don't know yourself you have to create an artificial center; otherwise
           functioning in life will be impossible. Because you don't know your real face, you have to wear a
           mask. Not knowing the essential, you have to trust in the shadow.
                There are only two ways of living in life. One is to live it from the very core of your being -- that
           has been the way of the mystics. Meditation is nothing but a device to make you aware of your real
           self -- which is not created by you, which need not be created by you, which you already are. You
           are born with it, you ARE it! It needs to be discovered. If this is not possible, or if the society does
           not allow it to happen...and no society allows it to happen, because the real self is dangerous --
           dangerous for the established church, dangerous for the state, dangerous for the crowd, dangerous for
           the tradition -- because once a man knows his real self, he becomes an individual. He no longer
           belongs to the mob psychology; he will not be superstitious, and he cannot be exploited. He cannot
           be led like cattle, he cannot be ordered and commanded. He will live according to his light, he will
           live from his own inwardness. His life will have tremendous beauty, integrity. But that is the fear of
           the society.
                Integrated persons become individuals, and the society wants you to be nonindividuals. Instead
           of individuality, the society teaches you to be a personality. The word 'personality' has to be
           understood. It comes from a root, 'persona' -- persona means a mask. The society gives you a false
           idea of who you are; it gives you just a toy, and you go on clinging to the toy your whole life.
                The one way is to live through meditation -- then you live a life of rebellion, of adventure, of
           courage. Then you really live! The other way to live, or to fake living, is the way of the ego --
           strengthen the ego, nourish the ego; so that you need not look into the self, cling to the ego. The ego
           is an artefact created by the society to deceive you, to distract you.
                The ego is man-made, manufactured by us. And because it is manufactured by the society,
           society has power over it. Because it is manufactured by the state and the church, and those who are
           in power, they can destroy it any moment; it depends on them. You have to be constantly in fear, and
           you have to be constantly obeying them, conforming to them, so that your ego remains intact. The
           society gives you respect if you are not an individual. The society honors you if you are not a Jesus,
           not a Socrates, not a Buddha. It respects you only if you are a sheep, not a man.
                The West has completely forgotten how to meditate -- and Christianity has been the reason.
           Christianity has created a very false religion, which knows nothing of meditation. Christianity is
           very formal; it is a ritual. It is part of the society and the political structure of the society. Karl Marx
           is perfectly right about it, that it is the opium of the people. Because of Christianity, the West has
           lost track of its own being. And one cannot live without SOME idea of one's self -- and if you cannot
           discover, then create something. It will be false, but something is better than nothing.
                Aradhana, what you have been told is utter nonsense. It does not matter who has been telling it --
           the universities, the politicians, the priests. Certainly, you will be feeling confused, because I am
           telling you just the opposite: I am telling you to get rid of the ego, because if you get rid of the ego,
           you get rid of the rock that is preventing the flow of your consciousness.
                Your consciousness is there, just behind the rock; it has not to be brought from somewhere else.
           Remove the rock -- real religion consists only of removing that which is unnecessary, and then the
           necessary starts flowing. That which is unessential has to be removed. And the essential is already
           there, is already the case! You remove the rock and you will be surprised: you need not create the
           real self -- it reveals itself to you.
                And the real has beauty, and the real is deathless. Because it is deathless it has no fear. The
           unreal is constantly trembling. The ego is always in danger -- anybody can destroy it. Because it has
           been given to you by others, they can take it back. Today they respect you, tomorrow they may not
           respect you. If you don't follow their idea of life, if you don't confirm their style of being, they will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           withdraw their respect. And you will be flat on the ground...and you will not know who you are.

           Borges writes:
           "I dreamt that I was awakening from another dream -- full of cataclysms and turmoil -- and that I
           was waking up in a room which I did not recognize. Dawn was breaking: a faint diffused light
           outlined the foot of the iron bedstead, the table. I thought fearfully 'Where am I?' and realized that I
           did not know. I thought 'Who am I?' and I could not recognize myself. Fear grew within me. I
           thought, 'This distressing awakening is already hell, this awakening without a future will be my
           eternity.' Then I really awoke, trembling."

               Not to know oneself, to know one's destiny, that's certainly real hell. And man does not know
           himself. Now, the cheaper way is to create the ego, and the West has been following the cheaper
           way. And not only the West: the majority of people in the East, too, have been doing the same. Just
           leave a few enlightened people aside, and the whole world has been doing the same.
               The West consists of ninety-nine point nine percent of the people in the world; the East consists
           of only a few people, they can be counted on the fingers. To me, the East and the West are not
           geographical -- they are spiritual dimensions. Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra, Abraham,
           Moses, Christ, Saint Francis -- the East consists of these people. Where they were born is
           immaterial, is irrelevant. Certainly Saint Francis was not born in the East, but I count him as part of
           the East.
               The spiritual dimension, the dimension where the inner sun rises, is the East. And the dark night
           of the soul, which knows nothing of the sunrise, is the West. You don't become religious just by
           being born in India. Religion is not that cheap. It is the costliest thing in existence, because it is the
           most precious. There is no shortcut to it, and those who seek shortcuts are bound to be deceived by
           somebody. They will be given toys, and you can go on believing in toys because you don't want to
           risk an adventure into the unknown.
               The greatest unknown exists within you. The most uncharted sea is your consciousness, and the
           most dangerous too, because when you start moving inwards, you start falling into an emptiness, and
           great fear arises, the fear of going mad, the fear of losing your identity. ...Because you have known
           yourself as a name, you have known yourself as a particular person -- you have known yourself as a
           doctor, as an engineer, as a businessman; you have known yourself as an Indian, a German, a
           Chinese; you have known yourself as black or white; you have known yourself as man or woman;
           you have known yourself as educated or uneducated -- all these categories start disappearing.
               As you move inwards, you are neither man nor woman: NETI, NETI -- neither this nor that,
           neither white nor black, neither Hindu nor Mohammedan, neither Indian nor Pakistani. As you move
           inwards, all these categories start slipping out of your hands. Then who are you? You start losing
           track of your ego, and a great fear arises -- the fear of nothingness. You are falling into infinity. Who
           knows whether you will be able to come back or not? And who knows what is going to be the
           outcome of this exploration? The coward clings to the shore and forgets all about the sea. That's
           what is happening all over the world. People cling to the ego because ego gives you a certain idea of
           who you are, gives you a certain clarity. But the ego is false, and the clarity is false.
               It is better to be confused with reality than to be clear with unreality.
               Aradhana, you are right: with me a great confusion is bound to happen -- because all your
           knowledge, slowly slowly, will be proved simple ignorance and nothing else. Hiding behind your
           knowledge is your ignorance. Hiding behind your cleverness is your stupid mind. And behind the
           ego there is nothing -- it is a shadow.
               Once this becomes clear to you, that you have been clinging to the shadow, a great fear and a
           great confusion, a great chaos is bound to happen. But out of the chaos stars are born. One has to
           pass through such chaos -- that is part of spiritual growth. You have to lose the false to get to the
           real. But between the two there will be an interval when the false will be gone and the true will not
           yet have arrived. Those are the moments, the most critical moments...these are the moments when
           you need a master or a friend.
               Just the other day, Buddha was saying, "A master or a friend is needed." These are the moments
           when you will need somebody's hand who can hold you, who can support you, who can say, "Don't
           be afraid. This emptiness is going to disappear. Soon you will be overflowing -- just a little more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           waiting, a little more patience." The master cannot give you anything, but he can give you courage.
           He can give you his hand in those critical moments when your mind would like to go back, to turn
           back, to cling again to the shore.
                The joy of the master, his confidence, his authority...remember, when I say "his authority" I don't
           mean that a master is authoritarian. A master is never authoritarian, but he has authority, because he
           is a witness to his own self. He knows about the other shore, he has BEEN to the other shore. You
           have only HEARD about the other shore, you have read about it; you know only about this shore,
           and the comfort and the security, and the safety of this shore. And when the storms rage and when
           you start losing sight of this shore, and you are not able to see the other shore, your mind will say,
           "Go back! Go back as fast as possible! The old shore is disappearing and the new is not appearing.
           Maybe there is nothing on the other shore, maybe there is no other shore at all. And the storm is
           great!"
                In those moments, if you are with a master, and somebody is sitting in the boat silent, utterly
           calm and quiet, laughing and saying, "Don't be worried," playing on his flute, or singing a song, or
           telling you a joke, and he says, "Don't be worried. The other shore is -- I know, I have been there.
           Just a little patience...."
                Looking into his eyes...in his absolute confidence will be the only help. Seeing his calmness,
           quietness, his integrity.... He is not looking back, he is not afraid: he must have seen the other shore,
           he must have been there. His whole being says it, his whole being proves it. And when he holds your
           hand you can feel that his hand is not trembling; you can feel that whatsoever he is saying he is
           saying out of his own experience, not because it is written in the Bible, in the Gita, in THE
           DHAMMAPADA. He KNOWS it on his own! -- that is his authority.
                Once his confidence, his trust, becomes contagious to you, you will also start laughing. Of
           course, your laughter will have a little nervousness in it, but you will start laughing. You may start
           singing with him, maybe just to avoid fear, just as people whistle in the dark. You may join in his
           dance, just to forget all about what is happening. You don't want to see the storm that surrounds you,
           and you don't want to remember the past and you don't want to think about the future. It seems dark
           and dismal to you. You may join in his dance....
                Dancing with him, even if out of fear, singing with him even though your singing is bound to be
           nervous, laughing with him although your laughter is not total, the storm will soon be passed. The
           deeper your patience, the sooner it happens -- you will be able to see the other shore, because when
           the eyes are not troubled, when the eyes are not full of fear, they become perceptive. A seeing arises
           in you -- you become a seer.
                The other shore is not far away; just your eyes are so full of smoke that you cannot see. In fact,
           this very shore IS the other shore. If your eyes are clear, if your perception is not clouded, if your
           insight has arisen in your being, if you can see and hear, this very shore is the other shore. When one
           knows, one really laughs at the whole ridiculousness of life -- because we have already got that for
           which we are longing. The treasure is with us, and we are running hither and thither.
                The ego has not to be created, because you have the supreme self within you.
                But I can understand your confusion. Remain confused. Don't go back to your old clarity -- it is
           deceptive. Be in this confusion, be with me a little while more, and soon the confusion will disperse
           and disappear. And then comes a totally new kind of clarity.
                There are two kinds of clarity -- one, which is simply intellectual, which any moment can be
           taken away, doubt can be created any moment.... Intellect is full of doubt. Whatsoever you had heard
           and whatsoever you had been told has been taken away so easily by me; it was not of much value.
           Your whole life's training, and I have taken the earth from underneath your feet so easily...and you
           are confused. What value can such clarity have? If I can confuse you so easily, that means it was not
           real clarity. I will give you a new kind of clarity which cannot be confused.

               Once a great philosopher went to see Ramakrishna. The philosopher argued against God, and he
           argued really well. His name was Keshav Chandra Sen. Ramakrishna was utterly illiterate; he knew
           nothing of philosophy, he had never been to the university, he had only read up to the second
           standard. He could write and read Bengali a little bit.
               The philosopher was well educated, world famous, he had written many books. He argued, and
           Ramakrishna laughed. And each time the philosopher gave a beautiful, profound argument against
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God, Ramakrishna would jump and hug him. A great crowd had gathered to see the scene, what was
           happening. The philosopher was very much embarrassed, because he had come to argue, and what
           kind of argument is this? This man laughs, dances -- sometimes hugs.
               The philosopher said, "Are you not disturbed by my arguments?"
               Ramakrishna said, "How can I be disturbed? I am really enjoying your arguments. You are
           clever, you are intelligent, your arguments are beautiful -- but what can I do? I know God! It is not a
           question of argument, it is not that I believe in God. Had I believed, you would have disturbed me,
           you would have taken all my clarity and you would have confused me. But I KNOW he is!"

               If you know, you know -- there is no way of distracting you. I will give you THAT kind of
           clarity -- which knows, and is not dependent on any argument but arises out of existential
           experience. Then you need not be taught to respect yourself or love yourself or feel worthwhile.
           Knowing oneself, one knows one is God. Now what more respect can you give to yourself? When
           this experience arises in you -- "AHAM BRAHMASMI! I am God!" -- what more respect can you
           give to yourself?
               And who is there to give respect? Only God is. When in the deepest recesses of your being the
           realization happens: "ANA'L HAQ! -- I am truth!" what more worthwhileness do you need to feel?
           You have come to the ultimate, and you have come to know the ultimate as your innermost being,
           your interiority.
               Yes, you have been told to be respectful to yourself because you don't know who you are. You
           have been told to feel worthwhile because you feel worthless. You have been told to love yourself
           because you hate yourself. And the strange thing is, the irony is, that it is the SAME people who
           have been doing both things to you.
               The same people first make you feel worthless; this is the trade secret of all the churches, of all
           the so-called religions, of all political ideologies, of all societies, civilizations and cultures that have
           existed up to now. This is the trade secret: first they make you feel worthless -- every child is made
           to feel worthless. He is told, "Unless you become this or that, you have no worth." When he starts
           feeling worthless, than we start telling him, "Feel worthwhile, feel some worth. If you cannot feel
           worthwhile, your life is wasted."
               First we tell him to hate himself and condemn himself; everything that he does is wrong, hence
           he starts hating himself because he is not a beautiful person. The parents, the teachers, the priests,
           they are all joined in the conspiracy. Every child is reduced to such a condemnable state that he
           starts feeling, "I must be the ugliest person in the world, because I do things that should not be done,
           and I don't do things which should be done." And then one day we start telling the child, "Why don't
           you love yourself? Otherwise, how will you survive?"
               We take all respect away from the child, and when he becomes disrespectful towards himself we
           start telling him to create respect. This is such an absurd situation! Each child is born with great
           respect for himself. Each child knows his worth, his intrinsic worth. He is not worthy because he is
           like Buddha or Krishna or Christ -- he simply knows he has worth because he is, he has being. That's
           enough! And each child loves himself, respects himself.
               It is you who teach him just the opposite. First you destroy all that is beautiful in him, and then
           you start painting a false picture. Destroy the natural beauty and then paint his face, make him
           absolutely false. But why is this done? -- because only false people can be slaves, only false people
           can follow the stupid politicians, only false people can be victims of utterly ignorant priests. If
           people are real, they cannot be exploited and cannot be oppressed.
               Aradhana, remain confused -- it is good. It is good that you have come to this point where a great
           confusion has arisen in you. You can no longer trust your ego -- good! It is tremendously important,
           because now a second step becomes possible. I will give you your childhood back, your inner worth,
           which is not a created phenomenon; your natural love, which is not cultivated; your spontaneous
           respect, which arises only when you start feeling that you are part of God, that you are divine.
               Remember, ego is comparative -- it always compares itself with others -- and the self is
           noncomparative. When you know yourself it is neither inferior nor superior in comparison to
           anybody, it is simply itself. But the ego is comparative. And remember, if you feel superior to
           somebody, you are bound to feel inferior to somebody else. So the ego is a very tricky phenomenon:
           on the one hand it makes you feel superior, on the other hand it makes you feel inferior. It keeps you
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in a double bind, it goes on pulling you apart. It drives you crazy.
               On the one hand you know that you are superior to your servant, but what about your boss? You
           force the servant to surrender to you, and you surrender to your boss. You force your servant or your
           wife or your children to be slaves to you. And then to your boss? You wag your tail there.
               How can you be blissful? Both things are wrong. To make others feel inferior is violent, it is a
           crime against God; and to make yourself feel inferior before somebody is again a crime against God.
           When you know the real self, both things disappear. Then you are you, and the other is the other, and
           there is no comparison -- nobody is superior and nobody is inferior.
               This is what I call real spiritual communism, but this is possible only when self-knowledge has
           happened. Karl Marx or Friedrich Engels, Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong, these are not the real
           communists. They live in the ego. The real communists are Gautam Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu --
           nobody knows them as communists but they are real communists, because if you understand their
           vision, all comparison disappears. And when there is no comparison, there is communism. Equality
           is possible only when comparison disappears from the world.
               Not knowing yourself, you are almost fast asleep; not knowing yourself, you are like a drunkard
           who asks others, "Where is my home?" The drunkard sometimes even asks, "Can you tell me, sir,
           who I am?"

              Once a drunkard came back to the bartender and asked him, "Have you seen my friend? Has he
           been here?"
              The bartender said, "Yes, just a few minutes before, he was here."
              And the drunkard asked, "Will you be kind enough to tell me, was I with him too?"

               There was a drunk standing at a bar one day. He turned to the man on his right and said, "Did
           you pour beer in my pocket?"
           "I certainly did not," said the man.
               Then the drunk turned to the man on his left and said, "Did you pour beer in my pocket?"
               The man said, "I most certainly did not pour beer in your pocket."
               The drunk said, "Just like I thought -- an inside job."

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE NEW COMMUNE?


               Krishna Prem, the new commune is an experiment in spiritual communism. The word
           'communism' comes from 'commune'. There is only one possibility of communism in the world and
           that possibility is through meditation. Communism is not possible through changing the economic
           structures of societies.
               The change of economic structures of societies will only bring new classes; it cannot bring a
           classless society. The proletariat may disappear, the bourgeoisie may go, but then the ruler and the
           ruled...that's what has happened in Soviet Russia, that's what has happened in China. New
           distinctions, new classes have arisen.
               Communism is basically a spiritual vision. It is not a question of changing the economic
           structures of the society, but changing people's spiritual vision. The new commune is going to be a
           space where we can create human beings who are not obsessed with comparison, who are not
           obsessed with the ego, who are not obsessed with the personality.
               The new commune is going to be a context in which a new kind of man can become possible.
           Socrates says that the master is a midwife, and he is right: all masters are midwives. They always
           bring new humanities into existence. Through them a new man is born.
               The old man is finished. The old man is no more valid. And with the old man, all that belonged
           to the old man has also become invalid, irrelevant. The old man was life-negative. The new
           commune will create a life-affirmative religiousness. The motto of the new commune is: This very
           body the Buddha, this very earth the Lotus Paradise.
               The new commune is going to hallow the earth, to make everything sacred. We are not going to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           divide existence into this world and that world: we are going to live existence in its totality. We are
           going to live as scientists, as poets, as mystics -- all together!
               The scientist is partial. He believes only in the body, he cannot go beyond it; his vision is very
           limited, shortsighted. The poet clings to another aspect of humanity, the feeling part. He can see the
           beauty, but his beauty is very momentary. He has no idea of the eternal. The mystic lives in the
           being, he lives in the deathless, timeless state. Because he lives in the deathless, timeless state he
           becomes indifferent to the world of time and space. He becomes indifferent both to science and to
           poetry. These are all three aspects of reality, three faces of God, the trinity, TRIMURTI.
               My effort in the new commune is to create a man who is not partial...who is total, whole, holy. A
           man should be all three together. He should be as accurate and objective as a scientist; and he should
           be as sensitive, as full of the heart, as the poet; and he should be as rooted deep down in his being as
           the mystic. He should not choose. He should allow all these three dimensions to exist together.
               The East suffered because we became too much concerned with the being; we lost track of
           science, we lost track of art. The West has suffered, is suffering, because it has lost track of being.
           The East became inwardly rich but outwardly poor; the West has become outwardly rich, inwardly
           poor. The new commune is going to be rich in both ways.
               I believe in richness. I am not a worshipper of poverty. That is simply stupid. I would like
           humanity to be rich in all possible ways: rich in science, rich in technology, rich in poetry, rich in
           music, rich in meditation, rich in mysticism. Life should be lived in its multidimensionality. God
           should be approached through all possible ways. Why impoverish your soul?
               The new commune is going to create a space, a context, for this multidimensional human being
           to be born. And the future belongs to this new man.
               The old man believed in renunciation; the old man believed that if you want to come closer to
           God you have to be away from the world, as if there is a conflict between God and the world. It is
           obviously wrong. The world exists through God! The world is God's body -- there can't be any
           conflict! If there had been any conflict, then the world would have disappeared long ago.
               The world breathes, is alive, and life is God. The tree is divine because it is alive, and the rock is
           divine because the rock is also alive in its own way, the rock also grows. The whole existence is full
           of life, overflowing with life. God is not against the world -- how can the painter be against his
           painting? and how can the poet be against his poetry? and how can the musician be against his
           music? The world is his poetry, his painting, his music -- it is his dance.
               The old man lived in renunciation, escaped away from the world to the caves, to the monasteries,
           to the Himalayas. The old man was escapist, the old man was afraid to live, he was more ready to
           die. The old man was somehow suicidal.
               My new man is going to be deep in love with life. And my religion is not of renunciation but of
           rejoicing. The new commune will create every possible opportunity to rejoice, sing, dance.
               The new commune is going to be of a totally new kind of religiousness, spirituality. Nobody is
           going to be a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian or a Jaina, but everybody is going to be
           religious -- just religious. To me, religion needs no adjectives. And the moment a religion becomes
           attached to an adjective, it is no longer religion -- it becomes politics.
               Bayazid is not Mohammedan. Mohammed himself is not Mohammedan, cannot be. Christ is not
           Christian and Buddha is not Buddhist. They are simply religious. They have a certain flavor, a
           certain silence, a certain grace, surrounding them. They are windows to the beyond. Through them
           you can see the beyond, through them God goes on singing a thousand and one songs.
               The new commune is not going to be of any religion. It will be religious. But the religion will not
           be unearthly, it will be very down to earth; hence it will be creative, it will explore all possibilities of
           being creative. All kinds of creativity will be supported, nourished.
               The real religious man has to contribute to the world. He has to make it a little more beautiful
           than he found it when he came into the world. He has to make it a little more joyous. He has to make
           it a little more perfumed. He has to make it a little more harmonious. That is going to be his
           contribution.
               In the past we respected people for wrong reasons. We respected somebody because he was
           fasting. Now, fasting contributes nothing to the world. And the man who goes on long fasts is simply
           being violent with himself. To respect him is to respect violence, to respect him is to respect suicidal
           instincts, to respect him is to respect masochism. He is mentally ill! He is not natural, he is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           abnormal. He needs psychological treatment, he needs help. But you respect him, and because of
           your respect, his ego becomes puffed up; so if he was going to fast for one month, he will fast for
           three months. And the more he fasts, the more he tortures his body, the more respect you give to
           him.
               The new commune will not respect any masochistic tendencies. It will not respect any
           asceticism, it will not respect any abnormal, unnatural tendencies -- it will respect the natural man. It
           will respect the child in man, it will respect innocence, and it will respect creativity. It will respect a
           man who paints a beautiful picture, it will respect the man who plays beautifully on the flute. The
           flute-player will be religious, and the painter will be religious, and the dancer will be religious; not
           the man who goes on long fasts, who tortures his body, who lies down on a bed of thorns, who
           cripples himself.
               It is going to be the beginning of a new humanity. It is needed, absolutely needed. If we cannot
           create the new man in the coming twenty years -- by the end of this century -- then humanity has no
           future. The old man has come to the end of his tether. The old man is ready to commit a global
           suicide. The third world war is going to be global suicide. It can be avoided only if a new kind of
           man can be created.
               This is going to be an experiment, a great experiment on which much is going to depend. It has
           tremendous implications for the future. Be ready for it. Be prepared for it. This ashram is just a
           launching pad.... On a small scale I am experimenting. The new commune will be on a big scale: ten
           thousand sannyasins living together as one body, one being. Nobody will possess anything;
           everybody will use everything, everybody will enjoy. Everybody is going to live as comfortably, as
           richly, as we can manage. But nobody will possess anything. Not only will things not be possessed,
           but persons also will not be possessed in the new commune. If you love a woman, live with her -- out
           of sheer love, out of sheer joy -- but you don't become her husband, you can't. You don't become a
           wife. To become a "wife" or a "husband" is ugly because it brings ownership; then the other is
           reduced to property.
               The new commune is going to be nonpossessive, full of love -- living in love but with no
           possessiveness at all; sharing all kinds of joys, making a pool of all the joys.... When ten thousand
           people contribute, it can become explosive. The rejoicing will be great.
               Jesus says again and again: Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! But he has not been heard yet. Christians
           look so serious, and they have painted Jesus also in such a way that it doesn't seem that he ever
           rejoiced himself. Christians say Jesus never laughed! This is ridiculous. The man who was saying
           "Rejoice!" the man who used to love good food, good wine, the man who used to feast and
           participate in festivals, the man around whom there was always feasting -- he never laughed?
           Christians have given a false Christ to the world.
               In my commune, Buddha is going to laugh and dance, Christ is going to laugh and dance. Poor
           fellows, nobody has allowed them up to now! Have compassion on them -- let them dance and sing
           and play. My new commune is going to transform work into playfulness, it is going to transform life
           into love and laughter.
               Remember the motto again -- to hallow the earth, to make everything sacred, to transform the
           ordinary, mundane things into extraordinary, spiritual things. The whole of life has to be your
           temple; work has to be your worship, love has to be your prayer.
               This very body the Buddha, this very earth the Lotus Paradise.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A PSYCHOLOGIST. I WAS HOPING THAT STUDYING PSYCHOLOGY WOULD HELP TO
              CHANGE MY LIFE, BUT NOTHING LIKE THAT HAS HAPPENED. WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?


                Psychology is still a very very immature science. It is very rudimentary, it is only the beginning.
           It is not yet a way of life -- it cannot transform you. It can certainly give you a few insights into the
           mind, but those insights are not going to be transforming. Why? -- because transformation always
           happens from a higher plane. Transformation never means solving problems -- remaining on the
           same plane -- that means adjustment. Psychology is still trying to help you adjust -- to adjust to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           society which is itself insane, to adjust to the family, to adjust to the ideas that are dominant around
           you. But all those ideas -- your family, your society -- they themselves are ill, sick, and to adjust to
           them will give you a certain normality, at least a superficial appearance of health, but it is not going
           to transform you.
                Transformation means to change the plane of your understanding. It comes through
           transcendence. If you want to change your mind, you have to go to the state of no-mind. Only from
           that height will you be able to change your mind, because from that height you will be the master.
           Remaining in the mind and trying to change the mind by mind itself is a futile process. It is like
           pulling yourself up by your own shoestrings. It is like a dog trying to catch hold of its own tail;
           sometimes they do, sometimes they behave very humanly. The dog is sitting in the warm sun early in
           the morning and he looks at the tail just resting by his side -- naturally, the curiosity arises: Why not
           catch hold of it? He tries, fails, feels offended, annoyed; tries hard, fails harder, becomes mad, crazy.
           But he will never be able to catch hold of the tail -- it is his own tail. The more he jumps, the more
           the tail will jump.
                Psychology can give you a few insights into the mind, but because it cannot take you beyond the
           mind it can't be of any help.

               Sam became a psychiatrist and began to prosper. He bought a big expensive limousine and drove
           it out for the first time. After he had been riding for a few moments, another car slammed into him.
           He jumped out of his smashed Cadillac, went over to the car that had rammed his, shook his fist at it,
           and roared, "You idiot! You moron! You crook of a rat! You son of a...!" Then he suddenly
           remembered he was a psychiatrist and lowered his voice and softly asked, "Why do you hate your
           mother?"

              Psychology cannot help. I have heard another story about this same Sam -- a story of when he
           was no more in the world, he had died.

               The widow was tending to the plants around her husband's grave. As she bent over, some blades
           of grass tickled the bare flesh under her skirt. Startled, she turned around quickly, but there was no
           one in sight. Sighing, she turned back to the grave and whispered, "Sam, behave yourself! And
           remember, you are supposed to be dead."

               Neither in life nor in death is psychology going to help you much. You can be helped only by
           religion.
               Now the psychologist is trying to play the role of the master, which is utterly pretentious. The
           psychologist, the psychoanalyst and the psychiatrist are not masters! They don't know themselves.
           Yes, they have understood a little bit about the mechanism of the mind, they have studied, they are
           well informed. But information never changes anybody, it never brings any revolution. Deep down
           the person remains the same. He can talk beautifully, he can give you good advice, but he cannot
           follow his own advice.
               The psychoanalyst cannot be the master. But in the West particularly he has become so
           successful professionally that even the priest is in tremendous awe. Even the priests -- the Catholic
           and the Protestant -- are studying psychoanalysis and other schools of psychology, because they see
           that people are not coming to the priest anymore, they are going to the psychoanalyst. The priest is
           becoming afraid that he is losing his job.
               The priest has dominated people for hundreds of years. He was the wise man -- he has lost his
           attraction. And people cannot live without advisors; they need somebody to tell them what to do
           because they never grow up. They are like small children, always in need of being told what to do
           and what not to do. Up to now the priest used to do that; now the priest has lost his charm, his
           validity. He is no longer contemporary, he has become out of date. Now the psychoanalyst has taken
           his place, HE is the priest now.
               But as the priest was false, so is the psychoanalyst. The priest was using religious jargon to
           exploit people; the psychologist is using scientific jargon to exploit the same people. Neither was the
           priest awakened, nor is the psychoanalyst awakened.
               Man can be helped only by somebody who is a buddha already; otherwise he cannot be helped.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All your advisors will make more and more mess out of you. The more you listen to advisors, the
           more you will become messed up -- because they don't know what they are saying! They don't even
           agree amongst themselves. Freud says one thing, Adler says another, Jung says still another. And
           now there are a thousand and one schools. And every school is fanatical about its philosophy -- that
           it has the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Not only does it say that it is true; it says it
           has THE truth, and everybody else is lying, deceiving.
               If you listen to these psychoanalysts, if you go from one psychoanalyst to another, you will be
           more puzzled. The only help that they can give to you is that if you are intelligent enough you will
           become so fed up with them, so bored with them, that you will simply drop the idea of being
           transformed, and you may start living your life normally, without bothering much about
           transformation -- IF you are intelligent, which is very rare, because intelligence is crushed from the
           very beginning. You are made mediocres. From the very beginning, intelligence is destroyed. Only a
           few people somehow escape the society and remain intelligent.
           Nagesh, you ask me, "What should I do now?"
               My suggestion is: you have done enough. Now learn something which is not DOING but
           nondoing. Be here, and learn -- not to do but to be. Sit silently, doing nothing. Within three to nine
           months, if one is patient enough and if one can simply go on sitting for hours together every day -- as
           much as one can find time just sit.... In the beginning, great turmoil will arise in your mind;
           everything from the unconscious will start surfacing. You will see it as if you are going mad. Go on
           watching -- don't be worried. You cannot go mad because you are already mad, so there is nothing to
           lose and nothing to fear.

               A politician, a great politician, was consulting a psychoanalyst. The politician was suffering from
           an inferiority complex -- all politicians suffer from inferiority complexes. If they don't suffer from
           inferiority complexes, they will not be politicians in the first place. To be a politician means striving
           to be superior, to be in power, so one can prove to others and to oneself, "I am not inferior. Look! I
           am the prime minister. Look! Only I am the prime minister of the country and nobody else -- how
           can I be inferior?"
               Politics arises out of the inferiority complex -- all power politics arises out of the inferiority
           complex. So it was not rare that the politician was suffering from an inferiority complex.
               The psychoanalyst worked on the politician year in, year out. After two or three years, listening
           to all his gibberish nonsense...because what can a politician say? For hours together he would lie
           down on the couch and talk nonsense.
               After three years, one day when he came, the psychoanalyst received him with great joy and said,
           "I am glad to declare, after three years' research on you, that you don't suffer from an inferiority
           complex. I have come to this conclusion after such a long effort that it can't be wrong. You don't
           suffer from an inferiority complex -- simply forget all about it."
               The politician was very happy and he said, "I am grateful to you, but can you tell me how you
           arrived at this conclusion?"
               The psychoanalyst said, "Because you ARE simply inferior -- how can you suffer from an
           inferiority complex?"

               Nagesh, you need not be worried. If sitting silently you start feeling madness arising, don't be
           worried -- you can't be more mad than you already are. Man cannot fall more. He has fallen to the
           rock bottom. Now there is no further to fall.
               Sitting silently you will see madness arising in you, because it has remained repressed. And you
           keep occupied with things -- psychology etcetera -- now you will become occupied with meditation
           and sannyas, but these are all occupations and you are not allowing your unconscious to reveal itself
           to you. It is frightening.
               My suggestion to you is, just sit silently as much as you can find time to. Zen people sit silently
           at least six to eight hours per day. In the beginning it is really maddening. The mind plays so many
           tricks on you, tries to drive you crazy, creates imaginary fears, hallucinations. The body starts
           playing tricks on you...all kinds of things will happen. But if you can go on witnessing, within three
           to nine months everything settles, and settles of its own accord -- not because you have to do
           something. Without your doing, it simply settles, and when a stillness arises, uncultivated,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unpracticed, it is something superb, something tremendously graceful, exquisite. You have never
           tasted anything like it before -- it is pure nectar....
               You have transcended the mind! All mind problems are solved. Not that you have found a
           solution, but simply they have fallen by themselves -- by witnessing, by just witnessing.
               You are already too knowledgeable. No more knowledge is needed; you need unlearning.
           Knowledgeable people are very cunning people -- they can always go on finding excuses to remain
           the same.

               A professor of philosophy and psychology was addicted to moonshine whiskey. One night, after
           guzzling a large amount, he went into his cabin, undressed for bed, and tried to blow out the candle.
           His alcoholic breath burst into flame.
               Sadly shaken by the experience, he called out to his wife, "Bring me the Bible, Martha. This here
           has been a terrible lesson to me. I am going to swear off."
               The happy housewife brought the Bible in a hurry, stood by while her man put his hand on it and
           looked heavenward: "I swear by all that is holy," intoned he, "that I will never again blow on a
           lighted candle."

              Mind is cunning. You have to go beyond mind -- that's what meditation is all about.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SEEM TO BE THE FIRST ENLIGHTENED MASTER WHO TELLS JOKES -- WHY IS IT SO?


               Garima, I will tell you a story. The following story in the Talmud was particularly cherished by
           the great Hassid master, Baal Shem.
               Rabbi Baruch used to visit the marketplace where the Prophet Elijah often appeared to him. It
           was believed that he appeared to some saintly men to offer them spiritual guidance.
               Once Baruch asked the prophet, "Is there anyone here who has a share in the world to come?"
           He replied, "No."
               While they were conversing, two men passed by and Elijah remarked, "These two men have a
           share in the world to come."
               Rabbi Baruch then approached and asked them, "What is your occupation?"
               They replied, "We are jesters. When we see men depressed we cheer them up."

               God loves laughter, God loves cheerful people. God is not interested in seeing you with long
           faces.
               When Baal Shem was dying, somebody asked, "Are you prepared to meet the Lord?"
               He said, "I have always been ready. It is not a question of becoming ready now -- I have always
           been ready. Any moment he could have called me!"
           The man asked, "What is your readiness?"
               Baal Shem said, "I know a few beautiful jokes -- I will tell him those jokes. And I know he will
           enjoy them and he will laugh with me. And what else can I offer to him? The whole world is his, the
           whole universe is his, I am his, so what can I offer to him? Just a few jokes!"

               Baal Shem is one of the great buddhas who has come out of the Jewish tradition, one of the most
           loved by his disciples. He was the founder of Hassidism.
               And remember, I am not the first to tell you jokes. There have been many.... But people are so
           sad that they forget about people who have been sources of laughter and joy -- they remember only
           sad people. People are sad; hence they find a certain affinity with sad people. You remember only
           sad buddhas -- even if they were not sad, you make them sad. In your mind you fabricate stories, you
           manufacture ideas, and you make them look sad.
               Now, a Jaina will be very much offended if I say that Mahavira laughed. Laughter seems to be so
           mundane, so worldly. How can Mahavira laugh? If I say Buddha laughed, Buddhists, particularly the
           Hinayana Buddhists, will be angry. I have been in tremendous love with Buddha; I think there is no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           other man on the earth today who has loved Buddha as much as I. But just the other day I was
           reading in the newspapers: the president of the Buddhist Society of India is going to raise questions
           against me in the parliament in the coming session. I can understand, these people must be feeling
           very much offended because I am giving Buddha a new color -- HIS color, Buddha's color. I am
           trying to bring his reality to you. And these people have distorted his image totally; they have made
           him look so sad, they won't allow him to laugh. If he laughs, they will raise questions against him in
           the parliament.
               I am offending people because I am trying to live religion not according to their ideas. I tell you,
           privately of course, that Jesus used to joke -- but don't tell it to Christians, they will not understand.
           They can understand only the Jesus who was crucified. In fact, they are worshipping death, not
           Jesus; they are worshipping the cross, not Christ. Hence I call Christianity, Crossianity -- it has
           nothing to do with Christ. I know the man, I personally know the man!
               He used to love all the good things of life. How can he avoid joking? He loved to gossip, and
           they say he was only delivering gospels! He was a very very earth-rooted man. He moved with
           gamblers, with drunkards, with prostitutes too. He was not afraid of all these fools -- that's why he
           had to suffer.
           That's why I am to suffer....
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #9
                                        Chapter title: Sowing seeds of bliss
           9 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907090
              ShortTitle: DHAM209
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 111 mins




              FOR A WHILE THE FOOL'S MISCHIEF
              TASTES SWEET, SWEET AS HONEY.
              BUT IN THE END IT TURNS BITTER.
              AND HOW BITTERLY HE SUFFERS!



              FOR MONTHS THE FOOL MAY FAST,
              EATING FROM THE TIP OF A GRASS BLADE.
              STILL HE IS NOT WORTH A PENNY
              BESIDE THE MASTER WHOSE FOOD IS THE WAY.



              FRESH MILK TAKES TIME TO SOUR.
              SO A FOOL'S MISCHIEF
              TAKES TIME TO CATCH UP WITH HIM.
              LIKE THE EMBERS OF A FIRE
              IT SMOULDERS WITHIN HIM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHATEVER A FOOL LEARNS,
              IT ONLY MAKES HIM DULLER.
              KNOWLEDGE CLEAVES HIS HEAD.



              FOR THEN HE WANTS RECOGNITION.
              A PLACE BEFORE OTHER PEOPLE.
              A PLACE OVER OTHER PEOPLE.

              "LET THEM KNOW MY WORK,
              LET EVERYONE LOOK TO ME FOR DIRECTION."
              SUCH ARE HIS DESIRES,
              SUCH IS HIS SWELLING PRIDE.



              ONE WAY LEADS TO WEALTH AND FAME,
              THE OTHER TO THE END OF THE WAY.



              LOOK NOT FOR RECOGNITION
              BUT FOLLOW THE AWAKENED
              AND SET YOURSELF FREE.


               The last words of Gautama the Buddha on the earth were: Be a light unto yourself. Do not follow
           others, do not imitate, because imitation, following, creates stupidity. You are born with a
           tremendous possibility of intelligence. You are born with a light within you. Listen to the still, small
           voice within, and that will guide you. Nobody else can guide you, nobody else can become a model
           for your life, because you are unique. Nobody has there been ever who was exactly like you, and
           nobody is ever going to be there again who will be exactly like you. This is your glory, your
           grandeur -- that you are utterly irreplaceable, that you are just yourself and nobody else.
               The person who follows others becomes false, he becomes pseudo, he becomes mechanical. He
           can be a great saint in the eyes of others, but deep down, he is simply unintelligent and nothing else.
           He may have a very respectable character but that is only the surface, it is not even skin-deep.
           Scratch him a little and you will be surprised that inside he is a totally different person, just the
           opposite of his outside.
               By following others you can cultivate a beautiful character, but you cannot have a beautiful
           consciousness, and unless you have a beautiful consciousness you can never be free. You can go on
           changing your prisons, you can go on changing your bondages, your slaveries. You can be a Hindu
           or a Mohammedan or a Christian or a Jaina -- that is not going to help you. To be a Jaina means to
           follow Mahavira as the model. Now, there is nobody who is like Mahavira or ever can be. Following
           Mahavira you will become a false entity. You will lose all reality, you will lose all sincerity, you will
           be untrue to yourself. You will become artificial, unnatural, and to be artificial, to be unnatural, is
           the way of the mediocre, the stupid, the fool.
               Buddha defines wisdom as living in the light of your own consciousness, and foolishness as
           following others, imitating others, becoming a shadow to somebody else.
               The real master creates masters, not followers. The real master throws you back to yourself. His
           whole effort is to make you independent of him, because you have been dependent for centuries, and
           it has not led you anywhere. You still continue to stumble in the dark night of the soul.
               Only your inner light can become the sunrise. The false master persuades you to follow him, to
           imitate him, to be just a carbon copy of him. The real master will not allow you to be a carbon copy,
           he wants you to be the original. He loves you! How can he make you imitative? He has compassion
           for you, he would like you to be utterly free -- free from all outer dependencies.
               But the ordinary human being does not want to be free. He wants to be dependent. He wants
           somebody else to guide him. Why? -- because then he can throw the whole responsibility on the
           shoulders of somebody else. And the more responsibility you throw away onto somebody else's
           shoulders, the less is the possibility of your ever becoming intelligent. It is responsibility, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           challenge of responsibility, that creates wisdom.
                One has to accept life with all its problems. One has to go through life unprotected; one has to
           seek and search one's way. Life is an opportunity, a challenge, to find yourself. But the fool does not
           want to go the hard way, the fool chooses the shortcut. He says to himself, "Buddha has attained --
           why should I bother? I will just watch his behavior and imitate. Jesus has attained, so why should I
           search and seek? I can simply become a shadow to Jesus. I can simply go on following him wherever
           he goes."
                But following somebody else, how are you going to become intelligent? You will not give any
           chance for your intelligence to explode. It needs a challenging life, an adventurous life, a life that
           knows how to risk and how to go into the unknown, for intelligence to arise. And only intelligence
           can save you -- nobody else -- your own intelligence, mind you, your own awareness, can become
           your nirvana.
                Be a light unto yourself and you will be wise; let others become your leaders, your guides, and
           you will remain stupid, and you will go on missing all the treasures of life -- which were yours! And
           how can you decide that the other's character is a right character for you to follow?
                A Buddha lives in his own way, a Mahavira in his, a Jesus still different. A Mohammed IS
           Mohammed, he is not Mahavira. Whom are you going to follow? Just by the accidents of birth you
           are going to decide your life, your destiny? Then you will remain accidental. And the fool IS
           accidental. The wise man never lives by accidents. He does not become a Hindu because he is born
           in a Hindu family; he does not become a Christian because his parents are Christian; he does not
           become a communist because he is born in Russia. He seeks, he inquires.
                Life is a tremendously beautiful pilgrimage, but only for those who are ready to seek and search.
                Jesus says: Seek and ye shall find; ask and it shall be given to you; knock and the doors shall be
           opened unto you.
                He is not saying: Follow, imitate. He is not saying: Be a Christian and the doors shall be opened
           unto you. He is not saying: I have knocked on the doors and opened them for you. He is saying:
           Knock and the doors shall be opened unto you. And everybody has to knock, because everybody has
           to enter by different doors. People are so unique, people are individuals.
                This is your glory. Don't deny it; otherwise you will remain a fool. That does not mean don't
           learn from the buddhas, the awakened ones -- learn! Imbibe the spirit! Drink out of their springs,
           fresh springs of joy. Be in their company, become attuned to their inner music, listen to their
           harmony, and be filled with great joy that a man like you, just like you, has achieved, so you can also
           achieve. Become thrilled that a man just like you, made of blood and bones, has become enlightened,
           so you can also become enlightened.
                A buddha has not to be followed but understood. A buddha has not to be imitated but listened to
           -- listened to in tremendous silence, love, trust. And the more you understand a buddha, the more
           you will feel he is speaking not from the outside but from within, from the very core of your being.
           He is a mirror who reflects your original face -- but he is only a mirror. All great masters are mirrors,
           they reflect your original face. But don't cling to the mirror. The mirror is not your face!
                These sutras of Buddha are of immense value. Go into them meditatively. And when I say go
           into them meditatively, I mean don't be in an argumentative mood -- that is not the way to listen. Be
           in a receptive mood, be feminine. Don't be on guard, don't be defensive. Don't hide behind armors.
           Don't bring your mind in to interpret what is being said. Put the mind aside and let the heart dance
           with these sutras. That's what I mean when I say listen meditatively. Let the heart rejoice. And in that
           rejoicing is a totally different kind of understanding -- not of the intellect but of intelligence.
                You will not become knowledgeable if you listen from the heart; you will become more and
           more wise. If you listen from the head, in the first place your listening will be distorted because all
           your prejudices will become mingled with it, and all your a priori conclusions will be a distraction,
           and your mind will give its color to what is told to you. In the first place you won't listen to what is
           being said; your mind will make much noise and you will listen to your own noise. In the second
           place, whatsoever you gather will become knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is superficial, it does
           not go deep, it cannot go deep. Knowledge is a way to hide your ignorance, it does not destroy it.
           Wisdom is a light, it dispels darkness.
                But wisdom is ALWAYS of the heart, remember, it is never of the head. When you come to a
           buddha, forget all about your head. It is a totally different approach to your being -- through the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heart. Listen through the heartbeats, become attuned -- as if you are listening to great music. It IS
           great music; in fact, what greater music can there be?
               These sutras are the greatest poetry, the poetry of the ultimate being. These sutras are the lotus
           flowers, born in the lake of a consciousness of one who is awakened. Listen attentively,
           meditatively, lovingly, in deep trust, and you will be immensely benefited, blessed.

           The first sutra:

               FOR A WHILE THE FOOL'S MISCHIEF
               TASTES SWEET, SWEET AS HONEY.
               BUT IN THE END IT TURNS BITTER.
               AND HOW BITTERLY HE SUFFERS!


               There is a famous Buddhist parable. Buddha loved to tell it again and again:
               A man is being chased by his enemies. They are coming closer and closer; he can hear the sound
           of the hooves of the horses coming closer and closer every moment. It is death! And there seems to
           be no way to escape, because he has come to a cul-de-sac, the road ends. He is facing a great abyss.
           If he jumps he is bound to die. He cannot turn back because the enemy is going to kill him. He was
           hoping that there may be one chance if he jumps -- he may become crippled, but maybe, by a
           miracle, he may survive -- but that too seems to be impossible because he sees deep in the abyss two
           lions looking up at him, ready to devour him.
               Finding no other way -- cannot go back, cannot go ahead -- he hangs from the roots of a tree, just
           in the middle. It is a cold morning, his hands are becoming frozen. He knows within minutes he will
           not be able to hold the roots at all; his hands are slipping, he is losing his grip. He knows death is
           becoming more certain every moment.
               And then he sees that two mice, one black, one white, are eating the root, cutting the root. Those
           two mice represent day and night -- they represent time, which is cutting everybody's life root. Day
           and night, death is coming closer. So now it becomes even more absolutely certain that it is only a
           question of moments and he will be gone. The root is becoming weaker every moment, thinner every
           moment. The mice are at work; his hands are getting frozen and he can hear the lions roaring deep in
           the valley and he can hear the enemy approaching closer and closer. You can understand that man's
           plight.
               And then suddenly he sees that just on the top of the tree there is a bees' nest, and a drop of
           honey is just slipping out of the nest. He forgets all about the enemies, all about the roaring lions, the
           white and black mice, his hands getting frozen -- in a moment, he completely forgets everything. His
           whole mind becomes focused on that drop of honey. He opens his mouth, the honey drops on his
           tongue...and it is so sweet.

               This the situation of the fool. This is the situation of every man on the earth. How sweet it tastes!
           But how long can this taste remain? Soon death will be arriving from all directions. But that's how
           we go on living -- living for momentary pleasures, indulgence, food, sex, money, power,
           prestige...just drops of honey. How sweet it tastes, and in that moment we completely forget what is
           going to happen. The moment takes possession of us and we become oblivious of the reality of life:
           that it is rooted in death, that it is going to disappear.
               Buddha says: FOR A WHILE THE FOOL'S MISCHIEF TASTES SWEET, SWEET AS
           HONEY. BUT IN THE END IT TURNS BITTER. AND HOW BITTERLY HE SUFFERS!
               Watch yourself. What are you doing here on the earth? What have you done up to now? What
           does your life consist of? Have you done anything really real, or have you just been living in
           dreams? Have you approached in any way the eternal? Or are you too much occupied with the
           momentary? Have you made any plans, any projects, for the ultimate truth? Or are you just
           remaining drunk with the mundane, with the ordinary, going into the same rut every day, moving in
           the same rut every day? The morning comes and you rush to the marketplace, and the evening comes
           and you are tired and you come home...and the same circle goes on moving, the same wheel. And
           this has been going on and on for so many lives. When are you going to become bored with it? When
           are you going to become a little more alert about what you are doing to your life? This is a sheer
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wastage.
               But Buddha says: Certainly, there is some sweetness, momentary, and one suffers for that
           sweetness. It turns, inevitably, into bitterness. Watch your life. You can earn much money, and while
           you are earning it tastes sweet. But you are not aware that you are losing your life in earning rubbish,
           that life is slipping out of your hands, that it is a very costly affair that you are pursuing, utterly
           foolish, stupid.
               The life cannot be bought back; not even a single moment, with all your wealth, can you
           purchase back. It cannot be claimed back. Such precious time being wasted! You are piling up
           wealth which will be taken away by death, and you will go empty-handed...as empty-handed as you
           had come to the earth. Then you will feel the bitterness of it, that you wasted your whole life for
           something which is not going to be with you. You wasted your whole life in power, politics; you
           wasted your whole life in becoming respectable, and now death has come and all will be taken away.
           And you have not tasted a single moment of your eternal reality -- you have not tasted anything
           deathless.
               This is what Buddha calls the fool's approach towards life. Everything turns bitter: your love,
           your friendship, your family, your business, your politics...everything, finally, proves to be
           poisonous, turns into bitterness. One who is wise will become aware while there is still time and
           something can be done.

              FOR MONTHS THE FOOL MAY FAST,
              EATING FROM THE TIP OF A GRASS BLADE.
              STILL HE IS NOT WORTH A PENNY
              BESIDE THE MASTER WHOSE FOOD IS THE WAY.


               Buddha is not saying become an ascetic. Buddha is not saying renounce the world, renounce
           food, starve yourself, fast, torture your body -- he is not saying that. He cannot say it. He has learned
           a lesson, a great lesson by doing all these things himself.
               When he left his palace he followed the traditional path for six years, torturing himself, fasting,
           destroying his body. He came to a point when he was almost on the verge of death -- he had tortured
           himself too much. In that moment he became aware, "What am I doing? First I was indulging, my
           whole day and night was devoted to indulgence: women, wine, good food, clothes, palaces, golden
           chariots, hunting.... That was my life, the life of a prince. I was doing something which proved
           futile."
               He was only twenty-nine when he left his palace -- must have been a man of great intelligence.
           There are people who are seventy or seventy-nine and they have not yet become aware of the
           foolishness of their lives. He was only twenty-nine. Must have been a man of rare insight. Must have
           been watching, looking at what he was doing, meditating over things. Suddenly he became aware,
           "This whole thing is rubbish -- all these women, all this wine, hunting, all this indulgence is not
           going to give me anything eternal."
               The East has always been in search of the eternal. The definition of truth in the East is: that
           which is eternal. And the definition of untruth? -- that which is momentary. When the Eastern
           mystics say that something is illusory, they mean it is momentary. They don't mean that it is not,
           they know it is, but it is only for the moment, like a soap bubble. It is! And sometimes a soap bubble
           can look really beautiful. If sunrays pass through it, it can be surrounded by a rainbow, all the colors.
           A soap bubble is, but its isness is so momentary, so deceptive, that it is better to say that it is not;
           hence the Eastern mystics say the world is MAYA -- illusory. NOT that it is not, but it is so
           momentary that it is almost pointless whether it is or it is not. It is better to call it illusory, because
           that will make you alert, wakeful.
               Those twenty-nine years were enough to make him aware that he was playing with soap bubbles.
           He escaped, he renounced the kingdom. But as it almost always happens, mind moves to the
           opposite. Mind is like the pendulum of an old clock: goes from right to left, from left to right -- to
           the opposite. It never stays in the middle. And in the middle is the secret. If the pendulum stops in
           the middle, the clock stops, time stops, the world stops. But the pendulum goes from the left to the
           right, from the right to the left, and it keeps the clock running, it keeps the clock moving -- it keeps
           TIME alive. And time is the world.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                To go beyond time is to know something deathless; hence, in India, for time and death we use the
           same word, KAL -- the same word for time and the same word for death. It is not coincidental, it has
           a significance. Time is death, because in time everything is momentary, everything is going to die.
           One moment it is, another moment it is gone, and gone forever. The moment you go beyond time,
           you go beyond death.
                But just as the mind functions -- it moves to the opposite -- Buddha's mind also moved to the
           opposite. He escaped from the palace. Up to now he had cared about his body; now he started
           torturing the body. Up to now he was too obsessed with good food; now he started fasting, long
           fasts. He became a famous ascetic. People started respecting him, people started following him. He
           was a beautiful man, one of the most beautiful who has ever walked on the earth, but these six years
           of self-torture and masochism destroyed his body. He became dark, he became thin, he became ugly.
                But one day the great insight arose in him, "What am I doing? First I was obsessed with food,
           now I am obsessed with fasting -- basically I am still obsessed with food. First it was a positive
           obsession, now it is a negative obsession. But I have not changed a little bit. First I was obsessed
           with women, now I am obsessed with BRAHMACHARYA -- celibacy. Basically I have not changed
           -- I am still obsessed with sex. First I was running towards sex, now I am running away from sex, but
           sex remains the center of my being."
                The revelation was great. That very revelation created the context in which he became
           enlightened. The evening he understood this, something tremendously important happened to him.
           He laughed at the whole ridiculousness of his mind. He laughed at the tricky mind -- that he was
           thinking that he was going against mind, but he was not going against mind -- mind had played a
           trick. Mind had befooled him, mind had cheated him. Mind had come from the back door. First it
           was coming from the front door, now it was coming from the back door, and it is more dangerous
           when it comes from the back door. By the front door at least you are aware of what you are doing.
           When it comes from the back door, indirectly, in a subtle way, hiding, it comes hidden behind a
           facade.
                Mind is so cunning that it can hide in the garments of its very opposite. From indulgence it can
           become asceticism, from being a materialist it can become a spiritualist, from being worldly it can
           become otherworldly. But mind IS mind -- whether you are for the world or against the world you
           remain encaged in the mind. For or against, both are parts of the mind.
                When mind disappears, mind disappears in a choiceless awareness, when you stop choosing,
           when you are neither for nor against -- that is stopping in the middle. One choice leads to the left,
           one extreme; another choice leads to the right, the other extreme. If you don't choose, you are exactly
           in the middle. That is relaxation, that is rest. That is TRUE renunciation. It is not opposed to the
           world, it is not opposed to the body, it has nothing to do with the body. It is sheer awakening of
           consciousness. You become choiceless, unobsessed, and in that state of unobsessed, choiceless
           consciousness, intelligence arises which has been lying deep, dormant in your being. You become a
           light unto yourself. You are no longer a fool.
                From indulgence you can move to repression; that is not going to help. That's where all the
           religions have got hooked.

               The head nun is held up one evening while coming back from the bank where she has deposited
           the charity collection of the week. "You are wasting your time, young man," she tells the robber. "I
           have no money. I put it all in the night deposit at the bank."
           "We will see about that," he says grimly, and begins rumpling up under her black gown to search for
           the money.
           "Oh! What are you doing?" she cries. "Oh! Oh!! Oh Jesus, Mary! Don't stop now -- I will write you a
           cheque!"

               Repression is not the way, cannot be the way. All that you have repressed is waiting for its
           opportunity. It has simply gone into the unconscious -- it can come back any moment. Any
           provocation and it will surface. You are not free of it. Repression is not the way to freedom.
           Repression is a far worse kind of bondage than indulgence, because through indulgence one becomes
           tired sooner or later, but through repression one never becomes tired.
               See the point: indulgence is bound to tire you and bore you. Sooner or later you will start
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinking how to get rid of it all. But repression will keep things alive. Because you have not lived,
           how can you be bored? You have not lived; how can you be fed up? Because you have not lived, the
           charm continues, the hypnosis continues; deep down, it waits.
                And the people who indulge are in a way normal compared to the people who repress; the
           repressing person becomes pathological. The indulgent is at least natural -- that's how nature has
           made you -- but to repress is to become unnatural. It is easy to go from lower nature to higher nature.
           It is very difficult to go from being unnatural to higher nature. Buddha calls the ultimate truth,
           "ultimate nature" -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO. This is the ultimate nature, the ultimate law,
           he declares. What is the ultimate law? The eternal, the undying, the pure consciousness.
                It is easy to reach this eternal law from nature, because nature is lower but still it is nature. And
           from the lower to the higher you can step; the lower can become a stepping-stone. But the moment
           you become unnatural it becomes very difficult. From being unnatural, there is no way to supreme
           nature.
                Hence, my suggestion is: if you are going to choose, choose indulgence rather than repression.
           The best thing is NOT to choose, to remain choiceless, to be just a witness, to see your instincts,
           desires, and not get identified with them, for or against. The best thing is just to be a witness because
           in witnessing, in the fire of witnessing, all desires are burned -- not only desires, but the very seeds
           of desires are burned. One becomes NIRBEEJ -- seedless.
                But don't choose the negative. Once you become repressive, you become pathological, you are
           ill. In fact, only pathological people become interested in repressive systems of thought.

               All the nuns but one in a Belgian nunnery are found to be pregnant just after the war. The
           cardinal makes a personal inquiry and learns that the nuns have all been raped by German soldiers.
           "But why didn't they rape you?" he asks of the one thin, little, ugly and repulsive looking nun who is
           not pregnant.
           "Who, me?" she says. "I resisted!"

              The pathological can also find rationalizations. You know the old Aesop's fable?
              The fox says, "The grapes are sour," because the fox could not get to the grapes -- they were too
           high. She looked around, she tried hard to reach, but the grapes were too high, beyond her reach. She
           looked around, there was nobody. She walked away, but a hare was watching, hidden behind a bush.
           And the hare said, "Auntie, what happened? Couldn't you get to the grapes?"
              The fox said, "No, it is not a question of getting to the grapes -- they are not yet ripe, they are
           very sour."

              The people who cannot get to the grapes can rationalize that they are sour. These rationalizations
           may deceive others, but how can they deceive you? The fox knows perfectly well that she had not
           been able to reach. Now, it is a rationalization, and mind is very clever in rationalizing.

               Jake came home in the middle of the afternoon. He was met at the door by his wife and his son.
           His son exclaimed, "Dad, there is a bogeyman in the closet!"
               Jake rushed to the closet and flung the door open. There, huddled among the coats was his
           partner, Sam. "Sam," shrieked Jake, "why in hell do you come here in the afternoon and scare my
           kid?"

               Mind is very cunning and clever in rationalizing things, in finding ways and means. The mind
           can suggest repression to you very easily, because if you repress you will be far more in the power of
           the mind than you ever were when you were in the life of indulgence. And the mind will have a far
           stronger grip on you.
               Buddha learned it through his own experience -- six years of great torture. With Buddha the
           world entered into a new phase of religiousness. Before Buddha nobody had said this: that
           repressiveness, austerities, fasting, torturing your body, is not going to help. With Buddha, humanity
           entered into a new phase, a higher phase.
               Buddha is a very very significant milestone in the evolution of human consciousness, but he has
           not been understood rightly, because again the interpreters were those old scholars, pundits, priests.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They again interpreted Buddha in such a way...they started interpreting Buddha almost completely
           against his own experience. They started talking much about those six years; Buddhist scriptures are
           full of the description of those six years. And if you read Buddhist scriptures you will find that it
           seems as if it is because of those six years of austerities that he attained enlightenment. It is not so. It
           is not by those six years of austerities that he attained enlightenment; he attained enlightenment the
           day he dropped all those austerities. It was by DROPPING them that he attained enlightenment, not
           by or through them.
                But if you read the scriptures, particularly those written in India, you will be given a totally false
           impression. They make it appear as if Buddha has not contributed anything new to human
           consciousness, as if he is just the old type of ascetic -- maybe far more intelligent in expressing, far
           more convincing, logical, far more deep-going in his insight, but nothing new. It is the same old
           religion which he has brought in new words, with new logic; the same old wine in a new bottle, that's
           all. That's what Indians have made Buddha look like. That is a falsification. Buddha does not
           represent the old. He is a stepping beyond the old. He is a new phase. And just as he took a new step,
           again another step is needed. Twenty-five centuries have passed.
                My new commune is going to be that new step -- a further step in human evolution, in human
           consciousness.
                Although Buddha dropped asceticism, he did not talk much against it; he could not, because he
           had to communicate with people who were full of the ancient lore and the ancient ideology. He had
           to talk to people who would have been absolutely incapable of understanding if he had talked like
           me. Even I am not comprehensible to people. Twenty-five centuries have passed and people are still
           stuck. It is very rare to find a contemporary. People are in the twentieth century, but only physically;
           spiritually they are thousands of years back. Buddha could not even make an effort. He did say to his
           closest disciples, "It is not through asceticism that I have attained. I have attained by dropping
           asceticism -- that was all foolishness." These sutras were given to his closest disciples.
                He says: FOR MONTHS THE FOOL MAY FAST, EATING FROM THE TIP OF A GRASS
           BLADE. STILL HE IS NOT WORTH A PENNY BESIDE THE MASTER WHOSE FOOD IS THE
           WAY.
                If you really want a transformation, then make dhamma your food -- let the very way to God be
           your food. Nourish yourself on it! Jesus says it in another way: Eat me! He says to his disciples:
           Drink me! Absorb me, digest me!
                Buddha says: ...WHOSE FOOD IS THE WAY. The way means dhamma, religion, the ultimate
           law, that keeps the whole world in harmony. One who starts eating out of this harmony, that one
           attains -- not by fasting. It is not by fasting from the gross food, but by eating the subtle food that one
           attains.
                Yes, there is a subtle food available. When you look at a roseflower, just watch. Let the beauty of
           the rose be absorbed in you, and you will feel nourished. You have not eaten the rose but something
           subtle that surrounds the rose, the aura of the rose, the dance of the rose in the wind, the fragrance
           which is invisible. Have you not felt it? Seeing a beautiful flower, suddenly you feel saturated,
           contented. Looking at the sky full of stars, have you not felt nourished? Watching the sunrise or the
           sunset, or just listening to the faraway call of a cuckoo, a distant song, have you not felt yourself
           becoming full of something unknown...?
                Your body needs food, your soul also needs food. The bodily food is gross, obviously; the body
           is part of the gross world. The spiritual food is invisible -- in music, in poetry, in beauty, in dance, in
           song, in prayer, in meditation...and you go deeper and deeper towards the spiritual nourishment.
                Buddha says: It is not by dropping the gross food, by fasting, that one attains, but by eating the
           way. A strange expression -- by eating the dhamma. What is dhamma? Just the other day somebody
           asked, "Beloved Master, I love it when you say: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO, but what exactly
           does it mean?" It means the harmony of existence, it means the melody of existence, it means the
           ultimate dance that is going on and on. It means the celebration that is everywhere. The trees are
           celebrating and the birds and the animals and the rivers and the mountains...this whole existence is
           made of the stuff called bliss.
                That's what Buddha means when he says: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the ultimate
           law, inexhaustible. You can go on eating out of it, but you cannot exhaust it. And the more you eat,
           the more soul you will have. The more you eat it, the more divine you become. Buddha is saying: I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           am not teaching fasting -- I am teaching you a new way of indulgence, a higher kind of indulgence.
           He is not saying it exactly in that way, but I am saying it. I am teaching you a higher way of love, a
           higher way of rejoicing, a higher way of dance, a higher way of absorbing God's energy into yourself
           -- becoming more and more receptive and feminine so you can be pregnant with God.
                He calls the man a fool who goes on fasting. But those fools are worshipped in India, and not
           only in India -- almost all over the world. In fact, the majority of the crowd consists of fools; hence,
           whenever a fool starts following the rotten, trodden path, the traditional path of the crowds, the
           crowds are very much thrilled. Their egos are very much satisfied. This man proves that they have
           been right, their parents have been right, their heritage is proved right: "Look, this man is fasting!"
           And spiritual people have always been fasting -- that is their idea.
                Yes, sometimes it has happened that a spiritual person HAS fasted, but the reason is totally
           different from what you think. Mahavira fasted, and fasted for twelve years, and for long long
           periods. It is said that in those twelve years he took food for only three hundred and sixty-five days
           -- that means only one year. One month he would fast and he would take food for one day; in twelve
           years, one year means that mostly after twelve days he ate on one day -- average. That was his way
           of fasting.
                But Mahavira never became tired and Buddha became tired after six years. What was the matter?
           And he attained as much as Buddha attained. Buddha attained by dropping his fasting and austerity;
           Mahavira never dropped it. Now, both cannot be right -- and I say to you both are right. But the
           reasons are so different, almost inconceivable.
                Mahavira's fast has a totally different quality. He is not an ascetic, he is not fasting -- in fact, he
           is eating so much of God that he does not feel the need to eat. His soul is so overflowing with subtle
           energies that his body feels satisfied. He does not feel the need to eat. In fact, to say that he fasts is
           not right. If I am allowed then I will say: he cannot eat. And you have also sometimes observed it.
                When I used to come to Poona, I used to stay with Sohan, and she was very much puzzled. One
           day she asked me, "What is the matter? Once or twice a year you come to Poona. I wait the whole
           year long -- you will be coming, you will be coming -- and then for three or four days you come. For
           these three or four days I cannot eat at all. What is the reason why I can't eat? I am not fasting," she
           told me. "I want to eat, but I simply can't eat. I feel so full."
                I told her, "Whenever you are tremendously happy, you will not be able to eat. Your blissfulness
           is so overflowing it leaves no appetite, it leaves no emptiness in you. Not only is your soul
           overflowing, your body starts being affected by the soul. Your body is a shadow to your soul."
                You will be surprised: miserable people eat more, happy people less. A miserable person feels so
           empty that he wants to fill himself, stuff himself with something or other. The miserable person goes
           on eating, he goes on stuffing this and that inside. He feels so utterly empty and lost that he does not
           know what to do. It seems easy to go to the fridge and eat something more; maybe that will give you
           a feeling of fullness. And certainly it does give, on the very gross level, a feeling of fullness.
                Now, America suffers most from overeating, and the reason is simple: America is now suffering
           from great inner emptiness. The reason is spiritual, hence no dieting can help. And how long can you
           diet? You can diet for a few days with great willpower; you have to force yourself. Then after a few
           days you become tired of making the effort and then you jump upon the food with a vengeance; and
           you will gain more weight than you had lost by dieting.
                In America this is a problem. In all rich countries this is going to be a problem, because you have
           food and you have emptiness both available. Only food is left to fill yourself with, sex is left to fill
           yourself with. Go on purchasing new gadgets, new things; if you cannot have anything else you can
           at least go on accumulating furniture. You can fill the house if you cannot fill your being. Just a
           vicarious way of feeling full. Just the opposite happens when you are really happy, joyous, when you
           are flying, when you are feeling weightless.
                I told Sohan, "This is perfectly logical. This is real fasting!"
                In Sanskrit, the word for 'fast' has a beauty of its own. The English word does not have that
           quality. The English word 'fast' simply means starving through willpower. The Sanskrit word is
           UPAWAS -- it means 'being close to God'. Literally it means being close to God; it has nothing to do
           with fasting. It means being so close to God, so full of God, that you forget all about your body, that
           you forget all about your body nourishment. You are so nourished by the subtle food, the subtle
           energy, that goes on showering on you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Mahavira was not fasting in the same way that Buddha was; Mahavira was eating God, and
           Buddha was simply fasting. Mahavira's fast was upawas -- being close to God. His fast was what it
           means in Sanskrit; Buddha's fast was what it means in English -- just starving. Hence Mahavira
           attained without dropping his fast. It was not fasting in the first place -- there was no need to drop it.
           Buddha had to drop it, it was just the opposite of indulgence. He was simply starving himself with
           the motive that by starvation one can attain.
                How can you attain God by starving the body? What logic is this? What scientific reasoning is
           there in it? Do you think God is someone like Adolf Hitler who enjoys your tortures? who enjoys
           seeing his children hungry and dreaming of food? who enjoys seeing people becoming ugly, ill? God
           is compassion, God is love. He would like you to be full of him. And when you are full of him you
           may not feel the need to eat. Mahavira was not fasting, he was simply not feeling like eating, that's
           all. And that's a great difference.
                Buddha says: FOR MONTHS THE FOOL MAY FAST, EATING FROM THE TIP OF A
           GRASS BLADE. STILL HE IS NOT WORTH A PENNY BESIDE THE MASTER WHOSE FOOD
           IS THE WAY.
                One day he discovered that there is another kind of food: one can eat out of the harmony of
           existence, one can become part of the harmony, one can become part of the celebration, the festivity
           that goes on and on, with no beginning and no end. Then you are full and fulfilled.

              FRESH MILK TAKES TIME TO SOUR.
              SO A FOOL'S MISCHIEF
              TAKES TIME TO CATCH UP WITH HIM.
              LIKE THE EMBERS OF A FIRE
              IT SMOULDERS WITHIN HIM.


               If you do something, it takes time for its result to come. And you may not even be able to
           connect the two, the cause and the effect.
               Do you know that in Africa, still there are primitive tribes which have no conception that the
           birth of a child has anything to do with intercourse -- because the gap is so big, nine months. And not
           only is the gap so big...and they have no way of calculating time, so for them nine months is really a
           long time; they cannot keep track of time. They have no calendar, no watches, no idea of time at all.
           They live in a really primitive world where time has not been invented yet, so how can they conceive
           that the intercourse between a man and a woman can be the cause of the birth of a child?
               And then there are other reasons: it doesn't always happen. You may make love to a woman and
           there may come no child, so it is not an inevitable thing. Then how is the child born? The child is
           born not by intercourse, not by sexual relationship, it has no biology behind it -- it comes as a gift
           from God, whomsoever he chooses. If you follow the tribe's religion, you will be blessed with
           children; otherwise there is no possibility.
               When Christian missionaries for the first time discovered this tribe, they could not believe that
           these people for centuries have lived, given birth to children, and have no idea at all of cause and
           effect. And that's how we all are, in so many ways -- primitive.
               Today suddenly you start feeling sad for no reason at all; you cannot find any reason in close
           proximity -- nothing has happened. In the night when you had gone to bed, everything was good;
           you were flowing, glowing, and in the morning you are suddenly sad. Nobody has insulted you,
           nothing has happened, no bad news has arrived...why? From where has this sadness come? You must
           have done something; maybe there is a time gap, maybe three months' gap or three years. And those
           who have gone deep into this phenomenon, they say maybe even in the past life...sometimes a few
           seeds take very long to sprout.
               And because of this, the fool goes on living in the same way, in the same foolish way, because he
           cannot see that his life's suffering is caused by his own choices. Those choices may have been made
           long before. You may have thrown the seeds a year before, and then you have completely forgotten
           about those seeds. Rains come, the seeds start sprouting, and you are surprised -- from where? From
           where are these plants coming up? And, of course, the seeds that we go on sowing in our souls are
           very very invisible. You may have been angry, violent, jealous, and it has remained inside you.
               Buddha says: LIKE THE EMBERS OF A FIRE IT SMOULDERS WITHIN HIM. It goes on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inside you, getting ready, waiting for the spring to come, and then it explodes suddenly. Man is
           responsible for whatsoever happens to him. The wise man becomes aware of it and stops sowing
           seeds of misery and starts sowing seeds of joy. Sooner or later you will be ready to reap the harvest.
               That's what heaven is: a wise man sowing seeds of bliss, love, compassion. And one day the
           garden is ready. Do you know? -- the word 'paradise' comes from Persian, has a beautiful meaning.
           In Persian it is FIRDAUS; from 'firdaus' it has become 'paradise' in English. 'Firdaus' means a walled
           garden of truth. If you go on sowing seeds of joy, beauty, dance, song, meditation, prayer, soon you
           will create a walled garden of truth -- that is paradise. Otherwise, you are bound to create hell. Live
           unconsciously, live mechanically, live foolishly, and hell is going to be the outcome of it.

              WHATEVER A FOOL LEARNS,
              IT ONLY MAKES HIM DULLER.
              KNOWLEDGE CLEAVES HIS HEAD.


                The fool is not very much interested in becoming intelligent, because intelligence is dangerous.
           Intelligence is rebellious, hence it is dangerous. Intelligence brings individuality to you, and the
           moment you become an integrated individual the crowds start turning against you; they cannot
           tolerate an individual. They cannot forgive a Jesus or a Buddha. They are very happy with the fools,
           because the fools are just like them -- in fact, a little more magnified, a little more decorated, a little
           more sophisticated. They are very happy with the fools. They are happy with politicians, they are
           happy with professors, they are happy with pundits but they are not happy with a Jesus or a Socrates
           or a Buddha. Why? -- because the presence of a buddha makes them look stupid. The very presence
           of a buddha and they start feeling silly. How can they forgive him?
                And they don't want to be intelligent themselves, because it is a long journey and there is no
           shortcut to it. It is hard, arduous. To become intelligent means to sharpen your consciousness
           continuously; to become intelligent means to be full of love. Love is the center of intelligence, logic
           the center of intellectuality.
                The fool becomes intellectual; then he can brag that he knows. He is interested in knowledge. He
           will read the Bible and the Vedas and the Koran, he will cram information. He turns his mind into a
           computer, he becomes a walking ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. That is easy, that is simple,
           that can be done by a machine; it does not need any intelligence. And your schools, colleges and
           universities only make people computers.
                We have yet to create universities where intelligence is sharpened. Our universities only dull the
           intelligence because they prepare slaves for the society. The universities are in the service of the
           vested interests; they are agents of the established status quo. They don't serve the future of
           humanity, they serve the past, they serve the dead. They are not interested in creating people who are
           intelligent, creative, alert, aware; they are interested in people who are dull, stupid, but efficient.
           Clerks, deputy collectors, stationmasters -- efficient! They can just do their work very efficiently.
           And remember, machines are more efficient than men, so they are not interested in men; they are
           interested in reducing men to machines.
                Buddha says: WHATEVER A FOOL LEARNS, IT ONLY MAKES HIM DULLER. The more
           knowledge he gathers, the more dull he becomes, the more stupid he becomes. And that is my
           observation too. I have seen ignorant villagers far more intelligent than the so-called Ph.D.'s and
           D.Litt.'s and professors of the universities, deans, vice-chancellors and chancellors. They seem to be
           the dullest people in the world.
                A villager, a woodcutter, seems to be far more intelligent. He has no information, of course; he is
           not knowledgeable -- but he is innocent, and innocence is part of intelligence. To be knowledgeable
           is to be machinelike -- and machines are dull. Have you ever seen any machine which is intelligent?
           Just look at the machine, and look at the dean and the vice-chancellor...!
                In fact, the duller you are, the greater is the possibility that you will become a vice-chancellor --
           because the politicians will not like a Buddha to become a vice-chancellor, they will not allow
           Socrates to become a vice-chancellor. This was the crime Socrates was accused of: that he was
           corrupting youth. Socrates, and corrupting youth? And these fools -- the magistrates and the
           vice-chancellors and the prime ministers and the presidents -- these fools are not corrupting?
           Socrates is corrupting the youth -- what do they mean by it?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In a way, they are right: he is corrupting the youth because he is preparing them for the future.
           He has to destroy the past, he has to create doubt, inquiry, he has to create seekers, not believers.
           And the society wants believers, and the dull people are good believers. A Mohammedan, a
           Christian, a Hindu, a Jaina -- the duller they are, the more they believe, the better they
           believe...because the dull person cannot inquire, he cannot risk. He is afraid:he knows that he is not
           capable of knowing the truth on his own, he has to believe somebody else.
               KNOWLEDGE CLEAVES HIS HEAD, says Buddha. Knowledge does not help him but
           becomes a burden, a Himalayan weight on his being.

              FOR THEN HE WANTS RECOGNITION,
              A PLACE BEFORE OTHER PEOPLE,
              A PLACE OVER OTHER PEOPLE.


               His whole knowledge becomes an ego trip, and the ego is the greatest bondage there is. To be
           free of ego is to be redeemed. But the fool learns just to become famous, to be recognized as an
           authority, to be an expert. The fool accumulates knowledge so that he can brag and exhibit, so that
           he can show people how intelligent he is. And intelligence is not of the ego; intelligence comes only
           when you are in a deep egoless state. Intelligence is the disappearance of ego, meeting and merging
           with the whole, forgetting your separation, becoming a wave in the ocean of God -- then you are
           intelligent.

              "LET THEM KNOW MY WORK,
              LET EVERYONE LOOK TO ME FOR DIRECTION."
              SUCH ARE HIS DESIRES,
              SUCH IS HIS SWELLING PRIDE.



              ONE WAY LEADS TO WEALTH AND FAME....


               Buddha says: But let me make you aware that if you want wealth and fame, then follow the way
           of the fool -- because the foolish person is capable of becoming famous more easily than the
           intelligent person. If the intelligent person becomes famous, that is just accidental -- he never tries. If
           the intelligent person is well known, that is not because of his effort. His fragrance may have reached
           people, but there is no positive effort on his side to be recognized. He knows his being, he does not
           depend on others' recognition. He knows who he is, he does not need anybody else's certificate.

               When I came out of the university I went to see the education minister. I told him, "These are my
           qualifications. If you can give me some place anywhere, any place will be okay." He looked at my
           qualifications, was very much impressed -- people are impressed by nonsense -- because I was a
           gold-medallist, first-class, first. He was very much impressed. He said, "Immediately I will appoint
           you as a lecturer. But one thing you will have to do: have you got a character certificate?"
               I said, "I have got a character, but no character certificate. Look into my eyes, hold my hand! I
           can hug you...!"
               He said, "But that...that is not the point. Where is the character certificate?"
           I said, "I have got no character certificate."
               He said, "You can go to the vice-chancellor, or the head of your department -- just one character
           certificate. It is a formality."
               I said, "I cannot ask the vice-chancellor, because I don't believe that he has any character at all!
           What weight will his certificate carry? And the head of my department? -- I know him more than he
           knows himself. I cannot give him a character certificate!"
               He was very much puzzled. He really wanted to help. In fact, he became really interested in me
           also. He had never come across such a man -- so many people must have approached him, but
           nobody had said, "Look into my eyes, or hold my hand and feel! Or I can come and live with you for
           one week, in your house. Just see my character in every possible way. I will not even lock the door
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of my bathroom. I will keep everything open, so you can just go on watching...!"
               He said, "These things are not needed at all! Just a simple character certificate."
               So I said, "Then I can write a simple character certificate to myself" -- and that's what I did. I
           wrote a certificate, in front of him, and he said, "What are you doing? But this has never been done:
           you yourself giving a character certificate to yourself? Somebody else's signature is needed!"
               So I said, "Okay, then I will sign for the head of my department, on his behalf. This is a true
           copy," I told him, "and the original I will take from the head of my department."
               So I went to the head of my department. I said, "I have given this character certificate in your
           name -- you please give the original."
               He said, "This is strange! The original is needed FIRST." But he loved the idea and he gave me
           an original.

               ONE WAY LEADS TO WEALTH AND FAME.... If you follow the fool's way, you can become
           very rich, you can become famous. You can become a president of a country, a prime minister of a
           country -- you can become anything. You can have as much wealth as you want -- just follow the
           fool's way. Don't be intelligent, remain stupid, because in fact, except for a stupid person who wants
           to run after money? Yes, sometimes it happens, money comes to the intelligent person, but it comes
           running after him, he does not go.... Fame also sometimes comes to the intelligent person. It comes
           on its own; he is not interested at all.

              ...THE OTHER TO THE END OF THE WAY.


               But if you want to end this whole nonsense that has persisted down the ages for so many lives,
           the same repetitive wheel of birth and death moving; if you want to stop it, then the other, the way of
           the intelligent person, the way of the wise...be a light unto yourself.

              LOOK NOT FOR RECOGNITION
              BUT FOLLOW THE AWAKENED
              AND SET YOURSELF FREE.


                Don't be bothered, don't desire recognition. If millions of fools recognize you, what does it
           matter? Millions of fools recognizing you simply proves that you are a greater fool than them.
           Nothing else is proved.
                BUT FOLLOW THE AWAKENED.... What does Buddha mean when he says FOLLOW THE
           AWAKENED? He does not mean imitate. He simply means become awakened as the awakened has
           become awakened. Be awake -- that is following the awakened. Not following in the details: how he
           lives, what he eats, when he goes to sleep -- that is stupidity. Follow the awakened in becoming
           awake.
                AND SET YOURSELF FREE -- because it is only awareness, the state of an awakened
           consciousness that brings freedom. Intelligence is freedom. Meditation is freedom. Awareness is
           freedom. And those who live mechanically, unconsciously, unintelligently, they live in prisons. And
           to live in a prison is to suffer.
           Freedom is the ultimate value of life.
              FOLLOW THE AWAKENED AND SET YOURSELF FREE.
              AES DHAMMO SANANTANO....
              Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2
                                                      Chapter #10
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                              Chapter title: The law -- ancient and inexhaustible
           10 July 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7907100
              ShortTitle: DHAM210
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 110 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU MEAN BY THE DIMENSION OF MUSIC.


                Yoga Chinmaya, life can be lived in two ways -- either as calculation or as poetry. Man has two
           sides to his inner being: the calculative side that creates science, business, politics; and the
           noncalculative side, which creates poetry, sculpture, music. These two sides have not yet been
           bridged, they have separate existences. Because of this man is immensely impoverished, remains
           unnecessarily lopsided -- they have to be bridged.
                In scientific language it is said that your brain has two hemispheres. The left-side hemisphere
           calculates, is mathematical, is prose; and the right-side hemisphere of the brain is poetry, is love, is
           song. One side is logic, the other side is love. One side is syllogism, the other side is song. And they
           are not really bridged, hence man lives in a kind of split.
           My effort here is to bridge these two hemispheres.
                Man should be as scientific as possible, as far as the objective world is concerned, and as musical
           as possible as far as the world of relationship is concerned.
                There are two worlds outside you. One is the world of objects: the house, the money, the
           furniture. The other is the world of persons: the wife, the husband, the mother, the children, the
           friend. With objects be scientific; never be scientific with persons. If you are scientific with persons
           you reduce them to objects, and that is one of the greatest crimes one can commit. If you treat your
           wife only as an object, as a sexual object, then you are behaving in a very ugly way. If you treat your
           husband only as a financial support, as a means, then this is immoral, then this relationship is
           immoral -- it is prostitution, pure prostitution and nothing else.
                Don't treat persons as a means, they are ends unto themselves. Relate to them -- in love, in
           respect. Never possess them and never be possessed by them. Don't be dependent on them and don't
           make persons around you dependent. Don't create dependence in any way; remain independent and
           let them remain independent.
                This is music. This dimension I call the dimension of music. And if you can be as scientific as
           possible with objects, your life will be rich, affluent; if you can be as musical as possible, your life
           will have beauty. And there is a third dimension also, which is beyond the mind. These two belong
           to the mind: the scientist and the artist. There is a third dimension, invisible -- the dimension of
           no-mind. That belongs to the mystic. That is available through meditation.
                Hence, I say these three words have to be remembered -- three M's like three R's: mathematics,
           the lowest; music, just in the middle; and meditation, the highest. A perfect human being is scientific
           about objects, is aesthetic, musical, poetic about persons, and is meditative about himself. Where all
           these three meet, great rejoicing happens.
                This is the real trinity, TRIMURTI. In the East, particularly in India, we worship a place where
           three rivers meet -- we call it a SANGHAM, the meeting place. And the greatest of all of them is
           Preyag, where the Ganges and Jamuna and Saraswati meet. Now, you can see the Ganges and you
           can see Jamuna, but Saraswati is invisible -- you cannot see it. It is a metaphor! It simply represents,
           symbolically, the inner meeting of the three. You can see mathematics, you can see music, but you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot see meditation. You can see the scientist, his work is outside. You can see the artist, his work
           is also outside. But you cannot see the mystic, his work is subjective. That is SARASWATI -- the
           invisible river.
               You can become a sacred place, you can hallow this body and this earth; this very body the
           Buddha, this very earth the Lotus Paradise. This is my slogan for the sannyasins. A sannyasin has to
           be the ultimate synthesis of all that God is.
               God is known only when you have come to this synthesis; otherwise, you can believe in God, but
           you will not know. And belief is just hiding your ignorance. Knowing is transforming, only
           knowledge brings understanding. And knowledge is not information: knowledge is the synthesis,
           integration, of all your potential.
               Where the scientist and the poet and the mystic meet and become one -- when this great synthesis
           happens, when all the three faces of God are expressed in you -- YOU become a god. Then you can
           declare, "AHAM BRAHMASMI! -- I am God!" Then you can say to the winds and the moon and to
           the rains and to the sun, "ANA'L HAQ! -- I am the truth!" Before that, you are only a seed.
               When this synthesis happens, you have bloomed, blossomed -- you have become the
           one-thousand-petaled lotus, the golden lotus, the eternal lotus, that never dies: AES DHAMMO
           SANANTANO. This is the inexhaustible law that all the buddhas have been teaching down the ages.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE WEST WE ARE CONSTANTLY DRILLED WITH THE APHORISM: DON'T JUST STAND
              THERE -- DO SOMETHING! YET, BUDDHA WOULD SAY: DON'T JUST DO SOMETHING -- STAND
              THERE! THE UNCONSCIOUS MAN REACTS WHILE THE WISE MAN WATCHES. BUT WHAT
              ABOUT SPONTANEITY? IS SPONTANEITY COMPATIBLE WITH WATCHING?


               Buddha certainly says: Don't just do something -- stand there! But that is only the beginning of
           the pilgrimage, not the end. When you have learned how to stand, when you have learned how to be
           utterly silent, unmoving, undisturbed, when you know how to just sit...sitting silently, doing nothing,
           the spring comes and the grass grows by itself. But the grass grows, remember!
               Action does not disappear: the grass grows by itself. The Buddha does not become inactive;
           GREAT action happens through him, although there is no doer anymore. The doer disappears, the
           doing continues. And when there is no doer, the doing IS spontaneous; it cannot be otherwise. It is
           the doer that does not allow spontaneity.
               The doer means the ego, the ego means the past. When you act, you are always acting through
           the past, you are acting out of experience that you have accumulated, you are acting out of the
           conclusions that you have arrived at in the past. How can you be spontaneous? The past dominates,
           and because of the past you cannot even see the present. Your eyes are so full of the past, the smoke
           of the past is so much, that seeing is impossible. You cannot see! You are almost completely blind --
           blind because of the smoke, blind because of the past conclusions, blind because of knowledge.
               The knowledgeable man is the most blind man in the world. Because he functions out of his
           knowledge, he does not see what the case is. He simply goes on functioning mechanically. He has
           learned something; it has become a ready-made mechanism in him...he acts out of it.

           There is a famous story:
               There were two temples in Japan, both enemies to each other, as temples have always been down
           the ages. The priests were so antagonistic that they had stopped even looking at each other. If they
           came across each other on the road, they would not look at each other. If they came across each other
           on the road they stopped talking; for centuries those two temples and their priests had not talked.
               But both the priests had two small boys -- to serve them, just for running errands. Both the
           priests were afraid that boys, after all, will be boys, and they might start becoming friends to each
           other.
               The one priest said to his boy, "Remember, the other temple is our enemy. Never talk to the boy
           of the other temple! They are dangerous people -- avoid them as one avoids a disease, as one avoids
           the plague. Avoid them!" The boy was always interested, because he used to get tired of listening to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           great sermons -- he could not understand them. Strange scriptures were read, he could not understand
           the language. Great, ultimate problems were discussed. There was nobody to play with, nobody even
           to talk with. And when he was told, "Don't talk to the boy of the other temple," great temptation
           arose in him. That's how temptation arises.
               That day he could not avoid talking to the other boy. When he saw him on the road he asked him,
           "Where are you going?"
               The other boy was a little philosophical; listening to great philosophy he had become
           philosophical. He said, "Going? There is nobody who comes and goes! It is happening -- wherever
           the wind takes me...." He had heard the master say many times that that's how a buddha lives, like a
           dead leaf: wherever the wind takes it, it goes. So the boy said, "I am not! There is no doer. So how
           can I go? What nonsense are you talking? I am a dead leaf. Wherever the wind takes me...."
               The other boy was struck dumb. He could not even answer. He could not find anything to say.
           He was really embarrassed, ashamed, and felt also, "My master was right not to talk with these
           people -- these are dangerous people! What kind of talk is this? I had asked a simple question:
           'Where are you going?' In fact I already knew where he was going, because we were both going to
           purchase vegetables in the market. A simple answer would have done."
               He went back, told his master, "I am sorry, excuse me. You HAD prohibited me, I didn't listen to
           you. In fact, because of your prohibition I was tempted. This is the first time I have talked to those
           dangerous people. I just asked a simple question. 'Where are you going?' and he started saying
           strange things: 'There is no going, no coming. Who comes? Who goes? I am utter emptiness,' he was
           saying, 'just a dead leaf in the wind. And wherever the wind takes me....'"
               The master said, "I told you before! Now, tomorrow stand in the same place and when he comes
           ask him again, 'Where are you going?' And when he says these things, you simply say, 'That's true.
           Yes, you are a dead leaf, so am I. But when the wind is not blowing, where are you going? Then
           where can you go?' Just say that, and that will embarrass him -- and he has to be embarrassed, he has
           to be defeated. We have been constantly quarreling, and those people have not been able to defeat us
           in any debate. So tomorrow it has to be done!"
               Early the boy got up, prepared his answer, repeated it many times before he went. Then he stood
           in the place where the boy used to cross the road, repeated again and again, prepared himself, and
           then he saw the boy coming. He said, "Okay, now!"
               The boy came. He asked, "Where are you going?" And he was hoping that now the opportunity
           would come....
               But the boy said, "Wherever the legs will take me...." No mention of wind! No talk of
           nothingness! No question of the nondoer! Now what to do? His whole ready-made answer looked
           absurd. Now to talk about the wind would be irrelevant.
               Again crestfallen, now REALLY ashamed that he was simply stupid: "And this boy certainly
           knows some strange things -- now he says, 'Wherever the legs take me....'"
               He went back to the master. The master said, "I have told you NOT to talk with those people --
           they are dangerous! This is our centuries-long experience. But now something has to be done. So
           tomorrow you ask again, 'Where are you going?' and when he says, 'Wherever my legs take me,' tell
           him, 'If you had no legs, then...?' He has to be silenced one way or other!"
               So the next day he asked again, "Where are you going?" and waited.
               And the boy said, "I am going to the market to fetch vegetables."

               Man ordinarily functions out of the past, and life goes on changing. Life has no obligation to fit
           with your conclusions. That's why life is very confusing -- confusing to the knowledgeable person.
           He has all ready-made answers: The Bhagavadgita, the holy Koran, the Bible, the Vedas. He has
           everything crammed, he knows all the answers. But life never raises the same question again; hence
           the knowledgeable person always falls short.
               Buddha certainly says: Know how to sit silently. That does not mean that he says: Go on sitting
           silently forever. He is not saying you have to become inactive; on the contrary, it is only out of
           silence that action arises. If you are not silent, if you don't know how to sit silently, or stand silently
           in deep meditation, whatsoever you go on doing is reaction, not action. You react.
               Somebody insults you, pushes a button, and you react. You are angry, you jump on him -- and
           you call it action? It is not action, mind you, it is reaction. He is the manipulator and you are the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           manipulated. He has pushed a button and you have functioned like a machine. Just like you push a
           button and the light goes on, and you push the button and the light goes off -- that's what people are
           doing to you: they put you on, they put you off.
                Somebody comes and praises you and puffs up your ego, and you feel so great; and then
           somebody comes and punctures you, and you are simply flat on the ground. You are not your own
           master: anybody can insult you and make you sad, angry, irritated, annoyed, violent, mad. And
           anybody can praise you and make you feel at the heights, can make you feel that you are the greatest
           -- that Alexander the Great was nothing compared to you.
                And you act according to others' manipulations. This is not real action.

                Buddha was passing through a village and the people came and they insulted him. And they used
           all the insulting words that they could use -- all the four-letter words that they knew. Buddha stood
           there, listened silently, very attentively, and then said, "Thank you for coming to me, but I am in a
           hurry. I have to reach the next village, people will be waiting for me there. I cannot devote more
           time to you today, but tomorrow coming back I will have more time. You can gather again, and
           tomorrow if something is left which you wanted to say and have not been able to say, you can say it
           to me. But today, excuse me."
                Those people could not believe their ears, their eyes: this man has remained utterly unaffected,
           undistracted. One of them asked, "Have you not heard us? We have been abusing you like anything,
           and you have not even answered!"
                Buddha said, "If you wanted an answer then you have come too late. You should have come ten
           years ago, then I would have answered you. But for these ten years I have stopped being manipulated
           by others. I am no longer a slave, I am my own master. I act according to myself, not according to
           anybody else. I act according to my inner need. You cannot force me to do anything. It's perfectly
           good:you wanted to abuse me, you abused me! Feel fulfilled. You have done your work perfectly
           well. But as far as I am concerned, I don't take your insults, and unless I take them, they are
           meaningless."
                When somebody insults you, you have to become a receiver, you have to accept what he says;
           only then can you react. But if you don't accept, if you simply remain detached, if you keep the
           distance, if you remain cool, what can he do?
                Buddha said, "Somebody can throw a burning torch into the river. It will remain alight till it
           reaches the river. The moment it falls into the river, all fire is gone -- the river cools it. I have
           become a river. You throw abuses at me. They are fire when you throw them, but the moment they
           reach me, in my coolness, their fire is lost. They no longer hurt. You throw thorns -- falling in my
           silence they become flowers. I act out of my own intrinsic nature."

               This is spontaneity. The man of awareness, understanding, acts. The man who is unaware,
           unconscious, mechanical, robotlike, reacts.
               Curtis, you ask me, "The unconscious man reacts while the wise man watches." It is not that he
           simply watches -- watching is one aspect of his being. He does not act without watching. But don't
           misunderstand the Buddha. The buddhas have always been misunderstood; you are not the first to
           misunderstand. This whole country has been misunderstanding the Buddha; hence the whole country
           has become inactive. Thinking that all the great masters say: Sit silently, the country has become
           lazy, lousy; the country has lost energy, vitality, life. It has become utterly dull, unintelligent,
           because intelligence becomes sharpened only when you act.
               And when you act moment to moment out of your awareness and watchfulness, great intelligence
           arises. You start shining, glowing, you become luminous. But it happens through two things:
           watching, and action out of that watching. If watching becomes inaction, you are committing suicide.
           Watching should lead you into action, a new kind of action; a new quality is brought to action.
               You watch, you are utterly quiet and silent. You see what the situation is, and out of that seeing
           you respond. The man of awareness responds, he is responsible -- literally! He is responsive, he does
           not react. His action is born out of his awareness, not out of your manipulation; that is the difference.
           Hence, there is no question of there being any incompatibility between watching and spontaneity.
           Watching is the beginning of spontaneity; spontaneity is the fulfillment of watching.
               The real man of understanding acts -- acts tremendously, acts totally, but he acts in the moment,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           out of his consciousness. He is like a mirror. The ordinary man, the unconscious man, is not like a
           mirror, he is like a photoplate. What is the difference between a mirror and a photoplate? A
           photoplate, once exposed, becomes useless. It receives the impression, becomes impressed by it -- it
           carries the picture. But remember, the picture is not reality -- the reality goes on growing. You can
           go into the garden and you can take a picture of a rosebush. Tomorrow the picture will be the same,
           the day after tomorrow the picture will also be the same. Go again and see the rosebush: it is no
           longer the same. The roses have gone, or new roses have arrived. A thousand and one things have
           happened.

               It is said that once a realist philosopher went to see the famous painter, Picasso. The philosopher
           believed in realism and he had come to criticize Picasso because Picasso's paintings are abstract,
           they are not realistic. They don't depict reality as it is. On the contrary, they are symbolic, have a
           totally different dimension -- they are symbolistic.
               The realist said, "I don't like your paintings. A painting should be real! If you paint my wife, then
           your painting should LOOK like my wife." And he took out a picture of his wife and said, "Look at
           this picture! The painting should be like this."
               Picasso looked at the picture and said, "This is your wife?"
           He said, "Yes, this is my wife!"
               Picasso said, "I am surprised! She is very small and flat."

           The picture cannot be the wife!

           Another story is told:
               A beautiful woman came to Picasso and said, "Just the other day I saw your self-portrait in a
           friend's home. It was so beautiful, I was so influenced, almost hypnotized, that I hugged the picture
           and kissed it."
               Picasso said, "Really! And then what did the picture do to you? Did the picture kiss you back?"
               The woman said, "Are you mad?! The picture did not kiss me back."
           Picasso said, "Then it was not me."

                A picture is a dead thing. The camera, the photoplate, catches only a static phenomenon. And life
           is never static, it goes on changing. Your mind functions like a camera, it goes on collecting pictures
           -- it is an album. And then out of those pictures you go on reacting. Hence, you are never true to life,
           because whatsoever you do is wrong; WHATSOEVER you do, I say, is wrong. It never fits.

              A woman was showing the family album to her child, and they came across a picture of a
           beautiful man: long hair, beard, very young, very alive.
           The boy asked, "Mummy, who is this man?"
              And the woman said, "Can't you recognize him? He is your daddy!"
              The boy looked puzzled and said, "If HE is my daddy, then who is that bald man who lives with
           us?"

               A picture is static. It remains as it is, it never changes. The unconscious mind functions like a
           camera, it functions like a photoplate. The watchful mind, the meditative mind, functions like a
           mirror. It catches no impression; it remains utterly empty, always empty. So whatsoever comes in
           front of the mirror, it is reflected. If you are standing before the mirror, it reflects you. If you are
           gone, don't say that the mirror betrays you. The mirror is simply a mirror. When you are gone, it no
           longer reflects you; it has no obligation to reflect you anymore. Now somebody else is facing it -- it
           reflects somebody else. If nobody is there, it reflects nothing. It is always true to life.
               The photoplate is never true to life. Even if your photo is taken right now, by the time the
           photographer has taken it out of the camera, you are no longer the same! Much water has already
           gone down the Ganges. You have grown, changed, you have become older. Maybe only one minute
           has passed, but one minute can be a great thing -- you may be dead! Just one minute before you were
           alive; after one minute, you may be dead. The picture will never die.
               But in the mirror, if you are alive, you are alive; if you are dead, you are dead.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha says: Learn sitting silently -- become a mirror. Silence makes a mirror out of your
           consciousness, and then you function moment to moment. You reflect life. You don't carry an album
           within your head. Then your eyes are clear and innocent, you have clarity, you have vision, and you
           are never untrue to life.
           This is authentic living.

           The third question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHY IS IT THAT NOBODY LIKES TO BE CRITICIZED, AND YET EVERYBODY LOVES TO
               CRITICIZE OTHERS?


                Gayatri, the ego is very sensitive and very fragile, and is very afraid of criticism. The ego
           depends on others' opinions. It has no reality of its own. It is not a real entity, it is not substantial -- it
           is just a collection of others' opinions.
                Somebody says, "You are beautiful," and you collect it. Somebody says, "You are intelligent,"
           and you collect it. And somebody says, "I have never come across such a unique person," and you
           collect it. And then one day a person comes and he says, "You are repulsive!" Now how can you
           accept criticism? It goes against the image that you have been creating of yourself. You will
           retaliate, you will fight tooth and nail. But whatsoever you do, the mind has taken the impression of
           this opinion too. Then somebody says, "You are ugly," and somebody says, "You are stupid." And
           there are millions of people in the world and they all have their own opinions, likes and dislikes.
                Hence, your ego becomes a hodge-podge thing, a very contradictory phenomenon. One fragment
           says, "You are beautiful!" another fragment says, "Nonsense, you are ugly!" One fragment says,
           "You are intelligent," another fragment says, "Keep quiet! Shut your big mouth! You are just plain
           stupid and nothing else!" Hence people live in a confused state. They don't know who they are,
           whether they are intelligent or stupid, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, saint or sinner -- because one
           person may call you a saint, another person may call you a sinner. There are different values and
           different criteria in the world, there are different moralities in the world.
                Your neighbor may be a Christian and you may be a Jaina. Now the Christian has no problem
           with drinking wine; in fact, Christ himself loved to drink wine. But the Jaina cannot conceive, even
           in his dreams, of Mahavira drinking wine. That's impossible, the very idea is inconceivable. But to
           the Christian the greatest miracle that Jesus did was to turn water into wine. If Mahavira had been
           around, he would have done just the opposite miracle immediately! He would have turned the wine
           again into water.
                Now, if you drink wine once in a while, are you a saint or a sinner? Different people will say
           different things. In Mahatma Gandhi's ashram tea was prohibited; what to say about wine! Tea, poor
           tea, innocent tea was prohibited! And all the Buddhist monks down the ages have been drinking tea.
           In fact they think that it helps meditation, and there may be a grain of truth in it, because it keeps you
           awake. And the Buddhist meditation is such that you tend to doze off: sitting for hours in a single
           posture.... Just try it. After ten minutes you will start dreaming. After one hour it is impossible to
           keep awake.
                Tea may have helped. In fact, tea was discovered by Buddhists. One of the greatest Buddhist
           masters, Bodhidharma, discovered tea. The name comes from a monastery, Ta, in which
           Bodhidharma used to live in China. That monastery was on top of the hill, Ta. In China 'ta' can be
           pronounced in two ways: either it can be pronounced as 'ta' or as 'cha' -- hence the Hindi CHAI, the
           Marathi CHA, and the English 'tea'. Bodhidharma, the great founder of Zen, discovered it.
                And wine has been made in Catholic monasteries down the ages. You will be surprised to know
           that the best wine has been made by Catholic monks and nuns. The oldest wine is available only in
           the cellars of ancient monasteries in Europe, the oldest and the best. Wine, made in monasteries?
           What kind of monasteries are these? Who is going to decide?
                In fact, again there is a grain of truth in it. Buddhist meditation means watchfulness, and tea has
           some chemicals in it which help watchfulness -- it has a stimulant. Now some day it is possible that
           another Bodhidharma will come and say, "Smoking is good," because tobacco also has a stimulant --
           nicotine. Smoking can also help meditation if tea can help it. Smoking is still waiting for its
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bodhidharma to appear. Then you will be more able to smoke and feel very virtuous: the more you
           smoke, the more saintly you will be!
                It is not accidental that wine became part of the monastery's creativity. Jesus says: To be
           drowned in God is prayer. Jesus' path is that of love, Buddha's path is that of meditation; hence,
           Buddha will never agree to wine, but to tea he may agree. Jesus agrees to wine because wine gives
           you a taste of being utterly lost, of being drowned, of getting out of the ego, of forgetting the ego and
           all its worries. It gives you a taste, a glimpse of the unknown.
                But who is going to decide about who is right and who is wrong? All these things are there in the
           atmosphere, and you catch them. Out of these things you make some kind of image; it is bound to
           remain hodge-podge, it can't be clear-cut. Hence you are very much afraid of somebody criticizing
           you because he brings your hodge-podgeness to the surface. It is not his criticism that you are
           against; you are against the fact that he brings problems to the surface which you are somehow
           repressing within yourself. He makes you aware of the problems, and nobody wants to be aware of
           the problems, because problems then want to be solved, and it is a complex and arduous affair. It
           needs guts to solve problems. You may not like to solve problems in fact, because you may have
           some investment in your problems -- you MUST have, because you have lived with them for so long
           that you must have invested in them. You may not like to change your life-style. If you are miserable
           you may like to remain miserable -- whatsoever you say on the surface, that's another matter.
           Notwithstanding what you say, deep down you may still like to remain miserable.
                For example, a wife knows that the husband is loving towards her only when she is ill. Whenever
           she is healthy he simply forgets all about her, he never takes any care when she is healthy. When she
           is ill, out of sheer duty, responsibility, he comes, sits by her side, puts his hand on her head;
           otherwise he does not give her even a look. Ask husbands, "How long has it been since you have
           seen your wife's face, face-to-face?" You may be able to recognize your dog if it is lost, but if your
           wife is lost you will have to ask the neighbors because they will recognize her better -- just as you
           will recognize the neighbor's wife better. Who looks at his own wife?

               Mulla Nasruddin had gone to see a play. A man was in such great love in the play, he was acting
           so romantically that Nasruddin said to his wife, "This man is a great actor."
               The wife said, "And do you know? -- the woman he's acting with is really his wife in actual life."
               Nasruddin said, "Then he is the greatest actor in the world!"

               To show so much romance to one's own wife...it is next to impossible.
               I was traveling for twenty years in this country. I was staying in thousands of homes, and I saw it
           continuously: when the husband is not in the house, the wife seems to be very cheerful, very happy.
           The moment the husband enters the house she has a headache, and she lies down on the bed. And I
           was watching, because I was just staying in the house. Just a moment before, everything was okay --
           as if the husband has not entered but a headache has entered.
               Slowly slowly, I understood the logic. There is a great investment in it. And remember, I am not
           saying that she is simply pretending. If you pretend too long it can become a reality, it can become
           an autohypnosis. I'm not saying that she is NOT suffering from a headache, remember. She may be
           suffering: just the face of the husband is enough to trigger the process! It has happened so many
           times that now it has become an automatic process. So I am not saying that she is deceiving the
           husband; she is deceived by her own investments.
               You have a certain image and you don't want it to be changed, and criticism means again a
           disturbance.

                You surely know the story of Little Red Riding Hood:
                This little girl had gone to see her grandmother who lived in the woods. The bad wolf, who
           wanted to eat her up, took the grandma's place in the bed after having devoured her in one gulp. So
           he was under the blankets with grandma's nightie and nightcap on.
                When Little Red Riding Hood arrived, she noticed something different, and looking the
           grandmother in the eye, she asked:
           "But, granny, what big eyes you have!"
           "It is to see you better, my dear."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "But granny, what a big nose you have!"
           "It is to smell you better, my dear."
           "But granny, what big arms you have!"
           "It is to hug you better, my dear."
           "But granny, what hairy hands you have!"
           "Hey! Have you come around just to criticize?"

               There is a limit. Beyond that nobody likes to be criticized. But the other side of the story is that
           everybody likes to criticize others; that gives you a good feeling. If others are bad, vicariously it
           helps you to feel good. If everybody is a cheat, a hypocrite, dishonest, cunning, it gives you a good
           feeling: you are not THAT bad, you are not THAT dishonest. The comparison relaxes you. It helps
           you to remain dishonest, because people are more dishonest than you are. In this dishonest world
           how can you survive? You have to play the game.
               Every morning, early in the morning when you read the newspapers, it always gives you a good
           feeling -- so much happening all over the world, so many ugly things, so much violence, murder,
           suicide, rape, robbery, that compared to all this you are a saint. Hence people don't like to read the
           Bible in the morning, or the Gita, but the newspaper! Reading the Gita you feel like a sinner, reading
           the Bible you start feeling a trembling, that hell is bound to happen to you, that you are on the way.
           And the scriptures depict hell so vividly, with such color that it can make anybody afraid. And one
           thing seems to be certain: that you cannot reach heaven. It seems to be impossible, it demands
           impossibilities.
               Nobody likes to read the scriptures, nobody likes to listen to the scriptures. That's why if you go
           to the temple you will find almost everybody fast asleep. There are physicians I know who send
           people to religious discourses if they suffer from insomnia. If no tranquilizer works, don't be
           worried: go to a religious discourse. It is the ultimate in tranquilizers -- up to now nothing has been
           able to defeat it. Listening to religious scriptures one starts falling asleep. It is a protection, it is to
           avoid; otherwise, it becomes absolutely certain that heaven is not for you, you are meant for hell.
           And it stirs your heart, raises great fear, and there seems to be no way to escape from it.
               Hence, everybody likes to criticize, and not only to criticize -- everybody likes to magnify others'
           faults. You try to make others' faults as big as possible because then, in comparison, your faults are
           negligible. And God is compassionate: RAHIM, REHMAN! God is compassion! You have only
           small faults, and looking at the world where so many sinners exist....
               When the Day of Judgment comes you can be perfectly certain that your number is not going to
           be called, you will not be called. The queue will be too long, and it has to be decided within
           twenty-four hours. One Day of Judgment, and millions and millions of people -- Tamerlane and
           Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great and Adolf Hitler and Mussolini and Joseph Stalin and Mao
           Zedong...these will be the people standing in front. You will be the last in the queue. Your number is
           not going to come. You can be certain of it if you look at people with a magnifying glass.

               After running into a wild crowd at a basketball game one evening, the referee picked up his wife
           and told her it might be better if she stayed away from the remaining games to which he was
           assigned. "After all," he said, "it must have been pretty embarrassing to you when everyone stood up
           and booed me."
           "It was not so bad," she replied. "I stood up and booed too."

                Ego does not want to be criticized AND wants to criticize everybody. Become aware of the
           strategy of the ego, how it nourishes itself, how it protects itself. Unless you become absolutely
           aware of all the cunning devices of the ego, you will never be able to get rid of it. And to get rid of it
           is the beginning of a religious life, is the beginning of sannyas. Then you are no longer worried what
           others say about you.
                Just look at me.... The whole world goes on saying things about me. I don't even read them.
           Every day Laxmi brings hundreds of reports appearing in different languages from different
           countries. Who cares? If they are enjoying rumors, let them enjoy; they don't have anything else to
           enjoy in their lives. Let them have a little fun. Nothing is wrong in it, they cannot harm me. They can
           destroy my body, but they cannot harm ME. And I have no image of my own; they cannot destroy
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that either. And I don't react, I act. My action springs out of my self, it is not to be manipulated by
           others. I am a free man, freedom. I act of my own accord.
               Learn the art of acting of your own accord. Don't be worried about criticisms and don't be
           interested in praises. If you are interested in being praised by others, then you cannot be unconcerned
           about criticism. Remain aloof. Praise or criticism, it is all alike. Success or failure, it is all alike. AES
           DHAMMO SANANTANO.

           The fourth question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               ALTHOUGH I WANT TO SURRENDER MYSELF TO YOU AND TAKE SANNYAS, I FEEL
               HELPLESS TO DO SO. WHY IS IT SO? PLEASE CLARIFY THIS.


               S.D. Prasad, it is very simple, there is nothing to clarify. You are afraid of people, you are afraid
           of the society. You are afraid of the established church, the established religion, the priests, the
           politicians -- you are simply afraid. It is fear that is preventing you. Sannyas needs courage, sannyas
           needs guts, particularly my sannyas.
               The old sannyas no longer needs guts, because it is already part of the status quo. It is accepted,
           respected. If you become an old-style sannyasin people will worship you. If you become MY
           sannyasin you will be in constant danger. People will think you are mad, people will think you are
           hypnotized. People will think that something has gone wrong -- that you have gone nuts. People will
           say, "Such a good man! We had never ever thought, dreamed that this was going to happen to you."
               People will laugh, rumor about you, gossip about you, will create a thousand and one kinds of
           troubles for you. And you have to exist with people, you have to live with them. On each step they
           will create barriers and they will put rocks in your path. And not only those who are part of the
           greater society, but even those who are very close: your wife may create so much trouble for
           you...your children, your parents. From every nook and corner you will have to face difficulties.
               You are afraid. Just try to understand your fear, and then it is very easy. Once you see that it is
           fear, drop it. In spite of all fears, jump into sannyas, because to remain in fear is to become a coward,
           to remain in fear is to miss the whole joy of life. Life belongs to those who know how to risk. Life
           belongs to the adventurous, and sannyas is the greatest adventure there is. And because I am
           bringing a totally new concept of sannyas into the world -- a sannyas that is not escapist, a sannyas
           that does not believe in renunciation, a sannyas that believes in rejoicing, a sannyas that wants to live
           in the world and yet not be of it....
               The old sannyas is easy: you escape from the world, you leave the opportunities where
           temptation is possible, you escape to the Himalayan caves. Sitting there you will be a saint, because
           you don't have any other opportunity. You HAVE to be a saint. What else can you do there?
               In the world all kinds of temptations exist. To be a saint in the world is something superb,
           something extraordinary. If there is no woman in the Himalayan caves...and I don't think there is.
           Women have never been so foolish; they are more earthly, they are more intuitive, they are not
           intellectuals. They are very realistic, they don't go after words and theories and philosophies. It is
           man who becomes very much attracted by abstractions. Woman does not bother much about the
           other world, she wants a beautiful sari HERENOW! You are a fool if you are waiting for some
           beautiful woman in heaven.
               The feminine mind does not bother much about the other world. The feminine mind says, "We
           will see. If we can manage here, we will manage there too. If we can find a fool here, the same fools
           will be available there too. So why be worried about the other world?"
               But man lives in abstractions. That is the masculine mind's greatest flaw. It lives in theories. It
           becomes so much hypnotized by words that it is ready to sacrifice life itself. It is ready to go to the
           caves, to renounce this life in order to attain the other life. It lives in the past, it lives in the future.
           Woman lives more in the present. Hence, there have been no women in the Himalayan caves. You
           can go and sit there and dream all kinds of dreams, but no opportunity is there. Money is not there,
           power is not there, beauty is not there -- nothing is there! Sitting in your cave you become more and
           more dull, slowly slowly; it is a kind of gradual suicide.
               My sannyas is not dropping out of the world but getting deeper into it, getting to the very core of
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it, because God is at the very core of the world. God is the soul of the world. You cannot find him by
           escaping from the world. You can find him only by going deeper and deeper into the world. When
           you reach the very center of existence, you will find him. He is hidden in the world, the whole world
           is permeated by him. He is in the trees and in the rocks and in the birds and in the people. Yes, he is
           in your wife, in your husband and in your children. He is in you! And the best possibility to find him
           is in the world, not out of the world.
                To go out of the world has been a great attraction; that too because of fear. The escapist is a
           coward; he cannot be watchful enough to live in the world and yet be unaffected by it. He cannot be
           so watchful -- he does not have that much intelligence, he cannot make that great effort to be awake
           -- hence he escapes. He is a coward.
                So the old sannyas, S.D. Prasad, may fit you perfectly, but it is not going to help. You will
           remain a coward, and you will remain fear-oriented. On the surface it appears that the sannyasin who
           is leaving the world is very brave. It is not so. Don't be deceived by the appearances. The soldier
           who is going to war looks so brave -- don't be deceived by the appearances -- deep down he is
           trembling, he's afraid.

              Adolf Hitler was preparing his wardrobe for a second dismal winter on the frozen front in Russia.
           "Mein Fuhrer," suggested one of his suite, "remember what Napoleon did when he was in Russia. He
           wore a bright red uniform so that in case he was wounded his men would not notice the fact that he
           was bleeding."
           "Excellent idea! Excellent idea!" ruminated Adolf. "Just throw me my brown pants."

               Don't be deceived by the appearances. Even people like Adolf Hitler are tremendously afraid,
           trembling. And your so-called sannyasins who have escaped from the world have escaped out of
           fear.
               I teach you the way of fearlessness. It is simply fear and nothing else that is preventing you,
           although you will not feel very happy with my answer. You must have been expecting that I would
           say something very gratifying to your ego. Excuse me, I cannot speak any untruth. I can only speak
           the true, and if it hurts, it hurts. It is only through truth that light starts entering into your being. So if
           you feel wounded...because your name seems unfamiliar to me, you must be new. And with new
           people I am never so rude, but I see a possibility in you, hence I am so hard.
               Whenever I see a possibility in a man, I become hard. Whenever I see no possibility I remain
           very polite. If I am polite, that simply means I want to get rid of you. If I am hard, if I hammer hard
           on your head, that means I have already started respecting you.

           The fifth question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               I AM VERY GREEDY FOR MONEY. DO YOU THINK I HAVE BEEN A JEW IN MY PAST LIFE?


                Suresh, why in a past life? You are a Jew right now! Just by being born in India, just by being
           born in a Hindu family, does not make any difference. 'Jew' does not mean a race, it is a psychology,
           it is a metaphysics. The MARWARI is a Jew -- the Indian Jew. In fact, anybody who is greedy is
           Jewish -- greed is Jewish.
                Jesus is not a Jew although he was born a Jew -- he is not Jewish at all. When I use words like
           'jew', remember always that I'm not talking about races. I'm not interested in blood. The Jewish blood
           and the Christian blood and the Hindu blood are all alike. You can take a few samples -- you can get
           all kinds of samples here -- you can take a few samples to the doctor and ask him which blood is
           Jewish and which blood is Hindu and which blood is Buddhist, and he will be at a loss. He cannot
           find any way to figure it out -- blood is blood! Of course there are types in blood, but they are not
           Jewish and Hindu and Buddhist.         'Jew' is nothing but another name for greed. In that sense the
           whole world consists of Jews, except for a few exceptional people. Almost everybody is a Jew!
           Either you are a Jesus or you are a Jew -- these are the only alternatives. If you don't want to be a
           Jew then be a Jesus. And don't try to console yourself that in a past life.... Those are tricky inventions
           of the human mind: "In the past life maybe I was a Jew." You are a Jew right now. Throwing the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           responsibility on the past life keeps you intact; then you can continue as you are.

              An old Jew offers to pay a prostitute double her demanded fee if she will keep both hands on his
           head during love-making. Afterwards she asks him what special thrill he got out of this.
           "No thrill," he says, taking a large roll of bills out of his pocket, "but for two bucks extra I know
           your hands are on my head and not in my pockets!"

           Another story for you, Suresh:
               A retired Jewish businessman is nearly ruined by his sons' demands for money to pay off the
           girls whom they have seduced and made pregnant. But he pays in order to keep from seeing the
           family name disgraced.
               A few days later his daughter comes to him and confesses, "Papa, I am pregnant."
           "Thank God, business is picking up," says the old man.

           And the third story:
                A room full of Jews are discussing which business is best. Finally one bearded old man says,
           "Let us stop lying to each other. The whorehouse business is the best: they got it, they sell it, they
           still got it."
           "What are you saying?" cries another horrified old man.
           What am I saying? I'm saying: no overhead, no upkeep, no inventory -- who can beat it? And yes, it
           is all wholesale."

               Greed is Jewish, and everybody is a Jew in that sense. And remember that greed is a projection
           of fear. It is because of fear that man becomes greedy. He is so much afraid, that he wants to
           accumulate for the future. He is so afraid, that he sacrifices his today for tomorrow, and the
           tomorrow never comes. The greedy man is the most foolish man in the world. "The fool" Buddha
           calls him -- the fool par excellence, because he goes on sacrificing the present for the future which
           never comes. He accumulates money but he cannot use it; he remains poor.
               The greedy man never becomes rich. He may have the whole world at his disposal, but he
           remains poor. He cannot enjoy it, his greed won't allow that. He remains miserly. He always remains
           in such fear of the future that he cannot part from his money. He accumulates, accumulates, wastes
           his whole life and one day dies. He was a poor man his whole life -- empty-handed he had come,
           empty-handed he has gone, and his whole life went down the drain with no significance.
               Don't try to console yourself that in the past life you were a Jew. Look into your being! You
           ARE a Jew. And then there is a possibility that you will see it: "I am a Jew, I am greedy. From where
           is my greed coming?" Go deeper into greed, analyze greed and you will find fear. And when you
           find fear you have come to a very fundamental thing.
               There are only two ways to live life: one is that of fear and the other is that of love. The man who
           lives out of fear becomes greedy, becomes aggressive, becomes violent, becomes egoistic. And the
           man who lives out of love is out of necessity nongreedy, because love knows how to share. Love
           enjoys sharing, love knows no greater joy than sharing. Whatsoever love has, love shares. And love
           comes to know a great secret: that the more you share, the more love energy goes on reaching you,
           welling up from some unknown, inexhaustible source -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.
               The more you love, the more you are prayerful. The more you love, the more God gives you,
           because you are giving. Whatsoever you do to people, God goes on doing to you. If you are miserly,
           God becomes miserly towards you. If you are sharing, God is sharing. Existence is only a mirror, it
           reflects your face, it echoes your being. Live through love and you will be a Jesus.
               Jesus says: God is love. Live through fear and you are a Jew. You may be a Hindu Jew or a
           Mohammedan Jew or a Christian Jew -- it doesn't matter. Adjectives don't matter.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DON'T I UNDERSTAND YOU?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ram Gopal, understanding is a second step. The first is hearing. You don't hear me. You miss the
           first step; then the second is not possible.
                While you are listening to me, a thousand and one thoughts are roaming in your mind. They keep
           you deaf. My words never reach you intact, in their purity. They are distorted, they are colored by
           your thoughts, by your prejudices, by your already arrived at conclusions. You listen to me through
           your knowledge -- that's why you really DON'T listen. And whatsoever reaches you is something
           totally different than what was conveyed. I'm saying one thing, you go on hearing something else;
           hence the misunderstanding. That's why you don't understand me; otherwise, I am using very simple
           words.
                I'm not using any intellectual jargon, I'm using the day-to-day language. I never use big words --
           my words are simple, as simple as they can be. If you don't understand, that simply means that
           somehow you are inwardly deaf. A great clamor of words and thoughts and conclusions and theories
           and prejudices and knowledge and experience -- the Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian, the Jew
           -- they are all there inside. It is very difficult for me to find a way to you. It is almost impossible to
           reach you.
                It is not a question of understanding. Understanding will flower of its own accord if you can do
           one thing: if you can LISTEN, if you can allow me to reach you, if you can open your heart, if you
           are not deaf -- then understanding is bound to happen. Truth heard is understood, is bound to be
           understood. Understanding needs no other effort, it simply needs an opening, a vulnerability. Just
           open a window to me, just a window will do, and I can steal into you. Just a window will do. If you
           cannot open the front door, don't be worried, the back door will do. But open some door to me, let
           me come in, and then it is impossible not to understand, it is impossible to misunderstand.
                Truth has such clarity that once understood, it transforms your life. Once heard, it is understood.
           Truth has a very simple process: once heard, it is understood; once understood, it transforms your
           life. If rightly heard you never ask how to understand. If rightly understood you never ask, "Now
           what should I do to transform my life according to it?" Truth transforms, truth liberates.

           Meditate over this small anecdote:
               A man walked into a New York bar and ordered two whiskies, one for himself and one for his
           friend. The barman produced the whiskies and the man poured some whisky into a thimble which he
           placed on a perfect miniature grand piano, which he took from his briefcase. He also took from his
           briefcase a twelve-inch-high man in evening dress, who sat down in front of the piano and
           commenced playing "The Moonlight Sonata."
               The barman was incredulous and demanded to know where the little man has come from. The
           man explained, "I was just looking through a junk shop when I found an old oil lamp. I rubbed it
           with my sleeve a little in order to examine it better when there was a flash and a genie appeared
           saying he was the slave of the lamp and any wish of mine was his task to fulfill. So I told him I
           wanted a twelve-inch penis, and this is what the deaf sonofabitch gave me!"

           He heard "a pianist" and missed the whole point.
               You go on hearing what you can hear. You go on hearing things which are not said at all. And
           then you interpret them and all interpretations are misinterpretations. And whatsoever you will do
           will feel frustrating, because your misinterpretations cannot bring you to truth. Truth is a
           communion.
               Buddha says: Find a friend, find a master and be in communion with the master. What is
           communion? Communion means withdrawing all conditions, withdrawing all prejudices, becoming
           innocent with somebody who has arrived, becoming a child again in front of one who has become
           awakened. Listen like a small child: alert, full of awe, wonder, and your heart will immediately be
           penetrated. I will reach you like an arrow.
               Yes, there will be a little pain too, but very sweet...so sweet that you have never known anything
           more sweet than that. Yes, when for the first time the truth penetrates your heart like an arrow, it
           kills you -- it kills you as an ego. It is a crucifixion, but immediately there is a resurrection. On the
           one hand you die as you have been up to now, on the other hand you are born again. You become a
           twice-born, a DWIJ; you become a brahmin, you become one who knows.
               But knowing needs a great love affair between the disciple and the master. Knowing is possible
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only when the love affair is total, when the commitment is total, when the involvement is total. If
           you listen just like a spectator, you will go on missing. If you listen only out of curiosity, you will go
           on missing. If you listen with all your ideas and philosophies, you will hear something else which
           has not been said.
               It is not a question of understanding my words, it is a question of understanding my presence.
           Only the disciple is blessed.
               Ram Gopal, you are still not a disciple. You are curious. You have come to see what is
           happening. You are not yet committed. You listen to me, but you keep a distance, so that if things
           become too much you can escape easily. You remain on the periphery, you have not entered into the
           circle.
               Enter the circle -- I give you the invitation. Become my guest, let me be your host. Drink out of
           me and you will be drowned, and you will be transformed. It is a promise.
           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                     Talks given from 11/08/79 am to 21/08/79 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     10 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                   Chapter #1
                                   Chapter title: Knowledge is not knowledge
           11 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908110
              ShortTitle: DHAM301
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              THE WISE MAN TELLS YOU
              WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN
              AND WHERE YOU YET MAY FALL --
              INVALUABLE SECRETS!
              FOLLOW HIM, FOLLOW THE WAY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              LET HIM CHASTEN AND TEACH YOU
              AND KEEP YOU FROM MISCHIEF.
              THE WORLD MAY HATE HIM
              BUT GOOD MEN LOVE HIM.



              DO NOT LOOK FOR BAD COMPANY
              OR LIVE WITH MEN WHO DO NOT CARE.
              FIND FRIENDS WHO LOVE THE TRUTH.



              DRINK DEEPLY.
              LIVE IN SERENITY AND JOY.
              THE WISE MAN DELIGHTS IN THE TRUTH
              AND FOLLOWS THE LAW OF THE AWAKENED.



              THE FARMER CHANNELS WATER TO HIS LAND.
              THE FLETCHER WHITTLES HIS ARROWS.
              AND THE CARPENTER TURNS HIS WOOD.
              SO THE WISE MAN DIRECTS HIS MIND.



              THE WIND CANNOT SHAKE A MOUNTAIN.
              NEITHER PRAISE NOR BLAME MOVES THE WISE MAN.



              HE IS CLARITY.
              HEARING THE TRUTH,
              HE IS LIKE A LAKE,
              PURE AND TRANQUIL AND DEEP.


               Knowledge is not knowledge. It has the appearance of knowledge, hence it deceives many.
           Knowledge is only information. It does not transform you; you remain the same. Your accumulation
           of information goes on growing. Rather than liberating you, it burdens you, it goes on creating new
           bondages for you.
               The so-called man of knowledge is far more foolish than the so-called fool, because the fool at
           least is innocent. He is ignorant, but he has no pretensions of knowing -- that much truth is his. But
           the man of knowledge is in a far greater mess: he knows nothing but he thinks he knows. Without
           knowing, to believe that one knows is to remain forever rooted in ignorance.
               Knowledge is a way for ignorance to protect itself -- and it protects itself very cunningly, very
           efficiently, very cleverly. Knowledge is the enemy although it appears as the friend.
               This is the first step towards wisdom: to know that you don't know, to know that all knowledge is
           borrowed, to know that it has not happened to you, it has come from others, that it is not your own
           insight, your own realization. The moment knowledge is your own realization, it is wisdom.
               Wisdom means that you are not a parrot, that you are a man, that you are not repeating others but
           expressing yourself, that you are not a carbon copy, that you have an original face of your own.
               Knowledge makes you a carbon copy, and to be a carbon copy is the ugliest thing in the world.
           That is the greatest calamity that can happen to a man -- because knowing not and yet believing that
           you know, you will remain always ignorant and in darkness. And whatsoever you do is going to be
           wrong. You may be able to convince even others that you know, you may be able to strengthen your
           ego, you may become very famous, you may be known as a great scholar, a pundit, but deep down
           there is nothing but darkness. Deep down you have not yet encountered yourself, you have not yet
           entered in the temple of your being.
               The ignorant is in a far better situation. At least he has no pretensions, at least he is not deceiving
           others and himself. And ignorance has a beauty -- the beauty of simplicity, the beauty of
           uncomplicatedness. To know that "I don't know" immediately brings a great relief. To know, to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           experience, one's utter ignorance fills one with great wonder -- the existence is transformed into a
           mystery.
                And that's what God is all about. To know the universe as a miracle, as a mystery, as something
           unbelievable, as something impenetrable -- as something before which you can only bow down in
           deep gratitude, you can only surrender in awe -- is the beginning of wisdom.
                Socrates is right when he says: I know only one thing -- that I don't know at all.
                To be wise is not to be knowledgeable. To be wise means to realize something of your
           consciousness -- first within and then without; to feel the pulsation of life within you and then
           without. To experience this mysterious consciousness that you are, first one has to experience it in
           the innermost core of one's being, because that is the closest door to God.
                Once you have known it within, it is not difficult to know it without. But remember: the wise
           man never accumulates knowledge -- his wisdom is spontaneous. Knowledge always belongs to the
           past, wisdom belongs to the present. Remember these distinctions. Unless you understand the
           difference very clearly between knowledge and wisdom, you will not be able to understand these
           sutras of Gautama the Buddha. And they are tremendously important.
                Knowledge comes from the past, from others, from scriptures. And Buddha has said: My
           transmission of truth is beyond the scriptures. What I am saying, what I am imparting, what I am
           communing, is not written anywhere, has not been spoken anywhere -- in fact, cannot be spoken at
           all, cannot be written at all. It is transferred in deep silence between the master and the disciple: it is
           a love affair. Wisdom is contagious. It is not taught, remember; you can receive it but it cannot be
           given to you. You can be open and vulnerable to it, you can be in a state of constant welcoming, and
           that's how a disciple sits by the side of the master -- ready to drink, ready to allow the master to
           penetrate his very heart. In the beginning it is painful, because the master's consciousness penetrates
           you like a sharp arrow -- only then it can reach to your very core. It hurts.
                Knowledge satisfies the ego; wisdom destroys the ego completely; hence people seek
           knowledge. It is very rare to find a seeker who is not interested in knowledge but is interested in,
           committed to, wisdom. Knowledge means theories about truth; wisdom means truth itself.
           Knowledge means secondhand; wisdom means firsthand. Knowledge means belief: others say and
           you believe. And all beliefs are false! No belief is ever true. Even if you believe in the word of a
           buddha, the moment you believe it is turned into a lie.
                Truth cannot be believed; either you know or you don't know. If you know, there is no question
           of belief; if you don't know, there is again no question of belief. If you know, you know; if you don't
           know, you don't know. Belief is a projection of the tricky mind -- it gives you the feeling of
           knowing, without knowing. The Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian, the Jew, the Jaina, the
           Buddhist -- they all believe.
                To believe is cheap, it is very easy -- nothing is at stake. You can easily believe in God, you can
           easily believe in immortality of the soul, you can easily believe in the theory of reincarnation. In
           fact, they remain just superficial; deep down you are not affected by them, not at all. When death
           will knock at your door you will know your beliefs have all disappeared. The belief in the
           immortality of the soul will not help you when death will knock at your door -- you will cry and
           weep and you will cling to life. When death comes you will forget all about God; when death comes
           you will not be able to remember the theory -- and the complicated implications of it -- about
           reincarnation. When death knocks you, it knocks down all the structure of knowledge that you had
           built around yourself -- it leaves you absolutely empty... and with the awareness that the whole life
           has been a wastage.
                Wisdom is a totally different phenomenon: it is experience, not belief. It is existential experience,
           it is not "about." You don't believe in God -- you know. You don't believe in the immortality of the
           soul -- you have tasted it. You don't believe in reincarnation -- you remember it; you remember that
           you have been here many times. And if this has been so in the past, this is going to be so in the
           future. You remember you have been in many bodies: you have been a rock, you have been a tree,
           you have been animals, birds, you have been man, woman... you have lived in so many forms. You
           see the forms changing but the inner consciousness remaining the same; so you see only the
           superficial changes but the essential is eternal.
                This is seeing, not believing. And all the real masters are interested to help you to see, not to
           believe. To believe, you become a Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan. Belief is the profession of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           priest.
               The master first has to destroy all your belief -- theist, atheist, Catholic, communist. The master
           has to dismantle all your structure of belief so that you are left again as a small child -- innocent,
           open, ready to inquire, ready to plunge into the adventure of truth.
               Wisdom arises within you, it is not a scripture. You start reading your own consciousness -- and
           THERE are hidden all the Bibles and all the Gitas and all the Dhammapadas.

                A great scholar once bought a parrot. When he got it home he told it, "I am going to teach you to
           talk."
           "Don't bother," answered the bird. "I can talk already."
                He was so amazed that he took it to the university. "Look! I have got a fantastic talking parrot
           here...." But the parrot would not talk, even though the scholar kept insisting that it could.
                People bet him ten-to-one that it could not, and he lost the bet. Nothing would induce the parrot
           to speak. On the way home, followed by the jeers of his friends, the man cuffed the parrot and said,
           "You fool -- look at the amount of money you lost me!"
           "It is you who are the fool," said the parrot. "Take me back to that university tomorrow and you will
           get one hundred-to-one and win!"

               Yes, parrots are far more intelligent than your professors. Parrots have more insight than your
           pundits, scholars, academicians. If you want to know the real fools you will have to visit a university
           -- all kinds of pretenders, full of gibberish. Not knowing what they are really doing, but they go on
           doing things. Not knowing what they are teaching, but they are teachers; they go on writing great
           treatises.

               Mulla Nasruddin had a nameplate on his home. Everybody wondered about his degrees that he
           had put on the nameplate. On the nameplate he had written: Mulla Nasruddin, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
           Everybody was intrigued! Finally the neighborhood people gathered and they said, "Nasruddin, as
           far as we know you have never been to any university. What to say about any university? -- you have
           never been to any school. In fact, you cannot read and you cannot write! From where have you got
           these degrees?"
               He said, "Do you know what these degrees mean? B.S. is a short form."
           "Short form of what?" they asked.
               He said, "Think it over...!" Then they understood. "B.S. is a short form of something which is
           unmentionable," he said. "And M.S. means 'more of the same.' And Ph.D. means...."

               Think over it, meditate over it. Can you infer what Ph.D. means? You remember B.S., its
           meaning, you remember M.S., more of the same, and then what about Ph.D.? I leave it to you! If you
           meditate you will find, and that will make you a little wise. If you cannot find it, tomorrow you can
           ask in the questions!

               Following more than fifty years of atheism, scientists in Russia began to be curious about what
           religion might be. A group of them took a book of holy quotations and decided to have it decoded by
           an analogical computer. They opened the book and took the first phrase they saw, typing it out onto
           the keyboard. The phrase was: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." They crowded around
           the printout as the words began to appear.
               As they read the message their astonishment increased: "The vodka is ready, but the meat is
           devitalized."
           "No wonder religions used to mystify people," they muttered to one another.
               Then one of them had an idea. He tapped out the book's title, UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES, onto
           the decoder. Out came the translation: "Neglected puddings."
           "You see!" he shouted. "You have got the wrong book -- this is one about the abuses of cookery."

              They are still seeking an authentic religious text. The mind of the knowledgeable man is like a
           computer. He goes on interpreting things not knowing exactly what he is doing; he is not conscious
           enough to do it.... But I cannot continue further because I see you are all thinking about Ph.D.! Ph.D.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means "piled high and deep" -- now be finished with it so we can go further on....

           The Buddha says:

              THE WISE MAN TELLS YOU
              WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN
              AND WHERE YOU YET MAY FALL --
              INVALUABLE SECRETS!
              FOLLOW HIM, FOLLOW THE WAY.


                THE WISE MAN TELLS YOU WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN.... The first lesson in a mystery
           school is the original fall of man. It has nothing to do with Adam and Eve and their original fall.
           That story is simply a condensed parable about the whole humanity. Each child falls in the same
           way. It is not something that happened in the past, in the old biblical days; it is not something that
           happened in the Garden of Eden. That is a poetic expression. It happens whenever a child is born. It
           happens again and again. It is happening every day.
                The parable is that God has prohibited Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. It is one
           of the most beautiful parables ever invented by the masters, by the real knowers -- not to eat from the
           tree of knowledge. And what are your universities? -- trees of knowledge. And what is your
           education? -- a tree of knowledge.
                God had prohibited them to eat from it, so that you can remain innocent, because only the
           innocent heart can know. The moment you become full of knowledge, knowing stops. In fact, you
           have found a substitute for knowing -- your knowledge becomes the substitute. Then there is no need
           to know! You go on clinging to the knowledge and it goes on giving satisfaction to your ego.
                But the moment Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, they fell -- they fell from their
           original innocence, they fell from their childlike life. Before that there was poetry in their life, before
           that there was beauty in their life, before that there was ecstasy in their life -- before that there was
           wonder and awe. Before that each and everything was extraordinary, because the whole existence
           was full of mystery; they were surrounded by a mysterious universe. The rainbow and the sun and
           the moon and the stars... it was all unbelievable. They were in constant surprise.
                The moment they became knowledgeable all that wonder disappeared. Knowledge kills wonder,
           and in killing wonder it destroys your spirit of knowing, inquiry. Knowledge demystifies the
           universe -- and a universe demystified is a universe without God. A universe demystified is a
           universe without poetry, without love, without music. Then the sound of the raindrops does not come
           to your heart as a message from the other shore. Then the wind passing through the pine trees leaves
           you unmoved, and the fragrance of the flowers does not create poetry in you. The colors of a
           butterfly are ignored. A rainbow remains unseen. You become too much attached to very mundane
           things: money, power, prestige. You become ugly because your whole existence becomes ordinary;
           it loses sacredness, it becomes profane. You transform the temple of God into a marketplace.
                That is the original fall -- but it happens every day, remember. Don't believe the Christians who
           say that it happened only once -- it happens with each child. The moment you start the child on the
           journey of becoming knowledgeable, you are helping him again towards the original fall.
                The function of a wise man is to tell you where you have fallen. You have fallen because of
           knowledge; that is the original fall. You can rise back to those clear, innocent moments; you can
           enter into paradise again -- but you will have to renounce knowledge.
                There are people who renounce the world but they don't renounce their knowledge; there are
           people who go to the mountains, who renounce the marketplace, but they carry the mind with
           themselves -- and the mind is the marketplace. The marketplace exists in the mind! It exists nowhere
           else. They may move to the Himalayas, they may sit in beautiful silent caves, but their mind goes on
           and on in the same old pattern.
                A man who has gone to the caves in the Himalayas still remains a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu.
           Now, to be a Hindu is to remain attached to a certain knowledge that has been given to you -- that is
           one of the ways of falling. To be a Mohammedan is another way of falling, to be a Christian still
           another way of falling.
                Christianity is a certain kind of knowledge, so is Hinduism, and so are the three hundred other
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religions of the earth. They all claim to know, they all claim their scriptures are divine, written by
           God himself -- and only their scriptures are divine and all other scriptures are false.
                Buddha says scriptures AS SUCH are false, knowledge AS SUCH is false. Jesus is right, but
           Christianity is not right. Mahavira is right, but Jainism is not right. With Mahavira there is knowing;
           Jainism is knowledge. Knowledge is the fall of knowing. Knowing is individual: knowledge is a
           commodity, a social phenomenon -- you can sell and purchase it, it is available in the libraries, in the
           universities. Soon you will be able to carry small pocket computers with you; you will not need to go
           through all the tortures of the schools and colleges and universities. You can have a small computer
           full of all the knowledge available in the world. A small computer can contain all the libraries of the
           world and is always at your service: just push a button and whatsoever you want to know the
           computer will tell you.
                That's what your mind has been doing in the past; now machines can do it in a far better way.
           Your mind is also nothing but a machine, it is a biocomputer. Remember, it is not your soul;
           remember, it is not your consciousness; remember, it is not your reality, your authentic individuality.
           It is a social by-product.
                If you are born in a Hindu family you attain to Hindu knowledge, and it is certainly different
           from Christian knowledge. If you are born in Russia you will have communist knowledge -- DAS
           KAPITAL and the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, Marx, Engels, Lenin: the unholy trinity. If you are
           born in China you will have the red book of Mao Zedong -- that's the Bible. Now the whole of China
           is being fed with stupid statements of Mao Zedong. He is not a wise man, he is not enlightened. He
           has not even known himself -- what revolution does he know? what rebellion does he know? --
           because even the first rebellion, the basic rebellion, has not happened.
                The basic rebellion, the basic revolution, consists in dropping knowledge so that you can again
           enter into the Garden of Eden.
                THE WISE MAN TELLS YOU WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN AND WHERE YOU YET
           MAY FALL.... Not only does he tell you about the past, where you have been falling again and
           again, he makes you aware of the future also. There are many pitfalls, you can go astray any time.
                For example, I am telling you that all knowledge is stupid, that you need not cling to the Bible or
           to the Vedas or to the Koran. You love me, you trust me -- you may drop your clinging to the Koran,
           to the Bible, to the Gita, but you can start clinging to MY statements, you can start making a Bible
           out of my ideas. You are back in the same trap; you are back, from the back door. Again you are the
           same person. Now you don't have the Bible but now you have me.
              THE WISE MAN TELLS YOU... WHERE YOU YET MAY FALL.

               The last statement of Gautama the Buddha to his disciples was: Be a light unto yourself. They
           were crying and weeping, naturally -- the master was leaving and they had lived with the master for
           almost forty years; a few older disciples had lived with him the whole time. These forty years were
           of tremendous joy, of great experiences. These forty years had been the most beautiful time possible,
           humanly possible. These forty years had been days of paradise on earth. And now the master is
           leaving! It was natural, they started crying and weeping.
               Buddha opened his eyes and said, "Stop crying and weeping! Have you not listened to me yet?
           Why are you crying?"
               His chief disciple, Ananda, said, "Because you are leaving, because our light is leaving. We see,
           we feel darkness descending upon us. I have not yet become enlightened and you are leaving. If I
           could not become enlightened while you were alive, what is the hope for me now when you will be
           gone? I am in great despair, my anguish is incalculable, I have wasted these forty years. I have been
           following you like a shadow, it was tremendously beautiful to be with you, but now you are leaving.
           What is going to happen to us?"
               Buddha said, "You are crying because you have not heard me yet. I have been telling you again
           and again: Don't believe in me -- but you have not listened. Because you have believed in me, and
           now I am dying, your whole structure is falling apart. Had you listened to me, had you created a light
           into your being rather than becoming knowledgeable through me, if you had experienced your own
           self there would have been no need to cry.
           "Look at Manjushree!" he said -- Manjushree was another disciple of Buddha, one of the greatest. He
           was sitting under a tree just close by, with closed eyes, so serene, so quiet, so utterly blissful, that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha said, "Look at Manjushree! Go and ask him why he is not crying."
               They asked Manjushree. He laughed and said, "What reason is there to cry? Buddha has helped
           me to know my own light. I am thankful, I am grateful, but there is no darkness descending. And
           how can Buddha die? I know I cannot die -- how can Buddha die? He will be here. Just as a river
           disappears in the ocean he will disappear into the cosmos. But he will be here! He will be spread all
           over the cosmos. It is going to be something tremendously beautiful. Buddha was confined to a small
           body; now his fragrance will be released, he will permeate the whole of existence. I am
           tremendously happy that now Buddha will be spread all over space. I will be able to see him rising in
           the sun and I will be able to see him flying in a bird and I will be able to see him in the waves of the
           ocean... and I will be able to see him everywhere.
           "He is simply leaving his body. It was a confinement. And how do I know it? I know it because I
           have known my own soul. I listened to him and you have not listened to him -- that's why you are
           crying."
               Buddha said, "Let me repeat again: APPA DIPO BHAVA -- be a light unto yourself." Then he
           closed his eyes and disappeared into the cosmos. But his last statement was also his first statement.
           In fact that was his whole message -- the whole of his life he was repeating the same message again
           and again and again.
              THE WISE MAN TELLS YOU WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN AND WHERE YOU YET MAY FALL --
              INVALUABLE SECRETS! FOLLOW HIM, FOLLOW THE WAY.


              When Buddha says, "Follow me," he does not mean imitate him. When he says, "Follow me," he
           does not say let him be a model to you; make your life according to his life -- no, not at all.
           "Following" him has a totally different meaning.

           There is a Zen story:
                A Zen mystic was celebrating a certain festival which is celebrated only on your master's
           birthday. But people were puzzled. They asked him, "As far as we know you have never had any
           master. We have also heard rumors that you had approached a great master, Bokuju, many times, but
           he always refused to accept you as a disciple. Not only that, he used to chase you out of his hut. We
           have also heard that because of your continuous persistence, he had beaten you a few times, and
           once he had thrown you, physically, out of the window of his hut. He never accepted you, he never
           initiated you -- why are you celebrating this day? This is to be celebrated only on your master's
           birthday."
                And the mystic said, "Yet, he was my master. His refusal, his throwing me out, his constant
           rejection, was his initiation. He was saying, 'Be a light unto yourself -- there is no need to follow
           me.' Because of his continuous refusal I became enlightened sitting under a tree. There was nobody
           to cling to.
           "The only beautiful man that I have known was Bokuju. If he had allowed, I would have become a
           shadow to him. If he had allowed, I would have become another Bokuju. I have loved the man, I
           would have imitated him in detail: I would have eaten the same things, I would have walked the
           same way, I would have said the same things... I would have been a carbon copy of him.
           "But he was great, he was my master -- he refused. He knew where the pitfall is. The moment he
           looked into my eyes he knew my future, that if he allows I am going to be a pseudo phenomenon, I
           will never be an authentic individual. Knowing this he was very hard on me. But now I know his
           hardness was because of his compassion. It is because of him that I became enlightened. Hence I am
           celebrating this day -- it is my master's birthday."
                Somebody asked him, "But your life-style does not show any indication of Bokuju. Your
           statements are utterly different -- not only different but sometimes contradictory to his statements.
           How can you say that he was your master and you are his follower?"
                And the mystic said, "Yes, I say he was my master although he never initiated me formally. But
           formal initiation is immaterial, irrelevant. And I still say that I am his follower, though I cannot
           prove it by any documents -- but there is no need to prove to anybody. I know, that's all. I am his
           follower!"
           The people insisted, "How can you say that?"
                And the mystic said, "He never followed his master; I never follow him. That was his basic
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           characteristic: he never followed his master. And I never follow him -- that's how I follow him. I am
           a follower and he was my master."

               INVALUABLE SECRETS! Yes, these are invaluable secrets. The life of a real seeker is not an
           ordinary life. It cannot be confined to a certain pattern, it cannot be confined to a certain style of life
           -- Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan. The life of a real seeker is the life of freedom.
               And when Buddha says: FOLLOW HIM, FOLLOW THE WAY... he does not mean to become a
           carbon copy, he simply means: try to understand his life. Watch, analyze, meditate, and then let your
           meditation, your watchfulness, your witnessing, become the way.
               And following the wise man is really not following the wise man himself, but the way -- the way
           that has made him wise.
           What is that way that makes one wise?
               Two things... first the negative: drop knowledge. And second the positive: enter into meditation.

                A whole band of saints was being admitted to heaven, and the doors swung open just enough to
           let each one in.
                As soon as one was in, without any ceremony the doors closed and then opened for the next who
           went in without any hesitation, as if he was quite expecting to be admitted.
                Right at the end came a scholar with a reverend beard and majestic gait, large turban and
           confident look. As he stepped forward, the gates swung open and trumpets sounded while
           tremendous applause broke out from an assembled multitude. A shining figure came forward to
           escort him within.
           "This is most gratifying," said the scholar to himself, "to know that the learned no longer will have to
           give themselves airs and graces. Here, at least, our importance is recognized."
           To the apparition he said, "Why all this ceremony?"
           "Well," said the angel, "it is something of an occasion -- you see, this is the first time that we have
           had an academic among us."

               It is almost impossible for the knowledgeable to enter into heaven. It must have been an
           occasion! Hence saints were not received with great ceremony, but the academician, the scholar, the
           pundit, was received with great ceremony. It was so rare.
               It is very rare, in fact it is impossible.... This story must be an invention. Scholars are not known
           to enter into heaven; to be a scholar is to be in the original fall. And to follow a life pattern from the
           scriptures is bound to be erroneous, because who is going to interpret? Your stupid mind will go on
           interpreting, and you will follow your own interpretation. You will be going in circles, you will
           remain the same.

                A man was limping as he walked down a street, and wincing with pain.
                A doctor stopped him and said, "If I were you I would get yourself seen to -- you need your
           appendix out."
                So he had his appendix out. Presently he went to another doctor claiming that he still had the
           same trouble, so he was put on a course of tranquilizers. This did not help and he went to a hospital
           where they prescribed him a diet and remedial exercises.
                Some weeks later he had to go to another surgeon because those medicines were not helping at
           all. The surgeon said, "Your tonsils have to be removed..." so the tonsils were removed. And this
           way he went on going from one doctor to another, from one surgeon to another, and parts of the
           body were slowly slowly disappearing. But the problem remained the same!
                Then one day he was strolling in the marketplace and one of the doctors saw him. He said, "Glad
           to see you -- you look better! You look perfect!" said the physician. "How did it happen? Who
           helped you finally? -- because we had all failed. Was it my service that helped you?"
           "Service my eye!" said the patient. "Both the pain and the limp went away the moment I took that
           nail out of my shoe!"

              Sometimes things are very small, but if you go to knowledgeable people they look with
           magnifying glasses; they magnify everything. They are clever and efficient in creating problems,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because they know the solutions. Their solutions are useful only if they create problems.
               Go to any expert, and immediately he will tell you so many problems that you were never aware
           of. He has to, because his whole expertise depends on your having many problems, and the more
           complicated they are, the more happy he is because now he has an opportunity to show his
           knowledge, his skill.
               The real problem may be very small. The real problem is REALLY small! The problem is that
           you live in the head. Come down from the head to the heart. The head can become knowledgeable,
           the heart can never become knowledgeable. The heart can become wise. The heart knows in a totally
           different way. Its knowing is direct, immediate -- it is not logical, it is intuitive. It is not inference, it
           is not a conclusion after a long argumentation. It is a simple vision! One simply knows....
               The heart is not a process of knowing: it is the opening of an eye.

               LET HIM CHASTEN AND TEACH YOU
               AND KEEP YOU FROM MISCHIEF.


                The mind is mischievous. It goes on befooling you; it plays so many mischiefs upon you that you
           are not aware of. The first mischief is: the wise man shares his wisdom and you immediately jump
           upon it and reduce it into knowledge. The second mischief is: the wise man helps you to be yourself
           and you start hard work in imitating the wise man -- you try to be like him.
                The wise man wants you only to have insight into things so that you have your own light. But
           you don't want insight, you want clear-cut instructions. You don't want to see yourself, you want to
           be guided. You don't want to accept your responsibility towards yourself; you want to throw the
           whole responsibility on the shoulders of the master, on the shoulders of the wise man. Then you feel
           at ease. Now he is responsible; if something goes wrong, he is responsible. And everything is going
           to be wrong, because unless you take your responsibility nothing is ever going to be right.
           Nobody can put you right except you yourself.
                The master simply teaches you to be a master of yourself -- that is the true function of a master.
           He does not want you to depend on him. But the mind goes on playing these mischiefs. The mind
           wants you to depend. The mind is always in search of a father figure or a mother figure; you want
           somebody to hold your hand. You want somebody to guide, to lead.
                The master can only indicate. He is a finger pointing to the moon. But the mind plays a mischief:
           it clings to the finger -- you may even start sucking the finger.
                A Zen master, Nan Yin, used to say to his disciples, "Please don't bite my finger -- look at the
           moon!"
                But people are childish. Just like small children suck on their thumbs and believe that they are
           getting nourishment, grown-up children suck on the fingers of the masters and think they are being
           nourished. Beware of the mischief of the mind!
                And the mind always tells you, "This is simple, to believe in the master. You need not work hard
           -- what is the point of working hard? Just look: Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity,
           now nobody else needs to discover it again and again. Once he has discovered you can read it in the
           books. It took years for him; for you it may take only hours to understand it. Why bother to discover
           it again?"
                That is true about outer knowledge, that is true about the outside, objective world; but it is not
           true abut the subjective, inner world. There one has to discover again and again. Buddha discovered,
           but that discovery is of no use to you. Jesus knew, but that cannot become your knowing.
           Mohammed understands, but there is no way to transfer it to you. These people can only indicate
           how they have attained; they can share their whole journey with you. But then you have to move on
           your own.
                The mind is always for the shortcut; and the mind is always for the easier, for the cheaper way.
           And those are the things which drive you again and again into wrong paths. Beware! Mind always
           gives you sugarcoated poison. But it tastes sweet only in the beginning; in the end it is going to
           poison you. Wisdom may not taste so sweet in the beginning -- it in fact never tastes so sweet, it is
           bitter -- but it purifies you. Knowledge is sweet in the beginning, wisdom is sweet in the end. And
           whatsoever proves sweet in the end is the true thing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The story is told about a man who died and was met by an angel who said to him, "During your
           life you were always of a mind to believe that things over here could not really be as bad as you
           thought. Would you like to see heaven and hell and choose your own destination, just as you have
           always chosen in your earthly life?"
                Of course he agreed, and the angel opened a door marked "Hell." Inside there were revelers and
           people dancing and drumming; a constant debauch seemed to be going on, men and women
           cavorting, demons and spirits prancing about. It all seemed very active and interesting.
                Then the angel threw open the door marked "Heaven." Inside it were rows of saintly people
           sitting and lying around in a state of aseptic bliss. But it all seemed rather cold, dull and dead.
           "I will take the first one," said the man, because he did not want to spend all eternity doing nothing.
                They went back to the first door and the angel opened it. He found himself pitchforked into a
           cavern full of flames and grime, soot and fumes, with demons lashing the inmates and a constant roar
           of thunder. Painfully and breathlessly he struggled to his feet and stopped a passing devil: "I was
           taken on a tour and opted for hell, but it was not anything like this!"
                The demon grinned: "Oh, but you were only visiting at the time. That was simply for the
           tourists!"

              The mind can allure you, it can give you sweet dreams in the beginning -- but only in the
           beginning. Once you are trapped, once you are in it, once you have chosen, you will suffer. That's
           how millions of people are suffering.
              Buddha says: LET HIM CHASTEN AND TEACH YOU AND KEEP YOU FROM MISCHIEF.

              THE WORLD MAY HATE HIM
              BUT GOOD MEN LOVE HIM.


               And remember: a wise man is always hated by the world, is bound to be hated by the world. His
           presence is a disturbance to those who are fast asleep and snoring, because he goes on shouting
           "Wake up!" He goes on telling you that whatsoever you are doing is all illusory. He goes on shaking
           you, shocking you into awareness, and you may be dreaming sweet dreams, beautiful dreams. He
           goes on pulling you out of your dreams and your sleep, and your sleep may be comfortable, safe,
           secure. And he does not allow you rest; he gives you great work to do upon yourself.
               The ordinary humanity has always hated a wise man -- he may be a Buddha or a Socrates or a
           Zarathustra or a Lao Tzu, it doesn't matter who, but down the ages the wise man has been hated by
           the ordinary people, by the masses, by the crowds. The wise man has been loved only by a few
           seekers of truth, a few lovers of truth, a few good men. Remember it!

              DO NOT LOOK FOR BAD COMPANY
              OR LIVE WITH MEN WHO DO NOT CARE.
              FIND FRIENDS WHO LOVE THE TRUTH.


               That is the meaning of a spiritual commune: FIND FRIENDS WHO LOVE THE TRUTH --
           because alone you may not be able to gather that much courage to go into the uncharted sea. But
           when you see many are going, a great courage may arise in your heart. It is there, lying dormant; it
           may become active. Hence a commune is needed -- Buddha created a SANGHA, a commune --
           where seekers can gather together, where lovers of truth can hold hands with each other, where
           meditators can share their experiences with each other, where people can feel that they are not alone,
           where they can create an alternative society.
               And that's exactly what I am trying to do here: create an alternative society -- the society of the
           friends of truth, the society of the seekers, the society of people who can feel a deep communion
           with each other, of love, of trust, because this is going to be an arduous journey and a long journey,
           and you will have to pass through many deserts and many mountains and many oceans.
               Alone you may not be able to gather that much courage, alone you may feel hopeless. But when
           you see many people dancing, singing, rejoicing in their journey, great courage arises in your heart,
           great trust arises in yourself. You become confident that it is possible in this life to be a buddha.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               DO NOT LOOK FOR BAD COMPANY.... What is "bad company"? People who are not
           interested in truth. ... OR LIVE WITH MEN WHO DO NOT CARE. And avoid people who are
           indifferent to truth, because they are going to waste their life. To be with them you will have to be
           like them. To be with them you will have to behave in their ways. Find people who are in a love
           affair with existence. That will help your search tremendously; you will be immensely benefited.
               DRINK DEEPLY.... And when you have found a wise man, a master, a buddha, when you have
           found a community of seekers of truth, a sangha, then drink deeply, then don't be miserly, then don't
           hold back. You have been thirsty for lives and lives. When the time arrives, don't allow your old
           habit patterns to prevent you -- drink deeply, unhesitatingly, courageously. Go ahead!

               DRINK DEEPLY.
               LIVE IN SERENITY AND JOY.


                To be with a master is really to be a drunkard. A master is sharing his wine! A master is sharing
           some inner juice that has started flowing in his being. The source is inexhaustible; you can drink as
           much as you want -- you cannot exhaust it. To be with a master is to learn how to drink him, how to
           eat him, how to digest him. To be a disciple is really to be a cannibal! The master has to be eaten,
           drunk, digested, so he starts flowing in your blood, in your bones, in your marrow... so that he
           becomes part of your being. DRINK DEEPLY. LIVE IN SERENITY AND JOY.
                And when you are around a master, don't be sad and don't be serious. That is not the way to
           commune with a master. You are bridged only by rejoicing. Of course, your joy has to be very
           serene, calm, cool. Real joy is not feverish, it is cool, it is very silent. It sings a song, but the song is
           that of silence. It does not shout, it whispers.
                LIVE IN SERENITY AND JOY -- because the more serene you are, the more you are available
           to the master. And the more joyous you are, the more you are close to the master. These are the ways
           of being closer.
                Many sannyasins ask me, "How to be close to you, Beloved Master?" Be serene, be joyous... and
           you are close! Be sad, be serious, and you are far, far away. Physically you may be close, but if you
           are sad you are not close. Physically you may be thousands of miles away, but if you are in joy,
           rejoicing that you have a master, rejoicing that you have found a buddha, rejoicing that the earth is
           not yet abandoned by God, that he goes on sending his messengers, rejoicing that Christ still walks
           on the earth, that Mohammed is not dead but is born in another form, rejoicing that consciousness
           still blooms and becomes a lotus like a buddha... and you have found a lotus!
                You are fortunate, you are blessed. Rejoicing in it brings you closer and closer to the master. It is
           a spiritual closeness; it has nothing to do with physical closeness.

               THE WISE MAN DELIGHTS IN THE TRUTH
               AND FOLLOWS THE LAW OF THE AWAKENED.


               And if you live joyously, in deep serenity, if you drink without holding yourself in any way back,
           if you go wholeheartedly with the master, you start becoming wise.
               THE WISE MAN DELIGHTS IN THE TRUTH.... Then whenever you hear truth, whenever you
           see truth, you delight. Your delight is immense. Your delight is not of this earth, it is something of
           the beyond.
               ... AND FOLLOWS THE LAW OF THE AWAKENED. And slowly slowly you become aware
           of the law of the awakened. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO! The world is not a chaos, it is a
           cosmos. The universe is not accidental; there runs through and through in it a certain law. Buddha
           calls that law dhamma -- he calls that law God. His approach is tremendously scientific. He does not
           preach any God who sits on a golden throne in the sky and dominates and controls the world, and
           gets jealous and gets angry -- if you don't follow him he throws you into hell; if you follow him, if
           you praise him, if you bribe him through prayers and priests, then he rewards you in heaven with
           beautiful women who never age, who are stuck at the age of sixteen. Buddha does not believe in any
           God who rewards or punishes. His approach is scientific.
               He says God means the ultimate law that keeps the whole universe together. The universe is a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           garland -- you see the flowers but you don't see the thread running through the flowers; it is hidden.
           That thread is God, and that God is known only by the awakened, by the buddhas.
                Drink deeply from the master, absorb his being, absorb his presence... melt into his presence. Let
           his warmth and compassion help to melt the ice of your ego. Become one with him. Drop duality. Be
           bridged.
                This is the meaning of disciplehood, this is what sannyas is all about, and slowly slowly you will
           start seeing what is true and what is false. To know the false as false is to know the truth as the truth;
           to know darkness as darkness is the beginning of knowing light as light. And when love for truth
           arises in you, it is not far away when you will become enlightened in your own light, when you will
           be awakened.
                Before that happens, follow the law of the awakened, be in tune with the awakened, be in
           harmony with the awakened -- because it is a synchronicity.
                Listening to beautiful music you feel like dancing. It is not caused by music, because all those
           who are hearing the music may not feel like that; so it is not the law of cause and effect, it is a totally
           different law. Carl Gustav Jung has called it the law of synchronicity; he has given it a beautiful
           name. It has been known down the ages, but he is the first who has rediscovered it in the West.
                In the East we have called it SATSANG: to be in tune with the master, to be so attuned that his
           being starts sinking in you, that you start overlapping. Then something starts happening in you which
           has never happened. The master is not doing it, you are not doing it -- there is nobody who is doing it
           -- it is simply happening. Just like listening to music you feel like dancing; being in tune with the
           master you feel an awakening happening to you.

              THE FARMER CHANNELS WATER TO HIS LAND.
              THE FLETCHER WHITTLES HIS ARROWS.
              AND THE CARPENTER TURNS HIS WOOD.
              SO THE WISE MAN DIRECTS HIS MIND.


               Once some fragments of wisdom have happened to you, direct your mind towards the awakened.
           The disciple is continuously directing his mind towards his master -- even after the disciple becomes
           enlightened he continues to direct his mind.

                Sariputta became enlightened -- he was one of the great disciples of Buddha. When he became
           enlightened he was very afraid to go in front of Buddha. Why? -- because he knew now Buddha will
           tell him to go and spread the word; he will have to leave the master.
                It is said that for many days he was hiding from the master, but finally Buddha inquired, "Where
           is Sariputta? -- because he has become enlightened, and you cannot hide a light. Bring him, fetch
           him wherever he is!"
                He was hiding in a cave. He was brought forcibly. He said, "I don't want to go. I know what he is
           going to do to me. He will say, 'Now you go, roam, wander, preach. Now you have become
           awakened, wake up others!' And I don't want to leave the master. How will I live without his
           constant presence?"
                But he had to leave. When he came to Buddha, Buddha said, "Now go to the east and spread the
           word. You have attained, now share it." And when the master orders, it has to be followed.
                With tears in his eyes he touched the master's feet, went towards the east. But every morning the
           first thing he would do, he would get up, bow down towards the west where the master was
           dwelling.
                People would ask him, "Sariputta, you are now yourself a buddha in your own right -- what are
           you doing? Why do you go on bowing down every morning towards the west?"
                He said, "It doesn't matter whether I am enlightened or not. It is irrelevant, it is not the point. My
           master is dwelling in the west; although I am far away, I am still nourished by his presence. I can
           drop my enlightenment but I cannot drop my master. Enlightenment is nothing compared to the
           attunement with the master."

              ... THE WISE MAN DIRECTS HIS MIND -- to truth, to the ultimate law of existence, to the
           awakened people. And when you direct your mind towards the awakened people, or towards the law
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of existence, slowly slowly the old mad mind starts settling, the old chattering disappears. You
           become more and more silent and serene and tranquil. You become a silent lake, all waves gone, not
           even ripples to be found. Only then is truth reflected in you.

              THE WIND CANNOT SHAKE A MOUNTAIN.
              NEITHER PRAISE NOR BLAME MOVES THE WISE MAN.


               And then you are like a mountain: nothing can shake you. And then praise or blame are not in
           any way different to the wise man -- they are all alike. Whether the ignorant person, the unawakened
           person, praises you or blames you, what difference does it make? Both come from his sleep. It is like
           a man in a dream shouts -- blames, or praises you. Will you take any note of it? Will you
           differentiate between the two? A man in a dream may condemn you or may praise you -- you know
           he is dreaming, he is asleep. It doesn't matter! There is no difference. What he is saying is all
           nonsense. When he wakes up he will laugh at it all himself, it will look so ridiculous.
               Hence, you can praise the buddha, you can condemn him -- millions will condemn him, very few
           will praise him -- but it makes no difference to him. He remains like an unmoving mountain, an
           immovable mountain.

              HE IS CLARITY.
              HEARING THE TRUTH,
              HE IS LIKE A LAKE,
              PURE AND TRANQUIL AND DEEP.


               He is not only clear -- Buddha says he is clarity, clarity itself. To be clear is a very ordinary
           thing; once in a while you are also clear. Once in a while you can rise to a certain clarity. But the
           mind is always there to play mischief again; again you will fall. You can jump for a moment and you
           are beyond the law of gravitation -- but for how long? A few seconds at the most, and you are back
           again under the same law of gravitation.
           To be clear is a momentary phenomenon.
               The wise man, the awakened man, is not only clear -- he is clarity. You cannot take it away from
           him. He is clear through and through. He is utterly clear. All the weeds have been taken out of him --
           he is only roses and roses, a row of roses. He has become pure light, pure capacity to see. His vision
           is no longer clouded, his sky is without clouds.
               HE IS LIKE A LAKE, PURE AND TRANQUIL AND DEEP. His consciousness becomes a
           lake, and in that lake are reflected all the stars and all the suns and all the moons and the whole sky...
           and the whole truth, the whole existence. In his silent lake of consciousness is reflected that which is,
           and that is another name for God -- that which is.
               Meditate over these sutras; not only meditate -- imbibe their spirit. Buddha is sharing his
           invaluable treasures with you, invaluable secrets.... FOLLOW HIM, FOLLOW THE WAY.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                     Chapter #2
                                        Chapter title: A watcher on the hills
           13 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908130
              ShortTitle: DHAM302
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Length: 111 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              COULD YOU TALK ABOUT TRUST? WHENEVER I TRUST, WHATEVER HAPPENS IS
              BEAUTIFUL; WHEN DOUBT ARISES, I AM IN PAIN. JUST THE FACT OF TRUSTING YOU, OR
              LIFE, OR SOMEBODY, IS ENOUGH TO MAKE ME FEEL LIGHT, HAPPY. WHY THEN DO I STILL
              DOUBT?


               Prem Isabel, it is one of the most fundamental questions of life. The question is not only about
           trust and doubt: the question is rooted in the duality of the mind. It is so with love and hate, it is so
           with body and soul, it is so with this world and the other world.
               Mind cannot see the one. The very process of mind divides reality into polar opposites -- and
           reality is one, reality is not two, reality is not many. It is not a multiverse, it is a universe.
               It is an organic whole, this existence. But the mind basically functions by dividing, the mind
           functions like a prism; immediately it is divided into seven colors. Before passing the prism it was
           simply white, pure white; after the prism it is the whole rainbow.
               Mind divides reality into two. And those two are bound to be always together, because in
           existence itself they are indivisible. Only in mind, only in your thought, the division exists.
               Prem Isabel, you say, "Could you talk more about trust? Whenever I trust, whatever happens is
           beautiful...."
               But your trust is nothing but the other pole of doubt; it cannot exist without doubt. Your trust is
           simply an antidote to doubt. If doubt really disappears, where will your trust be? What need will
           there be of trust? If there is no doubt then there is no trust either. And you are afraid to lose trust, you
           cling to trust. In clinging to trust you are clinging to doubt too, remember. You can have both, but
           you can't have one. Either you have to drop both or you have to go on keeping both; they are
           indivisible, two sides of the same coin. How can you avoid the other side? It will always be there.
           You may not look at it, that makes no difference. But sooner or later you will have to look at it.
               Another part of mind is: it gets bored with anything very soon. So if you are in trust, soon it gets
           bored with it. Yes, it is beautiful, but only in the beginning. Soon the mind starts hankering for
           something new, for something different, for a change. Then there is doubt, and doubt hurts; again
           you start moving towards trust, and trust becomes boring, and you have to fall into the trap of
           doubt.... This way one goes on like a pendulum of a clock: right, left, right, left, one goes on moving.
           You will have to understand that there IS a trust totally different from what you have known up to
           now about trust. I am talking about that trust. The distinction is very delicate and subtle, because
           both the words are the same. I have to use the language that you use. I cannot create a new language;
           it will be useless because you won't understand it. I cannot go on using your language in the same
           sense you use it, because then it will also be useless: I will not be able to express my experience,
           which is beyond your language. So I have to find a middle point; I have to use your language, your
           words, with new meanings. That compromise is bound to be there. All the buddhas had to do that
           much.
               I use your words with my meanings. Hence, be very alert: when I say 'trust' what I mean is totally
           different from what YOU mean when you use the same word. When I say 'trust' I mean absence of
           the duality of doubt and trust. When I say 'love' I mean absence of the duality of love and hate. When
           you use the word 'trust' it means the other side of doubt; when you use 'love' it means the other side
           of hate. But then you are caught in a duality, in a double bind. And you will be crushed between the
           two; your whole life will become a life of anguish.
               You know trust is beautiful, but doubt arises because your trust is not beyond doubt. Your trust is
           AGAINST doubt, but not beyond. My trust is a transcendence; it is beyond. But to be beyond you
           have to remember: both have to be left behind. You can't choose. Your trust is a choice against
           doubt; my trust is a choiceless awareness. In fact, I should not use the word 'trust'; it confuses you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           But then what to do? What other word to use for it? All words will confuse you.
                I should not be speaking really, but you will not be able to understand the silence either. I am
           speaking in order to help you to become silent. My message can be delivered only in silence. Only in
           silence, the communion.... But before it becomes possible, I have to communicate to you, persuade
           you for it. That can be done only through your words. But one thing, if remembered, will be of
           immense help: I use your words, but with my own meanings -- don't forget my meanings.
                Go beyond doubt and trust, then you will have a new taste of trust -- which knows nothing of
           doubt, which is absolutely innocent. Go beyond both, then simply YOU are left, your consciousness,
           without any content. And that's what meditation is all about. Trust is meditation.
                Don't repress your doubt! That's what you go on doing. When you listen about the beauties of
           trust, the wonders of trust, the miracles of trust, a great longing, a great desire, a great greed arises in
           you to attain it. And then you start repressing doubt; you go on throwing doubt deep into the
           unconscious so that you need not encounter it. But it is there. And the deeper it is, the more
           dangerous it is, because it will manipulate you from the background. You will not be able to see it,
           and it will go on influencing your life. Your doubt will be more potent in the unconscious than in the
           conscious. Hence, I say it is better to be a doubter, it is better to be skeptical knowingly, consciously,
           than to be a believer and unknowingly, unconsciously remaining a doubter.
                All believers doubt, hence they are so much afraid of losing their trust. Their trust is poor, their
           trust is impotent. Hindus are afraid of reading the scriptures of the Buddhists, the Buddhists are
           afraid of reading the scriptures of the Christians, the Christians are afraid of reading the scriptures of
           other religions. The atheist is afraid to listen to the mystic, the theist is afraid of listening to the
           atheist. From where does all this fear come? Not from the other: it comes from your unconscious.
           You know perfectly well -- how can you avoid knowing it? You may like to forget, but you cannot --
           it is there! Vaguely you always feel it, the doubt is there, and anybody can provoke it. It may have
           become dormant, it can become active again; hence the fear of listening to something that goes
           against your belief.
                All believers live with closed eyes and closed ears and closed hearts -- they have to, because the
           moment they open their eyes there is fear. Who knows what they are going to see? It may affect their
           belief. They cannot listen, they cannot AFFORD to listen, because something may go deep into the
           unconscious and the unconscious may be stirred. And it is with great difficulty that they have been
           able to control it. But this controlled doubt, this repressed doubt, is going to take vengeance, it is
           going to take revenge sooner or later. It will wait for an opportunity to assert itself. And it is growing
           stronger and stronger inside you. Soon it will throw your conscious belief systems. That's why it is
           so easy to change people from Hindus to Mohammedans, from Mohammedans to Christians, from
           Christians to Hindus -- it is so easy.
                Before the Russian revolution, just sixty years ago, the whole of Russia was religious -- in fact
           one of the most religious countries. Then what happened? Just the revolution! The communists came
           in power, and within ten years all that religiousness evaporated. People became atheistic because
           now they were taught in the schools, colleges, universities, everywhere, that there is no God, that
           there is no soul.
                They used to believe in God, now they started believing in no-God! They used to believe before,
           they are STILL believing. Before doubt was repressed, now trust is repressed. Sooner or later Russia
           is going to go through another revolution -- when trust will come up again and doubt will be thrown
           back into the unconscious. But it is all the same! You are moving in circles.
                In India, you are great religious people. It is all rubbish. Your so-called religion is nothing but
           repressed doubt. And that is so in other countries too.
                This is not the way of inner transformation -- repression is never the way of revolution.
           Understanding, not repression: try to understand your no, and try to understand your yes, and then
           you will see they are not separate, they are inseparable. What meaning can yes have if the word no
           disappears from languages? What meaning can no have if you don't know anything about yes?
                They are bound together, married together, they cannot be divorced. But there is a transcendence.
           There is no need to divorce them, there is no need to separate them -- don't try the impossible. Go
           beyond. Just watch both.
                This is my suggestion, Isabel: Watch when doubt arises, don't get identified with it. Don't get
           disturbed, there is nothing to be disturbed about! Doubt is there -- you are watching it, you are not it.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are just a mirror reflecting it. And when trust arises there will be a little more difficulty in
           watching because you say, "Trust makes me so happy, trust makes me feel so beautiful." You will
           jump upon it, you would like to become identified with it. You would like to be known as one who
           trusts, as one who has faith. But then you will never get out of the vicious circle. Watch trust too.
                And the deeper your watching becomes... you will be surprised: looking deep into doubt you will
           find the other side is trust -- as if the coin becomes transparent and you can see this side and you can
           also see the other side. Then watching trust you will be able to see doubt hiding behind it. That
           moment is of great realization: when seeing that doubt is trust, that trust is doubt, you become free
           from both. Suddenly a transcendence! You are no longer attached to either, your bondage is finished.
           You are no longer caught in the duality, and when you are no longer caught in duality, you are not
           part of the mind at all -- mind is left far behind. You are simply a pure consciousness. And to know
           pure consciousness is to know real beauty, real blessing, real benediction.
                If you want to call that state "trust," then you will be understanding my language. I call that state
           trust which knows nothing of doubt, not even a shadow of doubt.
                But of course I am using language in such a way that no linguist will agree with. But that's how it
           has always been. The mystic has something to say to you which cannot be said. And the mystic has
           to communicate to you something which is incommunicable. The problem for the mystic is: what to
           do? He has something, and it is so much that he would like to share it -- he has to share it. Sharing is
           inevitable, it cannot be avoided. It is like a cloud full of rainwater: it has to rain, it has to shower. It
           is like a flower full of fragrance: the fragrance has to be released to the winds. It is like a lamp in the
           dark night -- the light has to dispel the darkness.
                Whenever someone becomes enlightened, he becomes a cloud full of rainwater. Buddha has
           called the man of enlightenment one who has attained MEGHASAMADHI -- MEGHA means cloud,
           SAMADHI means the ultimate consciousness: one who has attained the cloud of ultimate
           consciousness. Why does he use the word 'cloud'? -- because of this intrinsic necessity to shower. A
           man who is enlightened becomes a flower which has opened. The mystics in the East have called the
           ultimate opening of your heart, of your being, of your consciousness, SAHASRAR --
           one-thousand-petaled lotus. When this one-thousand-petaled lotus opens, how can you avoid sharing
           your fragrance? It is natural, spontaneous; it starts spreading into the winds.
                A buddha is a man whose heart is full of light; a buddha is one who has become a flame, an
           eternal flame which cannot be extinguished. Now it is bound to dispel darkness. But the problem is:
           how to give the message?
                You have a language which is based on duality and he has an experience which is rooted in
           nonduality. You are on the earth, he is in the sky. The distance is infinite... but it has to be bridged.
           And you cannot bridge it, only a buddha can bridge it. You know nothing of the sky, you know
           nothing of that inexpressible experience, that ineffable experience. But he knows both! He knows
           your darkness because he has lived in that darkness himself. He knows your misery because he has
           passed through it and he knows now the bliss of ultimate attainment. Now he knows what God is.
           Only he can manage to bridge, only he can manage to create some links between you and him.
                Language is the most important link between humanity and the buddha. In fact, language is the
           most distinctive characteristic of human beings; no other animals use language. Man is man because
           of language. Hence, language cannot be avoided, it has to be used -- but it has to be used in such a
           way that you are constantly reminded that it has to be dropped, and the sooner the better.
                Isabel, drop both doubt and trust, belief and unbelief, skepticism and faith -- drop both! And then
           see something new arising in you which is not trust in the old sense -- because it has no doubt in it --
           which is trust in a totally new meaning, with a totally new texture. That's what I am talking about,
           that's what I call trust -- trust which is beyond doubt and your trust, beyond both, whatsoever you
           have known up to now.
                There is a light which is neither your darkness nor your light, and there is a consciousness which
           is neither your unconscious nor your conscious. What Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung called
           conscious, unconscious, are parts of your mind. When Buddha talks about consciousness he is not
           talking in the same sense as Freud and Jung -- his consciousness is the witnessing consciousness,
           which witnesses the consciousness of Freud and the unconsciousness of Freud.
                Learn to become more of a witness, create more watchfulness. Let each act, each thought, be
           seen. Don't become identified with it; remain aloof, distant, far away, a watcher on the hills. Then
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one day you will be showered with infinite bliss.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              STRONGER AND STRONGER THE FEELING ARISES IN ME THAT THERE IS AN ABSOLUTE
              CONNECTION BETWEEN EGO AND NO, AND BETWEEN LOVE AND YES, AND THAT LOVE
              CANNOT SAY NO; ONLY PSEUDO LOVE WHICH IS FROM THE EGO CAN SAY NO; AND THAT
              EGO CANNOT SAY YES -- EGO CAN ONLY SAY A PSEUDO YES WHICH IS HYPOCRISY. YET
              MY MIND DOUBTS, OBJECTS TO THE SIMPLICITY OF THIS UNDERSTANDING.


                Veet Chitten, the first thing to be understood is that truth is always simple. It has no complexity
           in it. That's why the knowledgeable person goes on missing it.
                Jesus says: Unless you are like small children you will not enter into my kingdom of God.
                Truth must be very simple. If only children can understand it, then it can't be complex. Truth
           simply is. That "isness" may create a great wonder in your heart, it may mystify you -- but it
           mystifies you because of its simplicity, because of its obviousness. It may create great awe in you
           but that awe is not of complexity.
                If truth was complex then philosophers would have discovered it long before, because they are
           experts in complexity. They have not been able to discover it yet. And they will never be able to
           discover it. Their very search is in a wrong direction. They have assumed that truth is complex from
           the very beginning -- they never doubt the basic assumption -- and they are rushing behind their own
           complex minds. And the more they go into the mind and think and argue, the more complex the
           whole thing appears to be.
                Science cannot find truth because science also wants things to be complex. Why do science and
           philosophy want things to be complex? Science is only an offshoot of philosophy. Even today in the
           university of Oxford, the department of physics is called the "Department of Natural Philosophy."
           Science is an offshoot of philosophy; that's why we still go on giving Ph.D.s to scientists -- Ph.D. in
           chemistry, Ph.D. in physics, Ph.D. in mathematics -- but Ph.D. means doctor of philosophy.
                In the ancient days there was only philosophy, then slowly slowly a part of philosophy became
           more and more experimental, and that part became science.
                Science can function only if something is complex. Why? -- because the complex can be divided,
           analyzed, dissected. The greatest difficulty with the simple is it cannot be dissected, it has no parts to
           dissect. If you ask a complex question the scientist can answer it; but if you ask a simple question, a
           very simple question, then the trouble arises.
                If you ask, "How many stars are there?" the scientist can answer. But if you ask, "Why does
           arithmetic have only basically ten numbers, from the first to the tenth, then again the same thing is
           repeated: eleven, twelve, thirteen...? The basic digits are ten. Why? Why ten? Why not seven? Why
           not five? Why not three?" Then the scientist is at a loss. He will shrug his shoulders. He cannot
           answer it -- because the answer is so simple that to say it looks absurd.
                Arithmetic has ten digits because you have ten fingers! And primitive people used to count on
           the fingers, so ten digits became the fundamental thing. It has nothing scientific about it -- just a
           coincidence. If you had eight fingers, or twelve fingers, the whole mathematics would have been
           different. It is not a necessity!
                A great mathematician, Leibnitz, used only three digits: one, two, three... then four never comes.
           Then comes ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen... then fourteen never comes: twenty. And it worked well,
           perfectly well. Albert Einstein even reduced it to two. He said, "Ten is superfluous -- only two are
           necessary: one, two... that will do! You can count all the stars!"
                The number ten is accidental, but so are our many assumptions only accidental. They don't
           depend on any fundamental law. And if you ask a very simple question.... For example, G.E. Moore
           has asked, "What is yellow?" Now, no scientist can answer it, no philosopher can answer it. You can
           say at the most, "Yellow is yellow" -- but that is a tautology. You are not saying anything new in it!
           If yellow is yellow, what kind of answer is this? We know yellow is yellow -- but what IS yellow?
           You can point to the yellow. You can take the person and you can show him these yellow flowers,
           but he will say, "That I know! They are yellow flowers. My question is: what IS yellow?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                G.E. Moore, a great philosopher and logician of this age, concedes that it cannot be answered.
           Why? -- because it is so simple! A simple question cannot be answered. The simpler it is, the more
           impossible it is to answer it.
                Hence, Chitten, the first thing to be remembered is: truth is simple. That's why nobody has yet
           been able to say anything about it, and all that has been said about it is superficial.
                Lao Tzu insisted his whole life that he would not write anything about truth. When finally he was
           forced to write -- he was really forced to write... that is the only great scripture which has been
           written at the point of a bayonet!
                Lao Tzu was leaving China in his very old age... and you can think of his old age, because when
           he was born the story is he was eighty-two -- when he was born! So you can imagine how much
           older he must have been when he died. He was already eighty-two when he was born! A beautiful
           story, which simply says that he was so mature when he was born that he was a child but never
           childish. And remember the distance and difference between a child and the one who is childish.
                When Jesus says, "Those who are like children..." he is not talking about childish people; he is
           talking about innocent people. Lao Tzu must have been so innocent that the people who wrote about
           him could not write that he was only nine months old. His innocence was so deep and so profound
           that it cannot be attained in only nine months; hence they thought he was at least eighty-two years
           old. He was born with white hair. You can look at Paritosh: he must have been born like Paritosh --
           pure white hair!
                So when he was old -- nobody knows how old, people must have lost track of his age -- when he
           felt, "Now it is time to leave the body," he started moving towards the Himalayas, because there is
           no other place more beautiful to die.
                Death should be a celebration! Death should be in nature, under the trees and the stars and the
           sun and the moon. The whole life he had lived with people; now he wanted to go back to nature, and
           before he entered into the ultimate he wanted to die amidst trees and mountains and virgin peaks.
                But the king of the country ordered all the guards on all the boundaries, "Don't allow Lao Tzu to
           escape. Wherever he is caught, force him to write down his experiences, because he has something
           invaluable and we cannot allow this man to escape taking it with him."
                He was caught at one of the posts and the policeman insisted, "You have to write it down;
           otherwise I will not allow you to leave the country."
                So sitting in the policeman's hut, and the policeman with his bayonet, Lao Tzu wrote TAO TEH
           CHING.
                The first sentence is: "Truth cannot be said, and that which can be said is not truth anymore."
                No great scripture begins with such a beautiful sentence. He is saying, "If you have understood
           this sentence, please don't read on." He deceived the policeman. How can a policeman understand
           what he is writing? But he deceived. The first statement simply states that there is no need to read
           any more: if you have understood this you have understood all.
           "The tao that can be said is no longer tao." The moment you say it you falsify it. Truth is so simple it
           cannot be uttered, words are complex, languages are complex. Truth is so simple it can be indicated.
           Hence Buddha says, "Buddhas can only show you the way," and Zen masters say, "Don't cling to our
           words -- our words are nothing but fingers pointing to the moon." And remember, the fingers are not
           the moon! The moon has nothing to do with fingers, but you can only indicate.
                Truth is so simple, that's why the whole problem arises.
                Chitten, you say, "Yet my mind doubts, objects to the simplicity of this understanding."
                Yes, this happens: when you start understanding simple truths -- and ALL truths are simple -- the
           mind doubts. The mind says, "Things cannot be so simple." The mind is really a very strange
           phenomenon.
                You have a proverb -- almost all the languages of the world have such proverbs -- which says: It
           is too good to be true. Too GOOD to be true? As if truth and goodness are enemies! You can't
           believe in the good, you can't believe in the true. You should change the proverb: Too good to be
           untrue.
                In the same way the mind says, "Too simple to be true."
                Change it: "If it is not simple, it CANNOT be true."
                Truth is simple; hence innocence is needed, not knowledge. Hence a pure heart is needed, not a
           mind full of information. Hence love is needed, not logic. Truth IS simple.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The second thing to understand: as a general statement your understanding is very close to the
           truth.
                You say, "Stronger and stronger the feeling arises in me that there is an absolute connection
           between ego and no."
                Never use the word 'absolute', avoid it as much as possible -- because it is the word 'absolute' that
           creates fanatics. Nobody has the absolute truth. Truth is so vast! All truths are bound to be relative. It
           is the word 'absolute' that has dragged the whole of humanity into misery. The Mohammedan thinks
           he has the absolute truth in the Koran; he becomes blind. The Christian thinks the absolute truth is in
           the Bible. The Hindu thinks the absolute truth is in the Gita, and so on, so forth. And how can there
           be so many absolute truths? Hence the conflict, quarrel, war, religious crusades, jihad: "Kill others
           who are claiming that their truth is absolute -- OUR truth is absolute!" Down the ages, more
           murders, more rapes, more lootings, have been done in the name of religion than in the name of
           anything else. And the reason? The reason is in the word 'absolute'.
                Always remember: whatsoever we know and whatsoever we can ever know is bound to remain
           relative. To remember it will give you compassion. To remember it will make you liberal. To
           remember it will make you more humane. To remember it will help you to understand other
           viewpoints.
                Truth is vast -- simple but vast, as vast as the sky. The whole universe contains it, and the
           universe is unlimited, infinite. How can you conceive of the whole truth? How can you have the
           absolute truth in your hands? But that is how the ego functions.
                The ego is very tricky. The moment you start feeling something true, the ego immediately jumps
           in and says, "Yes, this is the absolute truth." It has closed your mind; now no more truth will be
           available. And the moment you assert, "This is absolute," you have falsified it.
           A man of truth is always relative.
                If you had asked Mahavira, "Is there a God?" he would have said, "Yes -- but that is my first
           statement. The second, no; that is my second statement. And the third, yes and no both; that is my
           third statement." And he would make seven statements, and each statement would start with
           'perhaps': perhaps yes, perhaps no, perhaps both, perhaps both not, and so on, so forth. Sevenfold
           logic!
                What Mahavira did in the world of religion, Albert Einstein did in the world of physics: the
           theory of relativity. These two names are very important, their contribution is great.
                Jainism could not spread for a single reason: because you cannot create a religion on the base of
           'perhaps'. People want absolute truths, people want to be fanatics, people want to be believers. They
           want to depend on somebody, they want somebody authoritative. Now, the moment you say perhaps,
           they become disinterested in you. Their mind says, "This man does not know; otherwise why should
           he say 'perhaps'? If he knows, he knows; if he does not know, he does not know. What place is there
           for 'perhaps'?"
                But Mahavira will not say yes or no, because if you say yes it becomes absolute, if you say no it
           becomes absolute. The 'perhaps' is always there. Why? -- not because he does not know but
           BECAUSE HE KNOWS, hence the 'perhaps'.
                Chitten, never use the word 'absolute' -- avoid it. It has been a calamity in the past; in the future
           we have to avoid it. Use 'perhaps' more.
                Your statement would have been closer to the truth if you had said, "Perhaps there is a
           connection between ego and no." Of course it would not have sounded so strong; 'perhaps' makes it
           very diluted. With 'absolute' it is more allopathic; with 'perhaps' it becomes homeopathic, very dilute.
           With 'perhaps' it can appeal only to people who understand. With 'absolute' it is very appealing to
           fools, stupids, mediocres, the insane, pathological... it is very appealing!
                Doctor Harisingh Gaur, one of the great legal experts of the world, used to say to his students
           that, "If you have the law in your favor, speak very silently, slowly, be mild, polite -- because the
           law is in your favor, don't be worried. But if the law is not in your favor, then beat the table, speak
           loudly, with a strong voice. Use words which create an atmosphere of certainty, absoluteness,
           because the law is not in your favor. You have to create an atmosphere as if the law is in your favor."
                Whenever a man of truth speaks, he speaks in a humble way, he speaks in a simple way.
                Avoid the word 'absolute'; it has been in the service of lies, it has never served truth. It has been
           murderous with truth, poisonous as far as truth is concerned. Better learn to use the word 'perhaps'.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Yes, with a 'perhaps' there is a connection between ego and no. The ego feeds on no, it is its
           nourishment. The ego avoids saying yes as far as it can avoid. If it has to say yes, it says it very
           reluctantly, because when you say no you assert your power; no means you are somebody. When
           you say yes you are no longer powerful, you have surrendered -- yes means surrender. Hence we go
           on saying no even when it is not needed at all.
                A child is asking his mother, "Can I go outside and play on the lawn?" and she says "No!" Now,
           there is no need, not at all! It is sunny, it is green outside, and flowers and butterflies... and what is
           wrong for the child in going outside and playing in the sun? Why should he remain in the closed
           room? But the mother says no -- not that knowingly she is saying no; it is unconscious. No comes
           easy. No seems to be very natural, habitual, automatic. And the children become very, very alert
           about it -- children are very perceptive, they watch everything. He will start creating a nuisance, he
           will go into a tantrum. He may start crying or he may start throwing things or he may start shouting
           or he may do something which annoys the mother. And sooner or later the mother is bound to say,
           "Go out and play!" And that's what he had asked in the first place!
                And this is so with everybody: the first thing that comes to your tongue is no. It comes so
           immediately that there has not been time enough to ponder over it. Yes you say only when you are
           forced to say it. It comes very hard, it is so difficult -- as if something is being snatched from you. In
           a natural state, things will be just the opposite: yes will come easy and no will be difficult.
                A man who goes deep in meditation will find the change happening: yes will become easier and
           easier and easier, and one day yes will be a simple response, spontaneous. And no will become more
           and more difficult, harder to say, and even if one has to say no, he will say it in such a way that it
           sounds like yes. He will formulate it in such a way that it doesn't hurt the other's ego -- because it is
           by hurting the other's ego that your ego feels good.
                The ego IS violent. The more you hurt others' egos, the better you feel -- you are higher, you are
           superior. With yes, all superiority disappears. With yes, you simply dissolve.
                So it has a truth in it, a very simple truth in it: there IS a connection between ego and no, and
           between love and yes. But remember the 'perhaps'; if you make it absolute you may go wrong. With
           'absolute' everything goes wrong... because sometimes love knows how to say no. It is not an
           absolute thing that love will always say yes -- no. Love can say no, too. But the no that comes out of
           love is totally different from the no that comes out of ego. Their qualities are different, they exist on
           different planes.
                When love says no, it is not to hurt you, it is to help you. When love says no it is full of love, it
           has a poetry around it, not violence. It is suffused with love. And a man who always says yes and has
           become incapable of saying no -- even when it is needed, his yes is mechanical -- his yes has lost all
           meaning. It is like a gramophone record. He simply says yes as a matter of course. He need not even
           listen to what you are saying, his yes is inevitable.

               A man had come to see Sigmund Freud. Those were the days when Sigmund Freud was too
           much obsessed with the idea of sex; everything was to be reduced to sex. Just as Christianity for two
           thousand years had been repressing sex and was obsessed with sex, so was Sigmund Freud. He was
           almost a saint! If obsession with sex makes a person a saint, Sigmund Freud is a saint.
               All the Christian saints have been obsessed with sex; they have created a very repressive society,
           ugly, sick, nauseating. Sigmund Freud is a revenge, a revenge of the unconscious; he becomes the
           mouthpiece of the unconscious. Now he was doing the same thing from the opposite end: everything
           had to be reduced to sex.
               A camel passed. Freud and the man who had come to see him both looked outside the window.
           Sigmund Freud asked the man -- as he was always asking people -- "What are you reminded of,
           seeing the camel?"
               And the man said, "Sex." Freud was of course very happy. Whenever your theory is supported, a
           new evidence that even a camel reminds a person of sex....
               Then to be more clear and on more certain ground he asked, "Do you see these books on the
           rack? What do they remind you of?"
           And the man said, "Sex."
               Now even Freud was a little puzzled, and he asked, "What do I remind you of?"
           And the man said, "Sex."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And Freud said, "How is it possible? The camel reminds you of sex, the books remind you of
           sex, I remind you of sex...."
               The man said, "EVERYTHING reminds me of sex!" Everything can remind you of sex if it is too
           much repressed, and everything starts taking a sexual color. Sigmund Freud was of course very
           happy seeing this man. He noted down the whole story. He used to tell this story again and again to
           his students.
               Once it happened, when he was telling it to a new class of students, one of the students who had
           also been in his class before said, "But sir, you have told this story last year too."
               Sigmund Freud waited for a moment and then said, "Then you need not laugh, but let others
           laugh. If you have laughed last year, that's okay, no need to laugh anymore. But I have to tell this
           story because it has a point."

               There are people, millions of people, who are in this situation. There are people who are
           reminded of food by each and everything; they have been repressing food. And anything, if you
           repress too much, creates pathology.
               For example: if this idea settles in your mind that love always says yes and ego always says no,
           then ego means no, love means yes. They have become equivalent, they have become synonymous.
           Now there is a danger: you will start repressing all no's just to be loving. And so many no's repressed
           in your unconscious will not allow you to be really loving. Love will remain on the surface, it will be
           a facade, a pseudo face; it will not be your original face.
               So please, Chitten, avoid the word 'absolute'; it can create difficulties for you. Yes, there is a
           connection, but the connection is not absolute. There are moments when love can say no, and ONLY
           love can say no, and there are moments when the ego can say yes.
               The ego is not innocent, it is very cunning. It can use yes too, when needed. It can use yes as a
           stepping-stone, it can use yes as a lubricating agent. You cannot go on saying no to each and
           everything; otherwise life will become impossible for you. You have sometimes to say yes -- you
           may not like to say it, but you HAVE to say yes. But you will say it in such a way that the ultimate
           result is no. You will say it only as a polite gesture, but you will not mean it; you may mean just the
           opposite.

           I have heard:
               There was once a Sufi who found himself in a large mass of people milling about outside the
           palace of the king of his country. The king had ordered that all the famous people of his realm were
           to be assembled and odes recited in their honor. The court poets had been working for months to get
           their verses ready, and this was the day of the great gathering of honor.
               The royal guards separated the guests from the onlookers but the Sufi began to say, "I don't want
           to be praised, I don't want to be honored, I don't want an ode in homage to me to be recited...."
               This, however, was to no avail, for the guards hustled him into the audience-chamber. He was
           struggling so hard -- others only resisted from locally conventional modesty -- that the king ordered
           him to be seated next to the throne. Then the king ordered the king of poets to recite the ode in honor
           of this most modest man. The poem was nowhere to be found. They asked the sage his name, but
           nobody could remember who he was, if anyone. Finally the king asked him to say something. He
           said, "I do not want to be praised!"
           "Why not?" demanded the king. "If you don't want to be praised you should not have come to the
           reception!"
           "But I did not come -- your guards picked me up in the street. I was not invited even. All I was doing
           was saying that I did not want to be praised!"
               But why should you say that? He was shouting outside the palace, "I do not want to be praised! I
           do not want to be praised!" And he was making such a nuisance. Why? The ways of the ego are very
           cunning. It can play the role of being humble. It can shout from the housetops that, "I don't want to
           be praised!" It can even decline Nobel Prizes.

                That's what George Bernard Shaw did. He refused to accept the Nobel Prize on the grounds that,
           "Now it is below me. It is for young people -- they will be happy. I have gone beyond all this praise,
           it is childish for me!" But it is an insult to the Swedish Academy and the king. So he was pressed
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from all over the world, from kings and queens and prime ministers and presidents. Those who had
           never written to him, they all wrote letters to him, "Please accept it -- it is insulting to the king and to
           the country."
               For two or three days he created much noise, and then he accepted -- on the grounds that because
           so many presidents and prime ministers and kings and queens were asking him, just to make them
           happy, he would accept it. Again he created a great news, front page news. He accepted the Nobel
           Prize and then immediately donated it to the Fabian Society. Later on it was found that he was the
           president of the society and he was the only member! But he kept the world for seven or eight days
           continuously in his grip, and when he was asked he said, "What is the point -- just getting a small
           corner in the newspapers that a Nobel Prize has been awarded to George Bernard Shaw? I used the
           opportunity as much as possible; I exploited the opportunity as much as possible."
               It was not humbleness, it was the way of the ego. And he knew -- he was clever at it, at the game.

                Remember: the ego can sometimes say no, sometimes yes, whichever suits. It can use no too -- it
           is so cunning. And love also can say sometimes yes and sometimes no, because if the yes is going to
           hurt the other.... If the child is asking to go outside and play in the sun it is one thing, but if the child
           is asking to play with some electric gadget which can be dangerous or the child wants to drink
           poison, then you have to say no -- and love will be ready to say no.
                Love can say no out of love. Ego can say yes out of its own projections. There is no necessary
           connection, so don't make it absolute, that's all. Perhaps there is a certain connection -- and there is --
           but that 'perhaps' has never to be forgotten.
                Mahavira used to look very strange to people, because he would not start any sentence without
           'perhaps'. It looks a little odd. I am not saying that you have to start using 'perhaps' before every
           sentence. I am not saying that when you fall in love with a girl you have to say, "Perhaps I am in
           love with you, perhaps not... who knows? Nothing is absolute, everything is relative." I am not
           telling you to become an exhibition of stupidity. But let that 'perhaps' become part of your being, let
           it be an undercurrent.
                In fact it is so. When you are in love it is only perhaps, there is no need to say it, but it IS only
           perhaps. You are not even certain about your own self, how can you be certain about your love? You
           have not even loved yourself, how can you love somebody else? You don't know what love is --
           because love is known only at the highest peaks of consciousness.
                What you call love is lust, it is not love. It is using the other as a means, and to use the other as a
           means is the most immoral act in the world; it is exploitation. But the other will not allow you to
           exploit if you can't create the atmosphere in which the other falls a prey and becomes a victim easily.
           So you have to talk about love, and you have to talk about love which will remain forever. And you
           don't know even about tomorrow, you don't know even about the next moment!

               A lover was saying to his beloved, "I am ready to die for you! Just say! I love you so much that
           just a hint from your side and I can commit suicide, I can sacrifice my life. I am going to get you --
           no power in the world can prevent me! Even if fire showers from the skies I am going to find you!"
           And so on, so forth.
               And when he was departing the girl asked, "Will you be coming tomorrow?"
           He said, "If it doesn't rain."

               It is all perhaps! One should be aware of it -- it helps to bring sanity to you, it helps you to be
           more healthy and whole.
               But there is a simple truth in it: that yes somehow is part of love and no part of ego, but not
           necessarily connected. Sometimes no can be found with yes, with love; yes can be found with no,
           with ego.
               Your approach to life should be that of yes, that of love; and if no is needed at all, it has to serve
           yes, it has to serve your love. Let the no be the servant and yes be the master -- that's enough! I am
           not saying destroy no completely. If you destroy your no completely, your yes will become impotent.
           Let yes be the master and no the servant. No as a servant is beautiful; as a master it is ugly.
               And that's what has happened: no has become the master and yes has been reduced to the state of
           a slave. Free your yes from that slavery and dethrone your no from its mastery, and you will find a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           right synthesis of your being, of the negative and the positive. You will find a right harmony
           between the dark side and the light side, between day and night, between summer and winter,
           between life and death.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE JUST ARRIVED FROM THE WEST -- PARIS -- WHERE I HAD HEARD ABOUT YOU AND
              READ SOME OF YOUR BOOKS. THEY TOUCHED ME VERY DEEPLY AND ONE QUESTION
              AROSE IN ME:
              HOW IS YOUR SPIRITUAL DIMENSION AND THE WORK YOU DO ON A SPIRITUAL LEVEL
              CAPABLE OF CONDUCTING AND ENLIGHTENING THE BEHAVIOR OF A MAN INVOLVED IN
              ACTION ON A MATERIALISTIC LEVEL -- FOR INSTANCE, URBANISM, STRUGGLE AGAINST
              HUNGER, THIRST AND ALL OTHER DISTRESSES?


                Jacques Daumal, I do not divide existence into these old dichotomies, the materialistic plane and
           the spiritual plane. There is only one reality: matter is its visible form and spirit its invisible form.
           Just like your body and your soul -- your body cannot be without your soul and your soul cannot be
           without your body.
                In fact, the whole split of the past has been a heavy burden on the human heart -- the split
           between body and soul. It has created a schizophrenic humanity. As I see it, schizophrenia is not a
           disease that happens once in a while to a person. The whole humanity up to now has been
           schizophrenic. It is very rarely, only once in a while, that a man like Jesus, or Buddha, or Mahavira,
           or Socrates, or Pythagoras, or Lao Tzu, has been able to escape from this schizophrenic pattern of
           our living.
                To divide reality into antagonistic, inimical realism is dangerous because it is dividing man. Man
           is a miniature universe; if you divide the universe the man is divided, if you divide the man the
           universe is divided. And I believe in the undivided, organic unity of existence.
                To me there is no distinction between the spiritual and the material. You can be spiritual and
           function on the materialistic plane -- and your functioning will be more joyous, your functioning will
           be more aesthetic, more sensitive. Your functioning on the materialistic plane will not be tense, will
           not be full of anguish and anxiety.
                Once a man came to Buddha and asked, "The world is in such a distress, people are in so much
           misery -- how can you manage to sit silently and so joyously?"
                Buddha said, "If somebody is suffering from fever, has the doctor also to lie down by his side
           and suffer? Has the doctor out of compassion to get the infection and lie down by the side of the
           patient and be feverish? Is that going to help the patient? In fact, whereas there was only one person
           ill, now there are two persons ill -- the world is doubly ill! The doctor need not be ill to help the
           patient; the doctor has to be healthy to help the patient. The healthier he is, the better; the healthier
           he is, the more help is possible through him."
                I am not against working on the material plane. Whatsoever work you are doing -- urbanism,
           struggle against hunger, struggle for ecological balance, struggle against poverty, exploitation,
           oppression, struggle for freedom -- whatsoever your work on the material plane, it is going to be
           benefited, tremendously benefited, if you become more spiritually rooted, centered, calm, quiet,
           cool, because then the whole quality of your work will be changed. Then you will be able to think in
           a more cool manner, and you will be able to act more gracefully. Your understanding of your own
           inner being will be of tremendous help to help others.
                I am not a spiritualist in the old sense and I am not a materialist either in the old sense. The
           Charvakas in India, Epicurus in Greece, Karl Marx and others, they are materialists. They say only
           matter is true and consciousness is only an epiphenomenon, a by-product; it has no reality of its own.
           And then there are people like Shankara, Nagarjuna, who say just the same thing in a reverse
           manner. They say the soul is real and the body is unreal, MAYA, illusion, an epiphenomenon, a
           by-product; it has no reality of its own.
                To me, both are half right, half wrong. And a half-truth is far more dangerous than a whole lie --
           at least it is whole. A whole lie has a certain beauty, but a half-truth is ugly -- ugly and dangerous
           too -- ugly because it is half. It is like cutting a man into two parts.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Just the other day I was reading a story:
               It was very hot, and a man with his young daughter was passing by the side of a swimming pool
           of an intercontinental hotel. It was so hot, the girl said, "I would like to go in the pool and cool
           myself."
               The father said, "Okay, I will sit underneath the tree, and you go ahead."
               But she was stopped immediately by the guard and he said, "This pool is restricted. It is not
           allowed here for Jews... and you look Jewish."
               The father said, "Listen: I am Jewish. My daughter's mother is not Jewish, she is a Christian, so
           my daughter is half Jew, half Christian. Can you allow her to take a bath only up to the waist?"

               Dividing man is dangerous, because man is an organic unity. But this is how down the ages it has
           been done, and now it has become almost a routine thinking, a conditioning.
               Daumal, you are still thinking in the old categories. I don't belong to any school -- the school of
           the materialists or the school of the so-called spiritualists. My approach is total, it is holistic. I
           believe that man is both together, spiritual and material. In fact, I have to use the words 'spiritual' and
           'material' just because they have always been used. In fact man is psychosomatic, not material AND
           spiritual, because that 'and' creates duality. There is no 'and' between the material and the spiritual,
           not even a hyphen. Man is materialspiritual -- I use it as one word, materialspiritual. And both the
           sides....
               Spiritual means the center of your being and the material means the circumference of your being.
           The circumference cannot be there if there is no center, and the center cannot be there if there is no
           circumference.
               My work here is to help your center become a clarity, a purity. Then that purity will be reflected
           on the circumference too. If your center is beautiful your circumference is bound to become
           beautiful, and if your circumference is beautiful your center is bound to be affected by that beauty.
               My sannyasin is a total man, he is a new man. The effort is that he will be beautiful from both the
           sides.

               There were once two mystics talking. The first one said, "I had a disciple once, and in spite of all
           my efforts I was unable to illuminate him."
           "What did you do?" asked the other.
           "I made him repeat mantras, gaze at symbols, dress in special garb, jump up and down, inhale
           incense, read invocations, and stand up in long vigils."
           "Didn't he say anything which might give you a clue as to why all this was not giving him higher
           consciousness?"
           "Nothing. He just lay down and died. All he said was irrelevant: 'When am I going to get some
           FOOD?'"

               Of course, to a spiritual person it is irrelevant, talking about food -- what has that to do with
           spirit?
               I am not that kind of a spiritual person. I am as hedonist as Charvaka, as materialist as Epicurus,
           as spiritualist as Buddha, Mahavira. I am the beginning of a totally new vision.
               In the new commune, just as there will be a Buddha Auditorium, a Mahavira Meditation Hall, a
           Jesus House, a Krishna House, a Lao Tzu House, there are going also to be gardens dedicated to
           Epicurus -- because his school was called "The Garden." There are going to be lakes dedicated to
           Charvakas. In the new commune the spiritualists and the materialists all have to be respected. We are
           trying to create a harmony, a new synthesis.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE ALL THE SO-CALLED INDIAN GURUS RUSHING TO AMERICA?


              Nirmal, in the very ancient scriptures there is a story. Meditate over it.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is the story: that when destiny was being planned, the archetypal representatives of various
           peoples and schools were offered their choice of gifts.
               The Japanese asked to be given the Zen koan so that people would always be attached to the
           power of perplexity. The Hindu guru asked for the mantram and the assertion that everything was
           derived from his philosophy.
               Then an American-to-be was asked for his choice. Since he was to be one of the last peoples to
           emerge, most of the more attractive things had been handed out. But he was not long in asking:
           "Give me the dollar -- then they all will come to me, sooner or later!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                   Chapter #3
                                            Chapter title: Be a buddha!
           14 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908140
              ShortTitle: DHAM303
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 107 mins




              WANT NOTHING.
              WHERE THERE IS DESIRE,
              SAY NOTHING.



              HAPPINESS OR SORROW --
              WHATEVER BEFALLS YOU,
              WALK ON

              UNTOUCHED, UNATTACHED.



              DO NOT ASK FOR FAMILY OR POWER OR WEALTH,
              EITHER FOR YOURSELF OR FOR ANOTHER.
              CAN A WISE MAN WISH TO RISE UNJUSTLY?



              FEW CROSS OVER THE RIVER.
              MOST ARE STRANDED ON THIS SIDE.
              ON THE RIVERBANK THEY RUN UP AND DOWN.



              BUT THE WISE MAN, FOLLOWING THE WAY,
              CROSSES OVER, BEYOND THE REACH OF DEATH.



              HE LEAVES THE DARK WAY
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FOR THE WAY OF THE LIGHT.
              HE LEAVES HIS HOME, SEEKING
              HAPPINESS ON THE HARD ROAD.



              FREE FROM DESIRE,
              FREE FROM POSSESSIONS,
              FREE FROM THE DARK PLACES OF THE HEART,
              FREE FROM ATTACHMENT AND APPETITE,
              FOLLOWING THE SEVEN LIGHTS OF AWAKENING,
              AND REJOICING GREATLY IN HIS FREEDOM,
              IN THIS WORLD THE WISE MAN
              BECOMES HIMSELF A LIGHT,
              PURE, SHINING, FREE.


                Man lives in misery -- not because he is destined to live in misery but because he does not
           understand his own nature, potential, possibilities of growth. This nonunderstanding of oneself
           creates hell. To understand oneself is to be naturally blissful, because bliss is not something that
           comes from the outside, it is your consciousness resting in its own nature.
                Remember this statement: your consciousness resting in itself is what bliss is all about.
                And to be relaxed in one's own being is to be wise. The English word 'wise' does not connote the
           same depth, profundity and significance as the word 'buddha'. Wherever you come across the word
           'wise man', remember it is a translation for 'buddha'. 'Buddha' has a totally different meaning in the
           East. It is not just wise, it is far more than that. Wisdom is greater than knowledge, buddhahood is
           the ultimate. Buddhahood means awakening. Knowledge means objective knowledge -- knowing
           that which is outside you. It can never be more than information, because you cannot see things from
           their insides, you can only watch them from the outside; you will remain an outsider. Science is that
           kind of knowledge. The very word 'science' means knowledge -- knowledge from the outside. That
           which you are knowing is an object, you are separate from it. Knowing the other is knowledge.
                You can go round and round, you can watch it in every possible way. You can weigh and
           calculate, and dissect and analyze, and you can come to logical conclusions, which will be useful,
           utilitarian. They will make you more efficient, but they will not make you wise. Wisdom is
           subjective knowledge; not knowing the object but knowing the knower -- that is wisdom.
                Buddhahood is a transcendence of both. In buddhahood there is no object, no subject; all duality
           has disappeared. There is no knower, no known; there is no observer and nothing as observed --
           there is only one. Whatsoever you want to call it you can call it: you can call it God, you can call it
           nirvana, you can call it samadhi, satori... or whatever, but only one remains. The two have melted
           into one.
                In English there is no word to express this ultimate transcendence. In fact there are many things
           which cannot be expressed in Western languages, because the Eastern approach towards reality is
           basically, fundamentally, tacitly different. Sometimes it happens, the same thing can be looked at in
           the Eastern and in the Western way, and on the surface the conclusions may look similar, but they
           cannot be. If you go a little deeper, if you dig a little deeper, you will find great differences -- not
           ordinary differences but extraordinary differences.
                Just the other night I was reading the famous haiku of Basho, the Zen mystic and master. It does
           not look like great poetry to the Western mind or to the mind which has been educated in a Western
           way. And now the whole world is being educated in the Western way; East and West have
           disappeared as far as education is concerned. Listen to it very silently, because it is not what you call
           great poetry but it is great insight -- which is far more important. It has tremendous poetry, but to
           feel that poetry you have to be very subtle. Intellectually, it cannot be understood; it can be
           understood only intuitively.
           This is the haiku:

           WHEN I LOOK CAREFULLY,
           I SEE THE NAZUNIA BLOOMING
           BY THE HEDGE!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now, there seems to be nothing of great poetry in it. But let us go into it with more sympathy,
           because Basho is being translated into English; in his own language it has a totally different texture
           and flavor.
               The nazunia is a very common flower -- grows by itself by the side of the road, a grass flower. It
           is so common that nobody ever looks at it. It is not a precious rose, it is not a rare lotus. It is easy to
           see the beauty of a rare lotus floating on a lake, a blue lotus -- how can you avoid seeing it? For a
           moment you are bound to be caught by its beauty. Or a beautiful rose dancing in the wind, in the
           sun... for a split second it possesses you. It is stunning. But a nazunia is a very ordinary, common
           flower; it needs no gardening, no gardener, it grows by itself anywhere. To see a nazunia carefully a
           meditator is needed, a very delicate consciousness is needed; otherwise you will bypass it. It has no
           apparent beauty, its beauty is deep. Its beauty is that of the very ordinary, but the very ordinary
           contains the extraordinary in it, because all is full of God -- even the nazunia flower. Unless you
           penetrate it with a sympathetic heart you will miss it.
               When for the first time you read Basho you start thinking, "What is there so tremendously
           important to say about a nazunia blooming by the hedge?"
               In Basho's poem the last syllable -- KANA in Japanese -- is translated by an exclamation point
           because we don't have any other way to translate it. But kana means, "I am amazed!" Now, from
           where is the beauty coming? Is it coming from the nazunia? -- because thousands of people may
           have passed by the side of the hedge and nobody may have even looked at this small flower. And
           Basho is possessed by its beauty, is transported into another world. What has happened? It is not
           really the nazunia, otherwise it would have caught everybody's eye. It is Basho's insight, his open
           heart, his sympathetic vision, his meditativeness. Meditation is alchemy: it can transform the base
           metal into gold, it can transform a nazunia flower into a lotus.
               WHEN I LOOK CAREFULLY.... And the word 'carefully' means attentively, with awareness,
           mindfully, meditatively, with love, with caring. One can just look without caring at all, then one will
           miss the whole point. That word 'carefully' has to be remembered in all its meanings, but the root
           meaning is meditatively. And what does it mean when you see something meditatively? It means
           without mind, looking without the mind, no clouds of thought in the sky of your consciousness, no
           memories passing by, no desires... nothing at all, utter emptiness.
               When in such a state of no-mind you look, even a nazunia flower is transported into another
           world. It becomes a lotus of the paradise, it is no longer part of the earth; the extraordinary has been
           found in the ordinary. And this is the way of Buddha: to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, to
           find all in the now, to find the whole in this -- Buddha calls it TATHATA.
               Basho's haiku is a haiku of tathata: THIS nazunia, looked at lovingly, caringly through the heart,
           unclouded consciousness, in a state of no-mind... and one is amazed, one is in awe. A great wonder
           arises, How is it possible? This nazunia -- and if a nazunia is possible then everything is possible. If
           a nazunia can be so beautiful, Basho can be a buddha. If a nazunia can contain such poetry, then
           each stone can become a sermon.
               WHEN I LOOK CAREFULLY, I SEE THE NAZUNIA BLOOMING BY THE HEDGE!
           KANA.... I am amazed. I am dumb. I cannot say anything about its beauty -- I can only hint at it.
               A haiku simply hints. The poetry describes, the haiku only indicates -- and in a very indirect
           way.
               A similar situation is found in Tennyson's famous poetry; comparing both will be of great help to
           you. Basho represents the intuitive, Tennyson the intellectual. Basho represents the East, Tennyson
           the West. Basho represents meditation, Tennyson mind. They look similar, and sometimes the poetry
           of Tennyson may look more poetic than Basho's because it is direct, it is obvious.

           FLOWER IN THE CRANNIED WALL
           I PLUCK YOU OUT OF THE CRANNIES
           HOLD YOU HERE, ROOT AND ALL, IN MY HAND,
           LITTLE FLOWER -- IF I COULD BUT UNDERSTAND
           WHAT YOU ARE, ROOT AND ALL, AND ALL IN ALL,
           I SHOULD KNOW WHAT GOD AND MAN IS.

              A beautiful piece, but nothing compared to Basho. Let us see where Tennyson becomes totally
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           different. First: FLOWER IN THE CRANNIED WALL I PLUCK YOU OUT OF THE
           CRANNIES....
                Basho simply looks at the flower, he does not pluck it out. Basho is a passive awareness:
           Tennyson is active, violent. In fact, if you have really been impressed by the flower, you cannot
           pluck it. If the flower has reached your heart, how can you pluck it? Plucking it means destroying it,
           killing it -- it is murder! Nobody has thought about Tennyson's poetry as murder -- but it IS murder.
           How can you destroy something so beautiful? But that's how our mind functions; it is destructive. It
           wants to possess, and possession is possible only through destruction.
                Remember, whenever you possess something or somebody, you destroy something or somebody.
           You possess the woman? -- you destroy her, her beauty, her soul. You possess the man? -- he is no
           longer a human being; you have reduced him to an object, into a commodity.
                Basho looks carefully, just looks, not even gazes concentratedly; just a look, soft, feminine, as if
           afraid to hurt the nazunia.
                Tennyson plucks it out of the crannies and says: ... I HOLD YOU HERE, ROOT AND ALL, IN
           MY HAND, LITTLE FLOWER.... He remains separate. The observer and the observed are nowhere
           melting, merging, meeting. It is not a love affair. Tennyson attacks the flower, plucks it out root and
           all, holds it in his hand. Mind always feels good whenever it can possess, control, hold. A meditative
           state of consciousness is not interested in possessing, in holding, because all those are the ways of
           the violent mind.
                And he says: LITTLE FLOWER.... The flower remains little, he remains on a high pedestal. He
           is a man, a great intellectual, a great poet. He remains in his ego: LITTLE FLOWER....
                For Basho, there is no question of comparison. He says nothing about himself, as if he is not.
           There is no observer. The beauty is such that it brings a transcendence. The nazunia flower is there,
           blooming by the hedge -- KANA -- and Basho is simply amazed, is struck to the very roots of his
           being. The beauty is overpowering. Rather than possessing the flower, he is possessed by the flower,
           he is in a total surrender to the beauty of the flower, to the beauty of the moment, to the benediction
           of the herenow.
                LITTLE FLOWER, says Tennyson, IF I COULD BUT UNDERSTAND.... That obsession to
           understand! Appreciation is not enough, love is not enough; understanding has to be there,
           knowledge has to be produced. Unless knowledge is arrived at Tennyson cannot be at ease. The
           flower has become a question mark. For Tennyson it is a question mark, for Basho it is an
           exclamation point. And there is the great difference: the question mark and the exclamation point.
                Love is enough for Basho -- love IS understanding. What more understanding can there be? But
           Tennyson seems to know nothing of love. His mind is there, hankering to know... BUT IF I COULD
           UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE, ROOT AND ALL, AND ALL IN ALL.... And mind is
           compulsively perfectionist. Nothing can be left unknown, nothing can be allowed to remain
           unknown and mysterious. ROOT AND ALL, AND ALL IN ALL... has to be understood. Unless
           mind knows everything it remains afraid -- because knowledge gives power. If there is something
           mysterious, you are bound to remain afraid because the mysterious cannot be controlled. And who
           knows what is hidden in the mysterious? Maybe the enemy, maybe a danger, some insecurity? And
           who knows what it is going to do to you? Before it can do anything it has to be understood, it has to
           be known. Nothing can be left as mysterious. That is one of the problems the world is facing today.
                The scientific insistence is that we will not leave anything unknown, and we cannot accept that
           anything can ever be unknowable. Science divides existence into the known and the unknown. The
           known is that which was unknown one day, now it is known; and the unknown is that which is
           unknown today but tomorrow or the day after tomorrow it will be known. The difference is not much
           between the known and the unknown; just a little more endeavor, a little more research, and all
           unknown will be reduced to known.
                Science can feel at ease only when everything is reduced to the known. But then all poetry
           disappears, all love disappears, all mystery disappears, all wonder disappears. The soul disappears,
           the God disappears, the song disappears, the celebration disappears. All is known... then nothing is
           valuable. All is known... then nothing is of any worth. All is known... then there is no meaning in
           life, no significance in life. See the paradox: first the mind says "Know everything!" -- and when you
           have known it the mind says, "There is no meaning in life."
                You have destroyed the meaning and now you are hankering for meaning. Science is very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           destructive of meaning. And because it insists everything CAN be known, it cannot allow the third
           category, the unknowable -- which will remain unknowable eternally. And in the unknowable is the
           significance of life.
               All the great values of beauty, of love, of God, of prayer, all that is really significant, all that
           makes life worth living, is part of the third category: the unknowable. The unknowable is another
           name for God, another name for the mysterious and the miraculous. Without it there can be no
           wonder in your heart -- and without wonder, a heart is not a heart at all, and without awe you lose
           something tremendously precious. Then your eyes are full of dust, they lose clarity. Then the bird
           goes on singing, but you are unaffected, unstirred, your heart is not moved -- because you know the
           explanation.
               The trees are green, but the greenness does not transform you into a dancer, into a singer. It does
           not trigger a poetry in your being, because you know the explanation: it is chlorophyll that is making
           the trees green... so nothing of poetry is left. When the explanation is there the poetry disappears.
           And all explanations are utilitarian, they are not ultimate.
               If you don't trust the unknowable, then how can you say that the rose is beautiful? Where is the
           beauty? It is not a chemical component of the rose. The rose can be analyzed and you will not find
           any beauty in it. If you don't believe in the unknowable, you can do an autopsy on a man, a
           postmortem -- you will not find any soul. And you can go on searching for God and you will not find
           him anywhere, because he is everywhere. The mind is going to miss him, because the mind would
           like him to be an object and God is not an object.
               God is a vibe. If you are attuned to the soundless sound of existence, if you are attuned to one
           hand clapping, if you are attuned to what the Indian mystics have called ANAHAT -- the ultimate
           music of existence -- if you are attuned to the mysterious, you will know that only God is, and
           nothing else. Then God becomes synonymous with existence.
               But these things cannot be understood, these things cannot be reduced to knowledge -- and that's
           where Tennyson misses, misses the whole point. He says: LITTLE FLOWER -- IF I COULD BUT
           UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE, ROOT AND ALL, AND ALL IN ALL, I SHOULD KNOW
           WHAT GOD AND MAN IS. But it is all 'but' and 'if'.
               Basho KNOWS what God is and what man is in that exclamation mark, KANA: "I am amazed, I
           am surprised... NAZUNIA BLOOMING BY THE HEDGE!" Maybe it is a full-moon night, or
           maybe it is early morning -- I can actually see Basho standing by the side of the road, not moving, as
           if his breath has stopped. A nazunia... and so beautiful. All past is gone, all future has disappeared.
           There are no more questions in his mind but just sheer amazement.
               Basho has become a child: again those innocent eyes of a child looking at a nazunia, carefully,
           lovingly. And in that love, in that care, is a totally different kind of understanding -- not intellectual,
           not analytical.
               Tennyson intellectualizes the whole phenomenon, and destroys its beauty. Tennyson represents
           the West, Basho represents the East. Tennyson represents the male mind, Basho represents the
           feminine mind. Tennyson represents the mind, Basho represents the no-mind.

              Let this become your basic understanding, then we can go into the sutras of Gautama the
           Buddha.

              WANT NOTHING.
              WHERE THERE IS DESIRE,
              SAY NOTHING.


                A simple statement, but the import is great: WANT NOTHING... because this is how all the
           awakened ones have come to know -- that the misery is created by desiring. Misery is not a reality, it
           is a by-product of desire. Nobody wants to be miserable; everybody wants to destroy misery, but
           everybody goes on desiring, and by desiring one goes on creating more and more misery.
                You cannot destroy misery directly, you have to cut the very roots. You have to see from where
           it arises, from where comes this smoke. You have to go down deep into the soil, to the roots. Buddha
           has called it TANHA -- desiring.
                The mind is constantly desiring. The mind never stops even for a single moment desiring; all day
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it desires, all night it desires, in thoughts it desires, in dreams it desires. Mind is the constant process
           of desiring... more and more.
                Mind remains eternally in discontent. Nothing satisfies it, nothing at all. You may attain to
           whatsoever you wanted to attain, but the moment you attain it, it is finished. The very moment of
           attainment... and your mind is no longer interested in it. Watch and see the tricky mind. For years it
           may have been thinking to purchase a certain house, a beautiful house; for years it may have worked
           hard. Now the house is yours -- and suddenly nothing is left in your hand. All those dreams, all those
           fantasies that you had about this house have flown away, and within hours, or at the most within
           days, you will be desiring another house again. The same trap, the same track, and you go round and
           round in circles.
                You wanted to have this woman, now you have her; you wanted to have this man, now he is
           yours -- and what have you gained? All those fantasies have flown away. Instead you are frustrated!
           The mind only desires. It knows only how to desire; hence it cannot ever allow any contentment.
           Contentment is the death of the mind, desire is its life.
                Buddha says: WANT NOTHING. That means: be contented. That means: whatsoever is, is more
           than you need; whatsoever is, is already so profound, so beautiful... the nazunia flower by the hedge!
           You are living in such a tremendously beautiful world, with all the stars and the planets and the sun
           and the moon... with the flowers and the mountains and the rivers and the rocks and the animals, the
           birds and the people. This is the most perfect world possible, it cannot be improved upon. Enjoy its
           beauty. Relish the celebration that goes on around you. It is a continuous celebration.
                The stars go on dancing, the trees go on swaying -- ecstatically. The birds go on singing. The
           peacocks will dance and the cuckoo will call... and all this goes on and you remain miserable -- as if
           you are determined to be miserable. You have decided, you have staked all that you have, to remain
           miserable; otherwise there is no reason to be miserable. The THISness of existence is so beautiful,
           the NOWness of existence is so incredibly beautiful, that all that you need is just to relax, rest, be...
           let the separation between you and the whole disappear.
                The separation is caused by desiring. Desiring means complaint. Desiring means all is not as it
           should be. Desiring means that you are thinking you are wiser than God. Desiring means you could
           have made a better world. Desiring is stupid. Nondesire is wisdom. Nondesire means a state of
           contentment, each moment living totally and contentedly.
                WANT NOTHING. WHERE THERE IS DESIRE, SAY NOTHING. Buddha is not saying that
           just by not wanting anything desire is going to stop immediately. You have become habituated to it,
           it is an ancient habit -- for lives and lives you have desired. It has become autonomous. Even without
           you it goes on by itself, it has its own momentum. So just by understanding that desire creates
           misery, that there is no need for desire, that one can simply be and enjoy the sun and the wind and
           the rain, desire is not going to stop so easily.
                Hence Buddha says: WHERE THERE IS DESIRE, SAY NOTHING. If desire arises in you just
           watch it, don't say anything. Don't express it, don't repress it. Don't condemn it, don't fight with it.
           Don't evaluate it, don't judge it. Just watch -- carefully. The nazunia by the hedge... just look at it,
           with no prejudice for or against.
                If listening to buddhas you become anti-desire, then you have not understood them, because
           anti-desire is again desire. If you start desiring a state of no-desire, that is getting into the same rut
           from the back door. Nondesiring cannot be desired; that will be a contradiction in terms. All that can
           be done is to WATCH desire, carefully. And in that very watching, slowly slowly, desire dies on its
           own accord.
                This is the existential experience of all those who have become awakened. I am a witness to it --
           I say to you not because Buddha says so: I say to you because this is my own experience too.
           Watching desire, slowly slowly desire dies on its own accord. You don't kill it, you don't fight with
           it, you don't condemn it, because if you condemn it slips, dives deep into your unconscious; then it
           starts residing there, and it controls you from there.
                If you repress desire, you will have to constantly repress and you will have to be constantly on
           guard. In the day maybe you can succeed in repressing it, but in dreams it will surface again. That's
           why psychoanalysis has to study your dreams. It can't believe you when you are awake, it can't trust
           you when you are awake -- it has to look into your dreams. Why? -- because your dreams will say
           what you have been repressing. And whatsoever is repressed becomes very powerful, because it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enters in your unconscious sources and from there it goes on pulling your strings. And when the
           enemy cannot be seen it is more powerful -- naturally, obviously.
               Buddha is not saying fight desire, Buddha is not saying be against desire. He is simply stating a
           fact: that desire is stupidity, that desire creates misery, that desire will never allow you to be blissful.
           So watch desire. Say nothing about it! Simple, very simple watching. Don't sit like a judge.

              HAPPINESS OR SORROW --
              WHATEVER BEFALLS YOU,
              WALK ON

              UNTOUCHED, UNATTACHED.


                And happiness WILL come and sorrow WILL come, because these are the seeds that you have
           sown down the ages, and whatsoever you have sown you will have to reap. So don't be disturbed. If
           happiness comes, don't become too much excited; if sorrow comes, don't become too much
           depressed. Take things easily.
                Happiness and sorrow are separate from you; remain unidentified. That's what he means: WALK
           ON UNTOUCHED, UNATTACHED... as if they are not happening to you but happening to
           somebody else. Just try this small device, it is a valuable recipe: as if they are not happening to you
           but to somebody else, maybe to a character in a novel or in a movie, and you are just an onlooker.
           Yes, unhappiness is there, happiness is there, but it is THERE! -- and you are here.
                Don't become identified, don't say, "I am unhappy," simply say, "I am the watcher. Unhappiness
           is there, happiness is there -- I am simply the watcher."
                It will be of great importance if some day in the future we start changing the patterns of our
           languages, because our languages are very deeply rooted in ignorance. When you feel hungry, you
           immediately say, "I am hungry." That creates an identification and gives you a feeling as if YOU are
           hungry. You are not. Language should be such that it does not give you this wrong notion that "I am
           hungry." What is really the case is: you are watching that the body is hungry; you are a watcher that
           the stomach is empty, that it desires food -- but this is not you. You are the watcher. You are always
           the watcher! You are never the doer. You always go on standing as a watcher far away.
                Get more and more rooted into watching -- that's what Buddha calls VIPASSANA, insight. Just
           see with inner eyes whatsoever happens, and remain untouched, unattached.

               A tough, old-time Indian fighter came straggling back into camp with seven Shoshone arrows
           piercing his chest and legs.
               A doctor examined him and remarked, "Amazing stamina. Don't they hurt?"
           The oldtimer grunted, "Only when I laugh."

               In fact, they should not hurt even then -- and they don't hurt to a buddha. Not that if you pierce
           the buddha with an arrow there is no hurt; the hurt is there. He may feel it even more than you,
           because a buddha's sensitivity is at the optimum -- you are insensitive, dull, half dead. The scientists
           say that you only allow two percent of information to reach you; ninety-eight percent is prevented
           outside. Your senses don't allow it in. Only two percent of the world reaches to you; ninety-eight
           percent is excluded.
               To the buddha, a hundred percent of the world is available, so when an arrow pierces a buddha it
           hurts a hundred percent; to you it hurts only two percent. But there is a great difference: a buddha is
           a watcher. It hurts, but it does not hurt HIM. He watches as if it is happening to somebody else. He
           feels compassion for the body -- he feels compassion, his compassion for his body -- but he knows
           that he is not the body.
               So, in a way, it hurts him more than it hurts to you, in another way it hurts not at all. He remains
           aloof, unconcerned. It is a very paradoxical state. He CARES for the body, but yet remains
           unconcerned -- unconcerned about the consequences. He takes every possible care because he
           respects the body. It is such a beautiful servant, it is such a good house to live in -- he takes care but
           he remains aloof.
               Even when the body is dying a buddha goes on watching that the body is dying. His watchfulness
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remains to the very last. The body dies and the buddha goes on watching that the body has died. If
           one can watch to such an extent, one goes beyond death.

              DO NOT ASK FOR FAMILY OR POWER OR WEALTH,
              EITHER FOR YOURSELF OR FOR ANOTHER.
              CAN A WISE MAN WISH TO RISE UNJUSTLY?


               The things of the world do not matter -- the wealth, the power, the prestige, they don't matter.
           The buddha cannot ask for them for himself or for another. That distinction has to be remembered.
           Ordinarily it is thought that a buddha will not ask for himself, but he can ask for others. No, he will
           not ask for others either. That's where Christianity and Buddhism have diametrically opposite
           visions.

           There is a story:
               A woman came to Buddha crying, weeping, carrying the dead body of her only son. People had
           told her that if she goes to the Buddha, he is such a compassionate man, he may do some miracle.
           Buddha asked the woman, "You do one thing: you go into town -- bring some mustard seeds. One
           condition has to be fulfilled: they should be brought from a house where nobody has ever died."
               The woman was very happy; this was not a problem because their whole village was growing
           mustard seeds. So every house was full of mustard seeds. She rushed from one house to another, but
           in her excitement that her son is going to be revived again she forgot completely that the condition is
           impossible, it cannot be fulfilled.
               By the evening she had knocked on all the doors, and everybody said, "We can give you as many
           mustard seeds as you want, but they will not help because we cannot fulfill the condition: somebody
           has died in our family -- not only one but many persons really. My father died, my father's father
           died... and thousands of others before." Somebody's wife has died, somebody's mother, somebody's
           brother, sister, somebody's son.... She could not find a single family where nobody had ever died.
               By the evening when she came she was a totally different woman -- she came laughing. In the
           morning she had come crying and weeping; she was almost mad because the only son had died.
           Buddha asked her, "Why are you smiling?"
               She said, "Now I know -- you tricked me, you befooled me, but I could not see the point at that
           time. Everybody has to die, so it is not a question now that my son has died. He had to die one day or
           other. And it is good, in a way, that he has died before me: if I had died before him, he would have
           suffered. It is better for me to suffer than for him to suffer. So it is good, perfectly good.
           "Now I have come for initiation. Initiate me into sannyas, because I would like to know: is there
           anything beyond death or not? Is death all or does something survive? I am no longer interested in
           the son."
               Buddha said, "That was the purpose of sending you, so that you can be awakened."

               Now the same story you can visualize about Jesus Christ. What Christians say... because nobody
           knows what kind of man Jesus really was except what the Christians say about him, and they are
           saying wrong things about him. If he was really a buddha -- and he was -- then he would not have
           been interested in reviving people from death. He would not revive Lazarus from death -- what is the
           point? Lazarus is no longer alive. He must have died a few years later; even if he was revived he
           would have died a few years later. Death is going to happen; you can at the most postpone it.
               A buddha is not interested in postponing! A buddha's whole effort is to make you alert, aware,
           that death is coming. He is not to protect you from death, he has to take you beyond death. And Jesus
           is a buddha. MY understanding of Jesus is totally different from the Christian interpretation. To me,
           this is a parable: Lazarus coming back to life simply means Lazarus reborn spiritually.
               Buddha has said many times -- Jesus has said also -- Unless you are born again, you will not
           enter into my Kingdom of God. But "born again" does not mean that you have to be resurrected.
           "Born again" means a spiritual process of awakening. Jesus must have awakened Lazarus from his
           sleep, from his metaphysical death.
               When you come to me you are metaphysically dead -- you are Lazarus. The story says Jesus
           called Lazarus out of his tomb: "Lazarus, come out!" That's what every buddha has been doing down
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the ages: calling Lazaruses to come out of their graves. When I initiate you into sannyas, what am I
           doing? -- calling, "Lazarus, come out of your grave! Be reborn!"
               Sannyas is a process of rebirth. Lazarus must have been initiated into the deeper mysteries of life
           which go beyond death. But to make this beautiful metaphor into an historical event is to destroy the
           whole poetry of it, the whole significance of it.
               A buddha will not ask -- for himself or for his family or for anybody else -- for power, prestige,
           possessions, because they are utterly useless.
               CAN A WISE MAN WISH TO RISE UNJUSTLY? That's impossible. Remember, the "wise
           man" is a translation of 'buddha'. An awakened man cannot do anything unjust -- it is impossible, it
           can't happen in the nature of things. The awakened one can do only the right, the just. And to ask for
           power, prestige, money, possessions, fame, is stupid. A wise man cannot ask for them, either for
           himself or for others.
               And the buddha knows whatsoever is just is already happening; there is no need to ask for it,
           there is no need to desire it. Existence is very just and very fair. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO --
           this is the inexhaustible, eternal law, that existence is very fair and very just. You simply remain
           natural and existence will go on bestowing a thousand and one blessings on you without your asking
           for them.
               The famous statement of Jesus is: Ask and it shall be given. If you ask Buddha he will say: Ask
           not and it shall be given. Jesus says: Knock and the doors shall be opened unto you. If you ask
           Buddha he will say: Knock not, because the doors are already open. Just look... the nazunia flower,
           and Basho looking at it carefully.

              FEW CROSS OVER THE RIVER.
              MOST ARE STRANDED ON THIS SIDE.
              ON THE RIVERBANK THEY RUN UP AND DOWN.


               Buddha says again and again that people are in such a hurry, not knowing where they are going,
           but in a great hurry they are going somewhere. And they simply go up and down, on THIS bank,
           hoping that by running and rushing and remaining occupied they will reach to the other shore.

              I have heard that the pope in the Vatican received a phone call, a long-distance phone call, from
           New York. The bishop from New York phoned in a very nervous, excited, feverish state: "Sir,
           immediate instructions are needed: one man who looks like Jesus has entered into the church, and he
           says, 'I am Jesus Christ.' Now what am I supposed to do?"
              The pope pondered over it for a moment and then said, "Look occupied."

               What else can you do? If Jesus has come, at least look occupied, do something! Let him see that
           his people are very busy -- be busy. Even if there is no business, don't be worried.
               That's what people are doing -- busy without business, looking very occupied. And all that they
           are doing is just rushing up and down the same bank. This way you cannot reach the other shore.
               FEW CROSS THE RIVER. MOST ARE STRANDED ON THIS SIDE. What does he mean by
           "this side"? This side means death, time, this momentary existence. That side means deathlessness,
           timelessness, eternity, God, nirvana. One needs guts to cross the stream, because the other shore is
           not visible. In fact, only this shore is visible, the other shore is invisible. This shore is gross, the
           other shore is subtle. This shore is material, the other shore is spiritual -- you cannot see it, it cannot
           be shown to others.
               Even those who have reached to the other shore can only call you, invite you, but they cannot
           give any proofs. I cannot give you any proof of God; Buddha has not given, Jesus has not given --
           nobody who knows can give any proof of God. God cannot be proved. You can only be persuaded to
           come to the other shore and see on your own.
               Buddha says again and again: IHI PASSIKO! Come and see!

              BUT THE WISE MAN, FOLLOWING THE WAY,
              CROSSES OVER, BEYOND THE REACH OF DEATH.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The only effort of any intelligent person in this world should be, first and foremost, how to know
           something which cannot be destroyed by death -- because death can happen any moment, next
           moment, tomorrow. Because death can happen any moment, the intelligent person's first effort will
           be to know something that cannot be destroyed by death, and to be centered into that something
           which is deathless, to be rooted in that, so you are not destroyed.
              BUT THE WISE MAN, FOLLOWING THE WAY, CROSSES OVER, BEYOND THE REACH OF
              DEATH.

               Death is the most important phenomenon -- far more important than birth, because the birth has
           already happened; now you cannot do anything about it. But death has to happen -- something can be
           done about it, some preparation. You can be ready to receive it, you can be consciously in a state of
           welcome for it.
               You missed the opportunity of birth, don't miss the opportunity of death. And if you can receive
           death in a meditative state, you may be able to receive your next birth -- which will be followed by
           death -- consciously. If you can die consciously, you will be born consciously. Your next life will
           have a totally different flavor. And a person can be born only once after he has died consciously --
           only one more life.
               The Christians, the Jews, the Mohammedans, believe in only one life. My interpretation is that
           when you have died once consciously -- and are reborn consciously -- THAT life is real life; only
           that is worth counting. All other lives before it were not worth counting. That's why these three
           traditions have not counted them. It is not that they don't know about them -- Jesus is perfectly aware
           of past lives -- but they are not worth counting. You were asleep, you were dreaming, you were
           unconscious. It was not LIFE; you were somehow dragging yourself in sleep.
               Buddha used to tell his disciples: Count your life only after you have taken sannyas.

           Once it happened:
               A great king, Bimbisara, had come to see Buddha. He was sitting at Buddha's side talking to him
           and an old man came, bowed down, touched Buddha's feet, an old sannyasin. And as it was the habit
           of Buddha to ask, he asked the old man, "How old are you?" And the old man said, "Just four years
           old, sir."
               Bimbisara could not believe his eyes, could not believe his ears: "This old man who looks almost
           eighty, if not more, is saying he is four years old?" He said, "Pardon me, sir, can you repeat it again,
           how old you are?"
           The old man again said, "Four years old."
               Buddha laughed and said, "You don't know the way we count life: it is four years ago that he
           became a sannyasin, that he was initiated into the eternal, that he was taken into the timeless. It is
           only four years ago that he crossed from this shore and reached to the other shore. He has lived for
           eighty years, but those years are not worth counting; it was a sheer wastage."

               Nobody has interpreted Christianity, Judaism, Islam, in the way I am interpreting. They all
           believe in one life, and Christians, Mohammedans and Jews think there is only one life. That is not
           the case; you have lived many times, but they are not worth counting. Only one life will be worth
           counting: when you will be born consciously -- but you can be born consciously only if you die
           consciously.
               So the first and the most important thing in life is to prepare for death. And what is the way to
           prepare for death? -- what Buddha calls "following the way." Meditate over this small anecdote.

              Nan Yin, a great Zen master, was visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had
           become a teacher. The day happened to be rainy, so Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an
           umbrella.
              After greeting him, Nan Yin remarked, "I suppose you left your wooden clogs in the vestibule. I
           want to know if your umbrella is on the left or on the right side of the clogs."
              Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realized that he was unable to carry his Zen every
           minute. He became Nan Yin's disciple and he studied six more years to accomplish his every minute
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Zen.

               This is the way. One has to be alert and aware of each and everything that one is doing. Now,
           Tenno has not done something very serious -- he had simply forgotten where the umbrella is, at the
           right side of the clogs or at the left side. You will think Nan Yin is too hard; it is not so. It is out of
           compassion that he asked this question.
               Nan Yin's own master, when he had come for the first time to his master, had asked a similar
           question.
               Nan Yin had traveled almost two hundred miles into the mountains to reach the master, and do
           you know what the master asked, the first question? Not very philosophical, not very metaphysical....
           The moment Nan Yin bowed down, the master asked, "What is the price of rice in your town?" The
           price of rice...!
               But Nan Yin instantly said, "I am no longer there, I am here. I never look back, and I destroy all
           the bridges that I have crossed. So forget all about the rice and its price!"
               The master was tremendously happy. He hugged Nan Yin, he blessed him, and he said, "If you
           had told me the price of rice in your town, I would have thrown you out of the monastery. I would
           not have allowed you here, because we are not interested in rice merchants."

              Each master has his own way of seeing into disciples' inner beings. Now this was a simple
           question: Nan Yin said, "Where is your umbrella -- on the left or on the right side of the clogs?"
           Now, nobody can think of Immanuel Kant asking such a question to any of his disciples; nobody can
           imagine Hegel or Heidegger or Sartre asking such a question to one of his students -- impossible!
              Only a man like Nan Yin, a man who is a buddha, can ask such a question -- so ordinary, yet
           with such extraordinary insight. He is saying, "When you were putting your umbrella, were you
           aware? -- or did you just do it mechanically?"

                Once a man, another man, a professor in a university, came to see Nan Yin. He threw his shoes --
           must have been angry or something -- slammed the door, came in. At least thirty other disciples were
           sitting there. Nan Yin looked at the professor; he was a very famous professor... must have expected
           that Nan Yin will stand up and welcome him. Instead, Nan Yin shouted at the professor and told him
           to go back and ask forgiveness. "You have misbehaved with the door, you have misbehaved with the
           shoes! Unless they forgive you, unless I see that you have been forgiven, I will not allow you in --
           you get out!"
                Shocked, shattered -- but the professor could see the point. Still he tried; he said, "But what is the
           point of asking forgiveness from the shoes or the door? They are dead anyway, how can they
           forgive?"
                Nan Yin said, "If you can be angry at them and they are dead, if to be angry is okay, then you
           should be ready to ask forgiveness too -- apologize!"
                The professor went; for the first time in his life he bowed down to his shoes. And he remembers
           in his memoirs that "That moment was one of the most precious in my life, when I bowed down to
           my shoes. Such silence descended on me! For the first time I felt free of the ego, utterly open. The
           master has done the trick. When I came back, he received me with such joy. He said, 'Now you are
           ready to sit by my side, now you are ready to listen to me. Now you are finished; otherwise the thing
           was incomplete. And never leave anything incomplete, otherwise it goes on hanging around you.
           You will have a hang-up. If you misbehave with the door and you don't complete the whole process,
           you will remain angry somewhere.'"

              Moment-to-moment awareness is the way of a buddha. If you can remain moment to moment
           aware, you will become perfectly clear that there is something in you which is beyond death, which
           cannot be burned, cannot be destroyed, which is indestructible. And to know that rock of
           indestructibility within you is the beginning of a new life.

              HE LEAVES THE DARK WAY
              FOR THE WAY OF THE LIGHT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The way of living unconsciously is called by Buddha the dark way. And the way of living
           consciously, attentively, moment to moment, bringing your consciousness to each act, each small
           act, each detail, is the way of light.

              HE LEAVES HIS HOME, SEEKING
              HAPPINESS ON THE HARD ROAD.


               By 'home' is meant clinging to security, safety, the familiar, the known. By 'leaving the home' he
           does not mean leaving your family, your children, your wife, your husband -- that has been, down
           the ages, how the Buddhists have interpreted this line. That's not my interpretation. That is not real
           home. The real home is something inside your mind: the calculativeness, the intellect, the logic, the
           armor that you create around yourself against the whole world -- that is 'the home'. 'Leaving the
           home' -- that means leaving all security, going into the insecure, dropping the known, moving into
           the unknown, forgetting the comforts of the shore and going into the troubled waters, into the
           uncharted sea. That is the hard way -- but the other shore can be attained only through the hard way.
               Those who are lazy, those who are always in search of some shortcut, those who want God
           cheap, those who are not ready to pay anything in return for the ultimate truth, they are befooling
           themselves and wasting their time. We have to pay with our life, we have to pay with all that we
           have, we have to surrender totally, we have to become committed intensely and wholly. That is the
           hard way, and only through the hard way one can cross the stream of existence and can reach to the
           other shore, the deathless, the eternal.

              FREE FROM DESIRE,
              FREE FROM POSSESSIONS,
              FREE FROM THE DARK PLACES OF THE HEART....


               If you are ready to drop all armor of security and comfort, if you are ready to drop all calculative
           mind, clever mind, cunning mind, if you are ready to drop the mind itself, all dark parts of your heart
           will disappear. Your heart will become full of light, desire will disappear -- desire means future. And
           possessions will not be anymore your clingings -- possessions means the past.
               When there are no more desires, no more clinging to the possessions, you are free from past and
           future. To be free from past and future is to be free in the present. That brings truth, God, freedom.
           That, only that, brings wisdom, buddhahood, awakening.

              FREE FROM ATTACHMENT AND APPETITE,
              FOLLOWING THE SEVEN LIGHTS OF AWAKENING,
              AND REJOICING GREATLY IN HIS FREEDOM,
              IN THIS WORLD THE WISE MAN
              BECOMES HIMSELF A LIGHT,
              PURE, SHINING, FREE.


              And as you move more and more into the present, inside you will come across seven lights --
           what Hindu yoga calls seven CHAKRAS, Buddhist yoga calls seven lights, seven lamps. As you
           become more and more detached from the body, detached from possessions, uninterested in desires,
           your energy starts moving upwards. The same energy that is contained at the lowest center, at the sex
           center.... Now, only at the sex center sometimes do you have the experience of light, which you call
           orgasm, but very rarely even there. Only very rarely, very few people have known that making love,
           a moment comes when lovers become full of light. Then the orgasmic experience is not only
           physical, it has something spiritual in it.
              Tantra tries to create that space and context in which the sexual centers start radiating light. And
           when two lovers are not only exploiting each other's body but are really worshipping each other's
           body, when the other is a god or a goddess and lovemaking is like prayer and meditation -- with
           great reverence one goes into lovemaking -- it happens that both the centers meet, the male and the
           female energies, and great light starts flowing inside your being.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The same can happen on six other, higher points; the higher the point, the greater and brighter the
           light. The seventh point is SAHASRAR, the one-thousand-petaled lotus. There the light is so much
           that Kabir says it is "as if one thousand suns have suddenly arisen" -- not one, but one thousand suns.
              FREE FROM ATTACHMENT AND APPETITE, FOLLOWING THE SEVEN LIGHTS OF AWAKENING,
              AND REJOICING GREATLY IN HIS FREEDOM, IN THIS WORLD THE WISE MAN BECOMES
              HIMSELF A LIGHT, PURE, SHINING, FREE.

               He himself becomes a light to himself and he becomes a light unto others too. Be a buddha! Life
           is meaningless without it. Be a buddha! Only then you are fulfilled. Be a buddha! Then you have
           bloomed. Be a buddha and you will know God resides in you.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                    Chapter #4
                                           Chapter title: I am a drunkard
           15 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908150
              ShortTitle: DHAM304
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 109 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF THE JEALOUSIES, THE POSSESSIVENESS, THE ATTACHMENT, THE NEEDS AND
              EXPECTATIONS AND DESIRES AND ILLUSIONS DROP, WILL ANYTHING BE LEFT OF MY
              LOVE? HAS ALL MY POETRY AND PASSION BEEN A LIE? HAVE MY LOVE PAINS HAD MORE
              TO DO WITH PAIN THAN WITH LOVE? WILL I EVER LEARN TO LOVE? OR IS IT NOT A
              LEARNING BUT A GIFT, AN OUTGROWTH OF SOMETHING ELSE? A GRACE DESCENDING?


               Satya, love cannot be learned, it cannot be cultivated. The cultivated love will not be love at all.
           It will not be a real rose, it will be a plastic flower. When you learn something, it means something
           comes from the outside; it is not an inner growth. And love has to be your inner growth if it is to be
           authentic and real.
               Love is not a learning but a growth. All that is needed on your part is not how to learn the ways
           of love but how to unlearn the ways of unlove. The hindrances have to be removed, the obstacles
           have to be destroyed -- then love is your natural, spontaneous being. Once the obstacles are removed,
           the rocks thrown away, the flow starts. It is already there -- hidden behind many rocks, but the spring
           IS already there. It is your very being.
               It is a gift, but not something that is going to happen in the future: it is a gift that has already
           happened with your birth. To be is to be love. To be able to breathe is enough to be able to love.
           Love is like breathing. What breathing is to the physical body, love is to the spiritual being. Without
           breathing the body dies; without love the soul dies.
               So the first thing to be remembered: it is not something that you can learn. And if you learn you
           will miss the whole point; you will learn something else in the name of love. It will be pseudo, false.
           And the false coin can appear as the real coin; and if you don't know the real, the false can go on
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deceiving you. Only by knowing the real, will you be able to see the distinction between the false
           and the real.
               And these are the obstacles: jealousies, possessiveness, attachment, expectations, desires.... And
           Satya, your fear is right that, "If all these disappear, will anything be left of my love?"
               Nothing will be left of your love. Love will be left... but love has nothing to do with "I" or "you."
           In fact, when all possessiveness, all jealousies, all expectations disappear, love does not disappear --
           you disappear, the ego disappears. These are the shadows of the ego.
               It is not love that is jealous. Watch, look, observe again. When you feel jealous, it is not LOVE
           that feels jealous; love has never known anything of jealousy. Just as the sun has never known
           anything of darkness, love has never known anything of jealousy.
               It is the ego that feels hurt, it is the ego that feels competitive, in a constant struggle. It is the ego
           which is ambitious and wants to be higher than others, wants to be somebody special. It is the ego
           which starts feeling jealous, possessive -- because the ego can exist only with possessions. The more
           you possess, the more the ego is strengthened; without possessions the ego cannot exist. It leans on
           possessions, it depends on possessions. So if you have more money, more power, more prestige, a
           beautiful woman, a beautiful man, beautiful children, the ego feels immensely nourished. When
           possessions disappear, when you don't possess anything at all, you will not find the ego inside. There
           will be nobody who can say "I."
               And if you think THIS is your love, then certainly your love will also disappear. Your love is not
           really love. It is jealousy, possessiveness, hatred, anger, violence; it is a thousand and one things --
           except love. It masquerades as love. Because all these things are so ugly, they cannot exist without a
           mask.

           An ancient parable:
                The world was created, and God was sending every day new things to the world. One day he
           sends Beauty and Ugliness to the world. It is a long journey from paradise to the earth. The moment
           they arrive it is early morning, the sun is just rising. They land near a lake and both decide to have a
           bath because their whole bodies, their clothes, are so full of dust. Not knowing the ways of the world
           -- they are so new -- they take their clothes off; utterly naked, they jump into the cool water of the
           lake. The sun is rising, people start coming.
                Ugliness plays a trick: when Beauty goes swimming far away into the lake, Ugliness comes on
           the bank, puts on the garments of Beauty, and escapes. By the time Beauty becomes aware that
           "People are arriving and I am naked," she looks around... her clothes are gone. Ugliness is gone and
           she is standing naked in the sun, and the crowd is coming closer. Finding no other way, she puts on
           the clothes of Ugliness and goes in search of Ugliness so that the clothes can be changed.
                The story says she is still trying to find... but Ugliness is cunning and goes on escaping. Ugliness
           is still in the clothes of Beauty, masked as Beauty, and Beauty is moving in the clothes of Ugliness.

           It is a tremendously beautiful parable.
                All these things are so ugly that you cannot tolerate to be with them even for a single moment if
           you see their reality. So they don't allow you to see the reality. Jealousy pretends to be love,
           possessiveness creates a mask of love... and then you are at ease.
                You are not befooling anybody else, Satya, but yourself.

               Mulla Nasruddin was passing by the side of a cemetery. He saw a grave; on the grave there was a
           stone and on the stone was written: "I am not dead -- I am only fast asleep."
               Mulla had a belly laugh. He said, "You are befooling nobody but yourself."

               Satya, these things are not love. So what you know as love, what you have known up to now as
           love, will disappear. It has nothing of poetry in it. Yes, passion is there, but passion is a feverish
           state, passion is an unconscious state. Passion is not poetry. The poetry is known only by the
           buddhas -- the poetry of life, the poetry of existence.
               Excitement, fever, are not ecstasies. They look alike, that is the problem. In life many things look
           alike and the distinctions are very delicate and fine and subtle. Excitement can look like ecstasy -- it
           is not, because ecstasy is basically cool. Passion is hot; love is cool, not cold but cool. Hatred is cold;
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           passion, lust, is hot. Love is exactly in the middle. It is cool -- neither cold nor hot. It is a state of
           tremendous tranquility, calmness, serenity, silence. And out of that silence is poetry, out of that
           silence is song, out of that silence arises a dance of your being.
                What you call poetry and passion are nothing but lies -- with beautiful facades. Out of your
           hundred poets, ninety-nine are not really poets but only in a state of turmoil, emotion, passion, heat,
           lust, sexuality, sensuality. Only one out of your hundred poets is a real poet.
                And the real poet may never compose any poetry, because his whole being is poetry. The way he
           walks, the way he sits, the way he eats, the way he sleeps -- it is all poetry. He exists as poetry. He
           may create poetry, he may not create poetry, that is irrelevant.
                But what you call poetry is nothing but the expression of your fever, of your heated state of
           consciousness. It is a state of insanity. Passion is insane, blind, unconscious, and it is a lie. It is a lie
           because it gives you the feeling as if it is love.
                Love is possible only when meditation has happened. If you don't know how to be centered in
           your being, if you don't know how to rest and relax in your being, if you don't know how to be
           utterly alone and blissful, you will never know what love is.
                Love appears as relationship but begins in deep solitude. Love expresses as relating, but the
           source of love is not in relating: the source of love is in meditating. When you are absolutely happy
           in your aloneness, when you don't need the other at all, when the other is not a need, then you are
           capable of love. If the other is your need you can only exploit, manipulate, dominate, but you cannot
           love.
                Because you depend on the other, possessiveness arises -- out of fear. "Who knows? -- the other
           is with me today; tomorrow he may not be with me. Who knows about the next moment?" Your
           woman may have left you, your children may become grown up and will be gone, your husband can
           desert you. Who knows about the next moment? Out of that fear of the future you become very
           possessive. You create a bondage around the person you think you love.
                But love cannot create a prison -- and if love creates a prison, then nothing is left for hatred to
           do. Love brings freedom, love gives freedom. It is nonpossessiveness. But that is possible only if you
           have known a totally different quality of love: not of need but of sharing.
                Love is sharing of overflowing joy. You are too full of joy; you cannot contain it, you have to
           share it. Then there is poetry and then there is something tremendously beautiful which is not of this
           world, which is something that comes from the beyond. This love cannot be learned, but obstacles
           can be removed.
                Many times I say learn the art of love, but what I really mean is: learn the art of removing all that
           hinders love. It is a negative process. It is like digging a well: you go on removing many layers of
           earth, stones, rocks, and then suddenly there is water. The water was always there; it was an
           undercurrent. Now you have removed all the barriers, the water is available. So is love: love is the
           undercurrent of your being. It is already flowing, but there are many rocks, many layers of earth to
           be removed.
                That's what I mean when I say: learn the art of love. It is really not learning love but UNlearning
           the ways of unlove.
                The moment you are centered in your being, rooted in your being, you become full of grace, as if
           God has penetrated you. You are empty and God starts descending in you. He can descend only
           when you are not: your absence becomes his presence.
                God is not a person but a presence. And two swords cannot exist in one sheath: either you can
           exist, or God. You have to disappear, evaporate. Your absence is what sannyas is all about.
                The process of sannyas is the process of becoming absent more and more, so that one day there is
           only empty space left inside and nothing else. In that emptiness, whenever it is total, instantly God is
           felt. God is felt as a presence -- and God is another name for love. And to know God is to know
           poetry, to know God is to know celebration, to know God is to know bliss -- SAT-CHIT-ANAND.
                That's how the mystics in the East have defined God: SAT means truth, CHIT means
           consciousness, ANAND means bliss. If you are utterly empty, you will come to know these three
           things. For the first time you will have some taste of truth, some experience of consciousness, some
           flavor of bliss.
                But, Satya, right now, although it will hurt you because it will be very destructive... what I am
           saying is going to shock you. You have believed in your poetry, in your passion, you have believed
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in your illusions and dreams and you have felt great because of all this. And I am saying: all this is
           simply nonsense. Although the majority of humanity lives in such illusions, all these are mirages. If
           you really want to encounter life you will have to be ready for many shocks, you will have to be
           ready to be shattered into pieces.
               The function of the master is to destroy you, because only when you are destroyed the context is
           created in which God can be felt. Your death is the beginning of a divine existence.
               Die! Die to the ego, die to your past, and you will be resurrected. That resurrection will make
           you go beyond death, beyond time, beyond misery, beyond the world -- what Buddha calls "beyond
           this shore."

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES JESUS TELL HIS DISCIPLES: BE AS CUNNING AS THE SERPENTS AND AS
              INNOCENT AS THE DOVES?


               Anand Jayesh, the serpent is the symbol of wisdom. In all the ancient cultures of the world --
           Hebrew, Hindu, Chinese -- the serpent is the only symbol which is common.
               By 'cunning' Jesus does not really mean cunning as you understand it. In the ancient Aramaic, the
           language that Jesus spoke, there is only one word for both 'wisdom' and 'cunning', hence the wrong
           translation.
               But why have Christians chosen to translate it as 'cunning' and not as 'wisdom'? -- because of the
           biblical story that it is the serpent who seduced, corrupted the mind of Eve, persuaded her to go
           against God's commandment and to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Because of this biblical
           story the serpent has become the original source of sin. It is the serpent who persuaded Eve, then Eve
           persuaded Adam and humanity fell from the grace of God. Adam and Eve were turned out of the
           Garden of Eden; hence the serpent became a condemned phenomenon.
               But in reality the parable has a totally different meaning. Christians will not concede to that
           meaning. What meaning do I give to that immensely significant parable? It has many meanings. That
           is the beauty of ancient parables: they have many-dimensional richness. They are not
           one-dimensional, they are multidimensional. They can be interpreted in a thousand and one ways;
           that is their richness. They have many facets; they are like a diamond -- and the more facets a
           diamond has, the more valuable it is.
               When the kohinoor was found for the first time it was a very big stone, the biggest diamond the
           world has ever known. Now it is only one third of its original weight, because down the ages the
           jewelers have been polishing, cutting, and polishing and cutting; they have been giving new facets to
           the diamond. Now it is one third of its weight but millions of times more valuable. So are ancient
           parables: they are kohinoors. But the problem with the so-called religions is that they become
           addicted to one meaning. Then they become afraid of other meanings, other possibilities.
               The serpent is not cunning, the serpent is wise in the parable. It is because of his wisdom that
           humanity was born. If there had been no serpent, you would not have been here -- not even Jesus
           would have been, nor Buddha. The world would have lacked humanity. It is the serpent and his
           wisdom that creates this great journey of humanity -- and it has been of immense value; otherwise
           there would have been trees and animals and birds, but no Lao Tzu, no Zarathustra, no Krishna, no
           Buddha, no Mohammed, no Christ, no Kabir, no Nanak. Yes, trees would have been there and birds
           and animals, but the existence would have missed something of immense importance; it would have
           missed humanity, it would have missed human consciousness, which is the ultimate growth point up
           to now. It is the serpent and his wisdom! The serpent was far more wise than Eve and Adam,
           because he taught them rebellion.
               Wisdom is always rebellious. In fact, if you ask me, God was giving an opportunity to Adam and
           Eve to rebel; hence the commandment not to eat from the tree of knowledge. This is a simple
           psychological fact. The garden was so big that Adam and Eve, left to themselves, would never have
           discovered the tree of knowledge; it was only one tree and there were millions and millions of trees.
               But God pointed out the tree and said, "Don't eat the fruit of THIS tree." By saying this he is
           provoking. In fact, the first seducer is God; the serpent is the second seducer. The serpent is simply
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           an agent of God, a messenger of God. God must have waited for long after he prohibited.... Now
           Adam and Eve are bound to eat the fruit of knowledge.
               You can try it. Prohibit the children, "Don't eat ice cream. Don't go near the fridge!" -- and then
           they are bound to go. They might not have gone if you had not told them NOT to go. Prohibition
           becomes invitation. You are challenging them; you are challenging them to assert themselves.
               God has challenged Adam and Eve, and then he must have waited for long. The challenge didn't
           work; Adam and Eve must have been very obedient people. They were the first people on the earth;
           hence they may not have tasted of rebellion and the joys of rebellion and the growth that rebellion
           brings. The agony and the ecstasy of rebellion were unknown to them. Hence the serpent was used as
           a messenger; in the whole animal kingdom, the serpent was chosen to be the messenger of God. The
           serpent is a symbol of wisdom -- and it is because of the serpent that you are here. The serpent is
           really the father -- the father of humanity.
               The original statement of Jesus means: Be as wise as the serpents and as innocent as the doves.
           But the word 'cunning' is also beautiful. Gurdjieff used to say that unless you are cunning you cannot
           escape from the bondage of the world -- because the bondage is so complex that you have to be very
           sly. Gurdjieff used to say that if you want to learn from a master you have to be very sly, cunning.
           That's how he learned. He moved for at least twenty years from one master to another master -- but
           masters take their own time, they are not in a hurry. They don't live in time, they live in the eternal,
           so there is no hurry. But Gurdjieff was in a hurry, so rather than waiting until whenever the master
           feels the time is right and he will impart his knowledge, he will impart his wisdom, he started
           stealing wisdom from the masters.
               Gurdjieff says he learned by stealing, by being cunning. It looks strange to use the words 'sly',
           'cunning', in reference to spirituality, but Gurdjieff is a rare man. If you understand him rightly, what
           he means simply is: be clever, be intelligent, be utterly alert, be wise.
               In the East, the serpent has become the symbol of the energy that is dormant in you. In yoga we
           call it KUNDALINI -- the serpent power. It is dormant in your sex center, like a coiled serpent, fast
           asleep, snoring. At the lowest center of your being your energy is asleep; it has to be awakened. And
           once the serpent starts rising in you, you will be surprised that you are not so small as you appear
           from the outside. From the inside you are as vast as the sky; even the sky is not the limit.
               The serpent is a beautiful symbol. It has no legs, still it moves so fast; its movement is a miracle.
           Zen people say: God cannot be explained, truth cannot be defined.
               To define truth is like putting legs on a snake. The snake moves without legs, there is no need of
           any legs. If you put legs on the snake you may stop its movement totally; it may not be able to move
           at all.
               So is the case with wisdom: it moves without legs. It moves without information, without
           knowledge. It moves without intellectuality; it moves intuitively.
               The serpent dances listening to music. Scientists were very much puzzled in the beginning,
           because the snake has no ears at all, it cannot listen. But how can you deny it? -- everybody knows
           that the serpent becomes absolutely hypnotized by music; it sways, dances. How does it become
           possible? -- because it has no ears. Then after great inquiry and research it was found it has no ears
           but it hears from every cell of its body. Its whole skin functions as an ear; it is all ears.
               And that's how a disciple has to be: all ears; not only listening from the ears but listening from
           the feet to the head, listening from each cell of one's being so that each fiber of your existence starts
           pulsating, falls in rhythm with the master.
               The serpent is of great significance. Jesus is right. You became puzzled, Jayesh, because of the
           word 'cunning'. It simply means wise.

               Sheikh Mustapha needed one more horse before setting off on a trip into the desert. Two steeds
           were brought to him from a nearby village, but the owner of each horse, not wanting to give up his
           animal, insisted his nag was worthless, brokenwinded, old and crippled.
           "It is a simple thing to settle," said the sheikh. "We will stage a race. The winning horse will be
           taken."
               An advisor stepped forward and whispered, "It won't work, Your Highness. Neither man will let
           his horse run fast."
           "They will," said Mustapha. "Let each man ride the other's horse."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                You can call it cunningness, you can call it wisdom. The sheikh is wise, is cunning, is sly. He
           says, "Let each man ride the other's horse." Then there is not going to be any difficulty to decide who
           comes first, because each will try the hardest possible to bring the horse first -- it is the other's horse.
                Jesus says: Be wise, be cunning, be sly -- because life is complex, very complex, and your
           bondage is very ancient. You have become accustomed to your slavery. Unless you behave very
           intelligently, there is no possibility of your ever getting out of this imprisonment. You will have to
           focus all your energy on a single point: how to attain freedom.
                It is like a prisoner: if he wants to get out of the jail he will have to be really cunning, wise, sly.
           He will have to watch from where to escape, he will have to watch continuously what side of the
           prison is less guarded. He will have to watch very carefully which guards can be bribed. He will
           have to make some connection with outside people; only if he can get some help from the outside --
           a rope, a ladder, certain informations: at what time of the night he should escape, at what time the
           guards are changed, at what time the guard falls asleep, how to get the rope, how to get a ladder.... If
           he behaves stupidly he will be caught, and he will be far more in danger than before. It is better not
           to try to escape if you are not intelligent enough.
                Hence each master sharpens your intelligence. Wherever you find that your intelligence is being
           dulled, escape from that place as fast as possible.
                And that's what is being done in almost all the so-called spiritual places. The so-called ashrams
           and the temples and the mosques and the churches, they dull you, they console you. They tell you
           that you are already free, there is no need to go anywhere. They tell you that the prison does not exist
           -- this is your home. They tell you the guard is not your enemy, he is your friend. He is not guarding
           you so that you cannot escape, no; he is guarding you so that nobody can enter in and harm you.
           They say decorate the prison. They give you all kinds of suggestions and advice how to decorate it
           and how to make it beautiful. They console you. And the more you are consoled, the more you are
           lulled into sleep, the less becomes the possibility of your ever becoming a buddha, ever becoming
           awakened, ever becoming really free.
                Your so-called saints go on singing lullabies; they help you to sleep better. And you will be
           surprised that the so-called mantras are nothing but a way to fall deeply asleep. That's what
           Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation is. If you repeat ANY word... it does not matter
           what word you repeat -- Rama, Rama, or Krishna, Krishna, or Christ, Christ, or Coca-Cola,
           Coca-Cola -- anything will do. If you go on repeating a certain word continuously it will help you to
           fall deep asleep, because the mind becomes bored with it. When the mind becomes bored it starts
           feeling dull, sleepy. When the mind becomes bored there is only one escape from the boredom -- to
           fall asleep.
                Mothers have known it for centuries. Transcendental meditation has been used by all the mothers
           all over the world. Whenever the child is not going to sleep they start repeating a single line, a
           lullaby. Anything will do; just go on repeating the same again and again and the child starts falling
           asleep.
                And that's how hypnosis functions: any repetition -- a mantra is not necessarily needed --
           ANYTHING. You can make a black spot on the wall and go on looking at it, looking constantly at it,
           and within minutes you will be fast asleep, because consciousness needs flow, consciousness needs
           something new to keep alert, consciousness needs movement. Consciousness is a stream.
                In fact it is because of this that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation -- which is
           neither transcendental nor meditation -- has become so significant in America. America is the
           country which suffers most from sleeplessness, the only country which can sleep only through
           tranquilizers, sleeping pills -- and even those are no longer working -- the only country which has
           become so restless that sleep has become almost impossible. New methods are needed, more subtle
           methods are needed.
                But to fall asleep is not meditation, it is consolation. It will give you a little rest and tomorrow
           you will find yourself a little more fresh. It is good -- I am not against it. It is a nonmedicinal
           tranquilizer. If you use tranquilizers you can use transcendental meditation -- far better. At least you
           are not stuffing yourself with chemicals which may have any side effect. It will not harm you, but it
           is not meditation at all -- because meditation means sharpening of intelligence. Meditation means
           becoming more alert, more bright, more brilliant, becoming more luminous, becoming more wise.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Jesus is right when he says: Become as cunning as the serpents. Have you watched a serpent --
           how alert he is, how watchful? A slight disturbance, just a dry leaf in the wind, and the serpent
           escapes. You walk, your footsteps are enough... just a little sound and the serpent is gone like the
           wind. He is so alert, so watchful.
                Learn that watchfulness, learn that alertness. Learn that beautiful movement, that flexibility, that
           fluidity of a serpent. And be as innocent as doves.
                Jesus is bringing both the polar opposites: be wise, intelligent, but not knowledgeable, and be
           innocent. You may misunderstand wisdom as knowledge; hence he adds: be innocent as doves. If
           you are innocent and wise you cannot be knowledgeable; you will be intelligent, but you will not be
           knowledgeable. You will not go on accumulating knowledge, you will not become a walking
           ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. Those kind of people are almost always stupid.
                I have come across a man who was really a walking ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; that
           was all that he was reading. Now, the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA is not something to read;
           once in a while you can consult it. But this man was continuously reading it. You could have asked
           any question; if it is in the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA then that man was able to answer it
           exactly like that. For a few days he stayed with me; I have never seen such a stupid man -- very
           knowledgeable and very stupid.
                This happens because his knowledge has not given him more consciousness, his knowledge has
           given him only information. Information becomes accumulated in the memory part of your brain --
           and memory is not consciousness; consciousness is a totally different phenomenon. Consciousness is
           the witness in you, it can witness your memory.
                Sometimes you see a person, you remember that you remember him, but still the name is not
           coming. You say it is just on the tip of the tongue, you KNOW it is just on the tip of the tongue, and
           still it is not coming. What is happening? Your consciousness says it is in the memory, but somehow
           the memory is blocked, somehow the memory is not in a state to deliver what you need. There may
           be some obstacle; maybe you are so much in a hurry that the memory has become tense. You try
           hard; the harder you try, the more difficult it becomes. Then in tremendous frustration you drop the
           whole project. You go into the garden, you sit under a tree, you start smoking... and suddenly it
           bubbles up, it surfaces.
                Your consciousness is a totally different phenomenon. Your consciousness was saying, "It IS in
           the memory..." but somehow you have not been able to find it. And then sitting under the tree,
           smoking relaxedly, it surfaces. Now your consciousness watches it surfacing; now you know it has
           come in front of you. You are seeing it coming up; you are the seer, you are never the seen. You are
           never the content of consciousness, you are consciousness.
                The knowledgeable person gathers content, and the meditative person sharpens consciousness.
           The meditative person becomes wise; the knowledgeable person remains simply knowledgeable. But
           if some situation arises in which his knowledge is not applicable, he will behave very stupidly. He
           will not know what to do, he will be completely at a loss. If the answer is in the encyclopedia he will
           repeat it like a gramophone record, but if the answer is not there in the encyclopedia then he will be
           simply dumb; he will not be able to respond spontaneously.
                Wisdom is a spontaneous response; knowledge is depending on the past. Knowledge is
           mechanical; it can be done by a computer. And sooner or later it is going to be done by computers,
           because memorizing is a wastage of time, an unnecessary wastage of time. A small portable
           computer can do everything: you can keep it in your pocket and it can remember the whole
           ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; just pushing a button any information can be available.
                In the coming century the whole education system is going to be totally transformed and changed
           because of the computer. It will be stupid to teach children history, geography -- unnecessary, there
           is no need. All that can be done by a computer; the child can carry the computer.
                And my own observation is: the less you depend on memory, the more intelligent you become.
           That's why it happens that in the universities you will not find very intelligent people. Professors,
           chancellors, vice-chancellors -- I have seen many, but it is very difficult to find some intelligent
           person there. You can find more intelligent people in the farmers, in the gardeners, in the villagers.
           And the reason is clear: because they are not knowledgeable they cannot depend on the memory.
           They have to respond to reality, they have to respond to challenges, they have to bring their
           consciousness to respond -- their consciousness remains more sharp. A farmer, a villager, is far more
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wise than a professor in the university. The professor can depend on the memory, the farmer cannot
           depend on the memory.

           I have heard:
               A woman purchased some canned fruits, but it was a new type of can and she did not know how
           to open it. So she told the cook, "You wait. I will look in the literature -- the literature has come with
           the can. Let me see: they must say how to open it."
               She went to look in the literature. After half an hour when she had studied the whole literature
           she came back, but the cook by that time had opened the can. She asked, "How did you manage? It
           was even difficult for me to find out in the literature how to open it! How did YOU manage?"
               The cook said, "Because I can't read I have to depend on my intelligence. You can read; you
           need not use your intelligence."

              Be wise -- that means be more conscious. And be innocent -- that means be more like a child, full
           of wonder and awe. If these two qualities are there, wonder and awe, intelligence and wisdom, you
           cannot miss God; it is impossible to miss God.
              Then you will not ask where God is, you will ask where God is not. He is everywhere, within and
           without.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO MEN HAVE HAIR ON THEIR CHESTS?

              Well, Sahajanand, they can't have everything!

              The fourth question:



              BELOVED MASTER,
              L. RON HUBBARD'S WORK FOCUSES ON CLEARING THE MIND, WHEREAS YOU OFTEN
              SPEAK OF DROPPING THE MIND. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? PLEASE COMMENT.


               Anand Salam, L. Ron Hubbard's work is psychological, it is not spiritual. To clear the mind is a
           psychological work: to drop the mind is a spiritual revolution. Clearing the mind you remain
           attached to the mind, and howsoever you clear it, it remains. Even if the glass wall is absolutely
           transparent and you can see outside as clearly as if you are outside, still you are not outside. The
           very clear, absolutely transparent glass wall still keeps you imprisoned. You can see the butterflies in
           the sun, you can see flowers, you can see birds flying in the sky, you can see clouds and the moon
           and the stars....
               And if you don't try to get out you may remain in the deception that you are out in the open. But
           if you try to get out, you are in for a great surprise: there is a transparent wall that prevents you --
           you are still a prisoner.
               The mind can be made very clear, but the mind remains. In fact the more clear it is, the more you
           will be deceived by it -- because it will become more and more transparent. You will not feel
           enclosed by it, you will become identified with it. And the clear mind will give you great insights,
           great visions -- of light, of love, of the beyond -- and you may start thinking that you are having
           spiritual experiences.
               NO experience is ever spiritual; ALL experiences are psychological. To go beyond your
           psychology is what I mean when I say drop the mind.
               Hubbard's work is very ordinary; it should be part of the psychological literature. But in the West
           people have forgotten completely what spirituality is all about; hence it is very easy to deceive. And
           I am not saying that Hubbard is deceiving others -- he may be deceived himself. He has a clear mind
           and his processes are good as far as clearance of the mind is concerned, but it is not spiritual work. It
           cannot take you to the eternal and it cannot make you aware of your innermost core. It keeps you
           identified with the mind, and the more mind becomes clear and beautiful, the more you become
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           attached to it because the more precious it looks. And when it starts giving you visions and spiritual
           experiences, then it becomes absolutely impossible to drop it. It is easier to drop an unclear,
           confused mind; it is difficult to drop a clear mind.
                So I am not interested in making your mind clear. My whole effort is to make you aware of your
           confused mind, to make you aware of your ill mind, to make you aware of your insanities, to make
           you aware of your schizophrenia, to make you aware of your whole pathology, so that you are bound
           to drop it, you cannot cling to it anymore.
                And the moment mind is dropped, the moment you know you are not the mind, a mutation has
           taken place. You are transported into another world; you have entered into the world of
           consciousness.
                The body is there. The physiologists work on it and they think the body is all -- they don't even
           believe in mind. Mind is an epiphenomenon, just a by-product; it is nothing but the functioning of
           the body. Then there are psychologists who think man is more than the body: he is psychology, he is
           mind, he is not just the body. But their mind also is going to die with the body; maybe it is separate
           but it cannot exist on its own.
                The psychologist has not moved very far away from the physiologist. And in fact psychology and
           physiology are two aspects of the same coin. Man is neither body nor mind but both: man is
           bodymind, man is psychosomatic. The body affects the mind, the mind affects the body; hence they
           are not separate. You drink alcohol; the alcohol goes into the body but affects the mind. You can
           take LSD or marijuana; it goes in the body, it changes the chemistry of the body, but immediately
           your mind is totally different.
                Even a man like Aldous Huxley was deceived by LSD. He thought that under the impact of LSD
           what he was experiencing was exactly what Kabir had experienced in his mystic experiences, in his
           mystic world. A man like Huxley, a man of far more clear mind than Hubbard, got deceived. He
           thought that, "We have found the shortcut to spiritual experience: LSD is enough. There is no need
           now to fast for years, no need to stand on your head for years, no need to torture your body, no need
           to do the old, ancient austerities. Those are bullock-cart methods, and we are in a jet age and we
           have found a spiritual shortcut -- LSD." He was deceived because he also thought that the mind is
           all. And LSD can give you great mental experiences because it can change your mind.
                Change the body, the mind changes. Change the mind, the body changes.
                That's how hypnosis works. If you are hypnotized and told that tomorrow you are going to have a
           great fever, if it is insisted again and again and you are conditioned that tomorrow, early morning, as
           you wake up you will find yourself with a great fever.... Nothing has been done to the body, just your
           mind has been conditioned: tomorrow morning you are going to suffer from fever. One can even die.
                In 1952, a few countries of the world made laws against hypnosis. They made it clear that only
           authorized hypnotists can be allowed to hypnotize people, because in one of the universities of
           America a great accident happened. Four students, all psychology students, were studying about
           hypnosis and the history of hypnotism, and they became intrigued and they wanted to try it. So they
           hypnotized one of their friends; he must have been really very vulnerable.
                Thirty-three percent of people are very vulnerable; out of three one person is very ready to be
           hypnotized. These thirty-three percent are the problem in the world; up to now they have been the
           problem: anybody can hypnotize them. Adolf Hitler depended on these thirty-three percent, Mao
           Zedong depended on these thirty-three percent. All wars, all fanatic crusades, have depended on
           these thirty-three percent. One third of the people of the world are very prone, very ready, to be
           hypnotized.
                By coincidence that boy must have been one of those people, and those three tried hard to
           hypnotize him. They hypnotized him and they were feeling great, because whatsoever they were
           saying, he was doing. They told him to dance, he danced. They told him that, "This is very hot
           water," and they gave him ice-cold water, and he could not drink it. He said, "It is too hot, my mouth
           will be burned." And they were surprised when they put a small pebble on the palm of the
           hypnotized person and told him that, "This is fire." He was already burned, immediately burned,
           actually burned -- by a cold pebble. They became more and more intrigued by the whole
           phenomenon.
                They tried the last thing. They told the person to lie down and they told him, "You are dead!" --
           and he died. Then they tried hard to wake him up, but it was too late. Because of that incident many
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           countries have made laws against hypnosis. Only authorized professionals should be allowed to use
           it because it can be dangerous. It can affect your mind, and through the mind your body.
               Mind and body are not separate, but YOU are a third entity. You are in the body, in the mind, but
           you are not identified with them. You are a witnessing consciousness.
               My work is totally different from Hubbard's work: his work is psychological, my work is
           spiritual. My effort here is not to give you a clear mind; my effort here is to give you a state of
           no-mind, because only through no-mind will you be able to know the reality -- the reality within and
           the reality without. But the no-mind is the door, the only door.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY IS IT THAT THE JOURNALISTS NEVER SEEM TO UNDERSTAND YOU?


                Kavyo, it has nothing to do with me. They have never understood Jesus, Socrates, Buddha,
           Kabir. They cannot understand; it is against their investment.
                The journalist lives on creating sensations. Any news is news only when it is sensation. They live
           on rumors and they have to make rumors very spicy. They have no interest in truth, because truth is
           never news. Truth is so ancient, truth is always the same. I am saying the same truth. Buddha said it,
           Christ said it, and all those who have known. It is nothing new -- how it can be news?
                And they come here in search of news. They have to invent -- and it is really interesting how
           inventive people can be.
                Just a few days ago I was reading a report in a Punjabi magazine about this commune, this
           ashram. The man says, the journalist says, that he has been here for fifteen days, stayed in the
           commune, and whatsoever he is writing is based on his own experience. Because he introduced his
           article in this way I became interested: what has he seen? So I went through it. Ordinarily I don't
           read what journalists go on writing, it is impossible. We have a big press department for that, at least
           thirty persons continuously reading and collecting, because it is happening all over the world, in all
           the languages. So much is being published that it is impossible for me to keep any track of it. But
           because this man said that, "I have been in the ashram for fifteen days," I looked into the article. I
           was amazed!
                He says that the ashram is spread over fifteen square miles! Now, I think even Poona is not
           spread over fifteen square miles. He says the moment you enter the gate the first thing that you see is
           a big white marble statue of a naked woman! Because I very rarely go to the gate, I asked Laxmi,
           "What has happened? Where is this statue?"
                He says that there are artificial lakes, artificial waterfalls, thousands of sannyasins swim naked in
           the lake. There are underground air-conditioned halls where ten thousand people can sit together.
           Each morning I deliver a discourse in an underground hall. You are sitting in an underground hall,
           air-conditioned, and not only that -- all the disciples have to sit in absolute nudity! Feel your clothes
           -- if you think you are wearing clothes you are deceived. You are all naked.
                Now these people have a great investment in creating rumors. That's how the magazines, the
           newspapers sell. They have nothing to do with truth. This man has never been here.
                They cannot understand for two reasons. First: if they understand, they will not be able to write
           anything. That has happened to a few journalists. Those who have understood, they have become
           sannyasins; they have forgotten all about writing. They had come to write; now they have decided
           not to go again back, they have decided to be here.
                Not only journalists... here are detectives from many countries. And a few detectives even have
           become sannyasins! And they have confessed to me that they had come as spies, but now they have
           understood what is happening here and they would like to become part of the commune.
                If a journalist goes and reports exactly what he has seen, nobody is going to believe him. That's
           what happened with Satyananda. He had come from a famous German magazine, STERN, to report;
           then he became a sannyasin. His becoming a sannyasin created a trouble. His own people with whom
           he had worked for years -- the chief editor, the editors and others -- they thought that he had been
           hypnotized. He tried hard for months to convince them that he had not been hypnotized, but they
           wouldn't listen. They were not even ready to publish what he had written. They said, "You are too
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           much influenced, you are not in your senses." And even when they agreed after months of argument
           to publish it, they cut the whole article into half in such a way that it lost all context, it lost all its
           wholeness, it became fragmentary.
               In the first place, the journalist lives on rumors. He is not here to understand me, he is here to
           MISunderstand me; that is his investment. Secondly: the people who become journalists -- not all the
           people but almost ninety-nine point nine percent of the people who become journalists -- are very
           uncreative people. In fact those who can create, they create; those who cannot create, they criticize.
           Uncreative people become great critics.
               It is easy to criticize poetry, it is difficult to write poetry. It is very easy to criticize painting --
           you can criticize Picasso, but you cannot paint like Picasso. It is easy to criticize anything.

                Turgenev has written a story, THE FOOL. In a certain town there was a man who was known as
           the greatest idiot in these parts. He was very much worried because wherever he would go people
           would laugh at him, whatsoever he would say people would ridicule him. Even if he was saying
           something right, people would laugh at him because nobody could believe that the idiot could say
           anything right. It was assumed that he was a perfect idiot.
                A Sufi mystic was passing through the village. The idiot went to him and he said, "My whole life
           is wasted -- everybody thinks I am an idiot. Can you help me?"
                He said, "It is so easy! You just start doing one thing -- you start criticizing, and after seven days
           you come to me. I will remain here for seven days just for you; within seven days everything will be
           changed. But you criticize! If somebody quotes Shakespeare, immediately say, 'What is there in it? It
           is all nonsense, rubbish!' If somebody says, 'The moon is beautiful, look!' -- just say, 'What is it? I
           don't see any beauty. Prove what beauty is there!' Nobody can prove it, because beauty cannot be
           proved. If somebody says, 'What a beautiful morning!' -- immediately jump upon it and start
           criticizing. You do only one thing for seven days: go around the town and criticize everybody."
                Within seven days the man came back -- not alone, followed by hundreds of people, and they all
           said, "You have done a miracle! The greatest idiot has become the greatest wise man. Nobody can
           argue with him."

               It is easier to criticize, very easy to criticize. It is very difficult to create.
               And what I am creating is something invisible. Unless you have very sympathetic eyes you will
           not be able to see it. Unless you fall in rapport with me you will not be able to understand it.

               Father Murphy was a priest in a very poor parish. He asked for some suggestions as to how he
           could raise money and was told that a racehorse owner always had money.
               He went to a horse auction, but instead of buying a horse he got a donkey. However, he thought
           he would enter it in the race and the donkey came in third. The next day the headlines in the paper
           read, "Father Murphy's ass showed." The archbishop saw the headlines and was displeased.
               The next day the donkey came in first and the headlines read, "Father Murphy's ass out in front."
           The archbishop was up in arms and figured something had to be done. Father Murphy had entered
           the donkey once again and the donkey came in second.
               The headlines read, "Father Murphy's ass back in place." The archbishop thought this too much,
           and forbade the priest to enter the donkey in the next race.
               The next day the headlines read, "Archbishop scratches Father Murphy's ass."
               The archbishop ordered Father Murphy to get rid of the donkey. He was unable to sell it, so he
           gave it to Sister Agatha for a pet. When the archbishop heard this he ordered Sister Agatha to
           dispose of the animal at once. Since she could not give it away, she sold it for ten dollars.
               The next day the headlines read, "Sister Agatha peddles her ass for ten dollars."
           They buried the archbishop three days later.

               Journalists live on such stupid things. Their whole investment is wrong, their priorities are
           wrong. And they know perfectly well how to report about politicians because that is their business.
           The politician understands them, they understand the politician; they speak the same language. But
           when they come across a person like me, the distance is so vast. They speak one language, I speak
           totally another. They can't understand what I am saying: they go on misunderstanding it, they go on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           putting their own interpretations on it.
               And the journalists think themselves very clever, they think themselves very knowledgeable,
           they think themselves very intellectual. A great misunderstanding prevails that they are part of the
           intelligentsia -- they are not!
               Intelligence is always creative; it is only nonintelligence which is critical. Criticism is not of
           much value; hence I don't pay any attention to what they go on saying. And you need not be worried
           about them -- leave them to themselves.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO SPEAK YEAR IN, YEAR OUT, AND STILL IT IS ALWAYS AS FRESH
              AS THE MORNING RAYS OF THE SUN?


               Suryananda, I am a drunkard! I don't know what I have said yesterday. In fact I don't know what
           I have said today. And slowly slowly you also become drunkards with me, so you go on forgetting.
           Hence it appears every day fresh and new, because neither I remember nor you remember! And there
           is no need to remember either.

               The new priest at his first mass was so afraid he could hardly speak. Before his second week at
           the pulpit he asked the other priest how he could relax.
               The priest replied, "Next week it may help if you put a martini in the water pitcher. After a few
           sips, everything should go smoothly."
               The following week, the young priest put his elder's suggestion into practice and really talked up
           a storm.
               After his sermon, he asked the other priest how he liked the sermon.
               The elder priest replied, "There are a few things you should learn before addressing the
           congregation again:

           1. Next time sip instead of gulp the martini.
           2. There are twelve disciples, not ten.
           3. There are ten commandments, not twelve.
               4. David slew Goliath, he did not kick the shit out of him.
               5. We do not refer to our savior Jesus Christ and his disciples as J.C. and the boys.
               6. Next week there is a taffy-pulling contest at Saint Peter's, not a peter-pulling contest at Taffy's.
           7. We do not refer to the Cross as the Big T.
               8. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not referred to as Big Daddy, Junior and Spook.
               9. Last but not least, it is the Virgin Mary, not Mary with the cherry."

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                      Chapter #5
                                         Chapter title: Freedom contains all
           16 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908160
              ShortTitle: DHAM305
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Length: 105 mins




              AT THE END OF THE WAY,
              THE MASTER FINDS FREEDOM
              FROM DESIRE AND SORROW --
              FREEDOM WITHOUT BOUNDS.



              THOSE WHO AWAKEN
              NEVER REST IN ONE PLACE.
              LIKE SWANS, THEY RISE
              AND LEAVE THE LAKE.



              ON THE AIR THEY RISE
              AND FLY AN INVISIBLE COURSE,
              GATHERING NOTHING, STORING NOTHING.
              THEIR FOOD IS KNOWLEDGE.
              THEY LIVE UPON EMPTINESS.
              THEY HAVE SEEN HOW TO BREAK FREE.



              WHO CAN FOLLOW THEM?
              ONLY THE MASTER,
              SUCH IS HIS PURITY.



              LIKE A BIRD,
              HE RISES ON THE LIMITLESS AIR
              AND FLIES AN INVISIBLE COURSE.
              HE WISHES FOR NOTHING.
              HIS FOOD IS KNOWLEDGE.



              HE LIVES UPON EMPTINESS.
              HE HAS BROKEN FREE.


               Gautam Buddha's search is not for God; it cannot be. If God is not known already, how can you
           search for him? If the search depends on believing in God, then the search is falsified from the very
           beginning.
               A true search has to be neither of belief nor of disbelief. If you believe, you will project; you will
           autohypnotize yourself according to your belief. There is every danger that you will find whatsoever
           you believe in -- you will create an illusion of it.
               Deep belief can create a space in which hallucinations become possible. Hence the Christian can
           see Christ and the Hindu can see Krishna. The Hindu never comes across Christ, the Christian never
           comes across Krishna. Why does it never happen? -- because whatsoever you believe, you find. Not
           that it is there in reality but because you are projecting it on reality. The reality functions as a screen
           and you go on projecting your own prejudice. If you disbelieve, then of course there is no possibility
           of ever finding it; from the very beginning your mind is closed.
               Hence Buddha's search is not for God. We don't know whether God is or not; we cannot take any
           standpoint. And without taking a standpoint about God there is a possibility of inquiring into his
           reality.
               This is a basic difference between Buddha's approach and the approach of all other religions.
           Buddha is far superior. The other religions are very anthropocentric: their idea of God is nothing but
           their idea of man -- projected, magnified, decorated, made as beautiful as possible, but it is man
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           projected onto the sky.
                That's why the Negro will have a God according to the Negro idea of what a human being is: the
           lips will be thick, the hair will be curly. The Chinese will have his own projection, the Indian will
           have his own idea. There are three hundred religions on the earth; there are not three hundred gods.
           Why these three hundred religions? And these three hundred religions have at least three thousand
           sects, and they all have differences about God and God's conception.
                God is one, because reality is one. If God is equal to reality, synonymous with reality, then there
           are not many existences, there is only one existence -- it can't have so many images. In fact, no
           image can represent it; every image will be only partial. And to claim the whole truth for the part is a
           sin -- a sin against yourself and against humanity and against truth.
                And the moment you start thinking about God in anthropocentric terms, you make an image.
           That image is nothing but a toy to play with. You can worship it, you can pray, you can bow down to
           it, but you are simply being stupid. You are bowing down to your own toy, you are worshipping your
           own creation! And that's what your temples, your churches, your mosques are -- man-made,
           manufactured by man's own mind.
                God cannot be manufactured. God cannot be part of man's creation. On the contrary, man is
           God's creation. The Bible says: God created man in his own image. But what has happened on the
           earth is just the opposite of it: man has created God in his own image. And of course there are many
           kinds of man, so there are many kinds of God, and great quarreling continues, who is right. It is not
           the question of WHAT concept of God is right, the question basically is WHOSE concept is right.
                God too has become an ego trip: Christians fighting with Mohammedans, Mohammedans
           fighting with Hindus, Hindus fighting with Jainas. And this "sorry-go-round" goes on and on.... The
           whole history of humanity has been ugly because of these so-called religious people. They have
           proved the most irreligious. They have proved to be the greatest fanatics, utterly blind, deeply
           prejudiced, completely closed, not ready to listen to anything that goes against them or that is a little
           bit different from their idea. Religions have made people blind, deaf. Religions have made people
           foolish, unintelligent.
                Buddha is a totally different world, he brings a totally different vision. The first thing to be
           remembered: he is not interested in God... and the miracle is that he finds God. His inquiry is not
           into God, but he ends, he lands, in God. His inquiry begins with a totally different angle, and that is
           the right angle to begin with. If you start as Buddha starts, you are bound to find God.
                H.G. Wells is right when he says that Gautama the Buddha is the most godly man on the earth
           and yet the most godless. Yes, he is a paradox. He denies God, he says there is no God. He says there
           is no need to worship, he says there is no need to believe. Inquire, don't believe! Search and seek, but
           without any prejudice for or against. Start with a totally pure and open mind. Start like a small child,
           in utter innocence, who has not even heard of God. And he does not say that if you start this way you
           will find God, because he knows the cunningness of human mind. If he says, "If you start this way
           you will find God," your mind will say to you, "Then THIS is the way to find God -- start this way,"
           but deep down your desire for God remains. The desire for God arises in your psychology; it is not a
           spiritual search.
                Sigmund Freud is right that God is nothing but a search for a father or mother figure. Buddha
           would have agreed with him, Buddha would have blessed Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud's insight
           is very accurate about it. He does not go very far, but he begins rightly, though he becomes stuck in
           the middle because he was not aware of Buddha and he was not aware of Lao Tzu. He remained
           basically part of the Judaic-Christian tradition -- which is not very evolved, which is not yet a
           metaphysics in the true sense of the term.
                Christianity and Judaism are very earthly religions, more rooted in man's psychology than in
           man's spiritual understanding. And because man's psychology is a chaos, whatsoever is rooted in his
           psychology is bound to remain a chaos.
                Man needs a father figure, somebody to depend upon. In the name of God people are not
           searching for God but are only searching for excuses for their dependence -- beautiful excuses so
           that the dependence does not look like slavery, so the dependence also starts having a flavor of
           religiousness, spirituality. But to call God "the father" indicates what you have been searching for.
                There are religions which call God "the mother"; it is the same, the same game -- either mother
           or father. If the society is mother-oriented, matriarchal, then God becomes "the mother"; if the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           society is father-oriented, patriarchal, then God becomes "the father."
                Germany calls itself "the fatherland," India calls itself "the motherland"; the difference is only in
           names. Whether you call the country motherland or fatherland does not make much difference,
           because you create the same trouble. The labels are different but it is the same politics; the labels are
           different but it is the same childish approach towards reality.
                Why do you seek for God? Out of fear? Yes, there is fear, because there is death. If you are
           seeking God out of fear you will never find him. God can be found only through love, not through
           fear.
                In all the languages of the world such phrases exist as "God-fearing"; the religious person is
           called God-fearing. It is utter nonsense! A religious person is never God-fearing: a religious person
           is God-LOVING. His prayer arises not out of fear but out of tremendous love and gratitude. His
           prayer is a thankfulness, not a demand. He does not ask for security, because he knows already that
           he is secure. He does not ask for safety, he does not ask for protection, because he knows that
           existence protects, that existence is our home, that we belong to it and that it belongs to us. Why
           should he ask for such things which are already available, which are already given, which are built
           in, in your very existence?
                But the so-called religious person goes on demanding. Maybe he has lost his father, his mother...
           and everybody one day or other loses them. It is not really that your father dies, then you lose him;
           the moment you become mature, you start moving on your own, the father is lost, the mother is lost
           -- and the childhood illusions are lost. And then great fear arises: up to now you were protected by
           the father, cared for by the mother. Now who is going to protect you and who is going to care for
           you? The sky seems to be utterly neutral; it does not care this way or that, whether you live or die
           doesn't matter. A great fear arises in one's being, a trembling. Soren Kierkegaard has exactly called it
           trembling; in that trembling he thinks religion is born. Yes, in that trembling religion is born, but that
           religion is pseudo, that religion is not true.
                Religion is born when you are centered, rooted, not trembling. Religion is born in great
           understanding, not in fear. Religion is born when you start feeling that the existence responds with
           love, that it is not uncaring, that it is not cold; that it is very warm, that it is very welcoming. It is our
           very life -- how can it be uncaring towards us?
                But the so-called religious people go on asking God for protection; hence God is called "The
           Great Protector." The religious people go on asking God for eternal life because they are trembling,
           they are scared of death... and death is coming every day closer and closer. Soon it will encompass
           you, it will drown you into darkness. Before that you have to find a secure ground, a home. That
           becomes your search for God.
                Buddha is not interested in such a search. He says rather than listening to the ill, pathological
           mind and going according to it in search of God, it is better to drop this pathological mind. It is
           better to drop this whole pathology, be free of it -- because in that freedom is seeing, in that freedom
           is knowing.
                Free from mind you become a knower. You become so absolutely certain of immortality, of
           timelessness, of deathlessness, that there is no need for any God to protect you -- you are already
           protected. In that protection you bow down to existence in gratitude. In that protection, in that
           caring, in that love that goes on flowing invisibly from the universe towards you.... It nourishes you
           every moment. It is the universe that you breathe in and out, it is the universe that flows in your
           blood, it is the universe that becomes your bones, your very marrow. The moment it becomes your
           own experience, you have become religious.
                And now you know that God is, but this is a totally different God. It is not a father figure -- it is
           not a figure at all. It is not a person but a presence, a loving presence overflowing the whole cosmos.
           Now it is not a person controlling, a dictator dictating. It is not like the Old Testament God who
           says, "I am very jealous."
                Buddha says: God and jealous? Then who is going to be beyond jealousy? Buddha says even
           man has to become nonjealous, only then will he be able to know God. But can it be a condition that
           you have to become nonjealous and then you will know a jealous God? Can it be a condition that to
           know a jealous God first you have to drop all your jealousies? That would be very illogical! The Old
           Testament God says, "I am jealous, I am angry. Those who don't listen to me will be condemned
           forever!"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Bertrand Russell has written a book, WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. In the book he gives
           many arguments; one of those arguments is worth considering. He says the Christian and Jewish God
           seems to be utterly unjust, unfair, because Christians and Jews believe only in one life. Bertrand
           Russell says, "As far as I am concerned, for all the crimes that I have committed, even the hardest
           judge cannot sentence me for more than four years. And if the sins that I have not committed but
           only contemplated are also included, then too, at the most, eight years, ten years."
               In a life of seventy years, how much sin can you commit? In a life of seventy years one third is
           spent in sleeping, the other one third in working for bread and butter. What time do you have to
           commit sin and how much can you commit? And, Russell says, the Christian, the Jewish Gods say
           you will be punished for eternity! Now, this is unfair! Even if you punish a man for seventy years,
           okay; seventy years at least he lived. If life itself is sin, if to breathe is sin, then send him for seventy
           years to hell -- but sending him to hell for eternity, for ever and ever he will be in hell... Russell says
           that this is unjust. If this is your idea of God, then what is your idea of the Devil? How can God be
           more devilish? This is a very evil conception.
               But because the so-called religions are based in fear, such ideas create more fear in people. And
           the priests exploit your fear; they say you will be condemned, punished. And they have created
           pictures, paintings of hell, hellfire and all kinds of tortures they have invented in hell.
               These people can't be saints. Even to contemplate that others should be burned forever and
           forever needs a very cruel mind -- even to think about it, even to write about it.
               Buddha says the search, the true search, is not for God, cannot be -- because God is the need of a
           pathological mind. Let this sink deep in you; otherwise you will not be able to understand this very
           superior vision of religion.
               Secondly, Buddha says religion is not a search for truth either, because the moment you start
           inquiring about truth you become intellectuals. The whole inquiry becomes philosophical,
           intellectual, rational -- truth is a rational concept. Then you start thinking that you have to go through
           many logical processes, that you have to argue, discuss, debate, and then finally one day you will
           come to the conclusion -- as if truth is going to be a conclusion of a logical process, as if truth is
           going to be a by-product of your syllogism.
               Truth is not just intellectual. And what can the intellect think about truth? It is all imagination,
           inference. At the most it can arrive at a certain hypothesis, a workable hypothesis, utilitarian; but it
           can never arrive at any truth.
               That's why philosophy never arrives; it simply goes on and on in circles -- it moves in vicious
           circles. Science also never arrives at truth. At the most it comes across hypotheses which are
           accepted today and rejected tomorrow because tomorrow you find a better hypothesis which works
           more efficiently; hence yesterday's hypothesis has to be discarded.
               Newton is discarded by Albert Einstein; Albert Einstein will be discarded sooner or later by
           somebody else. Science never comes to truth, to ultimate truth. Everything is utilitarian: if it works
           then it is worth using. But the question is not of truth, the question is of utility.
               Buddha says truth can only be existential, not intellectual. Intellect will be a part in it, emotion
           will also be a part in it, the body will also be a part in it -- and the center of it is going to be your
           witnessing consciousness. It will be a total phenomenon, not only intellectual, not only emotional.
               There are two kinds of religion: the intellectual religions and the emotional religions. The
           intellectual religions philosophize and the emotional religions worship, pray -- but both are partial.
           And the truth is not just the sum total of all its parts: it is more than the sum total of its parts.
               Hence Buddha says an existential approach is needed -- not intellectual only, not emotional only.
           Neither the philosopher is going to discover it, nor the devotee.
               Thirdly, Buddha says, "My search is not for bliss either..." because you cannot conceive what
           bliss is. Whatsoever you will conceive is bound to be somehow colored by your idea of happiness.
           And your idea of happiness is not very blissful, is not very close to bliss. Your idea of happiness is
           much closer to unhappiness. Your idea of happiness is nothing but the opposite of unhappiness --
           and they are both together, two aspects of the same energy. Like day and night they are joined
           together; the day follows the night, then the night follows the day, and it goes on and on. Happy one
           moment, unhappy another, happy again, unhappy another... and this way your whole life is wasted.
               When you hear the word 'bliss', what notion arises in your mind? -- something of happiness,
           something of eternal happiness, something when you will never know unhappiness again. But if
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unhappiness disappears, happiness cannot remain. If darkness disappears completely there will be no
           light. They depend on each other; they appear contradictory but they are really complementaries. So
           whatsoever you conceive of as bliss is going to be wrong from the very beginning. You will be
           searching for a new kind of hedonism -- maybe spiritual, metaphysical. Maybe you are not searching
           happiness here, but you are searching for happiness on the other shore.
               And that's what all the religions talk about in the name of heaven, paradise: what they are
           missing here they project in paradise. If you look into the ideas about paradise of different people
           you will be able immediately to know one thing: what is missing in their life. You will not know
           anything about paradise, but you will certainly know what is missing in the lives of the people whose
           conception this paradise is.
               For example, the Mohammedan paradise has provision for homosexuality. Strange! But that's
           what was very much prevalent in the days when Mohammedanism was in its early stages. The
           Mohammedan countries have still remained very homosexual; it is the only paradise. So if some gay
           people are here they should remember it. When after death you are asked, "Where do you want to
           go?" immediately say, "To the Mohammedan paradise." There you will find gay clubs. But don't go
           to a Hindu paradise -- there you will not find gay clubs at all! That has never been the idea in India;
           it has been a sin.
               If you go to a Greek paradise you will find homosexuality very much praised. In fact, in the
           Greek culture man's body was thought to be far more beautiful than the woman's body; hence all the
           Greek sculpture is centered around the male figure. Even in the schools of Plato and Aristotle
           homosexuality was the rule, not the exception. The Greek idea of paradise is bound to be with the
           Greek mind.
               In the Hindu paradise you will find beautiful women and they are all stuck at the age sixteen, for
           centuries and centuries, because the Hindu idea of beauty is the sixteen-year-old girl -- not even
           eighteen, what to say about twenty-one! The Hindu idea is that at sixteen the woman attains
           perfection; after that there is deterioration. And because the Hindu, so-called saints were starving
           themselves of feminine relationship, from female energy, their minds were too much obsessed with
           women. Of course they had to find some consolation somewhere; their paradise is their consolation.
               In their paradise women have bodies of gold, eyes of diamonds. What kind of women these will
           be! Utterly dead! I don't think the Hindu saints will allow blood to run through their veins -- cows'
           milk will be far better and far purer, and holier too! And these girls go on dancing continuously,
           singing songs, around sages -- sages who had renounced family life here on the earth. They are really
           on a picnic! Their paradise is what they are missing here.
               Analyze the paradise of any race, any country, any religion, and you will know what they are
           really missing here. The Hindu paradise is very rich -- Hindus are poor. In the Hindu paradise there
           are rivers of milk -- water does not flow there. In the real world of the Hindus you cannot even find
           pure water in the rivers.
               I have not tasted water at least for fifteen years -- I have to depend on soda water! All kinds of
           impurities are found in Indian rivers, Indian water, because the whole sewage system goes on
           pouring itself into Indian rivers, and buffaloes and cows and people are taking their baths there.
           Indian rivers seem to be the dirtiest -- and that is the only water to drink. But they have managed
           beautifully in paradise; they have dropped water completely. Rivers are of milk and curd!
               And there are wish-fulfilling trees; you simply sit underneath the tree, no need to work at all.
           Indians are tired of working, utterly tired. Just sit under a wish-fulfilling tree and whatsoever you
           wish is immediately fulfilled, instantly -- just as you have instant coffee. That too takes a little time,
           but under the wish-fulfilling tree the wish arises, "A woman!" and the woman appears. "Food!" and
           suddenly there is food. "Coca-Cola!" and immediately there is Coca-Cola. India has been starving
           for centuries; the wish-fulfilling tree simply indicates the starving country, the poor country.
               When these scriptures were being written many things were not there in the world, hence they
           are not there; otherwise Rolls Royces would have been in paradise, especially made in solid gold, for
           the great sages, mahatmas, saints. They have golden thrones, so there is nothing wrong about having
           solid gold Rolls Royces. Here you have to move in worthless cars; even they are very difficult to
           find. India produces the worst kind of cars in the world!

              I have heard that when the manufacturer of Ambassador cars died -- I knew him, he was my
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           friend, so I believe that the story is true -- he was suddenly taken to paradise. He was very much
           puzzled because he was not hoping for that much. He was thinking that if he can get some good
           quarters in hell, that will do. This was too much! He was a little puzzled. He asked when the door
           was opened, he asked the doorkeeper, "Is there something wrong? -- because I have been thinking
           that I will be thrown into hell, I have never done anything good. Why are you taking me in?"
               The doorkeeper said, "You made the Ambassador, and because of the Ambassador many more
           people have remembered God than through anything else. Whosoever travels in an Ambassador
           remembers God continuously: 'My God!' You have made people so religious. Even atheists when
           they travel in your car start remembering God -- they have to! Hence this special concession for you:
           a special place has been reserved for you in heaven."
               If now the scriptures are written, then there will be solid gold Rolls Royces and everything that is
           missing here will be there.

               Buddha says: My search is not for bliss... because the moment you talk about bliss, people start
           thinking of pleasures. It is better not to talk about bliss, it is dangerous. People will simply
           misunderstand.
               Then what is his bliss for? He has chosen a word never chosen before -- he says: My search is for
           freedom. That word is immensely important: freedom from the ego, freedom from the mind, freedom
           from desires, freedom from all limitations. In a way, he is very scientific in his inward journey. He is
           saying if you can create a space in your being where your consciousness is totally free, then all is
           achieved: God is achieved, truth is achieved, beauty is achieved, bliss is achieved. But only in
           freedom anything becomes possible.
           Hence these sutras:

              AT THE END OF THE WAY,
              THE MASTER FINDS FREEDOM
              FROM DESIRE AND SORROW --
              FREEDOM WITHOUT BOUNDS.


                Not God, not truth, not bliss, but freedom. Freedom is Buddha's word which contains all: God,
           bliss, truth, beauty. And freedom avoids all other pitfalls. Freedom needs courage; you cannot attain
           to freedom if you are afraid. Freedom needs that you drop all identification with the mind and the
           body; otherwise you will remain confined, you can't be free.
                Freedom means that you get out of this constant desiring mind. It is the desiring mind that
           creates paradise. If you drop desire, how can you talk about paradise? If you drop desire, sorrow
           disappears automatically, because sorrow is a shadow of desire. The more you desire, the more
           frustrated you feel, because no desire is ever fulfilled. Desire is unfulfillable; its very nature is such.
           It is not that YOU are incapable of fulfilling it; desire's very nature is such that it cannot be fulfilled
           -- it goes on becoming bigger and bigger. In the beginning you ask for ten thousand rupees; by the
           time you have ten thousand, your desire has moved ahead of you -- it is asking for one hundred
           thousand rupees.
                It is like the horizon that surrounds the earth: it looks so close by. Move, and it moves ahead with
           you. The distance between you and the horizon remains always exactly the same. In fact, there is no
           place where earth meets the sky -- there is no horizon. The horizon is a mirage: it only appears, it is
           not a reality.
                So is fulfillment: fulfillment is only a mirage. It only appears there, very close, alluring,
           enchanting, inviting. You go on moving, and you waste your whole life; and by the time you are
           dying you have not even moved a single inch closer to fulfillment. People die on the same spot
           where they were born. People die in the same stupid state in which they were born.

           I have heard:
               Sir Henry, bored with English country life, visited a French SALON DE PLAISIR. In response
           to Sir Henry's request for something unusual, the madam suggested, "I can give you Hott Tung, a
           Chinese delicacy."
           "No," replied his lordship, "I have already had one of those."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Perhaps," asked the madam, "you would like to make a selection from our Black African group."
           "I have had one of those too," yawned Sir Henry. "Actually, the only thrill I have not tried would be
           a little bitty girl, about eight years old."
           "This is outrageous!" shrieked the madam. "The very idea is criminal! I am going to summon a
           policeman."
           "No, don't do that," said the Englishman. "I have already had one of those!"

               You can have everything and yet you will not have anything at all. You can have all the wealth
           of the world and still you will be poor. You can have all that the world makes available and yet the
           discontent will be deeper than ever before -- because before there were hopes, now even hopes will
           disappear.
               AT THE END OF THE WAY, THE MASTER FINDS FREEDOM. The goal is to find freedom,
           but one has to start becoming a master of oneself, master of one's consciousness. That is the
           beginning, the first step. You are not master of your own consciousness. You are a slave of a
           thousand and one desires, thoughts, imaginations. You are pulled into this direction and that. You
           don't know who you are and where you are going. You don't know why you are existing at all. You
           don't know the purpose of your life, you don't have any sense of direction. How can you be a master
           of yourself?
               The first thing to becoming a master of oneself is to become more conscious of your acts and
           your thoughts. Unconsciousness is slavery, consciousness is mastery.
               I call my sannyasins swamis; the word 'swami' means the master. It simply means one who is
           trying to become centered in his being, rooted in his consciousness, who is trying not to be pulled by
           desires against his wishes. But desires are very cunning and the ego plays such games that unless
           you are constantly alert you will remain a slave.

              Rabinowitz, hiding with his wife from the Nazis in a secluded Berlin attic, decided to get a
           breath of fresh air. While out walking he came face-to-face with Adolf Hitler.
              The German leader pulled out a gun and pointed to a pile of horse manure in the street. "Alright,
           Jew," he shouted, "eat that or I will kill you!" Trembling, Rabinowitz did as he was ordered.
              Hitler began laughing so hard he dropped the weapon. Rabinowitz snatched it up and said, "Now,
           you eat the manure or I will shoot!" The Fuhrer got down on his hands and knees and began eating.
              While he was occupied, Rabinowitz sneaked away, ran through an alley, climbed over a fence,
           and dashed up the stairs to the attic. He slammed the door shut, bolted and locked it securely.
           "Bessie! Bessie!" he shouted to his wife. "Guess who I had lunch with today!"

               The ego is very subtle. It can find opportunities where they don't exist at all; it can make the
           impossible possible. And you have to be very alert, because the mind is always rationalizing. The
           mind can go on rationalizing everything and it can rationalize so beautifully that even you will be
           allured -- it is your own mind deceiving you!
               Unless one is really committed to being free it is impossible to be free. It is very rarely a man
           becomes free, very rarely: a Jesus, a Moses, a Mohammed -- only few and far between. But everyone
           has the capacity, everyone has the seed, the potential. You can become a Jesus, you can become a
           Buddha, you can become a Confucius, you can become a Socrates.
               All that is needed, all that is required, is there. Only one thing is missing: you have not yet
           decided, you are indecisive; you have not decided to become a master of your own being. And then
           stupid things go on deceiving you, but you can always rationalize.

               It is little known that Sherlock Holmes had a secret vice unrevealed in the stories. When Dr.
           Watson came around to 221B Baker Street one afternoon, the housekeeper told him that Holmes had
           a visitor, a schoolgirl.
               Watson sat down to wait, but then heard muffled sounds coming from the study. Fearing that the
           schoolgirl might be an assassin in disguise he broke open the door, only to find the great detective
           and the girl -- a very young girl -- engaged in rather a shocking form of play.
           "By God, Holmes!" huffed the doctor, "just what sort of schoolgirl is this?"
           Smirked Holmes, "Elementary, my dear Watson!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               You can always find ways and means to protect yourself, to deceive others and to deceive
           yourself -- unless a very deliberate, conscious decision has been made. I call that decision sannyas.
               Sannyas is nothing but a decision, a total decision, a commitment, an involvement, that "Now my
           whole energy is going to move into one direction -- the direction of freedom; I have decided to be
           free, free from all desire and free from all sorrow. Freedom without bounds is my goal."
               And it can be attained. Once the decision is there and you are pouring your energy into it and
           nourishing it, nobody can prevent you from attaining it. It is your birthright.

              THOSE WHO AWAKEN
              NEVER REST IN ONE PLACE.
              LIKE SWANS, THEY RISE
              AND LEAVE THE LAKE.


                Buddha is saying: If you start awakening you will be surprised that your whole life you were
           stuck in the same place, you were not really moving. Your movement was empty, impotent. You
           were not moving, because you were not reaching anywhere. You were moving up and down on the
           same bank, thinking that by running up and down you will reach the other shore. But the other shore
           is as far away as ever, and you are unnecessarily wasting your breath.
                THOSE WHO AWAKEN.... Those who become committed to freedom, those who take a
           decision that, "Now I am going to be free from all that is dark in me, from all that creates future in
           me, from all that is past in me -- I am going to be free from it all. I am going to be a pure freedom so
           that I can have wings and I can soar high, to the ultimate heights of being and existence...." Unless
           you decide that... and it needs guts to decide. Many people come here and they go on hesitating for
           months about whether to take the jump or not -- and never for a single moment thinking what they
           have got to lose, never for a single moment realizing that time is rushing out of their hands...
           tomorrow may never come. If anything has to be done, it has to be done right now.
                And strange is man and his ways! That which is useless he immediately is ready to do, and that
           which is of immense value he postpones. He goes on saying "Tomorrow," and the tomorrow never
           comes. Instead comes death.
                And this has been happening many times. This is not your first life on the earth; you have lived
           millions of times and each time this postponement has been your root cause of misery.
                Now don't postpone any more. Use this opportunity. Use this context that I am creating here. It is
           a buddhafield! If you are ready to take a jump into it, you will never be the same again. But the jump
           has to be total. You should not cling to the bank, you should leave the bank absolutely. In that very
           leaving, in that very renunciation of the bank, the transformation happens -- you start becoming
           freed.
                It is not the chains which are keeping you in bondage; it is you who are holding on to the chains,
           it is you who are clinging to the chains. This is a very absurd situation! The prison is not holding you
           in; it is you who are afraid to go out. And you go on believing that there is no way out: "What is
           there to find outside? Those who have gone have never returned. Who knows? -- there are wild
           animals and dangers. Here I am safe, living comfortably."
                Don't think in terms of comfort, think in terms of freedom. Don't think in terms of safety, think in
           terms of being more alive. And the only way to be more alive is to live dangerously, is to risk, is to
           go on an adventure. And the greatest adventure is not going to the moon -- the greatest adventure is
           going to your own innermost core.
                THOSE WHO AWAKEN NEVER REST IN ONE PLACE. Don't be stagnant, don't remain in
           one inner place. Move! Movement is life. Become a river. Don't remain a stagnant pool, otherwise
           you will stink.
                That's why millions of people stink. Their life does not seem to be a benediction, a blessing.
           Their life gives no aura of beauty, their life does not radiate. They seem to be completely dark and
           dismal, utterly depressed, hiding inside their own caves, not capable to come out in the sun, in the
           moon, in the rains, in the wind; not courageous enough to open up like flowers, not capable of
           risking and being on the wing.
                THOSE WHO AWAKEN NEVER REST IN ONE PLACE. That is growth. Go on growing. God
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is not something that you will encounter on the road; God is your ultimate growth. God is not to be
           found anywhere, you have to become God. In fact, you are God; you only have to discover your
           reality.
                A real human being is one who goes on growing. Each morning the sun finds him never in the
           place where it had left him the last evening. Each evening the sun finds him somewhere else, not at
           the exact place where it had found him in the morning. He is movement, he is revolution. He goes on
           and on, he never looks back. He never moves on the old trodden paths; he finds his own way.
                LIKE SWANS, THEY RISE AND LEAVE THE LAKE. Have you seen swans leaving the lake?
           I am reminded of Ramakrishna. His first samadhi, his first glimpse of God, glimpse of truth or bliss,
           happened when he was only thirteen years old. He was coming back from his farm -- he was a
           farmer's son -- he was coming back to his home. On the way there was a lake. The rainy season was
           just to come, the monsoons were approaching. The sky was becoming cloudy, dark clouds, thunder,
           lightning, and Ramakrishna was almost running because it seemed that it was going to pour heavily.
           He was passing by the lake of the village; because he was running he disturbed the swans in the lake
           and they all flew together.
                Swans are one of the most beautiful birds, the whitest -- symbols of purity, innocence. A long
           queue of swans suddenly rose high against the backdrop of the black clouds. Ramakrishna was
           transported into another world. The vision was so beautiful, and the vision was such a message, he
           fell there on the bank of the lake in utter ecstasy. The joy was such that he could not contain it; he
           became almost unconscious as far as the outside is concerned.
                The other farmers were returning to their homes, everybody was in a hurry; the clouds were there
           and it was going to rain and they wanted to reach home. They found Ramakrishna lying on the lake
           bank absolutely unconscious, but with such joy on his face, so radiant was his being, that they all fell
           on their knees. The experience was so superb, it was something not of this world.
                They carried Ramakrishna home; they worshipped him. When he came back he was asked,
           "What has happened?" He said, "A message from the beyond: 'Ramakrishna, be a swan! Open your
           wings, the whole sky is yours. Don't be trapped by the lake and its comfort, security and safety.' I am
           no longer the same person. I have been called. God has called me!"
                And since that day he was never the same person: something was triggered by the swans rising
           high in the sky.
                Buddha says: LIKE SWANS, THEY RISE AND LEAVE THE LAKE -- as if Buddha is
           predicting something about Ramakrishna. The distance is vast, twenty-five centuries, but the
           prediction is true. It is not only about Ramakrishna, it is about all those who are going to awaken
           ever; it is about all the buddhas.
                The swan has become a symbol in the East of the awakened one, hence the awakened one is
           called PARAMAHANSA. Paramahansa means the great swan.

              ON THE AIR THEY RISE
              AND FLY AN INVISIBLE COURSE,
              GATHERING NOTHING, STORING NOTHING.
              THEIR FOOD IS KNOWLEDGE.
              THEY LIVE UPON EMPTINESS.
              THEY HAVE SEEN HOW TO BREAK FREE.


                This sutra is of immense import. Drink it slowly, let it sink in your heart. ON THE AIR THEY
           RISE.... The world of spirituality is a subtle world; it is more like air than like earth. You can feel it
           but you cannot see it. You can breathe it and live on it but you cannot hold it in your fist. It is
           invisible.
                ON THE AIR THEY RISE AND FLY AN INVISIBLE COURSE. And the course of a buddha,
           of one who is awakened, is invisible; hence nobody can follow a buddha. He leaves no footprints. He
           is like a swan flying in the sky; he leaves no footprints. He is not like a man walking on the sand.
                Buddha has said again and again: "I am like a swan, a bird in the sky. I leave no footprints.
           Hence you cannot imitate me, hence there is no need to bother to imitate. Understand -- that will do."
           Listen, feel, imbibe the spirit of a buddha, that's all. Be nourished by his presence, be thrilled by his
           being, but don't try to imitate. Don't try to become a carbon copy, because God loves only originals;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           carbon copies are rejected.
               ON THE AIR THEY RISE AND FLY AN INVISIBLE COURSE, GATHERING NOTHING,
           STORING NOTHING. The man who has awakened gathers nothing, stores nothing. He remains
           utterly empty inside. GATHERING NOTHING, STORING NOTHING means he goes on dying to
           the past continuously. It is the past that you gather, it is the past that you store. You think it is very
           valuable -- it is all junk! Even the greatest experiences of the past are junk. They were great when
           they were present; once they are past they are useless. Throw them away. Forget all about the past so
           that you can remain clean and pure and available for the new. If you become too much cluttered with
           the past, who is going to be available to the new? And the new is constantly impinging upon you!
           Remain spacious, go on creating space inside you. And the only way is not to store anything.
               The past stored becomes your ego; the past creates the ego. And the ego fills you so much that it
           leaves no space for God to enter in or bliss to flow in or beauty to penetrate you.
               The sun comes and knocks on your doors, but your doors are closed. The moon comes and waits
           at the door, but you don't open it -- because you are too full of yourself. You are the only barrier
           between yourself and God. You have to disappear.
               And remember that the ego will find new ways to enter inside you. If you push it out from the
           front door it will come from the back door. It will wear new masks. It may become knowledge,
           scholarship, austerities. It can pretend anything. But remember: the past accumulated in any way is
           bound to culminate into an ego. And the ego is always comparing, the ego is always thinking in
           terms of superiority, inferiority. And because of these comparisons, these ideas of superiority and
           inferiority, you go on suffering, you live in sorrow.
               Nobody is superior and nobody is inferior, because comparison is false, comparison itself is not
           valid. Two persons cannot be compared because each is unique, they are not alike. You can compare
           two Ford cars, that's okay, but you cannot compare two individual human beings. What to say of
           human beings? -- you cannot compare two rosebushes, you cannot compare two rocks, you cannot
           compare two pebbles on the seashore, because each pebble is unique. There is no one other pebble
           like it, not only on this earth but on any other earth anywhere, on any other planet anywhere.
               Scientists say there are at least fifty thousand earths where life exists, and millions and millions
           of planets which are dead. And each planet must be having millions and millions of pebbles, but you
           will not find another pebble which is exactly like this pebble. How can you compare two dissimilar
           things?
               Comparison is the way of the ego. Avoid comparison, otherwise you will always suffer. You will
           suffer in two ways. Sometimes your ego will feel superior to somebody; that will give you airs, that
           will get into your head, that will make you tense. You will not walk on the earth; you will become
           drunk, drugged. Or sometimes it will give you the feeling of inferiority; then too you will be
           crestfallen, shattered. Again great anguish and pain....
               And this will happen continuously, because in one thing you may look superior to somebody,
           and in another thing you may look inferior to somebody else. Somebody is taller than you and
           somebody else is smaller than you. Somebody is more beautiful, although you are more
           knowledgeable. But somebody is stronger, has a more muscular body, is more athletic -- and you
           look a very poor specimen in front of him. Somebody is so ugly that you feel great compared to him,
           and somebody is so beautiful that you start feeling ugly. Now you will be pushed and pulled between
           these two; these two rocks will crush you.

               Harlemite Huckley was driving his big blue Cadillac through Mississippi. He pulled up at a gas
           station and honked his horn.
           "What do you want, boy?" asked the attendant.
           "Give me ten gallons of gas," said Huckley. "Check my oil and wipe off the windshield. And look,
           man, I am in a hurry."
               Immediately the attendant pulled out a big .38, picked up an empty oil can and said, "You must
           be one of them smart ones from up north. I am gonna show you, boy, how we expect your kind to
           behave around here."
               He threw the oil can into the air and emptied his gun at it. When the can came down, it had five
           bullet holes in it. The attendant tossed it to Huckley saying, "Now, you look that over and think
           about it."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Huckley looked at it, then got out of the Caddy and picked up an apple he had lying on the seat.
           He threw the apple in the air, whipped out a knife and as the apple came down, he made a few passes
           at it. The apple landed at the attendant's feet, peeled, cored, and quartered.
                The attendant said, "How many gallons of gas did you want, sir?"

                This will happen every day, this will happen every moment. There are millions of people and
           each individual is unique. Drop that nonsense of comparing. But you cannot drop it unless you drop
           the past -- the past LIVES on comparison, the ego FEEDS on comparison.
                Buddha says: GATHERING NOTHING, STORING NOTHING. THEIR FOOD IS
           KNOWLEDGE. 'Knowledge' is not a right translation of what Buddha means. It would have been
           more true to translate it as 'knowing', not 'knowledge'. The difference may not look great between
           these two words, but it is great, it is vast. It is tremendously important to understand the difference
           between knowledge and knowing.
                Knowledge is always of the past; it is a finished phenomenon, a full point has come. Knowing is
           always a present process. Knowing is alive, knowledge is dead. A buddha is not a man of knowledge
           but a man of knowing. A scholar is a man of knowledge, a pundit is a man of knowledge but not a
           man of knowing. Knowing is riverlike, flowing.
                And it is very important to remember, as far as Buddha is concerned, that he did not believe in
           nouns, he believed in verbs. He says the noun is only a convenience. In fact, in reality nouns don't
           exist, only verbs. When you say, "This is a tree," your statement linguistically is acceptable but not
           existentially, because by the time you said, "This is a tree," this is no longer the same tree -- one
           dead leaf has fallen, one new leaf has started coming up, the bud has opened. The bird that was
           singing on the tree is no longer singing. The sun that was shining on the tree is hidden behind a
           cloud. It is no longer the same tree, and it is growing, continuously growing.
                A tree, to be true, should be called treeing, not a tree. A river should be called rivering, not a
           river. Everything is growing, moving, everything is in a flux. Verbs are true, nouns are false. If some
           day we are going to create an existential language, it will contain no nouns, it will contain only
           verbs. You are not the same person that had come this morning to listen to the discourse. When you
           leave you will be a totally different person -- so much water has gone down the Ganges, so much has
           changed. You may have come very sad and you may leave laughing. You may have come very
           serious and you may leave very playful. These changes are tremendously important.
                Hence I will translate it: THEIR FOOD -- the food of the awakened ones -- IS KNOWING.
           'Knowledge' is not the right translation. They continuously are in a state of awareness,
           consciousness; they are continuously learning, knowing. They never say, "I have known." They only
           say, "I am available, open to know, more available, more open to know." The full point never comes,
           the process continues.
                Life is a process, not a thing, not a commodity. It is an unending river, no beginning, no end.
           Inexhaustible it is: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO. This is the very law of life, that everything
           goes on changing. Buddha has said: Except change, everything changes. Heraclitus would have
           agreed with Buddha, Buddha would have agreed with Heraclitus; they would have embraced each
           other. And they were contemporaries, almost contemporaries.
                It has always happened in the world that whenever some insight happens in one part of the world
           it is always echoed all over the world in different parts, in different languages, by different people --
           as if something triggered in one part invisibly affects other sensitive souls everywhere else.
                When Buddha was alive in India, Greece was rich with Heraclitus, with Socrates, with
           Pythagoras. China was rich with Lao Tzu, Confucius, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu. And all these people
           have something very similar, although their languages are different.
                Heraclitus says: You cannot step in the same river twice. Buddha will agree absolutely; in fact he
           will say you cannot even step in the same river once, because the river is constantly flowing. And it
           is not only the river that is flowing, you are also flowing.

               One man came and insulted Buddha very much; Buddha listened to him silently. The next day he
           felt sorry, came to apologize. Buddha said, "Forget all about it, because I am not the same man
           whom you had insulted, and you are not the same man who had insulted me. So who is going to
           apologize to whom? And what can I do now? -- that man is no more, it is finished forever! You will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never see that man again, so don't be worried. And you are not the same either! How can you be the
           same?"
               Ananda, Buddha's disciple, who was sitting by the side, said, "Sir, this is too much! This is the
           same man -- I cannot forgive him ever! He insulted you so much, he said such ugly words, he abused
           you badly. It hurts still in my heart. I could not say anything because you wouldn't allow it. I had to
           swallow it all, otherwise I would have shown this man!"
               Buddha said, "Ananda, can't you see this is not the same man at all? The man who had come
           yesterday was abusing, was insulting -- this man is apologizing. How can they be the same? Do you
           think insult and apology are the same? This is somebody else! Just look into his eyes -- tears are
           flowing from his eyes. Do you remember the other man? Fire was in his eyes! He wanted to kill me,
           and this man is touching my feet! And you still say, Ananda, this is the same man?"

               Nobody is ever the same. To know it is knowing, to be constantly aware of it is knowing. Their
           food is knowing....
           THEY LIVE UPON EMPTINESS. And because they go on discarding the past they always remain
           empty. Their emptiness has a purity of its own. They are utterly spacious, like the sky without
           clouds. THEY LIVE UPON EMPTINESS....
           THEY HAVE SEEN HOW TO BREAK FREE. And this is the way: THEY HAVE SEEN HOW TO
           BREAK FREE. Drop knowledge, become a knowing awareness, alertness, watchfulness, witnessing
           -- all verbs, remember. Forget the past and remain available to the present and don't project the
           future, and you will remain empty. And to remain empty is the way of the free man.
               Freedom is utter emptiness, but in that utter emptiness descends something from the beyond
           which Buddha leaves undescribed, unexpressed, because it is inexpressible. He does not call it truth,
           he does not call it God, he does not call it bliss. He does not call it any name; he simply keeps quiet
           about it, utterly silent. He says: Come and see.

              WHO CAN FOLLOW THEM?
              ONLY THE MASTER,
              SUCH IS HIS PURITY.


              Unless you also become a master -- master of your own inner being, of your consciousness --
           unless you also become empty, you cannot go with the buddhas, you cannot fly with the swans.

              LIKE A BIRD,
              HE RISES ON THE LIMITLESS AIR
              AND FLIES AN INVISIBLE COURSE.
              HE WISHES FOR NOTHING.
              HIS FOOD IS KNOWLEDGE.



              HE LIVES UPON EMPTINESS.
              HE HAS BROKEN FREE.


               And if you can keep the company of a buddha you will also be free. You will also rise on the
           winds. You will also start the flight of the alone to the alone. You will also start moving to the
           ultimate.
               Buddha calls this ultimate freedom, nirvana -- cessation of the ego, cessation of your personality.
           Freedom means freedom from your personality. Then whatsoever is left is God, is truth, is bliss.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                      Chapter #6
                                         Chapter title: There is no evolution
           17 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908170
              ShortTitle: DHAM306
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              COULD THERE BE AN ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE PHYSICAL EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS? IF SO,
              WHAT IS IT?


               Digvijay, there is no goal of life. Life itself is its goal. It is not moving towards some target. It is
           herenow, it has no future. Life is always in the present. But the mind cannot live in the present: mind
           dies in the present. Hence, down the ages, mystics have invented devices to bring the mind to the
           present. The moment the mind comes to the present, it melts as snow, melts in the hot sun; it
           disappears, evaporates.
               And the disappearance of the mind is the greatest experience possible to human beings, because
           in that disappearance is the appearance of God.
               Mind lives in the future; future is its territory, its kingdom. And future is possible only through
           goal orientation. So mind makes goals out of everything; life must have a goal -- not only a goal but
           an ultimate goal. Then mind is perfectly happy, then it can protect itself: how to achieve that goal,
           how to reach to that ultimate?
               The moment you can ask, "How?" mind is perfectly at ease. It is very clever, cunning, skillful in
           inventing ways and means to achieve something, whatsoever it is -- but it has to be there in the
           future. Mind lives through creating goals: political, social, evolutionary, spiritual, and so on and so
           forth; but the mind needs some goal to exist, it feeds on it.
               In truth, all is and nothing is going to happen. Tomorrow never comes. It is always now and here.
               The mystic approach is totally different from the goal-oriented mind. The mystic says, "Live the
           moment in its totality, love the moment in its totality, drown yourself in this overwhelming
           existence, and you will come closer and closer to God." By "God" I don't mean some person; by
           "God" I simply mean the essential core of existence, the center of the cyclone.
               The universe is the circumference and God is the center. If you dive deep in the now, in the here,
           you are bound to encounter the center. And the miracle is that the center of all is also your center
           too. To become aware of it, to live that center, from that center, into full awareness, is to be a
           buddha, is to be enlightened.
               But remember, buddhahood is not an ultimate goal. It is not something which has to be achieved
           somewhere else. It is available right now -- immediately it is available, not ultimately. Remember
           these two words: the ultimate and the immediate. The ultimate brings the mind in, the immediate
           helps the mind to disappear.
               To me, the immediate is the ultimate. There is no goal, physical, psychological, spiritual. All is
           as it should be... it already is. Drop your tensions, anxieties for the future, what is going to happen.
           All has already happened! Live it! Don't be ambitious. Goals make you ambitious, and they drive
           you crazy. The more goal-oriented a person is, the crazier he becomes -- because ambition is nothing
           but ego. You can go on inventing new goals; there will always be the horizon beyond. And with
           those new goals your ego can go on and on having new trips.
               The mystic and the world of the mystic is a totally different dimension. What I am talking about
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           here has nothing to do with goal orientation -- that is the way of the mind. I am teaching you the way
           of no-mind.
               Digvijay, I know your tremendous interest in the evolutionary process. I am perfectly aware that
           you have devoted your whole life in that search. And you will be shocked when you hear me say that
           you have been wasting your life -- wasting because the present is being sacrificed for the future. And
           unless you drop this idea of an ultimate goal you will never be able to come down to the earth, to the
           present, to the moment. And without that there is no meditation, and without meditation there is no
           God.
               The immediate is the ultimate -- I teach you the immediate, living moment to moment, without
           carrying the past. Buddha says, not hoarding the past, not accumulating the past; I would like to add,
           not projecting in the future either. If the past and the future disappear, what is left? A great silence, a
           profound presence of something utterly unknown. A mystery overwhelms you. And that mystery is
           immediate. I will not say "ultimate," because 'ultimate' means you can postpone for tomorrow.
           'Immediate' shocks you, shakes you into awareness right now.
               A goal is possible if we divide life into means and ends. That's how it has been down the ages.
           But life is one, it cannot be divided. It is indivisible, whole; it is an organic unity. Nothing is a
           means, nothing is an end. The whole life is one. You cannot categorize means and ends.
               But the moment you think about evolution, goal, you have to divide life, then something
           becomes a means and something else becomes the end. Adolf Hitler believed in evolution, hence he
           could convince the intelligentsia of Germany, which is one of the most sophisticated intelligentsia of
           the world. In the name of evolution he could preach his Nazi philosophy that superman is the goal,
           that man has to be sacrificed for the superman. It appealed, it looked logical.
               Who is the superman? And who is going to become the superman? Of course, the Nordics, the
           Germans. It enhanced the German ego tremendously. "Even if the whole humanity has to be
           destroyed, it is worth destroying because the great goal of superhumanity is looming large on the
           horizon. Everything can be sacrificed for it." That's how he could convince his country to drag the
           whole world into a world war.
               Sri Aurobindo also talks in the same language -- the language of evolution. Not the superman but
           the supermind is the goal. And you have to sacrifice your present for that supermind; again the same
           idea of sacrifice. Man has remained dominated by the idea of sacrifice. Sacrifice! Sacrifice!
           Sacrifice! Be a martyr! That's the only way to create a golden future.
               My effort here is just the opposite. Avoid Adolf Hitlers and Sri Aurobindos. No sacrifice! Don't
           try to be a martyr! There is no other goal than this moment, and existence is as perfect as is ever
           possible. Existence is as perfect as it ever will be. Existence IS perfection.
               But because of the idea of a goal, we start comparing: then man is higher than the monkeys and
           the monkeys are higher than the dogs, and so on and so forth. But who is going to decide? Have you
           ever asked the monkeys? As far as I know, they still laugh at Charles Darwin, because they can't
           believe this poor man is higher than the monkeys. Have you ever fought with any monkey? Fight
           with a monkey barehanded and you will know who is more powerful. Can you jump like the
           monkeys on the trees? And then you will know whose body is more athletic. Monkeys live on the
           trees and you live on the earth: you are the fallen monkeys! But Charles Darwin never asked the
           monkeys.
               Man himself goes on deciding. So if Germans decide then Germans are the highest race,
           obviously. And if Indians decide then they are the Aryans, the real Aryans, the pure blood. And if
           Jews decide then they are the chosen people of God. But who is going to decide? And if man decides
           then man is higher than all the animals. In fact, there is nobody higher and nobody lower. All these
           categories are stupid -- there is no hierarchy.
               Existence is absolutely communist. Everybody is equal, participating in the same life, breathing
           the same air, getting warmed by the same sun, dancing under the same sky. Even trees are not lower
           than you, even rocks are not lower than you. The very language of lower and higher is utterly wrong.
           But the word 'evolution' brings that language in; it becomes the "in" thing. Then you have to make a
           hierarchy: then you are above animals and below angels. And then the whole journey starts: how to
           go higher and higher and higher? And there is no roof, there is no ceiling; you can go on projecting.
               But if you ask the bees they won't think that you are higher than them. The intelligentsia of the
           bees must be watching a thousand and one stupidities of human beings -- because the bees are the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           most organized phenomenon in existence. Man and his society must look like chaos compared to the
           society of the bees. Everything is so organized -- even Adolf Hitler would have felt a little inferior.
           And so willingly, so voluntarily -- the bees are not forced, they are not living in a concentration
           camp. Willingly, joyously, they are part of an organization, so deeply involved with the organization
           that they have lost their individuality totally; they live as an organic part, they are not separate. Or if
           you watch the society of the ants, it is fixed, systematic; it has a tremendous order.
               Now, how are you going to decide who is higher? This chaotic society of man? In three thousand
           years man has fought five thousand wars -- constantly killing each other, murdering, butchering, in
           the name of politics, in the name of religion... and this man you think is the highest evolved being on
           the earth? There are people like Arthur Koestler who think that something in the very beginning has
           gone wrong in the human mind, some nuts and bolts are missing -- man is born crazy.
               If you watch man, it appears so. His whole life seems to be that of violence, struggle, destruction.
           No other animal is so destructive. No other animal kills its own species; the tigers don't kill other
           tigers and the dogs don't kill other dogs. Even if they fight, their fights are mock fights; they fight
           only to decide who is powerful. Once it is decided, the fight stops -- because to attack somebody
           who is weaker than you is not only wrong, it is utterly destructive and stupid too.
               Two dogs will fight: they will show their teeth, they will bark, they will jump at each other, but
           they are simply watching who is more powerful. Once they have taken note who is more powerful,
           one dog will stop barking, will put his tail between his legs, and it is finished! He has given the sign
           that "I am weaker and you are stronger." And there is no shame, he is not ashamed -- what can he do
           if he is weaker and the other is stronger? How is he responsible for that? One tree is taller, another
           tree is not taller. Do you think the rosebushes are feeling ashamed because the mango trees and the
           neem trees and other trees are going so high? The roses are not worried at all: "So what? You are
           taller and we are not taller -- that's the way you are, this is the way we are."
               See the sanity of the point: except human beings nobody is so insane as to fight with someone
           who is weaker. Once it is decided.... And don't you have even that much consciousness as dogs and
           tigers have -- that they can see, it is so apparent that the other is stronger? Then what is the point of
           fighting at all? The game is finished -- the other is the winner. Hence no destruction happens, hence
           no killing happens. And animals don't kill even other animals unless they are hungry -- except man.
           Only man goes for hunting.
               And Digvijay is a former prince: he must know what hunting is, he must have animal heads in
           his palace, trophies. The more tigers and lions you have killed, the greater you are. And for what?
           Just to exhibit! Whenever I have visited the palace of a king, I have felt very sorry for the king. He
           seems to be utterly insensitive; showing these dead heads and dead bodies and skins of animals, he
           thinks he is exhibiting his power, his vitality. He is simply exhibiting his utter stupidity, inhumanity.
               Animals kill only when they are hungry; then it can be forgiven. No animal ever kills without
           hunger; no animal ever kills as a play. Killing somebody in a game, can you think this hunter is more
           evolved than other beings? Just destroying a life for sheer play -- and the play is also unjust, because
           you are sitting in a treetop and the animal is on the ground, and from high on the top where the
           animal cannot reach you shoot him. The animal has no weapons to protect himself, and you think
           you are being very brave? You are simply showing your cowardliness.
               If we look at man it does not appear at all that he is the most evolved animal on the earth -- just
           the opposite. No other animal goes insane except man. Yes, a few animals go insane, but they only
           go into insanity when they are put in zoos, not in their wild state. And a zoo is a human
           phenomenon.
               Just think of yourself: if the elephants created a zoo and put you into a zoo -- how long would
           you remain sane? It will be impossible for you to remain sane; it will be just natural to go insane.
           Animals don't become homosexuals -- unless they are put in a zoo. In a zoo they turn into
           homosexuals; in a zoo they are bound to because they can't get their females. In a zoo they are
           confined in such small spaces; those small spaces are bound to drive them crazy.
               You must have seen tigers walking up and down in their cages, because they used to live and run
           for miles. The whole wild world was theirs, and now just a small cage... and surrounded by the
           tourists and the visitors and foolish people looking at them. Just think of yourself being in a zoo
           made by the elephants or the tigers or the monkeys, and all kinds of monkeys looking at you, day in,
           day out, the whole situation unnatural.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now scientists say that there is a certain territory that is needed by every animal, a certain space;
           if that is not given to that animal it is bound to go insane. Wild animals need an area of miles and
           miles to remain free and to remain sane. Yes, in a zoo they go insane, they go crazy. They attack
           even their own species; they become destructive. Even sometimes they have been known to commit
           suicide, but never in their natural state. It is only man who commits suicide, goes insane, becomes
           sexually perverted -- and still man goes on thinking that he is the highest peak!
                As far as I am concerned, I don't believe in hierarchy. The monkey is a monkey, the man is a
           man. Nobody is higher and nobody is lower. The rocks are rocks and the trees are trees. And we all
           participate in one God. Yes, there are great changes happening, but it is not evolution; evolution
           means we are going higher. Changes are there, certainly; life is constantly moving, it is a river. But
           change does not mean evolution, remember. You can change without your being evolving -- and
           that's what is happening.
                And that change, constant change, gives you grounds to impose your theory of evolution on it.
           Things are changing, life is always in a flux; nothing is permanent, all is fluid. Man has not been like
           this before, and man will never again be like this. Everything is in a process, but the process is not
           goal-oriented; it is not moving towards a certain goal. It is a very playful process.
                Children playing, you cannot say that they are evolving; children playing, you cannot say they
           are achieving something. They are not achieving anything. That's exactly the concept of LEELA in
           the East. Leela means play -- the world is God's play, and in play there is no question of evolution.
                The idea of evolution is really Western; the East has never believed in evolution. The East
           believes in playfulness. In playfulness there is no evolution at all. Nothing is means and nothing is
           taken as ends. It is a dance of energies, not moving into any particular direction, not meant to
           achieve something; the joy is in the play itself, the value is intrinsic, not extrinsic. When you start
           thinking of evolution, the value is extrinsic; the value depends on what you are going to achieve,
           what you are going to become.
                If a man becomes a great scientist, a Nobel Prize winner, he has evolved, but the man who
           remains a woodcutter, he has not evolved. Why? What is there so significant in doing mathematics?
           And what is there so insignificant in chopping wood? One likes to chop wood, another likes to play
           with figures, arithmetic, geometry or something else -- these are likes, different likes. One loves to
           swim, somebody else loves to philosophize... there is nothing higher and nothing lower.
                But we have made a society on a hierarchical pattern. The brahmin is at the top -- the brahmin
           means the professor, the academician, the Nobel Prize winner, the famous doctor, the famous
           engineer, the scholar. That is the meaning of the brahmin -- he is the highest. Why? Why is not the
           woodcutter the highest? If the woodcutter enjoys his chopping of wood more than the professor
           enjoys his teaching, who is higher? The professor may be simply dragging, repeating every time,
           every year, the same thing.

               I used to know a professor who was repeating the same lectures at least for thirty years. I had
           heard it, and his other students had told me that exactly the same lectures, word for word.... So one
           day, when the professor was asleep in the afternoon, I went into his house. I looked into his books,
           found the book in which he had collected all the lectures, and stole it.
               You cannot believe what happened to the professor! He didn't turn up the next day. I inquired
           after him; he said, "I am shattered, my life is finished -- somebody has stolen my book, and I cannot
           speak without it. I have been using the same notes for thirty years! Now I cannot make again new
           notes."
               I could see the poor man; he was just functioning like a gramophone record. There was no need
           of him. I gave him the book and I said, "Why do you bother to come to the university at all? You can
           simply send this book, one of us can read it, and others can take notes. Why do you bother in your
           old age to come to the university again and again? This book will do! You can die in peace. This
           book is enough. You don't have to live at all -- there is no need."
               Now, this professor is a brahmin; he is the highest because the head is thought to be the highest.
           It IS on the top, maybe that's why the idea has arisen that the head and the head people are the
           topmost people. The bosses are called "heads" and the servants are called "hands"! Why? Just
           because physically the head is on top...?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                We have created hierarchy in society. The lowest are those poor people who are chopping wood
           or cleaning the roads. Why are they the lowest? -- because they are doing the most essential things.
           The professors can be discarded, the society can exist without them; but the society cannot exist
           without the street cleaners, the toilet cleaners, the woodchoppers -- the society cannot exist without
           them. They are far more essential, far more fundamental, but they are the lowest.
                The whole idea is wrong. There is no hierarchy. The professor is doing his work, and the
           woodcutter is doing his work, and both are needed. Neither is there a hierarchy between men and
           other animals, nor is there a hierarchy between men and men. I am against the whole idea of
           hierarchy.
           And that's my vision of a new commune.
                In the new commune there is going to be nobody higher and nobody lower. In this ashram, there
           is nobody higher, nobody lower. There are toilet cleaners and there are professors, therapists, and
           they are all the same -- they are all doing some useful work, some essential work. The
           vice-chancellor here, in this commune, is on the same ground as the woodchopper. The great
           therapist has no more prestige, power, than the toilet cleaner. Hence, there is no problem. A Ph.D.
           can choose toilet cleaning -- one Ph.D. IS doing that; another Ph.D. is just cleaning the streets of the
           ashram.
                If there is no hierarchy, there is no problem; otherwise, the Ph.D. will think, "How can I do this
           work, this menial job? I am not a hand, I am a head." In this commune there are no heads, no hands
           -- people, whole people, respected, loved, for whatsoever they are doing, or whatsoever they can do,
           or whatsoever they LIKE doing.
                This whole existence is a commune. God is the center and we are all its circumference.
                There is no evolution, Digvijay, no ultimate goal. It is a play. Enjoy it, celebrate it! If this idea of
           ultimate goal and evolution can drop from your mind, I KNOW your potential; you can become one
           of the great sannyasins. You can be a new man. But you are going crazy because of this idea; your
           whole life is being devoted to it. And if it is fundamentally wrong then you will repent one day.
           Forget all about it! Start meditating more and more about your own inner being. Don't be worried
           what is going to happen; rather, be involved with what is already happening. God is a presence, God
           is a being, not a becoming, and so is this whole existence.
                The day we drop the idea of evolution and ultimate goal, the world will be freed from its
           bondage of future. It is the future that is keeping us in a bondage, and the past -- and both are in
           conspiracy against man.
                Future and past dropped, you attain to freedom -- freedom, Buddha says, which has no bounds.

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MANY JOKES?


               Viramo, first, in none of my past lives have I been an Englishman. Secondly, in many of my past
           lives I have been a Jew.

               Sir Reginald, riding in a New York taxi, was challenged by the driver to solve a riddle: "This
           person I am thinking of has the same father that I have and the same mother, but it is not my sister
           and it is not my brother. Who is it?"
               The Britisher thought for a moment, and then gave up. "It is me," the cabdriver told him.
           "By Jove! That's jolly good. I must try that on the chaps at my club!"
               A month later he was sitting in London with his cigar-smoking cronies. He said, "Gentlemen,
           this individual I have in mind is not my brother and not my sister, yet this person has the same
           parents as I have -- who is it?"
               After several thoughtful minutes, all the members conceded defeat. "Who is it?" one of them
           inquired. "Come, Reggie, give us the answer."
               Reggie slapped his knees in triumph. "It is a taxicab driver in New York City!" he roared.

           And the second story:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Morton and Fogel were discussing humor over lunch. "Do Jews react differently when they hear
           a joke?" asked Morton.
           "What a question!" replied Fogel. "If you tell an Englishman a joke he will laugh at it three times:
           once when you tell it, again when you explain it and a third time when he understands the point. Tell
           a German the same joke: he will laugh twice -- both times to be polite -- there won't be a third time
           because he will never get the point. Tell the same joke to an American: he will laugh once,
           immediately, because he will get it right away. But," said Fogel, "when you tell the joke to a Jew...."
           "Yes?" asked Morton.
           "When you tell the same joke to a Jew, he won't laugh at all. Instead he will say, 'It is an old joke --
           and besides, you told it all wrong!'"

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HEARD YOU SAY THAT BEING A SANNYASIN MEANS TO BE READY TO LIVE A VERY LONELY
              LIFE. BUT SINCE I'M A SANNYASIN I FEEL THAT I CAN'T BE LONELY ANYMORE, AS YOU ARE
              ALWAYS AROUND. DO I UNDERSTAND YOU WRONG?


               Deva Maya, you do not understand me at all. It is not a question of understanding right or wrong
           -- you don't understand me at all.
               I have NOT told you that a sannyasin has to be ready to live a lonely life. What I had told you
           was: a sannyasin knows how to live alone. And to be lonely is totally different from being alone. Not
           only different, they are opposites. They are as far away from each other as the sky and the earth; the
           distance is infinite between them.
               To be lonely means a negative state: you are hankering for the other, you are longing for
           company, you are missing the crowd. You cannot tolerate yourself; you feel yourself intolerable.
           You are bored with yourself -- that's what being lonely means -- utterly bored.
               To be alone is totally different: it is utterly ecstatic. To be alone means a positive state. You are
           not missing the other, you are enjoying yourself. You are not bored by yourself, you are intrigued. A
           great challenge comes from your innermost core. You start a journey of interiority. When there are
           others you are occupied with them, your consciousness remains focused on them. When you are
           alone, your consciousness moves inwards. When you are with others you have to be an extrovert --
           your consciousness turning upon itself, showering upon itself. When you are with others your light
           shows their faces; when you are alone your light shows your own original face.
               Maya, you have not understood me. I had not told you that to be a sannyasin means "to be ready
           to live a very lonely life." From where did you get this idea of living a very lonely life? Certainly
           one has to be able to live alone, but to live alone does not mean that you cannot relate; on the
           contrary, a man who can live alone becomes so full of joy, becomes so brimful, that he HAS to
           relate. He becomes a raincloud -- he has to shower. He becomes a flower so full of fragrance that he
           has to open its petals and allow its fragrance to be released to the winds.
               A person who knows how to be alone becomes so full of song that he has to sing it. And where
           can you sing a song? You can sing a song only in love, in relating, in sharing with people. But you
           can share only if you have in the first place.
               The problem is that people don't have any joy in their being and they are bent upon sharing it.
           Now, two miserable people bent upon sharing their joys with each other -- what is going to happen?
           The misery will not be doubled, it will be multiplied.
               That's what people are doing to each other: husbands to wives and wives to husbands, and
           parents to children and children to parents, and friends to friends. In fact enemies are not so inimical
           as friends prove finally: torturing each other, unloading their miseries on each other, throwing their
           dirt on each other. They are stinking -- what can they do? When they come close to you, you have to
           suffer their stink. And you have to suffer if you want them to suffer YOUR stink. So it is a bargain.
               You cannot live alone, they cannot live alone -- you have to be together. Even if it stinks, at least
           there is the consolation that "I am not alone."
               A man who knows how to be alone knows how to be meditative. Aloneness means meditation --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just relishing your own being, celebrating your own being.
               Walt Whitman says: I celebrate myself, I sing myself. That is aloneness. This man Whitman is
           really a mystic, not just a poet. He should be counted with the ancient RISHIS of the Upanishads.
           America has not given birth to many great mystics; Whitman is really one of the most precious gifts
           of America to the world. He says: I celebrate myself, I sing myself. That's what a mystic has always
           been supposed to do, that's what a mystic's function is: to celebrate himself. But how will you
           celebrate? You will have to invite others. You will have to ask others to come and participate.
               Meditation gives you the insight of your own inner treasure, and in love you share it. That's what
           I mean when I say that a sannyasin has to be ready to be alone -- so that one day he can be ready to
           love. Only a man who knows the beauties of solitude can love. But just a slight difference and you
           can miss the whole point.
               Now, the difference between aloneness and loneliness is not much; as far as language is
           concerned there is no difference at all, they are synonyms. In the dictionaries you will find aloneness
           described as loneliness, loneliness as aloneness -- but that is only in the dictionaries, not in life itself.
           In life itself it is totally different.
               Don't live through language, don't become too much obsessed with language, because language
           is only utilitarian. It can mislead you -- it misleads. It can't help it; it has been invented by people
           who know nothing. I am saying "aloneness" and your mind hears "loneliness." Once you translate
           aloneness as loneliness you are millions of miles away -- not only miles but millions of light-years
           away from me.

               Potter saw a store with a sign reading: "Hans Schmidt's Chinese Laundry." Being curious he
           entered and was greeted by a Chinese who identified himself as Hans Schmidt.
           "How come you have a name like that?" asked Potter.
           "When I land in America I stand in immigration line behind German," explained the oriental. "When
           they ask German his name, he say, 'Hans Schmidt.' When official ask me my name I say, 'Sam
           Ting.'"

           It is very easy to understand.

               P.F.C. Perkins refused to go and fight in Korea. He was told that if he would not bear arms, the
           provost marshal would shoot him. "Are you a conscientious objector?" asked the first sergeant.
           "I ain't objectin' to nothin'," said Perkins, "but I had the gonorrhea and the diarrhea both, and if this
           'Korea' is anything like it -- go ahead and shoot!"

               Maya, I said something, you heard totally something else.

               A London chap sees a good-looking girl sitting alone at another table and says, "Would you care
           for a cigarette?"
           She said, "Sorry, I don't smoke."
               He waited for a few moments and then said, "Would you care for a drink?"
           "Sorry, I don't drink."
               He waited another ten minutes and asked, "Would you care to have dinner with me?"
           "I am sorry," she replied, "I don't eat dinner."
           "Well, for heaven's sake! If you don't smoke or drink or eat dinner, what in heaven's name do you do
           about sex?"
           "Oh, along about six I have a cup of tea and a biscuit."

               You change that word 'loneliness'; drop it completely from your mind. Learn what aloneness is --
           and aloneness is a beautiful phenomenon, the most beautiful. Then my presence will not disturb your
           aloneness, my presence will enhance it. My presence, my remembrance, feeling me around yourself,
           engulfing you, will enhance it, will make it richer, will make it more crystal-clear. And not only my
           presence but the presence of my sannyasins will also be absolutely nondisturbing to aloneness.
               In fact, aloneness cannot be disturbed at all. It is such a crystallized state of consciousness,
           nothing can distract you away from it, and everything helps to make it stronger. Have you watched
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this paradoxical phenomenon? For example, right now we are sitting here in silence... the chirping of
           the birds -- is it disturbing the silence or enriching it? The crow -- is he disturbing your silence, or
           helping and giving it a contrast? If you are really silent, then even in the marketplace you will be
           surprised that your silence deepens. If your silence is disturbed by the marketplace, that simply
           means it was not silence in the first place. It was just forced, cultivated, practiced, plastic -- it was
           not true.
               If true silence is there, nothing can disturb it. Each disturbance comes to enhance it. It is like in a
           dark night you are walking on a street and a car passes by with full headlights on. For a moment you
           are dazed by the light, and then the car is gone by. Do you think the darkness is less than before? It is
           deeper than before, it is denser than before. The car and its headlights have not disturbed it at all;
           rather, they helped tremendously.
               And this is how it is with aloneness: your aloneness will not be disturbed by the commune, and
           certainly not by me -- because I am not a noise. I am a melody, a music -- a music that cannot be
           heard by the ears but can only be heard by the heart.
               It is good that you have started feeling me. It is good that you say, "Since I am a sannyasin I feel
           that I can't be lonely anymore, as You are always around."
               Yes, you cannot be lonely anymore, but you will be more alone now that I am always with you.
           And aloneness is a precious treasure, the door to the kingdom of God. But forget that word
           'loneliness'; it is ugly, it is pathological.
               And a man who seeks friendship, love, companionship, out of loneliness is not going to find it. In
           fact, with whomsoever he will associate he will feel cheated and he will make the other feel cheated.
           He will feel tired and bored, and he will make the other feel tired and bored. He will feel sucked and
           he will make the other feel sucked, because both will be sucking on each other's energies. And they
           don't have much in the first place. Their streams are running very thin; they are like summer streams
           in a desertland. You cannot take any water out of them. But if you seek friendship and love and
           companionship out of aloneness, you are a flooded river, a river in the rains. You can share as much
           as you want. And the more you share, the more you will have.
               This is the inner economics: the more you give, the more you get from God. Once you have
           known the knack of it you become a spendthrift, you are no longer a miser.
               A spiritual person cannot be a miser, and a miser cannot be a spiritual person.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE NEW INDIAN GOVERNMENT OF PRIME MINISTER,
              CHOWDHRY CHARAN SINGH?


               Narendra, I have nothing to say about such rubbish things, but because you have asked, just to be
           polite to you and to your question, just to pay my respects for your question, I will tell you three
           stories.
           First:

               A man took a cab to the palace of the prime minister where he asked the driver to wait for him.
               The driver refused saying he did not have time. "But you will wait for me," said the passenger. "I
           am the new prime minister."
           "In that case," replied the driver, "I will wait -- you won't be in there long!"

           And the second:

           Work schedule of the Indian cabinet:
           Monday: Conference with leading personalities.
           Tuesday: Formation of new cabinet.
           Wednesday:First meeting of the new cabinet.
           Thursday: First announcements of new cabinet.
           Friday: Withdrawal of announcements.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Saturday: Resignation of new cabinet.
           Sunday: Holiday.
           Monday: See above.

           And the third:

               It is an historical fact that Diogenes went all around the known world, lamp in hand, trying to
           find an honest man.
           When he got to New Delhi, they stole his lamp.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              SEX AND DEATH SEEM TO BE THE MAIN ATTRACTIONS FOR ME. WHAT CAN YOU SAY
              ABOUT THESE POLES TO HELP ME GO BEYOND?


               Saguna, sex and death are really one energy. Sex is one side of the coin, death the other side.
           Hence, anybody who is interested in sex is bound to be interested in death -- although he would like
           to avoid it. Anybody who is interested in death is bound to be interested in sex -- although he would
           like to avoid it. Why? -- because the popular conception is that sex and death are opposites. They are
           not. And because of this popular conception there have existed two kinds of cultures in the world:
           sex-oriented and death-oriented.
               For example, India has remained for centuries a death-oriented culture. Because it is
           death-oriented it represses sex. Thinking that sex is against, it represses sex, it avoids sex; it pretends
           sex does not exist. You can talk about death with no problem, but you cannot talk about sex.

                Just the other day a sannyasin had asked, "I was almost caught and imprisoned by the police
           because I was saying goodbye to my girlfriend and we kissed each other before the police station." It
           was very difficult to get rid of the police. They caught hold of them; they had to wait there for two
           hours. Somehow they persuaded them, apologized.
                The sannyasin had asked, "I am puzzled. What wrong had I done there? I was saying goodbye to
           my girlfriend, she was leaving; we may see each other, we may not, because who knows about
           tomorrow? She will be away for six months, and who knows what is going to happen in these six
           months? So what was wrong with my kissing the girl and her kissing me, just a goodbye? Why is it
           objectionable? People are pissing on the streets and nobody objects!"
                Now, that sannyasin does not know that since Morarji Desai became prime minister of this
           country pissing has become a holy thing. You can piss anywhere -- that is something sacred. In fact
           it is a sacred duty. Do as much as you can, because it is not pissing: it is the water of life. You are
           nourishing the earth; you are doing a great public service.

           I have heard:
               When Morarji Desai went to America, he was very much puzzled because in the parties, in the
           gatherings, in meetings, ladies would always keep to the other side of the room. Finally, he had to
           ask; he was curious why ladies wouldn't come close to him. He was informed, "We are sorry to say,
           but ladies are afraid that you may feel thirsty any time, and if you do your thing in public it will be
           embarrassing. So they keep to the other side. In case something like that happens, they can escape; at
           least they can turn their backs towards you."

               In India, kissing is something like a sin, a crime. And in a public place, and that too before a
           police station! India is a death-oriented culture. You can talk about death; dead bodies of beggars
           can lie down by the side of the road and nobody will pay any attention. People will go on passing. It
           is accepted; death is accepted. In fact, not only accepted, but magnified -- to create fear in people so
           that they become religious.
               If death is magnified, it really scares you. And out of fear you can start going to the temple, to
           the mosque, to the priest, because death is coming -- sooner or later you will have to die. Some
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           arrangements have to be made, arrangements for that long journey. Who knows what will be
           needed? The priests pretend that they know.
                And all the so-called saints of India will be talking about death. They will bring up the subject of
           death again and again and again. Their whole business depends on death; if people forget about
           death, people start forgetting about God, people start forgetting about temples, people start forgetting
           about saints. So saints cannot leave you alone; they will go on bringing the subject of death in your
           mind so they can go on keeping you trembling. Your fear is the secret of their trade: if you are afraid,
           you will remain slaves to them. If you become unafraid, then you will get out of their folds; then you
           cannot be exploited. Death is not bad for them, it is good. It helps their business.
                But sex... that is a danger for them. India is not a sex-oriented country. Kissing, hugging, love,
           the very phenomenon of love, makes you more earthbound, makes you less afraid of death. Lovers
           are the people who are the least afraid of death. When you are in love you don't care about death. If it
           comes, it comes. So what? If you are in love, you can die smilingly. With a kiss on your lips you can
           say goodbye. You loved, you lived; there is nothing to repent. Your life has not been a wastage. You
           bloomed! You danced in the sun, in the wind, in the rain -- what more can you expect? Immense was
           the gift of life: love was its gift. You are grateful! Why should you go to the priest? You may go to
           the poet, you may go to the painter, you may go to the musician, but you will not go to the priest.
                That's why you will be surprised: in my commune you will find musicians and you will find
           poets and you will find dancers and you will find singers, but you will not find any priest at all. The
           priest seems to be the center of all religious activity, and he is missing here, absolutely missing --
           because my approach is that first you have to know what love is, you have to go deep into love. Dive
           as deep as possible into love!
                If you can dive really deep into love you will be surprised that you have arrived at death. That's
           my own experience -- I am not propounding a theory, I am simply stating my own existential state,
           my own experience. I am only stating a fact: if you love deeply you are bound to come to the
           phenomenon of death. And when you come through love to death, even death is beautiful, because
           love makes everything beautiful. When you come through love to death, love glorifies death, love
           beautifies death; even death becomes a blessing. Those who have known love will know death as the
           ultimate in orgasm.
                Now there are sex-oriented cultures, for example, America. There, death is taboo; you should not
           talk about death. If you start talking about death, people will avoid you. You will not be invited to
           parties anymore. You are not supposed to talk about death; death has not to be mentioned. Death is
           still one of the unmentionables. That's why even if somebody dies we have euphemisms, words to
           cover up the fact of death. We say, "He has passed away." We don't say, "He has died." We say, "He
           has become God's beloved." We don't know about God, we don't know what it means to become
           God's beloved, because we have never been beloved to anybody. Even if God wants to hug you, the
           police will catch hold of him. If he kisses you, even you will feel a little disturbed -- God? and
           kissing me? Is he really a God or just a fraud? How can God kiss? Kissing has never been thought a
           spiritual activity. Even in public places it is prohibited, and he is doing it on a universal plane -- not
           only public but universal, at the very center of the cosmos! But we have these ways of avoiding
           death; it has to be somehow avoided. The word itself is taboo.
                It is because of Sigmund Freud that the taboo against the word 'sex' was removed -- the whole
           credit goes to this man. He is one of the greatest benefactors of humanity. Although he himself was
           not enlightened, he has done a great service, a pioneer work: he removed one great taboo. Now you
           can talk about sex without feeling ashamed, without feeling guilty.
                Another Freud is needed -- a Freud who will remove the taboo against death. The West is
           sex-oriented, the East is death-oriented; hence in the East people are repressive of sex and in the
           West people are repressive of death. Both are wrong because sex and death are two sides of the same
           coin. If you repress one, you cannot experience the other in its totality, because to experience the one
           in its totality is to experience the other too, and both have to be experienced. Life is an opportunity
           to experience sex and death. If you experience these two and if you can come to your own authentic
           experience that they both are one, you have transcended. Knowing that both are one is
           transcendence.
                Saguna, you ask me, "What can you say about these poles to help me go beyond?"
                Experience both. But right now death is not there; right now you have to experience love, sex --
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all the delicacies of love, intricacies of love, complexities of love, all the nuances of love. Right now,
           go deep into love, Saguna. And then when death comes you will be able to go deep into death too.
                In fact, while making love, at the highest peak of orgasm a small death happens, because mind
           disappears, ego disappears, time disappears, as if the clock suddenly stops. You are transported into
           another world. You are not a body anymore, not a mind anymore, not an ego anymore... you are pure
           existence. That's the beauty of orgasm. To know orgasm is to experience a little bit of death, a small
           death.
                First go deep into love so you can have a few tastes of death. Then death will come one day --
           then go dancingly into it, because you know it is going to be the greatest orgasm that you have ever
           known, that it is going to be the deepest of love. And that's how one transcends -- knowing that both
           are one. That very knowing is transcendence.

           The last question:


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANT TO BECOME A SANNYASIN, BUT GRADUALLY. IS IT OKAY WITH YOU? OR IS A
              SUDDEN JUMP A NECESSITY?

              Girish Chandra, you remind me of a story:

               During World War I, RAF Captain Bainsby shot down the German ace Baron von Ribstein over
           English territory. The next day Bainsby visited the baron in the hospital.
           "Old chap," said the Britisher, "is there anything I can do for you?"
           "Yes," replied Von Ribstein. "They are amputating my right arm. Would you drop it over
           Germany?" Captain Bainsby did as he was requested and a week later returned for a visit.
           "My friend," said the baron, "they are taking off my right leg. Would you drop it over the
           fatherland?"
               Bainsby fulfilled the request and went back to see his air nemesis once again.
           "Captain," said Von Ribstein, "they are going to remove my left leg. Once more, can I get you to
           drop it behind the German lines?"
           "Of course, old bean," replied Bainsby. "But I say, you are not trying to escape, are you?"

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                     Chapter #7
                                         Chapter title: He is the charioteer
           18 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908180
              ShortTitle: DHAM307
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 108 mins




              HE IS THE CHARIOTEER.
              HE HAS TAMED HIS HORSES,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PRIDE AND THE SENSES.
              EVEN THE GODS ADMIRE HIM.



              YIELDING LIKE THE EARTH,
              JOYOUS AND CLEAR LIKE THE LAKE,
              STILL AS THE STONE AT THE DOOR,
              HE IS FREE FROM LIFE AND DEATH.



              HIS THOUGHTS ARE STILL.
              HIS WORDS ARE STILL.
              HIS WORK IS STILLNESS.
              HE SEES HIS FREEDOM AND IS FREED.



              THE MASTER SURRENDERS HIS BELIEFS.
              HE SEES BEYOND THE END AND THE BEGINNING.



              HE CUTS ALL TIES.
              HE GIVES UP ALL HIS DESIRES.
              HE RESISTS ALL TEMPTATION.
              AND HE RISES.



              AND WHEREVER HE LIVES,
              IN THE CITY OR THE COUNTRY,
              IN THE VALLEY OR IN THE HILLS,
              THERE IS GREAT JOY.



              EVEN IN THE EMPTY FOREST
              HE FINDS JOY
              BECAUSE HE WANTS NOTHING.


               Man is a seed of great potential: man is the seed of buddhahood. Each man is born to be a
           buddha. Man is not born to be a slave but to be a master. But there are very few who actualize their
           potential. And the reason why millions can't realize their potential is that they take it for granted that
           they already have it.
               Life is only an opportunity to grow, to be, to bloom. Life in itself is empty; unless you are
           creative you will not be able to fill it with fulfillment. You have a song in your heart to be sung and
           you have a dance to be danced, but the dance is invisible, and the song -- even you have not heard it
           yet. It is deep down hidden in the innermost core of your being; it has to be brought to the surface, it
           has to be expressed.
               That's what is meant by 'self-actualization'. Rare is the person who transforms his life into a
           growth, who transforms his life into a long journey of self-actualization, who becomes what he was
           meant to be. In the East we have called that man the buddha, in the West we have called that man the
           christ. The word 'christ' exactly means what the word 'buddha' means: one who has come home.
               We are all wanderers in search of the home, but the search is very unconscious -- groping in the
           dark, not exactly aware what we are groping for, who we are, where we are going. We go on like
           driftwood, we go on remaining accidental.
               And it becomes possible because millions of people around you are in the same boat, and when
           you see that millions are doing the same things that you are doing, then you must be right -- because
           millions can't be wrong. That is your logic, and that logic is fundamentally erroneous: millions can't
           be right.
               It is very rare that a person is right; it is very rare that a person realizes the truth. Millions live
           lives of lies, lives of pretension. Their existences are only superficial; they live on the circumference,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           utterly unaware of the center. And the center contains all: the center is the kingdom of God.
               The first step towards buddhahood, towards the realization of your infinite potential, is to
           recognize that up to now you have been wasting your life, that up to now you have remained utterly
           unconscious.
               Start becoming conscious; that is the only way to arrive. It is arduous, it is hard. To remain
           accidental is easy; it needs no intelligence, hence it is easy. Any idiot can do it -- all the idiots are
           already doing it. It is easy to be accidental because you never feel responsible for anything that
           happens. You can always throw the responsibility onto something else: fate, God, society, economic
           structure, the state, the church, the mother, the father, the parents.... You can go on throwing the
           responsibility onto somebody else; hence it is easy.
               To be conscious means to take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders. To be
           responsible is the beginning of buddhahood.
               When I use the word 'responsible' I am not using it in the ordinary connotation of being dutiful. I
           am using it in its real, essential meaning: the capacity to respond -- that's my meaning. And the
           capacity to respond is possible only if you are conscious. If you are fast asleep, how can you
           respond? If you are asleep, the birds will go on singing but you will not hear, and the flowers will go
           on blooming and you will never be able to sense the beauty, the fragrance, the joy, that they are
           showering on existence.
               To be responsible means to be alert, conscious. To be responsible means to be mindful. Act with
           as much awareness as you can find possible. Even small things -- walking on the street, eating your
           food, taking your bath -- should not be done mechanically. Do them with full awareness.
               Slowly slowly, small acts become luminous, and by and by those luminous acts go on gathering
           inside you, and finally the explosion. The seed has exploded, the potential has become actual. You
           are no longer a seed but a lotus flower, a golden lotus flower, a one-thousand-petaled lotus flower.
           And that is the moment of great benediction; Buddha calls it nirvana. One has arrived. Now there is
           no more to achieve, nowhere to go. You can rest, you can relax -- the journey is over. Tremendous
           joy arises in that moment, great ecstasy is born.
           But one has to begin from the beginning.

               After a three-day drinking bout, Tooley and Bragan registered at a hotel and asked for twin beds.
           However, in the darkness they both got into the same bed.
           "Hey!" yelled Tooley. "I think a homo has crept in bed with me."
           "There's a queer in my bed, too," called Bragan.
           "Let's throw the fairies out," called back the first.
               A terrific wrestling match ensued and finally Tooley went sailing out of the bed. "How did you
           make out?" he called from the floor.
           "I threw my guy out," said the other Irishman. "How about you?"
           "He threw me out."
           "Well, that makes us even. Get into bed with me."

               This is how man is: in darkness, utterly unconscious; doing things, not knowing why; simply
           doing because there is an unconscious urge to do. Now, this is not only a mystic hypothesis about
           man. Sigmund Freud, Gustav Jung, Alfred Adler and others, the modern researchers into the psyche
           of man, have also come across the same fact.
               Freud says man lives unconsciously, although the mind is so cunning that it can find reasons,
           motives. At least it can create a facade as if you are living a conscious life -- and that is very
           dangerous because you can start believing in your own facade. Then your life is gone, then you will
           not be able to use this tremendously valuable opportunity.
               People go on doing unconscious things -- although they suffer, although they are immensely
           miserable, still they go on doing the same things which bring misery to them. They don't know what
           else to do. They are not there, they are not present; hence they can't do anything. They are trapped in
           the unconscious instincts.

              Hennessy, loaded to the gills, was lurking on a dark and deserted street corner. Soon a man came
           walking by, and Hennessy sprang out of the shadows, a gun in his hand.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Stay where you are!" he slobbered. Then he pulled a bottle out of his pocket. "Here," Hennessy
           ordered, "take a drink of this."
               Too terrified to resist, the poor schnook took the bottle and drank deeply. "Wow!" he exclaimed.
           "That stuff tastes awful!"
           "I know," gurgled the crocked Irishman. "Now you hold the gun and force me to drink some."

                The stuff that you are drinking, that stuff that you call your life, is really awful! But you go on
           forcing yourself, doing the same repetitive acts again and again -- not knowing what else to do, not
           knowing where else to go, not knowing that there are other alternatives possible, that there are
           alternative life-styles possible. And the greatest alternative is the religious dimension.
                The religious dimension simply means the dimension of being conscious, of being alert, of living
           a life with self-remembrance. Let me add that by self-remembrance I don't mean self-consciousness.
           Self-consciousness is a false phenomenon; it is another name of ego. Self-remembering is a totally
           different phenomenon; it is the cessation of the ego. In self-consciousness there is no consciousness,
           there is only self; in self-remembering there is no self, only remembering.
                Buddha's whole methodology is that of self-remembering: SAMMASATI. It has been translated
           as right-mindfulness or right awareness. What is RIGHT awareness? Can awareness also be wrong?
           Yes, there is a possibility: if awareness becomes too much focused on the object it is wrong
           awareness. Awareness has to be aware of itself, then it is right awareness.
                When you look at a tree, at a mountain, at a star, you can be conscious -- conscious of the tree,
           conscious of the mountain, conscious of the star -- but you are not conscious of the one who is
           conscious of all these things. This is wrong awareness, focused on the object. You have to unfocus it
           from the object, you have to help it turn inwards. You have to bring it to your own interiority, you
           have to fill your subjectivity with its light.
                When one is full of light, not showing other things in the light but only showing the light itself,
           then it is right awareness and that is the door to nirvana, to God -- to self-actualization.
                By birth you are only given an opportunity. There is no inner necessity that you will really
           become, that your potential will be realized, that you will really attain to beinghood. Only the
           opportunity is given, then it is up to you. You will have to find the way, you will have to find the
           master, you will have to find the right situation. It is a great challenge.
                Life is a great challenge to know oneself. If this challenge is accepted, you really become man
           for the first time; otherwise you go on existing on a subhuman level.
                And it is not only the worldly people who are living an unconscious life. The so-called religious
           are not in any way different.

               Father Duffy was sent to a small Eskimo village in the coldest part of Alaska. Several months
           later, the bishop paid him a visit. "How do you like it up here among the Eskimos?"
           "Just fine," replied the priest.
           "And what about the weather?" asked the bishop.
           "Ah, as long as I have my rosary and my vodka I don't care how cold it is."
           "I am glad to hear it. Say, I could go for a bit of vodka myself right now."
           "Absolutely," said Father Duffy. "Rosary! Would you bring us two vodkas?"

               The worldly, the otherworldly, are not really different. There is only one difference that makes a
           difference and that is of awareness, alertness. And the awareness can be practiced anywhere: you
           need not go to the mountains, you need not go to the monasteries, you need not renounce the world.
               In fact, IN the world it is easier to practice awareness than anywhere else. This is my own
           experience, and not only my personal experience but my observation of thousands of sannyasins,
           too. The easiest way to become aware is to be in the world and practice it, because the world gives
           you so many opportunities. A monastery cannot give you so many opportunities. Living in a
           mountain cave, what opportunities do you have to be alert? You will be more and more asleep there,
           more and more dull. Intelligence will not be required, hence you will lose all sharpness of
           intelligence. And awareness will not be required; there will be no challenge for it. It is only in
           challenges that life grows; the greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity. And the world is
           really full of challenges. Hence to my sannyasins I say: never renounce.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Rejoice in the world! In the past we have renounced too much and the result has been nil. How
           many buddhas have we produced in the past? They can be counted on the fingers. Only rarely, very
           rarely, a man became a Buddha, Christ or Krishna. Out of millions and millions of seeds only one
           seed sprouted? That is not much. It has been a sheer wastage of great human potential, and the
           reason has been the escapist attitude of the religions.
               I affirm life, I rejoice in life. And I would like you all to be deeply, intensely, passionately in life,
           with one condition only: alertness, watchfulness, witnessing. And I know the difficulty arises,
           because you will be living with millions of sleepy people -- and sleep is contagious; just as
           awareness is. Awareness, too, is contagious; hence the significance of being with a master.
               The master cannot give you the truth. Nobody can give the truth to anybody else; it is
           untransferable. The master cannot take you to the ultimate goal, because there you will have to arrive
           alone, nobody can accompany you. You cannot reach there by imitating the master, because the
           more you imitate somebody, the falser you become. How can you arrive to truth by becoming false?
               Then what is the function of a master? Then what is the use of searching for a master? Then why
           be a disciple at all? Still there is a reason, and the reason is that awareness is as contagious as
           sleepiness. If you sit with a few people who are all feeling sleepy you will start feeling sleepy.

           A famous Sufi story says:
               There was a fruit seller. He had a very cunning fox who used to watch his shop. Whenever he
           had to go out he would tell the fox, "Be alert. Sit in my place and just watch. Watch every activity
           that goes on around here. Don't allow anybody to steal anything. If somebody tries to steal, make
           noises -- I will run out of the house immediately."
               One day Mulla Nasruddin was passing. He heard the shopkeeper talking to the fox, saying all
           these things, "Be alert, watch every activity that is going on around, and if you see that something is
           against us or somebody is trying to steal the fruits, make a noise immediately and I will come out."
               Mulla Nasruddin was very much tempted. The shopkeeper went in. Nasruddin sat in front of the
           shop and just started pretending he was falling asleep; with closed eyes he started dozing.
               For a moment the poor fox thought, "What to do? Should I make a noise? But sleep is not an
           activity -- in fact it is just the opposite -- and the master has said that if some activity goes on
           around.... This is not activity: this man is falling asleep, and what can a man who is asleep do, what
           harm?" But the fox was not aware that Mulla was trying a Sufi strategy! By pretending to be falling
           asleep, by dozing with closed eyes, slowly slowly he managed to make the fox fall asleep. Then he
           stole the fruits.
               When the master came back, the fruits were gone... and the fox was snoring! He shook the fox
           and asked, "What is the matter? Didn't I tell you if any activity happens you have to make a noise so
           that I can come? But I never heard any noise."
               The fox said, "But there was no activity happening. Just one man came; he sat in front of the
           shop and started dozing. Now, sleep is not an activity, is it? Sleep is inactivity."
           Simple logic! A poor fox and simple logic.
           "Then what happened to you?" the owner asked.
               The fox said, "That I don't know, what happened to me. But the more I watched the man dozing,
           somehow I started dozing myself and it was impossible to remain awake. I don't know when I fell
           asleep."

               If a few people are dozing and you are sitting with them, you can see the point: the vibe of sleep
           reaches to you. And similar is the case... although a little difficult because sleep is downhill and
           awakening is uphill. It is a little harder task. But to be with a man who is awake, who is a buddha, is
           bound to make you alert -- just being with the master.
               We are affected continuously by people around us. We may be absolutely oblivious of the fact
           that whatsoever we think has been given by others to us; whatsoever we feel, even that, too, has been
           given to us by others. The child learns by imitation. Even our emotions may be just borrowed, not
           only our thoughts; our sentiments may be just borrowed.
               People even can die just because of a borrowed idea. What is a motherland? -- an idea which we
           go on stuffing in the heads of small children. And we go on telling them that to die for the
           motherland is to be a great man, is to be a martyr; to die for the motherland is the greatest virtue.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In the past they used to say the same thing about religions, churches: "To die for the church, to
           die for your religion, is the sure way to enter into paradise. Instantly you are uplifted into paradise if
           you die for your religion." Kill others for your religion and it is not sin; die for your own religion and
           it is not suicide. Killing is not murder, committing suicide is not suicide! Once these ideas have been
           implanted in your being, imprinted in your being, they start functioning from there.

               Three boys, a Catholic, a Jew, and a black kid, were sitting on a curb. A priest and a rabbi saw
           the boys.
               The Catholic priest recognized one of the kids as a member of his parish, so he said, "Sonny,
           what are the two biggest things in your life?"
               He said, "Father, the two biggest things in my life are the Catholic church and my priest."
               The rabbi looked down and recognized the Jewish kid from his congregation. He said, "Son,
           what are the two biggest things in your life?"
           "Rabbi, the two biggest things in my life are my congregation and my rabbi."
               Both members of the clergy left smugly satisfied. Then the little colored kid looked at his two
           buddies and said, "Say, ain't neither one of you little mama's boys never had no girls nor watermelon
           yet?"

                We learn from others. It may be your idea of God, it may be the priest, the rabbi -- or the
           watermelon! It is all the same: we learn from others.
                In the close intimacy with a master, two things happen: one is his contagious awareness, his
           contagious love, his contagious compassion; and second, a great unlearning. Whatsoever you have
           learned from sleepy people, whether it is about the watermelon or about the rabbi -- there is not
           much difference between watermelons and rabbis! What you have learned from the established
           church and the state and the educational system, which are all serving vested interests, which are all
           serving the past, the dead past, which are not in your service.... Remember, they are to exploit you,
           they are to reduce you to machines -- efficient, but machines are machines, whether efficient or not
           efficient. Their function is to make you slaves of the society -- and the society is ill, the society is
           insane, the society is pathological.
                Two things happen in the affinity of the master: the first, his contagious awareness; and the
           second: a process of unlearning. He starts destroying all that you have learned. He cannot give you
           the truth, I repeat, but he can take away the lies. And that is one of the most essential things; without
           it, the truth can never happen to you. Truth is going to happen to you in your aloneness, but before it
           can happen all the blocks have to be removed: the blocks of lies that have been placed in the way of
           truth.
                The master can take away your lies. His function is negative in that way, and positive in being
           contagious. His vibe can touch and wake you up. He can be a sunray entering through the window in
           your bedroom, falling on your face, and telling you that, "It is morning, now get up!" making it very
           difficult for you to sleep. Yes, the master can make it difficult for you to sleep and difficult for you
           to imitate and difficult for you to learn from those who are really your enemies and not your friends.
                If these two things are possible, your life starts moving, you are no longer stuck. Your seed has
           fallen into the right soil: now in the right time the sprout will come. Soon there will be spring and
           you will see your own flowers. And the flowers of consciousness are the greatest flowers there are.

           The sutras:

              HE IS THE CHARIOTEER.
              HE HAS TAMED HIS HORSES,
              PRIDE AND THE SENSES.
              EVEN THE GODS ADMIRE HIM.


               The moment your potential becomes actual, the moment you are a realized soul, even gods
           admire you. Even gods are far behind, because even gods have not yet become buddhas. They are
           also living unconscious lives -- maybe living in heaven. What you call angels in Christianity are
           called gods in Buddhism. The angels living in heaven, even they are not buddhas; they are as asleep
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as you are. The only difference is in their situation: they are in paradise and you are on earth. But the
           difference is not in their psychology; as far as their inner being is concerned it is as dark as yours.
               Hindus have never been able to forgive Buddha, because he said that even gods admire a buddha,
           even gods worship a buddha.
               The story is told that when Buddha became a buddha, when Gautama Siddhartha became
           enlightened, became a buddha, gods came from paradise to worship him. They touched his feet and
           they showered celestial flowers and they played celestial music. Hindus have never been able to
           forgive Buddhists for this story -- gods worshipping a man? But see the point: the gods are not
           worshipping a man, the gods are worshipping awareness, the gods are worshipping buddhahood.
           Gods are not worshipping Gautama Siddhartha the man, but the flame that has happened into his
           heart. That flame is eternal light, that flame is divine. And even gods are yet far far away from it;
           they have to attain it.
               The idea of a buddha is higher than the idea of gods. Buddhism is the only religion of the world
           which has given man such dignity; no other religion has dignified man so highly. Buddhism is the
           religion of man.
               A Buddhist poet, Chandidas, has said: SABAR UPAR MANUS SATYA, TAHAR UPAR
           NAHIN -- the truth of man is the highest truth, there is no higher truth than that.
               But the truth of man does not mean the body of man, the bones and the blood and the marrow,
           no. The truth of man means the flame which is not yet lit in you. Once it is lit you are transported
           into a totally different world. You have become part of the whole, you are no longer separate. The
           way to reach to this actualization is: HE IS THE CHARIOTEER. He becomes a conscious master.
           His body is a chariot, he drives it where he wants to, not vice versa. The unconscious man is driven
           by his body.
               Just watch yourself: your body goes on driving you. Just a moment before you were not hungry,
           and you pass by the side of a restaurant, and the smell of food... and suddenly you start feeling
           hungry. The body is deceiving you, because just a moment before you were not hungry at all, there
           was no hunger. This hunger is the body driving you towards food. You were not even thinking of
           food just a moment before, and the smells coming from the bakery -- and suddenly a great desire, a
           great hunger, has arisen in you. It is the body driving you; you are not the charioteer. The chariot has
           become the master. This is the ordinary situation.
               HE HAS TAMED HIS HORSES.... Senses are called the horses. In the ancient days in India
           there were chariots with five horses. Great kings used to move in chariots with five horses. Those
           who were the greatest, those who were called CHAKRAVARTINS -- the world rulers -- they used to
           move in chariots with seven horses. Five horses represent the five senses... and your five senses are
           continuously influencing you. A man who wants to be really conscious has to start by becoming alert
           of these things.
               If you take your dinner at a particular time every day, and you see the clock and it is time.... The
           clock may have stopped, the clock may not be right, the clock may be one hour ahead, but if it is
           time, immediately there is hunger. Now, this hunger is false, created by the senses, created by the
           body -- and you are going to be driven by these senses your whole life?
               All over the world, seekers of truth have become aware of this phenomenon and they have
           reacted in two ways; one is right, the other is wrong. The wrong way is to start fighting with your
           senses and your body. By fighting you will never win. By fighting you will become weaker, you will
           be dissipating energy. By fighting you will become repressive -- and that which is repressed will take
           revenge sooner or later. Whenever it will find any opportunity to take possession of you, it is bound
           to take possession of you -- and with a vengeance!
               You can fast for three days, you can force your body to fast, but if it is repression, the fourth day
           the body will take revenge -- you will eat too much, for a few days you will eat too much. In fact, if
           you had lost any weight in those three days, you will gain more weight within a week. The body has
           taken the revenge, the body has taught you a lesson.
               Fighting is not the way -- not the way of the buddhas. Fighting is stupid; it is your own body, you
           need not fight with it, you have just to be more watchful of it. If some watchfulness starts
           crystallizing in you, you will be surprised that the body starts following you. It no longer commands
           you, it no longer orders you: it becomes obedient to you.
               When the master has arrived, the servants immediately fall in line. But the master is asleep, that's
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           why the servants are pretending to be the masters.
               HE IS THE CHARIOTEER. HE HAS TAMED HIS HORSES.... They have not to be killed or
           destroyed but tamed. They are beautiful animals! If tamed they can be of tremendous value, they can
           be of great service to you.
               A buddha is not one who destroys his senses, but is one who makes his senses more clear, more
           clean, more sensitive -- but he remains the master. A buddha sees far more than you see, his eyes are
           far more receptive, because there is no smoke in his eyes, no clouds in his consciousness.
               He sees the same green trees, but the trees are far greener for him than they are for you. He
           smells the same perfume but it is far more for him than it is for you. He sees the same beauty, but it
           gives him great ecstasy. It may not give you any ecstasy at all; you may bypass it. You may not even
           see the nazunia flower by the side of the road. What to say of the nazunia -- you may not even see a
           roseflower. You are so much occupied, your senses are so full of information; they are not empty
           and available. Your senses are not very sensitive.
               The buddha does not kill them, but many saints have been doing that stupidity. There have been
           Christian saints in Russia -- a long tradition -- who used to cut off their genital organs; the nuns used
           to cut off their breasts. Ridiculous, stupid! What more stupidity can you expect than this? How can
           you be a master by cutting off your genital organs? -- because sexuality is not there, sexuality is in
           the head. And, of course, you cannot cut off your head. And even if you cut it off, it is not going to
           make any difference; you will be born again with a far filthier head!
               Now we know -- scientific research has proved it beyond doubt -- that sexuality has nothing to
           do with the genital organs; it is not there. The genital organs are triggered by the head; in the brain
           there are centers. Pavlov and B.F. Skinner's work has been of tremendous value in this field. I don't
           agree with their behavioristic approach, but what they have researched can be used by the mystics,
           can be used by the seekers of truth, by the explorers of their inner being, in a very valuable way.
               Skinner has found that in the brain there are centers -- centers for food, centers for sex, centers
           for everything. You touch with an electrode the sex center in the brain, and immediately you have an
           orgasm. A great joy arises in you as if you have made love to a woman. Skinner was experimenting
           with rats; he fixed an electrode in the sex center in the brain of the rat and he taught the rat how to
           push a button if he wants an orgasm. He was surprised what the rat did; he had never thought that
           rats are so sexual. The rat completely forgot about food, about everything. Even if there was danger,
           even if a cat was brought, the rat was unafraid. Who cares? He was continuously pushing the button,
           continuously... six thousand times! Until the rat fell utterly exhausted, almost dead, he went on
           pushing, because each push and there was an orgasm.
               Now sooner or later this is going to happen to you too! It will be far easier, far more comfortable
           -- because to have a woman or to have a man is such a conflict. You can just have a small,
           matchbox-sized computer in your pocket -- nobody will ever know what you are doing! You can go
           on moving your rosary and with the other hand you can push the button, and people will think that
           the ecstasy is happening because of the rosary. And your face will glow.... But if it becomes possible
           you will be in the same situation as the rat: you will die by pushing your button too much, you will
           forget everything else.
               Genital organs have nothing to do with sex; everything is contained in the brain. Your hunger has
           nothing to do with your stomach; that too is contained in the brain. That's why at the right time,
           looking at the clock, suddenly the hunger. And the smell of the bakery does not go into the stomach,
           remember, it goes into the brain. It triggers a certain center in your brain, it pushes a button in the
           brain, and suddenly you are hungry. Now, destroying your body is not going to help, starving your
           body is not going to help. Even committing suicide is not going to help. Only one thing can help, and
           that is awareness.
               If you become aware... awareness is not a part of the brain. Awareness is behind the brain,
           awareness is capable of seeing the brain.
               You will be surprised to know that whatsoever modern psychological methods have been able to
           discover was discovered thousands of years before by the mystics in the East. Buddha was perfectly
           aware of the brain centers, Patanjali was perfectly aware of the brain centers. And the only way is to
           find something which is beyond the brain and move to that beyond and remain there. There is your
           mastery; from there you are the charioteer, from there all the horses are in your hands. And then they
           are beautiful! Senses are not ugly -- nothing is ugly. Even sex has its own beauty, its own sacredness,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           its own holiness. But if you are rooted and centered in your beyond, in your consciousness, then
           everything has a different meaning, a different context. Then eating has its own spirituality.
               The Upanishads say: ANNAM BRAHMA -- food is God. The man who had said this must have
           tasted God in food. And the tantrikas in the East have been saying it for centuries, that sex has the
           greatest potential to realize samadhi. It is the closest point -- the sexual orgasm is the closest to the
           spiritual orgasm, hence you can learn much from it. In sexual orgasm time disappears, ego
           disappears, mind disappears. In sexual orgasm, for a moment the whole world stops.
               The same happens in the spiritual orgasm on a far bigger scale. The sexual is momentary and the
           spiritual is eternal, but the sexual gives you a glimpse of the spiritual.
               Senses have to be tamed, not to be destroyed, remember. ... PRIDE AND THE SENSES. EVEN
           THE GODS ADMIRE HIM. Tame the senses, tame the pride. If the pride masters you, it is ego; if
           you are the master, then it is only self-respect. And every person of integrity has self-respect.
           Self-respect is not egoistic, not at all. Self-respect simply means, "I love myself, I respect myself,
           and I will not allow anybody to humiliate me. I will not humiliate anybody and I will not allow
           anybody to humiliate me. I will not create slavery for anybody and I will not be a slave to anybody
           either."
               That is pride tamed. Then it has become a servant and it is beautiful.

              YIELDING LIKE THE EARTH,
              JOYOUS AND CLEAR LIKE THE LAKE,
              STILL AS THE STONE AT THE DOOR,
              HE IS FREE FROM LIFE AND DEATH.


               The man who has become awakened becomes YIELDING LIKE THE EARTH. He loses all
           rigidity. He is not like a rock; he is like soft earth. And only the soft earth can be fertile, can be
           creative. The rock remains impotent; it creates nothing, nothing grows on it, nothing can grow in it.
           The rock remains utterly empty. But the yielding earth -- soft, humble, surrendering, receptive,
           womblike -- can give birth to new experiences, can give birth to new visions, new songs, new
           poetries. The awakened person is not rigid. In the words of Lao Tzu, he is not like the rock but like
           water. His way is the way of water -- the watercourse way.
               JOYOUS AND CLEAR LIKE THE LAKE.... The man who is awakened, who is alert, becomes
           clear; all his confusions are gone. Not that he has been able to find solutions, no, but because all his
           questions have disappeared. Not that he has found the answers -- there is no answer to be found. Life
           is a mystery and remains a mystery; life cannot be demystified. And because he knows the mystery
           of life and now there are no longer any questions and no longer any conflicting answers, he is very
           clear, he is clarity itself, and he is joyous.
               Why is he joyous? -- because now he knows that the whole kingdom of God is his. Now he
           knows that he is not an outsider here, that he belongs to existence and the existence belongs to him.
           He has become part of this infinite celebration that goes on and on. He is a song in this celebration, a
           dance in this celebration.
               STILL AS THE STONE AT THE DOOR.... Yielding like the earth and still like the rock, silent,
           unmoving.... HE IS FREE FROM LIFE AND DEATH. And he is not only free from death,
           remember: the moment you are free from death you are free from this life also -- this so-called life.
           Then there is another life.... Buddha does not name it, he will not give it any definition; he simply
           leaves it there. He leaves the sentence incomplete, because he knows anything said will destroy the
           beauty of it. Anything said will give it a limitation, and it is unlimited. Anything said is bound to be
           inadequate.
               So he says only one thing: he is free from this life and this death. The life that you have known
           and the death that happens every day -- this life and this death both disappear for the awakened one.
           Time disappears, and life and death are two sides of time. Then he is eternity. He becomes one with
           the whole; you cannot find him as a separate entity anywhere.
               Where is Gautama the Buddha now? Now he is in the air you breathe and in the water you drink
           and in the birds that go on singing and in the trees and in the clouds. Where is Buddha now? He has
           become the universe! The dewdrop has become the ocean, but the dewdrop has disappeared as a
           dewdrop. Now there is no life and death for the dewdrop; it exists no more -- how can there be a life
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for it? It exists no more, so how can it die? It has gone beyond the duality of life and death.

              HIS THOUGHTS ARE STILL.
              HIS WORDS ARE STILL.


               This is a tremendously important statement. HIS THOUGHTS ARE STILL. That is simple and
           can be understood, because a man who is alert need not think.
               Thinking is needed because we cannot see. If a blind man wants to go out of this hall he will
           have to think; he will have to ask somebody; he will have to plan where to move, where are the
           steps, where is the door, and he will grope with his stick. But if a man has eyes he need not ask, he
           need not think. He simply gets up, he simply starts moving towards the door. He gets out of the door,
           not thinking about it at all. But the blind man cannot afford not to think. And this is how the sleepy
           man has to think -- the sleepy man is blind.
               The man with awareness has inner eyes, has insight. He can see, and because he can see he need
           not think. Seeing is enough. Thinking is a poor substitute for seeing. HIS THOUGHTS ARE
           STILL.... But even more important is the statement: HIS WORDS ARE STILL. It is a contradiction
           in terms: "His words" means he speaks. Buddha spoke; otherwise we would not have these
           tremendously significant sutras. For forty-two years he was speaking continuously -- day in, day out,
           year in, year out; morning, afternoon, evening he was speaking. But he says: HIS WORDS ARE
           STILL.
               If you are really attuned, if you are really silent in the presence of the master, you will see: HIS
           WORDS ARE STILL. His words carry a silence around them, his words are not noisy. His words
           have a melody, a rhythm, a music, and at the very core of his words is utter silence. If you can
           penetrate his words you will come across infinite silence.
               But to penetrate the words of a buddha, the way is not analysis, the way is not argument, the way
           is not discussing. The way is falling in rapport with him, becoming attuned with him, being in a
           synchronicity with him. It happens: a moment comes between the disciple and the master when the
           very heart of the master and the heart of the disciple beat in the same rhythm, when the breathing of
           the master and the breathing of the disciple are in the same rhythm. When the master breathes out,
           the disciple breathes out; when the master breathes in, the disciple breathes in. Everything becomes
           so attuned.
               In that attunement, in that at-onement, one enters into the very core of the master's words. And
           there you will not find any sound, any noise; there you will find absolute silence. And to taste it is to
           understand the master. The meaning of the word is not important, remember, but the silence of the
           word. The meaning can be understood by anybody who understands language, that is not difficult;
           but the silence can be understood only by the disciple, not by the student.
               The student listens to the word, understands its meaning, and that's that. He will understand the
           philosophy of Buddha, but he will not understand the Buddha himself. He will understand his
           theories, but he will miss his being.
               The disciple may not be able to say what his master's teaching is, he may not be able to
           reproduce his philosophy, he may be at a loss. If you ask him, "What is the teaching of your master?"
           he may become dumb. But he understands the master -- not what he says but what he is.

           There is a very beautiful story:
               When Buddha died, all the enlightened disciples gathered together to write down the message of
           the Buddha, because now the master is gone and for the coming generations the treasure has to be
           collected.
               There were great enlightened disciples, but nobody could exactly reproduce it. A few of them
           were absolutely silent; when they were asked they shrugged their shoulders. A few said, "It is
           impossible, it can't be done." A few others said, "We would not like to commit any mistakes, and
           mistakes are bound to happen, because what we have seen in the man is impossible to express in
           language." In fact, not a single enlightened disciple was ready to compile the philosophy of the
           Buddha.
               Then Ananda was approached. He was the only one who had lived with Buddha for forty-two
           years and was not yet enlightened. He had remembered all, everything; he had the whole collection,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           word for word. His memory must have been just extraordinary. But there was a problem. The
           problem was: can you believe in the words of an unenlightened person about an enlightened person?
                Those who are enlightened are not ready to say anything; the one who is ready to reproduce the
           whole philosophy, word for word, from the beginning to the end, from the first statement that
           Buddha made to the last... but he is not enlightened. Can you rely on his memory? Can you rely on
           his interpretation? Now, this is really an insoluble problem: those who know, those who can be
           relied upon, are not ready to say anything, and the one who is ready to say cannot be relied upon --
           he is not enlightened himself.
                Then the whole gathering told Ananda, "Do one thing -- don't waste a single moment. Bring your
           total energies and become as alert as possible. If you can become enlightened before your death, then
           something is possible. We will not collect your statements unless you are enlightened. You
           remember -- you are the only one who remembers absolutely -- but we cannot trust it."
                How can you trust a blind man's report about someone who had eyes and was talking about
           colors, light, rainbows, flowers? How can you believe in the report of a blind man? It is absurd, it
           cannot be believed!
                So the congregation prayed to Ananda, "You are the only hope. If you can become enlightened
           we will be able to accept whatsoever you say, but we will not be able to accept it unless you become
           enlightened."
                Ananda had lived for forty-two years with Buddha, but because Buddha was so close to him he
           had started taking him for granted. It happens. It happens here too. Many of you who are close to me
           can start taking me for granted. Ananda was very close, the closest one; he was not much concerned
           about his enlightenment. Whenever he was told he said, "I am not worried about it. Buddha is going
           to take care of me. I have been serving him for forty-two years -- is he not compassionate enough to
           help drag me out of the darkness? He will do it. And what is the hurry? Why be in such a haste? It
           can happen tomorrow, it can happen the day after tomorrow. Buddha is there."
                And for forty-two years he had been postponing and believing deep down in his heart that,
           "Buddha will do it. Although he says nobody can make anybody else enlightened, I know he can do
           it. I know miracles have been happening around him. And at least, if not for anybody else, for me he
           is going to make an exception. I have served him so much. And then he is always there; if today I
           miss, tomorrow; if tomorrow I miss, the day after tomorrow. Where is he going? He is always there."
                The day Buddha died, he said to Ananda, "Ananda, now I will not be here tomorrow. So make
           haste, hurry! Now no more postponing."
                And it happened that after Buddha's death, when the congregation prayed to Ananda, for
           twenty-four hours he sat with closed eyes. This was for the first time in his whole life. In fact, there
           was so much happening around Buddha that it was impossible to close the eyes. The whole day so
           many things were happening and Ananda was too occupied. Now Buddha was gone and nothing was
           happening anymore, there was nothing to see. He closed his eyes and for twenty-four hours, for the
           first time, he sat in silence.
                He became enlightened within twenty-four hours. This had not happened in forty-two years; it
           happened in twenty-four hours. When he became enlightened, when all the enlightened disciples
           recognized his aura, his light, his luminousness, then they said, "Now Ananda can be allowed to
           come in the assembly. He can relate and we will compile."
                That's how all the Buddhist sutras have been compiled.

               But only an enlightened person can be trusted. Why? -- because he can see. And he can see into
           the words and find the silence -- which is the real message. If you listen to the meaning, you are a
           student; if you listen to the silence, you are a disciple. And if you completely forget who is talking
           and who is listening, you become one with the master -- you are a devotee.
               These are the three stages: the student, the disciple and the devotee. The student understands the
           meaning of the words, the disciple understands the silence of the words, and the devotee becomes the
           silence itself. HIS THOUGHTS ARE STILL. HIS WORDS ARE STILL.

              HIS WORK IS STILLNESS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              His whole work is stillness, he creates stillness. He creates devices to create stillness.

              HE SEES HIS FREEDOM AND IS FREED.



              THE MASTER SURRENDERS HIS BELIEFS.


               Once you become enlightened all that you have believed before becomes ridiculous, irrelevant,
           absurd, nonsense. It is like the belief of the blind man in light. Whatsoever he had believed before,
           whatsoever he had thought in his blindness that light is... once his eyes open he will have to drop all
           his beliefs about light. Not a single word out of those beliefs is going to be true. It is impossible for
           the blind man to conceive what light is. What to say about light? -- the blind man cannot even
           conceive anything about darkness either, because to see darkness you need eyes as much as to see
           light. The blind man knows nothing of darkness and nothing of light.
               Once you become awakened all your beliefs in gods, heaven, hell, karma, reincarnation, this and
           that, they all become simply rubbish. THE MASTER SURRENDERS HIS BELIEFS....

              HE SEES BEYOND THE END AND THE BEGINNING.


                Now there is no need to believe -- he can see beyond the beginning and beyond the end. He can
           see the whole through and through. Seeing is the goal.
                In India we don't have an equivalent word for philosophy. We have a totally different word for it,
           that is DARSHAN. Ordinarily it is translated as 'philosophy'; it is not. Philosophy means something
           of the mind; darshan simply means insight, vision, seeing. In the East we have called the greatest
           ones, the seers. We have not called them prophets, we have not called them philosophers, we have
           called them seers -- they have seen. The East has always believed in seeing, not in thinking.
                To translate 'darshan' into English is very difficult. To call it philosophy is to be unfair; it
           destroys the whole beauty of the word 'darshan'. So I translate it with 'philosia'. Philosophy means
           love for knowledge: 'sophia' means knowledge, 'philo' means love. Philosia means love for seeing --
           'sia' means seeing. Once you have seen, all beliefs wither away like dry leaves falling from the trees.

              HE CUTS ALL TIES.
              HE GIVES UP ALL HIS DESIRES.
              HE RESISTS ALL TEMPTATION.
              AND HE RISES.


               Now a totally new law starts functioning: the law of levitation. Ordinarily things fall downwards,
           but the man of awakening rises upwards. Everything in him starts rising upwards, soaring upwards.
           He has to cut all ties, because those ties are with the earth. He has to give up all desires, because
           those desires are the ties that keep him tethered to the earth.
               HE RESISTS ALL TEMPTATION. Many times the old mind will try to assert itself. Many
           many times the mind will make efforts to bring you back to the earth.
               Kahlil Gibran says: When a river comes closer to the sea, it waits for a moment, looks backwards
           -- all those joys, the mountains, the virgin snows where it originated, the forests, the solitude of the
           forests, the birds, their songs, the people, the plains, thousands of experiences, the long journey....
           And now the moment has come to disappear into the ocean. The whole past pulls backwards. The
           whole past says, "Wait! You will be lost forever. You will never be the same. Without your banks,
           how can you be? You will lose your definition."
               Exactly the same happens when you come closer to buddhahood: when all is being lost, all ties,
           all desires, great temptations arise. There is no Devil to tempt you; it is your own mind, your own
           past experiences. Your whole loaded past tries to pull you backwards, but now nothing can pull you
           backwards. The call has been heard, the invitation has arrived.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE CUTS ALL TIES. HE GIVES UP ALL HIS DESIRES. HE RESISTS ALL TEMPTATION. AND HE
              RISES.



              AND WHEREVER HE LIVES,
              IN THE CITY OR THE COUNTRY,
              IN THE VALLEY OR IN THE HILLS,
              THERE IS GREAT JOY.


               And not only that he is joyous: wherever he is he brings a climate of joy. Joy surrounds him.
               It is said that wherever Buddha would move, trees would bloom out of season, rivers would start
           flowing in the summer season when there was no water. Wherever Buddha would move there would
           be peace, silence, love, compassion, all around. This is really so; not that trees will bloom out of
           season -- these are metaphors -- but whenever there is a buddha something mysterious starts
           happening. People start blooming out of season, joy spreads, great waves of joy.
               When you enter into the buddhafield you enter into a totally different world: the world of
           blessings, the world of benedictions.

              EVEN IN THE EMPTY FOREST
              HE FINDS JOY
              BECAUSE HE WANTS NOTHING.


               And he is everywhere joyous, because the only thing that destroys your natural capacity of
           rejoicing is your desiring mind. The desiring mind makes you a beggar. Once all desires have been
           dropped you are the emperor. Joy is a natural state of your being.
               Just let there be no desire and see. When there is no desire there is no mind. When there is no
           desire there is no turmoil. When there is no desire there is no past, no future. When there is no desire
           you are utterly contented herenow. And to be contented herenow is joy.
               And whenever such a man moves, wherever he moves, he brings his climate with him. A buddha
           is in the spring season all the year round. And fortunate are those who come in some way close to
           him, blessed are those who become associated with him, because they also share his joy, his
           benediction, his wisdom, his love, his light.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                     Chapter #8
                                        Chapter title: A good belly laughter
           19 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908190
              ShortTitle: DHAM308
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 110 mins




              The first question:
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED MASTER,
               YOU GRACIOUSLY SENT ME A TAPED ANSWER TO A QUESTION LAST AUTUMN. THE GIST OF
               YOUR ANSWER WAS THAT I WAS TRYING TOO HARD AT SPIRITUAL PURSUITS. I STOPPED
               ALMOST EVERYTHING FOR NINE MONTHS AND GOT GOOD RESULTS FROM FOLLOWING
               YOUR ADVICE.
               NOW I AM ATTENDING A SANNYASIN GROUP AGAIN, BUT I FEEL THAT BECOMING A
               SANNYASIN WOULD BE DOING WHAT YOU TOLD ME NOT TO DO -- TRYING TOO HARD. I
               HAVE ALREADY BEEN INITIATED INTO MANY GROUPS AND FEEL THAT THIS MAY BE
               SYMPTOMATIC OF TRYING TOO HARD. SHOULD I JUST RELAX AND ENJOY YOU THE WAY
               WE ARE NOW?


                Mariel Strauss, that's exactly what sannyas is: relaxing and enjoying whatsoever is. It is not an
           initiation like other initiations you have been through -- it is a totally different phenomenon. It is not
           a serious affair at all, it is basically playfulness. It is for the first time on the earth that we are trying
           to bring playfulness to religion.
                Religion has always been of a long face, sad, serious, somber. Because of that seriousness,
           millions of people have remained aloof from religion. Those who were alive could not become
           religious because religion meant a kind of suicide to them -- and it was so. Those who were already
           dead or dying, those who were ill, pathological, suicidal, only they were interested in the old
           religions.
                The old religions were not dancing, singing, celebrating; they were anti-life, anti-earth,
           anti-body. They were purely negative; they had nothing to affirm. Their God was based on
           negativity. Go on negating: the more you negate life, the more religious you were thought to be.
                I am bringing a totally new vision of religion to the earth: I am introducing you to a religion that
           can laugh, a religion that can love, a religion that can live the ordinary life with extraordinary
           awareness.
                Religion is not a question of changing life patterns, of changing things and situations. Religion
           changes you, not your situation. It does not change things: it changes the way you look at things. It
           changes your eyes, your vision; it gives you an insight. Then God is not something against life: then
           God is the intrinsic core of life. Then spirit is not anti-matter but the highest form of matter, the
           purest fragrance of matter.
                Mariel Strauss, if you avoid sannyas that will be being serious. You have not understood that this
           is not the same kind of initiation. You have been into many schools, and you have gathered much
           knowledge about initiation and the mysteries -- but this is not that kind of initiation. It is just the
           opposite: it is getting initiated into life, into the ordinary life. Once your ordinary life becomes
           suffused with your meditativeness you are a sannyasin. It is not a question of changing your clothes
           only -- that is only symbolic -- the real sannyasin is bringing meditation to the ordinary affairs of
           life, bringing meditation to the marketplace. Eating, walking, sleeping, one can remain continuously
           in a state of meditation. It is nothing special that you are doing, but doing the same things with a new
           way, with a new method, with new art.
           Sannyas changes your outlook.
                You listened to my advice and for nine months, you say, you stopped almost everything and got
           good results from following the advice. But somewhere deep down you are still serious; otherwise
           you would have taken a jump into sannyas -- nonseriously. Even to ask about it is to show your
           seriousness. You could not accept it playfully, with a laughter.
                Sannyas is just a play -- LEELA. That concept is not known in the West; the West has missed
           much because of not knowing that concept. In the West, religion has no idea that God is not a creator
           but a player, that existence is not his creation but his play of energies. Just like the ocean waves
           roaring, shattering on the banks and the rocks, eternally, just a play of energy, so is God. These
           millions of forms are not created by God, those are just because of his overflowing energy.
                God is not a person at all. You cannot worship God. You can live in a godly way but you cannot
           worship God -- there is nobody to worship. All your worship is sheer stupidity, all your images of
           God are your own creation. There is no God as such, but there is godliness, certainly -- in the
           flowers, in the birds, in the stars, in the eyes of the people, when a song arises in the heart and poetry
           surrounds you... all this is God. Let us say "godliness" rather than using the word 'God' -- that word
           gives you the idea of a person, and God is not a person but a presence.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Sannyas is not like becoming a Hindu or a Christian or a Mohammedan. In fact, it is dropping
           out of all these trips -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, all these trips. Sannyas is simply dropping
           out of all ideologies. Ideologies are bound to be serious; no ideology can have laughter as its spirit,
           because ideologies have to fight with each other, argue with each other, and argument cannot be
           done with laughter. Argument has to be serious! Argument is basically egoistic, how can it laugh?
           The ego knows no laughter at all.

           Once it happened:
               A great philosopher and thinker, Keshav Chandra Sen, went to see Ramakrishna. He wanted to
           defeat Ramakrishna, and, certainly, he was capable of great argument. He argued against God,
           against religion, against the whole nonsense that Ramakrishna was doing. He was trying to prove
           that Ramakrishna was a fool, that there is no God, that nobody has ever proved the existence of God.
           He talked and talked, and slowly slowly he started feeling a little weird because Ramakrishna would
           only laugh. He would listen to the argument and laugh -- and not only laugh, he would jump, hug
           Keshav Chandra Sen, kiss him and say, "Beautiful! This argument I have never heard! It is really
           intelligent, clever."
               Keshav Chandra Sen started feeling very embarrassed. A crowd had gathered seeing that Keshav
           Chandra, a great philosopher, is going to Ramakrishna; many people had come to listen, hearing that
           something is going to transpire there. Even they started feeling that the whole journey had been
           futile. "This is a strange thing that is happening!"
               And Ramakrishna danced and laughed and he said, "Even if there had been any doubt in my
           mind about God, you have destroyed it. How can there be such intelligence without God? You are
           proof, Keshav Chandra -- I believe in you."
               And Keshav Chandra has written in his memoirs, "Ramakrishna's laughter defeated me --
           defeated me forever. I forgot all arguments. It looked so foolish! And he had not argued against me,
           he had not even said a single word against me. He simply kissed me, hugged me, laughed, danced.
           He appreciated me as nobody has ever appreciated -- and I was talking against him! He said, 'Keshav
           Chandra, your presence, such intelligence, such genius, is enough proof that God is!' He said this to
           me," Keshav Chandra writes, "but really his presence, his laughter, his dance, his hugging and
           kissing, proved to me that God is; otherwise, how is such a phenomenon as Ramakrishna possible?"
               The uneducated Ramakrishna, the villager Ramakrishna, proved far more profound than the very
           sophisticated, educated Keshav Chandra. What happened? Something tremendously beautiful
           happened. Ramakrishna is really religious; he knows what religion is, he knows what godliness is: to
           take life in a dancing way, to take life singing, to accept life in all its manifoldness, without any
           judgment -- to love it for what it is.

               A sannyasin means one who is not trying to solve the mystery of life but is diving deep into the
           mystery itself. Living the mystery is sannyas, not solving the mystery. If you start solving it you
           become serious. If you start living it you become more and more playful.
               Mariel Strauss, see the difference between sannyas and other initiations. There is a qualitative
           difference. It is not initiation in the old sense, just as it is not a learning in the old sense -- it is an
           unlearning, and so I can say it is UNinitiation. It will bring you out of all your initiations, because if
           you have been to so many schools and sects and ideologies, many things must be still hanging
           around inside you. You need a good cleaning, you need a thorough cleaning, you need a good bath --
           and sannyas will give you a shower, it will cleanse your soul. It will give you back the innocence of
           a child, the laughter of a child, the eyes full of wonder and awe.
               Don't hesitate... take the jump. It is a jump, because you cannot come to it through thinking. It is
           a jump because it is not a conclusion of your mind. To others it will look like madness -- in fact all
           love is mad and all love is blind, at least to those who don't know what love is. To UNlovers love is
           blind; to lovers love is the only possible eye which can see to the very core of existence. To those
           who don't know the taste of religion, sannyas is madness; but to those who know, everything else is
           madness except sannyas. This is entering into sanity. I don't see anything saner than laughter, saner
           than love, saner than celebration.
               But you are still thinking in serious terms: 'initiation' is a great word. You are still obsessed with
           your old ideas, still afraid that you may start trying too hard. In fact, you are still trying.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               First I had suggested to you not to try too hard. Now you are trying too hard on the opposite end,
           on the polar opposite: trying too hard not to try hard! It is the same thing. Become a sannyasin and
           forget all this nonsense. Then one transcends trying and nontrying both. A great laughter is waiting
           for you. And the moment the beyond starts laughing inside you, giggling inside you, then you know
           for the first time what it means to be a christ, what it means to be a buddha.
               But Christians say Christ never laughed -- this is THEIR idea about Christ. This is not true about
           the real Christ -- I know the man! It is impossible to conceive that he never laughed. He enjoyed
           good food, you know, dining and wining both; he enjoyed beautiful company. And if you want
           beautiful company you have to find it not in the scholars but in the gamblers; if you really want good
           company you will have to move to those who live on the fringes of your so-called society -- the
           fringe people, the outsiders, the gamblers, the drunkards, the prostitutes -- because your society has
           become so dull and dead. The established society is almost a cemetery; you don't meet people there,
           you meet only dead bodies, corpses -- walking, talking, moving, doing things... it is a miracle!

               One day a small boy was asking me, "Do you believe in ghosts?"
           I said, "Believe? -- I am surrounded by ghosts!"
               He understood the point immediately. He said, "So... so you mean... the people in the streets and
           the market are all ghosts?"
               I said, "Yes, they are all ghosts. They are all living a post-mortem existence. They have died long
           ago. In fact, they died before they were ever born."

               The society kills and kills slowly, skillfully. You never become aware because it is done so
           slowly, that's why. A child is slowly poisoned.
               In the East, in the past, there used to be a certain kind of woman detective. Those woman
           detectives were called VISHKANYAS -- poisoned girls. Certain beautiful girls were poisoned very
           slowly from the very beginning with the mother's milk -- it is an historical fact -- but the poison was
           given in such small doses that it would not kill them immediately; but slowly slowly their whole
           system would become poisoned. Poison would flow in their blood, their breath would become
           poison. By the time they became adolescent, they would be ready to be used by the kings, and they
           were so beautiful that it was very easy to allure anybody with them. They were sent to the enemy
           king who was bound to fall in the trap of the beautiful woman, and once the woman kissed the man
           that was the end of him. Just the kiss was enough to kill; a kiss of death it was.
               To make love to such a woman will be the end -- you will die like a few spiders die. There are a
           few spiders who die while making love -- because the girlfriend starts eating them while they are
           getting higher and higher, and they are in such ecstasy -- you know spiders -- trembling, and they
           have completely forgotten the world. They are no longer material, they are spiritual. But women are
           women; they are very materialistic. The moment the spider gets into his orgasmic spasms, the
           girlfriend starts eating him. By the time he comes back, he is no more. He was thinking he was
           coming -- he was really going!
               Those poisoned girls were trained... but the miracle was that so much poison didn't kill them. It
           was given in such mild doses, very slowly.

               A scientist was experimenting with frogs: he threw a frog into boiling water -- of course, the frog
           jumped immediately out of it. Then he gave the frog just ordinary water, normal temperature; the
           frog enjoyed the bucket, sat at the bottom, relaxed, and the scientist started heating it up slowly
           slowly, very slowly. Within hours it was boiling, but the frog didn't jump out of it... he died. He
           never became aware, the thing happened so slowly.

               And that's what is happening in society. It takes almost twenty-five years to kill a child totally, to
           poison a child totally. By the time he comes from the university he is dead, he is finished; now he
           will live a post-mortem existence.
               I can see a grain of truth in the hippie idea that don't trust a man beyond thirty. There IS some
           truth in it. By the time a man is thirty he is no longer alive -- if he is still alive he will become a
           Buddha, he will be a Christ, he will be a Krishna. But by that time people die -- and they die so
           unconsciously that they go on living as if they are alive.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Sannyas means giving you your life back. It is a process of deprogramming you, unconditioning
           you, unpoisoning you. You cannot decide logically to be a sannyasin, because that very mind is a
           problem, and you are trying to decide with that very mind. Sannyas has to be a jump. It happens
           from the heart, not from the head.
               Mariel Strauss, you are still thinking from the head. Please, get down from the head. At least let
           one thing happen from the heart -- not logically but illogically, not in a prosaic way but in a poetic
           way. Sannyas has to be a love affair! Nonserious, full of laughter, enter into it... and you will be
           surprised that this is not some other initiation. This will bring out all your initiations and all your
           philosophy and all your systems of thought.
               Sannyas is relaxing in life, trusting in life, resting in life. Nowhere to go, nothing to achieve, then
           the whole energy is available to dance and sing and celebrate.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A DISCIPLE?


               Prem Samadhi, it is one of the most delicate mysteries. No definition is possible of a disciple, but
           a few hints can be given, just fingers pointing to the moon. Don't cling to the fingers -- look at the
           moon and forget the fingers.
               A disciple is a rare phenomenon. It is very easy to be a student because the student is searching
           knowledge. The student can only meet the teacher, he can never meet the master. The reality of the
           master will remain hidden to the student. The student functions from the head. He functions
           logically, rationally. He gathers knowledge, he becomes more and more knowledgeable. Finally in
           his own turn he will become a teacher, but all that he knows is borrowed, nothing is really his own.
               His existence is pseudo; it is a carbon-copy existence. He has not known his original face. He
           knows about God, but he does not know God himself. He knows about love, but he has never dared
           to love himself. He knows much about poetry, but he has not tasted the spirit of poetry itself. He may
           talk about beauty, he may write treatises on beauty, but he has no vision, no experience, no
           existential intimacy with beauty. He has never danced with a roseflower. The sunrise happens there
           outside, but nothing happens inside his heart. That darkness inside him remains the same as it was
           before.
               He talks only about concepts, he knows nothing of truth -- because truth cannot be known
           through words, scriptures. A student is interested only in words, scriptures, theories, systems of
           thought, philosophies, ideologies.
               A disciple is a totally different phenomenon. A disciple is not a student; he is not interested in
           knowing about God, love, truth -- he is interested in becoming God, in becoming truth, in becoming
           love. Remember the difference. Knowing about is one thing, becoming is totally different. The
           student is taking no risk; the disciple is going into the uncharted sea. The student is miserly, he is a
           hoarder; only then he can gather knowledge. He is greedy; he accumulates knowledge as the greedy
           person accumulates wealth -- knowledge is his wealth. The disciple is not interested in hoarding; he
           wants to experience, he wants to taste, and for that he is ready to risk all.
               The disciple will be able to find the master. The relationship between a student and a teacher is
           that of the head, and a relationship between a disciple and a master is that of the heart -- it is a love
           relationship, mad in the eyes of the world, utterly mad. In fact, no love is so total as the love that
           happens between the master and the disciple. The love that happened between John and Jesus, the
           love that happened between Sariputta and Buddha, Gautama and Mahavira, Arjuna and Krishna,
           Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu -- these are the real love stories, the highest pinnacles of love.
               The disciple starts melting into the master. The disciple destroys all distance between himself
           and the master; the disciple yields, the disciple surrenders, the disciple effaces himself. He becomes
           a nonentity, he becomes a nothingness. And in that nothingness his heart opens. In that absence his
           ego has disappeared and the master can penetrate into his being.
               The disciple is receptive, vulnerable, unguarded; he drops all armor. He drops all defense
           measures. He is ready to die. If the master says, "Die!" he will not wait for a single moment. The
           master is his soul, his very being; his devotion is unconditional and absolute. And to know absolute
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           devotion is to know God. To know absolute surrender is to know the secret-most mystery of life.
                The word 'disciple' is also beautiful -- it means one who is ready to learn. Hence the word
           'discipline' -- discipline means creating a space for learning. And disciple means being ready to
           learn. Who can be ready to learn? Only one who is ready to drop all his prejudices. If you come as a
           Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan, you can't be a disciple. If you simply come as a human
           being, with no a priori prejudice, with no belief, then only you can become a disciple.
                A disciple is the rarest flowering of human consciousness, because beyond the disciple there is
           only one peak more -- the master. And one who has been totally a disciple one day becomes a
           master. Disciplehood is a process of becoming a master. But one should not start with the idea of
           becoming a master; otherwise one is going to miss, because then it is again an ego trip. One should
           come simply to evaporate.
                You have lived through the ego, and your life has been just a misery and nothing else. Enough is
           enough! One day the realization comes that, "I have wasted a great opportunity by constantly
           listening to my own ego. It has been driving me onto unnecessary paths which lead nowhere, and it
           has been creating a thousand and one miseries." The day one realizes that "The ego is the root cause
           of my misery," one starts searching for a place where the ego can be dropped. The master is an
           excuse to drop the ego.
                You can drop your ego only if you come across a person who catches hold of your heart so
           tremendously that his being becomes more important than your own being, that you can sacrifice all
           that you have for him.
                Just a few days ago, I received a letter from Gunakar from Germany. In German newspapers a
           statement of Teertha's has been given too much importance and has been criticized -- and it can be
           criticized, manipulated, because what has happened in Jonestown has become the talk of the world.
           Somebody, a journalist from Germany, has asked Teertha, "If your master asks you to shoot
           yourself, to kill yourself, what are you going to do?" And Teertha said, "There is no question of
           thinking at all. I will kill myself immediately."
                Now, this statement can be manipulated in such a way that the place that I am creating is going
           to be another Jonestown. Teertha has said it out of his heart; he has not been political, diplomatic;
           otherwise he would have avoided such a statement. He had simply said what a disciple is bound to
           say.
                The disciple is ready. In fact to say that he is ready to die is something less than the truth. The
           disciple has already died into the master; it is not going to happen in the future, it has already
           happened. It has happened the day the disciple accepted the master as his master: since then he has
           been no more, only the master lives in him.
                Slowly slowly, the presence of the master overfloods the disciple. And the presence of the master
           is not really the presence of the master himself: the master is overflooded with God. The master is
           only a vehicle, a passage, a messenger; it is God flowing through the master. When the disciple
           surrenders to the master totally he is really surrendering to God in the guise of the master. God he
           cannot see yet, but the master he can see, and in the master he can see something godly. The master
           becomes the first proof of God to him. Surrendering to the master is surrendering to the visible God.
                And, slowly slowly, as the surrender deepens, the visible disappears into the invisible. The
           master disappears. When the disciple reaches into the innermost heart of the master, he does not find
           the master there but God himself, life itself -- indefinable, inexpressible.
                Prem Samadhi, your question is significant. You ask, "What does it mean to be a disciple?"
                It means death and it means resurrection. It means dying into the master and being reborn
           through the master.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHO ARE YOU? ARE YOU THE CHRIST COME BACK?


              Premananda, do you think I am crazy or something? I am myself. Why should I be Christ or
           somebody else? Christ is Christ. He is not Krishna and he is not Buddha and he is not Zarathustra.
           Buddha is Buddha; he is not Yagnavalka, he is not Lao Tzu. And Socrates is Socrates; he is not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mahavira and he is not Patanjali.
               I am myself. Why should I be Christ? In fact nothing in existence is ever repeated. Existence is
           so creative, it always creates new people. And it is not true only about Christ, Buddha and me -- it is
           true about you too. There has never been another individual like you, and there will never be. You
           are absolutely unique. Existence never repeats, remember it; hence you are incomparable, neither
           higher nor lower. That's why I say there is no hierarchy in existence. Each is superb and each is
           unique and each is alone. But such questions continuously go on arising. There are reasons for such
           questions.
               Premananda, you must have been taught from your childhood about the second coming of Christ.
           Now you have fallen in love with me, and you would like somehow to reconcile your childhood
           mind with your new experiences that are happening here. You would like to bridge what has been
           told to you and what is happening to you. If somehow it can be bridged you will feel a little at rest. If
           it cannot be bridged then there will remain a little tension inside you. You will have to decide this
           way or that.
               You cannot serve two masters -- that is the problem, that's why these questions arise. Now the
           problem is, "What to do? Should I remain with Christ?" But you don't know anything about Christ
           except what has been told to you. Christ is only a myth to you. He was a reality to John, to Luke, he
           was a reality to Matthew. He is not a reality to you, Premananda.
               I am a reality to you; I will not be a reality to your children. You will teach your children about
           me, and one day if they come across a master the problem will arise: now what to do? To choose the
           past or to choose the present? That is the problem.
               You are hesitating. You are afraid that if you choose me you will be betraying Jesus. No, I am
           not Christ. But by choosing me you will not be betraying Jesus, you will be fulfilling him. I am not
           Buddha, but by choosing me you will not be betraying Buddha; you will be making him as happy as
           possible, because by choosing me you will be choosing the essential core of religion. It is not a
           question of Christ, Buddha or me; these are only forms. Don't be too attached to forms: remember
           the essential core.

              A man in a restaurant calls for the waiter and exclaims, "Waiter! There's a fly walking on my
           soup."
              The waiter falls on his knees, raises his hands and cries, "Jesus is back on earth!"

               And I know that Jesus has promised that he will be coming back, but I don't think that he can be
           so mad as to fulfill the promise. Remember what you have done with him? And if he still comes after
           what you have done with him he will be really crazy. It is impossible; he cannot come. He may have
           promised but he cannot fulfill it. If he fulfills it you will crucify him again; you cannot do otherwise.
           That's how you have been treating all the awakened people all over the world. You cannot tolerate
           them when they are alive, and when they are dead you worship them: this has been your tradition.
           When they are alive they are dangerous; you would like to kill them in some way or other. When
           they are dead they are very consoling; then you will carry their corpses for centuries.
               Remember, Jesus was not crucified by criminals, sinners. He was crucified by the rabbis, the
           priests, the politicians -- the respected people. What was he doing to these so-called respectable
           people? He was becoming a danger to their very life-style. He was creating great guilt in their being;
           his very presence was a thorn in their flesh: if he was right, then they were all wrong.
               And this was difficult, almost impossible for them to accept -- that this son of a carpenter,
           absolutely uneducated, unsophisticated, too young to be wise enough.... He was only thirty when he
           started preaching, and they could not tolerate him even for three years. By his thirty-third year he
           was crucified; his ministry lasted only for three years.
               Buddha was far more fortunate: he was able to work for forty-two years. But Buddha was in a
           totally different kind of land -- not that the Hindus were behaving in any way differently from the
           Jews, but Hindus have their own cunning ways of destroying truth. The Jews were more
           straightforward: seeing the danger, they killed the man. Hindus are far more cunning, bound to be
           because they are the most ancient race on the earth. And Buddha was not a new buddha they had to
           encounter; they had encountered many buddhas, they had encountered twenty-four Jaina
           TIRTHANKARAS. They had seen Krishna and Rama and Parasuram and Patanjali and Kapil and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Kanad and thousands of others. They have become very clever and cunning about how to prevent
           these people from affecting people, from influencing people.
               There was no need to kill; they knew far better methods to kill, without killing. They started
           interpreting Buddha's words, Buddha's sayings, in such a way that they lost all their significance.
           There was no need to kill the Buddha; this was an easier way: interpret Buddha according to old
           scriptures, as if he is simply repeating the old scriptures. Their method was, "He is not saying
           anything new. It is written in the Upanishads, it is written in the Vedas -- so what? We have already
           got all this; he is not original."
               And he was utterly original. It is NOT written in the Upanishads, and it is not written in the
           Vedas, because in the first place it can't be written at all. Yes, the people who wrote the Upanishads
           must have known it, but it is not written.
               Hindus were very clever. They started writing commentaries on Buddha and they distorted his
           whole philosophy. They created so much philosophical argument, so much noise, that Buddha's still,
           small voice was lost, utterly lost. And the day he died, Hindus created thirty-two schools of Buddhist
           philosophy; each word was interpreted in thirty-two ways. They created so much confusion that the
           whole point was lost.
               In fact, if they had crucified Buddha it would have been far better. Jesus was killed, but Jews
           have not commented on Jesus at all. Once they killed him they thought, "Now it is finished and that
           is that!" They forgot all about Jesus, they never mentioned even his name in their scriptures. They
           never thought of writing any commentary on his statements. They thought they have killed him and
           sooner or later people are going to forget all about him and there is no problem left.
               In a way, Jesus' sayings have been saved far more accurately than Buddha's sayings, because the
           brahmins, the clever and cunning brahmins who gathered around Buddha, distorted everything that
           he was saying. It was distorted so much that if Buddha comes back he will not be able to believe his
           own eyes what has happened.
               But these people never come back. A buddha can only be here once. Once a person has become a
           buddha or a christ, he evaporates and becomes a fragrance of the universe. He cannot materialize
           again.
               Jesus may have promised because he had to leave his disciples so early. Nothing was ready... the
           disciples were not ready -- not even a single disciple had yet become enlightened. And they were at a
           loss what to do without the master. They had just come close to him; only three years' time is not
           much. They have not yet imbibed his spirit. To console them, to help them, to keep them integrated
           so they don't start falling apart, he must have promised. He must have said, "Don't be worried, I will
           be coming back again soon."
               This promise was only a device. Remember, devices are neither true not false, they are only
           devices. It was a device to keep the spirit in the disciples flowing, to keep them integrated, to keep
           them confident, centered, rooted. It was simply a device! And it has helped, the device has worked;
           otherwise there would have been no Christians at all. Those poor disciples would have dispersed and
           slowly slowly would have forgotten all about Jesus. That's what rabbis and the priests were thinking
           was going to happen.
               But Jesus was far more insightful. He gave them a promise that, "Wait! Don't be worried, I will
           be coming back. I cannot leave you, I will never leave you."

               And this promise has helped in another way too: because this promise has been there, the
           Christian mystic has been able to remember Christ far more concentratedly than a Jaina can
           remember Mahavira -- because there is no promise. Mahavira has not said that, "I will come back,"
           he has not said, "I will help you," he has not said, "I will be available to you after I am gone." In fact
           he has said, "You have to depend on yourself only." It is true, but it is going to be hard for the
           disciples.
               And remember, Gurdjieff used to say that a man like Buddha or Christ CAN lie. And I agree
           with Gurdjieff perfectly. If they see that the lie is going to serve the truth, they will not be worried.
           They will not feel ashamed or guilty; they will use the lie in the service of truth. The lie becomes a
           device. Buddha calls it UPAYA -- a device.
               Christian mystics have been able to remember Jesus far more deeply because this confidence that
           he will be helpful, that he is around, that whenever he is called he will be coming back.... Not that he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will come, not that he is around, not that he is going to help, but this very idea that his help is
           available makes you centered. So in a way, without helping you, he HAS helped. The lie becomes
           true; the lie is no longer a lie, it becomes truth.
               But don't take such promises seriously. There is no need for me to be a christ just to console you.
           You have to drop your old ideas; otherwise it is going to be a real problem for me. Here are Hindus,
           Mohammedans, Christians, Jainas, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs, and if the Sikhs say, "Are you Nanak?"
           and the Jainas say, "Are you the Jaina?" and the Buddhists say, "Are you the Buddha?" it will
           become troublesome. I cannot be all these people.
               This is a gathering not of one religion, this is a gathering of all the religions of the world. This is
           a true human gathering, this is a true international gathering, a universal brotherhood.
               Don't pay much attention to such promises, they are devices. But now they are of no more use to
           you. I am available here alive -- what is the point of thinking of a device which was invented two
           thousand years before? I am inventing devices every day for you, and while I am alive, please use
           them. It will be far more beneficial and easy to be benefited by them.

               They met at a party. He was overwhelmed by her great beauty and vivacity. "I suppose that you
           have more invitations than you can possibly accept." he said.
           "I cannot go out very often," she answered somewhat evasively, "because I work. But when I don't
           want to go out with a man, I simply tell him that I live in the suburbs."
           "What a clever idea," he said, laughing. "And where DO you live?"
           "In the suburbs," she answered sweetly.

               Be very alert. Jesus certainly said, "I will come." It was just to wipe the tears from his disciples'
           eyes, it was out of compassion. But a man who has attained to God cannot come back. It is
           impossible; in the very nature of things it is impossible -- because he cannot enter into the body
           again. To enter into the body, you need a certain desire, a tremendous desire. And the man who has
           attained God has no desires left. It is through the doors of desire that a man enters into the body. If
           all desires are gone, then there is no way to enter into the body, to enter into the womb.
               Hence, in the East, we know that once a buddha is gone he is gone forever. You can try to
           understand his teachings, but far better will be if you can find a buddha alive somewhere. And it
           never happens that if you search you will not find a buddha somewhere. If you really search you are
           bound to find a buddha somewhere or other. Somewhere or other in the darkness of the world there
           are always a few flames; they are always there because God is still hopeful, because God is still
           compassionate, because existence cares for you.
               If you can come across a living buddha, a living christ, forget all about the past buddhas and past
           christs. He contains all, and yet he cannot be identified with anyone in particular. He himself is a
           buddha, he himself is a christ in his own right.
               So I don't claim that I am Christ, I don't claim that I am Buddha. I simply claim that I have
           arrived, that I am at home. And I have thrown my doors open. If you are really a seeker, a lover of
           truth, don't miss this opportunity....

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN YOU ARRIVED IN YOUR CAR THIS MORNING I HEARD A BELLY LAUGH COME FROM
              HEAVEN. WOULD THAT BE A FRIEND OF YOURS?


               Dharma Chetana, I had also heard the laughter. It did not come from the heaven -- the ghost of
           Jugal Kishore Birla was just standing by the side of Shiva. He played a trick on Charlie who is my
           engineer and mechanic for the Benz. He tricked Charlie: he connected the battery in a wrong way.
           Now, a German engineer, especially a mechanic for Mercedes Benz, a trained expert, highly
           intelligent, connected the battery wrongly! How is this possible? The ghost of Jugal Kishore Birla
           tricked him, so something got burned, and I had to come in Jugal Kishore Birla's car -- an
           Ambassador.
               Certainly he was waiting here by the side of Shiva. Shiva may have even felt it, because he was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           looking all around; he must have felt something. And Chetana, you heard rightly.
               Jugal Kishore Birla was the manufacturer of Ambassador cars. He has died. We had met a few
           times. He was a Hindu chauvinist, and he wanted me to become an ambassador to the world for
           Hinduism. For that purpose he had met me a few times; that's how we became friendly. He said to
           me, "I can help you with as much money as you want." In fact he was the richest man in India.
               I said, "I can take more money than you have, but with one condition."
           He said, "What is that condition?"
               I said, "I will take it unconditionally. You cannot make any conditions with me. I can take all
           that you have."
               He said, "Unconditionally? But one condition I have to make; that's why I am ready to give all
           support."
               I said, "Please, don't mention it." But he still mentioned. He said, "My condition is very simple:
           can't you become a messenger to the world for Hinduism? Hinduism needs somebody to propagate it
           in such a contemporary and modern way that it appeals to the world mind."
               I said, "Then I cannot accept a single PAI from you."
               He said to me, "This is strange -- because even Mahatma Gandhi had accepted my conditions."
               I told him, "That's why I never call Mahatma Gandhi 'Mahatma' Gandhi. I call him the so-called
           Mahatma Gandhi; otherwise how can anybody accept your conditions? If he knows, he will not
           accept any conditions from anybody just for money. I know what the world needs. It is not
           Hinduism, it is not Christianity, it is not Islam. Enough of all this nonsense! The world needs a
           purely religious consciousness, with no adjectives attached to it."
               But he was a good man in a way. When he was old he tried many times; whenever I would go to
           Delhi he would invite me to his palace and he would again bring up the subject in some way or
           other. I said to him, "You have done enough service to humanity; now there is no need for any more
           service. You have made this Ambassador car -- this is really something wonderful! All the parts of it
           make noise except the horn. What more service do you want to do to humanity?"
               So naturally when I said something about him just a few days ago, he must have got very angry.
           He tricked Charlie. This is very rare -- an Indian ghost befooling an alive German!
               He was here, Chetana, you heard him rightly. But please don't start hearing the laughter of
           ghosts; otherwise you will be in trouble. Ghosts are always there; because you don't hear them you
           remain oblivious to their presence. So Chetana, don't grow this capacity any more; it is dangerous. It
           is enough to hear me; there is no need for you to hear other heavenly voices. There are a few mystics
           here too who go on hearing heavenly voices. Every day I receive letters saying, "I hear this and I
           heard that." I am teaching you to be silent and I am teaching you not to hear anything. And all those
           voices are in your head; they don't come from heaven. It is really a very distant call -- it won't work,
           particularly in the rainy season, and not in India.
               Remember one thing: all that is heard, all that is read, is trivia. Only your silence -- that hears,
           that silence in which the sounds come -- that silence is significant. Shift your consciousness from
           every object to subjectivity, from what you hear to the one who hears, from what you see to the one
           who sees.
               But Chetana has joked, so I am not worried about her. And I love such small jokes: they keep the
           idea of playfulness alive. They keep my idea of religion alive.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THERE SO MANY RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD?


               Nagesh, why are there so many languages in the world? -- because there are so many people, so
           many ways to express. And it is not bad, it is good; the world is richer because of it. So many
           languages make the world tremendously rich. It gives variety, like so many flowers in the garden and
           so many birds.
               Just think: only one flower all over the world, the marigold, and the whole world will look ugly;
           or the rose -- just one flower all over the world. And what will you do with those roses? Nobody will
           write any poetry about roses anymore then. And if you will compare your woman's face with the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           flower of the rose she will become angry, she will threaten you with a divorce. Roses will lose all
           meaning; they are beautiful because there are millions of other flowers too.
               I don't think that the world needs one religion. The world needs religious consciousness, and then
           that consciousness can flow into as many streams as possible. In fact, my own idea of religion is that
           there should be as many religions as there are people -- each person having his own religion.
               It is difficult to have your own language; each person cannot have his own language, otherwise
           nobody will understand it.

               Mulla Nasruddin has applied for a job. The manager looked at him and did not feel that he's even
           qualified to apply for it. He asked him, "Can you read and write?"
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "I cannot read, but I can write."
               The manager was surprised; this is a rare situation -- he could have never conceived of a man
           who cannot read but can write. He said, "Then write!" He gave him a paper and Mulla immediately
           started writing on it. He went fast -- one page, two pages, three pages.
               The manager said, "Now you stop! You please read what you have written, because I cannot
           read."
               Nasruddin said, "That I have told you before -- I can only write! I can't read."

                If you speak a language that only you understand, it will be impossible to communicate with
           people. But a religion -- you can have your own, because religion need not be communicated.
           Religion is not a dialogue between you and other people; religion is a dialogue between you and
           existence. So any language will do, or no language, or any invented languages -- Esperanto, or
           anything.
                All these religions should be taken as different languages, then fanaticism loses its danger. Then
           it is beautiful! There are churches and temples and mosques and GURUDWARAS -- if we think
           these are all different languages, there is no problem. You don't see people fighting about which
           language is the true language -- Hindi, Marathi, English, German, French. Which language is the
           true language? Nobody will ask such a question, because all languages are arbitrary, made-up. They
           are not true or false, they are useful.

               An Englishman, a Frenchman and a German were arguing about the respective merits of their
           languages. The Frenchman said, "French is the language of love, the language of romance, the most
           beautiful and pure language in the world."
               The German announced, "German is the most vigorous language, the language of philosophers,
           the language of Goethe, the language most adaptable to the modern world of science and
           technology."
               When the Englishman's turn came he said, "I don't understand what you fellows are talking
           about. Take this" -- and he held up a table knife. "You in France call it UN COUTEAU, you
           Germans call it EIN MESSER. We in England simply call it a knife, which, all said and done, is
           precisely what it is."

               This is how religions have been arguing. Exactly like this has been the argument between
           religions: who is right? Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Jainas -- these are only
           different languages to express the same phenomenon. If once this is understood then there is no
           problem; I would like many MORE religions to evolve.
               In fact in a better world every person will have his own religion, because religion is your way of
           expressing the inexpressible. It is like aesthetics: if you love roses and I don't love roses, there is no
           problem. We don't fight it out; we don't take swords and we don't go on a crusade: "Who is right? --
           because this man says lotuses are beautiful, and I say roses are beautiful. Now it has to be decided on
           a battlefield."
               How will you decide? You can kill me, but that won't make any difference. Even dying, I will go
           on saying lotuses are the most beautiful flowers; my death will not make any change in my vision.
           You can kill a Hindu, you can kill a Mohammedan: that does not change anything at all.
               But this is what, down the ages, people have been doing to each other -- fighting ridiculously.
           Somebody calls God "Allah" -- he is wrong. Why? Somebody calls God "Ram" -- he is wrong.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Why? -- because you call him "God." God, Ram, Allah, are all names, invented names for something
           which has no name of its own, which is a nameless experience.
               There are so many religions, Nagesh, because there are so many people, different types of
           people. Different people have different likings, different people have different approaches towards
           reality, and reality is multidimensional.
               Hence my emphasis is: we need a religious consciousness, a universal upsurge of religious
           consciousness. Of course it will take many forms, but forms don't matter; as far as the spirit is alive,
           forms don't matter. And each form is beautiful. There are so many people: each has a different face,
           a different beauty. Each person's fingerprints are different from every other person's in the world --
           but this does not create any trouble. Each person's footprints towards God's door are going to be
           different.
               Once we understand it a great brotherhood is possible. Otherwise this nonsense of religious
           fanaticism -- that "Only I am right" -- has been very destructive. It has destroyed religion itself; it has
           condemned religion and religious people. That's why there are so many irreligious people,
           antireligious people. It is what religion has done to humanity up to now that has created antireligious
           people -- atheists, godless people, God-denying people. The responsibility is of the priests, rabbis,
           popes, pundits, shankaracharyas -- these are the responsible people. They have made religion so
           ugly, so inhuman, so violent, so stupid, that any rational person feels a little ashamed of being part of
           any religious movement.
               We have to destroy the ugly heritage of the past. We have to clean the space for the future. All
           are accepted: the Bible has its own beauty, so has the Koran, so has the Gita. And if you are religious
           you will enjoy the Bible as much as you will enjoy the Koran and the Gita, because you will know
           only languages are different. And the difference of languages creates different beauty. Sing the
           Koran, and you will see the difference. The Bible cannot be beautiful that way; the Koran has a
           singing quality to it. You can sing the Koran; even if you don't understand the meaning, the very
           music of it will be a transforming force. In fact, the Koran does not have much meaning; it has great
           poetry but not much meaning.
               Many Mohammedan friends, many Mohammedan sannyasins, ask me when I am going to speak
           on the Koran. I have thought many times. Many times I have taken the Koran into my hand, looked
           here and there, and postponed it again -- because the Koran has not much meaning. It has poetry, it
           has a totally different beauty. It is a piece of art!
               If you want meaning then the Gita has more meaning, but not that much poetry; then the Bible
           has more meaning, but not that much poetry. The Bible has its own beauty. It is so simple, the
           simplest scripture in the world, and because it is simple it has innocence, purity. Jesus speaks in the
           language of a villager: the parables and the metaphors are all primitive. But because they are
           primitive they have a purity, they are unpolluted -- unpolluted by the modern mind. They are
           straight, they go direct to the heart like an arrow. But if you want meaning then you should look into
           the Vedas, which are full of philosophy. They have their own beauty -- the beauty of intellectuality.
               Each scripture has something to contribute to the world, and no scripture can do everything. But
           because you don't understand different languages, the problem arises. It will be good to have a few
           encounters with different religions.
               That's why I go on speaking, sometimes on Buddhism, sometimes on Hinduism, sometimes on
           Christianity, sometimes on Judaism, on Hassids, on Zen, on Sufis -- for a certain reason: to give you
           different visions, so your own eyes can become rich, so that you can understand different language
           also a little bit.

              Foster, in Tokyo on business, knew no Japanese. Even so, he persuaded an attractive girl, who
           spoke no English, to come to his hotel room. All during their lovemaking, the Oriental kept shouting
           "Machigai ana!" with great feeling.
              Foster felt proud that he could get the girl so aroused to keep yelling, "Machigai ana!" Foster
           must have been thinking that this is something like "Fantastic! Far out!"
              The next afternoon he played golf with a Japanese industrial tycoon. When the Oriental made a
           hole-in-one, Foster attempted to make a good impression and exclaimed "Machigai ana! Machigai
           ana!"
           "What do you mean," snapped the tycoon, "the wrong hole?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               It is good to know a little bit of other languages too. It will be a great help to you to have a few
           glimpses of the Koran, the Bible, the Gita, THE DHAMMAPADA. That will make you more liberal,
           more broad-minded, more human.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                    Chapter #9
                                            Chapter title: A small candle
           20 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908200
              ShortTitle: DHAM309
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 106 mins




              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW WORDS
              IS ONE WORD THAT BRINGS PEACE.



              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW VERSES
              IS ONE VERSE THAT BRINGS PEACE.



              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED HOLLOW LINES
              IS THE ONE LINE OF THE LAW, BRINGING PEACE.



              IT IS BETTER TO CONQUER YOURSELF
              THAN TO WIN A THOUSAND BATTLES.



              THEN THE VICTORY IS YOURS.



              IT CANNOT BE TAKEN FROM YOU,
              NOT BY ANGELS OR BY DEMONS,
              HEAVEN OR HELL.



              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF WORSHIP,
              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND OFFERINGS,
              BETTER THAN GIVING UP A THOUSAND WORLDLY WAYS
              IN ORDER TO WIN MERIT,
              BETTER EVEN THAN TENDING IN THE FOREST
              A SACRED FLAME FOR A HUNDRED YEARS
              IS ONE MOMENT'S REVERENCE
              FOR THE MAN WHO HAS CONQUERED HIMSELF.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              TO REVERE SUCH A MAN,
              A MASTER OLD IN VIRTUE AND HOLINESS,
              IS TO HAVE VICTORY OVER LIFE ITSELF,
              AND BEAUTY, STRENGTH AND HAPPINESS.

              A famous story:

               One night the great German philosopher, Professor Von Kochenbach, saw two doors in a dream,
           one of which led directly to love and paradise, and the other to an auditorium where a lecture was
           being given on love and paradise. There was no hesitation on Von Kochenbach's part -- he darted in
           to hear the lecture.

                The story is significant. It is fictitious, but not so fictitious really. It represents the human mind:
           it is more interested in knowledge than in wisdom, it is more interested in information than
           TRANSformation. It is more interested to know about God, beauty, truth, love, than experience God,
           beauty, truth, love.
                The human mind is obsessed with words, theories, systems of thought, but is completely
           oblivious of the existential that surrounds you. And it is the existential which can liberate, not
           knowledge about it.
                The story represents everybody's mind. But I was in for a surprise yesterday. I was reading a
           book by Silvano Arieti, M.D., and James Silvano Arieti, Ph.D. In their book, LOVE CAN BE
           FOUND, they quote this story. I was hoping, obviously, that they would laugh at the story and
           criticize the whole standpoint. But I was in for a surprise: they defended the story; they say the
           professor did the right thing. Rather than entering directly into the door of love and paradise,
           entering into the auditorium where a lecture was being delivered on love and paradise -- of course by
           some other professor -- they say the professor did the right thing. Why? Their reasoning is that
           unless you know about love, how can you know love? Unless you know about paradise first, how
           can you immediately enter into paradise?
                On the surface it looks logical: first one has to become acquainted with what paradise is, only
           then can one enter paradise. First you have to have a map. Logical, still stupid; logical only in
           appearance, but deep down utterly unintelligent.
                Love needs no information about it, because it is not something outside you, it is the very core of
           your being. You have already got it, you have only to allow it to flow. Paradise is not somewhere
           else so that you need a map to reach there. You ARE in paradise, only you have fallen asleep. All
           that is needed is an awakening.
                An awakening can be immediate, awakening can be sudden -- in fact, awakening can ONLY be
           sudden. When you wake somebody up, it is not that slowly slowly, in parts, gradually, he wakes up.
           It is not that now he is ten percent awake, now twenty, now thirty, now forty, now ninety-nine, now
           ninety-nine point nine, and then a hundred percent -- no. When you shake a sleepy person, he
           awakes immediately. Either one is asleep or one is awake; there is no place in between. Hence
           Buddha says enlightenment is a sudden experience; it is not gradual, it is not that you arrive in steps.
           Enlightenment cannot be divided into parts; it is an indivisible, organic unity. Either you have it or
           you don't have it.
                But man has remained clinging to words -- words which are hollow, words which carry no
           meaning, words which have no significance, words which have been uttered by as ignorant people as
           you are. Maybe they were educated, but education does not dispel ignorance. Knowing about light is
           not going to dispel darkness. You can know all that is available in the world about light; you can
           have a library in your room consisting only of books on light, yet that whole library will not be able
           to dispel the darkness. To dispel the darkness you will need a small candle -- that will do the miracle.
                Looking into the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA I was happy to note that it has no articles
           on love. That's a great insight! In fact, nothing can be written about love. One can love, one can be in
           love, one can even become love, but nothing can be written about love. The experience is so subtle
           and the words are so gross.
                It is because of the words that humanity has been divided. A few people believe in a few hollow
           words -- they call themselves Hindus; others believe in a few other hollow words -- they call
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           themselves Jews; still others call themselves Christians and Mohammedans, and so on, so forth. And
           they all believe in hollow words. It is not that you have experienced anything. Your being a Hindu or
           a Jew or a Mohammedan is not based on your own experience -- it is borrowed. And anything
           borrowed is futile.
               But man has suffered much because of the words. A few people believe in the TALMUD, a few
           people believe in the TAO TEH CHING, a few people believe in THE DHAMMAPADA... and they
           have been fighting, quarreling, criticizing -- not only that, but killing each other. The whole history
           is full of blood -- in the name of God, in the name of love, in the name of brotherhood, in the name
           of humanity.

               Mistress Rosenbaum became stranded one evening in a very "exclusive" resort section of Cape
           Cod. "Exclusive" meant that Jews were excluded. She entered the town hotel and said to the desk
           clerk, "I would like a room"
           "Sorry," he replied. "The hotel is full."
           "Then why does the sign say 'Rooms Available'?"
           "We don't admit Jews."
           "But Jesus himself was a Jew."
           "How do you know that Jesus Christ was Jewish?"
           "He went in his father's business. And, moreover, it so happened that I converted to Catholicism.
           Ask me any question and I will prove it."
           "Alright," said the desk clerk. "How was Jesus born?"
           "By virgin birth. The mama's name was Mary and the papa's name was the Holy Spirit."
           "Okay, where was Jesus born?"
           "In a stable."
           "That's right. And why was he born in a stable?"
           "Because," Mrs. Rosenbaum snapped, "bastards like you would not rent a room for the night to a
           Jewish woman!"

               But these bastards are everywhere. They have become the priests and the rabbis and the pundits
           and the shankaracharyas and the popes. These people are clever, cunning -- with words. They are
           logic choppers, they can split hairs; they can argue endlessly about useless things, about such stupid
           things that later on for centuries you laugh at the whole thing.
               In the Middle Ages, Christian priests -- Catholics, Protestants and others -- were in a big debate,
           great discussion was going on for centuries about how many angels can stand on a needle point. It
           was a great theological debate, it had stirred the whole of Europe, as if something tremendously
           important was involved in it. How does it matter? But such stupid things have been dominating
           humanity for centuries.
               In Buddha's time it was one of the greatest problems in India, discussed by all the sects, whether
           there is one hell or three or seven or seven hundred. Hindus believe in one hell, Jainas were talking
           about seven hells; and a disciple of Mahavira, Goshalak, who betrayed the master, started talking
           about seven hundred hells.
               Somebody asked Goshalak, "Why do you say that your philosophy is superior, higher than
           Mahavira's?"
               He said, "You can see: he knows only about seven hells and I know about seven hundred. He has
           gone only up to seven and I have traveled the whole way. And just as there are seven hundred hells,
           there are exactly seven hundred heavens. His knowledge is very limited, he does not know the whole
           truth."
               Now, you can go on talking about such things. Some other fool can say that there are seven
           hundred and one....

               A French professor and an American were talking. The French professor said, "There are one
           hundred positions in which love can be made."
           The American said, "There are a hundred and one."
               Now great argument ensued. The American asked, "You relate your hundred positions, then I
           will relate my hundred and one positions."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The French professor described in detail one hundred positions. The hundredth was hanging on a
           chandelier and doing it in the ear of the woman!
              Now was the turn of the American. He said, "The first position is: the woman lies down on her
           back with the man on top of her."
              The French professor said, "My God! I never thought about it! So you are right -- there are a
           hundred and one. You need not now relate the whole thing; there ARE a hundred and one. This one I
           never heard, never thought of even, never could have imagined. You Americans are something!"

               These professors, these scholars, they have dominated humanity, and they have distracted
           humanity from simple existence, from simple life. They have made your minds very sophisticated,
           clever, cunning, knowledgeable, but they have destroyed your innocence and wonder. And it is
           innocence and wonder that become the bridge to the immediate -- and the immediate is also the
           ultimate.

           Buddha says:

              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW WORDS
              IS ONE WORD THAT BRINGS PEACE.


                BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW WORDS.... Your scriptures are full of hollow
           words, your minds are full of hollow words. You go on talking, not even becoming aware of what
           you are saying. When you use the word 'God', do you know what it means? How can you know if
           you have not known God? The word is empty, the word itself cannot have any significance; the
           significance has to come from your experience.
                When you know God and you utter the word 'God', it is luminous, it is full of light, it is a
           diamond. But when you know nothing of God, but only the word 'God' taught by others, it is an
           ordinary pebble with no color, with no luminosity, with no light in it. You can go on carrying it; it is
           simply a weight, a burden. You can drag it. It will not become your wings, it will not make you light,
           and it will not help you in any way to arrive closer to God. In fact it will hinder you, obstruct you,
           because the more you think you know about God, just by knowing the word 'God', the less you will
           inquire into the reality of God. The more you become knowledgeable, the less is the possibility of
           your ever going on the adventure of searching out the truth of God. When you already know, what is
           the point of inquiring, what is the point of investigating? You have killed the question. You have not
           solved it, you have not got the answer; you have taken it from others. But others' answers can't be
           your answers.
                Buddha knows, but when he speaks, his words cannot carry his experience. When they leave his
           heart they are full of light, they are full of dance. When they reach to you they are dull, dead. You
           can accumulate those words, you can think that you have a great treasure, but you have nothing at
           all. All that you have are empty words.
                Buddha wants you to become aware of this phenomenon, because this is of great importance.
           Unless you are free of empty, hollow words, you will not start the journey of inquiry. Unless you
           drop your so-called knowledge, unless you discard all your information, unless you become again
           innocent like a child, ignorant like a child, your inquiry is going to be futile, superficial.
                BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW WORDS IS ONE WORD THAT BRINGS
           PEACE. And what is the criterion? Which word is luminous? Which word is really full of fragrance?
           The word that brings peace. And that word never comes from the outside -- it is the still, small voice
           of your own heart. It is heard at the deepest recesses of your being: it is the sound of your own being,
           it is the song of your own life.
                It is not to be found in the scriptures and it is not to be found in learned discourses. It is to be
           found only if you go in; it is to be found only in meditation, in deep silence. When all borrowed
           knowledge has left you and you are alone, when all the scriptures have been burned and you are left
           alone, when you don't know a thing, when you function from a state of not-knowing, then it is heard,
           because then all the clamor of knowledge and the noise is gone... you can hear the still, small voice.
           And then a single word... it is a single word: it is the sound of OM.
                The moment you enter into your being you will be surprised to find that there is a constant sound
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that appears like 'om'. Mohammedans have heard it as 'amin' -- it is om; Christians have heard it as
           'amen'; it is the same sound. Hence the Christian, the Mohammedan, the Hindu, the Jaina, the
           Buddhist, they all end their prayers with om. The prayer is bound to end in om; the prayer makes you
           more and more silent... finally there is nothing but om. All Hindu scriptures end with OM,
           SHANTIH, SHANTIH, SHANTIH -- om, peace, peace, peace. This is the word 'om'.
                And the criterion to judge whether you have really heard it or you have pretended to hear it or
           you have imagined hearing it is that it brings peace. Suddenly you are full of peace -- a peace that
           you had never known before.
                Peace is something far superior to happiness, because happiness is always followed by
           unhappiness; it is always a mixture of polar opposites: happiness/unhappiness. They are like day and
           night, they follow each other.
                If you are a pessimist you can count nights, if you are an optimist you can count the days; that is
           the only difference in people. There are a few people who say, "There are two days and one night
           between two days" -- those are the optimists. And then there are people who say, "There are two
           nights and only one day sandwiched in between" -- they are the pessimists.
                But in reality both are wrong. Each night has its day and each day has its night; they are equal.
           All polar opposites are equal; that's how existence remains balanced. If you have happiness today,
           wait -- tomorrow the unhappiness will come. If you are unhappy today, don't be worried -- happiness
           will be just by the corner.
                In Indian villages mothers don't allow their children to laugh too much, because, they say, "If
           you laugh too much then you will have to cry, you will have to weep." And there is great wisdom in
           it -- a primitive wisdom, unsophisticated, but it has some truth in it. Mothers in Indian villages will
           stop the child if he is giggling too much and laughing too much. They will say, "Stop, stop right
           now! Otherwise soon you will be crying and weeping and tears will come."
           It is bound to be so because nature balances.
                Peace is something far higher than happiness. Buddha does not call it bliss just for this reason: if
           you call it bliss, which it is... but he avoids the word 'bliss' because the moment you call it bliss
           people understand immediately 'happiness'. Bliss gives them the idea of absolute happiness, great
           happiness, tremendous happiness, incredible happiness, but the difference between happiness and
           bliss in people's minds is only of quantity, as if bliss is the ocean and happiness is just a dewdrop.
           But the difference is only of quantity -- and the difference of quantity is not a real difference, it is not
           a difference that makes a difference. Only qualitative differences are real differences.
                Hence Buddha has chosen the word 'peace' instead of 'bliss'. He says peace -- peace gives you a
           totally different direction to inquire, to search. Peace means no happiness, no unhappiness.
                Happiness is also a state of noise, a state of tension, excitement. Have you observed? -- you
           cannot remain happy for a long long time, because it starts getting on your nerves; you start feeling
           tired of it, bored with it. Yes, to a certain extent you can tolerate it; beyond that it becomes
           impossible. How long can you go on hugging your woman? Yes, for a few moments it is beautiful,
           ecstatic, but how long? One minute, two minutes, thirty minutes, sixty minutes, one day, two days?
           How long? You try next time, and you will be able to note the point where happiness turns into
           unhappiness.
                When you want to get hold of a woman you are so allured, attracted. And women know it
           intuitively, hence they do everything to escape from your hands. They remain elusive, they don't
           become too readily available. They are aware -- intuitively aware, not intellectually -- intuitively
           aware of the phenomenon that all this attraction will be gone soon and all this great love will die
           soon. Everything dies; everything that is born is bound to die. They are far more intelligent that way
           -- they avoid, they escape. They allow you only a certain amount of intimacy, and then they are
           again far away. That keeps the game going; otherwise every game will be finished too soon. Any
           happiness is only for the time being. Beyond that it turns into the opposite; it becomes sour, bitter.
                Peace means going beyond the excitement of happiness and unhappiness both. There are people
           who are attracted to unhappiness too; modern psychology calls them masochists. They enjoy
           torturing themselves. In the past these same masochists became great MAHATMAS, great sages,
           saints. Psychologically understood, with the modern insight into human mind, your so-called saints
           will look -- almost ninety percent of them -- masochistic, or maybe ninety-nine percent even. If
           looked at deeply, you will find these are people who enjoy torturing themselves. These are people
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who go on long fasts, lie down on the bed of thorns, stand in the hot sun or in the cold, sit naked in
           the Himalayan snows. These are the masochists.
               And the other side of it is sadism. There are people who enjoy torturing others. And in fact the
           whole humanity -- almost the whole humanity, except the buddhas -- can be divided into these two
           camps. These are the real two religions of the world: masochism and sadism. The masochists become
           religious and the sadists become politicians. Alexander the Great, Tamerlane, Nadirshah, Genghis
           Khan, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, all these people, they enjoy torturing
           others. To torture others is as pathological as to torture oneself.
               The person who wants happiness is bound to be sadistic. Analyze your happiness, on what it
           depends. If you have a bigger house than your neighbor you are happy. In fact, you are torturing
           your neighbor by having a bigger house: it is a very subtle torture.

               I used to stay in one of the most beautiful palaces in Calcutta. It was a beauty, a very old
           Victorian colonial palace it was, and it was the best house in Calcutta. The man was very proud of it,
           and whenever I would stay with him he was continuously talking about the house, and the garden,
           and this and that -- but it was around the house, his whole talk.
               Once it happened, I stayed with him for three days and he didn't mention the house at all.
               I said, "What has happened? Have you become a sannyasin or something? Have you renounced
           the world? You are not talking about the house!"
               He looked with sad eyes towards me and said, "Can't you see the new house that has come up in
           the neighborhood?"
               I had seen the house. A new marble house had come up, and certainly it was bigger and far more
           beautiful. And he said, "Since this house has come up all my joy is lost. I am living in such misery,
           you cannot conceive."
               I said, "But you are living in the same house! It is the SAME house, and you were so happy. And
           you are still in the same house. Why should you be so miserable? What does it have to do with the
           neighbor? And if it is because of the neighbor that you are feeling so miserable, then remember one
           thing: when you used to feel so happy about the house, it was also not about the house -- it was about
           the neighbors, because they were living in small houses. And if you are so much tortured by the
           neighbor's house, remember, the neighbor must have been in a long long torture because of your
           house. It is just to take revenge that he has made the new house."
               The new house-owner invited me for dinner. He asked my host also to come, but my host simply
           said, "No, I cannot -- I am too busy." And he was not busy at all! And when the man had gone I said
           to him, "You are not busy."
               He said, "I am not busy, but I cannot go into that house -- unless I have made a bigger house than
           that. Yes, wait! It will take two, three years for me to make a bigger house, but it is a question of
           prestige. Once I have made a bigger house I will invite that man for dinner."

           This is how people are living.
                If you watch your own mind, you enjoy things because others don't have them. You enjoy them
           not having them, you don't enjoy your having them.
                Such is the pathology of man: one is a sadist, he enjoys others being in a state of misery; and the
           other turns into a masochist. Seeing that it is not good to enjoy others' misery, seeing that it is a sin,
           seeing that he will have to suffer in hell for it, becoming aware that this is not virtuous, he turns into
           a masochist, he starts torturing himself. But the torture continues.
                Peace means a state of inner health, a state of inner wholeness, where you are not torturing
           others, not torturing yourself, where you are neither interested in happiness nor in unhappiness. You
           are simply interested in being absolutely silent, calm, quiet, collected, integrated.
                Yes, when the mind is dropped... and mind means your whole past and all that you know and all
           that you have accumulated. Mind is your subtle treasure, your subtle possession. When all that mind
           has been dropped and you have entered into a state of no-mind, a great peace descends. It is silence,
           it is full of bliss, but Buddha avoids the word. I don't avoid it.
                Buddha had to avoid it, because in Buddha's days bliss was talked about too much. The
           Upanishads were talking about it, Mahavira was talking about it, the whole Hindu tradition was
           talking about it. SAT-CHIT-ANAND -- God is truth, consciousness, bliss, but the ultimate quality is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bliss. Too much talk about bliss. Buddha must have felt that it is better not to use that word. That
           word has become too orthodox, too conventional, too conformist. And because it has been used so
           much it has lost its meaning, its savor, its salt, it has lost its beauty. But now it can be revived again;
           now nobody is talking about bliss.
               But whether you call it peace or bliss is irrelevant. Just understand one thing: that it takes you
           beyond all dualities. Day and night, summer and winter, life and death, pain and pleasure -- it takes
           you beyond all dualities -- love and hate. It takes you beyond all dual phenomena. It takes you to the
           one.
               Hence Buddha says: ONE WORD. It is a simple, melodious, harmonious state of your inner
           health, inner sanity. One word is enough, far more significant. BETTER THAN A THOUSAND
           HOLLOW WORDS....

              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW VERSES
              IS ONE VERSE THAT BRINGS PEACE.


                There are poets and poets. There are two kinds of poets in the world. One is the poet who is a
           dreamer, who is very clever in imagination, in fantasy. He creates works of art, he creates sculpture,
           music, poetry, but all that remains dream stuff. It may entertain you for the time being, but it cannot
           give you any insight into reality. It may be a consolation, a solace, a lullaby; it may have a
           tranquilizing effect on you. Yes, that's exactly what it does. All that is called aesthetics, art... has a
           tranquilizing effect on you.
                Listening to classical music you fall into a totally different kind of state. Everything becomes
           tranquil, still, but it is momentary; it is only a dream world that the musician creates around you.
           Listening to poetry or looking at great sculpture, for a moment you are dazed, stunned. The mind
           stops as if you are transported for a moment to some other world, but again you are back in the same
           old world, in the same old rut.
                But there are different kinds of poets, painters, sculptors too: the buddhas. A single verse from
           them may transform you forever. Listening to a buddha is listening to divine music. Listening to a
           buddha is listening to God himself. A buddha is God visible, a buddha is God available. A buddha is
           a window into God, an invitation from the beyond. Shakespeare, Milton, Kalidas, Bhavabhuti, and
           thousands of others -- these are the dreamers, great dreamers; beautiful are their dreams, but they are
           not the poets who can transform your being. Mohammed can do it, Christ can do it, Krishna can do
           it, Buddha can do it, Kabir, Nanak, Farid, yes, these people can do it.
                What is the difference between the poetry of a Kabir and a Shakespeare? As far as poetry is
           concerned, Shakespeare is far more poetic, remember, than Kabir. Kabir knows nothing of the art.
           Shakespeare is very sophisticated; but still a single verse from Kabir is far more valuable than all the
           collected works of Shakespeare -- because a single word from Kabir comes from insight, not from
           fantasy. That is the difference.
                Kabir has clarity, he has eyes which can see into the beyond. Shakespeare is as blind as you are.
           Of course, he is very efficient in bringing his fantasy into words. That's art, worthy of respect, but at
           the most it can entertain you. It can keep you occupied beautifully, but there is no possibility of
           transformation happening through it. Even Shakespeare is not a transformed being, how can he
           transform you?
                Only a buddha, only one who is awakened, can wake you up. Shakespeare is as fast asleep as you
           are, or maybe even deeper asleep than you are, because he is having such beautiful dreams. His sleep
           is bound to be deep, because he is not only having dreams, he is singing his dreams. He is bringing
           his dreams to expression -- and still his sleep is not broken.
                Buddha is one who is awakened. Only one who is awake can wake you up. BETTER THAN A
           THOUSAND HOLLOW VERSES IS ONE VERSE THAT BRINGS PEACE. And how will you
           know that you are around a buddha? His very presence will bring transcendental peace to you.
                So a buddha from the past cannot be of much help, because his words will again be hollow
           words; he will not be present in them. It will only be a beautiful cage, a golden cage studded with
           diamonds, but the bird has left the cage long ago.
                A buddha is significant only when he is alive, because only his aliveness can trigger a process in
           you which will lead you ultimately to awakening.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED HOLLOW LINES
              IS ONE LINE OF THE LAW, BRINGING PEACE.


                By law, Buddha does not mean any moral, social, political law. By law Buddha means dhamma:
           AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- the ultimate law, the eternal law, the law that makes this
           universe a cosmos instead of a chaos, the law that runs the whole universe in such tremendous
           harmony.
                BETTER THAN A THOUSAND HOLLOW LINES.... "Lines" is not really a good translation.
           The original word is SUTRA: sutra literally means thread. And in the East the greatest statements of
           the masters have been called sutras, threads, for a certain reason. A man is born as a heap of flowers,
           just as a heap. Unless threads are used and the thread runs through the flowers, the heap will remain
           a heap and will never become a garland.
                And you can be offered to God only when you have become a garland. A heap is a chaos, a
           garland is a cosmos -- although in the garland you also only see the flowers, the thread is invisible.
                The sayings of the masters are called sutras, threads, because they can make out of you a garland.
           And only when you are a garland you can become an offering to God, only when you have become a
           cosmos, a harmony, a song.
                Right now you are just gibberish. You can write down... sit in a room, close the door and start
           writing on a paper whatsoever comes to your mind. Don't edit it, don't delete anything, don't add
           anything, because you are not going to show it to anybody. Keep a matchbox by the side so once you
           have written it you can burn it immediately, so that you can be authentic. Just write whatsoever
           comes to your mind and you will be surprised: just a ten minutes' exercise and you will understand
           what I mean when I say that you are just gibberish.
                It is really a great revelation to see how your mind goes on jumping from here to there, from one
           thing to another thing, accidentally, for no reason at all. What nonsense thoughts go on running
           inside you, with no relevance, no consistency. Just a sheer wastage, a leakage of energy!
                The sayings of the buddhas are called sutras. Here the translator has used the word 'line' for sutra.
           Linguistically it is okay, but these are not linguistic matters. That is one of the great problems: to
           translate statements of Buddha, Christ, Krishna, is really almost an impossible job. And those who
           translate them are not awakened people themselves; they are great orientalists, linguists,
           grammarians. They know the original language, but they only know the language -- and language is
           not the real point, it is only the garment.
                So remember: BETTER THAN A HUNDRED HOLLOW LINES means BETTER THAN A
           HUNDRED HOLLOW SUTRAS -- logical, philosophical, proposed by great philosophers and
           thinkers, but they are hollow because they don't contain the experience.
                ... IS ONE LINE OF THE LAW -- a single sutra of the law. Who can assert the sutra of the law?
           Only one who has become awakened, only one who has become one with the ultimate law, only one
           who has himself become the dhamma. Not a religious person but one who himself has become
           religion itself. And how will you judge? -- the same criterion continues: it brings peace.
                Why are you here with me? Be here only if my presence brings peace to you. Be here only if
           listening to me a chord starts vibrating in you which brings peace. Be here only if your love for me
           helps you to transcend the world of dualities; otherwise being here is of no use.
                My presence cannot be for all; it can be only for the chosen few, only for those who have really
           come thirsty, inquiring, who really want to risk all to know God, who are ready to die for truth, who
           are ready to become sacrifices.

              IT IS BETTER TO CONQUER YOURSELF
              THAN TO WIN A THOUSAND BATTLES.


              And in peace is victory. When peace surrounds you within and without, you are overflowing
           with peace, you have come home, you have conquered yourself, you are a master.
              IT IS BETTER TO CONQUER YOURSELF THAN TO WIN A THOUSAND BATTLES. One
           buddha is far more significant and valuable than a million Adolf Hitlers. And this victory is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something which is a real victory, because all other victories will be taken away from you.
           Alexander the Great dies like any beggar dies; he cannot take anything with him. He has conquered
           the whole world, and now going as a beggar....

               It is said: there are three instances in Alexander's life which are significant. One is the meeting
           with the great mystic, Diogenes. Diogenes was laying naked on the bank of a river taking a sunbath.
           It was early morning... and the early sun and the beautiful riverbank and the cool sand. And
           Alexander was passing by; he was coming to India.
               Somebody told him, "Diogenes is just close by and you have always been inquiring about
           Diogenes" -- because he had heard many stories about the man. He was really a man worth calling a
           man! Even Alexander, deep down, was jealous of Diogenes.
               He went to see him. He was impressed by his beauty -- naked, undecorated, with no ornaments.
           And he himself was full of ornaments, decorated in every possible way, but he looked very poor
           before Diogenes. And he said to Diogenes, "I feel jealous of you. I look poor compared to you -- and
           you have nothing! What is your richness?"
               And Diogenes said, "I don't desire anything -- desirelessness is my treasure. I am a master
           because I don't possess anything -- nonpossessiveness is my mastery, and I have conquered the
           world because I have conquered myself. And my victory is going with me, and your victory will be
           taken away by death."

               And the second story: When he was going back from India.... His teacher had told him, "When
           you come back from India, bring a sannyasin, because that is the greatest contribution of India to the
           world."
               The phenomenon of a sannyasin is uniquely Indian. Nowhere else has the idea of transcending
           the world totally captured the minds of people as it has in this country.
               Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander. Aristotle had asked him, "Bring a sannyasin when you
           come back. I would like to see what a sannyasin is like, what it is all about."
               After conquering India, when he was going back he remembered. He inquired where to find a
           sannyasin. People said, "Sannyasins are many but real sannyasins are very few. We know one."
               In Alexandrian reports his name is given as Dandamesh -- it may be a Greek form of some Indian
           name. Alexander went to see the man -- again the same beauty as Diogenes, the same peace.
           Whenever awakening happens it brings something similar. Around every buddha you will find the
           same spring, the same fragrance, the same peace.
               Again, as he entered into the energy field of Dandamesh, he was tremendously affected, as if he
           had entered into a perfumed garden. He remembered Diogenes immediately. He asked Dandamesh,
           "I have come to invite you -- come with me. You will be our royal guest, every comfort will be
           provided for, but you have to come with me to Athens."
               Dandamesh said, "I have dropped all coming, all going." He was talking of something else;
           Alexander could not understand immediately. He was saying that, "Now there is no more coming in
           the world and no more going out of the world. I have transcended all coming and going." What in the
           East we call AVAGAMAN -- coming and going; coming into the womb and then going into death.
               Alexander said, "But this is a commandment -- I command you! You have to follow. This is the
           order from the great Alexander!"
               Dandamesh laughed. The same laughter -- again Alexander remembered Diogenes -- the same
           laughter. Dandamesh said, "Nobody can command me, not even death."
               Alexander said, "You don't understand -- I am a dangerous man!" He pulled out his sword and he
           said, "Either you will come with me or I will cut off your head."
               Dandamesh said, "Do it, cut off the head -- because what you are going to do now, I have done
           years before. When the head falls, you will see it falling on the earth and I will also see it falling on
           the earth."
               Alexander said, "How will you see it? You will be dead!"
               Dandamesh said, "That is the point: I cannot die anymore, I have become a witness. I will
           witness my death as much as you will witness. It will happen between us two -- you will be seeing, I
           will be seeing. And my purpose in the body is fulfilled: I have attained. There is no need for the
           body to exist anymore. Cut off the head!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Alexander had to put his sword back in the sheath -- you cannot kill such a man.

           And the third story is:
               When Alexander was dying he remembered both Diogenes and Dandamesh, and he remembered
           their laughter, their peace, their joy.
               And he remembered that they had something that goes beyond death, "And I have nothing."
               He wept, tears came to his eyes, and he said to his ministers, "When I die and you carry my body
           to the cemetery, let my hands hang out of the casket."
               The ministers asked, "But this is not the tradition! Why? Why such a strange request?"
               Alexander said, "I would like people to see that I came empty-handed and I am going
           empty-handed, and all my life has been a wastage. Let my hands hang out of the casket so everybody
           can see -- even Alexander the Great is going empty-handed."

           These stories are worth meditating on.
              Buddha says: IT IS BETTER TO CONQUER YOURSELF THAN TO WIN A THOUSAND
           BATTLES.

              THEN THE VICTORY IS YOURS.


              No other victory is yours. It can't be taken from you -- that's why it is yours.

              IT CANNOT BE TAKEN FROM YOU,
              NOT BY ANGELS OR BY DEMONS,
              HEAVEN OR HELL.


               Nobody can take it away from you. Remember, only that which cannot be taken away from you
           is yours. Anything that can be taken away from you is not yours. Don't cling to it, because the
           clinging will bring misery to you. Do not be possessive of anything that can be taken away from you
           because your possessiveness will create anguish for you. Abide with that which is really yours,
           which nobody can take away from you. It cannot be stolen, you cannot be robbed of it, you cannot
           go bankrupt as far as it is concerned. Even death cannot take it.
               Krishna says: NAINAM CHHINDANTI SHASTRANI -- you cannot cut it by weapons, swords
           cannot penetrate it, arrows cannot reach to it, bullets are absolutely powerless as far as it is
           concerned. NAINAM DAHATI PAVAKAH -- neither fire can burn it.
               When on a funeral pyre your body will be burned, YOU will not be burned -- if you have known
           yourself, if you have understood what this consciousness is within you. If you have conquered your
           consciousness, then the body will be burned, turned to ashes, but you will not be burned, you will
           not be touched even. You will remain forever -- you are eternal. But this eternity can be known only
           when you become a master on your own.
               Don't waste your time in mastering others, in conquering power, prestige, in conquering the
           world. Conquer yourself. The only thing worth conquering is your own being.

              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF WORSHIP,
              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND OFFERINGS,
              BETTER THAN GIVING UP A THOUSAND WORLDLY WAYS
              IN ORDER TO WIN MERIT,
              BETTER EVEN THAN TENDING IN THE FOREST
              A SACRED FLAME FOR A HUNDRED YEARS --
              IS ONE MOMENT'S REVERENCE
              FOR THE MAN WHO HAS CONQUERED HIMSELF.


             A tremendously significant sutra. Meditate over it slowly. BETTER THAN A HUNDRED
           YEARS OF WORSHIP... IS a single MOMENT'S REVERENCE FOR THE MAN WHO HAS
           CONQUERED HIMSELF. Why? -- because in the temples you will be worshipping just stones. And
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           by worshipping the stones -- either in the temple or in Kaaba -- by worshipping statues and pictures,
           by worshipping dead scriptures, following rituals and formalities, you will not have any taste of
           buddhahood.
               But ONE MOMENT'S REVERENCE FOR THE MAN WHO HAS CONQUERED HIMSELF is
           far more valuable. Why? -- because the moment you bow down to the man who has conquered
           himself, the moment you bow down to a buddha, something of the buddha, something of the vibe
           penetrates you, stirs your asleep heart, penetrates your being like a ray of light into the dark night of
           your soul, brings you the first glimpse of the divine.
               It is not possible in the temples, in the mosques, in the churches, in the synagogues, in the
           gurudwaras. It is possible if you are in the vicinity of a Nanak, but not in a gurudwara. It is possible
           if you are in a love affair with Jesus, but not in a church. It is possible if you have surrendered to a
           buddha, if you have said to a buddha, "BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI -- I go to the
           feet of the Buddha, I surrender myself." But it is not possible in a Buddhist temple; before the statue
           of Buddha it is not possible. You will have to find a living buddha -- there is no other way. There is
           no shortcut.
              BETTER THAN A THOUSAND OFFERINGS, BETTER THAN GIVING UP A THOUSAND WORLDLY
              WAYS... IS ONE MOMENT'S REVERENCE FOR THE MAN WHO HAS CONQUERED HIMSELF.

                Why do you worship in the first place? Why do you offer flowers, food to the statues? Why do
           you renounce A THOUSAND WORLDLY WAYS? -- because of greed and fear. Either it is fear or
           it is greed, or maybe it is both, because greed and fear are not different -- two aspects of the same
           coin. Greed is fear hidden, fear is greed hidden.
                And not only the worldly people are greedy, the so-called otherworldly are also as greedy or
           maybe they are even more greedy. Their greed is such that it cannot be satisfied by this world. Their
           greed is such that they are desiring heavenly pleasures: only paradise can satisfy them, this world is
           not enough. And that's what your so-called saints go on teaching to you. They say, "Why are you
           wasting your time in momentary pleasures? Follow us! We will show you the way to find pleasures
           which will last forever."
                But this is pure greed! The worldly man seems to be less greedy because he is satisfied with the
           momentary, and the otherworldly is so greedy that he wants something permanent which lasts
           forever. The worldly is greedy, the otherworldly is greedy.
                Your priests are very greedy people, your monks are very greedy people.

               One day a Protestant minister came into Bonatelli's barbershop and got a haircut. When Bonatelli
           was finished, the minister reached for his wallet but the barber shook his head and smiled. "Put-a
           your wallet away, Reverend," said the Italian. "I never charge a man of the cloth."
               The minister thanked him and left, but he soon returned and presented the pious barber with a
           Bible.
               A few hours later, Father Rourke entered the Italian's shop and he, too, got a haircut. Once again
           the barber refused to accept any payment. "Forget it, Father," he said. "I no take-a money from a
           priest."
               Father Rourke left shortly thereafter and returned with a crucifix which he presented to Bonatelli
           as a token of his appreciation.
               Toward evening a rabbi entered the shop. He also got a haircut. When the rabbi reached into his
           pocket, the barber waved the money aside. "That's okay, Rabbi," said Bonatelli. "I no accept-a pay
           from men who do-a da Lord-a's work."
               So the rabbi left, and came back with another rabbi!

              People live through greed or through fear. A few people are afraid of hell, hence they are
           worshipping; and a few people are greedy for heaven, hence they are worshipping.

           A Sufi story says:
              Jesus came into a town. He saw a few people sitting very sad, in deep agony; he had never seen
           such a lot of sad people. He asked, "What has happened to you? What calamity has fallen upon
           you?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And they said, "We are afraid of hell, we are trembling. We don't know how we can save
           ourselves from hell -- that is our fear, that is our constant agony. We cannot sleep, we cannot rest,
           unless we have found a way."
               Jesus walked away from those people. Just a little further ahead he found another group sitting
           under a tree, very sad, in great anxiety, just as the first lot. Jesus was very puzzled. He asked, "What
           is the matter? What is happening in this town? Why are you looking so sad? Why do you look so
           tense? You will go mad if you remain in this state any longer! What has happened to you?"
               They said, "Nothing has happened to us. We are afraid that we may lose heaven, we may not be
           able to enter it. And we have to get it, whatsoever the cost. That is our anxiety and that is our
           tension."
               Jesus left those people also. Sufis say: Why did Jesus leave these people? -- because these are the
           religious people! He should have taught them the way to avoid hell, and how to enter heaven, but he
           simply turned away from them.
               He found a third group in a garden, a small group of people who were dancing, singing,
           rejoicing. He asked, "What ceremony is going on? What festival are you having?"
               They said, "No special ceremony -- just our gratefulness to God, gratefulness for what he has
           given to us. We were not worthy of it."
               Jesus said, "To you I will talk, with you I will stay. You are my people."

               This story is not related to Christians, but the Sufis have a few beautiful stories about Jesus. In
           fact, they understand Jesus far more deeply than the so-called orthodox church. This is a beautiful
           story. It says neither those who are living through fear nor those who are living through greed are
           going to enter into the kingdom of God, but only those who are living in tremendous joy,
           thankfulness and gratitude.
               And where will you learn gratitude? If you have not seen a buddha, you will not know what
           gratitude is. Where will you learn to celebrate if you have not come across a buddha? A buddha is
           celebration, a buddha is a festival, an ongoing festivity, a dance that goes on and on, that knows no
           ending, a song that continues forever.
               If you have come across a buddha, then a moment's reverence, says Buddha, is enough.
               Drop all your fear, drop all your greed. Learn how to be a disciple. Learn how to imbibe the
           spirit of someone who has reached his innermost center, who does not live anymore on the
           circumference, who has become enlightened, whose being is a light.
               Learn to open your eyes towards that light. Learn to say: BUDDHAM SHARANAM
           GACHCHHAMI, SANGHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI, DHAMMAM SHARANAM
           GACHCHHAMI. Three surrenders: one surrender to the one who has become awakened; the second
           surrender is to the company who lives in the company of the awakened -- because the perfume of the
           awakened one starts filtering into the company, the blessed company that lives with the awakened
           one; and the third surrender is to the law, the ultimate law, through which the sleepy one has become
           awakened and the other sleepy ones are becoming awakened.
               These three surrenders... and a single moment's reverence is more valuable than a hundred years
           of worship, than a thousand offerings....
           BETTER THAN GIVING UP A THOUSAND WORLDLY WAYS IN ORDER TO WIN MERIT,
           BETTER EVEN THAN TENDING IN THE FOREST A SACRED FLAME FOR A HUNDRED
           YEARS -- IS ONE MOMENT'S REVERENCE FOR THE MAN WHO HAS CONQUERED
           HIMSELF.

              TO REVERE SUCH A MAN,
              A MASTER OLD IN VIRTUE AND HOLINESS,
              IS TO HAVE VICTORY OVER LIFE ITSELF,
              AND BEAUTY, STRENGTH AND HAPPINESS.


               To revere such a person is to know the secretmost phenomenon in existence. Bowing down to a
           buddha a miracle happens: something starts flowing from the buddha to the heart of the disciple, an
           invisible river, a river of light.
               A MASTER OLD IN VIRTUE AND HOLINESS.... What does this sutra mean: OLD IN
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           VIRTUE AND HOLINESS? There is a paradox: holiness is as new as the dewdrops in the early
           morning sun on the lotus leaf, and holiness is as ancient as the Himalayas. It is both, because it is
           eternal. It is from the beginning to the end, but it is new, too, every moment new, renewing itself. It
           is not a dead thing just sitting there; it is an alive process. It is not a stagnant pool, it is a river
           rushing towards the ocean. So it is new every moment; hence every buddha is young forever.
                Have you ever seen any statue of Buddha as an old man of eighty-two years? No. Have you ever
           seen any statue of Mahavira as old, or Rama, or Krishna as old? There are no statues of Buddha,
           Krishna, or Mahavira as old, although they all lived to a very old age, all passed the age of eighty.
           Why don't we have their statues as old men? To represent the eternal youth of truth, the eternal
           freshness of truth.
                And still what they say is the ancientmost: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO... so ancient that in
           fact there has never been a beginning. SANANTANO means beginningless -- forever it has been.
                To represent this there is told another phenomenon: Lao Tzu is said to have been born old.
           Buddha died when he was eighty-two and Lao Tzu was born when he was eighty-two. He was born
           eighty-two years old; he lived in his mother's womb for eighty-two years. A beautiful story. Not that
           he really lived -- because one has to think of the woman also! -- but it says something. It says that
           truth is so ancient, it is always old.
           These stories are beautiful.
                It is said that when Zarathustra was born... he is the only child in the whole history of humanity
           about whom such a story is told. When he was born -- every child cries when he is born --
           Zarathustra laughed. Beautiful! Not that he could have really done it. No child can do it -- it is
           physiologically impossible -- the child has to cry. Through crying he clears his chest and the
           breathing system. He cannot laugh, he cannot even breathe; first he has to cry.
                If the child does not cry for a few seconds, a few minutes, that means he is not going to live at
           all. Then he has to be forced. The doctor hangs him upside down and gives him a good slap on the
           bottom to help him cry. If he cries, that means he is going to live. If he cries, that clears the chest --
           because much mucus gathers in the chest while he is in the mother's womb. He does not breathe in
           the mother's womb so the whole breathing system remains clogged with mucus. So each child
           physiologically has to cry; through crying he gets rid of the mucus. Laughter is not possible.
                But it is very symbolic that Zarathustra laughed. What does it symbolize? It symbolizes that this
           whole life is just illusory, only worth laughing at. It is ridiculous! He knows from the very beginning
           it is ridiculous. The real life is something totally different.
                TO REVERE SUCH A MAN, A MASTER OLD IN VIRTUE AND HOLINESS, IS TO HAVE
           VICTORY OVER LIFE ITSELF.... By revering a buddha, by respecting a buddha, by trusting a
           buddha, you are conquering life itself. And you will attain to beauty, strength and happiness. In that
           surrender you will become beautiful, because the ego is gone and the ego is ugly. And you will
           become strong, because the ego is gone -- the ego is always weak and impotent. And you will
           become happy for the first time, because for the first time you have seen a glimpse of truth, for the
           first time you have seen a glimpse of your own being. The buddha is a mirror: when you bow down
           you see your original face reflected in the buddha.
           Let your heart be full of the prayer:

              BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI,
              SANGHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI,
              DHAMMAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI.

              Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3
                                                       Chapter #10
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                           Chapter title: Vast as the sky
           21 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908210
              ShortTitle: DHAM310
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 103 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE WESTERN MIND IS SO ORIENTED TOWARD ANALYSIS, THE LEFT HEMISPHERE OF THE
              BRAIN -- THE EASTERN MIND JUST THE OPPOSITE, THE INTUITIVE RIGHT HEMISPHERE. THE
              WEST IS FASCINATED BY THE EAST AND THE EAST BY THE WEST. EQUAL AMOUNTS OF
              BOTH -- IS THIS THE HARMONY OF WISDOM AND THE TRANSCENDENCE OF OPPOSITES?


               Prem Dhanesh, the transcendence of opposites is not a quantitative phenomenon, it is a
           qualitative revolution. It is not a question of equal amounts of both; that will be a very materialistic
           solution. Quantity means matter. Equal amounts of both will give you only an appearance of
           synthesis but not a real synthesis -- a dead synthesis, not alive, not breathing, not with a heart
           beating.
               The real synthesis is a dialogue: not equal amounts of both, but a loving relationship, an I/thou
           relationship. It is a question of bridging the opposites, not putting them together in one place.
               Both are important, immensely important. Neither analysis can be discarded nor intuition.
           Discard analysis and you become outwardly poor, starved, unhealthy. And when one is outwardly
           poor, starved, unhealthy, how can he go inwards? It is impossible.
               The outward poverty prevents the inward journey. You are so obsessed with food, clothes,
           shelter, you don't have time and space to go in, to think about the higher things of life.

               In the Upanishads there is a beautiful story. Shvetketu, a young man, came back from the
           university full of knowledge. He was a brilliant student, he had topped the university with all the
           medals and all the degrees that were possible, available. He came back home with great pride. His
           old father, Uddalak, looked at him and asked him a single question. He said to him, "You have come
           full of knowledge, but do you know the knower? You have accumulated much information, your
           consciousness is full of borrowed wisdom -- but what is this consciousness? Do you know who you
           are?"
               Shvetketu said, "But this question was never raised in the university. I have learned the Vedas, I
           have learned language, philosophy, poetry, literature, history, geography. I have learned all that was
           available in the university, but this was not a subject at all. You are asking a very strange question;
           nobody ever asked me in the university. It was not on the syllabus, it was not in my course."
               Uddalak said, "You do one thing: be on a fast for two weeks, then I will ask you something."
               He wanted to show his knowledge, just a young man's desire. He must have dreamed that his
           father would be very happy. Although the father was saying, "Wait for two weeks and fast," he
           started talking about the ultimate, the absolute, the Brahman.
               The father said, "You wait two weeks, then we will discuss about Brahman."
               Two days' fast, three days' fast, four days' fast, and the father started asking him, "What is
           Brahman?" In the beginning he answered a little bit, recited what he had crammed, displayed. But by
           the end of the week he was so tired, so exhausted, so hungry, that when the father asked, "What is
           Brahman?" he said, "Stop all this nonsense! I am hungry, I think only of food and you are asking me
           what Brahman is. Right now, except food nothing is Brahman."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The father said, "So your whole knowledge is just because you were not starved. Because you
           were taken care of, your body was nourished, it was easy for you to talk about great philosophy.
           Now is the real question. Now bring your knowledge!"
               Shvetketu said, "I have forgotten all. Only one thing haunts me: hunger, hunger -- day in, day
           out. I cannot sleep, I cannot rest. There is fire in my belly, I am burning, and I don't know anything
           at all. I have forgotten all that I have learned."
               The father said, "My son, food is the first step towards Brahman. Food is Brahman -- ANNAM
           BRAHMA." A tremendously significant statement. India has forgotten it completely. ANNAM
           BRAHMA: food is God, the first God.

                If you drop the analytical mind, science disappears. If you drop the analytical mind, you can't be
           affluent; you are bound to be poor and hungry, and you will lose your first contact with God.
                The West is in that contact; nothing is wrong about it. This orientation in analysis is a significant
           step towards knowing God. I am not against it. But one should not stop at it. Food is not an ultimate
           value, it is a means to an end. And if you have a meditative pilgrimage you start transforming food
           into prayer.
                It depends. The painter eats the same food, but it becomes painting in him. The poet also eats the
           same food, it becomes poetry in him. The lover also eats the same food, it becomes love in him. The
           murderer also eats the same food, it becomes murder and destruction in him. Alexander, Genghis
           Khan, Adolf Hitler, Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ and Krishna, they were not eating different kinds
           of food; the food is the same, more or less. But in Adolf Hitler it becomes destruction, in Gautam
           Buddha it becomes compassion. Food is raw energy; it depends on you how you transform it. You
           are the transformer; you are really significant, not what you eat.
                Money is not bad in itself. That's my basic approach towards existence: money is neutral, it
           depends on you. In the hands of a man of understanding, money is tremendously beautiful. It can
           become music, it can become art, it can become science, it can become religion. It is not money that
           is bad, it is the person. The stupid person, if he has money, does not know what to do with it; his
           money creates more greed. Money can free you from greed, but the stupid person changes money
           into more greed. It becomes anger, it becomes sexuality, it becomes lust. The more money the stupid
           person has, the more stupid he becomes, because he becomes more powerful to do stupid things.
                With the wise, everything is transformed into wisdom.
                The analytical mind is not bad, the scientific approach towards reality is not bad -- but it is only a
           means, it can't be the end. The end is self-knowledge, the end is to know God, the end is to know the
           eternal, the deathless. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO: that is the end, to know the ultimate law
           which pervades, permeates the whole existence -- because by knowing it, one is liberated. Truth
           liberates.
                The East has contributed greatly, immensely towards that ultimate end. But without means, how
           can you reach the end? And without the end what is the point of having all the means? It is a
           question of deep dialogue between East and West, it is a question of a marriage, not a quantitative
           combination of these two different approaches, not half East, half West, not a little bit of science and
           a little bit of religion. Human life is not that mathematical; it is poetic.
                What is needed is a dialogue, an I/thou relationship, a love affair between East and West, a deep
           embrace. It is not a question of equal quantities; the WHOLE West and the WHOLE East meeting
           and merging into each other -- not half East, half West -- the whole East and the whole West melting
           into each other in a deep love relationship. Then only, the real synthesis, the transcendence of
           opposites, will be possible.
                When two lovers meet in deep orgasmic joy, there is transcendence. The attraction is there: the
           East feels fascinated by the West, the West is fascinated by the East, but the danger is that the people
           from the West who are too fascinated with the East will drop being Western, they will become
           Eastern; and the people who are fascinated by the West will drop being Eastern and will become
           Western. So nothing has changed; there has been no meeting, there has been no merger, just the
           same problem again. People have simply changed their places: now the Eastern is standing in the
           Western hemisphere and the Western is standing in the Eastern hemisphere. Now the Westerner is
           meditating and the Easterner is studying in Oxford, in Cambridge, in Harvard, and becoming a
           scientist, a physicist. This is not going to help because there is no meeting happening.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My effort here is not to change the Western mind into the Eastern, not to change the Eastern
           mind into the Western, but to let here be a meeting of both -- not in part but in totality. And
           remember, when two wholes meet, it becomes one whole. When two totalities meet, it becomes one
           totality: that is transcendence. It is urgently needed, because without it there is no hope for humanity,
           no future for humanity.
               What we are trying to do here is of immense importance for the future of man. It is not an
           ordinary experiment -- in fact there is no other experiment which is more important than this. You
           may not be aware that you are participating in something which can save the world. Otherwise the
           division between the Eastern and the Western is going to kill humanity. The East is poor, too poor,
           and the West is becoming too rich, and the rift is becoming bigger and bigger every day. This rift is
           bound to create, sooner or later, a third world war -- which will be destructive to both.
               Before it happens we have to spread a new vision, we have to give birth to a new humanity, a
           man who is neither Eastern nor Western but both together simultaneously; not in equal amounts, not
           half Eastern, half Western -- fully Western, fully Eastern.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANT TO BECOME A SANNYASIN, BUT I CANNOT BECAUSE I AM ALREADY A PRACTICING
              CATHOLIC. HOW CAN I ACCEPT TWO MASTERS? AND AM I ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS
              BEFORE I BECOME A SANNYASIN?


                Alexander, there is no question of accepting two masters. It is not a question of masters, it is a
           question of surrender. If you are surrendered to Christ, you are surrendered to me. If you are
           surrendered to me, you are surrendered to Christ, to Buddha, to Mahavira, to Krishna. The question
           is of surrender. You are taking the question from the wrong end. If you know how to surrender, then
           all the masters are one. Then you will find Christ in Buddha, and Buddha in Christ.
                The surrendered heart becomes so deeply harmonious that it can see that Krishna and Christ are
           not different. Certainly their language is different -- Krishna speaks Sanskrit, Christ speaks Aramaic.
           Certainly they use different metaphors, different parables. They are different fingers but pointing to
           the same moon. If you can see the moon, will you be worried about the fingers? If you can see the
           moon, will you be obsessed with the finger -- whether the finger is that of Krishna or Christ or
           Buddha or Lao Tzu? What does it matter? Once the moon is known, the fingers are forgotten. To
           become obsessed too much with the finger is a state of pathology. The Hindu is ill, the
           Mohammedan is ill, the Christian is ill. They have become fascinated too much, obsessed with the
           fingers.
                There is only one moon, but it is reflected in a thousand and one lakes. Don't become too much
           attached to the reflection in the lakes, don't become too much attached to the lake! The lake has
           nothing to do with the moon; even if the lake disappears, the moon remains. The lake may become
           disturbed, the reflection may be lost, but the moon is there.
                Yes, there are different lakes, and they have different kinds of water. One lake is salty, another
           lake is sweet; one lake has a bluish tinge to its color, another lake is a little green -- and so on, so
           forth. One lake is very deep. The other is very shallow. But these differences don't make any
           difference to the moon reflected in those lakes.
                If you are really a practicing Catholic you will not hesitate even for a single moment in becoming
           a sannyasin. Because you are hesitating, let me say to you: you are not a practicing Catholic. And
           what do you mean by "practicing Catholic"? Because you go every Sunday to the church? Because
           you do the Lord's Prayer every night? Because you read the Bible every day for a certain period of
           time? What do you mean by being a practicing Catholic? Then why are you here? For what? If you
           have found the answer, you need not be here. If you have not found the answer, remember, you have
           still to inquire, still to journey....
                I am offering my hand and you say, "How can I hold two masters' hands?" Do you think you are
           holding Christ's hand? Look again! Your hands are empty. If you cannot hold the hand of a living
           master, how can you hold the hand of a master gone for two thousand years? You cannot even be
           certain whether he ever existed or not. There are people who think that it is only a story, that there
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has never been an historical person like Christ. There are people, great scholars, who think that this
           is only an ancient folk drama, this whole story of Jesus has never been a reality.
               How are you going to drop these doubts? And if you look into the story, it will create a thousand
           and one doubts in you. Jesus walking on water, Alexander, can you really believe it? And when I say
           "really" I mean REALLY. Can you really believe it -- somebody walking on water? Can you really
           believe Jesus, touching blind people's eyes and giving them sight? Can you really believe Jesus
           bringing Lazarus back to life from death? Do you believe Jesus is born out of a virgin mother? Is it
           possible? Do you believe that Jesus came back from death after three days, resurrected?
               Look deep down: you will have a thousand and one doubts. In fact, it is so difficult to believe
           even a living master, how to believe in a dead master? And around dead masters stories are bound to
           be created by the disciples, out of their foolishness. They think that by creating these stories they
           will help the message to spread. And for a time being it may be so -- there were days when Jesus
           became important only because he was born out of a virgin mother. Buddha was not born out of a
           virgin mother, Mahavira was not born out of a virgin mother, Krishna was not born.... So it was
           something rare, unique; nobody else could claim it, it impressed people. But as people became more
           and more educated, as intelligence grew, as people became more and more thinkers, the same thing
           became the problem. Now one hesitates even to mention it.
               Resurrection helped Christianity to spread all over the world, because Jesus was the only one
           who came back from death: of course, he has firsthand knowledge about what happens after death.
           Buddha, Mahavira, they are alive and talking about death and beyond, but they don't have any
           authentic experience. Jesus has. This helped Christianity to spread all over the world. But now the
           same thing has become a disadvantage. Now to talk about resurrection is to be laughed at.
               What do you mean that you are a practicing Catholic? If you were really a practicing Catholic,
           there are only two alternatives: either you would not have been here, there would have been no need;
           or if you had felt the presence of Christ-consciousness here, then there would have been no
           hesitation on your part in becoming a sannyasin. That will be really becoming a Catholic, that will be
           becoming a christ.
               Don't be a Christian; that is not enough. Unless you are a christ, nothing has happened. Try to be
           a christ, not to be a Christian. The Christian is only a believer, and the believer is always blind. The
           christ has eyes. And remember, when I use the word 'christ' I don't mean Jesus only. Christ is a state
           of ultimate consciousness: in the East we call it the state of being a buddha, the state of being a
           JINA. These are the same words. Jesus is only one of the christs -- Buddha is another, Lao Tzu is
           another, and there have been so many, and there will be so many. It is a long procession of lights.
               And there is always a living christ somewhere or other. You can call him a buddha, you can call
           him a christ; it simply depends what language you are using. But don't be a fanatic, don't be
           sectarian; that creates stupidity, that does not help in growing, it does not help in attaining more
           consciousness.

               As an experiment, two scientists decided to mate a male human with a female gorilla. They
           agreed only someone really stupid would submit to such an act, so they went down to the docks and
           grabbed Fanelli who had just gotten off the boat. "We will give you five thousand dollars to go to
           bed with a gorilla," proposed one of the scientists. "Will you do it?"
           "Okay, I do it," agreed Fanelli. "But on three conditions."
           "What are they?" asked the men of science.
           "First-a, I am-a only gonna do it-a once," said the Italian. "Second-a, nobody can-a watch. And-a
           third-a, if a kid is born, it is-a gotta be raised a Catholic."

               Alexander, enough of Catholics, enough of Protestants, enough of Hindus and Mohammedans.
           Now be finished with all that nonsense. Let a new humanity emerge, where Jews and Hindus and
           Jainas and Buddhists will not be constantly fighting, quarreling, trying to destroy each other, trying
           to impose their own ideas upon others; where man will be free to choose. You don't seem to be free
           to choose. Your being a Catholic seems to be like chains on your feet, your being a Catholic seems
           to be like a prison wall around you. You are not free.
               You say, "I want to be a sannyasin...." Then who is preventing you? You want to be a sannyasin
           yet your being a Catholic prevents you. It is a wall, it is not a bridge.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           True religion is always a bridge and never a wall.

               McGuinty sat in the confessional. "Father," he said to the priest, "I don't feel I need forgiveness
           for my various adulteries."
           "Why not?" asked the astonished priest.
           "Well," said McGuinty, "The only married women I have relations with are all Jewish!"
           "Oh, you are right, my son!" said the priest. "That's the only way to screw the Jews."

               You are allowed to do the same thing to a Jew which you are not allowed to do to a Christian.
           You are allowed to do happily, welcomingly, something to a Mohammedan which you are not
           allowed to do to a Hindu. What kind of religiousness is this? What kind of humanity have we
           created? Neurotic it is, psychotic it is. We need a healthier human being.
               My sannyasin is not getting involved in a sect; this is not a sect because we don't have any
           ideology. I don't preach any ideology. Even atheists are here and they are sannyasins and they don't
           believe in God. And I don't make it a basic requirement. There are no basic requirements, except
           your longing for truth -- but that is not a thing that makes you sectarian. In fact, the inquiry for truth,
           the longing for truth, makes you absolutely nonsectarian.
               And a religious person is nonsectarian. He is simply religious -- not Christian, not Hindu. He
           cannot afford to be Hindu or Christian. How can he afford to be so limited? He cannot afford to get
           involved in prejudices; he cannot believe in conclusions already arrived at by others. He is on his
           own journey: he wants to know truth with his own eyes, he wants to hear God with his own ears, he
           wants to feel life and existence with his own heart. His search is individual.
               Sannyasins are not part of a sect. This is the meeting of individuals; we have met because we are
           on the same journey. There is no ideology binding my sannyasins with each other; it is just because
           of the same inquiry for truth that accidentally we have met on the same road. We are
           fellow-travelers. Nothing binds one sannyasin to another sannyasin; there is no bondage of belief,
           tradition, scripture. And in fact sannyasins are not connected with each other at all directly -- their
           connection is with me.
               One sannyasin is connected with me, another sannyasin is connected with me, hence they are
           connected with each other via me. There is no other organization. I am functioning only as a center
           and they are all connected with me, hence they feel connected with each other.
               That's how a commune arises, a SANGHA is born. A commune can be alive only when the
           buddha is present, when the christ is present. Once the christ is gone, the commune disappears and
           becomes a community. The commune disappears and becomes a sect. I would not like my
           sannyasins to become a sect ever.
               Alexander, you also ask, "And am I allowed to ask questions before I become a sannyasin?"
               You have already asked a question, and I have already answered it. Yes, you are absolutely
           welcome. In fact, after becoming a sannyasin it becomes more and more difficult to ask questions --
           they look so stupid. The longer you are here, the less you ask. And those who have been here longest
           have completely forgotten to ask anything. Don't be worried about that. You can ask questions just
           for questions' sake; you need not be a sannyasin.
               And in fact I am more interested in questions which come from nonsannyasins, because then I
           can seduce them.

              The Russian rabbit fled across the border at Brest and did not stop until a Polish rabbit assured
           him he was in Poland. "Why are you running?" asked the Polish rabbit.
           "Because they are castrating all the camels in Russia," said the Russian bunny.
           "But you are not a camel, you are a rabbit!"
           "Yes -- but they castrate first and ask questions afterwards."

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN REBIRTHING A PART OF ME THAT HAD BEEN KNOWLEDGE BUT NOT KNOWN HAPPENED.
              FIRST THERE WAS PAIN AND FEAR, THEN AN EXPLOSION IN ME THAT FELT LIKE A WILD
              ANIMAL, FOLLOWED BY TREMENDOUS RELIEF AND JOY. I FELT THAT A DARK CLOUD I HAVE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              CARRIED A LONG TIME PASSED OUT OF ME. YET STILL I KNOW NOTHING OF WHO I AM.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Prem Gyanam, "Who am I?" is not really a question; hence it can never be answered, neither by
           others nor by yourself. Then what is it? It is a koan. "Who am I?" is utterly absurd. By asking it,
           don't hope that one day you will get the answer. If you go on asking, "Who am I? Who am I?" -- if
           you make it a meditation, as Raman Maharshi used to say to his disciples.... He used to give only one
           simple meditation: just sit and repeat, first loudly, then not so loudly, then just in your throat; then
           even the throat is not to be used, just deep down in your heart let it resound: "Who am I? Who am
           I?" Go on asking....
               And people used to think that if they follow the instructions rightly, one day suddenly they will
           know the answer. That is not true; you will never come to the answer. But by asking it, first all your
           answers that you had before, ideas about yourself, will disappear too.
           "Who am I?" is like a thorn. It can pull out the thorn that is in your feet. You can use this thorn; you
           can use this thorn to pull out the thorn that is already hurting you in the foot. When both the thorns
           are out, you can throw both of them. You need not keep the second one because it has been such a
           blessing to you, it pulled out the first. You need not put it in the place of the first just out of
           reverence, gratitude.
           "Who am I?" is just a subtle device; it is as absurd as Zen koans.
               Zen masters say to the disciples, "Go and meditate: what is the sound of one hand clapping?"
           Now, one hand cannot clap. The master knows it, the disciple knows it -- that one hand cannot clap
           -- but the master insists, "Meditate on it. Go crazy meditating -- ask and ask and ask, and let the
           question go deeper and deeper. Let it sink in your heart, in your very soul."
               When the master says, the disciple has to do it. Sometimes ten years, sometimes twenty years
           pass, and the disciple goes on asking this absurd question, knowing perfectly well that one hand
           cannot clap. And the master says, "If you come across some answers, bring them to me." And
           sometimes the disciple invents answers, because he gets tired of the question. Sometimes he hopes,
           "Maybe this is the answer," and he brings it to the master. He says, "The sound of running water, that
           is one hand clapping."
               And the master hits him with the staff on his head and says, "You fool! This is not the answer.
           Go back" -- because the sound of running water is not one hand clapping, the sound is because of the
           rocks. Remove the rocks and the sound will disappear. So there are two things clashing, not one
           thing.
               Then he goes and he meditates. And while he is meditating he hears the distant call of a cuckoo,
           and he thinks "This is it! This MUST be -- so beautiful, so tremendously otherworldly. This is the
           celestial music; this must be the real thing." And he comes running, and is beaten again.
               Zen masters are really experts in beating... not only beating; sometimes throwing you out of the
           window, sometimes closing the door in your face. They can do anything to wake you up, their
           compassion is such. And you are again given a good beating, and the master shouts that you are
           utterly stupid: "This is not it. Go again and meditate." And so on, so forth, it continues, continues,
           many answers. And no answer is ever accepted; no answer can ever be accepted.
               Sometimes it happens, even before the disciple has said what answer he has got, the master starts
           beating him -- because it is not a question of what answer he brings; that is utterly irrelevant.
           Whatsoever answer he has brought is going to be wrong. All answers are wrong.
               But one day he comes and the master hugs him, because he can see in his eyes, the way he walks,
           the grace that surrounds him, the climate that he has brought with himself, the silence: no question,
           no answer. Not that he has brought any answer; on the contrary, this time he has come even without
           the question, he has forgotten the question itself. He is not asking any more. He comes utterly silent,
           not even a ripple in his mind. And the master recognizes it immediately.
               Sometimes it has happened that the disciple has not turned up and the master had to seek and
           search for the disciple, because he felt deep down in his heart that the question had disappeared. And
           now the disciple is feeling, "Why bother the master unnecessarily? What is the point? There is no
           answer, no question." And the silence is such, and it is so tremendous, that he does not want to come
           out of it.
               And the master comes and says to him, "Now that you have the answer, what are you doing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           here? Why didn't you turn up? I have been waiting for you."

           Once it happened:
               When Rinzai was taking leave of his master -- because the master had said, "You go for a
           three-year pilgrimage, go to all the temples and all the monasteries" -- and before he was leaving, he
           started beating him. Rinzai said, "But I have not said anything, I have not done anything. What kind
           of farewell is this? I am going for a three-year pilgrimage on foot" -- in those ancient days it was
           dangerous -- "I may come back, I may not come back."
               The master said, "That's why. I may not have another chance to beat you. I am suspicious. You
           are just on the verge of that great silence descending. Just the last part of the question, not even 'Who
           am I?' but only the question mark is there. And any day it will disappear, and then nobody knows
           whether you will come or you may not come. And I am an old man; where will I come and search
           and seek you? This is my last opportunity to beat you -- I cannot miss it!"
               And yes, it was so; it was the last opportunity. Rinzai came back after three years, but he was
           enlightened. He came back and slapped the master and said, "You rascal! You were right. Just once I
           also want to hit you. You have been beating me at least for twenty years. Just for once...!"
               The master was laughing and he said, "You are entitled. You can do it whenever you feel like
           doing it, but just remember that I am a very old man."

                Gyanam, you say, "Yet still I know nothing of who I am." Nobody has ever known. Then what is
           the difference between a buddha and you? You also don't know who you are, the buddha also does
           not know who he is -- then what is the difference? He is not bothered by it. He laughs at it, he takes
           it for granted that life is a mystery. There is no question and there is no answer.
                Life is not a question-answer game. It is not a puzzle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived.

           "Pa, I wanna go to college," said Leon.
           "Do you know what is what?"
           "Huh?"
           "Do you know what is what? Go into the bathroom and think for a few minutes, and if you find out
           what is what, I send you to college."
                Leon went into the bathroom, thought a few minutes, came out and said, "Pa, I don't know what
           is what."
           "Sure you don't know what is what. Go out and get yourself a job and when you find out what is
           what I send you to college."
                Leon left, went to a nearby bar, and began drinking. He met Alice, a blonde sitting at the bar.
           Soon they wound up at her apartment. After a few drinks she said, "Excuse me while I slip into
           something more comfortable."
                Alice returned a few moments later, completely nude. Leon looked at her and said, "What is
           this?"
           "What is what?"
           "If I knew what's what I would be in college, not here."

               Now you tell me what is what. This is a koan. This Leon's pa must have been a Zen master: what
           is what.
               Now you are asking, "Who am I?" You are yourself, you are you. To ask, "Who am I?" means
           you are asking for some identity, whether "I am A or B or C or D." You are simply yourself! You
           cannot be A, you cannot be B, you cannot be C. You are just yourself, you are nothing else. So there
           is no way to answer it.
               Then why is this question given to you? This question is given to you so that it can destroy; it is
           like a hammer, it can destroy all your old identities. For example, you think, "My name is Ram, so I
           am Ram." When you ask, "Who am I?" the question will arise, "What about Ram? I am Ram!" But
           you can see that that is only a name; it is not your reality, it is a given name from the outside. Your
           parents had to call you something: they called you "Ram." They could have called you "Rahim,"
           they could have given you any name, and any name would have been as relevant as Ram, because
           you are a nameless reality. So asking, "Who am I?" you will forget this identity with Ram.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then deep down somebody says, "I am a Jaina," "I am a Hindu," "I am a Jew." That too is an
           accidental identity -- accidents of birth -- you are not it. How can you be a Jew? What does it mean
           to be a Jew or a Hindu? Just that you have been brought up by Hindus or Jews, that's all. If a Jewish
           child is taken away from his home and is brought up by Hindus he will never come to know, never
           will dream that he is a Jew. Although born of Jewish parents he will never become aware of it --
           unless he is told. He will think that he is a Hindu. He may even fight for Hinduism with a Jew, he
           may kill a Jew for the sake of Hinduism, not knowing at all that he himself is a Jew.
               Now in India there are millions of Christians. They think they are Christians, but they have
           always lived here; their parents were Hindus, their parents' parents were Hindus. For centuries they
           have been Hindus! Now they have been bribed, persuaded, convinced, converted, and they have
           become Christians. They can kill Hindus; if the need arises they can fight.
               There are millions of Mohammedans in India; they have all been converted forcibly. At least
           Christians have been persuaded sophisticatedly -- but millions of Hindus have been forced at the
           point of daggers. The choice was: "You can live as a Mohammedan or you have to die." And who
           wants to die? Lust for life is so deep that it is better to live, even if you have to live as a
           Mohammedan it's okay. Now those millions of Mohammedans who live in India basically have the
           blood of Hindus. But they can kill Hindus -- they have been killing -- and they are being killed by
           Hindus. Hindus are killing their own children; now they are called Mohammedans. Just change the
           label... and such a great change happens just by changing the label.
               When you ask, "Who am I?" you will come across that point. You will see that you are neither a
           Mohammedan nor a Hindu nor a Christian; these are accidents of birth, upbringing. If you have been
           born in Russia you would not have been either Hindu, Christian or Mohammedan; you would have
           been a communist, a practicing communist -- just as you are a practicing Catholic now. You would
           have denied God, you would have denied prayer, you would have denied the whole religion --
           because the state is powerful, and nobody wants to go against the state; it is dangerous.
               The state has never been so powerful as it is in Russia today. The individual has never been
           reduced to such impotence as he has been in communist countries. He cannot pray according to his
           own choice, he cannot go to the church or to the temple according to his own will; the state decides
           everything. If the state says, "This is so," this is so. You cannot defy the state, otherwise the
           consequences are great. You will be thrown into imprisonment or sent to Siberia or you may be
           simply killed. Or, even more dangerous, you may be forced to live in a mental hospital where you
           will be given electric shocks, insulin shocks; you can be declared to be mad. If you are not
           communist in Russia you can be declared insane. And you are absolutely helpless; if the doctors say
           you are insane, you are insane. There is no way to fight with them.

               Mulla Nasruddin was dying, on his deathbed, almost in a coma. The doctor came to see him. The
           doctor was drunk; he took his pulse but could not find any pulse because he was holding the hand in
           the wrong way. He looked at Nasruddin's face and said to his wife, "I'm sorry to say it, but your
           husband is dead."
               At that very moment, Nasruddin opened his eyes and said, "What! I am alive!"
               The wife said, "You keep quiet. He knows better, he is a doctor, an M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.S. You
           have some nerve to deny an authority! Keep quiet!"

               That's how it is in Soviet Russia: if the psychologist says you are insane, you are insane. You
           know you are not, but you are utterly helpless; the monster of the state is so huge, and you are caught
           in the teeth of the monster. If you were born in Russia you would not be Catholic, you would not be
           Protestant, you would not be Hindu, you would not be Mohammedan.
               When you meditate on "Who am I?" you will come across this point, and it will dissolve. And
           the deeper you will go... then deeper questions will come: first sociological, theological, then
           biological. You have a man's body or a woman's body: the question will arise, "Am I a man or a
           woman?" The consciousness is neither. The consciousness cannot be male or female. The
           consciousness is simply consciousness; it is just the capacity of being a witness. Soon you will pass
           that barrier too; you will forget that you are man or woman.
               And so on, so forth. When all the old identities are dropped, nothing remains, only the question
           resounds in the silence: "Who am I?" The question cannot go on, on its own; it needs some answers,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           otherwise it cannot persist. A point comes when asking becomes absurd... the question also
           evaporates. That is the moment which is called self-knowing -- ATMAGYAN. That is the moment
           when, without receiving any answer, you simply know, you feel, who you are.
               Prem Gyanam, go on inquiring. A few dark clouds have disappeared from your being: feel
           grateful. There are many more; they all have to disappear. These are all dark clouds -- Catholic,
           Protestant, Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, Jaina, Buddhist, communist. These are all dark clouds --
           Indian, Chinese, Japanese, German, English. These are all dark clouds -- white, black, man, woman,
           beautiful, ugly, intelligent, stupid. These are ALL dark clouds! Anything that you can become
           identified with is a dark cloud.
               Let them all go. The beginning has happened. But don't be in a hurry and don't wait for any
           answer -- there is none. When all questions and all answers have been left behind and you are alone,
           totally alone, absolutely silent, knowing nothing, no content, no object to know -- that purity of
           consciousness, that pure sky of consciousness, that's what you are.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MASTERY OVER THE SELF AND CONTROL?


               Divya, they are contraries. Mastery over the self has no self in it; it is utterly selfless. Mastery is
           there, but there is no self to master; there is nothing to master or to be mastered, there is only pure
           consciousness. In that purity you are part of God; in that purity you are the lord of existence itself.
           But there is no self.
               When we say "self-mastery" we are using a wrong language. But nothing can be done because all
           language is wrong at those heights; in those moments of plenitude no word is adequate. In control
           there is self. In control there is more self than ever. The uncontrolled person has not that much self,
           that much ego -- how can he have? He knows his weaknesses.
               That's why you will come across a very strange phenomenon: your so-called saints are more
           egoistic than the sinners. The sinners are more human, more humble; the saints are almost inhuman
           because of their control -- they think they are suprahuman. Because they can control their instincts,
           they can go on long fasts, they can remain sexually starved for years or for their whole life, they can
           remain awake for days together, not a single moment's sleep -- because they can have such control
           over the body, over the mind, it naturally gives them a great ego. It feeds their idea that, "I am
           somebody special." It nourishes their disease.
               The sinner is more humble. He has to be; he knows he cannot control anything. When anger
           comes he becomes angry. When love comes he becomes love. When sadness comes he becomes sad.
           He has no control over his emotions. When he is hungry he is ready to do anything to get food; even
           if he has to steal he will do it. He will find every possible way.

           A famous Sufi story:
               Mulla Nasruddin and two other saints went for a pilgrimage to Mecca. They were passing
           through a village, it was the last phase of their journey. Their money was almost finished; just a little
           bit was left. They purchased a certain sweet called halva, but it was not enough for all the three and
           they were too hungry. What to do? -- and they were not even ready to divide it because then it will
           not fulfill anybody's hunger. So everybody started bragging about himself that, "I am more important
           to existence, so my life has to be saved."
               The first saint said, "I have been fasting, I have been praying for so many years; nobody here
           present is more religious and holy than I am. And God wants me to be saved, so the halva has to be
           given to me."
               The second saint said, "Yes, I know, you are a man of great austerities, but I am a great scholar. I
           have studied all the scriptures, my whole life I have devoted in the service of knowledge. And the
           world does not need people who can fast. What can you do? -- you can only fast. You can fast in
           heaven! The world needs knowledge. The world is so ignorant that it cannot afford to miss me. The
           halva has to be given to me."
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "I am not an ascetic, so I cannot claim any self-control. I am not a great
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledgeable person either, so that too I cannot claim. I am an ordinary sinner, and I have heard
           that God is always compassionate to the sinners. The halva belongs to me."
                They could not come to any conclusion. Finally they decided that, "We all three should sleep
           without eating the halva, and let God decide himself. So whosoever is given the best dream by God,
           in the morning that dream will be decisive."
                In the morning the saint said, "Nobody can compete with me anymore. Give me the halva --
           because in the dream I kissed God's feet. That is the ultimate that one can hope -- what greater
           experience can there be?"
                The pundit, the scholar, the knowledgeable person laughed and he said, "That is nothing --
           because God hugged me and kissed me! You kissed his feet? He kissed ME and hugged me! Where
           is the halva? It belongs to me."
                They looked at Nasruddin and asked, "What dream did you have?"
                Nasruddin said, "I am a poor sinner, my dream was very ordinary -- very ordinary, not worth
           even telling. But because you insist and because we have agreed, I will tell you. In my sleep God
           appeared and he said, 'You fool! What are you doing? Eat the halva!' So I have eaten it -- because
           how can I deny his order? There is no halva left now!"

                Self-control gives you the subtlest ego. Self-control has more self in it than anything else. But
           self-mastery is a totally different phenomenon; it has no self in it. Control is cultivated, practiced;
           with great effort you have to manage it. It is a long struggle, then you arrive at it. Mastery is not a
           cultivated thing, it is not to be practiced. Mastery is nothing but understanding. It is not control at all.
                For example, you can control anger, you can repress it, you can sit on top of it. Nobody will ever
           know what you have done, and you will always be praised by people that in such a situation where
           anybody would have become angry, you remained so calm and collected and cool. But you know
           that all that calmness and coolness was on the surface: deep down you were boiling, deep down there
           was fire, but you repressed it in the unconscious, you forced it deep down into your unconscious and
           you sat upon it like a volcano, and you are still sitting on it.
                The man of control is the man of repression. He goes on repressing. Because he goes on
           repressing, he goes on accumulating all that is wrong. His whole life becomes a junkyard. Sooner or
           later, and it is going to be sooner than later, the volcano explodes -- because there is only a certain
           limit you can contain. You repress anger, you repress sex, you repress all kinds of desires, longings
           -- how long can you go on repressing? You can contain only so much, then one day it is more than
           you can control: it explodes.
                Your so-called saints, men of self-control, can be provoked very easily. Just scratch a little, just
           scratch, and you will be surprised: the animal comes up immediately. Their saintliness is not even
           skin-deep; they are carrying many demons in them, they are somehow managing. And their life is a
           life of misery, because it is a life of constant struggle. They are neurotic people and they are on the
           verge of insanity, always on the verge. Any small thing can just prove the last straw on the camel.
           They are not religious in my vision of life.
                The religious man controls nothing, the religious man represses nothing. The religious man
           understands, tries to understand, not to control. He becomes more meditative: he watches his anger,
           his sex, his greed, his jealousy, his possessiveness. He watches all these poisonous things that
           surround you. He simply watches, tries to understand what anger is, and in that very understanding
           he transcends. He becomes a witness, and in his witnessing the anger melts as if the sun has risen
           and the snow has started melting.
                Understanding brings a certain warmth; it is a sunrise inside you and the ice starts melting
           around you. It is like a flame inside you and darkness starts disappearing.
                The man of understanding, meditation, is not a man of control -- just the opposite. He is a
           watcher. And if you want to watch, you have to be absolutely nonjudgmental. The man who controls
           is judgmental, continuously condemning, "This is wrong"; continuously praising, "This is good, this
           is evil, this will lead to hell, this will lead to heaven." He is constantly judging, condemning,
           praising, choosing. The man of control lives in choice, and the man of understanding lives in
           choicelessness.
                It is choiceless awareness that brings real transformation. And because nothing is repressed, no
           ego arises, no self arises. And because understanding is a subjective, interior phenomenon, nobody
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knows about it, nobody can see it except you. And ego comes from the outside, from other people,
           what they say about you: it is their opinion about you which creates the ego. They say you are
           intelligent, they say you are so saintly, they say you are so pious -- and naturally you feel great. Ego
           is from the outside. It is given by others to you. Of course, they say one thing in front of you and
           they say something else, just the opposite, behind your back.
               Sigmund Freud used to say that even if for twenty-four hours we decide that every person on the
           earth will say only the truth, ONLY the truth, then all friendship will disappear, all love affairs will
           dissolve, all marriages will go down the drain. If a decision is taken that the whole humanity will
           practice only truth and nothing else only for twenty-four hours.... When a guest knocks on your door
           you will not say, "Come in, welcome, I was just waiting for you. How long it has been that I have
           not seen you! How long I have suffered. Where have you been? You make my heart throb with joy."
           You will say the truth that you are feeling. You will say, "So this son-of-a-bitch has come again!
           Now, how to get rid of this bastard?" That is deep inside, that you are controlling. You will say it to
           somebody else behind the back.
               You watch yourself, what you say to people to their face and what you say behind their back.
           What you say behind the back is far truer, closer to your feeling, than what you say to the face. But
           ego depends on what people say to you, and it is very fragile -- so fragile that on each ego it is
           written: Handle with Care.

               Pieracki, a Polack, Odum, a black, and Alvarez, a Mexican, were out of work and living together.
           Pieracki came home one night and announced he had got a job. "Hey, fellas, wake me up tomorrow
           at six," he said. "I have to be at work by six-thirty!"
               While Pieracki slept, Odum said to Alvarez, "He got a job because he is white. We can't get one
           because I am black and you are brown."
               So during the night they put shoeblack all over Pieracki. Then they agreed to wake him late.
               Next morning when Pieracki arrived at work, the foreman said, "Who are you?"
           "You hired me yesterday," he replied. "You told me to be here at six-thirty!"
           "I hired a white man -- you're black!"
           "I'm not!"
           "Yes, you are! Go and look in the mirror!"
               The Polack rushed over to the mirror, looked at himself and exclaimed, "My God! They woke up
           the wrong man!"

               Your ego depends on mirrors. And every relationship functions as a mirror, every person you
           meet functions as a mirror, and this ego goes on controlling.
               And why does it control in the first place, Divya? It controls because the society appreciates
           control, because the society gives you more ego if you control. If you follow the ideas of the society,
           their morality, their puritanism, their ideas of holiness, it praises you more and more. More and more
           people come to pay respect to you; your ego goes higher and higher, soars higher.
               But remember, ego will never bring any transformation to you. Ego is the most unconscious
           phenomenon that is happening in you; it will make you more and more unconscious. And the person
           who lives through the ego is almost drunk with it; he is not in his senses.

              Fernando was getting married. There was a big wedding feast and the wine flowed like water.
           Things were going fine until Fernando couldn't find his beautiful bride. After looking over the
           guests, he found his pal, Luis, was also missing.
              Fernando started searching the premises. He looked into the bridal chamber and discovered Luis
           making love to his bride. Fernando closed the door softly, and crept down the stairs to his guests.
           "Queek! Queek! Everybody come look!" he shouted. "Luis ees so drunk he theenk he ees me!"

              The ego keeps you almost in a drunken state. You don't know who you are because you believe
           what others say about you. And you don't know who others are because you believe what others say
           about others. This is a very make-believe illusory world in which we live.
              Wake up! Become more conscious. By becoming conscious you will become a master of your
           own being. Mastery knows nothing of self, and the self knows nothing of mastery. Let that be
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely clear to you.
               And, Divya, my teaching is not for self-control, self-discipline. My teaching is for
           self-awareness, self-transformation. I would like you to become as vast as the sky -- because that's
           what really you are.
           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                   Talks given from 22/08/79 am to 31/08/79 am
                                             English Discourse series
                                                   10 Chapters
                                               Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                  Chapter #1
                                  Chapter title: Better than a hundred years
           22 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908220
              ShortTitle: DHAM401
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 105 mins




              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISCHIEF
              IS ONE DAY SPENT IN CONTEMPLATION.



              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IGNORANCE
              IS ONE DAY SPENT IN REFLECTION.



              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IDLENESS
              IS ONE DAY SPENT IN DETERMINATION.



              BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY WONDERING
              HOW ALL THINGS ARISE AND PASS AWAY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BETTER TO LIVE ONE HOUR SEEING
              THE ONE LIFE BEYOND THE WAY.



              BETTER TO LIVE ONE MOMENT IN THE MOMENT
              OF THE WAY BEYOND THE WAY.


               Gautama the Buddha has raised the most important question for all those who are capable of
           inquiring into truth, into life, into existence. The most important question of all questions is: What is
           true happiness? And is there a possibility to achieve it? Is true happiness possible at all, or is all
           momentary? Is life only a dream, or is there something substantial in it too? Does life begin with
           birth and end with death, or is there something that transcends birth and death? Because without the
           eternal there is no possibility of true happiness. With the momentary, happiness will remain fleeting:
           one moment it is here, the other moment gone, and you are left in great despair and darkness.
               That's how it is in ordinary life, in the life of the unawakened. There are moments of bliss and
           there are moments of misery; it is all mixed, hodge-podge. You cannot keep those moments of
           happiness that come to you. They come on their own and they disappear on their own; you are not
           the master. And you cannot avoid the moments of misery; they too have their own persistence. They
           come on their own and they go on their own; you are simply a victim. And between these two --
           happiness and unhappiness -- you are torn apart. You are never left in ease.
               This being torn apart into all kinds of dualities.... The duality of happiness and unhappiness is the
           most fundamental and the most symptomatic, but there are a thousand and one dualities: the duality
           of love and hate, the duality of life and death, day and night, summer and winter, youth and old age,
           and so on, so forth. But the fundamental duality, the duality that represents all other dualities, is that
           of happiness and unhappiness. And you are torn apart, pulled into different, polar opposite
           directions. You cannot be at ease: you are in a dis-ease.
               According to the buddhas man is a dis-ease. Is this dis-ease absolute -- or can it be transcended?
               Hence the basic and the most fundamental question is: What is true happiness? Certainly the
           happiness that we know is not true; it is dream stuff and it always turns into its own opposite. What
           looks like happiness one moment turns into unhappiness the next.
               Happiness turning into unhappiness simply shows that the two are not separate -- maybe two
           aspects of the same coin. And if you have one side of the coin, the other is always there hidden
           behind it, waiting for its opportunity to assert -- and you know it. When you are happy, deep down
           somewhere is the lurking fear that it is not going to last, that sooner or later it will be gone, that the
           night is descending, that any moment you will be engulfed into darkness, that this light is just
           imaginary -- it can't help you, it can't take you to the other shore.
               Your happiness is not really happiness but only a hidden unhappiness. Your love is not love but
           only a mask for your hate. Your compassion is nothing but your anger -- cultivated, sophisticated,
           educated, cultured, civilized, but your compassion is nothing else than anger. Your sensitivity is not
           real sensitivity but only a mental exercise, a certain attitude and approach practiced.
               Remember: the whole humanity is being brought up with the idea that virtue can be practiced,
           that goodness can be practiced, that one can learn how to be happy, that one can manage to be
           happy, that it is within your power to create a certain character which brings happiness. And that is
           all wrong, utterly wrong.
               The first thing to be understood about happiness is that it cannot be practiced. It has only to be
           allowed, because it is not something that you create. Whatsoever YOU create is going to remain
           something smaller than you, tinier than you. What YOU create cannot be bigger than you. The
           painting cannot be bigger than the painter himself and the poetry cannot be bigger than the poet.
           Your song is bound to be something smaller than you.
               If you practice happiness you will be always there at the back, with all your stupidities, with all
           your ego trips, with all your ignorance, with all your chaos of the mind. With this chaotic mind you
           cannot create a cosmos, you cannot create grace. Grace always descends from the beyond; it has to
           be received as a gift in tremendous trust, in total surrender. In a state of let-go true happiness
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happens.
               But we have been told to achieve, to be ambitious. Our whole mind has been cultivated to be that
           of an achiever. The whole education, culture, religion, they all depend on this basic idea that man has
           to be ambitious; only the ambitious man will be able to attain fulfillment. It has never happened, it
           will never happen, but so deep is the ignorance that we go on believing in this nonsense.
               No ambitious person has ever been happy; in fact, the ambitious person is the unhappiest in the
           world. But we go on training children to be ambitious: "Be the first, be at the top, and you will be
           happy!" And have you ever seen anybody at the top AND happy together? Was Alexander happy
           when he became a world conqueror? He was one of the unhappiest men who has ever lived on the
           earth. Seeing the blissfulness of Diogenes he became jealous. Becoming jealous of a beggar...?
               Diogenes was a beggar; he had nothing, not even a begging bowl. At least Buddha had a begging
           bowl with him and three robes. Diogenes was naked and with no begging bowl. In the beginning he
           used to carry a begging bowl; he must have got the idea from the East. He's exactly a man like
           Buddha, Mahavira -- more like Mahavira. Mahavira also lived naked with no begging bowl; his
           hands were his begging bowl.

                Diogenes was going to the river one day with his begging bowl. He was thirsty, it was hot, and
           he wanted to drink water. And then on the way, just when he was on the bank, a dog passed him by,
           running, panting, jumped into the river, had a good bath, drank to his heart's content. The idea arose
           in Diogenes' mind: "This dog is freer than me -- he does not have to carry a begging bowl. And if he
           can manage, why can't I manage without a begging bowl? This is my only possession, and I have to
           keep an eye on it because it can be stolen. Even in the night once or twice I have to feel whether it is
           still there or gone."
                He threw the begging bowl into the river, bowed down to the dog, thanked him for the great
           message that he had brought for him from God.
                This man, who had nothing, created jealousy in Alexander's mind. How miserable he must have
           been! He confessed to Diogenes that, "If ever again God is giving me birth, I will ask him, 'This
           time, please don't make me Alexander -- make me Diogenes.'"
                Diogenes laughed uproariously, and he called the dog -- because they had become friends by
           now, they had started living together -- he called the dog and he said, "Look, listen, what nonsense
           he is talking about! NEXT life he wants to be Diogenes! Why next life? Why postpone? Who knows
           about the next life? Even the next day is uncertain, the next moment is not certain -- what to say
           about the next life! If you really want to be a Diogenes, you can be right this moment, herenow.
           Throw your clothes into the river! Forget all about conquering the world! That is sheer stupidity and
           you know it.
           "And you have confessed that you are miserable, and you have confessed that Diogenes is in a far
           better, more blissful state. So why not be a Diogenes right now? Lie down on the bank of the river
           where I am taking my sunbath! This bank is big enough for both of us."
                Alexander could not accept the invitation, of course. He said, "Thank you for your invitation.
           Right now I cannot do it, but next life...."
                Diogenes asked him, "Where are you going? And what will you do even if you have conquered
           the world?"
           Alexander said, "Then I will rest."
                Diogenes said, "This seems to be absolutely absurd -- because I am resting right now!"

                If Alexander is not happy, if Adolf Hitler is not happy, if Rockefellers and Carnegies are not
           happy, the people who have all the money of the world, if they are not happy, the people who have
           all the power in the world, if they are not happy....
                Have you watched Jimmy Carter's photographs? All the smile has disappeared now; now those
           teeth are not showing. He had really a beautiful smile, but where has it all gone? He must have been
           far happier than he is now. Every day his face is becoming more and more sad; more and more
           anxiety, anguish, is being shown.
                Just this morning I looked in the latest TIME. His face seems to have become too old just within
           these two years, as if he has aged twenty years. He must be suffering from nightmares. Where are all
           those hopes that he will be happy when he becomes the president?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Just watch people who have succeeded in the world and you will drop the idea of success.
           Nothing fails like success. Although you have been told that nothing succeeds like success, I say to
           you that nothing fails like success. Happiness has nothing to do with success, happiness has nothing
           to do with ambition, happiness has nothing to do with money, power, prestige. It is a totally different
           dimension.
               Happiness has something to do with your consciousness, not with your character. Let me remind
           you. Character is again cultivation. You can become a saint and still you will not be happy, if your
           sainthood is nothing but a practiced sainthood. And that's how people become saints, Catholics,
           Jainas, Hindus. How do they become saints? They practice inch by inch, in detail, when to get up,
           what to eat, what not to eat, when to go to bed....
               These people even come here sometimes and ask me why I don't give a certain discipline to my
           sannyasins. I give them consciousness, not character. I don't believe in character at all. My trust is in
           consciousness. If a person becomes more conscious, naturally his character is transformed. But that
           transformation is totally different: it is not managed by the mind -- it is natural, it is spontaneous.
           And whenever your character is natural and spontaneous it has a beauty of its own; otherwise you
           can go on changing... you can drop your anger, but where will you drop it? You will have to drop it
           within your own unconscious. You can change one side of your life, but whatsoever you throw in
           will start expressing itself from some other corner. It is bound to be so. You can block a stream with
           a rock; it will start flowing from somewhere else -- you cannot destroy it. Anger is there because you
           are unconscious, greed is there because you are unconscious, possessiveness and jealousy are there
           because you are unconscious.
               So I am not interested in changing your anger; that will be like pruning leaves of a tree and
           hoping that the tree will disappear one day. It is not going to be so; on the contrary, the more you
           prune the tree the thicker will be the foliage.
               Hence your so-called saints are the unholiest persons in the world, pretenders, pseudo. Yes, if
           you look from the outside they look very holy -- too much holy, saccharin, too sweet, sickeningly
           sweet, nauseating. You can only go and pay your respect to them and escape. You can't live with
           your saints even for twenty-four hours -- they will bore you to death! The closer you are to them, the
           more puzzled, perplexed, confused you will be, because you will start seeing that from one side they
           have forced anger: it has entered into another side of their life.
               Ordinary people are angry once in a while, and their anger is very fleeting, very momentary.
           Then again they are laughing, again they are friendly; they don't carry wounds too long. But your
           so-called saints, their anger becomes almost a permanent affair; they are simply angry, not at
           anything in particular. They have repressed anger so much that now they are simply angry, in a state
           of rage. Their eyes will show, their noses will show, their faces will show, their very way of life will
           show....

               Lu Ting ate at a Greek restaurant because Papadopoulos, the owner, made really good fried rice.
           Each evening he would come in he would order "flied lice."
               This always caused Papadopoulos to fall down with laughter. Sometimes he would have two or
           three friends standing nearby just to hear Lu Ting order his "flied lice."
               Eventually the Chinese's pride was so hurt that he took a special diction lesson just to be able to
           say "fried rice" correctly.
               The next time he went to the restaurant he said very plainly, "Fried rice, please."
               Unable to believe his ears, Papadopoulos asked, "What did you say?"
               Lu Ting shouted, "You heard what I said, you fluckin' Gleek!"

               It won't make much difference -- from "flied lice" now it is "fluckin' Gleek"! You close one door,
           another immediately opens. This is not the way of transformation.
               To change your character is easy; the real work consists in changing your consciousness, in
           becoming conscious -- more conscious, more intensely and passionately conscious. When you are
           conscious it is impossible to be angry, it is impossible to be greedy, it is impossible to be jealous, it
           is impossible to be ambitious.
               And when all anger, greed, ambition, jealousy, possessiveness, lust, disappear, the energy
           involved in them is released. That energy becomes your bliss. Now it is not coming from outside;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now it is happening inside your being, in your innermost recesses of being.
               And when this energy is available you become a receptive field, you become a magnetic field.
           You attract the beyond -- you can call it "God." Buddha never calls it "God," he calls it "the
           beyond"; that is his name for God. When you become a magnetic field, when all the energy that is
           unnecessarily being wasted by you in your unconsciousness gathers, pools inside you, when you
           become a lake of energy, you start attracting the stars, you start attracting the beyond, you start
           attracting God himself.
               And the meeting of your consciousness with the beyond is the point of bliss, true happiness. It
           knows nothing of unhappiness, it is pure happiness. It knows nothing of death, it is pure life. It
           knows nothing of darkness, it is pure light, and to know it is the goal. Gautama the Buddha went in
           search of this and one day, after six years' struggle, he attained to it.
               You can also attain to it, but let me remind you: by saying that you can attain to it I am not
           creating a desire to attain it. I am simply stating a fact: that if you become a pool of immense energy,
           undistracted by any worldly thing, it happens. It is more a happening than a doing. And it is better to
           call it bliss than happiness, because happiness gives you the feeling as if it is something similar to
           that which you know as happiness. What you know as happiness is nothing but a relative state.

               Benson went to Krantz's clothing store to buy himself a suit. He found just the style he wanted,
           so he took the jacket off the hanger and tried it on.
               Krantz came up to him. "Yes, sir. It looks wonderful on you."
           "It may look wonderful," said Benson, "but it fits terrible. The shoulders pinch."
           "Put on the pants," said Krantz. "They are so tight, you will forget all about the shoulders!"

               One day I saw Mulla Nasruddin walking on the road in great despair, almost ready to burst out
           crying. I asked him, "What is the matter? Why are you so miserable?"
               He said, "My shoes are very small -- I need two sizes bigger -- and they hurt like hell."
               I said, "Nasruddin, then why don't you change them?"
           He said, "That I cannot do."
           I asked him, "Why can't you? You have the money."
               He said, "I have the money, but there is much more involved in it. The whole day I suffer from
           these shoes, and when in the evening I go home, I throw these shoes away and I fall on my bed... it is
           such a relief, as if one has come to paradise! And that is the only joy in my life! I cannot change
           these shoes -- in twenty-four hours that is the only moment of joy. If I change these shoes, that
           moment will also disappear. Then there is nothing left."
               What you call happiness is just a question of relativity. What buddhas call happiness is
           something absolute.

               An Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Russian were trying to define true happiness.
           "True happiness," said the Englishman, "is when you return home tired after work and find a gin and
           tonic waiting for you."
           "You English have no romance," countered the Frenchman. "True happiness is when you go on a
           business trip, find a pretty girl who entertains you, and then you part without regrets."
           "You are both wrong," concluded the Russian. "Real true happiness is when you are home in bed at
           four o'clock in the morning and there is a hammering at the front door and there stand members of
           the secret police who say to you, 'Igor Zhvkovski, you are under arrest,' and you are able to reply,
           'Sorry, Igor Zhvkovski lives next door!'"

               Your happiness is a relative phenomenon. What Buddha calls happiness is something absolute,
           unrelated to anybody else. It is not in comparison with somebody else; it is simply yours, it is inner.
           And it is a happening: the beyond descending in you, the ocean falling into the dewdrop. And when
           the ocean falls in the dewdrop, the dewdrop disappears, its boundaries disappear. It becomes as
           unbounded as the ocean itself; it becomes oceanic.
               Bliss is an oceanic state... when you disappear as an ego, bounded, small, and become huge,
           enormous, as huge and enormous as the universe itself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The sutras:

              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISCHIEF
              IS ONE DAY SPENT IN CONTEMPLATION.


               As far as Buddha is concerned whatsoever you are doing is mischief. Why? Even if you are
           doing some religious ritual it is mischief. Even if you are doing something that you think is public
           service it is mischief. In fact, the public servants are the greatest mischievous people in the world. If
           the public servants disappear from the world, the world will be a far better place to live in. The social
           reformers and the political revolutionaries and the religious missionaries, these are the real
           mischief-mongers. They don't allow you to live in peace, they go on dragging you from one stupidity
           into another. Of course they keep you occupied -- that is their attraction.
               You are afraid of being unoccupied because whenever you are unoccupied you have to face
           yourself, and that you want to avoid, because you have repressed so many uglinesses in you that to
           look inside is to look into hell. You don't want to look in. You are continuously escaping from
           yourself, so any escape is good.
               Somebody says, "Become a public servant. Let service be your motto!" and you say, "Okay, so I
           will serve people." Whether they want to be served or not, that is not the point. Even if they don't
           want to be served you have to serve them against themselves. Whether they want your truth or not,
           that is not the point. It has to be given, it has to be forced down their throats!
               That has been done by the religious people: at the point of the sword people have been converted
           from one religion to another religion -- against their will! They don't want to go to paradise, at least
           not to YOUR paradise, but you are bent upon sending them to paradise -- your compassion is such
           that you are ready to kill them or be killed!

               A missionary was teaching in a small school and he was saying that every Christian child should
           make it a point that at least one act of public service should be done per week. One small boy asked,
           "For example, what kind of things should we do?"
               The missionary gave a few examples. He said, "For example, some old woman wants to cross the
           street and the traffic is too much -- hold her hand, help her to cross the street." And so on, so forth.
               Next Sunday he inquired, "How many of you did some act of public service?"
               Three boys -- the strongest and the biggest in the class -- stood up. They said, "We did one act of
           public service."
               The missionary was very happy. "So you say...." He asked the first boy, "What did you do?"
               He said, "I helped an old woman, a very old woman, to cross the street."
               He patted the boy and he said, "You are a good boy. Go on doing such good acts." He asked the
           next boy, "What did you do?"
               He said, "I also helped a very old woman to cross the street."
               The missionary was a little puzzled that both could find two very old women, but there are many
           old women -- it is possible. He patted the second boy also, but not so heartily. With a little suspicion
           he said, "Good. Go on doing."
           Then he asked the third.
               The third said, "I also helped a very very old woman to cross the street."
               Now it was too much! Such a coincidence can't be, that three very very old women wanted to
           cross the street. And he asked, "What day, what time?" It was the same day and the same time and
           the same street! So he said, "You please explain -- how could you find three such very very old
           women?"
               They said, "They were not three -- it was only one woman, very very old. We all three helped
           her."
               He said, "That too is good, but were three persons needed?"
               They said, "Three? Although she was old, she made so much fuss because she never wanted to
           go to the other side! But we DID manage. When one has to do some public act, some public service,
           one has to do it. She was shouting and cursing and calling the policeman, but we were determined to
           do it and we did it!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               As far as Buddha is concerned, whatsoever you are doing is mischief because whatsoever you are
           doing is done out of unconsciousness. His definition of mischief is: any act done unconsciously. And
           any act done consciously is virtue.
               Your life is almost a vicious circle: one mischief leads to another and that one leads to still
           another. Mischiefs grow out of mischiefs -- only mischiefs can grow out of mischiefs. And you go on
           living and moving in circles and you don't know what else to do. You do good -- at least you think
           you are doing good -- but the good never happens; otherwise the world would have been
           overflowing with good.
               So many people are doing good -- parents doing good to children, and where are the good
           children? Husbands are doing good to wives -- and wives are really after husbands to transform
           them, to change them, to make them saints. But where are those husbands and where are those wives
           and where are those children? Everybody is trying to do good according to his own idea -- and he
           himself is living in deep darkness.
               But the idea that "I am doing good" helps your ego to be strengthened, although you go on
           moving in the same circle -- because intelligence is needed to be original, to do something new. You
           know only a few things, a few tricks, and the older you get, the more difficult it becomes to learn
           new things.
           They say you can't teach new tricks to old dogs....

              Kramanakis immigrated to New York. He got a job through relatives who taught him to say
           "Apple pie and coffee" in English so he could order in a restaurant. The next day, Kramanakis
           walked into a diner.
           "What'll you have?" asked the waitress.
           "Apple-a pie anna coffee," said the immigrant.
              Since that was all he could say he was forced to eat apple pie and coffee every day for a month.
           When he complained to his cousins, they taught him to say "ham sandwich."
              Armed with the new addition to his vocabulary he said to the waitress, "Ham sandwich."
           "White or rye?" asked the girl.
           "Apple-a pie anna coffee," said the Greek.

              Just watch your life: "Apple-a pie anna coffee, apple-a pie anna coffee...." You go on doing,
           repeating, the same thing, every day, day in, day out, year in, year out. Your whole life is a very
           small circle: the same anger, the same greed, the same fight, the same words, the same reasons, the
           same motives. Is this the way to grow? Is this the way to become conscious? Is this the way to know
           your original face? Are you hoping that moving in these small circles continuously, mechanically,
           robotlike, you will attain to bliss?
           Drop all such hopes!

               Rabbi Glucksman was seated next to a Baptist minister on a flight to New York. The stewardess
           approached them and said, "May I serve you a cocktail?"
           "I will take a whisky sour," said the rabbi.
           "And you, Reverend?" asked the hostess.
           "Young lady," said the clergyman, "before I let liquor touch my lips I would just as soon commit
           adultery."
           "Miss," said Rabbi Glucksman, "as long as there is a choice, I will have what he is having."

               Not only do you go on moving in the same small circles, you repeat, you imitate other people and
           their stupidities. You are constantly repeating, you are constantly looking around at what is being
           done by whom. You don't live a life from within; you are imitators. Your whole interest is
           exhibition: how to show that you are better than others, how to show that you are richer than others,
           how to show that you are more intelligent than others. In fact, it is only the unintelligent person who
           ever compares himself with others. The really intelligent never compares, because each individual is
           unique and comparison is impossible.

              Mrs. Zimmer hired an interior designer to have the house redecorated.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Alright," said the decorator, "how would you like it done? Modern?"
           "Me, modern? No!" said Mrs. Zimmer.
           "How about French?"
           "French? Where would I come to a French house?"
           "Perhaps Italian Provincial?"
           "God forbid!"
           "Well, madam, what period do you want?"
           "What period? I want my friends to walk in, take one look, and drop dead, period!"

               People are living just to impress. They must be really very poor inside, because only people
           suffering from inferiority complex want to impress others. A really superior person never compares
           himself with anybody else. He knows he is incomparable; not only that, he knows others are also as
           incomparable as he is. He is neither superior nor inferior.
               This tremendous revolution is possible only by one secret key, and that is becoming more alert.
           The more alert you are, the less you repeat. The more alert you are, you find new ways of doing
           things, you find new styles of living your life. The more alert you are, the more creative you are, and
           only creative people know what happiness is. What you create is not the point -- just being creative.
           It may be poetry, it may be music, it may be sculpture, it can be anything, but just the process of
           being creative brings you to the point where you meet God.
               All the religions of the world say God is the creator. If he is really the creator, then the only way
           to meet him will be to become a creator in some measure. Of course you can't be a creator like God,
           but you can be a small creator in your own way. When the poet is creating, when the painter is
           creating, in those moments of creativity they are one with God. Those are the moments when they
           know what God is. But poets and painters and sculptors are only in those heights for moments, only
           for moments do they know those plenitudes.
               The mystic, the buddha, the master, lives on that height twenty-four hours a day, because his
           creativity is subtle; his creativity is not visible, his creativity is invisible. He creates consciousness.
           First he creates consciousness in himself, then he starts creating consciousness in others.
               That's how the master and the disciple gather together, that's how a buddhafield is created. That's
           how thousands of seekers surround a buddha... because he creates something that cannot be seen but
           can only be felt by those in whom the buddha has penetrated, in whose heart he has stirred
           something dormant and has made it dynamic. A buddha creates consciousness first in himself and
           then in those who are ready and available and trusting and surrendered.
               BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISCHIEF IS ONE DAY SPENT IN
           CONTEMPLATION. 'Contemplation' is not the right word; but that is a problem, how to translate
           Eastern insight into Western languages. Contemplation means thinking of one subject
           concentratedly. That is not what Buddha means when he uses the word DHYANA. Dhyana means a
           state of no-mind, a state of no-thought; it is just the opposite of contemplation. Contemplation cannot
           be the right word to translate it. But I can understand the problem, the difficulty of the translators --
           there are no other words. Dhyana is one of those words which cannot be translated.
               It was very intelligent of Chinese translators that they left the word unchanged. Dhyana became
           CH'AN in China; they never translated it. It took a little different form because dhyana is Sanskrit.
           Buddha used not Sanskrit but a local language of Bihar, Pali. In Pali dhyana is JHAN; in Chinese it
           became ch'an, left untranslated because Chinese translators came to understand that it cannot be
           translated; better to describe it rather than translate it. And so it happened in Japan: when it reached
           Japan, ch'an became Zen; first jhan and then ch'an and then Zen -- but it was left untranslated.
               The best thing will be for Western languages also to leave a few words untranslated, because you
           don't have any equivalent, and whatsoever words you have, have their own connotations.
               Dhyana is not contemplation; contemplation is the purest form of thinking. Dhyana is going
           beyond thought, beyond the purest even, coming to a state where all thought ceases. You are utterly
           conscious, but there is no content to your consciousness.
               Buddha says: BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISCHIEF IS ONE DAY SPENT IN
           CONTEMPLATION. Just one day is enough; if a person can remain in dhyana for twenty-four hours
           that's enough -- he will become a buddha. But it is immensely difficult to remain twenty-four hours
           in dhyana.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Mahavira has said: Even if one can remain for forty-eight minutes -- and my calculation is also
           exactly the same -- if one can remain in a state of no-mind continuously for forty-eight minutes,
           that's enough to become enlightened.
                But the ordinary mind cannot remain alert even for a few seconds, what to say of minutes! You
           try: just sit silently, keep a watch close by, and you will be surprised that even seconds are not
           without thoughts. Only once in a while for a split second there is no thought. But the moment you
           see there is no thought, this thought arises: you say, "Aha!" -- finished! You say, "There is no
           thought!" and the mind has played a trick upon you, it has come from the back door. And if you
           listen silently you will see the mind laughing -- it has deceived you! No-thought is still a thought, the
           idea of no-thought is still a thought.

              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IGNORANCE
              IS ONE DAY SPENT IN REFLECTION.


               By "ignorance" Buddha does not mean absence of knowledge. Because the knowledgeable
           person is not the goal, so ignorance has to be understood in a new way -- with Buddha's meaning,
           with his color, with his fragrance. We call a person ignorant because he is uneducated: he cannot
           read, he cannot write, he does not know the three R's, he is not informed at all, he is very primitive.
           We call him ignorant. And we call him, the man who has a B.S., M.S., Ph.D.... and you know the
           meaning? B.S. means bullshit, M.S. means more of same, Ph.D. means piled high and deep. We call
           that man a man of knowledge. These are the people who fill our universities. And if you really want
           to see their faces, go and attend some convocation. Then you will see all the buffoons parading in
           black gowns, in strange hats.... These people are thought to be knowledgeable.
               When Buddha says "ignorant" he simply means a person who does not know himself. It is not a
           question of becoming more informed or less informed, educated or uneducated. Kabir is not ignorant
           although he is uneducated. Kabir has said: MASI KAGAD CHHUYO NAHIN -- I have never
           touched paper or ink. And that is how it is: he never touched paper or ink, he was not able to read or
           write.
               When somebody asked Kabir, "You can't read -- you have not read the Vedas, Upanishads, Gita,
           and all the great scriptures?" Kabir laughed and said, "LIKHA-LIKHI KI HAI NAHIN -- the truth
           has nothing to do with the scriptures because it has never been written and cannot be written. It is not
           written anywhere! It is unexpressed, so what is the point of reading the scriptures? The scriptures
           themselves say: I have heard that it cannot be expressed. Then what is the point?"
               But Kabir is not ignorant. Buddha will recognize Kabir as a buddha. Kabir IS a buddha, so is
           Farid, so is Raidas, so is Mohammed, so is Christ. Christ is also absolutely uneducated; Mohammed
           is also absolutely uneducated, uninformed.
               Then ignorance has a totally different meaning: not absence of the so-called knowledge but
           absence of self-knowledge. Not knowing oneself is ignorance. Then you can know all: you can
           become a walking ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, but that won't help. If you know yourself,
           then you are a man of wisdom.
               BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IGNORANCE IS ONE DAY SPENT IN
           REFLECTION. And reflection has to be understood literally. Again, in English reflection has the
           meaning of contemplation, thinking. Buddha means literally reflection -- as the moon is reflected in
           the lake, your face is reflected in a mirror. Be so silent, without any waves, without even a ripple; let
           your consciousness become a lake, utterly silent, undisturbed, so that the whole sky, the whole
           firmament, can be reflected in you. Being in a state of no-mind you become a mirror, you start
           reflecting that which is.
               And that's what God is... this total existence with its immense beauty and benediction. If you are
           a mirror, it will be reflected in you, and that will make you wise, that will make you a master, that
           will make you the awakened one.
               But people go on believing what others have said. Beliefs are not going to help you. Beliefs are
           poisonous; they keep you blind. Because of your beliefs you never inquire on your own. And your
           beliefs are false, they are not really trust; a belief can only be superficial. You can believe in the Gita
           or the Koran or the Bible, but deep down the doubt persists; it is not so easy to uproot the doubt.
               The doubt is uprooted only when YOU know. How can it be uprooted if Jesus knows? How can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it be uprooted if Mohammed knows? He MAY know, but who knows whether he is right or wrong,
           and who knows that he is not deceived, and who knows he's not deceiving others? What guarantee is
           there? What is the proof that Buddha is right? Except that Buddha says, "I have attained," there is no
           other proof. But that is going in circles, that is the question itself: How to believe that Buddha is
           right? And we have only one proof: Buddha says, "I have arrived." But how to believe that what he
           says is right?
               Deep down the doubt will persist; your belief will be only a cover-up. It is like you have a wound
           oozing with pus, stinking, and you cover it with roses -- but deep down in the roses the pus is
           accumulating. The roses will not be able to transform it. They can hide it for a few moments, their
           fragrance may not let others know the stink that is arising out of the wound, but how long...? Sooner
           or later they will be stinking too! Rather than roses changing your pus, your pus will change the
           roses. And that's what happens: belief never transforms your doubt, your doubt transforms your
           belief itself.

              The young rabbi finally decided that he must talk to the richest member of his congregation, no
           matter how much it hurt.
           "Why," asked the rabbi, "must you fall asleep when I am preaching?"
           "Let me explain something," answered the millionaire. "Would I fall asleep if I did not trust you?"

               That's what has happened to millions of people: they have fallen asleep because they trust; there
           is no need to be awake. Buddha knows -- what is the need for you to be awake? Christ knows -- it is
           enough for you to be a Christian, there is no need to be a Christ.
               But I say to you: unless you are a Christ nothing is going to happen. By being a Christian you are
           simply deceiving yourself and others, and you are wasting precious time, because in the same time
           you can become Christ himself. Don't remain satisfied by being Christians or Hindus or Jainas or
           Buddhists. Become a Buddha, become a Christ, become a Mohammed, become a Mahavira! Less
           than that is not going to help, less than that is not liberation.
               And that is possible through reflection. If you become a no-mind, the whole that surrounds you
           will be reflected in you. And when YOU will know, then only you will know, and that knowing
           disperses all doubts. When all doubts have gone within your heart, all darkness disappeared and you
           are full of light, then life has been lived, life has been known. That is bliss. The beyond has reached
           to you, you have reached the beyond. Now God is within you and you are within God.

              BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IDLENESS
              IS ONE DAY SPENT IN DETERMINATION.


               Again there is some possibility of misunderstanding because of the translation. Buddha does not
           mean by "determination" what is meant in English by the word. He means decisiveness, not
           determination. Determination gives you a feeling of will, willpower. Determination gives you the
           idea of deciding through the mind. Decisiveness is a totally different phenomenon: it is of the heart.
           Not that you have decided by the mind, but your heart feels a kind of commitment -- it is a love
           affair.
               In love you don't determine. You don't say to your woman that, "I have determined to love you."
           Or do you say it? If you say to some woman, "I have pulled all my energy together; I have created a
           great determination in myself that I am going to love you," that woman will never see you again...
           because love and determination means love is false. Love has a decisiveness about it, a commitment,
           an involvement, but not determination. It has no will; in fact, even if you want to determine against it
           you cannot. It is a mad, mad thing.
               So is religion: it is not a question of determination, it is a question of falling in love with this
           tremendous beauty of existence. It is falling in love with this mysterious world.

              BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY WONDERING
              HOW ALL THINGS ARISE AND PASS AWAY.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you can wonder you are going to fall into love. Each child is born wondering... and we destroy
           his wonder sooner or later. By the time a child is four we have killed, massacred his wonder. And the
           method that we use to kill his wonder is: we start stuffing him with information.

               D.H. Lawrence, one of the great men of insight of this age, was walking in a garden with a small
           child. And as small children ask, the child asked, "Can you tell me one thing -- why the trees are
           green?"
               Now such questions can be asked only either by children or by mystics, either by children or by
           buddhas. What kind of question is this? You will never ask it, because it will look so foolish to ask
           why trees are green. And in fact you already know why they are green; you know, because it is
           chlorophyll that makes them green.
               D.H. Lawrence also knew about chlorophyll. He could have said it to the child, and children are
           very easily trusting.... If you say, "It is because of this," they will say, "Okay." And in fact, they don't
           much care about the answer; by the time you are answering them they have become interested in
           some other question. They are intrigued by something else -- a butterfly, a flower, a cloud floating in
           the sky. They have already bypassed the question.
               When a child asks he does not ask to be answered, remember. When a child asks he is simply
           talking out loud to himself, he is thinking out loud, he is wondering out loud, that's all. When he
           says, "Why are the trees green?" he is not saying it inside, he is thinking aloud. It is not really a
           question. He is puzzled by the mystery, he is wondering WHY the trees are green, he is not waiting
           for any answer; it is pure wonder, he is intrigued.
               D.H. Lawrence is a great poet, a great novelist -- almost on the verge of being a mystic. Had he
           been in India, had he been in the East, he would have become a buddha. About these two persons I
           feel very certain they would have become buddhas if they had been in the East: Friedrich Nietzsche
           and D.H. Lawrence. About these two persons I feel absolutely certain. They were so much on the
           verge, just one step more....
               Lawrence looked at the trees, stood there in silence with closed eyes for a few seconds, then told
           the child, "The trees are green because they are green." And the child was satisfied. But Lawrence
           continued to think, "What kind of answer is this that I have given to the child? -- the trees are green
           because they are green. It is a tautology. It is illogical!" But it is tremendously significant. Lawrence
           is saying that life is a mystery to be lived, a reality to be experienced, not a question to be answered,
           not a problem to be solved. It is so.

                That's how Buddha used to say it to his disciples: his word is TATHATA, suchness. If you had
           asked him the same thing he would have said, "Such is the case. Trees are green... it is so." Nothing
           more can be said about it -- because the more said, the more you become informed, knowledgeable,
           the less is the possibility to know. "It is so" -- it does not close the door to you, it simply opens the
           door of the mystery.
                Buddha says: BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY WONDERING HOW ALL THINGS ARISE AND
           PASS AWAY. If you can attain again your childhood wonder you will be my sannyasins. I am not
           here to help you to know more, I am here to help you to WONDER more. And the only way to
           wonder more is to take away all your knowledge. Your knowledge is a disturbance in your
           wondering. It does not allow you to wonder, because before you wonder it immediately supplies you
           with an answer. It is because of scientific knowledge that man has lost his immense quality, his great
           quality of wonder. And that is the greatest treasure a man has got. No animal wonders; it is only man
           who is given the gift to wonder.
                Real religion is rooted in wondering and real religion helps you to wonder more and more and
           more. A moment comes in the life of the mystic when he becomes simply wonder. Each small thing
           fills him with tremendous wonder... a pebble on the shore, a seashell, the cry of a distant cuckoo, a
           lonely star in the evening, ANYTHING... a child giggling, a woman crying tears of joy, anything...
           just the wind passing through the pine trees, the sound of running water, anything... and he is full of
           wonder. God comes to him as wonder, God comes to him as mystery.
                If you sit by the side of a mystic, don't sit to learn more from him. Sit to drop all knowledge. Sit
           by the side of a mystic to be filled by his wonder, to become a child again. Jesus says: Unless you
           are born again you shall not enter into my kingdom of God. Again he says: Unless you are like small
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           children you will not enter into my kingdom of God. He is talking about the same wonder.

              BETTER TO LIVE ONE HOUR SEEING
              THE ONE LIFE BEYOND THE WAY.


               Each sutra is so tremendously significant! Meditate on each word. And Buddha is progressing
           very slowly so that you can absorb the spirit. First he says: dhyana, a state of no-mind. Then he says:
           the mirrorlike quality of your consciousness, which is a by-product of dhyana. Then he says:
           decisiveness -- a love affair, your heart falling in tune with existence. Then he says: wondering. And
           now he says: seeing.
               The eyes that can see grow in wonder -- not in knowledge, not through scripture, but through
           innocence. Become mystified with existence!
               Our whole education is based on demystifying existence. The pedagogue believes that one day
           we will have destroyed the whole mystery of existence because we will have gathered all the
           answers for all the questions. This is the most irreligious belief there is -- and your education creates
           irreligion. Your education, even if it is called religious education, is not religious because it
           demystifies existence, it supplies you with answers.
               Real religion takes away all the answers, makes your questions bigger and bigger, and finally
           transforms your questions into wonder, into a quest. And in wonder, if you can live in wonder, you
           will attain to that insight, those eyes, which can see.
               This seeing has been called in the East DARSHAN -- seeing with innocence, looking with
           innocence. Then just a nazunia flower by the side of the hedge is enough... and you are transported
           into another world. Then you will dance when the clouds are raining, you will dance in the rain and
           you will know something of buddhahood. Then you will dance in the full-moon night and you will
           know something of buddhahood. Then you will dance around a rosebush because the roses have
           bloomed, and you will know something of buddhahood. Your life will become a constant singing,
           dancing, celebration.
               BETTER TO LIVE ONE HOUR SEEING THE ONE LIFE BEYOND THE WAY. Then one
           hour is enough, there is no need to live for millions and millions of lives, because it is not a question
           of length, how long you live. The West is too much concerned with length. Make people live longer:
           a hundred years, a hundred and fifty years, two hundred years, three hundred years. And it is
           possible, because there are a few people who live....
               In the Kashmir valley there is a small tribe: they live very easily up to a hundred and fifty. And
           in Russia there are many people who have gone beyond a hundred and fifty. There are a few people
           who are a hundred and eighty and one person who is two hundred years old. Now scientists are
           continuously searching: what are the secrets? Why do these people live so long? What do they eat?
           What do they drink? What is their pattern of life? Why do they live so long? And sooner or later they
           will find the secrets and man will live three hundred years, four hundred years, five hundred years.
           You are very fortunate that they have not found the secrets yet! Just think of yourself living three
           hundred years -- seventy is enough to make one fed up with life!
               And remember, suicide is not allowed yet anywhere. To commit suicide is the greatest crime, if
           you are caught before committing it. Of course if you have committed, then it is finished; nobody
           can catch hold of you. They cannot punish your ghost! Just think of yourself living seven hundred
           years.... Within seventy years all is finished -- life is so futile. To live for seven hundred years will
           be sheer torture and they won't allow you to die.
               Now there are many people hanging between life and death, particularly in America and in
           Europe -- more in America. They are not alive, because they cannot move, they cannot do anything,
           they cannot even think, they cannot eat. Everything is being done by others; they are just lying down
           on the beds, on oxygen. They may not even have their own heart -- maybe a plastic heart pumping
           their blood. They may not have kidneys; machines may be doing their work.
               Now, these people are called alive! They are neither alive nor dead -- and it is better to be this
           way or that. Hanging in between, they are in a kind of limbo. But the West is very much interested,
           mind as such is very much interested, in lengthening life. But those who know, they are not
           interested in long life; they are interested in intensifying life, in making it more intense, total.
               That's why Buddha says: BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISCHIEF IS ONE DAY
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           SPENT IN dhyana. BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IGNORANCE IS ONE DAY
           SPENT IN mirrorlike REFLECTION. BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY WONDERING HOW ALL
           THINGS ARISE AND PASS AWAY. BETTER TO LIVE ONE HOUR SEEING THE ONE LIFE
           BEYOND THE WAY.
               If you can allow wonder to happen, then sooner or later out of your wonder will grow eyes, new
           eyes -- not these eyes which can see only objects but eyes which can see the invisible, that life which
           is beyond. Call it divine life, eternal life, or whatsoever name you prefer.

              BETTER TO LIVE ONE MOMENT....


             See, Buddha is going continuously to make it shorter and shorter: from a hundred years to one
           moment.

              BETTER TO LIVE ONE MOMENT IN THE MOMENT
              OF THE WAY BEYOND THE WAY.


               It is enough to live in a single moment, but totally herenow -- no past, no future -- your whole
           energy diving deep in the herenow is enough to have the taste of God, to have the taste of truth: truth
           which is of the way and yet beyond the way.
               AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the eternal law. If one can live in wonder, seeing,
           totally in the moment, one has come home. Bliss happens, descends, you are overflooded with bliss
           and benediction. It is not your creation, it comes as a gift from the beyond.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #2
                                         Chapter title: Via transcendence
           23 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908230
              ShortTitle: DHAM402
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins
              Q2 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY BE CREATIVE?


               Anand Savita, intellect is something pseudo, something false. It is a substitute for intelligence.
           Intelligence is a totally different phenomenon -- the real thing.
               Intelligence needs tremendous courage, intelligence needs an adventurous life. Intelligence needs
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you are always going into the unknown, into the uncharted sea. Then intelligence grows, it
           becomes sharpened. It grows only when it encounters the unknown every moment. People are afraid
           of the unknown, people feel insecure with the unknown. They don't want to go beyond the familiar.
           Hence they have created a false, plastic substitute for intelligence -- they call it intellect.
               Intellect is only a mental game; it cannot be creative. Intellect is imaginative, but not creative.
           Intelligence is creative. Intelligence creates because intelligence makes you capable of participating
           with God. God is the source of all creativity. You can be creative only when you are EN RAPPORT
           with God, when you are rooted in the very existence, when you are part of divine energy. You
           cannot be creative on your own; you can be creative only as a medium of God.
               When the poet creates he is only a medium, a hollow bamboo on the lips of God. And suddenly
           the hollow bamboo is no longer a hollow bamboo -- it becomes a flute. The emptiness of the bamboo
           becomes full of song, dance, celebration.
               Creativity means you have to disappear, you have to allow God to be, you have to get out of the
           way. Intellect is egoistic; intelligence is humble, egoless. The difference is subtle; because both the
           words come from the same root, hence one can easily be deceived. Beware, be alert! Intellect is not
           intelligence. Intelligence is creative, intellect is only a pretender. In the name of creativity it goes on
           producing rubbish.
               You can go and look in the universities and see what kind of creative work goes on there.
           Thousands of treatises are being written; Ph.D.s, D.Phil.s, D.Litt.s, great degrees are conferred on
           people. Nobody ever comes to know what happens to their Ph.D. theses; they go on becoming
           rubbish heaps in the libraries. Nobody ever reads them, nobody is ever inspired by them. Yes, a few
           people read them; they are the same type of people who are going to write another thesis. The
           would-be Ph.D.s will be of course reading them.
               But your universities don't create Shakespeares, Miltons, Dostoevskys, Tolstoys, Rabindranaths,
           Kahlil Gibrans. Your universities create just junk, utterly useless. This is intellectual activity that
           goes on in the universities. Intelligence creates a Picasso, a Van Gogh, a Mozart, a Beethoven.
               Intelligence is a totally different dimension. It has nothing to do with the head; it has something
           to do with the heart. Intellect is in the head; intelligence is a state of heart-wakefulness. When your
           heart is awake, when your heart is dancing in deep gratitude, when your heart is in tune with
           existence, in harmony with existence, out of that harmony is creativity.
               Savita, there is no possibility of any intellectual creativity. It can produce rubbish, it is
           productive; it can manufacture, but it cannot create. And what is the difference between
           manufacturing and creating? Manufacturing is a mechanical activity. Computers can do it -- they are
           already doing it, and doing it in a far more efficient way than you can hope from man. Intelligence
           creates, it does not manufacture.
               Manufacturing means a repetitive exercise; what has already been done, you go on doing again
           and again. Creativity means bringing the new into existence, making a way for the unknown to
           penetrate the known, making a way for the sky to come to the earth.
               When there is a Beethoven or a Michelangelo or a Kalidas, the skies open, flowers shower from
           the beyond. I am not telling you anything about Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Mahavira, Zarathustra,
           Mohammed, for a certain reason: because what THEY create is so subtle that you will not be able to
           catch hold of it. What Michelangelo creates is gross; what Van Gogh creates can be seen, is visible.
           What a buddha creates is absolutely invisible. It needs a totally different kind of receptivity to
           understand.
               To understand a buddha you have to be intelligent. Not only that Buddha's creation is of
           tremendous intelligence, but it is so superb, it is so supramental, that even to understand it you will
           have to be intelligent. Intellect won't help even in understanding.
               Only two kinds of people create: the poets and the mystics. The poets create in the gross world
           and the mystics create in the subtle world. The poets create in the outer world: a painting, a poem, a
           song, music, a dance; and the mystic creates in the inner world. The poet's creativity is objective and
           the mystic's creativity is subjective, totally of the interior. First you have to understand the poet, only
           then can you understand one day -- at least HOPE to understand one day -- the mystic. The mystic is
           the highest flower of creativity. But you may not see anything that the mystic is doing.
               Buddha has never painted a single picture, has never taken the brush in his hands, has not
           composed a single poem, has not sung a single song, nobody has ever seen him dancing. If you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           watch him he is just sitting silently; his whole being is silence. Yes, a grace surrounds him, a grace
           of infinite beauty, of exquisite beauty, but you will need to be very vulnerable to feel it. You will
           have to be very open, not argumentative. You cannot be a spectator with a buddha; you have to be a
           participant, because it is a mystery to be participated in. Then you will see what he is creating. He is
           creating consciousness, and consciousness is the purest form, the highest form possible, of God's
           expression.
               A song is beautiful, a dance is beautiful, because something of the divine is present in it. But in a
           buddha the whole of God is present. That's why we have called Buddha "Bhagwan," we have called
           Mahavira "Bhagwan" -- the whole of God is present.
               But students won't be able to see it. Disciples will be able to decipher a little bit, and devotees
           will be able to drink out of it.
               Intellectual activity can make you experts in certain things, useful, efficient. But intellect is a
           groping in the dark; it has no eyes, because it is not yet meditative. Intellect is borrowed, it has no
           insight of its own.

              The subject was lovemaking. For weeks Arthur had successfully answered all the questions
           asked him on the television quiz show. He was now eligible for the jackpot prize of one hundred
           thousand dollars. For this one question he was allowed to call an expert. Arthur of course chose a
           world-famous professor of sexology from France.
              The jackpot question was, "If you had been king during the first fifty years of the Assyrian
           empire, which three parts of your bride's anatomy would you have been expected to kiss on your
           wedding night?"
              The first two answers came quickly. Arthur replied, "Her lips and her neck."
              Now, stumped for the answer to the third part of the question, Arthur turned frantically to his
           expert. The Frenchman threw up his hands and groaned, "Alors, mon ami, do not ask me. I have
           been wrong twice already."

               The expert, the knowledgeable, the intellectual, has no insight of his own. He depends on
           borrowed knowledge, on tradition, on convention. He carries libraries in his head, a great burden, but
           he has no vision. He knows much without knowing anything at all.
               And because life is not the same ever -- it is constantly changing, moment to moment it is new --
           the expert always lags behind, his response is always inadequate. He can only react, he cannot
           respond, because he is not spontaneous. He has already arrived to conclusions; he is carrying
           ready-made answers -- and the questions that life raises are always new.
               Moreover, life is not a logical phenomenon. And the intellectual lives through logic; hence he
           never fits with life and life never fits with him. Of course life is not at a loss; the intellectual himself
           is at a loss. He is always feeling like an outsider -- not that life has expelled him; he himself has
           decided to remain outside life. If you cling too much to logic you will never be able to be part of the
           living process that this existence is.
               Life is more than logic: life is paradox, life is mystery.

               Gannaway and O'Casey arranged to fight a duel with pistols. Gannaway was quite fat, and when
           he saw his lean adversary facing him he objected. "Debar!" he said, "I am twice as large as he is, so I
           ought to stand twice as far away from him as he is from me."
           Absolutely logical, but how can you do it?
           "Be aisy now," replied his second. "I will soon put that right." And taking a piece of chalk from his
           pocket he drew two lines down the fat man's coat leaving a space between them.
           "Now," he said, turning to O'Casey, "fire away, and remember that any hits outside that chalk line
           don't count."

               Perfectly mathematical, perfectly logical -- but life is not so logical, life is not so mathematical.
           And people go on living in their intellects very logically. Logic gives them a feeling as if they know,
           but it is a big "as if," and one tends to forget it completely. Whatsoever you go on doing through
           intellect, it is only inference. It is not an experience of truth, but just an inference based on your logic
           -- and your logic is your invention.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Cudahy, grogged to the gills, stood watching the Saint Patrick's Day parade. Unconsciously he
           dropped his lit cigarette into an old mattress that was lying at the curb.
              Just then the grey-haired members of the Women's Nursing Corps came strutting by. At the same
           time, the smoldering mattress began giving off a dreadful smell.
              Cudahy sniffed a couple of times and declared to a nearby cop, "Officer, they are marching those
           nurses too fast!"

               Intellect may arrive at certain inferences, but intellect is an unconscious phenomenon. You are
           almost behaving sleepily.
               Intelligence is awakening, and unless you are fully awake, whatsoever you decide is bound to be
           wrong somewhere or other. It is bound to be so, it is doomed to be wrong, because it is a conclusion
           arrived at by an unconscious mind.
               To bring intelligence into activity you don't need more information, you need more meditation.
           You need to become more silent, you need to become more thoughtless. You need to become less
           mind and more heart. You need to become aware of the magic that surrounds you: magic that is life,
           magic that is God, magic that is in the green trees and the red flowers, magic that is in people's eyes.
           Magic is happening everywhere! All is miraculous, but because of your intellect you remain closed
           inside yourself, clinging to your stupid conclusions arrived at in unconsciousness or given to you by
           others who are as unconscious as you are.
               Savita, intelligence is certainly creative because intelligence brings your totality into functioning
           -- not only a part, a small part, the head. Intelligence vibrates your whole being; each cell of your
           being, each fiber of your life starts dancing, and falls in a subtle harmony with the total.
               That's what creativity is: to pulsate in absolute harmony with the total. That's how one becomes a
           Buddha, Christ, Zarathustra. These are the real creative people.
               Something like this is happening right now, here. If you are a disciple you will be able to feel
           something of it. If you are a devotee you will be able to drink out of this source that has become
           available to you. And then creativity will come to you, things will start happening on their own.
           Your heart will start pouring songs of joy, your hands will start transforming things. You will touch
           mud and it will become a lotus. You will be able to become an alchemist. But it is possible only
           through great awakening of intelligence, great awakening of the heart.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              EVERYONE WANTS TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED. WHY? "FIRST SIGHT OF LOVE, LAST SIGHT
              OF WISDOM." IS IT TRUE?


               Bal Krishna Bharti, love is prayer groping towards God. Love is poetry born out of the sheer joy
           of being. Love is song, dance, celebration: a song of gratitude, a dance of thankfulness, celebration
           for no reason at all... for this tremendous gift that goes on showering on us, for this whole universe,
           from the dust to the divine. Love is not what you understand it to be, hence the question.
               You ask, "Everyone wants to love and to be loved. Why?"
               Because love is religion at its highest; love is the suprememost religion. Love is the search for
           God -- of course, an unconscious search in the beginning, stumbling, groping in the dark. The
           direction may not be right, but the intention is absolutely right.
               Love is not the ordinary thing that you understand by it; it is not just a biological attraction
           between a man and a woman. It is that too, but that is only the beginning, just the first step. Even
           there, if you look deep down, it is not really an attraction between man and woman, it is an attraction
           between masculine energy and feminine energy. It is not an attraction between A and B; far deeper
           mysteries are involved even in ordinary love affairs.
               Hence nobody can define love. Thousands of definitions have been tried -- all have failed. Love
           remains indefinable, very elusive, very mercurial. The more you want to grasp of it, the more
           difficult it becomes, the farther away it goes. You cannot catch hold of it, you cannot manage to
           know what exactly it is, you cannot control it. Love remains unknowable. Man wants to know,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because knowledge gives power. You would like to be powerful over love, but that is impossible;
           love is far bigger than you. You cannot possess it, you can only be possessed by it. Hence those
           people who want to possess love never come to know anything of it.
                Only those who are courageous enough, only those who are gamblers, who can risk their very
           life and be possessed by some unknown energy, are able to know what love is.
                Love is the first step towards God -- hence it appears mad to those who are hung up in their
           heads. And because people don't understand the whole mystery of love, because they try to
           understand it through the mind.... It can be understood only through the heart. Remember: all that is
           great is available to the heart. The heart is the door to all great values of life, to all ultimate values,
           and the head is only a useful mechanism, a gadget -- good in the marketplace but utterly useless in a
           temple. And love is a temple, it is not a marketplace. If you drive love into the marketplace it is
           reduced into ugly sexuality.
                That's what people have done: rather than raising love to God, they have reduced love into ugly,
           animalistic sexuality. And the strange thing is, the same people -- the priests, the politicians, the
           puritans -- the same people who have reduced love into an ugly phenomenon, are against sex, are
           enemies of sex. And they are the people who have destroyed a tremendously potential power!
                Love is a lotus hidden in the mud. The lotus is born out of mud, but you don't condemn the lotus
           because it is born out of mud; you don't call the lotus muddy, you don't call the lotus dirty. Love is
           born out of sex, and then prayer is born out of love, and then God is born out of prayer. Higher and
           higher and higher one goes on soaring.
                But the priests and the puritans have reduced the whole phenomenon into sexuality. And once
           love becomes sex it becomes ugly, one starts feeling guilty about it. And it is because of that guilt
           that this saying, this proverb: First sight of love, last sight of wisdom.... If you ask me, I will change
           it a little bit. I will say: First sight of love, first sight of wisdom.
                But it depends how you look at it. If you look at the potential of it, at the highest possibility that
           it can reach, then love becomes a ladder. If you look only at the mud and you are utterly blind to the
           future of the mud, then certainly love becomes something ugly and great antagonism arises in you.
           But to be antagonistic to love is to be antagonistic to God.

              On returning from his honeymoon, Michael phoned his father at the office.
           "Good to hear from you, son. Tell me, how is married life?"
           "Dad, I am really upset. I think I married a nun."
           "A nun?" asked the startled father. "What do you mean?"
           "Ah, you know, Dad, none in the morning and none at night."
           "Oh, that!" groaned the older man. "Come for dinner Saturday and I will introduce you to the mother
           superior."

              Once love is reduced to sexuality only, of course then the first sight of love is the last sight of
           wisdom. But it depends on you: why reduce it to sexuality? Why not change the baser metal into
           gold? Why not learn the alchemy of love? That's what I am teaching here.
              And the priests, who don't know anything about love -- because they have never loved, they have
           renounced the world of love -- they go on making great systems of thought against it.

               The priest stood before a hushed crowd of attentive villagers and spoke to them, "You must not
           use-a the pill."
               A lovely signorina stepped forward and said, "Look, you no play-a the game, you no make-a the
           rules!"

               These are the people who don't play the game but they make the rules. For centuries the priests
           have been making rules. It is the priesthood all over the world that has condemned a great potential
           source, in fact the only source, of energy. Once it is condemned, you are condemned; your whole life
           will become meaningless. Once sex energy is not allowed to grow to its natural heights you are
           going to live a miserable life.
               Bal Krishna Bharti, love is the greatest gift of God. Learn the art of it. Learn the song of it, the
           celebration of it. It is an absolute need: just as the body cannot survive without food, the soul cannot
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           survive without love. Love is the nourishment of the soul, it is the beginning of all that is great, it is
           the door of the divine.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I KNOW THAT GOD IS LOVE, BUT THEN WHY AM I SO AFRAID OF HIM?


               Sudharma, you don't know that God is love. You have heard me saying again and again that God
           is love; hence you have started repeating it. It is parrotlike. I KNOW God is love, hence it is
           impossible to be afraid of God. How can you be afraid of love?
               Fear and love cannot exist together; their coexistence is impossible. In fact, it is the same energy
           that becomes fear that becomes love. If it becomes fear, there is no more energy available to become
           love; if it becomes love, fear disappears. It is the same energy! The same energy in a chaotic state is
           called fear; and when it becomes a cosmos, when it is in deep accord, it is called love. You still don't
           know that God is love.
           You say, "I know that God is love...."
               You have heard, but you don't know. This is information as far as you are concerned; it is not yet
           knowing, it is not your own authentic experience. And remember always that unless something
           becomes your own authentic experience, it is not going to transform you; hence the problem.
               You say, "I know that God is love, but then why am I so afraid of him?"
               You are bound to be afraid of him because you don't KNOW that God is love. You have been
           told by the priests for centuries that God is constantly watching you, that God wants you to be this
           way and not that way, that these are the ten commandments of God, follow them. And if you don't
           follow them, God has prepared for you a great hell. The father preparing hellfire for his own
           children? -- impossible, even to conceive.
               The priests have made God so ugly just to dominate people, because people can be dominated
           only through fear. Remember this: the whole trade secret of the priests, Hindu, Christian,
           Mohammedan, Jaina, Buddhist -- their philosophies differ but their trade secret is the same. That
           trade secret is: always keep people afraid, trembling. If people are afraid, they are ready to submit. If
           people are afraid, they are ready to be slaves. If people are afraid, they cannot gather courage to
           rebel. Fear keeps them impotent; fear is a psychological process of castration. For centuries it has
           been done: fear has been the greatest weapon in the hands of the priests and they have used it very
           liberally.

               The Goldbergs' son, Jake, refused to take school seriously. He never did homework and was
           constantly playing hooky.
               The principal suggested they send him to a Yeshiva. The Goldbergs did, but after a few weeks he
           was expelled.
               The Goldbergs knew that Catholic parochial schools were very strict, so they decided to send
           Jake to one. They enrolled him in Christ-the-King School for Boys, and warned their son to behave
           and to do his lessons, because this was his last chance. If he was thrown out now he would be sent to
           a school for delinquents.
               After a week of parochial school, Jake came home with terrific grades. Miraculously he had been
           converted into a well-behaved, serious student.
           "How come you changed all of a sudden?" asked Goldberg.
           "Well," he answered, "when I saw some man hanging on a cross in every room, I figured I had better
           not be a wise guy anymore."

               Make people afraid, keep them always trembling. Let them know that God is dictatorial, a very
           angry God, jealous, and is absolutely unable to forgive if you disobey. Disobedience is the greatest
           sin in the eyes of the priests; hence Adam and Eve were expelled. They had not done much of a sin.
           What had they really done? Nothing much to talk about, but priests have been talking about it for
           centuries. And God was so angry that not only Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of
           Eden, paradise -- with them the whole humanity!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You are suffering because Adam and Eve disobeyed. You have not done anything wrong; you
           are suffering for their sin because you are descendants. The sin is so great -- not only the persons are
           punished, but for thousands and thousands of years their descendants have to be punished too.
               And what was the sin really? Why is so much fuss made about it? It was so innocent, it was so
           natural, that I cannot conceive how Adam and Eve could have avoided it. If anybody is responsible
           for it, God himself is responsible. There were millions of trees in the Garden of Eden and there was
           only one tree which God did not want Adam and Eve to eat from -- only one tree, the forbidden. And
           the reason why it was forbidden also seems to be very ugly. The reason is: if you eat the fruit of the
           tree of knowledge, you will become like God and God is very jealous. Look at the reason why the
           tree was prohibited. The reason is that if you eat from the tree, from this tree, the tree of knowledge,
           you will become immortal, like gods. You will know as much as God knows -- and that is
           intolerable! So God has protected that tree especially for himself -- he must be eating from the tree
           of knowledge -- and prohibited Adam and Eve.
               Now this is exactly what every father goes on doing. He smokes and he prohibits the children:
           "Don't smoke -- this is bad. This is bad for you!" But because the father looks so beautiful smoking,
           the children become enchanted. They would also like to be like the father -- and he looks so manly
           when he is puffing on his cigar, he looks so proud! He never looks so proud as when he is puffing on
           his cigar, resting in his chair, reading the newspaper. The children become attracted. When the father
           is not there they also sit on the same chair, spread the same newspaper, although they cannot read,
           and start puffing. And it gives them great joy because it gives them great ego.
               In fact, to prohibit is to invite. To say to children, "Don't do it!" is to ask for trouble.

               I used to live with a family. There was a problem: the father was a smoker, a chainsmoker -- a
           very well-known professor in a university. And he was afraid: he asked me, "What to do?"
               I said, "Do one thing...." He had only one son growing up and he was afraid that sooner or later
           the son would start smoking. I said, "If you listen to me, the best way is to give the son cigarettes,
           offer him the cigarettes yourself and tell him to smoke as much as he wants."
               He said, "What are you saying? Are you mad or are you joking?"
           I said, "Then leave it to me -- I will manage it."
               I offered the son a cigarette. He said, "But you don't smoke."
               I said, "That is another matter -- don't you worry about me. But YOU learn! It is one of the most
           beautiful things in life!"
           He again asked, "But then why don't you smoke?"
               I said, "You leave me out of it -- I am not a very intelligent person. Look at your father! And if I
           am stupid, are you going to be stupid?"
               I had great difficulty in convincing him because the question he was again and again asking was,
           "You tell me to smoke, but why don't YOU smoke?"
           I said, "You try, then you will know!"
               So he tried, and he knew, and he threw the cigarette. And he said, "Now I know why you don't
           smoke. Then why did you insist? Then why did you try to convince me? It is nauseating, sickening!"
           He coughed and tears came to his eyes -- and that was that, and it was finished.
               And I told his father never to say to the child, "Don't smoke."

               Remember the ancient story of Adam and Eve. If I had been God I would have taken Adam and
           Eve to the tree of knowledge and would have forced them to eat to the point that they should have
           started vomiting, and that would have been the end of the whole story. But God told them not to eat
           from this tree. That was an invitation -- no serpent is needed.
               The serpent is an invention of the priests so that God can be avoided; the responsibility can be
           thrown on the poor serpent. The serpent is simply poor; the serpent has nothing to do with it, the
           serpent is absolutely innocent. Have you ever seen any serpent persuading any woman for anything?
           And why should the serpent be interested? If he wanted to eat, nobody was prohibiting him. Why
           should he seduce Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge? What is he going to gain if Eve and
           Adam become knowledgeable? No, the serpent is an invention so that the responsibility can be
           thrown on him.
               But if you go deep into the story it is simple: God is responsible. First you force an order on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people, and just your forcing creates a resistance in them, creates a great urge to disobey. Then
           disobedience is sin; the greatest sin is disobedience. And then you have to create hell and all kinds of
           punishments, and you have to keep people afraid.
               The story was invented by the priests to make man afraid. The priests never wanted man to
           become intelligent, because intelligent people are dangerous -- dangerous to the status quo, to the
           establishment, dangerous to the vested interests. The priests wanted the people to remain utterly
           ignorant, unintelligent. For centuries they did not allow people to read scriptures. In many religions
           women are still not allowed.
               And still a very deep conspiracy goes on. The conspiracy is that all the scriptures are in
           languages which are dead; nobody understands them, only the priests. Priests remained powerful for
           centuries because they were the only ones knowing. The scriptures were in ancient Sanskrit, Hebrew,
           Arabic, Greek, Latin -- ancient languages which are no longer spoken. There is even suspicion that
           there are a few languages which were never spoken. For example, Sanskrit seems to be one of the
           languages which has never been a spoken language. It has always been the language of the scholars,
           not of the people; of the pundits, not of the masses.
               In India there were two languages: one was called Prakrit; PRAKRIT means "the natural," that
           which is spoken by the people. And Sanskrit literally means "the refined," "the aristocratic," which is
           spoken only by the scholars and academicians in the universities. All the great scriptures were
           written in Sanskrit.
               It was left to Mahavira and Buddha to speak for the first time in the language of the people -- and
           the brahmins of India have never been able to forgive these two persons for that sin. To speak in the
           language of the people means the power of the priests is gone. If people become knowers, if they
           know what is written in the scriptures, they will not be so easily befooled. In fact, you can worship
           the Vedas only if you don't understand them. If you understand them, ninety-nine percent is just
           rubbish. One percent is pure gold, certainly, but ninety-nine percent is pure rubbish. But if you don't
           understand them, all is gold. In darkness, anything can be given to you with the words, "It is gold --
           worship it!" And for centuries the Vedas have been worshipped.
               Priests wanted you to worship the scriptures, not to understand them -- because if you understand
           the scriptures, sooner or later, one thing is going to become clear to you: that the scripture is not the
           real source. Sooner or later, you are bound to stumble upon the truth that, "Krishna is speaking from
           a meditative state, Christ is speaking from a meditative state. What he is speaking is secondary --
           from where he is speaking is primary. Unless I reach to that state of consciousness I will not be able
           to understand the words, because those words in themselves are empty; the meaning can only come
           through experience." Scriptures were prohibited; it was a sin.... Only the brahmins, the priests, the
           highest caste, were allowed to read them -- all over the world.
               The conspiracy still continues. Still the prayers are done in dead languages, you don't know what
           you are saying. How can you feel anything when you don't know what you are saying? How can it
           come out of your feeling and out of your heart? Your prayer becomes just like a gramophone record:
           ''His Master's Voice' -- a repetition. And you hope that by repeating dead rituals you will arrive
           somewhere. You will simply waste your life.
               And then great fear arises: "I don't know from where I come, who I am, where I am going. All
           around is darkness and darkness, infinite darkness, and not a single light in life." Then you have to
           go to the priest and bow down to him. You have to ask for guidance.
               This is the trade secret: keep people afraid. And you can keep people afraid only if you keep
           them ignorant. Let them remain trembling, then they will always be ready to touch your feet, ready
           to obey you -- because you represent God, and disobeying you is dangerous, very dangerous. They
           will be thrown in hell for eternity.

               Greenberg, shabbily dressed and carrying two paper bags, was stopped by a customs inspector.
           "What have you got in those bags?" the official asked.
           "I got twenty-five thousand dollars here, which I am bringing to Israel to donate."
           "C'mon," sneered the official, "you don't look like you got the price of a meal; how could you be
           donating twenty-five thousand dollars to the state of Israel?"
           "Well, you see, I had a job in a men's room, and when the men came in I said to them, ''Give to help
           Israel or I will cut off your balls.'"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Alright, so you got twenty-five thousand dollars in one bag, but what is in the other bag?"
           "Some men did not want to donate."

               That's what priests have been doing: destroying your guts, destroying your courage, destroying
           your self-respect, destroying your self-trust.
               Sudharma, you say, "I know that God is love, but then why am I so afraid of him?" You are still
           surrounded by the nonsense that priests have stuffed your head with; you are full of that rubbish. It
           takes time to get rid of it, it really takes a long time, because it has been going on for centuries. It has
           been such a long long, ugly history that it is a rare phenomenon to find a person who can escape out
           of it.
               My whole effort here is to help you to escape out of it. I am against the whole business of
           priesthood. I want you to stand face-to-face with God without any priests, without any priesthood.
           God is yours, you are God's; there is no need of any mediator. The function of the master is not to
           become a mediator between you and God. Just the contrary: the function of the master is to withdraw
           all that comes in between you and God. He himself at the last point withdraws; between you and
           your God he stands no more. He stands only to a certain extent, while other things are being
           removed. When everything else is removed, he removes himself; that is the last thing the master
           does.
               And the moment the master removes himself, he no longer stands between you and God, that is
           the moment you know that the whole existence is love. It is the stuff called love that the universe is
           made of.
               Jesus says: God is love. I say to you: Love is God. When Jesus says: God is love, it is possible
           God may be many more things too; love is only one attribute. When I say: Love is God, I say love is
           the ONLY quality. There is nothing else in God except love; in fact it is another name of love. You
           can drop the name "God," nothing will be lost. Let love be your God.
               But you will have to get rid of the priests. You will have to get rid of your so-called religions,
           churches, temples, rituals, scriptures. There is much garbage which has to be got rid of. It is a great
           work, because you have been told that this is very precious. The garbage has been imposed upon you
           as if it is gold and, because it has been told to you so many times, you have become conditioned.
               People become conditioned to seeing certain things. When there is a certain conditioning, you
           look at things through that conditioning and it appears like that.

               Two men were sitting under a tree; one was a Hindu, another was a Mohammedan. Birds were
           singing, it was a beautiful spring morning. They both listened for a time, then the Hindu said, "Can
           you hear? All the birds are resounding the sound aum. I can hear it. I have been practicing aum for
           thirty years, and now I have become capable of deciphering it very easily. All the birds are
           resounding with the same sound: the soundless sound, the ancient sound of the Hindus, OMKAR."
               The Mohammedan laughed and he said, "Nonsense! I have also been practicing my prayers. The
           birds are not saying aum, they are saying AMIN."

                Mohammedan prayers, Christian prayers, end with amin; Christians call it AMEN,
           Mohammedans call it amin. Hindu prayers end with aum. There is certainly a truth somewhere,
           partially expressed by all the three. When the mind becomes absolutely silent a certain sound is
           heard. If you are a Hindu you will interpret it as aum, if you are a Mohammedan as amin, if you are a
           Christian as amen, but nobody can say for certain what it is. In fact it can be interpreted in so many
           ways -- it is your interpretation that is imposed on it.
                If you ask a real mystic, one who is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian, he will say,
           "Sit silently by my side and listen. There is no need to interpret it at all, because whatsoever we say
           about it will be our imposition, it will be our idea imposed on the sound. Just listen, sit silently -- I
           am listening to it, you also listen. I know it, you will know it. There is no need to say anything about
           it."

           It is said, once it happened:
                A great mystic, Farid, met Kabir, another great mystic. For two days they sat silently together.
           Yes, sometimes they laughed, giggled for no reason at all, and sometimes they hugged each other
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and kissed, but not a single word was spoken. Almost a thousand people had gathered -- the disciples
           of both -- with great expectations that something will be communicated, and nobody wanted to miss
           such a great opportunity. Kabir saying something to Farid is bound to be something rare, or Farid
           saying something to Kabir is bound to be something which is only heard once in a century.
               But two days passed, and the disciples became fed up and bored. And the more they were bored,
           the more the mystics were giggling and laughing and hugging and kissing. And then the time of
           departure came; Farid had to leave. Kabir went out of the town to give him a farewell, just to say
           goodbye. They again hugged, they again giggled, and then they departed.
               The disciples of Farid followed Farid and the disciples of Kabir followed Kabir back home.
           When they were alone they asked, the disciples of Farid asked, "What went wrong? You are
           continuously talking to us -- what happened? Why did you become dumb? For two days why didn't
           you speak, and what is all this giggling?"
               Farid said, "There was no need to say anything, because I am hearing the same thing that he is
           hearing, I am seeing the same thing that he is seeing, so what is the point of saying anything to him?
           It would have been absolutely foolish on my part. When I can see he is hearing the same, seeing the
           same, being the same, we are encountering the same reality, what is the point of saying it?"
           Then they asked, "Then why did you giggle?"
               And he said, "We giggled because of you, because you were getting so bored! We were laughing
           at you. You had come to hear us talk -- you were foolish, you missed a great opportunity. Two
           masters were there, utterly silent; two pools of silent energy, two doors open simultaneously to God
           -- and you missed. And you wanted some words, some noise. You could have sat in silence, you
           could have become part of our silence. You could have fallen EN RAPPORT with us. You didn't do
           that -- you were bored, you were fed up, you were yawning. And just seeing you we giggled, we
           laughed at what kind of fools we have gathered!"

               Nothing can be said; when you know, there is no way to express it. But if you want to express,
           then the word that comes closest to God is ''love'. Even that is just approximate, but very close. And
           the word ''God' has become associated with wrong people, with wrong notions. In fact, many people
           feel offended the moment you utter the word ''God'. I have no attachment to that word; you can drop
           it.
               But remember love; I cannot tell you to drop that, because without love you will never reach
           God. Without God you can love, and God is bound to come in whether you know or not, whether
           you believe in God or not. Belief is not a requirement: love is an absolute necessity, a must.
           Sudharma, you have heard me say God is love. Experience it, and then all fear will disappear. And
           start dropping the priests and the centuries of wrong conditioning. They have made you afraid.
               In fact, priests are the enemies of God, because the more people are afraid of God, the less is the
           possibility of their knowing God ever -- because fear is a wall, not a bridge. Love is a bridge, not a
           wall. Of course, fear helps the priests to live and exploit you, but it deprives you of God. Priests are
           in the service of the Devil. If there is somebody like a Devil, then priests are in HIS service; they are
           not in the service of God.
               That's why so many religions are there, yet the earth remains irreligious, utterly irreligious; so
           many temples and so many churches and mosques, and yet you don't see the fragrance of religion.
           You don't see people's faces full of grace, their eyes full of silence, their feet dancing, their lives
           showing that God is. They may say that they believe in God, but their life says something else,
           totally different. Their life shows absolute irreligiousness; dishonesty, inauthenticity, insincerity,
           hate, anger, greed -- nothing of prayer, nothing of love, nothing of compassion, nothing of
           meditativeness.
               Sudharma, meditate, love -- and forget the priests, drive them out of your being. You are
           suffering from hang-ups.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A PESSIMIST?
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Shivananda, a pessimist is an optimist who has become frustrated with his optimism. He hoped
           too much and failed, he dreamed too much and could not achieve anything substantial.
                The pessimist is an optimist standing on his head; they are not different fellows -- that's what I
           want to make clear to you. Unless you have been an optimist you can never be a pessimist. First you
           have to become an optimist.
                And each child is brought up with great optimism. All parents think that they have great children.
           Ask any mother: she thinks she has the unique child; the most superior, rare, incomparable. Each
           mother brags about the child. Parents bring up children with great optimism that they are going to be
           Alexander the Greats or Jesus Christs or Gautam Buddhas.
                But slowly slowly life proves just the contrary. Slowly slowly, the child becomes aware of his
           ordinariness. He becomes aware that these great dreams, that these great ambitions, cannot be
           fulfilled. And by the time one is coming closer to forty, forty-two, pessimism starts settling -- gloom,
           darkness....
                Now medical science is aware that most heart attacks happen nearabout forty to forty-four,
           between those four years. Most people go mad between those four years, forty to forty-four.
           Psychologists, psychoanalysts, are aware that that is the most dangerous time. If you can remain sane
           beyond forty-four, that means you will remain sane. But many people fall flat.
                And don't think that if you are sane even beyond forty-four... that does not mean that you are
           very intelligent. It may only be that you are very dull and it takes a long time for you to understand.
           It may only be that you are very insensitive. It may only be that you are foolhardy, that you don't
           listen to life, what life is saying, that you go on hoping.
                But sooner or later, a person starts feeling that life has gone down the drain. Optimism turns sour
           and becomes pessimism. Optimism, that hopefulness, turns upside-down; a hopelessness settles in.
           Then everything looks dark and dismal. First you used to count the roses, now you start counting the
           thorns. First you used to say, "How beautiful this roseflower and what a miracle! It grows amongst
           thousands of thorns." You were poetic, you had some aesthetic sense; you still believed that life is
           going to be a fulfillment.
                But soon the day comes when the roses start fading away and you start counting the thorns, and
           you cannot believe in the roses anymore. You start saying, "It is impossible! The rose must be a
           dream, the rose must be MAYA, illusion, hallucination. How is it possible amongst thousands of
           thorns, how is a rose possible?" It looks contradictory, it looks illogical, it cannot happen in the
           nature of things. You start counting nights; before, you used to count days.
                The optimist says, "There are two days, and between two days just a small night to rest." And the
           pessimist counts the nights; he says, "There are two long nights -- nightmares, ugly dreams, tortures
           -- and just a small day sandwiched between the two." Life is the same: you can count the days or you
           can count the nights. If you count the days you are an optimist, if you count the nights you are a
           pessimist, but there is really no difference.
                The optimist can become a pessimist, the pessimist can become an optimist. They are not
           contraries; they are two points on the same spectrum.
                One has to go beyond both, Shivananda. A sannyasin has to go beyond both -- neither hope nor
           hopelessness. No need to count days, no need to count nights. Be a watcher! No need to count
           thorns, no need to count roses. Be a watcher....
                I don't teach you optimism. In the West it is very fashionable nowadays; it is called "positive
           thinking." That is a new name for optimism; the old name has become a little too out of fashion,
           out-of-date. The new name is positive thinking. I don't teach you positive thinking, because positive
           thinking carries the negative in its wake.
                I teach you transcendence -- neither positive nor negative. Be a watcher: witness both. When
           there is day, witness the day, and when there is night, witness the night -- and don't get identified
           with either. You are neither the day nor the night; you are the transcendental consciousness. Become
           more and more centered there in that transcendence.
                True religion is not positive, nor is it negative. It is neither via negativa nor via positiva; it is via
           transcendence.

              One September morning after Labor Day, Levin and Ostrow met for lunch. They had not seen
           each other for several months.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I have just lived through a summer I never thought I would see," said Levin. "June was a disaster --
           never have I seen a June like that. When July came, I realized that June was terrific, because with
           July I went right into the cellar. July was so bad...."
           "For heaven's sake!" interrupted Ostrow. "Why are you coming to me with these piddling matters?
           You wanna hear real trouble? I got it. Yesterday my only son came home, told me he is gonna marry
           another fella. My boy is a homosexual! What could be worse than that?"
           "I will tell you," said Levin, "August!"

               Just wait! There are people who are continuously looking for the negative -- and if you look for
           the negative you will find it, because the negative is there in the same proportion as the positive. If
           you look for the positive, you will find the positive. But by finding the positive you cannot destroy
           the negative; the negative is there, side by side. They are always together like negative and positive
           poles of electricity. You can't have electricity with one pole, you will need both.
               Life needs both: thorns and roses, days and nights, happiness/unhappiness, birth/death.
               Be a witness to it all and you will know something that is beyond birth, beyond death; something
           that is beyond darkness and beyond light; something that is beyond happiness, beyond unhappiness.
           Buddha has called it peace, nirvana.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I CANNOT TRUST ANYBODY. WHY?


               Sargam, I will just tell you a story. Meditate over it.
               The hired boy gets the youngest girl in the farmer's family to go out into the hayloft with him.
           She comes back and tells her sister, "Say, the hired boy sure knows some good tricks!"
               The sister goes out to the hayloft too, and comes back saying the same, followed by the mother,
           and finally the farmer himself who has heard his wife's remark that, "The hired boy certainly knows
           some tricks."
               When the boy sees the farmer coming, he thinks fast and begins doing cartwheels and acrobatic
           tricks all over the walls of the barn. The farmer watches him and then goes back and tells his
           assembled wife and daughters, "Guess you are right. That boy sure knows some fancy tricks."
           "God almighty!" cry the wife and daughters. "Did he fuck you too?"

               Sargam, meditate over it. If you can't trust anybody that means you must be deceiving others. It
           is not a question of others, it is a question of you. You must be deceiving, and if you are deceiving,
           how can you trust? You can trust only if you allow others to trust you.
               It is better to be deceived than to deceive, because if you deceive, you lose the greatest treasure
           of your life: you lose the capacity to trust. And let me repeat: the capacity to trust is the greatest
           treasure of life, because without it neither love is possible, nor prayer is possible, nor God is
           possible.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #3
                                        Chapter title: Be quick to do good
           24 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908240
              ShortTitle: DHAM403
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   Audio: Yes
                   Video:    No
                  Length: 113 mins




               BE QUICK TO DO GOOD.
               IF YOU ARE SLOW,
               THE MIND, DELIGHTING IN MISCHIEF,
               WILL CATCH YOU.



               TURN AWAY FROM MISCHIEF.
               AGAIN AND AGAIN, TURN AWAY,
               BEFORE SORROW BEFALLS YOU.



               SET YOUR HEART ON DOING GOOD.
               DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN,
               AND YOU WILL BE FILLED WITH JOY.



               A FOOL IS HAPPY
               UNTIL HIS MISCHIEF TURNS AGAINST HIM.
               AND A GOOD MAN MAY SUFFER
               UNTIL HIS GOODNESS FLOWERS.



               DO NOT MAKE LIGHT OF YOUR FAILINGS,
               SAYING, "WHAT ARE THEY TO ME?"
               A JUG FILLS DROP BY DROP.
               SO THE FOOL BECOMES BRIMFUL OF FOLLY.



               DO NOT BELITTLE YOUR VIRTUES,
               SAYING, "THEY ARE NOTHING."
               A JUG FILLS DROP BY DROP.
               SO THE WISE MAN BECOMES BRIMFUL OF VIRTUE.


               Once I was staying in Varanasi. A professor of the Hindu university came to see me. He asked
           me, "Do you believe in hell?"
               I said, "I don't need to believe in hell, because hell IS. Belief is needed when you don't see
           something as existent. Hell is so existential, hell is so much, so much present, there is no need to
           believe in it."
           He said, "Where is it?"
               I told him, "You live in it! You are born in it, you breathe in it, you will die in it -- if you don't
           make great effort to get out of it."

                Man is oblivious of the hell because he is born in it. It is all over the place; he is surrounded by
           it. Like a fish in the ocean, man lives in hell. The fish also never becomes aware of the ocean unless
           she is thrown out of the ocean by some accident or is caught by someone. Once separated from the
           ocean, for the first time the fish comes to know that she has been in the ocean all along.
                Unless you know something of paradise you will never become aware that you have been living
           in hell -- not only living in hell but creating it, helping it to be there, feeding it, strengthening it. You
           are its creator and you live in the world you create, and you can't live in any other world. The only
           place to live is the place that you create around yourself. And that which you create around yourself
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           first has to exist at the center of your being; only then can it become the circumference.
                The hell exists first at the center of your being, then it spreads, becomes a circumference. First it
           exists in you, as you, then it becomes your relationship, your world.
                Hell is not something geographical; it is something psychological. Hell is another name of a
           diseased mind, of a mind in anguish, turmoil, of a mind suffering nightmares, of a mind living
           basically in unconsciousness. The unconscious mind is what hell is all about, and the conscious mind
           is going beyond the hell.
                Don't believe in the old children's stories that hell is somewhere else; that too is a strategy of the
           mind to postpone. The mind always tries to postpone; it uses all methods, ways, and means to
           postpone things. It says, "Yes, hell is deep down below the earth, far far away. You need not worry
           -- it happens only after death. Right now, there is no question about it, no need to waste time about
           it. At the time of death, you can decide where to go. If you remember God you will go into heaven, if
           you don't remember God you will go into hell."
                And then you are living as if hell is somewhere else. It is herenow. ALL is herenow, hell and
           heaven both.
                A buddha lives in heaven. He walks along with you, he sits amidst you. He lives on this earth, in
           this very body, but for him it is a totally different experience. This very body the buddha, this very
           earth the lotus paradise -- that is HIS experience. That is the experience of all the buddhas, of all the
           awakened ones.
                But for you it is just a dream, a fiction, a mythology. For you: this very body the hell, this very
           earth the fire of hell. You can't see the lotus paradise -- you don't have the eyes to see it. Those eyes
           have to be created; those eyes are not given by birth. Only the potential is there; you have to grow
           them, you have to endeavor to achieve them, you have to become them. The seed is there but you
           have to find the right soil. And the basic strategy of the mind is to keep you deluded, to tell you that
           hell and heaven are all beyond, somewhere else.
                The function of the master is to bring you here and now again and again. The mind tries to slip.
           There are two possibilities for the mind to get away from the herenow: either to move in the past, in
           the memories -- the golden past and those golden days of Rama and Krishna, those beautiful days --
           or to move into the future, into some utopia, when there will be a classless society on the earth or
           there will be a paradise somewhere far away beyond the clouds. But it keeps you away from the
           present moment. And the present moment is the only reality there is; there is no other moment. It is
           always present.
                The past is no more, the future not yet. Whatsoever is, is the present. And mind takes you away
           from it in a thousand and one ways. It is always going on trips. The mind can only exist either in the
           past or in the future; the mind cannot exist in the present. Let this sink deep in your heart: the mind
           cannot exist in the present. If you are utterly herenow, the mind disappears and with the
           disappearance of the mind, there is no hell.
                The disappearance of the mind is what paradise is: to live in the present, without the mind. It
           does not mean to live in the present absentmindedly. When I say "without the mind" I don't mean
           absentmindedly -- just the contrary! To live consciously is to live without mind, to live without
           thoughts, but with great alertness. And you can live with great alertness only when thoughts have
           been dropped, because the energy involved in the thoughts is released, is available. You become
           overflowing with energy. Then you have a tremendous vitality, intensity, passion. Your life is not
           lukewarm; your life is such a flame that just to be for a single moment is enough. A single moment
           of that conscious intensity is longer than eternity itself.
                These sutras of Buddha are simple but immensely helpful for the seeker.

              BE QUICK TO DO GOOD.


               Mind will tell you continuously, "Postpone it. There is always tomorrow. Why be in such a
           hurry? You can do it tomorrow." And the tomorrow never comes. The person who postpones any
           good act for tomorrow is postponing it forever; he will never be able to do it. If you postpone it
           today, you are learning a habit of postponing. Today you say, "Tomorrow." You are creating a
           pattern of life, a style of life. Tomorrow will come as today again and the habit will say, "We will do
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it tomorrow."

           I have heard an ancient parable:
               A man worshipped God for many many years, and one day God appeared to him.
               He asked only for one thing. He said, "Give me something -- that's why I have been worshipping
           you -- something which can fulfill all my wishes. Whatsoever I ask should be fulfilled,
           immediately."
               God gave him a seashell, a beautiful seashell, and he said, 'You ask anything from this seashell
           and immediately, instantly, it will be fulfilled."
               He tried -- it was so. He was immensely happy. He asked for a big palace and it was there. He
           asked for beautiful women and they were there, and he asked for good food and it was there. Since
           that day he lived in absolute luxury.
               But one day everything got disturbed. A sannyasin, a wandering monk, stayed with the man. The
           wandering monk said to him, "I have heard about your secret, but that is nothing. I have also
           worshipped God, far longer than you, and you are a householder, I am a monk -- of course he was
           more gracious to me. He has also given me a big seashell. Look at this seashell. This is double the
           size of your seashell."
               It was. And the monk said, "Whatsoever you ask, the seashell gives you double. If you ask for
           one palace it makes two palaces for you. It always gives you double."
               Man's greed is such that the man became greedy. Now one seashell was enough; he could have
           asked twice or thrice, there was no problem. But a greedy man is blind -- greed IS blind. He became
           infatuated.
               He told the monk, "You are a monk, you have renounced the world, give your seashell to me and
           you can have my small seashell. For your purposes that is enough. I am a householder."
               So the seashells were exchanged. Early in the morning, after taking the bath, the man worshipped
           and asked the seashell to give him one lakh rupees. The seashell said, "Why one lakh? I can give you
           two lakhs!"
               The man was immensely happy. He said, "Good, give me two lakhs."
               The seashell said, "Why two lakhs? I can give you four lakhs."
               Now the man was a little puzzled, disturbed. He said, "Okay, give me four lakhs."
           The seashell said, "I will give you eight lakhs."
               And so on, so forth it went on -- but nothing was given! Promises and promises... and whatsoever
           he asked, the promise was doubled. He rushed to catch hold of the monk because in the morning,
           early morning, he was to leave. He had already left....

               This is a beautiful parable. That's how mind functions: the seashell of the monk -- tricky. It
           always goes on giving you great promises, but tomorrow, not today. And tomorrow never comes.
           And, slowly slowly, hoping becomes your very life, just hoping and waiting. And death comes... and
           no hope is ever fulfilled.
               Mind is very much afraid of doing good. Why is mind afraid of doing good? For two reasons.
           One: to do good is nonnourishing to the mind; mind is nourished by doing evil, by doing bad. For
           example, if you say no, mind is strengthened; if you say yes, mind is not strengthened. Hence mind
           is never interested in saying yes to anything. Mind is basically atheistic. It enjoys saying no; no is its
           power. Negativity is its food; it eats negativity. Positivity is its death.
               Try to say no and you start feeling powerful. Whenever you say no, whenever you can manage to
           say no, you feel powerful. Whenever you have to say yes you feel humiliated, as if something has
           been done against yourself. To say a total yes is to destroy the mind totally, and to remain in a total
           no is to remain in the mind, in the ego.
               The ego is another name of the mind. The ego is the center of the mind; nonego is the center of
           your being. At the very core of being there is no idea of "I"; but in the center of the mind, I, I, I....
           The only noise that goes on is that of the ego. The more you say no, the more you can feel your ego.
           "No" defines your ego.
               Watch -- and you will see the facticity of what I am saying. I am not propounding any theory; it
           is a simple statement of a fact of life. Observe -- it is not a question of believing or not believing --
           observe and you will know. Say yes, feel yes, and suddenly there is no ego.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The greatest good is saying yes to existence and life. That's what religion is. And the greatest no
           is saying no to God, to life, to existence; that gives you great power, but power to the ego.
                In fact, the ego is so cunning, the mind is so clever, that even religious people are deceived by it.
           Religious people go on saying no to life. They try to say yes to God, but the mind persuades them,
           "How can you say yes to God unless and until you have said no to life? Say no to life!"
                That's how the idea of renunciation arose: "Say no to your wife, your husband, your children.
           Say no to your family, say no to your society, say no to the world. Turn your back towards the world
           and escape into the Himalayas. Only then can you say yes to God."
                The cunning mind goes on deceiving even the so-called religious. Even the so-called saints and
           mahatmas are nothing but playthings in the hands of the ego. Ego is very subtle, very cunning; clever
           are its ways. Unless you are very intelligent you will not be able to get out of its clutches. You will
           get out from one point and it will catch hold of you from another point. You will throw it from the
           front door, it will come from the back door.
                The so-called saint feels greatly satisfied as far as the ego is concerned: he is a saint, he is holy;
           "holier-than-thou" is written all over his face. You will not find greater egoists anywhere than you
           will find in the monasteries. The popes and the SHANKARACHARYAS, the priests, those who
           have renounced everything, naturally they feel great, egoistic. They have renounced the world --
           what have YOU done? They have renounced money, power, prestige. But all this renunciation is
           nothing but a very clever game of the mind.
                The truly religious person is one who says yes to life because life is God's, who says yes to the
           earth because the earth is part of heaven, who says yes to the body because the body is only a shelter
           for the soul. And a beautiful shelter it is, a beautiful home it is, a beautiful servant it is. The really
           religious person knows how to say yes to all. His yes brings transcendence, his yes brings
           egolessness, his yes brings a state of no-mind.
                Look at it from another angle: if you say no, mind has immediately much to do. If you say no,
           you will have to find arguments to support your no. No means arguments, no means logic. The more
           you say no, the more you have to be argumentative. If you say yes, there is no need for any
           argument. Yes is a full stop; no is only a beginning of a logical process. The person who says no
           becomes more and more argumentative. The person who knows how to say yes to life, love,
           existence, becomes less and less argumentative.
                And to be less and less argumentative is to be more harmonious; to be more and more
           argumentative is to be more and more quarrelsome, violent. Argument simply means your mind is in
           a discord; no argument means the mind has attained a deep harmony. And out of that deep harmony
           is good; out of inner discord is evil. You do bad because you are divided. Whenever you are
           undivided, good starts happening through you; not that you have to do it -- it starts happening.
           Buddha says: BE QUICK TO DO GOOD.
                Why "be quick" -- do it immediately? Mind will say, "Tomorrow. Wait. Let us think about it."
           And thinking never comes to any conclusion, remember; thinking has never come to any conclusion.
           Ten thousand years of philosophizing and there is not a single conclusion in philosophy. They have
           not arrived at any truth; they are still continuing. The same arguments go on being repeated in
           different forms and different ways, and philosophy goes on moving in a vicious circle. The
           philosopher remains inconclusive, and to remain inconclusive your whole life means not to live at
           all.
                Life is possible only out of decisiveness, out of commitment, involvement; otherwise you are
           always a spectator, you never participate in anything. How can you participate unless logically you
           prove to yourself, to your heart's content, that this is so?

               It is said about Immanuel Kant, a great philosopher, that a woman had asked him that she would
           be immensely happy if he would accept her as his wife. She had to gather much courage to ask this,
           because Immanuel Kant was not a romantic person at all, very unromantic, absolutely unromantic.
           His life was not a life of spontaneity; he is an example of a mechanical life. His whole life he
           followed a certain routine religiously.
               At ten o'clock in the night he would go to bed; that means exactly ten, not one minute before, not
           one minute after. His servant... he had only one servant. Who else would agree to live with such a
           person? -- only a servant. His family deserted him; he was so mechanical, such a drain, such a drag
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on the whole family. The servant used to simply tell him the time -- not "Now go to sleep"; he would
           simply come and declare, "It is ten o'clock," and that was it. He would jump immediately into his
           bed. Even if there were visitors, he would not even say goodbye to them. He would go into the bed,
           under his blanket, and the servant would declare to the visitors, "Now you go please. He has gone to
           sleep."
                At exactly five o'clock he had to be dragged out of the bed. Sometimes it was too cold and he
           was too tired, but the routine had to be followed -- even if he was ill, the routine had to be followed.
           The servant was told that maybe sometimes he will feel weak, tempted to sleep a little longer, but he
           is not to listen. He has to be dragged out, even against his will. Even if he is saying, "No, I want to
           sleep," the servant has to pull him out. It sometimes used to be a fight, a quarrel. The servant had to
           beat him to bring him out of the bed -- that was his duty.
                The woman must have been rare! -- but you can always find crazy people everywhere. She must
           have been crazy to fall in love with this man. This man was not a man but a machine. And do you
           know what Immanuel Kant did? He listened to her and he said, "I will think it over." And he thought
           for three years! -- all the pros and all the cons. He wrote a long long treatise, what are the advantages
           of being married and what are the disadvantages. And finally he arrived at a very poor conclusion,
           almost not a conclusion at all. There was one point more in favor, and that was the point that by
           being married you will know what marriage is -- good or bad -- that you will know. That much is
           more in favor.
                So he went, knocked on the woman's door. The father opened the door and asked, "Why have
           you come?"
                He said, "I have decided, because one point more is in favor. There are three hundred points in
           all: three hundred against, three hundred and one for -- so I have decided to marry."
                The father laughed. He said, "It is too late. She is already married -- and not only married, she
           has a child too! You came a little late."

               But that's how philosophers function. I even wonder that he could reach a conclusion within
           three years. It is a miracle -- philosophers never come to any conclusion. It must have been a very
           nonphilosophic moment in which he arrived at the conclusion.
               Ten thousand years of history is enough proof: philosophy remains inconclusive. Philosophy
           knows only how to question -- no answers. Each answer in its turn becomes ten more questions.
               The mind is very happy to argue, to think. The mind is very unhappy to conclude, because once
           you conclude, mind is not needed. Conclusion means the death of the mind. If you have concluded
           about the ultimate truth, the mind has to commit suicide.
               The mind is very much afraid of saying yes and the mind is very much afraid of doing good,
           because the good can be done only in a state of egolessness. The good is a by-product of a state of
           no-mind. Try to understand it -- and when I say try to understand it I am not saying try to think it
           over. I am simply saying, listen from the heart, with a loving heart.
               These sutras can be understood only by the heart. They have come out of the greatest heart that
           has lived on the earth, and they can be understood only by the heart.
               BE QUICK TO DO GOOD. The mind is always quick in doing bad. If you want to be angry the
           mind never says, "Tomorrow," it says, "Do it right now." If you want to donate, if you want to give
           something to a poor man, the mind says, "Wait! First inquire whether he is really poor or he has a
           bank balance. And first look... he looks so healthy, why give to him?"
               Mind is miserly in sharing anything; sharing is very difficult for the mind. It hoards, it collects; it
           becomes, slowly slowly, a junkyard. It can't leave anything -- useful, useless, it goes on collecting.
           Who knows, whatsoever is useless today may become useful tomorrow.
               To do good means to share, to love, to serve, to be compassionate. And these are things which
           the miserly mind cannot do. But it will not say, "I don't want to do it," because that will not be very
           diplomatic. The diplomatic way is "tomorrow" -- postpone. Mind is a bureaucrat, and not an ordinary
           bureaucrat but a Russian bureaucrat.

           I have heard:
               At a disarmament conference in Geneva, an American delegate, stretching his legs under the
           table, accidentally bumped the knee of a Russian lady interpreter sitting directly across from him. He
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           smiled an apology.
               The lady neither spoke nor smiled. She turned to the communist diplomat next to her and asked
           him something. The diplomat turned to his superior and whispered something to him. The chief then
           got up, left the table and went to the phone center. The meeting was recessed.
               Two and a half hours later it was resumed. The ranking diplomat returned to the table, spoke to
           his assistant, who whispered something to the lady interpreter, who looked across at the American
           delegate and said, "Your place or mine?"

               This is direct from the Kremlin! This is how bureaucracy works, and this is how mind functions.
           It says, "Wait, let me think it over." And then it goes on and on to no end, and meanwhile it keeps
           promising you, "Wait! Tomorrow you can do it."
               But see: the same mind when it is a question of doing something wrong never tells you to
           postpone. It says, "Do it right now. Who knows about tomorrow? This man has insulted you -- hit
           him back, hit him hard! If a brick is thrown at you, answer with a rock!"
               Gurdjieff remembers that when his grandfather was dying -- he was only nine years old -- the
           grandfather called him. He loved the boy very much and he told the boy, "I don't have much to give
           to you, but departing from the world I would like to give you something. I can only give you one
           piece of advice that has helped me; it was given to me by my father, and he was also dying when he
           gave it to me. I am dying. You are too young, you may not be able to understand it right now, but
           remember, a day will come when you will understand. Whenever you find yourself capable of
           following my advice, follow it, and you will never be in misery. You can avoid the hell of life."
               And what was the advice? Just this sutra -- not exactly in these words. He said to Gurdjieff,
           "Remember one thing: if you want to do any bad thing, postpone it for tomorrow; and if you want to
           do something good, do it immediately -- because postponement is a way of not doing. And bad has
           not to be done, and good has to be done. For example," the old man said, "if somebody insults you
           and you feel angry, enraged, tell him that you will come after twenty-four hours and answer him."
               Gurdjieff remembers, "That advice transformed my whole life. Although I was too young, only
           nine years old, I tried it just out of curiosity. Some boy would insult me or would hurt me or would
           say something nasty, and I would remember my old dying grandfather and I would tell the boy, 'I
           will have to wait; I have promised an old man. After twenty-four hours I will answer you.'
           "And it always happened," Gurdjieff remembers, "that either I would come to conclude that he was
           right, that whatsoever he had said LOOKED nasty but it was true about me.... He was saying, 'You
           are a thief,' and that is true, I am a thief. He was saying, 'You are insincere,' and that is true -- I am
           insincere." So he would go and thank the boy: "You pointed out something true about me. You
           brought up a true facet of my being which was not clear to me. You made me more conscious about
           myself. I am immensely grateful."
               Or, after twenty-four hours' thinking, he would come to conclude that, "That man or that boy is
           absolutely wrong. It has nothing to do with me." Then there is no point in answer-ing; he would not
           go back to the boy. If something is utterly wrong, why become enraged? This is a big world, millions
           of people are there; you cannot go answering everybody, otherwise your whole life will be wasted.
           And there is no need either.
               This is half of the story. If you can postpone the bad for tomorrow you will be able to do the
           good immediately. And you will never repent -- because if you do bad immediately, you will repent
           tomorrow; if you do good today you will never repent, there is no question of repentance. This is a
           simple secret of transforming the hell that you live in into a lotus paradise.

              BE QUICK TO DO GOOD.
              IF YOU ARE SLOW,
              THE MIND, DELIGHTING IN MISCHIEF,
              WILL CATCH YOU.


               Don't be slow, be quick because mind is very quick; it moves faster than anything else. It moves
           faster than light! Physicists say nothing moves faster than light and of course, it seems impossible to
           move faster than light. Light moves one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles in one second -- in
           one second! But physicists have no idea of the mind yet. They don't yet have such sophisticated
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           instruments to measure the speed of the mind.
               Mind moves faster than light. You have to be VERY alert, otherwise mind is bound to ditch you
           somewhere. Before you become alert, mind will have already taken you somewhere far away. Mind
           is always ready to go on a trip, because it is only in trips that it feels alive.
               Meditation simply means sitting silently, doing nothing, not even thinking... and the mind
           disappears. Because you are not on any trip, the mind is no longer needed. Mind is a guide for great
           journeys. If you are going somewhere, mind is very happy; in your going somewhere the mind can
           feel enhanced. But if you are not going anywhere, just sitting silently, doing nothing, the mind feels
           very sad.
               And it will happen almost always to meditators that when the mind feels sad, it starts creating
           boredom for you; that is a strategy of the mind. The mind is saying, "Come on! Let us go
           somewhere, let us do something. Why are you sitting? Just sitting doing nothing brings boredom!"
               It is a trick of the mind! Otherwise, just sitting doing nothing will bring you more freshness.
           That's the experience of all the awakened ones -- but not yours. This is MY experience. In my room,
           what am I doing? Sitting silently, doing nothing... spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
           Nothing has to be done really -- the grass grows by itself. Life goes on by itself, life flows on by
           itself. You need not push the river.
               But in the beginning mind will create boredom; boredom is the mind's trick. The mind is saying,
           "Look, if you don't follow me you will feel bored. If you don't follow me you will feel utterly
           meaningless. If you don't follow me you won't have anything to enjoy. Come, come with me and I
           will take you to great entertainments."
               Mind is always bribing you by entertainments: put on the radio, put on the TV, go to the movie
           or at least to the club, gossip -- do something. Boredom is a punishment from the mind to you if you
           are not doing anything. And the greatest problem for the meditator is boredom.
               But if you can sit absolutely unconcerned about boredom -- let the boredom be there -- if you
           don't get disturbed by the boredom, within three to nine months' time the boredom will disappear.
           And instead of boredom there will come such a bubbling joy, such freshness, that you have never
           known before. And it is not entertainment because there is nothing: you are simply sitting in an
           absolute void. And out of that void, the plenitude, out of that void, a new kind of fulfillment....
           BE QUICK TO DO GOOD. IF YOU ARE SLOW, THE MIND, DELIGHTING IN MISCHIEF,
           WILL CATCH YOU. The mind delights in mischief. Why? -- because that is the only way it can
           live. They say that you cannot write a story about a really good man because there will be nothing to
           write. A story can be written only about a bad man. It is not accidental that Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus,
           are not even mentioned in your history books. No ancient history mentions them. Why? There is
           nothing to mention! They never killed anybody, they never did any nuisance; they were \as if they
           were not. They were so good as if they never existed!
               One of the names of Buddha is 'Tathagata'. TATHAGATA means: coming like a breeze, going
           like a breeze -- thus came, thus gone -- without disturbing anything, not even a dead leaf. A silent
           breeze slowly coming with no footsteps and then disappearing. Neither does the coming create any
           noise nor the going. It is as if you have drawn a line in water; you have not even made it and it has
           disappeared. It is like birds flying in the sky: they don't leave any footprints.
               But history is full of Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah, Alexander, Adolf Hitler, Mao
           Zedong. If you do more mischief there is more possibility of your name remaining in history. If you
           really want to be part of history, if you want to create history, do mischief. Politicians will remain in
           history because they are the greatest mischief-mongers.
               Mind is constantly in search of mischief; any opportunity and it cannot miss it. Even if there is
           no opportunity it will try to create an opportunity.

               A doorbell rings at a whorehouse. The madam opens the door and sees a man there with no arms
           or legs.
           "What are you doing at a place like this?" asks the madam.
               The cripple looks at her and says, "I rang the doorbell, didn't I?"

              No hands, no legs, but still he is ready to go to the whorehouse!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Berquist hid in the closet when Frank, the husband of his girlfriend, returned unexpectedly.
           While hanging up his coat, Frank spotted the Swede's balls between other garments.
           "What the hell are those?" he asked his wife.
           "Oh... eh... Christmas bells," she replied.
           "Let us hear their peal," said the husband. He gave them a terrific whack with his fist.
           A voice gasped, "Yingle, yangle! You sonofabitch!"

               Just look at people's lives. Watch yourself, watch others. Become a watcher, and you will be
           surprised: everybody is in search of some opportunity. And opportunities are there. People are
           waiting only for opportunities. If they are not doing some evil, that does not mean that they are good
           people; it may only be that the opportunity is missing. That is my own observation.
               When a politician is not in power he is a very good man, a public servant, humble; always ready
           to bow down and touch your feet; open hospitals and schools. And once he is in power, he is not
           even ready to recognize you and all that public service disappears. Once he is in power, he has
           opportunity; now he will do things that he always wanted to do but could not.
               This has happened in this country in such a crystal-clear way as it has not happened anywhere
           else. Before independence, just thirty years ago, all these politicians who have become a nuisance to
           the country were great public servants, great servants of the country, freedom-fighters. They
           sacrificed much, they lived simple, humble, poor lives, for the freedom of the country. Their lives
           were an example to be followed, they were ideals; they were worshipped by the people.
               And then came power -- and within seconds the whole thing changed. They became
           power-hungry, they became power-possessed. Their faces changed, their masks disappeared. Now
           the opportunity was there.
               Lord Acton has said: Power corrupts. I agree and I don't agree. Yes, superficially it seems that
           power corrupts, but if you go deep into its analysis it is not power that corrupts -- the person has
           been corrupted always. Power only gives opportunity; power cannot corrupt. If you are corrupted,
           then power gives you an opportunity to do that which you always wanted to do but were not able to
           do.
               People think it is money that corrupts people. No, money simply gives opportunity. Poor people
           look so good; it is not so. Just let them become rich and then see... all their goodness disappears. In
           fact the newly rich people are far more dangerous than those who are born rich, because those who
           are born rich are accustomed to riches.

               It is said about a prime minister of a king that he accumulated much wealth illegally, behind the
           king's back; that he became the richest man in the country. Then the king came to know about it.
               He called the prime minister and he said, "You have served me well so I cannot punish you
           because of your services and your devotion, but you have been cheating and you have been
           accumulating illegal wealth. I will not punish you -- you please resign and leave my country and go
           wherever you want to go."
               The prime minister said, "Before I leave I would like to suggest one thing. Now I have all that I
           need, in fact more than I need, if you appoint another man your prime minister, he will have to
           accumulate wealth again. He will harm you more. Now I need not harm you at all."
               And it is said the king understood the point. He didn't throw the man out. He said, "That's right,
           you have already done whatsoever you could, so why bring a new person? And he will go through
           the whole process again, that is true."
               Let a poor man become rich and then see what happens: all his simplicity is gone, all his
           humbleness is gone.

               A man had a talking dog. One day when he was thirsty he went into a bar with his dog and made
           a bet with the bartender that if his dog could talk he would get a free beer.
               The bartender agreed, knowing that there was no such thing as a talking dog. He asked the dog
           what kind of beer his master liked.
           "Budweiser," replied the dog, and the startled bartender paid up with the beer.
               Then the three of them -- the man, the bartender, and the dog -- got caught up in an animated
           conversation. The dog ate peanuts while the men drank. At one point the bartender said that he had a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           headache but had run out of aspirins.
           "Does your dog run errands?" he asked.
           "Sure," replied the man. So the bartender gave the dog five dollars and sent him off to the store for
           some aspirins.
               The dog didn't come back. The men waited and waited but as no dog came, his owner went out
           looking for him. He walked the city until he spied the dog in a dark back alley humping another dog.
           "My God!" exclaimed the owner. "What the hell are you doing? This is the first time you have ever
           done this kind of thing!"
           "I know," panted the still humping dog. "I have always wanted to, but I have never had the money
           before!"

               It is not power that corrupts. Power brings your corrupted unconscious to the surface, power
           brings your intrinsic evil into action. Power exposes you, power does not corrupt you. Power is a
           good thing in a way: it exposes people. It is like an X-ray: it shows your reality, your naked truth.
               THE MIND, DELIGHTING IN MISCHIEF, WILL CATCH YOU. Remember it: the mind is
           very quick. If you don't do good IMMEDIATELY -- the moment the idea of good arises in you, if
           you don't do it immediately, the mind is going to deceive you, to take you astray, to convince you to
           do something else.

              Feingold immigrated to America and after many years of hard work became a very wealthy man.
           Now on his deathbed, with his wife Sarah standing by, he started to dispose of his worldly
           possessions.
           "My Cadillac with the pushbutton-motorcycle-cop-detector I leave to my son, Sam."
           "Better you should leave it to Joe," said his wife. "He is a better driver."
           "Alright," he whispered. "My Rolls Royce I bequeath to my daughter, Linda."
           "You better give it to your nephew, Willie," Sarah interrupted. "He is a very conservative driver."
           "Alright, give it to Willie. My twelve-cylinder Jaguar I give to my niece, Sally."
           "Personally, I think Judy should get it."
              Feingold raised his head and shouted, "Sarah, please! Who is dying, you or me?"

              If you wait, the mind is going to give you suggestions, "Do this, do that." Do the good
           immediately -- why wait? And who knows? -- the next moment will never come; this may be the last
           moment. Act as if this is going to be the last moment! Act with that urgency, because death can
           overtake you any moment. Don't listen to the mind. Mind can go on and on postponing things and,
           before mind allows you to do anything, death may have knocked you down. Do good, because doing
           good immediately brings joy.

              TURN AWAY FROM MISCHIEF.
              AGAIN AND AGAIN, TURN AWAY,
              BEFORE SORROW BEFALLS YOU.


               Because if you do mischief, sorrow is going to follow you like a shadow. It is not that there is a
           God sitting somewhere who punishes you when you do something wrong; the wrong itself is the
           punishment, it carries its punishment intrinsically.
               That's the whole idea behind the theory of karma. There is no need for any God to judge, to
           punish, to reward. And just think: if there was a God to judge every person and every person's every
           act and then dispose accordingly -- punishments to a few, rewards to others -- that kind of God
           would have gone mad long ago!
               No, there is no God disposing rewards and punishments -- that idea is childish. There is a law,
           not a God, a law like gravitation. If you don't walk rightly, if you are too much drunk, you are bound
           to fall somewhere. Not that God orders, "Fall!" -- the law of gravitation is enough. If you don't walk
           rightly you are bound to fall. The law of gravitation takes care of it. If you walk alert, consciously,
           you don't suffer.
               Exactly like that, karma is a scientific law: the law of action. Whatsoever you do has its intrinsic
           reward or punishment. When you are angry, it is not that you will suffer in your next life. When you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are angry, WHILE you are angry, you are suffering; there is no need for another life to give you
           punishment. While you are angry you are in a fire, you are poisoning your whole body, you are
           poisoning your whole system.
           Anger is poison.
               It may hurt the other, it may not -- it depends on the other -- but it is going to hurt you, certainly.
               If you insult a buddha it is not going to hurt him, but before you can insult a buddha you will
           have to go through much inner turmoil.

                A man came and spat on Buddha's face. Buddha wiped his face and asked the man, "Do you want
           to say something more, or is this all?"
                Ananda, his disciple, became furious, naturally. This man comes, Buddha has not done anything
           to this man, and he spits on the master. Inconceivable! Ananda said to Buddha, "Bhagwan, just give
           me permission so that I can show this man. He needs to be punished!"
                Buddha said, "Ananda, you have become a sannyasin, but you go on forgetting it. And that poor
           man has suffered already too much. Just look at his face, look at his eyes, bloodshot. Look at his
           body, trembling. And before spitting on me, do you think he would have been celebrating and
           dancing and singing? The whole night he has not slept; the whole night he was in an insane state.
           Spitting on me is just the outcome of that insanity. Feel compassion for the poor man. What more
           punishment? Is it not enough? And what harm has he done to me? I just had to wipe it. It's so simple.
           And don't you get agitated, otherwise you are behaving foolishly. For his wrong, you are punishing
           yourself -- this is foolishness!"
                See the point -- of tremendous significance. Buddha says, "HE has done something wrong. Why
           are YOU punishing yourself, Ananda? I can see you are boiling! If I were not here to prevent you,
           you would kill this man! You are getting insane in the same way he was insane."
                That man listened to this whole dialogue. He was puzzled, perplexed; he was not expecting
           Buddha to behave in such a way. He was thinking he would be furious, angry; that's what he wanted.
           Failing in it he felt very humiliated. It was so unexpected, the compassion and the love that Buddha
           showed.
                And Buddha said to him, "Go home, take a good rest. You are looking tired, you have punished
           yourself enough. Forget all about spitting -- it has not harmed me. How can it harm me? And this
           body is made of dust. Sooner or later, it will fall into dust and people will be walking on it, spitting
           on it, and all kinds of things will happen on this body. People will defecate, urinate.... You have not
           just done anything very dangerous. Go home, take a good rest."
                The man went home. For the first time he was absolutely puzzled: so unexpected was the
           response of Buddha, he could not understand it. He cried, he wept. He came back by the evening, he
           fell at Buddha's feet, and he said, "Forgive me!"
                Buddha said, "There is no question of me forgiving you, because I was not angry in the first
           place. How can I forgive you? But it is good -- you look more calm and quiet. I am happy. I cannot
           forgive you, sorry, because I was not angry in the first place. But I am happy, tremendously happy,
           seeing that you have become reconciled, seeing that you have attained to a harmonious state, seeing
           that you are sane again. Go happily, and remember it: never do such acts again, because that's how
           you go on creating hell for yourself."

               TURN AWAY FROM MISCHIEF. AGAIN AND AGAIN, TURN AWAY, BEFORE SORROW
           BEFALLS YOU. Many many times the mind will suggest to you, "Do this, do that." Many many
           times you are bound to forget. Many many times you will not be able to remember what Buddha has
           said, what I am saying to you. So you will have to remember again and again. Slowly slowly the
           remembrance will settle, will become a light in your being. Then you will not be expected to
           remember; it will be simply there. It will fall on your path as a beam of light. It will show you the
           way; it will help you to avoid the pitfalls. And once remembering settles deep inside you and
           mischief becomes impossible, evil becomes impossible, and good becomes natural, spontaneous, you
           have entered into the lotus paradise.
               It is not somewhere else -- it is here. It is a change of your attitude, of your vision. Nothing else
           changes in the world, everything remains the same, but you are no longer the same. Not that you are
           transported to another world -- the same world continues, but your vision is no longer the same. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           look at the same things in a new way, with a new style. That style is sannyas, that way is sannyas.

              SET YOUR HEART ON DOING GOOD.
              DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN,
              AND YOU WILL BE FILLED WITH JOY.


              Shift your consciousness from the head to the heart. Mind wants to do mischief, it lives out of
           mischief; and the heart wants to do good, it lives, nourishes through it.
              SET YOUR HEART ON DOING GOOD. Notice the difference! Now he is not saying set your
           MIND on doing good. Mind cannot be set on doing good; even if you try to do good through the
           mind you will do evil, you will do bad. It is not within the capacity of the mind to do good.

               You can see it happening all over the world. The scientists wanted to do good; that's why they
           worked for years, researched, and found the source of atomic energy. Albert Einstein wanted to do
           good. He wrote a letter to the American president, Roosevelt, saying that "Now atomic energy is
           available and atomic bombs can be made. And just by making atom bombs America will be so
           powerful that there will be no need to fight. Just the power will be enough -- enemies will become so
           afraid that Hitler and Tojo and Mussolini will surrender on their own accord."
               This is what a logical mind thinks. But life does not follow logic, life does not follow mind.
           Albert Einstein repented his whole life, because deep down he felt he was responsible for Hiroshima
           and Nagasaki. He had written the letter... and the politicians immediately jumped on the discovery.
           And once the power reached into the politicians' hands, they didn't care; then they would not listen to
           Albert Einstein. Then who cares? -- now the power is in their hands.
               And do you know, in fact, those who specialize in war matters say that Nagasaki and Hiroshima
           were not needed at all. Japan was going to surrender within a week; it was only a question of one
           week more. And if you had tolerated the war for years, what was the hurry? But America wanted to
           show its power to the world.
               Politicians are very juvenile, childish. In fact, if a person is not juvenile and childish he will not
           be a politician in the first place. When you have something, you want to show it to the world;
           otherwise what is the point of having it? One hundred thousand people were killed in Hiroshima
           within five seconds, for no other reason than to show the world that America has the atom bomb.
               Albert Einstein lived and died in deep repentance. When he was dying somebody asked, "If God
           is going to give you another chance, what are you going to do, what are you are going to be? Would
           you again be a scientist, a physicist, so that you can continue your incomplete work?"
               Einstein opened his eyes and said, "No, never! Rather than being a physicist I would like to be a
           plumber. Enough is enough!"

               Science is a mind endeavor, mind effort; hence science has created great power. But the power is
           turning against man himself. Science has destroyed the whole ecology, it has destroyed the whole
           planet. It is destroying man -- and in the name of good! And scientists think they are great servants
           of humanity, they are helping humanity to grow, evolve, to become more and more powerful. They
           are simply creating a situation in which this planet will become almost impossible to live on. They
           are creating a situation where the whole humanity can commit suicide. They can destroy this whole
           planet... because the whole effort is out of the mind.
               We need science which is rooted in the heart and not in the mind. We need a totally different
           kind of science which is rooted in meditation and not in concentration. We need a totally new quality
           to science: the quality of religion.
               Unless science has the flavor of religion, meditativeness, love, unless it arises out of the heart, it
           is not going to become a blessing to humanity or to the world. It is going to be a curse --
           notwithstanding what the scientists think they are doing. They think they are doing great work, great
           humanitarian work. They are sacrificing their lives for the sake of humanity. And I am not saying
           that they are insincere people -- they are sincere people, but their orientation is wrong.
               Buddha immediately changes the word. First he uses the word 'mind'. Now he says: SET YOUR
           HEART ON DOING GOOD. DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND YOU WILL BE FILLED
           WITH JOY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Joy is a by-product just as sorrow is a by-product. Sorrow follows like a shadow when you do
           something wrong and joy follows like a shadow when you do something good. Let these be the
           criteria. If you are in misery, remember -- you must be doing something wrong.
               But people are very cunning, their minds are very cunning. If you are in misery the mind says,
           "Others are doing wrong to you, that's why you are in misery." It is not so -- NOBODY can make
           you miserable. Yes, they can kill you, but nobody can make you miserable. You can kill me but you
           cannot make me miserable. I will die in the same blissful state in which I am living. There will be no
           difference at all. You can poison me but you cannot poison my consciousness. You can destroy the
           body -- which is going to be destroyed anyway sooner or later -- but you cannot destroy ME. That is
           beyond destruction.
               Nobody can make you miserable and nobody can make you blissful. It all depends on you, it
           depends totally on you. You are responsible for your misery and you are responsible for your joy.
           Take this responsibility, accept this responsibility. To accept this responsibility totally, one hundred
           percent, is to become a religious person, is to be initiated into what I call religion.
               The politician always throws the responsibility on the other and the religious person takes the
           responsibility totally upon his own shoulders.

              A FOOL IS HAPPY
              UNTIL HIS MISCHIEF TURNS AGAINST HIM.
              AND A GOOD MAN MAY SUFFER
              UNTIL HIS GOODNESS FLOWERS.


                To remind you, Buddha says that sometimes you may see a mischievous person very happy, and
           vice versa: sometimes you may see a good man very unhappy. But don't be deceived by the
           appearances. A FOOL IS HAPPY UNTIL HIS MISCHIEF TURNS AGAINST HIM.
                It takes a little time. If you sow the seeds, it will take a little time for them to grow and bring
           fruit. Evil may taste sweet in the beginning but always proves to be poisonous in the end. And the
           good act may not appear so sweet in the beginning because it takes time for it to flower, it takes a
           little time for it to release its fragrance, but in the end it is always sweet.
                Buddha has said: If you see a mischievous person happy, just wait a little; soon, sooner or later,
           you will see that he has dug a grave for himself. And if you find a good man in misery, don't be
           worried: it is just the uphill task. When you are moving uphill it is a little difficult, arduous; you
           perspire, you feel tired, but once you have reached the top you can relax and rest.
                But fools go on thinking that they are happy because of their mischief. You will be surprised to
           know that people are very unintelligent in looking into the deep causes of their lives.
                In a primitive tribe in Africa, even up to now it is believed that the birth of a child has nothing to
           do with lovemaking, with intercourse -- because the gap is nine months. For centuries they have
           been giving birth to children, but they have not connected the cause and effect yet. They think the
           child is born because of God's grace or the religious ritual that the priest has done on their behalf.
           When they came to know for the first time that the whole world thinks differently, they laughed; they
           thought the whole world foolish. What does lovemaking have to do with childbirth? -- because every
           time you make love you don't get a child.
                It looks logical! And you make love today and the child comes after nine months -- and those
           primitive people don't have any calendar yet, any clock; they cannot count time. Nine months is
           incalculable; they don't know how much time has passed, so they have never been able to connect
           cause with effect.
                And this is the situation about evil and its absolutely inevitable result, sorrow. You may do evil
           today, and it is very good and everything looks beautiful, and you can't see any bad thing resulting
           out of it. And deep down you know all these buddhas are wrong -- where is the law of karma?
                Many times people come to me and they say, "We see that evil people are prosperous. Why? And
           we also see that good people are suffering. Why? That is proof enough that there is no God, that is
           proof enough that there is no law of karma. That is proof enough that might is right, whosoever is
           powerful is right." It is not so. Just one needs a little patience. But fools have their own logic --
           foolishness has its own logic, remember.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Gilligan, Frizzoli and Lieberman were telling how they were mistaken for great men.
               The Irishman said, "I was walking along the street and a fella yelled, 'Hello, Saint Patrick!'"
               The Italian said, "That's nothing. I was standing on a corner, a man passed and said, 'Hello,
           Mussolini!'"
           "That's nothing," said the Jew. "As I walked across the park this morning, a policeman yelled at me,
           'Jesus Christ, get off the grass!'"

               The fool has his own logic. In fact the fool may be more logical -- at least appear more logical --
           than the wise man, because the wise man will be paradoxical.
               Buddha says: Remember that it takes a little time for seeds to grow into sprouts, become trees.
           Wait for the spring, and then the flowers come.
               A FOOL IS HAPPY UNTIL HIS MISCHIEF TURNS AGAINST HIM. It always turns against
           the fool, it is BOUND to turn. It is a natural law, it cannot be avoided, you cannot escape it.

               Zimmerman, on a business trip to Tokyo, was having lunch with a Japanese friend.
           "You Americans don't know how to make love," said the Oriental. "In Japan we go to bed with wife,
           begin to make love; after a few minutes we stop, get up for cup of hot tea. Then go back to bed,
           make love for ten minutes, then get up and have a bowl of rice. Then make love some more, get up,
           take bath together. Then we finally finish the act."
               Two weeks later, back in Brooklyn, Zimmerman got into bed with his wife and began making
           love to her. Suddenly he stopped and said, "Let us have a glass of tea."
           "Are you crazy?" she said.
           "Come on," he insisted. Soon they were back in bed and after a little while he stopped and said,
           "Now we are gonna have a pastrami sandwich."
           "Are you nuts?" exclaimed his spouse.
               They got back into bed and after a few minutes Zimmerman said, "Now we are gonna take a bath
           together."
               When they finished the Jewish couple went back to the bedroom and wound up their lovemaking.
           "Well," said Zimmerman, "what did you think of that?"
           "Wonderful," replied his wife. "But where did you learn to screw like a Jap?"

               You can go on believing that you are very wise but if you are a fool, you are a fool. Your belief
           is going to be destroyed sooner or later by life itself. Life knows no exceptions. And this is one of
           the most fundamental laws. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the eternal law: that the evil
           person is bound to suffer sooner or later, and it is going to be sooner rather than later; and the good
           man is going to be blessed by all the blessings of existence.

              DO NOT MAKE LIGHT OF YOUR FAILINGS,
              SAYING, "WHAT ARE THEY TO ME?"
              A JUG FILLS DROP BY DROP.
              SO THE FOOL BECOMES BRIMFUL OF FOLLY.


              Don't make light of your failings. Don't say, "This is a small thing. Just a small thing can't be of
           much consequence." But drop by drop you can create the whole ocean! The ocean is nothing but an
           accumulation of drops, so you have to be aware in each single act; in all the details of your life you
           have to be alert and aware.

              DO NOT BELITTLE YOUR VIRTUES,
              SAYING, "THEY ARE NOTHING."
              A JUG FILLS DROP BY DROP.
              SO THE WISE MAN BECOMES BRIMFUL OF VIRTUE.


              Remember, life consists of small things, there are no big things. Small things accumulated
           become big things. A single act may not look very significant either as evil or as good. A single
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           smile may not look very significant, but a single smile is part of a long process. A single flower is
           not the garland, certainly, but there will be no garland if there are not single flowers put together.
               Do not belittle your failures, do not belittle your good acts. Each and every act is significant: if it
           is bad you are going to suffer; if it is good you are going to enjoy life. And to enjoy life is the only
           way to know that God is. It is only in blissfulness that the proof comes that God is. There is no
           logical proof for God, but when you are overflowing with joy, when you can dance with joy, in that
           dance a gratitude arises on its own accord. A thankfulness, a prayer, is born, and in that prayer you
           are reborn. In that prayer not only are you reborn, God is born too.
               Life consists of small things, and you have to transform each small thing through your
           awareness, watchfulness, alertness, into a beautiful act. Then ordinary things can become
           extraordinary.

              A Zen monk was asked, "What did you use to do before you became enlightened?"
              He said, "I used to chop wood and carry water from the well."
              And then he was asked, "What do you do now you have become enlightened?"
              He said, "I chop wood and carry water from the well."
              The questioner was puzzled. He said, "There seems to be no difference then."
              The master said, "The difference is in me. The difference is not in my acts, the difference is in
           me -- but because I have changed, all my acts have changed. Their significance has changed: the
           prose has become poetry, the stones have become sermons, and matter has completely disappeared.
           Now there is only God and nothing else. Life now is liberation to me, it is nirvana."

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                     Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: Truth is very simple
           25 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908250
              ShortTitle: DHAM404
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DOES ENLIGHTENMENT FEEL LIKE?


              Prem Geetam, enlightenment is not a thought nor a feeling. In fact, enlightenment is not an
           experience at all. When all experiences have disappeared and the mirror of consciousness is left
           without any content, utterly empty; no object to see, to think about, to feel; when there is no content
           around you; the pure witness remains -- that is the state of enlightenment.
              It is difficult, almost impossible, to describe it. If you say it feels blissful, it gives a wrong
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meaning to it -- because bliss is something contrary to misery and enlightenment is not contrary to
           anything. It is not even silence, because silence has meaning only when there is sound; without the
           contrast of sound there is no experience of silence. And there is no sound, there is no noise. It is not
           the experience of one, because what can "one" mean when only one is left? One can have meaning
           only in comparison with the other, with many. It is not light because it is not darkness. It is not sweet
           because it is not bitter.
                No human word is adequate to express it, because all human words are rooted in duality... and
           enlightenment is a transcendence; all duality left behind.
                That's why Buddha says it is SHUNYA. When he says it is shunya, void, emptiness, he does not
           mean that it is emptiness; he simply means it is empty of all content.
                For example, a room can be called empty if all furniture has been removed, not a single thing is
           left inside -- you will call the room empty. It is empty of all that it used to contain before, but it is
           also full -- full of emptiness, full of roominess, full of itself. But nothing can be said about its
           fullness, its plenitude, because human language has no word for it. We have been trying for centuries
           to call it God, to call it nirvana, to call it moksha, but all words somehow fail.
                It is difficult to translate something from prose to poetry, more difficult to translate from poetry
           to prose, because prose is on a lower level, poetry is on a higher level. It is difficult to translate from
           one language to another language, although all languages exist on the same plane. Why is it difficult
           to translate? -- because there are subtle nuances to words. Those nuances are lost in translating, and
           those are the real things.
                This is impossible: to translate something for which no word exists, to translate something that is
           transcendental into the languages which belong to the world of duality. It is like talking about light
           with a blind man; talking about beautiful music to one who cannot hear, who is deaf; talking to a
           person who is suffering from fever and whose taste is lost about "sweet." The taste of sweetness is
           meaningless; he has lost all taste. But a little bit is possible because he used to taste before; he can
           remember.
                But you cannot even remember when you used to taste God; you have completely forgotten the
           taste. Maybe in your mother's womb there was some experience similar -- maybe not exactly the
           same, but similar.
                I cannot tell you what it feels like, but I can show you the way. I can push you into the abyss...
           that is the only possibility. You can also taste it, and then you will become as dumb as I am, you will
           become as dumb as all the buddhas have been.
           Just try to see the point of translating.

               Rabindranath was given the Nobel Prize for his book GITANJALI. He had written it in his own
           mother tongue, Bengali. It has a different beauty in Bengali. Bengali has a music to it; it is one of the
           most beautiful languages in the world. It has a certain flavor of the heart. Its very constitution is
           poetic, it is MADE of poetry, the language itself. Hence GITANJALI in its original form is an
           altogether different experience.
               Rabindranath himself translated it into English, but he felt very miserable. For years he tried. He
           knew English perfectly well, but he could see the difference -- the difference was vast. While the
           original was somewhere on Everest, the translation was just on the plains; the difference was vast. In
           translation something was lost, something which was really precious.
               He asked a very famous Englishman, C.F. Andrews, to help him. Andrews was enchanted with
           the beauty of the book, because he knew nothing of the original. That's why you are enchanted with
           the words of buddhas, because you don't know anything of the original. If you knew anything of the
           original then the words of the buddhas would look just rubbish compared to the original; compared
           to those virgin peaks of the Himalayas the words will look mundane, of the marketplace. They ARE
           of the marketplace, they are meant for the marketplace.
               Andrews was enchanted. Rabindranath said, "But I have shown you the book to help me."
               Andrews suggested only four corrections; they were grammatical. Each language has its own
           grammar. He said, "These four words you change; they are a little bit grammatically wrong."
               Rabindranath immediately changed those words. Then he went to England. In a poets' gathering
           -- a great English poet, Yeats, had called a gathering of the poets, the critics, and the people who
           love poetry, to listen to Rabindranath's GITANJALI -- Rabindranath read the poetry. They were all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fascinated; it was something superb, something rarely known in the West, because it has the same
           quality as the Upanishads. If you have read Kahlil Gibran... it has the same quality.
               But Yeats stood up and said, "Everything is perfectly right except that in four places something
           is wrong."
               Those were exactly the four words that were suggested by C.F. Andrews.
               Rabindranath said, "I am puzzled, surprised, I cannot believe it. These are the words suggested
           by C.F. Andrews. They are more grammatical. My own originals were these...."
               Yeats said, "Your original words are right. Although they are not grammatical they have poetry
           in them, a flow. These words suggested by Andrews are grammatically right" -- Andrews had the
           mind of a schoolmaster -- "but they are like rocks in the path of a stream; they don't help the flow.
           You be UNgrammatical, because poetry can afford to be nongrammatical, but poetry cannot afford
           not to be flowing. The flow has to be maintained; the greater the flow, the better the poetry."

              Even in the ordinary world, from one language to another language, it is such a problem....
           "Name?" queried the immigration official.
           "Sneeze," replied the Chinese proudly.
              The official looked at him: "Is that your Chinese name?" he asked. "Sneeze?"
           "No, Amelican name."
           "Then, let us have your native name."
           "Ah Choo."

           Now "Ah Choo" becomes "Sneeze"....
                In ordinary languages, too, translation is a very difficult phenomenon, one of the most difficult
           arts; and the greater the poetry, the more difficult it is. The greatest poetry remains untranslated.
                But to talk about enlightenment is impossible, for so many reasons: no content which can be
           talked about; nobody as an ego to feel, to say, to describe. The object disappears, and with the object
           the subject disappears, remember, because they are part of a duality -- object and subject -- they are
           together. If there is no object, the subject disappears immediately. That's why Buddha says it is a
           state of ANATTA, a state of no ego, of no I. No content, no watcher... then what is left? The whole
           is left, the total is left! But that total can only be pointed at, not described, not defined.
                And my whole effort here is to help you towards that existential state. But don't ask how it feels.
           There is nobody to feel it, there is nothing to feel it; there is nothing to be felt either. An absolute
           silence... and a silence which is not in contrast to sound. A pure love, but a love that knows nothing
           of hate. Fullness, but a fullness which is utterly empty. That's how words become useless, and
           mystics' statements look very paradoxical.
                Ludwig Wittgenstein has said: Nothing should be said if the experience is inexpressible -- if it
           cannot be said then it should not be said. But that too is a problem. The mystic cannot agree, I cannot
           agree. It cannot be said, yet efforts have to be made. No effort is going to do justice to the experience
           -- all those who have known have been perfectly aware -- but still efforts have been made, efforts not
           really to describe it but efforts to create a longing in you.
                And the real longing arises not because of the master's words, but because of the master himself,
           his presence. If you are in love with the master then his presence starts opening some unknown doors
           in you. Once in a while a window suddenly opens and you have a glimpse. Once in a while you are
           transported into other worlds, into other dimensions. The master's presence has to be tasted -- that is
           the taste of enlightenment. The master's presence has to be allowed to sink deep into you; that is the
           only way to know something of it.
                Jesus says: Eat me. The last night, when he is saying goodbye to his disciples, he breaks the
           bread and says, "This is me. Eat me, digest me. And whenever you eat, and whenever you break
           bread, remember." And then he offers wine to his disciples and says, "This is my blood -- drink me,
           and whenever you drink wine, remember me."
                Yes, it is a nourishment of the soul, hence the bread; and yes, it is wine, because it intoxicates
           you with the divine.
                Come closer to me, Geetam! Drop your armor, drop your defenses. Drop your mind. Forget
           yourself more and more so that you can come closer and closer. In that intimacy something is bound
           to transpire.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE TRIED MY WHOLE LIFE TO LIVE A RELIGIOUS LIFE, BUT THEN WHY AM I STILL
              MISERABLE?


               Nand Kishor, the religious life cannot be tried. Whatsoever you have been doing in the name of
           religion must have been something else. Religion is not an effort, it is a consciousness. It is not a
           practice, it is awareness. It is not a cultivation; you cannot cultivate it -- religious life has nothing to
           do with character.
               Character can be cultivated. Character is moral; even an irreligious person can cultivate it. In fact
           irreligious people have more character than the so-called religious, because the religious person goes
           on believing that he can bribe God, or at least he can bribe the priest of God, and he will find some
           way to enter into paradise. But the irreligious has to be responsible for his life himself, towards
           himself. There is no God, no priest, nobody that he is answerable to; he is answerable to himself
           only. He has more character.
               Religion has nothing to do with character. In fact, the really religious person is absolutely
           characterless. But try to understand the word 'characterless'; it does not mean without character, it
           means with FLUID character. He lives moment to moment, responding to new situations, new
           challenges, with no ready-made answers.
               The so-called man of character has ready-made answers. He never bothers what is the challenge,
           he goes on responding in the old, learned ways. Hence he is always falling short and that is his
           misery. He is never in tune with existence; he cannot be, because he is more interested in keeping his
           character than in being in tune with existence. What was right yesterday may not be right today, and
           what is right this moment may not be right the next moment. And the man of character has fixed
           ideas of what is right and what is wrong; his fixation is the problem.
               Nand Kishor, that must be keeping you miserable. You are not flexible, you cannot be. The
           so-called man of character is absolutely inflexible. He is like dry wood. He is not like a green tree
           which moves with the wind, dances with the wind, bows down to let the wind pass and then stands
           back.
               The real religious man is like a green tree -- in fact, more like green grass. That's how Lao Tzu
           defines the religious man: he is like the grass. Let the wind come, and the grass bows down, falls on
           the earth, is not in any way fighting with the wind. Why fight it? We are part of one organic unity;
           the wind is not our enemy. The grass bows down; the wind is gone and the grass is back again
           dancing. The wind has been a help, it has taken all the dust away. The grass is greener, fresher, it
           enjoyed the whole play with the wind.
               But a big tree, egoistic, stiff, rigid, unable to bow down, will fall in the strong wind and will not
           be able to get back again; it is bound to be miserable. A man of character is always miserable. His
           only happiness is that he is a man of character, that's all. And what does character have to do with
           religion? You may eat something, you may not eat something; you may drink something, you may
           not drink something else; you may smoke, you may not smoke.... Such trivia is thought to be of
           immense value! And you practice it -- and what do you mean by practicing it?
               Nand Kishor, it must be a repression -- and a man who represses is bound to be miserable,
           because all that he has repressed is struggling within him to come back, to be powerful again. And
           even though you have repressed it, it goes on pulling your strings from the unconscious. It will keep
           you always in a state of conflict, inner turmoil; a civil war continues inside you. You will remain
           tense, anxious, worried, and always afraid -- because you know the enemy is there -- that you have
           repressed and the enemy is trying every moment to take revenge. And there is a point beyond which
           you cannot repress any more because you cannot contain any more; there is a limit to everything.
           Then all that you have repressed explodes, like pus oozing out of you.
               This is what we have been told is the state of a religious man -- this repressive character.
               My approach is totally different. I don't say that you can practice religion and I don't say that
           religion has anything to do with this ordinary, moralistic, puritanical ideology.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               An unshaven, bedraggled panhandler, with bloodshot eyes and teeth half gone, asked Hogan for
           a dime. "Do you drink, smoke, or gamble?" asked the Irishman.
           "Mister," said the bum, "I don't touch a drop, or smoke the filthy weed, or bother with evil
           gambling."
           "Okay," said Hogan. "If you will come home with me I will give you a dollar."
               As they entered the house, Mrs. Hogan took her husband aside and hissed, "How dare you bring
           that terrible-looking specimen into our home!"
           "Darling," said Hogan, "I just wanted you to see what a man looks like who does not drink, smoke or
           gamble."

           These people are not religious people.
               You say, Nand Kishor, "I have tried my whole life to live a religious life."
               You have wasted your life! Don't waste it any more. Religion is not something to be tried. What
           do you know of religion?
               Except in deep meditation, one never comes across religion. It is not written in the Gita and it is
           not written in the Koran. It is not written anywhere -- because it cannot be written. What is written is
           morality. What is written is, "You should do this, you should not do that" -- "shoulds" and "should
           nots." Religion has nothing to do with all that.
               Religion is basically the science of creating consciousness in you. Become more meditative,
           become more conscious. Out of that consciousness a very flexible, spontaneous character is born,
           which changes every day with the situation, which is not attached to the past, which is not like
           something ready-made. On the contrary, it is a responsibility -- a moment-to-moment capacity to
           respond to reality. It is mirrorlike; it reflects whatsoever is the case, and out of that reflection, action
           is born. That action is religious action.
               You don't know anything about religion, Nand Kishor. How can you practice it?
           And you say, "Why am I still miserable?"
               Whatsoever you have practiced, you must have practiced with greed, to attain something. You
           must be waiting that great happiness is going to shower on you, that God is going to reward you, that
           you will be made the richest man in the world or the president of a country, or you will become very
           famous -- a great saint, something like that. You have not loved religion, you have been using
           religion as a means to some other end; otherwise this question never arises.
               A religious person cannot say, "Why am I still miserable?" because he knows, "If I am miserable,
           that means I am not religious."
               Misery is a by-product of being unconscious. If you are conscious, misery disappears. Not that it
           is a reward; it is just a simple outcome of consciousness. Bring a light, a lamp, into the house, and
           the darkness disappears. It is not a reward from God -- not that he sees that you have brought the
           light, now you have to be rewarded and the darkness has to be removed. No, it is the natural law:
           AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the eternal law. Bring light and darkness disappears,
           because darkness has no existence of its own; it is only absence of light.
               Misery is absence of consciousness. So it is impossible to be conscious AND miserable; nobody
           has ever been able to do it up to now. If you can do it, you will be doing something historical,
           something unheard of, something incomprehensible. You will be doing a miracle which no buddha
           has ever been able to do. You cannot do it either; it is impossible, it is not in the nature of things.
           How can you keep the darkness, too, with the light burning in your room? You can keep the
           darkness, then you have to put out the light; you cannot keep them both together, no coexistence is
           possible.
               If you are miserable, that simply shows you have not understood what religion is and you have
           been trying something else in the name of religion. You have been trying to be a moralist, a puritan.
           You have been trying to create a character. Why? For what? Because character is praised, because
           the society respects character. It is an ego trip -- very subtle, but an ego trip all the same.
               And ego creates misery. Your so-called saints are all miserable. I have come across thousands of
           your saints -- Hindu, Jaina, Buddhist, Mohammedan, Christian -- and they are all miserable. They
           are all hoping to be rewarded after death.
               Real religion is instant: here you become conscious and immediately misery disappears. You
           need not wait for the other life, you need not wait for tomorrow even.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And that's what Buddha means when he says: Be quick in doing good. The greatest good is to be
           conscious -- because all other goods are born out of it. Being conscious is the source of all goodness,
           all virtue.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I HEAR YOU SPEAK ON LOVE AND MEDITATION, OR SEX AND DEATH, SAYING THEY
              ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME ENERGY, SOMETHING IN ME KNOWS IT IS TRUE. BUT,
              ALTHOUGH DRAWN BY BOTH ASPECTS, I FEEL MYSELF HUNG UP ON THE IDEA THAT I CAN
              ONLY APPROACH ONE SIDE AT A TIME. IS THERE ACTUALLY A WAY TO BE AT THE MEETING
              POINT OF THESE POLARITIES WHERE THEY CAN BE FELT AS ONE?


                Prem Asang, the beginning has to be always from one side, from one aspect; in the beginning
           you cannot manage to enter from both the doors. If a temple has two doors you cannot enter
           simultaneously from both the doors.
                How will you manage it? But there is no need either to enter from both doors simultaneously;
           one door is enough. By entering by one door you have reached the inner shrine. The people who
           have entered from the other door, they have also reached to the same inner shrine. The meeting
           happens in the innermost experience.
                Whether you enter from love or from meditation it does not matter -- you reach to the same
           point. The same point of egolessness is arrived at through love or through meditation. The same
           point of mind disappearing is arrived at by love and by meditation, and the same point of going
           beyond time is reached by both. The ultimate result is the same, so you need not worry.
                You are not to enter from both doors. If you try to enter from both doors you will not be able to
           enter even from one, because one step you will take in one door, then you will rush to the other; one
           step you will take in the other door and you will rush back to the first one. And you will be running
           between these doors OUTSIDE the temple. But this is absurd, there is no need!
                If the person entering from the door of love was missing something that the person entering from
           the door of meditation is gaining, or vice versa, then there would have been a problem -- but they
           both reach to the same point. From both polarities they come to the same middle... and the middle
           point is the point of transcendence.
                Don't be worried that you can only approach one side at a time. You reach to the innermost
           shrine, then all the sides are yours. Love, and you will know what meditation is; meditate, and you
           will know what love is.
                Love is for those whose energy is naturally extrovert, and meditation is for those whose energy is
           naturally introvert. Meditation means being with yourself in utter joy, enjoying your aloneness. Love
           means being with the other, enjoying the togetherness. Meditation is like playing on the flute solo;
           love is like two instruments playing together in deep rhythm -- flute with the tabla. It is a
           JUGALBANDI -- it is a communion between two instruments going together hand in hand, dancing
           together.
                There are people who will find it easier to come to themselves through the other; it is a little
           longer way, love is a little longer way, remember, but immensely beautiful, because on the way there
           are beautiful trees and flowers and birds. Meditation is the shortest way possible because you don't
           go anywhere; you simply close your eyes and dive deep within your own being -- where you already
           are.
                Love is coming to yourself through the other, via the other; meditation is coming to yourself
           directly, immediately. But it is a little dry because there is no path -- there are no trees on the path,
           no birds, no sunrise, no sunset, no moon, no stars. It has a beauty of its own: the beauty of the desert.
           Have you been to the desert? The silence, the eternal silence of the desert... sands spreading unto
           eternity... a purity, a cleanliness. Yes, those are the beauties of meditation.
                It depends on you: there are desert lovers. Many Christian mystics have gone to the desert and
           have attained to God in the desert. Going to the desert is only symbolic of going into meditation.
                You have to watch yourself, whatsoever appeals to you. In the ultimate reckoning both are the
           same but on the way both are different -- different songs, different music, different taste. But people
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are different.
               There are two types of people: the masculine and the feminine. The feminine type will find it
           easier to move through love. And remember: by 'feminine' I don't mean the female; a man can be a
           feminine type. Chaitanya was a feminine type, just like Meera; there is no difference in their type.
           Meera is female, Chaitanya is male, but their type is the same; both are the feminine type, both
           moved through love. Both needed Krishna; only through Krishna they could reach themselves.
               And in the same way, by 'masculine' I don't mean the male. Mahavira and the great woman
           mystic of Kashmir, Lalla, both are exactly the same -- both are masculine types. Mahavira lived
           naked, Lalla also lived naked. She is the only woman mystic who has lived naked. Both were the
           same type, the meditative type.
               The male type will find it easier to go into himself directly; the feminine type will find it easier to
           move through the other. Neither is higher or lower because both reach to the same.
               So, Asang, just watch, find out your own type, and move accordingly. And don't be worried that
           you cannot manage both aspects together; nobody has ever managed. Yes, a few people have tried,
           but they have all failed; nobody has ever succeeded.
               Of course, there is one way... if you want to know both the ways. Then the only possible way
           was tried by Ramakrishna: first you enter by one aspect, one door, reach to the innermost shrine,
           then come back out and go in again from the other door. That is good as far as scientific
           experimentation is concerned, just to be certain whether the other also reaches the same place or not.
           Ramakrishna tried all the religions possible.
               And once you have reached the inside shrine, things are easier. If it took you years to reach from
           the first door, from the second door it will take only days, because in fact you have already reached
           the goal; you are simply trying the other way, whether it also reaches there or not.
               If you are doing some experiments like Ramakrishna, Asang, then it is perfectly okay. But then
           too even Ramakrishna could not enter two doors together, simultaneously; it is impossible. First you
           enter one, reach, experience; then, if you are interested.... In fact, nobody cares then. Why? For
           what? You have arrived -- and you can see people arriving from the other door also; there is no need
           for you yourself to go and experiment.
               You will meet there Meera and Mahavira, both sitting together. You will meet there Lao Tzu and
           Krishna and Mohammed and Christ sitting together... sipping tea and gossiping! What else is left?
               But if you are interested, if you want to really inquire whether the other way also comes to the
           same place, you will have to come out and move through the other way. And the other way will be
           easier now because your consciousness is already inside; only your body will be coming out. And
           you can move through the other and you can see....
               Ramakrishna did one great experiment: he proved, existentially, that all religions are equal. It has
           been said before too, but nobody has proved it existentially; it was a logical inference. But
           Ramakrishna went, practically, into every possible method and reached again and again to the same
           state.
               Ramakrishna heralds a new vision, Ramakrishna begins a new phase. After Ramakrishna, in fact,
           there should not be so many religions -- even if the variety is beautiful, the antagonism should
           disappear; the Hindu should not be fighting with the Mohammedan -- because this man Ramakrishna
           has arrived to the same experience from all the religions.
               Asang, if you are interested in doing some experiment like Ramakrishna, then it is okay;
           otherwise there is no need to be worried. Enter from one door and you have entered from all the
           doors.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN YOU SPOKE ABOUT GOOD, EVIL, AND THEIR RESULTANT KARMAS, WERE YOU
              SAYING THAT CONSCIOUS ACTS ARE INTRINSICALLY BLISSFUL AND UNCONSCIOUS ACTS
              INTRINSICALLY PAINFUL, OR IS THERE SOMETHING MORE TO IT? ALSO, DOES IT FOLLOW
              THAT ALL BLISS IS A RESULT OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND ALL SUFFERING THE RESULT OF
              UNCONSCIOUSNESS?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Prem Vidya, there is nothing more to it. It is a simple phenomenon: consciousness is intrinsically
           blissful. Bliss is not a result; it is inbuilt in consciousness. It does not come from the outside; it
           flowers inside consciousness. It is the fragrance of the flowering consciousness. When the rose of
           consciousness opens, the fragrance is bliss.
               And when your being closes in unconsciousness, that dead and stale air, that stink, that darkness,
           is misery. That too is intrinsic, because now the fresh air cannot flow through you; your doors, your
           windows, are all closed. Now the sunrays cannot reach inside you. You are not available to rain, to
           wind, to sun. You have become isolated from existence. You have become a monad, windowless.
           You have become encapsulated, completely closed into your own self, into your own ego. You have
           disconnected yourself from this immensely beautiful, blissful existence; hence, misery. It is not
           really a result; it is unconsciousness itself, another name for it.
               And people ARE living unconsciously, but they don't see it. They go on saying they are living in
           misery and they want not to live in misery, but they always throw the responsibility on something
           else, somebody else. Either it is fate or it is the society, the economic structure, the state, the church,
           the wife, the husband, the mother -- but always somebody else.
               Religion starts in your life when you take the responsibility on yourself. To take the
           responsibility for your misery is the beginning of change, because even to accept that "I am
           responsible for whatsoever I am," is the beginning of consciousness. You are coming out of a state of
           drunkenness in which you have lived for centuries.

               Poteen is an Irish illegal brew that can burn holes in steel plate. After a pint of it Flaherty saw so
           many animals in his room that he put a sign on his house, FLAHERTY'S ZOO.
               The local sergeant went to reason with him and was no sooner in than he was offered a glass of
           the Mountain Dew. When the policeman staggered out thirty minutes later he raised his hand for
           silence, although there was nobody. "Ish alright, men. The worst is over. He sold me half the
           elephants."

               You are living in a state of drunkenness. You don't need alcohol -- alcohol is circulating in your
           blood already. You don't need marijuana, LSD, mescaline, no -- you are already stuffed with it. You
           are born unconscious! But because everybody else is like you, you never become aware of it.
               Only when awakening starts happening in you, then you become aware, comparatively, that up to
           now you have lived in a kind of sleep, that you have been a sleepwalker, a somnambulist, that
           whatsoever you have done up to now has been done unconsciously. And because you were doing
           things unconsciously and moving blindly in life, like driftwood, with no sense of direction, with no
           idea where you are going, with no idea who you are, how can you hope to be blissful? You can only
           be miserable, more or less.
               When you are a little less miserable you call it happiness. It is not really happiness, but a little
           less misery than the normal. When it is a little too much you enter into anguish. But these are all
           degrees of your misery, sometimes less, sometimes more, but you have not known happiness yet.
           Yes, you have known pleasure....
               Pleasure is when you forget your misery. Misery remains -- you forget your misery. You go to
           the movie, you become so much focused on the movie, you become so much involved in the story,
           that you forget yourself, that for two, three hours you are as if you are not. But outside the movie
           house you are back to your routine self and to your routine misery.
               The stupidity is that because of your unconsciousness you suffer, and when you want to avoid
           your suffering you drink alcohol so that you can forget your suffering. It is because of
           unconsciousness that you are miserable; then you try to become more unconscious so that you need
           not know that you are miserable. This way you go on deeper and deeper into the unconscious. And
           these states of coma you think are very very great. These are just blank spaces when you become fast
           asleep, so totally unaware that you cannot remember that you are miserable.
               And in these unconscious states, created by chemicals, you can believe that you are having some
           happiness, you can imagine; it depends all on your imagination. Many people have experimented
           with LSD -- the most evolved psychedelic up to now. And the result of many experiments is that
           people who are hoping that they will attain to great bliss come out reporting that they reached
           paradise and they saw angels and light and color and had beautiful poetic experiences. And the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people who go into the experiment with the idea that this is wrong, that this cannot give bliss, that it
           is bound to give misery, come back reporting that they have been in hell and they have suffered
           much -- they have suffered hellfire.
                The reason is clear: whatsoever you imagine starts looking real under the impact of LSD. If you
           are against it, if you believe that it is evil, you will come across evil. It simply magnifies your
           imagination, whatsoever the imagination. If it is dark and black, then you fall into a black hole.
                If it is beautiful then, like Aldous Huxley, because he believed that LSD is the latest religious
           discovery, that LSD can take people to ecstasy, to samadhi.... What Buddha attained after six years
           and Mahavira attained after twelve years, and Kabir and Nanak etcetera, after years of struggle with
           the unconsciousness to become conscious, can be attained through LSD very easily -- just a very
           small quantity of LSD has to be taken.
                He believed that sooner or later we will refine LSD more and more and we will create the
           ultimate psychedelic he called SOMA, in remembrance of the old Vedas -- because in the Vedas it is
           said that the seers used to drink a certain juice called SOMA RASO, and that juice used to bridge
           them to God. Huxley says in the future the ultimate psychedelic will be soma. You can inject it
           yourself into your body and you will be transported into paradise.
                Now this is sheer foolishness! This is all nonsense. But Huxley is a sincere man. What he is
           saying is not false; he has experienced it through LSD, because he believed in it. It is his belief
           projected, it is his imagination magnified.
                Another person of the same integrity, Rahner, who is against LSD and against all psychedelic
           trips, came with just the opposite report: that LSD takes you to hell, that it throws you into hellfire,
           that it creates such tortures that you cannot imagine -- even Adolf Hitler could not have dreamed
           about them. And he is also sincere. Both are right because both have been deceived by their own
           minds.
                Man is already unconscious; now these people are trying to make him even more unconscious, as
           if this much unconsciousness is not enough!
                Vidya, as far as buddhas are concerned, as far as I am concerned, consciousness cannot be
           attained by any chemical. Unconsciousness can be produced by chemicals, because unconsciousness
           is a very gross, lower phenomenon. Consciousness is the highest peak of growth, of opening, of
           coming home; it is not possible through the chemicals. It is possible only if you go on sharpening
           your intelligence; if you go on working on your witnessing soul; if you become more and more a
           witness of all that you do, of all that you think, of all that you feel. If you are miserable -- as
           everybody is -- then remember, it simply shows you are unconscious.
                Don't fight with misery; that won't help. You can push misery from here and there; it will remain.
           Don't throw responsibility on others. Don't say, "Because of this wife I am miserable; if I change the
           wife I will not be miserable." You can go on changing -- no woman of this world is going to make
           you blissful. If you think, "The husband is the cause of my misery," you can change....
                In America people are changing very fast, but misery is growing, not lessening. You can count a
           person's misery by knowing how many divorces he has gone through. The more divorces the more
           miserable he becomes, because the more divorces, the more hopeless he becomes.
                In a country like India you can hope. You cannot divorce easily; the major part of the country
           cannot even conceive of divorce. The only possible way to get rid of your wife is to hope for another
           life -- even then one never knows! You may become too much hooked to each other that in other
           lives you also may continue. And particularly women go on praying in the temples, "Give me the
           same husband again -- for a hundred lives!" And if their prayers are fulfilled then there is no hope.
           But at least one can postpone: "After death.... This life is finished, nothing can be done. Now this
           woman or this man is my fate." So accept it and console yourself. Remain contented. Hope for the
           best and expect the worst!
                But in India people seem to be more at ease because they know: "This woman is creating
           trouble." At least this much is a great consolation: "This man is creating trouble." But in America
           even that hope is not possible -- people have changed their husbands and wives so many times.

           I have heard:
               A man and a woman were sitting taking their breakfast and their children were playing in the
           garden -- and then a fight broke out among the children.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The wife said, "Look! Your children and my children have ganged together and they are beating
           our children!"

               One boy, a small boy, was bragging about his daddy, and he was saying, "He is the greatest
           daddy possible."
               The other boy said, "That's nothing! He has been my daddy before. I know him -- we have
           discarded him. He is very old-fashioned, out of date; you have got a secondhand daddy!"

                I have heard about one man who changed his wife eight times, hoping that this time he would
           find a better woman who will not create misery, but each time he was surprised to know that he had
           found the same kind of woman again.
                In fact, if the chooser is the same how can you choose something different? You fall in love with
           the same kind of woman again and again, because YOU remain the same. Your state of
           consciousness or unconsciousness remains the same, your MIND is the same. Who is going to
           choose? You fall in love with a certain kind of woman -- who walks this way, who has a certain kind
           of nose and a certain kind of voice and face and figure. A certain type of woman -- a certain type of
           psychology she has -- and you become attracted towards her. When you come closer and live
           together you find misery. You divorce. Again you start looking. But you are the same person -- you
           will again find the same kind of woman. How can you find another kind of woman? You will not be
           interested in another kind. The same kind of woman will attract you, will fascinate you, and again
           you will be in the same trap. Only the name changes, the trap remains the same.
                Don't throw your responsibility on others; that's what keeps you miserable. Take the
           responsibility on yourself. Remember always, "I am responsible for my life. Nobody else is
           responsible. So if I am miserable then I have to look into my own consciousness; something is wrong
           with me, hence I create misery around me."
                This is the beginning, a great beginning, the first seed of transformation. You are already
           becoming conscious if you take the responsibility on your own shoulders. You are already becoming
           conscious; the first ray has happened.
                Yes, Vidya: consciousness is intrinsically blissful and unconsciousness, intrinsically miserable.
           There is nothing more to it; it is very simple.
                Laws of life are always very simple. Truth is always very simple. Truth is not occult, truth is not
           esoteric. Truth is very obvious -- and because it is very obvious, that's why people don't see it.
           People go on missing the obvious, people go on missing the simple, because they think truth must be
           very complex. Hence they go on looking for something complex -- and truth is not complex. They go
           on looking far away -- and truth is very close by. They go on looking into mysteries, into mystic,
           occult, esoteric teachings.
                And there are people who go on exploiting because they know there are people who cannot be
           satisfied with simple truth. They write rubbish but in such a way that it looks very occult. They write
           in such a way that you cannot really understand what they are writing. And people think that if they
           cannot understand then there must be some great mystery in it.
                Truth is very simple, and because it is very simple you don't look at it. You will have to learn,
           you will have to become aware, of the simplicity and obviousness of truth. There is nothing more to
           it. It is simply this: consciousness is bliss, unconsciousness is misery.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT COMMUNISM?


              Raja, I don't think about such things -- in fact, I don't think at all! I am certainly interested in
           communes, but not in communism. The moment something becomes an "ism" it becomes dangerous.
           The idea of a commune is beautiful: people living together in a nonpossessive way, neither
           possessing things nor possessing persons; people living together, creating together, celebrating
           together, and still allowing each one his own space; people creating a certain climate of
           meditativeness, of love, and living in that climate.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I am certainly interested in the idea of the commune -- it simply means where communion is
           possible. In the world there is no communion possible. Even communication is not possible, what to
           say about communion! Communication means a dialogue between two minds -- even that is not
           possible -- and communion means a meeting of two hearts. Where communion is possible, there
           exists a commune.
               The idea of the family is rotten now. It has worked, it has done its work, it is finished. There is
           no future for the family. In fact, the family has been one of the causes of calamity. The family makes
           you identified with a very small group -- the mother, the father, the brother, the sister -- a very small
           group becomes your whole world. A man needs to grow more variety.
               A commune means more variety: not just your father but many uncles, not just your mother but
           many aunts. A commune means the children will have more people to learn about, more people to
           love, more people to become accustomed to. They will become richer.
               Psychologists say that when a child lives with the mother and the father, the small unit of the
           family, he knows the mother as the representative of all womanhood and the father as the
           representative of all manhood -- which is wrong, utterly wrong. His father does not represent all the
           types and his mother does not represent all the types either. And he becomes slowly slowly focused
           on the mother; the mother becomes womanhood incarnate.
               Now there will be trouble! His whole life he will be searching for his mother in his wife and he
           will not find her -- and that creates misery. No wife will be a mother to him, and that will be his deep
           search, unconscious search, because he knows only one woman. That is his idea of a real woman,
           how a woman should be. And the girl will always be looking for the father, and no husband will be a
           father to her.
               This fixation is creating great psychological tension and anxiety in the world. A commune means
           you will not be so much fixed. You look at our little Siddhartha! For days he disappears from the
           mother; he lives with other sannyasins for days together. He has many friends, grown-up friends;
           women, men. He comes back to the ashram very late in the night -- two o'clock. So busy! Laxmi
           called him and asked him, "Siddhartha, this is too much -- two o'clock! You have to be in by eleven."
               He said, "Is this a rule only for me or for all? Is this rule applicable to grown-ups too?"
               Now, this is maturity! He is becoming grown-up! And he said, "A few days I have to stay with
           others too -- they invite me!" Now he is living with many families. He will become aware that his
           mother is not the only woman in the world; there are many other women. He will become acquainted
           with many facets of womanhood. His idea of woman will be richer, and there is more possibility that
           he will be contented with a wife than otherwise. He knows many uncles and fathers. His vision of
           man is not linear, it is multidimensional; it is bound to be multidimensional.
               I am interested in the idea of the commune because a commune will help people to get rid of
           many psychological hang-ups which our upbringing has been giving to us. The upbringing is so
           rotten, so old-fashioned! For five thousand years there has been no change. Everything else has
           changed -- from the bullock cart we have come to the jet plane -- but as far as human life is
           concerned the same old rotten family remains. With man we are very orthodox; hence we have better
           machines but not better human beings. We have better EVERYTHING -- just man is not better; and
           the reason is that about man we are very orthodox and conventional.
               A commune will change the idea of the family; it will make the family very flexible.
               Just a few days ago, Bipin came from America and he said, "Strange! -- after just one year I am
           coming and all the couples have changed! And I used to think of a few couples that they were
           permanent couples -- for example, Satya and Chaitanya, Sheela and Chinmaya. Even the permanent
           ones that I used to think would remain, even they are no longer there! New combinations of people
           have happened." He was asking, "What is our Beloved Master doing?"
               I am not doing anything -- this is not MY work! This is bound to happen in a commune. People
           will become more flexible, more available to each other, more loving, relate more, be less
           possessive.
               I am certainly interested in the idea of a commune, but not in communism. Communism is ugly.
           Communism is a great epidemic. The sooner it disappears from the world, the better. It has destroyed
           great values -- the greatest value of freedom has been destroyed. And communism is antireligious.
               If communism continues there is no hope for buddhas to be born; it won't allow it. If Gautam
           Buddha were born in Soviet Russia he would be forced to live in a mental asylum. This is not a good
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prospect! Even Jesus Christ will find himself in more difficulty. They will not crucify him, certainly
           not, but they will put him in a mental asylum. He will be declared neurotic or psychotic because he
           hears voices; he talks with the Devil and God. This is neurosis, this is absolutely a madman! He will
           be given electric shocks, remember, not crucified anymore.
                If Jesus is planning to come back I want him to be aware of the situation. This time they won't
           kill you, they will keep you alive, but they will inject you with chemicals, they will give you electric
           shocks, insulin shocks, and if you are still dangerous they will give you tranquilizers, they will make
           you very very sleepy. They can force you to live almost in a coma, to vegetate, which will be far
           more ugly than to crucify a man.
                When you crucify a man you cannot humiliate him. He can keep his pride, he can keep his head
           high: "Okay, you crucify me, so you crucify me -- but you are not forcing me to change my spirit or
           my ideas or my vision of life. I am ready to sacrifice."
                One can die with dignity -- Socrates died with dignity, Jesus died with dignity -- but in Soviet
           Russia, if Socrates is born, or Jesus, or Buddha, no dignity will be available. In fact nobody will ever
           hear about them. They will be forced to live in a mental asylum. Doctors will take care of them, and
           nobody will ever hear what they wanted to say, what their message was.

              Two Russian workers were walking along side by side. Their heads were bent low and their faces
           were sad and drawn. They were not talking to each other. Suddenly one of the Russians spat on the
           ground and the other immediately did the same. "That's enough!" said one to the other. "If we
           continue, they will think we are discussing politics."

           I have heard another story:
               In Russia the communists were conducting a purge. An old gypsy was brought before the
           commissar. "How long," asked the commissar, "have you been in the party?"
           "Many years, commissar."
           "And your father?"
           "Ah, he was a member too, and my grandfather and my great-grandfather."
           "Now listen," said the commissar dubiously, "back in those days there was no party."
           "Ah, that didn't make any difference," replied the gypsy. "We were stealing anyway!"

               Communism is a violent, forced state of affairs. It is transforming the whole country into a
           concentration camp. It is not allowing people any freedom to be themselves; it is reducing them into
           numbers. It is destructive of individuality -- and I am all for individuality and the freedom of the
           individual, because if the freedom of the individual disappears, then there is no possibility of
           inquiring into the reality of God. And that is the whole purpose of life.
               The real destiny of life can only be fulfilled when you know that God is, within and without. He
           is your consciousness and he is this universe.
           I am against communism, but I am all for communes.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #5
                                       Chapter title: Dust against the wind
           26 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908260
              ShortTitle: DHAM405
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 105 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              AS THE RICH MERCHANT WITH FEW SERVANTS
              SHUNS A DANGEROUS ROAD
              AND THE MAN WHO LOVES LIFE SHUNS POISON,
              BEWARE THE DANGERS OF FOLLY AND MISCHIEF.



              FOR AN UNWOUNDED HAND MAY HANDLE POISON.
              THE INNOCENT COME TO NO HARM.



              BUT AS DUST THROWN AGAINST THE WIND,
              MISCHIEF IS BLOWN BACK IN THE FACE
              OF THE FOOL WHO WRONGS THE PURE AND HARMLESS.



              SOME ARE REBORN IN HELL,
              SOME IN THIS WORLD,
              THE GOOD IN HEAVEN.
              BUT THE PURE ARE NOT BORN AT ALL.



              NOWHERE!
              NOT IN THE SKY,
              NOR IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA,
              NOR DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS,
              CAN YOU HIDE FROM YOUR OWN MISCHIEF.



              NOT IN THE SKY,
              NOR IN THE MIDST OF THE OCEAN,
              NOR DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS,
              NOWHERE

              CAN YOU HIDE FROM YOUR OWN DEATH.


               Life is not given ready-made -- not to humanity at least. That is the dignity of human beings, and
           the danger too. All other animals are born ready-made, preprogrammed. Their whole life is a simple
           unfoldment of something built-in. They need not live their lives consciously; their life is
           unconscious, it is mechanical. It can't be good, it can't be bad; it simply is. You cannot call a tree a
           sinner or a saint, and you cannot call a tiger or cat virtuous or full of vice. Those words are
           meaningless as far as existence below humanity is concerned. They become immensely significant
           referred to man.
               Man has a special situation. He is born like all other animals, with a difference -- a difference
           that really makes a difference. The difference is of tremendous value to understand, because one may
           go on avoiding it and to avoid it is to avoid your true life. There is every possibility to remain
           oblivious of it, because it seems more convenient and more comfortable not to be reminded of it. To
           be reminded of it means a great challenge: a challenge to adventure into the unknown, into that
           which is not preprogrammed.
               God is not a built-in possibility; it is an open opportunity. It can happen, it may not happen. It all
           depends on you -- how you live, how much consciousness you bring to your life, how
           nonmechanical you become.
               Millions of people don't want to be reminded of this dimension at all; hence their antagonism
           against Buddha, Christ, Socrates. These people -- Buddha, Christ, Socrates -- goad you, they don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           allow you to sleep comfortably. They bring the point again and again to your awareness that this is
           not the right way to live, that you are missing life. This is not human life that you are living, this is
           animal life.
               And sometimes you can fall even below animals. No animal can become a Genghis Khan or
           Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, because animals have no choice. They can't become Buddhas, they
           can't become Genghis Khans either. They remain whatsoever they are; they can't move anywhere
           else. They have a life already arranged; they will simply follow the course.
               Their life is like a movie: when you see it for the first time you are immensely interested, curious
           what is going to happen next but in fact, nothing is going to happen -- the film is already
           preprogrammed. Next time you don't feel so interested because you know already what is going to
           happen next. The third time you are bored, and if you are forced to see it a fourth time you will rebel,
           and if you have to see it a fifth time you may go mad. The same film.... Because now you know
           everything is already there, nothing is happening; the film is simply repeating a certain course.
               Animals are like films -- already made, unfolding whatsoever is built-in. Man lives in a world of
           choice; hence man has to decide what life he wants to live. He can fall below the animals, he can rise
           above the angels. He can exist accidentally or he can exist with a decisiveness.
               It is through decisiveness that the soul is born. If you exist accidentally, like driftwood, you live
           without a soul; your life is not much of a life. It is pseudo, it is lukewarm; it has no intensity; it has
           no flame; it has no light. You cannot experience the truth. Living accidentally, knowing the truth is
           impossible. One has to be so decisive, so committed, so consciously involved with life, so intensely
           adventurous, that all is at stake every moment. One has to be creative -- not only unfolding, but
           creative.
               This is man's privilege, his prerogative, and also his danger. Very few people will choose the life
           of choice, commitment, involvement, because it is dangerous, because the sea is uncharted and you
           don't have any map. You have a very small boat and the sea is very stormy and who knows whether
           the other shore exists or not? Why leave the shelter on this shore? Remain here.
               Buddha says millions of people simply go up and down on this shore, running hither and thither,
           just creating an appearance as if their life is a pilgrimage -- and they are simply running up and down
           on the same shore. It is not a pilgrimage; it is mere occupation, befooling others and befooling
           yourself.
               The pilgrimage begins when you leave this shore, its shelter, its security, its convenience, its
           comfort, its respectability, power, prestige. You leave your small boat at the mercy of the storms, at
           the mercy of the ocean, trusting that if this shore exists the other MUST exist, because one shore
           cannot exist....
               With this trust -- moving towards the other shore, risking all -- real life begins. And real life is
           religious life. Real life is what I mean by sannyas. Life lived consciously is the only life; life lived
           unconsciously is mere existence. Animals only exist, they don't live; only man can live. But all men
           don't live either; only a few buddhas, a few awakened ones.
               Become alert to what you are doing with your life. Are you really moving consciously, with a
           sense of direction -- taking each step deliberately, in full awareness of why, to where? Or are you
           just imitating others? If they are running, you are running; if they are after money, you are after
           money; if they are after power, you are after power. Are you just imitators? Then your life will be
           imitation. Are you simply following others? Then your life will be a carbon copy. You will never
           know your original face.
               And your original face is the face of God. But that original face has to be discovered with
           tremendous effort. With great risk one can actualize what is just a seed in you, one can make actual
           what is only potential. And then man is infinite; otherwise man is very small, ugly.
               A life lived unconsciously cannot be beautiful, a life lived unconsciously cannot have freedom.
           And without freedom, how can there be any beauty? Beauty is a shadow of freedom. A life lived
           unconsciously can only be mediocre, mundane, superficial. Only with consciousness does your life
           start deepening; it attains a new dimension, the dimension of depth. And the dimension of depth is
           the dimension of the divine.
               God is not somewhere else, but in your own depths, in your own ultimate depths. Truth is not to
           be found somewhere else; it has to be searched and looked for withinwards. Truth is not something
           of the mind; otherwise it would have been very easy to attain it. Mind is a machine.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The great Western philosopher, the father of Western philosophy, Aristotle, defines man as a
           rational being, but his definition cannot be applicable to the millions. It is not even applicable to
           himself, because he is not a buddha. A very clever man, very logical, but without any consciousness.
           He lived his own life as unconsciously as anyone can live. He had two wives, and he writes in his
           book that women have less teeth than men. Having two wives he could have counted any time -- but
           this was a superstition, very prevalent in Greece in those days. The male chauvinist mind cannot
           allow women to have anything equal to men, not even teeth! He never bothered to count -- what kind
           of rationality is this?
                In fact, unless you are conscious, you can't be rational either. To live rationally means to live
           consciously, to live meditatively. And the moment you can live meditatively, you cannot only live
           rationally, you can live suprarationally -- because life is not only reason, life is far more than that.
           Reason is only one of its dimensions, and life is multidimensional.
                Life plus consciousness, and you start becoming a buddha. Existence plus consciousness, and
           you start attaining life. Consciousness is the whole chemistry, the alchemy. Life plus consciousness,
           and you are entering into the temple of God. Existence plus consciousness, and you enter into the
           temple of life. But if you live without consciousness you don't have life, you don't have God. If you
           have life you cannot miss God for long, because life is the first ray of God.
                But people merely exist, they vegetate; they think they are already alive. This belief prevents
           them from creating life. When you are born, you are born only as an opportunity, as a space where
           life can grow. But it is not inevitable -- and it is good that it is not inevitable. If it was inevitable,
           man would have been a machine as all other animals are.
                It is tremendously significant to remember that existence has bestowed on you a great gift, and
           the gift is that you are born as a tabula rasa, nothing is written on you -- you are born as a clean slate.
           Now you have to write something on it. You can write something imitating others, borrowed; you
           can write Vedas on it, Gitas, Korans, Bibles, but you will miss the whole thing. You destroyed a
           great opportunity.
                You have to write your own song -- not the song of Krishna and not the song of Christ, but your
           OWN song! You have to sing your own heart, only then will you be fulfilled. But people are simply
           repeating like parrots; hence they become very knowledgeable and still remain foolish, still remain
           ignorant.
                Saint Augustine divides humanity into two categories; those categories are significant. The first
           category he calls "knowledgeable ignorance." There are people who know too much and yet know
           nothing; their knowledge is all borrowed. Nothing has arisen in them, nothing has happened to them;
           they are simply repeating others. They may be very clever in repeating it, very efficient in repeating
           it, but they are functioning like computers. They are not yet human beings; humanity is not yet born
           in them. Their knowledge knows nothing, it is a pretension.
                The universities are full of such people, and the world respects these people very much because
           knowledge is power. They know, that is the prevalent idea, and they are powerful. And in a certain
           sense the idea is true: a man who knows physics is more powerful than the man who does not know,
           but as far as his own life is concerned he is as ignorant as anybody else. There is no difference
           between the villager and the university professor as far as self-knowing is concerned -- and that is
           the real treasure.
                There is knowledge which knows not, and, Augustine says, there is also an ignorance which
           knows. What is the ignorance he is talking about, that knows? The ignorance of the innocent. The
           innocent person has cleaned his mind completely of all borrowed knowledge.
                Meditation is nothing but a device to clean the mind, to give a shower to your inner being, so that
           all the dust, the so-called knowledge, is taken away and you are left clean, fresh, young. This is what
           Jesus says: Unless you are born again you will not enter into my kingdom of God.
                This is what in the East we used to call the phenomenon of the DWIJ -- twice-born. All brahmins
           are not dwij, but all dwijas are brahmins. All brahmins are not twice-born, but all twice-borns are
           brahmins. Christ is a brahmin, Mohammed is a brahmin. The brahmin is one who has known
           Brahman, one who has known the ultimate life, but the secret is, you will have to be born again.
                What does it mean? It means you will have to die to your knowledge -- borrowed, imitative,
           mechanical -- and you will have to be again innocent as you were when you were born the first time.
           But the first childhood is bound to be lost; nobody can protect it. It is in the nature of things that the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           first childhood will be lost. But the second childhood can be attained, and with the second childhood
           starts life. Before that you were merely existing. With the second birth you are entering into the real
           mystery of that which is.
                Let me remind you: don't take life for granted. It has to be created, and it can be created only by
           choosing freely, by choosing on your own. Yes, there is a possibility you may go astray, there is a
           possibility you may commit errors, mistakes. But nothing to be worried about -- mistakes and errors
           and going astray, they are all part of growth. It is only by committing mistakes that one learns, it is
           only by going astray that one comes back to the right path.
                Those who never go astray remain impotent. Those who never commit any mistake because of
           fear, they never do anything -- because if you do, there is a possibility you may commit some
           mistake. Afraid of committing mistakes, they never do anything. But without doing anything, how
           can you grow? You will remain hollow, you will not get any crystallization, you will not have any
           soul. You will be dead, you will be a corpse -- walking, breathing, talking, but you will be a corpse
           because you will not have the taste of life eternal.
                The first thing to be remembered is that we are not yet born. One birth happens through the
           parents, through the mother. The second birth happens when you are in intimate relationship with a
           master, with a buddha. The second birth happens in a buddhafield: the buddha becomes the womb.
           The master is the womb for the disciple. The disciple enters into the womb of the master, disappears
           into the master and is born again.
                It is through this new birth that you start being conscious. You believe that you are conscious...
           because you can come back every evening to your home from the office, so you think you are
           conscious. Because you can do certain things, you think you are conscious. Now there are robots,
           machine-men, which can do all the things that you are doing.
                Now there is a possibility that soon there will be planes -- they are already in existence, not yet
           used; soon they will be used -- which will not have any pilots, and there will be trains without any
           drivers. Theoretically they are possible now. The machine will do it all. Then you will be very much
           surprised: you have been doing these things and you were thinking that you are conscious because
           you do these things. By doing a certain thing one does not become conscious.
                Consciousness is doing a thing with a new flavor. Doing it, in itself, is not consciousness, but
           doing it with a witness inside; watching, observing, knowing that you are doing it -- that is
           consciousness, and that is rebirth.

               Bryant caught a tiny fish which suddenly began to speak. "I am really an elf and if you release
           me I will grant you and your wife any three wishes."
               So the Irishman released the fish, rushed home and told his wife. The couple were anxious to get
           to town and look at things to wish for, so the wife decided to make a quick dinner out of a can of
           beans. But she could not find the can opener and said, "I wish I had a can opener." Kazam! She had a
           can opener.
           "You wasted one wish on that stupid can opener," screamed Bryant. "I wish it was up your ass!"
               And the sad part of the story is that they had to use the third and last wish to get it out again.

               This is the way you are living, this is the way the whole humanity is living: not knowing what
           you are saying, not knowing what you are doing, not knowing at all -- just haphazardly stumbling,
           groping. And this continues from the beginning to the very end.
               Your whole life becomes a grammar of unconsciousness, a language of unconsciousness. And
           through this language, the layer of this language, you look at life -- and everything is misinterpreted,
           distorted.

               Business partners Slutsky and Gross were fishing in a small rowboat on a lake in the Catskills.
           Suddenly a storm came up, the boat capsized, and while Slutsky began to swim, Gross floundered
           and sputtered helplessly. He was sinking.
           "Say," said Slutsky, swimming away, "can you float alone?"
           "I am drowning," sputtered Gross, "and he is talking business!"

              The old language, "Can you float a loan?" -- the language of business. He understands only one
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           language. Now, even in such a situation, what is said to him will be understood the way he can
           understand. We don't understand what is said; we understand what we can understand. We don't
           understand what we see; we see only what we can see.

               Old man Bernstein lay dying. The entire family had gathered around the deathbed. In a soft,
           feeble voice, he inquired, "Is Sol here?"
           "Yes, Papa," said his eldest son.
           "Is Lester here?"
           "Yes, Dad!" answered the boy.
           "Is Eli here?"
           "I am right here!" said the youngest son.
           "If you are all here," said Bernstein, "who is minding the store?"

               And now he is dying -- the last moments! Even at the moment of death he is thinking of who is
           minding the store.
               From birth to death you go on living, groping in darkness with no light -- and you could have
           created the light. You cannot find it in the scriptures; nobody can hand it to you. It is not purchased
           or sold; it is nontransferable. But you can create it -- you can put all your energies together. You can
           start living consciously from this very moment.
               For example, you are listening to me. You can listen in a sleepy way... because you are here, and
           I am uttering a few words, and you have ears and your ears function, so those words strike your
           eardrums and some noise is made -- and of course you hear. But this is not listening, it is only
           hearing. It is not listening.
               Listening means you are alert, watchful, on your toes, drinking with no mind to distort; with no
           inner noise, with no chattering, utterly silent; not sleepy, very wakeful, very awake; as if your house
           is on fire, as if everything can be taken away any moment and this is no time to sleep. When your
           house is on fire you cannot sleep -- or can you? When your house is on fire you cannot be sleepy;
           you will be alert, very alert.
               The first statement that Buddha made after he left his palace was, "My house is on fire. Now I
           cannot live anymore in unconsciousness." There was nobody except his charioteer. The old man
           looked at the palace; he didn't see any flames there, the house was not on fire. He thought, "The
           prince has gone crazy!" He was an old man, an old servant, of the same age as Buddha's father. He
           had seen Buddha from the first day he was born; Buddha used to respect the old man.
               The old man said, "What nonsense you are talking! Al-though my eyes are becoming weak, I am
           becoming old, but I don't see any flames. The house is perfectly okay, there is no fire!"
               Buddha said, "Yes, I see -- you may not see -- my house is on fire, because each and every
           moment death is possible. Now I cannot remain in this sleepy state anymore."
               The old man shrugged his shoulders. He said, "You are saying just insane things!"
               When he had to leave Buddha in the forest and they said goodbye, the old man was crying and he
           said, "Listen to me -- I am just like your father. Where are you going? Have you gone nuts? Such a
           beautiful palace, such a beautiful wife, so much comfort, so much luxury! Where are you going?"
               Buddha said, "I am going in search of consciousness." He didn't say, "I am going in search of
           God," because how can you talk about God if you are not even conscious? The real seeker goes in
           search of consciousness, not in search of God. If you start your search for God, that is going to
           remain an unconscious search -- because you have heard priests talking about God a greed has arisen
           in your mind for God.
               The real seeker, the real sannyasin, has nothing to do with God. His whole effort, his single
           effort, his one-pointed effort, his concentrated effort, is to become more conscious -- how to be so
           intensely conscious that you become full of light, that your whole mind is a flame of light burning
           bright, that the torch of your mind is burning from both the ends simultaneously. In that light one
           knows naturally that God is.
               God is not to be searched for; what is to be searched for is consciousness. Unconscious people
           can believe in God, but their belief in God is just like their belief in money. They believe in notes,
           they believe in God, they believe in stone statues, they believe in dead scriptures. They can only
           believe, remember: only unconscious people believe.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The conscious person knows, feels, experiences. He does not believe in God: he lives in God, he
           breathes in God, his heart beats in God. It is not a question of belief.
               You don't believe in the sun when you see the sun rise. You don't ask people, "Do you believe in
           the sun?" If you ask, they will laugh at you. You don't believe in the moon when the moon is full in
           the night; you never ask anybody. There are not believers in the moon and nonbelievers. It is your
           experience; there is no need to believe or disbelieve.
               Exactly like that, in consciousness you have eyes to see God, you have eyes to see the truth of
           existence. Then it is no longer a question of belief -- it is your experience, existential experience. A
           conscious person knows, an unconscious person believes.
               Why are you a Hindu, why are you a Mohammedan, why are you a Jaina, and why are you a
           Christian? All beliefs! -- and the priest lives on your unconsciousness. He goes on giving you more
           and more beliefs -- moral beliefs, beliefs that if you do this you will be rewarded, if you do that you
           will be punished, belief in hell, belief in heaven. He goes on piling up more and more beliefs. You
           are drowning in beliefs! Your beliefs have become so heavy on you, like the Himalayas on your
           chest; they don't allow you to live.
               The first step towards consciousness is to discard all beliefs. Don't be a Hindu, don't be a
           Mohammedan, don't be a Christian... because I tell you the way to become a christ! Why be a
           Christian? And I tell you the way to become a buddha -- why be satisfied by being a Buddhist? Why
           be satisfied with plastic flowers when the real roses can be grown, when you can become a garden of
           roses? You purchase a few plastic flowers from the market and you go on worshipping those plastic
           flowers. What you call them -- Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu -- does not matter; if they are
           borrowed they are plastic. The real flower has to be grown within your being; it has to blossom
           there.
               Those who have known, they say -- and I vouch for them, I am a witness -- that when your
           consciousness opens up in its totality it is a one-thousand-petaled lotus, a golden lotus, gold with
           perfume. It is the ultimate miracle. And unless that is attained, don't rest. Each moment lost is a great
           loss.

           The sutras:

              AS THE RICH MERCHANT WITH FEW SERVANTS
              SHUNS A DANGEROUS ROAD
              AND THE MAN WHO LOVES LIFE SHUNS POISON,
              BEWARE THE DANGERS OF FOLLY AND MISCHIEF.


               Buddha is saying that if you are a merchant with a great treasure and you are coming home from
           a long long journey of business -- doing business in many many places you have gathered great
           treasure and you are coming back home and you have only a few servants with you -- you will avoid
           dangerous roads where robbers can rob you, where you can be killed, where your treasure can be
           taken away from you.
               Man has been on a long pilgrimage. You are not new on the earth, you are very ancient pilgrims.
           And all these lives you have gathered much treasure inside you -- even YOU may not be aware of it.
           You have learned much... you are not conscious, you don't know what treasures you are carrying
           within yourself. Because you are unconscious you are continuously moving on dangerous roads
           where you can be robbed -- where you ARE robbed, robbed every day. The person who is not aware,
           one who is asleep, you can rob him; he will not even give you a fight.
               And the robbers are not outside, the robbers are within you. Anger, hatred, greed, jealousy,
           possessiveness, these are the robbers, and in the unconscious mind they go on robbing you. How
           much has anger robbed you of? Look back! How much has your anger destroyed? But you don't
           even calculate! You don't even look back to have an insight into what you have been doing to
           yourself. How much has your lust exploited you? But you go on doing the same things again and
           again! The same anger which you have always experienced as poison, which you know perfectly
           well is only destructive -- and each time you have been in it you have repented later on -- you have
           decided, you have promised to yourself many times, not to go into it again. And again and again you
           go on forgetting your promises given to yourself.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               A man was saying to his friend, "Last night I went to see a Jewish porno movie, and it was quite
           an experience."
               The friend asked, "What could a dirty Jewish movie be like?"
               The man said, "It only lasted ten minutes: one minute of sex and nine minutes of guilt."

              Just watch your life and you will find it: one minute of anger and how many minutes of guilt?
           One minute of lust and how many minutes of guilt, or how many hours, or how many days?

               Brotsky was in Puerto Rico for a business convention. One night, in front of his hotel, he was
           hailed seductively by a beautiful prostitute. "Hello, Americano," she said. "You wanna buy what I
           am selling?"
               Brotsky went with her. Ten days later, at home in New York, he found that he had caught
           gonorrhea.
               The next year, in front of the same hotel, he was hailed by the same girl again. "Hello,
           Americano. You wanna buy what I am selling?"
           "Sure," he said, "What is it this time -- cancer?"

               If you look at your life you will see it is moving in circles. You go on doing the same stupid
           things, the same stupid things, and you have done them so many times. When are you going to wake
           up? And again you become intrigued with the same stupidity, again and again you are caught in the
           SAME net. Your life has not many new things.
               You just watch your life for three months, make notes for three months, and then you will be
           surprised: this is all that you have been repeating again and again. And unless you become awake
           you are going to repeat the same your whole life -- and not only your whole life, you are going to
           repeat it in many many lives to come.

              Harry, who grew up in Philadelphia, was making his first visit to England.
              One night he spotted a ravishing young redhead in a pub, walked over to her and stated
           conversationally, "You know, I come from the other side...."
           "Let's go right to my flat," she exclaimed. "This I gotta see!"

                You get it? Again and again.... "This I gotta see!" You become again and again intrigued. You
           may have known many women, and again another woman, and you are ready to be foolish again.
           Your life is repetitive -- you don't even make new mistakes!
                Be a little creative. If you are interested in making mistakes, at least make new mistakes. If you
           can make it a point that "I will make only new mistakes," soon they will be finished -- because how
           many new mistakes are there? One day you will simply find that there are no more new mistakes
           left, and you cannot make any because you have decided not to repeat.
                Once should be enough -- but why is it not enough? The reason is that while you are making that
           mistake you are not there; you are even doing it unconsciously. If you can do a mistake consciously,
           totally alert, with full awareness, absolute presence, you will not repeat it again.
                A man of intelligence is bound to commit mistakes, but one mistake only once, then he is
           finished with it. He has known and understood it. But people remain immature.

           Two little colored boys met on the street.
           "I am five years old. How old are you?"
           "I dunno."
           "Do you ever think of women?"
           "Naw."
           "Then you is four!"

               Now, this is how age, maturity, is measured, weighed.
               Maturity means becoming more conscious; there is no other way to become mature. I am not
           saying don't commit mistakes, because that will not help. I am not saying avoid mistakes, no. I am
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saying whatsoever you want to do, do it, but do it very consciously. Bring your full being in it, so
           once done you can decide whether it is worth doing again or it is utter nonsense, useless; so once
           done you know whether it is a real diamond or just a colored stone.
               If it is a real diamond, go after it, dig deep -- you may be close to a treasure. And if it is just a
           colored stone, forget all about it. Don't carry colored stones; they become a weight and they make
           your journey more and more difficult. When you want to go uphill you need to be weightless. And
           the journey towards consciousness is an uphill journey.
               AS THE RICH MERCHANT WITH FEW SERVANTS SHUNS A DANGEROUS ROAD AND
           THE MAN WHO LOVES LIFE SHUNS POISON, BEWARE THE DANGERS OF FOLLY AND
           MISCHIEF. Become aware. Beware means be aware. Beware is a combination of two words: be
           aware. Be aware OF THE DANGERS OF FOLLY AND MISCHIEF. They are two sides of the same
           coin: folly and mischief. Folly means unconsciousness -- and out of unconsciousness only mischief
           is born.

              FOR AN UNWOUNDED HAND MAY HANDLE POISON.
              THE INNOCENT COME TO NO HARM.


               If you become aware of folly and mischief.... Remember, Buddha is not saying avoid; he is
           saying beware.
               Lao Tzu says: A man of wisdom walks as if at each step there is danger. A man of wisdom walks
           as if in cold winter he is crossing a frozen stream, that is what Lao Tzu says. Yes, exactly, it is so:
           the man of wisdom walks alert. Each step is full of dangers, because your mind can any moment
           assert.
               Your mind is very ancient, its habits are very deeply ingrained, implanted. Just a little
           unawareness and the mind is bound to catch hold of you, and it will drag you into some mischief. It
           lives on mischief. It is bound to drag you into something which you will repent later on. But
           repentance does not help, it is a sheer waste of time. First you waste time in doing a mistake and then
           you waste time in repenting.

               One man once came to me, a very rich man. He had a lifelong habit of becoming angry so easily
           that just a slight provocation was enough, or if there was no provocation he would create it, he would
           imagine something. And he had suffered much because of it: his wife left him, his children deserted
           him, no servant could stay with him for long. He was living a very isolated life. He had all, but was
           very poor in a way because he had nobody to love him or to receive his love.
               He asked me, "How can I get rid of anger? I have decided many times, I have taken vows before
           great saints that I will not be angry again, but again and again, when the situation arises I forget all
           about the vow. It comes, and it comes in such a floodlike manner that I am simply taken over by it.
           What should I do? I have come to you. Please help me to decide so that I can get rid of it."
               I said, "You do one thing. The first thing is: drop repenting. The second thing is: never vow
           again against anger."
               He said, "What are you saying? Then my life will be ruined!"
               I said, "You have been taking vows and you have been repenting -- has it helped in any way?"
               He had to concede that it had not helped. Then I said, "Why not try what I am saying? -- because
           my own understanding is that repentance is not against anger; it is in fact a way of the ego to settle
           you back in the old position."
               When you become angry and later on you remember, your ego feels hurt that, "I have again
           committed the same stupidity." Now this wounded ego wants to be healed; you have fallen in your
           own eyes. Your wounded ego says, "Go to the temple or to some saint. Take a vow that, 'Now I will
           never do such a thing again.'" Taking a vow the ego feels good: "Look how religious I am." Taking a
           vow before a saint and before a gathering you feel tremendously strengthened in your ego: "Look, I
           have decided!" The wound is again healed.
               You are back in the old situation again: again the ego is enthroned. You will make the same
           mistake again sooner or later, and now you have learned a way to heal the wounds. Repentance is a
           way, taking vows is a way.
               So the first thing I told the man was, "Stop repenting -- it is wasting time! Gone is gone, past is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           past. It is finished. You need not worry about it. You start afresh -- don't repent. Rather than
           repenting, my suggestion is: you go home and BE angry -- the first thing to do -- be angry and be
           CONSCIOUSLY angry. While you are angry, remain alert that you are angry, know what you are
           doing: that you are throwing things, that you are throwing abuses. Be alert!"
               The next day he came. He said, "It is impossible! Either I can be angry or I can be alert. If I am
           alert I cannot be angry; if I am angry I cannot be alert. You have given me an impossible task!"
               I said, "Now it is for you to decide: if you want to be angry, forget alertness; if you do not want
           to be angry, then be alert. No repentance, no taking of vows anymore. A simple method!"
               All the awakened ones have been teaching the simple method.

              Somebody asked Mahavira, "Who is a real saint and who is a sinner?"
              Maybe the questioner wanted a ready-made answer that is given in the scriptures, but people like
           Mahavira speak out of their own being. What he said is tremendously beautiful. The definition that
           he has given is unique, unique in the whole history of humanity. He said, "ASUTTA MUNI -- one
           who is awake, he is the saint. And SUTTA AMUNI -- one who is asleep is the sinner."

               Simple, but tremendously significant! Wakefulness is the only saintliness there is, and sleepiness,
           unconsciousness, is the only sin there is; all other sins are born out of it. Cut the root, cut the very
           root! Don't go on pruning the leaves.
               FOR AN UNWOUNDED HAND MAY HANDLE POISON. And then, when you are aware,
           alert, watchful, then there is no problem. Then you are like an unwounded hand, you can handle
           poison. What does it mean?

                Let me remind you of a situation that happened in Jesus' life. He took a whip and entered into the
           great temple of Jerusalem. A whip in the hand of Jesus...? This is the meaning of what Buddha is
           saying: an unwounded hand can handle poison. Yes, Jesus can handle a whip, no problem; the whip
           cannot overpower him. He remains alert, his consciousness is such.
                The great temple of Jerusalem had become a place of robbers; subtle robbery was going on.
           There were moneychangers inside the temple and they were exploiting the whole country. Jesus
           alone entered the temple and upturned their boards -- the boards of the moneychangers -- threw their
           money around and created such turmoil that the moneychangers escaped outside the temple. They
           were many and Jesus was alone, but he was in such a fury, in such a fire!
                Now, this has been a problem for the Christians: how to explain it? -- because their whole effort
           is to prove that Jesus is a dove, a symbol of peace. How can he take a whip in his hands? How can he
           be so angry, so enraged, that he upturned the boards of the moneychangers and threw the
           moneychangers outside the temple? And he must have been afire; otherwise, he was alone -- he
           could have been caught hold of. His energy must have been in a storm; they could not face him. The
           priests and the business people and the moneychangers all escaped outside shouting, "This man has
           gone mad!"

               Christians avoid this story. There is no need to avoid it if you understand this sutra of Buddha:
           FOR AN UNWOUNDED HAND MAY HANDLE POISON. THE INNOCENT COME TO NO
           HARM. Jesus is so innocent! He is not angry; it is his compassion. He is not violent, he is not
           destructive; it is his love. The whip in his hand is the whip in the hands of love, compassion.
               This is why in the East we have Krishna, who can fight in the war even though he has promised
           not to fight. He forgets all about his promise. People think that he is very diplomatic, political; he is
           not. That promise was given in a certain moment; now that moment is no longer applicable -- the
           situation has changed. He is not an opportunist, he is not political at all. He is simply honest, sincere,
           responsible to the situation that is present. It was so in that moment when he promised that he would
           not enter into war; it is no longer so, the situation has changed. He enters war with no repentance; he
           never repented for it. There is no need to repent.
               A man of awareness acts out of his awareness, hence there is no repentance; his action is total.
           And one of the beauties of the total action is that it does not create karma; it does not create
           anything; it doesn't leave any trace on you. It is like writing on water: you have not even finished... it
           is gone. It is not even writing in sand, because that may remain for a few hours if the wind does not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come -- it is writing on water.
               If you go to Hindu temples you will find Rama with the bow and arrow in his hand. Now it has
           been a problem for the so-called Gandhians to explain it; for Mahatma Gandhi it was a problem. If
           Rama had a spinning wheel in his hand it would have been okay -- but the bow and the arrow?
           Gandhi tried to avoid it. He was repeating Rama's name every day; that was the last name on his lips
           when he died. When he was shot dead, the last words that came to his lips were, "Hey Ram! Oh
           Ram!" But how did he manage? What about that bow and arrow? He never encountered the problem
           honestly, sincerely -- because Rama fought the war, must have killed many people, certainly killed
           Ravana. What about this violence?
               This sutra will explain: FOR AN UNWOUNDED HAND MAY HANDLE POISON. THE
           INNOCENT COME TO NO HARM. If you can be totally alert, then there is no problem. You can
           handle poison; then the poison will function as a medicine. In the hands of the wise, poison becomes
           medicine; in the hands of the fools, even medicine, even nectar, is bound to become poison.
               THE INNOCENT COME TO NO HARM. If you function out of innocence -- not out of
           knowledgeability but out of childlike innocence -- then you can never come to any harm, because it
           leaves no trace. You remain free of your actions. You live totally and yet no action burdens you.

              BUT AS DUST THROWN AGAINST THE WIND,
              MISCHIEF IS BLOWN BACK IN THE FACE
              OF THE FOOL WHO WRONGS THE PURE AND HARMLESS.


                Remember, if you function out of unawareness, then your whole life will be DUST THROWN
           AGAINST THE WIND. It comes back into your own eyes. It is spitting at the sky -- it falls on your
           own face.
                You suffer not because of others, you suffer because of your own foolish actions. And what is a
           foolish action? Action which arises out of an unconscious state of mind.
                BUT AS THE DUST THROWN AGAINST THE WIND, MISCHIEF IS BLOWN BACK IN
           THE FACE OF THE FOOL WHO WRONGS THE PURE AND HARMLESS. And the outcome is
           even more dangerous for the fool if his mischief and his wrong is against the pure and the harmless.
           If you are fighting with another fool there is not much problem: he spits on you, you spit on him.
           Your spit comes back to you, his spit goes back to him; everything is equalized. You harm him, your
           harm comes back to you; he harms you, his harm goes back to him.
                But when you harm or do mischief to somebody innocent, then you are really in trouble because
           your mischief will come back to you a thousandfold. The innocent person will not do any mischief to
           you; he will simply re-echo, he will simply reflect, he will be a mirror. If you are ugly, your ugliness
           will be shown -- and of course, the purer the mirror, the more clearly your ugliness will be shown.
                And the mind has a great desire to harm the innocent. It is afraid to harm the mischievous
           because the mischievous can prove too much. The innocent seems to be SO innocent that you are
           tempted to harm him. The innocent seems to be so vulnerable, so delicate, that you think there is no
           problem: you can do anything to him, he will not even reply. Hence Jesus is crucified, Socrates is
           poisoned, Buddha is stoned.
                Remember, there is a great temptation to harm the innocent, because you know he will not return
           it in the same coin. But the trouble is, HE will not return it in the same coin, but the whole existence
           takes revenge on his behalf. Because HE is not going to take revenge, the whole existence takes his
           side. Existence is always on the side of the awakened one. You are bound to suffer much, although
           Jesus is ready to forgive you. The last words of Jesus were: Father, forgive all these people because
           they know not what they are doing. This is his response. But existence cannot forgive you.
                Existence follows a very exact law: mischief is bound to create mischief for you, and misery, if
           you create it for others, is bound to rebound on you. And if it is done against the harmless, against
           the wise, against the buddhas, then in a thousandfold way you will suffer.

              SOME ARE REBORN IN HELL,
              SOME IN THIS WORLD,
              THE GOOD IN HEAVEN.
              BUT THE PURE ARE NOT BORN AT ALL.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Hell and heaven are not geographical, remember it. It is just a metaphor to explain something
           psychological. Hell is the state of the mind which is in deep misery -- of course, created by your own
           doings. All the dust that you have been throwing against the wind falling on yourself, that is hell --
           all the wrong that you have been doing to people coming back to you. You have to reap the crop
           because you had sown the seeds. If you sow seeds of poison you will have to reap poison. It is so
           simple: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the eternal law.
                Nobody can be exempted from it, there is nobody who can be an exception -- although
           everybody thinks, "I may be an exception, I may find some way to get out of it." Certainly you can
           find ways to get out of human laws, you can find ways to get out of any law, because man-made
           laws are man-made laws; they can be broken. And you can find intelligent people who can show you
           how to bypass them. But eternal laws, natural laws, cannot be broken; if you break them you are
           bound to suffer. That suffering is hell.
                Whenever you go against the law of life you are in hell, and whenever you go in tune with the
           law you are in heaven. Heaven means a state of joy. And whenever you are in a limbo, neither here
           nor there, neither against nor for, in a state of lethargy, in a state of indecision, just hanging in
           between, then you are in this world. In the Buddhist scriptures this world is called MADHYALOK --
           the middle state between heaven and hell.
                There are three kinds of people in the world: a few who are in heaven, many who are in the
           middle, and many more who are in hell. And in fact these are not three kinds of people because each
           person goes through all these three states every day. In the morning you may be in heaven, by the
           afternoon you are in limbo, by the evening, coming home, you are in hell. You go on changing,
           shifting. These are psychological states.
                To go beyond all these three is called nirvana, is called buddhahood, is called moksha. If you can
           go beyond all the three -- that means if you can go beyond all mind -- then you are not only in tune
           with the law.... If you are in tune with the law you are in heaven, if you are against the law you are in
           hell. If you are indecisive, half-half, fifty-fifty, you are in the middle world, this world. But if you
           become one with the law, you are no longer separate -- not even in tune, because in tune you are
           separate. If you become one with the law: if you drop your ego and mind totally; if you become
           immersed in the eternal law; if you become the ocean, your dewdrop disappears in the ocean and
           becomes it, then you are born no more. Then there is no birth, no death. Then this whole wheel of
           birth and death stops. Then you are one with the cosmos, then you are God.
                This is the ultimate that has to be attained, this is the ultimate that man is capable of attaining,
           but also capable of missing. Unless great effort is made with great skill and intelligence, you will not
           be able to attain it.

              NOWHERE!
              NOT IN THE SKY,
              NOR IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA,
              NOR DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS,
              CAN YOU HIDE FROM YOUR OWN MISCHIEF.


               Remember: there is no way to hide from your mischief. So don't go on befooling yourself that
           you will find some way: that you will go to the Ganges and take a dip in the Ganges and all your sins
           will be washed away. Don't deceive yourself -- the Ganges cannot do that. Don't think that you will
           go to Kaaba and you will do HAJ, the great pilgrimage, and you will become a HAJI -- the man who
           has been to Kaaba -- and then all sins are taken away from you, God has forgiven you. Don't think
           that by doing a certain ritual -- YAGNA, HAVAN -- you will be freed from your mischiefs. Nothing
           is going to help.
               NOWHERE! Buddha says,NOT IN THE SKY,NOR IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA,NOR DEEP
           IN THE MOUNTAINS, CAN YOU HIDE FROM YOUR OWN MISCHIEF. It will follow you like
           your shadow, it will torture you wherever you go. It is better not to do it -- but you can avoid doing it
           only if you become conscious, otherwise you are bound to do it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              NOT IN THE SKY,
              NOR IN THE MIDST OF THE OCEAN,
              NOR DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS,
              NOWHERE

              CAN YOU HIDE FROM YOUR OWN DEATH.


               Mischief is bound to bring its own punishment just as certainly as birth is bound to bring its own
           death. You cannot avoid death, you cannot avoid the outcome of your deeds. So don't think in these
           terms, because all that time wasted in avoiding, hiding, is simply wasted. All that energy can be put
           into one effort: of becoming aware, of becoming meditative. That is going to help.

               A man was going to the Ganges. He went to Ramakrishna, he was a follower of Ramakrishna. He
           asked Ramakrishna, "Paramahansadeva, I am going to the Ganges -- bless me. Do you think all my
           sins will be washed away?"
               Ramakrishna said, "Yes, certainly, because the Ganges is so pure; whosoever dives deep into it
           becomes as pure as the Ganges. But there is a problem that you have to remember."
               The man said, "What is that problem? You just tell me, I will remember."
               Ramakrishna said, "Have you seen the great trees that stand on the banks of the Ganges?"
           He said, "Yes, I have seen."
               Ramakrishna said, "Do you know what is the purpose of those trees?"
               He said, "That I have never heard and it is not written in the scriptures. What is the purpose of
           those trees? You tell me."
               Ramakrishna said, "The purpose of those trees is that when you dive in the Ganges, your sins
           have to leave you because of the power of the Ganges. Those sins sit on the top of those tall trees.
           When you come back out of the Ganges, they jump upon you again! So it is really futile. If you want
           to go you can go, but avoid one thing: if you dive in the Ganges, don't come out! Then be gone
           forever; otherwise those sins won't leave you. And they will take revenge, they will jump upon you
           with vengeance."

               And this is literally true. The religious people, the so-called religious people, think that they can
           do a certain ritual and the sin is finished, and they are free to do the sin again! And once you know
           the trick how to finish it, why bother? You can go on doing as many sins as you can -- the Ganges is
           always there. And now there is no need to go to the Ganges either: you can bring the Ganges in pipes
           to your home, so every day, early morning or evening, you take a bath. Evening will be better, so the
           whole day's sins are finished and you are as pure as a lotus flower.
               Buddha says nothing can help you. There is nowhere to hide from two things: the result of your
           deeds and death. They are going to happen.
               Then what should we do? Become conscious, and in becoming conscious both disappear. In
           becoming conscious your actions automatically go through a transformation. The conscious man
           cannot do anything wrong, and the conscious man comes to know that, "There is no death for my
           consciousness. The body will die, the mind will die, but not my innermost being. I am eternal.
           AMRITASYA PUTRAH -- I am the son of eternity, I belong to the eternal existence."
               Consciousness brings these two truths home. First it transforms your world by transforming your
           actions; secondly it transforms your interiority by making you aware that you are eternal. When you
           know you are eternal, when you know that you have always been and you will always be, all your
           values of life immediately start changing. Then whatsoever was important yesterday is no longer
           important, and whatever was never important before becomes important -- because now you think in
           terms of eternity and not in terms of time.
               To think in terms of time is politics: to think in terms of eternity is religion.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                     Chapter #6
                                         Chapter title: Is this the way it is?
           27 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908270
              ShortTitle: DHAM406
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT SEEMS TO ME THAT BEING HERE WITH YOU MEANS TO LET GO OF EVERYTHING -- NOT
              ONLY THE MISERY, FEAR, SADNESS AND THE SO-CALLED NEGATIVE SPACES, BUT ALSO
              THE HAPPY, LOVING, FLOWING FEELINGS, THE SO-CALLED POSITIVE SPACES THAT HAVE
              ALWAYS BEEN MY GOAL. BELOVED MASTER, IS THIS THE WAY IT IS?


               Anand Hareesh, the positive and the negative, the night and the day, the summer and the winter,
           birth and death -- they are not separate. If you want to let go of one, you will have to allow the other
           also to go.
               That is one of the greatest dilemmas: people want the positive to remain with them -- but if the
           positive remains, the negative remains as its shadow. The positive will not have any meaning
           without the negative. If you don't know what darkness is you will not be able to see light at all. If
           you want to see light you will have to be ready to experience darkness too. You cannot avoid death if
           you cling to life. It is life that brings death in.
               And everybody wants to cling to the positive spaces and everybody wants to avoid the negative
           spaces. This is impossible -- this is against the eternal law.
               If you watch carefully you will see that if the negative is torturing you too much then the positive
           is only a cover-up. What do you mean when you say that you are happy? You simply mean that "At
           this moment my unhappiness is covered up." What do you mean when you say that "Now I am
           relaxed"? It simply means that the tensions have gone deeper into the unconscious; now you are
           oblivious of them.
               But sooner or later they will assert, sooner or later they will have their own time. You cannot
           remain with the positive forever. The negative and positive always balance each other: you will have
           as much happiness as you are ready to have unhappiness.
               Hence one of the mysteries: the more affluent a society is, the more miserable it is. There is no
           other country more miserable than America, for the simple reason that America has now the highest
           peak of happiness; it cannot avoid the lowest depth. The peaks are possible only with valleys -- the
           higher the peak, the deeper the valley.
               In India people feel very satisfied. The reason is they don't know the peaks of happiness; hence
           they don't know the valleys of unhappiness. They live more or less on neutral ground, neither
           positive nor negative. This is not true contentment, this is simply absence of positive spaces -- hence
           the negative spaces are also absent.
               America is really in a mental torture, in a great psychological upheaval. No society has ever been
           in such a state. Individuals, of course, have been.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Gautam Buddha was the son of a king. He had all the joys -- that's why he became aware of the
           misery of life. It is not accidental that all the twenty-four TIRTHANKARAS of the Jainas were
           kings. Buddha was a king, Rama and Krishna were kings, all the Hindu AVATARAS were kings.
           There is something in it, something very fundamental. Why have beggars not become tirthankaras,
           avataras, buddhas? For the simple reason that they don't know what happiness is -- how can they be
           aware of the misery of life?
                Buddha says: Life is DUKKHA -- pure misery. Only a buddha can say it because he has known
           the peaks. Knowing the peaks is simultaneously becoming aware of the valleys. If you live intensely,
           passionately, you will be more aware of death than the person who lives in a lukewarm way, who
           lives only so-so, who is not intense and passionate in his life. He cannot be very alert about death.
           The deeper you plunge into life, the greater will be your awareness of death. The positive and the
           negative continuously balance each other.
                The Indians have played a trick upon themselves. They have become neutral: "Don't go to the
           heights of joy; that is the way to avoid the depths of misery, pain, sorrow." But this is not true
           revolution. True revolution is not by becoming indifferent, by becoming lukewarm, by living a very
           very dull life. Real revolution happens through transcendence.
                These two words have to be understood because the difference is very delicate and subtle:
           'indifference' and 'transcendence'. Indifference simply means you avoid the positive to avoid the
           negative. Transcendence means you avoid nothing, neither the positive nor the negative. You live the
           positive in its totality and you live the negative in its totality, with a new quality -- and that quality is
           that of a witness. You live totally but at the same time you remain silently alert, aware.
                You know happiness surrounds you but you are not it; you know unhappiness surrounds you but
           you are not it. You know it is day but you are not it, and you know it is night but you are not it. You
           know now you are alive but you are not it; then when you will be dying you will know you are not it.
           This is transcendence.
                NETI, NETI -- neither this nor that -- is the secret formula of transcendence: neither positive nor
           negative. But it does not mean NOT to live the positive and the negative. If you avoid living you will
           become dull, very dull; you will lose all intelligence.
                That's the difference between the old sannyas and my new vision of sannyas. The old sannyas
           teaches you indifference, neutrality: "Don't go to the heights so you need not fall into the depths."
           Simple mathematics! "Don't be happy, then you will not be unhappy." How can you be unhappy if
           you have never been happy? "Don't rejoice, then there will be no sorrow, and don't laugh, then tears
           will not be possible." This is simple mathematics, but not the truth of transcendence, not the truth of
           real sannyas.
                The real sannyas means: laugh deeply, but remember you are not the laughter; and cry and weep
           deeply, let the tears flow, be total in it, and yet alert, a flame inside watching it all.
                Hareesh, you are to transcend, not to renounce. If you renounce you miss the point. And when I
           say, "Let go!" I simply mean don't cling. I am not saying to you don't try to be happy. Make every
           possible effort to be happy, joyous, but remember that sadness will follow -- that is natural. Accept
           it, and when it comes, don't run away from it, don't escape from it. That too is beautiful, part of life,
           part of growth; without it there is no maturity. Go deep into it.
                Joy has something to contribute to your growth, and sorrow too. Joy brings a freshness, the
           freshness of the morning dew. Joy brings youth, joy brings a dance to your heart. Sadness also brings
           many gifts but you escape from sadness; hence you never become aware of the gifts. Sadness brings
           a silence which no joy can ever bring. Joy is always a little noisy; sadness is utterly silent. Joy is
           always a little shallow; sadness is deep, it has depth. Joy always makes you forget yourself; it is
           easier to drown yourself in joy, to be intoxicated with joy. It keeps you unconscious. Sadness brings
           an awareness because you cannot drown yourself in it. You cannot participate, you have to stand
           outside -- because you don't want it!
                The first lessons of witnessing happen in sadness. One learns witnessing in sadness and only
           then, later on, the same witnessing can be applied to the moments of pleasure. But it is by witnessing
           that one transcends.
                And when I say, "Let go of it all, the positive and the negative," I simply mean don't cling, don't
           be identified. I am not saying, "Renounce!" Live, and yet live above. Walk on the earth, but no, don't
           let your feet touch the earth. Yes, there is an art to it.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And that's what sannyas is all about: the art of living in the world without being part of it, the art
           of living life without being identified with it. That's what real let-go is.
                The old sannyas is that of indifference. Exactly that is the word used in the old scriptures: a
           sannyasin becomes UDASIN -- indifferent to all that is -- VAIRAGYA. He becomes cold and
           detached. He escapes from the world of duality. He moves into a monastery or into the Himalayan
           caves, lives alone, lives without joy, without sadness.
                A kind of death he lives: he is already in his grave, he lives not. His life is not worth calling life.
           He has fallen below humanity; he is closer to the animals than to human beings. Hence his search for
           the caves, forests, jungles, mountains, deserts -- he is afraid of being with human beings. He wants to
           fall below human beings, because human beings are bound to be divided by this great polarity,
           positive and negative, and he is afraid of it.
                But the real sannyasin -- the sannyasin of my vision -- lives in the world, in the thick of it, in the
           dense world. He renounces nothing. He lives life as totally as possible, because if God has given life
           it means there is something to attain through it. Only by living it can it be attained, only by living it
           is there something to be learned. Transcendence has to be learned; that is the great gift of life.
                If you become more and more conscious, let-go will happen and yet you will be here and now,
           and more than ever before. You will eat and you will taste more. You will love and you will have
           deeper orgasmic experiences. You will play and your play will have something of the spiritual in it.
           Your ordinary life will become sacred.
           Only one thing has to be introduced: witnessing.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM FEELING MORE AND MORE THAT THIS LIFE IS SOMETHING MAGICAL. IS THIS HOW YOU
              SEE LIFE? IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN BY THE GODLINESS ALL ABOUT US?


               Yes, Anand Nur, that's precisely what I mean. By "God" I don't mean a person. By "God" I mean
           the magic that surrounds you, the mysterious, the miraculous. By "God" I don't mean anybody who
           created the world, but creation itself. The very process of creativity is God.
               Hence you cannot worship God, you cannot pray to God. All prayers are false because they are
           addressed to a personal God -- and there is no personal God. You cannot relate to God, calling him
           "father," "mother." He is not a person; relationship is not possible. Then how to worship, how to
           pray? You will have to learn new ways of praying and worshipping.
               To be creative is to worship. To be creative is to participate in the great process of creation -- and
           participating in creativity is participating in God. For a moment you are transported. When you are
           painting something you are no longer there; you have become just a creative force. When you are
           playing music, if you are not just a technician but really a musician, a lover of music, then you
           disappear -- then the ego is no longer there. At least for those few rare, diamondlike moments,
           immensely precious, some windows open. You are no longer there, not as an ego.
               God is not a person, he is not an ego. And if you want to meet God you will have to be
           something similar: a non-ego, a nonperson. God is a presence. If you want to have any communion
           with God you will have to learn how to be just a presence and not a person; alert, fully alert, but
           without any idea of "I."
               And the best way to let this "I" disappear is not through austerities, yoga, fasting -- no. It is
           through creativity. I teach you the yoga of creativity, because to me that is the only yoga. The word
           'yoga' means union; when you are creative you are in a state of union with God. Standing on your
           head is not going to help much, in fact it is not going to help at all. You can stand on you head for
           lives -- it will do only one thing: it will make you stupid!
               And I am saying a scientific truth, I am not joking; I am very serious about it. If you stand on
           your head for long periods of time you will become stupid, because your brain consists of a very
           very delicate nervous system. Those nerves are so thin... they are thinner than hairs. Your small head
           has millions of nerves; you cannot see them with your naked eyes, they are so thin. If you stand on
           your head too long the blood rushes towards your head, and in that flood those nerves are going to be
           destroyed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                  Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In fact, scientists say man attained to mind, brain, because he stood on two legs -- upright.
           Animals have not attained to mind yet because they still go on remaining parallel to the earth. Their
           heads are getting too much blood; hence they cannot grow subtle nervous systems. It is only man
           who has been able to grow a subtle nervous system which can sustain great consciousness, which
           can sustain great intelligence.
               It is very rare to come across an intelligent, so-called yogi -- I have not come across one yet! The
           people who distort their bodies and do all kinds of circus tricks and stand on their heads, they may
           have good bodies -- they can have; so much gymnastics is bound to give you a healthier body, more
           animallike -- but they don't have intelligence. I have yet to come across a yogi who is really
           intelligent, and one of the reasons is that their subtle, delicate nervous systems are too much flooded
           with blood.
               You cannot sleep in the night without a pillow. Do you know why? -- because too much blood
           goes into the head. It keeps your whole nervous system vibrating. You need pillows. Pillows keep
           the blood flow less towards the head; you can sleep, you can rest, you can relax.
               By "yoga" I exactly mean the literal translation: union, communion. When you are painting or
           playing music or dancing or singing, then you are in a state of yoga.
               In my commune, this is going to be the yoga: you have to create. And the more you create, the
           more you become capable of creating. The more you create, the sharper is your intelligence. The
           more you create, the more you become available to infinite sources of creativity -- that is, God. The
           more you create, the more you become a vehicle -- a vehicle for the magic to flow through you.
               Yes, Anand Nur, by "God" I mean the magic that surrounds you. Can't you feel the magic that
           surrounds you every moment -- THIS very moment? The birds making sounds... the trees utterly
           silent, in a state of meditation... and you all here together with me, from faraway countries... a
           silence pervading. You are utterly tuned with me, breathing with me, your hearts beating with my
           heart. Can't you see the magic of the now, of the here, and the beauty of it and the benediction? This
           is God!
               God is not found in the temples and the mosques and the GURUDWARAS and the churches.
           God is found only in the company of the buddhas, because it is only in the company of the buddhas
           that you become aware of the magical existence.

           The third question:

              ,


               Sudheer, they are not so much against me as they are afraid of me. Out of fear they are against,
           but the root cause is fear. And why are they afraid? -- because they don't understand. It is
           misunderstanding. It always happens, it is bound to happen; it is nothing new.
               I say one thing, they understand something else because their minds are prejudiced. They have
           been brought up in certain traditions and I am breaking all traditions! They have been brought up to
           think in certain ways, and my whole effort here is to take you beyond thinking.
               People are conventional, conformist, traditional. And to me religion is rebellion -- rebellion
           against all conventions, against all conformities, against all traditions. Religion is never a tradition,
           can never be a tradition. Science can be a tradition but religion never.
               Science is really a tradition. Withdraw Newton -- for a moment think as though Newton was
           never born -- then there can be no Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein is possible only if Newton
           happens first. Science is a tradition, it is a continuum. Withdraw one brick and the whole edifice
           falls.
               But I am possible without there ever being a Christ. I am possible not because there has been a
           Mahavira or a Patanjali, not because there has been a Buddha or a Confucius or Lao Tzu. Religion is
           not a continuum; it is an individual phenomenon, it is an individual flowering. You can become
           awakened even if you are not aware of anybody ever becoming awakened before. You are not
           related with the past in the same way as science is related.
               That's why scientific truths, once discovered, become the property of everybody else. Albert
           Einstein worked hard for thirteen years to discover the theory of relativity; now you can read all
           about it within hours -- you need not discover it again. Edison worked for years, at least for three
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years, to discover the first electric light bulb; now you can go on producing electric light bulbs -- you
           don't need Edisons to produce them. Ordinary laborers knowing nothing of electricity can do the job
           -- they ARE doing it.
                But religious truths are totally different: you have to discover them again and again. What
           Buddha discovered does not become universal property. It dies with him, it disappears with him; it is
           an individual flavor. That is the beauty of religion: that it never becomes a commodity in the
           marketplace. Hence science can be taught in the schools, colleges, universities; religion cannot be
           taught. Religion cannot be taught at all; you cannot be informed about religion. You have to discover
           it on your own.
                Yes, you can get the inspiration, but inspiration is not information. You can be inspired by the
           presence of a buddha, you can become afire. You can attain to a burning longing to be like a buddha,
           but you will have to discover everything on your own. And you will not be able to give it to your
           children as a heritage. All that you can give, all that you can impart, is an intense longing for truth,
           that's all -- but not truth itself.
                Hence it is very difficult for the masses to understand what I am saying. It was difficult when
           Buddha was here, it was difficult when Jesus was here -- it will be difficult always because the
           masses live according to the past. They are fed, continuously brought up, in traditional ways. They
           have been told what is right, what is wrong; they have been told whether God exists or not, and they
           have learned all these things. And they have accumulated so much information that their minds are
           full of knowledge; they think they already know.
                So when anybody comes and brings a new dispensation into the world, when anybody brings a
           new revelation, when anybody becomes available to God, becomes a vehicle of God, the people are
           disturbed, their prejudices are shattered. Their old conceptions are not strengthened -- on the
           contrary, they start feeling, "If this man is right then we have been wrong all along... not only we but
           our forefathers and their forefathers." This goes against their ego. They would rather cling to their
           own ego than listen to the truth.
                And then because of their prejudices they go on hearing something which is not said. I say one
           thing, they immediately interpret it according to their own ideas. They don't listen in silence; they
           listen through all kinds of barriers of thoughts.
                For example, there are Jews, Mohammedans, Hindus, Christians, Jainas, Buddhists, Sikhs -- all
           kinds of people are gathered here. Do you think when I say something the Jew hears the same as the
           Jaina, the Mohammedan hears the same as the Christian, the Buddhist hears the same as the Hindu?
           Impossible! The Mohammedan has his own ideas....
                For example, if I am talking about rebirth, then the Christian, the Jew and the Mohammedan are
           a little on guard, unconsciously, because they have been told there is only one life; they cannot trust
           that there are many lives. But when I am talking about rebirth the Hindu is happy, absolutely willing.
           The Buddhist is willing, the Jaina is willing, absolutely willing. There is no problem in their minds.
           Not that they are agreeing with me -- they are happy because I am agreeing with them! And that's
           how it is about each single statement.
                Words don't have any clear-cut meanings -- they can't have; otherwise each communication will
           become very scientific. Words have many meanings, many nuances, so when you hear a word you
           can give it a color of your own. You can hear in your own personal, private way. You have your own
           private meaning.
                When I talk about God, the Buddhist listening here will immediately stop listening, it is
           absolutely automatic. Automatically he will be turned off. God? -- he has been told that the whole
           idea is nonsense. And when Buddha has said that the whole idea is nonsense, it has to be so. And not
           only Buddha -- for twenty-five centuries many other mystics who have attained to the ultimate have
           been telling him that God is not there. But the Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian, the Jew, they
           are absolutely willing, immensely happy that yes, I am talking about God -- their God! The Jaina and
           the Buddhist will not be happy; they don't believe in God.
                When I talk about the soul, the Jaina will be happy, the Hindu will be happy, the Mohammedan,
           the Christian, the Jew -- everybody except the Buddhist. He does not believe in the soul either. He
           says there is no individual entity, everything is a flux. Just as the Ganges goes on changing every
           moment, just as you cannot step in the same river twice, you cannot meet the same individual again.
           There is nothing permanent, nothing at all. Except change, everything changes. The Buddhist, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moment I talk about soul or God, stops listening. He says, "This is not for me." Not that he does it
           consciously -- these are unconscious habits, conditionings.
                It is not so much that people are against me; the reality is they don't understand what I am talking
           about, or they understand something totally different which is not being talked about. They are not
           aware what I am doing here. They don't come here, they depend on newspapers. Some third-rate
           journalist comes and reports something -- what can he report about meditation? He has never
           meditated.
                Look at the stupidity of the world! You don't send a journalist to report about a surgeon if he
           does not know anything about surgery -- or do you? If there is going to be a conference of surgeons,
           you send somebody who is well acquainted with the world of surgery; only he can report. If
           physicists are meeting, papers are read and discussed and you send somebody, you have to send an
           expert who knows what physics is. And modern physics is a very very evolved phenomenon; it
           needs years of studies. One has to be a physicist. You can't depend on a general journalist who goes
           on reporting about mediocre politicians and their stupid speeches. You don't send the same type of
           journalist to report when physicists are talking; you have to send a special person or you have to
           appoint a physicist to report about the conference, because only he will be able to understand.
                It is said that when Albert Einstein was alive, only twelve persons really understood -- all over
           the world -- what he was talking about. Now, who is going to report about him? Only one of these
           twelve may be able to report about Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity in such a way that at
           least some glimpse becomes possible to the common masses.
                But when you send a journalist here, you never inquire, you never require that he should be a
           meditator, that he should know something about meditation, something about yoga, something about
           Sufism, Zen, Tao, Tantra. No, these are not the requirements.
                Any Tom, Harry, Dick is thought to be perfectly capable of reporting about meditation, about
           Tantra, about Tao, about Zen, about Sufism. And people depend on his reports, and he has never
           meditated in his life. He has never had a single moment of meditation. He knows nothing of a state
           of no-thought. He knows nothing of those intervals, those spaces, where mind disappears, ego
           disappears, time disappears. How can he understand?
                Just by watching people sitting silently, will you be able to understand anything? If somebody is
           sitting silently with closed eyes...? You can take a picture of the person but you will not be able to
           take a picture of the inner happening. You can see people dancing, you can see them like Sufis,
           whirling dervishes; you can see them dancing and you will report that you saw people dancing,
           jumping -- but how are you going to know their inner world?
                You should participate! You should dance yourself. You should have a taste of it. Only then you
           may be able to report something of it -- only something, not all of it, because all of it is impossible to
           report, all of it is inexpressible.
                And when these people report, who don't understand, their report is only sensational. And then
           the masses read them, and they read even that report according to their own ideas. Then
           misunderstanding upon misunderstanding, layers and layers of misunderstanding! I must be the most
           misunderstood man in this country at this moment.

               Carolyn, a curvaceous traveling saleslady, was waiting her turn to register at a motel when she
           overheard the desk clerk tell Zabroski, the man in front of her, that he had just gotten the last room.
           She waited for the Pole to leave the desk and then approached him.
           "There is not another motel within miles and I am dead tired," she pleaded. "Look -- you don't know
           me, I don't know you, they don't know us, we don't know them. How's about me spending the night
           with you?"
           "I don't care," said Zabroski.
               They went to his room; he took off his clothes and so did she. "Listen," she said, "you don't know
           me, I don't know you, they don't know us, we don't know them. Let's have a few drinks. I've got a
           bottle."
               After they had gotten a little high, she cuddled up to him and whispered, "You don't know me, I
           don't know you, they don't know us, we don't know them -- let's have a party."
           "Hey," said the Pole, "if I don't know you and you don't know me and they don't know us and we
           don't know them -- who the hell we gonna invite?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Now the word 'party' is creating the trouble! The Pole is going to understand according to his
           idea of a party. Carolyn has something else in her mind -- a real party!
               What I am saying is totally different from what is being understood by the outsiders. But that is
           natural and I accept it. I have no grudge, no complaint about it. It's how it is going to be.
               I can be understood only by those who are in deep love, who are in deep trust with me. I can be
           understood only by those who are ready to put their minds aside. In that state of silence, something
           from me can stir your heart, can trigger a process of understanding.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHERE DO REBELLION AND SURRENDER MEET?


               Prem Rajo, rebellion and surrender meet in the idea of the ego. Drop the ego and simultaneously
           surrender happens, and rebellion too.
               I know what you mean by your question. You mean that rebellion and surrender seem to be polar
           opposites -- how can they meet? How can one be rebellious AND surrendered? That's your question.
           That's how mind thinks about rebellion and surrender; through the mind you cannot see them
           meeting anywhere.
               A man who is surrendered will look nonrebellious. A man who is rebellious will always be
           disobeying -- how can he surrender? He may die, but he will not surrender.
               You know only one kind of surrender: the surrender that is forced on you, the surrender that is
           not done by you but you are made to do it -- at the point of a dagger you are forced to surrender.
           That is not the surrender I am talking about.
               I am talking of a totally different kind of surrender. You are not forced -- you see the ugliness of
           the ego, you see the misery of the ego, you see the stinking ego, and you use the master as an excuse
           to drop the ego. The master is always an excuse -- remember.
               When you surrender to me you are not surrendering to anybody in particular -- because I am not
           there as a person. And when you surrender I am not accepting your surrender, remember -- because
           there is nothing to surrender, just a false idea of the ego.
               It is like a man who believes that he is rich and he is not, and he comes to me and he says, "I
           surrender my whole kingdom to you." I say, "Okay, I accept."
               I accept so that you can get rid of this nonsense. You don't have it, so it is not going to create any
           trouble for me.

              Two hippies were resting under a tree. It was a full-moon night, and they were really high. One
           looked long at the moon and then said, "I would like to purchase it, and I am ready to pay any price."
              The other said, "Forget all about it, because I am not going to sell it."

               When you surrender your ego you are not surrendering anything which is real, just an idea. If it
           was really something, then the master would be burdened by so many egos, he would be killed! He
           would have to carry a Himalaya of egos; it would be impossible for him to live; even to walk, even
           to breathe. I have one hundred thousand sannyasins in the world -- now, if I have to keep one
           hundred thousand egos, then Vivek will go mad!
               She goes mad about other things she has to arrange. So many presents come to me and she wants
           to dispose of them immediately, because it becomes a burden on her to go on collecting them and to
           keep track of where they are and to keep them clean. Now she is very much worried about my
           fountain pens. She goes on asking every day, "When are you going to distribute these?" -- because it
           is becoming a problem for her. I think I must have two hundred or more, and I am waiting so that at
           least I can give one fountain pen to each sannyasin -- I am waiting! Right now it will be a problem
           for me; whom to give and whom not to give, so I go on telling Vivek, "Wait a little, wait." And I tell
           many people, "Go on bringing them!" Now Niranjana is going especially to the West to bring as
           many fountain pens as possible. But if I have to keep all these egos it will be impossible -- Lao Tzu
           House is too small!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I accept your ego happily because there is no problem in accepting it. You are not giving
           anything to me, I am not taking anything from you. But you are getting rid of an idea, a fantasy, and
           your getting rid of it is the point. It is not surrender forced on you; it is surrender out of your own
           understanding.
               And then rebellion happens on its own accord, because a man without the ego is the most
           rebellious in the world. Again remember: when I use the word 'rebellion' I don't mean it in the
           political sense. A man without the ego cannot have any politics. Politics needs great egoists; the
           whole game of politics is the game of ego, it is an ego trip.
               When you are no longer burdened by the ego, when you have been unburdened, when the master
           has taken your so-called ego away from you, your life will be that of a rebel, of tremendous
           revolution. You will not be a Hindu and you will not be a Mohammedan and you will not be a
           Christian and you will not be a Jaina. This is revolution. You will not be a German and you will not
           be a Japanese and you will not be an Indian. This is revolution. You will not belong to any religion,
           to any sect, to any society, to any tradition. This is revolution.
               And because there is no ego, God can flow through you; great creativity becomes possible. THIS
           is revolution! And you will live now in a total let-go; in fact God will live through you -- not you.
           And God cannot be a slave, and God cannot be reduced to any slavery, and you cannot be reduced to
           any slavery either now.
               Prem Rajo, rebellion and surrender certainly meet -- in dropping the ego. But don't just go on
           trying to understand these things theoretically. Do something existential so that what I am saying
           becomes your experience -- because only experience liberates.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,

              I hear the Indians bragging too much about their spirituality. What do You say about it?

                Sahajo, Indians have nothing else to brag about! Forgive them, be compassionate to them. They
           don't have money, they don't have big houses, they don't have big cars, they don't have anything of
           science, technology. It is very difficult for them to maintain their ego; spirituality is their shelter.
           And spirituality is a commodity. You can brag about it very easily because nobody can prove that
           you don't have it, neither can you prove that you have it. It is so invisible that either you accept it or
           you don't accept it -- but you cannot prove it.
                And why particularly, spirituality? It sometimes happens that if you are very greedy you will
           pretend just the opposite, because that is the only way to hide the greed. If you are a very angry
           person, you may pretend to be very polite, compassionate, loving, because that is the only way to
           hide your anger. If you are obsessed with sex, you may start talking about BRAHMACHARYA --
           celibacy. The opposite is the way to hide it.
                The Indian mind is utterly materialistic, and the only way to hide it is to talk about, brag about,
           spirituality. Yes, there have been a few people in this country -- a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Patanjali, a
           Krishna -- who were utterly spiritual. But such people have been everywhere! Heraclitus,
           Pythagoras, Socrates, Plotinus, in Greece -- the same type of people, the same quality, the same
           fragrance. Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu, Mencius, in China -- the same perfume. Christ, Eckhart,
           Francis, Bohme -- the same dimension. Spiritual people have been everywhere; it is nobody's
           possession. But Indians brag about it, I know.
                Sahajo, I can understand your question, because what you see all around is just the opposite.
           That's why they brag about spirituality. Each Indian thinks that just by being an Indian he is a
           Buddha. It is not so easy to be a Buddha! And Buddha has nothing to do with being an Indian.
                In fact, Buddha was not an Indian, he was a Nepalese. He was born on the border of India and
           Nepal; in fact, now that part is in Nepal. And the statue of Buddha that you see does not look like a
           Nepalese, or does it? It is not a true statue. It does not look like Bahadur! Nepalese are closer to
           Chinese, Tibetans, Japanese -- the Mongol type. Buddha's statue does not look like a Nepalese, not at
           all.
                The statues were not made at the time of Buddha nor when he died. The statues were made five
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hundred years later. And you will be surprised to know, they were made in imitation of Alexander
           the Great. Alexander had come to India by that time, and he had a beautiful face, the Greek features.
           The statue of the Buddha is Greek! The man himself was Nepalese; the statue is Greek.
               And all the scriptures that you read about Buddha are not original. Some have been translated
           from Tibetan, some from Chinese, some from Japanese. The originals were destroyed by the Hindus
           -- and now the same Hindus go on proclaiming that they are the inheritors of Buddha. Buddhists
           were killed by the Indians!
               A time came after Buddha's death, after seven or eight hundred years, when all the Buddhists
           either were killed or they had to escape out of India. India was completely cleaned of Buddhists.
           Yes, they were killed, burned alive. Those who were fortunate escaped. In a way that was a blessing,
           because the people who escaped, the monks, they escaped to Tibet, to China. Those who were not
           too much afraid, they escaped to Tibet -- Tibet was very close. Those who were very much afraid
           went to China, to Mongolia, to Korea, to Taiwan, they simply never stopped, they went on and on!
           That's how the whole of Asia was converted to Buddhism. The whole credit goes to the Hindus. And
           now these same Hindus go on claiming that, "We have given birth to Buddha." Feel ashamed!
               But India is poor and very materialistic. Poor people cannot be otherwise; a poor person is bound
           to be materialistic, grossly materialistic. But then where to feed one's ego? India has nothing else to
           brag about. Spirituality is a good commodity -- invisible, unprovable. Anybody can say, "I have
           experienced God." You cannot disprove it. Maybe he is right, maybe he is not right, but it is beyond
           proof this way or that.
               But don't be worried about these stupid people who go on talking about spirituality, not knowing
           even the ABC of it. Yes, they may know something about the Vedas and the Upanishads. They may
           have crammed a few sutras, they may repeat them parrotlike, but they don't understand what they are
           saying -- because their lives belie it.

           "Excuse me, sir," said the Indian, "but aren't you the gentleman that fetched my son out of the lake
           yesterday?"
           "Why, yes, I am," said the embarrassed rescuer. "But that's alright -- let's just say nothing more about
           it."
           "Say nothing about it?" shrieked the Indian. "Indeed, man, where is his cap?"

                He is not even grateful! He has not come to say thanks to the person that, "You have saved the
           life of my child." He is worried about the cap....

              A Mexican, an Italian and an Indian were discussing what they would do if they awoke one
           morning to discover that they were millionaires. The Mexican said he would build a bullring.
              The Italian said he would hire thirty hookers -- one for each night of the month.
              The Indian said he would go to sleep again and see if he could make another million.

               If you watch the Indian mind, it IS materialistic. And it is not that it is materialistic only today --
           it has always been, because twenty-five centuries ago Buddha was telling people not to be
           materialists, and he was talking to the Indians. And even before Buddha, almost twenty-five
           centuries before Buddha, Parshvanath was telling Indians not to be materialists.
               India has given the greatest materialist philosophy to the world: the philosophy of the Charvakas.
           The Greek philosopy of Epicurus is nothing compared to the philosophy the Charvakas have given to
           the world. The word CHARVAKA is significant; it comes from CHARUVAK. Charuvak means
           sweet message, beautiful message. Another name of the philosophy of the Charvakas is LOKAYAT.
           Lokayat means popular; in which the majority of the people believe.
               Maybe it is because of the Indian materialism that a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Parshvanath, a
           Neminatha, were possible. When people are too materialistic, a few intelligent people are bound to
           get bored by the whole thing. It becomes nauseating, it becomes sickening! Life works in a very
           strange way: when the society is materialistic, a few avant-garde people start becoming spiritualists.
               Now the West is very materialist, and a great longing for spirituality is arising there. That's why
           you have come here. You don't see many Indians here. They believe they already know. They
           believe they have nothing to do -- no more research, no more inquiry. And they have become very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cunning. Poor people are bound to become cunning.
               Poverty is the root cause of all sins, of all crimes. So they start learning devious ways. They start
           becoming hypocrites: they say one thing, they do another thing. They start learning how to wear
           masks. You can see it, not only in the ordinary people, but in the so-called leaders and saints,
           political and religious. You will not find such hypocrites anywhere else.

               An airplane crossing the Atlantic ran into engine trouble. After dumping all the baggage to
           lighten the load, the pilot informed the passengers that three people would have to jump in order to
           save the rest.
           "We need three volunteers," announced the pilot.
               Immediately an Englishman left his seat, shouted, "God save the Queen!" and jumped out.
               In a little while a Frenchman got up and said, "Long live France!" and took the plunge.
               Five minutes later an Indian politician in pure snow-white, handspun clothes, stood up,
           screamed, "Long live Mahatma Gandhi!" and threw a Mexican out the door.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WITH THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION, HOW CAN WE BE "JOYFUL AND SERENE"?


               Julia Bradley, what else can you do? Time is short -- dance, sing, be joyous! If there were no
           nuclear destruction possible, no threat, you could have postponed. You could have said, "Tomorrow
           we will dance." But now there may be no tomorrow; you cannot postpone.
               This is for the first time that tomorrow is absolutely doubtful. It has always been doubtful, but
           this time it is absolutely doubtful. Individually it is always doubtful: tomorrow may never come,
           even the next breath may not come in. Individually death is always imminent, but this time it is
           something global, universal. The whole earth may disappear, may explode; not only all human
           beings, birds, animals, trees, the whole life on earth may be gone.
               Now it is up to you, Julia Bradley. You can cry and weep and you can beat your head against the
           wall; that will not stop nuclear destruction and its threat. In fact it may bring it closer and faster
           because sad people, miserable people, are dangerous people. Misery creates destructiveness.
               But if the whole humanity can start dancing, rejoicing, feasting -- seeing that the threat is very
           close by.... The third world war can start any moment. The foolish politicians have enough atomic
           energy piled up to destroy this earth not only once but seven hundred times. That many atomic
           bombs, hydrogen bombs, have accumulated that we can kill each person seven hundred times --
           although a person dies only once. But politicians don't want to take any chance, so seven hundred
           times you can be killed. It will not be needed, one time will do -- because we have heard only one
           story of resurrection; that is Jesus Christ. And even if Jesus Christ is resurrected and everybody is
           gone, what is he going to do? He will have to commit suicide.
               Rejoice! -- because then there is a possibility. If the whole earth can become full of joy it will be
           less possible to destroy -- because who is going to destroy it? We are the people; it is up to us to
           decide that we want to live or that we want to commit suicide. If we start a new climate in the world
           -- of rejoicing, of dancing, of singing, of meditation, of prayer -- and if people become full of bliss,
           cheerfulness, laughter.... If the world is full of laughter, there is every possibility we can avoid
           nuclear destruction, because joyous people don't want to destroy, they want to create.
               And anyway, Julia Bradley, you are going to die. Whether the whole earth remains or not does
           not matter. YOU are going to die, that much is certain. How does it matter to you whether the world
           continues after you or not? If it continues, good; if it does not continue, good. How does it matter to
           you? You will not be here anymore. As far as you are concerned, death is absolutely certain. Still
           you love, still you sing, you listen to music, so what difference does it make?
               If destruction has become global, we have to make laughter and dancing also global, in the same
           proportion, to counteract it. Why be sad? And what are you going to gain by sadness? Is it going to
           help in any way? It may be just a trick of the mind to keep you sad, it may be just a defense. You
           must be sad; now you are trying to find more and more rationalizations for remaining sad. And this
           is a beautiful rationalization, that, "What are you talking about? Telling people to dance and sing and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rejoice, and the world is on the verge of destruction? Tell people to be sad; tell people to cry and
           weep and forget all laughter and forget all love!" Is that going to help in any way? It will bring the
           universal suicide closer.
               But somewhere deep down in you there is a sadness that does not want to leave you, and that
           sadness is trying to find rationalizations.

               David came from an orthodox family. One day he announced, "Mama, I am going to marry an
           Irish girl named Maggie Coyle."
               The woman froze in shock. "That's nice, David," she said, "but don't tell your papa. You know he
           has got a weak heart. And I would not tell your sister, Ida -- remember how strongly she feels about
           religious questions. And don't mention it to your brother, Louis -- he might give you a bust in the
           mouth. Me, it is alright you told. I'm gonna commit suicide anyway."

                Somewhere deep down you must have a suicidal instinct. You are just finding rationalizations.
                Yes, I know the world is facing a danger, but each individual has always faced the danger of
           death. Still Jesus says: Rejoice and rejoice! And again I say unto you, rejoice! And in fact, Jesus was
           saying to people, "This world is to be destroyed soon. The Day of Judgment is very close by." It was
           never so close as it is now. Jesus was wrong! Twenty centuries have passed, and he was saying to
           people, "In your very life you will see the Day of Judgment!" His prophecy was not fulfilled.
                In fact he was not a prophet, he was a mystic. He was saying these things for a totally different
           purpose. He was saying, "The Day of Judgment is very close by -- transform yourself! Don't waste
           time, don't postpone!"
                Now the day of universal death is really close by, so, Julia, don't postpone. Rejoice, rejoice, I say
           unto you again and again, rejoice -- because if you can die rejoicing, you will transcend death, you
           will go beyond death.
                One who can die blissfully never dies, because in death he comes to know immortality.
                And if the time is short, then you have to spread this orange laughter all over the world. Then it
           is time that we should make people more and more joyous. Tell them that death can take over this
           earth any moment -- the days are numbered -- because the politicians are fools, and the fools have so
           much power now that it is a sheer miracle that the third world war has not happened yet. It should
           have happened. Why it has not happened yet is a mystery. Having all these stupid politicians all over
           the world having all the power.... Just pushing a button and the process can be triggered, and within
           ten minutes the whole earth will be on fire -- a fire that can melt steel and rock, a fire that will melt
           everything. The whole earth can explode.
                This is good news! You don't have time to waste. Julia, come on -- join the dance!
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                     Chapter #7
                                        Chapter title: See yourself in others
           28 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908280
              ShortTitle: DHAM407
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 111 mins
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ALL BEINGS TREMBLE BEFORE VIOLENCE.
           ALL FEAR DEATH.
           ALL LOVE LIFE.



           SEE YOURSELF IN OTHERS.
           THEN WHOM CAN YOU HURT?
           WHAT HARM CAN YOU DO?



           HE WHO SEEKS HAPPINESS
           BY HURTING THOSE WHO SEEK HAPPINESS
           WILL NEVER FIND HAPPINESS.



           FOR YOUR BROTHER IS LIKE YOU.
           HE WANTS TO BE HAPPY.
           NEVER HARM HIM
           AND WHEN YOU LEAVE THIS LIFE
           YOU TOO WILL FIND HAPPINESS.



           NEVER SPEAK HARSH WORDS
           FOR THEY WILL REBOUND UPON YOU.
           ANGRY WORDS HURT
           AND THE HURT REBOUNDS.



           LIKE A BROKEN GONG
           BE STILL, BE SILENT.
           KNOW THE STILLNESS OF FREEDOM
           WHERE THERE IS NO MORE STRIVING.



           LIKE HERDSMEN DRIVING THEIR COWS INTO THE FIELDS
           OLD AGE AND DEATH WILL DRIVE YOU BEFORE THEM.



           BUT THE FOOL IN HIS MISCHIEF FORGETS
           AND HE LIGHTS THE FIRE
           WHEREIN ONE DAY HE MUST BURN.



           HE WHO HARMS THE HARMLESS
           OR HURTS THE INNOCENT
           TEN TIMES SHALL HE FALL --



           INTO TORMENT OR INFIRMITY,
           INJURY OR DISEASE OR MADNESS,
           PERSECUTION OR FEARFUL ACCUSATION,
           LOSS OF FAMILY, LOSS OF FORTUNE.



           FIRE FROM HEAVEN SHALL STRIKE HIS HOUSE
           AND WHEN HIS BODY HAS BEEN STRUCK DOWN
           HE SHALL RISE IN HELL.


           What is the greatest mystery of existence? It is not life, it is not love -- it is death.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Science tries to understand life; hence remains partial. Life is only a part of the total mystery, and
           a very tiny part -- superficial, just on the circumference. It has no depth, it is shallow. Hence science
           remains shallow. It knows much and knows it in great detail, but all its knowing remains superficial
           -- as if you know the ocean only by its waves and you have never dived deep into it, and you don't
           know its infinity.
                Life is finite, momentary. This moment it is there, the next moment gone. It is a breeze, comes
           and goes... it does not abide. Hence the claim of science that it knows the truth is not true. It knows
           only the partial truth, and to claim the partial as the total is one of the absurdities of the scientific
           approach. What it knows is true, but it is not the whole truth. And the moment you claim that the part
           is the whole, you falsify even the part.
                Love is midway. It is exactly in the middle of life and death. It is half life, half death; hence the
           fear of love. Unless you are ready to die, you cannot know love -- although by dying you become
           more alive. It is through death that love resurrects itself again and again. It is by disappearing that it
           appears again and again.
                Love is far more mysterious than life itself, because it has life in it and something more too: life
           plus death. Fifty percent of love is life, fifty percent is death. And only those who are ready to die
           will know the life of love. Those who are afraid to die will never enter the mystery of love.
                Art explores the world of love. Hence art is far truer than science, goes deeper than science. The
           vision of the artist contains much more than scientific knowledge can ever contain, although the way
           of art is totally different from the way of science. It has to be different. Science can be objective
           because it is peripheral. Art cannot be absolutely objective; it is fifty percent objective, fifty percent
           subjective. It cannot be free from the observer.
                Science tries to be absolutely free from the observer; the observer should not enter in it, should
           not participate, should remain absolutely neutral, nonparticipant, a spectator. He should not bring
           himself into it. That is the scientific outlook.
                But how can you avoid the knower? If you really want to know, the knower is bound to enter
           into knowledge.
                Now the more perceptive scientists are becoming alert to the phenomenon that it is impossible to
           be absolutely impartial: the observer is bound to be reflected by his observations. He cannot be a
           pure spectator. He will interpret, he will theorize, he will create hypotheses and he will move
           through his hypotheses. He will choose because the details are infinite. He will have to focus.
                Who is going to decide where to focus, what to choose, what not to choose, in what direction to
           move? Because existence is multidimensional and you cannot move in all dimensions
           simultaneously, you can move only in one dimension, it is bound to be that what you know will be
           affected by the knower. But this has been the understanding of art from the very beginning.
                When the scientist looks at the flower he tries to be just an observer. He simply takes note of
           what he sees; he does not bring his dreams, his visions into his observation. The poet has more
           freedom, the painter has more freedom. He moves deep into the phenomenon of the flower. He
           participates in its mystery, he is not separate; for a few moments he becomes one with it. There are
           moments when the poet dances with the flower -- in the wind, in the sun, in the rain. There are
           moments when the poet becomes the flower, when the observer is the observed. There are moments
           when the poet not only looks at the flower but looks THROUGH the flower, becomes the eyes of the
           flower. Naturally, he dives deeper than science; he brings far bigger diamonds, far more precious
           stones.
                Poetry, painting, sculpture, music -- they come closer to reality because they are ready to
           participate. But they are only halfway.
                Religion is concerned basically with death. Death contains all: death contains life, death contains
           love, and something more which neither life can contain nor love can contain. Death is the
           culmination of all, the crescendo, the highest peak. Life is the base, death is the peak -- love is
           somewhere in between.
                The religious man, the mystic, tries to explore the mystery of death. In exploring the mystery of
           death, he inevitably comes to know what life is, what love is. Those are not his goals. His goal is to
           penetrate death, because there seems to be nothing more mysterious than death. Love has some
           mystery because of death, and life also has some mystery because of death.
                If death disappears there will be no mystery in life. That's why a dead thing has no mystery in it,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a corpse has no mystery in it, because it cannot die anymore. You think it has no mystery because
           life has disappeared? No, it has no mystery because now it cannot die anymore. Death has
           disappeared, and with death automatically life disappears. Life is only one of the ways of death's
           expression.
                The corpse has no mystery because, with the disappearance of death, love is gone. Just one
           moment before there was great mystery; now there is nothing. You can only go and bury the dead or
           burn the dead. The full stop has come. The process has stopped. It is death that keeps the process
           going on. It is death that keeps you aware of something mysterious, miraculous, magical.
                Religion is founded in the search into death, and to understand death is to understand all. To
           experience death is to experience all, because in the experience of death, you not only experience life
           at its highest, love at its deepest; in experiencing death you enter into the divine. Death is the door to
           the divine. Death is the name of the door of God's temple. The meditator dies voluntarily.
                There are two kinds of death. One is the ordinary death; everybody dies it. That is not the
           mystic's death. The ordinary death happens against you; you go into it very reluctantly. You don't
           want to go into it, you cling to life. You don't become available to it, you don't become open to it.
           Hence you go on missing the point.
                Many times you have died, but each time you died so much obsessed with life that you could not
           see what death is. Your eyes were focused on life, you were clinging to life. You were snatched
           away, and the only way to snatch you away is to make you unconscious.
                When the surgeon is going to operate on you he makes you unconscious, he gives you anesthesia.
           That's what death has been doing for centuries, from eternity. If you can't go joyously, dancingly into
           it, there is a built-in anesthesia: people become unconscious before they die. That's why you don't
           remember your past lives, because you became so deeply unconscious before you died that the
           chapter became closed.
                If a person can die conscious, alert, he will remember his past life. That's how India discovered
           that there is not only one life; millions of times you have lived. You are not new, you are very
           ancient pilgrims. But each time you died reluctantly, unconsciously; hence you forgot everything.
                The mystic dies voluntarily. The mystic dies before the actual death; he dies in meditation.
           Lovers know a little bit of it because fifty percent of love is death. That's why love is very close to
           meditation. Lovers know something of meditativeness; unawares they have stumbled upon it. Lovers
           know silence, stillness. Lovers know timelessness, but they have stumbled upon it -- it has not been
           their basic search.
                The mystic goes into it very consciously, deliberately. Meditation is total death, voluntary death.
           One dies into oneself. Before death ever comes the mystic dies. He dies every day. Whenever he
           meditates he goes into death. He reaches to those heights, those depths, and, slowly slowly, as
           meditation becomes natural, he starts living death. Then each moment of his life is also a moment of
           death. Each moment he dies to the past and remains fresh, because the moment you die to the past
           you become alive to the present.
                He dies continuously and remains as fresh as dewdrops or lotus leaves in the early morning sun.
           His freshness, his youth, his timelessness, depend on the art of dying. And then when actual death
           comes he has nothing to fear, because he has known this death thousands of times. He is thrilled,
           enchanted; he dances! Joyously he wants to die. Death does not create fear in him; on the contrary, a
           tremendous attraction, a great pull.
                And because he dies joyously he dies without becoming unconscious, and he knows the total
           secret of death. Knowing it, he has the master key that can unlock all the doors. He has the key that
           can open the door of God.
                And now he knows that he is not a separate individual. The very idea of separation was stupid.
           The very idea of separation was there because he was not aware of death. You think yourself
           separate as an ego because you don't know what death is. If you know death, the ego will evaporate.
           And the moment the ego evaporates you start feeling for the whole existence.
                That is why Buddha teaches nonviolence. It is not a moral teaching, not like Mahatma Gandhi.
           Mahatma Gandhi's whole teaching is moral, social, political. It is ordinary; it has no mysticism in it.
           Buddha's nonviolence is totally different, qualitatively different. When he teaches nonviolence he
           means there is nobody other than you. To hurt anybody is to hurt yourself. To destroy anything is to
           destroy yourself. To be against, inimical, antagonistic to anybody is to be against your own being --
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because there is only one being that permeates and pervades all.
               Buddha never uses the word 'God', but by subtle hints he indicates again and again. This is his
           way of indicating. His respect for God is so tremendous that he feels to use the word 'God' is to
           commit a crime. That is my understanding of Buddha. He does not use the word because of deep
           respect, great reverence. He has been misunderstood -- as it happens always. All the buddhas are
           misunderstood, because the people who try to understand them have no insight, are blind, deaf.
               Buddha has been thought to be an atheist. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Buddha has
           been thought to be against God. Nothing can be more untrue. Buddha's reverence is such that he
           cannot assert the word 'God'. To assert the word 'God' is to create a separation; as if "God" is
           separate from "me." The inseparableness is so much, the unity with God is so much, that even the
           word cannot be uttered.
               That has been a tradition in ancient Israel: for centuries the name of God was not asserted. Only
           the highest priest of the great temple of Jerusalem was allowed, and that too in absolute aloneness,
           and that too only once a year. Nobody else was allowed to use the name of God. Only one day, once
           in a year, the highest priest, the purest, the most pious, the holiest man amongst all the Jews, would
           enter into the shrine, the innermost shrine of the temple. All the doors would be closed. Thousands
           of people would gather all around the temple just to be present there while the priest asserts the name
           of God. Nobody would hear it -- the priest would whisper it.
               You cannot shout the name of God; it can only be whispered in silence -- and only once. It was a
           beautiful tradition. It shows reverence. Otherwise, beautiful words like 'God' become contaminated,
           become profane. They become ugly.
               Even now, Jews, whenever they use the word 'God' or they write the word 'God', spell it
           differently. They don't use the full spelling G-o-d. They simply use G-d, they leave out the 'o', just to
           show that, "We are not competent enough to assert the full name." The essential part, the middle core
           of it, the very soul of it, is left out. And that 'o' is beautiful because it is also the symbol zero. It is not
           only 'o' but zero too, and zero is the innermost core of God.
               Buddha calls it SHUNYATA -- emptiness, void. 'G' and 'd' are just peripheral; it's okay, one can
           use them, but the innermost core has to be left unexpressed. It is because of tremendous reverence
           for God, for existence, that Buddha has never used the word. But hints are there; for the perceptive
           ones, for the sensitive ones, there are infinite hints. In each sentence there is a hint.
               The moment you die consciously, in meditation, God is born -- because you disappear as an ego.
           Then what is left? A stillness, a tremendously potential stillness, a silence that is pregnant --
           pregnant with the whole. When you disappear, boundaries disappear. You melt and merge with
           everybody else.
               The poet, only once in a while, becomes attuned with the flower, attuned with the sunrise,
           attuned with a bird on the wing. The mystic becomes one with existence forever. He is the flower
           and he is the cloud and he is the sun and he is the moon and he is the stars. He starts living in a
           multidimensional way because the whole life is his. He lives in the tree as greenness, and in the rose
           as redness. He is on the wings of the bird, he is the roar of the lion and he is the waves of the ocean.
           He is all... how can he be violent? How can he hurt? How can he be destructive?
           His whole life becomes a creativity.
           The mystic is utterly creative.

           The sutras:

               ALL BEINGS TREMBLE BEFORE VIOLENCE.
               ALL FEAR DEATH.
               ALL LOVE LIFE.

               Simple statements, but with great meaning.

               ALL BEINGS TREMBLE BEFORE VIOLENCE. Even unconscious animals tremble before
           violence. Even though you may not make them in any way alert that they are being killed, but still,
           before a sheep is killed, she trembles. Now the scientists have discovered that the same is true about
           trees. When the woodcutter comes into the garden or into the forest the trees tremble.
               Now there are sophisticated instruments like cardiographs, to note the trembling of the heart of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the tree, which can make a graph of what is happening to the inside of the tree. Even the entry of the
           woodcutter into the forest.... He has not said anything, he has not yet cut a single branch of the tree,
           but the trembling arises as if some intuitive source makes the tree alert.
                And scientists have watched a miracle: the same woodcutter with his axe on his shoulder may
           move from the forest. If he has not cut any tree -- if he is just passing by the way, going to some
           other place -- no tree trembles. It seems as if the intention of the woodcutter -- just the intention, not
           any act -- is being relayed, broadcast to the trees.
                And one thing more they have observed. You may not cut the tree; a hunter may come and kill a
           tiger -- but all the trees surrounding the place tremble. Even the death of the tiger is enough to make
           them sad, to make them afraid. What scientists have just now become aware of, within these last
           three or four years, the mystics have been aware of for centuries.
                Buddha says: ALL BEINGS TREMBLE BEFORE VIOLENCE. Violence is something against
           nature. The religious person cannot be violent -- not that he practices nonviolence, remember. If you
           practice nonviolence you will become a Gandhian, a phony. The Gandhian is not a religious person.
           He practices nonviolence, he TRIES to become nonviolent -- he has no understanding. He creates a
           character, but deep down he has no consciousness which can function as a center of that character.
                The mystic first creates the consciousness, then the character follows on its own accord. And the
           moralist creates the character, but consciousness does not follow the character. Character is a very
           superficial thing. You can find in this country... there are thousands of people who practice
           nonviolence, the Jainas particularly.
                The Buddhists have forgotten all that Buddha has said. The day Buddhism had to leave India, it
           left its nonviolence too. Now Buddhists are all meat-eaters -- the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans.
           Of course they have rationalized it. The rationalization is that, "We eat the meat only of those
           animals who have died a natural death." So in China, in Japan or in Buddhist countries, you will find
           written on shops' boards, "Here only that meat is served which has been taken from animals who
           have died a natural death." Now, not so many animals are dying a natural death that they can supply
           the whole of Asia. But that's enough -- people are cunning.
                But in India the Jainas are still practicing nonviolence. But because they practice it, it remains
           something false, something closer to hypocrisy. It does not transform their being, it does not make
           them luminous, it does not give them grace and beauty. And in their ordinary life they are as angry,
           as full of ambition -- or even more so -- than others. And that "more" can be understood; there is a
           reason.
                They have somehow forced themselves to be nonviolent. Now where will their violence go? It
           will have to find some new ways, new outlets. Because their master, Mahavira, who was a
           contemporary of Buddha, said to them: Create a consciousness which is followed by nonviolence --
           in the same way as Buddha said it. In the same way as Buddhists have misunderstood Buddha, they
           have found a legal way to get out of it.
           "Don't kill," Buddha said. And they say, "We don't kill; we only eat the meat of the animal who has
           died naturally." This is a legal strategy to get out of it.
                Jainas have followed in a routine way, without understanding, the message of Mahavira...
           because Mahavira said: Don't kill animals, don't cut trees -- he was the first to say: Don't cut trees --
           so Jainas have followed it, not understanding the depth and the significance of it, but only as a dead
           letter. Literally they have followed, so they stopped farming because in farming you will have to cut
           plants and trees.
                They stopped being warriors. Mahavira was born into a warrior race; all twenty-four Jaina
           TIRTHANKARAS were warriors. Of course it is absolutely certain that the people who became
           interested in Jaina tirthankaras must have come, at least the majority of them, from the
           KSHATRIYAS -- the warrior race, the samurai of India. But they could not remain warriors
           anymore, they had to drop their swords.
                They could not be warriors, they could not be farmers, and the brahmins wouldn't allow them to
           be brahmins. And they were not interested either in being brahmins, because they were not interested
           in brahmin scriptures -- because those scriptures are full of violence.
                In those scriptures animal sacrifice is allowed; not only animal sacrifice but human sacrifice too
           -- that at the altar of God you can sacrifice human beings. Once in a while, even in these days, this
           twentieth century, it happens in India: once in a while a child is sacrificed, a man is sacrificed -- even
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now!
               They could not become brahmins, they could not remain kshatriyas, warriors. They would not
           like to become sudras. To be cobblers was impossible because that is violence, and it was against
           their ego to become sweepers. Then the only possible way for them was to be business people. So all
           the Jainas became business people, and their whole repressed violence became their ambition, their
           greed.
               Hence the Jainas' is a small community in India, a very small community, but it manages and
           controls the majority of the wealth of the country. It is the richest community. The whole violence
           became directed towards one thing -- money. You can hurt people by being rich without hurting
           them in any visible way. You can exploit people. You need not kill them, you need not drink their
           blood, but you can still exploit them to such an extent that no blood is left in them. That's what
           happened with the Jainas. That is always going to happen if you try to do the superficial first.
               It is as stupid as if I want to invite you for dinner -- I need not invite your shadow, it comes with
           you. If I invite your shadow, the shadow is not going to come; it cannot come and there is no
           question of your coming because you are not invited at all.
               Character is a shadow phenomenon, consciousness is the center. Character simply reflects
           consciousness. So these sutras have to be understood not as moral teachings, but as spiritual insights.
           ALL BEINGS TREMBLE BEFORE VIOLENCE. "All beings" means trees, birds, animals, men....
               We are so cunning that we go on saying that man is the master. Animals are created for him to
           enjoy, trees are created for him. Not only that we make distinctions and differences between man and
           other animals and other planes of existence, we make differences in humanity too.
               For example, Adolf Hitler used to think that the Germans, particularly the Nordics, the purest
           Germans, are made by God to dominate the whole world. All other races are a little lower than the
           pure Aryans. So if they don't yield, don't surrender, they can be destroyed.
               Jews have always been thinking that they are the chosen people. Hindus have always thought
           that they are the most pious people, God's own people; God always takes birth in Hindu families,
           nowhere else. Hindus have always thought that this country, India, is the only sacred country. But
           this stupidity is nothing special to Hindus; everybody thinks that way.
               Mohammedans think that God has given the real and the final dispensation to Mohammed in the
           Koran. Now there is no need for any master, no need for any Buddha. The Koran is the full stop;
           evolution has stopped at the Koran. And Mohammedans have the privilege and the responsibility to
           turn the whole humanity into Mohammedans. And if people resist they have to be killed for their
           own sake.
               And so is the case with Christians, because their Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. And
           what are all others -- bastards? Only Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, and you can reach
           heaven only through Jesus -- not through Buddha, not through Krishna, not through Zarathustra. No,
           Jesus is the ONLY way, the ONLY truth!
               So not only in animals and trees have we made a hierarchy, we are trying to make a hierarchy in
           man too. All men are the same. Yes, there may be superficial differences -- which is good. It will be
           very sad if those superficial differences disappear. They make life more enchanting; they give life
           variety, color. They make life a garden, full of different colors and different perfumes. Small
           differences are beautiful; they have to be cherished, they have not to be destroyed. Man has not to be
           made into a single kind of humanity. These differences -- of Jews and Hindus and Mohammedans
           and Christians -- are beautiful. The differences in Chinese and Japanese and Germans and English
           and French and Italians, are beautiful, but these are superficial things.
               At the core, all human beings are equal and the same.

               Put two men and a woman on a desert island and this is what surely will happen:
               If they are Jewish, the two men will play cards to see who gets the woman.
               If they are English, they will discuss the weather and ignore the woman because they are more
           interested in each other.
               If they are French, the two men will share the woman.
               If they are Italian, the woman will kill one of the men.
               If they are Eskimos, one of the men will claim the woman and then lend her to the other man.
               If they are Americans, they will still be discussing the matter, trying to find a fair and amicable
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           way to settle the problem.

              These differences ARE there, and these differences are beautiful and they have to be cherished.
           They are lovely, they make the earth beautiful; otherwise it will be very boring.

               The following ad appeared in the personal column of a London paper: "My husband and I have
           four sons. Has anyone any suggestions as to how we may have a daughter?"
               Letters poured in from all over the world. An American wrote, "If at first you don't succeed, try,
           try again."
               An Irishman sent a bottle of Scotch with instructions to drink the entire contents before retiring.
           A German offered his collection of whips.
               A Mexican recommended a diet of tacos and refried beans.
               An Indian proposed yoga, particularly SHIRSHASANA -- the headstand.
           A Frenchman merely wrote, "May I be of service?"

               These differences are good, beautiful; they should be helped to grow. But the basic, the
           fundamental being is the same, not only in human beings but in ALL beings. The tree has a being --
           only its body is different from you; and the tiger has a being -- only its body is different from you.
           The differences are only on the circumference. The center is always the same because the center is
           one. The name of the center is God.
               ALL BEINGS TREMBLE BEFORE VIOLENCE. ALL FEAR DEATH. ALL LOVE LIFE.
           There is no need to prove these things. These are simple observations of everybody. But a few
           conclusions can be drawn from them. If ALL beings tremble before violence, then there is something
           wrong in violence, basically wrong. It is against nature.
               Destructiveness is not natural, creativeness is natural. Not violence but compassion is natural, not
           violence but love. Not anger, not hate, because those are the things that lead to violence, those are
           the seeds. Love, compassion, sharing, these are natural. And to be natural is to be religious.
               ALL FEAR DEATH; hence, do not kill. Rather, help people to know death. Their fear is because
           of ignorance. They are afraid of death because death is the greatest unknown. There is no way to
           know death unless you die. Help people to know death through meditation, because that is a way of
           dying and still remaining alive.
               ALL LOVE LIFE; hence, love. Create contexts, spaces, where more love can grow. That's what I
           am doing here: creating a space where your love energies can flow, where they have no hindrance,
           no obstructions.
               All the societies of the world have been too much war-oriented, hence they have not allowed
           love -- because if you allow love to flow, war disappears. If you allow love and help love and create
           contexts for love to grow and happen, it will be impossible for people to fight each other and kill
           each other.
               So from the very beginning we have to give them military training. From the very beginning
           children have to be taught hatred. The Hindu is told to hate the Mohammedan, the Mohammedan is
           told to hate the Hindu. The Christian hates the Jew, the Jew hates the Christian, and so on, so forth.
           Each nation hates another nation, and in each nation also there are different, small communities
           which hate each other: Maharashtrians hating Gujaratis, Gujaratis hating Maharashtrians.
               India is one country, but the North hates the South, the South hates the North. The
           Hindi-speaking people hate the non-Hindi-speaking people, and the non-Hindi-speaking people are
           always against the Hindi-speaking people.
               It seems that we have been brought up in such a way that hate has become simple, habitual; we
           are habituated to it, and love has become almost impossible. With so much hatred, with so many
           enemies, you are hating almost everybody. How can you love your wife? How can you love your
           children? How can you love your parents? And then impossible demands are made on you: you are
           told to love your wife, to love your husband, and you are told to hate everybody else in the world.
           These are contradictions. Either you can love all or you can hate all; you cannot divide.
               The man who hates everybody else cannot love his wife -- it is impossible. He becomes
           accustomed to hate. Hate flows in his blood, it circulates in his being. If for twenty-three hours in the
           day you are hating, fighting, struggling, competing, then do you think for one hour back home with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your wife you will be loving? Impossible! Those twenty-three hours will continue underneath.
               So the policeman becomes a policeman twenty-four hours. Even when he is at home with his
           wife he behaves as if he is a policeman. The magistrate becomes a magistrate, the clerk becomes a
           clerk twenty-four hours -- not only in the office, he carries his files in his head. Even while making
           love to his wife he is calculating, he is doing a thousand and one other things in his mind. He may be
           in the office or he may be somewhere else....
               Just watch when you are making love to your wife, where you are. Are you there? In fact,
           somebody else is making love to your wife; you are not there -- it is just a mechanical act. And do
           you think your wife is there? She is also not there. She may be in the kitchen or thinking how to
           purchase a new fridge -- may already be gone to the supermarket. She may be there; she may not be
           with you at all.
               That's why your love is not satisfying; on the contrary, it leaves you very frustrated. And can you
           love your children? Impossible! How can you love your parents? -- these are the people who have
           taught you all kinds of hatreds.
               We need a totally different world, a different upbringing, where hate is not taught. This is a very
           strange world that we have created! Up to now what we have done to humanity is really
           unbelievable: on the one hand we teach them hate, and on the other hand we go on talking about
           peace. On the one hand we poison them, and on the other hand we tell them, "You are all brothers."
           We talk about brotherhood, and we prepare for war; we talk about world peace, and we prepare for
           war. This is sheer neurosis; this is not sanity! Man hitherto has remained insane, and the reason is a
           wrong upbringing.
               We have not listened to the buddhas yet. Now it is time! We HAVE to listen to buddhas now. If
           we don't listen, just a few years more and the whole humanity is doomed. We cannot afford anymore
           not to listen.
               ALL LOVE LIFE. Help people to love more. Love yourself. Rejoice in love.

              SEE YOURSELF IN OTHERS.
              THEN WHOM CAN YOU HURT?
              WHAT HARM CAN YOU DO?


               See the point: this is not a moral teaching -- this is a spiritual regeneration, a revolution. SEE
           YOURSELF IN OTHERS. Not philosophically only -- existentially. Put the ego aside and you will
           be able to see that you are in all, that life is one. THEN WHOM CAN YOU HURT? WHAT HARM
           CAN YOU DO?

              HE WHO SEEKS HAPPINESS
              BY HURTING THOSE WHO SEEK HAPPINESS
              WILL NEVER FIND HAPPINESS.


               If you are trying to seek happiness by hurting those who also are seeking happiness, you cannot
           find happiness, because you have not even understood the most fundamental thing about life. In such
           ignorance how can you be happy?
               Just see all around, watch with loving eyes, look with egoless mind, and you will see that life is
           absolutely against destructiveness. Life is creative energy. Even if sometimes people commit suicide,
           they commit it not in the service of death but in the service of life.
               The people who commit suicide are the people who have been in tremendous love with life and
           feel frustrated, disillusioned. In those moments of disillusionment they go insane. Those people who
           commit suicide are not against life, remember. Ordinarily that's what is thought about these people,
           that they are against life. No, they are too much for life; they are so much for life that life cannot
           fulfill their demands. In utter frustration they commit suicide.

               Mulla Nasruddin was so discouraged with life that he decided to commit suicide. One evening he
           walked out to the country, a loaf of bread tucked under his arm. When he came to a train junction he
           lay down on the railroad tracks. A peasant passing by was amazed by the strange sight.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "What are you doing," he asked, "lying on these tracks?"
           Said the Mulla, "I am going to commit suicide."
           "What do you need the bread for?" asked the peasant.
           "In this country," said the Mulla, "by the time the train gets here, a man could starve to death."

               Nobody wants to die. That means life wants to persist for ever and ever. That means life is in
           love with eternity. In fact life IS eternal. Death only changes the form, it does not destroy -- but it
           creates fear because it is the most unknown phenomenon.
               Fear disappears only when, in deep meditation, you become acquainted with death; when in deep
           meditation you know that "I am not the body, not the mind. Then how can there be death?" The body
           will go into the earth -- dust unto dust -- but your consciousness will persist forever. Then fear
           disappears. And when fear disappears in you, a great desire arises to help others also so that they can
           dissipate their fear -- because people living in fear are living in anguish. Their life is a nightmare
           surrounded by fear.
               Life should be surrounded by love, not by fear. It is fear that creates anger. It is fear that
           ultimately creates violence. Have you watched? Fear is only a feminine form of anger and anger is a
           masculine form of fear. Fear is a passive form of anger and anger is an active form of fear. So you
           can change fear into anger very easily, and anger into fear -- very easily.
               Sometimes people come to me and they say, "We are feeling very afraid."
               I tell them, "You go and beat the pillow and be angry with the pillow."
           They say, "What will that do?"
               I say, "You just try!" And it becomes a revelation even to them. If they can beat the pillow in
           real, hot anger, immediately fear disappears, because the same energy turns and becomes active. It
           was inactive, then it was fear.
           Fear is the root cause of hate, anger, violence.
               Help people not to be afraid. But how can you help people not to be afraid unless you know what
           fearlessness is?
               HE WHO SEEKS HAPPINESS BY HURTING THOSE WHO SEEK HAPPINESS WILL
           NEVER FIND HAPPINESS. You can find happiness only if you help others also towards happiness.
           You cannot find happiness alone; that's what you have been trying. You have been trying to be
           happy alone and let the others go to hell. You are not so alone; we are joined together with each
           other. If everybody else is going to hell, you cannot go to heaven, remember.

           There is a beautiful parable about Gautam Buddha:
               He arrives at the gate of heaven. The doors are flung open for him, great music is there to receive
           him, and angels with garlands, but Buddha refuses to enter. He says, "I will wait here. Till the last
           being has entered into heaven I cannot enter."
               The angels persuade him that, "This will take eternity... for everybody -- all men, all women, and
           all elephants, and ants and.... If you are thinking for all beings to enter first, then it will take
           eternity!"
               Buddha says, "It is nothing to be worried about -- I will wait. I can wait, I know how to wait.
           And I am eternally blissful already -- what more can heaven give to me? There is nothing more than
           that. So I will wait here, but I cannot enter into heaven unless everybody else has entered."
               And the story goes that Buddha is still waiting at the gate; the angels are still trying to persuade
           him. Again and again they try new arguments, but they have not yet been able to take him in and
           close the door. And the doors are open and Buddha is waiting....

                There can be a thousand and one interpretations of this beautiful parable. Today I would like to
           remind you of one thing: even if Buddha wants to get in alone, he cannot. He understands that, that's
           why he is saying: Till the last being has entered, I am not going to enter -- because he understands
           that it is impossible.
                We are all one, we are not separate. It is not possible just for my hand to enter into heaven; even
           if it enters it will be a dead hand, it will not be really my hand. It is not possible for one of my eyes
           to enter into heaven and the whole body to remain outside. Either I can enter as a whole being or not
           at all. That's what Buddha is saying.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha is saying, "I am only a part -- the total is outside. I cannot enter in. I will enter only with
           the whole."
               If you understand this, your approach, your relationship with life, will have a totally different
           flavor. You will see all are friends, you will befriend life. In that very befriending you will start
           becoming happy. In that love for all, a great bliss will arise in you.

              FOR YOUR BROTHER IS LIKE YOU.
              HE WANTS TO BE HAPPY.
              NEVER HARM HIM
              AND WHEN YOU LEAVE THIS LIFE
              YOU TOO WILL FIND HAPPINESS.


               This sutra has been misinterpreted for at least twenty-five centuries.
               AND WHEN YOU LEAVE THIS LIFE YOU TOO WILL FIND HAPPINESS. This has been
           interpreted again and again as if it says something about life after death: "When you leave this life,
           when you leave this body, then you will find happiness" -- as if happiness is something which
           happens only after death; it cannot happen in life. This has been the way of the Buddhist interpreters.
               I am not a Buddhist. The Buddhists have been interpreting it in a life-negative way. My
           interpretation is totally different. And I say to you that that is exactly what Buddha meant it to be,
           because I am not just interpreting it in a philosophical way -- this is my experience too. And as far as
           experience is concerned it can't be different; it is not different from Buddha's experience.
               When Buddha says: AND WHEN YOU LEAVE THIS LIFE... he does not mean death. He
           simply means this way of living this life, this way of stupid living: this way of desires, ambitions,
           anger, possessions, jealousies -- this foolish way of life. And everybody who is not getting deeper
           into meditation is living in a foolish way.

               Wiznicki and Polacek went to a used car lot to buy a car. They didn't have enough money to buy
           one but the salesman sold them a camel.
           "Does this thing work?" asked Wiznicki.
           "Of course," said the salesman. "This camel stops at red lights and goes on green."
               Wiznicki and Polacek left on the back of the camel but in twenty minutes they were back without
           the animal.
           "What happened?" asked the salesman.
           "Camel do what you say alright," exclaimed Polacek. "We stop at red light, boys in car pull up
           beside us. One boy yell out, 'Look at those two jerks on the camel!' We got off to see who the two
           jerks were and camel ran away!"

                If you look at your life, if you watch closely, you will see what a fool you are, what a jerk you
           are!
                To live without meditation is to be foolish, because whatsoever you do then is going to be wrong.
           You cannot do right without meditation because right only grows in the soil of meditation. In the soil
           of the mind ambitions, desires arise. And when there is ambition there is competition, and when
           there is competition you are not a friend to others. You are an enemy and others are your enemies.
           The competitive mind lives in an inimical way, lives in hatred, lives in jealousy; its whole function is
           out of jealousy. And because of this kind of life man suffers, he remains in misery.
                When Buddha says: AND WHEN YOU LEAVE THIS LIFE YOU TOO WILL FIND
           HAPPINESS... he means if you leave this life of ambition, jealousy, hatred, competition, if you leave
           this life of the ego, you will find happiness -- immediately, instantly, herenow. It is not a question of
           after death. It is not a question that after death you will be happy. You can be happy this very
           moment -- you just have to change your pattern of life.
                And the pattern of your life can be changed in two ways: either from the outside, from without --
           which is character, which is morality -- or from the inside, from the interiority, from within -- which
           is religion.
                Don't be a moralist. That is not a way of real revolution, it is all hocus-pocus. The moralist is an
           egoist in a new way. He lives in misery. Only one who has started living from the center, who enters
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           into one's own subjectivity in deep silence, will have happiness showering on him.

              NEVER SPEAK HARSH WORDS
              FOR THEY WILL REBOUND UPON YOU.
              ANGRY WORDS HURT
              AND THE HURT REBOUNDS.


               A fundamental of life: whatsoever you do rebounds on you. If you use harsh words, they will
           rebound. If you hurt people, that will come back to you.
               Once I was in Matheran with a few friends. We went to visit a place called Echo Point. One man
           was with us who started barking like a dog, and all the valleys and the mountains surrounding started
           barking as if thousands of dogs were there.
               I told the man, "Why don't you sing a song? -- because these mountains will only echo it. If you
           bark like a dog they will become dogs. Why don't you sing a song?"
               And the man started singing a song... and we were showered by his beautiful song. From all the
           valleys and the mountains the song started coming back to us.
               I told the people who were present that life is also an Echo Point. It gives you whatsoever you
           give to it. You have to reap the crop, whatsoever you have sown before. Sowing the seeds of poison,
           don't hope that you will be reaping a crop of nectar; you will not be able to attain to nectar by the
           seeds of poison. Poison will bring more poison. Sow the seeds of nectar and reap the crop of nectar.
              NEVER SPEAK HARSH WORDS FOR THEY WILL REBOUND UPON YOU. ANGRY WORDS HURT
              AND THE HURT REBOUNDS.



              LIKE A BROKEN GONG
              BE STILL, BE SILENT.
              KNOW THE STILLNESS OF FREEDOM
              WHERE THERE IS NO MORE STRIVING.


                This is the most pregnant sutra of all the sutras of today. This is the secret of meditation, this is
           what meditation is all about.
                LIKE A BROKEN GONG BE STILL, BE SILENT. KNOW THE STILLNESS OF
           FREEDOM.... What is "the stillness of freedom"? -- freedom from desire. It is desire that creates
           noise in you. And there is not only one desire in you, there are millions of desires clamoring for
           attention, asking you, pulling you, pushing you, to follow them. You are falling apart because you
           are continuously being pulled and pushed in different directions.
                KNOW THE STILLNESS OF FREEDOM.... That means freedom from desires. Then there is
           stillness.
                ... WHERE THERE IS NO MORE STRIVING. When there is no desire there is no more
           striving. Where there is no more goal there is no more striving. Where you are no more ambitious for
           anything -- worldly or otherworldly, material or spiritual -- when you are not ambitious at all, how
           can there be a noise in your being? All is bound to become silent. This is true silence.
                There is another kind of silence too. You can sit in a yoga posture, you can take deep breaths,
           and you can chant a mantra, and you can force your mind again and again for months, years. If you
           go on doing such a thing, after years of practice you may attain to a certain stillness which will be
           forced, artificial. And if you will look deep within yourself you will find all the noise has become
           only repressed; it is still there lurking underneath you. It is no longer on the surface, it has gone to
           the bottom. And that is even more dangerous, because if something is in the conscious, getting rid of
           it is easy; if something becomes unconscious, then getting rid of it becomes impossible.
                Hence psychoanalysis tries to bring everything to the conscious so that you can get rid of it. It
           brings your dreams, your unconscious messages, to the conscious -- because the only way to get rid
           of anything is to become fully conscious of it. Then it is up to you to keep it or to throw it, but to
           remain unconscious is to be a victim. Your strings are pulled from behind the curtain and you don't
           know who is pulling them. You are just a doll pulled this way and that. You are simply following
           unconscious desires.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Psychoanalysis brings your repressed desires to the conscious, but it cannot do it totally --
           because even the presence of the psychoanalyst is enough to keep you repressed. Only meditation
           can help you totally, because you are not bringing it to somebody else's notice, you are bringing it in
           front of your own being. You can be absolutely free. You need not be afraid what the other will
           think.
               The presence of the other is always repressive even though the psychoanalyst says, "Don't be
           worried, don't be afraid. I am not going to disclose it to anybody -- this will remain a secret with me,
           this will die with me." Whatsoever he says, his presence is enough to repress, because it is
           impossible for him not to be judgmental. If you are saying something which goes against his mind
           you can see in his eyes that the judgment has arisen.
               It is because of this that Sigmund Freud used to sit behind a curtain; he never used to face the
           patient. He was fully aware of the phenomenon that the face, the eyes, the gestures, will show that
           you are judgmental, that you are judging. And if you are judging, the fear arises and repression
           happens. But even if you are sitting behind a curtain, the person knows you are there, the other is
           there -- and the other is repressive.
               Hence psychoanalysis helps only partially. And you know perfectly well that your psychoanalyst
           is as ill as you are, or maybe even more ill than you are. Psychoanalysts themselves go to other
           psychoanalysts to be psychoanalyzed, because they are suffering from the same problems.

               Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung were traveling in a train together, when Jung was still a
           disciple and had not betrayed the master. Talking about psychoanalysis, Jung suddenly had an idea.
           He said, "You have psychoanalyzed us all, but you yourself are still unpsychoanalyzed. Would you
           like some of us to psychoanalyze you? I am ready! If you want, I can function as your
           psychoanalyst."
               Sigmund Freud started trembling, perspiration came to his forehead although it was a cold winter
           morning. He said, "No, never!"
           Jung asked, "Why?"
               Sigmund Freud said, "That will destroy my whole prestige."
               Jung said, "Then it has destroyed your prestige already. If YOU are afraid, then how can you say
           in front of us that others should not be afraid -- if even YOU are afraid?"

               Sigmund Freud was afraid because he was carrying great repressions. About a few things he was
           so repressed that it is rare to find a person so repressed. He has done great work in bringing sex into
           the human consciousness from the repressed world. He has done the greatest service to humanity by
           destroying the taboo against sex, but he himself had very funny ideas about sex. He was not clear
           himself about sex, sexuality. He was carrying all kinds of dead, rotten ideas about sex himself. He
           was very much afraid of death too. Even the mention of death once or twice had made him go into a
           faint; just the mention of death and he had fainted, become unconscious.
               Now, this is the founder of psychoanalysis -- fainting at the mention of the word 'death' and
           carrying very stupid, funny ideas about sex. What to say about other psychoanalysts -- they are in the
           same boat as their patients, and their patients know perfectly well.
               No, it is not possible for you to expose yourself totally in front of anybody else. Hence in the
           East we never developed anything like psychoanalysis -- we developed meditation. That is exposing
           yourself in front of yourself. That is the only possibility to be utterly true, because there is no fear.
               Freedom from desire, freedom from the unconscious, freedom from all kinds of goals, brings a
           different kind of stillness, a natural stillness that arises within your being, starts overflowing. Even
           others can feel it; it becomes almost tangible.

              LIKE HERDSMEN DRIVING THEIR COWS INTO THE FIELDS
              OLD AGE AND DEATH WILL DRIVE YOU BEFORE THEM.


              Death is going to come sooner or later. Before death comes, learn how to die in meditation.

              BUT THE FOOL IN HIS MISCHIEF FORGETS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND HE LIGHTS THE FIRE
              WHEREIN ONE DAY HE MUST BURN.


               The fool goes on creating ditches for himself. You create your own misery, because you act out
           of unconsciousness, you act out of a noisy, cloudy mind. You don't act out of clarity; your action is
           not out of spontaneity; your action is not out of meditative silence. It creates fire. You may be
           thinking you are creating it for others, but everything rebounds on you.
               There is no hellfire anywhere else unless you create it. Everybody has to carry his heaven or hell
           within himself -- it is your own creation.

              HE WHO HARMS THE HARMLESS
              OR HURTS THE INNOCENT
              TEN TIMES SHALL HE FALL --



              INTO TORMENT OR INFIRMITY,
              INJURY OR DISEASE OR MADNESS,
              PERSECUTION OR FEARFUL ACCUSATION,
              LOSS OF FAMILY, LOSS OF FORTUNE.



              FIRE FROM HEAVEN SHALL STRIKE HIS HOUSE
              AND WHEN HIS BODY HAS BEEN STRUCK DOWN
              HE SHALL RISE IN HELL.


               FIRE FROM HEAVEN SHALL STRIKE HIS HOUSE.... It is not that somebody is sitting there
           in heaven who punishes you: you spit in the sky and it falls on you, you throw fire in the sky and it
           falls on you. You go against the current -- that is your whole misery.
               Go with nature. Go absolutely in tune with nature, not upcurrent but with the current. Don't push
           the river, float with it. And life will be a bliss, and life will be an ecstasy, and life will be a
           benediction. Otherwise fire will strike your home. AND WHEN HIS BODY HAS BEEN STRUCK
           DOWN HE SHALL RISE IN HELL. And this happens every day.
               When you go to sleep, many of you suffer from nightmares. Many write to me, "What to do
           about nightmares?" You cannot do anything directly about nightmares; you will have to change your
           pattern of life. Your nightmares are produced by what you are doing and thinking in the day. Your
           night is simply a reflection. If your day is beautiful, blissful, loving, you can't have nightmares. And
           if your day is silent, still, utterly thoughtless, contentless -- absolutely pure, whole, knowing no
           disturbance -- all dreams will disappear. In the night you will have a dreamless sleep.
               The same happens when death comes. When the body falls, immediately either you experience
           heaven -- if you have lived rightly, mindfully, meditatively -- or you experience hell. These are not
           geographical places somewhere; these are when you leave the body. The mind left alone goes
           berserk. The mind left alone, unoccupied, creates something for which you have been sowing the
           seeds your whole life.
               Now psychologists are agreeing with this, slowly slowly, that when a person dies, immediately --
           in fact while he is dying -- he is already either entering into a nightmare -- that is hell -- or into a
           very very beautiful space -- that is paradise.
               The third thing is neither hell nor heaven, neither happiness nor unhappiness, but just pure
           awareness. That is nirvana, that is moksha. There is no word to translate it, because in all the
           non-Indian religions -- Christianity, Judaism, Islam -- only two words have been talked about:
           heaven and hell. The third is missing, the highest is missing.
               That's why I say these three religions are a little primitive compared to Buddhism. Buddhism
           reaches to the highest peak -- it transcends heaven and hell too.
               One can die in absolute silence -- fully alert, experiencing neither pleasure nor pain. Then he will
           not be born again. Then he has jumped out of the ugly wheel of life and death. He has become one
           with the cosmos. To become one with the cosmos is nirvana. He has ceased as an individual being
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and he has become the whole.
                Become still -- not a forced stillness, not a practiced and cultivated stillness -- become still
           naturally. Understanding the futility of desire, seeing the absolute absurdity of ambition, become still
           -- through understanding, not through practice.
                LIKE A BROKEN GONG BE STILL, BE SILENT. KNOW THE STILLNESS OF FREEDOM
           WHERE THERE IS NO MORE STRIVING and you have gone into the beyond and you have
           become the beyond....
                This is the goal of sannyas, this is the goal of all religion. This is the essential core of all
           spirituality. Science only knows the part; art a little more than science. Religion knows the whole.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                     Chapter #8
                                          Chapter title: Meditate a little bit
           29 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908290
              ShortTitle: DHAM408
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 109 mins
              Q1 and Q2 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THE SENSE OF SCIENCE LIES IN ITS UTILITY FOR HUMAN
              NEEDS; IN HELPING TO PROVIDE ENOUGH FOOD, FINDING TREATMENTS AGAINST
              SICKNESS, CREATING MACHINES TO DELIVER MAN FROM HARD AND STUPID WORK,
              ETCETERA.
              UNTIL NOW I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CONVINCED THAT THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH
              SCIENCE, BUT RATHER WITH THE POPULAR ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCIENCE: THAT IT CAN
              DISCOVER THE INTERIOR LAWS OF LIFE.
              NOW I HEAR IN YOUR WORDS THAT SCIENCE ITSELF IS A ROOT OF THE MISERIES IN THE
              WORLD, BECAUSE IT DESTROYS THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE AND HENCE LEADS TO AN
              ANTIRELIGIOUS ATTITUDE. ARE YOU AGAINST SCIENCE?


               Prem Peter, I am not against science, but I am certainly for a different kind of science, with a
           totally different quality to it. Science as it exists now is very lopsided; it takes account only of the
           material, it leaves the spiritual out of it -- and that is very dangerous.
               If man is only matter, all meaning disappears from life. What meaning can life have if man is
           only matter? What poetry is possible, what significance, what glory? The idea that man is matter
           reduces man to a very undignified state. The so-called science takes all the glory of man away from
           him. That's why there is such a feeling of meaninglessness all over the world.
               People are feeling utterly empty. Yes, they have better machines, better technology, better
           houses, better food, than ever. But all this affluence, all this material progress, is of no value unless
           you have insight -- something that transcends matter, body, mind -- unless you have a taste of the
           beyond. And the beyond is denied by science.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Science divides life into two categories: the known and the unknown. Religion divides life into
           three categories: the known, the unknown and the unknowable. Meaning comes from the
           unknowable. The known is that which was unknown yesterday, the unknown is that which will
           become known tomorrow. There is no qualitative difference between the known and the unknown,
           only a question of time.
               The unknowable is qualitatively different from the known/ unknown world. Unknowable means
           the mystery remains; howsoever deep you go into it, you cannot demystify it. In fact, on the
           contrary, the deeper you go, the more the mystery deepens. A moment comes in the religious
           explorer's life when he disappears into the mystery like a dewdrop evaporating in the morning sun.
           Then only mystery remains. That is the highest peak of fulfillment, of contentment; one has arrived
           home. You can call it God, nirvana, or whatsoever you like.
               I am not against science -- my approach is basically scientific. But science has limitations, and I
           don't stop where science stops; I go on, I go beyond. Use science, but don't be used by it. It is good
           to have great technology; certainly it helps man to get rid of stupid work, certainly it helps man to
           get rid of many kinds of slavery. Technology can help man and animals both. Animals are also
           tortured; they are suffering very much because we are using them. Machines can replace them,
           machines can do all the work. Man and animals can both be free.
               And I would like a humanity which is totally free from work, because in that state you will start
           growing -- in aesthetic sense, sensitivity, relaxation, meditation. You will become more artistic and
           you will become more spiritual because you will have time and energy available.
               I am not against science, I am not antiscience at all. I would like the world to have more and
           more of science, so that man can become available for something higher, for something which a poor
           man cannot afford.
               Religion is the ultimate in luxury. The poor man has to think about bread and butter -- he cannot
           even manage that. He has to think about a shelter, clothes, children, medicine, and he cannot manage
           these small things. His whole life is burdened by trivia; he has no space, no time to devote to God.
           And even if he goes to the temple or to the church, he goes to ask only for material things. His prayer
           is not true prayer, it is not that of gratitude; it is a demand, a desire. He wants this, he wants that --
           and we cannot condemn him, he has to be forgiven. The needs are there and he is constantly under a
           weight. How can he find a few hours just to sit silently, doing nothing? The mind goes on thinking.
           He has to think about the tomorrow.
               Jesus says: Look at the lilies in the field; they toil not, they don't think of the morrow. And they
           are far more beautiful than even Solomon, the great king, in all his grandeur, ever was.
               True, the lilies toil not and they don't think of the morrow. But can you say it to a poor man? If
           he does not think of the morrow, then tomorrow is death. He has to prepare for it; he has to think
           from where he is going to get his food, where he is going to be employed. He has to think. He has
           children and a wife, he has an old mother and an old father. He cannot be like the lilies of the field.
           How can he avoid toil, labor, work? -- that will be suicidal.
               The lilies are certainly beautiful and I totally agree with Jesus, but Jesus' statement is not yet
           applicable to the greater part of humanity. Unless humanity becomes very rich, the statement will
           remain just theoretical; it will not have any practical use.
               I would like the world to be richer than it is. I don't believe in poverty and I don't believe that
           poverty has anything to do with spirituality. Down the ages it has been told that poverty is something
           spiritual; it was just a consolation.
               Just the other day, a French couple wrote a letter to me. They must be new arrivals here, they
           don't understand me. They must have come with certain prejudices. They were worried, very much
           worried. They wrote in the letter that, "We don't understand a few things. Why does this ashram look
           luxurious? This is against spirituality. Why do you drive in a beautiful car? This is against
           spirituality."
               Now, for these three or four days I have been driving in an Impala. It is not a very beautiful car;
           in America it is the car of the plumbers! But in a sense I am also a plumber -- the plumber of the
           mind. I fix nuts and bolts. It is a poor man's car. In America, the people who use Chevrolet Impalas,
           etcetera, their neighborhood is called the Chevrolet neighborhood -- that means poor people's
           neighborhood.
               But this French couple must have the old idea that poverty has something spiritual about it. Man
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has lived so long in poverty that he HAD to console himself, otherwise it would have been
           intolerable. He had to convince himself that poverty is spiritual.
                Poverty is not spiritual -- poverty is the source of all crimes.
                And I would like to tell the couple that, "If you want to cling to your beliefs and prejudices, this
           is not the place for you. Please get lost! -- the sooner the better, because you may be corrupted here.
           Listening to me is dangerous for you."
                To me, spirituality has a totally different dimension. It is the ultimate luxury -- when you have all
           and suddenly you see that, although you have all, deep inside there is a vacuum which has to be
           filled, an emptiness which has to be transformed into a plenitude. One becomes aware of the inner
           emptiness only when one has everything on the outside. Science can do that miracle. I love science,
           because it can create the possibility for religion to happen.
                Up to now, religion has not happened on the earth. We have talked about religion but it has not
           happened; it has not touched the hearts of the millions. Only once in a while a person has been able
           to become enlightened. In a big garden where millions of bushes and trees are, if only once in a
           while in thousands of years a flower comes to a tree, you will not call it a garden. You will not be
           thankful to the gardener. You will not say, "The gardener is great, because look: after one thousand
           years, out of millions of trees, one tree has again blossomed with one flower." If this happens that
           simply shows it must have happened in spite of the gardener! Somehow he has forgotten about the
           tree, somehow he has neglected the tree, somehow the tree has escaped his grip.
                Man has lived irreligiously: talking about God, certainly -- going to the church, to the temple, to
           the mosque -- yet his life showing no flavor of religion.
                My vision of religion is totally different. It has nothing to do with poverty. I would like the
           whole earth to become as rich as paradise -- richer than paradise -- so that people can stop thinking
           about paradise. Paradise was created by poor people just to console themselves that, "Here we are
           suffering, but it is not for long. Only a few days more, or a few years, and death will come and we
           will be transported into paradise." And what a consolation! -- that those who are rich here will be
           thrown into hell.
                Jesus says a camel can pass through the eye of the needle, but the rich man cannot pass through
           the gate of heaven. What consolation! The poor people must have felt very satisfied, contented, that,
           "It is only a question of a few days more: then you will be in hellfire and I will sit in the lap of God,
           with all the luxuries, with all the riches, with all the joys that I am deprived of here and you are
           enjoying." The idea of paradise seems to be just a revenge.
                I would like this earth to be a paradise -- and it cannot happen without science. So how can I be
           antiscience? Peter, I am not antiscience. But science is not all. Science can create only the
           circumference; the center has to be that of religion. Science is exterior, religion is interior. And I
           would like men to be rich on both sides: the exterior should be rich and the interior should be rich.
           Science cannot make you rich in your inner world; that can be done only by religion.
                If science goes on saying there is no inner world, then I am certainly against such statements --
           but that is not being against science, just against these particular statements. These statements are
           stupid, because the people who are making these statements have not known anything of the inner.
                Karl Marx says religion is the opium of the people -- and he has never experienced any
           meditation. His whole life was wasted in the British Museum, thinking, reading, collecting notes,
           preparing for his great work, DAS KAPITAL. And he was so much into trying to gain more and
           more knowledge that it happened many times -- he would faint in the British Museum! He would
           have to be carried unconscious to his home. And it was almost an everyday thing that he would have
           to be forced to leave the museum -- because the museum has to close sometime, it cannot remain
           open for twenty-four hours.
                He had never heard about meditation; he knew only thinking and thinking. But still in a way he is
           right, that the old religiousness has served as a kind of opium. It has helped poor people to remain
           poor; it has helped them to remain contented as they are, hoping for the best in the next life. In that
           way he is right. But he is not right if we take into consideration a Buddha, a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu
           -- then he is not right. And these are the really religious people, not the masses; the masses know
           nothing of religion.
                I would like you to be enriched by Newton, Edison, Eddington, Rutherford, Einstein; and I
           would like you also to be enriched by Buddha, Krishna, Christ, Mohammed, so that you can become
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rich in both the dimensions -- the outer and the inner. Science is good as far as it goes, but it does not
           go far enough -- and it cannot go. I am not saying that it can go and it does not go. No, it CANNOT
           go into the interiority of your being. The very methodology of science prevents it from going in. It
           can go only outwards, it can study only objectively; it cannot go into the subjectivity itself. That is
           the function of religion.
               The society needs science, the society needs religion. And if you ask me what should be the first
           priority -- science should be the first priority. First the outer, the circumference, then the inner --
           because the inner is more subtle, more delicate.
               Science can create the space for real religion to exist on the earth.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THE FRAUDS WORSHIPPED BY PEOPLE, AND PEOPLE LIKE JESUS, BUDDHA AND
              SOCRATES CONDEMNED, STONED AND KILLED?


               Saroj, the buddhas have always been condemned by the ordinary masses, but the ordinary masses
           are not responsible for it. They are unconscious. We cannot make them responsible for it. They can't
           help it -- they are fast asleep. And the buddhas disturb their sleep; the buddhas make every possible
           effort to wake them up. Nobody wants to be disturbed in one's sleep, and one may be having
           beautiful dreams, sweet, nice dreams....
               People want to remain unconscious. Consciousness is unknown to them and they are naturally
           afraid of the unknown. With the known they are secure, safe, and everybody else is just like them.
               When buddhas happen, they create a great disturbance. They cannot help it, either. When they
           become awakened they come to know such bliss, such silence, such heights of ecstasy, such
           orgasmic joy, that it starts overflowing, that great compassion arises in them. They can see people
           moving, walking in sleep; they start shaking them, shocking them.
               So it is an absolutely natural phenomenon. People become angry because you are disturbing their
           dreams -- their anger can be understood. Buddhas become compassionate -- they cannot help it.
           When you are blissful, compassion comes as a shadow, it follows you. Out of their compassion, they
           start waking people up. Naturally there arises a conflict.
               And the people simply want not to be disturbed. They don't want awakening, they want opium. It
           feels very good; at least it keeps them unaware of the real problems of life.
               Buddhas know it perfectly well, that trying to wake people up is getting into danger. But it is
           worth it.... And because they now know they are indestructible -- they have come to know the eternal
           in themselves, what can the people do? They can crucify -- let them crucify. The body is going to die
           anyway. They can torture, but the torture cannot reach to the buddhas. The suffering remains on the
           outside, it cannot come in. The buddhas remain alert, watchful, witnessing. Everything is outside;
           nothing can penetrate into their innermost core.
               So they don't feel that they should avoid waking people up, disturbing people. The moment they
           become awakened they rush to the masses. When they were not awakened they went to the forests,
           to the mountains, to some place where they could be alone. All the buddhas -- Jesus, Mohammed,
           Mahavira, Gautama -- they all went into solitude. They avoided the masses when they were
           themselves asleep. But the moment they became awakened, the moment they saw the beauty and the
           benediction of life, the moment they saw the eternal beauty of existence, they rushed back to the
           marketplace -- all of them -- to give the message to the people, because the people are starving for
           spiritual food, although they are not aware that they are not nourished. Their souls are asleep; they
           are alive but not really alive.
               And when buddhas speak to these people they bring a totally new kind of language. People
           cannot understand it. They can only misunderstand it -- they are bound to misunderstand it, it is so
           new!

              Jacobs went into Levine's clothing store to ask the price of a suit on display in the window.
           "You picked the best suit in the place," said Levine, "and to show you that I like to do business with
           a man who has got such good taste, I am gonna make you a special proposition. I will not ask you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one hundred dollars for the suit. I will not ask you ninety. I will not ask you seventy. Sixty dollars is
           the price for you, my friend."
               Jacobs replied, "I won't give you sixty, I won't give you fifty. My offer is forty."
           "Sold," said Levine. "That's the way I like to do business -- no chiseling."

              People have a certain language -- their language. Buddhas speak a totally different language; it
           comes from a different plane. People live in fear; buddhas live in freedom. People live in misery;
           buddhas live in ecstasy. How can they communicate? Communication is impossible.

               Lanagan, aged eighty-eight, was on his deathbed and Father Feeney was trying to administer the
           final blessing.
           "Open your eyes," said the father, "we have got to save your immortal soul."
               Lanagan opened one eye, closed it, and tried to doze off. He was having a nice sleep. "Come on,
           now!" cried the priest. "If you don't want to go to confession, at least answer me this: do you
           renounce the Devil and all his works?"
           "Well, I don't know, Father," said Lanagan opening his eyes. "At a time like this it ain't smart to
           antagonize anybody!"

               The people want to be left alone -- don't disturb them. But buddhas are bound to disturb them. If
           somebody is responsible then buddhas are responsible, because they are conscious people. And I say
           it on my own authority: if people are against me, the responsibility is mine, not theirs -- they are
           doing the natural thing. But what can I do? I am also doing the natural thing -- but we exist on
           different planes.
           And this struggle is bound to continue forever.

               Three explorers -- a priest, a businessman, and a Sufi -- were passing through a dangerous jungle.
           As the days went by, the number of hostile wild beasts who circled around them became larger and
           larger. Eventually they had to take refuge in a tree.
               After a council of war they decided that one of them should go for help, since if they stayed as
           they were, fear, hunger and fatigue would eventually force them to fall into the jaws of the ravenous
           beasts.
               But they could not decide who should go. "Not me," said the priest, "for I am a man of God, and
           I should stay to comfort whoever is left behind."
           "Not me," said the businessman, "because I am paying all the expenses of the trip."
               The Sufi said nothing, but suddenly pushed the priest off his branch. He fell to the ground, and
           immediately a fierce pack of hyenas picked him up, fought off all the other animals, and placed him
           reverently on the back of the largest of their number. Then, guarding him carefully, they escorted
           him towards safety.
           "A miracle!" cried the businessman. "After your cruelty, divine guidance has intervened to save that
           good man. I am, from this moment on, converted to a good and holy life."
           "Steady on," said the Sufi, "for there is, after all, another explanation."
           "What other explanation can there possibly be?" shouted the businessman.
           "Simply this: that it takes one to know one," said the Sufi, "and the smallest always recognize their
           leader and honor him...."

               Saroj, you ask me, "Why are the frauds worshipped and buddhas tortured?"
               The frauds are understood easily; they speak the same language as the people. The frauds are
           understood because the frauds are serving people in their sleep, they are offering them opium. The
           frauds are understood, respected, worshipped, because the frauds are not a disturbance -- not at all.
               P.D. Ouspensky has dedicated his great book -- one of the greatest ever written, IN SEARCH OF
           THE MIRACULOUS -- to his master, George Gurdjieff, with these words: "To my master, George
           Gurdjieff, who disturbed my sleep forever."

           The third question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM AND I NEVER COULD KNOW WHO YOU ARE. ALL I KNOW IS THAT
              THIS SOMEONE-OR-OTHER LOVES YOU, WHOEVER YOU ARE.
              OH, BELOVED MASTER -- YOU ARE SUCH A SWEET APPLE TO EAT IN THE DARK.


                Prem Anuradha, one never comes to know who one is. If one comes to know who one is, then he
           must be wrong -- because this infinite that resides in you is UNKNOWABLE, not unknown. You
           can go searching into it....
                To send you into that adventure, the buddhas have been telling you again and again: Know
           thyself. Don't misunderstand them -- they have been misunderstood. Because Socrates says: Know
           thyself, people think they can know; otherwise, why should Socrates say: Know thyself? Socrates is
           not saying that you CAN know yourself; he is saying try to know thyself. In knowing yourself you
           will come across the unknowable. The very endeavor to know yourself will bring you to the infinite
           ocean of life.
                You will never know who you are, you will not be able to answer. You will not be able to say
           that, "I am A or B or C." Whatever answer you bring is going to be wrong.
                When you become silent, utterly silent -- no answer, all answers that you had before have been
           dissolved and no new answer has come up; not only the answer has not come up, even the question is
           no longer remembered.... When the question and answer both are not there, in that deep silence, in
           that stillness, there is a kind of knowing that never becomes knowledge -- a kind of awareness, a
           kind of light, that enlightens you, yet you cannot inform anybody about it. You cannot even make a
           theory out of it for yourself. You will be utterly dumb.
                Anuradha, this is a beautiful experience. This is how it should be. This is how it feels as you
           come closer and closer to satori, to samadhi.
           You say, "I don't know who I am."
                This is the beginning of real knowing. This state of a recognized ignorance is the first step into
           the temple of God.
                You say, "I don't know who I am and I never could know who you are."
                That too is true. If you cannot know who you are, how can you know who I am? -- because we
           are the same, we are one. You are unknowable, I am unknowable; we belong to the same mystery,
           we are part of the same orgasmic whole.
                It is an ecstasy, a bliss. It is a benediction. You can dance in it, you can sing in it, you can
           overflow with love through it, but it never becomes knowledge. Yes, sometimes it can become a
           song, a Song of Solomon....
                Meditate over the Song of Solomon. It is one of the most beautiful songs ever sung -- and it has
           not been understood by the Jews and the Christians. In fact, they feel a little embarrassed because it
           looks so sexual. It certainly looks sexual, because sex is the only possible language that comes
           closest to the spiritual. It is the sex energy that becomes spiritual energy. So it is perfectly right that
           the Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, has such sensuality around it. It is so sensuous, it is
           incomparably sensuous! Nothing else has ever been written, sung, with such profound sensuality.
                But the so-called religious person thinks a religious person has to be absolutely antisense,
           antisex; he can't be sensate and he can't be sensuous. That is utterly wrong. The religious person is
           more sensuous than anybody else, because he is more alive. And when you want to express the
           ultimate, the only possible way is to express it through the deepest human experience -- of sexual
           orgasm. Ecstasy cannot be expressed in any other way.
                We are part of one organic, orgasmic whole. This whole existence is in a deep, sensuous play.
           Yes, you can feel it, you can taste it, but you cannot know it. Forget all about knowing it! The whole
           effort is an exercise in utter futility.
                It is good, Anuradha, that you understand that you cannot know yourself and you understand that
           you cannot know me either.
                You say, "All I know is that this someone-or-other loves you, whoever you are."
                It is a tremendously beautiful experience. Anuradha is simply stating something inexpressible.
           Difficult it is to express, but she has come very close; she has almost hit the target. Yes, this is how it
           is felt between a master and a disciple, because it is the greatest love affair there is. Exactly like this
           it is felt: "All I know is that this someone-or-other loves you, whoever you are."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Only a great love is felt -- love pulsating between the master and the disciple. Slowly slowly,
           there is neither master nor disciple; only love remains.
               And you say, "Oh, Beloved Master -- you are such a sweet apple to eat in the dark."
               Yes, love is a taste -- the taste of tao. But Anuradha, why in the dark?

           I am reminded:
               A rabbi was asked, "Why does a Jewish wife close her eyes when making love?"
               The rabbi said, "Heaven forbid she should see her husband having a good time!"

               Anuradha, why in the dark? Let me also have a good time! Let me also see it and experience it.
               But I can understand why she is saying it. Yes, in the dark you taste more. Because our eyes
           cannot function, the energy that moves through the eyes becomes available to other senses. In the
           dark you hear better. If you want to hear music, it is good to listen in the dark; you will hear better.
           Because the eyes are no longer functioning, the energy becomes available to the ears.
               In the dark you will taste better because the energy will move to the tongue, and the eyes are
           using eighty percent of your energy. When you are eating, if you are seeing, then eighty percent is
           involved in seeing and only twenty percent is available to the other four senses -- so to each sense
           nearabout five percent. That's why our other senses have become retarded. We don't taste, we don't
           hear, we don't touch. If you touch in darkness you will feel more, you will know the texture. And if
           you hear in darkness, the music will penetrate to the very heart.
               Eyes have become very oppressive, very exploitative -- they have become dictatorial. They have
           absorbed all the energy, which is not their right; it has to be distributed back. Each sense should have
           at least twenty percent of the energy. Yes, sometimes, when you want to go into one sense very
           deeply, you can make the whole energy available for it. Close your ears, plug them; close your eyes,
           blindfold them; close your nose -- and then eat. And you will be surprised: such subtle nuances of
           taste you have never known before, because the whole hundred percent of your energy is moving
           through the tongue.
               So I understand why Anuradha says, "Oh, Beloved Master -- you are such a sweet apple to eat in
           the dark."
               But, Anuradha, an apple is a dangerous thing! You know what happened to Adam and Eve.... But
           I am making available to you the same apples, because to me the serpent who seduced Eve to eat the
           apple was the greatest benefactor of humanity. Without him there would have been no humanity at
           all. You would not have been here; no Buddha, no Jesus, no Mohammed, no Bahauddin, no
           Mansoor.... It is all because of the serpent. The serpent is the real founding father of humanity -- the
           whole credit goes to him. That apple proved of great significance.
               I am not prohibiting you from anything -- no prohibition. I am making available to you all the
           joys of life. Eat them, be nourished by them. I am against the biblical idea of creating inhibitions,
           repressions, taboos. I am against the very idea of God telling Adam and Eve not to eat from a certain
           tree. It is against freedom and it is against growth and it is against maturity.
               But that's how religions have functioned in the past. These stories are created by the so-called
           priests. Their whole idea of religion is that of repression, because it is only through repression that
           man can be reduced to a slave. It is only through repression that man can be exploited, oppressed. It
           is only through repression that man's intelligence can be destroyed.
               Eat all the apples that life makes available to you. Nothing is prohibited -- because it is only
           through experiences of all kinds that one becomes enriched. And if you are not really rich in
           experiences -- of good and bad -- you will never become enlightened. Enlightenment is not possible
           for those who have lived only a poor, saintly life. It is not for those who have lived only the poor life
           of a sinner. It is for those who have lived life in its totality, who have known all that is dark and who
           have known all that is light, who have moved into all the polarities.
               A real maturity happens only when you learn how one walks on a tightrope: sometimes leaning
           to the left just to keep balance, and sometimes leaning to the right just to keep balance. When he
           feels that he may fall towards the left, he immediately leans towards the right. If he leans too much
           to the right, to balance it he starts leaning towards the left. Leaning right and left, he keeps himself in
           the middle.
               Don't be a leftist, otherwise you will fall; and don't be a rightist, otherwise you will fall. Be both,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and both in such a balance, in such a synthesis, that you can remain walking on the tightrope. Life is
           a tightrope stretched between two hilltops. Unless you walk with full awareness, sensitivity,
           intelligence, you will not reach to the other shore.
                The buddha is talking of the other shore. The other shore is available only to those who grow in
           intelligence. Priests want you to remain stupid and buddhas want you to become more and more
           intelligent. Hence there is a conflict between the priests and the buddhas.
                Jesus was crucified not by criminals but by the rabbis, by the priests. Socrates was not poisoned
           by bad people but by the respectable ones. Why? -- because Socrates was trying to make life
           available to his disciples in its totality. What was his crime? The crime for which the people of
           Athens -- the respectable people, the highest strata of the society -- dragged him into the court was
           that he was corrupting the youth. He was making life available to his disciples in its totality -- and he
           was condemned as a corrupter of youth.
                I am also condemned as a corrupter of youth. It seems humanity has not grown at all; we are
           moving in circles. If Socrates comes back he will not find it difficult to understand man. He will find
           it very difficult to understand a car or a radio or a television; it may be really inconceivable for him
           what these things are, how they function. Ordinary things that you never think about -- electricity --
           he will not be able to understand. But he will be absolutely able to understand man, because man has
           not grown at all. Man is the same -- is doing the same, is behaving in the same foolish way.
                People are against me because I am making all the apples available to you. Eat them. Live life in
           its totality.
                And, Anuradha, soon -- the day is not far off -- many of you are going to become enlightened in
           this life. I can see you moving closer and closer to the point from where the ego disappears.
                Now Anuradha is getting into difficulties: her memory is disappearing, she can't remember
           much. And of course Arup is worried, because Anuradha helps her in writing letters and she cannot
           remember.... Even to write a single letter she takes at least one hour. But as far as I am concerned, I
           am immensely happy -- it is Arup's problem! I am immensely happy. The past is disappearing, the
           memory is becoming totally different. Now more important things are happening which have to be
           remembered; the ordinary, the mundane, cannot be remembered.
                And the ego is disappearing. Anuradha has become almost empty. I say "almost" -- just a little
           bit is left. Once that little bit is gone, the beyond will start showering on her. The first flowers have
           started opening, the spring is close by.
                Anuradha, feel blessed. The spring is very close by, and I am immensely pleased with you.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              "HE HAS TAMED HIS HORSES...." YES! BUT HOW TO DO IT? WHAT IS THE WAY TO TAME
              THEM? I EITHER CONTROL, REPRESS AND STOP MYSELF, OR I AM LED BY MY SENSES AND
              DRIVEN BY MY "ANIMAL." WITH BOTH I FEEL NOT AT EASE AND I CONSTANTLY MOVE FROM
              ONE SIDE, REPRESSION, TO THE OTHER -- DRIVEN.
              HOW TO COME OUT OF THIS TRAP? IS WATCHING AND AWARENESS ALL THERE IS TO DO?


                Prem Sohan, do you think watching and awareness is a small thing? You ask me, "Is watching
           and awareness all there is to do?"
                Just do it! -- and you will know that nothing is left to be done anymore. Don't philosophize about
           it, don't go on thinking about it. Of course, the word 'awareness' does not seem very big. And if you
           look in the dictionary the meaning is there: it is not so fantastic, it is not that far out.
                You know your problems existentially, and you know the solution only intellectually -- that is
           the problem. You will have to know your solution also existentially. Awareness contains all the
           religions of the world, all the scriptures of the world, all that has ever been said by all the
           enlightened people. This simple word contains all; it is like a small key. Don't throw it "... because it
           is so small -- how can it open the doors, all the doors of the great palace?" It is a master key! And
           keys are not that big; you don't have to carry them in trucks, you can keep the key in the pocket. It is
           just a small thing, but it can unlock great doors, many doors. If it is a master key it can unlock all the
           locks.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Awareness is the key.
                You say, "How to tame...? I either control, repress and stop myself, or I am led by my senses and
           driven by my 'animal'."
                Yes, these are the two alternatives if you don't attain to awareness. Either you will repress and
           control -- which is ugly, which will make you unnatural, which will make you ill at ease with
           yourself, which will drive you ultimately into a kind of insanity... because you are repressing your
           own energies, which need to be transformed, not repressed. And energies repressed are dangerous;
           they will explode.
                And your senses have their own aliveness. If you repress them you will become dull, you will
           become insensitive. You will become insensitive to beauty, to joy, to music, to poetry, to all that has
           any intrinsic value.
                That's why your so-called monks, your mahatmas, your saints, are utterly insensitive. They can't
           see any beauty anywhere, they can't see any joy anywhere. And if you live with them for a few days
           you will know they are joy-killers; they will destroy your joy also, they will make you embarrassed
           if you are happy. They will ask such questions as, "Why are you happy? What is there to be happy
           about in this life? Life is misery! Why are you laughing and giggling? What is there to laugh about?
           Crying is okay, tears are accepted -- they are religious. But giggling? -- that is not religious."
                Just the other day one person has written to me, "You must be the first enlightened one who is
           telling jokes." Yes, that is true -- at least I can claim that much originality! Otherwise it is very
           difficult to claim any originality in this world; there is nothing new under the sun. For millions and
           millions of years man has existed and thousands and thousands of enlightened people have existed;
           they have done almost everything that can be done. I was really searching what to do -- something
           new! Then I stumbled upon jokes. I said, "This is right!"
                If you repress you will become humorless, you will lose all sense of humor. Your saints cannot
           laugh, and a man who cannot laugh is not a man; he becomes subhuman. Horses don't laugh,
           buffaloes don't laugh, donkeys don't tell jokes to each other. Laughter is absolutely human; no other
           animal laughs. And if one morning, just going for a walk, a donkey suddenly starts laughing, you
           will go crazy! You will not even be able to report to anybody that this has happened; they will think
           that you are mad.
                It is man's privilege to laugh. Laughter has something divine about it; laughter has something
           which is available only to man. Only man can laugh, because he can sense the absurd, the ridiculous;
           because he can see through and through, and he can see all around such stupidity pretending to be
           wise, fools pretending to be intelligent, intellectual -- the intelligentsia.
                Never repress. Repression will destroy all that is human in you. And once the human is destroyed
           you cannot attain to the divine, because humanness is the bridge.
                Man is a bridge between the animal and the divine. And the animal is also beautiful because the
           animal has aliveness. That is exactly the meaning of the word 'animal'. It comes from 'anima' --
           aliveness, life, vitality. Your saints become nonvital because they destroy the animal. They don't
           tame it, they destroy it -- to destroy they find easier.
                Taming needs art, it needs great art. To kill a tiger is simple. To ride on the tiger and come back
           home... it is dangerous and it is arduous and it needs great art. And so is the case with all your
           senses: they have their own sensitivity, a little intelligence of their own. Have you observed it? --
           that your senses have their own intelligence, their own small minds.
                You are asleep and a cockroach starts crawling -- what else in India? -- a cockroach starts
           crawling up your leg, and you remain asleep and the leg simply throws the cockroach away. The leg
           has its own intelligence, its own built-in alertness; it functions on its own. Your sleep remains
           undisturbed. You eat -- your stomach must have its own intelligence; otherwise it is a very
           complicated process to digest, to transform bread into blood. Scientists have not yet been able to do
           it mechanically. They have not been able to create machines which can transform bread into blood.
           Your stomach must have an intelligence of its own -- and it does not ask you at all. Once you have
           taken anything down the throat you forget all about it; now it is up to the stomach to do the whole
           work. And the work is really complicated, immensely complicated: sorting out different elements,
           sending those different elements to different parts of the body....
                You have wounded your hand. Immediately your hand, your blood circulation, your body starts a
           healing process. Your mind is not needed at all.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Remember that forcing your senses into some repressed state will take your vitality. You will not
           be fresh, you will not be young, you will not be flowing. That's what has happened to humanity at
           large: because of wrong religious teachings, people have become dull, stupid.
               There is one woman in Soviet Russia who can read with her fingers -- and not braille; she can
           read ordinary books with her fingers, with closed eyes, blindfolded. She says that she can see
           through the fingers. There are people whose fingers are so sensitive, by touching you they will know
           much about you that even you may not be aware of. Just shaking hands with you they know much
           about you. Your hand gives them a kind of information: whether it is cold or warm, friendly or
           unfriendly, or indifferent. A sensitive person, just by shaking hands with you, has already become
           aware of many things about you, has already known much about you.
               Each sense has its beauty and has to contribute to your intelligence. So please, don't repress,
           don't control.

               While rambling along the railroad tracks, Isaac found twenty dollars. He walked a little further
           and felt his corns pinch. "Feet," he said, "I'm gonna buy you a brand-new pair of shoes."
               He continued his walk, but soon felt the hot sun on his forehead. "Old top," promised Isaac, "I'll
           get you a cool, shady hat."
               Just then Isaac's stomach grumbled. "Okay, belly," he said, "I will buy you a fine meal."
               Isaac resumed his journey. Five minutes later, he stopped in shock. He looked downward at the
           front of his pants and hollered, "Hey, big stiff, who told YOU we came into big money?"

               Each sense of the body has its own intelligence. No sense has to be curtailed; each sense has to
           be given freedom joyously. Each sense has to be nourished in its aliveness. Only then will you know
           that all your senses create an orchestra, a great melody.
               But I understand your trouble; this is the trouble of almost everybody in the world. Either you
           control or you start indulging, and you don't know how to remain exactly in the middle. Indulgence
           is also destructive. Repression is destructive, indulgence is destructive -- because these are two
           extremes. One fasts for many days; he is trying to control, repress his hunger, his body's needs.
           Another eats too much, goes on stuffing.
               It is said that Nero used to have four physicians always around him because he was a lover, a
           mad lover, of food; he was obsessed with food. He would eat too much, and the physicians' work
           was to help him vomit so that he could eat again. And this he would do many times in the day.
           Otherwise you can eat only once, if you live in a primitive, aboriginal part of Africa... because for
           centuries they have eaten only once, and that is enough. If you live in India you will eat twice, if you
           live in America five times. But Nero was eating sometimes even twenty times a day. Now, this is
           indulgence, mad indulgence! This is again going to dull your senses. His belly must have been going
           berserk, his body must have been feeling a kind of insanity.
               One has to be in the middle, the golden mean. That is Buddha's teaching.

           There is a beautiful story in Buddha's life:
               He came to Shravasti, one of the greatest cities of those days. It must have been something like
           the Paris of India of those days, because its beauty is described so much in the scriptures. And
           Buddha also must have loved the town very much, because in his forty-two years' teaching he came
           at least twenty times to Shravasti; that is the most times he ever visited any place. Sarnath he visited
           only once -- because of the mosquitoes. Sarnath has really big mosquitoes; Poona mosquitoes are
           nothing, Poonaites are nothing!
               When I was staying with a Buddhist monk in Sarnath, we had to sit behind a mosquito net the
           whole day -- he in his bed, I in mine -- and we had to talk.... I told him, "This is my first and last
           visit. I am not coming back again to Sarnath."
               He said, "Do you know, Buddha himself never visited twice."
           I had not known that. I said, "You tell me...."
               He said, "Yes, he came here only once -- to Shravasti twenty times, Sarnath only once. What is
           the reason?" And we joked.
               I said, "The reason is clear: he didn't have mosquito nets. In the first place, these mosquitoes
           must have tortured him. And these are really monsters, not mosquitoes -- very big ones! Poor
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha must have escaped!"
               He only remained one day there. Shravasti he went to twenty times; he stayed twenty rainy
           seasons in Shravasti. Now Shravasti has almost disappeared; a small village is thought to be where
           Shravasti used to be. It was a big city -- ten lakhs of people -- one of the most beautiful in the
           country.
               And the king of Shravasti was Shrona. He must have loved beauty; he made the city so beautiful
           -- beautiful lakes and roads and palaces. And he invited all kinds of artists, musicians, poets -- his
           court was full of talented people. He had the most beautiful women around him. He lived in utter
           luxury. His days were spent moving from one pleasure to another. Naturally, soon he got fed up,
           tired, wearied.
               And then Buddha came. He was feeling so bored with life, this Shrona, that he went to listen to
           Buddha -- maybe he has something to say. He was feeling so meaningless, so utterly meaningless,
           that he had started lately to contemplate suicide. Seeing Buddha and his divine beauty, his grace --
           and Shrona was a very aesthetic person -- seeing Buddha he immediately fell in love with him.
               He didn't go back to his palace. He asked Buddha with folded hands, "Give me sannyas. Initiate
           me."
               Buddha hesitated a little bit because he knew everything about Shrona and his life; it would be
           difficult for him. He may not have tasted water for years; alcohol was the only thing that he used to
           drink. He had indulged so much that for a moment Buddha was hesitant.
               But Shrona said, "Don't hesitate. I am fed up with my life, I am finished with it! If you don't give
           me sannyas I will commit suicide -- and that will be your responsibility!"
               My own observation is also this: that a man really becomes a sannyasin when he comes to the
           point where there are only two possibilities: either suicide or sannyas.
               Buddha had to initiate him immediately, because he did not want to be responsible for his
           suicide. But what Buddha had not expected started happening. Shrona became just the opposite of
           what he had been up to now. Up to now he had been absolutely indulgent in everything, in every
           possible thing. Now he became a great ascetic, so much so that he started torturing his body, he
           became a masochist. He would lie down on thorns, he would stand in the hot sun. He would not live
           as other sannyasins were living -- moderately, balanced, the life of the golden mean. No, he moved
           to the other extreme. Within six months it was impossible to recognize him, he had become so thin,
           so dark. He was a beautiful person; he had become ugly. He was starving himself. Buddhist
           sannyasins used to eat once a day and he used to eat only thrice a week, and that too, so little!
               It happens: people can move to the extreme very easily. Mind lives in extremes -- from one
           extreme one can jump to the other extreme very easily. The most difficult thing is to remain in the
           middle, because to remain in the middle you will need awareness. Moving from one extreme to the
           other you don't need awareness. You were unconscious before as an indulgent person, now you are
           unconscious as a great ascetic. First you were stuffing yourself with food and you were unconscious,
           now you are starving yourself and you are unconscious.
               The man of consciousness stays in the middle: neither too much nor too little. He always gives to
           the body what is needed, to the mind what is needed. His life has a very very rhythmic quality to it.
           He responds to his requirements very consciously, responsibly, but he does not go in an insane
           manner this way or that.
               After six months Buddha had to go to him. Shrona had wounds all over the body because he was
           lying down on thorns. He was stinking because he had stopped taking baths; he thought that too was
           luxury....
               In India, Jaina monks don't take any baths, they don't clean their teeth, because that is thought to
           be too materialistic -- you are decorating the body. It is very difficult to talk to Jaina monks. They
           used to come to me before, but fortunately they no longer come here. It was so difficult to talk to
           them because their breath smell is simply unbelievable, their body odor is intolerable! But that is
           thought to be a great renunciation.
               Buddha went to see Shrona. He was ill, with wounds all over the body, almost dying. Buddha
           asked him one question: he said, "Shrona, I have come to ask one question of you. I have heard that
           when you were a king you used to play beautifully on the sitar. You were a great lover of the sitar
           and you had practiced your whole life."
           Shrona said, "Yes, that is true."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha asked him, "So I have come to ask you one thing: if the strings of the sitar are too loose,
           will there be any music?"
                Shrona said, "No, how can there be any music? If the strings are too loose, music cannot be
           created."
                Buddha said, "Then if the strings are too tight, will there be any music?"
                Shrona said, "No, that too is not possible. If the strings are too tight, they will be broken."
                Buddha said, "Then tell me, when is music possible?"
                Shrona said, "There is a point exactly in the middle when you cannot say the strings are loose
           and you cannot say the strings are tight. It is a great art to bring the strings to that middle point --
           exactly in the middle, neither leaning to this side nor to that; no leaning at all, exactly in the middle."
                Buddha stood up and he said, "Shrona, I have nothing else to say. I just came to remind you that
           life follows the same law. Be in the middle. You have moved from a too loose life to a too tight life.
           That's why you are not attaining to the music called nirvana, the music called meditation."

               Prem Sohan, that exact middle cannot be found without awareness. And don't say, "Is watching
           and awareness ALL there is to do?"
               Yes, it is all. It is more than you need, more than you will ever need. It will fulfill all your needs.
           It will teach you how not to repress and how not to indulge. It will make you so alert that you will be
           just a witness. And when one is just a witness of one's senses, one enjoys and yet one remains above.
           One becomes a lotus leaf, in the water and yet untouched by the water.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A VERY JEALOUS PERSON, PARTICULARLY AS FAR AS MY WIFE IS CONCERNED. EVEN
              IF SHE LOOKS AT ANYBODY, I BECOME ENRAGED. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               Gyaneshwar, it has nothing to do with your wife. If the wife is not there you will be jealous about
           something else.
               Remember always: don't be too much concerned about outer causes, because causes are not
           outside you. Outside are only excuses; causes are inside you. You are full of jealousy; the wife
           simply functions as an excuse. Don't be too much worried about the excuse, because that is wasting
           time. Look inside yourself: why are you jealous?
               Jealousy means ego, jealousy means unconsciousness. Jealousy means that you have not known
           even a moment of joy and bliss; you are living in misery. Jealousy is a by-product of misery, ego,
           unconsciousness.
               Forget all about the wife; otherwise you will remain concerned about the wife, and that is a way
           of escaping from the real cause. The real cause is always inside. And not only about jealousy,
           remember, about all problems -- greed....
               Somebody comes to me and says, "I am very greedy about money. How can I get rid of this
           greed for money?" It is not a question of money. Greed is greed. If you get rid of money you will
           become greedy for God; greed will still be there.

               The night Jesus was saying goodbye to his disciples, one of the disciples asked him, "Lord, you
           are leaving us. There is one question, and it is on the minds of all your disciples. In the kingdom of
           God you will be sitting at the right side of God himself -- obviously, you will be his right hand. And
           who will be sitting next to you? Amongst us twelve, who will be the second to you? That is the most
           important thing in our heads. Please say something about it; otherwise, once you are gone it will be
           impossible for us to decide and we will be quarreling and fighting over it."

               Now, this is jealousy. Now, what kind of disciples has Jesus? As far as my observation goes,
           Jesus was not very fortunate about his disciples. Buddha was far more fortunate. Never in the whole
           life of Buddha has a disciple asked such a stupid question. And these are the apostles, the twelve
           apostles -- his messengers to the world!
               Remember, if greed is dropped about money, immediately it will take another object, it will
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become focused on something else. So the first thing to remember: it has nothing to do with your
           wife, it has something to do with yourself. Forget about the wife completely, keep her out of the
           problem. She is not the problem, YOU are the problem! Take responsibility, and then things start
           changing.
                If you take the responsibility, if you think, "I am responsible, nobody else," you will not be angry
           with the wife. You will not be fighting and nagging, you will not be nasty with her. You will start
           looking deeper and deeper. And in that very search you will become aware. That's what awareness
           is, that's how one becomes aware.
                And when you are fully aware of your jealousy you will be surprised, you are in for a surprise:
           when you are fully aware of it, it disappears. It simply disappears, not leaving even a trace behind it.

               Two men had had enough of the world so they decided to leave their wives, kids and jobs for the
           peace and quiet of the wilderness. They stopped for supplies at a sporting goods store owned by a
           wise old man.
           "Take this," said the old storekeeper to the renunciates as he handed them a board lined with mink
           fur, with a small slit cut out in the middle which was also lined with fur.
           "No way!" cried the men. "We know what that board is for and I tell you we are through with that
           kind of thing forever!"
               But the wise old man slipped the board into one of the packs while they were not looking, and
           the men left.
               Three years later one of the men returned to the old man's sporting goods store.
           "Well, hello!" cried the storekeeper. "Where is your partner?"
           "Dead," said the returning survivor.
           "What happened?"
           "I shot him."
           "But why?"
           "Well," said the man, "I caught him in bed with my board."

               It is not a question of the wife -- even a board will do: "MY board!..." It is a question of the ego,
           and the ego exists only when you live in an unconsciousness, in a darkness. The ego exists only in
           the dark night of the soul.
               Bring a little light inside. Meditate a little bit. Sit silently, doing nothing, looking inwards. In the
           beginning you will find only rubbish. Don't be worried -- go on looking. Within three to nine months
           the rubbish will be gone, and a silence will start dawning on you and a stillness will arise.
               In that stillness you will become aware of yourself and of the whole that surrounds you. That
           state is samadhi, and to know it is to know all, to be it is to be all.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                      Chapter #9
                                            Chapter title: Awake to the law
           30 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908300
              ShortTitle: DHAM409
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 112 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              HE WHO GOES NAKED,
              WITH MATTED HAIR, MUD-BESPATTERED,
              WHO FASTS AND SLEEPS ON THE GROUND
              AND SMEARS HIS BODY WITH ASHES
              AND SITS IN ENDLESS MEDITATION --
              SO LONG AS HE IS NOT FREE FROM DOUBTS,
              HE WILL NOT FIND FREEDOM.



              BUT HE WHO LIVES PURELY AND SELF-ASSURED
              IN QUIETNESS AND VIRTUE,
              WHO IS WITHOUT HARM OR HURT OR BLAME,
              EVEN IF HE WEARS FINE CLOTHES,
              SO LONG AS HE ALSO HAS FAITH
              HE IS A TRUE SEEKER.



              A NOBLE HORSE RARELY
              FEELS THE TOUCH OF THE WHIP.
              WHO IS THERE IN THIS WORLD AS BLAMELESS?



              THEN LIKE A NOBLE HORSE
              SMART UNDER THE WHIP,
              BURN AND BE SWIFT.
              BELIEVE, MEDITATE, SEE.
              BE HARMLESS, BE BLAMELESS.
              AWAKE TO THE LAW.
              AND FROM ALL SORROW FREE YOURSELF.



              THE FARMER CHANNELS WATER TO HIS LAND.
              THE FLETCHER WHITTLES HIS ARROWS.
              THE CARPENTER TURNS HIS WOOD.
              AND THE WISE MAN MASTERS HIMSELF.


               Gautama the Buddha has no philosophy of life. He is not a philosopher at all. He is a man of
           insight, he is wise; he knows how to see into life, into reality. He has a way of seeing but not a
           philosophy of life. He has a way of living but not a philosophy of life.
               A philosophy of life is a false substitute -- it is avoiding transformation of your being. You can
           learn beautiful words, systems of thought, ideologies, and you can become so much engrossed in
           them that you can forget totally that you don't know even yourself, that you don't know how to see
           that you are blind, that you have not been able to create light in your heart, that the flame is absent,
           that you are living in deep darkness; that your life may be very sophisticated, cultured, but it is not
           true life. You live on the surface; you don't know its depths and its heights. It has both deep valleys
           and high peaks, but to reach to those depths and those peaks you will have to pass through an
           alchemical process.
               Buddha is an alchemist. He shows you the way how to transform your energies from the lowest
           to the highest center of functioning, from the mud to the lotus, from the baser metal into gold, from
           stones into diamonds. He is a scientist of the inner. His approach is utterly scientific, not philosophic
           at all.
               That's why he could not fit with the Indian mind; the Indian mind is too philosophical. The
           Indian mind has learned too much jargon, it has become very skillful in splitting hairs. Buddha is not
           concerned at all with all that nonsense. He goes directly to the problem.
               The problem is that we are living with a darkness in the heart -- how to transform this darkness
           into a luminosity? We have the potential, but we don't know how to change it into actuality. Buddha
           is very pragmatic, very practical, the first man really to be so pragmatic about the inner world, about
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           subjectivity, about interiority. People are very much interested in philosophies of life. If they don't
           have one they feel as if they are missing something. People are interested in phony words because
           they cost nothing. You can be a Hindu, you can read the Vedas and the Gita and Upanishads, and
           you can become very learned. You can become a great parrot, you can become a pundit, a great
           scholar, you can talk about great things for hours, but your life will remain ordinary -- it will not
           have any touch of the beyond.
               You can be a Mohammedan or a Christian -- there are hundreds of ideologies in the world -- you
           can be a Catholic or communist. It does not matter what you believe in. What really matters is: are
           you capable of seeing? Do you have eyes to see the mystery of existence? Do you have the heart to
           feel the magic of it? Are you open, available, vulnerable to the unknown? And when the unknown
           calls, are you courageous enough to go into the uncharted sea, not knowing what is going to happen
           next? Do you have that type of guts?

               Goldberg had a vague feeling that something was missing in his life. One night he was
           particularly depressed and told his wife about his yearning for something.
           "But Sam," reassured his wife, "you have everything!"
           "I know, I know! But I don't have a philosophy of life -- I want that."
           "Sam, what do you want that for? None of the neighbors have one."

                But that's really the problem -- the neighbors have. Somebody is a Hindu, somebody is a
           Mohammedan, somebody is a Christian, somebody is a Jew, somebody is a communist; somebody
           talks about DAS KAPITAL and somebody about the Gita and somebody about the Koran, and you
           start feeling as if you are missing something because you cannot talk about great things. You start
           feeling these people must be knowing all that they are talking about. They know nothing. They are as
           blind as you are, or maybe they are more blind than you are. At least you are free of the philosophies
           -- that is one of the basic hindrances in seeing.
                The first thing to understand about Buddha and his approach is that he does not want to give you
           a teaching. He certainly wants to give you a science -- he is not interested at all in making your
           minds more sophisticated. He wants you to drop the mind. Sophisticated or unsophisticated, mind is
           a block, it hinders. No-mind is the capacity to see; mind is the capacity to believe, but it is not the
           capacity to see.
                Hence Buddha has given a totally new meaning to meditation. Before him, meditation was
           concentration in the beginning and contemplation in the end. But concentration and contemplation
           both are part of the mind; the mind can play these games perfectly well. The mind is very much
           interested in concentration because through it, it becomes stronger. Concentration is a nourishment.
           And mind is immensely interested in contemplation too, because through contemplation, finer food,
           finer nourishment, become available.
                If you concentrate you can become a scientist of the objective world; if you contemplate you
           become a great philosopher. But unless you know what meditation is you will never be a mystic; and
           without being a mystic, you will miss all -- your whole life will be a sheer wastage.
                These sutras are tremendously important. In a few places the translation is not accurate, but on
           the whole it gives you the essence. Wherever I see it is not accurate I will remind you. Those
           inaccuracies are bound to happen -- because in the West nobody has talked like Buddha; hence no
           Western language is capable of translating Buddha accurately, adequately.
                Jesus was a buddha, but his way of talking was not that of Buddha. Jesus talked as if he were
           talking to primary school children -- and that's exactly the case. The people he was talking to were
           really at a very very beginners' stage. He had to use parables, metaphors. He had to use phrases
           which are anthropocentric: kingdom of God -- there is no God and there is no kingdom. And Jesus
           knew it! -- but he had to talk in words which people could understand.
                People can understand a king -- then God is the greatest king. But the difference is of quantity,
           not of quality. Kings have kingdoms; hence God, the greatest king, must have the greatest kingdom.
           But again the difference is of quantity, not of quality. And because it is not of quality it misses the
           whole point, it misses the target.
                God is not a person but a presence. And God had no kingdom because God is a pervading
           presence of life, of beauty, of music, of poetry. He is spread all over space; he is not separate from it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He is not the creator, he is the very phenomenon of creativity itself. But Jesus could not talk that way
           -- Buddha could.
                Buddha was talking to a very ancient people, to people who were very well acquainted with
           higher reaches -- even they were not able to understand. Jesus had to use language which could be
           understood. And Jesus was a carpenter's son; he himself knew the language of the ordinary people.
           Buddha came from a royal family, a son of a king -- very sophisticated -- knew all about philosophy
           and was fed up with it; knew all about beautiful parables, stories, mythologies, and was finished with
           all that. He had seen through them, that they keep people occupied but they don't transform them. He
           had discarded all that is nonessential; he talked only about the very essential. He was very
           telegraphic too: he would not use a single word more than was needed. Unless it was absolutely
           needed -- only then would he use it.
                And of course, he changed the meaning of words; that always happens when a buddha, an
           awakened person, uses words. He gives new color, new nuances, new meanings to ancient words.
           Buddha transformed the word 'meditation'. Meditation had always been something of the mind, and
           Buddha brought a new quality, so totally new, diametrically opposite to the old meaning: he said,
           meditation means a state of no-mind. It is not concentration, it is not contemplation. It is not
           thinking, it is not thinking about God. It is not even prayer -- because thinking is of the head,
           intellectual; prayer is emotional. That is another side of the head, not very far away from it; a
           different language used by another part of the head.
                Now scientists agree about it, that the head has two hemispheres. The left hemisphere speaks the
           language of intellect, logic, arithmetic; and the right hemisphere speaks the language of emotions,
           feelings, sentiments. But both are two sides of the same head.
                Buddha was the first to indicate this: that concentration, contemplation, belong to one side of the
           head, the left hemisphere; and prayer, devotion, they belong to the right hemisphere. But both are of
           the head, and the true seeker has to go beyond the head; he has to transcend the duality of the head,
           the division of the head. Only when you transcend the division can you come to the one.
                Hence, he gives a totally new meaning to meditation, to DHYANA. He makes it mean a state of
           no-mind. You will constantly have to remember that. Wherever the word 'meditation' is used,
           remember, Buddha means no-mind.
                The second thing: wherever you come across the word 'belief', beware. Buddha never means
           what you mean by the word 'belief'. His word is SHRADDHA. Shraddha does not mean belief, it
           does not even mean faith; it means trust, which is a totally different phenomenon.
                Shraddha means a state of total trust. Belief is not total trust; doubt remains in it, repressed.
           Belief is a cover-up. You doubt but you have covered it with a blanket, with belief. You are afraid of
           the doubt. Doubt disturbs, so you cling to the belief, but the belief can never take you beyond the
           doubt.
                Belief is doubt standing on its head, upside-down, that's all. The doubter doubts, the believer
           believes, but both are blind. They are in the same boat, maybe sitting back-to-back, but in the same
           boat. Hence the believer is always afraid of somebody provoking his doubt, and the doubter is
           always on guard that nobody should convince him of any belief. They both are entangled with each
           other.
                What is trust? Trust is going beyond doubt AND belief. Belief is always in a certain idea; trust is
           always in that which is -- not in an idea but in existence itself, within and without. And between
           belief and trust there is another word, 'faith' -- beware of that too. Buddha never means faith when he
           uses shraddha, and he always uses shraddha. Faith is just in between: belief is in an idea, faith is in a
           person, and trust is in existence itself. Buddha never wants you to be faithful because faith creates
           fanatics, faith creates neurotics.
                Just the other night, a young woman came to take sannyas. The way she approached me I became
           aware that she is neurotic. But I never say no to anybody. Who knows, there is always a possibility --
           one can never say -- that the neurotic may become normal. And at least, if she is willing to take
           sannyas, she has still some sense left; maybe she can be helped.
                I could see it was going to be difficult -- the way she came, the way she sat.... And finally, when
           I called her close to me, she refused to come close. She stood up with raised hands and said, "I am
           Jesus Christ!" I didn't say anything to her, although I wanted to say, "So, old chap, you are back
           again! Have you forgotten what happened the last time? Maybe that's why you have come in the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           form of a woman this time." And declaring that she is Jesus Christ, she walked away.
               Faith creates these types of neurotics. Christianity has many neurotic people, because the whole
           idea depends on faith: "Believe in Jesus Christ, have faith in him! He will deliver you!" -- as if he is
           responsible for your bondage! He can deliver you only if he has put you in the prison; otherwise,
           how can he deliver you? He is the savior and you are the saved; he is the shepherd and you are the
           sheep. Don't you see the indignity involved in it? You become just sheep. All the religions, more or
           less, have been doing this. If you believe in persons, you will be reduced into sheep -- you will not
           be human beings. Your humanity is destroyed. You are imprisoned in very subtle, invisible prisons.
           You cannot see them, they are transparent.
               Buddha says: Be a light unto yourself. Don't believe in persons, don't believe in ideologies. And
           when you don't believe in any ideology, and you don't believe in any person, a great trust explodes, a
           trust in existence itself -- in the trees, in the rocks, in the people, in the stars, rivers, mountains, in all
           that is. Of course, the buddhas are part of it, but you don't believe in the Buddha particularly. You
           simply believe in existence. You believe in the fragrance of a Jesus. But this belief is not rooted in
           any idea. In fact, it is something subjective, it has nothing to do with any object.
               If you believe in Jesus you cannot believe in Krishna. If you believe in Krishna you cannot
           believe in Mahavira. Naturally, if you believe in one you have to disbelieve in all others. That's how
           belief divides people. And the whole history is full of blood, murder, crusades. It is full of blood and
           violence in the name of religion, because you have been told to believe one against all others.
               Trust is totally different. If you trust existence... existence implies Jesus as much as Krishna, as
           Buddha, as Zarathustra. They are all part of it. And you don't believe only in buddhas, you believe in
           the ordinary people that surround you too; not only people but animals, trees, rocks. It is not a
           question of what you believe in -- the object becomes irrelevant. You simply have a trusting heart, a
           great trust that we belong to this existence, we are part of this miraculous existence, that this
           existence cannot be unfriendly to us. It has given birth to us, and how can the mother be unfriendly?
               This is a totally different meaning to trust. It is neither belief nor faith. Remember these two
           words because they are again and again translated wrongly.

           The sutras:

               HE WHO GOES NAKED,
               WITH MATTED HAIR, MUD-BESPATTERED,
               WHO FASTS AND SLEEPS ON THE GROUND
               AND SMEARS HIS BODY WITH ASHES
               AND SITS IN ENDLESS MEDITATION --
               SO LONG AS HE IS NOT FREE FROM DOUBTS,
               HE WILL NOT FIND FREEDOM.


                These people -- the people who go naked, with matted hair, mud-bespattered, the people who go
           on long fasts, the people who sleep on uneven ground, or even on thorns, the people who smear their
           body with ashes -- these people have been thought of down the ages as if they are saints. They are
           simply masochists, they enjoy torturing themselves. They are very violent people.
                The difference between them and Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan and Nadirshah is only one:
           Genghis Khan, Nadirshah, Adolf Hitler, they enjoy torturing others, and these so-called saints enjoy
           torturing themselves -- but both enjoy torture. Now, if you torture others it is condemned, obviously,
           because "others" include you and you are afraid of being tortured. But if somebody tortures himself
           it is praised -- it has nothing to do with you; he is torturing himself.
                In fact, the people who worship these masochists are sadists. You would like to torture them, but
           they are such good people, they are doing your job. What you would have liked to do, they are doing
           themselves. You can go and worship them.
                Masochism is a disease: to torture oneself. And sadism is also a disease: to enjoy torturing
           others. If you are courageous enough, if you can risk... because great risk is there; if you torture
           others, they will take revenge. Adolf Hitler finally had to commit suicide, and Nadirshah lived his
           whole life in constant fear and trembling, because he had murdered so many people. He had made so
           many enemies, he could not trust anybody. He was not even able to sleep well; a slight noise and he
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would jump up -- and that's how he died.
               One night a stray camel entered into the campus where Nadirshah was camping. That stray camel
           reached near Nadirshah's camp; he heard the noise. It was dark.... He jumped out of his bed, thought
           that the enemy had arrived, started running, got caught in the rope of the tent, had a heart attack and
           died.
               These people who torture others cannot live peacefully -- it is impossible, because they make so
           many enemies. But they enjoy torturing.
               Now, the best way to torture is to torture yourself; then there is no fear. Nobody is against you;
           on the contrary, people worship you as a holy person. Now, look at the foolishness! If a person walks
           naked, what is holy in it? You can go where great religious gatherings happen in India, particularly
           KUMBHA MELAS, and you can see the naked sadhus, and you will be surprised! -- you don't see
           any holiness. On the contrary, you will see in their eyes the worst kind of criminals. You can go to
           the prison and look into the eyes of the murderers, and you will find them more innocent. These
           people who exhibit themselves naked on the roads are really psychologically ill. In psychological
           terms they are exhibitionists.
               And this is a strange thing, that Hindus have worshipped these exhibitionists for centuries. And
           the same Hindus are against my sannyasins because they think my sannyasins are going against
           Hindu culture because they are not wearing proper clothes. You are going against Hindu culture!
           Your culture has always worshipped the exhibitionists, your culture has always worshipped the
           perverted people.
               Now, a person who spreads thorns and pebbles before he goes to sleep -- that is preparing the bed
           -- you worship him as holy? He has to be given electric shocks, not flowers, not to be garlanded; he
           needs psychological treatment. He is perverted. This is not natural! No animal ever does it; even
           animals are far more normal. Before they go to sleep they will remove the stones and thorns and they
           will prepare a soft bed for themselves, soft earth, and then they will go to sleep. Even animals seem
           to be far more intelligent, far more natural, than your so-called saints.
               A person who throws dust on his body is simply being foolish, or maybe he is just an egoist,
           because this kind of behavior is worshipped in this country. Now, the same type of people raise
           questions against me: Why am I against saints? I am not against the saints. I am not against Buddha
           and I am not against Nanak and I am not against Kabir and I am not against Raidas, but I am
           certainly against these ill people, the exhibitionists, the masochists, the abnormal, the neurotic.... I
           don't call them saints, they are not! But out of a hundred, ninety-nine percent belong to these
           categories.
               It is only because you have been worshipping them for centuries that you don't ask: What are you
           doing? And you are angry at me because I am raising questions for the first time -- questions which
           disturb you. But Buddha also was doing the same, and you were angry at him too.
               He says: HE WHO GOES NAKED, WITH MATTED HAIR, MUD-BESPATTERED, WHO
           FASTS AND SLEEPS ON THE GROUND AND SMEARS HIS BODY WITH ASHES AND SITS
           IN ENDLESS MEDITATION -- SO LONG AS HE IS NOT FREE FROM DOUBTS, HE WILL
           NOT FIND FREEDOM. You can go on doing these things for years, your whole life -- you will not
           arrive anywhere. All these things are just empty rituals you are following because you have been told
           that this is what holiness is. You are so unintelligent that you cannot even see that: What kind of
           holiness is this? How can this be holy?
               How can smearing your body with dust or ashes be holy? It is simply torturing yourself, because
           the body breathes.... Do you know that it is not only your nose that keeps you alive, but that there are
           millions of small doors in the body from where you breathe? You cannot even see them with bare
           eyes. Just try: paint a person's whole body, leaving his nose, paint it completely so all the holes and
           the pores of the body are closed. He will die within three hours. He can breathe from the nose -- that
           won't keep him alive more than three hours.
               If all the pores are closed... and that's what is being done by smearing ashes on your body. You
           are closing the pores of the body. This is a way of torturing yourself, this is starving you of oxygen.
           And the less oxygen you get, the more stupid you become, because oxygen is one of the most
           essential nourishments for intelligence.
               Without oxygen the mind starts becoming dull. That's why in the night you feel sleep coming to
           you more easily than in the day, because in the day the air has more oxygen in it and you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           breathing more oxygen. That oxygen keeps you alert, awake. In the night the quantity of oxygen in
           the air falls low, the carbon dioxide is more -- that makes you feel sleepy. By smearing your body
           with ashes you are trying to reduce the amount of oxygen reaching to your brain cells, you are
           starving the brain. You will become dull, stupid. And that's why you will rarely see any sharpness,
           any awareness.
               They live like robots. Of course, they follow a certain law that is written in the scriptures and
           delivered to them by the same kind of stupid people. They follow a certain law without
           understanding anything, why they are doing it. I have asked many people who smear their bodies
           with ashes, "Why do you do it?" And they say, "Because it has been done since the beginning --
           saints have always been doing it."
               I have asked them, "What is the science behind it?" They look puzzled. They say, "Science...?"
           They are not aware of what they are doing. They are not aware that they are starving their brain cells
           of oxygen.
               And they have many strategies like that: standing on the head for hours -- because of gravitation
           so much blood goes into the brain that it destroys the finer nerves of the brain. Your whole
           intelligence depends on those finer nerves. Or starving yourself -- call it fasting, then it becomes a
           religious thing. When you starve your body you are also starving your brain, because the brain is the
           subtlest part of the body.
               Now it is scientifically proved that if a few vitamins are missing from the body you will lose
           intelligence. Sooner or later every child has to be provided with certain vitamins, certain chemicals,
           and his intelligence can be raised very high. In Soviet Russia they are already doing it. If you starve
           your body, then naturally your brain is starved. You don't allow the brain the right food, you don't
           allow the brain the right amount of oxygen... and do you think you will be able to become a great
           meditator, a buddha? Whom are you trying to befool? But you are following a certain law, a certain
           ritual, with no understanding about it.

              Sir Reginald Farthington was on trial before the High Court of Australia for the crime of
           molesting an ostrich. "Before passing sentence," announced the judge, "do you have anything to
           say?"
           "Your Honor," said the Englishman, "if I'd known you were going to make such a fuss about it, I'd
           have married the bloody bird!"

               This is the legal mind. This is how the legal mind functions: "I would have married the bloody
           bird!" It goes from one foolishness to another foolishness.
               If you starve your body of the right food, of the right amount of oxygen, problems will arise. And
           you will go to the same people who are creating problems for you, and they have ready-made
           prescriptions.

               One man came to me, a young man; he was under the spell of Swami Shivananda of Rishikesh.
               Shivananda told him, "Live only on milk, because that is the purest food."
               Now, if you have seen pictures of Shivananda... one can see that this man has not lived only on
           milk. He was so fat that even to raise his own hands was difficult for him, they were so heavy. So he
           had to walk with two people, his hands on their shoulders. This man must be obsessed with food,
           must be eating too much. He must have been one of the fattest men in India, and he suggested to this
           young man to live only on milk.
               And what was the problem? Why had this young man gone to him? The young man had gone to
           him to attain BRAHMACHARYA -- celibacy. He had read in the scriptures that unless you are
           absolutely celibate you cannot reach God. So he asked how to become absolutely celibate; now the
           suggestion was, "Live only on milk."
               Now this is utter nonsense! If you live only on milk you will be more sexual than ever before,
           because from where are you going to get the milk? From cows or buffaloes. That milk is not created
           for man; cows' milk is created for bulls, and bulls are the most sexual animals in the world. Cows'
           milk has more chemicals to make you sexual than anything else in the world. It is the unholiest food.
           But who cares? Who thinks about it?
               Just because the scripture says it, Shivananda told him, "You live on milk." Now, it is only man,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ONLY man, who lives on milk when he is small and just for a few months. Once he has become able
           to eat and digest solid food he drops the milk and moves to solid food. It is meant for children.
               And one of the most important things that is growing in the child is his sexuality. He is becoming
           more and more mature and sexual, because the whole biology depends on sex. And after a time the
           child has to move to solid food. It is only man who continues to drink milk. It is okay in coffee or in
           tea, but just to live on milk -- it is going to be dangerous.
               The young man became more sexual, and weaker. The body became weaker and the mind
           became more and more obsessed with sex. Again he went to the same saint. The saint said, "It is
           because you are suffering from TAMAS -- you are suffering from the very lowest kind of energy
           called tamas, which pulls you downwards."
           "What has to be done?" the young man asked.
               The saint, the so-called saint, said, "You need not sleep as much as you are sleeping, because
           sleep creates tamas" -- that too is written in the same scriptures: sleep creates tamas -- "so sleep only
           five hours."
               First the food was taken away. He was starving, because for a fully grown-up person milk is not
           enough. He needs solid food; he is not a child. And then the milk is coming from cows -- which is
           meant for bulls, not for men -- so he is becoming more sexual. Now the sleep is reduced. Five hours
           of sleep for a young man is not right. Yes, for an old man it is perfectly okay; as you become older,
           less and less sleep is needed, because the body is going to die, it no longer needs to recover.
           Otherwise, a young man's body recovers itself every day.
               For recovery, for regaining lost strength, for recreating the cells that have died yesterday, you
           need a long sleep -- seven or eight hours, not less than that. Five is not enough. Now he started
           suffering from sleepiness; the whole day he would be yawning and feeling sleepy.
               His father brought him to me and he said, "What is to be done? Now he is again trying to go to
           Rishikesh, and each time he goes he brings a problem. He was perfectly okay; reading these
           nonsense books he became interested in becoming BRAHMACHARI -- a celibate -- and then the
           whole trouble started. Now he cannot read, is losing interest in everything, is becoming obsessed
           with sex and food and sleep. Now these three are the things he is obsessed with. He is driving
           himself crazy and the whole family too."
               I looked at the young man -- he was really in a mess. But he said, "I am following a great saint."
               I asked him, "How do you know that he is a great saint? What is your criterion? Because he
           repeats the scriptures? How do you know that the scriptures are written by those who know?"
               He said to me, "Please don't create doubt in me! I want to remain a believer, because without
           faith, without belief, there is no deliverance."
               I said to him, "You don't need any deliverance. There is no need for any deliverance. You are
           already delivered! You are already in God! There is no need to search for him. You are part of truth.
           Just live naturally, sanely, and you will be able to understand the mystery of life. There is no need to
           become insane. All these ways are driving you insane."
               And then one finds some way or other to satisfy the natural needs -- one becomes a hypocrite.
           Your whole religious training helps you only to become hypocrites. It does not make you holy; it
           simply makes you pseudo, phony.
               You repress something from one side and it starts asserting from the other side.

               Fogarty began to drop in at Barney's Bar regularly, and his order was always the same: two
           martinis. After several weeks of this, Barney asked him why he did not order a double instead.
           "It is a sentimental thing," said Fogarty. "A very dear friend of mine died a few weeks ago, and
           before his death he asked that when I drink I have one for him too."
               A week later Fogarty came in and ordered one martini. "What about your dead buddy? Why only
           one martini today?"
           "This is my buddy's drink," came the reply. "I am on the wagon."

               You can always find a way. Mind is very cunning, utterly cunning. You cannot get rid of the
           cunningness of the mind by such stupid things. And if you are doing such stupid things, you can sit
           long, endlessly, in meditation... nothing is going to happen, because meditation's first requirement is
           intelligence: awareness of your situation and of what you are doing to yourself and why -- not just
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           following dead scriptures, not just following the so-called saints because the masses call them saints.
                SO LONG AS HE IS NOT FREE FROM DOUBTS, HE WILL NOT FIND FREEDOM. What
           does Buddha mean by this? -- SO LONG AS HE IS NOT FREE FROM DOUBTS.... How does one
           become free from doubts? You will be surprised: unless you become free from beliefs you cannot
           become free from doubts. It is belief that creates doubt. For example, if you believe in God then the
           question arises whether God really exists or not. The doubt cannot come first; first comes the belief.
                You are told by your parents, by your society, that there is a God. Because you are told there is a
           God, one day or other your intelligence asserts and starts asking, "What is the proof? How do we
           know for certain, for sure, that God really is?" Now doubt is coming....
                In Soviet Russia, where they don't teach the children that there is a God, nobody doubts God's
           existence -- there is no question of doubt. Nobody believes in the first place -- why should they
           doubt? In India too, if you are born in a Jaina family you never doubt the existence of God. Why? --
           because in the Jaina tradition there is no God, no belief. But a Jaina doubts about the existence of the
           soul, because he is told that there is a soul, invisible -- the body will die but the soul will continue on
           its journey.
                Now the doubts arise: "Where is this soul? What is this soul? Has anybody ever seen it? Has
           anybody come back to the world after death and said that, 'I am still alive! You can't see me, but I
           am'?" The Jaina doubts about the soul, not about God.
                The Hindu doubts about God, the Mohammedan doubts about God, the Christian, the Jew, they
           all doubt about God -- because God is their belief. The Jaina and the Buddhist never doubt about
           God because that is not their belief, but the Jaina doubts about the soul. The Buddhist never doubts
           about the soul either, because that is not his belief.
                Buddha has taken away all the beliefs, so that you need not doubt: no God, no soul, no hell, no
           heaven, no moksha. Buddha has taken all the beliefs away! See his scientific approach of destroying
           doubt -- very paradoxical.
                Just the opposite has been done by others. Others have also tried to take your doubts away, but
           their method has been to impose belief on you so that the doubt goes deep into the unconscious,
           becomes repressed -- you don't see it anymore. It is covered by the belief, but it never dies; on the
           contrary, it moves deeper into your being and becomes more and more part of your being. All your
           believers know it perfectly well, that there is doubt in their hearts. At the very core there is doubt;
           only on the circumference is belief.
                Buddha is the first human being in the world who has really tried to destroy doubt. But strange is
           his way: his way is to take away all the beliefs; then you have taken the very ground in which doubts
           grow. Be without belief and you will be without doubt. Without belief, without doubt, where can
           mind remain? Mind needs these two pillars to support it. These are mind's two wings: doubt and
           belief. This is the duality on which mind feeds and lives. Once belief and doubt both are gone, you
           have destroyed the very foundation of the mind.
                And to be a no-mind is meditation. Not by sleeping on thorns, not by going naked, not by fasting,
           not by torturing yourself, but by great understanding of things. From where does doubt come? Go
           into it, search, and you will find it always comes because of a certain belief.
                Now the modern mind can attain to meditation more easily than humanity was ever capable of,
           for one single reason: that the modern mind is no longer so much burdened by belief. Hence there is
           not so much doubt either. Nowadays you rarely come across people who are skeptical, people who
           are full of doubt, people who are atheists -- you rarely come across such people nowadays. In the old
           days they were many. And the reason is simple: now nobody believes! So if somebody says, "I don't
           believe in God," you will say, "So what? Who believes? Keep quiet!" Now nobody can argue against
           God because nobody is arguing FOR the poor man!
                This is a very new situation. And your old traditions cannot accept the challenge of this new
           situation. If you declare that, "I am an atheist," people will say, "So be it. Why brag about it? Why
           make a fuss about it? Perfectly okay, we are happy -- you be an atheist." Who bothers about the
           church and who bothers about the temple? Even the people who go, go only as a social formality;
           even they don't believe.
                This is a rare opportunity for the search; it has never been so spacious as it is today. Of course,
           your old traditional people are very much worried; they think this is the worst kind of age that has
           ever happened. This is not the worst kind of age -- this is the best, the pinnacle. This is the time, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           right time, a ripe time. We can inquire with total hearts into reality, because no belief hinders, and
           because there is no belief, there is no doubt.
               This is freedom. Buddha calls it freedom. SO LONG AS HE IS NOT FREE FROM DOUBTS,
           HE WILL NOT FIND FREEDOM. "Freedom" means freedom from the mind. Then you are simply
           in a silence, and in that silence you melt, you merge with the whole. And to melt and merge with the
           whole is to be holy. Not by fasting, not by torturing, but by becoming one with the whole, one
           becomes holy.

              BUT HE WHO LIVES PURELY AND SELF-ASSURED
              IN QUIETNESS AND VIRTUE,
              WHO IS WITHOUT HARM OR HURT OR BLAME,
              EVEN IF HE WEARS FINE CLOTHES,
              SO LONG AS HE HAS FAITH
              HE IS A TRUE SEEKER.


                BUT HE WHO LIVES PURELY.... What does Buddha mean by "living purely"? He means
           living innocently, with no belief, with no doubt, living not out of mind but out of meditation. He has
           his own meaning of purity. He does not mean by "living in purity" rotten, old ideas. Purity does not
           mean that you should eat food only prepared by a brahmin; purity does not mean that you should eat
           only when the sun is in the sky; purity does not mean that you should only wear this and you should
           not wear that.
                Purity means living out of no-mind, living spontaneously, moment to moment like a child,
           innocently -- living from a state of not knowing. All knowledge is cunning, and all knowledge
           corrupts. Living from a state of not knowing -- that is purity.
                Socrates says: I know only one thing, that I know nothing -- this is purity.
                Buddha used to tell his disciples, "Please never ask me metaphysical questions, because I don't
           know. Don't ask about God and don't ask about the soul, and don't ask about heaven and hell." He
           had a list prepared of eleven questions; those eleven questions contained all the questions philosophy
           is full of.
                Whenever he would enter a new town, his disciples would go around and tell people, "Please
           don't ask these eleven questions, because Buddha will not answer these questions. He is interested
           only in practical questions. Ask about greed and how to get rid of it; ask about anger and how to go
           beyond it. Ask about possessiveness and how to drop it, ask about transformation. Ask how you can
           drop the mind and attain to meditation. But don't ask metaphysical questions because they don't help
           you at all. They create belief, and with belief comes doubt. And divided into belief and doubt you
           become a schizophrenic, you become zero. You lose your integrity."
                BUT HE WHO LIVES PURELY AND SELF-ASSURED.... Now, this word 'self-assured' is also
           not rightly translated. What Buddha means is one who trusts his own being -- it is not "self-assured."
           "Self-assured" gives the sense of ego; Buddha means an egoless trust. One who trusts in the whole
           existence also trusts in himself, because he is part of the whole. He listens to his heart's voice and
           follows it. Unafraid he goes with his heart. He trusts his intuition. And once you have known the art
           of how to listen to your intuition, you will be surprised: intellect can err, intuition never errs -- it is
           infallible. It always directs you in the right course of action.
                IN QUIETNESS AND VIRTUE.... "Quietness" means meditation, thoughtlessness, no thought
           disturbing, the lake of consciousness absolutely without any waves and ripples. And the consequence
           of such silence is virtue. Virtue is not something practiced by you; you cannot practice virtue. If you
           practice virtue, on the surface you will wear a mask, but behind the surface you will go on living in
           your old vicious ways. Of course, you can hide from others, but how can you hide from yourself?
                That's what happens to your priests, your so-called saints; their whole life becomes very cunning
           -- they say one thing, they live a totally different life. They are bound to be so because the virtue is
           cultivated.

              A sociologist was taking a survey based on the sexual proclivities of various national and ethnic
           groups. He approached an elderly Italian gentleman in a black suit and, after the usual preliminaries,
           asked him how often he had sexual intercourse.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Oh, maybe ten, twelve times a year," stated the old fellow.
           "But you are Italian and Italians are supposed to be very sexy," came the response.
           "Listen, I don't think that is so bad for a sixty-year-old priest who does not own a car!"

               Your priests, your saints, your so-called virtuous people, respectable people, they have double
           lives: on the surface one thing, in the depth totally the opposite of it.

                Sister Semolina had lately arrived at the jungle mission. She was under the instruction of Mother
           Maria, who called her into her office late one afternoon.
           "I must go to the capital and I will be away overnight," said Mother Maria. "I want to warn you: if
           Father Dominique comes to your room tonight do no let him in, no matter what he tells you."
                Next day, Mother Maria returned to find Sister Semolina waiting in her office. "I am here to
           confess," she said tearfully. "Last night I disobeyed your orders. Father Dominique came to my door,
           and, oh Mother, he was so convincing! He said to me that I was the gateway to heaven and that he
           had the key to heaven and that if I let him put his key into my locked gate we could be in heaven
           together."
           "That bastard!" exclaimed Mother Maria. "He told me it was Gabriel's horn, and I have been blowing
           it for fifteen years!"

               But this is natural, it has to be so. These jokes are not just jokes, they have great truths in them. It
           is inevitable because your whole idea of virtue is to impose upon yourself good qualities, praised
           down the centuries. But if you impose something upon yourself, what are you going to do to your
           nature? You will become two persons, and the nature is certainly more powerful than anything
           imposed.
               The nature has to be transformed. Character has not to be cultivated; it has to be a by-product of
           consciousness. That is Buddha's great contribution to the world.
               IN QUIETNESS AND VIRTUE.... Virtue comes number two. First comes quietness,
           meditativeness, purity, innocence, trust.
               WHO IS WITHOUT HARM OR HURT OR BLAME, EVEN IF HE WEARS FINE CLOTHES,
           SO LONG AS HE ALSO HAS FAITH HE IS A TRUE SEEKER. Again read instead of "faith,"
           "trust." He who has trust, he is a true seeker. The believer is not a true seeker -- he has already
           believed! He is phony from the very beginning. If you already believe in God, how can you seek and
           search? You have killed the quest from the very beginning, you have aborted the quest.
               One can go into inquiry only when one has no belief and no doubt. When one is simply open,
           with no prejudice, no conclusion, no ready-made answers given by others, when one simply goes as
           a clean slate, as a mirror, then one comes across truth.
               Truth can be known only by a mirrorlike mind. A mirrorlike mind is a no-mind. But if you are
           already a believer you will never know the truth. A Christian cannot know, a Mohammedan cannot
           know, a Hindu cannot know, a Buddhist cannot know. Unless you drop all these ideologies, unless
           you put them aside and go into the journey absolutely open, not even a small prejudice lurking
           somewhere in your mind....

                Once a very famous professor, Doctor Bannerji, came to see me. He said that he wanted to prove
           scientifically the theory of reincarnation, the theory of rebirth. He wanted to prove that the Christians
           and the Mohammedans and the Jews are wrong, and he wanted to prove it scientifically. He had
           come to take my support.
                I said, "The way you are saying it, the search is unscientific from the very beginning!"
           He asked, "Why?"
                I said, "You have already decided that Mohammedans, Christians, Jews are wrong. You have not
           entered into the search yet and the decision is already there that Hindus and Jainas and Buddhists are
           right. And how can you say you want to prove it scientifically? -- how can it be scientific?
           "The first requirement of a scientific mind is not to start with a conclusion. You drop your
           conclusions. You will have to be perfectly alert that you don't know what the reality is -- then go into
           it. And then inquire, remaining very impartial. Even if it goes against your theory, let it go; even if it
           goes against Hinduism, let it go. Truth has to be revealed, not Hinduism to be proved. You are too
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           much of a Hindu," I told him; "you can't be a scientist."
              He had come to be with me for two hours -- within twenty minutes he left. He said, "I am in a
           hurry, I have to go somewhere."
              I said, "You are not in any hurry and you are not going anywhere! You had asked for two hours
           and I have given you two hours -- and you cannot leave this place before two hours are up! You will
           have to answer me first: What kind of scientific approach is this?"
              Of course he was unable. It was so clear, so obvious that in science you don't start with a
           conclusion -- you start only with a hypothesis: may be, may not be... perhaps. You start with a
           "perhaps"; the "perhaps" keeps you open.

               Buddha cannot mean faith, Buddha cannot mean belief. He means trust -- trusting that if you go
           without any conclusion you will find. Because the truth is there! It is not something that has to be
           created, it is already there! Truth does not mean something in heaven; truth means the herenow
           reality. Whatsoever it is, XYZ, start with a "perhaps," be an inquirer.
               And then Buddha says: EVEN IF HE WEARS FINE CLOTHES.... There is no need to be naked,
           there is no need to renounce, there is no need to go on a fast. The real thing to be renounced is your
           conclusions, your beliefs, your prejudices.

              A NOBLE HORSE RARELY
              FEELS THE TOUCH OF THE WHIP.
              WHO IS THERE IN THIS WORLD AS BLAMELESS?


               Buddha was a prince before he became enlightened, and when he was a prince he really loved
           horses. He was a lover of horses. In those days, horses were the greatest support in war. And there
           were lovers of horses: in English, the name Philip simply means a lover of horses -- Buddha was a
           Philip.
               When he became enlightened he remembered the horses many times. In many ways he talks
           about horses. He says there are four kinds of horses. First, the worst: even if you beat them, the more
           you beat, the more they become stubborn. They have no aristocracy, no grace, no dignity. You can
           insult them, you can whip them, you can beat them -- they are very thick-skinned. If they don't want
           to move, they will not move.
               Then the second kind: if you beat them they will move; they have a little dignity, a sense of
           self-honor. Then the third kind, a little higher: you need not beat them -- just the noise of the whip is
           enough. And the highest, the fourth: even the noise of the whip is not needed -- only the shadow of
           the whip is enough.
               Buddha says men are also of four kinds. The highest, the most intelligent, the real seekers of
           truth, only need just the shadow of the whip; just a little hint from the master is enough. They need
           not be beaten, they need not be forced. A NOBLE HORSE RARELY FEELS THE TOUCH OF THE
           WHIP. There is no need for the noble horse to feel the touch of the whip -- just the shadow. So there
           are four kinds of disciples too. The highest kind simply takes the hint. Sometimes not even a word is
           uttered; the master just looks into your eyes, and that's enough.

               That's what happened a few days ago.... A well-known therapist from America, Naomi, took
           sannyas -- an old woman. I can say she belongs to the fourth: just the shadow of the whip -- I just
           looked into her eyes -- and that was enough. And she has become mine and I have become hers.
           Immediately the contact happened, the connection. It cannot be broken now.
               Yesterday she wrote a letter, because she is leaving today and she is afraid. In the few days she
           has been here she has known new depths of being -- she has not been here long, only a few days. She
           has seen me only once, just for two minutes. She says she has known great depths, subtle
           experiences have happened; they are very delicate, and she is a little bit afraid. "Going back to the
           West so soon, in the gross marketplace of the West, will I be able to continue growing?" She asked
           me, "Will I be close to you there as I am here? Will I be part of your commune even though I am
           thousands of miles away?"
               Naomi, love knows no distance. You can be thousands of miles away -- if your heart is full of
           love, if your heart remembers me, you are as close as anybody can be.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My commune is going to spread all over the earth. Wherever you will see a sannyasin, my
           commune exists there. Wherever you will find a sannyasin, I am there with him. Wherever a
           sannyasin remembers me I am present to him, far more deeply than I can be physically present --
           because I am no longer in my body, just somehow hanging around the body. I am no longer the
           body. If you love me you will know that I am something totally different from the body; it is a
           nonphysical phenomenon.
               And, Naomi, you can be in contact wherever you are. The moment you close your eyes you will
           find me inside you. The master becomes part of the disciple. Slowly slowly, the master is no longer
           outside, he is more and more inside. And it has started happening -- the process is triggered, and it is
           a process which cannot be stopped; even the gross material world of the West cannot stop it. And
           you will not be there for long either; soon you will be pulled here. Now this is your home. Wherever
           you are you will find yourself an outsider.

               A NOBLE HORSE RARELY FEELS THE TOUCH OF THE WHIP. WHO IS THERE IN THIS
           WORLD AS BLAMELESS? Buddha asks. WHO IS THERE IN THIS WORLD AS BLAMELESS?
           -- that one is capable of becoming a buddha. That one is capable first of becoming a disciple, then
           becoming a master.

              THEN LIKE A NOBLE HORSE
              SMART UNDER THE WHIP,
              BURN AND BE SWIFT.


                Be like a noble horse -- smart, aware, watchful. BURN AND BE SWIFT. If you are aware....
           Awareness is fire; it burns all that is wrong in you. It burns your ego. It burns your greed, it burns
           your possessiveness, it burns your jealousy -- it burns all that is wrong and negative, and it enhances
           all that is beautiful, graceful, divine.
                And when the gross and the ugly are burned, a great sharpness happens to your being, a great
           swiftness comes to your life, a great intensity and passion, a great totality and wholeness.

              BELIEVE, MEDITATE, SEE.


               Let me remind you again: don't read "believe," read "trust": Trust, MEDITATE, SEE.
               These are the three steps, simple, very simple. The first thing is trust: have a loving trust for all
           that is, then meditation becomes easy because you can relax. The person who trusts can relax into
           existence. The person who cannot trust remains tense, remains anxious, afraid. The person who
           trusts can melt, can disappear, evaporate. He knows that, "Even if I fall into the ocean, I am just a
           dewdrop..." but he also knows that, "As a dewdrop I will disappear, but I will exist as the ocean. I
           will not be losing anything; I will be gaining all." Meditation is a dewdrop disappearing in the ocean.
               And then there is seeing. That's why I say Buddha has no philosophy but a philosia -- he has no
           system of thought but a way, a method, to see.

              BE HARMLESS, BE BLAMELESS.
              AWAKE TO THE LAW.


               Remain in tune with that law of existence. Flow with the river; don't try to go upstream. Let
           let-go be your fundamental sutra, and then you will be harmless and you will be blameless.
               AWAKE TO THE LAW -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- awake to the eternal law.

              AND FROM ALL SORROW FREE YOURSELF.


               Sorrow arises whenever you go against the law of existence, and bliss whenever you go in
           rhythm with it, dancing with it hand in hand.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THE FARMER CHANNELS WATER TO HIS LAND.
              THE FLETCHER WHITTLES HIS ARROWS.
              THE CARPENTER TURNS HIS WOOD.
              AND THE WISE MAN MASTERS HIMSELF.


                This is the way to be wise and to be a master of oneself. Without being a master of oneself, life is
           empty, vain, meaningless. It can't have any poetry, it can't have any joy, it can't have any ecstasy.
           And ecstasy, joy, is your birthright -- but you can have it only when you attain to this worth, to this
           worthiness.
                Become aware, trust, start seeing -- drop all beliefs and all doubts, and the goal is not far away.
           You need not go anywhere. If you can trust, meditate, see, if you can awaken to the eternal law, you
           are the master -- not the master of anybody else but the master of yourself. And that is the true
           mastery. Jesus calls it the Kingdom of God.
                But you will have to be reborn, you will have to learn a new way of life -- a new way, let me
           remind you, not a new philosophy. And Buddha is giving you hints. These hints can be used if you
           listen attentively, intelligently, meditatively.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #10
                                      Chapter title: Aes dhammo sanantano
           31 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7908310
              ShortTitle: DHAM410
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins
              Q2 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW CAN I GO TO THE OTHER SHORE WHEN I AM TRYING TO BE HERENOW? IT IS A MESS
              IN MY MIND WHEN I THINK OF THAT, BUT SOMEWHERE IN MY HEART I FEEL A KIND OF
              REST.


               Deva Darpan, "the other shore" is only a metaphor. There is no other shore; this is the only shore
           there is. To be herenow is to enter the other shore.
               We can live in two ways: we can live in time or we can live in eternity. If we live in time,
           metaphorically that is called "this shore"; if we live in eternity, metaphorically that is called "the
           other shore." The gate to enter into eternity is herenow. To live in time is to live either in past or in
           future.
               Mind lives in time -- mind IS time. It is always entangled either with the past or with the future --
           and both are not. The past is no more, the future not yet, and the mind lives in something that is not.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mind's existence is a very shadowy, pseudo existence; it is just a reflection in the mirror, the moon
           seen reflected in the lake.
                To be herenow means getting out of time. You will have to pull yourself from the past, you will
           have to be out of the past. You will have to slip out of the past as a snake slips out of the old skin.
           And you will have to be very alert not to get entangled into the future -- future projections, dreams.
           If you can avoid past and future you are alert, you are aware.
                That's what Buddha means by SAMMASATI -- right awareness. Then you are now and you are
           here. Where else can you be? That's where you really are!
                Even though you go on moving into the past and into the future, all that movement is like a
           dream. You fall asleep, you remain in your room, but in your dream you can wander all over the
           earth, or you can go to the planets, to the moon, or to the stars. But in the morning when you wake
           up you will not find yourself on the moon. You may have been the whole night in your dream on the
           moon; you are going to wake up in your room. So even when you were walking on the moon, in your
           dream you were in your room -- really you were in your room.
                We are always in the present; there is nowhere else to be. But we can dream, we can imagine, we
           can revive memories, we can project in the future great illusions... but still we are herenow! The day,
           the moment, you become aware that you are here and you cannot be anywhere else, that you are now
           and you cannot be then, you sink into the reality, you go to the depth of reality itself, you change
           your gear from time to eternity.
                The cross in its original sense represented time and eternity. It does not represent simply Jesus'
           crucifixion; the cross is an older symbol than Jesus. In fact it is only a part of the ancient Eastern
           symbol, SWASTIKA, just a part of it. The swastika in the East has always represented time and
           eternity; the cross also represents time. Time is horizontal, it is linear; it moves from one moment to
           another moment. And the vertical line on the cross represents eternity -- depth, height. In time you
           swim, in eternity you dive.
                Herenow simply means this gap between the past and the future, this small interval. From this
           small interval you enter into a totally different world -- that is called "the other shore."
                Darpan, you need not be puzzled. But sometimes if you catch hold of metaphors too literally you
           can become very much confused. And I have to use metaphors; there is no other way to express that
           which cannot really be expressed, to express that about which the only right course is to be silent.
           The only possible way is to use metaphors, parables, stories, because they give you indirect hints.
                The reality is so delicate and so fragile; it is like a very delicate flower. If you try to catch hold of
           it directly you destroy it. You cannot hold it in your fist; it is very mercurial. You can only move in a
           very indirect way, and very subtle has to be your movement -- not even the footsteps should be
           heard. You can only whisper with reality; you cannot shout and you cannot argue.
                That's what a metaphor is: a dialogue which is done in whispers, a dialogue which is done in a
           poetic way; not prose, not clear-cut, not mathematical -- vague, mysterious. You cannot attack
           reality; you can only persuade, you can seduce reality. It is a love affair, not a rape.
                That's where religion and science are different. Science is a kind of rape on reality. It tries to
           snatch truth from reality forcibly, violently; hence it destroys the natural equilibrium, the natural
           balance. It destroys ecology, it destroys the harmony, the accord of existence. It IS a rape, because
           science speaks in the language of conquest.
                Religion is a love affair, it is not a rape. Religion woos reality, persuades, slowly slowly, in a
           very indirect way. One has to be exquisitely graceful, hence these metaphors.
           "The other shore" is a beautiful metaphor, but let me remind you: this is the other shore, this is that.
           You are not going to change the shore, you are simply going to change your consciousness. The
           change has not to happen in the outside -- not that you take a boat, a ferry, and you go to the other
           shore. That will be a change in the outer circumstances. No, you drop the mind and you become
           consciousness, and the other shore has arrived. You have not moved even a single inch, you may not
           have done anything at all -- you may have been simply sitting with closed eyes....
                That's what Buddha was doing when he reached the other shore. In Bodhgaya he was sitting
           underneath a tree by the side of the river Niranjana. It was early morning, a beautiful, silent morning,
           and he opened his eyes. The last star was disappearing from the sky; he saw the last star
           disappearing, and something inside, in him, also disappeared... the last trace of the ego. The sky
           became empty, HE became empty, and these two emptinesses met, merged, melted into each other.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The sky entered into him, he entered the sky.
                On the visible side, on the outside, nothing was changed; everything was exactly the same. The
           Niranjana continued to flow, the birds must have continued to sing; not even a leaf has fallen from
           the tree, nothing has changed... and all has changed. Now Buddha is no longer a mind; he has
           become meditation. He is no longer in thoughts; he has become a pure witness, a SAKSHIN.
           This is the other shore I am talking about.
                That's why when you think, Darpan, you feel a little confused, but when you don't think about it
           you also feel a kind of rest. Watch! Confusion must be felt in the head and the rest in the heart. The
           heart has its own reasons, its own way of understanding things.
                When I am talking to you, I am not only talking to your minds -- that is only the superficial part.
           What is really transpiring between me and you is something of the heart. The mind is being used as a
           stepping-stone towards the heart, that's all. I am using words as stepping-stones, as means, not as an
           end in themselves.
                That's why these two things are felt by you simultaneously: a confusion in the head and a deep
           rest in the heart. The heart understands -- the heart understands that this moment, the herenow, is the
           other shore. But the heart is not very articulate; the head is very articulate. This is one of the
           dilemmas: the head cannot understand but is very articulate, and the heart can understand but is not
           very articulate. It understands but its understanding remains silent; in fact the more it understands,
           the more silent it becomes. The head understands nothing; in fact the less it understands, the more
           noisy it is. You have to see this point.
                Use the head to reach to the heart, but don't become rooted in the head. Don't stay there! Use it as
           a stepping-stone, as a ladder, but don't make your house there; otherwise your whole life will be of
           confusion, anxiety, anguish. Use it, and forget all about it. Enter into the heart and listen to the silent
           dance of the heart energy. Listen to the relaxed, restful song of the heart, the soundless sound, the
           one hand clapping.
                The heart is very close to the mystery of existence; the head is the farthest away. The head is this
           shore and the heart is that shore -- but you are already on that shore. The head is simply dreaming
           things. When you get out of the head you simply get out of something which never existed in the
           first place.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU CONTINUOUSLY TELL US TO "BE AWARE," TO "BE A WITNESS." BUT CAN A WITNESSING
              CONSCIOUSNESS REALLY SING, DANCE AND TASTE LIFE? IS A WITNESS A MERE
              SPECTATOR OF LIFE AND NEVER A PARTICIPANT?


               Anand Nur, mind is bound to raise this question sooner or later, because mind is very much
           afraid of your becoming a witness. Why is the mind so much afraid of your becoming a witness? --
           because your becoming a witness is the death of the mind.
               Mind is a doer, it wants to do things, and witnessing is a state of nondoing. The mind is afraid
           that, "If you become a witness, I will not be needed anymore." And in a way the mind is right....
               Once the witness arises in you the mind has to disappear, just like if you bring light into your
           room and the darkness has to disappear -- it is inevitable. Mind can exist only if you remain fast
           asleep, because mind is a state of dreaming and dreams can exist only in sleep.
               By becoming a witness you are no longer asleep, you are awake. You become awareness -- so
           crystal-clear, so young and fresh, so vital and potent. You become a flame -- intense, burning from
           both the ends -- as if, in that state of intensity, light, consciousness, mind dies, mind commits
           suicide. Hence the mind is afraid.
               And mind will create many problems for you, it will raise many many questions. It will make
           you hesitate to take the jump into the unknown, it will try to pull you back. It will try to convince
           you that, "With me is safety, security; with me you are living under a shelter, well guarded. I take
           every care of you. With me you are efficient, skillful. The moment you leave me, you will have to
           leave all your knowledge and you will have to leave all your securities, safeties. You will have to
           drop your armor and you will be going into the unknown. You are unnecessarily taking a risk for no
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reason at all." And it will try to bring beautiful rationalizations. This is one of the rationalizations
           which almost always happens to every meditator.
                It is not you, Anand Nur, who is asking the question; it is the mind, your enemy, who is putting
           the questions through you. It is mind who is saying, "Beloved Master, you continuously tell us to 'be
           aware,' to 'be a witness.' But can a witnessing consciousness really sing, dance and taste life?"
                Yes, Anand Nur -- in fact only a witnessing consciousness can really sing, dance and taste life. It
           will appear like a paradox -- it is! But all that is true is always paradoxical, remember. If truth is not
           paradoxical then it is not truth at all, then it is something else.
                Paradox is a basic, intrinsic quality of truth -- let it sink into your heart forever! Truth as such is
           paradoxical. Although all paradoxes are not truths, all truths are paradoxes. The truth has to be a
           paradox because it has to be both the poles -- the negative and the positive -- and yet a
           transcendence. It has to be life and death, and plus. By "plus" I mean the transcendence of both --
           both and both not. That is the ultimate paradox.
                When you are in the mind, how can you sing? The mind creates misery; out of misery there can
           be no song. When you are in the mind, how can you dance? Yes, you can go through certain empty
           gestures called dance, but it is not a real dance.
                Only a Meera knows a real dance, or a Krishna, or a Chaitanya. These are the people who know
           real dance. Others know only the technique of dancing, but there is nothing overflowing; their
           energies are stagnant. People who are living in the mind are living in the ego, and the ego cannot
           dance. It can make a performance but not a dance.
                The real dance happens only when you have become a witness. Then you are so blissful that the
           very bliss starts overflowing -- that is the dance. The very bliss starts singing; a song arises on its
           own accord. And only when you are a witness can you taste life.
                I can understand your question, Anand Nur. You are worried that by becoming a witness one will
           become merely a spectator of life. No, to be a spectator is one thing, and to be a witness a totally
           different thing, qualitatively different.
                A spectator is indifferent, he is dull, he is in a kind of sleep. He does not participate in life. He is
           afraid, he is a coward. He stands by the side of the road and simply goes on seeing others living.
           That's what you are doing all your life: somebody else acts in a movie and you see. You are a
           spectator! People are glued to their chairs for hours together before their TVs -- spectators.
           Somebody else is singing, you are listening. Somebody else is dancing, you are just a spectator.
           Somebody else is loving and you are just seeing. You are not a participant. Professionals are doing
           what you should have done on your own.
                A witness is not a spectator. Then what is a witness? A witness is one who participates yet
           remains alert. A witness is in a state of WU-WEI. That is Lao Tzu's word: it means action through
           inaction. A witness is not one who has escaped from life. He lives in life, lives far more totally, far
           more passionately, but yet remains deep down a watcher; goes on remembering that, "I am a
           consciousness."
                Try it walking on the road: remember that you are a consciousness. Walking continues -- and a
           new thing is added, a new richness is added, a new beauty. Something interior is added to the
           outward act. You become a flame of consciousness, and then the walking has a totally different joy
           to it; you are on the earth and yet your feet are not touching the earth at all.
                That's what Buddha has said: Pass through a river, but don't let the water touch your feet.
                That's the meaning of the Eastern symbol of the lotus. You must have seen Buddha's statues,
           pictures of him sitting on a lotus -- that is a metaphor. A lotus is a flower that lives in the water and
           yet the water cannot touch it. The lotus does not escape to the Himalayan caves; it lives in the water
           and yet remains far, far away. Being in the marketplace but not allowing the marketplace to enter
           into your being, living in the world and yet not of the world -- that is what is meant by a "witnessing
           consciousness."
                That's what I mean by saying to you again and again: Be aware! I am not against action, but your
           action has to be enlightened by awareness. Those who are against action, they are bound to be
           repressive -- and all kinds of repression make you pathological, not whole, not healthy.
                The monks living in the monasteries, Catholic or Hindu; the monks of the Jainas and the
           Buddhists, who have escaped from life -- they are not true sannyasins. They have simply repressed
           their desires and they have moved away from the world, the world of action. Where can you be a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           witness if you move away from the world of action? The world of action is the best opportunity to be
           aware. It gives you a challenge, it remains constantly a challenge.
               Either you can fall asleep and become a doer; then you are a worldly man, a dreamer, a victim of
           illusions -- or you can become a witness and yet go on living in the world; then your action has a
           different quality to it. It is really action. Those who are not aware, their actions are not real actions
           but reactions; they only react. Somebody insults you and you react. Insult the Buddha: he does not
           react -- he acts. Reaction is dependent on the other -- he pushes a button and you are only a victim, a
           slave; you function like a machine.
               The real person, who knows what awareness is, never reacts; he acts out of his own awareness.
           The action does not come from the other's act; nobody can push his button. If he feels spontaneously
           that this is right to do, he does it; if he feels nothing is needed, he keeps quiet. He is not repressive;
           he is always open, expressive. His expression is multidimensional. In song, in poetry, in dance, in
           love, in prayer, in compassion, he flows.
               If you don't become aware, then there are only two possibilities: either you will be repressive or
           indulgent. Both ways you remain in a bondage.

              A nun was raped just outside the monastery. When she was finally found, she was carried inside
           and the nearby physician was called.
              He came, raised his hands and said, "This is work for a plastic surgeon!"
              A plastic surgeon was called. When he saw the poor nun he exclaimed, "Oh, my God! What a
           mess! Where should I start?"
              The mother superior replied, "Well, that's easy. First get that smile off her face!"

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS YES? I FIND THAT I HAVE NO REAL UNDERSTANDING OF IT. I HAVE SEEN THAT
              WHENEVER I SAY YES, THERE IS A HINT OF SURPRISE, AS IF I AM AMAZED THAT THERE IS
              NO REASON TO SAY NO. MY YES IS ALWAYS INSTEAD OF NO. WHERE IS THE SEAT OF THIS
              EXPERIENCE, YES...?


               Prem Satyamo, yes contains the very essence of all religions. Saying yes to existence is to be
           religious. Saying no is resistance, saying no is conflict, saying no is egoistic. Saying no is keeping
           your separation, keeping yourself aloof. Saying yes is merging, melting into the whole. Saying yes is
           opening up, just like a bud opens and becomes a flower. The no is a closed state of mind; yes is an
           open flower.
               The difference between no and yes is the difference between a dead and an alive person. The
           person who lives in the no remains encapsulated, remains in a windowless world where the sun and
           the rain and the wind cannot reach; where God can go on knocking but even the sound of the knock
           will not reach; where love cannot reach.
               The closed person, the person who lives with no, lives in the ego. The greater the ego, the less
           are the bridges between the person and existence. When the ego is total, the person is completely
           enclosed by a wall; he lives in a prison of his own creation. He cannot say yes to the moon and he
           cannot say yes to the trees and he cannot say yes to anything! He has forgotten to say yes, and even
           if he sometimes says yes, his yes is nothing but a camouflaged no.

           I have heard a story about Joseph Stalin:
               Molotov, his foreign minister, phoned him from the UNO. His wife was sitting by his side while
           he took the phone call. Joseph Stalin said, "No, no, no, yes, no!"
               The wife was surprised. Not by the no's, so many no's -- she knew her husband perfectly well, he
           was a man of no. He was one of the most egoistic men possible. His name is significant: 'stalin'
           means a man of steel. He was not really a man but a steel man, a machine, a robot. No was just
           natural to him.
               The wife was puzzled that between those four no's there was one yes. She asked him, "Can I ask
           you one question? I don't want to interfere in your politics and what is going on between you and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Molotov and what you are saying. Just one thing... and I have become very curious: did you really
           say one yes amongst all those four no's, or did I mishear you? Did you really say yes?"
           Stalin said, "Yes, I said yes."
               The wife asked, "Then one question more: Why did you say yes?"
               He said, "When I said three no's, Molotov asked, 'Did you say no?' I said, 'Yes.'"

               There are people who can say yes only when it is nothing but a camouflaged no. And there are
           also people, very rare, who can say no only as a camouflaged yes. These are the buddhas. Yes,
           sometimes they also say no, but their no is not a negative no; the heart of their no is yes. They are
           incapable of saying no. If they have to use the word sometimes, in certain circumstances, it really
           means yes.
               A man like Buddha can sometimes be very hard, but he is hard because of his compassion and
           love. George Gurdjieff was very hard on his disciples just because of his infinite compassion, his
           total love.
               Yes is the very essence of religion, no the very foundation of irreligion. The atheist is not one
           who does not believe in God; the atheist is one who believes in no. And the theist is not one who
           believes in God; the theist is one who believes in yes -- because there have been theists like Buddha
           and Mahavira who do not believe in God, yet where else can you find more religious people? And
           there are millions of people who believe in God, and their life gives no indication of any religion --
           no fragrance. They stink of irreligion, of violence, of hatred, of jealousy, of possessiveness. Flowers
           of love don't bloom in their life.
           Yes is the foundation of a true religious life.
           You ask me, "What is yes?"
           Yes is dropping of the ego.
           Yes is coming out of the mind. Yes is trust.
               Just the other day Buddha was talking about trust: Trust, meditate, and see. Yes means trust, and
           trust is the beginning of meditation. Meditation means relaxing with existence. Unless you trust,
           unless you can say yes to existence, how can you relax? People cannot relax because they are afraid.
           People cannot relax because they fear that if they relax they may be cheated. People can relax only
           with others whom they trust.
               With a stranger in your room you may not be able to sleep in the night. Who knows, he may cut
           your throat. Who knows, he may steal your money and escape. But with your wife or husband you
           go into deep sleep, you can trust. The child can go with his father or mother anywhere. Even if the
           father is going into fire, the child can go singing a song, dancing, inquiring, questioning, unafraid,
           because he knows his hand is in his father's hand.
               This trust is yes: knowing that this existence is our mother, that nature is our source -- it can't be
           against us, it can't be inimical to us. Seeing this, understanding this, trust arises. Then you can say
           yes. Then you can say "Amen"; that simply means yes.
               And the moment you can say yes and you can relax, meditation becomes natural. Without any
           effort, without any strain, without any tension, you start falling into spaces called meditation... empty
           of all rubbish and junk, but full of God -- full of godliness rather; empty of the world, but full of
           something that you had never known before; full of a light which is immaterial, full of fragrance
           which comes from nowhere, out of the blue. Emptiness yet a plenitude, emptiness and yet a fullness
           -- not negative.
               And when there is meditation, seeing arises, DARSHAN is born -- you become capable of
           seeing. Your eyes are so clear, so pure; no clouds, no confusion, no thoughts. Your eyes are so
           perceptive, so penetrating, that you can reach to the deepest core of the mystery of this existence,
           that you can have a glimpse of the magic that surrounds you, the eternal magic. AES DHAMMO
           SANANTANO: you can have a look into the inexhaustible law.
               Satyamo, you ask, "What is yes? I find that I have no real understanding of it."
               Nobody has! Once you have a real understanding of yes, you have all that is needed for the
           journey to the other shore. Then you are ready to go to the other shore. The yes becomes the boat,
           and it is capable of crossing all the storms. Howsoever stormy the ocean may be, the boat of yes is
           capable of reaching the other shore. If you have the boat of yes, then nobody can prevent you from
           reaching to God.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You say, "I have seen that whenever I say yes, there is a hint of surprise, as if I am amazed that
           there is no reason to say no."
                Yes. Anybody starting saying yes, learning how to say yes, is bound to be surprised again and
           again. The places where you would have said no before, now you are saying yes. You are bound to
           be surprised because there is no reason to say no. Why did you say no your whole life? Just watch
           people, and yourself -- almost ninety-nine percent of no's are just out of the ego; there is no valid
           reason for them.
                The child wants to go and play outside. It is so sunny and the birds are singing and the wind is
           blowing and the butterflies and the bees are humming... and the child asks the mother, "Can I go out
           and play in the garden?" She says "No" -- not even thinking, not even listening to what he is really
           asking for, not even giving him a single thought, a moment's awareness. No simply comes
           automatically, as if it is built in. She has not thought, she has not looked at the child at all. She is not
           saying no to what the child has asked because she is going to say no anyway. It has no reference to
           the child; it has some reference to her power trip.
                So many women don't really want to be mothers. They are not even worthy of being mothers, but
           they want to be mothers, they desire to be mothers, for a totally different reason -- not for
           motherhood.
                Motherhood is a great meditation. Motherhood is one of the greatest arts: you are creating an
           alive being. The sculptor is nothing compared to the mother, because he will be creating only a
           marble statue. The painter is nothing, the poet is nothing, the singer is nothing, the musician is
           nothing, because they will be playing with things, objects. The mother is the greatest poet and the
           greatest painter and the greatest musician and the greatest sculptor, because she is creating a
           consciousness -- life itself.
                But women are not interested in motherhood, their interest is totally wrong. Although they say
           that they would like to be mothers, really what they want is power. A woman feels very powerful
           when she has children -- because man has taken all other power trips from her. She is not allowed to
           be in the marketplace, she is not allowed to be in the church, she is not allowed to be in politics. She
           is not given any opportunity anywhere to have her ego fulfilled; almost ninety percent of
           opportunities have been taken by the man. The woman has been forced to live in the house; she can
           have only one power trip -- over her children.
                Hence the no. She has not listened, she has not seen the child; she has simply said no. And it is
           absolutely meaningless! If she had listened there was no reason to say no. This is perfectly right:
           when the sun is dancing outside, why should the child remain in the house, dark and dismal? And
           when the wind is blowing outside, the child should also be allowed to dance in the wind. The child
           should be allowed to dance in the rain too, but the mother rationalizes, "He may catch cold or he may
           fall ill -- that's why I am saying no." But those are just rationalizations.
                In fact, each child has a birthright to dance in the rain, in the wind, in the sun. It gives health, it
           gives vitality. It brings him closer to nature and closer to God. The mother forces him and takes him
           to the church or to the temple where he can't see anything, no God at all. And where God is so much
           alive, so much throbbing, in nature.... The child would like to climb a tree, it is such a challenge --
           God is calling him from the tree, from the top of the tree!
                All children should be allowed to climb trees, to climb mountains. They should be given all
           chances to accept all kinds of challenges. They should be helped to move into danger. They should
           be prepared, not protected; prepared to move into danger -- helped, persuaded, rewarded, to move
           into danger because a man who knows how to move in danger is bound to stumble upon God sooner
           or later. But the mother will say no, the father will say no.

               For many years a Negro kid had been praying to God to make him white. One morning he woke
           up and found that his skin WAS white. He got out of bed very excitedly and shouted, "Momma,
           Momma! Look, I have turned white!"
               From the kitchen Momma replied, "Shut up, Tommy, I am getting bored with you. Tell it to your
           father."
               Tom went into the bathroom. "Daddy, Daddy! Look, I am white now."
               The father did not even turn his eyes away from the mirror. He said in a tired voice, "Oh Tommy,
           please, I have no time. Go and tell your sister this nonsense."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Tom was puzzled more and more. He went to his sister. "Mary, Mary, have you seen? God did a
           miracle -- my skin turned white!"
               Mary answered, "Fuck off, man! I'm late, I gotta go."
               At this point Tom was quite pissed off, and looking at his watch he said, "Well, I've been white
           for only five minutes but I already can't stand these fucking niggers anymore!"

           No comes easy, no has become our way of life.
                You ask me, Satyamo, "I feel surprised, as if amazed that there is no reason to say no."
                Yes, there is no reason to say no. And if you can avoid saying mechanical no's, if sometimes
           there is really a reason to say no, your no will have a positive value; it will not be negative. The man
           who lives in the climate of yes sometimes may have to say no, but his no will not be negative, it can't
           be. And vice versa. The person who lives in the climate of no, even if he says yes sometimes, it is
           not positive, it is not really yes; it is only a disguised no. Its value is negative.
           You say, "My yes is always instead of no."
                In the beginning it is bound to be so. You have become so habituated to saying no that your first
           yes will be instead of no. But that is not the real yes yet, it is only a substitute; it will have something
           of the no in it, some dirtiness of the no will still cling to this yes. It is as if your cup is dirty and you
           pour tea into it and your tea also becomes dirty. If your yes is only a substitute for no, if it is instead
           of no, then it will have some qualities of no still clinging to it. But in the beginning it is bound to be
           so, so don't be worried about it. Clean your cup a little more!
                Start saying yes for no reason at all, just as you have been saying no up to now for no reason at
           all. It can be one of the most beautiful chantings, far better than repeating "Rama, Rama, Krishna,
           Krishna, Jesus, Jesus." Far more beautiful and far more significant, far more meaningful, will be to
           sit silently and repeat meaningfully, consciously, "Yes, yes, yes." It can be a far deeper going mantra
           than any other can ever be, because Rama and Krishna and Jesus are so far away, they are just
           stories; you can't really relate with them. The world has changed so much that they can't be more
           than stories.

                I have heard that Jesus came back after eighteen hundred years just to have a look at the world,
           see how things are going -- hoping that things must have changed by now. Eighteen hundred years of
           Christianity, thousands and thousands of Christian priests all over the world, thousands of churches
           -- the world must have changed!
                He landed on the bank of Lake Galilee where he had walked once on water. Just by chance a
           rabbi had come for a morning walk. Jesus wanted to see the rabbi, see who he is, so he walked on the
           water. The rabbi looked a little puzzled. Jesus came back and said to the rabbi, "Did you see what I
           have done?"
                The rabbi said, "Yes, I have seen. Why didn't you learn to swim like everybody else? Are you
           crazy or something?"

           The world has changed!
               I have heard about another rabbi. He had come from America to visit the Holy Land. He was
           passing Lake Galilee -- he wanted to see the place also -- and he asked the boatman how much it
           would cost; he would like to have a trip round the lake. "Can you take me to the other shore and
           back?"
           The boatman said, "Fifty dollars."
               The rabbi said, "That is too much! I have seen bigger lakes than this and I have never paid more
           than five dollars. Fifty...?"
               The boatman said, "But you don't recognize, rabbi, that this is the place where Our Lord walked
           on water!"
               The rabbi said, "Seeing the cost, anybody would walk on the water! I cannot pay fifty dollars --
           and I come from America. That poor carpenter's son, how could he have paid fifty dollars?"

               The world has changed. If these people, Jesus and Krishna and Rama, suddenly land now, they
           will not be recognized, they will be thought crazy. They will look so outlandish, they will look as if
           they are coming from a film set, out of a movie -- movies like THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They will not look real.
           But yes can be a totally different matter.
           "Jesus" you will repeat mechanically, but saying "Yes," really meaning it... bowing down to the earth
           and saying yes... lying on the earth naked and saying yes to the earth as if the earth is your mother,
           which it is... swimming in the lake and saying yes to the water, not only saying it, but feeling it all
           over, each fiber of your being, each cell of your being pulsating with yes... taking a sunbath and
           saying yes, not verbally, I mean, but existentially... being in the mood of yes... receiving the sun,
           welcoming the sun and the sand and the texture of the sand, and the coolness of the wind...
           welcoming all these gifts of God that go on showering on you -- and you don't even feel grateful.
           Yes is gratitude.
           No is ugly, ungratefulness.
               But in the beginning, Satyamo, it is going to be so: your yes will be only instead of no. But it is a
           good beginning. Slowly slowly, you will come to a yes which is not instead of no but has its own
           roots in your being. When that yes has happened to you which has no reference to no -- not that it is
           not only instead of no but it has no reference to no, it is not the opposite of no, it has no resounding
           of no at all; you have forgotten the no, only yes exists, as if there is no opposite word to it -- that is
           the ultimate peak of yes.
               In that moment yes becomes prayer, in that moment yes becomes a bridge. The ego disappears,
           the separation is gone. One feels one with the whole.
               You ask me, "Where is the seat of this experience, this yes...?"
               The heart is the seat. The seat of no is the head; the seat of yes is the heart. They don't come from
           the same place, they don't come from the same world. They are utterly different. In the dictionary
           they belong together, but in existence itself they are utterly different -- different planes, different
           dimensions.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO PEOPLE THINK SO DIFFERENTLY FROM EACH OTHER?


               Govind, thinking can never be the same. Here there are three thousand sannyasins sitting around
           me -- three thousand sannyasins means three million minds. One sannyasin does not mean one mind
           -- many, thousands, a crowd. Each person is a crowd, and each person is a different crowd, because
           each person has been brought up in a different way.
               Somebody has been brought up as Christian and somebody as a communist -- how can they think
           in a similar way? How can they avoid being different? And not only different but antagonistic
           towards each other? Somebody has been brought up as an Indian and somebody as a Chinese -- how
           can they think in the same rhythm? Impossible.
               Thinking comes from the outside -- upbringing, education, conditioning, culture. And there is no
           way to put two people in a similar situation -- not even twins think in the same way. There is no way
           at all to put two people exactly in the same situation. Even twins born in the same family will have
           different conditionings, because the mother may love one child more than the other; the father may
           have just the opposite preference. One child may be physically weak, the other may not be; one child
           may be more or less ill, the other may be healthy. The one child may be interested in games because
           he is healthy, the other may avoid games because he remains ill. The child who goes to play will
           have different friends from the child who never goes to the games -- he WILL have different friends
           -- and so on, so forth. Small differences make so much difference that you cannot imagine.

               It is reported that the great Napoleon remained afraid of cats his whole life. He was not afraid of
           lions but he was afraid of cats. Strange! He was not afraid of anything -- not even of death -- but in
           front of a cat he was simply not in his senses. When he was just a six-month-old child, a wild cat
           jumped on his chest, and he became so frightened and the fear went so deep into his heart, into his
           unconscious, that he was incapable of overcoming it.
               It is said that he was defeated only once in his life, in the last war with Nelson. Nelson brought
           seventy cats to frighten him. Just in front of the army... the first battalion was of cats! And the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moment Napoleon saw seventy cats -- one was enough! -- he lost all intelligence. He started
           trembling and perspiring.
               He told his second in command, "Now I cannot think about the army!" -- and he was defeated.
           The credit goes to the cats, not to Nelson. Statues have been raised of Nelson and people have
           forgotten the cats completely. Statues should be raised of the cats; Nelson is not the real conqueror.
               Small things... now, how can you avoid such small differences? Impossible. Even in twins it is
           difficult.
               So no two persons can be brought up in the same way; hence the difference in thinking.
           Differences only disappear when you meditate. If all three thousand sannyasins are in a state of
           meditation here -- just a silence, no thought -- then there are not three thousand sannyasins at all,
           because three thousand zeros joined together become one zero. Three thousand zeros are not three
           thousand zeros -- they become one zero.
               And that is what is happening, slowly slowly. The more you become meditative, the more your
           differences are dropping. This may be the only place on the whole earth where differences are
           disappearing. Mohammedans and Christians and Hindus and Jainas and Buddhists and Parsis -- they
           are all together, without even thinking to what religion the other belongs. Swedish and Germans and
           French and Italians and Chinese and Japanese and English and Americans, all nationalities, and
           nobody takes any note of it, nobody even thinks about it. This may be the only communion
           happening on the earth, a real brotherhood.
               And the reason is not that I am teaching you to be brothers, learn tolerance.... Remember, those
           who learn tolerance remain intolerant. The very word 'tolerance' is ugly. The moment you say, "I can
           tolerate others," that shows intolerance. You may have repressed your intolerance, but it is
           intolerance. To tolerate others means intolerance -- what else can it mean?
               Here, nobody is tolerating anybody. People have simply forgotten the differences, because we
           are moving out of the mind. My whole effort is to bring you out of the mind. If you remain in the
           mind, you are different. If you come out of the mind, you are one. Meditation brings a kind of unity
           which is not a synthesis. I am not interested in synthesizing Hinduism with Christianity and
           Christianity with Islam and Islam with Buddhism. That is all nonsense.
               My effort is totally different: I am trying to bring you out of your mind. When the Christian
           comes out of his mind he is no longer Christian, and when the Hindu comes out of his mind he is no
           longer Hindu. It is not a synthesis, it is dropping of the mind. Mind creates all the differences.
               You ask me, Govind, "Why do people think so differently from each other?"
               They have been brought up differently, they have been conditioned differently. They cannot
           think as others think -- that is impossible! They cannot interpret the way others interpret. A Jew can
           read the New Testament, but it will not be the same book -- although it is the same book visibly, it
           will not be the same book that Christians read, because to the Jew, Jesus is a renegade, Jesus
           betrayed Judaism. Now that is very deep-rooted. The Christian reading the New Testament is not
           reading an ordinary book -- it is the holiest of the holy. Jesus is God's only begotten son.
               When the Hindu reads the same book, he reads it indifferently; it doesn't matter much. And he
           goes on comparing it with the Upanishads and the Gita and finds it poor. Not that it is poor -- he
           reads the Gita in a different way. That is the Lord's song and this is just a carpenter's son, Jesus --
           how can he be compared with Krishna?
               Krishna is an incarnation of God, and this man Jesus seems to be an intelligent child. Krishna
           comes directly from the seventh paradise. Krishna is incomparable, he is the perfect master. Jesus is
           good; one can say at the most, "a good man." The comparison from the very beginning becomes
           impossible.
               The Jaina reads the Gita, but he cannot read it the way the Hindu reads it. Their eyes are
           different, their perspectives are different. The Jaina scriptures say that Krishna has fallen into hell
           because he was the cause of this great war. Arjuna seems to be closer to the heart of a Jaina, because
           Arjuna was saying, "I don't want to fight, I don't want to kill. What is the point of killing these
           people? Just for the kingdom? And one day my death will come and that kingdom will be gone, so
           what is the point? I am going to renounce, I am going to become a monk."
               And if he had escaped there is every possibility he may have become a Jaina monk. If you really
           want to become a monk then the best way is to become a Jaina monk, because that is the worst kind
           of monk possible. Other monks are so-so; the Jaina monk is really a monk! You cannot improve
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           upon it.
                But Krishna persuaded Arjuna not to escape. He must have been a man like me, who said, "This
           is escape. You are a coward. Live in the world! Fight! -- because you are a warrior, and that is your
           type. You can't be a monk, that is not in your nature. Follow your nature."
                Krishna says to Arjuna, "SWADHARME NIDHANAM SHREYAH PARDHARMO
           BHAYAWAHAH." Never follow anybody else's idea -- that is very dangerous because you will
           become imitative. Always follow your own nature, self-nature; only then will you attain to freedom.
           It is better to die following one's nature than to live following somebody's else's nature, because that
           will be a pseudo life. To die following one's nature is beautiful, because that death too will be
           authentic.
                Krishna convinced Arjuna -- that is how the whole Gita was born. It is a dialogue between
           Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna was trying to escape and Krishna was pulling him back into the world --
           and finally he succeeded.
                Jainas have been very angry -- they missed a good monk. They have thrown Krishna into the
           seventh hell for a very long period, because he was the cause of millions of people's deaths. India has
           never known a greater war since. Now, how can a Jaina read the Gita with the same interpretation as
           the Hindu? Impossible. From the very beginning the mind is prejudiced.
                People are bound to think differently, because they are brought up differently, in different
           religions, through different priests, different schools, different colleges, different universities. They
           have been fed different ideas, ideologies -- they are bound to think differently. And there is no way
           to make them think similarly -- impossible.
                The only possible way is to bring them out of their minds. Then they slip out of the whole
           upbringing. Then suddenly there is oneness; then you see with pure eyes, uncontaminated by the
           culture and the tradition; then you see really as things are, not as you are supposed to see them. You
           become a pure mirror.
                Thinking can never create one world: only meditation can create one world.

              Clusky went to confession for the first time in twenty-five years. "Tell me," asked the priest, "did
           you ever sleep with a woman?"
           "Eh, no, Father," replied Clusky.
           "Now, son," said the priest, "I will ask you again. Did you ever sleep with a woman?"
           "Ah, ey, ah -- no, Father!"
           "There is you and me and God listening. I'm going to ask you once more. In the last twenty-five
           years, have you ever slept with a woman?"
           "Well, eh, come to think of it, Father," said Clusky, "I did doze off a time or two!"

              Now you see the difference: people listen according to their idea. And it is natural....

              Claude was sitting at a sidewalk cafe sipping a glass of wine. Just then his friend Rene came
           running up to him.
           "Claude," he gasped, "I just saw a man going into your house."
           "Who is this man, Rene? What did he look like?"
           "He was six feet tall and had black hair and a black mustache," reported Rene.
           "And did he wear a checked cap with a striped Basque shirt?" asked Claude.
           "Yes," agreed Rene. "You have described the man."
           "That was only Pierre," he said. "He will make love to anybody!"

               Both the persons are thinking differently. Their approach is different, their attitude is different;
           then the conclusions become different.

              Foong, the laundryman, had been in America ten years and kept sending money to his wife in
           China, telling the bank clerk proudly that his wife had just had a new baby.
           "But Mr. Foong," said the clerk, "you have been here in America ten years."
           "Yes, yes," says the Chinaman happily. "I got velly good fliends in China."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                People are full of different conceptions, philosophies of life, ways of looking at things; hence
           they are bound to think differently. Thinking makes you different from others, separate from others;
           thinking is a function of the ego. Nonthinking... suddenly all differences evaporate.
                And that's what I teach, and that's what Buddha's whole message is: Become a no-mind. Become
           pure consciousness, an empty sky with no clouds of thoughts. Then who are you -- Hindu,
           Mohammedan, Christian? Indian, Japanese, German? Black, white? Man, woman? Who are you?
           Young, old? Rich, poor? Famous, notorious? WHO ARE YOU? All these differences disappear.
           You are a pure silence.
                That silence is your supreme self. To attain it is to attain nirvana. To attain it is to be available to
           benediction, to all God's blessings.
                Meditate more and more so that you can disappear, so that you can allow God to be. The moment
           you are not, God is -- and God is one, and you are many. Not only outside are you many, inside also
           you are many. And when you disappear -- the many disappear from the inside and from the outside
           -- then these are all waves of the same ocean.
                And to know the ocean that is hidden behind all the waves of different shape, color, form, is to
           know the truth.
           And truth liberates.
                AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the ultimate, the inexhaustible law, that truth liberates.
           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                     Talks given from 11/10/79 am to 20/10/79 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     10 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                     Chapter #1
                                          Chapter title: The world is on fire
           11 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910110
              ShortTitle: DHAM501
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE WORLD IS ON FIRE:
              AND ARE YOU LAUGHING?
              YOU ARE DEEP IN THE DARK.
              WILL YOU NOT ASK FOR LIGHT?



              FOR BEHOLD YOUR BODY --
              A PAINTED PUPPET, A TOY,
              JOINTED AND SICK AND FULL OF FALSE IMAGINATIONS,
              A SHADOW THAT SHIFTS AND FADES.



              HOW FRAIL IT IS!
              FRAIL AND PESTILENT,
              IT SICKENS, FESTERS AND DIES.
              LIKE EVERY LIVING THING
              IN THE END IT SICKENS AND DIES.



              BEHOLD THESE WHITENED BONES,
              THE HOLLOW SHELLS AND HUSKS OF A DYING SUMMER.
              AND ARE YOU LAUGHING?



              YOU ARE A HOUSE OF BONES,
              FLESH AND BLOOD FOR PLASTER.
              PRIDE LIVES IN YOU,
              AND HYPOCRISY, DECAY AND DEATH.



              THE GLORIOUS CHARIOTS OF KINGS SHATTER.
              SO ALSO THE BODY TURNS TO DUST.
              BUT THE SPIRIT OF PURITY IS CHANGELESS
              AND SO THE PURE INSTRUCT THE PURE.



              THE IGNORANT MAN IS AN OX.
              HE GROWS IN SIZE,NOT IN WISDOM.


               The most fundamental question before Gautama the Buddha was, "What is wisdom?" And the
           same is true for everyone. Down the ages the sages have been asking, "What is wisdom?" If it can be
           answered by you, authentically rooted in your own experience, it brings a transformation of life.
               You can repeat the definitions of wisdom given by others, but they won't help you. You will be
           repeating them without understanding them, and that is one of the pitfalls to be avoided on the path.
           Never repeat what you have not experienced yourself. Avoid knowledge, only then can you grow in
           wisdom.
               Knowledge is something borrowed from others, wisdom grows in you. Wisdom is inner,
           knowledge outer. Knowledge comes from the outside, clings to your surface, gives you great pride
           and keeps you closed, far far away from understanding. Understanding cannot be studied; nobody
           can teach it to you. You have to be a light unto yourself. You have to seek and search within your
           own being, because it is already there at the very core. If you dive deep you will find it. You will
           have to learn how to dive within yourself -- not in the scriptures, but within your own existence.
               The taste of your own existence is wisdom. Wisdom is experience, not information.
               Buddha renounced the world; it is reported in all the scriptures, but the report is not given in the
           true context. It is reported that the Buddha renounced the world because he was against the world --
           because unless you renounce the world you cannot gain the eternal, the other world, the other shore.
           This is giving a totally false interpretation to Buddha's great renunciation.
               He certainly renounced the world, but not to gain anything in the other. If there is any motive in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your renunciation, it is not radical enough, it is not a revolution. It is again the same old business, the
           same old bargaining mind; it is based in desire and desire is the world. The world does not consist of
           things, the world consists of motives, desires, ambitions.
                If you renounce the world to gain something, whatsoever it is -- nirvana, enlightenment, moksha,
           freedom, truth or God, whatsoever it is -- if you renounce the world to gain something, it is not
           renunciation.
                Hence I will not say that Buddha renounced the world to attain something. The very idea of
           attaining something IS the world. The very idea of attaining something is to live in imagination, is to
           live in the future. And a man of understanding lives in the present, not in the future. A man of
           understanding does not really renounce the world -- the world simply falls from him, the world
           simply becomes irrelevant; it loses meaning. His insight is such that he can see through and through
           the falsity of all desire -- not to attain something, but seeing the futility of desire, desiring ceases.
           That is true renunciation.
                That's what Buddha did. In fact to say he did it is not right. Language creates so many problems.
           When you start talking about the buddhas, language is not an adequate vehicle; it becomes very
           inadequate. To say Buddha renounced the world is not exactly the truth. It will be better if we say the
           world disappeared from his vision. It was not an act but a happening.
                When he became aware, alert, watchful, a witness, when he saw the absurdity of desire, desire
           ceased on its own. It is not an act. How can you go on desiring if you see the absurdity of it? You
           will not try to pass through a wall. Seeing that it is a wall, you will not try to pass through it. If you
           are still trying to pass through a wall, hitting it hard with your head, that simply shows your eyes are
           closed. And you are not seeing it as a wall -- somewhere you are imagining that it is a door. You are
           hoping to get through it. The moment you see it as a wall the transformation has happened.
                To understand is enough -- there is no need to practice it. People practice only because they don't
           understand.
                Many come to me and ask, "Give us a certain discipline to practice." For centuries they have
           been given disciplines to practice. I give you no discipline -- because you can practice a discipline,
           you can become very skillful, you can become very artful, crafty; still deep down you will remain
           the same person, because it is not a question of practicing a discipline.
                The question is of SEEING, the question is of understanding your life, its unconscious motives.
           The question is to understand the darkness in which you are living. And the miracle is that if you can
           understand the darkness in which you are living, suddenly there is light, because understanding is
           light.
                Buddha has been very much misunderstood, not only by his enemies but by his friends too -- in
           fact by friends more than by enemies. The enemies can be forgiven, but the friends cannot be
           forgiven.
                Millions have followed him for these twenty-five centuries with a wrong understanding. Their
           very first step is wrong. The Buddhist monk has not been able to understand what Buddha is really
           pointing at. He has completely forgotten the moon which the finger of Buddha is pointing at. He is
           clinging to the finger, he is worshipping the finger, he has become obsessed with the finger. He has
           completely forgotten that the finger is only a means to point at the moon. Forget the finger and look
           at the moon. You cannot look at the moon if you cannot forget the finger.
                Thousands and thousands of commentaries have been written on these beautiful sutras. But if the
           first step is wrong then everything goes wrong. The first wrong step all the commentaries have taken
           is saying that Buddha renounced the world. It is not true. The world simply fell; it ceased to have any
           meaning for him.
                The night he moved away from his palace to the mountains, when he was crossing the boundary
           of his kingdom, his charioteer tried to persuade him, tried to convince him to go back to the palace.
                The charioteer was an old man, he had known Buddha from his very childhood; he was almost of
           the same age as Buddha's father. He said, "What are you doing? This is sheer madness. Have you
           gone insane or what? Look back!"
                It was a full-moon night and his marble palace was looking so beautiful. In the full moon the
           white marble of his palace was a joy to see. People used to come from faraway places just to have a
           glimpse of Buddha's palace in the full moon, just as people go to see the Taj Mahal. White marble
           has a tremendous beauty when the moon is full. There is some synchronicity between the full moon
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and white marble, a certain harmony, a rhythm, a communion.
               The charioteer said, "Look back at least once at your beautiful palace. Nobody has such a
           beautiful palace."
               Buddha looked back and told the old man, "I don't see any palace there but only great fire. The
           palace is on fire, only flames. Simply leave me and go back; if you see the palace, go back to the
           palace. I don't see any palace there -- because death is arriving every moment, and I don't see any
           palace there because all palaces disappear sooner or later. In this world everything is momentary and
           I am in search of the eternal. Seeing the momentariness of this world I can no longer befool myself."
               These are his exact words, "I cannot befool myself anymore."
               Not that he is renouncing the world! What can he do? If you see something as rubbish, if you see
           that the stones that you have carried all along are not real diamonds, what are you going to do with
           them? It will not need great courage to drop them, to throw them away; it will not need great
           intelligence to get rid of them. They will immediately fall from your hands. You were not clinging to
           those stones but to the idea that they were diamonds. You were clinging to your fallacy, your
           illusion.
               Buddha has not renounced the world, he has renounced his illusions about it. And that too is a
           happening, not an act. When renunciation comes as a happening it has a tremendous beauty, because
           there is no motive in it. It is not a means to gain something else. It is total. You are finished with
           desiring, you are finished with future, you are finished with power, money, prestige, because you
           have seen the futility of it all.
               Seeing is transformation. Remember this as the very fundamental; then these sutras will have a
           totally different meaning to you. The meaning depends on the context. If you place these sutras in a
           wrong context they will have a different meaning, and that's what has happened to Buddha.
               I repeat: he has been misunderstood more than anybody else in the world. And the reason is that
           he is one of the most profound masters of the world. His insight is so deep that it is bound to be
           misunderstood.
               Jesus speaks to the common masses in parables, in simple language. He is not a philosopher; he
           is not very educated or cultured either. He is a son of the earth. He had been working for years with
           his father as a carpenter -- carrying wood from the forest, cutting wood, helping the old man.
               Buddha is a totally different kind of person. He is not a son of the earth, he is a prince. He has
           never mixed with the crowds, he does not know their language. He speaks a language which can be
           understood only by the very sophisticated. He tried hard to bring it to the level of the masses, but it is
           almost impossible. And it is not only a question of language either.
               Jesus talks about prayer, which is simple to understand, because prayer is a duality and the whole
           world consists of dualities. Prayer is a duality because it is a dialogue between you and an imaginary
           God, but still a dialogue. In prayer you are again desiring, asking to be forgiven for your sins, to be
           rewarded. Your prayer is a demand; you are a beggar when you are praying. And the prayer is based
           on the idea of God, and God is nothing but a projection of the human mind. God is anthropocentric.
           The Bible says God created man in his own image. The truth is just the contrary: man has created
           God in his own image. Your God simply represents you, your ambitions, your ideals. Your God is a
           projection of your mind. It is easy to talk about God, and it is easy to be understood when you talk
           about God; it is easy to talk about prayer, and easy to be understood when you talk about prayer,
           because everybody is living on that plane.
               Buddha talks about meditation, not about prayer. Prayer has no place in his vision. Buddha never
           talks about God because he knows perfectly well that God has been manufactured by man either out
           of fear or out of greed; that God is the greatest desire of man and it is because of God that man
           remains in bondage, never becomes a light unto himself, always remains a beggar, dependent, a
           slave.
               Buddha wants you to become emperors, not beggars. He wants you to be free of all projections --
           God, paradise, the other world, all are included in your projections. Buddha wants you to get rid of
           mind itself, because that is what meditation is all about: entering into the world of no-mind. This is
           something very subtle, of immense depth; it is not easy to be understood.
               Once Buddha was gone, great misunderstanding arose around him. The day he died his followers
           became divided into thirty-six sects. And what was the reason for their division, and so soon? The
           reason was that everybody was trying to impose his interpretation on Buddha, and of course they all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           had their own interpretations.
                I am not interpreting Buddha at all because I am not a Buddhist, I am not a follower. I have
           experienced the same truth as Gautama the Buddha, so when I am speaking on Buddha it is as if I am
           speaking on myself. It is not a commentary, it is not an interpretation. Buddha is just an excuse to
           speak to you, a beautiful excuse to communicate my own realization to you. Let it be remembered
           that it is my own experience that I am talking about. I am using Buddha as a peg to hang my own
           understanding and experience on. And I love the man, I am in immense love with this man, because
           nobody else has ever touched such depths and such heights as Gautama the Buddha. He remains the
           Everest, the highest peak human consciousness has ever reached.
                Be very meditative while you are listening to these sutras; that is the only way to understand
           them. Not analysis, not thinking, not a logical approach, but a meditative silent listening, JUST
           listening. And truth has a mystery about it: if you can listen silently you will see whether it is true or
           not, it will be a vision. Immediately. It will strike your heart if it is truth, something will start
           vibrating in your heart, your heart will immediately respond. It is not a question of the mind.
                When you are listening meditatively you are not listening from the mind at all. Of course the
           words are very ancient -- twenty-five centuries have passed -- Buddha speaks in the language of his
           day. Don't be deceived by the language, don't be distracted by his language. It is natural because
           there is a gap of twenty-five centuries between you and him. He can't speak the language that you
           understand. That's why I am talking about him, on him -- to give you a new version, a
           twentieth-century version of the same experience, of the same understanding, of the same
           transformation.

           The first sutra:

               THE WORLD IS ON FIRE....


               What does Buddha mean by fire? He means anguish. What Soren Kierkegaard means by anguish,
           anxiety, despair, misery, that's what Buddha means by fire. It is a symbol. Everybody is on fire
           because everybody is divided, split, schizophrenic. Everybody is on fire because there is great
           anxiety in the world; the anxiety of "whether I am going to make it this time or not." There is great
           anguish in every heart -- the anguish of not knowing oneself, the anguish of not knowing from where
           we are coming and to where we are going, and who we are and what this life is all about. What is the
           meaning of life? -- this is our anguish, our agony.
               Life seems to be so futile, so utterly meaningless, a mechanical repetition. You go on doing the
           same things again and again -- for what? The anguish is that man feels very accidental; there seems
           to be no significance. And man cannot live without experiencing some significance, without
           experiencing that he contributes something meaningful to the world, that he is needed by existence,
           that he is not just a useless phenomenon, that he is not accidental, that he is required, that he is
           fulfilling something tremendously significant. Unless one comes to feel it, one remains on fire.
               The existentialist thinkers have made many words well-known. One of those words is 'anguish';
           anguish is spiritual agony. It is not that everybody feels it; people are so dull, so stupid, so mediocre.
           Then they will not feel the anguish, they will go on doing small things their whole lives and they will
           die. They will live and they will die not knowing what life really was.
               In fact when people are dying they become aware for the first time that they have been alive; in
           contrast to death they become alert: "I have missed an opportunity." That is the pain of death. It has
           nothing to do with death directly but only indirectly. When one is dying one feels great pain; the pain
           has nothing to do with death. The pain is: "I was alive and now all is finished and I could not do
           anything meaningful. I was not creative, I was not conscious, I lived mechanically, I lived like a
           somnambulist, a sleepwalker."
               The mediocre mind goes on living without being worried. He seems to be happier than the
           intelligent person; he laughs, he goes to the club and to the movies, he has a thousand and one
           occupations, and he is very busy without any business. The more intelligent you are, the more
           sensitive you are, the more you will feel that this life -- the way you are living it -- is not the right
           way, is not the right life; something is wrong in it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The unintelligent person lives like driftwood; he becomes so much concerned with sightseeing
           that he forgets all about the ultimate, he forgets all about the goal, he forgets all about the journey.
           He becomes too absorbed in sightseeing. He is curious but his curiosity is superfluous. He never
           inquires, because inquiry needs guts, inquiry is risky. Inquiry means you will be facing great
           problems, you will be coming across ultimate problems, and who knows whether you will be able to
           solve them or not? He remains only curious. The curious person is the stupid person; his curiosity
           keeps him occupied, his curiosity keeps him engaged, so he never becomes aware of the real
           problems.

                Marty and his wife Louise sat at the bar of a Chicago hotel. Marty pointed to a striking blonde
           sitting at the other end and said, "That's a hooker."
           "I don't believe it," said Louise.
           "I will show you," said Marty. He walked over and chatted with the blonde -- five minutes later they
           were in his room.
           "How much?" asked Marty.
           "Fifty bucks."
           "I will give you twenty."
           "Forget it," said the prostitute as she walked out the door.
                A few minutes later Marty rejoined his spouse at the bar. The call girl walked over and tapped
           him on the shoulder. "You see," she said, "that's what you get for twenty dollars."

               The stupid mind remains curious about such things, about others -- who is who, and they never
           ask, "Who am I?" They never ask the real question for the simple reason that the real question will
           take them on an arduous journey. They may have to drop many many things on the way: their
           prejudices, their ideologies, their philosophies, their religions, their churches -- because if you really
           want to know who you are, you have to drop being a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan, you
           have to drop being a communist or a fascist. If you really want to know who you are you have to
           forget all about your being white or black, Indian or American, Chinese or Japanese, because these
           are just accidental things. They don't constitute your essence.
               Your soul is neither Christian nor Hindu nor Mohammedan; your soul is not even male or
           female. Your innermost center is beyond all concepts. All that has been told to you, all that has
           become your identity, has to be dropped. To raise the real question means to pass through an identity
           crisis; you will have to forget all about what you think you are.
               And there is going to be an interval, a gap when you will not know who you are -- and that is a
           painful experience.
               The Zen people say: Before one meditates, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. When
           one goes deep in meditation, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers. That
           is a great crisis when mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers. You are
           passing through an identity crisis. The old is lost and the new has not been found. You have left the
           old shore and the new shore is not even visible. And the Zen people say: When the meditation is
           complete, when you have entered into no-mind, mountains are again mountains and rivers are again
           rivers; of course on a totally different plane, but things are again things. Everything settles again,
           crystallizes again, but now with a difference.
               First others had told you that mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers, now YOU know --
           and that makes the real difference. Information is never transformation.
               Buddha says: THE WORLD IS ON FIRE! Fortunate are those who can understand it, not only
           intellectually but existentially. Can't you see your life is nothing but anguish? Now there are two
           ways to get rid of this anguish, this fire; one is to become so involved in meaningless things that you
           can forget your anguish, so that the anguish cannot raise its head because you are so occupied: the
           whole day occupied with money, power, prestige, running after shadows, and when you come back
           home you are so utterly tired that you fall asleep. And then too you remain engaged in your dreams.
           Dreams are nothing but reflections of your day; the same game continues in your sleep.
               People pass their whole lives in this way. People cannot sit silently even for a few minutes. And
           the whole Buddhist approach is that unless you are capable of sitting silently for hours together,
           doing nothing, just being, you will never know who you are and you will never go beyond your
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anguish. So the first way is to become occupied, involved in anything, whatsoever it is, the only
           purpose being that you can keep the ultimate question of your life repressed. There is no time.
                People come to me, I tell them to meditate. They say, "But we don't have any time." And these
           are the same people who are sitting for hours in the movies and they have time. And these are the
           same people who go to the Rotary Club and just go on doing stupid things. These are the same
           people whom you will find in the hotels, at football matches; these are the same people who will be
           playing cards and chess, and if you ask them they will say, "We are playing just to kill time." Time is
           killing you and you think you are killing time. Nobody has ever been able to kill time: time kills
           everybody.
                And when you tell them to meditate the immediate response is, "But where is the time to
           meditate?" And it is not that they are consciously saying it; it is a very unconscious reaction. It is not
           that they are deceiving, they are deceived. It is not that they are just trying to deceive you by saying,
           "I don't have any time," they really feel, they think, that they don't have any time.

              THE WORLD IS ON FIRE:
              AND ARE YOU LAUGHING?


               The world is on fire and you are playing cards?... and you are playing chess? The world is on fire
           and you are reading a detective novel? The world is on fire and you are gossiping? The world is on
           fire and you are going to a movie? And remember YOU ARE the world Buddha is talking about.
               But sometimes it happens... Soren Kierkegaard has a beautiful parable. He says: once in a circus
           it happened that suddenly the tent of the circus started burning. Somebody may have thrown a lit
           cigarette or... nobody knows what happened but the tent was on fire. The clown of the circus came to
           announce it; he announced that "The tent is on fire!" and people laughed. They thought, "He is
           playing a trick on us." And they clapped and applauded the clown and the clown was shocked.
               He said, "I'm not joking. The tent IS on fire." And people clapped more and laughed more. The
           clown was at a loss as to what to do! He started beating his chest and saying, "Believe me! THE
           TENT IS ON FIRE, YOU ARE IN DANGER!"
               But nobody believed him; people continued laughing. And many were burned.
               This is not a parable: this is reality. Buddhas have been calling to you that the world is on fire,
           but you think they may be just taking things too seriously.

           "My beautiful foxy lady," whispered the suave dude, "you are the only chick for me. I dig you, I am
           crazy about you, I am nuts about you. I can't make it through the night without your love."
           "Hey, wait a minute," protested the bashful girl. "I don't want to get serious."
           "Hell, baby," he queried, "who's serious?"

                Nobody seems to be serious. Everybody is clowning, everybody is laughing -- or at least
           pretending to laugh, at least pretending to be happy, at least bragging about his pleasures, the joys of
           life, and maybe not only deceiving others but being deceived by his own bragging. One may start
           believing in one's own lies: then they start appearing almost like truths.
                Buddha is saying: ARE YOU LAUGHING? AND THE WORLD IS ON FIRE!
           Certainly it shows only one thing:

              YOU ARE DEEP IN THE DARK.
              WILL YOU NOT ASK FOR LIGHT?


               This is ancient language. Now, since Sigmund Freud, we can translate darkness as
           unconsciousness and light as consciousness. That will be easier to understand, because when you
           talk about darkness and light it looks poetic, and Buddha is very scientific though he is full of poetry.
           But his poetry is not mere poetry, it has a great science in it, great alchemy in it. His poetry is
           because of his experience, but his poetry is not just to entertain you. His poetry is out of his grace,
           his very being is poetic, but his message is scientific, as scientific as it can be. He is talking about the
           unconscious and the conscious.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He says you are deep in the dark if you are not aware that the world is on fire, that people are
           living in anguish -- and they may not even be aware of it. That way the anguish is doubled or
           multiplied, because if you are aware of your anguish you can get out of it. When the house is on fire
           and you are asleep, the danger is far more. If the house is on fire and you are awake, the danger is far
           less -- you can escape, you can get out of the house. Neighbors can help you to come out, you can
           make a phone call to the fire department. You can do something! At least you can jump out of the
           window. But if you are asleep then things are more difficult.
                YOU ARE DEEP IN THE DARK. Buddha says: Looking at you it seems you are not conscious
           at all, you are living an unconscious life. Now it is a psychological truth. The whole contemporary
           psychology, whether Freudian or non-Freudian, Adlerian or Jungian, ALL the schools of modern
           psychology agree upon one thing: that only a very small part of man is conscious, a very tiny part.
           The major part of his being is unconscious, is in darkness; you see only the tip of the iceberg, the rest
           is in darkness. And from that dark continent which is your unconscious come all the motives,
           desires, instincts, urges -- and the conscious has to follow them. The conscious is only a servant, it is
           not a master; it is in the service of the unconscious. The unconscious becomes angry and the
           conscious follows suit; the unconscious becomes full of a sexual urge and the conscious follows it.
           And the conscious has become very clever in rationalizing. It rationalizes everything. The conscious
           believes that it is the master and the unconscious laughs at it.
                Just watch yourself. If you are angry you never say, "I was angry because of my
           unconsciousness." You say, "I was angry because anger was needed. I was deliberately angry. I
           HAD to be angry; otherwise people would start taking advantage of me. And the person had to be
           punished, he had to be taught a lesson. I was angry because I WANTED to be."
                This is rationalization. You were angry because you could not be otherwise; you were not the
           master of the situation. It was not within your hands to choose to be angry -- or not to be angry. You
           were driven by anger and it came from some basement of your being. It came like a cloud, it came
           like great smoke and you were blinded by it. You were surrounded by the cloud and you drifted with
           it, but later on just to save your face, your ego, your pride, you start rationalizing. You say, "I did it."
           You have NOT done it: you were FORCED to do it. Watch your sexual desire, watch your greed,
           watch your anger, and you will be convinced of what Buddha is saying.

               A burly truck driver sauntered into a tavern in a mean mood, obviously looking for a fight.
           "Everybody on this side of the bar is a no-good, dirty bum!" he shouted. "Anybody want to make
           something of it just stand up!" Nobody stood up.
           "Everybody on this side of the bar is a faggot! A fairy!" No one moved, then suddenly a man stood
           up.
           "You wanna fight?" snarled the truck driver.
           "No," lisped the man, "it's just that I'm on the wrong side of the bar."

              That's how the mind goes on playing the game -- rationalizing everything.

                The psychiatrist was telling his patient, "It took us three years, but now you are cured. This is
           your last treatment."
           "Thanks, Doc," said the patient. "But before I leave, kiss me."
           "I tell you that you're cured. You are a healthy person again."
           "I know, Doc, but kiss me."
           "You don't understand. I got rid of all those crazy ideas. You are cured."
           "Sure," his patient persisted, "but just kiss me."
           "Kiss you? I shouldn't even be on the couch with you!"

               Now, the psychiatrist and the patient, the helpers and the helped, the guide and the guided are all
           in the same boat.
               Unless you can find a buddha you will be following some other blind person. Unless you are
           with a man like Buddha, Jesus, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, you will be with people who are just like you.
           That is one of the greatest calamities that is happening to the modern mind, to the modern man. The
           spiritual guides have disappeared -- long ago they disappeared. They were replaced first by the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           priests. Now the priests are being replaced by the psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychologists. The
           priests were blind, now the psychiatrists, the psychoanalysts are blind. They don't know what they
           are doing, they don't know where they are. They go on helping people and they are unconscious,
           sometimes even more than the patient. They are insane, sometimes more so than the patient, but they
           are professional experts, they have studied, they are full of information. They know everything about
           light without ever having experienced any light. They know everything about what integration is, but
           it is only ABOUT -- they don't have any inner integration. Their own beings are in fragments, falling
           apart.
                One can be helped only by a buddha, by one who is awakened, because only the awakened can
           wake those who are fast asleep. If you are asleep and your psychoanalyst is asleep, who is going to
           wake you up?
                In the ancient days people searched far and wide for a buddha; they traveled thousands of miles
           just in search of a master. Not that they were not aware of many knowledgeable people who knew all
           about the Vedas and the Upanishads and the Gitas and the Korans and the Bibles; they knew about
           the scholars, but they had a clear-cut distinction between one who knows on his own authority and
           one who knows on the authority of the scripture. They never followed the man who had no authentic
           experience of his own, who had not encountered his self, who was not a flame. And it takes time to
           search.
                You will come across hundreds of masters; ninety-nine point nine percent will be pseudo, false
           coins. But the only way to seek and search is to go on seeking and searching and whenever you come
           across a pseudo master, watch! Is what he is saying wisdom or knowledge? Is what he is saying his
           own or is it within quotes? And it is not very difficult; just a little patience is needed and you will
           know the pseudo as pseudo.

               Harold started hitchhiking and in just a few moments he was picked up by Eleanor, a
           luscious-looking librarian.
           "Would you like a cigarette?" he asked.
           "No, thanks," she replied. "I don't smoke!"
               They rode in silence for a short time and Harold said, "I know a nice bar up the road here; would
           you like to stop and have a drink?"
           "Thank you, no," said Eleanor. "I don't drink!"
               Ten minutes later, Harold took a wild shot and said, "Why don't we stop at the next motel and
           make love?"
           She said, "Alright!"
               They stopped, made it like mad for two solid hours, and then were back driving in her car.
           "Say, I'm curious," said Harold. "When I asked you to have a smoke, you said no. When I offered to
           buy you a drink, you turned me down. Yet you went to the motel with me. How come?"
           "Well," said the librarian, "I always practice what I preach. I tell my Sunday school that you don't
           have to smoke or drink to have a good time!"

               You will come across such preachers everywhere who practice what they preach, but what they
           preach is not their own experience; what they preach is all borrowed. It may look like wisdom but it
           is not. And you cannot avoid it. You will have to knock on many doors before you find the right one.
           That's the only way, that's how things are. And it is good to knock on many doors because knowing
           many pseudo masters, slowly slowly you will become aware of what it is to be a real master. By
           knowing the false you will become capable of knowing the real. To know the false as false is a great
           step towards the real.
               THE WORLD IS ON FIRE: AND ARE YOU LAUGHING? YOU ARE DEEP IN THE DARK.
           WILL YOU NOT ASK FOR LIGHT? And to ask for light is to ask for meditation.
               Modern psychology has still not arrived at that point; it is still entangled with analysis. Analysis
           cannot bring light in. You can go on analyzing darkness for years, for lives, for centuries; by
           analyzing darkness you will not arrive at light. How can you arrive at light by analyzing darkness?
           You will have to find someone who knows how to create light -- that has nothing to do with
           darkness! When the light is created, darkness disappears, darkness is no longer found. But vice versa
           is not true: don't start pushing away darkness in order to attain to light -- you will be wasting your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life, your energy, your opportunity. Don't fight with darkness! Psychoanalysis is still fighting with
           darkness, with disease.
                And that is the difference between religion and psychoanalysis. Religion is a positive effort to
           create light; psychoanalysis is a negative effort to dispel darkness -- at the most it can help you to be
           normally abnormal, that's all. At the most it can help you to adjust to a society which itself is ill. It
           can help you to be in working condition again. That's all the society needs and requires of you, that
           you should be a good doctor or a good engineer or a good stationmaster or a good clerk or a good
           collector. That's all that society asks; society is not concerned with your inner health, with your
           wholeness. Society wants you to be a perfect machine.
                And if you are doing the work given to you well, efficiently, that's enough. Society is not at all
           interested in your transformation; on the contrary, it is very much afraid of your transformation,
           because if you become transformed society will not be so easily able to oppress, exploit you. It will
           not be so easy to enslave you. If you become transformed, if you become full of light, you will be
           rebellious. Light brings rebellion.
                Darkness is very helpful for those who have vested interests because darkness never allows you
           to escape out of your prison. When you are in the dark you can be convinced that it is not a prison,
           that it is your house or even that it is a temple of God.
                But when there is light nobody can deceive you. You will be able to see that you have been
           forced to live in a prison cell. And once you have seen that you have been forced to live in a prison
           cell, you are going to do everything possible to get out of it. Society is very much afraid of buddhas
           -- hence the crucifixion of Jesus, the poisoning of Socrates, the murder of Mansoor. Many attempts
           were made on Gautam Buddha's life.
                It is strange that man has always been against those who could have helped humanity; you have
           been against those who would have taken you to the heights of life and consciousness, those who
           would have helped you to be fulfilled. Why have you been against these people? You are part of a
           great slave system -- the state, the society, the church. You function as a Christian, as a Hindu, as a
           Mohammedan; these are names of slaveries, beautiful labels on ugly things.
                A really religious person is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian -- he cannot be! He is
           simply a human being. His religion has no adjective to it, he is simply religious. Seek light! And the
           only way to seek light is to learn how to meditate, how to be aware, how to be more watchful.
                Buddha's way was VIPASSANA -- vipassana means witnessing. And he found one of the
           greatest devices ever: the device of watching your breath, just watching your breath. Breathing is
           such a simple and natural phenomenon and it is there twenty-four hours a day. You need not make
           any effort. If you repeat a mantra then you will have to make an effort, you will have to force
           yourself. If you say, "Ram, Ram, Ram," you will have to continuously strain yourself. And you are
           bound to forget many times. Moreover, the word 'Ram' is again something of the mind, and anything
           of the mind can never lead you beyond the mind.
                Buddha discovered a totally different angle: just watch your breath -- the breath coming in, the
           breath going out. There are four points to be watched. Sitting silently just start seeing the breath,
           feeling the breath. The breath going in is the first point. Then for a moment when the breath is in it
           stops -- a very small moment it is -- for a split second it stops; that is the second point to watch. Then
           the breath turns and goes out; this is the third point to watch. Then again when the breath is
           completely out, for a split second it stops; that is the fourth point to watch. Then the breath starts
           coming in again... this is the circle of breath.
                If you can watch all these four points you will be surprised, amazed at the miracle of such a
           simple process -- because mind is not involved. Watching is not a quality of the mind; watching is
           the quality of the soul, of consciousness; watching is not a mental process at all. When you watch,
           the mind stops, ceases to be. Yes, in the beginning many times you will forget and the mind will
           come in and start playing its old games. But whenever you remember that you had forgotten, there is
           no need to feel repentant, guilty -- just go back to watching, again and again go back to watching
           your breath. Slowly slowly, less and less mind interferes.
                And when you can watch your breath for forty-eight minutes as a continuum, you will become
           enlightened. You will be surprised -- just forty-eight minutes -- because you will think that it is not
           very difficult... just forty-eight minutes! It it is very difficult. Forty-eight seconds and you will have
           fallen victim to the mind many times. Try it with a watch in front of you; in the beginning you
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot be watchful for sixty seconds. In just sixty seconds, that is one minute, you will fall asleep
           many times, you will forget all about watching -- the watch and the watching will both be forgotten.
           Some idea will take you far far away; then suddenly you will realize... you will look at the watch and
           ten seconds have passed. For ten seconds you were not watching. But slowly slowly -- it is a knack;
           it is not a practice, it is a knack -- slowly slowly you imbibe it, because those few moments when
           you are watchful are of such exquisite beauty, of such tremendous joy, of such incredible ecstasy,
           that once you have tasted those few moments you would like to come back again and again -- not for
           any other motive, just for the sheer joy of being there, present to the breath.
                Remember, it is not the same process as is done in yoga. In yoga the process is called
           PRANAYAM; it is a totally different process, in fact just the opposite of what Buddha calls
           vipassana. In pranayam you take deep breaths, you fill your chest with more and more air, more and
           more oxygen; then you empty your chest as totally as possible of all carbon dioxide. It is a physical
           exercise -- good for the body but it has nothing to do with vipassana. In vipassana you are not to
           change the rhythm of your natural breath, you are not to take long, deep breaths, you are not to
           exhale in any way differently than you ordinarily do. Let it be absolutely normal and natural. Your
           whole consciousness has to be on one point; watching.
                And if you can watch your breath then you can start watching other things too. Walking you can
           watch that you are walking, eating you can watch that you are eating, and ultimately, finally, you can
           watch that you are sleeping. The day you can watch that you are sleeping you are transported into
           another world. The body goes on sleeping and inside a light goes on burning brightly. Your
           watchfulness remains undisturbed, then twenty-four hours a day there is an undercurrent of
           watching. You go on doing things... for the outside world nothing has changed, but for you
           everything has changed.

               A Zen master was carrying water from the well and a devotee who had heard about him and had
           traveled far to see him asked him, "Where can I see so-and-so, the master of this monastery?" He
           thought this man must be a servant, carrying water from the well -- you cannot find a buddha
           carrying water from the well, you cannot find a buddha cleaning the floor.
               The master laughed and he said, "I am the person you are seeking."
               The devotee could not believe it. He said, "I have heard much about you but I cannot conceive
           you carrying water from the well."
               The master said, "But that's what I used to do before I became enlightened. Carrying water from
           the well, chopping wood -- that's what I used to do before and that's what I continue to do. I am very
           proficient in these two things: carrying water from the well and chopping wood. Come with me; my
           next thing is going to be chopping wood -- watch me!"
               The man said, "But then what is the difference? Before enlightenment you used to do these two
           things, after enlightenment you are doing the same two things -- then what is the difference?"
               The master laughed, he said, "The difference is inner: before, I was doing everything in sleep,
           now I am doing everything consciously. That's the difference: activities are the same, but I am no
           longer the same. The world is the same, but I am not the same. And because I am no longer the same,
           for me the world is also no longer the same."

               The transformation has to be inner. This is real renunciation: the old world is gone because the
           old being is gone.

              FOR BEHOLD YOUR BODY --
              A PAINTED PUPPET, A TOY,
              JOINTED AND SICK AND FULL OF FALSE IMAGININGS,
              A SHADOW THAT SHIFTS AND FADES.


              Buddha says, don't be too much attached to the body, don't get identified with the body, beware!
           That is a bondage. Live in the body, use the body, but be alert -- it is not you.
              FOR BEHOLD YOUR BODY.... If you want to create light in yourself, this is the beginning:
           BEHOLD YOUR BODY -- A PAINTED PUPPET, A TOY, JOINTED AND SICK AND FULL OF
           FALSE IMAGININGS, A SHADOW THAT SHIFTS AND FADES.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               How many people have lived on the earth? And they have all faded away, dust unto dust, they
           have all disappeared -- as if they had never existed at all. And the same is going to happen to you, to
           everybody. Today you are here, tomorrow you are gone. And then it is only in a few people's
           memories that you will live for a few days; they will remember you -- just a memory, a picture in
           their minds. And then those people will die and even the memory will fade away. After two thousand
           years, do you think there will be anybody who will know that you had ever existed? It is just a
           shadow, momentary; even though the moment lasts for seventy years, eighty years, it doesn't matter.
               Buddha says truth is eternal, and whatsoever is not eternal is a dream -- beware of the dreams!
           And your mind is also part of your body; that's why he says beware of false imaginings. Your mind
           goes on giving you false ideas; it says, "Look how healthy I am, how strong I am, look how beautiful
           I am." It goes on deceiving you, it goes on telling you that death always happens to others, not to
           you. Nobody is an exception. And the mind is such a deceiver, so cunning, so crafty that it can make
           you believe anything. It can make you believe in money, and you will have to leave all your money
           when you go. But you cling to money, people are ready to die for money.
               In fact, that's how many people die: their whole lives are spent accumulating money; they sell
           their lives just to accumulate a few pieces of gold. That gold will remain here and you will be gone,
           and the gold has no attachment to you. It is you who have created all kinds of attachments.
               And the mind always goes on creating a future; it goes on saying to you, "What has not happened
           yet is going to happen tomorrow -- wait!" It keeps you hoping, it keeps you trying in new ways, in
           new pastures. If this woman has not satisfied you then the mind says, "It is because this woman is
           such -- find another!" And this will go on and on. If this man is not satisfactory, the mind says, "It is
           because this man is wrong." But the mind never allows you to see the fact that no man, no woman,
           can ever satisfy anybody. Satisfaction is not possible in this world. Contentment is possible only
           when you move into your state of being, when you become a no-mind. Contentment is the flavor of
           no-mind.
               And when you can manage, mind gives you fantasies, foolish, stupid, absurd. But mind is a great
           seducer....

              Muriel and Tina were discussing their recent experiences over cocktails.
           "Say," asked Muriel, "how did you make out with that eccentric millionaire you met yesterday?"
           "He gave me five hundred dollars," said Tina. "That screwball wanted to make it in a coffin."
           "No kidding!" exclaimed Muriel. "I'll bet that shook you up?"
           "Yeah, but not as much as the six pall-bearers."

                The mind can seduce you into anything, into any stupid thing. And once anything gets into your
           mind, it tortures you, it haunts you. You have to do it -- it seems that is the only way to get rid of it.
           But before you get rid of it, mind gives you another idea. Mind is very inventive as far as
           imagination is concerned. Mind can go on inexhaustibly creating new ideas for you; that's what has
           been happening for centuries, for lives. You have lived in this world for so many lives repeating the
           same kinds of things again and again, maybe a little bit different but the things are the same... and
           still you go on hoping.
                Buddha says beware of the false imaginings; the body is a shadow, you have to leave it one day.
           You are not it.

              HOW FRAIL IT IS!
              FRAIL AND PESTILENT,
              IT SICKENS, FESTERS AND DIES.
              LIKE EVERY LIVING THING
              IN THE END IT SICKENS AND DIES.


               Remember death, never forget it for a single moment! Because of this insistence, many people
           have thought Buddha is death-obsessed; he is not. You may be life-obsessed but he is not
           death-obsessed. He is simply bringing everything to a balance.
               He says, as much as you are involved in life you have to remember death too, then there will be a
           balance, an equilibrium. He used to send his disciples, his sannyasins, to watch whenever a dead
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           body was being burned: "Just go, sit there, meditate and watch and remember this is going to happen
           to your body too."
               Death has to be meditated upon; otherwise life can go on giving you false hopes. If you
           remember death, life cannot deceive you anymore. Death will keep you alert.
               Buddha is not death-obsessed, but he has come to know one thing: that it is only by becoming
           aware of death that one gets rid of the obsession with the body, the obsession with food, the
           obsession with sex, the obsession with money, the obsession with the world. You have to live in life,
           but let there be a consciousness, constantly, that this life is slipping out of your hands and death is
           coming closer every moment. That will not allow you to be a victim of false desires and false hopes.

              BEHOLD THESE WHITENED BONES,
              THE HOLLOW SHELLS AND HUSKS OF A DYING SUMMER.
              AND ARE YOU LAUGHING?



              YOU ARE A HOUSE OF BONES,
              FLESH AND BLOOD FOR PLASTER.
              PRIDE LIVES IN YOU,
              AND HYPOCRISY, DECAY AND DEATH.


                That's why people don't want to watch their lives. They don't want to go deeper into their beings
           because what they find is not soul, God, freedom, light. What they find in the beginning is ego,
           hypocrisy, decay and death. Yes, if you enter inside, first you will find these things. They are the
           first layers. But if you go on moving in spite of death, ego, decay, hypocrisy -- you go on moving
           courageously, then soon things start changing. Instead of death you start entering into eternal life,
           into life that is timeless; and instead of ego you come across your real self, your supreme self; and
           instead of death you come across immortality. But one has to go deeper.
                The first penetration will make you afraid, you will become scared -- darkness all around and
           death. And people escape from that first layer. They become so afraid that they never try again.
                The great English philosopher, David Hume, has written, "Reading again and again in the
           scriptures, 'Know thyself,' one day I tried. I closed my eyes and tried to go in. What I found was
           darkness, many many crazy thoughts, imagination, memory, desires, so many things crowding
           around, much noise and turmoil, but I could not find any immortal self." Just one day he tried, and
           that was that -- as if one becomes a buddha in one day. And not even one day, it must have been one
           hour or half an hour -- not twenty-four hours. Even a man of such keen intelligence as David Hume
           could not see a small point: who is the watcher?
                He said, "I found memories, ideas, and so on and so forth, many things, but I did not find any
           self." You see the absurdity of the statement? Who has found the ideas and the imagination and the
           memory? Who is this witness? That is the self! It is SO simple. You cannot be the idea; you are
           seeing the idea -- how can you be it? The seer can never be the seen, the watcher can never be the
           watched, the subject cannot be the object. But even a man like David Hume thinks that there is no
           soul, there is no self, and all these buddhas have been talking nonsense. And he never tried again.
           The experience must have been ugly, it IS ugly in the beginning; hence you need a master so that
           you don't escape from the first layer of your being.

              THE GLORIOUS CHARIOTS OF KINGS SHATTER.
              SO ALSO THE BODY TURNS TO DUST.
              BUT THE SPIRIT OF PURITY IS CHANGELESS
              AND SO THE PURE INSTRUCT THE PURE.


               If you go on diving deeper and deeper into your being you will come to a pure consciousness
           which is changeless, timeless, deathless. This is what has been taught by the buddhas to the potential
           buddhas: AND SO THE PURE INSTRUCT THE PURE. It can be understood only in deep purity of
           the heart; it cannot be understood by the cunning mind, it can be understood only by the innocent
           heart. The buddhas can be understood only through the heart, through love, not through logic.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THE IGNORANT MAN IS AN OX.
              HE GROWS IN SIZE,NOT IN WISDOM.


               Man is born only as a potential. If you don't develop your potential, if you don't grow spiritually,
           you are just like an ox. The body will go on becoming bigger and bigger, but that is not growth.
           Growing old is not growing up, growing physically is not growing spiritually. And unless you grow
           spiritually you are wasting a precious opportunity.
               Man is the only being on the earth who can attain to buddhahood. Elephants and lions and tigers
           can't become buddhas. Only man can become a buddha, only man can become a thousand-petaled
           lotus, only man can release the fragrance called God.
               Don't waste a single moment in anything else. Do the necessary things, the essential things, but
           pour more and more energy into watchfulness, awareness. Wake up!
               Unless you become a buddha you have not lived at all, because you will not know the great
           poetry of life, the great music of existence. You will not know the celestial celebration that goes on
           and on, you will not know the dance of the stars. It is for you to become part of this celebration. This
           bliss is for you! All these flowers and all these songs and all these stars are for you. You are entitled
           to miracles -- but grow up, wake up!
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                    Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: The heart has no questions
           12 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910120
              ShortTitle: DHAM502
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO BREAK MY HEART?


               Yes, Somendra. It is a thankless job, but it has to be done. Man exists on three planes: the head --
           the world of thoughts, the thinking process -- the most superficial plane. Below it is the heart -- the
           world of feelings, emotions, sentiments -- a little deeper than thought, but not the deepest. And the
           third is the realm of being -- no thought, no feeling -- you simply are.
               My work starts by destroying the thinking process first -- obviously, because that is where you
           are. I have to hammer your head mercilessly. Once your energy has moved from the head to the
           heart, I start breaking your heart too. First I use your heart as a temptation: I tell you to move from
           the head to the heart. It is just to give you a goal which is not very far away, because a too distant
           goal cannot appeal to you. If it is too far away it appears impossible; the goal has to be within your
           grasp.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Rooted in the mind, the world of being is very very far away; it looks almost nonexistential.
           Hence the heart is a midway place, a resting place; it is not the goal. One day you have to be ready to
           leave it too, but before that I use it as a temptation for you.
                I talk about love and the beauty and the ecstasy of feeling... it is only a device so that you can
           move from the head to the heart. Once you have moved from the head to the heart, then I start
           hammering on your heart too. Then I have to help you to get rid of the feelings -- because feelings
           are as stupid as thoughts.
                Logic is stupid, love is not less stupid -- sometimes even more! Logic is a game, love too is a
           game, and you have to be aware of all the games that you are capable of playing. Logic deceives,
           love does too. One has to rise to the heights or dive to the depths where logic and love both
           disappear. They are two sides of the same coin: on the one side is your head, on the other side is your
           heart.
                The philosopher deals with the head, the poet with the heart, but the mystic is beyond both. The
           mystic is transcendental; he is pure being, just consciousness, neither thought nor feeling.
                Hence, Somendra, I have to break your heart. I have destroyed your mind -- the first step has
           been taken. The second step is harder, because the heart is closer to being than the head. It is very
           easy to see the rubbish of the head; it is very difficult to see the rubbish of the heart. The head
           reflects nothing of the being; hence to disidentify yourself from the head is not such a great problem.
           It is easy to see that the thoughts are separate from you; it is very difficult to see that the feelings are
           different from you. They are so close and they reflect something of your being. Feelings are more
           attuned with your being; hence the possibility of being deceived by them.
                The greater work starts when you start disidentifying yourself from your heart. The heart is not
           your soul; certainly it is better than the head. And why is it better? It is better only because it is
           closer to the being, but even though it is closer there is still a distance. Closeness is also a distance.
           You have to fall still deeper. You have to come to a point, to a center, from where you can see
           thoughts and feelings all separate from you, where you become just a mirror.
                That moment is the moment of enlightenment; you become a buddha. Less than that will not
           help, less than that is not worthwhile.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF HEAVEN AND HELL ARE ON THE SAME PLANE, ONLY DIVIDED BY A TATTERED FENCE,
              WHY IS THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THE MIND SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN THE NEGATIVE?


               Saguna, it is the same question put in a different way: mind is negative, heart is positive. The
           language of the mind is rooted in no; the mind immensely enjoys saying no. The more you can say
           no, the more you are thought to be a great thinker.

           There is a beautiful story by Turgenev, THE FOOL.
               Once in a town there was a man who was condemned by the whole crowd as the greatest idiot
           who had ever lived. Obviously he was continuously in difficulty. Whatsoever he would say, people
           would start laughing, even if he was saying something beautiful, true. But because it was known that
           he was an idiot, people would think that whatsoever he did and said was idiotic. He might be quoting
           sages but still people would laugh at him.
               He went to a wise old man and told him that he felt like committing suicide, that he could not
           live anymore. "This constant condemnation is too much -- I cannot bear it any longer. Either help me
           out of it, or I am going to kill myself."
               The old wise man laughed. He said, "There is not much of a problem, don't be worried. Do only
           one thing, and come after seven days -- start saying no to everything. Start questioning each and
           everything. If somebody says, 'Look -- look at the sunset, how beautiful it is!' ask immediately,
           'Where is there any beauty? I don't see any -- prove it! What is beauty? There is no beauty in the
           world, it is all nonsense!' Insist on proofs; say, 'Prove where beauty is. Let me see it, let me touch it!
           Give me a definition.' If somebody says, 'The music is ecstatic,' immediately jump into it and ask,
           'What is ecstasy? What is music? Define your terms clearly. I don't believe in any ecstasy. It is all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           foolishness, all illusion. And music is nothing but noise.'
           "Do this with everything, and after seven days come to me. Be negative, ask questions -- questions
           which cannot be answered: What is beauty? What is love? What is ecstasy? What is life? What is
           death? What is God?"
               After seven days the idiot came to the wise man -- followed by many many people. He was
           garlanded and beautifully dressed. The wise man asked, "What happened?"
               And the idiot said, "It was magic! Now the whole city thinks that I am the wisest man in the
           world. Everybody thinks I am a great philosopher, a great thinker. And I have silenced everybody,
           people have become afraid of me. In my presence they remain silent, because whatsoever they say, I
           immediately turn it into a question and I become absolutely negative. Your trick worked!"
               And the wise man asked, "Who are these people who are following you?"
               He said, "These are my disciples -- they want to learn from me what wisdom is!"

                This is how it is: the mind lives in the no, it is a no-sayer; its nourishment comes from saying no
           to each and everything. The mind is basically atheistic, negative. There is nothing like a positive
           mind.
                The heart is positive; just as mind says no, the heart says yes. Of course, it is better to say yes
           than to say no, because one cannot really live by saying no. The more you say no, the more you
           become shrunken, closed. The more you say no, the less alive you are. People may think you are a
           great thinker, but you are shrinking and dying; slowly you are committing suicide.
                If you say no to love, you are less than you were before; if you say no to beauty, you are less
           than you were before. And if you go on saying no to each and everything, chunk by chunk you are
           disappearing. Ultimately a very empty life is left -- meaningless, with no significance, with no joy,
           with no dance, with no celebration.
                That's what has happened to the modern mind, to the modern man. The modern man has said
           more no's than ever before. Hence the question: What is the meaning of life? Why are we alive at
           all? Why go on living? We have said no to God, we have said no to the beyond, we have said no to
           all for which man has lived down the ages. We have proved to our heart's content that all the values
           man has lived for are worthless -- but now we are in difficulty, in deep anguish. Life has become
           more and more impossible for us. We go on living only because we are cowards; otherwise we have
           destroyed all the reasons to live. We go on living because we cannot commit suicide; we are afraid
           of death, hence we go on living. We live out of fear, not out of love.
                It is better to be positive, because the more positive you are, the more you are moving towards
           the heart. The heart knows no negative language. The heart never asks, "What is beauty?" It enjoys
           it, and in enjoying it, it knows what it is. It cannot define it, it cannot explain itself, because the
           experience is such that it is inexplicable, inexpressible. Language is not adequate enough, no
           symbols help. The heart knows what love is, but don't ask. The mind knows only questions and the
           heart knows only answers. The mind goes on asking but it cannot answer.
                Hence philosophy has no answers... questions and questions and questions. Each question
           becomes, slowly slowly, a thousand and one questions. The heart has no questions -- it is one of the
           mysteries of life -- it has all the answers. But the mind will not listen to the heart; there is no
           communion between the two, no communication, because the heart knows only the language of
           silence. No other language is known by the heart, no other language is understood by the heart -- and
           the mind knows nothing of silence. The mind is all noise: a tale told by an idiot, full of fury and
           noise, signifying nothing.
                The heart knows what significance is. The heart knows the glory of life, the tremendous joy of
           sheer existence. The heart is capable of celebrating, but it never asks. Hence the mind thinks the
           heart is blind. The mind is full of doubts, the heart is full of trust; they are polar opposites.
                That's why it is said that it is better to be positive than to be negative. But remember: the positive
           is joined with the negative, two sides of the same phenomenon.
                I am not here to teach you the ways of the heart. Yes, I use them, but only as a device: to bring
           you out of your mind I use the heart as a vehicle; to take you to the other shore I use the heart as a
           boat. Once you have reached the other shore, the boat has to be left behind; you are not expected to
           carry the boat on your head.
                The goal is to go beyond duality. The goal is to go beyond no and yes both, because your yes can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have meaning only in the context of no; it cannot be free of the no. If it is free of the no, what
           meaning will it have? Your yes can exist only with the no, remember; and your no can also exist
           only with the yes. They are polar opposites, but they help each other in a subtle way. There is a
           conspiracy: they are holding hands, they are supporting each other, because they cannot exist
           separately. Yes has meaning only because of the no; no has meaning only because of the yes. And
           you have to go beyond this conspiracy, you have to go beyond this duality.
               Saguna, it is the same question as Somendra's only asked in a different way, from a different
           angle. But it is not a new question, it is not a different question; it is the same question verbalized
           differently.
               I am not teaching you the positive way of living, I am not teaching you the negative way of
           living: I am teaching you the way of transcendence. All dualities have to be dropped: the duality of
           mind and heart, the duality of matter and mind, the duality of thinking and emotion, the duality of
           the positive and the negative, the duality of male and female, yin and yang, the duality of day and
           night, summer and winter, life and death... all dualities. Duality as such has to be dropped, because
           you are beyond duality.
               The moment you start moving away from both yes and no, you will have your first glimpses of
           the ultimate. Hence the ultimate remains absolutely inexpressible; you cannot say no, you cannot say
           yes.
               Gautama the Buddha never said no to God, never said yes to God. He seems to be the only
           person in the whole history of man who is neither an atheist nor a theist. This is unique, something
           immensely valuable. He is a pioneer; he is breaking into a new dimension, he is a breakthrough.
               People were continuously asking, as they have always asked, "Does God exist?" and they
           expected a categorical answer, yes or no. They were very puzzled by Buddha, because he would
           never answer clearly whether God exists or not. On the contrary, he would divert the question into
           something else; he might start talking about something else. And his impact and his magnetism were
           such that you would forget all about what you had come to ask him; you would remember only later
           on that he deceived you. You had asked about God and he didn't say a single word about it.
               Many thought, "He does not believe in God and that's why he keeps silent about God, because he
           is afraid that if he says no then religious people will leave him." Many thought, "He knows God is,
           but he does not say so because he does not want the atheists to leave him." And many thought,
           "Because he knows nothing, he is utterly ignorant, that's why he remains silent about the most
           fundamental question." But they were all wrong.
               He was silent because God means something which is transcendental; yes is irrelevant as much
           as no is irrelevant. Nothing can be said about God; to be silent about him is the only right answer. He
           was REALLY answering. Very few, rare people understood him.

               Once a man came. He touched Buddha's feet and asked him, "Does God exist?" -- the perennial
           question.
               Buddha said -- that was always his way, it will show you his method -- he said, "When I was
           young I used to love horses very much." Now, the man is asking about God, and he starts talking
           about horses! But he was a sweet talker... the man became interested in horses, and Buddha said, "I
           came across four kinds of horses. One is the most stupid and stubborn kind: you beat the horse, still
           he would not budge. Many people are like that. The second kind is: you beat him and he would
           move, but he would move only if you beat him, if you whip him. Many people are like that. And the
           third kind you need not beat -- you simply show him the whip and that's enough; if he knows you
           have the whip in your hand, that's enough. And I have also come across very rare horses: even the
           whip is not needed -- just the shadow of the whip is enough."
               And then he closed his eyes and sat silently. The man also closed his eyes and sat in silence with
           Buddha.
               Buddha's chief disciple, Ananda, was present; he was watching the whole thing. He could see
           that the man had asked about God, and Ananda was also curious about what Buddha was going to
           say -- and he started talking about horses! Ananda was not happy about it: "This is no way, this is
           devious, this is cheating the person. He is asking about God and you talk about horses!" He made it a
           point, "When this man is gone I am going to ask. This is too much! If he talks about God, at least
           you can talk about meditation, but not about horses! If you don't want to talk about God, talk about
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meditation, talk about silence, but something relevant. Talk about desirelessness, or at least you can
           say, 'God is indefinable. Nothing can be said about God, but I can show you the way so you can also
           experience it.' That would be right, compassionate. But what kind of a joke is this -- you talk about
           horses?"
                But more than that, he was puzzled when Buddha closed his eyes and the man also followed.
           And there was such great silence, so solid, so substantial, almost tangible; you could have touched it,
           you could have felt the texture of it. Ananda was not a very silent man, but even he was moved by
           these two men facing each other sitting in such a tremendous silence. He could see Buddha's face
           and he could see the face of the man becoming transformed just before his eyes. A grace descended,
           a great peace arose.
                And then after an hour or so the man opened his eyes, touched Buddha's feet in deep gratitude,
           thanked him and went away.
                Ananda asked Buddha, "It is incomprehensible to me: he asks about God and you talk about
           horses. But I know you, I have heard you doing this to many people -- but more than that I am
           puzzled about what transpired between the two of you. I know you, so it was not a great puzzle for
           me that you closed your eyes and you became silent. I know that it is more difficult for you to talk
           than to be in silence -- silence is natural to you, spontaneous to you -- but what happened to the other
           man? I could see that he was becoming silent and after a few minutes he was in such a deep silence
           -- as if he had lived with you for years. Even I have not known such silence! And then what
           happened in that silence? What communion happened? What communication happened? What
           transpired? For what was he grateful? Why did he thank you so much?"
                Buddha said, "There are four kinds of horses -- you are the first kind, Ananda, and he is the
           fourth! Just the shadow of the whip is enough, he understood. And I was not talking about horses, I
           was talking about God; but God cannot be talked about directly. And I was not talking about horses,
           I was talking about meditation. But I knew the man -- he is also a lover of horses. When I saw him
           coming on his horse I knew it immediately: he had such a rare kind of horse, only a lover of horses
           could choose such a horse. That's why I talked about horses -- that was the language he could
           understand, and he understood it. And when I closed my eyes he saw the shadow of the whip. He
           closed his eyes -- he understood that the ultimate cannot be talked about, but you can be silent about
           it, utterly silent about it, and in silence it is known. It is a transcendental experience: it is beyond
           mind and beyond heart, it is beyond yes and beyond no, it is beyond negative, beyond positive."

               But if you are going to choose between the negative and the positive, then I will say: choose the
           positive -- because it is easier to slip out of the yes than to slip out of the no -- because no does not
           have much space in it; it is a dark dark prison cell. Yes is wider; it is more open, more vulnerable. To
           move from no you will find it very difficult: you don't have much space, you are enclosed in it from
           every side, and all the doors and all the windows are closed. No is a closed space.
               To live in the negative is the most stupid thing a man can do, but millions are living in the
           negative. Modern man particularly is living in the negative. He is repeating the story of Turgenev,
           THE FOOL, because living in the negative he feels great, his ego feels very satisfied. Ego is a prison
           cell created by the bricks of no's; negativity is its food.
               So if you have to choose, Saguna, between the negative and the positive, choose the positive. At
           least you will have a little wider scope; a few windows and doors will be open, the wind and the sun
           and the rain will be available to you. You will have a few glimpses of the open sky outside and the
           stars and the moon. And sometimes the fragrance of flowers will start coming to you, and sometimes
           you will be thrilled by the joy of just being alive. And it is easier to move from the yes to the
           beyond.
               From the no come to the yes, and from the yes go to the beyond. The beyond is neither positive
           nor negative -- and the beyond is God, and the beyond is enlightenment.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I FEEL SO MUCH PAIN IN LETTING GO OF THE THINGS THAT ARE CAUSING ME
              MISERY?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Deva Akal, the things that are causing you misery must be giving you some pleasure too;
           otherwise the question does not arise. If they were pure misery you would have dropped them. But in
           life, nothing is pure; everything is mixed with its opposite. Everything carries its opposite in its
           womb.
                What you call misery, analyze it, penetrate into it, and you will see that it has something which
           you would like to have. Maybe it is not yet real, maybe it is only a hope, maybe it is only a promise
           for tomorrow, but you will cling to the misery, you will cling to the pain, in the hope that tomorrow
           something that you have always desired and longed for is going to happen.
                You suffer misery in the hope of pleasure. If it is pure misery it is impossible to cling to it. Just
           watch, be more alert about your misery. For example, you are feeling jealous. It creates misery. But
           look around -- there must be something positive in it. It also gives you some ego, some sense of your
           being separate from others, some sense of superiority. Your jealousy at least pretends to be love. If
           you don't feel jealous you will think maybe you don't love anymore. And you are clinging to
           jealousy because you would like to cling to your love -- at least your idea of love. If your woman or
           your man goes with somebody else and you don't feel jealous at all, you will immediately become
           conscious that you no longer love. Otherwise, for centuries you have been told that lovers are
           jealous. Jealousy has become an intrinsic part of your love: without jealousy your love dies; only
           with jealousy can your so-called love live. If you want your love you will have to accept your
           jealousy and the misery that is created by it.
                And your mind is very cunning and very clever in finding rationalizations. It will say, "It is
           natural to feel jealous." And it appears natural because everybody else is doing the same. Your mind
           will say, "It is natural to feel hurt when your lover leaves you. Because you have loved so much,
           how can you avoid the hurt, the wound, when your lover leaves you?"
                In fact, you are enjoying your wound too, in a very subtle and unconscious way. Your wound is
           giving you an idea that you are a great lover, that you loved so much, that you loved so deeply, that
           your love was so profound, that you are shattered because your lover has left you. Even if you are
           not shattered you will pretend to be shattered -- you will believe in your own lie. You will behave as
           if you are in great misery, you will cry and weep, and your tears may not be true at all, but just to
           console yourself that you are a great lover, you have to cry and weep.
                Just watch every kind of misery: either it has some pleasure in it which you are not ready to lose,
           or it has some hope in it which goes on dangling in front of you like a carrot. And it looks so close,
           just by the corner, and you have traveled so long and now the goal is so close, why drop it? You will
           find some rationalization in it, some hypocrisy in it.
                Just a few days ago a sannyasin wrote to me that her man has left her and she is not feeling
           miserable -- what is wrong with her? "Why am I not feeling miserable? Am I too hard, rocklike? I
           don't feel any misery," she wrote to me. And she is miserable because she is not feeling misery! She
           was expecting to be shattered. "On the contrary," she wrote, "I can confess that I am feeling happy --
           and that makes me very sad. What kind of love is this? I am feeling happy, unburdened; a great load
           has disappeared from my being." She asked me, "Beloved Master, is it normal? Am I alright or is
           something basically wrong with me?"
                Nothing is wrong with her, she is absolutely right. In fact, when lovers, after a long long
           togetherness and all the misery that is bound to happen when you are together, leave each other, it is
           a relief. But it is against the ego to confess it, that it is a relief. For a few days at least you will move
           with a long face, with tears flowing from your eyes -- phony, but this is the idea that has prevailed in
           the world.
                If somebody dies and you don't feel sad you will start feeling that something is certainly wrong
           with you. How can you avoid sadness when somebody has died? -- because we have been told it is
           natural, it is normal, and everybody wants to be natural and normal. It is not normal, it is only
           average. It is not natural, it is only a long long cultivated habit; otherwise there is nothing to weep
           and cry about.
                Death destroys nothing. The body is dust and falls into dust, and the consciousness has two
           possibilities: if it still has desires then it will move into another womb, or if all the desires have
           disappeared then it will move into the womb of God, into eternity. Nothing is destroyed. The body
           again becomes part of the earth, goes into rest, and the soul moves into the universal consciousness
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           or moves into another body.
               But you cry and weep and you carry your sadness for many days. It is just a formality, or if it is
           not a formality then there is every possibility that you never loved the man who has died and now
           you are feeling repentant; you never loved the man totally and now there is no more time. Now the
           man has disappeared, now he will never be available. Maybe you had quarreled with your husband
           and he died in the night in his sleep. Now you will say that you are crying because he has died, but
           really you are crying because you have not even been able to ask his forgiveness, you have not even
           been able to say a goodbye. The quarrel will hang over you like a cloud forever.
               If a man lives moment to moment in totality, then there is never any repentance, no guilt. If you
           have loved totally, there is no question. One day if the lover leaves that simply means, "Now our
           ways are parting. We can say goodbye, we can be thankful to each other. We shared so much, we
           loved so much, we have enriched each other's lives so much -- what is there to cry and weep about
           and why be miserable?"
               But people are so entangled in their rationality that they can't see beyond their rationalizations.
           And they always rationalize everything; even things which are obviously simple become very
           complicated.

           "I am in love with my horse," said Andrew to the psychiatrist.
           "That's nothing," replied the shrink. "A lot of people love animals. My wife and I have a dog that we
           love very much."
           "Ah, but doctor, it is a physical attraction that I feel towards my horse!"
           "Hmm!" said the analyst. "What kind of horse is it? Male or female?"
           "Female, of course!" said Andrew. "What do you think I am -- queer?"

               You ask me, Akal, "Why do I feel so much pain in letting go of the things that are causing me
           misery?"
               You are not yet convinced that they are causing you misery. I am saying that they are causing
           you misery, you are not yet convinced. And it is not a question of MY saying it. The basic thing is:
           YOU will have to understand, "These are the things which are causing me misery," and you will
           have to see that there are investments in your misery. If you want those investments you will have to
           learn to live with the misery; if you want to drop the misery, you will have to drop those investments
           too.
               Have you watched it, observed it? -- if you talk about your misery to people, they give great
           sympathy to you. Everybody is sympathetic to the miserable man. Now, if you love getting
           sympathy from people you cannot drop your misery; that is your investment.
               The miserable husband comes home, the wife is loving, sympathetic. The more miserable he is,
           the more his children are considerate of him; the more miserable he is, the more his friends are
           friendly towards him. Everybody takes care of him. The moment he starts becoming happy they
           withdraw their sympathy, of course -- a happy person needs no sympathy. The more happy he is, the
           more he finds that nobody cares about him. It is as if everybody becomes suddenly hard, frozen.
           Now, how can you drop your misery?
               You will have to drop this desire for attention, this desire for getting sympathy from people. In
           fact, it is very ugly to desire sympathy from people -- it makes you a beggar. And remember,
           sympathy is not love; they are obliging you, they are fulfilling a kind of duty -- it is not love. They
           may not like you, but still they will sympathize with you. This is etiquette, culture, civilization,
           formality -- but you are living on false things. Your misery is real and what you are getting in the
           bargain is false. Of course, if you become happy, if you drop your miseries, it will be a radical
           change in your life-style; things may start changing.
               Once a woman came to me, the woman of one of the richest men in India, and she told me, "I
           want to meditate, but my husband is against it."
               I asked her, "Why is your husband against meditation?"
               She said, "He says, 'The way you are, I love you. I don't know what will happen after meditation.
           If you start meditating you are bound to change; then I don't know whether I will be able to love you
           or not, because you will be another person.'"
               I said to the woman, "Your husband has a point there -- certainly things will be different. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be more free, more independent. You will be more joyous, and your husband will have to learn
           to live with a new woman. He may not like you that way, he may start feeling inferior. Right now he
           is superior to you."
                That's why down the ages man has not allowed women to meditate, to participate in deep
           religious experiences. Man has not allowed women to read the Vedas, the Upanishads, the great
           scriptures of the world. In many religions the women are not allowed to enter into the mosque or the
           synagogue. In Jainism it is said that you cannot be liberated from the body of a woman; first you will
           have to be born as a man, then only can you be liberated. From the body of a woman there is no way
           to God.
                Why? Why this fear? The reason is very psychological: man has always been afraid of women
           becoming happier than him, more peaceful than him, more attuned, more integrated than him --
           because once they are more integrated, more attuned to their beings and to the being of the whole,
           more in harmony with existence, more in accord.... And women can attain to harmony more easily
           than men, remember. For certain biological reasons, a woman is more capable of going into
           meditation than a man is. The male energy is aggressive, violent, outgoing, extrovert, and the female
           energy is introvert, passive, ingoing.
                Hence what Jainism says is absolutely wrong -- not only absolutely wrong: just the opposite may
           be the truth. It is easier to enter into God through the body of a woman than through the body of a
           man. The woman's body is more harmonious, the man's body is not so harmonious. The woman's
           body is more balanced, more rounded; that's why she looks so beautiful. Her body is less tense, more
           relaxed.
                Mothers become aware after a few months' pregnancy whether it is a male child or a female child
           in their womb, because the male child starts parading and doing things inside the womb, kicking... he
           cannot be at rest. You can watch small girls -- they are perfectly happy sitting in a corner with their
           dolls. And the boys? -- they can't sit.
                Just a few days ago a little boy took sannyas. I had to ask him, "Can you be silent for one minute
           so I can explain your name to your mother?" But he was not even able to be silent for one minute.
           Small girls come for sannyas; when I say to them, "Close your eyes and sit silently," they sit so
           beautifully; they can sit for hours. When small boys come and I say to them, "Close your eyes," they
           have to clench their eyes! They are afraid that if they don't do too much they will open. They are so
           curious about what is happening, what is going on outside.
                When small girls take sannyas they look at me. And the boys? -- they look at Krishna Bharti and
           his camera! They are all over the place! I am putting a mala on them and they are looking at people
           to see what the response is. "Are people laughing, enjoying, watching?" They are great performers!
           And a great curiosity keeps them constantly tense.

               While on their honeymoon, Kit and Netty bought a talkative parrot and took it back to their hotel
           room. As they made love the bird kept up a running commentary. Finally Kit flung a bath towel over
           the cage and said, "If you don't shut up I am sending you to the zoo!"
               Getting ready to leave the following morning, they could not close a bulging suitcase and
           decided one of them would stand on it while the other attempted to fasten it.
           "Darling," said Kit, "you get on top and I will try."
               That didn't work. So he said, "Now I will get on top and you try."
           That didn't work either.
           "Look," said Kit, "let us both get on top and try."
               The parrot yanked away the towel and said, "Zoo or no zoo, this I've gotta see!"

           The parrot must have been a male!
               I told the woman, "Your husband is right: before you enter on the path of meditation you have to
           consider it, because there are dangers ahead."
               She didn't listen to me; she started meditating. Now she is divorced. She came to see me after a
           few years and said, "You were right. The more silent I became, the more my husband became furious
           at me. He was never so violent -- something strange started happening," she told me. "The more
           silent and quiet I was becoming, the more aggressive he was becoming." His whole male chauvinist
           mind was at stake. He wanted to destroy the peace and the silence that was happening to the woman
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so he could still remain superior. And because it could not happen the way he wanted, he divorced
           the woman.
               It is a very strange world! If you become peaceful your relationship with people will change,
           because you are a different person. If your relationship was because of your misery it may disappear.

               I used to have a friend. He was a professor in the same university where I was a professor; he
           was a great social worker. In India, what to do with the widows is still a problem. Nobody wants to
           marry them, and widows are not in favor of marrying either; that seems like a sin. And this professor
           was determined to marry a widow. He was not concerned whether he was in love with the woman or
           not -- that was secondary, irrelevant -- his only interest was that she should be a widow. And he
           persuaded her slowly slowly, and she was ready.
               I told the man, "Before you take the plunge, consider it for at least three days -- go into isolation.
           Are you in love with the woman, or is it just a great social service that you are doing?" Marrying a
           widow in India is thought to be something very revolutionary, something radical. "Are you just
           trying to prove that you are a revolutionary? If you are trying to prove that you are a revolutionary,
           then you are bound for trouble -- because the moment you are married she will no longer be a widow
           and your whole interest will be gone."
               He didn't listen to me. He got married... and after six months he told me, "You were right." He
           cried. He said, "I could not see the point: I was in love with her widowhood, not with her for herself,
           and now certainly she is no longer a widow."
               So I said, "You do one thing -- commit suicide! Make her a widow again and give somebody else
           a chance to be a revolutionary! What else can you do?"

               Man's mind is so stupid, so unconscious. Buddha says it is in deep sleep, slumber, snoring.
               Akal, you cannot let go of things that are causing you misery because you have not yet seen the
           investments, you have not yet looked deeply into them. You have not seen that there is some
           pleasure you are deriving out of your misery. You will have to drop both -- and then there is no
           problem. In fact, misery and pleasure can only be dropped together. And then arises bliss.
               Bliss is not pleasure, bliss is not even happiness. Happiness is always bound together with
           unhappiness and pleasure is always bound together with pain. Dropping both.... You want to drop
           misery so that you can be happy -- that is an absolutely wrong approach. You will have to drop both.
           Seeing that they are together, one drops them; you cannot choose one part.
               In life, everything has an organic unity. Pain and pleasure are not two things. Really, if we make
           a more scientific language, we will drop these words: pain and pleasure. We will make one word:
           painpleasure, happinessunhappiness, daynight, lifedeath. These are one word because they are
           NEVER separable.
               And you want to choose one part: you want to have only the roses and not the thorns, you want
           only the day and not the night, you want only love and not hate. This is not going to happen -- this is
           not the way things are. You will have to drop both, and then arises a totally different world: the
           world of bliss.
               Bliss is absolute peace, undisturbedness, neither disturbed by pain nor disturbed by pleasure.

                To celebrate their fortieth anniversary, Seymour and Rose went back to the same second-floor
           hotel room where they had spent their honeymoon.
           "Now," said Seymour, "just like that first night, let us undress, get in opposite corners of the room,
           turn off the lights, then run to each other and embrace."
                They undressed, went to opposite corners, switched off the lights and ran towards each other. But
           their sense of direction was dulled by forty years, so Seymour missed Rose and he went right
           through the window. He landed on the lawn in a daze.
                Seymour tapped on the lobby window to get the clerk's attention. "I fell down from upstairs," he
           said. "I am naked and I gotta get back to my room."
           "It's okay," said the clerk. "Nobody will see you."
           "Are you crazy? I gotta walk through the lobby and I am all naked!"
           "Nobody can see you," repeated the clerk. "Everybody is upstairs trying to get some old lady off a
           doorknob!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               People are so foolish! Not only the younger ones -- the older you get, the more foolish you
           become. The more experienced you are, it seems the more stupidity you accumulate through life. It
           really rarely happens that a person starts watching, observing his own life and his own life patterns.
               See what your misery is, what desires are causing it, and why you are clinging to those desires.
           And it is not for the first time that you are clinging to those desires; this has been the pattern of your
           whole life and you have not arrived anywhere. You go on in circles, you never come to any real
           growth. You remain childish, stupid. And you are born with the intelligence that can make you a
           buddha, but it is lost in unnecessary things.

               A farmer who had only two impotent old bulls bought a new, young, vigorous bull. Immediately
           the stud began mounting one cow after another in the pasture. After watching this for an hour, one of
           the ancient bulls started pawing the ground and snorting.
           "What's the matter?" asked the other. "You getting young ideas?"
           "No," said the first bull, "but I don't want that young fellow to think I am one of the cows."

               So even in their old age people go on carrying their egos. They have to pretend, they have to
           pose, and their whole life is nothing but a long long story of misery. Still they defend it. Rather than
           being ready to change it, they are very defensive.
               Akal, drop all defensiveness, drop all armors. Start watching how you live your day-to-day life,
           moment to moment. And whatsoever you are doing, go into its details. You need not go to a
           psychoanalyst, you can analyze each pattern of your life yourself -- it is such a simple process! Just
           watch and you will be able to see what is happening, what has been happening. You have been
           choosing -- and that has been the problem -- you have been choosing one part against the other, and
           they are both together.
               Buddha says: Attain to choiceless awareness -- don't choose at all. Just watch and be aware
           without choosing, and you will attain to bliss, you will attain to the lotus paradise.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHO AM I?


                Narayano, it is a question to be made a meditation. It is not a question to be asked, it is a question
           to be contemplated -- because nobody can answer it for you and nobody's answer can become your
           answer. This is one of those questions which is not really a question but a mystery.
                Yes, you can go on asking the scholars, and some stupid scholar will say, "You are God, you are
           soul, you are this and you are that, you are eternal consciousness, immortal being." But do you think
           those words are going to have any meaning for you? They will be empty words. This is not a
           question to be asked, this is a question to be entered into.
                Raman Maharshi made it his only meditation; that is the only meditation that he gave to his
           disciples -- a very potent method. Just sitting silently, first ask verbally, "Who am I?" And then
           slowly slowly, let the words disappear and only a feeling remain, "Who am I?" -- just a feeling. And
           finally let the feeling also disappear... a nonverbalized, nonemotionalized question mark. Not that
           you are asking, "Who am I?" but you have become the question mark itself. Sitting silently,
           remaining this question mark, you will enter into your being, you will know.
                Knowing does not happen through scriptures, it cannot be taught. I know the answer, but my
           answer is MY answer; it cannot become your answer. You can repeat it like a parrot, you can believe
           in it, but it will not transform you. No information ever brings any transformation.
                To ask this question is wrong: to contemplate this question is right. I cannot answer who you are,
           but I can say only this: start asking you own being, "Who am I?" and your mind will start supplying
           you with many answers. If you are a Christian it will give Christian answers, if you are a Hindu it
           will give Hindu answers, if you are a Buddhist it will give Buddhist answers. All those answers are
           false. So go on saying, "NETI, NETI -- neither this nor that." Go on saying, "This is not the answer."
           Whatever answer is supplied by the mind is deceptive -- beware!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When you have destroyed all the answers given by the mind and the mind is empty and has no
           answers to give anymore, the answer will arise in you. When the mind ceases, the answer arises. It
           will not be in words, it will be an experience.
               Don't ask me, Narayano, ask yourself. Sit silently whenever you can find time.
               But you must be asking others this question. People go on, from one master to another master,
           asking the same questions, receiving the same answers. The question remains in its place; the
           answers make no difference. You must have asked this question of many people -- your search is
           long. You have been to all the ashrams and they have all supplied you with answers, and still you are
           not satisfied. When are you going to see the point, that no answer given by the outside can ever be
           satisfactory, it cannot give you contentment?
               Drop this question. Don't ask it, because if you ask somebody, there are people who are going to
           answer. There are people who live on your questions -- the pundits, the priests, the scholars, the
           professors -- their whole business is to go on supplying answers to your questions. And can't you see
           the point, that no answer ever becomes your answer?
               It is time, start asking yourself. At least this question, "Who am I?" has to be asked in the deepest
           recesses of your being. You have to resound with this question. It has to vibrate in you, pulsate in
           your blood, in your cells. It has to become a question mark in your very soul.
               And when the mind is silent, you will know. Not that some answer will be received by you in
           words, not that you will be able to write it down in your notebook that "This is the answer," not that
           you will be able to tell anybody that "This is the answer." If you can tell anybody, it is not the
           answer. If you can write it down in a notebook, it is not the answer. When the real answer happens, it
           is so existential that it is inexpressible.
           To ask others is stupid. To ask oneself is wise.

               The circus had finished its final performance in the country town when one of its zebras took
           sick. The local veterinarian suggested rest for the beast, so the circus owner made arrangements to
           board it at a nearby farm.
               The zebra took to the new life by meeting all the animals of the barnyard. He came across a
           chicken and asked, "I am a zebra, who are you?"
           "I am a chicken," said the chicken.
           "What do you do?" asked the zebra.
           "I scratch around and lay eggs."
               The zebra walked up to a cow. "I am a zebra. Who are you?"
           "I am a cow," said the cow.
           "What do you do?" asked the zebra.
           "I graze in the field and give milk."
               The zebra met a bull next. "I am a zebra," he said. "Who are you?"
           "I am a bull."
           "And what do you do?" asked the zebra.
           "What do I do!" snorted the bull. "Why, you silly looking ass -- take off your pajamas and I will
           show you!"

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                  Chapter #3
                                Chapter title: What you desire you will become
           13 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910130
              ShortTitle: DHAM503
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              VAINLY I SOUGHT THE BUILDER OF MY HOUSE
              THROUGH COUNTLESS LIVES.
              I COULD NOT FIND HIM....
              HOW HARD IT IS TO TREAD LIFE AFTER LIFE!



              BUT NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER!
              AND NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU BUILD MY HOUSE.
              I HAVE SNAPPED THE RAFTERS,
              SPLIT THE RIDGEPOLE
              AND BEATEN OUT DESIRE.
              AND NOW MY MIND IS FREE.



              THERE ARE NO FISH IN THE LAKE.
              THE LONG-LEGGED CRANES STAND IN THE WATER.



              SAD IS THE MAN WHO IN HIS YOUTH
              LIVED LOOSELY AND SQUANDERED HIS FORTUNE --



              SAD IS A BROKEN BOW,
              AND SADLY IS HE SIGHING
              AFTER ALL THAT HAS ARISEN AND PASSED AWAY.


               Gautama the Buddha is the greatest breakthrough that humanity has known up to now. Time
           should not be divided by the name of Jesus Christ; it should be divided by the name of Gautam
           Buddha. We should divide history before Buddha and after Buddha, not before Christ and after
           Christ, because Christ is not a breakthrough; he is a continuity. He represents the past in its
           tremendous beauty and grandeur. He is the very essence of the whole search of man before him. He
           is the fragrance of all the past endeavors of man to know God, but he is not a breakthrough. In the
           real sense of the word he is not a rebel. Buddha is, but Jesus looks more rebellious than Buddha for
           the simple reason that Jesus' rebellion is visible and Buddha's rebellion is invisible.
               You will need great insight to understand what Buddha has contributed to human consciousness,
           to human evolution, to human growth. Man would not have been the same if there had been no
           Buddha. Man would have been the same if there had been no Christ, no Krishna; there would not
           have been much difference. Remove Buddha and something of tremendous importance is lost; but
           his rebellion is very invisible, very subtle.
               Before Buddha, the search -- the religious search -- was fundamentally a concern with God: a
           God who is outside, a God who is somewhere above in the heavens. The religious search was also
           concerned with an object of desire, as much as the worldly search was. The worldly man sought
           money, power, prestige, and the otherworldly man was seeking God, heaven, eternity, truth. But one
           thing was common: both were looking outside themselves, both were extroverts. Remember this
           word, because this is going to help you understand Buddha.
               Before Buddha, the religious search was not concerned with the within but with the without; it
           was extrovert, and when the religious search is extrovert it is not really religious. Religion begins
           only with introversion, when you start diving deeply within yourself.
               People had looked for centuries for God: Who is the builder of the universe? Who is the creator
           of the universe? And there are many who are still living in a pre-Buddha time, who are still asking
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           such questions: Who is the creator of the world? When did he create the world? There are some
           stupid people who have even determined the day, the date and the year when God created the world.
           There are Christian theologians who say that exactly four thousand and four years before Jesus
           Christ -- Monday, 1st January! -- God created the world or started creating the world, and he finished
           the job in six days. Only one thing is true about it: that he must have finished the job in six days,
           because you can see the mess the world is in -- it is a six-day job! And since then he has not been
           heard about. On the seventh day he rested, and since then he has been resting....
                Maybe Friedrich Nietzsche is right, that he is not resting -- he is dead! He has not shown any
           concern. Then what happened to his creation? It seems to be completely forgotten. But Christians
           say, "No, he has not forgotten. Look! He sent Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, to save the world.
           He is still interested." That is the only interest Christians say he has shown, in sending Jesus Christ...
           but the world is not saved. If that was the purpose of sending Jesus Christ to the world, then Jesus
           has failed and through him God has failed -- the world is the same. And what kind of concern was
           this -- that his messenger was crucified and he could not do anything?
                There are many who are still living in this pre-Buddha worldview.
                Buddha changed the whole religious dimension, he gave it such a beautiful turn: he asked REAL
           questions. He was not a metaphysician, he never asked a metaphysical question; to him metaphysics
           was all rubbish. He was the first psychologist the world had known, because he based his religion
           not on philosophy but on psychology. Psychology in its original meaning means the science of the
           soul, the science of the within.
                He didn't ask: Who created the world? He asked: Why am I here? Who am I? Who is creating
           me? And it is not a question of the past -- "Who created me?" -- we are constantly being created. Our
           life is not like a thing created once and for all; it is not an object. It is a growing phenomenon, it is a
           river flowing. Each moment it is passing through new territory. "Who is creating this life, this
           energy, this mind, this body, this consciousness, that I am?" His question is totally different. He is
           transforming religion from extroversion into introversion.
                The extrovert religion prays to God; the introvert religion meditates. Prayer is extrovert; it is
           addressed to some invisible God. He may be there, he may not be there -- you can't be sure or
           certain; doubt is bound to persist. Hence every prayer is rooted somewhere in doubt, in fear, in
           uncertainty, in greed.
                Meditation is rooted in fearlessness, in greedlessness. Meditation is not begging anything from
           anybody, it is not addressed to anybody. Meditation is a state of inner silence. Prayer is still noise,
           you are still talking -- talking to a God who may not be there. Then it is insane, neurotic; you are
           behaving in a mad way. Mad people go on talking; they don't bother much whether there is anybody
           to listen to them or not. That is a sure sign that they are mad -- they imagine that somebody is there;
           not only that, they can almost see the other. Their visualization is great, their imagination is very
           substantial. They are capable of changing shadows into substance, imagination into realities, fiction
           into facts. To you they seem to be involved in a monologue; to themselves they are involved in a
           dialogue. You cannot see who is present there -- they are alone -- but they see that somebody is
           there.
                It is because of this fact that psychoanalysis is very cautious about religion, because the religious
           person behaves just like the neurotic. And there are many psychoanalysts who think that religion is
           nothing but a mass neurosis -- and they have a point: the extrovert religion is a mass neurosis.
                But psychoanalysts have not yet become aware of Buddha. Buddha will give them a new insight
           into religion, into true religion. There is no prayer, no God. Meditation is not a dialogue, or even a
           monologue -- meditation is pure silence.
                People ask me, "What should the object of meditation be?" They are asking a wrong question,
           but I can understand why they are asking it. They have lived in the religions of prayer, and prayer
           cannot be without somebody there to pray to. Prayer needs an object of worship; prayer is a
           dependence. The worshipper is not independent; he is dependent on the object of his worship and he
           is afraid also.
                But the meditator has no object. Meditation does not mean to meditate upon something. The
           English word 'meditation' gives a wrong connotation; in English there is no word to translate the
           Buddhist word DHYANA. In fact, in no other language of the world is there a word which is
           absolutely synonymous with dhyana. It is because of this fact that when Buddhism reached China
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they could not translate it into Chinese; hence dhyana became CH'AN -- it is the same word. The
           Sanskrit word is dhyana, but Buddha used Pali, another language, the language that was understood
           by the people amongst whom he lived. In Pali, dhyana becomes JHANA; from jhana, in Chinese it
           became ch'an, and from ch'an, in Japanese it became ZEN. Chinese had no equivalent, the Japanese
           had no equivalent. In fact, no other language has any equivalent because no other language has given
           birth to a man like Buddha. And without a Buddha it is impossible to give this new meaning, this
           new vision, this new dimension.
               In English, 'meditation' means meditating upon something; but then it is thinking, at the most
           contemplation -- it is not meditation. Meditation means BEING meditative, silent, peaceful, with no
           thoughts in the mind, a consciousness without content. That is the true meaning of meditation: a pure
           consciousness, a mirror reflecting nothing. When a mirror is not reflecting anything, it is meditation.
               Buddha turned the whole religious quest from metaphysics into a great psychology, because he
           asked: What are the causes of my life and my death? He is not concerned with the universe. He says:
           We should start from the beginning, and anything, to have a real significance in life, has to be
           concerned with me MYSELF: who am I and why am I? What are the causes that go on creating me?
           His first sutra is:

               VAINLY I SOUGHT THE BUILDER OF MY HOUSE
               THROUGH COUNTLESS LIVES.


                He is saying, "I have been seeking and searching for God for countless lives. It was all in vain, it
           was futile. I could not find any God, because in fact God is not a person and you cannot find him.
           God is not a 'he'."
                Now there is great controversy whether God is a he or a she. He is neither. And if you insist that
           we have to choose between these two words, 'he' and 'she', I will suggest that 'she' is far better
           because she contains he, but he does not contain she. But in truth, God is not a person at all; hence
           the question of whether he is he or she is irrelevant.
                God is a quality, not an object. God is not God but godliness -- and godliness has to be found
           first within yourself. Unless you have a taste of it in your own being you will not be able to see it
           anywhere else. Once you have tasted it, once you have become drunk on the divine, then you will
           see it in the trees -- in the green of the trees, in the red of the trees, in the gold of the trees. You will
           see it in the sun, in the moon, in the stars. You will be able to see it in the animals, birds, people,
           rivers, mountains. The whole existence will reflect your understanding, will become a mirror to you.
           You will be able to see your own face everywhere. We can see only that which we are, we cannot
           see that which we are not.
                This is Buddha's great contribution: he dropped prayer, he dropped the idea of God, and he gave
           a new approach -- that new approach is meditation.
                He says: VAINLY I SOUGHT THE BUILDER OF MY HOUSE THROUGH COUNTLESS
           LIVES. I COULD NOT FIND HIM.... Not because something was lacking in his effort, not because
           his effort was partial and not total, no. He was not that kind of man: his effort was so total that it
           could not have been more total. It was because of his total effort that he came to this great
           understanding, that he came to this great realization.
                He went to all kinds of teachers and whatsoever a teacher told him to do, he did it with such
           passion, intensity, that no teacher was ever able to find any fault with him. And whatever task was
           given to him, he always fulfilled it. And it happened with so many teachers that finally they said to
           him, "This is all that we know, and we cannot say that you have not followed us. You have followed
           so totally that there is no question about your sincerity and your search, but more than this we don't
           know. You will have to go and find some other master -- this is all that we know. We are sorry that
           we could not help you more. And if any time you can find something more than this, remember us,
           and if we are still alive, convey your new realization to us."
                This happens very rarely. It is always easy to find fault with the disciple, and if the disciple is at
           fault, then certainly the master, the so-called master, is at ease. A real disciple is a danger to the
           pseudo master, because with a real disciple his pseudoness is exposed sooner or later. It is because of
           the pseudo disciples that pseudo masters live. And there are so many pseudo seekers... just curiosity,
           they are seeking just out of curiosity; it is not existential. It is very rare to find a disciple like
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha, because if you find a disciple like Buddha, sooner or later, either you will be proved right
           through his transformation, or you will be proved pseudo. But you cannot blame him, because he
           will put his total energies into the effort.
                Buddha tried every possible way. He went to all the known and not-so-known teachers who were
           alive in the country, and from everywhere he came back empty-handed. Finally he decided, "There is
           something wrong in asking others, there is something basically wrong in going behind others,
           following others. It is better, it is time, that I should dive deep within myself, that I should seek and
           search alone." And that's how meditation was born.
                Buddha dropped all extrovert efforts, became totally introverted, his whole energy turning in. He
           started tuning himself to his innermost core. God cannot be found outside you, because there is no
           God who can ever be outside you. God is the ultimate fragrance of your consciousness. When your
           consciousness opens like a lotus, the fragrance that is released is God -- better to call it godliness.
                God is not a noun but a verb. Let this sink deeply into your heart: that God is not a noun but a
           verb. In fact, the whole existence is a verb. Change all your nouns into verbs and you will be on the
           right track, because everything is alive and flowing -- how can you call it a noun? A noun gives a
           fixed idea. A noun is always dead and a verb is always alive.
                And God is alive. He is alive in you, he is alive in me, he is alive in the birds. Wherever life is,
           God is; God is synonymous with life.
                VAINLY I SOUGHT THE BUILDER OF MY HOUSE THROUGH COUNTLESS LIVES. It
           was a misunderstanding and, unfortunately, a misunderstanding which still persists. Rather than
           searching for their own selves, people go on searching for God. They will not find God, and
           meanwhile they are missing the opportunity of finding themselves.
                The very word 'God' has created trouble. Start using 'godliness', 'divineness', 'love'. Drop that
           God! The word 'God' looks like a dead rock: no flow, no movement, no growth. Let your God
           become a river.
                Remember Herman Hesse's Siddhartha: he learned the deepest realms of meditation by living on
           the shore of a river, seeing the river in different moods, in different seasons. In the summer it was so
           thin, like a silver line, and in the rains it was so overflooded. And sometimes it was so silent and so
           musical, and sometimes it looked so angry, in a rage; sometimes it was so compassionate, and
           sometimes it was so cruel. Just sitting on the bank of the river, slowly slowly he became aware of the
           great life of the river, its emotions, its moods....
                The first thing my own father taught me -- and the only thing that he ever taught me -- was a love
           for the small river that flows by the side of my town. He taught me just this -- swimming in the river.
           That's all that he ever taught me, but I am tremendously grateful to him because that brought so
           many changes in my life. Exactly like Siddhartha, I fell in love with the river. Whenever I think of
           my birthplace I don't remember anything except the river.
                The day my father died I only remembered the first day he brought me to the riverbank to teach
           me swimming. My whole childhood was spent in a close love affair with the river. It was my daily
           routine to be with the river for at least five to eight hours. From three o'clock in the morning I would
           be with the river; the sky would be full of stars and the stars reflecting in the river. And it is a
           beautiful river; its water is so sweet that people have named it Shakkar -- SHAKKAR means sugar.
           It is a beautiful phenomenon.
                I have seen it in the darkness of the night with the stars, dancing its course towards the ocean. I
           have seen it with the early rising sun. I have seen it in the full moon. I have seen it with the sunset. I
           have seen it sitting by its bank alone or with friends, playing on the flute, dancing on its bank,
           meditating on its bank, rowing a boat in it or swimming across it. In the rains, in the winter, in the
           summer....
                I can understand Herman Hesse's Siddhartha and his experience with the river. It happened with
           me: so much transpired, because slowly slowly, the whole existence became a river to me. It lost its
           solidity; it became liquid, fluid.
                And I am immensely grateful to my father. He never taught me mathematics, language, grammar,
           geography, history. He was never much concerned about my education. He had ten children... and I
           had seen it happen many times: people would ask, "In what class is your son studying?" -- and he
           would have to ask somebody because he would not know. He was never concerned with any other
           education. The only education that he gave to me was a communion with the river. He himself was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in deep love with the river.
                Whenever you are in love with flowing things, moving things, you have a different vision of life.
           Modern man lives with asphalt roads, cement and concrete buildings. These are nouns, remember,
           these are not verbs. The skyscrapers don't go on growing; the road remains the same whether it is
           night or day, whether it is a full-moon night or a night absolutely dark. It doesn't matter to the
           asphalt road, it does not matter to the cement and concrete buildings.
                Man has created a world of nouns and he has become encaged in his own world. He has
           forgotten the world of the trees, the world of the rivers, the world of the mountains and the stars.
           THERE they don't know of any nouns, they have not heard about nouns; they know only verbs.
           Everything is a process.
                God is not a thing but a process. But words can mislead you. This word 'God' has misled millions
           of people. It gives you an idea, a very childish idea of course, but once it settles in you, you carry it
           your whole life. You have an idea of God: some very ancient-looking man with a long white beard,
           sitting on a golden throne up in the skies, ruling, ordering, commanding the whole world. And
           whoever disobeys him has to suffer much -- a very dictatorial father. He has not yet forgiven Adam
           and Eve because they disobeyed him.
                In the Garden of Eden there were two trees: one was known as the tree of knowledge and the
           other as the tree of life. God had said, "Don't eat from these two trees." But children are children -- if
           you prevent them from doing something they are bound to do it. The serpent is not needed; that is
           just a strategy, an ancient strategy of man, to throw the responsibility on somebody else. It was Eve
           herself who became curious.
                They disobeyed God and God became afraid: "Now they have eaten the fruit of the tree of
           knowledge -- soon they will find the other tree and they will eat the fruit of life, and then they will
           become as eternal as gods." And he became very jealous, because once they had eaten from the tree
           of knowledge, they would be able to find the tree of life; it would not be long. Soon they would find
           it. They had become wise enough, and a wise man is bound to seek and search for immortality.
           Being afraid that they would become like gods, God threw them out of the Garden of Eden and
           closed the doors. Now there are naked swords preventing the re-entry of man into paradise.
                This is a very childish concept of God, anthropocentric. But millions of people are still living
           with this idea of God. It is a sheer misunderstanding. Children can be forgiven, but you cannot be
           forgiven.

           Old Lindley sat down at the doctor's desk.
           "What is your problem?" asked the physician.
           "Well, Doc, after the first, I am very tired. After the second, I feel all in. After the third, my heart
           begins to pound. After the fourth, I break out in a cold sweat. And after the fifth, I am so exhausted I
           feel I could die!"
           "Incredible!" said the M.D. "How old are you?"
           "Seventy-six."
           "Well, at seventy-six, don't you think you should stop after the first?"
           "But Doctor," exclaimed old Lindley, "how can I stop after the first when I live on the fifth?"

               Words can be very deceptive -- and the word 'God' has deceived millions. Buddha is the first to
           recognize this fallacy. Hence I say we should divide history by Buddha, not by Christ -- before
           Buddha, after Buddha -- because he brings such a total and new vision to humanity. He brings a new
           idea of God: the idea of godliness. With Buddha, humanity becomes mature; it drops its childhood
           concepts.

              I COULD NOT FIND HIM....


              Of course there was no possibility of finding him. Nobody has ever found God; many have found
           godliness but nobody has ever found God.

              HOW HARD IT IS TO TREAD LIFE AFTER LIFE!
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                And Buddha says: Without knowing who I am, without knowing the significance of life, without
           knowing the meaning, the goal and the destiny... HOW HARD IT IS TO TREAD LIFE AFTER
           LIFE. It is hard, it is tiring, it is boring, it is a burden.
                Socrates says: A life unexamined is not worth living. Buddha would have agreed with him. Yes,
           a life unexamined is not worth living, because a life unexamined is not a life at all. It is only carrying
           a load, dragging -- dragging somehow towards your death. Your feet won't have a dance to them and
           your heart will not have a song in it. You will be utterly fruitless, impotent, futile. And the more
           intelligent you are, the more sensitive you are, the more clearly you can see the point.
                And Buddha was one of the most sensitive men who has ever walked on the earth.

              BUT NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER!
              AND NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU BUILD MY HOUSE.


                This is one of the most important sutras. Meditate over it, ponder over it, because it has been
           misunderstood also.
                When Buddha says: BUT NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER! many have thought that he means he
           has seen God. That is a total misunderstanding. He is not talking about God. When he says: BUT
           NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER! AND NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU BUILD MY HOUSE... he is
           not talking about God, he is talking about desire. His word is TANHA; tanha means unconscious
           desire. He says, "It is because of my own unconscious desiring that I have been creating these lives.
           Nobody else is responsible." He takes the whole responsibility on his own shoulders. This is the
           beginning of a really religious man; you are no longer throwing responsibility on others -- fate, God,
           this and that.
                In that sense, Marx is as immature as any other so-called saint, and so is Freud -- because they all
           agree on one point. Marx says: Man is in suffering because of the economic structure of society. The
           responsibility is thrown on the economic structure of society. Hegel says: Man is suffering because
           of a wrong history, a wrong past. This is throwing responsibility on the god named "History." And
           for Hegel, history was almost God: he used to write History with a capital H -- for him history is the
           most determining factor. And to Freud, the unconscious is responsible. What can you do? You are
           utterly helpless.
                All these people are saying that you are utterly helpless, you cannot do anything; you have to be
           the way you are, this is the only way you can be. You are a victim of great forces, against which you
           cannot win.
                Buddha says: You can be victorious, but take the responsibility upon your own shoulders. It is
           your own desiring mind that has been creating your lives. This wheel of life and death is your own
           creation. When for the first time you realize this, you are shocked, shaken -- shaken to the very roots.
           But slowly slowly, you start seeing a great freedom in it. You start rejoicing that, "If I am
           responsible, then there is a possibility for me to change the whole pattern."
                BUT NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER! AND NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU BUILD MY
           HOUSE. He is saying, "Now I see that it is desiring, constant desiring -- for this, for that, for money,
           power, prestige, God, paradise, nirvana...." It is desiring, always desiring, projecting yourself into the
           future, that is creating your wheel of life and death. And you are crushed between these two rocks:
           life and death. You have to be free from life and death.
                That is Buddha's meaning of nirvana: to be free from life and death, to be free from desire. The
           moment you are free from all desires... remember, I repeat, ALL desires. The so-called religious,
           spiritual desires are included in it, nothing is excluded. All desires have to be dropped because every
           desire brings frustration, misery, boredom. If you succeed it brings boredom; if you fail it brings
           despair. If you are after money there are only two possibilities: either you will fail or you will
           succeed. If you succeed you will be bored with money.
                All rich people are bored with money. In fact, that's how a rich person is known to be really rich
           -- if he is bored with his money, if he does not know what to do with it. If he is still hankering for
           more money he is not yet rich enough. If you succeed, you are bored, because the money is there but
           there is no fulfillment with it. All those illusions that you had carried for so long -- those illusions for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           which you had suffered so much, struggled so much, staked so much.... Your whole life has gone
           down the drain because of those dreams that when you have money you will be fulfilled. But when
           you have it you suddenly see the pointlessness of it: the money is there but you are as poor as ever --
           in fact more so, because, in contrast to the money, you can see your poverty more clearly.

           There is a story by Leo Tolstoy:
               A poor tailor had this habit for thirty years of purchasing one lottery ticket every month, and for
           thirty years it had become a routine. Each month he would purchase a lottery ticket. He never won
           the lottery, he even stopped thinking of ever getting it, but it had become an old ritual: every month,
           in the first week he would purchase a ticket.
               But one day it happened: a big Rolls Royce suddenly stopped in front of the poor tailor's house.
           A man walked up with a big bag. The poor tailor could not believe his eyes, because never had a
           Rolls Royce stopped before his house... and this rich-looking man! And the man said, "Rejoice! You
           have won the lottery -- here are one million rubles."
               The man was overjoyed. He locked his shop, threw the key into the well -- because now he
           would never need this shop, he would never open this shop again. One million rubles is more than
           enough for ten lives!
               But within a year that one million rubles was gone. He purchased the biggest cars, beautiful
           houses, the costliest prostitutes, the best food, the best clothes. He lived like the czar, utterly
           oblivious of the fact that the money was running out of his hands. After one year all was finished.
           And not only was it finished, but he had been a healthy man, young, and in one year he had aged at
           least ten years and he had become weak and ill -- all those prostitutes and alcohol and too much rich
           food. He was weak, ill, old, and he had to jump into the well to search for the key!
               People had to pull him out -- he was almost drowning -- but he found the key and he opened his
           shop again. The whole year had been like a long long nightmare. And he said, "Enough is enough! I
           will never ask for money again."
               But just out of old habit he started purchasing one ticket every month again. And after one year
           the same car stopped... he said, "My God! do I have to go through all that again?"

               If you have money, you will know the misery of it; if you don't have money, you know the
           misery of not having it. Either way you suffer. Desire brings suffering -- success or no success,
           desire brings suffering. But you go on desiring in the hope that it may not be so with you.
               Remember, life allows no exceptions: its rules are universally valid. Whatsoever is true for me is
           true for you, whatsoever is true for Buddha is true for you. Truth is the same! You cannot bribe truth,
           you cannot persuade truth to be a little different for you. Truth is neutral; it is not a respecter of
           persons. It is like gravitation: it does not care whether you are rich or poor, famous or notorious,
           known or unknown. If you go against the law of gravitation you will have a few fractures.
           Gravitation will not consider that you are the president or the prime minister of a country, or a
           beggar; it makes no distinctions. And the same is true about inner laws.
               Buddha discovered one of the most fundamental laws: that desire is always frustrating. Even
           though you succeed in achieving your goal, you will be frustrated.
               It is because of this that America is now the most frustrated country in the world. They have
           succeeded: they have created affluence, they have created richness -- about which humanity has been
           dreaming for centuries -- and they are more frustrated than the Indians. And India is poor, starving,
           yet India is not in such frustration as America is. And the reason is, when you are poor and starving
           you can hope that tomorrow things will be better, but when you are rich and you have all that you
           can imagine, you can't hope. Tomorrow can't be better -- it is already better! Seeing that you have all
           that you need, what more can happen tomorrow? At the most you will have a little more money --
           but if this much money cannot help, a little more is not going to help. You have two cars -- you may
           have four; you have two houses -- you may have four: the changes are going to be only quantitative,
           and quantitative changes are not real changes.
               The poor person thinks, "There will be qualitative changes when I am rich." He can hope, and
           through hope he can desire.
               Hence I say again and again that before this world can become really religious it has to become
           very rich. It is not an accident that Buddha was the son of a king. All the twenty-four
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           TIRTHANKARAS of the Jainas were kings, and all the AVATARAS of the Hindus -- Rama and
           Krishna... were kings. It can't be just coincidence. Why only kings? Why have beggars and poor
           people not become buddhas? The reason is simple: the poor person can still hope, the rich person has
           no hope.
               When hope disappears, desire is seen in its nudity. Hope keeps on hiding desire in beautiful
           garments.
               BUT NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER! AND NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU BUILD MY
           HOUSE. Buddha says... this is his first statement after his enlightenment. The moment he became
           enlightened, the morning he became enlightened, with the last star disappearing, this was his first
           utterance, tremendously pregnant. He looked at the sky; the sun had not yet risen and the last star
           had just disappeared. He was as empty as the outer sky. And this was his first declaration to
           existence -- not to anyone in particular. He simply said, uttered -- as if talking to himself or thinking
           aloud: BUT NOW I SEE YOU, O BUILDER! AND NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU BUILD MY
           HOUSE.
               He says, "I have seen the secret of desire. It is desire that has been creating new bodies, new
           minds for me, new bodymind mechanisms for me -- and I have seen it. Now it will not be possible
           for it to create any more trouble for me."
               The moment you see the cause of your trouble, the trouble disappears -- and the cause too.
           Seeing is transformation. To know is to be liberated.

              I HAVE SNAPPED THE RAFTERS,
              SPLIT THE RIDGEPOLE
              AND BEATEN OUT DESIRE.
              AND NOW MY MIND IS FREE.


               What are the rafters and what does he mean by the ridgepole? These are his metaphors. By
           rafters he means the past and the memories. The past tries to persist, the past goes on perpetuating
           itself. Yesterday you were angry, the day before yesterday you were angry, and so on and so forth.
           Now that anger is waiting in you just for an excuse to explode. The past perpetuates itself. And if
           you cannot find an excuse you will be angry without any excuse. You will create an excuse, you will
           invent one -- you will have to, because the anger that you have been going through every day is
           waiting for its time. It is like tea-time, and your body starts asking for tea. A little tannin is needed...
           or a little nicotine.
               This is happening to Krishna Prem! Just a few weeks ago Laxmi was after him: "Stop smoking!"
           He was smoking too much. And finally he stopped; with great will he forced himself and stopped.
           Since that time he has not been in good shape. He became ill, for weeks he remained ill, weak. Now
           he has come out of his illness. He had to take many medicines and treatments. Now he gets angry at
           any slight excuse, or no excuse.
               Just the other day he asked me, "Beloved Master, what should I do?"
           I said, "Smoke! And don't listen to Laxmi again!"
               An old habit... now the body needs a certain quantity of nicotine; if it is not there then uneasiness
           is created. And there is nothing unspiritual in nicotine, remember; nicotine is as spiritual as anything
           else.
               If you have been doing something for a long time you become habituated, and once you become
           habituated to a certain thing, it forces you to do it again and again. Buddha calls it "the rafters of
           desire": the past tries to perpetuate itself.
               He says: I HAVE SNAPPED THE RAFTERS. I am finished with the past! I am disconnected
           from my past, I am no longer continuous with my past. I have SPLIT THE RIDGEPOLE. By
           "ridgepole" he means the future. Desire has these two dimensions: it comes from the past and it goes
           to the future, it never stays in the present. The present becomes a death to desire.
               Hence all meditations are nothing but efforts to bring you to the present. When you live in the
           present moment, with no past hanging around you, with no future projection, you are free from life
           and death, you are free from body and mind. You are free -- simply free -- you are freedom.
               Buddha says: And this is how I have BEATEN OUT DESIRE. AND NOW MY MIND IS FREE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THERE ARE NO FISH IN THE LAKE.
              THE LONG-LEGGED CRANES STAND IN THE WATER.


                A beautiful metaphor, very pictorial: THE LONG-LEGGED CRANES STAND IN THE
           WATER. Very still they stand, very silent, unmoving, because if they move, ripples are created in
           the water and those ripples make the fish afraid. The cranes stand absolutely still, like yogis,
           unmoving, as if they are not there. If there are no ripples in the water, the fish can come close to the
           cranes and they can catch hold of the fish.
                Buddha says: Now a revolution has happened.... THERE ARE NO FISH IN THE LAKE. By
           "fish" he means desires: My consciousness is free of desires.
                THE LONG-LEGGED CRANES STAND IN THE WATER. But because I am alive -- I will not
           be coming back again into the body, but this body has its own momentum, this mind has its own
           momentum -- it will have to finish its momentum. So the body is there, the mind is there, like
           long-legged cranes standing in the water, although there are no fish anymore.
                Buddha is saying: I am here in the world, but without desire, so the world is not in me. I will not
           be coming back again because there is no reason to come back: there is no desire to fulfill. All
           desires have been known to be futile.
                The world is nothing but an opportunity to fulfill your unfulfilled desires. You are sent back
           again and again to the world by the universal law -- AES DHAMMO SANANTANO. This is the
           universal law. Buddha says again and again that if you desire you will be thrown back into the
           world. Whatsoever you desire you will become; what you become depends on your desires. If your
           desires are such that they can be fulfilled only in the life of a dog, then you will become a dog. If
           your desires are such that they can be fulfilled only in the life of an elephant, you will become an
           elephant. It depends on your desires: your desires create the mold of your bodymind mechanism. It is
           our desiring that has created us. If you are a man, it is your desire; if you are a woman, it is your
           desire. You may have forgotten about it....
                I have been experimenting in many many ways. I have looked into many people's past lives, and
           in the beginning I was very much surprised. The most surprising thing was this -- that if somebody is
           a man in this life, he was a woman in his past life, and vice versa: if somebody is a woman in this
           life she was a man in the past life. I was puzzled -- why? Then slowly slowly, it became clear to me
           that man thinks that women are enjoying more than men, and more so now, after the research of
           Masters and Johnson -- because women have multiple orgasms! Man has a single orgasm and then
           he is finished for at least twenty-four hours, and a woman can have multiple orgasms -- many
           orgasms within seconds.
                Now many men must be feeling very much frustrated about being men; they may not say so
           directly, because of their male egos. But it is going to happen. In the coming twenty-five years this is
           going to happen more and more, that many men will decide to become women -- now it can be done
           scientifically too -- and many women will decide to become men. In fact, they are trying in every
           possible way: they are behaving like men, they want to do everything the way man is doing it; they
           want to compete with him in politics, in the marketplace -- everywhere. They want all the
           opportunities, because man is enjoying so much. And man thinks that women are enjoying so much:
           "I have to fight the whole world and the woman simply rests at home!"
                This has been happening in the past also, but not scientifically -- naturally. Everybody thinks the
           other is enjoying. And this idea of multiple orgasms! And also the idea has come that women have
           two types of orgasm and man has only one type of orgasm. The woman can have vaginal orgasm and
           clitoral orgasm. Man is so poor! And the woman's orgasm is more total -- her whole body becomes
           involved in it -- man's orgasm is local. Poor man!

               A pretty coed had been receiving obscene phone calls from the same man for months. She was
           beginning to enjoy it. One night she picked up the phone and it was him again.
           "I am gonna come over there, throw you down on the bed, rip off your clothes, spread your legs, and
           shove something into you that you will never forget!"
           "Come on over!" said the girl.
           "What?" answered a surprised voice.
           "I am serious! You turn me on!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Twenty minutes later the phone nut was in her apartment. Within five minutes they had their
           clothes off and within ten seconds the guy was all finished. To add insult to injury, he rolled over
           and went to sleep on the poor frustrated girl.
               An hour later he got up, dressed and headed for the door.
           "I will say one thing for you," snapped the coed, "you give great phone!"

               Man starts feeling that the woman is enjoying more, and the woman feels the same. It is always
           so. Even kings think that beggars are more happy: no worry, no anxiety; they can sleep so soundly,
           so deeply. And it is very difficult for kings to sleep. Beggars don't have food, but they have great
           appetites; and kings have food but no appetites. Beggars are thinking that kings are enjoying such
           beautiful palaces, such great food, so many beautiful women, and everything that one can desire. But
           they don't know that kings can't enjoy food -- their appetites have disappeared long before the food
           appeared. Yes, they have marble palaces, but they cannot sleep. Their life is a nightmare, constant
           anxiety, anguish, fear. The king thinks the beggars are in a far better situation: nothing to worry
           about. Nobody can steal anything from them, nobody can attack them. They don't need bodyguards,
           they don't need any defense; they can sleep on the road.
               Everybody is jealous of everybody else, and that's how it goes on changing. If you are a man,
           you must have been a woman in your past life; if you are a woman, you must have been a man. You
           started desiring the other and then the desire has brought a new mechanism for you.
               Buddha says it is desire, not God, which has to be looked into, which has to be examined, which
           has to be observed.

              SAD IS THE MAN WHO IN HIS YOUTH
              LIVED LOOSELY AND SQUANDERED HIS FORTUNE....


               And Buddha says: Beware! Time is passing fast, life is slipping out of your fingers; soon it will
           be gone. Before it is gone, do something to get rid of desire.
               SAD IS THE MAN WHO IN HIS YOUTH LIVED LOOSELY AND SQUANDERED HIS
           FORTUNE.... What is fortune for Buddha? -- this opportunity, this great opportunity to be aware of
           desire and its futility, this great opportunity to get rid of desire. This is the great fortune! And sad is
           the man who has spent his youth loosely, unconsciously, and squandered his fortune. What to say
           about old people? Even in old age people are repeating the same stupid games.

              Ninety-year-old Parker went to a bordello and was so great in bed that the prostitute said, "Old
           man, if you can do it again, it's on the house!"
           "Okay," said Parker, "but if you don't mind, I'd like to take a fifteen-minute nap."
           "Okay."
           "And while I'm sleeping I'd like you to hold my ding dong!"
              She agreed. When he woke up, Parker gave another great performance. So the girl said, "Look, if
           you can handle it, I'll give you another one for free!"
              He agreed. "Okay, but I gotta take another fifteen-minute nap and while I'm sleeping, you have to
           hold my knob!"
              Parker woke up later and once again performed like a teenager. "Say, Pop," said the hooker, "I
           can understand why you want to take a fifteen-minute nap, but why did you want me to hold your
           ding dong?"
           "Well," said the old man, "the last place I went to, somebody stole my wallet!"

                A ninety-year-old man... but the same stupidities! Young people can be forgiven -- although
           Buddha is not ready to forgive them -- but they can be forgiven; they don't have much experience of
           life. But even old people, even on their deathbed, at the moment of death, they are still thinking of
           stupid things and desires. Somebody is thinking of money, somebody is thinking of sex, somebody is
           thinking of becoming famous -- even on their deathbed! They are completely unaware that they have
           wasted a fortune.
                SAD IS THE MAN WHO IN HIS YOUTH LIVED LOOSELY AND SQUANDERED HIS
           FORTUNE.... And almost everybody in the world today IS living loosely. By "living loosely"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha means that living unconsciously, we go on wasting opportunities which could become great
           moments of understanding. I am not saying escape from the world; I am not saying escape from
           anywhere -- but certainly you have to be there with more awareness.

               When a recently bought rooster died after only three weeks on the job, Farmer Foster was
           determined that its replacement would last much longer. So before putting the new rooster to work,
           Foster dosed it heavily with vitamins and pep pills. The instant the bird was released, it charged into
           the hen coop and serviced every one of the hens. Then it flew into the adjoining coop and proceeded
           to do the same for the geese.
               Farmer Foster went back to the house, shaking his head and muttering, "He will never last out the
           day."
               Around sunset, Foster was crossing the yard, and there lay the rooster, legs aloft, flat on its back,
           with two hungry buzzards slowly circling above.
           "Damn it!" groaned Foster. "Now I have got to buy me another new rooster!"
               The rooster opened one eye, winked, and pointed at the nearing buzzards, saying, "Shhh!"

           Be a little more alert than the rooster!
               Man is man only when he becomes aware of what he is doing. Otherwise a few are roosters and a
           few are bulls and a few are horses -- in the form of men. A few are money-mad, a few are sex
           maniacs, a few are power-hungry. These are all ill people and they have suffered for many lives, but
           it has become such a settled pattern with them that they go on moving in circles.

              SAD IS A BROKEN BOW,
              AND SADLY IS HE SIGHING
              AFTER ALL THAT HAS ARISEN AND HAS PASSED AWAY.


               The day is not far away when you will see that you are just a broken bow. The day is not far
           away when you will breathe your last, and then you will sigh and weep and cry deep within yourself,
           because you will know that whatsoever you have been doing has been all just a dream, writing on
           water. You have lived with shadows; you have not gained any substance in your life. You have
           wasted a great opportunity in which you could have become a buddha.
               Unless you become a Buddha or a Krishna or a Christ, remember that you are wasting a great
           treasure bestowed upon you by existence. You have not earned it, you don't deserve it. It is a pure
           gift, a gift of love. Please don't waste it....
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                     Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: Morning has broken
           14 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910140
              ShortTitle: DHAM504
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I AM DEAD, AM I REALLY DEAD? I WANT TO BE REALLY CONVINCED THAT DEATH IS
              ETERNAL SLEEP.


                Ram Jethmalani, death is the greatest illusion. It has never happened, it can't happen in the very
           nature of things. Yes, there is something which creates the illusion: death is a disconnection between
           the body and the soul but only a disconnection; neither the body dies nor the soul. The body cannot
           die because it is already dead; it belongs to the world of matter. How can a dead thing die? And the
           soul cannot die because it belongs to the world of eternity, God -- it is life itself. How can life die?
                Both are together in us. This connection becomes disconnected; the soul becomes unplugged
           from the body -- that's all that death is, what we call death. The body moves back to matter, to the
           earth; and the soul, if it still has desires, longings, starts seeking another womb, another opportunity
           to fulfill them. Or if the soul is finished with all desires, with all longings, then there is no longer any
           possibility of its coming back into a bodily form -- then it moves into eternal consciousness.
                Moving into eternal consciousness is a very paradoxical phenomenon: one is not and yet one is.
           A dewdrop slipping into the ocean is no more, in a sense -- as a dewdrop it is no more; the boundary
           that made it a dewdrop has disappeared. But in another sense it is more than it has ever been: it has
           become the very ocean, its boundary has expanded to infinity, its boundary has exploded into the
           unbounded.
                A man like Buddha becomes the universal consciousness, yet -- and this is the paradox -- his
           individuality is not lost, his consciousness is not lost.
                So, Ram, I cannot say that death is eternal sleep -- on the contrary, it is eternal awakening. Poets
           have been telling you down the ages: Death is eternal sleep -- don't be afraid. They themselves know
           not, they are simply giving you consolation. But what can the difference be between real death and
           eternal sleep? Have you ever thought about it? If sleep is eternal it is death. If it is never going to be
           broken then where is the difference? A corpse and an eternally asleep man are exactly the same. If
           the sleep is going to be forever and forever, it is death.
                The primitive people are far closer to the truth: they say that sleep is a small death. They are
           right, because for a few hours you become completely oblivious to the world, to others, to yourself,
           to your body. You become completely disconnected for a few hours, then you are reconnected again.
           It is a small death. Sleep is a small death but not vice versa: death is not eternal sleep; if it were then
           what would the difference be, Ram?
                If you simply want to console yourself that, "I will be eternally asleep in death," that's another
           matter. But the truth is not to console you; truth is as it is. The truth is that death has two
           possibilities. If you die with longing, desiring, then it brings you back into another body, because
           without a body you cannot make any effort to fulfill your desires. Without the body you cannot eat
           food, you cannot make love; without the body you cannot become the prime minister of a country --
           without the body it is impossible to do anything. The body is the vehicle for doing things; gaining,
           journeying, reaching, arriving. Without the body you simply are; it is a state of being. With the body
           you are always becoming: becoming this, becoming that, richer, more famous, more successful.
           Without the body all becoming ceases. Becoming is another name for desiring, so if a person dies
           with a deep, deep desire to become something he will be born again into another body. That is one
           alternative.
                The second is: if you have understood the futility of desire, the utter stupidity of desire, if you
           have seen it through and through -- that no desire can ever be fulfilled, that it promises and it
           promises greatly but it never delivers the goods, that all desires are deceptive, that it is because of
           our unintelligence that we go on being victims of desires; if you have seen it through and through
           and you die with no projection in the mind, with no seed of desire, then all seeds are burned. It is
           because of this that Patanjali has called the ultimate state of samadhi, NIRBEEJ samadhi, seedless
           samadhi -- if you can die with all the seeds burned, there will be no sprout anymore, there will be no
           other births.
                Then where do you go? You don't fall asleep. In fact to attain to a state of seedless samadhi one
           has to be absolutely awake, one has to be a buddha, because the seeds of desire are burned only in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the fire of awakening. So if you die without any desire, you die in utter awareness, you see death
           happening. And remember again, by "death" I mean you see the disconnection happening -- slowly
           slowly, the soul is becoming separate from the body. Slowly slowly, it is becoming uprooted from
           the body, it is becoming freer from the prison. And one moment comes when you are totally free
           from the prison, outside the prison cell called the bodymind mechanism.
               Then you remain eternally awake. Then you remain in the universe, diffused in the ocean of life,
           but eternally awake. It is not a state of sleep.
               You ask me, "When I am dead, am I really dead?" Ram Jethmalani, the real YOU will not be
           dead, but Ram Jethmalani is going to be dead, because Ram Jethmalani is nothing but the name of
           the combination of soul and body; it is the name of the identity. We feel identified with our bodies;
           we think we are our bodies, our minds. Remember, mind is only a part of the body, the subtle part,
           the invisible part. If we are identified with the bodymind mechanism, then certainly this
           identification is going to die.
               Ram Jethmalani is bound to die, but there is something in Ram Jethmalani which is not going to
           die. You have to become aware of it. And the only way to become aware of it is to be more
           meditative, to be more of a witness. Start watching your body, start watching your mind; don't get
           involved, remain aloof, distant, cool. Just as one sits on the bank of a river and watches the river
           flow by. You don't say, "I am the river." So it is with the body, watch it. Become more and more of a
           witness. And as witnessing grows and becomes integrated, you will be able to see Ram Jethmalani
           disappearing even before death.
               In meditation the ego dies, the ego disappears. Once the ego has disappeared, once you have seen
           yourself as an egoless entity, then there is no death for you.
               We can say it in another way: it is the ego that creates the illusion of death. And ego itself is
           false, hence death too is false. We cling to the false, that's why we have to suffer from death.
               Sannyas means to become disidentified from the bodymind mechanism -- becoming a witness, a
           seer, a watcher on the hill. And as you become a seer, a watcher, the hill rises higher and higher, and
           the dark, dark valley is left behind. You go on seeing the valley for the time being; then, slowly
           slowly, it becomes so distant you can't see it, you can't hear any noise from the valley, and a moment
           comes at the ultimate peak of the hill when the valley no longer exists for you. Then although alive,
           in a sense you are dead. Ashtavakra, one of the greatest seers of this country, says: The sannyasin is
           one who is dead even while he is alive. But the person who is dead while he is alive will be alive
           when he is dead.
               You also ask me, "I want to be really convinced that death is eternal sleep."
               Ram, convictions can't help much, because conviction means somebody else silencing your
           doubts, repressing your doubts, somebody else becoming an authority for you. Maybe logically he is
           more argumentative, maybe he has a great rational mind and he can convince you that there is no
           death, and you may be silenced and your doubts may be silenced. But even the doubts that have been
           silenced will come back again, sooner or later, because they have not disappeared -- they have only
           been repressed by logical arguments.
               Convictions don't help much; doubts persist as an undercurrent. One is a convinced Christian,
           another is a convinced Hindu. And I have seen all kinds of people -- they are all full of doubts, all of
           them -- Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans. In fact the more full of doubt a person is, the more
           stubborn he is, the more he tries to believe, because those doubts are painful. He says, "I strongly
           believe in the Gita, in the Koran, in the Bible. I am a staunch Catholic."
               Why do you need to be a staunch Catholic? For what? You must be suffering from great doubts.
           If you don't have any doubts you don't have any beliefs either. Doubts are the diseases and beliefs are
           the medicines, but all beliefs are allopathic medicines -- they repress, they are all poisons. All beliefs
           are poisonous. Yes, for the time being they can give you a feeling that now there is no problem, but
           soon the doubts will assert themselves; they will wait for the right time. They will explode with great
           urgency one day. They will erupt like a volcano; they will take revenge. Because you have repressed
           them they have gathered too much energy. One day, in some weak moment, when you are off guard,
           they will take revenge. Your so-called saints are all suffering from great doubts.
               No, I cannot give you any conviction; I don't trust convictions, beliefs. But, Ram, I can invite
           you to come along with me, I can help you to see. Why be convinced? There is no need.
               I have seen and I can help you to see, and only your own seeing is going to be of any value. I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have realized: I can help you to realize. I have traveled the path: I can take your hand in my hand, I
           can take you, slowly slowly, to the highest peak of meditative experience. Your own experience will
           be a real transformation; then doubts can never come back again. And when YOU have known, you
           will be surprised that all the poets who have been telling you that death is sleep, deep sleep, eternal
           sleep, have been telling you lies -- consoling lies, beautiful lies, helpful lies, but lies ARE lies, and
           the help can only be momentary.
               It is like when you are too worried, too tense and you take to alcohol. Yes, for a few hours you
           will forget all your worries and all your tensions, but the alcohol cannot take your worries away
           forever; it cannot solve them. And while you are drowned in alcohol those worries are growing,
           becoming stronger; you are giving them time to grow. And when you are back the next morning with
           a hangover and a headache added to the worries, you will be surprised; they are bigger than when
           you had left them.
               Then it becomes a pattern of life: become again and again intoxicated so you can forget -- but
           again and again you have to face your life. This is not an intelligent way to live.
               I am against all intoxicants, against all drugs. They don't help; they only help you to postpone
           problems. I would like to really solve your problems. I have solved mine, and the problems are the
           same, more or less. I can bring you closer to me so you can feel my heart and you can see through
           my eyes and you can feel what has happened. And that feeling, that taste, will become a magnetic
           pull on you.
               It is not a conviction, it is not a belief -- it creates trust. And once trust is created the journey has
           started. I know, Ram, you need great help. I have looked into your eyes -- just once you have been
           here and just once I have looked into your eyes -- they look very sad. You must be carrying great
           anguish inside yourself.
               On the outside you are a successful man, the topmost criminal advocate in this country. On the
           outside you are successful in every way -- a member of the parliament, president of the lawyers
           association of India -- but deep down I have seen, just a passing glimpse, that you are sitting on a
           volcano. I have seen great anguish in your eyes, great tears just waiting to flow from your eyes. You
           are not in any way blissful.
               I can make you blissful -- why ask for convictions? -- I can give you the real experience. My
           whole effort here is not to give beliefs to people but experiences, not to help them superficially but
           really to transform them. I am absolutely available to you. And you cannot escape me for long.
               Ram is also my advocate and he enjoys telling people that "I am God's advocate." But to be my
           advocate is to be in danger; sooner or later you will be trapped. Maybe that's why I have chosen you
           as my advocate, so that you can come closer to me. My ways are devious.
               A great love has arisen in you for me. Now, that love is the first flower of the spring; much more
           is on the way.
               But remember, my whole approach is that of existential experience. I don't want you to be
           believers, I would like you to experience on your own; I don't want to convince you. What I am
           saying is my experience: there is no death. I am not saying to you, "Believe that there is no death." I
           am simply expressing, sharing my experience that there is no death. It is a challenge! It is not an
           effort to convince you, it is a challenge to come and explore. You are welcome. Think of me as your
           home!

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               I HAVE FELT A DEEP SADNESS ALL DAY LONG STEMMING FROM YOUR REMARKS TODAY
               ABOUT PSYCHOANALYSIS AND RECALLING YOUR JOKES OVER THE YEARS ABOUT
               PSYCHIATRISTS. IN MY OWN LIFE I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH ENCOUNTERING A FEW
               RARE AND WISE PSYCHIATRISTS, PSYCHOLOGISTS -- ONE OF WHOM LED ME TO YOU.
               THESE PEOPLE PROVIDED -- AND CONTINUE TO PROVIDE -- AN OASIS FOR ME IN AN
               OTHERWISE BARREN DESERT IN THE WEST. IT IS NOT SO MUCH THEIR PROFESSION AS
               THE LEVEL OF THEIR BEING THAT ATTRACTS ME.
               WHY DO YOU HIT THIS PROFESSION SO HARD? AND HOW CAN I TRUST MYSELF AND MY
               EXPERIENCE WHEN IT CONFLICTS WITH WHAT YOU SAY? I FEEL CAUGHT IN A PARADOX.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Prem Sarjana, I hit people only when I love them, I don't waste my hits on unnecessary people,
           on unworthy people. Psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, psychologists, are my targets. I am throwing my
           net to catch hold of as many as possible.

           It is said of Jesus:
                One day, early in the morning, he came to the lake; two brothers, both fishermen, were throwing
           their net into the lake to catch fish.
                Jesus puts his hand on one of the brothers; he looks back, looks into those eyes of Jesus which
           are far deeper than the lake, far more silent than the lake and far more beautiful.... He understands
           only the lake; his whole life he has been working on the lake, fishing. Looking into the eyes of Jesus,
           for the first time he becomes aware that this is possible, that eyes can be so beautiful and can have
           such depth and such clarity and such blueness and such vastness. He is immensely attracted -- he is a
           simple fisherman -- and Jesus says to him, "Enough is enough, you have been catching fish your
           whole life, now come and follow me: I will teach you the art of how to catch men."
                And the fisherman followed Jesus, became one of his apostles.

                I am interested, immensely interested, in catching all kinds of psychologists, psychoanalysts,
           psychiatrists, for the simple reason that they have the greatest potential. They can become the right
           soil for the new man to arrive; they are free of all religious nonsense, they are free from all political
           stupidity. They are the freest men in a way. Now there is only one thing left with them, a thin barrier:
           they have made psychoanalysis their religion, they have created their own trinity -- Freud, Adler,
           Jung. They have created their own Bible, their own theology, now they are caught in it... it happens.
                When you have lived for centuries in prisons, even if you are allowed freedom you will soon
           enter into another prison because that has become your habit. You cannot live without chains. They
           have broken all the chains but they have now created new chains of their own making, and when you
           make your own chains, handmade, homemade, you are more attached to them.
                Who bothers about what Buddha said? Twenty-five centuries have passed. Who cares what Jesus
           said or did not say? In fact they have receded so far that nobody is really obsessed with them, except
           a few people -- who are not contemporaries, who are still living twenty centuries back.
                But when you create your own chains and your own prisons... and psychoanalysis is the latest
           religion -- it is very much easier to fall a victim to psychoanalysis, to Sigmund Freud than to Jesus
           Christ; it is easier to believe in Marx than in Mohammed, than in Mahavira, than in Manu, than in
           Moses, because he is so close to us, he speaks such a contemporary language. And that's what has
           happened to the communists. The Kremlin has become their Kaaba, their Kashi, their Kailash; they
           also have their own trinity -- Marx, Engels, Lenin; they have their own Bible -- DAS KAPITAL.
           They have their own apostles -- Stalin, Mao, Castro, Tito. And the same is happening to
           psychoanalysis, it has become a new religion.
                I hit psychoanalysts, Sarjana, because I love them. I am really interested in them. I would like
           them to come and experience me, and to come and to know what is happening here. And many have
           heard the call; out of all the professions, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, psychologists, have received
           me the most deeply, the most profoundly. Hundreds of them have come and become sannyasins.
                And certainly I go on joking about them; those jokes are also my love affair. That's how I show
           my love, my interest.
                You say, "I have felt a deep sadness all day long stemming from your remarks today about
           psychoanalysis and recalling your jokes over the years about psychiatrists."
                You seem to have made a religion out of psychoanalysis yourself, that's why you feel sad;
           otherwise you would have enjoyed the jokes, you would have loved them. They are so true.
                Psychiatrists are crazy people, I mean beautiful people. Whenever I say that somebody is crazy, I
           am appreciating them. You have to learn my language. Whenever I say that somebody is crazy I
           mean that somebody is valuable. To be normal is not a very great thing; to be normal is to be
           average. That is a condemnation, that somebody is just normal; that means he has nothing in him, he
           is just hollow.
                Don't feel sad, I am not against psychoanalysis -- although I would like psychoanalysts to go
           beyond it. It has to be a stepping-stone. And whenever I see somebody clinging to a stepping-stone I
           hit him hard to show him that there is something beyond.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And you say, "In my own life I have been blessed with encountering a few rare and wise
           psychiatrists, psychologists -- one of whom led me to you."
                You may have -- there are a few people who are really intelligent, knowledgeable. But you don't
           understand the meaning of the word 'wisdom'. It is impossible to find a wise psychoanalyst; if he
           were wise he would have already become a sannyasin, he would not be a psychoanalyst any longer.
           And they can be of great help; and particularly in the West where masters don't exist, a
           psychoanalyst is the only possibility of gaining any help, a pure substitute for a master -- because the
           master means one who is enlightened, one who has arrived, one who no longer has any problems to
           solve, any desires to be fulfilled -- one who is already fulfilled.
                It is very difficult to find a master in the West. The next best is the psychiatrist, the
           psychoanalyst. But remember, he is only the next best. And when I say it is difficult to find masters
           in the West I mean that the Western tradition has fallen into the hands of the priests. For two
           thousand years the priests have not allowed masters to survive, to exist; or even if, in spite of them, a
           person became enlightened, he had to go into hiding. He could not declare his enlightenment, he
           could not share his enlightenment, or he had to share it in such a way that the priests didn't become
           aware of what he was doing.
                So two things Western enlightened people have been doing: one was pretending to be part of the
           church, using the language of the church and pouring their enlightenment into it, because that was
           one of the ways not to get into conflict with the church and the state; that's what was done by Meister
           Eckhart, Saint Francis, Jacob Bohme and others. They remained part of the church. It was just a
           device to survive and to share something. And they used the language of the church which is very
           unfitting. They could not be so free as Zen masters or Sufi masters; they could not express
           themselves totally; they had to force their experience into Christian jargon, which was dull, dead. Or
           those who were not ready to compromise had to go into hiding, they had to go underground; that's
           how alchemy was born. Alchemists were not chemists; alchemists were not really trying to transform
           base metals into gold, that was just a device to hide behind.
                The alchemists were real masters but they pretended to be alchemists, and if you had seen them
           from the outside you would have seen them concerned with base metals and gold and silver. And
           many experiments were going on, but deep inside the real experiment was going on. Transforming
           unconsciousness into consciousness -- that is the real transformation of base metal into gold. Gold
           represents consciousness, enlightenment.
                So this happened in the West. The priests were so powerful and the priests were in such a
           conspiracy with the state that either they burned people like Joan of Arc, who was a mystic -- they
           killed many mystics -- or forced mystics to go underground, or forced them to speak the language of
           the church.
                Hence in the West masters almost disappeared, and now from the East, particularly from India,
           there are many many so-called masters roaming all over the West -- Mahesh Yogi, Muktananda,
           etcetera, etcetera. I call them "etceteranandas." These are all pseudo people, because a master waits
           for the disciple to come to him; there is no need for the master to go anywhere. If he has real
           magnetism he will attract people from the farthest corners of the world. If you don't have any
           magnetism in you then you will have to go and sell whatsoever you can to foolish people. So now
           the whole West is full of these pseudo masters.
                It is better, Sarjana, to be with a psychiatrist than to be with a Muktananda, because the
           psychiatrist is at least moving in the right direction. He has not arrived yet but he is moving in the
           right direction. You can find a few very intelligent people in that profession. But wisdom is totally
           different: wisdom means enlightenment, wisdom means one who has known himself.
                But I can understand your difficulty: being in the desert of the West, an oasis becomes of
           tremendous importance, and that's why you become very sad if I hit psychoanalysts. But without
           hitting them it is impossible to wake them up. I can understand your difficulty. But now that you are
           here, part of a buddhafield, you should get rid of your psychoanalysts and psychiatrists. Say goodbye
           to them; thank them for all that they have done for you, but say goodbye to them. In the West you
           were helpless and that was the only possibility of getting any help.

           "It was deep in the woods back yonder," began old Herbie, the guide. "I was plodding along minding
           my own business when suddenly a huge bear sneaked up behind me. He pinned my arms to my sides
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and started to squeeze the breath out of me. My gun fell out of my hands. First thing you know, the
           bear had stooped down, picked up the gun, and was pressing it against my back."
           "What did you do?" gasped the tenderfoot.
              Old Herbie sighed, "What could I do? I married his daughter!"

               In the West what else could you do? Helpless.... But now that you are here don't feel sad if I hit
           psychoanalysts.
               You say, "It is not so much their profession as the level of their being that attracts me."
               You don't know what you are saying. What level of being are you talking about? I have seen
           hundreds of psychoanalysts -- the commune is full of them, we have more psychiatrists than
           psychiatric patients. What level of being? There are not many levels of being in the first place.
               There are only two planes: either you are enlightened, or you are unenlightened. Do you think
           there are many many planes so that one man is ten percent enlightened, another is twenty percent
           enlightened, another is thirty percent enlightened? No, either it is one hundred percent or it is zero --
           zero percent or one hundred percent.
               You must have been attracted -- that much I can understand -- but your attraction is more
           because of you than because of the level of the person to whom you became attracted.
               The West is suffering from many mental illnesses; it is better to suffer from mental illnesses than
           to suffer from physical ones, it is at least something higher. It is better to be rich and frustrated than
           to be poor and starving. I have known both poverty and richness, and to be frank with you I must
           say, to be rich is better, because the rich person suffers from rich illnesses; the poor person suffers
           from poor illnesses. The poor person is concerned with the body, the rich person is concerned with
           the mind.
               And the psychiatrist, the psychoanalyst, can provide you with many consolations, many
           adjustments. And, certainly, when you are disturbed anybody who looks undisturbed, who looks
           very wise in his advice, who goes on analyzing your dreams, looks as if he has a different level of
           being. It is not so.
               All that psychoanalysis is doing is helping people to become adjusted. The Western modern
           mind has become very maladjusted -- it is a good sign, it is the sign of a crisis, an identity crisis. All
           the old values have become invalid, new values are needed. The past has become irrelevant; we have
           succeeded so much in the West that we cannot live with the values which were created when people
           were poor, remember it.
               A poor society needs different values, a rich society needs different values. When a poor society
           succeeds in becoming rich it becomes maladjusted, because it goes on teaching the old values which
           are no longer relevant, and it lives in the new society which is rich.
               So people's minds are in a mess. What has been told to them by the priest, by the school, by the
           college and the university, belongs to the past. And the society has moved from there. It is as if you
           are taught the mechanism of a bullock cart and you have a car; you will be maladjusted, because you
           know the mechanism of a bullock cart and you have a Mercedes Benz. You are at a loss; your
           knowledge is irrelevant, but you cling to your knowledge because that is all that you know. That's
           what is happening.
               People were told for centuries to be ambitious, to have all kinds of riches, to succeed in the
           world. Now it has all happened! Now to tell people to be rich, to be successful, is utterly futile. They
           will laugh at you, they will say, "What nonsense are you talking about!"
               Hence the hippies. In the East they cannot happen; old values are still relevant -- people know
           about bullock carts and people have bullock carts. They fit perfectly well. But Western technology,
           Western science, Western affluence, has gone far ahead of the Western mind and attitudes. So
           everybody is at a loss. A person's knowledge does not fit with the situation he lives in. He cannot
           drop the knowledge because by dropping the knowledge he becomes almost ignorant. And there is
           no other knowledge available.
               The function of the psychiatrist is to help these maladjusted people to become adjusted again.
           This is not very revolutionary work; it is antirevolutionary, it is reactionary. That's why I hit
           psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has to herald the new age! And on the contrary, what it is doing is
           helping people to become adjusted to the old, rotten society, which is dying. Psychoanalysis has to
           help people towards the new man who is soon to arrive on the horizon. That's my effort here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              My work is multidimensional. It is not only religious, it is not only educational, it is not only
           psychological, it is not only artistic -- it has all the dimensions; because the new man will be a
           multidimensional man. And psychoanalysis is helping the old, rotten society to survive better than it
           would survive without the help of psychoanalysis.

               Priests, rabbis, and ministers often face anxieties, fears, and frustrations. This was the case with
           Father Flannagan. The demands of his parish overwhelmed him. He feared lest he might face a
           complete mental breakdown. So he consulted a psychiatrist. The doctor encouraged him to lay aside
           his ecclesiastical vestments, then don civilian clothes, red tie, striped shirt, overalls, go out to a
           tavern and mingle with common people who frequent such places. There, incognito, he might readily
           overcome his frustrations. He accepted the prescription, changed his garments , and made his first
           trip to the tavern.
               As he sat at a table a go-go girl came tripping up to him to take his order.
               Said she, "Have I not seen you before? Your face looks familiar."
               A bit embarrassed he answered, "No, indeed, you have never seen me before. This is the first
           time I have ever been in this tavern."
               Finding the treatment encouraging, he returned to the tavern a second time. The same go-go girl
           rushed over to him to take his order. This time she said, "I am sure that I have seen you some place."
               More embarrassed, but still convinced that he was unrecognized, he exclaimed, "Of course you
           have never seen me before. This is only the second time I have ever come to this tavern."
               Some time later he visited the tavern for a third time. Immediately the little go-go girl ran to him
           with a big smile saying, "Now I know who you are! You are Father Flannagan from the church on
           Dublin Street!"
               The shock of this recognition almost floored him, but the little girl tapped him on the shoulder
           with these sympathetic assurances: "Don't fret, Father Flannagan! I am Sister Elizabeth from Saint
           Theresa Convent. I go to the same psychiatrist!"

               The old ideas about life, the old morality, the old ideas of sin and repentance, all have become
           irrelevant. The old priesthood is absolutely maladjusted, and the people who live according to old
           religious ideas are feeling out of place. And the new people are also feeling out of place, hence the
           gap between the generations -- it has never been so big as it is today.
               Parents can't understand children, children can't understand parents. They speak different
           languages, there is no communication; a China Wall has come between parents and children.
               All the old cherished values, cherished for centuries and centuries, look stupid. Things that we
           thought were spiritual are no longer spiritual. The world needs a new spirituality and a new kind of
           religiousness.
               I hit psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, more than any other profession for the simple reason that they
           are the ones who can understand what I am doing here. And if they understand rightly they will serve
           the future and not the past. They will help you to become more harmonious with yourself rather than
           become adjusted to an ill society which is just on its deathbed.
               That is where my work differs: I don't help you to become adjusted to society. This society is
           bound to die, it is doomed to die, and the sooner it happens, the better, because it has become ugly.
           To go on carrying this rotten corpse does not allow people to live rightly. They have to take care of
           the corpse which stinks, and there are so many corpses in your house that there is no space for you to
           live.
               We have to get rid of the past. Up to now neither Freudian nor Adlerian nor Jungian psychology
           has been of any help; it has become part of the establishment. As priests have been doing in the past,
           psychoanalysts are now doing the same: helping people to compromise with society, helping people
           to be normal. Normality is not health! Health is very rebellious, and psychoanalysis is not yet
           courageous enough to be rebellious. Hence I hit it -- because I know the potential; it can become
           rebellious.
               Once psychoanalysis becomes rebellious it will help the new man to arrive sooner, it will help
           the first real revolution in the world. Up to now all the revolutions were very tiny, pseudo,
           superficial, because the real revolution can happen only in the psyche of man, not in the social
           structure or the economic structure. A real revolution has nothing to do with politics; it has
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something to do with the spirituality of man.
           We have to create a new spirituality, a new vision.
               You say, Sarjana, "In my own life I have been blessed with encountering a few rare and wise
           psychiatrists, psychologists -- one of whom led me to you."
               But where is he? Now it is your duty to lead him to me. Pay him in the same coin! What is he
           doing there? He should be here! He must have read, he must have heard about me, but that is not the
           way to know me. The only way to know me is to be a sannyasin, is to be part of my energy field, to
           vibrate with me, to pulsate with me, to synchronize with me. Now this is your duty, you owe this to
           him. Help him to come here; he may be afraid to come himself.
               Just the other day I received a letter from Hari Chetana in Germany saying that on the radio a
           very famous psychologist was asked by a woman, "It is now six years since my son went to Poona
           and there seems to be no possibility that he will ever come back. What do you say about it?"
               And the famous doctor said, "I have heard much about Poona, I have read also. You need not be
           worried -- your son is in the right place."
               But hearing about me and reading about me while I am alive here.... And the distance between
           Berlin and Poona is nothing. Within hours you can be here -- he has never come here.
               These people know only one way of becoming acquainted with anything -- and that is reading,
           studying. These people are knowledgeable people, but not wise.
               We are helpless. We cannot do anything about Buddha -- we have to read him because he is no
           longer present. But how many times, reading Buddha and his beautiful sutras, has not the idea arisen
           in millions of hearts, "How fortunate it would have been if we had been alive in the time of Buddha."
           Or reading the beautiful words of Jesus has not the idea occurred to you that, "How tremendously
           blessed were those people who followed Jesus while he was alive, walked with him, talked with him,
           dined with him, wined with him"? Reading about Krishna have you not heard the distant, distant call
           of his flute? Have you not felt a little sad that now there is no possibility of encountering this
           beautiful man?
               But when buddhas are alive you don't use that opportunity. You may have been alive when Jesus
           was there -- he may have passed through your village and you may not have gone to see him. You
           may have been alive while Buddha walked on the earth and you may not have ever encountered him.
           You may have been alive while Krishna was playing on his flute and a few courageous people were
           dancing around him; you may have passed and you may have thought, "These people are crazy and
           this man has hypnotized them with his music" -- and you would have thought yourself very sane.
           But now you cry and weep and you feel sad.
               Sarjana, help your psychiatrists, your psychoanalysts to come here. Tell them a buddha is alive, a
           christ is back on the earth -- tell them!
               And this is not only a message for Sarjana, this is for all of you. Jesus says: Go on the rooftops
           and shout so that people can hear. I say to you also: shout from the rooftops; help as many people as
           you can to come here, because right now the water is available, the water is flowing. It can quench
           the thirst of millions, but they will have to come to the river and they will have to bow down to the
           river; only then can they receive the gift.
               Don't feel sad, feel happy that you are here. And I am going to hit again and again, so you have
           to become accustomed to my ways. I hit people only when I see great potential in them.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM OBSESSED WITH FOOD. I EAT TOO MUCH AND HAVE GAINED ENORMOUS WEIGHT. CAN
              YOU HELP ME TO REDUCE MY WEIGHT?


               Sangito, this is strange, coming to me from California just to reduce your weight. In California
           there are far more facilities available to reduce weight. I know it because I had to send Mulla
           Nasruddin to California. The problem was the same.

               When Mulla Nasruddin reached California, he was directed by our sannyasins there to this
           ultimate weight-losing program. It took four days and was guaranteed to take off fifty pounds or
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your money would be refunded.
                He entered the building and was told to enter the first door to his left and to undress there. He did
           so and then from a second door in the room entered a beautiful blonde woman, naked but for a sign
           around her neck. It read, "If you catch me, you can make love to me!"
                Nasruddin felt the passion rise within him. The room was fairly small, but the lady was agile, and
           it took him twenty minutes to catch her. After his love-making, Nasruddin showered and left, eagerly
           awaiting the next day.
                On the second day, he was directed to another room, a bit larger than the first. There a beautiful
           redhead, naked except for the sign, greeted him. The chase lasted for almost forty minutes.
                On the third day, it was another, larger room, and a beautiful brunette! After almost an hour, he
           caught her too.
                Throughout the three days, Nasruddin had kept an account of his weight loss -- twenty-eight
           pounds to date.
                On the fourth day, he envisioned perhaps a bevy of beauties. He was directed to the top floor. He
           climbed the stairs, removed his clothes and waited. There was a click behind him as the door was
           locked, and out of his left eye he caught sight of a huge gorilla coming his way with a sign around its
           neck which read, "If I catch you I'm going to make love to you!"

               Sangito, you need not come from California to Poona! But one thing is certain: people become
           obsessed with food only when they lose the capacity to love. It is an indication that you have
           forgotten the language of love. If you are in love you never become obsessed with food. Obsession
           with food is a symptom that you don't know how to love. How it happens has to be understood.
               The first acquaintance of the child with the world is the mother's breast. That is his first
           introduction to the world, his entry into the world -- his first relationship is with the breast of the
           mother. And the breast becomes the symbol for him of two things: food and love.
               Whenever the mother is loving, the breast is available; and whenever the mother is unloving, the
           breast is not available. Food and love become associated; a deep conditioned reflex happens. It
           becomes so unconsciously rooted that you repeat it your whole life. If the child knows that the
           mother loves him he will not drink too much, because he KNOWS, he is secure; whenever he needs
           the mother her breast will be available.
               If the child is insecure and feels that next time the mother may not be available, he will start
           drinking too much, eating too much.
               Now, you can see the point: whenever love is there, there is security and a kind of fulfillment,
           and the child never becomes obsessed with food. If love is not there, there is insecurity, fear, and a
           kind of emptiness, and the child stuffs that emptiness with food.
               In the West, weight is becoming more and more of a problem for the simple reason that mothers
           are not ready to give their breasts to their children. Of course the breast loses its shape; and the fear
           that the breasts will lose their shape and make the woman look old has gripped the mind of women
           in the West so deeply that they are afraid to give their breasts to their children. And they are creating
           an obsession about food in the child unknowingly, unconsciously. The child will become obsessed
           with food, he will eat too much. Eating will become his substitute for love.
               Sangito, you will have to learn love. There is no other way to reduce your weight. All other
           programs can help you a little bit, but sooner or later you will gain weight again because the basic
           root cause remains the same. You can diet, you can run, swim, exercise, but how long can you diet?
           Sooner or later you will be fed up with dieting and your mind will become more and more obsessed
           with eating. Now you will eat in your fantasy, in your dreams, and your mind will convince you that
           this is not the right way to live. You can't eat this, you can't eat that, and somehow if you ask the
           doctors, all the good things have to be avoided.

               A child was talking to his mother, "You say God is very wise. I don't believe it."
           The mother said, "But why don't you believe it?"
               He said, "If he was wise, he would have put more vitamins in ice cream. He puts vitamins in
           things which are uneatable, and things which are really worth eating are dangerous."

              How long will you avoid ice cream? The temptation will be such that it will be unavoidable. So
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you can lose weight for a few days and then you will eat too much, you will take revenge. And you
           may gain more weight than you had lost by dieting. This is the pattern of millions of people,
           particularly in the West.
                In the East people are starving. You can see a few fat people in Bombay, in Delhi, in Calcutta,
           but that's all. If you go to the real India, eighty percent of the people in India are starving. There is no
           question of gaining more weight, they don't have enough weight. They are suffering from
           malnutrition. Yes, sometimes you will find villagers with big bellies and thin bodies, because they
           are eating food which is not nourishing, unbalanced, and they eat only when it is available. So when
           it is available they eat too much.
                There are millions of people in India who eat only once a day because they can't afford to eat
           twice. So to keep their bodies together for twenty-four hours they eat anything, whatsoever is
           available; sometimes they have to eat the roots of trees.
                So the problem is not in the East, the problem is in the West where enough food is available and
           people have completely forgotten that food grows on trees. Children know that food grows in the
           fridges. You go to the fridge any time and food is available.

               I have heard about a woman who must have been suffering like Sangito. She went to her
           psychiatrist and asked him his advice -- what to do? He pondered over the problem and gave her a
           picture, a picture of a naked woman, such an ugly fat woman, disgusting, nauseating, sickening --
           just to see it was enough to become afraid of food. And he told the woman, "Stick it inside your
           fridge so that whenever you open it you will see this picture -- this will remind you of what is going
           to happen to you."
               So she sticks in the picture of the naked woman. The psychiatrist has also given her another
           picture of a beautiful young woman with a very proportionate body, a world beauty, and has told her,
           "Stick this in too, so you can compare. If you don't eat too much you will be like this woman, if you
           eat too much you will be like that one."
               Immediately, from the next day, the woman starts losing weight. But a miracle happens: her
           husband starts gaining weight. The woman is puzzled. She says, "What is the matter?"
               He says, "Since you have put that beautiful naked woman inside the fridge, I go again and again
           to see the picture. And when I see the picture I see the food too, and the flavor and the smell... and I
           say, 'Why not take a cake or some ice cream or something?' I am eating too much because of your
           pictures."

               In the West the child grows with the idea that food is somehow miraculously produced by the
           fridges and it is always available, twenty-four hours a day; any time he can go and eat. And mothers
           have taken their breasts away and mothers are not available much either. The husbands go to work
           and the mothers go to so many committees -- they belong to the liberation movement, and
           consciousness-raising committees -- and they have so many charity shows going on and they have to
           sell tickets and collect the charity funds... they are not available. The father is gone, the mother is
           gone; the child is left with the fridge and with no love.
               Sangito, just understand the root cause of it: love is missing somewhere in your life. I will not
           take your obsession with food as a real problem, it is a symptom. Love is the real problem -- love
           more. And if you love more, you will be loved more. And it is not yet too late; you can find a
           woman. And all women are mothers, and all men are always like children. So any woman will do,
           because she will function like a mother. And each man needs a mother his whole life, he needs
           mothering, and each woman needs children. Even the husband is only the oldest child, that's all. And
           if you cannot find one, you can come to me -- I always have many applications with me; women
           searching for men, men searching for women. And I fix anybody with anybody! I don't believe in
           astrology, I believe only in accidents.

               Mulla Nasruddin awoke one morning and looked at the clock. It was five minutes to five. Unable
           to go back to sleep, he went to the front door to get his newspaper. On the front page he saw the
           date: May 5th.
           "Oh, fifth day, fifth month, five minutes before five," he thought. "Today will be my lucky day!"
               He decided to go to the horse races, so he got dressed and went to the corner to wait for the bus.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Soon it came -- it had the number five, and Nasruddin noticed when he boarded that there were three
           other passengers, the driver and himself -- five in all.
              He arrived at the track and waited for the fifth race. He bet five hundred rupees on number five to
           win -- his horse came in fifth!

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                   Chapter #5
                                   Chapter title: Love knows nothing of duty
           15 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910150
              ShortTitle: DHAM505
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              LOVE YOURSELF AND WATCH --
              TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS.



              FIRST ESTABLISH YOURSELF IN THE WAY,
              THEN TEACH,
              AND SO DEFEAT SORROW.



              TO STRAIGHTEN THE CROOKED
              YOU MUST FIRST DO A HARDER THING --
              STRAIGHTEN YOURSELF.



              YOU ARE YOUR ONLY MASTER.
              WHO ELSE?
              SUBDUE YOURSELF,
              AND DISCOVER YOUR MASTER.



              WILLFULLY YOU HAVE FED
              YOUR OWN MISCHIEF.
              SOON IT WILL CRUSH YOU
              AS THE DIAMOND CRUSHES STONE.



              BY YOUR OWN FOLLY
              YOU WILL BE BROUGHT AS LOW
              AS YOUR WORST ENEMY WISHES.
              SO THE CREEPER CHOKES THE TREE.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HOW HARD IT IS TO SERVE YOURSELF,
              HOW EASY TO LOSE YOURSELF
              IN MISCHIEF AND FOLLY.



              THE KATTHAKA REED DIES WHEN IT BEARS FRUIT.
              SO THE FOOL,
              SCORNING THE TEACHINGS OF THE AWAKENED,
              SPURNING THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE LAW,
              PERISHES WHEN HIS FOLLY FLOWERS.


              We begin with one of the most profound sutras of Gautama the Buddha:

              LOVE YOURSELF....


                Just the opposite has been taught to you by all the traditions of the world, all the civilizations, all
           the cultures, all the churches. They say: Love others, don't love yourself. And there is a certain
           cunning strategy behind their teaching.
                Love is the nourishment for the soul. Just as food is to the body, so love is to the soul. Without
           food the body is weak, without love the soul is weak. And no state, no church, no vested interest, has
           ever wanted people to have strong souls, because a person with spiritual energy is bound to be
           rebellious.
                Love makes you rebellious, revolutionary. Love gives you wings to soar high. Love gives you
           insight into things, so that nobody can deceive you, exploit you, oppress you. And the priests and the
           politicians survive only on your blood -- they survive only on exploitation. They are parasites, all the
           priests and all the politicians.
                To make you spiritually weak they have found a sure method, one hundred percent guaranteed,
           and that is to teach you not to love yourself -- because if a man cannot love himself he cannot love
           anybody else either. The teaching is very tricky. They say: Love others -- because they know if you
           cannot love yourself you cannot love at all. But they go on saying:Love others, love humanity, love
           God, love nature, love your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, but don't love yourself
           -- because to love oneself is selfish according to them.
                And they condemn self-love as they condemn nothing else -- and they have made their teaching
           look very logical. They say: If you love yourself you will become an egoist, if you love yourself you
           will become narcissistic. It is not true. A man who loves himself finds that there is no ego in him. It
           is by loving others without loving yourself, trying to love others, that the ego arises.
                The missionaries, the social reformers, the social servants, have the greatest egos in the world --
           naturally, because they think themselves to be superior human beings. They are not ordinary --
           ordinary people love themselves -- they love others, they love great ideals, they love God. And all
           their love is false, because all their love is without any roots.
                A man who loves himself takes the first step towards real love.
                It is like throwing a pebble into a silent lake: the first circular ripples will arise around the
           pebble, very close to the pebble, naturally -- where else can they arise? And then they will go on
           spreading; they will reach the farthest shore. If you stop those ripples arising close to the pebble,
           there will be no other ripples at all. Then you cannot hope to create ripples reaching to the farthest
           shores; it is impossible.
                And the priests and the politicians became aware of the phenomenon: stop people loving
           themselves and you have destroyed their capacity to love. Now whatsoever they think is love will be
           only pseudo. It may be duty, but not love -- and duty is a four-letter dirty word. Parents are fulfilling
           their duties towards their children, and then in return children will fulfill their duties towards their
           parents. The wife is dutiful towards her husband and the husband is dutiful towards his wife. Where
           is love?
                Love knows nothing of duty. Duty is a burden, a formality. Love is a joy, a sharing; love is
           informal. The lover never feels that he has done enough; the lover always feels that more was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible. The lover never feels, "I have obliged the other." On the contrary, he feels, "Because my
           love has been received, I am obliged. The other has obliged me by receiving my gift, by not rejecting
           it." The man of duty thinks, "I am higher, spiritual, extraordinary. Look how I serve people!"
                These servants of the people are the most pseudo people in the world, and the most mischievous
           too. If we can get rid of the public servants, humanity will be unburdened, will feel very light, will
           be able to dance again, sing again.
                But for centuries your roots have been cut, poisoned. You have been made afraid of ever being in
           love with yourself, which is the first step of love and the first experience. A man who loves himself
           respects himself, and a man who loves himself and respects himself respects others too, because he
           knows, "Just as I am, so are others. Just as I enjoy love, respect, dignity, so do others." He becomes
           aware that we are not different; as far as the fundamentals are concerned, we are one. We are under
           the same law: AES DHAMMO SANANTANO.
                Buddha says: We live under the same eternal law. In the details we may be a little bit different
           from each other -- which brings variety, which is beautiful -- but in the foundations we are part of
           one nature.
                The man who loves himself enjoys the love so much, becomes so blissful, that the love starts
           overflowing, it starts reaching others. It HAS to reach! If you live love, you have to share it. You
           cannot go on loving yourself forever, because one thing will become absolutely clear to you: that if
           loving one person, yourself, is so tremendously ecstatic and beautiful, how much more ecstasy is
           waiting for you if you start sharing your love with many many people!
                Slowly the ripples start reaching farther and farther. You love other people, then you start loving
           animals, birds, trees, rocks. You can fill the whole universe with your love. A single person is
           enough to fill the whole universe with love, just as a single pebble can fill the whole lake with
           ripples -- a small pebble.
                Only a Buddha can say: LOVE YOURSELF.... No priest, no politician, can agree with it,
           because this is destroying their whole edifice, their whole structure of exploitation. If a man is not
           allowed to love himself, his spirit, his soul, becomes weaker and weaker every day. His body may
           grow but he has no inner growth, because he has no inner nourishment. He remains a body almost
           without a soul or with only a potentiality, a possibility, of a soul. The soul remains a seed, and it will
           remain a seed if you cannot find the right soil of love for it. And you will not find it if you follow the
           stupid idea: "Don't love yourself."
                I also teach my sannyasins to love themselves first; it has nothing to do with ego. In fact, love is
           such a light that the darkness of the ego cannot exist in it at all. If you love others, if your love is
           focused on others, you will live in darkness.
                Turn your light towards yourself first, become a light unto yourself first. Let the light dispel your
           inner darkness, your inner weakness. Let love make you a tremendous power, a spiritual force. And
           once your soul is powerful you know you are not going to die, you are immortal, you are eternal.
                Love gives you the first insight into eternity; love is the only experience that transcends time.
           That's why lovers are not afraid of death: love knows no death. A single moment of love is more than
           a whole eternity. But love has to begin from the very beginning. Love has to start with this first step:
           LOVE YOURSELF....
                Don't condemn yourself. You have been condemned so much, and you have accepted all that
           condemnation. Now you go on doing harm to yourself. Nobody thinks himself worthy enough,
           nobody thinks himself a beautiful creation of God; nobody thinks that he is needed at all.
                These are poisonous ideas, but you have been poisoned. You have been poisoned with your
           mother's milk -- and this has been your whole past. Humanity has lived under a dark dark cloud of
           self-condemnation. If you condemn yourself, how can you grow? How can you ever become mature?
           And if you condemn yourself, how can you worship existence? If you cannot worship existence in
           you, you will become incapable of worshipping existence in others; it will be impossible. You can
           become part of the whole only if you have great respect for the God that resides within you.
                You are a host, God is your guest. By loving yourself you will know this: that God has chosen
           you to be a vehicle. In choosing you to be a vehicle he has already respected you, loved you. In
           creating you he has shown his love for you. He has not made you accidentally; he has made you with
           a certain destiny, with a certain potential, with a certain glory that you have to attain. Yes, God has
           created man in his own image.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Man has to become a god. Unless man becomes a god there is going to be no fulfillment, no
           contentment. But how can you become a god? Your priests say that you are a sinner. Your priests
           say that you are doomed, that you are bound to go to hell. And they make you very much afraid of
           loving yourself.
                This is their trick: to cut the very root of love. And they are very cunning people, the most
           cunning profession in the world is that of the priest; then he says: Love others. Now it is going to be
           plastic, synthetic, a pretension, a performance.
                They say: Now love humanity, your mother country, your motherland, life, existence, God. Big
           words, but utterly meaningless. Have you ever come across humanity? You always come across
           human beings -- and you have condemned the first human being that you came across, that is you.
           You have not respected yourself, not loved yourself. Now your whole life will be wasted in
           condemning others.
                That's why people are such great fault-finders. They find fault with themselves -- how can they
           avoid finding the same faults in others? In fact, they will find them and they will magnify them, they
           will make them as big as possible. That seems to be the only saving device; somehow, to save face,
           you have to do it. That's why there is so much criticism and such a lack of love.
                I say this is one of the most profound sutras of Buddha, and only an awakened person can give
           you such an insight.
                He says: LOVE YOURSELF.... This can become the foundation of a radical transformation.
           Don't be afraid of loving yourself. Love totally, and you will be surprised: the day you can get rid of
           all self-condemnation, self-disrespect, the day you can get rid of the idea of original sin, the day you
           can think of yourself as worthy and loved by God, will be a day of great blessing. From that day
           onwards you will start seeing people in their true light, and you will have compassion. And it will
           not be a cultivated compassion; it will be a natural, spontaneous flow.
                And a person who loves himself can easily become meditative, because meditation means being
           with yourself. If you hate yourself -- as you do, as you have been told to do, and you have been
           following it religiously -- if you hate yourself, how can you be with yourself? And meditation is
           nothing but enjoying your beautiful aloneness, celebrating yourself; that's what meditation is all
           about.
                Meditation is not a relationship; the other is not needed at all, one is enough unto oneself. One is
           bathed in one's own glory, bathed in one's own light. One is simply joyous because one is alive,
           because one is.
                The greatest miracle in the world is that you are, that I am. To BE is the greatest miracle, and
           meditation opens the doors of this great miracle. But only a man who loves himself can meditate;
           otherwise you are always escaping from yourself, avoiding yourself. Who wants to look at an ugly
           face and who wants to penetrate into an ugly being? Who wants to go deep into one's own mud, into
           one's own darkness? Who wants to enter into the hell that you think you are? You want to keep this
           whole thing covered up with beautiful flowers and you want always to escape from yourself.
                Hence people are seeking company continuously. They can't be with themselves; they want to be
           with others. People are seeking any type of company; if they can avoid the company of themselves
           anything will do. They will sit in a movie house for three hours seeing something utterly stupid.
           They will read a detective novel for hours, wasting their time. They will read the same newspaper
           again and again just to keep themselves engaged. They will play cards and chess just to kill time --
           as if they have too much time!
                We don't have too much time; we don't have time enough to grow, to be, to rejoice. But this is
           one of the basic problems created by a wrong upbringing: you avoid yourself.
                People are sitting before their TV's glued to their chairs, for four, five, even six hours. The
           average American is watching TV five hours per day, and this disease is going to spread all over the
           world. And what are you seeing and what are you getting? Burning your eyes... because TV is the
           first thing in the world in which you have to look at the very source of the light. Ordinarily you never
           look at the light itself -- you look at lighted objects. You don't look at the sun; you look at the rose --
           the sun is shining on the rose. You look at the green trees, you look at people's faces. You don't look
           at the electric bulb itself; you look at the painting on the wall. You will not be able to see the
           painting if the light is not there, but you don't look directly at the source of light because that burns
           the very delicate mechanism of your eye.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now in TV you are looking directly at the source of the light. A movie is far better than TV,
           because at least you are not looking directly at the source of light. TV is creating so many diseases,
           now they are suspecting that even cancer may be one of those diseases caused by TV. And a few
           more new diseases are bound to be discovered soon, because the generation that is looking at TV for
           five, six hours per day is growing up.
               But this has always been so; even if the TV were not there, there are other things. The problem is
           the same: how to avoid oneself, because one feels so ugly. And who has made you so ugly? -- your
           so-called religious people, your popes, your SHANKARACHARYAS. They are responsible for
           distorting your faces and they have succeeded. They have made everybody ugly.
               Each child is born beautiful, and then we start distorting his beauty, crippling him in many ways,
           paralyzing him in many ways, distorting his proportion, making him unbalanced. Sooner or later he
           becomes so disgusted with himself that he is ready to be with anybody. He may go to a prostitute just
           to avoid himself.
               LOVE YOURSELF..., says Buddha. And this can transform the whole world. It can destroy the
           whole ugly past. It can herald a new age, it can be the beginning of a new humanity.
               Hence my insistence on love -- but love begins with you yourself, then it can go on spreading. It
           goes on spreading of its own accord; you need not do anything to spread it.
               LOVE YOURSELF..., says Buddha. And then immediately he adds: AND WATCH.... That is
           meditation, that is Buddha's name for meditation. But the first requirement is to love yourself, and
           then watch. If you don't love yourself and start watching, you may feel like committing suicide.
               Many Buddhists feel like committing suicide because they don't pay attention to the first part of
           the sutra, they immediately jump to the second: watch yourself. In fact, I have never come across a
           single commentary on THE DHAMMAPADA, on these sutras of the Buddha, which has paid any
           attention to the first part: LOVE YOURSELF.
               Socrates says: Know thyself, Buddha says: Love thyself. And Buddha is far more true, because
           unless you love yourself you will never know yourself -- knowing comes only later on, love prepares
           the ground. Love is the possibility of knowing oneself, love is the right way to know oneself.

               I was staying once with a Buddhist monk, Jagdish Kashyap; he is now dead. He was a good man.
           We were talking about THE DHAMMAPADA and we came across this sutra, and he started talking
           about watching, as if he had not read the first part at all. No traditional Buddhist ever pays any
           attention to the first part; he simply bypasses it.
               I said to Bhikshu Jagdish Kashyap, "Wait! You are overlooking something very essential.
           Watching is the second step and you are making it the first step, and it cannot be the first step."
               Then he read the sutra again and he said with mystified eyes, "I have been reading THE
           DHAMMAPADA my whole life and I must have read this sutra millions of times -- it is my
           everyday morning prayer to go through THE DHAMMAPADA, I can repeat it simply from memory,
           but I have never thought that 'Love yourself' is the first part of meditation and watching is the second
           part."

               And this is the case with millions of Buddhists all over the world, and this is the case with
           neo-Buddhists also -- because in the West Buddhism is now spreading.
               The time for Buddha has come in the West. Now the West is ready to understand Buddha, and
           the same mistake is being made there too. Nobody thinks that "Love yourself" has to be the
           foundation of knowing yourself, of watching yourself... because unless you love yourself you cannot
           face yourself, you will avoid. Your watching may itself be a way of avoiding yourself.
           First:

              LOVE YOURSELF AND WATCH --
              TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS.


               Create loving energy around yourself. Love your body, love your mind. Love your whole
           mechanism, your whole organism. By "love" is meant: accept it as it is, don't try to repress. We
           repress only when we hate something, we repress only when we are against something. Don't
           repress, because if you repress, how are you going to watch? And we cannot look eye-to-eye at the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enemy; we can look only in the eyes of our beloved. If you are not a lover of yourself you will not be
           able to look into your own eyes, into your own face, into your own reality.
               Watching is meditation, Buddha's name for meditation. 'Watch' is Buddha's watchword. He says:
           Be aware, be alert, don't be unconscious. Don't behave in a sleepy way. Don't go on functioning like
           a machine, like a robot. That's how people are functioning.

               Mike had just moved into his apartment and decided he should get acquainted with his
           across-the-hall neighbor. When the door was opened he was delightfully surprised to see a beautiful
           young blonde bulging out of a skimpy see-through negligee.
               Mike looked her squarely in the eye and ad-libbed: "Hi! I am your new sugar across the hall --
           can I borrow a cup of neighbor?"

               People ARE living unconsciously: they are not aware of what they are saying, what they are
           doing -- they are not watchful. People go on guessing, not seeing; they don't have any insight, they
           can't have. Insight arises only through great watchfulness: then you can see even with closed eyes.
           Right now you can't see even with open eyes. You guess, you infer, you impose, you project.

           Grace lay on the psychiatrist's couch.
           "Close your eyes and relax," said the shrink, "and I will try an experiment."
               He took a leather key case from his pocket, flipped it open and shook the keys. "What did that
           sound remind you of?" he asked.
           "Sex," she whispered.
               Then he closed his key case and touched it to the girl's upturned palm. Her body stiffened.
           "And that?" asked the psychiatrist.
           "Sex," Grace murmured nervously.
           "Now open your eyes," instructed the doctor, "and tell me why what I did was sexually evocative to
           you."
               Hesitantly, her eyelids flickered open. Grace saw the key case in the psychiatrist's hand and
           blushed scarlet.
           "Well -- er -- to begin with," she stammered, "I thought that first sound was your zipper opening...."

                Your mind is constantly projecting -- projecting itself. Your mind is constantly interfering with
           reality, giving it a color, shape and form which is not its own. Your mind never allows you to see
           that which is; it allows you to see only that which it WANTS to see.
                Just twenty years ago, scientists used to think that our eyes, ears, nose and our other senses, AND
           the mind, were nothing but openings to reality, bridges to reality. But within twenty years -- the last
           twenty years -- the whole understanding has changed. Now they say our senses and the mind are not
           really openings to reality but guards against it. Only two percent of reality ever gets through these
           guards into you; ninety-eight percent of reality is kept outside. And the two percent that reaches you
           and your being is no longer the same; it has to pass through so many barriers, it has to conform to so
           many mind things, that by the time it reaches you it is no longer itself.
                Meditation means putting the mind aside so that it no longer interferes with reality and you can
           see things as they are. Why does the mind interfere at all? -- because the mind is created by society.
           It is society's agent within you; it is not in your service, remember! It is your mind but it is not in
           your service; it is in a conspiracy against you. It has been conditioned by society; society has
           implanted many things in it. It is YOUR mind, but it no longer functions as a servant to you; it
           functions as a servant to society.
                If you are a Christian then it functions as an agent of the Christian church, if you are a Hindu
           then your mind is Hindu, if you are a Buddhist your mind is Buddhist. And reality is neither
           Christian nor Hindu nor Buddhist; reality is simply as it is. And you have to put these minds aside:
           the communist mind, the fascist mind, the Catholic mind, the Protestant mind....
                There are three thousand religions on the earth -- big religions and small religions and very small
           sects and sects within sects -- three thousand in all. So there exist three thousand minds, types of
           mind -- and reality is one, and God is one, and truth is one!
                Meditation means: put the mind aside and watch. The first step -- LOVE YOURSELF -- will
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           help you tremendously. By loving yourself you will have destroyed much that society has implanted
           within you. You will have become freer from the society and its conditioning.
               And the second step is: watch -- just watch. Buddha does not say what has to be watched --
           everything! Walking, watch your walking. Eating, watch your eating. Taking a shower, watch the
           water, the cold water falling on you, the touch of the water, the coldness, the shiver that goes through
           your spine -- watch everything, TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS.
               A moment finally comes when you can watch even your sleep. That is the ultimate in watching.
           The body goes to sleep and there is still a watcher awake, silently watching the body fast asleep.
           That is the ultimate in watching. Right now just the opposite is the case: your BODY is awake but
           you are asleep. Then YOU will be awake and your body will be asleep. The body needs rest but your
           consciousness needs no sleep. Your consciousness IS consciousness; it is alertness, that is its very
           nature.
               The body tires because the body lives under the law of gravitation; it is gravitation that makes
           you tired. That's why running fast you will be tired soon, going upstairs you will be tired soon,
           because the gravitation pulls you downwards. In fact, to stand is tiring, to sit is tiring. When you lie
           down flat, horizontal, only then is there a little rest for the body, because now you are in tune with
           the law of gravitation. When you are standing, vertical, you are against the law; the blood is going
           towards the head, against the law, the heart has to pump hard.
               So when you have a heart attack the doctors suggest a long rest period: just lie down horizontal --
           Snoopy-style! That will keep you in tune with gravitation, otherwise gravitation is tiring. But
           consciousness does not function under the law of gravitation; hence it never gets tired. Gravitation
           has no power over consciousness; it is not a rock, it has no weight. It functions under a totally
           different law: the law of grace, or, as it is known in the East, the law of levitation. Gravitation means
           pulling downwards, levitation means pulling upwards. The body is continuously being pulled
           downwards. That's why finally it will have to lie down in the grave; that will be the real rest for it --
           dust unto dust. The body has returned back to its source, the turmoil has ceased, now there is no
           conflict. The atoms of your body will have real rest only in the grave.
               The soul soars higher and higher. As you become more watchful you start having wings -- then
           the whole sky is yours. Man is a meeting of the earth and the sky, of body and soul.

               FIRST ESTABLISH YOURSELF IN THE WAY,
               THEN TEACH,
               AND SO DEFEAT SORROW.


               Each sutra is pregnant with great meaning. First Buddha says: LOVE YOURSELF AND
           WATCH.... And immediately he reminds his disciples: FIRST ESTABLISH YOURSELF IN THE
           WAY....
               He says: Mind you, don't start teaching what I am telling you. The mind plays so many games,
           and the ultimate game is the game of becoming a teacher. It is difficult, arduous, to transform
           yourself; it is very easy to teach others. It is difficult to be a disciple, it is very easy to be a teacher --
           because the disciple has to surrender and the teacher can keep all his ego. In fact, he can have more
           ego because so many people are surrendering to him. Unless he has become established in the way --
           that means he has attained to love and to watchfulness -- unless he has come to that clarity of
           consciousness which makes one a buddha, he should not teach.
               FIRST ESTABLISH YOURSELF IN THE WAY, THEN TEACH, AND SO DEFEAT
           SORROW. Otherwise this happens: listening to a buddha, his beautiful teachings, you become so
           full of the teachings that a great desire arises to teach others. You forget completely that first you
           have to practice before you can preach. That's how it is happening all over the world.

               Once I was taken to a Christian college, one of the biggest in India, where they create
           missionaries, ministers, priests, etcetera. I was a little puzzled: how can you create priests, ministers,
           missionaries in a college? That is impossible. The principal was very much interested in me; he
           invited me. He said, "Come and see!"
               It was a six-year course, and I looked around the college, a big campus -- seven hundred people
           were getting ready to become priests, preachers, teachers -- I looked around, went into many classes,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and what I saw was really hilarious. It was so ridiculous.
               In one class the teacher was telling the students, "When you give this sermon, this is how you
           have to stand, and when you come to this point, this is how you have to raise your hand, these are the
           gestures you make, this is how you have to close you eyes -- as if you have gone into a deep deep
           meditation...." As if -- don't forget the "as if." They were learning like actors.
               In Poona there is a film institute where they prepare actors; that I can understand -- acting can be
           taught. Even there I have never heard that film institutes have created great actors, but one can
           understand that acting can be taught, even though great actors have not been created by film
           institutes. Even there it fails.
               Actors are also born like poets, because acting is poetry, it is art; you have to have an inborn
           spirit. Not everybody can be an actor, because one has to get so much involved in the act, so deeply
           involved, that one forgets that one is separate. One has to lose one's identity in the acting, one has to
           become one's part; one has to forget everything about oneself. This is no ordinary feat. One can think
           that acting can be taught -- but how can you teach people to become masters?
           Taking leave of the principal I told him one story:
           "I have heard -- it must have happened in some college like yours -- the teacher was telling the
           students, 'When you talk about paradise, heaven, smile a heavenly smile, your eyes full of joy and
           light, and look upwards towards heaven. And for a moment become silent and just let people see
           how joyous, full of light and joy you are.'
           "A student raised his hand and he said, 'That's right, but when we are talking about hell, what to do?'
           "The teacher said, 'Then just as you are will do -- just stand as you are. You need not do anything
           else, just be yourself, that's all, and that will show them what hell is.'"
               Teaching people to become masters is such an absurdity. Jesus did not learn in any college. It is
           fortunate that such colleges did not exist in those days; otherwise they might have destroyed Jesus.
           Buddha never went to any religious institution to learn. Religion has to be lived, because that is the
           only way to learn it.

           Buddha says: AND SO DEFEAT SORROW.
               Love, watch, become an enlightened person -- then teaching will be simple, then it will start
           flowing from you. You will be teaching by your walk, by your sitting, by your silence, by your
           talking. You will be continuously teaching in every possible way.
               To live with a master is to be constantly showered by his teaching. Whatsoever he is doing, his
           way of doing has a totally different fragrance: it is IN the world but not OF the world.

              TO STRAIGHTEN THE CROOKED
              YOU MUST FIRST DO A HARDER THING --
              STRAIGHTEN YOURSELF.


               It is easy to look at people's faults. One loves to see people's faults, because that helps and
           strengthens your ego: "I am far superior." It is very difficult to see one's own faults; only a man who
           loves himself can see them.
               Don't listen to others, what they say about you. See yourself, who you are, where you are, what
           your faults are. And the miracle is: seeing a fault through your own awareness dissolves it. You need
           not make any effort to dissolve it; the very awareness is enough. It starts melting like ice in the hot
           sun. But it is very difficult to see one's own faults, because you never look at yourself; you are
           constantly extroverted, looking at others.

               The shapely new stenographer gave a piece of paper to the company auditor, saying, "Here is
           that report you wanted, Mr. Berry."
           "My name is Mr. Perry!" he corrected. "You must have been talking to the head bookkeeper who
           can't pronounce his P's right. Did he say anything about me?"
           "Only that when it comes to meaningless details, you are a regular brick!"

              It is certainly difficult, because you have to turn your whole consciousness towards yourself.
           And we have become so extroverted, we have been MADE so extrovert, that introversion seems to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be almost impossible. We are paralyzed; we can look only at others. Even if we want to look at
           ourselves we have to look in a mirror. Then the image in the mirror becomes the other.
               One has to learn to look at oneself with closed eyes, to watch silently. And don't carry any a
           priori prejudices. Many people have told you, "These are your faults." Don't carry those ideas within
           you, otherwise you will find them -- because thought is very inventive. Put aside all that has been
           told about you. Remember only one thing: unless you know it on your own authority, it has no value,
           no meaning. So go without any prejudice -- for or against. Just go in total openness and see. And if
           you love and if you know how to watch, you will come across the most mysterious phenomenon:
           seeing a fault is dissolving it. That is Buddha's great secret: knowing that you are doing something
           wrong is enough; you can't do it anymore.
               Socrates says: Knowledge is virtue. He can be understood only in the light of Buddha. He was
           misunderstood very much in Greece, because Greece has produced great philosophers but not great
           buddhas. There are only four names from Greece which can be counted among the buddhas:
           Socrates, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Plotinus. And there are thousands of names of great philosophers.
           The Greek tragedy is that there are so many philosophers and so few buddhas.
               Socrates was saying something immensely valuable, but it was out of context. There was no
           atmosphere in which it could be understood. He was speaking the truth: knowledge is virtue. If you
           KNOW something is wrong it disappears; if you know something is right you start behaving
           accordingly.
               That's what Jesus means when he says: Truth liberates. It is enough to know the truth, and
           liberation happens of its own accord. It is not that first you have to know and then you have to
           practice. Knowing is enough: it transforms your conscience, and once conscience is transformed,
           your character follows suit like a shadow.

              YOU ARE YOUR ONLY MASTER.
              WHO ELSE?
              SUBDUE YOURSELF,
              AND DISCOVER YOUR MASTER.


               Buddha says the outer master is nothing but a reflection of the inner. To be with an outer master
           is for a certain purpose -- so that the inner master starts getting synchronized with the outer. The
           outer is just a provocation, a challenge, but the real function of the master is to help you discover
           your own master.
               The real master never makes dependents of his followers and disciples; he helps them to be
           independent, to be free. He never gives them a certain pattern of life; he only gives them hints of
           how to attain light of their own. He helps them to be themselves; he does not impose his personality
           on his disciples.
               This is the criterion by which to judge whether the master is real or pseudo. If somebody is trying
           to impose his personality on you, his ideas on you, his character on you, his morality on you, his
           principles on you, beware! Avoid such a man as quickly as possible. He is dangerous, he is
           destructive. He may look very loving to you, but his love is poisonous. He may be very sweet, but
           his sweetness is nothing but sugarcoated poison.
               The real master is one who helps you to be yourself, who helps you to be free -- even free of
           himself.
               The Zen people say: If you meet the Buddha on the way, kill him! And they worship Buddha,
           and still they say: If you meet the Buddha on the way, kill him! They are simply saying what Buddha
           himself has said. Buddha insisted his whole life: Don't follow -- understand. Imbibe my spirit, but
           don't follow my character. You will have your own character, which is going to be unique, because
           there has never been another individual who is like you and no other individual will ever be who can
           be like you. You are unique.
               Don't become imitators. But that's what happens: people become parrots. They repeat what their
           masters say, they imitate how their masters live.

              Reid was very fond of his male parrot. The parrot had become despondent and after all sorts of
           experiments to snap him out of it, Reid decided that his feathered friend needed some sex.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Reid found a beautiful female parrot in a pet shop and paid fifty dollars to have his bird serviced.
               The female was delivered to Reid's house and placed in the male parrot's cage. Instantly the male
           let out a terrifying scream and began tearing the female's feathers out.
           "What are you doing?" screeched the female.
           "For fifty bucks, baby," shouted the male, "I want you nude!"

               He may be simply imitating his master! Don't be a parrot, don't imitate. Be authentic to yourself,
           be true to yourself.
               YOU ARE YOUR ONLY MASTER. WHO ELSE? SUBDUE YOURSELF. When Buddha says,
           SUBDUE YOURSELF, he does not mean repress yourself. The translation is not exactly what he
           means. And there is a difficulty in translating him, because Buddha uses the word 'self' in the sense
           of ego. He is not a believer in the self. He says any sense of self is nothing but a subtle form of ego.
               And when he says, "Subdue yourself," he simply means: look deeply into the idea of your ego --
           and it will be gone, it will disappear. It is a false phenomenon. The idea that "I am separate from
           existence," is a false idea, totally false. It needs only a right perception and it will be dissolved. And
           the moment ego disappears, you can discover your own master.
               When the ego is not there, who is there? -- a pure consciousness, a pure awareness, with no
           center to it, with no content either. There are no thoughts and no center, just a pure consciousness --
           a consciousness without any center and without any circumference. That consciousness is nirvana,
           enlightenment; you have come to your own master. From then onward you need not ask anybody.
           Even if you want to ask you cannot: all questions have evaporated, all problems have evaporated.
               This state of no-problem, no-question, is the state of bliss, of peace, of truth, of freedom.

              WILLFULLY YOU HAVE FED
              YOUR OWN MISCHIEF.
              SOON IT WILL CRUSH YOU
              AS THE DIAMOND CRUSHES STONE.


              And remember: whatsoever you have been doing, nobody else is responsible for it.
           WILLFULLY YOU HAVE FED YOUR OWN MISCHIEF. It is your own will, it is out of your own
           choice, that you have been doing things which are finally destructive to you. In the beginning they
           may not appear so; in the end you will come to know that you have killed yourself, poisoned
           yourself, slowly slowly. And because it was such a slow process, you could not become aware. To
           become aware of slow processes, great watchfulness is needed.

           I have heard about an experiment:
               A scientist threw a frog into boiling water. Naturally the frog immediately jumped out of the
           water -- instantly, he didn't lose a single moment; it was a question of life and death. He really
           jumped high, as he had never jumped before.
               Then the scientist put the frog into another bucket of water of the same temperature as the frog's
           body. The frog was very happy, was resting at the bottom. And then the scientist started heating the
           water so slowly that it took twenty-four hours for the water to come to the boiling-point. The frog
           never jumped out of it. He could not become aware -- the process was so slow, the increase in heat
           was so slow that it needed a buddha's awareness. You can't expect it from a frog -- you can't expect it
           from people!
               The frog died. The water was boiling, the frog was boiling, but he wouldn't jump out of it.
           Twenty-four hours was enough; he became accustomed to the slow increase. It was warming up so
           slowly that he could never discriminate that the water was being heated up.

               That's what is happening in your life: you go on doing mischief, you go on doing wrong things,
           in the hope that by wrong means you can reach the right end. This is one of the great fallacies, a
           universal fallacy, that means and ends are not joined together, that wrong means can help you to
           reach a right end. The fallacy is so prevalent that nobody thinks of it as a fallacy.
               It is impossible to reach the right end by wrong means. Wrong means are bound to lead you to
           wrong ends, but then it is too late. By the time you reach, it is too late -- the process cannot be
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reversed. The whole time has been wasted -- and you may have become accustomed meanwhile to
           wrong means. You may go on perpetuating those wrong means your whole life. Others may say that
           this is wrong and you may even agree with them intellectually, but intellectual agreement never
           brings any change. Unless you existentially feel, "Something is wrong and I am poisoning myself,"
           you will not be able to snap out of it.
                And we are so clever at rationalizations that we go on doing mischief, thinking that it is not
           mischief, convincing ourselves that this is not mischief. And we are so skillful with words, with
           logic, with arguments, that we can prove to others, "This is not mischief, I am doing something
           great."
                Joseph Stalin killed millions of people in Russia, and with a very clean conscience; he was never
           disturbed that he was killing millions of people. In fact, no other person has killed so many people.
           But he was working for the great idea of equality, communism, a classless society. Those ideas are
           great, but they are simply IDEAS and just for ideas, abstract ideas, abstractions, he was killing real
           people.
                And the people who were killed were not rich people, they were poor people -- poor people who
           were very much attached to their small pieces of land; they did not want the land to become
           collective. They were killed. And the beauty is -- or the irony -- that Stalin was thinking he was
           killing them for their own sake, because "Unless the land belongs to the state, unless a dictatorship
           of the proletariat is ushered in, the poor people cannot be helped." And it was the poor people who
           were too attached to their small things!
                In Russia there were not many rich people. It was almost like India; very few rich people, and
           ninety-eight percent poor people. But poor people have their own attachments -- more so because
           they don't have much -- a small piece of land, an old cow, a bullock cart, a few hens. And they are
           very much afraid because this is all they have.

           There is a story told:
                A communist was asking a farmer, "Do you believe in communism or not?"
           He said, "Yes, I believe in communism!"
                The communist leader asked, "If you had two cars, would you give one to somebody who had
           none?"
           He said, "Yes, absolutely yes!"
           "And if you had two houses, would you be willing to give one house to somebody who had none?"
           He said, "Absolutely!"
                And then the communist leader asked, "If you had two cows, would you give one to the person
           who had none?"
           He said, "No, absolutely no!"
                The communist leader said, "But this seems to be absurd -- up to now you are saying, 'Yes, yes,
           yes!' Why suddenly no?"
                He said, "I don't have two cars, I don't have two houses -- but I have two cows!"
                When you don't have, what is the problem? You can give everything when you don't have it. You
           can give the moon, you can give the sun to anybody who wants them, but when it comes to real
           problems then it is difficult.
                Poor people were killed, but Joseph Stalin slept well. He was never disturbed because "I am
           killing so many people." And the communist ideology was also a good rationalization for him,
           because communism believes there is no soul: consciousness is only a by-product of matter, an
           epiphenomenon. So when you kill a person you are not killing anybody -- there is nobody inside; a
           man is just matter.
                This was a great help for the murderer, Joseph Stalin. If there is nobody inside, you are not
           committing any crime, and when YOU die YOU will die: there is not going to be any afterlife and
           there is not going to be any Judgment Day.
                People can create philosophies, rationalizations, arguments, for doing all kinds of mischief. And
           people are ready to believe anything that helps them to continue as they are.

              Holding a butterfly in his palm, Basil walked into a cocktail lounge.
           "See this butterfly?" he shouted. "If somebody will tell me how much this butterfly weighs, I will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bestow all my charm on him."
           "Shut up, you bum," shouted a man at the bar. "It weighs a hundred pounds."
           "Ah, sweetheart, you win!"

              If you want to do something, then anything can be accepted if it helps your desire, your wishes.

               Lars came home early one afternoon and found his wife lying naked on the bed breathing
           heavily.
           "June, what is the matter?" he asked.
           "I think I am having a heart attack," she gasped.
               Quickly, Lars rushed downstairs to phone a doctor when his son came rushing in and exclaimed,
           "Daddy! There is a naked man in the front closet!"
               Lars opened the closet door and found his best friend cowering there.
           "For God's sake, Emil!" screamed Lars. "June is having a heart attack and here you are sneaking
           around scaring the children!"

              When you want to believe in anything, you can invent all kinds of ideas. Watch how you defend
           your mischief, how you defend your wrongs, your faults.

              BY YOUR OWN FOLLY
              YOU WILL BE BROUGHT AS LOW
              AS YOUR WORST ENEMY WISHES.
              SO THE CREEPER CHOKES THE TREE.


               When the creeper starts moving up a tree, the tree feels very good; it is very ego-fulfilling that
           the creeper needs the tree. Whenever you are needed you feel good. The tree knows, "I am strong
           and the creeper has to depend on me." The tree wants the creepers, more and more creepers, to go
           round and round the tree, to have its support. It may think it is doing a great public service, or it may
           think that it is a great lover and the creepers are beloveds. Creepers are female and the trees are all
           male chauvinists! But sooner or later the creepers are going to suffocate the tree, to choke the tree --
           but then it will be too late.
               Beware, be watchful of every step: TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS. Don't lose a single
           moment in unawareness, because in unawareness you are bound to do some mischief -- and all
           mischief is going to rebound on you, sooner or later.

               Morgan, aged eighty-six, was talking to his doctor. "About four weeks ago," he said, "I picked up
           an eighteen-year-old girl, took her to a motel, and we made love all night. Three weeks ago, I met a
           twenty-year-old, double-parked in front of her house, and we did it for three hours. Just last week, I
           grabbed a seventeen-year-old, took her to the park and we have been making love for six straight
           days."
           "My goodness!" gasped the doctor. "Picking up all these strange girls, I hope you are using some
           precautions."
           "Oh, sure," said the old man. "I give them a phony name and address."

               Eighty-six years old, remember! And what precautions is he taking? He is giving a phony name
           and a phony address.
               If you have persisted in your follies your whole life, even dying you will die full of your follies.
           Hence, don't postpone till tomorrow -- one never knows whether tomorrow will come or not. Start
           being watchful from this very moment.

              HOW HARD IT IS TO SERVE YOURSELF,
              HOW EASY TO LOSE YOURSELF
              IN MISCHIEF AND FOLLY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HOW HARD IT IS TO SERVE YOURSELF.... What does Buddha mean by it? He means how
           hard it is to be aware -- because that is the only true service to yourself. Unless you love yourself
           immensely you will not go on that arduous journey of being watchful. You can be watchful only if
           you love yourself so tremendously that you don't want to commit any folly, any mischief, that you
           don't want to bring any misery on yourself.
              Be selfish -- because if you are selfish you will be altruistic. First get rooted into your own being,
           and then you will be of help to others. But you have been told that if you are selfish that is bad. "Be
           unselfish, be altruistic! Help others, serve others, and forget yourself!"

               A mother was telling her small boy, "It is our duty to serve others. God has made you to serve
           others."
               The boy thought for a moment and then said, "I can understand that -- that God has made me to
           serve others -- but why has God made others? To serve me? But this seems to be ridiculous! He
           makes me to serve others, makes others to serve me? Why can't I serve myself and they serve
           themselves? It will be more simple, less complicated."

               You have been told to serve others -- and you serve them, but what service can you do for them?
           In the name of service you do all kinds of wrong things to people. You are bound to do wrong things
           because you are not alert enough....

              THE KATTHAKA REED DIES WHEN IT BEARS FRUIT.


              There is a certain reed, the KATTHAKA reed, in India, which dies when it bears fruit.

              SO THE FOOL,
              SCORNING THE TEACHINGS OF THE AWAKENED,
              SPURNING THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE LAW,
              PERISHES WHEN HIS FOLLY FLOWERS.


               It takes a little time for the seed to grow and become a sprout, and the sprout to grow and become
           a tree. And the tree also takes time, the right season, to grow flowers, and then fruits come. It takes
           time. When you sow the seeds you don't see the flowers or the fruits.
               Be watchful when you are sowing your seeds, because once sown you will have to suffer the
           consequences. Whatsoever you sow you will have to reap. It is just that the time gap creates illusions
           in people's minds. They think they can escape, that they can sow wrong seeds and reap the right
           crops. That is impossible -- that is against the eternal law.
               And these are the people -- "the fools" Buddha calls them -- who scorn the teachings of the
           awakened, who laugh and ridicule the buddhas, because the buddhas seem to be enemies to them.
           They know that if buddhas are right then their whole life is wrong, and that is too much for them to
           accept. They know that if buddhas are right then they are utterly stupid, utterly idiotic, and that is too
           much for their egos to accept, too humiliating. Hence it is better to crucify a Jesus, poison a Socrates,
           stone a Buddha, than to listen to them.
               SCORNING THE TEACHINGS OF THE AWAKENED, SPURNING THOSE WHO FOLLOW
           THE LAW.... And those who listen to the buddhas and follow the law, the ultimate law of life -- the
           law of love and the law of meditation -- those who follow, they are being laughed at. People ridicule
           them. People think that they are mad, insane. People try in every possible way to pull them away
           from the right path, because their very presence hurts them.
               When a single person starts meditating, all the nonmeditators are against him. He is doing
           something which raises questions about their life-style, and if by meditation he becomes more
           peaceful and more blissful, then of course they become more and more suspicious of their life-style,
           more and more doubtful -- and nobody wants to live in doubt. And it is easier to kill the person, to
           destroy the person, than to destroy your doubts. It is easier to remove the buddha, to murder the
           buddha, than to become conscious.
               Christians have never been able to explain why Jesus was crucified, and they have found all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           kinds of wrong interpretations. They think he was being crucified for the sins of humanity. Utterly
           stupid! If you commit a sin, YOU will suffer. Why Jesus Christ? Why this poor man? What has he
           done? Christians say Jesus was crucified because Adam and Eve committed the original sin. Why
           not crucify Adam and Eve? What has this poor carpenter's son done? He is utterly innocent, he has
           not committed any sin.
               And then they say -- and they have to find new, and more, explanations, because no explanation
           satisfies -- he has chosen to be crucified himself, as a sacrifice to save humanity. But humanity is not
           saved yet, two thousand years have passed. So one thing is certain: his sacrifice was futile.
               But all these explanations are wrong. The real thing is that a man who is enlightened is bound to
           be crucified, killed, murdered, by those who have invested deeply in unconsciousness.
               Buddha reminds you that you can scorn the teachings of the awakened and spurn those who
           follow the law, but remember: THE KATTHAKA REED DIES WHEN IT BEARS FRUIT. SO THE
           FOOL... PERISHES WHEN HIS FOLLY FLOWERS. It will not be too long. Soon you will see the
           fruits of your own actions and then you will cry and weep, but then it will be too late.
               Beware! And do two simple things -- in fact simple, but they look arduous, because we have
           been brought up with absolutely wrong conditionings. The first is: LOVE YOURSELF. And the
           second is: WATCH -- TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                    Chapter #6
                                      Chapter title: Christ: the last Christian
           16 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910160
              ShortTitle: DHAM506
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES AND THERE IS NO ONE THERE. WHERE ARE YOU?


               Anand Bhavo, the dewdrop has disappeared into the ocean... now forget the dewdrop and look at
           the ocean. If you go on searching for the dewdrop, you will miss the ocean; you will remain
           preoccupied with the dewdrop, you will not be able to see the vastness that has happened. The
           dewdrop disappearing into the ocean in a sense is no more, but in another sense it is for the first time
           -- now it has become the ocean.
               Looking into my eyes, don't try to search for a person; you will not find any person there. The
           person has disappeared; now there is a presence. Presence is infinite; a person has a definition -- a
           boundary, a certain name, form, a label. Presence is simply presence. The flower is no more, it has
           become the fragrance. You can hold the flower in your hand, but you cannot hold fragrance in your
           hand. To experience fragrance hands are not needed at all. That's how you should come close to me:
           you should be more sensitive towards the presence, synchronize with my presence.
               And the only way to synchronize with my presence is for you also to dissolve your person and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a presence. Only two presences can meet and mingle and merge. If you are a person then
           there is no possibility of melting and merging with me. You remain a rock and I am a river -- how
           are you going to melt and merge with me?
                You also become a presence -- that's my whole teaching, my whole message. Let the person die,
           let the flower disappear, because the person is nothing but a mask. The presence is your essence. The
           presence is what is meant by godliness. There is no God, only godliness; but because we are persons
           we imagine God also as a person.
                Our attitude towards ourselves is bound to reflect in our other attitudes too; our attitude towards
           existence is bound to be part of our attitude towards ourselves.
                You are still searching in my eyes for a person -- certainly there is none. Hence you can become
           afraid, scared, because you will see emptiness, nothingness.
                There are three stages of being with me. One stage is that of a student who thinks about me as a
           person. He never looks into my eyes, he never tries to penetrate my being, he remains concerned
           with the superficial, the formal, my body, my words. He remains an outsider, curious, desirous to
           know more about me, longing for more and more knowledge, information. But there is an infinite
           distance between me and him. He will gather a little information about the mysteries of life and will
           leave. He will become more knowledgeable, more egoistic; in fact he will leave more sick than he
           had come, more burdened than he had come -- burdened by knowledge.
                He will not have any taste of my wisdom. He can't understand wisdom; he understands only
           knowledge, he understands only that which can be expressed through words, theories, logic. He will
           be unable to see the beyond. He has to be pitied. He comes and goes empty-handed. He comes to the
           river and goes back home thirsty. He thinks he has gained much, but all that he has gathered are
           crumbs fallen from the table while he could have been my guest -- he remained a beggar.
                The second stage is that of a disciple -- who comes a little bit closer, becomes aware of
           something mysterious, starts feeling, moves from the world of thinking to the world of feeling, slips
           from the head to the heart. He will be able to hear not only the words but the poetry hidden behind
           them. He will be able to hear not only the words, but the silence contained in those words.
                Of course he will see the superficial too, but he will be able to understand that that's not all --
           something more is there. He will not be exactly conscious of it, but an unconscious intuitive feeling
           is bound to be there. If he lingers here a little longer then that feeling will become more solid, more
           substantial. First it will be only a shadow, a glimpse, a vision that happens once in a while and then
           is lost, as when clouds disappear and for a moment you see the sun, and again there are clouds and
           the sun is no more.
                The student never sees the sun, he only sees the clouds. The disciple, once in a while, is touched
           by the beyond, moved by the beyond. The student lives in the head, the disciple lives in the heart.
           But just to remain a disciple is not enough either -- better than being a student, far better, far
           superior, but not enough. One step more -- and that is the step of being a devotee.
                A devotee is one who neither thinks about the master, nor feels about the master, but starts
           synchronizing with his being; neither from the head nor from the heart, but from the very core of his
           existence. He starts pulsating, he starts living in the same rhythm, he breathes the way the master
           breathes. His heart dances with the beat of the master's heart. He loses himself, he is no longer an
           outsider.
                The student is absolutely an outsider, the devotee absolutely an insider, and the disciple is in
           between. The disciple is in the middle, on the way. If he is courageous he will become a devotee, if
           he is a coward he will fall back and become a student. The student is at ease, because he is not aware
           at all of the real; the devotee is at ease because he is in tune with the real. The greatest difficulty is
           that of the disciple; he is in between, pulled apart in two directions. He will have to decide sooner or
           later either to be a student or to be a devotee; one cannot prolong the state of being a disciple for
           long, because it is a state of anguish, it is a state of tension.
                The student is relaxed because he is unconscious, the devotee is relaxed because he is conscious,
           but the disciple is vague -- vaguely conscious, vaguely unconscious, the disciple lives in the world of
           twilight, neither day nor night, neither here nor there, in a kind of limbo.
                Anand Bhavo, you are in the state of being a disciple. Yes, glimpses have started showering on
           you -- now be courageous, move a little closer. Don't only look into my eyes, but be my eyes. Don't
           be a spectator, become a participant, get involved, committed. Don't look at me as somebody
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           separate from you. The time has come: become inseparable, so attuned that you don't have any
           identity of your own. I don't have any identity of my own. And when you also lose your identity we
           are two zeros coming closer and closer and closer, and in a sudden flash of thunder the two zeros are
           no more two, they have become one.
               That orgasmic experience of oneness is the first experience of godliness. The first experience of
           godliness happens in being utterly one with the master.
               The master is only a device, remember, he is only a window to the divine. Come closer and
           closer to the window and the window disappears and the frame of the window disappears and the
           whole sky opens up with all its stars.
               And then you will be able to see me in the eyes of my sannyasins and in the song of the birds and
           in the green and red and gold of the trees and in the stars and in the rivers -- you will be able to see
           me everywhere.

               Ramakrishna was dying, one of the greatest modern masters. He was suffering from cancer of the
           throat. It had become impossible for him to eat anything, even to drink water was impossible. For the
           last three days of his life he could not eat or drink anything.
               Vivekananda fell at his feet and said, "If you ask God, just for the asking -- the miracle is bound
           to happen. Why don't you ask him to take this cancer away? At least you can say, 'Allow me to eat
           and drink.'"
               Ramakrishna said, "If you say so, I will do it. I never thought of it. Your idea is good. I will try."
               He closed his eyes. Tears started flowing from his closed eyes, his face became full of light. All
           the anguish of the cancer, all the pain -- intolerable was the pain -- suddenly disappeared. He opened
           his eyes. Vivekananda was very happy, the other disciples were very happy, that something had
           happened, something miraculous. But they were not aware of what it was, they thought God had
           taken the cancer away, or at least had allowed Ramakrishna to eat and drink. But that was not the
           real miracle.
               Ramakrishna opened his eyes, he was ecstatic; for a few moments he could not utter a single
           word. Then he said, "Vivekananda, you are a fool! You suggest such stupid things to me, and you
           know that I am a simple man, a villager, so I accept. I said to God, 'I can't eat, can't drink -- why can't
           you allow me at least to eat and drink?'
           "And he said, 'Ramakrishna, have you gone crazy? Now you can eat from the mouths of your
           disciples, now you can drink from others' throats -- why do you cling to your own throat?' And that
           released me from my body. That's why I cried in joy. Yes, that's true! -- all throats are mine. I can
           eat, I can drink from others' throats."
               When he was dying, his wife Sharda asked him, "What am I to do when you die?" because death
           was so imminent and so certain. In India when the husband dies, the wife has to drop all her
           ornaments. In Bengal particularly, the wife has never to use any colored clothes, she can only use
           white, no ornaments. Sharda asked, "What am I to do? Should I wear white and no ornaments when
           you are gone?"
               Ramakrishna said, "But I am not going anywhere! I will be here! You will be able to see me in
           the eyes of those who love me. You will be able to feel me in the wind, in the rain, in the sun. A bird
           on the wing and suddenly you will remember me, and I am there! A beautiful sunset and you will
           remember me and I am there! You are not going to become a widow; you are married to me forever
           and forever. This marriage is not of time, it is of eternity."
               He is talking about the marriage between a devotee and a master. Sharda was a devotee, not only
           his wife -- that was secondary. And that's how it happened. Ramakrishna died, Sharda never even
           wept; she continued her way of life as if Ramakrishna was still alive.
               Every night she would prepare the bed for Ramakrishna, as she used to prepare it before. She
           would put up the mosquito net and she would tell Ramakrishna, "Now you go to sleep, it is already
           too late." She would prepare the food that he used to like, she would bring the THALI, would sit by
           his side and tell Ramakrishna, "Look what I have prepared for you."
               People used to think that she had gone mad. No, she was not mad. People were mad. She had
           understood the point. When she was dying, her last words were... she told all the disciples that had
           started loving her as their master, in the absence of Ramakrishna -- they started crying and weeping
           -- she said, "Wait, what are you doing? Have you forgotten what Ramakrishna told me? That he was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not going anywhere? I am not going anywhere either. Feel blissful, feel happy that I am also getting
           free of the body. Rejoice because now I can melt into Ramakrishna, into his universality."
               This is the state of the devotee. But to be a disciple is no mean achievement. It is a necessary step
           towards being a devotee.

               Anand Bhavo, one step more -- then you will not say, "I am looking into your eyes," you will
           say, "I am looking through your eyes." Then you become my eyes, then you are not standing outside,
           you stand inside me and you start looking at existence as I look at it. And then a great
           transformation, a great transcendence, a great revelation....

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU TALK SO OFTEN OF WONDER AND OF LOVE. HOW IS BEING IN A STATE OF AWE AND
              CHILDLIKE INNOCENCE RELATED TO BEING IN A STATE OF LOVE?


               Anand Nur, wonder and awe are the greatest spiritual qualities. Wonder means you function from
           a state of not knowing. The knowledgeable person never feels wonder; he is incapable of feeling
           wonder because he thinks he already knows. He knows all the stupid answers, he may know the
           whole ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; hence every question is already answered in his mind.
           When a question is such that there is no answer to it, that it is unanswerable; not only today, but
           forever; not that it is unknown, but it is unknowable -- when one encounters the unknowable,
           unanswerable, one experiences wonder. One is in a state of awe, as if the heart stops beating, as if
           you don't breathe for a moment.
               The experience of wonder is such that everything stops. The whole world stops; time stops, mind
           stops, the ego stops. For a moment you are again a child, wondering about the butterflies and the
           flowers and the trees and the pebbles on the shore, and the seashells -- wondering about each and
           everything, you are a child again.
               And when you can wonder and can feel the immense beauty of existence which can only be felt
           in awe, when suddenly you are possessed by existence, overwhelmed, you can dance, you can
           celebrate that moment, you can say "Aha!" and you don't know anything else to say, no word, just an
           exclamation point...!
               The knowledgeable person lives with a question mark and the man of awe and wonder lives with
           an exclamation mark. Everything is so tremendously deep and profound that it is impossible to know
           it. Knowledge is impossible. When this is experienced then your whole energy takes a jump, a
           quantum leap, from the mind to the heart, from knowing to feeling. When there is no possibility of
           knowing, your energy does not move in that direction anymore.
               When you have realized that there is no possibility of knowing, that the mystery is going to
           remain a mystery, that it cannot be demystified, your energy starts moving in a new direction -- the
           direction of the heart. That's why I say love is related to wonder and awe, to childlike innocence.
           When you are not obsessed with knowledge you become loving. Knowledgeable people are not
           loving, heady people are not loving; even if they love, they only think that they love. Their love also
           comes via their heads. And passing through the head, love loses all its beauty, it becomes ugly. The
           heady people are calculating; arithmetic is their way.
               Love is jumping into a dangerously alive existence with no calculation. The head says, "Think
           before you jump," and the heart says, "Jump before you think." Their ways are diametrically
           opposite.
               The knowledgeable person becomes less and less loving. He may talk about love, he may write
           treatises about love, he may be conferred Ph.D.s, D.Litt.s for his theses on love, but he knows
           nothing of love. He has not experienced it! It is a subject that he has been studying, it is not an affair
           that he is living.
               You ask me, Nur, "Beloved Master, you talk so often of wonder and of love...."
               Yes, I always talk about wonder and love together, because they are two sides of the same coin.
           And you will have to learn to start from wonder because the society has already made you
           knowledgeable. The school, the college, the university -- the society has created a great mechanism
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to make you knowledgeable. And the more you are stuffed with knowledge, the less and less your
           love energy flows. There are so many blocks created by knowledge, so many rocks in the path of
           love, and there exists no institution in the world where you are helped to be loving, where your love
           is nourished.
                That's my idea of a real university, that's what I want to create here. Of course it will remain
           unrecognized by the government, it will be unrecognized by other universities. And I can understand
           -- if they recognize it, that will be a surprise to me. Their not recognizing it is really recognizing it --
           recognizing that it is a totally different kind of institution, where people are not made knowledgeable
           but loving.
                Humanity has lived with knowledge for centuries, and has lived in a very ugly way. D.H.
           Lawrence once proposed that if for one hundred years all the universities and colleges and schools
           were closed, humanity would be benefited immensely.
                I agree with him totally. These two persons, Friedrich Nietzsche and D.H. Lawrence, are
           beautiful people. It was unfortunate that they were born in the West; hence they were not aware of
           Lao Tzu, of Chuang Tzu, of Buddha, of Bodhidharma, of Rinzai, of Basho, of Kabir, of Meera. It is
           unfortunate that they knew only the Jewish and the Christian tradition. And they were very much
           offended by the whole Jewish and Christian approach towards life. It is very superficial.
                Friedrich Nietzsche used to sign himself, "Anti-Christ, Friedrich Nietzsche." First he would write
           "Anti-Christ." He was not really anti-Christ -- anti-Christian of course, because in one of his saner
           moments he said that the first and the last Christian was crucified -- he was Jesus Christ, the first and
           the last.
                But in his name something absolutely false is existing, and the day Christ was denied by the Jews
           they became false. Since that ugly day they have not lived truly. How can you live beautifully if you
           reject your own climaxes? What Moses had started, a beautiful phenomenon, came to a climax in
           Jesus Christ, and the Jews rejected Jesus Christ. That very day they rejected their own flowering,
           their own fragrance. Since that day they have not been living rightly.
                And the people who followed Jesus have created something absolutely against Jesus. If he comes
           back he will be nauseated, disgusted, seeing the Vatican and the pope and all that goes on in the
           name of Christ. My own feeling is... somebody was asking me, "Jesus promised to come back again
           -- will he come back?"
                I told him, "If he comes back this time, you will not need to crucify him -- he will commit suicide
           himself! Just seeing the Christians will be enough -- enough to commit suicide. Hence my feeling is
           that he is not going to come. Once is enough, twice will be too much."
                But these two men, Nietzsche and Lawrence, were immensely misunderstood in the West. They
           also provided reasons for being misunderstood; they were helpless, they were groping in the dark. Of
           course their direction was right; had they been in the East they would have become buddhas. They
           had the potential -- great potential, great insight. I agree with them on many points.
                D.H. Lawrence was very much against your so-called education -- it is not education, it is
           mis-education. Real education can only be based on love, not on knowledge. Real education cannot
           be utilitarian, real education cannot be of the marketplace. Not that real education will not give you
           knowledge; first, real education will prepare your heart, your love, and then whatever knowledge is
           needed to pass through life will be given to you, but that will be secondary. And it will never be
           overpowering; it will not be more valuable than love.
                And whenever there is a possibility of any conflict between love and knowledge, real education
           will help you to be ready to drop your knowledge and move with your love; it will give you courage,
           it will give you adventure. It will give you space to live, accepting all risks, insecurities; it will help
           you to be ready to sacrifice yourself if love demands it. It will put love not only above knowledge
           but even above life, because life is meaningless without love. Love without life is still meaningful;
           even if your body dies it makes no difference to your love energy. It continues, it is eternal, it is not a
           time phenomenon.
                To have a loving heart, you need a little less calculating head. To be capable of loving you need
           to be capable of wondering. That's why, Nur, I always say that awe and childlike innocence are
           deeply related with the energy called love. In fact they are different names for the same thing.

           The third question:
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED MASTER,
               YOU SPOKE TODAY ABOUT NOT DOING WRONG. WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG?


               Prem Murti, hitherto right and wrong have been decided by all the religions as if they were fixed
           entities; do this, don't do that, this is sin, that is virtue. That is not a right approach to reality, because
           what is right today may be wrong tomorrow, what was wrong yesterday may be right today.
               Life is a flux, it is constant movement, it is change. Except change, everything else changes. So I
           cannot give you fixed ideas about what is right and what is wrong. I cannot do that harm to you. All
           the old religions have done that; maybe it was needed because humanity was in a very immature
           state. But now man has come of age. Small children have to be told don't do this....

              A small boy was asked by the teacher in school -- it was his first day -- "What is your name?"
           He said, "Don't Johnny."
              The teacher was puzzled, he said, "Don't Johnny? Never heard such a name before."
              He said, "This is my name, because whatever I do my mother says, 'Don't Johnny!' This MUST
           be my name."

               He had been told so many times, "Don't, Johnny! Don't, Johnny!" that he thinks it is his name.
               But it can be forgiven as far as children are concerned because you cannot go into deep
           explanations; you cannot explain to them the reasons, the motives. You have to give them simple
           instructions, clear-cut; otherwise they will not be able to follow.
               Humanity was also in such a state for centuries, but now all those commandments look very
           stupid. They were relevant one day, they are no longer relevant; they are corpses we are carrying.
           They don't work anymore, they don't help anybody -- they hinder everybody.
               So don't ask me, Prem Murti, what is right and what is wrong -- it depends. All I can say to you,
           all I would like you to be aware of is: any act done in awareness is right and any act done in
           unawareness is wrong. The act does not matter as far as I am concerned, my approach is concerned,
           my philosophy of life is concerned; the act does not matter, what matters is your consciousness. Are
           you acting unconsciously or consciously?
               So the real question is something within you, not what you do but who you are. I change the
           whole emphasis from the objective to the subjective, from the outer to the inner. If you are doing it
           consciously you are right -- and that has always been the approach of the enlightened ones.

               A great master, Nagarjuna, was asked by a great thief.... The thief was well known over the
           whole kingdom and he was so clever, so intelligent that he had never been caught. Everybody knew
           -- he had even stolen from the king's treasury, many times -- but they were unable to catch him. He
           was very elusive, a master artist.
               He asked Nagarjuna, "Can you help me? Can I get rid of my stealing? Can I also become as
           silent and blissful as you are?" It happened in a certain context.
               Nagarjuna was the greatest alchemist that the East has given birth to. He used to live naked, with
           just a begging bowl, a wooden begging bowl, but kings worshipped him, queens worshipped him. He
           came to the capital and the queen touched his feet and said, "I feel very much offended by your
           wooden bowl. You are a master of masters; hundreds of kings and queens are your followers. I have
           prepared a golden bowl for you, studded with beautiful diamonds, emeralds. Please don't reject it -- it
           will wound me very much, it will hurt me very much. For three years great artists have been working
           on it, now it is ready."
               She was afraid that Nagarjuna might say, "I cannot touch gold, I have renounced the world." But
           Nagarjuna did not say anything like that; he said, "Okay! You can keep my begging bowl, give me
           the golden one."
               Even the queen was a little shocked. She was thinking that Nagarjuna would say, "I cannot
           accept it." She wanted him to accept it, but still, deep in her unconscious somewhere was the old
           Indian tradition that the awakened one has to live in poverty, in discomfort, as if discomfort and
           poverty have something spiritual in them. There is nothing spiritual in them.
               Nagarjuna said okay. He didn't even look at the golden bowl. He went away. The thief saw
           Nagarjuna moving outside the capital, because he was staying in a ruined temple on the other bank
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of the river. The thief said, "Such a precious thing I have never seen -- so many diamonds, so many
           emeralds, so much gold. I have seen many beautiful things in my life but never such a thing, and
           how did this naked man get hold of it, and how is he going to protect it? Anybody will be able to
           take it away from him, so why not me?"
               The thief followed Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna heard his footsteps, he knew somebody was coming
           behind him. Nagarjuna reached the temple. The temple was an absolute ruin, no roof, no doors; just a
           few walls were left. He went inside a room without a roof, without a door, without windows.
               The thief said, "How is he going to protect such a precious thing? It is only a question of hours."
           He sat outside the window, hiding behind a wall.
               Nagarjuna threw the bowl outside the window. The thief was very much puzzled. The bowl fell
           just near his feet. He was puzzled: "What has this man done?" He could not believe his eyes, he was
           also shocked. He stood up -- even though he was a thief, he was a master thief and he had some
           dignity. He thanked Nagarjuna. He said, "Sir, I have to show my gratitude. But you are a rare man --
           throwing out such a precious thing as if it is nothing. Can I come inside and touch your feet?"
               Nagarjuna said, "Come in! In fact I have thrown the bowl out so that you could come in."
               The thief could not understand what he was saying; he came in, he looked at Nagarjuna -- his
           silence, his peace, his bliss -- he was overwhelmed. He said, "I feel jealous of you. I have never
           come across a man like you. Compared to you, all others are subhuman beings. How integrated you
           are! How gone beyond the world! Is there any possibility for me too one day to attain such
           integration, such individuality, such compassion and such nonattachment to things?"
               Nagarjuna said, "It is possible. It is everybody's potential."
               But the thief said, "Wait! Let me tell you one thing. I have been many times to many saints and
           they all know me and they say, 'First you stop stealing, then anything else is possible. Without
           stopping stealing you cannot grow spiritually.' So please don't make that condition because that I
           cannot do. It is impossible. I have tried and I have failed many times. It seems that is my nature -- I
           have to go on stealing, so don't mention that. Let me tell you first so you don't make it a condition."
               Nagarjuna said, "That simply shows you have never seen a saint before. Those must have all
           been ex-thieves; otherwise why should they be worried about your stealing? Go on stealing and do
           everything as skillfully as possible. It is good to be a master of any art."
               The thief was shocked even more: "What kind of man is this?" And he said, "Then what do you
           suggest? What is right, what is wrong?"
               He said, "I don't say anything is right or anything is wrong. Do one thing: if you want to steal,
           steal -- but steal consciously. Go tonight, enter into the house very alert, open the doors, the locks,
           but very consciously. And then if you can steal, steal, but remain conscious. And report to me after
           seven days."
               After seven days the thief came, bowed down, touched Nagarjuna's feet and said, "Now initiate
           me into sannyas."
           Nagarjuna said, "Why? What about your stealing?"
               He said, "You are a cunning fellow! I tried my best: if I am conscious, I cannot steal; if I steal I
           am unconscious. I can steal only when I am unconscious. When I am conscious the whole thing
           seems so stupid, so meaningless. What am I doing? For what? Tomorrow I may die. And why do I
           go on accumulating wealth? I have more than I need; even for generations it is enough. It looks so
           meaningless that I stop immediately. For seven days I have entered into houses and come out
           empty-handed. And to be conscious is so beautiful. I have tasted it for the first time, and it is just a
           small taste -- now I can conceive how much you must be enjoying, how much you must be
           celebrating. Now I know that you are the real king -- naked, but you are the real king. Now I know
           that you have real gold and we are playing with false gold."
               The thief became a disciple of Nagarjuna and attained to buddhahood.

               I cannot say to you what is right or wrong. I can say only one thing to you: be conscious -- that is
           right. Don't be unconscious because that is wrong. And then whatsoever you do in consciousness is
           right.
               But people are living in unconsciousness. And let me tell you: in unconsciousness you may think
           you are doing something right, but it can't be right. Out of unconsciousness, virtue cannot flower; it
           may appear virtuous but it can't be. Deep down it will still be something wrong. If you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unconscious and you give money to a poor man, watch: your ego is strengthened. This is sin.
              You are unconscious and you go on serving poor people, ill people; you open a hospital or a
           school -- but whatsoever you do gives you a very subtle ego, a pious ego. And a pious ego means
           pious poison -- but poison is poison! And pure pious poison is far more dangerous because it is
           unadulterated; it is pure poison. Hence ordinary people suffer from a very gross ego, it is adulterated.

           I have heard:
               Mulla Nasruddin wanted to commit suicide. He went to the druggist, purchased a big quantity of
           poison, drank it, and waited in his bed the whole night: "Now I am going to die, now I am going to
           die." He opened his eyes again and looked at the clock: "Twelve... two... four... six.... And the
           children are getting ready, and the wife is preparing the breakfast -- and I have not died yet? Or have
           I died and become just a ghost? What is the matter?" He pinched himself and he felt the pain; he
           said, "No, I am still in my body."
               He ran to the druggist; he said, "What kind of poison have you given me? Such a quantity should
           have killed at least ten people, and I drank it all and I'm still alive."
               The druggist said, "What can I do -- in India you cannot find anything pure. Everything is
           adulterated, from milk to poison. What can I do?"

               The ordinary ego is adulterated with many other things. But the religious ego, the ego of a saint,
           of a mahatma, of a sage, is unadulterated -- it is pure poison. Just a drop of it is enough.
               So if you do good things unconsciously, they are going to create more ego in you. And only on
           the surface will they appear good; they will be harmful to the people to whom you are being good.
           Never be a do-gooder, avoid it. More mischief has been done by your public servants, missionaries,
           social reformers, than by anybody else.
               The most fundamental thing is to be conscious and then act, and then whatsoever you do is going
           to be right. But people are unconscious.

           "No, I will not go to the movies with you!" said Jackie. "I know your kind! As soon as we are seated,
           you will start fiddling with my blouse buttons with one hand and tugging at my skirt with the other,
           getting ready to take liberties!"
           "No, I would not," protested Patrick. "The people sitting behind us could see what I was up to."
           "Yes, that's true," said Jackie, "so maybe we had better get there early and find seats in the last row."

              What you want to do, and what you say, and what you really do, are totally different things. You
           may be doing something which you never wanted to do, you may not be doing something which you
           always wanted to do. You live a schizophrenic life, divided into the unconscious and the conscious.
           And out of this schizophrenia whatsoever happens is wrong.

               Biff was the strong, silent type. He walked into the school cafeteria, ordered coffee, and winked
           at the waitress, a sensuous blue-eyed senior. She smiled.
           "Want to go riding?" he asked.
           "Sure, I will be ready in five minutes."
               So they got in the car and he drove out on the highway. He took off down a road, then he drove
           down a lane. The lane came to a dead end and he stopped the car and cut the motor off.
               Turning to her, he uttered his first speech, "Well, how about it?"
           The waitress nodded.
           "Okay," she said, "you have out-talked me!"

               Just watch what you are doing, why you are doing it, what you are saying, why you are saying it.
           Just go on watching your acts, your thoughts, and slowly slowly, a great consciousness arises in you.
           And then you can see all the games that you have been playing with others, and not only with others
           but with yourself too.

              The patient, whose history card a doctor was filling out, said she was a spinster. So, when he
           came to the space for listing number of children, he automatically put down "none."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "But, Doctor," she said, "I have a thirteen-year-old daughter!"
           "I thought you told me you were an old maid?"
           "I am," she replied. "But I am not a stubborn old maid."

                Whatsoever the conscious goes on pretending, the unconscious is the real source of your acts,
           and unless the unconscious disappears totally from your being, you can't do right. Only one tenth of
           your being is conscious, nine tenths are unconscious. The unconscious is almost a continent
           underneath a shallow layer of water you call consciousness. The unconscious motivates you. The
           conscious only finds rationalizations for doing what the unconscious wants to do. The conscious is at
           the service of the unconscious; this is a wrong situation. Let the unconscious be at the service of the
           conscious -- and you become a sannyasin.
                That is what sannyas is all about: making consciousness more and more the center of your being,
           and transforming more and more chunks of unconsciousness into consciousness, bringing more and
           more light into the inner darkness.
                A day comes when you are full of light; your whole being is conscious. Not even a corner of
           your being has any darkness about it -- all is known and experienced through and through. You are
           well acquainted with yourself, totally acquainted with yourself; then whatsoever you do, Prem Murti,
           is right. Right is the flowering of consciousness, and wrong the flowering of unconsciousness.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THE INDIANS UNABLE TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?


               Sandesh, they have a long past, a very long past, longer than any other country, longer than any
           other race. And the longer the past, the more prejudiced you are. The American is the least
           prejudiced in the world because he does not have a long past, only three hundred years old. It is
           nothing compared to the past of India.
               Ten thousand years are absolutely certain historically, but India existed before that. In fact those
           who have gone deep into research, they say Indian culture has existed for at least ninety thousand
           years or more. Such a long past makes a country very old, utterly old. Its mind becomes settled and
           stagnant, it cannot accept anything new, it is very difficult.
               What is easy for the American is very difficult for the Indian. The Indian thinks he knows
           already; he is so well informed, at least about spirituality, that he does not feel that he has to come to
           me. He never comes here, but without coming here he goes on expressing his opinions about me. It
           is natural in an ancient, old, dead culture. And it is a very repressive past that India has gone
           through; it does not allow freedom.
               Freedom has never been the goal of Indian culture but obedience: obedience to the society,
           obedience to religion, obedience to the scriptures. And India has this idea that all that was beautiful
           has already happened, the golden age has already happened. Now man is not evolving, progressing --
           but declining. This is something to be understood.
               In the West the idea is that man is evolving higher and higher, evolution is happening, there is
           great progress happening. The golden age is in the future for the West.
               For the East, particularly for India, the golden age has already passed thousands of years ago; we
           are on a decline. We are not moving towards the peak, we are moving towards the valley. More and
           more darkness will surround us, more and more death; man will become more and more ugly.
               Hence when I speak of a new humanity the West can understand me; the Indian mind simply
           feels at a loss -- what am I talking about? "A new humanity, a golden age in the future? It has
           already passed, it is history. We are not going to attain any golden age in the future; there is only
           death, man is doomed."
               India has accepted this idea that the future is nothing but death, the future holds no hope. And I
           bring a new hope to you. I give you a new promise, I herald a new humanity. Hence it falls on deaf
           ears; it is so much against their conditioning, they cannot bridge the gap, and it is a very very
           repressive conditioning.
               India has repressed all that is natural; it has gone into its unconscious, it is there boiling within.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And I am talking about expressing, and India believes in repression. India believes in repression --
           sex, love, body, all that is natural. And I believe in expression, creativity. I am speaking a non-Indian
           language.
                Hence this strange phenomenon that I am living in India but I am not part of India at all. This
           small community of my sannyasins is a world community -- it is not an Indian ashram, it is a world
           commune. This small commune represents the whole of humanity, not of the past but of the future.
                So I am bound to be misunderstood, misinterpreted, condemned, hindered in every possible way .
           There are twenty-five cases against me in the courts. The government goes on inventing any kind of
           case against me -- a man who never leaves his room.... What crimes can I commit? Twenty-five
           cases against a man who never leaves his room! Just think -- if I were moving outside, they would
           have invented at least one thousand cases against me.
                They have to be forgiven for the simple reason that they cannot understand; in their own minds
           they are doing something very right. They think of me as a destructive force, and in a way they are
           right: I am here to destroy the whole conditioning whether it is Indian or German or Jewish, whether
           it is Christian or Mohammedan or Buddhist.
                My work consists of destroying the conditioning and making man free of all conditioning. This
           happens every day -- not only to Indians, to others too.
                A new sannyasin, Jacob, has written a letter to me. He is a Jew, so he is very much offended by
           the Jewish jokes. Now you cannot even understand humor, you become serious even about that, so
           what to say about serious matters? He has become a sannyasin but deep down the Jew is there, ready
           to be offended. I am going to offend EVERYBODY.
                I offend Germans as much as I can, I offend Jews, I offend Indians, I offend Mohammedans.... I
           will offend everybody, because that's my whole work -- to clean you of all the shit that you have
           been carrying all along. And it hurts because you think it is something very valuable that you are
           carrying.
                Now the Indian mind is the most sexual in the world, the most sexual because the most
           repressed. The Indian goes on seeing things which are not there; he projects or he invents or he tries
           hard to find something.

                The woman phoned down to the hotel manager. "I'm up here in room 5110," she shouted angrily,
           "and I want you to know there is a man walking around in the room across the way with not one
           stitch of clothes on and his shades are up."
           "I will send the house detective up right away, madam," said the manager.
                The detective entered the woman's room, peered across the way, and said, "You're right, madam,
           the man hasn't any clothes on, but his window sill covers him from the waist down no matter where
           he is in his room."
           "Indeed?" yelped the lady. "Stand on the bed! Stand on the bed!"

               The lady must have been Indian. But Indians are everywhere; they are not only in India, they are
           not confined to India, remember. Wherever repressive people are, there are Indians. They can be in
           England, they can be in Italy, they can be in Spain, they can be anywhere. The Indian mind
           represents the repressive mind.

           The woman was calling collect.
           "Would you repeat the name, please?" said the telephone operator.
           "Yes, Alice. A-L-I-C-E. A as in 'adultery', L as in 'lust', I as in 'incest', C as in 'copulation', E as in
           'erotic'...."

               Now, what to say about this woman? She must be carrying a monster within herself.
               And that is the situation in India: everybody has repressed so much, there is so much pus inside
           the soul, that when they hear or read about me they feel hurt. The hurt comes because they are
           carrying wounds within themselves. And it always hurts if you go to the surgeon: he has to squeeze
           the pus out of your wounds, only then can the wounds heal. And I am a surgeon, my compassion
           does not allow me to leave you as you are. Whatsoever the cost to me, whatsoever the risk to me, I
           am determined to expose your wounds to you -- because once you know your wounds, once your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wounds are exposed, brought to the surface, they immediately start healing. And India carries great
           wounds: it is not only physically poor today, it is spiritually poor too. And when I say this it hurts the
           most, because that is the only shelter for the Indian ego that, "We are spiritual people." And my own
           experience is that there is no spirituality left.
               Yes, once in a while a buddha has happened in India -- and more buddhas have happened in
           India than anywhere else, it is true -- but the Indian masses, the crowd, is not spiritual, not at all. In
           fact because of this phenomenon of the buddhas, the Indian masses have become hypocrites. They
           have heard great teachings -- they cannot follow those teachings, because to follow them needs great
           effort. They cannot follow but they can pretend; that is cheap and easy. So Indians have become
           pseudo.

               Larson took Charlotte for a drive way out in the country and parked the car in a desolate stretch.
           "If you try to molest me," said Charlotte, "I will scream!"
           "What good would that do?" asked Larson. "There isn't a soul around for miles."
           "I know," said Charlotte, "but I want to satisfy my conscience before I start having a good time."

               Indians also want to have a good time, but first they want to satisfy their conscience, so they are
           screaming at me. But slowly slowly, the sensitive, the intelligent Indians are coming closer to me. It
           takes time, but the most sensitive people are bound to become part of my buddhafield.
               And Indians suffer from an inferiority complex because for one thousand years they have been
           slaves.

                Rabindranath was never praised in India -- condemned, criticized as much as possible because he
           was a very life-affirmative person. He even had the courage to criticize Buddha in his own way. He
           was against the whole negative tradition of India.
           In one of his poems he says:
                After twelve years Buddha comes back home -- he has become enlightened. He has thousands of
           followers; naturally he remembers his wife, his child, his old father, and he wants to help them. He
           wants to share what he has attained, so he comes back to his palace. Yashodhara, his wife, whom he
           had deserted twelve years before, is naturally very angry.
                For twelve years she has been accumulating anger, but an Indian wife, even if she is angry,
           cannot show her anger to her husband, at least not in those days. But in a very vicarious way... she
           asks one question of Buddha. It is not an historical thing, it is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, his
           own invention but it shows his attitude and approach.
                Yashodhara asks Buddha, "Just one question I have to ask you: for twelve years I have waited to
           ask you this question. You have become enlightened: was it impossible to become enlightened living
           in the world, in the house with me? Just one question I want to ask you: was it absolutely necessary
           to escape from the world, was it not possible here in the house? Am I more powerful than your
           consciousness? Was the temptation more than the search for truth?"
                And Rabindranath says Buddha bows down his head and stands silently, says nothing. But that
           says everything -- now Buddha knows it could have happened in the house too. There was no need to
           desert the wife and the child and the old father and the family and the people; there was no need.
           Now he knows! Now he knows that enlightenment has nothing to do with the mountains and the
           forests; it can happen anywhere.
                Rabindranath in another of his poems says, "I don't want NOT to be born again. I pray to God:
           Give me your world again and again and again! It is so beautiful, it is such a gift -- I am grateful!"
                Now these are very anti-Indian attitudes, the whole hankering of India has been how to get rid of
           life; it is life-negative. Rabindranath is very life-affirmative; he loves life and loves it tremendously.
           He was condemned very much.
                But when he got the Nobel Prize, then the whole country was just full of praise. But he refused to
           go to the gatherings, to the meetings, which were arranged to praise him. He said, "This is not praise
           for me -- you are praising the Nobel Prize. You can take the certificate and the medal and garland it
           and do whatsoever you want -- I am not going to come!"
                He got the Nobel Prize for the book GITANJALI -- offering of songs -- which he had written
           twenty years before. In India nobody praised it because it is very life-affirmative, but once the Nobel
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Prize was given for GITANJALI, GITANJALI was the greatest thing that had happened to India.
           Then the same people started praising it.

                India suffers from a great inferiority complex; for one thousand years it has been a slave. So
           don't be worried, I know how things are going to happen.
                First, more and more intelligent, sensitive, alert Western people are bound to come to me. Once
           they are here, more and more, in thousands, Indians are going to follow suit -- that is because of an
           historical accident one thousand years old.
                Whatsoever is done by the West, India becomes suspicious that it must be right. First it reacts:
           "How can it be right?" because it goes against its tradition. Then, slowly slowly, it HAS to
           compromise. So I am not worried about it, not at all. Let the seekers come from every nook and
           corner of the earth and sooner or later you will find India also coming closer and closer to me.
                But they are always late in everything. They have been missing the train for five thousand years
           -- that has become their habit. They can't be pioneers, they have forgotten how to be pioneers. They
           can only be followers.
                And this work is pioneer work, something immensely new is being tried here. India WILL listen
           to it, at least I hope so. But you need not be worried about it.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              FOR SOME YEARS I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING STANDING ON MY HEAD. IT IS SOMETIMES
              GOOD TO SEE THE WORLD UPSIDE-DOWN! NOW, HOWEVER, A SWAMI IN THE CENTERING
              GROUP HAS TOLD ME THAT YOU HAVE SAID IT IS NOT GOOD TO STAND ON ONE'S HEAD.
              NOW I'M WONDERING WHY THIS MAY BE SO. WHAT IS WRONG WITH STANDING ON MY
              HEAD?
              PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME.


                Anand Vibhu, nothing is wrong with standing on your head -- you will just become more stupid
           AND more respectable, more unintelligent and more holy. There are advantages and there are
           disadvantages. If you want to be intelligent, then please stand on your feet. If God had intended that
           man should stand on his head, he would have made you in a different way.
                I also tried it once in my childhood, but I looked so silly standing on my head -- and, moreover, I
           fell asleep and because of sleeping, I fell down and had my neck strained for at least two weeks -- so
           I decided that this couldn't be what God wants me to do.
                But, Vibhu, if you have been trying it long enough, now it cannot do any more harm. And some
           time it may come in handy too.

           I have heard:
               Sigmund Freud died and was sent to hell -- where else? When he arrived the Devil greeted him --
           obviously.
           "Welcome," said the Devil. "Here you will have one of three irrevocable choices about where you
           will spend eternity. Come on!"
               The first room was filled with people who were carrying large stones up a steep hill only to see
           them fall back to the bottom -- to where they had to return and start the whole process again.
               Freud was then shown the second room. It was filled with typewriters. Thousands of people were
           clattering away, each with a Devil's assistant behind him. Whenever a mistake was made, the
           assistant would slap the person on the back.
           Freud was becoming extremely apprehensive.
               The final room was filled with human feces, up to the necks of the thousands of people there.
           Each person had a cup of coffee which he or she was sipping, just above the dung.
           "Well," said the Devil, "which room do you choose?"
               Freud thought for a second, realizing that in the third room, at least there was no physical work,
           and he enjoyed coffee too.
           "Okay, I will take the third room."
               He waded into the feces and waited for someone to bring him his cup. Just as he heard the large
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           door slam behind him he heard an assistant shout, "Alright, everybody! Coffee break is over!
           Everyone back standing on their heads!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                   Chapter #7
                                        Chapter title: You are the source
           17 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910170
              ShortTitle: DHAM507
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              MISCHIEF IS YOURS.
              SORROW IS YOURS.
              BUT VIRTUE ALSO IS YOURS.
              AND PURITY.



              YOU ARE THE SOURCE
              OF ALL PURITY AND ALL IMPURITY.



              NO ONE PURIFIES ANOTHER.



              NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORK
              FOR ANOTHER'S,
              HOWEVER GREAT HIS NEED.



              YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORK
              AND THEN WITH ALL YOUR HEART
              TO GIVE YOURSELF TO IT.


               Man can either be in hell or in heaven -- it is his choice. Hell and heaven are not geographical;
           they are not places outside you but spaces within you -- and both alternatives exist in each
           individual. Man is like a ladder: you can go up, you can go down; it is the same ladder. Just change
           the direction and you start moving upwards. It is the same energy that becomes hell and that
           becomes heaven. Just a deep understanding is needed of your energies, of your possibilities, of your
           potential.
               Heaven or hell are not when you die: they are possibilities right now. In this very moment one
           can be in hell or heaven -- and you may be in hell and your neighbor may be in heaven. And one
           moment you will be in hell and another moment you will be in heaven. Just observe closely: the
           climate goes on changing around you. Sometimes it is very cloudy and everything looks dark and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dismal, and sometimes it is so sunny, and so beautiful, so joyous.
                But the mistake, the greatest mistake a man can commit, is to think that the climate is created by
           outside forces. It is not created by outside forces; it is your inner decision, your inner will. It is your
           choice. It happens on the outside, but it arises from the deepest core of your being. It needs very alert
           watchfulness to see this point. Once you have seen it you need not live in hell at all. Why should you
           choose hell once this is understood -- that it is your choice?
                But for centuries man has been trying to find excuses, rationalizations, pseudo causes, outside
           himself, for a certain reason: it feels very bad that you are the creator of all your miseries. First the
           miseries are there, and second, the very idea that "I am the creator of all these miseries" hurts even
           more than the miseries themselves. To avoid this hurt, to avoid this wound, to avoid this great
           responsibility, man has been finding a thousand and one ways.
                In the past we created the idea of God: that HE determines, that everything is preordained,
           predetermined, that a child is born absolutely determined. God determines what he is going to be; he
           is not free, he has no freedom. If there is no freedom, there can be no responsibility; if there is
           freedom, then there is responsibility. They come together, they are inseparable. Man was ready to
           gain his freedom, but he was very much afraid to accept the responsibility. Even at the cost of losing
           freedom he wanted to be absolutely without responsibility. At least he could say, "It is not my will
           that I am suffering. What can I do? I am helpless! God has preordained it." Or fate, KISMET....
                And the religions which don't believe in God and don't believe in fate either, they had to find
           some other explanations, but it is the same thing. They have found the theory of reincarnation, the
           theory of karma: your past lives determine your present life. Again you are helpless! Now nothing
           can be done about your past lives; there is no possibility of changing them. You cannot undo them,
           so one has to simply accept whatsoever is the case. If you are miserable, you are miserable -- accept
           it.
                It is because of this acceptance that the East has remained poor, starved, ill. If you accept that
           whatsoever is happening is happening because of your past karmas, then it has to happen; there is no
           way to avoid it. Even utterly stupid ideas arose out of it, and they look very logical if you accept the
           basic premise.
                In India there is a Jaina sect, Terapanth; Acharya Tulsi is its head. This Jaina sect says that if
           somebody falls in a well, don't help him to get out. You will be surprised -- how can one say this?
           You are standing there, the man is crying, shouting for help, but this sect says, "Don't help him,
           because he is suffering for his past karma. Don't interfere. If you interfere and pull him out he will
           have to fall in again, so you will not have really been a help. On the contrary, you will have delayed
           the process which would have been completed by now. And by interfering in his life and his karma
           YOU are creating a certain karma for yourself, because to interfere in somebody's life, to disturb his
           process, his growth, is a sin."
                Hence the followers of this sect don't help anybody in any way. To help is a sin, to serve is a sin.
           It looks very absurd, but if you accept their premise then it is not absurd. The premise accepted, it
           appears the logical conclusion of it.
                Absurd philosophies have arisen, just for one single reason: how to avoid responsibility? Throw
           it on somebody else's shoulders! It may be God, fate, the theory of karma, or, if you are not religious,
           if you are a materialistic person, then you can throw it on history, as Hegel did -- history is
           responsible. It is again the same game -- just the name changes, the label changes. It is no longer the
           past, now it is called history -- not individual karma but the karma of society is decisive; the
           individual is helpless. In fact, according to Hegel the individual is a fiction; only the society exists
           and history is the determining factor.
                And millions and millions of years have passed! How can you fight with it? What can you do
           about it? You are utterly helpless! All that can be done is: accept it, be part of it. Whatsoever is the
           case -- misery or bliss -- you are not responsible. How can you be responsible for the whole history
           -- from the very beginning, if there was any beginning?
                Karl Marx says it is not history but the economic structure of the society. Sigmund Freud says it
           is not the economic structure of the society but the unconscious structure of your psyche --
           unconscious! You cannot do anything about it, it is beyond you. You are conscious and it is
           unconscious; there is no bridge. You are utterly unaware of it. The enemy goes on functioning from
           such dark corners inside you and there is no possibility of bringing any light to it. At the most we can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           analyze, understand the situation, and be adjusted to it.
                All these philosophies, psychologies, sociologies, are inventions of man to avoid one single
           phenomenon: the phenomenon of responsibility.
                A real religious person is born the moment you accept your responsibility for yourself, the
           moment you say, "Whatsoever I am is my choice -- not of the past but of the present. It is my choice
           of this moment, and if I want to change it I am absolutely free to change it. Nobody can hinder me --
           no social force, no state, no history, no economics, no unconscious, can hinder me. If I am
           determined to change it, I can change it."
                Yes, in the beginning the responsibility looks like a heavy, heavy weight; it feels good to throw
           the responsibility on somebody else. At least you can enjoy this much, that "I am not responsible."
           You can enjoy that you are just a victim, helpless. In the beginning to accept responsibility for
           yourself totally, unconditionally, IS heavy. It creates despair, anguish, anxiety, but only in the
           beginning. Once it is accepted, slowly slowly you become aware of the great potential and the great
           freedom that it brings.
                If I am responsible for my misery, that also means, automatically, that I am responsible for my
           bliss. If I am responsible for my misery, I can stop it immediately. Let me repeat the word
           'immediately' -- not even for a single moment does one have to wait. It is not a question of changing
           your past lives, it is not a question of changing the whole society, it is not a question of bringing the
           dictatorship of the proletariat, and it is not a question of going into years and years of
           psychoanalysis. It is a simple question of accepting the responsibility that "Whosoever I am, I have
           created my climate, my being."
                Man is born only as a potential. He can become a thorn for himself and for others, he can also
           become a flower for himself and for others. And remember, whatsoever you are for others you are
           for yourself too, and whatsoever you are for yourself you are for others too. If you are a flower to
           yourself, your fragrance is bound to be released; it will reach others. If you are a thorn to yourself,
           how can you be a flower to others?
                This is one of the greatest contributions of Gautama the Buddha to the world: he makes the
           individual absolutely, categorically, irrevocably responsible. Very courageous people accepted it,
           only rare individuals accepted it. Cowards always want to escape from responsibility.
                The people who followed Buddha became disciples and devotees. The people for whom Buddha
           became the master were a rare kind of people: really courageous, ready to risk all, ready to accept
           the anguish of being reborn... because this is a rebirth! Dropping all these philosophies which make
           somebody else, XYZ, responsible for your being -- it is a rebirth. Accepting the whole responsibility
           of your being, whatsoever you are -- good, bad, sinner, saint -- means you have taken a great
           quantum leap. But soon the responsibility turns into freedom. Such a great liberation happens
           through it!
                The same type of people are gathering around me again. I am not here for cowards. Cowards
           have many other places in the world, many people to help them -- to help them to remain cowards
           forever. I exist here only for the courageous, the adventurous: people who are ready to risk and risk
           all, people who are ready to get involved, committed, people who are ready to stake everything for
           liberation, for transformation, for attaining the ultimate truth.
                The sutras of today are very pregnant, small statements. That's exactly what a sutra means. A
           sutra means an essential statement, with no elaboration, with no explanation, with no decoration --
           just the bare, naked core of it. It was needed in those days, because people had to remember these
           sutras. Hence they had to be very condensed, they had to be telegraphic, so people could remember
           for centuries, because they would go from one generation to another just as part of people's
           memories. Books were not in existence, printing had not come into existence. People had to
           remember; hence the device of the sutra. A sutra means a maxim, just the very essential core, but if
           you remember it you can always decode it.
                And that's what I am doing here: decoding these sutras for you.

              A man had three daughters. One day a friend came to see him and during the conversation asked
           what the daughters' names were.
              The father said that the eldest was called S.C., the middle one, M.C., and the youngest, D.C.
           "What does all that mean?" the friend asked.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The father replied, "The eldest, S.C., was born out of 'sheer curiosity'; the middle one, M.C., by
           'mutual consent'; and the youngest, D.C., by 'damn carelessness'."

               Just watch your life -- more or less it is damn carelessness, it is D.C.! Whatsoever you are, you
           are accidentally, like driftwood. You have not chosen to be whatsoever you are; you have not taken a
           conscious decision about it, you have not willed it so. You have just been at the mercy of the winds.
           Just look at your whole life, how things have been happening to you. Just accidents!
               A woman meets you and you fall in love, because she has a beautiful nose. Now the nose is
           determining your life! Or she has blond hair or a beautiful shape. Just watch what is determining
           your behavior, your future! Now, the color of her hair or the way the woman walks or the way she
           sings or the color of her eyes -- are these the things that can determine your love? -- because your
           love is going to change your life! But that's how things happen.
               Since the invention of the car things have changed, because the area of accidents has become
           very big. Otherwise people used to fall in love in their own neighborhood; now the range is bigger.
           Now young people have their own cars: within hours they can reach hundreds of miles away. In the
           past, people used to fall in love within the neighborhood -- somebody living next door or somebody
           living in the same house. The car has changed the whole pattern of people's lives, their love affairs!
               Now, what kind of humanity is this which is determined by such superficial things? But that's
           how it is, and it is better to see it as it is.
               People have become more intelligent -- if not intelligent, at least more intellectual, more
           educated, more cultured, more sophisticated -- but their basic style of life is still the same:
           unconscious, accidental. People don't live out of their essence, they simply depend on accidental
           circumstances. And not only the little people, but the people you think are geniuses, even they
           behave in very stupid ways.

               The twentieth-century physicist, Niels Bohr, made great contributions to the world when he
           detailed the structure and function of atoms, and laid the groundwork for the theory of quantum
           mechanics. He was a scientist's scientist.
               One day an American colleague visited Bohr in his Danish homeland. The American found a
           good luck charm above the desk -- an up-ended horseshoe hanging on the wall.
           "Surely you don't believe the horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr?" asked
           the astonished visitor. "After all, we are level-headed scientists!"
           "I believe no such thing, my good friend, not at all. I am scarcely likely to believe in such foolish
           nonsense," the Scandinavian reassured him. "However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you
           good luck whether you believe in it or not."

               Now, a man like Niels Bohr, one of the geniuses of this century, still behaving in the same way,
           the same unconscious way as the common people have always been behaving! It seems education
           makes no difference, science makes no difference, civilization makes no difference. Man goes on
           living and repeating the old patterns.
               And the greatest and the oldest pattern is: not to accept responsibility for yourself. And avoiding
           responsibility is avoiding the birth of your soul. And you can always find excuses to avoid that
           birth... because every birth is going to be painful, and the greater the birth, the greater the pain.
               People shirk their responsibility, they shrink away from their responsibility. Whenever a point
           comes to respond spontaneously, they are at a loss. They search in their memories, in their past, how
           to react. And remember: reaction is not response. Reaction means you are repeating an old pattern.
           You are not aware of the present situation, you are not responding to it. You are responding to some
           other situation which is no longer there.
               Life goes on changing and your patterns become fixed, because mind is a machine. The mind
           cannot change by itself. Unless you become very conscious and start using your mind consciously,
           the mind goes on giving you ready-made formulas. They may have been effective in some other
           situations, but they are not relevant forever -- because life is never the same even for two
           consecutive moments.
               A responsible person is one who is alert, watchful, and never acts out of his past but acts out of
           his present awareness. Otherwise you will always be out-of-date. That's how people are -- always
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           out-of-date. They go on giving answers to questions which are not being asked. They go on doing
           things which are a sheer wastage of time and energy -- because the situation does not demand them.
               Now man has become scientifically very capable, but psychologically he is not mature enough.
           And the technology and all its powers in the hands of immature people is very dangerous. Hiroshima
           and Nagasaki are going to be repeated again and again. It is like giving a small child a naked sword
           to play with: either he is going to harm himself or somebody else. It is bound to happen; the harm is
           almost inevitable.
               And that's what has happened to the modern world. Scientifically we have a great technology
           which can change the whole face of the earth and finally the whole face of the universe, but
           psychologically we are immature. Psychologically we are centuries behind -- there is a gap of
           centuries between our science and our minds!
               Ponder over Niels Bohr's reaction again. He says, "I have been told that it is going to be a
           blessing whether you believe in it or not." He is living a superstitious life!
               Yes, it is okay for a primitive man, but for Niels Bohr, one of the most sophisticated minds, who
           has contributed greatly to modern knowledge, who is in the same category as Albert Einstein,
           Eddington, Edison, and others... a man of great intellect, functioning like a small child, a primitive
           man, functioning very childishly!
               And let me remind you again: just as there is a great difference between reaction and response,
           so there is a great difference between being childlike and being childish. Don't be childish. Yes,
           childlike innocence is beautiful, but childish superstitiousness is ugly.
               And remember what kind of excuses you go on finding for your life, because if you go on finding
           excuses for the way your life is, it is going to remain the way it is. It will never be changed, because
           nobody else can do it for you.

               The streetwalker tried to peddle her wares to a man on Park Avenue.
           "I won't for three reasons," he replied. "I promised my wife, and I also promised my mother, that I
           would not fool around with strange women."
           "What's your third excuse?" asked the prostitute.
           "I just had a piece!" he said.

              Just look at your irrational reasons -- stupid, if you are a little more observant; otherwise they
           look alright.
           Buddha says:

              MISCHIEF IS YOURS.


               The first thing to note: Buddha does not call it sin, he calls it mischief -- mistake, error, but not
           sin. In fact, in Buddha's vision there is nothing like sin. To call something a sin is to condemn it, and
           not only is it condemning the act, it is condemning the person too. The word 'sin' is very loaded.
           Buddha uses the word 'mischief' -- the change is great. If you call it a sin, then you have to be
           punished for it. Then you are a sinner, then you will have to suffer sometime in the future.
               The future was created by the priests, for a certain reason. In life we see many sinners
           flourishing: they are famous, they are powerful, they are rich. In fact, to be a president or to be a
           prime minister of a country, you have to be very immoral. You have to commit all kinds of immoral
           things, only then can you reach the highest post. It is not easy to reach there: you have to compete,
           by wrong means or right means.
               In politics there is nothing wrong or right: everything is right which gives you results. Use all
           kinds of ladders to reach the highest post, and once you have reached, nobody is going to remember
           what you have done on the way. Once you are in power, people simply forget all about what you
           have done to them. Not only that -- you can rewrite the whole history! That's what Joseph Stalin did,
           Adolf Hitler did.

              Joseph Stalin wrote the whole history of the Russian Revolution again: all the names that he was
           against were dropped. Trotsky, who was a far more prominent figure in the revolution than Stalin,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was totally dropped; he was even removed from pictures. Stalin was in power for a long period: he
           changed the whole history, he made a new history -- invented!
               Once he died, the same was done to him by Khrushchev -- he changed the history again. Even
           Stalin's body which was preserved like Lenin's was removed from its place, because his body was
           lying next to Lenin's. HE had only changed pictures and words! Khrushchev removed Stalin's body.
           People spat on his dead body. It was removed to a far corner, a place where nobody would ever go.
               I have heard that somebody had suggested, "Why don't you send it to Israel?"
               Khrushchev said, "I am afraid, because it is said that once a man was resurrected there after three
           days. I can send his body anywhere, but not to Israel. Who knows -- if he comes back...? Just the
           idea!" ... Because for thirty years Khrushchev was just wagging his tail before Stalin. For thirty years
           he was just like a dog, not more than that! After Stalin's death, when he became powerful, he took
           revenge.
               Somebody asked him at a conference, "If you are so much against Stalin, why didn't you assert it
           when he was alive? For thirty years you were with him -- there is not even a single case on record
           that you argued with him or said anything against him or even discussed anything. You were always
           a yes-sayer. How do you explain it, your thirty years' association with Stalin? If he was wrong, then
           you were wrong!" Somebody shouted this from the back of the conference hall.
               Khrushchev stood silent for a single moment, then he said, "Just please stand up and say who you
           are!" Nobody stood up, and he said, "Now do you see? This is my answer! You cannot stand and say
           your name before me; that was the same situation with me in those days. I can kill you -- he could
           have killed me!"
           And the same was done to Khrushchev.

               That's how it has been going on. In power politics you don't think of right or wrong means. In
           politics there is nothing right, nothing wrong: whatsoever succeeds is right and whatsoever fails is
           wrong. And the situation is the same in the marketplace. If you succeed in accumulating money, you
           are right.
               The priests became aware of the problem. The problem was: sinners succeed in life -- then how
           to explain it? If sinners are to be punished, what kind of punishment is this? In fact, the saints seem
           to be punished and the sinners seem to be rewarded. How to explain this? The future life was the
           only way to escape the problem.
               The priests invented this idea that hell and heaven are after life. In this life the sinner can
           succeed, but in the next he will have to suffer, after death he will have to suffer. And the saint may
           suffer in this life, but after death he will be rewarded: he will be taken to paradise. Now, nobody
           knows anything about the next life, whether it is or is not. Nobody has ever come back from there;
           nobody has ever reported what it is like, what is happening there. But it was a good device; it helped
           priests to console people.
               Buddha never uses the word 'sin', because it is condemnatory. He has such a deep respect for
           humanity! No other master has ever shown such respect for humanity as Buddha. And it is difficult
           to show respect for humanity, really difficult, because humanity behaves in such stupid ways. Only
           an enlightened master can still show respect for humanity, in spite of all that humanity goes on
           doing.
               Buddha uses the word 'mischief'; it does not condemn you. It simply says that you have chosen a
           wrong way. And he says: MISCHIEF IS YOURS. It is not predetermined by God, by fate, or by
           anybody else -- it is YOURS. And the sorrow that follows mischief -- or, more accurately, the
           sorrow that simultaneously happens with mischief, is also yours. There is no god who punishes you,
           there is no need, because if there is a god -- again an invention of the priests -- if there is a god as a
           judge... judges can be bribed.
               And the priests have been telling people, "Pray to God, praise the Lord, and you will be
           forgiven." What is praise? It is a kind of bribery!
               Hence, in a country like India where people have been praising God for centuries, bribery is very
           simple. Nobody thinks it is wrong -- it is something religious! If even God can be bribed, what about
           the poor policeman! If even God can be bribed and persuaded to do things in your favor, what about
           the poor magistrate? And if God is not wrong, why should the magistrate be thought wrong?
               In the East, bribery is not thought wrong; it is a Western concept that bribery is wrong. In the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           East it is just a simple thing, it has always been done. The priests are nothing but agents between you
           and God: they take bribes from you, and on your behalf they plead with God. Of course, in things
           like bribery, agents were needed because to give a bribe directly you will feel afraid. The person may
           not feel right; he may be offended, his sense of dignity may be offended. He may feel hurt, thinking,
           "What do you think of me? That you can purchase me?" Or, even if he wants to take it, he may say
           no, he may deny it. He may say, "I never take any bribes." His sense of pious ego may take
           possession of his being. An agent is needed, a go-between who knows both the parties so you need
           not encounter the person directly. Everywhere agents are needed.
               Priests have been agents between man and God. "You commit sin? Don't be worried," priests
           say. "Just give the right amount of bribes and you will be forgiven. And God is very compassionate."
           If you don't bribe, then of course you have to suffer.
               Buddha removed God completely. He removed God because he wanted to remove the priest.
           Unless God is removed the priest cannot be removed; he is just a shadow of God, a by-product. God
           is his invention! Hence the whole priesthood of India was against Buddha, because he was
           destroying their very trade, he was revealing their very trade secret, he was cutting their very roots.
               And India has the longest, the oldest priesthood in the world: the brahmins. For ten thousand
           years they have been exploiting people. They have lived on exploitation, they have not done
           anything else. They have not toiled, they have not worked. Their whole function has been just to act
           as a go-between.
               Buddha was really cutting the very roots of the priesthood, the whole establishment that goes
           with it, and the exploitation in the name of religion. He says:

              MISCHIEF IS YOURS.
              SORROW IS YOURS.


               There is no God to give you punishment, each act of mischief intrinsically brings sorrow to you.
           If you put your hand in the fire you will be burned. Not that a judge is needed to declare that now
           you have to be punished by the decree of God or the decree of the judge; you have to be punished
           because you have put your hand in the fire. There is no need for anybody to declare any judgment.
           The moment you put your hand in the fire you are burned -- immediately, instantly! In Buddha's
           vision, the action brings its own result; no judge is needed.

           "How did this accident happen?" asked the doctor.
           "Well," explained the patient, "I was making love to my girl on the living-room rug when, all of a
           sudden, the chandelier came crashing down on us."
           "Fortunately you have only sustained some minor lacerations on your buttocks," the doctor said. "I
           think you are a very lucky man."
           "You said it, Doc," explained the man. "A minute sooner and it could have fractured my skull!"

              It all depends on you! MISCHIEF IS YOURS. SORROW IS YOURS.

              BUT VIRTUE ALSO IS YOURS.
              AND PURITY.


                So don't be sad. In fact, feel joyous. Buddha is giving you total freedom... you can choose. If you
           are in love with sorrow, that's your choice. Then don't complain. You have chosen it yourself; enjoy
           it if you want to enjoy it. It is all up to you.

              The bride returned from her honeymoon and was relating her experience to her best friend. "And
           how was the first night?" her friend asked in anticipation.
           "Oh, it was horrible!" said the bride. "All night -- up and down, in and out, up and down, in and out.
           Never get a room next to the elevator!"

              Your whole life is your choice: you can be in hell, you can be in heaven. And heaven and hell are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not far away from each other. In fact, there is not even a fence between the two, there is no division;
           they merge and melt into each other. You can easily move from one space to the other.
               And people have tried all kinds of things, but nothing succeeds. People have tried alcohol and
           drugs and people have tried prayers, religious rituals -- nothing works. Maybe for a moment, or for a
           few hours, mescaline or LSD can take you away from your present misery, but in fact they don't take
           you away -- they simply make you unaware of it.
               Only one thing has been successful and that is becoming more conscious, accepting that it is your
           responsibility; if you are in misery, then looking at it and finding out how you have chosen it and
           why you have chosen it. And seeing that it is your choice is enough: if you still want the advantages
           that come with it....
               Yes, there are a few advantages; that's why people choose misery. Nobody wants misery, but
           there are a few advantages that come with misery. Everybody wants bliss, but there are a few
           disadvantages -- at least they look like disadvantages from your standpoint. That's why people want
           bliss but don't choose it, people don't want misery but choose it.
               Misery gives you a sense of the ego. Misery separates you from existence, defines you. Bliss is a
           merger, a melting. Your definitions disappear, your ego is found no more. So those who want to feel
           "I am," they have to choose misery, there is no other way. The 'I' feeds on misery; you may not like
           misery but you like the ego, and that is the subtle motive for choosing misery. You like bliss, but you
           don't want to melt.
               It happens many times: people come to me and they say.... And the same was happening with
           Buddha: many times he was asked the same question -- and maybe it is the same people who asked
           him and now they are asking me! He was asked many times, "You say bliss will be there when we
           have disappeared. But if we are not there, what is the point of attaining bliss? If I am not there to
           enjoy it, what is the point?"
               The same people come to me and ask, "If I disappear, then I don't see the point. Even if there is
           bliss, if I am not, who is going to experience it?" And logically it appears that their argument is valid
           -- but only logically, not existentially.
               Bliss is not an experience. It is not that there is bliss and you are experiencing it. When you
           disappear YOU are bliss; there is no need for anybody to experience it -- you become it. You
           vacate... and bliss starts arising in you. You are blocking it, you are the only barrier.
               You have to look deeply into it; only then will Buddha's sutra be clear to you.
               MISCHIEF IS YOURS. SORROW IS YOURS. BUT VIRTUE ALSO IS YOURS. AND
           PURITY. And what does he mean by purity? Is not virtue purity? No; hence he has to mention it
           separately. Purity means a state which is beyond both good and bad, misery and bliss -- beyond both.
               There is a transcendent state; it is peace. Buddha calls it nirvana: cessation of all states, good and
           bad both, day and night both. One simply IS: that is purity. No experience, nothing is happening, no
           content, a pure subjectivity, an eternal silence: that is purity.
               MISCHIEF IS YOURS. SORROW IS YOURS. Virtue is yours, bliss is yours, and beyond all is
           purity, buddhahood, awakening, transcendence. That is also yours.

              YOU ARE THE SOURCE
              OF ALL PURITY AND ALL IMPURITY.


               This is his continuous insistence, that: YOU ARE THE SOURCE.... He wants you to be
           reminded again and again that: YOU ARE THE SOURCE.... You come into the world as a pure
           potential, a multidimensional potential. You can become anything. You can be a sinner, you can be a
           saint. You can be Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or you can be a Buddha or a Jesus. You bring all kinds
           of potential with you; you can choose whatsoever you want to be. You are not born ready-made; you
           come only as an infinite possibility, opportunity.
               An occasion to grow, that's what life is -- a space to grow. But you can grow in many ways,
           diametrically opposite ways. Adolf Hitler can become Gautama the Buddha; Gautam Siddhartha
           could have become Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler is not born as Adolf Hitler.
               We are born tabula rasa, a clean slate; nothing is written on it. It is later on that we start writing.
           Then one becomes the Bhagavadgita, the Bible, the Talmud, the Upanishads, and another becomes a
           book of pornography. And it is the same clean paper on which pornography is printed and on which
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the Bhagavadgita is printed, and it is the same ink that is used for both and it is the same press too.
           But vast differences! How vast is the difference between Adolf Hitler and Gautam Buddha! And
           both came with the same opportunity, but the choice was different.
               Remind yourself again and again that: YOU ARE THE SOURCE OF ALL PURITY AND ALL
           IMPURITY. Once this is accepted, a great authenticity arises in you.

                Frederick II of Prussia, also known as Frederick the Great, instituted social reforms and
           improvements throughout his country. One day he unexpectedly visited a prison to inspect the
           facilities. The head jailer was dismayed to be asked to show the king through the jail itself to see the
           conditions personally.
                As Frederick proceeded through the jail, the convicted men came running up to him, pleading
           innocence and begging for pardons. The king listened to all, and walked on. He became surrounded
           by men claiming they were not guilty.
                One man, however, stayed in his corner. The king was surprised. "You there!" he called. "Why
           are you here?"
           "Robbery, Your Majesty," stated the prisoner.
           "And are you guilty?" asked Frederick.
           "Entirely guilty, Your Majesty. I richly deserve my punishment."
                The king parted the throng with his walking-stick and pointed it at the jailer. "Warden," he said,
           "release this guilty wretch at once. I will not have him here in jail where by example he will corrupt
           all the splendid, innocent people who occupy it."

               The moment you take responsibility totally, it is a great redemption, it is freedom. You are
           suddenly out of the jail -- just by taking the responsibility. It is difficult to accept, very difficult, hard
           to accept, that "I am responsible"; it hurts the ego. But there is no other way.

               NO ONE PURIFIES ANOTHER.


               This is the way Buddha drops the whole priesthood. If nobody can purify you, if nobody can
           purify another, then the whole function of the priesthood disappears.
               The greatest priesthood in the world now is the Catholic priesthood. And do you see the reason
           why? -- because for twenty centuries they have been claiming that salvation is through Jesus. That is
           the basic root of the Catholic priesthood; it depends on it. If somehow it can be proved that Jesus
           cannot be the salvation of anybody else, then the whole Catholic church will become irrelevant.
               The church is relevant, the pope is relevant, only because of the claim in the name of Jesus that
           "Jesus purifies," that "Jesus saves." And the pope represents Jesus: he is the representative of Jesus
           on earth, of God on earth. God is invisible; Jesus is no longer on the earth, but he has left his
           representatives and they have direct connections -- they can dial at any moment. They can
           recommend you or they can put your name on the blacklist.
               Buddha says: NO ONE PURIFIES ANOTHER. You have done mischief to yourself -- now only
           you can undo it. Why bring somebody else into it? If Jesus has not been the cause of your mischiefs,
           how can he be the cause of saving you from those mischiefs?
               Buddha says: buddhas can only point the way -- but you have to walk. They can't walk for you;
           nobody can carry you to paradise. You are men, you are not sheep! But the Christian idea is that
           Jesus is the shepherd and you are the sheep. And the Christian idea is that the more lost you are, the
           better are the chances that Jesus will carry you on his shoulders to the ultimate home.
               This is all invention! Jesus can only save himself, and by saving himself he can show you the
           path to saving yourself, but he cannot save you.
               This is where Buddha stands out from all other religions. He was really very very aware not to
           give any chance to any kind of priesthood to arise behind him -- because priests are the greatest
           enemies of religion. And the priests are not bridges between you and God; on the contrary, they are
           the walls.

               An elderly Jewish gentleman climbed into a railway carriage and soon struck up a conversation
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with the other passenger in the compartment, who explained that he was a Catholic country priest.
           "And after being a country priest, vot you become in your church?" asked the Jew.
           "Well, it is just possible I could be moved into a town parish."
           "And after zat?"
           "Oh, no! I will never be placed higher than that."
           "But if you are very good in your job vot you can become?" persisted the Jew.
           "Well, I could become a monsignor."
           "And after zat?"
           "If I was very, very lucky I could become a bishop."
           "And zen?"
           "Archbishop."
           "And after zat?"
           "Well, a cardinal in Rome."
           "So vot next?"
           "From the cardinals the pope is elected."
           "Oh, the pope. Vot after him?"
           "What! There is no higher than the pope. He is God's priest on earth!"
           "So vot about Jesus Christ?"
           "No, that's blasphemy! No one can become Christ!"
           "Oh!" said the Jew, "'cos vun of our fellows made it."

                It is not blasphemy -- everyone can become a christ, because christ is a state of consciousness; it
           has nothing to do with Jesus. Christ is equivalent to buddha. Buddha has nothing to do with Gautam
           Siddhartha -- anybody can become a buddha. Whosoever becomes awakened is a buddha and
           whosoever is awakened, is crowned by the glory of awakening, is christ. Christ means the crowned
           one. One who has come home and is crowned with the glory of becoming one with God is a christ.
           YOU can be a christ.
                There have been many christs before Jesus Christ and there will be many more. In fact,
           ultimately, each individual has to reach to the state of christhood. It is not blasphemy -- but the priest
           has to call it a blasphemy. He cannot allow you to become a christ, because if you become a christ,
           the priest is not needed anymore. Even the idea that you can become the christ means you have gone
           far away from the clutches of the priesthood. The very idea is dangerous to the priesthood; that's why
           it is blasphemy.
           But Buddha says: NO ONE PURIFIES ANOTHER.

              NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORK....


               Hence, don't depend on anybody else saving you -- only your own work on yourself can.
               NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORK.... It is arduous to transform yourself from wrong patterns to
           right patterns, and from right patterns to transcendence. It is a great, arduous pilgrimage, it is an
           uphill task. Don't go on believing and deceiving yourself that somebody is going to come: the
           messiah will come and will deliver you from your sins and from your bondage. This is just a hope, a
           wish-fulfillment. And people have been waiting for the messiah and the messiah never comes.
               Not that there have not been messiahs -- there have been: a Buddha, a Krishna, a Zarathustra, a
           Jesus, a Mohammed, a Moses. These are all christs, all buddhas! But nobody can purify you -- unless
           you take the decision, unless you become committed to transforming yourself.
               Don't wait for any shortcut -- you can't cheat existence. Nobody can carry you on his shoulders;
           you have to go to the ultimate peak on your own. NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORK....

              FOR ANOTHER'S,
              HOWEVER GREAT HIS NEED.


               And Buddha says: There are needy people all around. There are ill people, there are poor people,
           there are paralyzed people and blind and deaf and lame. If you start serving all these people you will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forget the real work. That's what has happened to the Christian missionary. He runs the school, the
           hospital, he serves the poor people, and of course he is very much respected for that, but he is
           neglecting the real work.
                Buddha is not saying don't serve anybody; he is saying don't serve at the cost of your work. If
           you can serve people without disturbing your real work on yourself, it's okay; by the side you can do
           it. But in fact it is not possible -- you don't have that much energy. First you have to pour your whole
           energy, total energy, into self-growth.
                Once you have become a grown-up, mature, alert, aware, then you can serve people and only
           then -- because then you will have something to share: love, compassion. Then you will have
           something to really help them: understanding, wisdom. Right now what can you do? Right now you
           yourself are in such a mess that if you serve somebody you are bound to create more mess for him.
                And that's what the missionaries have been doing to the world -- they create more mischief, more
           mess. They think they are doing great work, holy work -- it is not possible! Unless you are holy your
           work cannot be holy. Actions are not decided by actions themselves but by the source from where
           they arise.
                Buddha says: NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORK.... Buddha is saying exactly what I say to you.
           I say to you: First be selfish, utterly selfish. That is one of the criticisms of my work: people criticize
           me because I am making people selfish. I am telling them to meditate, to grow, and forget all about
           the world. And the world is in trouble: there are poor people and there are miserable people, and
           great public servants are needed. And I am teaching people just to sit silently and meditate, or dance
           and rejoice.
                But that's what Buddha was saying. That's what the awakened people have always been saying to
           the world. First become enlightened, be full of light, then do whatsoever happens through that light.
           If service comes easy to you, good. If you want to teach people, good. If you want to help the ill, the
           old, good. But right now you yourself are blind, you yourself are in a dark night of the soul. What
           can you do with your service? What are you going to give to people? You don't have anything -- you
           are empty, hollow.
                NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORK FOR ANOTHER'S, HOWEVER GREAT HIS NEED.
           Listen to Buddha's words: However great his need, never neglect your own work. There is something
           very fundamental involved in it: you can help others only if you have helped yourself first.

               Once I was sitting on the bank of a river and a man started drowning. He shouted for help. I ran,
           but by the time I reached close to the river to jump, another man who was closer, just near the bank,
           had already jumped. So I stopped myself; there was no need. But then the other man started
           drowning -- I had to save both!
               I asked the second man, "Why did you jump if you don't know how to swim?"
               He said, "I completely forgot! The moment I heard him shout, 'Save me!' -- I completely forgot
           that I don't know how to swim. I simply jumped, it was a mechanical response."
               This is not the way to help! I said, "If I had not been here, you both would have drowned! There
           was every possibility of the other person reaching the shore alone, without you.... Because you don't
           know how to swim and you would have caught hold of the other person and you both would have
           depended on each other, there is more possibility that you both would have drowned. And you
           created unnecessary trouble for me -- first I had to save you, because you were closer to the bank,
           and that man had to wait a little longer."

               But this is happening in life every day: you start helping others without ever becoming aware
           that you yourself are in need.
               Be altruistic only when your own self is fulfilled. Selfishness and unselfishness are not opposite
           to each other. A really selfish person is bound to become unselfish one day, because the really selfish
           person is one who comes to discover his inner self. A really selfish person cannot be interested in
           money, cannot be interested in power, cannot be interested in prestige. If he is really selfish, his first
           interest will be: "Who am I?" The people who are interested in money and power and prestige don't
           know real selfishness.
               I also teach you real, authentic selfishness, because my own observation is: out of it arises
           altruistic love. They are not opposite. When one is fulfilled, one starts overflowing with compassion.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORK....


              And the first thing is -- the first step of your work is -- to discover your work.

              AND THEN WITH ALL YOUR HEART
              TO GIVE YOURSELF TO IT.


               What does Buddha mean when he says: YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORK...? A
           very mysterious statement, but only apparently so; otherwise simple, logical.
               There are two kinds of people in the world. Just as biologically there are males and females, so
           spiritually there are also males and females. The biological male may not be spiritually a male,
           remember. There is no inevitability of them coinciding; sometimes they coincide, sometimes not. A
           biological female is not necessarily a spiritual female.
               A man may find that deep within himself he is more feminine than masculine: more soft, more
           vulnerable, more receptive, more like a womb: less aggressive, less active. A woman may find deep
           down that she is not receptive, she is aggressive.
               Just as there are males and females biologically and spiritually, so the spiritual path can be
           divided into two: the male path and the female path, the yin and the yang. This is the basic division.
           The whole of nature is divided into two: the negative and the positive, matter and mind, the earth and
           the sky. The whole of nature depends on this dialectic, on this duality -- and we are part of it right
           now. When you become enlightened you will go beyond it -- then there is no dialectic, then there is
           no duality, then you attain to one -- but before you attain to one you will have to find out what work
           is going to suit you.
               I call these two types of work: love and meditation. Love is the feminine way and meditation is
           the masculine way. Meditation means the capacity to be absolutely alone, and love means the
           capacity to be absolutely together. Love means rejoicing relatedness; meditation means rejoicing
           solitude, aloneness. Both do the same work, because on both the paths the ego disappears. If you are
           really in love you have to drop your ego; otherwise love will not be possible. If you want to go deep
           into meditation you will have to leave the ego behind; otherwise you will not be alone. The ego will
           be there and the duality will remain: the being and the ego, consciousness and mind.
               You will have to drop the mind if you want to go into meditation, and you will have to drop the
           mind if you want to go into love.
               So the basic mechanism is the same, but the directions are different. The meditator goes inwards;
           he is introvert, he seeks interiority. And the lover goes outwards; he is extrovert, he seeks the being
           of the other. In love, the other becomes the mirror in which you find your face, your original face. In
           meditation, you need not have any mirror; you simply go into yourself and you find yourself, your
           reflection is not needed. These are the two basic types of work.
               Buddha says: YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORK. The first thing is to discover
           exactly what type of person you are. Mahavira, Buddha, Lao Tzu, these are meditation types,
           meditative people. But Jesus, Chaitanya, Kabir, these are love types; they need a dialogue with
           existence. In meditation there is no prayer because there is no other; in prayer there is a dialogue of I
           and thou.
               Whether God exists or not is irrelevant. Patanjali has said God is only a device for the love type,
           the person who cannot find himself without creating a mirror; then God is just the greatest mirror
           you can create. Whether God exists or not is not the point at all. Patanjali says it is a device: a device
           for prayer. The real thing is prayer, not God, remember it: the real thing is prayer, not God. The real
           thing is love, not the beloved.
               If you can love, if you can pray, it doesn't matter whether God exists or not, whether your prayer
           is heard or not. Praying itself is transforming; heard, not heard, is beside the point. In deep prayer
           you dissolve your ego. But for prayer you need an excuse: whom to pray to? You need an excuse;
           hence God, the hypothesis of God. It is a hypothesis, remember; it is not really there.
               There is no person like God sitting somewhere above in the sky listening to everybody's prayer.
           If there was such a person he would have gone mad long ago -- so many many people, millions of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people on the earth.... And now scientists say there are at least fifty thousand earths in the universe,
           all populated. Now millions and millions of prayers are arising every day, and God is one. Poor God!
           And so many worshippers!

               When I used to travel in this country -- for fifteen years I was traveling and traveling, twenty-one
           days per month traveling -- I was in a difficulty. The greatest difficulty was the Indian attitude
           towards saints. They would come and they would massage your feet, and I was tired of those
           massages!
               Once it happened I was coming from Udaipur. The train was stopping at some station; it must
           have been twelve o'clock at night. After a seven-day camp I was feeling very tired, and a man
           entered into my compartment and started massaging my feet. I said, "You will do a great service to
           me if you stop all this nonsense. Simply get out of the room!"
               He said, "You go to sleep, don't prevent me! I have been waiting for the whole year so that when
           the train comes here to my station and you come back from your Udaipur camp, I could massage
           your feet, I could serve you."
               I said, "How long is this train going to stay here?"
               He said, "Don't be worried! It stays here for two hours, because from here the engine changes
           and the route changes, so you can go to sleep."
           I said, "How can I go to sleep?"
               And he was really doing such hard work -- something like Rolfing! I asked him, "Where did you
           learn Rolfing?"
           He said, "I have waited for one year!"
               I said, "That I understand." So he was taking revenge!
               Finally I got tired, so tired that I had to call the police to remove that man. Now he was very
           angry. He said, "No saint has ever done this!"
           I said, "I am not a saint!"
               But that is not the point: first he projects the saint, then he can serve him. He really wants to
           serve some holy man; whether the holy man is holy or not is not the point.
               I said, "I am even ready to be a sinner if you will leave me alone!"
               Just think of God! That day I started thinking of God, what must be happening to him. The
           praying... millions of people praying. And there are millions of people already in heaven -- they must
           be doing Rolfing on him! He must be constantly escaping, running away.

           I have heard:
               In the beginning God used to live on M.G. Road in Poona, but then people started troubling him
           too much. Day and night they would knock on his door -- complaints and complaints: "Do this, do
           that. Tomorrow we need rains," somebody would say. And then somebody else would come; he
           would say, "Tomorrow no rains, because I am doing my laundry tomorrow."
               He started feeling that he would go crazy! He asked his advisors. They said, "You can move to
           the Himalayas."
               He said, "That is not going to help very much, because I can see into the future: soon..." because
           in the world of God time goes fast. For us it is centuries, for God it is moments.

              Just the other day I was reading a story. A male dinosaur was in great love with a female
           dinosaur. For ten thousand years he waited to say to her, "I love you." Then for ten thousand years he
           courted her. Then for ten thousand years he said all the sweet things that lovers say to their beloveds.
           This way thirty thousand years passed. And then one day he said, "Darling, it is time: should we
           make love?"
              And do you know what the female dinosaur said? She said, "I am having my decade!"
              If this is so in the world of dinosaurs, what to say about God? Time scales are different.

               God said, "You don't know -- soon a man named Hillary, helped by another man, Tenzing, will
           reach Everest. And once one man reaches there, then it is finished! Then buses will soon be coming
           and helicopters and airplanes, and hotels will open up and restaurants and I will again be on M.G.
           Road! That won't help."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Somebody suggested, "Then why don't you move to the moon?"
               He said, "That is not going to help either. Just a few years more" -- that means a few moments
           more -- "and another man will walk on the moon. And if they find any trace of me anywhere, the
           whole world will rush towards me."
               Then one advisor came close to him, whispered something in his ear, and God became really
           happy and said, "This is right!"
               The man whispered, "Then why don't you hide in man himself?"
               God said, "That's right! There, it is very very rare that people look. Once in a while, few and far
           between -- a Buddha, a Jesus will look in. Otherwise nobody looks in. And the people who look in
           are not dangerous. The deeper they go inwards, the more peaceful they become. By the time they
           reach to the center they have lost all language, so they can't complain and they can't pray! By the
           time they reach me they will melt into me and I will melt into them."
               And since then God has been residing in man. This is a secret I should not have told you. At least
           do me one favor -- don't tell it to anybody else!

               YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORK. The first thing is to decide whether you feel
           joy being alone. For example, Chetana is sitting here. Vivek always asks me, "Chetana remains alone
           and she looks so happy. What is the secret?" She is a meditative type! Vivek is unable to understand
           that one can live totally alone. Now Chetana's whole work is doing my laundry; that is her
           meditation. She never goes out, not even to eat in the canteen. She brings her food... as if not
           interested in anybody at all.
               If you can enjoy this aloneness, then your path is meditation. But if you feel that whenever you
           relate with people, when you are with people, you feel joy, cheerfulness, bouncing, you feel more
           alive, then certainly love is your path.
               Watch, and you will find it is not very difficult to decide what your path is. Once you have found
           your work, then Buddha says: WITH ALL YOUR HEART TO GIVE YOURSELF TO IT. Then
           don't wait a single moment and don't withhold any energy from it. Get involved totally, absolutely --
           because transformation is possible only when you are boiling at the one-hundred-degree point, not
           lukewarm. Being lukewarm won't do; you have to boil at a hundred degrees. You have to be totally
           in your work. First find out, take time.
               The function of the master is to help you to find out what your real work is, what your type is. If
           you cannot find out, take the help of a master. Take the help of the master to find out what exactly is
           meditation and love. He will show you the path, but then you have to follow and you have to follow
           totally. You cannot follow it in fragments, in parts; you have to go utterly into it. Then
           transformation is possible instantly. In a single moment one can become a buddha or a christ.
               And remember, it is only you who can do this miracle, nobody else can do it for you.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                   Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title: A little taste of buddhahood
           18 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910180
              ShortTitle: DHAM508
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE EXPERIENCED THE FRAGRANCE AND THE NECTAR OF THE BUDDHAFIELD WHILE I
              HAVE BEEN HERE. HOW DO WE KEEP THIS WITH US WHILST WE ARE AWAY, ESPECIALLY IN
              THE MIDST OF ANTI-BUDDHAFIELD FORCES?


               Jagdeesh Bharti, to experience the presence of the divine is to be transformed so essentially that
           even if you want to lose it, you cannot lose it. It becomes part of your being, and more so when you
           are surrounded by anti-buddhafield forces. It will crystallize there. The contrast is always helpful.
           The contrast cannot destroy it; it becomes a challenge, it is an opportunity. Never think of it as a
           calamity.
               I send my sannyasins to the farthest corners of the earth; that is a device, because when they go
           away, far away from me, they start relying more on their own awareness -- they have to. They start
           being more spontaneous -- they have to. They become more responsible, and each moment they have
           to be alert, watchful, because there are so many things to destroy their treasure. The very existence
           of the anti-forces becomes a constant challenge for them. It helps integration.
               So you need not be worried; the fragrance will remain with you. The nectar is already a part of
           your being. And while you are in Chicago you will find yourself closer to me than you can be here,
           because here there are so many sannyasins, you are lost in the many. There you will be alone and
           you can relate to me more directly, more intimately. And the physical distance makes no difference
           at all. Love knows no distance. Then Chicago becomes a suburb of Poona. And whenever you close
           your eyes, you will find me there. The right way to see me is to see me with closed eyes. With open
           eyes you can see only the physical part of me, with closed eyes you can see the real me.
               A great Indian mystic, Paltu, has said something very strange; nobody else has ever said it. He
           has said: Only those who are blind will be able to understand me, only those who are blind will be
           able to see me -- who I am. A very strange statement when you think of other statements made by
           other mystics. For example, Jesus says: Those who have ears, hear me! Those who have eyes, see
           me!
               Paltu says: Only the blind ones can see me. He means, "I can be seen only with closed eyes."
           When your eyes are open your energy is moving in an extrovert way. And I am not there. You can
           find me only when your eyes are closed; then in the deepest core of your being, at the innermost
           shrine you will find me. That's how the disciple always finds the master.
               And that's how the disciple, in one sense becomes absolutely devoted to the master, and in
           another sense becomes absolutely free of the master. Because when you have found the master
           within yourself, then there is no dependence on the outer master; then the outer master was just a
           reflection of the inner. Hence people go on seeing in me what they want to see, they go on
           projecting.
               There are three kinds of meditators in the world. The first kind meditates with open eyes. There
           are methods of meditation which can be done only with open eyes. With open eyes you relate with
           nature, the physical manifestation of God, with all its beauties, all its rejoicings, the birds singing
           and the trees flowering and the stars. With open eyes you can see the manifest God; hence there are a
           few techniques of meditation which have to be done with open eyes.
               And there are a few techniques which have to be done with closed eyes. Then you see the
           unmanifest God, which is far more important, because the manifestation is momentary and the
           unmanifested is eternal. I am here in the body; this is a momentary phenomenon. Tomorrow I may
           not be here in the physical body.
               My sannyasins have to learn it -- whether they are in Poona or Chicago they have to learn to
           connect with me, to contact me with closed eyes. Then I am forever; then whenever they close their
           eyes they will be surrounded by me. It will not be a form, it will not be a face, it will be simply
           fragrance; it will not be a flower but only fragrance. You can catch hold of a flower but you cannot
           catch hold of fragrance. You can experience it but there is no way to keep it in your fist. You cannot
           touch it, but you can be moved, tremendously moved by it, transformed by it, transmuted by it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And there are a few meditations which are done with half-closed and half-open eyes; Buddha
           particularly insisted on doing your meditation with eyes half-closed and half-open. Why? His path is
           the middle path in everything. He is a very consistent man. He says: Be exactly in the middle,
           because if you are outside with open eyes you may become attached to the manifest world; if you are
           with closed eyes you may become attached to the unmanifest world. But with half-open and
           half-closed eyes you will remain detached from both. You will be just a watcher, in the middle. On
           one side the existence of nature, on the other side the existence of God, and you simply standing in
           the middle -- that too is a way to meditate.
                My own suggestion is: first meditate with open eyes; second, meditate with half-open and
           half-closed eyes; third, meditate with closed eyes. Slowly slowly, move into the unknown and the
           unknowable.
                Jagdeesh Bharti, you say, "I have tasted the fragrance and the nectar of the buddhafield while I
           have been here."
                My effort is to make this whole earth a buddhafield, so wherever my sannyasins are there is a
           mini-buddhafield. And now that you are one of my sannyasins, you will function there as a vehicle
           for me. Allow me to function through you and a mini-buddhafield will be created. Slowly slowly,
           each of my sannyasins has to become a buddhafield, he has to carry around himself the aroma of
           enlightenment, of love, of prayer. He has to create a small climate that follows him wherever he
           goes. He has to remain in that small atmosphere of his own; wherever he goes it follows him like a
           shadow.
                Soon we are going to fill the whole earth with many many sannyasins, and wherever a sannyasin
           is, there is an oasis. And a single sannyasin can trigger the process, and many more souls can be
           ignited, can be made aflame. And this is going to happen with you.
                I have seen in you a great potential, you can become a true vehicle for me, you can be a hollow
           bamboo and I can sing the song. Now spread the fragrance and the nectar that you have tasted --
           what else can we give to our friends? What else can we give to our lovers, beloveds, our wives,
           husbands, children, parents? What more is there to give or what is more precious than to give them a
           little taste of buddhahood?
                Whatsoever you have tasted here, share it and by sharing it will go on growing. In the inner
           world the economics is totally different from the outer. In the outer, if you share you lose;
           whatsoever you give is lost to you. In the inner world whatsoever you cling to is lost, whatsoever
           you share is yours forever; not only is it yours forever but it is multiplied. Give more and you will
           have more.
                Go with great joy, you are carrying a treasure with you. You are a messenger and you are
           carrying a message which is immensely needed by humanity today. It has always been needed, but
           never so much as today.
                Man has never been in such anguish before, man has never been in such despair before, man has
           never felt so meaningless before. He needs people whose presence can make him feel again at ease,
           relaxed, whose presence can give him hope again that meaning is possible, that life can be lived in a
           totally new way, that there are new ways of life, new altitudes of life, that one need not remain
           empty. Then one can have a new kind of fullness which does not come by money, by power, by
           prestige, but comes only through a meditative awareness, a loving awareness.
                Go as my messenger, spread whatsoever you have tasted here to as many people as possible, and
           you will see: the more you spread the message, the more deep-rooted you will become in it. You will
           not lose contact; don't be worried at all. I will be coming with you, following you. You will find me
           always very close to you. Yes, sometimes you can chitchat with me, and if sometimes the idea arises
           to have a little dialogue with me, don't feel that it is crazy. Let the dialogue happen and you will be
           surprised that your questions are answered in the same way that I am answering them here. They will
           be answered from the deepest recesses of your own being. They will be answered by your own
           center; the questions come from the circumference and the answers come from the center. In the
           beginning it will look as if I am answering you, but sooner or later you will discover that they are
           being answered by your own real self.
                The master represents only your real self; he speaks to you only to provoke the sleeping center of
           your being. Once the center is awake the master becomes silent with the disciple.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                There is a Sufi story about Bahauddin, one of the great Sufi mystics.
                He was living with his disciples, a few hundred disciples, in the desert. A few travelers passing
           by thought just out of curiosity to see what was happening, so they went to the monastery and asked
           permission. They wanted just to see what was happening and they could not believe their eyes:
           hundreds of people were looking crazy. Somebody was dancing, somebody was shouting, somebody
           was talking to the sky, and it was all chaos. They said, "This man, Bahauddin, seems to be insane
           and he has gathered all kinds of insane people here. What is going on?" And Bahauddin was sitting
           just in the middle of it all.
                They went away to their destination. When they were coming back, again out of curiosity they
           thought, "What is happening now? We should go and see." They went there. Bahauddin was still
           sitting in the same place and all the disciples who had been shouting and looking crazy just a few
           months before were all sitting in silence, as if no one was there. The monastery was so quiet, so
           utterly quiet.
                Now they were even more puzzled: "What has happened? Where has all that insanity gone?" Not
           a single word was uttered by Bahauddin, not a question was asked by the disciples. The spectators
           remained there for a few minutes and then they went away.
                After a few years they were again passing by and they said, "Now let us see what is happening."
           They went there; Bahauddin was still sitting in the middle and there was not a single disciple around;
           the whole monastery was empty. Now they could not contain their curiosity, more so because
           Bahauddin was alone. They thought, "Why not ask him?"
                So they asked. "When we first came a few years ago," they said, "all hell was loose, and we
           thought that you were mad and your followers were mad. What was happening at that time?"
                Bahauddin said, "Catharsis. They were throwing out the insanities that they had gathered in
           many many lives because of you people, because of a repressive society, because of an insane
           society. I was allowing them to throw it out, to get rid of it."
                The people asked, "Then what happened? When we came back they were all silent!"
                Bahauddin said, "They threw out all that was inside and nothing was left; they became sane.
           Hence they were sitting in silence."
                Those people said, "We can understand these two things. But what has happened now? Where
           have they gone?"
                Bahauddin said, "Now they have gone to spread the message. Now there is no more for them to
           do. They have tasted the nectar; now they have gone to the farthest corners of the earth to bring more
           crazy people. And next time when you come you will again find the same thing happening: crazy
           people throwing out all their craziness."

               Jagdeesh is a professor of psychology in Chicago. Go there and bring as many insane people as
           you can. Help my work. And to help my work is to be with me, to help my work is real intimacy
           with me. And I will be constantly watching you.
               Remember, wherever you are, that I am with you. And soon it will not just be an idea, it will
           become a reality; it IS a reality -- you just have to discover it. And the anti-buddhafield forces are
           going to help you immensely. Because of these anti-buddhafield forces you will become more
           crystallized, you will become more centered, more rooted.
               This is part of the process of growth, to send you again and again into the marketplace.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU TALK SO MUCH ABOUT THE WITNESS, BUT WHAT IS THE WITNESS AND WHAT IS THE
              JUDGE? HOW CAN WE TELL WHICH IS WHICH -- THE WITNESS OR THE JUDGE?


               Deva Bhumika, it is very simple; the distinction is very clear. It is impossible to be confused
           about it. The judge is always judging, saying, "This is good, this is not good. This is virtue, this is
           sin. This is moral, this is immoral. This should be and this should not be." The judge is continuously
           judging. A thought passes in the mind and immediately the judge says, "This is not good to have
           such a thought, this is a bad thought, evil." Or the judge says, "This is a beautiful thought, cherish it,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nourish it, treasure it; it is very precious."
              The judge is always making judgments, for or against. It has a priori ideas of what is right and
           what is wrong. The judge is given to you by the society; hence there are different judges in you. A
           Christian has a different judge from a Hindu.

           I have heard:
               A woman went swimming in the sea, went too far, was drowned and was pulled out of the sea by
           the guards. They made every effort to revive her but it was too late, so they had to leave her body
           there and they went to the nearest phone to inform their office that a woman had died. It happened
           somewhere on the French coast.
               When they came back they were surprised; a Frenchman was making love to the dead woman.
           They said, "What are you doing? Are you mad or something -- the woman is dead!"
               The Frenchman said, "My God, I thought she was Catholic!"

                Now a Catholic woman is not expected to enjoy or to move or shriek with joy or to shout
           "Alleluia!" No, not at all. She has to lie down there absolutely dead. Only bad women make any kind
           of movement, good women never. They simply lie there, they simply suffer.
                A Catholic has a different conscience, hence a different judge. A Hindu has a different
           conscience, hence a different judge. The Jaina has a different conscience, hence a different judge.
           And the conscience is created by the society, the judge is in the service of the society. From their
           very childhood we start teaching children what is right and what is wrong. And by and by they
           imbibe it, they imitate it, it becomes part of their conditioning.
                The judge is in the service of the society in which you have been brought up; hence there are as
           many judges as there are cultures, societies, religions, ideologies.
                But the witness is one; there is not any difference between a Christian and a Hindu and a
           Buddhist. The witness is one. The witness is not given to you by the society; it is the awakening of
           your soul, it is awareness. What is meant by being a witness is that you don't condemn, you don't
           appreciate either. You don't evaluate at all -- you don't say anything, you simply see.
                A thought passes inside your mind; you simply see it, mirrorlike. You don't say good, bad; you
           don't label it. You simply see it is coming in, it is in front of you, it is going out. You don't make any
           comment about what it is. A witness is a pure mirrorlike consciousness; judges are different but the
           witness is one. If the Christian becomes a witness he will be the same as the Hindu when he becomes
           a witness.
                That's why Buddha and Jesus and Moses and Mohammed are not different; they are witnesses.
           But the Mohammedan, the Christian, the Buddhist, the Jew, they are different. They live through the
           ideology given by the society, and the society has its own interests. You can be given very stupid
           ideas and you will carry those ideas your whole life. Unless you make great efforts to awaken
           yourself you will remain enclosed in your ideologies; they will dominate you. This is a social
           strategy to dominate you. Not only have they placed the policeman outside, and the magistrate and
           the government; inside they have also interfered with your being, inside the society has also
           trespassed on you.
                The judge simply shows the trespass of the society. If we are to create a better humanity we have
           to stop creating judges. We have to help people to be conscious. Don't give conscience to people,
           just give them consciousness. And their consciousness about their lives has to be decisive; then they
           have to act out of their own awareness, not by given commandments, not by rules given by others.
           That is the way of slavery. That's how we have existed up to now.
                My effort here is to help you to drop your conscience; that's why all the religions are against me.
           It is natural. On one point they agree. In India, the Christians, the Hindus, the Jainas, the Buddhists,
           the Mohammedans, they are all agreeing on one point: that I am a dangerous man, that people should
           be prevented from approaching me, that great barriers should be created so that nobody can come
           under my influence, because to them it seems an evil influence.
                Just the other day I saw one Italian magazine with my picture on the front cover -- I loved it --
           my picture with two horns. That's how I must be appearing to the pope of the Vatican, that's how I
           appear to the SHANKARACHARYAS, that's how I appear to the Jaina monks. It is natural; I appear
           to them to be the most dangerous person. And the reason? -- because whatsoever they have created I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           am trying to destroy, because to me they have created only bondage for you. They have created
           chains for you, subtle prison cells for you. The conscience is the most subtle slavery.
                Live through consciousness, not through conscience. Be so alert that you can take responsibility
           for your own life. Witnessing is totally different from being a judge; witnessing is simple. You come
           before the mirror; whether you are beautiful or ugly the mirror makes no comment. It simply mirrors
           you, that's all, whatsoever you are, with no comment, with no judgment. It does not say, "You are
           ugly -- get lost!" or, "You are beautiful -- remain here a little longer. I enjoy you, I enjoy your
           company." A witness becomes a mirror, he goes on watching.
                And the miracle is, if you can watch your mind without becoming a judge, you will go beyond
           mind very soon. It is your judgments which create entanglements with the mind. One thing you like
           and you cling to it, another thing you dislike and you want to push it away. You become entangled,
           you get involved with the mind, you become identified with the mind. And you don't know what
           truth is and you don't know what good is and you don't know what beauty is. All that you know is
           borrowed, all that you know is what the society has told you.
                And societies have been repeating for centuries, and go on repeating the same things. Society is
           not enlightened; there has not yet been an enlightened society, only enlightened individuals.
                You can become enlightened by becoming more conscious, more of a witness. Be less of a judge
           and you will be surprised that when you become a witness and you don't judge yourself, you stop
           judging others too. And that makes you more human, more compassionate, more understanding. The
           man who judges himself continuously is bound to judge others too. Even more -- he will be cruel, he
           will be hard on others. If he condemns himself for something, he will condemn others even more; he
           will always be looking for faults. He will never be able to see the glory of your being; he will
           become too concerned with trifles, with trivia. He will become too concerned with your small acts.
                If he finds a Buddha sipping tea, he will become more concerned about the tea than about the
           buddha. He will say, "Buddha, and sipping tea?" You will be surprised, there are people, for example
           Mahatma Gandhi -- he was against tea.... "It is a sin!" It was a sin in his ashram. If somebody was
           found drinking tea a great fuss was made about it. Once he himself went on a three-day fast to purify
           himself because one of his disciples had been drinking tea. He punished himself -- that is a very
           subtle and cunning way to punish somebody.
                Just think: if you do something and I go on a fast for three days, that will be a great torture for
           you; you will not be able to sleep those three days; it will be heavy on you. You will think again and
           again, "Why did I do such a thing? The master is suffering!"
                And he is purifying himself. Why? -- because he said, "If I was really pure then no disciple could
           do anything which is wrong. How can a disciple do anything wrong if the master is absolutely pure?"
           That was his arithmetic. So he would punish himself. Punishing himself was a kind of masochism,
           but it worked; it works better than punishing others -- because the people who have gathered around
           such a person love him; that's why they have gathered around him. Now for such a small thing... but
           he created a great clamor about tea and about smoking.
                In his ashram nobody could smoke, nobody could drink tea, what to say about wine? If he had
           met Jesus he would have condemned him immediately; he would have gone on a fast for at least
           three months to purify himself and to help Jesus, because he used to drink wine. The best wine was
           always created by Christian monasteries; in their cellars they have the oldest wine, the best.
                Now this must have been inconceivable to Mahatma Gandhi -- a man like Jesus drinking wine?
           But Buddhists have been drinking tea down the ages and there is no problem. In fact in Japan they
           have made it a great ceremony. They drink tea so meditatively that each Zen monastery has a special
           temple. Yes, it is called a temple where they go to drink tea.
                You can't enter the temple with shoes on. You can't talk in the temple where you drink tea. There
           is a special process and the whole thing is so meditative that the guests will come silently and they
           will sit in a meditative posture. The host, usually a woman, will prepare tea, and the aroma of the tea,
           and the samovar and the sound and the music of it.... And everybody will be silently sitting and
           listening to the sound of the samovar, and everybody will be smelling the beautiful perfume of the
           tea. And they are getting ready; as the tea is getting ready they are getting ready, becoming more
           silent, more quiet.
                Then the tea is served in beautiful, very aesthetic cups and saucers, specially made, handmade, so
           they can be unique. And then people will drink tea -- not as people do on railway stations: one sip
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and then they look back at the train, then another and then they look back at the train, somehow they
           have to swallow it and run to catch the train, otherwise the train may be gone -- not like that. Sitting
           silently for hours, sipping tea slowly. There is no hurry. It is a meditation.
                Now, I would say that Zen people are really doing something more beautiful than Mahatma
           Gandhi. The real art is to transform the mundane into the sacred. That is the touch of a master. He
           touches dust and it becomes gold. Now tea is transformed into prayer. This is beauty, this is
           alchemy; now tea-drinking becomes a witnessing, a watchfulness.
                But if you are prejudiced against something... and everybody is prejudiced; the whole world is
           prejudiced in one way or another. And I am here to destroy all your prejudices. All that has been
           implanted in you has to be taken out; you have to be made pure again, pure like a child, innocent, not
           knowing what is wrong and what is right, just witnessing.
                Out of that witnessing a response arises -- a response which is total because your whole heart is
           behind it, a response which is total because it is your own response, not a repetition of somebody
           else's teachings; a response which you will never regret, a response which will not make you feel
           guilty, that "I have done something wrong," which will not make you feel egoistic, that "I have done
           something great." A response is a simple response, it neither makes you feel inferior nor superior. It
           is simply the requirement of the moment. It comes out of your witnessing and it is finished. It leaves
           no trace behind.
                The witnessing soul is like the sky. The birds fly in the sky but they don't leave any footprints.
           That's what Buddha says, that the man who is awakened lives in such a way that he leaves no
           footprints. He is without wounds and without scars; he never looks back -- there is no point. He has
           lived that moment so totally that what is the need to look back again and again? He never looks
           ahead, he never looks back, he lives in the moment.
                Judgment comes from the past, and witnessing is a present consciousness. Witnessing is now and
           here, and judgment is somewhere else in the past. Whenever you judge anything, try a small
           experiment: try to find out who has given you this idea. And if you go deeply into it, you will be
           surprised: you can even hear your mother saying it, or your father, or your teacher in school. You
           can hear their voices still there resounding in your memory, but it is not yours. And whatsoever is
           not yours is ugly; and whatsoever is yours is beautiful, it has grace.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO YOU TELL SO MANY JOKES ABOUT THE JEWS?


               Sanatano, Jews have a sense of humor as nobody else has. For example, Hindus have no jokes,
           not a single joke which can be called Hindu. All the jokes that Indians tell to each other come from
           the West. India has lost the sense of humor; it has become too serious.
               Jews could not become too serious for the simple reason that for centuries their lives have been
           of great suffering. It is humor that helped them to survive. They had to create a great sense of humor.
               India has lived in a lukewarm way. It has not suffered much, nobody has tortured it much,
           nobody was bent upon destroying it. It never needed a sense of humor to save itself from
           seriousness; on the contrary, because life has been simple, without much suffering and pain, people
           have become serious.
               Jews have the best jokes in the world. You will be surprised, but this is my observation: it is their
           sense of humor that has saved them; otherwise they would have been destroyed long ago. They had
           to create a great sense of humor; even in the concentration camps of Adolf Hitler they were joking.
           That was their way of remaining alive.
           And I love jokes, hence I love Jews too.

           Two Jews met each other for the first time.
           "Where are you from?" asked one.
           "Miami Beach, Florida," answered the other. "Where are you from?"
           "Lincoln, Nebraska," answered the first. "What's the population of Miami Beach?"
           "Oh, about a hundred thousand people."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "And how many Jews are there?"
           "About ninety thousand."
           "And what do they do for a living?"
           "Oh, they are doctors, lawyers, judges, accountants, retired wealthy men, bankers, etcetera."
           "And tell me about the other ten thousand people? What do they do?"
           "They are policemen, carpenters, laborers, etcetera. So now you tell me about Lincoln, Nebraska.
           What's the population there?"
           "About three hundred thousand people."
           "And how many of them are our people?"
           "I guess there are about five thousand Jews."
           "Wow!" said the other, "How come you need so many servants?"

                Jews are intelligent people, they snatch away more Nobel Prizes than anybody else. That
           intelligence is also there because they have suffered long, and they always have to find new ways to
           survive.
                Intelligence arises when it is challenged; intelligence arises, becomes sharpened, when it is used.
           If it is not used it gathers dust. When it is not used, when there is no need to use it, it dies. It is as if
           you don't use your legs for years -- you will lose them, you will not be able to walk again. It is as if
           you keep your eyes closed for three years, you will lose your eyesight.
                Thieves have better eyesight than anybody else; naturally, because they have to look in the dark
           into other people's houses. Maybe they have entered into the house for the first time: they don't know
           where the door is and where the wall is and how the furniture is arranged -- still they have to walk
           silently. They start getting better eyesight than anybody. You will not find a thief with glasses; at
           least I have not found one yet. So whenever you see a person without glasses, beware! Who knows?
           Keep watch.
                A man with eyeglasses, you need not worry about him. He cannot even find his own things; how
           can he find your things? -- impossible. He cannot find things in his own house.
                Jews have really lived a long long, arduous life because of the Christians. The whole idea is
           absurd, because once Jesus was crucified, the Jews did not need to be tortured for ever and ever. And
           the Jews you are torturing did not crucify Jesus; those people are gone. But that's how foolish
           prejudices continue, and Christians particularly go on and on repeating the same thing.
                The sin that was committed by Adam and Eve is still heavy on them. Now if Adam and Eve
           committed it, they will suffer for it. Why are you worried? You have not committed it. But they
           think it is in your blood; it has come to you because you are in the same chain, in the same
           continuity. This is absurd, utterly absurd.
                Buddha had a son, Mahavira had a daughter; the daughter must have given birth to a few
           children -- where are they? Mahavira is not carried by his descendants. Where are Zarathustra's sons
           or daughters? Zarathustra is not carried by his sons and daughters. Everyone lives his own life and
           dies his own death. Everyone is unique.
                Remember, the body comes from the parents but not the soul. And it is so with Adam and Eve.
           Adam and Eve are not carried by blood cells. It is utterly stupid to torture Jews for something that
           happened two thousand years ago. But it continues. In a way it has been a blessing in disguise: it is a
           curse but it has given Jews a sharpness, a brilliance, an intelligence, a sense of humor. They can
           laugh even when they are facing death.
                I have heard that in the concentration camps they survived not on food, because the food was not
           enough -- they survived on jokes. Even going into the oven, into the gas chamber, they were going
           telling jokes to each other, laughing. A beautiful people!
                Christians don't joke about their bishops, popes; Hindus never joke against their mahatmas,
           impossible. Jews joke even about their rabbis; they joke more about rabbis than about anybody else.
           That shows intimacy, that shows love and respect, remember. That shows that the rabbi is not
           something of an outsider, he is an insider.

              There was a function in a Jewish community. They were raising money for the synagogue -- the
           synagogue was in bad condition -- so they had sold tickets for a lottery. And now the day had come
           when the first three prizes were going to be distributed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A man was called and it was declared that he had got the third prize -- a Lincoln Continental.
           The beautiful car was there on the stage. That was the third prize.
              Then the man was called who had got the second prize -- he was given just a big cake. He was
           hoping that he might be given an airplane or something. The third prize was a Lincoln Continental
           and the second prize was a cake! He said to the man who was distributing the prizes, "Are you
           mad?"
              But the man said, "You don't understand. The cake was prepared by the rabbi's wife herself."
              The man was so angry he said, "Fuck the rabbi's wife!"
           And the man said, "But that is the first prize."

               Only Jews can joke this way; that shows intimacy, that shows respect, love. The rabbi is part of
           the community.

               Three men were hurt in an airplane crash in Africa and were recuperating in a Moroccan
           hospital. In Morocco they allow the shepherds to bring their flocks into town to graze -- which helps
           to keep the grass short.
               Confined to their hospital rooms for several months, one day, one of the three, a Christian,
           looked out of the window. There was a flock of sheep enjoying lunch.
               The Christian pointed to a plump ewe and exclaimed, "I wish that one was Elizabeth Taylor!"
               The second, who was a Mohammedan, said, "I wish that was Raquel Welch!"
               And the third, who was a Jew, said, "I just wish it was dark."

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ONCE SAID THAT ACTING IS THE MOST SPIRITUAL OF PROFESSIONS, AND NOW WE
              HAVE A THEATER GROUP. CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT ACTING?


               Krishna Prem, acting is certainly the most spiritual of professions for the simple reason that the
           actor has to be in a paradox: he has to become identified with the act he is performing, and yet
           remain a watcher.
               If he is acting as Hamlet he has to become absolutely involved in being a Hamlet, he has to
           forget himself totally in his act, and yet at the deepest core of his being he has to remain a spectator,
           a watcher. If he really becomes absolutely identified with Hamlet, then there is bound to be trouble.

               In India the most popular scripture of the Hindus is the RAMAYANA, the story of Rama. It is
           played all over the country every year; it has been played for thousands of years and every village
           has its own small theater group to play RAMLEELA. In RAMLEELA, Rama, one of the characters,
           is the incarnation of God, and Ravana, his opposite, the incarnation of the Devil. The fight is
           between light and darkness; it is a parable.
               Rama gets married to Sita, one of the most beautiful women of those days. In those days
           marriages were not arranged; they were called SWAYAMVARAS. Swayamvar means the woman
           was free to choose, and particularly the women from royal families used to make conditions. Those
           people who fulfilled these conditions would be entitled to be chosen.
               The condition that Sita made was that anybody who could break the great bow of Shiva with his
           bare hands would be chosen. Now the bow of Shiva was of such strength and made of such steel that
           nobody could even bend it with his bare hands, what to say about breaking it into pieces?
               All the princes of the country had gathered. Rama came too, and Ravana also. Ravana was the
           king of Sri Lanka, and there was great fear in the camp of Sita's father because they did not want
           Ravana to win the contest. And there was every possibility that he would because he was the
           strongest man in those days. He was also a devotee of Shiva, and his devotion was such that once
           Shiva had appeared to him and told him, "You can ask anything and I will give it to you."
               Ravana had ten heads, a beautiful metaphor, ten faces; everybody has. Who can have only one
           single face? -- only a buddha, the original face; otherwise everybody has many faces. You need one
           face with your wife, another face with your mistress. You can't function with the same face with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them both. You need one face with your servant, another face with your boss. If the servant and the
           boss are both present, when you look to the left, at the servant, you show him one face, and when
           you look to the right, at your boss, you show him another face; you start smiling and wagging your
           tail.
                It was said that Ravana had ten faces. He asked Shiva, "Give me this blessing that if one of my
           heads is cut off, immediately another will grow and I will always have ten heads, never less than
           that." And Shiva had blessed him; such a devotee of Shiva and such a powerful man that you could
           not cut off his head -- it would immediately grow again. There was fear, great fear of his power. He
           might win the contest.
                And Janaka, the father of Sita, was really in great anxiety. Something had to be done, so a
           conspiracy was made. When all the princes and the kings had gathered and the contest was going to
           happen and the bow was brought, a false messenger came running to Ravana and said, "What are
           you doing here? Your country is on fire. Sri Lanka is burning!"
                So he rushed immediately to Sri Lanka. Meanwhile Rama won the contest and was married to
           Sita. This is the story.
                Now, in a village it happened: the play was being played, and when the messenger comes and
           says to Ravana, "Your country is on fire!" he said, "Let it be. I don't care. This time I'm going to win
           Sita. Enough is enough!"
                In fact, this man had always loved the woman who was acting as Sita, deep down in his heart. He
           completely forgot the play; he became utterly identified. It became a reality. He rose... now it was
           not Shiva's real bow, just one a village carpenter had made. He broke it into many pieces and threw it
           away before anybody could prevent him. Then he said to Janaka, "Now, where is Sita?"
                Now, what to do with such a man? And the whole audience was simply shocked. He was
           finishing the whole story, because now there could be no more to it. The whole story depends on
           Ravana being avoided, Rama getting married, and then the struggle when Ravana steals Sita, and the
           war and the whole thing happens. But if Ravana marries Sita, then it is all finished within two
           minutes -- and it is just the beginning, the first scene. And the man who had become Ravana was the
           strongest man in the village, naturally, and Rama was just a boy. He could crush Rama at any
           moment!
                For a moment there was utter silence. But Janaka, the father of Sita, was an old man, an
           experienced man; he had played the role many times. He said, "It seems that my servants have
           brought the wrong bow. This is not the real bow, drop the curtain and bring the real bow!" The
           curtain was dropped... ten people had to carry Ravana out, but he was shouting and people could
           hear him saying, "Where is Sita? This time I am not going to lose!"
                Somehow tranquilizers were given to him, he was put to sleep -- otherwise he might have come
           back again and created trouble -- and another man had to play the role. He became too much
           identified. He forgot that this was just a play.

               The real actor has to live a paradox: he has to act as if he is what he is acting, and yet deep down
           he knows that "I am not this." That's why I say acting is the most spiritual of professions.
               The really spiritual person transforms his whole life into acting. Then this whole earth is just a
           stage, and all the people are nothing but actors, and we are enacting a play. Then if you are a beggar
           you play your act as beautifully as you can, and if you are the king you play your act as beautifully
           as you can. But deep down the beggar knows, "I am not it," and the king too knows, "I am not it."
               If the beggar and the king both know that "What I am doing and acting is just acting; it is not me,
           not my reality," then both are arriving at the very center of their being, what I call witnessing. Then
           they are performing certain acts and witnessing too.
               So, Krishna Prem, acting is certainly the most spiritual profession, and all spiritual persons are
           nothing but actors. The whole earth is their stage, and the whole of life is nothing but a drama
           enacted.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT SEEMS THAT NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME EXCEPT YOU. I HAVE BEEN TO THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PSYCHOANALYSTS, BUT THEY ALSO SEEM NOT TO UNDERSTAND ME.
              WHY AND HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO UNDERSTAND ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE?


                Gatha, the most fundamental secret is that I never try to understand them at all. I simply look at
           them, I love them, I accept them as they are. The very effort of understanding the other person is to
           reduce him into an object of inquiry; it is immoral. He becomes an object. And to reduce a person to
           an object is the most ugly thing you can do to anybody. Who are you to understand the other?
           Understand yourself, because there the object and the subject are one; the observer and the observed
           are one. There the knower and the known are one.
                But how can you know the other? You can love and through love this miracle happens. If you
           love the other, great understanding arises on its own. Not that you try to understand the other: you
           simply love the other as he is, with no judgment.
                The psychoanalyst cannot understand you, Gatha, because he has his own judgments. Before you
           start saying anything he has already judged you by the way you walk in, the way you sit in the chair.
           He is watching you, he has learned all these strategies, the body language; he has already reduced
           you to an object. He will not allow love to happen; he is already far away, an inquirer, a scientific
           inquirer. You are a guinea pig; he is insulting you, offending you.
                It is said that a psychoanalyst is a person who looks at others when a beautiful woman comes in.
           He does not look at the beautiful woman, he looks at others -- how they are feeling about the
           beautiful woman, what they are thinking about the beautiful woman. His whole interest is to
           penetrate the mystery of people, why and how.... He wants to reduce everything to manipulatable
           knowledge.
                And the moment you lie down on the couch of a psychoanalyst, he is reducing you to less than
           human. In fact, when you lie down on the couch, you lose much. Lying down on the couch is a good
           posture for sleep, you become more prone to unconsciousness; you become defenseless, vulnerable.
           And the psychiatrist or the psychoanalyst stands behind a curtain so that his presence does not keep
           you alert. He wants you to become as unalert as possible so in your unalertness you can blurt out
           many things which you would not have said to anybody else. He wants to poke into your
           unconscious; he wants to unlock you. He is treating you as if you are a machine.
                And then immediately he labels this as an inferiority complex, that as schizophrenia, this as
           neurosis, that as psychosis. You are removed; now he will treat the label that he has given to you --
           he does not relate to the person, he relates to the labels. He cannot understand you. In fact he does
           not even understand himself, and the first requirement to understand anybody in this world is to
           understand yourself.
                If you understand yourself you will never try to understand anybody. You will love, you will
           accept, and your acceptance and love will be unconditional. My love for you is unconditional, I
           make no condition. I don't give you a certain discipline to follow; I want you to be yourself, totally
           yourself. I give you absolute freedom to be yourself. I support you in every possible way, so that you
           can be independent.
                The psychoanalyst is not really making you independent; he makes you more and more
           dependent so the psychoanalysis goes on being prolonged for years and years. And when you get
           tired of one psychoanalyst you have to go to another. It becomes your style of life, going from one
           psychoanalyst to another.
                And these psychoanalysts are in the same misery as you are; they are not different people, they
           can't be, because only one thing makes the difference -- that is love, and that is missing. Only one
           thing transforms a person and that is meditation, and that is missing.
                Sigmund Freud knew nothing of meditation; all was intellectual analysis. He was really afraid of
           meditation, afraid of falling into some uncharted sea, unfathomable.
                Analysis is within your hands; it is a mind thing. The psychoanalyst is in the same boat as you
           are.

               A disillusioned man finds his way to a psychiatrist. When he is called in, he explains,
           "Everybody neglects me. It is as if I'm not there at all, as if I'm the air, they just don't notice me,
           they...."
               The psychiatrist stands up, walks gently to the door and opens it saying, "Next patient, please!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               He is not different from you. Knowledgeable he certainly is, but wise he is not. He suffers from
           the same problems, the same anger, jealousy, possessiveness, as you suffer. Even the greatest of
           psychoanalysts, like Reich, one of the greatest of this century.... His wife has written in her memoirs
           about Reich that he talked so much of how to get rid of jealousy, he talked so much of freedom in
           sex. And as far as he himself was concerned he moved with many women, but he never allowed his
           wife to have any freedom. He was so suspicious and so possessive that he would open all the letters
           written to his wife. And he would keep an eye on her; he would tell the children to keep a note of
           who came when he was not at home.
               Now this man talked about getting rid of jealousy, possessiveness, and he was really a great
           intellectual, but as far as his own life was concerned, he behaved in the same way. And many are the
           followers of Reich who will go on repeating him, never knowing the real person.

               The wife of a well-known psychoanalyst was entertaining a number of guests one evening.
               At one point during the party her ten-year-old son flitted into the room, arrayed in a strapless
           black evening gown, his lips covered with lipstick, high-heeled suede shoes on his feet, and a
           feathered hat on his head.
           Quite naturally, the woman was stunned.
           "Rodney!" she cried. "You naughty, naughty boy! Go upstairs and remove your father's clothes
           before he comes in and catches you!"

               They cannot understand you. In fact, nobody can understand you except an enlightened person, a
           Buddha, a Jesus, a Lao Tzu -- but not Freud, Jung, Adler, they cannot understand. They don't have
           that light in their being yet; they cannot shower that light on you. They are not really authentic
           people; they are as inauthentic as you are, and as foolish and as stupid as you are.

               During a beautiful walk in the Himalayas a father who was a famous psychoanalyst suddenly
           hears his son scream as he falls into a deep ravine.
           "Johnny!" he cries desperately. "Don't move, I'll get a rope to pull you out!"
               A few hours later he returns with a rope. Throwing it down he cries, "Johnny boy, grab the rope."
           "Daddy, I've got no hands anymore," was the answer from deep down.
           "Use your teeth, bite strongly on the rope and I'll pull you up."
               Slowly slowly, meter by meter, Johnny is pulled up. When only the last few meters remain the
           father calls, "Johnny, is everything alright?"
           "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh!"

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                    Chapter #9
                                        Chapter title: Entering the stream
           19 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910190
              ShortTitle: DHAM509
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                      Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




           DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD
           IN DISTRACTION AND FALSE DREAMS,
           OUTSIDE THE LAW.



           ARISE AND WATCH.
           FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY
           THROUGH THIS WORLD AND BEYOND.



           FOLLOW THE WAY OF VIRTUE.
           FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY
           THROUGH THIS WORLD AND ON BEYOND!



           FOR CONSIDER THE WORLD --
           A BUBBLE, A MIRAGE.
           SEE THE WORLD AS IT IS,
           AND DEATH SHALL OVERLOOK YOU.



           COME, CONSIDER THE WORLD,
           A PAINTED CHARIOT FOR KINGS,
           A TRAP FOR FOOLS.
           BUT HE WHO SEES GOES FREE.



           AS THE MOON SLIPS FROM BEHIND A CLOUD
           AND SHINES,
           SO THE MASTER COMES OUT FROM BEHIND HIS IGNORANCE
           AND SHINES.



           THIS WORLD IS IN DARKNESS.
           HOW FEW HAVE EYES TO SEE!
           HOW FEW THE BIRDS
           WHO ESCAPE THE NET AND FLY TO HEAVEN!



           SWANS RISE AND FLY TOWARDS THE SUN.
           WHAT MAGIC!
           SO DO THE PURE CONQUER THE ARMIES OF ILLUSION
           AND RISE AND FLY.



           IF YOU SCOFF AT HEAVEN
           AND VIOLATE THE LAW,
           IF YOUR WORDS ARE LIES,
           WHERE WILL YOUR MISCHIEF END?



           THE FOOL LAUGHS AT GENEROSITY.
           THE MISER CANNOT ENTER HEAVEN.
           BUT THE MASTER FINDS JOY IN GIVING
           AND HAPPINESS IS HIS REWARD.



           AND MORE --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FOR GREATER THAN ALL THE JOYS
              OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH,
              GREATER STILL THAN DOMINION
              OVER ALL THE WORLDS,
              IS THE JOY OF REACHING THE STREAM.

              The first sutra:



              DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD
              IN DISTRACTION AND FALSE DREAMS,
              OUTSIDE THE LAW.


                It is one of the most misinterpreted sutras of Buddha. For centuries the Buddhists have believed
           that Buddha is saying, "Renounce the world," that Buddha is against the world, that he is a
           life-denyer, that he would like everybody to become an escapist. But that is not the meaning of the
           sutra; the sutra has a totally different meaning.
                The sutra says: DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD IN DISTRACTION AND FALSE DREAMS,
           OUTSIDE THE LAW. It does not say: Do not live in the world. It says: live in the world, but do not
           live in distraction and false dreams. Live in the world, but do not live outside the eternal law of life
           and existence. Live in the world, but be not of it. Live in the world, but do not let the world live in
           you.
                If it had been understood the way I understand it, the whole history of Buddhism would have
           been totally different, and not only the history of Buddhism but the whole face of humanity would
           have been totally different. Because the sutra was understood as AGAINST the world, the Buddhists
           became life-negative. They became more interested in dying than in living. They became more
           interested in suicide -- slow suicide, gradual suicide. Suicide became their goal. This is a perversion
           -- a perversion of a great master and his great words.
                The words are clear: DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD IN DISTRACTION AND FALSE
           DREAMS, OUTSIDE THE LAW. Live in the world without distraction, without dreams, and in
           communion with the law. His expression is a little negative. His expression is always a little
           negative, for a certain reason. Rather than speaking in an affirmative way, Buddha always says the
           same thing in a negative way. The reason is that when you affirm something it becomes so definite,
           so solid, that people tend to follow it blindly; hence Buddha uses the negative expression. That way
           he gives you freedom to analyze, to meditate, to find out on your own. He never says what is, he
           always says what is not; he defines through the negative. It is a beautiful device for those who can
           understand, but for those who cannot understand, it is a dangerous device because they will become
           victims of negativity.
                And Buddha had to choose the negative way of expression, because for centuries before him
           religion was always expressed in the affirmative way, and the affirmative way had become a burden
           on people's being. He changed the whole religious expression. He would not say: God is; he would
           only say: You become absolutely empty and then see what is. This is just indicating a way very
           vaguely, so you cannot cling to it. Otherwise people are clingers: they will fall upon anything and
           they will possess it.
                Buddha is elusive, you cannot catch hold of him. He says: Be empty and see. He says: Let there
           be no mind and then see. He never defines exactly what will happen when there is no mind. He
           knows that if he says what will happen when there is no mind, you will start desiring it. And to
           desire it is never to achieve it, because desiring is a process of the mind.
                For example, if Buddha says, just like the Upanishads say, that when there is no mind there will
           be great bliss... now listening to this, a great desire for bliss is bound to arise. But desire is mind,
           even the desire for bliss. If, just like the Upanishads, Buddha says: If you drop the mind you will
           find God, freedom, absolute freedom -- immediately the desire enters from the back door: "How to
           find this eternity, this deathlessness, this joy, this God? How to attain to paradise?"
                Now it will be impossible to drop the mind. The mind has taken a new form, a new desire, new
           garments, but it is the same old mind. First it was desiring money, power, prestige; now it desires
           God, samadhi, enlightenment, bliss, truth, freedom. The objects have changed -- but the mind is not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the objects; the mind is in the process of desiring.
                Hence Buddha never gives you any object to desire; he takes away all objects. This can be done
           only through VIA NEGATIVA. And he leaves you in an emptiness... but that emptiness is not real
           emptiness. Just the contrary: it is fullness, it is plenitude, it is overflowing with bliss, with God, with
           love. But Buddha will never say that, about that he is very conscious -- because for centuries the
           affirmative has been a distraction for people.
                Millions of people in the East have become desirous of the other world, the other shore -- so
           much so that the very desire for the other shore became their hindrance. To destroy that hindrance, to
           remove that obstacle, Buddha uses the negative way.
                But man is such a fool! The masters move very cautiously, they take every step very cautiously,
           because man is such a fool. They take every precaution not even to use any word which can be
           misinterpreted -- but all words can be misinterpreted! Man is so unconscious that to expect that he
           will understand rightly is to expect too much from him. He is bound to misunderstand; in
           unconsciousness, misunderstanding is the only possibility.
                The Upanishads were right, but they were misunderstood because of their affirmative approach.
           People became very indulgent: "If life is God, then indulge in God as much as possible!" This is a
           logical conclusion: "If existence is God, then eat, drink and be merry! If to be is to be divine, then
           enjoy life, then let your life be a merry-go-round. All is divine. The Upanishads say: SARVAM
           KHALVIDAM BRAHMA -- all is God. If all is God, then why not accumulate as much money as
           you can? -- because money is God!"
                You see how our unconscious mind goes on distorting: "If all is God, then why not have more
           power, more prestige? Then why not go on great ego trips? If all is God, then ego too is God!" The
           Upanishads say: AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am God. And when it is heard in deep unconsciousness,
           we understand the Upanishads are saying the ego is God, because to us 'I' and 'ego' are synonymous.
           The Upanishads are misunderstood because of their affirmation, their total affirmation.
                And Buddha is misunderstood because of his negation, total negation. He moved the pendulum
           to the other extreme; just to avoid the pitfalls that he had seen on the path of affirmation he moved to
           the other extreme. He used only negative expressions. DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD IN
           DISTRACTION AND FALSE DREAMS, OUTSIDE THE LAW. He could have said, in a more
           positive way: LIVE in the world, without distractions, without dreams. LIVE in the world, in
           accordance with the ultimate law. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- LIVE in accordance with the
           eternal law. But that is not his choice. He had seen the affirmative becoming an imprisonment and it
           was a necessity to destroy the affirmative. You can destroy the affirmative, and for the time being,
           while the master is alive, people will understand his negative approach because he is there to explain
           it to you. But when he is gone, then? The negative becomes your imprisonment.
                Hindu sannyasins are caught in the affirmative and Buddhist BHIKKHUS are caught in the
           negative.
                My effort here is to help you understand both, and to understand your capacity to misunderstand.
           And be alert; otherwise each word is going to create something else, something that was never
           meant.

              A performing octopus could play the piano, the zither, and the piccolo. His trainer wanted him to
           add the bagpipes to his accomplishments, so he placed the Scottish instrument in the octopus' room.
           Hours passed, but no bagpipe music was heard.
              The trainer was disturbed. The next morning he anxiously asked the eight-tentacled creature,
           "Have you learned to play that thing yet?"
           "PLAY it?" replied the octopus. "I have been trying to LAY it all night!"

              The octopus can be forgiven -- YOU cannot be forgiven. But men behave in the same way, as
           unconsciously as possible. Even if they become conscious sometimes, their consciousness is also
           mixed with unconsciousness. Even if they are alert, their alertness is not pure. Even if they are
           watchful, their watchfulness has something wrong in it.

             McBride and Kavanaugh were in a cafeteria sitting near the WATCH YOUR HAT AND
           OVERCOAT sign. McBride kept turning every minute, nearly choking on his food, to look at his
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           overcoat.
               Kavanaugh continued eating, paying no attention to his own coat on the hook. But McBride's
           constant twisting began to irritate him. "You dope!" he said. "Stop watching our overcoats!"
           "I am just watching mine," said McBride. "Yours has been gone for half an hour!"

                Man's state is that of a mess, of chaos! Great work is needed to make you really alert. And the
           first sutra is the beginning of that great work: DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD IN DISTRACTION
           AND FALSE DREAMS....
                Your mind is continuously creating distractions. Just watch your mind, and you will understand
           what Buddha is saying. It never allows you to sit silently even for a few moments. If you sit silently
           it says, "Why not listen to the radio? The newspaper must have come, your post may have arrived.
           Why not go to the movie? Why not watch TV?" If you are in the shop your mind says, "Go home,
           rest -- you are tired." If you are at home your mind says, "What you are doing here, wasting your
           time? Go to the shop -- you could have earned something!"
                The mind never allows you to be where you are, it never allows you to see things as they are. It is
           always taking you somewhere else, either into the past or into the future; it never allows you to be in
           the present. Either it drags you into memories -- which are nothing but footprints on the sands of
           time -- or it drags you into the future: great projections, great expectations, desires, goals.... And you
           become so much involved with them -- as if they have some reality! And the reality is slipping out of
           your hands while you are engaged in all these trips into the past, into the future.
                The mind never allows you and will never allow you to see that which is; it always takes you to
           that which is not.

              Edith was complaining to her friend, Rose, that her husband never showed any interest in making
           love. He would just sit every night and watch television. Rose suggested that she make herself more
           appealing and somehow tantalize him.
              So the next night Edith put on her most bewitching perfume and dressed herself in nothing but
           shoes, hat, gloves, and handbag. She went into the living room and casually strolled around. Her
           husband kept his eyes glued on the TV set. She coughed, and he finally looked up at her.
           "Oh, are you going out?" he asked.
           "Of course!" she said sarcastically.
           "Great," he replied, "because I was hoping you could mail this letter for me."

                He is not there. He is not seeing the woman, he is not seeing that she is naked. He is not there at
           all! Nobody is -- everybody is somewhere else.
                It is said by the ancient Sufis that God wants to meet you, and wherever he thinks you should be
           he comes, but he never finds you there. You are always somewhere else. He comes in the present --
           you are in the past, you are in the future. He knows only one time: now, and only one place: here.
           But you are never here and you are never now; you are always there and you are always then. The
           meeting is impossible. He knows no other time than the present and no other place than this. He lives
           in thisness, suchness. Buddha's word is TATHATA -- he lives in suchness, tathata.
                One of the names of Buddha is TATHAGATA -- one who lives in suchness, one who has
           become free from all the distractions of the mind. And the miracle is that the mind consists only of
           distraction, so once you are free of all distractions there is no mind left. In the present there is no
           mind. In the present there is only consciousness, awareness, watchfulness.
                Live in the world, but not through the mind. Don't let the past or the future stand between you
           and reality. And if you can manage the state of no-mind even for a few moments -- that's what
           meditation is all about -- you will be surprised: suddenly you are in rhythm with existence. You will
           know what Buddha calls AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- the eternal law. You will pulsate with
           it, vibrate with it. You will be just a wave in the great ocean of the law. You will be in such
           attunement, in such at-onement, in such deep harmony and accord, that the whole sky will start
           showering flowers on you, the whole existence will rejoice with you.
                This is paradise: paradise is the state of no-mind. Buddha calls it the lotus paradise, because your
           consciousness opens up like a lotus in the early morning sun and there is great fragrance, great
           beauty, and there is great grace.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But remember, he does not mean renounce the world, as all the commentators down the ages
           have said. He is saying: Renounce the mind -- MIND is the world! Renounce distractions and
           renounce dreams -- because if you live in dreams you cannot see the reality. Your eyes are covered
           with the dust of dreams, layer upon layer. There are dreams and dreams and dreams, and you are
           surrounded by so many dreams that you cannot see what reality is. And your priests go on helping
           you to create new dreams, your psychologists go on helping you to create new dreams. If they take
           away one dream they immediately replace it with another.
                This is the whole foundation of the science of hypnosis: man can be persuaded to believe in
           something absolutely false. Hypnosis shows the capacity of man to fall into such dreams, into such
           unrealities that on the surface it looks unbelievable.
                Have you seen a hypnotist perform? If he says to a person, "You are not a man but a dog," the
           man believes it -- if he has been hypnotized rightly, if he has been hypnotized into deep sleep.
           Hypnosis means created sleep, deliberately created sleep. If he has been hypnotized rightly and told
           that he is not a man but a dog, he starts barking like a dog! He may never have done it before, but he
           can do it immediately. He believes it, and the moment you believe something you become it. Of
           course, your belief is false and your becoming is false.
                Psychologists are becoming aware that almost ninety percent of diseases are only beliefs. My
           own understanding is that as they go deeper into it, they will find that almost ninety-nine percent of
           diseases are beliefs. Maybe it was a real disease the first time, but then you started believing in it,
           you started projecting it, you started repeating it, rehearsing it, practicing it. And slowly slowly, it
           became a reality for you.
                Go into an insane asylum sometime and watch people. They are the same people as you, just a
           little ahead of you -- the difference is only of degrees. You may be below the boiling point, maybe
           ninety-nine degrees, and they may have gone beyond -- one hundred and one degrees -- just a
           two-degree difference or a one-degree difference.
                Insane people go on living in their own worlds; they create their own worlds, they believe in
           their own worlds. They believe in them so much that you cannot pull them out of their dreams. Their
           dreams have become realities -- that is their insanity.

                I have heard about one man who became mad and started thinking that he had died. Now the
           whole psychological department of that mental institute was after him to pull him out of the idea that
           he was dead. It was a challenge for them, it was also something new -- they had never come across
           such a case.
                They tried everything but it was impossible, because mad people may be mad but they are as
           logical as you are. They have their own logic, their own rationality; they have a great capacity to
           rationalize everything that they are doing.
                Finally, a great psychologist was called from the outside to help. The great psychologist came; he
           talked to the man and he asked him one single question. He asked, "Do you believe that dead men
           can bleed?"
                He said, "No, never! How can dead men bleed? Once one is dead... it is impossible for a corpse
           to bleed."
                Then the psychologist said, "Come along with me!" He took him to the mirror; he pricked his
           hand with a sharp instrument -- blood started coming out. He said, "Look! So this proves that you are
           still alive!"
                The madman laughed and he said, "This only proves that my statement was wrong -- dead men
           DO bleed!"

               It becomes so impossible to pull them out! And the same is the case with you. As far as buddhas
           are concerned, the same is the case with you. To pull you outside your minds, to help you to climb
           out of your dreams -- it is really difficult.
               Hypnosis tries one method, but that is not the method of the buddhas. It gives you another dream,
           maybe a better one -- a little more sophisticated, a little less dangerous, less harmful, more beneficial
           -- but a dream is still a dream. Whether you dream of poison or of nectar does not really make much
           difference; at least it makes no difference to the man who has become awakened.
               Ordinarily it will make a difference: a man who believes that he is drinking poison will always
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remain ill; the man who thinks that he is drinking nectar will always look healthy, joyful. Yes, in the
           ordinary way there is a difference. Hence hypnosis has a limited utility: if you cannot be pulled out
           of your dreams, at least you can be helped to move from nightmares to sweet dreams. That's the
           function of hypnosis.

               After being troubled with recurring headaches for which her doctor could not find the cause, Jean
           decided to consult a hypnotist. Amazingly enough, after two treatments the headaches disappeared.
           Her husband, Ben, was intrigued and asked how the cure had been effected.
               Jean said, "Well, all I had to do was to put my hand over my forehead and repeat several times, 'I
           have no headache, I have no headache.'"
               Some months later Ben was aware that he was losing interest in the physical side of marriage and
           decided to consult the same hypnotist for help. He did so, and the result was amazing.
               Jean was ecstatic and asked how it had been accomplished, but Ben refused to tell her. Finally
           one night, Jean noticed that Ben was staying in the bathroom for an inordinate length of time before
           coming to bed.
               She tiptoed to the bathroom door and peeped through the keyhole. He had one hand over his
           forehead and his lips were moving. Putting her ear to the keyhole, she heard him murmuring, "She is
           not my wife, she is not my wife...."

               Now, this is creating a new conditioning. You are going from one prison into another -- maybe a
           better prison with more facilities, but a prison is a prison, after all. And the buddhas want you to be
           free of all prisons.
              DO NOT LIVE IN THE WORLD IN DISTRACTION AND FALSE DREAMS, OUTSIDE THE LAW.



              ARISE AND WATCH.
              FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY
              THROUGH THIS WORLD AND BEYOND.


               You can see how Buddha has been misunderstood. You will not find Buddhist bhikkhus joyful,
           not at all. They are very sad, somber, living almost hopelessly, in despair. They can't find anything to
           be joyful about, because from the very beginning they have gone on a wrong track.
               Buddha says: ARISE AND WATCH. How to get out of the mind and its distractions and
           dreams? ARISE AND WATCH. Wake up and watch! Watch your mind -- what it goes on doing to
           you, how it plays games with you, how it goes on and on creating new illusions, new hopes for you.
           Buddha is not saying become hopeless, he is not saying fall into despair -- because that is again a
           mind strategy: the despair, the anguish, the anxiety.
               Escape is again a mind game. You are worldly; the mind says, "There is nothing in the world.
           Listen to the buddhas. Escape from the world, go to the Himalayan caves, and everything will be
           perfectly right. In this world nothing can ever be right." Now the mind is giving you a new
           projection, a new project.
               Buddha says: Don't follow the mind -- detach yourself from the mind. See the mind separate
           from yourself: playing around, creating new games -- alluring ones, enchanting ones in which you
           can be caught again.
               FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY.... And if you are really following the awakened ones you
           will follow joyfully, because a man without distractions and dreams is naturally joyful. Not that he
           has something to be joyful about, not that he has attained great money, power, prestige, or the power
           to do miracles -- the power to walk on water and cure the blind people and help the dead to be alive
           again. No, he has no reason to be joyful. But just because all the distractions of the mind have
           disappeared, the energy involved in the distractions is released -- that energy is joy.
               William Blake is right. He says: Energy is delight. William Blake has many beautiful insights.
           He is one of the greatest poets the West has produced. Just a few steps more and he would have been
           an enlightened person. These two poets -- Walt Whitman and William Blake -- they could have been
           RISHIS, seers. Just a few steps, maybe only one step, a little jump... but they had come very close to
           the boundary of realization.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               William Blake says: Energy is delight. He is right -- this is a great revelation. It can't be said
           without experiencing it somehow, in howsoever small a measure.
               Your joy is always caused from the outside. You have won a lottery and you are joyful; you have
           purchased a house that, for many years, you have been longing for -- and you are happy; you have
           found the woman that you had desired and you are happy. But these are momentary happinesses.
           After two or three days the house will be old, and after a few days the woman will look ordinary.
           How long can one remain interested in a woman or in a man? Because these are superficial
           attractions, sooner or later the reality will be revealed.

               The Nazi leader, Goring, was seated next to a fine blonde Aryan FRAULEIN at a very important
           state dinner. During dessert he began feeling her leg under the table. As his hand moved up her thigh
           he heard a hoarse masculine whisper, "Don't be surprised when you get to my balls -- I am Secret
           Agent X-7."

               What things appear to be from the outside is one thing; what you will find inside is totally
           different. You may have fallen in love with a secret agent! Everybody is in for a surprise.
               When you fall in love with a woman, she is a totally different kind of person. When you are
           married to her, to your surprise, she is no longer the same person. Sometimes you suspect: what has
           happened? Has she deceived you? But she is also in the same situation. She is worried: where has
           that beautiful man disappeared to?
               There are old stories of frogs becoming beautiful princes. In my own experience just the opposite
           happens: you bring home beautiful princes and overnight, in the morning, you find there is a frog!
           Princes disappear and become frogs -- all princes, unconditionally. Those stories have some truth in
           them. If frogs can become princes, why not vice versa? Nobody has ever seen a frog becoming a
           prince, and everybody has seen many princes becoming frogs!
               ARISE AND WATCH. The essential core of Buddha's message is awareness, mindfulness. Look
           at your own mind. Don't get involved with it, remain unidentified. That's what he means when he
           says: Watch. And as you watch you will become more and more awake and your life will start
           having a new kind of joy, which has nothing to do with the outside; it wells up within your being.
               FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY.... If you are rightly following the way of the awakened ones
           -- Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira, Mohammed, it does not make any difference -- then one sure sign is that
           you will be joyful for no reason at all. You will be just joyful, naturally. If that thing is missing,
           remember, you have misunderstood. You have gone onto some wrong track, you have
           misinterpreted.
               FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY THROUGH THIS WORLD AND BEYOND. And look at
           the Buddhist bhikkhus -- they are miserable! I have known many, I have known very famous ones --
           miserable! There is no dance in their feet and no song in their hearts. They are deserts: nothing
           grows in their being, nothing is green in their life. I have never come across a Buddhist monk who
           has flowers in his heart, lotuses blooming, birds singing -- nothing of the sort, just an empty desert.
               And the reason is, Buddha's negative expression has become his way of life; he has become
           caught in negativity. How can he be joyous? Joy does not fit with his interpretation of Buddha. And
           the words are so clear -- but you read only that which you want to read and you see only that which
           you want to see. You don't read, you don't see that which goes against your prejudices. Such clear
           words, and yet great misunderstanding has arisen.
               Buddhist monks are the saddest people in the world -- long faces. It is bound to happen because
           they have become escapists.
               And Buddha says: FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY THROUGH THIS WORLD AND
           BEYOND. He does not forget this world. He says: THROUGH THIS WORLD.... If he is in favor of
           renouncing the world, then what is the point of saying: THROUGH THIS WORLD...? He is not
           saying renounce the world: renounce the mind and the world is renounced. You live in the world and
           yet you remain untouched by it. And a great joy arises in you, a great laughter, a great love. And you
           will be able to carry this love, this joy, this dance, to the other shore, because it is something that is
           happening inside you; it is not dependent on outside causes, it is not caused by anything.
               Remember, one of the fundamentals of life is: that which depends on outside causes will be taken
           away from you sooner or later. At least one thing is absolutely certain: you will not be able to carry it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with you into death. But that which is independent of outside causes, that which is caused in the
           innermost core of your being, in your own interiority, nobody can take it away. You cannot be
           robbed of it, it cannot be stolen -- even death cannot destroy it.
              The body will be destroyed, but not the song. The body will be gone, but not the dance. The
           dance, the song, the joy, will move into the universal song, into the universal joy, into the universal
           ocean of consciousness, of truth, of godliness.

              FOLLOW THE WAY OF VIRTUE.
              FOLLOW THE WAY JOYFULLY.


               He repeats it again, because he wants to emphasize it. He must be alert that his way of expressing
           things negatively could create a great misunderstanding. People could become sad, and the moment
           you are sad you have fallen out of tune with existence.
               FOLLOW THE WAY OF VIRTUE. And what is the way of virtue for Buddha? He does not give
           any details, he does not give you ten commandments. He gives you the eleventh commandment, and
           the eleventh is enough. If you fulfill the eleventh then you can forget all about the ten, because in
           following that one, the eleventh, all ten are contained.
               That eleventh commandment is meditation. Meditate. That is what is missing in the
           Jewish-Christian ten commandments: nothing is said about meditation. Everything else is included in
           them; those are consequences, not causes. That cause is missing. Virtue without meditation is an
           imposition, a forced imposition. Virtue without meditation is repressive. Virtue without meditation is
           pseudo. Virtue without meditation is just a facade: you can deceive others, but how can you deceive
           yourself?
               With meditation there arises a totally different kind of virtue: a natural virtue, a spontaneous
           virtue. Whenever Buddha says: FOLLOW THE WAY OF VIRTUE, he means meditate: arise,
           awake, watch. These are his words for meditation because if you are alert you cannot do anything
           that is wrong. Not that you will have to prevent yourself from doing it; even if you want to do it you
           cannot. Sin becomes impossible if you are alert. Then virtue is the only possibility. Then whatsoever
           you do is virtuous.
               Out of meditation the flowers of virtue arise, bloom. Their fragrance is released to the winds, into
           the infinity of existence. Buddha gives you only one commandment: awareness. You can call it
           meditation, you can call it watchfulness. His own word is SAMMASATI -- RIGHT awareness. He
           insists each time he mentions awareness that it should be of the right kind, because he knows there is
           a possibility of a wrong kind of awareness too.
               What is wrong awareness? People can be aware of others' acts, of others' faults: they can be very
           keenly aware -- in fact they are. It is so easy to see everybody else's faults in the world. That is a
           wrong kind of awareness; that is not your business at all. Who are you and why should you be
           worried?
               Right awareness is awareness of one's own being in its totality: all that is good and all that is bad.
           But as you become aware, the bad starts disappearing -- just as when you bring light into the room,
           the darkness disappears. When light is in the room, darkness cannot exist there. Sin is darkness,
           forgetfulness, unconsciousness.

              FOR CONSIDER THE WORLD --
              A BUBBLE, A MIRAGE.
              SEE THE WORLD AS IT IS,
              AND DEATH SHALL OVERLOOK YOU.


               One thing which is unique to Buddha is that that he never says "Believe." He never says, "You
           simply have to follow what I am saying." No, that is not his approach. He is very much against
           believing. He invites you to consider. He says: FOR CONSIDER THE WORLD -- A BUBBLE, A
           MIRAGE. He says: Not because I am saying it is it a bubble, a mirage, do you have to believe it.
           You consider it yourself. If it is a truth, your consideration will show it to you. What is the point,
           what is the need, of believing?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Religious priests go on telling people: Believe there is God. Believe there is paradise. Believe
           that your good acts will be rewarded and your bad acts will be punished, that there is heaven and hell
           -- believe! No priest ever says "Consider." No priest ever wants you to be independent. Only a
           buddha, an awakened one, can say to you "Consider" -- because he respects you. He knows you are
           deeply asleep, but your sleep is full of the potential of waking up. Today you are asleep, tomorrow
           you may be awake. Today you are not a buddha, tomorrow you may be a buddha. Your potential is
           there. You can go on neglecting it for lives together, but one day or another it is going to happen.
                A buddha has tremendous respect for people; hence he can never say "Believe." Belief means
           that the person who is saying it has no respect for you, he does not trust your intelligence enough.
           Buddha trusts your intelligence. He provokes it, he challenges it, he invites you. It is an invitation.
                CONSIDER THE WORLD -- A BUBBLE, A MIRAGE. He says: I considered it and I found it
           only a bubble, a mirage, a deception, an illusion. I have lived in the illusion, believing that it was
           true. You are also living in the illusion believing that it is true, but consider. Give it a little more
           time. See a little more intensely, concentratedly. Try to penetrate its secret, and you will be
           surprised: just a pinprick and the bubble is gone, just a little more alertness and there is no mirage...
           it disappears.

                Gurdjieff, one of the buddhas of this century, used to give a certain meditation to his disciples
           which is very significant. He used to say to his disciples, "If you can remember in a dream that 'This
           is a dream,' then you are on the very threshold of transformation."
                But it is very difficult to remember in a dream that it is a dream. When you are in a dream you
           believe that it is the truth. And every night you are in a dream, and every morning you come back
           and you see and you know that it was all false. And again when you fall asleep the dream is there
           and you start believing in it again, as if you never learned anything. But how to remember?
                He created a small device. He would give this device to a few advanced disciples: that in the
           daytime... because you cannot do anything while you are asleep and in a dream. The preparation has
           to be done in the daytime; then you have a little bit of awareness. He used to tell them, "As many
           times as you can manage -- brushing your teeth in the morning -- just put your left hand on your head
           and say, 'This is all dream.' Walking on the street, put your left hand again on your head and say,
           'This is all dream.' Let your left hand and the putting of it on your head become associated with the
           idea that 'This is all dream.'
           "Repeated many times, whenever you put your left hand on your head, immediately the idea will
           come: 'This is all dream.' Or whenever you say, 'This is all dream,' automatically your left hand will
           go on your head. This has to be practiced for at least three to nine months in the daytime.
           "And then," Gurdjieff used to say, "one day suddenly in a dream you will see it happen: the dream is
           there, and you put your hand on your head, your left hand, and suddenly you say, 'This is all dream.'
           And the moment you say it the dream disappears, you are fully awake. The dream cannot exist if you
           know that it is a dream."

               And that is a great experience when it happens -- you can try it. When it really happens, that one
           night your hand goes to your head while you are asleep, while you are dreaming, and suddenly the
           idea comes that "This is all dream...." And you are immediately fully awake and you find your hand
           on your head. It has become so associated; it is like a conditioned reflex. But one thing has become
           clear: if you can remember, "This is all dream," the dream disappears. The dream can only disappear
           by your remembering that this is a dream; reality cannot disappear. You can go on remembering,
           "This is all dream," but you know all the time this is not so. Philosophically you can go on repeating,
           "This is all dream," and you can be very cunning philosophically.

           Once it happened:
               A great philosopher came to the court of a king. He said, "This whole world is a dream."
               The king was a crazy type of person; he said, "Then wait."
               He had a mad elephant. He told his whole court to watch. The mad elephant was brought into the
           courtyard of the palace and the poor philosopher was left alone with the mad elephant. The mad
           elephant started chasing him, and the philosopher started crying, "Save me! He will kill me -- save
           me!" He was crying and weeping. And the mad elephant took him and threw him at least thirty feet
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           away. He fell on the ground -- so many bones fractured -- crying and weeping.
                Then he was brought back to the court and the king said, "What now? What do you say about the
           elephant? Is that too a dream, MAYA, illusion?"
                But philosophers are cunning people. He said, "Yes, it was a dream -- a bad dream, a nightmare."
           And the king said, "What about the fractures?"
           He said, "That too is a dream."
           "Then why were you crying?"
                He said, "I was crying in the dream, and I was crying and shouting -- I remember perfectly well
           -- 'Save me!' But it was all a dream."

               Now this is cunningness -- but man can find cunning rationalizations for everything. The
           philosopher knows it was not a dream: the elephant was far too real, and he was shaken, afraid, and
           death was so close that he had forgotten all his philosophy. But back again in the safe court and the
           mad elephant gone, although he was fractured all over and it was painful, his philosophy was back
           again, his ego was back.
               Reality is reality -- you cannot make it disappear by remembering that it is a dream. But if
           something is a dream, just by remembering that it is a dream, it disappears.
               Buddha says: FOR CONSIDER THE WORLD.... What world? Does he mean the rocks and the
           mountains and the rivers and the stars? No, not at all. He means the world that you have been
           creating in your mind -- your mind world is a bubble, a mirage.

               SEE THE WORLD AS IT IS,
               AND DEATH SHALL OVERLOOK YOU.


               If you can see the truth as it is, without your mind coming in between, you will not die; death
           will be impotent in encountering you. Death will come, but it can't take anything away from you,
           because you have already dropped all those dreams which death can destroy. Death can destroy only
           the mind. Consider it. Death cannot destroy your body, death cannot destroy your soul; death can
           only destroy the mind. The mind is a mirage, but the man who has dropped his mind himself,
           voluntarily... nothing is left for death to destroy.

               COME, CONSIDER THE WORLD,
               A PAINTED CHARIOT FOR KINGS,
               A TRAP FOR FOOLS.


               Buddha calls those people kings who have intelligence, understanding. He does not call a person
           a king who has much money, a great kingdom -- no. Buddha calls a man a king, an emperor, who has
           conquered himself, who has conquered his foolishness, his unconsciousness, who has been able to
           dissipate all illusions. He is the real king: he has entered into the kingdom of God. Again he invites:
           COME, CONSIDER THE WORLD, A PAINTED CHARIOT FOR KINGS....
               As far as kings are concerned, the knowers are concerned, the wise ones are concerned, it is just
           a painted chariot; it is not a real chariot. It is just a painting. But a painting can be done so
           beautifully -- the painting can be three-dimensional -- that it can give you all the appearances of
           being real. But a painting is a painting, it is not real. It is real as a painting, but it is not the chariot. It
           cannot take you anywhere, you cannot ride in it.
               The world is A PAINTED CHARIOT FOR KINGS, A TRAP FOR FOOLS. It is because of our
           unintelligence, unawareness, that we become trapped in it.

               The seventy-year-old groom and the twenty-five-year-old bride caused raised eyebrows when
           they checked in at a hotel. Next morning, he came down early into the dining room, and ordered ham
           and eggs. From his smile and twinkling eyes, it was obvious that he was extremely happy.
               After a while the bride came down. Her face was drawn, voice weak, complexion pale. She
           ordered toast and coffee. The waitress said, "Honey, I don't understand a young bride looking worn
           out, with an old man for a husband."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "He double-crossed me," replied the young bride. "He told me he had saved up for sixty years, and I
           thought he was talking about money!"

               Beware of your mind! It can give you great illusions. It can make things appear as they are not
           and it can help you to see things as they are not. The mind is very inventive. The mind has only one
           power -- that of dreaming. In the daytime it dreams -- then it dreams through words, language; and in
           the night it dreams -- then it dreams in pictures.
               And there are two types of people: a few people dream in black and white and a few people
           dream in technicolor. The people who dream in technicolor can become poets, painters, sculptors;
           they can be very artistic. They need not depend on drugs; their minds supply mescaline and LSD.
           Their body chemistry is enough to create psychedelic trips for them. But there are other people who
           only dream in black and white. Those people are scientists, businessmen, bankers -- calculative
           people -- mathematicians. But whether you dream in black and white or in color it does not matter --
           a dream is a dream.
               Beware of dreams! And watch your dreams day in, day out, because they are continuously there.
           You can watch them, and by watching them you will become unidentified with them, you will
           become a mirror reflecting them. And this brings great freedom. Freedom from dreams is freedom
           from the world.
               COME, CONSIDER THE WORLD, A PAINTED CHARIOT FOR KINGS, A TRAP FOR
           FOOLS. It is the same world: for the meditators, for the kings, it is a painted chariot. Buddha is not
           saying anything against the world -- simply describing its truth. And for the fools it is a trap. It
           depends on you.

              They had been married that afternoon in Minneapolis and journeyed to the city of Saint Paul,
           where they had a room at a downtown hotel. Night had fallen. The bride had already donned the
           beautiful silken nightie reserved for this occasion and was lounging voluptuously upon the bed. For
           over an hour now, the groom, still fully dressed, had been gazing out the open window into the
           darkness.
              Impatiently Gladys addressed him: "Why don't you undress, dear, and come to bed?"
           "Never mind me," he replied. "Go ahead and go to sleep. My mother told me this would be the most
           wonderful night I would ever see, and I don't want to miss a single minute of it!"

               Now, how are you going to interpret the buddhas? In the world of your unconsciousness
           everything is distorted. You impose your ideas, you color, you distort. You manage to believe in
           whatsoever you want to believe; otherwise it is a simple fact.
               If you look at the world, if you look at yourself, if you look at people, if you look at your life,
           your past, it will not be very difficult to find that ninety-nine percent of it is just dreaming; only one
           percent is true. And because of this ninety-nine percent of dreaming you are not able to find that one
           percent. And only that one percent is substantial, all else is shadow. That one percent is truth, all else
           is untruth. That one percent can save you, can become the boat to the other shore.

              AS THE MOON SLIPS FROM BEHIND A CLOUD
              AND SHINES,
              SO THE MASTER COMES OUT FROM BEHIND HIS IGNORANCE
              AND SHINES.


               What is Buddha's idea of ignorance? -- not the lack of information but the lack of attentiveness.
           This sutra also has created great trouble, because the Buddhist bhikkhu thinks that to come out of
           ignorance he has to become very knowledgeable. So he ponders over the scriptures for years, he
           goes on repeating scriptures upon scriptures... and there are many scriptures. In fact, Buddhism is the
           richest religion in that sense.
               Buddhism has nearly sixty thousand scriptures. Christianity is very poor -- just the Bible;
           Mohammedanism is very poor -- just the Koran. Buddhism has so many scriptures that one can go
           on wasting many lives pondering over them. And yet that is not Buddha's meaning.
               When he says: ... THE MASTER COMES OUT FROM BEHIND HIS IGNORANCE AND
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           SHINES, he is saying, it is not a question of gaining more information, it is a question of becoming
           more conscious, more alert, more attentive. But these people -- the pundits, the scholars -- they can
           always find reasons, proofs, arguments, to support themselves. All their arguments are stupid!

               Once I was staying with a Buddhist monk. He was reading LANKAVATAR SUTRA, one of the
           very famous Buddhist scriptures. I asked him how long he had been reading it.
               He said, "For twenty years this has been my everyday practice. I cannot live without it; this is my
           food, my nourishment. This is my soul."
               I asked him, "But you don't seem yet to have become a buddha. I don't see light in your eyes, any
           silence around you. I can't smell any fragrance. Twenty years you have been trying to dispel
           ignorance by knowledge! And LANKAVATAR SUTRA is a beautiful scripture, but it is like a
           painted lamp: you can go on worshipping the painted lamp for twenty years or twenty centuries -- it
           is not going to dispel darkness. A real lamp is needed. One has to become conscious inside."
               But he started arguing, giving so many reasons. His first argument was this... which is absurd to
           all outsiders, but this is how it happens. The insiders think this is a great argument. He had two
           disciples with him. They said, "Right! This is a beautiful argument!"
               The first sutra says that those who read this sutra are bound to become liberated. He said, "Look!
           The sutra itself says that 'Those who read this sutra are bound to become liberated!'"
           I said, "This is foolish! It is like...."

           I have heard:
               Mulla Nasruddin one day declared in the marketplace, "My wife is the most beautiful woman in
           the world." People gathered; they knew his woman, his wife, perfectly well -- she was an ordinary,
           homely woman -- and here he is declaring that she is the most beautiful woman in the world.
               They said, "Mulla, who has given you this information?"
               He said, "Who else? -- my wife herself! Just last night she told me."

               Now, quoting the sutra itself in its favor... scholars are cunning people. In Indian scriptures this
           is always done: first they will praise the book, so much so that they say if you read it once you will
           be liberated; even a single word of it heard is enough for liberation. Now they are persuading your
           greed, seducing your greed! They will relate old stories saying, "One man who heard this sutra on
           his deathbed went directly to heaven. Another, who was ill, heard this sutra and became healthy.
           Another, who was poor, heard this sutra and became rich. This sutra is so precious that it gives both
           in this world and the other!"
               Every sutra, every scripture, starts this way. This is nothing but salesmanship and rationalization.

               The husband wired home that he had been able to wind up his business trip a day early and
           would be home on Thursday. When he walked into his apartment, however, he found his wife in bed
           with another man.
               Furious, he picked up his bag and stormed out. He met his mother-in-law on the street, told her
           what had happened, and announced that he was filing suit for divorce in the morning.
           "Give my daughter a chance to explain before you take any action," the older woman pleaded.
           Reluctantly he agreed.
               An hour later, his mother-in-law phoned the husband at his club. "I knew my daughter would
           have an explanation," she said, with a note of triumph in her voice. "She did not receive your
           telegram!"

              The mind is very cunning. Unless you are really watchful you are bound to be trapped by it.

              THIS WORLD IS IN DARKNESS.
              HOW FEW HAVE EYES TO SEE!
              HOW FEW THE BIRDS
              WHO ESCAPE THE NET AND FLY TO HEAVEN!


              Very rare! It is very rare to find a man who has eyes to see, and very rare is the man who has got
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           back his wings and can fly to the ultimate.
               THIS WORLD IS IN DARKNESS -- and the darkness is created by our unconsciousness. It is
           not part of the world, it is projected by us.
               HOW FEW HAVE EYES TO SEE! It is really very rare; hence in the old days people used to
           travel far and wide to seek somebody who had eyes. They would knock on many doors before they
           came upon the right door. They would listen to many teachers before they found a master. And once
           they had found a master, that was the end of their journey. Then they would become involved,
           committed; then they would devote their whole life and their whole energy to the work.
               Again something like that is happening in the world: people have started looking for masters.
           And when you look for masters, remember, out of one hundred, ninety-nine will be false. And the
           false will appeal to you more than the real one, because the false will speak your language and the
           false will try to convince you, to argue. The false will quote scriptures, the false will console you.
           They will try to convince you, they will give you beliefs. And the real is going to be hard.
               Many people knocked on George Gurdjieff's door, and then escaped from the man because he
           seemed to be so cruel. He was immensely compassionate, but because of his compassion he had to
           be hard; otherwise people could not be awakened.
               When you want to wake a man up, you don't go to sing a lullaby by his side. You have to shake
           him, you have to throw ice-cold water into his eyes -- and of course it looks cruel. He may be having
           sweet dreams, and you are throwing cold water into his eyes!
               A real master is hard. A real master is always watching for the right moment to hit you, to
           hammer you. And he is trying to find the weakest point in you so that you can be exposed easily --
           exposed to yourself -- because if you are not alert to your own weaknesses, to your own limitations,
           you cannot grow.
               A real master gives you growth, gives you wings, but takes away many things. He takes away all
           the rocks hanging around your neck, although you think they are diamonds, great diamonds. He
           takes your chains away, although you think they are your securities. He takes away all your
           conceptions, beliefs -- and you think those beliefs and conceptions are great knowledge; you have
           been bragging about them. He takes away many things from you which you have always cherished
           and thought were great treasures. He looks hard. And he gives you something of which you have had
           no taste up to now. He gives you something very unknown and takes away all that is known to you.
           He looks cruel.
               Many people come to me. Very few courageous ones are going to stay with me. The cowards
           will escape. They will find many rationalizations.

               One coward wrote a letter to me yesterday. I will not tell you his name, because he is new and it
           is not right to hit him so hard immediately! He wrote a long letter saying, "You talk about freedom,
           you talk about love, you talk about how to get rid of churches, beliefs, rituals. I want to become a
           sannyasin, but I don't want to wear orange, because this is a ritual and this is again a bondage. This is
           again fettering me, this is again a chain."
               He does not know what it is, because one can know sannyas only by entering into it. No outsider
           can know what it is, and no insider can explain it to the outsider. It is not explainable. No lover can
           explain about love to somebody who has never loved. No man who has eyes can explain to the blind
           man what light is.
               What he is really trying to do is to protect his ego, but he is not aware of that. Sannyas is
           dropping your ego. Yes, by dropping your ego you become free. Freedom means egolessness.
           "And the orange clothes and the mala and meditation," he says, "these are the three fetters you are
           giving to your sannyasins." These are not fetters; these are just indications from the sannyasin that he
           is ready to take the plunge into the unknown. A simple gesture that he belongs to me, a simple
           gesture that now, if I want to do something to him, he is ready.
               Orange has no other meaning. It is just a statement from your side that you are even ready to look
           crazy for me, that's all! It is a love affair, and if you are not even capable of looking crazy for me,
           then it will be difficult -- because later on more and more surrender will be needed.
               And ultimately, when you drop your mind, it will look like insanity. In the beginning it looks like
           insanity; ultimately it proves to be the only sanity in the world. But that is only later on, when the
           mind is dropped.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now the mala around your neck with my picture -- it makes you look silly! It is not a fetter, it is
           simply your readiness. You say, "Okay, if you say this has to be done, I am ready to do it."
               And if you think even meditation is a chain, a prison, then why do you want to become a
           sannyasin at all? The man seems to be very clever in his foolishness. A long letter... and he
           concludes the letter saying, "If whatsoever I say is right you need not answer. If what I say is wrong,
           then too there is no need to answer."
               Then why write it to me? Why waste my time? Reading the whole letter! If it is right, please
           don't write to me; if it is wrong, what is the need of writing to me? If you know already that you are
           right, there is no need to be here, and if you know that you are wrong, then take a jump! Then seek
           and search for that which is right.
               Yes, I am all for freedom, but by freedom I don't mean what you mean. You mean freedom of
           your ego and I mean freedom FROM the ego. That's how things go on being continuously distorted.

              SWANS RISE AND FLY TOWARDS THE SUN.
              WHAT MAGIC!
              SO DO THE PURE CONQUER THE ARMIES OF ILLUSION
              AND RISE AND FLY.


               Be ready! Kabir's statement is worth remembering. He says: HANSA UR CHAL VA DESH: O
           great swan, let us fly to our real land.
               The swan is a symbol of purity in the East, because it is so white. And the swan is also the
           symbol of purity because it lives in the deepest mountains in the Himalayas, it drinks the purest of
           water.
               There is a lake in the Himalayas, Mansarovar. It must be the most pure water in the world,
           because the air is absolutely unpolluted. Rarely does a man reach there. Very rarely, once every few
           years, a man reaches there; the journey is long, arduous, dangerous. Swans live on that lake. Only
           when it is too cold and the lake becomes frozen do they come to the plains; otherwise they remain
           there, that is their original land. Once the winter is gone, they start flying back to the Himalayas.
               The swan is a symbol that this world is not our home, this muddy pool of water is not our real
           home. We belong to some other world: the world of the Himalayas, of virgin peaks, of the purest of
           lakes. We belong to Mansarovar. Don't forget. Don't become too much involved in the muddy water
           of this pool. Remember, go on remembering, your real home.
               Buddha also uses the same symbol: SWANS RISE AND FLY TOWARDS THE SUN. WHAT
           MAGIC! SO DO THE PURE CONQUER THE ARMIES OF ILLUSION AND RISE AND FLY.

              IF YOU SCOFF AT HEAVEN
              AND VIOLATE THE LAW,
              IF YOUR WORDS ARE LIES,
              WHERE WILL YOUR MISCHIEF END?

              Beware of yourself!



              THE FOOL LAUGHS AT GENEROSITY.
              THE MISER CANNOT ENTER HEAVEN.
              BUT THE MASTER FINDS JOY IN GIVING
              AND HAPPINESS IS HIS REWARD.


              Don't be a miser! Share your love, share your joy, share your dance. This is the way of my
           sannyasins, and this is what Buddha wanted, but his followers never followed him.

              AND MORE --
              FOR GREATER THAN ALL THE JOYS
              OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH,
              GREATER STILL THAN DOMINION
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OVER ALL THE WORLDS,
              IS THE JOY OF REACHING THE STREAM.


               That is a Buddhist expression: REACHING THE STREAM. Buddha says: Coming to a master is
           reaching the stream, getting involved with the master is entering the stream. And once you have
           entered the stream you can relax, you can go with the stream. The stream is already going to the
           ocean.
               Be part of a master and your journey, your real journey, has started. Now you are on your way
           towards the ultimate ocean, the ocean of joy, of peace, of silence, of truth. What other religions call
           God, Buddha calls nirvana: the ocean of enlightenment.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5
                                                   Chapter #10
                                       Chapter title: This mad, mad game
           20 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910200
              ShortTitle: DHAM510
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I EXPECT YOU TO USE A PRECISION SCALPEL WITH MUCH SUBTLETY, YOU USE A
              SLEDGEHAMMER. WHEN I EXPECT YOU TO USE A SLEDGEHAMMER, YOU KISS ME. I GIVE
              UP!


                Amitabh, God functions in a very mysterious way; it is never according to your expectations.
           And I am not here as a person but only as a vehicle. I simply allow God to function through me; I am
           not doing anything at all. Things are happening, but they are not being done. I am just as much a
           spectator as anybody else.
                I am also surprised, just like you. When you expect a sledgehammer, I also expect one. And
           when I see the kiss happening I say, "Gosh! What is he up to?" But I have also given up.
                You are on the right track. When so many times you expect something and just the opposite
           happens, slowly slowly you learn a great secret: that expectation is not the way to be with the divine;
           it is the barrier, not the bridge. Expect, and you will be frustrated. Don't expect and simply wait...
           then whatsoever happens has tremendous beauty. Be ready to be surprised, constantly ready to be
           surprised.
                Each moment brings new surprises to the one who has no expectations, who comes with an
           absolutely open mind. Then incredible things start happening. Even if you had wanted them you
           could not have expected them; you could not have found yourself worthy enough to expect them.
                When you feel that you are unworthy, suddenly great love showers from the divine. You were
           thinking you would be punished, you were thinking you would be judged, condemned. That's not the
           way of God: there is no judgment and there is no condemnation. There is no hell, all is heaven -- and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all the way to heaven it is heaven. You just need a totally different way of looking at things.
                Look with clean, clear eyes, with not even a slight expectation lurking somewhere. Then each
           moment is a mystery, a revelation. And slowly slowly, you will come upon the second secret -- this
           is the first secret, when one says, "I give up."
                The second secret is: suddenly you see that the sledgehammer is also a kiss and the kiss is also a
           sledgehammer. Then opposites lose their opposition, they become complementaries. If a
           sledgehammer is used, that too is because of love, for no other reason. It IS a kiss! Those who
           understand, those who are ready to surrender, to trust, know it is a kiss. And a kiss is also a
           sledgehammer, because to be kissed by God is to be transformed -- to be crushed, killed, resurrected.
           Sledgehammer or kiss, there is no difference: that is the second secret.
                And once these two secrets are fulfilled, there is no more to discipleship. One has arrived home.
           You have fulfilled half the journey by saying, "I give up." Now please don't forget it.
                The mind tends to forget. The mind is very much attached to its old patterns. It goes on again and
           again slipping and falling back. It is easier to fall back because it is downhill. It is difficult to remain
           with the understanding that happens once in a while because it is an uphill task.
                It is one thing to see the sun, it is another thing to remain filled with its light twenty-four hours a
           day. Yes, there are moments when windows open and everything is clear and transparent, but those
           moments will be gone. Soon they will be only memories, just dry flowers with no perfume, just ruins
           of something. And slowly slowly, as the experience recedes into your memory, you start being
           doubtful about whether it ever happened or you just imagined it. Was it really so? And once that
           suspicion, that doubt, arises, you have lost contact with something great, something of the unknown
           -- you have lost track of it.
                This is a great moment, the moment of giving up. It means no more expectations from now on.
           And when there is no expectation there is no possibility of frustration. Expectation is the mother of
           all frustrations; expectation gone, frustration disappears. And when there is no frustration in your
           life, life really becomes a bed of roses. Then God is a constant blessing; he goes on raining his grace,
           his beauty on you.
                I am here only to be a medium, just like a window. Don't be attached to the frame of the window;
           look at the sky that the window makes available. The stars and the sun and the moon, they don't
           belong to the window. What I am giving to you does not belong to me; there is no one inside to
           whom they can belong. I possess nothing, but that is the greatest possession in the world -- nothing --
           because when you are nothing, a nobody, you are God. When you are nobody, for the first time the
           whole can flow through you.
                What I do here with my disciples is not my doing; I simply allow something to happen. I don't
           know what is going to happen, I don't know what I am going to say, I don't know what is going on --
           why you are here, why I am here. But something mysterious is happening. I am here, you are here,
           and between the master and the disciple something transpires which belongs neither to the disciple
           nor to the master.
                It is a mad, mad game in which a third party is involved which is invisible. Yes, I call this
           disciple/master game a mad game -- M stands for master, A for and, D for disciple!

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              LOVE IS A SECRET. WHY?


                Ganesh Giri, love is certainly a secret, but not an ordinary secret -- an extraordinary secret. And
           its extraordinariness consists in its being an open secret. Everybody knows it and yet nobody knows
           it; hence I call it the open secret. Everybody knows it in his deepest heart, but nobody knows it in his
           head. It is a totally different kind of knowing. It is NOT knowledge. You cannot learn about it, you
           can only live it. Living is knowing. It is not something that scriptures can give to you; nobody can
           give it to you. Only you are capable of conferring this gift upon yourself; it is your responsibility.
           You can KNOW it, but knowing is intuitive.
                This word 'intuition' is beautiful. You know the other word, 'tuition'; tuition means somebody
           else is giving it to you. Intuition means nobody is giving it to you; it is growing within yourself. And
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because it is not given to you by somebody else, it cannot be put into words.
               Language is needed when we are talking to each other. Language is not needed when something
           is growing in your consciousness, because there is no dialogue. It grows in silence, it blooms in
           silence; hence when you try to put it into words it escapes. Its very climate is silence. It can't be
           brought into language; it can't be reduced to theories, concepts, ideologies. That's why it is an open
           secret: knowing is possible, knowledge is impossible.

                Saint Augustine is reported to have said once.... Somebody asked him, "What is love?"
           He said, "Love is like time."
                The questioner was puzzled. He said, "Okay, then -- what is time?"
                Augustine said, "You misunderstood me. I meant it is like time because everybody knows what
           time is, but if somebody asks you what it is, you can't answer."
                Can you answer what time is? And you KNOW -- it is not that you don't know -- but knowing
           seems to be so deep that it cannot be brought to the surface. Or if you try to bring it to the surface it
           becomes so distorted that it is no longer the same. In the depth it is a diamond; the moment you bring
           it to the surface it turns out to be an ordinary pebble. And because you know it is a diamond, you
           cannot use the pebble to represent it.
                Love is one of the most mysterious phenomena in existence -- next to God. That's why love is
           closer to God than anything else. If you can understand love, if you can be love -- because that is the
           only way to understand it -- you will become aware of the presence of God, immediately, instantly!
           The moment of love is the moment of the experience of God. Suddenly he is everywhere.
                Once your eyes are full of love you have the capacity to see into the trees, to see into the rocks,
           to their very innermost core, and find God there. Then he is everywhere. All that is needed is a
           loving heart.
                And the problem with modern man is that we have forgotten the language of silence, we have
           forgotten the way of the heart. We have completely forgotten that there is a life which can be lived
           through the heart. We are much too hung up in the head, and because we are so much in the head we
           cannot make any sense out of love. It becomes more and more problematic. It becomes such a
           problem that there are many people who deny it just as they deny God. They say, "There is no God --
           it is fiction; and there is no love either -- that too is only a fiction."
                They would like to reduce love to pure chemistry; they would like to reduce love to something
           physiological, hormonal, concerned with your glands and their secretions. Yes, that too is part of
           love, but the most superficial part -- the chemistry, the physiology. They are its circumference but
           not the center. The center is elusive, mercurial; you cannot grasp it with your hand or with your
           head. It slips out, it escapes your fist. You can have it only with an open hand -- I call it the open
           secret.
           Never make love a question.
                You ask me, "Why? Why is love a secret?" There is no why: it is so. Why are the trees green?
           Small children sometimes ask, "Why are the trees green and why is the rose red?" How are you
           going to explain to them? If you are foolish enough -- that means if you are scientific enough -- you
           will try to explain to them that it is because of chlorophyll that the trees are green. But the child can
           ask, "But why does the chlorophyll make them green and why is the chlorophyll green?" The
           question remains the same, you have simply pushed it a little further back.
                D.H. Lawrence is right. A child asked him, "Why are the trees green?" He said, "They are green
           because they are green." And the child rejoiced immensely in the answer. He said, "This is the right
           answer! I have been asking many people; they say foolish things. This I can understand. Yes, they
           are green because they are green!"
                Love is a secret because it is a secret. But it is an open secret -- that much I would like to add -- it
           is an open secret. It is available! Nobody is guarding it. It is not locked in the temples, it is not
           locked somewhere in the libraries, it is not locked in some underground treasure. It is an open secret!
           It is in the rain and in the wind and in the sun. It is just for you to be open and allow it to happen to
           you. Don't make a question out of it.
                Never make a question out of life. Let life remain a mystery, don't try to change it into a problem.
           That is one of the greatest mistakes we can make, and we have been making it continuously. First we
           make a question out of something which is a mystery, and then the question cannot be answered.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then the only resort is to deny the whole thing.
               Make God a question and then sooner or later a Friedrich Nietzsche is bound to arrive and say,
           "God is dead." In fact, God died the day you put a question mark on him; he cannot live with a
           question mark. The question mark shows doubt, and God can live only with trust. The question mark
           shows doubt, and love can only be felt in trust.
               Ganesh Giri, feel it, don't think about it. It is not a question to be solved by philosophy: it is a
           mystery to be understood by the poet, by the musician, by the actor. Love is not part of the territory
           of philosophy but part of the territory of poetry.
               But poets can only give you glimpses; they cannot give you the experience of it. They can allure
           you, they can persuade you to go on a great pilgrimage, but they cannot deliver love to you -- it is
           not a thing to be delivered -- but they can make you enchanted with the mystery of love.
               I am not a philosopher; I am very close to the poets -- but poets can also give you only a glimpse.
           Mystics can help you to experience it; I am a mystic, I can help you to experience it, but the way to
           experience is not to be intellectually concerned about it. You have to be more sensitive.
               Love is herenow. This whole place is full of love -- this is a temple of love.
               That's why I am condemned all over the world, criticized, because the whole of human history
           has been a history of war, violence. The whole human past has been ugly, inhuman, uncivilized,
           primitive, animalistic. And all the societies that have existed up to now have tried to kill love and the
           very possibility of love in you, because only if love is killed can you then be reduced to a machine --
           a machine which can kill, a machine which can function efficiently without creating any problems, a
           machine which will be obedient, a machine which will not rebel against any kind of slavery,
           oppression, exploitation. The priests, the politicians, all have wanted you to be machines, not men,
           and for centuries they have been in power because you were ready to be reduced to machines.
               The only phenomenon that can bring you back to your real nature, that can revive you again into
           humanity, into human beings, is love. The whole human past has been against love. Yes, to write
           about love was allowed, but love itself was not allowed. In very cunning ways it was destroyed,
           killed, uprooted. And there is a great need that man should know what love is, because without love
           the soul remains unnourished, starved. What food is to the body, love is to the soul. Without love
           you can't have a very alive soul. Without love your potential will remain a potential; it will never
           become actual.
               This is a temple of love. I am creating a situation here where you can start melting, where you
           can again start becoming warm, where you can start playing, where you can again be cheerful.
               I am not here to create more soldiers in the world, but sannyasins. All the past societies were
           soldier-oriented. I see the future as sannyasin-oriented. The sannyasin is just the opposite of the
           soldier, exactly the opposite. The society that has lived up to now, rooted in the soldier, has really
           outlived its time. It is dying, it is going to die, and it is good that it should die. But before it dies we
           have to revive a few people as sannyasins; they will be the heralds of a new world, a new age.
               But love cannot be taught, it can only be caught. I am love, my people here are love.
               Ganesh Giri, what are you doing here? Melt, mix, drop your head! Become as headless as my
           people are, and you will know what love is. But still it will not become knowledge, it will remain a
           deep knowing. But that's enough -- that is nourishing. That's enough because that is transforming.
           That's enough because that opens the door to the divine.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS UNCONSCIOUSNESS?


               Consciousness means living with a witness; unconsciousness means living without a witness.
           When you are walking on the road, you can walk consciously -- that's what Buddha says one should
           do -- you are alert, deep down you are aware that you are walking; you are conscious of each
           movement. You are conscious of the birds singing in the trees, the early morning sun coming
           through the trees, the rays touching you, the warmth, the fresh air, the fragrance of newly opening
           flowers. A dog starts barking, a train passes by, you are breathing... you are watching everything.
           You are not excluding anything out of your alertness; you are taking everything in. The breath goes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in, the breath goes out... you are watching everything that is happening.
                It is not concentration, because in concentration you focus on one thing and you forget
           everything else. When you are concentrating you will not listen to the humming of the bees or to the
           singing of the birds; you will only see what you are concentrating upon. Concentration is narrowing
           down your consciousness to a point. It is good in archery: you have a target and you have to see only
           the target and you have to forget everything else.

               In MAHABHARATA, one of the ancient scriptures of this country, this story occurs:
               Drona, a great archer, is teaching his disciples archery. Arjuna wins finally, for the simple reason
           that his concentration is the most acute.
               A bird is sitting on a tree, and Drona tells all his disciples to take their bows and arrows, focus on
           the bird, and get ready to shoot it. Then he comes close to each disciple and whispers a question in
           his ear, "What are you seeing?"
               One disciple says, "I see many trees and the bird and the eyes of the bird."
               Drona moves to another disciple. He says, "I see only one tree and the bird sitting on it and his
           eyes."
               He moves to the third. He says, "I see only the bird."
               He moves to the fourth. He says, "I see only the two eyes of the bird." And Drona had said that
           the right eye has to be penetrated; that is the target.
               Then he comes finally to Arjuna and he asks him. Arjuna says, "I see only the right eye of the
           bird and nothing else."

               In a sense Arjuna is the most concentrated, but he has become unconscious of the whole -- just a
           pinpoint of consciousness.
               When I talk about consciousness it is not the consciousness that is needed in archery. I am
           talking about a totally different phenomenon: a diffused consciousness, not concentrated, because
           concentration is tiring, tense, and sooner or later you will fall into unconsciousness. Anything tiring
           cannot be carried for long.
               Consciousness has to be relaxed; it has to be equivalent to opening. You are simply open to all
           that is happening. I am talking to you, and the train is passing by, and the distant call of a cuckoo...
           and you are aware of it all. You are open to all the dimensions of your being. You are simply open
           and vulnerable, alert, not asleep.
               This is consciousness, and its opposite is unconsciousness. You are not open at all, you are
           closed. You are in a kind of sleep -- a metaphysical sleep. All the buddhas down the ages have been
           fighting the metaphysical sleep.

               George got drunk in a bar one night, and as he staggered home he tried to figure how he could
           hide his not very sober condition from his wife. He decided he would go home and read, since
           whoever heard of a drunken man being able to read a book? And he laughed at his own cleverness.
           He thought it would be good to read the Bible!
               He made it home and went into the den. A few minutes later his wife called out to him, "What
           are you doing in there at this hour?"
           "Oh, just reading, darling -- reading the Bible," he nonchalantly replied.
               Knowing reading was not one of his late evening pursuits -- and certainly nobody had ever
           thought that he would read the Bible -- she got up and peeked in. "You idiot!" she cried. "Close that
           suitcase and get to bed!"
               When you are drunk, whatsoever you do is going to be like that.

           I have heard:
               Mulla Nasruddin got so drunk that there was a fight with another drunkard, and he had wounds
           and scratches all over his face.
               He came home in the middle of the night, looked into the mirror and thought, "Now, tomorrow
           morning is going to be difficult!" How is he going to hide these wounds and these scratches? His
           wife is bound to know and she will say, "You got drunk again and you have been fighting again!"
           How to hide it?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A great idea occurred to him. He searched in the medicine chest, found some ointment. He put it
           on his wounds and scratches, was very happy, pleased with himself that by morning things would not
           be so bad... and went to sleep.
               Early in the morning when he was still in bed, his wife shouted from the bathroom, "Who has put
           ointment on the mirror?"

                Of course a drunken man, a drunkard, looking into the mirror thinks that that is his face. It is
           natural; if you are unconscious, whatsoever you do is bound to be wrong.
                And there is a great metaphysical drunkenness. From many many lives it has become a great
           weight on you. You have lived unconsciously for so long that the effort to live consciously even for
           a few minutes seems to be too much.
                You love, it is unconscious, and it becomes jealousy, possessiveness. It is no longer love,
           because love cannot be unconscious. You make friends only to create enemies. You earn money to
           be happy, but by the time you have earned enough money you are only deeply tense, anxiety-ridden,
           and there is no joy in it. You run after power, fame, and one day, if you make hard efforts, you
           certainly succeed. You become famous, but then you realize the fact that by becoming famous
           nothing has been achieved. Everybody knows you, that's all. Everybody knows your name, but how
           is that going to make you happy? You have power, but what are you going to do with the power?
                In the hands of an unconscious man everything turns sour, bitter, poisonous, everything turns
           stupid. Give him some intelligent advice and it is bound to fall into wrong hands.

              The young lady who was about to get married talked with her mother about the birds and the
           bees. In this conversation her mother told her that she did not have to take off everything when she
           went to bed on her honeymoon.
              When they returned, the groom asked his mother-in-law, "Is there any insanity in this family?"
           "No, why?"
           "Well, your daughter slept in her hat all during our honeymoon!"

               People are bound to do something stupid. And that's what they have done to the statements of all
           the buddhas. They write commentaries, great scholarship, but what comes out is stupid. Libraries are
           full of it, universities are full of it. All rubbish! But people are sacrificing their whole lives for that,
           and they are not doing the first necessary thing.
               You cannot be wise unless you become conscious, unless you break this old habit of functioning
           in an unconscious way. You have to de-automatize yourself.
               Simple things can do the trick. For example, you always walk in a hurry. Start walking slowly.
           You will have to be alert; the moment you lose alertness you will start again in a hurried way. These
           are small devices: walk slowly -- because to walk slowly you will have to remain conscious. Once
           you lose consciousness, immediately the old habit will grab you and you will be in a hurry.
               If you smoke cigarettes, make it a very slow process, so slow that it becomes de-automatized.
           Otherwise, people are not smoking cigarettes -- cigarettes are smoking people! They are not
           conscious of what they are doing. In a very unconscious way they put their hands into their pockets,
           take out the packet, the cigarette and the matchbox. They are going through all these motions but
           they are not alert. They may be thinking a thousand and one things. In fact, when they are more
           unconscious they tend to smoke more. When they are more in anxiety, tension... worried, they tend
           to smoke more; that helps them to keep a face as if they are relaxed.
               Make it a slow process. Take the cigarette packet out of your pocket as slowly as possible, as
           consciously as possible. Slowing down the processes is very helpful. Then hold the packet in your
           hand, look at it, smell it, feel its texture. Then open it very slowly, as if you have all the time in the
           world. Then take a cigarette out, look at the cigarette from all sides. Then put it in your mouth...
           wait! Then take the matchbox -- again go through those same slow movements. Then start smoking
           so slowly... take the smoke in very slowly, let it out very slowly.
               And you will be surprised: if you were smoking twenty-four cigarettes per day you will be
           smoking only six at the most; it will be reduced to one-fourth. And slowly slowly, only two, one, and
           one day suddenly you will find the whole thing so stupid! Still you can go on carrying the cigarette
           packet in your pocket for a few days, just in case -- but it is finished, de-automatized.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              This is one of Buddha's great contributions to the psychology of man: the process of
           de-automatization, slowing down everything.
              Buddha used to say to his disciples, "Walk as slowly as possible, eat as slowly as possible. Chew
           each bite forty times and go on counting inside: one, two, three, four, five -- forty times. When the
           food is no longer solid, it is almost liquid...." He used to say, "Don't eat, but drink." That means
           make it so liquid that you don't eat it, you have to drink it. And he helped thousands of people to
           become conscious.
              You are unconscious, although you believe you are conscious.... That is like seeing a dream in
           which you think you are walking in the marketplace. You are awake in your dream, but your
           awakenness in a dream is only part of the dream -- you are unconscious.
              It hurts to accept that "I am unconscious," but the first act of being conscious is to accept that "I
           am unconscious." The very acceptance triggers a process in you.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DOES LOVE ONLY HAPPEN WHEN IT WANTS OR IS THERE SOMETHING WE DO, LET DOWN,
              OPEN UP, TO ALLOW IT?


               Madhuma, positively, nothing can be done; negatively, much can be done. You will have to learn
           what negative action is. Lao Tzu calls it WU-WEI: doing without doing, action without action, effort
           without effort. It is one of the most significant things to learn. We know how to do things; that is a
           positive, aggressive, masculine way.
               There is another approach, more subtle, more graceful, more feminine: to be in a state of let-go,
           to be in a state of surrender, and to allow existence to flow through you. That is doing through
           nondoing. In a sense it is negative, because you are not doing anything.
               Sitting silently, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
               This is the secret of real meditation: sit silently, do nothing. Wait.... Wait patiently. Wait in deep
           trust that the existence cares about you, that whenever you are ready and ripe you will be filled with
           love, that love will overflow you. The spring comes... that means there is a season to everything.
           You cannot have it before its time, you have to attain to a certain maturity.
               And the greatest maturity is attained by learning the action which is basically inaction, the doing
           which is not doing at all but a state of nondoing. You remain available; if God calls you, you are
           ready. You are listening -- that is real prayer. When you say something to God, that is not real
           prayer; you have moved into action, you have become aggressive.
               The real prayer is when you listen to God, you become all ears. You simply listen from every
           pore of your being; your every cell is just waiting: "If he calls, I will be ready. If he needs me, he
           will find me available." You remain unoccupied so that you can be available. You remain without
           thoughts so that you can hear him without distortion.

                A maid who seemed to enjoy her work gave notice one day without warning.
           "Why do you wish to leave?" the lady of the house asked her. "Is anything wrong?"
           "I just can't stand the suspense in this house a minute more," the maid replied.
           "Suspense? What do you mean?"
           "It is the sign over my bed that says, 'Watch ye, for ye know not when the master cometh.'"

                That statement, that beautiful statement -- "Watch ye, for ye know not when the master cometh"
           -- is one of the greatest sayings of Jesus Christ. But to the poor, unconscious maid it has a different
           meaning, altogether different -- a very distorted meaning, a meaning that SHE has given to it.
                That's what goes on happening to you: God calls you, the spring comes, but finds you so much
           occupied that the grass cannot grow by itself; he finds you so much burdened, so full of yourself, that
           he cannot enter into you -- he finds you without any space. And he needs great space. You have to be
           utterly spacious, you have to be absolutely empty -- only then can God descend in you.
                And love is nothing but God approaching closer and closer to you. The rays of God -- that's what
           love is.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You ask me, "Does love only happen when it wants?"
               There is no question of God wanting -- he is ALWAYS ready to happen to you -- just YOU are
           not ready. And what is needed on your part is not aggressive action; what is needed on your part is to
           become feminine, receptive, passive. Allow him in: he is knocking on your doors.
               Jesus says: Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and ye shall find it. Knock, and the doors
           shall be opened unto you.
               I say to you: He is knocking on your doors -- please leave them open. He is seeking you and you
           are hiding. He is asking, but you are not responding.
               It is not only that man seeks God -- in fact, God is seeking man continuously. But he never finds
           you, because you are never now, you are never here. You are always gone somewhere else.

           Mulla Nasruddin was talking to one of his friends.
           The friend said, "How was your night last night?"
               Mulla said, "It was a beautiful night! I dreamed that I had gone to the Taj Mahal Hotel, and I
           have never tasted such delicious food in my life. I enjoyed my night, my dream. I can still feel the
           flavor of the food, I still feel the joy. Those dreams are still around me."
               The friend said, "That's nothing! That's why I asked how your night was, because last night I
           dreamed that I was on a boat at sea and Sophia Loren was with me -- naked, absolutely naked!"
               Mulla suddenly became angry and he said, "What kind of friend are you? Why didn't you ask me
           to come?"
               The friend said, "I did phone. Your wife said you had gone to the Taj Mahal Hotel!"

               You are never at home. God goes on calling you, you are always somewhere else: the Taj Mahal
           Hotel, the Oberoi, the Blue Diamond... somewhere else. You are never found at home. Whenever he
           comes you are not there -- because God knows only the present time; he has no idea of the past and
           no idea of the future. Now is the only reality for him, and you are absolutely unaware of the now.
               You enjoy, you reminisce with great joy... your old days, your childhood, your youth. You are
           always going backwards, into your memories, or you are always moving into "not yet," the future,
           and imagining, projecting. But you are never now.
               The small gap between the past and the future is the only real time. It does not belong to your
           time, it belongs to eternity. It is only through that moment that God can penetrate you. It is only
           through that moment that love happens, the spring comes. The spring is always now, here; it is never
           then or there.
               Love is the closeness of God felt in the heart. Be available, Madhuma. Allow. Be open and
           vulnerable. Don't live with armor around yourself. It is your armor, your safety and security
           arrangements, it is your strategies that are destroying you. Be innocent, be authentic, be true,
           whosoever you are. Then you will be able to see that which is, to know that which is. And seeing
           that which is creates love, releases your love energy.
               In the ancient Hebrew the word for God simply means "that which is." It is a code word; it stands
           for reality itself.
               But man goes on distorting scriptures, words, language, everything. Because of your
           preoccupation, your prejudices, your concepts, your knowledge, you remain ignorant.

               It was their honeymoon night and the bride put on a sheer nightgown and crawled into bed --
           only to discover that her husband was about to go to sleep on the couch.
           "George," she called out, "aren't you going to make love to me?"
           "I can't, honey," he replied, "because it is Lent."
           "Why, that's awful!" she exclaimed, bursting into tears. "To whom and for how long?"

               The preoccupied mind can't see what is, can't hear what is, can't feel what is. The preoccupied
           mind lives in its own world. Buddha calls that world the real problem: the world that is created by
           your mind. Renounce that world, renounce the mind! And, Madhuma, you will be overflowing with
           love and overflowing with God, overflooded. And it is an inexhaustible source; you can go on
           sharing it, but you cannot exhaust it. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- so is the ultimate,
           inexhaustible law, the law of the universe.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DID YOU SAY TODAY THAT THE PATH OF MEDITATION WAS FOR SPIRITUALLY MASCULINE
              PEOPLE? I AM CONFUSED AS BUDDHA, LAO TZU AND ALL THESE PEOPLE SEEM TO BE
              MORE FEMININE. PLEASE EXPLAIN.


              Anand Dharmen, you are right and yet wrong. You are right because Buddha and Lao Tzu ARE
           feminine, but they are feminine when they have attained to the ultimate peak of meditation -- at the
           peak they are feminine. At the peak everybody is feminine, only God is masculine. At the peak only
           God is "he," everybody is a she.

                There is a beautiful story about a great woman mystic of India, Meera. She was really a mad
           devotee, a mad BHAKTA, in tremendous love and ecstasy with God. She was a queen, but she
           started dancing on the streets. The family disowned her. The family tried to poison her -- the family
           itself -- because it was a disgrace for the royal family. The husband was feeling embarrassed, very
           much embarrassed, and particularly so in those days. And the story belongs to one of the most
           traditional parts of this country, Rajasthan, where for centuries nobody had seen women's faces; they
           were covered, always covered. Even the husband might not have been able to recognize his wife in
           the daylight, because they were meeting only in the night, in darkness.
                In those days, in such a stupid climate, in such a milieu, the queen started dancing on the streets!
           Crowds would gather, and she was so drunk with the divine that her sari would slip down, her face
           would be exposed, her hands would be exposed. And the family was obviously very much perturbed.
                But she sang beautiful songs, the most beautiful ever sung in the whole world, because they came
           from her very heart. They were not composed, they were spontaneous outpourings.
                She was a devotee of Krishna, she loved Krishna. She told her husband, "Don't go on believing
           that you are my husband -- my husband is Krishna. You are not my husband, only a poor substitute."
                The king was very angry. He expelled her from the kingdom; she was not allowed to enter the
           territory. She went to Mathura, the place of Krishna. Krishna had died thousands of years before, but
           for her he was as alive as ever. That is the mystery of love: it transcends the barriers of time and
           space. Krishna was not just an idea to her, he was a reality. She talked to him, she slept with him, she
           hugged him, kissed him. Nobody else could see Krishna, but she was absolutely aware of him.
                Krishna represented to her the very spirit of existence, what Buddha calls dhamma, the law. That
           is the masculine formation, the masculine expression: the law. Meera calls Krishna "my beloved" --
           not law but love; that is the feminine heart.
                She reached Mathura; there is one of the greatest temples of Krishna. And the head priest of that
           temple had taken a vow that he would not see any woman in his life; for thirty years he had not seen
           a woman. No woman was allowed to enter into the temple and he had never left the temple.
                When Meera reached there, she danced at the gate of the temple. The guards became so
           enchanted, magnetized, that they forgot to prevent her. She entered into the temple; she was the first
           woman after thirty years to enter the temple.
                The head priest was worshipping Krishna. When he saw Meera he could not believe his eyes. He
           was mad. He shouted at her, "Get out of here! Woman, get out of here! Don't you know that no
           woman is allowed here?"
                Meera laughed and said, "As far as I know, I know that except God everybody is a woman -- you
           too! After thirty years of worshipping Krishna, do you think you are still a male?"
                It opened the eyes of the head priest; he fell at the feet of Meera. He said, "Nobody has said such
           a thing ever before, but I can see it, I can feel it -- it is the truth."

              At the highest peak, whether you follow the path of love or meditation, you become feminine. So
           you are right, Dharmen, that Buddha and Lao Tzu, all these people seem to be feminine, because you
           know them only when they have reached the highest peak. But you don't know their path, you don't
           know their journey. Their journey was masculine, it was not feminine.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Another story will help you:
               A king was very much interested in the ideas of Moses; Moses was alive. The king said to the
           court painter, "Go and paint an absolutely realistic painting of Moses as he is. I would like his
           picture to always be in my bedroom."
               The painter went. It took six months for him to do a really realistic painting. But when he came
           back with the painting, the king was puzzled, the whole court was puzzled, because the face of
           Moses looked like that of a murderer, that of a thief, that of a criminal.
               He said, "You say this is the painting you have done in six months? The face looks like Moses,
           but it can't be Moses' face. I know the man, I have seen him with my own eyes! Yes, the outer lines
           are exactly like his face, but the gesture, the expression, it is not that of Moses!"
               The painter said, "But you have told me to be very realistic, so I have not created any fiction
           around him. As he is I have painted him; this is just an exact replica. Now I am not responsible. If
           you find any difficulty in it, you ask Moses."
               The painter, the king, the court, they all traveled. They went to Moses, the painting was brought
           to him and the king asked, "Sir, I have known you for years -- you are the most graceful man I have
           ever seen in the world. There may never be such a graceful man again... and this is the painting! My
           painter is a great painter, there is no doubt about it. He has never made any fault like this. He has
           painted my father, my mother, and thousands of other paintings -- he has painted me. And he is
           absolutely exact, whatsoever he has done. But with this painting we are not satisfied -- not only not
           satisfied, I am angry at him. Your face looks like that of a murderer, a thief or a criminal."
               Moses said, "You are both right. Now, looking at me, you will see grace. But your painter has
           painted with such acuteness that he has caught my whole life in the painting. Yes, for the first time I
           am confessing: once I killed a man. I am a murderer. I have never told this to anybody else. And I
           have been, in my past, all the things that your painter has painted; they have left their subtle marks
           on my face. You cannot see them because you don't have the eyes which your painter has. So your
           painter is right: he has depicted my whole history. It is not only my present face but all the faces that
           have been there before. And you are also right, because it does not correspond to my present face --
           but I have to agree with your painter."

               It is a very significant story. At the peak a person is transformed, but on the path he may have
           been a totally different person.
               Yes, I did say that the path of meditation was for spiritually masculine people. In India, the
           Buddhists and the Jainas have followed the path of meditation. All the twenty-four
           TIRTHANKARAS, the great masters of the Jainas, were warriors. They belonged to the
           KSHATRIYA caste, the caste of the warriors; they were not brahmins. Buddha himself was not a
           brahmin; he was a kshatriya, a warrior. These warriors followed the path of meditation; they were as
           masculine as possible. Their whole training was that of the warrior. But at the ultimate peak they
           certainly were transformed: they became feminine. You can't find a more feminine man than
           Buddha. They became so feminine, they became so soft, so vulnerable, so beautiful, so graceful, so
           rounded -- they lost all the corners, all roughness. They became like lotus flowers -- the East has
           painted them without mustaches, without beards.
               Have you ever seen a statue or a painting of Buddha with a beard and mustache? Not that some
           hormones were lacking in him, not that he could not grow a beard. I know him perfectly well -- he
           had a beautiful beard! But we have left it out because it does not represent his inner reality. His inner
           reality has become so feminine that we had to make his face according to the inner. The inner cannot
           be painted; it can only be painted symbolically. That's why Rama, Krishna, Mahavira, Buddha, none
           of them is painted with a beard, a mustache, no.
               And one thing more: nobody is painted as bald. And I know perfectly well, they were all bald!
           But women don't go bald, hence the mustache and the beard have been taken away, and instead hair
           has been added to their baldness -- the same hair maybe, take it away from the beard and put it on the
           head.
               So your question, Dharmen, is right in a way, and yet not right. The man on the path is one thing,
           and the same man at the peak is a totally different person, transformed, transmuted.

           The last question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM SEVENTY YEARS OLD, AND IT FEELS EMBARRASSING TO BE STILL LONGING FOR SEX.
              WHAT SHOULD I DO?


                Jagat Narayan, the first thing is to accept your longing. Don't reject it, don't deny it, don't repress
           it. It is because of repression that it continues; in your youth you must have repressed it too much.

           Once it happened:
               I was in New Delhi and a young monk was brought to me; he must have been not more than
           thirty-five. He was living a life of absolute celibacy. He told me, "It is only a question of a few more
           years that I have to fight with my sexual desire. Can you tell me," he asked me, "exactly how many
           more years it will take? I am thirty-five. I am getting a little bit tired of fighting, fighting. Up to now
           I have succeeded -- now how many more years?"
               I said, "It is better if you don't ask me, because the real problem is still ahead of you. The real
           problem has not happened yet; it happens at the age of forty-two."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "Right now you are young, full of energy, strength -- you can repress your sexual desire.
           But after forty-two you will become weak; slowly slowly, every day you will become weaker. YOU
           will become weak, but the repressed sexual desire, accumulated for years, will be very strong. The
           energy that is repressing it will be weaker and the energy that is repressed will become stronger
           every day. The real problem starts after forty-two."
               He said, "Nobody has ever said that to me. People say that by the time you reach forty-five, if
           you can manage to keep yourself celibate, the problem disappears."
               I said, "They don't know at all, they don't know the ways of energy. The repressor will become
           weak, but the repressed never becomes weak, because the repressed accumulates."
               After ten years, when he must have been forty-five, he came to see me again. I was in Amritsar.
           He touched my feet, cried, and he said, "You are right. Now I am on the verge of breaking down.
           Now the urge is so intense, as it has never been, and I am not in a situation to fight. I am tired,
           defeated, weak. You were right, but I didn't listen to you. And all the people who have been telling
           me that after forty-five the problem disappears, either were deceiving me or they were deceiving
           themselves or they were utterly ignorant, unaware of how energies function."

               Jagat Narayan, you must have repressed. That's how people are brought up, particularly in India:
           the religious person is one who represses all his natural desires. Now you are seventy and it really
           looks embarrassing to still be so childish. The older you grow, the more embarrassing it will become,
           but the more persistent it will be. Twenty-four hours of your day will become obsessed with sex.
           And this is what has been done to you by your society: the society has created a kind of split in you,
           you have become divided from your own nature.
               Even now it is not too late. Don't be worried and don't feel embarrassed. Why? If God has given
           you sex and the longing for it then it is perfectly right, it is divine. YOU have not created it -- why
           do YOU feel embarrassed? It is instinctive.
               If you really want to feel embarrassed, feel embarrassed because you are a Hindu and for seventy
           years you allowed foolish people to dominate you, stupid priests to dominate you. Feel embarrassed
           that you were not intelligent enough to get out of the prison in which you were accidentally born.
           But don't feel embarrassed about sex and the longing for it -- that is natural. Being Hindu is not
           natural, being Mohammedan is not natural. Feel embarrassed that for seventy years you have been
           doing such harm to your own nature.
               Accept your sexuality, say yes to it -- because only by saying yes to it is there a possibility of
           going beyond it. Yes is the stepping-stone. Without yes you cannot reach the other shore; the yes
           becomes the boat.
               But my feeling is that you are still saying no. Be less of a Hindu, be less of a fanatic, be less of an
           idealist. Be a little more realistic.

               Tony's wife passed away and he was almost inconsolable. At the cemetery he collapsed with
           grief. In the car riding back home, his whole frame shook with wild sobs.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Now, now, Tony, my boy," soothed his friend. "It's really not so bad. I know it is tough now, but in
           six months maybe you find another beautiful bambina and before you know, you get married again."
               Tony turned to him in rage. "Six months!" he shouted. "What I gonna do tonight?"

               You laugh at Tony, but he is more natural. He is not embarrassed about it, he accepts it.
               Jagat Narayan, even though you are seventy years old, your sex, because it has remained
           somehow unfulfilled, is not seventy years old but seventy years young! Now there is going to be
           difficulty: you are seventy years old and your sex is seventy years young. But if you accept it, if you
           embrace it, if you take it naturally, still it is not too late.
               In the East we have a saying: Even if you come back home when the sun is setting, it is not too
           late....

              Eighty-five-year-old Will Jones hobbled down to the local bar to have a cold one and shoot the
           breeze with his friends. Mr. Jones was the talk of the town, as he had recently married a beautiful
           nineteen-year-old girl. Several of the boys bought the old man a drink in an effort to get him to tell
           about his wedding night. Sure enough, the old rascal fell right into their plans.
           "My youngest son carried me in and lifted me on the bed with my young bride. We spent the night
           together and then my three other sons carried me off the bed."
              The men scratched their heads and asked the old boy why it took his three sons to take him off
           when it only took his youngest boy to put him on.
           Proudly he replied, "I fought them!"

               Jagat Narayan, gather courage! Don't feel embarrassed. At least deep down accept it, even
           though you may not be able to move into a sexual relationship. The very acceptance -- total, I mean,
           less than that won't do -- if you accept totally, even that very acceptance will heal the wound. There
           may be no need to actually move into a sexual relationship. That may be even dangerous; that may
           create more problems for you than it will solve.

           I have heard:
               One Friday afternoon a couple appeared before a justice of the peace in a small town and had a
           marriage ceremony performed. The man must have been nearabout eighty and the girl was only
           twenty-two. They then drove to a motel and checked in for their honeymoon. They had a lively
           evening together.
               The next morning the groom raised the window shade just to take a look outside, pulled it down
           again and went back to bed.
               The next morning, Sunday, this performance was repeated. The groom raised the shade, looked
           out for a moment, then pulled it down and went back to his bride.
               On the third morning, as he raised the shade, he flew up with it.

                So it can be dangerous! Don't blame me that I am telling you to find a bambina, no! You may be
           too old for it. But nobody is too old to accept something that he has been denying. Drop condemning
           it -- respect your nature.
                And my own observation is, the moment you accept something totally, the very acceptance
           brings a revolution, a radical change. It is your energy -- accept it. It will make you stronger. Reject
           it, it keeps you weak. Fighting with your own energy is dissipating it. And fighting with your sex
           will take so much of your time and so much of your energy -- then when are you going to look at
           God who is knocking on your door?
                Stop fighting, stop fighting absolutely. Start respecting. Drop condemnation. Nothing is sin -- not
           sex at least. It is a natural phenomenon. If people are allowed to live it naturally, then at the age of
           fourteen they will become flooded with it. But in an unnatural society they will be flooded before
           their time.
                Do you know? In America the boys and girls are becoming sexually mature earlier than
           anywhere else. In every other country the boys become sexually mature at fourteen; in America, at
           thirteen or twelve they become sexually mature. There is too much sex around in the movies, on the
           TV, everywhere.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               A small boy -- must have been six or seven -- was sitting on the steps of his house and crying big
           tears.
               An old man came by and he asked, "My son, why are you crying?" He wanted to help the boy.
           He sat by his side, wiped his tears with his handkerchief and asked, "Why are you crying? What has
           happened?"
               The little boy said, "I am crying because I can't do what other boys are doing."
           And the old man started crying!
               The little boy was surprised. He said, "Pop, why are YOU crying?"
               He said, "I can't do what the other boys are doing either. Our problems are the same."

               In America people are becoming sexually obsessed before their age. That is ugly, that is ill, that
           is premature. In India the opposite happens: people remain sexually interested even when they are
           seventy, eighty, ninety. They may not say so -- Jagat Narayan, you are at least authentic, courageous,
           to say it is so -- but they remain obsessed with it.
               In a natural society, children will become sexually overflooded at fourteen -- a beautiful energy
           -- and by the time they are forty-two the energy will disappear suddenly, as it appeared at the age of
           fourteen. If a person lives naturally, without the interference of the priests.... Priests who are against
           sex or priests who are for sex -- avoid both! If a man lives naturally, then between fourteen and
           forty-two his sex energy will give him tremendous joy, great experience of ecstasy, first glimpses of
           God and samadhi. And by the time it disappears it will leave you ripe, mature, centered, rooted.
               Right now you can do only one thing: accept it totally, absorb it. It is not too late, although the
           sun is setting. If you can come home, if you can become natural and spontaneous about yourself,
           authentic, true, at least to yourself, you will be able to face God with a smile on your face. You will
           be able to enter death dancing, singing.
               And a death that can be welcomed with dance and song is not death at all. It becomes the door to
           the deathless, it leads you into immortality.
           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                     Talks given from 21/10/79 am to 30/10/79 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     10 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                     Chapter #1
                                      Chapter title: The security of insecurity
           21 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7910210
              ShortTitle: DHAM601
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              HE IS AWAKE.
              THE VICTORY IS HIS.
              HE HAS CONQUERED THE WORLD.



              HOW CAN HE LOSE THE WAY
              WHO IS BEYOND THE WAY?
              HIS EYE IS OPEN.
              HIS FOOT IS FREE.
              WHO CAN FOLLOW AFTER HIM?



              THE WORLD CANNOT RECLAIM HIM
              OR LEAD HIM ASTRAY,
              NOR CAN THE POISONED NET OF DESIRE HOLD HIM.



              HE IS AWAKE!
              THE GODS WATCH OVER HIM.



              HE IS AWAKE
              AND FINDS JOY IN THE STILLNESS OF MEDITATION
              AND IN THE SWEETNESS OF SURRENDER.



              HARD IT IS TO BE BORN,
              HARD IT IS TO LIVE,
              HARDER STILL TO HEAR OF THE WAY,
              AND HARD TO RISE, FOLLOW, AND AWAKE.



              YET THE TEACHING IS SIMPLE.
              DO WHAT IS RIGHT.
              BE PURE.
              AT THE END OF THE WAY IS FREEDOM.
              TILL THEN, PATIENCE.



              IF YOU WOUND OR GRIEVE ANOTHER,
              YOU HAVE NOT LEARNED DETACHMENT.



              OFFEND IN NEITHER WORD NOR DEED.
              EAT WITH MODERATION.
              LIVE IN YOUR HEART.
              SEEK THE HIGHEST CONSCIOUSNESS.


              Gautama the Buddha is talking today about the very essence of buddhahood: the height of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           buddhahood and the depth of it, the glory and the grace, the tremendous freedom that it brings, the
           light that it showers, the love, the joy, the bliss, the awakening.
               These sutras are rare -- rarest amongst the most rare sutras, because Buddha is opening his own
           heart to you. He is inviting you to become a guest into his innermost core. He is revealing, in simple
           words, the fragrance that has happened to him and that is possible for you too -- because each man is
           born to be a buddha.
               Unless one becomes a buddha one has not lived and one has not known what life is. One has
           dreamed of course -- dreams of a thousand and one things -- but one has been asleep. And whether
           you dream beautiful dreams or ugly dreams it does not matter. In the morning of buddhahood, all
           those dreams, both good and bad, sweet and bitter, golden dreams and nightmares, will be known as
           false, illusory. It was a self-deception, and the capacity to deceive oneself is enormous. Beware of it!
           One can even dream that one is awake, one can even dream that one has become a buddha. That is
           the ultimate trick the mind can play upon you.

           It happened in Baghdad:
               A man was brought to the caliph, because the man had declared that he was the new messenger
           of God. The caliph was irritated, annoyed, and he said, "You must be mad, because Mohammed is
           the last messenger of God and there is not going to be anybody else. The message has arrived in the
           Koran. Yes, before Mohammed there had been other messages, but all those messages were
           fragmentary because man was not ready and ripe. Mohammed has brought the full message; now
           there is not going to be any other messenger in the world. You bring yourself to your senses;
           otherwise you will have to suffer for it!"
               The man was thrown into the prison for seven days, tortured, beaten, starved. After seven days
           the caliph arrived. The man was bound to a pillar, bruised, wounded. The caliph said, "Now you
           must have come to your senses. What do you say now?"
               The man laughed and he said, "All the torture and all the suffering that have been imposed upon
           me simply prove that I am really the messenger, because when God was sending me to the world he
           warned me that 'My messengers have always been tortured.' And I was doubting, 'Why are people
           not torturing me if I am the real messenger?' You have proved it! God was right, there was no need
           to doubt."
               The caliph was at a loss -- what to say to this madman? But suddenly another man who was also
           bound to another pillar started laughing hysterically. The caliph asked him, "Why are you laughing?"
               The man said, "This guy is a cheat -- because I am God myself, and I have never sent this man to
           the world as my messenger!"
               That man had been imprisoned one month before, declaring himself God.

                Mohammedans are very fanatic; they can't allow -- sometimes even when it is the truth. When
           al-Hillaj Mansoor declared, "ANA'L HAQ! -- I am God himself!" it was a truth, he was not
           dreaming. But he was crucified. When Sarmad, another Sufi mystic, declared, "I am God!" his head
           was cut off. And these people were not dreaming. But it is very difficult from the outside to decide
           who is dreaming, who has gone mad, who is imagining, and who is declaring the truth. Because
           sometimes the dreamer believes in his dream, believes absolutely, so belief cannot prove anything. It
           may be just an ego trip.
                The last deception that the mind can play on you is to say to you, "Why are you unnecessarily
           bothering? You are a buddha!" And I want you to be aware of it, because this is going to happen to
           many people. People can believe anything.
                Just the other day a man wrote a letter to me saying, "I want to become a sannyasin, but I am a
           little afraid because I know that I am a Judas and I will prove to be a Judas to you." People can
           believe they are Christ, they can believe they are Judas. And he must be believing it really deeply.
                I have sent him a message that "You can become a sannyasin. I already have many other Judases,
           so what difference does it make? One more is welcome!" Jesus had only one Judas: I have many, and
           it is better to have many -- one can prove more dangerous. If you have many Judases, first they will
           have to compete with each other. Their energies will be wasted amongst themselves. They will fight
           with each other; they will betray each other first. And Judas could betray Jesus because Jesus had
           only twelve disciples; I have one hundred thousand disciples.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I cannot take too much care as to who is a Judas and who is not; and I need not, because
           whatsoever happens is God's will. If a Judas is needed then he will have to come, that is the way God
           wants it to be. But your mind can play tricks with you. You can't just be a nobody -- if you cannot be
           Christ, at least you can be Judas. You can't accept the fact of anonymity.
               And that is the very fundamental -- the first basic requirement, to enter into the world of religion:
           to accept oneself as anonymous, as if you have no name, no form, no identity. Then the mind cannot
           deceive you. Then the mind cannot seduce you into some idea, into some imagination.
               Buddha is talking about what happens when a person becomes awakened. Ordinarily man is
           asleep, all men are asleep. Irrespective of their religion, nation, race, on one thing they all agree: they
           are all fast asleep -- dreaming different dreams, but the sleep is the same. The difference of dreams
           makes no difference to the quality of the sleep. One is dreaming Christian dreams, another is
           dreaming Jewish dreams, another is dreaming Hindu dreams, and so on and so forth, but dreams
           can't change your consciousness. In fact they are hindrances.
               The sleep has to be broken, the sleep has to be shattered; otherwise you don't know who you are,
           you don't know what you are doing. You don't know where you are coming from, you don't know
           where you are going. You don't know what you are saying and what you are doing, to yourself and to
           others. You are accidental. You are like driftwood at the mercy of the blind winds -- there is no
           destiny. The winds throw you on this shore or on that shore, but you are not the master of your own
           being. You are a slave, a slave of blind forces.
               The first thing to be done is to come out of your sleep.
           Buddha says... the first sutra:

              HE IS AWAKE.


               He is defining buddhahood, or you can call it christhood; it is the same. Buddha and Christ are
           synonymous.
               HE IS AWAKE. That is the most essential quality: he is no longer asleep, he is no longer
           dreaming. He has no thoughts, no memories, no imagination. He is utterly silent and alert. His
           silence is not a dead, cold silence; his silence is wakeful, warm, alive.
               HE IS AWAKE: you are not -- you are so full of junk. Unless you become empty of the junk you
           will not be awake. And you go on doing the same things again and again, you go on repeating. You
           move in circles, never seeing the fact that you are functioning like a robot, like a machine.

              The legend goes that in the days of ancient Rome an officer called away to the wars locked his
           beautiful young wife in a chastity belt and gave the key to his best friend with the admonition, "If I
           don't return in a year, use this key. To you, my dear friend, I entrust it."
              He then galloped off to the wars. Ten miles away from home he heard the clatter of hoofbeats
           behind him and he waited. His friend on horseback galloped up saying, "You gave me the wrong
           key!"
           Man is so deeply unconscious!

               A couple of drunks in a bar started talking about sex. "Say," said the first one, "have you ever
           gotten so drunk you kissed a broad's navel?"
           "Drunker!" answered his pal.

              Just watch your life and you will be absolutely in agreement with him: "Drunker!" What have
           you been doing? Can you say you have lived your life with awareness? Can you say your actions
           have the quality of awareness? Somebody insults you: do you respond or do you react? If you react,
           you are asleep; if you respond, you are awake.
              And what is the difference between reaction and response? -- the difference is great.

               Once Buddha was being insulted very much by a few people. They were shouting at him, saying
           all kinds of dirty words to him, and he was standing there listening to them as totally as possible.
               After a few minutes they felt frustrated, because he was not saying anything, and one of them
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           asked, "Are you deaf or something? Why don't you answer?"
               Buddha said, "I am answering, but my answer is a response, not a reaction."
               Naturally they asked, "What is the difference between reaction and response?"
               And Buddha said, "Sit down and I will explain it to you."
               And the enemies turned into disciples! They were listening to Buddha, sitting silently; listening
           to what he was saying. They were converted. Buddha said, "If you had come ten years ago, when I
           was asleep just as you are, I would have reacted. You would have pushed my buttons."
               When you push the button and the fan goes on it is not a response; it is a reaction, it is
           mechanical. When you push the button and the lights go on or off, it is a reaction not a response. The
           light, the fan, or any other mechanism, has no freedom to choose; it simply reacts. Response means
           choice, response means "chosen with consciousness."
               Buddha said, "Ten years ago if you had said these words to me I would have cut off your heads --
           I used to carry a sword with me. But now I am awake. I listened to your words and I felt deep
           compassion for you -- that you were torturing yourselves unnecessarily. You cannot force me to do
           something -- I am not a machine, now I am a man. You cannot force me to do anything; I act out of
           my own choice. Hence it is not reaction, it is action, and action is a response. I see the whole
           situation, then out of my consciousness I act. At this moment I am feeling so compassionate for you,
           so sorry for you, that I cannot speak the same language that you are speaking to me."

               The man who is asleep reacts; he knows nothing of action. And reaction is a binding: it binds you
           into new prisons, new chains. Response is out of freedom, hence it brings more freedom. Reaction is
           out of the past; you act according to your memories, built-in by your experiences, conditionings.
           You react not to the present, not in the present. You don't reflect the real situation as it is; you go on
           interpreting it according to your past, your past experiences.
               The man who is awake is like a mirror: he reflects that which is the case. HE IS AWAKE.

              THE VICTORY IS HIS.
              HE HAS CONQUERED THE WORLD.


               And Buddha says: It is only by awakening that one becomes victorious; not by conquering the
           world but by conquering one's unconsciousness.
               There are only two types of people in the world: the Alexander the Great type and the Buddha
           type. There are millions... in fact ninety-nine point nine percent of people belong to the Alexander
           type -- small Alexanders and big Alexanders, but Alexanders all. Everybody is trying to conquer the
           world in his own way, big or small, through money, power, prestige. And everybody is carrying a
           deep desire, a great longing to succeed one day in becoming the most famous man in the world, the
           most powerful man in the world. This is the Alexander type, the extrovert, the worldly; he
           accumulates money, possessions, but he loses his soul.
               And there are very rare, very few people in the world who belong to the Buddha type, who are no
           longer interested in the world, whose whole interest is in self-actualization, in self-realization, in
           becoming more aware of the reality that they are.
               These are not fixed types, they are liquid. Anyone who belongs to the Alexander category can
           move to the category of being a buddha. And all the buddhas, in their past, had belonged to the
           Alexander category, and all those who are Alexanders now can become buddhas one day. It all
           depends on you; a conscious, deliberate choice is needed: that you turn your energies from
           extroversion into introversion, that you become more interested in the inner reality, that you become
           more interested in your subjectivity rather than in objects. You start moving, diving deeply into your
           interiority to find the center of your being.
               And the magic is, the moment you find the center of your being you have found the center of the
           whole existence -- because there is only one center; my center and your center are not two centers.
           Anybody who moves inwards comes to the same center. On the periphery we are different people; at
           the center we are one.
               HE IS AWAKE. THE VICTORY IS HIS. And Buddha says: The real conqueror is not the one
           who has conquered the world but the one who has conquered himself. He has conquered the world
           too, not in a visible way but in a very very invisible way. He becomes the master.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Buddha came to a town. The king of the town was reluctant to go and receive him, because he
           said, "I am a great king and he is just a beggar."
               But his prime minister -- an old man, a wise man -- insisted that, "Either you come to receive
           Buddha or accept my resignation."
               This was too much, because that old man was absolutely needed by the kingdom. The king was
           utterly dependent on the old man and his advice; he could not afford to lose him. He said, "But why?
           Why are you so insistent? He is just a beggar, and I am a king!"
               The prime minister said, "To be frank, he is the king and you are the beggar! Either you come
           with me to receive him or accept my resignation, because I cannot serve such a stupid person who
           can't see a simple fact: Buddha is the real conqueror of the world. What do YOU possess? -- a few
           things; they will be taken when death comes. But what HE possesses, nobody can take away, not
           even death. He has conquered himself, and conquering himself is conquering the world."
               The young king had to go to receive Buddha. When he was bowing down to Buddha, Buddha
           said, "No need to bow down to a beggar!"
               He was very much shocked: "How does he know?" In that shock his eyes were opened. He
           looked at Buddha: that grace, that beauty, that silence, that light, that love -- he had never seen it
           anywhere else. He bowed again.
               Buddha said, "Now it is right, now it is of your heart! Otherwise you were following the advice
           of your prime minister. Now you are really bowing down because you have seen me."
               It is rare to find a buddha and more rare to recognize him, because you go on seeing with your
           old eyes, with your old, stupid mind. Your stupid mind is unable to see buddhahood. It can see only
           things; it cannot see the immaterial, the mysterious. It can only see the gross, not the subtle.

               One Friday night Bob came home earlier than usual and surprised his attractive wife in bed with
           another man. Becoming enraged, he seized a pistol he kept hidden in his dresser and shot the lovers
           to death.
               A next-door neighbor, Jim, was discussing the tragedy with some friends a few days later. Jim
           said, "Well, after all, it is not the worst thing that could have happened."
               The others jumped on him. "What do you mean? Two people dead, and Bob may be about to be
           executed!"
               Jim replied, "Well, I still say it could have been worse. If Bob had come home early on Thursday
           night, I would be dead!"

               Man lives in such unconsciousness. He goes on doing things motivated by the unconscious. He is
           not master of his own soul. He does not know where these desires arise from; they simply possess
           him. And when he is possessed by a desire, he is utterly helpless.
               The buddha is awake, awake to all that is happening in his being; so alert that nothing can take
           possession of him, so full of light that no darkness can enter into his own being. He lives in that
           light, he lives with that awareness. His every movement, his every act, comes out of this
           consciousness. Hence there is never any repentance in a buddha. He never looks back; there is no
           point. Each thing that he has done, he has done totally and perfectly.
               You always have to look back, for the simple reason that you are always partial, fragmentary.
           Only a part of your being gets involved, and you do everything in such a way that you are not totally
           in it, never wholly in it. Later on you start thinking, "I should have done that," or "I should have
           done this," or "maybe a better way of doing it was possible." You start repenting, you start feeling
           guilty. Your actions are so incomplete, that's why there is this hang-up. When some action is done
           with your totality, when you are entirely in it, then once you are out of it, you are entirely out of it.
               Remember this fundamental law: if you are totally into something, you can be totally out of it. If
           you are not totally in it you will remain involved in it even when the time is past; even when its days
           are gone you will remain involved in it. Some part of you will go on clinging to the past, and you
           will always feel miserable. Whatsoever you choose, misery is bound to follow, because sooner or
           later you will realize that you could have done better.
               But a man of awareness knows that there is no possibility of doing it any better. Then what is the
           point of remembering it? He does not remember the past. Not that he has no memory -- he has a
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clearer memory than you have -- but that memory is just a silent storage. If he needs it, that memory
           can be used, but he is not a slave to the memory.
               And he never thinks of the future. He never rehearses for the future, because he knows that
           "Whatsoever happens, I will always be there with my totality. More than that is not possible." So he
           simply acts spontaneously, with no memory, with no future projection. His act is total AND of the
           present -- and the act which is total AND of the present brings freedom.

              HOW CAN HE LOSE THE WAY
              WHO IS BEYOND THE WAY?
              HIS EYE IS OPEN.
              HIS FOOT IS FREE.
              WHO CAN FOLLOW AFTER HIM?


               HOW CAN HE LOSE THE WAY WHO IS BEYOND THE WAY? By becoming fully aware
           you are freed from all ways, all methods, all techniques. All techniques and methods are just to bring
           you to the way -- the way that leads inwards. But once you have reached your innermost core, no
           method, no technique, no way, is needed. You have gone beyond, you have transcended all. Now
           you cannot go astray. How can you go astray if there is no way? Now you cannot do anything
           wrong. If there is no method, how are you going to do anything wrong? HOW CAN HE LOSE THE
           WAY WHO IS BEYOND THE WAY?
               That is the state of a buddha. He cannot fall from that state, because it is not something like an
           achievement; it is your natural, spontaneous being. Once known it is forever yours. Even if you want
           to escape from it you cannot.
               HIS EYE IS OPEN. Remember, Buddha is not saying: His EYES are open. He says: HIS EYE IS
           OPEN. We have two eyes; these two eyes look outwards. To look at the objective world we need
           two eyes, because the objective world is the world of duality. But there is one more eye which looks
           inwards; your two eyes looking inwards become one. Hence the idea of the third eye.
               The third eye is only a metaphysical idea, but of great significance -- a metaphor. Not that there
           actually is a third eye, that if you operate on your skull you will find a third eye inside -- no. But
           there is an insight which is not divided in two; it is single, singular, it is one. Hence Buddha says:
           HIS EYE IS OPEN. Not "eyes" but "eye"; he can see inwards.
               And again he says: HIS FOOT IS FREE. Not his feet, because the question is not of moving
           outwards but moving inwards.
               In the inner world, everything is one; in the outer world, everything is two.
               WHO CAN FOLLOW AFTER HIM? You cannot follow a buddha; you can understand him.
           You can learn much from a buddha, but you cannot follow him. You can't be a blind follower to him;
           you cannot simply say, "I believe."
               There are a few people, particularly Indians, who come to me and say, "We don't need any
           meditation -- we believe in you. We don't need to go into any therapy groups -- we trust that your
           blessing is enough." Now these people are using beautiful words, but they are deceiving themselves.
               Buddha has said: Buddhas can only point the way, but you have to go on it on your own. Nobody
           else can walk for you and nobody else can see for you. You will have to see your inner being
           yourself. There, at your innermost core, you will have to go alone, absolutely alone.
               But you can learn much in the presence of a buddha. You can imbibe his spirit, you can start
           pulsating with his energy. You can be so utterly silent in his presence that his presence becomes a
           great transformation for you. But ultimately you have to go inwards alone; there, nobody can
           accompany you.
               Buddha has said: Buddhas are like birds flying in the sky -- they don't leave any footprints. You
           cannot follow them, you cannot go after them. You cannot simply say, "I believe in Buddha, I
           believe in his compassion, and that's enough." No, it is not enough. Belief is not enough; only
           knowing can bring freedom. Belief brings bondage -- all beliefs bring bondage.

              THE WORLD CANNOT RECLAIM HIM
              OR LEAD HIM ASTRAY.
              NOR CAN THE POISONED NET OF DESIRE HOLD HIM.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Once you have become awake at the center of your being, then a few things become impossible.
           THE WORLD CANNOT RECLAIM HIM....
               The whole world with all its allurements, seductions, is absolutely impotent in impressing the
           buddha. He remains centered, he cannot be distracted. Distraction is possible only while you are
           asleep. In sleep you can decide not to be distracted, but you will be distracted. In sleep you can
           decide, "I will not do this," but you will have to do it.
               In sleep, how many times have you decided not to be angry again? But when the opportunity
           arises you forget all your decisions; you are angry again. In fact, while you are deciding that "I am
           not going to be angry again," even then in that moment, if you look deep down, somebody is
           laughing, because somebody deep down knows that this is all nonsense, rubbish! And if someone
           else insists, "No, you have made this decision many times before and again and again you forget, and
           I say to you that you will be angry again," you could become so annoyed that you become angry
           with that person immediately -- even that may be enough to make you angry!

           I have heard:
               One man suffered from great anger, so much so that he killed his wife and threw his child into a
           well. Once he became so angry that he burned his whole house. That was too much! And later on he
           repented very much.
               Accidentally a Jaina monk had come to the place. He went to the Jaina monk and he said,
           "Initiate me, because I don't think that I will ever get rid of my anger if I don't change my life
           drastically."
               Now, that "drastically" changing your life is again an expression of anger. A drastic change is an
           angry change. But the Jaina monk was as asleep as this person -- he was very happy, he was getting
           one disciple! He immediately initiated him.
               Jaina monks live naked. He immediately threw off all his clothes. The teacher was very
           impressed. He said, "It took me five years, slowly slowly to drop my clothes. You are a rare man --
           within a moment you have thrown off all your clothes!"
               There is a procedure in the Jaina system that first you reduce your clothes to three, then to two,
           then to one, and then finally you drop that one too. Go slowly, practice, so that you don't feel
           ashamed of being naked. But a practiced thing is not a real thing; all that is cultivated is false.
               The teacher was very much impressed -- but in fact it was also part of the anger of this man...
           who could burn his house, who could kill his wife, who could throw his innocent child into a well
           and kill him. This man was capable of doing anything! He could throw off his clothes and be naked.
           It looks like great renunciation -- it is nothing. If you look deep down, it is anger standing on its
           head; it is anger against anger.
               Soon the man became very famous. Such people can become very famous, because whatsoever
           they do, they do with passion, with a certain intensity, with fire. He fasted long....
               The teacher gave him the name Shantinath -- SHANTINATH means "lord of peace" -- just to
           remind him that he had renounced anger, now peace had to be his style of life.
               And for ten years he was not angry -- not even for a single moment. In fact there was no need, no
           opportunity arose. Anger does not come from out of the blue; it needs a certain context. His wife was
           not there, his child was not there, the house, the family, the business, the people, nobody was there.
           And he was so highly respected; the whole country came to know about this great man, this
           mahatma.
               He was in New Delhi. One of his old friends came to the capital, for some business purpose, but
           when he came to know that his friend was staying in Delhi and he had become a well-known
           personality -- the whole land worshipped him -- naturally he went to see him and pay his homage.
           But deep down he was a little suspicious, because he had known this man from his very childhood;
           he could not believe that he had really become "lord of peace." He was a devil incarnate! Was it
           possible -- such a change and so suddenly? He was suspicious, but changes happen in the world. He
           went.
               He had hoped that the great man would at least recognize him; they were old childhood friends --
           for forty years they had known each other. But the great man had become so great now, how could
           he recognize his friend? He recognized -- the friend immediately knew that he had recognized him --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but he wouldn't look at him. In fact, he avoided him; that very avoiding was an indication that he had
           recognized him.
               The friend thought that nothing had changed -- the anger had now become his ego.
               When all the other people were gone the friend remained there; he came close. He asked, "Sir,
           can I ask your name?"
               Shantinath, Lord of Peace, was a little disturbed. What stupidity! All the newspapers printed his
           pictures and his name. On All-India Radio his name was broadcasted, he was shown on television.
           Everybody knew about him, he was a household name, and this fool was asking his name! But he
           didn't show anything on the surface. He simply said, "My name is Shantinath."
               Some metaphysical dialogue followed, and the man again asked, "Sir, I have forgotten your
           name. What is your name?"
               Now fire came to the eyes of the mahatma! But still he tried to control, though his face was
           getting red. He said, "I have told you. You seem to be an idiot! Can't you understand a simple name?
           My name is Shantinath!"
               Again some little spiritual discussion followed, and the man said, "Sir, I have forgotten your
           name."
               Shantinath took his staff in his hand and he said, "This is the last time -- enough is enough! If
           you ask me the fourth time I will break your skull! My name is Shantinath -- Lord of Peace."
               And the friend said, "Now I have understood. You certainly are Lord of Peace -- your red eyes,
           your face, your fire and the staff in your hand! No, I will not ask the fourth time. I know that you
           killed your wife, you killed your child -- you can kill me!"

              People don't change: so unconscious, so deeply unconscious are the desires, longings -- anger,
           greed, sexuality -- that on the surface they may seem to be changing, but deep down they don't
           change. By changing your character you can't change your consciousness, but vice versa it can
           happen: if you change your consciousness, then your character changes.
              And that is the Buddha's way, that is my way too. I give you keys to change your consciousness
           from sleep to awakening; that is the real thing to be done. Then all that was part of sleep disappears
           with sleep -- anger, greed, possessiveness, jealousy; all that was part of sleep disappears. You cannot
           change those things unless your sleep is gone.

                Enrico Caruso was the magni-idol of the world opera society in the early 1900's. He was also
           privately one of the more active lovers of his time. The following remark is attributed to the great
           Italian tenor: "I never make love in the morning," Caruso is supposed to have said. "It is bad for the
           voice, it is bad for the health, and besides you never know who you might meet in the afternoon."

              Now you see the unconsciousness! And this is the way of almost everybody.

              Two young women were having a conversation. One of them said, "I don't see what fun you and
           your husband have going out and getting drunk every weekend."
              The other replied, "Well, every time he gets boozed up he thinks I am somebody else and sneaks
           me home the back way!"

               Yes, when you are drunk you can even love your own wife. Even the impossible becomes
           possible when you are drunk. And this drunkenness is not new; it is very ancient, millions of years
           old. Hence it takes great effort to wake up. Once you are awake: THE WORLD CANNOT
           RECLAIM HIM OR LEAD HIM ASTRAY, NOR CAN THE POISONED NET OF DESIRE HOLD
           HIM.

              HE IS AWAKE!

              Again and again Buddha repeats: HE IS AWAKE!



              THE GODS WATCH OVER HIM.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The moment you are awake the whole existence supports you, the whole existence becomes
           tremendously friendly. That is what Buddha means by "gods watch him, watch over him" -- every
           care is taken of him. Not that there are gods, but the whole existence itself, all the elements of nature,
           visible, invisible, start becoming very friendly towards the man who is awake, because he is the most
           precious treasure. In him nature has become fulfilled, in him existence has blossomed. He is the goal
           of all existence: the whole existence is moving towards buddhahood. And whenever one person
           becomes a buddha, a shiver of joy goes all over the universe... ripples of joy, great rejoicing.
               HE IS AWAKE! Remind yourself again and again, the definition of a buddha is: HE IS
           AWAKE! -- and you are asleep.

               A couple named George and Christine had been engaged for years and had put off their wedding
           day repeatedly because George's work was so important to him he didn't feel he could take any time
           off even for a honeymoon. Finally, however, Christine's constant prodding made him weaken and
           they were married. They were all set to drive off to Hollywood on their honeymoon when George
           got a phone call from his boss.
           "Yes, sir," George said, "I will be right there."
           "But George," wailed Christine, "what about our honeymoon?"
           "I am sorry, honey," he said, "it can't be helped. There is an emergency situation at the office and I
           am the only one who can take care of it. I will tell you what: you drive out to Hollywood as we
           planned and I will catch a plane after things are straightened out and meet you there."
           "But what if I arrive before you do?" she asked. "What can I do about our honeymoon?"
           "Well," George replied, "just begin without me."

               Man thinks he is living, but without awareness there is no possibility of life. How can you have a
           honeymoon without a husband? How can you begin it?
               We are born, that is true, but we are not yet alive -- and that is far more true. We have to be
           reborn. Just as one day a child comes out of the mother's womb; that is a physical birth... the
           mother's womb is a physical phenomenon. Then one day you have to come out of the womb of your
           psychology, of your mind.
               Unless you come out of your mind and become a no-mind you will not know what life is all
           about, you will live in vain. You will not have your honeymoon, it is impossible. You will not know
           the sweetness that existence is full of and the ecstasy. That is all yours just for the asking, but you
           have to do one thing -- you have to risk.
               The child coming out of the mother's womb risks. His risk is great, because for nine months he
           has known a certain way of life, the most relaxed way he will ever know: no worries, no
           responsibilities. He is simply enjoying. It is a long long holiday, nine months' holiday, and
           everything is provided for. He has not even to breathe -- the mother breathes for him. Food is
           supplied, everything reaches him. He goes on growing, he simply rests. Now coming out of this
           womb there is a risk, a great risk: losing your old style of life, so comfortable, so secure, so silent, so
           immensely relaxed. But every child takes the risk, comes out of the womb, enters into the world of
           worries, responsibilities, anxieties, challenges. And they are needed for your maturity, for your
           growth.
               One more time you will have to come out of the womb. That womb is your mind, and it is far
           more difficult to leave it. And many die in that womb, they never come out of it. Those who come
           out of it are the buddhas.
               The way to come out of it is to become more and more a witness of your own mind; that is the
           way of coming out of your mind. Your witnessing creates distance, your witnessing creates a
           separation from the mind. Your umbilical cord is cut. Slowly slowly, your identity with your mind is
           dropped. You start looking at yourself as consciousness; not as mind, not as thought, but as
           consciousness. That is the great beginning, the real life, the real honeymoon with life, honeymoon
           with God.
               HE IS AWAKE! THE GODS WATCH OVER HIM. And don't be worried that out of your mind
           you may be unprotected, insecure. The whole existence will care about you, you will be taken care
           of. The whole existence becomes a mother to you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Move into the insecurity of no-mind and you will find the real security: the security of insecurity.
           That's the definition of sannyas: the security of insecurity.

              HE IS AWAKE
              AND FINDS JOY IN THE STILLNESS OF MEDITATION
              AND IN THE SWEETNESS OF SURRENDER.


              Again and again Buddha repeats: HE IS AWAKE -- because that is the most essential quality.
           Everything else follows it, everything else is secondary.

               The husband came home to discover his wife in the passionate embrace of his best friend.
           "I love him, John," she said to her astonished spouse.
           "See here," said the friend, "we are all too sophisticated to let a situation like this get out of hand.
           Tell you what we will do -- we are both sportsmen; I will play you a game of gin rummy for her."
               The husband thought about that for a moment. "Alright," he said, "but let us play for a penny a
           point on the side, just to keep it interesting."

               You cannot hide your unconsciousness; it surfaces. Your reality goes on expressing itself -- you
           may not be able to see it, but everybody else can see it. This is a strange world! You may not see
           your unconsciousness, but everybody knows about it, just as YOU know about everybody else's.
           Because we pay more attention to people than we do to our own mind, we are capable of knowing
           their faults, their reasons for misery, their causes of hell. We are very wise as far as others are
           concerned and we are very unwise as far as we are concerned -- with our own inner being.
               We are focused on others, and this creates two things: you can't help others, you can only
           condemn them. And your condemnation is not going to change them; in return they will condemn
           you.
               So society becomes a game of condemning each other. Nobody sees his own faults; on the
           contrary, everybody tries to cover them up. Not that he does not want to see them, he does not want
           them to be seen by others. But you can't help it: others are bound to see, because whatsoever there is
           in your unconscious goes on surfacing.

               Doris, Carol and Maria were arrested and brought into night court.
               The judge looked at Doris and she rolled her eyes and exhibited her legs.
           "What is your business?" the judge demanded.
           "Well, Judge," she cooed, "I am a dressmaker and this awful cop...."
           "Thirty days!" interrupted His Honor.
               Carol was called and she tried the weeping stunt. "Ah, Your Honor, I am a respectable
           dressmaker with a family to support, a crippled mother and a dying baby."
           "Thirty days!" rasped the judge.
               Maria was called to order and the judge asked, "What is your business?"
           "I am a whore," she answered.
           "How is business?" he asked.
           "Just lousy," said Maria, "what with all these dressmakers around!"

               It is very easy, very very easy, to see others. Everybody is transparent to everybody else; just to
           himself he is completely blind.
               And when Buddha says: HE IS AWAKE, he means: he has started changing his focus, his
           attention, from others to himself. He is turning inwards. He is showering his whole consciousness
           upon his own being. In that very showering he is bathed, he becomes new, he is reborn -- AND
           FINDS JOY IN THE STILLNESS OF MEDITATION.
               And meditation in the East is not what is understood in the West by the word. In the West,
           meditation means contemplation: meditating on God, meditating on truth, meditating on love.
               People ask me sometimes, "You tell us to meditate, but on what?"
               If you meditate ON something, you are not meditating at all, because you are again focused on
           something outside of yourself. It may be love, it may be truth, it may be God, it makes no difference.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Meditation in the East has a totally different meaning, just the opposite of the Western meaning.
           Meditation in the East means no object in the mind, no content in the mind; not meditating upon
           something but dropping everything; NETI, NETI, neither this nor that. Meditation is emptying
           yourself of all content. When there is no thought moving inside you there is stillness; that stillness is
           meditation. Not even a ripple arises in the lake of your consciousness; that silent lake, absolutely
           still, that is meditation.
                And in that meditation you will know -- you will know what truth is, you will know what love is,
           you will know what God is. Not by meditating on God.... See the point: how can you meditate on
           God? You don't know anything about God. All your meditation is going to be just imagination, an
           exercise of imagination. You don't know truth -- what are you going to meditate upon? Some idea
           given by others, some belief, some concept! It is not going to help.
                Buddha's way is: first become meditation, and then in meditation, truth, God, love, and all that is
           transcendental will be revealed to you. Meditation opens the eye and frees the foot.
                ... AND IN THE SWEETNESS OF SURRENDER. And in meditation, surrender happens --
           surrender to the whole. Not to any idea, not to any idol, but to the whole. Not surrender to Krishna or
           Christ, but to the whole of existence. Nothing is excluded, everything is included in it, from the
           rocks to the stars, from a blade of grass to the sun. Everything is included: this whole organic,
           ecstatic celebration which we call the universe.
                Why do we call it the universe? Because it is one -- 'uni' means one. Although we go on
           behaving as if it is a multiverse; it is not, it is a universe. It is one organic unity; it is a dynamic unity
           and it is organic too. It is tremendous ecstasy to meet and merge into it, to dissolve yourself into it.
           That is surrender. The river moving into the ocean is surrender. Two lovers dissolving into each
           other is surrender. But these are small surrenders, indicative only, fingers pointing to the moon.
                The ultimate surrender is your individuality moving into the universality. You are becoming part
           of the whole.

               HARD IT IS TO BE BORN....


               Buddha means it is hard to be born as a human being. It takes millions of lives to arrive at this
           stage.

               HARD IT IS TO LIVE....


               And even if you are born, life is not easy. It is very hard, it is difficult, arduous, a thousand and
           one problems always surrounding you and no solution seems possible -- insoluble problems. But
           these are nothing compared to the third thing:

               HARDER STILL TO HEAR OF THE WAY....


               To be born is hard, because you could have been a dog or a tiger or an elephant or an ant or a
           rosebush. There are millions of forms; from all those planes you cannot enter into buddhahood. After
           millions and millions of births you have come to the crossroads. Man is a crossroad: from man all
           the dimensions are open. And it is up to you to move, up to you to choose, up to you to be
           whatsoever you want to be. In the whole of existence only man is a free being. It is a glory, a great
           gift of God.
               HARD IT IS TO BE BORN, and HARD IT IS TO LIVE. Life is not easy. And a life of
           unconsciousness -- how can it be easy? You create your own problems. You dig ditches into which
           you yourself are going to fall, you create walls which become imprisonments for you. You are your
           worst enemy.
               Life is hard, but the hardest thing is to hear of the way: to find a buddha, a master -- a Christ, a
           Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu. It is very hard to find a buddha, and harder to hear him and to understand
           what he is saying. It is easier to misunderstand him, it is easier not to recognize him. You can find a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thousand and one rationalizations and deny him. In fact you will try, because your ego is at stake. If
           you recognize somebody as a buddha, that means you have to surrender. Recognizing a buddha and
           not surrendering to him is impossible. Recognizing a buddha and surrendering to him is a natural
           phenomenon.
               Once you recognize somebody as awakened, enlightened, there is no way to escape, you have to
           surrender. If you want to escape, then be alert. From the very beginning don't recognize, from the
           very beginning create barriers -- as many as you can. Distort everything, bring in all your prejudices.
           Don't see -- close your eyes. Don't listen, become deaf. Don't feel, and escape from the buddhafield,
           because who knows -- sometimes it happens in spite of you.
               It is happening to many here in spite of themselves. They had not come here to stay forever.
           They had come out of curiosity, or a friend was coming and they accompanied him, or they were just
           passing from Kabul to Goa, or Kathmandu to Goa... and they were trapped in Poona! Then they
           forgot about Kathmandu and Kabul and Goa and all disappeared, the whole world disappeared. They
           entered into a totally different reality. They may not have come consciously, they may have resisted,
           reluctantly they may have decided to be here for a few days. Seeing so many people involved, they
           may have thought there must be something.
               It is hard to recognize a buddha, to hear him silently, without distorting, without bringing your
           mind in. It is hard to understand him, because he speaks from a different altitude. He speaks from the
           peaks of the Himalayas, and you live in the dark valleys down below. The distance is great. He
           shouts so that he can reach you, but by the time his words reach you they are no longer the same. By
           the time they reach to your heart, much of their flavor, their authenticity, their truth, is lost. But
           though it is hard it happens -- and if you are courageous enough it can happen to you.
               It has never been that there was not a buddha alive in the world, somewhere, in some part of the
           world. There has always been a source, there has always been a boat ready to take you to the other
           shore. If anything is missing it is just readiness on your part.
               HARDER STILL TO HEAR OF THE WAY....



               AND HARD TO RISE, FOLLOW, AND AWAKE.


               And the hardest thing, Buddha says, is: Even if you hear a buddha it is hard to rise to those
           heights. It is a tremendous effort, an arduous journey, a great pilgrimage to rise to those heights...
           because you cannot truly understand a buddha unless YOU become a buddha yourself. The only way
           to understand a buddha is to be a buddha.
               ... HARD TO RISE, FOLLOW, AND AWAKE. Yes, you can understand intellectually, but
           intellectual understanding is not going to help; it may even become a hindrance. It will give you the
           idea in your sleep that you have understood... now there is no need to bother much more, you already
           know.
               Intellectually, many people who come here know what Jesus says, what Buddha says.
           Intellectually they can analyze, they can discuss, but that is not the point. Knowing has to be
           existential, not intellectual. Intellect can be used as a stepping-stone, but it is not the real temple, it is
           only a stepping-stone.
               You have to experience what Buddha is saying; what Buddha teaches has to become your own
           experience. You have to become a witness to this experience. Then only have you followed, then
           only have you risen, then only are you awake.

               YET THE TEACHING IS SIMPLE.


               Buddha says: Although it is hard to find and recognize a master, hard to understand, hard to
           realize the understanding, actualize the understanding in your life, it still has to be said that the
           teaching is simple. The difficulty arises from you; the teaching is very simple. It has to be so: truth is
           always simple.
               The complexity is in you, and it is because of your complexity that a simple truth becomes very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           complex. You don't want to hear or you want to hear something else. You come for consolations, not
           for revolutions. You come to be patted, you come to be told that you are perfectly right. You come to
           be accepted and loved, not to be transformed. You come to be respected. You also come so that you
           can feel that you are important, needed.
               The deepest need of the mind is to be needed. And if you start feeling that a master needs you,
           that you are indispensable, that gives you a great ego, but you have missed the whole point. You
           come so full of ideas -- and those ideas go on making such noise in you -- that when Buddha is
           shouting from the housetops, even then you listen only to that which you want to listen to.

               A man walks into an ice cream shop. "I will have a gallon of chocolate ice cream."
           "Sorry, we are all out of chocolate," says the clerk.
           "In that case I will have a quart of chocolate ice cream."
           "Listen, we don't have any chocolate."
           "Well, in that case I will have a double scoop chocolate cone."
           "Mister, we are all out of chocolate, all out!"
           "Well, I guess I will just have some chocolate ice cream in a cup."
           "Wait a second!" cries the clerk. "Can you spell the water in watermelon?"
           "Sure!" says the man.
           "Can you spell the gold in goldfish?"
           "Easy!" says the man.
           "Well, can you spell the fuck in chocolate?"
           "Wait a second, there is no fuck in chocolate."
           "That's what I have been trying to tell you!"

             But it is very difficult when you are obsessed with something to understand a simple thing. YET
           THE TEACHING IS SIMPLE.

              DO WHAT IS RIGHT.


             And in Buddha's way, the right is that which is done consciously. That is his definition of right.
           DO WHAT IS RIGHT.

              BE PURE.


               And by purity he always means innocence: a state of not-knowing, a state of functioning like a
           child. He perfectly agrees with Christ, that: Unless you are like a small child you will not enter into
           my kingdom of God.
               Be a child again. Your knowledgeability is a great obstruction in the way -- remove it. Be
           innocent.

              AT THE END OF THE WAY IS FREEDOM.


               And if you can fulfill these simple things -- awareness, rightness, innocence -- which are just
           three faces of the same phenomenon of being conscious, of being meditative, then: AT THE END
           OF THE WAY IS FREEDOM. Then you will attain to absolute freedom. His word is nirvana.
           Nirvana means absolute freedom: not freedom for the ego, but freedom FROM the ego; not freedom
           for you, but freedom from yourself. Freedom to Buddha is equivalent to God. He never uses the
           word 'God', because God has become a bondage to many people. He uses the word 'freedom' --
           moksha or nirvana.
               Nirvana means cessation of the ego; literally it means blowing out a candle. Just as you blow out
           a candle and it disappears and cannot be found anywhere -- it disappears into the whole -- so
           disappears the ego of the awakened one. And in that disappearance of the ego you become unlimited.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The dewdrop falling into the ocean becomes the ocean itself; then there is no limit to you. That is
           freedom.

              TILL THEN, PATIENCE.


               But it may not happen today. You may not be immediately ready to take the jump. Till then,
           patience is needed. Buddha says: YET THE TEACHING IS VERY SIMPLE. He has reduced it to a
           few words: DO WHAT IS RIGHT. That is, do everything consciously. BE PURE... innocent,
           childlike... and be patient. Don't be in a hurry. At the end, freedom is inevitable; it is a by-product of
           total awareness.

              IF YOU WOUND OR GRIEVE ANOTHER,
              YOU HAVE NOT LEARNED DETACHMENT.


               Detachment is also one of the by-products of awareness. If you are alert you cannot wound or
           grieve another, because you know there is no other; it is all one reality. Wounding somebody else...
           is as if you are wounding yourself -- maybe your right hand wounding your left hand -- and the pain
           will be yours. You can wound somebody, but ultimately you have wounded yourself because there is
           nobody else, it is all oneness.

              OFFEND IN NEITHER WORD NOR DEED.
              EAT WITH MODERATION.
              LIVE IN YOUR HEART.
              SEEK THE HIGHEST CONSCIOUSNESS.


               Simple statements, not a very complex theology that he gives to the world. He says: Don't offend
           anybody, avoid it. Don't hurt anybody. People enjoy hurting, because the more you can hurt, the
           more power you feel. But the power is of the ego, and the ego is going to become, more and more, a
           heavy load for you. Don't hurt. Don't feed the ego.
               EAT WITH MODERATION. Buddha is always in favor of moderation: avoid excess in
           everything. He is not in favor of fasting. He says don't eat too much, and he says don't eat too little --
           moderation. Just be in the middle, always in the middle. Be balanced, keep an equilibrium. LIVE IN
           YOUR HEART. And slip down from the head to the heart, from thinking to feeling, from logic to
           love.
               AND SEEK THE HIGHEST CONSCIOUSNESS. And keep only one goal: constantly be
           mindful of it, remember it -- that you have to become a buddha. Less than that is not going to fulfill
           you.
               SEEK THE HIGHEST CONSCIOUSNESS. With these simple requirements fulfilled, one day
           you will bloom into a one-thousand-petaled lotus. You have the potential to be a buddha; if you don't
           fulfill it you will live in misery, you will die in misery, you will be born again in misery, and the
           wheel will continue.
               This is an opportunity here for you to jump out of the wheel. Don't miss the opportunity.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                  Chapter #2
                                Chapter title: Many are called; few are chosen
           22 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7910220
              ShortTitle: DHAM602
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM CONFUSED ABOUT WHICH PATH I AM ON. SOMETIMES I FEEL FILLED WITH JOY WHEN
              PLAYING, SINGING, DANCING OR FIGHTING WITH OTHERS AND I CAN ONLY SEE MYSELF BY
              LOOKING AT OTHERS. AT OTHER TIMES I CAN'T STAND TO BE WITH ANYONE OR RELATE AT
              ALL; I AM ONLY HAPPY BEING COMPLETELY WITH MYSELF. WHEN I AM WITH PEOPLE, I
              JUDGE THAT I AM ESCAPING MY ALONENESS AND WHEN I AM WITH MYSELF, I JUDGE THAT
              I AM AVOIDING LOVE.
              ISN'T IT POSSIBLE TO BE ON BOTH PATHS, ALTERNATING BETWEEN THEM? HOW CAN I
              TELL WHEN I AM USING ONE TO ESCAPE THE OTHER?


                Prem Indivar, there is no goal and no path for people like you -- you are just crazy! Buddha is
           talking about sane people. Buddha is a very rational person: he divides, categorizes. But there is a
           third category Buddha is not aware of. The Sufis know about the third category; they call them
           MASTAS -- the mad people.
                There is no need for you to alternate, because alternating between one path and the other you will
           always feel this problem -- the judgment. When you are on one you will think that you are missing
           the other, and this will become an unnecessary anguish.
                Simply be wherever you are. Enjoy the moment, all the moments -- the moments of love and the
           moments of meditation -- and don't be bothered with the other. In a particular moment, be totally in
           it. Playing, loving, dancing, singing, forget that there is another path. And while you are feeling
           silent, still, alone, and enjoying your aloneness, forget that there is any path called love.
                It is not a question of consciously alternating between the two; otherwise you will become
           divided, schizophrenic, and to be schizophrenic is to fall below normal sanity. Mastas, the really mad
           people, don't fall below sanity -- they go above it, they transcend it. They both look mad; both are no
           longer in the world of reason: one has fallen below it, one has gone above it. In a sense they are alike
           and in a sense they are absolutely different.
                Indivar, you are a masta. Rejoice in being whatsoever you are. And this is the best that can
           happen to a man, what is happening to you. It is just natural for you to be sometimes with others and
           enjoying their company, and sometimes to be with yourself and enjoying your own company. It is
           like day and night for you. You need not choose: the day is followed by the night of its own accord.
           It is like summer and winter. It is not a question of choice on your part; it is something spontaneous
           and natural that is happening to you. I am tremendously happy with you -- so simply be as you are.
           Drop this judgment.
                So let me state it clearly. There are three possibilities: one, meditation; second, love; third, one
           can just be crazy -- no question of choice, no question of deliberately going on a certain path, forcing
           yourself on a certain path.
                And there are many here who are in the same situation. At least twenty questions have come to
           me, and the problem is the same. If there is no question for you and you can enjoy meditation
           without ever being worried about love, then that is your path. If you can enjoy love without ever
           being dragged by meditation, distracted by meditation, that is your path. If you find yourself in a
           deep synthesis, that both are happening, then that is your path.
                My whole effort here is to help you to be your natural self. Any imposition is a violation. Indivar,
           rejoice in being whatsoever you are. There is no goal for you, no path for you. Rejoicing is the goal,
           rejoicing is the path.
                In fact, we are all where we should be, we are already there. The paths are needed to awaken us.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Don't be disturbed by the word 'path', because it gives you the idea that you have to go somewhere,
           reach somewhere; it is because of the language. We have to use words, and every word is loaded
           with our mundane meanings.
               Hence the buddhas have always found it difficult to commune with you. You can't understand
           silence, because you can't be silent. That is the best thing, if you can sit silently with a buddha even
           for a single minute... and all is conveyed.
               Here, being with me, my real message is between the words -- the pauses, the intervals -- not in
           the words. Read me between the lines, not in the lines, and you will be able to understand me more.

           There is a beautiful story:
                A mystic received a letter. The letter had come from another mystic, but the letter from him was
           absolutely empty, nothing was written on it. There had been a problem: the man who had written the
           letter was older in age, but the man to whom the letter was written was older in enlightenment; he
           had become enlightened first. So how to start the letter?
                In India, if you are writing to an older person you have to be very respectful. So how to start?
           How to address the person? He is younger, physically, so you cannot show respect, you have to
           show love. But he is older as far as enlightenment is concerned, so you cannot talk to him as if you
           are talking to a young man, younger than you; you have to be respectful.
                The mystic was puzzled. And if you cannot start the letter, how can you write it? So he sent the
           paper empty.
                The other mystic received it. He read it, rejoiced in it. He was so happy that a disciple who was
           sitting close by asked, "You look so happy -- can I also read the letter?"
                The letter was passed to the disciple, then he read it and rejoiced in it.
                Then the third person who was present became interested -- there seemed to be something very
           mysterious! But this man was not a disciple; just out of curiosity he had come to see the man. He
           said, "Can I also have a look?"
                Both the master and the disciple hesitated. They looked at each other -- what to say to this man?
           The man became even more intrigued. He said, "Is there something very mysterious in it?"
                They said, "There is really nothing in it! It is a very rare letter, you will not understand its
           language. That's why we are hesitating. We don't want to offend you, but if you insist you can see."
                The man looked this side and that side -- there was nothing at all. He returned the letter without
           saying anything and rushed out -- both these people seemed to be mad!

                Buddhas cannot use silence with you, because then you will not understand; you will escape.
           They have to use words -- words which have YOUR meanings, so they have to be very very alert in
           choosing their words, but even then those words are inadequate.
                The word 'path' is so inadequate that Lao Tzu always uses "the pathless path." Now what is the
           sense of saying "pathless path"? It is empty paper. "Gateless gate," "effortless effort," "action in
           inaction" -- WU-WEI: all these contradictions together, paradoxes together, are just to shake and
           shock you out of your sleep. Otherwise there is no path and there is nowhere to go. You are already
           there -- you have been always there. All that is needed is: Wake up!
                And, Indivar, I can see you are coming out of your dreams, your sleep. I can see you turning and
           tossing in your bed! The morning is not very far away.
                Please don't be worried about the paths, because that worry can keep you asleep. Don't judge any
           moment. Don't compare any moment with another moment, because every comparison is a thought
           process and every thought process keeps you attached to the mind. Relax. Whatsoever happens,
           allow it to happen. Be in a let-go.
                And I am saying these things to you because that is the easiest thing for you; just be in a let-go.
           God is going to come to you, you are not going to find him. The goal is going to happen to you. And
           it can happen anywhere; there is no path leading to it. In fact it is our own reality; we simply have to
           be alert to see.

              In Japan there is the beautiful story of a really great buddha, Hotei. In Japan he is called the
           Laughing Buddha, because the moment he became enlightened he started laughing.
           People asked him, "Why are you laughing?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "Because I have become enlightened!"
           "But," they said, "we can't see any relationship between enlightenment and laughter. What is the
           point of laughing?"
               Hotei said, "I am laughing because I was searching for something which was already in me. I
           was searching the seeker; it was impossible to seek it. Where can you seek the seeker? How can you
           know the knower? It was like a dog chasing its own tail or you chasing your own shadow; you
           cannot catch hold of it. It was so ridiculous, the whole effort was so absurd! That's why I am
           laughing: I have always been a buddha! Now it looks very strange that for millions of lives I
           remained unconscious. It seems unbelievable how I went on missing myself. Now that I have known,
           a great laughter is arising in me."
               And it is said he continued to laugh till his death; that was his only message to the world. He
           must have been a man like Indivar -- just crazy, far out!

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN SOMEONE WHO IS NOT OPEN WAKE UP?


               Deva Ashoka, it is impossible to wake up if you are not open. Opening to existence is what
           waking up is all about: open to the sun, to the moon, to the rain, to the wind, open to this whole
           celebration of the trees, of the rocks, the earth and the stars, of animals, birds, people. Existence is a
           celebration, a continuous festival, a carnival. If you are not open, if you are closed, if you don't have
           any windows and doors towards existence, how can you wake up? Waking up and being open are
           synonymous.
               People remain closed in their minds. They never come out of their minds and they never allow
           reality to penetrate to their hearts. A very transparent China Wall divides them from the world. And
           the world is divine, existence is God. And why do people remain closed? -- they are afraid, afraid of
           being open, because when you are open you are insecure, unguarded. When you are open you are
           vulnerable. When you are open you don't know what is going to happen, everything is a surprise.
           You are moving into the unknown; each moment brings the unknown to your door.
               The closed mind is afraid of the unknown; the closed mind is interested in the known. Why? --
           because with the known it is easier to manage. The mind knows everything about it, it is clever and
           efficient about it. But a closed mind is really below normal; it is not yet human. It cannot be
           intelligent.
               Intelligence needs constant challenges, encounters with reality, because only through those
           encounters is your intelligence sharpened; your potential becomes actual.
               Deva Ashoka, it is impossible to remain closed and wake up. You are trying that, I know! But it
           is not possible in the very nature of things. I feel deep compassion for you. I want to help you, but
           you won't allow me. You won't allow me to take your hand in my hand. You won't allow my energy
           to touch your heart, to move it, to bring a dance to it. You remain alert -- you remain alert only to
           guard yourself. You are afraid, afraid of falling in deep love, because the moment you fall in deep
           love the ego disappears. It is a kind of death, and one cannot be guaranteed what will happen
           afterwards.
               Resurrection always looks like a myth, although it happens, it is inevitable. If you are ready to
           die, resurrection happens.
               The last words of Jesus were, "Forgive these people, because they know not what they are doing.
           And I don't ask anything from you: let thy will be done, let thy kingdom come."
               This is surrender! This is totally opening up to God: no complaint, no grudge, not even against
           those who are murdering him. The trust is total; it is because of this fact that the resurrection
           happens. It may not be an historical fact that Jesus revived after three days, but it is a metaphysical
           fact. And a metaphysical fact is far more real than an historical fact; it shows something of the depth
           of human beings. If you can die as an ego, you will be resurrected as a buddha, as a christ.
               Come out of your mind, Ashoka! But we go on moving in circles....

              The mother took her son to the psychiatrist and complained that he was always thinking about
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sex.
               The doctor drew a square on a piece of paper, looked at the boy and asked, "Son, what comes to
           your mind when you see this drawing?"
           The kid answered, "Looks like a window."
               The doc said, "What do you think is going on behind that window?"
           "People are behind that window," replied the kid. "They are huggin', kissin' and makin' love."
               The doctor drew a circle and asked, "What comes to your mind when you see this?"
           The kid said, "That's a porthole."
           "And what do you think is going on behind that porthole?" inquired the doctor.
           "Ah," said the kid, "There are people behind that porthole with their clothes off, drinking, making
           love and having a ball."
               The doctor said, "Son, would you mind leaving the room? I would like to discuss this with your
           mother."
               The boy got up to leave and as he reached the door he turned around and said, "Hey, Doc, can I
           have those dirty pictures you drew?"

               A closed mind goes on interpreting life, existence, according to one's own prejudices and
           concepts, unconsciously acquired, and hence remains unavailable to the reality. Even if you come
           across a buddha, even if you meet Christ or Krishna or Confucius, you will miss. They can talk to
           you about the ultimate, but you will listen only about the mundane. They will talk about the sacred,
           but you will not listen to what THEY are saying; you will listen according to your closed mind. It
           has fixed ideas.

               It was the nurse's day off, and the doctor stuck his head into the waiting room to ask, "Who is
           next?"
           One guy got up and said, "Me, Doc."
           "What's your trouble?" asked the doctor. So the guy told him. The doctor grabbed him by the arm,
           pulled him into his office and balled him out: "Never do that again, especially not in a roomful of
           people. Next time just say that your nose or your eyes bother you."
               A couple of weeks went by and the fellow came back. The nurse was off again, and when the
           doctor asked, "Who is next?" the same guy said, "I am."
           The doctor asked, "What is your trouble?"
           The guy replied, "My ear's bothering me."
           "What is wrong with it?"
           "I can't urinate out of it!"

              Even great advice is of no use -- you will come to your own conclusion again and again.
              Ashoka, that's how you have been missing much that is possible here. Be open -- you have
           nothing to lose. Be open! Just look: what you can lose if you open up? What have you got? But
           people go on guarding their emptiness, their nothingness, their begging bowls, so much afraid.

               In India we have a story that once a naked man was asked, "We never see you taking a bath."
               He said, "I never take a bath, because if you put your clothes on the bank and you go to take a
           bath in the river, somebody may steal them."
               The people who were asking said, "But you are naked! Why should you be worried about the
           clothes?"

               But man is not ready even to see that he is naked. He wants to believe that he has beautiful
           garments. Who wants to see one's nakedness?
               And, Ashoka, you are empty, you are naked. There is nothing to lose. Relax and open. And you
           have all to gain, you have everything -- the whole universe to gain. Just by waking up one becomes
           the master; otherwise one remains a slave.

           The third question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              LET US SEE YOU GET OUT OF THIS ONE, YOU TRICKY RASCAL! YOU TELL US OFTEN THAT
              SANNYAS DOES NOT MEAN RENOUNCING THE WORLD, BUT THE EGO. YET WHEN WE
              DECIDE TO STAY WITH YOU WE END UP RENOUNCING OUR HOMES, JOBS, MONEY AND
              POSSESSIONS; OUR PRIVATE SPACE, SOMETIMES OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TOO. WE
              DON'T MAKE ANY FORMAL RENUNCIATION, BUT IT HAPPENS ANYWAY, AND WE FLOURISH
              AND ARE PERFECTLY HAPPY. YOU ARE SO DEVIOUS, IT IS BEAUTIFUL!


                Sannyas can have two possibilities. One is a formal renunciation. That means repression, that
           means escape. That is ugly. That has been the way in the past. It is life-negative; it is anti-life. It
           promises you all the joys in heaven. In fact, it is out of greed that you renounce the world. The
           formal renunciation is pseudo; it is plastic. It is not a real flower, it has no fragrance. On the
           contrary, deep down it is a great greed: greed for the other life, for eternal life, for the joys of
           heaven.
                Just look in the scriptures of the world and you will be surprised. The way they describe heaven
           or paradise is nothing but the dream of a very greedy, sensuous, materialistic mind. It has nothing to
           do with religion at all.
                In the Mohammedan idea of heaven there are beautiful women; they always remain young. And
           not only beautiful women. Because in Mohammedan countries homosexuality has been a long long
           tradition, young boys are also available, beautiful young boys. And rivers of wine -- you need not go
           to a pub!... rivers of wine. Drink, swim, dive deep into the wine! And trees are of gold, and flowers
           are of diamonds and emeralds. What kind of dream is this? Whose dream is this? Greed projected. It
           is not renunciation. It looks like renunciation but it is not.
                And the same is the case with the Hindu heaven and the Christian paradise. In fact, the Christian
           word 'paradise' comes from the Arabic FIRDAUS. Firdaus means a walled garden of pleasure, just as
           emperors and great kings used to have a walled garden of pleasure. In order to gain it you have to
           renounce this world.
                If you look at it in the true light, then the so-called worldly people are not so worldly, not so
           materialistic as the so-called otherworldly. It is because of this that this country, which thinks itself
           very religious, is not at all religious; it is very materialistic: on the surface is religion, but deep down
           is the desire for pleasures.
                The second kind of sannyas -- the kind I am introducing into the world -- is not one of formal
           renunciation. In fact, I never use the word 'renunciation' at all. I say: Sannyas is rejoicing. Rejoice in
           life, in love, in meditation, in the beauties of the world, in the ecstasy of existence -- rejoice in
           everything! Transform the mundane into the sacred. Transform this shore into the other shore.
           Transform the earth into paradise.
                And then indirectly a certain renunciation starts happening. But that happens, you don't do it. It is
           not a doing, it is a happening. You start renouncing your foolishnesses; you start renouncing rubbish.
           You start renouncing meaningless relationships. You start renouncing jobs which were not fulfilling
           to your being. You start renouncing places where growth was not possible. But I don't call it
           renunciation, I call it understanding, awareness.
                If you are carrying stones in your hand thinking that they are diamonds, I will not tell you to
           renounce those stones. I will simply say, "Be alert and have another look!" If you see yourself that
           they are not diamonds, is there any need to renounce them? They will fall from your hands on their
           own accord. In fact, if you still want to carry them you will have to make a great effort, you will
           have to bring great will, to still carry them. But you cannot carry them for long; once you have seen
           that they are useless, meaningless, you are bound to throw them away.
                And once your hands are empty you can search for the real treasures. And the real treasures are
           not in the future -- as they used to be in the old concept of sannyas. The real treasures are right now,
           here.

               A very handsome young chap was recently hired in a large accounting firm. In a short while the
           young man came to Mr. Diamond, his department head, and said, "I am sorry to tell you, but some of
           the young ladies in this office are tempting me sorely."
           "Be firm, young man," was the reply, "and you will get your reward in heaven."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A few weeks later the lad complained again. "Mr. Diamond," he said, "I don't know what to do!
           This time it is that beautiful redhead who is pursuing me."
           "Resist, my son, and you will get your reward in heaven."
           "I don't know how much longer I can resist," the young man said. "By the way, Mr. Diamond, what
           do you think this reward will be that I will get in heaven?"
           "A bale of hay, you jackass!"

               Yes, that's what you will get! If your renunciation is to get something in the other world, you will
           simply get a bale of hay, you jackass! Because it is greed projected, and greed is going to remain
           unfulfilled. The so-called religious people are greedy for the eternal -- and you become religious
           only when greed disappears totally.
               Heaven is not somewhere else: it is a way of living. So is hell -- a style of life. Hell is living
           unconsciously; heaven is living consciously. Hell is your own creation, so is heaven. If you go on
           living unconsciously, through your unconscious desires, instincts, motives -- of which you are not
           the master but only the victim -- then you create hell around yourself. But if you start living a
           conscious life, a life of bringing more and more light to the deep, dark corners of your being, if you
           start living full of light, your life is moment-to-moment ecstasy.
               There is no need for trees to be of gold. They are perfectly beautiful as they are. In fact, a tree of
           gold will be a dead tree. And the roses need not be of diamonds; roses of diamonds will not be roses,
           they will not be alive. And only stupid people need rivers of wine. A man who lives consciously is
           so drunk with the sheer joy of breathing, with the sheer joy of being, with the joy of the birds singing
           and the sun rising in the morning... he is so drunk with existence that he needs no other drug --
           alcohol, LSD, mescaline or marijuana. He needs nothing! He is always in a psychedelic ecstasy, and
           that ecstasy is something his inner being releases; it is his own fragrance. Not only is he drunk --
           whosoever comes to him, stays with him, becomes drunk with his being.
               I am a drunkard! If you allow yourself to be here and available to me, you are bound to become
           drunkards.
               That's what has happened. I am not devious, I am simply a drunkard! And I am not trying in
           devious ways to make you renounce the world; I am simply trying to make you aware of the real
           world. When the real is known the false disappears. To know the real as real is enough: the false
           disappears -- it becomes insubstantial.
               If you are here with me, it is not that you had to renounce your family; on the contrary, you are
           here with me because you have found your family here. If you have dropped out of your job, it is not
           because of your being here; on the contrary, you have found your creativity here, you have found
           your joy here. You have found your real, authentic work; hence the false has disappeared. It is a
           transformation process.
               But my emphasis is never on renouncing anything; my emphasis is on rejoicing more and more.
           And your rejoicing is bound to change your life patterns. You can't remain the same when you
           meditate, when you become aware. How can you remain the same? How can you go on doing the
           same foolish things? It was possible when you were unconscious; it is impossible when you become
           conscious.

               A soldier just returning from three years overseas arrived at a camp near his home town. He was
           naturally very anxious to see his wife, but try as he would he could not possibly wrangle more than
           two hours' leave.
               After six hours' absence he came back to the camp. "Why the hell are you four hours AWOL?"
           barked the sergeant.
           "Well, you see," said the soldier, "when I got home I found my wife in the bathtub, and it took me
           four hours to dry out my uniform!"

              When you live an unconscious life you live in a different way.

              When Tom, the rising young insurance executive, appeared at his friend Ed's home in the early
           morning hours, asking to be put up for the night, Ed was concerned by his friend's hollow-eyed
           appearance. "What happened, Tom? You and your wife had a fight?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Yeah, when I got home last night I was really beat, tired as hell, so when she asked me for fifty
           dollars for a new dress...."
           "Yeah?"
           "Well, I guess I must have been half asleep or something, because I said, 'Alright, but let us finish
           this dictation first.'"

               Are you all British, or what? Can't you get such a simple joke? Living an unconscious life you
           are even bound to miss jokes!
               The moment you change from mind to meditation your whole life is going to be affected. It is
           natural. If it is not affected, that will be something unnatural. Your relationships are bound to
           change.
               For example, a man may believe that he loves his wife. The moment he starts meditating it will
           become clear and transparent whether he loves her or not. He may never have loved her. He may
           simply be using her as a sex object, or he may be using her as a mother substitute. He may be using
           her because he is unable to be alone, but he may never have loved her. He may be dependent on her;
           she may have great utility.
               But to use another human being is immoral, ugly -- and to pretend that you love.... And I am not
           saying that you are consciously doing it; it may be just an unconscious thing. You may not even be
           aware that you don't love her; you may also think that you love her. You may not be deceiving her
           deliberately; you may be deceiving her and you may be deceived yourself too.
               But if you start meditating, things will become clear. You will have more light in your life; just
           as when you bring a candle into a dark room you start seeing clearly. In the darkness the window
           looked like a door; now it is no longer a door. Or the painting, the frame of the painting, in the
           darkness and dimness looked like a window; it is no longer a window. Now that you see things
           clearly you cannot behave in the old way. You will have to change; you will have to rearrange your
           whole life.
               That's what happens to every sannyasin. If your love was true, it will be deepened; if it was false,
           it will disappear. If your respect for your parents was just a formality, it will disappear; if your
           respect for your parents was a reality, it will become more and more profound. The work that you
           were doing -- if it was your heart's fulfillment, you will go deeper into it.
               A painter will become a greater painter, a musician will have new visions, a poet will have new
           insights -- if the poet was really a poet, only then. If the poet was just playing with arranging words
           and was writing poetry just to become famous and the poetry was not his love affair, he was not
           ready to sacrifice his life for it, then poetry will disappear. But it is not renouncing anything. You are
           not renouncing anything! A few things are disappearing; a few other things will appear.
               One thing is certain: after meditation, after MY sannyas, whatsoever happens is going to give
           you more fulfillment, more maturity, more rootedness, more centering. It will become a life which
           does not only grow old but also grows towards heights and depths. You will start living not only a
           horizontal life but a vertical life too. You will live on the horizontal as far as it is needed; otherwise
           ninety percent of your energies will start moving in the vertical dimension, towards heights and
           depths.
               Then this earth, this world, becomes only an opportunity to grow. And the man who is using the
           world, the earth, this life, as an opportunity to grow is on the right track. If you not only grow in age
           but you also become grown-ups, then you have lived rightly. And it is not renunciation: it is
           rejoicing, it is being grateful to God.
               Your society, your parents, your teachers, your priests, your politicians, they have all tried to
           impose something upon you, and you are carrying all that. But anything imposed on you will remain
           a burden and you will be crushed under the weight of it, and the weight will go on growing every
           day.
               The function of the master is to undo what the teachers, priests, parents and politicians have done
           to you. Here I only make things clear to you. I don't impose any discipline. I don't give you any
           character. I simply give you more consciousness, more light. Then you have to find your character.
           Then you have to find your life-style, your life pattern.
               I give you just a small candle; then you can find your path into the darkness of life. And even a
           small candle is enough. If a little space around you becomes lighted and you can take three, four
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           steps in the light, that's enough; because by the time you have taken four steps, the light goes four
           steps ahead of you. With a small candle one can pass through ten thousand miles of darkness.
                And I am not against life at all, as the old sannyas was. The old sannyas had a very strange idea:
           that if you want to attain to God, you have to be anti-life -- as if God were against life. If God was
           against life, life would not exist even for a single moment. Who goes on nourishing life? Who goes
           on pouring energy into life?
                The great Indian poet, Rabindranath, has said, "Whenever a child is born, I dance, I rejoice.
           Why? Because a new child gives me an absolute certainty that God has not yet become hopeless, that
           he still hopes. Each new child brings this certainty to the world, that God is still interested in
           humanity, that he has not abandoned the project, that he still hopes that buddhas will be born, that he
           still goes on creating new children, that he is not tired, that his hope is infinite and his patience is
           infinite."
                God loves the world. It is his creation. To deny it is to deny him. If you deny the painting, you
           have denied the painter. If you condemn the poetry, you have condemned the poet. If you reject the
           dance, you have rejected the dancer. And this stupid logic has been going on for centuries: accept
           God, praise God, and deny life! And these same people went on saying again and again that God
           created the world. Then why did he create the world? So that you can renounce it? So that you can
           reject it? So that you can condemn it and become great saints?
                God created the world as an opportunity to grow. Growth needs many many opportunities,
           challenges.

           I have heard a story:
               A farmer, an old farmer, mature, seasoned, one day was very very angry with God -- and he was
           a great devotee. He said to God in his morning prayer, "I have to tell it as it is -- enough is enough!
           You don't understand even the ABC of agriculture! When the rains are needed there are no rains;
           when the rains are not needed you go on pouring them. What nonsense is this? If you don't
           understand agriculture you can ask me -- I have devoted my whole life to it. Give me one chance: the
           coming season, let ME decide and see what happens."
               It is an ancient story. In those days people had such trust that they could talk directly to God, and
           their trust was such that the answer was bound to happen.
           God said, "Okay, this season you decide!"
               So the farmer decided, and he was very happy because whenever he wanted sun there was sun,
           whenever he wanted rain there was rain, whenever he wanted clouds there were clouds. And he
           avoided all dangers, all the dangers that could become destructive to his crops; he simply rejected
           them -- no strong winds, no possibility of any destruction to his crops. And his wheat started
           growing higher than anybody had ever seen; it was going above man's height. And he was very
           happy. He thought, "Now I will show him!"
               And then the crop was cut and he was very puzzled. There was no wheat at all -- just empty
           husks with no wheat in them. What happened? Such big plants -- plants big enough to have given
           wheat four times bigger than ordinary wheat -- but there was no wheat at all.
               And suddenly he heard laughter from the clouds. God laughed and he said, "Now what do you
           say?"
               The farmer said, "I am puzzled, because there was no possibility of destruction and all that was
           helpful was provided. And the plants were going so well, and the crop was so green and so beautiful!
           What happened to my wheat?"
               God said, "Because there was no danger -- you avoided all dangers -- it was impossible for the
           wheat to grow. It needs challenges."

                Challenge brings integrity; otherwise a person remains hollow, empty. If all facilities are
           provided for you and there is no danger in your life, you will remain hollow and empty. God gives
           life with all its dangers.
                My sannyas is to accept this challenge. To live dangerously is what my sannyas is all about. The
           more dangerously you live, the more risks you take, the more you grow, the more you become
           integrated, crystallized, the more your soul becomes a clear-cut, well-defined phenomenon.
           Otherwise it remains vague, cloudy, doubtful.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I am all for life. If you ask me, God and his creation are not two separate things. The creator has
           become his own creation. The creation and the creator are one. I am in immense love with life. And
           this is my message to you: Love life totally! Get involved with life! Don't hold back, because
           whatsoever you hold back will remain empty. Become committed to life: a multidimensional
           commitment is needed.
               Scientists say that even the greatest human beings use only fifteen percent of their potential --
           even the greatest! What about normal people? They use only five to seven percent of their potential.
           Just think: if every person was using one hundred percent of his potential, if each person was a torch
           burning from both ends together, with intensity, with passion, with love, then life would be a sheer
           celebration. And you would see so many christs and so many buddhas walking on the earth! But
           because of this old idea of renunciation we have missed much.
               I want to bring a totally new concept of sannyas to the world: a sannyas that loves, a sannyas that
           knows how to become committed, a sannyas that goes to the deepest core of life.
               But nobody else can decide it for you. Not even I can decide for you. I can only make things
           clear to you. I can give you the map, but you have to go, you have to journey, you have to move.
           And remember one thing: my map will really be MY map and it can't be exactly your map. It may
           give you a few hints, a few indications, but it can't exactly be your map because you are a totally
           different person. You are so unique that nobody else's map can be your map. Yes, by understanding
           my map you will become aware of many things about yourself, but you are not to follow it blindly;
           otherwise you will become a pseudo human being.
               Listen to me, to my words, to my silence, to my being. Try to understand what is happening here,
           what is transpiring here, and then decide on your own. Don't throw the responsibility on anybody
           else's shoulders. This is the way to grow. This is the way to arrive.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE MANY FRIENDS, BUT THE QUESTION: WHO IS A REAL FRIEND? ALWAYS ARISES IN
              MY MIND. WILL YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT?


               Satyam, you are asking from the wrong end. Never ask, "Who is my real friend?" Ask, "Am I a
           real friend to somebody?" That is the right question. Why are you worried about others -- whether
           they are friends to you or not?
               The proverb is: A friend in need is a friend indeed. But deep down that is greed! That is not
           friendship, that is not love. You want to use the other as a means, and no man is a means, every man
           is an end unto himself. Why are you so worried about who is a real friend?

               A young honeymoon couple were touring Southern Florida and stopped at a rattlesnake farm
           along the road. After seeing the sights they engaged in small talk with the man that handled the
           snakes.
           "Gosh!" exclaimed the young bride, "You certainly have a dangerous job! Don't you ever get bitten
           by the snakes?"
           "Yes, I do," answered the handler.
           "Well," she insisted, "just what do you do when you are bitten by a snake?"
           "I always carry a razor-sharp knife in my pocket, and as soon as I am bitten I make a deep,
           criss-cross mark across the fang wound and then suck the poison from the wound."
           "What? Ah, what would happen if you were to accidentally sit on a rattler?" persisted the bride.
           "Ma'am," answered the snake handler, "that will be the day I learn who my real friends are!"

           Why are you worried?
               The real question has to be: Am I friendly to people? Do you know what friendship is? It is the
           highest form of love. In love, some lust is bound to be there; in friendship, all lust disappears. In
           friendship nothing gross remains; it becomes absolutely subtle.
               It is not a question of using the other, it is not even a question of needing the other, it is a
           question of sharing. You have too much and you would like to share. And whosoever is ready to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           share your joy with you, your dance, your song, you will be grateful to him, you will feel obliged.
           Not that he is obliged to you, not that he should feel thankful to you because you have given so much
           to him. A friend never thinks in that way. A friend always feels grateful to those people who allow
           him to love them, to give them whatsoever he has got.
                Love is greed. You will be surprised to know that the English word 'love' comes from a Sanskrit
           word LOBH; lobh means greed. How lobh became love is a strange story. In Sanskrit it is greed; the
           original root means greed. And love as we know it is really nothing but greed masquerading as love
           -- it is hidden greed.
                Satyam, making friendships with the idea of using people is taking a wrong step from the very
           beginning. Friendship has to be a sharing. If you have something, share it -- and whosoever is ready
           to share with you is a friend. It is not a question of need. It is not a question that when you are in
           danger the friend has to come to your aid. That is irrelevant -- he may come, he may not come, but if
           he does not come you don't have any complaint. If he comes you are grateful, but if he does not
           come, it's perfectly okay. It is his decision to come or not to come. You don't want to manipulate
           him, you don't want to make him feel guilty. You will not have any grudge. You will not say to him
           that "When I was in need you didn't turn up -- what kind of friend are you?"
                Friendship is not something of the marketplace. Friendship is one of those rare things which
           belong to the temple and not to the shop. But you are not aware of that kind of friendship, you will
           have to learn it.
                Friendship is a great art. Love has a natural instinct behind it; friendship has no natural instinct
           behind it. Friendship is something conscious; love is unconscious. You fall in love with a woman....
           Why do we say "falling in love"? That phrase is significant: "falling in love." Nobody ever rises in
           love, everybody FALLS in love! Why do you fall in love? -- because it is falling from the conscious
           to the unconscious, from intelligence to instinct.
                What we call love is more animalistic than human. Friendship is absolutely human. It has
           something for which there is no inbuilt mechanism in your biology; it is nonbiological. Hence one
           rises in friendship, one does not fall in friendship. It has a spiritual dimension.
                But don't ask, "Who is a real friend?" Ask, "Am I a real friend?" Always be concerned with
           yourself. We are always thinking about others. The man asks whether the woman really loves him or
           not. The woman asks whether the man really loves her or not. And how can you be absolutely certain
           about the other? It is impossible! He may repeat a thousand times that he loves you and he will love
           you forever, but still the doubt is bound to persist: "Who knows whether he is speaking the truth or
           not?" In fact, repeating something a thousand times simply means it must be a lie, because truth need
           not be repeated so much.
                Adolf Hitler in his autobiography says, "There is not much difference between truth and a lie.
           The only difference is that truth is a lie repeated so often that you have forgotten that it is a lie."
                That's what the experts in advertisement will say: go on repeating, go on advertising. Don't be
           worried about whether anybody is listening or not. Even if they are not paying any attention, don't be
           worried; their subliminal minds are listening, their deepest core is being impressed. You don't look at
           advertisements very consciously, but just passing through them in the movie, on TV or in the
           newspaper, just a glance and there is an imprint. And it is going to be repeated again: "Lux toilet
           soap" or "Coca-Cola"....
                Coca-Cola is the only international thing. Even in Soviet Russia: "Coca-Cola...." Everything
           American is banned and barred, but not Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is the only international thing! Go on
           repeating it!
                In the beginning electricity was used for advertisements -- static electricity was used. It remained
           "Coca-Cola." But later on they discovered that if you put it on and off it is far more effective,
           because a man passing by will read it only once if the light remains static. But if it changes, goes on
           and off again and again, by the time you pass it, even in a car, you will have read it at least five to
           seven times: "Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola...." That goes deeper. And sooner or later you
           become impressed.
                That's how all the religions have lived up to now: they go on repeating the same stupid beliefs,
           but those beliefs become truths to people. People are ready to die for them! Now, nobody has seen
           where heaven is, but millions of people have died for heaven.
                Mohammedans say that if you die in a religious war you will immediately go to heaven and all
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your sins are forgiven. And Christians also say that in a religious war, in a crusade, if you die you
           immediately go to heaven; then everything else is forgiven. And millions of people have died and
           killed others, believing that this is a truth.
                We have seen such things happening even in this twentieth century; it doesn't seem to be very
           grown-up in that way. Adolf Hitler repeated for twenty years continuously that "Jews are the cause
           of all misery," and a very intelligent nation like Germany started believing in him. What to say about
           ordinary people? -- even people like Martin Heidegger, one of the greatest philosophers Germany
           has produced in this century, believed that Adolf Hitler was right. He supported Adolf Hitler.
                A man of the intelligence of Martin Heidegger supporting a stupid, mad person like Adolf Hitler!
           What must the secret be? The secret is: repeat, go on repeating. Even Jews started believing that it
           must be true: "We must be the cause; otherwise how could so many intelligent people believe it? If
           so many people believe it, there must be something in it!"
                You have been brought up with such beliefs, such ideas, which have no foundation in reality.
           And if you go on living according to them you will live in vain. You have to go through a radical
           change.
                Ask questions about yourself, don't ask about others. It is impossible to be certain of the other
           and there is no need either. How can you be certain of the other? The other is a flux. This moment
           the other person may be loving, and the next moment he may not be loving. There can be no
           promise. You can only be certain about yourself, and that too only for the moment. And there is no
           need to think of the whole future. Think in terms of the moment and the present. Live in the present.
                If this moment is full of friendship and the fragrance of friendship, why be worried about the
           next moment? The next moment will be born out of this moment. It is bound to be of a higher,
           deeper quality. It will bring the same fragrance to a higher altitude. There is no need to think about it
           -- just live the moment in deep friendship.
                And friendship need not be addressed to anyone in particular; that is also a rotten idea, that you
           have to be friends with a certain person -- just be friendly. Rather than creating friendship, create
           friendliness. Let it become a quality of your being, a climate that surrounds you, so you are friendly
           with whomsoever you come in contact.
                This whole existence has to be befriended! And if you can befriend existence, existence will
           befriend you a thousandfold. It returns to you in the same coin but multiplied. It echoes you. If you
           throw stones at existence you will be getting back many more stones. If you throw flowers, flowers
           will be coming back.
                Life is a mirror, it reflects your face. Be friendly, and all of life will reflect friendliness. People
           know perfectly well that if you are friendly to a dog even the dog becomes friendly to you, so
           friendly. And there are people who have known that if you are friendly to a tree, the tree becomes
           friendly to you.
                Try great experiments in friendships. Try with a rosebush, and see the miracle: slowly slowly, it
           will happen, because man has not been behaving with trees in a friendly way; hence they have
           become very much afraid.
                But now scientists say that when you come with an axe to cut down a tree, even before you have
           started cutting it, the tree goes into a shiver, a cold shiver. It goes into a great fear, panic. You have
           not even started, but just the intention -- as if the tree becomes aware of your intention! Now they
           have sophisticated instruments just like cardiographs, which can make graphs on paper showing
           what the tree is feeling. When the tree is feeling joyous, there is a rhythm in the graph; when the tree
           is feeling afraid, the fear is shown on the graph. When the tree sees the friend coming it rejoices, it
           jumps, it dances; the graph immediately shows a dance. When the tree sees the gardener coming....
                Have you ever said hello to a tree? Try it, and one day you will be surprised: the tree also says
           hello in her tongue, in her own language. Hug a tree, and a day will come soon when you will feel
           that it was not only you who were hugging the tree -- the tree was responding, you were also hugged
           by the tree, although the tree has no hands. But it has its own way of expressing its joy, its sadness,
           its anger, its fear.
                The whole existence is sensitive. That's what I mean when I say that existence is God.
                Be friendly, Satyam, and don't be worried whether anybody is friendly towards you or not -- that
           is a businesslike question. Why be worried? Why not transform the whole existence into a friend
           towards you? Why miss such a great kingdom?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD COMING TO YOU?


                It is a very difficult question for me to answer. How can I answer on behalf of thousands of
           people who are coming to me? They have different reasons.
                A few are coming to me because I have called them: they may know it, they may not know it.
           There is more possibility that they will not know it, at least not in the beginning. Only later on, as
           they become immersed into my commune, into my world slowly slowly, they will become aware that
           they have been called forth, just as Jesus called to Lazarus in his grave, "Lazarus, come out!" and he
           came out of his grave.
                The life that you have lived has been life in a grave -- and I have called you. A few of you are
           being called. That's why you are here. About these people I can say why they are here because I have
           called them. They have been with me for many lives: this is a long long love affair with them. This is
           not the first time that they are with me: this is the LAST time certainly, because I am not going to
           come again. I have called them because of certain promises made in the past.
                But there are many kinds of people. A few have come just accidentally; but even though they
           have come accidentally they have a certain potential in them and their potential became involved
           with me. They were not coming consciously, they were not called -- they were just passing by -- but
           they got caught in the net.
                A few have come for certain needs to be fulfilled. There are a few people who are in search of
           father figures; because Friedrich Nietzsche says, "God is dead," and once God is dead man feels
           empty. The West is feeling very empty: God is dead, and God was the father, the permanent, eternal
           father.
                It is not an accident that Christian priests are called "father," although it is very strange because
           they don't have any children, they are unmarried. It is a strange world: unmarried priests are called
           "father"! But it is perfectly logical, because the Christian idea of God is also without a woman. How
           do they manage it? God the Father, Christ the Son -- at least let the Holy Ghost be a woman! But
           they don't even allow the Holy Ghost! The trinity is not true: it is lacking something; it is missing
           something -- the feminine energy is missing.
                But at least God was there. If not the mother, God was there as the father, a protector. And
           people were feeling protected -- whether there was a God or not was not the question, but people
           were feeling protected. And on the earth was the father, the priest and the pope -- or PAPA -- the
           great father, the highest priest. 'Pope' also means father -- 'papa', 'popa', 'pope', or whatsoever you
           call him!
                But the Vatican has lost its grip on the West; the relationship between the pope and the West is
           only formal. Christianity has become a Sunday religion. And exactly the same is the case in the East:
           all religions have become formal. Now people are in search of a father figure.
                A few people come because they are missing protection, they need protection. Either they will
           escape from me, because I don't give protection... on the contrary, I take all security away. I give you
           insecurity, because to me insecurity is the right situation in which one grows. If there is no God, no
           father, the whole responsibility falls on your own shoulders -- and it is good, it is perfectly good.
                I absolutely agree with Friedrich Nietzsche. Buddha also agrees. Buddha says there is no God,
           Mahavira says there is no God, for the simple reason that the idea of God has been dangerous --
           dangerous in the sense that people feel protected and they stop growing. If you are unprotected, if
           you are under the sky, then you have to depend on your own self. Then you have to become stronger,
           more integrated. Then you are free to live in hell or in heaven; nobody can reward you and nobody
           can punish you.
                A few people are coming because they are missing a father figure. If they stay with me I will
           transform this situation into a beautiful, positive phenomenon; if they escape, then it is up to them. It
           is very easy for them to escape, because they will see that I am destroying them. If any idea of
           protection is left in their minds I am destroying that too. I am taking away all patterns, structures,
           strategies of the mind.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I want you to be utterly alone, so alone that you have to fall upon yourself -- there is nowhere
           else to go -- that you have to stand on your own legs, that you can't use any crutches.
               A few other people are coming to find some kind of consolation. They will also be shocked,
           because I don't give any kind of consolation.

               A pretty model took her troubles to a psychiatrist. "Doctor, you must help me!" she pleaded. "It
           has gotten so that every time a man takes me out I wind up in bed with him, and then afterwards I
           feel guilty and depressed all day long."
           "I see," nodded the psychiatrist, "and you want me to strengthen your willpower?"
           "Heavens, no!" exclaimed the model. "I want you to fix it so I won't feel guilty and depressed
           afterwards!"

                People, many people, consciously or unconsciously, are here to find some kind of consolation --
           some kind of consolation so they don't feel guilty, so that they don't feel unworthy. I am not here to
           give you consolations. Why give consolations when I can give you the real thing? Why give you
           plastic toys when I can help you to grow into a soul?
                A few other people come because they are on the verge of going insane; psychology,
           psychoanalysis and psychiatry have not been of much help. It can help only up to a point. It can help
           a person to be normal if his madness is ordinary madness, but it cannot help a person if his madness
           has something spiritual in it.
                People like R.D. Laing are becoming aware of it: that if a person's madness is because he is too
           sensitive, too alert and too aware of the misery in which people are living -- and he himself is living;
           if he becomes aware of the meaninglessness of this whole life that we have created on this earth, he
           is bound to go berserk. He will not be able to bear it -- it will be unbearable. Those people cannot be
           helped by psychiatry or psychoanalysis. Those people can only be helped if something like
           meditation starts happening in their being.
                So if some ordinarily insane person comes here I send him back to the West, because psychiatry
           is perfectly capable of helping him. There is no need for me to waste my time on that kind of person:
           there are other plumbers who can do that! I do a special kind of plumbing. If your insanity is
           spiritual then I am here to help you. And spiritual insanity is really a beautiful beginning; it can
           become the greatest blessing in your life. It is a blessing disguised as a curse.
                But still the question is difficult because there are so many people and each person comes with a
           different motive. But I am not much concerned about your motives -- I know why I am here and I go
           on doing my thing, irrespective of why YOU have come here!
                Those who have something significant growing in them are bound to remain with me -- those
           who are courageous enough to move beyond the boundaries of the mind, beyond all boundaries and
           all limits. Those who are not courageous will leave of their own accord.
                Many will be called; few will be chosen. Thousands will come, but only a few will be
           transformed. It is all up to you. You can use this opportunity that I am making available to you; you
           can miss it too. I cannot be forced upon you. I am available; you can share. You can look through my
           eyes. I have opened a door and I am standing at the door welcoming you.
           Why you have come is not the point. Come in!
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                    Chapter #3
                                    Chapter title: A slave in your own house
           23 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910230
              ShortTitle: DHAM603
10/28/07                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Audio: Yes
              Video:    No
             Length: 0 mins




           MASTER YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE LAW.
           THIS IS THE SIMPLE TEACHING OF THE AWAKENED.



           THE RAIN COULD TURN TO GOLD
           AND STILL YOUR THIRST WOULD NOT BE SLAKED.
           DESIRE IS UNQUENCHABLE
           OR IT ENDS IN TEARS, EVEN IN HEAVEN.



           HE WHO WISHES TO AWAKE
           CONSUMES HIS DESIRES
           JOYFULLY.



           IN HIS FEAR A MAN MAY SHELTER
           IN MOUNTAINS OR IN FORESTS,
           IN GROVES OF SACRED TREES OR IN SHRINES.
           BUT HOW CAN HE HIDE THERE FROM HIS SORROW?



           HE WHO SHELTERS IN THE WAY
           AND TRAVELS WITH THOSE WHO FOLLOW IT
           COMES TO SEE THE FOUR GREAT TRUTHS.



           CONCERNING SORROW,
           THE BEGINNING OF SORROW,
           THE EIGHTFOLD WAY,
           AND THE END OF SORROW.



           THEN AT LAST HE IS SAFE.
           HE HAS SHAKEN OFF SORROW.
           HE IS FREE.



           THE AWAKENED ARE FEW AND HARD TO FIND.
           HAPPY IS THE HOUSE WHERE A MAN AWAKES.



           BLESSED IS HIS BIRTH.
           BLESSED IS THE TEACHING OF THE WAY.
           BLESSED IS THE UNDERSTANDING AMONG THOSE
           WHO FOLLOW IT,
           AND BLESSED IS THEIR DETERMINATION.



           AND BLESSED ARE THEY WHO REVERE
           THE MAN WHO AWAKES AND FOLLOWS THE WAY.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THEY ARE FREE FROM FEAR.
               THEY ARE FREE.



               THEY HAVE CROSSED OVER THE RIVER OF SORROW.



               MASTER YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE LAW.
               THIS IS THE SIMPLE TEACHING OF THE AWAKENED.


               Man can either be interested in domination and mastering others, or he can be interested in
           mastering his own self. The first category is the category of the fools, but they make the major part
           of history: Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah, Alexander, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler, Mao....
           History is full of the names of the first category. It is a wrong kind of history to teach.
               The right kind of history will teach about the buddhas: those who have tried and conquered
           themselves. It is far more arduous to conquer oneself. It needs far more integrity, awareness,
           strength, will, trust, surrender. It requires all the great qualities of consciousness. It basically requires
           consciousness. One can master oneself only if one is absolutely alert; otherwise you remain
           dominated by your desires.
               You are a slave in your own house. One desire pulls you towards the south, another towards the
           north, and you are at the mercy of those blind desires. You are always falling apart. It is difficult
           even to manage to remain together: so many desires, so many attractions, so many objects alluring
           you. And you are simply in an insane state, running hither and thither, not knowing why, not
           knowing whether it is worth it at all.
               But man is born unconsciously, although he has the potential to become conscious. And the
           potential will remain only a potential unless you work hard to actualize it. One is born with an
           intrinsic capacity to conquer oneself, but your whole energy becomes extrovert. Living with people
           who are extrovert, ambitious, desiring this and that, the child also starts imitating. He learns from
           others -- from his parents, teachers, priests, politicians -- and these are all in the same boat.
           Somebody is after money, somebody is after power, somebody is after fame, but nobody seems to be
           interested in one's own self. Nobody seems to be ready to go on that great pilgrimage of
           self-discovery.
               Buddha says: MASTER YOURSELF.... If you are at all interested in mastery -- and who is not
           interested? -- then become interested in self-mastery. Don't waste your time in trying to dominate
           others. The effort to dominate others creates political conflict; the whole world is full of it. Even in
           personal relationships politics enters and destroys them. Even when you love a woman or a man, the
           mind starts its cunning ways to dominate, to possess, to destroy the freedom of the other... because
           you are afraid. You are afraid that if YOU don't dominate, the other is going to dominate you.
               And for all those who want to dominate others, Machiavelli is the teacher. In India also a similar
           type of man has existed; his name was Chanakya. He preceded Machiavelli by thousands of years.
           Both men are the foundations of the extrovert mind; they have laid the foundations. And their first
           foundation is: the best way to defend yourself is to attack. Hence, before the other attacks you, attack
           the other. Before your wife starts dominating you, you dominate her, or before your husband starts
           dominating you, you dominate him.

               A young man was going to get married. He asked his father, "Is there any advice for me?" And
           the father whispered something into his ear. The young man laughed and said, "I will take care of it."
               He went to the town to get married. As the couple were coming back to the village, the horse
           who was carrying them from the town stopped. The young man was very angry. He said to the horse,
           "This is the first time -- I can forgive you, but remember, I can forgive you only two times."
               The horse moved, but again he stopped at another place and wouldn't budge. The young man
           said, "This is the second time -- now be alert!"
               And when the horse stopped for the third time, the young man got down, took his pistol and shot
           the horse immediately then and there. The horse fell down.
               The wife could not believe her eyes -- what cruelty! She said, "What are you doing?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              He said, "This is the first time.... Remember, you have only two more chances."
              And from that day, it is said, his wife always followed him. What else to do?

                This has been the way down the ages: either the husband dominates or the wife. In ninety-nine
           percent of the cases the wife dominates, because the husband is trying to dominate in the outside
           world, in the marketplace. He comes home so tired, he comes home so frustrated, he has no desire,
           will or power to fight with the woman. And the woman has been waiting the whole day,
           accumulating. Her energies are fresh and she has nowhere to go to dominate anybody else; only the
           husband is her dominion.
                Man has imprisoned woman in the house at a great cost, because he has taken away all other
           possibilities of going on ego trips. Now only one outlet is left -- he himself -- and he is suffering a
           lot. In fact, the Women's Liberation movement is not only woman's liberation; if it really happens, it
           will be far more MAN'S liberation. Hence I don't see any intelligent man against it; all intelligent
           men are for it, because they know if the woman really becomes free they will be free too. It is going
           to be freedom for both.
                It is one of the laws of life: either you both can be free or you both will be slaves. It is not
           possible that one should be the master and the other should be the slave. The law is that the master is
           always a slave of his own slave, because his mastery also depends on the slave. Without the slave he
           will not be a master at all.
                The child finds all these people around, running in the same direction. The child is vulnerable,
           open, ready to be impressed. It is very difficult for the child to find a Buddha, to find a Jesus. He
           always finds these stupid people living their lives in absolute unawareness. He starts imitating them.
           By the time he is of age he is already structured, programmed, conditioned.
                Unless you make a great effort to get out of this conditioning you will not be free. Unless you
           make a great, concentrated, determined decision that you have to get out of it -- even if life itself
           needs to be staked you are ready to stake your life for the freedom from all kinds of conditionings --
           there is not much possibility. But you can make the decision.
                This is what sannyas is: a determination, a decision, a commitment -- a commitment to yourself,
           a gift to yourself.
                MASTER YOURSELF... because mastering yourself you enter into the kingdom of God, you
           enter into the real world of peace and bliss. You enter into your own treasures -- they are
           inexhaustible. You come to know for the first time the richness of your being, the beauty of your
           being and the ecstasy of your being.
                MASTER YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE LAW. Now, there is a possibility you may
           misunderstand Buddha, because "according to the law" in the eyes of Christians and Jews and
           Mohammedans means according to the law prescribed in their books: the Ten Commandments, the
           Koran, the Bible. That is not the meaning of Buddha. "According to the law" does not mean the law
           of the state or the law given by the priests. "According to the law" for Buddha means according to
           the ultimate law of life and existence.
                There is a tremendous harmony -- anybody just a little bit sensitive, intelligent, can feel it -- life
           is a harmonious whole. It is not a chaos, it is a cosmos. Why is it not a chaos? -- because a law runs
           through and through it like a thread in a garland. That thread is invisible, you see only the flowers,
           but that thread is keeping them together. Existence is a garland; there is a thread, a SUTRA -- sutra
           means thread -- a very thin thread, almost invisible, running through the whole existence, that makes
           it a cosmos instead of a chaos.
           "According to the law" in the words of Buddha means: Be in harmony with nature, existence. Don't
           fight with it, don't go against it. Don't try to go upstream, to flow upstream. To be in a let-go with
           existence is to follow the law. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the inexhaustible law: that
           if you relax, if you allow the law to take you over, to possess you, you will be overflooded with it.
           You need not go on an ego trip. The river is already flowing to the ocean -- you simply flow with the
           river. No need to swim either -- float, and you will reach the ocean.
                MASTER YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE LAW. Buddha makes that condition, because
           the danger is that in trying to master yourself you may use the same strategy that you have been
           using in mastering others. That's what so many monks have done in the past: just as they fight with
           others they start fighting with themselves, but the fight continues. The object changes, the enemy
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           changes, but the fight continues.
               And they fall into a far deeper mess, because when you fight with yourself you have to divide
           yourself in two, you have to become two parties. You have to condemn some part of your being as
           the enemy. It may be sex, it may be your body, it may be your mind, anything, but you have to
           divide yourself in two: the higher and the lower, the heavenly and the earthly, the material and the
           spiritual, the body and the soul... and then you start fighting. Then YOU are the soul, and fight the
           body. Again you have become an extrovert.
               In fact, the introvert cannot fight; there is no possibility, because there is no other. With whom
           are you going to fight and who is going to fight, and for what? You alone are left; when you move
           inwards only your consciousness is there. There is no reason, no possibility to fight. And any effort
           to fight with yourself is bound to create a split in you -- and that's what has happened to the whole of
           humanity.
               The whole humanity has been reduced to a state of neurosis; it is schizophrenia. Everybody is
           split. And your so-called religious people are responsible for this great calamity. Man is not
           functioning as a whole, not as an integrated whole; he functions as a divided, split personality. That's
           why it is so difficult to trust man: one moment he says one thing, another moment just the opposite --
           because one moment he may be talking from one side of his being -- his soul side -- another moment
           he may be talking from the other side -- the body side.
               Howsoever you divide yourself, in reality you remain indivisible. You are not body and soul; you
           are bodysoul, you are psychosomatic, you are one individual, indivisible entity. Hence Buddha
           reminds you: don't start fighting with yourself in order to become a master.
               That's what so many stupid people down the ages have been doing: fasting; torturing themselves;
           lying down on a bed of thorns; wounding their bodies; destroying their eyes; cutting off their sexual
           organs. Millions of people have done such stupid things. Studying them, they seem to be
           unbelievable.
               In Russia there was a cult, a Christian cult, whose fundamental ritual was to cut off their sexual
           organs. Thousands of people used to do it. The women would cut off their breasts, the men would
           cut off their genital organs. And each year there was a particular day when they would gather by the
           thousands, and it would be done in mass madness. One person would do it, another would follow,
           and then there would be a frenzy. And thousands would start cutting off their sexual organs and the
           blood would be all over the place. They were just mad people, but they were worshipped.
               Now there was a problem for the cult: how to increase their numbers. So they would purchase or
           steal children. That was the only way; otherwise they would never have a great religion with millions
           of followers. No religion wants to use methods of birth control for the simple reason that that
           reduces their numbers. Catholics are against it, Mohammedans are against it, Hindus are against it.
           Everybody is against birth control for the simple reason that it will reduce their numbers -- and
           numbers are power. The more people follow your church, the more powerful you are. This is part of
           politics, power politics. They are not concerned about the future of humanity, they are not concerned
           with the misery of people, they are not concerned with poverty.
               To give birth to a child now is almost a crime, because the world is already overpopulated. Half
           of humanity is starving, and by the end of this century the starvation is going to be so acute, so
           intolerable, that the earth is going to become a mad planet. Either suicide or murder will be the only
           possible ways for people to exist, and both are wrong.
               And the Catholic pope and the Hindu shankaracharya and the Hindu priests, these will be the
           responsible persons, because they are all against birth control. They talk beautifully, they rationalize
           beautifully, that they are against birth control because birth control is against nature. If birth control
           is against nature then the pope of the Vatican should be against medicine, because that too is against
           nature. If a person is dying of cancer, let him die, don't give him medicine. On that point the pope is
           absolutely silent. In fact, Christians go on opening new hospitals.
               If birth is natural, then death is natural. If you have disturbed the balance by preventing people
           from dying, then you have to accept the other part of it also. Allow people to die naturally; then let
           them give birth to as many children as they can. Then there will be no imbalance; nature balances
           itself.
               Just fifty years ago in India, out of ten children nine were going to die within two years, only one
           was going to survive. Now just the opposite is the case: nine are going to survive, only one is going
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to die. How has it happened within fifty years' time? Modern medicine has done the miracle; it has
           changed the whole balance. If you accept medicine and if you accept the hospitals and if you accept
           that people have to be saved from cancer and tuberculosis, then you have to use birth control.
           Otherwise how can the population be kept within normal, bearable limits?
               Those Russian sects were always in difficulty -- where to get new people? And it was difficult to
           get converts because of their practices; so the only way was to purchase children from poor people or
           steal them. Both were practiced, stealing and purchasing -- human beings!
               And these kinds of practices have been followed almost all over the world. There have been
           people who have destroyed their eyes, because eyes distract you towards beauty. They create
           sexuality, so destroy the eyes. But can you destroy sexuality by destroying your eyes? Do you think
           sexuality exists in the eyes? Do you think blind people don't have any sexuality? In fact, even if you
           cut off your sexual organs you cannot destroy sexuality, because sexuality exists somewhere deep
           down in your skull.
               The sex center is not really the sex organ; that is its outermost part. Its innermost core is in the
           brain -- there is a center in the brain. Once that center is triggered, the sexual organ starts becoming
           alive, but the triggering has to happen first in the brain. That's why you can have beautiful sexual
           dreams, you can have an orgasm in your dreams -- just the mind! That's why pornography is
           possible; sex organs cannot understand pornography, it is the brain. Now they have found the exact
           center where it is, and if it is touched by an electrode you immediately go into a sexual orgasm --
           immediately!
               The people who are working -- the behaviorists -- they are going to give man, sooner or later, a
           small, matchbox-sized thing you can keep in your pocket; nobody will ever be able to see it. You can
           just put your hand inside your pocket and push the button and you can have a sexual orgasm walking
           on the road. And even in India nobody can prevent you then! The police cannot, because nobody will
           be able to know why you are looking so happy, why there is such a great smile on your face!
               But the danger is... and the danger is great; the behaviorists have become aware of it. They have
           been experimenting with rats. They had made a small machine, electrodes fixed in the head of the
           rats, and the rats were taught if they want a sexual orgasm they have to push a button. Those rats
           went berserk! They pushed the buttons so many times -- sixty thousand times one rat did it! He
           continued; he would not eat, he would not drink, he forgot everything, until he fell dead. He was so
           tired, but the joy was such... he risked all!
               The eyes don't have sexuality, neither do the sexual organs have it; it is somewhere in the mind.

           I have heard an ancient parable:
               It seems that when the creator was making the world, he called man aside and bestowed upon
           him twenty years of normal sex life. Man was horrified: "Only twenty years?" But the creator did not
           budge. That was all he would give him.
               Then he called the monkey and gave him twenty years.
           "But I don't need twenty years," the monkey protested. "Ten is plenty!"
               Man spoke up and said, "Can I have the other ten years?"
           The monkey graciously agreed.
               Then he called the lion and gave him twenty years. The lion too needed only ten. Again man
           said, "Can I have the other ten years?"
           The lion roared, "Of course."
               Then came the donkey. He was given twenty years, but like the others, ten years was enough for
           him. Man asked for the spare ten years and got them.
               This explains why man has twenty years of normal sex life, ten years monkeying around, ten
           years of lion about it, and ten years of making an ass of himself.

               Man seems to be the most stupid animal out of all of these. They say, "Ten is more than enough."
           Man seems to be the most in the grip of desire: more and more.... Whatsoever he has is not enough,
           is never enough. This creates his sorrow, this makes him a slave. The "more" is your master. To be
           aware of the trap that is created by this constant desire for more is to take a very necessary step
           towards self-mastery.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Something the matter?" asked the bartender of the young, well-dressed customer who sat staring
           sullenly into his drink.
           "Two months ago my grandfather died and left me eighty-five thousand dollars," said the man.
           "That does not sound like anything to be upset about," said the bartender, polishing a glass. "It
           should happen to me!"
           "Yeah," said the sour young man, "but last month an uncle on my mother's side passed away. He left
           me hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
           "So why are you sitting there looking so unhappy?" asked the bartender.
           "So far this month, not a cent!"

               You cannot be satisfied by anything, because the mind is always asking for more. And the desire
           for more creates sorrow, makes you a slave. And the desire for more does not allow you to live
           according to the universal law. You start fighting for more. Whether it is something outward or
           inward does not matter; if you are fighting for something more you are going against the law of
           nature.
               Trust nature, be relaxed with it. It takes care. It is always providing you with whatsoever is really
           needed, and if it does not provide you, that means it is not really needed.
               Buddha says: MASTER YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE LAW. THIS IS THE SIMPLE
           TEACHING OF THE AWAKENED. One thing to be noted: Buddha always says this, "of the
           awakened." He does not say, "This is the teaching of Gautama the Buddha." He simply says, "of the
           awakened" -- whosoever is awakened. He does not make it a personal statement, he makes it a
           universal thing: Whosoever is awakened, this is going to be his teaching. And this is very rare, this is
           unique. Awakening can happen to anybody: it has happened to Jesus, it has happened to Lao Tzu, it
           has happened to Basho -- it can happen to anybody. Buddha is saying that whosoever is awakened,
           this is going to be his teaching.
               MASTER YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE LAW. THIS IS THE SIMPLE TEACHING OF
           THE AWAKENED. He is absolutely nonpersonal, there is no person. He is only a presence, a
           vehicle of the universal law, speaking not on his own behalf but on God's behalf, allowing himself to
           be used by God as a medium.

              THE RAIN COULD TURN TO GOLD
              AND STILL YOUR THIRST WOULD NOT BE SLAKED.
              DESIRE IS UNQUENCHABLE
              OR IT ENDS IN TEARS, EVEN IN HEAVEN.


               DESIRE IS UNQUENCHABLE. Why? -- because desire means desire for more; how can you
           quench it? By the time you have arrived it asks for more. You wanted ten thousand rupees; by the
           time you have ten thousand, the desire has moved ahead of you -- it is asking for one hundred
           thousand. By the time you achieve that, the desire has moved. It always moves ahead of you; the
           distance between you and your desire always remains the same.
               The distance between a beggar and his desire, and the distance between Alexander the Great and
           his desire is the same. Both are poor in the same way. Alexander may have much, that does not make
           much difference -- he is not satisfied with what he has.
               It is said that Diogenes once said to Alexander the Great, "Have you ever thought about one
           thing? -- meditate over it: you want to conquer the whole world, but are you aware that once you
           have conquered the whole world, then what? There is no other world. Then what will you do?"
               And it is said, just by Diogenes saying it, Alexander became very sad, and he said, "Please don't
           mention such sad things -- let me first conquer the whole world, then we will see. But don't talk
           about such sad things to me; it makes me feel very sad."
               He had not conquered the whole world yet, but the very idea that if you conquer the whole
           world, then what are you going to do? There is no other world, and you will feel stuck. The mind
           will ask for more.
               The mind lives through more, and the more cannot be fulfilled; that is impossible. IT ENDS IN
           TEARS. Every desire ends in frustration, because every expectation is the beginning of frustration.
           Why does every desire end in frustration? There are only two alternatives: either you achieve your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           object of desire or you don't achieve it, but in both cases it will end in tears. If you achieve it you
           will see the utter futility of it all.
                The rich man sees the futility of his riches -- how much he has labored, and how much he has
           worked for it! And now, whatsoever he has attained is absolutely useless, it fulfills nothing. You can
           have two houses or three houses, one in the city, one in the hills, one on the seashore, but you are the
           same person, as empty as before. You can live in a palace, but how can you change your inner
           meaninglessness? You will be as meaningless in a palace as you are in a hut.
                In fact, you will be more meaningless in a palace, because while you are in a hut you can still
           hope that one day when you have managed to get into a palace, everything will be okay. You can
           hope, but the man who IS in the palace, he has no hope, he feels utterly hopeless. And he cannot say
           it to others either, because that will be stupid of him. People will think that you worked hard....
                Just think of Alexander the Great: he devoted his whole life to conquering the world. And when
           he had conquered it, if he had said to the world that "It was useless. I wasted my time and my life,"
           people would have thought he was stupid. Could he not see it before?

           There is an ancient story in India:
                A henpecked husband asked somebody, "What to do? My wife is so dominating."
                The friend suggested, "You should not have allowed it from the very beginning, but now it is
           difficult. Still it is not too late. Today you get drunk so that you can have courage. Then go and shout
           and knock on the door and enter into the house and throw things and let her feel that you are a man.
           And beat her, give her a good beating! Settle it once and for all."
                So the man got drunk, although he was afraid that, "These things seem to be impossible -- I
           cannot do it. But maybe the drink will help."
                He drank and he felt really great, puffed up, but as he approached the house, slowly slowly he
           became sober; the effect of the alcohol was disappearing. The fear was arising, but he kept himself
           courageous by repeating, "The man is a wise man, and at least if I can do it once it will be finished
           forever. And it is worth doing it."
                So he knocked on the door, shouted, entered inside, started throwing things.
                His wife was very angry. She was so angry she cut off the nose of the man with a knife. Now
           without a nose it was very difficult to live in the town, so the man escaped from the town in the night
           -- that same night he escaped. But wherever he would go, people would ask, "What happened to your
           nose?"
                So he became a SADHU, he became a monk, he renounced the world. He said he had renounced
           the world, the wife and all. And he had to find a rationalization for his nose, so he said, "This is the
           latest technique of attaining, of realizing God. The moment you cut off your nose... it is the nose that
           is the barrier!" And he philosophized about the nose and he said, "The nose represents the ego." And
           it is right -- the nose represents the ego. You can see the ego on the nose; nowhere else it is so
           apparent!
                So he convinced a few people. And the method seemed so simple -- just cutting off the nose and
           you get the ultimate truth and the bliss -- and he used to look so blissful. He pretended, but what else
           to do? -- without a nose he had to save face somehow! And without a nose it is difficult, but he
           laughed, danced, and he was always ecstatic.
                A few foolish people became ready to cut off their noses, so he would take one person into the
           forest, cut off his nose, and would ask him, "Can you see God?"
                The man would say, "I can't see anything, and my nose is gone."
                And the man would say, "Neither can I see, but now it is better that you don't tell anyone,
           because your nose is gone just the same way as mine is gone. Be part of the conspiracy now. "Tell
           others... become ecstatic and tell others that you have attained to God."
                What else was there to do now? The nose couldn't be put back; in those days there was no plastic
           surgery possible. This seemed to be the only rational way. So the man would go dancing in the town
           and would tell others, "That man is the greatest master -- I have seen God. What an experience! I am
           so blissful and the bliss goes on showering on me! Twenty-four hours I am ecstatic and God is with
           me." And he would talk of great things. And Indians are very much capable of talking of great
           things; for centuries they have talked and talked and talked.
                A few more people became interested, and slowly slowly he had a gathering. The more people
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           were with him without noses, the more his theory was gaining ground. Even the king became
           interested: "If there is such a simple method" -- almost like Transcendental Meditation! -- "Why not
           try?" But the prime minister was a little doubtful, skeptical. He said, "You wait, don't be in a hurry.
           Let me first inquire."
               So he got hold of this man, gave him a good beating, and told him, "Tell the truth, otherwise we
           will kill you!"
               So he had to tell the truth: "It is because my wife had cut off my nose, and what else could I do? I
           had to find some way to save my face, and this seemed to be the most simple, attractive way. And I
           am perfectly happy now: I have a following, my needs are taken care of, and you will be surprised --
           even my wife who knows perfectly well that she had cut off my nose, she has come to see me the
           other day and asked me, 'What is the matter?' And I said, 'Although you had cut off my nose... but
           the moment my nose dropped I saw God!' And she is contemplating becoming a follower and I am
           just waiting for her. I want to cut off her nose! Let me cut off her nose, then you can kill me or
           whatsoever you want to do to me. Let me take revenge first!"
           And what a spiritual way to take revenge!

               You go on following others, although you see them living in misery. You go on following the
           powerful, the rich, the wealthy, although you see their faces are sad, their eyes are dull. They don't
           seem to be intelligent either; they don't have any grace, any joy, any beauty.
               If you succeed you will be in pain, because your success will bring the truth home: that your
           whole life has been sacrificed for nothing. Or if you fail you will be frustrated, because you will see
           that you have failed, that you are not worthy, that you have no worth. You will become
           self-condemnatory.
               Buddha is right. He says: IT ENDS IN TEARS. Every desire, whether fulfilled or not fulfilled,
           ends in tears. And no desire simply ends; before it ends it gives birth to other desires. So it remains a
           continuum: one goes on from one desire to another desire, life after life.

              HE WHO WISHES TO AWAKE
              CONSUMES HIS DESIRES
              JOYFULLY.


               Either you will be consumed by your desires or you have to consume your desires. And what
           does Buddha mean by saying, "Consume your desires"? He simply means: witness, watch. The
           whole affair is stupid.
               The intelligent person lives joyfully, contentedly, whatsoever situation he is in, whatsoever he
           has got. He lives joyfully, thankfully, gratefully. You can take his possessions away from him but
           you cannot take his joy, because he knows how to live joyfully.
               His joy is not dependent on anything, on any outer cause. His joy is his inner understanding: the
           understanding that from the outside one has never achieved joy, that from desires one has always
           come to tears. Seeing this nature of desire, his desire has disappeared; he lives without desire. And to
           live without desire is to live in contentment, it is to live without any hankering for more. Then
           whatsoever is, is more than enough.
               Either you live in desire or you live in gratitude: remember this. The man who lives in desire
           cannot be grateful to God, he can only be complaining and complaining; he will always have some
           grudge against God. But the man who has no desires has only gratitude. Even that which is given to
           him is more -- more than he ever deserved. He is always thankful; in that thankfulness is beauty and
           benediction.

              IN HIS FEAR A MAN MAY SHELTER
              IN MOUNTAINS OR IN FORESTS,
              IN GROVES OF SACRED TREES OR IN SHRINES.
              BUT HOW CAN HE HIDE THERE FROM HIS SORROW?


              You can escape to the caves, to the mountains, to the forests, but how can you escape from
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yourself? No escape is possible from yourself.
               The only way out is to be transformed, to become awakened. To watch, to see, to witness your
           desires, slowly slowly brings awakening. HE WHO SHELTERS IN THE WAY.... So don't go
           anywhere else. There is no other shelter except dhamma, except the way.

              HE WHO SHELTERS IN THE WAY
              AND TRAVELS WITH THOSE WHO FOLLOW IT
              COMES TO SEE THE FOUR GREAT TRUTHS.


               Buddha says, without giving any adjective to it, simply "the way." That's exactly the meaning of
           tao -- "the way." It is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian nor Buddhist; it is simply "the
           way." Take shelter in "the way."
               DHAMMAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI -- I take shelter in the law, in the way. That's how
           those who were desirous of becoming initiates of Buddha used to pray to him. Three shelters: take
           shelter in the awakened master, take shelter in his commune, and take shelter in the law, the
           dhamma, the way. BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI -- that is the first shelter -- I take
           shelter in the awakened one.
               SANGHAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI -- I take shelter in the commune of the awakened
           one. And DHAMMAM SHARANAM GACHCHHAMI -- I take shelter in the law, in the way, in the
           ultimate harmony of existence. These three shelters are immensely important.
               The sutra says: HE WHO SHELTERS IN THE WAY AND TRAVELS WITH THOSE WHO
           FOLLOW IT.... Religion is something which cannot be taught but can only be caught. It is like an
           infection: you cannot teach it, but if you live with people who have already caught it, it is
           contagious. Then you will become slowly slowly attuned to it.
               It is said in one of the ancient Taoist scriptures that if even a pebble is thrown into a heap of
           diamonds, sooner or later the pebble will become a diamond. It is true: not about the pebbles -- it is
           true about man.
               If you are part of a commune where many people are moving towards the sun or moving towards
           the source of light, love, joy, how long can you lag behind? Sooner or later the spirit of the commune
           is going to overpower you, to overflood you.
               If you listen to good music and you start feeling it deep down inside of you, a kind of
           synchronicity arises. If you see a dancer dancing you feel your feet are ready to dance; something
           has been transferred to your feet. It is not visible, it is not measurable, it is not material, but some
           vibe... you have caught the vibe; you would like to stand up and dance.
               The same happens in the commune of a buddha. The presence of the buddha is a tremendously
           powerful magnet. It attracts all those who are courageous, it attracts all those who are real seekers, it
           attracts all those who are authentic human beings. And then a commune slowly slowly is created. If
           you become part of a commune you start moving with the commune into unknown territory. It is
           easier to move in the unknown territory when you find so many people going towards that ultimate
           goal.
              HE WHO SHELTERS IN THE WAY AND TRAVELS WITH THOSE WHO FOLLOW IT COMES TO
              SEE THE FOUR GREAT TRUTHS.



              CONCERNING SORROW,
              THE BEGINNING OF SORROW,
              THE EIGHTFOLD WAY,
              AND THE END OF SORROW.


               The whole teaching of Buddha can be divided into four parts. The four noble truths he calls
           ARYA SATYA -- noble truths. The first is that unexamined life is sorrow, unenlightened life is
           sorrow. That is the most fundamental truth, Buddha says. Those who follow the way, they become
           aware of it: that life can be lived in two ways, either consciously or unconsciously. If you live
           unconsciously you will live in sorrow, you will be at the mercy of blind instincts.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               A wealthy American widow had a fantasy about marrying a man who had never had any
           previous sexual experience with a woman.
               She made contact with a discreet, international detective agency, and within six months they
           found an Australian gentleman who seemed to be perfectly suited for the widow.
               On the wedding night the widow was trembling with excitement as she completed her toilette
           and entered the bedroom to greet her husband. To her amazement, he had piled all of the furniture,
           including the bed, into the living room.
           "Why did you get rid of the furniture?" she blurted in disbelief.
           "Well," drawled her new spouse, "I have never slept with a woman before, but if it is anything like
           those kangaroos, we will need all the space we can get."

                People go on living through fantasies, absurd fantasies. You look at your own fantasies and they
           will all be ridiculous. But you never see your own fantasies as ridiculous; it is easier to see others'
           fantasies as ridiculous.
                Watch your own fantasies. What do you want out of your life? What you are living for? What is
           your program, your schedule on this earth? Why do you want to still be alive tomorrow? Just look at
           your fantasies. If you are given only seven days to live, how are you going to fulfill those seven
           days? With what? Write down your fantasies, don't be cunning and don't be clever -- be utterly true.
           And you will find all your fantasies ridiculous. But this is how people are living.
                This life, Buddha says, is nothing but sorrow. He agrees with Socrates. Socrates says: An
           unexamined life is not worth living. And Buddha says: An unexamined life is nothing but sorrow.
           That is the first noble truth.
                And the second noble truth one becomes aware of if one follows the way is: THE BEGINNING
           OF SORROW... the cause of sorrow. The cause is desire -- desire for more. First one experiences
           that his whole life is full of sorrow, then one becomes aware that the cause is desire. Those who have
           escaped from the wheel of desire are not in sorrow, they are utterly blissful. But those who are
           caught in the wheel are crushed by so many desires.
                The first truth is: life is sorrow. The second truth: the cause of sorrow is desire, desire for more.
           And the third truth is the eightfold way. Buddha says that his whole approach of transforming your
           being can be divided into eight steps; that is called the eightfold way. And all those steps are nothing
           but different dimensions of a single phenomenon: right mindfulness, SAMMASATI. Whatsoever
           you are doing, do it absolutely consciously, alertly, do it with awareness. Those eight steps are
           nothing but applications of awareness into different aspects of life.
                For example: if you are eating, Buddha says, eat with full awareness -- SAMYAK AHAR. Then
           whatsoever you eat is right -- just be aware. Now see the difference: other religions say, "Eat this, eat
           that. Don't eat this, don't eat that." Buddha never says what to eat, what not to eat. He says,
           "Whatsoever you are eating, eat with full awareness. And if your awareness says no, then don't eat
           it." Can you eat meat with awareness? It is impossible; you can eat meat only with unawareness.
                In Africa a few days ago, one African dictator, Bokasso, who was trying to be another Napoleon,
           had been dethroned. The most strange thing that came to light was that in his house, in his freezer,
           human flesh was found. He was a man-eater.
                Just think of a man eating another man's meat. Is it possible in consciousness? The whole thing is
           so disgusting! It is said that children were stolen just to prepare food for Bokasso. Of course, small
           children have delicious meat. Hundreds of children had disappeared and nobody could have ever
           thought that this man, who used to call himself emperor, was the cause behind the whole thing.
                But so is the case when you eat animal meat, not much difference in it. The animals also have
           life just as you have. They are our brothers and our sisters.
                Buddha never says what to eat, what not to eat; he never goes into details. And that's my
           approach too: just be aware.
                And likewise he uses this method of awareness for other things in life: SAMYAK VYAYAM --
           right effort. Don't make too much effort and don't make too little either. Right effort for everything, a
           balanced effort, effort which does not disturb your tranquility. Life is like walking on a tightrope:
           right effort is needed and awareness so that you cannot fall. Each moment there is danger: if you lean
           too much towards the left you will fall. Finding yourself leaning too much to the left you have to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lean towards the right to keep balance. And when you lean towards the right a moment comes, you
           start feeling that now you will fall towards the right; then you start leaning towards the left just to
           balance. This is right effort: keeping balanced.
               All those eight steps are nothing but applications of a single thing -- awareness. Buddha calls it
           right mindfulness. Don't do anything unconsciously.
               And the fourth: AND THE END OF SORROW -- nirvana, cessation of sorrow. The man who
           follows the path finds four things: life is sorrow, the cause of sorrow is desire, the method to get rid
           of sorrow is the eightfold path, rooted basically, essentially, in the phenomenon of awareness. And
           the fourth: that if you follow awareness you will attain to the cessation of sorrow, you will attain to
           nirvana. Buddha says: These are the four noble truths.

              THEN AT LAST HE IS SAFE.


              And one who has moved through all these four and attained to the fourth, he is at last safe.

              HE HAS SHAKEN OFF SORROW.
              HE IS FREE.


               To be free of sorrow is to be free. If you remain in sorrow you are not free. If you remain sad,
           howsoever great a saint you may be, you are not free; you are still far away from the goal.
               And our so-called saints are very sad-looking people. People think the sadder they are, the
           greater they are. They are not free from sorrow, in fact they are more in sorrow than the ordinary,
           worldly people. The worldly people sometimes laugh too, enjoy too, dance too, sing too, but the
           so-called saint looks at these laughing, singing, dancing people with condemnation. He thinks them
           just superficial. Their laughter is not laughter to him, their joy is not joy to him. He has a great
           condemnation of all this, because he has renounced all these things without understanding, without
           going through these four noble truths. He has simply renounced; he has followed a tradition, a
           convention, of renunciation. He is an escapist. He has to condemn all laughter, because he cannot
           laugh. He has become dry, dry like a rock; he cannot bloom into flowers. He has to condemn all
           springs and he has to condemn all rosebushes. And he finds ways and means to condemn you.
               If you go to a so-called saint, he looks at you as if you are not a human being. He looks at you as
           doomed, as doomed to hell, bound towards hell, already falling into the bottomless pit of hell. He
           looks at you with condemnation, with pity. But pity is not compassion, and condemnation simply
           shows that he has not known anything at all.
               He is just the same type of person as you are, only standing on his head. You are greedy for
           money, he is afraid of money. You are related to money through greed, he is related to it through
           fear. But both are related to money, both are obsessed with money.
               It is said that if you take money to Vinoba Bhave he immediately closes his eyes -- he can't see
           money. Now this looks ridiculous -- there must be great fear. Just a ten-rupee note... why should you
           be so afraid of it that you have to close your eyes? But because he closes his eyes -- he never touches
           money, he does not want to see money -- he is revered as a great saint. But this fear of money, this
           antagonism, is a kind of relationship. He is not free of money, otherwise why close his eyes? And a
           ten-rupee note is nothing but a piece of paper. You don't close your eyes when you look at other
           pieces of paper -- why give so much importance to this piece of paper? There must be greed deep
           down which is standing on its head.
               There are people who are running after women or after men, and then there are people who are
           running away from men or away from women. But both are obsessed with the other sex. This
           obsession does not show understanding. Understanding brings you freedom from all obsessions -- of
           fear, of greed. The real understanding simply makes you free from all kinds of desires and
           anti-desires. It makes you free of the world and the other world too. It simply makes you free.

              THE AWAKENED ARE FEW AND HARD TO FIND.
              HAPPY IS THE HOUSE WHERE A MAN AWAKES.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Buddha repeats this again and again, and it is worth repeating so that you become alert about the
           phenomenon; it is very rare -- THE AWAKENED ARE FEW AND HARD TO FIND. Yes, you will
           find many pseudo people pretending; and it is very difficult to judge who is pseudo and who is real.
           But a few things can be remembered. The pseudo will always be against the world; he has replaced
           fear with greed. The pseudo will always be an escapist. The pseudo will be always sad, he cannot
           laugh; laughter seems too mundane, almost sacrilegious to him.
               The really awakened is neither for the world nor against the world. He lives in the world and is
           absolutely free of it. He lives in the world but the world does not live in him. He is in the world but
           not of it. He is never an escapist. Once you become awakened there is nowhere to escape, there is no
           need either; in fact, there is nobody TO escape.
               The unawakened, the pseudo person, who is pretending to be a master or a buddha, is bound to
           create a division between God and the world, and he will tell you to renounce the world if you want
           to get to God. In fact, that is the same as: Cut off your nose if you want to see God.
               Neither the nose prevents you from seeing God nor can the world prevent you from seeing God.
           In fact, if you have poor eyes the nose will help you -- otherwise where are you going to put your
           specs? Without a nose it will be very difficult! The nose is not a hindrance, it can be a help
           sometimes. Neither is the world a hindrance. It is a help, a challenge, a sharpening of your
           intelligence, an opportunity to grow, to be mature, to be alert.
               The world is full of pitfalls, but those pitfalls are helpful because they keep you alert. If there are
           no pitfalls you will tend to fall asleep; when there is great danger you are bound to be awake.

           A great Zen story:
               A prince came to a Zen master; he wanted to learn meditation. He was in a hurry too, because his
           father was old and his father had sent him to this Zen master to learn meditation, because the father
           said, "In my life I have wasted much time unnecessarily, and only later on I became aware that the
           only worthwhile, only meaningful thing in life is meditation. So don't waste your time," he told his
           son, the prince. "You go to this master and learn meditation before I leave my body. I will be happier
           leaving my body if you have learned meditation. I cannot give you anything else. This whole
           kingdom is worthless; this is not your true heritage. I will not be happy giving you only this
           kingdom; I will be happy if I can help you to meditate."
               So the prince came to the Zen master and he said, "I am in a hurry. My father is old, he can die
           any moment."
               The master said, "The first principle of meditation is not to be in a hurry. Impatience won't do.
           Get lost, get out! Never come here again! Try to find some pseudo master who will give you a
           mantra to chant and will console you with 'Go on chanting fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen
           in the evening and you will become enlightened.'
           "But if you want to be here, forget time, because meditation is a search for eternity. And forget all
           about your old father -- nobody ever dies, believe me. One day you will see that what I am saying is
           true. Neither anybody ever gets old nor ever dies. Don't be worried. I know your father, because he
           has learned meditation from me. He is not going to die -- his body may die. But you will have to
           forget all about your father and your kingdom if you want to learn meditation. It needs one-pointed
           devotion."
               The master was such, his impact was such, the young man decided to stay.
               Three years passed. The master never said a single word about meditation. The young man
           served the master in every possible way, waited and waited, and he was afraid to mention the subject
           because he might say, "Get lost -- you are in a hurry!" So he could not say even that.
               But three years is too much. Finally one day he said in the morning -- the master was sitting
           under a tree taking a sunbath -- he said, "Sir, three years have passed. Are you aware? And you have
           not even told me what to do, what is meditation."
               The master looked at him and said, "So you are still in a hurry! Okay, today I will start teaching
           you meditation."
               And he started teaching in a very strange way. The young man was cleaning the floor of the
           temple and the master would come from the back and hit him hard with a wooden sword -- really
           hard he would hit him! The young man would be reading the Buddhist sutras, and he would come
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from behind. And he was such a silent man that you would not even be able to hear his footsteps.
           And suddenly, out of nowhere, the hit -- the wooden sword would descend on him.
               The young man thought, "What kind of meditation is this?" In seven days he was feeling so tired
           and wounded and scratched. He asked, "What are you doing? You go on hitting me!"
               The master said, "This is my way of teaching. Be alert, be very conscious, so before I hit you,
           you can dodge -- that's the only way."
               There was no other escape, so the young man had to be very alert. He was reading the book but
           he was alert, conscious. Slowly slowly, within two, three weeks, he started hearing the footsteps of
           the master -- and his walk was almost like a cat's. When the cat goes to catch the rat she walks so
           silently. The master was really an old cat!
               But the young man became alert enough; he started hearing his footsteps. Within three months
           the master was unable to hit him even a single time. Twenty-four hours a day he would try, but the
           young man would dodge and jump, whatsoever he was doing.
               Then the master said, "The first lesson is over. Now begins the second lesson: now be alert in
           your sleep. Leave your doors open, because I may come any time."
               Now this was a harder thing! Initially he would come and hit him hard. The old man did not need
           much sleep either; two hours was enough for him. And this was a young man, he needed eight hours
           sleep, and the whole night it was a struggle. Many times he would come and hit him, but the young
           man was now certain that if the first lesson had been of such value... he became so alert and so
           peaceful that he was no longer inquiring, "What are you doing? This is nonsense!"
               The master himself said, "Don't be worried. Just keep alert even in your sleep. And the harder I
           hit you, the better, because then you will be really alert. The situation has to be created."
               Within three months he would jump from his sleep. He would immediately open his eyes and
           say, "Wait! There is no need -- I am alert."
               After three months the master said, "You have passed the second lesson. Now the third and the
           last."
               The young man said, "What can be the third, because there are only two states -- waking, sleep.
           Now what are you going to do?"
               He said, "Now I will hit with a real sword -- that is the third lesson."
               It is one thing to be hit by a wooden sword -- you know that at the most you may be hurt but you
           cannot be killed. And he brought out a real sword. He took it out of the sheath, and the young man
           thought, "This is the end -- I am finished! This is a dangerous game. Now he can hit with a real
           sword. Even if I miss once I have missed forever!"
               But he did not miss even once. When the danger is such, you rise to face that danger. After three
           months, not even a single time had the master been able to hit him with the real sword. The master
           said, "Your third lesson is complete -- you have become a meditator. Now tomorrow morning you
           can leave. You can go and tell your father that I am absolutely contented with you."
               The next morning he would leave. It is evening; the sun is setting. The master is reading a sutra
           under a tree in the last rays of the sunlight. And the young man thinks -- he is sitting somewhere
           back -- "Before I leave" -- the idea had come to him many times -- "one time I have to hit this old
           man! Now this is the last day; tomorrow morning I will leave."
               So he prepares. He takes a wooden sword, hides behind a tree. The master says, "Stop!" He does
           not look at him at all. "Come here! I am an old man, and such desires are not good -- the desire to hit
           your own master!"
               The young man is puzzled. He says, "But I have not said anything."
               The master says, "One day when you become really alert, even that which is not said is heard.
           Just as one day you were not hearing my footsteps and one day you became aware and started
           hearing them; just like one day you were not able to hear my footsteps in your sleep... but the day
           came when you started hearing my footsteps, even in your sleep -- exactly like that, one day you will
           know. When the mind is absolutely silent you can hear words that have not been spoken. You can
           read unexpressed thoughts. You can read intentions. You can read feelings. Not that you make any
           effort -- you become a mirror, you reflect."

             Rare and few are the buddhas to find. And Buddha says: HAPPY IS THE HOUSE WHERE A
           MAN AWAKES. By "the house" he means the body. Happy is the body where a man awakes, where
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the flame of awareness has arisen. You become a temple.

              BLESSED IS HIS BIRTH.
              BLESSED IS THE TEACHING OF THE WAY.
              BLESSED IS THE UNDERSTANDING AMONG THOSE
              WHO FOLLOW IT.
              AND BLESSED IS THEIR DETERMINATION.



              AND BLESSED ARE THEY WHO REVERE
              THE MAN WHO AWAKES AND FOLLOWS THE WAY.



              THEY ARE FREE FROM FEAR.
              THEY ARE FREE.



              THEY HAVE CROSSED OVER THE RIVER OF SORROW.


               To meet a buddha is rare. To take refuge in a buddha is even more rare. To follow, to live out the
           teachings of a buddha is even more rare. Hence Buddha says: BLESSED IS HIS BIRTH. BLESSED
           IS THE TEACHING OF THE WAY. A man who one day becomes a buddha, even his birth is
           blessed. His coming into the world is a blessing to the world, to himself and to others too. BLESSED
           IS THE TEACHING OF THE WAY. And then spontaneously he starts teaching; it is a sharing. He
           has come home and he starts calling others who are still wandering in the darkness.
               BLESSED IS THE UNDERSTANDING AMONG THOSE WHO FOLLOW IT. And not only
           the buddha is blessed: blessed are those too who follow it. AND BLESSED IS THEIR
           DETERMINATION. And blessed is the commitment, the involvement of following the way, the
           dhamma.
              AND BLESSED ARE THEY WHO REVERE THE MAN WHO AWAKES AND FOLLOWS THE WAY.
              THEY ARE FREE FROM FEAR. THEY ARE FREE.

               To be free from fear is to be free. To be free from fear you need to be free from desire. Desire
           keeps you afraid. Desire keeps you always wavering: "Whether it is going to happen or not? Whether
           I am going to make it this time or not?" If you succeed you are afraid -- somebody will take it away
           from you. If you succeed in accumulating riches you are worried, afraid: you can be robbed, they can
           be stolen. If you don't succeed you are constantly in fear that "I am not of any worth." You fall in
           your own eyes, you are trembling. To be free from desire is to be free from fear.
               Then one lives in the moment; neither the past is one's concern nor the future. How can there be
           any fear? And Buddha defines freedom as freedom from fear.
               THEY HAVE CROSSED OVER THE RIVER OF SORROW. Life unexamined, unobserved,
           unenlightened, is nothing but a river of sorrow -- and we are all drowning in it. There is only one
           boat to get to the other shore. The name of the boat is awareness.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                    Chapter #4
                                          Chapter title: This too will pass
           24 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910240
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: DHAM604
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video:     No
                Length: 0 mins




               The first question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               IN SPITE OF DREADFUL POLITICAL CATASTROPHES, POLITICAL ACTION SEEMS TO BE THE
               ONLY MEANS TO FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE IN THE WORLD. DOES THE SEARCH YOU ARE
               INSPIRING EXCLUDE POLITICAL ACTION?


                Jean-Francois Held, I am in love with life in its totality. My love excludes nothing; it includes
           all. Yes, political action too is included in it. That's the worst thing to include, but I can't help it! But
           everything that is included in my vision of life is included with a difference.
                In the past, man has lived without awareness in all the aspects of life. He has loved without
           awareness and failed in it, and love has brought only misery and nothing else. He has done all kinds
           of things in the past, but everything has proved a hell. So has been the case with political action.
                Each revolution turns into antirevolution. It is time we should understand how this happens, why
           this happens at all -- that each revolution, each struggle against injustice, finally turns into injustice
           itself, becomes antirevolutionary.
                In this century it has happened again and again -- I am not talking about a faraway past. It
           happened in Russia, it happened in China. It is going to happen if we continue to function in the
           same old way. Unawareness cannot bring more than that.
                When you are powerless, it is easy to fight against injustice; the moment you become powerful,
           you forget all about injustice. Then repressed desires to dominate assert themselves. Then your
           unconscious takes over, and you start doing the same things that were done before by the enemies
           against whom you had been struggling. You had staked your very life for it!
                Lord Acton says that power corrupts. It is true only in a sense, and in another sense it is
           absolutely untrue. It is true if you look at the surface of things: power certainly corrupts, whosoever
           becomes powerful becomes corrupted. Factually it is true, but if you dive deep into the phenomenon
           then it is not true.
                Power does not corrupt: it is the corrupted people who become attracted towards power. It is the
           people who would like to do things which they cannot do while they are not in power. The moment
           they are in power, their whole repressed mind asserts itself. Now there is nothing to bar them,
           nothing to prevent them; they have the power. Power does not corrupt them, it only brings their
           corruption to the surface. Corruption was there as a seed; now it has sprouted. The power has proved
           only the right season for it to sprout. Power is only the spring for the poisonous flowers of corruption
           and injustice in their being.
                Power is not the cause of corruption, but only the opportunity for its expression. Hence I say:
           basically, fundamentally, Lord Acton is wrong.
                Who becomes interested in politics? Yes, with beautiful slogans people go into it, but what
           happens to those people? Joseph Stalin was fighting against the injustice of the czar. What
           happened? He himself became the greatest czar the world has ever known, worse than Ivan the
           Terrible! Hitler used to talk about socialism. He had named his party the Nationalist Socialist Party.
           What happened to socialism when he came into power? All that disappeared.
                The same thing had happened in India. Mahatma Gandhi and his followers were talking about
           nonviolence, love, peace -- all the great values cherished down the ages. And when power came he
           escaped. Mahatma Gandhi himself escaped because he became aware that if he took power in his
           hands he would no longer be the mahatma, the sage. And the followers who came into power were
           all proved as corrupted as anywhere else -- and they were all good people before they were in power,
           great servants of the people. They had sacrificed much. They were not bad people in any way; in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           every possible way they were good people. But even good people turn into bad people -- that is
           something fundamental to be understood.
                I would like my sannyasins to live life in its totality, but with an absolute condition, categorical
           condition: and that condition is awareness, meditation. Go first deep into meditation, so you can
           cleanse your unconscious of all poisonous seeds, so there is nothing to be corrupted and there is
           nothing inside you which power can bring forth. And then do whatsoever you feel like doing.
                If you want to become a painter, become a painter. Your painting will have a difference; it won't
           be like Picasso. Picasso's paintings are insane -- he IS insane! In fact, if he had been prevented from
           painting he would have been in a madhouse. Through his paintings he is catharting, throwing out his
           insanity onto the canvas, getting rid of it. Yes, he feels better -- it is a kind of vomiting! After
           vomiting you feel better, but what about others who look at your vomit! But the world is so stupid
           that if Picasso vomits, people say, "What a great painting -- something never seen before, something
           unique!"
                Vincent van Gogh really went insane, had to be hospitalized for one year, and then he committed
           suicide. And he was not more than thirty-seven. Now, what kind of paintings had this man been
           doing? Certainly he had the art, the skill, but the art and the skill were in the hands of a madman,
           suicidal. Watching his paintings you will feel restless, uneasy. Keep a Picasso painting in your
           bedroom and you will have nightmares!
                A meditator can become a painter, but then something totally different will come out of him --
           something of the beyond, because he will be capable to receive God. He can become a dancer; his
           dance will have a new quality to it: it will allow the divine to be expressed. He can become a
           musician... or he can go into political action, but his political action will be rooted in meditation.
           Hence there will be no fear of a Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler or Mao Zedong coming out of it; that is
           impossible.
                I don't tell anybody to go in a certain direction; I leave my disciples totally free. I simply teach
           them meditation. I teach them being more alert, more aware, and then it is up to them. Whatsoever
           their natural potential is they will find it, but it is going to be with awareness. Then there is no
           danger.
                Jean-Francois Held, I am not against political action -- I am not against anything. I am not
           life-negative; I affirm life, I am in absolute love with life!
                And of course, when millions of people are on the earth, there is going to be some kind of
           politics or other. Politics cannot just disappear. It will be like dissolving the police, the post office,
           the railway -- it will create a chaos.
                And I am not an anarchist and I am not in favor of chaos. I want the world to be more beautiful,
           more harmonious, more of a cosmos than of a chaos. Sometimes I praise chaos, only in order to
           destroy that which is rotten. I praise destructiveness also, only in order to create. Yes, sometimes I
           am very negative -- I am against conventions, conformities, traditions -- only to make you free so
           that you can create new visions, new worlds, so that you need not remain imprisoned with the past,
           so that you can have a future and a present. But I am not destructive. My whole effort is to help you
           to be creative.
                A few people out of my sannyasins are bound to go into political action, but I will allow them
           only when they have fulfilled the basic condition: when they are more alert, aware, when their inner
           being is full of light. Then do whatsoever you want to do -- you can't bring harm to the world. You
           will bring something good, something beautiful; you will be a blessing to the world. Without it,
           without that awareness, even if you do something good, it is going to turn into something harmful.
                Just a few days ago, Mother Teresa of Calcutta had received the Nobel Prize. Now this is
           something utterly stupid! The Nobel Prize Award Committee has never done anything so foolish
           before -- but on the surface it looks beautiful. It is being praised all over the world, that they have
           done something great.
                J. Krishnamurti has not received a Nobel Prize -- and he is one of those rare human beings, those
           few of the buddhas, who are really laying the foundation for world peace. And Mother Teresa has
           received the Nobel Prize for world peace. Now, I don't understand what she has done for world
           peace! George Gurdjieff didn't receive a Nobel Prize, and he was working hard to transform the
           inner core of human beings; Raman Maharshi didn't receive the Nobel Prize -- because their work is
           invisible: their work is that of bringing more consciousness to people. When you bring bread to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people it is visible, when you bring clothes to people it is visible, when you bring medicines to
           people it is visible. When you bring God to people, it is absolutely invisible.
               Mother Teresa is doing something good on the surface only: serving the poor of Calcutta, the ill,
           the diseased, the old, the orphans, the widows, the lepers, the crippled, the blind. It is so obvious that
           she is doing something good! But basically what she is doing is consoling these people. And giving
           consolation to the poor, to the blind, to the lepers, to the orphans, is an antirevolutionary act. To
           console them means to help them remain adjusted with the society that exists, to remain attuned with
           the status quo. What she is doing is antirevolutionary. But the governments are happy, the rich
           people are happy, the powerful people are happy, because she is really NOT serving the blind and
           the poor. She is serving the vested interests, she is serving the priests and the politicians and the
           powers; she is helping them to remain in their power. She is making, creating, an atmosphere in
           which the old can continue.
               In India no revolution has ever happened against the powerful, the rich, the wealthy, for the
           simple reason that it is a so-called religious country; there are so many consolers. Fifty lakhs of
           Hindu monks consoling people, giving them explanations why they are poor, why they are blind,
           why they are crippled: because of their past karmas! They have done something bad in their past
           lives, hence they are suffering. "Suffer silently, don't react," they go and teach these people, "because
           if you react, if you do something again, again you will suffer in your next life. Don't miss this
           opportunity, let the accounts be closed. This time behave in a good way!" And of course, to be a
           revolutionary is not something good! Be obedient -- that is good -- don't be disobedient.
           Disobedience is evil, it is sin. The Christians call it the original sin.
               What was the sin of Adam and Eve? -- just because they had disobeyed God. There seems to be
           not much of a sin in it. Eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge is not a sin. Why should it be
           called the original sin? It is called the original sin because they disobeyed. To disobey is the greatest
           sin in the eyes of the priests.
               For ten thousand years in India these priests and the monks have been teaching people, "Be
           obedient to the system that is in power. Don't disobey; otherwise you will suffer in your future."
           Hence no revolution has happened, and these monks and priests are praised very much.
               Now Christian missionaries are doing the same all over the world: serving the poor, the crippled.
           They are telling these poor people, "Suffer silently -- it may be a test for you that God has created.
           You have to pass through this fire, only then will you become pure gold." Christian missionaries are
           antirevolutionary.
               And why are they serving these poor people? -- because of greed! They want to get to paradise,
           and the only way to get to paradise is through service. Now sometimes I wonder what will happen if
           there is nobody who is crippled, blind, poor; what will happen to the Christian missionaries? How
           will they reach paradise? The very ladder will disappear! They will miss the boat, there will be no
           possibility to go to the other shore. These Christian missionaries would like the poverty to continue,
           they would like these poor people to remain on the earth. The more poor there are, the more
           opportunities to serve, and of course, more people can get to heaven.
               Giving the Nobel Prize to Mother Teresa is giving the Nobel Prize to antirevolutionary acts.
               But that's how it has always been happening: you praise those people who somehow confirm the
           old, the dead, who help the society to remain as it is.
               My work is invisible. In fact, I am teaching you, in an indirect way, the greatest revolution
           possible. I am teaching you rebellion, and this rebellion is multidimensional: wherever you will go,
           this rebellion will have its impact. If you go into poetry you will write rebellious poetry. If you go
           into music you will create a new kind of music. If you dance, your dance will have a different flavor.
           And if you go into politics, you will change the whole face of political action itself.
               Jean-Francois Held, I am not against political action, but the way it has been up to now is utterly
           meaningless. Hence on the surface, nobody can see that I am involved in any political activity,
           nobody can see that I am involved in any kind of worldly activity.
               I am teaching people to sit silently, watch their thoughts, get out of their minds. The stupid
           revolutionary will think that I am against political action, that I am a reactionary. Just the reverse is
           the case. Out of his stupidity -- although he may talk about revolution -- what he is going to do is
           going to be reactionary. He will drag the society backwards.
               I am not doing anything that can be called political, social: I am not for social reform or political
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           action. At least on the surface I look like an escapist and I am helping people to escape. Yes, I am
           helping people to escape to themselves.
               Escape from all kinds of unintelligent activities. First sharpen your intelligence. Let a great joy
           arise in you. Become more watchful, so much so that not even a corner in your being is dark
           anymore. Let your unconscious be transformed into consciousness.
               Then do whatsoever you want to do. Then if you want to go to hell, go with my blessings,
           because you will be able to transform hell itself.
               It is not that meditators go to heaven, no: wherever they go they are in heaven and whatsoever
           they do is divine. But this is such a new approach that it will take time to be understood. I am using
           such a different language that it is natural that I will be misunderstood.

               A beatnik ran through a red light. The cop pulled him over and said, "Did you not see the red
           light?"
               The beatnik replied, "Like, man, I did not even see the house!"

           There are different languages!

               As Harry was shaving one morning he called out, "You know, sweetheart, I don't seem to get
           along too well with the other fellows at the office."
           There was no response.
           "Darling, the boys treat me like I am a little odd."
           There was still no response.
           He put the razor away and started to comb his hair.
           "Lovey, the boys seem to think that I am queer."
               Still getting no reply he finally shouted, "For heaven's sake, John, aren't you listening?"

              I am talking one language, and people are accustomed to a totally different language.
              Unless you meditate you will not be able to understand what is happening here, what I am saying
           and what I am doing.

              Three men, English, Arabian and American, were standing on a street corner in Casablanca,
           when a spectacular oriental beauty walked haughtily by them.
           "By Jove!" exclaimed the Englishman.
           "By Allah!" sighed the Arabian.
           "By tomorrow night!" said the American.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              TO MANY PEOPLE IN THE WEST, THE MASTER/DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP IS OUTSIDE THEIR
              EXPERIENCE. WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?


               Chris Lister, Allen Jewhurst, Lesley Rogers, the East has contributed a few tremendously
           significant things to human consciousness. One of those beautiful things is the phenomenon of the
           master/disciple relationship. It is an Eastern contribution; just as science is a Western phenomenon,
           mysticism is Eastern. Science is extrovert, mysticism is introvert. Science is trying to know the
           objective reality, and mysticism is an exploration of the subjective reality, of the interiority of your
           own being.
               In the world of science the teacher/student relationship exists, because science can be taught --
           hence the teacher/ student relationship. But religion, mysticism, cannot be taught, it can only be
           caught. Hence in mysticism there is no relationship like the teacher/student relationship. A totally
           different kind of relationship exists: the master/disciple. The differences are tremendous, the
           differences are great.
               Between a student and a teacher, doubt is the method. The teacher is there to help your doubts
           disappear, he is there to answer your questions; he is there to inform you, make you more
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledgeable. The student is there with all his questions, curiosities, doubts. In fact, the more
           intelligent he is, the more doubtful he will be. The best student is full of doubts, and the best teacher
           is one who helps the student with new answers, new knowledge, so that his doubts can be disposed
           of. Science uses doubt as the method; that's its fundamental method of inquiry.
               In the world of religion just the opposite is the case: trust is the method, not doubt; love is the
           method, not logic; surrender is the method, not conquest of knowledge. The student, when he comes
           from the university, comes with great ego because he has accumulated much knowledge, he has
           learned much. But the disciple, when he comes from the master, comes as a nobody, egoless. He no
           longer exists as a separate entity from existence. He has not learned anything; on the contrary, he has
           unlearned whatsoever he used to know before.
               A great philosopher had come to see Raman Maharshi -- a German philosopher. He asked
           Raman, "I have come from far far away, to learn much from you."
               Raman laughed and he said, "Your journey has been an exercise in futility. Unnecessarily you
           traveled to me, because I am not here to teach you anything -- if you have come to learn, you have
           come to the wrong place -- I help people to UNlearn!"
               The master helps you to UNlearn. The master helps you to become innocent again, childlike.
               Jesus says: Unless you are like a child, unless you are reborn, you shall not enter into my
           kingdom of God. He is speaking an Eastern language. Jesus traveled to India; whatsoever he taught
           later on, he had imbibed that spirit in this country. In fact, it was one of the reasons that he was
           crucified. It was one of the basic reasons why his people could not understand him: he was bringing
           a totally new language, a new approach, a new vision.
               The East has always been the source. Pythagoras came to the East, Jesus came to the East... and
           whatsoever the West has ever come to know about master-and-discipleship has been experienced
           through the East, directly or indirectly.
               The master/disciple relationship is a love affair, the greatest love affair possible. The disciple
           surrenders his ego to the master. He bows down. He says: BUDDHAM SHARANAM
           GACHCHHAMI -- I bow down to the buddha, I surrender to the buddha, I take shelter at your feet.
           The moment he drops his ego he becomes part of the being of the master.
               And the master is no more there as a person, he is only a presence. And when two presences
           meet, the greatest orgasmic experience happens, the greatest ecstasy. That ecstasy is the goal of the
           master-and-disciple relationship. That ecstasy has been happening for centuries in a very mysterious
           way: the master says nothing about it, the disciple hears nothing about it, but sitting by the side of
           the master, silently waiting, patiently, prayerfully, one day the synchronicity.... One day, suddenly,
           the disciple starts breathing with the master. His heartbeat is no longer separate from the master's
           heartbeat. They disappear as two and become one.
               That experience of oneness with the master is the opening of the door of the temple of God.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS PLATONIC LOVE?


               Krishna Deva, love is simply love. It can't be Platonic or Hegelian or Kantian -- love is simply
           love! Platonic love is another name for homosexuality. Plato seems to be the first person who
           believed in homosexuality. Many must have practiced it before him, but he is the first proponent of
           it.
               The Greek idea of beauty was not that of feminine beauty -- but male beauty. You must have
           seen in the museums Greek painting, sculpture, and you must have observed: you never come across
           the paintings of a nude woman or statues of nude women. No, it is always man.
               Platonic love is just a good name for homosexuality. It is better to call it what it actually is rather
           than giving it a beautiful label.
               But love is neither homosexual nor heterosexual. Love is simply love! In fact, love has nothing
           to do with the object. Love is a state of your consciousness when you are joyous, when there is a
           dance in your being. Something starts vibrating, radiating, from your center; something starts
           pulsating around you. It starts reaching people: it can reach women, it can reach men, it can reach
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rocks and trees and stars.
                When I am talking about love, I am talking about THIS love: a love that is not a relationship but
           a state of being. Always remember: whenever I use the word 'love' I use it as a state of being, not as
           a relationship. Relationship is only a very minor aspect of it. But your idea of love is basically that of
           relationship, as if that is all.
                Relationship is needed only because you can't be alone, because you are not yet capable of
           meditation. Hence, meditation is a MUST before you can really love. One should be capable of
           being alone, utterly alone, and yet tremendously blissful. Then you can love. Then your love is no
           more a need but a sharing, no more a necessity. You will not become dependent on the people you
           love. You will share -- and sharing is beautiful.
                But what ordinarily happens in the world is: you don't have love, the person you think you love
           has no love in his being either, and both are asking for love from each other. Two beggars begging
           each other! Hence, the fight, the conflict, the continuous quarrel between the lovers -- on trivia, on
           immaterial things, on stupid things! -- but they go on quarreling.
                The basic quarrel is that the husband thinks he is not getting what is his right to get, the wife
           thinks she is not getting what is her right to get. The wife thinks she has been deceived and the
           husband also thinks that he has been deceived. Where is the love? Nobody bothers to give,
           everybody wants to get. And when everybody is after getting, nobody gets it. And everybody feels at
           a loss, empty, tense.
                The basic foundation is missing, and you have started making the temple without the foundation.
           It is going to fall and collapse any moment. And you know how many times your love has collapsed,
           and still you go on doing the same thing again and again.
                You live in such unawareness! You don't see what you have been doing to your life and to others'
           lives. You go on mechanically, robotlike, repeating the old pattern, knowing perfectly well you have
           done this before. And you know what has always been the outcome, and deep down you are also
           alert that it is going to happen the same way again -- because there is no difference. You are
           preparing for the same conclusion, the same collapse.
                If you can learn anything from the failure of love, then that thing is: become more aware, become
           more meditative. And by meditation I mean the capacity to be joyous alone. Very rare people are
           capable of being blissful for no reason at all -- just sitting silently and blissful! Others will think
           them mad, because the idea of happiness is that it has to come from somebody else. You meet a
           beautiful woman and you are happy or you meet a beautiful man and you are happy. Sitting silently
           in your room and so blissful, so blissed out? You must be crazy or something! People will suspect
           that you are on a drug, stoned.
                Yes, meditation is the ultimate LSD! It is releasing your own psychedelic powers. It is releasing
           your own imprisoned splendor. And you become so joyous, such a celebration arises in your being,
           that you need not have any relationship. Still you can relate with people... and that's the difference
           between relating and relationship.
                Relationship is a thing: you cling to it. Relating is a flow, a movement, a process. You meet a
           person, you are loving, because you have so much love to give -- and the more you give, the more
           you have. Once you have understood this strange arithmetic of love: that the more you give, the
           more you have.... This is just against the economic laws that operate in the outside world. Once you
           have known that, if you want to have more love and more joy, you give and share, then you simply
           share. And whosoever allows you to share your joy with him or with her, you feel grateful to him or
           her. But it is not a relationship; it is a riverlike flow.
                The river passes by the side of a tree, saying hello, nourishing the tree, giving water to the tree...
           and it moves on, dances on. It does not cling to the tree. And the tree does not say, "Where are you
           going? We are married! And before you can leave me you will need a divorce, at least a separation!
           Where are you going? And if you were to leave me, why had you danced so beautifully around me?
           Why in the first place did you nourish me?" No, the tree showers its flowers onto the river in deep
           gratefulness, and the river moves on. The wind comes and dances around the tree and moves on. And
           the tree gives its fragrance to the wind.
                This is relating. If humanity is ever going to become grown-up, mature, this will be the way of
           love: people meeting, sharing, moving, a nonpossessive quality, a nondominating quality. Otherwise
           love becomes a power trip.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Don't be worried, Krishna Deva, about what platonic love is. Meditate on: what is love?

               Mrs. Green and her neighbor, Mrs. Kenyon, were having a chat one day.
           "Mrs. Green," said Mrs. Kenyon, "maybe it is none of my business, but after all we have been
           friends a long time and I am concerned about your reputation. You are divorced, that's true, but
           people are talking about you. It just does not look right when an eighteen-year-old boy comes every
           night and visits you till such a late hour."
           "Well," Mrs. Green smiled, "don't worry about it. It is purely a platonic relationship."
           "How can it be platonic?" Mrs. Kenyon asked.
           "Well," said Mrs. Green, "it is play for him and it is tonic for me!"

              That's what platonic love is: play for one, tonic for the other! More than that I don't know
           anything about it!

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A BUSINESSMAN. CAN I ALSO MEDITATE AND BECOME A SANNYASIN?


                Ram Prasad, one has to do something in life. Somebody is a carpenter and somebody is a king,
           and somebody is a businessman and somebody is a warrior. These are ways of livelihood, these are
           ways of getting bread and butter, a shelter. They can't change your inner being. Whether you are a
           warrior or a businessman does not make any difference: one has chosen one way to earn his
           livelihood, the other has chosen something else.
                Meditation is life, not livelihood. It has nothing to do with what you do; it has everything to do
           with what you are. Yes, business should not enter into your being, that is true. If your being also has
           become businesslike, then it is difficult to meditate and impossible to be a sannyasin... because if
           your being has become businesslike, then you have become too calculative. And a calculative person
           is a cowardly person: he thinks too much, he cannot take any jumps.
                And meditation is a jump: from the head to the heart, and ultimately from the heart to the being.
           You will be going deeper and deeper, where calculations will have to be left behind, where all logic
           becomes irrelevant. You cannot carry your cleverness there.
                In fact, cleverness is not true intelligence either; cleverness is a poor substitute for intelligence.
           People who are not intelligent learn how to be clever. People who are intelligent need not be clever;
           they are innocent, they need not be cunning. They function out of a state of not-knowing.
                If you are a businessman, that's okay. If Jesus can become a meditator and a sannyasin, and
           ultimately a christ, a buddha... and he was the son of a carpenter, helping his father, bringing wood,
           cutting wood. If a carpenter's son can become a buddha, why not you?
                Kabir was a weaver. He continued his work his whole life; even after his enlightenment he was
           still weaving; he loved it! Many times his disciples asked him, prayed to him with tears in their eyes,
           that "You need not work anymore -- we are here to take care of you! So many disciples, why go on
           in your old age spinning, weaving?"
                And Kabir would say, "But do you know for whom I am weaving, for whom I am spinning? For
           God! -- because everyone is now a god to me. It is my way of prayer."
                If Kabir can become a buddha and still remain a weaver, why can't you?
                But business should not enter into your being. Business should be just an outside thing, just one
           of the ways of livelihood. When you close your shop, forget all about your business. When you come
           home, don't carry the shop in your head. When you are home with your wife, with your children,
           don't be a businessman. That is ugly: that means your being is becoming colored by your doing.
           Doing is a superficial thing. The being should remain transcendental to your doing and you should
           always be capable of putting your doing aside and entering into the world of your being. That's what
           meditation is all about.

               A marriage broker was trying to arrange a match between a businessman and a beautiful young
           girl. But the businessman was very cagey. "Before I buy goods," the businessman said, "I look over
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           samples, and before I get married I must also have a sample."
           "But good heavens, man, you can't ask a respectable girl for a thing like that!" the broker replied.
           "Sorry," insisted the other, "I am strictly business and I want it done in my way or not at all."
               The broker went off in despair to talk with the girl. "I have got you a fine fellow," he said, "with
           lots of money. But strictly business he is, and he don't do nothing blind. He must have a sample."
           "Listen," said the girl. "I am as smart in business as he is. Samples I won't give him -- references I
           will!"

               If you are THAT kind of businessman, Ram Prasad, then it is going to be difficult to meditate
           and impossible to be a sannyasin.
               But you have come here, you have been listening to me; even the desire to become a sannyasin
           has arisen in you. That is a good indication that business has not yet poisoned your soul totally. A
           part of you is still available for love, a part of you is still available for God. A part of you is still not
           businesslike -- otherwise you would not be here.
               Businesslike people can't come to me; it is impossible for them to have any communion with me.
           They can't understand a single word uttered here -- and what to say about the silence that is present
           here? They live in a totally different world, in a very mundane world.

               It was quite a swanky bar in the best part of town. The new arrival ordered a bottle of beer.
           Paying with a dollar bill, he was surprised when the young bartender gave him ninety cents change.
           When questioned about it the bartender said that a dime was all he was charging.
               The customer, being hungry and pleased with the apparently low prices of the place, ordered a
           ham and cheese sandwich on rye.
           "That will be fifteen cents," said the barkeeper.
               The customer's eyes widened: "I can't understand. How can you sell stuff so low?" he asked.
           "Listen, buddy," said the bartender, "I just work here. I am not the boss. He is upstairs with my wife
           and I am doing the same thing to him down here!"

               There is a certain mind which functions always in a businesslike way; in every dimension of life
           he is always a businessman. If you are that kind of businessman, then this is not the place for you.
               This is the place for gamblers. This is the place for people who can risk -- who can risk all for
           nothing. Yes, exactly all for nothing, because meditation will bring you to nothingness. But those
           who arrive at the nothingness of meditation, immediately become aware that they have arrived at the
           fullness of God, too. Nothingness of you is the fullness of God, it is the other aspect. YOU become
           nothing, and suddenly a great plenitude descends in you -- you are overflowing with God. By
           becoming nothing you become spacious, you become a host to the great guest.
               But if you are continuously calculating you cannot become nothing. How can you drop all for
           being nothing? You will always be calculating: you will move cautiously.
               Then this is not the place for you. Then you go to some old, traditional, pseudo teachers. They
           will console you. They will tell you that you can remain a businessman and still can open a bank
           account in paradise. Be charitable, give some charity: donate to the poor; donate to the temple, or the
           church, or the synagogue; to the hospital; to the school -- and you will be rewarded in your afterlife.
           Just do virtuous things which you can afford. If you exploit people, you can always give a portion
           back to them.

           I have heard:
               In a church the priest was telling the people, "The building is getting very old and we need
           money."
               Nobody responded -- all businessmen! Everybody was looking at each other; everybody was
           waiting and expecting that somebody would be foolish enough.
               And then a woman stood up -- the prostitute of the town! -- and she said, "I donate ten thousand
           dollars to the church."
               The priest could not believe his ears, his eyes! For a moment he was in shock, and then he said,
           "But I cannot accept your money -- I cannot accept any wrong money."
               One businessman stood up and said, "You don't worry, that is our money! It is only coming via
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           her -- you can accept it!"

               You can donate a little bit to the church, to some charitable institution, you can give some money
           to the poor people. These are the consolations. And a place for you will be reserved in heaven.
               Don't be such a fool -- heaven is not so cheap. In fact, there is no place like heaven anywhere; it
           is something inside you. No charity can lead you there, but if you reach there your whole life
           becomes a charity; that is a totally different phenomenon. If you reach there, your whole life
           becomes compassion.
               Remain a businessman, but for a few hours forget all about it. I am not here to tell you to escape
           from your ordinary life. I am here to tell you the ways and the means, the alchemy, to transform the
           ordinary into the extraordinary. Be a businessman in your shop and don't be a businessman at your
           home. And sometimes for a few hours forget even the home, the family, the wife, the children. For a
           few hours just be alone with yourself. Sink deeper and deeper into your own being. Enjoy yourself,
           love yourself.
               And slowly slowly, you will become aware, a great joy is welling up, with no cause from the
           outside world, uncaused from the outside. It is your own flavor, it is your own flowering. This is
           meditation.
               Sitting silently, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself. Sit silently, doing
           nothing, and wait for the spring. It comes, it always comes, and when it comes, the grass grows by
           itself. You will see great joy arising in you for no reason at all. Then share it, then give it to people!
           Then your charity will be inner. Then it will not be just a means to attain to some goal; then it will
           have intrinsic value.
               And once you have become a meditator, sannyas is not far away! My sannyas particularly is
           nothing but living in the ordinary world, but living in such a way that you are not possessed by it;
           remaining transcendental, remaining in the world and yet a little above it. That is sannyas.
               It is not the old sannyas, Ram Prasad: in that you have to escape from your wife, your children,
           your business, and go to the Himalayas. That kind of thing has not worked at all. Many went to the
           Himalayas, but they carried their stupid minds with them. The Himalayas have not been of any help
           to them; on the contrary, they have destroyed the beauty of the Himalayas, that's all. How can the
           Himalayas help you? You can leave the world, but you cannot leave your mind here. The mind will
           go with you; it is inside you. And wherever you are, your same mind will create the same kind of
           world around you.

                A great mystic was dying. He called his disciple, the chief disciple. The disciple rejoiced very
           much that the master is calling him. There is a great crowd and he is calling only him; he must be
           giving some secret key that he has not given to anybody up to now. "This is the way he is choosing
           me as his successor!" He came close.
                The master said, "I have only one thing to tell you. I didn't listen to my master -- he had also told
           me when he was dying, but I was just a fool and I didn't listen, and I didn't even understand what he
           meant. But I am telling you from my own experience he is right, although it had looked very absurd
           when he said it to me."
                The disciple asked, "What is it? Please tell me. I will try to follow it word by word."
                The master said, "It is a very simple thing: never, never in your life keep a cat in your house!"
           And before the disciple could have asked why, the master died!
                Now he was at a loss -- what a stupid kind of thing! And now whom to ask? He inquired of some
           old people in the village, "Is there any clue to this message? There must be something mysterious in
           this!"
                One old man said, "Yes, I know, because his master -- your master's master -- had also told him,
           'Never, never keep a cat in your house!' but he didn't listen. I know the whole story."
                The disciple said, "Please tell me so I can understand. What is the secret hidden behind it? I want
           it to be decoded for me so I can follow it."
                The old man laughed. He said, "It is a simple thing, it is not absurd. Your master's master had
           given him a great message, but he never inquired, 'What is the meaning of it?' You are at least
           intelligent enough to inquire about it. He simply forgot about it. Your master was young when the
           message was given; he used to live in the forest. He had only just two clothes with him; that was all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that he possessed. But there were big rats in the house and they would destroy his clothes, and again
           and again he would have to ask the villagers for new clothes.
           "The villagers said, 'Why don't you keep a cat? You just keep a cat and the cat will eat the rats and
           there will be no problem. Otherwise -- we are poor people -- how can we go on supplying you new
           clothes every month?'
           "It was so logical that he asked somebody for a cat. He got a cat, but then the problems started. The
           cat certainly saved his clothes, but the cat needed milk because once the rats were finished the cat
           was starving. And the poor man could not meditate because the cat was always there, crying,
           weeping, going round and round and round him.
           "He went to the villagers and they said, 'This is a difficult thing -- now we will have to supply milk
           for you. We can give you a cow. You be finished, you keep the cow. You can drink, and your cat can
           also survive. That way you need not come every day for your food either.'
           "The idea was perfectly right. He took the cow... now the world started. That's how the world starts.
           The cow needed grass, and the people said, 'We will come in the coming holidays and we will clear
           the forest, prepare the ground. You start growing a little wheat, other things, and leave a part for the
           grass.'
           "And the villagers came according to their promise. They cleared the forest, they cleaned the soil,
           they planted wheat. But now it was such a problem: you have to water.... And the whole day the poor
           man was engaged in looking after the field. No time to meditate, no time to read the scriptures!
           "He again went to the villagers. He said, 'I am getting deeper and deeper into difficulties. Now the
           question is, when to meditate -- no time is left.'
           "They said, 'You wait. One woman has just become a widow, and she is young and we are afraid that
           she will tempt the young people in the town. You please take her with you. And she is healthy
           enough -- she will take care of your field, the cow, the cat, and she will prepare food for you, and she
           is very religious too. And don't be worried, she will not disturb you.'
           "That's how things move to their logical conclusion. Now from the cat, how far the man had moved!
           "And the woman came and she started looking after him, and he was very happy for a few days. And
           she would massage his feet... and slowly slowly, what was going to happen happened: they got
           married. And when you get married in India, at least one dozen children -- one dozen is the
           minimum! So all meditation, all sannyas, disappeared.
           "He remembered only when he was dying. He remembered again that when HIS master was dying
           he had told him, 'Beware of the cats.' That's why he has told you. Now you be aware of the cats! Just
           one step in the wrong direction and you have to go the wrong way; and your mind is with you
           wherever you go."

               I have moved in the Himalayas. Once I was in a deep part of the Himalayas with two of my
           friends. We entered an empty cave; it was so beautiful that we stayed the night there.
               In the morning a monk came and he said, "Get out! This is MY cave!"
               I said, "How can this cave be yours? I don't see -- this is a natural cave. You don't claim it, you
           can't claim it -- you have not made it. And you have renounced the world, your house, your wife,
           your children, your money, and everything, and now you are claiming, 'This is MY cave -- you get
           out of it!' This is nobody's cave!"
               He was very angry. He said, "You don't know me -- I am a dangerous man! I can't leave it to you.
           I have been living in this cave for thirteen years!"
               We provoked him as much as we could and he was all fire, ready to fight, ready to kill! And then
           I said to him, "Wait -- we will leave. We were just provoking you to show you that thirteen years
           have passed, but you have the same mind. Now this cave is 'yours', because you have lived here
           thirteen years so it is yours. You had not brought it with your birth and you will not take it away
           when you die. And we are not going to stay here forever, just an overnight stay. We are just
           travelers, we are not monks. I have just come to see how many stupid people are living in these parts
           -- and you seem to be the tops!"

              You can leave the world... you will be the same. You will again create the same world, because
           you carry the blueprint in your mind. It is not a question of leaving the world, it is a question of
           changing the mind, renouncing the mind. That's what meditation is and that's what sannyas is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The last question:


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS UNAWARENESS?


               Dinkar, to be in the mind, to be identified with the mind, is unawareness. To think that "I am the
           mind," is unawareness.
               To know that mind is only a mechanism just as the body is, to know that the mind is separate....
           The night comes, the morning comes: you don't get identified with the night. You don't say, "I am
           night," you don't say, "I am morning." The night comes, the morning comes, the day comes, again
           the night comes; the wheel goes on moving, but you remain alert that you are not these things. The
           same is the case with the mind.
               Anger comes, but you forget -- you become anger. Greed comes, you forget -- you become
           greed. Hate comes, you forget -- you become hate. This is unawareness.
               Awareness is watching that the mind is full of greed, full of anger, full of hate or full of lust, but
           you are simply a watcher. Then you can see greed arising, becoming a great, dark cloud, then
           dispersing -- and you remain untouched. How long can it remain? Your anger is momentary, your
           greed is momentary, your lust is momentary. Just watch a little and you will be surprised: it comes
           and it goes. And you are remaining there unaffected, cool, calm.

               A great king asked a Sufi mystic to give him something in writing -- a sutra, a small maxim
           which would help him in every possible situation, good, bad, which would help him in success, in
           failure, in life, in death.
               The Sufi gave him his ring and told him, "There is a message. Whenever you are really in need,
           in a real emergency, just open the ring, take up the diamond, and inside you will find the message --
           but not out of curiosity, only when there is real danger which you cannot face on your own and you
           need me, you can see the message."
               Many times the king became curious what is in there, but he resisted his temptation: he had given
           his promise, his word. He was a man of his word.
               After ten years he was attacked and defeated. He ran away into the forest, into the mountains,
           and the enemy was following him. He could hear the horses coming closer and closer -- it was death
           coming closer. They would kill him! But he was going as fast as he could on his horse. Tired he was,
           tired was his horse; wounded he was, wounded was his horse.
               And then suddenly he came to a cul-de-sac. The way ended; there was an abyss. And there was
           no possibility of turning back because the enemy was closing in, at every moment coming closer. He
           could not take the jump into the abyss; that was sure death. Except for waiting there was nothing to
           do.
               Suddenly he remembered the ring. He opened the ring, removed the diamond. Inside there was a
           piece of paper; on the piece of paper just a simple, single sentence: "This too will pass away." And
           suddenly a great calmness descended on him: "This too will pass away."
               And it happened exactly like that. He was hearing those noises coming closer; by and by he
           started hearing them going farther away. They had taken a wrong turn. He had passed a crossroad,
           they must have moved on some other road. Then he gathered his armies, fought the enemies again,
           won back his kingdom. He was received with great joy, garlanded, flowers showered, the whole
           capitol decorated for his welcome.
               Suddenly he felt great ego arising in him. Again he remembered the message, "This too will pass
           away," and the ego disappeared. And all those garlands and all that welcome became just a child's
           play. In failure it helped, in success it helped.
               That became his meditation, that became his mantra. So whatsoever would come he would repeat
           deep down -- not verbally, but the feeling would be there in his heart -- "This too will pass away."

              If you can remember it, then whatsoever comes into your mind you remain simply a witness:
           "This too will pass away." That witnessing is awareness -- but we are identified. We become greed,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           we become anger, we become lust. Whatsoever comes in front of our consciousness, we become
           identified with it. It is as foolish as when it happens to very small children.
               Have you tried it? Just put a mirror before a very small child. He will look in the mirror very
           surprised, with wide open eyes he will look: "Who is this fellow?" He will try to catch hold, but he
           cannot catch hold of the person. And then, if the child is intelligent, he will try to go to the back of
           the mirror: "Maybe the child is hiding behind the mirror." He is not yet aware that it is only a mirror;
           there is no reality.
               Mind is only a mirror: it reflects the clouds of the world, it reflects all that happens around in the
           world. Somebody insults and there is anger -- it is a reflection. Somebody beautiful passes by and it
           reflects -- it is lust. And you immediately become identified with it.
               Keep a little distance... and slowly slowly, you will find that the distance goes on growing. One
           day the mind is so far far away, it does not affect you at all.
               This is coming home, this is buddhahood. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO: this is the
           inexhaustible law of life. If you can be a witness you will be able to pass through a great
           transformation: you will know your real self.

               The old maid sat stroking the head of her pet tomcat and worrying about what she had missed all
           her life, when all at once, a fairy appeared with her wand and told the old maid she was ready to give
           her any three wishes she might make. The fairy asked that she not get excited but take her time and
           decide on her wants carefully.
               Her first wish was that she might have a beautiful body. The wand was waved and her wish
           granted. When she examined the result in the mirror, her second wish was immediate: that she be
           given clothing to drape this wonderful figure. Her wish was again fulfilled with racks of beautiful
           clothes made to fit perfectly.
               When asked for the third wish, she said she wanted a man.
               Said the fairy, "You have a beautiful cat there. How about making a man out of him for you?"
               That was entirely agreeable, and the tomcat became a man. The old maid was very happy. When
           asked if she were entirely satisfied, she said she was. Then the fairy asked the man if he were
           entirely satisfied. "Yes," said he, "but she won't be."
           "Why?"
           "She forgot about that trip to the veterinarian!"

               You go on doing things, unaware of what you are doing. You go on asking for things, unaware
           what you are asking for. If all your desires are fulfilled you will be the most miserable man in the
           world; it is good that they are not fulfilled.
               The really religious person never asks anything from God. He says, "Thy will be done, thy
           kingdom come. Because what can I ask out of my unawareness? Whatsoever I ask is going to be
           wrong." He asks only one thing: "Thy will be done."
               Be meditative, be prayerful. Remember these two sutras: "This too will pass away" -- that will
           help you to meditate -- and the second sutra, "Thy will be done"; that will help you to be prayerful.
           And when meditation and prayer meet, you are at the highest peak of consciousness possible.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                     Chapter #5
                                                Chapter title: Live in joy
           25 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910250
              ShortTitle: DHAM605
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Video:    No
             Length: 0 mins




           LIVE IN JOY,
           IN LOVE,
           EVEN AMONG THOSE WHO HATE.



           LIVE IN JOY,
           IN HEALTH,
           EVEN AMONG THE AFFLICTED.



           LIVE IN JOY,
           IN PEACE,
           EVEN AMONG THE TROUBLED.



           LIVE IN JOY,
           WITHOUT POSSESSIONS,
           LIKE THE SHINING ONES.



           THE WINNER SOWS HATRED
           BECAUSE THE LOSER SUFFERS.
           LET GO OF WINNING AND LOSING
           AND FIND JOY.



           THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION,
           NO CRIME LIKE HATRED,
           NO SORROW LIKE SEPARATION,
           NO SICKNESS LIKE HUNGER,
           AND NO JOY LIKE THE JOY OF FREEDOM.



           HEALTH, CONTENTMENT AND TRUST
           ARE YOUR GREATEST POSSESSIONS,
           AND FREEDOM YOUR GREATEST JOY.



           LOOK WITHIN.
           BE STILL.
           FREE FROM FEAR AND ATTACHMENT
           KNOW THE SWEET JOY OF THE WAY.



           HOW JOYFUL TO LOOK UPON THE AWAKENED
           AND TO KEEP COMPANY WITH THE WISE.



           HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE MAN
           WHO TRAVELS WITH A FOOL.
           BUT WHOEVER FOLLOWS THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY
           DISCOVERS HIS FAMILY, AND IS FILLED WITH JOY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FOLLOW THEN THE SHINING ONES,
              THE WISE, THE AWAKENED, THE LOVING,
              FOR THEY KNOW HOW TO WORK AND FORBEAR.



              FOLLOW THEM
              AS THE MOON FOLLOWS THE PATH OF THE STARS.


               It is a pleasant surprise to meditate on these sutras of today. They go against the idea that
           prevails all over the world about Gautama the Buddha. He is represented by his enemies and even by
           his friends and followers as the pessimist PAR EXCELLENCE. He is not a pessimist at all; he is one
           of the most joyous persons ever. These sutras will give you immense insight into the heart of this
           awakened man:

              LIVE IN JOY,
              IN LOVE,
              EVEN AMONG THOSE WHO HATE.


               Joy is the keyword of all these sutras. Joy is not happiness, because happiness is always mixed
           with unhappiness. It is never found in purity, it is always polluted. It always has a long shadow of
           misery behind it. Just as day is followed by night, happiness is followed by unhappiness.
               Then what is joy? Joy is a state of transcendence. One is neither happy nor unhappy, but utterly
           peaceful, quiet, in absolute equilibrium; so silent and so alive that his silence is a song, that his song
           is nothing but his silence. Joy is forever; happiness is momentary. Happiness is caused by the
           outside, hence can be taken away from the outside -- you have to depend on others. And any
           dependence is ugly, any dependence is a bondage. Joy arises within, it has nothing to do with the
           outside. It is not caused by others, it is not caused at all. It is the spontaneous flow of your own
           energy.
               If your energy is stagnant there is no joy. If your energy becomes a flow, a movement, a river,
           there is great joy -- for no other reason, just because you become more fluid, more flowing, more
           alive. A song is born in your heart, a great ecstasy arises.
               It is a surprise when it arises, because you cannot find any cause for it. It is the most mysterious
           experience in life: something uncaused, something beyond the law of cause and effect. It need not be
           caused because it is your intrinsic nature, you are born with it. It is something inborn, it is YOU in
           your totality, flowing.
               Whenever you are flowing, you are flowing towards the ocean. That is the joy: the dance of the
           river moving towards the ocean to meet the ultimate beloved. When your life is a stagnant pool you
           are simply dying. You are not moving anywhere -- no ocean, no hope. But when you are flowing, the
           ocean is coming closer every moment, and the closer the river comes, the more dance there is, the
           more ecstasy there is.
               Your consciousness is a river. Buddha has called it a continuum. It is a continuity, an eternal
           continuity, an eternal flow. Buddha has never thought about you and your being as something static.
           In his vision, the word 'being' is not right. According to him, being is nothing but becoming. He
           denies being; he accepts becoming, because being gives you a static idea of something inside you
           like a rock. Becoming gives you a totally different idea: like a river, like a lotus opening, like a
           sunrise. Something is constantly happening. You are not sitting there like a rock, you are growing.
               Buddha changes the whole metaphysics: he replaces being by becoming, he replaces things by
           processes, he replaces nouns by verbs.
               LIVE IN JOY.... Live in your own innermost nature, with absolute acceptance of whosoever you
           are. Don't try to manipulate yourself according to others' ideas. Just BE yourself, your authentic
           nature... and joy is bound to arise; it wells up within you.
               When the tree is taken care of, watered, looked after, it naturally blooms one day. When the
           spring comes there is great flowering. So is it with man. Take care of yourself. Find a right soil for
           your being, find a right climate, and go deeper and deeper into yourself. Don't explore the world;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           explore your nature. Because by exploring the world you may have many possessions, but you will
           not be a master. But by exploring yourself you may not have many possessions, but you will be a
           master. It is better to be a master of yourself than to be a master of the whole world.
               LIVE IN JOY, IN LOVE.... And one who lives in joy naturally lives in love. Love is the
           fragrance of the flower of joy. Inside there is joy; you cannot contain it. It is so much, it is
           unbearable. If you try to be miserly about it, you will feel pain. Joy can be so much that if you don't
           share it, it can become suffering, it can become pain.
               Joy has to be shared; by sharing it you are unburdened, by sharing it new sources open up within
           you, new streams, new springs. That sharing of your joy is love. Hence one thing has to be
           remembered: you cannot love unless you have attained to joy.
               And millions of people go on doing that: they want to love and they don't know anything about
           what joy is. Then their love is hollow, empty, meaningless. Then their love brings despair, misery,
           anguish; it creates hell. Unless you have joy you can't be in love. You have nothing to give, you are a
           beggar yourself. First you need to be a king -- and your joy will make you a king.
               When you are radiating joy.... Buddha says: When you have become the shining one, when your
           hidden secrets are no longer secrets but are flowering in the wind, in the rain, in the sun; when your
           imprisoned splendor is released, when your mystery has become an open phenomenon, when it is
           vibrating around you, pulsating around you, when it is in your breath, in your heartbeat -- then you
           can love. Then you touch dust and the dust is transformed into the divine. Then whatsoever you
           touch becomes gold. Ordinary pebbles in your hand will be transmuted into diamonds, emeralds.
           Ordinary pebbles... people touched by you will not be ordinary anymore.
               A man who has attained to joy becomes a source of great transformation for many people. His
           flame has been lit, now he can help others. The unlit flames coming closer to the one who has
           become afire with joy, can also become lit.
               That's what SATSANG is, that's what communion with a master is: coming closer to his fire,
           coming closer to his splendor, coming closer to his glory, coming closer to what has happened to
           him. And just by coming closer the flame jumps into you and you are never the same again.
               Love is possible only when your flame is lit. Otherwise you are a dark continent -- and you are
           pretending to give light to others? Love is light, hate is darkness. You are dark within and trying to
           give light to others? You will only succeed in giving them more darkness -- and they are already in
           darkness. You will multiply their darkness, you will make them more miserable. Don't try to do that,
           because it is impossible, it is not according to the nature of things. It can't happen. You can hope, but
           all your hope is in vain. First be filled with joy.
               LIVE IN JOY, IN LOVE, EVEN AMONG THOSE WHO HATE. And then it is not a question
           of what others do to you. Then one can love even those who hate him. Then one can live in love and
           joy even amongst enemies.

                A disciple of Buddha became enlightened, and Buddha said to him, "Now that you have entered
           the temple, go and spread the message, because there are many who need a little help, there are many
           who are drowning in the river of sorrow. Now that you have learned how to swim -- help others.
           Now you have the boat, you can take them to the other shore. Remember the way I helped you; now
           you go and help others."
                The disciple said, "Whatever you say I will do; I will go. It hurts to leave you. It hurts, it is
           painful to go away from you, but if you say so, I will go. If you had told me before...." See the love
           of a disciple, of a devotee! He says, "If you had told me before, I would not have tried for
           enlightenment at all, because to be with you is far more significant. I would have risked
           enlightenment, I would have dropped the very project, if I had known before that I would have to
           leave. But now it is too late. If you say so, I will go."
                Buddha said to him, "You can choose the direction, the place, where you would like to go."
                In Bihar there was one part where no disciple of Buddha had ever gone: Suka was the name of
           the place. The disciple said, "I will go to Suka."
                Buddha looked a little surprised. The disciple was young, very young, not only in age but young
           also in his enlightenment. He did not know the ways of the world. Buddha said, "You are not aware,
           it seems, that the people of Suka are very dangerous people, murderers, thieves, robbers. That's why
           no one has chosen to go there yet."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The young man said, "But that's why I am choosing to go there, because they also need your
           message. They also need you, and more so than others. Bless me so that I can go and help a few
           people there."
               Buddha said, "Then you will have to answer three questions. The first is: those people are so
           mischievous -- I know them -- if you go there they won't listen to you. They will insult you, they will
           try to humiliate you, they are going to be very nasty to you. When they will insult you and be nasty
           to you, how are you going to respond?"
               The young man said, "There is no need to ask me -- you know how I am going to respond. I will
           thank them, will be grateful to them, because they are good people. They only insult me, they only
           humiliate me. They could have beaten me and they are not beating me. They could have thrown
           stones at me and they are not throwing stones at me. They are good people! I will be grateful to them
           that they are not harming my body."
               Buddha said, "And if they start hitting you, beating you, wounding you, throwing stones at you,
           then what will your response be?"
               And the young man said, "I will still be tremendously grateful to them that they are only
           throwing stones at me, beating me, but are still leaving me alive, are not killing me. They could have
           killed me!"
               Buddha said, "Now the last question. If they kill you, by the time you are dying, in those last
           moments when you are dying, what will be your response?"
               The young man said, "I will still be grateful to them because they have only killed my body; they
           cannot kill me. And sooner or later my body is going to go anyway. And I will also be grateful that
           they have destroyed my body and now they have taken from me all opportunities of committing any
           error. I will not be able to commit any error, I will not be able to go astray. I will be thankful, I will
           die with great gratitude."
               Buddha said, "Now you can go anywhere. You can go to Suka or wherever you choose, you are
           ready. If this is your response, you have become a buddha -- you are the shining one."

                It is not a question of loving those who love you. That is very ordinary, that is businesslike, a
           bargain. The real love is to love those who hate you. Right now even to love those who love you is
           not possible, because you don't know what joy is. But when you know joy, the miracle happens, the
           magic. Then you are capable of loving those who hate you. In fact, it is no longer a question of
           loving somebody or not loving somebody, because YOU become love; you don't have anything else
           left.

               In the Koran, I have heard, there is a statement, "Hate the Devil." A great Sufi mystic woman,
           Rabiya, canceled that line from HER Koran. Hassan, another famous mystic, was staying with
           Rabiya; he saw Rabiya doing it. He said, "What are you doing? The Koran cannot be corrected --
           that is blasphemy. You cannot cut any statement from the Koran; it is perfect as it is. There is no
           possibility of any improvement. What are you doing?"
               Rabiya said, "Hassan, I have to do it! It is not a question of the Koran, it is something totally
           different: since I have known God I cannot hate. It is not a question of the Devil, I simply cannot
           hate. Even if the Devil comes in front of me I will love him, because now I can only love; I am
           incapable of hate -- that has disappeared. If one is full of light he can give you only light; whether
           you are a friend or an enemy does not matter.
           "From where," Rabiya says, "can I bring darkness to throw on the Devil? It is no longer anywhere --
           I am light. My light will fall on the Devil as much as on God. Now, for me, there is no God and no
           Devil, I cannot even make a distinction. My whole being is transformed into love; nothing is left.
           "I am not correcting the Koran -- who am I to correct it? -- but this statement is no longer relevant to
           me. And this is MY copy; I am not correcting anybody else's Koran. I have the right to put my copy
           right according to myself. This statement hits me hard whenever I come across it. I cannot make any
           sense out of it; hence I am crossing it out."

              A man who is full of joy and love can't help it. He loves friends, he loves enemies. It is not a
           question of decision on his part; love is now his nature, like breathing. Will you stop breathing if an
           enemy comes to see you? Will you say, "How can I breathe in front of my enemy?" Will you say,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "How can I breathe because my enemy is also breathing and his air which has passed through his
           lungs may enter into me? I can't breathe." You will suffocate, you will die. It will be suicide and
           utterly stupid.
               On the way a moment comes when love is just like breathing -- the breathing of your soul. You
           go on loving.
               In this light you can understand Jesus' statement: Love your enemies as yourself. If you ask
           Buddha, he will say: There is no need to do such a thing, because you can't do otherwise. You have
           to love. In fact YOU ARE LOVE, so wherever you are -- in flowers, in thorns, in the dark night, in
           the full noontide, in misery surrounding you like an ocean or in great success -- it does not matter.
           You remain love; everything else becomes immaterial. Your love becomes something of the eternal,
           it continues. One may accept it, one may not accept it, but you can't hate; you have to be your true
           nature.

           LIVE IN JOY, Buddha repeats,
              IN HEALTH,
              EVEN AMONG THE AFFLICTED.


               By health Buddha means wholeness. Health comes from the same root as 'healing'. A healed
           person is a healthy person, a healed person is a whole person. By "health" Buddha does not mean the
           ordinary, medical meaning of the term; his meaning is not medicinal, it is meditational -- although
           you will be surprised to know that the words 'meditation' and 'medicine' both come from the same
           root. Medicine heals you physically, meditation heals you spiritually. Both are healing processes,
           both bring health.
               But Buddha is not talking about the health of the body; he is talking about the health of your
           soul. Be whole, be total. Don't be fragmentary, don't be divided. Be an individual, literally:
           indivisible, one piece.
               People are not one piece; they are many fragments, somehow holding themselves together. They
           can fall apart at any moment. They are all Humpty-Dumpties, just bundles of many things. Any new
           situation, any new danger, any insecurity, and they can fall apart. Your wife dies or you go bankrupt
           or you are unemployed -- any small thing can prove the last straw on the camel's back. The
           difference is only of degrees. Somebody is boiling at ninety-eight degrees, somebody at ninety-nine;
           somebody may be ninety-nine point nine degrees, but the difference is only of degrees, and any
           small thing can change the balance. You can go insane at any moment, because inside you are
           already a crowd.
               So many desires, so many dreams, so many people are living in you. If you watch carefully, you
           will not find one person there but many faces, changing every moment. It is as if you are just a
           marketplace where so many people are going and coming, so much noise, and nothing makes sense.
               Just the other day, Subhash asked a question: "Beloved Master, do you ever dream?"
               You can dream only if you are many. You can dream only if you have many desires. I have none.
           Dreams are a by-product of desiring: what you desire in the day, you dream in the night. Dreaming is
           a hangover; something has remained incomplete in the day that has to be completed. The mind is a
           perfectionist; it wants to try, in every possible way, to complete things.
               On the road you saw a beautiful restaurant, but you were in a hurry. You were going for some
           work and you could not enter into the restaurant. And the smell of the food was so enchanting and
           the color of the food.... You wanted to go in but you could not. You will dream about the restaurant;
           you will have to dream just to complete the whole process, so that it drops and no longer goes on
           hanging onto you. But your dreams will reflect your insanity.
               A sane person cannot dream -- but by a "sane person" I mean a shining one, a buddha. I don't
           mean by "sane" what YOU mean by the word. To you, the insane people are in the insane asylums
           and everybody outside is sane. That is not so. Just the wall of the asylum does not divide the sane
           from the insane. There are insane people inside and there are insane people outside. The people who
           are outside have not yet been caught or maybe they are still within the boundary of normal behavior.
           At least on the surface they can manage; in their innermost core they may be insane.
               I cannot dream even if I want to; it is impossible. Whenever I am sitting I am simply sitting --
           there is no thought. And when I am sleeping I am simply sleeping -- there is no dream. But Subhash
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           must be suffering from dreams. Everybody is suffering, day in, day out.

           "I am worried. Last night I dreamed I was alone with a hundred beautiful blondes, a hundred
           beautiful brunettes and a hundred beautiful redheads. It was horrible!"
           "Good heavens, man! What is so horrible about that?" asked the psychiatrist of the patient.
           "I dreamed that I was a girl, too!"

               Your dreams will reflect you. Who else can they reflect? Your dreams are keys; through your
           dreams much can be known about you.
               The whole of psychoanalysis depends on your dreams for clues. When you are awake you are not
           trustworthy; what you say about yourself is deceptive. In your dreams you are more innocent,
           because there is nobody to control and repress. The conscience is fast asleep, morality is gone; you
           are more natural, more normal. In your dreams you are purer. Hence psychoanalysis has to depend
           on your dreams and through your dreams it comes to conclusions about you.
               This is a very sad state of affairs: that you cannot be trusted at all, because you say one thing and
           you are totally something else. And it is not that you deliberately try to deceive; deception has
           almost become your second nature. That's why you immediately forget your dreams; it is a strategy
           of the mind. Within five seconds of waking up... when you wake up there is a little lingering, a little
           memory -- just a few fragments, the last parts of your dreams. But within five seconds they are gone.
           By the time you are out of bed all your dreams have disappeared, you have forgotten all about them.
           Unless you make a very conscious effort you will not be able to remember them. This is a strategy of
           the mind, it simply closes the door, because your dreams can be a disturbance to you.
               If you come to know that in your dream you killed your father it will be heavy on you, you may
           feel guilty. If you are a very very moralistic, puritanical person and you see that in your dream you
           had eloped, escaped with the wife of your neighbor and you were enjoying it, you will be disturbed.
           You will become suspicious about your morality, about your purity. It will hang over you like a dark
           cloud.
               The mind simply cuts you off from your dreams. It has created two kinds of worlds: one, the
           dreaming world, totally separate, and one, the so-called waking world, totally separate. You live in
           compartments. When you enter into dreaming you forget all about waking; when you enter into
           waking you forget all about dreaming.
               The buddha is awake even while he is asleep. He has no compartments in his being. He is not
           many, he is one. Because he is one and he has no clinging to memories and no desires for the future,
           the present is enough for him. Then he lives moment to moment in its totality; he does not go on
           living partially. Your dreams simply show that you live partially, and the unlived parts have to be
           lived in your dreams. If you live totally each moment, then there is no possibility of any dreams.

           Once it happened:
               A Sufi came to me, a very beautiful person, and doing Sufi meditation -- ZIKR -- he had become
           capable of reading other people's thoughts. Some of his disciples, who were known to me, wanted
           him to come and read my thoughts.
           I said, "Okay, bring him."
               The man was really capable. He would simply close his eyes and he would start saying what
           thoughts are passing within you. For half an hour he remained with closed eyes, very puzzled. Then
           he finally gave up. He said, "But I don't see anything, just utter emptiness." He said, "This is the first
           time that I can't read. What have you done to me?"
               I had not done anything to him. I said to him, "I have not done anything. I am simply sitting here,
           not doing anything to you or to anybody else. But how can you read if there are no thoughts? It is not
           that I have stopped your capacity to read."
               He was thinking that I had done some damage to his thought reading. I said, "I have not done
           anything. If you want, I can start bringing up a few thoughts. It will be an effort. Just the way I speak
           outside I will start speaking inside. I will have to think of my sannyasins and I will have to speak to
           them -- then you can read. Your capacity is intact. But I was just sitting silently, the way I always sit
           when I am alone. Neither in the daytime am I thinking, nor in the night am I dreaming. All dreams
           disappeared the day desires disappeared. All thoughts became meaningless the day I came to know
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that I am not the mind. But I understand your difficulties, I understand your confusion...."

               A wealthy tycoon went for a cruise on his fancy yacht, taking with him five buddies, six
           gorgeous girls and a sailor to man the ship. They encountered a serious storm and the boat went
           down with the tycoon and his buddies, but the women and the sailor managed to make it to a desert
           island along with a waterproof bag of limited provisions.
               All went well for almost a week. Our sailor friend had his Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
           Thursday, Friday and Saturday well taken care of. The only problem was that they were running out
           of food.
               On Sunday a voluptuous native woman approached bearing gifts of bananas, coconuts and other
           edibles. The gorgeous girls were overjoyed. "We are saved!" they cried.
               But the sailor muttered resignedly to himself, "There go my Sundays!"

              You are living inside in a very confused state. And not only young people; even when they
           become old the same state continues -- not only continues, it becomes more and more confusing
           because, as you accumulate experience, your confusion becomes greater.

               Interviewing the sixty-five-year-old rodeo champion in Amarillo, Texas, the New York
           newspaperman remarked, "You are really an extraordinary man to be a rodeo champion at your age."
           "Heck," said the cowboy, "I am not nearly the man my pa is. He was just signed to play guard for a
           pro football team, and he is eighty-eight."
           "Amazing!" gasped the journalist. "I would like to meet your father."
           "Can't right now. He is in Fort Worth standing up for grandpa. Grandpa is getting married tomorrow;
           he is one hundred and fourteen."
           "Your family is simply unbelievable!" said the newspaperman. "Here you are, a rodeo champion at
           sixty-five. Your father is a football player at eighty-eight. And now your grandpa wants to get
           married at one hundred and fourteen."
           "Hell, mister, you got that wrong," said the Texan, "Grandpa does not want to get married -- he has
           to!"

               You go on accumulating. Your childhood is the closest to buddhahood. As you grow old you
           grow insane. As you grow old, you go farther and farther away from buddhahood. It is really a very
           strange state; it should not be so. One should grow TOWARDS buddhahood, but people grow in just
           the opposite direction.
               Buddha says: LIVE IN JOY, IN HEALTH, EVEN AMONG THE AFFLICTED.
               This is a very important sutra to be remembered -- more so because the Christians are creating a
           totally wrong approach to life. They say: When there is so much misery in the world, how can you
           be joyous? Sometimes they come to me and they say, "People are starving and people are poor. How
           can you teach people to dance and sing and be joyous? There are so many people afflicted with so
           many diseases, and you teach people meditation? This is selfishness!"
               But that's exactly what Buddha is saying. He is saying: LIVE IN JOY, IN HEALTH, EVEN
           AMONG THE AFFLICTED.

              LIVE IN JOY,
              IN PEACE,
              EVEN AMONG THE TROUBLED.


              You cannot change the whole world. You have a small lifespan, it will be gone soon. You cannot
           make it a condition that "I will rejoice only when the whole world has changed and everybody is
           happy." That is never going to happen and it is not within your capacity to do it either.
              People have decided to be miserable; that is their decision, otherwise nobody is forcing them to
           be miserable. Poverty is their decision, maybe taken unconsciously, but poverty is their decision.
           You can see it happening.
              Just three hundred years ago the native people of America were as poor as one can imagine. They
           had the land -- the same land -- but they had chosen a life-style which kept them poor. Now America
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has become the richest country. It is the same country, but with a different type of people.
                And you will be surprised that the first people who arrived in America were not very virtuous,
           religious types of people -- no. In fact the virtuous and the religious remain miserable. The people,
           who reached America and Australia, the pioneers, were more down-to-earth people who believed in
           "Eat, drink and be merry." These were the people who transformed the whole fate of the American
           continent; they transformed a poor country into the richest ever.
                Now the same can happen to this country, but it has taken a wrong style of life. And it has lived
           with this style of life for so many centuries that it seems it is the only way to live. And it worships
           people who support its style, because they fit with its ideology.
                The people of this country cannot agree with me because I am trying to change the very style of
           life, the very pattern, the very structure of their thought, their mind, their being. They can become as
           rich as any country in the world, maybe the richest, but first they will have to change their whole
           style of thinking, living, being. They worship poverty -- how can they become rich? They condemn
           richness -- how can they become rich? They condemn all joys of the earth, they are all for
           renunciation, they are anti-life. How can life shower upon them its grace, its bliss, its joys? They are
           not receptive; they are completely blind and deaf.
                If the only way you can be happy is to have everybody else happy, then you are never going to
           be happy. Buddha is stating a simple fact. He is saying: LIVE IN JOY, IN HEALTH, EVEN
           AMONG THE AFFLICTED. He is not saying don't help them, but by being ill yourself you cannot
           help them. By being poor yourself you cannot help the poor, although the poor will worship you
           because they will see how great a saint you are. They worshipped Mahatma Gandhi for the sheer
           reason that he tried to live like a poor man. But just by living like a poor man you are not going to
           help the poor. If the doctor also falls ill to help his patients, will you call him a saint? You will call
           him just stupid, because this is the time he needs all his health so that he can be helpful to people.
                This is strange logic, but it has prevailed down the centuries: that if you want to help the poor, be
           poor, live a poor life, live just like the poor. Of course the poor people will give you great respect
           and honor, but that is not going to help the poor, it will only fulfill your ego. And any ego fulfilled
           creates misery for you, not joy.
                LIVE IN JOY, IN HEALTH, EVEN AMONG THE AFFLICTED. LIVE IN JOY, IN PEACE,
           EVEN AMONG THE TROUBLED. That is the only way to help, the only way to serve. First be
           selfish, first transform yourself. Your life in peace, in joy, in health, can be a great source of
           nourishment for people who are starving for spiritual food.
                People are not really starving for material things. Material richness is very simple: just a little
           more technology, a little more science, and people can be rich. The real problem is how to be
           inwardly rich. And when you are outwardly rich you will be surprised -- for the first time you
           become more acutely, more keenly aware of your inner poverty. For the first time all meaning in life
           disappears when you are outwardly rich, because in contrast, the inner poverty can be seen more
           clearly. Outside there is light all around and inside you are a dark island.
                The rich man knows his poverty more than the poor person, because the poor person has no
           contrast. Outside there is darkness, inside there is darkness; he knows darkness is what life is. But
           when there is light outside you become desirous of a new phenomenon: you long for inner light.
           When you see that richness is possible outside, why can't you be rich inside?

              LIVE IN JOY,
              WITHOUT POSSESSIONS,
              LIKE THE SHINING ONES.


               Buddha says: Enjoy the world, enjoy the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the sky, the earth.
           Live in joy and peace, without possessiveness. Don't possess. Use, but don't possess -- because the
           possessor cannot use. The possessor really becomes possessed by his own possessions. That's why so
           many rich people become very miserable, they live a poor life. They have all the money in the world,
           but they live in a poor way.
               The richest man in the world, just fifty years ago, was the nizam of Hyderabad -- the richest man
           in the world. In fact, his riches were so great that nobody has ever been able to estimate how much
           he had. His treasuries were full of diamonds; everything was made of diamonds. Even his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           paperweight was the biggest diamond in the world; even the Kohinoor is only one third the size of
           his paperweight.
               When he died, his paperweight was found in his shoe. The diamonds were not counted because
           there were so many. They were weighed, not counted -- how many kilos, not how many diamonds --
           who could count?
               Each year the diamonds were brought out of the basements. He had the biggest palace in India,
           but all the roofs were not enough, because his diamonds were spread on the roofs of his palace just
           to give them a little sunlight every year.
               But the man lived a life of such misery, you cannot believe it; even beggars live far better. He
           used to collect cigarettes which others had already smoked and thrown away -- just cigarette ends.
           He would not purchase cigarettes for himself, he would collect these cigarettes and smoke them.
           Such a miser! For fifty years he used only one single cap -- it was so dirty and stinking! He died in
           the same cap. He never used to change his clothes. And it is said that he used to purchase his clothes
           from the secondhand marketplace where old, rotten things, used things, are sold. His shoes must
           have been the dirtiest in the world, but he would only send them once in a while for repair, he would
           not purchase new shoes.
               Now, the richest man in the world living in such misery and miserliness -- what had happened to
           this man? Possessiveness! Possessiveness was his disease, his mania. He wanted to possess
           everything. He would purchase diamonds all over the world; wherever there were diamonds his
           agent was there to purchase them. Just have more and more! But you cannot eat diamonds -- and he
           was eating the poorest kind of food. He was so afraid that he was unable to sleep at all -- constant
           fear that somebody might steal from him.
               That's how the paperweight -- the costliest diamond that he had, three times more in weight than
           the Kohinoor -- was found in his shoe. When he was dying he had hidden it in his shoe so nobody
           could steal it -- otherwise the paperweight would be too visible, too much in the eyes of people.
           Even dying he was more concerned with the diamond than with his own life. He could never give
           anything to anybody.
               This happens to people who become possessive: they don't use things, they are used by things.
           They are not masters, they are servants of their own things. They go on accumulating and they die
           without ever having enjoyed all that they had.
               Buddha says: LIVE IN JOY, WITHOUT POSSESSIONS, LIKE THE SHINING ONES. Live
           like the buddhas, who don't possess a thing but can use everything. The world has to be used, not
           possessed. We come empty-handed and we go empty-handed, so there is no point in possessing
           anything. To be possessive is ugly -- but use everything! While you are, use the world, enjoy
           everything that the world makes available, and then go without looking back, without clinging to
           things.
               This is the way of the buddhas. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO: this is the inexhaustible law of
           the buddhas. Then a buddha can be a beggar if he chooses to be so -- if that is his way -- or a buddha
           can be an emperor. There have been emperors who were buddhas.
               In India there has been one man, Janaka, the father of Sita, Rama's wife, who was a buddha. He
           lived in the palace with all the richness of a great king and yet he was absolutely nonpossessive, he
           possessed nothing. It was just as if you are staying in a hotel; you don't possess anything. You stay
           for a few days and then you are gone. You use.
               The intelligent person uses life and uses it beautifully, aesthetically, sensitively. Then the world
           has many treasures for him. He never becomes attached, because the moment you become attached
           you have fallen asleep.

              THE WINNER SOWS HATRED
              BECAUSE THE LOSER SUFFERS.
              LET GO OF WINNING AND LOSING
              AND FIND JOY.


               How to find joy? Let your ambition disappear; ambition is the barrier. Ambition means an ego
           trip: "I want to be this, I want to be that -- more money, more power, more prestige." But remember,
           Buddha says: THE WINNER SOWS HATRED BECAUSE THE LOSER SUFFERS. LET GO OF
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           WINNING AND LOSING AND FIND JOY. If you want to find joy, forget about winning and
           losing. Life is a play, a game. Play it beautifully, forget all about losing and winning. The real
           sportsman's spirit is not that of winning or losing, it is not his real question. He enjoys playing; that
           is the real player. If you are playing to win, you will play with tension, anxiety. You are not
           concerned with the play itself, its joy and its mystery; you are more concerned with the outcome.
           This is not the right way to live in the world.
               Live in the world without any idea of what is going to happen. Whether you are going to be a
           winner or a loser, it doesn't matter. Death takes everything away. Whether you lose or win is
           immaterial. The only thing that matters, and has always been, is how you played the game. Did you
           enjoy it? -- the game itself -- then each moment is of joy. You never sacrifice the moment for the
           future.

              THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION....


              Buddha says: Beware of lust. Love is beautiful, but lust is just fire. It burns you and burns you
           badly. It wounds you.

               A marine regiment was sent back for rest after a rough tour of duty at the front. At the base they
           discovered a contingent of WACS billeted and awaiting assignment to various posts.
               The marine colonel addressed himself to the WAC commander, warning her that his men had
           been in the front lines a long time and might not be too careful abut their attitudes towards the
           WACS. "Keep them locked up," he told the WAC commander, "if you don't want any trouble."
           "Trouble?" said she. "There will be no trouble. My girls have it up here." She tapped her forehead
           significantly.
           "Madam," barked the marine, "it makes no difference where they have it -- my boys will find it.
           Keep them locked up!"

               Lust is madness, lust is fire, lust is poison. It keeps people blind to the truth. It keeps them
           foolish, it keeps them unaware, it keeps them drunk.

               It was sundown, and the young athlete was doing push-ups on the beach when a drunk appeared.
           The drunk weaved his way to within a few yards of the perspiring young man, sat down on the sand,
           and laughed and laughed. "What in the devil are you laughing about?" asked the annoyed young
           man.
               The drunk laughed and laughed and then sputtered, "Don't look now, but somebody stole your
           girl!"

               A man who lives through lust lives absolutely unconsciously. Whatsoever he is going to do is
           going to be wrong. Whatsoever he is going to say and see is going to be wrong. He can't see, he is
           blind. He can't hear, he is deaf. Nothing makes people more ugly and animallike than lust.
               Hence Buddha says: THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION....

              NO CRIME LIKE HATRED....


               Why NO CRIME LIKE HATRED? -- because everything else, other crimes, arise out of it; it is
           the very source. And there is no virtue like friendliness, love, because all other virtues arise out of it.
           Love is the greatest virtue and hatred the greatest sin.

              NO SORROW LIKE SEPARATION....


              Buddha says: The only thing that is making you so sad is the separation from existence. In your
           unconsciousness you have believed that you are separate. You have started living a life of the ego.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are not following the ultimate law, the dhamma. You are not flowing with the river; you are
           resisting, fighting.
               Do not resist, do not fight. Flow with the river. Go with the dhamma, the law. Be in harmony
           with the whole. Don't think yourself separate -- you are not. No man is an island; we are all parts of a
           vast continent of consciousness: NO SORROW LIKE SEPARATION.... And a very significant
           statement:

               NO SICKNESS LIKE HUNGER.


               Now, how can Buddha support poverty? He cannot. If hunger is the worst sickness in the world,
           then poverty is the cause of it. All kinds of crimes, immoralities, sins, vices, arise out of poverty.
               I have no respect for poverty; I have absolute condemnation for it. It is the ugliest wound on the
           human soul. It has to disappear. We have to make the earth rich, and now it can be done. It was not
           possible in the past, now it is possible. If it is not happening it is only because of our old, stupid
           ideas.
               Now in India, which is one of the poorest countries, those stupid ideas are so dominant that
           people still believe that by spinning your own clothes you are doing something spiritual. The
           spinning wheel has become a symbol of saintliness. All the Indian politicians, once in a while, pose
           for photographs with their spinning wheels. Once a year they go to Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi, and
           then they sit there for one hour or so at the spinning wheels so that photographs can be taken.
               Why this spinning wheel and why so much praise for clothes made by your own hands? If you
           try to wear only clothes made by your own hands then the whole world is going to remain poor. The
           machines can do it in a far better way. Machines can become a great liberation to man, but they have
           to be used rightly. If you don't use them rightly they can be dangerous; they can pollute all of nature,
           they can destroy the whole balance -- the ecology can be disturbed by them. But if you use them
           consciously, meditatively, then all slavery can disappear from the world, because machines can do
           the work that man has been doing for ages. It can provide food, clothes, shelter.
               Hence I am all for science, I am not against science. And I am all for religion too, because I can
           see a possibility of a great synthesis arising in the future. It has to arise now. If it does not arise, then
           man is doomed and finished and man has no future, no hope. The world can be made rich outwardly
           with technology and science, and the inner world can be made rich by meditation, by prayer, by love,
           by joy. We can create a new human being, fulfilled both within and without.
               NO SICKNESS LIKE HUNGER....



               AND NO JOY LIKE THE JOY OF FREEDOM.


               Buddha says the greatest joy in life is freedom: freedom from all prejudices, freedom from all
           scriptures, freedom from all concepts and ideologies, freedom from all desires, freedom from all
           possessiveness and jealousy, freedom from all hatred, anger, rage, lust... in short, freedom from
           everything, so that you are just a pure consciousness, unbounded, unlimited.
               That is the greatest joy, and it is possible -- it is within everybody's grasp. You just have to grope
           for it a little. The groping will be in the dark, but it is not far away. If you try, if you make an effort,
           you are bound to find it. It is your birthright.

               HEALTH, CONTENTMENT AND TRUST
               ARE YOUR GREATEST POSSESSIONS,
               AND FREEDOM YOUR GREATEST JOY.


                The whole: that is health. Be contented: that is desirelessness. And trust: that is drop your
           separation, your fight with nature. These three things are to be remembered: be whole, be one, be
           contented, desireless. Whatsoever is, is beautiful -- enjoy it to its totality, squeeze all the juice out of
           it. Each moment drink of reality as totally as possible, so you need not look back, you need not ever
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           think that you missed that moment.
               And never plan for the future, because when the future will come, it will come. You just go on
           living each moment as totally as possible, so when the future becomes present you can live that, too
           -- totally. Don't plan for it, because it is unpredictable. All your planning is going to be irrelevant.
           And once you have planned for something and it doesn't happen, then you are frustrated. And it
           never happens.
               There is a proverb: Man proposes and God disposes. Yes, that's how it is felt, but the reality is
           not that God is sitting there and disposing whatsoever you propose. The fault is not of God; the fault
           is yours because you propose. And out of your unawareness what can you propose? Whatsoever you
           project out of your mind is going to be something different than the whole. It is still a fight with the
           whole. Hence trust, no need to fight. We are part of the whole. We arise out of the ocean of the
           whole as a wave and we disappear back into the ocean. Enjoy the sunlight and the wind for the
           moment, and then disappear. Appear beautifully, joyously, dancing, and disappear beautifully,
           joyously, dancing. Live with immense joy and die with immense joy. This is how a sannyasin has to
           be: he knows the art of living and he knows the art and ecstasy of dying.

              LOOK WITHIN.
              BE STILL.
              FREE FROM FEAR AND ATTACHMENT
              KNOW THE SWEET JOY OF THE WAY.


               LOOK WITHIN. The sutras are simple; intellectually very simple, but existentially arduous,
           because we have become so accustomed to looking outward. We have forgotten completely that
           there is something like the within too.
               LOOK WITHIN. BE STILL. And the way to look within is: be still. Learn to sit silently, at least
           for a few hours, doing nothing, just being, breathing, watching your thoughts. That too without a
           strain -- in a very relaxed way as if you are not much concerned with what is passing by; an
           indifferent watchfulness, aloof, unconcerned, cool. Go on seeing the traffic of the mind.
               Slowly slowly, as your coolness deepens, as your indifference becomes bigger, more crystallized,
           the thoughts will be coming less and less. And one day you are simply sitting there with no thought
           at all. You look around: no thought, the mind is empty. In that moment of inner emptiness all fear
           disappears, all attachment disappears, and one comes to KNOW THE SWEET JOY OF THE WAY.

              HOW JOYFUL TO LOOK UPON THE AWAKENED
              AND TO KEEP COMPANY WITH THE WISE.


               And if you are fortunate to keep company with the awakened, with the wise, with the shining
           ones, then nothing better than that can ever happen to you. Because it is only in the company of the
           buddhas, the awakened ones, the wise, that there is a possibility of your change, of your
           transformation.

              HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE MAN
              WHO TRAVELS WITH A FOOL.


               And we are not traveling with one fool or two fools. We are traveling with a whole load of fools;
           a whole crowd of fools surrounds you. By the fools Buddha means those who are not yet awakened.
           Even if they want to do good they are bound to do something evil; they can't do good. A fool is a
           fool; he lives in unconsciousness. But you trust the fools, you trust them more than you trust the
           buddhas, for the simple reason that the fool speaks your language, because the fool seems just like
           you.

               A new superintendent came to the mad asylum and the old one was retiring. So they had a
           ceremony to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. They really rejoiced, they danced.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The old superintendent was a little bit surprised. In his entire time there he had never seen them
           so joyous. He asked them, "Why are you so joyous?"
               Those mad people said, "It is simple. You are not one of us, but this man looks just like one of
           us. The new superintendent looks more crazy than we are, that's why we are rejoicing. You never
           really belonged to us, you were an outsider, but this man is an insider. Just in the two, three days he
           has been here he has become a friend. We can understand him, he can understand us."

               The mad people are happy with another mad person. The fools are happy with other fools. And
           when you are with fools you feel very good, because they are not superior to you, your ego is not
           hurt. But when you live with a buddha, sometimes you feel very disturbed because he is so superior
           to you, and if you start feeling hurt you will have to escape from him or you will have to kill him.
               I receive letters and telegrams from all over the world. Just the other day Laxmi brought a
           telegram from Milan, Italy. This is the third from the same man, who goes on sending a message that
           "I want to kill you!" Now Milan is so far away, why he is so worried about me? And he means
           business -- three times in a month he has telegrammed. I hope that he comes sometime.
               So many letters come, saying, "We would like to kill you." Why are people offended -- and
           offended by a man who never leaves his room? Why am I disturbing people in Milan and Berlin and
           New York and Delhi and Calcutta? Why? -- for the simple reason that they feel hurt.
               Now it depends on your interpretation. You can rejoice in the presence of a buddha; then you
           start growing. You can feel hurt in the presence of a buddha; then you start feeling offended,
           humiliated, you become angry. And it has happened many times: Jesus is crucified, Socrates is
           poisoned, Mansoor is butchered. The same men, the same people, have been doing the same thing
           again and again. One is fortunate if one can feel joyful just by looking at the way a buddha is, and
           more fortunate of course are those who can keep company with him.
               Your mind will suggest to you many ways to escape. Your mind is cunning, very devious: it will
           find such beautiful reasons -- you could not even conceive of them. Unless you are very alert, you
           are bound to be deceived by your own mind. To keep company with your mind is to keep company
           with a fool.
               HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE MAN WHO TRAVELS WITH A FOOL -- and you are
           traveling with fools on the outside and you are traveling with the fool -- the real fool -- inside: your
           own mind.

              BUT WHOEVER FOLLOWS THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY
              DISCOVERS HIS FAMILY, AND IS FILLED WITH JOY.


               That's why I say: to be a sannyasin is to come back home, to find your family. BUT WHOEVER
           FOLLOWS THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY DISCOVERS HIS FAMILY.... Your real family is
           not your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters, your wife, your husband, your children;
           they are just accidental. Your real family is the family of a buddha.
               If you are fortunate enough to feel joyful in the company of a buddha, then dissolve into that
           company -- you have found your family. Don't miss the chance, because the chance is very rare.
           Only once in a while somebody becomes enlightened.

              FOLLOW THEN THE SHINING ONES,
              THE WISE, THE AWAKENED, THE LOVING,
              FOR THEY KNOW HOW TO WORK AND FORBEAR.


              Be with the buddhas, the shining ones, the wise, the awakened, the loving, because they know
           how to work on you and they know how to be patient with you. They know how to transform you.
           They have been to the highest peak. They come back to the dark valley just to call you forth, to take
           you with them to the highest peak of life, freedom.

              FOLLOW THEM
              AS THE MOON FOLLOWS THE PATH OF THE STARS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Be courageous, be adventurous. Risk all, because less than that won't do. Risk all and trust. And
           if you want to be with a buddha, then the only way is: become more meditative so that you can start
           understanding his ways, his methods. Become more loving so that you can understand his love --
           because his love is totally different than you have known. His love is cool; it is not hot passion, it is
           a very cool breeze. Those who don't understand, for them it will look cold. Those who understand,
           they will rejoice in its coolness. They will be rejuvenated by its coolness, they will be refreshed, they
           will be reborn.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                     Chapter #6
                                             Chapter title: No going back
           26 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910260
              ShortTitle: DHAM606
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              UNIMAGINED ECSTASY, UNIMAGINED PAIN.


               Yoga Sudha, it is natural. Ecstasy and great pain happen together, because it is a new birth: the
           joy of being born, the joy of entering into the unknown, the great adventure into God. But pain is
           also there, great pain: the pain of leaving the old, the familiar, the known; the pain of leaving the
           secure, the safe; the pain of dying -- dying as the ego. If the ecstasy is true, it is bound to happen that
           there will be great pain. This is one of the criteria by which to judge whether the ecstasy is true or
           not.
               It is like uprooting a tree from its known soil and transplanting it into a new climate, into a new
           country. The tree will have to learn to live again from ABC; it is hard to unlearn and it is hard to
           learn again. There is bound to be pain. Great pain and agony precede great ecstasy. It can continue
           for months, for years too -- it all depends on you.
               Now, don't look back. That which is gone is gone, and gone forever, never to return again.
           Whatsoever you do, you cannot bring it back.
               The child cannot enter into the womb again, howsoever pleasant it was, comfortable, convenient,
           secure, safe. The child may have great nostalgia for the womb, for those beautiful, eternal nine
           months. Yes, I say eternal, because the child feels them as eternity, not as nine months. He has no
           idea of calculating time -- those long long nine months of such warmth, of such protection, of such
           unworried existence, of such tremendous rest and relaxation. The nostalgia hangs around. The child
           would like to go back to the womb, but it is not possible.
               Going back is not possible at all; it is not in the nature of things. One always has to go forward.
           And when you look forward everything is so unfamiliar that great fear arises. One never knows
           where one is. One loses one's identity, one passes through a great crisis of identity. The known is no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           longer there to cling to, and the unknown seems to be ungraspable.
               But don't look back; that which can't happen can't happen. Look forward! And don't interpret the
           new and the unknown as unsafe. Interpret it in terms of adventure, exploration. Interpret it as great
           freedom. Buddha talks again and again about freedom. It is freedom from the past, freedom from the
           mother, freedom from the parents, freedom from the society, freedom from the church, the state.
               What I am giving to you is absolute freedom. Yes, fear can arise, but fear arises because of your
           interpretation. Deep down somewhere in the unconscious you still would like to go back, to close
           your eyes to the new sunrise. You would like to go back even though there was nothing very
           valuable, nothing significant, but at least one was safe. The territory was familiar; one lived
           surrounded by walls. We call it a prison, but you used to call it your home; and I have taken you out
           of your home because it was not your real home, it was only make-believe. This freedom, this
           ecstasy that is arising, is your real home.
               Now, if you cling to the past, which is no longer possible, and you don't allow the future to
           happen smoothly, the pain can continue, the agony can continue, for months, for years. And you will
           be split: a part of you clinging to the no-more and a part of you longing for the not-yet.
               Now be courageous. Take the quantum leap! Just as the snake slips out of the old skin, slip out of
           the old. It has fulfilled its function, it has brought you to the new. Gratefully say goodbye to it and
           plunge into this exploration that is becoming valuable to you. Plunge into this insecurity, into this
           danger, because life is where insecurity is; life is where danger is. There is no way to live totally
           unless you learn to live dangerously -- more danger, more aliveness; less danger, less aliveness.
               And I am making peaks upon peaks available to you. This is an unending chain. You will reach
           one peak thinking that this is the end and now you can rest, but by the time you have rested a little
           bit you will become aware of a higher peak challenging you, calling you forth. A new pilgrimage
           starts. And this goes on and on.
               Life is an eternal pilgrimage. There is no goal to it, it is a pure journey. Hence the joy of it. If
           there was a goal to it, that would mean a full stop to your life. Then what are you going to do? After
           the full stop there is nothing, nothing more. Life knows nothing of full stops. Life is a continuum, a
           song that never ends, a story that goes on unfolding. Each moment something new is ready to happen
           if you are available.
               Your observation is true. You say, "Unimagined ecstasy, unimagined pain."
               That's how it has always been. I don't talk much about the pain, because that will make you so
           afraid that you will not take the jump. I talk about ecstasy to persuade you, to seduce you into taking
           the jump. Once you have taken the jump you will know that there is great pain too, but that pain is a
           blessing in disguise. That pain is the pain the gold passes through when it goes through the fire: it
           purifies, it makes you more and more integrated, it gives you centering, it creates a soul in you.
           Without this pain there is no soul, and without this pain no ecstasy is possible. You would like to
           bypass the pain and reach the ecstasy, but that cannot be done.
               AES DHAMMO SANANTANO: this is the law and the law has to be followed; you can't go
           against the law. But once you have known the ecstasy, it is worth going through all the pain. You
           can sacrifice everything for the ecstasy, because ecstasy is another name for God approaching closer
           to you. Your melting into God is what ecstasy is all about.
               The word 'ecstasy' is beautiful; it simply means "standing out." Out of what? Standing out of
           your ego, your personality, your mind; getting out of the whole structure in which you have lived --
           not only lived but with which you have become identified. Standing out of all this, just a pure
           witness, a watcher on the hills -- and everything is left deep down in the valley.
               Drop the nostalgia. Drop this dreaming about the valley. You have lived in the valley long
           enough, and what have you gained? For many many lives you have lived in the valley, in all those
           chains, thinking that they were ornaments. Maybe they were made of silver and gold, maybe they
           were studded with diamonds and emeralds; but whether a chain is made of iron or gold, it makes no
           difference. In fact, a golden chain is far more difficult to break because you become more attached to
           it.
               You have lived in the valley so long, for so many lives -- now try to live on the peaks. And be
           totally with the peaks. Forget all about the valleys, because that will be a disturbance. That
           disturbance is creating pain. You are looking back again and again: there is still some desire, some
           longing, some hope that you may get back to your old structures again.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But let me make it absolutely clear to you: there is no going back. Now you have crossed that
           point from where a person can still go back, so it is an exercise in futility to feel pain for something
           which is no more. But it will keep you occupied and you will miss the joys of the peak, the fresh air
           of the peak, the unpolluted atmosphere of the peak, the closeness of the sun and the clouds. Now is
           the time to whisper with the clouds and with the sun and the stars! It is a beautiful moment.
               Decide in favor of ecstasy, and whatever pain happens through that decision, accept it with joy,
           with thankfulness. The more gratefully you accept it as part of growth, the sooner it will disappear --
           and it will not leave even a trace on you; you will be unscratched by it. If you cling to it too long, it
           will leave wounds. Even if they heal, the marks will remain.
               In these moments, when one passes from one stage of being to another stage of being, one is very
           vulnerable. In these moments one is very soft, impressionable. Don't give much attention to pain.
               And that's what you have been doing for a few months. I have been watching silently. Many
           times I have to be just a silent watcher, because I hate to interfere. Even though I know you are in
           need, still I respect your freedom so much that, unless you ask, I will keep quiet, I will not say a
           word. I will feel great compassion for you -- I am perfectly aware of your tears and the anguish that
           you are passing through -- but I have been keeping myself aloof deliberately, because this is the only
           way to give the disciple a chance to grow.
               If I go on interfering at every stage, helping, supporting, you will start depending on me too
           much. Then you will never be able to walk on your own feet; you will always need crutches. And I
           don't want to give you crutches, I don't want you to be dependent on me. The only gift that I can give
           to you is that of total freedom, of independence.
               Hence I have been silent, waiting for the day when you would ask the question. Today you have
           asked the question. Now I can speak, I can share my understanding with you, but still the decision
           always remains with you. You can go on crying and weeping over spilled milk, or you can gather
           yourself and take a plunge into the new world that I have made available to you.
               Don't waste time. Time is really precious, far more precious than money, far more precious than
           anything in the world, because it is through time that you can contact eternity. And these moments
           are rare: if you miss them once, you never know when they will come back again. Maybe after lives
           you will come across a buddha again... and there is every possibility you will repeat the same
           mistakes, because mind wants to repeat. Mind is repetition -- even after lives it repeats the same
           mistakes.

                It happened once: a young prince asked Buddha to initiate him as a BHIKKHU, as a sannyasin.
           Buddha was a little reluctant. This was very rare -- buddhas are never reluctant, or very rarely; they
           are always happy if somebody is asking for initiation.
                Ananda, Buddha's chief disciple, immediately became aware that Buddha was a little hesitant. He
           said, "Bhagwan, why are you hesitating? I have never seen you hesitate. You persuade people, you
           help people, you do everything possible to bring them to the way -- and this man himself is asking!
           And not an ordinary man -- a great prince, with great potential. If he becomes a disciple, many more
           will follow. Why are you hesitating?"
                Buddha said to Ananda, "Because this young man has been initiated in the past by other buddhas
           at least seven times, and he has committed the same mistake again and again. And mind is repetitive.
           I know I can give him initiation, but he is bound to repeat the same mistake. But if you say so, I will
           initiate him. Now watch what happens."
                The young man was initiated... and of course this whole dialogue with Ananda had happened in
           front of him, so he was very conscious not to repeat anything. But he did not remember anything of
           his past lives, and when you don't remember, how can you avoid repetition? If you remember, you
           can avoid.
                He asked Buddha many times, "Please tell me, what is my mistake that I have been repeating
           again and again? And you say I have lived with seven other buddhas? I don't want to miss this
           opportunity."
                Buddha said, "That won't help very much, because you have asked the sixth buddha the same
           question and the fifth also, and they answered. I am not going to do it. I will tell you only when the
           time arrives."
                And the time arrived within a few days. They traveled to another city; they were staying in a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           small caravanserai -- ten thousand sannyasins -- there was no space. It must have been as
           overcrowded as it is here! Now when I look at you, I completely forget whether you are sannyasins
           or sardines. I have to go on reminding myself, "No, these are my sannyasins."
               The older sannyasins of Buddha were given a little better space, a little more space -- they were
           old, senior. This young man was the latest addition to the Buddha's SANGHA -- his order; he got the
           place at the outermost circumference, just in the porch where people used to put their shoes. He had
           to sleep there. A prince, sleeping in a porch where people keep their shoes? He was very hurt.
               In the night he could not sleep, for the same reasons that you suffer -- mosquitoes! They are the
           ancientmost enemies of meditators. If you are not meditating they will not take any notice of you;
           once you start meditating, they suddenly become interested in you. The blood of a meditator has a
           certain sweetness.
               And there were mosquitoes and he was unable to sleep; and the serai was so overcrowded, and
           people were coming and going the whole night -- somebody was coming, somebody was leaving.
           How can you sleep in a porch? In the middle of the night he said, "This is stupid, this is just
           nonsense! I have not become a sannyasin for all this. I had a beautiful palace, every facility.
           Tomorrow morning I will say goodbye to Buddha."
               In fact he wanted to leave at that very moment, but that would not be right. At least he had to say
           to Buddha, "I am finished."
               But before morning, Buddha came to him and said, "Now the time has come. I can answer your
           question. This has happened to you again and again: you have been initiated seven times, but just for
           small things you always became so much disturbed that you went away. You can go -- this is your
           old habit. Because of this habit I was hesitant."
               He had brought Ananda with him and he said, "Look! What do you say now? This man wants to
           leave tomorrow morning."
               The young man had not said a single word. He fell at Buddha's feet. He said, "How did you come
           to know in the middle of the night?"
               Buddha said, "That is not your business. That's what makes me a master. In the morning you
           want to go; you can go, but go with this awareness: that this is how you have been losing the track
           again and again."
               The young man never left. It was difficult -- Buddha gave him many many uncomfortable
           situations -- but he was a man of integrity; he belonged to a very famous family, ancient, noble; he
           belonged to the warrior race. It was against his whole upbringing to leave the Buddha. And now that
           Buddha had told him what the cause had been in the past... and as meditation deepened he started
           remembering his past associations with other buddhas. Slowly slowly he became aware that yes, for
           small things he had left buddhas; for such small things he had lost the way many times.

               Yes, Sudha, the pain is there, and it is not only for you; others will also pass through the pain.
           Many have passed through it, many will have to pass through it. Pass through it joyously. Keep your
           eye on the ecstasy. Don't focus yourself on the pain -- that is the wrong approach. Focus yourself on
           the ecstasy, and think that the pain is the price we pay for the ecstasy. Soon the pain will disappear.
           And the energy released from the pain will bring you to even higher realms of ecstasy, will bring you
           to greater altitudes of ecstasy.
           Be watchful....

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU A BLACK MAGICIAN OR A WHITE MAGICIAN?

              Prem Tussir, I am an orange one.

              The third question:



              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW TO BECOME MORE AWARE?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Pankaj, by becoming more aware, one BECOMES more aware. There is no other method to it. It
           is a simple process. Whatsoever you are doing, do it with such consciousness as if it is a question of
           life and death; as if a sword is hanging over you.

           There is an ancient story in India:
                A great sage sent his chief disciple to the court of King Janak to learn something which was
           missing in the young man.
                The young man said, "If you can't teach me, how can this man, this Janak, teach it to me? You
           are a great sage, he is only a king. What does he know about meditation and awareness?"
                The great sage said, "You simply follow my instructions. Go to him, bow down to him; don't be
           egoistic, thinking that you are a sannyasin and he is only an ordinary householder. He lives in the
           world, he is worldly and you are spiritual. Forget all about it. I'm sending you to him to learn
           something; so for this moment, he is your master. And I know, I have tried here, but you cannot
           understand -- because you need a different context to understand it. And the court of Janak and his
           palace will give you the right context. You simply go, bow down to him. For these few days, he will
           represent me."
                Very reluctantly, the young man went. He was a brahmin of high caste, and what was this Janak?
           He was rich, he had a great kingdom, but what could he teach a brahmin? Brahmins always think
           that they can teach people. And Janak was not a brahmin, he was a KSHATRIYA, the warrior race
           in India. They are thought to be second to brahmins; the brahmins are the first, the foremost, the
           highest caste. To bow down to this man? This has never been done. A brahmin bowing down to a
           kshatriya is against the Indian mind.
                But the master had said it so it had to be done. Reluctantly he went, and reluctantly he bowed
           down. And when he bowed down, he was really feeling very angry with his master, because the
           situation in which he had to bow down to Janak was so ugly in his eyes.
                A beautiful woman was dancing in the court and people were drinking wine. And Janak was
           sitting in this group. The young man had such condemnation, but still he bowed down. Janak
           laughed and said, "You need not bow down to me when you are carrying such condemnation in you.
           And don't be so prejudiced before you have experienced me. Your master knows me well, that's why
           he has sent you here. He has sent you to learn something, but this is not the way to learn."
                The young man said, "I don't care. He has sent me, I have come. But by the morning I will go
           back, because I can't see that I can learn anything here. In fact, if I learn anything from you, my
           whole life will be wasted. I have not come to learn drinking wine and seeing a beautiful woman
           dance and all this indulgence."
                Janak still smiled and he said, "You can go in the morning. But since you have come and you are
           so tired... at least rest for the night, and in the morning you can go. And who knows -- the night may
           become the context of the learning for which your master has sent you to me."
                Now, this was very mysterious. How could the night teach him anything? But okay, he had to be
           here for the night, so don't make much fuss about it. He remained. The king arranged for him to have
           the most beautiful room in the palace, the most luxurious. He went with the young man, took every
           care about his food, his sleep and when he had gone to bed, Janak left.
                But the young man could not sleep the whole night, because as he looked up, he could see a
           naked sword hanging with a thin thread just above his head. Now, it was so dangerous that at any
           moment the sword could fall and kill the young man. So he remained awake the whole night,
           watchful, so he could avoid the catastrophe if it was going to happen.
                In the morning, the king asked, "Was the bed comfortable, the room comfortable?"
                The young man said, "Comfortable? Everything was comfortable -- but what about the sword?
           And why did you play such a trick? It was so cruel! I was tired, I had come on foot from the faraway
           ashram of my master in the forest, and you played such a cruel joke. What kind of thing is this, to
           hang a naked sword with so thin a thread that I was afraid that a small breeze... and I am gone, and I
           am finished. And I have not come here to commit suicide."
                The king said, "I want to ask only one thing: you were so tired, you could have fallen asleep very
           easily, but you could not fall asleep. What happened? The danger was great, it was a question of life
           and death. Hence you were aware, alert. This is my teaching too. You can go, or if you want, you can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stay a few more days to watch me.
           "Although I was sitting there in the court, where a beautiful woman was dancing, I was alert to the
           naked sword above my head. It is invisible; its name is death. I was not looking at the young woman.
           Just as you could not enjoy the luxury of the room, I was not drinking wine. I was just aware of
           death which could come any moment. I am constantly aware of death. Hence, I live in the palace and
           yet I am a hermit. Your master knows me, understands me. He understands my understanding too.
           That's why he has sent you here. If you live here for a few days, you can watch on your own."

                You asked me, Pankaj, how to become more aware. Become more aware of the precariousness of
           life. Death can happen any moment. The next moment, it may knock on your door. You can remain
           unaware if you think you are going to live forever. How can you live unaware if death is always
           close by? Impossible! If life is momentary, a soap bubble -- just a pin prick and it is gone forever --
           how can you remain unaware?
                Bring awareness to each act. Walking on the road, walk fully alert; eating, eat with awareness.
           Whatsoever you are doing, don't let the past and the future interfere. Be in the present. That's what
           awareness is all about. Taking a shower, just take the shower. Don't let the mind go far away, into
           the past, into the future. Don't allow the mind these faraway excursions, these journeys. Taking a
           shower, just take the shower.

               Bokuju, a great Zen master, was asked, "What is your fundamental teaching? What is your
           fundamental practice? How did you become enlightened?"
               He said, "My teaching is simple: When hungry, eat; when sleepy, sleep."
               The man was puzzled. He said, "I have never heard of such a practice. I am asking about the
           fundamental practice and you are talking about 'When hungry, eat and when sleepy, sleep.' What
           kind of teaching is this?"
               Bokuju said, "That I don't know, but that's how I became enlightened, and that's how many of my
           disciples are becoming enlightened. You can go and ask them."
               But the man said, "That's what we all do. Hungry, we eat. Sleepy, we sleep."
               Bokuju said, "No, there is a difference and a great difference. When I am eating, I am simply
           eating and doing nothing else. When you are eating, you are doing a thousand and one things in your
           head -- except eating; you are doing everything else. Eating is done mechanically. When you are
           sleeping, are you really asleep? How can you be asleep when you are dreaming? Dreaming so many
           dreams, the whole night; waves upon waves of dreams go on coming. Only for a few minutes, here
           and there, dreaming stops and you fall into deep sleep; otherwise, dreaming continues. Dreaming is a
           sleep distraction: you are distracted by a thousand and one things. But you are not asleep. You are
           not doing one thing only."

              To be aware, Pankaj, one needs to do one thing at a time. And do it with full awareness,
           watchfulness.

               A progressive kindergarten teacher wanted her charges to learn about life through firsthand
           experiences. So after much red tape, she was able to persuade her superiors to let her take the class
           of all boys to a horse racing track to learn about the pitfalls of gambling.
               After they had been there a while, several of the children asked to go to the boys' room. She
           escorted them there under the guidance of a track employee who guarded the door for them. She saw
           to it that the boys had no problems and in some cases had to help them unbutton their trousers. As
           she moved helpfully down the line, she suddenly saw something that made her do a double take.
           "Are you only five years old?" she gasped.
               The object of her contentions replied, "What do you mean, lady? I am riding Dandy Charger in
           the third race."

               People go on doing things almost in a sleep. Just become a little more alert. Do whatsoever you
           are doing, but bring the quality of consciousness to your actions -- there is no other method. And you
           can bring that quality to small things and that is helpful. Sitting, just watch your breathing. The
           breath goes in, watch; the breath goes out, watch. Just go on watching your breathing. And it is of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           great help because if you watch your breathing, thinking stops.
               This is something to be understood. Either you can think or you can watch your breathing. You
           can't do both together. Breathing and thinking are such processes that only one can exist in you -- in
           awareness. In unawareness, both can continue: you can go on breathing and you can go on thinking.
           But if you become aware, either you can think or you can breathe; and when you breathe with
           awareness, thinking disappears. Your whole consciousness becomes focused on breathing. And
           breathing is such a simple process: you need not do it, it is already happening. You can just bring
           your consciousness to it.
               Buddha became enlightened through this simple method. He calls it vipassana, insight. Breathing
           brings great insight and when you are aware of breathing, the whole thought process simply comes
           to a stop -- and great stillness arises. After watching your breathing, it will be easy to watch your
           thinking directly, because breathing is a little gross.
               Thinking is more subtle. Thoughts have no weight, they are weightless; they can't be measured,
           they are immeasurable. That's why the materialists cannot accept them. Matter means measure -- that
           which can be measured is matter. So thought is not matter because it cannot be measured. It is, and
           yet it cannot be measured; hence it is an epiphenomenon. The materialist says, "It is only a
           by-product, a side effect, a shadow phenomenon" -- just as you walk in the sun, a shadow follows
           you. But the shadow is nothing. You walk in life and thinking arises, but it is only a shadow. If you
           watch this shadow, this epiphenomenon, these thoughts and the processes of thought... it is going to
           be a more subtle phenomenon because it is not as gross as breathing.
               But first, learn the process of awareness through breathing and then move to thinking. And you
           will be surprised: the more you watch your thinking... again, either you can watch or you can think.
           Both cannot be done simultaneously. If you watch, thinking disappears.
               If thinking appears, watching disappears. When you have become alert enough to watch your
           thoughts and let them disappear through watching, then move to feeling -- which is even more
           subtle. And these are the three steps of vipassana. First breathing, second thinking, third feeling. And
           when all these three have disappeared, what is left is your being.
               To know it is to know all. To conquer it is to conquer all.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF BUDDHA DID NOT REALLY NEED TO LEAVE HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN IN ORDER TO
              ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT, THEN CAN ENLIGHTENMENT HAPPEN ANYWHERE? WHY DO I
              FEEL THAT I NEED TO BE IN YOUR BUDDHAFIELD?


               Deva Surati, Buddha also realized it only when he became a buddha -- that it could have
           happened anywhere. He had not realized it when he was not a buddha. Then he had to go, leave the
           palace, the children, the wife, the parents and move to faraway caves in the mountains, into faraway
           jungles, to live alone with nature, so that the society and all its conditionings could be left behind.
               Yes, when he became a buddha then he knew that it could have happened anywhere. But when
           you have become a buddha, it is a totally different perspective. It is very easy to say things like that
           when you have attained.
               And that is one of the greatest problems: what the buddhas say, they are saying after they have
           attained, to people who have not yet attained. Communion becomes difficult, very difficult. The
           buddhas say, "You are already buddhas"; and when you hear that "We are already buddhas," you
           say, "Then why be worried about it? Then why meditate? And why be a sannyasin?" Then you have
           missed the whole point! And Buddha is not saying anything wrong -- he is absolutely correct -- and
           yet before you can realize the truth of his statement you will have to experience it on your own.
               One day you will have become a buddha. Then you will also be able to say that there was no
           need to leave anything. Then you will say, "There was no need to be in the buddhafield of a master."
           But right now it is a need, an absolute need.
               A buddhafield facilitates many processes which can happen without the buddhafield, but it would
           take long long, arduous effort. It is the same as when the wind is blowing and going towards the
           other shore: you need not row your boat; you can simply leave the boat and the winds will take it to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the other shore. In a buddhafield the winds are blowing towards the other shore; you can simply
           surrender to the winds and with no effort you will reach the other shore. You can reach the other
           shore alone too, but then you will have to row the boat. Then you will have to take the risk of being
           alone in the uncharted sea.
               In a buddhafield you are not alone, there are many who are moving. A few are ahead of you, a
           few are behind you; and you know that people are moving, that people are gaining new insights, that
           people are evolving, that people are reaching closer to the other shore. And those who are ahead of
           you can always assure you, "Don't be worried. Go on. Come on! The other shore is visible from our
           state; soon it will be visible to you too." And you can say many things to those who are behind you.
           Those are the people who need great assurance. Moving into the unknown is not an easy process; a
           buddhafield becomes a chain.
               Yes, Surati, fundamentally it is true -- you can be a buddha anywhere -- but being in a
           buddhafield things will be far easier. Being with a master in deep love and trust things start
           happening, just as the spring comes and flowers start blossoming. Out of season you can also
           manage to bring flowers to the plants, but then it takes great effort, unnecessary effort. When the
           spring is there, things happen of their own accord. Once it has happened, then it looks easy for
           everybody.
               When Copernicus discovered some laws, people said, "We could have found them; they are so
           simple." But nobody had found them before him.

                When Columbus reached America, discovered America and came back, people started saying,
           "This is not such a great thing. Don't make such a fuss about it. The earth is round. Anybody could
           have reached there!"
                The queen of Spain invited Columbus for a dinner; the whole court was invited. And everybody
           was jealous of Columbus, so they were saying, "This is not something big that the earth is round."
                Columbus said, "But just three years ago when I was saying the earth is round, nobody was ready
           to listen to me. In fact, I was surprised when the queen agreed to help me."
                It has happened many times: when the man has not been able to understand something of the
           unknown, the woman has been able to understand. Man goes with a slow, logical process towards a
           conclusion. Woman is intuitive: she does not go by a slow process, she simply jumps to the
           conclusion. That's why it is so difficult to talk with a woman, to argue with a woman. Man always
           finds himself at a loss, because he goes with very skillful logic, prepares the whole ground and the
           process step by step. He "logics" to the conclusion, and the woman suddenly jumps with no premise,
           with no process -- she simply arrives at the conclusion. They live in totally different worlds.
                The queen of Spain agreed. She said, "Okay, go ahead, and I will bear the expenses."
                Everybody had laughed at the foolish queen, and people had said, "A woman is after all a woman
           -- mad, crazy! What does she understand about geography, astronomy? This man has befooled the
           queen."
                Now everybody was saying that it was so easy. Columbus did one thing: he took one egg from
           the plate and told the people of the court, "Can anyone make it stand upright on the table?"
                Everybody tried, but it would fall down; it would not stand upright. They said, "This is
           impossible. This can't be done. How can you make the egg stand? It is so round shaped, it is bound
           to fall down."
                When everybody had tried and agreed that this was impossible, Columbus took the egg in his
           hand, hit it hard on the table so the bottom became flat, and the egg was standing. They all said,
           "This is cheating! Why didn't you say so before? We could have done it!"
                Columbus said, "It is always easy when a thing has been done. I have not prevented you, I have
           not said you can't do it, but none of you ever imagined doing it. Now it is simple, now everybody can
           do it, now it is nothing much."

               When you become a buddha you will be surprised how simple the whole phenomenon is. You
           will be puzzled... why did it not happen before, why did it take so long, so many lives? In India they
           say millions of lives, and they are right. "Why did it take millions of lives? And the process was so
           simple!" One simply laughs at human stupidity and ridiculousness.
               And yes, buddhas are bound to say things which can be dangerous to those who are not yet
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           awakened.
               For example, YOU listening to this -- that Buddha could have become enlightened anywhere --
           you may find a rationalization to go away from here. That will be a trick of your mind. And I am not
           saying that you cannot become a buddha -- you can become a buddha anywhere, even in California
           -- but it is going to be more and more difficult. If it cannot happen here it will be very very difficult
           for it to happen anywhere else, although I don't say that it is absolutely impossible. It is not
           absolutely impossible -- it is possible -- but whatsoever is possible is not necessarily going to
           happen. Even the possible can be missed if you don't have the right context.
               In fact the very idea of buddhahood, of becoming a buddha, has arisen in you because you are
           here. In the West people worship Christ, but nobody thinks that he is going to become a christ. That
           is blasphemy. There is only one Christ, the only begotten Son of God! It is enough to be a Christian;
           the very idea of becoming a christ looks crazy.
               It is an Eastern contribution to human consciousness that you can become the Buddha, that you
           can become the Christ, that you can become the Krishna, that you can reach the highest peak that
           anybody has ever reached, that you carry the transcendental within your being like a seed. But the
           seed also needs a right soil, a gardener. The master is a gardener, and his field of energy is the right
           soil.
               Beware of the mind's tricks! It can always find consolations, rationalizations. And those who are
           following the path have to be aware of rationalizations and consolations.

               A farmer drove to town with some produce to sell. Afterwards he decided to have a good time
           for himself by going to see a burlesque show. The show inspired him so much that afterwards he
           decided to buy himself a complete new set of clothes, including a suit, hat and shoes, to surprise his
           wife. He put them under the driver's seat and set off for home.
               When he got to a river, he got out and threw all of his old clothes in. Returning to his car he
           looked under the seat -- the new clothes were gone. "Well, what the heck," he said to himself as he
           drove off, "I will surprise her anyway!"

                The mind can always console you. "If it does not happen there," the mind can say, "who knows?
           -- it may not have happened anywhere else either. If it happens here," the mind can say, "it could
           have happened anywhere else."
                But I cannot deny the ultimate truth -- although the ultimate truth is not yet your territory. The
           ultimate truth is that you are already buddhas. It is not a question of it happening, so where it
           happens does not matter. It can happen in the home; it can happen in the forest; it can happen in the
           marketplace; it can happen in a monastery. It can happen with a master; it can happen without a
           master. It can happen to the sinner; it can happen even to the saint. Yes, I know a few saints to whom
           it has happened -- believe me! So the ultimate possibility is there, but to make the ultimately possible
           immediately actual is a totally different process. How to make it immediately actual?
                A master is of tremendous help, and if the master also has a buddhafield.... A master may be
           moving alone, not creating a buddhafield. To create a buddhafield, the master has to create
           thousands of disciples. He has to create a multidimensional energy in which all kinds of people
           contribute, pour their energies. He has to make an ocean of energy, so tremendously powerful that
           whosoever enters the ocean is bound to be transformed -- sometimes even in spite of himself;
           sometimes not even knowing what is happening.
                It is easier for it to happen with a master. It is even easier for it to happen with a master who has
           a buddhafield. And my effort is not only to create the buddhafield here but to create small oases all
           over the world. I would not like to confine this tremendous possibility to this small commune only.
           This commune will be the source, but it will have branches all over the world. It will be the root, but
           it is going to become a big tree. It is going to reach every country, it is going to reach every potential
           person. We will create small oases; we have started creating small communes, centers, all over the
           world.
                Almost two hundred small families are functioning all over the world, but this is only the
           beginning. Thousands of communes are bound to happen once this commune has become really and
           totally established. It is going to create such an impetus, it is going to create such a longing all over
           the world, that we will have many many communes all over the world. And wherever my sannyasins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are together, I am there. Wherever they will sit in meditation, my presence will be felt.
               So first we have to create the root, and then the branches. The whole world cannot come here,
           but we can send our messengers, our apostles; we can send our branches far and wide. We can cover
           the whole earth. We ARE going to cover the whole earth!
               This is of such immense importance today that if it doesn't happen, humanity has no future. The
           "old man" is already dead: you are carrying a corpse. The new man is absolutely needed -- only then
           can this earth go on living; only then can this planet remain alive.
               And man has the capacity to renew himself -- to die to the past and to be reborn. Man has the
           capacity for resurrection. But the earth is almost like a desert today and small oases are needed
           everywhere, so those who are thirsty cannot say, "What can we do? The water is not available. How
           can we quench our thirst?" We have to make God available to every possible seeker all over the
           world.
               Yes, even in countries like China, Soviet Russia, and other communist countries, my effort is to
           create small oases there too. They have started: they are underground there -- they have to be
           underground there. You will be surprised, but in one Russian town we have twenty-five sannyasins
           -- of course not in orange. They have made their own malas, and when they meet in some
           underground basement they wear orange clothes, listen to the tapes, meditate, study books. They
           have translated a few books into Russian; now those translations are going around.
               Just a few days ago I received a letter from the woman who has organized that underground
           group saying, "We are ready to become sannyasins. Just a hint from you and we will assert
           ourselves, whatsoever the cost." And of course, in Russia it can be dangerous. It can only mean
           imprisonment or a lifelong sentence in Siberia. So I have given her a message saying, "There is no
           need right now. And if you want to make orange clothes, don't make them orange, make them red --
           let them look communist! I can function through the red as much as through the orange; don't be
           worried. I don't like unnecessary suffering. I don't want to create unnecessary martyrs, for no reason
           at all. And continue to work -- work is more important."
               This is going to spread. Soon you will see communes sprouting everywhere, and then it will be
           possible for me to function on a wider scale. But the root commune has to be here, and the root
           commune needs at least ten thousand sannyasins. That is the minimum to create enough energy to
           pulsate the whole earth!
               You can become a buddha anywhere, but to become a buddha here will be easier, will be
           possible in THIS life. To become a buddha somewhere else, nothing can be said -- one life, two
           lives, three lives or many lives. You will be working alone; you will not have any help.
               There are a few people who are loners, they would like to go alone. If you feel like that, I will be
           absolutely happy -- you can go on your own. But you are not that type. That's why you say, "Why do
           I feel that I need to be in your buddhafield?" -- because you DO need to be here! Because you are
           not a loner. Because you love the same type of energy pulsating around you. Because your path is
           love and not meditation. And love is possible only where you can find lovers of high quality. You
           can find lovers everywhere in the world, but that love will be only lust.
               Here you will find lovers whose love is not lust, whose love is a sharing of joy, whose love is a
           help to you -- a hand stretched out to you so that you can be pulled out of your mud.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM IN LOVE WITH A WOMAN, BUT I WANT TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT SHE HAS NEVER
              LOVED ANYONE BEFORE. WHY AM I SO MUCH WORRIED ABOUT IT?


               Ramprem, just the old male chauvinist attitude. You are not worried about yourself, whether you
           have loved any woman before or not. About that you are not worried, that's okay; boys are boys and
           everything is forgiven them. Why are you worried about the woman you love? In fact, the very
           desire that the woman should not have loved anybody before is unintelligent, because a woman who
           has not loved anybody before will be inexperienced. And life -- even with an experienced woman --
           is hell. So what to say about an inexperienced woman?
               If you want a driver for your car, you don't look for one who has never driven a car. If you want a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           typist, you don't advertise for somebody who has never been a typist. If you want a cook you ask for
           somebody who is experienced. Then why do you have a different logic about love? It is stupid.
               The woman who has loved a few people is far more understanding; she will understand you
           better, she will create less trouble for you, she will help you in every possible way to come out of
           your own ego, unintelligence, mediocrity.
               In fact, there are a few primitive societies where an experienced woman is much in demand. In
           India there are a few primitive tribes in Bastar where a woman will not get a husband if she has not
           been known to be a great lover of many many people.
               A woman who has not been loved by anybody simply shows that either she is ugly or something
           is basically wrong with her. She must be unattractive, because nobody ever felt attracted towards
           her. A woman who has been loved by many people simply shows that she has some beauty, some
           magnetic force, some grace.
               But the male chauvinist mind has for centuries desired that... for a single reason, which has now
           become irrelevant. The reason was that "My property should belong to my son, not to somebody
           else's son." That was the real fear. People were not interested in the woman, they were more
           interested in their inheritors; hence they were very much worried: if the woman has been in some
           love affair before, who knows, she may be carrying somebody else's child.

               Two young men were pacing up and down in the corridor of a maternity home. The one said to
           the other, "You look so worried, what is the matter?"
               He said, "Worried? I am in a mess! This is my vacation and this is the time my wife has chosen
           to give birth to a child. My whole vacation is destroyed."
               The other said, "Hoo! That's nothing, this is my honeymoon! And my wife is giving birth to a
           child. I should be worried, not you!"

              A young man was asking the doctor, "Does it happen often? My wife is giving birth to a child
           and we have been married only seven months."
              The doctor must have been a wise old man, that type of doctor has disappeared. Now there are
           specialists, the ENT specialist and the dental surgeon; and somebody knows about one part and
           somebody else knows about another part and nobody knows about the whole man. The old physician
           was a wise man.
              The old man said, "Yes, the first time it often happens, but never again."

               People have always been very anxious, the fear is that the wife may be carrying somebody else's
           son. What difference does it make? In fact, when you make love to a woman, millions of living cells
           are released; millions, and you will not be able to recognize which is yours and which is not yours.
           They are so tiny, you cannot even see them with the naked eye, you will need some mechanical
           device, a microscope or something to see them.
               Those millions of living cells start the first race of life; they struggle, they start running towards
           the woman's egg, which is deep down inside the womb. And one of these fellows -- who is going to
           win the race, who is going to reach first -- will enter the egg. And once one fellow has entered the
           egg, then the egg closes. Sometimes it happens that twins are born and sometimes three, four, five,
           six, seven, eight children also, but it happens very rarely.
               You don't know which, but out of these millions of people only one is going to be your child. All
           other cells will die within two hours, and you will never be aware who those others were. A woman
           may give birth to twelve children in her whole life or eighteen at the most, but a man has the
           potential of creating as many children as there are people on the earth today. A single male has so
           many living cells, he can populate the whole earth. If all his cells can find an egg, attain to life and
           are born -- then one person, just one person, is enough to fill the whole earth.
               You will never know how many of your children have died, millions and millions of your
           children have died. And what is the difference whether it comes from some other body or your own
           body? It comes from God.
               But this foolishness has persisted. Ramprem, you should drop it.

           "Darling," he breathed passionately, "am I the first man to make love to you?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Of course you are," she snapped, "I don't know why you men always ask the same silly question."

              You are not alone, feel good! The whole earth is full of such silly people.

             He held her close against him, a warm glow of satisfaction covering them both.
           "Am I the first man you ever made love to?" he asked.
             She studied him reflectively. "You might be, your face looks very familiar."

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE HEARD IT SAID MANY TIMES THAT LOVE IS GOD, EXISTENCE IS GOD, GOD IS
              EXISTENCE, GOD CREATED THE WORLD AND THAT GOD IS A SUPERNATURAL POWER WHO
              ADMINISTERS THE WORLD.
              I HAVE TRIED TO FEEL ALL THIS, BUT COULD NOT. ALL THESE STATEMENTS ARE MORE AND
              MORE CONFUSING.
              KINDLY TELL ME WHAT IS GOD. AND WHEN YOU USE THE WORD 'GOD' IN YOUR LECTURES,
              WHAT DOES IT MEAN?


               Bal Krishna Bharti, don't try to imitate what others say. They may be saying a profound truth, but
           by imitating them you will never reach to that truth; because they never reached to that truth by
           imitation. They reached to that truth by being original.
               Jesus says: God is love. I say that love is God. My statement is far more penetrating than what
           Jesus says. Jesus says: God is love; that means God may have many other qualities, one of the
           qualities is love. I say love is God, there is no other quality, love is the only quality that is divine.
               And you listen to these things and you try... but what are you going to do? Do you know what
           love is? You become worried about God -- first you will have to know what love is, and the love that
           you know is nothing but lust. We are not talking about lust, neither Jesus nor I, we are talking about
           love. And love is something so mysterious that nobody has ever been able to define it precisely, only
           fingers pointing to the moon.
               Now what can you do? Hearing that love is God you jump into so-called love, whatsoever you
           think love is, and that is just unconscious sexuality; lust parading as love. And you will not find God;
           on the contrary, you may encounter the Devil -- and then you are puzzled.
               Imitation has to be avoided. Understanding should be the only law, never imitation.
               So the first thing, Bal Krishna, stop imitating. Listen to me and to others -- to Krishna, to Jesus,
           to Buddha, to Zarathustra -- just to understand, but don't start imitating. Don't be in a hurry, let the
           understanding soak into you; in a hurry you are going to do something wrong.

               The traveling salesman, when marooned in the country by bad weather, was permitted to share a
           bedroom with the farmer's son. In due time the two of them retired. The boy dropped on his knees
           beside the bed, his head in his hands in prayerful attitude.
               The salesman thought of the quotation, "And the little child shall lead them." He felt bad, having
           failed to say his prayers for many months; he dropped out on the other side of the bed and knelt.
               The boy raised his head and said, "What are you doing, mister?"
           "Same thing as you are, son," he replied.
           "Well, mama is going to give you hell then, because the pot is on this side."

           You missed it.
           I will wait, so you can get it....
           Get it a little more!
               Imitation is not going to help, imitation will create troubles for you. Understand! Why be in such
           a hurry to practice? Let understanding soak so deep that it transforms your being. That is the only
           way of arriving at truth; imitating is never the way.
               And that's what you have been doing. You say, "I have tried to feel all this, but could not."
               How can you feel all this? -- it is not a question of feeling, it is not a question of thinking; it is a
           question of being. And being is arrived at through understanding. Just listen silently, attentively, as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           open as you can be. Be open to me. Let there be no hindrance, no obstruction.
               Now this constant idea of practicing, of doing something immediately, is becoming a hindrance
           between me and you. There is no hurry. I say understanding is liberation. You need not do anything
           at all. If you allow me to penetrate to your very core, if you let me touch your heart, I will give you
           my dance, I will give you my song, I will give you my music.
               You need not do anything, being with a master is enough. Doing is needed if you go into
           scriptures; then you have to do something, because understanding can never arise out of scriptures.
           But by being with a master, understanding can arise. Just a little more open heart is needed.
               And you ask me what I mean by the word 'God'. I don't mean a person, I simply mean a quality, a
           presence. By "God" I mean godliness; the whole existence is full of godliness. And when you will
           come to know, you will not see a god standing before you, you will see the trees as divine, the rocks
           as divine, the people as divine, the animals as divine. God is spread all over the place, from the
           pebble to the star, from the blade of grass to the sun -- it is all divine.
               Whenever I use the word 'God' it is never meant to be a person; it simply means a presence, a
           silent absolute presence of intelligence in existence. But first you have to become aware of this
           intelligence in you, only then can you know this intelligence in others.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                    Chapter #7
                                    Chapter title: Forgetfulness, the only sin
           27 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910270
              ShortTitle: DHAM607
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              DO NOT LET PLEASURE DISTRACT YOU
              FROM MEDITATION, FROM THE WAY.



              FREE YOURSELF FROM PLEASURE AND PAIN.
              FOR IN CRAVING PLEASURE OR IN NURSING PAIN
              THERE IS ONLY SORROW.



              LIKE NOTHING LEST YOU LOSE IT,
              LEST IT BRING YOU GRIEF AND FEAR.
              GO BEYOND LIKES AND DISLIKES.



              FROM PASSION AND DESIRE,
              SENSUOUSNESS AND LUST,
              ARISE GRIEF AND FEAR.
              FREE YOURSELF FROM ATTACHMENT.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE IS PURE, AND SEES.
              HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH, AND LIVES IT.
              HE DOES HIS OWN WORK,
              SO HE IS ADMIRED AND LOVED.



              WITH A DETERMINED MIND AND UNDESIRING HEART
              HE LONGS FOR FREEDOM.
              HE IS CALLED UDDHAMSOTO --
              "HE WHO GOES UPSTREAM."



              WHEN A TRAVELER AT LAST COMES HOME
              FROM A FAR JOURNEY,
              WITH WHAT GLADNESS
              HIS FAMILY AND HIS FRIENDS RECEIVE HIM!



              EVEN SO SHALL YOUR GOOD DEEDS
              WELCOME YOU LIKE FRIENDS
              AND WITH WHAT REJOICING
              WHEN YOU PASS FROM THIS LIFE TO THE NEXT!


               inmate at the insane asylum was being examined for possible release. The first question the
           examining doctor asked him was, "What are you going to do when you leave this institution?"
           "I am gonna get me a slingshot," said the patient, "and I am gonna come back here and break every
           goddamn window in the place!"
               After six more months of treatment, the patient was again brought before the examining doctor
           for possible dismissal, and the same question was put to him.
           "Well, I am going to get a job," the patient replied.
           "Fine," said the doctor. "Then what?"
           "I am going to rent an apartment."
           "Very good."
           "Then I am going to meet a beautiful girl."
           "Excellent."
           "I am going to take the beautiful girl up to my apartment and I am going to pull up her skirt."
           "Normal, perfectly normal."
           "Then I am gonna steal her garter, make a slingshot out of it and come back here and break every
           goddamn window in the place!"

               Man moves almost in the same circles. Man as he is, is not sane, cannot be called sane. But
           because insanity is so widespread, it is so normal that we don't become aware of it.... Once YOU
           become awakened then you are surprised how people are living, what they are doing to themselves
           and to others. Their whole life is nothing but sheer madness. Somebody is mad after money,
           somebody is mad after power, somebody is mad after fame -- and all these things are futile.
               Death comes, and the whole edifice that you have built with such labor collapses. Death comes
           and takes you away, and all that you have created has been in vain.
               The sane person is one who creates something which even death cannot destroy. Let this be the
           definition of the sane: one who knows something of immortality, deathlessness, eternity -- he is sane,
           he is a buddha. To be a buddha simply means to be sane. One who is not aware of immortality and
           lives in time and thinks only in terms of this world is insane. He is not aware of himself, how can he
           be sane?
               We have not yet been able to create a sane society for the simple reason that we have not been
           able to create many buddhas. The more buddhas there are in the world, the more is the possibility of
           humanity rising to higher altitudes of being, understanding, love, compassion. Otherwise you go on
           moving from one nightmare into another.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                A big businessman was praying in the synagogue, pleading to God to help him get a
           fifty-thousand-dollar deal. Just then a very poor man entered and began praying to God for two
           dollars.
                Angrily the big businessman pulled out two dollar bills, pushed them over to the poor fellow and
           whispered to him, "Here, take them and get out of here, you fool. Just stop distracting him from my
           business!"

                The poor and the rich, the ignorant and the knowledgeable, the famous and the anonymous, are
           all in the same boat. Whether you ask God for two dollars or fifty thousand dollars does not make
           any difference. To go to God desiring is not to go to him at all, because it is only nondesiring that
           becomes a bridge. To desire is to create a wall between you and the total.
                The moment you desire something you are saying that "I am wiser than the whole." You are
           saying that "You don't know what has to be done and I have come to advise you." You are telling the
           whole that "The way things are is not right: they should be according to me."
                Prayer is just the opposite of desire. Prayer means, "The way things are is absolutely perfect,
           they are as they should be. Hence, I have nothing except a deep gratitude." Real prayer is bowing to
           existence in tremendous thankfulness because whatsoever is, the way it is, is the most perfect way it
           can ever be. A prayerful heart knows that the universe is perfect each moment; it is moving from
           perfection to more perfection.
                The world is not moving from imperfection to perfection, remember: it is moving from
           perfection to more perfection. That's the understanding of the prayerful heart. But we are full of
           desires.
                And if you go to the synagogue and the church and the temple you will find the same people,
           with the same mind, with no difference at all. They function with the same mind in the marketplace,
           they go to the temple with the same mind. And how can you go to the temple with a mind that
           functions perfectly well in the marketplace? The marketplace is an insane asylum! You will have to
           learn a different language. But people go on repeating the same kind of stupidity. You cannot even
           shake them, shock them, out of their sleep, because they become very angry.

              Mulla Nasruddin was complaining of seeing striped camels whenever he tried to sleep.
           "Have you ever seen a psychiatrist?" I asked him.
           "No, never," he said, "just striped camels."

              People go on living in their own small worlds, their own ideas, prejudices. They go on
           functioning in every situation in the same way. In the temple also, they speak the language they
           speak in the marketplace. In love also, they are always businesslike.

               I asked Mulla Nasruddin, "Nasruddin, I hear you just had an accident?"
               He said, "Yes, it was pretty bad, but I collected twenty thousand rupees, and my wife who was in
           the accident with me, got five thousand rupees."
           I asked him, "Did she get hurt?"
               Nasruddin laughed and said, "No, but I had the presence of mind to kick her in the face during
           the confusion!"

              Now, even in an accident the mind goes on doing its thing!
              All the buddhas have been trying to pull you out of your mind. The way is simple. In these sutras
           Buddha is talking about the way to get out of this stupid mind.

              DO NOT LET PLEASURE DISTRACT YOU
              FROM MEDITATION, FROM THE WAY.


               Pleasure is a momentary titillation of the body. It is not joy, it is not bliss. Pleasure is getting
           intoxicated for the moment with the physical, getting identified with the physical.
               When you become identified with the body and when you start listening to the body and its
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           instincts, a certain kind of titillation, a momentary state of intoxication, arises in you. The
           intoxication is created within your own body chemistry.
               One can take drugs from the outside, get intoxicated and forget all the worries, anxieties,
           burdens, and responsibilities of the world. One can completely forget the world; it is too much
           sometimes, it is too heavy. And just slipping out through alcohol, mescaline, marijuana, LSD, gives
           you a sense of pleasure. It is not real pleasure; it is only absence of pain.
               Let this be understood clearly: what you call pleasure is only a state of intoxication where you
           become so unconscious that you can't be aware of the pain. This can happen by taking some drug
           from the outside; this can also happen by releasing some drugs in your inner body chemistry. That's
           what happens when you are sexually intoxicated: your body secretes its own drugs. It is not much
           different.
               Your body is also outside of you. You are not your body, you are consciousness inside your
           body; your body is only a resting place, a house. One day you enter into it and one day you will have
           to leave it: a caravanserai, an overnight stay. You are not your body... your pilgrimage is eternal. But
           being in the body one can become identified, one can start thinking, "I am the body." And this is
           happening more today than ever before.
               For centuries man has been aware that he is not the body, but within these two, three centuries, a
           scientific approach about everything has destroyed that long, long-cherished understanding. Science
           is a good method to know about matter, but it is absolutely impotent as far as the world of
           consciousness is concerned. Because science can only know matter it is bound to deny
           consciousness; it is beyond its grasp.
               If you are trying to see light through your ears you will not be able to see it, and the ears will say,
           "There is no light." If you try to listen to music through your eyes you will not be able to listen,
           because your very method excludes it. Eyes can't hear music, ears can't see light, your hands cannot
           smell, your nose cannot taste. Every sense has its own limitation. It is perfectly valid within its own
           circumference; beyond it, it is utterly irrelevant.
               Such is the case with science and such is the case with religion. In the past, religion denied --
           absolutely denied -- the existence of the body, matter and the world. The mystics used to call the
           world illusory, MAYA, a dream. That is one extreme -- I am not in support of it. That is going
           beyond the religious approach, saying something which does not come into its vision. Now the same
           thing is being done by science, the same extreme: that consciousness is an illusion and the body is
           the only truth.
               As I see it, both attitudes are half-truths -- and half-truths are far worse than absolute lies:
           because of that half-truthfulness they can deceive many many people. For thousands of years man
           was deceived by one half-truth: that consciousness, God, Brahman, is the only reality, and
           everything else is just dream stuff. Now the pendulum has turned entirely to the other extreme.
           Science says: Consciousness is illusion, body is the only reality. Both are fallacies.
               The whole truth is: the body has its own reality, and consciousness has its own reality. And the
           miracle is, the mystery is, that these two separate realities are together, that these two separate
           realities are functioning in deep synchronicity. This is the mystery: matter dancing in tune with
           consciousness, consciousness dancing in tune with matter. This mystery I call God, this mystery I
           call truth, the whole truth.
               But if one has to choose between two fallacies -- the religious fallacy and the scientific fallacy --
           if there is no other way and you have to choose one out of these two, then I will say: choose the
           religious fallacy, because at least it will take you to the other shore, to eternity.
               But for three centuries we have decided to choose the scientific fallacy, which makes you more
           and more confined to the body. And when you are confined to the body, then "Eat, drink and be
           merry," becomes the very goal. Just think of yourself as a being whose whole life is nothing but
           "Eat, drink and be merry." It will be meaningless, it will be without any significance, it will be
           utterly mediocre. It will not have any ecstasy. Yes, there will be pleasures when you get lost into the
           body chemistry and there will be pains when you have to come out of that forgetfulness. So you will
           go on moving between pain and pleasure.
               Pleasure is getting lost, getting unconscious into the body; and pain is again becoming aware of
           the nonbody reality, again becoming aware of the world that surrounds you. So pleasure means
           forgetfulness and pain means remembrance. Have you observed that you remember only when there
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is pain? If you have a headache you become aware of the head, otherwise who thinks of the head?
           Only a headache makes you remember the head. If your shoe pinches, then you become aware of the
           feet; if the shoe is not pinching, you remain unaware of the feet. When your stomach is disturbed,
           you become aware of the stomach. When everything is going well, smoothly, you don't become
           aware.
                Pain brings awareness; awareness makes you aware of pain. Losing awareness gives you a false
           idea that there is no pain anymore. And many people have found many ways of how to become
           unconscious; those are all ways of getting drugged. You have found many anesthesias -- chemical,
           physical, religious -- yes, religious too.
                If a person goes on chanting a certain mantra -- what you have come to know as Transcendental
           Meditation -- it is a drug, psychologically produced. If you repeat a certain word again and again and
           again it goes on hitting your psychic sources and the continuous repetition creates a state of
           unconsciousness. It becomes like a lullaby; you start falling into deep sleep. It is soothing, it is
           restful, but it is not meditation. It is just the opposite of meditation; it is a psychological drug.
                Buddha says: DO NOT LET PLEASURE DISTRACT YOU FROM MEDITATION, FROM
           THE WAY. Beware that pleasure can distract you: it can distract you from meditation and it can
           distract you from the way. And what is meditation in Buddha's vision? Meditation is awareness, so
           anything that makes you unaware is a distraction; where it comes from does not matter. Whether you
           create it inside yourself by chanting a mantra or by ingesting some drug, by smoking, by injecting...
           how you manage it does not matter. If it distracts you from awareness... it may create beautiful
           dreams, but you are no longer conscious. You may feel the world becoming golden, the trees are
           greener, the roses are rosier, and everything seems to be tremendously beautiful, psychedelic -- but
           YOU are unconscious, you are no longer in your consciousness. This is the distraction.
                A buddha is against drugs... or if I am against drugs, it is only for this reason. It is not because it
           is against the so-called morality, it is not because it is against the priests and the puritans, it is not
           because tradition says so. Buddhas are against drugs not because drugs are sin but only because they
           take you away from yourself, they distract you.
                You will be surprised to know that the root which the word 'sin' comes from means forgetfulness
           -- the root means forgetfulness. If you can remind yourself that to forget is to sin, then you will have
           a very right approach: then to remember is virtue. George Gurdjieff used to call it self-remembering.
           Buddha calls it SAMMASATI -- right mindfulness. Krishnamurti calls it awareness. But all these
           words mean only one thing: Don't be distracted from your innermost core; remain rooted there,
           remain consciously there.
              DO NOT LET PLEASURE DISTRACT YOU FROM MEDITATION, FROM THE WAY.

               And meditation IS the way: there is no other way to God, there is no other way to truth. Truth is
           not something ready-made. Truth is something that you have to discover by becoming more and
           more aware. And you have to discover it not somewhere else, but within your own being. You are
           truth covered by unconsciousness, covered by forgetfulness, so anything that distracts, anything that
           takes you away from yourself, is irreligious, is unspiritual.

              FREE YOURSELF FROM PLEASURE AND PAIN.


               You will be surprised... because who wants pain? Nobody wants it -- at least apparently, nobody
           wants pain. But that is not true. There are two kinds of people: those who want pleasure or those who
           want pain. Those who want pleasure are called the worldly, and those who start wanting pain, they
           are called the otherworldly, the saints, the ascetics, the holy people. Pain becomes their pleasure;
           they start enjoying torturing themselves.
               The whole history of humanity is full of these stupid people, and they have been worshipped.
           Who has been worshipping them? -- the people who desire pleasure! For them, these people look as
           if they are from some other world, because they desire pleasure and these people escape from
           pleasure. On the contrary they inflict pain upon themselves: they go on fasting, they go on sitting
           naked when it is ice-cold or they may sit by the side of a fire when the sun is already showering fire
           all over the place. These masochists, these self-torturers, are pathological.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ninety-nine point nine percent of your saints are simply pathological -- and because of these
           pathological people religion has remained ill; it has not been possible to make religion healthy.
           Buddhas have been trying, but up to now they have failed, because nobody listens to them.
                Man's mind has a strategy: it moves to its opposite very easily. You are running after money,
           then one day you see the whole stupidity of it and you start escaping from money. Now this is again
           remaining obsessed with the same money; money still remains the center of your focus. First you
           were moving towards it, now you are moving away from it, but it is your reference; your whole life
           still has that context. You still think in terms of money -- how much you have or how much you have
           renounced, but you go on counting.

               Once a man came to Ramakrishna with a bag full of golden coins. He poured those golden coins
           onto the feet of Ramakrishna. There were many people sitting around; they were all surprised by
           how much money this man had brought, and he was pouring it onto the feet of Ramakrishna. What
           devotion!
               But Ramakrishna was not happy. He said, "You are pouring it in such a way that it seems you
           want to impress people. You are performing! Fill the bag again with the money and go to the
           Ganges" -- and the Ganges was just behind Ramakrishna's temple -- "and throw all the money into
           the Ganges. You have given it to me, I give it to the Ganges."
               The man was very much puzzled, worried -- throwing so many gold coins into the Ganges! And
           he had come with great expectations that Ramakrishna would say, "You are a great religious man.
           What renunciation! How pure you are, how holy!" ... And Ramakrishna has not taken any note. On
           the contrary, he says, "Go and throw all this rubbish into the Ganges." He did not want to do it, but
           now he could not say no to Ramakrishna. And once he has offered, how could he say no? So
           reluctantly he went to the Ganges.
               Hours passed and he was not back. Ramakrishna asked, "Where is he?" Ramakrishna went to
           see. The man had gathered a big crowd. On the bank on a rock, first he would toss a coin, make
           much noise, look at the coin, and then throw it into the Ganges. And many people would jump into
           the Ganges to find the coin. He was making a great show of it. Hundreds of people had gathered and
           he was counting, "One, two, three, four...."
               Ramakrishna went there and said, "You fool! When one collects money one counts, but when
           one is throwing it into the Ganges what is the point of counting? For two and half hours you have
           been doing it. Why waste your time? Throw the whole bag! What is the point of counting?"

               But this is how human mind functions: even if it renounces it counts. It is the same mind which
           was accumulating; now it is renouncing. One is after power, prestige, then one day one escapes to
           the mountains as far away from the capital as one can go. But the capital remains the point of
           reference.
               Hence Buddha says: FREE YOURSELF FROM PLEASURE AND PAIN -- both. He is not
           saying, "Free yourself from pleasure," because if he says only that then he knows perfectly well -- he
           is perfectly alert about you -- you will choose pain, and you will be in the same trap again from the
           back door; because pleasure is of the body and pain is of the body. Whether you enjoy eating or you
           enjoy fasting it makes no difference -- eating and fasting are both physical activities. There are
           people who enjoy eating and there are people who enjoy fasting, but both are rooted in the physical.
           They have not yet raised their eyes towards the beyond. Hence to remind you, he says: FREE
           YOURSELF FROM PLEASURE AND PAIN....

              FOR IN CRAVING PLEASURE OR IN NURSING PAIN
              THERE IS ONLY SORROW.


               Yes, people go on doing both. There are people who go on wounding themselves.
               You will be surprised to know that there was a Christian sect, thought to be very ascetic and
           pious, whose followers would wear belts with nails in them. The nails would go on wounding their
           bodies continuously. These people would wear shoes and inside the shoes there would be nails, and
           they would keep their feet always bleeding. They were thought to be great ascetics. People would
           count how many nails this saint had in his shoes; the more nails you had, the greater you were.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There have been Christian saints whose only prayer was to whip themselves early in the
           morning, and thousands would gather to see them whipping themselves. Their entire bodies would
           bleed. And when thousands are watching you whipping yourself, of course you will do the best you
           can, the most you can. People would faint; but until they fainted they would go on hitting
           themselves. And these people were thought to be spiritual people!
               These are the people who are against me because I am teaching you a healthy religion, a religion
           which does not believe in any nonsense.
               If you crave pleasure you will be in sorrow; if you nurse pain you will be in sorrow. And to be in
           sorrow is to be irreligious. Hence Buddha says again and again: Joy is the quality of the really
           spiritual man. Jesus says: Rejoice! Neither pain nor pleasure, but joy. Joy is something spiritual; it
           does not come from your body. One can be joyous even when the body is ill, one can rejoice even
           while dying. Joy is something inner. Pain and pleasure are both body-oriented; joy is being-oriented.

              LIKE NOTHING LEST YOU LOSE IT,
              LEST IT BRING YOU GRIEF AND FEAR.
              GO BEYOND LIKES AND DISLIKES.


               Likes and dislikes simply say that you think yourself separate from existence. A man who has
           dropped his ego has no likes and no dislikes. Then whatsoever is the case he rejoices in it. If he finds
           himself in poverty he rejoices in poverty, because there are beauties, a few beauties, which can be
           found only in poverty. If this man finds himself rich he rejoices in richness, because there are a few
           beautiful things which can be found only when you are rich. If this man finds himself young and
           healthy he rejoices in it, because a few things are possible only when you are young. And this man
           rejoices in old age too, because there are a few things which only old age can impart to you. One
           thing is certain: that he has no preferences, he does not hanker that this should be such and such. He
           makes no conditions on existence. He lives unconditionally, rejoicing in whatsoever happens.
               To carry likes and dislikes is to carry prejudices, and everybody goes on carrying prejudices.
           That's why nothing ever makes you contented.
               Even Buddha's father was not happy. He was unhappy because his son had moved on a wrong
           path; meditation to him was a wrong thing. He was desiring that his son become a great emperor;
           that was his deep ambition. Buddha was his only son, and one day Buddha escaped. I have every
           suspicion that the reason for his escape must have been his father. When you have only one son and
           then too, he is born when you are very old.... Buddha's father was very old when he was born. That
           was the last chance; one or two years more and there would have been no son at all. And his mother
           died immediately upon giving birth to Buddha; she was also getting old and this birth must have
           been too much.
               Buddhists have made a beautiful story out of it. They say that whenever a buddha is born his
           mother is bound to die. That's how people create stupid stories. There have been many buddhas.
           Mahavira's mother did not die, but if you ask the Buddhists they will say, "That simply proves that
           Mahavira is not a buddha." Jesus' mother did not die, Lao Tzu's mother did not die -- but to the
           prejudiced mind that simply proves that these were not buddhas. Whenever there is a buddha the
           mother has to die; that has become the definition.
               The real reason was: the mother was old, the father was old; this was the last chance. And they
           had lived a very miserable life because they had no son. And they had created a big kingdom: "Now
           to whom is this kingdom going to belong?" And when you have a child in your old age you cling to
           the child too much. The father must have been too possessive: that's MY feeling of why Buddha had
           to escape. The father must have been the cause, he must have been too much of a bondage. He had
           made great palaces for Buddha and he wouldn't allow him to leave them. He had made every
           arrangement in the palaces, all kinds of pleasures. In fact he made too many arrangements and
           Buddha got fed up very quickly; he was only twenty-nine when he left the palace.
               People usually become fed up by the end of their lives; it takes time to experience life. Buddha's
           father managed to provide him with all possible pleasures. Beautiful women -- all the beautiful
           women in his kingdom were brought to the palaces to serve Buddha. The best wine, the most
           beautiful women, marble palaces, musicians, poets, dancers... a continuous merry-go-round.
           Twenty-four hours a day Buddha was drowned in pleasures. Anybody who has any intelligence
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would escape. It became too tiring, it became too boring, it became such an ugly scene. He was fed
           up with it, so he escaped.
               Buddha's father was angry, very wounded. He wanted him to become a king and he became a
           buddha. He was not happy. In his own mind, to be a king was a greater thing than to be a buddha. To
           have more money and more fame -- worldly fame -- was more important to him than to be a
           meditator and attain to samadhi. These words must have looked like nonsense to him; he must have
           been a down-to-earth materialist.
               But this is not only so with Buddha; people are never contented with anything. If your son turns
           out to be a thief you are angry, if he turns out to be a buddha you are angry. It seems it is not
           possible for you to be happy. If your wife is too faithful you are fed up, if your wife is not faithful
           you are angry. If your husband is absolutely obedient you are finished with him; if your husband is
           continuously quarreling, fighting, you are finished with him, too. It seems man's mind has such likes
           and dislikes that it is impossible for him to be in a contented state.

              An old woman died and went to heaven. When she arrived there Saint Peter asked her where she
           would like to stay. She said, "I would like to be near the Virgin Mary."
              So Saint Peter put her into the same apartment house as the Virgin Mary. One day she walked
           over to the Virgin Mary and said, "There is one thing I have always wanted to say to you."
           Mary said, "Yes, what is it?"
              The old woman said, "It must have been wonderful to have given birth to a man who is
           proclaimed a god throughout the world!"
              Mary said, "Well, I would have liked it better if he had been a doctor."

               Yes, that's how man is -- nothing seems to satisfy. Nothing ever seems to give you joy, because
           you are already carrying some likes and dislikes -- and existence has no obligation to fulfill them. It
           has never promised to fulfill your likes and dislikes.
               If you really want to be blissful you have to drop likes and dislikes. Then you have to learn a
           different language to commune with existence. Whatsoever happens, enjoy it. Don't bring your likes
           and dislikes. Your life can be a continuous dance, a celebration; otherwise you will live in hell.
               LIKE NOTHING LEST YOU LOSE IT, LEST IT BRING YOU GRIEF AND FEAR. One thing:
           if you like something and you get it, there is bound to be great fear -- the fear of losing it. And
           nothing is permanent in this life; everything that you have is bound to be lost. So the fear arises, and
           when you lose it you are in deep grief.

              GO BEYOND LIKES AND DISLIKES.



              FROM PASSION AND DESIRE,
              SENSUOUSNESS AND LUST,
              ARISE GRIEF AND FEAR.
              FREE YOURSELF FROM ATTACHMENT.


               Why do people live in such misery? -- for the simple reason that they cling to things. The
           moment you cling you are creating misery for yourself, because nothing is going to be permanent
           here. Life is a river; it goes on moving, changing. You can't even predict the next moment. So if you
           cling to something and the next moment you find it slipping out of your hands, you will be in great
           pain, great misery.
               And the irony is: if you don't lose it and it remains with you, fulfilling your desire, then too, one
           day you are going to be very fed up... because the mind always requires the new to remain distracted.
           The mind is always searching for novelty, for something new. You love a woman, but still, once in a
           while an ordinary woman, who may not even be as beautiful as your own woman, attracts you. You
           seem puzzled: "Why does it happen?" Just that the mind always wants something new.
               The mind cannot remain with one thing for long, so if you lose it you are in grief, if you don't
           lose it you are in grief. Either way grief happens.
           Buddha says: FREE YOURSELF FROM ATTACHMENT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                Nadine, a pretty maid, was alone in the apartment where she worked and decided to lie down and
           rest for a while on the couch. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.
           "Who is there?" she asked.
           "The grocer," was the reply.
           "What do you have for me?"
           "Some staples."
           "Leave them in the hall, will you?"
                A few minutes later there was another knock. "Yes?" she asked.
           "It is the egg man."
           "Oh, what do you have for me?"
           "Four dozen eggs."
           "Please leave them with the groceries."
                A few minutes after, still another knock. "Now what is it?"
           "The superintendent."
           "What do you have for me?"
           "I've got an urge."
           "Well, come in then. That won't keep."

               And there are urges and urges; you are exploding with urges, desires. You don't have one desire,
           you have many desires. Not only that you have many desires, you have contradictory desires. If one
           is fulfilled, the other, which is its contradiction, remains unfulfilled and you are in misery. If the
           other is fulfilled, then something else remains unfulfilled.

               A politician came to see me; he wanted peace of mind. I said, "Then get out of politics."
               He said, "That is difficult. I am just coming closer and closer to be the chief minister of my state.
           For twenty years I have worked hard. Now I am the education minister and within two or three years
           I will be the chief minister -- I am the next man in the cabinet, so I cannot leave politics now."
               Then I said, "Drop this idea of peace of mind, because being a politician, it is impossible to have
           peace of mind."
               He said, "In fact, that's why I need it, that's why I have come to you, because it is becoming so
           much of a burden on me that I am falling apart. I am afraid that before I become the chief minister I
           may go mad. That's why I have come to you. Help me, teach me some method so I can be a little
           more peaceful, at ease, relaxed. But I cannot leave politics."
               Now, this man wants two contradictory things together: he wants peace and he is ambitious. It is
           impossible. If you are ambitious, then your mind is bound to remain restless. If you want peace, then
           the first requirement is to drop all ambition. Unless you drop ambition you cannot be at ease, at
           peace, you cannot be relaxed. He could see the contradiction, but he said, "I will think it over."
               I said, "If you can see the contradiction right now, what you are going to think about it? Your
           thinking is not going to make any difference."

               It has made one difference: he has stopped coming to me. Since then I have not seen him. I have
           heard now that he goes to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, because Mahesh Yogi says both can be fulfilled
           together. The more meditative you become, the more is the possibility of fulfilling your ambitions.
           Now this is utter nonsense. The more meditative you become, the less ambitious you will be. There
           is no question of fulfilling ambitions; ambition will start disappearing from your consciousness.
               But if you look around your mind you will find many contradictory things -- one part going to
           the south, another to the north. It is a miracle how you go on managing yourself. Otherwise a part of
           you will be in Tokyo, a part in Timbuktu -- you will be all over the earth in fragments! It is really a
           miracle how you go on managing to keep yourself together. It is really only apparently together;
           deep down you are divided and split.
               Buddha says: If you really want to transform your being into a peaceful consciousness, into
           serenity, into bliss, then you will have to GO BEYOND LIKES AND DISLIKES. FROM PASSION
           AND DESIRE, SENSUOUSNESS AND LUST, ARISE GRIEF AND FEAR. FREE YOURSELF
           FROM ATTACHMENT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A few distinctions have to be made: when Buddha says "sensuousness" he does not mean
           sensitivity. In fact, a sensuous person is a gross person; the sensitive person is subtle. Sensitiveness
           is beautiful, sensuousness is ugly. Love is beautiful, lust is ugly. Love is sensitivity, lust is
           sensuousness. Love gives what you have, lust tries to snatch away something from the other. The
           sensuous person exploits the other, and the sensitive person shares himself with the other.
               Be sensitive but don't be sensuous. Be loving but get out of lust. Lust and sensuousness are
           animal; love and sensitivity are human.
               And there is still a world above the human -- the divine -- where even sensitiveness, love, and all
           these things disappear. There remains only one thing: a witnessing consciousness. That is the state of
           buddhahood, christhood. One becomes just a pure mirror of existence. Then stars are reflected and
           the flowers are reflected. Then you see God in his original face -- this whole existence is his original
           face. This mirrorlike consciousness, this witnessing self, is the goal.
               Buddha says: In this state, HE IS PURE.... The seeker becomes pure.

              HE IS PURE AND SEES.
              HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH, AND LIVES IT.
              HE DOES HIS OWN WORK,
              SO HE IS ADMIRED AND LOVED.


               Remember always the goal: the goal is to become a pure witness. By purity Buddha never means
           moral purity; by purity he means childlike innocence. There is a great difference between moral
           purity and childlike innocence. Moral purity is cunning, clever. It is not really purity, it is something
           imposed. It has a motivation. The moral person is trying to attain to heaven, to otherworldly joys; he
           wants to become immortal. The moral person is not desireless: his object of desire has changed and
           he is ready to sacrifice everything for his new object of desire. He imposes purity upon himself, but
           that purity is not even skin-deep. Deep down he is cunning, manipulating. In fact, he is trying to
           manipulate God according to his desires.
               The moral person is so knowledgeable; he is too deep in the scriptures. He is not wise but only
           knowledgeable. He knows nothing -- because for knowing you need a childlike innocence, for
           knowing you need great wonder and awe. For knowing you need to drop all concepts, ideologies,
           scriptures. Only then will your eyes be utterly empty, nude, and when your eyes are nude they can
           see.
               The knowledgeable person THINKS that he knows because he has heard or read beautiful words;
           but his knowledge is utterly superficial, borrowed. It has no roots in his being; it is in fact stupid.
           People cannot see that his knowledge is nothing but stupidity masquerading as knowledge, because
           people are as blind as he is. But when he comes to a buddha, the buddha can see that what he is
           saying is not his own.

                Once I was invited to a religious conference -- many saints were invited there. One Jaina monk
           spoke before me. He talked about the soul, freedom from all attachment, and the attainment of bliss,
           moksha, nirvana. All that he spoke of was beautiful, but I was sitting behind him and I could see
           through and through that that man was just a parrot. He was repeating scriptures, he knew nothing,
           but he was very much respected by the Jainas.
                When he had finished I whispered in his ears that, "I have to tell you, even if it hurts, that
           whatsoever you have said is all borrowed, it is all stupid. You don't know a thing. You have never
           meditated, you have never tasted any bliss. You have never known what enlightenment is, but you
           were describing it beautifully, you were defining it beautifully. You are a clever person, but beware:
           this cleverness is not going to become the boat to the other shore."
                He was shocked. In the afternoon a man came to me from him and said, "He wants to meet you,
           but in absolute privacy."
                I said, "Why in privacy? I have got my people, he has got his people, and they both would like to
           listen to what transpires between the two of us. Let it be a public thing!"
                But he insisted. Still, at least two hundred people had gathered, but he said, "I want absolute
           privacy." So we went into a room; he locked the door, started crying.
           I said, "Why are you crying?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "You are the first person who has been so frank and truthful towards me. I cannot accept
           what you have said before the people because they respect me. You will destroy my whole life's
           attainment -- this is my attainment. But before you I can confess that you are right -- I have been
           simply repeating. Now what should I do?"
               I said, "The first thing is, come out and confess before the people that 'You have been respecting
           a wrong person.'"
           He said, "That is too much -- I cannot do that."
           "Then," I said, "get lost! If you cannot drop your ego, then I cannot be of any help to you because
           that is the first requirement."
           He said, "I will think it over."
               He is still thinking... twenty years have passed! In these twenty years I have sent people many
           times to inquire, "Have you come to any conclusion yet or not?" Last time when I sent a man to him
           he told the man, "Tell him, don't torture me -- for twenty years he has been torturing me. I know he
           is right, but at this age" -- now he is almost seventy -- "I cannot risk my reputation. I have to
           continue this life; next life maybe I will listen to his advice."
               But I know that next life also he will not listen. I will not be there; somebody else may be there,
           but he will not listen.

               A little girl answered the knock on the door of the farmhouse. The caller, a rather
           troubled-looking, middle-aged man, asked to see her father.
           "If you have come about the bull," she said, "he is fifty dollars. We have the papers and everything
           and he is guaranteed."
           "Young lady," the man said, "I want to see your father."
           "If that is too much," the little girl replied, "we got another bull for twenty-five dollars, and he is
           guaranteed too, but he does not have any papers."
           "Young lady," the man repeated, "I want to see your father!"
           "If that is too much," said the little girl, "we got another bull for only ten dollars, but he is not
           guaranteed."
           "I am not here for the bull," said the man angrily. "I want to talk about your brother, Elmer. He has
           gotten my daughter in trouble!"
           "Ah, I am sorry," said the little girl. "You will have to see Pa about that, because I don't know what
           he charges for Elmer."

               The little girl is simply repeating what she has heard. The father charges fifty for one bull,
           twenty-five for another, ten for another. She does not know exactly what he charges for... what is
           going on, but she has heard. She is simply repeating.
               And this is how your knowledgeable people are. They have heard about God, they have not seen.
           They have heard about truth, they have not experienced. They have heard about love, they have not
           lived. They can talk and they can argue and they can prove themselves great scholars -- but they are
           stupid people. Beware of them -- they are not pure. They can even impose a certain discipline upon
           themselves out of this borrowed knowledge, but their idea of purity will also be something foolish.
               Somebody will eat only vegetarian food; that will be his idea of purity. Somebody will not even
           eat all vegetables but only fruits -- he will be a fruitarian -- and fruits only when they become ripe
           and fall on their own so no harm is done to the tree. Now he will think that he is really pure.
           Somebody will think that just drinking milk is the purest thing.
               In India milk is thought to be the purest food, SATTVIC, the most pure. Now that is strange,
           because milk is animal food. It is like eggs, it comes out of the animal's body. And certainly it is not
           for you -- it is for the kids of the animal. And it is dangerous too, because the cow gives milk for
           HER kid, and her kid is going to become a bull! Now in India people think that if you drink milk you
           will attain celibacy. That is utter foolishness -- you will become a bull! How can you attain celibacy?
           Milk is the most sexual food possible.
               But people can go to extremes. I have come across a few people who are trying to live only on
           water.

              Once I came across a man who was trying to live only on water. He was dying, not living, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one can live for at least three months on water too, because one has enough emergency flesh
           accumulated in the body so one can go on eating it for three months. In fact to live just on water is to
           eat your own meat, because every day one pound of your weight will disappear. "Where has it
           gone?" I asked the man. "Who has eaten it?"
               He was very much disturbed. He said, "You are the first man who is disturbing me -- because
           everybody says that this is the best, the most sattvic, the most pure food -- water, and Ganges water,
           not ordinary water."
               Now, the water of the Ganges is the most impure in India, because people throw dead bodies in
           the Ganges -- and in no other river -- because if you throw a body in the Ganges, the person to whom
           the body belonged goes directly to heaven. So the Ganges carries all kinds of germs, dead bodies;
           they may have died from cancer, tuberculosis, this and that.
               And he said, "I am drinking only Ganges water, and you are making me very afraid. You are
           saying that, 'You are eating your own meat.' Now I will not be at rest at all."
               I said, "What can I do? -- you are eating it! Otherwise, where does your weight disappear to?"

               But these are the ideas people go on carrying. Purity becomes something very foolish. Either you
           change your eating habits and you think you have become pure, or you change your clothes and you
           start living in rags and you think you have become pure. You leave your house and start living in a
           cave and you think you have become pure. Or you take an early bath and think you are pure, or you
           take four, five baths every day and that is your purity, or you don't sleep and that is your purity....
           But these are all ideas you gather from others. You can impose them on yourself and you will be
           worshipped, but this is not what Buddha means.
               When he says: HE IS PURE, he means he is innocent, he is not knowledgeable. He is functioning
           from the state of not-knowing. He is not bookish, he does not live according to the books.

               Mr. Goldberg, a prosperous furrier, sent his daughter to Europe to get some culture and maybe
           meet a rich fellow.
               A few months later she wrote and asked papa to send her a book on etiquette.
           "Real fine people she is meeting," he thought to himself.
               Five months later she wrote for another book on etiquette.
           "Princes she is going with," said Goldberg and jumped for joy.
               After two years Becky came home. Mr. Goldberg met her at the pier and was taken aback when
           she appeared with a child in her arms.
           "Whose baby?" he asked.
           "Mine," she replied.
           "And the father?"
           She shook her head. "I don't know, Papa."
               Goldberg wept in despair. "Two books on etiquette you got and you don't even know to ask,
           'With whom have I the pleasure?'"

               Books can't help; even two books on etiquette won't make you cultured. A thousand books on
           spirituality and you will not become spiritual. It is not a question of becoming more informed. It is a
           question of transformation, not of information.
               HE IS PURE, AND SEES. When you are innocent you have eyes to see the truth as it is, because
           you don't have any idea to distort. You have no prejudice, no like, no dislike. You are neither Hindu
           nor Mohammedan nor Christian. You are simply a consciousness, full of wonder, great inquiry.
           There is exploration; you reflect reality. In innocence reality is reflected and seen.
               HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH.... And when you know, you cannot do otherwise. HE SPEAKS THE
           TRUTH... whatsoever the cost. Even if you are to be killed for saying the truth; you would rather be
           killed but you will not stop speaking the truth.

               Socrates was told by the judges that if he could stop talking about truth he could be forgiven, but
           then he had to make a promise to the court that he would never talk about truth.
               Socrates said, "I would rather die than stop talking about truth."
               The judges were puzzled. They said, "But why? Life is so precious."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Socrates said, "Not more precious than truth. If I cannot speak the truth, then there is no point in
           living at all. I live to convey the truth. My life is only a means to spread whatsoever I have come to
           know. If I cannot do that, then there is no point in living -- please kill me. And I cannot make that
           promise for one more reason: even if I want to stop I cannot. I will go on saying what I see. I will go
           on living it. I can't do otherwise. Knowing the truth is being it."

              HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH, AND LIVES IT. HE DOES HIS OWN WORK, SO HE IS ADMIRED AND
              LOVED.

               What is his work? His work is to shout. His work is to call you out of your sleep. His work is to
           wake people up. Yes, those who understand him will admire and love him. And there will be many
           who will not understand him; they will condemn him, they will even kill him. But Buddha takes no
           account of those. He is simply taking account of those few rare souls who will be able to understand
           what he is saying and what he is living. And in fact only those few people MEAN anything. Only
           they are worth counting; the crowd is not worth counting at all.

              WITH A DETERMINED MIND AND UNDESIRING HEART
              HE LONGS FOR FREEDOM.
              HE IS CALLED UDDHAMSOTO --
              "HE WHO GOES UPSTREAM."


               UDDHAMSOTO is a beautiful word that Buddha uses many times. UDDHAM means great
           endeavor; SOTO means the source. The English word 'source' comes from the same root as soto. The
           Sanskrit word is SHROT; from shrot comes the English word 'source' and the Pali word 'soto'.
           Buddha speaks Pali; he is using soto. Uddhamsoto means a man who is trying, with all his being, to
           reach to the source, to the very source of being. His whole effort is to know the ultimate, the very
           ground of existence, because that is where truth is, God is, nirvana is.
               Great effort is needed, laziness won't do -- and people are really lazy. Because people are lazy,
           that's why priests could exploit them for centuries -- and they are going to exploit you if you
           continue to remain lazy. Because people are lazy they leave it to the priests: "You do the prayer, you
           do the worship for us on our behalf. We will pay you, but you do it on our behalf." They know that
           their priests are as blind as they are, as lazy as they are. They have not worked upon their beings.
               Work is arduous. Many chunks have to be cut out of you and dropped; only then can you come to
           your original face. It is almost like a sculptor carving a statue out of a marble rock; with chisel and
           hammer in his hands he goes on cutting the rock, taking out all unnecessary pieces. Slowly slowly,
           the formless rock starts attaining a form, the ordinary rock starts becoming something extraordinary,
           beautiful. A Buddha can be found in it, a Christ can be found in it, a Krishna can be found in it. But
           before you can find a buddha in the rock much has to be destroyed. Unless you are ready to do great
           work upon yourself it is not going to happen. You cannot rely on agents.
               Your priests, your bishops, your popes, are all agents -- agents between you and God. You don't
           know God, and the agents go on saying, "Don't be worried -- we know. We will convey your
           messages." They don't know either; they are simply exploiting your ignorance.
               But people are lazy. Laziness is one of the problems.

               Manuel was the new man on the railroad crew, so naturally he got the worst jobs around the
           camp. Among the he-men laborers, the most hated job was that of the camp cook.
               During the first day on the job, Manuel complained bitterly about the horrible food only to be
           informed that whoever complained about the food had to be the cook. Manuel argued long and loud
           but the foreman would not yield: Manuel would have to cook until somebody else complained.
               The next day Manuel got a brilliant idea. After washing the breakfast dishes he went off to the
           prairie and soon located exactly what he sought -- a freshly deposited pasture pastry, a steaming
           green moose turd. Carefully Manuel collected the fragments, putting the fragrant treasure in a large
           box he had brought along for the purpose, and returned to the camp cookshack. He carefully
           prepared a large pie crust, inserted the moose turd, and baked the pie until it was a golden brown.
               That night he gleefully served the tender pastry as his piece de resistance, and waited for the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           complaints to start. The faces of the crew were delightfully twisted as the diners choked down the
           delicate offering.
               Finally one man rose to his feet, his face a twisted mass of disgust. "My God!" he roared at
           Manuel. "That is moose turd pie! It sure is good, though!"

               Man is so lazy that he will go on as he is rather than working and trying to change -- trying to
           bring some changes in his circumstances. It is easier to remain contented, to remain insensitive, to go
           on pulling, somehow existing. But it is not life. And what is true about the outer circumstances is far
           more true about the inner, because the outer circumstances don't need so much effort to be changed
           but the inner lethargy is centuries old. The unconsciousness is so primitive, its roots are so deep, that
           it needs a total determination on your part, a tremendous determination, a commitment, a deep
           involvement. You have to risk all. Unless that happens it is impossible to change yourself, you will
           remain the same. You can go on reading, you can go on accumulating knowledge, you can go from
           one teacher to another teacher, but deep down you will not change. This is not the way to change.
               The way to change is: WITH A DETERMINED MIND AND UNDESIRING HEART HE
           LONGS FOR FREEDOM.
           HE IS CALLED UDDHAMSOTO -- "HE WHO GOES UPSTREAM." It is almost going upstream,
           because not to follow the crowd, not to follow the tradition, not to follow the scripture, not to follow
           the religion you are born in, the church you are born in, is going against the stream. Great effort is
           needed; otherwise ordinarily it seems easier, more comfortable and convenient to follow the crowd --
           whatsoever they are doing, you go on doing. They will not give you trouble, but remember, you are
           simply destroying a great opportunity. And this life is going to disappear soon. Why not bring all
           your energies to such a point of integration where you can take a quantum leap from the known to
           the unknown, from time to eternity?
               Unless you are determined... and that's what sannyas is all about: a determination, a commitment,
           to transform oneself, not holding back anything. I cannot change you unless you are totally
           determined to be changed. You cannot throw the responsibility on me. I am here to help, but I can
           help only those who are really committed, who are not halfheartedly here.

               Fred was admitted to a madhouse because he always felt he was a mouse and was totally
           paranoid about cats.
               After years and years of treatment he was finally declared normal again and the doctor said, "So
           you know now that you are not a mouse -- you are a human being like me and there is no need to be
           afraid of cats."
               Fred agreed and was released. But as he stepped out of the gates he saw a cat walking on the
           opposite side of the road. He totally freaked and ran back inside in total shock.
               The doctor said, "But Fred, I thought that it was clear to you that you are not a mouse."
               Fred replied, "Doctor, you know I am not a mouse, I know I am not a mouse. But how the hell do
           I know that the cat knows?"

               Nobody can help you from the outside. Yes, you can be convinced, but deep down you will
           remain the same. You can be silenced through arguments, but arguments cannot change you. You
           will have to bring all your energies to a single point, to an absolute determination, that "This life I
           am going to make it. I am ready to do whatsoever is required. I will not shirk any responsibility. I
           will not shrink from any responsibility. I will not find any excuses, rationalizations. I will not be a
           victim anymore of the old mind."
               Once this determination is total, transformation immediately starts happening. In fact to be
           totally determined is almost half the journey.
           Buddha says:

              WHEN A TRAVELER AT LAST COMES HOME
              FROM A FAR JOURNEY,
              WITH WHAT GLADNESS
              HIS FAMILY AND HIS FRIENDS RECEIVE HIM!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I am creating a family here, a family of friends. The day any of you will burst forth into a flame,
           the whole family will rejoice. And it is not only that this small commune of sannyasins will rejoice;
           the whole existence participates in rejoicing. Whenever a man becomes a buddha, the trees, the
           rivers, the mountains, the stars, all rejoice, because at least one of us has reached home.
           And Buddha says:

              EVEN SO SHALL YOUR GOOD DEEDS
              WELCOME YOU LIKE FRIENDS
              AND WITH WHAT REJOICING
              WHEN YOU PASS FROM THIS LIFE TO THE NEXT!


               And whatsoever you have done to transform yourself -- he calls it "the good deed" -- that is real
           virtue. Whatsoever you have done to transform yourself, that is your treasure. And you will be
           surprised that when you reach to the other shore, the beyond, your treasure will be awaiting you
           there, to rejoice, to receive, to welcome you.
               Either you can collect money, power, prestige -- which will be left on this shore -- or you can
           accumulate a totally different kind of treasure: of meditation, of love, of bliss, of understanding, of
           awareness, of godliness. If you attain to this treasure, you will be surprised: when you reach to the
           other shore, when you go beyond this body, when death happens to this body, you will be received
           by all the treasures that you have accumulated. They will all rejoice.
               Buddha means that there is a treasure that goes with you to the ultimate, and there is a
           momentary treasure which is left behind. Those who are wise accumulate that which will be theirs
           forever, and those who are foolish accumulate the momentary, which will be taken away from you --
           which is going to be taken away by death.
               Remember, each moment, what you are accumulating. Is it going to be taken away by death?
           Then it is not worth bothering about. If it is not going to be taken away by death, then even life can
           be sacrificed for it -- because one day or another life is going to disappear. Before life disappears,
           use the opportunity to find that which never dies.
               Become an uddhamsoto. Find the source of existence, of your own being, of all that is. That
           source is God, that source is nirvana.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                    Chapter #8
                                       Chapter title: Everything is possible
           28 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910280
              ShortTitle: DHAM608
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              TO ME, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PASSAGE IN THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES ENDS WITH THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WORDS, "AND JESUS WEPT." IT OCCURS WHEN HE APPROACHES JERUSALEM FOR THE
              LAST TIME, LOOKS DOWN ON IT IN HIS COMPASSION, SEES ALL OF THE FOOLISHNESS,
              FUTILITY AND PATHOS OF MANKIND -- AND WEEPS.
              BELOVED MASTER, DOES THE BUDDHA WEEP?


               Anand Deepesh, it certainly is one of the most beautiful passages in the Christian scriptures,
           because it shows the humanity of Jesus, that is his unique quality. Gautama the Buddha is not so
           human.
               Jesus is both the son of man and the Son of God. He knows the dark valley, he also knows the
           sunlit peak -- and he has a very human heart. That humanity remains with him to the very end. All
           the buddhas are unique. In the same situation Lao Tzu, looking back, would have laughed at the
           foolishness, at the ridiculousness, at the absurdity of human beings. And in the same situation
           Gautama the Buddha would not even have cared to look back; that is his uniqueness, he never looks
           back, the past does not exist at all. Mahavira would have looked back but would have neither wept
           nor laughed.
               This fact has to be remembered: never compare two buddhas, otherwise you will create great
           confusion for yourself. Although their experience is the same, their expressions are different, are
           bound to be different. They have different individualities, they have different forms of expressing
           their experience.
               Jesus remains human, very human. If you ask a Buddhist, he will say, "Then he is not a buddha if
           he wept." When he is just going to be crucified and he is raised on the cross, he looks at the sky and
           says, "Have you forsaken me?" There is great complaint, the complaint of the human heart,
           complaining to God as a child would complain to his mother or father: "Have you forsaken me?
           What are you trying to do to me?" He is angry too, a little anger is there, which is part of being
           human; a little anger, a little love, a little joy.
               When he enters into the great temple of Jerusalem he feels so offended by the presence of the
           money-changers in the temple that he takes a whip in his hand and, alone, he drives all the
           money-changers out of the temple, turns their money-changing boards upside-down, creates chaos;
           that too is very human. That is Jesus' speciality.
               In the same situation you can't think of Buddha looking at the sky because for Buddha there is no
           God outside. God is within, you are looking at the empty sky, there is no one to respond. God is in
           the crucified person, there is no way to pray to God. Prayer is absolutely meaningless for a Buddha;
           he would have accepted it without any grudge, without any complaint, without any anger. He is
           suprahuman, his expression is absolutely suprahuman; not for a single moment will he allow human
           weakness to enter in.
               When he was dying, he stopped his disciples from weeping and crying; he said, "You can do it
           when I'm gone, you will have enough time, but right now, at least while I am still alive, don't do such
           a stupid thing. There is nothing to weep for because there is nobody to die. Why are you weeping?"
               Ananda, his disciple, said, "Bhagwan, we have loved you so much, how can we avoid feeling
           sad?"
               Buddha said, "You loved a nothingness. I was never a person but only a presence, and I have
           been telling you again and again, don't think of me as a person. The person died the day I became
           Buddha. Gautama Siddhartha died the day enlightenment happened. Since then there has been
           nobody inside the house, the house is utterly empty. Hence nobody is dying, stop crying and
           weeping. Later on when I am gone you can do whatsoever you want, you will have enough time.
           Don't waste these precious moments in weeping."
               This is a totally different expression. God is multidimensional. When he is experienced there are
           going to be many expressions of it.
               Mahavira is absolutely indifferent to everything. He will not laugh, he will not weep either,
           because for him this whole world is nothing but a dream. If you know that something is a dream,
           how can you weep?

               There is an ancient Chinese parable. Chuang Tzu used to tell that parable again and again.
               A great king had only one son and the son was dying -- dying of a disease for which there was no
           medicine available. All the physicians had said, "There is no way to save him. It is only a question of
           a few hours or at the most one or two days and he will be gone."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The king had loved the son so much; he was the only son, the king was getting old and there was
           no possibility of another son. The king was sitting by the side of the bed the whole night because this
           might be the last night.
                Nearabout four o'clock the old king fell asleep and had a dream. In the dream he saw a beautiful
           marble palace; he had never dreamed of such a beautiful palace. And the kingdom is so vast; he is
           the king, and he is sitting on a golden throne studded with big diamonds and emeralds. He HAD
           emeralds and diamonds but not so big, not so pure, without any flaw. And he had beautiful women
           and twelve sons; maybe the idea of losing his only son had created the desire for twelve sons, maybe
           it was just a reflection of his actual state. This dream might have been just a wish fulfillment, but he
           felt so blessed. And all his sons were so wise, so healthy, such great warriors.
                And then suddenly his son died on the bed. The wife cried so loudly that the king's dream was
           shattered; he opened his eyes, looked at the dead body of his son and didn't say a word -- remained
           like a statue. His wife was shocked, she shook him and said, "Do you understand or not? Your son is
           dead!" The king said, "I can see it but now I am puzzled -- for whom to cry? Just a minute before I
           had twelve beautiful sons, very handsome, very wise, in every way skillful. And because of your
           crying my dream is shattered, those twelve sons have disappeared; and the golden throne and the
           marble palace and the great kingdom, all have gone. Should I weep for those or should I weep for
           this son because when I was dreaming I had completely forgotten my son, you and the kingdom?
           "Now I am awake, I have forgotten the dream and the beauties of the dream. Which is true, which
           should I cry for? Because when I was seeing the dream it was true, at least it appeared to be true.
           Now I am seeing my dead son, it appears true, but how to decide which appearance is really true?"

              Chuang Tzu, in another parable, says the same thing. He says, "Once I dreamed that I had
           become a butterfly, moving from one flower to another, enjoying the sun and the wind. And then
           somebody awakened me; it was morning and getting late and the sun was shining in my face. As I
           opened my eyes the butterfly disappeared, I was again Chuang Tzu. Since then I have been in
           confusion. The confusion is, if Chuang Tzu can dream that he is a butterfly, why can't the butterfly
           dream that she is Chuang Tzu?"
              He seems to be very penetrating; this puzzle is something worth meditating over. If Chuang Tzu
           can become a butterfly in the dream... the butterfly may have fallen asleep, sitting on some tree,
           under the shade of a tree; the butterfly may have fallen into sleep and dreamed that she is Chuang
           Tzu. Now who is right and what is a dream? Both seem to be similar.

               A man like Buddha knows the falseness of the whole world; he will not weep, he will not laugh,
           he will not even look back. That is his way of expressing his experience of the total. Mahavira will
           look back because he also has great compassion -- but different from Jesus; he will not weep,
           because it helps nobody. If you weep for the world, it does not help the world. If you weep at the
           stupidity of people it makes you look silly, that's all. It does not help people.
               But Lao Tzu would have certainly laughed because looking at people's absurdity, their
           ridiculousness, what else can you do? Lao Tzu used to ride on a water buffalo, moving from one
           place to another. He was a jolly fellow, telling jokes, telling stories to people, always in a laughing
           state.
               If you see the statues of Buddha that have been made in China and in Japan you will be
           surprised. They don't look like Buddha, particularly not like the Indian statues, not at all. The Indian
           statues have a very athletic form, Buddha has a big chest and a very small belly, no belly at all, his
           body seems to be very proportionate.
               But the Chinese Buddha has a big belly; the chest is completely sunk in, the belly is too big. And
           not only is the belly big, even in the marble statues you can see the belly laughing, there are ripples
           of laughter on the belly. It has been conceived according to the Taoist idea; because China could
           understand only if Buddha was presented in the form of Lao Tzu. They knew Lao Tzu, they were
           acquainted with this enlightened man, and he was always laughing. To him there is nothing to weep
           for. What reason is there to weep at the ridiculousness of man?

              Three college boys, upon entering their favorite juke joint to sit at their usual table, found it to be
           occupied by an oldish woman. After debating what to do about the situation, they finally decided to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           embarrass the woman into leaving.
               Sitting next to the old lady, the first student started.... "Say, John," he said, "did you know that I
           was born three months before my parents were married?"
           "Why, that's nothing," said the next one. "I was born six months before my parents were married."
           "Fellows," replied the last of the hungry men, "I was born without my parents being married."
               The old lady finally looked up from the table and pleasantly asked, "Will one of you bastards
           please pass the salt?"

              Life is ridiculous, you never know what is going to happen, it is absurd.

               An artist's model arrived at her boss' studio and was waiting for him to arrive. When he walked
           in the door she headed for the dressing room to get undressed.
               But he said, "No, don't bother getting ready. I have got a terrific hangover and really don't feel
           like working today. But why don't you stay and join me in a cup of coffee?"
           The model said, "I would love to."
               Just then the artist heard familiar footsteps approaching the door.
           "Oh my gosh," he gasped. "Here comes my wife. Get your clothes off -- quick!"

               Lao Tzu would laugh; Jesus wept. Now it is for you to choose. I love both the men; in fact
           laughing and weeping are two sides of the same coin. And because of this story that Jesus wept, I say
           something which Christians have denied down the ages. Christians have been saying that Jesus never
           laughed. Now a man who is capable of weeping is bound to be capable of laughing, it is impossible
           to weep if you cannot laugh. In fact laughter and weeping are not opposites, but complementaries --
           two extremes of the same spectrum.
               Christians say Jesus never laughed. That is an invented story, I can't believe in it. Because Jesus
           was not an ascetic. Yes, I can understand some ascetic saint never laughing because he is so
           desertlike, so dry, so dull and so dead. But Jesus is a juicy man, he is not an ascetic; he enjoyed good
           food, good company, he enjoyed drinking wine, he enjoyed being festive with his friends. And his
           friends were all sorts of people, his friends were not Rotarians; they were gamblers, thieves; even a
           prostitute, Mary Magdalene, was part of his company. He enjoyed the real people.
               If you want to see the unreal people you can go to a meeting of the Rotary Club. There you see
           pseudo people, all with masks, all smiling and saying hello to each other. These are not their real
           faces, they always keep their real faces locked in their cupboards, they never take them out. Only
           once in a while can you have a glimpse of their real face. It happens only when they are
           unconscious; maybe when they have drunk too much you can see their real face. The
           unconsciousness may give you a glimpse of their truth.
               Gurdjieff used to give as much wine as possible to his new disciples; he would go on forcing.
           And when the master forces you to drink.... Just think of me asking you to drink, and I go on pouring
           and pouring -- how can you say no? And trust is the first thing.
               Gurdjieff would force them to eat and drink so much that their real faces would show; that was
           his first contact with the disciple. The disciples were very much puzzled, they had never seen such a
           master. They would fall on the ground and would start saying incoherent things. Then Gurdjieff
           would sit by their side and listen to what they are saying, what their faces are showing, because these
           are the real faces, these are their realities.
               You cannot think of Buddha telling people to drink, but Gurdjieff did. I cannot believe that Jesus
           never laughed; he lived with such alive people: fishermen, carpenters, poor people. He was not
           keeping company with the rabbis, the pundits, the scholars and the professors. He was moving with
           raw people, real people of the earth. It is impossible to think that he was a sad man, that he never
           laughed; and if he was incapable of laughter, he would be incapable of weeping too.
               This statement, that he wept, shows with absolute certainty that he must have laughed too. That
           is one of the most beautiful things about Jesus; I love that he is very human. Buddha is a little cold,
           has no warmth, is far away -- that is his beauty. We need ALL kinds of masters, we need ALL kinds
           of flowers in the garden. A rose has its beauty and a lotus has its beauty. The lotus will need a lake, a
           different situation to happen in, it will have a different fragrance. But all kinds of flowers enrich the
           garden. The garden of buddhahood is full of strange, unique, incomparable beings: Lao Tzu,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Zarathustra, Mohammed, Mahavira, Buddha, Krishna, Christ.
               Now, Christ is on the cross. Whenever you think about Christ, you think of the cross too. It is
           impossible to think of them separately, they have become inseparable. If you see the cross you will
           think of Christ, if you think of Christ the cross is always there in the background. With Krishna it is
           not the cross but the flute. Now, Krishna is a dancer, a singer; you cannot think of Buddha dancing,
           singing, it is impossible to conceive. And it will look very ridiculous too; with Krishna it fits, his
           whole vision of life is such that the flute fits with it.
               Remember this and don't become too much attached to one form of buddhahood. There are as
           many forms of buddhahood as you can conceive. Many more buddhas will happen in the future, who
           will have a totally different quality which was never available in the past. If you become too much
           attached and obsessed with a certain form, you will miss other buddhas.

               In Holland there was a conference arranged by Krishnamurti followers. Krishnamurti was
           coming there and staying with the people for seven days. His disciples had gathered from all over the
           world. One woman went from India but after two, three days she was back.
               She came to see me. I said, "You came back so early? Is the conference finished?" She said, "No,
           the conference is not finished but I am finished with Krishnamurti." I said, "What happened?" She
           said, "I had gone shopping and I saw Krishnamurti purchasing a necktie, and not only purchasing a
           necktie but making such a fuss. At least two hundred neckties were spread all over the table and
           nothing was liked by him. Something was wrong with everything: some color was wrong, the size
           was wrong, this was wrong, that was wrong." And she said, "I simply watched what he was doing. Is
           he a buddha? A buddha purchasing, shopping? A buddha looks good with a begging bowl but a
           buddha purchasing -- and what? A necktie! And then too, he is making so much fuss."
               Krishnamurti is very fastidious about his clothes. She became so frustrated, she did not attend the
           conference. What is the point now? This man is not a buddha. Now, what to do with this woman -- to
           weep for her or to laugh at her? One can weep for her stupidity because Krishnamurti is
           Krishnamurti; he is not Gautama the Buddha, he is not Jesus Christ. He has his unique way of living,
           of expressing. He is not a renunciate, he lives in the world. And to see the point, that he lives in the
           world and yet is not of it, needs great understanding inside. This woman missed.
               What to do with this woman? To weep for her? She went to Holland without even listening to a
           single talk of Krishnamurti.... Or to laugh at her stupidity? And one never knows -- Krishnamurti
           may have managed the whole thing only for this woman. Seeing that she is watching he may have
           made so much fuss... because people like Krishnamurti always want to get rid of the rubbish type of
           people, the stupid type of people.

               Gurdjieff used to do many things just to get rid of unnecessary people. Sometimes he would
           behave so absurdly that the person who had come to see him would never come again -- thinking that
           he was mad. One day he is sitting drinking tea with two, three disciples and a journalist comes to see
           him. He was always against journalists entering into his ashram because this was his understanding:
           that they are bent upon misunderstanding.
               He asked the journalist, very courteously, to sit and have some tea, some cake. The journalist
           was very happy because he had heard that Gurdjieff always throws journalists out, he tells them in
           no uncertain terms to get lost! He was very happy that he was being received with such love and
           compassion.
               And then Gurdjieff asked the woman sitting by his side, "What day was yesterday?"
           She said, "Friday."
           "And what day is today?"
               Then the journalist became a little confused -- this man cannot manage! If yesterday was Friday,
           then there is no point in asking, "What day is today?"
           The woman said, "Of course today is Saturday."
               And he shouted at the woman, he said, "How it can be? If yesterday was Friday, how it can be
           Saturday today? Impossible! You go and find out what day today is."
               The journalist escaped, thinking that this is something insane, this man is insane; he never even
           looked back. When he had gone, Gurdjieff had a good, hearty laugh. He said to the woman, "You see
           how I got rid of that man. Now he will never come back and he will spread the story around and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many more will be prevented from coming."

                One never knows how an enlightened person is going to behave -- with what devices.
                Deepesh, your feeling that you love these words, this beautiful passage, is good, but remember
           that man is worth both weeping and laughing over. Yes, he is in great misery but the misery is
           created by himself. He IS trapped and he suffers much, but the trap is made by himself. He is like a
           small child who was playing outside the house with a pile of bricks. He started making a house of
           bricks, standing in the middle he went on putting brick upon brick around himself. When they came
           up to his neck then he became puzzled, then he started shouting to his mother, that "I am imprisoned,
           come and save me!" Now he cannot get out of it -- but he himself has created it!
                This is the situation of man, we create our misery, our hell. If you see that we go on creating it, it
           is worth laughing at; but if you say, and see, that "Maybe we create it but still we are suffering," then
           it is worth weeping over.
                But Buddha will not do either. He will remain detached, cool. He will not suffer because you are
           suffering and he will not even think your misery worth laughing about. He will keep his cool; he will
           do whatsoever he can to help you and will go on his way. Whether you are helped or not is not his
           business. His business is to say what is, and even THAT he had agreed to very reluctantly.

               When he became enlightened he remained silent for seven days. The story is, the gods became
           very much worried because it rarely happens that a man becomes enlightened. Now this Siddhartha
           had become enlightened and he has not spoken a single word for seven days. They looked deep into
           the consciousness of Siddhartha and they saw that he was not going to speak at all.
               They came down to the earth, bowed down to Buddha and asked him to speak because there
           were many who could be helped. Buddha said to them, "I had thought about it but there are only two
           alternatives. One is: I will speak but I will be understood only by very few people. The majority will
           not understand, maybe ninety-nine percent of the people will not understand at all. So ninety-nine
           percent of my efforts is going to be a sheer wastage.
           "Of the one percent who will be able to understand me, my insight says that even without me, sooner
           or later they will find their own way. Their intelligence is such, their courage is such, their search is
           such... they are passionate lovers of truth. That's why they will be able to understand me.
           "The ninety-nine percent will never understand, the one percent who are capable of understanding
           me will understand it anyway, whether I speak or not. In fact it will be easier for them to understand
           if I don't speak. My silence will be more of a communion with them. So what is the point of
           speaking?"
               The gods were very much worried how to answer this. They gathered together, they discussed
           among themselves, then they came again with a new argument and they said, "Listen! You are right,
           there are people who will never understand you and there are people who will understand even
           without your saying a single word. But can you deny that there are people between these two? Can
           you say there is not a single person who is just between these two categories, a third category, who
           will understand if you speak, and who will never understand if you don't speak? Can you deny -- it
           may be a very small minority, it may be one in a million, but can you deny that one single person --
           that link between the majority and the minority? The nonunderstanders and the understanders... they
           are linked."
               Buddha could not deny it. He said, "You are right, there ARE a few people; yes, one in a million
           who will be helped."
           "Then," those gods said, "even if it is only one in a million, it is your to duty help him."

               It is because of this argument that Buddha started speaking; otherwise he was not going to speak.
           And remember, there have been many buddhas who have not spoken. They remained silent their
           entire lives, you will never hear about them because they have never spoken. No scripture exists to
           describe them.
               One point I would like to make very clear to you: that each individual when he becomes
           enlightened, becomes part of the universal -- but his expression still remains individual. His
           experience is universal, but his expression is individual. If he was a poet before, like Kabir, when he
           becomes enlightened he will sing songs. If he was a poet, if being a poet was part of his individuality
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- now knowing the universal, his understanding, his light, will start flowing into the old patterns of
           poetry. He will be like Kabir, Nanak, Farid. But if he was a painter, not a poet, and he becomes
           enlightened, then he will paint -- that will be his natural way of expressing. If he was a sculptor then
           his expression will be different.
               Each buddha lives in the universal but expresses himself individually. This is Jesus' expression,
           he is all too human. Maybe that is his appeal -- now almost half the earth is in love with Jesus. The
           reason is his humanity. Buddha is a faraway star, Jesus seems to be very close to the heart. Buddha
           appeals to the very sophisticated, Jesus' appeal is for the masses.
               Whenever a country becomes sophisticated, cultured, educated, rich, affluent, Jesus' appeal starts
           disappearing. That's what is happening in America. Buddha is becoming more and more powerful:
           more and more Zen centers are being opened, more and more people are becoming converted from
           prayer to meditation, more and more people are becoming interested in the sayings of Buddha.
               Jesus is losing ground in America; he is still gaining ground in India, but he is losing ground in
           America. America is now in the same affluent state as India was in the times of Buddha. The country
           was rich, people were well-educated, sophisticated, cultured; they knew what philosophy was. They
           knew all the flights of metaphysics, they knew the highest peaks -- at least intellectually. And
           Buddha was speaking to this intelligentsia; it was a totally different communication.
               Jesus was talking to the poor villagers, farmers, gardeners, fishermen. He was speaking to the
           lowest, the poorest of the poor. His language is different, it is very human, it has to be.
               Buddha's language is very pure, philosophical, metaphysical. It is less concerned with whether
           you understand it or not, it is more concerned with being true, being closer to truth, as close as
           possible. Hence their expressions are bound to be different.
               Deepesh, you ask me, "Beloved Master, does the buddha weep?" Some buddhas do, some
           buddhas don't. It all depends on the individuality.

               It happened when Basho's master died -- Basho is a buddha, a buddha who writes poetry, a
           buddha who paints beautiful pictures, a very aesthetic buddha. His master died, thousands of people
           gathered. His master was very famous; more famous because of Basho, because Basho was a famous
           poet and painter and he was Basho's master. Thousands of people gathered and they were very much
           surprised when they saw Basho crying, big tears rolling down his cheeks.
               A few close disciples of his master came to Basho and said, "It does not look right. Thousands of
           people are coming and they are getting confused. They don't think a buddha should be crying and
           weeping, and you are the man who has been saying to them again and again: There is no death and
           the innermost core lives forever. Then why are you weeping? Your master is not dead, he has only
           moved from the small body to the universal body of God. So why are you weeping?"
               Basho wiped his tears and he said, "Listen! This is nobody's business. I live according to my
           inner feelings, I cannot pretend. When my innermost core
            has disappeared into the universal. don't care whether people think it right or not. If they don't think
           that I am enlightened it's okay, but I cannot pretend. I cannot do something which is not really there.
           And yes, I have said that the soul is immortal and my master has not died, he has disappeared into
           the universal. That's why I am crying, not crying that he is dead but crying that now I will never be
           able to see his form. Now he has become formless -- and his body was beautiful. I will never be able
           to look again into those deep eyes, I will never be able to hold his hand and touch his feet. I have lost
           his form -- I am crying for his body, for his form; I am not crying for the formless soul. And I am not
           concerned whether people think me enlightened or unenlightened, that is their business. Who cares?"

               No, this is Basho's approach, and he too is true. But never compare. Let each buddha be a
           Himalayan peak separate from other peaks. Let each buddha be understood according to his own
           way, never impose any other pattern on him. That has been done down the ages again and again. The
           Christian can't believe that Buddha is a christ, because he does not serve the poor, he does not heal
           the wounded, he does not make the blind see, he does not do miracles like Jesus did. Lazarus died
           and Jesus came, and after four days he revived Lazarus. Buddha does nothing like that; on the
           contrary, he does something absolutely different.

           There is a beautiful story:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A woman lost her young son; just a few days before her husband had died. Kissa Gautami was
           her name, and now her only son had died. She was in great despair, naturally; the child was her only
           hope. Buddha was staying in the town; people said, "Don't cry and don't weep. Why don't you take
           the child to the Buddha? He is so compassionate, he may revive him back to life."
               The woman rushed with the dead body of the child. Buddha looked at the woman, told the
           woman to put the child in front of him and said to her, "Yes, I will revive him, but you will have to
           fulfill one condition."
               The woman said, "I am ready to give even my life. Say any condition and I will fulfill it."
               Buddha said, "It is a simple condition, I never make big requirements of people, only small
           requirements; this is a very simple thing. You just go into the town and bring a few mustard seeds.
           Just remember one thing: the mustard seeds should come from a house where nobody has ever died."
               The woman was in an insane state, she could not see the point. How can you find a house where
           nobody has ever died? She rushed with great hope and she knew that every house has mustard seeds
           because that was the only crop the people were growing. The whole village was doing the same
           work, growing mustard seeds -- so there was no problem.
               She knocked on many doors, the people said, "A few mustard seeds? We can bring cartloads of
           mustard seeds, but we cannot fulfill the condition; many people have died in our house. So our
           mustard seeds won't do."
               By the evening the woman came to her senses. She had knocked on many doors; slowly slowly,
           she saw the point that death is inevitable -- it happens to everybody, that nobody can escape from it.
           She came back, she was a totally different woman when she came back in the evening. The child was
           there, Buddha was waiting. He said, "Where are the mustard seeds?"
               The woman laughed, fell down at his feet and said, "Initiate me into your path, because I have
           understood your message, that everybody has to die. Today my son has died, a few days before my
           husband died, a few days afterwards I am going to die. Before I die I want to see the deathless. Now
           I am not interested in my child being raised from the dead. Now I am interested myself in seeing the
           eternal life."
           Buddha initiated Kissa Gautami.

               Now, these stories are the same, almost the same. Lazarus' sisters or Jesus' disciples, they sent for
           him. He was away. He came -- it took four days for him to reach there -- and he raised Lazarus from
           the dead. But what happened to Lazarus then? He must have died again because we don't see him
           anywhere. So what is the point?
               If you ask Buddha he will say, "What is the point of raising the man? He will die again. You are
           simply creating another opportunity to die. Once is enough, why twice?" Buddha would have
           responded in a totally different way. Christians can't understand it because they are obsessed with the
           idea of Christ. They would like Buddha and Mahavira and Krishna to be the same way. That is not
           possible.
               Buddhists cannot understand Christ either, because they have the idea of Buddha, the image of
           Buddha, and Jesus does not fulfill it. In fact there is no need for Jesus to fulfill anybody's idea, or for
           Buddha to fulfill anybody's expectation. They are unique people. We should stop this continuous
           comparison. Thousands of books are written every year comparing, and every comparison is going to
           be wrong, it is going to do some injustice to somebody or other. Either you will be unjust to Buddha,
           or to Christ. You cannot be just to both.
               My effort here is to make you aware of the varieties of buddhahood, of the multidimensionality
           of enlightenment. The world is rich because there are so many birds and so many trees and so many
           flowers. And the same is true about the inner world; so many possibilities of growing, so many
           different, unique expressions when you become mature -- different flowers. The world is richer
           because there is a Buddha and a Christ and a Lao Tzu. The world would have been really very poor
           if there were only Ramas, just Ramas; the world would have been very poor. In each village and
           town you can find a few Ramas, carrying their bow. Or if there were millions of Christs everywhere
           it would not be beautiful, it would be boring.
               It is good that Jesus has the touch of humanity and Buddha has pure divinity.

           The second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS "COINCIDENCE"?


               Anand Viramo, there are three things to be understood. One is the law of cause and effect. That
           applies to the material world and because science believes only in the law of cause and effect, it
           denies everything else. The law of cause and effect is mechanical, there is no coincidence. You heat
           the water to one hundred degrees and it evaporates, there is no coincidence. It is not that one day it
           evaporates at ninety-nine degrees, another day at ninety degrees. There is no question of the mood,
           the water cannot decide, the water is mechanically ruled by a law of cause and effect.
               Those who believe in the law of cause and effect, they will not believe in any coincidence.
           Everything is predetermined, there is nothing like coincidence. Everything has an inevitability.
               Then there is another law -- Carl Gustav Jung called it the law of synchronicity. Two things can
           happen together although they are not related as cause and effect. For example if somebody is
           singing a beautiful song, some cord in your heart is touched, but it is not inevitable, it is not cause
           and effect -- it may happen, it may not happen; it may happen to a few people, it may not happen to a
           few others. It may happen to you one day, it may not happen to you another day.
               Today you are feeling happy, you have met your woman, your friend, you are riding on the
           winds. Somebody is singing a song, suddenly it strikes a note in you, you also feel like singing.
           Somebody is dancing, your feet suddenly have the feel to dance, the mood to dance.
               But your wife has died, you are sad and somebody is singing and it hurts. The moon has risen in
           the sky, a full-moon night, and you are sad -- the moon also looks sad, not beautiful. You are in such
           a sad state that the full-moon night looks like it is ridiculing you; it looks so indifferent to you, so
           unconcerned, so hard. You are in such a sad state and the moon is still shining the same way it used
           to, and the roses are blooming and the birds are singing. Nobody seems to be concerned about you,
           nobody seems to care about you.
               The universe seems to be very neutral, very cold. You feel hurt, you feel alienated, you feel a
           stranger, an outsider. Now there will be no synchronicity.
               The law of synchronicity means sometimes you fit and sometimes you don't fit. It is fluid. The
           law of synchronicity belongs to the world of mind; just as cause and effect belong to the world of
           matter, body, the law of synchronicity belongs to the world of mind, heart. Beyond these two there is
           a possibility of coincidence too. That means no law pertains, or you can call it the law of freedom.
           That is the ultimate, the law of your innermost core, in fact it is not a law because it is a law of
           freedom. Things can happen which are not caused by anything and which are not created by the law
           of synchronicity, just coincidences.
               Coincidence simply means that there is a possibility of freedom. Now there are people here of all
           the three kinds. There are people here who have come according to the law of cause and effect; they
           had to come, it was inevitable, unavoidable. There was something pulling them like a magnet, they
           could not resist it.
               There are people here who have come not through the law of cause and effect, but they felt a
           synchronicity, a harmony with me, a deep accord. If they wanted to resist they could have resisted
           very easily, if they wanted not to come they could have remained. There was not some gravitational
           pull, they had to choose. It is out of their choice that they are here.
               And there is also the third category of people who have just come as a coincidence, accidental. A
           friend was here, and you had come to see your friend, not to see me, not to listen to me, not at all
           concerned about me; you had come just to see your friend -- but then you got caught. The friend may
           not be here anymore, the friend may have escaped. Now this is coincidence.
               Your husband was coming here, and you simply followed him just as a dutiful wife. Now there
           are many children, many kids who are coincidentally here. Their parents are here, so they are here;
           their being here is not their choice, just a coincidence. Their parents are Christian, they are Christian;
           their parents are Hindu, so they are Hindu; their parents have become sannyasins, they have become
           sannyasins. This is just coincidence.
               All these three things happen. The higher you rise, the higher your consciousness is, the more
           aware you become of freedom. At the lowest point everything is determined, at the highest point
           nothing is determined.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha renounced his palace and the first day, when he was walking on the bank of a river, he
           created much confusion in the mind of a great astrologer.
                The astrologer was coming from Varanasi; he had achieved the highest degrees possible in those
           days. He had become the most famous astrologer; now he is going back to his part of the country. He
           saw Buddha's footprint on the wet sand; he could not believe his eyes, because it was against all his
           astrological knowledge. The feet of the Buddha had a few marks which were clearly there on the
           sand. Those marks were thought to belong only to a man who is the ruler of the whole world, a
           CHAKRAVARTIN, who is the ruler of six continents.
                Now what is the ruler of six continents doing in this poor village, on this dirty bank? And why
           should the emperor of all the six continents walk barefooted? He could not believe his eyes. He
           studied them very minutely and there was no suspicion, no doubt. Either his astrological books are
           not right or some emperor has passed from here. He followed those footprints in search of the man
           and he found Buddha sitting under a tree. Now he was more puzzled; the man looked as if he was the
           emperor of all the six continents, and yet he was a beggar with a begging bowl.
                He bowed down to Buddha and he said, "I would like to see your feet. I am an astrologer, you
           may have heard my name." He looked at the feet and he said, "Now you have created such confusion
           in my mind, I have never been so confused. For twelve years I have studied astrology, should I throw
           my scriptures in the river and forget all about it? You should be the emperor of the whole world.
           What are you doing here? How can you be a beggar?"
                Buddha laughed and he said, "Yes, there is no need to throw away your books, there is no need
           to be so confused. Your books are right. I was meant to be a great king, but that belongs to the law of
           cause and effect. If I had simply followed the pattern in which I was born, then I would have been
           the king, a great king, a chakravartin. But because I renounced, I took a conscious, deliberate step
           against the pattern that was imposed, imprinted in my being. I revolted against it, I rebelled against
           it, I became free of it. I became a witness of it, I dropped my identification with my mind, and once
           you drop your identification with your mind you are no longer under the law of cause and effect."

               First you enter into the world of synchronicity and then, ultimately, you enter into the world of
           freedom. In the world of freedom there are only coincidences. Nothing is absolutely certain,
           everything is possible. Nothing is impossible. Napoleon is reported to have said: Nothing is
           impossible. But Napoleon cannot say that, he should not say it. A Buddha can say: Nothing is
           impossible, all things become possible.
           You ask me, Anand Viramo, "What is 'coincidence'?"
               It simply means that life is not just mechanical. It is not determined by fate and it is not
           determined by history. It is not determined by your past or by your past karmas. It is not determined,
           as Karl Marx says, by historical necessity. It is determined only for those who live unconsciously;
           otherwise it is freedom. You can choose and you can choose to be anything. You can even choose to
           be a nothingness, that is the ultimate freedom.
               And coincidences are always happening in ordinary life too. Life is not as logical as you think, it
           is very illogical. Only the surface looks logical.

              The preacher decided to enumerate the Ten Commandments to his flock.
              When he got to "Thou Shalt Not Steal," he noticed a fellow in the first row acting nervously.
           When the preacher got to "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," he noticed the fellow brighten up and
           smile. After the service, the preacher approached the man and asked him the reason for his unseemly
           conduct -- to which the happy one replied, "When you said, 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' I discovered my
           umbrella was gone. But when you said, 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,' I remembered where I
           had left it."

              A bachelor named Clem showed up at his weekly poker game with a black eye.
           His friend Joe asked what had happened to him.
           "Well," Clem replied, "when I was getting dressed this morning a button came off my pants. I don't
           know how to sew a thing, so I went to the next apartment and asked the woman there if she would
           sew it on for me."
           "Oh boy," Joe said, "she probably thought you were making a pass and socked you, huh?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "No, that was not it," said Clem. "She was as nice about it as she could be. Got out a needle and
           thread right then and there. She sat down in front of me and sewed the button on while I was
           standing there. But just as she finished and was biting the thread off, her husband walked in."

               Life is not just logic. It does not follow a clean-cut path, it goes zigzag. And it is good that it is
           not simply logical, otherwise there would be no joy, there would be no surprise, you would be
           simply machines, not men. Coincidences never happen to machines, they can't happen to machines,
           they can happen only to man. It is your being conscious that makes them possible. Remove man
           from the earth and all coincidences will disappear, things will be following simple, logical law. But
           remove man and life loses all its beauty, because life loses its ultimate peak of evolution.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO YOU GO ON SPEAKING AGAINST KNOWLEDGE? I HAVE NEVER HEARD YOU SPEAK
              AGAINST IGNORANCE.


               Sargam, knowledge hinders, ignorance never does. Knowledge makes you egoistic, ignorance
           never does. Knowledge is nothing but hiding your ignorance, covering it up. If there is no
           knowledge, you will know your ignorance because there will be nothing to hide it. And to know that
           "I am ignorant" is the first step towards real wisdom. Hence I never speak against ignorance,
           ignorance has something beautiful about it. One thing that is beautiful about ignorance is that it can
           give you the right direction to move.

               Socrates says: I know only one thing, that I know nothing. But Socrates is one of the wisest men
           of the world.
               It happened that a few people had gone to the temple of Delphi, and the oracle at Delphi declared
           that Socrates is the wisest man, the greatest wise man ever. Those people rejoiced very much
           because they had come from Athens. They came back, they went to Socrates and they said, "You
           should also rejoice. Have you heard or not? The oracle at the temple of Delphi has declared you the
           greatest wise man on the earth."
               Socrates said, "There must be something wrong, some misunderstanding, because I am the most
           ignorant; I know only one thing, that I know nothing. You go back and you tell the oracle that
           Socrates says he is the most ignorant person in the world."
               They went back, they told the oracle and the oracle laughed and said, "That's why I have
           declared him the wisest man in the world."

                Hence I never speak against ignorance. Ignorance also has another beautiful thing about it: that it
           is yours. Knowledge is always borrowed. And something that is yours cannot be taken away from
           you. It cannot be stolen, robbed, but knowledge can be taken away from you very easily. It is
           borrowed.
                And when you are ignorant you don't have any pretensions, you are simple, you are innocent.
           Ignorance has the quality of innocence about it. That's why children are so innocent, because they
           are so ignorant. Primitive people are so innocent because they are so ignorant; they are not cunning,
           they cannot be. They don't have enough knowledge to be cunning. Before you can be cunning you
           have to be educated. Before you can be cunning you need a university degree; the more universities
           there are, the more cunningness there is in the world. The more people become knowledgeable, the
           more they are deceptive, cunning, oppressive. And they go on finding ways to exploit others.
                Ignorance is pure, unadulterated. From ignorance move towards wisdom, not towards
           knowledge. If ignorance becomes meditative it becomes wisdom; if ignorance becomes interested in
           more and more information then it becomes knowledge. To be knowledgeable is not going to help at
           all. Wisdom liberates. Wisdom is as much yours as your ignorance is yours.
                Knowledge not only deceives others, it deceives you too. When you know answers parrotlike,
           you start thinking that you really know. Because you can read and you can write, you start to think
           that you know; because you can understand words you start thinking that you know; because your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intelligence is covered with intellectuality, you start thinking that you are intelligent -- but you are
           not intelligent, only intellectual.
               Intelligence is part of wisdom, intellectuality is part of knowledge.
               Yes, Sargam, I speak against knowledge because there is nothing more dangerous than
           knowledge. It hinders you from knowing yourself. Knowledge hinders you from knowing, because it
           gives you plastic, synthetic, false things to play with and you forget all about the real thing. Don't
           start believing in words; it is the most dangerous game one can play. Don't be a parrot, otherwise you
           will be going farther and farther away from your inner source.

               One very hot day a dog was walking along a road when he saw a take-away food shop. He went
           in and asked for a can of lemonade.
           "Get out!" said the shopkeeper. "Dogs are not allowed in food shops."
           "But look here," said the thirsty canine, "you've got a big sign outside that says, WE SERVE HOT
           DOGS!"

               Just knowing the words is not enough. And the more words you know, the more confused you
           are going to become, because you don't know, your words are just on the surface. If somebody
           scratches a little bit more, your ignorance is bound to show. People go on pretending.

               When I was a student in the university, I had a professor who was not even very knowledgeable
           -- wisdom was out of the question. But he had this habit of pretending. Whenever anybody would
           mention any name of a philosopher, author, poet, mystic or a name of some book, he would
           immediately say, "Yes, I have read the book, it is beautiful," or this or that, he would make some
           comment. But I could see in his eyes that the answer he was giving was hollow, he had not read the
           book, he knows nothing about the person and nobody had ever seen him in the library. I had gone to
           his house also, and I had not seen any books there. I inquired in the library -- he had been in the
           university for ten years -- not a single book had been taken out in his name, and nobody had ever
           seen him reading, except the newspaper. He was not reading anything else, and that too, he used to
           borrow from the neighbors. I inquired everywhere, and I became absolutely certain that he was
           simply pretending.
               One day I invented three names, just invented. I told him, "Have you read, sir, Nomineo's book?"
               He said, "Yes." Now, there is no person like Nomineo....
               I asked him, "Can you tell me the name of his book?"
               He looked a little puzzled; he said, "I must have read it many years ago, I have forgotten the
           name. You can inquire in the library."
               I said, "You come along." In the library there was no name like Nomineo and no book he had
           written, because he has never been -- so how could he write a book?
               I told him, "The other two names were also inventions and you have agreed, and a few other
           books also you have agreed that you read -- they don't exist!"
               He took me aside and said, "Listen, don't tell it to anybody but I don't know a thing about these
           books. But one has to keep one's face. I don't want to look stupid."

               People go on trying to pretend to be what they are not. Knowledge gives you the greatest
           pretension; you can quote Buddha, Jesus. And you don't understand what they are saying and you
           will always do something wrong. You will interpret them in a wrong way.
               In India there are thousands of commentaries on the Bhagavadgita. Now if Krishna was either
           mad or insane then there could be thousands of meanings to his words. But Krishna was very
           particular about what he wanted to say. How then can you explain these thousands of commentaries?
           These are people imposing their meanings on Krishna. If he comes back and looks at the
           commentaries he himself will be puzzled, he himself will be in some difficulty trying to decide what
           his meaning really was. And these people are very argumentative.
               Anybody can prove anything. Shankara proves that the Gita is the philosophy of renouncing the
           world; the world is illusion, and the Gita preaches renunciation -- and he proves it beautifully. His
           contemporary, Ramanuja, proves just the opposite: that the Gita teaches one to live in the world and
           be a devotee of God. It does not preach renunciation, it teaches the art of living in the world with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prayer.
               And Lokmanya Tilak finds something else; he says the Gita preaches action. Of course with
           great detachment -- but you have to act.
               These three are the paths, ancient paths. The paths of no-action, inaction, that is Shankara's
           finding in the Gita. The path of action, that is Lokmanya Tilak's finding in the Gita. And the third is
           the path of devotion; Ramanuja is finding the third in the same book. And then there are different
           variations of the theme.
               Knowledgeable people can go on imposing their own ideas of those who have known. The right
           way to come across a book like the Bible, Gita or Koran is not to have any ideas, not to have any
           knowledge. Encounter them with great silence, just like a mirror, reflecting only, not interpreting;
           then you will be able to see the real meaning, their meaning -- not your meaning imposed on their
           meaning. And the man who can become a mirror need not go to the Gita, the Koran or the Bible, he
           can find the message in the trees, in the song of the birds, in the clouds, in the sun, in the moon. He
           can find it anywhere, because God's message is written all over existence. His signature is on each
           leaf; you just have to be mirrorlike, silent, meditative, with no thought, with no knowledge.
               That's why I speak against knowledge. It is knowledge that has become your imprisonment.

               Betty was constantly losing her boyfriends because of her grandmother's tendency to say the
           wrong things to them in her attempt to be modern.
               One day, her current boyfriend arrived while Betty was upstairs changing, and the old lady
           started to brag about her granddaughter.
           "I think Betty would rather screw than eat," Granny chatted cheerfully to the young man. "There is
           hardly a young man around she has not screwed with, and she even has a record to screw by."
               The young man blushed, stammered, grabbed his hat, and beat it out the door.
               A moment later Betty came downstairs, noted his absence and said, "Alright, Granny, what did
           you say this time?"
           "Nothing," protested the old lady, "I was just telling him how much you liked to screw, when he ran
           out the door."
           "Oh my goodness, Granny, how many times must I tell you, the word is not 'screw', it is 'twist'!"

               What happens to Jesus in your mind, what happens to Buddha in your mind is exactly something
           like that. Your mind does both the things, it twists, it screws. Put your knowledge aside, just go in
           deep innocence, in deep ignorance, and then you will be able to find what truth is. Truth is not found
           by knowledge, it is found by silence. And knowledge is noisy.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT REALLY DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND YOU?


               Dhammo, it is the same old story. It has always been difficult to understand people like me. Not
           that you are not intelligent enough to understand, but because you are too knowledgeable. You
           already think you know and that is the trouble. Come to me not knowing anything, don't come to me
           as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians; otherwise you will misunderstand. I am saying simple things, but if
           you have a preoccupied mind, you are going to miss them.

           "It was terrible, mother," complained the curvy teenager. "I had to change my seat four times at the
           movies."
           "Some man started bothering you?" asked her mother.
           "Yes," said the girl. "Finally."

              An American girl visiting England went to a posh party. She was dancing with a rather stuffy
           Englishman when her necklace became unfastened and slipped inside the back of her gown. So she
           asked her partner to retrieve it.
              Though he felt rather uncomfortable about it, he courteously attempted to reach the necklace.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           After a couple of tries, he finally said, "I am awfully sorry, but I am having trouble getting to it."
           "Try further down," she instructed.
              Just then he noticed that all eyes in the room were on him, and he blushed beet-red. He
           whispered to the lovely American, "I feel such a perfect ass!"
           "Never mind about that," she said. "Just get the necklace!"

                Different languages.... I speak one language, you speak another language. By the time words
           reach to you they have a totally different meaning. Unless you start listening to me in the same silent
           space in which I am speaking to you, misunderstanding is inevitable. But it can be avoided. Be a
           little bit more meditative, learn the ways of being more silent -- and many of you are learning, and
           many of you have become aware of it, and many of you are tasting me without misunderstanding me
           at all.
                It is going to happen to you too, Dhammo. You are new; just get a little seasoned, a little ripe and
           mature. And the only maturity required here is to sit with me absolutely empty, so I can resonate
           within you, so I can touch your heart, so I can play upon the harp of your heart.
                Then the sounds created will not come from your mind; otherwise, if you keep the mind between
           me and you, then whatsoever meaning you arrive at is your own; I have nothing to do with it, it has
           nothing to do with me either.
                Wait a little, Dhammo, become a little more silent, learn how to be in communion with me. It is a
           love affair to be with a master, a love affair which is inexpressible in words; but one can get attuned,
           it is an attuning. Slowly slowly, the disciple falls into accord with the heart of the master. He
           breathes the way the master breathes, his heart beats in the same rhythm as the master's heart. Then
           understanding comes so naturally; just as your shadow follows you, understanding follows silence.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                    Chapter #9
                                            Chapter title: Mind is a fraud
           29 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910290
              ShortTitle: DHAM609
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              LET GO OF ANGER, LET GO OF PRIDE.
              WHEN YOU ARE BOUND BY NOTHING,
              YOU GO BEYOND SORROW.
              ANGER IS LIKE A CHARIOT CAREERING WILDLY.
              HE WHO CURBS HIS ANGER
              IS THE TRUE CHARIOTEER.
              OTHERS MERELY HOLD THE REINS.



              WITH GENTLENESS OVERCOME ANGER,
              WITH GENEROSITY OVERCOME MEANNESS,
              WITH TRUTH OVERCOME DECEIT.
              SPEAK THE TRUTH,
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GIVE WHATEVER YOU CAN,
              NEVER BE ANGRY.
              THESE THREE STEPS WILL LEAD YOU
              INTO THE PRESENCE OF THE GODS.



              THE WISE HARM NO ONE,
              THEY ARE MASTERS OF THEIR BODIES
              AND THEY GO TO THE BOUNDLESS COUNTRY,
              THEY GO BEYOND SORROW.
              THOSE WHO SEEK PERFECTION
              KEEP WATCH BY DAY AND NIGHT
              TILL ALL DESIRES VANISH.



              LISTEN, ATULA, THIS IS NOT NEW,
              IT IS AN OLD SAYING.
              THEY BLAME YOU FOR BEING SILENT,
              THEY BLAME YOU WHEN YOU TALK TOO MUCH
              AND WHEN YOU TALK TOO LITTLE.
              WHATEVER YOU DO THEY BLAME YOU.
              THE WORLD ALWAYS FINDS A WAY TO PRAISE
              AND A WAY TO BLAME.
              IT ALWAYS HAS AND IT ALWAYS WILL.



              BUT WHO DARES BLAME THE MAN
              WHOM THE WISE CONTINUALLY PRAISE,
              WHOSE LIFE IS VIRTUOUS AND WISE,
              WHO SHINES LIKE A COIN OF PURE GOLD?
              EVEN THE GODS PRAISE HIM,
              EVEN BRAHMA PRAISES HIM.



              BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE BODY,
              MASTER THE BODY,
              LET IT SERVE TRUTH.
              BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE MOUTH,
              MASTER YOUR WORDS,
              LET THEM SERVE TRUTH.
              BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE MIND,
              MASTER YOUR THOUGHTS,
              LET THEM SERVE TRUTH.



              THE WISE HAVE MASTERED BODY, WORD AND MIND,
              THEY ARE THE TRUE MASTERS.

              The first sutra:



              LET GO OF ANGER, LET GO OF PRIDE.
              WHEN YOU ARE BOUND BY NOTHING,
              YOU GO BEYOND SORROW.


               The most important thing to be understood is that Buddha is not saying, "Repress anger, repress
           pride." And he is not saying, "Drop anger, drop pride," either. He is using the words LET GO OF
           ANGER, LET GO OF PRIDE. The key is in the words 'let go'.
               There are people who are full of anger, possessed by anger, possessed by pride. They are insane.
           Insanity is the climax of pride and anger. And there are people who are afraid of anger and pride;
           hence they repress them. But a repressed insanity is far more dangerous, because it accumulates.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then you are sitting on a volcano. It can erupt any moment. It will destroy you. It will destroy others
           who are related to you. It is poison.
               If one has to choose between the two, expressing or repressing, then expressing is far better,
           because at least the poison never accumulates. It is thrown in mild doses, homeopathic doses. But if
           you accumulate, it is no longer homeopathy, it becomes allopathy. Then the doses are big and,
           sooner or later, your repressed anger will be so powerful that you will not be able to keep it
           repressed anymore. Then it simply explodes and you are absolutely helpless.
               Humanity has been taught by the priest, the politician, the pedagogue down the ages to repress
           anger. The society is not concerned with you, it is concerned only with your outer appearance. What
           happens to your inner world is nobody's business; whether you suffer, live in hell inside, that is left
           to you. Just keep a beautiful appearance, learn etiquette, behave in a cultured way and if you are
           carrying a hell that is your problem.
               But the person who is carrying a hell within, howsoever cultivated he becomes, sophisticated,
           cultured, he remains a wild animal within. Scratch him a little bit and his humanity will disappear,
           his character will disappear and you will find just the opposite kind of man inside. That's what
           happens when somebody drinks too much. A very cultured man, once he is intoxicated, starts being
           very uncultured. That is his truer self. Alcohol has not created it; it has only removed the barriers, it
           has only removed the rocks that were repressing it.
               In the East there has been a secret tradition of tantrikas who go on practicing meditation -- and
           side by side they go on taking drugs in greater and greater amounts for a certain reason. They are not
           interested in drugs, they are interested in meditation. But they go on increasing the amount of the
           drug slowly slowly, so that they can remain alert with the drug. It takes a long time, it is a very
           subtle process of awakening.
               In the hands of the fools it will be destructive, it will be suicidal. Hence it is a sacred tradition.
           Only the master gives it to the disciple -- and very rarely. If he finds some disciple of such integrity,
           then only does he give this process: "Meditate and go on increasing the amount of the drug so slowly
           that it never overpowers you and your watchfulness remains intact."
               But the drug will start removing all rocks and it will bring up all that you have repressed down
           the ages in your many lives. Watching it you will be allowing it to disappear. That is the magic of
           watching. If you watch something, either it is going to disappear totally from your being, or it is
           going to be dissolved into your being. If it is something natural, spontaneous, it will be dissolved
           into your being. That too is beautiful. If it is something not part of your being, extraneous -- has
           come from the outside, is a parasite on you -- it will evaporate.
               The real definition of good and bad can only be this: the good is that which grows with
           meditation, watchfulness, and the bad is that which disappears as you grow in watchfulness, as you
           grow in awareness. Awareness has to be the decisive factor. When you become aware of your anger
           there happens a let-go, because anger is not part of your natural being, neither is pride. They start
           evaporating. As the sun of awareness rises in you, they start evaporating like dewdrops in the early
           morning sun.
               And the second thing to remember: Buddha makes these two statements together, LET GO OF
           ANGER, LET GO OF PRIDE. Why? There is a reason: pride is ego, "I am superior, I am holier, I
           am greater, I am something special, I am." Ego is the root cause of anger. If you think you are
           superior, higher, holier, special, you will be constantly angry, because the world is not going to
           accept it. In fact everybody else also thinks in the same foolish way. And when there are so many
           great people, conflict is bound to arise. And everybody is trying to prove that, "I am greater than
           you." How can you avoid conflict? And that conflict brings anger. It is ego hurting, it is ego feeling
           the wound, it is unsatisfied ego that creates anger. And nobody's ego can be satisfied, that is
           impossible.
               Even a man like Napoleon could not feel his ego absolutely satisfied, for the simple reason that
           he was not very tall -- only five feet five inches. And that was always heavy on him, because he had
           many servants, guards who were very much taller than himself. And whenever he would see a tall
           person he would become angry. He would not be able to control himself.
               The great Russian leader, Lenin, had very small legs. His torso was bigger, his upper body was
           bigger; his lower body was very small, disproportionate. That kept him always angry. Even if
           somebody looked at his feet -- which was natural, because they were so disproportionate that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anybody looking would notice -- he would become angry immediately. Anybody looking at his feet
           would create anger.
               He used to sit on a big chair -- so big that his feet wouldn't touch the ground -- so nobody would
           think that he had small feet. But people had become aware of his big chair; they would look more
           closely and that would again create anger, because they would see that his feet were not touching the
           ground at all. Now, to be the dictator of the greatest country in the world, Soviet Russia, the largest
           country in the world and yet feeling hurt for a very stupid reason... that you have small legs!
               You cannot have all and everything. You can arrange to have a few things, but a few other things
           will be missing. You may be tall, but you may be ugly. Any small thing is enough to hurt the ego.
           You may be very tall and very handsome, but unintelligent -- you may have a very mediocre mind.
           You may have a very intelligent mind, but a very ill body. You may have a very strong body, a very
           good physique, but you don't have any intelligence. You can't manage all. You may have
           intelligence, a beautiful body but no money. The world is vast and there are a thousand and one
           things and nobody can manage to have it all -- nobody has ever been able to.
               And the ego is bound to be wounded; the ego is very sensitive, very fragile, because it is very
           false. It is ego that creates the space in which anger arises. Hence Buddha says, LET GO OF
           ANGER, and immediately adds, LET GO OF PRIDE. Because unless you let go of the ego you will
           not be able to let go of anger. Anger is a by-product. And one has to see very clearly the causes of
           things. Your minds are so jumbled up, in such a mess, you don't know what is the cause and what is
           the effect.

              A woman used to come from a faraway village to the city each year to give birth to a child.
           When she came for the seventeenth time the doctor said, "We always wait for you. You are the only
           one we can depend on that each year you will be here. When will you be coming the next year?"
              She said, "I'm not coming anymore, because we have just discovered what is the cause of it all."

               Seventeen children and they have just discovered the cause of it all! She said, "I am not coming
           anymore."
               But that too is early. You may have lived thousands of lives and you have not yet been able to
           find the cause... why this anger? Our minds are in such a mess that you cannot make head or tail of
           it. You cannot sort it out. Everything is so mixed up with everything else: causes pretending to be
           effects, effects pretending to be causes, things which are not related at all have become accidentally
           associated with each other.

               Betty Engrove, the singer, switched on her radio one morning and tuned in on two stations at
           once: one broadcasting calisthenic exercises and the other giving out cooking recipes. Here is what
           she heard:
           "Hands on hips, place one cup of flour on your shoulder. Touch your toes and mix them in one half
           cup of milk, repeat six times. Inhale one half teaspoon of baking powder, lower the legs and mash
           two hard boiled eggs, exhaling into a bowl and breathe naturally. Lie flat on the floor and roll in the
           white of an egg until it comes to a boil. In ten minutes lift your head from the fire and scrub briskly
           with a rough towel. Bend your knees, shake powdered sugar on them and serve it with soup."

               And your mind is tuned to so many stations, not just two! All kinds of things are going on inside
           the mind. One day just sit down and write whatsoever is coming into the mind. And don't cheat, just
           write exactly whatsoever comes in and you will be surprised that this is your mind, this is where you
           have been living your life from. You will find it absolutely insane.
               It is good that we don't have windows in the head, otherwise other people would look inside and
           they would be surprised; they would not be able to believe that this is you. YOU also will not be able
           to believe that this is what your mind is.
               But this is the reality. People never look inside. In fact, as if unconsciously, they suspect that if
           they look inside they will find insanity there. It is better not to look; avoid, keep the mind in the dark
           and remain occupied with something in the outside world. People keep themselves busy without
           business for the simple reason that it helps them not to look in. They have become alienated from
           their own minds.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you look in, in the beginning of course it is going to be a chaos; but if you start watching the
           chaos, slowly slowly things start settling and you will be able to see what are the causes and what are
           the effects. Once you have known the causes, you are on the right track. Many people are fighting
           with the effects. You can never win, you are bound to lose. Effects are only symptoms. You cannot
           fight with anger, because it is only an effect -- the cause is ego.
                You cannot fight with causes either; unless you find that this is the ultimate cause. Anger is an
           effect; for anger, ego is the cause. But if you go deep down, watching your ego you will be surprised,
           it is also in its own turn an effect -- an effect of unawareness. Unawareness is the cause.
                You can go on from anywhere -- from greed, from lust, from anger, from jealousy, from
           possessiveness and you will always come to the ultimate cause: unawareness.
                So the only way to get rid of this mess, this chaos, is to be aware. And once you are aware you
           need not repress anything, you need not even drop; things start dropping on their own, they start
           disappearing on their own. That's what Buddha means when he says: LET GO OF ANGER, LET GO
           OF PRIDE. WHEN YOU ARE BOUND BY NOTHING, YOU GO BEYOND SORROW. And these
           are the two things which are keeping you tethered in an insane state. These are the two things which
           are creating all your sorrow and misery. Ego, hidden behind, goes on working, poisoning you. Anger
           is either expressed, then it poisons your relationships with people, or it is repressed, then it poisons
           your own being.
                And slowly slowly, you find yourself in such a state in which many people would like to die;
           many people contemplate suicide for the simple reason that life is so painful and death seems to be a
           relief. Millions of people around the earth contemplate suicide -- many of them try, many of them
           succeed too. And those who don't contemplate suicide contemplate murder; they think that others are
           creating their trouble, so destroy others. Either they want to destroy others, or they want to destroy
           themselves, because they find no joy in life. When you don't find joy in life, when you are not
           blissful, you become destructive, either a sadist or a masochist.
                When your life is full of joy, unbounded joy, it is creative, then great creativity is born in you.
           Then you do something to contribute to the evolution of humanity, to the evolution of the whole
           universe. You add some beauty to it, you share your celebration with it. You make at least a few
           flowers bloom.
                You leave the world in great contentment, because creativity brings contentment. You leave this
           world joyously, because it has been such a beautiful opportunity to grow, to mature, to become
           aware. It has been such a joy to create a few things and share those things with people; otherwise
           you live in sorrow and you die in sorrow.

              ANGER IS LIKE A CHARIOT CAREERING WILDLY.
              HE WHO CURBS HIS ANGER
              IS THE TRUE CHARIOTEER.
              OTHERS MERELY HOLD THE REINS.


              If you look at people or at yourself, you will find that anger is as if it is a chariot without a driver.

           Just the other day I was reading a book:
               A man has lived in the desert and he writes of many experiences he had there. He tried one
           experiment:
               There were no roads, there were no people, no trees, no rocks, no hills; just a desert, spread out
           for thousands of miles. And for centuries it had been so infertile, it had become hard. It was not a
           sand desert, the crust was very hard.
               He was driving his car, suddenly a whimsical idea arose in him. He moved to the seat next to the
           driver's -- he was the only one in the car. He left the driver's seat and let the car run on its own,
           because there was no road, no people, there was no fear of any accident. The car started moving. It
           was a rare experience. Then he jumped out of the car.
               Greater ideas came to his mind... and the car was still going on. Then he ran after the car, jumped
           in again, took out his bicycle and went exactly opposite to the car on his bicycle till the car was just a
           speck far away on the horizon. It was still moving, going nowhere, still going.
               Then he again bicycled towards the car. It was strange. He writes it was thrilling that the car was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           still moving, going nowhere.

                Reading his notes, I suddenly remembered Buddha's sutra: ANGER IS LIKE A CHARIOT
           CAREERING WILDLY. HE WHO CURBS HIS ANGER IS THE TRUE CHARIOTEER. OTHERS
           MERELY HOLD THE REINS. They may not even be holding the reins -- they may be simply
           sitting there. The car is running on its own. Your body is running on its own, your mind is running
           on its own. You are not needed at all. You can jump out of the window, take your bicycle, go away
           from the car and it will still be moving. And one day you can come back to meet yourself.
                Yes, this has been tried. People down the ages have tried out-of-the-body experiences; they are
           exactly the same. You can try it. If you go a little deeper into meditation, one day you can find a way
           to get out of the body, to run in the room. Even running is not needed, you can float in the air, look at
           the body lying down there, sleeping, snoring; you can listen to the snoring. Everything is functioning
           perfectly well, the engine is humming, you can come close to the heart and listen to the beat. The
           body is breathing.
                You are not needed at all. You can escape from the window, go around the neighborhood, come
           back, enter into the body, you are still fast asleep. It makes no difference, as if the body does not care
           much whether you are in or out.
                The body is a very complicated, subtle mechanism; it is automatic, it does not need you. You
           have not done anything, that's why you are not needed.
                If you become a real charioteer then you will be needed. If you are a meditator you will be
           needed. Then there are a few things the body cannot do. It cannot meditate on its own -- that is
           impossible. It can snore, it can sleep on its own, but it cannot be aware on its own. For awareness
           you are needed.
                Remember it: only that thing is worth doing for which YOU are needed. Things which can be
           done without you are nonessential things. To devote your whole life to them is to miss the whole
           point.

           "Take me to the railway station," said the drunk, stumbling into a waiting taxi.
           "Look mate, we are at the railway station," said the cabby.
           "Thanks," murmured the drunk, handing over a five-dollar bill. "And next time, don't drive so bloody
           fast."

               The taxi had not moved even an inch. Your life may remain exactly where it was when you were
           born. It may not move even an inch. Millions die exactly as they are born. No growth happens, no
           flowering comes to their lives. Whether they are or are not simply makes no difference. They come
           and go like shadows. Their life is not worth calling life; they simply vegetate.

              A farmer munching on a cookie was watching a big rooster chasing a hen and gaining ground at
           every lap. The farmer threw a piece of cookie in front of the racing pair.
              The rooster came to a sliding stop and gobbled up the tidbit.
           "Gosh," said the farmer, "I hope I never get that hungry."

               But the rooster, the lion, the tiger, the dog, the cat and you, are not in any way different -- unless
           something of buddhahood starts arising in you. The rooster is dominated by his hunger, by his lust;
           so are you.
               B.F. Skinner, the modern prophet of the behaviorist school of psychology, says that man is a
           machine. And about ninety-nine point nine per cent of people he is correct. George Gurdjieff used to
           say that man is a machine. And he was not a behavioral psychologist. He was one of the greatest
           spiritual giants who has ever walked on the earth. But still he used to say that not everybody has got
           a soul. It is very rarely that a person has a soul.
               And I can understand B.F. Skinner. It is impossible for him to come across a buddha and to study
           a buddha. He studied rats and you; and he finds no difference. The instincts possessed by the rat are
           the same instincts possessed by man. Of course man is a little more complicated, true, a more
           complicated machine, that's all; a computer.
               One day I was reading a fictitious story about the future, when scientists will be able to make
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mechanical men, robots. They look exactly like men, except that they have no soul. But from the
           outside you can't see any difference: they talk, they make love, they eat, they get tired and they go to
           sleep. And if you meet a robot -- who looks exactly like a man -- how are you going to judge
           whether he is a robot? Are you holding the hand of a robot or a man? Only once in a while will you
           be able to know: when the battery runs down and the robot starts, "Grrrr, grrrr, grrrr." Otherwise
           there is no difference.
               You were making love to the robot and the robot says, "Grrrr, grrrr, grrrr." Then suddenly you
           become aware that this is not a man! But up to now he was perfectly alright. He was reciting great
           poetry, discussing great ideas, philosophy, quoting Socrates and Aristotle and he was hugging you
           and telling you, "I love you, and I will love you forever."
               And these are all recorded things that he has been saying to every woman he meets. The moment
           he sees a woman something triggers in him and he starts talking poetically and saying, "I love you
           and I will die without you."

               I have heard of a psychoanalyst who was very much puzzled. He was in love with a woman, but
           the woman was a little strange. Whenever he would say to her, "I love you," she would look down.
               He asked her, "What is the matter? Whenever I say, 'I love you,' are you feeling ashamed,
           embarrassed or what? Why do you start looking down?"
               She said, "I look down to see whether you really mean it. ... Because I can't trust your mind. I can
           only trust your body."

               It is very difficult to lie through the body. One can learn it, actors do that -- but very few are
           actors. Otherwise it is a very difficult art to make the body lie. The mind is perfectly at ease in lying;
           it can say things which it doesn't mean. But the body is still far more authentic, far more true. What
           irony, that the body seems to be more authentic and your mind seems to be simply a fraud!
               You can attain to the soul only by becoming more watchful of all that is happening in your body
           and in your mind. Unless and until the witness arises in you, you are a robot.
               Sheela has written a question to me: "When I go away from you, I am such a rat, but when I
           come back to you I become just a mouse."
               I know what she means. People think there is much difference between rats and mice; there is not
           much. The mouse is just a sophisticated rat, college-educated, a hypocrite. The rat is far more
           authentic, the rat is whatsoever he is. The mouse has a facade. But there is not much difference
           between the rat and the mouse. There is not much difference between the mouse and man, and there
           is not much difference between man and the machine.
               The difference arises -- the only difference that makes a difference -- in meditation. Before it,
           you can never have any differences. All differences are only formal.
               That's why psychologists study rats, particularly white rats, because they are simple people and it
           is easier to understand them. Once you have understood the mind of the rat, you have understood the
           mind of man too. They infer all their knowledge about man through studying rats. It is really a
           condemnation of man that rats supply information about you. And that information works, it is
           perfectly applicable to you -- you behave in the same way.
               That information will not be applicable to a Buddha, to a Jesus, to a Krishna. But where is B.F.
           Skinner going to find a buddha? And even if he can find a buddha, who is going to study whom? The
           buddha will study Skinner, not vice versa. Skinner will not be able to study a buddha; he will not
           have the right context, he knows only how to study rats.
               A buddha will be absolutely incomprehensible to him. And when something is incomprehensible,
           the ego simply denies it. That is the ego's way of protecting itself. The incomprehensible, the
           mysterious has to be denied, overlooked, bypassed. One does not take note of the incomprehensible,
           because to take note of the incomprehensible means you are taking note of the limitation of your
           mind, and that hurts the ego.
               Hence, buddhas are born once in a while, but nobody takes note of them. That is the difference
           between the Eastern and the Western psychology. Western psychology is based on the understanding
           of rats. Eastern psychology is not based on the understanding of rats or even on the understanding of
           man.
               Eastern psychology is rooted in the psychology of the buddhas. We think from the highest and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then we come downwards. First we think of the ultimate and from there we infer about those who are
           on lower ranks -- it is respectful.
               Trying to observe the lowest and inferring about the higher is humiliating; it is ugly and it is
           going to be wrong. It is like studying a seed and inferring about a flower. Now, studying a seed, how
           can you infer about a flower? You can dissect the seed, you can look into it; you will not find any
           color and you will not find any beauty and you will not find any fragrance. Although it contains
           them all, but they are still in the unmanifest.
               And if you decide by the seed about the flower and you say that the flowers don't have any
           fragrance -- can't have, because when it is not in the seed, how it can be in the flower? And the
           flowers are not beautiful, because the seed is not beautiful... then everything has to be reduced to the
           lowest denominator; then the flower has to be simply denied -- that it is just poetic imagination and
           nothing else. That's what has been done about buddhas. The materialists go on denying their
           existence, they say it is poetic imagination. Such people have not existed, cannot exist; it is
           impossible for them to exist, because the seed does not show any sign of them.
               The psychology of the buddhas starts from the other extreme. It starts from the highest: it studies
           the flower and then infers about the seed. Because the flower has fragrance, it says the seed MUST
           have it; it is unmanifest. The flower is beautiful, the seed must have beauty in it, covered, hidden.
           The flower has color, the seed must have it, just waiting for its right time, for the spring, to explode
           into color, into fragrance, into beauty. Now this is the right way to understand man: not through rats,
           not even through ordinary man, but through buddhas.
               This is the difference between the Eastern and the Western approach. The Western approach has
           reduced man to a very ugly phenomenon. The Eastern psychology has raised man to the height of the
           gods. And then the very process of both the psychologies becomes different. Western psychology
           goes through analysis, thinking -- that is its method. Eastern psychology follows the method of
           no-mind, of meditation; not of analysis, not of thinking, but of silence. Because to see the beauty of
           the flower you need silence, not analysis; beauty can never be understood through analysis. The
           dance of the flower in the wind, in the sun, in the rain, cannot be understood by the head; the heart
           has to be open for it.

              WITH GENTLENESS OVERCOME ANGER....


               This sutra is also tremendously important. Now Buddha is saying.... Anger contains energy. You
           cannot simply throw it away. It is your energy. Throwing it away will make you weak. Energies are
           not to be thrown away, but to be transformed. WITH GENTLENESS OVERCOME ANGER.... Let
           your anger be transformed into gentleness.

              WITH GENEROSITY OVERCOME MEANNESS,
              WITH TRUTH OVERCOME DECEIT.


               He is saying that meditation is an alchemical process -- it is not morality, it is alchemy. It is the
           science of the soul. Through meditation anger slowly slowly disappears, and its energy becomes
           available and becomes gentleness.
               You will be surprised to know that if you suffer from great anger you have great potential for
           gentleness. Anger simply shows that you have great energy. A man without anger is impotent, he has
           no energy. A man who cannot be angry cannot be gentle either. WITH GENEROSITY
           OVERCOME MEANNESS. Don't repress meanness, don't destroy meanness, but with generosity
           transform it into a generous consciousness, into sharing.
               WITH TRUTH OVERCOME DECEIT. Don't fight with darkness, bring light in. That is the
           essence of this sutra. Don't fight with the negative, bring the positive in. And the positive comes
           through watchfulness -- the negative is already there. Your society prepares you for the negative,
           your society needs you to be negative. Your society wants you to be angry, full of anger, so that you
           can be forced into war, into crusades: religious, political, ideological conflicts; so you can be
           manipulated into killing people. Or, you can be manipulated into becoming martyrs; destructive to
           yourself.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Millions of Christians have died, Mohammedans have died, killing each other for the simple
           reason that so much anger is repressed, it needs some outlet. You will be surprised to know that
           Buddhism is the only religion in the world which has not shed blood, the only religion in the world
           which has converted millions of people without coercion of any kind.
               Christianity has converted thousands of people, but with coercion. In the beginning it was by the
           sword. Mohammedans have converted millions of people, but it is through the sword, forcibly,
           violently. This is not conversion, this is something absolutely ugly and irreligious.
               Now the sword is no longer used, because to use the sword directly will be condemned all over
           the world, so subtle means of coercion are used. In poor countries you can go with bread and butter,
           with clothes, with better facilities for life and you can convert people. Christian missionaries are
           doing this all over the world, particularly in the poor countries. It is not a conversion to Christ -- it is
           not at all a conversion -- it is simply purchasing people with bread and butter. People are starving --
           whosoever can give them food, they are ready to go with him.
               Buddhism is the only religion in the world which has really converted people without the sword,
           without bread and butter, without any coercion, positive or negative; which has simply converted
           through its understanding of people, bringing them more light, bringing them more understanding of
           their minds, their bodies.
               And this is of great importance. Never fight with the negative. Your society prepares you for the
           negative. Transform the negative into the positive; transformation is possible. The medium that has
           to be used is meditation. Just become more watchful of all your mind things -- anger, greed,
           meanness; otherwise you can cultivate, you can deceive others and you can deceive yourself, but you
           will remain mean. A miser can donate, giving charity, but he is giving with calculation. His
           miserliness is there. Now he is opening a bank account in the other world. He wants to have a bank
           balance there too.

               A blind man was standing in a bus queue, when his neighbor was startled to see a dog calmly
           cock his leg and piss all down the blind man's trousers.
               When the blind man realized what was happening, he put his hand into his pocket and produced a
           bar of chocolate that he held downwards for the dog.
           "That's a very charitable thing to do," said his neighbor.
           "Oh," replied the blind man, "I am just finding out where his mouth is so I can kick him in the balls."

               So don't be deceived about what people are doing on the outside, deep inside they may be
           calculating something else. Their act may be generous, but their motive is the real thing that matters;
           not the act, but the intention.

               A man picked up a woman in a bar one night and took her home to his apartment.
               When they got there, she started to disrobe, but he stopped her, saying, "No, let us just sit here on
           the couch together, and if you will keep both of your hands on my head while you are here, I will
           give you twenty dollars."
               The girl thought this a little unusual, but did as he requested. Finally, she could not restrain her
           curiosity any longer and asked, "But what kind of a thrill do you get out of having my hands on your
           head?"
           "No thrill," he answered. "I just get a sense of security knowing that your hands are on my head and
           not in my pocket -- for twenty dollars it is worth it."

               The people who are miserly will remain miserly, even in their sharing. If you look deep down
           you will find they are trying to bargain for something, there is some business hidden in it. The priests
           go on telling people, "If you give to poor people here, you will get a thousandfold in the other world"
           -- a thousandfold, it is like a lottery! And who would not like to have it? Give a little bit here and
           you will get a thousandfold there.
               Priests have been cheating people, because people are mean, because people are miserly;
           otherwise priests would disappear from the world. If people are really generous there will be no need
           for the priests, nobody can exploit generous people. They give for the sheer joy of giving. They don't
           think that giving is a means to some end. If you think giving is a means to some end you miss the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole point. Unless giving becomes a joy in itself, you don't know what it is.

              SPEAK THE TRUTH,
              GIVE WHATEVER YOU CAN,
              NEVER BE ANGRY.
              THESE THREE STEPS WILL LEAD YOU
              INTO THE PRESENCE OF THE GODS.


               Speak the truth, whatsoever the cost. It is going to cost you much, because the world lives in lies.
           People are brought up in such a way that truth never crosses their paths. And they are forced to
           believe in something which their society, their church, their state wants them to believe in; it is not a
           question of truth. People love lies, because lies are very consoling. And people love lies because
           others are also believers in the same lies -- and you feel part of others, you feel a kind of belonging,
           you don't feel alone.
               The man of truth feels alone. A Socrates, a Pythagoras, a Heraclitus find themselves alone, very
           alone. In this world if you say the truth and you live the truth, you will have to live alone. You will
           not find many people who would like to be with you. You will not find great company in the world.
           You will find few people who are lovers of truth. And you will always be in danger, because your
           truth will be a dangerous thing for those who live in lies. They will not tolerate you. You will
           become an unbearable phenomenon for them. They will be bent upon destroying you.
               But still, even if life is sacrificed, truth is worth it. A moment of truth is more valuable than a
           hundred years of life, because a moment of truth makes you part of eternity, part of God.
               SPEAK THE TRUTH, GIVE WHATEVER YOU CAN. It is not a question that you have to give
           money or you have to give this and that; whatever you can, whatever you have -- if you have a song,
           sing the song, share it. If you can dance, dance and share it. GIVE WHATEVER YOU CAN. And,
           NEVER BE ANGRY, because people may not accept your gift. Don't get angry about that. People
           may never thank you, they may not feel grateful to you. On the contrary, they may feel offended by
           you.
               It has always been so; they were offended by Jesus, they were offended by Buddha. Why? --
           because those people look so different from the ordinary, that people become aware of their own
           ordinariness and it hurts. They bring great treasures to share -- but it hurts, because they have that
           great treasure and we don't have anything. People will not be thankful to you, in fact they will never
           be able to forgive you. They may crucify you, they may stone you to death.
               Hence Buddha reminds you again: remember, don't expect anything, otherwise anger will be
           natural. If you expect even gratefulness from people and they don't show any gratefulness -- on the
           contrary, they show great ungratefulness -- you may feel angry. Beware, your joy is in giving. It is
           not for you to be worried about whether what you give is accepted or is not accepted; is accepted
           with gratefulness or is accepted indifferently.
               You do good to people, they may do bad to you... still, don't be angry. Remember this is how
           things are, this is how people are. Remembering it will help you not to become enraged.
               THE WISE HARM NO ONE... but the fools enjoy harming others. And who is wise? Not the
           one who knows much, but the one who understands much. The wise is not one who has all the
           scriptures at the tip of his tongue; the wise is one who has seen his own reality, and seeing it has
           become aware of the universe and its beauty and its intelligence. The wise is one who has seen the
           wisdom of existence; he is not knowledgeable, but he is absolutely innocent. How can he harm
           anyone? -- that is impossible, because he can't see others as different from himself. He sees the
           whole as one.
               Beware of knowledgeable people, beware of the so-called experienced, they are not wise.

               Two women were sitting in the doctor's waiting room, comparing notes on their various
           disorders.
           "I want a baby more than anything in the world," said the first, "but I guess it's impossible."
           "I used to feel just the same way," said the second, "but then everything changed. That's why I'm
           here; I'm going to have a baby in three months."
           "You must tell me what you did!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I went to a faith healer."
           "But I have tried that. My husband and I went to one for nearly a year and it didn't help a bit."
               The other woman smiled and whispered, "Try going alone next time, dearie!"

               The experienced people, the people who have lived life... they appear wise; they are not wise,
           they are only mature fools. And mature fools are more dangerous than the immature fools, because
           the mature fool has all the arguments to support his foolishness, all his experience is at his disposal.

               The professor of criminal law was concluding his final lecture before the holidays. "Remember,
           gentlemen, if you have an affair with an underage girl, with or without her consent, it is rape! If you
           have an affair with a girl of age without her consent, that is rape; but if you have an affair with a girl
           of age with her consent, Merry Christmas!"

               These people are wise in a way, wise in the ways of the world; they can give you good advice,
           but they are not wise in the sense Buddha uses the word. They are as foolish as you are, just a little
           bit more experienced. And foolishness does not disappear with experience.

           "I am looking for adventure, excitement, beautiful women," cried the young man to his father as he
           prepared to leave home. "Don't try to stop me! I'm on my way."
           "Who is trying to stop you?" yelled the father, "take me along!"

              THE WISE HARM NO ONE,
              THEY ARE MASTERS OF THEIR BODIES
              AND THEY GO TO THE BOUNDLESS COUNTRY,
              THEY GO BEYOND SORROW.


                As you become a witness, as you become aware, you simply come to know that you are not the
           body, not the mind, not even the heart. You are simply a watcher, different from all that surrounds
           you. The body is your outermost boundary; the mind a little more inner, the heart still more inner,
           but at the innermost core you are just a consciousness.
                Knowing this you become detached from your own body, your mind, your heart; and that
           detachment brings mastery. Not that you become destructive to the body -- you take every care of it,
           it is a beautiful instrument, it is a great gift of God. But now you know that it is only the house you
           live in. Just as you take care of your house, you take care of your body; it is the temple.
                Your consciousness is your reality; you become disidentified, and to be disidentified is to be the
           master.

              THOSE WHO SEEK PERFECTION
              KEEP WATCH BY DAY AND NIGHT
              TILL ALL DESIRES VANISH.


               Buddha expects only one thing from you: keep watch day and night till all desires vanish. Make
           your watchfulness so integrated, so powerful, so strong and so unwavering that it helps all the
           desires to evaporate, vanish. Desires are not to be dropped, but allowed to evaporate. LET GO OF
           ANGER, LET GO OF PRIDE. WHEN YOU ARE BOUND BY NOTHING, YOU GO BEYOND
           SORROW.

              LISTEN, ATULA, THIS IS NOT NEW....


             Atula is a disciple of Buddha. Buddha is saying to Atula: LISTEN, ATULA, THIS IS NOT
           NEW....

              IT IS AN OLD SAYING.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEY BLAME YOU FOR BEING SILENT,
              THEY BLAME YOU WHEN YOU TALK TOO MUCH
              AND WHEN YOU TALK TOO LITTLE.
              WHATEVER YOU DO THEY BLAME YOU.


                Why does Buddha suddenly address Atula? He was addressing all his sannyasins, and out of
           nowhere he suddenly addresses Atula. You may not be able to see the point immediately. Atula may
           be the one who was not listening, who was hearing, but not listening. And when you are in
           communion with a buddha, he knows perfectly well who is listening and who is only hearing. This
           happens here every day. When new people come, it is so clear that they are only hearing, not
           listening. As you live here a little longer, slowly slowly you start listening.
                Listening is a totally different phenomenon than hearing. Hearing is physiological. Because you
           have ears, so you can hear. Listening is a deep phenomenon. You listen only when you are in
           absolute silence. Those who have been here long enough are falling into that silence.
                Atula must have been hearing only, must have been a new disciple; hence Buddha specifically
           mentions his name, LISTEN, ATULA.... And it is also possible that Atula was thinking that Buddha
           was saying something very new, very strange. In fact what buddhas say is, in a way, the eternal truth,
           as ancient as the Himalayas; and in another way it is as fresh as the flower that has blossomed just
           this morning, as fresh as the dewdrops and as old as the Himalayas.
                And all the buddhas in the past have said the same thing; maybe in different languages, with
           different expressions, in different ways. "There is nothing new under the sun." It is a truth -- but only
           half. The other half is, "There is everything new under the sun." Because truth has the capacity to
           renew itself continuously, to be reborn again and again. So buddhas always speak the ancientmost
           truth, and yet they speak the most rebellious truth possible.
                Buddha says: THIS IS NOT NEW, ATULA, IT IS AN OLD SAYING. People are such that they
           will always find reasons to blame you. They blame you for being silent -- if you are silent they will
           blame you: "Why are you silent?" If you are talking too much they will blame you: "Why do you
           talk so much?" If you talk too little, they will blame you: "Why do you talk so little?"
                Whatever you do, they blame you, because by blaming you their egos feel satisfied. Nobody
           looks at his own faults and everybody is capable of seeing the faults of others; not only seeing them,
           but magnifying them as much as possible.

               Mother called upstairs, "Caroline, please stop that shouting and screaming. Why can't you play
           quietly like Tommy, who is not making a sound?"
           "He's not supposed to make a sound," said Caroline. "We're playing our family. He's Daddy, after
           getting home late for dinner, and I'm you."

               It is very simple to see others' faults, because one wants to see the faults of others. If they are not
           there, then one invents them. Your ego can live only by feeling superior; so you make every possible
           use of others' faults to feel superior. Blaming others is nothing but a strategy of the ego to feel
           superior. Beware of it.
               The world always finds a way to praise and a way to blame. It always has and it always will.
           Yes, sometimes it praises too, but it praises only when you are helping other people's ego -- then it
           praises you. For example, if you say to the Hindus that their religion is the greatest religion in the
           world, they will praise you.
               How can they praise me? Impossible! Because I am simply saying the truth: that no religion is
           greater than any other religion; that all religions are in the same trap of the priests. You may call the
           priest the shankaracharya, you may call the priest the pope, it does not matter. All the religions are in
           the grip of politicians. Hindus and Christians and Mohammedans, they are all no longer religions,
           but just politics -- power politics hiding behind the name of religion. No religion is greater than any
           other, superior to any other. In fact, a really religious person is neither Christian, nor Hindu, nor
           Mohammedan. He is simply religious.
               Indians will praise you if you praise India: if you say that this is the greatest land in the world,
           the most spiritual land in the world -- then their egos are puffed up, they will praise you. They will
           blame you to puff up their egos, and they will praise you if you puff them up. The whole game is of
           the ego.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BUT WHO DARES BLAME THE MAN
              WHOM THE WISE CONTINUALLY PRAISE,
              WHOSE LIFE IS VIRTUOUS AND WISE,
              WHO SHINES LIKE A COIN OF PURE GOLD?


                Don't be worried about the praise and the blame of the ordinary masses, of the crowd. Yes, if you
           have to pay attention, then pay attention to the wise. If they say that something is wrong with you,
           listen carefully, because they are trying to help you. They have no egos to fulfill from your faults.
           They are just like mirrors; they reflect your face. If you have an ugly face, don't destroy the mirror;
           simply try to change your face.
                And the wise ones praise too, but they praise not to puff up your ego. In fact they praise you only
           when they see that you are becoming a nobody; their praise showers like flowers on you. When you
           are becoming a nobody, when you are becoming a nothingness, you are coming closer and closer to
           the divinity hidden within you.

              EVEN THE GODS PRAISE HIM,
              EVEN BRAHMA PRAISES HIM.


                A person who is praised by the wise, by the enlightened ones, is praised by the gods, is praised
           by the whole universe -- by the creator himself, by Brahma. Their praise is worth... even if a single
           buddha smiles at you, it is enough. The whole world may condemn you; don't be worried about it. If
           all the blind people of the world gather together and praise your beauty, will you be happy about it?
           They can't see, they have no eyes to see; you will not be very happy by being praised by the blind.
                In India we have a saying that the best couple is when the husband is deaf and the wife is blind.
           The husband can go on doing whatsoever he wants -- fooling around -- and the wife can go on
           saying whatsoever she wants; the husband is deaf and the wife is blind. The saying says it happens
           only very rarely, with the blessings of God. It doesn't happen ordinarily. But what is the point of
           being praised by blind people? They can't see. And why be worried by their condemnation? They
           can't see your faults either.
                But a buddha, an enlightened one, if he praises you, that means he has seen ego disappearing. If
           he finds fault with you, that simply shows he is trying to help you so you can drop the fault.

              BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE BODY,
              MASTER THE BODY,
              LET IT SERVE TRUTH.


                Anger has three layers. The first layer is the anger of the body. BE AWARE OF THE ANGER
           OF THE BODY. You may not have watched it: that the body accumulates anger, that the body has
           its own ways of accumulating anger. When you feel angry you gnash your teeth, you clench your
           fists -- why?
                In fact, in the East there have been devices to help you. Those are temporary helps, but of great
           value because they can make you aware of many things. When you feel angry, just gnash your teeth,
           clench your fists and you will be surprised: that as you gnash your teeth and clench your fists and
           just fight with the air -- a shadow boxing -- within five minutes the anger is gone. Something has
           happened, something has been released.
                Now, Postural Integration, Rolfing, and methods like that are becoming very much aware that
           your repressed angers, sexuality, greed and all kinds of poisons accumulate in the body, in the
           muscles. By deep massage those poisons can be released. Rolfing is really a great contribution. Deep
           massage of the body can be of great help. It can make you aware that your body is carrying many
           things; and your body drives you into things which you may not have gone into if the body was not
           driving you there.
                BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE BODY, Buddha says, MASTER THE BODY, LET IT
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           SERVE TRUTH.
                How to master the body? The first thing is to learn relaxation. Buddha taught his disciples how to
           relax. In the East, particularly, in the science of yoga, there is a special posture, SHAVASANA. This
           is the posture: lie down on the ground as if you are dead. Let the body slowly slowly die. Start from
           the feet. In fact, communicate with your body; say to the feet, "Die, please die." And then go on
           upwards.

               A psychoanalyst had told one of his patients, "All that you need is relaxation, so from tonight
           you start relaxing. Start from the feet; say to your toes, 'Toes relax, feet relax,' and go on upwards,
           talking to each limb and then finally, tell your mind to relax."
               The man went home. He was very much thrilled by the idea; the whole day he waited for the
           night. The night came, he was lying on the bed. He had taken a good, hot shower as the psychiatrist
           had suggested, was feeling a little relaxed lying down on the bed.
               He started: "Toes relax, feet relax, legs relax, thighs relax," and so on, and so forth.
               He was just coming to the mind to say, "Mind relax," and his wife came out of the bathroom
           absolutely naked, ready to go to sleep. Suddenly the man shouted, "Wake up! Everybody wake up!"

               This won't help. Hence Buddha does not say to relax, to go to sleep, because then you can wake
           up and you can call everybody else to wake up. He says, "Feel dead. Let the body die for the
           moment, as if you are just a corpse." You cannot do anything. An ant starts crawling on you; you
           can't do anything.
               And it is really a great experience, to feel like a corpse, and the ant crawling on your face or a
           mosquito biting; but you can't do anything, you are simply a watcher. It is a rare experience to go
           through it. Slowly slowly, you become a master by relaxing your body. The more tense your body is,
           the more it is a master of you.

              BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE MOUTH....


               And when you have learned how to relax the anger of the body, the rage of the body, then start
           becoming aware of what you say. Sometimes, unconsciously, you say a word. You were not aware
           of the implications of the word. You may not have ever thought that it would create such trouble for
           you.

               A young man arranged for his fiancee to meet his parents over cocktails at a swanky hotel. After
           his family left, the girl asked if she had made a good impression on them.
           "Well, frankly, darling," he said, "my mother told me privately that she found you a little vulgar."
           "But did you tell her that I went to one of the best finishing schools?" she asked.
           "Yes, of course I did."
           "And did you tell her of my interest in art and culture?"
           "Certainly."
           "And did you tell her how important my family is in the neighborhood?"
           "Naturally, I did," he replied.
           "Then what is this 'vulgar' crap all about?" the delicate young lady asked.

               People go on saying things, not really aware of what they are saying. In fact, their minds are like
           gramophone records. They simply repeat.
               Now science has discovered that holes can be made in your head and electrodes can be put in;
           certain points can be pushed and a very strange thing happens. For example, an electrode is pushed
           into your brain at a certain center and you start saying something for no reason at all. Nobody has
           asked it, there is no context for it, but you start saying it. Then the electrode is taken out and you stop
           saying it. Again the electrode is pushed in; you start the same thing again from the very beginning --
           again the same sentences, the same words. It can be done a hundred times and each time you will do
           it again, as if the electrode is nothing but a needle on the gramophone record.
               Your mind is a great recording mechanism. You have recorded all kinds of things and you go on
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saying them, thinking that YOU are saying; that is not true. Unless you are really watchful, YOU are
           not saying things. Your mind goes on repeating old patterns and you go on getting into old problems,
           again and again. BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE MOUTH....

              MASTER YOUR WORDS,
              LET THEM SERVE TRUTH.
              BE AWARE OF THE ANGER OF THE MIND....


              And finally, slowly, first the body, then the word, then the mind.

              MASTER YOUR THOUGHTS
              LET THEM SERVE TRUTH.



              THE WISE HAVE MASTERED BODY, WORD AND MIND,
              THEY ARE THE TRUE MASTERS.


               If you can watch the body, the mind and all their functionings, you will become so separate from
           them that you can master them.
               You can master something only when you have a distance from it. If you are identified with it
           you cannot master it. And Buddha says one who is master of his own self is the master of the whole
           existence; he has entered into a different plane of life. You are slaves, he is a master; you are
           machines, he is a real man; you function unconsciously, he functions consciously.
               And to function consciously is to go beyond all sorrow, is to go beyond all misery, is to go
           beyond all anguish, is to go into the beyond. Other religions call that beyond "God"; Buddha calls it
           simply "the beyond." Prepare for the beyond.... Become masters of your own beings.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6
                                                 Chapter #10
                                Chapter title: Happiness: the death of the ego
           30 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7910300
              ShortTitle: DHAM610
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES MISERY FEEL SO SAFE AND HAPPINESS SO THREATENING?


              Deva Surabhi, happiness is threatening and misery is safe; safe for the ego. Ego can exist only in
           misery and through misery. Ego is an island surrounded by hell; happiness is threatening to the ego,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the very existence of the ego. Happiness rises like a sun and the ego disappears, evaporates like a
           dewdrop on the grass leaf.
               Happiness is the death of the ego. If you want to remain a separate entity from existence as
           almost everybody is trying to do, you will be afraid of being blissful, cheerful. You will feel guilty in
           being blissful. You will feel suicidal because you are committing a suicide on the psychological
           level -- the level of the ego.
               It almost always happens that people enjoy a few moments and then afterwards they feel very
           guilty. The guilt arises because of the ego. The ego starts torturing them, "What are you doing? Have
           you decided to kill me? And I am your only treasure. Killing me? You will be destroyed. Killing me
           is destroying yourself."
               We are so much identified with the ego that when the ego says such things, they have a great
           appeal, attraction, conviction in them. The reality is just the opposite -- we are not our egos. In fact
           because of the ego we are not growing, the ego is like a rock preventing your growth. Remove the
           rock and you will start growing, growing into a big tree -- with great fulfillment, flowering.
               But in the beginning it will feel as if throwing the rock away is throwing all safety. The rock was
           preventing many things. It was preventing rain from coming to you and you were thinking it is safer.
           In fact the rain is nourishing. If it had reached you, you would have started growing. The rock was
           preventing the sun and you were thinking it is a shelter: it prevents the heat of the sun from reaching
           to you. But that heat is needed, that heat is life.
               What is destructive to you, you have been told by the society is not destructive; not only that it is
           not destructive but it is a shelter, a protection, a security. That idea has become deeply rooted in you.
           Hence, Surabhi, you feel misery is safe. Everybody feels like that. That's why everybody chooses to
           be miserable; it is your choice. Everybody chooses hell. It is your responsibility. If the whole earth is
           living in hell it is nobody else's responsibility. It is our decision -- a deliberate decision to live in hell
           because in hell the ego can remain.
               The ego can remain when it is dark, dismal, no sun on the horizon. When the sun arises on the
           horizon, the sun of awareness, then the ego starts disappearing like the darkness. Of course if you
           feel identified with the darkness then the sunrise is threatening. But if you disidentify yourself with
           the ego then you will be able to welcome the sun, it is not threatening anymore. It is a thrill,
           adventure, it is new life, new birth, it is resurrection.
               The ego is a grave. To come out of the ego you will need to come out of the grave. Don't think
           that the grave is safe. It appears safe because you have never ventured outside it. You have never
           been adventurous. You have not known the taste of danger, insecurity. Once you have tasted danger
           and insecurity you will never go back to the grave. It is better to live for a single moment but to live
           totally, than to lie down in a grave for a thousand years.
               That is not life, it is avoiding life. Come out of your misery, Surabhi, come out of your ego, come
           out of your grave and accept the threatening happiness. Accept the danger of going to the heights,
           because those who go to the heights can fall -- they are risking.
               Risk all because life is only for those gamblers who can risk all. But by risking all you become
           the beloved of existence, of God. By risking all you become worthy, by risking all you become a
           soul. Without risk there is no soul in you, you are just hollow, nothing inside you. Without risking
           there is no significance, no poetry, no song, no dance, no ecstasy in your life. No celebration at all.
               Celebrate, dance, let joy fill your heart, let it overflow. And if the ego dies, let it die. Help it to
           die because it is not you. You are something transcendental to body, mind, ego and all. You are part
           of God, part of eternity.
               Don't be worried, you cannot die. Even if you want to die, you cannot die -- you are eternal. So,
           in fact there is no fear, no need to be afraid. Death is impossible, only the ego can die. So if you
           remain identified with the ego then the fear remains there. Once ego is dropped, death disappears
           and fear disappears, anxiety disappears, anguish disappears; and the energy that was involved in fear,
           anxiety, anguish is released.
               That same energy becomes your dance, your celebration.

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHAT DOES LOVE MEAN?


                Prem Jyoti, love has different meanings for all. To writers, love is words. To artists, love is color.
           To a comic, love is laughter. To a baby, it is mother. To bees, it's nectar. To flowers, it is sunshine.
           And to cows, it is a lot of bull.
                It all depends on you what love is going to mean. Love is a ladder with many rungs. At the
           lowest it is physiology, biology, chemistry. It is nothing but a play of hormones. A man is attracted
           towards a woman, a woman is attracted towards a man. They think they are falling in love, but if
           hormones could laugh they must be laughing inside you -- you are befooled. What you are calling
           love is nothing but attraction between male and female hormones. It is pure chemistry; at the lowest
           point it is not more than that. It is animal, it is lust.
                And millions of people know only love at its lowest. Because of these people there has arisen a
           great tradition of renouncing love. The people who think that lust is love have created great religions
           in which love has to be renounced. Both are wrong, because both have accepted the lowest rung as if
           it is the all. It is not so.
                If you go a little higher, a man's love for music is not chemistry, it is not hormonal, it is not
           physiology; it is psychological. A man's love for flowers cannot be reduced to sexuality. A man's
           love for painting... there have been painters who have sacrificed their whole lives just to paint.

                Vincent van Gogh, one of the greatest painters, sacrificed himself totally just to paint: painting
           was far more important than life itself. Because of the painting he could not work; he was
           continuously painting so there was no time to work. His brother used to give him just enough money
           to live by, because nobody was interested in his being a painter. And he was a strange painter too, a
           very great genius. Whenever there is a genius it takes hundreds of years to recognize him. He was
           not a traditional painter. He was bringing to painting something new, a new vision.
                So nobody was able to appreciate his paintings, they were not selling. You will be surprised to
           know that not even a single painting was sold while Van Gogh was alive; now each of his paintings
           is worth millions of dollars. Only a few paintings have survived, two hundred at the most -- he
           painted thousands. All are lost, because nobody cared to preserve them.
                He used to give his paintings to friends just free, because nobody was interested in his paintings;
           not only were they not interested, they were not even courageous enough to put his paintings in their
           sitting rooms because people would laugh at them. His approach towards life and nature was so new.
           His brother used to give him enough money weekly just to live on. He would eat for only three days
           in the week; four days he would save money to paint. Now how long can you live in this way?
                By the time he was thirty-seven, only thirty-seven, he committed suicide. And the note that he
           has left is of tremendous significance. He has written that "I am committing suicide not against
           anybody -- I have no complaint against anybody or life -- life has been a great fulfillment to me. I am
           committing suicide because all that I wanted to paint I have painted; now there is no point in living. I
           have done what I had come to do; my work is finished."
                He wanted to paint the sun in all its possible faces. For one year he was continuously painting the
           sun. He was continuously standing in the open under the sun. His stomach was empty, he was
           hungry, and the hot sun... and he was continuously painting because there was not much time left.
           The sun drove him mad, it was too much. And then he committed suicide, because he had painted the
           sun from the sunrise to the sunset, all the faces, all the colors, all possible clouds. He had done his
           work. He died contentedly.

               Now, this love for painting, this love for art, is something higher -- higher than biology, higher
           than chemistry, higher than physiology. It is not lust, you can't call it lust. It is as passionate as lust
           or more so, because very few people die for a woman and very few people die for a man. But this
           man died for his paintings. This is psychological; this is far better.
               But there is still a higher state: the spiritual love, the love of a Buddha, the love of a Jesus, the
           love of a Krishna. It is totally different. It is not even aesthetic, psychological; it is spiritual. Now
           love has the expression of compassion -- passion has turned into compassion. Buddha loves the
           whole of existence, because he has too much and he has to share it. He is burdened by the love
           released in him; the love has to be shared with the trees, with the birds, with people, with animals,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with whosoever comes by.
                At the lowest when love is just lust, physiological, it is an exploitation of the other, it is using the
           other as a means. Soon it is finished. Once you have exploited the woman or the man you lose
           interest; the interest was only for the moment. The moment the woman is well-known to you you are
           finished with her. You have used the other human being as a means -- which is ugly, which is
           immoral. To use another human being as a means is the most immoral act in existence, because each
           human being is an end unto himself.
                Psychological love knows how to sacrifice. The art, the poetry, the painting, the music, the
           dance, becomes the end, they are no more means. YOU become a means. The biological love
           reduces the other to a means; the psychological love raises the other as the end.
                But in the spiritual world there is no question of means and ends, there is no question of the
           other; there are not two. Buddha loves the existence because Buddha has become the existence itself.
           There is no question of 'I' and 'thou'; it is not a dialogue. At the point of the ultimate consciousness
           love is not a dialogue; there is no I/thou relationship, it is not a relationship. It is pure overflowing of
           love.
                Prem Jyoti, that is the meaning of your name: PREM means love, JYOTI means flame. A buddha
           is a flame of love, just pure flame with no smoke. The smoke comes from lust. When there is no lust,
           when you don't want to get anything out of your love, when you simply want to give, when you feel
           obliged because others accept your love, the flame is without smoke. It is pure, it is pure gold.
                And do you know? -- love rises always upwards, just like the flame always rises upwards. The
           flame never goes downwards. Lust is like water, it goes downwards; love is like a flame, fire, it
           always goes upwards. And between the two is the psychological phenomenon: something of lust in
           it, passion, and something of compassion in it. It is just in the middle. It has some quality of the
           lower and some quality of the higher to it.
                Hence when the poet is in his poetic mood he is almost like the mystic, but it is only a question
           of mood. When he is not in his poetic mood he is just as ordinary or maybe more ordinary than the
           so-called ordinary people. You may have observed it: when a musician drowns himself in his music
           he rises to such peaks, such ephemeral peaks, that you can feel the presence of great mystery. And
           the same musician you can see sitting in some hotel drinking tea, talking all kinds of nonsense. He
           looks too ordinary; you cannot believe that this man was creating such beautiful music, such celestial
           music!
                If you read the poetry, the poet seems to be like a seer, a Kahlil Gibran. If you read THE
           PROPHET it is almost like a prophet, but if you meet Kahlil Gibran and see him in his ordinary
           moods you will be surprised: he is a very angry person, jealous, quarrelsome. He goes into very
           childish tantrums, throws things, is very possessive. If you meet Kahlil Gibran you will be
           surprised... how could this man write a book like THE PROPHET? -- because the book rises to the
           same heights as the Bible, as the Koran.
                But the man is not abiding on those heights; only once in a while clouds are not there and the
           poet can see the sun, the ocean, can see the open sky and can give you a glimpse of it in his poetry,
           in his music. But soon the clouds are there again and the sun is no longer available... and the poet is
           as ordinary as you are or even more ordinary, because when you fall from a glimpse you fall into
           depths, just to keep balance.
                So you can find a poet drunk, lying down in the gutter like a dog, shouting nonsense, and the
           same poet brings such beautiful flowers from the unknown. So in the middle both things will be
           together; it is a mixed phenomenon. Rise from the lower, but don't stop in the middle. Go on rising to
           the highest.
                When I talk about love I always mean the highest, with one difference: when others speak of the
           highest they deny the lowest; I don't deny it, I accept it. I want to use it as a stepping-stone. The
           lower has to be purified by the higher. The lower has to be transformed by the higher, not denied, not
           rejected. If you reject it, it persists. If you reject it, if you repress it, it takes revenge. It makes you
           more ugly than you ever were before.

              A woman with a baby, next in line in the crowded anteroom of a station of the Infant Welfare
           Society, was shown into the doctor's office by the nurse in charge.
              The doctor examined the baby, and then asked the woman, "Is he breast-fed or bottle-fed?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Breast-fed," she replied.
           "Strip down to you waist," he ordered. She did, and he examined her. He pressed each breast,
           increasing and decreasing pressure. He squeezed and pulled on each nipple. Suddenly he remarked,
           "No wonder this child is suffering from malnutrition -- you don't have any milk."
           "Naturally," she replied. "I am his aunt. But I'm glad I came."

               If you go on repressing things, then on the surface you may look like a saint, but only on the
           surface. It is better to be a sinner on the surface and a saint in the center than vice versa.

               The old maid was walking down a dimly lit street when a holdup man jumped out of the bushes.
           "Give me your money!" he demanded.
           "I don't have any," she managed to reply.
               He proceeded to search her thoroughly. Every possible place of concealment was explored.
           "I guess you were telling me the truth," he finally muttered angrily. "You don't have any money on
           you."
           "For heaven's sake," she wailed, "don't stop now! I'll write you a check!"

               I am not in favor of repressing the lower. The lower has to be raised to the heights, the lower has
           to be given wings. With insight, with understanding, it is possible. If you deny the lower you will
           never be able to reach the higher, because the lower rung is a necessary step. Yes, go beyond it, but
           you can go beyond it only if you don't reject it. Use it, but remember not to become obsessed with it.
           These two things have to be remembered: one is, not to be obsessed with it, not to stop at it, and the
           second is, not to reject and deny it but to use it as a stepping-stone.
               Be skillful. Buddha's word is UPAYA -- skill. And when he says "upaya," he means be very
           artful in transforming your life. It is only a potential, a seed, but it can become a great tree and it can
           blossom in its own time. And when a tree blossoms, when thousands of flowers have arisen on the
           tree branches, there is great joy in the being of the tree, great ecstasy.
               You are also a seed -- become a tree. The seed may be ugly -- seeds almost always are; the roots
           may be ugly, but remember, it is on the roots that the tree has to grow. The roots have to be used;
           without roots there will be no flowering.
               Without physiological attraction there will be no psychological growth. And without
           psychological love affairs with art, music, sculpture, there is no possibility of spiritual love. Poets
           and painters and dancers and musicians are a necessary step towards becoming a buddha.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS tathata -- TOTAL ACCEPTANCE?


                Dharmesh, tathata is one of Buddha's most significant contributions to the world. Tathata means
           total acceptance: whatsoever the situation is, don't fight with it. Accept it wholeheartedly, because it
           is through total acceptance that transcendence happens. If you fight with it you will be unnecessarily
           wasting your energy. Accepting it you preserve your energy. Accepting it you become capable of
           understanding it, because only one who accepts can understand; one who rejects cannot understand.
                Anything that you reject, anything that you become inimical to, you become incapable of
           understanding -- because we avoid that which is rejected. We are really afraid of it so we keep it at
           the back and we escape from it; we find ways and means to escape from it. And if you try to escape
           from something, how are you going to understand it? And without understanding there is no
           liberation, no transformation.
                Buddha says "tathata" -- accept it totally. Whatsoever is the case, accept without denying,
           without condemning, and in that acceptance many things happen, many doors open. The first is: your
           energy is preserved, which is a great blessing. In fighting you dissipate energy, your energy leaks,
           you remain always energyless. And to go to the heights you will need great energy, you will need
           vitality. If you want to reach to the sun, the journey is long and arduous. You cannot go to the sun,
           you cannot fly that far away, without energy in you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man who is fighting his sex, anger, greed, jealousy, possessiveness -- and there are a
           thousand and one things to fight -- remains entangled in his fight; he cannot go anywhere. He is
           constantly disturbed and distracted by these things. He fights with one, represses one, something else
           raises its head -- because he is one and the enemies are many. You fight anger, you will become
           greedy. The whole energy you repress from anger turns into greed. You fight greed, you will become
           very sexual. You fight sex, you will become very angry. You repress one thing, and the same thing
           with a new face, with a new mask, arrives from the back door. You will go insane.
               That's how the whole of humanity has gone insane. The insanity is so pervasive, that's why we
           don't think that people are insane. Everybody is insane! It is very rare that there is a sane person. To
           be sane in this insane society is really a great work of understanding, courage, rebellion.
               If you drop all the conditionings that the society has imposed on you, only then will you be able
           to remain sane. Otherwise society turns everybody into an insane person. The society turns
           everybody according to its own mode, mold, pattern, structure. It gives you ideas, ideologies,
           religions. It poisons you from the very beginning; when you are in your mother's womb the
           poisoning starts.
               Now they are finding scientific ways of conditioning the child which is in the mother's womb.
           Yes, certain things can be done to condition the child. For example, they have tried using a certain
           type of tight belt on the mother's belly; that belt is made in such a way that it keeps the child in a
           tight situation. And they have discovered that these children are very obedient; when they are born
           they are more obedient than other children, because for nine months they have lived almost in a tight
           corner, in a prison.
               In Soviet Russia they are trying the belt on many women. Now, the poor child who is not even
           born yet is already being conditioned, prepared for a certain society. He will be obedient. Certain
           music can reach to the womb. A soothing kind of music which lulls the child is helpful to create a
           slave. And so many drugs are available which can drug the child even before he is born -- he is born
           drugged. He will live his whole life in a kind of unconsciousness; but that's how the society wants
           him to live. Conscious people have proved dangerous; a Jesus, a Buddha, a Zarathustra, these people
           have proved dangerous.
               The story is that the first thing that Zarathustra did when he was born was, he laughed loudly.
           Can you think of a more rebellious child? Children are not supposed to laugh when they are born;
           they are supposed to cry, but not supposed to laugh. He must have shocked his parents and the
           neighborhood and the people who had heard his laughter. Why did he laugh? And such a person is
           not reliable, not reliable at all -- this is a dangerous man! He has done his first act of rebellion. He
           has already said that "I am not going to be a part of the crowd -- enough is enough. Many children
           have cried, I don't follow them. I will start my life with laughter."
               Whether it really happened or not is not the question. In fact it is difficult to laugh immediately
           after you are born, but the story is significant because it says something about Zarathustra's whole
           philosophy of life: it is that of great rebellion.
               Zarathustra is one of the greatest teachers of the world -- he has accepted life in its totality. He is
           not a renunciate, he is against renunciation. That's why the few Zarathustra followers that have
           survived had to escape their original motherland, Persia. They had to leave, because Mohammedans
           were coercing them, converting them; they converted Persia into a Mohammedan country. Persia is
           now known as Iran.
               A few people escaped who were not ready to accept this coercive violence. They came to India;
           they live in Bombay and around Bombay -- the Parsis. They are the only followers of Zarathustra;
           they are very life-affirmative people. Hence many Parsis have become interested in me; to them I
           have a great appeal because I also affirm life. I am not in favor of escaping.
               It is because of Zarathustra's total affirmation of life that Friedrich Nietzsche loved him
           tremendously and wrote his great book, THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA. He wrote the book to
           appreciate life and the love for life. He could not find any other master so life-affirmative as
           Zarathustra; a man who begins his life with laughter, whose whole life is a laughter. There is no
           pessimism, not even a strain of pessimism in him.
               That's exactly the meaning of tathata -- accept the whole of life as it is. In your acceptance you
           will be preserving your energy, and you have inexhaustible sources of energy if you accept.
               Secondly: when you accept everything, your life becomes cheerful. Nobody can make you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           miserable, nothing can make you miserable.

                A man with three hairs on his otherwise bald head came into a hair saloon and asked to get his
           hair shampooed and braided. The hairdresser got on with his job but just as he was about to finish
           combing it, one of the hairs fell out.
                The hairdresser was very embarrassed but the man only said, "Well, what to do? I guess I will
           have to part my hair in the middle!"
                The hairdresser very carefully put one hair to the right side and was about to put the other to the
           left side when that one fell out too. The hairdresser could not apologize enough but the man took it
           really cool.
           "Well," he said, "I guess now I will have to run around with my hair all ruffled up."

                This is tathata, this is total acceptance! You cannot disturb such a man. He is always contented,
           he always finds a way to be contented. It is a great art. And a man who is always contented and
           always finds a way to remain contented has the capacity to see things transparently.
                Discontent clouds your eyes and your vision; contentment makes your eyes unclouded and your
           vision clear. You can see through and through, you can understand things as they are.
                Tathata is also translated as suchness; that too is one of its meanings. You see things as they are
           in their suchness; you don't impose any idea of your own on them.
                And that is a miracle, a magic key. If you can see anger as it is, without any judgment, you will
           be surprised: seeing anger without judgment, without condemnation, without saying it is bad or
           good, should be or should not be, without bringing any "shoulds" in... if you can see your anger as it
           is, with no prejudice for or against, a miracle happens: anger disappears and its energy becomes
           absorbed in you. Just by pure insight you transform anger, greed, jealousy. And all that goes on
           dragging you hither and thither, keeps you running, never allows you rest and relaxation, is
           absorbed; more energy becomes available to you.
                And slowly slowly, when there is no anger -- not that you have rejected it but you have absorbed
           it, digested it -- no greed, no jealousy, no possessiveness, no sexuality... you have digested all these
           phenomena in you. You are becoming greater and greater and you have energies available to rise
           higher; you have fuel enough to keep your fire burning bright and without smoke.
                Dharmesh, tathata is a method of transforming your energies into your friends. Ordinarily you
           are taught such stupid ways that your own energies become your enemies and you are constantly
           fighting with yourself. Now there can be no greater stupidity than this; this is the most stupid act in
           the world that people go on doing -- fighting with themselves. You cannot win, you cannot defeat.
           You will remain quarreling with yourself, you will destroy yourself in quarreling your whole life.
           You will die, and you will never know what life was. You will never know the glories of life, the
           grandeur of life and the tremendous gift that life was, and could have been if you had lived with right
           mindfulness, with tathata, with acceptance.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANT TO THROW THIS UGLY MIND OUT OF MY SYSTEM. HOW TO DO IT?


               Narayano, nothing has to be thrown out of your system; everything has to be transformed and
           absorbed. The mind is not ugly; your USE of the mind is ugly. Change your use. Mind is not ugly --
           you are unconscious. The chariot is beautiful, it is a golden chariot, but the charioteer is drunk and
           fast asleep; and he calls the chariot names, condemns the chariot. When he finds himself in a ditch he
           beats the horses, he condemns the chariot, he condemns the chariot-maker, and he never thinks that it
           is not the fault of the chariot, not the fault of the horses, not the fault of the chariot-maker. It is his
           fault -- he was drunk, he was fast asleep. If the chariot has fallen into a ditch it is natural, the whole
           responsibility is yours.
               It is not a question of destroying the mind or throwing the mind out. Mind is a beautiful
           mechanism, the most beautiful mechanism in existence, but you have become a servant to the mind.
           You are the master and the master is functioning as a servant; the mind is a servant and you have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           made the servant the master.

           I have heard an ancient story:
                A king was very happy with one of his servants. He was so devoted, so totally devoted to the
           king; he was always ready to sacrifice his life for the king. The king was immensely happy, and
           many times he has saved the king, risking his own life. He was the king's bodyguard.
                One day the king was feeling so happy with the man, he said, "If you desire anything, if you have
           any desire, just tell me and I will fulfill it. You have done so much for me that I can never show my
           gratitude, I can never repay you, but today I would like to fulfill any of your wishes whatsoever it
           is."
                The servant said, "You have already given me too much. I am so blessed just by being always
           with you -- I don't need anything."
                But the king insisted. The more the servant said, "There is no need," the more the king insisted.
           Finally the servant said, "Then it's okay. You make me the king for twenty-four hours and you be the
           guard."
                The king was a little apprehensive, afraid, but he was a man of his word and he had to fulfill the
           desire. So for twenty-four hours he became the guard and the guard became the king. And do you
           know what the guard did? The first thing that he did, he ordered the king to be killed, sentenced to
           death!
           The king said, "What are you doing?"
                He said, "You keep quiet! You are simply the guard and nothing more. It is my wish and now I
           am the king!"
                The king was killed, and the servant became the king forever.

                Servants have their own devious ways to become masters.
                The mind is one of the most beautiful, the most complex, the most evolved mechanisms. It has
           served you well, it serves you well. Because of its services you have repeated the same story in your
           life, everybody has repeated the same story: you have made the mind the master and now the master
           treats you just like a servant.
                This is the problem, not that the mind has to be thrown out. If you throw the mind out you will
           go insane. Without the mind there is only one profession you can be in: that is politics!

           I have heard:
               One politician was going through a brain operation. His brain was taken out, they were fixing his
           brain and he was lying on the stretcher waiting.
               Suddenly a man came in and said, "What are you doing here? You have been chosen the prime
           minister of the country!"
               So he got up. The surgeon said, "Where are you going? -- your brain is here!"
               He said, "What am I going to do with the brain now? I am already the prime minister, I don't
           need it. You can keep it. When I need it I will come back."

              Once you are a prime minister you don't need the mind.

           I have heard another story too:
               A man -- it must be some future story -- a man went to the hospital because his brain was
           damaged in a car accident and he wanted a new brain. So he asked the surgeon to show him all kinds
           of brains available. The surgeon took him around; there were many brains.
               The first brain belonged to a professor, a mathematician. He asked the price -- fifty dollars. He
           was surprised: a famous mathematician, a Nobel laureate, just fifty dollars' worth! Then there was a
           musician and his was only thirty dollars. Then there was a businessman's brain and it was only
           twenty dollars. And so on, so forth.
               Finally they came to the brain of a politician -- it was five thousand dollars! The man was
           puzzled. He said, "Why does it costs so much?"
               The surgeon says, "Because it has never been used. All the other brains are secondhand, this is
           brand-new."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Narayano, if you throw the brain out, then you will have to go into politics, that's all. Then you
           cannot be a sannyasin: a sannyasin needs more intelligence than anybody else. So please don't ask
           me how to do it. And don't do it on your own -- because sometimes people do, and then fixing it is
           very difficult.

               William had a big problem with his wife, Lisa. Every night before she went to bed she would
           stop at the door, start running and then with a big jump leap into the bed. He got so upset about this
           habit of hers that he decided to do something about it. So one night when she was asleep he got up,
           went to the fridge, got a big piece of beef liver out of it and placed it on the floor in front of the bed.
               The next morning he got up and said, "My God, Lisa, look what has happened -- your uterus has
           fallen out! I always told you to stop your jumping." Lisa was very shocked.
               When he came home that evening from work he said, "Now, Lisa, you see what can happen with
           a bad habit like this."
               She replied, "Oh, that was not so bad. You should have seen how much trouble it was to get it in
           again."

               So Narayano, please don't do it! It is easy to throw it out, it is very difficult to get it back in. You
           will need all the mind that you have. Just be the master of it. Use it, and don't be used by it.
               And that's what meditation is all about: the art of moving away from the mind, being above the
           mind, becoming transcendental to the mind, knowing that "I am not the mind." That does not mean
           that you have to throw out the mind. Knowing that "I am not the mind" makes you again the master.
           You can use the mind. Right now, mind is not within your hands. You are not a good charioteer.
               Just the other day, in his sutra, Buddha was talking about a good charioteer. And he says: Others
           only hold the reins in their hands and the chariot goes on moving wherever it wants to, the horses go
           on moving wherever they want to. You are simply holding the reins, but you are not really in control.
               Be a good charioteer. And the first step is to know that you are not the mind. If you are the mind
           then you cannot be the master, because there is no separation between the mind and you, no distance.
           Create a little distance. Watch the mind, its functioning, and create the distance. Watching
           automatically creates the distance. Hence Buddha's insistence again and again: watch, watch day and
           night. Slowly slowly, you will see that you are consciousness and mind is just an instrument
           available to you. Then you can use it when needed and when not needed you can put it off. Right
           now, you don't know how to put it off; it is always on.
               It is like a radio in your room which is always on and you don't know how to turn it off, so you
           have to sleep with the radio on and it goes on shouting all kinds of advertisements and all kinds of
           songs that you have heard a thousand times, but you don't know how to turn it off. The whole day
           you are tired, many times you want to get rid of the radio, but you cannot because you don't know
           how to turn it off. It is like sleeping with the lights on because you don't know how to turn them off.

               Freud remembers that when electricity came to Vienna for the first time, a friend, a villager,
           came to visit him. Freud took every care of the visitor, took him to the room where he was going to
           sleep, left him there, said good night.
               The villager was very much puzzled by only one thing -- the electricity, the electric bulb. He
           knew how to put a lamp off, how to blow a candle out, but what to do with this electric bulb?
               He tried all that he knew: standing on a chair he blew it many times, but nothing would happen
           to it. He watched it from everywhere; there was no hole, there was nothing. And how could he
           imagine that just on the wall there is a switch? That was impossible for him to imagine, he had never
           seen electricity. But he was also afraid to go and ask Freud or somebody else because they would
           think that he is a fool.... "You can't even put the light off -- what kind of man are you?"
               So, feeling embarrassed, he tried to sleep with the light on. He could not sleep. Many times he
           stood up again on the chair, tried again. The whole night it continued; sleep wouldn't come because
           of the light -- too much light, too bright light, he had never seen such bright light. One candle he has
           known, and the bulb must have been of a hundred candles or more. In the morning he was dead tired.
               Freud asked him, "You look very tired. Couldn't you sleep?"
               He said, "Now there is no point in hiding, because I am going to stay three days -- this bulb is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going to kill me! Even to look at it a shiver goes up my spine. How to turn it off?"
           Freud said, "You fool! Why didn't you ask me?"
              He said, "I was just feeling embarrassed -- so foolish to ask such a simple thing!"
              Freud took him to the wall, showed him the switch. He tried it, put it on and off, and laughed.
           And he said, "Such a simple thing, and the whole night I tried and could not find it!"
              He may have tried his whole life and may not have connected the switch with the light.

               This is how it is happening to you; your mind is continuously on. They say that the mind is such
           a magnificent mechanism that it starts working the moment you are born and it goes on working till
           you stand before an audience -- then suddenly it stops, then something happens to it. Otherwise it
           continues till you die. And very few people need to stand before an audience, so the mind continues
           unhindered, and it keeps you utterly tired, exhausted, weary, bored. And it goes on saying the same
           things again and again. Why are people so much bored?
               Life is not boring, remember. Life is always a tremendous mystery, it is always a surprise, it is
           always new, it is constantly renewing itself. New leaves are coming, old leaves are falling; new
           flowers are appearing, old flowers disappearing. But you cannot see life because you are constantly
           bored by your own mind. It goes on saying things which it has said thousands of times. You look so
           tired, for the simple reason that you don't know how to turn it off.
               The mind has not to be thrown out, Narayano. The mind has to be put in its place: it is a beautiful
           servant but a very ugly master. You take the reins in your hands, you be the master. And the first act,
           the first step is: become detached from the mind. See that it is not you, create the distance; the
           greater the distance, the more is the capacity of turning it off.
               And one more miracle you will be coming across: when you turn the mind off, the mind too
           remains fresh and more intelligent; because it is also tiring. Just think: from the day you are born it
           starts and goes on working till you die. And one never knows, it may be even working when you are
           in the grave, because a few things continue to happen then. Nails go on growing even when you are
           in the grave, hairs go on growing, so some kind of mechanism still continues. Even in a dead body
           nails and hairs go on growing, something is still working, maybe some local mechanism, not the
           mind itself, but the body also has small, local minds to support the big mind, agents of the big mind.
           Maybe they have not known yet that the big guy is dead and they go on doing the old thing
           continuously. They know nothing else so they continue repeating their old job. Hairs go on growing,
           nails go on growing -- just small, local minds, mini-minds.
               The mind has to be put into its right place, and when you need it you use it; just as you use your
           legs when you need them. When you don't need to you don't use your legs. If sitting on a chair you
           go on moving your legs up and down, then people will think you are mad. And that's exactly what is
           happening in the mind and still you think you are not mad.
               A meditative awareness comes to know the key. Whenever it wants to put the mind off it simply
           says, "Now shut up!" and that's it. And the mind simply keeps quiet and great silence prevails inside.
           And the mind can also rest in those moments, otherwise everything becomes tired.

           I have heard:
               A man brings his computer to the mechanic and says, "What is the matter with the computer? It
           is not working well lately."
               The expert looks inside the computer and says, "Metal fatigue." Just as you go to the psychiatrist
           and he says, "Mental fatigue," he says, "metal fatigue -- a metal case!"

               Everything tires, everything gets tired -- even metals get tired. And your mind is made of very
           delicate tissues, so delicate that there is nothing more delicate in the whole existence. In your small
           skull millions of small fibers are functioning; so thin are they that your hairs, if compared with the
           nerves that function in your brain, are very thick, one million times more thick. Such a delicate
           phenomenon, but we don't know how to use it. It needs rest.
               Hence a meditative person becomes more intelligent, he becomes saner. Whatsoever he does
           there is an art in it. Whatsoever he touches he transforms into gold. Mind is a blessing with
           meditation, otherwise it is a curse.
               Add meditation to your being and the curse disappears, and the curse itself becomes the blessing;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is a blessing in disguise. You have not yet learned the art of how to use it and how to be a master.
           It is not a question of throwing the mind out; that will not help. That will make you even more
           hollow, more useless. If the brain, if the mind is thrown out, you will be just a cabbage -- or if you
           don't like the word 'cabbage', then cauliflower. And they say that there is not much difference
           between cabbage and cauliflower -- cauliflower is cabbage with a college education. You can
           choose, you can be a cabbage or a cauliflower, but you will not be a man. Very few men are men in
           reality. A man is one who is a master of his mind.
                The English word 'man' comes from a Sanskrit root which means mind; MAN. To be master of
           your mind is the meaning of being man. If you are not master of your mind, there is no man inside
           you, only a computer functioning, a machine functioning, without any master. This is the situation.
           That's why the world looks so berserk, so insane.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THERE SO MANY JEWS HERE?


               Harish, Jews are very intelligent people, one of the most intelligent peoples on the earth. They
           had to be intelligent; otherwise they would not have survived. And because they are intelligent they
           are always searching for new pastures, new worlds, new life-styles, new ways of seeing, living and
           being. It surprises everybody.
               There are almost fifty percent Jews here. This may be the only place in India where there are so
           many Jews, because in India there are not any Jews, none at all. And if things go on growing as they
           are growing, soon you will find another Israel here! And why are Jews coming? -- because they are
           intelligent, they are always ready to accept anything new and they are ready to drop the old.
               In fact, seeing the intelligence of the Jews it seems almost unbelievable that they killed Jesus.
           The more I have come in contact with the Jews -- and I have thousands of Jews as my sannyasins --
           the more I have become puzzled about the phenomenon. Why could they not accept Jesus? Maybe it
           was not really the Jews who killed him but the Roman emperor, Roman imperialism. Romans have
           always been cruel and they have not proved themselves very intelligent either. It may have been just
           that Jews were used as an excuse and the Romans wanted to kill Jesus.
               And the Jews were not independent people in those days, they were part of the Roman Empire. It
           is possible that the Romans used the Jewish priests as a facade, because they would not have liked to
           kill Jesus directly -- that may have created a revolution in the country, a rebellion. It is a simple
           diplomacy to use Jews themselves to kill Jesus; then there will be no rebellion, no revolution, no
           problems arising.
               In fact, they pretended on the surface that they were not interested in killing Jesus, and from the
           back door they may have insisted. To the public they showed that "We are absolutely out of the
           game. If Jews want to kill him, they can kill him; if they don't want to kill him we are ready to
           forgive him." And from the back they may have been goading the Jews to kill Jesus. That's more
           possible, because Jews are not such unintelligent people that they would destroy their own greatest
           flowering.
               Jesus was their greatest flowering. He was the climax of the Judaic approach to life. Jesus was
           born a Jew and died a Jew -- he was not a Christian, remember; he has not even heard the word
           'christian'. And if he comes back he will find himself more in tune with the Jews than with the
           Christians, because he lived the life of a Jew. He was well acquainted with Jewish scriptures, he
           quoted Jewish scriptures. He said again and again that "Whatsoever has been said before by other
           prophets I am saying to you" -- giving it a more contemporary expression, of course, but he was not
           against Moses, Abraham, Ezekiel. He was not against the old prophets; he was fulfilling their
           prophecies, he was the very fulfillment.
               Why should Jews kill him? There is every possibility that the Romans did it. They were afraid of
           his growing power.
               The political powers always become afraid of anybody who starts becoming powerful in any
           way. Although Jesus was not interested in politics, not interested in political power, his language
           could be misinterpreted very easily. He was talking about the kingdom of God, but the Romans
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           started thinking that he is talking of bringing the kingdom of Jews; he wants to become the emperor
           himself. They must have been apprehensive of his growing popularity.
               Many many people were turning to him, coming to him, listening to him, becoming disciples,
           becoming initiates. Of course it was a religion now, but any moment religion can take the turn and
           become politics. Hence the politicians always become very alert and cautious.
               They are doing the same to me. I am not interested in politics, I am not interested in that stupid
           game at all, but they are very much afraid. And the best way to kill me will be to find a sannyasin, a
           Judas, to kill me; that will be the best way. Then there will be no problem.
               If a sannyasin kills me, then the whole responsibility falls on my own shoulders or on the
           shoulders of my sannyasins. The sannyasin may not be a true sannyasin, he may be just a detective, a
           spy, a government man, who has taken sannyas just to kill me. That will be the easiest and the most
           diplomatic way.
               And there are many spies here: German spies and Italian spies and Indian spies. One Indian spy
           took sannyas. I gave him sannyas -- not only that I gave him sannyas, but I told him, "You become
           part of the ashram. Why live outside?" He was a little puzzled! Not only that, I told him that
           "Because you are an L.L.B., a practicing advocate... and we need a department, a law department;
           there are at least twenty-five cases against me in the courts, so we need our own legal department.
           You be in charge of it!" I had made him the head. He escaped after one month, because he became
           more and more interested in me, became more and more interested in meditation, and I gave him
           access to all the files and everything, because he was the head of the law department. I gave him
           every access, so if he wants to report anything to the government he can -- there is nothing to hide!
           My trust in him became such a heavy burden on the poor man. If I had suspected him he would have
           remained here; but because I trusted him so deeply, he escaped. He said that he would be coming
           back, but he has not come. Almost eight months have passed.
               He became so afraid of me that he sold his house where he used to live, because I am sending my
           sannyasins to his house in Patiala, in Punjab, to find out what happened to him -- we need him! He
           has sold his house and escaped from Patiala too, and he has not given his address to anybody in
           Patiala. But I am in search! I am going to find him, wherever he is. Now I have told my sannyasins
           in Delhi to search for him. We need him! I never allow people to escape so easily.
               Jews are intelligent people; hence they are always the first to accept new ideas, original ideas,
           new visions, new dreams.

                A Jew and a Catholic were sharing the same compartment on a train. The Jew took an apple out
           of his suitcase and ate it, core and all. The Catholic looked a little surprised and asked, "Do you
           always eat the core as well?"
           "Of course," explained the Jew. "That's why we are so intelligent -- we get that way by eating the
           core. And you happen to be a lucky fellow, because I have just one apple left which I will sell to you
           for fifty dollars."
                The Catholic accepted the offer, thinking to himself that fifty dollars for intelligence was a good
           deal. He bought the apple and ate it, core and all.
                After sitting silently gazing out of the window for a while he said, "Now that I think of it, for
           fifty dollars I could have bought a whole crate of apples."
           "See," said the Jew, "it has started working already!"

               The Jews have survived out of sheer intelligence. They have lived without a country, without a
           homeland. They have lived through all kinds of tortures, all kinds of concentration camps, gas
           chambers; still they have survived. The people who were bent upon destroying them are no more.
           Where are the Nazis? -- gone down the drain. The people who wanted to destroy Jews absolutely, to
           annihilate them, are no longer anywhere, but Jews are there.
               In fact, all those tortures, gas chambers, concentration camps, imprisonments, all those things
           have given them an integrity, a solidity. A tremendous intelligence is released in them; it is always
           released when you have to face great challenges. In fact, no other race has been facing such great
           challenges as the Jews.
               Naturally they are always the first to accept anything that is new, they are always the first to drop
           the old. That is the sign of intelligence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Two Jews meet on the street.
           "How are you, Solomon?" says Irving.
           "Terrible!" says Irving. "Ah, what a catastrophe! My son is converting to Christianity!"
           "Funny thing," says Irving. "My son too is converting to Christianity! Let us go to the synagogue
           and pray."
               Irving and Solomon run into their friend Myron who asks where they are going. When they tell
           Myron that their sons are converting to Christianity, Myron says, "Funny thing, my son is converting
           to Christianity too. I will go with you to the synagogue and pray."
               Well, Myron and Irv and Sol meet their friend Herman, tell him their story and Herman says,
           "Funny thing, my son is also converting to Christianity! Let us go and pray."
               This goes on for a while until a large group of Jews reach the synagogue. There they see the
           rabbi sitting on the front steps with his head in his hands. When the rabbi hears their story he replies.
           "Funny thing, my son is converting to Christianity. Let us all pray."
               The group goes into the synagogue, lift their eyes to heaven and the rabbi says, "Oh God, please
           help us. All our sons are converting to Christianity!"
               Suddenly they hear thunder, lightning flashes across the sky, and a deep voice intones, "Funny
           thing...."

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU REALLY GET US!! WE ARE ALL RUNNING AROUND LIKE HEADS WITHOUT CHICKENS!!!
              IS IT LOVE -- OR IS IT MEDITATION? AH DEAR! SQUACK SQUACK! BELOVED MASTER, WHAT
              IS A PATH?


                Prem Maitri, you are really becoming a sannyasin now -- going cuckoo! That's what sannyas is
           all about.

              In the Osho Meditation Center in Zurich, Switzerland, there was a clock-making contest. Many
           beautiful clocks were made.
              The third prize was won with a clock which had a cuckoo coming out every hour saying, "Osho,
           Osho."
              The second prize was won with a clock which had a cuckoo all dressed in orange with a mala
           around his neck coming out every half hour saying, "Osho, Osho."
              The first prize was given for a clock which had Osho coming out every fifteen minutes saying,
           "Cuckoo, cuckoo."

           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                    Talks given from 11/12/79 am to 20/12/79 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.
10/28/07                                        Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                 Chapter #1
                                    Chapter title: Man: only a possibility
           11 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912110
              ShortTitle: DHAM701
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              YOU ARE AS THE YELLOW LEAF.
              THE MESSENGERS OF DEATH ARE AT HAND.
              YOU ARE TO TRAVEL FAR AWAY.
              WHAT WILL YOU TAKE WITH YOU?



              YOU ARE THE LAMP
              TO LIGHTEN THE WAY.
              THEN HURRY, HURRY.



              WHEN YOUR LIGHT SHINES
              WITHOUT IMPURITY OR DESIRE
              YOU WILL COME INTO THE BOUNDLESS COUNTRY.



              YOUR LIFE IS FALLING AWAY.
              DEATH IS AT HAND.
              WHERE WILL YOU REST ON THE WAY?
              WHAT HAVE YOU TAKEN WITH YOU?



              YOU ARE THE LAMP
              TO LIGHTEN THE WAY.
              THEN HURRY, HURRY.



              WHEN YOUR LIGHT SHINES PURELY
              YOU WILL NOT BE BORN
              AND YOU WILL NOT DIE.



              AS A SILVERSMITH SIFTS DUST FROM SILVER,
              REMOVE YOUR OWN IMPURITIES
              LITTLE BY LITTLE.



              OR AS IRON IS CORRODED BY RUST
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOUR OWN MISCHIEF WILL CONSUME YOU.



              NEGLECTED, THE SACRED VERSES RUST.
              FOR BEAUTY RUSTS WITHOUT USE
              AND UNREPAIRED THE HOUSE FALLS INTO RUIN,
              AND THE WATCH, WITHOUT VIGILANCE, FAILS.



              IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT
              THERE IS IMPURITY AND IMPURITY:
              WHEN A WOMAN LACKS DIGNITY,
              WHEN A MAN LACKS GENEROSITY.



              BUT THE GREATEST IMPURITY IS IGNORANCE.
              FREE YOURSELF FROM IT.
              BE PURE.


                The first myth of man is that he exists. Man is only a possibility. Rarely has man become an
           actuality. Only once in a while a Gautam Buddha, a Jesus Christ, a Lao Tzu, a Zarathustra -- the
           names are not many, they can be counted on the fingers. They are the only proof that man is not
           impossible. But the so-called ordinary humanity is only a myth, a belief in something which is not
           really there. Unless you become aware of this false phenomenon, you will never become what you
           were destined to become. You will remain a seed. You will never bloom, you will not be able to
           release your fragrance.
                The name of Gautama the Buddha is sweeter than honey, is more golden than gold itself.
           Gautama the Buddha is more godly than God himself. In fact there is no other God. God exists only
           when buddhahood exists. God needs the context of a buddha to exist. Without the space of a
           buddhafield God is just a theoretical, philosophical idea with no substance in it, just a shadow.
           Hence don't ask whether God is or is not. That question cannot be answered. God is when there is a
           buddha, God is not when the buddha is not.
                Whenever there is an awakened person, in the context of his awakening God becomes real. This
           is the only possibility for God to be. To be really a man means to become a space for God to exist in
           you. Buddha is the most godly man that has ever been born on the earth, and still the most godless
           too. He never believed in God. Nobody who knows has ever believed in a God.
                All believers are ignorant people -- belief IS ignorance. Buddha never believed, Buddha knew.
           And when you know, you know; there is no question of belief. Buddha never argued about God, he
           himself was the proof. There can be no other proof. There are great arguers, speculators, theologians;
           their whole life they go on talking about God, but all their talk is mere talk, it is sheer nonsense.
           Even if they meet God, they will argue with him. Argument is their habit, argument has become their
           occupation, their profession, it has become an escape from their true being. Argument keeps them
           blind.

              A rabbi's son converted to Christianity and the rabbi was totally distraught. God himself came
           down to earth to console him. "After all," said the Lord, "did not the same thing happen to my son
           two thousand years ago?"
           "Yes," replied the rabbi, "but don't forget, my son was legitimate."

               A theologian, a philosopher, a great thinker, even if he comes to encounter God, is bound to
           argue with him. He can't see him. For seeing, silence is needed, not argument. For seeing, love is
           needed, not logic. For seeing, scriptures are not needed but a totally different state of mind is needed:
           a state of mind where thoughts have disappeared, where the mirror of mind reflects nothing, is
           absolutely pure, not even a ripple of thought. In that silence, in that mirrorlike purity you need not go
           anywhere else to see God. Wherever you are you will see, because God is not a person, let me repeat
           again: God is a presence. If God was a person things would have been very easy. We would have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           caught him, we would have imprisoned him in the temples, in the churches, in the synagogues, in the
           mosques. If God was a person our scientists would be experimenting on him in their laboratories.
           Pavlov wouldn't waste his time on dogs, he would experiment on God. And B.F. Skinner would not
           remain occupied with rats.
               Karl Marx actually has said that: Unless God is proved in a scientific experiment, I am not going
           to believe. Unless God is proved in the lab, I am not going to believe. But a God proved in a lab is
           not a God at all, cannot be a God. A God caught in the net of arguments will be impotent, utterly
           dead.

               A group of cannibals attacked a mission but found that the missionaries had fled. The old chief
           was fascinated by a pile of magazines he found, especially one that had pictures of scantily clad
           women in the advertisements. Whenever he would come to a picture of a woman with very little on,
           he would tear out the page and eat it.
               Finally one of his sons noticed what he was doing and said, "Tell me, dad, is that dehydrated
           stuff any good?"

               But that's what people are doing. When you are pondering over the Bible, the Gita, the Koran, it
           is all dehydrated stuff. It is not going to nourish you. What is your Christianity and what is your
           Hinduism, and what is your Mohammedanism? A really religious person cannot be Christian, and
           cannot be Mohammedan, and cannot be Hindu. Yes, he can be an Ayatollah Khomeini, but not a
           Mohammedan, not really a religious person. Fanatics, lunatics, obsessed with unnecessary
           formalities....
               What is the difference between a Christian and a Hindu and a Jew? If you look deep down there
           is no difference; all the difference is formal, and they are obsessed with the formalities. Dehydrated
           stuff has become much too significant.

               The Silversteins sent their son to a highbrow New England boarding school. A few months later
           he returned home for the Christmas holidays.
           "Samela," greeted his mother. "It is so good to see you."
           "Mother," he replied, "stop calling me Samela. I'm grown up now and I wish you would refer to me
           as Samuel."
           "I am sorry," said Mrs. Silverstein. "I hope you ate only kosher foods while you were away?"
           "Mother, it is ridiculous to still cling to those old-world traditions. I indulged in all types of food,
           kosher and nonkosher, and you would be better off if you did."
           "Well, did you at least go to the synagogue occasionally?"
           "Really!" replied the young Silverstein. "Going to a synagogue when you are associating with mostly
           non-Jews is preposterous. It is unfair to ask it of me."
           "Tell me son," said Mrs. Silverstein, "are you still circumcised?"

                But these are the differences between Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians and Jews and
           Jainas. What have we made of religion? We have not listened to the buddhas; we have not
           understood Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Mahavira, Buddha. We have misunderstood them, and we are
           living according to our misunderstanding.
                These sutras of Buddha will give you an insight, an insight into the heart of an awakened one,
           how he sees things, how he feels, what is his understanding of the world. But please remember to
           listen to his words very carefully. Put your minds aside. If you listen through your minds, you will
           listen to something else, you will misinterpret, you will come in between. The words can't carry the
           meaning to you if you interfere -- and we are constantly interfering. That's why everybody knows
           how to hear, but very few people know how to listen.
                Hearing is simple, listening is an art. Be a listener for these twenty days, while we will be talking
           on these tremendously significant sutras of Buddha. They can reveal to you a totally new vision of
           life.

               Margaret got smashed at the company's Christmas office party. The sales manager, Harvey,
           offered to drive her home. She staggered out to his car, gave him her address and away they drove.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Fifteen minutes later, she leaned over and said, "Harv, you are passionate." Immediately he
           reached for her thigh. Margaret slapped his face.
           They drove in silence, and then....
           "Harv, you are passionate," and again he reached for her thigh. Pow! He stopped the car and said,
           "Look, honey, on the one hand you tell me I am sexy, on the other you whack me across the mouth.
           Make up your mind!"
               Margaret looked at him and slobbered, "Who the hell said you were sexy? All I have been telling
           you is, my house, you are passing it."

               Put your mind aside -- let there be a direct communion between me and you. And I'm not
           interpreting Gautam Buddha. What he is saying is my own experience too. Hence, in a way I am
           simply explaining to you my own existential experience. But I love Gautam Buddha, his words are
           beautiful. It is significant to revive them again and again, to give them life, to let them breathe again.
           I am not interpreting here, I am simply making myself available to him so that he can say something
           to you in your language, in the language of the twentieth century.
               Of course his words will be a little old. Twenty-five centuries have passed since he spoke them;
           much water has gone down the Ganges, much has changed. Life is no longer the same, people are no
           longer the same. That innocence has disappeared from the world. The world has become very
           cunning, the world has become very political. The world is no longer religious, no longer innocent,
           no longer simple. In fact it is impossible now to be in the world and to be simple. It is an almost
           superhuman task not to be political -- the demands made upon you are so great. I feel deep
           compassion for you, but this is the only world we have right now and we have to understand this
           situation, we have to transcend this situation.
               Buddha has to be revived, resurrected in such a way that you can recognize him again, and I have
           been doing the same with Jesus, with Lao Tzu, with Kabir and with other enlightened ones. Their
           names are different, but their taste is the same. Buddha is reported to have said: You can taste the
           ocean from anywhere, and you will find the taste always the same, it is everywhere salty. So is the
           ocean of buddhahood -- the taste is the same. If you can put your mind aside, if you can commune
           with me heart to heart, not head to head... because head to head there is only collision, no
           communion.
               Don't be political while you are here with me, don't be clever, don't be cunning, because then you
           will be missing. This is a totally different kind of dialogue, this is not an ordinary dialogue; it is not
           mundane, it is sacred. Unless you approach these sutras very innocently, you will miss, and you will
           miss a tremendously significant opportunity.

               Kornblum, aged seventy-six, took an unscheduled flight in the Middle East and suddenly found
           that two big Arabs had also boarded the airplane. One of them said, "Hey, Jew, we want the window
           seat!" So he gave it to them.
               The plane took off and one of the Arabs said, "Go to the back of the plane and get me some
           coffee!" Kornblum got the coffee and when he came back the other Arab said, "Now I want coffee!"
               The old man rushed back and got him some, but by the time he got back the fellow's companion
           wanted a refill. The two kept him running back and forth for an hour. Finally, Kornblum flopped
           down in a seat exhausted. One of the Arabs said, "Jew, what do you think of the world?"
           "Well, it is in terrible shape," said Kornblum. "In Pakistan, Mohammedans are killing Hindus, in
           India Hindus are killing Mohammedans. In Ireland, Protestants are killing Catholics. And in
           airplanes Jews are pissing in Arabs' coffee!"

              Yes, the world is in a terrible shape, but for these few days you will be here with me, forget the
           world. Be dropouts for these few days at least, so we can talk of other worlds, of other visions,
           because there are mysteries upon mysteries.

           The sutras.... The Buddha says:

              YOU ARE AS THE YELLOW LEAF.
              THE MESSENGERS OF DEATH ARE AT HAND.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               There are two things in life which are the most important. The first is birth, and the second is
           death -- everything else is trivia. The first has already happened, now nothing can be done about it.
           The second has not happened yet, but can happen any moment. Hence those who are alert will
           prepare, they will prepare for death. Nothing can be done about birth, but much can be done about
           death. But people don't even think about death, they avoid the very subject. It is not thought to be
           polite to talk about it. Even if they refer to death, they refer to it in roundabout ways. If somebody
           dies, we don't say that he has died. We say God has called him, that God loved him so much, that
           whomsoever God loves he calls earlier; that he has gone to heaven, that he has moved to the other
           world, that he has not died, only the body has fallen back to the earth but the soul, the soul is
           immortal.
               Have you ever heard of anybody going to hell? Everybody goes to heaven. We are so afraid of
           death, we try to make it as beautiful as possible: we decorate it, we speak beautiful words about it,
           we try to avoid the fact.
               But Buddha insists again and again... his whole life after his enlightenment for forty-two years
           continuously he was talking, morning, evening, day in, day out, year in, year out, about death. Why?
           Many people think that he is a pessimist -- he is not. He is neither optimist nor pessimist. He is a
           realist, he is very pragmatic. He means business, because he knows only one thing is left for you
           about which something can be done and should be done -- and that is death.
               And remember: it is not a simple phenomenon that you die and go to heaven. It is a very complex
           phenomenon, more complex than life itself.

               Mrs. O'Hara, a widow of some five years, went to visit a famous medium, thinking she might
           contact her late husband, Mike. The medium assured her that every effort would be made and that
           they would hold a seance that very evening. Several believers gathered around the table, and the
           medium ordered that the lights be dimmed and that everyone at the table join hands. A hush fell over
           the room, and the medium called the name Mike O'Hara over and over again.
               Suddenly a strange calm seemed to permeate the room and a distant voice, faint at first but
           growing stronger and stronger, cried, "I am Mike O'Hara. Who is it who calls my spirit forth?"
               The medium replied that it was indeed his own wife who called upon him, and that Mrs. O'Hara
           wished to speak to him. The spirit replied that he would speak to his wife.
           "Mike," said Mrs. O'Hara, "are you alright?"
           "Yes," he replied. "I am alright."
           "Tell me, are you happy there?"
           "Yes, I am happy here."
           "Are you happier there than you were on earth with me?"
           "Yes," replied the spirit, "I am much happier here than I was on earth with you."
               Mrs. O'Hara seemed a bit shaken, but she had one last question. "Tell me, my husband, what is it
           like there? What is heaven really like?"
           "Don't be absurd, woman," roared the truthful spirit. "Whatever made you think I was in heaven?"

               Even hell will look like heaven in the beginning, because you have created a bigger hell on earth.
           You are living in such misery, in such hell on earth, of your own creation, that when you enter into
           hell, if there is any hell, you will find great relief in the beginning. It will be only later on that you
           come to understand that this is hell. But we talk about everybody who dies -- that he has gone to
           heaven, that he has become a beloved of God, that God has chosen him, called him forth... ways of
           avoiding death.
               But Buddha talks continuously about death. His first sutra is: YOU ARE AS THE YELLOW
           LEAF. Yellow leaf represents death. Any moment it is going to fall down. Dust unto dust, any
           moment and death is going to possess you. Tomorrow may never come, even the next moment is not
           certain. This is the only moment you can be certain of, next moment you may not be here. What are
           you doing to prepare for that great journey into the unknown?
              YOU ARE AS THE YELLOW LEAF. THE MESSENGERS OF DEATH ARE AT HAND.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU ARE TO TRAVEL FAR AWAY.


               It is a long journey, a long long journey, because whatsoever you know will be left behind: your
           friends, your family, your money, your power, your prestige, all will be left behind. You will be
           going all alone, even your body will be left behind. You will not be able to recognize your own face,
           because you don't know what your original face is. You know only the bodily face, that too you
           know through the medium of the mirror. You have not encountered your reality, you have not gone
           into your inner being, you have not seen yourself, you don't know who you are. All the friends gone,
           family, money, power, prestige, body... will you be able even to recognize that it is you? You will be
           simply in a chaos. Buddha asks you:

              WHAT WILL YOU TAKE WITH YOU?


               Tomorrow is death -- YOU ARE LIKE THE YELLOW LEAF -- next moment is death: WHAT
           WILL YOU TAKE WITH YOU? Have you earned anything that you can take with you? If you have
           not earned anything, then your life has been a sheer wastage. You may have accumulated much
           wealth, you may have become very famous, but all that is futile. You cannot take it with you. Your
           degrees, your titles, your awards, all will be left behind. You will be going utterly alone. Is there
           something which you can take with you?
               There is only one thing which you can take with you, and that is true wealth. Buddha calls it
           meditation, awareness, watchfulness, mindfulness, consciousness. If you become more and more
           conscious, you can take that consciousness with you. But you are living a very very unconscious life.
           Your whole life is mechanical, you simply go on repeating. You are not really living, you are being
           lived by unconscious desires.
               Buddha says: Meditation is the only wealth, because you can take it beyond death. In fact he says
           this is the criterion: if something can be taken beyond death it is true wealth. If it cannot be taken
           beyond death, it is untrue wealth, it is a deception. And not only that you are deceiving others, you
           are deceiving yourself. And when death will knock at your door, you will weep, you will cry, but
           then nothing can be done.

               It is said of Alexander the Great that when he was dying, tears were rolling down his cheeks,
           because the physicians had told him that he had only twenty-four hours at the most; his death was
           absolutely certain within twenty-four hours. His physician asked, "Why are you crying? You are a
           brave man."
               Alexander said, "I had promised my mother that I would come back home. In twenty-four hours I
           cannot reach there. At least forty-eight hours are needed, and I am ready to give my whole kingdom
           to you if you can manage twenty-four hours more for me. I would like to fulfill my promise. I have
           given my word, and my mother will be waiting for me."
               The physician said, "It is impossible. Nothing can be done. In fact twenty-four hours is also too
           optimistic a hope. As I see it, things are going down the drain. Within two or three hours you will be
           gone. Twenty-four hours is the most, more than that is not possible."
               And Alexander died within six hours. Before he died, he asked for one thing only.
               He said, "When you take me towards the cemetery, let my hands hang outside the casket."
           "Why?" asked his generals. "It has never been done, it is not conventional. Why this eccentric idea?"
               Alexander said, "For a simple reason. I would like people to know that I am going
           empty-handed. I am dying like a dog. Let people know. I lived with the idea that I am great, that I
           am the world conqueror. But all that I have managed to do is waste my life. My whole kingdom is
           not capable of purchasing even a few minutes for me."

              Death is so powerful, but one thing it cannot take away from you, that is meditation. If you can
           become rooted in your being, alert, conscious, watchful, you will see that you are not the body, and
           you are not the mind, and you are not the heart. You are simply the witnessing soul, and that
           witnessing will go with you. Then you can witness even death. That witnessing is the source of all
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religion. Those who have attained to that source are the enlightened ones, are the buddhas.
               In life, whatever you are doing, whatsoever it is, is wrong if it is not leading you towards
           meditation.

              You must have heard about the famous Peter principle. The principle is: If anything can go
           wrong, it will.
              The second principle of Peter is: No matter which way you ride, it is uphill and against the wind.
              And the third principle of Peter is: You can't win, you can't break even, you can't even quit the
           game.

                But Peter... I don't know who this Peter is. Nobody knows, so many Peters are petering around
           the world. But it seems he has not heard about Buddha. Yes, it is true you can't win. It is true, you
           can't break even. It is true, you can't even quit the game. And all three have been tried, and nothing
           has succeeded. Capitalism tries to win the game, that is the capitalist approach, the approach of
           Alexander the Great. Socialism tries to go against the second, that you can't break even. Capitalism
           has failed, because all Alexanders have failed, and socialism has failed, all Stalins and Maos have
           failed. And the pseudoreligious person has failed: he tries to quit the game, and that too can't be
           done.
                But there is a fourth thing that only buddhas know. There is no need to quit the game, you can
           watch it. There is no need to escape, you can be a witness. And that's my approach too. To my
           sannyasins this is my message: don't be an escapist, because nobody can escape. Where will you
           escape to? Wherever you go you will be the same, wherever you will go it is the same world. And
           wherever you go your mind will create the same world again, because the seeds of the world are
           within you. You can't quit the game, it is true. But you can be a witness of the game, the game of
           life, you can transcend it. Witnessing is transcendence.
                And once in a while you come to know it too. Every person, once in a while, comes to have a
           little glimpse of witnessing.
                Churchill is reported to have said: Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the
           time he will pick himself up and continue on.
                In life, many times you stumble upon the truth, many times you feel a great bliss arising
           whenever witnessing happens: witnessing a sunset or a bird on the wing, a roseflower opening in the
           early morning sun, a lotus in the lake. Just witnessing, you are not doing anything about it; you can't
           do anything about the sunset, you are just seeing it. You have forgotten that you are a doer, you are
           just a mirror, a pure mirror reflecting. And such joy arises in you, such bliss, such unbounded bliss
           descends on you, and great silence and great beauty is experienced.
                You think that it is because of the sunset that you are feeling so joyous? No, your analysis is
           wrong. You stumbled upon the truth, but you picked yourself up and continued on. You analyzed
           wrongly. It is not the sunset, it is not the lotus flower, it is not the beauty of a starry night that gives
           you silence and peace and bliss; it is witnessing. But because it happened accidentally, you missed it.
                Buddha says: do it deliberately, consciously. That's what yoga is all about -- conscious effort,
           deliberate effort of becoming available to bliss, to silence. Buddha says:

              YOU ARE THE LAMP
              TO LIGHTEN THE WAY.
              THEN HURRY, HURRY.


               On the one hand he says: YOU ARE THE YELLOW LEAF. If you are unaware, you are the
           yellow leaf, you are death. But if you become aware, YOU ARE THE LAMP TO LIGHTEN THE
           WAY. THEN HURRY, HURRY. Don't waste time, because who knows, there may be no time left --
           this may be the only moment. Always remember that this is the last moment. Behave as if this is the
           last moment. Each night when you go to bed, remember that this is the last time you are going to
           bed. Who knows, tomorrow morning you may not rise.
               If you can exist each moment with such intensity, as if this is the last, great energies will be
           released in you. You will be so focused, so centered that you will become integrated, that you will be
           born anew, that you will become a soul, that you will not remain just a body.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              WHEN YOUR LIGHT SHINES
              WITHOUT IMPURITY OR DESIRE
              YOU WILL COME INTO THE BOUNDLESS COUNTRY.


                And as your awareness deepens, your light shines forth. We are made of the stuff called light.
           The whole existence is made of light. Awareness is igniting the fire within you. And once you
           become aflame desires will be burned in that fire, impurities will be burned in that fire. You will
           come out of it as pure gold. You will come into the boundless country.
                Buddha says there is only one impurity: desire. Hence he uses impurity or desire synonymously;
           desire is impurity. What is desire? Desire means there is future, desire means there is tomorrow,
           desire means you are projecting yourself into the next moment, and that is foolish, stupid. This is the
           only moment you can be certain of. Desire is a way of postponing this moment for something in the
           future which is not yet, and may never be. Desire is deceiving yourself.
                But people go on deceiving, they go on pushing their lives into the future. Today they will say
           tomorrow, and tomorrow again they will say tomorrow, and they will go on saying this. Many
           people come to me....
                Just a few days ago one old man wrote a letter to me. His young son who is only thirty wants to
           take sannyas, and the old man is very angry; he is seventy. He wrote a letter to me that said, "My son
           is only thirty, so young, and he wants to become a sannyasin. Is it right, is it right of you to give him
           sannyas at such a young age?"
                I inquired of the old man, "I am ready not to give sannyas to your son, if you replace him. You
           are seventy. What about you?"
                And he wrote, "Yes, some day I will also take sannyas, but the time has not come yet."
                But how will you manage? Death may come before and if the time has not come even when you
           are seventy, when is it going to come?
                There are ways of postponing; desire is a way of postponing. Today is ugly, miserable; tomorrow
           you hope. And because of that hope you somehow manage to drag on. It is only a question of today
           -- tomorrow everything will be alright. It is not going to be so! Tomorrow is going to be born out of
           your today.

              I have heard another principle. Somebody just like Peter, his name is Murphy -- Murphy's
           maxim. He says: Smile, because tomorrow is going to be worse.

               This moment is all. Buddha insists very much: Live in the moment. And desire does not allow
           you to live in the moment. And you go on repeating the same things, you move in circles. Just watch
           your life, look back. You have been moving in circles: the same anger, the same sex, the same greed,
           the same ambition, the same postponement and the same desiring mind. When are you going to wake
           up?

               A bartender at a very posh gentlemen's club was on duty when a distinguished gentleman seated
           himself at the bar, but made no attempt to order a drink. The bartender inquired what the gentleman
           would have, but the man replied that he was not drinking because he had tried liquor once and had
           not liked it.
               The bartender hated to see the man just sitting there, so tried offering him a cigar. "No, thank
           you," was his firm reply. "I tried a cigar once, but I did not like it."
               The bartender persisted in trying to make the customer comfortable, so he suggested that perhaps
           if he stepped into the billiard room he might find a friendly game of cards to sit in on. "Ah no," he
           replied, "I did gamble once, and did not care for it at all. I will just sit here, if you don't mind. You
           see, I am waiting for my son."
           "Ah," replied the bartender sympathetically, "your only child I assume."

              But very few people are so alert. They go on repeating the same things again and again. And not
           only in one life, in many many lives you have been doing the same things.
              Desire means you are dragged out of the moment; that creates a tension, that creates anxiety, that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           creates hope. And then finally hope turns sour, becomes frustration. Each hope leads you into
           anguish. Buddha calls it the only impurity. Cut the roots of desire, live in the moment so totally, pull
           yourself out of the past and don't project yourself into the future. Let this moment be all and all. And
           your life will have such a purity, such a crystal-clear consciousness that right now you cannot
           imagine.
               In fact, listening to buddhas you start creating new desires: a desire of becoming pure, a desire of
           becoming a sannyasin some day, a desire of meditating tomorrow. That's how you misinterpret them.
           Your misinterpretations rarely, very rarely can be of any help, only accidentally. Otherwise,
           ninety-nine point nine percent, you will go on playing the same stupid game, even in the name of
           religion.

               An old country doctor found his work load too heavy and managed to persuade a young doctor to
           share his practice. "Just remember, son," cautioned the older man, "these are simple country folk.
           They don't have much of a way with words, and sometimes they won't be able to describe their
           symptoms accurately. But just keep your eyes open, and you will be able to diagnose their ailments
           with no trouble at all."
               That very evening the two doctors were called to the aid of a beautiful young girl who lay in a
           stupor. The older doctor took her pulse while the younger man tried to take her temperature. His
           efforts only seemed to upset her, and her violent tossing and turning caused him to drop the
           thermometer. He bent over and picked it up and put it back in his bag.
               He waved the older doctor aside and whispered a few words into the young woman's ear.
           Whatever he said seemed to soothe her and the two men went on their way. When they got in the car,
           the old doctor demanded to know what the young man had said to the patient.
           "I simply told her she would have to cut down on her political activity."
           "Now that is ridiculous," exclaimed the old practitioner. "She was practically in a coma, and you
           thought it was politics? You are a fool!"
           "No, sir. I just did what you told me to do. I just kept my eyes open."
           "Now what is that supposed to mean?" demanded the irate physician.
           "Well, when I bent over to pick up the thermometer, I saw the mayor under the bed."

               Yes, once in a while accidentally, you may be able to understand a part of the message. But the
           part cannot be of much help. An accidental understanding is not liberation. Understanding has to be
           deliberate and conscious.
               Now, this young doctor will do it again and again -- everywhere, wherever he will go, he will
           look under the bed. You can't hope that you will find mayors everywhere, and he will be at a loss.
           This time it worked. And sometimes a few wrong things can work. And once they work you become
           obsessed with them, and you start trying them in every possible way, hoping that they will become
           your very life-style. They will simply create chaos.
               Hence on the path it is absolutely necessary to be a disciple, so that a constant source of light
           remains available to you; so the master can go on forcing you to see things as they are, and helping
           you to become deliberately conscious.
               It is a long, arduous process, much hammering is needed on your head. You have remained
           unconscious for so long that unconsciousness has become your second nature, and it has grown so
           thick, that unless these rocks of unconsciousness are broken, waters of consciousness will not flow in
           your being. The first thing you can do is, start uprooting the weeds of desire: all kinds of desire,
           worldly and otherworldly.
               That's why Buddha never talks of heaven, never talks about heavenly pleasures, never talks about
           moksha, nirvana. He never says to his disciples that great bliss is waiting for you, but goes on
           insisting: be desireless, be alert, be aware. Because if you say to people that great joy is waiting for
           you if you become desireless, they can try to become desireless, but that too will be only another
           desire. The desire to be desireless is still a desire, and it is not going to help.

              YOUR LIFE IS FALLING AWAY.
              DEATH IS AT HAND.
              WHERE WILL YOU REST ON THE WAY?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHAT HAVE YOU TAKEN WITH YOU?


               This is Buddha's special way -- he repeats. When for the first time Buddhist sutras were
           translated into non-Indian languages, the translators were at a loss to understand why he repeats so
           much. Particularly when he was translated into German, French, English... the translators went on
           cutting his repetitions. He used to repeat for a certain reason: the reason is your sleepiness. He was
           not writing, he was communicating. He was talking to disciples, and he knew that you go on
           missing.
               The truth has to be hammered again and again and again. Hence the repetition. The repetition is
           significant. One time you may miss, a second time you may be able to listen; the second time you
           may miss, a third time you may be able to listen. And who knows -- there are moments in your being
           when you are less sleepy, and when you are very sleepy. When you are less sleepy something can
           penetrate in. When you are very sleepy, densely asleep, then nothing can penetrate.

              YOU ARE THE LAMP
              TO LIGHTEN THE WAY.
              THEN HURRY, HURRY.



              WHEN YOUR LIGHT SHINES PURELY
              YOU WILL NOT BE BORN
              AND YOU WILL NOT DIE.


               He says, "Only one thing I can promise you. If you become enlightened, if you become fully alert
           and aware and conscious, if you dispel all desire and darkness from your being, this much I can
           promise: you will not die." Of course, if you are not going to be born, how can you die? There will
           be no birth and no death, and to go beyond birth and death is to go into eternity, is to be immortal.
           That's what nirvana is, that's what absolute freedom is.
               Birth is a bondage, it is a confinement, you are chained into the body. And death again leads you
           into another birth, it is a vicious circle. Birth leads you into death, death leads you into birth, and you
           go on moving in a circle. Jump out of the wheel of birth and death.

              AS A SILVERSMITH SIFTS DUST FROM SILVER,
              REMOVE YOUR OWN IMPURITIES
              LITTLE BY LITTLE.


              Don't be greedy. Many times it happens, you become spiritually greedy, you start asking too
           much without any inner capacity to receive it. You start demanding too much -- that too is desire and
           greed. Don't be greedy, go slow, go steady. Be persistent in your effort but be ready to wait too.
              Hope for the best, and expect the worst, so nothing will ever disappoint you, and nothing will
           ever frustrate you.

              OR AS IRON IS CORRODED BY RUST
              YOUR OWN MISCHIEF WILL CONSUME YOU.


                If you don't listen to the buddhas you will be consumed by your own mischief. The harm that you
           do to yourself is such that nobody can do it to you; you are the greatest enemy to yourself, right now
           as you are. Of course you can be the greatest friend too, but you have not tried it.
                All that you have done to yourself has been just a constant creation of hell, but you go on doing
           it, for the simple reason that you never take the responsibility on your own shoulders. You always
           throw the responsibility on others, on fate, on God, on the society, on the economic structure, on
           politics, on the state, on this, on that. You go on throwing your responsibility on others. This is a
           sure way to remain a slave forever. Take the whole responsibility.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When Buddha says, "You will be consumed by your own mischief," he is saying, "Remember
           that whatsoever happens to you is your own doing. Good or bad, bliss or misery, darkness or light --
           whatsoever you reap you have sown, and you are absolutely responsible for it and nobody else."
               Giving responsibility to somebody else is becoming a slave. Take the whole responsibility on
           your own self. In the beginning it is hard, it is a burden, but soon you realize: if you can create hell,
           you can create heaven too. Just more awareness will be needed. Hell is downhill, no awareness is
           needed. Heaven is uphill, more and more awareness will be needed. When you move towards the
           peaks, you will have to be very watchful.
               People are watchful of wrong things. If you have money, you are very watchful. You go on
           constantly looking into your pockets. You look again and again into your suitcase to see whether the
           money is safe. That's how thieves come to know that you have something. When a person constantly
           goes on touching his pocket, he himself is inviting thieves. He is making them aware, they are also
           watching. When you are hiding something, you are inviting people -- it must be precious. Just throw
           the kohinoor diamond in the garden, and nobody will steal it.
               People are very watchful about wrong things, but not watchful about their inner being.

               Mulla Nasruddin and his family were walking to the cemetery with the body of his recently
           departed wife. Suddenly one of the pallbearers tripped on a cobblestone and fell. The casket dropped
           to the ground and opened. Everyone stood in shock as the dead Mrs. Nasruddin opened her eyes. She
           was very much alive, the victim of catatonia.
               Five years went by and Mrs. Nasruddin passed away, this time a victim of natural causes, but
           Nasruddin had not forgotten. And on the way to the cemetery as the pallbearers approached the spot
           where her casket was dropped, he shouted, "For God's sake, watch the cobblestones!"

                Even after five years he had not forgotten, but within five seconds you forget. If it is real inner
           watchfulness even five seconds is too much.
                George Gurdjieff used to give to his disciples his pocket watch and would tell them, "Just watch
           the second hand. If you can manage for sixty seconds, one minute, I will accept you as a disciple.
           Remember, looking at the second hand, remember that 'I am watching the second hand... I am
           watching the second hand.' Don't forget it!"
                And out of a hundred it was rare that even one or two persons were able to manage for sixty
           seconds. Sixty seconds... within five seconds the mind goes far away, it starts thinking of other
           things, it forgets. You try it, keep a watch and try, and you will see within five to seven seconds you
           have gone into the past, into the future. You are no longer now and here. But about unnecessary
           things, trivia, you are so careful.
                Your mischief is going to consume you. And we are all doing mischief. We think because we are
           doing with others... that is absolutely wrong. Whatsoever you are doing with others is going to fall
           upon you, it is going to rebound on you a thousandfold. The world is constantly throwing things
           back to you. If you throw flowers, flowers will be coming back. If you throw stones, stones will be
           coming back. And why are you throwing stones, why are you so violent? Why you are behaving in
           such a mischievous way? You are thinking, "This is the way to win, this is the way to compete. This
           is the way to be victorious in the world."
                In the first place, out of millions of struggling people one percent will be able to become
           Alexander the Great. All the remaining ones will fall in great frustration. And secondly, the one who
           after arduous effort comes to the peak, finds the peak utterly empty, although he will not say so,
           because that looks silly. You worked so hard, you struggled so much, and then you arrived and
           became president of a country -- and then telling people that there is nothing here.... You are bound
           to say, "Aha! I have arrived, what beauty, what joy!" You HAVE to say it, just to save your face.
                And people are ready to do anything to win. They can crawl like dogs, they can wag their tails
           like dogs, they can do anything to win. And ask the winners -- they are utterly empty, but not honest
           enough to say that nothing has been achieved.

              McNellis shuffled home one night in a drunken stupor, carrying the biggest ham Mrs. McNellis
           had ever seen.
           "Now then, out with it," she exclaimed. "Where did you get that ham?"
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Won it at the tavern, drinking with the boys, me darlin'."
           "And how did you come to win it, may I ask?" she continued.
           "Me love," said McNellis proudly. "It was given to the man with the biggest organ. Everyone at the
           bar opened up and...."
           "Kevin Patrick Michael McNellis!" shrieked his wife. "You don't mean to tell me you took out that
           thing in front of everybody?"
           "Now, darlin'," said the Irishman, "not the whole thing. Just enough to win."

           The Buddha says:

              NEGLECTED, THE SACRED VERSES RUST.
              FOR BEAUTY RUSTS WITHOUT USE
              AND UNREPAIRED THE HOUSE FALLS INTO RUIN,
              AND THE WATCH, WITHOUT VIGILANCE, FAILS.



              IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT
              THERE IS IMPURITY AND IMPURITY:
              WHEN A WOMAN LACKS DIGNITY,
              WHEN A MAN LACKS GENEROSITY.



              BUT THE GREATEST IMPURITY IS IGNORANCE.
              FREE YOURSELF FROM IT.
              BE PURE.


               NEGLECTED, THE SACRED VERSES RUST. FOR BEAUTY RUSTS WITHOUT USE. And
           that's how your great potential for awareness is getting rusted, neglected -- neglected for lives
           together. You have completely forgotten that you can become a buddha. You have completely
           forgotten your real nature, your authentic being; much rust has grown around you, and now you
           think, "This is all that I am."
              FOR BEAUTY RUSTS WITHOUT USE AND UNREPAIRED THE HOUSE FALLS INTO RUIN, AND
              THE WATCH, WITHOUT VIGILANCE, FAILS.
              IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT THERE IS IMPURITY AND IMPURITY....

               There are all kinds of impurities, but three Buddha specifically mentions. They are significant.
           First he says: WHEN A WOMAN LACKS DIGNITY, grace, and WHEN A MAN LACKS
           GENEROSITY, Sharing for sharing's sake. Why does Buddha make this difference? This is
           tremendously significant. This is part of the psychology of the buddhas.
               The feminine mind is basically receptive, and the masculine mind is basically aggressive. The
           feminine mind is inward-going, and the masculine mind is outward-going. The inward-going mind
           can grow into grace very easily. Hence the woman has a natural grace, a natural beauty, a natural
           roundness, a certain sweet aura around her. If she becomes more aware, her grace deepens. If she
           becomes more aware, she becomes pure grace.
               Many times I have been asked why there have been so many men masters, but not so many
           women masters. The reason is that when the woman becomes enlightened, she becomes so passive,
           so receptive, that she cannot teach. Teaching means approaching the other. Teaching is in a certain
           way an outgoing effort. The woman is a womb. You never ask why a woman never becomes a
           father. The woman becomes the mother, she can't become a father. Her sexual energies are not
           outgoing, they are ingoing, she has an interiority. And the same is true about her spirituality. The
           woman becomes the perfect disciple. No man can compete with the woman as far as disciplehood is
           concerned.
               Hence it is always the same proportion with Buddha, with Mahavira, with Jesus, with everybody.
           The woman proves to be the more authentic disciple. When Jesus was crucified all the men disciples
           escaped. Those twelve apostles, not even a single one.... But the women disciples were there. Even
           the prostitute, Mary Magdalene, was there; she did not escape, she was ready to risk her life.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mahavira had forty thousand sannyasins: thirty thousand were women and ten thousand were
           men. And exactly the same was the proportion with Buddha -- and you can see here. People ask me
           why I am giving the whole ashram into women's hands. What can I do? They are the best disciples,
           they know how to say yes, they know how to trust, they know how to be committed totally. Man
           remains a little skeptical, somewhere deep down the no remains alive. Even if he trusts, he trusts
           conditionally. The woman trusts unconditionally, her trust is forever. The man trusts intellectually.
           The woman trusts with her whole body, mind, soul, with her every fiber. Her trust is love not logic.
               Hence Buddha says, if a woman is not graceful she is missing something, that is an impurity. The
           absence of grace in a woman is impurity. It can be forgiven in a man, but not in a woman; and in a
           man, generosity, sharing, giving -- that is an outgoing phenomenon. If a man is not generous, if he
           cannot give, then he is not really a man.
               That's why there have been so many male masters, because it is generosity, it is giving, it is
           sharing. The woman can receive, the man can give. The question is not who is the master and who is
           the disciple. The question is, in whatsoever way you are perfect you are fulfilling your nature. Be a
           perfect disciple and you will enter into God, be a perfect master and you will enter into God.
           Perfection is the key. It doesn't matter whether you are a disciple or a master, but be perfect.
               And thirdly, and the most important, which has nothing to do with man or woman, which is
           applicable to both is: BUT THE GREATEST IMPURITY IS IGNORANCE. Not knowing yourself
           is the greatest impurity. The first two impurities are peripheral, on the circumference; the third and
           most important is central, is at the very core. Hence it has no male/female division. Man and woman
           are only different on the circumference, but at the center, consciousness is neither male nor female.
           Its expressions are male and female but its purest nature is beyond duality. Not knowing oneself is
           the greatest impurity.
               How are you going to know yourself? Drop desiring and become more conscious. Free yourself
           from self-ignorance. Be pure. Free yourself from desiring. Be in a state of no desire, alert, conscious,
           and you have arrived home.
               Remember, until you become a buddha you have wasted your life. Buddhahood is your
           flowering, your fragrance. A tree is fulfilled when it blooms, and a man is fulfilled when he releases
           the fragrance of buddhahood, when he becomes luminous; then he comes to know who he is. In
           knowing that, all is known. In knowing that, God is known. In knowing that, truth is achieved -- you
           become the truth, and truth liberates. Truth is freedom.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                  Chapter #2
                                Chapter title: The greatest rebellion ever tried
           12 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912120
              ShortTitle: DHAM702
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              FROM WHERE DOES FRESHNESS COME?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Prem Naren, it does not come from anywhere; it is always here. Existence is freshness itself.
           Existence is fresh because it is always now and here. It is not burdened by the past, it does not gather
           any dust from the past. It is never old.
                Time makes no impact on existence. Time does not exist as far as existence is concerned. Time
           exists only for the mind; it is a mind invention. In fact, time and mind are synonymous. Stop the
           mind, and time stops.
                Jesus is asked by someone, "What will be the most unique thing in your kingdom of God?" And
           Jesus says, "There shall be time no longer." A very unexpected answer: There shall be time no
           longer. That will be the most unique thing about the kingdom of God -- because there will be no
           mind, how can there be time?
                Time does not consist, as ordinarily conceived, of three tenses: past, present and future. Time
           consists only of two tenses: past and future. The present is not part of time; the present is beyond
           time. And the present is always fresh. Present is part of eternity. Present is the penetration of the
           eternal into the dreamy world of time, a ray of light into the darkness of mind.
                Past is never fresh -- cannot be, obviously. It is always dirty, it is always stinking -- stinking of
           death, stinking of all that is rotten, stinking of tradition, stinking of corpses. The past is a cemetery.
           And the future is nothing but a projection of the dead past. And out of the dead past the future cannot
           be alive -- the dead can only project the dead. What is your future? -- modified past, touched up here
           and there; a little better, a little more sophisticated, a little more comfortable, but it is the same past.
           You are hankering to repeat it. Your future has nothing new about it, it cannot have.
                Mind cannot conceive of the new. It is impotent as far as the new and the fresh and the young is
           concerned. It can move only within the small world of the familiar, the known -- and the known is
           the past. The future is nothing but a desire to repeat it -- in a better way, of course. Hence future is
           also not fresh. The present is fresh.
                Naren, you ask me, "From where does freshness come?"
                Freshness never comes and never goes. It is always here, it is always now. YOU be here and
           now, and you are suddenly fresh, bathed in eternity, showered by something which is timeless. Call
           it God, call it the kingdom of God, call it nirvana, or whatsoever you want. All those names refer to
           the same unnameable. All those words try to express the inexpressible.
                Just put the human mind aside. And by that I mean, put the past aside and the future, and look.
           This very moment... and the whole heaven descends upon you. You are overwhelmed. The birds are
           singing and their songs are fresh; they are not repeating old songs. They have no idea of yesterdays
           and they are not singing for the future. They are not rehearsing for tomorrows. And the trees are
           fresh. All is fresh except man.
                So don't ask, "From where does freshness come?" Ask, "From where does this dullness come,
           this staleness, this deadness?" Because this deadness comes and goes. Freshness is always there -- it
           is the very nature of existence. It is God's presence.
                Meditation is nothing but a way, a method, to connect you with the eternal, to take you beyond
           time, beyond that which is born and dies, to take you beyond all the boundaries, to take you to the
           inconceivable and the unknowable. And it is not far away; it is as close as it can be. Even to say that
           it is close is not right, because it is exactly your very being, it is you. Freshness is your soul.
                Your mind is boring, utterly boring. Get out of the mind. At least for a few moments every day,
           put the mind aside, be utterly nude of the mind. And then you will know it is welling up within you
           -- the freshness you are asking about. From where does it come? It comes from the deepest core of
           your being -- and it does not really come. Suddenly you find it has always been the case. It has
           always been there like an undercurrent, underground, hidden behind many many layers of memories,
           dreams, desires.
                Buddha says: Be desireless and know. Be desireless, and you will reach to the realm which is
           beyond birth and death, and you will enter into the unbounded.
                But why is man not going into his own being which is so close? He is ready to go to the moon,
           he is ready to go anywhere! He is ready to go to the stars, but not into his own being. Why? There
           must be some deep reason behind it. The reason is: to go within yourself you will have to lose
           yourself. And one is afraid of losing oneself. One clings, one wants to remain oneself. One does not
           want to lose one's identity. It is a very poor identity and false too, but still, something is better than
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing. That is our logic.
               We don't know who we are, so we cling to the body, to the mind, to whatsoever has been given
           to us -- the conditioning, Catholic, communist, Hindu, Mohammedan. We cling to all that has been
           forced upon us, because it gives us a cozy feeling as if we know ourselves: "I am a communist," that
           becomes my self-knowledge. "I am a Catholic," that becomes my self-knowledge. "I am an Indian,"
           "I am a German," that becomes my self-knowledge.
               You are neither a communist nor a Catholic, neither Indian nor German. Your consciousness
           cannot be confined to such stupid labels. Your consciousness is so infinite, it cannot be contained in
           any word. It is as vast as the sky itself.
               But you are afraid to go into that vastness. That vastness appears like emptiness, void. And one
           clings to one's own small, arbitrary identity. Hence the fear of going into oneself.
               Buddha says: Know thyself. Socrates says: Know thyself. They all say: Know thyself. All the
           awakened ones have only one message: Know thyself. We listen and yet we don't listen. We go on
           moving on the same rotten tracks, we go on living in the same old miserable way. And the reason is,
           the old, miserable way has one thing to give to you -- the ego.
               And if you go in you will have to pay the price. The price is, you will have to lose your ego.

               Sweeney met Brecon on the road. "Where are you off to?" he asked.
           "I am going to Connemara," replied Brecon.
           "You mean you are going to Connemara, God willing?"
           "No, I am going to Connemara, God willing or not."
               Because of this presumptuous remark Brecon was turned into a frog and kept in a pond for
           several days. When he had completed his penance Brecon was changed back to his original form.
           Returning home, he began packing his belongings again.
           "Where are you going now?" asked Sweeney.
           "I am going to Connemara."
           "You mean you are going to Connemara, God willing?"
           "No!" shouted Brecon. "I am going to Connemara or back to the frog pond!"

                One cannot leave one's ego. It is better to be a frog! One is ready to be anything. We have
           become rocks. We only appear to be alive -- ninety-nine percent we are dead. Yes, we breathe and
           we eat and we propagate, but we are not alive.
                If you are alive you will not ask the question, "From where does freshness come?" You will
           know; there will be no need to ask the question. You will experience it moment to moment. It is
           arising in you.
                That's how I feel. That's how all the buddhas have always felt. It does not come from anywhere;
           it simply wells up within you, and each moment. It is never the same. It is as fresh as dewdrops in
           the early morning sun. Tremendous is the beauty of it and great is its benediction.
                But nothing is without a price. You will have to lose the ego, you will have to lose your idea of
           who you are. In the first place, it is false. You are not really losing anything, just an idea, a very
           nonsubstantial idea. But, repeated so often, the idea has become very deeply rooted in you; you have
           become hypnotized by it.
                The ego is nothing but a deep hypnosis. And meditation is the process of dehypnosis. It is the
           process of bringing you back to that innocent state where you were not yet hypnotized.
                Hence, Jesus says again and again: Unless you are like small children you will not enter into my
           kingdom of God. What does he mean? He means you have to be unconditioned again, you have to be
           dehypnotized.
                Each society hypnotizes you. These societies exist on the strategy of hypnosis. A Hindu means
           one who has been hypnotized in a certain way, who has been told that the Vedas are written by God
           and that only the Vedas contain the truth, that the Bibles and the Korans are all nonsense. If you
           repeat it for centuries, it starts getting deeper and deeper into your being, it becomes part of you.
           Then you start repeating it -- you become a gramophone record. Then you function only as "His
           Master's Voice"; you are no longer really a human being.
                All the societies in the past, hitherto, have been dehumanizing human beings. We have not yet
           been able to create a real civilization. These are all very primitive methods to control people -- ugly,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           violent, antihuman, but all the societies have done it. There has not been even a single exception.
               It is really surprising how once in a while a person has escaped from our imprisoning atmosphere
           -- how Gautam Siddhartha escaped and became a buddha, how Jesus escaped from the Jews and
           became a christ, how Saint Francis managed....
               The greatest miracle in the world is to be so intelligent that nobody, no society, no state, no
           church, can hypnotize you.
               My work here consists of dehypnotizing you. Hence, all the societies will be against me. Beware
           of it! To be with me is dangerous -- all the governments will be against you. And this has to be
           known and accepted. This has to be simply accepted, because this is going to be the case. The more I
           start working deeply on you.... It is just the beginning of the work: I am preparing the ground from
           where to take off.
               Once the dehypnosis starts functioning within thousands of people, all the societies, all the
           governments, all the states, all the churches, are going to be against me and my people -- because
           this has never been done before. This is the greatest rebellion ever tried! This is true revolution.
               And if you pass through this revolution you will know from where freshness comes. It comes
           from your own innermost core. God is not outside you; it is your very center, your very ground.
           Freshness comes from it, life comes from it, love comes from it, bliss comes from it. All that is
           significant -- poetry and music -- they all arise from it.
               And when the dance comes from within, it has a totally different quality to it: it is spiritual, it is
           divine.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA INSIST THAT LIFE IS ALWAYS MISERY?


                Dharmendra, because it is so! Life as you know it IS misery. Buddha is not talking about HIS
           life, because what do you know about his life? That is not utter misery; that is utter bliss, that is
           ultimate bliss. But the life that you know IS misery. Does it need any proofs? Have you not observed
           yourself that it is misery? Do you need a Buddha to remind you?
                And even when a buddha reminds you, you don't feel good. You feel offended, as if your life is
           being condemned. He is not condemning your life -- buddhas never condemn anything. They simply
           say whatsoever is the case. If you are blind, they say you are blind. If you are dead, they say you are
           dead. They simply state the fact -- and they state the fact because there is a possibility to go beyond
           it.
                Buddha insists again and again that life is misery because life CAN be tremendous bliss. But
           unless you understand the first thing you will not understand the second thing.
                First you have to be very very aware that your life is misery, so much so that it becomes
           impossible to live in the old way even for a single moment. When you see your house is on fire, how
           can you go on living in it? You will run, you will escape from the house! You will forget all your
           treasures. You will not carry your cherished items, beautiful paintings, art works, or whatsoever you
           love. You will forget all about your postal stamps and your picture albums. You will forget even
           your wife, your husband, your children. You will remember them when you are out of the house.

           Buddha used to tell a story:
               There was an old man, eighty years old, who became blind in old age. His friends, his physicians,
           suggested to him that his eyes could be cured, but the old man was a philosopher, a logician, a great
           scholar. He said, "What do I need eyes for? I have twelve sons -- that means twenty-four eyes; their
           twelve wives -- that means twenty-four eyes more; my wife -- two eyes more; and so many children
           of my sons.... I have so many eyes, why do I need eyes for myself? In this house there are at least
           one hundred eyes; if two eyes are missing it doesn't matter. My needs are looked after."
               His logic had a point in it. He silenced his friends and physicians. But one night the house caught
           fire. Those hundred eyes escaped -- they forgot all about the old man. Yes, they remembered, but
           they remembered only when they were safe outside. Suddenly they remembered that the old man is
           in the house. What to do now? And the flames were so big now they could not go in. And the old
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man was trying to find his way stumbling, getting burned here and there. And then he remembered
           that his logic was absolute stupidity.
               In times of real need only your own eyes can be of help. But it was too late: he died, he was
           burned alive.

                When Buddha insists again and again that life is DUKKHA -- misery, anguish, pain -- he is
           simply reminding you that your house is on fire and your eyes are still blind. It is time -- prepare!
           Your eyes can be cured. A way can be found to come out of this fire. You can still save yourself, all
           is not yet lost. Hence the insistence.
                Not that he is a pessimist -- as many people in the West particularly have condemned him, and in
           the East too. People think that Buddha is a pessimist, saying life is misery. He is not a pessimist --
           not a pessimist in the same way as Arthur Schopenhauer is. Schopenhauer is a pessimist: "Life is
           misery and there is no way to get out of it. You have to suffer it, nothing can be done about it. Man
           is a helpless victim."
                It is said that when Schopenhauer read Gautam Buddha's works for the first time he danced
           because he thought, "This enlightened man agrees with me!"
                Now, no enlightened man can ever agree with those who are not enlightened; it is impossible.
           Either you agree with them or you don't agree with them, but they never agree with you. They
           cannot. How can the man who has eyes agree with the man who is blind about light? -- or about
           darkness even?
                Remember one thing: the blind man knows nothing about darkness even, what to say about light!
           Because to see darkness eyes are needed. You may be thinking that blind people live in darkness --
           you are totally wrong. They know nothing of darkness. Because YOU close your eyes and you feel
           darkness, so you think blind people must be living in darkness -- but they don't have eyes to close.
           And unless you know light you cannot know darkness; they are two aspects of the same coin. Eyes
           are needed for both.
                Schopenhauer was utterly wrong -- Buddha was not agreeing with him. Of course, Buddha can
           be interpreted in such a way that he may look like a pessimist philosopher. He is neither a pessimist
           nor a philosopher. He is not even an optimist -- because pessimism and optimism both belong to the
           world of the blind.
                Hopeless people hope. Blind people think sooner or later they will attain to eyes. In the dark
           night of your souls you cling to the hope that there must be a dawn. To tolerate the present misery
           you have to create a certain kind of optimistic attitude so that you can hope for a beautiful tomorrow
           -- although it never comes. But in hoping, you can tolerate. At least you can dilute your misery a
           little bit, you can avoid getting too much disturbed by it. You can remain occupied somewhere else.
           You can keep your eyes closed to the present anguish.
                Buddha wants to bring you to the reality of your existence. He is a very earthly man, very
           pragmatic. He is a realist, he is not an idealist. He has nothing to do with pessimism and nothing to
           do with optimism. He is simply trying to shake you up. It is a way of hammering on your head.
           That's why he insists again and again that life is misery.
                Watch your life, and you will find proofs and proofs, more than are needed, more proofs than
           you can manage. In fact, you will see that Buddha's insistence is not as much as it should be, that he
           is very lenient, very liberal.

           Let me remind you about Peter's principles:
               His first principle: Anything that begins well ends badly; anything that begins badly ends worse.
               His second principle: Negative expectations yield negative results; positive expectations yield
           negative results.

              Whatever you do, this way or that, everything ends in failure, everything ends in frustration. Still
           you feel offended by Buddha?

              Two bums came to rest on the same park bench and struck up a conversation. Eventually they got
           around to how each of them had come to such dire straits.
              One explained, "You are looking at a man who never took a word of advice from any man."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Isn't that a coincidence?" replied the other. "You are looking at a man who took everybody's
           advice!"

                Do whatsoever you want to do, but you will end in the same way. Everything ends in misery,
           everything ends in death. People make tremendous effort, but what can you do? -- all your efforts are
           doomed, because you don't do the fundamental thing that can bring a radical change. You don't
           create consciousness. That is the only radical transformation of life: from misery to bliss. You do
           everything else except meditate. You will earn money and you will become more and more powerful
           and you will have all that the world can provide.
                And remember: I am not against the world. And I am not saying don't earn money and I am not
           saying don't make a beautiful house. But remember: these things in themselves cannot make your life
           a life of joy. Yes, if you are meditative then a beautiful house will have a totally different quality. A
           beautiful garden, a pond in your garden....
                Mukta has just made a pond by the side of my room, a really beautiful pond with a small
           waterfall. If YOU are meditative, then it is a tremendously beautiful experience just to see water
           dancing on the rocks, just to see the rocks, just to feel the texture of the rocks, the moss that will start
           gathering on them. Then everything is beautiful if inside your heart there is awareness; otherwise
           everything is ugly.
                It is not that a meditative person enters into heaven -- no, heaven enters into a meditative person.
           Paradise is not a geographical place, it is a psychological experience. A meditative person can enjoy
           everything -- only he can enjoy. He is not a renunciate. Only he knows how to taste the beauty of
           things, how to experience the tremendous presence of existence all around. Because he IS, he knows
           how to love, how to live.
                But your life is going to be one misery after another misery. It will be a long chain of misery.

               Berkowitz, a salesman, while driving through the Negev desert, saw an Arab lying on the sand.
           Berkowitz rushed to the man's side and lifted him up. The Arab whispered, "Water, effendi, water!"
           "This is kismet!" exclaimed Berkowitz. "Are you in luck! I happen to have in my suitcase the finest
           selection of ties you ever saw!"
           "No!" wailed the Arab. "Water, water!"
           "These ties you could see right now in the King David Hotel -- fifteen dollars apiece. For you, only
           ten dollars."
           "Please, effendi, I need water!"
           "Look, you seem like a nice person. I am known all over the Negev as Honest Abbie. Whatever kind
           of ties you like -- silk, wool, wrap, crepe -- you can have what you want -- eight dollars each!"
           "I need water!"
           "Alright, you drive a hard bargain. Tell you what, take your pick, two for ten dollars!"
           "Please, give me water!"
           "Ah, you want water?" said Berkowitz. "Why didn't you say so? All you gotta do is crawl five
           hundred feet to the sand dune, hang right for a quarter mile. You will come to Poppy's Pyramid Club;
           he will give you all the water you want."
               The Arab slowly crawled to the sand dune, turned right, and with his last remaining strength
           came to the door of the club. Poppy, the owner, was standing out front.
           "Water, water!" begged the Arab.
           "You want water? You came to the right place. I got well water, seltzer water, whatever water you
           want I got inside. The only thing is, you can't go in without a tie."

              Buddha is right: in your life, whatsoever you do, you are bound to meet misery. And as time
           passes, more and more misery, because life starts slipping out of your fingers, death starts
           overshadowing you. And you become very tense -- life is slipping by and you have not arrived
           anywhere yet. You start running, you put all that you have at stake... but only death is the
           culmination of what you call life. How can death be the culmination of life? If death is the
           culmination of life then life is utterly useless -- not only useless but a very ugly joke played on man.
           Then God cannot be the creator -- then the Devil must be in charge. And that exactly seems to be the
           case.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The Old Testament says God created the world in six days. And then? Then it seems the Devil is
           running it! Since then, God has not been heard of; since then the Devil is in charge.
               Your life is a cruel joke, as if some evil force is playing tricks with you. Just like small children
           torturing some insect, you are being tortured by some unknown force -- as if some unknown force is
           enjoying your torture, as if God is a sadist!
               Buddha is right: your life simply proves not only that YOU are wrong, but it even proves that the
           God you worship must be wrong. It not only proves YOU wrong, it proves your popes and your
           shankaracharyas wrong. It proves your so-called religions wrong, because they don't help in
           changing your quality of life. They don't change your vision, they don't change your insight. They
           don't bring more sensitivity and awareness to you so that you can live on a new plane, in a new
           plenitude, in a new fullness.
               Buddha insists for a certain reason. The reason is: if you listen to him and if you become aware
           that your life IS misery, you are bound to ask him, "Sir, then what should we do?"
               Buddha has the way; he can show you the path. He diagnoses your illness, because he has the
           key which can transform your illness into health, your madness into sanity.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS SO FUNNY ABOUT YOUR DRIVING TO DISCOURSE IN A ROLLS ROYCE?

               There is a long story behind it! I was driving... I was coming in an Impala, and people like you
           started writing letters to me saying that, "This is a plumber's car!"
               I told Laxmi, "Change it!" So she bought a Buick -- and people started writing to me that "This is
           a pimp's car!"
               So I told Laxmi, "Change it!" So she was bargaining for a Lincoln Continental. And people
           wrote to me, "This is good -- this is a president's car!"
               I said, "That is worse -- worse than being driven in a plumber's or a pimp's car!" So I told Laxmi,
           "Now, for a poor man like me, only a Rolls Royce will do!"
               Now, please don't make any objection to it... because coming from Lao Tzu to Buddha Hall, a
           helicopter won't do. Don't create troubles for me!

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I KNOW NOW THAT I AM ALRIGHT JUST AS I AM, BUT HOW CAN I MAKE SURE THAT OTHERS
              KNOW THAT TOO?


               Deva Kamma, I know how you are feeling!
           Alan, a real ladies' man, rushed into a Catholic church. He slipped into the confession booth and
           said, "Father, Father, I just made love to a woman twenty-five times!"
           "Are you married?" asked the priest.
           "No," said Alan, "and I am Jewish, not Catholic, but I had to tell someone!"

               You start telling people! They will think you crazy because this is a very strange world: if you
           talk about your misery nobody thinks you are crazy. If you start saying that "I am tremendously
           happy, ecstatic! I am feeling fantastic, just far out!" then people start thinking you are going nuts,
           something is wrong with you.
               Just the other day a letter came to me that "Sarvesh is again going nuts." And all that the poor
           man was doing was just expressing his ecstasy. Seeing the new commune place he became so
           ecstatic that people thought that he is going crazy.
               In this world to be insane is alright. To be sane is difficult, because the majority consists of
           insane people. To be sane is really difficult.
               Nobody will believe you, Kamma, and people will laugh at you. And it happens: when inside
           you are feeling a great joy and everything seems to be fitting perfectly well, humming, you want that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           others should know it. It is a natural by-product -- otherwise buddhas would have remained silent.
           Why did Gautama the Buddha speak at all? Why did Mahavira speak? When he was unenlightened
           he went to the mountains; when he became enlightened he came back to the world. And this has
           always been the case: people have gone to the mountains, to the forests, to the jungles, in the search
           for truth. They have gone into silence, but when they attained they rushed back, they have not lost a
           single moment. They have rushed back to the marketplace to shout from the housetops!
               But then there are dangers. The danger is that people will think you are mad. The danger is that
           they will think you are a nuisance. The danger is that they will think that you can create trouble in
           the society, because a few others may become interested in your ideas.
               It is not accidental that Socrates is killed, Jesus is killed, Mansoor is killed. The society protects
           itself and its sanity -- its so-called sanity, which is really not sanity at all.
               So, Kamma, if you are ready to take the risk, say it to people, don't be afraid. That's the only way
           they will come to know about it. But remember: then you have to accept joyfully whatsoever they do
           to you. Then don't throw the responsibility on me -- I am warning you right now. Now start
           advertising!

               Malcolm G. Krebbs was the last of the old diehards who believed in doing business without
           advertising, and like so many others he found that his philosophy just did not work anymore. So he
           finally went to an advertising agency, but with great misgivings. Mr. Krebbs just could not manage
           to understand the principle behind advertising until his account executive explained it to him like
           this: "Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark -- you know what you
           are doing, but nobody else does."

              And that's how you are feeling, Kamma, right now. You can go on winking in darkness --
           nobody will know. Come into the light and wink... and then suffer the consequences!
              But my people won't take it badly. They are becoming slowly slowly aware of such phenomena.
           They will accept you -- but outside the commune there will be trouble for you, so be cautious. MY
           people will understand. If they can understand me -- this far, far gone guy -- what about you,
           Kamma? You are just a beginner!

               Dugan, a delivery man from near Hyannisport making his first trip to New York, saw the sign
           CLIMB THE STAIRS AND SAVE FORTY DOLLARS ON A NEW SUIT. The Irishman went up
           and was immediately shown a number of shoddy garments by Spiegal, the eager salesman. Dugan
           refused to bite.
               Spiegal knew that Zimmer, the boss, was watching him, so he made a special effort with the next
           number. Spiegal whirled the customer around and around before the mirror crying, "It fits like a
           glove! You look like a movie star!"
               When the Irishman again said no, Zimmer took over, produced one blue serge suit and made the
           sale in five minutes. As Dugan left, the boss said, "You see how easy it is when you know how? He
           went for the first suit I showed him."
           "Yeah," agreed Spiegal, "but who made him dizzy?"

               Here I am making my people so dizzy... you don't worry, you can say anything! But outside the
           commune be a little cautious. Don't laugh loudly. Don't be so loving, so much hugging and so much
           kissing....
               It almost always happens: the deeper you go, such great joy arises, and with joy, as a by-product,
           the desire to share. But there is no other way -- you have to share.
               Start sharing, first with my crazy people -- that way you will learn the art -- and then if you feel
           that you are confident enough, then start sharing with strangers, outsiders; people who have no idea
           of what meditation is; people who have no idea what it means to go inwards, what it means to know
           oneself, what it means to be silent, to be empty. They have very strange ideas. They think the empty
           mind is a Devil's workshop. The empty mind is GOD'S workshop, because meditation means nothing
           but emptiness.
               First start talking to the people who can understand your language, and then shout from the
           housetops. I am a firm believer in advertising, don't be worried!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               A minister who believed firmly in advertising had a sign erected in front of his church which
           proclaimed: IF YOU ARE TIRED OF SIN, COME IN!
               Some enterprising member of his congregation who also believed in advertising, however,
           scrawled the additional message: "If you are not, call Grandview 9-6001."

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS YOUR FUNCTION HERE AS A MASTER?


               Geeto, it is a difficult question, because I have to do so many things -- without doing them, that
           is the most difficult part of it! I never leave my room, but I have to do many things, conceivable,
           inconceivable.
               But the basic function of the master is to force people out of their unconsciousness. It is a
           thankless job, because you have to hit them hard -- their ideas, their notions, their middle-class,
           bourgeois philosophies. All that they have thought is great, all that they have thought is true, you
           have to go on telling them that it is all nonsense, that it is just bullshit! And of course they feel hurt.

               Rizzutti was sitting in the neighborhood bar. Next to him sat McIntyre who had had more than
           enough beer and was staring at his empty glass.
               He turned to Rizzutti and asked, "Say, did you spill a glass of beer on me?"
           "Absolutely no!" answered the Italian.
               McIntyre turned to the man on his other side. "Mister, did you by any chance throw a glass of
           beer in my lap?"
           "No!" snapped the man.
           "Just what I have been suspecting," said the Irishman. "It is an inside job!"

               You are as unconscious as that. You don't even know what is happening to you as an inside job!
           Even that has to be brought to your notice. And you try to escape from seeing any truth, because it
           will shatter many of your old ideas, and you have become very acquainted, familiar with them. You
           feel cozy surrounded with your old nonsense.
               Whenever you are forced to see a new idea you shiver -- because it is not only a question of
           seeing one single new idea. Allow one single new idea in your being and you will have to change
           your total vision, because then you will start seeing that this new concept, this new vision, does not
           fit with anything old.

                I have heard a story about Count Keyserling -- his grandson is here, a sannyasin. Count
           Keyserling was one of the most famous German thinkers. He traveled far and wide in the East; he
           was fascinated by the East. The grandson must have something of Count Keyserling in him, hence he
           has come to me.
                When Count Keyserling was in China, a friend presented him with a beautiful box, two thousand
           years old, but with a condition which has been fulfilled for two thousand years: that the box's face
           has to be towards the East. A beautiful piece of art work, a great work of art! With that condition, for
           two thousand years whosoever had it has followed it.
                Count Keyserling went with it. He placed the box in his drawing room facing towards the East,
           but then the whole drawing room was unbalanced. The box looked odd, so the whole drawing room
           had to be redone. But then the whole drawing room was no longer fitting with the house! But Count
           Keyserling was a man of his word -- he changed his whole house... but then the garden was not
           fitting, so he had to change the garden. And then he became afraid, because when he changed the
           garden the house was not fitting in the neighborhood. Now, he could not do anything with the
           neighborhood!
                Then he wrote a letter to the friend who has given the box, "Please take this box back -- I don't
           know how I can fulfill the condition. I will have to change the whole world! Now the neighborhood,
           then the town, then the district, then the province, then the country.... This is too much!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              If you start seeing just a ray of light, a new light, you will have to change your whole world.
              The friend wrote to Count Keyserling, "Don't be worried, that's exactly the message: that even a
           small box can change your whole world. It is an ancient Taoist symbol; a message is contained in it.
           You have understood the message."

               Allow a single insight of a buddha in you and you will never be the same. That's my function
           here as a master: to give you something which will not fit with you but which will be so
           tremendously significant for you that you will be ready to change for it, that you will be ready to risk
           everything for it.

               A zookeeper was headed for the kangaroo cage right around feeding time when, much to his
           surprise, the kangaroo jumped right over the ten-foot fence and went hopping out of sight. The
           startled zookeeper dashed up to the cage and confronted a woman who was standing in front of the
           cage.
           "What happened?" he asked.
           "I have not the faintest notion," she replied. "All I did was tickle him a little."
           "Well, lady," he replied, "I guess you had better tickle me in the same place -- I am the one who has
           to catch him now!"

              My function is to tickle you in the right place -- because it is a long long journey, a pilgrimage,
           and you are to catch hold of God. Less than that is not going to fulfill you.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY AM I NOT GETTING ENLIGHTENED SOON? WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DELAY?


               Sagaram, the cause must be in you. In fact, YOU ARE the cause. You are not trying to
           understand what I am saying. Now enlightenment has become an object of your desire -- and
           enlightenment happens only when there is no desire left. And when I say no desire I exactly mean no
           desire -- absolutely no desire. The desire for enlightenment is still a desire. If you go on desiring
           enlightenment it is not going to happen, neither sooner nor later. It is never going to happen. You
           will have to drop the desire.
               See the point, because mind is so cunning and so stupid too that it can go on being clever. You
           can even say, "Okay, then I will drop the desire -- but is it guaranteed that when I drop all the
           desires, the desire for enlightenment included, is it guaranteed that I will become enlightened?" You
           miss the point again: it can't be guaranteed. And dropping desire to attain enlightenment is not
           dropping at all -- the desire is coming from the back door again. You are not getting enlightened
           because you WANT to get enlightened, and it is not something that can be wanted, can be desired.
           You can't be ambitious for it.
               Then what is to be done? Try to understand the futility of desire. Try to see that desire is the
           culprit, that desire goes on taking you away from the present moment. It is desire that is not allowing
           you to be meditative. It is desire that goes on creating the mind and goes on creating hindrances for
           meditation. Mind is a hindrance for meditation. It is desire that goes on creating time and time
           prevents eternity, becomes a rock between you and eternity.
               See the point -- simply see it! It is not a question of having to drop it. Just see the point, that
           desire is your hell. Seeing it, desiring disappears, because if you see it clearly, totally, one hundred
           percent, how can you go on desiring anymore? It will slip out of your hands on its own accord. And
           in that very moment is enlightenment. That moment is enlightenment.
               Enlightenment is not something that is going to come to you from somewhere else. Desire
           dropped, and you are a buddha. The only difference between you and a buddha is desire.
               It happened to Gautam Siddhartha exactly the same way. For six years he was also, Sagaram,
           continuously hankering for enlightenment and could not attain it. For six years he tried hard, harder
           than any man has ever done. He risked all. He was a warrior, a KSHATRIYA -- a man who knew
           only how to fight. He fought with God, with existence. He wanted to conquer truth, he wanted to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a conqueror. And after six years of arduous effort he was reaching nowhere, not even a
           single inch closer to truth than when he started.
               One full-moon night sitting under the tree, he started looking backwards. Six years have passed
           since he renounced his family, his palace, his kingdom. All that is written in the scriptures he has
           done and all that the teachers he came across told him to do he has done -- and he has done it with
           totality. Now there is nothing more to do. This whole project has failed.
               Then suddenly he became aware that "Although I was searching for truth, I was searching for
           God, I was still the same person -- the same ego, the same desire, the same ambition: the ambition to
           conquer, to be victorious. I was the same old man; these six years nothing has changed. Objects of
           desires have changed -- they are no longer worldly, they are otherworldly -- but what difference does
           it make? Desire is desire, worldly or otherworldly, it doesn't matter. Desire is desire; its nature is the
           same."
               Seeing it and seeing the futility of it, that evening he dropped... or it will be better to say, desire
           dropped itself. That evening as the moon rose, a totally new being arose in him: a desireless
           consciousness, a nonambitious being, not asking for anything. His eyes were clear for the first time,
           unclouded, no smoke of desire. His flame was burning bright. That night he slept for the first time in
           his life without dreams, because once desires disappear, dreams disappear. Dreams are reflections of
           your desires.
               And early morning just before the sun was to rise, he opened his eyes. There was nothing to do
           that day, all is finished. He is no longer interested in the world, he is no longer interested in the other
           world. He remained in the moment; there were no projects to do. He was utterly empty. He looked at
           the rising sun... and that was the moment when he became enlightened.
               What is enlightenment? -- the insight that desire is futile, that ambition is illness. Then suddenly
           you are thrown back to the present moment. To be in the present is to be enlightened. To be now and
           to be here is to be enlightened.
               You are all buddhas -- dreaming, desiring. Understand the desire and let it go.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                     Chapter #3
                                         Chapter title: Life: the greatest gift
           13 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912130
              ShortTitle: DHAM703
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              LIFE IS EASY
              FOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT SHAME,
              IMPUDENT AS A CROW,
              A VICIOUS GOSSIP,
              VAIN, MEDDLESOME, DISSOLUTE.



              BUT LIFE IS HARD
              FOR THE MAN WHO QUIETLY UNDERTAKES
10/28/07                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           THE WAY OF PERFECTION,
           WITH PURITY, DETACHMENT AND VIGOR.
           HE SEES LIGHT.



           IF YOU KILL, LIE OR STEAL,
           COMMIT ADULTERY OR DRINK,
           YOU DIG UP YOUR OWN ROOTS.



           AND IF YOU CANNOT MASTER YOURSELF,
           THE HARM YOU DO TURNS AGAINST YOU
           GRIEVOUSLY.



           YOU MAY GIVE IN THE SPIRIT OF LIGHT
           OR AS YOU PLEASE,
           BUT IF YOU CARE HOW ANOTHER MAN GIVES
           OR HOW HE WITHHOLDS,
           YOU TROUBLE YOUR QUIETNESS ENDLESSLY.



           THESE ENVYING ROOTS!
           DESTROY THEM
           AND ENJOY A LASTING QUIETNESS.



           THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION,
           THERE ARE NO CHAINS LIKE HATE.
           ILLUSION IS A NET,
           DESIRE A RUSHING RIVER.



           HOW EASY IT IS TO SEE YOUR BROTHER'S FAULTS,
           HOW HARD TO FACE YOUR OWN.
           YOU WINNOW HIS IN THE WIND LIKE CHAFF,
           BUT YOURS YOU HIDE,
           LIKE A CHEAT COVERING UP AN UNLUCKY THROW.



           DWELLING ON YOUR BROTHER'S FAULTS
           MULTIPLIES YOUR OWN.
           YOU ARE FAR FROM THE END OF YOUR JOURNEY.



           THE WAY IS NOT IN THE SKY.
           THE WAY IS IN THE HEART.



           SEE HOW YOU LOVE
           WHATEVER KEEPS YOU FROM YOUR JOURNEY.



           BUT THE TATHAGATAS,
           "THEY WHO HAVE GONE BEYOND,"
           HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD.
           THEY ARE FREE.



           THE WAY IS NOT IN THE SKY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE WAY IS IN THE HEART.



              ALL THINGS ARISE AND PASS AWAY.
              BUT THE AWAKENED AWAKE FOREVER.



              LIFE IS EASY
              FOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT SHAME,
              IMPUDENT AS A CROW,
              A VICIOUS GOSSIP,
              VAIN, MEDDLESOME, DISSOLUTE.


                Life can be lived in two ways: either as a continuous fall... then you are pulled by the
           unconscious forces of gravitation; you need not make any effort. You are not trying to reach to the
           peaks, you are simply a rock rolling downwards. Naturally it appears easy, comfortable, convenient.
           If you conform with the society, if you live according to the tradition, if you follow the stupid
           crowds, life is easy, but at a very great cost: you don't grow. You miss the whole point, because life
           is significant only when it is a continuous growth.
                Man is the only animal in existence who has the capacity to evolve. Charles Darwin says that
           monkeys have evolved and become men. I don't agree with him, I can't agree with him. Not that I
           have anything against the monkeys -- they are good people! -- but if what he says is true, then why
           have not all the monkeys become men? For millions of years monkeys have remained monkeys.
           Why are they not growing? They should have taken at least a few preliminary steps by now, but they
           are exactly the same as they have always been.
                You can find proofs for Charles Darwin's theory only if you watch the politicians. Then one
           suspects he may be right -- otherwise not! Otherwise, monkeys have remained monkeys. And the
           people who have been following Darwin and trying to prove his theory have been coming across
           great, unbridgeable gaps. The greatest is, they have not yet found the missing link -- because
           between monkey and man there must have been a few links. There is a great distance between
           monkey and man. Where are the missing steps? Not even a single proof has been found yet... except
           Idi Amin of Uganda!
                In fact, Darwin's whole theory is only a guess; it is not yet scientifically valid. And spiritually it
           is never going to be valid, because those who have known man's spiritual growth have come
           decisively to this conclusion: that man is a different being altogether from any other being on the
           earth. He is an evolving animal. No other animal evolves; they remain the same. They are very
           conformist: they don't go beyond their heredity. They never cross the limit of what is allowed by
           their instincts; they never do anything beyond the instinctive, beyond the unconscious.
                It is only man who has been able to produce a Buddha, a Lao Tzu, a Jesus, a Bahauddin. It is
           because of the buddhas that we can say man has the capacity to be a god. It is in the buddhas that we
           have found the link between man and God. Darwin and his followers have not been able to find the
           link between monkeys and man, but we have found in the buddhas the link between man and God.
           Man has an infinite potential.
                But then you cannot live an easy life. You cannot just be a Rotarian or a Lion. You can't be just a
           Hindu or a Mohammedan. You can't go on following the crowds. Crowds behave instinctively; they
           don't know anything of the beyond. Their life is easy. If you are part of them your life will also be
           easy, but there will be no growth. And growth is all that matters.
                The only thing that matters in life is growth. Unless you are moving to the ultimate peak of
           becoming a god you are wasting a tremendously pregnant opportunity.
           Buddha says:

              LIFE IS EASY
              FOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT SHAME.


              This Buddhist idea of shame has to be understood in contrast with the Christian idea of guilt. In
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the dictionaries they seem to be synonymous; they are not. Shame is a totally different phenomenon.
               Guilt is imposed by others on you. It is a strategy of the priests to exploit. It is a conspiracy
           between the priest and the politician to keep humanity in deep slavery forever. They create guilt in
           you, they create great fear of sin. They condemn you, they make you afraid, they poison your very
           roots with the idea of guilt. They destroy all possibilities of laughter, joy, celebration. Their
           condemnation is such that to laugh seems to be a sin, to be joyous means you are worldly.
               Christians say Jesus never laughed. What a lie! And they have been lying for centuries and with
           such theological acumen, with great scholarship. They have been lying very piously, very
           religiously. Have you ever come across a picture of Jesus or a statue in which he looks happy,
           blissful, joyous? Impossible! You can't conceive of a joyful Jesus -- after two thousand years of
           Christian propaganda the whole figure of Jesus has become distorted.
               He was a man of great joy. He was a man who knew how to laugh and how to love and how to
           live festively. He loved eating and drinking. He must have danced, he must have joked with his
           friends, with his disciples. I cannot conceive of him not having a sense of humor, because it is
           impossible for me to conceive of a man being spiritual and without a sense of humor. A sense of
           humor is one of the most fundamental qualities of a religious man.
               But the picture that Christians have depicted of Jesus is ugly. He is always sad, in deep sorrow --
           carrying the whole burden of the original sin committed by Adam and Eve. He has been depicted by
           the Christians as doing a great service to humanity. He is the savior -- and how can the savior laugh?
           Laughter seems to be such an earthly quality. He has to be very serious, long-faced. They have
           destroyed the beauty of Jesus.
               Jesus has to be resurrected. He was killed twice. First he was killed by the Jews and the Romans,
           and then he has been killed by the Christian priests. He got away from his first murder, but from the
           second he has not yet been able to escape. He is still a captive of the Vatican; he has to be freed from
           the Vatican.
               These people who have made Jesus look so serious, so sad, so sorrowful -- who have made him a
           martyr -- have also created great guilt in humanity. Whenever you laugh you feel as if you are doing
           something wrong. Whenever you are happy you start looking guilty. How can you be happy? How
           can you laugh? How can you dance? How can you sing? The whole world is in such a suffering, and
           you are singing, and you are dancing? It seems that you must be cruel.
               Krishna seems to be cruel to Christian eyes: playing on his flute, dancing, singing, celebrating.
           He seems to be a hedonist, a Zorba the Greek! Christians can't conceive Krishna to be spiritual. And
           in fact, the word 'christ' is a derivation of the word 'krishna'. Jesus must have the same qualities as
           Krishna; hence he has been called Christ. 'Christ' comes from 'krishna', and Krishna-consciousness
           simply means ecstatic consciousness.
               But why does the priest go on creating guilt in man? There is a secret behind it. If you can make
           humanity feel guilty you remain powerful. The guilty person is always ready to serve those who are
           powerful. He is always ready to serve those who are puritans. He is always ready to be a slave to the
           priests. The guilty person cannot have courage enough to be a rebel -- that is the secret. Only a
           blissful person can be rebellious. The priests must have found this secret long ago, because they have
           been practicing it for centuries and they have destroyed all the beauty of the human soul.
               Remember, when Buddha says "shame" he does not mean guilt. Shame is a totally different
           phenomenon. Guilt is imposed by others; shame is your own experience. Shame is interior, guilt is
           from the outside. Shame is not because of others but because of your own understanding: "What am I
           doing to my own self? What am I doing to my life? How am I wasting it?" It has nothing to do with
           the priests, Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan. It has something to do with your awareness. It has
           nothing to do with the moral codes of a society. It has something to do with your consciousness, not
           with your conscience.
               Guilt is part of conscience, and conscience is created by others. You have a Hindu conscience
           and a Mohammedan conscience and a Jaina conscience, but consciousness is simply consciousness.
           There is nothing like a Hindu consciousness or a Mohammedan consciousness.
               Consciousness makes you aware of what you are doing to yourself. And when you see that you
           are destroying tremendously pregnant opportunities for growth, shame arises in you. You start
           feeling a deep anguish, and that anguish is helpful for growth, that pain is helpful to growth. It brings
           you, for the first time, a vision of the possible, a glimpse of the peaks.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Guilt simply says that you are a sinner. And the feeling of shame simply shows you that you
           need not be a sinner, that you are meant to be a saint. If you are a sinner it is only because of your
           unconsciousness; you are not a sinner because the society follows a certain morality and you are not
           following it.
               All moralities are not moral, and something which is moral in one country is not moral in another
           country. Something moral in one religion is not moral in another religion. Something is moral today
           and was not moral yesterday. Morals change, morals are just arbitrary. But consciousness is eternal,
           it never changes. It is simply the absolute -- the truth.
               Once you have become a little more aware you start feeling what you have done to yourself and
           to others. That experience brings shame, and shame is good and guilt is bad. With guilt, deep down
           you know that it is all nonsense.
               For example, in the Jaina religion to eat in the night is a sin. If you are born a Jaina and
           sometimes you eat at night, you will feel very guilty; knowing perfectly well -- if you are intelligent
           enough you will know it -- that this is foolish, there can't be any sin in eating at night. But still your
           conscience will prick you, because the conscience is manipulated by the priest, by the outside
           powers who are dominating you.
               Hence guilt creates a dual personality in you: on the surface you are one person and deep down
           you are another -- because you can see the futility of it, the nonsense of it. You become split -- guilt
           creates schizophrenia. And the whole of humanity suffers from schizophrenia for the simple reason
           that we have created guilt, so much and so deeply that we have divided every man in two.
               One part of him is social, formal. He goes to the church and follows the rules as far as they are
           feasible. He maintains a certain front, a certain face, and from the back door he goes on living a
           totally different life -- just the opposite of what he goes on preaching, just the opposite of what he
           goes on praising.
               The idea of shame never creates any conflict within you, it never creates any split. It creates a
           challenge, it challenges you, it challenges your guts. It says to you, "Rise above -- because that is
           your birthright. Reach to the peaks, they are yours. Those sunlit peaks are your real home, and what
           are you doing in these dark valleys, crawling like animals? You can fly -- you have wings!"
               Guilt condemns that which is wrong in you. The idea of shame makes you aware of that which is
           possible. Guilt goes on bringing in your past again and again -- burdens you with the past. And the
           idea of shame brings the future to you, it releases your energies. They are totally different.
               Buddha says: LIFE IS EASY FOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT SHAME...

              IMPUDENT AS A CROW....


               Cunning! And people think that to be cunning is to be clever. It is not so -- only mediocre people
           are cunning. A really intelligent person need not be cunning. He is intelligent and that's more than
           enough. Cunningness is a poor substitute, a plastic substitute for intelligence. The mediocre person
           tries to look intelligent; in that very effort he becomes cunning.
               And the greatest cunningness is to be a hypocrite: to be one thing and to show something else.
           But then life will be easy. Buddha makes it clear: you will fit with other cunning people, they will
           understand your language.
               What was the fault of Jesus? The only fault was that he was not cunning. What was the fault of
           Socrates? The only fault was that he was a really intelligent person, utterly innocent, full of
           intelligence but with no cunningness.
               Cunningness is cowardice, intelligence is courage. And the greatest courage in the world is to be
           exactly what your consciousness says to you to be. And the greatest cowardice in the world is to
           follow others, to imitate others. Then you remain artificial. Then you are never a real rose, just a
           plastic rose which looks like a rose but is not a rose. It will not have any fragrance and it will not
           have any aliveness, and it will not dance in the wind and sing in the sun. It will be dead!
           IMPUDENT AS A CROW....

              A VICIOUS GOSSIP....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Why do people gossip? What must be the reason behind it? Why do they go on biting each
           other's backs? This is the way of cunningness. They are not sincere people, they are not authentic
           people. They don't say what they want to say to you, but they have to say it; otherwise they will
           remain burdened with it. Hence gossiping. They can't say the truth to your face, they have to say it
           behind your back. And they say it with a vengeance, naturally.
               They have to repress themselves in front of you, they have to smile and show a false face; and
           they feel that they are being insincere, they feel they are being ugly, they feel that they are being
           cowardly. They will take revenge. And this is their way of taking revenge: they will gossip about
           you, they will say things about you, they will invent things about you. And they will invent things
           about themselves too; what they are not, they will pretend to be. They will magnify your faults and
           they will magnify their glories.

               Sokolow, aged seventy-five, rushed into a doctor's office. "You gotta give me a shot so I can be
           young again," he pleaded. "I got a date with a young chicken tonight!"
           "Just a minute," said the physician. "You are seventy-five years old. There is nothing I can do for
           you."
           "But Doctor," exclaimed the old man, "my friend, Rosen, is eighty-five, and he says he has sex three
           times a week!"
           "Alright," advised the doctor, "so you say it too!"

              What you cannot do, you can at least say you do. Who is preventing you from saying it?

              ... VAIN, MEDDLESOME, DISSOLUTE.


               These people are vain, empty, utterly empty, hollow, full of straw and nothing else. But they go
           on bragging about themselves, they go on declaring themselves to be great -- they find ways and
           means. And the easiest way to declare yourself great is to declare that others are nothing, to reduce
           them as much as possible. That helps you feel that you are somebody special. And these people are
           bound to be meddlesome, querulous, always ready to fight for trivia.
               Just watch yourself and watch others. What are people doing? Ninety percent of their energies
           are being wasted in being cunning, hypocrites, gossips, vain, meddlesome, dissolute. And, of course,
           when you waste so much of your energy in such stupid activities you cannot have any decisiveness
           in your life, you cannot be committed, you cannot become involved in anything. And your old habits
           will always come in to destroy all your commitments, your involvements. You will be just
           driftwood, you will be dissolute.
               Many people ask me... they want to take sannyas, but they cannot decide. Who else can decide
           for you? My suggestion is: Decide this way or that, but never remain in indecisiveness. If you cannot
           decide for sannyas, decide against it -- at least decide something! But be decisive, because being
           decisive is of great importance.
               What you decide is not so important; much more important is that you are capable of making a
           decision. And once you decide, then let the commitment be one hundred percent. That's the only way
           to become integrated; otherwise you will remain fragmentary. You will remain a crowd, you will
           never become a single individual. In fact, that's exactly the meaning of the word 'individual': it
           means indivisible. If you are fragmentary you are not an individual. The whole process of
           individuation is the process of commitment, involvement.
               Sannyas is a great commitment, the greatest in life, because you are moving into a world of
           which you cannot be certain at all beforehand. You are moving into such an uncharted sea that you
           don't know what is going to happen; there is no guarantee whether you will be able to reach to the
           other shore, whether you will be able to come back to the old shore again -- there is no guarantee.
           And the ocean is vast and it is always stormy... and the boat is so small! But just the courage to take
           a small boat and go into the uncharted....
               The very phenomenon of risking your life makes you alive. The very risk gives you a new birth.
           Buddha says: But then life will be difficult.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BUT LIFE IS HARD
              FOR THE MAN WHO QUIETLY UNDERTAKES
              THE WAY OF PERFECTION,
              WITH PURITY, DETACHMENT AND VIGOR.
              HE SEES LIGHT.


               If you want to see light -- that is Buddha's word for God -- if you want to see truth and if you
           want to be liberated by truth, if you want to get beyond all this stupid misery that you have been
           living in for centuries, if you want to have wings to soar above the clouds into the vastness of the
           sky, if you want to whisper with the stars and dance with the whole cosmos... then life is going to be
           hard, because growth is painful, growth is arduous. It is going uphill, it is going against gravitation.
           It is going against the crowd, it is going against tradition, it is going against convention. It is
           becoming free from all that keeps you in bondage.
               But when you live in a prison you have many securities. For example, in a prison nobody can
           murder you; you are always guarded, more guarded than any king. Kings have been murdered, but
           prisoners cannot be murdered. Your bread and butter is safe. In a prison you need not be worried
           about employment, and everything will be supplied to you. You need not think about tomorrow, it is
           not your responsibility.
               At breakfast time you will get your breakfast, at lunchtime you will get your lunch. It is not
           going to be much of a lunch but at least it is certain! And supper is going to be supper and never a
           dinner, but so what? People feel better in a secure situation, even though the security is poor.
           Insecurity creates great turmoil and anxiety in your mind.
               This is the experience: that people who have lived in prisons for a few years don't want to get
           out, and if they have to come out, sooner or later they find ways to get in again. They are called
           jailbirds... because the outside life is too much trouble. Then you have to think about everything:
           where to live, where to find your work, search for work, for food. And everything seems to be too
           much of an unnecessary harassment. When you are in a jail, everything is supplied for you. You live
           like a king!
               And that's why millions of people have decided to live in the jails called Hinduism, Christianity,
           Mohammedanism, communism, India, Pakistan, China, Japan... all kinds of jails, political, spiritual,
           ideological. It seems to be very convenient to be a slave.
               Hence Buddha is right: BUT LIFE IS HARD FOR THE MAN WHO QUIETLY
           UNDERTAKES THE WAY OF PERFECTION. If you want to grow towards the heights, if you
           want to be perfect, if you want to be total and whole, if you want to know what it is all about, then
           you will have to risk many securities, many safeties, many comforts. You will have to go into the
           unknown, into the dark night -- and sometimes without even a candle.
               ... WITH PURITY, DETACHMENT AND VIGOR. HE SEES LIGHT. You will have to learn
           the ways of purity. By purity Buddha always means innocence, the unburdened consciousness --
           unburdened of knowledge, unburdened of scholarship, Vedas, Bibles, Korans. They all burden you,
           they give you a false sense of knowing; and the false sense of knowing becomes the barrier in
           knowing. If you really want to become a knower you will have to drop all knowledge, you will first
           have to become ignorant. That is purity: a mind without any content, a mind like a child's, a pure
           mind.
               And detachment.... By detachment Buddha means, don't think of yourself as the body. If you
           think yourself to be the body you cannot undertake this adventure of finding yourself, because you
           have already become identified with your body. Don't be identified with the mind either. If you think
           that you know already, then you will remain confined to whatsoever you are.
               Remain open: that is detachment. Don't say that "I am the body, I am the mind." Say that "I know
           nothing. The body is there, the mind is there, but I don't know who I am. And certainly I am not my
           body."
               As you go deeper into innocence you will be able to see that if your hand is cut off, your
           consciousness is not reduced that much -- it remains the same. Your leg can be cut off; your body is
           no longer the same, but your consciousness remains the same, it is not reduced. If your mind changes
           -- and mind continuously changes -- your consciousness does not change with your mind; it is an
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unchanging phenomenon. It is the only unchanging factor in existence; everything else is a flux.
           Only the witness remains permanent, absolutely permanent. It is eternal. Mind is time and you are
           timelessness.
               But for that you will have to learn the ways of detachment and you will have to release great
           vigor, great enthusiasm and great energy. Ordinarily your energy is being wasted in unnecessary
           pursuits. You will have to cut your unnecessary pursuits. That is true sannyas.
               Sannyas does not mean renouncing life but renouncing the unnecessary life. Just look, take note,
           watch, analyze, observe, and conclude how many things you are doing which are unnecessary -- how
           many things you go on doing because you have become accustomed to doing them. You have never
           thought about them, whether they are necessary or not. How much do you talk with people? Is it all
           necessary?
               If you start watching you will be surprised: you will become more telegraphic, in words, in
           actions, in your pursuits. You will become very choosy. And you will be surprised that almost ninety
           percent of your activity was futile; its only function was to keep you occupied. Its only function was
           a slow suicide. It was poisoning you.
               When this ninety percent of your unnecessary activity is reduced, great energy becomes available
           to you. And only with such energy, such detachment and such purity can you create the right space
           in which light is seen.

               Fenton's wife was going to have a baby and he could not get a doctor. The snow outside was
           eight feet deep, the telephone lines were down, and it was still snowing. He decided to go out and
           look for an M.D. He fought his way through the storm and saw a light which turned out to be a bar.
           He went in and began drinking heavily.
           "What's the matter?" said Hymowitz, sitting on a nearby stool.
           "My wife is going to have a baby," cried Fenton, "and I can't find a doctor...."
           "I can help you," said the Jewish man.
           "Are you a doctor?"
           "I am a veterinarian. But you give me your address. I will go and get my satchel, and I will come
           over and do the job for you."
               Fenton rushed home and soon Hymowitz arrived carrying his satchel. "Now don't worry about a
           thing," he said. "Get blankets and plenty of hot water." He went into the bedroom.
               Twenty minutes later, Hymowitz came out, sweat pouring from his brow and said, "You got a
           hammer?"
           "A hammer!" roared Fenton. "What do you want it for?"
           "Don't ask no questions, get me a hammer."
               Fenton brought him the tool and Hymowitz said, "Don't worry about nothing. Get plenty of hot
           water, lots of blankets!" He ran back into the bedroom.
               Thirty minutes later he came out, stripped to the waist, perspiration pouring from his body. He
           said, "Hey, you got a chisel?"
           "My God!" screamed Fenton. "First you want a hammer, now it's a chisel. What are you doing to my
           wife?"
           "What do you mean, your wife? First I gotta open the satchel!"

               The real work has not yet started -- even the satchel is not opened! And that's how your life is:
           you are born, but the real work has not yet started.
               My function here is to supply you with hammers and chisels and a few vets too -- my therapists.
           The satchel has to be opened first. And it is hard work because you have learned how to remain
           closed; that has become your way of life. And to be open seems to be just impossible.
               Yes, once in a while you open up, in a certain situation -- maybe in a therapy group, in a
           meditation, in a Sufi dance, in music -- once in a while, in a certain space, you allow yourself to
           open up. And then you see the beauty of life and the great joy pouring out of you. But then you
           become afraid, guilt arises. Suddenly you close again.
               Almost every day I receive letters from sannyasins saying, "I am feeling very good, a great
           well-being is arising in me, but simultaneously I am also feeling guilty. Why?" Somebody writes, "I
           am feeling very blissful, but also, side by side, a shadow is following my bliss. I am feeling guilty."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Why does this guilt arise? That guilt is the strategy of your old mind. The old mind is saying,
           "What are you doing, man? This is not your way of life. Close up! You are going beyond your limits.
           And I am giving you a warning -- then later on don't say to me that you were not warned."
               So you take one or two steps beyond yourself and then rush back and close the doors. You have
           become so afraid of the fresh air. It has to be learned -- howsoever hard it is, but it has to be learned
           -- because that is the only way to be reborn, the only way to celebrate, the only way to know bliss
           and benediction.
           Buddha says:

              IF YOU KILL, LIE OR STEAL,
              COMMIT ADULTERY OR DRINK,
              YOU DIG UP YOUR OWN ROOTS.


                But that's what people are doing continuously. We are all destructive. That's what he means when
           he says: IF YOU KILL.... Don't take it literally -- you are not murderers, but you are all killers. If
           you are destructive you are a killer. And the closed person is always destructive, he is never creative.
                You can only be either destructive or creative. If your energies are not released into creativity
           they are bound to become sour, bitter, poisonous; and they will make you angry, full of hatred and
           violence. Then there are two ways for that violence to go: one is to be violent with others, and the
           other is to be violent with yourself. Buddha is against both, so am I.
                The politician is violent with others. Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao -- these people are
           violent with others; they destroyed millions of lives. Mahatma Gandhi is totally different, he has not
           killed anybody -- he is the apostle of nonviolence -- but he is continuously destructive towards
           himself. His violence has turned upon himself. That's how your saints are created, your mahatmas
           are created. The politicians are sadists and the saints are masochists; both are psychologically ill.
                IF YOU KILL, LIE.... And everybody is lying. If you are not being your true self, whatsoever the
           cost, howsoever hard it is -- if you are not being your true self you are lying. You may not be
           literally lying, you may not even be aware that you are lying, but if you are a hypocrite -- you smile
           when you are not feeling like smiling, you say hello to somebody when there is no heart in it -- it is a
           lie. When you say to somebody "I love you," just formally, you are lying.
                That's why Buddha says: It is hard to be authentic, because even your own people will feel
           offended. Your wife will feel offended because you will not be continuously saying, "I love you, I
           love you." Once in a while you will say, "I hate you, I hate you more than I hate anybody else!" And
           your wife is not going to be sweet to you all the time. Once in a while she will throw things at you,
           destroy the crockery, nag you.
                But if you live an authentic life you accept all this, in you and in others; you don't reject it. This
           is part of the life situation, this is how we grow. All sweetness and all politeness is phony, it is
           bourgeois. An authentic person is sweet and bitter; he loves, he hates. When you accept both the
           polarities of your being you become authentic. Then you are not lying.
                OR STEAL.... Very few people are thieves in the ordinary sense of the word; otherwise
           everybody is stealing. If you are pretending to be wise on borrowed knowledge it is stealing, it is a
           theft -- subtle, but it is theft.
                COMMIT ADULTERY.... The meaning -- the ordinary meaning -- of the word 'adultery' is:
           making love to a woman you are not married to. But the real meaning of adultery is making love
           while you are not in love. She may be your own wife, but if you are not in love, then making love to
           her is adultery.
                And man is a complex phenomenon: today you may be in love with your wife -- yes, even with
           your wife! I know it is difficult, it is hard, and it is very rare too, but it happens. Today you may be
           in love with your own wife, and then making love to her is prayer, is worship, it is communion with
           God. And this communion can happen even with some other woman to whom you are not married. If
           love is there then it is not adultery, and if love is not there, then even with your wife whatsoever you
           are doing is adultery.
                OR DRINK.... Remember, all the buddhas are against any chemical drug that can make you
           unconscious, for the simple reason that you are already so unconscious.
                Just the other day somebody had asked a question: "Jesus used to drink alcohol. What do you say
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about it?"
                I can allow Jesus! He was so conscious that he could afford to drink once in a while. But I cannot
           allow you. You are already so unconscious, you are already so burdened; now, making you more
           unconscious will be dragging you towards hell.
                In the East, particularly in India, there has existed a tremendously beautiful esoteric school of
           tantrikas. One of their very secret methods is that whenever a master thinks that a disciple is ready,
           he allows him to drink alcohol or take some other drug in small portions, in small quantities, slowly.
           As his meditation deepens he is allowed to drink bigger amounts. The only condition to be fulfilled
           is that he should remain conscious. Even under the influence of the drug he should remain conscious
           -- that is the only condition to be fulfilled. This is a rare experiment!
                And a moment comes when a real meditator can drink as much... he can drink alcohol just like
           water and he will remain as centered as ever, as conscious as ever. That is the crucial test. That day
           the master says, "Now there is no need to drink at all. You passed through the test."
                Buddha is talking about you. He is not giving these sutras to tantrikas, he is talking to the
           common man. Hence he says: IF YOU KILL, LIE OR STEAL, COMMIT ADULTERY OR
           DRINK, YOU DIG UP YOUR OWN ROOTS. He is not telling you to repress. He is simply saying,
           become more aware. Buddha was never in favor of repression. Repression is an unconscious effort;
           it never transforms you. It keeps you the same but repressed.

           "Sinners!" shouted the evangelist, accusingly, at the tent full of true believers. "You are all sinners.
           Every one of you has something on his conscience, and one sin is just as bad as another. Stealing is
           as bad as lying. Ain't that so, Brother William?"
           Brother William nodded his agreement.
           "And adultery is just as bad as murder. Ain't that right, Sister Rose?"
           "Can't rightly say, Preacher," replied Sister Rose. "I never killed nobody."

               Young Maureen knelt in the confessional and whispered to the priest, "Ah, Father, I have sinned
           grievously. On Monday night I slept with Seamus. Tuesday night I slept with Timothy. On
           Wednesday night I slept with Dennis. Ah, Father, what shall I do?"
           "My child," replied the priest, "go home and squeeze the juice from a whole lemon and drink it."
           "Ah, Father, will this purge me of my sin?" she asked.
           "No, child, but it will take the smile off your face."

               Repression will do only that: it will take the smile off your face; otherwise, everything will
           remain the same.
               Buddha is not for repression. He says: Become more conscious of your lying, of your
           destructiveness, of your stealing, of your adultery, of your becoming constantly unconscious and
           finding new ways of becoming unconscious. Beware, because you are digging up your own roots.

              AND IF YOU CANNOT MASTER YOURSELF,
              THE HARM YOU DO TURNS AGAINST YOU
              GRIEVOUSLY.


               These are the ways that destroy the possibility of your ever becoming a master of your own
           being. And the man who is not a master of himself -- whatsoever he is doing to others is destructive,
           and ultimately all that destruction rebounds on himself. Harming others he is harming himself,
           because he is sowing seeds which he will have to reap.

              YOU MAY GIVE IN THE SPIRIT OF LIGHT
              OR AS YOU PLEASE,
              BUT IF YOU CARE HOW ANOTHER MAN GIVES
              OR HOW HE WITHHOLDS,
              YOU TROUBLE YOUR QUIETNESS ENDLESSLY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Share whatsoever you have, but share for the sheer joy of sharing; don't think of others. People,
           even in being religious, even in practicing spirituality, are always comparing and competing with
           others. Somebody is fasting for one day and you fast for two days, just to show him that you are
           higher, holier.

               In a small town they had just erected a fine new church. All it needed was a set of chimes. So
           Father McLain went around collecting donations for the chimes.
               Deegan, the blacksmith, donated fifty dollars; Dugan, the contractor, came across with
           seventy-five; Donnelly, the undertaker, gave his check for one hundred.
               When the priest got to Brennan's Bar and Grill, the owner did not like the idea of contributing
           two hundred dollars.
           "But Brennan," said the priest, "just think -- Deegan, Dugan and Donelly gladly contributed to the
           chimes, and you should be represented with a donation."
           "Well, Father, it is an awful lot of money."
           "But think how proud you will feel, along with Deegan, Dugan and Donelly, when the chimes ring
           out."
               The saloonkeeper finally agreed and when the chimes were installed, the reverend met Brennan
           on the street. He said, "Brennan, did you hear the chimes?"
           "I heard them."
           "What is the matter? Don't you like them?"
           "Well, I hear them ring out Deegan, Dugan, Donelly; Deegan, Dugan, Donelly... but doggone it, I
           never hear anything that sounds like Brennan!"

               People are so stupid that even when they are trying to be spiritual they continue their old ways of
           competition, of jealousy, of envy.
               Buddha says: YOU MAY GIVE IN THE SPIRIT OF LIGHT OR AS YOU PLEASE, BUT IF
           YOU CARE HOW ANOTHER MAN GIVES OR HOW HE WITHHOLDS, YOU TROUBLE
           YOUR QUIETNESS ENDLESSLY. Never think of the other in the world of spiritual growth -- just
           think of yourself. Be utterly selfish in that way. Don't compare, otherwise you will never be able to
           attain to stillness and silence; you will be continuously disturbed.

           THESE ENVYING ROOTS! Buddha says,
              DESTROY THEM
              AND ENJOY A LASTING QUIETNESS.


              If you can destroy jealousy, envy, competitiveness, you enter into a world of lasting quietness.

              THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION,
              THERE ARE NO CHAINS LIKE HATE.
              ILLUSION IS A NET,
              DESIRE A RUSHING RIVER.


                Beware of lust, unconscious sexuality. When sex becomes conscious it has a totally different
           flavor. It becomes tantra, it is no longer sex. When sex becomes conscious it is love, it is no longer
           lust. Love brings freedom, and lust simply creates prisons for you.
                THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION, THERE ARE NO CHAINS LIKE HATE. ILLUSION IS
           A NET, DESIRE A RUSHING RIVER. Beware of desire, because it is going to drown you. It has
           drowned so many many people, and it has drowned you many many times in the past. This time be
           alert. Don't allow desire to drown you and don't allow unnecessary wastage of energies. Because this
           is my observation: that the weaker you are spiritually, the more desires will be powerful in you. The
           stronger you are spiritually, the more energy you have spiritually, the less is the power of desire able
           to drag you, to drown you. And illusions and illusions... that's all desires are. That's what your mind
           is. It is never satisfied; it only goes on creating newer and newer nets for you to be caught in. It goes
           on postponing the moment of your becoming free -- it goes on alluring you for the tomorrow.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Becky's greatest dream was to make love with Mick Jagger. After spending the night with a man,
           her best friend Jane would ask her about the experience, and the reply was always the same: "It was
           good, but it was not Mick Jagger."
               Finally Becky's dream came true and she got a chance to sleep with Mick Jagger.
               The next day her friend Jane was eager to hear the report, but when she asked Becky how it was,
           Becky replied, "It was good, but it was not Mick Jagger."

               Nothing is ever going to satisfy you. Even Mick Jagger will not be Mick Jagger! It is your
           illusion that you project on Mick Jagger. The real Mick Jagger is just as ordinary as any Harry, Tom,
           Dick... or is it Tom, Dick, Harry? I always get confused between these three people!

              HOW EASY IT IS TO SEE YOUR BROTHER'S FAULTS,
              HOW HARD TO FACE YOUR OWN.
              YOU WINNOW HIS IN THE WIND LIKE CHAFF,
              BUT YOURS YOU HIDE,
              LIKE A CHEAT COVERING UP AN UNLUCKY THROW.



              DWELLING ON YOUR BROTHER'S FAULTS
              MULTIPLIES YOUR OWN.
              YOU ARE FAR FROM THE END OF YOUR JOURNEY.


               Because the reason -- the basic reason -- of dwelling on your brother's faults is to make your own
           faults look smaller. You magnify others' faults so that you can say, "I am far better than them," so
           that you can feel, "There is nothing much to be changed in me. Look at people, how ugly they are!"
               When everybody is so ugly, you start feeling beautiful. When everybody is so materialist, you
           start feeling spiritual. It is a trick, a strategy, to hide yourself from your own eyes. And remember,
           while you are hiding your faults, they are growing inside of you like cancer.
               Just do the opposite. Don't bother about others' faults, that's not your business at all. Just look at
           your own faults, watch them, observe them -- because observing them you will be able to be free of
           them. In fact, the deeper the observation, the more is the possibility of those faults disappearing from
           you on their own accord, just as dewdrops disappear in the early morning sun.

              THE WAY IS NOT IN THE SKY.
              THE WAY IS IN THE HEART.


              Don't look upwards! When you pray you look upwards, as if God is there. Buddha says: Look
           inwards, because God is there.

              SEE HOW YOU LOVE
              WHATEVER KEEPS YOU FROM YOUR JOURNEY.


               A very important indication for the seeker: See how you love your own chains, see how you love
           your own faults. See how you protect and defend your own misery. SEE HOW YOU LOVE
           WHATEVER KEEPS YOU FROM YOUR JOURNEY.
               Jealousy.... You say, "How can I live without jealousy?"
               Just the other day, somebody had asked, "You teach us not to be jealous, but then without
           competition what will life be? Without competition there will be no progress!" Now he is trying to
           hide his competitiveness and his jealousy behind the great word 'progress'. And not only are YOU
           jealous, even animals are. In fact, jealousy is a very animal desire.

               The rutting season had begun and the veterinary surgeon was on the farm giving the cows
           artificial insemination. By the time he got to the last cow he had no sperm left so he began to pack
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           away his equipment.
              The cow slowly turned her head towards him and with big, mournful eyes, said, "Not even a kiss,
           Doctor?"

              Watch yourself! SEE HOW YOU LOVE WHATEVER KEEPS YOU FROM YOUR
           JOURNEY.

              BUT THE TATHAGATAS,
              "THEY WHO HAVE GONE BEYOND,"
              HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD.
              THEY ARE FREE.


               The buddhas, the TATHAGATAS, those who have gone beyond the world -- listen to what they
           say. They say: Real progress is in being nonambitious. Real growth is in being without envy. The
           moment your jealousies disappear totally, you have arrived home.
               THE WAY IS NOT IN THE SKY. THE WAY IS IN THE HEART. Look within. Watch how
           many jealousies, how many angers, how many lustful desires are boiling there. Just watch them!
               And this is the greatest contribution of Buddha -- that he has said, and proved beyond doubt
           because it has worked for thousands of people -- that a deep observation of anything that is wrong in
           you is enough; you need not do anything else. Just be aware of it and it disappears. It disappears just
           as you bring light into a room and the darkness disappears.

              ALL THINGS ARISE AND PASS AWAY.
              BUT THE AWAKENED AWAKE FOREVER.


                Become aware, awake. Then you will see that everything comes and goes, all things come and
           pass. Life is a flux. Your consciousness is the only thing that is immovable, that is eternal. To attain
           it is freedom. To attain it is the goal of life. If you miss it you have missed your life and you have
           missed a tremendously great gift, a great opportunity.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                    Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: A real man is unpredictable
           14 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912140
              ShortTitle: DHAM704
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN THE MOMENT COMES THE LEAF LETS GO ITS TENDER HOLD AND GREETS ITS DYING
              WITH INNER GRACE. IS IT THEN THAT THE WAY IS OPEN FOR LIFE TO EMBRACE ITS OWN
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              E'ER THE LEAF TOUCHES DOWN?


               Yes, Amitabh, that's the secret of life and death both, the secret of the secrets: how to allow
           existence to pass through you totally unhindered, unobstructed, how to be in a state of absolute
           nonresistance. Buddha calls it TATHATA -- suchness.
               The ego is resistance. Let-go means disappearance of the ego. When you are just a hollow
           bamboo, existence sings millions of songs through you. It transforms you into a beautiful flute. But
           you have to be a hollow bamboo, utterly empty, so there is nothing to obstruct the flow.
               A total yes is sannyas, an unconditional yes: yes to all, to life and to death -- because death is not
           against life but is life's ultimate culmination, its highest peak. Yes to joy and yes to sadness too,
           because joy cannot exist without sadness. Joy is possible only if sadness creates the background.
           They are joined together so intrinsically that they are inseparable. And man's whole effort is to
           separate them. Man goes on trying to do the impossible -- he wants to live without death. Now that is
           utter stupidity! Life implies death; death is at the very core of life. The only way to deny death is to
           deny life too.
               So the people who have tried to deny death have died; before death has come they are no longer
           there. They have not lived at all. In denying death they had to deny life too, because the more you
           live the more you become available to death. When life is at the peak, death is the closest. Avoid
           death and you will have to avoid the peaks of life. You will have to live in a lukewarm way, neither
           dead nor alive, which is far worse than death itself.
               And so is the case with all the polar opposites: destroy one and the other is automatically
           destroyed. You cannot save the other; they are like two aspects of the same coin.
               Seeing it, Amitabh, a great understanding arises. One relaxes. One says yes, to life, to death, to
           darkness, to light, to sadness, to joy, to all that is without any choice. That choiceless understanding
           is enlightenment, is buddhahood.
               You say, "When that moment comes the leaf lets go its tender hold and greets its dying with
           inner grace...."
               That's how YOU have to learn to die. The way of the leaf is the way of the sannyasin too. And
           your hold has to be tender; otherwise it will be difficult to let go. Your hold has to be almost not a
           hold at all. Your hold cannot be a clinging. Only those people cling who don't understand this polar
           game of existence, and their clinging destroys all. They have to die, but their death becomes
           graceless. They have to die, as everybody else, but their death becomes agony.
               The word 'agony' comes from AGON -- agon means struggle. Agony means struggle. They die
           fighting. The whole fight is an exercise in futility: they are not going to win, but still they go on
           trying. Millions of people have tried and failed; still we are such fools, we go on repeating the same
           pattern. We still hope that "Maybe I am the exception, maybe I can manage somehow."
               Nobody has been able to manage, not because they have not tried enough, not because they have
           not tried strongly, but because it is not possible in the very nature of things. They have done all that
           can be done, nothing has been left undone, but death is bound to happen -- in fact it has already
           happened in your very birth. To be born is one pole; the other pole is hidden in it.
               One starts dying the moment one starts breathing. The first moment of birth is also the first
           moment of death. Yes, it takes seventy, eighty years to complete the process. Death does not come
           suddenly after eighty years; it grows, it grows every moment. It is growing now.... Life is one wing,
           death is another wing, and both wings are yours. And you are trying to fly with one wing? This is
           how you create misery for yourself, failure and frustration. Accept both.
               Let your hold be tender, so tender that it can be dropped at any moment and there will be no
           struggle in dropping it, not even a moment's delay -- because even a moment's delay is enough to
           miss the point, to miss the grace of it.
               My work here consists of teaching you how to live and how to die, how to be joyous and how to
           be sad, how to enjoy your youth and how to enjoy your old age, how to enjoy your health and how to
           enjoy your illness. If I teach you only how to enjoy your health, your joy, your life, and the other
           part is neglected, then I am teaching you something which is going to create a division in you, a split
           in you.
               I teach you the totality of existence. Don't possess, don't hold anything, don't cling. Let things
           come and pass. Allow things to pass through you, and you remain always vulnerable, available. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then there is great beauty, great grace, great ecstasy. Your sadness will also bring a depth to you, as
           much as your joy. Your death will bring great gifts to you, as many as life itself. Then a man knows
           that this whole existence is his: nights and days, summers and winters, all are yours.
                In remaining vulnerable, open, relaxed, you become a master. That's a strange phenomenon, very
           paradoxical: in remaining surrendered to existence you become victorious. And these moments will
           be coming to you again and again. My whole effort is to bring more and more of such moments, such
           penetrating moments, for you. Don't behave stupidly, don't go on repeating old strategies, old
           patterns of your mind. Learn new ways of being.
                And the greatest thing to learn is not to hold onto anything: to your love, to your joy, to your
           body, to your health. Enjoy everything -- your health, your body, your love, your woman, your man
           -- but don't cling. Keep your hands open -- don't become a fist. If you become a fist you become
           closed -- closed to the winds and the rains and the sun and the moon, closed to God himself. And that
           is the ugliest way to live; it is creating a grave around yourself. Then your existence is windowless.
           You go on suffocating inside and you are suffocating because you think you are creating safety and
           security for yourself.

           I have heard an ancient Sufi parable:
                A king was very much afraid of death, as everyone is -- and the more you have, the more, of
           course, you are afraid. A poor man is not as much afraid of death. What has he got to lose? What has
           life given to him? He remains unconcerned.
                That's why in poor countries you will see again and again a great indifference about death,
           poverty, starvation. The reason is, people have lived in such poverty for so long that now they are
           not so worried about death. Death comes to them as a relief -- relief from all the miseries and
           anxieties, relief from starvation, suffering, poverty.
                People coming from richer countries think, "Why are they so indifferent to death?" The reason is
           simple: there is nothing to cling to. Their life has not given anything to them. Their life is so poor
           that death can't take anything away from them; it can't make them poorer than they already are. But
           the more you have, the more you become afraid of death. The richer the society, the more fear of
           death.
                In poor societies the taboo is sex, and in richer societies the taboo is death. That is an indication
           whether the society is rich or poor -- you can just look at what their taboo is. If they are very much
           against sex that means they are poor; if they are very much against death, even afraid to mention it,
           that simply means they are rich. Hence it is a very difficult encounter between poor countries and
           richer countries -- their taboos clash.
                This is happening every day here, because my people have come from all over the world and the
           poor Indian society has the taboo against sex. Sex is their problem, sex is their fear. Birth is their
           fear, not death. They think of how to stop birth, they ponder over birth control methods. In richer
           countries the scientists go on searching how to postpone death. In poor countries the problem is how
           to postpone birth.
                So the king was very much afraid, naturally. He had so much and death would take everything
           away; and he had wasted his whole life in accumulating. How to protect himself? And in
           accumulating so much wealth he had created many enemies and they were always in search of an
           opportunity to cut off his head, to shoot him.
                He took advice from old, wise people of his country. They told him to make a castle with only
           one door -- no windows, no other doors, just a single door to enter into and to come out of. He would
           be safe. And on the door he could place a one-thousand-strong security force so it would be
           impossible for anybody to enter.
                The idea was appealing. He made a big castle with no windows, no doors, except the one door
           which was guarded by one thousand warriors.
                The neighboring king, his friend, was also afraid of death. He heard about this castle and he came
           to see. He was very much impressed. He said, "I will immediately start working, I will immediately
           create a castle for myself -- this is so safe and so secure!"
                When his friend was departing -- the king had come out of the castle to say goodbye to him -- he
           again appreciated the castle. While he was appreciating the castle, a beggar sitting by the side of the
           road started laughing loudly. Both the kings were shocked and they asked him, "Why are you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           laughing? Have you gone mad? And don't you know how to behave in the presence of kings?"
                The beggar said, "I could not control myself. Excuse me! But I used to be a king myself, and let
           me tell you the truth of why I am laughing. I have been watching, because I beg here on this road. I
           have been watching... the castle is being built, but I am puzzled: I say to you, there is only one
           mistake, one error, which is going to prove fatal."
                The king said, "What is that mistake? You tell us, we will correct it." The king was ready to
           listen, and not only to listen but to correct it.
                The beggar said, "You do one thing: you go inside and tell your people to close the door also,
           forever, because this door is going to prove dangerous. Death will enter from here! These one
           thousand warriors will not be able to prevent death, they will not even be able to see it. So close the
           door completely. Instead make a wall, and you be inside the castle and you will be safe forever!
           Nobody can kill you, not even death can enter in."
                But the king said, "That means I will be already dead! If I cannot come out, what is the point of
           living?"
                And the beggar said, "That's why I am laughing. You are ninety-nine point nine percent dead!
           Only one door is left, so only that much you are alive."

                The more safe you are, the more dead you are. And this is not a beautiful death, the graceful
           death of the leaf, of the rose petal falling towards the ground, moving back to the source. It is an ugly
           death, man's invention. A natural death is beautiful; man has made it ugly. Man has made
           EVERYTHING ugly; whatsoever man touches becomes ugly. If he touches gold it turns into dust.
                Amitabh, let this understanding penetrate as deeply as possible. Let this become your very core,
           your insight. Yes, it is so. Don't possess, don't hold tight. Remain relaxed, remain nonpossessive. If
           something is available, enjoy it; when it disappears, let it disappear with gratitude -- gratitude for all
           that it has done for you, with no grudge, with no complaint. And you will know the greatest joys of
           life and death, light and darkness, of being and nonbeing both.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN EXISTENCE WHENEVER AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON APPEARS, BOTH THE BAD AND THE
              GOOD FORCES START FUNCTIONING. AS HISTORY TESTIFIES, OFTEN THE BAD FORCES
              WIN. A JESUS IS CRUCIFIED, A SOCRATES IS POISONED, A MANSOOR IS CHOPPED,
              BUDDHA, MAHAVIRA ARE STONED. AS SUCH, A LARGE PART OF HUMANITY REMAINS IN
              UTTER DARKNESS. BELOVED MASTER, WILL THIS STATE OF AFFAIRS REMAIN AS IN THE
              PAST? WILL THE SAME PHENOMENON CONTINUE AFTER YOU LEAVE? PLEASE THROW
              SOME LIGHT.


                Dharma Bhikkhu, the first thing to understand is: don't divide existence into good and bad, into
           God and Devil, into forces of good and forces of evil. That division is a wrong way to look at reality.
           Existence is one. In existence Jesus and Judas are not separate, but players in the same drama. Can
           you think of Jesus without Judas? You think Christianity was founded by Jesus alone? Then you are
           utterly wrong -- fifty percent by Jesus, fifty percent by Judas. And in fact, Judas has played a more
           important role than Jesus himself.
                Hence I don't call Christianity "Christianity"; I call it "Crossianity," because the cross has
           become the symbol. And who is responsible for the cross? Judas is responsible for the cross. Without
           Judas, the story of Jesus will lose all its glory. Judas gives the contrast; he is the blackboard on
           which Jesus becomes a silver line. He is the black cloud, and Jesus shines forth as a lightning energy
           -- but without the black cloud you will not be able to see the lightning either.
                Do you see stars during the day? They are there, but you can't see them. To see them you will
           need the dark night -- the darker the night, the more shining are the stars. The night is more starry
           because more and more stars appear as the darkness deepens. Will you say that darkness is against
           the stars? It enhances them, it nourishes them.
                So the first thing to remember, Dharma Bhikkhu, is that existence is not divided into two camps.
           It is one game, it is one play; we are all players in it, and the enemy is as much needed as the friend.
                It is not accidental that before Jesus was caught he kissed Judas and washed his feet. Christians
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           think this is just saintliness, holiness. My observation is: it is understanding; it has nothing to do with
           saintliness or holiness. A tremendous understanding!
                Jesus is saying, "Although Judas is going to betray me, he has to fulfill his role and I have to
           fulfill mine -- and we are part of the same drama." This is the Eastern insight: that the forces of light
           and the forces of darkness are not really separate, they only appear so.
                If Socrates was not poisoned you would have forgotten him long ago. And he was going to die
           anyway, so the people who poisoned him helped his work, they really served his cause. They made
           his name immortal.
                There have been many Sufi mystics of the same status as al-Hillaj Mansoor, but how many
           names do you remember? Do you remember even the name of the master of Mansoor? All names
           have been forgotten. Mansoor has become an eternal light, for the simple reason that he was killed,
           brutally killed -- yes, chopped into parts. Jesus' death compared to Mansoor's looks very human,
           compassionate. Mansoor was killed part by part. First his legs were cut off, then his hands, then his
           eyes were taken out, then his tongue was cut out, then his head was cut off -- in parts, in pieces.
                But Mansoor became the most precious name in the whole Sufi tradition; and the tradition is
           rich: Bahauddin, Jalaluddin, Hassan, Rabiya, Mansoor's own master, Junnaid, and thousands of
           others who have become enlightened.
                These two traditions in the world have created the most enlightened people: one is Zen, born out
           of Buddha's insight, and another is Sufism, born out of Mohammed's insight. These two traditions
           have created the greatest light in the world. But you cannot find a single name in Zen compared to
           Mansoor, for the simple reason that no Zen master was chopped up, killed, crucified.
                If Jesus has conquered almost the whole world -- because almost half of humanity is under his
           impact -- what is the reason? Is Mahavira in any way lagging behind in his enlightenment? Is Kanad
           not capable of transforming the whole world? They are as capable as Jesus, but they don't have their
           Judas -- the cross is missing. They died in their beds, they died in an ordinary way. As far as their
           inner being is concerned they died in an extraordinary way, but who is going to see and understand
           it? Jesus' death becomes such an historical phenomenon, so significant, that history is divided at that
           point: before Jesus and after Jesus. Jesus becomes the line of division. Nobody else has been so
           significant. Why?
                And you say, Dharma Bhikkhu, "Often the bad forces win."
                No, never. In the first place, the good and the bad are not enemies -- playing a game of
           hide-and-seek. And in the second place, the good always wins because the good is bigger than the
           bad. Jesus is far bigger than Judas, and Socrates is far bigger than the people who poisoned him, and
           Mansoor is far bigger than the people who killed him.
                Good is infinite; bad is just a part in it, a small part -- intrinsic, necessary, inevitable, but a small
           part. It serves good.
                No, by Jesus' crucifixion the forces of evil have not won -- they can't win, it is impossible. God is
           always victorious. His ways are strange: sometimes he conquers you in such a strange way that you
           can't see the point immediately. He conquers through Jesus by crucifying Jesus -- a strange method,
           a mysterious way, but such are the ways of God.
                And thirdly, it is always going to remain the same; about that, there is going to be no change.
           And I don't think that there is any need for any change either; it is perfectly right. It is far more
           beautiful to die on the cross than to die in Sassoon Hospital!* Just the idea of dying in Sassoon
           Hospital is frightening. I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of Sassoon Hospital!

           The third question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               I AM A STRONG MAN, BUT I CANNOT FIND A WOMAN WHO TRULY LOVES ME. WHAT IS
               MISSING IN ME? I HAVE COME HERE TO FIND A SOULMATE. CAN YOU HELP ME?


              Sudhiro, maybe... but before I can help you to find a soulmate I will have to create a soul in you,
           which is far more difficult! You may be physically strong; that does not mean that you have a soul.
              Soul is only a seed; you don't have actual souls within you, just possibilities. And without a soul,
           people start searching for a soulmate! Only a SOUL can attract another soul. If you have a soul, then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           some soul is bound to be attracted towards you; you will find the soulmate.
               But one never thinks that way. And the idea that you are a strong man may become an
           obstruction, because a strong man ordinarily is one who is more animalistic. That's our idea of
           strength: a man who looks more like an animal.
               Whenever I see the pictures of Mr. Universe I am simply puzzled -- I can't see any beauty, they
           look utterly ugly; all muscles and nothing else! They look more like animals than men.
               And this is not health either, because they all die early and they all die with dangerous diseases,
           for the simple reason that they force their bodies in a certain mold. They don't love their bodies; their
           bodies are tense. By the time these Mr. Universes are forty they are on the verge of dying and they
           succumb to great illnesses, incurable, because they themselves have created those illnesses. They
           have been forcing their bodies, manipulating their bodies. They have succeeded, but at a great cost.
               Strength, in the ordinary mind, means aggressiveness. And a woman needs a little more
           tenderness, not aggressiveness. And who knows, Sudhiro? You may just be carrying this idea that
           you are a strong man and you may not even be that. It may be just an ego idea, a fantasy.

               Moe and Sophie had been married for twelve years. One night in bed Moe said, "Lift up your
           nightgown."
           Sophie did not answer.
               Moe tried once again. "Hey, be a good girl. Lift up your nightgown."
           Sophie still did not reply.
               Moe stormed out of the room, slamming the door. Sophie got up and locked it. For half an hour
           Moe walked the living room. Then he strode back to the bedroom, pushed on the door, and found it
           was locked.
           "Open the door," he pleaded. "I am sorry I got sore. Open the door!"
           Sophie did not answer.
           "If you don't open the door I will break it down!"
           "Look at my athlete!" shouted Sophie. "A nightgown he can't lift up, but a door he will break down!"

               So I don't know how strong you are. Maybe you are able to break doors -- that won't help. You
           will have to learn the other art! And I don't know, Sudhiro, how old you are -- because you must
           have been searching long; otherwise you would not have reached here. And if you have been failing
           for your whole life you must have become crystallized into certain patterns. You may be aggressive,
           you may be a pretender, you may be less interested in love and more in conquering a woman.
               There are many people who go on doing that: they go on counting how many women they have
           conquered. There are women also -- now only in the West but soon they will be in the East too --
           who go on counting, as if love is a question of quantity!

              A man was making love to a woman and he asked her, "Am I the first man to make love to you?"
              And a long silence followed. The man asked, "Have you heard me or not?"
           She said, "I have heard, but I am counting."

               There are people who keep count: how many women they have conquered, how many men they
           have conquered. If you are interested in conquest you are not interested in love. And when slowly
           slowly, life starts slipping out of your hands, when death starts knocking on your doors, you become
           frightened. Suddenly you become alert that you have missed something beautiful.
               Love is one of the greatest experiences in life -- and many miss it. They may reproduce children,
           they may have married many times, but love is a totally different phenomenon. It needs a great
           sensitivity, it needs a soul. And when time passes and energies starts waning and death comes closer,
           you are in a panic.
               That's exactly my feeling reading your question, Sudhiro -- that you are in a panic.

              Two little old ladies were chatting over the backyard fence. The first one boasted, "I went out
           with old man Cain last night and I had to slap him twice."
           "To stop him?" asked her friend.
           "No," she giggled, "to start him!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               But it is good that you have come here. If you cannot start, we can slap you! Something is always
           possible. One thing that you need is: rather than searching for a soulmate, become a soul, become
           more conscious.
               When love is unconscious it is only lust and nothing else -- a beautiful name for an ugly thing.
           When love is conscious, only then it is love. But how many people are conscious? When love is
           meditative, only then it is love.
               And a meditative love will attract a meditative love energy. You get only what you deserve,
           remember, neither less nor more. You always get exactly that which you deserve. Existence is very
           just and very fair. So if you are not getting a soulmate, it is not going to help to frantically search for
           one. Rather look in. You are missing something in you -- you are missing love qualities. You are not
           tender, you are not sensitive, you are not conscious. And you don't know how to give without asking
           anything in return. Your love is a demand, there is a condition to it. It is a kind of exploitation. You
           want to use the other's body, and no woman is ever happy if she is used -- she hates it.
               Millions of women hate their husbands for the simple reason that they feel used, as if they are
           just machines for your sexual lust to be relieved so that you can have a good night's sleep. No
           woman can ever respect you if she feels she is being used. Each being is an end unto himself. Never
           use a woman, never use a man, never use anybody. Nobody is a means for your purposes. Respect --
           love is a sharing, it is not using the other, it is not trying to snatch something from the other. On the
           contrary, it is giving wholeheartedly for no reason at all, just for the sheer joy of giving.
               And then suddenly you will find one day you have found someone with whom your energies are
           in harmony, in accord. And it is a beautiful experience even to find a single person with whom you
           are in accord. And here you can find many persons with whom you are in accord.
               You can't imagine my ecstasy, because I am in accord with all of my sannyasins, in deep accord,
           a tremendous harmony. Then love reaches its highest peak. It is no more sexual, it is pure prayer.
           And when love is prayer, you have found the soulmate.
               But if your love is lust you can't find a soulmate, you can only find some woman's body. And the
           body is not going to help fulfill your longing. You need attunement with the soul, with the inner
           being, with the interiority of the woman or of the man. At least with one person if it happens, great
           joy arises. And then when you know the art, it can happen with many more people. And that's what
           friendship is.
               My effort here is to create a commune where thousands of souls are in such deep friendship, in
           such love, as if they are all soulmates. We can release such great light into the world through that
           energy field! We can start such a revolution in the world, we can ignite such fire, that it will go on
           burning in the future, down the centuries, helping people to be transformed, to be reborn.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE COME ACROSS A STATEMENT BY R.D. LAING THAT MADNESS IS NOT BREAKDOWN,
              IT IS BREAKTHROUGH. OUR MEDITATION CAMPS, WHENEVER THEY ARE CONDUCTED, ARE
              SEEN AS A BREAKDOWN, EVEN BY PSYCHIATRISTS. IS IT JUSTIFIED AND ETHICAL FOR
              PATIENTS OF DEPRESSION TO BE GIVEN DYNAMIC MEDITATION? PLEASE ADVISE. I AM
              MERELY A SURGEON.


               Krishna Teertha Bharti, R.D. Laing is bringing a radical change into the world of therapy. He is
           not an ordinary psychiatrist, he is a revolutionary psychiatrist. He understands me and what I am
           doing here. He goes on sending his books to me. He reads what is happening here, what I am saying,
           what I am teaching. He has been meeting with sannyasins in London -- he is immensely interested.
           But he is a revolutionary and his insight is great, and I agree with him in toto. He is right: madness is
           not a breakdown, it is a breakthrough.
               But one thing I would like to say: all madnesses are not breakthroughs. But every madness can
           be transformed into a breakthrough -- and that should be the work of the therapist. Even if the
           madness is a breakdown, the function of the therapist is to help the breakdown to be transformed into
           a breakthrough. Otherwise, what is your purpose? What are you doing?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Up to now, the function of the therapist has been to normalize the person, to bring him back to
           his old self. And what was his old self in the first place? It is his old self that has brought this state of
           madness. If you bring him back to the old self you are simply postponing the same thing happening
           again. Sooner or later he will again become mad. Maybe you are helping him for temporary relief.
           Unless his breakdown becomes a breakthrough you have not been a real help to him.
                My methods of meditation are methods for future psychotherapy. The orthodox, the ordinary
           psychiatrists will be against my methods, because they cling to the old idea. They are afraid of the
           breakdown -- I am not afraid of the breakdown. Breakdown simply means the change has started.
           Breakdown simply means all the old strategies, all the old securities, have failed. Breakdown simply
           means that your old personality is of no use anymore. You need a new being, a new birth.
                When the child is born out of the womb he must be thinking -- if he can think -- that this is a
           breakdown, because his whole world is disappearing. The womb, its coziness, its warmth, its safety,
           security -- no worry, no responsibility -- all that is disappearing. And the child has to pass such a
           narrow passage, he must be feeling that he is dying. And then he has to learn a new way of life from
           ABC. It takes twenty-five years for us to educate him to function rightly in the society.
                But our society is abnormal, our society is neurotic. It has been dominated by neurotic
           politicians, neurotic priests, for centuries. So we convert each child into a neurotic -- Hindu
           neurotics, Mohammedan neurotics, Christian neurotics. We change every child into a fanatic, and the
           more fanatic he is the more we praise him. The more he says, "Hinduism is the only religion, the
           only right religion, the only true religion," Hindus will praise him.
                That's how Ayatollah Khomeini is being praised by foolish people in Iran. He is a lunatic -- he
           needs a breakdown! -- but he is being praised as a great leader, a revolutionary leader. Down the
           centuries, fanatics have been praised.
                If somebody says, "India is the greatest country in the world, the most religious, the most sacred
           land," people will praise him. They will say, "Look how devoted he is to the country." He is simply
           mad -- he needs therapy!
                Because we have praised these kinds of neurotic attitudes, approaches, and we have condemned
           others... if somebody does not praise Mohammedanism, Hinduism, Christianity, we think he is a
           traitor. If somebody is not a great nationalist we think he is a traitor. We have condemned the sane
           people and we have praised the insane. Naturally, the crowd has remained insane.
                The whole world needs a breakdown! But just a breakdown is not going to help. Before the
           world goes through that breakdown -- and the day is coming closer every day -- methods and devices
           have to be invented, innovated, which can transform the breakdown into a breakthrough.
                That's what my meditation techniques are: a preparation for the future, a preparation, an
           absolutely necessary preparation, for something which is going to happen. Humanity IS on the verge
           of a breakdown -- we have come to the very end of the tether. Now there is no more, we cannot go
           on any longer in this way. The old patterns have been outlived; they are all outdated.
                Your psychiatrists and your psychoanalysts will be against me, because they serve the past and I
           have no love for the past, not at all. I love the present, and through the present I prepare for the
           future. The past is so ugly, it is not even worth looking at. In a better future we will stop teaching
           people about past history, about Alexanders, Genghis Khans, Nadirshahs, Tamerlanes, because even
           to mention them to the children is wrong. Even to give them an idea that such people have existed,
           that man can fall into such degradation, is poisoning their minds.
                But your psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, are in the service of the past; hence they will be against
           my methods. Their whole effort is somehow to patch up people. If some hole appears they simply
           patch it up, if some wound appears they cover it up. They keep you functioning efficiently as a clerk
           in an office, as a deputy collector, as a police inspector, as a stationmaster, etcetera. They are not
           interested in your humanity. Their interest is only that you should remain a functioning member of
           society, mechanically useful, that's all.
                My purpose is totally different: I want you to be a human being. I want you not only to be a
           human being but to rise towards being divine.
                You ask me, Krishna Teertha Bharti.... He is a surgeon, a doctor; naturally this question has
           arisen in his mind. You ask me, "Is it justified and ethical for patients of depression to be given
           Dynamic Meditation?"
                What else can be more justified and more ethical -- because to be a sufferer of depression simply
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means he has repressed too much. Depression is nothing but repression. He is depressed so much
           because he has not been allowed to express himself. Dynamic Meditation is expression. In
           expressing himself, in catharting all that has been repressed in his unconscious, he will be
           unburdened, he will become saner, healthier.

           Two robbers broke into a bank in a small town.
           "Alright," said the bigger man. "Line up! We are gonna rob all the men and rape all the women!"
           "Wait a second!" snapped his partner. "Let us just grab the dough and beat it!"
           "Shut up and mind your own business," said the spinster from behind the counter. "The big fella
           knows what he is doing!"

              We have made everybody repressed, pushing down all kinds of things. They are boiling within.

               Before she left a friend's house Aunt Emma was warned that a sex maniac was loose in the
           neighborhood. That evening when she returned to her apartment, she cautiously looked under her
           bed, in her closet and behind the draperies.
               Then Emma switched on the light. "Well, he is not here!" she sighed. "Damn it!"

               Everybody who has been brought up in our societies needs some methods to vomit anger, sex,
           greed, jealousies, envies. You are sitting on a volcano... and the volcano can erupt at any moment! If
           catharsis is allowed -- and that's what Dynamic Meditation is all about -- the volcano will disappear.
           You will become saner.
               I am not saying you will become more normal, but I am saying you will become more sane.
           Now, the two may not coincide; in fact they cannot -- because by the normal we really don't mean
           the normal but we mean the average. It is a wrong use of the word. 'Normal' should mean one who
           lives according to the norm, one who lives according to the natural, spontaneous -- he is normal. But
           people are not allowed to live naturally and spontaneously. They are forced to live an average life as
           others are living -- and the average is thought to be normal.
               That's why I say I make people saner. They will be normal REALLY, but they may not coincide
           with your idea of the normal. They will not be average, certainly -- they will be higher than the
           average. They will have more insight into life, more joy in their lives, more freedom in their lives,
           more rebellion too -- more freedom and more rebellion. And the society and church are against
           freedom. They don't want you to be free, they want you to be slaves. Their whole vested interest is in
           your being always a slave.
               Hence they are all against me. I can understand, I am not at all surprised by their anger against
           me. Their anger is natural, because whatsoever I am doing here is going to sabotage their whole
           structure, and sometimes just a hole in the boat is enough to sink it. And my effort is to make as
           many holes as possible!

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS MAN PREDICTABLE?


              Tosho, man is not predictable -- if he is a man. But very few men are really men -- they are
           machines. Machines are predictable. Man has freedom. You cannot predict Buddha, but you can
           predict the so-called ordinary people. They are predictable -- they go on doing the same thing again
           and again. You know what they have been doing up to now and according to that you can predict
           what they are going to do tomorrow.
              Small children are not predictable because they are not yet converted into machines.

               Preparing to give a small boy an aptitude test, a psychiatrist told his nurse to put a pitchfork, a
           wrench and a hammer on the table.
           "If he grabs the pitchfork he will be a farmer. If he grabs the wrench he will be a mechanic. And if
           he grabs the hammer he will be a carpenter," the doctor explained.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The boy fooled everyone -- he grabbed the nurse.

              Man has become so mechanical that even animals sometimes behave in a more unpredictable
           way than man.

                Experimental psychologists like to tell a story about a professor who investigated the ability of
           chimpanzees to solve problems. A banana was suspended from the center of the ceiling, at a height
           that the chimp could not reach by jumping. The room was bare of all objects except several packing
           crates placed around the room at random. The test was to see whether a lady chimp would think of
           first stacking the crates in the center of the room and then of climbing on top of the crates to get the
           banana.
                The chimp sat quietly in a corner, watching the psychologist arrange the crates. She waited
           patiently until the professor crossed the middle of the room. When he was directly below the fruit,
           the chimp suddenly jumped on his shoulder, then leaped into the air and grabbed the banana.

               Tosho, man -- a real man -- is not predictable, because he lives moment to moment. He does not
           live out of the past and he does not live out of any ideology for the future. He simply lives THIS
           moment. He responds to the situation, he is responsible; hence he is not predictable.
               My sannyasins have to become unpredictable. The more unpredictable you are, the more you are
           human.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                    Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Truth is that which is
           15 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912150
              ShortTitle: DHAM705
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              IF YOU DETERMINE YOUR COURSE
              WITH FORCE OR SPEED,
              YOU MISS THE WAY OF THE LAW.



              QUIETLY CONSIDER
              WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG.
              RECEIVING ALL OPINIONS EQUALLY,
              WITHOUT HASTE, WISELY,
              OBSERVE THE LAW.



              WHO IS WISE,
              THE ELOQUENT OR THE QUIET MAN?
              BE QUIET,
              AND LOVING AND FEARLESS.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              FOR THE MIND TALKS,
              BUT THE BODY KNOWS.



              GRAY HAIRS DO NOT MAKE A MASTER.
              A MAN MAY GROW OLD IN VAIN.



              THE TRUE MASTER LIVES IN TRUTH,
              IN GOODNESS AND RESTRAINT,
              NONVIOLENCE, MODERATION AND PURITY.



              FINE WORDS OR FINE FEATURES
              CANNOT MAKE A MASTER
              OUT OF A JEALOUS AND GREEDY MAN.



              ONLY WHEN ENVY AND SELFISHNESS
              ARE ROOTED OUT OF HIM
              MAY HE GROW IN BEAUTY.



              A MAN MAY SHAVE HIS HEAD
              BUT IF HE STILL LIES AND NEGLECTS HIS WORK,
              IF HE CLINGS TO DESIRE AND ATTACHMENT,
              HOW CAN HE FOLLOW THE WAY?



              THE TRUE SEEKER
              SUBDUES ALL WAYWARDNESS.
              HE HAS SUBMITTED HIS NATURE TO QUIETNESS.



              HE IS A TRUE SEEKER
              NOT BECAUSE HE BEGS
              BUT BECAUSE HE FOLLOWS THE LAWFUL WAY,
              HOLDING BACK NOTHING, HOLDING TO NOTHING,
              BEYOND GOOD AND BEYOND EVIL,
              BEYOND THE BODY AND BEYOND THE MIND.


                The way of Gautama the Buddha is the way of let-go; it cannot be determined by willpower.
           Willpower is only a beautiful name for ego power. The existence of the will is nothing but a
           by-product of the ego. The ego itself is a shadow, hence willpower is a shadow of a shadow. The
           very idea of having a will of one's own is against existence. It creates a rift between you and the
           whole. The whole has will -- how can the part have a will of its own? The part can win, not against
           the whole but with the whole. The part can win, not by winning but by surrendering.
                The path of Buddha is of total surrender: total surrender to the dhamma, to tao, to the universal
           law, to God. These are different names for the same phenomenon. We are living in a cosmos, not in a
           chaos. Everything is as perfect as it can be; nothing can be improved upon. The very idea of trying to
           improve upon things is sheer stupidity. Those who have known, they have known the absolute
           perfection of existence.
                Then what is left? To dissolve in the whole and celebrate! This cannot be done as a
           determination on your part, because if YOU determine, then you remain there behind your
           determination hiding in disguise. If YOU determine, how can you dissolve? YOU cannot surrender
           -- if you surrender, it is not surrender.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then what is surrender? How is it going to happen at all? Surrender is the understanding that the
           ego is false. In that very understanding, the ego evaporates -- is not found anymore -- and the
           surrender has happened. Not that it has been done by you; it happens without your doing. Only then
           is it true, authentic; it has immense beauty and tremendous power, because then you become a
           vehicle of the whole. You are no longer a part, you simply represent the whole.
               You are the wave in the ocean -- and the wave in the ocean is the ocean itself! If the ocean
           contains the wave, the wave contains the ocean in a similar way. They are inseparable, they are one.
           The wave is the manifestation of the unmanifest, a finite expression of the infinite. So are you just a
           wave. The moment you start thinking yourself separate, the wave has gone insane.

           The first sutra:

               IF YOU DETERMINE YOUR COURSE
               WITH FORCE OR SPEED,
               YOU MISS THE WAY OF THE LAW.


                The ego is always aggressive; it can exist only through aggression. It creates such fuss, such dust,
           such smoke, that you can't see. It makes you blind. It whirls you round and round, it makes you
           dizzy. That's why the ego is always hankering for more and more power, more and more force. It
           wants to do things with absolute force.
                The ego is a fascist, it is totalitarian, it is dictatorial. It does not want any rebellion against itself.
           It immediately destroys any possibility of you becoming free of it. Just the seed of a rebellion... and
           it starts destroying it. It is constantly watching. It is constantly trying to keep you so occupied that
           you never become aware of the great slavery you are living in. And the ego is very cunning: it
           convinces you that "I am you."
                So whenever the idea of dropping the ego arises you start feeling as if you are losing your
           identity. The ego is not your identity. It is because of the ego that you are not able to know who you
           really are. The ego is the barrier. It keeps you running and it keeps you at such a speed, in such a
           hurry, that you don't have any time to think things over, to ponder, to meditate, to see what you are
           doing, why you are doing it.
                It does not give you any time to see. It keeps you crazy, engaged, constantly engaged in one
           desire or other. Before one desire is spent it creates ten more. It keeps new desires ready so there is
           never a gap, never an interval left between two desires -- because in that gap you will be able to see
           and recognize the stupidity of your life, the utter madness of your life. And once you have seen it
           you cannot remain part of it anymore. You will jump out of it! You have seen that the house is on
           fire.
                Buddha says: IF YOU DETERMINE YOUR COURSE WITH FORCE OR SPEED, YOU MISS
           THE WAY OF THE LAW. You miss the whole point of existence, because existence is available in
           all its beauty and benediction only to those who are living in a relaxed way -- not with force, not
           with any speed; who are not rushing, running, who are not ambitious, who are not at all engaged in
           some not-yet future. It is available to those who are at rest, at home with the present moment, so
           relaxed as if there is no other time. This moment is all.... In that relaxed state, tao opens its doors.
                Buddha's name for tao is dhamma. In English there is no real synonym for tao or dhamma, hence
           it has been translated as 'the law'. It is a poor word. 'The law' does not really indicate the meaning of
           Buddha's word 'dhamma'. Dhamma means the nature of existence. Dhamma means the harmony of
           existence. Dhamma means that which holds the existence together. Dhamma means the universal
           interconnectedness. It is a multidimensional word, tremendously pregnant. To call it "the law" is to
           reduce it to a one-dimensional word.
                And why do we miss the point of existence, the very point which can make us blissful, which can
           make us free from all misery? We miss because we are in such a hurry. Strange! Ordinarily we think
           the man who is moving with speed will reach sooner, and the man who works with great force is
           going to achieve. Yes, that's how it happens in the world; but in the deepest realm of existence just
           the reverse is the case.
                If you go with speed you will miss; if you are in too much of a hurry you will not be able to see.
           Your eyes will remain clouded, you will remain tense. You will not be able to see that which is,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because your mind is so full of desire, of ambition, of achievement, you can't see that which is. You
           are always hankering for that which should be.
               Ordinarily, the "ought" has become more important than the "is," the "should be" has become
           more important than "that which is." And God is that which is, truth is that which is.
           Hence, Buddha says: Relax, let go, rest.

              QUIETLY CONSIDER
              WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG.
              RECEIVING ALL OPINIONS EQUALLY,
              WITHOUT HASTE, WISELY,
              OBSERVE THE LAW.


               Much is missed in the translation: QUIETLY CONSIDER.... Buddha's word is not 'consider' --
           he says meditate, quietly meditate. But in English, to meditate means to consider, to think
           concentratedly. To meditate means to meditate UPON something. There is an object, you have to
           contemplate about it. Meditation in English has the connotation of concentrated thinking on a certain
           object.
               But the Buddhist meaning of meditation -- DHYANA -- is totally different. It has nothing to do
           with any object in particular; it has something to do, certainly, with you, but not with the object. It
           has something to do with the consciousness, not with the content. It is a totally different orientation.
           The content is outside, the object is outside, and consciousness is inside. The English word
           'meditation' is extrovert; the Buddhist word 'meditation' is introvert.
               When Buddha says meditate he means don't think -- it is just the opposite of the English
           meaning. He says: drop all thinking and see. That is the only way to know things as they are...
           because if you are thinking, you are bringing your prejudices in. If you are thinking, you are bringing
           your past conclusions in. If you are thinking, your mind is functioning -- and mind is past, and the
           past never allows you to see the present. Thinking has to stop for meditation to be. Thinking has to
           evaporate totally. In that state of no-thought you can see.
               But to the Western mind, the state of no-thought seems as if you will fall asleep. What will you
           do if there is no thought? The Western mind is constantly DOING something. It can keep itself
           awake only if it is occupied, doing something. It is a doer. And that is the difference between the
           Eastern and the Western approach.
               The East has stumbled upon a totally different kind of experience -- the experience of no-thought
           and yet being fully awake. This was the greatest revelation, one of the most important contributions
           to the world. The West knows thinking and sleep. You are doing something either with the body or
           with the mind; if you have nothing to do with the body or the mind you go to sleep, then sleep takes
           over.
               Rest, in the West, becomes sleep; rest, in the East, is a state of wakefulness without thought. It is
           neither sleep nor thinking; it is a totally different thing from both. Thoughts have disappeared....
               The Western psychologists say: If there is no thought, how can there be consciousness? Western
           psychology insists that consciousness is always consciousness OF something; it can't exist by itself.
           Logically it is appealing, convincing, but existentially it is absurd.
               Consciousness can exist without any thought -- I say it by my own experience. It is not a
           question of my conclusion through a thought process, it is my experience. It is the experience of all
           the buddhas of the past: consciousness CAN exist without thought. That is the only possibility of
           liberation; otherwise there will be no possibility -- either you are occupied with thoughts or you fall
           asleep and become occupied with dreams.
               And you go on moving in this vicious circle: dreams, thoughts, dreams, thoughts.... Dreams are
           pictorial thoughts, thoughts are verbal pictures; they are not much different. Dreams are a little
           primitive, thoughts are a little more sophisticated, but they do the same thing. They keep you focused
           on the outside, they never allow you to experience your own subjectivity.
               That subjectivity is your truth. And the only way to know it is to be in total rest -- as one is in
           sleep -- and yet be totally aware, alert, and without any thoughts. This is samadhi, this is the ultimate
           state of dhyana -- meditation. This is what Buddha means when he says: QUIETLY CONSIDER
           WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now, if you consider what is right, what is wrong, you miss. You are bound to start thinking,
           "What is right and what is wrong?" And what will you think about? You will start chewing over
           many thoughts that have been provided to you by the society. The society has taught you, "This is
           right and that is wrong," and you will start chewing them again. Maybe you will make some new
           combinations, you will color and paint and decorate them, but basically, essentially, they will be
           impositions from others. It is not your own experience. Hence Buddha can't mean thinking.
                He says: meditate quietly. Be silent and see. And in that seeing you will know -- without any
           logical process you will simply know: This is this. This is good and this is bad. Not that you have to
           decide it according to the Bible or the Koran or the Gita. If you have eyes you know where the wall
           is and where the door is. Do you have to think about it? Each time you go out of your room do you
           have to think again and again where the door is and where the wall is? You simply go out of the door
           without thinking at all, because you can see! But if you are blind, each time you will have to think
           again, "Where is the door?" You will have to grope for the door.
                Thinking is a blind state, it is a groping in darkness. Meditation is a state of having eyes, you are
           capable of seeing. You simply see what is right and what is wrong. And when you see what is right
           and what is wrong you can't do the wrong, you can't go against the right.
                A meditator naturally follows that which is good -- not that he decides to follow it -- and
           naturally avoids that which is bad. Not that he decides to avoid it; a meditator never takes any vows
           -- there is no need. A man with eyes never takes the vow that "I will always enter from the door, go
           out from the door. I promise you, God, that I will never try to enter from the wall. Believe me, I am a
           man of my word, I will keep it, although I know there will be many temptations." If somebody is
           saying that, you will laugh. "What nonsense he is talking! What temptations?" Have you ever been
           tempted by the wall to get in and out through it? No such temptation is there.
                When one can see clearly, good results. It is so natural, it is so spontaneous, you can't say that
           you have decided it. You can't say that you have used your will. You can't even say that this is your
           act. All that you can say is that this is how things are happening, not that you are doing them, you are
           only allowing them to happen. Then life has such a relaxed joy, because no tension follows it, no
           strain. The achieving mind is no longer there, hence there is never any frustration.
                QUIETLY CONSIDER WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG. But in the English
           translation it becomes just the opposite. If you simply cling to the English words it means think,
           ponder, consider, what is right and what is wrong.
                RECEIVING ALL OPINIONS EQUALLY, WITHOUT HASTE, WISELY, OBSERVE THE
           LAW. Buddha says: Don't have any prejudice. And we are so full of prejudices, we are bundles of
           prejudices. And whenever we think that we have come to a conclusion, it is just a deception -- you
           have again come to a prejudice which has already been put inside you by the society, by the church,
           by the state. You are victims of so many vested interests, which are all sitting around you with
           greedy eyes to exploit you, to suck your blood and soul.
                Watch, the next time you feel that you have understood something, observed something. Go back
           and try to see: is it some past prejudice that has again popped up in a new form, in a new format,
           with new words? And you will be surprised: it is so.

              The head doctor at the hospital was making his rounds and he passed before a group of newborn
           babies. "What's the matter with this little fellow? He seems awfully puny and underweight."
              The nurse said, "He is one of those artificial insemination babies, and I am afraid he has been
           coming along rather slowly."
           "Confirms a pet theory of mine," said the doctor. "Spare the rod and spoil the child!"

               That's what you go on doing. Peter's principle says: If the facts do not conform to the theory they
           must be disposed of. He also says: If you cannot convince them, confuse them.
               And that's what your great scholars go on doing. They cannot convince anybody, but they can
           certainly confuse. They have confused the whole world. That's what your theologians have done,
           your priests have done. The world lives in such confusion because of these great scholars, priests,
           professors, philosophers, pundits; and they have devoted their whole lives to confusing you. They
           are not convinced themselves of what they are saying, but when they become capable of confusing
           you they enjoy the ego trip. It is very satisfying to confuse somebody because you become superior.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And there are always foolish people who are ready to become victims of words -- beautiful, fine
           words. And systems made of words are nothing but houses made out of playing cards.
               George Bernard Shaw used to say: Build a system that even a fool can use and only a fool will
           want to use it.
               Every religion tries to convince the lowest denominator, the ordinary man. They can't succeed in
           convincing, because they themselves are not convinced. Conviction comes out of truth, not out of
           thinking, not out of studying. Conviction comes out of experience. They are themselves not
           convinced, but they have become very very skillful, efficient, in using words, making great systems
           out of words. They can confuse people. And there are millions of fools who are ready -- ready to be
           confused, and they think that their confusion is their conviction.
               That's why there are so many Christians -- all confused about Christ. Whenever somebody says,
           "I am a Christian," I immediately translate it that he is confused about Christ. When somebody says,
           "I am a Buddhist," I know that he is confused about Buddha. Because if you are NOT confused
           about Christ you will not be a Christian, you will be a christ! If you are convinced of the truth of
           Christ, you will be a christ not a Christian. If you are convinced of the truth of Buddha, if YOU have
           experienced it, you will be a buddha not a Buddhist.
               Fools are many and they can be exploited by these clever, cunning people. Scholars are clever
           and cunning people. They are experts in using fine words with such skill that you cannot see the
           loopholes. Because you can't see the loopholes you start believing in their words. But no belief ever
           delivers you from your misery, no belief becomes salvation -- Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan.
           Belief as such is a bondage.
               Buddha says: RECEIVING ALL OPINIONS EQUALLY.... Without any prejudice, without any
           opinion already arrived at, without any a priori.... Just listen to, and watch, all kinds of things. Be a
           pure mirror -- that is meditation. And without haste, because if you are in a hurry you will jump upon
           the conclusion. You are not really concerned with truth, you are more concerned with a conclusion,
           because the conclusion gives comfort, the conclusion gives you a security, the conclusion makes you
           feel that you know. It covers up your ignorance, it makes you feel sure and certain.
               Hence people are so ready to become part of any church. They are not ready to become free.
           Even if sometimes they leave a church, they leave only to join another church. The Hindu becomes
           the Mohammedan, the Mohammedan becomes the Christian, the Christian becomes the Hindu. And
           this way they go on moving from one church to another, but they remain the same people because
           their approach remains the same.
               There are only two approaches: one is of the mind, the other is of meditation. The approach of
           the mind remains confined to the world of beliefs, and the approach of meditation is the approach
           without thoughts, without beliefs, without prejudices.
               WITHOUT HASTE, WISELY, OBSERVE THE LAW. Don't be in a hurry. In hurrying you may
           decide something which is not true. Just for the longing to make a decision, you may conclude, you
           may start believing. A real inquirer is ready to wait, he is very patient. Even if it takes lives he is
           ready to devote lives.
               Truth is worth devoting as much time to as you can. One should not be in the mind in any way or
           have any hurry; otherwise he is bound to fall victim to some false commodity. In the name of truth,
           he will have something bogus.
               Buddha says: ... WISELY, OBSERVE THE LAW. Again the problem arises: OBSERVE THE
           LAW makes it appear as if Buddha is saying, "Follow the Ten Commandments." No, he is not saying
           that. Again he is saying: Observe your nature, your self-nature, follow it. Be yourself, be
           authentically yourself. Risk everything for being yourself. It is comfortable not to be yourself,
           because when you are ready not to be yourself people are very happy with you. You follow them,
           you imitate them, they become your leaders -- religious, political, etcetera. But when you try to be
           yourself you are nobody's follower and nobody is your leader.
               My sannyasins are not my followers, just friends, fellow-travelers. I am not their leader, I am not
           leading them towards anything. I am simply a poet singing my song, a musician playing on my sitar.
           You enjoy it! It is not a question of being convinced by me. When you listen to the birds in the
           morning you don't become convinced of the truth of their song... just the beauty.
               My effort is to share my joy, my beauty, my experience with you. And I am grateful that you
           allow me to be with you. That you allow me to hold your hand in deep love, I am grateful. But you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not my followers, just my friends. I am not your leader, I am not your guide. I have become
           awakened, true -- and you are fast asleep. I can wake you up. But if somebody wakes you up in the
           morning he does not become your leader and does not become your guide. Just a friend! And a
           friend in need is a friend indeed. And that is the greatest need: that you are asleep and somebody is
           needed to wake you up.
           "Follow the law," in Buddha's vision, means follow your self-nature, dhamma, tao.

              WHO IS WISE,
              THE ELOQUENT OR THE QUIET MAN?


               Buddha asks: WHO IS WISE? The clever, the cunning, the man who is very skillful with words,
           the man who can make great systems of thoughts, great structures which have all the explanations
           for all the questions? Is that man wise? Or the one who is silent? Is that man wise who demystifies
           existence and supplies all the answers to you? Or the man who mystifies existence again through his
           silence, through his being, through his presence, through his love, through his sharing?
               Certainly, that man is wise who mystifies existence again for you; with whom you again start
           looking at things with wonder, with awe, with whom you again start listening to the sermons of
           silence and songs of stones. That man is wise with whom you again become capable of being
           innocent like a child, with whom you again become capable of dancing in the wind, in the sun, in the
           rain. That man is wise, because he brings you closer to nature, and to be closer to nature is to be
           closer to yourself.
               He does not give you a certain code, a morality, a pattern to live by. He does not impose a
           discipline upon you. He simply shares his vision, insight, clarity, and things start becoming clear to
           you. And out of your clarity you start living. Of course, your life is going to be unique, it is not going
           to be an imitation of the master. If it is an imitation, you miss the point, you miss the master. It is
           going to be unique; it will have its own flavor, its own fragrance.
              WHO IS WISE, THE ELOQUENT OR THE QUIET MAN?



              BE QUIET,
              AND LOVING AND FEARLESS.


                Three things Buddha says: Be quiet -- learn to be silent more and more -- AND loving, because if
           your silence is not loving it will make you insensitive. Then your silence will be that of a cemetery --
           dull, dead. It will not be a silence which can celebrate, it will not be a silence which can sing and
           dance. It will not be a silence which can bloom in a thousand and one flowers. Hence, Buddha
           immediately says: it should be loving.
                And love is possible only if you are fearless; if you are afraid you cannot be loving. The man
           who is afraid of anything -- death, the police, the magistrate, the government -- the man who is afraid
           of anything can't love.
                And all fears are basically fears arising out of death. The fear of the policeman is also the same,
           because he can kill, he can shoot you. The fear of the government is nothing but the fear of violence
           -- the government can kill more powerfully than anybody else. What is the fear of the magistrate and
           the law? -- because the magistrate has the power to send you to the gallows or he can give you a life
           sentence. You are afraid. But deep down all fear is of death... and death is a myth. It has never
           happened, it never happens, it is never going to happen.
                The meditator comes to know the falsity of death, and in that very moment all fear disappears; he
           becomes fearless.
                Remember, Buddha is not saying be brave, he is saying be fearless. That is a totally different
           dimension. There are three words to be understood. One is the coward, who is continuously afraid;
           everything makes him fearful, whether valid, invalid, possible, impossible. He goes on living in the
           fears of his own imagination, he creates his own nightmares.
                Then there is the brave man, who is the opposite of the coward. And we have praised the brave
           man very much, but the brave man is nothing but the coward standing on his head; he is the same
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           type of man. It is not that the brave man has no fears -- he has fears, but in spite of them he goes on
           fighting, he goes on moving in a direction where he knows there is fear. But the fear gives him a
           challenge; to fight with the fear becomes his ego trip. He is the brave man.
               Buddha is not talking about the brave man. He is saying simply: Be fearless. When you are
           fearless you are neither a coward nor brave, because both are rooted in fear. The coward has
           succumbed to fear and the brave is trying to win over fear, but both are concerned with fear. And the
           fearless one has simply dropped the whole thing. He is neither brave nor cowardly. He knows there
           is no death, there is nothing to be afraid of and there is nothing to be brave about.
               This is a different dimension, a transcendence of the duality of cowardice and bravery.
               Be fearless, be loving, be silent, and you will be wise. This is his definition of wisdom.

              FOR THE MIND TALKS,
              BUT THE BODY KNOWS.


               The word 'body' can give you a wrong connotation again. What Buddha means is: the mind talks
           -- the mind is a part. And when he says the body knows, he means the WHOLE knows. Buddha
           always used the word 'body' for the whole; it is not the same as when YOU use the word 'body'.
           When you use the word 'body' it is a part; body, mind, soul, these are three parts in your mind, in
           your thought processes. This is how you have divided yourself. When Buddha says the body he
           means your wholeness: "This very body the Buddha, this very earth the Lotus Paradise." When he
           uses the word 'body' he means your wholeness, your totality. The mind talks, your totality knows.
               The mind is useful if you have known. Then the mind can be used as a beautiful instrument to
           convey, to communicate. After all, Buddha himself is using these words through the mind, but when
           you have known, mind is a beautiful instrument. Without knowing, you may have studied much from
           the scriptures... and your mind becomes a gramophone record. You go on repeating others. Avoid
           that.
               It is better to be ignorant and be yourself than to be very knowledgeable, because all knowledge
           that is not yours is far worse than ignorance -- it keeps you unaware of your ignorance. If you
           become aware, something can be done. If you become aware, ignorance can be dissipated.

              GRAY HAIRS DO NOT MAKE A MASTER.
              A MAN MAY GROW OLD IN VAIN.


              Just becoming old does not mean that you have become a wise man. Age in itself does not make
           anybody wise. One may grow old; that does not mean that one has become a grown-up. Growing old
           and becoming grown-up are totally different phenomena.

              A young reporter was interviewing old Harry Blackwell on his one hundred and first birthday.
           "Tell me, Mr. Blackwell, if you had your life to live over again, would you still make the same
           mistakes?"
           "Sure as hell would!" came his emphatic reply.
           "You mean you would not do ANYTHING differently?"
           "Sure would. I would start sooner."

               This man must have been at least sincere. Otherwise old people become cunning, insincere,
           dishonest.

              Sunday was to be the day of Joe's wedding, and he and his father were enjoying a nightcap
           together. Lifting his glass in a toast to his father, Joe asked, "Any advice before I take the big step,
           Dad?"
           "Yes," the father said, "two things. First: insist on having one night out a week with the boys.
           Second: don't waste it on the boys."

              People go on growing in age but not in maturity. They don't become really ripe; they remain as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           childish as anybody else. And when you are a child and are childish it is not so embarrassing, but
           when you have become old and you are childish it is very embarrassing. They hide it, but deep down
           they are the same person, nothing has happened -- because nothing ever happens without meditation.
           Just accumulating experience of the outside world does not transform you. It makes you very well
           informed about many things, but information is information, it is not transformation.

              THE TRUE MASTER LIVES IN TRUTH,
              IN GOODNESS AND RESTRAINT,
              NONVIOLENCE, MODERATION AND PURITY.


               The true master is not one who knows about truth; the true master is one who lives in truth, who
           IS truth. The Upanishads say, "AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am God." al-Hillaj declares, "ANA'L
           HAQ -- I am God!" They are saying, "We are not talking about truth, we have BECOME it." Unless
           you become the truth your wisdom is not true wisdom, it is only mere knowledge. You can go on
           exhibiting it as wisdom, but you are not fooling anybody except yourself.
               THE TRUE MASTER LIVES IN TRUTH.... And when you live in truth, when truth is your very
           breath, then goodness follows as a shadow.
               And the word 'restraint' is again not a right translation. Buddha means discipline: a discipline not
           imposed by others, a discipline that arises out of your own being, out of your own understanding, out
           of your own truth.
               The wise man lives as truth, as goodness; his whole life is that of discipline. He does not try to
           live in any controlled way; he simply lives according to his nature -- and that is his discipline. He
           lives in nonviolence. He cannot hurt anybody, because to hurt anybody is to hurt oneself. Now he
           knows all is one. He lives in moderation.
               That is Buddha's very specific contribution: the middle path. Buddha says: Avoid the extreme,
           because it is on the extreme that anxiety arises. You can indulge in an extreme way and you will
           suffer. You can renounce the world, become another kind of extremist, and you will suffer. Extreme
           always brings suffering. To be in the middle is to be beyond suffering.

               When the traveling salesman's car broke down, he stopped at a farmhouse and was invited to
           sleep with the farmer's daughter. They went to bed and he made a pass.
               She said, "Stop. Stop that or I will call my father."
               He tried again. She said, "Stop, or I will call my father." But she moved closer.
           Finally he succeeded.
               Shortly after, she tugged on his pajama sleeve and said, "Could we do that again?" He obliged.
               A little later she woke him up and asked if they could do it again. He obliged.
               The third time she woke him up and asked if they could do it again he said, "Stop that or I will
           call your father."

               Indulge to the extreme and you will suffer. Or renounce to the extreme and you will suffer.
           Buddha is a very down-to-earth man; he says remain in the middle, exactly in the middle is the way.
           There you become balanced.
               ... NONVIOLENCE, MODERATION AND PURITY. All these things follow naturally if you
           are wise -- not knowledgeable, remember, but wise. Mind becomes knowledgeable, meditation
           brings wisdom.

              FINE WORDS OR FINE FEATURES
              CANNOT MAKE A MASTER
              OUT OF A JEALOUS AND GREEDY MAN.



              ONLY WHEN ENVY AND SELFISHNESS
              ARE ROOTED OUT OF HIM
              MAY HE GROW IN BEAUTY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               You may have a beautiful face, fine features; you may have a very articulate way of expressing
           yourself, of communicating your ideas, you may be very good with words. These things do not make
           a master; cannot, because if you are jealous and greedy you remain the same.
               ONLY WHEN ENVY AND SELFISHNESS ARE ROOTED OUT OF HIM MAY HE GROW
           IN BEAUTY. A real master is truly beautiful, but that beauty is not of the body. It is something inner
           that starts radiating out of the body. Yes, his body has a certain aura, a light around itself, a coolness,
           a grace -- but they arise from his innermost core. They arise from his center and spread towards the
           circumference. But just having a beautiful body does not mean that you are wise.
               Yes, a man of truth is bound to find some way to communicate it, he has to. It is inevitable,
           because when truth is known, a deep urge is felt to share it. When you have the truth you will find
           words, but just having beautiful words does not mean that you have found the truth.

              A MAN MAY SHAVE HIS HEAD
              BUT IF HE STILL LIES AND NEGLECTS HIS WORK,
              IF HE CLINGS TO DESIRE AND ATTACHMENT,
              HOW CAN HE FOLLOW THE WAY?


              One can become a renounced beggar, one can become a monk, a nun -- that is not going to help.
           Unless something in your inner being changes... a radical change is needed. Superficial changes
           won't do.

              THE TRUE SEEKER
              SUBDUES ALL WAYWARDNESS.


               What is waywardness? Your mind moving to the past and to the future, your mind going in all
           directions, your mind never being herenow: that is waywardness. A TRUE SEEKER SUBDUES
           ALL WAYWARDNESS.

              HE HAS SUBMITTED HIS NATURE TO QUIETNESS.


              He surrenders everything to the present moment and its silence.

              HE IS A TRUE SEEKER
              NOT BECAUSE HE BEGS
              BUT BECAUSE HE FOLLOWS THE LAWFUL WAY....

              Remember again: by lawful he means the natural.



              HOLDING BACK NOTHING, HOLDING TO NOTHING....


               The true seeker holds back nothing, he gives everything that he has. He shares totally his love,
           his joy, his experience -- and he holds to nothing, he clings to nothing. He need not cling to
           anything: the whole universe belongs to him, the whole kingdom of God is his.

              BEYOND GOOD AND BEYOND EVIL,
              BEYOND THE BODY AND BEYOND THE MIND.


               He lives a transcendental life, in the world and yet not of the world; lives in the body but is not
           identified with it; lives in the mind but never for a moment finds himself deluded that he is the mind.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He is neither the mind nor the body.
               Living in the world, doing all that is needful, he remains transcendental. He is like a lotus leaf or
           a lotus flower -- in the water and yet untouched by it.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                   Chapter #6
                               Chapter title: Don't take enlightenment seriously
           16 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912160
              ShortTitle: DHAM706
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DID YOU BECOME ENLIGHTENED?


               Prem Christo, one never becomes enlightened -- one IS enlightened. One simply remembers it. It
           is not an achievement, but only a recognition. You are as much enlightened as I am, nothing is
           missing. You have not lost your god, it is impossible to lose him. He is our very life; without him we
           cannot exist for a single moment.
               So the question is not how to find him. The question is how to become more alert, aware of that
           which already is the case.
               Enlightenment is not a process of becoming, it is a discovery of being. You don't grow towards
           enlightenment; hence it is never gradual -- growth is gradual. It is an explosion -- sudden,
           instantaneous. It happens in a single moment... it can happen any moment.
               You are only asleep, not unenlightened. You have to be awakened. So remember it: never think
           in terms of becoming. Becoming is desire, and desire is a hindrance, desire is a dream. If you want to
           become enlightened you will never be enlightened. Don't make it a goal, an object for desire,
           because all goals bring future in. And when the future comes in you are in a turmoil. That is what
           your so-called unenlightenment is. When there is no goal there is no future. When there is no desire,
           there is no possibility of dreaming. And the moment dreaming stops, sleep disappears.
               The state of that no sleep, no desire, no dreaming, no goal, IS enlightenment. Suddenly you find
           yourself utterly perfect. And one starts laughing, because one was searching for something which
           was never lost; one was seeking something which one has already been. How can you find that
           which you already are? It is impossible to find it. That's why enlightenment seems to be such a
           difficult process -- because it is not a process at all, hence the difficulty.
               The masters down the ages have simply been devising methods to wake you up, to shake you up,
           into enlightenment. They have used all kinds of methods, all kinds of devices. But all those devices
           are arbitrary; they have no intrinsic value of their own. Their value depends on the master and his
           artfulness, his skill. If somebody else is going to try those devices they won't work. It is not a
           science, it is an art, a knack.
               The Zen master may slap you, may throw you out of the door, may jump upon you and beat you,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but it works only in the hands of a Zen master. If YOU do it you will find yourself beaten, that's all,
           or in jail. A Zen master has a totally different vision of life, and slowly slowly, he creates a certain
           energy field around himself where the device starts functioning. It cannot function anywhere else.
               The Sufi master uses his own devices, they were great device-makers. The most important Sufi
           tradition is called Naqshbandi; NAQSHBANDI means the designers, the devisors. And strange
           devices they have invented. For example, Jalaluddin Rumi's Sufi dance, whirling, a very strange
           device. In his hands it worked tremendously, because when you really whirl you become
           disidentified with the body. That's why children enjoy whirling very much; they feel a great
           upliftment.
               But for that, certain preparations are needed; certain food, certain patterns of sleep, certain
           exercises have to precede it. Otherwise, if you start whirling suddenly, you will simply feel nausea
           and nothing else; you may fall sick. No enlightenment is going to happen through it. Everybody
           cannot do it. A preparation is needed for the device to work, because the device is arbitrary, it is a
           hothouse plant.
               When the master is alive he gives his life to his devices. The moment he is gone, only dead
           formulas are left. And people go on repeating those formulas for centuries. All those formulas appear
           stupid later on. In the hands of the master they had a golden touch; without the master, without the
           awakened one, they are just empty exercises.
               Remember it: that the great masters cannot be imitated. They are unique and they should not be
           imitated.

               A diplomatic dinner was being held at the embassy in Paris. Among the guests was an elderly
           dowager. She had overindulged in food, as was her wont, and as a result belched loudly. In the
           embarrassed silence that followed, an Englishman, seeing a countryman in difficulty, gallantly
           pretended that he was the offender and apologized for the faux pas profusely.
               The difficult moment passed, but not for long. Once again a hearty belch rose through the
           murmur of polite conversation. This time a Frenchman, not to be outdone by the suave Englishman,
           apologized for the offensive interruption and received admiring glances for his quick thinking.
               An American observing all this determined not to be outdone and placed himself in the vicinity
           of the dowager so that he could do honor to HIS country. Inevitably, the poor lady belched again and
           the American cried out, "That's alright, lady, this one is on me!"

                Avoid imitation! That's what has happened to all the great devices invented by the masters.
           People go on imitating literally, not understanding the spirit -- and the spirit is the real thing to
           understand, not the letter.
                Hindus go on repeating methods invented by people like Patanjali, Manu, Yagnavalka.
           Thousands of years have passed, but the orthodox mind clings to the letter; it is afraid to change
           anything. And without understanding the spirit of it, it goes on repeating like a parrot. And situations
           go on changing.
                Now Patanjali cannot be applied to modern human beings exactly as he has taught to HIS
           disciples. Five thousand years have passed, man is no longer the same. If you want to apply Patanjali
           you will need another Patanjali to shift many things, to change many things, to drop many things, to
           add many things. He will have to create the whole methodology again, because man does not exist
           for any methods -- all methods exist for man.
                No system is so valuable that man can be sacrificed to the system; all systems have to serve man.
           If they serve, good; if they become useless, out-of-date, irrelevant, they have to be dropped -- with
           deep reverence, with gratitude -- they have done their work.
                But the human mind is such, it always loves the past. The more ancient a method is, the more it
           is loved. In fact, the more useless it is: it can't change you, it can't help you to change.
                Each time a new person becomes aware of his innermost being, listen to him, and while he is
           alive be available to him. It is going to be hard to be available to the alive master, because he will not
           only be teaching you words, he will be cutting chunks of your being. It hurts, because you have
           gathered so much unnecessary garbage around yourself; it has to be cut, mercilessly cut. Only then
           can your essential being be revealed in all its beauty.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A farmer gathered his sons around him and demanded, "Which one of you boys pushed the
           outhouse into the creek?"
               The culprit did not step forward. "Now, boys," said the farmer, "remember the story of George
           Washington and the cherry tree. It is true that young George chopped down that tree, but he told his
           father the truth and his father was proud of him."
               Whereupon the farmer's youngest son stepped forward and admitted that he had pushed the
           outhouse into the creek. The farmer picked up a switch and proceeded to whip his son soundly.
           "But Pa," protested the boy tearfully, "you told me that George Washington's father was proud of
           him when he confessed to chopping down the cherry tree."
           "He was, son," replied the farmer, "but George Washington's father was not sitting in the cherry tree
           when his son chopped it down!"

               The situation has changed... and you go on repeating old formulas. First watch the situation.
           Hence, methods that have worked before are not going to work now.
               Enlightenment is the most simple thing, but because man is very complex -- and as time passes
           man becomes more and more complex -- he will need more and more complex methods.
               I must be the first enlightened person who is using therapeutic groups as a help to meditation, for
           the simple reason that in the past man was so simple there was no need for him to pass through
           therapies first. He was healthy in a way, saner in a way, authentic, truer, sincere and honest.
               Modern man is cunning, very cunning, and very repressed, so much so that he himself is not
           aware what he has repressed in his being. And modern man is very clever, he is not simple. He is so
           clever that he can go on deceiving even himself. By deceiving others continuously he has become
           skillful in deceiving. The skill has become so ingrained that now no conscious, deliberate effort is
           needed for him to be cunning. He can simply be cunning without any effort on his own.
               This changed situation demands new methods, new approaches, new windows, so new that your
           mind is at a loss what to do. If your mind knows what to do, the device cannot be of any help. The
           mind, when it is unable to find a way out, is at a loss -- that is the great, precious moment when
           something of the beyond can happen.

              A little old bearded Jew accidentally brushed by a Nazi officer and knocked him off balance.
           "Schwein!" roared the German, clicking his heels.
           "Solomon," said the Jew, bowing politely. "Pleased to meet you."

           You see the cunningness, the cleverness!

               Liddell walked into a Chinatown tavern and said to the Oriental behind the bar, "Hey, Chink,
           give me a drink!"
               Ten minutes later Liddell called out again, "Alright, Chink, give me a drink!"
               A short time passed and once again Liddell shouted, "Say, Chink, give me a drink!"
           "Listen," said the Chinese bartender, "I have held my temper, but you come behind the bar and see
           how you like to be insulted."
               The two men exchanged places. "Okay," said the Oriental. "Now, you Nigger, give me a jigger!"
           "Sorry," said the black, "we don't serve Chinks in here."

               The modern man cannot be helped by Patanjali or Moses. It will need a totally new approach.
               That's exactly what I am doing here. You need therapies so that much garbage can be thrown out
           of you. Therapy is catharsis; it brings you face-to-face with your own unconscious. No old method
           has ever been able to do it -- it was not needed in the first place, it was unnecessary. Sitting silently,
           doing nothing was enough. But now, if you sit silently doing nothing, that is not going to help.
               In the first place, you can't sit silently -- so much turmoil is inside. Yes, from the outside you can
           manage to sit just like the Buddha, a marble statue, still, but deep down are you still? The body can
           learn the trick of being still, but the mind is not so easily overcome. In fact, the more you force the
           body to be still, the more the mind rebels against it, the more the mind will try to pull you out of
           your so-called stillness. It takes the challenge and explodes on you with a vengeance, and all kinds of
           thoughts, desires, fantasies, erupt.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sometimes one wonders where all these things go when you don't meditate. The moment you sit
           for a few moments' silence, all kinds of nonsense things start floating in your head, as if they were
           just waiting; when you sit for meditation they will come.
                It was not so in the past. The primitive man was simple, the primitive man never needed anything
           like a Primal Therapy group. He was already primitive! You have become so civilized that first your
           civilization has to be taken out of you. That is the function of Primal Therapy: it makes you again
           primitive, it brings you to the point of innocence. No primitive man ever needed anything like
           Encounter; his whole life was an encounter!
                But now, when you want to hit, you say hello and when you want to kill, you smile. And not only
           is the other deceived, you also believe that your smile is true. And people are so polite that they
           tolerate you, they accept you, they don't look at what you are doing. If you don't interfere with them
           they leave you alone. Everybody is living a double life: the social life, which is formal, and the
           private life which is just the opposite.
                You will need some processes in which you are brought to your authentic self so your duality is
           dropped, so that you can for the first time see who you are. Your morality, your so-called religions,
           they all teach you a kind of duality, they all make you pseudo. They talk about truth, but that is mere
           talk. They don't make you true, they make you polished, polite, civilized. They teach you how to be
           formally good. They give you a beautiful surface and they don't take any care of your inner being
           which is your real you. And you tend to forget your real you.
                Enlightenment is seeing your real being. And you have become so accustomed and attached to
           the unreal. You have to be hammered back into your reality.
                I have devised dynamic, chaotic methods just to give you again a glimpse of your pure childhood
           when you were as yet uncontaminated, unpolluted, unpoisoned, unconditioned by the society; when
           you were as you were born, when you were natural. The society molds you into certain patterns. It
           destroys your freedom. It takes all other alternatives from you; it forces a certain alternative to you.
           It forces and pressures you in so many subtle ways that you have to choose it. Of course, it also gives
           you the idea that you are choosing it.

           I have heard:
               When Ford started manufacturing cars he had only one color, black. He would show his cars to
           the customers and he would say, "You can choose any color, provided it is black!"

               That's what people are doing to their children. You can be anybody you like, provided you are a
           Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian. Provided you behave like this, you are free, you are
           absolutely free. They go on creating a facade of freedom and go on creating simultaneously a deep
           slavery.
               You need to be thrown back to your reality. And sometimes even cruel methods are needed. Zen
           masters beating their disciples: you can't say this is a very compassionate method. It is a cruel
           method, but it is arising out of great compassion. And sometimes what cannot be taught can be
           provoked by the master by slapping your face.

               A man went into a store to buy his wife a gift. When he received the package from the clerk he
           started to leave, but then turned suddenly and slapped the clerk across the face. No sooner had he
           done it than the man began to apologize profusely. The clerk was naturally taken aback, but he could
           not doubt the sincerity of the man's apologies.
           "Perhaps," suggested the sympathetic clerk, "you ought to see a psychiatrist."
               A few months later the man reappeared at the store. He made a purchase but made no attempt to
           do the clerk any harm. "I took your advice, young man. I went to see a psychiatrist."
           "How did he cure you?" inquired the clerk.
           "Well," replied the man, "right after I paid him for my first visit I slapped him in the face."
           "Then? Then what happened?"
           "He slapped me back."

              You get it? And that cured him, that was the treatment. That brought him back to his senses.
           Sometimes it is needed, and only a cruel method can become a breakthrough.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A chaotic, a dynamic meditation, is a very cruel method. It is not like sweet prayer, it is bitter,
           but it can cleanse much dust off your being. It can bring great awakening to you. It can become your
           first satori. Just a hundred-percent commitment is needed.
                Christo, you ask me, "How did you become enlightened?"
                The first thing: I never became enlightened. I had always been enlightened just as you are, just as
           everybody is. All that happened is, I recognized it. And the journey was as arduous as you can
           imagine. It was more arduous than it is for you, because I had no master to guide, to indicate.
                In India there are thousands of pseudo teachers. Masters have disappeared long ago. India has
           become so pseudo a country that today there exists no other country which is as pseudo. India is
           unique, incomparable! But this was going to happen for a certain reason, for a certain historic
           inevitability it was going to happen.
                India has produced Patanjali, Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Nagarjuna, Bodhidharma, great
           masters, and when you produce great masters, naturally imitators arise. Imitators can arise only when
           the real exists; when the real is not in existence you cannot have the false. If there is real currency,
           then you can have false notes, but if there is no real currency at all then you cannot have false notes.
           The false is possible only because of the real.
                And economists say that there is a law: the false currency tends to put the real currency out of
           work. It pushes the real currency out of its function. You can observe it, it is a simple law. If you
           have two ten-rupee notes in your pocket, one real and one false, first you will try the false because
           you want to get rid of it first -- the sooner the better. The real can be used any time, but the false,
           who knows? Somebody may catch hold of you.
                So you will be in a hurry to push the false into circulation so it moves away from you and you
           are freed from the burden. If all the people have false notes, they will hide the real notes in their
           treasures and the false will become the currency.
                And that's exactly what happens in the world of spirituality too: the true masters become
           nonexistential, nonfunctioning, and the untrue become leaders of men... for simple reasons. One is
           that the true master will never fulfill your expectations; hence you will like more to be with a false
           teacher because he will fulfill your expectations. He will be more than willing. He wants to catch
           hold of you, he wants you to be his disciple. He will be ready, very much ready, to fulfill your
           expectations so that you don't leave him.
                The true master lives according to his light. You cannot expect anything from him. Unless you
           are ready to drop all your expectations you can't live with the true master. The false master will
           always buttress your ego. He will say, "You are great, you are virtuous." He will give you small
           tricks to feel virtuous: "Go every Sunday to the church and you will be virtuous, religious, spiritual."
           Now, just by going to the church every Sunday do you think you become spiritual? Is spirituality so
           cheap? But he will give you cheap things which you can easily purchase and feel great.
                With the true master, real work has to be done. The real master works on you just like a sculptor,
           with the chisel and hammer in his hand. He starts dismantling you, because that is the only way to
           transform you, to give you a new birth. He starts killing you! A real master is a death, because only
           after death is there a possibility of resurrection.
                I was without a master. I stumbled in darkness on my own. It was hard work, it was maddening,
           because nobody was there even to give me hope, any guarantee -- even to give me just simple
           sympathy that I am on the right track. I was moving into the uncharted sea without anybody
           encouraging me.
                You are far more fortunate. I can tell you when you are right and when you are wrong. I can tell
           you, "Go on, you are on the right track, the moment is not far away when things will start changing;
           the spring is just on the way. Any moment it will be here. In fact, the first flowers have started
           appearing. You may not be able to see those first flowers. I can see."
                Now in medical circles there is great discussion and great hope that sooner or later we are going
           to find ways in which a disease that is going to happen after six months can be predicted beforehand.
           It has become possible through Kirlian photography. It gives the photograph of your body energy,
           and it shows where the body energy is going wrong. Six months before you may actually fall ill,
           Kirlian photography starts giving you indications. If those indications can be well understood, you
           can be treated before you are ill. Then you will never be ill.
                A master can see flowers which are going to happen to you after a few days, which are not yet
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           visible to you or to anybody else -- but can be visible to the master. He can recognize the signs, the
           invisible indications. He can decipher the language of the unknown and the unknowable. He can tell
           you, "Go on!" Buddha says to his disciples again and again, "CHARAIVETI! CHARAIVETI! Go
           on! Go on! Don't be worried. I can see the dawn is not far away."
               You can only see that the night is becoming darker and darker, but when the night is really dark,
           that is only an indication that the dawn is very close, that soon on the eastern horizon the sun will
           rise. But this can be seen only by one who has seen the sunrise before.
               I worked hard in every possible way, but the day I came to know who I am was a great surprise. I
           had never thought about it, that it was going to be so. God was never missed, I had only forgotten the
           language. God was already there, always has been there; god is our innermost nature. The day I
           recognized it I started laughing. That day I knew that life is a great joke -- god playing a great joke, a
           great game of hide-and-seek; but a game all the same. Don't take it seriously.
               Christo, don't take enlightenment seriously. Take it playfully. And the more playful you are, the
           closer you will be to it.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO I EVER SEE ANYBODY OR ANYTHING AS THEY REALLY ARE?


               Prem Shanta, mind is incapable of seeing. Mind is blind -- blind with a thousand and one
           prejudices, blind with concepts, ideologies, philosophies, religions, blind with your past experience.
           Your eyes are so much covered with dust, layer upon layer, that you can't see that which is. And
           whatsoever you see is your interpretation of reality, not reality itself. You never hear what is said to
           you, you never see what confronts you. You see that which you want to see; you see that which you
           are capable of seeing. And you hear that which you want to hear; you hear that which you already
           believe in.
               Your mind continuously goes on screening; it allows only that which fits with it, it does not
           allow anything in which does not fit with it. It is on a constant vigilance; it guards.
               I am talking to you here: three thousand people, that means three thousand meanings! When I am
           saying anything I am saying it with one particular meaning, but when it reaches to you it takes an
           individual color -- you give it your own color. Immediately it is something else. Unless you learn
           how to listen without the mind, how to see without the mind....
               That's what meditation is all about: putting the mind aside, seeing without any prejudice, without
           any a priori conclusion, without any conclusion at all. When your eyes are functioning just like
           mirrors, simply reflecting that which is, neither condemning it nor appreciating it... when your eyes
           are nonjudgmental, when you don't say, "This is good, this is bad. This should be, this should not be"
           -- when you don't say anything, you simply reflect... then you see that which is -- otherwise not,
           ordinarily not.
               You have to disappear to see the reality as it is. If you are there, the more you are there, the less
           you see the real.

                A number of showgirls were entertaining troops at a remote army camp. They had been at it all
           afternoon and were tired and very hungry. At the close of their performance, the major asked,
           "Would you girls like to mess with the enlisted men or the officers this evening?"
           "It really doesn't matter," spoke up a shapely blonde, "but we've just got to have something to eat
           first."

               Preoccupied mind! They are hungry, the hunger is too much there. Now everything they hear
           they will hear through this hunger.
               Fast one day and then go to M.G. Road, and you will see only restaurants, hotels, and you will
           not see anything else. And for the first time you will start smelling food smells coming from the
           restaurants and hotels. And you have passed the same road many times, but you have never smelled
           so intensely. Fast two, three days and your nose becomes so sensitive to food odors, to the aroma of
           food, that you will be surprised -- your nose has never been so sensitive.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you are hungry and you look at the full moon, you may see just a chapati! It is impossible to
           see the full moon.

               The Jewish lady and her son were walking along the beach when a tidal wave crashed on them.
           When the water receded the boy was gone.
           "Ah Merciful Father," the mother pleaded. "Please return my beautiful child. I will be so grateful -- I
           will never cheat on my income tax or my husband again, I will stop smoking, I will do anything --
           anything!"
               Just then another wave loomed up and her small son was standing there. She clasped him to her
           bosom, looked at him a moment and once again turned her eyes heavenward.
           Looking up she said, "But he had a hat!"

                Now, the Jewish mind... she can't forget the hat! The son is back -- so what! Where is the hat?
                Everybody has a certain mind. All minds are your choices. When you look without the mind you
           look without any choice. Then you are choicelessly aware. That's the real way to see things as they
           are.
                Shanta, ordinarily you don't see the real existence, you only project your ideas. That's why you
           go on missing the great beauty that surrounds you, the splendor that is all over. You cannot see god,
           not because he is absent but because your mind is so full of ideas ABOUT god -- Christian ideas
           about god, Hindu ideas about god, Jewish ideas about god. You can't see god if you go on carrying
           these ideas.
                God is a simple reflection; it is not a philosophy, it is not ideology. Knowingly, unknowingly, we
           are all full of ideologies -- political, religious, social -- and we go on looking through them.

              A politician was bitten by a dog, and a few days later his doctor told him that the lab tests were
           positive, that the dog had rabies, and that he too was infected.
              The politician pulled out a notebook and began writing furiously.
           "Now, take it easy," said the doctor. "No need to start writing your will. You will pull through."
           "Will, hell!" snapped the politician. "This is a list of the people I am going to bite."

               Now before he forgets, before he really goes insane, he wants to make a list. A politician is a
           politician, even if he is on the verge of going mad! He must be making the list of all his political
           enemies. He is not much concerned about his own problem -- he wants to use his problem to create
           problems for others. He is much more concerned about who he is going to bite; he wants to be ready
           for that. That is the basic political mind: the political mind is not interested in himself; it is more
           interested in harming others, how to topple others, how to destroy others.
               The religious person is much more interested in his own joy. The politician is much more
           interested in seeing others miserable; his joy is only in seeing others miserable. Now, such a mind is
           incapable of seeing anything good in life -- impossible. He can't see any beauty, he can't see any
           grace. He has none, how can he see it? You can see only that which you are.
               And if you want to see that which is, then you have to disappear completely. You have to be
           utterly empty, a nobody, a no-mind, just an empty space. Then life bursts forth with all its splendor.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHY GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA RENOUNCED HIS BEAUTIFUL
              WIFE.

              Kamalesh, it seems you must be a bachelor!

               Murphy's definition of a bachelor: A rolling stone who gathers no boss.
               Murphy's definition of marriage: A man is incomplete until he is married; then he is really
           finished.

              You don't understand what poor Buddha suffered! Only married people know it, but very few
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           married people have the courage to say it.

           I have heard an anecdote:
               Maxim Gorky, Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy, the three great Russian novelists, were sitting
           on a bench in a park and chitchatting. Naturally they started talking about the phenomenon called
           woman.
               Chekhov was very bitter; he was abusing women like anything. Gorky was also not in any way
           sympathetic.
               When they both were finished they asked Tolstoy, who was keeping quiet. Tolstoy said, "If you
           really want to hear the truth you will have to wait."
               They said, "What do you mean by 'You will have to wait'? How long?"
               He said, "I can't say how long, but you will have to wait. I can say the truth only when one of my
           legs is in the grave. I will say the truth and jump into the grave! Then I don't want to be outside the
           grave, because if my wife comes to know about it then my life, which is already hell... I don't know
           what will happen to me!"
               And remember, the same is the case with women: if you ask them, they will tell the same stories
           about the husbands.

           There is an ancient Arabic saying:
              The gods gave man fire, and he invented fire engines. They gave him love, and he invented
           marriage.

               Marriage, up to now, has been such a suffering! It is because of marriage that monasteries have
           existed -- the whole credit goes to marriage! Otherwise there would be no monks and no nuns. It is
           seeing the ugliness of marriage, millions of people simply decided never to get into it, or even those
           who had already got into it escaped.
               The woman has suffered much, but her suffering has been of a different quality: she has suffered
           because her freedom has been taken away from her. Man has dominated her, made her a slave. Man
           has also suffered... because remember one simple law of life: If you make others suffer, the suffering
           is bound to rebound on you. Man made the woman a slave, physically... and the woman? She made
           the man a slave spiritually. In fact, man's suffering has been much deeper than the woman's
           suffering.
               There is now the Women's Liberation movement. Some daring men are needed to start a Men's
           Liberation movement, because man's slavery became spiritual -- and spiritual slavery is far more
           dangerous.

              Murphy's definition of cooperation: An exchange between a woman and a man in which she coos
           and he operates.

               Kamalesh, you seem to be absolutely unaware of the phenomenon of marriage -- which is
           destructive to both man and woman. Love is creative, marriage is destructive. But love is not
           dependable: this moment it may be there and the next moment gone. And man wants permanent
           things; he is obsessed with permanent things. He wants security, safety, he wants to cling. Hence
           love is not reliable, so he created marriage.
               Marriage is a plastic flower. Love is a real rose, but the real rose is beautiful in the morning; by
           the evening it is gone. Nobody can say when it will disappear, when the petals will start falling. Just
           a strong wind and it is no more, just a strong sun and it is no more. But the plastic flower will be
           there; come rain, come sun, come anything, the plastic flower will be there. In fact, plastic is the only
           permanent thing in the world.
               Now ecologists are very much worried about plastic because you cannot destroy it. You go on
           throwing plastic bottles and containers and they all go on accumulating in the earth or in the sea.
           Sooner or later they will surround the whole earth and they will destroy the fertility of the earth,
           because they cannot melt, merge, become one with the earth.
               The real flower goes back to the earth, becomes earth again. Then again a new flower will arise.
           But the plastic flower sticks, remains forever. It is dangerous; it is a hindrance in the circulation of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life processes.
                Marriage is a plastic flower -- marriage is an institution. And who wants to live in an institution?
                If Buddha escaped, you should not be worried; it is understandable. He must have suffered!

           "Daddy, what is polygamy?"
           "Polygamy is a situation in which a man can have more than one wife."
           "Okay. So what do you call a situation in which a man can have only one wife?"
           "Monotony, my son, monotony."

               Marriage is monotonous, it is utter boredom. Two persons are just hooked with each other.
               Buddha was courageous -- at least he escaped. Not much of a courage, but some courage still is
           there: he escaped.
               I am teaching my sannyasins a far more courageous way: don't escape, but try to live in love.
           And start forgetting the whole idea of marriage -- slowly slowly.

               A recently divorced man was feeling so depressed he decided to consult a psychiatrist. The
           doctor listened to his complaints and then had this to recommend, "I think you ought to get married
           again, Mr. Jones.... Buy a house, have some kids; live like other men. You will be back to your old
           self in no time."
           "No thanks, Doc," said Mr. Jones. "I would rather commit suicide."

               Once you have known the ugliness of marriage there are only two possible ways. One is, escape
           from it like Buddha, which I don't approve of because that doesn't change much. Yes, it helps
           Buddha -- he gets out of it -- but the world continues the same.
               My own suggestion is, drop the very concept of marriage -- live in love. And if love continues,
           good; if it disappears, good. What is the harm in it? Anything that appears one day is bound to
           disappear one day; that's how things are -- the way of things, the natural way. Allow it. Don't cling,
           don't be possessive. Live passionately while it is there, and when it is gone it is gone. Feel grateful
           for all that it has done to you. Say goodbye. Don't complain, don't have any grudge.

              The newspaper account of George's tragic death read: "His friends could give no reason why he
           should have committed suicide. He was a bachelor."

               Kamalesh, you must be a bachelor! One thing is good about being a bachelor: you will not
           commit suicide. And if you commit suicide you will leave everybody in a puzzle. Nobody will be
           able to figure out why. You are not yet experienced about this so-called relationship business. You
           seem to be utterly inexperienced. Hence you say, "I am unable to understand why Gautama the
           Buddha renounced his beautiful wife."
               Certainly he had a very beautiful wife, but beauty of the body is so superficial that within a week
           you start not looking at it. You start ignoring it, you start forgetting it.
               Ask any husband for how many years he has not looked at his wife's face -- and he used to think
           before that she is a beautiful woman. Ask any wife how long she has not looked at her husband's
           face. Years may have passed.
               Do a small experiment: close your eyes and try to remember your wife's or your husband's face.
           You will not be able to remember it. You may be able to remember the face of your neighbor's wife,
           but not your own wife; it is almost impossible. If you can do it you are a rare specimen, you are a
           wonder! It does not happen. If you try to remember your wife's face, everything will go dizzy.
           Thousands of other faces will appear, but not your wife's face. Why?
               You have not looked at the poor woman for years, for the simple reason that marriage makes
           things so certain. Marriage makes things so dead and dull. Marriage takes all surprise and wonder
           away. Marriage makes you take your wife for granted, your husband for granted. What is the need to
           look at your wife? She will be there tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and forever. You look at
           people when you know you may not be able to look at them again. Marriage kills; it makes
           something tremendously beautiful very ugly.
               Yes, Buddha had a beautiful wife, but then he became tired -- tired of the whole repetitive game.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He was a very alert man, intelligent. If he was as stupid as millions of others are he would have lived
           without any effort to go through a radical change. He would have simply repeated the whole circle of
           life -- eating, drinking, reproducing -- he would have lived and died. But he became aware that life
           can't be only this repetition. Life must be something more, life has to be something more. There must
           be some hidden secret in it which we are missing because of our repetitiveness.
                He escaped not exactly from the wife: he escaped to know the truth of life. It was not basically
           escaping from the wife; it was not an escape FROM but an escape FOR. That's why, when he
           attained the truth, the first thing he did was to come back to the palace to share his new vision, his
           insight, with his wife. He remembered her.
                He felt that this much he owed to her. He had come to ask her forgiveness because he had
           escaped, left her. He had not even asked her permission. He had not even told her that he was going
           away. He escaped like a thief and had come back to apologize. A man of great grace: even after
           becoming enlightened he came to apologize to somebody who is not enlightened.
                His disciple, Ananda, said to him. "This does not look right, an enlightened person going to the
           unenlightened to apologize, to ask her, 'Forgive me.'"
                Buddha said, "I know it does not look right, but this much I owe to her. I have to complete, finish
           things; otherwise something remains hanging. And more than that, my going to her will help her to
           come to me; otherwise -- she is a very proud woman -- she will not come to me. And she will go on
           carrying that grudge, that wound; she will suffer unnecessarily. And what I have found I am going to
           share with everybody, why not with my wife? What wrong has she done to me?"
                He went to his wife. The wife was very angry, naturally. She shouted, screamed; she did all that a
           woman will do in such a situation. And Buddha stood there utterly silent, not even uttering a single
           word. Then suddenly she became aware that he has not said a single word. She wiped her tears,
           looked at Buddha, saw that he is so silent and so beautiful, and a totally different kind of beauty: the
           beauty of the inner. He is radiating, he is luminous.
           She asked him, "Why are you not answering me?"
                Buddha said, "How can I answer? I am no longer the same person that had left you. You look at
           me, you observe! Look into my eyes, feel my presence! I am not the same person -- that person is
           dead. I am a totally new being, I am reborn! And I have come to share my joy, my finding, with you,
           because I love you. And the old love was not love, it was exploitation; this new love is really love.
           The old love was just lust. Now I want to give all that I have known to you, for no other reason, but
           just for giving's sake. Just sharing will make me so blissful. If I can help you in any way I will feel
           tremendously obliged."
           The wife became a sannyasin; she was initiated.
                You ask me, Kamalesh, "I am unable to understand why Gautama the Buddha renounced his
           beautiful wife."
                In fact he has not renounced the wife: he has renounced the whole marriage system, he has
           renounced the old way of life. The wife was just a part of it. He renounced the way he had lived up
           to that moment.
                When he left his palace he was twenty-nine years old; when he came back, twelve years had
           passed... he had become enlightened. He had come to know the truth, the meaning, the significance,
           of existence. He had come to know the great celebration that goes on and on: the celebration you call
           God. He had come to share his celebration with his wife, with his child, with his father, with his
           stepmother, with his friends. Whosoever was ready, he was ready to give to them. And he
           transformed their lives.
                Gautama the Buddha is the only man in the whole history of human consciousness who has
           transformed so many people. The debt of humanity is immense, unpayable.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN YOU SAY, "WAKE UP, BE CONSCIOUS, COME OUT OF YOUR DREAMS!" -- AND TO
              MAKE IT CLEAR YOU GIVE EXAMPLES -- INSTEAD OF GOING DEEPLY INTO IT WE LAUGH AS
              IF IT IS A JOKE. HOW DO YOU FEEL?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Abhinav Bharti, I also laugh! But I am not allowed to laugh loudly in front of you, because that
           is against the art of telling jokes. The joke teller must be serious. But I laugh in my room! When
           there is nobody, I have a hearty laugh. And in fact, this whole thing is a joke: your misery, my
           enlightenment.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                    Chapter #7
                                       Chapter title: The silence of a song
           17 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912170
              ShortTitle: DHAM707
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              SILENCE CANNOT MAKE A MASTER OUT OF A FOOL.



              BUT HE WHO WEIGHS ONLY PURITY IN HIS SCALES,
              WHO SEEKS THE NATURE OF THE TWO WORLDS,
              HE IS A MASTER.



              HE HARMS NO LIVING THING.



              AND YET IT IS NOT GOOD CONDUCT
              THAT HELPS YOU UPON THE WAY,
              NOR RITUAL, NOR BOOK LEARNING,
              NOR WITHDRAWAL INTO THE SELF,
              NOR DEEP MEDITATION.
              NONE OF THESE CONFERS MASTERY OR JOY.



              O SEEKER!
              RELY ON NOTHING
              UNTIL YOU WANT NOTHING.


               Silence has been praised down the ages as one of the most important factors for inner
           transformation; but silence alone is neither enough nor beneficial. Silence alone can be tremendously
           harmful. Silence alone is a negative state, it can make you more dead than you are. It can destroy the
           joy of inner being, it can be an obstruction for the growth of a celebrating soul.
               Silence is beautiful only if it is rooted in awareness; if it is not rooted in awareness, then it is
           utterly empty. With awareness silence has a depth, a plenitude, a fulfillment, a contentment, an
           overflowing joy. With awareness silence blooms, releases great fragrance; without awareness the
           silence is utterly empty and dark, dismal, sad.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Silence can be either of the cemetery or of a sunrise. Silence can be of a bird on the wing, or it
           can be that of a corpse. Both are silences, but diametrically opposite. The silence of a corpse has to
           be avoided, the silence of a flower has to be imbibed. The silence of the flower will make you a
           flower, the silence of the corpse will make you a corpse. Both look the same from the outside. Don't
           be deceived by appearances -- always look for the essential, for the very core.
               Two things can appear similar from the outside and may be just the opposite of each other. The
           seeker has to be very cautious, very conscious on each step; because the false is easy to attain. It is
           very easy to become dead, and very difficult to be overflowing with life.
               That's why millions of monks and nuns have followed a false path -- they have become silent.
           You can go to the monasteries and you will find people who are silent, but their silence has the taste
           of death. Their silence is not the silence of a song, of a dance; their silence is not divine. In fact they
           have fallen rather than risen higher, soaring upwards. They have fallen so much, they have become
           just dead rocks. Their silence has not been a transformation, it has been a suicide. And because it has
           not been a soaring up high, you will find all kinds of foolishnesses still in it, waiting for their
           opportunity, for their moment to explode.
               The foolish person can become silent. It may deceive many, they may think, "He has arrived."
           But he is simply hiding his foolishness, his stupidity, his unconsciousness behind a beautiful facade
           of silence.

           An ancient Sufi parable says:
               Four persons decided to go into silence. They moved into a cave; they wanted to live in silence
           for three months, because they had heard so much about it -- they had become so much intrigued.
           They were so ambitious to gain something out of it. It was not understanding that had brought them
           to the cave. It was greed, it was desire, ambition.
               Hence within minutes everything was exposed. Just within minutes the first man said, "I wonder
           whether I have put the candle out or not? It will be a sheer wastage, there is nobody in the house."
               The second one said, "You fool! You have spoken! And we have taken the vow of silence."
               The third one laughed and said, "You are a greater fool! If he had spoken, what was the need for
           you to speak?"
               And the fourth one said, "Thank God, I am the only one who has not spoken yet."

                Just by being silent nothing changes, you remain the same. Transformation comes through
           awareness. Awareness brings a silence of its own, very alive, throbbing with eternity, full of a song.
           It is not sad and not serious because it is not dead, it has a dance to it. It is tremendously beautiful, it
           is positive, existential. It does not make you just a hollow thing. It makes you so full that you start
           overflowing with joy. You become so fulfilled that you cannot contain your contentment within
           yourself, you have to share it. You become a cloud full of rainwater. You have to shower it.
                But out of a hundred so-called seekers, it is only once in a while that a rare seeker comes to know
           the difference between the real silence and the unreal silence. How can the fool within you be
           dropped by being silent? Yes, it will not be expressed, but it will be there. In fact it will become
           more and more powerful -- unexpressed it will accumulate energy. And any moment, any
           opportunity, and you will show it; you will be unable to hide it forever.

               It was discovered in an apartment building, that exactly fifty apartments were rented by Jewish
           families and fifty by Christian families. Word got around and thereafter, for years, whenever a Jew
           moved out, another Jew rushed into his place, and likewise the Christians. Thus the balance was
           maintained. Once, however, the Jews were faster than the Christians and the numbers became
           unbalanced -- fifty-one to forty-nine. After that the Christians started moving out until at last the
           building was ninety-nine percent Jewish.
               A movement arose among the tenants for an all-Jewish building. A committee was formed and
           Mr. Ginsberg, as spokesman, went to visit Mr. Gallagher, an Irish bachelor. When he came home,
           Mrs. Ginsberg asked what happened. "Well," replied Mr. Ginsberg, "Gallagher says he has made
           love to every woman in the building except one, and won't move out until he makes love to her."
           "Hm," mused Mrs. Ginsberg, "it must be that lousy, stuck-up Mrs. Pincus."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The first moment, and your fool will be out. How long can you keep it down? How long can you
           sit upon it? How long can you be on guard? Just a little relaxation and it will be out.

           Buddha says:

              SILENCE CANNOT MAKE A MASTER OUT OF A FOOL.


               A strange statement from a buddha, because silence has been praised so much; but the buddha
           says the truth as it is. He does not care about the tradition.
               In India, silence has been one of the most praised qualities for centuries. The Jaina monk is
           called MUNI -- muni means "the silent one." His whole effort is to be silent, more and more silent.
           Buddha says, "But don't be a fool, just silence is not going to help." It may help you keep your
           foolishness to yourself, but the foolishness will go on accumulating, and sooner or later it will be too
           much. It is bound to come out, and it is better to let it come out in small doses every day, rather than
           accumulating it, and then having it come like a flood.
               This has been my own observation, too. The people who have remained silent for a long time
           become very stupid, because their silence is only on the surface. Deep down there is turmoil. Deep
           down they are the same people, with greed, jealousy, envy, hatred, violence -- unconscious, with all
           kinds of desires.
               Maybe now they are desirous of the other world, greedy for the other world, thinking more of
           paradise than of this world and the earth. But it is the same thing, projected onto a bigger screen,
           projected on eternity. In fact, the greed has become a thousandfold. First it was for small things:
           money, power, prestige. Now it is for god, samadhi, nirvana. It has become more condensed and
           more dangerous.
               Then what has to be done? If silence cannot make a master out of a fool, then what can make one
           a master? Awareness. And the miracle is, if you become aware, silence follows you like a shadow.
               But then that silence is not practiced; it comes on its own accord. And when silence comes on its
           own accord, it has a tremendous beauty to it. It is alive, it has a song at its innermost core. It is
           loving, it is blissful. It is not empty; on the contrary, it is a plenitude. You are so full that you can
           bless the whole world and yet your sources remain inexhaustible; you can go on giving, and you will
           not be able to exhaust the source. You have stumbled on God already -- but it happens through
           awareness.
               That is Buddha's very significant contribution, his emphasis on awareness.
               Silence becomes secondary, silence becomes a by-product. One does not make silence a goal --
           the goal is awareness. If you take care of the rosebush, if you give it the right amount of water, sun
           and shade, roses are bound to come in their own time. You need not be worried about the roses.
           Silence is a rose, awareness is the rosebush. You take care of the rosebush, don't be too much
           concerned about the rose. If you are too much concerned about the rose without thinking about the
           rosebush, there is every possibility you will purchase some plastic roseflowers. A practiced silence is
           a plastic phenomenon, it is false, pseudo, deceiving others and deceiving yourself.
               SILENCE CANNOT MAKE A MASTER OUT OF A FOOL. And what does Buddha mean by a
           fool? Who is foolish? He does not mean the unknowledgeable person, he does not mean the
           uneducated, uncultured. The fool can be very much cultured. The fool can have a Ph.D., the fool
           may have accumulated great knowledge, learning. In fact, fools are known to do such things, for the
           simple reason that they are afraid of their own foolishness and want to cover it up. A Ph.D., a D.Litt.
           becomes a good cover.
               The fool becomes a great philosopher, a great scholar. Instead of knowing he becomes
           knowledgeable. Instead of seeing light he knows more about light. And slowly slowly, he convinces
           himself that knowing about light is knowing light, knowing about God is knowing God, knowing
           about love is knowing love. It is not so. He remains confined to the empty words. He will be
           verbose, he may know fine words. He may use language skillfully, he may use logic to prove his
           ideology, he may be a skillful logician. But nothing of these things changes his foolishness, he
           remains a fool all the same.
               Then what is foolishness? The word that Buddha uses, the original word, is MULHA, which has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been translated as the "fool." In fact it should be translated as "one who lives in unconsciousness,"
           one who lives like a sleepwalker, who lives mechanically, who goes on moving through many
           things, but all his gestures are empty. He lives without knowing why, he goes on rushing without
           knowing where. He is not even aware of who he is -- he has not tasted his own consciousness. And
           because his inner being is in darkness, he remains foolish in whatsoever he tries to do. His
           knowledge, his learning, his scholarship, are of no avail.
               One who lives unconsciously, like a somnambulist, is a fool; one who lives consciously starts
           changing from foolishness towards wisdom. Again let me remind you: wisdom is not knowledge.
           Wisdom is consciousness, and the man who attains to the perfection of wisdom, perfection of
           consciousness, is called a master by the Buddha. SILENCE CANNOT MAKE A MASTER OUT OF
           A FOOL.

                On his honeymoon, Abe was so overtaken with gratitude towards Becky, that he wanted to give
           her something. Having nothing else at hand, he reached into his wallet and gave her twenty dollars.
           Thereafter it became a family ritual. Each time Abe would make love to Becky, he would give her
           some money, the amount varying according to how his business was going.
                Years passed, the Depression came and business got really bad. For weeks and months Abe did
           not make love to Becky. Finally, in desperation, she asked, "Abe, what is the matter? Don't you love
           me anymore?"
                Abe told her the truth, that he was nearly bankrupt. "Don't worry, darling," she replied, and
           lifting up the mattress, she revealed thousands and thousands of dollars. "All the money you gave
           me, I put in the bed," she said.
           "Ah," he screamed hitting his forehead, "I should have given you all my business."

               An unconscious man can't always be on his guard. There are moments when the secret comes
           out. You can deceive, but only for a time -- you cannot deceive forever, at least not your wife.
               And how can you deceive God himself? How can you deceive existence? With existence you
           have to be absolutely true, because before existence you are utterly naked. Existence knows you
           through and through, you are transparent. It is better not to hide, because if we don't hide, there is a
           possibility that we may start changing our life patterns, our ways, our styles.
           And there are only two styles:
               One style is unconsciousness -- I call that the worldly style. And the other style is that of
           consciousness -- my name for that style is sannyas. Sannyas simply means a committed effort to live
           consciously.

              BUT HE WHO WEIGHS ONLY PURITY IN HIS SCALES,
              WHO SEES THE NATURE OF THE TWO WORLDS,
              HE IS A MASTER.


                Who is a master according to Buddha? ... HE WHO WEIGHS ONLY PURITY IN HIS
           SCALES.
                Remember always, with Buddha purity is never a moral concept. He is not a priest, he is not a
           politician. He is a man who has gone beyond all dualities -- the duality of good and bad included.
           Then what can he mean by purity? By purity he always means innocence, just like a small child who
           knows nothing of what is good and what is bad.
                The sage also becomes a child again, but he goes beyond. The child is below the duality, and the
           sage is beyond duality. One thing is similar, that both are not part of the world of duality, of the
           world where everything is divided into polar opposites: good and bad, night and day, love and hate,
           life and death, this world and that world, the sinner and the saint.
                The sinner is one who knows what is good and what is bad, but follows the bad. The saint is one
           who knows what is good and what is bad, but follows the good. And the sage is one who knows what
           is good and what is bad, but has gone beyond both and is no longer interested in those divisions. He
           lives in a choiceless awareness. That is purity.
                To live without any choice means to let God live through you. If you choose then you don't allow
           God to live through you. When you stop choosing, when you simply surrender to the whole, when
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you say, "Thy will be done," you are no more a chooser, no more a doer, you become a medium.
           Then God lives through you, then whatsoever happens is divine; it is neither good nor bad, it is
           simply divine. Out of choiceless awareness, actions become divine.
               BUT HE WHO WEIGHS ONLY PURITY IN HIS SCALES, WHO SEES THE NATURE OF
           THE TWO WORLDS.... Religious people go on talking about this world and the other world. They
           condemn this world: this is momentary, this is a flux, nothing abides, everything changes, everything
           turns into dust. They go on condemning this world in every possible way, and they go on praising
           the other world. But Buddha says that this world and that world are both parts of your projection;
           you have projected the other world against this world. Because you see this world is impermanent,
           you project a permanent world. That is a desire on your part, it has nothing to do with reality.
               You would like to have a permanent world where things abide, where everything remains as it is.
           You are afraid of change, hence you create an unchanging world. You call it paradise, heaven;
           nothing changes there, time exists not. This world is temporal, that world is nontemporal. This world
           is made of dust, and that world is made of gold. But dust or gold are all your projections.
               It is out of the misery of this world that you have created your paradises; and if you look in the
           scriptures of all the religions, you can easily detect the projection. Whatsoever is missing here, you
           have placed it there. Whatsoever you don't like here, you have not put into the other world.
           Whatsoever you like here, but you are afraid that it will be taken away by death or by circumstances,
           you have made absolutely eternal there.
               For example, in heaven nobody ever grows old -- everybody remains young. Have you ever seen
           an old angel in any picture? They are all boyish-looking. In Hindu mythology the heavenly women
           never grow beyond the age of sixteen; that is a desire. In Hindu mythology the APSARAS, the
           heavenly women, don't perspire, no deodorants are needed, no perfumes are needed. Their bodies are
           made of gold. But what kind of a woman is it if her body is made of gold? Would you be able to love
           a woman whose body is made of gold? -- a wish fulfillment.
               In Hindu mythology there are trees in heaven, wish-fulfilling trees. You just sit underneath the
           tree, you wish anything and it is immediately fulfilled, instantly. These are desires, unfulfilled
           desires, unfulfilled dreams. We are so frustrated here that we project a world.
               Karl Marx is right in that way when he says that religion is the opium of the people. Yes, the
           so-called religions have functioned as the opium. They keep people intoxicated with the other world,
           they help them somehow to tolerate the suffering that is present in this world. It is only a question of
           a few days -- then comes death and deliverance. And then you will live in God's presence for ever
           and ever, in eternal joy.
               Buddha never talks about the other world; he says this world and the other are both projections of
           our mind. One should get rid of both, one should turn inwards rather than looking outwards. This
           world is outside, that world is outside; both are exterior to you, and both are objects of desire. And
           any object of desire is bound to bring frustration. Any expectation is bound to turn into frustration.
           Expectation is the beginning of frustration, the very seed. Beware of it!
               Buddha says, one who knows this is a master, and one who lives in choiceless awareness, neither
           choosing this nor that, is a master. He is really a king; otherwise everybody is a beggar. If you have
           desires you are a beggar. Desiring means begging; you are constantly begging for this and for that.
               Just look at your mind, the mind is a beggar. Drop the mind and you will be surprised: your
           consciousness is the master. But the mind lives through division, it always lives through the polar
           opposites: it puts that against this, and then goes on choosing. Mind means choice, choice means
           unconsciousness. Consciousness means choicelessness, and to be choiceless is to be free from all
           desire, is to be free from all projection, is to be free from all imagination, is to be free from future.
               And the moment you are free from the future, the present suddenly bursts forth in all its splendor
           before you; its glory is infinite, its joy is unbounded, its ecstasy is inexpressible. It transforms your
           beggar into a master.

              HE HARMS NO LIVING THING.


             The master cannot be violent, he can only be love, pure love; he cannot harm, it is impossible.
           Why? Many religions have been teaching nonviolence. Buddha does not teach nonviolence; again, it
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is a by-product, a consequence of being a master. He does not say, "Be nonviolent so that you can be
           a master." He says: Be a master, so that you can be nonviolent. That's where he differs from ordinary
           religious thinking. He brings a very extraordinary insight of tremendous import.
               If you understand his insight, you will have understood the essential core of real religion. If you
           practice nonviolence, you will remain violent; at the most, your surface will become nonviolent. You
           will paint it in beautiful colors; but behind it, behind all those rainbow colors, you will be the same
           person, the same violent person.
               Why does violence exist in man? Because we can't see ourselves as part of a universe, we see
           ourselves as separate. In that separation is violence. If I am separate from everybody else then of
           course I have to fight for my own survival.
               Charles Darwin says: Life is a struggle -- a struggle to survive, and only the fittest survive. So
           you have to fight tooth and nail, you have to fight with your total energy, only then can you survive;
           otherwise, you will be eaten, destroyed. And if you look outside, it seems so.
               Politics proves Charles Darwin. Everybody is fighting with everybody else; and how can you be
           nonviolent if you are continuously fighting? Man is so cunning that he can change, transform his
           nonviolence also into a weapon. He can make a weapon out of it, he can start fighting nonviolently.

           I have heard a story:
               A young man, a Gandhian, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, was in love with a woman. The father
           was very much against him, the woman herself was very much against the man -- she hated even to
           see his face. But he was determined, he was a man of willpower, and he was very nonviolent. So he
           did a nonviolent trick.
               He went to the woman's house, sat at the door and declared that he would fast unto death, unless
           she married him. A very nonviolent method: fasting unto death. You are not harming anybody.
           That's what Mahatma Gandhi was doing his whole life: fasting unto death. But is it nonviolence? It
           is violence, pure violence. Of course you are not destroying the other, you are destroying yourself;
           but the threat that "I will destroy myself," is a threat of violence. And you leave the other absolutely
           undefended.
               The woman was very much perturbed, disturbed, what to do? If this man dies, she will feel guilty
           her whole life that she has been the cause of the death of a young man. The father was also very
           much disturbed. And newspapers were writing and praising the young man: how nonviolent he is,
           how Gandhian he is. The father was getting crazy -- what to do, what not to do? Somebody
           suggested, "You inquire of some older Gandhian, some method must be there, some antidote."
               He went to an old Gandhian who told him, "No, don't be worried. I know. You do one thing, a
           very simple thing." He whispered a secret in his ear and the father was very happy -- and the trick
           worked. The old Gandhian said, "You go to an old prostitute I know, you tell her to come to your
           house, sit by the side of the young man, and let her declare that 'I am fasting unto death unless this
           young man marries me.'"
               And that very night the young man escaped and was never seen again.

               Nonviolence in the hands of politicians is bound to become violent. It is only a beautiful name
           for an ugly phenomenon. This is not Buddha's approach, although Gandhians go on declaring that
           Gandhi is the greatest nonviolent man after Gautam Buddha. He is not; he has no understanding of
           Buddha and his insight. He is purely and simply a politician. His politics are also very subtle -- his
           politics are very cunning, devious. But he is not religious at all. His whole approach is political.
               If you practice nonviolence -- and he practiced it his whole life -- the nonviolence will be false. It
           cannot be practiced. Anything -- nonviolence, wisdom, silence, love, compassion, joy, none of these
           beautiful qualities can be practiced. If you practice them you falsify them. They come on their own;
           all you need to do is to be more and more aware.
               On the tree of awareness many flowers bloom: the flower of love, the flower of truth, the flower
           of compassion, the flower of nonviolence. Why? -- because the more you become aware, the less you
           can believe in the separation. The more you become aware, the less you are an ego. When you
           become totally aware, you disappear -- you become part and parcel of the whole. Then how can you
           be violent? To whom? There is nobody else, with whom are you going to fight?
               Violence or nonviolence is not the question at all. There is nobody else to fight with. It is all
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           oneness, this whole universe is one God and we are part of it. Seeing it, knowing it, realizing it,
           compassion and love start flowing. HE HARMS NO LIVING THING.

              AND YET IT IS NOT GOOD CONDUCT....


             Remember these words, their import, their significance. They are very pregnant. AND YET IT IS
           NOT GOOD CONDUCT.... "Remember," Buddha is saying, "I am not talking about good conduct."

              THAT HELPS YOU ON THE WAY.


               Good conduct can give you only respectability. Good conduct can help you attain a pious ego,
           good conduct will make people praise you. They will call you a saint, your ego will be very satisfied;
           but good conduct can't help you on the way. In fact it is going to hinder.
               The more respectable you become, the less rebellious you are. The more respectable you
           become, the more and more afraid you are of going against tradition, against conformity, against
           convention. The more respectable you are, the more you are a slave; a slave of the society and the
           church, a slave of the state, a slave of others -- because they start dominating you. They start in
           subtle ways telling you what to do and what not to do. Then they reward you with respect. That is
           bribery. By rewarding you, they are saying, "Look, if you go on doing the same thing, we will
           reward you more. If you don't do the same thing, if you go astray, we will withdraw our respect. We
           will condemn you."
               They respect you for the simple reason that you fulfill their desires and their expectations, that
           you become just a part of the dead tradition, an example of all that has been dead for a long time.
           You become a slave to the past.
               AND YET, says Buddha, IT IS NOT GOOD CONDUCT THAT HELPS YOU ON THE WAY...
           because your good conduct is only practiced by you; it has not arisen from your own innermost core,
           you are following the conditioning. You are following whatsoever has been forced upon you. If you
           are a Hindu you will follow a certain conduct that Hindus expect of you. If you are a Mohammedan,
           you will follow certain other conduct which has been forced upon you.
               Ayatollah Khomeini, whose real name is Ayatollah Khomeiniac, goes on telling his followers:
           Be martyrs, we are martyrs -- if you die fighting for religion, you will be born into paradise. JIHAD,
           religious war, is the surest and the most easily available way to reach to God; every other way is a
           very long way. To die in a religious war is a shortcut.
               Now many people, mad people, are following this lunatic. Yes, he is Khomeiniac. But this has
           been always so. These maniacs, these lunatics, fanatics, have dominated humanity. They go on
           promising you a beautiful future after death. It is a beautiful business, because nobody comes back to
           say whether it really happens or not. It is dealing in invisible goods.
               You can have good conduct according to a certain society but you will still remain as
           unconscious as you were before. By being a Mohammedan or a Hindu or a Christian you don't
           become conscious. If you become conscious you CAN'T be a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a
           Christian. How can you be so foolish as to be a Hindu, to be a Buddhist, to be a Jaina? -- impossible!
           You will not have any adjective to you. You will simply be a human being, a divine being. That's
           more than enough, what else is needed?
               But following so-called good conduct, you will remain the same unconscious person.

              Joe was out all night with a dazzling blonde. He came home at dawn and tried to appear quietly
           sober, as his wife eyed him with suspicion.
           "Joe, where is your underwear?" she said as he was undressing.
           "My God," he cried with aggrieved dignity, "I have been robbed."

              Your whole life is lived in such an unconscious way. You can practice good things, you can do
           good things, give service to people, you can donate to charity. You can even become a Mother
           Teresa of Calcutta, but your life will be the same. Yes, you will get a Nobel Prize, and you will be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           honored all over the world. The world consists of fools and only the fools are honored.
               Just look at the irony: Jesus is crucified and Mother Teresa is given a Nobel Prize. Socrates is
           poisoned and Mother Teresa is given a Nobel Prize. Maharshi Raman was not given a Nobel Prize. J.
           Krishnamurti has worked his whole life as nobody has ever worked, for a better human being, for a
           better, conscious world. But he has not been given a Nobel Prize, his name has never even been
           considered for it.
               George Gurdjieff, one of the greatest masters, who transformed people's lives into light, was not
           given a Nobel Prize. Mother Teresa is not a Raman Maharshi, she is not a J. Krishnamurti, she is not
           a George Gurdjieff. But why is she honored? Because she fulfills your requirements: she serves
           beggars, orphans, widows. And that is your idea of a saint -- that he should serve. He should serve all
           kinds of fools, then he is a saint. Then other fools will respect him.
               You are unconscious, your expectations are unconscious and there are people who will fulfill
           them. You will respect them, you will call them saints. Now, Mother Teresa has no taste of
           awareness, no experience of ecstasy, but that is not the point for people. The point is how many
           hospitals she runs, how many orphans she has raised -- as if the world is not already much too
           overpopulated. How many old people does she serve, how many old people have survived through
           her efforts?
               These things have nothing to do with real religion; these are social services. She is really serving
           the status quo, that's why she is respected. The Nobel Prize was not given because she is religious or
           a mystic. The Nobel Prize was given because she serves the capitalist system, she serves the status
           quo, she serves the vested interests. She is not a revolutionary, but a reformist. She is not a rebel.
               Unless you become capable of seeing the beauty of rebellion, the beauty of a Jesus, Socrates,
           Buddha, you will not understand what real religion is.

               The tensions of life were threatening to get a stranglehold on Bill; so after he had finished a good
           dinner, he relaxed mindlessly in a soft chair next to the stereo, with a stiff drink in his hand. His wife
           knew nothing of his nervous state, and climbed onto his lap with the thought of trying to wheedle a
           fur coat out of him.... She snuggled and murmured and fondled.
           "Good heavens, Ethel," he exploded. "Get off. I get enough of this at the office."

               You just watch yourself: what you say, what you do, what you hear, what you see, and you will
           be surprised -- you are always surrounded by smoke. A subtle smoke surrounds you, and you see
           through that smoke, and everything becomes distorted. Buddha's simple message is, first be aware.
           He says: AND YET IT IS NOT GOOD CONDUCT THAT HELPS YOU UPON THE WAY....

              NOR RITUAL....


              Going to church every Sunday, doing your PUJA, your worship every morning, saying your
           prayer every night before going to bed... these are all rituals, dead rituals that you go on repeating;
           you have become habituated to them, they are just habits. If you don't do them you feel as if you are
           missing something. If you do them you don't gain anything at all.

               A man said to a psychiatrist, "Look, I have everything I need -- a good house, a beautiful wife,
           successful children, a lovely job, but still my life is humdrum."
           "Well," said the psychiatrist, "you are suffering from too much routine. You must bring novelty into
           your life. When do you usually make love to your wife?"
           "Always at bedtime," replied the man.
           "That's the trouble. You are too settled. Try grabbing your wife passionately at some unusual time.
           Fling off your clothes when you come into the house and get her. Then come back next week and
           report what happened."
           "So," said the psychiatrist the following week, "how was it?"
           "Well," replied the client, "the bridge club loved it, but it was still humdrum."

              Just by changing your outer routine nothing is changed. You go to the church, you can change --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you can start going to a temple. You were repeating one mantra, you can change -- you can start
           repeating another mantra. You were a member of the Lions Club, you can become a member of the
           Rotary Club. Christians become Hindus, Hindus become Christians in the hope that by just changing
           outer forms something is going to be changed in their life. But the inner remains the same.
              Unless the inner changes, your life is going to remain humdrum. And a humdrum life can never
           know the flavor of the divine, can never know the taste of the wine of God.
           NOR RITUAL, says Buddha....

              NOR BOOK LEARNING....


               You can learn as much as you want. The psychologists say that each single human brain is so
           capable of learning that it can accumulate all the knowledge contained in all the libraries of the
           world; a single human mind is capable of storing all the knowledge possible. You can become a
           walking ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, but that is not going to help. You will know the
           words, but words are words. The word 'fire' is not fire; don't try to cook your food on the word 'fire'.
           The word 'love' is not love either, and the word 'God' is not God.
               But people become so much obsessed with words -- they become so much obsessed that if
           somebody says anything against the Bible, you are ready to be killed or kill. And bible is just a word;
           the word 'bible' simply means "the book." It does not mean anything else.
               If somebody says anything against the Vedas, Hindus become mad. Words have become so
           important, more important than your life. The whole history is full of blood and bloodshed just
           because of words. Buddha says: Beware, don't get too much entangled in words.

               A Jewish mother was very unhappy because her son did not like BLINTZES. In desperation she
           consulted a psychiatrist who suggested that if she showed Sammy, step by step, how blintzes were
           made, he might come to love and understand them. Eager to try out the suggestion she took Sammy
           into the kitchen the very next day.
           "Look, Sammy," she said, mixing the dough. "Eggs, milk, flour. You like eggs and milk and flour,
           don't you Sammy? Taste a little."
               The little boy, with a sour expression, grudgingly tasted a bit of each. She rolled out the dough
           and fried it into cakes.
           "Taste a little," she urged him, and again he tasted a bit. Encouraged, she went on mixing the cheese
           and cinnamon and sugar.
           "Look, Sammy, cheese, cinnamon, sugar. You like them, don't you Sammy?"
           "Yes, Mom," he replied.
               Really encouraged now, she placed the cheese mixture in the middle of a cake. Cautiously she
           folded over one corner.
           "Okay, Sammy?"
           "Okay, Mom."
           The she folded a second corner.
           "Okay?"
           "Okay."
               The she folded the third corner and finally the fourth one.
           "Blintzes!!! Yech!!!" screamed Sammy, and ran out of the kitchen.

                And it is not so only with children. It is so with your great theologicians, philosophers, thinkers
           -- just words.
           Buddha says: NOR RITUAL, NOR BOOK LEARNING....

              NOR WITHDRAWAL INTO THE SELF.


              Buddha must be the first enlightened master who has said this so clearly. Now modern
           psychology has rediscovered it. I say rediscovered it because they are not aware of Buddha's
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           statement. They think that introversion is a kind of disease. Buddha is saying exactly the same thing.
           He is saying: NOR WITHDRAWAL INTO THE SELF.
               Introversion is a disease, so is extroversion. The real man of awareness is neither extrovert nor
           introvert -- he simply is. When needed he goes out, when needed he goes in; he is fluid, flexible. He
           is not focused and fixated. There are extroverts who can't go in, and there are introverts who can't go
           out. Both are ill, both are pathological. NOR WITHDRAWAL INTO THE SELF is going to help
           you on the way....

              NOR DEEP MEDITATION.


              Let me repeat.... You will be surprised, because Buddha is one of the greatest meditators of the
           world. And Buddha is responsible for the greatest stream of meditation that has flowed up to now.
           He is the very source, but still he is such a sincere man that he says: NOR DEEP MEDITATION.

              NONE OF THESE CONFERS MASTERY OR JOY.


               Why not even meditation? -- because meditation is a method. Meditation can cause a certain
           state of the mind, but it cannot make you available to the uncaused. It may prepare the ground, it
           may cleanse the ground, but it cannot bring the flowers. It is as if you prepare the ground for a
           garden: you remove all the rocks, all the weeds, all the roots, all the grass. You prepare the ground,
           but that's not enough. If you prepare the ground and then sit under a tree and wait for the roses to
           come, they will not come.
               Meditation is only a negative method; it helps you to prepare the ground. It removes the barriers,
           but then you have to sow the seeds -- only then will flowers be coming. Meditation is creating the
           ground, awareness is sowing the seeds. Only meditation with awareness can help you on the way;
           and then there is mastery, and then there is joy.

              O SEEKER!
              RELY ON NOTHING....


               To make it absolutely sure that you don't rely on anything, he has said: AND YET IT IS NOT
           GOOD CONDUCT THAT HELPS YOU UPON THE WAY, NOR RITUAL, NOR BOOK
           LEARNING, NOR WITHDRAWAL INTO THE SELF, NOR DEEP MEDITATION. NONE OF
           THESE CONFERS MASTERY OR JOY.
               But who knows? -- you may find something else. Hence, to make it absolutely clear,
           categorically clear, he says: O SEEKER! RELY ON NOTHING.
               Reliance on anything brings dependence, dependence brings slavery, slavery is misery. Don't
           depend, not even on meditation. One day, even meditation has to be transcended. Don't depend even
           on the master, because the master can only point the way, YOU have to follow the path. The master
           cannot go with you.
               Buddha is reported to have said: If you meet me on the way, kill me; if I come in your way as a
           hindrance, kill me immediately. Don't have any hesitation... that I am your master.
               How can you kill me?... He is saying something very metaphorical. He is saying, "Deep in
           meditation, the last thing to be dropped is the master." Everything can be dropped easily, but the
           more the master helps you to drop things, the more you become attached to the master himself; and
           the love for the master is so pure, and so ecstatic, it brings such joy, that it is very difficult to drop
           the master at the last moment. And the last moment is the last barrier. The master has to be dropped,
           you have to go alone -- absolutely alone into the unknown. RELY ON NOTHING....

              UNTIL YOU WANT NOTHING.


              Go on dropping your desires, even the desire for being a master, the desire for being blissful, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           desire for knowing God, the desire for nirvana. All desires have to be dropped.
               Mind is so cunning: you can drop one desire and it immediately supplies you with another. And
           it may supply you with a more subtle desire. The gross desire can be understood by everybody, the
           subtle desire is more difficult to understand. For example, the desire for God is not thought to be a
           desire worth dropping. No Christian will say, no Jew will say, no Mohammedan will say, "Drop the
           desire for God." Drop all desire FOR God, but don't drop the desire for God.
               It is only Buddha, the only man in the whole history of human consciousness, who has said the
           whole truth -- truth in its absolute purity, truth and nothing else. He is so insistent on the truth, that
           he says you will have to drop the master, and you will have to drop all kinds of desires. Otherwise,
           mind is very innovative, very creative, imaginative. You drop one thing and it immediately says,
           "Good. Now seek this, seek truth, seek God."
               Now nobody can raise any objections about seeking God -- Buddha raises objections to that, too.

               After numerous complaints from the neighbors, Harry sadly agreed to have a veterinarian render
           his cat fit to guard a sultan's harem.
           "I will bet," said one neighbor, "that that ex-tom of yours just lies on the hearth now and gets fat."
           "No, he still goes out at night. But now he goes along as a consultant."

                If you cannot do anything, at least you can function as a consultant; but the going continues.
           Nothing has changed, the operation has failed.
                Remember, if you are a real seeker... and this is a strange paradox: if you are a real seeker, you
           will have to drop all seeking as such. Otherwise you will go on seeking one thing after another, and
           there is no end to it.
                When all seeking stops, you are suddenly at the very center of your being. Seeking drives you
           outside, seeking takes you away from yourself. Jesus says: Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the
           doors shall be opened unto you. Ask and it shall be given.
                Buddha will not say that. Buddha will say, "Seek and you will not find. Knock and the doors will
           never be opened for you. Ask and you will not be given."
                Then why does Jesus say so? Is Jesus not a buddha? Jesus is also a buddha, but the difference of
           their statements is because of the audience. Jesus is talking to ordinary people, and Buddha is talking
           to very evolved disciples. Jesus is talking to the crowds. If he had said to them, "Seek and ye shall
           never find," they would not have understood him. They would have thought him mad, absolutely
           mad.
                Seek and you shall not find? Ask and it shall not be given to you? Knock and the doors shall not
           be thrown open unto you? He was talking to ordinary people, hence he has to use very ordinary
           expressions.
                Buddha is talking to adepts, initiates. Jesus was not so fortunate as Buddha. Jesus' disciples were
           very ordinary, even those twelve apostles were very ordinary, unconscious people. Buddha had
           thousands of BODHISATTVAS, thousands of disciples who were just on the verge of becoming
           buddhas any moment. Thousands were just on the verge of bursting into a flame of eternal light. He
           could talk without any fear of being misunderstood; hence he says: RELY ON NOTHING UNTIL
           YOU WANT NOTHING.
                The greatest moment in life is when there is no desire left inside you, when desirelessness settles,
           absolute desirelessness. In that very moment all is attained, because all has always been there inside
           you. It was because of desires that you were running hither and thither, not looking inside. When all
           running has stopped, suddenly your own truth explodes with all its beauty, with all its benediction
           upon you.
                Listen to Buddha, meditate over his sutra. It will give you great insight -- insight into desire and
           its futility. It will help you to drop all desires. And the moment you are desireless you have arrived
           home.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                        The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                      Chapter #8
                                          Chapter title: Be in it; don't be of it
           18 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912180
              ShortTitle: DHAM708
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




               The first question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               AT DARSHAN ON YOUR BIRTHDAY I LOOKED AT YOU, A STILL POOL OF SERENITY, AND
               EVERYTHING ELSE HAPPENING AROUND YOU WAS IRRELEVANT. IT WAS SUDDENLY SO
               CLEAR THAT THIS -- SITTING SILENTLY AMIDST THE CHAOS AND FERVOR -- WAS YOUR
               TEACHING; THAT YOU ARE THE WAY.


                Prem Pramod, so at last a ray of light has entered into your darkness -- an insight, a glimpse.
           Now don't lose track of it! It is very difficult to get it and very easy to lose it. In fact, the mind and its
           ways are so old that soon you start suspecting whether the glimpse was true or you had only
           imagined it.
                And the mind tries to convince you that it was sheer imagination, that you projected it, that it was
           just an idea. Maybe you became hypnotized by the situation. Maybe you became overwhelmed by so
           many people in such joy, in such ecstasy. Maybe you were touched by the flood of energy around
           you. Soon the mind will start creating doubts. Go on remembering. These insights are rare.
                Yes, Pramod, that's exactly what my teaching is: Be in the world, in all its absurdities, in all its
           nonsense, noise, and yet remain cool, aloof, detached. Be IN it, but don't be OF it. Let it happen all
           around you -- there is no need to escape from it, there is nowhere to escape. And even if you escape
           somewhere, that is not going to transform your being; your mind will remain the same. The best way
           is to use the opportunity of the world.
                The world is an opportunity, a great opportunity, a tremendously valuable gift of God. It is a
           teaching device. Be in it and yet so far away, so transcendental, that nothing of it reaches to the core
           of your being. Only your circumference is touched by it, but your center remains aloof.
                Be the center of the cyclone: that's exactly my teaching. The world IS a tale told by an idiot, full
           of fury and noise, signifying nothing. But it is very easy to get caught into the net, because the fool is
           not only outside, the fool is also inside. Your mind is part of the tale told by an idiot and your mind
           would like to find some meaning it it -- whereas none exists. The mind cannot remain without
           finding some meaning; if it cannot find, it invents it. Otherwise it feels empty, it feels something is
           missing.
                There is no meaning in the world; all meaning is in the very center of your being. The world is
           simply noise, there is no music. Music is in the deepest recesses of your being -- and that music has
           to be heard in all the noise of the world. Then the noise of the world functions as a backdrop, a
           background; it becomes a context. You can hear the inner music more clearly because of the noise.
           Then the noise is no longer a disturbance, rather a help.
                That's why I don't teach renunciation: I teach rejoicing.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE HEARD THAT SWAMI PREM CHINMAYA IS SO ILL, SO WEAK, THAT HE IS BEING GIVEN
              BLOOD. WILL IT NOT BE RIGHT THAT OUR SANNYASINS DONATE BLOOD IN SUCH CASES?


              Avinash, don't be worried! The blood of a nonsannyasin is not going to disturb Prem Chinmaya.
           Blood is blood; it is neither sannyasin nor nonsannyasin -- and it is not thicker than water.
           Yes, there are stories which create worry....

               Because of his rare blood type, Gaffney was selected to be the donor for an English king who
           had been seriously ill.
               The first transfusion helped enormously. A second brought the stricken monarch back to
           consciousness.
               The third was in progress when the king jumped up in bed and shouted, "The hell with the King
           of England!"

           But these are only stories -- blood cannot do that!
               And Prem Chinmaya is faring well: he is going very steadily in his consciousness. The body is
           weak, but the spirit is not weak. The flesh is weak, but the spirit is very strong. In fact, his illness has
           been a great blessing to him. He has learned more from his sickness than from anything else. He has
           become more and more silent, accepting, unfearing. Even if death comes now he will be able to
           receive it, welcome it as a guest.
               I am tremendously happy with him! When seven, eight years ago he had come to me, he was
           suffering from the same disease, but his fear was greater than the disease.
               The body has to go one day; nobody can live here forever. What excuse one chooses to go is a
           private affair. One can choose cancer, one can choose tuberculosis, one can choose heart attack; and
           there are a thousand and one alternatives available. But those are all excuses. The basic thing is that
           one cannot live here for long; it is not our home.
               We have to go in search of the home, and only those who can go silently, joyously, can find it;
           otherwise, you will immediately find yourself in another womb, back into the world. Unless you
           learn the lesson, you will be thrown back again and again into the world.
               Eight years ago when he had come to me, the thing that was more disturbing was not the illness
           but his fear of death. All these eight years he has lived with death... it can happen any moment. But
           slowly slowly, as his meditation has deepened, as his love has deepened, as he has understood more
           and more that death is part of life -- you cannot deny it, and in denying it you will be denying life
           itself -- he has become more accepting. A great suchness has descended upon him, and that is
           significant -- more significant than life, more significant than death.
               He will die one day, but now I am not worried about his death. He knows now how to die, he has
           learned the knack of it. Death will not be just an end but a great beginning for him. He will not be
           drowned by death; he will ride on it, he will go victorious. Hence there is no need to worry about
           him. And any blood will do. Blood is blood; it goes only into the body, it does not affect your soul.
               But these ideas have existed for centuries: your food affects your soul, your clothes affect your
           soul.... These are all nonsense ideas! They affect you only if you are identified -- but then anything
           will affect you. If you are not identified, nothing affects you; you remain untouched. And that's the
           great experience: to feel untouched amidst all turmoil.
               And I am tremendously happy with Prem Chinmaya: he has proved himself. And it is possible
           that because of his understanding, his life has been lengthened. Even doctors are a little puzzled how
           he is continuing; by all ordinary rules he should not be here anymore.
               Amritam, our doctor, has also asked a question: How does Chinmaya go on pulling himself?
               The reason is, he is no longer interested in pulling, that's why he goes on pulling himself. If death
           comes this moment, he will accept it. Because of this, death has become irrelevant. He has become
           absolutely free of the anxiety. It is anxiety that kills more; it is deep down anxiety that becomes
           destructive. Because he is no longer in anguish, he may live a few more years, he may live long.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But whether he lives or not is no longer of any importance. The important thing has happened. If
           he lives he will live with a cool heart; if he dies he will die with a cool heart. He has learned the
           lesson.
               Rejoice with him! Learn from him -- because everybody has to encounter his death sooner or
           later. And one can never be certain: you may be perfectly healthy, and tomorrow death may take you
           away. So health is no guarantee.
               In fact, it happens more often that a perfectly healthy person dies more quickly than an ill person.
           Because the healthy person has no way of coping with illness, any illness can prove fatal. But a
           person who has lived long with illness becomes adjusted to it, he can cope with it; he knows the
           ways of death. The healthy person knows nothing, so it often happens that the healthy person will die
           with the first stroke and the unhealthy person may live long. His body has become seasoned, has
           become more tolerant of diseases.
               But remember, that is not the point at all. Whether Chinmaya lives a few years or not has no
           meaning anymore. If he lives, good; if he goes, he can go with joy in his heart, because his life has
           not been meaningless, his life has not been futile.
           The first flowers have started blossoming.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN YOU CONVINCE ME ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF GOD?


                Sargam, why are you worried about God? What wrong has he done to you? Why can't you
           forgive him and forget him? Why remain so concerned about God? Be concerned more with life,
           with existence, and you will know God! In its right moment, life itself becomes luminous, existence
           itself becomes divine. It all depends on your inner clarity. If you can see clearly, ONLY God is. No
           proof is needed. If you can't see clearly, then no proof is going to be of any help.
                There have been philosophers arguing for and against God for centuries, at least for five
           thousand years, with no conclusion in sight. They have not been able to come to any conclusion.
           Five thousand years of constant speculation, thinking, argument, logic, and what is the result? What
           is the outcome? It has all been an exercise in futility! And you still go on asking about proofs.
                Proofs have been supplied, but they can be argued against, they can be disproved. Faults can be
           found in them for the simple reason that God is not an object which can be proved by logic. God is
           your subjectivity which is beyond logic, beyond thinking, beyond mind.
                God is not a thing but an experience. And how can you prove the experience? Can you prove the
           experience of love? Nobody has been able to prove that love exists, nobody can prove that beauty
           exists. Nobody can prove anything really valuable. It may be truth, it may be love, it may be bliss, it
           may be beauty; they are all beyond proofs or disproofs. Nobody can disprove either.
                And God is the culmination of all the great values, the essential core of beauty, love, truth, bliss.
           God is the essential core of all these values; these values cannot be proved. How can you prove the
           essence of them? He is just a perfume -- not even the flower but just the fragrance.
                But why does this desire arise? The desire arises because your mind says, "Unless God is proved
           there is no need to waste time for God or in meditation or in prayer." It is mind's strategy to keep you
           away from meditation, from prayer.
                There is no need for God! If you want to meditate you can meditate without God. Buddha
           meditated without God; he had no belief in God. Mahavira meditated and became enlightened
           without any idea of God. God is not a necessity, God can be disposed of! But when Buddha attained
           to meditation he became a god. Mahavira became a god himself.
                That's how it happens: you meditate and YOU will become a god, you will discover godliness in
           your own being. And that is the beginning of discovery. Then you start discovering it in others. Then
           slowly slowly, the whole existence is full of God, overflooded with God.
                But ask for the proof first and you will miss the whole journey. Then the mind says, "First prove,
           then meditate." The mind has played a trick on you, the mind has befooled you. And it looks logical:
           before you start any inquiry, let it be proved. If God is, then meditation is significant; otherwise why
           are you meditating? If God is, then prayer is significant; if there is no God, then prayer is futile.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I say to you: whether there is a God or not, prayer is significant. Prayer does not change God --
           prayer changes you! Prayer has nothing to do with God; it has everything to do with you. The
           praying person becomes a totally different kind of person. Meditation has nothing to do with God,
           but meditation transforms you.
               These are alchemical ways of transforming your interiority. And when your interiority is
           changed, is full of light and clarity, you will be able to see.
               God can be seen but cannot be proved. Only small things can be proved, only things which are
           worthless can be proved. Be free of this desire for proof. It is a stupid desire.

               Mary and Bob were in their upper berth on the train to Niagara Falls, and she kept repeating,
           "Bobby, I just can't believe that we are really married!"
               From the lower berth bellowed a sleepy voice, "For Chrissake, Bobby, convince her -- we wanna
           get to sleep!"

               Yes, of such things you can be convinced, but nothing higher, nothing deeper, nothing really
           valuable.
               You ask me, Sargam, "Can you convince me about the existence of God?"
               And what else do you think I am doing here? I am not arguing for God, I am not directly trying
           to prove the existence of God; but in an indirect way I am creating the right situation, the right
           milieu, the right context, where God can become available to you. That's what is going on here. I
           don't talk much about God because there is no need. I talk about love, about meditation, about
           awareness, about mindfulness, and I talk about a thousand and one things. They all are significant in
           the sense that they will create the right atmosphere, the right climate for God to happen.
               I am trying to create a buddhafield: a certain space in which you can grow into gods. My effort is
           not to give you a belief in God; my effort is to give you an experience of God. And belief is of no
           value because hidden behind belief there is always doubt. Only experience is of real help, because in
           experience there is no doubt left.
               When YOU know, only then you know. I can silence you through logic, I can make you
           convinced through logical argumentation, but that conviction will be only intellectual -- somebody
           else may destroy it. If somebody else can argue in a better way against God, you will be at a loss;
           your whole belief system will collapse. But nobody can argue against your experience. If you have
           known, then the whole world can say there is no God, but still you know that there is God. And only
           such existential conviction is of any value.
               Beliefs are for fools; the wise ones seek experience. Hence, please don't ask that I should
           convince you, that I should give proofs for God's existence. That is not my function. I am not here to
           convert you to a particular ideology. I am here to transform you to a totally new existence, a new
           way of life, a new way of vision.
               God is not there somewhere outside you; hence science is never going to discover God. God is
           your inner nature. You will have to dive within. You will have to encounter your own self. You will
           have to go on seeking and searching in your consciousness. And when you have reached to the
           center of your consciousness... the revelation!

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              AH RAREST ONE, HOW IS IT THAT YOU GIVE SO MUCH?


               Chaitanya Kabir, I would like to give you much more! But the real cannot be given in words. The
           real can be conveyed only through gestures, through silence, through presence. And sometimes even
           silence is not adequate enough; even presence, at the ultimate peaks, fails. The ultimate cannot be
           given in any possible way.
               I go on talking to you, but it is not that which I would like to say. That which I would like to say
           to you cannot be spoken, and that which can be said is not really the thing that I would like to say to
           you. It is the ancient dilemma, the dilemma of the mystic. He knows, but he cannot say it; and
           whatsoever he says is not what he knows.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Lao Tzu says: The tao cannot be said, and if you say it, it is no more tao. Read instead of tao,
           "dhamma," and it becomes the statement of Buddha. Read instead of tao, "truth," and it becomes a
           statement of Socrates. The truth cannot be said -- it is so vast! -- but efforts have to be made. In those
           very efforts, a few people who are vulnerable, open, intelligent, may be able to have a little glimpse
           -- a faraway glimpse, of course -- but that glimpse will become a seed in them and will start growing.
                And what I have to say to you is inexhaustible, hence I can go on speaking. For these five years I
           have been speaking nonstop, and yet I have not said anything -- not even a single word has been
           said! Hence I can go on speaking, because it can never be said.
                One can ask, "Then why speak at all?" There is a reason to it: I have caught so many of you
           through speaking! If I was just sitting silently here, yes, a few people would have been here, but very
           few, because silence is a difficult phenomenon, the most difficult to understand. It needs tremendous
           intelligence; not only intelligence, it needs a certain silence in you too. Then only, two silences can
           commune. And the world does not teach you to be silent; it teaches you words, language.
                I have to use words and language so that you become caught in the net. Once you are caught and
           cannot escape, then you will have to listen to my silence too. And once you have understood my
           words, you will start feeling the silence that surrounds those words. Those words are born out of
           silence; they carry something of silence in them, some fragrance around them.
                But what I have been saying to you is only the most rudimentary; it is for the beginners. As you
           grow in understanding, as your silence deepens, my contact with you will be more and more of
           silence. Even while I am speaking, you will listen to the intervals between the words and you will
           read between the lines. You will not be so much concerned with the words, but with the wordless.
           You will be more concerned with the origin of it all.

              Two hippies were crossing the Atlantic by steamship. They were out on deck, looking at the
           ocean, and one said, "Man, look at all that water out there!"
           "Yeah, man," the second, farther-out cat replied. "And just think, like that is only the top of it."

               Only the superficial, the surface, can be talked about; the depths remain hidden. But the surface
           can become an invitation.
               Chaitanya Kabir, my words are only invitations -- invitations towards my being, invitations
           towards my presence. Hence, those who come here and remain nonsannyasins are bound to go
           empty-handed. They will accumulate a few words, they will become a little more knowledgeable;
           philosophically they will become a little enriched, but their being will remain the same. They will
           know more but they will not be more. Unless you become committed, unless you become involved,
           unless you risk all that you have, you will remain concerned only with the words.
               The deeper your commitment, the greater is the possibility of moving towards the depths,
           because to move towards the depths is possible only when you are ready to die -- die as an ego, die
           as a person.
               And that's exactly what transpires between the master and the disciple: the master is no more an
           ego; the disciple also slowly slowly becomes a non-ego, a nonentity, a nobody... and then they merge
           and meet, then they melt into each other.
               I have chosen a flag for the new commune. The flag is of two colors: white and orange. The
           white represents the master, the orange represents the disciple. And the flag has a full moon on it as a
           symbol. The full moon represents enlightenment. Enlightenment is light, but not like the sun; it is not
           hot, it is cool -- it is like the moon.
               Enlightenment is not masculine but feminine, because enlightenment is a gift from God. You
           cannot be aggressive about it, you have to be just receptive, available, open, like a womb; hence the
           moon. And the moon is half red and half white; that represents the meeting and merger of the master
           and the disciple. The master is in the disciple, hence the moon is half red; and the disciple is in the
           master.
               The master and disciple are not two. When they become one, when it is no longer a dialogue,
           when there is no question of I and thou, when the I and thou disappear into one unity, then silence is
           understood, then presence is understood. And then inexhaustible sources open up for you. Then you
           are moving into the ocean, the river is falling into the ocean.
               These words are only invitations. Come along with me! These words are just to prepare you so
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you can take a jump into the ocean. It needs guts, it needs daring, because jumping into the
           ocean means disappearing as you have known yourself up to now, losing your old identity. It is a
           loss in the beginning -- but not really, because the river loses itself as a river but becomes the ocean.
           It is a gain.
                The disciple losing himself in the master becomes a master; he attains to his true identity. And
           the master is only a door: from the master he moves into God himself.
                That's why in the East, the master is conceived of as a god. That is very difficult for
           non-Easterners to understand, why the master is conceived of as a god... because he is the door into
           the divine.
                Chaitanya Kabir, I can understand your wonder. You say, "Ah rarest one, how is it that you give
           so much?"
                But from my side I am not giving you so much, for two reasons. One is that you have to be
           prepared before you can be given. You can be given only as much as you can accept, digest. You can
           be given only that much which can become your blood, bones and marrow; more than that will cause
           indigestion, which will not be helpful to you but will be harmful.
                And I would like to give you much more, but in the very nature of things it cannot be given. I am
           utterly helpless. I can shout, I can go on calling to you, "Come closer!"... because if you come closer,
           slowly slowly, my energy field will start vibrating with YOUR energy field. And when my heart and
           your heart are pulsating with the same beat, in the same rhythm, then the real communion has
           started.
                But it is happening, slowly slowly. A few of you are coming closer, dropping your egos. A few
           of you are becoming more and more silent. A few of you are daring the ultimate, are getting ready to
           take a jump into the ocean from where no return is possible. Things are happening, but they take
           time.
                And such an energy field has not existed for centuries; so many things have to be worked out
           from ABC. Such an energy field existed while Buddha was here. Such an energy field existed with
           Bodhidharma in China. Such an energy field existed with Zarathustra in Iran. Such an energy field
           existed with Jesus in Jerusalem. But for centuries this phenomenon has disappeared from the world,
           and man has become too much worldly, too much interested in trivia, in the superficial, in the
           meaningless. Even if he goes to God, he goes for meaningless things. He does not go for inner
           transformation, he does not go to die and to be reborn.
                You are here to die and to be reborn. Much is happening... much more is going to happen. As
           you become more and more ready, I will be showering more and more.
                And it is inexhaustible because it is not mine, it has nothing to do with me. I am just a vehicle, a
           hollow bamboo. I am simply available to existence: whatsoever song it wants to sing through me, I
           am ready to sing it. I am simply a medium.
                Use this opportunity as much as you can, because such doors open only once in a while and it is
           very easy to miss them. For stupid things one can miss them, and you can rationalize your stupidity
           easily.
           Beware, be watchful....

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE IS RESEARCH IN THE WEST THAT SUGGESTS THAT MEN ARE HAPPIER BEING
              MARRIED THAN NOT, AND THAT THE SUICIDE RATE IS LOWER FOR MARRIED MEN. AND
              THAT THE REVERSE IS TRUE FOR WOMEN. PLEASE COMMENT.


               Prabhudasi, there is a difference between the male mind and the female mind; their functioning is
           different. They are polar opposites -- never forget that. Spiritually they are exactly the same, but
           physiologically they are poles apart; they function in different ways.
               For example, man is more physical than woman, man is more extrovert than woman. The woman
           is more psychological and more introvert. That's why there are so many magazines like PLAYBOY
           with nude women on their covers and pictures of nude women inside -- and millions of copies are
           sold. So much pornography exists all over the world, but it is all a male idea. The woman is not as
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           much interested in the nude man as man is interested in the nude woman.
               When a man and a woman are in deep, loving embrace, the woman immediately closes her eyes.
           Kiss a woman, and she closes her eyes. But the man watches himself kissing the woman, watches the
           woman kissed, watches her reactions, watches continuously whether she is getting an orgasm or not.
           He remains more or less an outsider, a spectator. He is more interested in watching than in BEING in
           it.
               The woman simply closes her eyes. She is less concerned with the man and what is happening to
           him; she is more concerned with her inner being, what is happening there. Hence, women are not
           interested in pornography; their real interest is in their inner processes. These differences are so great
           that they make for different life-styles.
               Prabhudasi, you are right: modern research has certainly found a very strange-looking fact. But it
           is not really strange. Men are happier being married than not because when they are not married they
           simply feel lonely. When they are married, even if the marriage is miserable, it is better than to be
           lonely; at least there is something to keep you occupied. Misery also keeps you occupied and man
           always wants to remain occupied -- something on the outside so that he need not go in, so he can
           keep his eyes open.
               The woman is not so interested in the outside, so when a woman is unmarried she feels more
           alone than lonely. And she can enjoy her aloneness better than a man because she is more
           inner-directed -- she is more selfish, in a way. I am using the word with a very positive meaning: she
           is selfish, she is self-centered. The man is other-centered; he is constantly thinking of others.
               The woman is thinking more about herself. At the most, she remains interested in the
           neighborhood -- who is fooling around with whom. She is not much concerned about Vietnam or
           Iran. She simply feels a little puzzled about why men are so much interested in Vietnam. What have
           you to do with Vietnam? It is so far away, why be bothered about it?
               I have not come across a single woman who has asked me about proofs for God. It is so far
           away! No woman has asked me whether heaven really exists, is hell a reality? She is not concerned
           about these things. She is more concerned with things that are close to her; she is more concerned
           with her clothes than with God.
               And man thinks all these feminine interests as stupid: when there are such great subjects, the
           woman is concerned about her clothes! She will not discuss communism and Karl Marx, Mao and
           Mahatma Gandhi. She, at the most, can listen to all these things out of politeness. Her interest is
           about where you got your sari, the texture of your clothes, and who is looking beautiful. She is
           concerned with that which is close; her concern is for herself.
               Hence, she can remain alone in a more healthy way than man; he feels very lonely. If he can't get
           his morning newspaper he starts freaking out! He has to know what is happening in the whole world.
           He can't be alone. Even in his aloneness he will create some imaginary beings -- God, angels -- and
           imaginary problems: How many angels can stand on the point of a needle? And he will be really into
           the problem; he will waste his whole life counting the angels, and he will argue to no end! The
           woman simply laughs. The woman deep down knows boys are just boys -- let them talk nonsense!
           They call it philosophy, theology -- they are very skillful in giving great names to stupid things.
               That's why man will commit suicide if he is lonely. Marriage is a must for him; he needs a
           woman for many things. First, she gives him a grounding -- the woman is very earthly, earth-bound.
           In all the mythologies of the world she has been represented by the earth. The woman gives him
           roots into the earth; otherwise, without a woman, he is just without earth, without roots; hanging in
           the air. The woman gives him a nest, the woman becomes a home for him. Without the woman he is
           homeless, a vagabond, driftwood.
               Still, there is going to be conflict, there is going to be misery, there is going to be constant
           nagging... it is inevitable because they are such polar opposites; their interests never meet. Hence the
           woman has to nag, otherwise the man will never fulfill HER desires -- and the man has to concede.
           Slowly slowly, if the man is intelligent enough, he becomes henpecked.
               Only very stupid and stubborn people never become henpecked. A little intelligence and the man
           understands it: that it is better to listen to whatsoever she says and follow it. Otherwise twenty-four
           hours a day she will be after you. She will not leave you any rest. It is better to do whatsoever she is
           saying and be finished with it, so you can read your newspaper!
               All that nagging and all that misery can be tolerated because the woman fulfills a certain very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deep need: she makes you earth-bound and she takes care of your body. She is not much concerned
           about your soul -- that she leaves for you to think about -- but she nourishes your body. She
           nourishes, she cares, she loves; she makes you feel loved, needed -- she gives you a deep
           contentment. Without her, you simply don't know who you are. Without her you are always a lost
           child. She mothers you.
               Hence it happens that married men are happier than unmarried men. It should not be so, because
           the unmarried man has no problems. The married man has problems, so logically it seems very
           strange that the married person should be happier than the unmarried. But life does not follow logic;
           life has its own strange ways. The unmarried man is without roots, without nourishment, without
           warmth. He is cold, living in a cold world; he goes on shrinking and dying. The woman gives
           warmth, gives life, makes him feel at home, helps him to remain together. Without the woman he
           starts falling apart.
               But the woman can be more happy alone than married, because she can make herself rooted
           without the man; the man is not such a great need. She can be more independent than the man -- she
           IS more independent.
               Just because the woman is more independent, down the ages man has tried to make her
           dependent in other ways -- economically, socially. Naturally, she is more independent and that hurts
           the man and his ego, so he has tried to make her dependent in some way; artificial dependence has
           been created for her. Economically she has been paralyzed, she has to depend on man. This is a
           consolation for man: if he depends on her, she also depends on him. It is a compensation and a
           consolation.
               Politically, socially, she has been thrown out of the society; she has been forced to remain in the
           home so that man can feel that "I am not the only one dependent, she is also dependent on me." This
           is a psychological strategy of the ego, of the male ego. Otherwise, if the woman is given total
           freedom -- economic, social, political -- man will look really poor compared to her.
               In matriarchal societies, man IS poor. There are a few tribes still existing on the earth which are
           matriarchal, where woman rules; the women are stronger, more confident of themselves, and men are
           weaklings.
               Certainly the woman is stronger than man in many ways. She lives longer than man, five years
           longer than man. If man's average lifespan is seventy, then woman's will be seventy-five. She lives
           five years longer than man -- why? She must have more resistance. And after giving birth to ten,
           twelve children.... Just think of a man giving birth to ten, twelve children -- he will be finished long
           before! Just carry one child in your womb for nine months and you will commit suicide! Or if that is
           difficult, just try to bring up a child -- and either you will kill the child or you will commit suicide.
               The woman has great resistance, great tolerance of things. The woman is more balanced;
           physiologically, chemically, she is more balanced. That's why she looks more beautiful -- her beauty
           has roots in her physiological balance.
               It is like this: if people are created from two cells, one from the mother and one from the father --
           each cell consisting of twenty-four smaller parts -- then man has two cells, one consisting of the full
           twenty-four while the other contains less. And the woman has two cells, both consisting of the full
           twenty-four, equally. The woman is more balanced.
               Man has an inner imbalance, hence goes berserk more easily, goes mad very easily. Any woman
           can drive any man mad, it is such a simple phenomenon! Women are ill less than men; men are ill
           more, they suffer more illnesses. One hundred fifteen boys are born for each hundred girls, and by
           the time they reach the age of marriage, fifteen boys have disappeared. By the marrying age there are
           one hundred girls to one hundred boys. Nature also gives birth to fifteen more boys knowing
           perfectly well that fifteen are going to die sooner or later. So by the time the boys and girls come to
           the marriageable age, the proportion will be the same.
               Unmarried women are more at ease with themselves. If politically and economically they were
           not prevented, they would like, they would love to remain unmarried. Maybe that is one of the
           reasons why man has made them so helpless politically, socially and economically, so that they
           HAVE to decide for marriage; otherwise many women would like to remain unmarried. Even if they
           would like to become mothers they would like to become mothers without marriage. Yes, there is a
           great need to be a mother in a woman, but there is no great need to be a wife.
               Men's needs are more physiological; women's needs are more psychological. Hence the woman
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           always feels as if she is exploited in marriage. And her feeling is true, because man's interest is
           sexual and the woman's interest is far more total; it is not just sexual. Sex may be a part in that
           totality. But man's interest is basically sexual; everything else is just decorative, it is not essential.
           He is continuously interested in sex.... The simple reason is that their sexualities are very different.
                Man has a local sexuality; his sex is confined to the genital organs, it is not spread all over his
           body. The woman is totally sexual, her whole body is sexual; it is not genital. Hence a woman needs
           longer foreplay before she can go really into lovemaking.
                And the man is always in a hurry; his love is nothing but a hit-and-run affair! The woman is not
           even warmed up, and the man is getting dressed and going away! The man is finished. His sexuality
           is genital. The woman is more total; her whole body has a deep sexuality in it. Unless her whole
           body becomes involved she can't have orgasmic experience. And if she can't have orgasmic
           experiences she becomes disinterested in sex. So wives are disinterested in sex. Man's whole interest
           is in sex.

              The young executive greeted his attractive secretary warmly as he entered the office. "Good
           morning, Marge," he said, tossing his briefcase on his desk. "I had a dream about you last night."
              Flattered, but wishing to appear aloof, she casually inquired, "Ah, did you?"
           "No," her boss replied. "I woke up too soon."

               Their understanding is different. The woman always feels cheated, used, as if she is a machine.
           She feels used as a means; it is humiliating. Hence marriage is very humiliating to the woman. It
           seems only a permanent kind of prostitution, nothing else. She feels as if she has been sold forever.
           And in the bargain what does she get? A repetitive life, with no creativity, with no joy, with no
           exploration; a slavery, a constant slavery and the constant humiliation of being used as a means.
               Of course, if more married women commit suicide that is natural; more married women go mad,
           that is natural.

                Lester was continuously nervous and tense, so he went to see his doctor. He was greeted by the
           lovely, red-headed nurse, and he told her his problem.
                She said, "That's easy to fix." And she took him into a little room, relieved his tension and said,
           "That will be ten dollars, please."
                A few weeks later he was nervous and tense again, went back to the doctor, and the doctor
           examined him and gave him a prescription for tranquilizers and said, "That will be five dollars."
           "If it's all the same to you, Doc, I would just as soon have the ten-dollar treatment."

               For men, sex is not a spiritual phenomenon but only a physiological release. For women it is a
           spiritual phenomenon. Hence the woman always feels offended; unless love happens as part of a
           great spiritual experience she is unable to cooperate in it. Yes, she can be part of it in a cold way. It
           is because of this situation that millions of women have completely forgotten what orgasm means;
           they have become frozen. It is due to man's nonunderstanding about the difference.
               Each man and each woman needs a great education about it -- that they are different; their
           physiologies are different, their psychologies are different. And they have to understand each other's
           psychology, each other's physiology. They have to be taught. Each university should help the
           students to understand each other's biology, spirituality. But nothing is being taught.
               Sex is taboo: don't talk about it. People act as if we are born with all the knowledge needed. That
           is sheer nonsense! You may be able to produce children, that's possible, but that is not enough.
               Sex has a far deeper significance. It is not only for reproduction; it has a multidimensional
           quality to it. It is also fun, it is play, it is prayer, it is meditation, it is religion, it is spirituality. Sex
           has the whole spectrum; it is the whole rainbow, all the colors from the lowest to the highest.
               A great education is needed so that man can understand the woman and can help her to move
           towards orgasmic peaks, and the woman can understand the man and can help him.
               Marriage right now is based on ignorance, and it has been so for centuries. All knowledge about
           sex has been repressed. It has been discovered again and again, but it has been repressed again and
           again by the moralists, by the puritans, by the priests, by the politicians, because they don't want you
           to become orgasmically blissful.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There is a danger for the politicians and the priests: if people are orgasmically blissful they won't
           go to the churches and to the temples because they will know a far higher and deeper form of prayer
           in their own lives. And if people are orgasmically blissful they won't follow stupid leaders into war.
           They will love life so deeply, they will not be so ready to be killed or to kill. Their respect for life
           will be so tremendous, their joy of life will be such, that they will feel grateful to God. They will not
           be in such a hurry to throw away life at any stupid excuse: Mohammedans fighting Hindus, Hindus
           fighting Mohammedans, killing each other.
               The politicians and the priests both are agreed upon one thing: don't allow people to have
           orgasmic joy; otherwise they will no longer be slaves. It will become impossible to manipulate them;
           it will become impossible to reduce them to sub-human, mechanical persons. They will have a
           spirituality of their own and they will have such a rich life, they will not be ready to lose it so easily.
               These priests and politicians have created such a repressive society and such a repressed man that
           the whole humanity is ill and abnormal.

               Charlie entered the airline ticket office, and the girl behind the counter was as magnificently
           endowed with feminine equipment as any girl he could ever remember seeing. She was wearing a
           low-cut dress and bending low over the notations she was making. He stared at her.
               She looked up and said, "What can I do for you, sir?"
               Charlie heard his own breath hissing in his ears like steam, but tried to master the situation. He
           did, after all, need two tickets to Pittsburgh.
           He finally spoke. "Oh, give me two pickets to...."

               The whole humanity is boiling within. People are so afraid, they are just somehow managing to
           keep their faces together. Charlie's statement: "Give me two pickets to..." is not really complete. The
           complete sentence will be: "Give me two pickets to Tittsburgh." That is left out because the joke has
           been compiled by a man who must have been afraid himself. It is not a complete joke. "Tickets to
           Pittsburgh" becomes "pickets to Tittsburgh" -- and this happens to almost everybody.
               Such an abnormal situation is created by centuries of repression. People don't talk about sex
           clearly -- they don't talk about sex at all. Even if they talk, they talk in roundabout ways, they talk
           diplomatically.

              Mr. Ginsburg was walking home from the shop when he ran into Mrs. Cohen who said, "Mr.
           Ginsburg, your business is open."
           He said, "You must be wrong. I just closed it."
              Then he ran into Mrs. Goldberg who also said, "Mr. Ginsburg, your business is open." Again he
           denied it.
              When he got home his wife told him his fly was open and then he understood. So he called Mrs.
           Cohen on the telephone and said, "Mrs. Cohen, when you told me my business was open, tell me,
           was the salesman in or out?"

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                   Chapter #9
                                  Chapter title: Man's absence is his freedom
           19 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912190
              ShortTitle: DHAM709
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 0 mins




              THE WAY IS EIGHTFOLD.
              THERE ARE FOUR TRUTHS.
              ALL VIRTUE LIES IN DETACHMENT.
              THE MASTER HAS AN OPEN EYE.



              THIS IS THE ONLY WAY,
              THE ONLY WAY TO THE OPENING OF THE EYE.
              FOLLOW IT.
              OUTWIT DESIRE.



              FOLLOW IT TO THE END OF SORROW.



              WHEN I PULLED OUT SORROW'S SHAFT
              I SHOWED YOU THE WAY.



              IT IS YOU WHO MUST MAKE THE EFFORT.
              THE MASTERS ONLY POINT THE WAY.



              BUT IF YOU MEDITATE
              AND FOLLOW THE LAW
              YOU WILL FREE YOURSELF FROM DESIRE.


               Gautama the Buddha worked hard for six years in all kinds of disciplines to arrive home, to know
           the truth of his being, to realize the meaning of life. But he failed utterly -- not because he was
           lacking in effort, not because he was not committed to the methods he was practicing, but because he
           was not meditatively in them. His efforts were, in a way, superficial; they were not arising from his
           own innermost core. On the contrary, they were imposed from the outside by others -- by tradition,
           by teachers, by scriptures.
               After six years of arduous effort and frustration he realized this: "I can be transformed only when
           something becomes my own insight, when something comes out of my own vision. Borrowed
           visions won't do, borrowed methods won't help. Scriptures will make me a parrot, but they cannot
           make me the enlightened one."
               After six years he changed his whole way of life: he started living from the within. And that
           became the turning point. That became the beginning of the endless journey into truth. That became
           the beginning of eternal joy, celebration.
               It was natural. Everybody in the beginning follows others; that comes easy. You yourself don't
           know where to go, what to do, how to do it. You start asking the experts. And the problem is that in
           the spiritual inquiry there are no experts -- there cannot be, because each individual is so unique that
           expertise is not possible.
               Expertise is possible if there is no individuality. About matter you can come to conclusions --
           matter is predictable -- but about man you cannot come to conclusions in the same way.
               Something about man remains unpredictable, and that unpredictable quality is his very essence.
           That's what makes him man; that is his freedom. He is not bound to the law of cause and effect; he
           functions under a totally different kind of law. He can behave in such a way that it would have been
           inconceivable for you, seeing the situation, given the situation, to imagine. If you had predicted it,
           your prediction would have seemed like an absurdity. But man can function outside the law of cause
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and effect.
               Then how to help man? -- how is a master supposed to help others? He helps not by giving
           detailed information, instructions; he helps only by indicating. He hints, he does not guide. That is
           one of the most essential things to be understood about Buddha: he is not a guide. He does not give
           you the whole map of the journey but only an indication, a vague, subtle hint. You need not follow
           him in all details. You can understand him and then you will have to work out your own life-style.
               And I perfectly agree with him. He learned it the hard way; I have also learned it the hard way.
               Listen to me -- listen with an open heart. Try to understand what is being conveyed to you, but
           don't follow it mechanically. Let it first become an understanding in you, then follow your
           understanding, not my instructions. My instruction can only help you to raise your eyes towards the
           sky. It cannot give you a fixed pattern of life; it cannot give you a discipline but it can give you the
           direction. And the difference is great: a direction is a totally different phenomenon; a description, a
           detailed description, makes you a slave.
               Just an opening... fingers pointing to the moon are of immense help. You need not cling to the
           fingers, you need not worship the fingers. In fact, when you start looking at the moon you have to
           forget all about the fingers. You will feel grateful, but you will not be an imitator. You will be an
           individual in your own right. You will be a free consciousness. That is Buddha's fundamental
           message.
           He says:

               THE WAY IS EIGHTFOLD.


                Remember, it is only a hint. "The eightfold path" is simply a way of expressing his experience,
           giving you a certain direction. The essence of the eightfold path is in the word 'rightness'. Buddha
           uses the word 'rightness' about everything. He divides life into eight parts and he uses 'rightness'
           about each part: right food, right effort, right mindfulness, right samadhi, and so on and so forth. And
           it is not only a question of eight things; if you understand, then it has to be used as a direction.
                Whatsoever you are doing can be done in a wrong way or in a right way; both the alternatives are
           always there. So you have to understand what he means by "rightness," the essence of it. You have
           to taste the flavor of rightness, then you can apply it in everything that you are doing. You are
           walking: you can walk in the right way and you can walk in the wrong way. You are talking: you can
           talk in the right way, you can talk in the wrong way. You are listening: you can listen in the right
           way, you can listen in the wrong way.
                If you are listening with all kinds of prejudices, that is a wrong way of listening; it is really a way
           of not listening. You appear to be listening, but you are only hearing not listening. Right listening
           means you have put aside your mind. It does not mean that you become gullible, that you start
           believing whatsoever is said to you. It has nothing to do with belief or disbelief. Right listening
           means, "I am not concerned right now whether to believe or not to believe. There is no question of
           agreement or disagreement at this moment. I am simply trying to listen to whatsoever it is. Later on I
           can decide what is right and what is wrong. Later on I can decide whether to follow or not to
           follow."
                And the beauty of right listening is this: that truth has a music of its own. If you can listen
           without prejudice, your heart will say it is true. If it is true, a bell starts ringing in your heart. If it is
           not true, you remain aloof, unconcerned, indifferent; no bell rings in your heart, no synchronicity
           happens. That is the quality of truth: that if you listen to it with an open heart, it immediately creates
           a response in your being -- your very center is uplifted. You start growing wings; suddenly the whole
           sky is open.
                It is not a question of deciding logically whether what is being said is true or untrue. On the
           contrary, it is a question of love, not of logic. Truth immediately creates a love in your heart;
           something is triggered in you in a very mysterious way.
                But if you listen wrongly -- that is, full of your mind, full of your garbage, full of your
           knowledge -- then you will not allow your heart to respond to the truth. You will miss the
           tremendous possibility, you will miss the synchronicity. Your heart was ready to respond to truth....
           It responds only to truth, remember, it never responds to the untrue. With the untrue it remains
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           utterly silent, unresponsive, unaffected, unstirred. With the truth it starts dancing, it starts singing, as
           if suddenly a sun has risen and the dark night is no more, and the birds are singing and the lotuses
           are opening, and the whole earth is awakened.
                Exactly like that, when you hear the truth really, totally, immediately something awakens in you.
           Truth has that immense impact. Hence Buddha will say: Right listening, right effort....
                You can make efforts to the extreme, and then you will miss. You can make too much effort and
           you will miss, or you can make too little effort and you will miss. You can become enlightened only
           when the effort is exactly balanced, in equilibrium.
                Buddha's word is SAMYAKTVA; it is difficult to translate. Only one of its meanings is
           rightness. Another meaning is equilibrium; and it has a few other qualities about it, too. The third
           meaning is equanimity. The fourth meaning is, looking at things with a similar eye, with no
           judgment; looking at things equally, without any a priori judgment or conclusion -- looking at things
           with no conclusion at all. Because if you have a conclusion already, you can't look at the thing as it
           is; your conclusion will interfere. But the most important meaning is rightness.
                Right effort will mean neither leaning too much to the left nor leaning too much to the right.
           Right effort will mean exactly like walking on a tightrope. Have you seen the tightrope walker? He
           continuously balances himself between the right and the left. If he leans a little too much to the left
           he will fall; he immediately balances himself by moving to the opposite side. But if he leans a little
           too much to the right he will fall, too; then again he balances by moving to the left. He is
           continuously moving between right and left. Balance is not something static; it is a dynamic process.
                Hence you cannot decide your character once and for all. And those who decide their character
           once for all are dead people. They simply go on following a dead routine; they are not transformed
           by this dead routine.
                Life is a continuous process, a movement -- it is a river. You have to adjust yourself according to
           the situations; otherwise you remain fixed, and life goes on changing all around. The only result will
           be that a gap arises between you and your life, and that gap creates misery, sorrow.
                You are always missing the train. Either you are too early or you are too late, but you are never
           on the exact point. You are either running ahead or you are lagging behind. You are either in the past
           or in the future. Some people live in their memories and other people live in their imagination.
                And to live rightly means to be in the present, to be exactly in the middle -- in the middle of past
           and future, in the middle of imagination and memory, in the middle of that which is no more and that
           which is not yet. In that exact middleness is the rightness: samyaktva.
                And Buddha applies this to every facet of life, to every aspect. You can eat too much and then
           one day you become tired of eating too much; you suffer, your body suffers. Then you start fasting --
           that is moving to another extreme. Again your body suffers, first from too much food, then from no
           food at all. When are you going to be exactly in the middle?
                And remember, again let me repeat it: the middle is not a fixed point. You cannot decide once
           and forever that this is the middle, that "I will eat only so much" -- because your needs change. One
           day you have walked ten miles, you may need a little more food. One day you have rested, you have
           not worked at all, it was a holiday -- you will need a little less food. One day you have been
           chopping wood; you will need more food, your body needs more nourishment. And one day it was
           raining and you were simply playing cards; you can do with little food.
                And once in a while your body may not need food at all. If you are ill it will be good to give the
           body complete rest, because eating means work for the body. The body has to digest it, the body has
           to continuously work on the food. Once in a while it is good; if you are feeling that the body is not in
           good shape, it is good not to eat. But there is no religious quality about it; this is a very scientific
           approach.
                One thing is certain: that nothing can become a static phenomenon. You have to go on moving.
                When you are young you will need eight hours sleep. When you become old you will need four
           hours sleep, three hours sleep, and that will be enough. When you were a child you needed ten hours
           of sleep. In the mother's womb the child needs twenty-four hours of sleep; after the birth, twenty-two
           hours, then twenty hours, then eighteen hours, and slowly slowly... by the end, when a person comes
           to die, he needs only two hours sleep and that's enough.
                In the mother's womb the child is growing; those nine months one grows so much that one will
           not be growing as much in ninety years' time. Leaps and bounds! The pace is so quick and so fast
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that the child needs absolute rest. But the old man, he has stopped growing long ago. Now the body
           does not need so much rest. The body no longer revives itself; it is getting ready to die, the process
           of revival has stopped. Now whatsoever cells are dying are dying; they are not being reproduced
           again. Hence, less and less sleep is needed. You can't fix it forever.
                There are fools who fix it, who say, "I have taken a vow to sleep for only five hours a night."
           They will suffer when they are young, they will suffer when they are old; their suffering will never
           end. When they are young they will suffer because the body may need ten hours sleep, nine hours
           sleep, at least eight hours sleep -- and they have decided to sleep only five hours. They will be
           continuously missing those three hours. They will look a little sad, tired, their faces lusterless, their
           eyes always sleepy. They will not show intelligence, because body and mind both need deep rest.
           They will simply move through life like a somnambulist, half asleep.
                And their scriptures say that if you feel sleepy in the daytime it means you are a sinner,
           TAMASIK, that you are suffering from lethargy. And the only thing that you are really suffering
           from is foolishness! You have decided that you will sleep only five hours when the need is for eight
           hours. And in old age you will try to sleep five hours and you will not be able to sleep, then you will
           suffer because you can sleep only three hours. Then the whole night you are tossing and turning and
           cursing the whole world, and you can't conceive why you can't sleep at least five hours. And trying
           to sleep five hours when you can sleep only three hours will be a disturbance; it will keep you in
           despair. You will continuously think that something is being missed.
                Never decide like that. Buddha says: Let your life be dynamic. It has to correspond to the reality,
           to the situation in which you are. Don't follow dead rules; respond to reality, to that which is. In that
           responsibility you grow, you become mature. To be responsible is to be right.
                And he says this rightness has to be applied in all aspects of life. Even about awareness,
           meditation, he says "right mindfulness" is needed -- because one can become too obsessed with
           meditation. One can become so fascinated by meditation that one may start escaping from life.
                It has happened down the ages. Millions of people have escaped from life for the simple reason
           that they wanted to meditate and life is a disturbance. They can't meditate in the marketplace, they
           can't meditate in the family, they can't meditate with the children around. They have to go to the
           Himalayan caves; only then they can meditate. That is a wrong meditation. If meditation is so poor,
           so impotent that you can't meditate in your own home, then your meditation is not worth anything. If
           it needs the Himalayas, then it is not your meditation that is making you silent; it is the silence of the
           Himalayas.
                After thirty years of meditating in the Himalayas, you come back to the world, and then all the
           effort, that whole arduous journey, all those thirty years of work upon yourself, will simply
           disappear, evaporate. The world will disturb you more than before, because now you have lived
           outside the world for thirty years. You have become unaccustomed to it, its noise, its people, their
           ways. This is not right meditation.
                Right meditation has to become a strength in you, not a weakness. It has to make you stronger --
           so strong that you can sit in the marketplace and yet be meditative.
                And Buddha even uses the word 'right' for samadhi. That has to be understood. He says: "right
           realization of truth." One wonders, can there be wrong realization of truth? Buddha says yes.
           Samadhi is the ultimate state when all desires disappear, all thoughts disappear, the whole mind
           disappears. You are in a state of no-mind. But this can happen in two ways.
                You can fall into a deep sleep, so deep that there are no longer even dreams -- the mind has
           disappeared. In deep sleep there is no desire, there is no mind, no thought. But this is not samadhi --
           this is coma!
                And many people -- in India particularly -- go into such a coma, and they think they are in
           samadhi. For hours together they become unconscious. It is a kind of hysterical fit. You can see their
           faces, their mouths foaming. You can see the quality of their being. They are just lying down like
           corpses; they are not radiating. You will not see any joy around them, just a negative kind of
           emptiness. But they are thought to be great saints.
                Buddha says this is a wrong kind of meditation and a wrong kind of samadhi. Right samadhi
           means you have to be without mind, fully awake; in wakefulness, thoughts have to disappear. It is
           easy to fall asleep, to fall into a deep coma, in a kind of hysterical fit and be without mind; but that is
           falling below mind not transcending mind. Right samadhi is a transcendence: you go beyond mind,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but you are fully alert, aware. Only then is samadhi right -- when it grows in awareness and when
           awareness grows through it. When you become enlightened you have to be absolutely awakened;
           otherwise you missed at the last step.
                This way Buddha divides life into eight parts and calls his way "the eightfold way." THE WAY
           IS EIGHTFOLD. But you have to look at your life, you will have to decide about your life. Don't
           just follow the words of the Buddha. Follow the SPIRIT of it, because things have changed. In
           twenty-five centuries it was bound to be so. You are living in a different kind of society, you are
           living with a different kind of mind. Your life is no longer the same as it was in Buddha's time. So
           the essential core will remain the same, but many things will have to be changed.
                Remember that you have to be always alert, watchful, balanced; always in the middle, never
           moving to the extreme, never becoming excessive in anything. But then you have to work it out;
           different people will have to work out different plans for their own life.
                If you simply follow the Buddha's words -- as Buddhists are doing all over the world.... They
           miss the whole point; they still go on doing the same thing. Buddha used to walk, they are still
           walking, because you have to walk in a right way....
                I will tell you: there is no need to walk in order to practice the right way of walking. You can sit
           in an airplane in the right way. You have to apply the essence of his teaching to YOUR situation. He
           could not have said -- obviously -- that you should sit in the airplane in a right way. Now, you cannot
           walk from Chicago to Poona, you will have to come by airplane; but you can sit in the airplane in a
           right way. And if the pilot informs you that one engine has failed and the other is just on the verge of
           failing, you have to remain tranquil, still, balanced. Even if the plane catches fire and you are falling
           and sooner or later -- it is a question of moments -- you will be dead, you have to keep your
           awareness, you have to keep your coolness. You are not to become disturbed.
                You have to apply the essence to your life; otherwise things remain superficial. One practices
           them, but deep down one remains unchanged.

                An Italian woman and a Jewish woman were sunning themselves next to each other at a fine
           Miami hotel. The Jewish woman started to brag about her husband. "My husband is so generous -- I
           asked him for a Cadillac and he gave me a Rolls Royce!"
           "It's-a nice!" said the Italian lady.
           "He is so wonderful. If I ask for a coat, he buys me a mink."
           "It's-a nice!" came the reply.
           "If I say I am tired, he immediately sends me to Miami."
           "It's-a nice!"
           "What about your husband?"
           "My husband," said the Italian woman, "is-a so nice, he's-a send me to finishing school-a, where they
           teach me to say 'It's-a nice,' instead of 'You are full of-a shit-a!'"

               You can learn beautiful words. You can go on saying "It's-a nice!" and deep down you are still
           saying the same thing. Deep down you are not changed at all. Finishing schools won't help. You
           become cultured, sophisticated, religious. You meditate, you pray, you do all kinds of rituals, but
           they remain rituals -- not even skin-deep. Just scratch a little bit and you will find the real man -- and
           he is as animal as other animals, or sometimes even more. Because no animal can fall as low as man,
           and no animal can rise as high as man. Man's fall is great, man's rise is great.
               Man is a ladder between heaven and hell, between the animal and God. Falling towards being an
           animal is an unconscious process; rising towards being a God is a conscious effort.
           Buddha says:

              THE WAY IS EIGHTFOLD.
              THERE ARE FOUR TRUTHS.


                These are the four truths, he insists again and again. First: life as you know it is sorrow. He wants
           to make you aware of the phenomenon that your life is nothing but misery. It is a long long tragedy,
           it is tragic. You don't want to listen to such things; you want to go on believing that you are already
           in paradise.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You don't want to see your wounds -- and Buddha opens up your wounds again and again. He
           forces you to see all the pus that you are carrying. Hence people became angry at him. Before
           Buddha, they were told beautiful things about themselves by other priests and so-called religious
           teachers.
                Buddha is the first master who wants you to be absolutely authentic about yourself. He wants
           you to become aware of the real situation. He is not interested in singing a lullaby, his interest is in
           waking you up. He is not a sedative, he is an awakener.
                The first truth for the real seeker, he says, is to know that life is sorrow. The second truth is that
           there is a cause to it. His approach is very scientific. He says: first become aware that your life is
           sorrow. But don't be worried, don't become sad because of this fact. There is a cause to it. And if
           there is a cause to it, the third truth is: there is a way to remove it. If there is a cause to it, it can be
           uncaused. If there is no cause to your misery, then it is not removable; then there is really despair,
           then there is no hope.
                That's exactly where modern existentialists are finding themselves. They have understood the
           first truth -- that life is sorrow, meaningless, absurd -- but they have not moved beyond that. Sartre,
           Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, they are all hanging around the first truth. Hence, they have created a
           great despair in the intelligentsia of the whole world. If life is sorrow and there is no way out of it,
           naturally it creates hopelessness. Naturally, it seems suicide is the right thing to do; to go on living is
           cowardly. For what? If it is only sorrow, then why go on living? Why not return the ticket? And
           what is there to be grateful to God for?
                Buddha says: "Life is sorrow" is only the first truth. The second is: there is a cause to it, so don't
           be worried. Sorrow is there, but because there is a cause to it there is hope. And there is a way to
           remove it. That eightfold path is the way to remove it.
                And what is the cause? Desire -- TANHA -- is the cause of it.
                And the fourth truth is the ultimate truth: there is a state when sorrow is no more: the state of
           enlightenment, liberation, nirvana.
                In these four simple truths he has reduced the whole spiritual inquiry, the whole spiritual
           endeavor. And he has reduced it in such a beautiful way and in such a simple way that anybody who
           is a little intelligent will not find if difficult to understand.
               THERE ARE FOUR TRUTHS....

               This life that you are living is sorrow, but this is not the only life. This is the life you have
           chosen. You can live another kind of life: Buddha lived it, I am living it, you can live it. You can live
           in a totally different way: you can live desirelessly, you can live meditatively, you can live with
           choiceless awareness. You can live so centered and rooted in your being that no sorrow can remain.
           No sadness, no misery, no death remains possible; they all disappear. As you become full of light,
           your life goes through a transformation. This is not the right kind of life that you are living.

              The traveling salesman asked the farmer to put him up for the night. The farmer said, "Sure, but
           you will have to sleep with my son."
           "Good Lord," said the salesman, "I am in the wrong joke!"

               Yes, you are in the wrong joke -- you are in the wrong life. But because YOU have chosen it
           there is great hope: you can stop choosing it. And you have to choose it continuously, constantly,
           only then can you be in it. Remember, to be in the wrong you have to make great efforts -- and you
           are making great efforts.
               Look at the politicians, how much effort they make to remain in power. Look at the rich people,
           how much effort they make to remain rich. And their richness brings only misery, and their power
           trips bring only misery. The more power they have, the more greedy they are; the more riches they
           have, the more greedy they are. They become more and more obsessed with the same thing. They go
           on and on wasting their lives... and in the end they die with empty hands.
               You are feeding your wrong life. You go on watering the weeds and you go on hoping that one
           day roses are going to bloom. You go on hoping that "the spring will come and there will be roses
           and roses in my garden." But weeds can't produce roses. You have to uproot the weeds and you have
           to stop feeding and nourishing them. You have to clean the garden of the roots, of the rocks, of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           weeds, and then only can you plant roses.
               There is a cause to your misery: YOU are the cause. Your sleepiness is the cause, your
           unconsciousness is the cause. And in your unconsciousness you go on dreaming and desiring stupid
           things, with such great fervor, with such great enthusiasm. It is strange to see people putting so much
           effort into creating their own hell; with the same effort they can create a thousand and one paradises.
           The effort that you put into creating one hell is enough to create one thousand and one paradises.
               Buddha says: There is a cause to it -- your constant desire. And there is a way to remove it --
           becoming aware of your desire, seeing it through and through. And there is then the ultimate state of
           freedom, when desire ceases, disappears. You are left without any desire, without any dream,
           without any sleep -- alert, aware, conscious. Then you know real life.
               You can call it God; that is not Buddha's word. He is suspicious of the word 'God'. Because of
           this word 'God', priests have exploited man for so long that Buddha never uses it. He is suspicious of
           the word 'soul' too, because there have been many who have not used the word 'God', but then they
           have substituted 'God' with 'soul'. And they have used the same exploitation with the word 'soul',
           they have done the same to humanity.
               Buddha avoids God, soul, heaven, everything. He creates a new word, a very strange word. Now
           it doesn't sound so strange, but when for the first time he used it it was really strange, particularly in
           this country where for thousands of years people had been talking about religion.
               Nobody was ever aware that such a word could be used for the ultimate state. Buddha uses the
           word 'nirvana'. Nirvana literally means cessation, disappearance, dissolution; you are no more. It
           doesn't seem to be very appealing! You are no more? This is the goal? You cease to be -- and for that
           one has to make arduous effort? And one has to meditate and become choiceless and drop all
           desires? For what? -- just not to be?
               Shakespeare says: To be or not to be, that is the question. He will decide for "to be"; Buddha
           decides for "not to be." He says, "Yes, that's the question. To be is misery, not to be is joy."
               But people were very much puzzled: "How can there be joy if I am not there? If I have ceased
           completely to be, who is going to enjoy?"
               And Buddha said, "That is the whole point to understand: if YOU are, misery is -- misery is your
           shadow; when you are not there, of course there is nobody to enjoy, but there is joy."
               A very strange way of expressing it, but I can understand his difficulty. Use any word that can
           give you some idea of the ego and you cling to it. 'Soul' becomes only magnified ego, purified ego.
           And remember: a purified poison is more poisonous. The word 'soul' simply means nothing but a
           very great ego, superior, holy, sacred, divine; but it is the same ego, now tremendously decorated,
           crowned, garlanded. First it was temporary, now it is immortal. First it was momentary, now it is
           eternal... but it is the same ego!
               Whenever you think of yourself as enlightened what are you doing? What is your idea of
           enlightenment? You still remain there just as you are; only one thing is added to you: enlightenment.
           You remain the same PLUS enlightenment. Buddha says that is not possible; either YOU are, or
           ENLIGHTENMENT is; both cannot be together. You have to disappear. And he is right, he is
           absolutely right.
               The ego has to go, in all its forms, and then the authentic reality explodes. And that explosion is
           tremendous joy, it is bliss. There is nobody to experience it, there is nobody to observe it. You are
           not an observer of this bliss, you are the bliss itself; there is no observer separate from it. The
           observed is the observer, the experienced is the experiencer, the knower is the known. The old
           duality is no longer relevant.
               Buddha's word is significant: nirvana, cessation, stopping to be.

              ALL VIRTUE LIES IN DETACHMENT.


              Hence, become detached from your ego, become detached from your possessions. Become
           simply detached from every possible source of attachment.

              The forgetful professor left his hotel room and discovered he had left his umbrella behind. He
           went back to get it and found that the room had been rented already. Through the door he heard
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sounds.
           "Whose little baby are you?"
           "Your little baby."
           "And whose little hands are these?"
           "Your little hands."
           "And whose little feet are... and whose little knees... and whose little...?"
           "When you get to an umbrella," said the professor, through the door, "it is mine."
               'I' exists through 'my', 'mine'; hence so much desire for possessions. You go on accumulating and
           the more you accumulate, the more you can feel you are. The greater your possessions, the more
           money you have, the more you can feel you are. Ego is empty; it needs to be filled by things
           continuously so that it can go on remaining in the deception, in the illusion that it is full. But it never
           really becomes full; it is a bottomless pit. You go on putting things into it and they go on
           disappearing; it remains empty. It is never full -- it cannot be full in the very nature of things. It is a
           false entity, how can it be full?
               YOU are full. But when I say "you," I don't mean the ego; I don't mean anything that you
           understand by yourself. All that has to go, then the real you is discovered. And that real you is not
           separate from me, and that real you is not separate from the trees, and that real you is not separate
           from the clouds. That real you is part of the whole.
               That's why Buddha says you become part of the universal law, dhamma, tao. You disappear as a
           separate entity. You are simply a wave in the ocean. This is liberation: liberation from yourself is
           liberation, freedom from yourself is freedom.
              ALL VIRTUE LIES IN DETACHMENT.



              THE MASTER HAS AN OPEN EYE.


               Your eyes are closed because you see only outside. Inwardly, you are completely blind. And
           there is the real treasure and there is the truth of your life -- and about that you are blind. You see
           meaningless things, you see all kinds of rubbish. You just go on missing your own center, your own
           source of consciousness. Buddha says: To see it is to be a seer; otherwise you are blind.
               THE MASTER HAS AN OPEN EYE -- and you also have those inner eyes, but you are keeping
           them closed. You have completely forgotten that you have those eyes. The methods of meditation
           are nothing but methods of opening the inner eyes. They are there; you have to learn how to open
           them.

              THIS IS THE ONLY WAY,
              THE ONLY WAY TO THE OPENING OF THE EYE.
              FOLLOW IT.
              OUTWIT DESIRE.


               The only way to open the inner eyes is to drop desiring. What is desire? Desire means: "I feel
           empty and I would like to be full." Emptiness hurts. "I need money, I need power, I need prestige, so
           that I can feel full" -- although those who have much money and power and prestige are as empty as
           you are. Just look at them, just watch! Just look around! Do you see the rich person? -- is he really
           rich? Surrounded by riches, of course, but is he rich? Is there any inner richness? Is he more
           sensitive to truth? Is he more aware of beauty? Is he more capable of love? Has he experienced who
           he is? Does he know the significance of life? Has he any sense of the ultimate?
               These are the things that make one rich. Yes, he has a big bank balance, but how can that make
           him rich? He may be famous, the whole world may know of him, but does he know himself? And if
           he himself is unacquainted with himself, what does it matter how many people know him? Deep
           down he is not even aware of his own being. There is great darkness inside -- and there is light all
           around, but what is the point of having so much light when there is no light inside? Yes, there are
           suns and stars and moons outside, but inside not even a small candle! And you call it richness?
               No, Buddha is rich because the inner light is there. Jesus is rich because the inner light is there.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are rich if your inner being is suffused with light, bathed in light. You are rich if you know that
           existence is divine. You are rich if you have experienced the exquisite beauty that surrounds, that
           permeates the whole. You are rich if you have tasted the nectar of your own consciousness. You are
           rich if you are capable of sharing your love unconditionally. Otherwise you are a beggar.
               Buddha says: THE ONLY WAY TO THE OPENING OF THE EYE is to become desireless.

              FOLLOW IT TO THE END OF SORROW.


               And go on uprooting one desire after another desire -- because the mind is very cunning. You
           uproot one desire, it immediately starts growing another desire. It is so cunning, it can even become
           desirous of God. It is so cunning, it can even become desirous of nirvana. It can desire not to be.
           That desire is absurd, but mind is so cunning. Beware of the cunningness of the mind!

              Passers-by on a New York subway were intrigued by a rather scruffy-looking Irishman standing
           before a large sign which read: SEE THE WORLD'S ONLY, ONE AND ONLY, TALKING CAT
           FOR ONLY 10 DOLLARS!
              After a large crowd had gathered and the man's pockets were spilling over with money, he pulled
           a mangy-looking animal from a box and holding it in the air, whispered in the ear of the nearest
           member of the audience.
              Rather embarrassed, the poor spectator looked into the eyes of the bewildered cat and said, "Who
           was the last president of China?"
              Swiftly the Irishman yanked the cat's tail and the beast wailed loudly, "MAO...!"

               The mind is very cunning. It can find ways to exploit others and it can find ways to exploit you
           too. And it goes on gathering all kinds of cunningness from the world. That's what you call
           experience.
               The older you grow the more cunning you become, although you pretend that you have become
           more wise. Just by becoming old nobody becomes wise; otherwise every old man would become a
           buddha. Just by becoming old you certainly become cunning. Of course, your whole life's
           experiences of being cheated teach you some lessons: you start cheating others, you start learning the
           ways of the world. A child is innocent; an old man still innocent is very difficult to find. You
           become great experts on borrowed knowledge.

               A man suffering from backache went to a very expensive specialist who recommended hot packs.
           After using hot packs all night long he felt worse than ever.
               His maid, seeing him in agony, asked what the trouble was. When he told the story she said, "Not
           hot packs. Cold packs!"
               He tried it and got prompt relief. Irate, he returned to the specialist and reported the whole story.
           "Hmm," mused the doctor, "cold packs. My maid says hot packs!"

               The specialist and the nonspecialist are not very much different. The expert and the nonexpert,
           both are in the same boat.
               Beware of knowledgeable people! They know nothing and yet they pretend that they know. Not
           only that, they teach others. They themselves have wasted their lives and unconsciously they are
           destroying other people's lives.
               In this world, if everybody decides one thing -- that "I will say to others only that which I have
           known" -- the world can immediately become a far more beautiful and better place than it is. A
           single decision on everybody's part, that "I will not go on conveying borrowed knowledge. I will say
           only that which I have experienced"... immediately, ninety-nine percent of the rubbish will simply
           disappear from the world.
               But with it will disappear your scholars, your pundits, your priests, your political leaders -- and
           they don't want to disappear. They have invested so much in their borrowed knowledge; even to tell
           them that "your knowledge is borrowed" makes them angry.
               Real knowing happens only when desire has disappeared. Then your eyes are clear of all smoke,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all clouds. Then you can see. And when you can see, you can see both within and without.

              A lovely young thing entered a doctor's office on her lunch hour and addressed a handsome
           young man in a white coat. "I have had a pain in my shoulder for a week. Can you help me?" she
           asked.
           "Lie down on this table," he said, "and I will massage it for you."
              After a few minutes the beautiful patient exclaimed, "Doctor, that is not my shoulder!"
              The young man smiled and replied, "No, and I am not a doctor either!"

               Watch who you are listening to. Watch who you are reading. I have known so many books on
           meditation written by people who know nothing of meditation. They have come to me to ask about
           meditation, and when they came to ask I was puzzled. I asked, "But I have read your book. You have
           written such a beautiful book on meditation!"
               They said, "Yes, it has sold well and we have earned much, but as far as meditation is concerned,
           we have not done it at all."
               I asked them, "How have you written such beautiful books?"
           They said, "Reading other books."

                All that you need is good scissors and glue, and you can write a book on anything! Just collect
           fifty books, go on cutting relevant pieces and glueing them, and a new book is created. That's how all
           kinds of absurdities go on. New books go on appearing on each subject. There are so many books on
           meditation that if so many people were meditating this world would be a paradise! So many books
           on yoga, so many books on God, so many books on Christ, Buddha, Mahavira!
                If people knew Buddha, Mahavira, Christ, Mohammed, so well, this world couldn't be in such
           ugly shape. But they don't know. They are knowledgeable, certainly, but their knowledge is
           mechanical. They have read -- because they can understand language -- but they have not
           experienced anything.
                And religion is basically experience. It is an experiment with your own subjectivity. It is a
           journey inwards. It is a penetration into your own interiority. Buddha says:

              WHEN I PULLED OUT SORROW'S SHAFT
              I SHOWED YOU THE WAY.


               He says, "I am not a scholar, I am not an expert, but one thing is certain -- I am no longer
           miserable. My sorrow has disappeared. And the moment my sorrow disappeared, I showed you the
           way." That's the right way to show the way to others. Be what you would like others to be. Except
           that, all that people go on saying is nonsense.
               I have known many Buddhist monks who are great scholars on Buddha, who have read all
           Buddhist scriptures, but who have not meditated at all; who have not tasted even a single drop of
           Buddha's experience, but they go on believing that they are Buddhists. Not only that, they go on
           converting others to Buddhism.
               Beware of such people! Whether they are Buddhists, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jainas, Jews, it
           doesn't matter -- beware of such people. Avoid such people. Look into the eyes of a man; feel his
           presence. If you can see something that is not borrowed, if you can feel something that has happened
           to the man, then and only then -- if your heart is touched and stirred -- listen to him and follow his
           insight: otherwise not. It is not a question of books, it is a question of existential experiencing.
           WHEN I PULLED OUT SORROW'S SHAFT I SHOWED YOU THE WAY.

              IT IS YOU WHO MUST MAKE THE EFFORT.
              THE MASTERS ONLY POINT THE WAY.


                Buddha says, "Still I can only point the way. You will have to make all the effort. I cannot make
           it for you. I cannot be your salvation."
                Look at the beauty of this man! He says, "I cannot be your salvation. If it was possible for me to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be your salvation, then I would have done it already. I would not have even asked your permission!"
                Christians go on saying that Jesus is the salvation, but that is nonsense because if Jesus is the
           salvation, then why is the world still in misery? Jesus has happened! He would have solved
           everybody's problems. He has not solved anybody's problems, not even the Christians' -- he cannot!
           Nobody can do it, and it is good that nobody can do it, because if others can do it then they can undo
           it too. And if your freedom can be given by others it won't be much of a freedom; it will be another
           kind of bondage.
                Freedom has to be achieved by your own efforts. Nobody can give it to you; hence nobody can
           take it away from you. It is absolutely yours.
                Buddha says: IT IS YOU WHO MUST MAKE THE EFFORT. THE MASTERS ONLY POINT
           THE WAY.

              BUT IF YOU MEDITATE
              AND FOLLOW THE LAW
              YOU WILL FREE YOURSELF FROM DESIRE.


               Just do two things: meditate, watch your thought processes; become just a spectator of your
           mind. That is meditation, becoming a witness. And second: follow the law, follow the natural course.
           Don't be unnatural, don't try to fight with nature -- stop being a fighter. Learn how to relax with
           nature, learn to let go. Flow with nature, allow nature to possess you totally. By "nature" he means
           dhamma, tao, the ultimate nature of things, the universal law.
               Do these two things, and you will free yourself from desire and desire will disappear. Meditate
           and let go. This is the path, the only path... and desire disappears on its own accord.
               It is desire that keeps you in bondage, that is the cause of misery. And because of desire you have
           to do so many stupid things; you have to behave like a fool. Running after money is foolish, running
           after power is foolish. You are making a fool of yourself, but you never become aware of it because
           others are also doing the same. Because the majority is doing the same nobody takes note of it;
           otherwise you would be thought to be mad.
               I know rich people who have so much that they don't know what to do with it, but still they go on
           and on. They have forgotten how to stop, as if their minds don't have any brakes, only accelerators.
           So they go on accelerating; they don't know how to stop. Now there is no point in earning more
           money because they have all that money can purchase. They have more money than their next ten
           generations will need -- but they can't live. From morning to night they are possessed with the mania,
           with that madness of earning more and more and more.
               If you ask them why, they can't answer. And it is not thought to be polite to ask such
           embarrassing questions!
               Just watch: your desires make you stupid, they dull your intelligence. They make you behave like
           buffoons.

               Mrs. Nusbaum told her husband that he always looked shabby and that he should buy some new
           clothes. At lunchtime Mr. Nusbaum noticed that there was a sale at a shoe store so he bought some
           new shoes. When he came home he said expectantly, "What do you think, Becky?"
           "I don't see anything," she said.
               So he went to the bathroom and took off everything except his new shoes and then came out
           again. "So?" he said.
           "So," she replied, "it looks the same to me!"
           "No, look! It is pointing to my shoes."
           "Hmm! Then better you should buy a new hat!"

                Desire makes a fool of everybody. But because everybody else is also in the same boat you never
           become aware of it. And if, once in a while, a Buddha appears in your boat, you throw him out of the
           boat because he becomes a disturbance, a nuisance. He starts telling you that "This is nonsense! This
           is stupidity!" He is intolerable.
                It is a very strange phenomenon that the real benefactors of humanity look dangerous and the
           really dangerous people -- who go on poisoning your minds and your beings -- appear to be
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           benefactors. The politicians and the priests and the pundits, these are the poisoners; but they are
           great leaders, great guides. They guide you -- they guide you into bigger and bigger ditches, they
           guide you into more and more darkness! You can look at the world and you will be convinced of the
           fact.
                Whenever a buddha appears you are very much annoyed by him, by his presence. because he
           starts talking about light. He starts talking about opening your inner eyes. He starts talking about
           your subjectivity, your consciousness. And these are things you have not heard about. These are
           things you are not interested in, because nobody else seems to be interested in them. You are
           interested in money, and a buddha talks about meditation.
                Sometimes people come to me and they say, "If we meditate, will we become wealthy?"
                And there are frauds who say "Yes." Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says to people, "If you meditate
           you will become wealthy, you will become rich -- because a meditator attracts money."
                No wonder he has such a great appeal in America, because who would not like to sit for just
           fifteen minutes in the morning and in the evening and attract money? A magic secret to become
           more rich, more powerful -- you can become the president, the prime minister, just by doing
           Transcendental Meditation, morning and evening. Twenty or thirty minutes does not seem to be a
           wastage; it seems to be worth it.
                People come to me too, to ask, "Will it help us to become rich, to become more powerful?" Even
           if you become interested in meditation you become interested for wrong reasons. Your meditation is
           also a wrong meditation, not a right meditation.
                If you become interested in samadhi, you ask, "What will be the gain? What we will get out of it?
           What kind of paradise will become available to those who have attained to samadhi?"
                And there are religions which go on giving you ideas about paradise, that you will have this and
           you will have that -- rivers of wine, beautiful women, golden trees, paths studded with diamonds and
           emeralds. All that you desire, they are ready to provide you. And then you become interested in
           samadhi. That is a wrong samadhi. That is not a right approach towards religion.
                Buddha is right. He says, "YOU will not be there, your mind will not be there. None of your
           desires will be fulfilled. All your desires will evaporate, disappear. There is no way to say anything
           to you about that ultimate state because you are bound to misunderstand it. It will be discontinuous
           with you. You will cease, totally cease, and there will be a totally new kind of life about which
           nothing can be said in your language, in the language that you can understand."
                Those who followed Buddha must have been really courageous people, people with guts. It has
           always been so and it will always be so.
                Those who are with me are courageous people, people who are ready to risk all: their desires,
           their egos, their very existence. But if you can risk all, all becomes available to you.
                Just two small things: meditation and let-go. Remember these two key words: meditation and
           surrender. Meditation will take you in, and surrender will take you into the whole. And this is the
           whole of religion. Within these two words Buddha has condensed the whole essence of religion.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7
                                                   Chapter #10
                                         Chapter title: Perfection is death
           20 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912200
              ShortTitle: DHAM710
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WILL YOU PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE DESIRE TO HELP PEOPLE, ITS DIFFERENCES AND
              SIMILARITIES TO OTHER FORMS OF DESIRE?


               Veet Aikagro, desire is desire; there is no difference at all. Whether you want to help people or
           you want to harm people, the nature of desire remains the same.
               A buddha does not desire to help people. He helps people, but there is no desire in it; it is
           spontaneous. It is just the fragrance of a flower that has bloomed. The flower is not desiring that the
           fragrance should be released, should reach to the winds, to people. Whether it reaches or not is not
           the concern of the flower at all. If it reaches, that is accidental; if it does not reach, that too is
           accidental. The flower is spontaneously releasing its fragrance.
               The sun rises: there is no desire to wake up people, no desire to open the flowers, no desire to
           help the birds to sing. It all happens on its own accord.
               A buddha helps not because he desires to help; compassion is his nature. Every meditator
           becomes compassionate, but not a servant of the people. The servants of the people are mischievous;
           the world has suffered too much from these servants -- because it is desire masquerading as
           compassion. And desire can never be compassionate; desire is always exploitation.
               Now they will exploit in the name of compassion; they will exploit with beautiful names. They
           will talk about service to humanity and they will talk about brotherhood and they will talk about
           religion and God and truth. And all their beautiful talk will bring only more and more wars, more
           and more bloodshed -- more and more people will be crucified, burned alive.
               That's what has been happening up to now. And if you don't bring a new understanding to the
           world, it is going to continue the same way.
               So two things to be remembered. One: to desire is the same, whether you desire to help or to
           harm. It is not a question of the object of desire; the question is of the NATURE of desire. The
           nature of desire leads you into the future; it brings the tomorrow in. And with the tomorrow come all
           the tensions, all the anxieties, "whether I am going to make it or not, whether I am going to succeed
           or not."
               The fear of failure and the ambition to succeed will be there, whether you desire money or you
           desire victory in the world or you desire to be compassionate to people or you desire to bring
           salvation to people. It is all the same game, only names change. This is very fundamental to
           understand.

              A man asked Buddha, "I would like to help people. Instruct me."
              Buddha looked at him and became very sad. The man was puzzled, confused. He said, "Why
           have you become sad? Have I said anything wrong?"
              Buddha said, "How can you help people? You have not even helped yourself! You will only
           harm them in the name of help."

               First bring the light within your being. Let the flame be enkindled in your consciousness... and
           then you will never ask this question. Then, naturally, your very presence and whatsoever you do
           will be of great help.
               Aikagro, desire is desire: there is neither material desire nor spiritual desire. It is an ego trip,
           helping people, and you become holier than others, and you become wiser than others -- you know
           and they don't know. You want to help because you have arrived and they are all ignorant people
           stumbling in darkness, and you want to become a light for them. You want to become a master and
           you want to reduce them into disciples.
               If this desire is there, then this desire is not going to help them -- it is not going to help you
           either. It will do a double harm; it is a double-edged sword. It will cut others, it will cut you too. It is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           destructive, it can't be creative.
               Then there is another kind of help which is not out of desire, which is not out of any ego
           projection. That kind of help, that kind of compassion, happens only at the ultimate peak of
           meditation, never before it. When the spring has come to your consciousness, when you are all
           flowers inside, fragrance starts reaching to others. You need not desire -- in fact you can't help it.
           Even if you want to prevent it you can't prevent it. It is inevitable -- it will reach to others. It will
           become a light in their life, it will become a herald of new beginnings, not because you are desiring
           it but because you are transformed.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANT TO BE A SANNYASIN, BUT I DON'T WANT TO WEAR ORANGE OR A MALA AND I DON'T
              WANT TO CHANGE MY NAME. CAN I BE A SANNYASIN TOO?


               Rupesh, then why bother? Then believe that you are a sannyasin. Who can prevent you from
           believing? You can believe anything!

           It happened in Baghdad:
               The caliph of Baghdad was very angry at a man who was brought to his court. The man was
           declaring that he is a new prophet, the new messiah. God has sent him after Mohammed, because
           now fourteen centuries have passed and the message of Mohammed has become old. A new
           dispensation is needed; "hence he has sent me to deliver the message."
               Mohammedans can't tolerate such things! The caliph said, "You come to your senses, otherwise
           you will be in trouble!"
               And he ordered that this man should be whipped, put into jail -- no food, no water for seven days,
           and beaten as much as possible. "Don't allow him any sleep, any rest."
               For seven days the man was tortured. Then the caliph came to the jail. The man was chained to a
           pillar; he was looking very pale, tired, his whole body swollen, bloody. He had not even been given
           water, no food, no sleep, and continuous beating.
           The caliph asked him, "What do you think now?"
               He said, "What do I think now? I am more convinced than ever that I am the messiah, because
           when I was coming, God said to me, 'Listen! My messengers have always been treated very badly;
           Jesus was crucified, Mohammed was continuously hunted by murderers, Socrates was poisoned,
           Mansoor was killed. So, many tortures will happen to you.' So I am grateful," the man said to the
           caliph, "that you have proved to my heart's content that I am the prophet!"
               At that moment a man who was chained to another pillar started laughing loudly.
           The caliph asked, "Why are you laughing?"
               The man said, "This man is simply lying -- because I am God myself and I have not sent this man
           at all!"

               You can believe anything! Nobody can disturb your belief; even disturbances can become proofs
           that you are right. But why bother?
               If you can't even change the color of your clothes, will you be able to change your soul? If you
           can't even change your name, which is just a fiction.... All names are fictions: you come into the
           world without names and then names are given to you. If you are so identified, Rupesh, with your
           name, how are you going to change your inner world, your identity with the body, with the mind? If
           you cannot drop the identity with a fictitious name, the body is too real, the mind is too real; it will
           be impossible for you to change that.

              A poor man came home and asked his wife, "Why don't we ever have blintzes?"
           "Well," replied the wife, "blintzes are expensive. They require cheese."
           "Could you not leave out the cheese?"
           "Maybe," she said, "but they still require eggs."
           "So leave out the eggs."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Yes," she said, "but they require butter and cinnamon and sugar."
           "So leave them out," he said.
              Sometime later she served him some flat cakes made practically from flour and water.
              Taking a taste he said, "I don't see what rich people like about blintzes."

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANTED TO ASK YOU A QUESTION THE OTHER DAY, BUT WITHOUT MY ASKING YOU
              ANSWERED IT. HOW DO YOU MANAGE SUCH MIRACLES?


               Suriyo, if you are looking for miracles you will find them aplenty -- but miracles don't happen.
           The universal law always remains the same; there are no exceptions to it. But there is a stupid desire
           in almost everybody for miracles. We have not yet outgrown the days of magic. Only in the history
           books do they say that the days of magic are over. Religion was born out of magic, philosophy was
           born out of religion, science was born out of philosophy. But these are only words. In fact, there are
           millions of people who still live in the world of magic, who are childish in their approach towards
           reality. So they will jump on anything.
               It must have been just a coincidence. Now there are three thousand people here and everybody
           has questions. Three thousand people must be having at least thirty thousand questions! And I go on
           speaking year in and year out. Just leave a little space for coincidences!

               An old farmer had three daughters. When the oldest girl married she moved to Twin Cities,
           Minnesota, and soon gave birth to a beautiful set of twin boys. Her sister married shortly thereafter,
           and she and her husband took up residence in Three Rivers, Ontario. Pretty soon she gave birth to
           triplets. The youngest sister got herself engaged, but after almost a year she still refused to set the
           date for the wedding.
               Her father grew concerned and finally demanded that she stop procrastinating and set the date.
           "If you love that boy, you will marry him this spring or you won't marry him at all!"
           "But Pa," she wailed, "I really do love Fred, but he keeps talking about moving to the Thousand
           Islands!"

               Suriyo, it was just a coincidence that you had the question and I talked about it. I was not aware
           of your question -- I was not even aware that you are here! It is so difficult to remember sannyasins
           now -- one hundred thousand sannyasins! If I try to remember them all, I will go crazy! I somehow
           manage.... Mukta goes on prompting me by the side every evening, who is coming... and then still I
           sometimes make a mess out of it. She says, "He has just come," and I ask him, "When are you
           leaving?" Or somebody is leaving and I ask him, "When have you come?"
           So what miracle?

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR YEARS, BUT NONE OF MY PRAYERS HAS BEEN ANSWERED.
              WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME AND WITH MY PRAYERS?


                Govind, prayer simply means gratitude, thankfulness. It is not a demand, it is not a desire. And if
           you desire anything, then it is not prayer. Then don't call it a prayer. And that's what you must have
           been doing: desiring something, asking God, "Do this, do that for me." And because he is not doing
           it, you are becoming frustrated. And rather than thinking that something is fundamentally wrong in
           the very idea of prayer that you are carrying in you, you may be even suspecting whether God exists
           or not.
                Prayer is not a demand on God, it is not a desire for something. If it is, then it will never reach to
           him. Desires are heavy things. They gravitate towards the earth, they can't fly into the sky.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When you have a pure gratitude, when you are not asking anything but simply feeling thankful
           for all that he has already done for you... and he has done more than you are worthy of, he has done
           more than you deserve. Just look at what he has done for you! He has given you life and love and
           joy. He has given you a tremendous sensitivity for beauty. He has given you awareness. He has
           given you the possibility of becoming a buddha. What more do you want?
               Feel thankful, and then prayers have wings, they can fly; they reach to the ultimate. Then the
           earth cannot pull them downwards. Then they start rising, soaring upwards, they levitate. With desire
           the prayer gravitates downwards; it cannot levitate.
               But millions of people go on praying with this wrong attitude: they pray only when they need
           something.

               The Texan was on his knees in church giving thanks for all his blessings.
           "Of course," he added, "I am grateful for my six houses, although I could use two or three more.
           Now, I am grateful for my Rolls and six Cadillacs, but I could use a couple more yachts to add to my
           collection. And I know I should be grateful for the banks I own, but could you see your way clear to
           give me five more to make it an even dozen?"
               A little man kneeled next to him and talked up to God: "I need bread and a job -- I would be so
           grateful."
               The Texan whipped out a hundred-dollar bill and handed it to the man. "Will you please stop
           bothering God with that small stuff?"

               But whether the stuff is small or big, whether you are asking for bread or for banks, it is the
           same, exactly the same! Don't ask for anything. Thank him for all that he has already done. Bow
           down! Words are not needed in thankfulness. Just bow down in deep gratitude, in silence.
               A real prayer is nonverbal; words are inadequate. They are made for other things, not for prayer.
           Yes, once in a while you may find tears rolling down from your eyes, and they are far more
           significant than all the words you could use. Yes, once in a while you would like to dance like a Baul
           mystic -- for no reason at all, for the sheer joy of being! That dance will be prayer. Yes, once in a
           while you may like to play on the flute. And believe me, God loves music! He is tired of your words!
           Sing, dance, cry, or just be silent.
               And you will be surprised: great light starts showering on you. You are bathed in bliss, in
           benediction.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HAVING HAD THE ADVENTURE OF LOOKING THROUGH ANCIENT SCRIPTURES OF YOURS, I
              HAVE NOTICED THAT FOR AT LEAST TEN YEARS YOU HAVE KEPT ON REPEATING THIS
              LEGEND: "THERE ARE FOUR TIMES MORE FEMALE DISCIPLES THAN MALE DISCIPLES. THE
              SAME WAS THE CASE WITH BUDDHA, THE SAME WITH ME TOO."
              ABOUT BUDDHA I DON'T KNOW -- I WAS NOT THERE -- BUT ABOUT YOU, AFTER
              DOCUMENTED AND METICULOUS RESEARCH, I AM HAPPY TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE
              FIFTY-TWO THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN FEMALE DISCIPLE AND
              FIFTY-THREE THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX MALE DISCIPLES.
              AS THE OLD BOB DYLAN USED TO SAY: "THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING" --
              FORTUNATELY! WOULD YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS? A DISCIPLE DOES NOT
              LIVE ON LEGEND ONLY.


               Sarjano, you will have to do a little more meticulous research. Just look into those fifty-three
           thousand, nine hundred and forty-six male disciples... how many of them are really male? And then
           you will understand that my legend is still exactly true; it can't be otherwise. Buddhas don't lie! If
           facts don't fit with the legend, the facts have to be changed!
               To be male or to be female is more a question of psychology than of physiology. One may be a
           male physiologically and may not be a male psychologically, and vice versa. There are aggressive
           women -- and unfortunately they are growing in the world -- very aggressive women. The whole
           Women's Liberation movement is rooted in these aggressive women's minds. When a woman is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aggressive she is not womanly.
               Joan of Arc is not a woman and Jesus Christ is a woman. Joan of Arc psychologically is a man;
           basically her approach is that of aggression. Jesus Christ is not aggressive at all. He says: If
           somebody hits you on one cheek, turn the other. Give him the other cheek, too. That is psychological
           nonaggressiveness. Jesus says: Resist not evil. Even evil has not to be resisted! Nonresistance is the
           essence of feminine grace.
               Remember that if a man is totally receptive, physically he remains a man but his interiority
           becomes more a womb. And only such men whose interiority becomes feminine are capable of
           receiving God. To be receptive, totally receptive, you will need to learn how to be a woman. Each
           seeker of truth has to learn to be a woman.
               Science is male, religion is female. Science is an effort to conquer nature; religion is a let-go,
           dissolving oneself into nature. The woman knows how to melt, how to become one. And each seeker
           of truth has to know how to dissolve into nature, how to become one with nature, how to go with the
           flow, without resisting, without fighting. And then you will see: the proportion will always be the
           same.
               Here also you will see that change happening. Many women have reported to me, complained
           that, "What is happening here to men? They are becoming more and more feminine!" That is true --
           that is bound to happen. As you become more and more meditative, your energies become
           nonaggressive. Your violence disappears; love arises. You are no longer interested in dominating;
           instead, you become more and more intrigued with the art of surrendering. That's what makes a
           feminine psychology.
               To understand feminine psychology is to understand religious psychology. The effort has not yet
           been made, and whatsoever exists in the name of psychology is male psychology. That's why they go
           on studying rats, and through rats they go on concluding about man.
               If you want to study the feminine psychology, then the best examples will be the mystics -- the
           purest examples will be the mystics. Then you will have to learn about Basho, Rinzai, Buddha,
           Jesus, Lao Tzu. You will have to learn about these people, because only through their understanding
           will you be able to understand the peak, the highest crescendo of feminine expression.
               Because the woman has been dominated for centuries, religion has disappeared from the earth. If
           religion comes back, the woman will again gain respect. And because the woman has been
           dominated, tortured and reduced to a nonentity, she has become ugly. Whenever your nature is not
           allowed to go according to its inner needs it turns sour, it becomes poisoned; it becomes crippled,
           paralyzed -- it becomes perverted. The woman that you find in the world is not a true woman either,
           because she has been corrupted for centuries.
               And when the woman is corrupted, man cannot remain natural either, because after all, the
           woman gives birth to the man. If she is not natural, her children will not be natural. If she is not
           natural -- she is going to mother the child, male or female -- those children naturally will be affected
           by the mother.
               Woman certainly needs a great liberation, but what is happening in the name of liberation is
           stupid. It is imitation, it is not liberation.
               Here there are many women who have been in the Liberation movement, and when for the first
           time they come here they are very aggressive. And I can understand their aggression: centuries and
           centuries of domination have made them violent. It is a simple revenge. They have become insane,
           and nobody is responsible except man. But slowly slowly, they soften, they become graceful; their
           aggressiveness disappears. They become, for the first time, feminine.
               Real liberation will make the woman authentically a woman, not an imitation of man. Right now
           that's what is happening: women are trying to be just like men. If men smoke cigarettes then the
           woman has to smoke cigarettes. If they wear pants then the woman has to wear pants. If they do a
           certain thing then the woman has to do that. She is just becoming a second-rate man.
               This is not liberation, this is a far deeper slavery -- far deeper because the first slavery was
           imposed by men; this second slavery is deeper because it is created by the women themselves. And
           when somebody else imposes a slavery on you, you can rebel against it, but if you impose a slavery
           on yourself in the name of liberation, there is no possibility of rebellion ever.
               I would like the woman to become really a woman, because much depends on her. She is far
           more important than man because she carries in her womb both the woman and the man, and she
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mothers both, the boy and the girl; she nourishes both. If she is poisoned then her milk is poisoned,
           then her ways of bringing up children are poisoned.
               If the woman is not free to be really a woman, man will never be free to be really a man either.
           The freedom of woman is a must for the freedom of man; it is more fundamental than man's
           freedom.
               And if the woman is a slave -- as she has been for centuries -- she will make a slave of man too,
           in very subtle ways; her ways are subtle. She will not fight with you directly; her fight will be
           indirect, it will be feminine. She will cry and weep. She will not hit you, she will hit herself, and
           through hitting herself, through crying and weeping, through using these Gandhian methods, she will
           dominate you.
               Even the strongest man becomes henpecked. A very thin, weak woman can dominate a very
           strong man simply by using Gandhian methods. Gandhi is not the inventor of those methods; they
           have been used for centuries by women. He simply rediscovered them and used them politically. The
           woman has been using them for centuries, but only in a family context.
               The woman needs total freedom so that she can give freedom to man too.
               This is one of the fundamentals to be remembered: if you make somebody a slave you will be
           reduced to slavery ultimately, finally; you can't remain free. If you want to remain free, give freedom
           to others; that's the only way to be free.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CANNOT ONE EVER FIND A PERFECT PARTNER IN MARRIAGE?


               Sagaro, perfect people don't exist. And perfect people, if they existed, would be very boring. It is
           imperfection that keeps life interesting. Just think of a perfect husband, a perfect wife: they will be
           utterly bored!
               Bertrand Russell is reported to have said: I don't want to go to heaven, for the simple reason that
           there will be sages and sages, all perfect. Heaven is bound to be very boring.
               Just think of all perfect people -- what life can there be? Bertrand Russell is right: in hell there is
           much more life than in heaven. Heaven will certainly be dull and dead.
               Perfection is death; perfection is not found in the world. The world lives through imperfection,
           because in imperfection there is growth, evolution. Perfection means you have come to a dead end;
           now there is no way to go further ahead. You are stuck.
               You ask me, "Cannot one ever find a perfect partner in marriage?" Very difficult, almost
           impossible!

               I have heard about a man who searched his whole life for a perfect woman, and naturally he had
           to die a bachelor. When he was dying, somebody asked him, "Your whole life you were searching
           for a perfect wife. Could you not find a single woman who was perfect?"
               He said, "Who said that I didn't find her? Many times I came across a perfect woman."
               Then the questioner asked, "Then what happened? Why didn't you get married?"
               He said, "Because she was also looking for a perfect husband!"

               In the first place, to find one person who is perfect is very difficult -- and you are trying to find
           two persons. Impossible! It has not happened up to now; it can't happen.
               And what will make a perfect marriage? If the woman is truly a woman and the man is truly a
           man, there is bound to be some tension, and that tension is beautiful. In fact, that's what brings
           beauty to marriage. A little conflict is natural; without that conflict there will be no salt. Your food
           will be without salt -- it will not taste good. There will be no spice in your life. If the woman is really
           a woman, the man a real man, then they will be polar opposites -- and that is their attraction.
               Yes, once in a while they will come close and that closeness will bring great joy, and then they
           will fall away again. And this will be a constant process of coming together and going away again.
           Each time they go away they will fight, because that's how they can go away from each other.
               Fighting is nothing but a device. If you understand things, fighting is a device for separation.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And each separation is beautiful because it again gives you an opportunity for a mini-honeymoon.
           Then you can meet again. Fighting and then persuading each other, fighting and then making things
           okay again, is beautiful. If there is no fight, those two persons will not be real persons.

           It was the night before the wedding.
           "Honey," the young man said, "I have a confession to make. If you change your mind about
           marrying me it is alright, but you've got to know -- I am a sadist."
           "Ah baby!" cried the girl. "Am I glad you told me! I have been keeping it from you -- I'm a
           masochist!"
               ... Now this is a perfect marriage: marriage between a sadist and a masochist. You can't improve
           upon it.
               So the two got married and went away on their honeymoon. That evening at the hotel, the eager
           bride threw off her clothes, fell on the bed and in a throaty voice said, "Beat me! Beat me!"
               The groom stood over her, crossed his arms and replied, "Hope!"

               He is a REAL sadist, because if he beats her he is not torturing her, he is simply giving her joy:
           she wanted to be beaten and he beats her. Instead he says, "Hope!" and just stands there with crossed
           hands... so even this perfect marriage failed!

              I have never heard about any perfect marriage. They say perfect marriages are made in heaven.
           Nobody comes back from there so maybe it is true, but what kind of marriage will those perfect
           marriages be? There will be no tension, there will be no individuality in the man or in the woman.
           They will never collide, they will never fight. They will be too sweet to each other.
           And too much sweetness brings diabetes!

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THE REASON FOR TALKING SO MUCH IN FAVOR OF THE WOMEN HERE BECAUSE YOU
              MAY ALSO BE A LITTLE AFRAID OF THEM TOO?


               Anand Toshen, it is true! Even Buddha was afraid, so this is nothing new. For ten years
           continuously he refused women. He would not accept them as his disciples, he would not initiate
           them -- for ten years continuously. Thousands of women wanted to be initiated as his sannyasins and
           he would say no. He was very adamant about it. Finally he had to relax for a certain reason, out of
           courtesy.
               When he was born, his mother died immediately after his birth and he was brought up by a
           stepmother. And the stepmother had served him so much that when his stepmother came and asked
           to be initiated as a sannyasin he could not refuse -- just out of courtesy. She was the most valuable
           woman in his life; without her he would not have been alive at all. He could not say no to her. And
           because he said yes to her then the doors were opened. Then other women came and then he could
           not say no to anybody else.
               But one thing he said: "My religion was going to last for five thousand years; now it will last for
           only five hundred years, because these women are going to disturb the whole thing."
               I am not that much afraid! In fact, my first disciples, the first people I initiated, were women --
           just to put accounts right! Buddha was too adamant, and it does not look good.
           But, Toshen, there is a truth in it....

               Murphy's maxim: You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of
           the time, but you can't fool your own woman.

                That is impossible, she is bound to find out. Nobody can befool a woman for the simple reason
           that she does not function through logic; she functions through love, through the heart. Her process
           is illogical; she simply jumps to the conclusions. She cannot argue, but she immediately arrives at
           the conclusions. Her process is like a quantum leap: she immediately understands, she can see
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           through and through. The more you try to hide from her, the simpler it is for her to find it out.
                Women are powerful people, not in the muscular sense but as far as their resistance is concerned,
           as far as their life energy is concerned, as far as their tolerance is concerned. And I am bound to be a
           little afraid because my whole work depends on them.
                This is the first time that a commune is being run by women -- the first time in the whole history
           of man. I have given more power to women knowingly, because my understanding is that their
           functioning is graceful, insightful, loving, compassionate. It is not rude. And when I have made them
           the pillars of my temple, certainly I cannot speak against them!
                So whatsoever I say about women, listen very cautiously! They are in many ways more powerful
           than men. Modern research says they are more powerful sexually. And if they are more powerful
           sexually, then as a corollary, remember -- spiritually they are bound to be more powerful, because it
           is sex energy that becomes transformed into spiritual energy.
                Just the other day I was telling you: man's orgasm is local, woman's orgasm is total. Her whole
           body is involved in it; each fiber of her being pulsates with joy. And man became so much afraid of
           her joy that he has repressed, for centuries, the orgasmic qualities of women. And I can understand
           why he became so afraid -- because when the woman REALLY goes into orgasm she will scream,
           she will shout, she will go into a kind of LATIHAN. She will start saying sounds, words --
           meaningless, gibberish, what Christian mystics call glossolalia.
                There is a certain Christian sect which goes into an orgasmic state; it is a kind of meditation,
           deep meditation. I have used glossolalia on many of my sannyasins. I had to stop it, because three
           thousand persons going into glossolalia would disturb the whole of Poona! And neighbors started
           complaining to the police. But in old camps I used the method very much; it is tremendously
           powerful.
                You simply become relaxed, in a state of let-go. You start swaying, moving. And then you allow
           whatsoever comes to your mind, you start saying it -- meaningless words or sounds or anything. And
           soon you are possessed by it. Christian mystics say it is God speaking through you. It's exactly so.
           Sufis call it gibberish.
                Gibberish comes from the name of a Sufi mystic, Jabbar. Jabbar used it for the first time in Sufi
           tradition. Just as I go on speaking every day, he also used to speak -- but in gibberish! Sometimes I
           think that when you get tired of words -- because I am never going to be tired! -- when you say,
           "Beloved Master, enough is enough!" then I will start gibberish. Then I will simply sit here and say
           anything. You can make any sense out of it; it will be Greek, Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Sanskrit, any
           language you want to make out of it. The meaning you give to it will depend on you.
                Jabbar helped many people, because he would go into such orgasmic joy when he would say
           these things that his disciples would also start. And then there would be chaos! It is because of his
           name in the word 'gibberish' that you still remember Jabbar, not knowingly. The English word
           'gibberish' has come from Jabbar.
                If a woman really goes into orgasmic joy, she will start saying things which will not be
           meaningful. Sheer joy, utterances of joy, like Alleluia! It does not mean anything; meaning is left far
           behind. It has a tremendous intensity and passion in it.
                Man became afraid, because the whole neighborhood would know that you are making love to
           your woman. And police would come and dogs would start barking, and all kinds of things would
           happen! And people used to live in joint families. In one house there would be a hundred or more
           people -- and one woman going into orgasmic joy would create such chaos!
                And more difficulties were ahead.... When a woman goes into orgasmic joy she has the capacity
           of multiple orgasms, which man is incapable of fulfilling. Man can have only one orgasm and the
           woman can have multiple orgasms -- twelve, fifteen, twenty. Then how is the man going to satisfy
           her? Either he will feel defeated, ashamed, poor, humiliated, or he will have to call his friends! And
           that too was against his ego.

               Sheila and George were spending the first night of their honeymoon in a quaint medieval town in
           France. Sheila suggested coyly that they make love every time the old watchman rang his hourly
           bell. George smiled in delight at this prospect, but four rings later he pretended he had to go out for
           cigarettes and staggered off to the watchman's tower.
           "Listen, old man," he wheezed, "do me a favor and for the rest of the night ring that bell at two-hour
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intervals instead of hourly. Here, I will give you some money."
           "I would be happy to oblige," said the watchman, "but I cannot. A beautiful young lady has already
           bribed me to ring the bell every half hour."

                It is because of that fear that man has repressed all of woman's orgasmic capacities. Millions of
           women have lived and died without knowing that they have the capacity to experience orgasm. And
           without knowing that you can have great orgasmic explosions, you will not be able to understand
           anything of spirituality; it will be almost impossible for you. The woman is more powerful sexually.
           It is because of her greater power that she has been repressed; it is out of fear that man has repressed
           her.
                You are right, Toshen, I am a little afraid -- knowing perfectly well that I am doing something
           which has never been done before. I have to move very cautiously. It is a new experiment, but great
           possibilities will be released out of this experiment. If this experiment succeeds on a small scale it
           can succeed on a bigger scale too.
                My own vision is that the coming age will be the age of the woman. Man has tried for five
           thousand years and has failed. Now a chance has to be given to the woman. Now she should be given
           all the reins of power. She should be given an opportunity to allow her feminine energies to function.
                Man has utterly failed. In three thousand years, five thousand wars -- this is man's record. Man
           has simply butchered, killed, murdered; he has lived as if only for war. There are a few days in
           between two wars which we call days of peace. They are not days of peace; they are only days of
           preparing for the new war. Yes, a few years are needed to prepare... and again the war, again we go
           on killing each other. It is enough! Man has been given enough chances. Now feminine energies
           have to be released.
                My commune is going to be rooted in feminine energy, in the energies of the mother. To me God
           is more a "she" than a "he." "He" is poorer; it can't include "she."

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU SO MUCH AGAINST CLEVERNESS? DOES IT NOT PAY IN LIFE TO BE CLEVER?


                Ageha, cleverness is only a beautiful name for cunningness. Hence I am against it. I am not
           against being intelligent, but an intelligent person need not be clever. It is only the unintelligent
           person who has to be clever; because he is missing intelligence he has to replace it with something
           else.
                Cleverness is plastic intelligence, cultivated intelligence. It is a poor substitute. And I know in
           life -- at least in the short range -- it pays, but never in the long range. And the wise person has to
           think of the long range. You can be cunning, and for the moment it may pay, but sooner or later you
           will have to pay for it.
                You are sowing seeds which are wrong and you will have to crop the reap... or is it "reap the
           crop"? You can't avoid the consequences; the consequences are bound to come.

                Homer and his pretty wife were about to check out of the hotel when Homer expostulated over
           the amount of the bill. The hotel manager told him that was the normal rate for a double room with
           bath and TV.
           Homer said they did not use the TV.
           "I am sorry, sir," said the manager. "It was there for you to use if you had wanted it."
           "Okay," said Homer, "but in that case I am going to charge you for making love to my beautiful
           wife."
                The manager denied it, and Homer said, "That's okay. She was there for you to use if you wanted
           to."
                The manager was so flustered he reduced Homer's bill and Homer decided to try it again the next
           time they went on a trip.
           "Sir, that is our normal rate," said the young clerk.
           "But we did not use the TV."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I am sorry, but it was there for you to use if you wanted to."
           "In that case, I will have to charge you for making love to my beautiful wife."
               To Homer's chagrin the young man stammered, "Okay, okay, I will pay you. But keep your voice
           down, will you? I am new at this hotel and you are apt to get me fired."

               Cunningness may pay in the short range, but sooner or later you will be caught in your own net.
           You will fall in the ditch you have dug for others. Beware of it!
               I am not against being intelligent -- I am all for being intelligent -- but intelligence is a totally
           different quality. Intelligence is of the heart and cleverness is of the mind. Cleverness is a heady
           thing. Even a computer can be clever but not intelligent.
               Be intelligent! But to be intelligent needs great changes in your life, in your life patterns.
           Intelligence is a by-product of meditativeness. If you become silent, if you become innocent, then
           you will be intelligent. Intelligence means responding to the situation immediately, without any
           preparation, without the past, without any rehearsal... just responding as a mirror reflects
           immediately whatsoever confronts it.
               When you start reflecting whatsoever life brings in front of you and you act out of the moment,
           you are intelligent. But if you are clever and cunning you are using your past, your past experiences,
           and you are responding according to your past experiences. That is not response -- that is reaction.
           And that can be done by computer. You are not really human when you are bringing your past into
           the present and acting out of it.
               Be wise, be meditative, be intelligent. Avoid being cunning. That is ugly, that is unspiritual, and
           that reduces you into a machine.
               And you are not a machine, you are a man. Whatever can be done by a machine is not worth
           doing. Do that which only a man can do. Then your glory is great and then you will release great
           splendor in your life.
           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                    Talks given from 21/12/79 am to 02/01/80 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    13 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                     Chapter #1
                                         Chapter title: Discontent is divine
           21 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912210
              ShortTitle: DHAM801
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              "EVERYTHING ARISES AND PASSES AWAY."
              WHEN YOU SEE THIS, YOU ARE ABOVE SORROW.
              THIS IS THE SHINING WAY.

              "EXISTENCE IS SORROW."
              UNDERSTAND, AND GO BEYOND SORROW.
              THIS IS THE WAY OF BRIGHTNESS.

              "EXISTENCE IS ILLUSION."
              UNDERSTAND, GO BEYOND.
              THIS IS THE WAY OF CLARITY.



              YOU ARE STRONG, YOU ARE YOUNG.
              IT IS TIME TO ARISE.
              SO ARISE!
              LEST THROUGH IRRESOLUTION AND IDLENESS
              YOU LOSE THE WAY.



              MASTER YOUR WORDS.
              MASTER YOUR THOUGHTS.
              NEVER ALLOW YOUR BODY TO DO HARM.
              FOLLOW THESE THREE ROADS WITH PURITY
              AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF UPON THE ONE WAY,
              THE WAY OF WISDOM.



              SIT IN THE WORLD, SIT IN THE DARK.
              SIT IN MEDITATION, SIT IN LIGHT.
              CHOOSE YOUR SEAT.
              LET WISDOM GROW.



              CUT DOWN THE FOREST,
              NOT THE TREE.
              FOR OUT OF THE FOREST COMES DANGER.



              CUT DOWN THE FOREST.
              FELL DESIRE.
              AND SET YOURSELF FREE.


                The way of Gautama the Buddha is the way of intelligence, understanding, awareness,
           meditation. It is not the way of belief; it is the way of seeing the truth itself. Belief simply covers up
           your ignorance; it does not deliver you from ignorance. Belief is a deception you play upon yourself;
           it is not transformation.
                And the people who think themselves religious are only believers, not religious. They have no
           clarity, no understanding, no insight into the nature of things. They don't know what they are doing,
           they don't know what they are thinking. They are simply repeating conventions, traditions; dead
           words spoken long long ago. They cannot be certain whether those words are true or not. Nobody
           can be certain unless one realizes oneself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There is only one certainty in existence and that is your own realization, your own seeing. Unless
           that happens, don't become contented; remain discontented. Discontentment is divine; contentment
           through beliefs is stupid. It is through divine discontent that one grows, but it is the path which is
           arduous. The path of belief is simple, convenient, comfortable. You need not do anything. You have
           only to say yes to the authorities: the authorities of the church, of the state. You have simply to be a
           slave to people who are in power.
               But to follow the path of Buddha one has to be a rebel. Rebellion is its essential taste; it is only
           for the rebellious spirit. But only rebellious people have spirits, only they have souls. Others are
           hollow, empty.

              These sutras of today are of immense beauty, truth. Meditate over them. The first sutra:

              "EVERYTHING ARISES AND PASSES AWAY."
              WHEN YOU SEE THIS, YOU ARE ABOVE SORROW.
              THIS IS THE SHINING WAY.


               Life is a flux, nothing abides. Still we are such fools, we go on clinging. If change is the nature
           of life, then clinging is stupidity, because your clinging is not going to change the law of life. Your
           clinging is only going to make you miserable. Things are bound to change; whether you cling or not
           does not matter. If you cling you become miserable: you cling and they change, you feel frustrated.
           If you don't cling they still change, but then there is no frustration because you were perfectly aware
           that they are bound to change. This is how things are, this is the suchness of life.
               Remember Haldane's Law that the universe is not only queerer than we imagine, it is queerer
           than we CAN imagine. And remember, you are not alone. The world really is like this.
               It is a very strange world. Everything is momentary, yet every momentary thing gives you the
           illusion of being permanent. Everything is just a soap bubble, shining beautifully in the sunrays,
           maybe surrounded by a rainbow, a beautiful aura of light -- but a soap bubble is a soap bubble! Any
           moment and it will be gone and gone forever. But for the moment it can deceive you.
               And the strangest thing is that thousands of times you have been deceived, yet you don't become
           aware. Again another soap bubble and you will believe. Your unintelligence seems to be unlimited!
           How many times do you need to be hammered? How many times do your dreams have to be crushed
           and shattered? How many times has life to prove that clinging is nonsense? Stop clinging and then
           you go beyond sorrow. It is clinging that is the root cause of sorrow.
               The world is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage,
           and those who manage what they do not understand. Just watch your own life and you will see it
           happening within your mind too. You understand things which you don't manage; it is easy to
           understand things which you don't manage.
               Somebody asked George Bernard Shaw, "Do you believe that nothing is impossible?"
               Bernard Shaw is reported to have said, "Yes, I DO believe that nothing is impossible, provided
           somebody else is going to do it."
               It is easy to understand what you don't manage. What YOU manage you don't understand at all.
           Do you understand your life? You understand about God and you don't understand about your life
           energy. You understand about heaven and hell. There are people who know how many heavens there
           are and how many hells.

                One man came to me and he said, "In our religion we believe that there are fourteen heavens.
           Mahavira has reached only up to the fifth; Buddha up to the sixth; Jesus, Mohammed, etcetera, only
           up to the fourth; Kabir, Nanak, up to the seventh. And my guru," the man said -- he belonged to the
           Radhaswami sect -- "MY guru has reached to the fourteenth."
                I said to the man, "Yes, I know. I have seen him in the fourteenth, because I have reached to the
           fifteenth. I am acquainted with the guy."
                He said, "Fifteenth? But in our scriptures there are only fourteen heavens, not fifteen."
                I said, "How can there be fifteen in your scriptures? -- because your teacher has reached only up
           to the fourteenth!"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Foolish people! But they go on knowing how many heavens there are and how many hells there
           are. Jainas believe in seven hells. They have thrown Krishna into the seventh because he was the
           cause of the great war, Mahabharata. He persuaded Arjuna, his disciple, to fight and kill people. He
           was the cause of great violence so they have thrown him to the seventh, into the last. But in the days
           of Mahavira, one of the disciples of Mahavira, Makkhali Gosal, revolted against the master and
           declared that there are not seven hells but seven hundred.
                People go on talking nonsense -- seven and seven hundred -- and they are not aware about their
           own inner life, from where this breath comes, to where this breath goes. They are not aware of the
           closest truth of their being, and they go on talking about ultimate things. These talks about ultimate
           things are simply to avoid real problems of life. These are strategies of the mind to keep you
           occupied with utter nonsense. Beware of the mind and its cunning ways!
                Buddha says: "EVERYTHING ARISES AND PASSES AWAY." WHEN YOU SEE THIS.... He
           is not saying, "Believe this." He is not saying, "I have become the enlightened one, so whatsoever I
           say you have to believe in it." He is not saying, "Because scriptures are in my favor you have to
           believe me." He is not saying, "Because I can prove it logically you have to believe in me."
                See the beauty of the man. He says: WHEN YOU SEE THIS, YOU ARE ABOVE SORROW. In
           that very moment when you have seen this -- that everything is momentary and everything is a flux
           and everything is BOUND to change.... Do whatsoever you want to do, but nothing is going to
           become permanent in this life. When you have seen this with your own eyes, and you have
           understood it through your own intelligence, suddenly you are beyond sorrow.
                What happens? A great revolution happens in that seeing; that very seeing is the revolution. Then
           you don't cling. The moment you see that this is a soap bubble you don't cling to it. In fact, clinging
           to it will force it to burst sooner; if you don't cling to it, it may remain there dancing in the wind for a
           while. The nonclinger can enjoy life; the clinger cannot enjoy life.

              Gussie had lived a good life, having been married four times. Now she stood before the Pearly
           Gates.
              Father Abraham said to her, "I notice that you first married a banker, then an actor, next a rabbi,
           and lastly an undertaker. What kind of a system is that for a respectable Jewish woman?"
           "A very good system," replied Gussie. "One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready
           and four to go!"

               If you see, you can enjoy; then it is just a game. Then everything is totally different; then it is a
           big drama. Then the whole earth becomes just a stage and everybody is acting his part. But if you
           don't see, you become obsessed; you start clinging to things, and deep down you know that they are
           slipping out of your hands.

           "I had everything a man could want," moaned a sad-eyed friend of ours. "Money, a handsome home,
           the love of a beautiful and wealthy woman. Then, bang! One morning my wife walked in!"

               You can't remain in the same state for long. Life changes just like dreams. Hence the mystics
           have been calling life nothing but a dream; a dream seen with open eyes, a dream shared by others
           too. In the night the dream is private; nobody can share it. In the day the dream is public; everybody
           can share it. In the night the dream is subjective; in the day the dream is objective. But the quality of
           both is the same -- writings on water. You have not even finished writing and they start disappearing.
           Not even writings on the sand... because on the sand the writing may stay a little longer. It will have
           to wait for the wind to come or somebody to walk over it. It is writing in water. You go on writing
           and it goes on disappearing.
               Seeing it, YOU ARE ABOVE SORROW -- immediately. Then nothing else has to be done. The
           moment you have seen it, where is sorrow? The cause has disappeared; you have removed the very
           cause. You cling and you create the cause. Nonclinging is liberation.
               Hence Buddha says: THIS IS THE SHINING WAY -- so simple, so luminous, that unless you
           are utterly blind, spiritually blind, you can't miss it. He is not talking about great metaphysical truths.
           He is not philosophizing. He is not using complex words and systems and theories. He is simply
           stating a fact that he has seen -- and YOU can see it. It has nothing to do with Buddha, it is not his
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           invention, it is not his idea. It is the facticity of life.
               Look around. Everything is changing. It is like a river moving and moving -- and you want to
           catch hold of it? It is mercury! If you try to catch hold of it you will lose sooner than before. Don't
           try to catch hold of it. Watch joyfully, silently. Witness the game, the dream... and YOU ARE
           ABOVE SORROW. Buddha is not saying you will GO beyond sorrow. He says, YOU are ABOVE
           SORROW.

               "EXISTENCE IS SORROW."
               UNDERSTAND, AND GO BEYOND SORROW.
               THIS IS THE WAY OF BRIGHTNESS.

               "EXISTENCE IS SORROW." First he says: Sorrow arises out of clinging to momentary things which
               you cannot make permanent. It is not in the nature of things. It is against the universal law. It is against
               dhamma, it is against tao. You cannot win. If you fight with the universal law you are fighting a losing
               battle; you will simply waste your energies. What is going to happen is bound to happen; nothing can
               be done about it.

                All that you can do is about your consciousness. You can change your vision. You can see things
           in a different light, with a different context, in a new space, but you cannot change things. If you
           think of the world as very real you will suffer; if you see the world as a strange dream you will not
           suffer. If you think in terms of static entities you will suffer. If you think in terms of nouns you will
           suffer. But if you think in terms of verbs you will not suffer.
                Nouns don't exist; they exist only in languages. In reality there are no nouns. Everything is a verb
           because everything is changing and everything is in a process. It is never static, it is always dynamic.
                The second thing Buddha says is: "EXISTENCE IS SORROW." To be is sorrow. The ego is
           sorrow. First he says: See the world as dream, fluctuating, changing, moment to moment new. Enjoy
           it, enjoy its newness, enjoy all the surprises that it brings. It is beautiful that it is changing, nothing is
           wrong about it; just don't cling to it. Why do you cling? You cling because you have another fallacy:
           that YOU are.
                The first fallacy is that things are static. And the second fallacy is that YOU are, that you have a
           static ego. They both go together. If you want to cling you need a clinger; if you have no need to
           cling, there is no need for a clinger. Go deep into it. If you don't need to cling, the ego is not needed
           at all, it will be pointless. In fact, it cannot exist without clinging.
                The dancer can exist only if he dances. If the dance disappears, where is the dancer? The singer
           exists only in singing. The walker exists only in walking. So is the ego: the ego exists only in
           clinging, in possessing things, in dominating things. When there is no domination, no desire to
           dominate, no desire to cling, no desire to possess, the ego starts evaporating. On the outside you start
           clinging and in the inside a new clarity starts arising. The ego with all its smoke disappears, the ego
           with all its clouds disappears. It can't exist because it cannot be nourished anymore. For it to exist it
           has to cling. It has to create "my" and "mine," and it goes on creating "my" and "mine" in every
           possible and impossible way.
                The ego says, "This is MY country," as if you have brought it with your birth, as if the earth is
           really divided into countries. The earth is undivided, it is one. But the ego says, "This is MY
           country" -- and not only that this is my country, "this is the greatest country in the world. This is the
           holiest land."
                Ask the Indians. "This is the most spiritual country in the world. Everybody else is materialist
           and we are spiritualists." And everybody else has his own ideas. They are great. Ask the Germans.
           Nobody is of pure blood, only they are -- Aryan blood, Nordic blood, purest blood. God has created
           them to rule the whole world. And ask the Japanese. They have descended from the sun god directly;
           they are not ordinary mortals. The sun is their source, and the sun is the source of all life. And you
           ask anybody. Everybody has his own ideas how HIS country is great, how HIS religion is great.
           Religion also becomes your possession: "MY religion, MY Christianity, MY Hinduism."
                Who can claim religion? Who can claim that religion is a possession? You can be religious, but
           you cannot claim that Christianity is yours, you cannot claim that Hinduism is yours. But the ego is
           so stupid! It goes on claiming all kinds of things.

               Mr. Ginsberg came home one day from the garment district where he owned a company and said
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that he must get a mistress.
           "Why?" gasped Mrs. Ginsberg.
           "Well," replied her husband, "all the owners have them and it looks bad for my business that I don't."
           "Well, if it is for business, alright," said Mrs. Ginsberg.
               Sometime later Mr. and Mrs. Ginsberg were enjoying an evening at the opera when suddenly Mr.
           Ginsberg said, "Look, Miriam, there is Mr. Pincus and his mistress sitting across from us in a box."
               Mrs. Ginsberg studied the pair for a long time with her opera glasses and then said, "Ours is
           better!"

                Anything and everything will be claimed by the ego. And "ours is always better," whatsoever it
           is. The ego exists only through such claims. The "I" exists only as an island in the ocean of "my" and
           "mine." If you stop claiming things as "my" and "mine," the ego will disappear on its own accord.
                Neither the wife is yours nor the husband nor the children. All belongs to the whole. Your claim
           is foolish. We come empty-handed into the world and we go empty-handed from the world. But
           nobody wants to know the truth -- it hurts. Empty-handed we come and empty-handed we go. One
           starts feeling shaky, one starts feeling scared. One wants to be full, not empty. It is better to be full of
           anything -- any garbage -- than to be empty. Emptiness looks like death, and we don't want the truth.
           Our whole effort is to live in convenience, even if that convenience is based on illusions.

           "I demand an explanation and I want the truth!" shouted the irate husband upon discovering his wife
           in bed with his best friend.
           "Make up your mind, George," she calmly replied. "You can't have both."

               Either you can have the explanation or the truth. And people are more interested in the
           explanation than in the truth, hence so many philosophies. They are all explanations -- explanations
           to explain away things, not to give you the truth; explanations to create great smoke so you need not
           see the truth. And Buddha's insistence is: SEE it! -- because without seeing it you can't go above
           sorrow.

              James, to his wife: "I am in the mood and you are so beautiful!"
           Katherine: "What makes you think I am beautiful?"
              James: "When I am in the mood, everybody is beautiful!"

                The whole question is of your mood. If you are in the mood of an ego trip, then you will not
           listen to buddhas, or you will listen in such a way that you can manage, distort, interpret those truths
           according to yourself, to support you. If you are still interested in the ego you cannot understand
           these sutras.
                If you have become fed up with the ego, if you are tired of its games, if you have seen that it
           brings only suffering and nothing else, then these truths are so simple to understand that in fact no
           explanation is needed. And I am not explaining them to you. I am simply hammering them on your
           head, from this side and from that side. You try to dodge, you try to escape, you try to close your
           eyes, but I go on shouting in your ears, hoping that sooner or later you will be able to understand --
           because without this understanding happening to you, your life will be a nightmare. And many lives
           you have wasted in nightmares. It is time to wake up!
           "EXISTENCE IS SORROW." UNDERSTAND, AND GO BEYOND SORROW. THIS IS THE
           WAY OF BRIGHTNESS. Buddha says: This is the way of intelligence. This is not for dull,
           unintelligent, mediocre minds.
                The way of the Buddha is for those who are intelligent. And who is not intelligent? If you decide
           to be intelligent, you are intelligent. You are born with great intelligence, but you keep it repressed.
           You are afraid of your own intelligence because your own intelligence will disturb your settled
           routine of life. Somehow you have managed to settle, and your own intelligence will keep you
           moving forward. It will go on telling you, "This is not the truth. Again you have fallen a victim of a
           dream. Move on. Unless you reach the truth, there is no way to rest in peace. Move on!" Because
           intelligence goads you to move on, you repress it.
                Everybody is born intelligent. I have never come across a child who is not intelligent, but it is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very rare later on to find intelligent people. What happens in the meantime? Every child turns out to
           be stupid later on. By the time you come from the university you are fully established in your
           stupidities. The university is a guarantee that now you are intelligence-proof. Nobody can make you
           intelligent again -- they have sealed you.
                Socrates says: Know thyself. Buddha also says: Know thyself. And both have been
           misunderstood, Socrates more than Buddha. When Socrates says: Know thyself, people think there is
           someone inside who has to be known. There is nobody inside. When Socrates says: Know thyself, he
           is simply saying, "Go in and see what is there." He is not saying that there is someone that you will
           come to know; he is simply saying go in. But he does not make you so scared.
                Buddha says clearly that there is no one: Go in and see. There is only seeing, but not a seer.
           There is understanding but nobody who understands, knowing but not a knower. This has to be
           understood. This is Buddha's very emphatic message: that there are processes, certainly, but there is
           no center to those processes. Yes, there is love but no lover, and there is meditation but no meditator,
           and there is liberation, but nobody is liberated. It looks very strange, but now modern science agrees
           with it.
                As far as objective reality is concerned, modern science agrees with Buddha more than with
           anybody else. Hence Buddha has a great future, because science will come closer and closer every
           day to Buddha. Science is going to speak in the same language as Buddha. Science says there is
           energy but no matter. That's what Buddha is saying for the inner world: There is energy, movement,
           processes, but no entity, no ego.
           "Know thyself" means: know that you are not. Great courage is needed to know this. People want to
           know that they are immortal souls. Then they are very happy: "We are immortal souls." And Buddha
           says, "Don't talk nonsense! You are simply not. Immortality is there, but you are not immortal. When
           YOU disappear completely, whatsoever is left behind... that cleanliness, that purity, that innocence,
           that nobodiness, that nothingness, that SHUNYA -- that is immortal. It has no beginning and no end,
           no birth and no death."
                But rather than going in and finding the basic illusion of the ego, rather than going in and finding
           the root cause of all your misery, you go on throwing the responsibility on others.

               Murphy's famous maxim: The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone
           he can blame it on.

               Everybody is trying to blame his misery on somebody else. And that's how we remain in misery,
           because this blaming is not going to help. In the first place it is wrong -- nobody else is the cause of
           your misery; the cause is within you. You are living with a fallacy. But even if you are living with a
           fallacy, the mind enjoys the idea that somebody else is responsible -- "I am not responsible"; you feel
           a relief.

           "Doctor, you've got to do something about my husband."
           "What seems to be the problem?"
           "He's convinced that he is a refrigerator."
           "That's terrible!"
           "You're telling me!" snapped the wife. "He sleeps with his mouth open, and the light keeps me
           awake all night."

               A woman called a psychiatrist on the phone and cried, "Doctor, you've got to help me. My
           husband is driving me crazy. He keeps insisting that he is Moses."
           "That sounds serious," replied the psychiatrist. "I think you should bring him to my office
           tomorrow."
           "Ah, I will," she replied, "but in the meantime how do I keep him from parting the water every time I
           try to take a bath?"

               Even if you are mad, the mind would like to believe that somebody else is responsible --
           somebody else is mad. People are ready to believe that the whole world is mad, but not themselves.
           In fact, a madman never accepts that he is mad. You can go to a madhouse and you can ask all the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mad people, and you will be surprised: not a single mad person will agree that he is mad. The whole
           world is mad, he is perfectly sane.
               In fact, those who understand mad people, they say that once a madman accepts that he is mad he
           is no longer mad; sanity has started coming into his being.
               That's what all the buddhas have been saying: the moment you understand that "I am ignorant,"
           the first glimpse of knowing has happened. The moment you say that "I am not," for the first time,
           real existence has penetrated you. The first time you say that "I don't possess anything," the whole
           world is yours. The first time you say that "I am not separate," that "I am one with the whole," you
           become the whole. The dewdrop does not really disappear; it becomes the ocean. By knowing one's
           emptiness, one's egolessness, one loses nothing, one gains all.
           And the third sutra:

              "EXISTENCE IS ILLUSION."
              UNDERSTAND, GO BEYOND.
              THIS IS THE WAY OF CLARITY.


               Buddha does not give you doctrines, he does not give you dogmas. He is not a bit interested in
           giving you philosophies of life. His whole concern is one: how to make your mind clear, how to
           impart clarity to you so that you can see unhindered, so your eyes no more carry any dust, so your
           eyes are without dust and you can see through and through as things are.
               Ordinarily whatsoever you see is your projection. That's what you call existence -- you project.
           The existence functions only as a screen and the projector is inside you, and you go on projecting
           your desires, your imaginations, your hopes, your dreams, and you go on seeing things which are not
           there.
               People go on to the very end projecting. Even if you meet them after their death you will find
           them in the same mess.

                Business had been terrible for Blum and he cut down on his help. In a month he had to cut down
           still further, and everyone said that this terrible strain became a fixation that hastened his death a few
           weeks afterwards.
                As they were carrying his body down the aisle of the chapel, Blum suddenly sat up in the coffin
           and asked, "How many man are carrying me?"
           "There are eight pallbearers, Mr. Blum," said the undertaker.
           "Better lay off two," said Blum, lying down again.

               Even after death the old obsession continues! And don't take it as a joke -- this is how things are.
           People go on believing in the same things after death; they go on continuing the same desires. That's
           how they go on coming back again and again to the earth to fulfill the same unfulfilled desires. And
           those desires are unfulfillable, so they go on coming again and again, millions of times.
               Buddha calls it a vicious circle, a wheel which goes on moving. You are just like a spoke in the
           wheel. Sometimes you come up and sometimes you go down. But the wheel goes on moving up and
           down, up and down; life and death, life and death; one moment of success, another moment of
           failure; one moment of hope, another moment of despair. It goes on and on, and it has been going on
           for eternity. And this whole thing is your own projection -- this is not reality.
               Reality can only be known when you have nothing to project. That state of nonprojection
           Buddha calls clarity. Clarity means you have no desire, you don't want things to be in a certain way,
           you are ready to see them as they are. You are simply a mirror, not a projector.
               When you are a mirror, this is samadhi, this is satori. You simply reflect like the silent, clear,
           cool water of a lake reflects the full moon and the stars. When you are absolutely clear, no dreams,
           no desires, no imaginations, no memories, the whole mind put aside -- the mind is a mechanism to
           project -- then there is clarity and things are reflected as they are. And for the first time you know
           what is the case; otherwise: "EXISTENCE IS ILLUSION."
               Understand this: that whatsoever you think as existence is illusion. Understand it, and go beyond.
           THIS IS THE WAY OF CLARITY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU ARE STRONG, YOU ARE YOUNG.
              IT IS TIME TO ARISE.
              SO ARISE!
              LEST THROUGH IRRESOLUTION AND IDLENESS
              YOU LOSE THE WAY.


                In ancient India, when Buddha was delivering these sutras to his disciples, this was the accepted
           tradition, that a man should become a seeker only in the last stage of his life. If you assume life to be
           a hundred-year span, then the Hindu idea is to divide life in four parts of twenty-five years each.
                The first twenty-five years are for education, BRAHMACHARYA. You go to the university, you
           live with a master to learn the skills of the world, the arts, the craft, the science. And after
           twenty-five years you come back into the world, you get married. And for twenty-five years now --
           the second stage -- you live as a householder, as a husband, as a father, fulfilling the duties of life.
                And then comes the third stage, twenty-five years again: you prepare to renounce the world. The
           third stage is called VANPRASTHA. First is brahmacharya -- celibacy -- so that you can devote
           your whole mind to your studies, no distractions. Your whole sexual energies have to be
           concentrated in studies. Then the second stage is called GARHASTHYA -- the stage of the
           householder. You devote your whole energies to the family life: make a house, create a big business,
           earn money, raise children. And then the third is called vanprastha. Vanprastha means "facing
           towards the forest." Now prepare yourself to leave the world -- prepare for twenty-five years! Live
           still in the house, but turn towards the forest. Slowly slowly, disconnect yourself. Go on giving your
           responsibilities to your children, who will now be coming back from the university.
                And the fourth stage -- after seventy-five years -- the last twenty-five years, you become a
           sannyasin. This was the routine, accepted, conventional thing in India.
                In the first place, people don't live a hundred years, and particularly in those days not at all. All
           the scientific research that has been gone into proves that people in Buddha's time lived at the most
           an average of forty years; forty years was the average life. And it does not seem too bad because
           even now in India, thirty-six years is the average life. With all the new medicine, medical help,
           hospitals, if India has only thirty-six years as average age, then in those days, with no science, with
           no medical facilities, if people lived forty years average they were doing perfectly well! So people
           were not living for a hundred years. By the time one was seventy-five, one was gone. So for the
           majority of the people, the time for sannyas will never come.
                It seems it was just an effort to postpone it. And even if somebody lived after seventy-five -- a
           few people lived, Buddha himself lived for eighty years -- if a few people lived after seventy-five,
           their life will be almost without energy. They will be dead, walking corpses. They won't have energy
           enough to meditate, to rise to the highest peaks of consciousness. They will not be able to transform
           their beings into buddhahood; that will be impossible for them.
                Buddha brought a great revolution and India has never forgiven him for that. He destroyed the
           whole nonsense idea of stages. It is nonsense, because there are a few intelligent people who can be
           sannyasins even while they are young, and there are a few superintelligent people who can be
           sannyasins even while they are small children.
                Shankaracharya became a sannyasin when he was only nine years of age. Buddha became a
           sannyasin when he was twenty-nine years old. So it is foolish to postpone it. And why go on
           postponing truth to the very end when you will be almost a corpse, no energy left? And then you will
           try to soar high into the sky? When the days have come to go into the grave, you will try to take
           flight towards the sun? It is impossible.
                Buddha was the first in India to introduce the idea of a young sannyasin. His emphasis was that
           youth is the best time to be a sannyasin because it is great energy that will be needed for the inner
           transformation, for inner work. It can't be postponed. And who knows about the future? Who knows
           about even tomorrow or even about the next moment? He says: YOU ARE YOUNG, YOU ARE
           STRONG -- then this is the time. IT IS TIME TO ARISE. Don't postpone. There is no need to
           postpone. Don't say that "I will wake up only after seventy-five years of age." A person who has
           been dreaming for seventy-five years will find it very difficult to wake up after seventy-five years of
           dreaming. Dreaming would have become almost a second nature to him.
                As you grow old you become more and more stubborn, less and less flexible. As you grow old
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you become more and more mechanical, less and less alive. Your ways of life become so settled,
           your ways of thinking become so fixated, that it becomes impossible to change them. That's why it is
           so difficult for an old man to learn any new thing. They say: You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
           Children learn very easily; old men find it very difficult to learn because they already think they
           know. Their whole life's experience is there, and their life's experience starts dominating them; it
           goes on dominating them to the very end.

               Zeb and his wife, Addie, had had a reputation for being the stingiest couple in the hills. Zeb died
           a few years back, and his kin was downright embarrassed about the way Addie went on about the
           cost of the funeral. She even insisted on having the coffin closed so she would not have to pay the
           undertaker for a room to hold the viewing.
               A few years later, Addie got sick and it looked like she was going to meet Zeb in the hereafter.
           Addie called her only friend to her side and made her promise to see to the funeral.
           "Promise you will bury me in my black silk dress," she said weakly. "But you may as well cut the
           material out of the back of the skirt. It is good material and it surely is a sin to waste it."
           "Now, Addie," replied her friend, "I just couldn't. When you and Zeb walk through those Pearly
           Gates, you surely don't want to go with no back to your dress."
           "Don't give it another thought," replied Addie. "They will all be looking at Zeb anyway."
           "Why do you say that?"
           "Because I buried him without his pants."

                The whole life, if you are miserly... even in death you will be the same. As you grow old you
           become more and more settled.
                Youth is the best time for inner transformation because youth is the most flexible time. Children
           are more flexible than young people, but they are not so understanding. They need a little
           experience. Youth is exactly the middle; you are no longer a child, no longer ignorant of life and its
           ways and not yet settled as an old man. You are in a state of transition, and the state of transition is
           the best time that you can jump out of the wheel of life and death. Youth is the most significant time
           to take any jump, because the jump needs courage, it needs energy, it needs risk, it needs daring.
                Buddha says: YOU ARE STRONG, YOU ARE YOUNG. IT IS TIME TO ARISE.
                To be youthful, to be young, to be fresh, is a great benediction. It is the time of rebellion. And if
           you miss your youth, it will be more and more difficult later on. Not that it is impossible -- it can
           happen even when you are old -- but it will take more arduous effort and things will not be so easy.
           It is just like climbing a mountain: when you are young it is easier, when you become old it becomes
           difficult. Breathing is hard, rising up is tiring, you perspire, you feel exhausted very soon, you will
           need more rest and the journey will look very long. When you are young you can run up; you can
           run up to the peak and each step will release more energy in you, because to be young is to be a
           reservoir of energy.
                Many people come to me and ask why I am giving sannyas to young people. ... Because of this:
           youth is the time for sannyas, because sannyas is the greatest rebellion; no other rebellion is so great.
           Don't waste your youthfulness on other ordinary revolutions -- political, social, economic. Don't
           waste your life energy on those stupid games. Put your total energy, focus your total energy, on a
           single point -- the spiritual revolution -- because that is a radical change, and other changes can
           follow that change.
                If your inner being changes, your whole outer life will be totally different. It will have a different
           fragrance, a different beauty, a different grace. And when your inner being is changed and becomes a
           flame of light, you will become a light unto others too. You will become a beckoning light, a great
           herald of a new dawn. Your very presence will trigger revolutions in other people's lives.
                Buddha says: SO ARISE! Don't waste a single moment! -- LEST THROUGH IRRESOLUTION
           AND IDLENESS YOU LOSE THE WAY.
                The only danger is irresolution. A life uncommitted, uninvolved, is not worth calling life. It is
           only through commitment, involvement, that your life attains sharpness, your intelligence becomes a
           sword. Through idleness you gather rust; your sharpness disappears. You become old even while
           you are young. And if you remain sharp and you remain rebellious, even when you are old you will
           not be old. Only physically you will be old, but your inner being will remain young.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And that is one of the greatest experiences of life: when your body becomes old, but your inner
           being keeps its youthfulness. That means you have not lost track of life, that you are keeping
           yourself in step with life. You are not left behind, you are not lagging behind.
           The Buddha says:

              MASTER YOUR WORDS.


               He says, ordinarily a mind is full of words -- relevant, irrelevant, rubbish; all kinds of words go
           on gathering inside you. Two persons are talking; you simply hear, and those words become part of
           your mind -- for no other reason, accidentally. You heard two persons talking. You have become
           burdened. You go and you read the signboards, and those words become part of your being. You
           read unnecessary advertisements. In magazines, people read advertisements more than anything else.
           Or you go on gossiping with people, knowing perfectly well that this is just useless, a sheer wastage
           of time and energy. But words are gathering inside you like dust, layers upon layers, and your mirror
           will be covered by them
               Buddha says: MASTER YOUR WORDS. Be telegraphic. Listen only to that which is significant,
           read only that which is meaningful. Avoid the unnecessary, the irrelevant. Speak only that which is
           to the point. Make your each word your heart. Don't just go on saying things as if you are a
           gramophone record.

              Mary was sitting alone on the couch when her mother came in and turned on the light.
           "Why, what is the matter, dear?" asked her mother. "Why are you sitting here in the dark? Did you
           and John have a fight?"
           "Oh, no, nothing like that," replied Mary. "As a matter of fact, John asked me to marry him."
           "Well, then why do you look so sad?"
           "Oh, mother, it is just that I don't know if I could marry an advertising executive."
           "But what is wrong with marrying a man who is in advertising?"
           "Well, how would you feel if a man who was proposing to you told you that it was a
           once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated, special offer?"

               Just like a gramophone record! He may not be at all aware what he is saying, may be repeating
           his habit. He is skillful in that, it has become part of his mind. It may be repeating itself; he may not
           be conscious at all of what he is doing.
               When Buddha says: MASTER YOUR WORDS, he means, be conscious. Why are you saying
           something? To whom? And what is the purpose of it? Be clear, otherwise be silent. It is better not to
           burden others with your garbage. If you can enlighten, good; if you can unburden, good; otherwise it
           is better to be quiet.

              MASTER YOUR THOUGHTS.


               Any thought goes on inside your mind. Watch for a few minutes and you will be surprised: the
           mind seems to be crazy! It jumps from one thought to another thought for no reason at all. Just a dog
           starts barking in the neighborhood and your mind takes the clue from it... and you remember the dog
           that you used to have in your childhood, and the dog died... and you start feeling sad. And because of
           the death of the dog you start thinking about death, and the death of your mother and the death of
           your father. And you become angry because you were never at ease with your mother; there was
           always conflict. The dog is still barking, completely unaware what he has done. And you have
           traveled so far!
               Anything can trigger a process in you. This is a kind of slavery: you are at the mercy of
           accidents. This is not mastery. And a sannyasin, a seeker, should be a master. He thinks only if he
           wants to; if he does not want to think he simply puts his mind off. He knows how to put it on and
           how to put it off.
               You don't know how to put it on, you don't know how to put it off; it goes on and on. It starts
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           working in the childhood and goes on working till you die. Seventy years, eighty years, continuously
           working -- so much work, and then you cannot expect anything great out of it because it is utterly
           tired. It has not much energy left; it is leaking from everywhere. If you can put it off... that's what
           meditation is all about: putting the mind off, the art of putting the mind off. If you can put it off, it
           will gather energy.
               If for a few hours every day you are without the mind, you will gather so much energy that that
           energy will keep you young, fresh, creative. That energy will allow you to see reality, the beauty of
           the existence, the joy of life, the celebration. But for that you need energy, and your mind has only
           very little energy. Just somehow you manage your life. You live a poor life for the sheer reason that
           you don't know how to accumulate your mind energy, how to make a reservoir of your inner being. It
           goes on and on leaking and you don't know how to stop those leakages.

              NEVER ALLOW YOUR BODY TO DO HARM.


               Three things, Buddha says: Be careful about words, be master of your thoughts, NEVER
           ALLOW YOUR BODY TO DO HARM. Because the body comes from the animals, the body IS
           animal. It enjoys harming, it is violent. Be conscious of it. Don't allow it to go into violence. Don't
           allow it to harm anybody, because if you harm others the harm will come back to you sooner or later.
               That's the whole theory of karma: whatsoever you do to others will be done to you. So do to
           others only that which you would like to be done to you.

              FOLLOW THESE THREE ROADS WITH PURITY
              AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF UPON THE ONE WAY,
              THE WAY OF WISDOM.


               The last advice Buddha gives is: Don't follow these three paths out of calculation. Follow them
           innocently, in a childlike way, exploring, inquiring. Make it an adventure, but don't be calculative,
           don't be businesslike. We are all businesslike, and that is one of the basic reasons why we go on
           missing the joy of life. A businessman can never know what joy is; he is always thinking about
           profits.
               People come to me and they ask, "If we meditate, what will be the profit out of it? What are we
           going to gain out of it?" If I say to them, "Meditate for meditation's sake," they look puzzled. They
           say, "Then what is the point?" They can't understand that, in life, a few things should be done
           without any calculation.
               Love for love's sake, art for art's sake, meditation for meditation's sake. All that is beautiful and
           great can never be reduced to a means to something else. And the businessman knows only that. The
           businesslike mind always reduces everything to a means to some end. And these are ends.
           Meditation is an end unto itself, not a means to anything else. Hence, be childlike, innocent,
           noncalculative. Be pure... AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF UPON THE ONE WAY... the only
           way, the true way, THE WAY OF WISDOM.
           SIT IN THE WORLD, SIT IN THE DARK -- these words are tremendously pregnant:

              SIT IN THE WORLD, SIT IN THE DARK.
              SIT IN MEDITATION, SIT IN LIGHT.
              CHOOSE YOUR SEAT.
              LET WISDOM GROW.


               Sitting in the world means to be in the mind and sitting in meditation means to be in the no-mind.
           To be in the mind is to be in darkness and to be in no-mind is to be in light. If you have understood
           the previous sutras you will know how to be a no-mind... and then there is light and only light. You
           are flooded with light, you become luminous. And that's how wisdom grows.

              CUT DOWN THE FOREST,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              NOT THE TREE.
              FOR OUT OF THE FOREST COMES DANGER.


                CUT DOWN THE FOREST means cut out the root, the very source of it all -- NOT THE TREE,
           because the tree is only a symptom. If you cut one tree, another tree will be growing. Don't fight with
           the symptoms; look into the root and destroy the root.
                The root is the ego. The root is the desire of the ego. The root is the clinging of the ego. Cut the
           whole forest: the ego, the desire, the clinging, the cunningness, the cleverness, the calculativeness,
           the politicalness -- cut all these. Don't go on fighting with small things.
                Somebody comes and says, "How can I get rid of anger?" Now, without getting rid of ego you
           cannot get rid of anger, and if you try you will be only repressing it. People come to me and they ask,
           "How can we get rid of sexuality?" You cannot get rid of sexuality if you don't get rid of the ego and
           its continuous hankering for more and more. You can't get rid of sexuality if you cannot see the inner
           nothingness. In that seeing, sexuality is transformed into spirituality. Go to the root, to the source.
                But people go on pruning the trees, thinking that this is how they are going to transform their
           life. Yes, they can become more sophisticated, more cultured, more civilized, on the surface more
           polished -- but this will be only the surface. Deep down they will remain the same person, as ugly as
           before or even more ugly because all that is repressed will make them more and more perverted.

              CUT DOWN THE FOREST.
              FELL DESIRE.
              AND SET YOURSELF FREE.


               If you want to cut out the forest, FELL DESIRE. See the point, that desire is futile. Live in the
           moment and don't try to live in the future. Nobody can live in the future. How can you live in the
           future which is not yet? And desire gives you the illusion of living in the future. Sitting, you start
           thinking you have become the president of a country. You start living a dream, a daydream, thinking
           that you have found great money, a lottery has been opened in your name. And you start thinking
           and become very much disturbed, really disturbed: "What to do with it?"

                I had a friend, a doctor, and he was very much obsessed with crossword puzzles. Every month he
           would fill the crossword puzzles, and every month he would hope that this time he was going to get
           five lakh rupees, ten lakh rupees. I had been watching it for years. And the month would pass and
           nothing would happen, and he would start preparing for another crossword puzzle.
                One day I was sitting in his dispensary, and I told him, "Look, you don't seem to have a great
           fate!"
           He said, "What do you mean?"
                I said, "I have been watching you for so many days, for so many years, and nothing happens.
           Join with me and this month you will get ten lakh rupees."
                He was ecstatic. He said, "Why didn't you say it before?"
                I said, "But there is a condition. The library of this city needs five lakh rupees. You will have to
           give five lakh rupees to the library. Then I can join with you. Then my fate will be with your fate --
           and you know my fate!"
                He said, "That I know!" But he said, "Five lakhs is too much." He started bargaining: nothing
           had happened yet, but he was so much disturbed! He started bargaining, "Five lakhs is too much, and
           I am a poor doctor, and you know how difficult it is and what great competition is there -- twenty
           doctors in this small town and I am the poorest. You are demanding five lakh rupees! Make it one
           lakh."
                I said, "Okay, so it is agreed: one lakh I will get for the library, nine lakhs you get."
                He said, "Yes." But he said yes in such a sad way: "One lakh rupees, just going like that!"
                Twelve o'clock in the night he knocked on my door. It was summer and I was sleeping on the
           terrace so I asked from the terrace, "What is the matter? Who is there?"
                He said, "I am your friend. I could not sleep, I had to come. One lakh is too much! This time just
           fifty thousand. Next month we join forces again and then I will give one lakh."
                I said, "Okay -- because I don't want to disturb my sleep. You go away. Fifty thousand is okay,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but now don't change it!"
               Next morning he changed it. He said, "You know my situation. This time, let me keep the whole
           amount. Next month, whatsoever you say I will give to the library."
               I said, "Then I withdraw my hand. Then you do it on your own."
               The month passed. Nothing happened. He came to me and he was crying, just tears. And he said,
           "I am such a fool! I should have agreed with you. You were only asking fifty thousand rupees, but I
           did not agree. This month I am going to agree."
               I said, "But now I am not going to do this business at all, because I know it will happen again the
           same way -- great bargaining, and your nights will be disturbed and you will disturb my sleep. You
           do it on your own."

               People even start living in imagination.... You watch yourself. Desire keeps you occupied in the
           nonexistential and goes on destroying that which is present. And the present is the only life. Now
           and here is the only life.
               Live it in totality, live it with your whole being. Put your mind aside and jump into the now with
           a no-mind. And all blessings of God will shower on you.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                    Chapter #2
                                     Chapter title: The who behind all who's
           22 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912220
              ShortTitle: DHAM802
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE GOLDEN RULE IN GAUTAM BUDDHA'S PHILOSOPHY?


               Prabhat, once George Bernard Shaw was asked, "Is there a golden rule in life?" He said, "There
           is only one golden rule: that there are no golden rules."
               Life is not mechanical; that's why there is a possibility of religion. If life was mechanical, totally
           rooted in rules, in cause and effect, in causality, then science would have been enough. And science
           is not enough.
               Science only touches the periphery of life; the innermost core remains untouched. Science only
           knows the rudimentary; it does not know the highest peak. It knows only the bodily part of existence
           but not its spiritual center. It is concerned with the circumference and utterly unaware of the center.
               Hence there are no golden rules. Life is freedom, it is consciousness, it is bliss, it is love -- but
           not law.
               That's why I am very reluctant to translate Buddha's word 'dhamma' as the "universal law"; it
           misses something very significant. Dhamma has freedom in it; freedom is the goal of dhamma. And
           law is absolutely without freedom. Law is like a goods train running on tracks, and dhamma is like a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           river descending from the peaks of the Himalayas, going zigzag, in absolute freedom, spontaneity,
           with no fixed routine, unpredictable, towards the ocean.
               Life can be lived in rules, but then life becomes superficial. Live life not according to the laws
           but according to consciousness, awareness. Don't live life according to the mind. Mind has rules and
           regulations, mind has rituals. Live life from the standpoint of no-mind so that you can bloom into
           unpredictable flowers.
           Buddha has no golden rule in his philosophy.

              According to Peter's Principle, the golden rule of life is: Whoever has the gold makes the rules.

               And Buddha has no gold -- he can't make the golden rule. And secondly, he has no philosophy
           either. He has a vision, a DARSHAN, a PHILOSIA, but not philosophy. A philosia simply means
           the capacity to see. Philosophy is thinking, philosia is seeing. Buddha is not concerned with thinking
           at all; his whole emphasis is on seeing. See the truth, don't believe in it. Don't think about it. You can
           go on thinking about it and about it, but you will never arrive at it by thinking about it.
               Thinking about God has nothing to do with God. Thinking about light has nothing to do with
           light. In fact, only a blind man thinks about light. The man who has eyes ENJOYS light, he does not
           think about it. Have you ever thought about light? You enjoy it, you live it. It is dancing everywhere
           amongst the trees... you feel it, you experience it. Buddha is not a philosopher, in the Western sense
           of the word. He is a seer who has seen. And because he has seen he has become free: free of mind.
           Mind is needed only if you are a thinker.
               Plato and Kant and Hegel and Marx and Bertrand Russell, these are philosophers. Lao Tzu,
           Buddha, Zarathustra, Jesus, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Eckhart, these are not philosophers; these are
           seers. These are two totally different currents.
               Belong to the seers. Be a seer, because without seeing the truth there is no deliverance.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE OTHER DAY I UNDERSTOOD THAT YOU DON'T KNOW EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.
              BUT ISN'T IT REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU KNOW US PERSONALLY? THE MASTER LEADS
              THE DISCIPLE BY THE HAND TOWARDS THE ABYSS, BUT HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE IF YOU
              DON'T KNOW US, AND WHO IS WHO?


               Prem Jyoti, the personality is false; the master never knows his disciples by their personality. He
           never knows them personally, he knows them essentially. And there is a great difference between the
           two. To know you personally is meaningless. What is your personality? -- the accident of your birth,
           the accident of your upbringing -- as a Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian -- your name, your face, your
           color, your country. All these things make your personality; and all these things are false, all these
           things are accidental.
               I am concerned with the essential core of your being -- and that is not different. It is the same
           core in everyone. The original face is the same behind all the faces. It has no color, it has no form, no
           shape. It has nothing to do with your father and mother, with your country. It has nothing to do with
           your name. I am concerned with your original face.
               You come into the world without a name. The name has a certain utility in the world. The master
           knows you not by your accidents; he knows you by your essence. He does not know you personally;
           he knows you spiritually.
               So I don't know who is who, but I know the "Who" behind all "who's" -- the essential one.
               You ask me, "The master leads the disciple by the hand towards the abyss...."
               I have got only two hands, and if I go on leading disciples by the hand towards the abyss, then it
           will take much time to finish all my disciples! That won't do. Jesus may have done it -- he had only
           twelve disciples -- but how can I manage that?
               I have to work out a different way. I cannot take you by your hands. I catch hold of your souls;
           for that, hands are not needed. And I know YOU perfectly: you as you are before God, in your utter
           nudity, in your bare essence.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So, Jyoti, don't be worried. If I have to know everybody personally I will have to carry a big
           book, who is who. And then too it will be very difficult to find out.
               The more and more you become meditators, your differences start disappearing, you become
           more and more alike. Your faces, your eyes, your climate, become more and more similar.
               The moment you come close to the abyss to take the ultimate jump, you are no more a separate
           entity. You are one with the whole. I have to persuade your essence to take the jump; and that's what
           I am doing. You need not be worried, you need not become concerned.
               Yes, you would like to be known by your personal name, you would like to be recognized. That
           is nothing but a deep deep ego desire. And that's what I want to shatter completely. So even if I
           know you, Jyoti, I pretend not to know you!

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW CAN ONE DROP AN OBSESSION? OR IS IT NOT TO BE DROPPED AT ALL, BUT
              ENJOYED?


               Satya, an obsession simply means a wound in your being, which keeps attracting you again and
           again, which goes on declaring itself, which wants your attention. You cannot drop it. How can you
           drop your wound? An obsession is a psychic wound, you cannot drop it. Understand it. Watch it. Pay
           attention to it. Be meditatively with it. And the more you are meditatively with it, the more it will be
           healed.
               Meditation is a healing force. The words 'meditation' and 'medicine' are derived from the same
           root; they both mean healing forces. Meditation is medicine -- medicine for the soul.
               So if you have any obsession, don't call names. The moment you call it an obsession you have
           already started condemning it. And if you condemn something you cannot watch it -- you are
           prejudiced against it. How can you watch the enemy? No need to condemn; whatsoever is the case is
           the case. Just by condemning it you can't change it; by condemning it you can only repress it. You
           can avoid seeing it, but the wound will continue; it will become cancerous, it will go on growing
           inside.
               Rather than condemning it, rather than calling it names, giving it labels, watch it -- without any
           conclusion. See what it is. See as deeply as possible, with great friendliness towards it, with
           intimacy. It is YOUR obsession, YOUR wound! It says something about you, it is part of your
           biography. It has arisen in you, just as flowers arise in trees. It is essential because it says something
           about your past. Go deep into it, with care, with love, and you will be surprised: the more care you
           show about it, the less it hurts, the less it dominates, the less it forces itself upon you.
               Yes, in a certain way, enjoy it! But by enjoying I don't mean become identified with it. If you
           become identified with it you go insane. If you condemn it, if you repress it, you go insane again.
           Avoid both the extremes. Keep yourself exactly in the middle, neither condemning nor identifying.
           Just be a pure witness.
               And slowly slowly, it will be healed. Slowly slowly, it will lose all its poison. Slowly slowly,
           you will see it changing into a positive energy rather than a negative force. It will become helpful.
           Each obsession is a knot in your being. Once it is opened, great energy is released.
               And everybody is carrying obsessions; our whole society is obsessive. A few obsessions are
           accepted by the people; then you don't call them obsessions. If they are not accepted, then they
           become obsessions. In one society one thing is thought to be obsessive, in another society it is not
           obsessive. It may be even respected, may be thought saintly, holy.
               For a Jaina monk, to take a bath is an obsession. People who are taking baths every day once or
           twice are obsessive; they are too much concerned about their body, body-oriented. The Jaina monk
           condemns them. The Jaina monk does not take a bath. Jaina monks used to come to see me. It was
           really a difficult time for me -- they stink! But they think they are doing great austerity.
               They don't clean their teeth either -- that too is an obsession. Morning, evening and before you
           go to bed... and a few people will clean their teeth after each meal, so four, five, six times a day. This
           IS obsession! You are madly concerned about your teeth. And all arguments that you can give are
           pointless to them because Jaina monks will say, "Look at the animals. Without any cleansing,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           without any toothpaste, without any toothbrush, their teeth are absolutely clean. Nature takes care,
           there is no need to worry about it. You are obsessed."
               According to them, you are too much concerned about your body odor, about your breath, about
           your teeth. And this is materialism, and they are spiritual people! But except a Jaina, nobody will
           think that these are obsessive things.
               Remember one thing: that obsessions differ from society to society, from country to country,
           from religion to religion. What is really obsession? Anything that becomes a dominating force upon
           you, that dominates you, that becomes master of your being. Anything that reduces you into a slave,
           that's my definition of an obsession.
               Watch it, meditate. Be silently with it, because that is how you will become master again. Silence
           makes you a master of everything. Don't fight, and don't become identified. If you become identified
           you are mad. If you fight you are mad from the other extreme.

               The director of a well-known mental hospital decided to resign his post after many years of
           service. This decision brought the local press out for an interview.
           "Tell us, Doctor, what are your plans? Will you resume private practice?"
           "Well, I have given it some thought," replied the doctor. "I may go back into private practice, but on
           the other hand I may become a tea-kettle."

               Now, living with mad people for so long, with so many tea-kettles, he has also become
           impressed with the idea.
               If you want to become ANYTHING in your life, that is obsession. It is not a question only of
           becoming a tea-kettle: if you want to become the president of a country or the prime minister, it is
           the same -- other names for becoming tea-kettles! There are people who are obsessed with the idea
           that they will not take any rest unless they become the president. And then they are at a loss when
           they become the president; they don't know what to do now because all that they know is how to
           become the president. Their whole life they have devoted to a single purpose: how to become the
           president. Now they have become the president and they are certainly at a loss; they don't know what
           to do.
               There are people who want to become rich; they become rich. If you persist you can fulfill any
           kind of stupidity. Man has immense powers. Yes, you can become a tea-kettle if you persist; nobody
           can prevent you. But then? Then you are suddenly empty. Then suddenly you find yourself without
           any goal, lost.
               All obsessive people, when their obsessions are fulfilled, will feel lost. If you become identified
           with an obsession, sooner or later you will feel lost. If it is fulfilled you will be the loser; if it is not
           fulfilled, certainly you are the loser.
               The other way is to repress it, to throw it into the basement of your being, somewhere deep in the
           unconsciousness, so you don't come across it. But it goes on growing there, and it goes on affecting
           you and your behavior; it goes on pulling your strings from the back. And the enemy is more
           powerful when it is hidden. You don't see it, but still you have to follow its dictates -- it becomes a
           dictator.
               Both extremes, Satya, have to be avoided. That's what Buddha also would have suggested: Be
           exactly in the middle, watchful, choicelessly watchful. Neither choose to be identified nor choose to
           be repressive. Just see. It is a fact of your psychic life, whatsoever it is. Don't say good, bad, XYZ --
           whatsoever it is, watch it. And see the tremendous power of watchfulness: how it transforms wounds
           into flowers, how it releases entangled energy knots into great forces, positive forces, nourishing
           forces.

           The fourth question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WILL YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THE TIME-LAPSE BETWEEN THE CLOCKS IN THE MAIN OFFICE
               AND THE FRONT GATE RECEPTION?

               Anand Narayano, have you heard about the famous
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Segal's law? It says: A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is
           never sure.
               Watches have no reason to agree with each other; they are not conformist. Watches are
           revolutionaries! And what are you talking about? You think you have a problem? You should ask
           me!
               I have five clocks in my room, and the whole day I am working out, figuring out, what time it is
           -- and of course I am never right!

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              SINCE YOU SPOKE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DISCIPLE AND A DEVOTEE, I KEEP
              FEELING THAT I AM A LOUSY DEVOTEE, YET AT THE SAME TIME IT SEEMS THAT I HAVE
              NEVER BEEN SO DEVOTED AND IN LOVE WITH YOU AS NOW. COULD YOU PLEASE SAY
              MORE ABOUT BEING A DEVOTEE?


               Heeren, even to be a lousy devotee is something tremendously important. It is better than to be a
           very keen student. It is better than to be a very attentive disciple. Even to be a lousy devotee is better
           than anything else. And as the devotion will grow the lousiness will disappear, because love cannot
           allow lousiness for long. Love is fire; it burns all that is nonessential, all that is rubbish.
               I know, Heeren, it is happening, and I am immensely pleased with you. The lousiness will go.
           When the sun has started rising in the east, how long can the darkness of the night remain? It is
           already disappearing. In fact, that's why you have become aware of it.
               You become aware of a few things only when they start leaving you, because when they are there
           you will not become aware of them; they have been always there. If you are becoming aware of your
           lousiness, that simply shows it is disappearing, it is leaving, it is going. Some change is happening;
           that's why you have become aware of it.
               It is said that many people become aware that they were alive only when they are dead. When
           they are dying, suddenly the idea arises in their mind, "Gosh! So I was alive!" Otherwise it was
           impossible for them to know that they were alive; some background, some contrast is needed. Death
           becomes the contrast.
               You are becoming aware of some lousiness; it is a good indication. Lousiness is on the go -- say
           goodbye to it. And once love enters in the heart, lousiness cannot reside there; it is impossible. Love
           is never lousy. They can't exist together. They are just like light and darkness.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT TRUE THAT SOME PEOPLE WAKE UP AND FIND THEMSELVES FAMOUS?


               Darshan, yes, it is true. Some people wake up and find themselves famous; others wake up and
           find themselves late for the morning discourse.

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              MY PREVIOUS LIFE WITH MY MOTHER, FATHER, SISTER AND BROTHER WAS A PERIOD
              FILLED WITH UNHAPPINESS. WHY DID I CHOOSE TO BE BORN INTO THIS FAMILY?


              Prem Joshua, you have not chosen, because you died unconsciously. How can you choose? If
           YOU had chosen, you certainly would not have chosen such a family. It was unconscious. You
           moved into the womb robotlike. That's how it happens.
              Ordinarily whenever a man dies -- except the buddhas -- he dies in unconsciousness. He lives in
           unconsciousness, how can he die in consciousness? Death is the culmination of your whole life. If
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have lived in unconsciousness, you will die in unconsciousness. It is the condensed moment;
           your whole life becomes condensed.
               If you have lived in unconsciousness, your death is going to be of tremendously condensed
           unconsciousness. You will die unconscious; then you don't choose. How can you choose?
               But millions of stupid people are making love all over the world; millions of wombs are ready to
           receive you. They are also as unconscious as you are. They don't know why they are making love.
           They don't know why a certain man is with a certain woman. They don't know what is happening.
           Something takes a grip, something drives them towards certain acts. They are making love not out of
           awareness, they are making love out of unawareness. And if a couple has exactly the same kind of
           unawareness as you have, then immediately you will enter into that womb. That fits with you.
               You say, "My previous life with my mother, father, sister and brother was a period filled with
           unhappiness."
               You must have deserved them! We only get that which we deserve. It is fair too; it is not unjust.
               Now you are asking, "Why did I choose to be born into this family?"
               You could not have done otherwise. And beware! If you don't become alert you will do the same
           again. You have done it many times; this is not for the first time. You have not chosen the womb, it
           is not your choice at all.

               A wealthy widower and his daughter were traveling to Europe on the S.S. UNITED STATES.
           The girl fell overboard. Berman, aged seventy-three, hit the water and saved her. After the two were
           brought back aboard the ship, the widower threw his arms around Berman.
           "You saved my daughter's life!" he exclaimed. "I am a rich man. I will give you anything. Ask me
           for whatever you want!"
           "Just answer me one question," said Berman. "Who pushed me?"

               It is not your choice. Your whole life must have pushed you into a certain womb. You can
           choose only when you are aware, and to die in awareness is the greatest experience of life. There is
           nothing more ecstatic than that.
               In life, three things are the most important: birth, love and death. Birth has already happened;
           now nothing can be done about it. Something can be done about love: you can become a conscious
           lover, and by becoming a conscious lover you will be preparing for a conscious death, because love
           and death are very similar. In love also you die in a certain way; your ego dies.
               The first experience of death is love. And once you have known the beauty of dying in love you
           will not be afraid of death at all. In fact, you will wait and you will welcome it when it comes. You
           will sing a song when it comes. You will dance. Death will not be your enemy but a friend, a great
           friend, because you knew a small death in love and it was so beautiful. Now it is a big death; it is
           bound to be a thousandfold more beautiful.
               Love prepares a man to die -- but only conscious love, because only in conscious love you die; in
           unconscious love you don't die. Unconscious lovers quarrel continuously, fight. They try to dominate
           each other.
               Conscious lovers surrender. In fact, surrender is not to each other; surrender is to the god of love.
           Both the lovers surrender to some unknown energy in which they dissolve their egos, and they
           experience small deaths. Each time, each orgasm brings a deeper death. As love deepens, death
           deepens, and they become prepared for the ultimate death. The day the final death comes is a day of
           rejoicing. They go dancing into death, singing, their hearts full of the thrill of the adventure.
               Then they can choose. Then they can move into a certain womb of their own choice. Now they
           have eyes -- where to go, from what door to enter.
               Love is the beginning of consciousness. Death gives you the great experience -- but still only
           ninety-nine percent, one percent is still left. That one percent is fulfilled by conscious birth. A
           conscious birth is a hundred percent death. The ego simply disappears, totally disappears. Love is
           one percent death, death is ninety-nine percent death, birth is a hundred percent death. And once you
           are born consciously, then there is no more love, no more death, no more birth.
               This is the goal of all the buddhas: to be free from the wheel of life and death.

           The eighth question:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED MASTER,
               I HAVE BEEN DOING MEDITATION FOR ALMOST FORTY YEARS, BUT I AM AS FAR AWAY
               FROM THE GOAL OF GOD-REALIZATION AS EVER. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               Surendranath, to make God a goal is to start in a wrong direction. God is not a goal; if you think
           in terms of goals God becomes your desire, an object of desire. Then God-realization is nothing but
           the ultimate glorification of the ego. Hence you have been missing.
               I don't know what kind of meditation you have been doing for forty years; it must be some wrong
           kind. It can't be right mindfulness -- what Buddha talks about -- it must be some wrong mindfulness.
           You must be doing some kind of concentration and thinking that this is meditation.
               This is one of the greatest fallacies, very much prevalent in the so-called religious circles of the
           world, particularly in India. Concentration is thought to be meditation -- and concentration is not
           meditation; it is just the opposite of meditation. Concentration is a mind phenomenon. To
           concentrate upon something means you are focusing your mind on something. It has its own
           benefits, but those benefits are scientific, not religious. In science, concentration is needed;
           concentration is a scientific method.
               And your schools, colleges, universities, all prepare you for concentration because their
           preparation is for scientific goals, not for religious experience. Concentration means excluding
           everything out of the mind except one thing on which you are focusing.
               Meditation simply means not focusing on anything at all, not even on God -- not focusing at all.
           Hence it does not exclude anything, it includes all. In meditation you relax, in concentration you
           become tense. In meditation you are in a deep rest, just alert about whatsoever is happening. A bird
           starts singing in the woods, a dog barks in the neighborhood, a child starts crying; the traffic noise on
           the road, delicious smells floating in the air from the kitchen... all this, everything that is present, that
           surrounds you -- all your five senses are alert, receiving.
               Concentration can be disturbed because you are trying to focus on one thing; anything can
           disturb it. You are repeating "Rama, Rama, Rama," and a dog starts barking. Now you will be angry
           at the dog. The dog will look like the enemy who always disturbs you; whenever you meditate it
           starts barking. Must be an agent of the Devil! Or the child starts crying or the wife starts shouting at
           the kids, or something or other... and thousands of things are going on all around. You cannot stop
           the whole world because you are doing a foolish repetition: "Rama, Rama, Rama." You cannot stop
           the whole world for this. The world will continue.
               And who knows? The dog may also be doing his concentration in his own way. Barking may be
           his Transcendental Meditation! They enjoy barking so much and they feel so exhilarated. Have you
           observed dogs when they bark, why they bark? Either they bark at the policeman or the postman or
           the sannyasin. They are against uniforms -- a very revolutionary approach! Any uniform... and the
           dog starts barking. He is never at ease with the uniform; he is always against, suspicious. Or they
           start barking at the moon. Maybe that is their way of appreciating beauty. And who are you to
           prevent them? They have as much right to bark as you have.

           I have heard:
               In an exhibition in Paris all kinds of dogs were exhibited. A couple of Russian dogs had also
           come and they were talking to the French dogs. The French dog said, "How are things in Russia?"
               They said, "Things are beautiful, just beautiful! You can't imagine how beautiful things are. The
           food is perfect, medical care is perfect; everything that dogs have always imagined is fulfilled. We
           have attained utopia."
               The French dogs felt very jealous, but when the time came for the Russian dogs to leave they
           asked the French dogs, "Can we renounce our Russian citizenship? Can we stay in France?"
               The French dog said, "But why? You are enjoying utopia. Why should you want to stay here?
           For what?"
               They said, "For only one reason: once in a while we want to bark, but barking is not allowed
           there. No freedom of speech! And once in a while we would like to bark, and we are ready to risk
           everything for it."

               The dog is barking and you are chanting a mantra. He is not disturbing you -- he is doing HIS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing. But you will feel disturbed, not because of his barking but because of your effort to remain
           focused on one thing. It is because of your effort to focus that you feel distracted.
               A meditator is never disturbed, is never distracted. You cannot distract him because he starts
           watching the distraction too. He is just a watcher; he watches everything, distractions included. How
           can you distract him? He transforms even distractions, disturbances, into deep silence.
               Surendranath, my feeling is you must have been doing some kind of concentration; otherwise...
           forty years is a long time! You must have followed some stupid pundit, some scholar. You may
           yourself have become a scholar. Forty years is a long time. You may have read the YOGA SUTRAS
           of Patanjali and you may have read other books on meditation -- and they all talk about
           concentration.
               Buddha is the first person in the history of humanity who has not talked about concentration but
           about meditation. And he changed the whole phenomenon of meditation; he gave it a totally new
           color, a new form, a new life.
               You must be reading people who have not experienced anything but who go on writing.

              Murphy's advice will be helpful to you. Murphy says: When all else fails, read the instructions.

               I think for forty years you have been doing meditation without reading the instructions. Try to
           understand what right mindfulness is.
               In India people go on doing all kinds of things. They concentrate, they chant mantras, they fast,
           they torture their bodies, and they hope that through all these masochistic practices they will realize
           God. As if God is a sadist! As if God loves you to torture yourself! As if he demands that the more
           you torture yourself, the more worthy you become. God is not a sadist; you need not be a masochist.
               I have come across people who think that without long fasting there is no possibility of
           meditation. Now, fasting has nothing to do with meditation. Fasting will only make you obsessed
           with food. And there are people who think celibacy will help them into meditation. Meditation
           brings a kind of celibacy, but not vice versa. A celibacy without meditation is nothing but sexual
           repression. And your mind will become more and more sexual, so whenever you sit to meditate your
           mind will become full of fantasies, sexual fantasies.
               These two things have been the greatest problems for the so-called meditators: fasting and
           celibacy. They think these two things are going to help -- they are the greatest disturbances!
               Eat in right proportions. Buddha calls it "the middle way": neither too much nor too little. He is
           against fasting, and he knows it through hard experience. For six years he fasted and could not attain
           to anything. So when he says, "Be in the middle," he means it. About celibacy also: don't enforce it
           upon yourself. It is a by-product of meditation, hence it cannot be enforced before meditation. Be in
           the middle there too, neither too much indulgence nor too much renunciation. Just keep a balance. A
           balanced person will be more healthy, at ease, at home. And when you are at home, meditation is
           easier.
               What then is meditation? Just sitting silently doing nothing, witnessing whatsoever is happening
           all around; just watching it with no prejudice, no conclusion, no idea what is wrong and what is
           right.
               Surendranath, start from ABC. Forget all those forty years. It is good that you have survived
           those forty years.

               A peddler told a friend that the food for his horse was using up all his profits. The friend
           suggested that he slowly slowly, reduce the horse's diet by one straw at a time.
           Sometime later he ran into his friend again.
           "So, Abe, how are things?"
           "Terrible!" exclaimed Abe. "I got the horse down to where he was only eating one straw a day and
           then suddenly he died!"

               Surendranath, you have survived -- good! God is gracious. Otherwise, forty years of the wrong
           kind of meditation, austerities, can kill anybody. You are a strong man -- you have survived.
               And if you have come here, please put aside your whole knowledge. It has not worked, now don't
           let it disturb you. Now put it aside completely. Start afresh with me. Still there is hope, there is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           always hope.
                My meditation is simple; it does not require any complex practices. It is very simple. It is
           singing, it is dancing. It is sitting silently. It is being at ease with existence. It is accepting existence
           as your home.
                Forget about God-realization. By your thinking you will never realize God. You simply enjoy
           life, celebrate life. And one day, when the celebration reaches to its peak, suddenly the curtain
           disappears from your eyes and the whole existence is nothing but divine. There is no God, but the
           whole existence is full of godliness. That is God-realization, that is nirvana.

           The ninth question:

               Beloved Master,
               ANY MARKS FOR CHOICELESS UNAWARENESS?


               Anand Buddha, even if you are aware of that, that will do. Are you aware of choiceless
           unawareness? That will destroy that choiceless unawareness. Make it an object of awareness and it
           will disappear, evaporate.
               And no marks can be given for it, because if marks have to be given for it then everybody will
           succeed in getting marks -- everybody, because everybody is living it.

               A huge bully sauntered into the dimly lit saloon. "Is there anybody here called Kilroy?" he
           snarled. Nobody answered. Again he sneered, "Is there anybody here called Kilroy?"
           There was a moment of silence and then a little Irishman stepped forward. "I am Kilroy," he said.
           The tough guy picked him up and threw him across the bar. Then he punched him in the jaw, kicked
           him, slapped him around and walked out.
           About fifteen minutes later the little fellow came to. "Boy, didn't I fool him," he said. "I ain't
           Kilroy!"

               A pretty young girl stretched out on the psychiatrist's couch. "I just can't help myself, Doctor. No
           matter how hard I try to resist, I bring five or six men with me into my bedroom every night. Last
           night there were ten. I just feel so miserable, I don't know what to do."
           In understanding tones the doctor rumbled, "Yes, I know, I know, my dear."
           "Ah!" the surprised girl exclaimed. "Were you there last night too?"

               People are living in unconsciousness, doing all kinds of things in unconsciousness. Everybody is
           an unconscious robot. We are just pretending that we are conscious; we are not conscious.
               The moment you become conscious, all unconscious actions disappear from your life. Your life
           starts moving in a new dimension. Your each act comes out of inner clarity; your each response is
           virtuous, is virtue. To live unconsciously is to live in sin; to live consciously is to be virtuous, is to
           be religious. And to live in total awareness is to be a buddha, is to be a christ.
               It will be good if we start calling Christ "Joshua the Buddha." His real name was Joshua; from
           Joshua has come Jesus. And 'christ' has become ugly because of the Christian church; the word has
           lost its beauty. It will be good if we change, if we start calling him Joshua the Buddha -- because
           they are all buddhas, they are all awakened people. They live through inner light. You only grope in
           inner darkness.
               Anand Buddha, I have given you the name Buddha. If you feel you are living in choiceless
           unawareness, make it a point to be aware of it.

               A thief asked a great Buddhist mystic, Nagarjuna, "Can I meditate and still remain a thief?"
               Nagarjuna said, "Yes. Just do one thing: while you are stealing remain alert, aware, conscious."
               The thief was very happy. He said, "You are the right master! I have gone to many people, and
           they all say, 'First stop stealing, then you can be a meditator.'"
               Nagarjuna said, "Those are not masters -- they must be ex-thieves. I am a master. I am concerned
           with meditation, not with other things. What you do is YOUR business; whether you steal or donate,
           that is your business. My business is to tell you to be alert, and do whatsoever you want to do."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Of course the thief was very happy -- happy because now he could have both worlds.
               But after fifteen days he came back, fell at the feet of Nagarjuna, and he said, "You are a very sly
           fellow! You destroyed my whole profession -- because if I try to be alert I cannot steal; my hands
           simply won't move. Last night I entered into the king's palace; this was such an opportunity that it
           happens only once in a lifetime. It was very difficult to enter -- my whole life I have tried -- but it
           must be because of your blessings: last light I entered, and all the guards were fast asleep. I opened
           the treasure and such precious diamonds I have never seen in my life! I could have become the
           richest man, and everything was within my grasp, but you were standing between me and the
           treasure. You were telling me, 'Be aware!' You were shouting at me, 'Be aware!' And if I tried
           awareness, those precious stones looked just like stones, not worth bothering about. If I forgot about
           awareness, they were again precious stones, tremendously valuable.
           "It changed many times. I became aware and they were ordinary stones; I became unaware and they
           were great riches. But finally YOU were victorious. I have come back to you. Now initiate me into
           sannyas."

               Nagarjuna must have been a man like me; otherwise, ordinary teachers can't accept a thief.
               Sometimes a drunkard comes to me and he says, "I am a drunkard. Can I also be a sannyasin?"
               I say, "Don't be bothered about small things. Sannyas will do! You first be a sannyasin, then we
           will see."
               He seems to be puzzled, he can't understand. But once he becomes a sannyasin, things start
           changing. Sooner or later he comes and reports that "You did the trick. I cannot drink anymore; it
           has become more and more impossible. It is so repulsive, disgusting."
               One drunkard told me -- he has become a sannyasin just a few months ago -- he said, "It has
           become so difficult. Now I know the strategy and the trick behind these orange clothes, because
           when I go to the pub people start touching my feet! They say, 'Swamiji, this is a pub! You must have
           come thinking it is some other place.' And I say, 'Yes -- is this a pub?' And I have to turn back! I
           can't even go in." He was really angry at me; he said, "I can't even go to the movie, because standing
           in the queue people start touching my feet, and they say, 'Swamiji, what are you doing here?' And I
           have to escape!"
               Just a small bit of awareness and it will affect your whole life. Just a small bit of awareness and
           your total life as you have lived up to now will be shattered, will collapse, and a new life will start
           arising around that small center of awareness.

           The tenth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I JUST HAD A GENERAL ANESTHETIC. THE SPACE WAS SO FAMILIAR -- LIKE BEING IN
              LECTURE OR DARSHAN. IS THIS WHAT YOU ARE DOING -- ANESTHETIZING US SO THAT YOU
              CAN OPERATE?


              Deva Kanta, anesthesia I don't use, but I have my own ways of making you unconscious so that I
           can operate.
              In the first place, you are already unconscious enough; just a little bit of flickering consciousness
           sometimes you have. I have to prevent that! No anesthesia is needed for that.

               A man who had just undergone a very complicated operation kept complaining about a bump on
           his head and a terrible headache. Since his operation had been an intestinal one, there was no earthly
           reason why he should be complaining of a headache. Finally his nurse, fearing that the man might be
           suffering from some postoperative shock, spoke to the doctor about it.
           "Don't worry about a thing, nurse," the doctor assured her. "He really does have a bump on his head.
           About halfway through the operation we ran out of anesthetic."

              And I don't have any anesthesia with me so I go on using the same method -- just a good
           hammering on the head! Yes, for a few days you will have a little headache and a bump! You are not
           conscious, so you don't need anesthesia -- just a little hammering and you fall flat! Then any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           operation can be done on you. And this operation is not physical; this surgery is spiritual. Some
           weeds from your spirit have to be taken out, uprooted. And that's what is happening in the morning
           discourse, in the evening darshan.
               So I can perfectly understand, Deva Kanta, your experience: that in anesthesia you felt the same
           space, "like being in lecture or darshan."
               Being here with me you lose track of your ego. Being here with me you lose track of your mind.
           You enter a vast space, a great freedom, a tremendous silence, a deep ecstasy; hence only those who
           are in deep love with me will be benefited. Those who come as outsiders, spectators, yes, they will
           gather a few words and they will think they have understood the point. They have not understood the
           point. Unless you start feeling this space that I am, you have not understood -- you cannot.
               My message is not in the words that I use but in the silence from where those words come. My
           message is not verbal, philosophical. It is a communion, a deep communion of the hearts, a meeting,
           a merger, an orgasmic experience. It is spiritual orgasm.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE LIVED MY WHOLE LIFE AS A CELIBATE, BUT I STILL SUFFER FROM BAD SEXUAL
              THOUGHTS. WHY?


                Ravishankar, if you had not suffered, that would have been a miracle! If you have tried to live the
           life of a celibate, what else can you expect?
                And why do you call sexual thoughts bad? They are neutral, neither good nor bad. Sexual
           thoughts are sexual thoughts. Why bring these moral values in? Because of these moral values you
           remain in a constant fight, in an inner war, a civil war. You go on fighting with your own energy --
           the sexual energy -- and that is the only energy you have. There is no other energy; it is the only
           energy, which has to be transformed into spirituality. This same sexual energy, which you are calling
           bad, is going to become a great perfume in you.
                But trying to live a celibate life without meditation is dangerous. It keeps you obsessed. It keeps
           you continuously in sexual fantasies. And then naturally you call it bad, because twenty-four hours
           living with the same ideas is a constant torture.

           "Police?" came the voice on the phone. "I want to report a burglar trapped in an old maid's
           bedroom!"
              After ascertaining the address, the police sergeant asked who was calling.
           "This," cried the frantic voice, "is the burglar!"

               After rushing into a drugstore, the nervous young man was obviously embarrassed when a prim,
           middle-aged woman asked if she could serve him.
           "No-no," he stammered, "I would rather see the druggist."
           "I am the druggist," she responded cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"
           "Oh... well, uh, it is nothing important," he said, and turned to leave.
           "Young man," said the woman, "my sister and I have been running this drugstore for nearly thirty
           years. There is nothing you can tell us that will embarrass us."
           "Well, alright," he said. "I have this awful sexual hunger that nothing will appease. No matter how
           many times I make love, I still want to make love again. Is there anything you can give me for it?"
           "Just a moment," said the little lady. "I will have to discuss this with my sister."
               A few minutes later she returned. "The best we can offer," she said, "is two hundred dollars a
           week and a half-interest in the business."

           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                    Chapter #3
                                    Chapter title: Freedom has to be earned
           23 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912230
              ShortTitle: DHAM803
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              WHILE A MAN DESIRES A WOMAN,
              HIS MIND IS BOUND
              AS CLOSELY AS A CALF TO ITS MOTHER.



              AS YOU WOULD PLUCK AN AUTUMN LILY,
              PLUCK THE ARROW OF DESIRE.



              FOR HE WHO IS AWAKE
              HAS SHOWN YOU THE WAY OF PEACE.
              GIVE YOURSELF TO THE JOURNEY.

              "HERE SHALL I MAKE MY DWELLING,
              IN THE SUMMER AND THE WINTER,
              AND IN THE RAINY SEASON."
              SO THE FOOL MAKES HIS PLANS,
              SPARING NOT A THOUGHT FOR HIS DEATH.



              DEATH OVERTAKES THE MAN
              WHO, GIDDY AND DISTRACTED BY THE WORLD,
              CARES ONLY FOR HIS FLOCKS AND HIS CHILDREN.
              DEATH FETCHES HIM AWAY
              AS A FLOOD CARRIES OFF A SLEEPING VILLAGE.



              HIS FAMILY CANNOT SAVE HIM,
              NOT HIS FATHER NOR HIS SONS.



              KNOW THIS.
              SEEK WISDOM, AND PURITY.
              QUICKLY CLEAR THE WAY.


              Niravo asked just the other day, "Is Jesus Christ coming back soon to earth as he had promised?"
           Such nonsense questions go on in people's minds, and not only in the minds of ordinary, common
           people; but the so-called religious, theological, philosophical intelligentsia too keeps itself involved
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in such absurdities.
               Christ is not a person, it is an experience. Jesus had it, you can have it. Christ is synonymous
           with Buddha. What we call in the East the buddha, the awakened, the West has called the christ, the
           crowned one. Jesus Christ cannot come back, but you can become christ any moment. Christ is
           already hidden in you as a seed; you are all bodhisattvas, buddhas in essence, in seed. Just a little
           effort, a little understanding and you can bloom, and your fragrance can be released. Jesus bloomed,
           Buddha bloomed, so can you. Why wait for Jesus Christ's coming? That is avoiding the fundamental
           quest. Why not become one? What is the point of waiting for someone else to come and deliver you,
           and how can anybody else deliver you?
               The deliverance that will come from somebody else will not be much of a deliverance. Freedom
           has to be earned, it cannot be given; if it is given, it can be taken away. If it is given it is not yours, it
           is not your growth. And anything that is given to you remains only an accumulation on the outside. It
           never becomes part of your interiority.
           Hence Buddha says:

               KNOW THIS.
               SEEK WISDOM, AND PURITY.
               QUICKLY CLEAR THE WAY.

               Don't waste time in unnecessary things.

              Niravo, are you cuckoo or something? Why wait for Jesus Christ? What wrong has he done to
           you? Enough is enough. The poor man came once and you crucified him; now are you hankering to
           crucify him again or what?

                The pope came before the gathering of cardinals. Rumors had spread as to the reason for this
           extraordinary meeting.
           "Beloved cardinals," the pope began. "I have called this special session to announce incredible news.
           It is, however, good news AND bad news. As to the good: I have personally received a phone call
           from the Lord Jesus Christ. He has arrived on earth and has returned to fulfill his word."
           The cardinals cheered and applauded.
           "The bad news," the pope continued, "is that he called from 17 Koregaon Park, Poona, India."

               Why are you waiting for Jesus Christ? He is already here, he has always been here in the
           awakened ones. And the world has never missed the awakened ones. Yes, few and far between they
           have been, but it is because of them the earth has still significance. It is because of them the earth is
           not yet dead. It is because of those few flowers that the earth has still the perfume of the beyond, that
           the earth has salt. Otherwise the crowds are dead. If you look at the crowds the earth is a big
           cemetery.
               Only these few people -- a Zarathustra, a Jesus, a Lao Tzu, a Buddha, a Kabir, a Nanak... these
           people who can be counted on the fingers keep the flame burning. But you can become the flame any
           moment, your heart is ready to burst into flame. But rather than looking inwards, you go on looking
           outwards, waiting for Jesus Christ. Rather than searching inwards, you go on searching in the
           scriptures, in mere words. Rather than transforming the state in which you are, you go on hoping that
           some miracle will happen and everything will be good.
               These hopes are not going to help you, these hopes are deceptive, dangerous, suicidal.
           In the first sutra, Buddha says:

               WHILE A MAN DESIRES A WOMAN,
               HIS MIND IS BOUND
               AS CLOSELY AS A CALF TO ITS MOTHER.


               One thing very significant has to be understood before we enter into this sutra. In Sanskrit we use
           the word KAMA both for desire as such, and for sexual desire. The same word is used for both, and
           there is a reason why the same word is used for both.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               To desire a woman or a man, or desire at all, both are expressed by the same word, kama. The
           reason is very psychological, profound. Sanskrit is one of the most profound languages of the earth,
           very deliberately evolved. That is exactly the meaning of the word 'sanskrit'; SANSKRIT means
           consciously refined, consciously evolved.
               In India two languages have existed in the past. One was called Prakrit -- PRAKRIT means the
           natural, unevolved, raw, crude, used by the people -- and the other was called Sanskrit. Sanskrit
           means refined, cultured, evolved, deliberate. That was used only by the intelligentsia, by the
           brahmins. Hence Sanskrit has many significant clues. It is rooted in great insights.
               For example, this same word being used for both desire as such, and for sexual desire, has a
           tremendously important message in it. All desire is basically sexual desire; that is the message in it.
           Desire as such has the flavor of sexuality in it, and you can observe it. This understanding is based,
           rooted in great observation. A man who is mad after money -- watch his behavior, his being, look
           into his eyes, and you will be surprised that he loves money in the same way somebody else loves a
           woman or a man.
               Now psychologists have performed a few experiments. They have made a few cards, one
           hundred cards, ordinary playing cards. Just two or three cards are there, inside the whole pack, of
           naked women. They give you the whole pack, shuffled in such a way that the psychologist himself is
           not aware where the cards are which contain the pictures of naked women. But he goes on watching
           the eyes of the person who is looking at the cards, who goes on looking at cards. When he comes to a
           naked woman suddenly his eyes change. His pupils become big; that is automatic. He is not aware
           what is happening, but immediately his pupils become so big, they want to take the naked woman in
           as much as possible. They open all the doors.
               The same happens with people who are mad after money, money maniacs. Seeing a
           hundred-rupee note their pupils become immediately big. They may not be interested in a woman --
           and women are aware of it, hence so many ornaments, beautiful saris and all kinds of arrangements
           for these foolish people. They may not look at the face of the woman but they will be immediately
           interested in her necklace. They may be immediately interested in her earrings, her hair clip; if it has
           a diamond, a big diamond, they become interested in the diamond, and via the diamond they become
           interested in the woman.
               Their sexuality has become perverted, it has become focused on money. And so is the case with
           power-hungry people, those who are after political power, those who want to become presidents and
           prime ministers and governors. Just seeing the chair of the prime minister is enough and their whole
           being is in a state of ecstasy, in a state of orgasmic joy. Just seeing is enough. That is their goal.
               Buddha is right to use the same word for both. Hence the misunderstanding in translation. The
           translator has thought that he is talking about women, so he translated kama as: WHILE A MAN
           DESIRES A WOMAN, HIS MIND IS BOUND AS CLOSELY AS A CALF TO ITS MOTHER. In
           fact, Buddha does not mention women. What he is trying to say is: WHILE A MAN desires, HIS
           MIND IS BOUND AS CLOSELY AS A CALF TO ITS MOTHER. Any desire is a bondage.
               Desire AS SUCH is a bondage, because when you desire, you become dependent on the other, on
           the desired object. Whether it is a woman, money, a man, power, prestige, it does not matter -- it is
           desire, and desire brings bondage. Why?
               It is simple. When you desire something, your joy depends on that something. If it is taken away,
           you are miserable; if it is given to you, you are happy, but only for the moment. That too has to be
           understood. Whenever your desire is fulfilled it is only for the moment that you feel joy. It is
           fleeting, because once you have got it, again the mind starts desiring for more, for something else.
           Mind exists in desiring; hence mind can never leave you without desire. If you are without desire
           mind dies immediately. That's the whole secret of meditation.
               Create desirelessness and mind is gone, gone forever, never to return back. If desire is there,
           mind will come. Desire is the root from where the mind comes in. Desire is its nourishment, its food,
           its very life, its breath. So mind cannot leave you without desire. If you desire God -- even God --
           and you meet God, it will be only for a moment that you will be ecstatic. Then suddenly the mind
           will say, "Now what? Now this goal is achieved. Project future goals. You are finished with God,
           now there is no more in it."
               Desire fulfilled only for a moment gives you a relief, and that relief has also to be understood. In
           the moment of a fulfilled desire there is relief. There is relief because in that small moment you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           desireless. Desirelessness is joy. When one desire is fulfilled and before the mind projects another
           desire, between the two there is a small interval when there is no desire. That moment is of
           meditation.
               That's how meditation has been discovered. It has not been speculated upon, it is not given by
           philosophers, by great thinkers. It is a simple observation, a scientific observation, that whenever
           desire is not there.... You wanted a beautiful house and you have got it. When you open the door of
           the new house, for a moment you are transported into another world, for a moment there is no desire.
           A long, long-cherished desire has been fulfilled. It will take a little time for the mind....
               Mind needs time, remember. Mind cannot function without time; hence mind creates time.
           Without time there is no space for the mind to function. Mind will take a little time. In fact, mind is
           shocked. It was not hoping that the desire was going to be fulfilled. The goal was so far away, the
           house was so big, and it was almost impossible, but now that it is fulfilled mind is in shock. The
           mind is collecting itself again while you are opening the door of the new house, and you enter in the
           new house and a deep joy arises in you. You say, "Aha!" The time that passes while you say "Aha!"
           is enough, and mind has projected another desire.
               The mind says, "The house is beautiful, but where is the swimming pool? The house is beautiful,
           but the garden is not looked after." You will have to create a new garden, a beautiful swimming pool,
           and again the whole process sets in, again you are in the wheel of the mind. But for a moment when
           there was no desire, there was joy. Joy is always when there is no desire. Whenever there is desire,
           joy disappears. Desire keeps you a prisoner.
               Hence Buddha says: WHILE A MAN DESIRES HIS MIND IS BOUND -- and there is not much
           difference between one desire and another desire. So mind is not much worried what you desire.
           Mind's worry is only one: that you MUST desire. Desire anything! You can start collecting postal
           stamps, that will do -- but desire. Now, postal stamps are useless, but there are many people who go
           on collecting them.
               I know one man who collects cigarette boxes. He has such a collection... he is ready to purchase
           at any cost. If a new cigarette packet can be given to him, he is ready.... He collects BIDI labels, and
           he goes on showing people with such great joy, as if he has conquered the world.
               I know another man who goes on writing in books, "Rama, Rama, Rama." For years he has been
           doing it -- almost sixty years -- because now he is eighty years old. His whole house is full of books
           in which is written only one word, "Rama," and he goes on showing people and bragging: "Look
           how many millions of times I have written 'Rama'."
               When I was a guest in his house, he showed me too. I said. "You must be a fool. You wasted all
           these books. You should have given these books to children, poor children. They would have used
           them in a far better way. You have simply wasted ink, paper, your time, your life. And moreover,
           whenever you will come across Rama, he will hit you on your head, because you must be
           continuously harassing him: 'Rama, Rama, Rama'. Day in, day out you go on harassing him. Avoid
           him; if you see Rama anywhere, escape." I asked him, "Do you know why he always carries a bow
           with him? It is for devotees like you. He is always ready with his bow and arrow, so you cannot
           escape."
               He was shocked. He said, "What are you saying? Are you joking? I have been doing a religious
           act. Everybody has praised it, great saints have come and praised it."
               I said, "Those people must have been fools just like you."
               Mind can desire anything. Now, he is not collecting money, but more and more names of
           Rama.... It is the same game.

               A man went to see his lawyer about getting a divorce.
           "How much do you charge for handling a case like mine?" he asked.
           "I really don't like to handle divorce cases," replied his attorney. "Why do you want to get a
           divorce?"
           "Because I want to marry my wife's sister."
           "Now, a case like that could get pretty messy. It might cost you as much as a thousand dollars. Why
           don't you go home and think it over."
               So the man went home, and the next day he called his lawyer. "I have talked the whole thing over
           with my best friend," he said. "I have decided not to get a divorce after all."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "That's just fine," said his lawyer. "Tell me, what did your friend say that made you change your
           mind?"
           "Well, he tells me he has been out with my wife and her sister, too, and there ain't a nickel's worth of
           difference between them."

                Every desire is the same. The objects differ, but not the quality of desiring. You desire money,
           somebody else desires God; you desire power, somebody else desires paradise. It is all the same.
           Hence there are no religious desires, remember. Nondesiring is religious. Desiring is worldly, desire
           is the world. Nondesire is transcendence.
                But when one is under the impact of a desire, the impact is hypnotic. Every desire hypnotizes
           you. It makes you blind, that's why we say... we use phrases like falling in love. That is significant.
           The love that you know is certainly a fall -- a fall from consciousness, a fall from understanding.
           You start crawling on the earth; you are no more in your senses, you lose your intelligence, you
           become stupid.
                The more you are full of desire and lust, the more stupid you are.

              Murphy's maxim.... Murphy says: I believe in love at first sight because it saves time.

               When you are going to fall, then why wait? Fall at the first sight. At least time is saved if nothing
           else. When a person is in love with someone -- and by love I don't mean the love of the buddhas;
           their love is totally different. They are talking about prayer, they are talking about compassion, they
           are talking about a desireless expression of their being. They are sharing their bliss.
               I am talking about YOUR love. It is lust, it is the lowest energy phenomenon possible. You are
           almost in a hypnotic state. A man in love with a woman, or a woman in love with a man is no longer
           able to see clearly. The mind becomes clouded, the desire creates so much smoke, it raises so much
           dust that you can't see clearly. And whatsoever you see is your own projection.

               A young army sergeant was posted to the deserts of Arabia by the French Foreign Legion. After
           a few days he became restless and asked his officer what form of entertainment took place in the
           camp -- where were all the women and bars and so forth.
               The officer replied, "Just be patient and wait until the camels arrive."
               So the young sergeant waited patiently for several days more and inquired again and the officer
           replied, "For heaven's sake, just wait until the camels arrive."
               The next night there was an almighty rush, all the soldiers came running out of their tents yelling
           and screaming.
               The young sergeant grabbed the officer and asked, "What is going on?"
           "The camels are coming!" replied the officer.
           "But why the great rush?"
           "Well, you don't want to get an ugly one, do you?"

               If you are starving in a desert, even camels will start looking beautiful; otherwise you can't see
           any difference between one camel and another. But the more your desires are starved, the more blind
           you become.
               So remember, Buddha is not saying to starve your desires. He has been misunderstood by people,
           by his own followers as much as by his enemies. That is the fate of the buddhas: to be misunderstood
           by the friends and the enemies both. When he is saying that desire makes you blind, he is not saying
           to repress desire, because a repressed desire is far more dangerous. He is saying, "Understand desire,
           meditate over the whole phenomenon of it, and through understanding go beyond it, not through
           repression. Through meditation, transcend desire. Seeing that desire is misery, seeing that desire is
           bondage, seeing that desire drags you downwards into hell, one simply is released without any
           repression."
               And to be released from desire is to be a buddha, is to be a christ.
               The greatest mystery is that those who have desires live like beggars. They live in bondage, are
           bound to live like beggars. And those who have transcended desire live like emperors. It seems
           existence follows a very paradoxical law.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Old Murphy says: In order to get a loan you must first prove you don't need it.

               If you want a loan from a bank, prove that you don't need it. If the bank suspects you need it, you
           won't get it.
               Exactly that is the case with dhamma, with the eternal law of existence. When you don't need
           anything, the whole existence is yours, the whole kingdom of God is yours. And when you need
           anything, nothing is yours -- only the need and the wound and the desire and the bondage. And
           desires are jumping upon you from every direction, there are desires and desires. It is not a question
           of one desire; desiring is the same, but there are millions of desires. So you live simultaneously in
           millions of prisons, and they go on destroying you, they go on forcing things upon you which you
           would not have accepted if there had been a moment of insight, of clarity. You would not have
           accepted such humiliation as you accept because of desires. You would not have accepted this
           crawling state. You are meant to fly into the sky. You have wings -- wings which can take you to the
           ultimate. But desires are heavy like rocks; they are crushing you.
               And how many desires do you have? One day simply write them down and count them, and you
           will be surprised: they go on sprouting one after the other. And each desire fulfilled brings ten more
           desires in. Desires don't believe in birth control; each desire gives birth to as many desires as
           possible. Desires are never barren, they are never childless.

              Bobbie Jo, a truly homely gal, came home from the Georgia campus for summer vacation. One
           evening she calmly confessed to her mother that she had lost her virginity last semester.
           "How did it happen?" gasped the parent.
           "Well, it was not easy," admitted Bobbie Jo, "but three of my sorority sisters helped hold him
           down!"

               Just look around at how many desires are holding you down and how you are being exploited,
           sucked. And if you look miserable, sad, depressed, if you look weak, if you look as if life has no
           significance, it is not an accident, it is your own doing. You have not understood how you go on
           creating your own anguish, how you go on creating, feeding your own enemies.
               Yes, Buddha is right: WHILE A MAN DESIRES, HIS MIND IS BOUND AS CLOSELY AS A
           CALF TO ITS MOTHER.

               A Martian landed at a busy intersection in New York City and spent the next two hours crossing
           the street. He kept going back and forth between the two electric signs that change from "Walk" to
           "Don't Walk" and then back again.
               Finally the weary little Martian stopped at one of the poles and threw his arms around it. "Baby,"
           he said, "I really do love you, but you've got to stop being such a nag."

               All desires are a nag, they go on nagging you, they go on forcing you, they go on goading you.
           You can't have a moment of rest, you can't be relaxed -- all those desires are there. Rest, relaxation,
           is known only by those who have understood the art of being desireless. That's what Buddha is
           pointing out:

              AS YOU WOULD PLUCK AN AUTUMN LILY,
              PLUCK THE ARROW OF DESIRE.


               It is an arrow, it is hurting you, it is wounding you, it is great pain, it is nothing but misery. But
           then why do people go on desiring? Why don't they listen to the buddhas? -- for the simple reason
           that desires are very cunning. They go on promising you. Desires are politicians; they promise you
           beautiful things. Of course, those things will happen tomorrow, not today. And it seems logical that
           time will be needed -- five-year plans. Within five years everything will be perfectly as you would
           like it to be. Wait! Hope! Let tomorrow come! -- and the tomorrow never comes. Again tomorrow
           the same desires will be there, promising you. This has been so for so many lives.
               You may not remember your past lives, but you can remember your past in this life at least. This
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has been the case always. The desire goes on telling you, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, wait, be patient."
           And all promises are just toys to keep you occupied; the goods are never delivered.
               The day you become aware of this cunning game that is being played upon you by your own
           mind, you throw all those toys. You stop listening to the continuous promises. You start laughing at
           your own stupidity, at your own ridiculousness, how you have been such a fool for so long. And the
           desire starts disappearing, it can't befool you anymore. It is an arrow, it hurts, but you are ready to
           suffer the pain in the hope that tomorrow you will be repaid, rewarded. And of course one has to pay
           for everything. The desire is very logical, it tries to convince you.

              FOR HE WHO IS AWAKE
              HAS SHOWN YOU THE WAY OF PEACE.
              GIVE YOURSELF TO THE JOURNEY.


               Buddha says: Enough is enough. You have listened to desire for thousands of lives and you have
           been moving in circles, suffering. You have not tasted anything of joy, you have not tasted anything
           of the beyond. Your mouths are full of dirt. You have not tasted real nourishment, because only God
           can be the real nourishment. Listen to those who are awake.
               Even if you listen, you listen to people who are just as fast asleep as you are, or sometimes even
           more asleep than you are. You can understand them because they speak in the same language.

                Once I was traveling in an air-conditioned compartment with three other passengers. It was really
           a great coincidence. I have been traveling for at least fifteen years continuously, and it had never
           happened like that. It was simply rare, unique. All the three passengers were such great snorers.
                First the one on the lower berth started, and then the second started responding to him, almost
           answering. It was like a duet. I was surprised. And then the third started and he was something...
           those two were nothing, just learners, beginners. And they all snored in such a way as if they were
           answering each other. It was a great discussion. I could not sleep for one or two hours. I waited, and
           there was no way.
                Then I started acting -- snoring so loudly, fully awake, that all the three started asking me,
           "Please, you are snoring too loudly."
                I said, "Yes, I know it, because I am not asleep. Unless you all three stop, I am going to make
           this night a hell for you!"
                But the way they were snoring was something worth witnessing, almost like answering each
           other. Great messages were being passed, and they followed the general format of a dialogue: when
           one was snoring the other two were silent. Then the second would start and the other two would
           listen -- and then the third would start, and the remaining two would be silent. They knew how to
           converse.
                You can understand people who are asleep more easily because they use the same language, the
           language of sleep.

               Florence and Emily, two pretty young housewives, arranged to have cocktails and lunch
           together. When they met, Emily could see that something serious was bothering her friend.
           "Come on, out with it. What is depressing you?"
           "I am ashamed to admit it, but I caught my husband making love."
           "Why let that bother you? I got mine the same way."

              Try to get it! Don't all be Germans, just try to get it. No... you need something else.

                Two colleagues were discussing a patient. "I was having great success with Mr. Green," said the
           first doctor. "When he first came to me, he was suffering from a massive inferiority complex. He
           thought that he was too small, which was of course all nonsense."
           "How did you treat this patient?" inquired the second doctor.
           "I started out with intensive analysis and then group therapy. I convinced him that many of the
           world's greatest leaders were men of small physical stature. I really hated to lose Mr. Green."
           "What do you mean?" inquired his colleague. "How did you lose him?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "A terrible accident," replied the physician. "A pussycat ate him."

               Now, these are your advisers -- more asleep than you are. Now the priests are being replaced by
           psychoanalysts. Priests were fast asleep; they used to snore, but their snoring has gone out of
           fashion. Now it is psychoanalysis and different schools of psychoanalysis. Just as there were
           different schools of theology, there are different schools of psychoanalysis, and you listen to their
           advice. They are your guides -- the blind leading the blind.

               A beautiful girl was talking to her psychiatrist about her problem. "It is liquor, Doctor. Whenever
           I have a few drinks I have a compulsion to make love to whomever I happen to be with."
           "I see," said the doctor. "Well, suppose I just mix up a couple of cocktails, then you and I sit down,
           nice and relaxed, and discuss this compulsive neurosis of yours."

              Listen to the awakened; otherwise there is no way for you. Buddha says: FOR HE WHO IS
           AWAKE HAS SHOWN YOU THE WAY OF PEACE.
              What is the way of peace? Understanding desire and transcending desire through understanding,
           great peace descends -- because desire is turmoil. Desire is maddening, desire keeps you neurotic.

               Murphy's definition of a neurotic: A person who worries about things that didn't happen in the
           past, instead of worrying about something that won't happen in the future, like normal people.

                So there are two types of neurotic people: those who worry about the past and those who worry
           about the future. The world consists of these two types of neurotics, and your desire is the cause of
           all this neurosis. It is desire that keeps you still engaged with the past, which is no more. It is utterly
           foolish to waste time for that which is no more. To look backwards is absolutely meaningless. You
           can't go back, you can't step backwards in time; then what is the point of wasting your present for
           that which cannot be recovered?
                And then there are people who are too much concerned about the future, which is not yet. Future
           means that which is not. Remaining concerned with that which is not whether it is past or future is
           utterly ridiculous. But desire keeps you -- unfulfilled desire in the past keeps you engaged there;
           hopes of fulfilling desire tomorrow keep you engaged in the future. Only a desireless person lives in
           the present, and only those who live in the present are alive; others are dead.
              FOR HE WHO IS AWAKE HAS SHOWN YOU THE WAY OF PEACE. GIVE YOURSELF TO THE
              JOURNEY.

               Listen to the awakened ones. They are pointing you towards a tremendous journey, a journey
           into truth, a journey into awareness, a journey into bliss, a journey into peace, a journey into God, a
           journey into nirvana.

              "HERE SHALL I MAKE MY DWELLING,
              IN THE SUMMER AND THE WINTER,
              AND IN THE RAINY SEASON."
              SO THE FOOL MAKES HIS PLANS,
              SPARING NOT A THOUGHT FOR HIS DEATH.


               It is desire that keeps you clouded and does not allow you to see death, which is approaching
           every moment closer and closer.
               Buddha says: The fool goes on thinking, "HERE I SHALL MAKE MY DWELLING, IN THE
           SUMMER AND THE WINTER, AND IN THE RAINY SEASON." And he is not aware that maybe
           the next moment he will be gone like a soap bubble and there may not be any more summer, any
           more winter, any more rainy season. But he is too concerned about making dwellings, dwellings on
           the earth, homes on the earth. Stay here, but remember you are in a caravanserai, an overnight stay,
           and in the morning we go. Don't be foolish.
               Even if you can make a house for the winter, another house for the summer, another house for
           the rainy season.... Buddha must have remembered this, because his father had made three palaces
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for him in different places, in different climates: for the summer one palace -- must have been on a
           higher altitude, somewhere in the Himalayas, so he could live without the torture of summer -- and
           another house for winter in some warm climate, and another house for the rainy season.
               He must have remembered that, but he renounced all that for the search for that which is
           deathless. Wasting your time in these palaces... and death is coming closer, and death will take you
           away. Even if you can manage to have all you can desire, mind will not be satisfied.
               In the first place you will not be able to manage it, because mind desires impossible things. But
           even if you can manage, you will not be satisfied.

               Old Mrs. Abramson stood at the Wailing Wall hysterically crying and pounding the bricks. A
           tourist walked over to her and said, "Madam, there is no need for you to cry. The Jews now have a
           homeland, a place to go to. After two thousand years you finally have the country you have always
           wanted. Good heavens, why are you crying?"
           The old lady said, "I want to go to Miami Beach!"

               And when she was on Miami Beach she wanted to go to Israel. That's how the mind functions. It
           is never satisfied, it knows no contentment. It will always find some fault, it will always find some
           cause to be tense.

               Once a tightrope walker wanted to put together an act nobody had ever seen before. He had a
           rope stretched across the Grand Canyon, refused a net, had himself blindfolded, and then announced
           he would walk across the rope playing the Blue Danube waltz on a violin. Needless to say, a huge
           crowd gathered to see this performance, but as he approached the far side of the canyon, this is the
           conversation he overheard.
           "Now, admit it, Harry. Have you ever seen anything like that in your whole life? Is he not amazing?
           Is he not incredible?"
           "Okay, I admit it," said Harry. "He is amazing. He is incredible. But I will tell you one thing he is
           not."
           "And what is that?" asked his wife.
           "Heifetz, he's not."

               This is the way of the mind: it can't be satisfied. It is impossible to satisfy it; it is a great
           fault-finder, it is a great inventor of misery. So whether you succeed or you fail, you will remain in
           misery if you remain with the mind. And the way to remain with the mind is desire. Desire is the
           glue that keeps you with the mind. Unglue yourself from the mind, become desireless.
               But when I say, "Become desireless," I am not saying to let this become your goal. I am not
           saying that now you have to make efforts to become desireless; I am not saying to make this your
           desire -- becoming a desireless person. No, not at all; otherwise you would have misunderstood the
           whole point. Try to understand the desire and all its miseries and all its futilities, and in that very
           understanding is transcendence.

              DEATH OVERTAKES THE MAN
              WHO, GIDDY AND DISTRACTED BY THE WORLD,
              CARES ONLY FOR HIS FLOCK AND HIS CHILDREN.
              DEATH FETCHES HIM AWAY
              AS A FLOOD CARRIES OFF A SLEEPING VILLAGE.


               Remember death. Remember death always. Never forget death for a single moment. Why? Why
           is Buddha so much interested in death? -- for the simple reason that it is only death that can keep you
           aware. If you forget death you will become immediately unconscious. It is because of death that only
           man can become enlightened and no other animal, because no other animal is aware of death. It is
           only man who is aware of death.
               Let this awareness become more and more penetrating. Let it sink in your heart, so it remains
           there like a thorn, continuously reminding you that life is a shifting sand, that "Don't make your
           house here. Remember death is coming and whatsoever you do will be undone by death, so what is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the point of becoming so much worried, becoming so much concerned, remaining in such anxiety
           when death is going to take everything away?"

              Despite warnings from his guide, an American Jew skiing in Switzerland got separated from his
           group and fell -- uninjured -- into a deep crevasse. Several hours later, a rescue party found the
           yawning pit, and to reassure the stranded skier, shouted down to him, "We are from the Red Cross!"
           "Sorry," the imperturbable Jew echoed back, "I already gave at the office!"

               The Jew is a Jew. He has fallen into a deep pit and the danger of death is all around, but he is
           more interested in saving a little money. Just hearing the name 'Red Cross' reminds him only of one
           thing: they must have come for donations.
           T.S. Eliot has written these beautiful lines:

              WHERE IS THE LIFE WE HAVE LOST IN LIVING?
              WHERE IS THE WISDOM WE HAVE LOST IN KNOWLEDGE?
              WHERE IS THE KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE LOST IN INFORMATION?
              THE CYCLES OF HEAVEN IN TWENTY CENTURIES
              BRING US FARTHER FROM GOD AND NEARER TO THE DUST.


                What has happened to us? Why have we lost sight of God? Not only have we lost sight of God,
           we declared with Friedrich Nietzsche that God is dead. Why are so many people against God? And
           even those who are not against are not for, remember; they are neutrals. And those who are for are
           only formally for, they are not truly for. They can't commit their lives in the search for God. What
           has happened to the modern man?
                One thing has happened: we have been able to become more and more forgetful of death. The
           great advancement in medical sciences has given us a hope as if we are going to live forever.
           Medical science has certainly helped us to live a little longer than before, but that simply means a
           little longer: the same misery, the same desire, the same lust, the same bondage. Medical science
           may be able....
                It seems very possible now that man may start living more than one hundred years. There are
           people who think that man can live at least three hundred years very easily. But what is the point?
           Whether you live seventy years or seven hundred years, you will be the same stupid man. In fact, in
           seven hundred years your stupidity will grow very much. And if death is postponed for seven
           hundred years, who cares? It is not going to happen soon... and man does not have that much insight
           to look that far.
                We live surrounded by small things. We see only so far, just a little bit ahead, enough to walk.
           Seven hundred years... that will make religion disappear from the earth, because man is not so
           intelligent that he can be aware of death if death is postponed for seven hundred years. He is not
           even intelligent enough to see it after seventy years, not even after seven years.
                I have seen people who are seventy and yet not interested in meditation. Strange, very strange. I
           can't believe it. A man of seventy is still not interested in meditation? That simply means he has not
           yet been able to see death, and death is very close. Any moment it can happen.
                Buddha wants you to remember death continuously. Don't think that he is a pessimist. Don't
           think that he is death-obsessed -- no, not at all. He simply wants you to remember death so that the
           sword of death hanging on you keeps you aware, alert.

           It happened once:
                A sannyasin was sent by his master to the court of the great king, Janaka. The sannyasin was a
           little puzzled; he said, "Why should I go to the court of the king?"
                The master said, "You have to learn one thing, and you can learn it more easily there than
           anywhere else; hence I am sending you. Go and watch and be very alert. You are going to be
           enriched tremendously."
                The sannyasin was not convinced. Remaining with such a great master, if he cannot learn
           something, then how can he learn in the court of the king? He used to think the king a fool because
           he has so many possessions, such a big kingdom, and HE had renounced all, so he had always
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thought himself holier than the king. Now, going to the king to learn something he felt a little
           insulted. But when the master was saying it he had to go. So he went, reluctantly, deep down
           resisting, but he went.
               When he reached to the king's court he was shocked. In a way, his doubts were confirmed. The
           king was sitting, drinking wine; beautiful women almost naked were dancing around, and all the
           courtiers were there, completely drunk. The sannyasin thought, "What kind of a lesson have I to
           learn from these fools?" When he thought this, Janaka started laughing. He said, "Why are you
           laughing?"
               Janaka said, "I am laughing because your old man knows something, he understands something,
           but you don't believe in him. You don't believe in your master. You have come, but reluctantly."
               He was surprised: how had Janaka come to know this? He asked, "You seemed to be almost
           drunk and still you can understand? -- and I have not said anything."
               Janaka said, "About this wine we will talk later on. Right now you do one thing; otherwise I am
           going to kill you." He ordered his soldiers to take their swords out of their sheaths and surround the
           court and give the sannyasin a cup full of oil, so full that it could not contain even a single drop
           more. And he told the sannyasin, "Put this cup on your head, and go around the court seven times. If
           even a single drop of the oil falls, your head will be cut off."
               Now the sannyasin thought, "I'm amongst lunatics and I cannot even escape." Those naked
           swords were there all around.
               And the king said, "Remember it, I mean business. When I say something I do it. So be careful."
               Looking at the cup, so full, he could not believe that he would be able to save his head -- but
           there was nothing else he could do. He had to put the cup full of oil on his head and go round the
           court seven times. And the dance continued, and the beautiful women continued, and of course he
           was an old type of sannyasin, deep down very much interested in women. Many times the desire
           came just to have a look, but the fear of death and those naked swords.... He managed seven rounds,
           although it was almost impossible.
               Then the king asked, "How did you manage? It was impossible."
               The sannyasin said, "I could manage because of these naked swords all around. I have never felt
           death so close, just a foot from my side. Any moment...."
               And the king said, "What about these beautiful women? And I know sannyasins; they may not be
           interested in anything else, but they are bound to be interested in women. And what about this
           beautiful, delicious food? And the aroma of the food, and the wine... and these are the things that you
           have suppressed, so they are deep down in your being, they want to surface."
               The sannyasin laughed. He said, "Who cares about these things when death is so close by?"
               The king said, "You have learned the lesson. This was the lesson the master has sent you to
           learn."

               Remember death. It is closer than those swords, it is always closer than anything else. You are
           living surrounded by death, and if this can be remembered, this can become the greatest stimulation
           for meditation, for awareness.
               Hence the emphasis. Buddha says: DEATH OVERTAKES THE MAN WHO, GIDDY AND
           DISTRACTED BY THE WORLD, CARES ONLY FOR HIS FLOCKS AND HIS CHILDREN.
           DEATH FETCHES HIM AWAY AS A FLOOD CARRIES OFF A SLEEPING VILLAGE.
               Don't be a sleeping village; otherwise death will come like a flood and you will be gone. Be
           awake, be alert, be mindful.

              HIS FAMILY CANNOT SAVE HIM,
              NOT HIS FATHER NOR HIS SONS.


               Nobody can save you except your own awareness. KNOW THIS... and don't only believe in what
           the awakened ones say. Know this on your own, let it become an existential experience.

              KNOW THIS.
              SEEK WISDOM, AND PURITY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              Seek the innocence of a child. Drop all your foolish knowledge. All knowledge is foolish.
           Remember T.S. Eliot again:

              WHERE IS THE LIFE WE HAVE LOST IN LIVING?
              WHERE IS THE WISDOM WE HAVE LOST IN KNOWLEDGE?
              WHERE IS THE KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE LOST IN INFORMATION?
              THE CYCLES OF HEAVEN IN TWENTY CENTURIES
              BRING US FARTHER FROM GOD AND NEARER TO THE DUST.


               Where is the wisdom that we have lost in knowledge? Knowledge is purely a substitute for
           wisdom. Knowledge means borrowed from others. Drop all that which you have taken from others.
           Wisdom is that which grows in your innocence, when you are just like a small child, full of wonder
           and awe, mystified by existence, knowing nothing, and wisdom arises. Wisdom wells up in your
           being. Wisdom is not something that comes from the outside, it is your inner growth. KNOW THIS.
           SEEK WISDOM, AND PURITY.

              QUICKLY CLEAR THE WAY.


               And whatever hinders the way for the wisdom to arise, quickly clear it.
               Remove knowledge, information, remove all your egoistic trips. Remove desires, remove
           memories, imaginations, remove the whole mind.
           Become a no-mind.
           That is purity, and in that purity wisdom blooms.
               In the lake of that innocence the lotus of wisdom opens up, and that is the only possible way to
           be free, to have freedom -- ultimate, total.

           "What are you reading?" asked the prison librarian.
           "Nothing much," replied the prisoner. "Just the usual escapist literature."

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                    Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: A madman's guide
           24 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912240
              ShortTitle: DHAM804
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I AM LOSING MY MIND OR MY MEDITATION, OR BOTH.


               Prem Arup, the greatest blessing is when you lose mind and meditation both. To lose the mind is
           only half the way; the goal is not reached. One who loses the mind starts clinging to meditation;
           meditation becomes his mind. Meditation becomes his possession, his treasure -- far more beautiful
           than mind certainly, far more joyous, far more blissful, worth achieving.
               To lose the mind is to lose all your miseries. Then great ecstasies bloom, then great joys well up
           within your being. But even to be ecstatic is to be disturbed. Even to be joyous is to be not totally at
           home. One has to go beyond ecstasy, beyond the joy, beyond the exhilaration. One has to become
           utterly peaceful. Hence, Buddha never talks about bliss; he talks about peace, silence. That is the
           ultimate goal.
               Transcend the mind, using the method of meditation. Then do not cling to meditation -- because
           clinging is the same; to what you cling is irrelevant. The moment the mind disappears, let the
           meditation also disappear. Neither be a mind nor a no-mind. This is the ultimate goal, the goal of
           buddhahood. Then you have arrived. Then there is peace. You are no more, only peace exists. There
           is nobody to possess it.
               Half of you was killed when you dropped the mind, and half of you was killed when you dropped
           meditation. The worldly part disappeared with the mind and the so-called spirituality disappeared
           with the meditation. Now you are neither body nor soul. You are not. A tremendous nothingness, a
           total nobodiness exists. Buddha calls it SHUNYA, nirvana. Everything has ceased: misery and joy,
           day and night, summer and winter, life and death, all are gone. The whole duality is transcended.
               Arup, feel blessed. Feel immensely fortunate if both disappear -- although in the clinging it will
           look very crazy. First, to drop the mind looks very crazy. But then meditation is there to give you a
           new settlement, a new order, a new discipline -- higher, better, more sophisticated, more cultured,
           more inner, more subjective.
               When you drop meditation, all order, all discipline, all structure, disappears. You take a plunge
           into the utterly unknown, the ultimate unknown.
               This is the moment of the real birth -- not of you but of God. You are no more, now only God is.
           And by "God" I don't mean a person; by "God" I only mean an experience.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU TELL US THAT AWARENESS IS ENOUGH. THEN WHY DISCOURSES, GROUPS,
              SANNYAS?


               Rick Ferris, how did you come to know that awareness is enough? I have to tell it again and
           again -- that awareness is enough, that no discourse is needed. But even that has to be told to you:
           that nothing is needed. But you are so asleep, you won't come upon the truth by yourself and you
           won't come upon the truth even if repeated thousands of times.
               Now see the trick of your mind: it is not that you have understood that awareness is enough. On
           the contrary, you have understood that discourses are not needed, groups are not needed, sannyas is
           not needed. See the tricky mind, the cunning mind... who goes on creating new hells for you. You
           missed the point and you have misinterpreted the whole thing.
               Discourses are to tell you that words won't do, but even to tell that words won't do, words are
           needed. There is no other way, because you understand only words.

           Buddha used to tell a parable:
                A man had gone to the market. When he came back his house was on fire. His children were
           playing inside the house, absolutely oblivious of the fact that the house was on fire. It was a big
           house and they must have been in the innermost part of the house.
                He shouted from the outside, because he was afraid to enter the house, but the children wouldn't
           listen. A great crowd gathered. Then he said to the children, "Come out! See what I have brought for
           you -- many toys. The toys that you had asked me for, I have brought all, and beautiful toys!"
                The children came running out of the house -- and he had not brought a single toy! They started
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           asking, "Where are the toys?"
               He said, "Look at the fire! I have not brought any toys, but this was the only way to bring you
           out of the house. The house is on fire! I was shouting that 'The house is on fire!' and you were
           laughing and giggling. You were thinking I am playing a joke or something. Yes, I have lied to you
           that I have brought toys for you, but the lie has worked as a strategy -- it has helped you to come out.
           It has served a great purpose."

                Words are not enough, but because you understand only words, Rick Ferris.... Can you
           understand silence? Then you would not have been here. There is no need to be here. You could
           have sat by the side of a silent rock or you could have sat underneath a silent tree... and you would
           have understood all the buddhas. Then you will not read the Bible and the Koran and the Gita. You
           would have gone to the desert to feel the silence, the eternal silence of the desert. And you would
           have understood all the Bibles, all the Korans, all the Gitas. But you have come here!
                You can understand only words. And I know truth cannot be communicated through words, but
           words can be used to bring you out of the house which is on fire. Words can bring you out of the
           world of words and dreams and desires in which you live. Words can be used in such a skillful way
           that they can lead you -- or at least point you -- towards silence; hence the discourses.
                Groups are a little more rough. If you don't listen to me, if you don't understand words, then real
           hammers will be needed. I hammer you, but I hammer you with words. I don't whip you, I only show
           you the shadow of the whip. If you listen, good; if you don't listen, then you will need groups. There
           they use actual whips! To bring you to your senses they hit you hard. With great compassion they are
           cruel. They do everything that can be done to wake you up.
                And sannyas? Sannyas is just to make a fool of you! You are too much in your knowledge, in
           your head. A little foolishness will do! You are too knowledgeable, too clever, too cunning. Sannyas
           is a surrender of all your cleverness, cunningness, knowledge.
                Sannyas is a madman's path; I am a madman's guide! But before you can really become sane you
           will have to drop your old kind of sanity -- which is not sanity.
                These are all devices -- sannyas, groups, discourses -- strategies. Not that only through these
           strategies you will know what truth is, but these will help you. If you are intelligent you will use
           them as a ladder, as a boat to the other shore. When you have reached the other shore, the boat has to
           be left behind. It is not that you have to sit in the boat forever and forever or that even when you
           have reached the other shore you have to carry the boat on your head, just out of sheer gratitude.
                You are utterly unaware, and great effort is needed to make you aware.

               A guy went to the track and won three hundred dollars. Thinking his luck would hold he went
           back the next day ready to make a killing.
               As he was looking over the horses set to run in the last race he noticed a priest making signs over
           one of the nags. Thinking that he had really lucked in, the guy bet every nickel he had won and every
           cent he could scrape up on the horse. Naturally, the horse finished last.
               Leaving the track he happened to bump into the very priest he had seen blessing the horse.
           "Father," he said, "I am a ruined man! I saw you blessing that horse and I bet every cent I had on
           him."
               The priest was horrified. "My son," he said, "I was not blessing that horse, I was administering
           the last rites!"

               I see your life as utterly ruined. You have been betting on dead horses! Your whole life is a mess
           -- and arranging your life from the outside is not going to help. Some radical transformation of your
           consciousness is needed.
               The so-called religious people have been just doing the opposite. And that's why you go to the
           churches, to the temples, to the synagogues -- not to be awakened but to be helped to sleep better.
           You go there to listen to beautiful lullabies. You go there to be consoled. You go there to be
           comforted.
               My work here is not to comfort you, is not to console you, is not to sing a lullaby by the side of
           your bed. My work is to wake you up.
               Everything is arranged in such a way -- the discourses, the meditations, the groups, the sannyas...
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is an attack on your sleep from all possible directions. In a single word it can be said: my work is
           to dehypnotize you.

                For eight days and nights Schlossberg, the suit-maker, was unable to sleep. No medicine took
           effect, and in desperation, the Schlossberg family brought in a famous hypnotist.
                The hypnotist stared at Schlossberg and chanted, "You are asleep, Mr. Schlossberg. The shadows
           are closing about you. Soft music is lulling you into a state of lovely relaxation. You are asleep, you
           are asleep...."
           "You are a miracle-worker!" sobbed the grateful son. He gave the hypnotist a big bonus and the man
           left in triumph.
                As the outside door closed, Schlossberg opened one eye, "Say," he demanded, "is that schmuck
           gone yet?"

               But these schmucks are your rabbis, your priests, your popes, your shankaracharyas, your imams,
           your Ayatollah Khomeiniacs.... And because you want more comfortable sleep and sweet dreams,
           their business prospers.
               Sigmund Freud has said that it seems man cannot live without illusions. As far as the ordinary
           humanity is concerned he is right. Before Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche had the same insight.
           He said that the people who destroy people's illusions are the real enemies of the people, because
           man cannot live without lies. "Truth is dangerous! Who wants truth?" says Friedrich Nietzsche. We
           want beautiful lies and illusions, sweet dreams.
               This is true about ninety-nine point nine percent of humanity. Only very rarely a person starts
           searching for truth, but then he has to risk all his sleep and the dreams and the investments that he
           has made in his dreams.
               A Buddha, a Jesus, a Moses: these people are not to give you comforts. They shatter all your lies;
           howsoever comfortable they are, howsoever cozy they appear, they shatter them. They want you to
           know the truth. In the beginning it is bitter.
               Buddha has said: Lies are sweet in the beginning, bitter in the end. In the beginning they look
           like nectar, in the end they prove fatal, poisonous. Truth is bitter in the beginning, sweet in the end.
           In the beginning it looks like poison, as if it is going to kill you; in the end it is elixir, it is nectar. It
           makes you capable to know the eternal, the deathless.

           The third question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF GOD, GOD'S REPRESENTATIVE ON EARTH, A PROPHET,
               AND/OR JUST A VERY CLEAR INDIVIDUAL? HAVING SEEN YOU A COUPLE OF TIMES IN
               MORNING DISCOURSE AND LISTENING TO TAPES AND VIDEOTAPES OF YOU, YOU NEVER
               SEEM TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION. HOW AND WHY DO YOU KNOW OR FEEL SOMETHING I
               DO NOT?


               Harold Peltz, the first thing is that there is no God. Yes, there is godliness, but no God. The idea
           of God is anthropocentric. The Bible says: God created man in his own image. The truth is just the
           opposite: man has created God in HIS own image. God is nothing but a projection of human wishes,
           desires, longings. God is nothing but the projection of human mind.
               That does not mean that I am an atheist, but I am not a theist either. My position is exactly that of
           Gautama the Buddha. He was not an atheist and he was not a theist. He did not believe in God, he
           did not DISbelieve in God. What was his position?
               His position is very unique, his position is worth sharing. His space is worth communing with.
           And that is the space of all the meditators: they believe in godliness. The whole existence is overfull
           with spirituality, but there is no such person as God.
           You ask me, "Do you consider yourself God?"
               No, sir, certainly not! Even if I was I would have denied it -- because who will take
           responsibility for this ugly world? I cannot take responsibility for creating you! That will be the real
           original sin!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I am not God, but I have known godliness -- in me, in you, everywhere. Godliness is a quality; it
           is a fragrance that permeates the whole of existence. The only difference between you and me is that
           I am aware of it and you are not aware of it; otherwise there is no difference. I am awake, you are
           asleep. We are exactly the same, participating in the same existence, breathing the same godliness,
           living in the same ocean of godliness. We are the fish of the same ocean, but you are not aware of
           the ocean and I am aware of the ocean, within and without, both.
               I don't know more than you know -- you may be knowing more than me. My knowledge is poor;
           I am not a knowledgeable person. And whatsoever I quote is not reliable! You may be knowing
           more, you may be well informed. You have a great accumulation of facts. In that way I am utterly
           poor, as poor as a child. But that is not the real difference; that is not the difference that makes the
           difference.
               The only thing that is significant is being aware of the reality.
               The English language is very poor; it has only one word, 'God'. Sanskrit is immensely rich, it has
           many words to signify different approaches. The ultimate, the absolute, is called BRAHMAN. That
           is the purest godliness, uncontaminated. It is an abstraction: all matter has disappeared, only pure
           energy, only pure consciousness remains.
               The second word in Sanskrit is ISHWAR; that comes close to 'God'. Ishwar means "the creator,"
           but it is lower than Brahman. It is as illusory as the whole world. If the creation is illusory, how can
           the creator be the real? You can see the point: the creation and the creator are two polarities. The
           whole world is illusory, hence the creator too is illusory.
               You will be surprised to know that you have to go beyond God; only then can you know the
           ultimate, not before it. To know God is a lower state of understanding.
               The third word is BHAGWAN -- which cannot be translated as 'God'. Buddha never believed in
           God, yet we have called him Bhagwan. Mahavira never believed in God, yet we have called him
           Bhagwan.
               H.G. Wells has said: Gautama the Buddha is the man in the whole history of humanity who is the
           most godless and yet the most godly.
               How can this word 'bhagwan' be translated into English? It simply means "the blessed one"; it
           has nothing to do with God. Literally it means one who has attained; hence he is called the blessed
           one -- one who has arrived, one who has become awakened, enlightened.
               Bhagwan does not mean a representative. There is no God, so how can you be a representative of
           God? Buddha is not a representative of God, neither am I. That is a very poor idea, being a
           representative of somebody -- just a salesman! That is very humiliating!
               And Buddha is not a prophet -- neither am I. A prophet means one who brings the message from
           God to the world. He is nothing but a postman -- and I don't want to be a postman! A prophet is not
           of much value. There is no God; hence there can be no messengers, no messiahs, no prophets.
               And you ask me, "... and/or just a very clear individual?"
               One thing will have to be understood: if you become clear, individuality disappears; you are
           simply clarity. If you are unclear, then individuality is there. Individuality and clarity don't go
           together. Individuality is deep down nothing but an ego -- to feel oneself separate, separate from the
           whole.
               I am just clarity, not an individual. It is very difficult to understand how you can be clear if there
           is no individual. Our language forces us to some unnecessary conclusions.
               When the dance is total, the dancer is no more there; only dance is. And you can ask the great
           dancers -- you can ask Nijinsky, Gopi Krishna -- and they will agree with it: when the dance comes
           to the ultimate peak, the dancer disappears. There is only dance, there is nobody dancing. There are
           not two entities, the dancer and the dance.
               When the painter is really merged into his painting, absorbed, then there is not painting AND the
           painter, there is only painting. There is no painter left; for a few moments the painter disappears.
           Only when the painter disappears, painting reaches to its ultimate beauty.
               The dancer, the painter, the singer, the musician, the poet, they all know those moments, but
           those are only moments in their lives. In the lives of the buddhas those are not only moments; they
           have become their reality. The dancer has disappeared forever.
               I am no more an individual, but just clarity; not a dancer but only a dance. If you can understand
           that, only then will you be able to have some communion with this nobodiness, with this
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothingness, with this state of nirvana.
               You ask me, "Having seen you a couple of times in morning discourse and listening to tapes and
           videotapes of you, you never seem to answer this question. How and why do you know or feel
           something I do not?"
               I know only one thing: that I know nothing. And that's where the difference may be. You know
           that you know, I know that I don't know. Only when you come to that state of blissful ignorance,
           clarity happens. Knowledge is a disturbance; no-knowledge gives you clarity, transparency.

              Old man Krestenfeld lay on his deathbed for months and finally passed away.
              Two weeks later, the relatives gathered like vultures to hear the reading of the will.
              The lawyer tore open an envelope, drew out a piece of paper and read, "Being of sound mind, I
           spent every dime before I died."

               I would like to say only this much: that I am simply soundness -- not even sound mind... pure
           clarity, a sky without any clouds, utterly empty. You can also be that. In your innermost core you are
           already that.
               And my effort here is, Harold Peltz, to help you to become nobodies just like me, ignorant just
           like me. And remember: there is a knowledge that knows not and there is an ignorance that knows.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YES, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE. MY FLAMES OF JEALOUSY, GREED AND VIOLENCE ARE
              BURNING ME. I SEE YOU SHINING AT THE DOORWAY, BECKONING ME TO SIMPLY COME
              OUT, YET I HOLD BACK, CLINGING TO MY MISERY WHILE MY MIND RACES ON WITH
              DESIRES. WHY CAN'T I LET GO?


               Deva Dwabha, to be without misery needs great courage. To be miserable is very cheap, very
           simple; it costs nothing. To be miserable you don't need any courage, any intelligence. To be
           miserable is so easy, but to come out of it is difficult, arduous. To come out of it needs intelligence,
           because you are the creator of your misery, and you create your misery because you are unconscious.
           You can stop creating it only if you become conscious, and to become conscious needs great effort.
               Moreover, misery keeps you occupied so that you can avoid your inner hollowness. It keeps you
           engaged. If you are not miserable you will have to go in, and you are afraid because there is great
           emptiness. It is a kind of death to go in.
               The mystics have called it "the great death" -- greater than the so-called ordinary death, because
           in the ordinary death only the body dies. If you go in, your mind dies. And one is afraid to die -- your
           ego dies -- and one is afraid to lose one's identity. And how much effort you have put to attain to a
           certain identity. One is a famous actor, another is a well-known politician. Somebody is very rich,
           somebody is very knowledgeable. You have put so much effort... and now I am telling you to come
           out of it! That means all your effort has been a sheer wastage. It will need guts to come out of it and
           it will need courage to be without identity.
               The Zen people say: Before you meditate, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. When
           you go deep in meditation, mountains are no more mountains and rivers are no more rivers. When
           you attain to satori, when the meditation is transcended, then again mountains are mountains and
           rivers are rivers.
               This is a Zen way of saying that before meditation you have a certain identity. You have a name,
           fame, form, family, race, culture, religion, country; all these give you a certain idea who you are --
           although that idea is absolutely false, arbitrary, accidental. It is just accidental that you were born as
           a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan; it has no significance at all. It is just an accident whether
           you are born a German or an Indian or a Chinese. You are none of these.
               Your consciousness is simply consciousness, neither Chinese nor Korean nor Japanese. Your
           consciousness is simply consciousness. It belongs to no country, no race, no color, no religion; all
           those are conditionings. You have been hypnotized and told that you are an Indian; this is a
           hypnosis. You have been hypnotized and told that you are a Mohammedan, and the hypnosis is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prolonged your whole life. It goes so deep that you may even be ready to die for it. People die for
           religion, for country, for flags; for many nonsenses they are ready to die. It seems as if their life has
           no meaning at all, as if they are ready to die for any excuse -- any excuse will do.
               Your identity is arbitrary. Before meditation you are a little bit certain who you are. As you go
           into meditation your miseries start disappearing and with those miseries your identity starts
           evaporating. You fall into a state of chaos, and that chaos creates fear.
               Dwabha, I have given you this name.... DWABHA means twilight; it means neither day nor
           night, just in the middle. And that's where you are: afraid to go deeper, standing in shallow water. It
           feels safe, although you are miserable -- but the misery is familiar, well known; you have become
           accustomed to it. In fact, a kind of family relationship has arisen between you and your misery.

           There is a Sufi parable:
               A man used to call every night to God and he would pray the same prayer. Again and again he
           would ask, "Do one favor for me, at least one favor -- and I have been asking my whole life. As far
           as I can see, I am the most miserable man on the earth. Why have you chosen me to be the most
           miserable? I am ready to exchange my misery with anybody else, anybody will do -- just let me
           exchange my misery with somebody else. I don't ask for bliss. Can't you give me only this single
           opportunity to exchange my misery with somebody else? This is not asking much!"
               And one night in a dream he saw God had spoken. A great voice came from the heavens saying,
           "Gather all of your miseries into bundles and bring them to the temple hall."
               So the whole town gathers their miseries into big bundles and they bring them. This man is
           tremendously happy: "So the moment has come! It seems something is going to happen!"
               He rushes with his bundle. On the way he finds others also are rushing. By the time he reaches to
           the temple he becomes afraid, very afraid, because he sees people are carrying bigger bundles than
           his. People that he had always seen smiling -- Rotarians, Lions -- in beautiful clothes and always
           saying nice things to each other, and they are carrying bigger bundles! He starts becoming a little
           hesitant whether to go or not to go, but he has been praying his whole life, so he says, "Let us see
           what happens."
               They enter into the temple. The voice says, "Put your bundles around the hall." They put their
           bundles, and the voice says again, "Now you can choose any bundle that you like."
               And the miracle of miracles happens: everybody rushes to his own bundle! This man also rushes
           so fast towards his own bundle, afraid that if somebody else chooses it then he will be at a loss.
           Everybody has chosen his own bundle, with great relief and they are all happy, carrying their
           bundles back to their homes. Even this man is very happy, for the simple reason that "Who knows
           what is in the other's bundle? At least we are aware of our own bundle and what it contains. And we
           have become accustomed, we have become adjusted to our misery."

               Dwabha, that's why you find it very difficult to get out of your miseries. And there may be
           investments also; your misery may not be just YOUR misery. You may be creating misery for others
           through your misery. If you are interested in creating misery in others, how can you drop your
           misery?
               The husband comes home and the wife simply lies down on the bed and says she has a headache
           -- and I am not saying that she is pretending. In fact, it is almost impossible when you see your
           husband not to have a headache! She must be having one, I trust.... And then the husband becomes
           miserable. Now the wife cannot drop her headache, because if she drops her headache, then what
           about the husband? Her headache creates such misery for the husband that she is ready to suffer -- to
           make others suffer.

           "I would divorce Milton in a minute," Mrs. Cooper told the woman doing her hair.
           "Then why don't you?" asked the beautician.
           "Because it would kill me to see him so happy."

               It is difficult! It is difficult to come out of your misery, because it is not just your misery; it has
           become entangled with others' miseries, it has become a cause for others' miseries. And you enjoy
           torturing others; you feel powerful whenever you can torture. One is ready to sacrifice if one can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           create misery for others.
                People are sadists and masochists both. It is very rare to find a pure sadist or a pure masochist.
           Those are only types found in psychological books. In reality, everybody is a sadist and everybody is
           a masochist. People are sadomasochists: they torture themselves in order to torture others; they
           torture others in order to torture themselves. It is all intertwined, interdependent. You cannot just slip
           out of it -- it is your whole life's investment. Otherwise, nobody is preventing you, Dwabha, you can
           come out. Just you have to understand. If you cannot even drop your misery, what else can you
           drop?
                In the old days, a sannyasin was one who used to renounce life. I have changed the definition of
           a sannyasin. I call a man a sannyasin who is ready to renounce his misery. But in a way your life and
           your misery are almost synonymous.
                What is your life? What you are doing with yourself and with others? You feel powerful
           whenever you can torture others; torture gives you a great release of power. Why are these Adolf
           Hitlers, Joseph Stalins and Mao Zedongs born again and again? From where do they come? They
           represent you. They represent the essential madness of humanity. They erupt again and again and
           they will go on coming, you can't prevent them, unless we change the very foundation of human
           existence. If we change human consciousness from misery to bliss, from tensions to peace....
           Otherwise you will have to suffer. You deserve... in fact, you ask for them. Germany must have
           prayed long enough for Adolf Hitler to happen. And now there are again people in Germany who are
           starting the same fascist movement. You can't live without these insane people! Something in you
           needs them. Something that you cannot do to yourself they can do to you. They can release great
           misery in the world.
                Have you seen, have you observed in times of war people look happier than ever? Their faces are
           more lighted up, they smile more. Suddenly their life has zest, enthusiasm, energy. They are no more
           dragging; their life has meaning. War gives them meaning. The death and the danger surrounding
           them helps them to come alive.
                After each ten years a great world war is needed. If it is not happening now it is not because of
           humanity and its changed consciousness. It is happening because of hydrogen bombs, because the
           third world war will be the last -- and that is too much. A little bit of misery once in a while is good,
           but just to commit a global suicide seems too much. Nobody will be there even to enjoy it!
                If a nuclear war happens, then within ten minutes everybody will be gone. Even the newspapers
           would not have reached you. You would be absolutely unaware what is happening. It will be simply
           a chaos. And within ten minutes all life would have disappeared from the earth. Birds, animals, trees,
           men, women, all would be gone. What is the point if you cannot enjoy? The joy is when you see
           people in gas chambers evaporating.
                In Germany, the gas chambers were made in such a way that people could come and see in. The
           people who were going to die were not able to see the spectators, but the spectators were able to see.
           Thousands of people were coming to see; they were paying tickets for it. It was great entertainment!
           One thousand people in the gas chamber will evaporate. Within a single moment, nothing will be
           left. And these people -- thousands of people -- have come to see. What joy must they be deriving
           out of it? There must be something very ugly deep down....

               During the French Revolution, when the guillotine was being used almost around the clock,
           Slutsky lived in a small village outside of Paris. One morning he met Flambeau, who had just
           returned from the city.
           "What's happening there in Paris?" asked Slutsky.
           "Conditions are absolutely horrible," replied the Frenchman. "They are cutting off heads by the
           thousands."
           "Oy," moaned Slutsky, "and me in the hat business!"

               Man's ugliness! Heads are being cut off in thousands, but Slutsky's problem is not those
           thousands of people dying. His problem is: "So many heads are being cut off, and me in the hat
           business!"
               Everybody is concerned about his own small, selfish, ugly ego. That's why you cannot come out
           of your misery. Try to come out of the ego and you will be able to come out of the misery. Try to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come out of the self.
                Your so-called religious people go on teaching you, "Don't be selfish." Buddha says, "Don't be a
           self." And I also say to you: Don't be a self. The teaching, "Don't be selfish," has not helped. It can't
           help because it leaves the root untouched. The self is the root, and your religious people go on
           teaching -- your so-called saints and mahatmas -- "Don't be selfish." That simply means let the self
           be there, let the root remain. Just go on cutting off the branches and pruning the leaves. "Don't be
           selfish"... but then the root is there, it will sprout again; again leaves will come.
                Buddha is the only enlightened master of the world who has gone to the very root of the problem.
           He says: Don't be a self. This is a great insight, a great contribution, one of the most precious. He
           says, "If you are a self, you will be selfish. Your selfishness may become otherworldly, spiritual; it
           will remain selfish. A self can only be selfish; a self can exist only in the climate of selfishness. If
           you try to be not selfish with the self intact, you will be only a hypocrite."
                The word 'hypocrisy' comes from a root which means play-acting. You will be just acting a
           game, playing a game, pretending. You can't be selfish if the self is not there.
                And how can the self be dropped? In fact, it is not there if you look in, so there is no need to drop
           it. All that is needed is a deep insight into your own inwardness. Look into your interiority -- that's
           what meditation is all about -- look in, and you will not find any self there. And when you don't find
           any self -- it disappears like a shadow in the light -- all selfishness disappears on its own accord.
                Then a totally new quality comes to your existence. You are no longer concerned with creating
           misery for others; hence you can come out of YOUR misery. And the moment you see inwards, great
           intelligence is released, great creativity is released. That intelligence brings bliss and, ultimately,
           even takes you beyond bliss -- beyond mind and beyond meditation. It brings you to the ultimate
           core of existence; peace, tranquility, silence, stillness.
                You cease totally and only then you arrive. You enter into the world of God, or godliness, only
           when you are no more.
                But before you can go in you will have to drop many stupid ideas that you have been carrying all
           along. You will have to drop all that you have been told and taught. You will have to drop all that
           you have been educated for.
                Your whole society is rooted, based, in the idea of making your life comfortable. Not true, but
           only comfortable, convenient, so that you can live conveniently and you can die conveniently. Your
           whole society is based in providing tranquilizers for you. Your religion functions like a tranquilizer.
           Whenever you are in trouble you go to the rabbi, to the priest, to the imam, and they console you.
           Your child has died. You go to the rabbi, you go to the priest, and he says, "Don't be worried. God
           takes away only those whom he loves." He is consoling you! Your child has been chosen by God;
           your child is one of those chosen few.
                If you go to the Hindu priest he will say, "Don't be worried. The soul is immortal, nothing dies.
           The child has only changed the house and he will get a better house, a new house. It is like changing
           an old car for a new model. So don't be worried." He consoles you. He does not help you with a
           radical change. His effort is to make your life as comfortable as possible. And you pay for this,
           naturally.
           He serves you and you pay for it.

              Jacobs and Lipkin, two Israeli commandos, were about to be shot by the Arabs.
              Jacobs said, "I think I'm gonna ask for a blindfold."
           Lipkin said, "Jake, don't make trouble."

               People live just with this idea: Don't make trouble. Even when you are going to be shot -- at least
           at that time you can make a little trouble; you won't lose anything more. But this is our philosophy,
           our basic philosophy of life: Don't make trouble. So follow the tradition, follow the conventional. Be
           a conformist. Be a Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian. Go to the church. Don't make trouble. Don't stir
           the waters. Just keep yourself somehow alive, and die without making any trouble. Then you cannot
           come out of your misery.
               To come out of the misery you will have to be a revolutionary. The greatest revolution in the
           world is to come out of the miserable patterns of life. You will have to change your whole
           psychology and you will have to risk many things. You will not be accepted by the society.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Otherwise why was Socrates not accepted? Why was Jesus not accepted? You will not be respected
           by the crowd. The crowd gives you respect only when you are part of the crowd. If you want
           respectability, then you have to be part of the crowd. Then you have to be just a sheep and not a
           man.
           Dwabha, you can come out of it. Be a lion!
               Buddha used to say to his disciples, "Be a lion! Roar like a lion and come out of all kinds of
           slavery!" And whatsoever the risk, it is worth it.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE OTHER DAY IN DISCOURSE YOU WERE SCOFFING AT MIRACLES, YET THREE
              THOUSAND PEOPLE SITTING SILENTLY FEELING YOUR PRESENCE, LISTENING TO YOUR
              SONG AND THE BIRDS AND THE WIND -- IS THIS NOT A MIRACLE IN ITSELF? OR ARE THERE
              REALLY NO MIRACLES?


                Anand Prakash, listening to me, listening to the birds and the wind, being utterly silent here in a
           deep, loving communion... it is not a miracle in the sense the word is used. It is in fact the most
           natural thing. Man has become unnatural; hence it looks like a miracle. It is because of man's
           becoming unnatural that such a simple thing looks like a miracle; otherwise it is natural, it is
           spontaneous.
                You are not doing anything, I am not doing anything. We are together here; something is
           happening. Something is transpiring between me and you. Nobody is a doer, neither I nor you; it is
           happening on its own accord. In that sense it is simple, natural; but in another sense, you can use the
           word 'miracle'. It looks like a miracle because man has become so unnatural that to be silent even for
           a few minutes seems like a miracle.
                It is as though a man who has lived in darkness his whole life is brought into light and for the
           first time sees the color of the flowers and the sunrays passing through the trees and the rainbow in
           the clouds, and starts shouting, "Miracles, miracles, miracles!"
                You will say, "These are simple things, natural things. It is just because you have always lived in
           darkness. That's why these colors, these butterflies, these flowers, the green and the red and the gold
           of the trees, look like a miracle." But for him it is a miracle.
                To me it is just natural; to you it may be a miracle. It depends from what standpoint you are
           looking at it.
                But when I was scoffing at miracles, I meant miracles like Satya Sai Baba is doing: producing
           Swiss watches. At least produce watches made in India -- that would be a miracle! What is there of a
           miracle in a Swiss watch? I was laughing at these tricks, and I was saying there are no miracles in
           the sense that the universal law, dhamma, accepts no exception. Everything is natural and according
           to tao, according to dhamma, according to the universal nature of things. Nothing is against it; hence
           there are no miracles. These are all sleight-of-hand. These are just magic.
                If you find a magician on the corner producing Swiss watches you won't call it a miracle. But the
           same man comes as a holy man, as a mahatma, and then immediately it becomes a miracle. Such
           miracles don't happen.
                But a few miracles really happen. For example, just a few days before, a Polack has become the
           pope! Now this IS a miracle!
                I would like to suggest to Buddha to make a few exceptions in his universal law. A Polack and a
           pope! -- who has ever heard such a thing?

              Once old Murphy was asked, "How do you spot a Polack at a cock fight?"
           He said, "He is the one with the duck."
              Then he was asked, "How do you know the Italians are there?"
           He said, "They bet on the duck."
              And then he was asked, "And how do you know the mafia is there?"
           He said, "The duck wins."
10/28/07                                        Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Enough for today.




                        The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                 Chapter #5
                                 Chapter title: Be in the world and be holy
           25 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912250
              ShortTitle: DHAM805
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              THERE IS PLEASURE
              AND THERE IS BLISS.
              FORGO THE FIRST TO POSSESS THE SECOND.



              IF YOU ARE HAPPY
              AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER MAN'S HAPPINESS,
              YOU ARE FOREVER BOUND.



              YOU DO NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD.
              YOU DO WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT.
              YOU ARE RECKLESS, AND DESIRE GROWS.



              BUT THE MASTER IS WAKEFUL.
              HE WATCHES HIS BODY.
              IN ALL HIS ACTIONS HE DISCRIMINATES,
              AND HE BECOMES PURE.



              HE IS WITHOUT BLAME
              THOUGH ONCE HE MAY HAVE MURDERED
              HIS MOTHER AND HIS FATHER,
              TWO KINGS, A KINGDOM, AND ALL ITS SUBJECTS.



              THOUGH THE KINGS WERE HOLY
              AND THEIR SUBJECTS AMONG THE VIRTUOUS,
              YET HE IS BLAMELESS.

              The first sutra:



              THERE IS PLEASURE
              AND THERE IS BLISS.
              FORGO THE FIRST TO POSSESS THE SECOND.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Meditate over it as deeply as possible, because it contains one of the most fundamental truths.
           These four words will have to be understood, pondered over. The first is pleasure, the second,
           happiness; the third is joy, and the fourth is bliss.
               Pleasure is physical, physiological. Pleasure is the most superficial thing in life; it is titillation. It
           can be sexual, it can be of other senses, it can become an obsession with food, but it is rooted in the
           body. The body is your periphery, your circumference; it is not your center. And to live on the
           circumference is to live on the mercy of all kinds of things that go on happening around you. The
           man who seeks pleasure remains at the mercy of accidents.
               It is like the waves in the ocean; they are at the mercy of the winds. When strong winds come,
           they are there; when winds disappear, they disappear. They don't have an independent existence;
           they are dependent, and anything that is dependent on the other brings bondage.
               Pleasure is dependent on the other. If you love a woman, if that is your pleasure, then that
           woman becomes your master. If you love a man, if that is your pleasure and you feel unhappy, in
           despair, sad, without him, then you have created a bondage for yourself. You have created a prison,
           you are no more in freedom.
               If you are a seeker after money and power, then you will be dependent on money and power. The
           man who goes on accumulating money, if it is his pleasure to have more and more money, will
           become more and more miserable -- because the more he has, the more he wants, and the more he
           has, the more he is afraid to lose it. A double-edged sword: the more he wants... the first edge of the
           sword. Hence he becomes more and more miserable.
               The more you demand, desire, the more you feel yourself lacking something, the more hollow,
           empty, you appear to yourself. On the other hand -- the other edge of the sword -- is that the more
           you have, the more you are afraid it can be taken away; it can be stolen. The bank can go bankrupt,
           the political situation in the country can change, the country can go communist. There are a thousand
           and one things upon which your money depends. Your money does not make you a master, it makes
           you a slave. Pleasure is peripheral; hence it is bound to depend on the outer circumstances. And it is
           only titillation.
               If food is pleasure, what actually is being enjoyed? -- just the taste! For a moment, when the food
           passes your taste buds on the tongue, you feel a sensation which you interpret as pleasure. It is your
           interpretation. Today it may look like pleasure and tomorrow it may not look like pleasure. If you go
           on eating the same food every day your buds on the tongue will become nonresponsive to it. Soon
           you will be fed up with it -- that's how people become fed up.
               One day you are running after a man or a woman and the next day you are trying to find an
           excuse to get rid of the other. The same person, nothing has changed! What has happened
           meanwhile? You are bored with the other, because the whole pleasure was in knowing the new. Now
           the other is no longer new; you are acquainted with the territory of the other. You are acquainted
           with the body of the other, the curves of the body, the feel of the body. Now the mind is hankering
           for something new.
               The mind is always hankering for something new. That's how mind keeps you always tethered
           somewhere in the future. It keeps you hoping, but it never delivers the goods -- it cannot. It can only
           create new hopes, new desires.
               Just as leaves grow on the trees, desires and hopes grow in the mind. You wanted a new house
           and now you have it -- and where is the pleasure? Just for the moment it was there, when you
           achieved your goal. Once you have achieved your goal, your mind is no longer interested in it; it has
           already started spinning new webs of desire. It has already started thinking of other, bigger houses.
           And this is so about everything.
               Pleasure keeps you in a neurotic state, restless, always in turmoil. So many desires, and every
           desire unquenchable, clamoring for attention. You remain a victim of a crowd of insane desires --
           insane because they are unfulfillable -- and they go on dragging you into different directions. You
           become a contradiction.
               One desire takes you to the left, another towards the right, and simultaneously you go on
           nourishing both the desires. And then you feel a split, then you feel divided, then you feel torn apart,
           then you feel like you are falling into pieces. Nobody is responsible. It is the whole stupidity of
           desiring pleasure that creates this.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And it is a complex phenomenon. You are not the only one who is seeking pleasure; millions of
           people just like you are seeking the same pleasures. Hence there is great struggle, competition,
           violence, war. All have become enemies to each other because they are all seeking the same goal,
           and they all can't have it; hence the struggle has to be total. You have to risk all -- for nothing,
           because when you gain, you gain nothing, and your whole life is wasted in this struggle. A life which
           might have been a celebration becomes a long, drawn out, unnecessary struggle.
                When you are so much after pleasure you cannot love, because the man who seeks pleasure uses
           the other as a means. And to use the other as a means is one of the most immoral acts possible,
           because each being is an end unto himself, you cannot use the other as a means. But in
           pleasure-seeking you have to use the other as a means. You become cunning because it is such a
           struggle. If you are not cunning you will be deceived, and before others deceive you, you have to
           deceive them.
                Machiavelli has advised pleasure-seekers that the best way of defense is to attack. Never wait for
           the other to attack you; that may be too late. Before the other attacks you, you attack him! That is the
           best way of defense. And this is being followed, whether you know Machiavelli or not.
                This is something very strange: people know about Christ, about Buddha, about Mohammed,
           about Krishna; nobody follows them. People don't know much about Chanakya and Machiavelli, but
           people follow them -- as if Machiavelli and Chanakya are very close to your heart! You need not
           read them, you are already following them. Your whole society is based on Machiavellian principles;
           that's what the whole political game is all about. Before somebody snatches anything from you,
           snatch it from the other. Be always on guard. Naturally, if you are always on guard you will be tense,
           anxious, worried. And the struggle IS such and it is constant. You are one, and the enemies are
           millions.
                For example, if in India you want to become the prime minister, then millions of people, who
           also want to become the prime minister, are your enemies. And who does not want to become the
           prime minister? One may say, one may not say. So everyone is against you and you are against
           everybody else. This small life of seventy, eighty years, will be wasted into some utterly futile effort.
           Pleasure is not and cannot be the goal of life.
                The second word to be understood is happiness. Happiness is psychological, pleasure is
           physiological. Happiness is a little better, a little more refined, a little higher, but not very much
           different from pleasure. You can say that pleasure is a lower kind of happiness and happiness is a
           little higher kind of pleasure -- two sides of the same coin. Pleasure is a little primitive, animal;
           happiness is a little more cultured, a little more human -- but it is the same game played in the world
           of the mind. You are not so much concerned with physiological sensations; you are much more
           concerned with psychological sensations. But basically they are not different; hence Buddha has not
           talked about four words, he has talked about only two.
                The third is joy; joy is spiritual. It is different, totally different from pleasure, happiness. It has
           nothing to do with the other; it is inner. It is not dependent on circumstances; it is your own. It is not
           a titillation produced by things; it is a state of peace, of silence, a meditative state. It is spiritual.
                But Buddha has not talked about joy either, because there is still one thing that goes beyond joy.
           He calls it bliss. Bliss is total. It is neither physiological nor psychological nor spiritual. It knows no
           division, it is indivisible. It is total in one sense and transcendental in another sense. Buddha only
           talks about two words. The first is pleasure; it includes happiness. The second is bliss; it includes
           joy.
                Bliss means you have reached to the very innermost core of your being. It belongs to the ultimate
           depth of your being where even the ego is no more, where only silence prevails; you have
           disappeared. In joy you are a little bit, but in bliss you are not. The ego has dissolved; it is a state of
           nonbeing.
                Buddha calls it nirvana. Nirvana means you have ceased to be; you are just an infinite emptiness
           like the sky. And the moment you are that infinity, you become full of the stars, and a totally new
           life begins. You are reborn.
                Pleasure is momentary, of time, for the time being; bliss is nontemporal, timeless. Pleasure
           begins and ends; bliss abides forever. Pleasure comes and goes; bliss never comes, never goes -- it is
           already there in the innermost core of your being. Pleasure has to be snatched away from the other;
           you become either a beggar or a thief. Bliss makes you a master. Bliss is not something that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           invent but something that you discover. Bliss is your innermost nature. It has been there since the
           very beginning, you just have not looked at it, you have taken it for granted. You don't look inwards.
              This is the only misery of man: that he goes on looking outwards, seeking and searching. And
           you cannot find it in the outside because it is not there.

                One evening, Rabiya was searching for something on the street in front of her small hut. The sun
           was setting; slowly slowly darkness was descending. A few people gathered. They asked the old
           woman -- she was a famous Sufi mystic -- "What are you doing? What have you lost? What are you
           searching for?"
           She said, "I have lost my needle."
                The people said, "Now the sun is setting and it will be very difficult to find the needle, but we
           will help you. Where exactly has it fallen? -- because the road is big and the needle is so small. If we
           know the exact place it will be easier to find it."
                Rabiya said, "If you don't ask me that question, that will be better -- because in fact it has not
           fallen on the road at all! It has fallen inside my house."
                The people started laughing and they said, "We had always thought that you are a little insane! If
           the needle has fallen inside the house, then why are you searching on the road?"
                Rabiya said, "For a simple, logical reason: inside the house there is no light and on the outside a
           little light is still there."
           The people laughed and started dispersing.
                Rabiya called them and said, "Listen! That's exactly what you are doing; I was just following
           your example. You go on seeking bliss in the outside world without asking the first and primary
           question: Where have you lost it? And I tell you, you have lost it inside. You are looking for it on the
           outside, for the simple, logical reason that your senses open outwards -- there is a little more light.
           Your eyes look outwards, your ears hear outwards, your hands reach outwards; that's the simple
           reason why you are searching there. Otherwise, I tell you, you have not lost it outside -- and I tell
           you on my own authority. I have also searched on the outside for many, many lives, and the day I
           looked in I was surprised. There was no need to seek and search; it has always been there."

                Bliss is your innermost core. Pleasure you have to beg from others; naturally you become
           dependent. Bliss makes you a master. Bliss is not something that happens; it is already the case.
                Buddha says: THERE IS PLEASURE AND THERE IS BLISS. FORGO THE FIRST TO
           POSSESS THE SECOND. Stop looking on the outside. Look within, turn in. Start seeking and
           searching in your own interiority, into your own subjectivity. Bliss is not an object to be found
           anywhere else; it is your consciousness.
                In the East we have always defined the ultimate truth as SAT-CHIT-ANAND. SAT means truth,
           CHIT means consciousness, ANAND means bliss. They are all three faces of the same reality. This
           is the true trinity -- not God the Father, and the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost; that is not the
           true trinity. The true trinity is truth, consciousness, bliss. And they are not separate phenomena, but
           one energy expressing in three ways, one energy having three faces. Hence in the East we say God is
           TRIMURTI -- God has three faces. These are the real faces, not Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. Those are
           for the children -- spiritually, metaphysically, for the immature. Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh: those
           names are for the beginners.
                Truth, consciousness, bliss -- these are the ultimate truths. First comes truth; as you enter in, you
           become aware of your eternal reality: sat, truth. As you go deeper into your reality, into your sat, into
           your truth, you become aware of consciousness, a tremendous consciousness. All is light, nothing is
           dark. All is awareness, nothing is unawareness. You are just a flame of consciousness, not even a
           shadow of unconsciousness anywhere. And when you enter still deeper, then the ultimate core is
           bliss -- anand.
                Buddha says: Forgo everything that you have thought up to now meaningful, significant.
           Sacrifice everything for this ultimate because this is the only thing that will make you contented, that
           will make you fulfilled, that will bring spring to your being... and you will blossom into a thousand
           and one flowers.
                Pleasure will keep you a driftwood. Pleasure will make you more and more cunning; it will not
           give you wisdom. And it will make you more and more a slave; it will not give you the kingdom of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God. It will make you more and more calculating, it will make you more and more exploitative. It
           will make you more and more political, diplomatic. You will start sucking people; that's what people
           are doing.
               The husband says to the wife, "I love you," but in reality he simply uses her. The wife says she
           loves the husband, but she is simply using him. The husband may be using her as a sexual object and
           the wife may be using him as a financial security.
               Pleasure makes everybody cunning, deceptive. And to be cunning is to miss the bliss of being
           innocent, is to miss the bliss of being a child.

               At Lockheed, a part was needed for a new airplane and an announcement was sent around the
           world to get the lowest bid. From Poland came a bid of three thousand dollars. England offered to
           build the part for six thousand. The asking price from Israel was nine thousand. Richardson, the
           engineer in charge of constructing the new plane, decided to visit each country to find the reason
           behind the disparity of the bids.
               In Poland, the manufacturer explained, "One thousand for the materials needed, one thousand for
           the labor, and one thousand for overhead and a tiny profit."
               In England, Richardson inspected the part and found that it was almost as good as the
           Polish-made one. "Why are you asking six thousand?" inquired the engineer.
           "Two thousand for material," explained the Englishman, "two thousand for labor, and two thousand
           for expenses and a small profit."
               In Israel, the Lockheed representative wandered through a back alley into a small shop and
           encountered an elderly man who had submitted the bid of nine thousand dollars. "Why are you
           asking that much?" he asked.
           "Well," said the old Jew, "three thousand for you, three thousand for me, and three thousand for the
           schmuck in Poland!"

                Money, power, prestige -- they all make you cunning.
                Seek pleasure and you will lose your innocence; and to lose your innocence is to lose all. Jesus
           says: be like a small child, only then can you enter into my kingdom of God. And he is right. But the
           pleasure-seeker cannot be as innocent as a child. He has to be very clever, very cunning, very
           political; only then can he succeed in this cut-throat competition that exists all around. Everybody is
           at everybody else's throat. You are not living amongst friends. The world cannot be friendly unless
           we drop this idea of competitiveness.
                But we bring every child.... From the very beginning we start poisoning every child with this
           poison of competitiveness. By the time he will be coming out of the university he will be completely
           poisoned. We have hypnotized him with the idea that he has to fight with others, that life is a
           survival of the fittest. Then life can never be a celebration. Then life can never have any kind of
           religiousness in it. Then it cannot be pious, holy. Then it cannot have any quality of sacredness. Then
           it is all mean, ugly.
           Buddha says: FORGO THE FIRST TO POSSESS THE SECOND.

              IF YOU ARE HAPPY
              AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER MAN'S HAPPINESS,
              YOU ARE FOREVER BOUND.


               Naturally. If you are happy at the expense of another man's happiness -- and that is how you can
           be happy, there is no other way. If you find a beautiful woman and somehow manage to possess her,
           you have snatched her away from others' hands. We make things look as beautiful as possible, but
           that is only the appearance. Now the others who have lost in the game, they are angry, they are in a
           rage. They will wait for their opportunity to take revenge, and sooner or later the opportunity will be
           there.
               Whatsoever you possess in this world you possess at somebody else's expense, at the cost of
           somebody else's pleasure. There is no other way. If you really want not to be inimical to anybody in
           the world, you have to drop the whole idea of possessiveness. Use whatsoever happens to be with
           you in the moment, but don't be possessive. Don't try to claim that it is yours. Nothing is yours, all is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God's.
               We come with empty hands and we will go with empty hands, so what is the point of claiming so
           much in the meantime?
               But this is what we know, what the world is: possess, dominate, have more than the others have.
           And it may be money or it may be virtue; it does not matter in what kind of coins you deal -- they
           may be worldly, they may be otherworldly. But be very clever, otherwise you will be exploited.
           Exploit and don't be exploited -- that is the subtle message given to you with your mother's milk.
           And every school, college, university, is rooted in the idea: compete.
               A real education will not teach you to compete; it will teach you to cooperate. It will not teach
           you to fight and come first. It will teach you to be creative, to be loving, to be blissful, without any
           comparison with the other. It will not teach you that you can be happy only when you are the first.
           That is sheer nonsense. You can't be happy just by being first. And in trying to be first you go
           through such misery that you become habituated to misery by the time you become the first.
               By the time you become the president or the prime minister of a country you have gone through
           such misery that now misery is your second nature. You don't know now any other way to exist; you
           remain miserable. Tension has become ingrained, anxiety has become your way of life. You don't
           know any other way; this is your very style. So even though you have become the first you remain
           cautious, anxious, afraid. It does not change your inner quality at all.
               A real education will not teach you to be the first. It will tell you to enjoy whatsoever you are
           doing, not for the result but for the act itself. Just like a painter or a dancer or a musician....
               You can paint in two ways. You can paint to compete with other painters; you want to be the
           greatest painter in the world, you want to be a Picasso or a Van Gogh. Then your painting will be
           second-rate, because your mind is not interested in painting itself; it is interested in being the first,
           the greatest painter in the world. You are not going deep into the art of painting. You are not
           enjoying it, you are only using it as a stepping-stone. You are on an ego trip.
               And the problem is: to really be a painter, you have to drop the ego completely. To really be a
           painter, the ego has to be put aside. Only then can God flow through you. Only then can he use your
           hands and your fingers and your brush. Only then something of superb beauty can be born.
               It is never BY you but only THROUGH you. Existence flows; you become only a passage. You
           allow it to happen, that's all; you don't hinder, that's all.
               But if you are too interested in the result, the ultimate result -- that you have to become famous,
           that you have to win the Nobel Prize, that you have to be the first painter in the world, that you have
           to defeat all other painters hitherto -- then your interest is not in painting; painting is secondary. And
           of course, with a secondary interest in painting you can't paint something original; it will be
           ordinary.
               Ego cannot bring anything extraordinary into the world; the extraordinary comes only through
           egolessness. And so is the case with the musician and the poet and the dancer. And so is the case
           with everybody.

               In the Gita, Krishna says: Don't think of the result at all. It is a message of tremendous beauty
           and significance and truth. Don't think of the result at all. Just do what you are doing with your
           totality. Get lost into it. Lose the doer in the doing. Don't be -- let your creative energies flow
           unhindered.
               That's why he said to Arjuna, "Don't escape from the war... because I can see this is just an ego
           trip, this escape. The way you are talking simply shows that you are calculating: that you are
           thinking that by escaping from the war you will become a great mahatma. Rather than surrendering
           to God, to the whole, you are taking yourself too seriously: as if, if you are not there, there will be no
           war."
               Krishna says to Arjuna, "Listen to me. Just be in a state of let-go. Say to God, 'Use me in
           whatsoever way you want to use me. Use me! I am available, unconditionally available.' Then
           whatsoever happens through you will have a great authenticity about it. It will have intensity, it will
           have depth. It will have the impact of the eternal on it. It will be signed by God, not by you. And you
           will rejoice because God has chosen you to be a vehicle."

              Buddha says: IF YOU ARE HAPPY AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER MAN'S HAPPINESS,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           YOU ARE FOREVER BOUND.
               And happiness, pleasure, depend on exploitation. You are always at the expense of somebody
           else. You come first in the university -- what about those thousands of other students who were also
           struggling to come first? It is at their expense that you have come first.
               Jesus says: Remember, those who are first in this world will be the last in my kingdom of God,
           and those who are the last will be the first. He has given you the fundamental law -- AES DHAMMO
           SANANTANO -- he has given you the inexhaustible, eternal law: Stop trying to be the first.
               But remember one thing which is very much possible, because the mind is so cunning it can
           distort every truth. You can start trying to be the last -- but then you miss the whole point. Then
           another competition starts: that I'm to be the last, and if somebody else says, "I am the last," then the
           struggle, then the conflict.

           I have heard a Sufi parable:
                A great emperor, Nadirshah, was praying. It was early morning; the sun had not yet risen, it was
           still dark. Nadirshah was to start on that day a new conquest of a new country. Of course he was
           praying to God for his blessings to be victorious. He was saying to God, "I am nobody, I am just a
           servant -- a servant of your servants. Bless me. I am going on YOUR work, this is your victory. And
           I am nobody, remember. I am just a servant of your servants."
                The priest was also by his side, helping him in prayer, functioning as a mediator between him
           and God.
                And then suddenly they heard in the darkness another voice. A beggar of the town was also
           praying, and he was saying to God, "I am also nobody, a servant of your servants."
                The king said to the priest, "Look at this beggar! He is a beggar and saying to God that 'I am
           nobody'! Stop this nonsense! Who are you to say you are nobody before me? I am nobody, and
           nobody else can claim this. And I am the servant of his servants -- and who are you to say that you
           are the servant of the servants?"

               Now you see, the competition is still there, the same competition, the same stupidity. Nothing
           has changed. The same calculation: "I have to be the last. Nobody else can be allowed to be the last."
               Mind can go on playing such games on you if you are not very understanding, if you are not very
           intelligent.
               One thing Buddha wants you to remember is: never try to be happy at the expense of another
           man's happiness. That is ugly, inhuman. That is violence in the true sense. If you are a saint by
           condemning others as sinners, your saintliness is nothing but a new ego trip. If you are holy because
           you are trying to prove others unholy... and that's what your holy people go on doing. They go on
           bragging about their holiness, saintliness.
               Go to your so-called saints and look into their eyes. They have such condemnation for you. They
           are saying that you are all bound towards hell. They go on condemning. Listen to their sermons; all
           their sermons are condemnatory. And of course you listen silently to their condemnations because
           you know also that you have made many mistakes in your life, errors in your life. And they have
           condemned everything so it is impossible to feel that you can be good -- impossible. You love food,
           you are a sinner. You love your children, you are a sinner. You love your wife, you are a sinner. You
           don't get up early in the morning, you are a sinner. You don't go to bed early in the evening, you are
           a sinner. They have arranged everything in such a way that it is very difficult not to be a sinner.
               Yes, THEY are not sinners -- they go early to bed and they get up early in the morning. In fact,
           they have nothing else to do! And they never commit any mistakes because they never do anything.
           They are just sitting there almost dead. They are mummies, corpses, full of rubbish! But because
           they don't do anything they are holy. And if you do something, of course, how can you be holy?
           Hence for centuries the holy man has been renouncing the world and escaping from the world,
           because to be in the world and be holy seems to be impossible.
               My whole approach is: unless you ARE in the world your holiness is of no worth at all. Be in the
           world and be holy! Then we have to define holiness in a totally different way. Don't live at the
           expense of others' pleasures -- that is holiness. Don't destroy others' happiness -- that is not holiness.
           Help others to be happy. Create the climate in which everybody can have a little joy.
               And what have your saints done? They have done just the opposite. They have created a climate
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in which everybody is living in hell -- and they are holy. They have condemned God's world and
           they have taught you to renounce it.
                If God is against the world he should have renounced it himself! But he has not yet renounced.
           Still the spring comes and the flowers bloom, the bees buzz and the birds sing... and the sun still
           rises, and the night is full of stars. Still new babies go on coming. God has not stopped creation.
                It is all nonsense that in six days he created the world and since then he has retired -- it is all
           nonsense! He can't have a single holiday, because if God goes for a single holiday we will all be
           dead. Then who will breathe life into us? Then who will be the color in the flowers and the wings of
           the birds? And who will be the light in the sun and the greenness of the grass? If for twenty-four
           hours he goes on a holiday, if he has a Sunday, finished -- everything is finished! He can't have a
           holiday -- and he need not have.
                He loves the world; it is his creation. It is not work, it is creativity. It is his joy, it is his play. Do
           you think on Sunday morning birds don't sing because it is Sunday and they are not going to do any
           work? Sunday or Monday, it makes no difference. The birds sing and the trees grow and you breathe
           and existence continues in its celebration without any gap, without any discontinuity.
                God has not renounced the world -- and your saints are bigger than God, higher than God, holier
           than God himself! My own feeling is: God must be afraid of your saints. That's why he never
           appears before them -- because they will condemn him. They will tell him how many mistakes and
           how many sins he has committed, and they will ask him how many fasts he has done and how many
           prayers he is doing every day. And of course he will be at a loss -- he does not pray and he does not
           fast and he does not read the holy scriptures! He will look very irreligious.
                But these saints had to create this idea: that your life is a sin. You are conceived in sin and you
           live in sin, and in death you will be dying as a sinner. You are doomed! That gives them great joy.
           They feel holier-than-thou, they feel they are saved -- the chosen few.
                I tell you, there is no difference between a sinner and a saint. All are chosen and all will be saved
           -- all ARE saved. God is always surrounding you. What more do you need? Everybody is saved.
                But if this is the truth, then your saints will start disappearing -- with their big egos. It will be
           very difficult for them to exist. They are living at your expense. The worse sinner they prove you to
           be, the more saintly they look; hence they have invented many things. Catholics have confession. It
           is a great joy to the priest to listen to everybody's sins. The more you talk about your sin, the more he
           feels holy.
               IF YOU ARE HAPPY AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER MAN'S HAPPINESS, YOU ARE FOREVER
               BOUND.


               The dumbest kid in class showed up at the reunion with a gorgeous blond on his arm and a
           Cadillac at the curb. He showered drinks on everybody. Stunned, one old friend asked, "How did
           you do it, Abe? You were always slow in math."
           "Well," said Abe, "you buy something for a dollar and you sell it for two and that lousy one percent
           really adds up!"

               That's what everybody is doing, whether you know mathematics or you don't. Everybody is
           exploiting everybody else. Everybody's hand is in somebody else's pocket; and he may not be able to
           detect it because his own hand is in somebody else's pocket. But then you will depend on the others,
           YOU ARE FOREVER BOUND. Whomsoever you exploit, on the surface you seem to be the master
           of the situation, but really you are a slave.

                The new neighbor joined the mah-jongg group for the first time, and all the ladies gaped at the
           huge diamond she wore. "It is the third most famous diamond in the world," she told the women.
           "First is the Kohinoor diamond, then the Hope diamond, and then this one -- the Horowitz diamond."
           "It is beautiful!" said Mrs. Fisch, "You are so lucky!"
           "Not so lucky," sighed the newcomer. "Unfortunately, with the famous Horowitz diamond, I am
           afflicted with the famous Horowitz curse."
           "What is that?" asked Mrs. Fisch.
           "Mr. Horowitz," said the woman.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              That's how it is: if you depend on someone for your happiness you are becoming a slave, you are
           becoming dependent, you are creating a bondage. And you depend on so many people; they all
           become subtle masters and they all exploit you in return. It is a mutual arrangement, remember.
           Exploitation is never a one-way traffic. The husband thinks he is the master, and the wife smiles
           because she knows better who is the master.

               One day Mulla Nasruddin's wife was running after him with a stick. To save himself he slipped
           underneath the bed. The wife is a fat woman and she could not enter.
               Mulla said, "Now you know who is the master of the house!"
               And then exactly at that moment, somebody knocked on the door; some neighbors had come.
           The wife started asking Mulla to come out. "We can finish this quarrel later on. Now the neighbors
           are there."
               Mulla said, "Let them come! Let everybody know once and for all who is the master of this
           house! I am the master, and wherever I want to sit I will sit!"

               What kind of mastery is this -- sitting underneath the bed?
               But every husband thinks that he is the master and every wife thinks that she is the master. Even
           small children... parents think they are the masters; they are wrong. The children know how to
           manipulate you, they know how to create trouble for you -- in the right moment. When the neighbors
           are in the house they start exploiting you, they start demanding this and that. When you are in the
           marketplace, in the shopping center, they create a tantrum, and you have to purchase the toy they
           want. If others were not there you would have given them a good beating -- but when others are
           there you are very polite, very cultured. Let the neighbors come, then they will see! They have their
           own times, opportunities, when to manipulate you.
               Every child knows -- even a small child knows -- how to exploit the mother, the father, and
           when. When the father starts reading his newspaper, he starts asking questions. He won't allow the
           father to read the newspaper unless his demands are fulfilled.
               Everybody in his own way tries to be the master of the other. And in fact, it is a strange situation:
           everybody has become in a sense the master of others, and also a slave of others. It is a double-bind
           situation. We are all interdependent; we are both jailors and prisoners.

              YOU DO NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD.
              YOU DO WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT.
              YOU ARE RECKLESS, AND DESIRE GROWS.


              Buddha says: You go on doing that which you should not -- and you know it; and you go on
           doing things which harm you, harm others. Still you persist in doing them because you seem to be
           almost incapable of remaining conscious. You are so unconscious; that's why you do not what you
           should and you do what you should not.
              He is not giving you commandments: that you should do this and you should not do that. He is
           simply making it clear to you that you are so unconscious that you go on harming yourself and
           others. You have to become conscious. With consciousness, your life starts changing.

               Women's liberation has become an integral part of Egyptian society despite the traditional
           disapproval of girls who date many different men.
               One night, Sabra was sitting in a car with a boy who began kissing her passionately while
           removing her dress. She started to sob.
           "Why are you crying?" he asked.
           "I am afraid you will take me for the wrong kind of girl. I am not that kind."
           "Stop crying -- I believe you."
           "You are the first man," sobbed Sabra.
           "You mean I am the first man to do this with you?"
           "No. You are the first man to believe me."

              People don't know what they are doing, don't know what they are saying. People know only
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when they have done it, only when they have said it. People know only when it is too late to change
           anything, when the harm is already done.
               YOU ARE RECKLESS, AND DESIRE GROWS. And in this unconscious soil nothing but
           desire grows. Desire is like weeds. If you don't look after your garden, roses will disappear soon and
           there will be weeds and weeds.

               Mulla Nasruddin has purchased a new house and he planted a beautiful garden, a beautiful lawn.
           Then a new neighbor moved into the empty house by the side of Mulla's house. He was enchanted
           with Mulla's garden and his lawn. He said, "I would also like to make a beautiful lawn, but how do
           you know what is grass and what is just weeds?"
               Mulla said, "Very simple. You pull out both and throw them. Whatsoever grows again on its own
           is weeds."

              Weeds grow on their own; you need not take any care of them. That's how it is with the
           unconscious desires: they grow on their own. They are rooted in your biology, in your past, in your
           physiology, in your hormones, in your chemistry.
              Consciousness has to be deliberate. One has to make arduous effort to be conscious. And when
           you are conscious you do that which should be done and you do not do that which should not be
           done.
              Buddha is not giving you detailed information about what should be done and what should not be
           done. That is the difference between Buddha and other masters. He simply gives you the master key
           which unlocks all the locks; there is no need to go on carrying a thousand keys for every lock.
              Buddha says: Be conscious and that's enough. Then things will start changing in your life.

              ... THE MASTER IS WAKEFUL.

              That is the fundamental key.



              HE WATCHES HIS BODY.
              IN ALL HIS ACTIONS HE DISCRIMINATES,
              AND HE BECOMES PURE.


               Now this word 'discrimination' is not the right translation. Buddha's word is VIVEK. Vivek can
           be translated in two ways: either as "discrimination" or as "awareness." Whenever Buddha and
           Mahavira use the word 'vivek' they use it in the sense of awareness, never in the sense of
           discrimination -- because discrimination means thinking. You are thinking, "This is good and this is
           not good. This I should do and this I should not do."
               Awareness is not thinking; it is clear insight. It is not a question of choosing -- awareness is
           choiceless. You simply know that this is the only thing that can be done; there is no alternative. You
           don't choose, you don't weigh which is better. You simply know -- your whole heart knows -- that
           this is so, and you can't go against it.
               IN ALL HIS ACTIONS HE is aware, AND HE BECOMES PURE. Awareness brings purity,
           innocence.

              HE IS WITHOUT BLAME
              THOUGH ONCE HE MAY HAVE MURDERED
              HIS MOTHER AND HIS FATHER,
              TWO KINGS, A KINGDOM, AND ALL ITS SUBJECTS.



              THOUGH THE KINGS WERE HOLY
              AND THEIR SUBJECTS AMONG THE VIRTUOUS,
              YET HE IS BLAMELESS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In Buddha's time, these were considered to be the greatest crimes: to kill your own father and
           mother, and to kill the king.
               Buddha says: A man who becomes aware, for him his whole past is like a dream; it disappears
           without leaving even a trace behind it. It is as if in the dream you kill your father and mother and
           when in the morning you wake up, do you go to the priest to confess that you have committed a great
           sin? -- you killed your father and mother in the dream. Or do you go to apologize to your parents,
           that "Forgive me -- I killed you last night"? You simply forget all about it. It is a dream, it doesn't
           matter. The father and mother are not killed.
               Buddha says: When you become aware, all that you have done in your unawareness, in your
           unconsciousness, in your sleep, in your metaphysical sleep, is nothing but a dream.
               And remember: bad deeds are dreams, good deeds are dreams. Your being a sinner in a dream is
           a dream as much as your being a saint. When you wake up you are neither a sinner nor a saint. You
           are simply awareness.

               Once Buddha was asked, "Who are you? Are you a god?"
           He said, "No."
           "Are you an angel?"
           He said, "No."
           "Are you a CHAKRAVARTIN -- a great emperor of all the world?"
           He said, "No."
               The questioner was very much puzzled. He said, "You go on saying no to everything. At least
           you must be a human being! Now you cannot say no."
               Buddha laughed and said, "Yes, I will still say no!"
           "Then who are you?" the man asked, annoyed.
               Buddha said, "I am just awareness. All these human beings and angels and gods, they were part
           of my metaphysical sleep. That sleep is no longer there; I have become awakened."

               That's exactly the meaning of the word 'buddha': one who has become awakened, one who is
           enlightened, one who is no longer dreaming. And when you are not dreaming, you have clarity, you
           can see. And that very seeing becomes the determining factor of your life. Only then you do that
           which should be done and you don't do that which should not be done.
               It is not a question of discriminating between right and wrong. It is a question of coming out of
           your sleep.
           Wake up!
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                    Chapter #6
                                       Chapter title: I call a spade a spade
           26 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912260
              ShortTitle: DHAM806
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BELOVED MASTER,
              YESTERDAY YOU SAID THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW US ALL PERSONALLY. I FEEL THAT
              EVERY ONE OF US IS AT A DIFFERENT PLACE AND HAS A DIFFERENT REASON TO BE HERE
              IN THIS LIFE, SO AM I WRONG IF I FEEL THAT THE WAY FOR EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT BUT
              LEADS TO THE SAME GOAL?


                Annemarie Muller, there is no goal and there is no way to it. You are already there, you have
           never been anywhere else. The very idea of the way and the goal is a mind game. First you create a
           goal, an ambition, a desire far away in the future, a utopia, worldly or otherworldly, Catholic or
           communist, and then you start thinking about the ways. But basically there is no goal, hence all ways
           are false. And once you start trying to achieve the goal, you will get more and more in confusion.
                All the ways are just dream stuff, because in the first place you have never left the home, you
           have only fallen asleep. Adam and Eve have never been expelled from the Garden of Eden, they
           have only fallen asleep. Eating from the tree of knowledge, the fruit of knowledge, they have
           become rational beings. That is their sleep; they have lost track of their own heart, they have
           forgotten about it. But it is there, it has not moved anywhere else.
                You are still in the Garden of Eden, you are still in God; where else can you be? There is no
           other place to be. This is my fundamental approach: that there is no goal, no way, you are not to
           achieve something. The whole idea of achieving is nothing but an ego trip. First you try to achieve
           money, power, prestige, and when you fail -- which is bound to happen, because the mind goes on
           asking for more and more -- when you are in deep frustration, you start turning into a religious
           person. But your whole pattern remains the same. You still desire a goal. Now it is no longer money,
           it is meditation; now it is no longer power but paradise. It is the same game being played with other
           words. Mind has deceived you, mind has taken you on another trip.
                How long are you going to be deceived by your own mind? The emphasis is not on going
           anywhere but on waking up. For example, three thousand people are here right now; if you all fall
           asleep, you will all be here, nobody will have left the place but you will all dream separate dreams.
           Dreams are very private things; in fact there is nothing more private than a dream. You cannot share
           your dream even with your beloved, you cannot invite your friends to participate in a dream -- it is
           impossible, you are absolutely alone there. A dream is not an objective phenomenon, it is not a
           reality; it is just an idea which has hypnotized you, so much so that it appears real. The presence of
           the other will reveal its unreality.
                So if you all fall asleep, naturally you will be at different places. Somebody will be in
           Constantinople, and somebody in Tokyo, and somebody in Beijing, but in reality you will all be here
           and now. Your places will be different: somebody will be a king, somebody a beggar, and somebody
           will be a man, and somebody will be a woman, somebody will be very famous, somebody will be
           just a nonentity. But do you think these things make any difference? You can all be awakened, and
           all your dreams, separate dreams, different dreams, will evaporate alike.
                You say, "I feel that every one of us is at a different place...."
                Certainly, but in a dream. One is a sinner, another is a saint; one is a Christian, another is a
           Hindu; one is white, another is black. All dreams! In your innermost core you are only a pure
           consciousness, just awareness and nothing else, a pure mirror, not identified with the reflections.
                That's the whole effort of a master -- to wake you up, not to goad you towards certain goals. If
           the master goads you towards certain goals he will have great appeal for your mind; your mind will
           agree with him, because that's what the mind hankers for: new goals, so the journey continues, and
           the stupidity of it all remains.
                The real master shatters all your goals. It is only by the shattering of your dreams that you can be
           awakened. What do you mean by "persons"? The word 'person' comes from the Greek root
           PERSONA. Persona means a mask. A person is a false phenomenon, it is a mask, it is not your
           reality. But the ego wants to be recognized personally. The ego wants to relate personally, the ego
           wants recognition, attention; otherwise you are not a person. Nobody is, nobody has ever been. It is
           only on the circumference that the mask can exist and can deceive others. But you must know that it
           is a mask, a camouflage. Deep down behind the mask are you a person? No. Not at all. You are only
           a presence, not a person.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I relate with your presence, not with your personality. How can I relate with your dreams? I
           relate with you, but not with your dreams. And it is only in dreams that you are separate. In reality
           we are all one, it is one organic whole.
                You say, "I feel that every one of us is at a different place and has a different reason to be here in
           this life...."
                All nonsense. To be frank with you, just bullshit! But the ego goes on playing with this beautiful
           idea, that "I have a special reason to be here." Every grass blade also thinks the same way, and every
           pebble on the shore believes in the same way. Ask any dog or buffalo or donkey, and they all believe
           that they are here for a special reason and they have come to fulfill a certain mission, they have
           brought a message to the world. And those who want to exploit you go on telling you such nonsense.
                Existence has no reason at all; it simply is. That's its beauty. It has no cause to it, it has no
           direction either, it is not going anywhere, it has nothing to fulfill. That's its beauty, tremendous
           beauty. It exists for no reason at all; that's its mystery, unfathomable, immeasurable.
                If you can know the reason for existence you have demystified it, you have destroyed all its
           beauty. Then it carries no more meaning, remember. Then there will be no significance. Why is there
           love? Is there any reason to it? Yes, if you ask the chemist, the physiologist, he will say, "Yes, it is
           the hormones in the chemistry of your body; lust maybe, but not love." You are more than the sum
           total of your parts, and in that more exists God. In that irrational element that permeates the whole
           exists God.
                Tertullian is right when he says: CREDO QUA ABSURDUM -- I believe in God because God is
           absurd. Tertullian is one of those great buddhas of the world who have really seen through and
           through. "I believe in God because God is absurd," is one of the greatest statements ever made, one
           of the most pregnant statements. To believe in God because there are reasons to believe is not much;
           then anybody will believe. It is not a quantum leap, it is not jumping out of your mind. All arguments
           convince the mind, and if the mind believes, it is not religious.
                When your heart is stirred by something you cannot express; which cannot be adequately even
           put into words; out of which no system can be made, no scripture, no religion; which simply leaves
           you dumb, in deep awe and wonder, in a kind of tremendous shock, all old notions shattered, in
           silence -- you lose all your reasoning, all your argumentation -- only then are you in communion
           with the whole. It is not a question of argument, and you are not here to fulfill something. It is just a
           celebration: life for life's sake.
                But our minds want something to be nourished by, so your so-called religious preachers, priests,
           philosophers, theologians, they go on giving you nourishment. They say, "You are sent here for
           special purposes. You have a special place. Some great work is being done by you." And your ego
           feels puffed up.
                I cannot do it. I am not your enemy. The moment I find any chance I am going to destroy these
           puffed up egos, spiritual egos, pious egos, religious egos. But the ego is an ego; on what it stands
           does not matter, on what it is nourished is irrelevant.
                No, I don't see that you have a different place; yes, a different dream. And I don't see that you
           have "... a different reason to be here in this life." There is no reason at all. It is simple celebration. It
           is the overflowing energy of existence, or God. What is the reason for the waves of the ocean? What
           is the reason for the rays of the sun? What is the reason for the birds singing? a distant call of the
           cuckoo? And what is the reason for a dewdrop shining in the early morning sun? What is the reason
           for a roseflower?
                Can't you ever look at life without this business-type mind, always calculating? Can't you put it
           aside even for a few moments to look at reality as it is? And then you will be surprised: there is no
           reason at all. Then you can laugh and dance and pray, then only you will have a different quality to
           your being. The whole will start expressing itself through the part.
                But remember again, I am not saying that it will express some special message, that you will
           become a messiah. I am simply saying the whole will start playing its tremendously absurd game
           through you without hindrance. It is exquisite, it is beautiful, but it is not arithmetic. It is poetry, it is
           music, it is dance -- art for art's sake. So is life, so is existence. And that approach I call religious.

           The second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO PEOPLE THINK THAT TO LIVE WITHOUT POLITICS IS IMPOSSIBLE?


               Mukesh Bharti, mind IS politics, because mind is ambitious and ambition is the root of politics.
           If you are ambitious you are political. Your ambition may take the form of religion, but the politics is
           there. Then you are competing with other saints.
               The night Jesus departed from his disciples, the so-called apostles were not much worried about
           what was going to happen to Jesus. Their worry was: after Jesus, when the Day of Judgment will
           come and they all will go to paradise, who will stand next to Jesus? Of course, Jesus will be at the
           right hand of God; that much they can concede. But who will be next to Jesus? They were quarreling
           and arguing about this. The last night of the master, tomorrow he may be crucified... but that is not
           their concern. Those apostles are political, and those apostles have created Christianity, and
           Christianity is politics and nothing else. So is Hinduism and so is Mohammedanism -- all political
           desires hidden behind religious words.
               Man cannot live without politics, because of the mind. You are brought up, you are trained to be
           political. Every child is poisoned from the very beginning, poisoned by ambition. We teach children
           to be ambitious: be somebody in the world, be somebody special, somebody superior, defeat others!
           We give the idea to every child that life is a struggle and only the fittest survive. Whether you
           survive by right or wrong means, that is not important.
               Twenty-five years of education -- almost one third of your life you are being trained to be
           ambitious. How can you avoid politics? The only way to avoid politics is to get out of your mind;
           that means that unless mind is dropped totally, politics will go on clinging to you. You can even be
           antipolitical but then that will become politics.
               You ask me, Mukesh, "Why do people think that to live without politics is impossible?" --
           because they cannot conceive how to live without the mind and desire, or how to live without
           ambition. They know only one way to live: compete, fight! If you are not going to dominate the
           other, the other is going to dominate you; so before the other dominates you, dominate the other. It is
           certainly better to dominate than to be dominated; it is better to be the master than to be the slave; it
           is better to be rich than to be poor. And there is great struggle, and millions of people are fighting for
           the same thing -- and things are not so many.
               How many people can be presidents, and how many people can be prime ministers, and how
           many people can be Fords, Rockefellers and Morgans and Birlas and Tatas? How many people?
           Very few people. And life is short, and these are the goals to be fulfilled. If you cannot be a
           Rockefeller, if you cannot be the president of a country, your life is a sheer wastage, you are a
           failure. Unless you understand that even by becoming a Rockefeller, a Morgan, you are not going to
           achieve anything... you will be farther away from yourself. You will be deeper in the dreams.
               By becoming a president or a prime minister you are not going to achieve any peace or bliss. No
           music is going to explode in your innermost being. In fact, you will become more and more ugly. By
           the time a person becomes a prime minister he becomes the ugliest possible, because the whole
           struggle makes him ugly. He has to be cunning, more cunning than others, otherwise he will not
           succeed. He has to be cruel, he has to be violent, he has to be very diplomatic. He has to say one
           thing, think another, do still another. By the time he reaches to the highest post of his desire, he is
           completely destroyed. He is no more a human being. He is hollow inside; he has no substance, no
           soul.
               But these people are thought to be successful people, these people are thought to be the makers
           of history. These people are thought to leave their mark on human evolution. These are the most
           mischievous people in the world, these are the greatest criminals: Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Adolf
           Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, these are the real criminals in the world. Small criminals suffer in
           the prisons, big criminals become presidents and prime ministers.
               But the people who have not been able to achieve these foolish desires also suffer very much.
           They suffer from an inferiority complex, from failure. Your education creates only two kinds of
           people. First, those who succeed, and by succeeding they come to know that they have wasted their
           lives. But it is pointless to tell it to others, because then others will laugh and will think you
           ridiculous. It is better to go on smiling although you know deep down that you have failed, your life
           has not been of any significance, you have not enjoyed being here. You have not danced, no song
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has been sung by your heart. Your whole life has been an experiment in futility. You know it but it is
           too late. You cannot go back, and you cannot say the truth -- that will simply reveal your stupidity. It
           is better to go on playing the role of being successful.
               And then the other kind is those who see these successful people and suffer with great jealousy,
           envy, are greatly wounded that "We could not make it in this life." This is politics.
               My effort here is to teach you a different way of life which is not political at all. Let the mind be
           dropped. Don't be a slave of your mind. Become more conscious, more alert of all the nuisance that
           your mind is doing to you, the mess the mind is creating in you, the chaos the mind has reduced you
           to. Just watch, be alert. And slowly slowly, as your watchfulness grows -- Buddha calls it "right
           mindfulness" -- you will be able to slip out of the mind. Out of the mind and you are out of politics;
           otherwise, whatsoever you do is politics. If you don't do anything, that too is politics. You
           participate, either positively or negatively. If you vote you participate, if you don't vote still you
           participate, in a negative way. There seems to be no choice. In every way you will be part of it.

               During the days of Hitler's dominance, five Germans sat at a table in a coffee shop, each thinking
           his own thoughts. One of them sighed, another groaned aloud. The third shook his head desperately,
           and the fourth man choked down the tears.
               The fifth man, in a frightened voice, whispered, "My friends, be careful! You know it is not safe
           to talk politics in public."

               Whatsoever you do is going to be politics, except one thing: if you really become a dropout from
           the world of the mind.
               People hate this situation, but they don't know what to do about it. They are caught in such a
           complex situation, they don't know how to get out of it. And the whole crowd is going in a certain
           direction. If you move in some other direction the crowd becomes angry at you. The crowd does not
           allow nonconformists. It wants total submission, it wants slaves, it respects slaves. It gives all kinds
           of honors -- from the lowest honor to the Nobel Prize -- to the slaves, to the conformists, to those
           who are somehow supporting the status quo.
               You can see it happening everywhere. Just look at the so-called respectable people, they are the
           greatest slaves. That's why they get respect. It is a mutual understanding. You follow the crowd, the
           crowd respects you, calls you a saint, a mahatma.

               Adolf Hitler did not trust the reports he had been getting that the people were still loyal to him.
           One evening he disguised himself and went to a movie house. Soon the newsreel went on. The
           announcer said, "And now the latest picture of our great, our benevolent dictator." The commentary
           went on. The picture flashed on the screen. With one motion, the audience rose in salute, shouting
           "Heil, Hitler!"
               Hitler was so pleased with the response that he forgot to get up. The man behind him tapped him
           on the shoulder and whispered, "I know how you feel about that bastard, but you had better stand up
           or the police will arrest you."

               That's how everybody feels, but who wants to get into unnecessary trouble?
               To be a nonconformist is to ask for trouble, because the mob feels offended. Why does the mob
           feel offended by a nonconformist? -- because the nonconformist shows signs of intelligence, he
           shows signs of individuality, authenticity, responsibility, and then people feel stupid compared to
           him. They can't forgive him -- and the politicians cannot allow such people to exist at all.

               The sultan decided to have the Sufi matched against some wild lions in an arena, to entertain and
           warn the multitude. Many thousands turned up. The Sufi went into the arena, caught the lions by the
           ears and threw them out of the ring. The crowd went wild. Then the sultan ordered him to be bound
           hand and foot and elephants to be stampeded over him. By split-second timing he managed to roll
           away from the elephants' feet. The crowd roared.
               Now the sultan had a pit dug, the Sufi buried in it up to the neck, and ordered three powerful and
           skilled swordsmen to cut off his head. As they struck, he moved his head this way and that to avoid
           the swipes, so that they started to tire. But by that time the crowd was on its feet, yelling, "Stand still
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and fight like a man, you tricky mystic!"

               Now the poor man is buried, just the head is out of the earth! But intelligence can manage. Down
           the ages the real Sufis, the real Zen people, the real Buddhas, the real Hassids, the real mystics of all
           the countries, of all the races, have been utterly disgusted with this whole nonsense that goes on in
           the name of politics. They have been teaching their disciples, "Get out of it, it is futile," and they
           have suffered much because of it.
               Mukesh Bharti, if you feel that politics is a dirty game, don't be worried: "Why do people think
           that to live without politics is impossible?"
               Don't waste your time in that. The crowd is going to remain like that forever, but you can come
           out of it. Even if you can manage that, that's enough. And maybe if you can manage, then a few
           others will see the light too, because they will see a new joy arising in your being, a new aroma
           surrounding you, a new aura, a new atmosphere, a new milieu will start touching other people's
           hearts.
               I am not saying, "Become a missionary." That is a dirty word. But if you are out of these ugly
           games, your life becomes such a beautiful phenomenon that those who have eyes will see and those
           who have ears will be able to hear and those who have hearts will be able to feel it. And that's all that
           you can do. That is real service.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU SO MUCH AGAINST THINKING, THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY?


               Gangadhar, because thinking is nothing but dreaming in words. Dreams are nothing but thinking
           in pictures.
               What can you think? You can't think the unknown; you can only go on repeating the known.
           Thinking is repetitive, it is mechanical. Thinking never brings you to a new insight, neither in
           religion nor in science. Nowhere does thinking bring you to new windows to existence. Even in
           scientific work, real insights have happened not through thinking; they have been all intuitive, they
           have not been of the intellect. All the great scientists are convinced of the fact that it was not their
           effort that made them discover new ways of life, new secrets of nature, something of the beyond,
           something very mysterious. It was not their work, at the most they were only vehicles. Hence I am
           not in favor of making you great thinkers. In fact, you are already great thinkers. Everybody is a
           great thinker. So much traffic goes on in the mind; you are continuously thinking, day in, day out,
           your whole life you are thinking -- to what purpose, to what conclusion?
               And I am more against theology than any other kind of thinking because that is the ultimate in
           stupidity. THEO means god, LOGY means logic: logic about God. That is a contradiction in terms.
           There is no logic about God. Love yes, logic no, a thousand times no. Yes, there can be love for God,
           but not logic. And if you come through logic to love, your love is also false, pseudo, plastic,
           synthetic.
               Love happens, it is not an argument; then how does it happen? It does not happen through
           thinking. It happens by glimpses into no-thought, by entering into the intervals between two
           thoughts. Those are the windows, windows of the divine. I am against theology.
               And philosophy has wasted so many beautiful minds that it is a crime now to go on teaching
           philosophy to people. At least for five thousand years people have been philosophizing. And what
           has been their conclusion? Philosophy has not come to any conclusion at all. It confuses people.
           Bertrand Russell has written in his memoirs that when he was young and went to the university, he
           had the thought that by studying philosophy at least he would be able to solve a few problems. By
           the end of his life -- and he lived a long, very long life, and a very philosophical life of constant
           thinking -- by the end of his life he said, "All that philosophy has done is to create more problems. It
           has not solved a single one. My old problems are exactly where they were. New problems have
           certainly arisen out of my philosophical thinking."
               And that is the experience of all thinkers, all philosophers. Philosophy is thinking about the
           unknown, about God, about life after death. You don't know what life is before death, and you think
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about the life after death.
               My emphasis is, please know what life is before death, because if you can have an experience of
           life before death, death will disappear in that very experience. Death evaporates. Then there is no
           death; life is eternal.
               But rather than experiencing, the philosopher goes on thinking, and you have to make the
           clear-cut distinction between thinking and experiencing. One can think about food, but that is not
           going to nourish one. Eating is totally a different matter. And you may think about very delicious
           food with all the vitamins thrown in. Still it is not going to help. And just bread and butter, if really
           eaten, will do the trick; they will nourish you.
               The philosopher thinks about love. He does not love, he does not know anything about love. He
           has not experienced it, but he thinks about it. What can you think about something you have not
           experienced? And what is the need to think if you have experienced? Hence I am against philosophy.
           In both ways it is futile. If you have not experienced it, it is futile; if you have experienced it, it is
           more futile than ever.

               Just recently an ape escaped from the local zoo. Must have been a philosopher! Several hours
           later the beast was finally found in the reading room of the library. He was poring over the first
           chapters of Genesis and he also had a copy of Darwin's THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.
               When a policeman asked the ape what he was doing, the ape replied, "I am trying to figure out
           once and for all if I am my brother's keeper or if I am my keeper's brother."

               That's how philosophy goes on -- words and words. And words can be placed in such a
           systematic way that they can deceive you, just like playing cards can be put in such a way that they
           can give you the illusion of a palace. Paper boats can be made to look exactly like boats; you can
           paint them, but they are of no use.You can't go to the other shore by paper boats.
               Philosophy is a palace made of playing cards, a boat made of paper. Painted beautifully, it looks
           exactly like a boat but is not a boat.
               Except existential experience nothing is going to save you.

               Two men were sent to define the border between Poland and Russia.
               One day, in the middle of a big wood, they came to a very old house set right on the borderline.
           Unable to decide to which country it should belong, they approached the inhabitants. After they rang
           the bell for a long time a very old but well-known philosopher opened the door. They explained their
           difficulties and asked him what country he would prefer to belong to.
           "Oh," he said, "I have been living here for so long now, I don't care at all," and he started to shut the
           door.
               Suddenly he opened it again and said quickly, "No, wait, put me in Poland."
               The rather hurt Russian went back after an hour to ask the old philosopher what the reason for
           his sudden decision was.
           "Oh, no special reason," he replied. "I just read in the newspapers twenty years ago that the winters
           in Russia are very cold."

               Philosophy is bookish, verbal, has no relationship with existence. My effort here is to help you
           enter into existence, and philosophy is a sheer wastage of life and energy -- a life which is so
           invaluable, an energy which can lead you to God, an energy which is divine. Avoid philosophy,
           avoid philosophers.
               Sit with the wise ones, and they are totally different people. In the ancient days the philosopher
           was a wise man. Socrates was a totally different kind of philosopher from Bertrand Russell,
           Immanuel Kant, Hegel, Heidegger. Socrates was a wise man, as wise as Buddha. Pythagoras was
           also called a philosopher, but in those days the word philosophy had its original meaning: love of
           wisdom. SOPHY means wisdom, PHILO means love. But slowly slowly, that meaning has changed.
           Now what is being taught in the universities has nothing to do with wisdom. It is all rubbish
           knowledge.
               Analysis of language is now called philosophy. G.E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein are now
           thought to be great philosophers. They are linguists, analysts -- great linguists and great analysts, but
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not philosophers at all, not in the sense of Socrates, Buddha, Lao Tzu.

               George Bernard Shaw had been wearied by the tedious conversation of a philosopher who was
           trying to impress him with his knowledge.
               Finally Shaw cut in, "You know, between the two of us, we know all there is to be known."
           "How is that?" the philosopher asked delightedly.
           "You seem to know everything," Shaw said, "except that you are a bore, and I know that!"

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I FEEL SADNESS ABOUT CHRISTMAS WHEN THE WHOLE MESSAGE IS REJOICE
              AND BE MERRY?


                Vachana, Christ's message IS rejoice and be merry. But that is not the message of Christianity.
           Christianity's message is: be sad, long faces, look miserable; the more miserable you look, the more
           saintly you are. Sometimes I really feel for poor Jesus. He has fallen in such wrong company, and I
           wonder how he is managing in paradise with all these Christian saints, so sad, so dull.
                He was not a dull man, he was not a sad man -- he could not be. The word 'christ' is exactly
           synonymous with buddha. He was an enlightened person. He rejoiced in life, in the small things of
           life. He rejoiced in eating, drinking, friendship. He loved companionship, he loved the whole life.
                But Christians down the ages have painted him as very sad. They have painted him always on the
           cross, as if for thirty-three years he was always on the cross. And my own understanding is that a
           man like Jesus will not die sad, even on the cross. He must have laughed before he died. That's what
           al-Hillaj Mansoor did before he was killed by the fanatic Mohammedans, because he had declared:
           ANA'L HAQ -- I am God. Mohammedans could not tolerate it, just as Jews could not tolerate Jesus.
           They killed him -- but before they killed him, he looked at the sky and laughed loudly.
                One hundred thousand people had gathered to see this ugly phenomenon, the murder of one of
           the greatest human beings who has ever walked on the earth. Somebody asked from the crowd,
           "al-Hillaj, why are you laughing? You are being killed!" And he was killed in the most cruel way,
           piece by piece. Jesus' crucifixion is nothing compared to Mansoor's: first his legs were cu off, then
           his hands were cut off, then his eyes were taken out, then his nose was cut off, then his tongue was
           cut off, then his head was cut off. They tortured him as much as was possible, but he laughed.
           Somebody asked, "Why are you laughing?"
                Mansoor said, "I am laughing because the man you are killing is somebody else, I am not he. I
           am laughing at God too. What is happening? -- have these people gone mad? They are killing
           somebody else! Me you cannot kill; it is ridiculous, your whole effort is ridiculous. So let it be
           remembered, let it be on record that I laughed at your foolishness!"
                And that's exactly what Jesus must have done, laughed. But Christians have tried their best to
           depict Jesus as sad. They have made a saint out of a real authentic human being; they have cut
           everything. The gospels are not true stories; much has been changed, much has been reduced, much
           has been added. They have become mere fictions.
                Down the ages, Christians have been trying to paint Christ as more and more sad. Why? --
           because all over the world religion has been dominated by a neurotic kind of people. It has been
           dominated by the people who are masochists, sadists. In the East too, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism
           -- they have all been dominated by the masochistic people, the people who enjoy torturing
           themselves, the people who are incapable of living life in its totality. The people who are too
           cowardly to live, escapists, have dominated religion up to now. These escapists have depicted
           Buddha as not laughing, Mahavira as not laughing.
                And Christians actually say that Jesus never laughed in his life. Can you believe that? Jesus
           never laughed in life? -- and he enjoyed drinking and eating, he enjoyed gamblers and prostitutes,
           and he enjoyed all kinds of people, and he never laughed? Can you imagine that a man like Jesus,
           who was always feasting for hours with his friends, never laughed? It is inconceivable! How can you
           go on wining and dining without laughing? He must have joked, he must have told funny stories.
           They have been edited out. He was a very true man, and very courageous. He accepted Mary
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Magdalene, the famous prostitute of those days as his disciple. It needs courage, it needs guts. I
           cannot believe that he never laughed.
               I can rather believe a very fictitious story about Zarathustra -- that the first thing he did when he
           was born was to laugh loudly. That I can believe, but I can't believe this story about Jesus, that he
           never laughed. It looks impossible. A child... just the first thing he did was a belly laughter. But I can
           believe it. It has a certain beauty about it, a certain significance. It simply says that Zarathustra was
           born wise, he was born enlightened, that's all. Whether he laughed or not, that is not the question.
               And it doesn't seem too difficult: if children can cry, why can't they laugh? Doctors say that
           children cry just to clear their throat, so that they can breathe easily. But that can be done in a far
           better way by a belly laughter. And now there are doctors who say that if we take enough care
           children don't cry; on the contrary, they smile. That's a good beginning. Soon Zarathustras will be
           coming.
               But up to now doctors have been very Christian. The first thing they do is they hang the child
           upside down and hit him on the buttocks. Do you expect a child to laugh? This is a great welcome to
           the world, putting the child upside down, giving him a hit -- a good beginning, because his whole life
           he is going to get hit in the pants, again and again. And hanging upside down, how can he laugh? No
           wonder he cries!
               Now there are a few doctors working in a different direction. They bring the child in a more
           natural way out of the mother's womb; they don't cut the umbilical cord immediately because that
           creates crying, that is violence. They leave the child on the mother's belly with the umbilical cord
           intact. They give a good bath to the child, a hot bath, they put the child into a hot tub of exactly the
           same temperature as it was in the mother's womb.
               In the mother's womb the child is floating in water. The water has the same contents as sea water,
           salty. In the same salty chemical solution, of the same temperature, the child is put in the tub. He
           starts smiling. It is a real beautiful reception. And not with glaring tube lights... that hurts the eyes of
           the child. In fact, so many people are wearing glasses only because of the foolishness of the doctors.
           The child has lived for nine months in the mother's womb in darkness, utter darkness. Then suddenly
           so much light... it hurts his delicate eyes. You have destroyed something delicate in his eyes. The
           child should be received in a very dim light, and the light should be increased slowly slowly, so his
           eyes become accustomed to the light. Naturally the child smiles at the beautiful welcome.
               I can believe Zarathustra loudly laughing, but I can't believe Jesus not laughing at all. He lived
           thirty-three years and did not laugh? -- that can only be possible if he was absolutely perverted,
           absolutely pathological, ill. Something must have been wrong if he didn't laugh. But nothing is
           wrong with him; something is wrong with the followers. They depict their saints, their messiahs,
           their prophets, as very serious, somber, sad, just to show that they are above the world, that they are
           beyond, that they are not worldly people. Laughter seems shallow, seems unspiritual.
               That's why, Vachana -- because you have been brought up as a Christian. Although the message
           of Christmas is rejoice and be merry, still there is a sadness, because the whole of Christianity
           teaches you to be sad. It is not a life-affirming religion, it is life-negative. It is much more
           life-negative than Hinduism, much more life-negative than Judaism. It has no sense of humor at all.
           And a religion without a sense of humor is ill, pathological. It needs psychological treatment.

               Peter, standing in the crowd, looked up at Jesus on the cross. As he watched, he distinctly saw
           Jesus motioning him forward.
           "Pssst, hey Peter, come here," said the Lord.
               As Peter moved forward, two Roman guards blocked his way and beat him till he fell to the
           ground.
               A few moments later, Peter, bruised and bleeding, looked up and saw Jesus again motioning him
           forward.
           "Pssst, hey Peter, come here!"
               Looking around, Peter noticed that the crowd was gone and so were the Roman soldiers. He
           moved closer to Jesus, "Yes, Lord, what is it? What is it you want?"
           "Hey Peter," said Jesus. "Guess what? I can see your house from here!"

           The fifth question:
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AGAINST YOU?


               Vijayanand, any government will be, because I call a spade a spade, and that hurts. It has nothing
           to do particularly with the Indian government; any government will do. In fact, I have chosen to
           remain in India because the Indian government is the most lousy in the world. In Germany they will
           not tolerate me even for a single day. The Indian government seems to be such a chaos that even
           when they want to do something against me it takes months. By that time I will escape. The Indian
           government is a phenomenon....
               There are at least thirty cases against me in the courts. In one court we lose the case, and the
           government officer doesn't come to know for months that we have lost it. They think the case is
           going on. By that time we move to another court. It is really a beautiful government, but they are
           bound once in a while to get angry with me.

               The occasion was the visit of the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, to India. Prime Minister
           Nehru was anxious to impress his guest with the great strides India had made under his leadership
           following the principles of socialism and democracy.
               They drove through the great park that surrounds the Indian parliament in Delhi, and Khrushchev
           caught sight of a figure squatting under a tree having a shit.
           "Look over there!" said Khrushchev pointing to the figure. "You talk about the great strides your
           country has made, but I see your government has not even provided proper toilet facilities for the
           masses! What kind of socialist progress do you call this?"
               It is said that Nehru was deeply embarrassed by this remark.
               The following year it was his turn to be the guest of Mr. Khrushchev in Moscow. He longed to
           even the score and find some criticism with which to taunt his host.
               As the two leaders walked through the park close by the Kremlin, Mr. Nehru caught sight of a
           man.
           "Look over there!" Nehru shouted. Khrushchev looked... and when he saw the man his face turned
           crimson with rage.
           "Arrest that man!" he yelled to his secret service men.
               A dozen cops rushed to the tree and seized the man. They dragged him to the nearest police
           center for questioning.
               The man -- it turned out -- was the Indian Ambassador!

           The last question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               I AM SEVENTY NOW, BUT STILL THE SEXUAL URGE IS THERE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               Narayandas, you should not do anything. Enough is enough. Just the other day I have received
           from the great Madhuri a beautiful Christmas card. I must have received thousands of Christmas
           cards, but this is the most beautiful. And particularly for you, Narayandas, it will be helpful. So I will
           read this card from Madhuri.

           From twenty to thirty, if you are feeling right
           It is once in the morning and once at night.
                From thirty to forty, if you are still living right,
           You skip the morning but continue at night!
           From forty to fifty, it is now and then....
           And from fifty to sixty, it is God knows when!
           From sixty on, if you are still inclined,
           Believe me, fella --
           It is all in your mind!
           Happy Christmas!
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                               Chapter #7
                               Chapter title: You have slept long enough
           27 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912270
              ShortTitle: DHAM807
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              THE FOLLOWERS OF THE AWAKENED
              AWAKE

              AND DAY AND NIGHT THEY WATCH
              AND MEDITATE UPON THEIR MASTER.



              FOREVER WAKEFUL,
              THEY MIND THE LAW.



              THEY KNOW THEIR BROTHERS ON THE WAY.
              THEY UNDERSTAND THE MYSTERY OF THE BODY.
              THEY FIND JOY IN ALL BEINGS.
              THEY DELIGHT IN MEDITATION.



              IT IS HARD TO LIVE IN THE WORLD
              AND HARD TO LIVE OUT OF IT.
              IT IS HARD TO BE ONE AMONG MANY.



              AND FOR THE WANDERER, HOW LONG IS THE ROAD
              WANDERING THROUGH MANY LIVES!



              LET HIM REST.
              LET HIM NOT SUFFER.
              LET HIM NOT FALL INTO SUFFERING.



              IF HE IS A GOOD MAN,
              A MAN OF FAITH, HONORED AND PROSPEROUS,
              WHEREVER HE GOES HE IS WELCOME.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              LIKE THE HIMALAYAS
              GOOD MEN SHINE FROM AFAR,
              BUT BAD MEN MOVE UNSEEN
              LIKE ARROWS IN THE NIGHT.



              SIT.
              REST.

              WORK.



              ALONE WITH YOURSELF,
              NEVER WEARY.



              ON THE EDGE OF THE FOREST
              LIVE JOYFULLY,
              WITHOUT DESIRE.


               Three reformed and very progressive rabbis were boasting about the advanced views of their
           respective congregations.
           "We are so modern," said the first, "we have installed ashtrays in every pew so members can smoke
           while they pray."
           "Ah!" snorted the second. "We now have a snack bar in the basement that serves ham sandwiches
           after services."
           "You boys," said the third, "are not even in the same class as my congregation. We are so reformed,
           we close for the Jewish holidays."

               That's what has happened to all the so-called followers -- Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists.
           They are not real followers; their being a follower is only a formality. It is just by accident of birth
           that one is a Hindu and another is a Christian. It is not out of your own choice, it is not YOUR
           commitment. You have not chosen to be a Christian or a Hindu or a Buddhist; hence it is absolutely
           meaningless, it carries no weight. It is at the most a social phenomenon. It has nothing to do with
           religion, it has no sacredness about it -- a social conformity, useful in its own ways.
               But your church is nothing but a club. Just as there are Rotarians, so there are Christians. You
           belong to a certain club and the club has a few privileges; belonging to it, you also have the right to
           have those privileges. It is not the search for truth because the search for truth does not make you a
           part of a tradition. It certainly makes you a disciple, but not a part of a dead tradition, religion,
           organization. It certainly brings you close to a Christ or a Buddha, but it has nothing to do with the
           scriptures.
               A living master is bound to happen to the person who is in search of truth, who wants to know
           the meaning of life, who wants to go to the innermost core of his being, who wants to know the
           depth and the height of existence. He will have to hold hands with a master.
               The master is one who has already known. The master is one who has been to the other shore and
           has come to this shore to show you the path. But only a master can show the path -- a living master,
           remember. A tradition is just a fossil, a corpse. Yes, once there may have been a light, but the light
           has gone to the infinite long long ago.
               Twenty-five centuries have passed since Buddha's flame became one with the universal flame.
           Now you can go on worshipping Buddha, but you will not be, in the real sense, a disciple -- you can't
           be. The buddha you worship is your own invention, your projection. You will have to find a real
           buddha, a man who is alive, just as alive as you are, who is in the body, whose flame can help your
           unlit candle to become lit, whose fire can consume you.
               But churches and temples and creeds and dogmas cannot consume you, they cannot make you
           aflame. They have no fire left. Two thousand years have passed since Christ. You can go on
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           worshipping in the church, but now what you are doing is a kind of social duty. You are not involved
           in it, your heart is not there. Superficially, on the periphery, you have a label -- Christian, Hindu,
           Mohammedan -- but behind the labels you are all alike; there is no difference at all.

           The first sutra of Buddha says:

               THE FOLLOWERS OF THE AWAKENED
               AWAKE....


                Those who are really followers of the awakened ARE awake. That's the only way to be a
           follower of the awakened -- to be awake. It is not a question of worship, not a question of respect. It
           is a question of inner transformation. It is going through inner alchemy.
                How can you go through inner alchemy if the master is not present? The gap of thousands of
           years cannot be bridged. But there is no need to bridge it either because whenever there is one who is
           awakened he is the same, the fire is the same. It does not make any difference in what lamp the flame
           is alive. The lamp may be of this shape or that shape, the lamp may be made of this metal or that
           metal, it is irrelevant. The flame has nothing to do with the metal and the shape of the lamp; the
           flame is always the same. But you will have to seek a lamp which can still show you the path.
                The moment you see an enlightened person, if you allow yourself to SEE the enlightened person,
           three things happen in your life. The first is, you become a student. A student means one who
           becomes intellectually involved, who becomes intellectually intrigued, who starts feeling that his
           questions are being answered for the first time, his curiosities are dissolving for the first time. For the
           first time there is someone who can answer him and his answers are not borrowed; his answers are
           on his own authority. His answers are not coming from his memory; his answers are welling up from
           his very center.
                And you can feel the difference, the difference is great. It is the difference between a plastic rose
           and a real rose. You can see that his answers are fresh, young, breathing. They have a heartbeat to
           them, they are not dead information. He has not collected knowledge; he has known, he has seen, he
           has become. And you will feel his being. The first step is to become a student; that's how the journey
           starts.
                The second step is to be a disciple. When not only your head is in communication with the
           master but your heart too, when not only does he look logical but a great love arises in your being for
           him, then you become a disciple. A disciple knows how to commune, the student knows how to
           communicate. The student lives on the verbal, intellectual level; the disciple on the nonverbal,
           feeling level. His heart starts opening. Just as the sun rises in the morning and the flowers start
           opening, the disciple feels some opening is happening in him. He is no more the same person. The
           master has touched his being; something has penetrated in. The disciple has become pregnant.
                And the third step is to be a devotee. The student relates through the head, the disciple through
           the heart, and the devotee through his totality. It is no more a question of head or heart, body or mind
           or soul; his whole being becomes suffused. He becomes one with the master. It is no more a dialogue
           of the head or of the heart. There are no more two; the flames have become one.
                This is the moment of real initiation, of real sannyas. Buddha is talking about it. He says: THE
           FOLLOWERS OF THE AWAKENED AWAKE....
                They become just like the master. They have the same quality, the same fragrance, the same aura.
           To understand a buddha, the only way is to become a buddha yourself; there is no other way.
                The disciple will know ABOUT the buddha; the devotee will KNOW the buddha. The disciple
           will feel the buddha. The disciple is just in between the student and the devotee. He will remain a
           little vague, clouded; he will not have clarity. In that sense, the student is clear -- intellectually clear.
           The devotee is totally clear. The disciple is in the middle: something is clear and something is very
           unclear; something is light and something is dark. The disciple is in a state of twilight, neither day
           nor night.
                Buddha is talking about the devotee when he uses the word 'follower'. He does not mean a
           Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist. He means someone who has the courage to take the plunge into the
           very being of the master; he is a real follower. And in that plunge he starts having the same quality --
           the quality of being awake.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ordinarily you are living in a kind of sleep; a metaphysical slumber surrounds you. And even if
           sometimes there are possibilities, opportunities for you to be awakened, you avoid, because you have
           invested so much in your sleep. You are afraid of being awake. Deep down you know that if you
           become awake your dreams will be disturbed -- and you may be having beautiful dreams, nice
           dreams, sweet dreams. And who wants to get disturbed when there are so many beautiful dreams
           surrounding you? And when you are dreaming, you don't think that you are dreaming; your dreams
           look real.
                That is one of the strange things about dreams: they have such a deep impact on you. They
           hypnotize you so deeply that many times you have known that they are dreams when you wake up in
           the morning, but again every night you fall back into the same hypnosis.
                This is the case with you in so many lives. You have lived the same kind of life again and again
           -- the same desire, the same greed, the same ambition -- and each time you were frustrated, but again
           you are ready to become a victim. It is exactly like dreams.
                This morning also when you woke up you remembered so many dreams from the night and you
           laughed; it looked so ridiculous. But let the night come again and you will dream again, and when
           you will be dreaming you will believe them. They are real deceivers! And when one believes that
           this is real, why should one want to be awake and disturb it? You resist awakening.
                Even if you come across a buddha you will not look at him. You will look sideways; you will not
           look into his eyes. The fear... his energy may start pulsating in you. Hence, many times you have
           come across a Buddha, a Krishna, a Mahavira, a Christ, a Mohammed, but you have missed again
           and again on your own accord. You were afraid to encounter them -- the encounter may prove too
           dangerous.

           "Hello. This is long distance. I have a call for you from Palm Springs."
           "Hello, Herman, this is Rube. Listen, I am stranded here and I need five hundred dollars."
           "I can't hear you. Something is wrong with the phone."
           "I want five hundred dollars!"
           "I still can't hear you."
           "I can hear it okay," interrupted the operator.
           "Then YOU give him the five hundred dollars!"

               You listen only to that which fits with you; you avoid listening to that which can be a
           disturbance. You become deaf, you become dumb, you become blind. You have chosen a particular
           sleepy life and you have lived with that style for so long that it looks almost natural. The unnatural
           has become the natural and the natural has been completely forgotten.
               To awake means to be natural again. To awake means to be awake in your consciousness, in your
           deepest core of the heart, to become aware.
               We go on reading the Bibles, the Korans, the Gitas. That is not a problem. The problem comes
           when you come across a Mohammed. It is easy to read Ayatollah Khomeiniac; it is difficult to come
           across Mohammed, because Mohammed is bound to be like an electric shock. He will go like a deep
           tremor into your being. And these ayatollahs, these imams, they are not to be afraid of. They talk
           such nonsense.
               Just the other day I was reading.... These people write great treatises on the Koran, and you will
           be surprised to know what they write in those treatises. Such stupid things! -- for example: "You
           should not urinate towards Kaaba." Great metaphysics! Great spirituality! You should remember
           continuously, otherwise be prepared for hell. But this can be managed; Mohammedans manage it,
           they remember the direction of Kaaba. As if God is only in Kaaba and nowhere else! As if Kaaba is
           the only direction which is divine and all else is undivine!

               I was reminded of a beautiful story in Nanak's life:
               He went to Kaaba and he slept with his feet towards the sacred Kaaba stone. The imam of Kaaba
           came and he was very angry. He said, "You pretend to be a holy man and you don't even know the
           ordinary rules! Whether you are a Mohammedan or not, at least you can be polite! This much
           courtesy you can show: you should not put your feet towards Kaaba. Change the direction of your
           feet!"
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nanak laughed and he said, "You have come in the right time -- that's what was puzzling me!
           Please, you do it. You turn my feet towards any direction... because I have tried and I have to go to
           sleep. I have tried; half the night I have wasted already. You try!"
               In deep anger, rage, the imam turned Nanak's feet to the opposite direction. He was shocked to
           see that Kaaba moved towards Nanak's feet! He turned in every direction and Kaaba moved.

               Whether it happened or not, that is not the point; but the story is beautiful. It simply says that
           God is everywhere. Wherever you put your feet it is God's direction, because nothing else exists. But
           these foolish scholars, they go on talking nonsense and they write big treatises. But they are not
           dangerous to you.
               For example, on a day when you are fasting, in the days of Ramadan when a Mohammedan fasts,
           in desert countries a great problem has arisen: when you are moving in the desert sometimes you
           may swallow dust. Now the problem is -- what a great problem! -- in the desert on a fast day, if you
           swallow dust, is your fast broken or not? Now these ayatollahs say your fast is broken if you
           swallow the dust voluntarily. But who will swallow the dust voluntarily? For what? Dust is not food,
           dust is not nourishment! But if it happens INvoluntarily, then the fast is not broken.
               Then for centuries people go on discussing such stupid nonsense -- sheer nonsense! They will
           miss a Mohammed, they will miss a Moses, they will miss a Lao Tzu; and then for centuries they
           will discuss useless things. Useless things are not dangerous.
               The real danger comes from people who are awake, because to be in their presence it is possible
           that you may become infected. Awareness is contagious! But read the Koran and the Bible -- it is
           just a game of words. And if you read every day your Bible and Gita, then even words don't mean
           anything. You simply repeat like a parrot.

                Every year dignitaries of the church come from Rome to Israel and a time-honored ceremony is
           re-enacted. One of the chief rabbis hands a jewel-covered scroll to a visiting priest who holds the
           scroll for a minute, shakes his head, and then returns it to the rabbi until the next year.
                This year, however, the rabbi and the priest involved in the ceremony grew curious about the
           scroll and decided to open it. They removed the jeweled covering, then unrolled yards and yards of
           yellowed parchment with long columns of numbers on it and blurred words
                The rabbi put on his glasses and finally managed to read the ancient Hebrew letters. It was the
           bill for the Last Supper!

               For two thousand years they had been giving it to the other: "Please, you pay it!" And nobody
           has bothered what is written in it, what exactly it is.
               Scriptures are cheap and scriptures are manipulatable. You can manage very easily any meaning
           out of them. You can invent, you can interpret, you can do a thousand things to the scripture. You
           can bring it to your own level.
               But you cannot bring a buddha to your own level. If you want to commune with a buddha you
           have to go to HIS level, to HIS plane of being. And his plane of being is awareness.
               THE FOLLOWERS OF THE AWAKENED AWAKE.... You are somnambulists! The only
           possibility in your life of being awake is coming in contact with someone who is awake. Only fire
           can ignite fire in you. And you are living in such a deep sleep that unless somebody hits you hard
           enough your sleep may not be broken.

               The advance proofs of a cookbook for hipsters recently came my way. The wildest recipe is for a
           salad. "You cut up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers, then you add a dash of
           marijuana and the salad tosses itself."

               And that's the state you are in. For centuries the salad is tossing itself -- too much marijuana!
           Everybody is spiritually in a state of deep slumber, dreaming great dreams, but not an inch of
           evolution... because there are only two states: either you are asleep or you are awake.
               This whole idea of human consciousness evolving, the idea of progress, is nothing but a strategy
           of the mind to keep you sleeping. It is a great trick of the mind. The mind goes on telling you,
           "Humanity is progressing. Don't be worried -- everything has its own time. When the spring comes,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will also become an evolved buddha. Wait! Nothing can be done before its time. Wait for the
           right time and you will also be ripe." And you have been waiting for centuries and you can go on
           waiting for centuries, the right time will never come. This is not the way that it comes. You have to
           catch hold of it.
               You are just in a deep lethargy. Buddhas happen and disappear, light descends from the beyond,
           but you don't take any note of it. Yes, you do one thing: when a buddha is gone you worship him.
           You make him a god, you create temples for him, you make statues of him and you worship them.
           Statues are toys, they can't awaken you. And the real man? The real man you avoid. And because
           you avoid the real man, a great guilt arises in you. To put that guilt right you worship.
               Worship is not religious; worship is just out of guilt. Because you never listened to the buddha
           when he was alive, when he dies you start feeling guilty. Now what to do? How to put your guilt and
           the burden of it aside? You worship. You compensate with worship, but you remain the same.

              AND DAY AND NIGHT THEY WATCH
              AND MEDITATE UPON THEIR MASTER.


               The devotee -- the real follower -- is constantly watching what he is doing, how he is doing, why
           he is doing. Even in small matters he de-automatizes himself. Walking, he does not just walk; he
           walks with meditative awareness. He knows that he is walking. Eating, he knows he is eating.
               You eat and you do a thousand and one other things. You go on swallowing food, you go on
           throwing food in, you go on stuffing yourself... and the mind goes on planning, goes on
           remembering, desiring, projecting. You are not there in the act; you are either in the past or in the
           future. And the present is the only time, only the present is real. Past is unreal, future is unreal; both
           are unreal -- and you are always living in the unreal.
               This is sleep: you go on doing things.... You yourself sometimes say, "I did it in spite of myself."
           What do you mean when you say "in spite of myself"? It simply means that you were not conscious
           and you did it -- as if you are just an automaton, a robot!

               A very fat lady boarded a crowded bus and managed to wedge herself in. She had a long way to
           go and feeling very uncomfortable reached down and unzipped the zipper in the back of her skirt.
               A few minutes later, feeling the draft, she reached back and zipped it up again. Feeling more and
           more uncomfortable, she reached back and unzipped the zipper, but in a few minutes she reached
           back and zipped herself up again.
               This went on for nearly twenty minutes until finally the man standing behind her leaned over and
           said, "Listen, lady. I don't know what's on your mind, but in the last half hour you have unzipped my
           fly at least ten times!"

              People are not conscious of what they are doing! They just go on doing things, half asleep, half
           awake, in a kind of alcoholic state.

               The pretty young thing came slamming into her apartment after a blind date and announced to
           her roommate, "Boy, what a character! I had to slap his face three times this evening!"
           The roommate inquired eagerly, "What did he do?"
           "Nothing!" muttered the girl. "I slapped him to see if he was awake!"

               People only appear to be awake; they are not. People only appear to be alive; they are not. People
           only appear to be; they are not -- because if they are really there, then there is no difference between
           them and the buddha. Then they will know all the secrets of life, then they will know the
           significance of life. Then their life will be a celebration, a constant celebration, a joy, a song, a
           dance. But people are living in hell, in misery.
               Misery is symbolic of unawareness; bliss is symbolic of awareness.

              FOREVER WAKEFUL,
              THEY MIND THE LAW.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The devotees of a master, of an awakened one, are continuously wakeful and they are
           continuously making every possible human effort to be in tune with the universe, not to fall out of
           step with the universe -- because that is what misery is.
               To be in tune, to be harmonious with the universe, is bliss, is joy, is music, is poetry. You start
           blooming the moment you are in tune with the whole. Whenever you are not in tune with the whole,
           something goes berserk in you. Then the whole no more nourishes you; then you are no more rooted
           in the whole. Then you become an uprooted tree, then you are undernourished. Then your green
           foliage starts disappearing. Then flowers can't happen to you, because flowers are possible only
           when you are overflooded with joy, overflowing with joy.

              THEY KNOW THEIR BROTHERS ON THE WAY.


               The real devotees are so awake that they immediately, intuitively recognize anybody who has the
           same quality -- the BROTHERS ON THE WAY. A sannyasin, if really meditative, will immediately
           know another sannyasin. This is not an intellectual understanding -- not that he infers that this must
           be a sannyasin -- but a simple intuitive feeling. Something strikes him deep down in his being.
           Something so similar is there present in the other person that he knows without any mental effort and
           exercise. He knows through the heart that the other is also on the way.
               How do you recognize a man when he is awake? And how do you recognize a man when he is
           asleep? Sleepers cannot recognize other sleepers and sleepers cannot recognize that somebody is
           awake, that is true. But if you are awake you know who is asleep and who is awake. Exactly in the
           same way, on a higher plane, it happens again: the people who have a little bit of awareness
           immediately become aware of the brothers on the way.
               That's how the commune arises, through this recognition. A commune is not a church. A
           commune is not an organization. A commune is not based on a dogma, on a creed. The commune
           grows out of this intuitive recognition that the other is also in tune with the whole. You can hear the
           music! You can hear something which cannot be heard by the outer ears. Something immediately
           rings a bell in your heart. It is a mysterious phenomenon.
               Buddha says: THEY KNOW THEIR BROTHERS ON THE WAY. Wherever you will find
           anybody who is meditative, out of your meditation you will be able to recognize him.
               Every commune has arisen in this way. Of course, every commune has fallen and become a
           religion finally. That's the way of the world. Once the master is gone, the commune slowly slowly,
           starts losing its quality of awareness, it becomes more and more formal. When the first disciples
           have also disappeared it is no more a heart phenomenon, it becomes a head phenomenon. When the
           second line of disciples has also disappeared, it is only because of your birth that you are a Christian
           or a Hindu or a Mohammedan. Then you are following a dead path which leads nowhere.

              THEY UNDERSTAND THE MYSTERY OF THE BODY.


               Buddha calls the commune THE BODY. The real devotees start feeling such attunement, such
           at-onement with other brothers, that they become one body. Buddha used to call it the SANGHA --
           the commune, the one body, the family. If something happens it immediately affects all the people, a
           wave surrounds all instantly.
               When Buddha died he had thousands of disciples. They were spread all over the country. The
           moment he died, all the disciples who were real disciples immediately were affected wherever they
           were. Thousands of miles away from Buddha, immediately they felt, "The master is no more."
               This is a mysterious phenomenon, but now even science is going deep into this phenomenon --
           from a different route, of course. They have been experimenting on animals, particularly the
           relationship between the mother and the child. And they are surprised, utterly surprised, by a
           mysterious phenomenon. You take the child of any animal deep into the sea, a mile deep or two
           miles deep into the sea, and you kill the child there. The mother is on the shore; there are two miles
           of water in between, but the mother immediately knows the child has been killed. She becomes sad,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           depressed; tears start flowing.
               In Soviet Russia particularly, they have worked hard on this phenomenon. They have tried the
           distance of a thousand miles; and if the child is killed, the mother is immediately affected. There
           seems to be a spiritual umbilical cord between the child and the mother. It has become very confused
           in human beings, that's why they have to experiment with animals. Animals are still simple,
           innocent; they have not yet become educated, cultured, civilized. These misfortunes have not yet
           happened to them; hence they are working with animals, but it happens in human beings also.
               If there is a deep love relationship between the child and the mother, the death of the child
           anywhere in the world will affect the mood of the mother immediately. Some mysterious connection
           exists between the mother and the child.
               But this is nothing compared to the mystery that happens between the master and the disciple,
           because the mother/ child relationship is only physical and the master/disciple relationship is
           spiritual. It is far more profound, far deeper.
               Buddha says: THEY UNDERSTAND THE MYSTERY OF THE BODY.

              THEY FIND JOY IN ALL BEINGS.


               You find only that in others which you have found in yourself first. If you are sad you will find
           sadness all over the place. To a sad person even the full moon looks sad, gloomy, depressed. To a
           joyous heart even the dark night is luminous. It all depends on you; it all depends how you are,
           where you are. The whole world moves with your heart, it becomes that which you are.
               You have heard it said again and again that the person who is holy, who is meditative, who is
           prayerful, goes to heaven. That is wrong; just the opposite is the case. To the prayerful person, to the
           meditative person, heaven comes. Not that he goes to heaven -- heaven comes to him, to his heart.
           Wherever he is, he is in paradise. And the evil person, wherever he is, he is in hell. There is no need
           to send him to hell, there is no need to have a special place called hell. Nowhere is there any hell and
           nowhere any heaven.
               If you are joyous you live in heaven, and your neighbor may be living in hell. And sometimes it
           happens, one moment you are in heaven and the next moment you are in hell. It all depends on your
           inner states. If you are soaring high, heaven opens up. If you are drowning in darkness, in sadness,
           hell is ready to welcome you. THEY FIND JOY IN ALL BEINGS.

              THEY DELIGHT IN MEDITATION.


                This is a very significant sutra; remember it. Buddha says: THEY DELIGHT IN MEDITATION.
           It is easy to meditate if you don't want to be blissful -- it is very easy to meditate. If you want just to
           be blissful and you don't want to be in meditation, that too is easy. The rarest combination is
           meditation plus bliss. Meditation minus bliss is easy; bliss minus meditation is easy. But meditation
           minus bliss is not true meditation and bliss minus meditation is not true bliss either. They are true
           only when they are together.
                Many people have tried to meditate without bliss because it is simple, less complex. You have to
           take only one work upon yourself: that you have to still your mind. And you can force your mind to
           be stilled, but you will become sad, you will have a long face.
                That's why your saints -- so-called saints -- look sad. Sadness has become a necessary quality for
           being a saint. They can't laugh, they can't dance, they can't sing, they can't love, they can't rejoice.
           They talk about bliss but they only talk about it. You don't see any bliss in their eyes, you don't see
           any bliss in their milieu, you don't see any bliss radiating from their inner center. They look sad, dull,
           dead, unintelligent, for the simple reason that they have chosen a shortcut and there is no shortcut.
           They have avoided the complexity of spiritual transformation. They have chosen meditation, they
           have forced their mind to be still. It is a negative state; their minds are only empty, not silent --
           forcibly made still. But it is not a natural growth of silence, it is not the flowering of silence. Their
           silence is like the cemetery, it is not the silence of a garden.
                The silence of the garden is full of music: the bees humming and the birds singing and a distant
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           call of the cuckoo. They are all in it, essential parts of it. The garden has a very living silence, full of
           song and joy. The cemetery is also silent, but it is only the silence of death; because there is nobody,
           hence there is silence.
                You can meditate, force yourself to be silent, but you will miss God, you will miss nirvana. And
           you can also try to be blissful; that means you can pretend, you can practice, you can rehearse bliss.
           You can always try to be blissful, smiling, at least looking happy.
                Slowly slowly, it becomes so practiced... like Jimmy Carter. Now his smile is disappearing, but
           just remember two years before -- you could have counted his teeth! You can practice it. I have
           heard that in the beginning days of his presidency his wife had to close his mouth in the night! I don't
           know how far it is true, but it appears to be true -- because if you practice the whole day, then in the
           night too your muscles become fixed. Even in sleep you will go on smiling.
                You can practice blissfulness too, but a practiced blissfulness is false. Anything practiced is
           false, remember it -- never forget it. Things have to be spontaneous and natural, not practiced, not
           cultivated. Cultivated blissfulness is only a mask. You are smiling, but the smile is not in the heart.
           You are showing joy, but you are not joyous. Your heart is a desert; only on the face you have put
           plastic flowers. They may deceive others, but they can't deceive you and they can't deceive a master.
           Your smile, your joy, is formal -- just good manners.
                This too has happened. There have been many saints, very blissful, always singing and dancing,
           but deep down just deserts. They both have chosen only the half, and the half-truth is far more untrue
           than any untruth.
                Truth has to be total, truth has to be whole. And the whole truth is: bliss PLUS meditation. It is
           difficult of course, arduous, to manage both. Why? -- because they seem to be polar opposites.
           Meditation means silence and bliss means dance. Meditation means stillness and bliss means a song.
           Meditation means escaping from the world and bliss means sharing with the world. Meditation you
           can do in a Himalayan cave, but to be blissful you will have to come back to the world.
                Bliss needs to be shared; it exists only in sharing. It can't exist when you are alone, it disappears.
           It is a communion. Meditation can exist in aloneness and bliss can exist in togetherness. But when
           both exist then you have to learn a totally new way of life.
           Buddha will give you the sutra soon. He says:

              IT IS HARD TO LIVE IN THE WORLD
              AND HARD TO LIVE OUT OF IT.
              IT IS HARD TO BE ONE AMONG MANY.


               He says: IT IS HARD TO LIVE IN THE WORLD.... Certainly, hence millions have preferred to
           escape. He himself had escaped in the beginning -- but remember that he did not become enlightened
           because of his escape. He became enlightened IN SPITE OF his escape. He did not become
           enlightened because he renounced the world; he became enlightened even though he renounced the
           world. It was in spite of it. It was not the cause of his enlightenment, it did not cause it.
           Enlightenment is not caused by anything.
               So when he comes back after his enlightenment to the world, goes to the palace to see his parents
           -- his old father, his old stepmother -- his wife, his son, the wife asks one question; a very pertinent
           question she asks Gautam Buddha. She asks, "Tell me one thing -- I have waited long just to ask you
           one thing. Whatsoever you have attained, was it not possible to attain it here in this house? Was it
           necessary to escape from the palace and from the world and from me and from your child? Was that
           absolutely necessary to attain it?"
               And that is the only time when Buddha looks downwards without saying anything. His silence is
           eloquent. He accepts that yes, it was not necessary.
               He escaped out of the world because it was hard to live in the world. It is hard.

           "Son, I just know that you will do the right thing by this little girl," said the preacher. "You just
           marry her and you will be at the end of your troubles."
              So he did the right thing and he married the girl. And about six months later, when he saw the
           preacher again, he tried to murder him.
           "You miserable liar!" shouted the young man. "You told me if I married her I would be at the end of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           my troubles. Well, I married her and she has made my life miserable!"
           "That may be true, son, but you can't blame me," replied the minister. "I said you would be at the end
           of your troubles, but I never said which end."

               To be in the world is hard, to live in the world IS difficult, because it is living with so many
           lunatics. You yourself are a lunatic and everybody else is a lunatic! The world is in such a mess. It
           simply seems impossible how the good God could manage within six days to make such a mess of
           the world! There was not time enough... and no woman even to advise him! Still he managed.
               Those who know, they say he created Eve only in the end simply so that she would not give
           advice to him; otherwise in six days it would have been impossible to make the world. She would
           have interfered in everything: "Do it this way. This is not right." And since he created Eve he has not
           created anything else. That was too much! He called it a day and he said, "Enough is enough!" Since
           then nothing has been heard about him.

              Shed a tear for the beatnik who committed suicide, leaving a note saying, "Goodbye, cool
           world."

               It is really icy-cold -- no warmth anywhere, no love anywhere, no compassion anywhere. IT IS
           HARD TO LIVE IN THE WORLD AND HARD TO LIVE OUT OF IT. And it is not easy to live
           out of it either; it is even harder to live out of it.
               Man is in such a dilemma! It is difficult to live in the world, it is difficult not to live in the world.
           Have you ever tried living in a Himalayan cave? Try for one month, and the world will look so
           beautiful and so heavenly! A few experiences you have had. It is difficult to live with the wife, but
           when she goes for a few days to her mother's house, it is very difficult to live without her. When she
           is with you, you want to be without her; when she is gone, you want her immediately back.
               It is going to be so, because the ultimate question is neither to live in the world nor out of it. The
           ultimate question is to live in a state of wakefulness. If you are living in sleep IN the world you will
           be in misery; if you live outside the world you will be in far more misery.
               I know both types of people, the worldly and the otherworldly. I know the people who live in the
           marketplace, and I know the people who have renounced the marketplace, and have moved to the
           monasteries. Both are in misery, deep misery, for the simple reason that just changing the place, just
           changing your address from the marketplace to the monastery, does not make any difference at all.
           You are the same person, your consciousness has not changed. And change is needed there. Then
           you can become the center of the cyclone. Then you can live in the cyclone and yet undisturbed.
           But Buddha says that is very rare.
               IT IS HARD TO BE ONE AMONG MANY. That happens only once in a while. Among
           millions, only a single person manages to live joyfully wherever he is -- in the world or outside the
           world. Who is that person who can manage to live joyfully? -- the one who lives in awareness. That
           is Buddha's insistent message.

               AND FOR THE WANDERER, HOW LONG IS THE ROAD
               WANDERING THROUGH MANY LIVES!


               And how long have you been wandering! When are you going to decide to be awake? You have
           slept long enough. It is time to wake up and to start a totally new kind of life which is lived from
           inside. Light a flame inside of awareness, and then wherever you are it is all joy.
               LET HIM REST.... You need rest, you have wandered enough. You are tired, utterly tired,
           weary, bored.

               LET HIM REST.
               LET HIM NOT SUFFER.
               LET HIM NOT FALL INTO SUFFERING.


               The time is right now. Don't suffer anymore. Don't fall again and again into suffering. To fall into
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forgetfulness is suffering; to remember is to come out of suffering. And rest is the most necessary
           step for remembering, for awareness. Relaxation is the whole art of meditation and bliss both.
               How can you rest with so many desires? They go on pulling you apart. You can rest only if you
           learn the secret of desirelessness; if you learn to live moment to moment without any future; if you
           learn to live without any hope for the future; if you live concentratedly in the present, totally
           involved in the moment, neither worried by the past nor worried by the future, relaxed, at rest. Then
           meditation and bliss both are easy, spontaneous growths out of a restful heart, out of a relaxed being.

              IF HE IS A GOOD MAN,
              A MAN OF FAITH, HONORED AND PROSPEROUS,
              WHEREVER HE GOES HE IS WELCOME.


               And don't be worried what will happen to you if you don't take care of your future, if you don't
           plan, if you don't arrange beforehand what is going to happen to you. Don't be worried.
               Buddha says: IF HE IS A GOOD MAN, A MAN OF FAITH... a man who trusts existence, then
           don't be worried: WHEREVER HE GOES HE IS WELCOME -- at least welcome by those who
           know, at least welcome by those who understand... and only their welcome is of any worth.

              LIKE THE HIMALAYAS
              GOOD MEN SHINE FROM AFAR,
              BUT BAD MEN MOVE UNSEEN
              LIKE ARROWS IN THE NIGHT.


               Don't be worried what will happen to you. You will become so luminous -- LIKE THE
           HIMALAYAS -- shining from thousands of miles away. You will become so radiant that people will
           start moving towards you as if you are a great magnet. From far and wide, from all corners of the
           earth, people will start moving towards you, pulled by an unknown force, by a mysterious energy.
               Don't be worried about the future, everything will be taken care of. Trust nature. AES
           DHAMMO SANANTANO: this is the inexhaustible, eternal law. Trust, and nature will shower upon
           you millions of blessings.
               SIT.... Don't rush, don't run. Don't continually be on the move for this and that. SIT. That's
           exactly the meaning of ZAZEN. The word 'zazen' has come from this sutra.

              SIT.
              REST.

              WORK.


               Zazen means just sitting doing nothing. The first thing to do is learn sitting, a deep restfulness.
           Become a pool of rest, not even ripples of desire, going nowhere, no ambition -- not even for God,
           not even for nirvana.
               SIT... not only physically -- psychologically, spiritually too. Learn to sit; that is zazen. And
           REST -- and fall into a deep rest, so the breathing becomes natural, the body becomes cool, all the
           fever of constant desire and turmoil disappears, evaporates.
               And then, WORK. That work will have a totally different quality. It won't be out of desire; it will
           be creativity. It will be because you have so much energy available that you would like to share your
           energy with the world, that you would like to create something, that you would like to make the
           world a little more beautiful, a little more blissful, a little more human.

              ALONE WITH YOURSELF,
              NEVER WEARY.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And remember the difference between loneliness and aloneness. Never feel lonely. You are
           never lonely. At the deepest core of your being, God resides; he is always with you. And whenever
           you are alone, only then will you be able to hear his footsteps. Whenever you are alone, only then
           will you be able to hear his music, his whisperings. He never shouts, he only whispers. He comes
           very silently and goes very silently. Be in a deep rest and you become the host; and he is the guest,
           God is the guest.

              ON THE EDGE OF THE FOREST
              LIVE JOYFULLY....


              The forest represents the unknown, the unknowable. ON THE EDGE OF THE FOREST LIVE
           JOYFULLY.... Be always close to the unknown and the unknowable and don't be afraid. LIVE
           JOYFULLY... because the unknown, the unknowable, is also yours. You belong to it, it belongs to
           you. LIVE JOYFULLY....

              WITHOUT DESIRE.


               Don't ask for anything. Jesus says: Ask, and it shall be given. Buddha says: Ask not, and it shall
           be given. Jesus says: Seek, and ye shall find. Buddha says: Seek not, and ye shall find. Jesus says:
           Knock, and the doors shall be opened unto you. Buddha says: There is no need to knock; the doors
           are already open.
               Why this difference between two enlightened persons? Both are awakened. The difference is
           because of the audience. Jesus is speaking to very ordinary people; Buddha is speaking to his
           commune -- that is the difference. He can speak the highest truth without any compromise. Jesus
           cannot. Jesus has to compromise with the listeners.
               Jesus lived without a commune. Yes, a few disciples he had, twelve disciples -- and those twelve
           disciples are also not of much worth. Buddha had thousands of disciples and of tremendous value --
           because many of them became enlightened while Buddha was alive. In his commune there were at
           least one thousand enlightened people, of the same status as he himself was. He could talk in any
           possible way and it would be understood; there was no worry on his part about being misunderstood.
           Jesus had to be constantly on guard, and even then he was misunderstood and crucified.
               SIT. REST. WORK. Let these three words sink deep in your heart. Learn to sit silently, restfully,
           not fighting with yourself, relaxed. Not in a yoga posture, remember, because the yoga posture is a
           constant effort. No yoga posture is needed. Sit in any way that you find relaxed -- even a chair will
           do.
               Buddha used to sit on the floor; that was easy in those days. You can sit in any posture you like.
           You can use a pillow, a zen pillow, to sit upon; you can use a chair. The question is not the posture;
           the question is inner rest.
               Be at rest... and when energy accumulates in you, start being creative. Paint, sing, dance, or do
           whatsoever you feel like doing to make this world a little more beautiful, a little more warm.
           We have to create a paradise on the earth.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                   Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title: Out of chaos stars are born
           28 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912280
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: DHAM808
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video:     No
                Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHENEVER ONE COMES TO THE ABSURD, SOMETHING INSIDE SIMPLY EXPLODES AND THE
              WHOLE WORLD LOOKS ANEW. IS IT WHEN THE ABSURD BECOMES OVERWHELMING THAT
              ONE GETS AN INSIGHT INTO THE GESTALT OF EVERYTHING?


                Prem Prabhati, the absurd is nothing but another name of God -- and a far more beautiful name
           than God itself. For centuries the theologians, the philosophers have destroyed the beauty of the
           word 'God'. They have painted it, polished it, with such rational garbage that it has no more any life
           left in it. The god of the philosophers is not the true God because it is nothing but a rational concept.
                The God of the lovers is a totally different phenomenon; it has nothing to do with reason, with
           mind. It is the heart pulsating in tune with the whole. It is a song, a symphony. It is a dance, a
           celebration. It is more poetry than prose. It is more intuitive than intellectual. It is something felt not
           thought.
                Hence I say 'the absurd' is a far better name for God.
                The mind has created a subtle structure around itself of rationality to protect the ego, to protect
           the separation from existence. All rationality is man-made -- and God is not man-made. All
           rationality is just a projection of our own ideas on the screen of existence. And God is not a
           projection; it is a discovery.
                To see God one needs eyes absolutely without any idea. The idea is the greatest cloud.
                One of the greatest mystics of the West -- whose name is not known because he has not signed
           his book -- has written one of the most important mystic treatises ever: THE CLOUD OF
           UNKNOWING. He says that it is not through knowledge that you come to know; on the contrary,
           you come to know by UNknowing. This is pure absurdity! It is talking in paradoxes: knowing
           through unknowing.
                What does he mean? He means that when all knowledge has been dropped, when all experience
           has been put aside, when mind as such is no more functioning, then you relate with existence in a
           totally new way. Each fiber of your being pulsates with the whole; it is a rhythmic dance. It IS
           absurd -- you cannot make a theory out of it.
                God is not a hypothesis. If God is a hypothesis, then that hypothesis is no more needed. Far
           better hypotheses have been proposed by science. But God has never been a hypothesis. It is a
           passionate love affair with existence. It is feeling the existence. It is being in a heart-to-heart contact
           with existence.
                Tertullian is always worth remembering -- a great Christian mystic. He says: I believe in God
           because God is absurd -- CREDO QUA ABSURDUM EST. The reason that he gives for his belief is
           that there is no reason to believe.
                Unless you have something in your life which cannot be supported by reason at all, your life will
           not have any significance. Unless you have something for which you can live and for which you can
           die without any rational grounds, you will go on missing the very meaning of life and existence. You
           will remain superficial.
                Hence the absurd can release something tremendous in you; it can become an explosion. It can
           make you see the whole world anew, because it is a rebirth. You slip out of the mind. You are no
           longer covered by the dust of the mind. Everything is fresh and new then. It is mind which makes
           things old. Because of memory, past, the mind goes on interpreting everything new in terms of the
           old. Mind cannot do otherwise. Mind means memory -- memory and nothing else. It is your
           accumulated past experience, and you go on interpreting the new according to the past. Naturally,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the past gives its color to the new, it gives its meaning to the new -- and the new is missed.
               That's why the whole world looks so bored, utterly bored. Existentialists have brought out this
           situation of boredom as one of the most significant points to be pondered over. They say that man is
           utterly bored, and they are right. Only stupid people are not bored, or buddhas are not bored. Stupid
           people are not bored because they don't have that much sensibility, that much sensitiveness to feel
           boredom. And buddhas are not bored because they don't carry the past. Everything is so fresh, so
           new; everything is such a surprise. Every moment you are in for a surprise.
               For a buddha, life is a continuous revelation, unending revelation. There is no beginning to it and
           no end to it. It is a mystery; unfathomable, immeasurable, unknown and not only unknown but
           unknowable too. You can only taste it, feel it, see it, touch it, but you cannot KNOW it. You cannot
           reduce it to a theorem, to a hypothesis; that is not possible.
               Prabhati, you are right: if you can have a contact with the absurdity of it all, with the irrationality
           of existence, you are moving into a totally different dimension -- moving from mind to no-mind,
           moving from mind to meditation. That's what meditation is all about: taking you out of the prison of
           the mind, the prison of the past. And there is no other prison; that past is the only prison.
               The man of awareness -- the meditator -- goes on dying every moment to the past so that he
           remains new, fresh, childlike. Yes, if the absurd becomes overwhelming, you will have your first
           insight into the gestalt of everything. But remember again, the insight will not be rational. You will
           not be able to explain it away. You will not be able to say anything about it. You will be able to see,
           but suddenly you will become dumb. Suddenly you will find language absolutely inadequate, words
           impotent; communication is not possible. Then only communion remains.
               When you know WITHOUT knowledge, the only way to convey the message is through silence,
           through love, through compassion, through being. You can hold the hand of your friend and
           something may transpire. You can embrace your friend and something may transpire. You can just
           look into the eyes of your friend and something may transpire. The absurd can only be expressed
           through absurd ways. You can dance or you can sing.

           There is a beautiful story of a Baul mystic:
               A very rich man, a goldsmith, came to see the mystic and he asked about God: "Do you believe
           in God? Is there really a God? Does God exist?"
               The Baul mystic listened to all his queries smiling, and then he started dancing, playing on his
           EKTARA -- a one-stringed instrument -- he started dancing.
               The goldsmith said, "Are you mad or something? I am asking great metaphysical questions!
           Rather than answering me, you start dancing! Are you drunk?"
               And the mystic said, "That's true, I am drunk -- drunk with the divine! But please don't
           misunderstand me, don't feel offended. This is the only way I can answer your questions."
               And he sang a song -- a song of tremendous beauty and meaning and insight. He said, "I know
           that you are a goldsmith. I know that you can judge whether something is made of real gold or not.
           You have a touchstone on which it can be judged. But it will be absolutely useless if you come into
           the garden and start judging roses on your touchstone. For the gold it is okay, but for the roses it is
           not at all relevant. Roses cannot be judged on the touchstone on which gold can be judged. You can't
           know through the touchstone whether the roses are true or not true. For that you will need a totally
           different kind of approach.
           "I know that you have studied much; you are very much interested in philosophical reasoning,
           argumentation. I have heard about you. But all that reasoning is as absurd here as the touchstone of
           the goldsmith will be in the garden. I am singing, I am dancing, I am playing music. Feel it! If you
           can dance with me, come on, dance with me! That may give you some insight into the world where I
           live. That may give you a touch of the unknown. There is no other way. I cannot logically answer
           your questions, hence my illogical act."

               When Bodhidharma, the great mystic, reached China, the emperor of China had come to
           welcome him on the border; with thousands of people he had come to receive the great mystic. But
           he felt very embarrassed seeing Bodhidharma. He had never thought, he could have never imagined,
           that Bodhidharma would enter China in such an insane way. Bodhidharma was carrying one of his
           shoes on his head. One shoe was on one foot; the other foot was bare -- and the other shoe was on his
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           head!
              The king asked, "I don't understand. Why are you carrying one shoe on your head? Shoes are not
           meant to be carried on the head!"
              Bodhidharma said, "This is the beginning. If you cannot understand this, then it is better I should
           go back. You have to understand one thing absolutely: that my approach is absurd. This is just to
           give an indication of my approach -- that I am not a philosopher. You can call me a madman, but I
           am not a philosopher -- and I am going to put things upside down! All that you have thought up to
           now, I am going to disturb it. I will bring a chaos into your being, because only out of chaos stars are
           born."

               It is very difficult to drop reason, because one feels frightened. Reason gives you a sense of
           order. Reason gone, there is only chaos. But remember, reason is barren; chaos is a womb. Out of
           that chaos something of tremendous importance is born: YOU are reborn.
               Yes, if the absurd can overwhelm you, you will have an insight into the gestalt of everything; an
           insight which is untransferable, an insight which is inexpressible. But there are ways beyond words
           through which it can be communicated.
               That's the whole secret of the relationship of a master to a disciple. It is an absurd phenomenon.
           That's why the West has not known it yet. The West knows the relationship between a teacher and a
           student; it knows nothing of the relationship between a master and a disciple. The West is absolutely
           unaware of that dimension. That's why Jesus could not be understood, Socrates could not be
           understood.
               In the East, crucifying a Buddha has not been our practice; giving poison to Lao Tzu has not
           been our way. Why were Jesus, Socrates and Mansoor killed? For the simple reason that they were
           trying to bring something absolutely Eastern to the West. They were trying to bring a new insight
           into God, and the time was not ripe. Maybe NOW the time is ripe. Jesus came a little early.
               Now the time is ripe. Now the West has the possibility to open up a new door -- the absurd -- and
           enter through that door. That is the only door to the temple of God.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              OLD HABITS DIE HARD!


               Prem Harideva, it is true... but why? Why do old habits die hard? -- because you are nothing but
           your old habits. If they die, YOU will die. You don't have anything more, you don't have anything
           plus. You are just your old habits, old patterns. You are a mechanism, not yet a man; that's why old
           habits die hard. It is very rare that a man exists, very few and far between.
               A Buddha is a real man, authentic. A Zarathustra is a real man -- a man worth calling a man. The
           ordinary humanity is just robotlike: it lives unconsciously, it lives mechanically. And habits are all
           that you have. If you drop all your habits you will simply start evaporating; you will not find
           yourself at all. What are you? Just watch, and you will find a bundle of old habits. You don't yet
           have anything more.
               That's the whole effort of meditation: to bring something more to your life which is not a habit,
           something which is spontaneous, something which is nonmechanical, something which transforms
           you from a robot into a conscious being.
               George Gurdjieff used to say that every man is not born with a soul. On the surface it appears not
           believable because for centuries you have been told by the priests that everybody is born with a soul
           and you believe in it. It is comfortable to believe that you have a soul. It feels very good, cozy,
           warm, that deep inside you, you have a soul, eternal, immortal. And Gurdjieff says you don't have a
           soul at all! You are jut hollow within; there is nothing inside you -- just habits and habits, a cluster of
           habits and at the very center there is nobody. The house is empty. The master has not yet come or is
           fast asleep.
               Gurdjieff is right: you are only potentially a human being. A possibility is there, but the
           possibility can be easily missed. And millions of people miss it because to become conscious, to
           become a soul, arduous effort is needed. It is an uphill task. To remain in your habits is cheap, easy,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           downhill. Gravitation is enough; it goes on pulling you.
               It is like when you are coming downhill in a car, you put the engine off. You don't need any gas
           for coming downhill; the pull of gravitation is enough. But that cannot be done when you are moving
           uphill; then gas will be needed. You will need some integrity, some power. And only consciousness
           releases power.
               Consciousness is the key, the ignition key, that releases power in you, and you become capable
           of soaring high.
               Otherwise, Harideva, this old saying is right: Old habits die hard... because there is nobody who
           can kill those old habits.

               At breakfast, Feinberg's wife said to him, "We are having Sonia's boyfriend to dinner for the first
           time. We are gonna have a big meal with our best dishes. So please behave. Don't eat with your
           knife, or you will kill her chance of marriage."
               That night at supper all went well. Feinberg hardly touched a thing for fear of using the wrong
           tool. Then coffee arrived. Feinberg took the cup and started to pour his java into the saucer. The
           family was looking daggers at him. Feinberg kept right on pouring. Finally the saucer was full.
               Feinberg raised it to his mouth, looked around the table, and said, "One word out of any of you
           and I will make bubbles!"

                It is difficult, it is very hard. You have to be conscious, alert, on guard. You have to go on
           remembering. And remembrance is the most difficult thing in existence.
                Habits can be dropped not by fighting against them. That's what people ordinarily do. If they
           want to change a habit they create another habit against it to fight with it. They move from one habit
           into another habit. If you want to drop smoking you start chewing gum; now it is as foolish as the
           other. You change one habit for another, but you remain the same unconscious person.
                To drop the habit and not to compensate for it and to remain utterly aware and alert so that you
           don't start moving into another substitute is one of the hardest things in life. But it is not impossible;
           otherwise there will be no possibility of a Buddha, of a Christ, of a Krishna. Because buddhas
           happen, it is possible -- although difficult, very difficult; a great challenge has to be accepted. And
           all those who have any respect for themselves always accept the challenge of the greatest, the hardest
           thing.
                To reach to the moon is not so hard, it is not so difficult. To go to Everest is child's play
           compared with remembering constantly what you are doing, being aware. But the day awareness
           starts happening, you know the ecstasy of being, the bliss of being. You know something which
           cannot be imagined. It is so vast, it is so inexhaustible!
                AES DHAMMO SANANTANO. Buddha says: It is the ultimate law of bliss, of joy, of ecstasy.
           And it is inexhaustible; once you enter into it, it is forever yours. Jesus calls it the kingdom of God;
           that is his expression for it. But one has to become alert enough, aware enough, so that one can
           disidentify oneself with the habits, with the patterns, structures, that have become ingrained in your
           being.

               This very rich but very miserly old man is dying, so he calls to his deathbed three men of the
           cloth -- a rabbi, a priest, and a minister.
               When they arrive he says, "Gentlemen, you know the old saying: You can't take it with you.
           Well, taking it with me is precisely what I propose to do. And because of your religious
           backgrounds, I feel I can trust you. Here, in these three boxes, is the greater part of all my wealth.
           My dying wish is that each of you places one box in my grave."
               All three agree to his request, upon which the dying man distributes the boxes and dies. Sure
           enough, on the day of the funeral, they all show up and each places a box in the grave. Later on they
           decide to go to a nearby pub for a drink, where, after a long silence, the priest at last speaks.
           "Friends," says the priest, "I am afraid I have a confession to make. I did not put all the money in the
           grave. What with contributions falling off lately and the church in need of repair, it seemed such a
           sin not to put some of the money where it will do some good."
               Then the minister says, "Father, I am glad you spoke up. As you know, I am the head of several
           charities. And, likewise, it seemed to me such a sin to just bury all that money. So I too kept some of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it, of course a small portion, to help these very worthwhile and needy charities of mine."
                After another long silence, the priest and the minister ask the rabbi, who has been looking out the
           window all this time, what he thinks about their actions.
           "Well," says the rabbi, "I must say that I am deeply surprised, not to say shocked. As a rabbi,
           respecting the wishes of a dying man, I could only put in the full amount. In fact, I gave him my own
           personal cheque!"

              A Jew is a Jew! Whether he is a rabbi or not does not make much difference: old habits die hard.
           But they can die. And you have to make all the efforts so that they die, because in their death is the
           beginning of your real life.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT REALLY SO LOUSY AS YOU WERE SAYING THE OTHER DAY?


               Pradipama, it is not really a question of the Indian government; basically it is the Indian mind.
           Indian mind is lousy; Indian government is only an expression of the Indian mind. And because the
           Indian mind is lousy, whatsoever it does becomes lousy. For centuries the Indian mind has lived in
           this state. There is a reason why it has happened.
               The West is not so lousy; there is a reason for that too. Three religions were born outside of
           India: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. They are all really offshoots of Judaism; Judaism is the source of
           them all. Three great religions were born in India: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism. They also are all
           offshoots of Hinduism. So, in fact in the world there are only two basic religions: Judaism and
           Hinduism. And the one basic difference between them is that Judaism believes in one life and
           Hinduism believes in many lives, in reincarnation. That has made the whole difference.
               If there is only one life you have to be in a hurry. You have to do everything quick and you have
           to do everything skillfully so you need not do it again, because time is short. In the West, time is
           money. Because time is so short -- seventy, eighty years... half of it will be simply wasted in sleep;
           most of it will be wasted in earning bread and butter, the remainder in looking at the TV. What is left
           for you? Hence there is a great hurry in the West and a great longing for speed -- without ever
           thinking where you are going. Everybody is going; the only question is that one should go fast. Who
           cares where? -- because who has time to bother about where? The only question is: with what speed
           are you going?

           I have heard:
               An airplane was lost in the clouds. Its many sophisticated machines were not working and the
           pilot informed the passengers on the telecom, "Don't be worried. There is bad news and there is good
           news too. The bad news first: that we don't know where we are going. The good news: that we are
           going with such beautiful speed that you need not worry. The speed is perfect."

               In the East, Hinduism introduced the idea of reincarnation: many many lives, millions of lives.
           There is more time than you need; it is not money at all. Then there is no question of hurry, no
           question of speed, no question of being skillful. You can do the same thing again and again. You can
           sleep and let the time pass. If this life goes down the drain there is nothing to worry about: there will
           be another life and another, and so on, so forth.
               These two ideas have created two different kinds of people on the earth: the Western mind and
           the Eastern mind. Both these ideas were created for a different reason, but when things reach to the
           unconscious man he changes them according to his unconsciousness. Both are beautiful ideas, can be
           of tremendous importance.
               The idea that there is only one life means that you should not waste it in unnecessary things.
           Don't waste it in accumulating money, gadgets; don't waste it in superficial things. Think of the
           essential, not of the accidental. That was the message behind it. But what happened? People turned it
           completely upside down. They became much more interested in the nonessential, because there is
           not much time, so "Eat, drink and be merry! You are not going to be born again, so have as much as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you can have of this world."
                That's what happened in the West. The idea was to make you a seeker for the essential, but it was
           transformed into its very opposite. It became: "Eat, drink and be merry, because soon you will not be
           here -- and you will not be coming again. Who knows about the other world, and who knows about
           God, and who knows about heaven? Don't be bothered with such nonsense, such esoteric nonsense!
           You be simple, and enjoy this life as much as you can. Live it! Squeeze every moment to your heart's
           content." That's what became of the great idea that was given by Abraham and Moses to the West.
                And in the East, the idea that there are millions of lives had also a tremendously significant
           message. It was to remind you that you have lived many many times in the same rotten way. You
           have been moving in a wheel, you have been going in circles. Are you not bored yet? Are you not
           fed up yet? Are you so stupid that you can't see the utter futility of it all? Living for so many lives,
           desiring the same things, succeeding and failing, and dying every time; have you not become aware
           that something ELSE is needed? This world won't do, you have to transcend it. This was the idea
           behind Patanjali, Mahavira, Krishna, Buddha, and their message.
                Reincarnation simply means: be BORED with the whole idea of desiring this and that. Be
           finished with it. Jump out of this wheel of life and death. But what really happened was totally
           different, just the opposite. What happened was that India became very lousy, slow. The unconscious
           mind interpreted the whole message that there is no need to be in a hurry. "There are many many
           lives, so why worry? We will think of God in the old age or in the next life. There is no shortage of
           time, so go slow." East has not moved at all; it is stuck. It has become undynamic, dormant, stagnant.
                This is one of the great calamities that happens always. Whenever a conscious man gives you a
           certain strategy, a certain idea to help you, you change it according to your mind, and rather than
           using it as a help it becomes a harmful thing for you. You are given nectar by the buddhas; by the
           time it reaches you it becomes poison.
                So it is not really a question of the Indian government; the Indian government is only an
           expression of the Indian mind. The Indian mind needs a change, just as the Western mind needs a
           change. Both have gone wrong. I have no preference for either. Both have created misery for
           humanity up to now.
                We need a new mind which will not be either Western or Eastern -- a new, global mind. For the
           first time, a universal mind is needed. And for the first time we need a man who thinks not in terms
           of nations, hemispheres, races, blood, color, religions, but who thinks only in terms of
           consciousness. We need to raise the consciousness of this whole humanity.
           India suffers from great lousiness.

                A guy dies and goes straight up to paradise. Saint Peter stops him at the gate and says, "Sorry,
           sir, but you can't come in. You are not registered in the paradise list. You have to go to hell. But as
           you were not so bad you can choose between the Indian hell or the German hell."
           "Well," says the guy, "before choosing I would like to know what the difference is."
           "Okay, I will explain," says Peter. "The Indian hell is a swimming pool full of shit and you stand in it
           with shit right above your head and each time you try to put your head out of the shit there is a guard
           who hits you on the head with his stick till you go back under."
           "And what about the German hell?" asks the guy.
           "The German hell is a swimming pool full of shit and you stand in it with shit above your head and
           each time you try to get out there is a guard who hits you on the head with his stick."
           "So," says the guy, "I don't see much difference...."
           "You know what," says Peter. "As I am feeling pretty far out today I will tell you something: in the
           Indian hell there is sometimes not enough shit, or the guard is not there, or he forgets his stick...."

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO YOU THINK IT IS POSSIBLE TO MEASURE LIFE AND LOVE IN PERCENTAGES, AS YOU DID
              IN THE LECTURE THE OTHER DAY?


              Meeshael, what other day? I have completely forgotten! My memory is not very good.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Harvey was traveling east by train to a business convention in New Orleans. On the train he
           happened to read an article in the READER'S DIGEST about a seventy-five-year-old American
           Indian from Arizona who was reported to have the longest memory in the world.
               Since the train was passing within a few miles of this famous Indian, Harvey decided to stop and
           visit him. Sure enough, he was directed to a large teepee in the middle of an Indian reservation.
           Inside the teepee an old wrinkled man was sitting crosslegged smoking a pipe.
               After exchanging a few formalities, Harvey asked, "What did you have for breakfast on
           December 11, 1908?"
               The Indian crossed his hands over his chest and grunted, "Eggs!"
               Harvey was immensely impressed and left to catch his train.
               Ten years later, while traveling through Arizona, Harvey decided to stop and see if the old Indian
           was still alive. Sure enough, he was led to the same teepee, but was cautioned to enter very slowly as
           the old man was very old and must not be startled. Once inside Harvey raised up one hand and
           greeted him in friendly Indian style, "How!" -- upon which the old Indian grunted, "Scrambled!"

           Now, I don't have that type of memory!
                Meeshael, what I can say today I will say; I don't know about the other day.
                Love and life cannot be measured in percentages. Nothing can be measured, in fact, because the
           whole is one and immeasurable. But for certain purposes it is possible to use the method of
           measurement, but that is only for certain purposes.
                For example, life cannot be measured, but this can be said: that life exists only between a short
           range of temperature -- from ninety-eight degrees to a hundred and ten, only twelve degrees. Beyond
           a hundred and ten and you are finished; fall below the normal and you start slipping. So just twelve,
           fifteen degrees' span.... For a certain purpose -- for a medical purpose -- that's perfectly true.
                Life cannot be measured if you think of consciousness, but if you think of the mind it can be
           measured. Your mind is nothing but a biocomputer -- and sooner or later, computers will be doing
           better than your mind. It is possible even in your life, because by the end of this century robots will
           be walking on the roads -- and they will look exactly like you. And many times you will be in
           trouble: you may think that the man is real or the woman is real, and the woman or the man may be
           just a robot.
                Now scientists are thinking to cover the mechanism of the robot with artificial, synthetic skin.
           They will grow hair and they will behave exactly like you. Only once in a while you will suspect that
           something is wrong -- when their battery will go down. Then, "Grrr, grrr, grrr!" Otherwise they will
           be perfectly okay. Just a moment before the woman was hugging you and saying, "I love you," and
           now she says, "Grrr, grrr...." The difference will only be known when the person will fall ill: the real
           one will go to the hospital and the robot will go to the factory, to the garage. Then you will know the
           difference; otherwise there will be no possibility of knowing.
                In fact, the ordinary man is already nothing but a robot. Your unconscious life can be measured
           in percentages and your love can also be measured in percentages -- because what love do you have?
           It is nothing but chemistry!
                Yes, the love of a Christ or a Buddha is immeasurable because it is transcendental to the
           hormones, to the chemistry, to the physiology. But your love is hormonal. Just give an injection of
           strong hormones and great love arises in you. Take a few hormones out of you, and it falls flat on the
           ground; all love disappears. Your love can be measured, but it is not love; it is just a biological urge.
           And your life is a chemical phenomenon. But there is a life behind your life and there is a love above
           your love that is immeasurable.
                But neither is my memory very good, nor is my mathematics very good.

               Killoran was considered by most of the villagers to be the dumbest man in the town. One day he
           showed up in new clothes and began buying rounds of drinks at the neighborhood saloon. The
           neighbors wondered what had happened.
               When one of them finally asked him, Killoran replied, "I won the first prize in a big lottery."
           "How did you ever guess the lucky number?"
           "Well, three times running I dreamed of seven. So I figured it out that three times seven is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           twenty-four and I bought ticket number twenty-four, and it won."
           "Why, you fool, three times seven is twenty-one, not twenty-four."
           "You've got the education," said Killoran, "I've got the lottery money."

               And, Meeshael, that's what I would like to say to you: you may know mathematics -- you have
           got the education, I have got the lottery money!

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE HEARD THAT MARRIED MEN LIVE LONGER THAN THE UNMARRIED. IS IT SO?


               Satyadeva, meditate over Murphy's maxim: Married men don't really live longer. It only seems
           that way.
               And, Satyadeva, why are YOU worried? I think you must be beyond sixty now. Are you thinking
           to get married so as to live longer? It is time to think of something else -- time to think of death, not
           of marriage; time to think of the eternal, not the longer.
               Even if you live to seventy, eighty, ninety, what does it matter? What will you do? If you live
           ninety or a hundred years you will do the same stupidities again and again. What have you been
           doing up to now for these sixty years? You will do the same things even if you are given sixty years
           more. Think of something new!
               And death is bound to come. When you die is not important; death is absolutely certain, THAT is
           important. After birth only one thing is certain in life and that is death; everything else is uncertain.
           Don't try to escape death, don't try to avoid it. For centuries people have been trying all kinds of
           ways to avoid death, but death comes all the same. Whether married or unmarried it doesn't matter:
           you will die. You are dying!
               In fact, death does not come one day suddenly; it starts the day you are born. You start dying
           from the very first breath. Each birthday is a deathday. Your life is slipping out of your hands and
           you cannot escape.

           An ancient Sufi parable:
               A rich merchant in Baghdad sent his servant one day to the marketplace to buy food. But after a
           few minutes the servant returned looking panic-stricken.
           "Master!" he cried. "You must lend me your best horse immediately, so that I may flee to Damascus
           and thereby escape my fate."
           "Whatever is the matter?" asked the merchant.
           "I went to the marketplace and I saw Death standing there among the stallholders!" exclaimed the
           servant. "He made a hostile gesture at me and started walking towards me. I beg you, lend me your
           best horse so that I may flee to Damascus and escape."
               The merchant was a kind man and he did as his servant asked. Then he himself walked down to
           the marketplace to see if the story was true. Sure enough, Death was standing in the crowd.
           "Why did you make a hostile gesture at my servant?" asked the merchant.
           "I made no gesture of hostility," replied Death. "I was simply very surprised to see him, for I have an
           appointment with him tonight... in Damascus."

                You cannot escape. Wherever you go you will find your death waiting for you. Yes, it can be
           prolonged, postponed, but what is the point? Rather than postponing, why not use this opportunity of
           becoming aware of death -- that it is approaching, that it is on the way, that any moment you will be
           in its grip. Don't ask for the horse and don't try to go to Damascus. You cannot escape. The only way
           is to transcend, not to escape.
                You ask me, "I have heard that married men live longer than the unmarried. Is it so?"
                If it is so, then what? Will you get married? At the age of sixty it will be so stupid. A man of
           twenty can be forgiven, but you cannot be forgiven.

              Mr. Goldberg visited the doctor's office, complaining that he had flying crabs. A lab test was
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           taken, and Mr. Goldberg anxiously waited while the doctor with a sad look came to give him the
           report. "I am sorry, Mr. Goldberg," he said, "but those flying crabs we thought you had -- well, they
           turned out to be fruit flies. I am sorry, but your banana is dead."

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                   Chapter #9
                                  Chapter title: Sannyas is for sannyas' sake
           29 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912290
              ShortTitle: DHAM809
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              ONE MAN DENIES TRUTH.
              ANOTHER DENIES HIS OWN ACTIONS.
              BOTH GO INTO THE DARK
              AND IN THE NEXT WORLD SUFFER
              FOR THEY OFFEND TRUTH.



              WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE.
              BUT IF YOU ARE RECKLESS
              YOU WILL FALL INTO DARKNESS.



              IF YOU ARE RECKLESS,
              BETTER TO SWALLOW MOLTEN IRON
              THAN TO EAT AT THE TABLE OF GOOD FOLK.



              IF YOU COURT ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE
              YOU COURT TROUBLE.
              YOUR SLEEP IS BROKEN.
              YOU LOSE YOUR HONOR.
              YOU FALL INTO DARKNESS.



              YOU GO AGAINST THE LAW,
              YOU GO INTO THE DARK.
              YOUR PLEASURES END IN FEAR
              AND THE KING'S PUNISHMENT IS HARSH.



              BUT AS A BLADE OF GRASS HELD AWKWARDLY
              MAY CUT YOUR HAND,
              SO RENUNCIATION MAY LEAD YOU INTO THE DARK.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The mother superior of a convent advertised for a cleaner and retired old Cohen applied for the
           job. Since he was the only applicant, the mother superior had no other choice but to hire him.
               Six months later the mother called Mr. Cohen to her office and said to him, "Dear Mr. Cohen, we
           are very very pleased with your work. You are the first of your faith to be employed by us and I must
           repeat that we are pleased. You are a conscientious man and the church has never been cleaner.
           There are, however, three things I feel I should point out to you. Firstly, Mr. Cohen, don't wash your
           hands in the holy water. Secondly, don't hang your coat on the cross. And thirdly, please address me
           as Mother Superior and not as Mrs. Shapiro."

               Man ordinarily is a robot. He lives apparently awake, but not really. He walks, he talks, he acts,
           but it is all as if in sleep -- not conscious of what he is doing, not conscious of what he is saying, not
           conscious of all that surrounds him. He moves surrounded in a dark cloud of unawareness.
               According to Gautama the Buddha, this is the original sin: to live unconsciously, to act out of
           unconsciousness.
               In fact, the word 'sin' comes from a root which means forgetfulness. Sin simply means that we
           are not conscious, aware, alert, that we don't have any inner light to guide us.
               Buddha talks again and again in these sutras about falling into darkness, but you can fall into
           darkness only if your inside is full of darkness. Whatsoever is your inside is going to be your
           destiny. If the inner is full of light, the whole existence is full of light. If the inner is dark, then of
           course it is nothing but a dark night of the soul all around. You live through your inner core, so
           whatsoever is the case with your center is going to be reflected by your circumference. The whole
           world only reflects you, echoes you, resounds you. It is nothing but you multiplied a millionfold. So
           if you come across ugliness, it must be somewhere inside you. If you meet the enemy, you must have
           projected it. If you see death, that means something in you is rotten, something in you with which
           you have become identified corresponds to death.
               The world is a mirror; it always shows your real face to you. Buddha insists again and again: Use
           the world as a mirror, and then go inside and find out the cause. The cause is always in the inner; the
           effect is in the outer. Don't be deceived by the effect. Don't start thinking that the effect is the cause
           because then you will be leading a life rooted in utter ignorance. The face in the mirror is not the
           cause; the face in the mirror is only the effect. Don't try to change the face in the mirror, don't try to
           paint it.
               That's what we go on doing; that's what our whole life consists of. We are always trying to look
           good in the eyes of others; that is trying to look good in the mirror. What are those eyes of others but
           mirrors? We are always trying to convince others of our goodness, of our truth, of our sincerity,
           authenticity, religiousness, spirituality. What is the point of convincing anybody? In fact, by
           convincing others we are trying to convince ourselves. If the others are convinced -- if the mirror can
           reflect a beautiful face -- than we can be at ease with ourselves. We can also believe that we are
           beautiful.
               This is the illusion in which we live, and this is the illusion that the society helps to strengthen.
           The society feeds it, the society nourishes it. The whole effort of the society is to make the mirror
           more important than yourself, because then you can be dominated, you can be reduced to slaves.
           And the mirror is in others' hands.
               Somebody says to you, "You are so holy!" If you believe him, if this becomes an ego
           nourishment for you, unconsciously you have become dependent on the person. Now you will be
           afraid of him -- he can withdraw any moment. He can say to you any moment, "You are no longer
           holy." You have to go on convincing him. You have to behave according to his idea of holiness. If
           he wants you to fast, you will have to fast. If he wants you to go every Sunday to the church, you
           will have to go to the church every Sunday. If you want to keep your face beautiful in his eyes then
           you have to follow his ideas of what spirituality means.
               This is a very subtle slavery and the society uses it. It respects those who become instruments of
           the society, of the tradition. It respects those who are conformists.
               Buddha says: Discover your original face. Don't be bothered about the mirror, because mirrors
           can be made which may show your ugly face as beautiful. You must have seen mirrors of many
           kinds; they can show different kinds of faces to you. One mirror shows your face very long, another
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mirror shows your face very fat, another mirror shows your face very thin. They can distort, they can
           make it ugly, they can make it beautiful too. And the mirror is in the society's hands.
               Don't trust the mirrors. Close your eyes and search for the original face. But to close one's eyes
           and to search for one's original face is a little arduous journey, because in your inner world for
           centuries, for many lives, you have accumulated only darkness. You are afraid of the inner. You
           have only a repressed reservoir of unfulfilled desires, greed, anger, lust.
               Your religions have been telling you to repress, and to repress means you go on piling up inside
           your being all that the society condemns. Now you will be afraid to go in because you will have to
           encounter all those ugly things. They are not ugly, but you have been taught that they are ugly and
           you have been conditioned, hypnotized that they are ugly -- and you believe that they are ugly.
               The first thing for the seeker is to get rid of all these beliefs given by others. A believer can never
           find the truth.

           The first sutra:

               ONE MAN DENIES TRUTH.
               ANOTHER DENIES HIS OWN ACTIONS.


               Buddha is talking about you, keep on remembering. He is not talking about anybody else, he is
           addressing YOU. Otherwise the mind is very clever and cunning. It goes on saying, "He is saying
           these things to somebody else -- you are an exception." You are not -- nobody is. When buddhas
           speak they speak to the universal, they don't speak to the exceptional -- because, in fact, there are no
           exceptions. You become exceptional only when you become a buddha, but then you don't need any
           buddha to talk to you. Then you don't need any message from any awakened person. You ARE
           awakened.

           Once it happened:
               One awakened man, a Sufi mystic, Farid, met Kabir, another awakened man. They sat for two
           days together in absolute silence. Yes, sometimes they hugged each other and they laughed madly
           and they danced together, but not a single word was uttered.
               When the disciples of Farid asked him, "Why for two days continuously didn't you speak a single
           word?" he said, "There was no need, because wherever I am, Kabir is also there. We belong to the
           same dimension, we are bathed in the same light. We are not separate, we only appear separate -- on
           the circumference, from the outside -- but our inner beings are at the same point, merging, melting.
           There is no need to say anything to the other."
               And the same was the reply of Kabir to his own disciples. He said, "It would have been foolish to
           say anything, absolutely foolish, ridiculous. Something has to be said only because you cannot
           understand silence; if you can understand silence, then what is the need of words? What is the need
           of language? Between two buddhas, language is irrelevant. Silence is so beautiful, so tremendously
           beautiful, so deep, so profound, so expressive, so eloquent, what is the need of words? But words are
           needed because you cannot understand anything else."

                It is out of compassion that buddhas have spoken -- compassion for those who can only
           understand language. And language is a poor thing, very poor, very inadequate. Remember it; then
           slowly you can find out something in these sutras -- not exactly in the words, but between the words;
           not exactly in the lines, but between the lines, in the gaps, in the intervals, some glimpses, some taste
           of silence, some perfume.
                ONE MAN DENIES TRUTH. How do people deny truth and why? First, their lies have become
           their investments. Watch your own life. You have invested so much in your lies, you would not like
           to know the truth, because the truth will shatter all your palaces, all your dreams. The truth will
           shatter all that you have believed up to now. You know it deep down in your heart that you are living
           in lies, but they are beautiful, they are nice, they are cozy, and you have lived in them so long that it
           seems difficult to live without them.

           There is an ancient Sufi parable:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A man gave to a Sufi mystic a present, a golden bowl with a beautiful fish in it. The Sufi looked
           at the bowl and the fish and felt very sorry for the fish, because the bowl is an imprisonment.
               He went to the lake and he was tremendously happy in liberating the fish. He threw the fish into
           the lake. He was happy that at least now the fish can have the whole lake, the great freedom, the
           space that really belongs to her. A golden bowl -- although it is golden it is a confinement.
               Then he thought, what will he do with this bowl? So he threw the bowl also into the lake.
               The next morning he went to see how the fish was. He was surprised: the fish was in the bowl
           and the bowl was in the lake. What had happened to the fish? She had again chosen the bowl. Now
           the bowl is in the lake, but the fish is not in the lake; the fish has entered into the bowl again. She has
           lived so long in it, it is her home. The mystic thinks it is a prison, but not the fish; she may have been
           afraid of the freedom.

               People become very afraid of freedom, more afraid than of anything else. You will be surprised
           to know that people talk about freedom, but when freedom is really given to them they become
           afraid, frightened, scared, because freedom is vast, unmanageable, uncontrollable. You cannot
           dominate it. Slavery is small, it is smaller than you. You feel good with it -- you seem to be big
           compared to your slavery. But compared to your freedom you are nobody, a nonentity, a
           nothingness. And who wants to be a nothingness? Everybody wants to be somebody; even though
           one has to live in a prison, one is ready.... If you can be made the head of the prisoners -- a president,
           a prime minister, or something like that -- you would like, you would love to live in the prison rather
           than be free and nobody.
               The first requirement for attaining to truth is the capacity to be free, the capacity to be nobody.
           The ego is the greatest barrier. The ego can exist only in a golden bowl; it can't exist in a lake. It is
           bound to melt, merge and disappear.
               Lies are good for the ego. In fact, the ego is the greatest lie; it feeds on other lies. Although truth
           has a way of coming up again and again... howsoever repressed, it surfaces, because it is truth; you
           can repress it only for the time being. And to repress truth you will have to be constantly on guard.
           Of course you will get tired, you will need a little rest, and whenever you are resting the truth
           surfaces. The truth comes in your life again and again; you can go on denying it, but it never denies
           you. You can deny God, but God never denies you.
               Friedrich Nietzsche declared: There is no God. God is dead. But God has remained silent. He
           didn't become annoyed; otherwise at least he would have shouted.

               I have heard about one atheist, Diderot, who used to argue against God. He had a special
           argument. In front of the audience he would take his pocket watch and would say that it is such a
           time -- eight thirty: "Now if there is a God and if you are almighty, omnipotent, omniscient,
           omnipresent, then you must be here, because you are everywhere. And if you are really there, do
           only one thing: stop this watch, even for five minutes, and that will be enough proof of your
           existence."
               His whole life he used that argument. People would wait without breathing, that maybe God is
           going to do something. But God never stopped his watch, not even once.

               You can go on denying God, but God never denies you. You can go on refuting truth, but truth
           never refutes you. Your denial does not become an irritation; your denial is only a childish act. Truth
           goes on again and again visiting you; it never tires of you. And if you watch your life, you will be
           surprised in how many ways it comes.

               Bobby's mother had been away for a few weeks and was questioning her small son about events
           during her absence.
           "Well, one night we had a thunderstorm and I was scared, so daddy and me slept together."
           "Bobby," said the boy's pretty young French nursemaid, "you mean daddy and I."
           "No," said Bobby, "that was last Thursday. I am talking about Monday night."

              Truth has its own ways. It may speak through your child, it may speak through a flower, it may
           speak through a sunray, it may speak through a distant call of the cuckoo. It has different ways of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           approaching you. Unless you are absolutely deaf, and nobody is absolutely deaf; unless you are
           absolutely blind, and nobody is absolutely blind.... You recognize it, but you go on denying still.
           You go on avoiding it. You don't want to LOOK at it. You escape; you know ways how to escape
           from it, although your escapes are not of much value. In fact, in escaping also you emphasize truth.

               Grace and Martha were from a very prim and proper Eastern finishing school, and they were
           spending their vacations together in New York. They met a bohemian artist and at one of his
           exhibitions Grace noticed that a canvas of a provocative nude bore a striking resemblance to her
           girlfriend.
           "Martha," she gasped, "that painting looks exactly like you! Don't tell me you have been posing in
           the nude."
           "Certainly not," Martha stammered, blushing furiously. "He must have painted it from memory."

               Even your escapes emphasize something from which you are escaping. There is really no way to
           escape from truth. There is no way to run away from truth because wherever you run, truth is there;
           in whatsoever direction you run, truth is there.
           Buddha says: ONE MAN DENIES TRUTH.
               The first and the most fundamental way of denying the truth is to believe in certain systems.
           Systems of belief are the most cunning ways of denying the truth. One is a Hindu, another is a
           Mohammedan; one is a Christian, another is a Jew. These are all ways of denying the truth. Rather
           than seeking and searching, rather than inquiring, you believe. Belief means you have borrowed it
           from others, who had borrowed it from others and so on, so forth. Belief means it is not your
           experience -- and unless it is your experience it is not truth.
               But belief can give you a very deceptive feeling that you know. The Mohammedan, the
           Christian, the Jaina, the Buddhist, they all think they know. And what is the cause of their feeling? --
           because they have learned from scriptures, from priests. Like parrots they have become efficient in
           repeating -- beautiful words, logical systems; but all is speculation, guesswork. All is imitation. They
           have not known a single truth in their lives... because a single truth is enough to deliver you.
               Jesus says: Truth liberates. But remember one thing which he has not said -- or maybe he said it
           and it has not been reported in the gospels: Truth certainly liberates, but the truth has to be your own.
           Only then it liberates. If it is somebody else's it creates only a new bondage, a beautiful bondage;
           golden chains, maybe, studded with diamonds, very valuable, difficult to lose because you don't
           think in terms of chains; you think they are ornaments. Beliefs are chains, not ornaments.
               A believer is the ugliest person in the world because his belief becomes a barrier into inquiry. I
           am not saying to become disbelievers, because disbelief is again belief from another side, from the
           negative side. Belief and disbelief are two aspects of the same coin. Don't be a theist and don't be an
           atheist.
               The real inquirer remains an agnostic. He remains open, he has no conclusions. He says, "I know
           only one thing: that I know nothing." He remains available. The moment you have conclusions you
           become unavailable to truth; conclusions close you. The moment you have a priori prejudices, how
           can you know truth? You have already concluded, you have already accepted certain beliefs; they
           will be like clouds in front of your eyes. Your eyes are no longer empty, clean, mirrorlike; they can't
           reflect that which is, they can only distort. They will distort according to your belief.
               So when the Hindu comes to experience God he sees Krishna with his flute. A Christian never
           sees that; that's strange. A Christian always sees Christ on the cross; a Hindu never sees that. That's
           strange! A Jaina will never see Krishna, Rama, Christ -- no, not at all; and a Buddhist will never see
           Mahavira, Mohammed, Moses. They all see their own belief. The phenomenon is very simple: you
           see whatsoever you project. Your mind functions as a projector. You don't see that which is, you see
           that which you want to see.
               Avoid beliefs. Drop all beliefs, Catholic or communist. Don't believe in Kaaba, or Kashi or the
           Kremlin. Don't believe in the Bible or the Gita or the Koran or DAS KAPITAL. Avoid all beliefs.
           Remain clean, empty.
               That's what meditation is all about: a state of silence, a state of no prejudice, a state of no belief.
           And then you are very close to truth. It suddenly explodes upon you, and its explosion is such a
           blessing that you cannot imagine it unless you have experienced it. There is no way to imagine it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddhas have been talking down the ages, but still you cannot imagine it. It is unimaginable because
           it is inexpressible -- but it can be experienced. It is experienceable but not expressible.
                First you will have to be ready to drop the ego, because the ego can live only in lies. Secondly,
           you will have to drop belief systems because belief systems distort; they never allow things to be
           known as they are. And thirdly, you will have to drop your mind, because mind is a constant
           occupation with the past and the future, and truth is always in the present. Truth has no past, no
           future. Truth is always here, always now -- and you are never here and never now. Whenever you are
           also now and here, there is a meeting; then something transpires. Between you and the whole a
           bridge suddenly happens. In fact, the bridge has always been there, you were just not aware of it.
                Bring your consciousness to the present. Don't go on wandering into the past, in the jungles of
           the past, in the memories. Howsoever beautiful they are, they are dead -- they are no more. And don't
           go on great journeys into the future, because whatsoever you desire in the future is never going to
           happen. Existence has no obligation to fulfill your desires. Existence has no obligation to follow
           your projections into the future. Whatsoever you desire is going to be wrong.
                When you are not there to desire, then existence starts guiding you into the ways of truth, into the
           ways of tao, dhamma. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO: this is the inexhaustible law. Drop the mind
           and you are possessed by the whole; cling to the mind and you remain as far away from the whole as
           one can be. The moment you drop the mind you start becoming alert and aware. It is mind that is
           your sleep. You are sleeping either in the past or in the future: both are ways of sleeping.
                When I say, "Wake up!" again and again, when Buddha says, "Wake up!" a simple phenomenon
           is indicated: come to the present.

               Mrs. Weissman lived in the thirtieth-floor penthouse of her Park Avenue building. Every day
           when she went up or down in the elevator, Manelli the elevator man would see her making the sign
           of the cross. After watching this for several days he could not resist asking her if she was Catholic.
           She replied, "Definitely not. I am Jewish."
           "I no understand," said Manelli. "If you Jewish why you cross yourself every time you get in and out
           of the elevator?"
           "Cross myself!" barked Mrs. Weissman. "Don't be ridiculous! I am checking to see if I have my
           tiara, my brooch, my clip... MY CLIP!"

               People are living in absolute unawareness. Even if they are checking, it is through a deep deep
           layer of sleep. They are somnambulists. Everybody is in a kind of psychedelic state.
               ONE MAN DENIES TRUTH. ANOTHER DENIES HIS OWN ACTIONS. And if you deny the
           truth you are bound to deny your actions too, because unless you are conscious you cannot take
           responsibility for your actions.
               There are a thousand and one ways to deny your actions. In the past, people used to say, "It is
           karma." Now that disease has gone to the West; now in the West people are saying, "It is karma.
           What can we do? It had to happen. It was predetermined by a past life." That is simply a way of
           denying your action, of shirking your responsibility.
               In the past, people used to say, "It is fate, KISMET. What can we do? God has already written it;
           we are just puppets in his hands. If he wants us to be a murderer, we are a murderer; if he wants us to
           be a thief, we are a thief." Cunning, tricky minds!
               Now those old ways are no longer relevant, they have become outdated; we have found new
           ones. Karl Marx says, "You are not responsible. It is the society, the social structure, the economic
           structure, it is capitalism. You are not responsible." It is again fate in new words, in modern
           language, in contemporary jargon. Karl Marx is a fatalist.
               And then there is Sigmund Freud who is even more sophisticated than Karl Marx, even more
           clever. He gives you new ideas. It is the unconscious which is responsible, not you. If you do
           something, what can you do? -- it is beyond your capacity to avoid it. It is coming from the
           unconscious, from the dark layers of your being. You have no access to those dark layers. And
           Sigmund Freud says there is no way to change it; man is a hopeless project.
               According to Sigmund Freud, man is bound to live in misery; at the most we can help him to live
           in misery more comfortably. We can make him accept the misery so he will be a little more
           comfortable. We can make the misery a little more convenient by giving him good explanations so
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he is not so much disturbed; otherwise there is no hope. Man is determined by unconscious forces.
               These are just new ways of saying the old things: karma, fate, God. The idea of predetermination
           has dominated the unconscious man up to now.
               It is only once is a while that a buddha says, "Accept your act as your own and don't escape from
           the responsibility, because escaping from the responsibility means you will never be free of it." And
           you CAN be free of it. Be responsible, whatsoever is the case, good or bad. Remember, except you,
           no one else is deciding about it.
               If you are living in misery it is your decision. It hurts, of course, to think that "I am living in
           misery out of my own decision." But if you observe a little more silently, this will give you great
           freedom. In the beginning it hurts; otherwise it is the harbinger of a new consciousness. If I am
           creating my hell it implies that I can create my heaven too. If I am the cause of my darkness I can be
           the cause of my light too. I can be a light unto myself. The very idea that "I am solely and wholly
           responsible for my actions" is a deliverance.

           Buddha says: BOTH GO INTO THE DARK....

               The man who denies truth because of the ego, because of belief systems, because of the mind
           wandering in the past or the future, or the man who denies his actions either because of karma or fate
           or social structure or the unconscious, they both go into the dark. They are missing the opportunity
           of becoming light; they are choosing darkness.

              ... AND IN THE NEXT WORLD SUFFER
              FOR THEY OFFEND TRUTH.


                And whatsoever you do here and whatsoever you are here is going to be the cause, the
           continuity, in the next world too -- because the next moment is born out of this moment and the next
           life is born out of this life. Life is a continuum. Death does not create any discontinuity; you remain
           continuous. By death you simply change your house; you are the same person. You can come from
           the hut to the palace, from the palace to the hut. You can move from one city to another city, from
           one planet to another planet, from man to woman, from woman to man. You can go on changing
           your houses, but YOU, the real consciousness inside, the real self remains always the same.
                So if you are creating darkness here, remember: this darkness will hang around you in the next
           world too. So you are not only destroying this life, you are creating wrong foundations for the next
           life too. Beware of it.
                ... AND IN THE NEXT WORLD SUFFER FOR THEY OFFEND TRUTH. The whole cause of
           suffering is offending truth. What does he mean by "offending truth"? Whenever you deny a truth
           because of your prejudices, whenever you avoid taking responsibility for your actions, you are
           offending truth. And by offending truth you are offending the universal law. You are falling apart.
           You are becoming a separate entity enclosed within yourself. You are no more part of the whole.
           You will suffer.
                Suffering means going against the universal law and bliss means going in tune with the universal
           law. Bliss is nothing but harmony with the whole and suffering is discord.

              WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE.
              BUT IF YOU ARE RECKLESS
              YOU WILL FALL INTO DARKNESS.


               Read instead: WEAR THE orange ROBE. BUT IF YOU ARE RECKLESS YOU WILL FALL
           INTO DARKNESS.
               Buddha had chosen the yellow robe just as I have chosen the orange. He chose it for a certain
           reason. The orange robe had been the robe of the sannyasin before Buddha; it is the ancientmost robe
           of the sannyasin. Buddha dropped it and chose instead the yellow robe for the simple reason that
           sannyas, the very idea of sannyas, had gone wrong, and he did not want to associate with it. And
           because he wanted to emphasize death and he wanted you to remember death again and again --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because death can bring awareness to your life -- he chose yellow.
               Yellow is the color of death: the color of the yellow leaf, the color of the setting sun, the color of
           the dying man's face. Yellow is the color of death. Orange is the color of life, of youth, of love.
           Orange, in the East, is the color of spring, when all the trees bloom and birds sing and bees hum and
           there is fragrance all over. The whole climate is full of youth, freshness, rejuvenation.
               Buddha emphasized death to make you aware, but now twenty-five centuries have passed and
           much dust has gathered on Buddha's ideas. Just as orange had become meaningless in Buddha's time,
           now the yellow robe has become meaningless.
               I have chosen again the orange, and with a totally new vision. The old orange sannyasin was a
           renunciate. My sannyasin is not an escapist; he lives in the world, but lives with such skill and art
           that he remains transcendental to it.
               But it is not a question only of the robe. You can change the robe to orange or yellow or
           whatsoever. Unless you become heedful, unless you start listening to the buddhas, to their
           message.... And their message is simple and very short: Wake up! It can be condensed into only
           these two words. If you don't listen to their message, IF YOU ARE RECKLESS YOU WILL FALL
           INTO DARKNESS.
               It is not a question of formality, it is not a question of ritual. Buddha was as much against ritual
           as I am, he was as much against formality as I am; hence I feel a tremendous affinity with him.
           Twenty-five centuries simply disappear between me and him; we become contemporaries.

               A pregnant woman was told that if she wanted her child to behave in a certain way, she should
           say every day, "I want my child to be so-and-so...." This would condition the fetus and the child
           would be born already having this trait.
               She had noticed how hard it was to teach children manners, so every day without fail she said, "I
           want my child to be polite."
               She was pregnant for nine months, then ten and eleven and for years she went on being pregnant.
           Finally she died without having given birth. The doctors did an autopsy on her body, and when they
           cut her open they found two little old men bowing to each other and saying, "After you!"

               We are not interested in such formality; otherwise you will never be born. We are interested in
           the essential, not in the accidental. We are interested in the intrinsic, not in the incidental.
               And the robe is accidental -- orange, yellow, green. The essential is awareness.

           IF YOU ARE RECKLESS, says Buddha,
              BETTER TO SWALLOW MOLTEN IRON
              THAN TO EAT AT THE TABLE OF GOOD FOLK.


              If you are reckless, unaware, if you go on living heedlessly, without listening to all these
           awakened ones, you will suffer much more than you can suffer by swallowing molten iron. Beware!
           You are creating suffering every moment. By being unaware you create suffering; by being aware
           you create bliss.

              IF YOU COURT ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE
              YOU COURT TROUBLE.
              YOUR SLEEP IS BROKEN.
              YOU LOSE YOUR HONOR.
              YOU FALL INTO DARKNESS.


               What to say of another man's wife? -- one's own wife is trouble enough, or for that matter, one's
           own husband. Buddha is saying: Are you not yet aware of the phenomenon? Is not your wife enough
           to make you aware? Is not your own husband enough to be finished with this game?
               But the mind goes on saying, "Maybe this woman is not good; some other woman may be good.
           Who knows? It didn't fit with this woman; I may be happy with another." And you cannot be happy
           with anyone. Happiness has nothing to do with the other; happiness is something that you have to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           create inside you. And you go on asking for trouble. Whenever you depend for your happiness on the
           other you ask for trouble. Dependence IS trouble. YOU COURT TROUBLE.
               The other IS hell, and depending on the other you become a slave. YOUR SLEEP IS BROKEN.
           Your peace is lost, your rest is gone. Your whole life becomes a constant disturbance, because you
           are trying to exploit the other and the other is trying to exploit you.
               YOU LOSE YOUR HONOR... your grace, your beauty, your sincerity. Buddha does not mean
           respectability; by "honor" he means grace.

              YOU GO AGAINST THE LAW,
              YOU GO INTO THE DARK.


              The law is that bliss or misery both arise in the innermost core of your being. Nobody can give
           you bliss or misery. You need not go to anybody; you are enough unto yourself. Just go in. Dive
           deep in your consciousness.
              And the more conscious you become, the more full of light your life is, the more and more
           benediction goes on showering on you. The more dark you are, the more unconscious, the more
           misery is bound to happen.

              YOUR PLEASURES END IN FEAR
              AND THE KING'S PUNISHMENT IS HARSH.


              Buddha calls the ultimate law "the king." The punishment is harsh, but YOU are responsible. The
           law is not cruel; the law is simply law. It is just like gravitation: if you walk rightly, the gravitation
           cannot punish you. It is not interested in punishing you, it helps you to walk. But you drink too
           much, you become a drunkard, and you walk, and you fall on the ground and you break your leg.
           Can you blame the law of gravitation? The law of gravitation is simply there. If you go against it,
           you will be punished; whereas if you follow it, you will be benefited.

              BUT AS A BLADE OF GRASS HELD AWKWARDLY....


              Even such a soft thing, a blade of grass, held awkwardly....

              MAY CUT YOUR HAND....


              It all depends on you. If you are conscious you can hold a sword and it will not cut your hand; if
           you are unconscious, even a blade of grass may cut your hand.

              SO RENUNCIATION MAY LEAD YOU INTO THE DARK.


               A tremendously important saying. Buddha says: Even renunciation, taken unconsciously, is not
           going to help. You can become a sannyasin out of fear, you can become a sannyasin out of greed.
           These things are not going to help. Unless you become a sannyasin out of awareness, nothing is
           going to help.
               People become religious for wrong reasons, and you cannot be religious for wrong reasons. And
           the person who lives rightly need not be religious: he is religious already.

              Perlman made millions in the bakery business. While on a visit to Rome he went to see the pope
           and made a huge donation to the church.
              The pope was very pleased and said, "Mr. Perlman, is there anything I can do to show my
           appreciation?"
           "Yes, Your Holiness," answered the baking magnate. "Could you make a little change in the Lord's
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Prayer?"
           "Ah, Mr. Perlman," frowned the pope, "I am afraid that would not be possible. The Lord's Prayer is
           repeated daily by millions of Christians."
           "I know," said Perlman, "but I only want a small change. Where it says, 'Give us this day our daily
           bread,' just make it, 'Give us this day Perlman's pumpernickel bread.'"

                Now, that great donation to the church has nothing to do with religion, it has nothing to do with
           charity; it is business, pure business.
                And that's what people are doing. They donate to the poor, they serve the poor, to go to heaven.
           It is an investment, it is not service. Unless you are conscious, whatsoever you do is going to be
           wrong. In Buddha's definition, wrong means a thing done unconsciously and right means a thing
           done consciously. It has nothing to do with the thing itself but with the quality of consciousness
           through which it is done.

               A Catholic priest took his new assistant to the hospital for the first time. The novice priest
           walked into an intensive care room and went up to a man in bed under an oxygen tent.
           "I am here to help you in any way I can," he said. There was no response from the patient so again
           the priest offered his help. Still no response. Then suddenly the patient grabbed a pencil and paper
           and furiously began writing, after which he fell back dead.
               The priest took the note and excitedly ran out of the room crying, "Father, Father! I got my first
           confession!" The father looked at the note and read, "Get off the oxygen hose, you sonofabitch!"

               Buddha was perfectly aware that many people were becoming sannyasins in his day -- as it has
           always been -- for wrong reasons. Somebody was poor, somebody was a thief and the king was after
           him, somebody has committed murder and he wanted to hide and to be a sannyasin was the best
           place to hide.
               BUT AS A BLADE OF GRASS HELD AWKWARDLY MAY CUT YOUR HAND, SO
           RENUNCIATION MAY LEAD YOU INTO THE DARK. Renunciation has not to be done for any
           motive. Sannyas has to be out of the sheer joy of being a sannyasin. Just as art is for art's sake, so
           sannyas is for sannyas' sake. Then it has tremendous beauty, and then it brings bliss, it brings
           paradise to you. Do whatsoever you want to do, but do it consciously. To be conscious is to be a
           sannyasin.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                  Chapter #10
                                    Chapter title: Towards a new humanity
           30 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912300
              ShortTitle: DHAM810
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IF BY ANY CHANCE I MIGHT NOT GET ENLIGHTENED THIS LIFETIME, HOW CAN I MAKE SURE
               THAT I WILL BE A WOMAN IN MY NEXT LIFE? IT SEEMS SUCH A JUICY EXISTENCE.


                Anand Baul, the first thing to be remembered is that nobody ever gets enlightened.
           Enlightenment is your nature; you are already it. It is not something to be achieved, it is not a goal to
           be reached. It is the source, not the goal. In the innermost core of your being you are all buddhas,
           and you have always been so, and you will always remain so.
                Yes, you have forgotten it. So the question is not of realizing it, the question is only of
           remembering it. Hence Buddha says: Be more mindful, be more alert, be more watchful. Nothing
           else has to be done, one has nowhere to go, no pilgrimage is sacred. All pilgrimages are just going
           astray. You are already there where you want to be; just look within, just turn in, tune in. This is the
           first thing to be remembered, that it is not a question of achievement.
                You say, "If by any chance I might not get enlightened this lifetime...."
                There is no chance at all to miss it. It is impossible to be other than enlightened. It is your
           self-nature, your very being. This whole existence is enlightened.
                Then what is the difference between a buddha and you? The difference is very simple. It has
           nothing to do with your quality. Your quality is exactly the same as that of Gautama the Buddha, or
           Jesus Christ, but you are asleep and they are awake. They know where they are, who they are, and
           you are dreaming. But one can come out of the dreams; dreams cannot hold you, dreams can't hinder
           you.
                Dreams are dreams, they have no substance in them. They can't prevent you from becoming
           awake. Dreams, desire, sleep -- they are all like darkness. When you light a candle the darkness
           cannot prevent it. The darkness may be very ancient, it may have existed for millions of years and
           the candle may be fresh and just a small candle, but that's enough. Light has a positive existence.
           Darkness has no existence at all; it is only absence of light. You can wake up any moment, the
           candle can be lit any moment, and all dreams and desires will disappear; hence devices have been
           invented.
                What Buddha says, Patanjali says, Lao Tzu says, is that these are only devices to wake you up,
           alarms and nothing else.
                Secondly, whether you want it or not, if you remain asleep next lifetime you are going to be a
           woman. Even if you don't want it, it is going to happen. There is a simple law. This is my
           observation of many people's past lives, this is how mind functions, this is very fundamental to the
           mind: it always moves to the opposite end. If you are rich the mind thinks poverty is religious,
           spiritual; it has something of innocence in it, and "Look how the poor are free from anxiety, and how
           the beggar sleeps soundly. I have got everything and I cannot sleep, I cannot rest, not even a
           moment's rest... continuous worry, anxiety."
                The rich man thinks always that the poor are really in a better space than he is. It is the rich
           people who have given the idea that poverty is spiritual. You will be surprised, take note of it, that
           all the TIRTHANKARAS, all the great masters of the Jainas were kings. Buddha himself was a king.
           All the AVATARAS of the Hindus -- Rama, Krishna, they were all kings. It is because of these rich
           people that a deep idea has prevailed down the ages that poverty is spiritual.
                There is nothing spiritual in being poor, there is nothing spiritual in being rich either. The poor
           man thinks that the rich people are enjoying real life; hence the poor man projects. If he cannot be
           rich in this life, then let it be next life; if not in this world, then let it be in the other world. It is the
           poor man's projection -- the paradise, the heaven, where he dreams that he will be rich, and he will
           have all that rich people have. Not only that, the poor man also dreams that no rich man will ever be
           able to reach heaven, they will be thrown into hell: "They have enjoyed enough here, now they have
           to suffer for it. And I have suffered enough here so I have to be rewarded."
                Jesus is a poor man, he is not like Krishna, Buddha and Mahavira. Krishna, Buddha and
           Mahavira have not said that no rich man can enter into paradise. Jesus says: Even a camel can pass
           through the eye of a needle, but the rich man cannot enter through the gate into heaven. He is a poor
           carpenter's son; he knows what poverty is. And because of that poverty he speaks a totally different
           language than Buddha.
                In India the idea has prevailed that if you are rich it is because of your past lives' good karmas
           that you are rich now. And Jesus says: Rich people cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He says:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Those who are the first here will be the last there, and those who are the last here will be the first. It
           is not an accident that Christianity goes on spreading in poor countries; it has an appeal for the poor.
           It is not an accident that communism is a by-product of Christianity.
                The East has not given birth to communism, it could not have done it. And whenever a country
           becomes rich, remember, it will start becoming Buddhist, it will start becoming more and more
           Hindu. It is not an accident that America is so much interested in Eastern wisdom. Whenever a
           society is affluent it starts thinking in a different way than a poor country thinks.
                My observation is that if you are a man in this life, you must have been a woman in your past
           life, and if you are a woman in this life you must have been a man. That's how the pendulum of mind
           goes from one extreme to the other. Every man thinks -- not only you, Anand Baul -- that the
           existence of a woman is beautiful, it is juicy. But ask the woman: she desires to be a man, deep down
           she feels humiliated that she is a woman, a second-class citizen. Deep down she herself wants to
           behave like a man.
                Women all over the world are trying in every possible way to behave like men. They are wearing
           men's clothes, smoking cigarettes like men, and whatsoever they can do. They use language like men
           have always used it, becoming arrogant, aggressive, losing the feminine quality. See the women of
           the liberation movement: they have lost something -- something soft, feminine, receptive, passive, is
           no more there. They are aggressive, violent. They can't wait for another life. In this very life they are
           in a hurry, they want to become like men. They want the same jobs, the same kind of work, the same
           kind of freedom. Even if that freedom is just stupid, even if that job is hard, they want to prove that
           they can manage it, that they are not less than men. Their next life they are bound to be born as men.
                So don't be worried about that. You will be a woman, watch out! Don't tell me then that you
           weren't warned. I am giving you the warning. And what do you mean by "juicy existence"?
                It appears to you through the eyes of a man that the woman is beautiful; through the eyes of the
           woman the man is beautiful. This is a biological attraction. That's why two women cannot tolerate
           each other; it is impossible to find women friends. They are very jealous of each other, suspicious of
           each other. They cannot trust other women; they know too much about the woman's heart, about the
           woman's mind. They can't see any beauty. In fact, they cannot believe what man goes on seeing in
           women. There seems to be nothing. To a woman there is nothing, just as to a man there is nothing in
           man. It is the biological attraction, chemical attraction.
                And the last thing, Baul: it seems you are not much acquainted with women. Become a little
           more acquainted. Suffer a little with women, let them torture you a little more, and then you will
           forget all this nonsense.

               A man had decided to take a trip with his eighteen-year-old daughter. "Hey, how about me?" his
           wife exclaimed.
           "Oh no," the man said. "You and your big mouth are not going on any vacation with me. I got
           enough of your big mouth all year long. I am taking our daughter and that's all."
               So off they went. The train on which the man and his daughter rode was held up by robbers.
           They lost everything. "I'm ruined!" the man said. "Everything I own is gone!"
           "No, Papa," the daughter said, "I saved the jewelry. The minute I saw the robbers coming, I took my
           rings, my diamonds and my bracelet and put them in my mouth."
           "That's marvelous," said the father. "If your mother was here, we could have saved the suitcase."

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE USE OF ESOTERIC TEACHINGS AND SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE? HOW CAN I
              FIND OUT IF THEY ARE TRUE OR NOT?


               Sef Kicken, the esoteric teachings are only for the fools. The fools are very much interested in
           anything they cannot understand. The idea of the foolish mind is that anything it cannot understand
           must be very mysterious, must be very superior, must belong to higher planes.
               A really religious person has nothing to do with esoteric nonsense -- with theosophy, with
           anthroposophy, and with so many Lobsang Rampas... and all kinds of nonsense that goes on being
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           written. It must be fulfilling some people's needs. Just as a few people like detective novels, a few
           others are interested in esoteric knowledge.
               There is nothing esoteric in existence. Existence is nude, naked; nothing is hidden.
               Once Buddha was asked, "Have you said everything, or is there something esoteric which you
           have not said?"
               Buddha showed his hand -- an open hand -- and he said, "I am like an open hand, not like a fist."
               And so is existence -- like an open hand, not like a fist. It hides nothing; all is there, all around
           you. God is overflowing... and you are pondering over esoteric things -- seven planes or seventeen,
           seven hells and seven heavens. And the more complicated is the system, the more appeal it has.
               Theosophy is more or less sheer nonsense, but it attracted thousands of people around the world.
           It has become a great world movement. People were talking of hidden masters, guides, astral,
           ethereal.... And in Madam Blavatsky's room letters used to drop from the ceiling -- letters from
           hidden masters who live in the Himalayas. Later on it was found that a man used to hide there on the
           roof and he used to drop those letters. The man himself confessed in the court that "My whole work
           was that whenever the session of the theosophists would be there and they would wait with closed
           eyes and pray for masters, hidden masters, to guide them, I had instructions from Madam Blavatsky
           what letter to drop. Those letters were written by Madam Blavatsky." They were examined later on
           by experts and it was proved that they were written by Blavatsky herself. But she fooled people for
           years.
               You ask me, "What is the use of esoteric teachings and spiritual knowledge?"
               To fulfill the demands of the fools, that is the use. And there is no spiritual knowledge at all.
               Spirituality is an experience, not knowledge. You cannot reduce it to knowledge; it is always
           knowing, never knowledge. It is an insight, irreduceable into words. You cannot put it into theories,
           into systems of thought; that is impossible. And those who try to do it don't know anything... only
           then can they do it. This is a strange phenomenon: those who know, they never try to reduce their
           knowing to knowledge; and those who don't know, they are absolutely free. They can create any
           knowledge, that is their invention.
               All spiritual knowledge is the invention of the mind. Real spiritual knowing happens only when
           the mind is dropped, when you are in a state of no-mind.
               And you ask me, "How can I find out if they are true or not?"
               Why should you be worried? Rather try to find out who you are. That's the only real religious
           question, the only quest: "Who am I?" That's enough; no other questions are significant. Avoid all
           other jargon -- spiritual, religious, theological, esoteric. Avoid all jargon. Just stick to a simple quest:
           "Who am I?" That's enough. If you know yourself you have known all; if you don't know yourself
           you may know everything in the world, but that is of no use. It is unnecessary burden and bondage.

              Clarence and Lulu were sitting on the front porch in Kentucky on a warm summer evening,
           holding hands.
              Lulu turned to Clarence and said, "Clarence, say something soft and mushy."
              And Clarence embarrassedly turned to Lulu and said, "Ah, shit!"

              That's what esoteric knowledge is -- soft and mushy!

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU TOLD US THE STORY OF KRISHNA AND ARJUNA. BUT IS THERE NO VALUE IN
              RESISTING WAR IN A TIME WHERE A HANDFUL OF MADMEN PLAY WITH ATOMIC BOMBS?


               Peter Bohm, how can you resist these few madmen who are playing with atom bombs? What will
           be your strategy of resistance? In fact, your resistance may bring the war sooner than otherwise; your
           resistance is not going to prevent it.
               The only thing that can prevent the world war is that you start a totally new consciousness, that
           you start a new kind of humanity... a man who is capable of love, a man who is capable of
           meditation. Let love and meditation spread far and wide. Let meditation reach to as many people as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible. Except that, all your efforts at resistance are impotent.
               You can protest and you can go on a long march, but have you ever watched the protesters, the
           people who are against war, the pacifists? Have you watched their processions? They look so
           aggressive, they themselves look mad! If they had the atom bombs, just to protect peace they would
           be the first to drop the atom bombs. They are as mad as the other party; there is no difference at all.
           Their minds are as political as the people who are in power; the only difference is that they are not in
           power. And their anger, their pent-up anger, you can see on their faces, in their slogans.
               Every peace protest ends in a fight with the police, with the military. It ends in burning buses,
           post offices, police stations, cars. What kind of love is this and what kind of resistance is this? It is
           impotent! But they are feeling they are doing something great. It is an ego trip and nothing else.

               The meek little bank clerk had his suspicions. One day he left work early and sure enough, when
           he arrived home, he found a strange hat and umbrella in the hallway and his wife on the couch in the
           arms of another man.
               Wild for revenge, the husband picked up the man's umbrella and snapped it in two across his
           knee.
           "There, now, I hope it rains!"

               What can you do? Yes, you can shout and you can go for a long march with great posters, and it
           will give you a certain satisfaction because your pent-up energies will be released. It is a kind of
           catharsis. Unknowingly, you are doing Dynamic Meditation -- but it would be better if you do it
           knowingly.
               Yes, war has come to a point where it can destroy the whole humanity, and not only humanity
           but the whole earth. Life as such can be destroyed. What can we do?
               Scientific knowledge has gone far ahead of man's spiritual growth; that is the problem, the real
           problem. Who are these madmen you are talking about? Are they any different from you, Peter
           Bohm? Richard Nixon, Brezhnev, Ayatollah Khomeini -- are these different people from you?
           Maybe there is some quantitative difference, but there is no qualitative difference. If YOU come in
           power you will prove the same. And one day these people were not in power; they were also just like
           you. When they are in power, then their real faces show up.
               Lord Acton says: Power corrupts. It is not true. Power never corrupts, but corrupted people are
           attracted towards power. Of course, without power they cannot show their real faces. Power only
           gives them the right context in which they can reveal their heart's reality. Power does not corrupt, it
           only reveals the truth. Powerless people may not look mad because they cannot afford to be mad.
           Give them power and then you will see: they are as mad as anybody else.
               I don't see any difference between warmongers and pacifists; they are the same kind of people.
           They appear to be polar opposites but they belong together. Deep down they are one; two ends of the
           same stick. Yes, I would like the earth to become a paradise and not a cemetery... but what kind of
           resistance?
               Even if Krishna was here, at THIS juncture he would not have suggested war. I am absolutely
           certain about it. I say categorically that Krishna would not have said to Arjuna to fight at this
           moment, because this is global suicide. Five thousand years have passed since Krishna and much has
           changed.
               We have come to the point where total war is possible. Nobody is going to be the winner, so
           what is the point of war? War has been significant in the past because somebody would win and
           somebody would lose. Now there is going to be no winner; all are going to be the losers. War has
           lost all significance -- war is absolutely stupid today. It may have had some meaning in the past; it
           has none anymore.
               Krishna's message is irrelevant today; Buddha's message is more relevant. Krishna's message is
           out of date; Buddha's message is very contemporary. But what is his message? His message is: If you
           really want peace on the earth, create peace in your heart, in your being. That is the right place to
           begin with -- and then spread, radiate peace and love.
               If more and more people become peaceful, joyous, if more and more people can dance and sing,
           if more and more people can say "Alleluia!" from their very innermost core, it will become
           impossible for these few mad people to create a war. Then we can put these mad people into mental
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           asylums very easily. We can convert our capitals into mental asylums; that is not a big problem, once
           many many people's inner consciousness is transformed.
           Be a meditator.
           Be a lover.
           Be a celebrant.
                Create the whole existence with as much bliss and joy as possible. Make life so beautiful that
           nobody wants to die.
                Right now, the situation is just the opposite: life is so ugly that who cares? If war happens, in
           fact, people will feel relieved. They don't have to commit suicide and still the war is going to do the
           work for them they always wanted to do themselves.
                Psychologists say it is very difficult to find a man who has not thought at least four times in his
           life of committing suicide. But to commit suicide is not easy; it goes against the life instinct. But if
           somebody else can take the responsibility and somebody else can drop an atom bomb or a hydrogen
           bomb, then we are freed of the responsibility of committing suicide and still the suicide happens.
           And not only WE are dying but everybody else with us.
                We have to change people's suicidal mind. Why do people think of suicide? -- for the simple
           reason that life is ugly and they don't know how to beautify it, how to make a song out of it. It is just
           sadness, a long long anguish, a nightmare. That's why people become interested in war and they
           support war -- for any stupid cause, for any excuse they are ready to kill and be killed.
                And in fact, all political causes are stupid, all so-called political revolutions are stupid. The only
           revolution which is not stupid is spiritual, is inner, is individual.
                If you really want a world without war, create this individual revolution I call sannyas. This is
           real resistance. Without resisting anybody you create a different space, a different context, in which
           life starts blooming, life becomes creative.
                And if people are creative, blooming, joyous, politics and politicians will be things of the past.
           Yes, you can save a few politicians to keep them in the zoos for future children to come and see:
           "Look, this is Morarji Desai!" You can stuff them with straw -- they are already stuffed with straw
           and nothing else; they won't need much more straw, just a little bit will do.
                And this is possible now. It was never possible before because war was never such a danger.
           Politics is now the most stupid game, mad, utterly mad.
                These are tremendously significant moments, because we can change the whole human
           consciousness from being political to spiritual.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS PRESENCE OF MIND?


               Kavita, presence of mind is really a state of no-mind. You can call it mindfulness, awareness, or
           you can call it a state of no-mind. The words seem to be contradicting each other, but they are
           indicative of the same state. Presence of mind means to be in the present, to be spontaneous, to be
           available to whatsoever is happening right now. To be available to here and now is presence of mind.
           But the only way to be available to here and now is not to be in the past, not to be in the future.
               And mind consists of past and future; mind knows nothing of the present. Mind is always
           occupied, it is never unoccupied. And whenever the mind is unoccupied, utterly without any thought,
           just watchful, alert, conscious, there arises a great presence. That presence functions on its own
           accord. That presence makes your life a life of responses, not of reactions.
               Ordinary life is of reactions; you react. Reaction means you are reacting to a present situation
           according to the past. It never fits because life never repeats itself. History may repeat, because
           history is a mind phenomenon, but life never repeats. It is always new, always fresh; something new
           is always transpiring. You go on carrying old ideas according to your experience, and you act out of
           those ideas thinking that you are acting out of experience. This is reaction: you are lagging behind,
           you are not true to the situation.
               A response means being true to the situation; not acting out of the past but acting out of the
           present moment. Just like a mirror, it simply reflects that which is. If there is a flower, it reflects a
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           flower; if there is a face, it reflects the face. Your mind never reflects that which is; your mind
           always reflects that which WAS. That's how your mind never comes into a state of communion with
           reality. Then whatsoever you do is wrong.
               Presence of mind is a state of thoughtlessness, but not of sleep, not of unconsciousness.
           Thoughtless consciousness, contentless consciousness -- a mirror utterly empty, ready to mirror
           anything. The beauty of the mirror is that it never catches hold of any reflection; it is not like a
           photoplate. The photoplate immediately catches hold of the reflection and that's why it is destroyed.
           You can use it only once, then it clings to the past. That's what memory is, mind is -- a photoplate.
               The mind of a buddha is not a photoplate but a mirror.
               Try to be more and more and more responsible and less and less reactive.

               A woman was driving her car at about eighty miles an hour, when she noticed a motorcycle cop
           following her. She did not slow down; she figured that maybe she could shake him off by doing
           ninety. When she looked back again there were two motorcycles following her. She boosted her
           speed again. The next time she looked, three motorcycles were screaming along behind her.
               Suddenly she saw a service station looming ahead. She screeched to a stop in front of it, dashed
           out and ran into the ladies' room.
               Ten minutes later, she walked demurely out. The three cops were standing right there, waiting
           for her. Without batting an eyelash she said coyly, "I bet you thought I wouldn't make it!"

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAID, "UNLESS YOU BECOME A SANNYASIN OUT OF AWARENESS...." AT THE TIME I
              ASKED FOR SANNYAS BECAUSE I FELT SAFE WITH YOU AND YOUR SANNYASINS, BUT NOT
              OUT OF AWARENESS AT ALL. IN FACT, I HAVE MUCH DIFFICULTY IN BECOMING A LITTLE
              AWARE AND ALSO WITH MEDITATION. DOES THIS MEAN THAT IT WILL BE BETTER TO DROP
              SANNYAS?


              Shridhar, you can drop it -- but only out of awareness!

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,

              Although You keep telling us that we have to be in the marketplace -- and coming from the
           West, that should be my marketplace -- I have that strong feeling now that I want to be here near
           You, that this is my home. Is this also a desire?

              Prem Satyam, this is the marketplace I go on talking about!

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              SHOULD ONE TRY TO BE RICH OR NOT?


              Asango, meditate on Murphy's maxim: Don't care if you are rich or not as long as you can live
           comfortably and have everything you want.

               That's exactly what I have been doing and that's exactly what I would like you to do. Why bother
           whether you are rich or not? In fact, people go into unnecessary worries. Whatsoever you have,
           enjoy it -- it is already too much. You cannot look at it because your mind is constantly occupied
           with doing this, becoming that. And all that existence goes on giving you, you go on neglecting. You
           never even thank existence for it; you don't have any gratitude. Otherwise, even if you don't possess
           anything, you can live a very rich life.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A rich life is something inner. And I am not against outer things, remember, but basically a rich
           life is something inner. If you are inwardly rich you can make even outer things richer by your inner
           light. For example, if the buddha lives in a hut, he lives in the hut as if the hut is a palace. If the
           buddha lives in the palace, of course he will be able to enjoy the palace more than anybody else in
           the world. If he can enjoy the hut as a palace, what to say about the palace itself? Wherever he is he
           finds ways to enjoy life.
                The whole art of sannyas is to live a rich life -- but the richness comes through your inner
           awareness. You can live a very poor life and you can be very rich outwardly; you can have a big
           bank balance, but you can live a dog's life.
                I know very many rich people. I feel sorry for them. They have all, but they are living in such a
           poor way that I cannot conceive what blindness has befallen them. Can't they see their beautiful
           houses, their beautiful gardens? But they don't have any sensitivity. So the flowers come and go and
           they pass those flowers every day, but they don't see. Otherwise a single flower is enough. And
           whether the flower has grown in your garden or in your neighbor's garden, who cares?
                You don't possess the stars, still you can enjoy them. Or do you first have to possess them, and
           only then you will be able to enjoy them? You don't possess the birds in the sky, but you can enjoy
           them.
                What you need is not more possessions. What you need is more sensitiveness, more aesthetic
           sensibility, more musical ears, more artistic eyes. What you need is a vision which transforms
           everything into something significant and meaningful.
                You ask me, Asango, "Should one try to be rich or not?"
                You ARE rich! You have been given already that which you need. Let it grow, and then
           whatsoever you have on the outside will be enough.
                You can see my sannyasins living here. They have not anything really that you can call
           possessions, but you cannot find more happy people anywhere in the world. For no reason they are
           happy, there is nothing to be happy about! But something inner has started growing, something like a
           subtle fragrance which only people who have sensibility, sensitiveness, can feel; others can't see it.
                Many people have asked me, "Why do your sannyasins look so happy?" The why cannot be
           answered easily, because they want to know something on the outside which is causing the
           happiness. On the outside there is nothing but all kinds of troubles -- the Indian government, the
           police, the Indian rotten society and the rotten mind. There is nothing on the outside. But still, my
           people are immensely happy. And they are not just sitting idly, they are working hard, and working
           hard for no rewards, no pay; they don't get anything. But something inner is happening; that is real
           richness.
                Asango, think of that. You are a new sannyasin; soon you will become aware of it.

           The eighth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANT TO GET MARRIED. HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT THE WOMAN I AM MARRYING IS PURE
              IN CHARACTER?


               Suresh, this is what I call the rotten Indian mind! If the woman is really pure, why should she be
           marrying you in the first place? And why this desire, this imposition on the other? And what do you
           mean by purity, purity of character? Do you mean that she has not known anybody sexually before
           you? But that will mean marrying a woman who is immature, marrying a woman who is
           inexperienced.
               If you are going to employ an engineer, will you ask him, "The first requirement is that you
           shouldn't know anything about engineering"? Then you ask about experience; you want proofs,
           certificates.
               If you are wise you will inquire whether the woman has been loved by other people too. If a
           woman has not been approached by anybody up to now, escape! What does it mean? It simply means
           the woman is dangerous!
               Only very ugly people can have that kind of purity you are asking for. But I don't see that by
           having a few love affairs a person becomes impure. Love purifies. How can it make somebody
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           impure? The more one loves, the more one becomes artful, skillful, intelligent in love.
               Millions of marriages fail because two inexperienced persons are trying to work things out. If
           both are inexperienced, it is bound to fail.
               There are a few primitive societies still existent in the world where it is thought to be a must that
           a woman should know a few men, that the man should know a few women, before they decide to
           marry. Marriage needs artfulness; it is a great effort to create a symphony between two persons'
           beings.
               So don't ask foolish things. And if you are too much after such a kind of purity, then please, why
           are you deciding to make the woman impure? You will suffer for it, and she will suffer because she
           will be making you impure. Don't do such harm to each other. Why in the first place think of
           marriage? Remain pure!

           "Daddy," said young David, "what is puppy love?"
           "The beginning of a dog's life, my son."

              Murphy says: Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.
              The three faithful things in life are money, a dog and an old woman.

               So either get married to money or to a dog or to an old woman! If you are so much interested in
           purity, if you are so much wedded to purity, don't ask for a real woman. Find a plastic woman. You
           can always clean it and soap it. Why bother with real people? Real people are real people.

              Two expectant fathers paced the floor in the waiting room of the hospital.
           "What tough luck," said one. "This had to happen during my vacation."
           "You think you've got troubles?" said the other. "I'm on my honeymoon!"

              Real people are real people. Things happen to real people, not to plastic people. Yes, even on
           honeymoon things can happen!

               A pair of good friends, Frenchmen both, were strolling down the Champs Elysees one day when
           they spied two women approaching. "Sacrebleu, Pierre!" cried one. "Here come my wife and my
           mistress walking toward us arm in arm."
           "Mon Dieu, Henri!" cried out the second. "I was about to say the very same thing."

              Charlie was taking his out-of-town pal for a stroll through the city. The friend observed a
           good-looking girl and asked Charlie if he knew her.
           "Yes, that is Betty. Twenty dollars."
           "How about that one?"
           "That is Dolores. Forty dollars."
           "Here comes one that is really first class. Do you know her?"
           "That is Gloria. Eighty dollars."
           "My God, aren't there any nice, respectable girls in this town?"
           "Of course, but you could not afford their rates."

               Suresh, either get rid of this idea of marriage or get rid of the idea of purity of character. If you
           keep both the ideas together you will be in trouble.
               And who are you to decide about others' character? If you love the woman, you love the woman
           with all her limitations, with all her imperfections; she loves you with all your imperfections and
           limitations.
               But this is what -- particularly to the Indian mind -- is very significant: perfection. And to
           demand perfection is a kind of neurosis. It will drive the other neurotic, and as far as you are
           concerned, you are already neurotic. If you ask perfection in any human being you will create
           trouble for yourself and for the other, and your life will be nothing but misery.
               The real man of understanding and intelligence accepts the imperfections of the other and still
           loves. Love is great enough; it can even love people who have no character, people who are not pure
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           according to your ideas, people who sometimes go astray, people who sometimes commit small sins.
           Love is big enough to accept all this and to transform it too.

           The ninth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE BECOME SANNYASINS?


                Murphy.... My God, are you the same Murphy I have been quoting and misquoting? You should
           have told me before! But you must be, I hope, some other Murphy, because if you were the same
           Murphy you would not ask such a question. That old guy is so wise he only gives answers, he never
           asks questions.
                You ask me, "Why do so many people become sannyasins?"
                Everybody does so for a different reason; hence it is very difficult to answer. The real sannyasins
           cannot even give any reasonable answer why they have become sannyasins. It is a kind of love
           affair; they fall in love with this madman. It is utterly mad, it is absurd. They simply find some inner
           communion; something happens to their heart, not to their head. And when something happens to the
           heart it is unanswerable.
                But a few people become sannyasins out of the head; then they are only pseudo sannyasins. They
           can give you answers why they have become sannyasins.
                So this much can be said: one who can answer WHY he has become a sannyasin is a wrong
           sannyasin, a pseudo sannyasin; the real one can only shrug his shoulders. He can say, "I don't know,
           it simply happened." He will not be convincing to you -- he can't be -- but try to be sympathetic with
           the person. It is a love affair.
                Who has ever been able to say why he has fallen in love? One simply falls in love for no reason
           at all. Suddenly something clicks; it clicks in such a subtle way that you cannot figure out why. The
           why is unanswerable. And whenever it is answerable, the person is not a real sannyasin. This is the
           paradox: those who can answer, they are not real sannyasins; those who cannot answer, they are real
           sannyasins.
                And then there are different people and they come with different backgrounds, they come here
           for different reasons. They open up to me in different ways, they take different time, they have
           different paces.

               A modern-day Lewis and Clark exploration team had returned from a two-year exploration of the
           upper Amazon. Having bravely gone where no men had gone before, they were greeted by members
           of the press from every nation.
           "Tell us, sir," asked a reporter of the first explorer, "what made you go?"
           "I had to go," he replied. "I had to meet the challenge, to test my mettle, to meet the unknown, to
           face hardship, and to ponder the real meaning of life."
           "And you, sir," he inquired of the second explorer, "why did you go?"
           "You should meet my wife," came the weary reply.

               Different people will have different reasons. Somebody is here for the exploration of the
           unknown; somebody is simply here because of the wife. Somebody is here because this has been his
           search for many lives; somebody is here accidentally. He was just passing Poona, from Kabul to
           Goa, and seeing so many crazy orange people he became intrigued. He said to himself, "Man,
           something far out is going on!" And then he got hooked... then he forgot all about Goa. Then slowly
           slowly, people forget about the whole world. Then this small place becomes their whole world.

              Anxious to be on time for his date, Carl stopped at the drugstore for a hasty purchase. The
           druggist gave him a knowing smile, and he told the druggist about a lovely chick he met at a party.
           He was going to spend the evening with her, and her parents would be out at the opera.
              When he got to her house, she and her mother were waiting for her father to return from work.
              When her father walked in, she introduced both parents to Carl, and Carl said, "Say, why don't
           Nancy and I join you this evening?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "You children don't want to spend your evening with us old folks," said Nancy's mother.
           "Sure we do," said Carl.
           "I didn't know you liked opera," the bewildered Nancy said to her date, as he was helping her on
           with her coat.
           "No, and I didn't know your father was a druggist, either," he said.

              So there are different reasons. I cannot give you a single answer. I cannot say why people
           become sannyasins.
              All that I can say is that I am utterly mad, and a few people find themselves in tune with me.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS UNAWARENESS?


               Shivananda, yes, the question arises and is significant too. It is like the fish asking, "What is the
           ocean?" Obviously the fish cannot see the ocean; it has lived in the ocean always, from the very
           beginning. It was born in the ocean, it opened its eyes in the ocean, it has lived as part of the ocean.
           The ocean is so close, the fish does not feel itself separate from it. There is no space between the fish
           and the ocean to know about it.
               And that's actually the case with unawareness. You are born in unawareness, you live in
           unawareness, you sleep in unawareness... you wake up in unawareness. You walk in unawareness,
           you talk in unawareness... you read Bibles, Korans, Gitas, in unawareness. It is so close, you are so
           permeated by it; it is in your every fiber and cell. There is no distance between it and you. Hence the
           question is very significant and one has to ask it. Only then can one move slowly out of unawareness
           towards awareness.
               Unawareness is a state of robotlike existence. You go on repeating mechanically. You go on
           living without any alertness in it; sleepy, a somnambulist you are.
               Out of ten people, one person can walk in his sleep, do you know it? That is a big number. Out of
           a hundred, ten people are capable of walking in their sleep. If you have ten persons in your family,
           that means one person is capable of walking in his sleep. People get up, they can walk in darkness,
           they can reach the fridge, they can eat things, they can come back to the bed. In the morning they
           have forgotten all -- and then they are worried why they go on becoming fatter and fatter! In the day
           they fast or diet and in the night they compensate as much as they can.
               You will have to be a little separate from your acts; then you will be able to know what
           unawareness is. Somebody insults you; immediately, instantly, anger arises. It is like pushing a
           button and the light comes on. There is no gap: you push a button and the light comes on. The light
           has no time to think whether to come on or not. Somebody insults you; he pushes a button and
           immediately you are enraged.
               Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, "Wait at least for five minutes. What is the hurry? Let him
           insult you, let him finish first. Then you close your eyes and wait for five minutes, and watch what is
           happening inside you -- anger boiling."
               Gurdjieff himself became enlightened through this simple procedure: that whatsoever is
           mechanical in man he tried to make it nonmechanical. And all is mechanical in you -- anger, lust,
           greed, jealousy -- all is mechanical. It simply is there whenever somebody pushes a button. You are
           functioning like a robot. Become a man.
               That's what meditation is all about, that's what sannyas is all about. Create a little distance. Next
           time somebody insults you, give it five minutes, sit silently for five minutes, and then you can
           become angry. I am not saying "Don't become angry" -- because that will be too much. I am saying
           that just for five minutes allow a gap, and you will be surprised: after five minutes it is not the same
           anger that it would have been five minutes before.

              Dale Carnegie remembers an incident in his life. He delivered a radio broadcast on Abraham
           Lincoln. He mentioned a few wrong facts about Lincoln; even his birthdate was wrong. He received
           one letter, a very angry letter, from a woman, calling him a fool, calling him stupid. "If you don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even know the right birthdate, what right have you got to speak on Abraham Lincoln?"
               He became enraged, and he immediately wrote an angry answer. But it was too late in the day, so
           he thought, "Tomorrow morning I will post the letter."
               Before posting it he read the letter again. It looked too angry -- twelve hours had passed. He read
           the woman's letter; it was not so insulting as it had appeared at the first glance. So he changed his
           letter, he wrote it again. When he was writing it again he said, "Why not wait twenty-four hours
           more and see what happens? What is the hurry? The woman is not going to die."
               So he waited twenty-four hours and read his letter again. Now he was even more cool, and still
           the letter looked a little too strong. He changed it and thought, "Why not wait forty-eight hours? Let
           it be an experiment! I can always send the letter, but after twelve hours I had to change it, after
           twenty-four hours I had to change it much more. Let us see what happens after forty-eight hours."
               After forty-eight hours he had to change it totally. All anger had disappeared. He said, "Now I
           will wait two days more and then I will send it."
               And when finally he wrote the letter he apologized; he was no longer angry. The woman was
           right: what right has he if he does not know the facts? At least he should have checked the facts
           before going to broadcast. It was absolutely right on her part to get angry.
               So he wrote, "You are perfectly right. Next time I will not commit such a mistake. I am deeply
           sorry that I hurt your feelings. I apologize. If any time you happen to be in this city, please come to
           see me, or, if I come to your town, I will come to see you. I would like to know more about Lincoln
           -- because I feel you know more than I know."
               Naturally, the woman was tremendously impressed by the humbleness of the man; she was not
           expecting that he would be so humble. Next time she came to that town where Dale Carnegie lived
           she phoned him. He went, received her, invited her for a dinner. And finally the woman and he
           became so friendly, they fell in love!

               It looks like a fairy tale -- does not happen in real life! In real life only tragedies happen. But we
           are responsible for all those tragedies because of our unawareness.
               So the first thing I will suggest, Shivananda, is that if you want to know what unawareness is,
           allow a gap. This is the process of de-automatization. You have become automatic, you function
           automatically. You have to reverse the whole process, de-automatize it, slowly slowly, in small
           matters.
               For example, you have gone for a walk. Don't walk the same way as you walk every day. Go
           slow or go fast, but don't just repeat the same routine. And you will be surprised: if you go slow you
           are more aware, if you go faster you are more aware; if you go exactly the same speed as you follow
           every day, you lose all awareness.
               Buddha told his disciples to walk very slowly, as slowly as possible. Try it and you will be
           surprised. A great awareness arises if you walk very slowly. You speak in a certain way; one day try
           to speak in some other way. Speak slowly, and you will be surprised that the slowness of the speech
           makes you alert. Suddenly something is changed, because you are not functioning according to the
           robot.
               Mind has two parts: one is the learning part, the other is the robot part. The learning part learns;
           whenever you are learning something you are more aware. For example, if you are learning driving
           you are more aware -- you have to be. The moment you have learned it, the learning part gives its
           information to the robot part. Once you have learned driving, then you don't need any awareness;
           you simply go on doing it mechanically. You turn towards your house, you arrive in your garage,
           you lock the car. You are doing everything like a robot.
               And this is the story of your life, twenty-four hours a day. Change it!
               Gurdjieff's method was this: if some vegetarian had come to him as a disciple, the first thing he
           would insist was, "Eat meat!" Now this is a very shocking thing for a vegetarian -- to be told to eat
           meat. And Gurdjieff was a tough master; he would throw you out if you didn't listen to him, if you
           didn't follow the command, if you didn't follow the discipline. He would force you to eat meat. Now,
           when a vegetarian eats meat he becomes very conscious -- he has to. He has no idea in the past, no
           experience in the past, of eating meat. Just think of Mahatma Gandhi eating meat... he will become
           tremendously aware!
               And if there was a meat-eater, then Gurdjieff would say, "For a few weeks you be just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           vegetarian. Don't eat meat at all -- no eggs, no meat, no milk, no animal food of any kind. Just go on
           eating vegetables." The whole body system had become accustomed to a certain pattern. He would
           change people's eating hours. If you were eating every day at one o'clock, he would say, "Eat at
           nine." If you were going to sleep every day at twelve, he would say to go at two or at ten. He would
           change everything. A man who had never been drinking wine, he would force to drink wine just to
           change and shatter his pattern. The man who had been a drunkard, he would stop him from drinking.
               Gurdjieff was puzzling to people, but the method is simple: he was trying to de-automatize. He
           was one of the greatest masters of this age, very much misunderstood. Naturally, everybody was
           against him. Who has ever heard of religious masters forcing their disciples to drink? -- FORCING,
           actually forcing. And he would sit there....
               The greatest thing in his commune was the dinner. It used to last four, five, six, seven hours.
           Every evening it would start... and it would end in the middle of the night. And he himself would
           take care of everybody, of what was being eaten, of what was given to them -- and he would go on
           forcing. People would become so drunk they would fall on the ground, and they would start saying
           things in their drunkenness -- and he would sit by the side and listen. He also used to drink with
           them, but he had worked hard on the way. He was a tantra master. He had been to India and to Tibet
           too, just to learn tantra.
               Tantra has special methods how to go on drinking and yet remain aware. YOU cannot be aware
           even without drinking. Tantra has methods to slowly slowly drink, and keep awareness, not to lose
           track of your awareness. Slowly slowly, the quantity of your drug has to be increased as you increase
           in your awareness. A moment comes when -- you will be surprised to know, still there are people in
           the East who practice it -- a moment comes, when no drug can affect your consciousness at all.
               Then the last thing they try is this: they keep poisonous snakes and they allow the snake to bite
           them on their tongue; that is the last method. Ordinarily a man will die.... These snakes are
           absolutely poisonous. Three percent of the snakes in India are dangerous; you cannot survive their
           bite -- once bitten you are gone. But these tantra masters will remain alert even in that moment and
           they will not die. Their bodies have become accustomed to all kinds of poisons and they have
           become alert, so alert that no drug can affect them.
               Gurdjieff used to use that method with his disciples, simply to shatter your settled habits.
               My approach here is to send you to this group, then to another group, then to still another group.
           When you go to different groups for two, three months, each group has its own structure and pattern
           and each group destroys other groups' patterns and structures.
               And finally I send you to Zazen or to Vipassana. They are beyond all ordinary structures. Those
           are the methods given by Buddha himself. Then you are in a very simple state, watching your own
           breath -- the breath going in, the breath going out, and you are simply watching.
               This watchfulness will make you aware of what unawareness is and what awareness is, both.
           You become aware of both simultaneously.

              It was springtime, and two lovers were cuddling in a meadow on a dark, new-moon night.
              The young man whispered to his girlfriend, "I sure wish we had a flashlight!"
              The girl replied, "I do too. You have been munching on grass for the last five minutes!"

              Get it? -- otherwise I will have to tell another! Meditate over it later on!

              Marlene, a pretty Philadelphia secretary, was taking her first trip across the United States.
           Driving through the desert she ran out of gas. An Indian gave her a ride, sitting behind him on his
           pony. Every few minutes as they rode he let out a wild, whooping yell that echoed across the desert.
           Finally he deposited her at a gas station and went off with a last "Yaa-hoo!"
           "What were you doing," asked the station owner, "to make that redskin do all that hollering?"
           "Nothing," said the girl. "I just sat behind him with my arms around his sides holding onto his saddle
           horn."
           "Miss," said the man, "Indians ride bareback!"

           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                   Chapter #11
                                  Chapter title: The psychology of egolessness
           31 December 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7912310
              ShortTitle: DHAM811
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              GURDJIEFF SAID THAT IN ORDER TO ATTAIN TO REAL WILL ONE WOULD HAVE TO
              SURRENDER ONE'S FALSE WILL FIRST. IS THIS ALSO TRUE HERE?


                Peter Markee, it is true everywhere. It is true forever. Truth is universal: time makes no
           difference, place makes no difference. And this is one of the most fundamental truths of spiritual
           growth: the false has to be given up because the false is the barrier. You remain deluded by the false;
           hence the search for the true never starts. You believe the false to be the true. Then why should you
           endeavor to realize the true?
                If you think that darkness is light, then where is the necessity to search for light? If you think this
           life is all, then there is no question of seeking and inquiring about another life. If time is your total
           reality, then eternity never becomes a quest for you.
                The false will means the ego; the true will means egolessness. The false will is yours; the true
           will is God's. The false will is personal; the true will is universal. The false will simply means that
           you believe yourself separate from the whole; and the true will is dissolving this illusion of
           separation, becoming that which you really are -- a part in this cosmic harmony, totally one with it.
           Then you don't have any separate destination, you don't have any private goal. Then wherever the
           whole is going, YOU are going. You are just a wave in the ocean.
                And before the real can be known, the false has to cease, because the false is covering your eyes.
           You are clinging to the false, to the toy. And unless you see the point -- that the toy is only a toy, not
           worth clinging.... In that very moment of seeing the toy slips out of your hands on its own accord
           because you no more cling to it. Seeing the false as false is the beginning of the truth. But that seeing
           is arduous.
                For lives we have lived with the false and we have believed in the false. We have nurtured,
           nourished the false. All our hopes, all our dreams, are rooted in the false. Our whole lives are
           investments in the false; hence we are afraid even to look, we are afraid to observe, watch.
                The most frightening experience for human beings is to remember, to watch, to be aware; hence
           the difficulty in meditation. It does not arise from the outside; there is no disturbance outside. The
           real disturbance is within you. You really don't want to meditate. You are in a double bind. You
           listen to buddhas talking about the beauties and the blessings and the benedictions of meditation, and
           you become greedy for it. But then you look at your own investment and you become frightened, so
           you try to meditate. Yet you don't really want to meditate because meditation means you will have to
           see things as they are -- the false as false, the true as true -- and that is going to shatter your whole
           effort of lives in a single moment.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Great courage is needed to meditate, courage to drop all the investments. Great intelligence is
           needed. In fact, this is true intelligence: to see that howsoever and whatsoever efforts you make to
           realize the false, to make it come true, they are going to fail. To see it -- that the whole effort is an
           exercise in utter futility -- is intelligence. It has nothing to do with intellectuality; it is very simple.
                See, watch, and don't be afraid and don't avoid seeing. And don't go on playing with yourself,
           deceiving yourself. Don't remain in a double bind, with one hand creating and with the other hand
           destroying.
                That's what people are doing: half of their being wants to continue as they are -- the stupid half,
           the rational part, the arithmetic of their minds. And the other half, the intelligent half, the intuitive
           half -- the heart -- wants to start anew, because you have seen for so long that nothing succeeds. And
           still you go on in the same rut. It is time, the right time, to get out of the rut and to have a new birth.
                What Gurdjieff was saying has been told by all the great masters of the world. "Awake," Buddha
           says. It is the same; words differ. "Be watchful," Jesus says. Be as watchful as if the master of the
           house has gone out and he has told the servants to remain alert because he may come any moment
           and he does not want them to be asleep -- any moment he can come. They have to be alert, on guard,
           all the time. Jesus says to be alert.
                In alertness the first experience is that you have a personality which is false. Gurdjieff calls it the
           false will. And you have something else, something impersonal in you, which is the true will. Your
           appearance from the outside is false; what you experience from your innermost core is true. You are
           a mixture of the accidental and the essential, of the incidental and the intrinsic. You are the meeting
           point of time and eternity, a crossroads where matter and consciousness meet, where body and soul
           meet, where real and unreal shake hands. Yes, you are exactly a crossroads. And you have to be very
           alert not to choose the false -- because the false is very appealing. The false makes all kinds of
           propaganda for itself; the false will try to convince you with all kinds of arguments.
                The truth remains silent. Unless YOU are ready to receive it, it will not even knock on your
           doors. The false is afraid that if much smoke is not created around it the falsity of it will be seen by
           you. So beware of the rationalizations of the false, its propaganda, its argumentation, its proofs. And
           also remember the silence of truth -- utter silence, absolute silence. Truth will never persuade you; it
           will wait -- it can wait for eternity. But the false cannot wait, it is momentary, it can't be so patient. It
           has to persuade you, it has to seduce you as immediately as possible. The false is very hypnotizing.
           Their ways are totally opposite.
                Truth is achieved through awakening, and the false is achieved through deep sleep. The false is
           like a tranquilizer: it is very consoling, comforting, cozy, secure, safe. It gives you all kinds of
           protections, insurances. It goes on telling you, "Be with me and I will protect you. I am your
           guardian, your guide, your friend, your philosopher." The truth never claims anything.
                Unless you become utterly fed up with the false and its claims -- which are all bogus.... It talks
           much, but it never delivers any goods. Unless you become totally frustrated, fed up, bored with it,
           you are not going to look at the silent truth; you are not going to listen to the still, small voice within.
           And that voice is God's voice. It is universal; it has nothing to do with you.
                The true will is not yours. It is the whole speaking through you, functioning through you. The
           false gives you the idea of great ego -- "I am somebody" -- and the true takes all ego away. It makes
           you a nothingness, a nobody. Only through your nobodiness the whole can function unhindered.
                Yes, Peter Markee, Gurdjieff is right. And whatsoever is true with Gurdjieff is true here too -- is
           true forever. Wherever a master exists, the false has to be surrendered.
                That actually is the function of sannyas. It is a device to surrender the false. Sannyas means you
           surrender your ego. You say to the master, "Please take this burden off my head." You bow down,
           you touch the feet of the master. That is simply symbolic that "Now I will not function as a separate
           entity from you."
                And the master is one who has surrendered his will already, who exists no more as a person, who
           is only a presence, a window into God. And when you surrender to the window you are surrendering
           to the sky beyond. The window will only make the sky available.
                The West has not developed the technique of the master/ disciple relationship yet. A few rare
           individuals tried, but they failed. Socrates was trying in Athens but he failed; he was not listened to.
           Jesus was trying again; he failed. The West has remained concerned, concentratedly focused on the
           false. It believes in the ego. The East believes in egolessness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The Western psychology says to make the ego stronger. It is a psychology of the false -- rooted
           in the false, supporting the false. The East says: Let the ego melt, disappear, evaporate. It is the
           psychology of egolessness. This is a totally different standpoint.
                Gurdjieff was again trying to bring the East to the West. He also failed. It is very difficult;
           centuries are against it, and the hypnosis and the conditioning of the society is against it. Even his
           own chief disciple, P.D. Ouspensky, could not understand him, misunderstood him. He betrayed
           him, just as Judas betrayed Jesus.
                And do you know? -- Judas was the most cultured, educated person amongst Jesus' disciples;
           hence he must have had the most polished ego. He was an intellectual. The other followers were
           simple people: fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors, gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes -- simple
           people. The only person who was not simple was Judas; he was complex. He could have been a
           professor in Oxford or Cambridge or Harvard and he would have done perfectly well as a professor
           -- he was a good arguer. There are a few moments when he even argues with Jesus. And if you listen
           to the argument you will agree with Judas, you will not agree with Jesus.
                One day Jesus is staying in Mary and Martha's home and Mary brings very costly perfume and
           washes Jesus' feet with that costly perfume. Judas immediately raises a question; he says, "This is
           stupid -- wasting so much money unnecessarily!" And he gives a good argument -- a socialistic
           argument. He says, "This much money could have been given to the poor. There are beggars outside
           the house. This money could have fed many beggars for many days. It was rare perfume! Why waste
           it? The feet can be washed with water -- there is no need!" And she had poured the whole big bottle
           of perfume!
                Now, with whom are you going to agree? And do you know what Jesus said? Jesus said, "The
           beggars will always be there. I will not be here always."
                This does not seem to be a very appealing argument! Jesus says, "Don't disturb her. Don't disturb
           her love, her faith, her trust. It's perfectly alright. It is coming from her deep love for me. Let her do
           it. And beggars will always be there. Even if this money is given to them, nothing much is going to
           happen. Maybe for a few days they will be able to eat; then again...."
                With whom are you going to agree? Ninety-nine percent is the possibility you will agree with
           Judas -- and more so after Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao; after so much socialistic
           communist propaganda all over the world, who will not agree with Judas? He seems to be the
           forerunner of socialistic philosophy. And Jesus' answer does not seem to be very appealing,
           convincing. It seems to be evading the question, evading the issue. But Judas betrayed Jesus for the
           simple reason that he was too much in his intellect, too egoistic, too proud.
                The same happened again with Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. Ouspensky was the most articulate
           disciple of Gurdjieff. In fact, it is because of Ouspensky that Gurdjieff became famous in the world.
           It is Ouspensky's books that have made Gurdjieff's name known to the world at large. But why did
           he betray him? In the last years of his life he was very antagonistic to his master. Even to mention
           Gurdjieff's name in Ouspensky's presence was an offense to him; he did not tolerate even mentioning
           Gurdjieff's name. It has been completely dropped -- even in his books which were written before he
           disconnected himself from Gurdjieff. He changed the name from Gurdjieff to just G; he would not
           write the whole name. He would simply mention, "G said..." -- just like XYZ. And then -- he was
           clever enough -- whenever somebody asked, "You yourself mentioned G," he said, "Those were the
           days when he was right. The later Gurdjieff has gone insane. I am against the later Gurdjieff."
                And why did he go against him? Gurdjieff was trying to destroy his ego totally and it was
           impossible for him to accept that. He was in London, Gurdjieff was in Russia, in Tiflis, and
           Gurdjieff sent a message, "Come immediately. Sell everything there. Don't waste a single moment.
           Bring all the money and come."
                Those were the days of the first world war; it was very difficult to travel, dangerous to travel, and
           going back to Russia was dangerous for Ouspensky because the Bolsheviks, communists, had come
           into power and Russia, the whole of Russia was in a turmoil. There was no order, no government.
                Still, the master had asked, so he sold all his possessions, his house, took all the money and
           traveled back to Russia knowing perfectly well he was going into danger. The journey was long;
           three months it took for him to reach, sometimes traveling by train and sometimes by horse and
           sometimes he was prevented and the police were after him. But somehow he reached there -- the
           master had asked him to come, and he did. He was hoping that as he had made a great sacrifice, so
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he was going to be patted on the back by the master.
               And do you know what Gurdjieff did? The moment Ouspensky arrived he said, "Put down your
           money and go back! Leave your money here and go back to London immediately!"
               This was too much. He became antagonistic. He thought Gurdjieff had become insane. He was
           not insane. Had Ouspensky followed that too, although it was very illogical.... But Ouspensky was a
           mathematician, a logician, a great intellectual of this century, one of the most profound
           mathematicians that we have ever produced. He could not believe all this nonsense. He traveled
           back, but he turned against, turned very sour -- saying that Gurdjieff had gone mad.
               That was his rationalization to avoid seeing the truth, that Gurdjieff was trying to destroy his ego
           totally. That was the last hit on his head. If he had allowed it he would have become enlightened. He
           missed the point -- and from the last rung of the ladder he missed and fell down. Sometimes it
           happens: you can miss at the last moment.
               Then for his whole life Ouspensky was talking against Gurdjieff; his name became
           unmentionable. Whatsoever he was teaching he had learned from Gurdjieff, but he was very
           secretive. He wouldn't allow his disciples to read Gurdjieff's books. He wouldn't allow his disciples
           to go and see Gurdjieff. Ouspensky's disciples could see Gurdjieff only after Ouspensky's death; and
           then they were surprised at how much they had missed. Ouspensky was only a professor, nothing
           else. Gurdjieff was an enlightened man.
               But the problem is always how to drop the ego. Gurdjieff offended many people in the West for
           the simple reason that in the West there is no tradition, no background, no context for the psychology
           of egolessness.
               That's why I have chosen to be here in the East. Even if people are coming from the West they
           have to come to ME, because only in the Eastern space is it possible so surrender the ego. The whole
           milieu is helpful; much effort is not needed.
               And once the new commune is established it is going to become a very easy phenomenon, a
           child's play, to drop the ego. When you see ten thousand sannyasins moving without the ego, without
           a head, you will look foolish with a head. You will be in a hurry immediately so that your head can
           be cut off and you can also run without a head and do all kinds of things which were not possible
           before -- because of the head.
               Gurdjieff is right: the false has to be dropped. The false has to cease for the real to be.

           The second question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE NEVER SPEAK AGAINST THE INDIAN MIND BECAUSE I GET SO ANGRY THAT I START
              THINKING HOW TO KILL YOU.


               Deva Kumar, people who only think of killing never kill. You can go on thinking; thinkers can't
           do anything. And why do you get so much disturbed if I speak against the Indian mind?
               I am against all kind of minds -- Indian, German, English, American -- and I speak against all
           kinds of minds, because mind is mind. There is not much difference, just different patterns, different
           ideas, but the basic structure is the same.
               Mind means you are not conscious, and you can be unconscious in the Indian way or the Chinese
           way or the Japanese way; what does it matter? And if you cannot listen to words said against your
           mind you need not come here; this is not the right place for you.
               I am not here to buttress your egos; I am here to destroy them. I have to speak against them. My
           whole work consists in destroying. First a great destruction is needed, only then your energies are
           released for some creative work.
               And what really is an Indian mind? -- just an accident that you are born in India and you have
           been conditioned in a certain way. Somebody else is born in Japan and he is conditioned in some
           other way, but both are conditionings. And the function of the master is to uncondition you.
               I can understand your anger, but that anger is not going to help you. Only understanding can
           help. Try to understand. Your anger will cloud your being more and more; you will become more
           and more incapable of seeing the truth.

              Once upon a time there was a dog who was sitting by the side of the railway line when an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           express train roared by and cut off an inch of his tail.
               Seeking revenge, the dog waited patiently for the train's next trip and tried to bite it as it went
           past. The train wheels ran right over the poor dog's neck slicing off its head.
               The moral of this little story is simple: Never lose your head over a little piece of tail.

               And this is only just the beginning, Deva Kumar; just a little piece of your tail has been cut. If
           you remain here long enough the tail will go, the head will go... and then only, for the first time, you
           will be reborn: reborn as consciousness, neither Indian nor French nor Italian.
               But have you observed this? I speak against the Italian mind, I speak against the German mind, I
           speak against the Jewish mind, but nobody takes any objection to it. But if I speak against the Indian
           mind, immediately somebody is there to object. Indians have become very touchy; deep down they
           feel some kind of inferiority, and on the surface they pretend superiority. Particularly as far as
           religion and spirituality is concerned, they feel that they are the spiritual guides of the world, that
           God has chosen them as messengers, that they are the source of religion, that they are holier than
           everybody else in the world, that their country is divine and all other countries are evil, that they are
           saints, holy people, and all others are sinners, that they are spiritualists and all other people are
           materialists.
               And because your stupid so-called mahatmas go on telling you these false ideas, when you hear
           me speaking anything against the Indian stupidity you become enraged. You cannot absorb it, you
           cannot remain open to it, because all your mahatmas go on buttressing your ego. It is because of this
           that the Indian masses are against me, for the simple reason that I cannot buttress their egos. I cannot
           say that "You are great spiritual people" -- and that's what they want to hear. They don't have
           anything else. They don't have science, they don't have technology; they don't have money, they are
           poor; they don't have food, they are starving. The only thing that can give them a little hope, a little
           satisfaction, is spirituality.
               So when I say, "You don't have even that," it hurts very much. Then nothing is left.
               Remember it: Buddha had it, Krishna had it, Mahavira had it, Nanak had it; that does not mean
           that all Indians have it. Socrates had it, Pythagoras had it, Heraclitus had it, Plotinus had it; that does
           not mean that all the Greeks have it. Lao Tzu had it, Chuang Tzu had it, Lieh Tzu had it; that does
           not mean that all the Chinese have it. These rare people have happened everywhere; it is nothing
           special to you.
               So stop bragging about it. This bragging keeps you unaware of your real situation; it has become
           very intoxicating to you. It keeps you in a kind of unconscious state.

               A fellow called up Mr. Vanderwater on Park Avenue and said, "Mr. Vanderwater, did my friend
           Bill come to your house party uninvited last night?"
           "Yes, he did."
           "Ah, the curse of drink! What a man will do when he is drunk! I would like to ask you another
           question, Mr. Vanderwater. Did he start beating up some of your guests and finish by throwing some
           of your art works out on Park Avenue?"
           "Yes, he did that."
           "I am so sorry. One more question: was I also there?"

              Ego is very intoxicating, remember it. It is more alcoholic than any alcohol can be. And it is
           pious; when it is pretending to be holy it is very pious -- and a pious poison is the purest poison.
           Avoid it. Come back to the earth. Be simple and see the reality as it is.

               Two drunks were passing the door of the honeymoon suite at the Ritz Hotel when they stopped a
           moment to listen. Inside the room the bridegroom was saying to his bride, "Darling, you are so
           deliciously lovely. Your fabulous beauty should be captured for posterity by the greatest artists in the
           world."
               The two drunks started banging on the door straight away, and the husband called out, "Who the
           devil is that?"
           "Rubens and Rembrandt!" replied both.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Deva Kumar, come down to the earth! Killing me is not going to help much. If you feel like
           doing that, you can do it; that's perfectly okay. That is not going to help you.
               What is going to help you is killing your ego. Put your energy into killing your ego. I am not
           interested in hurting anybody -- I am not against anybody. If sometimes I hammer on your heads, it
           is only out of love and compassion.

           The third question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS TO LISTEN TO DISCOURSE WITH COMPLETE, UNQUESTIONING ACCEPTANCE A FORM OF
              UNCONSCIOUSNESS?


                Ra, if you are unconscious you cannot be complete in anything. The unconscious mind cannot
           manage to be complete, to be entire, to be total in anything. One thing is certain: if you can manage
           to be entire, total, whole in anything, you are not unconscious. You may be anything else but not
           unconscious.
                You ask me, "Is to listen to discourse with complete, unquestioning acceptance a form of
           unconsciousness?"
                No, it cannot be a form of unconsciousness, because to bring conscious effort is a must if you
           want to be absolutely, totally accepting. You will have to bring deliberate effort; you will have to be
           very conscious about it.
                Unconscious mind is always fragmentary; it is many, it is not one. It cannot be one; it is a crowd,
           it is a mob, many voices within you. When you are unconscious you are many people; you are not a
           single individual. You are not integrated. Any effort to be total integrates you. And this is just a
           device, to listen with totality.
                But who told you that I am telling you to accept it? Totality is needed in listening, but I have not
           asked you to accept it. If you accept, you will not be total, because accepting means you are
           choosing, and choice is always partial: something has been not chosen and something has been
           chosen.
                Acceptance means you are rejecting many things: rejecting your own ideas, rejecting that which
           goes against me. If I am saying one thing and you accept it, that means you are rejecting the opposite
           of it. It is a constant choice.
                I am not asking you to accept what is being said; I am only asking you to listen totally. Then
           what is it? It is a totally different phenomenon, neither acceptance nor rejection -- just awareness.
           When you listen to the birds singing, do you accept, do you reject? Do you agree, do you disagree?
           You simply listen. The sound of a waterfall... what do you do? You simply listen. The wind passing
           through the pines... is agreement needed, disagreement? Nothing is needed; you simply listen. The
           music of the wind passing through the pines, the dance of the trees in the sun... you simply see, you
           listen. You are just a mirror. The mirror does not agree and does not disagree; it only reflects.
                And that is required from the disciple -- not acceptance, remember. I am not creating a creed, I
           am not giving you a dogma. I don't want you to be believers, neither do I want you to be
           disbelievers. But what is the point of bringing belief and disbelief into it? Just listen to me silently,
           fully, so nothing is missed, that's all.
                And the beauty of truth is that if you listen silently, totally, it penetrates to the very core of your
           being; it reaches to the heart. You need not agree; the seed of it falls into your consciousness and
           starts growing.
                Just the opposite is the case with the untruth: if you listen totally, no untruth can penetrate in
           your being. That totality is enough to throw any kind of untruth out. In a total state of consciousness,
           in total silence, untruth cannot penetrate; only truth can penetrate.
                So I am not interested in your agreement; I am only interested in your openness. And I am not
           telling you to be unquestioning, neither am I telling you to go on questioning. Both are futile
           activities while you are listening. If you listen with a thousand and one questions in the mind, how
           can you listen at all? Those questions create so much clamor, so much noise; they don't allow
           anything to enter in. And if you listen with an unquestioning mind, that means you are being
           gullible, you are being just unintelligent. So there is no need for questions and there is no need for
           unquestioning acceptance.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               What is needed, what is required from the disciple, is a total silence; just being here with me in
           deep communion, bridged, so slowly slowly, your breath falls in tune with my breath, your heart
           starts beating in the same rhythm as my heart, so we lose separation, so these three thousand people
           here become almost one entity, so attuned, so deep in accord that they can't feel separate. A great
           melting, merger, happens. And those are the moments of truth, moments of great joy, moments of
           meditation.
               The disciple is required to listen meditatively, because in those meditative moments windows
           open into the divine, doors open -- doors where you have never suspected that doors exist, where you
           have always thought there are walls. Suddenly doors open. Where you have never thought that there
           is any bridge possible, bridges suddenly appear. It is a mysterious phenomenon.
               So those who are here as outsiders, they will only get the most superficial thing: my words. They
           will not be able to participate in my heart. They will not be able to drink out of my being. They will
           not be able to be part of my dance, of my song.

           The fourth question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU FALLIBLE?


                Nityam, I am not the pope of the Vatican -- I am not infallible. I enjoy fallibility. And Buddha
           was not infallible and Jesus was not infallible. Only these stupid popes, they started claiming to be
           infallible, because they wanted to dominate, they wanted to exploit people. I have no desire to
           dominate anybody, I have no desire to exploit anybody. I have no desire at all.
                Fallibility is natural; infallibility is unnatural. Even God has committed so many errors! The first
           error he committed was to create the universe; that was the beginning of the whole mess. But he did
           it and he continues to do it; he has not stopped. He created the Devil; if anybody is responsible for
           the Devil's existence, then God is responsible -- he created him. He created all kinds of sins in you,
           all kinds of instincts in you. If anybody is responsible, if anybody is punishable, then God is.
                Whenever you meet God you can simply throw the whole load on him. You can simply say,
           "Why did you create me in this way? You should have created me a saint and you created me a
           sinner. It is up to you. If you are the creator, then it is your responsibility." If something is wrong in
           the painting, the painter is responsible not the painting. If something is wrong in the music, then the
           musician is responsible, not the musical instruments. If something goes wrong in the poetry, the poet
           is responsible.
                God is very fallible, that's the beauty; otherwise, God would be too inhuman a concept. It is very
           human, and in the East we even have ideas of God which are far more human -- far more human than
           the Christian God. The Jewish God is far more human than the Christian God -- the Jewish God
           becomes angry. The Christian God is always love, always sweet, very saccharin. The Jewish God
           can be very bitter. The Old Testament says that God is very jealous and very angry. Be watchful. A
           very human God.
                And if you come to the East you will be surprised. We have a beautiful story: God created the
           world because he was feeling lonely. Such a beautiful idea, God feeling lonely! So you need not feel
           too worried sometimes if you feel lonely -- it is divine. God was feeling very lonely, hence he
           created the world -- just to fill his loneliness. And when he created the first woman he fell in love
           with her. That is really going too far!
                The people who wrote this story must have been really courageous people. That is falling in love
           with your own daughter. And of course, as women are supposed to do, the woman started the game
           of hide-and-seek. They love that game very much. They still love it, and they will always love it; that
           is part of feminine psychology. The man takes the initiative and the woman starts hiding; and the
           more she hides, the more the man becomes enchanted.
                That's why Eastern women look more beautiful than Western women: for the simple reason that
           the Western woman has forgotten how to hide; she has become available. She is trying to be just like
           the man. The Eastern woman is not trying to be like the man; she tries to be absolutely feminine --
           very shy, never takes any initiative. No Eastern woman ever will say to somebody, "I love you." She
           simply waits for you to say it to her.
                So the woman started hiding. She became a cow just to hide from God. But how can you hide
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from God? He is omniscient. He looked around and he saw that the woman had become a cow, so he
           became the bull! Now that is going too far! And that's how the whole of creation happened: she
           became the mare and he became the horse, and so on, so forth. She went on hiding in new forms, and
           he went on finding her again and again. This seems to be something very close to the truth.
                Even God is fallible. There is no need to be perfect.
                These two words have to be understood as deeply as possible: one is perfection, the other is
           totality. My emphasis is never on perfection but on totality. The old religions have been teaching you
           for centuries to be perfect. You cannot be perfect; nobody can be perfect. Even God is not perfect --
           because to be perfect means to be dead. If something is perfect then there is no evolution possible
           anymore. Perfection means the full point has come, the cul-de-sac; the road ends. Now you are stuck,
           nowhere to go. You cannot come back -- because how can a perfect person come back? That will be
           becoming imperfect again. You cannot go ahead because you have become perfect; there is nothing
           ahead. Existence is imperfect and will remain so.
                I don't teach perfection. Perfection simply creates neurosis in people. Perfectionists are neurotics;
           they drive themselves crazy in trying to be perfect, because they are trying to do the impossible.
                I teach totality; I teach wholeness, not perfection. Be total in whatsoever you are doing. Be total.
           If you are angry, then be totally angry. If you are in love, then be totally in love. If you are sad, then
           be totally sad. Don't be halfhearted in anything. That is a totally different approach towards life.
                The perfectionist will say, "Never be angry, never be sad." The person who believes in totality
           will say, "Whatsoever is the case, just be total in it. Don't be halfhearted, don't hold yourself back.
           Go into it totally."
                Then life becomes really a tremendous adventure. Then even sadness is beautiful when it is total.
           If you can cry and weep totally, then even crying and weeping has a beauty of its own. It will refresh
           you, it will rejuvenate you, it will unburden you. If you can be totally sad you will come to know
           something immensely beautiful in sadness which no joy can ever give to you, because sadness has
           depth; joy is shallow. A person who has not known total sadness has missed a great experience of
           life.
                And total anger also has its own beauty. It will give you the experience of boiling at one hundred
           degrees, of intensity, of passion, of fire, of becoming aflame. And the miracle is: the person who can
           be totally angry can be totally compassionate too, because anger will teach him compassion. And
           sadness will teach him ways of being blissful.
                My approach is not that of a perfectionist; I am utterly against it. It has destroyed humanity. It
           has driven the whole of humanity into a kind of madness. The whole idea has to be dropped. We
           have to learn a new language -- the language of wholeness. And I call a person holy when he is
           whole in whatsoever he does.
                If you are doing cleaning, then do it totally. Then be utterly lost in it, and it will give you as
           much as a musician gets when he gets lost totally in his music or a dancer gets when he is utterly lost
           into his dance. Even cleaning the floor or cooking the food or taking the bath or going for a morning
           walk -- anything.
                Let this be your foundation of life: that whatsoever you are doing at the moment, be utterly lost
           into it. Nothing of you should be left behind. Don't keep any reservations. And you will come out of
           it immensely benefited, enriched.
                I am as fallible as anybody with only one difference: I am totally fallible!

               Moses and Jesus were sitting together in a boat reminiscing.
           "I really liked the one where you parted the water of the Red Sea, Moses," said Jesus.
           "Ah, yes," said Moses, "but that was nothing compared to your walking on the water -- that beats all.
           Say, do you think you could do it again?"
           "Sure," said Jesus, "but it has been a long time."
               He stepped out of the boat. Everything was fine, so he started walking slowly. Soon he noticed
           the water was coming up over the top of his feet. He was a little concerned, but kept walking. Soon
           the water was up to his ankles. He turned back towards the boat, worried. By the time he reached the
           boat again the water was up to his knees. He scrambled back in, relieved but puzzled.
           "I don't understand," Jesus said, "I know it has been a long time, but I really thought I had it down. I
           wonder what went wrong."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Moses was thoughtful too. Finally he said, "I bet I know what it is! The first time you did it you
           did not have holes in your feet!"

           The fifth question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS NOT LIFE AT ALL BEAUTIFUL ACCORDING TO GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA?


                Punito, life as you know it is not beautiful. When Buddha says life is misery, he is talking about
           the life that YOU know; he is not talking about the life that HE knows. There is no point in talking
           about the life he knows -- you won't understand it. You have not even any idea of it; you cannot even
           imagine it.
                You know a life which is lived through the mind; he knows a life which is lived without the
           mind. You know a life which is nothing but nonessential, superfluous, peripheral; he knows a life
           which is lived from the very center of his being. He knows a life which is not temporal but eternal;
           you know only the life which is momentary.
                He goes on saying that your life is misery -- misery and nothing else -- for the simple reason that
           it is so momentary. It cannot satisfy you, it cannot give you contentment. It cannot quench your
           thirst; on the contrary, it makes your thirst more and more persistent. It makes you more and more
           discontented.

              The Irish paratrooper jumped from a plane and then discovered that he had forgotten his
           parachute. As he was falling through the air he looked around at the scenery and said to himself,
           "This would be very pleasant if it would only last!"

                But this is our situation: without parachutes, falling towards the earth. Of course, it is beautiful
           scenery: clouds with sunrays and all greenery underneath you and a very silent atmosphere, no noise
           and unpolluted air. Everything is beautiful, but the problem is, it cannot last. Within moments all
           will be gone; within moments you will be shattered on the earth.
                Hence Buddha goes on reminding you about death: death is there by the corner. We try to make
           our life to last forever. We try in every possible way to avoid death, but death is unavoidable. We try
           to befool ourselves that we are exceptions, but nobody is an exception. Death comes inevitably.
                The only thing inevitable in life is death. But we go on creating illusions around ourselves that
           this is not going to happen -- not at least today. And who takes care about tomorrow? "We will see
           about tomorrow when it comes. Let us enjoy this moment -- eat, drink, be merry."
                Buddha says that this "Eat, drink, be merry" philosophy is sheer unconsciousness. And this
           unconscious state can create more and more misery for you. Unconsciousness is misery, so if your
           life is unconscious it IS misery.
                Consciousness is bliss. If your life is consciousness then it is bliss, but then it becomes a totally
           different kind of life. It becomes the life of the awakened one, of the enlightened one.

               Shanahan staggered out of the saloon. He wandered up the street and by mistake went into a
           house where a wake was being held. He spotted the refreshments and helped himself.
               The wake lasted all through the night and well into the next day. Shanahan made himself useful
           by serving as bartender and always had one with the guy who was drinking.
               At the end of the second day the party thinned out quite a bit, until at last Shanahan was alone
           with the widow. She approached him for the first time. "You must have been a great friend of
           O'Leary to stay on like this," she said sadly, "so I feel I can ask your advice. Do you think we should
           take poor O'Leary to a funeral home or should we hold the services here?"
               Shanahan took a final swig of gin and said, "Missus, why don't we just stuff him and keep the
           party going?"

                Yes, everybody would like that, tries that, but it is not possible. The party cannot go on and on
           and on; it is bound to come to an end.
                Buddha simply wants you to be reminded again and again that when death is there, what kind of
           life are you living? It can't be much of a life. There is another life which is beyond death, which is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deathlessness, and it is your birthright to attain to it. But the false has to be dropped first. The false
           has to be seen as false and then the quest starts for the real. The moment you recognize your life as
           nothing but a slow kind of death you will start looking for the real life.
               And the real life is available and not very far away; it is available inside you, within you.
           Whatsoever you do on the outside is to be taken away by death. Do something for your inner
           transformation, because that is the only treasure which cannot be taken away by death.

           The last question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN MAN LIVE IN THIS CUNNING WORLD WITHOUT BEING CUNNING HIMSELF?


               Anahato, the world is cunning because you are cunning, not vice versa. It is not that you are
           cunning because the world is cunning. The world is nothing but you; you are the world.
               You project your world. And even though the world is cunning, what are you going to gain by
           being cunning? Even though the world is cunning, what are you going to lose by being innocent,
           simple?
               Nothing of real value can be lost by being simple. In fact, by being simple and innocent the real
           is attained. Yes, by cunningness you can attain to power, to money, to prestige, but what is the point
           of attaining all that? Death is bound to take everything away from you. And can't you see the people
           who are powerful? Are they happy? Do you see any joy in their lives? Can't you observe the rich
           people? They live a dog's life, in utter misery!

                Alexander the Great said to Diogenes, "If I am going to be born again I would not like to be
           Alexander again. I would like to be Diogenes."
                Diogenes was a naked mystic, had nothing, not even a begging bowl. Buddha at least had a
           begging bowl with him; Diogenes was absolutely without any possessions.
                He used to have a begging bowl, but one day he saw a dog drinking water and he meditated over
           it, and he thought, "If a dog can manage without a begging bowl, can't I manage without a begging
           bowl?" He threw the begging bowl into the river and he became very friendly with the dog. He used
           to tell people, "He is one of my teachers. He has given me one of the most important lessons of my
           life. Since I have thrown the begging bowl in the river I feel such freedom; otherwise, even in the
           night I used to remain afraid that somebody may steal my begging bowl. I used at least two, three
           times in the night to look around to see whether the begging bowl was still there or not. Since I have
           thrown it away, I have no worry left in the world."
                Alexander heard about the joy of Diogenes and he came to see him, and he was tremendously
           impressed. He had never seen such a man! And to Diogenes he said, "Next time, if God is going to
           send me again to the world, I will come as Diogenes."
                Diogenes laughed. He looked at his dog -- his friend and teacher -- and said to the dog, "Listen to
           what this man is saying. If he really wants to be Diogenes, who is preventing him? He can be
           Diogenes just this very moment!" It is said that he laughed and the dog smiled too. Must have been
           some ancient Snoopy!
                Alexander said, "What is the matter? Why are you laughing and why is your dog smiling?"
                Diogenes said, "What else can we do? You are talking such nonsense! If you want to be
           Diogenes, forget all about your world conquest and be here! I live on this bank of the river, and it is
           a big bank. We both can live here, there is no problem. Why wait for the next life? And why remain
           miserable meanwhile?"
                Alexander said, "I cannot answer it. I understand -- you are right -- but I have my own
           investments, my own ideas to fulfill first. I have to conquer the world! Once I have conquered it, I
           can renounce it but not before that."
                Diogenes said, "You will never conquer it, because nobody can conquer the whole world. And
           even if you conquer it you will never be able to renounce it, because then you will say, 'I have put so
           much energy into it and I have wasted my whole life. Why should I renounce it?'"
                Alexander died in misery; Diogenes died in bliss. By coincidence, both died on the same day,
           and when they were crossing the river that separates this world from the other, Alexander was ahead,
           Diogenes was just a few feet behind. Alexander looked, felt very ashamed because he was naked.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Diogenes was not ashamed at all because he had been naked his whole life. Just to hide his shame
           Alexander laughed -- a shallow laughter -- and said to Diogenes, "It is strange that an emperor and a
           beggar are meeting on the boundary line of these two worlds. It may not have happened before, it
           may not happen again."
              Diogenes had a real laughter -- a belly laughter. He said, "You are right -- an emperor and a
           beggar meeting on this boundary is a rare phenomenon -- but about one thing you are wrong. You
           don't know who is the emperor and who is the beggar. The emperor is behind and the beggar is
           ahead!"
           And Diogenes was right.

               Buddha insists that by being cunning you can accumulate wealth -- but what is the point of it if it
           only brings misery, anxiety, anguish? By being innocent you may be cheated, you may be taken
           advantage of, but what is there to lose?
               Anahato, you ask me, "Can man live in this cunning world without being cunning?"
               Don't call the world cunning, because that is just a cover-up. You want to be cunning and you
           cover it up with an explanation, with the rationalization that "The world is cunning, that's why I have
           to be cunning." It is your world: you make it, you create it.
               And remember, everybody who is part of the world thinks in the same way. All the constituents
           of the world think in the same way: "The world is cunning, that's why I have to be cunning." Who is
           creating the world? We are the world and we are creating it. But we want to be cunning and we don't
           want to accept the fact, the ugly fact, that we want to be cunning; hence we call the whole world
           cunning.
               Drop such explanations. And of course, others will also support your explanation because they
           are in the same boat. So your explanation will look almost like a valid truth. It is not.

               Times in the fifties were not easy for Ma and Pa in the rural area of West Texas, as a ten-year
           drought took no mercy on small farmers. Still, Pa was determined to send Junior off to the
           prestigious University of Texas, if only for one semester, to boast of his son's academic
           achievements to the neighbors. So money was saved for several years until one thousand dollars
           were accumulated.
               As Junior boarded the bus ready for departure, Pa sternly announced, "Junior, your Ma and I
           have sacrificed a lot to send you to the university, and if you really watch yourself you can make it
           through the year with this money." And he handed the boy an envelope containing the one thousand
           dollars.
               Junior, however, arrived at the university with notions other than that of earning a degree. He
           enjoyed nights and days of fun and games, recklessly spending Pa's money until one month later all
           was spent.
               In spite of his desperate situation, Junior wrote a letter, saying, "Pa, there are many smart
           teachers here and one of my professors says he can teach old Blue, our hound dog, to talk... for only
           five hundred dollars."
               When Pa read the letter he became excited and told Ma, "This may be our lucky day at last. If the
           boy is right, we can put that useless hound dog in the circus, become rich, and retire for life!"
               So Pa mortgaged the farm and all the equipment, borrowed five hundred dollars from the bank,
           and sent it along with Old Blue on the bus. When the dog arrived with the money, Junior, not
           wanting to be bothered with the animal, killed it and forgot about it. As he continued his carefree
           life-style for a few more weeks, the money again ran out.
               By now, however, Junior had learned the trick, so he again wrote to his Pa, "Gee, Pa, Old Blue
           had us all fooled. He is smarter than we thought. The professor has already taught him to speak
           English, and now he says that this dog is so intelligent that for only five hundred dollars more he
           could be taught two more languages, to sing and to dance."
               After reading the letter, Pa and Ma were overtaken by visions of great wealth and fame. They
           immediately hocked all of their belongings, borrowed from all of their friends, and finally raised
           another five hundred dollars to send to Junior. This time the money lasted until the Thanksgiving
           break, at which time Junior and Blue were both expected home.
               Excited, Pa went to meet Junior at the bus station, but to his surprise, Junior was without the new
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           superstar hound dog. Running up to him he cried, "Hi, Junior! Where is old Blue?"
               Junior pulled Pa aside and with a serious look explained, "Pa, the damndest thing happened on
           the way here. Old Blue was sitting here beside me talking up a storm, when suddenly he said,
           'Junior, I got to shit real bad!' And I said, 'Blue, just hold back till we get to the next town. I got to
           shave, also, and we have a ten-minute layover. We can use the restroom there.'
           "So, Pa, Old Blue was sitting on the crapper and I was shaving with that straight-edged razor you
           gave me last Christmas, when Blue said, 'Say, I wonder if your Pa is still fucking that old cross-eyed
           mare at the farm?' And Pa, I got so damn mad I just cut that dog's head off!"
               Pa bolted forward, very excited, and said, "Are you sure you killed that sonofaxbitch, son?"

               This goes on and on. Somebody has to come out of it. If you are waiting for the whole world to
           become innocent, and then you will become innocent, then it is not going to happen ever. Forget
           about the world. You be innocent and lose anything that is bound to be lost by dropping
           cunningness. And you will not be a loser, remember.
               Innocence will give you the real treasure, the kingdom of God. Blessed are the innocent, for
           theirs is the kingdom of God.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                    Chapter #12
                                           Chapter title: Rivers don't exist
           1 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001010
              ShortTitle: DHAM812
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW CAN YOU, AS A MAN, TALK ABOUT THE FEMININE PSYCHE? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT
              GOD IS A HE?


               Gudrun Hofmann, I am not talking as a man, I am not talking as a woman. I am not talking as a
           mind at all. The mind is used, but I am talking as consciousness, as awareness. And awareness is
           neither he nor she, awareness is neither man nor woman. Your body has that division and your mind
           too, because your mind is your inner part of the body and your body is the outer part of your mind.
           Your body and mind are not separate; they are one entity. In fact, to say body and mind is not right;
           'and' should not be used. You are bodymind -- not even a hyphen between the two.
               Hence, with the body, with the mind, 'masculine', 'feminine' -- these words are relevant,
           meaningful. But there is something beyond them both; there is something transcendental. That is
           your real core, your being. That being consists only of awareness, of witnessing, of watchfulness. It
           is pure consciousness.
               I am not talking here as a man; otherwise it is impossible to talk about the woman. I am talking
           as awareness. I have lived in the feminine body many times and I have lived in the masculine body
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many times, and I have witnessed all. I have seen all the houses, I have seen all the garments. What I
           am saying to you is the conclusion of many many lives; it has not to do with only this life. This life
           is only a culmination of a long long pilgrimage.
               So don't listen to me as a man or a woman; otherwise you will not be listening to me. Listen to
           me as awareness.
               Secondly, you say, "How do you know that God is a he?"
               God is neither he nor she. God simply means the totality of consciousness in existence. God
           simply means life eternal. Life expresses in two ways, man and woman. God is the unmanifest
           source of life; you cannot call him "he," you cannot call him "she." But because for centuries the
           word 'he' has been used, I go on using it. You have to remember that I don't mean it.
               If you really want to go deep into the phenomenon of God, then God does not exist at all -- as a
           person. God is only a presence. In other words, there is no God but only godliness: a quality that
           pervades, permeates, the whole of existence; that is everywhere, in every leaf, in every dewdrop. It is
           a quality. Once you start thinking of God as a quality, your whole outlook on life, on religion, on
           love, will be totally different.
               Existence consists not of nouns but of verbs. Nouns are inventions of man and so are pronouns.
           Verbs are real. When you say "a river" what do you mean? Have you ever seen a river as a noun?
           The river is always flowing, it is always a movement. It is never static, it is dynamic. How can you
           make it a static noun? The word 'river' seems to be static.
               If you ask the buddhas, the awakened ones, they will say, "Rivers don't exist." But you see the
           river flowing by! The flow is there, a kind of rivering is there, but no river. You see so many trees,
           but in fact what exists is a kind of treeing, not trees, because every tree is changing every moment.
           The time that you will take in using the word 'tree', the tree is no more the same. A few old leaves
           have fallen, a few new leaves have started coming out, a flower has opened up, a bud is getting ready
           to open. There is great activity; the tree is constantly in momentum.
               The whole existence consists of verbs, and God is nothing but the totality of all these verbs. God
           is not a quantity but a quality, not a person but a presence. God is an experience, not an object of
           experience but experience itself. God is subjectivity. And how can you call subjectivity "he" or
           "she"?
               I know why the question has arisen. All over the world, particularly in the West, the liberated
           woman is asking, "Why call God 'he'?" And she is right, in a way. Why make God identified with the
           masculine mind? It is a kind of male chauvinistic approach. For centuries, the male has dominated
           everything, hence he has called God "he." And the rebellion against it is absolutely right.
               But to start calling God "she" will not put things right; it will be moving to the other extreme.
           That will be another kind of chauvinism, it won't change anything. Simply the wrong that man was
           doing will be done by woman; both are wrong. God is neither.
               Hence in the East, where for ten thousand years hundreds of people have arrived to the ultimate
           pinnacle of experiencing godliness, we don't call God "he" or "she," we call him "it." That is far
           more beautiful because it takes God beyond he and she. But something has to be called, and
           whatsoever words are used are going to be inadequate -- he, she, it -- because the word 'it' has also its
           own dangers. 'It' seems to be dead because we use it for things, and God is not a thing either. 'It'
           seems to be too neutral, and God is not neutral; he is tremendously committed, involved. 'It' seems to
           be lifeless, and God is life itself, love itself. Any word will have its own limitations.
               So you can use any word -- he, she, it -- but remember, all words are limited and God is
           unlimited. If you use these words mindfully, then there is no danger. The basic remembrance is that
           God is a presence, otherwise many foolish questions arise.
               If you call him "he" or "she," then the question arises, "Where does he live? Where is he?" And
           then the question seems to be very relevant because you have reduced him to a person; then where is
           his dwelling?

           "Where is the dwelling of God?"
              This was the question with which the rabbi of Kotzk surprised a number of learned men who
           happened to be visiting him.
              They laughed at him, "What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of His glory?"
              Then he answered his own question: "God dwells wherever man lets him in."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               There is no dwelling outside somewhere. Whenever you allow yourself, you open up to
           existence, whenever you allow the wind and the rain and the sun to reach to your innermost core,
           suddenly there is God, godliness. Suddenly you are overwhelmed by something bigger than you, by
           something which is oceanic. You start disappearing into it like a dewdrop.
               The moment we say, "God is a person," then we start praying, praising. That is a kind of bribery.
           That is a kind of buttressing his ego. If God is a person he must have an ego. Then praise him and he
           will be happy with you, and you will be rewarded either here or hereafter. The moment we think of
           God as a person we start searching for him not IN the world but somewhere far away in heaven, and
           we miss the whole point. God is now-here, God is nowhere else.

               There is a tale that a man inspired by God once went out from the creaturely realms into the vast
           waste. There he wandered till he came to the Gates of Mystery. He knocked. From within came the
           cry, "What do you want here?"
               He said, "I have proclaimed your praise in the ears of mortals, but they are deaf to me, so I come
           to you that you yourself may hear me and reply."
           "Turn back!" came the cry from within. "Here is no ear for you. I have sunk my hearing in the
           deafness of mortals."

               God is in the stones, God is in the waters, God is in the animals, God is in the birds, God is in
           people, in sinners, in saints. God is equivalent to isness. Now, is isness he or she? The question will
           be utterly meaningless.
               So don't be worried whether God is he or she. Rather, look within yourself and find the place
           where he and she both disappear. And that will be the beginning of your understanding of reality, of
           what it is.
               This thing cannot be decided by argumentation. It is not a metaphysical question, it is something
           existential. If you can find something within yourself which is neither masculine nor feminine, then
           you will know that there is something in existence which is neither, which is beyond both. And that
           beyondness is God.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM SIXTY YEARS OLD, BUT YET THE SAME DESIRES PERSIST. WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH
              ME?


               Narayandas, growing old is not growing up. Time by itself does not bring wisdom. Yes, it brings
           many experiences, but experiences by themselves cannot deliver wisdom to you.
               Wisdom is a totally different phenomenon. It does not happen through experiences of the outside
           world. It happens when you become centered within your being, when you become rooted in your
           being, when you become integrated, when you are no more a crowd and you become a crystallized
           soul.
               Desires can't disappear just because you have become sixty years old. You can be six hundred
           years old and desires will be there, in fact more, because they will be also six hundred years old.
           Your desires are sixty years old; they have gone deep in you in sixty years.
               People have this idea that when you are young you suffer from desires, when you are old you go
           beyond them. Just by being old? That is ridiculous! You don't go beyond desires just by being old.
           You simply become a hypocrite; you start pretending that you have gone beyond desires. Maybe you
           can't go into desires because there is no energy available, but the mind thinks more and more.
           Because you can't do anything, your whole energy becomes cerebral. The young person can do
           something about his desires; you cannot do, so you only think.
               And as death starts coming closer and closer, a great fear arises: so many desires are there which
           are unfulfilled. You become afraid: if death comes and takes you away.... It is bound to happen
           sooner or later, and the possibility is of sooner than later. All those desires start taking possession of
           you. "Fulfill us," they say. "Time is short. Do something." You start going crazy. You continuously
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become obsessed.

               A moralist addressing an audience thundered, "Remember, my friends, when temptation comes
           your way you must resist it -- resist it!"
           "I would like to," said one of the old men, "but I am always afraid it may never come again."

                That fear is natural. Death may come before the temptation comes again. Who knows? -- it may
           not come again.
                The old man becomes more and more afraid of losing his desires.
                It is not an accident that Buddha introduced a new idea into the world of sannyas. He started
           initiating young people into sannyas. In India, the tradition was that you should take sannyas only
           when you are very old, after seventy-five years -- the fourth stage, when you have done everything
           and only death is left. Then take sannyas. That was the idea and it was a very comfortable idea, a
           very cozy idea.
                In the first place, very few people are going to live beyond seventy-five, particularly in those
           days and in India. Even today very few people will live beyond seventy-five, so there is no fear of
           living after seventy-five and becoming a sannyasin. And if by chance you happen to live after
           seventy-five, all your energies will be already wasted, gone down the drain. Whether you take
           sannyas or not you will be a sannyasin, so why not take it?
                People after seventy-five years used to take the vow of celibacy. You see the foolishness of it!

               A man used to come to Ramakrishna each religious festival and he would give a big feast. He
           was a nonvegetarian, and many animals would be cut up for the feast. He was very rich. Then
           suddenly all those feasts stopped. There was one great festival and the feast was not happening, and
           the man had come to see Ramakrishna.
               Ramakrishna asked, "What happened? Why are you not celebrating this feast? Have you become
           irreligious or something? Are you no more interested in your religion?"
               He said, "That is not the point. My teeth have fallen out. And when I cannot eat, why should I
           bother?"

               The feast was not for any religious reasons; the feast was simply because he wanted to enjoy.
           Religion was just an excuse.
               People can take the oath of celibacy after seventy-five, so they are saving both the worlds. They
           have enjoyed this world and now they are creating a bank balance in the other. They are becoming
           virtuous so cheaply that it is all false.
               Buddha introduced the idea that young people should become sannyasins. Then it is something
           significant. When a young person goes beyond sex, when a young person goes beyond desires, when
           a young person goes beyond greed, ambition, the longing to be powerful, the ambition to be famous,
           then it is something tremendously meaningful, significant.
               Remember one thing: when you are young you have energies. Those energies can take you to
           hell and those same energies can take you to heaven. Energies are neutral; it depends on you how
           you use them.
               So the first thing: just by becoming an old person does not mean that you have become wise.
           Wisdom needs meditation not worldly experience. Worldly experience makes you more cunning;
           hence it is very difficult to find an old man who is not cunning. You can find a young man who is
           not cunning; you can find many children. In fact, almost all the children are innocent, they are not
           cunning. They have not known anything of the world. They have not learned tricks, strategies,
           politics, diplomacy. They are simply whatsoever they are -- they are authentic. As they grow more
           and more, as they become acquainted with the world and all the hypocrisy around, naturally they
           start becoming part of the world. They start learning the same kind of strategies.
               By the time a person becomes old he becomes very cunning -- not wise, not intelligent.
           Remember: if you were stupid when you were a child you will be more stupid when you are old.
           You will have a long, long-rooted stupidity in you with great foliage and flowers and fruits.
           Whatsoever you have will grow with your age. If you meditate then meditation will grow. But just
           by becoming old you cannot be wise.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               The ex-captain's wife paid a visit to a doctor who had achieved fame in the successful treatment
           of impotency. His method consisted of convincing the male patient he had the virility of a horse. The
           doctor consented to treat the woman's husband.
               A few weeks later the doctor met the woman on the street, "Have you noticed the change you
           wanted in your husband?" he asked.
           "No," replied the woman, "but he just won the Derby!"

               Now, a stupid old man...! If you tell him that "You are a horse," you can't expect anything else!
           He will become a horse; he will become hypnotized with the idea.
               Intelligence is a totally different phenomenon; intelligence cannot be hypnotized. An intelligent
           person cannot be Hindu, cannot be Mohammedan, cannot be Christian -- impossible, because these
           are all tricks, hypnotic tricks. People are being hypnotized from their very childhood that "You are a
           Hindu." A constant repetition that "You are a Hindu" makes you a Hindu. It is nothing else but a
           conditioning. A wise man becomes unconditioned.
               So the first thing I will suggest to you, Narayandas: become unconditioned. Whatsoever your
           sixty years' life has conditioned you for, drop it. That's what your mind is: the accumulated
           conditionings. Drop them!
               And the beginning of meditation is when you start dropping your conditionings. A moment
           comes when you become unconditioned again, like a child. Then your intelligence explodes. And an
           intelligent person cannot desire, that is impossible, because desiring only brings misery, frustration.
           Desiring only creates anxiety, anguish; it never brings any fulfillment, never any contentment.
               An intelligent person cannot go on desiring. His very intelligence is enough and desiring
           disappears -- not that he renounces, remember. Only fools renounce.
               Intelligent people don't renounce the world. They live in the world, but they live intelligently,
           without desiring. Whatsoever comes on their way they enjoy, but they don't hanker for anything.
           Their sleep remains undisturbed; they don't dream for anything. They don't project for the future,
           they live in the present.
               Yes, Narayandas, you are becoming old, but don't hope that just by becoming old you will
           become wise enough and desires will disappear on their own accord.

               She lay in bed, blissfully happy on this, the first morning of her long-dreamed-of honeymoon.
           "Darling," she called as she heard him puttering around in the bathroom, "did you brush your teeth
           yet?"
           "Yes," he cooed, "and while I was at it, I brushed yours too."

               Yes, old you can become, but just by becoming old nothing is achieved.
               Real growth happens inwards. It is a transformation of your interiority. And now that you are
           here, forget those sixty years and all the nightmares that you must have passed through those sixty
           years. Start your life afresh from the very beginning again.
               Jesus says: Unless you are born again you will not be able to enter into my kingdom of God. And
           he is absolutely right. You need a new birth; you have to be twice-born. And to be with a master is a
           rebirth. It is initiation into the inner world.
               Sixty years you have wasted on the outside, accumulating money, accumulating this and that,
           trying to be respectable, famous, powerful. Now get out of all those stupid games -- no more games!
           Now let there be a single-pointed search for the truth: the truth that you are, the truth that resides in
           you, the truth that you are made of, the truth of your consciousness.
               My whole effort here is to help you towards self-knowledge. It does not need time; it needs
           intensity, sincerity. It needs commitment. It needs a tremendous effort to go in, because those sixty
           years you have created so many things on the outside which will hinder you from going in. They
           have become walls. You have become unbridged to your own self.
               You ask me, "I am sixty years old, but yet the same desires persist."
               Good that you have become aware of it, that the same desires are still there. There are many
           people who are not aware; they have repressed their desires so deeply that even they themselves
           have become unaware of them. Good that you are aware. The first ray of intelligence... that you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aware that the same desires persist.
           And you ask, "What is the matter with me?"
               Nothing is the matter with you; it is the same with everybody. One phase of your life is over.
           Now it is time to grow into another dimension. Sixty years is enough time to know about the world
           and all that it offers -- or at least promises to offer. You have known it, and it is only by knowing it
           that one becomes aware of the deceptiveness of it all. You have seen the illusion -- now turn in. Now
           become a sannyasin! You have been a worldly man up to now. And by a worldly man I simply mean
           one who is absolutely unaware of himself and is concerned about trivia -- money, power, prestige.
               And I call the person a sannyasin who becomes deeply interested in his own life's source, who
           starts asking, "Who am I?" and who starts moving towards his center. From the circumference he
           changes his abode towards the center.
               The day you reach to your center is the day of great blessings, the day of great enlightenment.
           That day you transcend life and death. That day you transcend man/woman. That day you transcend
           all dualities. That day, for the first time, you will taste what bliss is.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU AGAINST FOLLOWING SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE SECRETS OF LIFE?
              WHAT IS THE NEED TO DISCOVER THEM ONESELF ON ONE'S OWN?


                Sudhakar, truth cannot be transferred. That is one of the intrinsic qualities of truth: nobody can
           give it to you. Yes, words can be given to you, theories can be given to you, theologies can be given
           to you, but not truth. Following somebody you will be following his words. Following somebody
           you will become a Jaina, a Mohammedan, a Buddhist, but you will never become your own self.
                And Buddha is a unique individual just as you are. What did he do? Try to understand it; that
           may be helpful in your journey. But don't follow him literally; otherwise that will make you only
           phony, that will make you only pseudo. Existence never repeats anybody. Jesus comes only once,
           Buddha comes only once. There has never been a person like Buddha before and will never be again,
           for the simple reason that existence never repeats.
                You are a totally new manifestation of God. It has never been before so there has never been a
           person exactly like you. So whomsoever you follow, you will be following somebody who is not like
           you and you will get into trouble. You can cultivate a certain character around you, you can act, but
           by acting you are not going to become a buddha.
                That's what the Buddhist monks have been doing for twenty-five centuries -- acting, performing,
           literally following. The way Buddha walks they will walk, the way Buddha eats they will eat, the
           way Buddha sits they will sit. You can do all these things and it is possible you may do them even
           better than Buddha, because Buddha was not imitating anybody else; he was spontaneous. When a
           person is spontaneous he has no time to rehearse it; you will have enough time to rehearse. You may
           even defeat Buddha in a competition.

           It actually happened once:
               Friends of Charlie Chaplin were celebrating one of his birthdays and they found a beautiful way
           to celebrate it. They advertised in the newspapers all over England that there will be a competition
           and whosoever can imitate Charlie Chaplin will be rewarded. There were three big awards.
               Many people participated. At least a hundred were chosen from different cities and they all
           gathered in London for the final selection of the three winners.
               Charlie Chaplin had an idea. He entered in the competition from a different town hoping that he
           was going to win the first prize -- there was no question about it. But he was wrong; he got the
           second prize! People came to know only later on that he was also a participant. He was so surprised
           that somebody managed better than himself. Naturally, the other had practiced it for a long time.
           Charlie Chaplin was just there being himself; there was no need to practice. He IS Charlie Chaplin,
           so why practice? What is there to practice? But the other was more polished, more practiced. He
           walked better than Charlie Chaplin, he talked better than Charlie Chaplin! He outdid him.
               This is possible. Some Christian monk may defeat Jesus, some Buddhist monk may defeat
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha. But still, Buddha is Buddha and you will be only an imitator. Still, Charlie Chaplin is
           Charlie Chaplin and the man who was acting even in a better way is just acting; deep down he is
           himself.

                You can never be somebody else. Remember it as one of the most fundamental laws. AES
           DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the eternal law: you can never be like somebody else. That does
           not mean you should not learn. Learn, but don't follow. Absorb, but go on your own way. Learn from
           all the enlightened ones. Sit at their feet, absorb their presence, but go on your own way.
                Buddha himself said as his last statement on the earth: Be a light unto yourself.

              A squirrel on the ground was watching two other squirrels in a tree.
              One of them fell to the ground, bounced a couple of times, looked back up in the tree and said,
           "That making love in the tree is for the birds."

              That's why I say don't follow. Don't try to make love in the tree -- that is for the birds! --
           otherwise you will be in the hospital.

               A little boy and girl squirrel were chattering and playing around when suddenly a fox appeared.
           The girl squirrel dashed up a tree but the boy squirrel stayed on the ground.
           "That's strange," said the fox. "Usually squirrels are afraid of me and run up the nearest tree."
           "Listen," said the boy squirrel. "Did you ever try to climb a tree after playing with a girl for twenty
           minutes?"

                Just look to your own situation! Buddha has a different space, different context, a different
           world. You cannot follow him -- literally you cannot follow him. Metaphorically you can understand
           him and you can be tremendously benefited by him.
                You ask me, Sudhakar, "Why are you against following someone who knows the secrets of life?"
                How do you know that someone knows the secrets of life? That is just a belief. Unless YOU
           know the secrets of life, you will never know that someone else knows them. And following
           somebody just out of belief you may be getting into trouble. He may not know at all. He may be a
           convincing talker; he may be arguing better than you can argue. He can silence you in argument; that
           does not mean that he knows. He may be more articulate than you are, he may have studied the
           scriptures. Even the Devil can quote the scriptures! How do you know that he knows the secrets of
           life? You can know only if you also know.
                You can understand Buddha really only when you are also a buddha. You can understand Christ
           only when you are also a christ -- not by following them but by becoming awakened on your own
           accord.
                Hence I say there is the need to discover the truth by yourself. The inner truth is different from
           the outer truth. The outer truth can be discovered by one person and then the whole world possesses
           it. For example, the theory of relativity was discovered by Albert Einstein. Now everybody else need
           not discover it again and again; that will be just wasting time. He took years to discover it; now if
           you are intelligent you can understand it within days. If you are really intelligent, then within hours.
           There is no need to waste years in discovering it again and again.
                Somebody discovered -- Newton discovered -- the law of gravitation. Now you need not go and
           sit in a garden and wait for the apple to fall and then brood over it and then come to the conclusion
           that there must be a certain magnetic force in the earth which pulls things downwards. Now, if
           everybody has to do that there are not so many gardens and there are not so many apple trees, and
           apples may not oblige you. You may go on sitting under the tree for hours, days, months; they may
           not fall.
                And do you know, even before Newton they used to fall and thousands of people must have
           watched them falling, but nobody discovered the law of gravitation. So there is no certainty that even
           if they oblige you and fall in the right time that you will discover the law of gravitation. There is no
           need -- Newton has done it for you, for all, forever.
                This is the quality of the outer, objective truth: once discovered it becomes universal.
                The inner truth has a totally different quality: it always remains individual, it never becomes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           universal.
                Buddha discovers it but he cannot convey it; he cannot adequately express it, he cannot make it
           universal. It remains essentially individual. And whatsoever he does is just inadequate; it never
           fulfills the great need of the masses -- that they need not discover it anymore. Buddha has discovered
           it, Jesus has discovered it; now you can simply follow it.
                This is the beauty of the inner truth, that you have to discover it again and again afresh. And the
           very discovery is such a bliss that it is good that one person has not finished it forever; otherwise
           there would have been no spiritual quest left. Buddha is not the first; there had been other awakened
           people before him. One enlightened person would have done it and then in every primary school you
           could teach it to everybody. The whole joy of discovering it would have been lost. It is beautiful that
           the subjective truth remains individual. Thousands of times it has been discovered, but it has not
           become universal yet and it will never become universal; it will remain individual. You will have to
           seek and search it on your own.
                And when you find it you will be surprised: it is the same truth that was found by Buddha, it is
           the same truth that was found by Mahavira, the same truth that was found by Mohammed or Moses;
           it is not a different truth. But this is the quality of the inner world -- that you have to go there all
           alone. Nobody can accompany you and nobody can give you ready-made maps.
                It is a very mysterious world inside; the outside world is not so mysterious, maps are possible.
           But the inner world remains a secret, a hidden secret. Even when you have known it and you would
           like to share it you cannot. All that you can share is your desire to share, that's all -- your deep
           compassion to share, your love for others. But the truth remains as unexpressed as before.
                Then why do masters speak at all? They speak not to share the truth -- they know perfectly well
           it cannot be shared. They speak to make your thirst for truth aflame. They speak to make you more
           thirsty, more hungry. They speak to create a tremendous longing in you to go inwards. Their
           presence, their vibe, their song, their dance, all indicate towards one thing: go in.

           The fourth question:

              Beloved Master,
              I DON'T WANT TO DIE AND YET I AM HERE WITH YOU. AM I CRAZY?


               Prem Svarupo, sane people don't come here, because the so-called sane people are the most
           insane in the world. The sane people are those who crucified Jesus. The sane people are those who
           poisoned Socrates. The sane people are those who made many efforts to kill Buddha. The sane
           people are in politics; they don't come to the enlightened ones, to the awakened ones. Only crazy
           people can come -- but these crazy people, in the real sense, are the sanest.
               It is a paradox. The people who followed Jesus must have been crazy -- they were crazy.
           Everybody was saying that they were crazy. The people who followed Buddha must have been
           crazy. Even Buddha's father was saying to people, "You are crazy! He is crazy and you are crazy! He
           has renounced his kingdom -- he is a fool. And now so many people are renouncing and going with
           him. What can you find in the jungles? Sitting under trees with closed eyes, what can you find? If
           you want to do something, do it in the world. If you want to find something, find it in the world."
               When Buddha came back to his home after his enlightenment, his father was very angry and he
           said, "You ARE crazy, but I can forgive you because I have the heart of the father."
               Buddha laughed and he said, "First say everything that you wanted to tell me all these twelve
           years I have not been here in the house. You must have accumulated much anger -- you first cathart!
           When you have thrown all the garbage out, then there is a possibility to communicate something to
           you."
               The father was shocked. What is he saying? It was not expected at all! For a moment there was
           silence. And Buddha said, "Just look at me. I am not the same person who had gone. I am a totally
           different person because my inner being has changed. I am reborn. I am not your son anymore. I am
           not this body and I am not this mind either. I have attained to the beyond.
           "So first throw out all your anger so that you can see me, so that your eyes are clear enough to
           recognize the change that has happened in me -- a radical change. The person that had gone has died,
           and the person that has come today is a totally different person -- of course in the same continuum.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hence I look the same way from the outside only; from the inside I am not the same at all."

               Svarupo, you ARE crazy! All of my sannyasins are crazy. Only crazy people can be religious --
           crazy in the eyes of the world but not crazy in the eyes of the awakened ones, because in the eyes of
           the awakened ones the world is insane. The world is a big madhouse; you have escaped from it. You
           are learning how to be sane, how to be saner.
               You ask me, "I don't want to die, and yet I am here with you."
               This happens to everybody. When you come here you start learning a new language, the
           language of transformation. You start seeing a new truth: that if the ego dies, then you will be really
           born. If the ego is dropped, then God can enter in you. The ego is the barrier.
               When you come here for the first time, you come for improvement, for growth -- not to die. But
           slowly slowly, you start understanding that growth is possible only if first you allow a certain death:
           the death of the ego.
               Then fear grips you and a contradiction arises in you, a double bind. The intelligent part of you
           starts saying, "Die -- don't waste time." And the unintelligent part -- your past -- says, "What are you
           doing? Are you crazy? Who knows what will happen after death? If you drop your personality and
           your ego, how will you keep yourself together? You may start falling apart! How will you control
           yourself?" You are afraid of so many things that can happen to you if the control is lost.
               Hence you start doing a very contradictory work: on one hand you dismantle yourself, and on the
           other hand you put yourself together again. This can continue for years.

              The fashionably dressed girl these days wears pants to make her look like a boy, and see-through
           blouses just to prove that she is not.

           This is a double bind! And this is bound to happen.
               Sooner or later, one day, Svarupo, you will have to take a decisive step. You will have to come
           out of this double bind, because this is wasting time, energy, opportunity. Who knows? I may not be
           here tomorrow -- or the next moment. This opportunity may be lost. Right now the door is open and
           I am beckoning you, "Come in!" Tomorrow the door may disappear and there will be nobody to
           beckon you to come in. And then you will suffer much, then you will be in deep anguish. Then you
           will cry and weep for the spilt milk.
               Right now is the time to listen to the call, to the challenge. I am a challenge, a call: a challenge of
           the unknown calling you towards the uncharted sea. I know you are afraid and I know that to leave
           the shelter of the shore is difficult. You have lived on the shore so long and you have made such a
           beautiful hut. So cozy it is there, with no fear of the waves and the ocean and the dangers of the
           unknown. You seem to be very secure there, and I am calling you, "Come out of your cozy security!"
           -- because it is just a deception.
               Death is bound to destroy all. Before death destroys, take the decisive step on your own accord.
           Move into the unknown. Before death kills you, let the ego be killed by you yourself. Then there will
           be no death for you, then you can transcend all death.
               Great courage, of course, is needed, but if you have taken the courage to be a sannyasin, now
           don't look backwards. For the sannyasin there is no way to look backwards. Listen to the challenge
           and go wholeheartedly towards it.
               Yes, it will look more and more crazy because you will see you are committing a kind of suicide.
           But once you have committed the suicide -- the suicide of the ego -- you will be surprised: to live in
           the ego was REAL suicide and to get out of it is to attain to absolute freedom. Buddha calls that
           freedom nirvana.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS TALKING AND TELLING JOKES ABOUT THE JEWS? WHY NOT ABOUT
              INDIANS?


              Shankara, Indians don't have jokes. They are such holy people, you know, so spiritual! They
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't have any sense of humor. I have never come across a single originally Indian joke. All the
           jokes are imported. Sometimes I wonder why the government allows it! On everything else there is
           great taxation; only jokes can be imported and you don't have to pay three hundred percent tax on
           them. Indians don't have jokes, hence it is very difficult to tell Indian jokes.
                And Jews are the most rich in jokes; they have the best jokes. They are very earthly people, just
           the opposite of the Indians. Indians have this nonsense of being very holy, and Jews are very earthly
           people. Their religion is also very earthly. They don't have any idea of renouncing the world. Their
           rabbis are not celibates; their rabbis are as ordinary as anybody else. This is something beautiful -- I
           appreciate it. These hierarchies should disappear. The greatest snobbishness exists in the minds of
           the so-called religious people. And India is very snobbish; hence they have not created any jokes.
                Jews are earthly people, ordinary people. They have enjoyed their ordinariness, and they have a
           great sense of humor. In fact, their sense of humor has been a great blessing to them; otherwise, they
           have suffered so much.... For two thousand years they have been suffering all over the world.
           Without that sense of humor they would not have survived. Their sense of humor has helped them
           survive, has helped them to always resurrect again and again. They have been crushed and killed and
           destroyed, and yet their spirit has come back again. They could laugh at misery, at suffering.
           Laughter has been a great boon.
                And it is very difficult to change a Jewish joke into anything else! Sometimes I try, but it loses
           its beauty.

           A man said to a friend, "Let me tell you a joke."
           "Okay," said the friend.
           "Well, a Jewish man was walking down the street when he ran into...."
           "Stop!" cried the friend. "Why are you always telling jokes about Jews?"
           "Okay, okay, I will tell it differently. A Chinaman is walking down the street when he runs into
           another Chinaman. 'Are you coming to my son's bar mitzvah?' he asked."

               It is very difficult to change the joke. Jewish jokes have a flavor of their own, and if you translate
           them, they lose that flavor; they become flat.
               And why are you worried, Shankara? Why does it hurt you? Every race in the world has
           contributed something. Every race has lived in different situations, different climates, has evolved
           differently, has its own personality. Jews have their own personality, and Jewish jokes are very
           essential to that personality. They know how to laugh; they know how to laugh at themselves too.
           That is something really beautiful. It is easy to laugh at others; the real laughter is when you can
           laugh at yourself.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              SOMETIMES WHEN I HEAR YOU READING A QUESTION MY FIRST REACTION IS, "WHAT KIND
              OF A STUPID QUESTION IS THIS?" DON'T YOU EVER FEEL THAT WAY?


              Prem Malik, once in a while... for example, reading this question.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER
              I WOULD LIKE TO TRY EXPERIMENTING WITH ALCOHOL A LA GURDJIEFF, EXCEPT I AM
              BROKE. CAN I HAVE AN ALCOHOL ALLOWANCE?


               Deva Shraddan, George Gurdjieff would not have given you that experiment. That was given
           only to people who are against alcohol! For example, if Morarji Desai had gone to George Gurdjieff,
           then he would have forced him to drink alcohol -- instead of his own urine! But not for you.
               So it is very difficult for me to allow you an alcohol allowance -- that would be against the spirit
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of George Gurdjieff. He would never forgive me!
               The essential core of the experiment is to disturb you, to shatter you, to shatter your patterns,
           fixed patterns. If you are desiring alcohol, then that is the LAST thing that is going to shatter you. It
           will be fulfilling, it will not be shattering. Instead of alcohol, start drinking the water of life!

           "You know, you are the first man I have met whose kisses make me sit up and open my eyes."
           "Really?"
           "Yes. Usually they have the opposite effect."

               With you, alcohol will not be of any help; the water of life may have the right effect. You may
           open your eyes and sit up. And one thing more is good about it: you can be broke and still you can
           enjoy it. No allowance is needed, so Laxmi need not worry about it. It gives you total
           self-dependence.

               One Saturday night George ended up at a party in an unfamiliar apartment building. He got very
           drunk and somehow found his way home in the wee hours. When he woke up the next afternoon
           with a terrible hangover, he realized that he had left his jacket, tie, shirt and shoes at the party.
               With much difficulty he found the apartment building, but he had no idea which apartment he
           had been in. The only thing he remembered about it was a magnificent gold toilet.
               So he knocked at the first apartment. The door was opened by a man with a hangover.
           "Hello," said George. "Did you have a party here last night?"
           "We sure did!" groaned the man.
           "And do you have a gold toilet?"
           "A gold toilet? No, we sure don't."
               So George had to go to the next door, and so on for three floors. Everyone was recovering from a
           party, but no one knew anything about a gold toilet. By the time he got to the last apartment, George
           was beginning to think he had imagined the gold toilet. The door was opened by a man with a
           hangover.
           "Uh, hello," said George. "Did you have a party here last night?"
           "We sure had a party here!" groaned the man.
           "And do you by any chance have a gold toilet?"
           There was a long silence.
               Finally the man shouted back over his shoulder, "Hey, Harry -- here is the guy who shit in your
           tuba!"

               So, Shraddan, the allowance can be allowed... but what about other people's tubas? You will
           create trouble. If you listen to my advice, forget the whole idea. It is good that you are broke. This is
           called a blessing in disguise. If you were not broke you would have gone a la Gurdjieff, and that
           would have led you into more trouble.
               Gurdjieff certainly forced people to drink, but only the people who were against alcohol. He used
           to make toasts every night for all the kinds of idiots in the world. He had twenty-six categories of
           idiots. I don't know to which category you would belong, but you must belong to some category.
           Unless you are awakened you are bound to belong to some category or other.
               An idiot is a person who is trying to find joy where joy does not exist at all, who is trying to
           search for something which he has never lost in the first place. The enlightened person is one who
           has looked into his being before searching for anything anywhere else. It is better to look in your
           own house. He has looked in and has found it there. Now his search has disappeared.
               The person who is interested in alcohol must be living in misery, in a kind of suffering. That's
           why he wants somehow to forget it all. Alcohol is nothing but a chemical strategy to forget your
           miseries, anxieties, your problems, to forget yourself.
               My whole effort here, Shraddan, is to help you to remember yourself -- and you want to forget
           yourself. By forgetting yourself you will be creating more and more hell for yourself and for others.
           Remember, rather, remember yourself.
               My methods are different from George Gurdjieff's. I am not in favor of any alcoholic beverages.
           I am not in favor of any psychedelic drugs either, because they all create illusory worlds for you and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they all are distractions. They make you more and more oblivious of your own being, unaware of
           your own self.
               My work is based in awareness. The word 'awareness' is the golden key here, the master key.
           You have to learn to be more aware. Howsoever painful it is in the beginning, be more aware,
           because it is by becoming more aware that one day you will become part of the celebration of the
           whole.
               AES DHAMMO SANANTANO -- this is the eternal inexhaustible law.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8
                                                    Chapter #13
                                           Chapter title: All words are lies
           2 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8001020
              ShortTitle: DHAM813
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE ALL WORDS LIES?


                Peter Hendrickson, truth is an experience so profound that it is inexpressible, so vast that no
           word can contain it. Words are small things; they have a certain utility, but they have limitations.
           And truth has no limitations; it is vaster than the sky. Truth means the whole existence.
                When you disappear into the whole you know it. Saying that you know it is not accurate; rather,
           you feel it. Or, to be even more accurate, you BECOME it. When you have become the whole it is
           impossible to say it. And truths need to be said; they have an intrinsic quality that they have to be
           shared.
                Hence words are only hypothetical; they can be used, but one should not believe in them. They
           should be used as stepping-stones. Ultimately they are all lies; at the most, approximate reflections,
           but a reflection is a lie. The moon in the sky and the moon reflected in the lake are not the same. The
           face in the mirror is not really your face; it is just an illusion. There is nothing in the mirror.
                But small children become very much concerned about the face in the mirror -- their own face.
           When for the first time a small child is put before a mirror he thinks he is seeing somebody sitting in
           front of him. He tries to catch hold of the child. If he cannot -- and certainly he cannot catch hold --
           he tries to go behind the mirror. Maybe the child is hiding behind.
                And this is the situation of people who believe in words. But in a way the mirror is useful. By
           saying that the reflection is a lie I am not saying that it is of no use. If you understand, it says
           something ABOUT the truth, not the truth itself; it indicates. A finger pointing to the moon is not the
           moon, but it has tremendous utility: it can point to the moon. If you become too obsessed with the
           finger, that is your fault, not the fault of the finger. If you forget the finger -- and you have to forget
           it if you want to see the moon -- then the finger has served its purpose.
                Even lies can help you to reach to the truth; otherwise buddhas would not have spoken at all.
           Unless lies can help you in some way to reach to the truth, words would not have been used at all.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           No Bible, no Koran, no Gita, no DHAMMAPADA, would have existed.

               When Buddha became enlightened, for seven days he remained silent, thinking, "What is the use
           of saying things to people which cannot be said? -- and even if you say them, which are bound to be
           misunderstood? Moreover, if somebody is capable of understanding your words, he is bound to be
           capable of finding truth on his own."
               The story says, then the gods from heaven descended. They touched the feet of Buddha and they
           prayed to him that he should speak.
               Buddha said, "For what? Ninety-nine percent of the people are not going to understand at all, and
           the one percent perhaps may be able to understand, but that one percent who can understand through
           words will be able to find the truth even if I don't say anything about it at all. So what is the point of
           saying it?"
               The gods were puzzled. The logic was right, but still something was wrong, because in the
           ancient days other buddhas had spoken. Then they conferred together to find out how to argue with
           Buddha. And they found a way; and it is good that they could find a way; otherwise we would have
           missed these tremendously significant messages of Buddha.
               They came back and they said, "You are right; the majority will never understand. And there are
           a few people who will reach to truth even if you don't say anything. But can't you imagine that there
           are a few who are in between these two groups, just on the boundary line? If you speak, that will
           give them a challenge, inspiration. If you don't speak they may be lost. Speak for those few who are
           just on the borderland, who can be lost without your words and who can find the light with the help
           of your words."

               You are right, Hendrickson: all words are lies, because when you experience you cannot put it
           into words. How to put love into words? And love is not a very rare experience. How to put beauty
           into words? Has any poet succeeded yet? Only the fools think that they have succeeded. The greater
           the poet, the more he is aware of his failure. Has any painter been able to paint the beauty that he
           experiences? No great painter is ever satisfied. A tremendous discontent follows him his whole life
           like a shadow. It haunts him. He goes on trying again and again and again; his whole life is a long
           failure, a tragedy. His great paintings are great for us, but he knows that he has failed. They are great
           for us because we don't know what beauty is. If these great paintings had not been there we would
           not have been aware of many things.
               It is said that if all the paintings of the world disappear, you will not be able to see the beauty of a
           sunset. You will not be able to see the beauty of a roseflower. You will not be able to see the beauty
           of a bird on the wing. You have become able to see it because painters for centuries have been
           preparing the right context to see it. But ask the painters themselves. Ask a Van Gogh or a
           Rabindranath Tagore or Nandlal Bose, and they will say that they have failed. What they had seen
           was something totally different. It was so alive, so pulsating! And the painting is dead; it is nothing
           but canvas and color. How can you put a sunset on the canvas? It will be a still life and the sunset --
           the real sunset -- is dynamic, it is moving, it is moment to moment changing. Your painting will be
           just a framed phenomenon -- and the sunset has no frame to it.
               How can you sing a song that relates your experience of love? It is impossible; all words are
           inadequate. So first, when you try to express your experience, ninety percent of it is lost. And when
           somebody hears it, the remaining ten percent is distorted. Even if one percent reaches to the other
           person it is more than you can ask.
               When I say something to you I know how much is already lost. When I see in your eyes I again
           know whatsoever was left in the words has been distorted by your mind. Your mind is continuously
           trying to allow only that which fits with it; it does not allow that which goes against it. It does not
           hear it at all, and it hears only that which is nothing but a reflection of its own past.

               The analyst was concerned about the results of a Rorschach test he had just given for the patient,
           who associated every ink blot with some sort of sexual activity.
           "I want to study the results of your test over the weekend and I would like to see you Monday," he
           said to the patient.
           "Okay, Doc. I am going to a stag party tomorrow night. Any chance I might borrow those dirty
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pictures of yours?"

               What he sees he believes is there; and what he sees is not there, it is his projection. What he
           hears may not be said at all, but one can hear it very clearly, so clearly that it is impossible not to
           believe in it. Your mind is coloring everything every moment.

               Leonora went into a drugstore to buy film. When she came out she was ripping mad. "Rodney,
           you go into that store and cut that man real good!" she said to her boyfriend.
           "Why, honey," asked Rodney, "what happened?"
           "I told him I wanted some film," she explained, "and he had the nerve to ask me what was the size of
           my Brownie!"

               You can read something which is not written. You can hear something which is not told. You can
           see something which does not exist anywhere except in your own imagination. Then words become
           farther and farther and farther away from the truth. Words are lies: lies in the sense that they are
           incapable of transferring the real, the existential. In the very transfer it dies.

               One poet had gone to the sea early in the morning. It was a beautiful sunrise, and the waves
           dancing in the early sun, and the cool sand, and the salty air.... He felt so alive, he experienced such
           exquisite joy, that he wanted to share it with his girlfriend who was in a hospital, who was ill and
           could not come to the seabeach.
               So the poet brought a beautiful box, opened the box to the sunrays, to the wind, closed the box,
           sealed it from everywhere so nothing escaped out of it, brought the box to the hospital.
           Tremendously happy he was, and he said to his girlfriend, "I have brought something so beautiful
           you may not have ever seen. Such a beautiful sunrise, such beautiful waves, such fresh air, such
           coolness, such freshness!"
               And he opened the box and there was nothing -- no sun, no air, no coolness, no freshness.

               You cannot catch hold of beauty in a box. You cannot catch hold of beauty, truth, love, in words.
           They are very poor. But nothing is wrong with them; they are useful in the ordinary world. When
           you move into the inner you are moving into the extraordinary. If you are alert, they can be used and
           they can be used profitably. Yes, lies can become stepping-stones towards truth.

               An American G.I. standing outside a cathedral in Paris saw a magnificent wedding procession
           enter. "Who is the bridegroom?" he asked a Frenchman standing next to him.
           "Je ne sais pas," was the reply.
               A few minutes later the soldier inspected the interior of the cathedral himself and saw a coffin
           being carried down the aisle. "Whose funeral?" he demanded of the attendant.
           "Je ne sais pas," said the attendant.
           "Holy mackerel!" exclaimed the soldier. "He certainly didn't last long!"

                Words have to be understood; they have to be understood according to the person who has
           spoken them. You should not bring your own mind in. You should keep your mind a little out of the
           way. The more you become capable of keeping your mind out of the way, the more is the possibility
           that you can use words as stepping-stones. Otherwise words will create a jungle and you will be lost
           in it.

               In Leipzig, where one third of all street names have been changed since the Russian occupation,
           trolley conductors are required to call out both old and new names to make it easier for visitors to
           find their way.
               The other day, the conductor of a car passing through the center of the city made the required
           announcement: "Karl Marx Square, formerly Augustus Square."
               A passenger about to alight shouted back, "Auf Wiedersehen, formerly Heil Hitler!"

           The second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WOULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONDITIONING AND
              DISCIPLINE?


               Prem Dharmendra, there is a great difference. They are totally different dimensions, and not only
           different but diametrically opposite too. Conditioning is something forced from the outside upon you
           against your will, against your consciousness. It is to destroy you, it is to manipulate you. It is to
           create a pseudo personality so that your essential man is lost.
               The society is very much afraid of your reality. The church is afraid, the state is afraid,
           everybody is afraid of your essential person, your essential being, because the essential being is
           rebellious, intelligent. It cannot be easily reduced to slavery. It cannot be exploited. Nobody can use
           your essential being as a means; your essential being is an end unto itself.
               Hence the whole society tries in every possible way to disconnect you from your essential core,
           and it creates a false, plastic personality around you and it forces you to become identified with it.
           That's what it calls education. It is not education; it is mis-education. It is destructive, it is violent.
               This whole society, up to now, has been very violent with the individual. It does not believe in
           the individual; it is against the individual. It tries in every possible way to destroy you for its own
           purposes. It needs clerks, it needs stationmasters, deputy-collectors, policemen, magistrates, it needs
           soldiers. It does not need human beings.
               We have failed, up to now, in creating a society which needs human beings, simple human
           beings.
               The society is interested that you should be more skillful, more productive, and less creative. It
           wants you to function like a machine, efficiently, but it does not want you to become awakened. It
           does not want buddhas and christs -- Socrates, Pythagoras, Lao Tzu. No, these people are not needed
           at all by the society. If sometimes they happen, they don't happen because of the society; they
           happen in spite of the society.
               It is a miracle how a few people have been able sometimes to escape from this great prison. The
           prison is so great, it is so difficult to escape out of it. And even in escaping from one prison you will
           enter into another because the whole earth has become a prison. You can become a Mohammedan
           from a Hindu or you can become a Christian from a Mohammedan or you can become a Hindu from
           a Christian, but you are simply changing your prison. You can become a German from being an
           Indian or you can become a Chinese from being an Italian, but you are simply changing prisons --
           political, religious, social prisons. Maybe for a few days the new prison would look like freedom --
           only because of its newness; otherwise it is not freedom.
               Free society is still an idea that has to be materialized.
               This whole slavery of man depends on conditioning. And conditioning starts even when you are
           in your mother's womb. Now they have found ways to condition the child in the mother's womb. In
           Russia they have developed certain kinds of belts which the pregnant woman can wear. Those belts
           press certain points in the growing child's brain and that pressure will create a robot. He will be born
           like a machine. He will be always obedient, faithful to the state, faithful to communism, faithful to
           the communist holy trinity -- or unholy trinity -- Marx, Engels, Lenin. He will believe in DAS
           KAPITAL, just as others believe in the Bible. Nobody reads the Bible, nobody reads DAS
           KAPITAL.
               I have met many communists; I have not seen a single communist who has read DAS KAPITAL
           from the beginning to the end. Everybody has a copy. Russian books are so cheap and they look so
           good, they are bound so beautifully, that you can decorate your drawing room with Russian books.
           But nobody reads them, just like no Hindu reads the Vedas. There is nothing much to read either.
               But conditioning starts from the mother's womb or, at the most, the moment you are born. You
           are circumcised and you become a Jew. You are baptized and you become a Christian, and so on, so
           forth. You are taken to the church and to the temple and to the mosque, and you are being brought up
           in a certain atmosphere where you will find all are Mohammedans or all are Christians or all are
           Hindus. And naturally the child is bound to follow the people who are around him.
               By the time he is twenty-five and comes back from the university he is utterly conditioned, and
           so deeply conditioned that he will not be even aware of the conditioning. Everything has been fed
           into his biocomputer. And the society punishes those who are reluctant, resistant to these
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conditionings. It rewards those, with gold medals, prizes, even Nobel Prizes; it rewards those who
           are very willing to be slaves, who are willing to serve the vested interests.

              Holston was hired as a ranch hand in Texas. One day he approached Davis, the foreman. "What
           do you do for fun here on the prairie?"
           "Well," replied the foreman, "we got a Mexican cook on the ranch and every Saturday night we dress
           him in women's clothes and six of us take him dancing."
           "Not me!" declared Holston. "I don't go for that kind of stuff."
           "Neither does the Mex," says Davis, "that's why it takes six of us."

               And it is not only a question of sex. The whole society, millions of people around you, are
           conditioning you, knowingly, unknowingly. They have been conditioned. They may not be aware
           that they are destructive and violent. They may be thinking that they are being helpful to you. They
           may be thinking that they are doing all this great service to you out of compassion, because they love
           humanity. They have been conditioned so deeply that they are unaware what they are doing to their
           children.
               The teachers, the lecturers, the professors, they are the instruments, subtle instruments of
           conditioning people. The priests, the psychoanalysts, they are very clever and very efficient people at
           conditioning; they know the whole strategy of it. They know how to manipulate, distort, how to give
           you a pseudo personality and take away your essential core.
               Discipline is totally different. Discipline is out of your own choice; it is out of your own will.
           Discipline, the very word, comes from a root which means learning. Discipline means you start
           learning on your own, because nobody seems to teach you the truth. People are interested in teaching
           you Hinduism, communism, Mohammedanism; nobody is interested in teaching you the truth. When
           you start seeking, searching, learning, on your own -- knowing perfectly well that nobody is going to
           support you, you have to go alone -- discipline begins.
               Discipline is your protection against conditioning. Discipline is your effort to get rid of all
           conditioning. Discipline is your rebellion, your revolution.
               To be a disciple simply means to be with a man who is not going to condition you. A master is
           one who unconditions you. That is the definition of a true master: one who UNconditions you,
           simply unconditions you, and does not REcondition you.
               That is one of the objections against me raised in India and in other countries, too: that I am
           giving people so much freedom that they will misuse it. I know that freedom can be misused if it is
           not rooted in meditation, but freedom is such a supreme value that even if there is a risk of misuse, it
           HAS to be given. Slavery can never be misused by the slave because he is not his own master; then
           too, it is slavery and is continuously being misused by those who are in power. Slavery is a sin, and
           howsoever decorated, it is ugly. Freedom can be misused, but it is better to misuse freedom than to
           be a slave, because you cannot misuse freedom for long.
               Freedom -- its use and misuse both -- gives insight. One learns only through mistakes. That is the
           way of maturity. Maybe in the interim period, when for the first time you come out of the prison, you
           may misuse your freedom for a little while. You may drink too much, eat too much, but for how
           long?
               And this freedom that a master gives is given through making you more conscious, more aware.
           And that is the safety valve: the more you are aware, the less is the possibility of misusing freedom
           -- because misusing it will be suicidal.
               Discipline is that which you accept on your own. You are not forced to be a sannyasin; a deep
           longing arises in you. Something hidden in you takes the challenge. Some seed sprouts... you hear
           some unheard music... you become attracted to some unknown, mysterious force. But the decision is
           always yours; it is not imposed on you. YOU decide that you would like to learn, that you would like
           to seek and search. Out of that longing for truth, discipline begins.
               And you are always free to stop. You are always free to drop out of sannyas. You are always free
           not to be related to me anymore. The guards on the gate are for outsiders so that they cannot enter
           inside unless they are ready; the guards are not for the insiders to prevent them from leaving. That is
           the difference. In a jail the guards are for the insiders so that they cannot get out.
               Here there are guards, but they are not for the insiders. If somebody wants to get out he gets out
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with all my blessings. It was his decision to be in; it is his decision to drop out of it. He is a free soul.
           It is nobody else's business to impose anything upon him.
                Dharmendra, discipline comes out of your own inner feel, out of your own love. It is surrender
           but it is not a slavery. It is a surrender but not a slavery because YOU are doing it. If it is forced,
           then it is slavery, then it is conditioning.
                Avoid all conditioning situations. Avoid people who condition you, even though they say it is for
           your own sake; even though they say it is for your own good, beware of all those poisoners. They
           have done enough harm to humanity. It is because of these people that real humanity has not yet
           been born.
                My whole effort here is to bring a new human being on the earth: free, alert, conscious,
           responsible, doing things according to his own inner feelings, likings, leanings, not serving
           somebody else's purpose, living his life according to his own light.

           The third question:
               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT COMMUNISM?


               Nagesh, I will not waste my time in giving you my opinion about communism. The whole thing
           is rubbish, but I will tell you five stories.

           The first story:
           "Who is your father?" a schoolboy was asked by Khrushchev when he was in charge of Soviet
           Russia.
           "Nikita Khrushchev is my father," replied the lad.
           "And who is your mother?"
           "The Communist Party."
           "Very good. Now tell me, what would you like to be when you grow up?"
           "An orphan," replied the child.

           The second:
               At a Russian factory, workers were asked to choose a new workers' committee by secret ballot.
           Each man, upon approaching the ballot box, was handed a sealed envelope and told to deposit it
           through the slot at the top of a cardboard box.
               Vasili slit open the envelope and began to examine the ballot.
           "Hey," shouted a supervisor. "You can't do that."
           "But I want to know who I'm voting for," explained the worker.
           "You must be mad," claimed the supervisor. "Don't you realize that the ballot is secret in the Soviet
           Union?"

           The third:
               An amateur radio ham went delirious with excitement when he caught a newscast straight from
           Moscow on his set.
           "Our great athlete, Ivan Ivanovitch," the announcer was saying, "has just smashed all existing
           records for the two-hundred-yard dash, the mile run, the five-mile run, and the one-hundred-mile
           run, overcoming a blizzard, a range of mountains, and complete lack of water. Unfortunately
           Ivanovitch's fantastic performance was in vain. He was captured and brought back to Russia."

           The fourth:
                When Stalin's body was removed from the Lenin mausoleum in Red Square and buried near the
           Kremlin walls, a small boy asked his grandmother, "What kind of man was Lenin?"
           "Lenin was a very great man," she said.
           "And what kind of man was Stalin?" asked the child.
           "Sometimes he was a very evil man," said the old woman.
           "Babushka, what kind of man is Leonid Brezhnev?"
           "It is difficult to say, child," replied the grandmother. "When he dies, we will find out."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The fifth and the last:
              At a Communist Party convention, one of the delegates kept yelling, "Long live Brezhnev!"
              The chairman tried to hush him saying, "Remember you used to yell 'Long live Khrushchev!'"
           "Right," said the delegate. "And is he living?"

           The fourth question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT A MAN LIKE JESUS CAN COMMIT MISTAKES. LISTENING TO YOU
              SAY THAT, I WAS VERY MUCH HURT.


               Ronald, this is conditioning. You have been told -- centuries of conditioning is behind it -- that a
           man like Jesus cannot commit any mistake. Why? If you cannot believe it, you cannot believe that
           Jesus is human either. To err is human. Yes, he will not commit the same mistake again, that's true.
           To commit the same mistake again is stupid; it is not human, it is simply stupid. But to commit a
           mistake is the only way in life to learn. Once it is perfectly okay to commit a mistake, and commit it
           with total awareness.
               If it is a mistake you know it, and you know it so deeply and perfectly that you will never
           commit it again. But a man learns through committing mistakes. There is no other way of learning. If
           a man never commits a mistake he will never grow up. Jesus is a human being. Of course it is only
           through growing up that one day he becomes a divine flame. He was committing mistakes even to
           the very last.
               My own understanding is that he became Christ only at the last moment on the cross. Just before
           he became a christ, a buddha, he committed the final and the last mistake, but he learned
           immediately. He must have been so aware even on the cross.
               The last mistake was that when he was crucified he shouted at God, "Have you forsaken me?"
           This is distrust, this is doubt, this is a mistake; one of the greatest that a man can commit -- and a
           man like Jesus. But this is the last. "Why am I being tortured, what wrong have I committed?" He
           was complaining, he could not believe his own eyes that this was happening to him. He must have
           thought deep down -- somewhere a little part of his being must have remained unconscious, and in
           that dark corner this longing must have remained like a seed -- that "At the last moment God is going
           to save me. He will do a miracle and the whole world will know that I am the only begotten Son of
           God." Some unconscious longing... but even if a small part of your being remains unconscious you
           are not yet a christ.
               From where comes this complaint, "Why have you forsaken me?" A great doubt arises,
           overwhelms him, because this is the last moment: if the miracle is not going to happen he is finished.
           But he must have been a man of rare awareness. He recognized it immediately, he saw the dark
           point, he saw the unconscious point. He became relaxed and he said, "Thy kingdom come, thy will
           be done. Don't take any note of my complaint, I was foolish to say so. Whatsoever is your will is my
           will. There is no point in saying, 'Have you forsaken me?' If this is what you want, then this is what
           should happen. Then this is the miracle and I should not ask for anything else. I should not have a
           separate will of my own."
               The moment he said, "Thy will be done," he dropped his separate will. Just a small part of his
           being must have remained, some hidden subtle ego must have remained lurking somewhere. With
           the disappearance of that ego he became a flame of light. He became a buddha.
               You cannot believe that a man like Jesus can commit mistakes because you cannot believe that
           Jesus is a man like you. And unless you believe that Jesus is a man like you, you cannot believe the
           other part of the story, that you are as divine as Jesus.
               Remember these are two sides of the same coin. If you can believe Jesus is a man just like you,
           then you can also believe that you have the same potential as Jesus. If he can become a christ you
           can become a christ too.

              A little introduction for a joke. This is an Italian story, the story of Pinocchio.
              A carpenter, named Gepetto, is feeling very lonely and wishes to have a child. With some sticks
           of wood he creates a puppet -- with a red hat and a very pointed nose -- and calls it Pinocchio.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hardly has he finished it when Pinocchio kicks him in the leg -- and with this kick Gepetto realizes
           that this "son" will give him only trouble.
               In fact, Pinocchio asks immediately for something to eat, and Gepetto, though very poor,
           manages to find some food for him and goes to bed himself without dinner. Pinocchio, without even
           thanking him, goes out, and this way for years he tortures his creator. He goes on doing one mischief
           after another until finally he is swallowed by a whale in the ocean.
               Now forget this introduction as if I have not told you at all; only then will you understand the
           joke. I had to tell it to you; without it you would not understand the joke -- and that I have to tell
           you. Now forget all about it. I have not said any introduction to you.
           Now the joke....

               After forty years of hard work an old carpenter dies and goes to heaven. When he gets to the
           Pearly Gates he knocks on the door. Saint Peter opens it and says, "Yes?"
               The old carpenter explains, "I am an old carpenter. I have worked hard for forty years, I never
           did any harm to anyone, and I am here for my reward."
               Saint Peter replies, "I don't know about that. Wait here for a minute and I will go and get some
           information on you."
               He goes inside and is about to talk to the boss, God, when he runs into Jesus. Jesus says, "Why
           are you all excited?" So Peter tells him the whole story: an old carpenter, worked hard for forty
           years, never did any harm to anyone.
               Jesus listens to the story with mounting interest and asks, "Did he have white hair?"
           Peter says, "Yes!"
           "Little pixie eyeglasses with chromium frames?"
           "Yes!"
           "About so tall? Wearing a waistcoat, a little paunchy?"
           "Yes, yes, yes!" says Peter.
               Jesus runs to the Pearly Gates, throws open the door, takes a look at the little old man and cries at
           the top of his lungs, "Daddy!"
               And the carpenter looks at him and joyously exclaims, "Pinocchio!"

           The fifth question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THIS A BLESSING? AFTER BEING ALONE FOR A LONG TIME, I FELL IN LOVE WITH THREE
              WOMEN AT THE SAME TIME, WHICH WAS EASY IN THE BEGINNING. BUT AS SOON AS I
              STARTED TO GET INTO A DEEPER RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE, EITHER I RAN TO THE NEXT
              ONE OR SHE WANTED TO BE WITH SOMEONE ELSE. OF COURSE THE SAME HAPPENED
              AGAIN AS SOON AS I GOT IN TUNE WITH ONE OF THE OTHER WOMEN. SO JOY AND
              SUFFERING ARE PRETTY CLOSE TOGETHER, BUT I WONDER -- AM I AVOIDING SOMETHING?


               Prem Aditya, don't you think three are more than enough? Do you think you are avoiding the
           fourth? One woman is enough to create hell, and you are asking me, "Is this a blessing?" It must be a
           curse in disguise.

           "What has happened to Jack? I have not seen him for ages."
           "Oh, he married the girl he rescued from drowning."
           "And is he happy?"
           "Rather! But he hates water now."

               You must be a great soul -- either so unconscious that even three women cannot create any
           trouble for you, or so enlightened that "Who cares?"

               While riding home from work one evening, three commuters became friendly in the club car and,
           after the third round, they began to brag about the relative merits of their respective marital
           relationships. The first proudly proclaimed, "My wife meets my train every evening and we've been
           married for ten years."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "That's nothing," scoffed the second. "My wife meets me every evening, too, and we've been married
           for seventeen years."
           "Well, I have got you both beat, fellows," said the third commuter, who was obviously the youngest
           in the group.
           "How do you figure that?" the first fellow wanted to know.
           "I suppose you have got a wife who meets you every evening, too!" sneered the second.
           "That's right," said the third commuter, "and I'm not even married."

               Three women, and you are not even married! They will make a football of you. And you are
           asking, "Is this a blessing?" -- with a question mark of course. Be a little more careful. This is a
           dangerous place for people like you, Aditya. There are so many women here and if you go on like
           this soon nothing will be left of you, and I will lose unnecessarily a sannyasin. Think of me too.

               Weinstein, a very wealthy businessman, had an unattractive daughter. He found a young man to
           marry her and after ten years they had two children.
               Weinstein called his son-in-law into the office one day. "Listen," he said, "you have given me
           two beautiful grandchildren, you have made me very happy. I am gonna give you forty-nine percent
           of the business."
           "Thank you, Pop!"
           "Is there anything else I could do for you?"
           "Yeah, buy me out!"

               I am ready to buy you out whatsoever the price. You just inquire of the three women!
               Love is significant, a good learning situation, but only a learning situation. One school is enough,
           three schools are too many. And with three women you will not be able to learn much, you will be in
           such a turmoil. It is better to be with one, so that you can be more totally one with her, so that you
           can understand her and your own longings more clearly, so you are less clouded, less in anguish,
           because love in the beginning is only an unconscious phenomenon; it is biological, it is nothing very
           precious. Only when you bring your awareness to it, when you become more and more meditative
           about it, it starts becoming precious, it starts soaring high.
               Intimacy with one woman or one man is better than having many superficial relationships. Love
           is not a seasonal flower, it takes years to grow. And only when it grows does it go beyond biology,
           and start having something of the spiritual in it. Just being with many women or many men will keep
           you superficial -- entertained maybe, but superficial; occupied certainly, but that occupation is not
           going to help in inward growth. But a one-to-one relationship, a sustained relationship so that you
           can understand each other more closely, is tremendously beneficial. Why is it so? And what is the
           need to understand the woman or the man?
               The need is because every man has a feminine part in his being, and every woman has a
           masculine part in her being. The only way to understand it, the easiest way to understand it, the most
           natural way to understand it is to be in deep, intimate relationship with someone. If you are a man be
           in a deep, intimate relationship with a woman. Let trust grow so all barriers dissolve. Come so close
           to each other that you can look deep into the woman and the woman can look deep into you. Don't be
           dishonest with each other.
               And if you are having so many relationships you will be dishonest, you will be lying continually.
           You will have to lie, you will have to be insincere, you will have to say things which you don't mean
           -- and they all will suspect. It is very difficult to create trust with a woman if you are having some
           other relationship. It is easy to deceive a man because he lives through the intellect; it is very
           difficult, almost impossible to deceive a woman because she lives intuitively. You will not be able to
           look directly into her eyes; you will be afraid that she may start reading your soul, and so many
           deceptive things you are hiding, so many dishonesties.
               So if you are having many relationships you will not be able to dive deep into the psyche of the
           woman. And that is the only thing that is needed: to know your own inner feminine part.
           Relationship becomes a mirror. The woman starts looking into you and starts finding her own
           masculine part; the man looks into the woman and starts discovering his own femininity. And the
           more you become aware of your feminine -- the other pole -- the more whole you can be, the more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           integrated you can be. When your inner man and your inner woman have disappeared into each
           other, have become dissolved into each other, when they are no longer separate, when they have
           become one integrated whole, you have become an individual.
               Carl Gustav Jung calls it the process of individuation. He is right, he has chosen the right word
           for it. And the same happens to a woman. But playing with many people will keep you superficial,
           entertained, occupied, but not growing; and the only thing that matters ultimately is growth, growth
           of integration, individuality, growth of a center in you. And that growth needs that you should know
           your other part. The easiest approach is to know the woman on the outside first, so that you can
           know the woman inside.
               Just like a mirror -- the mirror reflects your face, it shows you your face -- the woman becomes
           your mirror, the man becomes your mirror. The other reflects your face, but if you are having so
           many mirrors around you and running from one mirror to another and deceiving each mirror about
           the other you will be in a chaos, you will go nuts.

           The sixth question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS WRONG WITH KNOWING MORE AND MORE ABOUT GOD? CAN IT NOT HELP THE
              SEEKER?


                Kamalesh, knowing and knowledge are different. I am all for knowing and I am all against
           knowledge. Knowing is your insight, it is your capacity to see, it is philosia. Knowledge is
           philosophy. It is not your capacity to see, it is just your capacity to memorize what others have said.
           How is it going to help, knowing about God? A blind man can know about light; how is it going to
           help? A deaf man can know about music, he can read about music, he can even read music, but how
           it is going to help? It is not going to help at all. The danger is that the blind man may start thinking
           that he knows so much about light that he must be knowing light itself. And that's what happens to
           the knowledgeable people.
                Knowing about God, they start thinking that they know God. To know love is one thing; to know
           about love is totally another. To know God is a transformation of your being; to know about God
           needs no transformation. You can just go to the library and collect information. You can go to the
           pundits and the scholars and accumulate information.
           You ask me, "Can it not help the seeker?"
                No, not at all. It will hinder. The seeker has to be empty, unprejudiced. The seeker has to be
           without any idea of what God is, or truth is. If he has some idea, the danger is he will project his idea
           on the existence and he will think that he has come to know the truth. Truth can be known only when
           you are utterly empty, when there is nothing to distort or project inside you; when you are so silent
           that you are only receptive, not projective. In total receptivity truth is known.
                Meditation is nothing but an effort to cleanse your mind of knowledge. Knowledge is dust that
           has gathered on the mirror of your being; it has to be cleaned.

               A naked girl is standing, speaking endlessly to a naked man kneeling and embracing her belly,
           later lying supine at her feet. She says, "My life is empty... it is a mockery... I am nothing -- just a
           facade -- a shell... a dead and useless thing! I am twenty-six years old... and I have never had a
           meaningful relationship... never had a truly meaningful relationship.... I should not even admit that, I
           suppose. It is very humiliating! I have passed from one shallow sexual episode to another. That's the
           story of my entire life... one tawdry, shallow, clutching incident after another. My relationships have
           no deep, lasting significance -- if I could just ONCE lie down and have something meaningful
           happen!"
               The man replies, from the floor, "Have you ever tried talking less... and lying down SOONER?"

                People go on talking and talking about God. Better to be silent, better not to say anything but to
           sit. You don't know; it is better not to hide your ignorance in big words, in spiritual jargon. To know
           that "I don't know" is a great step towards real knowing. To know that "I know" without knowing is
           going astray, is going farther and farther away. Truth asks only one thing: Be silent, so that you can
           listen, so that you can hear the still, small voice within.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The seventh question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I CRY AT THE SUTRAS AND NOT LAUGH AT THE JOKES? IS IT BECAUSE I AM
              BLOCKED OR BRITISH? I KNOW THERE IS NO QUESTION. THE TRUTH IS THAT I WANT TO
              COME CLOSER.


               Sagaro, feel blessed if you are blocked, because if you are British there is no remedy. I have not
           heard of any therapy that can help. Blocked persons can be unblocked. Encounter will do, Primal
           Therapy will do, Gestalt will do, and we have here at least ninety groups.
               But if you are British, then I am helpless; then nothing can be done about it. To be British is like
           cancer: no remedy has been discovered yet. Then you will have to wait for the future. But I hope that
           you are not British; otherwise you would not have been here.
               Sometimes British people come here.... Anurag's mother has come, she is British. For weeks she
           has been here, and she has come only to one lecture, yesterday. And what was her response to it?
           Her response was that I confirmed her ideas.
               Just being here and being a sannyasin is enough proof that you are not British. And don't be
           worried: if you can cry at the sutras, this is a good beginning. Sooner or later you will start laughing
           at the jokes -- because a person who can cry, can laugh. The real problem is with those people who
           cannot cry; they cannot laugh either.
               These are not two different things, they are the same. Crying and laughter are deeply related.
           Whenever you are overwhelmed by something, either you cry or you laugh. Crying is not necessarily
           sad, laughter is not necessarily joyous. Sometimes crying is a joy, sometimes laughter is ugly and
           maybe just a device to hide your sadness.
               Remember one thing: it is only man who can cry and laugh. No other animal can do it, because
           no other animal is conscious enough to feel overwhelmed. Only man has that much consciousness
           that he can feel overwhelmed, flooded with something so much that either he starts crying or he
           starts laughing -- and both capacities are tremendously needed.
               Crying will help you to relieve your tensions, laughter will help you to dance, to sing. Both are
           interlinked. Crying prepares the way for laughter: your tears will cleanse your heart, and then
           laughter will arise. If the first process has started the second is not far away.

           The eighth question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE OTHER DAY YOU SAID THAT THE OLD PEOPLE BECOME CUNNING. WHAT ARE YOUR
              GROUNDS FOR SAYING SO?


               Kumarel, I am a crazy person. I don't say things because there are grounds to say them. I simply
           say something because I enjoy saying it. I cannot give you any proofs and I am never interested in
           proofs, but I can tell you a story. Those who understand, for them this will be a proof; and for those
           who don't understand, nothing can ever be a proof. I stated a simple phenomenon; no proofs are
           needed. Just watch, just watch yourself and others.
               As you are growing older, if you don't start growing in awareness, you are bound to become
           cunning. These are the only two alternatives: either you become wise or you become cunning. If you
           don't become wise, you will have to become cunning. Cunning is a substitute for wisdom. Either
           become a buddha or you are bound to become cunning. And very few people become buddhas;
           others are out of necessity cunning. Life teaches them to be more cunning than others because it is
           such a struggle for survival and only the cunning ones survive.
               Charles Darwin says that the fittest survive. That is not my observation. Not the fittest but the
           most cunning survive -- unless Darwin means by the fittest, the most cunning. Man is the most
           cunning animal; he is not the fittest, certainly not. Try to fight with a monkey and you will know
           who is fittest. Try to run with a horse and you will know who is fittest. Try to fly like a bird and you
           will know who is fittest. Try to see in the night like an owl and you will know who is fittest. You just
           look around: you are not the fittest animal on the earth. In fact man is the most unfit animal, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           weakest.
               Look at the human child. Can the human child survive without the support of the society and the
           family? But animal children survive; they are born more perfect. It is only man's child who seems to
           be prematurely born, as if he needed at least nine months more in the womb. But the problem is that
           if he lives eighteen months in the womb then he cannot come out; it will be too late, he will be too
           big. So he comes out, but utterly helpless. The human child is helpless, weak; he has to be taught.
               In fact he becomes of any worth only after twenty-five years -- that is one third of his life. He
           needs preparation to be worthy enough to compete in the world. Then why has man survived and all
           other animals have either disappeared or are disappearing? They have all been defeated for the
           simple reason that man is the most cunning. Because of his cunningness he could invent; he does not
           have strength enough to fight with any animal but he could invent weapons. He has not the strength
           to tear an animal apart just with his bare hands, but he has invented swords. Swords are nothing but
           magnified nails. He cannot use his teeth to kill so he has invented many things to kill. He is the most
           cunning, and as the centuries have passed he has become more and more cunning.

                A farmer bought a new rooster for his chicken coop. He already had a rooster, but he felt it was
           getting too old to service all his chickens, of which he had quite a few.
                When the farmer introduced the new rooster to all his chickens, the old rooster came up to the
           newcomer and arranged a meeting for later that night after the farmer went to bed.
           "Listen," exclaimed the old rooster at the meeting that night, "that farmer thinks I'm too old to
           service all his chickens, but that's not true. I've still got a few good years left and I don't want to
           become the family's Sunday dinner prematurely. So let's make a deal!"
                The deal that the old rooster had in mind was that the two roosters would get into a make-believe
           fight which would end up with the young rooster chasing the old-timer around the coop pretending
           not to be able to catch him. The noise of this make-believe altercation would bring out the farmer
           who would see the old rooster running faster than the new one and thus spare the old stud from the
           knife for a few years at least.
                For doing this, the young rooster would get to fuck all the pretty chickens. The deal was made.
                The next day the action started, with all the chickens squawking and the roosters
           cock-a-doodaling. The farmer came out and spied the new rooster chasing the old one. Picking up his
           rifle he shot the young rooster dead and exclaimed, "Goddamn! That is the third faggot rooster I've
           shot this week."

           The last question:
              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS REPRESSION ALWAYS BAD?


               Prasado, absolutely bad, always bad, with no exceptions bad. Repression simply means you don't
           understand your life energies. Repression means you are forcing your life energies into the
           unconscious, throwing them into the basement of your being. There they will go on growing, there
           they will go on boiling, and sooner or later the explosion. That's why so many people go mad.
               Madness is the outcome of repression. That's why so many people are mentally ill -- even if not
           mad, mentally disturbed -- all over the world. In America they say that out of four, three persons are
           mentally disturbed. And don't think that is so only for America; the only difference between America
           and other countries is that America has the latest data, that's all. If you want to know about India you
           cannot know anything because there is no data available. And America is more honest: if you ask a
           person anything he will answer it more sincerely than an Indian.
               The Indian may be sexually boiling within but from his outside he will always keep that
           holier-than-thou look. He will not be sincere. You cannot find real figures in India about anything. If
           you ask any woman, "Have you ever fancied any other man except your husband?" she will say,
           "No. Never. Not only in this life but in no other life either. And not only in the past, in the future
           also, I am going to cling to this man." Now this is patent nonsense.
               Unless you are utterly a rock inside it is impossible not to fancy someone once in a while, not to
           be attracted. If you have sensibility, sensitivity, intelligence, it is natural to be attracted once in a
           while. That does not mean that you are committing a sin; that simply means that you understand
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what beauty is. That simply means that you are observing life all around you.
               It is very difficult to find any data in India. America in that way is the most sincere country in the
           world. They will say whatsoever is the case. Three persons are mentally ill out of four, and in India
           my own observation is that four are mentally ill out of four -- but they are blissfully unaware of it.
               Repression of any kind is destructive to the body, to the mind, to the soul. Energies have to be
           transformed, not repressed. Energies are your potential wealth, raw; you have to polish them, then
           they can become great diamonds. These same energies, sexual energies, can become your spiritual
           liberation. Repressed you will be in a bondage.
               I am not saying to become indulgent; that is going to the other extreme. Buddha will also not
           support your indulgence. He is absolutely for the middle way, the golden mean. Neither be
           repressive nor be indulgent. Be watchful, be alert; be friendly to your energies, sympathetic. They
           are your energies; don't create a rift, otherwise you will always be in conflict, and to fight with your
           own energies is an unnecessary dissipation. Fighting with your own energies, you are fighting with
           yourself: you cannot win. You will be simply wasting the whole opportunity of life. Be aware, don't
           repress, don't indulge. Be aware, be natural. Let energies be accepted and absorbed, and then the
           same energies, crude energies, become so refined, passing through awareness, that great flowers
           bloom in your being -- lotuses of enlightenment.
               Unless that happens you will never feel at home in existence, you will never feel blissful, you
           will never feel what God is, you will never feel what nirvana is, what liberation is.

               When a young nun comes to tell the mother superior that she has sinned with a man and wishes
           to do penance so she can be forgiven, the mother superior begins packing a suitcase.
           "Oh, please don't put me out!" the young nun cries. "Where will I go? What will I do?"
           "I'm not putting you out," says the mother superior grimly, "it's me that's leaving. For thirty years
           here it's been nothing but fucking and forgiving, fucking and forgiving. Beginning now, I'm through
           doing the forgiving, and I'm going to get in on some of the fucking before it's too late."

           Enough for today.




     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                     Talks given from 11/02/80 am to 20/02/80 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     10 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1990
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                    Chapter #1
                                              Chapter title: Be on guard
           11 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8002110
              ShortTitle: DHAM901
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              FOR IF IN YOUR RENUNCIATION
              YOU ARE RECKLESS AND BREAK YOUR WORD,
              IF YOUR PURPOSE WAVERS,
              YOU WILL NOT FIND THE LIGHT.



              DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO
              RESOLUTELY, WITH ALL YOUR HEART.
              THE TRAVELER WHO HESITATES
              ONLY RAISES DUST ON THE ROAD.



              IT IS BETTER TO DO NOTHING
              THAN TO DO WHAT IS WRONG.
              FOR WHATEVER YOU DO, YOU DO TO YOURSELF.



              LIKE A BORDER TOWN WELL GUARDED,
              GUARD YOURSELF WITHIN AND WITHOUT.
              LET NOT A SINGLE MOMENT PASS
              LEST YOU FALL INTO DARKNESS.



              FEEL SHAME ONLY WHERE SHAME IS DUE.
              FEAR ONLY WHAT IS FEARFUL.
              SEE EVIL ONLY IN WHAT IS EVIL.
              LEST YOU MISTAKE THE TRUE WAY
              AND FALL INTO DARKNESS.



              SEE WHAT IS.
              SEE WHAT IS NOT.
              FOLLOW THE TRUE WAY.
              RISE.


               Gautama the Buddha has given to the world the most psychological religion. It is incomparable;
           no other religion even comes close to it. Its heights, its depths, are tremendous. And the reason why
           Buddha succeeded in giving such a beautiful vision of life is very simple: he did not believe; he
           inquired, he explored. He did not believe in the tradition, he did not believe in the scriptures, he did
           not believe in the priests.
               This was one of his fundamentals: that unless you know, you don't know. You can borrow
           knowledge, you can become knowledgeable, well informed, a scholar, a pundit, a professor, but you
           will not be a seer. Deep down the ignorance will persist and will affect your life. Deep down you
           will remain the same childish self, immature, ungrounded, uncentered, unintegrated. You will not be
           an individual, you won't have any authenticity. You will be pseudo, false, phony.
               It is a quantum leap into the unknown. When you don't believe in the tradition, when you don't
           believe in the scriptures, when you don't believe in anything except your own experience, you are
           going into the unknown all alone. It needs guts, it needs courage. And only a courageous person can
           be truly religious.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Cowards are there in the churches, in the temples, in the mosques in millions, but they don't
           create any religious beauty, any religious fragrance in the world. They don't make the world more
           beautiful, more alive, more sensitive. They don't create anything. They only go on doing formalities,
           rituals. They themselves are dead and they go on deceiving others; they themselves are deceived.
               Borrowed knowledge creates great deception because you start feeling as if you know -- and that
           "as if" is a big "as if."
               Truth liberates, belief binds. Truth liberates because it has to be yours; it has to be an inner
           experience, an encounter with that which is.
               Buddha is a nonbeliever. He is not an atheist like Karl Marx or Friedrich Nietzsche; neither is he
           a theist like all the priests of all the religions. He is an agnostic. He neither believes nor disbelieves;
           he is open. That is his great gift to the world: to be open to truth.
               Go utterly naked, without any conclusions, without any ideology, any prejudice. Otherwise there
           is every possibility that you will project your own idea. You will not see that which is, you will see
           only that which you want to see. You will be creating your own reality which is bound to be false.
           Reality has not to be invented, it has to be discovered. It is already there. And remember, it is not the
           reality which is hidden, it is your eyes which are covered with layers of dust.
               Buddha gave to the world a nonmetaphysical religion, a psychological religion. He simply helps
           you to go beyond mind. He helps you to understand the mind because it is only through
           understanding that transcendence happens.
               But when I say that Buddha has given the most psychological religion to the world, don't
           misunderstand me. He has not given a psychology; he has given a psychological religion which is a
           totally different phenomenon. He has not given a psychology like Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung,
           Adler, Pavlov, Skinner, etcetera. These people are confined to the mind; they think mind is all. There
           is nothing beyond the mind, so analyze the mind. If you have found the truth of the mind you have
           found the truth, according to them. That is beginning with a wrong attitude.
               Man is neither the body nor the mind. Man is the awareness within which can look at the body,
           which can look at the mind, which is capable of witnessing all. You are the witness.
               Hence I say, Buddha has not given a psychology. A psychology is a very ordinary phenomenon.
           It does not bring transformation to your life because it cannot bring any transcendence. At the most it
           helps you to be a little more adjusted to yourself and to the world that surrounds you, to the society,
           to the people with whom you have to live. It helps you to become a little more adjusted.
               Psychology is basically orthodox; it is not revolutionary, it cannot be. It serves the status quo, it
           serves the establishment. It keeps you within the boundaries; it does not help you to go beyond the
           boundaries. It is not in your service. It is controlled by those who are in power -- by the state, by the
           church, by the society. In a very disguised way it keeps you tethered to the collective mind. It does
           not help you to become an individual, because to be an individual is to be rebellious, to be an
           individual is to go on your own, to be an individual is to be a danger to the society. Capitalist,
           communist, whatsoever the society is -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan -- it doesn't matter; the
           individual is a danger because the individual tries to live out of his own light. He does not follow
           anybody. He is not a follower, he is not an imitator.
               Buddha gives a psychological religion. Religion means he helps you to understand the mind so
           that you can go beyond it -- not so that you can become adjusted to the collective but so that you can
           rise to the heights of your individuality, to the peaks of your destiny.
               Psychology believes that man lacks meaning in his life and meaning can come only through
           therapy. Psychology in essence means meaning through therapy. And religion is just the opposite;
           religion means therapy through meaning. Religion gives you meaning first and then automatically
           the meaning becomes a healing force, it becomes therapeutic.
               Buddha says again and again that, "I am a healer," that "I am a physician," that "My function is
           not that of a philosopher but that of a physician. I help people to become healthier, to become
           whole." And what is his process? His process is to impart meaning to your life. That too he does in a
           profoundly new way; it has never been done before like that. He does not give you an arbitrary
           meaning because the arbitrary meaning will be seen sooner or later to be arbitrary, and the moment it
           collapses you will fall into deep darkness. The darkness will be far darker than it was before. Now
           you have lost meaning. You will feel suicidal; you will not feel life is worth living at all. Even
           breathing will become hard, difficult. The question will arise: Why? Why should I go on living if
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no meaning?
                Buddha does not give you any arbitrary meaning. Hence I say he has no metaphysics. He helps
           you to discover the intrinsic meaning of your life. He does not give you meaning, but he gives you
           methods and means to discover the meaning that you are already carrying within yourself like a seed.
                Psychologists go on saying: First seek ye the kingdom of Freud, Jung, Adler, Pavlov, Skinner
           and company, and then all else shall be added unto you. It never happens; it has never happened yet
           to a single individual. It can't happen in the very nature of things. Even Freud knows no meaning,
           lives without meaning, lives deep down in despair. He says that there is no hope for man, that man
           can never be happy, it is impossible. It must be his own understanding, his own experience of life.
           He says that at the most we can help man to be less miserable, that's all. What kind of goal is this? --
           helping man to be a little less miserable! It is not very appealing.
                Man needs blissfulness, not less miserableness. Man needs something positive -- something to
           live for and something to die for, something so full of worth that even life can be sacrificed to it. But
           it should not be arbitrary. There are many arbitrary meanings.
                Adolf Hitler gave Germany an arbitrary meaning: Live for the Aryan race, live for the pure
           Nordic blood, because you are born to rule the world. He gave great hope, but it flopped. It was
           bound to happen. He himself committed suicide; that was almost destined.
                Religions go on giving false meanings to your life. They go on talking of the other life, the
           beyond: "After death there is paradise for those who are virtuous and there is hell for those who are
           not virtuous." And who is virtuous? The person who follows the priest is the virtuous person. The
           person who does not follow the tradition, the convention, the person who is not a conformist, is
           bound for hell.
                Yes, out of fear and greed you can give a little meaning to life, but it is so arbitrary, so artificial,
           that there is not a single individual on the earth who is so stupid that sooner or later he will not see
           the falsity of it.
                And now man has come of age; hence religions are disappearing. There is no possibility in the
           future for Christianity, for Islam, for Hinduism, for Judaism, to exist. And if they want to exist they
           will have to change their whole outlook, their very foundations.
                But there is every possibility for Buddha and his message to prevail. In fact, his day has come.
           He came twenty-five centuries ahead of his time. Now is the time, the right time for him. He does
           not talk of fear, he does not talk of greed, he does not talk of hell and heaven, he does not talk even
           about God. He is so modern, so contemporary; he belongs to our century. Even we are not so
           contemporary as he is. He destroys all the old structures. He frees religion from all frozen ideologies.
           He brings many revolutionary changes in the religious outlook.
                First he says there is no need to be knowledgeable; one has to be innocent. It is through
           innocence that the truth is known, not through knowledge.

               A neighbor was saying, "Your cat was making an awful noise last night."
               The other replied, "You are right. Ever since she ate the canary, she thinks she can sing."

              You can go on eating the scriptures; you will not be able to sing at all. You can know all the
           Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gitas, the Korans, the Bibles, but you will remain as stupid as ever. Of
           course you will start bragging about your knowledgeability. You will start showing it, you will
           become an exhibitionist. Even when you don't know anything you will pretend that you know.

               Spinster Peabody's proudest possession was Count, her exquisite cat. Unfortunately, he had been
           missing for two days. When she opened the freezer door, Miss Peabody nearly died of shock. There
           was Count frozen solid.
               She immediately called the priest, who said there still might be a chance to save the poor animal.
           "Give it two tablespoons of gasoline," he told her.
               With trembling hands, Miss Peabody opened Count's mouth and carefully spooned in the priest's
           strange prescription.
               The seconds ticked away and nothing happened. She was about to give up hope when suddenly
           the cat opened his eyes, let out an ear-piercing screech and shot across the room at a hundred miles
           per hour, running over the furniture, the walls, even the ceiling. Count kept this up for two minutes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, not moving a muscle.
           Miss Peabody called the priest again.
           "What do you think happened?" she asked.
           "Simple," said the priest. "He ran out of gas."

                The priests have all the answers. Ask them anything, any stupid thing. They can't say, "We don't
           know," that is impossible. The priests have never said that they are ignorant; their whole business
           depends upon their knowledgeability.
                Socrates says: I know only one thing, that I know nothing. That is exactly Buddha's approach too
           -- and Socrates and Buddha were contemporaries; they have much in common. If Socrates was born
           in India he would have been called a buddha. He also trusts innocence, the innocence of a child who
           knows nothing. If you can become a child again, then only the doors of the mysterious can open for
           you. You can see. The dust on your eyes is nothing but knowledge, information, scripture.
                The psychotherapists are called by people "shrinks"; they are! A psychotherapist's whole effort is
           to reduce you; he is a reductionist. He studies rats, and whatsoever he comes to know about the rats
           he applies to you. It is so disgusting, so humiliating, so absurd, illogical! He studies the lowest to
           know the highest.
                You can know nothing of the flower by studying the seed, by dissecting the seed, by analyzing
           the seed. For thousands of years you can go on analyzing the seed; you will never come across the
           colors of the rose, the lotus, or the fragrance. You will never know what fragrance was hidden in the
           seed. Analysis cannot yield it to you.
                Studying rats and then applying that knowledge to man is simply saying that man is nothing but a
           kind of animal, a little more complex maybe, but nothing more than that. Reductionism means
           always bringing things to "nothing buts."
                The real understanding of man is only possible not by studying the rats but by studying the
           buddhas, the christs, the krishnas -- the highest. By studying the peaks you will know exactly who
           you are, not by the lowest denominator but by the highest manifestation. When you study a buddha,
           a great longing arises in you to reach to those heights. When you study rats, then there is no longing.
           In fact, you feel very satisfied whatsoever you are. In fact, you feel greatly contented that you are a
           little better than the rats, a little more complex, a little more clever. You feel gratified. Religion
           disappears.
                Religion lives in your longing to reach to the peaks, to attain to the ultimate heights, to bring
           your total potential into manifestation, into actuality. Religion is the science of self-actualization.
                If a psychotherapist can be called a "shrink," then a real religious person should be called a
           "stretch." He stretches you to the ultimate possibilities.

           Now the sutras:

              FOR IF IN YOUR RENUNCIATION
              YOU ARE RECKLESS AND BREAK YOUR WORD,
              IF YOUR PURPOSE WAVERS,
              YOU WILL NOT FIND THE LIGHT.


               Buddha will talk again and again about light and darkness; hence those two words have to be
           understood. They are metaphors. Buddha has to use metaphors. All the buddhas, all the awakened
           ones, have to use metaphors. The ordinary language is not enough, is very inadequate. When you
           start expressing something inner you feel the difficulty. The language has no words for it, or even if
           the words are there they are too small and the experience is too big. The experience cannot be
           contained in those words, hence the use of the metaphor.
               A metaphor simply means, don't cling to the literal meaning of the word. Understand it as a
           finger pointing to the moon. Don't cling to the literal meaning; otherwise you will be in difficulty
           because then you will only misunderstand. A metaphor is a metaphor. It is poetry, it is not prose.
           You have to be a little poetic, a little imaginative, a little sympathetic to understand it. Literal
           meaning has been a disaster.
               But that's how we always read. Even if we are reading a buddha we try to read him literally.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then light means light and darkness means darkness. That's not so.

               Jack was home from college for the holidays. One day he asked his uneducated mother if he
           could tell her a narrative. His mother, not being used to such big words, asked him the meaning of
           'narrative'.
           "A narrative is a tale," Jack said.
               That night, when going to bed, Jack asked his mother if he might extinguish the light. She
           wanted to know the meaning of 'extinguish'.
           "To put out," Jack said.
               A few days later Jack's mother was giving a party at their home, and the cat wandered into the
           room. Jack's mother raised her voice and said confidently, "Jack, take the cat by the narrative and
           extinguish him."

           Beware of that fallacy.
                When Buddha uses the word 'light' he means the state of no-mind, because the state of no-mind is
           a state of tremendous light, as if thousands of suns have risen simultaneously within your soul. And
           whenever Buddha says 'darkness' he means the state of mind. Mind is dark; it is a dark night, not
           even a ray of light. And we all live in the mind, we all live in the dark night, and we have no idea of
           the dawn because we never go out of the mind. We cling to the mind. Mind is our blindness.
                A man has eyes only when he goes beyond mind. Then he starts seeing things as they are. The
           mind distorts. The mind never allows you to see reality as it is; it projects. It does not allow the
           whole reality to penetrate to your heart. It allows only two percent; ninety-eight percent is rejected.
           And this two percent that is allowed in is distorted in a thousand and one ways -- interpreted, colored
           -- and by the time it reaches you it is no longer real. So you live in a very unreal world. If you live in
           the mind you live in dreams, you live in sleep.
                So whenever Buddha says 'darkness', he means a state of unconsciousness, a mechanical state in
           which you function but you are not aware what you are doing, in which you move but your
           movement has no quality of alertness in it. You talk, you listen, you eat, you walk, you go to sleep,
           but like a zombie, unconscious. This is darkness.
                When you start becoming more aware of what you are doing, of what you are thinking, of what
           you are feeling, when you become more and more aware, more and more light penetrates you. When
           you are a hundred percent aware you are full of light.
                That's exactly the meaning of the word 'enlightened'. The word 'enlightened' is a translation for
           the word 'buddha'. Buddha means the enlightened one, the awakened one, the aware one. He says:
           FOR IF IN YOUR RENUNCIATION YOU ARE RECKLESS AND BREAK YOUR WORD, IF
           YOUR PURPOSE WAVERS, YOU WILL NOT FIND THE LIGHT.
                Renunciation means sannyas. Renunciation can be of two types. The first type -- the wrong type
           -- is the renunciation that happens through fear or greed. You have been told that if you renounce the
           world then you will attain the pleasures of heaven. You have been told if you don't renounce you will
           suffer eternal pain and hell. Many people become afraid of hell and many people become greedy for
           heaven, and they renounce the world. This is a wrong renunciation.
                Anything that you do out of fear and greed is bound to be wrong because fear and greed are
           unconscious states. Out of fear you have dreamed about hell, out of fear you have dreamed about
           heaven. There is no hell, no heaven. These are all your dreams. When you are not dreaming at all,
           when the sleep has disappeared and you are awake, there is no heaven, no hell. That state Buddha
           calls "liberation": liberation from greed, liberation from fear.
                And if you act out of awareness, if your renunciation happens out of awareness, it is true
           renunciation because then you really don't do anything, things start happening. You see something is
           wrong; it drops, it simply drops. You don't have to make any effort. You see the ugliness of anger
           and anger evaporates; the very seeing becomes the transformation. You understand your desire and
           the futility of your desire -- that it cannot be fulfilled, that it is unfulfillable, that you are in a vicious
           circle. Seeing it -- that you are moving in circles -- you jump out. This is also renunciation, but you
           don't jump out of desire for another desire: to get into heaven, to avoid hell. You are not jumping out
           of desire; you are only changing one desire for another. You are exchanging worldly desires with
           unworldly desires, but desire is desire. You can change the object, but the nature of desire remains
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the same.
                This is a great contribution of Buddha to religious consciousness. He says: Don't renounce, let
           renunciation happen. If it happens on its own accord it has a beauty of its own, it has grace, and you
           never repent, you never look back. If you renounce, if you make effort, your renunciation will bring
           sadness to you. And many times you will start thinking whether you have done right or wrong. Many
           times your mind will waver, many times desire for the renounced will again surround you like a
           cloud. Many times you will be full of lust and greed and fear. Many times the world will attract you
           again. That is natural.
                Hence Buddha says: FOR IF IN YOUR RENUNCIATION YOU ARE RECKLESS AND
           BREAK YOUR WORD, IF YOUR PURPOSE WAVERS, YOU WILL NOT FIND THE LIGHT.
                It can happen only in a wrong kind of renunciation that your purpose wavers, because when you
           renounce with effort it is always a halfhearted affair. A part of your mind says, "Renounce, because
           if you don't renounce you will suffer." A part of your mind says, "Don't renounce. Who knows
           whether there is any life after death or not? And who knows whether renunciation is rewarded or
           not? Nobody comes back from the other shore to tell the truth. It may be all imagination, it may be
           all a strategy of the priests. Who knows?"
                Doubt is bound to persist, and when doubt is there there is wavering, and when doubt is there
           you are split. When doubt is there you can never be wholeheartedly into anything; you remain
           divided. You can never be an individual, indivisible. And the person who renounces for some motive
           is renouncing through the mind -- and that is impossible. You cannot renounce through the mind.
                Mind is the first thing to be renounced -- and you are trying to use mind for renunciation? Mind
           will poison everything. It will create new desires in you, it will create new greeds, it will create new
           ambitions, it will create new egos in you. Look at the so-called holy people, the so-called saints and
           mahatmas. They look more egoistic than anybody else. Their faces look sad, as if they are in great
           pain, suffering. And their eyes? They are looking at you always with that attitude of
           "holier-than-thou." They are condemnors; they will call you sinners. They are ready to throw you
           into hell and hellfire. For themselves they are hoping that they will be in heaven enjoying heavenly
           pleasures forever and forever.
                What kind of renunciation is this? This is a wrong kind of renunciation and you cannot attain to
           light through it; you will go on falling into deeper and deeper darkness. You have taken the first step
           in a wrong direction, and the first step is the most important step because the second will follow the
           first, and so on, so forth. And you will go on farther and farther away from the truth.
                Hence I don't tell my sannyasins to renounce, although renunciation happens. Many of my
           sannyasins write to me, "Beloved Master, you deceived us. We were thinking nothing has to be
           renounced, and now many things are simply disappearing."
                Just the other day there was a letter. One sannyasin has written that his sexual desire has
           completely disappeared -- and he had tried his whole life to renounce it and he had never succeeded.
           And here we are not teaching to renounce anything, not even sexual desire, so his letter has a
           relevance. He says, "You tricked us. I was thinking that I have come here to enjoy my sexual desire
           for the first time, because the whole life I have been trying to be a monk. Tired of it, utterly a failure
           in renouncing it, I had come here -- and now it has disappeared!"
                This is beautiful, if it has disappeared on its own accord. If you have not dropped it, it won't
           come back again. If you have dropped it, it is bound to come back again because dropping it simply
           means repressing it. Dropping does not mean anything else; it simply means you have repressed it
           forcibly. Sooner or later, in some weaker moment, it will be back again -- and with a vengeance. But
           if it drops on its own... you have not done anything to drop it, not even a decision; you have not
           willfully acted on it, it is through understanding. Seeing the futility of it, seeing that it does not
           fulfill, that it is a kind of a toy.... You can remain engaged in it, it keeps you occupied. It keeps you
           so much occupied that you don't have any time to look inwards. But it never takes you anywhere;
           you are always the same. It brings no integrity, it brings no joy. The more you know it, the more it
           becomes a boring phenomenon. The more you know it, the more boredom it brings.
                If you really want to enjoy sex, be a monk, be a nun. Then you will enjoy it. Then you will not
           think of anything else; twenty-four hours you will be enjoying it. In a monastery what else is there to
           enjoy? Of course it will be just fantasy. Fantasy is personal pornography. Nobody else can see what
           you are seeing and you can go on giggling and enjoying. You can go on reading the Bible, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Koran, so everybody thinks how religious you are, how pious -- and nobody knows what you are
           really doing inside.
                The so-called religious people are very pornographic; they are bound to be. The more you make
           an effort to escape from men and women, the more the unfulfilled, the repressed, is bound to become
           cerebral. It will become a fantasy in your mind, it will capture your imagination. You will dream
           about it, you will think about it, you will be surrounded by it. You can look into the records of all the
           monks and the nuns of all the world and you will be surprised: things were happening to them which
           are not happening to anybody anymore.
                In the Middle Ages the nuns were reporting in thousands that the Devil comes and makes love to
           them. Now what has happened to the Devil? He does not come anymore. The ordinary devils are
           enough. But those nuns, they were imagining. And when for years you have been starved, you have
           willfully tried to do something, the imagination gathers force. A moment comes when you start
           dreaming with open eyes; you can see the Devil standing there.
                And what imagination those nuns had! If you just look into the records you will be surprised.
           The Devil has a forked penis! It is not an ordinary genital organ -- but forked, so that it can enter
           both the holes! Now these nuns must have been mad, utterly mad. And false pregnancies were
           happening... nothing but hot air in the belly, but the belly would go on becoming bigger and bigger.
           Just fantasy has taken so much grip of the mind, of the body, that the nun thinks she has become
           pregnant, so she starts accumulating air in the belly. She looks to everybody as if she is pregnant.
           She walks like a pregnant woman. And of course, what can she do? If the Devil comes, she has to
           yield. Who knows? -- he may not come again!
                And this is not only about one religion; this is the case with all the religions. In India, the
           scriptures tell so many stories of the great monks, ascetics, doing their penances in the forests. And
           when they are coming just on the verge of success, beautiful women descend from heaven to distract
           these poor fellows. They have not done any wrong to anybody and even if they have done wrong,
           what kind of punishment is this? This is something like reward! Beautiful women come from
           heaven, goddesses, APSARAS, and they dance naked around them, and they make all kinds of
           obscene gestures to the poor fellows. Details are given in the scriptures, very detailed descriptions,
           what they do, how they do, how they seduce the poor fellow. And then he falls from his great
           heights, becomes an ordinary mortal. Then they don't come anymore. This is nothing but mental
           masturbation, but this is bound to happen if you repress. This is a wrong kind of renunciation. It has
           dominated the whole religious scene for ages, it has been very destructive.
                The right kind of renunciation is very natural and spontaneous. It is not AGAINST anything. It
           allows you to watch, see, understand, be more meditative, so that you can bring more understanding
           to your actions, to your thoughts, to your feelings. Out of that accumulated understanding, things
           start happening. Then the mind is no more there to waver. Nothing has been repressed so nothing can
           come back again. Then things simply start disappearing like dewdrops in the early sun. That's the
           only possibility to find the light.
                And remember, even these people who have been teaching repression, they don't call it
           repression -- they call it willpower. They give it beautiful names. Ugly things can be hidden very
           easily behind beautiful names. Willpower is nothing but ego power. When you call it willpower it
           looks beautiful; when you call it ego power you see the ugliness of it.
                A religious person is one who has no more use for ego. Ego means violence with yourself. It may
           be very subtle, it may not look like violence. You may be doing violence to yourself in a very
           graceful manner. And the priests have been forcing you to do things, but they don't say that they are
           forcing. They have been conditioning children, hypnotizing whole societies, to do certain things.
           And once you are hypnotized and conditioned you think YOU are doing it on your own, out of your
           own freedom. And that is sheer nonsense. A Hindu who has been conditioned for thirty years to be a
           Hindu cannot do anything out of his own freedom unless he drops all his Hindu nonsense. And the
           same is the case with the Christian and the Jew and the Jaina and the Mohammedan and the Parsi
           and the Sikh.
                The first step is to drop that which has been forced upon you. It may look almost as if it has not
           been forced because it has been so long, you have completely forgotten. Thirty years, forty years,
           fifty years conditioning -- who remembers when it began, how it began? You were so young, three
           years old or four years old... and then the teaching starts and it goes on conditioning you. It can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           condition you for anything, any stupid thing. Everybody else will see the stupidity; only you will not.
           You will think you are doing something great, something religious, something sacred.

               Stalin was giving Mao Zedong instructions in practical communism. "Comrade," he said, "how
           would you make a cat eat chili pepper?"
           "There are two ways," said Mao. "I could force it down him or I could stuff a fish with the pepper
           and give the fish to the cat."
           "Wrong," replied Stalin. "It is not compatible with our ideology. The first method is coercion, the
           second deception. You know we never coerce or deceive the people."
           "Then how would you do it?" asked Mao.
           "I would rub the pepper on the cat's tail. When this started to smart, the cat would turn around and
           lick its tail, thus eating the pepper voluntarily."

               This has been done by the priests for centuries. They rub the pepper on your tail, and one day
           you start licking your tail and you think you are doing it voluntarily.
               The first step towards real religion is to drop Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism,
           Buddhism, Jainism; to drop all ideologies, to unlearn what has been forced upon you -- to be a child
           again. Then you can start seeing things in their true colors, then you can start seeing things as they
           are. Children are more aware of the reality than you are. The older you become, the less aware you
           are because the more you become burdened with experience, knowledge, opinions, ideologies.

              DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO
              RESOLUTELY, WITH ALL YOUR HEART.
              THE TRAVELER WHO HESITATES
              ONLY RAISES DUST ON THE ROAD.


               Buddha says: DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO RESOLUTELY.... But by resolution he does not
           mean will, as it is ordinarily meant in the dictionaries. Buddha is compelled to use your words, but
           he gives a new meaning to his words. By 'resolution' he means out of a resolved heart -- not out of
           willpower but out of a resolved heart. And remember, he emphasizes the word 'heart', not the mind.
           Willpower is part of the mind. A resolved heart is a heart without problems, a heart which is no
           longer divided, a heart which has come to a state of stillness, silence. That's what he calls a resolved
           heart.
               DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO RESOLUTELY, WITH ALL YOUR HEART. Remember the
           emphasis on the heart. Mind can never be one; by its very nature it is many. And the heart is always
           one; by its very nature it cannot be many. You cannot have many hearts but you can have many
           minds. Why? -- because the mind lives in doubt and the heart lives in love. The mind lives in doubt
           and the heart lives in trust. The heart knows how to trust; it is trust that makes it one. When you
           trust, suddenly you become centered.
               Hence the significance of trust. It does not matter whether your trust is in the right person or not.
           It does not matter whether your trust will be exploited or not. It does not matter whether you will be
           deceived because of your trust or not. There is every possibility you may be deceived -- the world is
           full of deceivers. What matters is that you trusted. It is out of your trust that you become integrated,
           which is far more important than anything else. It is not a question that first you have to be certain
           whether the person is worthy of trust or not. How will you be certain? And who will inquire?
               It will be the mind, and the mind knows only how to doubt. It will doubt. It will doubt even a
           man like Christ or Buddha. It can't help.
               Judas doubted Jesus. He could not trust -- even a man like Jesus. And Jesus trusted Judas; he
           could not doubt even a man like Judas. See the point. Who is the gainer? If you superficially look,
           then it seems Jesus has lost because he is crucified. If he had not trusted Judas he would have saved
           his life. But that is only a superficial understanding. In fact the loser is Judas, not Jesus. One has to
           die some day or other, and one cannot die a better death than Jesus. It is his death that brought a
           revolution into the consciousness of humanity.
               If Buddha had also been crucified we would have been far richer. Dying on a bed would not have
           been of much help. And what difference does it make to Jesus where he dies? But a man like Jesus
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           uses even his death as a situation, as a device. He used it and he used it very skillfully. Socrates
           could not use his death so skillfully. Maybe it is because of Socrates' death that Jesus has learned a
           lesson: how to use death. There are foolish people who cannot use their lives usefully, artistically,
           gracefully, beautifully, and there are people like Jesus who can even use their death. Their death is
           also a device.
               The real loser is Judas, and he understood immediately. When Jesus was crucified he felt so
           ashamed that he committed suicide the next day. Now, committing suicide is ugly; being crucified
           has a beauty. It is a sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate offering one can make to God. And
           Jesus made it. His last words were, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." He surrendered totally:
           "Let thy kingdom come." He effaced himself totally, he dropped his ego totally: "Thy will be done."
           He trusted Judas absolutely. He hugged him, he kissed him, he washed his feet. He knew that the
           man was going to betray him -- and still his trust was total.
               So remember, trust does not mean that first you have to inquire, that first you have to make
           everything certain, guaranteed, and then you trust. That is not trust, that is really doubt: because you
           have no more possibilities to doubt, hence you trust. If another possibility arises of doubt you will
           doubt again. Trust is in spite of all the doubts, in spite of what the man is or what the man is going to
           do. It is of the heart, it is out of love.
               When you trust and love with a resolved heart it brings transformation. Then you never hesitate.
           Hesitation simply keeps you in fragments. Taking a quantum leap, without any hesitation or in spite
           of all the hesitations, you become integrated. Hesitations disappear; you become one. And to become
           one is to be liberated -- liberated from your own stupid crowd that exists inside you, liberated from
           your thoughts and desires and memories, liberated from mind itself.
              THE TRAVELER WHO HESITATES ONLY RAISES DUST ON THE ROAD.



              IT IS BETTER TO DO NOTHING
              THAN TO DO WHAT IS WRONG.
              FOR WHATEVER YOU DO, YOU DO TO YOURSELF.


               It is better to do nothing... but to do nothing is very difficult. When you think you are not doing
           anything... that is not what Buddha is saying. To do nothing means to be so still, so silent, that there
           is no action within or without, no thought even, no desire.
               IT IS BETTER TO DO NOTHING -- one will have to be very conscious to do nothing -- THAN
           TO DO WHAT IS WRONG. The wrong can be done only when you are unconscious. The definition
           of the wrong and the right according to Buddha is a very different one; it is not moralistic. He will
           not say, "This is right and that is wrong." He will not give you a list of Ten Commandments; he has
           not given any commandments. He gives you rather a criterion so that you can judge in your life what
           is right, what is wrong. He has not decided it. It can't be decided because life goes on changing.
           What is wrong one day may be right another day; what is wrong this moment may be right another
           moment. So you cannot label actions as right or wrong. Situations change, you change, people
           change. So there is no possibility of giving you a list that says, "Do these things and don't do these
           things."
               All other religions have done that; Buddha has not done that. He gives you a criterion, he gives
           you an insight. He gives you a touchstone so you can see what is gold and what is not gold.
           Consciousness is his touchstone. If you are conscious and not doing anything, that is far better than
           doing something wrong, because doing something wrong means you are unconscious. Doing
           anything out of unconsciousness is wrong and doing anything, even nothing, out of consciousness, is
           right.

               When the bottle of Scotch broke on the floor, the three little mice lapped it all up. Now they were
           really blind.
           "I'm going to find Muhammad Ali and knock his brains out," said the first one.
               The second said, "Just let me at that Idi Amin! I'll give him what's coming to him!"
           "You guys do what you want," said the third mouse. "Me, I'm going upstairs and making love to the
           cat!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               That's what is happening to everybody, because everybody is living in an unconscious state. You
           are unaware of what you are doing, why you are doing, who you are, why you are, where you are
           going. Everything seems to be in darkness, and still you go on doing things.
               It is better, Buddha says, to do nothing. Be quiet, silent, still, in a state of nondoing, because that
           is possible only if you bring more and more alertness. And then out of that silence, out of that
           awareness, out of that nothingness, out of that nondoing, whatsoever arises is good, is virtue.
               FOR WHATEVER YOU DO, YOU DO TO YOURSELF. If you harm people, the harm will
           come back to you. If you love people, the love will come back to you. The world goes on echoing
           back, reflecting back. The world gives you only that which you have given in the first place to the
           world.

              LIKE A BORDER TOWN WELL GUARDED,
              GUARD YOURSELF WITHIN AND WITHOUT.

              That's what he calls awareness: Be on guard.



              LET NOT A SINGLE MOMENT PASS
              LEST YOU FALL INTO DARKNESS.


               Not even a single moment should be left unguarded. Each moment you have to be alert,
           conscious. Walking, walk consciously. Breathing, breathe consciously. Eating, eat consciously. Do
           whatsoever you are doing, but bring the quality of consciousness into your work. Sitting, sit
           consciously. Let consciousness become a constant, running underground stream, so you go on doing
           your usual things, but there is an undercurrent of consciousness. That will make your life religious --
           not going to the church, not going to the temple, not praying to some imaginary God, not repeating
           scriptures.

              FEEL SHAME ONLY WHEN SHAME IS DUE.
              FEAR ONLY WHAT IS FEARFUL.
              SEE EVIL ONLY IN WHAT IS EVIL.
              LEST YOU MISTAKE THE TRUE WAY
              AND FALL INTO DARKNESS.


               Buddha says: FEEL SHAME ONLY WHEN SHAME IS DUE. Don't be bothered what others
           say. Unless YOUR consciousness says it is shameful there is no need to be worried. Even if the
           whole world says that what you are doing is shameful, let them say it; you need not be worried about
           it.
               This is a very revolutionary message. Ordinarily you have been told to follow others, to follow
           the collective, to follow the official religion, to follow whatsoever has been told for centuries.
           Buddha says it is immaterial what others say. What really matters is that if YOUR consciousness
           says it is shameful, then drop it. In fact, there will be no need to drop it; it will drop on its own
           accord. Let your consciousness be decisive in every matter.
               FEAR ONLY WHAT IS FEARFUL... and don't be afraid of hell and don't be afraid of
           punishment after death. These are strategies of the priests to exploit people, to exploit their fear.
           Everybody is afraid because everybody has become an ego and the ego is always afraid. The ego
           means you think yourself separate from the whole; then fear arises because you are not separate from
           the whole. And when you think you are separate, the question arises: How long can you remain
           separate? Death will come; then what will happen to you?
               The ego makes you so selfish, so self-centered, that you forget completely that you belong to the
           eternal universe. There is no need to fear that you are just a wave in the ocean; you will be here,
           whether as a wave or not as a wave, but you will be here. Nobody can destroy you. Nothing ever dies
           and nothing is ever born. The wave arises and disappears. Even before it has arisen it was there and
           when it has disappeared it is still there. That arising and disappearing is just a momentary
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           phenomenon: something that was unmanifest becomes manifest.
                But we are very much afraid, and the fear arises because we have believed, we have been told
           again and again, hypnotized to believe in the ego. This whole social structure up to now, hitherto,
           has been propounding an egoistic life attitude. Then fear, then greed, then ambition, are natural. And
           ego is being taught to every child; his ego is strengthened so that you can make him ambitious. Out
           of ambition arises politics. Ego is created so that you can make him afraid. Out of fear arises religion
           -- the so-called religion.

               Little Sheldon seemed to be enjoying himself at the zoo with his father. As they were looking at
           the tigers, however, a troubled look came over the boy's face. His father asked him what was the
           matter.
           "I was just wondering, Daddy. In case a tiger breaks loose and eats you, what number bus do I take
           home?"

               Even small children are poisoned with the idea of the self. Buddha says there is no self, no ego.
           Deep down you are not separate. You are not an island; you are part of the universal continent. So:
           FEAR ONLY WHAT IS FEARFUL. SEE EVIL ONLY IN WHAT IS EVIL. Don't believe others;
           believe only your own eyes, your own insight... LEST YOU MISTAKE THE TRUE WAY AND
           FALL INTO DARKNESS.
               Believing in others' ideas you are going to fall into darkness. They are in darkness and following
           them you will go into darkness. If you want to reach to light you will have to travel alone.
               SEE WHAT IS.... Such a simple statement, but it contains the very essence of religion.

              SEE WHAT IS.
              SEE WHAT IS NOT.
              FOLLOW THE TRUE WAY.
              RISE.


               SEE WHAT IS.... That is meditation. Put your mind aside. Face reality directly. Encounter it, be
           face-to-face. Put the mind aside. Look into reality silently, without any thought, so that the thought
           cannot be a hindrance, a barrier, a distortion. That's what meditation is: seeing what is and seeing
           what is not.
               The past is not, but the mind remains in the past. The future is not, but the mind remains in the
           future. And the present is, but the mind has no contact with the present. And whenever you are in
           contact with the present, the past is no more there, the future is no more there. When you are
           absolutely here and now, totally, utterly here and now, your life will have a new quality to it. That is
           true holiness -- because you will know the whole and you will become the whole.
               Buddha calls it the true way, the way of the awakened ones. You can also rise to these heights.
           Rise! Awake!
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                     Chapter #2
                                     Chapter title: Is there life before death?
           12 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002120
              ShortTitle: DHAM902
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THIS REALLY ALL THERE IS? MY LIFE SEEMS SO MEANINGLESS AND EMPTY. I KEEP
              THINKING THERE MUST BE SOMETHING MORE. I WANT THERE TO BE SOMETHING MORE.


               Prem Barkha, there is infinitely more, but your wanting it is a barrier in reaching to it. Desiring is
           like a wall that surrounds you; nondesiring becomes a door. This is one of the most paradoxical but
           very fundamental laws of life: desire and you will miss, don't desire and it is yours.
               Jesus says: Seek and ye shall find. Buddha says: Seek ye not; otherwise you will miss. Jesus
           says: Ask and it shall be given to you. Buddha says: Ask not; otherwise it will never be given to you.
           Jesus says: Knock and the doors shall be opened. Buddha says: Wait... look... the doors are not
           closed at all. If you knock, your very knocking shows that you are knocking somewhere else -- on
           the wall -- because the doors are always open.
               Jesus is as much enlightened as Buddha -- because there is no question of being more
           enlightened or less enlightened. But then why this difference?
               The difference comes from the people to whom Jesus is speaking. He is speaking to people who
           are uninitiated, uninitiated into the mysteries of life. Buddha is speaking to a totally different kind of
           group, the initiates, the adepts, those who can understand the paradoxical. The paradoxical means the
           mysterious.
               Barkha, you say, "My life seems so meaningless and empty...."
               It seems so meaningless and empty because you are constantly hankering for more. Drop that
           hankering, and then you will go through a radical transformation. The emptiness disappears
           immediately as you stop asking for the more. The emptiness is a by-product of asking for more. It is
           a shadow that follows the desire for more. Let the desire disappear and look back: there is no shadow
           anymore.
               Asking for more is what our mind is -- constantly asking for more. It makes no difference how
           much you have, it will go on asking for more. And because it goes on asking for more you go on
           feeling you are empty, you are missing so much. See the point: the emptiness is created by asking for
           more. The emptiness is not there, it is a fallacy, but it will look very real when you are caught in the
           net of desiring.
               See that desire is the cause of your emptiness. Watch your desiring, and in watching it
           disappears, and with it disappears the emptiness. Then comes a deep deep fulfillment. You feel so
           full, so overfull that you start overflowing. You have so much that you start sharing, you start giving
           -- giving for the sheer joy of giving, for no other reason. You become like a cloud full of rainwater:
           it has to shower somewhere. It will shower even on the rocks where nothing is going to grow; it will
           shower unconditionally. It will not ask whether this is the right place to shower or not. It will be so
           burdened with rainwater that it has to shower to unburden itself.
               When desiring disappears you are so full of bliss, so full of contentment, so full of fullness that
           you start sharing. It happens on its own accord. And then there is meaning in life, then there is
           significance in life. Then there is poetry, beauty, grace. Then there is music, harmony -- your life
           becomes a dance.
               Barkha, this emptiness and meaninglessness is your doing, so you can undo it.
               You say, "I keep thinking there must be something more."
               That's what is creating the trouble. And I am not saying there is not something more, there is --
           much more than you can ever imagine. I have seen it! I have heard it! I have experienced it! There is
           infinitely much more! But you will never come into contact with it if desiring continues. Desiring is
           a wall, no-desiring is a bridge. This is the very essence of Buddha's teaching. This is his basic
           message to the world. Bliss is a state of no-desire, misery is a state of desire.
           You say, "I want there to be something more."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The more you will want the more you will miss. You can choose. If you want to remain
           miserable, want more, more and more, and you will be missing more and more. This is your choice,
           remember, this is your responsibility. Nobody is forcing you. If you really want to see that which is,
           don't hanker for the future, for more. Just see to that which is.
               The other day Buddha was saying: See that which is and see that which is not. That is
           meditation, and meditation takes you beyond mind. Mind is constantly asking, desiring, demanding
           and creating frustration because it lives in expectations. The whole world is suffering through
           meaninglessness, and the reason is that for the first time man is asking more than he has ever asked.
           For the first time man is desiring more than he has ever desired. Science has given him so much
           hope, so much support to desire more.
               In the beginning of this century there was great optimism all over the world because science was
           opening new doors and everybody was thinking, "The golden age has arrived, it is just by the corner.
           We have reached it. In our very life we will see it -- that paradise has descended on the earth."
           Naturally everybody started desiring for more and more and more. Paradise has not descended on the
           earth. Instead, the earth has become a hell.
               Science released your desiring, it supported your desires. It supported your hopes that those
           desires can be fulfilled. And the outcome is that the whole world is living in deep misery. It has
           never been so before. It is very strange, because for the first time man has more possessions than
           ever. For the first time man has more safety, more security, more scientific technology, more comfort
           than ever before. But more meaninglessness is also there. Man has never been in such a despair, in
           such a desperate effort to get more.
               Science gives you desiring; religion gives you an insight into desiring. That insight helps you to
           drop desire. And then suddenly something that was hidden up to now becomes unhidden, becomes
           manifest. Something wells up within your being, and everything that you had ever desired is
           fulfilled... and more. More is available than you could have imagined, than anybody has ever
           imagined. Unimaginable bliss descends on you. But prepare the ground. Prepare the right soil.
           Nondesiring is the name of the right soil.
               I have given you the name Prem Barkha. It means "love showering." Yes, exactly that can
           happen. Love can shower, bliss can shower, God can shower on you. Just be in a receptive mood.
           You are aggressive, you want more -- that is aggression, subtle aggression. Be receptive, open,
           available, and then you are entitled to all the miracles possible.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL LIKE I AM GETTING DETACHED FROM SEX. NOW WHAT IS NEXT?


                Sant, that is only a feeling. It happens to almost everybody here. And the simple reason is not
           that you have become detached, but you have become afraid.
                So many women write to me, "Why in your commune are men so afraid of us?"
                Man has always been afraid. This is nothing new. But one man was living with one woman; he
           was afraid but was able to manage somehow. Now here he sees women and women and women. He
           becomes really afraid. There are biological reasons for the fear.
                Women are capable of multiple orgasms, man is not. Sexually man is very poor compared to
           women. No man is capable of satisfying any woman. If the woman is allowed freedom she will make
           anybody afraid, because she will make you feel very inferior. She is capable of multiple orgasms:
           within seconds she can have many orgasms and you can have only one orgasm. And with one
           orgasm you are finished! She has not even started and you are finished -- that is very embarrassing.
           Because of this fear, man has repressed women all over the world. It is not that man is stronger, that
           is why he has repressed women. No, it is out of fear.
                Man has destroyed women's capacity for orgasm. For centuries man has told them that orgasm is
           possible only to men, not to women. He has taught women to be absolutely unalive in a sexual
           relationship. He has told women, conditioned them, hypnotized them for centuries that it is more
           womanlike, ladylike, to be just silent, unmoving. It is for the man to make all the movements, take
           all the initiative. Hence man makes love, not the woman. The woman is just there, a silent partner.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And the reason is great fear because, if she becomes an active partner, she will reduce the man to
           almost nothingness. If she becomes active the man is very much afraid. How is he going to satisfy
           her? All his manhood will be at stake. He will no longer be capable of bragging that he is man,
           something higher, superior. Sexually he is not; sexually he is very inferior. In a muscular way he
           may be stronger than the woman, but sexually he is not.
               There are countries in Africa where operations are even done on small girls. The clitoris is cut
           when they are very small -- a very painful operation -- just to make sure that they don't have any idea
           of orgasm. In Sudan you will not find a single woman who knows anything about orgasm because
           their very mechanism for orgasm is damaged; their vagina is more like a wound than a healthy
           organ. What fear! -- to cut the clitoris. Then they will always be inferior. In India I have asked many
           women, "Have you ever achieved orgasm?", and they say, "What is it?" I have never come across an
           Indian woman who knows what orgasm is, because that is very un-Indian, for an Indian woman to
           feel orgasmic, to rejoice in making love.

              I have heard that a man was making love to a woman on the seabeach. And then the policeman
           came and said, "Are you mad or something? She is dead! What are you doing?"
           He said, "My God! I thought she was Indian!"

                The Indian woman has to just be there, not doing anything. She has not to show any signs of joy.
           If a woman really becomes orgasmic she will wake up the whole neighborhood! She will shout and
           sing and dance and jump. She will do Dynamic Meditation! And the whole neighborhood will know
           what is happening.
                Afraid of women, man has repressed them in subtle ways -- and sometimes not so subtle, like
           these Sudanese people. In Africa many Mohammedan countries do it -- the operation, the surgery on
           the clitoris. Not only that, they sew the vagina of the woman so much that making love to a woman
           becomes almost impossible. And the childbirth is so painful that once a woman has made love to a
           man she decides never to do that again, it is so painful! Once she has given birth to a child she
           decides never to be pregnant again; the whole experience is nightmarish. And this has been done by
           man, and the priests have been behind it.
                Sant, in my commune it is a totally different phenomenon. Centuries-old taboos are broken,
           centuries-old inhibitions are thrown to the winds. I am all for freedom, particularly sexual freedom,
           because all other freedoms are rooted in that. If a man or a woman is not orgasmic he is not alive,
           she is not alive -- they are dead. They breathe, they eat, they walk, but that is not life. They only
           vegetate.
                A scientist was doing an experiment on a certain species of fish. In that species the female fish,
           whenever approached by a male fish, starts moving away in a very coquettish way, alluring,
           enchanting, inviting, but starts escaping -- does not really escape but pretends that she is escaping.
           That excites the male; he starts running after her. The more he runs after her, the more he becomes
           excited, his passion is aroused. Then, of course in a very diplomatic way, the female fish allows him
           to make love.
                One scientist, Lorenz, trained a female fish just to do the opposite: that whenever she comes
           across the male, go, take the initiative, jump upon the male fish. And Lorenz was surprised:
           whenever this was done, the male fish was so much afraid; the male fish could not believe his own
           eyes, what is happening! And the male fish was unable to make love -- a sudden impotence! The
           mechanism works in a certain way: the female has to be seductive but unavailable -- not absolutely
           unavailable because that will destroy the whole game, just a pretension of unavailability. That
           excites the male energy. That makes the male more and more interested, obsessed. He is functioning
           at the optimum, and when he is functioning at the optimum he makes love easily -- because the male
           mind, whether in men or in mice, is the same. The male mind wants to conquer.
                And, Sant, you are in the same situation like the male fish. Now female fish are jumping upon
           you, making you afraid, and you are trying to hide the fact in a beautiful religious term: detachment.
           It is nothing! If you feel it is detachment, just go to the Himalayas for one month -- sit in a cave, and
           you will think only of women and women!
                I am just like another Lorenz. This commune is a pond, and I am training female fish to embrace
           every male fish!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When one is really detached -- out of understanding, out of meditation -- then there is no
           detachment either; that thing has to be understood. When one is really detached one is neither
           attached nor detached. The whole thing becomes irrelevant as if there is no question anymore of
           attraction, of nonattraction. The whole question drops. You are simply yourself. You don't think in
           terms of women, women don't think in terms of men. Thinking, "I am attached" -- or "detached" --
           means you are still thinking in terms of women.
               Real detachment -- that which comes out of understanding -- has no reference to the other. You
           are simply yourself, utterly joyous, happy, so blissful that you don't need the other. The other has
           been forgotten completely, the other exists no more. A woman will pass and you will not think
           whether she is a man or a woman. That is transcending your biology, and that is one of the greatest
           things in life -- to transcend your biology -- because only then, for the first time, you become
           something superior to the animals. Otherwise there is not much difference, maybe some difference of
           quantity but not of quality. Unless you transcend biology you remain part of the animal kingdom,
           another species of animal, that's all.
               Sant, now watch your detachment, whether it is fear or understanding. Have you understood the
           stupidity of the whole game? If you have understood, then you will not ask, "Now what is next?"
           There is nothing next then. You have transcended biology and you will be really at rest with
           yourself. You will become orgasmic without the help of the other. And orgasmicness will become so
           natural, so spontaneous, it will have no reference to sex at all.
               A Buddha is orgasmic twenty-four hours a day because he is rejoicing each moment in its
           totality; there is nothing more. If you have transcended the biology, if sex has disappeared -- through
           understanding, remember, not through some kind of repression or fear -- then you have entered into
           God, you have become divine.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHATEVER I DO, I TRY TOO HARD. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT BUDDHA'S "RIGHT EFFORT."


               Anand Nagaro, Gautama the Buddha has taught only one thing, and that is the middle way.
           Never go to the extreme. All extremes are the same. Be exactly in the middle and you will be freed,
           you will be liberated.
               There are people who are obsessed with sex; that is one extreme. Then there are people who
           escape from women, and if they are women they escape from men; they escape to the monasteries, to
           the caves. They are also obsessed -- of course, in the opposite direction. That is the other extreme.
           There are people who are greedy, too much greedy; their whole life is nothing but greed. And then
           there are people who renounce, who become afraid of touching anything.
               There are Jaina monks; in Buddha's time they were very influential. Buddha's whole fight was
           with Jaina monks, because they were extremists. They remain naked because if you wear clothes you
           may become attached to the clothes. They will not carry anything with them, not even a razor; when
           their hair is too long, they will pull it out. They will not wear shoes, they will walk barefoot, because
           shoes are a luxury. Naked, without any possessions, they impress people very much.
               Extremists are always very impressive. You are greedy, you are after money, after power,
           prestige; they have renounced all. Certainly, a great respect arises in your heart for them because you
           know you cannot do this; it is too cold to be naked. And to live without money.... The Jaina monk
           cannot touch money; he is not allowed to touch it, he is not even allowed to SEE money. How can
           you live without money? A great respect arises in you. You live on one extreme and you respect the
           other extreme. Sooner or later, when you will become fed up with your extreme, you will start
           moving to the other extreme. But no basic change happens. The man who is afraid of touching
           money is still in a state of ignorance, unawareness.
               Buddha says: Stop in the middle. There is no need to be indulgent, there is no need to renounce
           either. Just be in the middle, exactly in the middle. He has a great point there: if you remain exactly
           in the middle, that is the point from where transcendence happens.
               It is like the pendulum of a clock. It goes from the right to the left, from the left to the right. Try
           to understand the pendulum and its process because it is very similar to the process of your mind.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When the pendulum is going towards the right, visibly it is going towards the right, but invisibly it is
           gaining momentum to go to the left. When it is going to the left it is gaining momentum to go to the
           right.
               When you are indulging you are gaining momentum for renouncing the world, and when you are
           renouncing you will gain momentum to indulge again. And this can go on for lives together. But
           hold the pendulum in the middle and the clock stops.
               That's what Buddha says: hold the pendulum in the middle and the mind stops. The mind is the
           clock because the mind is time, the mind is desire. It brings past and future -- it IS time. Hold it in
           the middle. Don't live in the past and don't live in the future. Be in the present, that is the middle.
           Don't be indulgent and don't be a renunciate; be in the middle. Fulfill the necessities of life. Don't be
           obsessed by possessing things and don't be obsessed by renouncing them. Both are obsessions and
           both are pathological states. Avoid both, be in the middle. In the middle is balance.
               You ask me, Nagaro, "Whatever I do, I try too hard. Please tell us about Buddha's 'right effort'."
               Right effort means don't try too hard. Right effort also means don't stop trying completely. It
           means, just try in a relaxed way, neither too hard nor too soft, just in a relaxed way, in a very playful
           way. When you are trying too hard you become tense; when you are not trying at all you become
           lazy. When you are trying playfully you are neither lazy nor tense. Your life has a beauty, a grace, a
           balance, a harmony. Be in the middle, that's exactly the meaning of right effort.
               Whenever Buddha uses the word 'right', remember, he means balance. 'Right' is a translation of a
           word which means balance, because the extreme is wrong, both the extremes are wrong. Buddha's
           word is SAMYAK; SAM means balance, equilibrium. He uses that word more than any other word;
           he uses it for everything. If you are making effort for anything, let it be samyak, balanced, exactly in
           the middle.
               If you are meditating, Buddha says, let it be samyak -- right meditation. Don't make too much
           fuss about it, don't make a tension out of it. Don't create anguish. Don't become mad. Don't be
           aggressive. And he also says that that does not mean to forget all about it and go on living the way
           you are living. No, make efforts for meditation, but in a joyous way, a graceful way, always in the
           middle. Be gentle, be gentlemanly. Buddha is the perfect gentleman; the emphasis is on gentle. He is
           a rare person in that way.
               Mahavira seems to be an extremist -- another enlightened person who was Buddha's
           contemporary, the last prophet of the Jainas. He seems to be very extremist. It is said that for twelve
           years he was silent, didn't speak a single word. Now, this is going too far. Don't speak too much....

           I have heard a story about Morarji Desai:
               Whenever he speaks, his wife will send him a note. Every-body around him became curious,
           naturally, "What is that note?" Always it comes, inevitably.... And on the note they found there is
           only one word: Kiss.
               They told Morarji Desai, "This is rare in this age of unfaithfulness; your wife still loves you so
           much. You are eighty-four, she must be seventy-five or more. Still such romance that whenever you
           stand to speak she sends you a note always welcoming you with a kiss."
               Morarji looked angry -- as he always looks, that is nothing new! When he smiles, that is rare.
           Even in his smile there is no smile; still he looks as if he is angry. The smile seems to be painted. But
           he was really angry. He said, "You don't know what she means. It is a short form; it means, 'Keep it
           short, stupid.' That is the meaning of 'kiss'."

               If you keep it short, that's okay, but there is no need to become dumb for twelve years. Be
           telegraphic, use only words which are necessary. Don't go on chattering twenty-four hours a day,
           either with others or with yourself. People are chattering constantly, day in, day out. In the day they
           are chattering, in the night they are chattering.

               Mulla Nasruddin's wife went to the physician and said that "My husband talks in his sleep.
           Something has to be done. I am very much disturbed about it."
               The physician said, "I can understand. Take this medicine and within a week or two he will stop
           talking in his sleep."
               The wife said, "You misunderstand me. I don't want him to stop, I want him to talk clearly so I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can hear what he is saying."

               People are talking in their sleep, people are talking while they are awake. People are constantly
           talking; needed, not needed, they go on talking. Talking seems to be a kind of escape from
           themselves. So Buddha says it is good for a few hours to be silent, but there is no need to be silent
           forever.
               It is said that Mahavira ate only once in a while. Ten days he would fast -- or twenty days or
           thirty days -- and then one day he would take food. In those twelve years he took food only three
           hundred and sixty-five times; that means only one year. In twelve years, if that is the proportion, it
           comes to once every twelve days.
               Buddha says that is unnecessary, that is torture, that is making an extreme effort for no reason. It
           is perfectly good if you eat only as much as is needed; people are eating too much, people are
           stuffing themselves with food. That is again another way of keeping yourself away from yourself,
           keeping yourself engaged.
               People feel so empty -- like Prem Barkha -- everybody feels empty. And there is some
           unconscious desire to fill this emptiness -- through food, through smoking, through drink, through
           something; through talk, through the television, through the radio. Just remain occupied so you feel
           full.
               Just the other day I was reading that in America they have now invented a new kind of
           refrigerator. You open the door and the refrigerator immediately says, "Excuse me, be kind to
           yourself. Please close the door." People are constantly moving towards the fridge; that seems to be
           their only exercise. Even in the night when they have nothing to do or they are not feeling sleepy
           they will go to the fridge.
               There are people, and their number is big... out of ten, one person is capable of sleepwalking.
           They walk in their sleep and the direction is always towards the fridge. Even in sleep they know
           where the fridge is! They don't stumble anywhere, they go directly like an arrow. Now this is one
           extreme, and not eating for eleven or twelve days then eating only for one day, that is another
           extreme.
               Buddha says "right food." Be in the middle. Eat as much as is necessary for your health, for your
           well-being, don't eat too much. And that goes for everything in your life.

               A lady went into a shoe store to buy a pair of shoes. The salesman brought her a pair which she
           tried on. "Ah," she said, "I don't like these shoes. They are too wide. I don't want them too wide, I
           don't want them too narrow. I just want them in between."
               So the salesman gathered up the shoes and returned with another pair which were tried on. This
           time she frowned and said, "These shoes won't do. The holes in the toes are too big. I don't want
           them too big and I don't want them too small. I just want them in between."
               So the salesman went back to the store room and got her another pair at which she exclaimed,
           "Ah, I don't like them. The heels are too high. I don't want them too high and I don't want them too
           low. I just want them in between."
               At this point the salesman looked at her and said, "Madam, if you will stand up and bend over I
           will give you a shoe not too high and not too low -- just in between!"

               The salesman seems to be a Buddhist: just in between!
               In every action, remain just in between. Through that balance comes transcendence, through that
           balance mind disappears. The mind is an extremist. It lives only through extremes; it dies if you stop
           moving from one extreme to another.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?


                Nijanando, first ask: is there life before death? People ask: Is there life after death? What concern
           is that for you? You are alive. Ask the significant question, the really relevant question: Is there life
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           before death? Are you really alive?

               A woman went to the insurance company and said, "Can I get the money for which my husband
           has been insured?"
               The man in the office said, "But he is still alive. He is not dead. You will get the money only
           when he is dead."
               She said, "I know that he is not dead, but no life is left in him either."

               That's the situation: people are not dead and yet not alive either. They are somehow walking,
           talking, doing things, keeping themselves together, but there is no aliveness, there is no flavor of
           aliveness.
               And you are concerned, Nijanando, with what happens after death. Forget all about it. You are
           alive -- first live it totally. And remember one thing: whatsoever you do with your life now, that is
           going to create your future. Your future comes out of your present. If you live miserably now you
           will live miserably after death -- even more miserably because your whole life lived in misery will
           produce more misery for you.
               I am not concerned about life after death; my whole concern is life before death. And whatsoever
           you do with your life now will produce, as a consequence, your future. The tomorrow will be born
           out of today, the next moment will be born out of this moment. So if this moment is lived rightly,
           totally, wholly, meditatively, then the next moment is bound to be more total, more holy, more
           meditative, because life goes on accumulating. If you live blissfully, bliss accumulates. You will
           take with you when you die whatsoever you have gained in this life.
               But down the ages people have remained concerned about the other life. I also talk sometimes
           about the other life, but just to joke, to laugh at it. It is not really a concern.

              In hell, as punishment for his sins, Ayatollah Khomeini and Jimmy Carter had to walk together
           hand in hand for eternity. As they were strolling along, they came across Morarji Desai arm in arm
           with Gina Lollobrigida.
              Carter asked, "Mr. Desai, how come I am stuck for eternity with this turkey, while you get the
           gorgeous Lollobrigida?"
              Morarji Desai answered, "Jimmy, she is not my punishment -- I am hers!"

               Only for jokes I talk about hell and heaven and life after death, but it is not my concern at all; I
           am not interested. My whole interest is in my present moment. Now is my interest, here is my
           interest, because God knows only one time -- now -- and God knows only one space -- here. If you
           want to be in contact with God you will have to learn how to be now and here.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE DESIRES A "NO-NO," BUT LONGING FOR THE HEIGHTS OKAY? I GET LOST IN THE
              SUBTLETIES OF THE WORDS. THE BUDDHA MADE A SUPREME VOW NOT TO RISE FROM
              MEDITATION UNTIL ATTAINING ENLIGHTENMENT. FOR THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS HE HAD
              VISIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS, INCLUDING ONES OF HELL, DEMONS, ETCETERA. WHAT
              KIND OF EFFORT IS THIS?


               Jyotirmaya, when Buddha made that vow he was not a buddha; he was as ignorant as you are. In
           ignorance, whatsoever he has done, please forgive him. Don't take much note of it. In ignorance
           everybody goes on doing stupid things. That vow is stupid.
               Truth is not something that you can force by your willpower. Taking a vow that "I will not rise
           from meditation until attaining enlightenment" shows violence and ignorance. But Buddha was not
           Buddha at that time, he was Siddhartha Gautama -- stumbling, groping in the darkness as everybody
           else is groping. He was not in any way different from you. He had himself yet not learned the art of
           being in the middle; he was an extremist. This is extremism.
               For six years he tried hard and failed. That hard work upon himself did not yield any result; it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot. That's why when he became a buddha he was very much against hard effort, he was very
           much against extremes. He had lived through all kinds of extremes: he had lived like an ascetic,
           tortured himself. For six years he suffered as much as a human being can suffer -- but truth cannot be
           bought by your suffering. It is not a commodity and it is not possible to attain to it just by sheer force
           of willpower. You can sit for three days or three lives under a tree, and you won't attain it.
                He didn't attain it, remember. What he attained was hallucinations, visions of hell, demons,
           etcetera. That was his punishment, so beware of it.
                How he became enlightened is a totally different story. After three days, when he was tired,
           utterly tired of his effort, and he saw the frustration, the failure... those six years' continuous
           torturing himself, and no gain, no success. He had not moved even an inch nearer to truth; he was
           still where he had started. Only one thing had happened: he had become weaker because he had been
           fasting. He had become ugly; he had become just bones, all flesh had disappeared. He had become
           just a skeleton. He looked like he had come out of a grave. No gain, no success... all efforts had
           failed.
                Then one evening he saw the futility of human effort. He saw the futility of human ego --
           because all efforts are egoistic: "I will attain." The 'I' is always behind all your achievements, desires
           of achievement. The 'I' is very ambitious: it wants to be successful in this world, it wants to be
           successful in the other world. It wants to have money, it wants to have God too. It wants to have
           power; it wants to have liberation, moksha, truth, nirvana. It wants to have everything.
                Buddha saw it and in that seeing he dropped that mad effort and he dropped the very source of
           ambition. It was a full-moon night. He laughed at himself, at the whole stupidity of six years. He
           relaxed, he sat under a tree. For the first time after six years, just sitting not to achieve anything, just
           sitting, not meditating. Hence in Zen, meditation is called ZAZEN. Zazen means just sitting doing
           nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
                That evening he sat there under the tree with no desire, because all desires had failed. The
           worldly desires had failed, the otherworldly desires had failed.
                You will be surprised to know: enlightenment is not a success. Enlightenment happens only
           when you have totally failed. Enlightenment is born out of total failure -- because if you succeed, the
           ego remains. When the failure is total, absolute, irrevocable, categorical, when there is no going
           back, the ego disappears. Ego lives, feeds on success; it cannot live in failure. It leaves you.
                That evening the ego disappeared. The full moon rose. He watched the full moon, he enjoyed the
           full moon. For six years he had not seen the moon at all, he was so much preoccupied with his own
           spiritual attainment. The night was cool and beautiful. The forest was silent, and just by the side was
           flowing the river Niranjana. He enjoyed the reflection of the moon in the Niranjana. He enjoyed the
           silence. Then he fell asleep. He slept without any dreams, because all dreams are by-products of
           desires.
                In the morning when it was dawn and the birds started singing he was awakened by their songs.
           Lying under the tree, nowhere to go, nothing to do, he watched the sun rise above the horizon; the
           east becoming red and a beautiful morning and the cool breeze.... And something happened,
           something clicked. He became enlightened -- not out of six years' effort but only one night's
           effortlessness. Not out of six years' constant striving of the ego, but only one night's state of no ego,
           no desire. And in the morning he was enlightened.
                Then again he laughed. He laughed because he saw that he was always enlightened but could not
           see the fact, the truth of it, because he was so much concerned with attaining it. If you are so much
           concerned with attaining it you will not be able to see that it is already the case.
                You are all buddhas. Nobody is born otherwise, everybody is born a buddha. It is not a question
           of achieving, Jyotirmaya, remember it: buddhahood, enlightenment, is not a question of attainment.
           It is a question of becoming silent, still, egoless, desireless, so that you can see with unclouded eyes
           who you are. You are a buddha already, you ARE enlightened.
                He laughed in the night because his whole life had failed; it was ridiculous. In the morning he
           laughed because he was searching for something that was already inside his soul; there was no need
           to seek and search for it. In fact, seeking and searching was keeping him away from it.
                Seek, and ye will not find; seek not and it is yours.

           The sixth question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT POSSIBLE TO LOVE AN ITALIAN MAN WITHOUT WANTING TO KILL HIM?


               Satya Bharti, it is impossible. But remember, the moment you stop thinking of killing him, love
           will also disappear. To fall in love with an Italian in the first place is very crazy, and then this desire
           to kill him is natural. Love is a kind of fight -- Italian or not Italian. Love is a kind of fight; it is a
           struggle. And when you stop fighting, when you stop struggling, love disappears. I am not talking
           about the love of the buddhas; I am talking about the love Satya is asking about.
               And do you know who this Italian is? Sarjano, the most Italian out of all Italians!

                After the Ark had pushed off, Noah assembled all the animals in the central cabin and made a
           short speech. He pointed out that the trip was liable to be a long one, and that quarters were
           somewhat limited. "Therefore," he said, "I want to emphasize that we can't have any population
           increases at all until the flood subsides and we can get to land. I am appointing the giraffe, as the
           tallest of you, to stand guard and make sure my instructions are carried out."
                Finally the water subsided, the Ark landed and the doors were opened. Out came the animals,
           two by two, as they had come in -- no more of any species. Then the cats came out -- followed by a
           litter of little kittens. As they passed the giraffe, one of the cats looked up and winked. "I will bet,"
           he said, "you thought we were fighting."

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY?


               Ismail Nagdum, I don't believe in anything and I don't disbelieve anything. My whole effort here
           is to help you to destroy all beliefs and all disbeliefs, because only then will you be able to know.
           Knowing happens only when the inner being is utterly empty of beliefs and disbeliefs, when you are
           neither a Catholic nor a communist, neither an atheist nor a theist. And that was Buddha's attitude
           too: he was an agnostic.
               A real seeker of truth does not believe in anything, positively or negatively. He does not believe
           in God, he does not believe in no-God. So what to say about astronomy and astrology? Belief is not
           his concern; knowing, experiencing, seeing, is his concern, because it is only through seeing that
           transformation happens.
               But people go on believing all kinds of things because belief gives you a false idea of
           knowledge. It makes you feel good -- it hides your ignorance. Otherwise belief is the most stupid
           thing that one can do. Belief means you don't know and yet you believe. Remember, belief is
           irrelevant when you don't know -- and belief is irrelevant when you DO know. When you don't
           know, your belief is false, rooted in ignorance. When you know, there is no need to believe -- you
           know already.
               Do you believe in the sun, in the moon? Does anybody ask you, "Do you believe in the earth?"
           Nobody asks such questions. People ask, "Do you believe in God? Do you believe in astrology? Do
           you believe in life after death?" These questions seem to be relevant because nobody seems to know.
               I don't believe in anything. And remember, if you start believing, then there is no end to it; you
           can believe in any nonsense. Once you believe, there is no problem.

               Harry came home from work earlier than usual one afternoon. "Darling, I'm home," he cried and
           rushed upstairs to the bedroom, where he found his wife lying on the bed, a surprised look on her
           face. The curtains were drawn, the sheets and blankets were in disorder. "Is everything alright?" he
           asked.
           "Why, yes... yes, of course, dear," she replied uncertainly.
               Taking off his jacket he went to the wardrobe and to his surprise found a man crouching inside.
           "Hello, what are you doing here?" said Harry in astonishment.
           "Oh... I... I'm the gas man.... I've, er... come to check the gas meter."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Hmm, I see," said Harry and hung up his jacket.
               Then reaching under the bed for his slippers, he found another man lying there.
           "Well... and who are you?" he asked.
           "Ah, yes... well.... I'm the, er... the electrician... I've come to fix the wiring."
           "I see," said Harry. "Alright then."
               Then, taking off his tie and shirt, he remarked, "I say, dear, it is a bit dark and stuffy in here,
           don't you think?" and drawing back the curtain he saw a man perched outside on the window ledge.
           "Hello," said Harry, "and what are you doing here?"
           "Well," said the man, "if you believed those other guys -- actually, I'm waiting for a bus."

           The eighth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT REALLY BAD LUCK TO HAVE A BLACK CAT CROSS YOUR PATH?


              Narendra, it depends on whether you are a man or a mouse!

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS LAUGHING AT THE KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE?


              Govindo, what should I do? Should I cry and weep over spilt milk? If you cannot laugh at
           knowledgeable people, at whom are you going to laugh? They are the most stupid people in the
           world, the most ridiculous.

              A British couple after a few years of marriage finally had a child. As the child's hair was
           completely red and both parents' hair was brown, things looked a little suspicious. The bewildered
           wife, upset at the obvious insinuations, suggested that they both go to see a doctor.
              The doctor, after taking note of the unusual phenomenon, looked even more puzzled than the
           couple. "According to the laws of genetics," he explained, "it is impossible that a man and a woman
           with brown hair can give birth to a child with red hair." The doctor decided to make inquiries in
           another direction. "How frequently do you have sexual intercourse?" he asked.
           The answer was a British embarrassed silence.
           "Once a day?" encouraged the doctor.
           "Well, not really," was the embarrassed answer of the couple.
           "Well, once a week then?" asked the doctor.
           "Ahem, I wouldn't say that," answered the man.
           "Once a month?" probed the doctor.
           "Well, ahem, we don't -- not that often," was the reply.
           "Aha!" cried the doctor. "Now I get it! Nothing to be worried about -- it's only rust!"

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                   Chapter #3
                                   Chapter title: Buddhas only point the way
           13 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8002130
              ShortTitle: DHAM903
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              I SHALL ENDURE HARD WORDS
              AS THE ELEPHANT ENDURES THE SHAFTS OF BATTLE.
              FOR MANY PEOPLE SPEAK WILDLY.



              THE TAMED ELEPHANT GOES TO BATTLE.
              THE KING RIDES HIM.
              THE TAMED MAN IS THE MASTER.
              HE CAN ENDURE HARD WORDS IN PEACE.



              BETTER THAN A MULE
              OR THE FINE HORSES OF SINDH
              OR THE MIGHTY ELEPHANTS OF WAR
              IS THE MAN WHO HAS MASTERED HIMSELF.



              NOT ON THEIR BACKS
              CAN HE REACH THE UNTRODDEN COUNTRY,
              BUT ONLY ON HIS OWN.



              THE MIGHTY ELEPHANT DHANAPALAKA
              IS WILD WHEN HE IS IN RUT,
              AND WHEN BOUND HE WILL NOT EAT,
              REMEMBERING THE ELEPHANT GROVE.



              THE FOOL IS IDLE.
              HE EATS AND HE ROLLS IN HIS SLEEP
              LIKE A HOG IN A STY.
              AND HE HAS TO LIVE LIFE OVER AGAIN.



              MY OWN MIND USED TO WANDER
              WHEREVER PLEASURE OR DESIRE OR LUST LED IT.
              BUT NOW I HAVE IT TAMED,
              I GUIDE IT,
              AS THE KEEPER GUIDES THE WILD ELEPHANT.



              AWAKE.
              BE THE WITNESS OF YOUR THOUGHTS.
              THE ELEPHANT HAULS HIMSELF FROM THE MUD.
              IN THE SAME WAY DRAG YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR SLOTH.


               The fundamental problem is not metaphysical, it is not concerned with the ultimate reality. It is
           concerned with you, your mind, your functioning of the mind, your sleep, your state of a
           sleepwalker.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Man ordinarily exists only mechanically. He is not aware although he believes he is aware. In
           fact that belief hinders him from becoming aware. Man is fast asleep not only in the night but in the
           day too. He is constantly dreaming. You can watch it yourself. Any time close your eyes, relax a
           little and you will be surprised: dreams start moving. They were already moving like an
           undercurrent. You were occupied with outside reality, hence you were not looking at them, but they
           were there all the time. Your back was towards them. Just look a little in and you will find thousands
           of dreams crowding you: possible, impossible, consistent, inconsistent.
                When you see this state, you will understand why humanity has missed always the awakened
           ones. The awakened one has no more any undercurrent of dreaming in him. He is fully alert, aware.
           He speaks the language of awareness and you are asleep. There is no possibility of communication
           between you and the awakened one. He shouts, he makes every effort to reach you, to penetrate you,
           to penetrate your sleep and unconsciousness, but it is thick, dense and very deep. Rarely do you hear
           him, very rarely, and even when you hear him you misinterpret him. Even when you hear him you
           don't listen to him. You are like a drunk who seems to be hearing, but still goes on interpreting
           according to his drunken state. The whole humanity needs to be part of an organization like
           Alcoholics Anonymous. You may not be alcoholic, you may not be taking any intoxicant, you may
           not be taking or injecting any drug, but the society goes on injecting into your blood, into your
           being, many poisons.
                For example, each child is poisoned by the society through teaching him ambition. Ambition is a
           poison far more dangerous than any alcohol can ever be, far more dangerous than marijuana or LSD,
           because ambition destroys your whole life. It keeps you moving in a false direction. It keeps you
           imagining, desiring, dreaming, it keeps you wasting your life. Ambition means a subtle creation of
           the ego, and once the ego is created you are in the grip of darkness. And the whole social structure
           depends on ambition. Be the first! Wherever you are, whatsoever you are doing: be the first! -- as if
           being the first has something divine about it. By what means you become the first is irrelevant. By
           right means or wrong means, succeed! As if success in itself has become equivalent to life,
           synonymous with life.
                Life has nothing to do with success. Success keeps you rushing towards the future and that
           becomes your intoxicant. Hoping, hoping for the tomorrow, wasting that which you have or that
           which you don't have and will never have.

               Rabinowitz walked into Gold's theatrical agency with a puppy under his arm.
           "I got here an attraction that will make you a million dollars. I got a little puppy dog that plays an
           electric piano and sings 'My Yiddish Mama'."
           "I don't believe it," said Gold.
               Rabinowitz opened up a suitcase, pulled out a tiny piano, put the puppy at it and the dog began
           playing and singing.
               The theatrical agent leaped up and shouted, "My God! We will clean up a fortune!"
               Just then the door opened and in walked a big dog, grabbed the puppy by the neck, and ran out
           with him.
           "What the hell was that?" asked the agent.
           "That is the puppy's mother," answered Rabinowitz. "She wants him to be a doctor!"

               That is being done to every child. Your mother wants you to be a doctor, your father wants you
           to be an engineer, your uncle wants you to be a scientist and so on, so forth. And nobody asks what
           you are intrinsically meant to be. They go on imposing their ideas on you. Their ambitions have
           remained unfulfilled, they project their ambitions through you. They want their ambitions and egos
           fulfilled through you. And they are going to remain unfulfilled again; hence you will have to do the
           same damage to your own children. It is from one generation to another generation that the poison is
           passed on.
               For centuries man has lived in this mad situation. Now it has reached to a climax. The whole
           earth has become almost a madhouse.
               If Buddha was not understood twenty-five centuries ago, it will be even more difficult to
           understand him now, because the unfulfilled ambitions of twenty-five centuries are overwhelmingly
           there, they are surrounding you. You are flooded with them. All the people who have lived and died
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have left their ambitions as a heritage for you. Your eyes are blind, your ears are deaf, your hearts
           only pump the blood, they no more feel....

               The vicar was driving home one night when suddenly his car made a terrible noise and ground to
           a halt.
               Taking out his flashlight and a box of tools, he pulled up the bonnet and started to look over the
           engine.
               While he was tinkering away with a spanner in hand, the local drunk staggered by and stopped to
           ask, "Anything wrong, Vicar?"
           "Yes. Piston broke."
           "So am I," replied the drunk.

              You are not in your senses. Hence buddhas have been misunderstood, and to understand them
           has become more and more difficult. Keep it in your mind when you meditate on these beautiful
           words -- simple words, because buddhas have always used simple words, but with tremendous
           meaning.
           The Buddha says:

              I SHALL ENDURE HARD WORDS
              AS THE ELEPHANT ENDURES THE SHAFTS OF BATTLE.
              FOR MANY PEOPLE SPEAK WILDLY.


               I SHALL ENDURE HARD WORDS.... Buddha expects that that is going to be his reward. He
           will shower you with his love and compassion and all that you can do is insult him, throw hard
           words or stones at him. All that you can do is some kind of harm. You are going to hurt him. Hence
           he says in the beginning: I SHALL ENDURE HARD WORDS. He expects that, and every buddha
           has expected that down the ages.

               Once a disciple of Buddha was going to preach his word to the masses. He had become
           enlightened, and Buddha said, "Now you are ready to go, you need not accompany me any longer.
           Once in a while you can come to see me; otherwise you can help people on your own. Go and help
           people to become more aware, more meditative."
               But he said also, "One thing I would like to ask: What part of the country would you like to go
           to?" There was a part of Bihar, where Buddha lived, where no sannyasin of Buddha's had ever gone.
           The name of the part was Suka. This newly enlightened sannyasin said, "I will go to Suka."
               Buddha said, "Please don't go there. Nobody has gone there yet for a certain reason. The people
           there are very wild, uncultured, stupid, mischievous, murderous, very violent. Don't go there."
               But the disciple said, "If they are in such a bad situation they need us more than anybody else.
           The physician is needed only where people are ill."
               Buddha said, "That I can understand, but before you go, before I bless you to go, I will ask three
           questions. First: If they insult you, what will be your response?"
               The young man said, "I will thank them, I will feel grateful that they are only insulting me. They
           could have beaten me. They are good people. They are not beating me; they are simply insulting me
           -- and what can words do? Words are words, they can't hurt me."
               Buddha said, "The second question: If they beat you, what will be your response?"
               The young man said, "I will thank them, I will feel grateful that they are beating me. They could
           have killed me. They are only beating me -- they are so compassionate, so kind. It would have been
           so easy for them to kill me."
               Buddha said, "Now, the last question. If they kill you, dying, in the last moments, what will be
           your response?"
               The young man said, "Still I will be grateful and thankful to them because they are taking a life
           away from me in which I may have done something wrong. If I had lived more I may have
           committed some crime, some sin; I may have fallen from my peak of awareness. They are simply
           taking that life which is useless to me. I have attained the treasure, I don't need life anymore. They
           are taking something useless away from me and I will be grateful because, who knows, if I had lived
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more, in some situation I may have gone astray."
               Buddha said, "Now you can go anywhere you like with my blessings. You have not only become
           enlightened, you have become capable of being a master."

               Remember it, that every enlightened person is not a master, although every master has to be
           enlightened. Many enlightened people have lived on the earth without ever becoming masters for the
           simple reason that to be a master needs certain qualities which are not necessary for being
           enlightened. Enlightenment is an individual process; it is something inward, subjective, it can
           happen within you. To be a master means the capacity to communicate, and not only to communicate
           but to commune with others, others who are almost mad, others who are almost incapable of seeing
           things.

               Keller paid a lot of money for Buck, a golden retriever. One morning Keller went duck hunting
           with Buck. Within ten minutes he shot a duck that fell into a pond.
               Buck ran over the surface of the water, picked up the duck, returned running over the top of the
           water, and laid it at the feet of his master.
               The rest of the morning every bird that fell into the pond when shot was retrieved by Buck
           running over the top of the water without even wetting his feet.
               Around noontime Keller met a fisherman. While they chatted a duck flew by and Keller quickly
           sent it hurtling down into the middle of the pond.
               Once again, Buck ran out over the top of the water, retrieved the duck, and brought it back.
           "I just bought this dog yesterday and he cost me a lot of dough," said Keller.
           "Well, they pulled a fast one on you," said the fisherman. "The dog can't even swim!"

               To communicate, to commune about the unknown, about the invisible, about the mysterious, is
           one of the greatest of arts. To help people to see that which they have never seen before although it is
           always around the corner, to help people to hear that which they have never heard before although it
           has been always there, to help people to be silent, to be meditative, is one of the most difficult arts
           because people are mad. They don't know what silence is. To wake them up out of their sleep is
           almost a miracle.

               A deaf man was visiting his friend and the dog of the friend barked at him like mad. Being
           unable to hear anything, he said to his friend after they had exchanged greetings, "Your dog did not
           sleep well last night."
           "Why do you say that?"
           "He looked at me and kept yawning."

               A deaf man can't hear, he can't hear the dog barking; he can only see the movement, the gesture,
           the lips moving, the mouth opening and closing, and he will interpret it according to his own
           understanding. He says, "He looked at me and kept yawning."
               That's how we have listened to the buddhas. We have not listened at all, we have heard their
           words, certainly. If we had listened to them there would have been no need for us to crucify Jesus or
           poison Socrates or kill al-Hillaj Mansoor.
               Buddha says -- the first thing to remember: I SHALL ENDURE HARD WORDS AS THE
           ELEPHANT ENDURES THE SHAFTS OF BATTLE. It is a battle between the awakened one and
           the unawakened crowd. It is really a great battle, it is a war, and the unawakened are many and the
           awakened is one. And all the unawakened feel a certain humiliation in the presence of the awakened.
           They feel as if his presence proves to them that they have not risen to their real heights, that they
           have wasted their lives. Rather than rising to their heights they would like to remove the presence of
           the awakened one so that they can feel at ease. You always feel at ease with people who are just like
           you; their presence does not in any way make you feel inferior. The presence of a Buddha makes you
           feel inferior and you are bound to take revenge. It is a battle, and a buddha has to be like an elephant
           who endures the shafts in a battle.
               FOR MANY PEOPLE SPEAK WILDLY.... Not only will their words be hard, they will be
           almost wild, mad. I know it from my own experience.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                For twenty years I was traveling around this country. I have encountered all kinds of wild people.
           It was necessary to invite them, it was necessary to choose my people from the crowds, hence I had
           to go. But the way they were behaving was really strange. I was not harming them; I was simply
           telling them to wake up in a thousand and one ways, but they were throwing stones at me, they were
           disturbing my meetings, they were preventing me from entering their towns. They were preventing
           me from getting down from the train in their towns. They were doing all kinds of things... they were
           really wild for no reason at all.
                They are still doing it, although I don't go to their towns; although I never move anywhere now,
           they are still behaving in a wild way. Strange things they go on saying -- and not only saying, but
           believing. And now it is not only in India that they are saying hard words about me, it is almost all
           over the world.
                Just yesterday I received an article published in London. They say that I brainwash people here
           and when their brains are washed away completely, then the men are sent for smuggling jobs and the
           women are sent for prostitution. That's what I am doing to you, so beware! Once your brain is
           washed completely these two alternatives are left. And the man who writes it, writes it with great
           confidence as if he knows.
                Just the other day I received a news from Bombay. A sannyasin has come across a few
           photographs in a studio. The sannyasin could see in the pictures somebody who looks like me. At the
           first glance he was shocked; when he looked closely then he could see that it was somebody else, but
           with some similarity. Now, they have bribed this man to be naked among naked women, and they
           have taken his pictures, and now they are going to publish them all over the world. Great idea! I
           really loved it. Some imagination.
                But this is how they have been doing always. And I am not saying that they do it knowingly. No,
           they may be thinking that they are serving humanity, they are making people aware of the danger
           that I am. They may have every good intention behind all these things; that makes it more complex.
           They are simply servants of humanity.
           Buddha says: FOR MANY PEOPLE SPEAK WILDLY.
                So if you want to live in this world and be awakened you will have to be ready to accept their
           hard words, their wild actions patiently, silently, with a deep understanding that what can they do?
           Whatsoever they can do they are doing. It is not their fault, they are simply asleep, and in their sleep
           they are saying absurd things.
                When somebody is drunk and starts saying absurd things you don't take much note of it. You say,
           "He is a drunkard" -- but that's how people are.

              THE TAMED ELEPHANT GOES TO BATTLE.
              THE KING RIDES HIM.
              THE TAMED MAN IS THE MASTER.
              HE CAN ENDURE HARD WORDS IN PEACE.


               THE TAMED ELEPHANT GOES TO BATTLE.... By "tamed elephant" Buddha means "the
           disciplined one." The words 'tamed elephant' are not very accurate; it will be better to say "the
           disciplined one." There is a great difference between taming and discipline. You can tame through
           force, coercion, violence, but you cannot discipline through coercion. Discipline comes out of
           understanding. You can help people to understand their own minds and the functioning of their
           minds, the state of their sleep, mechanicalness. Out of that understanding a change happens, a radical
           change happens: they become soft, compassionate, silent, peaceful, more understanding, more
           available, more open.
              THE TAMED ELEPHANT GOES TO BATTLE. THE KING RIDES HIM. THE TAMED MAN IS THE
              MASTER. HE CAN ENDURE HARD WORDS IN PEACE.

              The disciplined man also becomes a master, also becomes a king. He rides on his own discipline,
           on his own understanding. He lives in the world with wild people, uncultured, uneducated in the real
           sense of education: they don't know who they are. That should be the first step for a right education.
           They are not acquainted with their own interiority. What kind of education is this that does not make
           them aware of their inner kingdom, that goes on stuffing them with nonsense, useless information? --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           geography, history... what are you going to do with Genghis Khan and Tamerlane? What is the point
           of it all?
                But we go on stuffing people with unnecessary information. What is the point of knowing where
           Timbuktu is? Let it be where it is. Even if it is not anywhere, it doesn't matter. And histories of
           murderers called kings, murderers called great conquerors, Alexander the Great or Napoleon.... And
           in future people will be reading about Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong,
           Ayatollah Khomeiniac. It is all absolutely irrelevant.
                The basic education is missing. The first thing to be taught is meditation, the art of going in,
           because only out of that arises a discipline. The word 'discipline' is beautiful; it means the capacity to
           learn. A disciplined man is always ready to learn more. He is never closed, he never claims that he
           knows everything. He knows what he knows, and he also knows what he does not know -- and what
           he knows is very small, and what he does not know is immense. He cannot brag about his
           knowledge. In fact the more he knows the more he becomes aware of the uncharted, of the
           unmapped, of the unknown; and not only of the unknown but the unknowable. The more and more
           he feels the mystery of existence, the more and more he wonders. That is true knowledge, true
           education, true culture.
                Then a man becomes a master, a king; only then can he make an effort to reach people. Only then
           can he communicate his love, his understanding, his knowing, his seeing.

              BETTER THAN A MULE
              OR THE FINE HORSES OF SINDH
              OR MIGHTY ELEPHANTS OF WAR
              IS THE MAN WHO HAS MASTERED HIMSELF.


                Buddha is not concerned with God, Buddha is concerned with you. His religion is man-oriented,
           not God-oriented. One of the great poets of India, Chandidas, has condensed Buddha's whole
           teaching into a simple sentence: SABAR UPAR MANUS SATYA -- the truth of man is the highest
           truth, there is no truth higher than it -- TAHAR UPAR NAHIN; there is nothing higher than that.
                Buddha has given man such dignity as nobody else has ever done. All other religions condemn
           man, they condemn man in order to praise God; and their "God" is nothing but their imagination.
           Hence there are as many gods as there are religions. There are at least three hundred religions in the
           world, three thousand sects of those religions, and there must be thirty thousand subsects. And there
           are as many gods as there are sects in the world. Every sect has its own idea of god, and God does
           not exist at all.
                What exists is a godly existence, a divine existence. God not as a person but as a presence
           certainly exists. But to understand that presence, you have to understand your own inner presence
           first, because it is from there that you can take off, it is from there that you can have the first glimpse
           of what godliness is. If you have not known yourself you will never know God.
                You can go on worshipping in the temples, in the mosques, in the churches, but your God is
           childish. Compared to Buddha's teachings the gods that are worshipped look very stupid. The
           worshippers look stupid, and their gods, because they are created by the stupid worshippers, also
           look silly. Your gods are nothing but your projections; they can't be more than your own state of
           mind. Just watch. Different gods are created by different people. If horses could think of a religion,
           then their god must be a supreme horse. It can't be man, that much is certain. No horse can believe
           that man has any divinity in him. Man seems to be the most barbarious animal. If horses were to
           imagine, they would imagine the Devil in the shape of man. Man imagines God in his own image;
           hence Negroes have their god like Negroes. You can see the hair of the Negro gods, they are
           Negroid; you can see the lips of the Negro gods and they are thick. Hindu gods are Hindu, and
           Chinese gods are Chinese, the cheek bones showing prominently and the noses of course Chinese.
                Every country, every race, every religion thinks of God according to its own idea of how man
           should be. But those are all our projections. Buddha is not concerned at all with them. Buddha wants
           YOU to become a god. He wants you to become divine. You are divine; he wants you to recognize
           the fact. There is nobody higher than you. This declaration is something superb, something unique.
           Nobody had dared before Buddha to respect man so much.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Father O'Reilly had taken up golf and was practicing on the church lawn while Sister McCarthy
           looked on. Father O'Reilly raised his club, and swung at the ball.
           "Oh, shit! I missed," he shouted.
           "Father O'Reilly," admonished Sister McCarthy, "God will be very angry if you use such language."
           "Yes, Sister," answered Father O'Reilly. "I shall try to control my tongue." He raised his club for
           another try and swung at the ball. "Oh, shit! I missed," he shouted.
           "Father O'Reilly, I am sure God will punish you severely if you say that again!" said the Sister.
           "Yes, I will try especially hard next time, Sister McCarthy," said the priest. He raised his club again
           and swung at the ball. "Oh, shit! I missed," he shouted.
              Just then a bolt of lightning flashed out of the sky and Sister McCarthy disappeared in a
           holocaust of flames. Then a great voice boomed from the sky. "Oh, shit! I missed."

               Our gods can't be very different; they are our gods, they will reflect us. Hence Buddha says: Get
           rid of all gods. What you are worshipping in the temples is nothing but your own image. It will be
           better if you keep a mirror and worship your reflection in it. That will be far better, at least far truer,
           less deceptive.
               Buddha's emphasis is on man. It is the only man-oriented religion in the world. And of course it
           transforms man, it does not make you superstitious, it does not give you any belief. It gives you a
           key to open the doors of your own being. And when you know who you are, you will know what this
           whole existence is and its beauty and its grace and its splendor.

              NOT ON THEIR BACKS
              CAN HE REACH THE UNTRODDEN COUNTRY,
              BUT ONLY ON HIS OWN.


               Remember, you cannot reach to the untrodden country on anybody else's back. You will have to
           reach on your own. The last words of Buddha were: Be a light unto yourself -- because there is no
           other light.
               He gives you total freedom, he wants you to be free from all kinds of bondages. He does not
           want you to be a follower, an imitator; he wants you to be authentically your own self.

              THE MIGHTY ELEPHANT DHANAPALAKA
              IS WILD WHEN HE IS IN RUT,
              AND WHEN BOUND HE WILL NOT EAT,
              REMEMBERING THE ELEPHANT GROVE.


                Even though it is a mythological elephant, Dhanapalaka is said to be the greatest elephant who
           has ever been on the earth, the wisest elephant. It is just a beautiful story. But even Dhanapalaka
           with such might, with such wisdom, goes wild when he is in rut; when he is sexually aroused he is
           no more in his senses, he becomes mad.
                Sex is really an internal process of intoxicating you. It is chemical. You have nothing to do with
           it. It is your body chemistry, it is your physiology that releases certain chemicals in your body and
           then in a sexual state you can do something for which you will repent. Later on you will say, "I
           cannot believe how it happened. It happened in spite of me." And it is not only sex; so many things
           are happening in you through your physiology. When you are angry, it is not you. Again certain
           poisons are released in your blood and you are under the impact of those poisons.
                Buddha says: If you start watching the processes of sexuality, anger, greed, you will be able to
           see that it is not out of you that these things are born. You are only a witness. These things are born
           in your body, in your mind; and body and mind are not two things, they are one. You are
           psychosomatic. The mind is your inner body, and the body is your outer mind. Hence the body
           affects the mind and the mind affects the body. You are a third force.
                That third force is known only through meditation; there is no other way to know it, because it is
           through meditation that you become disidentified with the bodymind mechanism. Otherwise you can
           be very mighty, very knowledgeable, even sometimes in some moments very wise, but all that can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go in a second. Your body can possess you, your physiology can become so powerful over you that
           you become a slave. You lose your mastery. Whenever you are angry, whenever you are in a sexual
           arousal, you are no more a master, you are simply a slave.
               Buddha is not against sex, remember. Buddha is not against anger or greed, he is against slavery.
           And anything that creates slavery in you, he would like you to transcend it. Remember the
           difference. There are people who are against sex -- they are against sex because sex is hedonistic,
           they say; they are against sex because sex makes you happy. They are against happiness. They can't
           tolerate any happiness anywhere. They are sadists, they would like the whole world to be in
           suffering; they enjoy suffering. They not only want others to suffer, they make themselves suffer too.
           Suffering is their joy. That is a perverted state, a pathological state.
               Buddha is not against sex because it gives you pleasure; he is simply trying to make you aware
           of the fact that these are the things that keep you tethered into a kind of inner slavery. You are a
           slave of your own chemistry, you are a slave of your own physiology -- and this slavery has to be
           transcended.
               THE MIGHTY ELEPHANT DHANAPALAKA IS WILD WHEN HE IS IN RUT, AND WHEN
           BOUND HE WILL NOT EAT, REMEMBERING THE ELEPHANT GROVE. When he is under the
           impact of his sexuality he cannot eat; he thinks only of the elephant grove, he thinks of female
           elephants. His whole mind is possessed by fantasy -- and that's true about you too. Whenever you are
           under the impact of any chemical process you are no more yourself, you are distracted from your
           true being. You are no longer centered. You become eccentric. That's exactly the meaning of the
           word eccentric: you lose your center, you go off center.

              THE FOOL IS IDLE.
              HE EATS AND HE ROLLS IN HIS SLEEP
              LIKE A HOG IN A STY.
              AND HE HAS TO LIVE LIFE OVER AGAIN.


                Buddha wants you to be reminded that if you live like a fool -- idle, lazy, without making any
           effort to transform your being, without making any effort to transcend your slavery, without making
           any effort to become a master -- if you live like a fool, just eating and rolling in your sleep, LIKE A
           HOG IN A STY, you will have to live again and again the same stupid life. You will have to repeat
           it. In fact you have already repeated it many times, and you have not yet understood why you are
           repeating it again and again. You have to learn the lesson. The lesson is freedom. If you don't learn it
           you will be sent back to the same school, to the same grade again and again.
                That is one of the greatest contributions of Indian spirituality to the world. India has contributed
           a few things; this is one of the contributions of great significance. The idea is that existence is an
           opportunity for understanding, for transcending, for going through a radical change. It is a school.
           Life is a school. If you learn rightly, if you discipline yourself rightly you will not be coming back
           again, you will exist in the universal. You will never become again a separate individual; you will
           never have to be an ego again. You will live an egoless existence, like the wave which has
           disappeared in the ocean.
                That has been the ultimate goal of the mystics: to disappear into the universal, not to be separate;
           to melt and merge into the universal. Separation brings anxiety, separation brings death, separation
           brings misery. We are miserable because we are feeling separate from God or the universe. Bliss
           arises whenever you feel one with the universe; when you are in harmony with the universe bliss
           arises. There is great joy, rejoicing; you disappear, you die in a way, but you are reborn. You are
           reborn as the ocean, you die as the dewdrop.
                But if you don't learn the lesson you will have to come back again. Unless you learn you will
           have to repeat the same process.

               David, a student of a university, received a telephone call from his brother Blake, back home.
           "Hi, David," said Blake. "Your cat is dead."
               David fell apart. He began crying uncontrollably. When finally he was able to compose himself,
           he scolded his brother.
           "Damn it, Blake," he told him. "You know how I loved that cat. You did not have to call me and just
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spill it out, first thing -- 'Your cat is dead.' You should have broken it to me gently. You could have
           said, 'Dave, the cat got out of the window the other day and crawled up the rainspout and got up on
           the roof and slipped and fell,' and then you could have said it died."
           "I am sorry," apologized Blake.
           "Okay, forget it," said David. "How is Mom?"
           "Well, Mom got out the window the other day and crawled up the rainspout...."

               It is so difficult to learn, we go on repeating the same mistake again and again -- maybe in a new
           way, in a new fashion, in a new style, but it is the same mistake. You watch your life: you have not
           done many mistakes, you have been doing the same mistakes again and again. You move in a circle.
           How are you going to learn? I am not against making mistakes. Make as many mistakes as you can,
           but please at least don't make the same mistake twice. Then certainly there will come a great
           understanding to you. One learns through mistakes, so nothing is wrong in mistakes as such. The
           wrongness is in repeating them again and again. That means you are not learning anything.
               Your whole life you have been angry. What have you learned out of it? Your whole life you have
           been jealous. What have you learned out of it? If you are not learning out of these experiences, you
           will have to repeat your life again. Learn out of every experience, small or big. Whenever you are
           jealous you are in a fire, your heart burns -- and you know what you are doing to yourself. You know
           the wrongness of it, but you know it only because others say so. It is not your own understanding,
           your own insight. Let it become your own insight, so the next time the situation arises to be jealous
           you can laugh at it, so the next time the same situation arises you don't behave in the same old
           pattern; you can get out of the old pattern.
               To me this is sannyas: getting always out of the old patterns, becoming always new, remaining
           always fresh, young, learning. Then your whole life will teach you something of tremendous value
           and you will be able to die in deep silence, peace, joy. Then there is no coming back. Then you
           become part of the whole. That is nirvana, that is moksha.
               In Western religions there is no word which can translate moksha or nirvana. In Western
           religions -- Christianity, Islam, are offshoots of one religion, Judaism -- there are two words, hell and
           heaven. In Indian religions there are three words: hell, heaven and moksha. Hell means nothing but
           misery; it is a psychological state of misery, a state of negativity, a state of darkness, of utter
           loneliness. And heaven is joy, happiness, health, light. But there is a third word, moksha. Moksha
           means freedom, freedom from both heaven and hell, freedom from pain and pleasure -- because pain
           binds you as much as pleasure binds you. Pain may be an ugly chain and pleasure may be a beautiful
           chain, decorated, maybe made of gold, but it chains you. Hell may be a poor place and heaven may
           be a very rich place but poverty and riches are two aspects of the same coin. One has to be free of
           both.
               When you are free of both, you are free of mind, because mind lives in the duality of heaven and
           hell, of darkness and light, of misery and happiness, of day and night, of life and death. When you
           have transcended both and reached to the third which is beyond, which is transcendental, it is
           moksha. Moksha means nirvana; it is cessation of the ego, and meeting and merging into the
           universal. That has been the goal of the Eastern mystic.
               Just as science has reached its ultimate peaks in the West, religion has reached its ultimate peaks
           in the East. Whenever East and West will meet there will be a great meeting of science and religion.
           And that is going to be one of the greatest moments in the history of humanity, because then man can
           live outwardly a rich life and inwardly a full life. Then there is no need to be as poor as India is or to
           be as empty inwardly as America is. One can be rich outside, and one can be rich on the inside
           simultaneously.
              THE FOOL IS IDLE. HE EATS AND HE ROLLS IN HIS SLEEP LIKE A HOG IN A STY. AND HE HAS
              TO LIVE LIFE OVER AGAIN.


              An elderly German sat before the fire and in a reflective moment spoke to his dog, "You is only a
           dog, but I wish I was you. Wen you go your bed in, you shust turn round dree times and lie down;
           wen I go de bed in, I haf to lock up de place, and wind up de clock, and put out de cat, and undress
           myself, and my wife wakes up and scolds, and den de baby wakes and cries and I haf to walk him de
           house around, and den maybe I get myself to bed in time to get up again.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Wen you get up, you shust stretch yourself, dig your neck a little, and you was up. I have to light de
           fire, put on de kiddle, scrap some vit my wife, and get myself breakfast. You be lays round all day
           and haf blenty of fun. I haf to work all day and haf blenty of drubble. Wen you die, you was dead;
           wen I die, I haf to go somewhere again."

               You need not if you learn; if you learn the lesson you need not go anywhere again. You
           disappear into the whole, you are everywhere and nowhere then. You are no more an entity, confined
           into boundaries.

              MY OWN MIND USED TO WANDER
              WHEREVER PLEASURE OR DESIRE OR LUST LED IT.
              BUT NOW I HAVE IT TAMED,
              I GUIDE IT,
              AS THE KEEPER GUIDES THE WILD ELEPHANT.


               This also is something new in Buddha. Christians believe Jesus is special; he is the only begotten
           Son of God. Hindus believe Krishna is special; he is the perfect incarnation of God. Mohammedans
           believe Mohammed is special; he is the only prophet of God, the only messenger. Jainas believe
           Mahavira is special; he is the last, the twenty-fourth TIRTHANKARA, the last prophet of Jainism;
           there will be no more prophets after Mahavira. Unique they are, these people, special, not just
           ordinary human beings like you and me.
               Buddha is different again. He says, "I am an ordinary human being." He says, MY OWN MIND
           USED TO WANDER.
               Gospels never say anything like that, no Hindu scriptures will ever say anything like that about
           Krishna or Rama because that will make them ordinary like you. They are born gods.
               Buddha simply says, "I was a human being just like you. I was groping in darkness just like you.
           I was doing all kinds of things as you are doing; I am in no way special. All that happened to me is
           happening to you and something more has happened to me which can happen to you if you allow it
           to happen. I was as ordinary as you are; just only one thing has happened to me which has made all
           the difference. I have become aware and you are unaware. You are carrying the truth in you as much
           as I am. I am aware of it; you are not aware of it.
           "But remember, whether you know the truth or you don't know, it makes no difference to the truth.
           The truth remains true. Knowing or not knowing does not make any difference. Truth is truth. It is
           behind you," Buddha says, "it is in front of me. I have turned in; I have taken the
           hundred-eighty-degree turn, that's all. It is not much to brag about. You can do it."
               This is again very special about Buddha. He never claims that he is unique; hence he is of more
           help to humanity than anybody else. Because he says: I was just like you.... MY MIND USED TO
           WANDER WHEREVER PLEASURE OR DESIRE OR LUST LED IT.
               He does not deny that there was lust in him from the very beginning. He does not deny that there
           was desire, he does not say that he was born pure. He simply says, "I was as much after pleasure -- I
           was as much full of desire as you are, and I was as much full of lust as you are. So nothing is wrong
           in lust, in desire, in pleasure; if anything is wrong it is in your unawareness. Be aware; and lust
           disappears, and desire disappears and the constant greed for pleasure disappears."
               When you become aware, you are so at ease, so full of bliss, who bothers about pleasure? When
           you have diamonds who cares about pebbles? When you have inexhaustible sources of inner bliss
           who goes on begging for small pleasures, ugly pleasures? -- they simply disappear.
               Buddha says: BUT NOW I HAVE IT TAMED, I have disciplined my mind, I have meditated, I
           have gone into the functioning of the mind, I have seen it through and through. Now I have become
           the master. Seeing it I have become the master. Knowing it I have become the master. Understanding
           makes you the master. Now I GUIDE IT, AS THE KEEPER GUIDES THE WILD ELEPHANT.
               So don't feel guilty -- that is Buddha's message -- don't feel guilty for your greed, don't feel guilty
           for your anger, don't feel guilty for your lust. All that you need to do is become aware of your greed,
           become aware of your lust, become aware of your desire, and see the miracle happen. Just as you
           bring light in the room and darkness disappears, exactly like that, precisely like that, as you bring
           awareness in all desire, all greed, all anger, all lust simply disappears as if it has never been there.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Don't try to escape, don't try to renounce, because if you renounce you are simply renouncing the
           opportunity.
              A man escapes from his wife, goes to the Himalayas or moves to a monastery.... There are
           monasteries where no woman has been ever allowed in; there are monasteries where once you go in,
           you are not allowed to go out again your whole life. Now, this is not a transformation, this is simply
           escaping from the opportunity.

               Dick brought Sally to his bed. "What would you like to do?" he asked.
           "I would like to see today's newspaper," she said.
           "Sure," said Dick, "I will send my dog for it. He is so smart he will even bring back the change."
           Dick gave the dog ten dollars and sent him for the paper. In an hour when the dog didn't return, Dick
           and Sally went out looking for him. They found the dog making it with a French poodle.
           "Did he ever do this before?" asked Sally.
           "No," said Dick, "this is the first time he ever had any money."

               Opportunity.... You can escape from the opportunity, that will not change your being. Outwardly
           you will become a monk; inwardly you will remain the same person. Outwardly you will become a
           nun; inwardly you will remain the same person. And the real question is of your inner consciousness,
           not of your outer circumstances. The mind is not bad if it is used as a mechanism and you are the
           master. The mind is beautiful as a servant. When it becomes the master then it is ugly. Let
           consciousness be the master, the guide, and let the mind be like an elephant tamed, disciplined. How
           can you do it?
           Buddha says:

              AWAKE.
              BE THE WITNESS OF YOUR THOUGHTS.


              In these simple words he has given to the world the greatest meditation: vipassana. More people
           have become enlightened through vipassana than through any other method. There are thousands of
           methods but vipassana seems to be the easiest, the most perfect, and very natural. It does not demand
           any unnaturalness from you.

               Reverend Johnson, an old black preacher, was warning his parishioners about sin.
           "Sin," he said, "is like a big dog. There is the big dog of pride, and the big dog of envy, and the big
           dog of gluttony, and finally there is the big dog of sex. Now, folks, you gotta kill those big dogs
           before you are ever gonna get to heaven. It can be done -- I know -- because I've done it. I killed the
           big dog of envy, and the big dog of pride, and the big dog of gluttony -- and yes, brethren, I killed
           the big dog of sex!"
           "Brother!" came a voice from the back of the church, "Are you sure that last dog didn't die a natural
           death?"

                You cannot kill these dogs. Either they die a natural death -- but that does not bring any
           transformation to you -- or you have to become masters. There is no need to kill... Buddha will not
           suggest you kill anything. Why kill anything? If you kill anger you will never be compassionate in
           your life, because it is anger, and the energy involved in anger, which becomes compassion. If you
           kill sex you will be simply impotent, that's all; you will not attain to love. It is sex transformed that
           creates love energy. Love energy is confined to sex. When you bring awareness to it, sex disappears
           but love energy is released. Anger disappears but compassion is released. Greed disappears and
           sharing comes in its place.
                It is not a question of killing; these are energies. Don't be such a fool as to kill anything, because
           if you kill it you will miss something very essential in your life. Transform. Religion has to be the
           real alchemy, the science of transformation. It is not murderous.
                But the stupid religious people go on murdering, destroying. They are destructive,
           self-destructive. Hence even if they drop their anger they don't become graceful, they don't attain to
           creativity, they don't contribute to the world and its beauty. They are burdensome, they are not in any
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           way a help. They are a hindrance in the progress of humanity. Buddha will not suggest to you to kill
           anything. He says: Just be awake. BE THE WITNESS OF YOUR THOUGHTS.
                Anger is a thought, sex is a thought. Just watch, be alert, let them move on the screen -- anger,
           greed, lust -- and you remain aloof, cool, just a witness. In the beginning it is very difficult, but only
           in the beginning. If you persist then within three to nine months you will be able to do the
           impossible.
                One day it happens that your witness has become so perfect that the screen remains empty,
           nothing passes -- no thought, no desire. That day you have attained to the first state of samadhi, the
           first satori. And the first satori is the beginning; it triggers many satoris in you, culminating
           ultimately into samadhi, into nirvana.
                When the mind becomes just a pure mechanism... when you want to use it, you use it, when you
           don't want to use it, it remains silent.

              THE ELEPHANT HAULS HIMSELF FROM THE MUD.
              IN THE SAME WAY DRAG YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR SLOTH.


               Buddha insists again: nobody can pull you out of your mud, nobody can help you. So don't
           believe that Jesus will come and everything will be solved. Jesus has been before and nothing has
           been solved. Don't believe in salvation through somebody; no messiah can help you. Buddhas only
           point the way. You have to do everything on your own. Nobody can do it for you. I cannot see for
           you, I cannot hear for you; you have to do it on your own.
               There are a few things which cannot be done by anybody else for you, on your behalf, and those
           are the most precious things which only you can do. Awareness is one of those most precious things.
               Buddha says: THE ELEPHANT HAULS HIMSELF FROM THE MUD. Just like that, IN THE
           SAME WAY DRAG YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR SLOTH.
               By awareness Buddha does not mean presence of mind. Many people misunderstand. Whenever
           Buddha uses the words 'awake', 'awareness', people think he is talking about presence of mind.
           Presence of mind is presence of mind; awareness has nothing to do with the mind. Awareness is
           something beyond the mind.
               Presence of mind is very ordinary. In any danger it comes to you. If somebody is going to shoot
           you, you will have presence of mind in that moment. If a tiger suddenly jumps in front of you, you
           will have presence of mind; you will do something which you have never done before.

              Frank and Gene were tossing down a few brews at the neighborhood pub.
           "Boy, did I have a close call with Angie last night," said Frank.
           "What happened?" asked Gene.
           "Well, I got home real late, so I took off my shoes, climbed the stairs, opened the door of the
           bedroom, tiptoed in, and closed the door without making any noise. Just as I am about to get into
           bed, the wife wakes up and says, 'Is that you, Toto?'"
           "What did you do?"
           "For once in my life I really used my head," said Frank. "I licked her hand."

               This is presence of mind. She is thinking he is the dog, Toto. But presence of mind is not
           awareness; it is a small phenomenon, a tiny thing. Mind can do it.
               Awareness is something beyond the mind. You have to watch the mind, you have to watch the
           presence of mind as much as absence of mind. You have to watch both, you have to go beyond both.
           It comes, it certainly comes, and when it comes it takes all that is your misery, your ego, your
           insensitivity, your cruelty. It takes all mud from you... and out of that mud arises the lotus, the
           one-thousand-petaled lotus of samadhi in you.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                    Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: Freedom is something inner
           14 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002140
              ShortTitle: DHAM904
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THIS MORNING WHEN YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT WAKING UP AND RISING FROM SLOTH, I
              FELT SO STUPID -- AND I THINK I AM GETTING STUPIDER AND STUPIDER! WHAT TO DO... IS
              IT ENOUGH TO JUST BE HERE WITH YOU? I FEEL VERY HOPELESS. AND IT MAKES ME SAD.


               Krishna Gopa, it is a good sign that you feel that you are becoming stupider and stupider. That
           simply means the borrowed knowledge is disappearing, hence the feeling. You are unlearning
           whatsoever you had learned up to now. Unlearning is the basic process of becoming innocent again.
               But don't call it becoming stupid; don't use that word -- that is condemnatory. And then one starts
           feeling sad. You are becoming more innocent. You are becoming more and more unburdened from
           unnecessary knowledge, information. You are becoming more natural, more like a child, more full of
           wonder. And if you call it being stupid you will miss the whole point.
               Your mind can call it stupid because the mind is losing its ground. The mind is dying, and the
           mind is bound to make all possible efforts to save itself, to survive. And the first step is to condemn
           the state of not-knowing that is growing in you. Every meditator comes across it and every meditator
           finds that mind condemns it. It is against the mind; you are becoming a no-mind. And who wants to
           die? The mind does not want to die; it wants to keep its possession of you. Hence the condemnation.
           Beware of it.
               Let the knowledge disappear. Don't be worried at all because that knowledge has not given you
           anything. In the first place, borrowed knowledge creates only bondage, not freedom. It burdens you;
           it does not give you wings. It does not make you light, it makes you heavy. It makes you hard, it
           makes you more and more mechanical, because through the thick wall of knowledge you cannot see
           the mysterious surrounding you. And the moment you don't see the mysterious you are almost dead.
               Life is in harmony with the mysterious. Life is in being full of wonder. Life is knowing the art of
           wondering, of being in awe. The knowledgeable person is a poor person, very poor, utterly
           impoverished -- and he himself is responsible. He thinks he is very rich because he knows about
           roses, although he has not seen a single rose. He knows all about love, although he has never loved
           himself. He knows about God, but to know about God is not to know God. To know about light is
           not to know light.
               A blind man can know all there is to know about light, but he will still remain blind. He will not
           experience the joy that light brings, that the morning brings, that the sunrise brings. He will not see
           the colors of the rainbow, of the flowers, of the butterflies. He will remain utterly oblivious of the
           world of light and color. He is blind! He knows about... but knowing about light is of no use if you
           are blind. And if you have eyes, whether you know about light or not, it makes no difference at all.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Even without knowing light you experience it -- and that is TRUE knowing. Knowledge is not true
           knowing, it is not wisdom. Knowledge comes through information; wisdom comes through
           experience.
                Gopa, don't condemn your innocent state that is growing in you. Don't call it stupid. That is mind
           playing a trick upon you; it always plays the trick. In the old scriptures, the same mind is called the
           Devil; there is no other Devil. It is the mind that tempts you to go wrong because the mind can exist
           only when you are wrong. The mind is not needed at all when you are moving towards truth, when
           you are right. When you are on the right track, mind has no utility; it simply loses its power over
           you. And that's what is happening.
                You say, "This morning when you were talking about waking up and rising from sloth, I felt so
           stupid -- and I think I am getting stupider and stupider!"
                You are blessed. Go on becoming more and more stupid -- stupid in the sense of innocent.
                Jesus was called a fool. Saint Francis was called a fool; used to call himself "the fool of God."
           Why have Jesus and Francis and people like these been called fools? Even they themselves have
           called themselves fools for the simple reason that there is something which the fool can know and
           the knowledgeable can never know. The fool is innocent. The fool is not so foolish as the
           knowledgeable person is. Sometimes he seems to be wiser than your so-called wise people.
                It was an ancient custom in almost all the countries of the world that every great king used to
           have a fool in his court. Why? -- for the simple reason that sometimes the fool says things which the
           wise -- so-called wise -- cannot say. The fool is so innocent that he simply utters the truth. The
           so-called wise are cunning; they will not say the truth, they will say that which appeals. It may be a
           lie -- and lies have great appeal because people live in lies. And particularly in the courts, all kinds
           of lies remain prevalent. The king is surrounded by all kinds of cheats, all kinds of cunning people;
           hence a fool was needed, so that he can depend on the fool. The fool will not be cunning and he will
           say whatsoever is the case. He is so foolish that he will not be bothered about the consequences of it.
                This is strange, but something significant to be understood. The fool was a necessary part in
           every great king's court, and the fools have saved many kings many times. They have saved their
           kingdoms because their advice came from a state of not-knowing, utterly innocent. They have a
           clarity that the knowledgeable person cannot afford; he is clouded.
                Gopa, your knowledge is disappearing. This is really SATSANG; this is what it means to be with
           a master. He takes away your knowledge and gives you wonder in return. He makes you a child
           again. And unless you are a child you will not enter into MY kingdom of God.
                But because you are calling it stupidity, condemning it, giving it a negative name, you are feeling
           sad, hopeless. We live through words; we have become so much attached to words that we are
           deceived by words. Just change the word and you will see the change in your inner climate. Call it
           innocence and just feel the texture, the taste. Call it stupid and feel the texture and the taste. When
           you call it stupid you suddenly feel surrounded by darkness; when you call it innocence, as if a
           flower starts opening within your heart, a fragrance surrounds you.
                Beware about words, what words you use, because we have lived so long with words, through
           words....

           I have heard:
               A hunter lost his way in the forest. By the evening he reached a private land, but he was afraid to
           enter because just on the gate there was a big signboard saying: BEWARE OF DANGEROUS
           DOGS. But the night was descending and the forest was full of wild animals. It was better to
           encounter the dogs than to be eaten by the wild animals. And he was so tired, so utterly tired; he
           wanted to rest. And there was some hope: if dogs are there, there may be somebody -- the owner of
           the dogs, the owner of the land, the man who has put these big signs.
               He entered in, a little afraid, shaky, but there was no other way, there was no alternative. Just a
           few yards he entered in and again there was a board, an even bigger one: BEWARE OF THE
           DANGEROUS DOGS. His heart started sinking, but there was no way to go back, nowhere to go
           back, so he had to go in. Again, even a still bigger board.
               And then... just a small dog, a very small dog, standing before the cottage of the owner. So small
           a dog that you could simply take him by the feet and throw him at least a hundred yards!
               The hunter was very much puzzled. He asked the owner, "Where are the big, dangerous dogs?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "There are none. This is my only dog."
                The hunter asked, "Can this dog prevent people coming in?"
                The man said, "No, but the signboards do. You are the first man in years who has entered. Even
           if there is no dog, those signboards will do."

               People live through words. In a crowded theater, if somebody suddenly shouts, "Fire! Fire!"
           people will start running. Nobody will bother whether there is any fire. The very word 'fire' and your
           imagination starts working.
               Gopa, don't call it stupid, otherwise you create your own sadness and you are a victim of your
           mind. Your mind will feel happy because it has made you sad. If you are sad you will start collecting
           the knowledge that has fallen from you; you will put it back into its old place. You will again start
           collecting information so that you don't feel stupid. Call it innocence.
               Be very careful what words you use. Words have associations, deep associations. They have
           become almost concrete realities in our life; they are no more words, they are things.
               You say, "I feel very hopeless. And it makes me sad."
               Hopelessness always comes if you have been hoping too much; it comes in the same proportion.
           Expect and you will be frustrated. Hope and sooner or later you will feel hopelessness. Hence my
           whole effort here is to make you free from hoping. If you become free from hoping you will never be
           trapped into any hopeless state. Hopelessness is a by-product of hoping. Frustration is a by-product
           of expectation. But it is natural, in a way.
               When you come to me, you come with great hopes; you want to become enlightened, you want to
           become a buddha. But the problem is, I cannot help you to become a buddha because you are already
           a buddha! There is no need for you to become a buddha. Becoming is not the question at all --
           buddha is your being. And whenever you drop this idea of becoming, suddenly you will recognize
           the buddha within.
               What I am doing here is not helping you to become somebody, but just to recognize who you are.
           All the devices here are just devices to make you remember -- not devices to help you become, but
           only to remind you.

               The family moved from the city to the suburbs and was told to get a watchdog to guard the
           premises at night. So they bought the largest dog they could find.
               Shortly afterwards the house was broken into by burglars who made a good haul -- while the dog
           slept.
               The householder went to the kennel-owner and told him about it. "Well," said the dealer, "what
           you need is a little dog to wake up the big dog."

              That's what you need! Buddha is fast asleep in you. Just a little device, a little dog will do -- to
           wake up the big dog!

               Mrs. Mulla Nasruddin and her neighbor were chatting about their teenagers.
           "Is your son hard to get out of bed in the morning?" asks the neighbor.
           "No," replied Mrs. Mulla Nasruddin. "I just open the door and throw the cat on his bed."
           "How does that wake him?"
           "He sleeps with the dog."

              My work consists of such things, throwing a cat on your bed.... It is not some great work -- it is
           sheer fun!

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT MODERN ART?


               Asang, the first thing is, it is not art. For the first time something exists in the name of art which
           is not art at all. It is more a therapy than an art. Look at the modern paintings and you will be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           convinced of what I am saying. The painters must be insane; they have poured their insanity on the
           canvas. It helps them because it releases some tensions inside their being. It is a catharsis, but it is
           not art. It is therapy through art, but not art itself.
                If Picasso is prevented from painting, he will go mad. Vincent van Gogh went mad before he
           committed suicide. And I have been looking into his life deeply and my feeling is he went mad
           because he could not paint as much as he wanted. He had no money to paint. His brother was giving
           him money enough just to survive, and he was not eating for four days per week. He would eat only
           for three days and four days he will fast to save money to paint. How long can you do that? But
           painting was more important for him than food -- and it ended in madness. He could not paint as
           much as he wanted, and when he saw that there was no possibility to paint anymore -- the brother is
           tired, the family is tired and nobody wants to help him and nobody wants to purchase his paintings --
           he committed suicide.
                The same would be the case with Picasso if he was prevented from painting: he would go mad or
           he would commit suicide. Suicide is the ultimate in insanity. But his paintings are a great help, a
           great relaxation.
                And it is not only so with painting; it is so with poetry, music, dance. Everything modern is a
           little crazy because modern man is a little crazy, off the center.
                Gurdjieff has divided art into two categories. The modern art he calls subjective art. The ancient
           art -- the real art -- the people who made the pyramids, the people who made the Taj Mahal, the
           people who made the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, they were of a totally different kind. He calls that
           art objective art. Subjective art is like vomiting. You are feeling sick, nauseous; a good vomit helps
           you to feel good. The poison is thrown out, you feel relieved. It is good for you, but not good for
           others.
                Now, in the name of modern painting, you are hanging vomited, nauseous, sickening things in
           your rooms. In the name of modern music you are simply getting into crazier spaces within you. It is
           subjective art.
                Objective art means something that helps you to become centered, that helps you to become
           healthy and whole. Watching the Taj Mahal in the full moon, you will fall into a very meditative
           space. Looking at the statue of Buddha, just sitting silently with the statue of the Buddha, something
           in you will become silent, something in you will become still, something in you will become
           buddhalike. It is objective art, it has tremendous significance.
                But objective art has disappeared from the world because mystics have disappeared from the
           world. Objective art is possible only when somebody has attained to a higher plane of being; it is
           created by those who have reached the peak. They can see the peak and they can see the valley both.
           They can see the height of humanity, the beauty of humanity, and the sickness and the ugliness of
           humanity too. They can see deep down in the dark valleys where people are crawling and they can
           see the sunlit peaks. They can manage to create some devices which will help the people who are
           crawling in the darkness to reach to the sunlit peaks. Their art will be just a device for your inner
           growth, for maturity.
                Modern art is childish -- not childlike, remember, childish; not innocent but stupid, insane,
           pathological. We have to get rid of this trend. We have to create a new kind of art, a new kind of
           creativity. We have to bring to the world again what Gurdjieff calls objective art.

               The farmer was looking at one of those modern, abstract paintings. "It is a perfect picture of
           those fellows in New Delhi," he said. "No matter which way you look at it, it does not make sense."

               But the farmer is saying something which Picasso himself has said. Picasso has said, "The world
           today does not make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?"
               If the world today does not make sense, that means more pictures, more music, more poetry is
           needed that makes sense -- to help humanity to come out of this absurd state. That was the function
           of objective art: to help you come out of your absurd state. But Picasso says, "The world today does
           not make sense..." as if it was making sense in the past. It has never made any sense; the world has
           always been the same. But he finds a rationalization. He is saying, "If the world itself makes no
           sense, why should I paint pictures that do?"
               If you ask me, that should be precisely the reason to make pictures that DO make sense.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Otherwise, how is the world going to be helped? It needs music, it needs poetry, it needs dance. It
           needs paintings which can help it to rise above its misery, its schizophrenia, its neurosis, its
           psychosis.
               But Picasso himself is only a representative of the neurotic mind. Picasso became so famous for
           the simple reason that he represented us very clearly.

               The marriage broker introduced a really ugly girl to a young man. The victim protested that the
           lady had misplaced eyes, a broken nose and a deformed face.
           "Ah," said the marriage broker, "it is apparent that you do not like Picasso."

              Looking at Picasso's paintings, have you not felt it? Everything is deformed, misplaced.

               I have heard that a very rich lady wanted a portrait of herself done by Picasso. He agreed for a
           fantastic sum. The lady was ready to pay. Six months he took to make the portrait.
               When the portrait was ready, the lady looked at it and said, "Everything is okay; I just don't like
           the nose. You will have to improve it."
               Picasso looked at the lady, then he looked at the painting and he said, "It is impossible."
               The lady said, "Why? I am ready to pay. If you want more money, I am ready to pay."
               Picasso said, "It is not a question of money. I don't know where the nose is."

               His paintings are nightmarish. And it is not only Picasso; Picasso simply symbolizes the whole
           of contemporary art. He is the most representative modern artist. He is right, in a sense, because the
           world makes no sense.
               The world has never made any sense, but there have been people who created such art that it
           helped people to find some sense in a senseless world. And that finding of sense helps you
           tremendously to become centered.

           "It is terrible to see men looking like girls, with long hair and all. You can't tell the difference. I was
           sitting in a restaurant when a girl came in. I turned to the person at the next table and said, 'Isn't it
           terrible how girls look like boys these days?'"
           "That's my son," she said, pointing to the girl.
           "Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were the mother."
           "I'm not," the neighbor said indignantly. "I'm the father!"

               Things are topsy-turvy. Things are becoming more and more topsy-turvy. The world seems to be
           less a cosmos now and more a chaos.
               In the ancient philosophies, cosmology was one of the most important things to be discussed.
           Now there seems to be no cosmos, no cosmology. The whole world seems to be in a chaos, as if all
           is accidental. Nothing seems to be essential, intrinsically valuable; everything seems to be just
           happening as an accident. And this is reflected in everything. It is reflected in art, it is reflected in
           science, it is reflected even in religion.
               We need again a cosmology. I know the world IS a chaos; that is a challenge for human
           consciousness to create a cosmos out of it. It is a tremendously valuable opportunity to create a
           cosmos. Just to say that it is a chaos, remain with it as it is, is to fall below human dignity; it is not
           accepting the challenge. It is really a great challenge to change yourself AND the world. It IS a
           puzzle, but it is a puzzle only if you have already concluded that there can be no meaning at all;
           otherwise it is a mystery, not a puzzle.
               A mystery may not have any meaning, but it has significance. And there is a difference between
           meaning and significance -- and significance is far more meaningful than meaning itself;
           significance is far more important. What meaning is there in a roseflower? -- but significance
           certainly is there. Just think of a world without roses. It will be a poor world; some significance will
           be lost. What significance is there when you hear the sound of running water? Have you not felt
           some significance? Yes, meaning you cannot prove.
               Meaning seems to be imposed by the mind upon existence; significance seems to be part of
           existence itself. We have lost contact with the language that can understand significance; we only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understand meaning. Meaning is intellectual, significance is existential. There is no meaning in love,
           but great significance; no meaning in God, but great significance; no meaning in meditation, but
           great significance, great splendor.
                I would like to say to my sannyasins, Asang, that my sannyasins have to be not only meditative,
           they have also to be creative. And they have to create what Gurdjieff calls objective art. They have
           to create something which can help a wandering humanity to come to a resting place. Yes, much can
           be created that can give shelter, that can become a deep, deep experience of communion with nature.
                That is the real function of art: helping people to commune with nature, because out of that
           communion arises religion. Science is an intellectual effort to understand nature, art is an emotional
           effort to understand nature, and religion is an existential effort to COMMUNE with nature. Art is
           higher than science, religion is higher than art. Science has to be objective; if science is subjective it
           will be just fiction -- science fiction. Art has also to be objective; otherwise it will be fiction. And
           that's what modern art is -- fiction. And religion has also to be objective, really authentic; otherwise
           it is speculation, philosophy.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WANT TO GIVE UP SMOKING. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT IT?


                Mahendra, why? Why in the first place do you want to give up smoking? What is wrong in
           smoking? Yes, it is a little stupid, silly -- just poisoning your breath, taking smoke in and out,
           wasting money, life. But it is not a sin, it is not a crime either. You should not feel guilty about it.
           Maybe you will live a little less, two or three years less than you would have lived. But what is the
           point of living three years more? What will you do by living three years more? You will create a
           little more trouble in the world -- so better you go a little earlier. And the world is too much
           populated.
                Nobody had thought about birth control before. Now we are thinking constantly everywhere how
           to reduce the population, how to prevent new children from being born. Sooner or later we will have
           to think about the other end: how to help the old people to go faster, because that is absolutely
           logical, part of it. If we prevent children from coming in just to keep the world a little less populated
           -- it is already too much populated -- sooner or later we have to think about ways and means how to
           help old people to go quicker, faster. We will have to make it a birthright.
                If somebody decides to die, it should not be a crime. In fact, he should be supported, respected,
           because he is creating space for new people to come. He is helping the world -- he is a great servant
           of humanity.
           You say, Mahendra, "I want to give up smoking."
                Why in the first place? -- because you have been reading that it is bad for your health? But what
           will you DO with your health?

               There is a beautiful story about Jesus, not related in the Christian gospels. My feeling has always
           been that it has been deleted somewhere down the centuries because it is a dangerous story. But
           Sufis have kept it intact, recorded. There are a few Jesus stories which Sufis have guarded, and they
           should be thanked for it because they are the most beautiful stories out of all the stories that the
           gospels contain. This one is a beauty.
               Jesus came to a village. He saw a man lying in the gutter, shouting, talking incoherently, making
           noise. It was difficult to understand what he wanted to say; he was completely drunk.
               Jesus came close just to understand what he wanted to say -- maybe he needed some help. When
           he came close he recognized the face. He shook the man. The man opened his eyes, and Jesus said,
           "Don't you recognize me? I recognize you."
               The man said, "I also recognize you, but please leave me alone."
               Jesus said, "As far as I remember you were ill, very ill, almost on the verge of death, and I cured
           you. I have done a miracle -- and I don't see any gratitude in your eyes."
               The man said, "Gratitude? I was going to die and that would have been a rest from this ugly life.
           You made me healthy again and now I am suffering again. Who is responsible? Why did you make
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           me healthy again? Who gave you the right?"
                Jesus was shocked -- he had never thought about it. Jesus said, "But you are healthy -- you can
           USE your health."
                And the man said, "That's what I am doing. When one is healthy one drinks, eats, enjoys the
           things of life. What else can I do with my health?"
                It is really a very pertinent question: What will you do with your health? Eat, drink, be merry!
           And the man seems to be almost angry at Jesus.
                Jesus walked away very puzzled, and he saw another man who was running after a prostitute. He
           stopped the man and said, "Young man, I know you perfectly well. You were blind and I gave you
           eyes."
                And the man said, "What else should I do with the eyes? The eyes are meant to look and search
           for beauty. And that woman -- have you not seen how beautiful she is? Leave me alone! I have no
           more time for you."
                Jesus was very sad because he was thinking he had helped these people. He came out of the
           village and a man was preparing to kill himself. He asked the man, "Life is so valuable! Why are you
           killing yourself?"
                The man looked at Jesus and he said, "Don't you recognize me? I had died and you are the man
           who disturbed my death and you brought me back from my death. It is too much! I cannot bear this
           life any longer. Enough is enough! And please, you have come again... and I have made every
           preparation to kill myself. Don't do your miracle again -- I don't want any of your miracles!"

                This is a strange story, but of great significance. Man is such, so blind, that he will do something
           wrong if he is healthy, he will do something wrong if he is alive, he will do something wrong if he
           has eyes -- he will see something wrong. Unless you are conscious you are going to do wrong.
                That's why in the East, Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu and people like them have never done any
           miracles -- or they have done only one miracle, and that miracle is the transformation of
           unconsciousness into consciousness -- because unless that happens everything is going to be wrong.
           It is giving a sword into a child's hand: either he will cut himself or somebody else. You don't give
           poison to a child to play with; it is dangerous. Man is unconscious, almost in a state of drunkenness.
                So what will you gain out of it if you stop smoking?

               O'Leary walked into a bar and ordered a beer and a whisky. He drank the beer and poured the
           whisky into his vest pocket. O'Leary repeated this routine several times, and finally the puzzled
           bartender asked, "What is the idea?"
           "None of your business!" said the Irishman. "And what is more, you are so nosy I have a good mind
           to punch you in the eye!"
               Just then a mouse stuck his head out of O'Leary's vest pocket and said, "And that goes for your
           damned cat too!"

               Man is unconscious. He only APPEARS conscious, he is not conscious at all.
               So rather than asking me what I have to say about it, you should watch. The most important thing
           is not stopping smoking; the most important thing is to watch why you smoke in the first place. If
           you don't understand the cause of it and if the cause is not removed, you can stop smoking -- then
           you will start chewing gum, because the basic cause is there and you will have to do something. If
           you don't start chewing gum, then you may start talking too much.
               I don't smoke. If any day I have to stop talking I may have to start smoking! You will do
           something....

               This amorous playboy cornered the girl in the back seat of his sedan and was eagerly trying his
           hand at her. She kept resisting and pushing him away, but he kept coming with more hands than an
           octopus.
               She finally slapped him away and hollered, "I don't know what has come over you. You have
           always been so restrained and gentlemanly."
               He said, "Yes, I know, but I just can't help it. I am trying to give up smoking."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Smoking is keeping many people from many things which will be far more dangerous. Your
           hand is engaged, your mouth is engaged, your mind is engaged. And you are not harming anybody in
           particular, only harming yourself. That is your birthright, that is your freedom. Otherwise you will
           do something else.
                Have you watched? Whenever you feel nervous, tense, you start smoking. It helps you to cool
           down, to relax a little bit; otherwise life will become too much. When you are not feeling nervous,
           when you are enjoying, when you are relaxed, you don't remember smoking. Hours may pass and
           you may not smoke for the simple reason that there is no cause. Otherwise you become afraid you
           may do something wrong. Better to keep yourself engaged.
                Mahendra, my suggestion is: first go deep down into your smoking habit. Meditate over it, why
           in the first place you smoke. It may take a few months for you to go into it, and the deeper you go
           the more you will be freed of it. Don't stop smoking. If it disappears on your understanding, through
           your understanding, that is totally a different matter. If it disappears because you went to the root
           cause of it and you saw the point....
                For example, it may be that your mother's breast was taken away from you earlier than you
           wanted and it is just a substitute.
                To many people I have suggested -- and it has been of help to smokers -- I say, "If you really
           want to stop smoking, then start sucking your thumb." They say, "But that will look very stupid!"
           That is true... smoking looks as if you are doing something great! You are doing the same thing, in
           fact a little more harmful. Just sucking on your thumb is not harmful at all, but smoking IS harmful.
           But because everybody is smoking and it is an accepted thing and it seems to be a very grown-up
           thing....
                Small children want to grow up, if not for anything else than just for being allowed to smoke.
           Seeing grown-up people smoking they feel very inferior -- they are not allowed. They are told, "You
           are too small -- wait a little. This is something which only grown-up people can do." It symbolizes a
           grown-up person. And if you are really smoking costly cigarettes, costly cigars, rare, exotic, then it
           shows your success, it shows that you have arrived. It gives you dignity.
                Go deep into it. It may be that your mother's breast was taken away too early. Then my
           suggestion is: in the night before you go to bed, Mahendra, have a bottle with a rubber nipple fixed
           to it and suck it. Every night before you go to sleep become a child again. Go on sucking on it. Fill
           the bottle with warm milk. That's what the smoking is doing. The warm smoke going in and out
           symbolizes the milk of the mother. You will have to go deep into the causes.
                One of the great things in life is that if you understand the root cause of something you can
           overcome it without any trouble, without any willpower. If you use willpower to stop it you will find
           some substitute -- you will have to find some substitute. Maybe you are not allowed to speak; in the
           office the boss won't allow you, in the home the wife won't allow you. She goes on talking, she gives
           you no time to talk. And you are also afraid if you talk you get into trouble; whatsoever you say is
           wrong. And the wife jumps upon it, takes the cue from that and starts nagging you. So in the home
           you have to hide behind a newspaper. Whether you read the newspaper or not is not the point, but
           you have to hide behind the newspaper. You have to look engaged, occupied, so you need not talk
           and you need not hear what the wife goes on saying.
                Women all over the world, except for a few countries in the West, don't smoke, for the simple
           reason that they talk too much. Their lips have so much exercise, there is no need! In a few countries
           in the West they have started smoking and the reason is the Women's Lib movement. They have to
           compete with men in everything; whether it is sense or nonsense that doesn't matter. I am very much
           afraid they may start pissing standing any day, because they are equal to men! Howsoever stupid it
           is, they will do it.
                Go into the cause of it, Mahendra, and if you can find the cause it will simply melt away. But
           don't stop by force -- let it go on its own accord, through watchfulness, through awareness.
                So I will not say to stop smoking or stop anything, but I will suggest always: watch, meditate, be
           aware, go into the roots. This is a fundamental law of life: if you can understand the root of
           something it disappears, it evaporates. Unless you understand the root it will continue in one form or
           another.

           The fourth question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM IN LOVE WITH A BEAUTIFUL GIRL, BUT SHE IS POOR. THERE IS A HAG WITH LOTS OF
              LOOT IN LOVE WITH ME. SHALL I MARRY THE RICH GIRL OR THE POOR GIRL?


              Narayano, marry the rich girl and be good to the poor!

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM IN LOVE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


              Mahesh, the only cure for a man in love is marriage. If that does not cure him, nothing will.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              FOR FORTY-FIVE YEARS I LIVED IN PRISON, MOSTLY MADE BY MYSELF. NOW I KNOW IT IS
              POSSIBLE TO BECOME MORE AND MORE FREE. BUT WHAT TO DO, WHEN YOU FEEL YOU
              NEED A SAFE PLACE, A GOOD CLIMATE TO GROW? ANOTHER PRISON? HOW TO BE FREE
              ANYWHERE, ANY TIME? I FEEL SORROW AND REBELLION IN ME ABOUT THAT.


                Yvonne, freedom has nothing to do with the outside; one can be free even in an actual prison.
           Freedom is something inner; it is of the consciousness. You can be free anywhere -- chained, in a
           jail, you can be free -- and you can be unfree outside the jail, in your own home, visibly absolutely
           free, but you will be a prisoner if your consciousness is not free.
                You are confusing outer freedom with inner freedom. As far as the outside is concerned you can
           never be absolutely free -- let it be clear once and forever. As far as outside is concerned you are not
           alone, so how can you be absolutely free? There are millions of people around you. On the outside,
           life has to be a compromise. If you were alone on the earth you would have been absolutely free, but
           you are not alone.
                On the road you have to keep to the left. And Yvonne will feel this is a great bondage: "Why?
           Why should I be forced to be on the left? I am a free man. If I want to walk on the right I will walk
           on the right. If I want to walk in the middle of the road I will walk in the middle of the road." In
           India you can do it -- India is a free country, remember! It is the greatest democracy in the world, so
           right, left, middle, anywhere you can walk!
                But one man's freedom becomes so many people's problem. You are free to be yourself, but you
           should not be an interference in other people's lives.
                A man of understanding will respect his freedom as much as he will respect others' freedom,
           because if nobody respects your freedom, your freedom will be destroyed. It is a mutual
           understanding: "I respect your freedom, you respect my freedom, then we both can be free." But it is
           a compromise. I have not to interfere with your being, I am not free to trespass on you.
                You want to sing loudly in the middle of the night. Of course you are a free person, and if you
           cannot sing loudly in your own house, what kind of freedom is this? But the neighbors have to sleep
           too; then there has to be a compromise.
                On the outside we are interdependent. Nobody can be absolutely independent. Life is an
           interdependence. Not only with people are you interdependent, you are interdependent with
           everything. If you cut all the trees you will die because they are constantly supplying you with
           oxygen. You are dependent on them -- and they are dependent on you because you are constantly
           giving them carbon dioxide. We take oxygen in and exhale carbon dioxide; the trees do just the
           opposite, they exhale oxygen and inhale carbon dioxide.
                So when people like Mahendra are smoking, trees must be feeling tremendously happy because
           more carbon dioxide is being created for them! Listening to me these trees will be feeling very sad
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that I am telling you to go to the root cause of it and then smoking will disappear. That means trees
           won't get as much carbon dioxide as they were getting before!
               We are interdependent, not only with the trees -- with the sun, with the moon, with the stars.
           Everything is an interdependence.
               Just tomorrow there is going to be a solar eclipse, a total eclipse. It will have tremendous effects
           on the life on earth. If you look at the sun directly you can go blind forever. Avoid looking at the sun
           -- in fact, don't come out. There will be every temptation to come out because in the middle of the
           day, nearabout four-thirty in the afternoon, you can see stars in the sky; just as in the night you have
           always seen them, in the middle of the day you can see stars. There will be great temptation to come
           out and see, but avoid it, don't come out. It is dangerous to the eyes, it is dangerous to your nervous
           system, it is dangerous to your mind mechanism. Many people will go berserk, many people will go
           blind. Women who are pregnant should avoid coming out absolutely because the child in the womb
           is very very vulnerable. He has no safeguards yet; he is soft, so soft he can be affected by anything.
           And in the solar eclipse, when it is total, dangerous rays enter into the atmosphere.
               So when the eclipse happens I would like all my sannyasins to go inside their rooms, close the
           doors, sit in deep meditation. It will last only a few minutes. Avoid the temptation of coming out,
           and don't try to find out devices through which you can see it without being harmed. No device is
           absolutely foolproof; it is better to avoid it.
               Now life is so interdependent... the sun is so far away. It takes ten minutes for the rays of the sun
           to reach to the earth, and rays move with tremendous speed -- one hundred eighty-six thousand miles
           per second. But we are related to other suns and other solar systems too. Everything in existence is
           interdependent, so you cannot be absolutely free on the outside -- and there is no need either.
               Enjoy this interdependence. Don't call it bondage. It is not dependence, it is INTERdependence.
           You are dependent on others, others are dependent on you. It is a brotherhood, it is relatedness. Even
           the smallest grass leaf is related to the greatest star.
               But in the inner world, in the inner kingdom, you can be absolutely free. So the whole question is
           of the inner. And then, Yvonne, you will not feel sad and rebellious; there is no need. Understand
           that the outer interdependence is a must, it is inevitable; nothing can be done about it. It is part of
           how things are. Accept it. When nothing can be done about it, acceptance is the only way. And
           accept it JOYOUSLY, not as a resignation. Accept it! This is our universe; we are part of it. We are
           not islands, we are part of the whole continent. We are not egos.
               Yvonne, your idea of freedom is rooted somewhere in the idea of the ego. We are not egos. The
           ego is a false entity -- because we are not separate, how can we have egos? It is good as far as
           language is concerned; it is utilitarian to use the word 'I', but it has no substance in it. It is pure
           shadow, utterly empty. A useful word, utilitarian, but not real.
               But inner freedom IS possible. It happens as you go deeper and deeper into awareness. Watch
           your body, watch your thought processes.
               Just the other day Buddha was saying: Watch, witness the whole process of your thoughts. And
           slowly slowly, you will see you are neither anger nor greed, neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor
           Christian, neither Catholic nor communist. Slowly slowly, you will be aware that you are not any
           thought -- you are not mind at all. You are a pure witness. The experience of pure witnessing is the
           experience of total freedom, but it is an inward phenomenon. And a man who is inwardly totally free
           has no hankering to be outwardly free. He is capable of accepting nature as it is.
               Yvonne, create inner freedom through witnessing. Sannyas is only for the inner freedom. And
           live out of inner freedom and then you will be able to see the interdependence on the outside. It is
           beautiful and it is a blessing. There is no need to rebel against it. Relax into it, surrender to it. And
           remember: only a person who is really free can surrender.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I ALSO THINK THAT A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE IS BETTER THAN AN IGNORANT MAN. AM I
              ABSOLUTELY WRONG?


              Sanatan, a man of knowledge is a totally different phenomenon. I was saying that the man of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge and the knowledgeable man are not the same. The man of knowledge is what a buddha is:
           one who knows. But the knowledgeable man is not a buddha; he does not know. He has accumulated
           great information, but that information is borrowed. It is from the scriptures, from the books, from
           others. He has not experienced it; it is about and about. He can talk, he can write, he can sermonize,
           but he knows nothing. He talks ABOUT God; he has no idea what God is. He has no glimpse even --
           what to say about experience.
               The priests all over the world of all the religions are knowledgeable people. Jesus knows, but the
           pope is not a man of knowledge. He is a knowledgeable man, he has great information. He can quote
           scriptures.

               One of the great thinkers of the West was Ingersoll. Whenever he would deliver discourses -- and
           he was a great orator too -- he would make a mysterious sign in the air with his finger before he
           would start speaking. And when he would end, after that again he would make something with his
           fingers -- some very mysterious thing in the air. He was asked again and again, but he would laugh
           and he would not answer.
               When he was dying somebody asked, "Now please tell us, otherwise we will be always curious
           and wondering -- what were you doing your whole life? Is there some magic in it? Why do you make
           some mysterious signs before you speak and then again when you end?"
               He said, "There is no magic in it, but I could not tell it before. Now I can tell it. Before I started
           my speech I was making the sign of inverted commas, and after I ended I had to close the inverted
           commas. I was saying to myself and to you too that it is all just quotation, it is not my experience.
           The whole thing is borrowed -- it is within inverted commas."

               That is a knowledgeable man. But Ingersoll is sincere, at least honest. The knowledgeable man is
           not better than the ignorant man, remember, Sanatan. The man of knowledge is certainly better than
           the ignorant man, of course, obviously, but the same is not true about the knowledgeable man. The
           knowledgeable man is even worse than the ignorant man. The ignorant man at least knows that he is
           ignorant; he has no pretensions, he has no facade. The knowledgeable man has a beautiful facade, a
           mask.
               And the problem is: if you go on deceiving others, slowly slowly you become autohypnotized.
           You start thinking that you know. But there is no difference. The knowledgeable person is only on
           the surface painted with great knowledge and the ignorant person is not painted; he is raw. The
           knowledgeable person is a little polished. But deep down they are the same person. Both will be
           greedy, both will be full of lust, both will be full of anger, both will be full of ego. Their lives will be
           nothing but ego trips. Their lives will be nothing but sexuality, violence, greed, jealousy,
           possessiveness. There will be no difference at all.
               Sanatan, remember, you have to become a knower on your own. If you quote me, that is
           knowledgeability; if you know it on your own, that is knowing. And knowing brings freedom,
           knowing brings truth. Knowledgeability is respectable; you become an expert. The more you know,
           the more people think you are great, but deep down you go on living the same animal kind of life, no
           difference at all -- or maybe only one difference: you are a bigger hypocrite than the ignorant man.

               Norman Bush had a terrible stutter. His wife Rose suggested that he go and see a specialist.
           Reluctantly he was persuaded to visit the best man in Harley Street who told him, "Well, Mr. Bush,
           there is only one thing we can do about this stutter of yours. You see, the problem is your balls are
           too big. However, we should be able to transplant a smaller pair. That would undoubtedly cure your
           ailment."
               Norman was given a week to think it over and reluctantly accepted to undergo surgery. When he
           came out, his speech fully restored, his wife was delighted. Then came those long nights when Rose
           was eager and Norman showed no interest. As the weeks went by she grew more anxious and
           frustrated.
               Then one night she said to him, "You know, I think I preferred you the way you were before,
           with your big balls and your stutter. I would go and see that doctor again and have the operation
           reversed."
               Reluctantly, Norman was dragged off again to the specialist. "You know, Doctor," said Norman,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "my wife says she liked me better the way I was before with my stutter and all, and, um, well, ah, do
           you think I could have my old balls back again?"
           "Not f-f-f-fucking likely!" said the doctor.

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                    Chapter #5
                                      Chapter title: The risk is worth taking
           15 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002150
              ShortTitle: DHAM905
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              IF THE TRAVELER CAN FIND
              A VIRTUOUS AND WISE COMPANION,
              LET HIM GO WITH HIM JOYFULLY
              AND OVERCOME THE DANGERS OF THE WAY.



              BUT IF YOU CANNOT FIND
              FRIEND OR MASTER TO GO WITH YOU,
              TRAVEL ON ALONE --
              LIKE A KING WHO HAS GIVEN AWAY HIS KINGDOM,
              LIKE AN ELEPHANT IN THE FOREST.



              TRAVEL ON ALONE,
              RATHER THAN WITH A FOOL FOR COMPANY.



              DO NOT CARRY WITH YOU YOUR MISTAKES.
              DO NOT CARRY YOUR CARES.



              TRAVEL ON ALONE
              LIKE AN ELEPHANT IN THE FOREST.


               Nirupa says that this is my serious day. The fault is not mine; the whole fault is Gautama the
           Buddha's. That old guy is absolutely serious.
               It is said of Jesus that he never laughed. That can't be true because Jesus is very much a man of
           the earth, very earthly. It is impossible that he never laughed. He loved people, he loved mixing with
           people, with ordinary people -- farmers, carpenters, fishermen, gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes.
           Seeing his company, it seems absolutely improbable that he never laughed. He enjoyed eating,
           drinking; he enjoyed company. He must have gossiped, joked, laughed.
               But it is possible that Buddha never laughed. He is utterly serious. He is very much Indian. He is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pure water... I mix as much wine as I can!
                So Nirupa, forgive me, because if I mix more wine, then that old guy will be really angry! As it
           is, he already thinks I am corrupting him, but he can't do anything -- I am alive and he is dead! I am
           not an Indian at all.

              Once an American lady was asking me, "What 'nese' are you? -- Japanese, Chinese, Javanese?"
              I told her, "I am no one." And then I asked her, "Who are you? -- monkey, donkey or yankee?"

               I belong to no country, to no tradition, to no race, to no religion. I am just a white cloud floating
           all over the world. I don't have any roots anywhere; hence I am free. Buddha has roots in the Indian
           soil, in the Indian mind.
               Buddha would have remained the same, unavailable, unapproachable. It is through the Chinese
           and the Japanese that he became a little more human. Otherwise he would have remained a god
           above the clouds, almost unreachable. When Buddhism was introduced into China they brought it
           down to the earth. Chinese are very down-to-earth people. They have never given birth to any men
           like Buddha. They had their own awakened people -- Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu -- but they are
           full of laughter, full of joy, full of gratitude. They belong to this existence; they are not in any way
           escaping from it. They are living it in its totality.
               And the Japanese are even more earthly. When Buddhism reached Japan via China, its very
           color, texture, its very fragrance changed. It became tremendously multidimensional, creative, more
           life-affirmative. Laughter came in. The Japanese masters transformed the very seriousness of
           Buddha into its opposite.
               But in India the effort has never been made. In India Buddha has remained old, for twenty-five
           centuries.
               My effort here is to make him alive again. And to make him alive means to make him a
           contemporary, to help him to speak to you the way you would like to be spoken to, the way you will
           be able to understand him. He has to be brought from his heights. The earth has its own beauty and
           any height has to be based on this very earth.
               So, Nirupa, forgive me, because speaking on Buddha something of him is bound to come in; that
           is unavoidable. I try my best to give new colors to his colorless way of expression, to give him more
           liveliness, but still, I cannot go too far from his sutra. Although I take enough rope, I go as far as it is
           possible -- nobody has gone so far as I have been trying to go -- but still the point of reference
           remains his sutras.
               I love the man -- he has a beauty of his own -- but there is no need to be so serious. But it was the
           way in India in those days, and it is the way even today, to be serious. Religion is thought to be a
           very serious phenomenon.
               I may be the first person in the whole history of India who is mixing religion with jokes. Let us
           start with a few jokes.

           The first:
               Pierre, a Frenchman, Tonio, an Italian, and Stash, a Pole, were traveling through the country
           when their car broke down.
               They found lodging at a farm, and in the course of the night the Frenchman decided to sneak into
           the farmer's daughter's room.
               The farmer heard him walking up the stairs and said, "Who is it?"
               Thinking quickly, Pierre whispered, "Meow, meow...."
               Twenty minutes later, Tonio made the same attempt. As he neared the farmer's daughter's room,
           the girl's father shouted, "Who is there?"
               The Italian also imitated the feline sound, "Meow, meow...."
               Stash decided that he, too, should make an attempt. Just as he got to the girl's room, the farmer
           shouted, "Alright, who is it?"
           The Polack replied, "It is me, the cat."

           The second:
              Benson and his dog were sitting at a bar. He ordered two martinis. Benson handed one to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dog, who promptly drank it, then ate the glass until only the base and the stem remained. Then he
           left.
           "That's the craziest thing I have ever seen," said the bartender.
           "Yeah, he's a dumb dog," said Benson. "The stem is the best part."

           Third:
              Mr. Benchley was quietly drinking his martini in a corner when a lady approached him and said,
           "Don't you know that stuff you are drinking is slow poison?"
           "That's alright," he answered. "I'm in no hurry."

           Fourth:
              The car hit her and a hundred yards away he stopped and looked back.
           "Watch out!" he shouted.
              The woman raised herself on her elbow and screamed, "Why -- are you coming back?"

           The fifth and the last:
               Roxanne, a beautiful, well-built blonde, applied at a circus for the job of a lion tamer. Ralph was
           another candidate.
           "I will give you both a chance," said the manager. "The girl can go first."
               Roxanne, wearing a full-length mink coat, entered the cage. A huge lion was let in with her and
           immediately the animal started to charge.
               Suddenly, Roxanne opened her fur coat and stood there, completely naked. The lion stopped
           dead in his tracks and began licking her feet, then her hands, then he went meekly back to the corner.
               The manager was amazed. He turned towards the young man. "Well, pal, do you think you can
           top that?"
           "I sure can," said Ralph. "You just get that stupid lion out of there and I will show you."

           Now, the sutras:
               These stories are about the state of humanity. They are different aspects of man's
           unconsciousness, his mechanicalness, different aspects of man's unawareness. Man goes on living
           like a robot. All his behavior comes out of a dark space within him. Hence the misery of the world.
           Unless that inner space is lit, becomes full of light, there is no hope for humanity.
               In the past we would survive because the weapons to kill man were not yet perfect. Now they
           are. Now we have perfect atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, laser rays, death rays and what-not. Now
           we have become so efficient in destroying humanity and the earth that if within this last part of the
           century we don't bring a light within millions of people's hearts, humanity is doomed. Then there is
           no future. We may be living the last years of human existence on the earth.
               But this critical state can become also a great blessing in disguise. It may make us more aware,
           more responsible. It may provoke us to DO something so that humanity takes a surge towards the
           higher plane of consciousness.
               Buddha's whole message is concerned with consciousness: how to raise consciousness in
           humanity, how to make him more alert, more capable of seeing things as they are, how to make him
           capable of becoming more spontaneous and functioning out of awareness and not out of
           unawareness. We function out of unconsciousness.
               All these sutras are just to prepare the ground, a right ground from where you can take off.

              IF THE TRAVELER CAN FIND
              A VIRTUOUS AND WISE COMPANION,
              LET HIM GO WITH HIM JOYFULLY
              AND OVERCOME THE DANGERS OF THE WAY.


               Each single word has to be meditated upon. The first word is 'if'; it is a big 'if'. Buddha says: If
           THE TRAVELER CAN FIND....
               It is very difficult to find an awakened master for the simple reason that very few people ever try
           to get out of the routine of unconsciousness. The routine of remaining unconscious is comfortable,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cozy, because it keeps you confined to the world of the familiar and it keeps you with the crowd. It is
           risky to go away from the crowd because the crowd never forgives a person who goes away from it.
           The crowd wants to possess you all in all, body and soul. The crowd wants to dominate you. The
           crowd lives through domination.
               This effort to dominate is what politics is all about. Politics means the crowd is trying to
           dominate the individual, to destroy the individual, to destroy freedom, to destroy spontaneity, to
           destroy any idea of going on one's own, of living one's own life according to one's own light. The
           crowd wants you to follow the mass, the collective mind. The crowd does not want you to have your
           own way. The crowd has already made a superhighway; you can simply follow it. And in a way it is
           more comfortable, it is cozy. You are surrounded with people, it is warm.
               When you move alone into the dense and deep and dark forest of the unknown, it is cold, and
           there are thousands of fears arising. You don't know, in the first place, how to cope with the
           unknown. You are efficient in coping with the known; your system of education makes you capable
           of coping with the known. Your education is very much against the unknown.
               You will be surprised to know that your education is against intelligence. Society needs
           imitators. It wants you to be good in memorizing, not in becoming intelligent. It wants you to
           become good machines, not beautiful people; efficient machines, but machines all the same. It needs
           you to function well, but it does not want you to be more conscious. Then you would start saying no
           to many things; you will not be so obedient.
               The society wants yea-sayers. It wants blind people. It does not want you to see because if you
           see you are bound to be affected by your seeing, you are bound to change your ways. The society
           wants blind followers.
               Hence it is very rare that a person becomes awakened because -- the first thing -- to become
           awakened, to be a buddha, means to go away from the collective mind; to become so much an
           individual, integrated, that even if the whole world is against you you don't care. You have decided
           that you will live according to your inner voice.
               That is the first step, but a great step, a quantum leap. It is moving into danger, it is risky. You
           will be creating enemies. And you will be going into a world which is uncharted, a territory of which
           you know nothing. No maps exist; no maps can exist, in the very nature of things.
               Hence it is very rare to find the awakened master. In hundreds of years it happens only once that
           there is a man like Jesus or Buddha or Lao Tzu. There are thousands of pretenders and they are
           easily available and they are very cheap. In fact, even if you don't find them, they will find you. They
           are constantly searching for followers. Their whole business depends on how many followers they
           have. Each religion is concerned in having more followers because more followers mean more
           power.
               Just a few days before, the Protestant church of Germany has released a report against me -- a big
           report, eighteen pages! To all the churches the report has been sent. They have been alerted that,
           "This man is dangerous. And the danger is more so," says the report, "because this man quotes Jesus.
           And sometimes he explains Jesus in such a beautiful way that Christians may get hooked by him."
               I am sitting here. I have never been to Germany and I will never be there. What is the fear?
               A small commission was made to study all of my books to prepare the report. The commission
           seems to be a little bit confused. It seems a few people of the commission have become interested...
           because if you have a little bit of intelligence, even just a little bit of intelligence, how can you avoid
           seeing that there is something? So they say, "There is something, there seems to be something. And
           it happens to be very much like Jesus' teaching. But beware. Jesus has said, 'False prophets will be
           coming who will speak like me.' But Jesus is the only begotten Son of God."
               There is a great fear that if a few people go away from the crowd, the crowd feels reduced, its
           power lost. So no crowd wants anybody to leave its fold. It will create all kinds of hindrances. And if
           you want to become enlightened you have to pass all those hurdles created by the society, by the
           church, by the state, by everybody around you, by your own family.
               Remember Jesus. He has said: Unless you hate your mother and your father and your family you
           cannot come with me. It looks a little harsh and hard on Jesus' part. It looks as if these words can't be
           his -- but they ARE his. And the man was so loving and so compassionate; why should he be so hard
           on his family? -- because they were creating all kinds of hindrances for him.
               And every family is going to create hindrances because when you go in search of truth you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going away from the power of the family. And everybody is power-hungry. The father is
           power-hungry, the mother is power-hungry, the husband, the wife. Even the children are
           power-hungry. Even the children don't want you to go out of the fold.
               To become an enlightened person is almost like going the whole way AGAINST the current.
           Hence it is very rare.
               That's why Buddha starts the sutra: If THE TRAVELER CAN FIND....
               And it is a pilgrimage, the greatest, the most adventurous, of coming to oneself. It is a strange
           journey. You have gone so far away from yourself that you have to come back. You have forgotten
           the way how to come back home. You need a guide, but only somebody who has come home can
           guide you. And there are thousands of pretenders. It is very easy to pretend. Anybody can talk,
           advise, say beautiful things; it costs nothing. Anybody can read the scriptures, anybody can quote the
           scriptures -- and that's what is happening all around the world. And religion is a good business. You
           can exploit people very easily; "for their own good" you can exploit them.
               Buddha says: IF THE TRAVELER CAN FIND A VIRTUOUS AND WISE COMPANION....
           Remember: the real master from HIS side is only a companion, a friend. From YOUR side he is a
           master; from HIS side he is only a friend. From your side he is a master because you are unawakened
           and he is awakened. From his side he is only a friend because he knows there is no essential
           difference between him and you. You are just asleep; that is not much of a difference -- no difference
           in quality.
           You can be awakened.
           Your buddhahood can become manifest.
               You are just a bud and he has become a flower, but any bud can become a flower any moment.
           He was also a bud before; now he has opened his petals, he has become a flower. He has released his
           fragrance. Everybody is capable of doing it. From the master's side, the disciple is a friend, a
           companion.
               The pseudo master will always pretend that he is higher than you, holier than you, superior to
           you. He will talk always in such a way that you cannot understand; that is his way of hiding himself.
           He will talk in spiritual jargon, he will talk in esoteric ways. And there are foolish people who
           become victims, because people have some idea that if you cannot understand something, there must
           be something in it. If you cannot understand, it must be very deep, very profound.
               Even here... I am with you, but there are a few people who pretend they are my mediums. And
           they tell people that, whatsoever they are saying, I am speaking through them. I am fully alive -- I
           can speak on my own! Wait a little. Let me die, then you can do your business. You will do it, but
           not now.
               But I can forgive these people because they earn a little money and they exploit a few people. I
           cannot understand the people who become victims of these persons. They can't see the point. I am
           here: what is the need of somebody to function as a medium, to tell them what I want to tell them? I
           will tell you myself. Am I not telling you enough? Do you want more? Year in and year out I go on
           speaking to you every day.
               But there are a few people... they don't come to listen, they don't come here. They avoid the
           commune, but they go on sitting in the Blue Diamond,* and a few foolish people go on meeting
           them there. And they roll up their eyes and they pretend to go in a trance, and then they start talking
           nonsense. The more nonsense it is, the more philosophical it seems, the more metaphysical it seems.
           And they always get a few people to listen to them, to follow them. It is a strange phenomenon, but
           somehow the pseudo has an appeal.
               One thing about the pseudo master is that he manages a facade, he wears a mask. He wears a
           mask that you would like him to wear. He fulfills your expectations. The true master never fulfills
           anybody's expectations.
               Jesus proved that he was a true master because at the last moment he frustrated everybody, even
           his closest disciples. They were hoping that he would do some miracle: "If he can raise people from
           death, if he can cure blind people, if he can cure crippled persons, he is going to do something when
           he will be crucified. Some great miracle is going to happen...." And nothing happened, nothing at all!
           That proves his authenticity. He was not there to fulfill your expectations.
               But the pseudo master always tries to fulfill your expectations. Sometimes he manages
           beautifully. Sometimes he will do miracles.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               I know one man. He told his story to me himself because he fell in love with me. He was
           worshipped by many as enlightened. By and by he became tired of playing the role. It is tiring. When
           you are not enlightened and you have to pretend to be enlightened and you have even to manage a
           few miracles, it is tiring.
               He came to see me. He cried and wept and he said, "Save me from my followers! I am utterly
           tired and bored, and I have to do things just to keep them satisfied." He said to me, "Once I had to do
           a miracle because my followers were expecting something big so that many more people can come."
               Followers are also interested that if many more people come to THEIR master, they feel that they
           are with the right person. If they are alone with the master, then they start feeling a little doubtful.
           Nobody believes in his own being, nobody trusts in his own intelligence. When you see thousands of
           people you say, "It must be right. So many people can't be wrong." Remember, the reality is just the
           opposite: so many people can't be right!
               The man said to me, "I had to manage a miracle. I stopped a train for seven minutes."
           I said, "How did you manage it?"
               He said, "Simple! I had to bribe three persons. One was the ticket collector. I had managed it that
           I would be traveling without the ticket and he would come and ask for the ticket. And I would get
           angry and I would say, 'There is no need for any ticket for me. We are saints and we are allowed
           every freedom.' So I became very angry. When I became angry, he became angry -- he was bribed
           and he was told to become very angry." He pushed the man outside the railway compartment.
               This man was traveling with a big group of his followers; almost half of the train was full of his
           followers. They all got down, and the man said, "Okay, then try to take your train. I will not allow it
           to move a single inch" -- and he stood there with rolled-up eyes. And the driver tried, and the guard
           was showing the flag and the stationmaster was showing the flag, and nothing was happening. The
           train was stuck because the driver was bribed, the guard was bribed. Three persons were bribed.
               Finally they rushed to him, fell at his feet, asked to be forgiven, asked him to come in again and
           told him, "Nobody will ever again ask you for the ticket. We are stupid people -- forgive us!"
               He entered the train and immediately it moved. That created a great sensation. Thousands of
           people became his followers because he managed to do this miracle.

               All miracles are done in this way. If you want to do miracles, you can come in private to me and
           I will teach you -- because these tricks cannot be taught publicly! Once you know, everybody knows;
           then they lose their whole mystery. All these tricks are done in this way. But people's expectations
           are fulfilled.
               The pseudo masters speak the language of your desires. They say, "If you meditate, you will
           become rich, you will become successful." That is absolute nonsense.
               Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says to people, "If you meditate you will become healthy, you will
           become rich, you will become successful, you will become famous. In whatsoever line you are
           working you will be at the top."
               That's what you want, so you say, "Okay, then it is not much of a problem to meditate. Fifteen
           minutes in the morning, fifteen minutes in the evening..." just half an hour lost and all success is
           yours. This is the most successful formula for success -- and you want to succeed. You want a
           thousand and one desires to be fulfilled.
               Now, there are masters who say, "Whatsoever you want, you will get it through meditation.
           Money will pour in. Just ask in deep meditation and it is going to happen."
               This is speaking the language of your desire. The truth is just the opposite. If you ask me, if you
           really meditate you will be a failure in life, an utter failure. If you are succeeding, even that success
           will disappear because meditation will make you so relaxed, so nonviolent, so loving, so
           noncompetitive, so nonegoistic, that who cares for success? Meditation will make you so joyous that
           who wants to bother about the tomorrow? Who wants to stake today for the tomorrow?
               Meditation will make you inwardly rich, certainly. Inwardly you will become ecstatic, but
           outwardly it can't be guaranteed that you will become rich, that you will become successful, that you
           will become very healthy, that no disease will ever happen to you. That is all sheer bullshit!
               Maharshi Raman died of cancer, Ramakrishna Paramahansa died of cancer. Can you find greater
           meditators? J. Krishnamurti suffers from many illnesses; he has been suffering from severe headache
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for almost twenty years. The headache is so severe that sometimes he wants to hit his head against
           the wall. Can you find a greater meditator? Can you find a greater buddha alive? If J. Krishnamurti
           suffers from a headache, if Raman Maharshi dies of cancer, if Ramakrishna dies of cancer, do you
           think meditation is going to give you health? Yes, in a way it will make you more healthy and more
           whole, but only in a very inner way. Deep down you will be whole, deep down there will be an inner
           spiritual health.
               Raman is dying with cancer, but his eyes are full of joy. He dies laughing. This is real health. In
           deep agony is his body, but he is just a witness. This is meditation.
           Buddha says:

              IF THE TRAVELER CAN FIND
              A VIRTUOUS AND WISE COMPANION,
              LET HIM GO WITH HIM JOYFULLY
              AND OVERCOME THE DANGERS OF THE WAY.


               If you can find a man who is awakened, who is really virtuous and wise, whose virtue is not only
           a cultivated facade but a spontaneous fragrance, whose wisdom is no longer knowledge, whose
           wisdom is his own authentic experience... if you can find such a person, then go with him joyfully,
           wholeheartedly, totally. Then don't hold back, because this is a rare opportunity.
               How will you recognize the real awakened person? How will you recognize that he is authentic,
           true, that what he is saying he knows? How will you recognize him? That is one of the most
           important questions that has been asked for centuries, and it has not been answered adequately
           because it can't be answered adequately. Only a few hints can be given.
               You cannot recognize a true master through the head. To your head he may look very illogical.
           Let that be one of the hints -- because the pseudo master tries to be very logical. He has to convince
           you, and you can be convinced only if he is logical. He tries even to give logic about God. He creates
           theology, which is the most stupid thing in the world -- logic about God! There is no way to prove
           God logically, but the pseudo master tries to prove everything logically because you can understand
           only logic.
               The true master speaks paradoxically. He is a living paradox. He contradicts himself, because
           truth is the meeting of the opposites. And in the true master the truth has happened, the opposites
           have met. The polar opposites have disappeared in him; they have become one, they have melted
           into one unity. He is as paradoxical as existence itself. That should be the first hint.
               The head can only give you this much, so if your head feels somewhere that something is
           illogical, don't escape from the place. That illogicality simply means something mysterious is there.
           Now move to the heart. When your head says something is illogical, the head is saying, "It is beyond
           me -- drop it. I can't understand it. It is incomprehensible." Rather than dropping it, drop the head!
           Then you will be able to see the true master.
               The true master can only be felt. It is a question of a loving openness on your part. The disciple
           has to open the heart. The true master comes through the heart, not through the head. He is felt as
           love, not as logic. He is felt as a song, not as syllogism. He is felt as poetry, not as prose. He is a
           dance; you can know him only through participation.
               Be with a true master. Just being with him, sitting by his side in deep silence, with no prejudice,
           with no idea what is happening, something transpires. Something jumps from the master into your
           heart. You can feel it. It is energy, it is an energy phenomenon. It is not a question of a theory, of any
           hypothesis, of philosophy. It is a jump of energy, a quantum leap. Something invisible radiates from
           the true master and penetrates to the true disciple. And who is the true disciple? -- the one whose
           heart is open.
               And once you have felt the presence of the true master, Buddha says: GO WITH HIM
           JOYFULLY... not reluctantly, not with doubts -- joyfully, dancing, celebrating. You have found the
           master. There can be no greater blessing than that, because on the way you will find many problems
           without the master. The first step will not be possible; only the master can push you. And you can
           allow him to push you only if you trust.
               It is just like a new bird who has come out of the egg and sits on the edge of the nest, looks at his
           mother, father, parents, other birds flying in the sky. A great longing arises in his heart too. He
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           flutters his wings, but he cannot gather courage; he is afraid he may fall down. He has never flown
           before. He does not know what it is all about, how these people are managing. They may be
           different, they may have certain qualities. Who knows that he has wings also? He can have a certain
           feeling that there are wings; he can see a certain similarity. But the fear of falling, of killing oneself
           or crippling oneself, is also there.
               The mother goes and calls from the tree far away, gives him a call. He wants to go, but the fear....
           The mother goes around the nest, flies, to show him that "What I am doing YOU can do." Slowly
           slowly, he gathers courage, and one day the mother simply pushes him. He has to be pushed. In spite
           of his fear, when he is pushed he can see that he opens his wings; he is able to balance himself. Of
           course, in the beginning it is a little awkward, but soon he becomes efficient.
               Without the master the first step is difficult, the most difficult thing. How to move into the
           unknown if there is nobody to push you? But the master can push you only if you trust him, if you
           love him. It is just like the bird loves the mother and he knows that whatsoever she is doing she will
           not do any harm. Out of that trust he allows her to push him; in fact, deep down he wants to be
           pushed. He knows, "I cannot do it on my own." But if the mother is doing it she must be doing it
           right.
               When the disciple feels such a love affair with the master, then things become possible. And then
           there are many dangers on the way. The first step is the most difficult; then as you move deeper and
           deeper many more things have to be dropped. Who is going to tell you what to drop and what not to
           drop? It is all unknown to you. Somebody needs to constantly watch you.
               And then comes the last step, when the ego dies. That is also very difficult -- it seems as if YOU
           are dying. The master has to help you die because only through death you will be reborn. The master
           has to help you understand that this is not death. The seed disappearing in the soil is not dying; it is
           really being born as a tree. And the river disappearing in the ocean is not dying, it is simply
           becoming the ocean. It is not losing anything, it is gaining much more. It is losing nothing and
           gaining all.
               BUT IF YOU CANNOT FIND.... Buddha says: It is not easy to find an awakened master, so:

              ... IF YOU CANNOT FIND
              FRIEND OR MASTER TO GO WITH YOU,
              TRAVEL ON ALONE....


               Travel you must. If you can find a master, a companion, a friend, you are blessed, you are
           fortunate. If you cannot find, just don't make it an excuse that what can you do? -- there is nobody
           like Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu available. "What can I do? I have to live the ordinary life. I cannot go
           into the unknown on my own." No, you CAN go. It will be a little bit difficult, hazardous, risky, but
           the risk is worth taking.

              TRAVEL ON ALONE --
              LIKE A KING WHO HAS GIVEN AWAY HIS KINGDOM,
              LIKE AN ELEPHANT IN THE FOREST.


               Don't be worried that you are alone. Slowly slowly, you will become able to balance yourself.
           Slowly slowly, in slow steps, you will be able to go beyond the known. Slowly slowly you will be
           able to die as an ego and be born as an egoless presence. It may take a little longer time. It may take
           you sometimes astray because you are alone and there is nobody to call you back again and again to
           the right path, but still it is better to travel alone than not to travel at all.
               The greatest fault, the greatest misery is that people are not traveling at all towards truth. They
           are simply going in circles in their mundane affairs: the business, the wife, the husband, the children,
           the office and the home. And they go on in circles. Their whole life is just pointless; it makes no
           sense. It has no meaning, no significance. Still, somehow they go on, afraid of risking.
               Don't be afraid of risking. If you can risk, the whole universe is going to help you because this
           universe is not in any way aloof and unconcerned about you.
               Buddha has said, "When I became enlightened, the whole universe rejoiced. That moment I felt
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that the whole universe was helping me, waiting for me to become enlightened."
               The story is beautiful. Don't take it literally. It is symbolic, it is a metaphor. When Buddha
           became enlightened, trees bloomed out of season. Trees cannot bloom out of season, but we have to
           express somehow the joy that was felt in existence itself.
               Whenever there is a man like Buddha, the whole humanity takes an upward surge; it soars
           higher. Just take two dozen names from human history -- Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu,
           Mohammed, Bahauddin, Kabir -- just two dozen names. Take them out of human history and you
           will not be human at all; you will lose all your humanity. It is through these few people that great
           consciousness has been released. And even though you have not done anything you have been
           blessed by it. It has showered on you without your becoming aware of it.
               So if you have to travel alone, travel, but travel you must, in spite of all the dangers and risks.
           The greatest risk is NOT to travel, because then you are stuck, you don't grow, you are like a stone,
           you will never flower. In traveling maybe you will go astray, you will commit a few mistakes. So
           what? One learns through mistakes, one learns through going astray. And if one keeps alert one can't
           go very far away; that alertness brings one back.

              TRAVEL ON ALONE,
              RATHER THAN WITH A FOOL FOR COMPANY.


               Buddha says: Just for the company's sake, don't move with a fool. Beware of that.
               I have been observing thousands of saints and mahatmas -- Jaina, Hindu, Mohammedan -- and I
           was surprised to find one thing: ninety-nine percent of them look foolish, stupid. Something dull and
           dead seems to be inside them. There seems to be no flash of insight; no intelligence radiates around
           them. They look like walking graves. They have already died. They are worshipped because people
           worship death, and because people worship them they think they have arrived. They have not moved
           a single inch! They have even fallen below the ordinary humanity.
               This is my experience: that your so-called saints are far below the ordinary humanity as far as
           intelligence is concerned, awareness is concerned. They are not meditators, they don't know what
           meditation is. In the name of meditation they go on doing something else. They are utter fools!
               When Buddha uses the word 'fool' he means somebody who is living an unconscious life.
           Somebody is accumulating money in an unconscious way, not knowing why, not knowing for what,
           not knowing that death will come and everything will be taken away. Somebody else has renounced
           money, but he is as unconscious as the one who is greedy for money. Somebody goes on stuffing
           himself with food and somebody else goes on long fasts. Both are torturing their bodies in different
           ways, but both are self-destructive. The man who eats too much tortures his body, remember it -- he
           is also ascetic in his own way -- and the man who fasts also tortures his body. Both are
           self-destructive.
               And by self-destruction you cannot attain to liberation, to God, to nirvana. It is only through a
           tremendous creativity, sensitivity, awareness, that one comes home.
               So Buddha says: Beware of the company of the fool. It is better to be alone rather than to be with
           a foolish person, because the foolish person is bound to affect you. You will be with him and he will
           certainly infect you with his foolishness.
               Intelligence is also contagious. If you live with an intelligent person you start becoming
           intelligent, because we are not so separate, we vibrate together. If we live with somebody for a long
           time we start synchronizing with the person.
               That's the whole secret of SATSANG -- the communion with the master. If he is awakened, his
           disciples slowly slowly start moving towards a subtle awakening. It is bound to happen. If the
           disciple can simply be in the presence of the master, surrendered, relaxed, in a state of let-go, he may
           not have to do anything at all. The presence of the master will start flooding him, will start changing
           his being. We are joined together.
               Have you not watched it? If four persons are laughing and you are in a sad mood and you go to
           these people, you forget your sadness; you start laughing. Later on when you remember that you
           were sad, it looks very strange. How did you forget your sadness? How did you start laughing? What
           happened? The energy there, the space there, was totally different from you: it was more powerful
           than you. Those four persons were creating a certain vibe. Hence the significance of a buddhafield.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The master creates a field around himself; through his disciples he creates an energy field. To be in
           that energy field is a transformation in itself.
               But the same happens if you move with the foolish people. Just to keep company, people would
           like to be with anybody. They are so afraid of being alone.
               Buddha wants you to beware of that. It is better to be with trees and the clouds and the river and
           the mountains and the ocean, because they will not make you more foolish than you are; they may
           even help you to become a little more intelligent, because the whole existence is nothing but
           intelligence. If you can be in deep communion with nature you will become more intelligent. There
           is all around you tremendous intelligence available, but only intelligent people can feel it. The
           foolish person remains closed.
               The fool lives in his own world; that's why he is called the idiot. The word 'idiot' means one who
           lives in his own world, one who has his own idiom, one who has his own private reality. He is closed
           to the real; he has his own fantasy. He lives in his dreams.

                Pat went to see the doctor about his eyes. The doctor suggested he bathe them every morning in
           brandy.
                The next time Pat came to see the doctor, the doctor asked him how his eyes were.
           "Did you follow my advice?" he asked.
           "I tried to -- but I can't raise the glass higher than my mouth!"

               The fool is not only the person who is ignorant. The fool can be very knowledgeable; often he is.
           He can be a pundit, he can be a priest, he can be a professor. And then he is more dangerous because
           he appears to talk sense, and deep down he is as ignorant as anybody else, as foolish as anybody
           else.

               A famous professor walked into a travel agency to buy a steamship ticket.
           "To where?" the agent asked.
           "Have you got a globe of the world?"
               The travel agent handed him a globe. The professor turned the globe around and around looking
           at all the countries and continents. After thirty minutes he said, "Pardon me, haven't you got anything
           else?"

               Your professors, your pundits, your scholars, are not very much different.
               And remember, the foolish person may have a certain character. It is easy for the fool to create a
           certain character because he is stubborn. Stupidity is always stubborn. If some idea gets into his head
           he may be able to practice it more consistently than the intelligent person because he is stubborn, he
           cannot be flexible. He is not dynamic, he is stagnant.
               That helps many foolish people to become respectable -- because they can do stupid things
           nobody else will be able to do, but they do them with such perseverance, with such patience, with
           such strength, that they succeed in doing them. They can create great characters, they can be great
           moralists, they can be very pious, and they can impress you.
               Remember, character is not of much value. What is valuable is consciousness -- not conscience
           but consciousness. Conscience is created by the society. The more foolish you are, the more the
           society is able to create a conscience in you. It gives you an idea how to live your life. It manipulates
           you in a very subtle way. It hypnotizes you and conditions you. And the conditioning is so long that
           you forget completely that these are not your ideas.
               For example, if you are born in a vegetarian family you will be a vegetarian, thinking that you
           have renounced all meat-eating, etcetera, that you are great -- you are a vegetarian. But if you were
           born in a nonvegetarian family you would have been a nonvegetarian. It depends on the
           conditioning; you are not doing it consciously. You are allowing other people to dominate you, to
           decide for you.
               The intelligent person is rebellious. He does not allow others to decide for him; he keeps the
           right to himself. Hence, stupid people become saints very easily because they allow the society to
           condition them. At least in that particular society they will be very much respected. To others they
           will look very stupid, to others they will look insane, but to that particular society which has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conditioned them they will be great saints.
               Just a few days before in Bombay, a naked Jaina saint has come -- Acharya Vidyananda. He lives
           naked. To the Jainas he seems to be a great saint; to others he seems to be a little bit crazy, eccentric.
           And if you look at his face he looks stupid, although he talks on great scriptures. But his face shows
           simply stupidity, no radiance. His body seems ugly. If there is going to be a competition, a world
           competition in ugliness for Mr. Universe, then he may succeed. But to his set, to his followers he
           looks so great -- that he has transcended his body. And all that he is doing is unnecessarily torturing
           his body.
               If you torture the body it becomes ugly. It is a gift of God -- make it beautiful. It is your home,
           you have to live in it -- make it beautiful.
               But once you are in a certain conditioning, that is your whole universe. You think in terms which
           others have told you. Unless by some accident you come across a new idea....

                Old maid Sarah possessed several million dollars, a pedigree female cat, and some very Victorian
           ideas on the subject of sex. In fact, her feelings about sex were such that for five years she had never
           allowed her cat to go out of the house for fear of "contamination."
                Deciding to take a vacation in Hawaii, Sarah instructed her housekeeper, "Now be sure you don't
           let the cat out. I repeat, do not, under any circumstances, let the cat out."
                After Sarah had been gone about a week, the housekeeper received a telegram, "Having a
           wonderful time. Met the nicest young man. Let the cat out!"

               People are living in small ponds of their own ideology and it is very rare that they will come
           across something new that will go through their thick layer of conditioning and will make them
           aware what they are doing to themselves. These are the people you worship, you respect, whom for
           centuries you have worshipped and respected. And because of this worship and respect the whole
           humanity has remained tethered to the lowest possibility of intelligence. You could have reached to
           the Everest of intelligence, but we have not allowed our intelligence to soar high, higher than the
           collective mind wants it to.

              DO NOT CARRY WITH YOU YOUR MISTAKES.
              DO NOT CARRY YOUR CARES.


               Buddha says: Go alone, just remember two things. Don't carry your mistakes -- that means, don't
           carry your past. There is no need even to repent about the past. Your religious people go on teaching
           you, "Repent!" because it is through repentance that they make you feel guilty, and when you are
           guilty you can be exploited.
               A real master always makes you feel good about yourself, not guilty; respectful towards yourself,
           not guilty. But the priests live on creating guilt in you. They would not like you to forget your
           mistakes; they want to remind you again and again. They have not even forgotten the sin that was
           committed by Adam and Eve; they go on reminding you about the original sin. You have not
           committed it, but you are born into the chain in which the first man and woman committed it and you
           are carrying the load of it. You have to feel guilty even for that, what to say about your own
           mistakes? The priests have lived in great power for the simple reason that they have reduced you into
           guilty sinners.

               The elderly priest listened in while the young curate took his first confession.
           "You did well," he told the young priest, "but I suggest that when you hear the confessions of these
           pretty young ladies it would be more appropriate if you went, 'Tsk, tsk, tsk,' and not 'Wow!'"

               DO NOT CARRY WITH YOU YOUR MISTAKES. Don't repent, don't feel guilty. Drop the
           past; it is no more.
               And: DO NOT CARRY YOUR CARES. That is: don't think about the future, don't be worried
           about it. Live in the present. That is what meditation is all about: living in the present. Mind lives in
           the past and in the future; and if you can be in the present, mind disappears, and silence prevails --
           profound silence, virgin silence.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              See it as a fact... right now, here. If there is no past and no future, then this moment has such
           beauty, such grace. Then the birds singing and the traffic noise and this beautiful silence... and
           something will transpire between me and you. It can transpire only in the present.

              TRAVEL ON ALONE
              LIKE AN ELEPHANT IN THE FOREST.


                Be in the present and travel on alone -- if you cannot find a master. But if you can find a master,
           let him go with you; go with him joyfully.... AND OVERCOME THE DANGERS OF THE WAY.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                     Chapter #6
                                         Chapter title: Truth cannot be lost
           16 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002160
              ShortTitle: DHAM906
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM REJECTING MY MIND AND CLINGING TO AWARENESS.


                Prem Shahido, mind has not to be rejected at all; if you reject it, it will remain. Rejection means
           repression. Anything rejected never leaves you; it simply moves from the conscious to the
           unconscious, from the lighted part of your being to the dark layers where you cannot face it. You
           become oblivious of it, but it is there, more alive than ever. It is better to face the enemy than to keep
           the enemy at your back; that is far more dangerous.
                And I have not told you to reject the mind. Mind is a beautiful mechanism, one of the miracles of
           existence. We have not been able yet to make anything comparable to human mind. Even the most
           sophisticated computers are nothing compared to it. A single human mind can contain all the
           libraries of the world; its capacities are almost unbounded. But it is a machine, it is not you. To get
           identified with it is wrong, to make it your master is wrong, to be guided by it is wrong. But to be the
           master and the guide is perfectly right. The mind as a servant is of tremendous value, so don't reject
           it. To reject it will impoverish you, it will not enrich you.
                I am not AGAINST the mind; I am in favor of transcending it. And if you reject you cannot
           transcend. Use it as a stepping-stone. It all depends on you: you can make it a hindrance if you start
           thinking that the mind has to be rejected, denied, destroyed; or you can make it a stepping-stone if
           you accept it, if you try to understand it. In the very effort of understanding it, transcendence
           happens. You go beyond it, you become a witness.
           And, Shahido, a second thing....
           You say, "I am clinging to awareness."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That is bound to happen. If you reject mind you will start clinging to awareness. And clinging is
           nothing but mind functioning from the back door. Clinging is a process of mind. But that is bound to
           happen to people who reject, repress.
                The question is of transformation. The mind has to be used rightly; then there will be no clinging
           to awareness. Otherwise, afraid of the mind, that it may come back, you will cling to awareness --
           and in clinging it has already come back, it is already there. Clinging is mind; nonclinging is
           intrinsic to awareness. You cannot cling to awareness; if you cling, it is just a mind phenomenon.
           Your awareness too is just a pseudo thing created by the mind because you were asking too much for
           it. It is false, utterly false; if you have to cling to it, it is false.
                Real awareness remains with you; you need not cling to it. Who will cling to it? You ARE
           awareness. Who will cling to whom? In awareness there are not two -- the clinger and the object of
           clinging; in awareness you are one. There is only awareness and nothing else. One cannot cling to
           awareness. But it is bound to happen if you reject the mind; the very first step has gone wrong. Don't
           reject it -- understand it.
                And in fact, the word 'understand' is very significant. When you understand something it stands
           under you. You become transcendental, you go beyond it; it is below you. It has its utility; great
           utility. There will be no science without mind and there will be no technology without mind. All
           human comforts will disappear without human mind. Man will fall back into the world of the
           animals or even far below without the mind. Mind has given much.
                The problem is not the mind; the problem is your identification with it. You think you are it, that
           is the problem. Disidentify. Watch the mind, and you BE the watcher and let the mind be there
           watched, witnessed, observed. And a great radical change happens through observation. Mind
           functions far more efficiently when you observe it because all that is rubbish drops and mind need
           not carry unnecessary weight; it becomes light. And when you become a watcher, mind can have
           some rest too. Otherwise your whole life mind is working, working, day in, day out, year in, year
           out; it stops only when you die. It creates a deep fatigue, mental fatigue.
                Now scientists say even metals become tired -- metal fatigue. So what to say about the mind
           which is very subtle, which is very delicate? Handle it carefully. But YOU remain aloof,
           unconcerned, uninvolved. When you are writing you don't become the fountain pen, although you
           cannot write without it. A good fountain pen is very essential for good writing. If you start writing
           with your fingers nobody will be able to read what you have written, not even you, and it will be
           very primitive. But you are not the fountain pen, and the fountain pen is not the writer but only a
           writing instrument.
                The mind is not the master but only an instrument in the hands of the master.
                Shahido, be more alert, aware, but don't cling to it. Clinging will destroy the whole beauty of it.
           Why cling? What is the fear? We cling only out of fear. You ARE awareness, you cannot lose it.
           Even now, when you are unaware of the fact that you are awareness, you have not lost it.
                Truth cannot be lost. Whether you know it or you know not, it makes no difference. The truth
           remains the truth, known or unknown. Your innermost being is still pure awareness. You live on the
           circumference, hence you are not able to see your own center.
                Sannyas means exploring your interiority, moving towards the center. That's what meditation is
           all about. When you become centered, suddenly there is great freedom because you know you are
           not the mind and you are not the body. That does not mean that you start rejecting the body or the
           mind. You respect the body, you respect the mind. You love the body more so, more than ever. It is a
           beautiful house. It is your home and you have to live in it seventy, eighty, ninety years. And it is
           serving you so beautifully; its service is of great value. You respect it, you befriend it, you take care
           of it. But still you know: "I am neither the body nor the mind. I am consciousness."
                And then there is no question of clinging. Knowing that "I am consciousness," you become part
           of God. Then there is no birth for you, no death for you. Then you ARE part of eternity, and to be
           part of eternity is to be blissful. When you know you cannot die, all fear disappears and the energy
           involved in fear is released as love. When you know you are part of the whole there is no anxiety
           left, no anguish possible, and the energy involved in anxiety, in anguish, is released. You become
           compassion, love, joy; it starts overflowing you. You are not only a blessing to yourself, you become
           a blessing to everybody else; you become a blessing to existence itself.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT NECESSARY TO GO THROUGH DREAM ANALYSIS FOR ATTAINING ENLIGHTENMENT?


                Gautami, dream analysis cannot help you to become enlightened, but dream witnessing can
           certainly help you.
                That is the difference between psychology and religion: psychology analyzes dreams; religion
           watches them, helps you to become aware of them. And the moment you become aware of your
           dreams they disappear; they can't exist for a single moment longer. They can exist only when you are
           utterly unaware; for their existence that is an absolute condition.
                A buddha never dreams, he cannot dream. Even if he wants to dream he cannot. Dreaming
           simply disappears from his being because even in the night while he is asleep, deep down in his
           innermost core he is awake. A flame of awareness continues and he knows what is happening. He
           knows that his body is asleep. Witnessing becomes so ingrained that not only in the day but in the
           night also it continues. And then dreaming disappears. You dream because you desire; your dreams
           reflect your desires. Now, you can go on dissecting your desires for lives, and you will not attain to
           anything. You can go on analyzing your dreams....
                There are many systems of analysis. If you go to the Freudians they will analyze your dreams in
           one way: they will interpret everything as sexuality. Imaginable things, unimaginable things,
           everything has to be reduced to sexuality. If you go to the Adlerians with the same dreams, they will
           interpret them according to their ideology. Then every dream is reduced to Adler's idea: will to
           power. Then everything is nothing but will to power; each dream has to fit with his philosophy. And
           so is the case with the Jungians and others.
                And one thing has been observed again and again -- a very strange phenomenon happens. If you
           go into psychoanalysis of any kind -- Freudian, Jungian, Adlerian -- you start dreaming in the way
           your psychoanalyst expects you to dream. If you go to the Freudian, sooner or later you start
           dreaming according to his idea. People are very obliging; they feel sorry for the poor analyst. And he
           is making such hard effort to analyze your dreams. First he starts giving you interpretations and then
           you start dreaming according to his interpretations. Soon you fit with each other -- you are as if made
           for each other. Then he is happy and you are happy. He is happy because his theories are confirmed
           and you are happy that you are a good boy, dreaming according to the great expert. And when you
           see your psychoanalyst happy, YOU feel happy. Seeing you feel happy, he feels happy. It is such a
           mutual arrangement! And nobody is really helped... dreaming continues.
                I have never come across a fully psychoanalyzed person, because according to Freud, a fully
           psychoanalyzed person is one whose dreaming has disappeared. And that was not true even about
           Sigmund Freud himself; he continued to dream to his very last. And he was very afraid of
           psychoanalysis, you will be surprised to know, because he knew his disciples would only prove that
           all his dreams were sexual.
                Once Jung wanted to psychoanalyze Freud. Jung was his most beloved disciple in those days,
           just as once Judas was one of the most beloved disciples of Jesus. And what Judas did to Jesus, Jung
           did to Freud. People whose names start with 'J' are dangerous!
                Freud and Jung were traveling and they started talking. Jung said, "This idea occurs to me again
           and again: that I would like to psychoanalyze you. You have not been psychoanalyzed. In fact,
           nobody who has not been psychoanalyzed should be authorized to psychoanalyze other people. And
           you are the founder -- you should be psychoanalyzed."
                Freud actually started trembling and he said, "No, no, never! That will destroy my prestige."
                Jung said, "If that is so, then it has already destroyed your prestige, at least for me. If you are so
           much afraid to talk about your dreams, that simply shows what kind of dreams you must be having."
                There is not a single person in the world who is totally psychoanalyzed. And unless dreams
           disappear, your mind will remain in a turmoil. Dreams simply say you don't know how to put your
           mind off; you don't know where the switch exists so that you can put it on and off according to your
           needs. When you are going to sleep you can't put if off; it goes on chattering. Even if you say to it,
           "Shut up!" it does not listen to you at all; it does not care. And you know perfectly well it won't
           listen. You feel so impotent as far as your own mind is concerned that you have to move according
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to it, it does not move according to you. If it wants to chatter it will chatter; when you fall asleep,
           still it goes on chattering.
                The art of meditation makes you aware where the switch is: it is in witnessing. Witnessing is the
           switch that can put your mind on or off. You become the master, so when you want to use it you use
           it and when you don't want to use it you simply put it off and it gives rest to the mind.
                Hence the mind of a meditator is far more brilliant, far more intelligent, far more alive, sensitive,
           than the mind of a nonmeditator, because the mind of a meditator has a few periods of deep deep rest
           that rejuvenates it. If you see a meditator and he is not intelligent, that simply means he is not a
           meditator at all. A meditator cannot be stupid, a meditator cannot be mediocre; that is impossible. If
           he is a meditator, then he will radiate sharpness, intelligence, brilliance. He will be a genius, he will
           be creative.
                In fact, if we can create more and more meditators in the world, in every dimension of life there
           will be more creativity, more intelligence, less stupidity, less lethargy. But it has not happened down
           the ages. Just the opposite has happened because in the name of meditation, something else has
           continued. In the name of meditation people either have been concentrating or contemplating. Both
           are not meditation.
                Concentration is just the opposite of meditation and so is contemplation, in a different way.
           Concentration means closing your mind, focusing your mind, on a certain point, on a certain object.
           You are so focused on a certain object that you become unaware of everything else; that is
           concentration. It excludes everything else; it includes only one thing: the object of your
           concentration, whatsoever it is.
                And meditation means absolute openness. It includes all, it excludes nothing. Hence it is not
           concentration at all. It is a state of vulnerability, openness, availability.
                The person who is trying to concentrate can be distracted. He can be easily distracted by
           anything. Just a dog in the neighborhood starts barking and he is distracted, a child starts giggling
           and he is distracted, a bird starts singing and he is distracted. Anything will do, as if he is just
           waiting for anything to distract him; he is tired of focusing his mind. It is a tension, it is a strain.
                Meditation is not a tension, it is not a strain. One is never tired of meditation. It is relaxation --
           how you can be tired of it? It is deep rest, it is utter restfulness. One is available to everything;
           nothing can distract you.
                You can listen to me either as concentration or as meditation. If you listen to me as
           concentration, then anything can distract. A car passes by... the cuckoo starts calling from the
           distance -- the chattering of the birds. Anything can distract you, any small thing. Not that the birds
           are interested in distracting you; they are not concerned with you at all. But you will feel anger
           arising in you.
                That's why so-called religious people become more angry than anybody else. They live almost in
           rage. If a single person in your house becomes religious, he is enough to create trouble for
           everybody, because each small thing distracts him and then he takes revenge.
                You can listen to me in meditation. Then you are not concentrating on me; you are simply sitting
           available, open. The birds go on chattering; that too comes to you, but because you are not
           concentrating it is not a distraction -- it enriches. What I am saying to you is enriched. The singing of
           the birds becomes a background to it. And you never feel angry and you never feel tense.
                Contemplation is also not meditation. Contemplation means thinking. Thinking can be of two
           types. One is zigzag, in jumps from one object to another, a little crazy; that is ordinary thinking.
           Anything leads to anything. A dog starts barking and you start thinking about your girlfriend. There
           seems to be no relationship, but maybe your girl had said once, "I go on barking at you and you don't
           listen!" Suddenly the dog reminds you. Or maybe she also has a dog who barks at you whenever you
           go to see her. And then from one thing to another... you will not stay with anything long. The
           girlfriend reminds you of her mother, and so on, so forth. Nobody knows where you are going to
           end. When you will look retrospectively you will be surprised: just the dog barking in the
           neighborhood started the whole process of thought.
                Contemplation means remaining concerned with one object, thinking about it and only about it.
           Thinking has a consistency. If you are thinking about love, then you are thinking about love and all
           its aspects. You don't jump from one thing to another. Yes, you have a little rope just so that you can
           move around the subject of love, but you keep moving around it, around and around. You forget the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole world -- love becomes your world for the moment.
               Meditation is not contemplation either because it is not thinking at all -- consistent, inconsistent,
           crazy, sane. It is not thinking at all; it is witnessing. It is just sitting silently deep within yourself,
           looking at whatsoever is happening inside and outside both. Outside there is traffic noise, inside
           there is also traffic noise -- the traffic in the head. So many thoughts -- trucks and buses of thoughts
           and trains and airplanes of thoughts, rushing in every direction. But you are simply sitting aloof,
           unconcerned, watching everything with no evaluation.
               You ask me, Gautami, "Is it necessary to go through dream analysis for attaining
           enlightenment?"
               No, not at all. Have you ever heard anybody becoming enlightened through psychoanalysis? Yes,
           people have become mad, but nobody has become enlightened.
               Psychoanalysis depends on analysis of the mind, and they don't see anything else in you. The
           body is taken care of by the physiologists; then all that remains is a constant traffic in the mind either
           of thoughts or of dreams, memories, imagination, desires. The psychoanalyst has nothing else to do:
           he looks into your dreaming process. And why does he choose dreams? -- because if he asks you
           what you think when you are awake you are never authentic, you are never sincere. You are so
           deceptive, so dishonest, that whatever you say about your thinking is bound to be managed; it is not
           going to be true. You will say only that which is worth saying and you will delete many things. You
           will edit your thoughts. You will not allow the psychoanalyst to look into your thoughts without any
           censor, without any editing. You will not allow him the raw material of your thoughts because that
           will look like you are insane.
               You can try it. Sit in your room, close all the doors so nobody can come in, and start writing
           whatsoever is happening in the mind -- whatsoever it is. Just go on writing for fifteen minutes, then
           read it -- and you will be shocked. This is your mind? All these thoughts are going on in your mind?
           Are you mad or something? You can't show it to anybody.
               It is good that people don't have windows in their heads; otherwise the wife will look through the
           window in the head of the husband and she will find everything. She finds everything anyway,
           window or no window!
               The psychoanalyst has to depend on your dreams because in dreams it is very difficult for you to
           deceive him. You don't know yourself what your dreams mean so you have to say them as they are,
           and he can find a few clues about you. But this is not going to make you enlightened. This may help
           you a little bit to become more normal, but what is normality? Even the people who are normal are
           not normal -- they are normally abnormal, that's all. So you will be normally abnormal.
               There are two kinds of abnormal people in the world: normally abnormal, abnormally abnormal.
           The work of the psychoanalyst is to bring abnormally abnormal people to the first category:
           normally abnormal. He helps you to adjust with the society, with people, with yourself, but he can't
           help you to become enlightened.
               You can go on and on analyzing your dreams and you will never come to your witnessing soul
           through that analysis. How can you come to the witness by analyzing the dreams? One dream will
           lead you into another dream. Maybe you will become a very skillful dreamer, very artful. Maybe you
           will start dreaming in a better way, in a more scientific way, but dreams are dreams. They cannot
           take you to the witness of the dreams which is your reality.

              Al: "I had a great dream -- I dreamed I broke the bank at Monte Carlo."
              Charles: "I had a great dream too -- I dreamed I was in a room with Sophia Loren and Brigitte
           Bardot."
              Al: "Wow! Bardot and Sophia! Why didn't you call me?"
              Charles: "I did, but your maid said you were in Monte Carlo!"

               You can analyze this dream. What will be the gain? Neither the bank in Monte Carlo nor Sophia
           Loren or Bardot -- nothing is going to be your gain. But the psychoanalyst will analyze it. If you go
           to the Adlerian, his emphasis will be on the bank in Monte Carlo: will to power, money, prestige. He
           will forget all about Sophia Loren and Bardot; he is not interested -- that is nothing. If you go to the
           Freudian he will not think about Monte Carlo and the bank at all; that is nonessential, accidental.
           The real thing is Sophia Loren and Bardot.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And if you go to a Jungian, then nobody knows what he will do with your dream. He is so
           confused! But he will make much fuss about it, that much is certain. He will create much dust --
           esoteric dust. He may start looking into your dream and finding things which you would have never
           suspected -- some ancient mysteries, maybe Egyptian. Or he may go even farther back -- Atlantis.
           He is really a grave digger. And he goes on finding things which are not there.

               You must have heard the definition of a philosopher. The philosopher is a man who is blind
           looking in the dark night, in a dark room, for a black cat which is not there. But Jung FINDS it there!
           That's the beauty of Jung -- he finds the black cat which is not there; he finds it still. And he creates
           so much smoke and dust that you cannot deny him. He creates great argument. And he himself is
           very much afraid of going towards the witness.
               He has been in India, and there was a man -- a man the like of whom happens only once in a
           while. Maharshi Raman was alive. And wherever Jung went in India, almost everywhere people
           suggested to him, "Why are you wasting your time here and there, going to Varanasi and Bombay?
           Why don't you go to Maharshi Raman?" People knew that he is a great psychoanalyst,
           world-famous. "You should go to Maharshi Raman, who has gone beyond the mind. Sitting by his
           side you may have a few glimpses. You may come away a totally changed person."
               But Jung avoided him, he did not go there. On the contrary, back home he started writing against
           Eastern mysticism. He could not write against mysticism as such because he was himself creating
           great mysteries -- superficial because he was not an initiate in any mystery school. He was gathering
           things from superficial sources. He had never been in contact with a living master. He had come so
           close to a buddha -- Maharshi Raman -- yet he missed. And in self-defense he started writing back
           home that Eastern mysticism is not meant for the Western mind -- as if there are Eastern souls and
           Western souls too. Yes, there is a difference in the skin of the Eastern people and the Western
           people; it is not much of a difference, just a little color pigment -- four annas' worth. And remember,
           the black person has it more than the white. He is more valuable -- four annas more valuable --
           because he has a certain pigment that makes him black which the white skin is missing.
               And yes, there is a certain difference in the mind, because the Eastern mind is conditioned in a
           different way and the Western mind is conditioned in a different way. Conditionings are different,
           but the witness is the same. Jesus and Buddha, Mohammed and Mahavira, are not different. Saint
           Francis and Ramakrishna, Eckhart and Krishnamurti, are not different. One who has known the
           witness is neither Eastern nor Western. He is no more the body and no more the mind -- how can he
           be Eastern or Western?
               And Jung started talking this nonsense in self-defense. He said, "That's why I avoided Maharshi
           Raman, because Eastern methods are not suitable to us. The West needs its own yoga, the West
           needs its own meditations." What difference can there be in being aware? Whether you are in the
           East or in the West, awareness will be the same -- and that is the essential core of meditation.
               They are great interpreters of dreams... the whole world of the psychoanalyst is the world of
           dreams. And as far as the enlightened person is concerned, for him the whole world is nothing but a
           dream. For the psychoanalyst, dreams are his whole world, and for the enlightened person the whole
           world is nothing but a dream.

              The analyst was annoyed with her patient who said she did not dream the night before.
           "Look," he warned her, "if you don't do your homework, I can't help you."

              Dreaming is a necessity; that is your homework. Do it at home and then come to the
           psychoanalyst, and he is there with his whole expertise to analyze it.
              Gautami, enlightenment means going beyond desires and dreams. There is no need to waste your
           time in analyzing. Just go beyond, put your whole energy in going beyond. And when you go
           beyond, all dreams disappear on their own accord.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I KEEP LOSING EVERYTHING BUT MY EGO?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Sughanda.... Odum, an elderly black called before the justice of the peace, was charged with
           keeping a vicious dog.
           "That dog bit my girl Bobbie Jo three times," complained the mother.
           "Did your dog bite little Bobbie Jo?" asked the judge.
           "No, sir," said Odum. "My dog, he never bit any little girl."
           "Well," said the judge to the mother, "this man says that the dog did not bite your little girl."
           "I will go home and bring Bobbie Jo here and show you," said the woman.
           "Hold on," said the black man. "In the first place, the dog is so old he ain't got no teeth and he can't
           bite. In the second place, the dog is blind and could not see Bobbie Jo anyhow. In the third place, the
           dog is deaf and can't hear a thing. And in the fourth place, he ain't my dog in the first place."

                Sughanda, you cannot lose your ego because in the first place it does not exist at all. You can
           lose everything else because those things really exist, but how can you lose something which does
           not exist? You cannot lose your shadow; it does not exist. And the ego is far more false than your
           shadow; it is not even a shadow. It is not substance, it is not even a shadow. It is just an idea planted
           by society within you. It has no reality, so how can you lose it?
                The only way to lose it is to LOOK for it -- and you will not find it. And when you don't find it
           you have lost it. Go within and look for it, search for it.
                That's what the meditators have been doing for centuries. They close their eyes and they go in
           and they search for the ego, where it is -- and they can't find it. When you can't find it and you have
           looked in all the nooks and all the corners of your being and it is not found anywhere, then you know
           you have lost it. In the first place, really it was never there; it was only your belief.
                It is like you see a rope in the dark and you believe it is a snake. Then you are trembling and
           perspiring and running and trying to save yourself from the snake -- which does not exist at all. All
           your running and your perspiration and all your shouting is just futile, but it can be dangerous to you.
           Even a false snake can kill you -- you may have a heart attack! That's the trouble with false things;
           you cannot lose them -- they are not there -- but they can do real things to you.
                You may have experienced it sometimes in your dream, when you are having a nightmare. You
           are running, and a tiger is chasing you, and the tiger is coming closer and closer, and you are running
           faster and faster and you know that only few moments are left. You can almost feel the hot breath of
           the tiger on your back.
                And then suddenly you come to a cul-de-sac; the road ends. You can't go back -- the tiger is
           there; you can't go ahead. If you jump into the valley you will be dead before you reach the bottom.
                In that state you wake up. The nightmare is too much; it wakes you up. Your heart is palpitating,
           your breath is disturbed, you are perspiring on a cold winter night. And there is no tiger -- just your
           wife putting her hand on your back, breathing so close.... You are awake, the nightmare has
           disappeared. You know there is no tiger -- "It is only my poor wife" -- but still, for a few minutes the
           perspiration will continue, the heart will go on beating faster, you will start up. Still, knowing
           perfectly well that all was false, you are trembling.
                Exactly is the case with the ego: it is a false entity. When you wake up you can't find it. So the
           question is not of dropping it. How can you drop something which is not? The question is seeing into
           it, looking for it, searching for it.
                I don't say to you, "Seek and search for God." That is nonsense. How can you seek and search for
           God, and where? You don't know the address. And even if you meet the gentleman you won't
           recognize him. Even if he says hello, you won't understand his language. He does not speak German,
           he does not speak French, he does not speak Italian -- not even Italian!
                But every nation believes that "He speaks our language." The Indians think that he speaks
           Sanskrit, that he himself has written the Vedas. And the Mohammedan thinks he speaks Arabic -- he
           himself has spoken in Arabic through Mohammed, the only messenger. And of course, the Jews
           think they are the chosen people of God -- he speaks Hebrew.

               After the second world war one German general was talking to an English general. He said, "I
           can't believe how it happened, how we failed. We had better armies than you, more advanced
           technology, we were better equipped in every way. How did we fail and you succeeded?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The English general smiled and he said, "The reason is we used to pray before starting to fight
           every day."
               The German said, "But we also did. We also used to pray before we started to fight."
               The Englishman said, "That we know, but we used to pray in English and you in German -- and
           he does not understand German at all."

                Every country believes its language is divine, God's language. But God knows only the language
           of silence -- and you don't know silence. So when he will say hello it will be a very silent hello. It
           will not be uttered, it will not be said; it will be only a gesture. And it is almost impossible for you to
           hear it because it cannot be heard.
                You cannot recognize his face because it does not resemble Jesus', it does not resemble
           Krishna's, it does not resemble Buddha's. All faces are his and still he has no face. The Zen people
           call that face "the original face"; it resembles nobody. Christians will not recognize him because they
           will be looking for Christ's face and Hindus will not recognize him because they will be looking for
           Krishna's face. Yes, in Krishna's face also he was and in Christ's face also, but they are just waves --
           Krishna, Christ, Buddha, Mahavira -- and he is the ocean. You can't recognize the ocean if you only
           know about a single wave; the ocean is not a wave although all waves belong to the ocean.
                You cannot search for God, and you are so asleep that all your search is going to be wrong. The
           first thing is to search for your ego; that is the right direction for the seeker. And when you don't find
           the ego -- when the ego is not found at all, it simply disappears -- then is the possibility of
           recognizing God's face, because he is egolessness. And when you have the taste of egolessness, a
           little taste, you will understand him. When the ego disappears you will know what silence is, what
           space is, what emptiness is. You are so full of nonexistential ego; when it is gone you will know
           great spaciousness within you. And he is space, pure space. Something of him will be known by you;
           then you can recognize him, you are bridged to him.
                Sughanda, you say, "Why do I keep losing everything but my ego?"
                Because everything else has a concrete reality and the ego has no reality at all. If you want to
           lose your ego you will have to go in. Maybe that's why people don't go in -- afraid that they may lose
           themselves. And their fear is right. Beware! If you are ready to lose yourself, then only decide to go
           in.
                But that moment is the greatest moment in life -- when you lose your ego -- because that very
           moment, immediately, God is found. The moment you are not, God is. The moment you evaporate,
           God descends in you.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I ALWAYS FEEL THAT ANIMALS ARE VERY FRIENDLY WITH ME. WHY?


                Roberto, you are an Italian! I will tell you one Italian story.
           "It is wonderful the power I have got over dumb animals," boasted Rizzoli to his wife. "You notice
           wherever we go, dogs -- big ones, small ones -- no matta how mean, they all-a come up and lick-a
           my hand."
           "Maybe," said Mrs. Rizzoli, "if you would eat-a with a knife and fork-a once in a while, they would
           not be so friendly!"

              Just be a little less Italian, Roberto, so that even human beings can be friendly to you.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY TO HANDLE A WOMAN?


              Somesh, there is only one way to handle a woman. The trouble is, nobody knows what it is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I DID NOT LIKE YOUR TELLING TO US NOT TO LOOK AT THE SUN TODAY WHILE IT IS IN
              TOTAL ECLIPSE. I THOUGHT YOU BELIEVED IN ABSOLUTE FREEDOM.


                Sunderam, you are not the only one to ask this question. At least twenty other fools have also
           asked the same. Please forgive me that I told you not to look at the sun directly -- do it! Please do me
           a favor! I was utterly wrong to say it so -- your freedom is destroyed. Enjoy your freedom; at least
           today, don't forget to enjoy it. Look as much as you can at the sun and don't use any device --
           because that will hinder your freedom. With the naked eyes -- natural eyes -- look at the sun. Enjoy it
           to your heart's content.
                I was not going to say it to you. The whole blame goes to Vivek! She nagged me and nagged me
           to tell you; otherwise I was not going to tell you anything.
                A few of these twenty fools have said, "We had never thought that you are superstitious." This is
           not superstition -- these are scientific facts. There are millions of superstitions also. For example, in
           India, after the eclipse is over then take a bath and if you can take the bath in a holy river like the
           Ganges it is thought to be very religious, holy -- because Indians believe that the sun has been in
           deep difficulty and it is out of the difficulty. That is superstition. The sun is not going into any
           difficulty at all. The eclipse is not happening on the sun; the sun has nothing to do with the eclipse. It
           is just the moon coming between you and the sun; it is not happening on the moon either. It is only
           happening for us.
                Indians give donations after the eclipse is over, rejoicing that the sun god is out of trouble. Those
           are superstitions.
                But looking at the sun is dangerous -- scientifically dangerous; it is not a question of superstition.
           You can try it. A few of the others have written, "How can we believe in what you say when your
           date was wrong, your day was wrong?" That is true. Even if my date is wrong and my day is wrong,
           the sun in eclipse will have the same effect. About days and dates I am not so sure. In fact, I have no
           idea of time. I have to go on looking at the clock again and again, otherwise I will go on talking and
           talking.
                Just last month it happened: the clock stopped... at eight twenty it stopped. I looked at it again
           and again... it was ten to ten. And I am so superstitious that I still believed the clock! I was still
           thinking it was eight twenty. Finally I started seeing some restlessness around me. I thought, "What
           is the matter? Something somewhere is wrong." I looked at the clock -- again eight twenty. I said,
           "There is no problem; there is still time enough."
                Yes, on the fourteenth I said, "Tomorrow." Naturally, my date was wrong, but that does not mean
           that what I said is wrong. Fifteenth or sixteenth, that doesn't matter; dates are arbitrary. They are just
           our creation -- days are arbitrary. But just because of that, if you ask me how you can believe....
                I am not telling you to believe anything. You can go and check with the scientists -- it is
           dangerous to the eyes, and sometimes so dangerous that the blindness that will be caused by it will
           be incurable.
                But this is not a commandment. I am not saying that looking at the sun in eclipse is a sin or a
           crime. I am not saying that it is something immoral, irreligious, unspiritual. It is simply stupid!

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT TRUE THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY HAPPINESS?


               Anando, yes, it is true. Money cannot buy happiness -- but it makes misery more comfortable.
           That's why I am not against money, I am all for it. It is better to be comfortably miserable than
           uncomfortably miserable. I have lived in poverty and I have lived in richness, and believe me:
           richness is far better than poverty.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                   Chapter #7
                                           Chapter title: How sweet it is
           17 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002170
              ShortTitle: DHAM907
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              TO HAVE FRIENDS IN NEED IS SWEET
              AND TO SHARE HAPPINESS.
              AND TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING GOOD
              BEFORE LEAVING THIS LIFE IS SWEET,
              AND TO LET GO OF SORROW.



              TO BE A MOTHER IS SWEET,
              AND A FATHER.
              IT IS SWEET TO LIVE ARDUOUSLY,
              AND TO MASTER YOURSELF.



              OH HOW SWEET IT IS TO ENJOY LIFE,
              LIVING IN HONESTY AND STRENGTH!



              AND WISDOM IS SWEET,
              AND FREEDOM.


               Gautama the Buddha does not talk about God, but he talks about love, freedom, truth,
           authenticity. He talks about the essential religion. He does not waste his breath on heaven and hell,
           the theory of reincarnation. He is absolutely unconcerned about the so-called great metaphysical
           problems. He is nonmetaphysical -- in a sense, very down to earth. He means business. He wants to
           give you a science which can transform your life. He is interested in creating an alchemy of inner
           revolution so the baser metal can be changed into gold. His religion is unique, in a way.
               There are three types of religions in the world. Jainism is the only religion which is emphatically
           atheistic. It denies God and raises man to his ultimate peak. It declares that man is God and there is
           no other God. Except Jainism, all other religions -- Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity -- are
           theistic. They are rooted in the idea of God; without God they will be at a loss what to do. They ARE
           at a loss because since Nietzsche declared "God is dead," humanity, by and by, has agreed with
           Nietzsche. His statement became very prophetic; it represents the twentieth-century mind. And the
           religions which have depended on the idea of God for centuries feel uprooted. They are dying,
           withering away.
               Buddha is unique. He is neither atheistic like Jainism, nor theistic like other religions. He is a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           superb agnostic. He says there is no need to worry about unnecessary things. Think of the essential,
           think of the intrinsic, and don't be bothered about the accidentals.
               If you are authentic, if you are compassionate, if you are meditative, then if there is a God he will
           come to you; you need not go in search for him. And if there is a paradise it will descend in your
           heart. There is no need to be bothered about such abstract ideas; they simply waste your time. And if
           you are not authentic, not meditative, not compassionate, not wise enough, even if you come across
           God what are you going to do? You will feel a little embarrassed and God will feel a little
           embarrassed facing you. You both will be unnecessarily in a strange situation -- what to say, what to
           do, what not to say, what not to do. You would like to escape and he would like to escape.
               Just think: if suddenly you come across God, what will you do? You will run away from him as
           fast as you can!

               Rabindranath has a beautiful parable. In one of his poems he sings: I searched for God for many
           lives. I saw him sometimes far away on a star, but by the time I reached there he had left the star
           long before; he was somewhere else. He was always somewhere else and I was chasing him. The
           very adventure was beautiful; I was enjoying the thrill of it.
               And then one day I happened to reach his home. For a moment I was ecstatic that I had arrived,
           but the next moment I became very sad. Standing at his door I was just going to ring the bell, but my
           hand became frozen. I thought for a while, "If I ring the bell and he comes out, then what? Then
           what am I going to do? And after that whom am I going to search? All is finished! My whole past
           has been nothing but a search for God; it was meaningful because of the search. If the search
           disappears, all meaning will disappear."
               So Rabindranath says, "I descended back from his steps. I took my shoes in my hand so that he
           would not hear that somebody had come. Otherwise, who knows? He may simply open the door and
           he will say, 'Come in!' And then I ran away from the place as fast as I could.
           "And again I am searching for God, and now I know where he is so I avoid that space only and I
           search everywhere else, knowing perfectly well that I am not going to meet him there and my search
           can continue. I can go on hoping and desiring and deep down I know the whole ridiculousness of it
           -- because he is just by the corner; I can reach his home any moment."

               This is a true parable about man: you also know where he is. If he is anywhere at all he is within
           YOU, not even by the corner. If he is anywhere, he is in your consciousness, in your heart of hearts.
           He is your life. There you don't look at all, afraid you may find him. And you go on searching in
           Kaaba, in Kailash, in Kashi, and you go on and on searching knowing perfectly well that you will
           not find him. And the search can continue and the thrill can continue and you can go on hoping and
           desiring.
               Buddha simply cuts all your hoping and desiring. He does not say there is no God, he does not
           say there is. He simply says it is irrelevant. It does not matter whether he is or he is not; it is
           absolutely beside the point. What matters is your inner transformation, and the inner transformation
           cannot be postponed for tomorrow; it can happen right now.
               That's the trouble with Buddha: if you go with him you have to drop your hopes, you have to
           drop your desires. You have to be in the present, utterly silent. And then life has a new color, a new
           joy, a new music. Then life has a new beauty.
               Right now, in the first place, you cannot meet God because you don't have eyes to see him and
           you don't have ears to hear him and you don't have the right heart to feel him. You are not loving
           enough. Your eyes are not clear; they are so full of dust -- dust of knowledge, memories,
           experiences. Your ears only appear to hear, but they don't listen.
               But by chance even if you meet him, what are you going to ask? A new wife, a new husband,
           another place to live, a little longer life, youth...? What are you going to ask? -- money, power,
           prestige? Whatsoever you ask will be stupid.

               A black man worshipped God, praying every day for six years. He was always asking for this or
           that problem to be resolved.
               God became very fed up with him and decided to pay him a visit. So one day while the man was
           praying, God came to his side in living flesh and said, "Hey man, here I am! What do you want to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           know? Ask!"
               The man could not believe his eyes, but he finally asked, "Ah my God, why is my skin so
           black?"
               God answered, "Because the sun in your country is very hot and you must survive."
           "And why is my hair so short and kinky?"
           "Because in the jungle you have many trees and your hair would get caught."
           "And why am I so thin and fast?"
           "So that you can fight with lions and other animals in the jungle."
           "Then, God, what the fuck am I doing in New York?"

               That's going exactly to be the case with you. What are you going to ask God? All your questions
           will come out of your unconscious. In fact, all questions will be absurd. That's not the way to
           encounter reality. One has to be silent, utterly silent.
               Hence Buddha says, don't be bothered about God. Be concerned with your own preparation, be
           prepared. The emphasis is totally different. All the religions emphasize God, the object of search;
           Buddha emphasizes YOU, the subject. All other religions emphasize the sought; Buddha emphasizes
           the seeker. And it is certainly more significant to change yourself and prepare yourself for the
           ultimate encounter with reality -- call it God, existence, truth, liberation, or whatsoever you would
           like to call it. The real thing, the essential thing, is to be prepared for that encounter.
               And if you are ready, if your heart is flowing with love and your head is no longer crazy, no
           longer full of rubbish, and your eyes have clarity and your ears are ready to listen, then the whole
           reality turns into God; then everything is divine. Buddha does not say anything about it; he goes on
           emphasizing your inner change.
               These sutras are simple but immensely beautiful. Truth is always simple; it is untruth which is
           complicated. The untruth has to be complicated so that you don't find that it is untrue, so that you
           can't find it. Truth is simple, utterly simple and naked.
           Buddha says:

              TO HAVE FRIENDS IN NEED IS SWEET
              AND TO SHARE HAPPINESS.


                He emphasized friendship very much. To translate his word for friendship -- MAITRI -- is a little
           difficult because it has the quality of friendliness more than friendship. Friendship becomes a
           relationship, fixed; friendliness is more flowing, more fluid. Friendship is a relationship, friendliness
           is a state of your being. You are simply friendly; to whom, that is not the point. If you are standing
           by the side of a tree you are friendly to the tree, or if you are sitting on the rock, you are friendly to
           the rock. To human beings, to animals, to birds, you are simply friendly. It is not something static; it
           is a flow, changing moment to moment.
           He says: TO HAVE FRIENDS IN NEED IS SWEET.
                Friendliness is one of the most significant qualities for the seeker to develop; it is really sweet. It
           makes your whole life full of sweet music, full of sweet harmony. In Buddha's vision it is higher than
           so-called love. Your so-called love is tethered to your biology; friendliness is freedom from biology.
           The ordinary so-called love is the same in human beings as it is in animals, as it is in the trees. It is
           sex-oriented. It is only a sugarcoating around the bitter pill of sex. In fact, if love is taken away from
           your sex, sex will look very ridiculous. It is because of the sugarcoating that you can swallow the
           pill.
                Watch animals having sexual intercourse and one thing you are bound to observe; it is
           impossible not to observe it, it is so emphatically there: they don't seem to be joyous. They seem to
           be in a hurry and their faces look sad, as if they are being forced by some unknown energy into
           certain acts in which they are not interested. Hence animals have their sexual seasons when their
           biology takes a grip on them, forces them to do something which they are not really interested in at
           all. They have to do it almost like slaves. And once they are finished with their sexual intercourse
           they move away from each other -- not even a thank-you! They don't look at each other.
                Scientists say love has grown in man for the simple reason that man is the only animal in the
           world who makes sexual intercourse face-to-face. You have to say something, you have to smile,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have to say goodbye, you have to say so long. Otherwise it will look so awkward to finish
           suddenly and escape! Because you are facing each other you have to be a little polite, a little
           cultured, a little polished. You have to behave in a certain manner; you can't be rude.
               Animals are not facing each other while making love so they don't encounter, they don't look into
           each other's eyes. It is a simple biological process and they are almost forced by their biology, by
           their hormones, to go through it. They go through it, they are dragged through it like slaves. And the
           same is the situation with you; only the sugarcoating is different.
               Friendship is a higher phenomenon. It is pure love; it has nothing to do with your biology. Love
           -- ordinary love -- can be explained through biology, but friendship cannot be explained. It is a
           mystery. Friendship is like fragrance; love is gross, because of its sexuality, because of its origins. It
           is a little heavy. It functions under the law of gravitation: it goes on falling downwards, it has no
           wings. Friendship has wings. It is nonbiological; it makes you really human, it helps you to
           transcend your animality.
               Buddha praises friendship, friendliness, very highly. He has even chosen that when he comes
           back again his name will be Maitreya -- the friend. He must have loved the word very much. I don't
           think he will come again or anybody ever comes again. God never makes the same mistake again,
           remember! Once is more than enough, twice will be too much. But he must have loved the word so
           much that he says, "Next time, if I am at all going to come, my name is going to be Maitreya -- the
           friend." The word contains his whole philosophy.
           He says: TO HAVE FRIENDS... IS SWEET.
               Why is it sweet? -- because with friends your relationship is not physiological, it is not even
           psychological; it is a spiritual communion. With friends you can sit in silence. When you are with
           your lover you can't sit in silence; silence looks awkward. The woman will think, "Why are you
           silent? Are you angry or something?" And if she is silent you will think something is wrong -- she is
           sulking. Why is she so silent? Silence becomes heavy, a burden; it has to be removed.
               So people go on talking, whether it is needed or not. They go on talking about anything.

               Mulla Nasruddin was coming from his village to see me in his bullock cart, with his dog. It was
           too hot, a summer afternoon, and suddenly he was surprised that the dog said, "It is too hot."
               He looked around; there was nobody, just his dog. He said to the oxen, "Have you heard? Have
           you heard what has happened?"
               And the oxen said, "Yes, he is just like anybody else -- always talking about the weather and
           doing nothing."

               If people have nothing else to talk about they talk about the weather. Anything will do, just go on
           talking. It keeps you, in a way, connected. In fact, it keeps you DISconnected. It is not a bridge;
           rarely it is a bridge. It is a bridge only between a master and a disciple; otherwise it is not a bridge.
           When the master speaks out of his silence and the disciple listens out of his silence, it is a bridge.
           Otherwise it is a wall, a China Wall.
               Lovers are facing each other. They have to say something; otherwise silence becomes awkward,
           embarrassing. Friends don't face each other in that way. They face something else -- maybe the
           sunset, a bird on the wing, a beautiful white cloud. Holding hands, sitting together, they face
           something else. They both are facing something else. They are in a sort of deep communion, they are
           one. Their hearts are beating in harmony. Real friends sitting together will find that their hearts start
           beating in the same way. They even start breathing in harmony; when one exhales, the other exhales.
           This happens on its own accord; it is a synchronicity. When you are feeling in communion, this
           happens.
               This happens here every day. When you are in communion with me it happens.
               Many sannyasins write to me, "Beloved Master, how does it happen? Just before you are going
           to say something we know you are going to say this. It is so clear and then you say it." It happens
           because of a deep communion. As it arises in MY being it starts arising in YOUR being.
               Hence the ultimate between the master and the disciple is silence, sitting together. There is no
           need to say anything. Whatsoever happens in the master's being also starts happening in the
           disciple's being. The disciple starts reflecting the master like a mirror.
               On a smaller scale the same happens with friends. But by friends Buddha does not mean
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           acquaintances. By friends he means a love which has gone beyond sexuality, a love which has gone
           beyond biology, a love which has transcended ordinary nature, transcended gravitation and has
           become part of the higher law of grace.
              TO HAVE FRIENDS IS SWEET AND TO SHARE HAPPINESS....

                You can share your happiness only with the friends. Sharing is possible only when two hearts are
           open to each other; only in deep trust can you be open to the other. In fear you are closed, in doubt
           you are closed. You are on guard. You are afraid the other may be some danger to you, the other
           may do some harm. You are not vulnerable when you are in fear. Only with friends you can be
           vulnerable, open, available. Then sharing is possible. And sharing is one of the greatest spiritual
           qualities.
                The miracle is that the more you share your bliss the more you have it. The more you share, the
           more it comes to you. The more you share, the more you become aware of an inexhaustible source
           within yourself.
                Happiness is great in itself, but to share it makes it immensely rich, multidimensionally rich. If
           one is a miser about one's happiness he will kill it. To hoard your happiness is to destroy it; to spread
           it far and wide is to help it grow more and more. Miserliness is very dangerous as far as bliss is
           concerned.
                But with whom you will share if you don't have friends, if you don't know the art of being
           friendly? If you know the art of being friendly you can share with as many people as possible, with
           as many animals as possible, with as many trees as possible. You can go on sharing every moment of
           your life because you are always with someone. You can share it with the sun, with the moon, with
           the stars. No distance prevents. You can share your bliss with a friend who is far far away, thousands
           of miles away from you. In that moment of sharing spaces disappear, time disappears. There is no
           time gap, no space gap. You are suddenly together. You can even share with friends who are no
           longer alive. In deep communion they become available to you, nonphysically.

              AND TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING GOOD
              BEFORE LEAVING THIS LIFE IS SWEET,
              AND TO LET GO OF SORROW.


               Friendship is good, it is virtue. Sharing your joy is good, it is great virtue. In fact, all other
           virtues are by-products of sharing your bliss. Sharing is the very foundation, the source. Share your
           truth, share your meditation, share your love. Share whatsoever inner beauty arises in you,
           whatsoever inner glow arises in you. Share your inner flame and never be a miser, and you will
           become richer and richer, and there is no end to that richness.
               In the ordinary world sharing will make you poor. If you share your money you will become
           poor. You have to be a hoarder, you have to be miserly. In the inner world just the opposite is the
           case: hoard, and you will lose; share, and you will have it.
               In the inner world a totally different kind of law exists. There you can have your cake and eat it
           too. And it would be better if you don't eat it alone, if you invite your friends to eat with you.
               AND TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING GOOD.... What does Buddha mean by "something
           good"? Buddha always emphasizes that unconscious acts are bad and conscious acts are good. You
           can do something apparently good, but if you are unconscious it can't be good. Your intention is
           good, but the action and its consequences are going to be bad.
               For example, just the other day somebody had asked, "I want to stop smoking. What should I do?
           What do you say about it?" Now, he is asking a simple question. You can ask the same question to
           any of your so-called saints -- Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Jaina, Buddhist -- and they will all
           say, "Stop it immediately! Smoking is bad." But I can't say it that way. I can say to you, "Become
           more conscious. If your consciousness changes something in you and smoking disappears, good;
           otherwise, please continue to smoke." Why?
               Adolf Hitler never smoked, but I can't call him a virtuous man. He was always getting up before
           the sunrise -- BRAHMAMUHURT. In India this is a must for a saint. Brahmamuhurt means God's
           moment -- as if all other moments are the Devil's and just the few moments before the sunrise are
           God's! Getting up early in the morning before sunrise is thought to be very religious. And if you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sleeping late and getting up at nine or ten, certainly you are a sinner.
                Adolf Hitler was a very religious man, if this is what religion is -- getting up early. And he was
           going to bed also very early. He was not a smoker, he was not a drinker.
                In that sense, Jesus is less religious than Adolf Hitler. He loved drinking, he loved good wine. He
           loved it so much that once he transformed the whole sea into wine, you know! Now, what kind of
           religious man is this Jesus? He loved eating with friends, inviting friends. He was always in a festive
           mood.
                Adolf Hitler used to eat alone. He was a perfect dog! Dogs eat alone. Even if you are just looking
           they will keep their backs towards you, afraid you may snatch away their food or something. Some
           other dog may come and start barking and fighting may start. They can't invite anybody. Dogs don't
           believe in parties! They are loners, very meditative! They eat alone. And of course they eat very
           silently, no conversation. And they eat quick and fast; they don't waste time. Adolf Hitler did the
           same. He was also afraid of people, just like dogs.
                It is said that he had not a single friend in the whole of Germany. And Buddha says: Be friendly.
           It is sweet to have friends. He had no friend because he was so afraid of people, so suspicious, that
           he could not afford friendship. To be friendly means to be intimate. To be friendly means to be
           available to the other. To be friendly means to trust the other.
                He never got married in his whole life. He got married only at the very end, just three hours
           before he committed suicide. When it was absolutely decided that he was going to commit suicide he
           called a priest and got married, so that at least in death he can have a companion. The woman had to
           commit suicide with him also. A strange marriage! Why did he avoid marriage his whole life? -- for
           the simple reason that he was not sure whether to allow a woman in the same room in the night when
           he was asleep. Who knows? -- she may cut your throat, kill you, poison you. You may start uttering
           some secret in your sleep; she may hear it. She may open your letters. Women are known to do such
           things, well known, really. In fact, it is very difficult to get your letter without it being read by your
           woman; she is bound to read it.

              Mulla Nasruddin's wife was fighting with him. "Something has to be done -- you have to write to
           your mother. She has been very cruel and crude towards me."
              Nasruddin said, "But she is a thousand miles away. How can she be suddenly cruel and crude
           towards you?"
              The wife said, "Yes, she has been. Look at this letter!"
              In the letter there was a postscript. The letter was written to Nasruddin and the postscript to
           Nasruddin's wife, "Please, after you have read it, give the letter to my son!"

           Women know each other!
                Adolf Hitler was very afraid to get married. He remained a bachelor, a BRAHMACHARI, a
           celibate. Now, what more religious qualities do you need in a saint? -- no smoking, no drinking, no
           wife, no friends. He lived the life of a monk!
                But my feeling is, if he had smoked a little, if he had got drunk once in a while, had fallen into
           the hands of some woman, had loved somebody, had some friends, played chess or gambled a little
           bit, he would have been a far more human being and the world would have been saved from the
           second world war. But he became almost stonelike.
                You can do good things, but if you are not conscious your good things are bound to result into
           something disastrous.

                In Manhattan, a policeman strolling his early morning beat stopped in front of an East Eighties
           brownstone. Sitting on the stoop was Millarney, completely snookered.
           "Why don't you go home?" suggested the cop.
           "I live here," said Millarney.
           "Why don't you go inside then?"
           "I lost my key," answered the drunk.
           "Why don't you ring the bell?"
           "I did, an hour ago."
           "Why don't you ring it again?" asked the officer.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "To hell with them!" snorted Millarney. "Let them wait!"

               The ordinary humanity is really in a state of stupor. People are asleep. There is no need to be a
           drunkard, people are already drunk. Naturally we are not born conscious, we are born unconscious,
           and then we go on becoming more and more unconscious in life -- because we are unconscious, we
           want to be more unconscious. It seems to be natural, it fits with us. To be conscious seems to be a
           very uphill task.
               Hence the immense attraction for alcohol or for other drugs. From the times of the Vedas up to
           now it has been the same. The Vedas praise SOMARAS very highly. Somaras seems to be
           something like marijuana, LSD, psilocybin, something like that. It has not yet been discovered
           exactly what it was, but whatsoever it was, it was one of the most perfect of drugs.
               Aldous Huxley, one of the most intellectual, philosophic persons, a great scholar, has called the
           perfect LSD "soma." He says that in the twenty-first century we will be reaching to that perfection.
           From the Vedas to Aldous Huxley, drugs have been an obsession with humanity, for the simple
           reason that we are born unconscious and the problems of life, anxieties of life, dangers of life, make
           us sometimes conscious. They wake up our deep, deep slumber, they disturb it. So we need more
           drugs, more and more drugs, to remain undisturbed in our unconsciousness. And out of that
           unconsciousness we act, we live our lives.

               Ferguson and Malone decided to go hunting one morning.
           "Listen," said Ferguson, "I will bring all the guns and such and you bring all the provisions."
           "Fine," said Malone.
               The next morning when they met, Ferguson was loaded down with guns and ammunition.
           Malone was carrying a loaf of bread and six bottles of whisky.
               Ferguson blew his stack. "Look what happens when I leave the provisions to you!" he shouted.
           "A loaf of bread and six bottles of whisky! What the hell are we gonna do with all that bread?"

               When Buddha says, AND TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING GOOD, he means when you do
           something consciously. You cannot do anything bad consciously; that is an impossibility. It is as
           much impossible to do anything bad consciously as it is impossible to do good unconsciously.
               Before leaving this life be conscious, act out of your consciousness, so that you can beautify this
           existence a little bit, so that you can sing a little song, so you can dance a little dance, so the world is
           enriched, so that you can be a little more creative, so that the world is a little more divine than it was
           before you came into it. Contribute something to it. Don't be just a wastage.
               AND TO LET GO OF SORROW. People think sorrow is clinging to you; that is utter nonsense.
           YOU are clinging to sorrow, because you have invested so much in sorrow. Your greatest
           investment is your ego. When you are sad, when you are miserable, your ego can feed on these
           illnesses, diseases. The ego can keep alive only through these pathologies; the ego lives on them.
               When you are blissful, really blissed out, ego disappears. You are, but there is no ego, no idea of
           I, no idea of separation. In bliss there is a merger with the whole; in misery you are alone and
           separate. Misery makes you an island and bliss takes all your boundaries away from you. In bliss, the
           river disappears in the ocean. And we are very afraid to disappear as an ego. We want to keep our
           identity intact.

             Mulla Nasruddin came across a small boy sitting in the gutter crying loudly.
           "My boy, don't cry like that," said the Mulla.
             Said the little boy, "Listen, mate, you cry your way and I will cry mine."

               Sorrow has something very personal about it; bliss is impersonal. Your misery is YOUR misery;
           it defines you. It is nobody else's misery, it is especially yours; it gives you a certain uniqueness. But
           bliss? Bliss is universal.
               Hence Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Lao Tzu, these people have disappeared into bliss. They don't
           have any personality. They are no-persons, they are nonentities. They are tremendously alive, but
           they are not separate from the whole. They have allowed the whole to live through them.
           Buddha says: AND TO LET GO OF SORROW.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Please watch how you are clinging to your sorrow, your misery. Drop it, let go of it! And your
           life will have a great sweetness.

              TO BE A MOTHER IS SWEET,
              AND A FATHER.
              IT IS SWEET TO LIVE ARDUOUSLY,
              AND TO MASTER YOURSELF.


                TO BE A MOTHER IS SWEET.... Why? Just giving birth to a child is not to be a mother,
           remember. Otherwise there are millions of mothers on the earth -- and there seems to be no
           sweetness. In fact, if you ask the psychologists they will say just the opposite. They will say the only
           problem to be solved is the mother. The only pathology that millions of people are suffering from is
           the mother. And what they are saying they are saying after fifty, sixty years of constant analysis of
           thousands of people. Everybody's illness basically comes to one point: that it has been given to you,
           transmitted to you by your mother.
                There are people who are afraid of women; and if you are afraid of women you can't love them.
           How can love arise out of fear? And why are you afraid of women? -- because your childhood was
           lived in fear of your mother. She was constantly after you, she was constantly hammering you. She
           was constantly telling you to do this and not to do that -- of course, for your own good. She has
           crippled you, she has destroyed many things in you. She has made you phony because she has told
           you what is right to do. Whether you like it or not, whether it is spontaneously arising in you or not,
           you have to follow the order. And you were so helpless... your survival depended on the mother so
           you had to listen to her. She conditioned you. And it is because of the fear of your mother that you
           are afraid of women.
                Millions of husbands are henpecked for the simple reason that their mothers were too strong. It
           has nothing to do with the wife; they are simply projecting the mother on the wife. The wife is only a
           new edition of the mother. They are expecting everything from the wife that they expected from the
           mother. On the one hand it cripples them; on the other hand they start expecting things which are not
           possible from the wife's side -- because she is not your mother. So you feel frustrated. And how can
           you make love to your wife?
                A boy who has really been dominated by the mother, who has been reduced into absolute
           obedience, will not be able to make love to a woman, because as he will come close to the woman
           psychologically he will go impotent. How can you make love to your mother? It is impossible.
                Hence many people become impotent with their wives, but only with their wives. With the
           prostitutes they are not impotent. It is strange: why are they not impotent with the prostitute? -- for
           the simple reason that they can't think of their mother as a prostitute; that is impossible. Their
           mother, and a prostitute? The prostitute is a world apart. But they can think of their wife as a mother,
           they can project the mother. The wife becomes simply a screen. They want the wife to take care of
           them like a small child, and if she is not taking care they feel offended.
                Thousands of neurotic people and psychotic people are there in the world because of the mother.
           And Buddha says: TO BE A MOTHER IS SWEET. He must mean something else. He can't mean a
           Jewish mother! He means not just giving birth to a child; that does not make one a mother. To be
           motherly is a totally different phenomenon. It is something absolutely human; it transcends
           animality. It has nothing to do with biology. It is love, pure love, unconditional love.
                When a mother loves unconditionally -- and only a mother can love unconditionally -- the child
           learns the joy of unconditional love. The child becomes capable of loving unconditionally. And to be
           able to love unconditionally is to be religious.
                And it is the easiest thing for a woman to do. It is easy for her because naturally she is ready for
           it. She is just on the verge of transcending biology through being a mother. You can be motherly
           without giving birth to a child. You can be motherly to anybody. You can be motherly to an animal,
           to a tree. You can be motherly to anything. It is something inside you.
                Being motherly means being capable of unconditional love, loving the person for the sheer joy of
           loving, helping the person to grow for the sheer joy of seeing somebody grow.
                A real therapist is a mother. If he is not, he is not a real therapist. He is only a professional
           exploiting people, exploiting them because of their misery. But a real therapist is a mother. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becomes a womb for the patient. He gives the patient a new birth. He starts the life of the patient
           again from ABC. He gives him a clean sheet to write his life again.
               That's what I mean when I say "the psychology of the buddhas"; that is real therapy. A master is
           a real therapist; his very presence is therapeutic. He surrounds you like a mother. He is a cloud who
           surrounds you from everywhere, from all the sides, in all the dimensions, like a mother.
               TO BE A MOTHER IS SWEET, AND A FATHER. To be a father is a little more difficult. To
           be a mother is easier because each woman is born intrinsically to be a mother. But fatherhood is an
           institution invented by man; hence it is very difficult to come across a real father. But when you
           come across a real father it is a miracle. A real father is also a mother. He is called a father because
           he is a man, but his whole approach is of unconditional love.
               In ordinary life lovers are exploiting each other; it is a mutual exploitation. Unconditional love
           means no exploitation. The other is not being used as a means but is respected as an end unto himself
           or herself.
               Give your children your love, but don't give your ideologies. Don't make them Catholics and
           communists; that is poisoning them. Don't make them Hindus and Jainas and Buddhists; that is very
           destructive. Give your love, give your loving nourishment, and give them strength enough to inquire
           who they are, what this reality is all about. Give them every support so they can go on in life with an
           adventurous spirit. Then you are helping them; then you are really educating them. Ordinarily,
           whatsoever exists in the name of education is nothing but mis-education.
               Real education is helping the person to be himself. It is possible only if you love the person for
           his own sake, for no other motive. If there is a motive, your love is contaminated. Then you are not a
           real father or a real mother.
              IT IS SWEET TO LIVE ARDUOUSLY, AND TO MASTER YOURSELF.

               Life is basically insecure. Only death is secure. Life insurance is a contradiction in terms; there
           can be only death insurance. Life is an adventure, unpredictable. Hence one has to live it arduously.
           Life is dangerous; only death is safe. So the people who want to live safely die before their death,
           and the people who want to live without any danger don't live at all.
               Life means danger, life means risk. Life means going always from the known to the unknown,
           from one peak to another peak, always climbing peaks which have not been climbed before, always
           moving into the uncharted sea with no maps, with no guidelines. Only then you live ecstatically, and
           only then you know what life is. Through living dangerously one becomes integrated. Through
           living a life of insecurity one passes through fire and becomes pure gold.
               The only way to become a master of oneself is to go into the unknown, unafraid or in spite of all
           the fears. Buddha invites you for an arduous life. That's what sannyas is all about.

           "Hello, hello, police. Please come quickly. There is a big black cat coming to get me. Hurry up! I am
           afraid."
               The policeman replied in a tired voice, "Now, come on! What kind of man are you, afraid of a
           black cat?"
           "I am not a man. I am a peacock."

               It is very rare to find a real man. Even to find a peacock is very rare. There are only rats, white
           and black and all colors of rats! It is not an accident that psychologists go on studying rats to
           understand man. Strange, trying to understand rats so as to understand man! But not really, not really
           so strange as it appears, because the majority of men live like rats.
               The psychology of Pavlov is based on the study of dogs, and the psychology of Skinner is based
           on the study of rats. And both are perfectly true as far as the majority of humanity is concerned. Only
           once in a while they may not be right. If they try to apply their psychology on a buddha they may not
           be right, but as far as the ordinary humanity is concerned they are perfectly right. What has happened
           to man? He has lost all meaning and significance for the simple reason that he has become a very
           cowardly being. He lives in such cowardly ways, he is so afraid of anything new.
               I know people who have been listening to me for years -- ten years, twelve years, fifteen years --
           and they go on saying to me, "We want to become sannyasins, but we are still thinking." And they
           go on finding excuses, sometimes one excuse, sometimes another excuse. They love me, but they are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not courageous enough to declare it. They hide the fact. They are not courageous to move into this
           unknown dimension of sannyas. They love me so they listen to me, and they love me so sometimes
           they think that one day they are going to become sannyasins, but they go on finding excuses to
           postpone it.
               It is because of this cowardliness that man has lost all meaning and significance. All joy, all
           bliss, all ecstasy, has disappeared. Man looks very sad. Even if he laughs, his laughter looks phony,
           mechanical, false -- something cultivated, managed, not coming from the depths. It has no
           profundity, it does not sound like it is coming from the center. It is only a painted smile on the
           circumference.
               Do you know how the word 'phony' came into existence? It came because of the telephone.
           When the telephone was invented and people started listening to others thousands of miles away on
           the telephone, the voice sounded strange. It is bound to be so. It is mechanical; it has not that
           authenticity. And there was nobody behind it; it was coming out of nowhere. Hence the word
           'phony'. You smile, but you don't seem to be behind it; you may not be there at all.
               And now even a new thing has come into existence. At least in the old days you could imagine
           that on the other side there must be somebody. Now there may be just a tape recorder saying, "Hello.
           How are you?"

           I have heard:
                One psychologist became very tired with a patient, tired because he was saying the same things
           again and again. And he was so rich that there was no hope of getting rid of him! So the psychologist
           said, "You do one thing. I will leave my tape recorder and you go on talking to the tape recorder.
           And whenever I have time I will listen to it."
                The man said, "That's perfectly right" -- because psychologists sit behind a screen, particularly
           Freudian psychologists. The patient lies down on the couch and the psychologist sits behind a screen.
           It is a good device... so that the psychologist can go to sleep, can read a newspaper, or may even
           leave. And the patient goes on talking, believing that he is there. Only once in a while he has to say,
           "Hmm. Yes. Go on," but this can be done by a tape recorder.
                Next time, next session, and the psychologist said, "You did perfectly well last time. Now my
           tape recorder is here again. You go on talking to it. I am going to see a matinee show. When I am
           back I will listen."
                When he was outside he saw the patient walking out. He said, "Where are you going?"
           The patient said, "To the matinee show."
                He said, "What happened? Aren't you going to talk to the tape recorder?"
                He said, "I have put my tape recorder there. I have told everything to my tape recorder, and my
           tape recorder is talking to your tape recorder, so what's the need of me being there? I'm also coming
           to the matinee show!"

               Life has become phony because of us, because we are living in a very cowardly way. We are not
           living arduously. We are not trying to climb new mountains, new peaks. We are not trying to
           explore. We have become more concerned with comfort, with security, safety.
           Buddha says: IT IS SWEET TO LIVE ARDUOUSLY.
               Have you ever enjoyed climbing to the peak of a mountain? It is hard. You perspire, breathing
           becomes difficult, you become tired. And then you reach to the sunlit peak and then you lie down on
           the grass, and what relaxation and what joy arises in your being! The silence of the peak and the
           arduous climb, and you have reached, and the joy of reaching! You could have been dropped by a
           helicopter, but then there would have been no joy. It would have been comfortable.
               Edmund Hillary could have reached to the peak of Everest by a helicopter -- it was easier -- but
           he tried the hard way. And he writes, "I have never known such bliss. When I reached to the peak I
           was all alone, the first man on Everest." Nobody had seen the sky from that point, nobody had seen
           the world from that point. It was sheer ecstasy. He danced.
               Sooner or later buses will be going there and hotels will be there and cinema houses, and it will
           become very comfortable. But don't hope that you will have the same ecstasy as Edmund Hillary
           had, although you will be standing on the same spot. You will look a little silly and stupid, that's all.
           And you will not believe why this Hillary danced; you don't see any point. All around there are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hotels and tourist centers and guides and everything is available; the whole world is there. You don't
           see why he laughed, why he enjoyed, why he danced, because you don't feel any dance.
               Life is joy only when you live it raw, when you live it in all its wildness, when you live it
           naturally, spontaneously. Yes, there are bound to be difficulties, there are bound to be dangers, but
           they are part of life, and without them life will not be life at all. And this is the only way to master
           yourself.

              OH HOW SWEET IT IS TO ENJOY LIFE,
              LIVING IN HONESTY AND STRENGTH!


                Strange words from the mouth of Buddha. They would be perfectly right from the mouth of
           Zorba the Greek, but from the mouth of Buddha? OH HOW SWEET IT IS TO ENJOY LIFE,
           LIVING IN HONESTY AND STRENGTH!
                Just the other day I received a very angry letter from someone who was here for a few days. He
           is the librarian in Dharamsala of the Dalai Lama's library -- must be a scholar!
                He writes to me, "You are saying things which are not Buddhist at all. In Mahayana sutras," he
           quotes, "Mahayana scriptures, it is perfectly and clearly stated that one has to live life ascetically.
           And you are changing the whole color of Buddha -- you are making him look as if he is a hedonist!"
                I don't care about the Mahayana sutras and the scriptures, but I know Buddha, I know his heart. I
           know that space from my own experience. I am not a scholar; in fact I have never read these sutras
           before! Every day I have to look at them and start talking to you. I am not concerned much with
           what Buddha said, but I know what Buddha WOULD have said. I cannot believe that he was a
           pessimist. He believes, of course, in a totally different kind of life. He does not believe in the
           ordinary, unconscious life -- dishonest, unauthentic, unloving, unmeditative. He calls that life
           misery, but only a certain kind of life he calls misery. True life cannot be misery, true life is bliss.
              OH HOW SWEET IT IS TO ENJOY LIFE, LIVING IN HONESTY AND STRENGTH!

               We have forgotten all honesty. Out of fear we have become dishonest, out of fear we have
           become false. Out of fear we follow the crowd and become phony. Out of fear we wear masks so that
           we look like everybody else -- and we are not like everybody else. Everybody is unique; nobody is
           like anybody else. We have fallen below the animals as far as honesty is concerned.

               Kaflin was planning a vacation and did not know what to do with his collie. He wrote to the
           resort hotel and asked if dogs were allowed.
               He received this answer from the manager: "Dear sir, I have been in the hotel business for over
           thirty years. Never yet have I had to call in the police to eject a disorderly dog in the small hours of
           the morning. No dog has ever attempted to pass off a bad cheque on me. Never has a dog set the
           bedclothes afire through smoking. I have never found a hotel towel in a dog's suitcase. Certainly,
           your dog is welcome. P.S. If he will vouch for you, you can come too."

               Of course, a dishonest life cannot be a life of bliss. You think you are deceiving others; you are
           simply destroying yourself and destroying all possibilities of growth, because growth comes through
           sincerity, honesty, authenticity. Growth comes through accepting your truth in its total nudity. And
           then life is certainly a joy, then life is certainly a bliss.
               But you cannot expect anything else from a scholar. A scholar is bound to be stupid, otherwise
           why should he be a scholar in the first place? An intelligent person will seek and search for truth. He
           will not bother about Mahayana sutras and scriptures. I have no respect for scholarship.
               And this man became very much disturbed, so much so that he has left already. If he had been
           here I would have hammered him a little more, but I received his letter just the other day when he
           had left. I hope that sometime again he will come, because to me the space of Buddha is a totally
           different space from what Buddhist scholars think it is.
               He said, "Whatsoever you are saying is illogical and against the scriptures." So far so good! If it
           is against the scriptures it must have some truth in it. If it is illogical then it must be closer to truth,
           because truth IS illogical. Life is illogical. Those who think that life is logical are simply befooling
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           themselves. Life is absolutely illogical because life contains contradictions and logic cannot contain
           contradictions. Logic is stupid.

               A cyclist was stopped on the road by a policeman. He was no ordinary man -- he was a professor
           of logic.
           "Ah so! No light, that is twenty marks. No brakes, that is fifty marks. No bell, that is ten marks."
               The cyclist turned round and looked at the row of traffic lined up behind him. He pointed at the
           man behind him and said, "Alright, that is eighty marks. But the poor man behind me, what will he
           have to pay? He has no bicycle even!"

               Logically, that's true. If no bells, ten marks, no brakes, fifty marks, no light, twenty marks -- no
           bicycle, how much will he have to pay?

               A male scorpion was walking along the bank of a river. At a certain point he saw on the other
           bank a most beautiful female scorpion dancing erotically to attract him. He desired very much to
           cross the river, but he could not swim.
               Suddenly he saw a big red frog and called to him, but the frog, being afraid of the scorpion's
           poison, started to hop away.
               The scorpion, however, was a philosopher, and he said to the frog, "Come on, don't be afraid.
           Look at it logically. I am not interested in you, I am interested in her. I just want you to get me
           across the river. Everything will be okay. I am obviously not going to sting you because if I do, not
           only will YOU die, but I will die too because I can't swim. So come on, be logical and help me get
           across."
               The red frog reluctantly agreed. The scorpion jumped on his shoulders and they began to cross
           the river. The frog swam very carefully, always looking towards the approaching shore.
               Suddenly the frog felt a shooting pain in his ass and shortly after he felt the coolness of death
           slowly overtaking him. He turned to the scorpion and said, "Shit! This is not logic at all!"
           "Yes," the scorpion agreed. "It is not logic, it is my nature."

              Logic is one thing, life is totally another. My concern here is not logic but life. My statements
           may not be logical -- they cannot be -- but they are alive; they have the flavor of life.
              Buddha says: OH HOW SWEET IT IS TO ENJOY LIFE, LIVING IN HONESTY AND
           STRENGTH!

              AND WISDOM IS SWEET,
              AND FREEDOM.


               Buddha says: Meditation brings two things. It brings wisdom, it brings freedom. These two
           flowers grow out of meditation. When you become silent, utterly silent, beyond the mind, two
           flowers bloom in you. One is of wisdom: you know what is and what is not. And the other is of
           freedom: you know now there are no more any limitations on you, either of time or of space. You
           become liberated.
               Meditation is the key to liberation, to freedom, to wisdom.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                    Chapter #8
                                        Chapter title: The nature of things
           18 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8002180
              ShortTitle: DHAM908
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I UNDERSTAND YOU TO SAY THAT THE INTELLECT IS A BARRIER TO SELF-REALIZATION.
              PLEASE EXPLAIN FURTHER WHAT YOU MEAN BY THIS. I HAVE BEEN VERY INTERESTED TO
              LISTEN TO YOUR LECTURES DURING THE PAST FEW DAYS. FAR FROM BEING
              UNINTELLECTUAL, THEY COULD BE DESCRIBED AS AN INTELLECTUAL TOUR DE FORCE.
              FURTHERMORE, A SCIENTIST CANNOT DISCARD HIS SHARE OF KNOWLEDGE ON WHICH HE
              BASES HIS JUDGMENTS: SURELY HIS JUDGMENTS MUST BE OBJECTIVE. I FEEL THAT I
              MUST HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD YOU.


                Richard, I have been saying nothing against intelligence, intellect, but against intellectuality --
           and that's a totally different phenomenon. When somebody becomes identified with his intellect,
           intellectuality is born; when somebody remains the master, unidentified with his intellect,
           intelligence is born. Intellect is the same. The whole thing depends whether you get identified with it
           or you remain transcendental to it. If you become identified, it is intellectuality; if you remain
           unidentified, it is intelligence.
                Intelligence is of tremendous importance; intellectuality is a barrier. Intellectuality is a barrier
           even in the world of science. Intellectuality can, at the most, give you scholars, wordy people who go
           on and on spinning, weaving systems of thought with no substance at all.
                In the scientific endeavor, intelligence has to be focused on the objective world; in the religious
           exploration, intelligence has to move inwards. It is the same intelligence, only the direction changes.
           In science, the object, the outer object, is the goal of inquiry; in religion, your subjectivity, your
           interiority, is your adventure. The intelligence is the same.
                If you become an intellectual then you will not be a scientist; you will only write histories of
           science or philosophies of science, but you will not be a scientist, an explorer, an inventor, a
           discoverer, on your own. You will be simply accumulating information. Yes, that too has a certain
           use; as far as the outside world is concerned, even information has a certain limited utility, but in the
           inner world it has no utility at all. It is a barrier; it has a negative effect on the inner experience.
                You say, "I understand you to say that the intellect is a barrier to self-realization."
                The intellect is neither a barrier nor a bridge; intellect is neutral. Get identified with it, it
           becomes a barrier; remain unidentified with it, it is a bridge. And without meditation you cannot
           know your transcendental nature.
                In science, concentration is enough; at the most, contemplation is needed. In religion, meditation
           is the only way. Concentration is not needed, is not a help; it is a positive hindrance. Contemplation
           also is not a help; it is a compensation for not being meditative, it is a poor substitute for it.
           Meditation -- only meditation -- can bring the inner revolution.
                Meditation means getting out of the mind, looking at the mind from the outside. That's exactly
           the meaning of the word 'ecstasy': to stand out. To stand out of the mind makes you ecstatic, brings
           bliss to you. And great intelligence is released. When you are identified with the mind you cannot be
           very intelligent because you become identified with an instrument, you become confined by the
           instrument and its limitations. And you are unlimited -- you are consciousness.
                Use the mind, but don't become it. Use it as you use other machines. Mind is a beautiful machine.
           If you can use it, it will serve you; if you cannot use it and it starts using you, it is destructive, it is
           dangerous. It is bound to take you into some trouble, into some calamity, into some suffering and
           misery, because a machine is a blind thing. It has no eyes, it has no insight. Mind cannot see; it can
           only go on repeating that which has been fed into it. It is like a computer; first you have to feed it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's what your so-called education is, you go on feeding it. Then it becomes a great memory in
           you, so whenever you need to remember anything it can supply. But you should remain the master so
           that you can use it; otherwise it starts directing you.
               Don't be guided by your car; remain a driver. You have to decide the direction, you have to
           decide the goal. You have to decide about the speed, when to start and when to stop. When you lose
           control and when the car takes over and it starts going on its own you are doomed.
               But I am not absolutely against information. Information is good if it is stored in the memory and
           whenever you need it you can find it easily. It is dangerous only when you don't need it and it goes
           on hammering itself on you; when it forces you to do something, when you are just a victim, then it
           is dangerous. Otherwise it is beautiful. It is a beautiful means, but it is not the end.

               At school the teacher was asking his class questions. He turned to Jenkins, "Who knocked down
           the walls of Jericho?"
           "Please, sir," replied Jenkins. "It was not me, sir."
               The teacher was very angry. He went straight to the headmaster and said, "I have just asked
           Jenkins who knocked down the walls of Jericho and he said it was not him. What do you think about
           that?"
               The headmaster said, "I have known the Jenkins family for years, and if he said it wasn't him, it
           WASN'T him."
               The teacher was even more angry. He phoned the Minister of Education and said, "I asked a boy
           in class who knocked down the walls of Jericho and he said it wasn't him. I then went to the
           headmaster to complain. He said he had known the family for years and if the boy said it wasn't him,
           it WASN'T him. What do you think about that?"
               The minister was silent for a second, then said, "Listen, I am fed up with complaints from your
           school. Get the walls repaired and if there are more complaints, I am going to shut that school
           down!"

                Information is not bad in itself -- you have to know who knocked down the walls of Jericho! But
           if information becomes so powerful in your mind that it goes on and on and you cannot put it off,
           you cannot put the mind in a state of relaxation, then the mind becomes wearied, tired, bored,
           exhausted. In that state, how can you be intelligent? Your energies are dissipated. Intelligence needs
           overflowing energies. Intelligence needs health, wholeness.
                A meditator will be more intelligent than anybody else and a meditator will be able to use his
           mind objectively and subjectively both. He will be able to move outside as easily as he will be able
           to move inside. He will be more flexible. He is the master. He can take the car forward, he can take
           the car backward.
                When Ford had made his first car there was no reverse gear in it. It was a difficult problem to
           come back home. You had to go round, you had to take the long route, just to come back home. Even
           if you had gone a few yards past your garage you could not come back to the garage -- there was no
           reverse gear in it. Later on it was added.
                Meditation gives you the reverse gear. Ordinarily you don't have it and you have to go round the
           world again and again, and still you cannot find where your home is; you cannot come back. You
           cannot go in; you know only how to go out. You cannot back in. A meditator becomes more fluid,
           more flexible. He becomes more enriched.
                I am not in favor of those people who in the past, in the name of religion, became fixated into
           their introversion; that is another extreme. A few people are fixated as extroverts; as a reaction, a few
           other people become fixated as introverts. Both become dead. Life belongs to the flexible one who
           can move from extroversion to introversion and from introversion to extroversion as easily as you
           move outside your house and inside your house. When it is too cold inside you come out in the sun;
           when it becomes too hot you come inside under the shelter, in the coolness of the house -- and there
           is no problem. It is as simple as that.
                Meditation does not mean going against the outside world. It has been so in the past. That's why
           religion has failed, it could not succeed; it could not have succeeded in any way. Life belongs to the
           fluid, to the flowing. Whenever you become fixated you become a thing. Your monks were
           introverts; they closed their eyes to the outside world.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That's why in the East we could not develop science, although the first steps were taken in the
           East. Mathematics was developed in India. The first steps towards technology were taken in China.
           But there it stopped for the simple reason that the greatest people in the East became fixated
           introverts; they lost interest in the objective world, they closed themselves totally to the objective.
           This is being only half of your total potential.
                Now the West is doing just the opposite: it has become utterly extrovert, it does not know how to
           go in. It does not believe that there is any "in," it does not believe in any soul. It believes in man's
           behavior, not in man's inner existence. It studies the behavior and it says there is nobody inside it --
           it is all mechanical.
                Man has become a robot. If you don't know the soul, man becomes a robot. He is understood to
           be just a beautiful mechanism developed over millions of years -- the long long journey of evolution
           -- but he is only a sophisticated machine.
                It was not difficult for Adolf Hitler to kill so many people so easily for the simple reason that if
           man is a machine, what is the harm in killing people? If you destroy your wristwatch you don't feel
           guilty; howsoever sophisticated it was, it was only a wristwatch. If you decided to destroy it, it is for
           you to decide; nobody can object to it. You cannot be dragged into a court as a murderer.
                Stalin could kill millions of people easily without any prick in his conscience for the simple
           reason that Marxism believes that there is no soul. Man is nothing but matter; consciousness is only
           a by-product of matter. This is one extreme.
                Science has developed in the West, but religion has disappeared. In the East, religion developed
           but science disappeared. In both the ways man remains poor and half.
                My effort here is to create the whole man who will be able to be scientific and religious together.

                A big, mangy dog was threatening a mother cat and her kittens. He had backed them into the
           corner of a barn, when suddenly the cat reared back on her hind legs and started barking and
           growling loudly. Startled and confused, the dog turned and ran from the barn, its tail tucked between
           its legs.
                Turning to her kittens, the mother cat lifted a paw and told them, "Now do you see the advantage
           of being bilingual?"

               I want man to be bilingual. He should know science as much, as deeply as he should know
           meditation. He should know mind as much as he should know meditation. He should know the
           language of the objective world -- that is science -- and he should know also the language of the
           subjective world -- that is religion.
               Only a man who is able to bridge the objective and the subjective, a man who is able to bridge
           the East and the West, a man who is able to bridge the materialist and the spiritualist, can be a whole
           man. The world is waiting for the whole man. If the whole man does not arrive soon, then there is no
           future for humanity. And the whole man can come only through deep, profound intelligence.
               I am not against intellect, I am not against intelligence; I am against intellectuality. Don't get
           identified with your mind. Always remain a watcher on the hills; a witness to the body, to the mind,
           a witness to the outer and to the inner, so that you can transcend both the outer and the inner and you
           can know that you are neither -- you are beyond both. That beyond is God.
               God is neither an object nor a subject. God is neither the outside nor the inside. He is both and he
           is neither.
               Richard, you say, "I have been very interested to listen to your lectures during the past few days.
           Far from being unintellectual, they could be described as an intellectual tour de force."
               When I am talking to you, even if I am talking about something supra-intellectual, I talk in
           intellectual ways because otherwise you will not be able to understand what I am saying. Intellect is
           the only possible communication right now. Unless YOU learn the language of total silence I have to
           go on talking in YOUR language. You understand logic, I use logic -- for very strange purposes: to
           help you go beyond logic. I use every possible way to help you transcend duality.
               I am not unintellectual or anti-intellectual, but my effort here is to help you to go beyond intellect
           and anti-intellect both, to go beyond logic and illogic both. It is possible. When you are in absolute
           silence you are neither logical nor illogical, but that silence cannot be expressed directly; that silence
           has to be translated into your language. That's what I am doing here. It is an arduous effort because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           much splendor and grandeur is lost in translating it. That experience of silence is so vast it cannot be
           put into words, but it has to be put into words. Only then will you be able to hear it. Even then very
           few people hear it, because people are not present; they are absent, they are asleep.
               I have to start with your language, and slowly slowly, you will start learning my language. I am
           bilingual and I will make you also bilingual. There are two languages: the language of words and the
           language of silence. Right now I have to use the language of words to translate the poetry of silence,
           the music of silence. Later on, when you have developed a little meditativeness, you will be able to
           understand the poetry of silence, the music of silence directly -- just by sitting near me. There will be
           no need for me to say anything at all.
               I am waiting for that day and I am really in a hurry for that day, because talking is becoming
           more and more difficult for me. To you it may seem that I can go on talking forever; as far as I am
           concerned it is becoming more and more difficult because I can see the impossibility of putting the
           unknowable into words. It seems murderous -- the whole beauty is lost. Only something reaches you
           and that too depends on you: if you are available to me it reaches to you; otherwise it will not reach
           you. You will go on listening to that which you want to listen to and you will go on seeing that
           which you are capable of seeing.

              For a holiday, Donnelly decided to go to Switzerland to fulfill a lifelong dream by climbing the
           Matterhorn. He hired a guide and went up. Just as they neared the top, the men were caught in a
           snow slide.
              Three hours later, a Saint Bernard plowed through to them, a keg of brandy tied under his chin.
           "Hurray!" shouted the guide. "Here comes man's best friend!"
           "Yeah," said Donnelly. "And look at the size of the dog that is bringing it!"

               You hear that which you can hear, you see that which you can see. It is a tug of war between me
           and you to bring you to a point from where you can see something that I am seeing.
               Once I have accomplished the right number to create the buddhafield I will go into silence. The
           way you are going into meditation makes me hopeful soon it will be happening; it will not be long.
           Soon the right amount of energy will be available. Then I can just sit silently with you; you can
           dance and sing around me or sit in silence. And there will be a communication -- more a communion
           than a communication. Something is bound to transpire then. But before that can happen I have to go
           on persuading you through words, through logic. It is a kind of seduction. I have to seduce you
           towards something which you have utterly forgotten.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN YOU PUT YOUR PHILOSOPHY IN A NUTSHELL?


              Vandan, any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell, belongs there.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS PESSIMISM?


              Gyanesh, man can look at life in two ways: either through a no or through a yes. Either he can be
           negative in his approach or positive. These are the two easily available ways for the mind.
              There is also a third way, but to achieve to the third you have to go through arduous effort of
           becoming more and more aware. To the sleeping person these two ways are ready-made, available
           from the very birth.
              The positive person lives through a kind of optimism. His optimism is shallow, but he is full of
           hopes. He counts only the roses on the rosebush; he does not look at the thorns, he ignores them.
           Sooner or later he is bound to be disappointed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Every child begins with a positive attitude towards life. That is natural because if the child
           begins with a negative attitude he will not begin at all; he would have died in the mother's womb. He
           waited for nine months, he passed through the birth canal, which is a painful process, suffocating.
           There must be deep down an unconscious hope; hence he is patiently waiting for the day when he
           can see the sun, see the light, be in the world. He is like a seed, very unconscious; he is not aware of
           it. But every child is born with great hopes, every child is an optimist; he looks through the positive.
                But life disappoints everyone. Life is very strange, in a way: if you don't get what you want, you
           are disappointed, naturally; but if you get what you want, then too you are disappointed.
           Disappointment seems to be the destiny. If you don't get what you want, you suffer -- you have
           failed. You have not been able to prove yourself, you have not been able to prove your mettle.
           Others have succeeded, you are a failure. You can't respect yourself. And if you can't respect
           yourself, you can't respect life. It seems like a curse. You would like to return the ticket to God. If
           you meet him, your first question will be, "Why have you created me? For what? -- for all these
           disappointments? Are you a sadist or something, creating so many people and then giving them so
           much misery?"
                And the religious people say, "It is God's play, his LEELA." What kind of play is this? God does
           not seem to be in his right senses. It seems as if he is enjoying the tortures. He seems to be more like
           Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, than like Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus.
                These people don't seem to be like God, because when all your hopes are turned into
           hopelessness, when all your desires are frustrated, when nothing comes out of your optimism,
           naturally you become sour, you become bitter, and pessimism is born.
                Pessimism is nothing but the failure of optimistic attitudes. Then you start counting the thorns
           and ignoring the roses. Then you look always for the darker side. That is the philosophy of
           pessimism.

           Contemplate on these laws of Murphy:
           First: If anything can go wrong, it will.
           Second: Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
           Third: Everything takes longer than you expect.
               Fourth: Left to themselves all things go from bad to worse.
           Fifth: Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
           Sixth: Mother Nature is a bitch.
               Seventh: It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
               Eighth: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
               Ninth: If you can keep your head when, all around you, others are losing theirs, you just don't
           understand the situation.
               And the tenth: For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution -- and it is always
           wrong.

                Pessimism simply means looking at life negatively, always searching for the flaw, for the
           loophole, for something negative, and accumulating all those negativities. And when you look at the
           dark side, always, of course, there are two nights and only one small day sandwiched between the
           two nights -- dark dark nights.
                Optimism ends into pessimism. Every pessimist has been an optimist once -- he is an
           ex-optimist. He hoped too much and because those hopes were not fulfilled he has become sour,
           angry, enraged. Now he cannot see the flowers and the stars. He can't see anything beautiful; he goes
           on looking for the ugly. And when you look for the ugly you will find it on every step. Whatsoever
           you look for you are bound to find it, remember, because life consists of both -- positivity and
           negativity -- in the same quantity. Life cannot exist without the other; the other pole is a must.
                It is just like electricity. Electricity cannot exist only with one polarity, positive or negative; it
           has to have both the poles together. It is possible only through the tension that is created between the
           negative and the positive.
                But there is a third kind of person -- I call that person the awakened, the enlightened -- who looks
           at life in its totality, who is neither a pessimist nor an optimist, who simply accepts life as it is; who
           accepts the night, who accepts the day, who accepts the rose and the thorn, because he understands
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that life is out of necessity dual, dialectical. And in his awareness grows a synthesis between the
           polar opposites. The synthesis never grows on the outside, as Karl Marx says.
               Karl Marx says life is a dialectical process between thesis and antithesis and it always comes to a
           synthesis. Then synthesis turns again into a thesis and creates its antithesis. That is utterly wrong.
           Outside, life is always thesis and antithesis; it never comes to any synthesis.
               Synthesis is achieved only in the inner vision of an enlightened being. Synthesis is attained when
           you have attained to absolute silence. In that silence you are so clear, so transparent, that you can see
           through and through. Then you know that life needs both: day and night, birth and death. Then there
           is nothing wrong in death; it is perfectly useful, needed, inevitable. Then a deep acceptance arises in
           you. Buddha calls that acceptance TATHATA -- suchness. Life is such. You understand it and
           through that understanding you transcend it.
               Don't be a pessimist and don't be an optimist. Just watch, be a watcher and attain to the ultimate
           synthesis where you become a third force rising higher and higher and seeing from above, a
           bird's-eye view. Deep down everything is in conflict, but it is okay because you understand life
           cannot exist without it. It is not God's fault. There is no God as a person who can be blamed for it. It
           is just the nature of things -- tao, dhamma -- that life functions through duality. But consciousness
           can soar so high that it can transcend all duality and can reach to oneness.
               The real meditator is neither pessimist nor optimist. He lives in a kind of suchness, in total
           "accept-ability."

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM BORED WITH MY HUSBAND. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING, BUT NOTHING SEEMS TO
              WORK. HAVE YOU ANY SUGGESTIONS?


               Geetama, not many, just one. Write a letter to five of your friends like this:
           Hello there!
               This letter was started by a woman like yourself, in hopes of bringing relief to a tired and
           discontented wife.
               Unlike most chain letters, this one does not cost anything. Just send a copy of this letter to five of
           your friends who are equally tired. Then bundle up your husband and send him to the woman at the
           top of the list and add your name to the bottom of the list.
               When your name comes to the top of the list you will receive 16,478 men and some of them are
           bound to be a hell of a lot better than the one you already have.
           DO NOT BREAK THE CHAIN... HAVE FAITH!
               One woman broke the chain and got her own sonofabitch back.
               At the date of writing this letter, another friend of mine received 183 men. They buried her
           yesterday.... But it took three undertakers thirty-six hours to get the smile off her face.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOUR MESSAGE IS UNIVERSAL, BUT IS IT ONLY FOR THOSE WITHOUT A RELIGION? WHY
              ARE NOT YOUR FELLOW INDIANS CROWDING AT THE GATE TO GET IN?


               Charles Gardiner, my message is universal. That does not mean that everybody will be able to
           understand it. The more universal a message is, the less people will be able to understand it, because
           the more universal it is, the more mysterious it is. It is so beyond the reach of the ordinary, stupid
           mind -- just because it is universal.
               People can understand things which are not so universal more easily. They can understand racial
           things, they can understand national things, they can understand ideological things. But any message
           that is really universal is bound to be understood only by a very few chosen people.
               Only the most intelligent people will be interested in what I am doing here. Hence you will see
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gathering around me intelligent people from all over the world, young, fresh, intelligent.
               India is not young, it is not fresh. It is very rare to find an Indian who is young. In India
           everybody is born old. It is such an ancient country with such a long long tradition that everybody is
           burdened. A younger country is of course more receptive.
               For example, America is more receptive to any new message than any other country for the
           simple reason that it is the latest country in the world -- with only a three-hundred-year tradition, it is
           nothing. India has lived at least ten thousand years -- ten thousand years according to the historians,
           one hundred thousand years according to Indians themselves. The truth may be somewhere in
           between. I can settle on fifty thousand years -- but that too is very long. And as the country becomes
           old it goes on gathering rubbish, junk. And every generation goes on giving its junk and rubbish to
           the new generation, thinking that this is heritage, thinking that they are giving something very
           valuable.
               America is the most receptive. And next to America, Germany seems to be very receptive for the
           simple reason that Adolf Hitler killed the old Germany completely, he destroyed the old completely.
           He created a discontinuity. The new German generation is no longer looking backwards. Adolf
           Hitler is standing there and nobody wants to look at him, so better forget all about it! Adolf Hitler
           has done a great service to Germany. He has destroyed the old heritage -- not knowing that he is
           doing such good work, otherwise he would not have done it -- not knowing that he is doing
           something immensely valuable. Unconsciously he has done it.
               India also needs a discontinuity with the past. The past hinders.
               Hence people from other countries are coming to me more. And certainly one becomes curious,
           just as Gardiner has become curious: "Why are not your fellow Indians crowding at the gate to get
           in?"
               India is too old, my message is too new. India is ancient, traditional; I am rebellious. There is no
           meeting ground between me and India. I am not an Indian, in fact. So please don't call them "fellow
           Indians" -- they are not. I am not an Indian, I belong to no nation; only then can I be universal. If I
           am an Indian, then I am already prejudiced in favor of India. Then my message cannot be universal;
           it will be deep down Indian, basically Indian -- camouflaged, hidden behind beautiful words,
           abstractions, but it will remain essentially Indian; it can't be universal.
               Mahatma Gandhi used to say that the whole universe is one, all religions are one. In his ashram
           he used to teach that Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians are all one. In his prayer meetings all
           the prayers of all the religions were recited. He loved one prayer the most which says: ALLAH
           ISHWAR TERE NAM -- Ishwar and Allah, both are your names, God.
               But when he was killed he forgot all about Allah. He said, "Hey Ram!" Then the hidden Hindu
           came to the surface. His whole life he was saying, "Both are the same, both are names of the same."
           But when the bullet went into his heart he forgot all his philosophy. It would have been really
           beautiful if he had said, "Allah!" But he said, "Ram!"
               He used to say that the Gita and the Koran and the Bible have the same message, but he
           worshipped the Gita and he called the Gita his mother. Then what is the Koran? He has not even
           called the Koran his auntie! The Gita is his mother -- and of course he has chosen a few pieces from
           the Koran and from the Bible which are in agreement with the Gita. Anything that disagrees with the
           Gita has not been chosen by him, so the Gita remains the criterion. Now this is so clear, that
           anything that does not fit with the Gita is wrong; it may be in the Koran, it may be in the Bible, but it
           is wrong. He would not say it so clearly because he was a politician.
               I am not a politician -- I say things as they are. I call a spade a spade -- and sometimes a fucking
           spade! I am not a politician; I simply say whatsoever is the case.
               Indians are not very happy with me, they cannot be. Neither am I very happy with them, so why
           should they be? I am utterly against their traditionalism, their egoistic idea that they are holier than
           everybody else in the world. Nobody is holier than anybody else. I am against their idea that their
           country is the only religious country in the world, that they are the source of all that is great. These
           are stupid ideas. Every country carries them and every country believes in them.
               You ask the Chinese, you ask the Japanese, you ask the Italians, you ask anybody. Every country
           believes it. And you can find always great arguments to support it.
               Indians would have crowded at the gate if I was helping in some way, nourishing and feeding
           their ego. I am not doing that, I cannot do that. Only then can I be universal. I am continuously
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hammering on their ego. I am continuously trying to destroy their "holier-than-thou" look. They are
           angry at me. How can they crowd at the gate to come in?
               If sometimes a few of them out of curiosity come in, within five to seven minutes they start
           getting up. Only a few stupid Indians get up from here. What I am saying does not suit them. They
           would like me to praise their Vedas as the only scriptures, the real scriptures, written by God
           himself. They would like me to praise everything that is Indian. I cannot do that. I can praise only
           that which is praiseworthy, not because it is Indian. I can praise things, not because they are Hindu,
           Jaina, Buddhist, but simply because they are beautiful.
               I praise the Taj Mahal not because it is Mohammedan, but just because it is a beautiful piece of
           objective art. I praise the Upanishads not because Hindus have written them but because they are so
           immensely valuable, intrinsically valuable. I praise Lao Tzu in the same way, I praise Jesus in the
           same way, I praise Mohammed in the same way. Wherever truth has happened, whomsoever it has
           happened to -- to Bahauddin or to Buddha -- it does not make any difference to me.
               That makes Indians very angry. They would like me to criticize Mohammed and to praise
           Mahavira, or if I cannot do that then at least praise Mahavira more than Mohammed, but create a
           hierarchy in which Buddha, Krishna and Mahavira are at the top. Yes, Jesus is also good and
           Mohammed is also good, but not at the top -- far below in the hierarchy. That I cannot do because I
           see the same phenomenon happening in Buddha and the same experience in Jesus. I am not helping
           Indians' ego in any possible way -- I am doing just the opposite. They cannot crowd at the gate to
           come in.
               What I am trying here is not something of the past; it belongs to the future. So only a few Indians
           will be able to come to me -- a few Indians who are capable of rising above their Indian mind, very
           rare individuals who are ready to rise with me above nationality, above race, above all kinds of
           egoistic attitudes. They are here, but they are here because they are also no longer Indians.
               Indians believe that they know, they are very knowledgeable. Naturally -- it is an ancient
           country; you need not read the scriptures, the scriptures are in the atmosphere. And my idea is that
           the knowledgeable person can never be religious. And up to now India has believed in the
           knowledgeable person -- the pundit, the scholar, the professor. And my effort is to help you become
           more and more childlike, more innocent, full of wonder not full of knowledge, full of awe not full of
           information. There is no need to read the Vedas -- because anyway ninety-nine percent of the Vedas
           is absolutely rubbish! Now this hurts the Indians. Only one percent is beautiful; you have to be very
           choosy.
               The same is the case with other scriptures of the world. You look at the Bible, look at the Old
           Testament; ninety-nine percent is just rubbish. It would be better if we got rid of that rubbish so only
           diamonds can shine forth. Otherwise the pebbles are so many, the diamonds are lost. But no -- no
           Jew will be ready to drop anything out of the Old Testament. And the same is the case with the New
           Testament, and the same is the case -- more so -- with the Koran.
               I have many Mohammedan sannyasins. They go on asking me when I am going to speak on the
           Koran, and I go on postponing it for the simple reason that there is not much in it to speak on. Very
           rarely do you come across a line one can manage to speak about in a beautiful way. Otherwise, just
           very ordinary statements....
               But the reason is, in those days everything was written in the religious scriptures: history,
           geography, mythology. That was the only way. The old religious scriptures are like
           ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; they are the encyclopedias of the old days. Everything is
           written, whatsoever was happening in those days and whatsoever was thought important. It may have
           been important in those days; now it is irrelevant.
               And even when I speak on Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna, I speak in an absolutely nontraditional
           way. I speak out of my own experience, I am not a commentator. I love Buddha because I have
           known the same light, I have experienced the same truth. So when I comment on Buddha it is not a
           commentary. Buddha's statements are only excuses, just pegs; I go on hanging myself on those pegs.
               The Indian mind is very much against that. They think I am distorting. They think I should
           comment according to the scriptures. I am commenting according to my consciousness, not
           according to any scripture. And when I see something which cannot be said by a buddha I simply
           drop it, I don't comment on it.
               I know what buddhahood is! I go on creating Buddha again. That is resisted very much. They
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would like me to be just a historian, a commentator, a scholar. They would like me to quote their
           scriptures, refer to their scriptures. I never refer, I never quote. In my books you will not find any
           footnotes. I don't believe in all that nonsense. I speak out of my heart. I love Buddha, I love Jesus. I
           speak, I use their statements as grounds to take off, that's all -- just jumping boards. It goes against
           the Indian approach, Indian scholarship.
               Gardiner, because my message is universal it will appeal only to those people who ARE
           universal, who don't belong to any country anymore, to any religion, to any church. Yes, you are
           right. You say, "Is it only for those without a religion?"
               Yes, it is for those who are without a religion, without a nation, without a race; it is only for
           those liberated ones. It is for the new generation. The new generation is courageous; it has dropped
           much of the load that people have been carrying for centuries. Only then can there be a communion
           between me and you.
               And you can see this is a universal gathering. People from at least forty countries are here.
           Except the Chinese and the Russians -- except the communist bloc -- you will find people from every
           country here. And even in Russia the orange people are starting to work underground. Small cells
           have started functioning. People are meeting really in underground basements, meditating. A few
           people even have become sannyasins. It is very difficult to send them malas and names, but we have
           found ways and they have found ways. They cannot wear orange in the open.
               One woman who has become a sannyasin wrote to me, "What to do?" I said, "Use red instead of
           orange. Wear red and tell people that you love communism so much that you cannot resist the
           temptation of wearing red!" She loved the idea. She said, "This is beautiful!"
               But when they meditate and they meet in underground basements they wear orange, they wear
           malas, they read the books, they listen to the tapes. They have even translated a few books into
           Russian; just hand-written, those books are passed from one hand to another. But they are not here; it
           will be difficult for them to be here.
               One woman has written that she is ready to escape from Russia if somebody can help her so that
           she can remain here forever. She is ready to leave her husband, her home, her security, safety,
           everything.
               Soon from China and Russia also people will be coming here. This is becoming a universal
           temple -- and it is especially for those who have no more interest in religion. They can understand
           me, because the priests have destroyed their interest in religion. The churches have destroyed any
           possibility for any intelligent person to be religious.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I ALWAYS GET SEXUALLY EXCITED WHEN I SEE A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN?


                Nanda Kishor, the first thing is that you are an Indian. It is very difficult for an Indian not to get
           excited when he sees a beautiful woman. Long long repression... your unconscious is full of
           repressions so you don't miss any opportunity.
                Of course you don't show it. It is courageous of you that you have asked the question.
                Nothing is wrong in being sexually excited by seeing a beautiful woman. You are simply paying
           a compliment to her, that's all. You are saying she is beautiful and attractive. In a more
           understanding world you will simply go to the woman and thank her and she will accept your
           compliment with gratitude. If a woman passes and nobody gets excited about her, nobody ever, that
           is really a miserable thing to go through.

               I was a professor in a university for a few years. One day it happened: I was sitting in the
           vice-chancellor's room. A girl came, she was crying and weeping and she said that one boy was
           continually teasing her. He was throwing small stones at her, writing love letters to her.
               The vice-chancellor was, of course, very angry. I was sitting there so he told me, "Can you help
           this girl? Can you console her?"
               I asked the girl, "If nobody ever teased you and nobody ever wrote a love letter and nobody
           threw pebbles at you, would that be right? Would you be happy?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Her tears disappeared. For a moment she was shocked. Then she said, "I have never thought of it
           in that way."
                I said, "That will be real misery! This simply shows that somebody is interested in you. Go to
           him and thank him! Nothing is wrong in it. He is simply a little foolish; he does not know how to pay
           compliments to a beautiful girl. Send the boy to me and I will teach him a few things! He needs a
           little tuition -- he has no intuition. And you need not be worried and you need not be crying: this is
           natural!"

                You are, Nanda Kishor, one of the species of animals. Man is an animal unless he becomes a
           buddha. If you become a buddha and then you are excited by seeing a beautiful woman, come and
           ask the question. Then it will be something worth asking because then it will be a problem. But you
           are not a buddha -- so meanwhile enjoy! Once you become a buddha, then I cannot help -- nobody
           can help. Then even if you want to get down, there is no way.
                It is an animal instinct, as much in animals as in human beings. Yes, it has to be transcended, but
           by repression you cannot transcend. Accept it. Acceptance is the first step towards transcendence.
           And don't feel guilty about it -- it is not a sin.
                When you see a beautiful sunset you don't feel any guilt. When you see a beautiful flower and
           you are attracted you don't feel any guilt. When you see a beautiful face of a man or a woman, why
           should you feel guilty if you are attracted, if you want to look back, if you want to go close and have
           a closer look? Why should you feel guilty about it? But that's how you have been taught for
           centuries. If you go closer to the woman, the woman will start shouting for the police and you will
           start finding excuses.
                Nobody looks into each other's eyes. It is thought to be offensive. Even if you want to look into
           some beautiful eyes you cannot. Only three seconds is allowed. How all over the world people have
           come to agree on three seconds is something mysterious. Just for three seconds you can look at
           somebody and the other will not be offended. If you look more than that, the other feels offended.
                Maybe there is a reason. You don't know how to look at the other; you don't know how to look
           gracefully. Maybe your look is ugly -- and it is bound to be ugly if you are carrying much repressed
           sexuality. Your look will be pornographic. Deep down in your imagination you will be undressing
           the woman, and she feels offended. Who are you to undress her even in your fancy? Your look is
           ugly; it looks as if you are penetrating her being, as if you have found a substitute for sexual
           penetration through the eyes. You are reducing her into a thing, and nobody wants to be reduced into
           a thing. Your look has no respect in it. If your look has respect, if your excitement has beauty, grace,
           there is no problem.
                Yes, it has to be transcended one day because this is also a duality -- man/woman -- the same
           duality as between positive and negative, birth and death, summer and winter. It has to be
           transcended. One has to come to a point from where nothing disturbs your coolness, nothing distracts
           you from your center.
                But the way to come to it is not repression, Nanda Kishor. The first step is acceptance: it is
           natural. Accept it as part of your nature, as part of your biology. And then try to understand it, watch
           it, observe it, witness it. Slowly slowly, as your witnessing will grow, you will go beyond it. One day
           you will not find any difference between a man and a woman: you have gone beyond sexuality. That
           is true BRAHMACHARYA, true celibacy, but it is not what has been told to you.
                In the name of celibacy, sex has been repressed for centuries and you have become just full of
           sexuality. Rather than transcending it you are boiling within.

               In order to find out whether his wife was cheating on him, a man bought a parrot. The parrot was
           an amazing bird, but in a fight had lost both legs and had to balance itself on its pelvis.
               One day the man questioned the parrot and found out that his wife was, in fact, cheating on him.
           Quickly he asked the parrot, "What happened?"
               The parrot said, "First your wife was kissing a strange man, and then she started to take off her
           clothes...."
           "And then?" interrupted the man.
           "And then they both got on the bed...."
           "And then?" cried the man.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Then she pulled on the blankets...."
           "And then, and then?"
           "I don't know," said the parrot. "I fell over!"

           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                     Chapter #9
                                      Chapter title: The monkey in the forest
           19 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002190
              ShortTitle: DHAM909
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              IF YOU SLEEP,
              DESIRE GROWS IN YOU
              LIKE A VINE IN THE FOREST.



              LIKE A MONKEY IN THE FOREST
              YOU JUMP FROM TREE TO TREE,
              NEVER FINDING THE FRUIT --
              FROM LIFE TO LIFE,
              NEVER FINDING PEACE.



              IF YOU ARE FILLED WITH DESIRE,
              YOUR SORROWS SWELL
              LIKE THE GRASS AFTER THE RAIN.



              BUT IF YOU SUBDUE DESIRE,
              YOUR SORROWS FALL FROM YOU
              LIKE DROPS OF WATER FROM A LOTUS FLOWER.



              THIS IS GOOD COUNSEL
              AND IT IS FOR EVERYONE:
              AS THE GRASS IS CLEARED FOR THE FRESH ROOT,
              CUT DOWN DESIRE
              LEST DEATH AFTER DEATH CRUSH YOU
              AS A RIVER CRUSHES THE HELPLESS REEDS.



              FOR IF THE ROOTS HOLD FIRM,
              A FELLED TREE GROWS UP AGAIN.
              IF DESIRES ARE NOT UPROOTED,
              SORROWS GROW AGAIN IN YOU.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Gautama the Buddha's most fundamental message to humanity is that man is asleep. Man is born
           asleep. He is not talking about the ordinary sleep; he is talking about a metaphysical sleep, a deep
           deep unconsciousness within you. You are acting out of that unconsciousness, so whatsoever you do
           goes wrong. It is impossible to do right with this unconsciousness within you. This unconsciousness
           perverts all of your efforts, it leads you into wrong directions. It is bound to be so.
               Even if a buddha is with you, you will misunderstand him for the mere reason that you are not
           conscious. If you are really asleep and a buddha is sitting by the side of you, you cannot recognize
           him, you cannot see him, you cannot feel him. You will go on dreaming in your own way; you will
           remain confined to your own private world of dreams.
               The most private thing in life is your dreaming. When the dreaming disappears you enter into the
           world of the universal. Then you enter into truth, into God, into nirvana. But with all your dreams,
           that is impossible; you are lost in your own dreams. And it is not only one dream within you;
           millions of them are constantly growing... one is being replaced by another. You think that now you
           are awake because one dream has left you, but another has taken its place. You can even dream that
           you are awake. Buddhas go on shouting, but you don't hear.
               Jesus says: If you have eyes to see, see. If you have ears to hear, hear. He is not talking with deaf
           and blind people, he is talking with people like you. He is saying exactly the same thing that Buddha
           is saying: that you are asleep.
               Jesus had been to India, and when Jesus came to India, Buddha was very much alive. Although
           he had left his body five hundred years before, the air was still full with his songs. There were still
           people deeply connected with him; there were still people for whom he was almost a tangible reality.
               Buddha had said that "My religion will last for five hundred years." Those years were coming to
           an end; it was the last phase. The sun was setting, but the sun was still on the horizon.
               Jesus must have visited Buddhist schools, monasteries. In Ladakh there is still a hand-written
           scripture in existence in which Jesus has written about his coming to India, his visit, his experiences,
           what he had gained here. Christian scriptures are completely silent about his life. He is mentioned
           once when he is twelve years old and then for eighteen years there is a gap. Then he is mentioned
           when he is thirty, and then he lives only three years more. Where had he been for eighteen years?
           The people who were writing the gospels must have been aware of the gap, but they were afraid to
           say anything about those eighteen years, because he was traveling, moving from one mystery school
           to another mystery school.
               He talked very much the way Buddha talked. He carried a similar message and a similar
           understanding to his people. He was misunderstood for the simple reason that he had brought
           something which was not part of Jewish tradition; he had brought something alien. And the most
           alien thing was that he was telling people, "You are asleep, you are really dead."
               Just being born is not enough to be awake. Awakening has to be achieved through arduous effort;
           otherwise you can pass your whole life wandering in the forest of dreams. And he was aware that the
           people who were listening to him were not capable of understanding him at all. He was saying one
           thing and they would understand another. He was aware that there was something that seemed to be
           hindering the message.

              Jesus is sitting at the table with his twelve disciples, eating beef and drinking wine. At a certain
           point he looks intensely up at his disciples and says, "One of you will betray me. Judas, Judas, why,
           why you?"
              At this, in a fit of anger, Judas gets up and screams at the disciples, "Why the hell is it that every
           time he gets drunk he takes it out on me?"

               Jesus looks drunk to Judas. Buddha also looks drunk to the people. And in a way, they are drunk
           -- drunk with the divine. They belong to another world. We live in the night, they have seen the
           dawn. We live in our dreams of achieving this and that, in our ambitions, in our ego trips for power,
           for money, for prestige. And they live at a totally different point. They live as beings, we live as
           becomings. We live as desires, as dreams; they are real beings: they have no dreams, no desires. We
           live in the past or in the future; they live in the present. We live in words, they live in silence. We
           live in thousands of frustrations, they live in deep peace.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Why do we live in frustrations? How do we manage to live in so many frustrations? We have
           become experts in creating frustrations although we don't do it intentionally. We don't do anything
           intentionally; our whole lives are accidental. In sleep, your life is bound to be just accidental, at the
           mercy of the winds. We are just as straws in the wind or dry leaves in the wind. We don't know who
           we are, we don't know where we are going, we don't know from where we are coming. We don't
           know anything about our being -- and we know great information about facts, figures which are
           utterly meaningless.
               Unless you know yourself, no knowledge is of any meaning. At the very center of your being
           there is darkness; no light from the outside can dispel it.
               The greatest problem in the world is how to commune your awakening with those who have
           never tasted it. They are bound to misunderstand. Misunderstanding is almost inevitable.

                The color TV was invented in the USA. News of this beautiful new toy arrived up to the
           kingdom of God. God, being very curious, sent one of his archangels down to the earth to get one.
                As God sat in front of his new color TV set with the archangel sitting beside him, he pressed the
           first button. Immediately, the image of naked, tired, sweating people appeared on the screen. They
           were working incredibly hard in a Johannesburg diamond mine.
                Upon seeing this, God shouted, "Ah Christ, holy shit, what the hell are they doing down there?"
                Saint Peter replied, "They are being good and working hard, my Lord, just as you wanted."
           "No, no, no, that is not what I meant! They have missed the whole point!" screamed God at the top
           of his thunderous voice.
                Then he pushed another button. The image changed to the glorious Vatican in all its pomp and
           splendor, with his holiness the pope, dressed in gold. He was surrounded by luxuriously dressed
           nobles and velvet-cloaked cardinals with massive crowns on their heads.
           God turned to Peter, shouting, "And who are they?"
                Saint Peter humbly replied, "These are the ones who did not miss the point...."

               In fact, everybody misses the point; it is bound to be so. Coming from the peaks of awakening to
           the dark valleys of sleep one cannot expect that it will be understood rightly.
               Hence Buddha insisted, he always emphasized to his disciples, "Before you start trying to
           understand what I am saying and what I am doing, be silent at least for two years, utterly silent,
           thinking nothing. When you have attained to stillness, then you will be able to communicate with
           me. Then if you have any questions you can ask, and then it will be possible for me to pour my heart
           into your heart."
               But it used to happen that whenever somebody would come and would stay for two years in
           silence, he would never ask anything -- because silence is the answer of all the answers. Silence is
           the answer for all the questions. There would be no need to ask Buddha because in silence he would
           see the glory, the splendor of Buddha, and it would start permeating his being like a flood, taking
           away all dust accumulated down the centuries.

           The first sutra:

               IF YOU SLEEP,
               DESIRE GROWS IN YOU
               LIKE A VINE IN THE FOREST.


                Desire cannot be dropped unless you wake up. Millions of people have tried to drop desiring
           without waking up. In fact, the very idea of dropping desire was another desire and nothing else.
           They heard from the buddhas, from the awakened ones, that there is great peace if you drop desire,
           there is great bliss if desires wither away; that you will attain to eternity, that you will not know any
           birth, any death anymore, that you will become part of the universal celebration that goes on and on
           -- if you drop desire. Millions became greedy, thinking that by dropping desire they will attain all
           these joys. Now, this is a new desire taking root in you. The desire for God, the desire for truth, the
           desire for liberation, the desire for becoming desireless, is still a desire. You have misunderstood the
           whole point again. A new greed -- religious greed -- has taken possession of you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Millions of people have lived in the monasteries -- monks and nuns and all kinds of ascetics --
           torturing themselves in the hope, in the desire, that this is the way to destroy desires. When all
           desires are destroyed they are going to attain to heavenly pleasures. And those pleasures are real
           pleasures; they are not momentary like the pleasures on this earth, they are eternal. How can you
           drop desire by creating a new desire, a bigger desire, a far more dangerous desire?
               As I see it, the religious people are more in the grip of desire than the nonreligious. The
           nonreligious is satisfied with small things -- a good house, a beautiful wife, children, a little bank
           balance -- small things. But religious people go on condemning these people that they are sinners.
           And they themselves are saints because they want a bank balance in the other world, and a bank
           balance which will be inexhaustible!
               It is very difficult to drop desire; unless you wake up you cannot drop desire. Desire is a natural
           phenomenon when you are asleep. Desire is dreaming and nothing else. When you wake up dreams
           disappear, and when you wake up desires disappear.
               Hence it has to be understood: the real point is not to fight with your desires but to fight with
           your sleep. That is cutting the very root; otherwise you remain the same. You will function out of
           your unconsciousness and you will go on doing the same; it does not matter what it is.

               Three men were riding in a bus on a hot summer day in Israel. One of them was a rabbi, a Jew,
           another a Greek, and the other a Palestinian.
               The bus departed, and a fly flew onto the shoulder of the Greek. He simply slapped it away. The
           fly then flew over to the rabbi's shoulder and he did the same. The fly then flew over to the
           Palestinian. The Palestinian immediately grabbed the fly and ate it.
               A second fly flew into the bus and exactly the same thing happened: the fly landed on the Greek,
           the Greek slapped it away over to the Jew, the Jew also slapped it away, and finally it landed on the
           Palestinian who grabbed it and ate it.
               At this point, the Greek and the Jew both looked at the Palestinian in amazement.
               Sure enough, a third fly flew into the bus. It flew over to the Greek and was slapped away. It
           flew over to the rabbi and this time the rabbi grabbed the fly, went over to the Palestinian and asked,
           "You want to buy a nice fly?"

               Rabbi or no rabbi, a Jew is a Jew! If there is some business he is not going to miss it.
               You are living in dreams. Your priests, your rabbis, your monks, your nuns, your bishops, your
           popes, they are all living in the same sleep. Maybe your dreams are a little bit different from each
           other, but the quality of the dream is the same.
               Why do you dream? -- because there are so many desires unfulfilled, and to live with unfulfilled
           desires is painful. In dream you try to fulfill them; in dream you create a false feeling of fulfillment.
           Hence your dreams show much about you: what your desires are, what you want to become. But if
           you want to become anything in life, you are asleep.
               The man who is awake knows there is nowhere to go, nothing to become. He is already that
           which he ever can become. Seeing the grandeur of his being, desires wither away on their own
           accord. You are not even expected to drop them; they drop by themselves, like dry leaves falling
           from the trees.
           IF YOU SLEEP, says Buddha, DESIRE GROWS IN YOU....
               Remember: desire grows only when you are asleep, unconscious, unaware, unmeditative. And
           this is natural. It grows... LIKE A VINE IN THE FOREST. And whatsoever you do in this sleep is
           going to be wrong, remember. You can become an ascetic, you can fast, you can pray, but your
           prayers will be wrong.
               Hence, Buddha never says pray; he says meditate. What can you pray? You will always pray
           FOR something; it will be a desire. You can go to the churches and the temples and listen to people's
           prayers, and you will be surprised: they are always asking and asking. Their prayers are superficial.
           They had not gone there to thank God; their prayers are not full of gratitude but full of complaints.
           They want more and they are ready to pray. Their prayer is nothing but buttressing: they praise the
           Lord; they hope that this buttressing will help their prayers to be fulfilled. And behind the prayer
           there is a desire.
               Buddha says: Don't be bothered with prayers, because you are asleep and your prayer is bound to
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be nothing but a desire. Your asceticism is bound to be nothing but an expression of your desire.
           Your asceticism is going to be nothing but a deep hedonism. Hence all religions talk about the joys
           and the pleasures of heaven and paradise. These are the allurements which keep people going to the
           temples and to the churches and to the mosques.
                Buddha says: Go into silence, because silence creates the right space to wake up. Silence goes to
           the very center of your being like an arrow and wakes you up. And when you are awake, your whole
           life is a prayer! And don't go on doing things in your sleep because you can do much more harm. It is
           better to be ordinary when you are asleep -- your harm will be ordinary. Don't try to be
           extraordinary, don't try to be a saint or a mahatma; your harm will be far bigger.

           Contemplate on this maxim of Murphy:
           If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.

               What else can you do when you are asleep? Try and try and try again; go on trying. But if the
           fundamental is wrong, whatsoever you do is going to be wrong.
               And the problem with desire is this: if you DON'T get it -- which is almost inevitable because all
           your desires are impossible.... You ask for the impossible; it can't happen in the nature of things;
           hence you feel frustrated when it doesn't happen. And if at all it happens by some miracle, by some
           accident... if it happens, then, too, it is not going to fulfill you or make you contented because the
           moment it happens, again your mind starts asking for more; or, by the time it happens you are no
           longer interested in it.

           The soldier boy was unhappy.
           "But this is Christmas time," I tried to cheer him up. "Santa Claus and all that!"
           "What Santa Claus?" he cried. "Twenty years ago I asked Santa for a soldier suit -- now I get it!"

               Murphy's maxim: Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disaster in life begins when you
           get what you want.

               Blessed are those who don't get what they want, because at least they can hope. The real disaster
           happens when you get what you want, because then there is no possibility to hope; then you are
           stuck with it. And it is YOU who have desired it, who had worked for it. But out of sleep nothing
           else is possible.
               Sleep is our common disease; we are born with this disease. It is so common, that's why we don't
           think about it at all as a disease; otherwise this is the greatest disease, according to all the awakened
           ones.
               Buddha's suggestion is: Be conscious. Bring more consciousness to your inner being and also to
           your outer actions. He does not want you to create new desires -- holy desires instead of unholy
           desires. He does not want you to become a saint as against being a sinner. He does not want you to
           substitute your mundane desires with sacred desires. He wants you to do something totally different,
           that is his great contribution to humanity: he wants you to become conscious.
               Out of consciousness a radical transformation happens: desires disappear and peace descends --
           the peace of desirelessness.

              LIKE A MONKEY IN THE FOREST
              YOU JUMP FROM TREE TO TREE,
              NEVER FINDING THE FRUIT --
              FROM LIFE TO LIFE,
              NEVER FINDING PEACE.


               Observe what you have been doing: LIKE A MONKEY IN THE FOREST....
               Charles Darwin became aware of the phenomenon very late: that man is a descendant of
           monkeys. And he may not be right, because he thinks that PHYSICALLY man is a descendant of the
           monkeys. That does not seem to fit the reality: man seems to be essentially different from monkeys
           as far as the body is concerned.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                For millions of years, monkeys have been seeing man standing on two feet and they have not
           learned the trick yet. You don't see suddenly a monkey walking like a man. How did it happen in the
           first place that a few monkeys started walking on two feet and became the ancestors of humanity? It
           does not seem to be likely.
                But all the awakened ones of the world have known that as far as the MIND of man is concerned,
           it is very like the monkeys; it is not much different. The real monkey is not in your body but in your
           psychology; it is not physiological, it is psychological.
                Your mind is continuously jumping from one tree to another tree. It is constantly restless; it
           cannot remain restful even for a single moment. It wants to be continuously occupied. And what is
           the gain?
                Buddha says: LIKE A MONKEY IN THE FOREST YOU JUMP FROM TREE TO TREE,
           NEVER FINDING THE FRUIT -- FROM LIFE TO LIFE, NEVER FINDING PEACE.
                Peace is the fruit -- and the mind has no idea what peace is. It knows only conflict, it knows only
           war, violence, destruction. It knows only all sorts of perversions, neurosis, psychosis. It knows a
           deep inner split, but it knows nothing of peace; it has never tasted it, it is absolutely unknown. It is
           only a word, empty of any meaning. Meaning comes through experience, otherwise all words are
           empty. God is an empty word to you because you have not experienced it. Peace is an empty word to
           you because you have not experienced it.
                Buddha does not use the word 'bliss'. That was always the case before Buddha: that bliss is the
           fruit. SAT-CHIT-ANAND -- truth, consciousness, bliss -- these are the three aspects of the ultimate
           fulfillment. But Buddha does not talk about bliss for a certain reason. The reason is that the moment
           you talk about bliss you are bound to be misunderstood. People start thinking about happiness and
           pleasures -- maybe on a higher plane, but their idea of pleasure remains the same, their idea of
           happiness remains the same. They think of sexual pleasure even in paradise.
                There are religions who even allow homosexuality in paradise, because they were born in
           countries where homosexuality was very much prevalent. And every religion promises you beautiful
           women in paradise. Who has projected these ideas? Frustrated people, those who have failed here;
           now they are hoping they will succeed in the other world, on the other shore.
                Buddha does not use the word 'bliss' for the simple reason that it can create a misunderstanding.
           It creates it because you know something about happiness, and you think maybe there is a great
           difference between bliss and happiness, but happiness gives you some idea of what bliss will be.
                Bliss is not happiness. Bliss is more like peace than like happiness. Bliss is neither unhappiness
           nor happiness; it is peace from that turmoil, that conflict. It is peace, absolute peace, because it is a
           transcendence of duality. Happiness always lingers with unhappiness; unhappiness is always with its
           other side, happiness. They are two sides of the same coin. When the whole coin drops from your
           hand you are neither happy nor unhappy.
                It is because of this that Buddha never had a great appeal to the Indian masses. Who wants
           peace? Everybody wants happiness -- and everybody knows that happiness is followed by
           unhappiness, as day is followed by night, as death is followed by birth, birth is followed by death. It
           is a vicious circle: if you are happy, you can be certain that soon you will be unhappy; if you are
           unhappy, you can be certain that soon you will be happy again.
                Seeing this game of happiness and unhappiness, the watcher, the meditator becomes unidentified
           with both. When happiness comes he knows that unhappiness will be coming, so why get excited?
           When unhappiness comes he is not at all disturbed because he knows happiness will be coming just
           around the corner, so why become disturbed? He is neither excited by happiness nor disturbed by
           unhappiness. This is peace. He remains the same, in a deep equilibrium; his silence is undisturbed.
           Day comes and goes, night comes and goes, everything comes and goes. He remains a witness,
           unconcerned, cool. That coolness, that unconcernedness is peace.
                But nobody wants peace. People who are asleep cannot want peace. Hence Buddha, although
           while he was alive thousands of people were transformed by him, as had never happened before....
           Many more people became enlightened around him than around anybody else in the whole history.
           Still, his religion disappeared from India; it did not appeal to the masses. That carrot was not there
           hanging in front of you: bliss. He was talking of peace.
                Peace seems to be very unalluring; it does not ring bells in your heart. Peace, just peace? So
           much effort for meditation and so much effort for waking up, and the result is only peace? You want
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something more exciting, more sensational. You want ecstasy, not peace. Your sleep creates the
           dream of bliss, of ecstasy, of great joys, eternal joys.
                But Buddha's choice of the word is very right, absolutely right. He never moves from the inner
           truth, he goes on insisting on it. Whether it appeals to you or not, he is not much concerned about
           that. He is not at all going to compromise with you and your desires and your sleep.
                Of course, when Buddha died, the scholars started interpreting his peace as bliss -- another name,
           they said, for bliss. But from India it disappeared, the religion disappeared. The scholars and the
           pundits learned it a little late. When the religion had disappeared from India, then they thought over
           it, and why it had happened. And this was the cause: Buddha was talking about peace, about nirvana.
           Nirvana means cessation, that you will cease totally. Who wants to cease totally? Deep down you
           want to remain, abide. Yes, you can accept that the body will not be there, the body will fall into dust
           -- dust unto dust. But your spirit, your soul WILL be there.
                And Buddha says you don't have any soul, because your soul is nothing but a holy name for your
           old ego. And what is your spirit? -- nothing but another facade for the ego to survive. He is very
           compassionately cruel. He says you will not be there at all.
                People used to ask him, "Then why should we meditate? It seems like committing absolute
           suicide!"
                And Buddha said, "Yes, exactly it is that. But peace will be there."
                Now the problem becomes even more complicated. You can even become interested in peace;
           tired of your joys, happiness, unhappiness, sadness, misery, suffering, you can even reluctantly, in a
           resigned way, agree to attain to peace -- but YOU will not be there. Then another problem arises
           which is far more significant to you in your sleep: "If I am not there, who is going to experience
           peace? And what is the point of attaining something if you can't experience it, if you are not there at
           all?"
                And Buddha is absolutely right. He says: If YOU are there, peace cannot be. When you are not
           there, peace is.
                Shakespeare says: To be or not to be is the question. Buddha says: Choose not to be. To be is the
           problem; not to be means all problems have been transcended, all worries have been transcended.
                Buddhists learned that there is something dangerous in Buddha's message; it has to be changed.
           They changed it. In Tibet, in China, in Japan, they dropped Buddha's words or they gave new
           meanings to those words. While they were translating Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan, into Chinese,
           into Japanese, Korean, they made it a point that all negatives should be dropped from Buddha and
           they should be replaced by positives. "You will be there in all your glory, in all your grandeur, in all
           your beauty. You will be there in your purity. Your soul will be there, utterly purified, pure gold.
           And you will attain to bliss: MAHASUKH -- great bliss."
                And then, like fire, the religion of Buddha spread all over Asia. It disappeared from the country
           of its origin for the simple reason that Buddha would not compromise with your sleep; it succeeded
           all over Asia because the followers compromised. They destroyed the purity of Buddhism; they
           brought it down to your level. Buddha's effort was to raise you to HIS level, and his followers
           brought him to your level.
                That's what happens always with the followers, because they are also asleep; they are people like
           you. They are also dreaming like you, they are also desiring like you. There is a certain
           understanding between you and them. They can understand your dreams because they are their
           dreams too. Buddha is as far away from them as he is from you. It is a strange phenomenon, but it
           has always been so. Christians succeeded when they betrayed Christ and Buddhists succeeded when
           they betrayed Buddha. You have to betray the master, then you can be a success. When the master
           starts speaking like sleepy people, then sleepy people become interested; then he is speaking in your
           language.

           The other night, Veet Marco had a dream:
               While Jesus Christ was on the cross, three soldiers were playing cards beneath him. At a certain
           point one of the soldiers got up and pierced Jesus' rib with his spear. Jesus moaned, and the soldier
           laughingly returned to his seat and continued playing cards.
               Soon after a second soldier got up and held a sponge soaked in vinegar up to Jesus' face.
               Jesus screamed, "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The soldier started laughing, then went back to his seat and resumed playing cards.
               Suddenly the sky became dark, the earth started to tremble, lights beamed from the north and
           from the south and a mysterious silence filled the air.
               The nails on Jesus' hands and feet started disappearing. The third soldier, seeing this, ran to
           Jesus' feet and began praying and worshipping God. A terrible wind started blowing and Jesus began
           to ascend. The soldier hung on to his legs, screaming and crying, "Jesus, Jesus, yours is the power
           and the glory!"
               Jesus' face was filled with light, his hair blowing in the wind, his body donning a white silken
           robe, ascending up and up into the sky, with the third soldier clinging to his legs, ascending along
           with him.
               The soldier, suddenly realizing what was happening, became frightened and cried up to Jesus,
           "Jesus, Jesus, where are you going?"
               Jesus smilingly replied, "I am going to my father up in the Kingdom of God."
           "And how about me?" quizzed the frightened soldier. "Where am I going?"
               Jesus, kicking him off, screamed down to the falling figure, "You sonofabitch, you go back to
           your fucking mother!"

               Now, Marco's dream is Marco's dream; it has nothing to do with Jesus. But in your dreams, Jesus
           will take a form that is really imposed by you, Buddha will take a form that is imposed by you.
           Rather than allowing them to transform you, you would like to transform them according to YOUR
           ideas. This has been happening down the ages.

           IF YOU ARE FILLED WITH DESIRE, says Buddha,
              YOUR SORROWS SWELL
              LIKE THE GRASS AFTER THE RAIN.


               The more desires you have, the more misery you will create for yourself. Misery is a
           consequence of desiring -- and you go on desiring. In fact, you think that if your desires are fulfilled
           your miseries will disappear. In the first place they are never fulfilled; in the second place, if they are
           fulfilled, nothing is fulfilled by their fulfillment. You remain as empty as you have always been -- or
           even more, because up to now you were occupied with a certain desire; now even that is fulfilled. A
           deep deep emptiness comes to you.
               You wanted to have a beautiful house; now you have it. Suddenly, you don't know what to do.
           You were so much engaged in earning money, you were so mad after getting the house; now you
           have got it. For a moment you feel good -- not because of the house, remember, but just because the
           whole tension, that mounting tension has disappeared -- the house is yours. All that strain and
           tension is relaxed; it is the relaxation of that tension that gives you a little experience of pleasure.
           That you could have experienced any time if you had relaxed; it has nothing to do with the house.
               See the mechanism of desire! But after that relaxation, after a few moments or a few hours or
           maybe a few days... it depends how intelligent you are. If you are really intelligent, then within
           seconds that disappears -- you can see the futility of it. If you are not that intelligent, then a few
           hours; if you are really stupid, then a few days. It is in the proportion of your stupidity: you will
           remain happier for a longer period if you are more stupid because you will not see the point. But
           sooner or later, howsoever stupid you are, it is bound to disappear. And then you will be left with a
           great emptiness, hollowness, and you would like again to strive for something else. Maybe you need
           more money now or a beautiful woman to suit the beautiful house. Again a new desire, and you rush.
           Again you will attain... and for a few moments, the relaxation.
               It is like the sexual experience. What pleasure you attain in sexuality is nothing but the pleasure
           of a mounting excitement, tension, and then the relaxation. Your energies go on mounting higher and
           higher and higher, and then you explode -- you ejaculate. And suddenly you fall back into a certain
           calmness; the excitement is gone. But you don't learn anything from it: that this is the whole secret of
           all your pleasures. Running, rushing, competing, fighting for something creates great tension.
               That's why it happens that if you are involved into something really deeply you may not feel any
           interest in sexuality. If you are involved deep in scientific endeavor you may not be interested in sex
           at all. You may be a little puzzled, confused: "Why are people so much interested in sex? What is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there?" You have found a new sexuality for yourself. Science is your wife; now you are running after
           science. Or you may be a politician; then politics is your wife. But one day, when you become the
           prime minister of the country or the president of the country, you have reached to the climax, and
           then after the climax there is nowhere to go... a certain calm falls over you. That calm is
           misunderstood as if you have attained it through the experience, by becoming the president, the
           prime minister, famous, respectable, a Nobel Prize winner. It is not that; it is because of relaxation.
               If you relax right now without attaining anything, that same calm will fall over you -- even
           deeper because you will be full of energy. But we never look into anything, and even if we look into
           anything we conclude very superficially.

               I have heard about a man who was passing through a forest, felt his bladder was full, stopped his
           car, went behind a bush. As he was pissing, a wild bee stung his prick. He screamed -- the pain was
           too much and he did not know what to do.
               Then suddenly he remembered, twenty years back when he was just a child it had happened once
           and his mother had a remedy for it. She had given him a glass of milk and told him to put his prick in
           the glass, and it had soothed him, calmed him. But where to find the glass of milk? And the pain was
           excruciating! And tears were coming down from his eyes as he started driving in the hope of finding
           somebody in the forest.
               He was able to find a small hut. He knocked on the door. He was feeling very embarrassed --
           how to say it and what to say? A woman opened the door, but the pain was so much that he had to
           say something. So he said, "Please don't ask me why, just give me a glass of milk. I am in terrible
           pain, I am dying! Just give me a glass of milk and please, don't ask why because I cannot answer it. I
           am feeling so embarrassed!"
               The woman could see the pain of the man. She rushed in, brought a glass of milk.
               The man took the glass of milk, rushed towards the back of the house.
               The woman was curious, naturally, as to what was happening. She had never seen such a thing
           before! So she went back just silently so she would not disturb the man. And what she saw... she
           could not believe her eyes! She said, "My God, I have been married for thirty years, and now I know
           how you fill up these things! I was always wondering how you fill up these things again and again
           and again! Now I know!"

               Your conclusions are as superficial as that! That poor man is not filling it up! You pass through
           experiences, but you never go deep into them to find out the truth, what really happens.
               You must have made love many times, but have you ever thought about it? -- what really
           happens that gives you calmness, a certain pleasure, a certain joy? Nothing much... just a mounting
           tension is relaxed. First you go into mounting it higher and higher, and then you fall from that height
           in a deep deep valley of calmness. But this calmness is available to any meditator without creating
           any tension.
               Hence, meditation takes you beyond sex; nothing else can ever take you beyond sex. Everything
           else is a substitute for sex. Somebody is running after money -- money is his sex; and somebody is
           running after power -- power is his sex; and somebody is running after something else. Those are all
           sexualities, substitutes for sex. These people can easily avoid sex because they have found their own
           new version.
              IF YOU ARE FILLED WITH DESIRE, YOUR SORROWS SWELL LIKE THE GRASS AFTER THE
              RAIN.



              BUT IF YOU SUBDUE DESIRE,
              YOUR SORROWS FALL FROM YOU
              LIKE DROPS OF WATER FROM A LOTUS FLOWER.


              The word 'subdue' has to be rightly understood. It does not mean repression; it means
           understanding, it means transforming. It means transcendence. It means that you have become
           master of your own soul, that now nothing dominates you -- sex, power, money, nothing dominates
           you. It does not mean that you have to renounce the world; it simply means that you have to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           renounce your unawareness.
               Desire disappears as you become more and more aware. When awareness is one hundred percent,
           there is no desire at all. YOUR SORROWS FALL FROM YOU LIKE DROPS OF WATER FROM
           A LOTUS FLOWER.
               Ordinarily, people are not raising their consciousness. On the contrary, they live through
           conscience, not through consciousness. To live through conscience is to live according to the mob
           psychology, is to follow the crowd. Conscience is created by the crowd; consciousness is an
           individual phenomenon -- you have to create it. The society won't help you at all; it will hinder you
           in every possible way. The society does not want conscious people at all. They are rebellious, they
           are dangerous for the status quo, for the establishment, for the church, for the state, for the nation.
           They are dangerous because they have gone through a revolution and their very vibe creates
           revolution in others.
               The society lives through conscience. It gives you the idea about what is right and what is wrong:
           "Do this and don't do that." It goes on giving you commandments. It gives you detailed information
           about what is right and what is wrong. And in fact that is absolutely absurd, because life goes on
           changing every day.
               What was wrong in the times of Moses is no longer wrong today, and what was right in the days
           of Krishna is no longer right today. Nobody can give you a detailed map of what is right and what is
           wrong. In fact, something may be right in the morning and may be wrong in the evening. Next
           moment it may not be right! Life is a flux, and conscience is a static thing. Consciousness goes on
           moving with life; it is a flow.

              Murphy says: A conscience cannot prevent sin -- it only prevents you from enjoying it.

               Conscience prevents nothing; it simply prevents you from enjoying your life. You remain the
           same; you simply become more miserable! That's why your saints have such long long faces, look so
           serious, sad, dead. Nothing has changed in them: they don't radiate life, they don't radiate love, they
           don't radiate peace. They only show you what conscience can do. It can kill you, it is a slow
           poisoning.
               Buddha does not believe in conscience; he believes in consciousness. But buddhas talk about
           consciousness and you always understand conscience. In fact, there are languages like French in
           which conscience and consciousness are not two words; 'conscience' means both, consciousness and
           conscience. That's actually the process, how you understand.

              A man lost in the woods finally arrived at his destination, The Old Log Inn. On his arrival,
           however, he was all beaten up, with swollen eyes, bloody nose and mouth.
              The alarmed receptionist demanded, "My God, what happened to you?"
              The man replied, "I was lost and found a couple making love in the woods, and all I asked was
           'How far is The Old Log Inn?'"

               Please remember, consciousness does not mean conscience. Don't translate it as conscience; it
           has been translated so for centuries.
               And then sorrows fall away from you LIKE DROPS OF WATER FROM A LOTUS FLOWER.
           So naturally they disappear, they don't leave a trace behind.

              THIS IS GOOD COUNSEL
              AND IT IS FOR EVERYONE:
              AS THE GRASS IS CLEARED FOR THE FRESH ROOT,
              CUT DOWN DESIRE
              LEST DEATH AFTER DEATH CRUSH YOU
              AS A RIVER CRUSHES THE HELPLESS REEDS.


               The unconscious man is a helpless victim of circumstances; he is accidental. He has no intrinsic
           value yet because he has not created any inner light yet. Only with consciousness you have intrinsic
           value; otherwise your life is just accidental.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               When a child was born in Bethlehem, three kings came bearing gifts for him in the stable where
           he lay.
               The first king came forward, putting down his gift of frankincense and myrrh before the cradle.
           The second king set down his gift of a large bar of gold. The third king advanced with his gift, but
           tripped over the bar of gold.
           "Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed.
               The father of the child looked up at him and said, "That's a good name! We were thinking of
           calling him Fred."

               Your names, your lives, your everything is accidental. Consciousness will make you go beyond
           accidents.

              FOR IF THE ROOTS HOLD FIRM,
              A FELLED TREE GROWS UP AGAIN.
              IF DESIRES ARE NOT UPROOTED,
              SORROWS GROW AGAIN IN YOU.


               Remember: there is no other revolution except consciousness. It cuts the desires from the very
           roots and it brings freedom to you.
           Enough for today.




                       The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 9
                                                    Chapter #10
                                 Chapter title: Intelligent people are dangerous
           20 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002200
              ShortTitle: DHAM910
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT IS LIKE DRIVING A CAR IN FORWARD AND REVERSE AT THE SAME TIME. I AM NOT GOING
              ANYWHERE. IS THE IGNITION SWITCHED ON OR AM I JUST A BAD DRIVER?


               Ray Horton, the very idea of going somewhere is basically wrong. Nothing is going anywhere.
           Existence is now-here; it is not moving towards a particular destiny. There is no destiny, there is no
           ultimate purpose. But we have been taught for centuries that existence is moving towards a certain
           goal and we have been also taught to live ambitiously, to prove that you are something, somebody:
           "Reach somewhere." But existence is absolutely purposeless.
               I am not saying that it is not significant. Precisely because it is purposeless it is significant, but
           its significance is not that of the marketplace. It is a totally different kind of significance: the
           significance of a roseflower, the significance of a bird on the wing, the significance of poetry, music.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It is an end unto itself.
                We are not to become something -- we are already it. This is the whole message of all the
           awakened ones: that you are not to achieve something, it has already been given to you. It is God's
           gift. You are already where you should be, you can't be anywhere else. There is nowhere to go,
           nothing to achieve. Because there is nowhere to go and nothing to achieve, you can celebrate. Then
           there is no hurry, no worry, no anxiety, no anguish, no fear of being a failure. You can't fail. In the
           very nature of things it is impossible to fail, because there is no question of success at all.
                It is just a conditioning by the society that creates the problem in you. And then you start
           thinking, "I am not reaching anywhere, and life is slipping out of my hands and death is coming
           closer. Am I going to make it or not?" And then there is great fear of missing, frustration that so
           much is lost. And who knows? -- tomorrow may never arrive. "I have not yet been able to prove
           myself, my worth. I have not become famous yet. I have not accumulated much wealth. I am not a
           president of a country or a prime minister."
                Or you can start thinking in otherworldly terms, but the process is the same. You can say, "I have
           not yet become enlightened. I have not yet become a Buddha or a Jesus. Meditation is far away. I
           don't know who I am." And you can go on creating a thousand and one problems for yourself.
                All these problems are created because the society wants you to be ambitious, and ambition can
           only be created if there is a goal in the future. For ambition, future is needed. And without ambition,
           the ego cannot be created. And the ego is the basic strategy of the society to rule over you, to exploit
           you, to oppress you, to keep you miserable. The ego exists in the tension between the present and the
           future: the bigger the tension, the bigger the ego. When there is no tension between your present and
           future, the ego disappears because there is no point where it can have shelter, where it can exist.
                Hence society teaches you, "Become this, become that." It teaches you becoming. Its whole
           education system is based on the idea of becoming.
                And what I am telling you here is just the opposite of it. I am talking about BEING, not about
           becoming. Becoming is an invention of the crafty politicians and the priests -- and these are the
           people who have poisoned the whole humanity. They go on giving you goals. If you become tired of
           the worldly things -- money, power, prestige -- they are there to tell you about paradise, God,
           samadhi, truth. Again the whole process starts.
                And it is easy to be frustrated with the worldly things. Sooner or later you can see the whole
           stupidity of having more money or more power. Sooner or later you are going to see the futility of
           the very idea of "more," because the more brings nothing else but more misery. It takes away all
           bliss from you, all peace from you. It is destructive. It gives you only fear, trembling, anxiety,
           neurosis. It makes you insane; that can be seen very easily. It has made the whole earth a madhouse.
                But to see that the otherworldly goals -- nirvana and moksha and God and paradise -- are also the
           same is very difficult. You will need tremendous intelligence to see that those goals are also of the
           same quality. There is no qualitative change because you are still thinking in terms of becoming, you
           are still thinking in terms of the future.
                Future does not exist, it is nonexistential. It is as nonexistential as the past. The past is no more,
           the future is not yet; only the present is. And in the present there is no possibility for desiring, no
           possibility of being ambitious, not space enough for the ego to exist. Whenever you are now and
           here there is no ego to be found. You are a pure silence. Right now... see what I am saying. I am not
           propounding a theory or a philosophy; I am simply stating a fact.
                Ray Horton, just for a second see... this very moment! Where is the ego? And what heights and
           what depths of peace suddenly become available to you. They are always within you, but you never
           look at them -- you are running and running. And because you are not arriving anywhere you are
           very much worried.
                You say, "It is like driving a car in forward and reverse at the same time. I am not going
           anywhere."
                There is no need. This very moment, wherever you are, it is a blessing, it is divine. Where else do
           you want to go? Why live in the past? It is the past that gives you goals. It is the past that you are
           carrying in your head which projects goals in the future. Future is only a reflection of the past.
                From your very childhood you have been told, you have been hypnotized, by the society, by the
           priests, by the politicians, by your parents, by the pedagogues. You have been hypnotized
           continuously that you should have a goal in your life, that you should have some purpose, that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           should be a great achiever, that you have to be famous -- a Nobel Prize winner or something -- that
           you are not to die just an ordinary man. To die just an ordinary man is ugly; you have to die like a
           president or a prime minister -- as if their death has something special!
               Because of this constant hammering on your head you have become so much accustomed to the
           idea that it is driving you crazy. Otherwise, life is so beautiful as it is; no purpose, no goal is needed.
           Future can be completely dropped. You live in the future just to escape from the present, and you
           become so psychologically obsessed with the future that you go on missing that which is for that
           which is not.

               Among the first things that a Jewish boy learns is the biblical injunction: "Honor thy father and
           mother -- or else!"
               Herschel, aged six, was reminded of the admonition the day his father came home and announced
           that he had decided to buy a car, the first his family had ever owned.
               The father was in high spirits. "Imagine, we are in this country only a few years and soon we will
           own a new car," he said proudly. "I can just see us riding around in Central Park. In the front I am
           steering, and sitting next to me is Mamma, and in the back is our little Herschel."
               Mamma nodded, smiling her approval. "So, when are you planning to buy the car?" she asked.
           "In two weeks, a month maybe -- no later."
               The pleasant interlude was suddenly shattered by Herschel's mournful cry, "I don't wanna sit in
           the back! I wanna sit in the front and help steer!"
           "Only one steerer we need in this family," the father reminded his son. "In the front sits Mamma, in
           the back sits you."
           "If I have to sit in the back I will bang my head on the wall, you will see!" wailed Herschel. He ran
           to the wall and assumed a threatening pose, ready to give action to his words. "Mamma is sitting in
           the back, I am sitting in the front!"
           "No, Herschel, you are in the back," said the father sternly.
           "In the front, not in the back!" Herschel's voice rose in a sudden screech. "I ain't gonna sit in the
           back!"
               Father, his manner grim, extended his arm and pointed a commanding finger. "Herschel," he said
           coldly, "get out of my car!"

           People go on living in the future!
               And the same is the case with your paradise, just like the car. The same is the case with your
           nirvana, your enlightenment -- the same as with the car.
               It is only the mediocre mind that becomes psychologically obsessed with the future. But the
           society destroys everybody's intelligence and makes everybody mediocre. The society does not want
           you to be really intelligent; it is afraid of intelligence. Intelligent people are dangerous people. They
           are radicals, they are revolutionaries; they are always sabotaging the status quo. The society wants
           you to remain mediocre, stupid. It wants you certainly to be efficient, mechanically. It wants you to
           accumulate as much information as possible, but it does not want you to be really intelligent because
           if you are intelligent you will not care for the future. You will live IN the present and FOR the
           present, because there is no other life.
               Listen to the birds chirping, chattering... the trees flowering... the stars, the sun, the moon. The
           whole existence lives in the present except you, except human mind. And it is only human mind that
           suffers.
               Come out of the future! It is your dream. You are not supposed to go anywhere. Be happy
           wherever you are. Be contented with your being and drop the idea of becoming. Then each moment
           is so precious, then each moment has such beauty, such grandeur, such splendor. Then each moment
           is exquisite. Then you can feel God everywhere each moment.
               God is not a goal; God is the presence right now. If you are present, God is available. If you live
           in the moment, you are enlightened; there is no other enlightenment. And then ordinary life is so
           extraordinary. Then to be just a nobody is so fulfilling.
               I call this whole approach sannyas: dropping the goals, the purposes, the future -- becoming part
           of existence this very moment, not postponing it. Then in this very moment, a great explosion is
           possible in you: the ego disappears, you are no more, but God is. And that is bliss and that is truth.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS HERE?


                Alexandra, Jews are intelligent people, the most intelligent in the world. That's why they are
           hated so much. They have committed only one mistake in their whole history: they crucified Jesus
           and missed the greatest business that was available to them! It is such a rare phenomenon, that it
           went into the hands of the Italians -- the whole business! It is inconceivable -- Jews losing it to the
           Italians! If the Italians are selling spaghetti, that is okay, but they are selling Jesus! Otherwise, the
           Jews have never committed any mistake.
                But that one mistake has cost them very much: they became uprooted. But sometimes blessings
           come in the form of curses. When they became uprooted, when they lost their land, they became
           naturally more intelligent than anybody else because they had to exist in adverse conditions. No
           other race has existed in such adverse conditions as the Jews. And when you live in adverse
           conditions the challenge is such, you can survive only if you bring your intelligence to its highest
           peak. If you behave stupidly you will be destroyed. They were living always amongst strangers
           antagonistic to them; they became more and more intelligent.
                More Nobel Prizes go to Jews than to anybody else. And wherever they are they succeed,
           whatsoever they are doing they bring a certain magic to it. So whenever they feel a certain vibe, a
           certain phenomenon happening anywhere, they are the first to reach, they are the first to reap the
           crop.
                Yes, the question arises to many people. Almost fifty percent of my sannyasins are Jews -- so
           many Jews that sometimes I become suspicious whether perhaps I am a Jew!
                Alexandra, you are right, your curiosity is right. But they can understand what I am saying. In
           fact, they have to drop a certain guilt that they have carried for two thousand years. If they can feel
           in tune with me, their guilt for killing Jesus will disappear. Deep down the guilt is there; they need
           somebody who can take away that guilt. It is like a thorn in their very soul -- it hurts. They may not
           say it, but it hurts. They destroyed their greatest flowering.
                Jesus was their highest potential actualized; he was the highest peak of Jewish intelligence -- and
           they destroyed it. They are carrying the wound; they are wounded people. They want somebody who
           can heal the wound.
                But the problem is: if you go to the priests they wound you more. Go anywhere, you will be
           wounded more, because your so-called religions all exist on your guilt. The greater the guilt, the
           more is their power over you. They make you feel guilty, they make you feel sinners.
                I am a totally different kind of man: I help you to get rid of your guilt. I want to tell you that you
           are not sinners, and to commit mistakes is just human -- to err is human. There is no need to make
           much fuss about it. And your errors are small; just a little awareness and they will disappear. You do
           not need to be thrown into hell.
                And just see the stupidity of the idea.... Christians say that once you are in hell you are there for
           eternity. Nobody comes out of hell. It has no exit, only the entrance. And then for eternity! -- the
           very idea is absurd. Even the greatest criminal need not be punished for eternity.
                Bertrand Russell has said, "When I look at my sins, if I confess all my sins that I have
           committed, they are not many, they are not very big. I have not murdered people. Then the cruelest
           magistrate can send me to jail at the most for four years. And if my thoughts are also to be included,
           not only my actions, then eight years jail, that's all." He has written a beautiful book, WHY I AM
           NOT A CHRISTIAN. And among the many that he has given, this is one of the reasons: "I cannot
           agree with the idea of eternal hell. Nobody has committed such a sin that he should be thrown for
           eternity into hell -- forever, no escape. And nobody has done so much good that he should be
           enjoying paradise for ever and ever."
                But religions have existed, and they are powerful, for the simple reason that they create fear in
           you -- fear of hell -- and they create greed in you -- greed for heaven. They wound you deeply. The
           more you bleed, the more your wound bleeds, the more powerful they are over you.
                My effort here is to redeem you from all your wounds, to redeem you from the fear of hell and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the greed for heaven. There is no hell and no heaven. Those are not places somewhere, those are just
           your own states of mind. Whenever you are in anger, in rage, you are in hell; and whenever you are
           in love, in compassion, you are in heaven. So you can move from heaven to hell many times in a
           day.
               It is not a question to be decided after death; it is to be decided each moment. And it is absolutely
           within your capacity to decide.

               One Sufi mystic was dying. His disciples had gathered and they said, "One thing we want to
           know. You are departing forever and then we will never know what was the secret. We have never
           seen you sad, unhappy, miserable. It seems so superhuman. We have watched you for thirty years,
           forty years; there are a few people who have lived with you for fifty years, sixty years" -- the man
           was almost a hundred years old -- "and nobody remembers that you were ever sad, not even a small
           sadness. What is your secret?"
               He said, "There is no secret at all. Every morning when I get up, before I open my eyes I say to
           myself, 'Listen, old man, a new day is there. What do you want? -- to be sad or to be happy?' And I
           always say, 'To be happy.' So then I remain happy! I decide in the morning and I remain happy. I
           have to follow my decision. This I do every day. It is a decision."

               You choose misery; it is not a punishment, it is your choice. And you choose joy; it is not a
           reward, it is your choice.
               Jews have suffered very much; they are wounded. Of course, two thousand years of suffering
           have made them very mature, intelligent, alert. Hence they can recognize me better than anybody
           else. That's why, Alexandra, they are here.

               In July 1974, President Nixon was in the Soviet Union, hoping to achieve a nonaggression pact
           between that country and the United States, but he was having a hard time of it.
           "Before we sign," declared Prime Minister Brezhnev, "you Americans will have to announce to the
           world that Adam and Eve were communists."
               Nixon, uncertain as to how he should cope with this dilemma, decided to consult an authority on
           Genesis -- in this case, Henry J. Kissinger -- who assured him that he had read several pages of the
           Bible in his younger days.
               Kissinger retired to his study, pored over the Old Testament and the text. Next day he told Nixon
           to go ahead and sign the pact with the Soviet Union. "The Russians are right," he said, "Adam and
           Eve were indeed communists. After all, they did not have a stitch on their backs, they had nothing to
           eat but apples, and they still thought they were in paradise!"

               Three boys, a Catholic, a Presbyterian and a Jew, were discussing how they each spent Christmas
           Day. The Catholic boy had gone to mass, come back, kissed all his family and given them presents,
           and later on had Christmas dinner. The Presbyterian boy had not gone to church, but had kissed all
           the family, given out his presents, and then had Christmas dinner.
               The Jewish boy said, "Well, dad and I went down to our toy factory, looked at all the empty
           shelves, sang two verses of 'What a friend we have in Jesus!' and then caught a plane for Osho
           Commune International, Poona, India."

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF YOU WERE HERE RIGHT NOW, I THINK I WOULD HIT YOU. IF YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE ME
              SOON AND START SAYING YES TO ME INSTEAD OF NO, I AM GOING TO HAVE TO KILL YOU.


               Somendra... thank you, Somendra! I also will need a Judas; otherwise the story will remain
           incomplete. I can be a Jesus only with a Judas. Yes, somebody has to do the work of Judas -- it is
           hard work.
               There are secret mystery schools which carry the tradition that Judas was one of the most
           obedient disciples of Jesus. He betrayed Jesus because Jesus wanted to be betrayed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's exactly what George Gurdjieff used to say: that Judas was not a renegade, he was simply
           following Jesus. And his obedience was so total that when Jesus said, "Go and betray me, and sell
           me for thirty silver coins," he went and did it. Of course, he felt very sorry for doing it, miserable, in
           deep anguish, but he had to follow the master. So he betrayed Jesus, Jesus was crucified, and next
           day Judas committed suicide. Judas died the next day. He must have felt very bad, although he had
           to follow the master. He was the most intelligent of all the disciples of Jesus.
               So, Somendra, somebody has to do the hard work of Judas. Some day, I may choose you -- don't
           be worried and don't be in a hurry! One day I may order you, "Now, Somendra, you can kill me."
           But before that, let ME kill YOU!
               And that's why I go on saying no to you. That is my device to kill you. You would like to be
           recognized, but it will be too early if I recognize you. It will be nothing but a recognition of your
           ego. I will recognize you only when I see the ego has disappeared; while the ego is there I will go on
           destroying it. My no's are nothing but hits on the ego.
               Yes will also be said when you have become capable of accepting my no's joyfully. When you
           have become worthy of receiving the yes, it will come on its own accord; you need not remind me.
           Your reminding me will only delay it. Your reminding me will make me say more no's to you. You
           cannot force yes from me, you cannot force me to say yes to you. If you can force yes from me, my
           whole function of being a master is destroyed. You cannot force anything from me.
               Pass through these no's: this is the dark night of the soul. And when the night is the darkest, the
           dawn is very close.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE SCRIPTURES NOT REALLY OF ANY USE WHATSOEVER?


               Thomas, scriptures ARE beautiful, but beautiful only for those who can understand them -- not
           for you. You cannot understand them, you can only MISunderstand them. I am not against the
           scriptures -- how can I be? I am speaking on one of the scriptures, THE DHAMMAPADA, Buddha's
           sayings. I have spoken on Jesus' sayings, I have spoken on Mahavira, on Krishna. I have spoken on
           the Upanishads, I have spoken on TAO TEH CHING. I have spoken on almost all the beautiful
           scriptures of the world. How can I be against them and how can I think they are useless? -- although
           I insist that you don't depend on them. For you they are of no use.
               Then what is their use? Their use is a totally different thing. When you become more meditative,
           the deeper you go into meditation, the more will be your capacity and clarity to understand the
           scriptures. Scriptures will become witnesses to you that you are on the right track. And when you
           reach to your innermost core, when you realize your being, then you will know what Jesus means by
           the kingdom of God, then you will know what Buddha means by nirvana, then you will know what
           the Upanishads mean by truth -- not before that.
               Right now, if you read the Bible or the Koran or the Gita, you will interpret them according to
           your unconscious state, according to your nonmeditative state. You will misinterpret, you will
           misunderstand. You are not in the right shape; you are upside down, you are topsy-turvy. You are a
           confusion, a chaos. You are a crowd, you are not yet an individual. You don't have a center at all. So
           how are you going to understand Jesus or Buddha or Krishna?
               Remember one very fundamental thing: you can understand Jesus only if you have tasted
           something of Christ-consciousness in you; otherwise there is no way. You can have some glimpses
           of Buddha only when you have attained something of buddhahood, some texture, some taste, some
           fragrance. When you have entered into the country of Buddha and the buddhas, then you will be able
           to see the meaning.
               Otherwise, words are there, but who will put meaning into those words? YOU will put meaning
           into those words. You will be reading Krishna but you will not be really reading Krishna -- you will
           be reading yourself THROUGH Krishna. The words will be Krishna's, the meanings will be yours --
           and it is the meaning that is significant, not the word.

              Chauncey de Plotkin was suffering from the heartbreak of psoriasis. After vainly trying the usual
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           patent medicines sold over the counter he finally consulted a doctor and was given a prescription and
           told how and when to take it.
               That evening at home Chauncey's wife was astonished to see her husband swallow a spoonful of
           the medicine, race out of the house and dash around the block. When he returned he was so
           exhausted that he flopped down onto the bed and fought to catch his breath.
               On the second evening he repeated the performance: he gulped down the medicine, galloping
           around the block and returning home a few minutes later.
               On the third evening he changed his tactics. This time he took his medicine as usual, but instead
           of racing he began to skip around the room with all the grace of a prancing pachyderm.
               The wife could stand it no longer. "Chauncey," she cried, "what in the world are you doing
           racing around the block and jumping about like that? Have you lost your mind?"
           "Of course not," replied the weary hubby. "I am just following the doctor's orders. He told me to take
           my medicine two nights running and to skip the third night."

               The words may be of Christ, Buddha, Zarathustra, but who is going to give the meaning to them?
           Chauncey de Plotkin -- he will put meanings into those words! He will impose his meaning, he will
           project his meaning.
               I am not against scriptures. How can I be? I am for all the scriptures, but I cannot say to you that
           through the scriptures you can find the truth. That is not possible.

               A Christian missionary and a rabbi were traveling together in a train. The Christian missionary
           said to the rabbi, "Jesus saves."
               The rabbi looked at the missionary and then said, "But Moses invests."

               Words are bound to be colored by you, they are bound to be part of you. They may descend from
           very high sources.... It is just like rainwater. When it comes from the clouds it is pure, the purest, but
           when it falls on the ground it depends on the ground. If it falls in cow dung, then it may be holy for
           the Hindu but for nobody else! Pure water descending from heaven will have the color of the earth
           on which it falls, will have the taste of the earth on which it falls.
               Exactly the same is the case with the words falling from Buddha, Jesus, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu. It
           depends on your earth -- on your mind. And what is the state of your mind? Can you think anything
           original? Can you understand anything original? Your mind only repeats that which it has heard or
           read, that which it has been taught. It is a machine; it can never produce a single original thought.
           The original thought never comes from the mind; it comes from the beyond.
               Buddha uses the mind to communicate with you. He has to use words, obviously, and by using
           words he is taking a dangerous step. For seven days he was hesitating.... When he became
           enlightened, for seven days he didn't utter a single word.

               The story is that the gods came from heaven, touched his feet, and asked him to deliver the truth
           that he had attained because the masses were so thirsty for it. Millions of people would be benefited.
               He listened in deep silence. He simply said one thing: "As far as I am concerned, for seven days I
           have been pondering over it and this is my conclusion: that those who can understand me need not
           hear my words. Those who can understand me are already meditative, they are already on the way.
           They don't need my words; they will reach anyway, with me or without. Maybe with me they will
           reach a little earlier, alone a little later, but what difference does it make in eternity whether you
           come one year earlier or one year later?
           "Those who can't understand me are bound to MISunderstand. My words will become a problem for
           them. They are already confused and I don't want to confuse them any more. My words will create
           more confusion in them."
               The gods were at a loss what to say, how to persuade Buddha. They went away. They discussed
           it among themselves to find out some way, and then they came back with a new argument. They
           said, "You are right, there are people, a very few people, who will understand you immediately. And
           yes, we agree with you totally, they don't need it; they will reach anyway. They are just on the
           borderline: one step more and they will be buddhas. Even without you they will become buddhas,
           that is certain. If YOU could become a buddha without any other buddha helping you, they can also
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become -- we can understand it.
           "And your other point is also right: there are millions of people who will not understand you. But we
           don't agree with you that your words will create more confusion. Those people are so confused, there
           cannot be more confusion. They have already reached to the rock bottom of confusion; you cannot
           confuse them any more. So don't be worried about them.
           "And we have thought about a third category also. There are a few people who are just in between
           these two categories: who are not so evolved that they will immediately understand you and become
           enlightened and who are not so unevolved either that they will simply become more and more
           confused by hearing you. They are just in the middle -- a small minority, but those people are there.
           With your help they will reach to the other shore; without your help they may wander and wander for
           centuries and centuries.
           "And you are right in saying that what difference does it make in eternity? It does not make any
           difference to YOU because you know eternity, but for those poor people who live in time it makes
           much difference. For many many lives they will be suffering. For you it makes no difference -- you
           have entered eternity -- but they are living in time, and time means birth, death and the wheel of birth
           and death. And they will have to go on the wheel, in the vicious circle, millions of times. Compared
           to eternity it is nothing, but compared to a small life -- a seventy-year life, a sixty-year life -- it is too
           much. You have to think about that third category too."
               Buddha listened to them and immediately agreed to speak. He followed the argument: yes, there
           IS a third category. The first category is of those people who cannot understand at all. Words they
           can understand; intellectually they are capable of understanding whatsoever is said to them. But deep
           down the meaning is missed, the significance is missed. They hear the music, but they don't get the
           melody of it. They hear the noise, but they don't feel the harmony; that is a subtle phenomenon. They
           hear the words.

               All the three categories are here. The majority is hearing my words, but they will not feel my
           silence, they will not feel my presence in them. It is the same to them. They can read a book, they
           can listen to a tape or they can hear me directly; it is all the same to them, no difference, because the
           words are the same.
               But to the second category there is a difference. To read my words in a book is one thing,
           because I will not be there in those words, my presence will not be there. I will not be breathing in
           those words; they will be dead. When you listen to the tape it is a little better than the book, but still
           my presence is not there. Tapes are mechanical repetitions; there is nobody behind them.
               Here when you are listening to me, my words are there and my silence is there. My silence can
           go with the words if you are available. The second category of people will be able to feel my
           presence, my silence, my song. And the first category of people will immediately realize that this is
           it! A sudden enlightenment... not even a moment's gap.

           The fifth question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               THE OTHER DAY I READ THAT TARU MET YOU ONCE IN THE STREETS OF BOMBAY WHILE
               YOU WERE CARRYING A BAG OF GIN AND WHISKY IN BOTH HANDS. ARE YOU REALLY A
               DRUNKARD? 5


               Prem Aditya, if Taru says so, it must be so. I am such a drunkard that I can't remember! Yes,
           vaguely I remember Taru meeting me on the streets of Bombay. I can remember her hug -- it is
           difficult to forget! But my memory is not very good... so maybe I was carrying bottles of whisky in
           both of my hands.
               That has been very usual for Zen masters in Japan. That is the last stage of enlightenment! To be
           enlightened means to be utterly drunk -- drunk with the divine.
               Maybe those bottles of whisky were empty. They must have been, because a drunkard like me
           cannot keep those bottles full very long. The moment I get them I drink them. I don't postpone
           anything! But my memory is not very good....
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Doctor, I have a very serious problem," Max began. "I am losing my memory -- maybe I have
           already lost it completely. I can't seem to remember anything."
               The psychiatrist smiled indulgently. "I am sure it is not quite that drastic. You must remember
           SOMETHING."
           "No, nothing at all. I tell you, I can't remember a single thing."
           "You mean, of course, such things as names and faces and dates? We all tend to forget them now and
           then."
           "Doctor, you don't understand. I mean EVERYTHING!"
           "Ah, that is pure nonsense!" snapped the doctor. "No one just forgets everything he has ever known.
           Even a person suffering from amnesia remembers SOMETHING -- such as whether he drinks coffee
           or tea or whether he smokes cigarettes or not."
           "Listen, Doc," Maxwell said despairingly, "I am telling you for the last time -- I can't remember
           anything at all. Everything I see, everything I hear, everything I read, it just makes a temporary
           impression and then goes out of my head forever. That's it, Doctor, I swear to you. I simply can't
           remember one single goddamn thing!"
               The psychiatrist frowned, leaned back in his chair and pondered this unique malady for several
           moments. Then he asked, "How long has this been going on?"
           "How long has WHAT been going on?"

               That's my situation too! I don't remember much. I am not much interested in the past, I am not
           interested in the future either. My whole interest is in the present moment.
               And you can see right now -- I am a drunkard! Why bother what Taru says, and somewhere it is
           written and you read it? Why bother? You can look into my eyes... and they are full of whisky!
               And if you don't believe me, come to me in private, and I will cry a little and you can taste my
           tears. And you will know how they taste -- they will taste of whisky! If Jesus can turn the whole
           ocean into wine, can't I turn my own tears?

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              NO ERECTION HAPPENS. AM I STILL SEXY? FISHES COME, BUT GO THIRSTY.


               Sant... Sant, contemplate on Murphy's maxim: If you play with something long enough, you will
           surely break it.

               The big tomcat was eyeing the cute angora from behind a barbed wire fence. Finally, he decided
           to jump over it to get to her. With a big leap he landed on the other side.
           "Say, aren't you Toby, the tomcat?" asked the angora.
           "Not anymore," he replied. "That fence was higher than I thought."

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT ARE THE ABC'S OF PSYCHOLOGY?


              The A of psychology: neurotics build air castles. The B of psychology: psychotics live in them.
           The C of psychology: psychiatrists collect the rent.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO SPEAK INSTEAD OF WRITING YOUR PHILOSOPHY?
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Gautam, my spelling is far worse than my pronunciation!
           Enough for today.




   The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                  Talks given from 21/02/80 am to 04/03/80 am
                                            English Discourse series
                                                  13 Chapters
                                                 Year published:
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                 Chapter #1
                                  Chapter title: Beyond happiness is bliss
           21 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002210
              ShortTitle: DHAM1001
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU!
              DESIRE AND PLEASURE AND LUST....
              PLAY IN YOUR IMAGINATION WITH THEM
              AND THEY WILL SWEEP YOU AWAY.



              POWERFUL STREAMS!
              THEY FLOW EVERYWHERE.



              STRONG WINE!
              IF YOU SEE IT SPRING UP,
              TAKE CARE!
              PULL IT OUT BY THE ROOTS.



              PLEASURES FLOW EVERYWHERE.
              YOU FLOAT UPON THEM
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND ARE CARRIED FROM LIFE TO LIFE.



              LIKE A HUNTED HARE YOU RUN,
              THE PURSUER OF DESIRE PURSUED,
              HARRIED FROM LIFE TO LIFE.



              O SEEKER!
              GIVE UP DESIRE.
              SHAKE OFF YOUR CHAINS.



              YOU HAVE COME OUT OF THE HOLLOW
              INTO THE CLEARING.
              THE CLEARING IS EMPTY.
              WHY DO YOU RUSH BACK INTO THE HOLLOW?



              DESIRE IS A HOLLOW
              AND PEOPLE SAY, "LOOK!
              HE WAS FREE.
              BUT NOW HE GIVES UP HIS FREEDOM."


               Gautama the Buddha's whole religion can be reduced to a single word. That word is freedom.
           That is his essential message, his very fragrance. Nobody else has raised freedom so high. It is the
           ultimate value in Buddha's vision, the SUMMUM BONUM; there is nothing higher than that.
               And it seems very fundamental to understand why Buddha emphasizes freedom so much. Neither
           God is emphasized nor heaven is emphasized nor love is emphasized, but only freedom. There is a
           reason for it: all that is valuable becomes possible only in the climate of freedom. Love also grows
           only in the soil of freedom; without freedom, love cannot grow. Without freedom, what grows in the
           name of love is nothing but lust. Without freedom there is no God. Without freedom what you think
           to be God is only your imagination, your fear, your greed. There is no heaven without freedom:
           freedom is heaven. And if you think there is some heaven without freedom, then that heaven has no
           worth, no reality. It is your fancy, it is your dream.
               All great values of life grow in the climate of freedom; hence freedom is the most fundamental
           value and also the highest pinnacle. If you want to understand Buddha you will have to taste
           something of the freedom he is talking about.
               His freedom is not of the outside. It is not social, it is not political, it is not economic. His
           freedom is spiritual. By "freedom" he means a state of consciousness unhindered by any desire,
           unchained to any desire, unimprisoned by any greed, by any lust for more. By "freedom" he means a
           consciousness without mind, a state of no-mind. It is utterly empty, because if there is something,
           that will hinder freedom; hence its utter emptiness.
               This word 'emptiness' -- SHUNYATA -- has been very much misunderstood by people, because
           the word has a connotation of negativity. Whenever we hear the word 'empty' we think of something
           negative. In Buddha's language, emptiness is not negative; emptiness is absolutely positive, more
           positive than your so-called fullness, because emptiness is full of freedom; everything else has been
           removed. It is spacious; all boundaries have been dropped. It is unbounded -- and only in an
           unbounded space, freedom is possible. His emptiness is not ordinary emptiness; it is not only
           absence of something, it is a presence of something invisible.
               For example, when you empty your room: as you remove the furniture and the paintings and the
           things inside, the room becomes empty on the one hand because there is no more any furniture, no
           more paintings, no more things, nothing is left inside; but on the other hand, something invisible
           starts filling it. That invisibleness is "roominess," spaciousness; the room becomes bigger. As you
           remove the things, the room is becoming bigger and bigger. When everything is removed, even the
           walls, then the room is as big as the whole sky.
               That's the whole process of meditation: removing everything; removing yourself so totally that
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing is left behind -- not even you. In that utter silence is freedom. In this utter stillness grows the
           one-thousand-petaled lotus of freedom. And great fragrance is released: the fragrance of peace,
           compassion, love, bliss. Or if you want to choose the word 'God' you can choose it. It is not Buddha's
           word, but there is no harm in choosing it.
           Meditate over these beautiful sutras:

              THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU!

              "Thirty-six" is only a Buddhist metaphor; it stands for "many." Many streams are rushing towards you.
              Each moment you are surrounded by a thousand and one desires, and they are all pulling you in
              different directions. You are a victim and you are falling apart.


               A young man entered an hotel. He saw a very beautiful woman sitting alone in the corner
           drinking coffee. She was so beautiful and so attractive, the young man could not resist the
           temptation. He went close to her and asked her, "Can I join you?"
               The woman looked at him for a few seconds and said, "Do you think I am falling apart?"

                But that's exactly the case: everybody is falling apart, even that woman. If I had been in the place
           of that young man I would have said, "Yes. You need to be glued together."
                Everybody is falling apart. You are not one; you have become many many fragments, and all the
           fragments are going in different directions. That's why there is so much misery in your being,
           because when your parts, which are essentially your intrinsic parts, are being pulled in different
           directions you feel the pain of it. That's what misery is: the pain of falling into different directions
           simultaneously, rushing into different directions simultaneously. That is what creates craziness,
           insanity.
                Buddha says: THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU! Beware! Not only
           one but many streams are rushing toward you. And if you don't take care, if you are not alert, you
           will be possessed by them. If you remain unconscious, if you remain sleepy, you will be defeated by
           those streams. Those streams are not basically enemies to you. They are pure energy, and energy is
           always neutral. But when you are asleep those same streams are dangerous; when you are awake,
           those same streams become great creative energies for you. They are rushing towards buddhas too,
           but in the hand of a buddha, dust turns into gold. The touch of awareness is alchemical. In YOUR
           hands, even if by chance you come across gold, it turns into dust. You are so asleep, you impart your
           sleepiness to whatsoever comes to you.
                Those thirty-six streams he is talking about are gifts of existence, gifts of great energy. It is
           coming from everywhere. Now, it depends on you whether you can transform those energies into a
           synthesis, whether you can transform those energies into an integrated whole, whether you can
           create an orchestra out of all those energies. Then you become a song, you create great music. Your
           life becomes a melody.
                But if you cannot transform those energies, then you will be a victim and you will be divided into
           so many parts. You will lose all integrity. You will become a crowd; you will not be an individual
           anymore.
              THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU!



              DESIRE AND PLEASURE AND LUST....


              And so on, so forth. What is desire? Desire means greed for more. It is unfulfillable. It is
           impossible to fulfill the greed for more because that "more" has no limitation. "More" simply means
           an unlimited phenomenon. You have ten thousand rupees, you want one hundred thousand rupees.
           One day you get one hundred thousand rupees -- now you want more. You want more and more and
           more. Whatsoever you get, the distance between you and your goal will remain the same; it is never
           reduced, not even by a single inch.
              That's why beggars are beggars, obviously, but emperors are also beggars. Both are still
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hankering for more. What is the difference? No difference as far as the quality of their consciousness
           is concerned. Of course, the beggar does not possess much and the emperor possesses much, but that
           is not the point. The distance between the beggar's possessions and what he wants and the emperor's
           possessions and what he wants is exactly the same. One is a poor beggar, the other is a rich beggar;
           that much difference you can make. But both are beggars all the same.
                To be in the grip of "more" is to be really eccentric, off-center. If you can't see it then you are not
           intelligent at all. It is such a simple phenomenon that just a little intelligence is needed to see it. In
           your whole life you have been trying and it is not that you have always failed; it only LOOKS as if
           you have always failed. You have succeeded many times, but each time you succeed, your desire for
           more is projected again and you remain in the same position: miserable, unhappy, frustrated. If you
           DON'T get what you want, you will be frustrated; if you GET what you want, you will be frustrated.
           It seems frustration is the destiny, the absolute destiny, of the unconscious man.

               A psychiatrist was going around a mental hospital. He saw one man beating himself, pulling his
           hair, looking very suicidal. He was kept in a cell -- he was dangerous. He asked the superintendent,
           "What happened to this man?"
               The superintendent said, "He loved a woman, he loved her very much, but he could not get her.
           She married somebody else. Since then he has been in this state. He wants to commit suicide, he
           does not want to live. He says there is no meaning in life: 'My meaning was in that woman. If I could
           not get that woman, that means my life is finished!'"
               Feeling sorry for the man -- he was young and beautiful -- they moved ahead. They saw another
           cell and another man was inside it, and he was even more ferocious, very murderous.
               The psychiatrist asked, "What has happened to this man?"
               The superintendent said, "This is the man who married that same woman! Since he has married
           her he wants to kill her, and if he cannot kill her then he wants to kill anybody instead, but he wants
           to kill and destroy. He wants to kill the whole world! That woman drove him mad."

               One is mad because he could not get her, the other is mad because he COULD get her. This is the
           whole history of every human being, more or less. It may not be so extreme, so you don't see it, but
           the differences are only in degrees. The man in the grip of desire is bound to become insane.
               And Buddha says: PLEASURE.... Pleasure means that you think the body is the only source of
           happiness. That is sheer stupidity. The body's pleasures are very momentary; they are not real
           pleasures. But everybody is caught in the net of the body. We are born as bodies, but we need not die
           as bodies. If we die as bodies, our whole life was a sheer wastage. You have to grow up.
               And remember: growing old is not growing up. Everybody grows old, but very few people, very
           rare people grow up. One who really grows up becomes a buddha. Growing up means you start
           becoming alert about bodily pleasures -- that they are momentary and they can change into their
           opposite very easily.
               For example, you love eating and you can go on eating too much. Then it becomes a pain. It was
           pleasure in the beginning, but there is a limit to that pleasure. It is said of Nero that he used to have
           four physicians always with him. Even when he was going into war those four physicians used to
           accompany him. When Nero would eat, their whole work was to help him to vomit so that he could
           eat again. He used to love eating so much that he would eat twenty times, twenty-five times per day.
           You will call him mad -- and he was mad.
               Now, what is the pleasure of eating? Maybe just a little pleasure of taste.... On your tongue there
           are little buds which experience taste. They can be operated on very easily and then you will not feel
           anything at all. Then the whole pleasure of eating disappears. That's what happens when you are in
           fever: your buds become dull, insensitive, so you eat but you don't feel any taste. People are living
           for eating; there are very few people who eat to live. Millions are living only to eat.
               Humanity can be divided into two types of mad people: one type is obsessed with food, another
           type is obsessed with sex. And there is a deep relation between the two. The person who is obsessed
           with sex will not bother much about food and the person who is repressive of sex will become
           obsessed with food.
               Whenever a country is repressive of sex it becomes very obsessed with food. That's what has
           happened in this country: for centuries it has been repressive of sex. That's why Indians have been
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very inventive about food -- new sweets, thousands of sweets. The world is completely unaware of
           all those sweets! And their food is so spicy.... When a foreigner comes he cannot eat it; he cannot see
           how people can eat it. It is burning hot! Why so much spicy food? It is repression of sex! If your sex
           is not repressed you will not eat such spicy food.
                Just the other day I received two letters, one from a Western sannyasin, Mudita. She says,
           "Beloved Master, listening to you I feel great joy, but then suddenly I become horny." She must have
           been brought up with Victorian ideas, with Victorian education -- outmoded thoughts.
                And another letter has come from Rekha, an Indian sannyasin. She says, "Listening to you,
           suddenly I had a great desire to eat spicy food." Now, she is an Indian! An Indian woman cannot
           recognize even in herself that she is feeling horny -- that is impossible. The whole desire has to move
           towards spicy food. But both are the same, there is no difference.
                Food and sex have one thing in common. Food is needed for the individual's survival; without
           food you will not survive. And sex is needed for the species' survival; without sex the species will
           disappear.
                Another phenomenon: the person who is living a natural life will neither be obsessed with sex
           nor will be obsessed with food. He will not be obsessed at all. But religions don't allow that: you
           have to be obsessed with something or other. If you are not obsessed you will not go to the temples
           and the mosques and to the churches and to the synagogues. That is the very secret of their trade.
           This whole business of religion goes on and on with no sign of ever stopping, for the simple reason
           that YOU go on being obsessed with something or other.
                The person who is obsessed with sex will be less selfish; the person who is obsessed with food
           will be more selfish, for the simple reason that food means YOUR survival and sex means survival
           of the species. It is better to be sexual and to be after sexual pleasures than to live just to eat.
                This country has become very selfish for the simple reason that sex has been completely denied;
           BRAHMACHARYA -- celibacy -- has been propounded down the ages as one of the greatest values.
           And the ultimate result has been that everybody has become obsessed with food. Whenever people
           are obsessed with food they become selfish -- obviously, because they are no longer interested in the
           species.
                Immanuel Kant, one of the great thinkers of the world, says: This to me is the fundamental
           criterion of all morality: that any principle, if followed, destroys humanity. It is immoral. Now, what
           will Immanuel Kant say about brahmacharya? If brahmacharya is followed by the whole humanity it
           will destroy humanity. It will be a suicidal phenomenon. According to Immanuel Kant,
           brahmacharya is immoral -- more immoral than stealing, more immoral than dishonesty, more
           immoral than breaking your promise, more immoral than anything.
                And I agree with Immanuel Kant, rather than with the whole Indian tradition. The criterion is
           this: you should think what will be the result if the principle is followed by everybody. It will be
           suicidal -- it will be global suicide. There will be nobody left to be celibate anymore.
                And the same is true about the so-called old escapist sannyas -- renunciation; that too is immoral.
           If everybody follows the escapist idea and drops out and escapes to the Himalayas, the whole
           humanity will die.
                In fact, your so-called mahatmas and saints live because you are in the world and you go on
           supporting them. If you are not in the world -- if you are also in the Himalayas, following your saints
           and mahatmas -- they will be at a loss. Who will feed them? Who will support them? They will have
           to commit suicide with their followers -- and the Himalayas is a really beautiful site if you want to
           commit suicide, the best place in the world. If you could not live beautifully, at least you can die in a
           beautiful place. Your mahatmas are supported by the worldly people -- and still they go on
           condemning the world. It is an immoral act. Escapism is an immoral act.
                I agree with Immanuel Kant; his criterion has something really valuable about it.
                Pleasure means either the pleasure of the tongue, food -- which is very childish -- or the pleasure
           of sex, which is also very childish because you are not just the body, you are more than that.
                Rise from pleasures to happiness. Happiness is psychological, pleasure is physiological.
           Listening to great music or reading great poetry or watching a sunset or just enjoying a morning
           walk and the wind passing through the pines and the music that it creates, the sound of running water
           -- it thrills you. Although it comes through the body, it reaches deeper -- deeper than food or sex. It
           is more fulfilling. But that, too, is not the end because anything that is psychological is bound to be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           momentary.
               Beyond happiness is bliss which is of the spirit, which is a timeless phenomenon. You go beyond
           time, you go beyond mind and body both. Then you know who you are. Then you function from
           your center. For the first time you are not eccentric. You become centered, you are not off-center.
           For the first time you have roots in your being, and those roots connect you with God, with the
           whole. You become holy only when you are blissful. But pleasure prevents you; it prevents you at
           the lowest.
               I am not against pleasure, remember. I am not against anything. Everything has to be used as a
           stepping-stone for the ultimate peak. The body IS beautiful and enjoying your food is good. Just
           don't be obsessed by it. But if your saints are continuously condemning it, you will be obsessed by it.
               Obsession is created by your so-called saints. Whatsoever they condemn becomes your
           obsession. In fact, the more they condemn, the more attractive it becomes, the more magnetic it
           becomes.
               I am not against sex, but I would like you to go beyond it. Use it as a stepping-stone, use it as a
           ladder. It is beautiful in itself, but it is not the end, only the beginning. Don't stop at the first chapter
           of your life; it has much more, much more hidden value that has to be discovered.
               ... AND LUST. Lust is even far below pleasure. Pleasure at least respects the other. If you love a
           woman, you love her company, or a man... you respect the other. But in lust you don't have any
           respect; you simply use the other. Lust is even more degraded than pleasure; it is falling below
           humanity. You are simply using the other as a means.
               When you make love to a woman without any respect towards her, what you really are doing is
           nothing more than masturbation. You are using the woman only to deceive yourself. There is no
           connection between you and her. When you go to a prostitute, that is not pleasure; that is lust. You
           are paying. Love cannot be purchased; only bodies can be purchased.
               And remember, when you purchase a body it is a dead body; the soul is not there. The woman is
           somehow tolerating you because she needs money. She hates you from her very guts; she would like
           to kill you. But she is pretending to be very loving, very affectionate, because she is being paid for it.
           With her closed eyes she thinks of other things; she simply tolerates you. You are using her as a
           means, and she is using you as a means. She wants the money, you want the body; it is a mutual
           exploitation.

              Lloyd went to visit his favorite lady of the evening. He rang the bell and found there was no
           answer. Then he put on his glasses and read a note that was pinned to the door: "On vacation. Do it
           yourself."

             It is not more than that. It is a mutual masturbatory practice -- ugly. It is not even pleasure.
             Buddha says: All these streams are rushing towards you -- DESIRE AND PLEASURE AND
           LUST....

               PLAY IN YOUR IMAGINATION WITH THEM
               AND THEY WILL SWEEP YOU AWAY.


               And you are all full of imagination. Making love to your wife you are not making love to her;
           you may be thinking of Sophia Loren or Lollobrigida, and she may be thinking of somebody else.
           Both are pretending. Their imagination is somewhere else. If you could look into the minds of people
           who are making love you would be surprised.... It is very rare to find only two persons in a single
           bed; you will find a crowd. At least four are absolutely certain. It is always group sex, because their
           minds are fancying, fantasizing.
               Even grown-up people -- so-called grown-up people -- are living in imagination. Not only
           children live in imagination; even old people live in imagination. People go on playing with toys,
           they never wake up. Their imagination continues to keep them asleep.

               Once again we enter that handy vehicle, the time capsule, and journey back through the sexy
           sixties, the nifty fifties, the fighting forties, the dirty thirties, and on into the roaring twenties where
           we stop, hat askew and shirt-tails flying from that fast and breezy trip. We are at that point in time
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when the transplanting of monkey glands and other such operations for the restoration of male vigor
           were in vogue.
               Surgery for the restoration of youth had just been performed on a seventy-year-old man who had
           hoped that, as a result, his chromosomes would henceforth be bouncing off the ceiling. As he came
           out from under the influence of the ether he began to weep bitterly.
           Mrs. Bernstein, the attending nurse, bent over him.
           "Mister, it is not necessary for you to feel worried," she said kindly. "The operation was a big
           success. Take my word, when you leave here you will feel twenty years younger. Maybe more, who
           knows?"
               But the poor old man only continued to wail, the tears coursing down his cheeks and losing
           themselves in his long white whiskers.
           "Please don't cry," pleaded Mrs. Bernstein. "The pain will soon go away."
           "Who is crying from pain?" sobbed the patient. "I am afraid I will be late for school."

               Just look deep down inside yourself and you will find the child intact; it has not grown up. The
           ordinary mental age of every human being is not more than twelve. Physiologically you may be
           eighty; psychologically you are hanging around twelve. Hence, once in a while, you start behaving
           like a child -- in spite of yourself. If you are pushed and pulled too much you forget that you are a
           grown-up person. The child is sitting there, covered by many experiences, but those experiences
           have not been digested; covered by much knowledge, but that knowledge has not become your
           wisdom because it has not been achieved through awareness. You have been collecting and
           accumulating it in your sleep, so you have accumulated much rubbish alongside. Yes, once in a
           while you may have picked up a diamond too, not knowing that it is a diamond -- just another
           colored stone.
               PLAY IN YOUR IMAGINATION WITH THEM AND THEY WILL SWEEP YOU AWAY. If
           you allow desire and pleasure and lust and greed and anger and jealousy and possessiveness and
           violence and all these rushing streams towards you, they will sweep you away. Don't play with them
           in your imagination; that is strengthening them, that is getting under their sway.
               And the miracle is that everybody can understand everybody else's imagination, except his own.
           When somebody falls in love with somebody else you say, "How foolish!" Everybody thinks they
           have gone crazy. "Look at the face of that woman. She looks like a Picasso painting! And why is this
           man crazy about her? What does he see in her?" And when YOU fall in love, then it is totally
           different. She is a Cleopatra! Nobody else will agree with you; it is your imagination. And the same
           goes on and on in different layers, in different dimensions.
               The nonsense that is written in your religious scriptures is absolutely right; it is scientific. The
           nonsense that is written in others' scriptures is so clearly nonsense; there can be no question about it,
           no doubt about it. Hindus can see all kinds of stupidities in the Bible, and Christians see all kinds of
           stupidities in Hindu scriptures. But this seems to be really a miracle: that no Hindu will see in his
           own scriptures anything wrong; everything is scientific. And not only does he think it is scientific, he
           tries to prove it.

               Once a Hindu monk was brought to me. He came with many followers. One of his followers
           said, "He is a very great scholar; he has written many books. And his whole effort in his life has been
           to prove that Hinduism is the only scientific religion of the world."
           I said, "Can he give any example?"
               He said, "You can ask anything and he will say why it is scientific."
               I asked him, "Why do Hindus cut all their hair but keep a small bunch -- the CHOTI -- on the top
           of their heads?"
               He said, "Simple! Have you ever looked at big buildings? They keep there an iron rod."
           I could not see the point immediately.
               He said, "It is to protect the building from electricity. Hindus discovered it long ago: if you keep
           a choti -- a little bunch of hair -- standing up on your head, it saves you, protects you from
           electricity."
               Now, what nonsense he is talking! But he is known as a great mahatma because he is helping
           your egos; he is proving that your religion is scientific. He had come to see me with all his disciples.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They were all wearing wooden shoes, wooden CHAPPALS -- KHARHAON -- and making great
           noise. The way Hindus have been using those wooden shoes for centuries.... It is really difficult
           because you have to hold them on with your toes, between your toes. It is heavy.
           I asked him, "Why this? What science is there?"
               He said, "It keeps one celibate. The pressure of it is such that it keeps one's sexual glands
           nonfunctioning." Great, just great!
               So I said, "Then India need not bother about population. Just give wooden shoes to everybody
           and let them all grow chotis so electricity does not affect them, sexuality does not affect them. They
           will all be saints. Such simple formulas!"
               But Hindus think he is doing a great service to Hinduism. That's how it is with all the religions.
           Your imagination is truth; others' truth is only imagination.

                A rabbi and a priest were discussing the differences between the Old Testament and the New. It
           was the priest's contention that the New Testament gave more proof of divine cooperation because of
           all its purported miracles.
           "Remember," argued the priest, "our Lord walked on water, he raised the dead, he fed hundreds of
           people with a few loaves of bread and some little fishes, he changed water into wine, and he
           ascended bodily into heaven."
           "So what does that prove?" insisted the rabbi. "The Old Testament includes such miracles as parting
           the Red Sea, making the sun stand still, Moses ascending bodily to Mount Sinai to talk personally
           with God and to receive the Decalogue from the very hands of the Almighty."
                The priest nodded. "I believe in those miracles too," he acknowledged. "But be honest about it --
           do you really think your miracles have as much substance as ours?"
                The rabbi glared at him. "What is the matter with you?" he snapped crossly. "Can't you
           distinguish between fact and fiction?"

               OUR fiction is a fact and YOUR fiction is fiction -- your fact too is fiction.
               Beware of imagination. It can cloud your mind. It can destroy your capacity to see clearly. Hence
           I say: Unless you drop being Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, you will not be able to see clearly.
           Your imagination has been contaminated for centuries. All your ideas and ideologies have to be put
           aside so that your eyes can face, can encounter truth as it is.
               Imagination keeps you asleep. If you come out of your imagination you start waking up.
               Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples that the most important thing is to remember in a dream that
           "This is a dream." But how to do it? It seems almost impossible. How to remember in a dream that
           "This is a dream"? But if you practice the Gurdjieffian method, one day you can remember it.
               The method is simple. You have to go on remembering the whole day, whatsoever you see, that
           "This is a dream." Walking on the street, "This is a dream"; the dog barking, "This is a dream." Go
           on remembering the whole day, "This is a dream, this is a dream...." It takes three to nine month for
           the idea to sink into your heart. Then one day, suddenly, in your dream you remember and you say,
           "This is a dream!" -- and that is a moment of great illumination. Immediately, the dream disappears.
           The moment you say it is a dream, it disappears and you are awake, fully awake, in the middle of the
           night.
               Of course, these trees and the people on the road are not a dream so they don't disappear. You
           can go on saying, "This is a dream." That was just a method to practice. But when you really
           remember in a dream that "This is a dream," the dream disappears. The dream can exist only if
           believed; the dream disappears if you don't believe in it. Our imagination is intoxicating.

               Lend an ear to this exchange of dialogue, circa 1936, when Dr. William Goldman was professor
           of English at Brandeis University.
               It was Graduation Day, and the father of one of the students had celebrated, not wisely, but all
           too well. He was in the parking lot adjacent to the university campus, peering owlishly at the cars,
           when Dr. Goldman appeared.
           "Say, mister," called the weaving celebrant. "Is my car the one on the left or on the right?"
           "Yours is the car on the right, sir," replied the professor. "The car on the left is a subjective
           phenomenon."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                It does not exist -- just a subjective phenomenon. That's exactly the meaning of the Indian word
           MAYA: a subjective phenomenon, it does not exist. But if you believe, it exists. It depends on you.
           You can make it almost function as real. And there are many things which don't exist, but you are
           believing in them and for you they are realities. And you are surrounded by fictions -- religious,
           spiritual, metaphysical. There are so many fictions surrounding you -- and you have to wake up from
           all these.

           POWERFUL STREAMS! Buddha says.

           They are everywhere....

              THEY FLOW EVERYWHERE.


              These streams are powerful, and your sleep is so deep. It seems very difficult to wake up -- but
           you can wake up. My own observation is that these streams are powerful only in the proportion that
           you are asleep. If you become less sleepy they are less powerful. If you become fully awake, their
           power disappears totally.

              A drunk was passing a bus intersection when a large Saint Bernard brushed against him and
           knocked him down. An instant later a foreign sports car skidded around the corner and inflicted more
           damage.
              A bystander helped the poor fellow up and said, "Are you hurt?"
           "Well," he answered, "the dog did not hurt so much, but that tin can tied to his tail nearly killed me."

               Now, when you are not in your senses you go on seeing things which are not there at all or you
           go on projecting things. The world becomes a screen and you live in a private world. That's exactly
           the meaning of the word 'idiot': to live in a private world, to live in a subjective phenomenon. That's
           the meaning of 'idiot'.

               After each drink at the local pub, Murphy took a small, furry kitten from his pocket, put it on the
           counter and stared at it. Finally the barman could no longer contain his curiosity and asked Murphy
           what he was up to.
           "Well, you see, it is this way," said Murphy. "So long as I can see one kitten it is alright. But when I
           see two of them I have to do something."
           "Like what?"
           "I pick up the two of them, put them in my pocket, and go home," said the Irishman.

               If you are intoxicated you will see the same world but in a different way. Your imagination will
           get mixed with it. You will not be able to make any distinction between what is fiction and what is
           fact. You will not have any power of discrimination. That's exactly what makes these streams so
           powerful. THEY FLOW EVERYWHERE.

              STRONG WINE!
              IF YOU SEE IT SPRING UP,
              TAKE CARE!
              PULL IT OUT BY THE ROOTS.


               So whenever you see some imagination arising in you, be alert. Don't let it grow, don't let it
           become a big tree. It will be far more difficult then for you to get rid of it because you may become
           attached to it; you may have invested many things in it; you may have started liking its company;
           you may feel unsheltered without it. It is better to cut it from the very roots in the very beginning.
           The moment you see it arising in you, take care, beware -- beware means be aware -- PULL IT OUT
           BY THE ROOTS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               People go on changing. They don't pull out things by their roots; they substitute one fiction with
           another fiction. That may give you a relief for the moment, but it does not transform your life.
           Somebody is running after money, then he stops running after money; he starts running after power.
           Then he stops running after power and starts running after God or meditation or enlightenment. But
           he goes on running after something or other. He goes on substituting a new fiction for the old; the
           old functions no more. He has seen it is fictitious, but he has not yet got the point that one has to
           uproot ALL imagination in one's being.

               Lovebirds are supposed to be so devoted to one another that if one dies the other dies of a broken
           heart. A woman who owned a very cute pair had a fire in the house and one of the lovebirds was
           suffocated. Right away the other bird began to pine. The woman wondered if there was not some
           way to keep it alive so she put a mirror in the cage.
               The lovebird let out a joyous coo and cuddled up against the mirror, and lived for two years. It
           then died -- of a broken mirror.

               One can postpone -- but don't go on postponing. Your life is very precious. If one lovebird dies it
           is better to come to your senses rather than replace it by a mirror or by something else.

              PLEASURES FLOW EVERYWHERE.
              YOU FLOAT UPON THEM
              AND ARE CARRIED FROM LIFE TO LIFE.


               Watch out. It is a risky phenomenon to remain too much attached to your pleasures, to your
           imagination, because this is how you have been going from one life to another. The seed cause of
           birth and death is desire, imagination, hankering for more. And remember, you are feeling so
           discontented in life because of your imagination. The more imaginative you are, the more
           discontented you will feel.
               Poets are very discontented people, so are painters, for the simple reason that they can imagine
           very well. They can imagine such a beautiful world that this world, in comparison, starts looking like
           hell. Ordinary people are not so discontented for the simple reason that they don't have that much
           imagination. This world seems to be good enough for them.
               When imagination simply disappears from you, this world -- this very world -- is the lotus
           paradise. It is because of your imagination that you go on condemning this world. And remember,
           your imagination will be with you even if you are taken by the back door into heaven. You will
           condemn it, you will find faults. You will find a thousand and one things which should not be. You
           will find loopholes, flaws. Even in paradise you are going to be miserable. And a man without
           imagination, without desire, even in hell will find paradise. It is not outside you that paradise or hell
           exist; they exist inside you.
               If your mind is unclouded, if you can see clearly, then everywhere you will find bliss showering.
           Each moment you will find paradise descending in you. Each moment you will find yourself
           surrounded by God. You need not go to Kaaba, you need not go to Kashi, you need not go anywhere.
           God is coming to you in thirty-six streams, but because you are asleep that which could have been a
           blessing becomes a curse. Be aware and transform your curses into blessings. Just by being aware
           the transformation happens on its own accord.

              LIKE A HUNTED HARE YOU RUN,
              THE PURSUER OF DESIRE PURSUED,
              HARRIED FROM LIFE TO LIFE.


               You think you are the pursuer, you think you are the hunter; that is not true. You think you are
           the possessor; that is not true. The possessor is really the possessed: your things start possessing you.
           You watch, and you will see the fact in your own life. Your things start possessing you. You don't
           use them -- they start using you. And you are not a hunter... in fact you are hunted by your desires;
           those are the real hunters. And you are running, pursuing shadows which you will never find. And
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who is pushing you from the back? Who is making you run? The real power is in the hands of your
           desire, imagination, in your unconsciousness.

              O SEEKER!
              GIVE UP DESIRE.
              SHAKE OFF YOUR CHAINS.


               One day Miss Tilly saw her big tomcat corner a cockroach in the kitchen. He was about to kill
           the bug when it addressed Miss Tilly: "Have your cat spare my life and I will grant you three
           wishes."
           "A million dollars?" asked the spinster.
           "Granted!" said the roach, producing the money.
           "I want to be young and beautiful!"
           "You got it!" And she was.
           "Now," said Tilly, "turn my tomcat into a tall, handsome prince lying next to me in bed!" It was
           done.
           "I am so happy!" she exclaimed.
           "I am glad," said the prince beside her. "But aren't you sorry now you had me fixed?"

              Even if your desires are fulfilled, something or other will be missing.
              O SEEKER! GIVE UP DESIRE. SHAKE OFF YOUR CHAINS. The more you desire, the more
           you become imprisoned. People are imprisoned in things, people are imprisoned by wives and
           husbands, people are imprisoned by their power. People are creating so many prisons -- prisons
           within prisons, boxes within boxes -- and still they want to be happy, they want to be joyous. How
           can you be joyous? Your life is suffocating! And nobody else is responsible except you.

             The kindly rebbetzyn asked, "Tell me, my good man, why do you drink all that whisky?"
           "Madam," replied the good man, "what else should I do with it?"

               You don't know what else you can do with your life. You know only how to create prisons. You
           know only how to create more misery. You have become really skillful! For centuries, for lives
           together, you have done only one thing: creating chains, creating misery, creating pain for yourself
           and for others. You are sadomasochistic; that is your whole art. Either you will torture others or you
           will torture yourself, but you will torture. You don't know that life can be a dance, a celebration. You
           can't know it till you drop your desiring.
               Desire exists like a cloud of smoke around you; you can't see anything. And you go on giving
           more fuel, you go on creating more and more smoke around yourself. Your eyes are burning, your
           eyes are full of tears, you can't see, but still you think what you are doing is going to help you one
           day attain all the joys of life. What you are doing to yourself is only going to give you more pain,
           more misery, more suffering.

              YOU HAVE COME OUT OF THE HOLLOW
              INTO THE CLEARING.
              THE CLEARING IS EMPTY.
              WHY DO YOU RUSH BACK INTO THE HOLLOW?


               Once in a while, it happens to you too; that you come out of your black hole -- the black hole of
           desiring -- into the clearing. Once in a while you can see.
               Right now many of you can see that yes... a deep yes arises in you. You know perfectly well that
           you have been creating your misery, and you don't want.... It is just that you have become very
           skillful in the art; you don't know what else to do so you go on doing it. Without doing it you feel
           very empty -- and you are very afraid of being empty.
               For centuries emptiness has been condemned. Emptiness is beautiful. And the foolish people
           have been telling you, "The empty mind is the Devil's workshop." The empty mind is God's
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           workshop! The OCCUPIED mind is the Devil's workshop.
                But one has to be truly empty. Just being lazy does not mean that you are empty; not doing
           anything does not mean that you are empty. Thousands of thoughts are clamoring inside. You may
           be lazy on the outside, but inside much work is going on. Many walls are being created, new prisons
           are being prepared, so that when you get fed up with the old you can enter into the new. Old chains
           may break any time so you are creating new chains in case the old chains break; then you will feel
           very empty.
                Once in a while it happens naturally -- because it is your very nature to be free. So once in a
           while, in spite of you... seeing a sunset, suddenly you forget all your desires. You forget all lust, all
           hankering for pleasure. The sunset is so beautiful, so overwhelming, that you forget the past and the
           future; only the present remains. You are so one with the moment, there is no observer and no
           observed. The observer becomes the observed. You are not separate from the sunset.
                You are bridged; in such a communion you come into a clearing, and because of the clearing you
           feel joyous. But again you are back into the black hole for the simple reason that coming out into the
           clearing you need courage to remain in the empty sky.
           That's what I call sannyas.
                This courage I call sannyas -- not escaping but coming into the clearing, seeing the sky
           unclouded, listening to the songs of the birds without distorting. And then again and again you are
           becoming more and more attuned with the emptiness and the joy of being empty. And slowly slowly,
           you see that emptiness is not just emptiness; it is fullness, but a fullness of which you have never
           been aware, a fullness of which you have never tasted. So in the beginning it looks empty; in the end
           it is full, totally full, overflowingly full. It is full of peace, it is full of silence, it is full of light.
                YOU HAVE COME OUT OF THE HOLLOW INTO THE CLEARING. Sometimes while
           meditating it happens, sometimes while listening to music it happens, sometimes while dancing it
           happens, sometimes while just sitting doing nothing it happens. That's what meditation is all about:
           allowing these moments to come more and more, welcoming these moments, cherishing these
           moments, so that you become easily capable of coming out of the black hole. And as you become
           accustomed to the clearing and the beauty of it and the blessing of it, you move less and less into the
           black hole. One day, suddenly you abandon the black hole; it is no more your home. The clearing
           becomes your home, clarity becomes your home. That is the day of great rejoicing.

               DESIRE IS A HOLLOW
               AND PEOPLE SAY, "LOOK!
               HE WAS FREE.
               BUT NOW HE GIVES UP HIS FREEDOM."


               I can see it happening in you. Many times I see a certain person coming into the clearing and
           then moving again into the black hole.
               This is what is happening to Somendra. He was coming into the clearing, he had tasted
           something of the clearing, but then the very experience of the clearing made him egoistic. It gave
           him a certain pious egoism. He started feeling special; hence, just the other day he was asking for
           recognition. He used to sit here in the third row; he wanted to sit in the first row. Now he has
           disappeared from the third row. He sits somewhere in the back, and there too he sits not facing
           towards me; his BACK is towards me! Moving into the black hole again!
               And this is happening to many people. Many people come into the clearing and then so easily
           they move into the black hole. In a way it seems logical, because they have lived in the black hole so
           long. The new experience is new and threatening and the black hole starts claiming them again and
           again.
               This is happening to Turiya. She was coming into a clearing, and now moving into a black hole
           -- on her own accord. And the beauty of the whole thing is that when people start coming into the
           clearing they don't thank me at all. They don't write letters to me saying, "Thank you, Beloved
           Master." But when they start moving into the black hole they write great letters to me: "Why are you
           doing it to me? Why are you taking it away?" They had never thanked me. In the first place I had not
           given it to them, so how can I take it away? These things are not given or taken away.
               These things, you have to understand, happen from your very center. And you have to learn one
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very fundamental rule: that when they happen there will be every possibility of moving back to the
           old pattern. You are so familiar with it, so accustomed to it -- you have lived in it for so long; it
           seems so safe, secure, cozy, warm. And the clearing seems to be cold, vast, empty, insecure. But in
           the clearing is real security because in the clearing is eternity. That black hole is only your mind, a
           small mind. But with the small mind you are familiar.
               You have to learn to love the unfamiliar, the unknown, and one day finally, the unknowable.
           Then you move into the mysterious more and more. Only then can you say one day, "I know
           nothing" -- because existence is not knowable; it is a mystery, not to be solved. It is not a problem to
           be solved but a mystery to be lived, to be loved, to be shared.
               DESIRE IS A HOLLOW AND PEOPLE SAY, "LOOK! HE WAS FREE. BUT NOW HE
           GIVES UP HIS FREEDOM." And you are ready to give up your freedom -- you are ready to give up
           anything. You are so ready to give up your freedom -- for any toy. You don't know the value of
           freedom.

               When the daughter of an aristocratic French family announces her engagement to a black man,
           Big Sam, her parents decide they must try to stop the marriage.
               They call Big Sam in and tell him that their daughter is used to every luxury and has to have the
           finest, largest house in Paris to live in. The black man draws himself up and announces, "When Big
           Sam loves, Big Sam buys," and off he goes.
               Sure enough, he buys the biggest and best house in Paris.
               So the parents call him in again and tell him that their daughter longs for the largest, brightest
           diamond in all of France.
           "When Big Sam loves, Big Sam gets," says the groom-to-be, and off he goes, returning with the
           biggest, brightest diamond the parents have ever seen.
               In the last-ditch attempt to stop the marriage, the girl's father goes to see him privately, and tells
           him that to make their daughter happy he absolutely must have a prick that is twelve inches long.
               The black man answers firmly, "When Big Sam loves, Big Sam cuts."

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                    Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: Whatsoever happens is good
           22 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002220
              ShortTitle: DHAM1002
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CANNOT THE PRIESTS HELP HUMANITY IN SOME WAY OR OTHER?


              Veeresh, they have been helping humanity for centuries; hence this miserable state of things.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They have helped a lot to create as many lies as possible -- lies which appear comfortable. But in the
           end, lies are lies. Maybe for the time being they give you a feeling of warmth, coziness, security, but
           only for the moment. Sooner or later you are in a far darker state, far colder than ever.
                Priests have been inventing down the ages strategies for you to remain as you are. You don't
           want to change; you simply want comfortable lies to be handed over to you so that you can go on
           living the way you are. To change oneself needs courage. Priests help you to remain cowards. You
           are afraid of death. Priests go on consoling you, "Don't be worried. Your soul is eternal." And you
           don't have any idea of the soul at all.
                George Gurdjieff used to say that it is very rare to come across a person who has a soul. Others
           are only empty; there is nothing inside. Yes, there is a potential to create the soul in everyone, but it
           is not an actuality. You can be a soul, you can become part of eternity, you can be immortal, but that
           is only a possibility. Much work -- hard work, arduous work -- will be needed to make it a reality, to
           realize it.
                But priests have been telling you for centuries that you already have a soul. Only the body dies
           and the soul continues on its eternal pilgrimage. It consoles you. It keeps you, in a certain sense,
           together. You don't become too scared of death. In fact, it would be better if you WERE too scared
           of death. That very fear might start an inquiry in you. That very shock might trigger a process of
           transformation in you.
                Buddha used to send his disciples to see the dead bodies being burned, to meditate there, to go on
           watching the flames consuming a body. And then in the end nothing is left, only a few bones and
           ashes. This was his usual procedure -- for the new sannyasins to be sent to watch the burning bodies,
           for three months at least, so that they can feel the reality of death, so that the reality of death sinks
           deep into their hearts. Only that can wake you up.
                But the priests are helping, by giving you tranquilizers, to keep you asleep as comfortably as
           possible. That has been their service and we have paid them enough for their service. They are as
           ignorant as you are, as unaware as you are. They are in the same situation as you are: they also need
           consolation. They look into scriptures for their consolation. They go on reading the scriptures,
           continuously repeating the same scripture again and again, because that's how one gets
           autohypnotized. The Christian priest goes on reading the same Bible again and again, and the Hindu
           priest goes on reciting the Gita again and again. Every day, every morning he recites the same
           scripture. It becomes mechanical. It becomes like a gramophone record. He goes on repeating. It
           becomes part of his memory with no meaning, no significance. He is just like a parrot. But it gives
           consolation. Repeating again and again certain truths hypnotizes you.
                Krishna says: When the body dies, the soul does not die. You can burn the body, but the fire
           cannot consume the soul. NA HANYATE HANYAMANE SHAREERE -- you can kill the body, but
           you cannot kill the spirit, you cannot kill the soul, because no arrow can reach to it, no sword can cut
           it. NAINAM CHHINDANTI SHASTRANI, NAINAM DAHATI PAVAKAH -- neither any weapon
           can cut me nor fire burn me. Go on repeating it again and again and again, year in, year out; you
           become autohypnotized. You start believing it, although you have not created any soul in you yet.
                Krishna is right: the soul is eternal -- but in the first place you have to have it. It is not there. Soul
           means consciousness, soul means integratedness. Soul means that you know through your own
           experience that you are not the body and not the mind. It arises only through witnessing the
           bodymind mechanism; it is not created by repetition. Repetition is hypnosis. It is experienced just the
           other way: you have to become dehypnotized, you have to become unconditioned. You have to
           forget all the scriptures and all the priests and you have to look into yourself. Howsoever fearful it is,
           you have to encounter your interiority.
                The priests help you to remain on the circumference. They seem to be great friends, but in the
           final reckoning they are the greatest enemies. It is not Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Mao
           Zedong who are the real enemies of religion. The real enemies are the priests, the popes, the
           shankaracharyas, and so on, so forth. They don't know what they are doing. How can they help you?
           They simply go on repeating tradition, handing over to you conventions -- ancient conventions, but
           dead.
                You ask me, Veeresh, "Cannot the priests help humanity in some way or other?"
                Yes, they can help... if they disappear! We no more need them. Man has come of age. All these
           consolations are not needed. We need people, rebellious people, not conventional priests. We need
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           buddhas, awakened people to wake you up. We need buddhas, not these priests who go on giving
           you new toys to play with. And they have created beautiful toys, no doubt about it. They are very
           clever, cunning. Centuries of experience is behind them, how to exploit humanity, how to exploit
           humanity's weaknesses.
               But remember: they don't differ from you in any way as far as consciousness is concerned.
           Maybe they know more than you know, their information is more than yours. That is a quantitative
           difference; it is not a difference that MAKES a difference. Some qualitative difference is needed.
               And being led by blind people is dangerous. They have destroyed the whole beauty of human
           beings, they have destroyed the freedom of human beings. They have destroyed all that is valuable.
           They have left you just deserted, empty, meaningless. It is felt all over the world. Why are people
           feeling so empty and meaningless? Who has done this to them? Centuries of priesthoods, of different
           religions, have been giving them false consolations. All those false consolations are no longer
           applicable. Man has become more adult. It is good to give children toys to play with, but when
           somebody comes of age and you go on giving him toys to play with, he will start feeling life is
           meaningless. He needs something more; he needs something more real.
           Beware of being led by blind people!

               A young woman, hardly more than a girl, went to see the local rabbi. "You don't know me," she
           began with a catch in her throat, "but I just had to speak to somebody. You see, I have no mother or
           father and I don't know much about worldly matters."
           "You don't have to say another word," said the rabbi. "I understand perfectly. It is a man, isn't it?"
           "Yes, and he is always trying to kiss me. Kiss, kiss, kiss -- that's all he ever thinks of."
               You must be firm," said the rabbi sternly. "That kind of man you don't need. Just tell him you
           don't allow such kinds of goings-on."
               As she left, the rabbi said, "Come back in a week and let me know how you are making out."
               Sure enough, the girl returned a week later, but this time she was even more disturbed than
           before.
           "What is the matter now?" asked the rabbi.
           "I stopped him from all that kissing," said the unhappy young lady, "but now -- well, I don't know
           how to put it...."
           "Put, put!" urged the rabbi. "With me you got nothing to be ashamed."
           "He's trying to -- er -- touch me with his hands," she stammered in embarrassment.
               The rabbi rose from his chair in righteous anger. "You tell that no-goodnik he should keep his
           dirty hands to himself!" barked the rabbi. "What kind of a way is that to treat a decent Jewish girl?
           Tell him to stop at once, you hear?"
               But when she visited the rabbi again she was almost in tears. "I did everything you said," moaned
           the girl, "but now he insists he wants to sleep with me."
           "What!" yelled the outraged rabbi. "I never heard of such chutzpah in my whole life. You go right
           home and the next time you see him I want you to throw that bum out of the house. You understand?
           I am ordering you! Throw him out!"
               A few days later she visited the rabbi once more. Her eyes were red from weeping and her face
           was a picture of misery.
           "Did you do like I ordered?" demanded the rabbi.
               She nodded, and, still sobbing, she said through her tears, "Now he wants a divorce!"

               Your priests are as unconscious as you are, or even more. They are not even aware of the
           situation man is passing through. They go on handing out old recipes which are no more relevant.
           They go on giving you great advice which may have been useful sometime in the past but is utterly
           out of context in the present situation.
               You don't need more priests and their help. You need a few awakened people in the world. You
           need more meditators -- not mediators. The priests have been mediators between you and God. You
           need more meditators, people who go deeper into their being, people who become centered, people
           who know the inner silence, the virgin silence and the tremendous beauty of it. They will help
           humanity, and they will not help humanity directly either. Their very presence will radiate new vibes
           which can transform.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A real person always helps people indirectly. He is not aggressive. He does not command you,
           "Do this, don't do that." He does not destroy your freedom in any way. He simply lives his life in the
           light that he has found within himself. And being with him, something transpires between you and
           him.
               A real master is never a priest. And I have never heard about a priest who was a real master. If
           you are a master you cease to be a priest, and if you are a priest it is impossible for you to be a
           master. The priest belongs to a certain ideology -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan. The master
           belongs to no ideology. He is more conscious, not more knowledgeable. He has more being, not
           more knowledge. He has more soul, not a bigger memory. He may not know the scriptures --
           because he himself IS the scripture! And you will not find him in the temples and the mosques and
           the churches.

               I have heard about a very religious Negro who wanted to go to the church, but there was only
           one church in his neighborhood and that belonged to white people.
               The priest was a kindly man -- as priests are supposed to be. When the Negro knocked on the
           door one day, the priest came out. The priest was in an embarrassing situation -- whether to say yes
           to him or no. To say yes was dangerous because the whole congregation will be against it. It was the
           white people's church and no black person had been allowed; that was a tacit agreement. But how to
           say no to this simple man whose eyes were full of tears and who said, "I want to come in and I want
           to pray to Jesus Christ"?
               But priests are cunning people. Howsoever kind they may appear on the surface, deep down they
           are cunning. If they are not cunning they will not be in the profession of the priests at all, because
           that profession is far worse than any other profession. Even prostitutes are better than priests! At
           least they sell only their bodies, and priests are selling even their souls.
               The priest immediately invented some strategy. He said, "Good, you can come, but not right
           now. First purify yourself, only then your prayer will be heard."
               That was a tricky strategy. No white man was ever asked to purify himself first, and then enter
           into the church. And who is going to decide when the man is pure enough? That will be up to the
           priest and he can always go on saying, "You are not pure enough yet."
               The Negro went back. He was really in a deep love affair with God; he cried and wept, and he
           tried in every possible way not to do anything wrong, to avoid anything that may make him impure.
           For three weeks he remained in isolation, fasting, praying. And after three weeks God appeared to
           him: his desire was fulfilled.
               After that experience he went to the church. The priest was very much afraid -- this man was
           coming again, and he had such a beautiful aura around him that the priest was very much afraid to
           say, "You are not pure yet." His purity was shining; it was like a sun rising on the horizon. It was so
           clearly there that to deny it would be a sin, and the priest was afraid.
               The man came very close to the door, just near the steps, stood there, laughed loudly, turned back
           and went home. The priest was very much puzzled why he did this. He ran after him, got hold of him
           and said, "Why did you do this? Don't you want to come in the church?"
               He said, "No, I don't want to come in the church. I had just come to see you and the church once
           more, because last night God appeared and I asked him -- when he himself was there I asked him,
           'Can I enter into the church? Am I pure enough now?' God said, 'You are pure, more pure than
           anybody else who goes into the church, more pure than the priest himself. But please, don't go into
           the church. They won't allow you in. I know it from my own experience because for years I have
           been trying to go into that church and they don't allow me. If they don't allow ME into the church,
           how can they allow you? You drop the whole idea. I have dropped it myself!'"

               Your churches, your temples are empty. They are graves of religion. Religion no more flowers
           there. Yes, when a Jesus is alive there is a great flowering, when Buddha is alive there is a great
           flowering, but not in a Buddhist temple, not in a Christian church.
               Priests are the people who take advantage of the awakened ones. Once the awakened person
           goes, leaves his body, the priests jump upon his doctrine, start making a great business out of it, start
           making interpretations according to themselves.
               Christianity has nothing to do with Christ, remember, and Buddhism has nothing to do with
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha, and Jainism has nothing to do with Mahavira. It is a strange thing, but it has been happening
           consistently. No religion has anything to do with the original source. In fact, Christians are more
           destructive to Christ's message than anybody else, and the priests are the leaders of the Christians.
           They don't have any relationship with Christ -- they can't have. They are afraid of Christ. They must
           be afraid deep down that if sometime they come across Christ and he asks, "What have you done to
           my message?" how are they going to answer it?

           I have heard:
               Once the phone rang in the pope's room in the Vatican. There was nobody else there so the pope
           himself took the call. It was from New York, and the archpriest from New York was trembling, his
           voice was trembling. He said, "Look! Listen! Believe me -- one man has come into the church and
           he looks exactly like Jesus Christ. What am I supposed to do now?"
               The pope pondered over it for a few moments and then said, "Look busy!"

           What else to do?
               Priests have dominated humanity. They are the politicians of the inner world, just as politicians
           are the priests of the outer world. And there is a conspiracy between the priests and the politicians, a
           mutual understanding, a division: "You rule man in his subjectivity and we will rule man from his
           outside." They have exploited, oppressed. They have destroyed much.

               And, Veeresh, you ask me, "Cannot the priests help humanity in some way or other?"
               The only way that I can conceive is that because they are no longer needed, they should
           disappear. That will be their greatest service to humanity.

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               I FEEL AN URGE FOR ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AND HAVE HAD A DISCIPLINED, CLASSICAL
               TRAINING IN WESTERN MUSIC. OFTEN I FEEL THIS TRAINING IMPRISONS SPONTANEOUS
               CREATIVITY AND IHAVE FOUND IT VERY DIFFICULT TO PRACTICE REGULARLY LATELY. I AM
               NOT SURE ANYMORE WHAT THE QUALITIES OF TRUE ART ARE AND BY WHICH PROCESS
               THE ARTIST PRODUCES AND DELIVERS AUTHENTIC ART. HOW CAN I FEEL THE ARTIST IN
               ME?


               Barbara Limberger, the paradox of art is that first you have to learn its discipline and then you
           have to forget it totally. If you don't know its ABC you will not be able to move very deep into it.
           But if you know only its technique and you go on practicing the technique your whole life you may
           become very skillful technically, but you will remain a technician; you will never become an artist.
               In Zen they say, if you want to be a painter, for twelve years learn how to paint and then for
           twelve years forget all about painting. Just completely forget -- it has nothing to do with you. For
           twelve years meditate, chop wood, carry water from the well. Do anything, but not painting.
               And then one day you will be able to paint. Twenty-four years training: twelve years training in
           learning the technique and twelve years training in forgetting the technique. And then you can paint.
           Now the technique has become just a part of you; it is no longer technical knowledge, it has become
           part of your blood and bones and marrow. Now you can be spontaneous. It will not hinder you, it
           will not imprison you.
           That's exactly MY experience too.
               Now don't go on practicing. Forget all about classical music. Do other kinds of things: gardening,
           sculpture, painting, but forget about classical music, as if it does not exist at all. For a few years let it
           remain deep down in your being so that it becomes digested. It is no longer a technique then. Then
           one day a sudden urge will take possession of you -- and then start playing again. And when you
           play again, don't be bothered too much about the technique, otherwise you will never be
           spontaneous.
               Be a little innovative -- that's what creativity is. Innovate new ways, new means. Try something
           new that nobody has ever done. The greatest creativity happens in people whose training is of some
           other discipline.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, if a mathematician starts playing music he will bring something new to the world
           of music. If a musician becomes a mathematician he will bring something new to the world of
           mathematics. All great creativity happens through people who move from one discipline to another.
           It is like crossbreeding. And children that come out of crossbreeding are far healthier, far more
           beautiful.
               That's why in every country for centuries, marriages between brothers and sisters have been
           prohibited; there is a reason in it. A marriage is better if it is between people who are very distantly
           related or not related at all as far as blood is concerned. It will be good if people from one race marry
           into another race. And if some day we discover people on some other planet, the best way will be a
           crossbreeding between earth and the other planet. Then newer kinds, newer people will be coming
           into existence.
               The prohibition, the taboo against brother/sister relationship, their marriage, is significant,
           scientifically significant. But it has not been worked out into detail to its extreme, to its logical
           extreme. The logical extreme is that no Indian should marry another Indian, no German should
           marry another German. The best thing is that a German marries an Indian, an Indian marries a
           Japanese, a Japanese marries a Negro, a Negro marries an American, a Jew marries a Christian, a
           Christian marries a Hindu, a Hindu marries a Mohammedan. That will be the best thing. That will
           raise the consciousness of the whole planet. It will give better children, more alert, more alive, richer
           in every possible way.
               But we are so foolish that we can do anything, we can accept anything. Then what am I saying...?

               Chauncey, a handsome, almost pretty young man, was speaking earnestly with his mother.
           "Mumsie, the time has come -- it really has -- when we must have a heart-to-heart talk about my
           relationship with Myron. To be quite candid about it, our relationship has blossomed into -- how
           shall I say it without sounding indelicate? -- well, into something beautiful and good and even holy.
           The truth is, Mumsie dear, I love Myron and Myron loves me in return. We want to be married as
           soon as possible and we both hope you will give us your blessings."
           "But Chauncey," the mother protested, "do you realize what you are saying? Can you honestly
           expect me to condone such a marriage? What will people say? What will our friends and neighbors
           think?"
           "Ah, Mumsie, you are going to be dreary -- I can feel it in my bones. And after we have been such
           good pals, too. I never would have believed it of you -- of all people. I could just cry!"
           "But, son, you can't go against convention like this!"
           "Alright, Mumsie, let us have it right out in the open like civilized persons. Exactly and precisely
           what possible objection could you or anyone else have to Myron and me becoming husband and
           husband?"
           "You know perfectly well why I object: he is Jewish!"

               She is not objecting to a homosexual marriage; she is objecting because he is Jewish. People are
           so much against each other. They have been conditioned for this antagonism for so long that they
           have forgotten completely that we are all human beings, that we belong to the same earth, to the
           same planet.
               The greater the distance between the wife and the husband, the better will be the by-product of
           the marriage.
               And the same happens in music, in painting, in mathematics, in physics, in chemistry: a kind of
           crossbreeding. Whenever a person moves from one discipline to another discipline he brings the
           flavor of his discipline, although that discipline cannot be practiced. What can you do with your
           music when you go into physics? You have to forget all about it, but it remains in the background. It
           has become part of you; it is going to affect whatsoever you do. Physics is so far away, but if you
           have been disciplined in music, sooner or later you will find theories, hypotheses, which somehow
           have the color and the fragrance of music. You may start feeling that the world is a harmony -- not a
           chaos but a cosmos. You may start feeling, searching into deeper realms of physics, that existence is
           an orchestra. Now, that is not possible for one who has not known anything of music.
               If a dancer moves into music he will bring something new, he will contribute something new to
           music.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                My suggestion is that people should go on moving from one discipline into another discipline.
           When you become accustomed to one discipline, when you become imprisoned with the technique,
           just slip out of it into another discipline. It is a good idea, a great idea to go on moving from one
           discipline into another. You will find yourself becoming more and more creative.
                One thing has to be remembered: if you are really creative you may not become famous. A really
           creative person takes time to become famous because he has to create the values -- new values, new
           criteria, only then can he be judged. He has to wait at least fifty years; by that time he is dead. Only
           then people start appreciating him. If you want fame, then forget all about creativity. Then just
           practice and practice, and just go on doing the thing that you are doing more skillfully, more
           technically perfectly, and you will be famous -- because people understand it; it is already accepted.
                Whenever you bring something new into the world you are bound to be rejected. The world
           never forgives a person who brings anything new to the world. The creative person is bound to be
           punished by the world, remember it. The world appreciates the uncreative but skillful person, the
           technically perfect person, because technical perfection simply means perfection of the past. And
           everybody understands the past, everybody has been educated to understand it. To bring something
           new into the world means nobody will be able to appreciate it. It is so new that there are not any
           criteria against which it can be valued. No methods are still in existence which can help people to
           understand it. It will take at least fifty years or more; the artist will be dead. By that time people will
           start appreciating it.
                Vincent van Gogh was not appreciated in his day. Not even a single painting was ever sold. Now
           each of his paintings is sold for millions of dollars -- and people were not ready even to accept those
           paintings as gifts from Vincent van Gogh -- the same paintings. He had given them to friends, to
           anybody who was ready to hang them in their room. Nobody was ready to hang his pictures in their
           rooms because people were worried. Others would ask, "Have you gone mad or something? What
           kind of painting is this?"
                Vincent van Gogh had his own world. He has brought a new vision. It took many many decades;
           slowly slowly, humanity started feeling that something was there. Humanity is slow and lethargic; it
           lags behind time. And the creative person is always ahead of his time, hence the gap.
                So, Barbara, if you really want to be creative you will have to accept that you can't be famous,
           you can't be well-known. If you really want to be creative, then you have to learn the simple
           phenomenon: art for art's sake, for no other motive. Then enjoy whatsoever you are doing. If you can
           find a few friends to enjoy it, good; if nobody is there to enjoy, then enjoy it alone. If YOU are
           enjoying it, that is enough. If you feel fulfilled through it, that is enough.
                You ask me, "I am not sure anymore what the qualities of true art are."
                True art means: if it helps you to become silent, still, joyous; if it gives you a celebration; if it
           makes you dance -- whether anybody participates with you or not is irrelevant; if it becomes a bridge
           between you and God -- that is true art. If it becomes a meditation, that is true art. If you become
           absorbed in it, so utterly absorbed that the ego disappears, that is true art.
                True art comes very close to religion. So don't be worried what true art is. If you rejoice in doing
           it, if you feel lost in doing it, if you feel overwhelmed with joy and peace in doing it, it is true art.
           And don't be bothered what critics say. Critics don't know anything about art. In fact, the people who
           cannot become artists become critics. If you cannot participate in a running race, if you cannot be an
           Olympic runner, at least you can stand by the side of the road and throw stones at other runners; that
           you can do easily.
                That's what critics go on doing. They can't be participants, they can't create anything.

               I have heard about a Sufi mystic who loved painting, and all the critics of his time were against
           him. Everybody would come and show him, "This is wrong, that is wrong."
               He became tired of these people, so one day, in front of his house he hung all his paintings and
           he invited all the critics and told them to come with brushes, with colors, so that they can correct his
           paintings, because they have criticized enough; now the time has come to correct.
               Not a single critic turned up. It is easy to criticize, it is difficult to correct. And since then critics
           stopped coming and stopped criticizing his paintings. He did the right thing.

               People who don't know how to create become critics. So don't be worried about them. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           decisive thing is your inner feeling, inner glow, inner warmth. If making music gives you a feeling of
           warmth, joy arises in you, ego disappears, then it becomes a bridge between you and God. And art
           can be the most prayerful thing, the most meditative thing possible. If you can be in any art, music,
           painting, sculpture, dance, if any art can take a grip of your being, that's the best way to pray, the
           best way to meditate. Then you don't need any other meditation; that is your meditation. That will
           lead you slowly slowly, step by step, into God. So this is my criterion: if it leads you towards God, it
           is true art, it is authentic art.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU THINK OF LIFE AFTER DEATH?


               Sargamo, I totally agree with Tristan Bernard, the French-Jewish writer, who was once asked the
           same question. He was asked what he thought of life after death. He replied, "With regard to the
           climate, I would prefer heaven, but with regard to the company I would give preference to hell."

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT TO DO WITH THE PERSISTENCE OF UNBLISSFUL, SEEMINGLY INFINITE RESISTANCE?


                Amit Prem, accept it, don't resist it. Don't resist the resistance. That's what you are doing. The
           first resistance is not the problem at all; the second resistance creates the problem. You are resisting
           your resistance. Your misery is unnecessarily multiplied. You drop the second resistance and you
           will be surprised: if you drop the second, the first will evaporate on its own accord.
                Jesus says: Resist not evil. A very strange statement... no other awakened person has given such
           a rebellious statement. Christian priests, missionaries, don't talk about it at all. They talk about other
           things, but they don't talk about this strange statement: Resist not evil. It seems very illogical,
           irreligious. Evil has to be resisted -- and Jesus says: Resist not evil. Why?
                There is a secret in it. If you resist evil, you give energy to it. Every resistance gives energy to
           the thing resisted. "Don't resist evil" means if you don't resist it, it will drop on its own accord
           because you will not be nourishing it by your energy; you are disconnected immediately.
                Amit Prem, you say, "What to do with the persistence of unblissful, seemingly infinite
           resistance?"
                Nothing has to be done. If you do anything you will create this resistance more and more; that's
           how you have made it infinite. It is not infinite. Only God is infinite, nothing else. How can your
           resistance be infinite? But you are making it infinite because you are pouring your energy into it.
           You are trying to resist it, fight it, repress it in subtle ways -- so it comes up again and again.
                My suggestion is: Accept it, and then see what happens. Whatsoever happens is good. In the
           beginning you may be afraid in accepting it. In the beginning you will think, "If I accept it then I will
           have to follow it." No, that is not the truth. If you totally accept it you will see it dying immediately
           -- you have cut the very roots. That's what Jesus means. He wants to destroy evil totally; hence he
           says: Resist not evil. If you resist you will go on feeding it.
                The first resistance is never the problem, the second resistance is. And you cannot do anything
           about the first; you can do something only about the second, because that is yours. What can be
           done? If resistance is there it is there -- welcome it, accept it. But you are doing that in many ways.
                Amit Prem goes on writing letters to me: "I feel very sad, I feel very miserable, depressed. I
           suffer from an inferiority complex." When I was reading his letter in which he talks about his
           suffering from an inferiority complex I was reminded about a politician who was going through
           psychoanalysis....

              After three years of great psychoanalytic work, the psychoanalyst one day welcomed him
           beaming with joy, and he said, "Come in. I have found everything. Now there is no need for any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           psychoanalysis anymore. Your problem is solved!"
              The politician was also happy. He said, "What solution have you found?"
              And the psychoanalyst said, "You are not suffering from an inferiority complex -- you simply
           ARE inferior, so there is no problem!"

                This is acceptance. Amit Prem, you simply ARE inferior -- accept it! You suffer from an
           inferiority complex because there is a great desire to be superior. That desire for superiority creates
           in its wake the suffering of an inferiority complex. Accept it.
                I am inferior -- look at me! You can't be more inferior than me. I am so ordinary! I cannot do any
           miracle, I cannot walk on water. I must be suffering from an inferiority complex -- because Jesus
           walked on water. You see how ordinary I am! But I am so blissful because I go on saying, "So
           what?" I can't walk on water, that's true. I don't make a problem out of it. You can make a problem
           out of anything.

           I have heard:
               When Moses was coming from Egypt and the enemies were following on his heels and they
           came close to the sea, now there was a problem: What to do? The sea was a barrier and the enemy
           was closing in. They were coming closer and closer every moment.
               And then suddenly a miracle happened: the sea became divided into two parts. Huge columns of
           water on both the sides and a small pathway....
               Moses looked at the sky and said, "My God, only one thing I have to ask you. Why is it always
           me who has to be the first? Now I have to enter into this danger! Why do I have to be the first
           always?"

              You can even complain about your miracles -- and I don't complain even about my ordinariness.

               Golda Meir, the ex-prime minister of Israel, used to say again and again, "I cannot forgive
           Moses. For forty years he led our people in the desert, and he found Israel -- the only place where
           there is no oil! I cannot forgive this man. And he passed many places which had oil."

                Amit Prem, simply accept the way you are. You can't be anybody else. Because you are trying to
           be somebody else, that creates the trouble.
                He goes on writing to me, "I want to be an insider in the ashram, and I remain on the periphery."
           So what is wrong with being on the periphery? I am not even on the periphery! You are at least on
           the periphery. Wherever you are, enjoy it. If you become accustomed to creating misery for yourself,
           even if you are at the very center you will be suffering. You will say, "God, why do I have to be at
           the center always and to carry the whole responsibility?"
                I say, I am not at the center because I carry no responsibility at all. You will not find a more
           irresponsible person in the whole world than I am. I have no responsibility at all. Even on the
           periphery you have some responsibilities. Even the guards sitting on the gate have some
           responsibility.
                Learn to enjoy wherever you are and whatsoever you are. Don't make much fuss about it. If there
           is resistance it is natural, because this whole process is of surrender. Sannyas is surrender. Resistance
           is natural. So accept it, and through acceptance it will die a natural death.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU AGAINST THE WOMEN'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT?


               Shakti, I am not against women, I am all for them. But the liberation movement is something
           ugly -- and I know the responsibility is on the male chauvinists. They have been doing so much harm
           to women down the ages that now the woman wants to take revenge. But whenever you start taking
           revenge you become destructive. The movement is still in a destructive phase; it has not become
           creative. And I am against destructiveness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is of no use to go on looking at past wounds. It is of no use to take revenge because of the past.
           One should learn to forgive and forget. Yes, it was wrong -- accept it. Whatsoever has been done to
           women down the ages was absolutely wrong. Man HAS exploited them. Man has been very brutal,
           very animalistic. Man has reduced women to slaves; even more than that, he has reduced them to
           things, to possessions. But what is the point of taking revenge? Then you become the pursuer and
           man becomes the pursued. Then another kind of chauvinism begins to take form and shape. Then the
           female chauvinist is born. And this is not going to put things right. Then the women will start doing
           harm to men, and sooner or later they will take revenge. Where is this going to stop? It is a vicious
           circle.
               And my feeling is that instead of men stopping it, it is far easier for women to stop it, to come
           out of the vicious circle -- because they are more loving, more compassionate. Man is more
           aggressive, more violent. I don't have much hope from men, I hope much from women. Hence I am
           not in favor of the aggressive attitude and approach of the Women's Lib movement.

               Mrs. Farid presented herself at the gate of heaven and knocked with trembling hand.
           "Madam," said Father Abraham, peering suspiciously through a peephole, "from whence did you
           come?"
           "From Flatbush I came," replied Mrs. Farid with embarrassment, as great beads of perspiration
           spangled her spiritual brow.
           "Never mind, my daughter," replied the patriarch compassionately. "Eternity is a long time; you can
           live that down."
           "Mister, I got something to confess," she went on, obviously worried.
           "In our religion we don't have confessions."
           "But this is different. If you will take a look in your records, you will see that maybe I don't belong
           here. I -- I -- well -- I poisoned my husband and I chopped up my brother-in-law. Not only that, I...."
               Father Abraham suddenly grew stern. "Your aggressive behavior does indeed present a problem,
           madam. Were you a member of the Women's Liberation movement?"
           "No."
               The gates of pearl and alabaster swung open upon their golden hinges, making the most ravishing
           music, and the patriarch bowed low.
           "Enter into thy eternal rest."
               But Mrs. Farid hesitated. "The poisoning, the chopping, the... the...." she stammered.
           "Of no consequence, I assure you. We are not going to be hard on a lady who did not belong to the
           Women's Lib. Take a harp."
           "But I applied for membership. They would not let me in."
           "Take two harps."

               Don't be worried, Shakti. There are many women here who have belonged to the Women's Lib
           movement. But as they have come closer to me, their attitudes have changed, their approach has
           changed. Life's problems can only be solved by love, they cannot be solved by any violent approach.
               Men and women are different worlds; hence it is difficult to understand each other. And the past
           has been full of misunderstandings, but that is not necessarily to be so in the future. We can learn a
           lesson from the past, and the only lesson is that man and woman have to become more understanding
           of each other and more accepting of each other's differences. Those differences are valuable, they
           need not create any conflict; in fact, they are the causes of attraction between them. If all the
           differences between men and women disappear, if they have the same kind of psychology, love will
           also disappear because the polarity will not be there. Man and woman are like negative and positive
           poles of electricity: they are pulled towards each other magnetically; they are opposite poles. Hence,
           conflict is natural. But through understanding, through compassion, through love, through looking
           into the other's world and trying to be sympathetic to it, all the problems can be solved. There is no
           need to create more conflict -- enough is enough.
               Man needs as much liberation as woman. Both need liberation -- liberation from the mind. They
           should cooperate with each other and help each other to be liberated from the mind. That will be a
           true liberation movement.
           That's what sannyas is all about.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU GOD THE CREATOR?

              Sudheer, do you think I am mad?


               For almost a year, Grandpa Sulzberg had been a constant embarrassment to his family. He would
           mount a soap box on street corners in his neighborhood and proclaim himself the messiah. Then he
           would proceed to harangue the amused crowds that gathered, hurling fierce warnings and
           injunctions, reminding them of the dire consequences of their evil ways. In his long white robe
           which he had fashioned from a bedsheet, and his flowing, silvery beard, he did indeed look like a
           biblical patriarch.
               Old Sulzberg's delusion gradually worsened, and finally his sons and daughters and grown
           grandchildren held a conference and reluctantly agreed to send him to an institution. There, they
           hoped, with proper treatment, he might regain his sanity and then return home.
               At the Cedars of Lebanon Home for the Mentally Disturbed, the "messiah" got along famously
           with his fellow patients. Until, that is, he made the mistake of exhorting them to abandon their
           godless ways.
           "I am Moses reincarnated," he thundered like a prophet of old. "I am the messiah!"
           "Oh yeah?" yelled one of the patients. "Who said so?"
           "I will tell you who said so," yelled Mr. Sulzberg-turned-messiah. "God said so!"
               And from the outer circle of patients an indignant voice rang out: "I did not!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                  Chapter #3
                                  Chapter title: Meditation requires courage
           23 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002230
              ShortTitle: DHAM1003
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              IT IS NOT IRON THAT IMPRISONS YOU
              NOR ROPE NOR WOOD,
              BUT THE PLEASURE YOU TAKE IN GOLD AND JEWELS,
              IN SONS AND WIVES.



              SOFT FETTERS,
              YET THEY HOLD YOU DOWN.
              CAN YOU SNAP THEM?
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THERE ARE THOSE WHO CAN,
              WHO SURRENDER THE WORLD,
              FORSAKE DESIRE, AND FOLLOW THE WAY.



              O SLAVE OF DESIRE,
              FLOAT UPON THE STREAM.
              LITTLE SPIDER, STICK TO YOUR WEB.
              OR ELSE ABANDON YOUR SORROWS FOR THE WAY.



              ABANDON YESTERDAY, AND TOMORROW,
              AND TODAY.
              CROSS OVER TO THE FARTHER SHORE,
              BEYOND LIFE AND DEATH.



              DO YOUR THOUGHTS TROUBLE YOU?
              DOES PASSION DISTURB YOU?
              BEWARE OF THIRSTINESS
              LEST YOUR WISHES BECOME DESIRES
              AND DESIRE BINDS YOU.


               The most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha is not God, is not soul... it is freedom:
           freedom absolute, total, unconditional. He does not want to give you an ideology, because every
           ideology creates its own slavery. He does not want to give you a religion, because religion binds
           you. That's exactly the meaning of the English word 'religion' -- that which binds you together.
           Religion is a bondage, very subtle, so subtle that unless you are very aware you will not be able to
           see it. He does not want to give you a philosophy of life, because any philosophy given by somebody
           else is going to fetter you. You have to live according to your own light, not according to somebody
           else's light.
               The whole world is full of slaves for the simple reason that everybody is living according to
           somebody else. Somebody is living according to Jesus, somebody is living according to Mahavira,
           somebody is living according to Krishna, somebody is living even according to Buddha.
               Buddha says: Be a light unto yourself. Unless you create a light within your own being you will
           remain a slave, you will be dominated. And there are crafty priests, cunning, very clever, very
           worldly; and they know, they are very experienced in creating new bondages for you. If you escape
           from one prison, they immediately create another. They are very clever with words. They go on
           interpreting words in such subtle ways that you will never be able to understand how these words of
           the buddhas are being manipulated, distorted. Words that were meant to give you freedom have been
           made into chains.
               But man is very unaware; hence he goes on remaining a victim -- a victim of all kinds of
           psychological exploitation.
               Buddha teaches you freedom as the ultimate goal, the SUMMUM BONUM, the highest good.
           There is nothing higher than freedom. Every other value is a by-product of freedom; they follow
           freedom as a consequence.
               Jesus says: First seek ye the kingdom of God, then all else shall be added unto you. Buddha will
           not say that. He will say: First seek ye total and absolute freedom, and then all else shall be added
           unto you. If you seek God you are again seeking a new prison, maybe better than the old, maybe
           made of gold, very precious -- but a prison is a prison all the same. Whether your chains are made of
           iron or gold, it makes no difference at all. In fact, if the chains are made of gold it will be more
           difficult to come out of them because you will become attached. You will think those chains are not
           chains but ornaments. You will protect them, you will guard them -- somebody may steal them away
           from you!
               Freedom is the fragrance of Buddha's whole message. No other enlightened person has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           emphasized freedom so much. Why did Buddha emphasize freedom so much? -- for the simple
           reason that he had seen all other ideals being changed into imprisonments. He had seen all beautiful
           philosophies poisoned by the priests. Beware of the priests!
               Buddha is not a priest, neither is Jesus, nor is Mahavira. No enlightened person is a priest. The
           priest lives on the words of the enlightened people and goes on exploiting the unenlightened. He
           certainly is clever but not wise, knowledgeable but not enlightened. He succeeds in manipulating
           you because you are unconscious.
               Hence, the second thing Buddha emphasizes is meditation, awareness. Freedom can come only
           through being more and more aware. By freedom he does not mean any social phenomenon or any
           political change. There are people... I have come across books written by communists, Marxists,
           socialists, who try to prove that Buddha's freedom means communism, socialism, that his freedom
           means a social revolution, a political revolution. That is utter nonsense! Buddha has nothing to do
           with the outside world; his concern is your interiority. He wants to change your unconsciousness into
           consciousness, he wants to change your darkness into light, he wants to change your death into
           deathlessness.
               He is really doing the work of the seers of the Upanishads who have been praying to God,
           "ASATO MA SADGAMAYA. O God, O Lord, take us away from the false, from the untrue, to the
           truth. TAMASO MA JYOTIRGAMAYA. O God, O Lord, take us away from darkness into light.
           MRITYOR MA AMRITAMGAMAYA. O God, O Lord, take us away from death to eternal life."
           But they were praying to God.
               Buddha says: No prayer is going to help. Unless YOU do something, your prayer is impotent.
           There is no need to pray, but there is great need to meditate. His religion is not a religion of prayer.
           His religion is very scientific in the sense that he does not presuppose any belief. You need not
           believe in God, you need not believe in afterlife. He says when you can experience, then why
           believe? All beliefs ultimately reduce you to slaves.
               Buddha is against all kinds of beliefs AND disbeliefs. He is an agnostic. He says remain open; if
           you believe you become closed. The Hindu is closed, the Mohammedan is closed, the Christian is
           closed: they have already concluded. They have already accepted a certain belief as true without
           experiencing it. This is dishonesty! And these people are thought to be religious people. They are not
           even authentic, they are not even honest -- what to say about their religiousness? From the very
           beginning they are dishonest; belief makes you dishonest.
               The very process of belief is believing in something that you have not experienced on your own.
           How can you believe if you are sincere? If your search for truth is authentic you cannot believe; you
           cannot disbelieve either. You cannot say God is, you cannot say God is not. You can only say, "I
           don't know and I am searching and I am seeking and I am experimenting and I am trying to
           experience."
           That is the way of meditation.
               Prayer requires belief as a presupposition; without belief there is no possibility of prayer. To
           whom will you pray? To whom will you address your prayers? -- to some God which you have
           accepted because it has been told to you from your very childhood, you have been hypnotized.
               Every belief is nothing but hypnosis. One is hypnotized as being a Hindu, another is hypnotized
           as being a Mohammedan; both are living in a kind of deep sleep. Hypnosis means sleep; the very
           word means sleep. You have been given so much poison, slowly slowly, through belief that you have
           fallen asleep. You are no longer aware what you are doing, why you are doing. Why are you going to
           the temple? Why are you bowing down to a stone statue? Why are you reciting something
           meaningless? Why are you going to Kaaba or Kashi or Girnar? For what? There IS something a
           priori. You already believe that is what religion is, without experiencing, without inquiring.
               This is the way of the coward, this is the way of the zombie.
               Meditation requires courage. It requires the basic integrity, sincerity, respect towards your own
           being. At least don't deceive yourself.
               Buddha says: Let your own experience decide. If this is understood you are bound to move
           towards meditation instead of prayer. Then meditation will bring a prayer of its own -- a
           prayerfulness, rather. You will not be praying but you will be in prayer, because more and more you
           will become silent, more and more you will become still. More and more you will experience the
           presence, the mysterious presence that overwhelms everything, penetrates everything. You may like
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to call it God, you may not like to call it God; it doesn't matter what you call it. You may not like to
           call it anything; you may be silent about it, because that is the most appropriate thing to do. It cannot
           be put into any words; no words are adequate enough to express it.
               But Buddha has not been listened to. Humanity has remained in its old, zombielike, sleepy way.
           It has remained hypnotized, unconscious.

                Howard Rabinowitz, a huge, granite-fisted, supertough young fellow, was drinking a whisky in a
           bar when he heard the announcement of the Six-Day War on the radio. Filled with excitement and
           Jewish fervor, he rushed to the airport and took the first available flight to Israel where he was
           immediately inducted into the army.
                But his reception at the military base was rather cool. He was not exactly avoided by the Israeli
           soldiers, but neither did they go out of their way to welcome him.
           "Listen, what's with you guys?" he complained to his sergeant. "Here I come halfway around the
           world to help you out and I'm practically ignored. What must an American do to get accepted in this
           army?"
                The sergeant eyed the muscular young giant, glanced around somewhat furtively so that he might
           not be overheard, and then, in a voice that was almost a whisper, he said, "Confidentially and off the
           record, if you really want to be one of us, there are three things you must do."
           "Name them," said Rabinowitz.
           "First," explained the sergeant, "You must drink down a whole quart of our strongest Mount Carmel
           wine without stopping for a breath. Second, you must kill an Arab army officer. Third, you must
           make love to an Israeli beauty."
                So Howard Rabinowitz chug-a-lugged a whole quart of Mount Carmel wine without stopping.
           "Now," he demanded, "where can I find an Arab officer?"
           "Right across the Suez Canal," said the sergeant. "I'm afraid you'll have to swim both ways -- that is,
           if you're still alive."
           "I'll be alive," promised the American as he lurched off. "Hell, I was the roughest, toughest, biggest
           guy on the East Side. What's a little adventure like this?"
                A few hours later he returned, soaking wet from his return swim, his clothes torn and his face
           scratched and bloody.
           "Okay, I took care of that Arab officer," he roared. "Now, where's that Israeli beauty you want
           killed?"

               That's exactly the situation of humanity. You don't know who you are, you don't know what you
           are doing, you don't know WHY you are doing it in the first place. You don't know, even if you
           succeed, what is the point of it all. But still you go on doing something. It keeps you engaged and
           keeps you unaware of your unawareness.
               All your occupations are basically nothing but an effort to remain unaware of your unawareness
           -- because it hurts. It hurts to know that "I am a zombie," it hurts to know that "I am a slave." So you
           go on bragging about your slavery as if it is something very precious and valuable. You go on
           bragging about your being Indian or Pakistani or Israeli or German or American. You go on
           bragging about your being Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Jaina -- and you don't know you are
           bragging about your prisons!
               It is as if two prisoners are talking: "My prison is better than your prison. Look at the flag! My
           prison has the best flag in the world, the highest pole. And never say a word against my prison;
           otherwise you will suffer for it, you will have to pay for it."
               MY nation, MY country, MY church, MY religion is higher than your religion, is higher than
           your church, is greater than your nation -- and we are bragging about our prisons. This is utterly
           stupid. But why do we go on doing it? -- because that is the only way to save our faces.
               If we try to see the point, that all these are prisons, how can we avoid knowing that we are a
           prisoner -- not of one prison but of many prisons, prisons within prisons? And that will destroy our
           ego. It helps our egos very much that "We are a great nation," that "Our history is full of bravery,"
           that "We have created the greatest warriors"... or greatest saints, or whatsoever it is. "We have
           created the most religious society in the world," or the most democratic society or the most
           communist society. This helps us to protect our egos. We find in every way methods and means,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           devices and strategies so that our ego remains intact.
               And the ego is the most false phenomenon in existence; there is nothing more false than the ego.
           It has no substance. It is a balloon full of hot air -- or maybe there is no balloon, only hot air! But we
           are living according to the dictates of this false god, the ego. And there are priests who go on helping
           us, who go on giving us new strategies, new interpretations. As times change, priests are ready to
           give us new interpretations.

               A small boy in the Sunday school was very much puzzled when the priest said that God made
           everything. The boy looked puzzled, almost a question mark in his eyes.
               The priest asked him, "What is the matter, Johnny? You look very puzzled."
               Johnny said, "Yes. You say everything -- do you really mean EVERYTHING? Then where is the
           reference that God made railway trains? I have never come across it."
               And the priest said, "Yes, you must have overlooked it. There is a reference. It is said in the
           Bible that God made all creeping things; it includes the railway train!"

              And it is not only that they are deceiving small children; they do the same to you.

           "Rabbi," said the worried father, "I wish you would speak to my son. Here he is, bar mitzvah age,
           and all he ever thinks about is baseball."
               The rabbi sighed to himself. "With so many delinquent children getting into trouble," he thought,
           "this is indeed a minor problem."
           "I am sorry to disappoint you," he said, suppressing a desire to show his annoyance, "but I cannot
           scold your son for something we Jews have been practicing for thousands of years. In fact, there are
           several references to baseball in the Bible."
           "Are you serious?" demanded the father incredulously. "What are they?"
           "Well, for example, you will recall that Eve stole first and Adam stole second; Gideon rattled the
           pitchers; Goliath was put out by David; and the prodigal son made a home run!"

           Priests are the most cunning people in the world.

               In Baltimore, at the turn of the century, an itinerant MAGGID, or preacher, looking for all the
           world like a prophet of old, with his majestic white beard and flowing, snow-white robe, was invited
           to speak at the Sanhedrin Temple. The synagogue's regular rabbi was somewhat apprehensive about
           the old man's ultra-orthodox views, but he had come highly recommended. The rabbi's fears, as it
           turned out, were justified. The maggid harangued the congregation with a scorching sermon that
           would have done credit to a Bible-thumping, fundamentalist Baptist preacher. As the venerable
           patriarch brought his sermon to a close he shouted, "And I say unto you, the Day of Judgment is at
           hand, and unless you have lived in strict accordance with the law as handed down to us by Moses
           himself, there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!"
               An old lady in the front row, frightened half out of her wits, cried out, "But, Rebbe, I have no
           teeth!"
           "My good woman," thundered the righteous maggid, "teeth will be provided!"

               Buddha is not a priest, he is not a prophet either; he is a totally different kind of person. He is an
           awakened being, he has come to know himself. He is not an incarnation of God -- he has no claims
           like that. He is not a special messenger of God; he has no ego like that. He does not claim that "I am
           the only begotten Son." All this looks absurd if you think of Buddha. He is very simple and yet his
           message is the most practical, most scientific, most penetrating.
               He says, "I was as unconscious as you are; now I have become conscious and all my fears and
           sorrows have disappeared. One day I was like you, one day you can be like me; there is no
           qualitative difference between us. I am awakened, you are asleep; that is the only difference. I am
           not extraordinary, I am just as ordinary as you are. The only thing that has happened to me is that I
           have opened my eyes and you are still keeping them closed. Open them and see for yourself!"

           The sutras:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              IT IS NOT IRON THAT IMPRISONS YOU
              NOR ROPE, NOR WOOD,
              BUT THE PLEASURE YOU TAKE IN GOLD AND JEWELS,
              IN SONS AND WIVES.


               IT IS NOT IRON THAT IMPRISONS YOU... your prison is not that gross, it is very subtle. It is
           not so visible, it is very invisible. It is transparent. It is not that you remain in the prison; on the
           contrary, the prison surrounds you, wherever you go it moves with you. It is something in your mind,
           not something around your body. It is something in your very approach towards life.
               He says: IT IS NOT IRON THAT IMPRISONS YOU NOR ROPE NOR WOOD, BUT THE
           PLEASURE YOU TAKE IN GOLD AND JEWELS....
               Now one thing very significant has to be remembered: this sutra has been misinterpreted for
           centuries. Twenty-five centuries of misinterpretation are there. For the first time I am telling you that
           it does not mean what Buddhists have been saying that it means. They think it means that gold and
           jewels have to be renounced; it does not mean that -- it is so clear -- BUT THE PLEASURE YOU
           TAKE IN GOLD AND JEWELS.... It is not the gold that binds you but the PLEASURE that you
           take in it. If you don't take pleasure in it you can live in a palace and you are as free as anybody who
           lives in a cave in the Himalayas. If you take pleasure in your cave in the Himalayas you are as unfree
           as anybody who lives in a palace. The question is psychological.
               And one thing more: why do you take pleasure in the palace, in gold, in jewels, in diamonds?
           They all decorate your ego. Your ego is empty in itself, it is nonexistential. You have to
           continuously go on pouring things into it so it goes on giving you the sense that it is something
           substantial. It is constantly demanding, "Give me this, give me that." It goes on demanding. It exists
           in the demand, it exists in the desire.
               It is just like when you are on a bicycle: you have to peddle it continuously. If you stop peddling,
           maybe for a few feet the bicycle may move out of the past momentum, but then it is bound to fall.
           Ego is just like a bicycle: you have to continuously peddle. If you stop peddling it falls then and
           there, flat on the ground.
               So if you have a palace it will demand a bigger palace and it will take great pleasure in the
           palace. It will brag about it, it will feel very puffed up. If you are a president of a country, it feels
           very puffed up. If you become famous, respectable, it becomes very puffed up. And the ways of the
           ego are very subtle. It moves in your unconsciousness, in the darkest layers of your being. It can take
           pleasure in gold, it can take pleasure in RENOUNCING gold, but it is the same thing.
               I know many so-called saints who go on bragging still after thirty or forty years. Forty years
           before they had renounced the world and they still go on saying that "We renounced so much money,
           so much gold." Still they go on talking about it! Forty years have passed, but they are still taking the
           pleasure.
               You see the point? You can take pleasure when you HAVE gold, you can take pleasure when
           you RENOUNCE gold. In fact, when you have gold you can't take so much pleasure as when you
           renounce it. Why? -- because millions of other people have gold, it is nothing very special. But when
           you renounce you are a rare person: your ego becomes more extraordinary, holier-than-thou,
           superior.

               I know one person who was a homeopathic doctor. Now, you know about homeopathic doctors --
           they somehow manage to live. Very rarely I had seen any patients visiting him. Yes, a few people
           used to come -- they used to come to read the newspapers! In fact, that's how I started going to his
           dispensary -- to read the newspapers and to have a little chitchat, and then we became friends. He
           was always talking about his troubles and he was very much worried.
               And then one day I heard that he had renounced the world; he became a saint. After three years I
           met him in Calcutta. He was worshipped, and people were telling me that he had MILLIONS of
           rupees that he renounced. I said, "Don't be stupid -- I know this man! He had only three hundred and
           sixty rupees in the bank!" Now they have become millions!
               When you renounce you can go on increasing your amount; nobody can prevent you and nobody
           can check on it -- no auditing is possible. You can go on spreading the rumor how much you have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           renounced.
           When I saw him, I asked him, "Doctor...."
           He said, "I am no longer a doctor."
               I said, "You are still the same. I know perfectly well that you had three hundred and sixty rupees
           in the post office! What millions are you talking about? You should say simply that you have
           renounced three hundred and sixty rupees!"
               He looked at me and he said, "Don't talk so loudly. You will destroy my whole reputation!"
               The reputation depends on how much he has left, so when he moves from one town to another,
           the amount that he has renounced increases. It has been going on that way. This is not something
           new; this has happened before, too.

               Even in Buddha's life story, Buddhists have written that he renounced so many golden chariots
           and so many elephants and so many horses and so many palaces. That is all nonsense, because he
           was not the son of a very great emperor or anything. The kingdom that he belonged to, Kapilvatu,
           was such a small place that it has almost disappeared from the earth, not even a trace.... All those
           palaces have not left any ruins. There were no palaces, and it was such a small village that to keep so
           many golden chariots there and so many elephants and horses would have been impossible. But the
           people who were writing the story had to go on making it look bigger and bigger.
               There was great competition between the Jainas and the Buddhists because Mahavira and
           Buddha were contemporaries. So you can look in the scriptures.... Jainas write, "So many horses, so
           many elephants, so many chariots," and the next Buddhist scripture makes a bigger claim. Then
           comes another Jaina scripture which makes a bigger claim than the Buddhist scripture -- and this
           went on for hundreds of years, until now it appears as if Mahavira and Buddha were great emperors,
           as if they dominated the whole of India.
               The truth is that in Buddha's time in India there were two thousand kingdoms. Two thousand
           kingdoms? -- that means each kingdom could not have been more than a district, at the most, and the
           father of Buddha was not more than a deputy collector or maybe a collector... or, if you insist, a
           commissioner, but nothing more than that.
               People take pleasure in gold, so much so that when they renounce it, still the pleasure lingers;
           one goes on thinking of it. Ego can fulfill itself either by having more money or by renouncing more
           money, but it always needs money and it always needs more. Remember it.
               Buddha says: BUT THE PLEASURE YOU TAKE IN GOLD AND JEWELS... that is the real
           imprisonment; that creates your bondage -- not the gold, not the jewels. What can they do? How can
           they bind you?
               I have lived in poor huts, they can't bind you; I have lived in palaces, they can't bind you. I have
           lived as a poor man -- poverty cannot bind you; I have lived as a rich man -- richness cannot bind
           you. Those things are on the outside. If you start taking pleasure in them, a certain gratification, then
           the bondage starts. If you take pleasure... IN SONS AND WIVES. That too has been misinterpreted:
           Renounce your wives and renounce your sons.
               There is no need to renounce anything; just understand.
               MY interpretation of Buddha is that renunciation is not the point; UNDERSTANDING is the
           point. And if through understanding, something drops from your life, it is not renounced by you; it
           has simply fallen like a dead leaf from a tree. You cannot claim any credit for it.
               Just look into your relationships with your wife, with your son, with your husband, and see the
           fragility of it all. It has no substance in it. It is all poetry and fiction, it is not a fact.
               Just a few days ago a man came to me and he said, "I would like to become a sannyasin, but my
           wife says she will kill herself!"
               I said, "Let us try, for a change, because I have never seen anybody.... I have one hundred
           thousand sannyasins all over the world. No wife has yet killed herself, no husband has yet committed
           suicide, although many have said that."
               People take these things very seriously. Your wife or your husband may say, "I cannot live
           without you" -- and she was living without you perfectly well before! Just a few days before she was
           not even aware of you and she was living perfectly well -- in fact, she was better than she is now!
           But she says she cannot live without you, and you believe it because it nourishes your ego.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mrs. Goldfarb stood weeping at her husband's grave when a courtly stranger approached her.
           "Madam, I regret the unfortunate circumstances under which I say this," he began in a respectful
           manner, "but I must tell you I have fallen in love with you at first sight."
           "Loafer! Bum!" cried Mrs. Goldfarb indignantly, aghast at this monumental impertinence. "Get out
           of my sight this instant or I will call a policeman! Is this a time to talk about love?"
           "I assure you, madam, that I did not intend to reveal my feelings at this sad time," the gentle stranger
           explained, "but I was simply overwhelmed by your exquisite beauty!"
           "Listen," said Mrs. Goldfarb, "you should see me when I haven't been crying!"

              In a single moment things change. In this world, all your relationships are just made of the stuff
           poetry is made of; they are not even prose, they are fictions. People are living in fictions, and they go
           on painting, repainting their fictions; they go on keeping the fiction alive.

               Mrs. Saperstein had just sent the children off to school when the phone rang.
           "Is your husband's name Philip Saperstein?" asked a sepulchral voice at the other end of the line.
           "What else?" replied the lady.
           "This is the coroner's office. I am sorry to tell you this, but we have a traffic death here. We found
           your telephone number in his pocket. Would you please come down here to the morgue and identify
           the body?"
               Mrs. Saperstein arrived within half an hour and an attendant escorted her to a figure covered with
           a white sheet. The attendant then lifted a corner of the sheet and uncovered the victim's face.
           "Was this man your husband?" he asked.
               Mrs Saperstein eyes widened. "Ai-ai-ai! How did you -- yes, that is my husband -- ever get your
           sheets so white?"

                Don't believe in fictions. Your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, all are beautiful
           fictions. And I am not saying to renounce them; I am saying, simply, understand the fictitiousness of
           them all. Live wherever you are, but don't get identified with these imagined roles. Act, but don't get
           identified with your acting role.
           That's exactly what Buddha means:

              SOFT FETTERS,
              YET THEY HOLD YOU DOWN.
              CAN YOU SNAP THEM?


               They are not very strong fetters, very soft, but CAN YOU SNAP THEM? You cannot snap them
           if you are not conscious; and if you are conscious you need not snap them -- they are no longer there.
           You simply see the point that in this world we come alone, we live alone and we go alone. Yes, we
           play many games -- games of being a husband or a wife, being a friend or an enemy.
               We play many games because we have to fill the time with something, or else we have to "kill
           time," as they say, by playing cards, by chess.... And these are all the same kinds of things, nothing
           more serious. You have seen playing cards -- kings and queens -- and when you are playing cards
           they become very real. You can fight, people have even killed each other; just in playing cards they
           became so serious!
               We become so much identified because we are not conscious at all. It is consciousness that helps
           you to become unidentified.
               Then you can go on playing all kinds of games -- I am not against games. Play them as artfully as
           you can. Let your life be fun! I don't want you to be serious, I don't want you to have long faces.
           Enough of that! Religious people have suffered much; there is no need. You can laugh and you can
           enjoy, but remember one thing: that all is just a game. Death will come and the curtain falls and the
           game disappears and the play is finished.

              THERE ARE THOSE WHO CAN,
              WHO SURRENDER THE WORLD,
              FORSAKE DESIRE, AND FOLLOW THE WAY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Who are those who can snap out of these identities? They are the courageous people, the
           meditators: the people who try to bring awareness to their life, to their acts, to their thoughts, to their
           feelings.
               Buddha's persistent effort was one: to make you aware in everything that you are doing. If you
           are walking, walk with awareness. If you are eating, eat with awareness. Don't simply go on stuffing
           yourself in a mechanical way. De-automatize yourself. Don't be a machine, be a man.
               And then you will be surprised to know that desires start fleeing away from you and the way
           opens.

                Moe and Ike, aged ninety and ninety-two respectively, had been widowers for many many years.
           Both were healthy and handsome-looking despite their years. The Florida climate agreed with them,
           and many lovely widows were still after them despite their age.
                One day Moe said to Ike, "Ike, I'm really lonely. It's been years since I lost my Becky and I've
           never remarried. But I think now is the time and I'm willing to take another chance at marriage --
           even at my age."
           "It sounds like a good idea," said Moe. "In fact, maybe I, too, should take a new wife."
                Soon thereafter, Moe and Ike both married lovely ladies -- eighty-nine and ninety respectively --
           and they both went on honeymoons.
           A few days later, Moe and Ike met on the boardwalk.
           "Well," asked Moe, "how was your honeymoon?"
           "To tell you the truth, Moe, I couldn't consummate our marriage."
           "Well," said Moe, "to tell you the truth, I didn't even think of it!"

              But even at the age of ninety, people want to continue to play the old, childish games. Children
           can be forgiven. They need to play, they need to get identified, they need to go astray, they need to
           commit errors, mistakes, because that is the only way to learn and to mature. But even in old age,
           people behave as if they have not grown up at all.
              Remember, you grow only in the proportion that you become aware. You grow only in the
           proportion that you become unidentified with all the games that life makes available for you.

              O SLAVE OF DESIRE,
              FLOAT UPON THE STREAM.
              LITTLE SPIDER, STICK TO YOUR WEB.
              OR ELSE ABANDON YOUR SORROWS FOR THE WAY.


               Buddha calls people who are just slaves of their desires... they are nothing but driftwood, victims
           of blind forces. They don't know their destiny, they don't know any meaning. They are just
           accidental; they don't experience any intrinsic significance in life. From one game they move to
           another game. Their whole life is a series of keeping themselves occupied somehow so that they
           don't become aware of the fact that they have wasted a great opportunity of growing up, of coming
           home, of becoming a conscious being, of becoming that which they were MEANT to be. They go on
           missing.
           LITTLE SPIDER, Buddha says, STICK TO YOUR WEB.
               It is your OWN creation. The world in which you live is your own creation, just like the spider
           creates its web out of itself and then is caught in the web and cannot leave it. You project your world
           out of your own mind, you project thousands of desires. That's how you create the web and then you
           are caught in it. Somebody is caught in the desire for money, somebody is caught in the desire for
           power, somebody is caught in the desire for renunciation, somebody is caught in the desire for
           paradise -- all desires!
               A real man of understanding has no desire. He lives in the moment and whatsoever is available,
           he enjoys it to its totality. He squeezes each moment, he drinks each moment! He eats whatsoever is
           available. He sleeps, but he is total in whatsoever he is doing.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A Zen monk, Rinzai, was asked, "What is your meditation?"
              He said, "When I feel hungry I eat and when I feel sleepy I sleep, that's all. I have no other
           meditation."
              He is a real follower of Buddha! But you will miss the point if you are not told that when he says,
           "When I feel hungry I eat," he eats with total awareness.
              In fact, a man who lives in awareness also sleeps in awareness.

               Krishna, in the Gita, says: The real seeker is awake even while others are fast asleep. When it is
           night for others it is still day for him. Something deep inside him remains constantly alert.
               That which is a night for everybody else is not a night for the one who is aware, who is alert,
           who is meditative, who is balanced, who lives in equilibrium, who lives in silence. Something deep
           inside him keeps awake. The body sleeps, the mind sleeps, but the soul is always alert. It is never
           tired so it need not sleep at all. It is awareness itself; it is made of awareness.
               LITTLE SPIDER, STICK TO YOUR WEB.


               Hilda and Herman were spending a quiet evening at home. That is to say, Herman was quietly
           engrossed in a book, but Hilda was in a talkative mood.
           "Honey," she began, "if I should die before you do, will you promise me something important?"
           "Yeah," grunted Herman, without lifting his eyes from the page he was reading.
           "Promise me you'll always keep my grave green."
           "Aw, don't be so morbid," he replied. "What's the use of talking about dying? You look pretty
           healthy to me."
               He buried his nose in the book, completely absorbed once more, hoping he would not again be
           distracted.
           "Well, yes, I feel healthy, dear," Hilda interrupted again after a minute of blessed silence, "but I want
           to be sure my final resting place won't be neglected. You might want to remarry or something, and
           forget all about me."
           "Look, Hilda, I'll remember you forever. Stop shopping around for an undertaker and let me read!"
               This time he was rewarded with three whole minutes of peace and quiet, when his wife again
           took up the thread of conversation exactly where it had broken off.
           "I'd hate to be forgotten by my own husband. I suppose it is because I'm so sensitive -- because I
           have so much emotion. Darling, are you positive that you'll keep my grave green?"
           "Yeah, I'm positive," he growled, his eyes glued to the page.
           "Well, that's a great consolation. Only, I'd like for you to say it with more feeling.... Precious, are
           you absolutely, positively sure you'll keep my...."
           "Hilda," shouted the pestered man, casting his book aside, "I will keep that damn grave of yours
           green if I have to paint it myself!"

                First we create these relationships -- wife and husband... and then they start hankering for
           children, great desire for children arises... and it goes on and on. Then they want their children to get
           married; then they want their children to have children. This is an unending process. They go on and
           on thinking that this is going to fulfill them; if this is not going to fulfill them, then something else....
           Your whole life is wasted.
                And I am not saying don't love or don't have a wife or don't have a husband or don't have
           children. What I am saying is that the most essential thing should be looked at first. First be aware,
           be meditative, and then if you feel like having a little fun, enjoying a little misery, you are welcome!
           Get married, have children and children's children, but don't forget your awareness because only that
           is going with you. Only your awareness will pass through the fires of death; everything else will be
           left behind.
                And one thing very important, Buddha says: OR ELSE ABANDON YOUR SORROWS FOR
           THE WAY.
                People find it very difficult to abandon their sorrows. It looks, on the surface, somehow not right.
           Why should people hesitate to abandon their sorrows for the way?
                A real master never asks you anything except to sacrifice your sorrows. He wants you to give
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your sorrows to him, nothing else. But it is the most difficult thing to abandon your sorrows because
           you have lived with them for so long, you are so friendly with them, and to live with the familiar
           sorrows feels so cozy, so warm -- old friends, and to abandon them.... And suddenly all your walls
           will disappear and you will be under the open sky because your walls consist of nothing but your
           sorrows. Your prison will disappear! -- and you have lived in the prison for so long, for so many
           lives that it has become your home.
               I know many prisoners. Whenever they are released from the prison, within three or four months
           they are back; they will do something and they will be back in the prison. I used to visit prisons and I
           asked a few people who were coming again and again back to the prison, "What is the matter?"
               They said, "When we leave the prison it feels as if we are leaving our home! We have lived in
           here so long and all our friends are here." One man said, "Not only my friends but my whole family
           is here! Outside I am just a stranger and I start feeling homesick, so I have to do something and come
           back."
               Once a person is imprisoned it is very rare that he will not come back again. He will come back
           again because the prison gives some security, some safety. You need not bother, you need not worry
           about tomorrow. At the right time the food will be provided, at the right time you will go to bed, at
           the right time you will be awakened in the morning. Life is so disciplined -- like a monastery!
               In fact, monasteries and prisons are not very different, just the names are different. Monasteries
           are a little harder, that's all! Prisons are a little more human. And modern prisons, particularly in the
           developed countries, are far superior to the monasteries. It is better to be in a prison than to be in a
           monastery.

               I have heard about a Trappist monastery. A man entered and he was told by the abbot,
           "Remember, our rule is that you can speak only once in six years." So for six years he was silent,
           boiling within.
               After six years the abbot called him and asked him, "Have you something to say?"
               He said, "Yes. The bed is too hard. I need another bed."
               The abbot said, "Okay, that will be done. You can go."
               For six years again he was boiling. Six years afterwards the abbot called him and said, "Have you
           something to say?"
               He said, "Yes" -- he was really angry. He said, "The people who were bringing the new bed
           broke the glass of the window and it is too cold."
               The abbot said, "Well, it will be mended. You go back."
               For six years again he was boiling within. He was called and the abbot said, "Have you
           something to say?"
               He was just going to say it and the abbot said, "Wait! For eighteen years you have done nothing
           but complain and complain. You get out of the monastery! You are not meant to be a monk. You
           want to live a soft and easy life."

               Jails are far better, and modern jails are really worth living in, with color television and
           everything!
               Man has been improving continuously for centuries. He has improved his prisons very well. He
           has become very sophisticated, cultured, civilized. And this is nothing but just painting the prison
           walls, making them beautiful. And now suddenly a buddha comes and says to you, "Come out in the
           open. Abandon your miseries, your sorrows." You cannot abandon your miseries and sorrows so
           easily.
               That's why people who leave the world, renounce the world, create new miseries of their own. If
           there is nobody else to create misery for them -- if you don't have a wife to create it, if you don't have
           a husband to create it, if there is nobody to support you in your misery -- you will create it yourself.
           People are sleeping on beds of thorns... now, no wife prepares it, they themselves work hard on it!
           People are fasting, almost killing themselves. Now, nobody is doing it to them, that is their own idea.
               The ascetics are self-destructive; they are suicidal people, masochistic, perverted, but they are
           worshipped. They are worshipped because they create their own misery! You worship people as
           saints, as mahatmas, if they create their own misery. They should be entered into mental asylums,
           they should be treated! They need medical care. They are not mahatmas, they are simply masochists.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They have renounced the world, but they cannot renounce misery so they start creating their own
           misery. And when a person creates misery for himself, you all respect him. You have been told that
           this is something great; he is sacrificing his life for God.
               God is not a sadist. He does not enjoy your miseries and your sorrows. Don't be foolish, don't be
           stupid! But the reason is that people cannot abandon their miseries. They can renounce the gold and
           the palaces and the money and the power, they can renounce everything, but when it comes to
           renouncing the miseries, this becomes the most difficult thing they encounter, because miseries have
           been with you so long that you don't know any other style of living. The only style that you have
           become accustomed to is sorrow.
               That's why your saints are so ugly, so sad, so serious. And the more serious and the more sad
           they are, the more they are worshipped, so their ego is again nourished. When their ego is nourished
           they torture themselves more; you worship them still more, then they torture themselves still more.
           This becomes a vicious circle.

              ABANDON YESTERDAY, AND TOMORROW,
              AND TODAY.
              CROSS OVER TO THE FARTHER SHORE,
              BEYOND LIFE AND DEATH.


               If you really want to reach to the ultimate, to the deathless, to the timeless, you will have to
           abandon yesterday. That which is gone is gone forever. Don't look back and don't look ahead. That
           which is not yet is not yet. Don't look for the tomorrow.
               And people are so foolish: they are not only looking for tomorrow, they are looking for life after
           death; they are even thinking of heavenly pleasures. They are rejoicing in the idea that there will be
           the eternal possibility of enjoying the same foolish things that they have renounced here. Strange
           logic! Here they say, "Don't drink alcohol, it is irreligious." But in BAHIST, in the Mohammedan
           paradise, there are rivers, streams, waterfalls of alcohol! There you can drink as much as you want,
           you can swim in alcohol, you can dive deep in alcohol -- and you don't have to pay anything for it!
               Here they say, "The woman is the door to hell"; particularly Hindu scriptures say, "The woman is
           the door to hell." And what is happening in heaven? Beautiful women, continuously dancing! How
           did these women enter there? And they are doors to hell.... Your gods must have all reached hell
           long ago! Here, renounce the woman and then you will be rewarded with beautiful women in
           heaven. And do you know? -- those women never grow old. In the Hindu paradise, nothing is told
           about the men, whether they grow old or not, but it is absolutely certain that women are stuck at the
           age of sixteen, they cannot grow beyond that. That is the Hindu idea: sixteen is the climax of beauty,
           according to the Hindu idea. And ideas differ....
               In the Mohammedan paradise, even beautiful boys are available, not only girls, because
           homosexuality was very much prevalent in the days when the Koran was being written. And of
           course, saints will not be satisfied only with girls, they will need beautiful boys too.

                Louis Jourdan, the French movie star, was in the United States seeking a good literary script for
           his next film. He happened to run into Budd Schulberg, the American author and playwright.
           "There is a new book out called PRECOCIOUS PAULA," Schulberg suggested tentatively. "It
           would give you a great co-starring role."
           "I nevair hear of zis book," said Jourdan.
           "It is something like Nabokov's novel, LOLITA," explained Schulberg.
           "And what ees zis LOLITA about?"
           "Well, frankly, it is about a middle-aged man who falls in love with a twelve-year-old."
                The Frenchman gave him a blank look. "I do not undairstan," he said. "A twelve-year-old what?"

               Man, woman, animal -- what? The Frenchman has his own ideas. I don't know what happens in
           the French paradise -- it must be worth visiting! Not worth living in, but worth visiting. You will see
           all kinds of sexual perversions.

              Two professors were talking, one French, another American, about how many positions there are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for making love.
               The Frenchman said, "One hundred and twelve," and the American said, "One hundred and
           thirteen."
               The Frenchman said, "You surprise me, because we French are the experts. You start telling me
           what those one hundred and thirteen positions are."
               And the American said, "First, the woman lying down on her back and the man on top of her."
               The Frenchman said, "Wait! Yes, there are one hundred and thirteen. I never thought of that!"

                It must be worth visiting, the French paradise! And what to say about the French hell? That may
           be even worth living in! You will find great company, and on each step a surprise.
                And these are the people... all over the world they have been thinking of the same joys in a far
           bigger way in paradise -- the same joys they are condemning here! This is not renunciation; this is
           just repression.
                Real renunciation comes out of understanding. It is not renunciation at all. The real renunciation
           is not renunciation at all, it is pure understanding. You see the point, and all that is stupid and all that
           is false disappears, and you start living your ordinary life with more awareness.
                ABANDON YESTERDAY, abandon TOMORROW, abandon TODAY. Buddha says: Abandon
           time -- past, future, present, abandon everything. Forget about time; that's the way to enter into a
           timeless space within yourself. That is meditation. CROSS OVER TO THE FARTHER SHORE,
           BEYOND LIFE AND DEATH.

              DO YOUR THOUGHTS TROUBLE YOU?


              If they trouble you, then something immediately is needed. If your thoughts trouble you that
           means you have not yet been able to disidentify yourself from your mind.

              DOES PASSION DISTURB YOU?


               If it disturbs you that means you are still identified with the body. You think, "I am the body,"
           then passion disturbs you. If you think, "I am the mind," then thoughts disturb you.

              BEWARE OF THIRSTINESS....


               This word 'thirstiness' is a translation of a Buddhist word TANHA. Tanha has many more
           dimensions than thirstiness; thirstiness is a literal translation. Tanha means desire, desire for more,
           unending desire, endless desire. The more you get, the more you want. It is like throwing fuel in a
           fire. That is called tanha, and tanha is the root cause of your misery.
               BEWARE OF THIRSTINESS LEST YOUR WISHES BECOME DESIRES.... Beware, because
           desires don't arise suddenly. First they are just wishes, then slowly they condense and become
           desires. And once they become desires it is more difficult to become aware; you can become aware
           more easily when they are just wishes. Destroy the seed rather than wait for the whole tree to grow
           and then to cut it; it will be unnecessary work.

              ... LEST YOUR WISHES BECOME DESIRES
              AND DESIRE BINDS YOU.


               Desire is our imprisonment. The man who wants nothing, who is absolutely contented as he is, is
           free of all bondage. He has attained to ultimate freedom, nirvana -- and that is the goal of life. And it
           is only by attaining that freedom that you will know the significance of being, the song of being, the
           celebration of being. Your life will become a continuous bliss, and not only that YOU will be
           blissful, you will be able to bless others too. The whole existence will be blessed by you, by your
           very presence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                  Chapter #4
                               Chapter title: Transcendence -- the true therapy
           24 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002240
              ShortTitle: DHAM1004
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SPEAK ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE BUDDHAS, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
              TRANSCENDENCE, AS THE ESSENCE OF THE WORK HAPPENING HERE IN THE
              BUDDHAFIELD. WHAT IS THE UNIQUENESS OF THIS THIRD PSYCHOLOGY? IS THERE A
              PSYCHOTHERAPY OF TRANSCENDENCE?


               Amitabh, Sigmund Freud introduced psychoanalysis into the world. It is rooted in analyzing the
           mind. It is confined to the mind. It does not step out of the mind, not even an inch. On the contrary, it
           goes deeper into the mind, into the hidden layers of the mind, into the unconscious, to find out ways
           and means so that the mind of man can at least be normal. The goal of Freudian psychoanalysis is
           not very great.
               The goal is to keep people normal. But normality is not enough. Just to be normal is not of any
           significance. It means the normal routine of life and your capacity to cope with it. It does not give
           you meaning, it does not give you significance. It does not give you insight into the reality of things.
           It does not take you beyond time, beyond death. It is at the most a helpful device for those who have
           gone so abnormal that they have become incapable of coping with their daily life -- they cannot live
           with people, they cannot work, they have become shattered. Psychotherapy provides them a certain
           togetherness -- not integrity, mind you, but only a certain togetherness. It binds them into a bundle.
           They remain still fragmentary. Nothing becomes crystallized in them, no soul is born. They don't
           become blissful, they are only less unhappy, less miserable.
               Psychology helps them to accept the misery. It helps them to accept that this is all that life can
           give to you, so don't ask for more. In a way, it is dangerous to their inner growth, because the inner
           growth happens only when there is a divine discontent. When you are absolutely unsatisfied with
           things as they are, only then do you go in the search, only then do you start rising higher, only then
           do you make efforts to pull yourself out of the mud.
               Jung went a little further into the unconscious. He went into the collective unconscious. This is
           getting more and more into muddy water, and this is not going to help.
               Assagioli moved to the other extreme. Seeing the failure of psychoanalysis he invented
           psychosynthesis. But it is rooted in the same idea. Instead of analysis he emphasizes synthesis.
               The psychology of the buddhas is neither analysis nor synthesis; it is transcendence, it is going
           beyond the mind. It is not work within the mind, it is work that takes you outside the mind. That's
           exactly the meaning of the English word 'ecstasy' -- to stand out.
               When you are capable of standing out of your own mind, when you are capable of creating a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           distance between your mind and your being, then you have taken the first step of the psychology of
           the buddhas. And a miracle happens: when you are standing out of the mind all the problems of the
           mind disappear, because mind itself disappears; it loses its grip over you.
                Psychoanalysis is like pruning leaves of the tree, but new leaves will be coming up. It is not
           cutting off the roots. And psychosynthesis is sticking the fallen leaves back onto the tree again --
           gluing them back to the tree. That is not going to give them life either. They will look simply ugly;
           they will not be alive, they will not be green, they will not be part of the tree -- but glued, somehow.
                The psychology of the buddhas cuts the very roots of the tree which create all kinds of neuroses,
           psychoses, which create the fragmentary man, the mechanical man, the robotlike man. And the way
           is simple....
                Psychoanalysis takes years, and still the man remains the same. It is renovating the old structure,
           patching up here and there, whitewashing the old house. But it is the same house, nothing has
           radically changed. It has not transformed the consciousness of the man.
                The psychology of the buddhas does not work within the mind. It has no interest in analyzing or
           synthesizing. It simply helps you to get out of the mind so that you can have a look from the outside.
           And that very look is a transformation. The moment you can look at your mind as an object you
           become detached from it, you become disidentified from it; a distance is created, and roots are cut.
                Why are roots cut in this way? -- because it is you who goes on feeding the mind. If you are
           identified you feed the mind; if you are not identified you stop feeding it. It drops dead on its own
           accord.

           There is a beautiful story. I love it very much....
               One day Buddha is passing by a forest. It is a hot summer day and he is feeling very thirsty. He
           says to Ananda, his chief disciple, "Ananda, you go back. Just three, four miles back we passed a
           small stream of water. You bring a little water -- take my begging bowl. I am feeling very thirsty and
           tired." He had become old.
               Ananda goes back, but by the time he reaches the stream, a few bullock carts have just passed
           through the stream and they have made the whole stream muddy. Dead leaves which had settled into
           the bed have risen up; it is no longer possible to drink this water -- it is too dirty. He comes back
           empty-handed, and he says, "You will have to wait a little. I will go ahead. I have heard that just
           two, three miles ahead there is a big river. I will bring water from there."
               But Buddha insists. He says, "You go back and bring water from the same stream."
               Ananda could not understand the insistence, but if the master says so, the disciple has to follow.
           Seeing the absurdity of it -- that again he will have to walk three, four miles, and he knows that
           water is not worth drinking -- he goes.
               When he is going, Buddha says, "And don't come back if the water is still dirty. If it is dirty, you
           simply sit on the bank silently. Don't do anything, don't get into the stream. Sit on the bank silently
           and watch. Sooner or later the water will be clear again, and then you fill the bowl and come back."
               Ananda goes there. Buddha is right: the water is almost clear, the leaves have moved, the dust
           has settled. But it is not absolutely clear yet, so he sits on the bank just watching the river flow by.
           Slowly slowly, it becomes crystal-clear. Then he comes dancing. Then he understands why Buddha
           was so insistent. There was a certain message in it for him, and he understood the message. He gave
           the water to Buddha, and he thanked Buddha, touched his feet.
               Buddha says, "What are you doing? I should thank you that you have brought water for me."
               Ananda says, "Now I can understand. First I was angry; I didn't show it, but I was angry because
           it was absurd to go back. But now I understand the message. This is what I actually needed in this
           moment. The same is the case with my mind -- sitting on the bank of that small stream, I became
           aware that the same is the case with my mind. If I jump into the stream I will make it dirty again. If I
           jump into the mind more noise is created, more problems start coming up, surfacing. Sitting by the
           side I learned the technique.
           "Now I will be sitting by the side of my mind too, watching it with all its dirtiness and problems and
           old leaves and hurts and wounds, memories, desires. Unconcerned I will sit on the bank and wait for
           the moment when everything is clear."

              And it happens on its own accord, because the moment you sit on the bank of your mind you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no longer giving energy to it. This is real meditation. Meditation is the art of transcendence.
                Freud talks about analysis, Assagioli about synthesis. Buddhas have always talked about
           meditation, awareness.
                You ask me, Amitabh, "What is the uniqueness of this third psychology?"
                Meditation, awareness, watchfulness, witnessing -- that is the uniqueness. No psychoanalyst is
           needed. You can do it on your own; in fact, you have to do it on your own. No guidelines are needed,
           it is such a simple process -- simple if you do it; if you don't do it, it looks very complicated. Even
           the word 'meditation' scares many people. They think it something very difficult, arduous. Yes, if
           you don't do it it is difficult and arduous. It is like swimming. It is very difficult if you don't know
           how to swim, but if you know, you know it is so simple a process. Nothing can be more simple than
           swimming. It is not an art at all; it is so spontaneous and so natural.
                Be more aware of your mind. And in being aware of your mind you will become aware of the
           fact that you are not the mind, and that is the beginning of the revolution. You have started flowing
           higher and higher. You are no longer tethered to the mind. Mind functions like a rock and keeps you.
           It keeps you within the field of gravitation. The moment you are no longer attached to the mind, you
           enter the buddhafield. When gravitation loses its power over you, you enter into the buddhafield.
           Entering the buddhafield means entering into the world of levitation. You start floating upwards.
           Mind goes on dragging you downwards.
                So it is not a question of analyzing or synthesizing. It is simply a question of becoming aware.
           That's why in the East we have not developed any psychotherapy like Freudian or Jungian or
           Adlerian -- and there are so many in the market now. We have not developed a single psychotherapy
           because we know psychotherapies can't heal. They may help you to accept your wounds, but they
           can't heal. Healing comes when you are no longer attached to the mind. When you are disconnected
           from the mind, unidentified, absolutely untethered, when the bondage is finished, then healing
           happens.
                Transcendence is true therapy, and it is not only psychotherapy. It is not only a phenomenon
           limited to your psychology, it is far more than that. It is spiritual. It heals you in your very being.
           Mind is only your circumference, not your center.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL LIKE I HAVE JUMPED INTO AN OCEAN KNOWING NOTHING OF ITS WATERS. I SEE
              YOU AS THE LIFEGUARD. MY FEAR IS THAT I AM A TERRIBLE SWIMMER AND THERE ARE SO
              MANY OF US OUT HERE, YOU WON'T SEE OR KNOW WHEN I AM DROWNING.


                My whole effort here is to help you drown, because the moment you disappear, God appears. To
           be drowned is to reach the other shore.
                Yes, you are right, Mradula. If I was trying to take everybody to the other shore, it would be
           really difficult: one lifeguard and one hundred thousand people to be taken to the other shore. It will
           be really tiring and almost impossible, unmanageable. Then every possibility is that you will drown
           the lifeguard!
                But the beauty of my work is that it is not a question of going to the other shore. If you are
           drowned, in that very drowning you have reached the other shore. So I need not remember
           everybody, his name, face -- there is no need for me to be bothered with all that. My whole concern
           is to push you into the water, and then the water takes care. And really it is a deep ocean, and there is
           no possibility of anybody ever crossing it -- so whether you are a terrible swimmer or not does not
           matter. If you are a terrible swimmer that is better, you will drown sooner than others! Those who
           can swim a little longer will remain a little longer in misery because they will be saving themselves.
                There are people here who are good swimmers, but they are the unfortunate ones. The really
           fortunate ones are those who don't know even the ABC of swimming, so the moment I push them in
           the water they are gone down! And that is the way to reach the other shore -- because only your ego
           drowns; you cannot. Only your ego dies; you cannot. You were never born and you will never die.
           No ocean can destroy you. No power can destroy you. No fire can consume you. That's why I go on
           pushing you without any worry about you -- whether you know swimming or not, whether you will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be able to reach the other shore or not. I talk about the other shore so that I can persuade you to jump
           into the ocean. Once you have jumped I forget all about you! I have to persuade others too!
               So, Mradula, don't be worried. You are fortunate that you are not a good swimmer. Soon you will
           be drowned. And the moment you are gone, that is the greatest moment of your life, because in that
           very death is resurrection.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY UNDERSTANDING SOMETHING IN MEDITATION? HOW DOES ONE
              GO ABOUT IT, AND WHAT PART OF ONESELF IS INVOLVED IN THE UNDERSTANDING?


               Nigel, meditation and understanding are synonymous. So when I say "understand in meditation,"
           I am simply saying to be silent, quiet, cool, and see. You are not to do anything else, you have to be
           just silent, cool and calm, and see. And understanding arises on its own accord. It is the fragrance of
           being silent.
               Misunderstanding arises because your mind is very cloudy, noisy. Your mind never allows you
           to see that which is, never allows you to hear that which is said to you. Buddhas come and go but
           you remain the same. Yes, you become Christians and you become Buddhists, and you become
           Hindus, but you don't change. These are your strategies to escape change, to avoid the awakened
           ones.
               You ask me, "What do you mean by understanding something in meditation?"
               It is not a great problem. Meditation IS understanding. You are trying to figure it out
           intellectually, and that is not possible. You are trying to think about it, what it is all about.
           Whatsoever conclusion you arrive at will be wrong.
               It is not a question of thinking what is meant by it. Meditate, and experience. It is something to
           be experienced.
           You say, "How does one go about it...?"
               One does not go at all about it, otherwise you will go about and about. The word 'about' means
           around, and you will go around and around in circles. Don't make it an intellectual question; it is an
           existential approach. But the very word 'understanding' has misled you, because by 'understanding'
           we always think 'intellectual understanding'. That is not so. There is nothing like intellectual
           understanding. Intellectual understanding is pseudo. It is misunderstanding pretending to be
           understanding. The word 'understand' is beautiful.
               When you are in meditation everything stands under you, you are so above it. That's the meaning
           of understanding. Everything is there far below you, so you can see... like a bird's-eye view. You can
           see the whole from your altitude. Intellect cannot see it; it is on the same plane. Understanding
           happens only when the problem is on one plane and you are on a higher plane. If you are also on the
           same plane, understanding is not possible. You will misunderstand only. And that is one of the
           greatest problems to be encountered by every seeker.
               Jesus says again and again to his disciples, "If you have ears, hear; if you have eyes, see." He
           was not talking to blind people or deaf people, he was just talking to people like you. But why does
           he go on insisting? -- for the simple reason that hearing is not listening, and seeing is not true seeing.
           You see one thing and you understand something else. Your mind immediately distorts it. Your mind
           is upside down. It makes a mess of everything. It is in confusion, and you look through that
           confusion, so the whole world looks confused.

               Old Nugent loved his cat, Tommy, so dearly he tried to teach it to talk.
           "If I can get Tommy to converse with me," he reasoned, "I won't have to bother with ordinary
           humans at all."
               First he tried a diet of canned salmon, then one of canaries. Tommy liked both -- but he didn't
           learn to talk. Then one day Nugent had two extremely talkative parrots cooked in butter and served
           to Tommy with asparagus and french fries. Tommy licked the plate clean, and then -- wonder of
           wonders -- suddenly turned to his master and shouted, "Look out!"
               Nugent didn't move. The ceiling caved in and buried the old man under a mass of debris. Tommy
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           shook his head and said, "Eight years he spends getting me to talk, and then the dummy doesn't
           listen!"

                You go thousands of miles to listen to a master and then "... the dummy doesn't listen."
                The mind cannot, it is impossible for the mind to listen; it is not in a state of receptivity. The
           mind is aggressive, it jumps to conclusions so fast, so quickly that it misses the whole point. In fact,
           it has already concluded, it is simply waiting for its conclusion to be proved right.
                Nigel, please don't try to understand; rather try to meditate. You must be new here. Dance, sing,
           meditate, let the mind settle a little bit. Let this stream of the mind, which is full of dead leaves and
           dirt, settle down a little. Let it become clean and clear, transparently clear; only then will you be able
           to understand what I am saying. Then it is so simple. I am not talking very complicated philosophy --
           it is not philosophy at all -- I am simply indicating towards certain truths which I have experienced,
           and you can experience any moment you decide to experience. But it has to be a journey.
                You say, "How does one go about it, and what part of oneself is involved in the understanding?"
                It is not a question of any part being involved in it. Your totality is involved.
                Meditation is not of the body, not of the mind, not of the soul. Meditation simply means your
           body, your mind, your soul, all functioning in such a harmony, in such wholeness, humming
           beautifully; they are in a melody... one. Your whole being -- body, mind, soul, are all involved in
           meditation. That's why my effort here is to start every meditation with the body. That is something
           new.
                In the ancient days people tried to start meditation directly in your innermost core. That is a
           difficult process. You don't know anything about your inner center; how can you start your journey
           from somewhere where you have never been? You can start your journey only from where you
           already are. You are in the body, hence my emphasis is on dancing, singing, breathing -- so you can
           start from the body. When the body starts becoming meditative.... And don't be puzzled by my use of
           the word 'meditative' for the body. Yes, the body becomes meditative. When it is in a deep dance,
           when it is functioning perfectly, undividedly, as a whole, it has a meditative quality about it, a
           certain grace, a beauty.
                Then move inwards, then start watching the mind. Then the mind starts settling down. And when
           the mind has also settled, has become one with the body, then turn towards the center -- a
           one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn -- and a great peace will descend on you. It will pulsate from
           your soul to the body, from the body to the soul. In that pulsation you will be one.
                So don't ask what part of oneself is involved in the understanding. Your totality is involved. And
           only when your totality is involved, there is understanding. Your body knows about it, your mind
           knows about it, your soul knows about it. Then you start functioning in unison, in unity. Otherwise
           the body says one thing, the mind says another, and the soul goes on in its own way. And you are
           always moving into different directions simultaneously. Your body is hungry, your mind is full of
           lust, and you are trying to be meditative. That's why I am not in favor of fasting -- unless it is done
           purely for health purposes, as a dieting for reducing weight, or maybe once in a while just for
           purifying, so the whole stomach is left for one day to rest, so the whole digestive system can
           sometimes get a holiday. Otherwise, it is continuously working and working and working -- it too
           gets tired.
                Now scientists say even machines get tired. They call it metal-fatigue, just like mental fatigue.
           Even metal needs rest, and your stomach is not made of metal, remember. It is not even made of
           plastic. It is made of fragile material, very fragile material. But it works your whole life. It is good
           sometimes to give it a holiday. Even God had to rest one day -- after six days work he rested for one
           day. Even God gets tired.
                So sometimes, just out of kindness for the poor stomach, who works for you continuously,
           fasting is okay. But I don't suggest it -- that it is going to be helpful in meditation. When you are
           hungry your body wants you to go to the fridge.
                I am against repressing your sex, because if you repress sex, whenever you will sit silently your
           mind will start fantasizing about sex. When you are occupied with other things the mind goes on
           fantasizing like an undercurrent, but when you are not doing anything it comes into the light. It starts
           demanding, it creates beautiful fantasies: alluring beauties surround you. How can you meditate?
                In fact, the old traditions have created all kinds of barriers to meditation, and then they say,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Meditation is very difficult." Meditation is not difficult; meditation is a simple process, a natural
           process. But if you create unnecessary hindrances, then you make it something like a hurdle race.
           You create barriers: you put rocks on the way... you hang rocks around your neck, you keep yourself
           chained, imprisoned, locked from within and the key thrown out.... Then of course it becomes more
           and more difficult, more and more impossible.
                My effort here is to make meditation a natural phenomenon. Give to the body what is the body's
           need, and give to the mind what is the mind's need. And then you will be surprised, they become
           very friendly. And when you tell the body, "Now for one hour allow me to sit silently," the body
           says, "Okay. You have been doing so much for me, you have been so respectful towards me, I can do
           at least this much for you."
                And when you say to the mind, "Please, keep yourself silent for a few minutes. Let me have a
           little rest," the mind will understand you. If you have not been repressing, if you have honored the
           mind, respected the mind, if you have not condemned it, then the mind will also become silent.
                I am saying this from my own experience. Respect the body, respect the mind, so that they
           respect you. Create a friendliness. They are yours; don't be antagonistic. All the old traditions teach
           you to be antagonistic to the body and the mind; they create enmity, and through enmity you cannot
           move into meditation. Then the mind will disturb you more when you are meditating than at any
           other time. Then the body will become restless -- more in meditation than at any other time. It will
           take revenge, it won't allow you to sit silently. It will create so many problems for you.
                If you have tried to sit silently for a few minutes you will know. Imaginary things will start
           happening. You will think that some ant is creeping on your leg, and when you look there is no ant.
           Strange.... When you were sitting with closed eyes you felt absolutely that it was there, creeping,
           coming, coming, coming... and when you open your eyes there is no ant, nothing. It was just the
           body playing tricks with you. You have been playing tricks with the body. You have been deceiving
           the body in many ways, so now the body is deceiving you. When the body wants to go to sleep you
           force it to sit in a cinema hall. The body says, "Okay. When the right opportunity arises I will see to
           it." So when you sit in meditation the body starts creating problems for you. Suddenly you start
           feeling your back needs scratching... and you are surprised because it never happens ordinarily.
                One woman brought for me a plastic hand with a battery attached to it, to scratch your back. I
           said, "But why have you brought this to me?"
                She said, "You must be sitting in meditation.... Whenever I sit in meditation the only problem is
           my back starts... I feel so much like I have to scratch it, and I cannot reach it. So I have purchased
           this hand. This is very handy! You put it on and it can scratch anywhere. So I was just thinking that
           you must be sitting in meditation... you will need this!"
                I said, "I never sit in meditation. I AM in meditation, so I don't need to sit. Whatsoever I am
           doing I am in meditation. If my back needs scratching I will scratch it meditatively. What is wrong in
           scratching your own back? You are not scratching somebody else's back."
                Just take care of the body and the body will repay you tremendously. Take care of your mind and
           the mind will be helpful. Create friendship, and meditation comes easily. Rather than trying to
           understand... because understanding is not possible before meditation, only MISunderstanding.

               A man walked into a pub one night and sat down at the bar to drink a beer.
               While he was engaged in conversation with the man on the stool beside him, a monkey
           clambered down one of the bar posts, stopped at his glass and pissed in his beer.
           The man noticed it too late.
           "Hey!" he exclaimed. "Did you see that? That monkey just pissed in my beer!"
           "Well, no use tellin' me about it," said his neighbor. "Tell the barkeeper -- he owns this place."
           The man called the barkeeper over.
           "Hey!" he said. "Do you know that while I was talking with this gentleman a monkey came over and
           pissed in my beer?"
           "Nothin' to do with me," said the landlord. "Go and have a word with the pianist over there -- it is his
           monkey!"
               The man walked over with his pint mug, tapped the pianist on the shoulder and said, "Hey, do
           you know your monkey has just pissed in my beer?"
           "No," said the pianist, "but if you sing the words, I will play it."
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS NOT EGO A PART OF DIVINE PLAY? WHO AM I TO DROP IT?


              Vedant Bharti... so please don't drop it!

           The venerable old rabbi, known throughout the land for his wisdom, lay in a coma, very near death.
           On either side of his bed hovered his most worshipful disciples.
           "Rebbenyu," pleaded the spokesman for the grieving congregants, "please do not leave us without a
           final word of wisdom. Speak to us for the last time, dear Rabbi." For a few moments there was no
           response, and the weeping visitors feared he had passed on to his well-earned reward. But suddenly
           the rabbi's lips moved ever so slightly. They bent over him to hear his final words.
           "Life is a cup of tea," he whispered in a faint voice.
               The disciples looked at each other in perplexity. What did he mean? What great secret of life was
           hidden in that mystic statement? For the better part of an hour they exchanged opinions, analyzing
           the sentence from every conceivable standpoint, but they could not decipher the deeper meaning.
           "We must ask him before it is too late," said the leader. Once again, he leaned over the still figure of
           the revered sage. "Rabbi, Rabbi," he called out urgently, "we implore you to explain. Why is life a
           cup of tea?"
               With his last spark of energy, the rabbi lifted his palms and croaked, "Alright, so life is not a cup
           of tea."

               Vedant Bharti, you say, "Is not ego a part of divine play? Who am I to drop it?"
               If you are enjoying the divine play, please don't drop it. And there is one fear also: somebody
           may pick it up. It is better you keep yours. One to one is more than enough; somebody will have two
           if you drop it.
               And do you understand what is meant by divine play? If you understand it, then where is the
           ego? If you understand it is all divine play, the ego has disappeared. The ego exists only when you
           take life seriously. Ego is a very serious phenomenon -- false, but serious. If life is a divine play, if
           you have come to this great wisdom, then where is the ego? Then you are just playing a part, you
           need not be identified with it. You are acting only. You need not become your acting. Ego simply
           means you become identified with your part, so much so that you forget that you are separate, you
           forget that you are consciousness. You become lost in the acting itself, you become it -- that's what
           ego is.
               Ego is not something that you have to drop. Ego is only a misunderstanding. You don't drop
           misunderstandings, you simply understand and the misunderstanding is no more there. You don't
           drop darkness, you simply bring light in and it is not found at all. Not that first you bring light in,
           then you catch hold of darkness and throw it out of the house -- there is no need. If you are really
           aware that it is a divine play, that means light has been brought in. Then you cannot ask the second
           thing.
               If it is your understanding that life is a divine play, then you cannot ask, "Who am I to drop it?"
           Then you are not, you disappear. There is no dropper and nothing to be dropped.
               But the first part of your question is not your understanding. So please, if you have dropped it,
           put it back, because there are so many foolish people, somebody may pick it up.

              An angry mother dragged her nine-year-old son to the doctor's office and asked, "Is a
           nine-year-old boy able to perform an appendix operation?"
           The doctor barked impatiently, "Of course not!"
              The mother said to the kid, "So, was I right? Put it back!"

           The fifth question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              LISTENING TO YOU, A DESIRE ARISES FOR AWARENESS; BUT IS NOT THIS VERY DESIRE
              ANTITHETICAL TO AWARENESS?


               Prem Sunderam, if listening to me a desire arises for awareness, then you have missed the point.
           Listening to me you will become aware. If you are rightly listening, then awareness will happen
           through listening. If you are not listening, then a desire will arise to be aware. Desire means
           tomorrow you will be aware -- you want to be aware tomorrow. And if you are really listening to me,
           who bothers about tomorrow? This moment is all that is -- you ARE aware.
           See right now....
               This is awareness: the birds chirping, the silence, three thousand people lost into one organic,
           oceanic unity, as if there is nobody. This is awareness, and the taste of it will transform you. And
           then wherever you want to be aware you can be aware. It is something that is happening in you.
           Listening to me is only a device.
               I am not here preaching to you; this is only a meditative device. Just as you are doing other
           meditations, this is also a meditation in which I participate with you so that your minds can become
           engaged with me, and your hearts can slip deep into your very core.
               Sunderam, if a desire arises for meditation, for awareness, then you have missed the whole point,
           because desire is a barrier. Either be aware right now -- either now or never! You can't say
           "Tomorrow...." The moment you say tomorrow you have postponed it forever.
               Yes, a desire is antithetical to awareness. Listening to me, understand that a desire is antithetical
           to awareness. Desirelessness is awareness. Seeing that desirelessness is awareness, how can you
           desire awareness? When, sitting with me each morning, you become silent, what is happening?
           There is no desire to be silent -- that's what is happening. Because there is no desire to be silent you
           are simply silent, and then that silence will go on surrounding you for the whole day.
               And if you see the point then there is no need for any special situation for you to be aware in.
           You can be aware anywhere. In the very marketplace you can suddenly become aware. It is not a
           question of desiring; it is becoming aware suddenly. Any moment shake yourself a little, wake
           yourself a little.

              Two drunks were riding a roller coaster when one turned to the other and said, "We may be
           making good time, but I've a feeling that we're on the wrong bus."

              If you are postponing for tomorrow you are on the wrong bus; you are drunk; you are
           unconscious.

               A policeman appeared in court as a witness against Max Loeb, arrested for being drunk in public.
           "How do you know the defendant was intoxicated?" inquired the magistrate.
           "No doubt about it at all," said the officer. "When I saw him, he was dropping a penny in a parking
           meter. Then he looked up at the big clock on the City Hall building and moaned, 'My God, I have
           gained eleven pounds!'"

              Just a little consciousness.... And it can happen only now. God knows only one time, now, and
           only one place -- here. He knows no past, no future, he knows only the present. If you want to have
           any communion with reality you have to be aware right now.

           Wife: "How did you happen to hit a telephone pole?"
           Drunk: "I hit it in self-defense."

              Just watch your life, what you are doing to yourself.

               The fireman was pulling the drunk out of the burning bed. "You fool," he shouted, "that will
           teach you to smoke in bed!"
               The drunk answered, "I was not smoking in bed -- it was on fire when I lay down."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So shake yourself. Don't say tomorrow. Whenever you remember, whenever you remember me,
           whenever you remember Buddha, whenever you remember Jesus, just shake yourself. Wake up! See
           all around -- the people, the trees, the birds. Be silent, available to existence, in a deep deep let-go...
           and awareness, slowly slowly, will go on penetrating deeper and deeper into you.

           Mulla Nasruddin was saying to me:
           "I am the sensitive type -- a poet. When I see a beautiful woman I want to cry... or write a poem... or
           jump on her!
           "I was at a party in my hotel and I met this really great girl, and we drank champagne. I managed to
           get her up to my room. I locked the door and took off my glasses -- showed her no mercy! And I
           winked... and she winked. And I took off my shirt... and she took off her shirt. I took off my pants...
           and she took off her pants -- and I lunged at her. Then I realized I had been looking into a mirror. I
           was taking glass out of my legs for weeks. I must say I was the best I ever had!"

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU AN ANTI-SEMITE?

              Levin, me? An anti-Semite? You must be crazy!


               Louie Feldman -- a traveling salesman -- caught the last train out of Grand Central Station, but in
           his haste he forgot to pack his toiletry set.
               The following morning he arose bright and early and made his way to the lavatory at the end of
           the car. Inside he walked up to a washbasin that was not in use.
           "Excuse me," said Louie to a man who was bent over the basin next to his, "I forgot to pack all my
           stuff last night. Mind if I use your soap?"
               The stranger gave him a searching look, hesitated momentarily, and then shrugged. "Okay, help
           yourself."
               Louie murmured his thanks, washed, and again turned to the man. "Mind if I borrow your
           towel?"
           "No, I guess not."
               Louie dried himself, dropped the wet towel to the floor and inspected his face in the mirror. "I
           could use a shave," he commented. "Would it be alright with you if I use your razor?"
           "Certainly," agreed the man in a courteous voice.
           "How you fixed for shaving cream?"
               Wordlessly, the man handed Louie his tube of shaving cream.
           "You got a fresh blade? I hate to use one that somebody else already used. Can't be too careful, you
           know."
               Louie was given a fresh blade. His shave completed, he turned to the stranger once more. "You
           wouldn't happen to have a comb handy, would you?"
               The man's patience had stretched dangerously near the breaking point, but he managed a wan
           smile and gave Louie his comb.
               Louie inspected it closely. "You should really keep this comb a little cleaner," he admonished as
           he proceeded to wash it. He then combed his hair and again addressed his benefactor whose mouth
           was now drawn in a thin, tight line.
           "Now, if you don't mind, I will have a little talcum powder, some after-shave lotion, some toothpaste
           and a toothbrush."
           "By God, I never heard of such damn nerve in my life!" snarled the outraged stranger. "Hell, no!
           Nobody in the whole world can use my toothbrush."
               He slammed his belongings into their leather case and stalked to the door, muttering, "I gotta
           draw the line some place!"
           "Anti-Semite!" yelled Louie.

           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                        Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                    The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                               Chapter #5
                              Chapter title: The Buddha is your birthright
           25 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002250
              ShortTitle: DHAM1005
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              QUIETEN YOUR MIND.
              REFLECT.
              WATCH.

              NOTHING BINDS YOU.
              YOU ARE FREE.



              YOU ARE STRONG.
              YOU HAVE COME TO THE END.
              FREE FROM PASSION AND DESIRE,
              YOU HAVE STRIPPED THE THORNS FROM THE STEM.
              THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY.



              YOU ARE WISE.
              YOU ARE FREE FROM DESIRE
              AND YOU UNDERSTAND WORDS
              AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS.
              AND YOU WANT NOTHING.

              "VICTORY IS MINE,
              KNOWLEDGE IS MINE,
              AND ALL PURITY,
              ALL SURRENDER.

              "I WANT NOTHING.
              I AM FREE.
              I HAVE FOUND MY WAY.
              WHOM SHALL I CALL TEACHER?"



              THE GIFT OF TRUTH IS BEYOND GIVING.
              THE TASTE BEYOND SWEETNESS,
              THE JOY BEYOND JOY.



              THE END OF DESIRE IS THE END OF SORROW.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The whole philosophy of Gautama the Buddha is contained in the first sutra. It is of uttermost
           importance. It is not only to be intellectually understood, it has to be lived; only then will you be
           able to understand it.

              QUIETEN YOUR MIND.


                Buddha does not preach any belief -- belief in God, heaven or hell. His whole emphasis is on
           creating a silent space within you. You are already full of knowledge; more knowledge you don't
           need. You need more innocence. You need an innocence like a small child. You need more wonder,
           more awe, more clarity.
                And all these come to you when the mind is silent. When the mind is silent you are in
           communion with existence; when the mind is noisy you are disconnected. Your own noise functions
           like a wall around you. Silence is the bridge; knowledge, noise, is a barrier. And all knowledge
           creates noise in you. The more you know, the more you become indoctrinated, the more you are full
           of rubbish, junk.
                You need a spacious being within you, utterly empty, so empty that even YOU are not there, so
           silent that even the idea of 'I' has disappeared. Then there is no barrier between you and existence.
           You fall in harmony. You become part of this tremendous celebration that goes on and on. You
           dance with the stars, you dance with the wind, you dance with the clouds. Your whole being
           becomes a dance, a song. You burst forth into thousands of flowers. But a silent being is a must; in a
           noisy being, nothing is possible. The noisy mind is impotent; it is not fertile, it is not creative. The
           silent mind is the right soil for your being to grow -- to grow to its ultimate heights and depths.
           Hence the first sutra: QUIETEN YOUR MIND.
                One sometimes feels surprised the way Buddha starts. The way Buddha approaches reality is so
           unique. It is utterly revolutionary, radical. One would have thought he would start with a prayer to
           God -- but there is no God. In Buddha's vision God has no place. God is the invention of the ignorant
           people.
                For Buddha there is no God as a person; there is no creator because the creation is eternal. Yes,
           there is creativity, but no creator. There is godliness, but no God. The whole existence is
           overflowing with godliness, but God is not a person so you cannot pray to him.
                Remember, prayer is impossible with Buddha. Prayer presupposes a God, a personal God who
           can favor you if you praise him, who can be very disfavorable to you if you annoy him. This is
           childish -- the whole approach is childish; it is not religious at all.
                Buddha begins in a very scientific way. Rather than talking about God he talks about you and
           about your reality. As you are, you are nothing but noise. Look within and you will see the facticity
           of Buddha: you are just noise; not even a moment of silence happens to you. Hence your doors and
           windows remain closed. You are surrounded by your own garbage that you go on creating and
           accumulating, thinking that it is great treasure.
                QUIETEN YOUR MIND.... And the statement is very significant, because the moment the mind
           is quiet the mind disappears. A quiet mind means a no-mind. A quiet mind is not anymore a mind at
           all. Negatively you can call it a no-mind. That's what Zen people have done, that's what mystics like
           Kabir, Nanak, have done. They call it AMANI -- a state of no-mind. But you can use a positive term
           also. Mahayana Buddhists call this state BODHICHITTA -- the universal Mind. Mind with a capital
           M, mind you, not YOUR mind, not MY mind, but simply THE Mind: the oceanic Mind, the Mind of
           the whole.
                Both are good. If you love positive ways of saying things you can call it bodhichitta -- the Mind
           of the Buddha, the universal Mind. Or, if you love to be more accurate, then the negative way of
           saying it is far more correct; then call it no-mind, because as noise disappears, mind disappears. Just
           as when your disease disappears, health is left behind -- not that now you have a healthy disease.
           Disease is never healthy and mind is never silent. Disease is disease and mind is noise. When there is
           no disease then there is health; when there is no noise then there is no-mind.
                But a new experience arises in your innermost core: the experience of a silent music, a soundless
           sound. The mystics have called it ANAHAT NAD, the soundless sound; or, as the Zen people say,
           the sound of one hand clapping. It is basically paradoxical; hence the expression, the sound of one
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hand clapping.
               Buddha says: QUIETEN YOUR MIND. Really he is saying: Go beyond mind, drop the mind, be
           finished with it. And what is the way? How has it to be done?

              REFLECT....


               That is the first fundamental. Remember, by "reflect" he does not mean contemplate, think. No,
           by reflect he actually means reflect -- like a mirror. The mirror reflects; whatsoever comes in front of
           the mirror, it reflects it. It does not think about it, it does not contemplate it; it simply reflects. When
           it has moved, the reflection disappears.
               This should be the fundamental: reflect things, and when they have disappeared, let them
           disappear. Don't go on carrying the past. Don't become a photo-plate; remember to remain a mirror.
           The photo-plate also reflects, but it becomes attached to the reflection, it becomes obsessed with the
           reflection. It clings to it, it becomes imprinted with it. The mirror remains clean; it is not imprinted
           by what it reflects. It does not become beautiful when a beautiful face is reflected; it does not
           become ugly.
               So should be the seeker. When success comes, reflect; don't become attached to it. When failure
           comes, reflect; don't be disturbed by it. When you are in a palace, reflect the palace, and when you
           are in a hut, reflect the hut. Don't become attached either to the palace or to the hut. Let everything
           come and pass, and you simply be a mirror.
               If you are a mirror you cannot carry the past with you, and if you don't carry the past you will
           remain fresh, you will remain young, you will remain in a continuous process of birth. Each moment
           you will be born anew. We become old... I am not talking about physiological age, I am talking
           about psychological age. We become very old for the simple reason that we collect the past.
               You are still carrying something that happened thirty years ago. Somebody had insulted you and
           that wound is still there; you still hanker to take revenge. You were rich fifty years ago, you cannot
           forget that yet; or you were poor and you are still carrying that with you.
               That's how you find the world full of miserly people. From where do they come? These are poor
           people who have become rich, but they are still clinging to their poverty. Only on the surface they
           have possessions, but deep down they are poor, very poor. They can't leave their poverty -- they can't
           depart from their past. They are carrying it; it has become a habit, it has become second nature to
           them. Hence the clinging to the money. They cannot spend, they cannot use their money.

                I know a person who has at least ten buildings and earns a lot of money but lives in such a dirty
           house. All his buildings are beautiful, but those beautiful buildings have been rented and he lives in a
           dirty black hole. He has no wife, no children; he is alone.
                The reason I became acquainted with him, was that whenever he would pass through the street
           where I used to live, at least from one furlong I would know that he was coming, because he used a
           bicycle so old that it must have been used by Adam and Eve! It made so much noise that I became
           interested in the man.
                I inquired, "Who is this man?" and they said, "He is one of the richest men of the town. His
           bicycle has no brakes, but one thing is good about his bicycle: if you tell him to purchase a new one
           he says no, he can leave it anywhere -- nobody ever steals it! Who will steal it? Anybody stealing it...
           it will be known all over the city who has stolen it, it makes so much noise!"
                I told a common friend that I would like to meet the man, and I asked him, "Why are you living
           in such misery when you can live beautifully, in a beautiful house? You have enough money, more
           than you need, and once you are dead there is nobody else for whom you are collecting all this."
                He said, "I know it, but somehow I cannot spend. That is impossible. Once I get some money, the
           hardest thing for me is to spend it." Tears came into his eyes and he said, "I also feel, What am I
           doing to myself? But I lived in poverty -- my parents died when I was very young. I have been a
           beggar; slowly slowly I have earned money. I gambled, I did all kinds of things, and that poverty is
           still within me -- I am still an orphan. I am not a rich man -- I am the poorest in this town."
                And I could see it in his eyes. This is what happens to people.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You just watch your mind and you will see a queue of past events going back, far back, to the
           age when you were three or four. And all that has become collected; it is heavy on you.
               Buddha says: If you want to quieten the mind, the first thing is to learn the art of reflecting. Just
           reflect and move on. Yes, live in the moment, live totally. Reflect whatsoever is and then let it move.
           Don't cling to it, so that you are again pure, again innocent, again available, again empty, ready to
           experience again.
               It is because of your past that you cannot experience the present; your past distorts everything. It
           is because of your past that you go on desiring the future, because you don't want to repeat the
           mistakes of the past and you would like to have all the pleasures that you enjoyed in the past again
           and again in the future. So your future is nothing but a modified past: all the pains have been deleted
           and all the pleasures have been multiplied. And between your past and future is the small present --
           which is real. Between two unrealities you are destroying that which is real. If you learn to reflect,
           then the past is irrelevant, the future is irrelevant; the only relevance is that of the present.
               Be present to the present -- that is the meaning of reflecting.
               And the second thing: to quieten the mind, Buddha says:

              WATCH.


                What will you do when you reflect? You are not a dead thing, you are not like a dead mirror. Be
           like a mirror, but you can't be dead -- you are alive. So what will you do? WATCH.
                You think, you imagine, but you never watch. Watching is a totally different process. It means
           you don't have any likes, any dislikes. You don't condemn anything, you don't appreciate either. You
           simply see and you are aware and you are alert -- not dead like a mirror. You are aware. You are
           watching what is happening.
                You see a roseflower; you reflect it and you watch it. You don't say anything about the rose. You
           don't bring words between you and the rose because all those words are useless. When you are
           confronting a real rose why bring words in? Why destroy the reality of the rose by bringing
           interpretations of the past? You may be quoting great poets -- Shelley and Yeats -- but by quoting
           them you are bringing between you and the rose a barrier. Leave your eyes utterly empty -- but don't
           fall asleep. Watch, just look silently. Be a witness.
                Watching means looking at things without any evaluation, neither saying it is good nor saying it
           is bad -- because nothing is good and nothing is bad. Things are simply what they are.
                A rose is a rose and a thorn is a thorn; neither the thorn is bad nor the rose is good. If man
           disappears from the earth, roses will be there, thorns will be there, but there will be nobody to say
           that roses are good and thorns are bad. It is our mind that creates these values. And these go on
           changing.
                Just a hundred years ago nobody would have ever thought to put a cactus in one's home. A cactus
           is all thorns. If you had brought a cactus into your home, people would have thought you were mad,
           something had gone wrong with you! But now to grow roses in your home is orthodox. The
           avant-garde people grow cactuses; they are the really cultured people. They keep cactus plants in
           their bedrooms too -- poisonous, dangerous, but the cactus is "in" and the rose is "out." Fashions
           change.
                In this century, ugly things have become beautiful and beautiful things have become ugly.
           Picasso is valuable -- one of the ugliest painters the world has ever known! Just two hundred or three
           hundred years ago he would have been forced to live in a mental asylum if he had painted things like
           this. He would have been thought insane, utterly insane, because the world of Michelangelo is a
           totally different world; a different valuation existed. The world of Leonardo da Vinci is a totally
           different world.
                Fashions go on changing. Every day man goes on changing. Nothing is, in fact, good or bad,
           beautiful or ugly. It all depends on you. Whatsoever you start thinking is good, beautiful, becomes
           good and beautiful. A Jaina monk moving naked is thought to be great by the Jainas, but others think
           it a little obscene. Many times problems arise.
                Just a few days ago in a village, there was a riot because one Jaina monk entered in the town and
           the non-Jainas objected that a naked man walking inside the town.... "This is bad for our children
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and our wives and our daughters."
               I am not against nudity, but I am also not in favor of Jaina monks moving naked. My reason is
           totally different; my reason is that they look so ugly. Unless you have a beautiful body you don't
           have the right to be naked. I can accept Mahavira moving naked. It is said that he had one of the
           most beautiful bodies -- and it seems so because all his statues are so beautiful. He must have had a
           very beautiful body, very proportionate. If he moved naked, that can be understood. To cover his
           beautiful body with clothes will not be right. But Jaina monks deliberately destroy their bodies. They
           are masochistic people: they cripple their bodies in many ways. They make them as ugly as they can,
           because the uglier your body is, the more respected you are. So they become caricatures. They are
           cartoons, not real people. It is better to cover them in beautiful clothes.
               It depends what your criteria are, what your values are. But in reality, nothing is good and
           nothing is bad; things are simply what they are. If you witness then there is no question of choice.
           Then a choiceless awareness arises in you.
               That's what J. Krishnamurti goes on saying; it is basically the message of Buddha. The followers
           of Krishnamurti think that he is teaching something very original. It has nothing original in it; it is
           essentially the message of Buddha. It is not J. Krishnamurti's invention. In a different sense it is
           original; it is original in the sense that it is his experience. He also knows it as much as Buddha
           knew, but it is not new -- not original in the sense of being new. It is original in the sense that it has
           originated in him. He is not repeating Buddha, that is true. He is not imitating Buddha, that is true.
           He is simply saying what HE has known. But whatsoever he has known is the same truth as
           Buddha's truth.
               In fact, there are not two truths in the world, so all the awakened ones know the same truth again
           and again. Their language is different, their expression is different; it is bound to be so. Twenty-five
           centuries have passed since Buddha. How can I speak the same language? And how could Buddha
           have spoken the language that I speak? That is impossible. But as the followers of Krishnamurti go
           on claiming that his teaching is absolutely original, new -- that is utter nonsense. It is basically the
           same teaching as Buddha's: choiceless awareness. That is the meaning of "reflect" and "watch."
               Be aware, but don't choose. If you choose, you lose watching. If you start clinging -- because the
           moment you choose you will start clinging -- then reflection is lost. And once you have fulfilled
           these two simple things -- reflection and watchfulness....

              NOTHING BINDS YOU.
              YOU ARE FREE.


               These simple sutras are enough. If you can practice only these two things -- reflection and
           watchfulness -- nothing else is needed. You ARE free, nothing binds you. You are really freedom;
           nothing can ever bind you. All bondage is imaginary. You think you are in bondage; hence you are
           in bondage. It is your thought.

               Harvey Pincus, the passionate playboy of Prospect Park, oblivious of human limitations, speeded
           up when he should have slowed down. To his surprise and dismay, he awoke three days later in
           Bellevue Hospital where he was placed on a strict diet of raw eggs and oysters with wheat germ,
           garnished with ginseng and soybean sprouts.
               A week later, his physical desires returned and, after having been rebuffed by Bellevue nurses of
           various shapes, sizes, ages and national origins, he demanded to be released forthwith so that he
           might resume his "al fresco" prowling in the Prospect Park perimeter.
               Pincus was soon confronted by Dr. Siegel, the hospital's staff psychiatrist. "Before we release
           you, you will have to take a Rohrschach test," explained the medic.
           "What is that?" asked Pincus suspiciously.
           "A kind of personality gauge. I will just show you some inkblots and you tell me what each one
           suggests to you."
           "So go ahead and test."
               Dr. Siegel handed him the first blot. "What does this bring to mind?"
           "That's easy," replied Pincus instantly, his eyes lighting with pleasure. "It is a girl's hips."
           "And this?" asked the psychiatrist, handing him another inkblot.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                   Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "A woman's breast. Very nice, too."
           "Hmm -- how about this one?"
           "Wow, Doctor, what a gorgeous pair of legs!"
               Siegel had already reached an obvious conclusion about his patient's proclivities, but he
           continued with a half-dozen more inkblots just to make sure. When Pincus continued to respond as
           though all the "pictures" were sexual symbols, right up to the last blot, the doctor leaned back in his
           chair and rendered his diagnosis.
           "My dear fellow," he began, somewhat severely, "in case nobody ever told you, you have an
           abnormal fixation on sex."
           "What does that mean, if I may be so bold to inquire?"
           "It means, sir," Siegel explained bluntly, "that you have a filthy mind."
           "Well, look who's talking!" Pincus yelled, outraged. "YOU are showing me all those dirty pictures
           and I'VE got a filthy mind!"

               What you are seeing in the world is not really there; it is your projection. What the world is like
           you will be able to see only when your mind has learned to be silent, to watch, to reflect. Then you
           will know that which is. Right now what you know is nothing but your own mind being projected on
           the screen of the world. Everything functions as a screen for you and you go on projecting your
           ideas; hence the insistence of Buddha on making the mind absolutely quiet.
               When the mind is silent the projector stops, the screen becomes blank, and then for the first time
           you see the glory of existence. Then for the first time you become aware of the splendor and the
           blissfulness and the peace that surrounds everything. You become aware of godliness overflowing
           everywhere. Everything is known then in its authentic reality, undistorted by you.

                  The preacher was telling his congregation that there are over seven hundred different kinds of
           sin.
              The next day he was besieged with mail and phone calls from people who wanted the list -- to
           make sure they were not missing anything.

               If you talk about sin and you want people to stop, what they hear is totally different. They start
           feeling that they are missing something: "Seven hundred sins -- just think about it!" And you will
           also start feeling, "My God, how much I am missing! Seven hundred, and I have not even committed
           seven! I go on committing only a few, two or three again and again -- and there are seven hundred
           sins! What a wastage of life!" You don't even know the names of them.

               The night clerk at the Hotel Algonquin was surprised to see a battered-looking man, wearing
           nothing but his undershorts, enter the lobby from the street. The stranger staggered to the desk and
           paused there, weaving groggily. "What can I do for you?" inquired the clerk.
           "I would like to be escorted to the third floor, room 302," said the near-naked man.
           "Room 302," repeated the clerk. He consulted the register. "I am sorry, sir, but that room is occupied
           by Mr. Oscar J. Levine of Toledo. It is pretty late to be rousing a guest!"
           "I know what time it is, well as you do," retorted the inebriated one. "Just show me to room 302
           without any further con-conver... any further talk."
           "Well, what is your name?"
           "My name is Oscar J. Levine, and for your information I just fell outa the window!"

               People are almost asleep, drunk with a thousand and one desires. There is nothing more
           intoxicating than desire. And it is not only one desire that is intoxicating you, there are many many
           desires -- seven hundred desires at least! And they are all intoxicating you, and they don't allow you
           to see that which is. You can't see that which is unless you stop desiring.
               Desiring disappears on its own accord if you become silent, because in a silent mind no desire
           can grow. Desire can grow only in a clouded mind, clumsy and confused.
           Buddha says:

                  YOU ARE STRONG.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU HAVE COME TO THE END.
              FREE FROM PASSION AND DESIRE,
              YOU HAVE STRIPPED THE THORNS FROM THE STEM.
              THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY.


               If you can fulfill the requirement of being silent, reflecting, witnessing, then you are strong, you
           are no longer weak. The man who lives in desires always feels weak because thousands of desires
           are pulling him in different directions. He is almost falling apart. Somehow he is keeping himself
           together, managing, dragging. He is tired, but he does not know what else to do. Everybody else is
           doing the same. People are running after desires. Nobody seems to be fulfilled, nobody seems to
           reach anywhere, but what else to do? When everybody is running, you start running. It is a crowd
           psychology.
               To be a sannyasin, to be a seeker of truth, means getting out of the world of crowd psychology,
           the mob mentality. Unless you become aware that the crowd is dragging you with itself and you step
           out of the power of the crowd, you will never be able to know what truth is, you will never become a
           buddha. And to be a buddha is your birthright.
               YOU ARE STRONG... but your desires go on making you weak. Once you have become silent
           you will be able to see it. A silent state of your being is so strong that you know you have come to
           the very end, you have come to fulfillment. One comes to fulfillment not by achieving something in
           the outside world but by reaching to one's own innermost core: what Jesus calls the kingdom of God,
           what Buddha calls nirvana, what Mahavira calls moksha.
               When you have reached to your innermost core suddenly you become aware that all that you
           have been desiring was useless and what you really needed, what was your real nourishment, has
           been waiting for you inside you. Your search has to be inner, not outer. You can become Alexander
           the Great, you can conquer the whole world, and yet you will die with empty hands. Don't be
           bothered with all that nonsense. Be a Buddha, not an Alexander!
               Buddha means one who has seen his truth and is contented, utterly contented with it. FREE
           FROM PASSION AND DESIRE, YOU HAVE STRIPPED THE THORNS FROM THE STEM.
           THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY. If you can be free from passion and desire....
               Passion is a state of fever, it is a hot state. We know only two states: either we are very hot -- that
           is passion -- or we are very cold -- that is anti-passion. If you love, you become very hot; if you hate,
           you become very cold. And exactly in the middle is the point where you should stop. That point is
           neither hot nor cold. It is transcendental to both, it is cool. And when you are really cool, silent,
           peaceful, mysteries open their doors for you. A feverish man, in a passionate state, is almost blind.

               Feinberg came home from a business trip and his wife coolly informed him that she had been
           unfaithful during his absence.
           "Who was it?" shouted Feinberg, "that rotten Goldberg?"
           "No," his wife replied, "it was not Goldberg."
           "Was it that crooked partner of mine -- that goniff, Levy?"
           "No, not Levy."
           "I know who it was -- it was that momzer, Shapiro!"
           "No, it was not Shapiro, either."
               Feinberg glowered at his wife. "What is the matter?" he barked. "None of my friends are good
           enough for you?"

                People are living... not really living, just mechanically moving, victims of blind forces. When sex
           takes possession of you, you are not your own master. Or when greed takes possession, or anger, or
           jealousy, you are not your own master. You are being dragged. And it is very strange that you allow
           it to happen -- you don't feel insulted or humiliated! Each of your instincts makes you a slave. You
           not only tolerate this slavery; on the contrary, you enjoy it. On the contrary, you think this is what
           life is supposed to be. This is not life that you are living. It is biology, it is physiology, it is
           chemistry, but it is not life. To live under the influence of instincts is not to live at all.
                Life begins only when you rise above your instincts. And the way to rise is: REFLECT,
           WATCH, and you will immediately know: NOTHING BINDS YOU. YOU ARE FREE. You are a
           master. In your watchfulness, slowly slowly, passions disappear, because a watchful person cannot
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be hot.
               Desires are always leading you into the future. Desire means future; it can only happen
           tomorrow. So you go on looking at the tomorrow, and meanwhile the time is passing. And the
           tomorrow never comes; it can't come, in the very nature of things. So your whole life is just a
           waiting for nothing -- waiting for Godot! And Godot never comes. In fact, nobody knows who this
           Godot is.
               But we go on waiting for something to happen some day, and we know that it has not happened
           to anybody. It didn't happen to your father, to your father's father. It has not happened to your
           neighbors. You can look around people's faces: it has not happened. You don't see the glow, you
           don't see in their eyes contentment, you don't see joy. You see only a desperate effort to achieve
           something which they are not really aware of, what exactly it is and whether it is possible or not. But
           they go on running in hot pursuit -- and they go on destroying their life.

           "Grandma, how long have you and grandpa been married?" asked the romantic young
           granddaughter.
           "Forty-nine years," replied the old lady.
           "Ah, what a beautiful life you must have had," sighed the girl. "And I will bet you never even
           thought of a divorce."
           "Well," said grandma, "divorce, no -- murder, yes!"

               Just ask the old people what they have attained, what they have been doing. And if they are true
           and authentic, if they are sincere, they will tell you nothing but that "Life has been a tale told by an
           idiot, full of fury and noise, signifying nothing. And now comes death, and all is finished." But to a
           meditator, death is not the end but the beginning of a new life.
               Buddha says: THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY. If you have quietened the mind, if you have
           become free from desire and passion: THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY. Now you will be born into a
           bodiless existence. Now you will be part of the invisible life, the eternal life which knows no birth,
           no death.
               The body is a limitation, the body confines you. You are unlimited consciousness, but your body
           forces you into a small, dark hole. You live in a dark hole, in a dark cave. Of course, it is going to be
           miserable. You are vast and somehow you have been forced to live in a small space. Nobody has
           done it to you; you yourself go on doing it. Each time you die, you die with desires. Those desires
           bring you back into new wombs. Those desires give you another body.
               If you can die without desires, then there is no longer any birth. When there is no birth there is no
           old age, no death. And when there is no birth there is no time. You go beyond time. You live in
           eternity, you become divine. That's what Buddha means by godliness -- BHAGAVATA.

              YOU ARE WISE.


               Through silence you become wise, not through learning, not by becoming more informed but by
           becoming absolutely silent. YOU ARE WISE... otherwise you will know only words -- hollow
           words, meaningless words. Yes, you can accumulate much knowledge. You can know the Vedas and
           the Koran and the Bible and the Gita and you can repeat them, but you will not understand anything.
           More is the possibility that you will misunderstand. From where will you get the right perspective to
           understand them? With all your passions and desires and all your confusion and clouded mind, how
           are you going to understand the Upanishads, the Koran? Impossible. They come from people who
           had gone beyond the body. Unless YOU go beyond the body you will not understand them. You can
           understand only that which you have experienced.
               But the knowledgeable people not only deceive others, they start deceiving themselves -- maybe
           not knowingly, not deliberately. If you go on deceiving others your whole life, pretending that you
           know, slowly slowly you start believing in your own pretensions. You forget that you don't know;
           you don't want to remember it. Who wants to know that "I am ignorant"? Everybody wants to feel
           that he knows.
               Ask anybody about God and it is very rare to find a person who will say to you, "I don't know."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Very rare... almost impossible. Many will say, "Yes, God is, God exists." And they are ready to
           fight, to argue, to kill you or be killed, for something that they know not, not at all. And there are a
           few who will say, "No, there is no God." But it is very rare to find a person who will say, "I don't
           know" -- and that is the real religious person.
               The agnostic is the real religious person -- neither the theist nor the atheist. One believes without
           knowing, one disbelieves without knowing; both are deceiving. But I am not doubting their sincerity.
           They may be thinking... they may be absolutely convinced that they know. And then you ask other
           questions about God and then they have to invent answers, because basically they have accepted that
           they know.
               Ask them how many heads God has, and they will tell you three or four, and they will make
           much out of nonsense. They will say that God has four heads because there are four directions and
           he has to look in all directions, or three because there are three dimensions and he has to look into all
           dimensions. How many hands has he? And some say he has one thousand hands because he has to
           work so much and he is so alone, and he has to create the world and manage the whole show all
           alone. One thousand hands... two hands are not enough. Do you think one thousand hands will be
           enough to manage this vast universe? Do you think four heads will be enough to see everywhere?
               But people go on inventing answers. You ask the question and they invent -- they have to invent
           because they cannot accept one thing, that they don't know.

               A blonde took her dog to the vet who advised her to buy some Nair to remove the excess hair
           around the Schnauzer's eyes and ears.
               The blonde entered a pharmacy and asked for the hair remover.
           "Use it full strength for leg hair," said the druggist, "but dilute it one half for the underarms."
           "Ah," said the girl, "but I want to use it on my Schnauzer."
           "In that case," said the pharmacist, "you better use one quarter strength and I wouldn't ride a Honda
           for a couple of weeks."

               The knowledgeable person cannot ask, "What is this Schnauzer?" That shows his ignorance and
           he cannot show that. Sometimes knowledgeable people commit such stupidities that no ignorant
           person can ever commit, because the ignorant person can always ask what it is -- "I don't know." But
           the knowledgeable person finds it impossible. He cannot say these three words: "I don't know." If
           you can say, "I don't know," you have taken one of the greatest steps towards real knowing, towards
           wisdom.
               Buddha says: When mind is empty, silent, you are wise. By wisdom he does not mean
           knowledgeability; by wisdom he means innocence. Knowledge comes from the outside, wisdom
           arises within. Knowledge creates noise, wisdom brings more and more silence. The wise person
           slowly slowly becomes utterly silent. Even if he speaks, his words carry the flavor of silence, the
           music of silence.
               By wisdom he means spontaneity, childlike spontaneity, eyes full of wonder. When your eyes are
           full of wonder you can see the beauty that surrounds you. When your eyes are full of knowledge you
           can't see the beauty because you have explanations for everything -- and explanations help you only
           to explain things away, nothing else.
               But knowledgeable people have been doing good business. They have dominated humanity too
           long; that is their joy.

           "I've got a problem, Doc," the new patient began.
           "We all have problems," replied the doctor, smiling his assurance.
           "My problem is this, Doc: I get migraine headaches every time I think of my wife. I break out in a
           rash every time I think of my job. I get cold sweats every time I think of my bank account. Talk
           about problems! Boy, have I got them!"
           "Every problem has its answer, of course, and I understand this one perfectly," said the psychiatrist,
           nodding. "You will need a hundred sessions on the couch, at twenty-five dollars per session."
               The patient gulped. "Well, Doc," he said after a painful pause, "that solves your problem. Now,
           how about mine?"
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The knowledgeable people are doing good business. The priests, the professors, the pundits, the
           scholars, the theologians, they have been doing good business. Without knowing a thing about God,
           without knowing a thing about themselves even, they go on talking about great problems and great
           solutions. They talk about metaphysics, about philosophy. They have ready-made answers for
           everything.
               Beware of these people! And they are all around, in the churches, in the mosques, in the temples,
           in the universities; you will find them everywhere. Beware of them. They are the people who will
           not allow humanity to ever become wise because once humanity becomes wise their profession is
           finished.

              YOU ARE WISE.
              YOU ARE FREE FROM DESIRE
              AND YOU UNDERSTAND WORDS
              AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS.
              AND YOU WANT NOTHING.


               Buddha says: When you are wise... not knowledgeable, not well informed, but when meditation
           has released your inner fragrance, when your inner consciousness has become a fully open lotus,
           then you will be able to understand words -- the words of the buddhas -- not before that. Don't waste
           your time with the Gita and the Koran and the Gurugrantha -- unless you become meditative.
               Once you know your own being, in deep silence you have encountered yourself, then, of course,
           scriptures are tremendously beautiful. Then you will be able to understand because you will be
           standing in the same position, you will be having the same vision. Now scriptures will become your
           witnesses, they will witness for you. When you have known something on your own, reading in the
           Gita or in the Koran suddenly you will come across a sentence that will say exactly the same that
           you have experienced, and suddenly now the meaning is revealed.
               Meaning has to come first to you through experience; only then can you understand words --
           particularly the words of buddhas. In the ordinary world we don't understand even the words of those
           who are not enlightened. You can see it happening everywhere. Talk to your wife and you will
           understand; you both speak the same language, but there is no conversation possible. You say one
           thing, she understands another. You try to explain it to her, she goes even farther away. She tried to
           explain something to you and you jump to some other conclusion. It seems conversation is
           impossible. Both are in a state of madness. Both are so full of their own ideas that before the other
           has said anything they have already concluded what he means.
               Nobody is listening to anybody else. Even when somebody is silent and pretending to listen to
           you, he is not listening. He is thinking a thousand and one things. While you are talking, he is
           preparing, so when you stop he starts saying something to you.

               Passing Beth Yisroel Synagogue in Staten Island, in the wee hours of the morning, a drunk
           noticed a sign that read: RING THE BELL FOR THE SHAMMES. He did just that, and a
           sleepy-eyed old man came to the door.
           "What do you want at this hour?" the shammes demanded crossly.
               The drunk looked the old man over for a full twenty seconds and then retorted, "I want to know
           why you can't ring that silly bell yourself!"

              People are bound to understand according to their minds.

                Tannenbaum the tailor had saved up his money for years so that he could fulfill a longtime dream
           -- to take a Caribbean cruise. But he had not reckoned with seasickness. On the second day out from
           port, the captain noticed him, green-faced, hanging on the ship's rail.
           "Sorry, sir," said the captain politely, "but you can't be sick here."
           "No?" said Tannenbaum. "Watch!"

               Rabbi Longbleibt of Far Rockaway had a well-deserved reputation for being long-winded. On
           this Sabbath, he was in especially good form. His topic for the day was "Prophets of the Bible."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Now then," he added, after speaking for half an hour, "we have disposed of the major prophets.
           Next we come to the minor prophets. To what place, my dear friends, shall we assign them?"
              From a seat in the rear of the temple, a bored-looking stranger arose. He waved an explanatory
           hand at the seat he had just vacated and said, "One of them can have my place!"

               It is impossible to understand even the people who are just like you. What to say about buddhas?
           They speak from sunlit peaks and you live in dark valleys. By the time their words reach you they
           are no longer the same. By the time you hear them, great interpretation has happened. Your mind has
           colored them in its own color.
               Buddha says: Now YOU ARE WISE. YOU ARE FREE FROM DESIRE. That is the sign of
           wisdom: freedom from desire. Only fools desire. Wise people live and live joyously, but without
           desire. Either you can desire or you can live, you can't do both. If you desire, you postpone living; if
           you live, who bothers about desiring? Today is enough unto itself.
              ... AND YOU UNDERSTAND WORDS AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS.

               This is a very beautiful sutra. Buddha says: The words of the awakened ones have to be
           understood in a special way because they are stitched in a special way. Between two words there is
           silence; that is the stitching. You have to read between the lines. If you can just understand the lines
           you will miss the whole point. You have to read between the lines. You have to read between the
           words. You have to read the silences, the pauses. Hence it is more easy to understand a living
           buddha than to understand a dead one, because with a living buddha you can experience his pauses,
           his periods, when between two words suddenly there is a gap, the interval, which is far more
           pregnant than the words themselves.
              ... AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS.
              AND YOU WANT NOTHING. Once you have become silent and you have understood the words of the
              awakened ones, what is there to want? You have already got it. You have got the inexhaustible
              treasure. You have become a king.

              "VICTORY IS MINE,
              KNOWLEDGE IS MINE,
              AND ALL PURITY,
              ALL SURRENDER."


                In silence, everything is yours: victory -- victory for which you have been struggling your whole
           life, maybe many lives, is suddenly yours. And without any fight it is yours because it has been
           yours from the very beginning. You simply never looked within. You are not a beggar, nobody is;
           everybody is born an emperor. But look within. If you look without you are a beggar. In fact, to look
           without means to become a beggar, and to look within means to become an emperor.
           "VICTORY IS MINE, KNOWLEDGE IS MINE...." And now a totally different kind of knowledge
           happens to you. It is not coming from the outside; it is arising from your very depth, it is welling up
           within you. It is not borrowed; it is authentically yours.
           "... AND ALL PURITY...."
                Silence is virgin. The most innocent and the purest experience of life is to know a deep silence
           when everything stops. Time stops, space disappears, ego is nowhere to be found. Not a single
           thought on the mind, just silence from end to end. This is purity.
                By "purity" Buddha does not mean any moral purity. Moral purity is never real purity. It is
           calculated, it is greed. It is greed for the other world, it is greed for heavenly pleasures.
                There are three persons in the world, three categories. First, the sinners: they have chosen to be
           immoral. Second, the saints: they have chosen to be moral. But both are half, nobody is whole. The
           sinner is half, the saint is half. The sinners are attracted towards the saints, the sinners go and bow
           down to the saints. And the saints are continuously thinking in their minds that maybe they are
           missing; maybe the sinners are enjoying life.

              I have heard that one great saint and a prostitute who lived just in front of him died on the same
           day, and the messengers from the beyond came and started dragging the saint towards hell and the
           prostitute towards heaven.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The saint said, "Wait! There must be something wrong. You must have misunderstood the
           orders. I am the great saint and that woman is the greatest sinner. What are you doing?"
                And the messengers said, "We have asked God. We also thought that there is some
           misunderstanding.... But God said, 'No, there is no misunderstanding. The prostitute was
           continuously thinking how bad she was, how ugly she was, and she was continuously thinking how
           pure the saint was. And whenever the saint would do his prayers, would chant his sutras, she would
           sit silently by the door and listen. She never thought herself capable of entering into the temple. She
           would sit outside the door and listen from there, and tears would flow from her eyes. And she always
           thought that the saint was living the life of bliss.
           "'And the saint? He was continuously thinking of the prostitute, how beautiful she was. And
           whenever visitors would come to the prostitute he would suffer very much. "They must be enjoying.
           She is enjoying her life, and what have I done to myself? I have become an ascetic. Who knows but
           maybe I have done something wrong." The saint was continuously obsessed with the prostitute. In
           his dreams he was making love to the prostitute. And in the prostitute's dreams there was a totally
           different flavor: she was always worshipping the saint, bowing down to the saint -- hence the
           decision.'"
                God said, "Take the saint to hell; he has lived respectably long enough. And bring the prostitute
           to heaven; she has suffered enough in the world."

               The sinner is half, the saint is half -- and they both are attached to each other, both are thinking
           of each other. I know many saints who have confessed to me in their privacy, "Sometimes the
           question happens in our minds that maybe the whole world is right and we are wrong. But now it is
           too late. We may have missed real joys to attain something abstract which may not exist at all. Who
           knows about God and who knows about paradise? We may prove to be fools finally."
               That doubt lingers in your so-called saints; it is bound to linger. The more they feel this doubt,
           the more they condemn the sinner. The more they condemn the sinner, so the sinner thinks they are
           great saints; he goes to worship them. The opposites attract each other.
               But there is a third category also: the sage. He is neither a sinner nor a saint; he is beyond both.
           And he is the person who is always misunderstood in the world. You understand the sinner very
           well: he lives in immorality. You understand the saint: he lives in morality. The sage is a mystery;
           you cannot understand him. He seems to be beyond comprehension; hence Jesus is misunderstood,
           Socrates is misunderstood, Buddha is misunderstood. That has been the fate of all the sages. They
           have been misunderstood for the simple reason that you cannot put them in the ordinary categories;
           they are beyond the categories.
               When Buddha says "purity" he means the purity of the sage who knows nothing of morality or
           immorality, who has become again a child, who is reborn.
           "VICTORY IS MINE, KNOWLEDGE IS MINE, AND ALL PURITY, ALL SURRENDER." When
           you become absolutely silent, ego disappears; it is not found at all.
               Just the other day Vedant Bharti asked, "Why should I drop the ego? That too is part of the
           divine play." You don't understand what divine play is, and you don't understand that no buddha has
           ever said to you, "Drop the ego." I am not saying to you, "Drop the ego," either. What I am saying is:
           Try to find it... and you will not find it at all! That is how it disappears, that's how it is dropped.
           When you can't find it, what can you do with it? It has never been found. It exists only when you
           don't search for it. It exists only like a shadow. If you look and search, then you come to understand
           that a shadow is a shadow; it has no substance in it. There is no need to drop it; in understanding it
           and not finding it there, it is dropped.
               This is surrender. In silence surrender happens because in silence you can't find the ego at all.
           Surrender is not something that you have to do. If you do it, it is not surrender, because if you are the
           doer how can it be surrender? One day you do, another day you can undo it. One day you can say, "I
           surrender"; another day you can come and you can say, "I withdraw it." Who can prevent you? It
           was your doing, you can withdraw it. But surrender cannot be withdrawn, you cannot undo it,
           because it is not your doing in the first place. It is a happening. When you are silent, suddenly you
           see there is no ego; ego disappears. This is surrender, this is purity, this is wisdom, this is freedom.

           "I WANT NOTHING.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I AM FREE.
           I FOUND MY WAY.
           WHOM SHALL I CALL TEACHER?"

               Buddha says: Now, whom should I call my teacher? The whole life has been a learning, the
           whole life has been my teacher. I have learned through failure, through success, through poverty,
           through richness. I have learned through pain, through pleasure. I have learned through agony,
           through ecstasy. Whom should I call my teacher?
               It is impossible because the whole life, in fact, is a teaching device. Life exists so that you can
           grow up towards wisdom, so that you can grow up towards godliness.
           And a very beautiful sutra:

              THE GIFT OF TRUTH IS BEYOND GIVING.


               Truth is always a gift. You cannot snatch it away, you cannot conquer truth. It is always a gift.
           When you are silent it simply descends in you. It fills your silence, overfills it, starts overflowing.
               THE GIFT OF TRUTH IS BEYOND GIVING. But when you have it, the problem is you cannot
           give it to anybody else. You would like, you would love to share it, but how to share it? The other
           person has to be utterly silent, only then can it be shared. But when the other person is silent, he need
           not share YOUR truth; truth descends in him on its own accord. Hence it is beyond giving.

              THE TASTE BEYOND SWEETNESS....


              It is far sweeter than sweetness itself, it is beyond sweetness.

              THE JOY BEYOND JOY.


               We can call it blissfulness, but it is a blissfulness that goes far beyond our idea of blissfulness. In
           fact, it is incomprehensible for the mind. It is impossible to express it in adequate words. If we call it
           joy, yes, only a bit of it is expressed. If we call it sweet, only just a fragment of it is expressed; the
           total remains unexpressed. It has to be experienced, there is no other way.

              THE END OF DESIRE IS THE END OF SORROW.


              You do only one thing: let desire be gone. And how will desire go?

              QUIETEN YOUR MIND.
              REFLECT.
              WATCH.

              NOTHING BINDS YOU.
              YOU ARE FREE.


                Contemplate over these sutras. Try to experience them... because Buddha is not an ordinary
           religious person. He is not interested in miracles. He is not interested in anything occult, esoteric. He
           is interested in transforming you. He is very down to earth.

              Moses and Jesus were playing a round of golf at the Celestial Country Club. First, Jesus teed up
           and made a hole in one. Then Moses also drove a hole in one.
           "Well, Moe, we are even so far," said Jesus.
           "Now look here, Jake," Moses protested. "We made our point. Now what do you say we cut out the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           miracles and play a little golf?"

               Buddha never did any miracle -- that is the greatest miracle. He is not interested in mystifying
           you. His whole effort is to give you the key so you can open the doors of all the mysteries. He is very
           existential, nonphilosophical, nonintellectual in his approach. He is not heady -- but very practical,
           pragmatic. His whole approach is experimental, experiential. So you will not be able to understand
           him if you only go on reading.
               Try to experiment with what he is saying. Try to quieten your mind, reflect, watch, and see
           yourself what happens: freedom, bliss, truth, wisdom, innocence, purity... thousands of flowers start
           blooming in you. The spring suddenly bursts forth.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                     Chapter #6
                                         Chapter title: Life transcends logic
           26 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002260
              ShortTitle: DHAM1006
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN WANTING TO KNOW WHO I AM I OFTEN FEEL IN A SPACE OF NOTHINGNESS. IN ONE WAY
              IT SCARES ME, IN THE OTHER IT FEELS FULFILLING. I FEEL BOTH ALL AND NOTHING. HOW
              TO FEEL ONE OR THE OTHER? AND WHERE DOES THE DISTINCTION LIE BETWEEN A
              VACUUM -- THAT SPACE OF NEITHER PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE -- AND A DEAD SPACE?


                Prabhato, the first indication of a right, positive nothingness is that it will be paradoxical. It will
           be felt as all and nothing, both simultaneously. Then it is alive. All that is alive is paradoxical; only
           that which is dead is logical. Logic is applicable only to dead things; logic has nothing to say about
           life. Life transcends logic. Life is basically illogical. That's what I mean by calling it paradoxical: it
           contains its own opposite.
                Hence it is a good indication that you feel both all and nothing. If you feel just nothing, then it is
           a dead space; if you just feel all, then it is all imagination. When you feel both, it is neither dead
           space nor pure projection; it is something authentically true.
                Whenever you will feel all and nothing together, naturally, on the one hand you will feel scared
           because of nothingness, because nothingness looks like death.... It IS death; death of the ego, death
           of all that you have known up to now as yourself. It is a total discontinuity with the past; hence fear
           arises. You are losing your identity, and that is the greatest crisis in life. One wants to cling to one's
           identity; at least one knows who one is. Even though that identity was nothing but hell, still you
           would like to cling to it. At least it was something tangible. Now all tangibles are disappearing and
           all that you have known about yourself is evaporating. A great fear grips you. It seems as if you are
           going to die. It is natural to feel scared.
                But you also feel, on the other hand, deeply fulfilled, because it is death and resurrection,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crucifixion and resurrection. When you are ready to lose your old identity you are born anew. A new
           life starts pulsating, a new heart starts beating. As an ego you disappear, but you appear as part of the
           whole, of the immense vastness, of the totality.
                This is really the birth of the holy man, because one becomes part of the whole. This is the birth
           of a buddha, of a christ. So in spite of all your fears, go into it, don't cling to your past. And
           remember, fear is very powerful because your whole past will support it, and you have a
           tremendously long past of millions of lives. Not only this life but many many lives are contained in
           your collective unconscious. They will all pull you back. They will say, "Where are you going? Are
           you going mad? Come back to the old shelter, to the old security!" The past is long; it has immense
           weight, great gravitation. And the new that is being born is just like a new sprout, very fragile. It can
           be crushed very easily, it can be destroyed very easily.
                Remember that unless you go on in spite of all your fears you will never go into the unknown.
           And to go into the unknown is to go into God. God is never known. He is not only unknown, he is
           also unknowable. And whatsoever you know about God is just your ideas about God, not your
           experience.
                Those who have experienced God have kept mum, have kept completely silent. They have not
           uttered a single word about God. They have indicated the way. Buddha says: Buddhas point you the
           way, but they don't say anything about the ultimate experience. They show how to reach it, but they
           never say what exactly it is. It is indefinable, inexpressible. God is a mystery. In fact, God is another
           name for the mysterious universe in which we are living, breathing. We are part of this great mystery
           and there is no way to demystify it.
                So you will have to go knowingly, deliberately. You will have to risk your past. You will have to
           listen to the call of the unknown. It is a faraway, distant call and there is no guarantee for it. Nobody
           can give you the guarantee, only hints.
                I can say to you: You have heard the right call. But it is risky because you will be risking all that
           you know about yourself for something which is far away, invisible, mysterious. One can never be
           certain. You can't be calculative about God, you can't be cunning and clever about God. You have to
           go into simple innocence, just like a small child holding the hand of his father can go into the deep
           forest without any fear. Lions may be roaring, but the child has no fear because he knows his hand is
           in his father's hand. The father himself may be trembling, but the child is enchanted with the whole
           journey, with the whole adventure. Such a simplicity is needed, such innocence is needed; only then
           can you take the risk.
                The child is the most courageous being. As he grows in age, in experience, he starts becoming
           cowardly, he becomes calculating. He thinks twice before he takes any step, and when you think too
           much you never take any step. Very calculative people remain stuck their whole lives. They never
           move because each movement creates fear in them -- and this is the greatest movement.
                Prabhato, go joyously into it. And don't be worried what is the distinction between an empty
           space, a negative space, and a space that is positive, fulfilling. Don't be bothered. This is how the
           mind starts calculating, this is how the mind starts functioning. There is no need -- you are on the
           right track.
                Wherever you feel a paradox happening, remember, that is the criterion that you are on the right
           track. If you don't come across a paradox you must have missed somewhere, you are moving in a
           wrong direction.
                So don't ask me, "How to feel one or the other?" If you feel one or the other you will be wrong.
           When you feel both, then you feel the total. The total is bound to be both, the negative and the
           positive. It is bound to be both death and life, summer and winter.
                And that's where mind feels baffled, puzzled. Mind would like clear-cut things, but nothing can
           be done about it. Mind's requirements and expectations cannot be fulfilled. Existence has no
           obligation to fulfill mind's requirements and demands. You have to accept existence as it is. It is
           paradoxical and mind is not paradoxical. Mind is linear, logical, not dialectical. As far as mind is
           concerned it is Aristotelian, and as far as life is concerned it is more Hegelian than Aristotelian. It is
           dialectics: it moves from thesis to antithesis, and so on, so forth. The whole movement depends on
           thesis and antithesis. The polar opposites are really not opposites but complementaries.
                Enjoy the polarity, the paradox. Rejoice that you are on the right track. And go on moving in
           spite of all the fears. They are natural. I cannot say that you should not feel those fears -- they are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely natural, but you can go on in spite of them.
               Remember, the difference between a coward and a courageous man is not that the coward feels
           fear and the courageous man does not feel fear. No, that is not the difference between the coward and
           the courageous. Both feel fear. The difference is that the coward listens to the fear and stops his
           movement, and the courageous takes no notice of it, pushes it aside, and moves in spite of it.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO YOU SAY THAT IT IS RIGHT TO MEDITATE BUT WRONG TO PRAY? IN MY OPINION,
              MEDITATION GIVES DEEP INNER CALM TO A PERSON FOR HIS OWN SAKE, BUT TO PRAY
              DEEPLY AND CALMLY GIVES YOU THE DIRECT AND INTENSE CONNECTION TO GOD, AND
              HIS HOLY SPIRIT COMES DOWN TO YOU.


               Rosemary, I have not said what you have heard. You must be hearing through a thick layer of
           Christianity, a thick layer of rubbish.
               In the first place, you say, "Why do you say that it is right to meditate but wrong to pray?" ...
           Because meditation is the only prayer there is, and prayer is possible only in meditation; any other
           prayer is going to be false, pseudo. If you have not been in deep meditation, how are you going to
           know that there is God? Then the idea of God is just a conditioning given by others to you.
               Just think, Rosemary, if you were born in Soviet Russia, then you would not have talked about
           God at all. You would not be talking about the Bible; you would be talking about the COMMUNIST
           MANIFESTO or DAS KAPITAL. You would not be talking about the Holy Trinity of God the
           Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; you would be talking of the unholy trinity of Karl Marx,
           Friedrich Engels and V.I. Lenin, because you would have been told and conditioned by communist
           education.
               If you had been born in a Jaina family you would have never thought of prayer, never -- because
           there is no God, so to whom to pray? If you were born in a Buddhist family, things would have been
           totally different because you would have been conditioned in a different way. It is not you,
           Rosemary, who is asking this question; it is your conditioning. And all conditionings are wrong.
               Meditation means a state of unconditioned mind. Meditation is the process of undoing the harm
           that every society goes on doing to every individual -- communist or Catholic, Jaina or Jew, it does
           not matter. I am not talking about any particular conditioning that is wrong; I am saying conditioning
           AS SUCH is wrong.
               Conditioning is nothing but a process of hypnotizing people: go on repeating from the very
           childhood, in the church, in the Sunday school.... You have been told about God and prayer and you
           have been told by your parents and teachers and priests and all the authoritative people. And the
           small child has learned how to imitate those who are in power. Now you have completely forgotten
           the beginning of conditioning.
               No child is born as a Christian or a Hindu. No child is born with any idea of God's existence --
           whether God exists or does not exist, whether there is one hell or seven hells or seventy or seven
           hundred. No child is born with any theology.
               Meditation means a process of removing all that has been forced upon you so that you can
           become again a child. That's what Jesus says. He says: Unless you are like a child you will not enter
           into my kingdom of God. He is talking about deconditioning, dehypnotizing. He is not using these
           words 'deconditioning', 'dehypnotizing', because these words did not exist in his days, but that's what
           actually he is saying. He is saying: Unless you become a child again.... Again and again he says:
           Unless you are BORN again... because this birth has been contaminated by the people; they have
           poisoned your minds. You need a new spiritual birth. And it is possible only through meditation;
           there is no other way.
               Prayer will mean you will be continuing the conditioning. If you are Christian, your prayer will
           be Christian. Your very question says... it has the stink of Christianity! A Hindu will not say this, he
           will not use such words: "And his holy spirit comes down to you." A Jaina will never use such
           terminology -- impossible, because for a Jaina, nothing comes down, everything goes up! He
           believes in growing up into a god. God is not someone there high above who comes down to you;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no God. You have the seed of divineness in you; it grows upwards. The holy spirit
           descending on you is simply something that has been taught to you.
           You say, "In my opinion...."
               Opinions mean nothing! If you have some experience, then it is important. Opinion is just
           opinion. Opinion means something of the mind. You have not experienced anything; it is just a
           thought. People have all kinds of opinions.

           I have heard:
               Two camels were passing through a desert. Both were looking very tired and both wanted to say
           something to the other, but somehow they were keeping control.
               Finally one exploded and he said, "Whatsoever people say, whatsoever their opinion, I want to
           say that I am thirsty!"

               Thirst is not an opinion, it is your experience. Is it your experience? If it is your experience, the
           question cannot arise, because then you would have understood exactly what I was saying.
               Meditation is the process that cleanses you, and when you are utterly clean a fragrance arises in
           you. That is prayer. Prayer is a consequence of meditation. I am not against prayer; I am against
           YOUR prayer, but not against prayer itself. Your prayer is false. Your prayer is only a part of your
           conditioning. The Hindu prays in the Hindu way and the Mohammedan prays in the Mohammedan
           way, but a real prayer is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan. It comes out of an unconditioned being.
           How can it be Hindu or Mohammedan?
               A real prayer is simply prayer. It has no words; it is pure silence. It is a surrender in deep silence.
           In fact, it is not addressed to any God; it is bowing down to the whole existence. It is not an address.
           God is everywhere, all is God, so you simply bow down in tremendous gratitude, in ecstasy, in joy,
           in love. But first your love, your ecstasy, your joy have to be released. You are just a seed, and
           talking about fragrance will be only an opinion heard from others, borrowed. And anything borrowed
           is ugly. Anything borrowed is going to be only verbal.
               And that's what has happened: when you heard me you only understood the literal meaning of the
           words. You missed the significance.

               A gentile friend... a Christian friend cajoled Rabbi Berkowitz into attending Saint Joseph's in the
           city that made Schlitz famous. The old rabbi, long since retired, finally agreed when it was explained
           that a visiting dignitary would speak about the Jewish influence on the formation of the church.
               In the front row, Rabbi Berkowitz's eyes widened as the visiting lecturer announced his topic:
           "My Name is Joseph, Father of Jesus."
               At the conclusion of the talk, when they had been introduced, the rabbi said dryly, "My friend,
           you have had a most unusual experience!"

               He misunderstood the whole thing. He took the title of the lecture literally: My Name Is Joseph,
           Father of Jesus. That was just going to be the subject. The man is not saying that he is Joseph, the
           father of Jesus. The rabbi said, "My friend, you have had a most unusual experience" -- being the
           father of Jesus, after two thousand years. And Jesus was the son of a virgin woman; it was certainly
           an unusual experience for the father!
               That's what has happened to you, Rosemary. I have not said anything against prayer, but I have
           said that meditation prepares the way. It cleanses you -- it cleanses you of all thoughts given by
           others. It creates the space in which prayer can flower. Meditation brings the spring -- and there is no
           other way. If you pray without meditation, then your flowers will be plastic flowers. Real flowers of
           prayer grow only in meditation. And then prayer is not addressed to God; in fact, then there is no
           God.
               The whole idea of God the Father is childish, and Sigmund Freud is right that it is a projection of
           our deep desire to cling to the parents. It is a projection of your idea of the father, because your
           father cannot be with you forever. One day he dies and you miss the protection, the security, the
           safety. And you project a father in heaven who is forever and forever, who will never die and who
           will always take care of you. And you pray on your knees to the father in heaven. The idea is YOUR
           creation, the prayer is your creation. And you go on doing this stupid thing for your whole life,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinking that you are doing something religious.
               And sometimes it can happen that certain of your prayers may be fulfilled. That is just
           coincidence. If you go on praying for thousands of things, once in a while it is bound to happen.

               One man came to me and he said, "I never believed in God, but now I believe."
           I said, "What happened?"
               He said, "I gave an ultimatum to God that if within fifteen days my son does not get employment,
           I will become a confirmed atheist forever. And the threatening worked: within fifteen days my son
           got the employment. Now I am a firm believer."
               I said, "It is perfectly good, but never give the ultimatum again because it may not work always.
           It was just coincidence."
               But he did not listen to me. After two years he met me and he said, "You were right. I again gave
           the ultimatum. My wife was very ill and I told him that he has to save her, otherwise I will become
           an atheist." He thought that once the trick had worked; now he knows how to force God into his
           service.
               That's what people who are praying are doing; they are trying to use God. They are trying to use
           God as a means for certain ends.
           And the wife died. Certainly he became an atheist.

               Prayers sometimes will be fulfilled -- not that there is somebody who is there listening to your
           prayers and fulfilling them -- and sometimes they will not be fulfilled. And priests are very clever.
           They will say, "Whenever your prayer is fulfilled you prayed deeply, truly, sincerely." And
           whenever your prayer is not fulfilled they say, "Your prayer was superficial." And the argument has
           much appeal because, in fact, ALL your prayers are superficial so you know perfectly well that your
           prayers are superficial. The priest can always say that you prayed, but deep down there was doubt.
               There is ALWAYS doubt because your belief in God cannot destroy doubt; it can only repress
           doubt. And the repressed doubt is always there boiling within you, ready to explode.
               So don't be deceived if sometimes a coincidence happens. That's how many things continue in
           the world, many things CAN continue in the world. All hocus-pocus!
               For example, there are so many "pathies" in the world: homeopathy, naturopathy, ayurvedic, and
           so many others. They all claim to cure -- and their claims are not false; they cure many people. You
           try. Just go on giving sugar pills to people and you will be surprised; many are cured, so you have
           invented a new therapy. Seventy percent of people are only falsely ill, they are not truly ill. Seventy
           percent of illnesses are psychological, so all that is needed is somebody to convince them that "This
           is going to help." And people go to homeopathy and to other exotic medicines only when nothing
           else helps them.
               The trouble with allopathy is that it can help only if your illness is real. If your illness is not real,
           then a real medicine will do harm instead of helping you. So you have to search for some quack,
           somebody who can give you a false medicine to cure you of a false disease.
               Your prayers are false, your diseases are false. Sometimes they do help, and when they help, you
           become more and more convinced. And in despair, in deep helplessness, you don't know where else
           to go. When all human efforts fail you start looking towards the sky. That has been always so;
           nothing much has changed.
               In the Vedas it is said: When there is lightning in the clouds, it is God who is angry; it is his
           anger. Pray to God. Now we know it is not God or his anger; now we know it is electricity, natural
           electricity. Now we are using God's anger in running our fans and machines. Now nobody prays. In
           India, still, when you put the light on in the evening, orthodox Hindus will immediately bow down
           their head with folded hands -- to an electric bulb! Just an old conditioning.
               God used to do many things; now science is doing all those things. God is being deprived every
           day! In fact, soon he will be out of employment; you will find him standing before some
           employment office in a queue! Your God is your invention. Friedrich Nietzsche is right about your
           God -- that that God is dead. So don't be too much surprised or convinced when some coincidence
           happens. Coincidences are always happening.

               On board an El-Al jet flight to Israel, a young mother and her two children were just getting
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           settled when the youngsters began to clamor that they had to go to the "bafroom." Two priests on a
           pilgrimage to the Holy Land, seated in front of the little family group, smiled in amusement while
           the embarrassed mother quickly took the children to the rest rooms on the plane. After a moment's
           hesitation, she put the small boy in the compartment marked "Gentlemen," while she entered the
           ladies' room with her little daughter.
               The boy left quickly and one of the two priests went in, forgetting to lock the door. A few
           seconds later, the mother emerged from the ladies' lavatory and opened the other door a mere slit,
           thinking her boy was still there. "Don't forget to slide up your zipper," she whispered.
               When the priest returned to his seat he was full of praise for the airline. "You have to hand it to
           these Jewish stewardesses," he said to his fellow priest. "They think of everything!"

           Beware of coincidences!
               You say, Rosemary, "Why do you say that it is right to meditate but wrong to pray?"
               To pray is not right; to be in prayer is right. To pray means you will be saying something to God.
           Your God is your invention, your prayer is your invention. And what are you going to say? Just
           something trivial: Do this, do that, don't do that. Or: You are great. He has been hearing that for so
           long, he must be fed up! He must be using ear plugs just to avoid these so-called religious people!
           Millions of people praying and saying all kinds of things to God. He must be getting tired, utterly
           tired.
               But to be in prayer is a totally different phenomenon. To pray is one thing; that is childish, out of
           a conditioned mind. But to be in prayer means to be in love with existence, to be in a dance with
           existence, to dance with the stars, to sing with the birds, to flow with the river. That is prayer. But
           that prayer arises only when meditation has created the right space for it. Hence my emphasis is on
           meditation and I don't talk much about prayer, because when meditation is complete, prayer comes
           on its own accord. There is no need to talk about it -- because if I talk about prayer there is every
           danger you will misunderstand, because prayer is easy and meditation is difficult.
               Prayer is easy, very cheap. You can go to the church, kneel down on your knees, fold your hands,
           talk to God. It costs nothing. Or every night before you go to sleep you pray to God....

               I have heard about a very very intelligent man who had put his prayer on the wall just by the side
           of his bed. And before he used to go to bed he would say to God, "Please read it."

                What is the point of saying the same thing every day? And one hopes that God must be at least
           able to read it! That seems to be far more clear, intelligent. Why go on repeating it like a parrot every
           day?
                I don't say to you to pray because I know that whatsoever you do right now will be wrong. I
           teach meditation -- and prayer comes inevitably; it can't be avoided, but a totally different kind of
           prayer, with a different fragrance, a different texture to it. It is just a joyousness, a cheerfulness, a
           gratitude. You feel so fulfilled, so blessed, that your whole heart says thank you -- not in so many
           words -- your whole heart says yes. Your whole heart becomes the yes. You are surrendered. Your
           life is a prayer. Then you need not go to a church or a temple or a mosque. You LIVE your prayer.
           You breathe, you drink, you move... and all that is prayer.
                You say, "In my opinion, meditation gives deep inner calm to a person for his own sake...."
           Rosemary, have you ever meditated? A mere opinion has no value -- and it is a mere opinion. You
           may have read, you may have heard about it, but don't give much importance to opinions.
                You say, "Meditation gives deep inner calm to a person for his own sake...." You don't have any
           experience, any taste of meditation. In meditation, the self disappears, the ego disappears. There is
           no question of "for one's own sake." One is no more an island; one becomes part of the vast
           continent of existence. Meditation means you disappear, evaporate. You are no longer there, just a
           pure nothingness. How can it be for one's own sake? There is no SELF left. In meditation, no self is
           ever found so how can it be selfish?
                People come to me and they ask me -- particularly Christian missionaries -- they write letters to
           me: "You are teaching people meditation; that is a kind of selfishness." They don't know what they
           are talking about.
                Meditation is the only way to get rid of the self. Meditation is the only possibility to create
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unselfishness in the world. Everything else is selfish. The Christian missionary serving the poor
           people, the crippled -- this is all selfish. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and all her work is absolutely
           selfish.
               Why do I call these works selfish? They are doing great service to humanity, but they are doing
           service to humanity as a means to reach to heaven. They are using the poor people and the blind
           people and the crippled and the lepers as ladders to reach to heaven.
               Just think of a world where there is nobody poor, nobody crippled, nobody is a leper, nobody is
           blind. Then what will Mother Teresa do? Will you still give her a Nobel Prize? For what? The basic
           requirement is that blind people should be there, poor people should be there, lepers should be there,
           widows should be there, orphans should be there. Thousands of orphans are needed for one woman
           to become a great servant of humanity.
               One of the Hindu priests, the head of the Hindu priests, Karpatri, has written a book, AGAINST
           SOCIALISM. He gives many reasons against socialism, but the most hilarious reason that he gives is
           that in Hindu scriptures it is said: Unless you donate to the poor people you will never enter into
           heaven. And socialism is trying to destroy classes so there will be no poor, no rich. Once there is
           nobody rich and nobody poor, who is going to donate unto whom? And what will happen to heaven?
           Very logical! And these people are great servants of humanity! These stupid people are thought to be
           saints!
               In meditation, you disappear; in prayer, you are very much there. You have to be there to pray;
           otherwise who is going to pray and to whom?
               Martin Buber has written one of the greatest books of this time, I AND THOU. He says that
           prayer is a relationship between I and thou; both are needed. "I" is needed -- the one who is going to
           pray -- and "thou," a concept of God. Then prayer is possible. Prayer is a dialogue between I and
           thou. Prayer is basically selfish, self-centered.
               But meditation is not a dialogue at all. Neither I is needed nor thou is needed. No I, no thou. The
           whole idea of I-and-thou disappears. A silence prevails, a virgin silence, undisturbed with any
           dialogue. It is not for one's own sake. One disappears; only then meditation happens.
               Meditation is like a flower opening, and prayer is the fragrance of the flower that is released to
           the winds. I don't talk about the fragrance, I only teach how to cultivate roses, Rosemary, remember!

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL THINGS TO KEEP ONE'S WIFE HAPPY?


              Satyam, I don't know much about wives. I am an unmarried man. You are asking a question to a
           wrong person. But I have been observing many wives and many husbands. So this is not my
           EXPERIENCE -- just my opinion!
              There are two things necessary to keep one's wife happy. First: let her think she is having her
           own way. And second: let her have it.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES TRUTH HURT?


               Prem Patipada, truth hurts because we live in lies. Our whole life consists of lies.
               Friedrich Nietzsche has said: Don't take lies away from man; otherwise it will be impossible for
           him to live. Sigmund Freud also says exactly the same thing: that man cannot live without lies; he
           needs many lies -- religious, metaphysical, philosophical, political.
               Just watch yourself -- how many lies you need to support yourself, to go on nourishing your ego.
               Why does man need so many lies? -- because the basic lie is the ego, and the ego can exist only
           surrounded by many lies to support it. Any truth hurts because it takes away a few lies, a few props,
           a few supports, and your ego starts falling down. And that is all that you know about yourself. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't know that you are something transcendental to the ego.
                Somebody says to you, "How beautiful you are!" and you believe it immediately. Nobody ever
           objects. I have told it to many people; nobody ever objects. I have never come across a person who
           will object, "No, you are wrong because I know my face. I see it in the mirror every day." You say it
           to anybody, even the ugliest. Say it to a camel, and he will nod his head. He will say, "Right. I had
           always known it. You are the first intelligent person who has given it recognition." Even the ugliest
           person deep down thinks he is beautiful. He believes, otherwise it will be difficult to exist, to live.
           The most stupid thinks that he is very intelligent. Hence you go on giving compliments to each other.
           All those compliments are lies -- and everybody is ready to believe. And it is not only in the ordinary
           life. When you enter into your inner journey, there also you expect recognition.
                Just the other day Somendra asked, "Why don't you give me recognition?" Everybody wants to
           be recognized, told that "You are enlightened," that "You have attained," that "You have realized" --
           and you will be so happy! But that happiness will be only momentary because it is not true.
                I cannot give you any lie; hence I am, many times, offensive to you, outrageous. I hurt you -- not
           that I want to hurt you, but to take any lie away from you is like taking a teddy bear from a child who
           can't sleep without the teddy bear. He goes on carrying the teddy bear -- dirty, but he will carry it
           everywhere. That is his life; you can't take it away from him. And you are carrying many teddy
           bears, Patipada; that's why it hurts.
                Now Somendra is very angry because I said that he can be a good candidate for Judas. Soon
           there is going to be a notice: "Wanted: a Judas." And there are many people eligible. Somendra can
           do the work. He is so angry because I had said that he sits behind keeping his back towards me, so
           the next day he came to his old place.
                Today he has disappeared, because today he has asked a very ugly question out of sheer anger.
           That's why he has disappeared from here. Even though he has been sitting here for two or three days
           he does not look at me; he keeps his eyes down. He has not been coming to his group therapy
           darshan many times. Last night he appeared, but he did not look at me... boiling within. Today he has
           disappeared because of the question. He must have been afraid. He has put the question in somebody
           else's name -- but you can't deceive me! And the moment I saw that he is not there my suspicion
           became absolutely certain that it is his question.
                In his question he says, "Are you not a lazy person? And still, what chutzpah you have to tell
           other people to work and be creative." I am not a lazy person -- I am the laziest! And naturally, the
           laziest person can live only if others work; otherwise how am I going to live? So I go on teaching,
           "Work, be creative! Clean the floor meditatively! Clean the toilets!" That is simple. It is not a
           question of chutzpah, it is simple logic! A man like me needs at least ten thousand people to work for
           him!
                And he asks, "How can you tell others to work?" For a man who has never done anything,
           everything seems to be possible. Even the impossible seems to be possible. I have never worked, not
           for a single day. That's why I can say to you to do ANYTHING, because I don't know the trouble. I
           have no experience about it.
                Truth hurts. And then it comes in many ways, it expresses itself in many ways.
                Patipada, remember, if anything hurts then meditate over it. There must be something of truth in
           it, something true. If anything hurts, respect it, go deep into it. Find out why it hurts, and you will be
           rewarded. You will grow through that.
                Lies are sweet; they don't hurt. So beware of sweet lies. When something does not hurt you it
           cannot become an impetus for growth; it is useless, not to be bothered about at all. But pay your total
           attention to anything that hurts, and don't get angry. You are to understand here, to be aware, not to
           be angry.
                Just a few months ago I told Somendra that he had attained his first satori. He was just joy. You
           should have seen his face that time -- all laughter, all smiles, bubbling with ecstasy! That was easy
           for him to accept because although it was true, the ego jumped upon it, grabbed it, felt very good --
           and that is how he missed it.
                When truth -- any truth -- becomes an ego trip, you miss it, you lose track of it. And remember:
           before samadhi happens, before enlightenment happens, you may attain thousands of satoris -- and
           you may miss them. If one remains very alert when a satori happens, only then he will not miss it. If
           you become very gratified about it and you start bragging about it in subtle ways, you are bound to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           miss it. And many people are doing the same.
                Sometimes it is very difficult for me; even if I see that something beautiful is happening to you I
           have to control myself not to say it, because there is every danger that just by saying it your ego may
           feel puffed up. And that will be the point when you will lose it.
                There are many people who are coming closer and closer to the ultimate, but it is better for me
           not to say it to them. I go on blessing them as much as I can, I go on loving them as much as I can,
           but I don't say it. Saying can be a distraction; it can take them on a different route, it can distract
           them.
                So lies are dangerous; sometimes even truth can be dangerous. If it does not hurt, then it can be
           dangerous; if it hurts, there is no danger. If it hurts, it will wake you up; if it becomes a lullaby, then
           it is dangerous; it may take you in a deeper dream. You may start dreaming about satoris and
           enlightenment and becoming a buddha. And all that is possible -- it is within your capacity, it is
           within your reach -- but you can lose the thread many times.
                Hence, don't ask for recognition. If I feel that the time is ripe and by recognizing something you
           will not slip back, I will give the recognition. But why hanker for the recognition? The real thing is
           happening to you. The recognition does not matter at all, it is irrelevant. If you are becoming a
           buddha, you are becoming a buddha whether I say so or not. Sometimes it may be needed that I will
           go on saying, "No, you are not becoming," just to help you go on in the right direction.
                Patipada, anything that hurts, meditate over it and you will be immensely enriched.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY ENEMIES?


               Gayan, remember two fundamental laws. One is: No good deed goes unpunished. And second:
           Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I VERY MUCH DOUBT MY WIFE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


               Narayan, the wife is not your God. You need not doubt, you need not trust. It is a game -- don't
           make it so serious! But you have been told to trust your wife, to trust your husband. And because of
           this very teaching, distrust arises. In fact, you have been told to trust. For centuries it has been
           known that it is very difficult to trust your own wife, very difficult to trust your own husband; it is
           next to impossible.
               If your wife is interested in you, how can you trust her? If she is still interested in men -- and you
           are only a man, and there are many many men who are far more beautiful -- how can you trust your
           wife? If she is interested in you she must be interested in others too. She can be trusted only when
           she loses all interest in you too; then, of course, you can trust her. She has lost all interest in men --
           she is almost dead.
               You can trust your husband only if he is no longer interested in your body. If he is interested in
           your face, your body, your proportion, your beauty, how can he avoid being interested in other
           women's bodies, other women's faces, other women's beauty? It is impossible. You are asking
           something inhuman or something superhuman. And your poor husband is neither -- neither inhuman
           nor superhuman. He is just a poor husband, a poor human being... or a poor wife.
               Don't demand such impossible things. It is natural; your wife is bound to fantasize about other
           men. It is impossible for her to dream about you, remember. I have never heard of a wife dreaming
           about her own husband. Who dreams about one's own husband or one's own wife? For what? Is the
           day not enough? Do you have to devote your night and your dreams also to the same woman, to the
           same man?
               In dreams you are free; that is the only freedom left. In dreams you have a private world of your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           own. Your wife cannot peep in your dreams and say, "What are you doing? Stop!" In dreams you
           can have a few parties with the neighbors' wives. And nothing is wrong in it, nobody is harmed. Just,
           you have a good sleep and in the morning you have a smile on your face.
           Don't ask the impossible.

              Mulla Nasruddin was saying to me, "For the whole ten years of our married life I always trusted
           my wife. And then we moved from Calcutta to Poona -- and I discovered we still had the same
           milkman!"

               There is no need, Narayan, to trust or not to trust. Why bring in the question of trust? It is just a
           game! Play it joyfully. You make it too serious. And when you start demanding, "Be faithful to me!"
           you are creating a situation in which it will become impossible for the poor woman to be faithful to
           you. Give her total freedom; then she may be faithful to you.
               Life functions in a very strange way. If you give her total freedom you are WORTH trusting. A
           great faith may arise in her. If a wife gives total freedom to the husband, that shows she loves him so
           much that she would like him to be happy in every possible way. Even if sometimes he is happy with
           some other woman she will feel happy because he is happy. And then a totally different quality of
           trust may arise. I am not saying that it is bound to arise -- it is not an inevitability. I am saying
           perhaps, because about human beings nothing can be predicted.
               The relationship between wife and husband is a very strange relationship because these are two
           different worlds. The woman functions in a different way, from a different center. She is more
           intuitive and the man is more intellectual. That's why they are attracted to each other. Not only
           physiologically they are polarities, but psychologically also they are polar opposites. They are
           intimate enemies. There is bound to be a little conflict, and that is not bad; it keeps the relationship
           alive. Whenever you see that the husband and wife have stopped fighting completely, that means the
           marriage is really finished; nothing is left now. Even fight is not left... all is finished.

               The butcher and the milkman were discussing the pros and cons of married life. "Do you really
           believe it is better than being single?" demanded Weiss, the butcher.
           "In a way," said the milkman, who was fond of philosophizing. "After all, if it were not for marriage,
           we would have to do all our fighting with strangers."

               Yes, that is true. It is good to fight with your own wife; at least the fight is with the friend.
           Otherwise you will have to do your fighting with strangers.
               There is no need to demand these things -- trust, faith. Live together joyously. Make as much out
           of your being together as possible. Rather than doing that, people create such problems, useless
           problems, and destroy all their joys. The wife has no obligation to be faithful to you, neither do you
           have any obligation to be faithful to her. You love her, she loves you; that's enough. Don't bring faith
           into it. If love cannot keep you together, nothing else can keep you together. And if love cannot keep
           you together, then anything that can keep you together is dangerous.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE ALL WORDS REALLY USELESS?


               Dharmendra, not all words. The words of the buddhas are immensely significant. They are the
           same words as your words, but they come from a deeper experience. Let your words come from deep
           experience; then they will have significance, then they will have some perfume of the unknown, of
           the beyond. But leaving the buddhas aside, then too all words are not useless. Otherwise, how are
           you going to communicate? You cannot communicate through silence, you cannot communicate
           without words.
               To communicate without words you will have to become a total meditator. And then, too, you
           can communicate only with another total meditator, not with everybody else. The whole of humanity
           is not going to be in meditation, not at least in your life, and you will have to talk to people who are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not meditators.
               I am using words, Buddha used words, Jesus used words. You have to use words. Just make one
           effort; don't use unnecessary words. Be more telegraphic, be more condensed. Make your words
           more meaningful. When you use them, don't just go on using them so that you remain occupied.

               Little Alma, a pupil in the first grade, arrived home from school all out of breath.
           "Daddy, Daddy," she cried, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "we had our very first drill today!"
           "That's good, shayneh," he said, smiling. "I believe in fire drills. Why I once almost died in a fire."
           "Ooh, tell me."
           "Well, it was like this: I fell into a great big vat of chicken soup. So I climbed on top of the knaidlach
           to keep from drowning and I hollered 'Fire' at the top of my lungs."
           "Fire?" exclaimed Alma, "Was there a fire, too?"
           "No," grinned the father, patting her curls, "but who would have helped me if I had yelled 'chicken
           soup'?"

           Words are significant.

               For their first date, the boy takes the girl to a carnival. After walking around for a while the girl
           says to her date, "I want to get weighed."
               So the boy finds a man who guesses people's weight. The man accurately guesses the girl's
           weight.
               After visiting some other attractions the boy again hears the girl say the same thing, "I want to
           get weighed." Again he finds another stall where she again has her weight judged correctly.
               After some ice cream and taffy, she again says, "I want to get weighed."
               The boy replies, "No, this is too much. I am taking you home."
               After being deposited on her doorstep, the girl goes inside and seeing her mother, starts to cry
           and blurts out, "Oh, mother, I had such a wousy time!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                     Chapter #7
                                     Chapter title: The fool is his own enemy
           27 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002270
              ShortTitle: DHAM1007
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY.
              SEEKING WEALTH, HE DESTROYS HIMSELF.



              SEEK RATHER THE OTHER SHORE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WEEDS CHOKE THE FIELD.
              PASSION POISONS THE NATURE OF MAN,
              AND HATRED, ILLUSION AND DESIRE.



              HONOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT PASSION,
              HATRED, ILLUSION AND DESIRE.



              WHAT YOU GIVE TO HIM
              WILL BE GIVEN BACK TO YOU,
              AND MORE.


               Man is born intelligent, but the society does not allow intelligence to flower; it destroys it. In a
           thousand and one ways it makes every effort to make every intelligent being unintelligent. The
           unintelligent person seems to be more obedient -- obedient to the state, to the church, to the society.
           He is less rebellious -- he CANNOT rebel. Rebellion needs intelligence. The greater the intelligence,
           the greater the rebellion. The unintelligent person seeks security and safety with the crowd. He
           cannot be an individual. He is always hankering to become part of a crowd -- Christian, Hindu,
           Mohammedan. These are all crowds. They depend on those people who have become victims of the
           social strategy of destroying intelligence.
               An intelligent person will not go to the church in search of God, or to the temple. An intelligent
           person will go within. He will not go to Kaaba or to Kashi, because if God is not here he cannot be
           anywhere else -- and if he is ANYWHERE else, why not here? If God is not in me, he cannot be
           anywhere else; and if he is anywhere else, he is bound to be in me too.
               The intelligent person is an individual; he is not part of a crowd, mob psychology. He is not a
           sheep, he is a man. And all the vested interests are against the individual -- against the man. They
           want machines. They don't like people who are intelligent, who decide on their own. They want
           people who depend on others, on authoritative figures -- on the leaders, on the priests, on the saints,
           but always on others, never on themselves.
               The society has lived up to now in a very destructive way. It destroys the very possibility of your
           ever being a buddha or a christ. It has always been against the wise; it respects the fool. The fool fits
           with the society perfectly. The fool is cut out to fit with the society.
               No child is born foolish, and every child, sooner or later, turns out to be idiotic. The powers are
           so big, so great, that it is almost impossible for the child to resist. The child cannot survive if he
           resists too much. It is really a miracle that a few people have escaped from being machines. These
           few people are the salt of the earth; they are the only flowers. Because of them, humanity has a little
           perfume, a little fragrance; otherwise, all others are walking dead, corpses, somehow dragging
           towards the grave.
               The way of the fool has to be understood because only if you understand it you can go beyond it.
           The fool also has a way of life. His way of life is the way of the crowd. Whatsoever others say, he
           repeats. The way others live, he imitates. He is always looking around for clues how to be, how to
           behave, what is right, what is wrong. He has no insight into anything. He depends on commandments
           from others. For thousands of years he goes on following commandments that were given in
           different situations, to a different kind of people, for different purposes, but he goes on following.
               He is never spontaneous; that is the first thing to be remembered about the fool. He is repetitive:
           he repeats the past, but he is never spontaneous. He is never responsible -- he never responds to the
           situation. He has ready-made answers. He never listens to the question; he is not concerned with the
           question at all. The question simply triggers in him a process of memory, and a ready-made answer
           comes up. He is like a computer.
               To be responsible means to be aware. Unless you are aware you will not be able to see the
           situation that is confronting you. And the situation is changing every moment, it is never the same --
           not even for two consecutive moments is it the same. Hence one has to be very aware, then only can
           one respond to reality. And to respond to reality is to commune with God.
               The fool knows nothing of God; he never comes across anything divine. He remains part of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stupid collectivity. Remember, the society, the collective has no soul; the soul belongs to the
           individual. Hence, those who belong to the collective are destroying every possibility of being souls.
                George Gurdjieff used to say that it is very rare to find a person who has a soul -- and he was
           right. To have a soul means to have awareness, to have individuality, to have freedom, to be able to
           respond -- and to be able to respond on your own accord, not following dictums from others,
           directions from others.
                The fool is never spontaneous; that is the first thing to be understood about the fool. If you
           become spontaneous you start becoming intelligent. The fool never learns; he is very stubborn about
           learning. He thinks he already knows.
                The fool is not necessarily the ignorant person, mind you. The fool may be a great scholar; the
           fool may be a famous pundit; the fool may be a well-known professor; the fool may have a Ph.D., a
           D.Litt. In fact, who else bothers about Ph.D.s? The fool can be very well-informed, but that makes
           no difference to his foolishness.
                Information does not transform you. Transformation is a totally different phenomenon than
           information. Transformation comes through awareness, through being open: open to life, open to
           people, open to everything possible. The fool lives in a closed world; he is dumb and deaf.
                That's exactly the meaning of the English word 'idiot': closed. He lives in his own private world.
           He knows nothing of the reality. He lives in his own dreams -- and he thinks that's what reality is. He
           lives in beliefs. He lives what tradition, what convention has taught him -- whatsoever he has been
           conditioned for.
                In a Catholic country he will be a Catholic. In a communist country he will be a communist -- the
           same person; there is no difference at all. Whether he quotes from the Bible or from DAS KAPITAL,
           it is all the same: he quotes mechanically. He cannot understand because he is not ready to learn.
                He remains utterly closed. He is afraid of opening his windows, his doors. He is afraid to be open
           to the wind, to the sun, to the rain, because who knows? -- if he opens to life, his ready-made
           answers may not be adequate. He is very much afraid to lose his ready-made answers; he depends on
           them. They may be right or wrong, that is not important for him. As long as he believes they are
           right, they are right for him.
                Hence the second characteristic of the foolish man: he is dumb and deaf. He is unlearning. He
           never listens. He may be able to hear, but he is not able to listen. Hearing is a physiological
           phenomenon; listening is something deeper. You hear through the ears; when your heart is also
           joined with your ears, listening happens. And the fool's heart is never joined with his ears. He is not
           able to see; he goes on seeing whatsoever HE wants to see. He never allows the reality to be
           reflected in him; he is incapable of reflection. He is not a mirror.

               After a day at the seaside, a bus full of deaf and dumb people stopped at a country pub. The bus
           driver went in to explain to the barman: "You see those people over there? They are all deaf and
           dumb. They have a special sign language. Two fingers means a pint of bitter. Three fingers means a
           lager; four, a light ale; five, a guinness; a shake of the head, a whisky; a nod to the left, a brandy; and
           a nod to the right, a vodka."
               The barman, having taken in all this information, agreed he could handle the situation.
               Things went well for the first hour or so, and then the barman noticed three of the party standing
           at the bar, opening and shutting their mouths. He tried to figure out what they wanted, then gave up
           and forgot all about them.
               But ten minutes later, a dozen of the deaf and dumb people were at the bar, opening and shutting
           their mouths like goldfish in a bowl. He started to feel a bit uneasy and pretended not to notice. But
           soon the whole crowd from the bus was at the bar, all of them opening and shutting their mouths.
               Not knowing what to do, he rushed outside, ran over to where the bus was parked and hammered
           on the window.
           "Hey, what's up?" asked the driver.
           "Well, you know all those people in there? Well, it was okay for the first hour or so -- three fingers,
           two fingers, shake of the head, nod to the left -- but now the whole crowd of them is up at the bar, all
           opening and shutting their mouths!"
           "Ah, no," said the driver, "they are not singing again! Now we will never get them home!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The fool lives in a totally closed world. Neither is he available to reality, nor is he capable of
           expressing anything. He is uncreative because he cannot express.
               Hence the third characteristic: the fool is uncreative. Imitative he is, but absolutely uncreative.
           He may be able to compose a few things, he may be able to put a few things together, but it is never
           creativity. Never is a new thing born through his being -- he himself is still unborn. He can become a
           great technician, but he is never a great artist. He can know how to paint -- and he can know
           perfectly well how to paint -- but he will not be able to paint anything genuinely new, authentically
           novel, original. He is absolutely unoriginal. He lives like a robot; he has been reduced to a machine.
               If man is reduced to his lowest, he becomes a machine; if he is raised to his highest, he becomes
           a god. Man is a ladder: at the lowest rung, he is a machine; at the highest rung, he is a god. Either
           you can be a machine or you can be a god. If you remain unintelligent, unaware, you will remain a
           machine.
               Conscience cannot change you. You have been told, "This is right and that is wrong," but that
           has not changed you. Nobody can change you from the outside. Any change from the outside is
           going to be only superficial; deep down you will remain the same -- and you will persist in your
           foolishness.
               I have seen sinners who are foolish, I have seen saints who are foolish in the same way. There is
           a great difference between the sinner and the saint from the outside, but both may be fools. The
           sinner may have fallen in a wrong company, that's all, and the saint has fallen in a right company;
           that is the only difference. The sinner is following the wrong crowd; it is accidental. And the saint is
           following the right crowd, but that too is accidental. Deep down, both are the same.
               Foolishness has a quality of persisting. It persists because for lives together you have lived
           through it, you have remained identified with it. It has been safe to be a fool. It has been safe to
           pretend that you know without knowing, because you know perfectly well that the world has not
           behaved well with the knowers. It has not poisoned any fool, but it has poisoned Socrates -- one of
           the most wise men ever born. It has not crucified any fool, but it has crucified Jesus.

               Two hippies, short of cash, hit on a way of making money. With their long hair and beards, a
           couple of nightshirts and a makeshift cross, they headed one Sunday morning for the local Baptist
           church, arriving in the middle of the service. The first hippie entered, proclaiming aloud, "Make way
           for the Lord!"
           The second staggered behind, wielding the cross.
               The worshippers cried out aloud. Some fell flat on their faces. Coins and bills were showered on
           them as they paraded up the aisle and back out again into the street. That Sunday they made over
           forty dollars.
               The following week they hit the local Catholic church. "Make way for the Lord!" The
           parishioners tore out their hair and shrieked up to heaven in paroxysms of divine ecstasy. That
           morning they made over a hundred dollars.
               The following week, just for a laugh, they tried the synagogue. The first hippie entered crying,
           "Make way for the Lord!" and the second lumbered in with his load.
               The old rabbi turned to his neighbor and whispered, "Moishe, get the hammer and nails out. He
           is back!"

               To be a fool is safer. To be a Jesus is dangerous. To be a buddha is to live in insecurity. It is
           going against the crowd, and the crowd is vast; it is going against the current. Hence your experience
           of centuries tells you, "Remain a fool. Pretend that you are not foolish." That is part of foolishness.
           The moment a person stops pretending, he starts becoming wise.
               The beginning of wisdom is to know that you are a fool -- and then you are not a fool at all; you
           have stopped being a fool. It is very rare to accept the fact that "I am a fool."
               They say that if a madman knows that he is mad, he is no longer mad; sanity has come back. But
           no madman ever agrees that he is mad; he thinks he is the sanest man in the world. Everybody else
           may be mad, HE is not. That is also part of remaining foolish. The foolish person pretends in every
           possible way. He will pretend that he knows what he knows not. He will pretend he is somebody he
           is not. His life becomes an acting. His life becomes a superficial show. He is always in a kind of
           exhibition; he becomes a showcase. He has many faces. He wears masks and he forgets his original
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           face completely.
               Hence, the Zen Buddhists say: Unless you discover your original face you will not know who
           you are and you will not know what this reality is all about, and you will not know the blessing and
           the benediction of being alive.
               Discover the original face. Your original face is lost in so many masks. You have been
           pretending to others and, slowly slowly, you have become convinced of your own pretensions.

               Now that Jack and Irma were rich they decided to add a little culture to their hitherto shallow
           lives. At their first opportunity they went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and took a guided tour
           of the exhibits.
           "Say, this is a fine bust of Michelangelo," said Jack admiringly.
           "That is not Michelangelo," explained the guide. "That is Leonardo da Vinci."
           "Jack," she hissed, "why do you have to open your big mouth when you don't know a single thing
           about the New Testament?"

                You will find these pretenders everywhere. You will find these pretenders inside you, outside
           you. You are living with them -- you are one of them. Recognize that "I am a pretender," and that is
           a great beginning.
                The fool may try to be good, but he cannot be good because there is nothing like mechanical
           goodness. Goodness can only be out of consciousness. All that is mechanical is bad. In my definition
           and in the definition of Gautama the Buddha, to do anything unconsciously is bad, is evil, and to do
           anything consciously is good, is virtuous. It is not a question of what you are doing, it is not a
           question about your actions in particular; everything depends on what source it is coming from. If it
           is coming from your deep awareness, then whatsoever it is....
                For example, Mohammed fought in many wars with a sword in his hand, but I will not call his
           wars evil. No, his wars are not evil because they are coming out of a deep awareness, a deep
           meditativeness. He is simply responding to the situation. Of course, what he is doing is violence --
           but violence, too, in the hands of a conscious, alert person, transforms its quality.
                Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, but his vegetarianism was not good. His vegetarianism was evil,
           because it was coming out of a totally unconscious mind. He never smoked, he never drank alcohol,
           he lived the life of a celibate. He was almost a monk -- a Jaina monk. If you look at his life, he lived
           it in a very disciplined way. He was not in any way an evil person -- never gambled, never even
           played cards. But he was not good, he was not virtuous. All that was coming out of an unconscious
           mind.
                If you find Jesus drinking... yes, he used to drink, he enjoyed drinking. And I don't think there is
           anything wrong in drinking if you can drink the way Jesus drank, with absolute awareness; then
           there is nothing wrong in drinking. Then drinking, too, is good. But you may be a nondrinker like
           Adolf Hitler, and it is not good. So the question is not WHAT you do, but HOW you do it, from
           where comes the action.

               Molly O'Brien went to visit the parish priest. "Father," she said, "I feel so bad! Last night I called
           a man a bastard."
           "Now, why," said the priest, "would you want to do a thing like that?"
           "Well, Father, you see... he put his arm around me."
           "What -- like this?"
           "Yes, just like that."
           "Well, that is no reason to call him a bastard."
           "Yes, but then, Father, he kissed me!"
           "What -- like this?"
           "Yes."
           "Well, that's no reason to call him a bastard."
           "I know, but then you see, he put me down on the sofa and lifted my dress up."
           "You mean... like this?"
           "Yes, Father."
           "Well, still that is no reason to call him a bastard."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Yes, but then he pulled his trousers down."
           "Like this?"
           "Yes."
           "Well, that is still no reason to call him a bastard."
           "But Father... then he made love to me."
           "Like this?"
           "Yes."
           "And you called him a bastard just for that?"
           "But Father -- you see -- then he told me he had the clap."
           "Why, the dirty bastard!"

              The fool can be found in the sinners, in the priests, in the saints. The fool is a very subtle
           phenomenon; it is not so gross as you think. You cannot judge from the outside whether a man is
           wise or foolish because sometimes their acts may be the same.

               Krishna says in the Gita to Arjuna, "Fight, but fight with absolute surrender to God. Become a
           vehicle." Now, to surrender means absolute awareness, otherwise you cannot surrender. Surrender
           means dropping the ego, and ego IS your unconsciousness. Krishna says, "Drop the ego and then
           leave it to God. Then let his will be done. Then whatsoever happens is good."
               Arjuna argues. Again and again he brings new arguments and he says, "But to kill these people --
           innocent people, they have not done anything wrong -- just for the kingdom to kill so many people,
           so much violence, so much murder, so much bloodshed... how can it be right? Rather than killing
           these people for the kingdom I would like to renounce and go to the forest and become a monk."
               Now, if you just look from the outside, Arjuna seems to be more religious than Krishna. Arjuna
           seems to be more a Gandhian than Krishna. Krishna seems to be very dangerous. He is saying,
           "Drop all this nonsense of being a monk and escaping to the Himalayan caves. That is not for you.
           You leave everything to God. You don't decide, you drop this deciding. You simply relax, be in a
           let-go, and let him descend in you and let him flow through you. Then, whatsoever happens.... If he
           wants to become a monk through you, he will become a monk. If he wants to become a warrior
           through you, he will become a warrior."
               Arjuna seems to be more moralistic, puritanistic. Krishna seems to be totally different. Krishna is
           a buddha, an awakened being. He is saying, "Don't YOU decide. Out of your unconsciousness,
           whatsoever you decide is going to be wrong, because unconsciousness is wrong."

              And the foolish person lives in unconsciousness. Even if he tries to do good, in fact he succeeds
           only in doing bad.

               Paddy NcNaughty went to confession: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned."
           "And what is it that you have done, my son?"
           "I made love to one of the girls in the village."
           "My God!" said the priest, "and which of the village girls did you commit sin with?"
           "Ah, Father, that I cannot tell."
           "And if you will not tell me, then I shall not give you absolution."
           "Ah dear!" said Paddy.
           "Was it Molly O'Flaherty?" asked the priest.
           "No, it was not Molly O'Flaherty."
           "Then was it Flora Fitzgibbons?"
           "Ah no," said Paddy, "it was not Flora Fitzgibbons."
           "Was it Maggie Muldoon, then?" persisted the priest.
           "Ah, sure no, it was not Maggie Muldoon."
           "Then who in heaven's name was it?"
           "Ah, sure, Father -- that I cannot tell."
           "And if you don't tell me I shall not give ya absolution."
           "Ah, Father, that's too bad!" said Paddy and walked out of the confessional.
               His friend, Michael, was waiting outside. "Well, Paddy, did ya get yar sins forgiven?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "No," said Paddy, "but I got the names of a few good broads!"

               If you are unconscious you may go to get forgiven, you may go to confession, but it is not going
           to help -- you will remain the same. Foolishness tends to persist. Beware of these characteristics of
           foolishness. Foolishness is very egoistic. In fact, the more intelligent you are, the less egoistic you
           are. When intelligence blooms in perfection, ego disappears. Hence, foolishness is very
           argumentative; it always tries to defend itself. In a thousand and one ways it will convince you that
           this is the right course, this is what is to be done.
               One has to be very aware of all these deep tendencies; they go on forcing you to go astray, they
           go on forcing you to go off center. They make you eccentric. Consciousness centers you;
           unconsciousness takes you off your center.

               A man walked into a cafeteria and ordered coffee and a cream bun. "Sorry," said the attendant,
           "but we're out of buns. Why not have a doughnut instead?"
           "In that case," said the man, "I'll have a cup of tea and a cream bun."
           "I just told you, sir, we're out of buns. Why don't you have a doughnut?"
           "Hmm... so in that case, I'll have a toasted bun with butter and a cup of tea."
           "Look! How many times do I have to tell you? We don't have any buns -- cream buns or toasted
           buns, or any other kind of buns!"
           "Okay then," said the man. "Then give me a currant bun and a hot chocolate."
           "Look here, you!" said the attendant, seizing the man by the collar and shaking him violently, "We
           DON'T HAVE NO BUNS! We don't have no cream buns, we don't have no currant buns, nor hot
           cross buns, or toasted buns with butter -- or any other kind of buns. Get it?"
           "Okay, okay!" said the man. "No need to shout -- I'll just have a bun!"

           Buddha says:

              THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY.
              SEEKING WEALTH, HE DESTROYS HIMSELF.


               THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY... for many reasons. First: he will die without being born. He
           will die as a seed. He will never bloom, he will never come to flowers and to fruits. He will never
           know what fulfillment is. His life will be a sheer wastage. His life will be a desert without any oasis.
           He will not know any blessing, any benediction, any ecstasy -- which was his birthright. He will be
           self-destructive. Not to grow into consciousness is the most suicidal act one can commit; hence
           Buddha says: THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY. He misses a great opportunity.
               Life is such a precious opportunity to know, to be, but the fool misses. He will not even be aware
           what he has missed. He will pass through life like a zombie. His whole life is mechanical. He gets up
           early in the morning, takes his breakfast, goes to the office, does his work, drives back home... and
           he is doing everything, but still he is a robot. He is not yet inwardly full of light; deep inside him
           there is only darkness. He is doing all these things because he has practiced doing them. He has
           become skillful.
               Scientists have been working for centuries to create robots. I don't see why they should be so
           much concerned about creating robots -- there are so many, millions of them! And there is no need to
           make robots at all; all these millions of robots go on producing more robots! In fact, the question is
           how to stop them from producing more!
               Each fool leaves at least a dozen fools -- particularly in India -- behind him. When he dies he
           makes the world twelve times more foolish; he leaves a dozen fools as a proof that he has been here.
           What is the need of creating robots?

               I was reading a story that robots have been created -- it is a twenty-first century story -- and they
           are so exactly like human beings that it is very difficult to distinguish. If you meet a robot on the way
           driving his car you will not be able to distinguish whether he is a robot or not. He will look exactly
           like a man. Only one difference will be there: he will be more efficient. Less accidents will be there
           on the road. He will finish his work in time. He will not go on piling up files on his table; his table
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be clean.
               So a few indications so you can judge whether the man is really a robot or a man. Once in a
           while only you will know who is a robot -- when his battery runs down. Then only... if he was
           talking to you and he was giving you great argument, philosophical arguments for God's existence,
           and then he suddenly says, "Grrr, grrrr, grrr-rr-rrr...!" and immediately runs towards the electric plug
           and connects himself to the electricity to recharge himself -- then you will know that this is not a real
           man; otherwise there will not be any difference.
               And that, too, is possible to overcome sooner or later: we can fix two batteries. Why one battery?
           I was worried: why fix one battery in the poor man? -- you can fix two batteries so that while one is
           being used, the other is being charged automatically. If you can create a robot, can't you create an
           automatic battery? Why make him look foolish: "Grrr, grrr, grrr"? And this can happen any time. He
           is making love to his woman, and "Grrr, grrr, grrr!" And he has to say, "Excuse me, I have run out of
           gas!" Either electricity... or he will need petrol.

              THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY. His first inimical act towards himself is his mechanicalness.

           "Look what I got today! A brand-new car, and it only cost eight hundred pounds."
           "Eight hundred pounds? But that's impossible -- a brand-new car?"
           "Ah well, you see, it's got no engine."
           "Got no engine?"
           "That's right. You talk to it, see... you just talk to it and it goes."
           "Is that so?"
           "Yep, that's right. Wanna come for a ride? Only one thing, though, before we start. This car only
           understands a few words. Like, to make it go forward you say, 'Bloody hell'; to make it stop you say,
           'Bastard.'"
           "Oh... is that so?"
           "Yep. Sure is. Come on, I will show ya. 'Bloody hell' -- she goes, see, and all you have to do is turn
           the steering wheel, blow the horn, flash the indicators.... 'Bastard' -- see, she stops when you want,
           too."
           "Wow! I've never seen a car like that before!"
           "Let's take her out into the country. Maybe we can go out towards the cliffs by the sea. See, on a
           straight road she'll go up to ninety, no problem -- ninety-four, ninety-five...."
           "Uh... ahem... I say, aren't we getting a bit close to the edge of the cliffs?"
           "Come on now, don't worry. Just watch how she brakes."
           "Hey! Hey, careful! That sign says, 'Road ends in fifty yards,' and you're going ninety-five!"
           "Right! Watch this: Bastard.... Hey, come on now -- she doesn't want to stop! Bastard! Bastard!
           Bastard! We made it! See, she stopped."
           "Phew, bloody hell, that was close...!"

                THE FOOL IS HIS OWN ENEMY. SEEKING WEALTH, HE DESTROYS HIMSELF. By
           "wealth" Buddha means everything that is outside you: power, prestige, money, sex -- anything that
           is outside you. The fool is extrovert; he never looks in. He accumulates everything on the outside.
           His whole life is devoted to money, power, prestige, and then one day death comes, but then it is too
           late. When death comes, he realizes that all that he has been doing has been simply stupid because
           all is slipping out of his fingers. All that he has been doing was making sandcastles. Just a blow of
           death, and everything disappears like a dream.
                Buddha says: SEEKING WEALTH, HE DESTROYS HIMSELF. He remains constantly
           extrovert; hence he never becomes aware who he is, why he is, from where he comes, to where he is
           going, what is his destiny, what is his significance, why this existence needs him, what purpose he is
           supposed to fulfill, what fragrance has to be released by him. He never looks in. He goes on rushing
           faster and faster. As death comes closer he runs faster so that he can accumulate a little more wealth,
           a little more respect, respectability, so that he can become a president or a prime minister.
                But death destroys everything -- your presidents, your prime ministers. You may be rich; death is
           not going to favor you. Before death, everybody is the same -- rich or poor, knowledgeable or not
           knowledgeable, famous or not famous.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha says: If you are putting your energies into such projects which can be destroyed by
           death, then you are destroying yourself. Attain something that is imperishable. Attain to something
           that death cannot snatch away from you. Realize something that will go beyond death with you.
           Realize something that even fire cannot burn, swords cannot cut, atom bombs, hydrogen bombs
           cannot destroy. Then only you have been a friend to yourself; otherwise you are an enemy.

               Three couples were killed in a car crash. Saint Peter was waiting for them at the Pearly Gates, his
           big book under his arm. The first couple was summoned forth.
           "Name?" shouted Saint Peter.
           "Jones," replied the husband.
               Saint Peter opened his big book and started thumbing through the pages.
           "Hmmm... Jackson... Johnson... ah yes, Jones! Hmm... Jones, hey? Well now, Jones, this is not a
           very good record, is it? Drink, drink, drink -- that's all you've ever been after -- even married a
           woman called Sherry. Well, Jones, this isn't good enough, you know. I'm afraid it is downstairs to
           hell for you."
               The Joneses broke into sobs and hugged each other, but two guardian angels pulled them apart
           and dragged the man towards the gates of hell. The wife followed shortly.
           "Next!" called Saint Peter and the second couple shuffled forward. "Name!"
           "Smith," they both replied shakily.
           "Hmm... Sutherland... Spencer... ah yes, Smith! Hmm... well, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this one doesn't
           look too good either. Money, money, money -- that's all you two have ever been after -- even called
           your sons Buck, Frank and Mark, and your daughter, Penny. Now what kind of a life is that! Well,
           there's only one place for people like you. You'll have to go downstairs -- down to hell!"
               The Smiths wept and fell at his feet, but the verdict was final.
           "Next!" shouted Saint Peter, as the guardian angels were hauling the Smiths away.
               The next husband turned to his wife and said, "Come on, Fanny... I'm not gonna stand here and
           be insulted!"

              SEEK RATHER THE OTHER SHORE.


               Buddha says: Don't be too much concerned with this shore; it is momentary. Tomorrow you have
           to go. Even seventy years is not a long time; compared to eternity it is just a moment. Your life lasts
           only as long as a soap bubble. You THINK it is long enough -- seventy years -- because you
           compare your life with the life of flies or mosquitoes; then it looks long enough. But ask the
           mosquitoes and they think they are doing perfectly well: they are doing everything that you are
           doing and in a short span. They are born, they fall in love, they get married, they have children -- and
           many more than you can ever have -- and they sing and they dance. Maybe they have their own
           religion and priests and politicians. And then they become old and then they die. Maybe it lasts only
           for a few weeks, but in those few weeks they have done everything!
               There are insects that will live only for a few hours, but in those few hours is condensed your
           whole life: boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, and all the fights.... I have heard they go
           even to marriage counselors, they consult sexologists!

               One woman had a cat and the cat was creating much trouble in the neighborhood. He was a
           playboy and the whole night he was going from this house to that, and they were making so much
           noise -- because cats don't believe in making love silently. They are not Hindus, not Indians! They
           are all hippies!
               So the whole neighborhood told the woman, "Do something. It's too much -- we can't sleep! This
           lovemaking of your cat -- he's driving us mad!"
               Finally the woman took her cat to the vet and he was operated on. But the neighborhood was in
           as much trouble as before.
               People asked the woman, "What is the matter? What kind of operation is this? Your cat has been
           operated on, you say, but we still see him coming."
               The woman said, "Yes, he still goes -- now as a consultant."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Time does not matter. In a few hours you can live seventy years or seven hundred years in a
           condensed way. Into seven minutes seventy years can be condensed. And seven minutes look very
           small compared to seventy years, but what are seventy years compared to the age of the sun or the
           moon or the earth or the stars? And what are seventy years compared to eternity?
              This shore consists of momentary phenomena. Don't waste your total energy in that which is
           momentary. Go on remembering the other shore. By "the other shore" Buddha means that which is
           beyond time and beyond space. This shore is outside you and the other shore is within you. This
           shore consists of money, sex, power, prestige, and that shore consists only of awareness, silence,
           peace, prayer.
              SEEK RATHER THE OTHER SHORE.



              WEEDS CHOKE THE FIELD.
              PASSION POISONS THE NATURE OF MAN,
              AND HATRED, ILLUSION AND DESIRE.


              But you are full of weeds, hence you cannot grow roses. Before you can grow roses you will
           have to remove all the weeds, you will have to prepare the ground, you will have to prepare the soil.
           You will have to remove the weeds, the stones, and all that can be a hindrance for the roses. WEEDS
           CHOKE THE FIELD.
              And about weeds, one thing has to be understood: you need not grow them, they grow on their
           own accord. Even if you pull them out they will grow again.

              Mulla Nasruddin has a very beautiful lawn. A new neighbor moved recently next door to Mulla's
           house and he became very interested in Mulla's garden, particularly his lawn. He also wanted to
           make a beautiful lawn and a garden. He planted seeds, he planted plants, but so many weeds started
           growing.
              He asked Mulla, "How to distinguish which is grass and which are weeds?"
              Mulla said, "Simple. You pull them both out. The grass will not grow again and the weeds will
           grow again. That's how one knows, that's how one can distinguish."

               Weeds have a quality -- the same quality as the fools: they persist, they insist, they don't want to
           be removed. Everything great in this life is fragile and everything ugly is rocklike, very strong.
           Weeds grow on their own accord. You have not cultivated anger and you have not cultivated lust.
           There are no schools where you are taught how to be jealous and how to be greedy. No teachers, no
           masters are needed to teach you how to be unconscious. These things grow on their own accord.
               Falling downwards is easy; rising upwards is difficult -- it goes against gravitation.
               You have to remove the weeds, otherwise they choke the field. You are so full of anger, greed,
           lust, that they are choking your energies. It will be impossible for you to grow -- they won't allow
           you to grow. They will suck all your energy; they are suckers, they are parasites.
               Buddha says: WEEDS CHOKE THE FIELD. PASSION POISONS THE NATURE OF MAN,
           AND HATRED, ILLUSION AND DESIRE.
               Passion creates many things in you. It creates fever, it makes you more unconscious -- more
           unconscious than you already are. It drags you deeper into the mud. And with passion come hatred,
           illusion and desire -- and then you are distracted from your nature. Your nature is poisoned, your
           innocence is poisoned. You lose all simplicity, all humbleness.
               Beware of the poisoning by passion. Be warm, be loving -- that is a totally different phenomenon
           -- but don't be full of lust. Warmth is possible with your consciousness. A Buddha is very warm, a
           Jesus is very warm, very loving. Passion has disappeared. Passion has become transformed into
           compassion. Their compassion showers on you like flowers. Just as passion poisons you, compassion
           purifies you. Compassion is nectar if passion is poison. The energy that is involved in passion can be
           released into compassion.
               And the way to release the energy, the way to rechannel it towards compassion, is what Buddha
           calls SAMMASATI -- right awareness, right remembering; what Gurdjieff calls self-remembering,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what Krishnamurti calls simply awareness, what I call meditation. They are all the same, different
           names indicating the same energy. You have to become alert, conscious of what you are doing.
                Try, when you are angry, to be conscious, and you will be surprised -- you are in for a great
           surprise. If you become conscious, anger disappears. And suddenly you have found a key, you have
           stumbled upon a secret. When sex dominates you and you are full of lust, close your eyes, sit silently
           and meditate on this energy that is surrounding you, this lust that is surrounding you like a cloud.
           Just watch it, see it. I am not saying be against it, because if you are against it you have already taken
           a standpoint. Now you cannot watch.
                For watching, the necessary step, the most necessary, is not to take any prejudice, not to
           conclude beforehand. Just remain silently watchful, neither for nor against. And within minutes you
           will be surprised that that great storm of lust is over. And when the storm is over, the silence that is
           left behind is so profound, is so great, such a blessing that you may not have felt it ever. No sexual
           experience can give you that beauty that will come if you watch your lust and through watchfulness
           the lust disappears. Then a silence comes to you which is virgin, which belongs to the beyond, which
           belongs to the other shore.
                HONOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT PASSION.... Hence Buddha says: If you can find a
           man who is without passion -- if you can find a christ or a buddha -- honor the man... for the simple
           reason that he has done almost the impossible: he has escaped from the ordinary bondage of
           humanity. He is no longer a prisoner, no longer a slave. He has asserted his individuality, his
           intelligence. He is no longer a fool. Wisdom has happened in his being. He is full of light; darkness
           has disappeared.

              HONOR THE MAN WHO IS WITHOUT PASSION,
              HATRED, ILLUSION AND DESIRE.


               And the moment passion disappears, hatred disappears, illusion disappears, desire disappears,
           because one feels so contented, one feels so utterly fulfilled. One feels one has come home. There is
           nowhere to go, nothing else to ask for or desire.
               Just think of those moments when there is no desire, when there is no tension, when your mind is
           absolutely quiet. Only then will you know God exists -- or it will be more right to say, godliness
           exists.
               WHAT YOU GIVE TO HIM.... If you give anything to Buddha... what can you give to him?
           You can give him your respect, you can give him your trust, you can give him your self, your
           surrender.

              WHAT YOU GIVE TO HIM
              WILL BE GIVEN BACK TO YOU,
              AND MORE.


                Whenever a disciple surrenders himself to an awakened master he becomes the richest person in
           the world. In his very surrender is victory. In his dropping of the ego he attains to beinghood. For the
           first time he is -- and in a very strange way, because he has dropped himself. But the one he has
           dropped was a false self, and when the false disappears, the real appears. When the false ceases to
           be, the real starts shining in all its glory, in all its splendor.
                Whatsoever you give to a buddha comes back to you a thousandfold.
                The disciple surrenders, the disciple opens his heart, and the buddha starts flowing into the heart
           of the disciple. The buddha is like a raincloud, so full of love, so full of truth, so full of ecstasy, that
           if you open your heart, if you are ready to drink out of him, you will, for the first time, feel a deep
           satisfaction. Your thirst will be quenched.
                That's why Jesus says: Eat me, drink me. He is not telling you to become cannibals! He is saying
           to you, "I am available. Just open your heart and let me in."
                When the awakened one knocks on your door, please open the door, because you may miss the
           opportunity and you may miss it for many many lives. It is very rare to come across a Buddha, a
           Christ, a Krishna, a Mahavira, a Mohammed. If you are fortunate enough to come across an
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           awakened person, then don't be miserly. Then drop yourself totally, then be committed totally.
                Just the other day somebody has asked, "You say: I am the gate. I have come here, I love you. I
           have come from far away, but I am not a sannyasin and I am not being allowed to see you. Then why
           do you say: I am the gate if I am not allowed to come through you?"
                You are allowed to come through me, but a few things you will have to leave at the gate: your
           shoes, your heads. That's what sannyas is. These are your two extremes, the two polarities: the shoes
           and the head. Leave both the extremes outside, then you are balanced. The very word 'sannyas'
           means a state of equilibrium, of balance, of absolute balance.
                I am the gate, but I am the gate only for those who are ready to pass through me. You have to pay
           the price -- and sannyas is the price. And if you love me, then love is always ready to sacrifice. And I
           am not asking for your money, I am not asking for your house; I am not asking anything of this shore
           from you. I am asking only for that which you don't have but you believe that you have. I am asking
           only for the false things: your beliefs, your ego, your hatred, your passion, your desires, your lust,
           your greed. I am asking for all your diseases! Give all your diseases to me; that's what sannyas is all
           about. Then I am the gate and I am ready. Come through me and you will find that which you have
           been seeking for lives together.
                But you can miss the gate if you are so miserly or so cowardly that you cannot take the jump into
           sannyas. Then what kind of love are you talking about? Love knows how to be committed, how to be
           involved. Love knows how to die and how to be reborn. Love is ready to pass through any fire
           because love knows, "Nothing can destroy me, not even fire can burn me." Love knows its eternity.
           Hence love is always courageous.
           Sannyas is courage, it is adventure.
                Buddha says: WHAT YOU GIVE TO HIM WILL BE GIVEN BACK TO YOU, AND MORE.
                Don't be worried and don't be miserly. Be open with me, be vulnerable, be receptive, so that I can
           pour myself totally in you. I am ready to be a guest in your heart, but you will have to be ready to be
           a host and you will have to cleanse your heart of all the weeds. You will have to empty your heart of
           all the junk that you have collected: of all the past, of all the memories, of all the belief systems, of
           all the philosophies, ideologies -- political, religious, social.
                When you are absolutely empty you can come in me, I can come in you. The meeting can
           happen. And that meeting is the greatest orgasmic experience of life.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                     Chapter #8
                                      Chapter title: Not gospels but gossips
           28 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002280
              ShortTitle: DHAM1008
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL LIKE SUCH A NO-SAYER. IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR NO-SAYERS?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Prem Jinesh, no-saying is a good beginning, but not a good end. No-saying is the seed;
           yes-saying is the flowering of it. The yes has to come through the no -- the no is the womb of the
           yes. If you cannot say no, your yes will be impotent. It won't have any meaning at all, it won't
           transform your life. It will be just on your lips, not in your heart.
               That's what has happened to the whole of humanity. People have been forced to become
           yea-sayers, theists, God-believers, without ever knowing the taste of no. The yes has been forced
           upon them. They have not arrived at the yes, the yes has been handed over to them, it is borrowed.
               It is a mere belief, and all beliefs are blind. They keep you blind, they keep you in darkness.
           They keep you stuck and stagnant.
               There is nothing wrong in saying no. No has as much beauty as yes. No is the way to arrive at
           yes. Use the no as a stepping-stone. Don't let it become a habit; be conscious about it, that's all. I
           cannot say to you to start saying yes, because that will be not yet ripe for you. Go on saying no as
           long as the no remains significant to you. The no will destroy all that is false, borrowed. It will
           negate all beliefs. It will create an empty space in you.
               In the East we call the whole process NETI, NETI -- neither this nor that. We have never
           condemned it.
               It cleans you of all rubbish, it purifies you. It is a fire. Passing through it is a necessary step you
           cannot avoid. Those who avoid passing through it, their yes is just parrotlike. You can teach the
           parrot anything and he will go on repeating it. He does not mean it. He has no heart within it, he
           simply says the words -- empty words, hollow words.

               A man was purchasing a parrot. He went to the pet shop. He liked one parrot -- very beautiful.
           He asked the price. The price appeared to be a little too much: the man was asking one thousand
           dollars.
               The purchaser asked, "Is that parrot worth that much?"
               The shopkeeper said, "You can ask the parrot himself."
               He asked the parrot, and the parrot said, "There is no doubt about it."
               He said it so convincingly. It appeared so natural. The man purchased the parrot, and he was very
           excited to show it to his wife, to his children. He brought the parrot home.
           He asked the parrot, "What is your name?"
           He said, "There is no doubt about it."
           The man said, "What?"
           He said, "There is no doubt about it!"
           The man asked, "Do you know anything else or not?"
           He said, "There is no doubt about it."
               The man said, "My God, I must have been a fool to purchase you!"
           The parrot said, "There is no doubt about it!"

               That was all that the parrot knew. You ask any question, the answer is the same. It has nothing to
           do with the questions, it has nothing to do with the reality, it is not a response. It is just like a
           gramophone record. It goes on repeating meaninglessly.
               The people who have been conditioned to say yes -- yes to God, yes to the religion, yes to the
           society, yes to the parents -- their yes is bogus, it has no substance. It is not even a shadow. Even
           shadows have something in them, but this yes is absolutely a nonentity. Parents teach you to respect
           the parents, say yes to them, be obedient. Of course, that is THEIR vested interest. And the priest
           says: Respect the priest, respect the Bible, the Koran, the Gita, respect the tradition, respect
           convention. That is HIS vested interest. And so on, so forth.
               Somebody asked George Gurdjieff, "Why has respect for parents been emphasized, in every
           religion, in every country, in every society? Is there something divine in it?" Gurdjieff laughed and
           said, "Yes. God knows perfectly well that if people are trained to say yes to the parents only then
           will they say yes to God. He has a vested interest in it" -- because God is the father figure, the
           ultimate father. And Gurdjieff also said, "Parents are sooner or later going to die, and then there will
           be a vacuum. You respected your parents, you were obedient to your parents, you were always
           following, imitating whatsoever they said. You were just a carbon copy. You will feel very empty --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so much so that you would like to fill your emptiness with something. And that is the place which
           God will start filling in you."
                He was joking. It is not God's vested interest. Of course it is the vested interest of the priests.
           God has no vested interest in anything. In fact there is no God as a person; God is only godliness.
                One need not believe in God, one need not be a yea-sayer. One should learn the process of
           saying no.
                So Jinesh, don't be worried. Say no boldly, courageously. Risk everything for the no. Slowly
           slowly, you will become aware that the no has limits. There are points when you cannot say no.
           When you explore the possibilities of saying no, you will come across certain spaces where
           no-saying is impossible and yes arises within your heart on its own accord, not as a conditioning, not
           because somebody has told you. Now it is your own flowering. And then that yes has beauty, then
           that yes has truth, that yes makes you a religious person. Otherwise you remain just imitators. You
           can imitate Christianity or Hinduism or Mohammedanism -- it does not matter whom you imitate.
                I have seen Christians becoming Hindus, Hindus becoming Christians -- they are the same
           people. Not only that, I have seen Catholics become communists -- they still remain the same people.
           I have seen communists become religious -- but still they are the same people. Just the object of
           worship changes. Gods go on changing. One God fails, another God is replaced -- but the worshipper
           is the same. Whether you worship Mohammed or Marx, Mahavira or Moses, it is not going to make
           any difference.
                If your yes has not come as a growth to you, then it is absolutely useless. Pass through this fire of
           no-saying, but remember only one thing: don't let it become a habit. It can become a habit, that is the
           danger. The danger is not in no-saying. The danger is that your no-saying may become mechanical.
           So say it consciously, that's all I can advise you -- say it consciously! Just don't go on saying it
           because you have become accustomed. That is as foolish as saying yes meaninglessly. If you say it
           as a habit, it is meaningless.
                There are theists and there are atheists, and they are all in the same boat. Somebody has been told
           from the very beginning that God is -- say yes and you will be saved. And somebody has been told
           there is no God -- say no and you are saved. And they both are repeating. Whom you are imitating is
           irrelevant.

               A man entered into a restaurant and ordered a cup of tea. He said, "P-p-please b-bring a cup of
           tea."
               Another man who was sitting across the table also repeated the same, "P-p-please b-bring a cup
           of tea."
               The first man looked at the second man in anger but didn't say anything. Then a third man
           entered and he asked that he should be brought a cup of tea.
               And the second man said, "Yes, bring another cup of tea for me too."
               Now the first man was really angry. He said, "Y-y-y-you have been imitating me!"
               And the second man said, "N-n-no. I am imitating HIM."

              But whom are you imitating? Does it matter? Imitation is imitation.
              People are imitators. The whole world is full of those imitators. You think those imitators are
           yea-sayers? You think those imitators are no-sayers? They are not saying anything, they are simply
           repeating whatsoever they have been told to repeat.
              So Jinesh, just remember one thing: don't let it become a habit. Be conscious of it and you will be
           immensely benefited.

           I have heard:
               One ex-Nazi was trying to hide the fact that he had been a stormtrooper. He decided to become
           an opera singer.
               When the night for his big debut came he walked on stage, looked at his audience and
           announced, "I am going to sing -- and you are going to listen!"

              Things become unconscious. You cannot hide them. Everybody else will be able to see them
           except you. If you can also see your habits, you start becoming a little detached, unidentified from
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them, a little aloof. And that very aloofness is a transcendence. Then you will be able to say when no
           is needed -- you will say no. And you will be able to say yes when yes is needed. You will not be
           fixated.
               To be fixated is insane. I don't want you to become yea-sayers; I want you to be conscious, alert,
           watchful, responsive. There are moments when your total being would like to say no. Then say no. If
           everything has to be risked, risk, but don't be false to your own being. And there will be moments
           when your whole being says, "Say yes." And then too, maybe there is great danger in saying yes, but
           say it. That's the way of the sannyasin, the really religious person.
               Don't become fixated. You can move from no-saying to yes-saying, and you can still remain
           unconscious and fixated. Then nothing has happened. Your disbelief has become belief, but you are
           the same person.

               Ira Schwartzbaum thought he was God. His worried parents, unable to convince him otherwise,
           finally took him to see a world-famous psychiatrist.
           Ira lay on the couch and closed his eyes.
           "Tell me," the psychiatrist asked him in an encouraging, sympathetic voice, "how did it all start?"
           "Well," Ira said, "on the first day I created the earth, then...."

                You can be fixated. And once you are fixated on a certain thing, when you cannot have a
           detached view of it, when you cannot create a distance between it and you -- you are insane. What
           your fixation is is not important. You may be a communist or a Catholic, Hindu or a Mohammedan,
           believer/disbeliever, no-sayer/yes-sayer -- it is all the same.
                Hence, Jinesh, don't be worried about your no-saying. Be conscious of it. Next time you say no,
           don't just say it out of habit, out of a past pattern. Reflect, watch, wait... and let a response arise in
           you. And you may be surprised -- a yes is born. And it will be born in you, it will not be imposed
           from the outside.
                Your freedom is a supreme value. Nothing is higher than that. But your freedom is possible only
           if you are not encaged in your habits, unconscious patterns of living. Change your gestalt from
           unconsciousness to consciousness. And I know that as you become conscious you will be able to say
           more yes than no.
                Ultimately a moment comes when life becomes just yes. But it is not fixation. You are still
           capable of saying no, not that you have become incapable of saying no. In fact, the greater is your
           yes, in the same proportion is your capacity to say no. You may not say... it may not be needed. Your
           understanding of life, your love affair with life may have brought you such tremendous joy that you
           may not like to say no. You may see the childishness of it, the stupidity of it, the stubbornness of it.
           You may see its poison and you may not say no, but that does not mean that you have become
           incapable of saying it. The more capable you are of saying yes, in the same proportion you will be
           capable of saying no too. But now everything will be decided by your conscious response.
                Ultimately the awakened person stops saying no. Not that he deliberately decides not to say no...
           it simply withers away just as dead leaves fall from the trees.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT AND SCARY TO SHOW YOUR FEELINGS AND JUST TO BE
              YOURSELF?


               Prem Deven, it is difficult to show your feelings and just to be yourself because for thousands of
           years you have been told to repress your feelings. It has become part of your collective unconscious.
           For thousands of years you have been told NOT to be yourself. Be Jesus, be Buddha, be Krishna, but
           never be yourself. Be somebody else. Down the ages you have been taught so continuously, so
           persistently that it has gone into your blood, into your bones, into your very marrow.
               A deep self-rejection has become part of you. All the priests have been condemning you. They
           have been telling you you are sinners, you are born in sin. Your only hope is that Jesus can save you,
           or Krishna can save you, but there is no hope as far as you are concerned -- you cannot save
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yourself, somebody else will save you. You are doomed, you can only pray to Jesus, to Krishna, to
           save you. As far as you are concerned you are just worthless, you are just dust and nothing more.
           You have no value, you have been reduced to ugly things, to disgusting beings. It is because of this,
           Deven, that one finds it very difficult and scary to show one's true feelings. You have been taught to
           be hypocrites.
               Hypocrisy pays, and whatsoever pays seems to be valuable. They say honesty is the best policy
           -- but remember, the best POLICY. Even honesty has become only a policy because it pays. If it
           does not pay, then? -- then DIShonesty is the best policy. The whole thing depends on what works,
           what pays, what makes you richer, more respectable, what makes you more comfortable, more safe,
           more secure, what gives you more nourishment for the ego -- that's the best policy. It may be
           honesty, it may be dishonesty... whatsoever it is, use it as a means; it is not an end.
               Religion also has become a good policy. It is a kind of insurance for the other world. You are
           preparing by being virtuous, by going to the church, by donating to the poor, for the other world.
           You are opening a bank account in paradise, so when you go there you will be received with great
           joy, angels shouting "Alleluia!", dancing, playing on their harps. How big a bank account you have
           there will depend on how many virtuous deeds you have done.
               Religion too has become business, and your reality is repressed. And the repressed people have
           been respected so much. You call them saints; they are really schizophrenic. They should be treated,
           they need therapy -- and you worship them. Out of your hundred saints, even if one turns out to be a
           real saint that will be a miracle. Ninety-nine are just hocus-pocus, pretenders, deceivers. And I am
           not saying they are deceiving you... they are deceiving themselves too. They are repressed people.
               I have known many mahatmas in this country, respected by the masses like anything. I have been
           very intimate with these people, and in their privacy they have opened their hearts to me. They are
           more ugly than you will find the ordinary people.
               I used to visit prisoners, to teach them how to meditate, and my observation was.... I was
           surprised in the beginning that prisoners -- even those who have been sentenced for their whole lives
           -- are far more innocent than your saints, are far better people than your saints, far simpler, far more
           innocent. Your saints are cunning, clever, and your saints have only one quality: that they are able to
           repress themselves. They go on repressing. Then naturally, they become split. Then they have two
           kinds of lives: one that they live at the front door, and the other that they live at the back door; one
           that they live as a showpiece, and the other -- the real one -- that they don't show to anybody. They
           are afraid even to see it themselves.
               And that's the case with you too, on a smaller scale, of course, because, Deven, you are not a
           saint. Your illness is not yet incurable, it can be cured. It is not yet so acute, it is not yet chronic.
           Your illness is just like the common cold: it can disappear easily.
               But everybody is influenced by these so-called saints, who are really insane people. They are
           repressed so much -- they have repressed their sex, they have repressed their greed, they have
           repressed their anger -- and they are boiling within themselves. Their inner life is very nightmarish.
           There is no peace, no silence. All their smiles are painted.

               I have heard of a beautiful woman who came from the West in search of peace. She went to the
           Himalayas. She had heard about a great saint who used to live in the caves. It was hard to reach to
           those caves, but you know Americans: the harder a thing is, the more they become interested; it
           becomes a challenge.
               So the American lady reached to that peak where the saint lived. He had lived there for thirty
           years absolutely alone. Not a single human being had visited him all this time, because Indians are
           very lazy; they don't bother to go that far. They have managed in a different way: every twelve years
           they gather in Allahabad and all the saints from all the caves come down so they can have all the
           saints together. They don't bother much to go to the Himalayas. Those who want to be worshipped
           come on their own.
               But the American lady reached with arduous effort, and she told the saint -- he was very old,
           ancient -- she told the saint, "I have come here in search of peace. I want peace of mind and peace of
           heart."
               The saint said, "Yes, you have come to the right place. You will be given both. Don't be worried,
           my daughter. It is not difficult. You will have peace of mind and peace of heart."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               She was very happy. At last somebody is so certain. She has seen many psychiatrists and
           therapists; they all said that it will take seven years, ten years of analysis, and then too there is no
           guarantee. This man is so certain, and he looks so silent, so happy... a man from a totally different
           world, so unearthly.
               But in the middle of the night the saint jumped into the bed of the woman. She was so shocked,
           for a few seconds she could not utter a single word. And the saint started making love, wild love, to
           the woman.
               And the woman said, "What are you doing? You had promised me peace of the mind and peace
           of the heart! And what are you doing?"
               He said, "First things first: piece of ass! We will take care of other things later on. One has to
           begin from the beginning."

               If you repress.... That was his problem. Peace of mind and peace of heart was not his problem; he
           must have been repressing for thirty years, and he had not seen even a single woman. And I don't
           know whether the woman was really beautiful or not, because if you don't see a woman for thirty
           years, any woman looks beautiful! Any woman looks like she is coming from the gods.
               Hindu scriptures are full of the stories that whenever a great saint reaches very close to attaining
           enlightenment, beautiful women come from the gods to disturb him. I have not been yet able to find
           out why the gods should be interested in disturbing these poor fellows. Some ascetic, fasting for
           years, repressing, standing on his head, torturing himself... he has not done any harm to anybody else
           except himself. Why should the gods be so interested in distracting him? They should really help
           him! And they send beautiful women... naked... and those women dance around and make obscene
           gestures to the poor fellow. Naturally he becomes a victim, he is seduced, falls from grace -- as if the
           gods are against anyone who is reaching closer to enlightenment. This seems so ridiculous. They
           should help. Rather than helping they come to destroy.
               But those stories should not be understood literally; they are symbolical, they are metaphors.
           They are very meaningful. Had Sigmund Freud come across those stories, he would have utterly
           enjoyed them. It would have been a treasure for him. It would have supported his psychoanalysis as
           nothing else. Nobody was coming; those repressed people were projecting. These were their desires,
           repressed desires -- so long repressed that now they have become so powerful that even with open
           eyes they were dreaming.
               So I don't know whether this woman was really beautiful, but she must have appeared beautiful
           to the so-called saint.
               In India, if a woman is sitting in one place, the saints are taught not to sit in the same place after
           the woman has left for a certain length of time, because that space vibrates with danger. Do you see
           the foolishness of it all? And these have been the teachers of humanity. And these are the people
           who have made you, Deven, scared of your own feelings -- because you cannot accept your own
           feelings. You reject them, hence the fear.
               Accept them, nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong with you! All that is needed is not repression or
           destruction. You have to learn the art of creating harmony in your energies. You have to become an
           orchestra. Yes, if you don't know how to play on musical instruments, you will create noise, you will
           drive your neighbors mad. But if you know the art of playing on the instruments you can create
           beautiful music, you can create celestial music. You can bring something of the beyond on the earth.
               Life is also a great instrument. You have to learn how to play upon it. Nothing has to be cut,
           destroyed, repressed, rejected. All that God has given to you is beautiful. If you have not been able
           to use it beautifully, it simply shows that you are not yet artful enough. We have all taken our lives
           for granted, and that is wrong. We are given only a raw possibility. We have been given only a
           POTENTIAL for life; we have to learn how to actualize it.
               That's what sannyas is all about, Deven. That's what all the devices are: meditation, therapies --
           all possible sources have to be used so that you can know how to use your anger in such a way that it
           becomes compassion, how to use your sex in such a way that it becomes love, how to use your greed
           in such a way that it becomes sharing. EVERY energy that you have can become its polar opposite,
           because the polar opposite is ALWAYS contained in it.
               Your body contains the soul, matter contains mind. The world contains God. Dust contains
           divineness. You have to discover it, and the first step towards discovery is to accept yourself, rejoice
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in being yourself. You are not to be a Jesus, no, you are not to be a Buddha. You are not to be me or
           anybody else. You have to be just yourself. God does not want carbon copies; he loves your
           uniqueness. And you can offer yourself to God only as a unique phenomenon. You can be accepted
           as an offering but only as a unique phenomenon. An imitation Jesus, Krishna, Christ, Buddha,
           Mohammed -- these won't do. Imitators are bound to be rejected.
                Be yourself, authentically yourself. Respect yourself. If God has given you life he respects you.
           And do you have higher standards than God himself? Love yourself. God loves you. And then start
           watching all kinds of energies in you -- you are a vast universe!
                And slowly slowly, as you become more conscious, you will be able to put things right, into right
           places. You are topsy-turvy, that is true, but nothing is wrong with you. You are not a sinner -- just a
           little rearrangement and you will become a beautiful phenomenon.

           The third question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               AM I WASTING ENERGY BY LOOKING TO OCCULTISM AS A WAY TO EXPLORE INNER SPACE?


               Mark, occultism is for stupid people. God is not hidden; God is very much manifested. He is all
           over the place: singing in the birds, flowering in the flowers. He is green in the trees, red in the roses.
           He is breathing in you. He is talking through me and listening through you right this very moment.
           But you don't want to see the obvious.
               Man has a very pathological interest in the occult. Occult means that which is hidden. Man wants
           to be interested in the hidden -- and there is nothing hidden! As far as God is concerned nothing is
           hidden. Just open your eyes and he is standing before you. Be silent and you will hear the still, small
           voice within yourself. Why go into occultism to explore inner space? Why not go directly into inner
           space? Occultism is so much nonsense, and there is no end to it because it is all invention. It is
           religious fiction. Just as there is science fiction, occultism is religious fiction. If you love fictions, it
           is perfectly okay. But then don't think that by reading science fiction you are studying science. And
           don't believe in science fiction, and don't act out of that belief; otherwise you will end up in a
           madhouse.
               Occultism is exactly like science fiction. People love fiction; there is nothing wrong in it, but you
           should know that it is fiction. Enjoy, but don't take it seriously.
               In Buddha's time there were eight great masters. Mahavira is well-known -- he was the last
           enlightened master of the tradition of the Jainas. He used to say there are three hells. One of his
           disciples became a renegade, betrayed him, declared himself to be a master, and he started talking
           about seven hells. He used to say to people, "Mahavira does not know much; he knows only about
           three hells and I know about seven." And naturally people were impressed. Mahavira talks only of
           three hells and he talks about seven!
               One great master was Sanjay Belattiputta, another contemporary of Buddha. He must have been
           a man something like me -- nonserious. He started talking about seven hundred hells. He said, "What
           is this Gosalak talking about? -- only seven? There are seven hundred, and there are seven hundred
           heavens too."
               He was joking, but people were very interested. This seems to be the right man, who has gone so
           deep into occultism.

               Once a follower of Radhaswami, a small sect which is confined to an area near Agra, came to see
           me. I was in Agra. He was some kind of a priest, and he said, "Do you know? -- our master has said
           there are fourteen planes of existence."
           I said, "Just fourteen?"
               He said, "What do you mean, 'Just fourteen'? Are there more?"
           I said, "Certainly."
               He said, "But our master has said there are only fourteen. Mohammed has reached only up to the
           third," he said -- he had brought a map -- "Kabir and Nanak have reached up to the fifth. And
           Mahavira and Buddha up to the seventh," and so on, so forth. But there has never been another who
           has reached up to the fourteenth except his so-called master.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I said, "I know your master. I have seen him struggling in the fourteenth. He is trying hard, but
           he cannot get out of it. I know it because I exist at the fifteenth. There are fifteen planes of
           existence."
               He said, "But you are the first man...." And he was much impressed. When he was leaving he
           touched my feet and he said, "You have revealed a new secret."
               I said, "Don't be foolish. I was just joking! There are only two categories of people: the people
           who are not aware and the people who are aware. The people who are aware have no hierarchy that
           one is more aware than the other, that somebody is at the fifth, somebody at the seventh, somebody
           at the ninth, somebody at the fourteenth. There is no higher and lower in awareness. Awareness is
           simply awareness."
               But he was not much interested in that. He was more interested in my being on the fifteenth
           plane.

           People are interested in religious fictions.
              Mark, don't waste your time in occultism, unless you are interested in novels, fictions. Then it is
           okay, then there is no problem....

               The lecturer on the occult was warming to his subject of supernatural manifestations.
           "Ah, my friends," he exclaimed, a look of dedicated zeal animating his face. "If you could but be
           made to believe! If only the world would cease its scoffing and come to realize that visitations from
           the Mystic Shore happen all the time."
               The lecturer searched the faces in his audience to find those sympathetic souls who agreed with
           his philosophy.
           "I have told you about my own experiences," he continued, "but surely one of you has also had direct
           communication with a departed spirit. If there is any such person here in this audience who has been
           in touch with a ghost, I would appreciate it if he or she would stand up."
               From her seat in the front row, Mrs. Faigel Frume got to her feet. "Me," she said loudly. "Such a
           experience I had you would not believe."
           "This is very gratifying," said the delighted speaker when the applause died down. "Behold, a
           volunteer witness; one who is a total stranger to me, arises to give her testimony. My dear lady, do I
           understand you to say that you have been in touch with a ghost?"
           "In touch with him?" echoed Mrs. Frume. "Better even than that. When I was a little girl in Russia
           one of them butted me till I was black and blue."
           "A ghost BUTTED you?"
           "A GHOST, you said? Gosh! I thought you said a GOAT!"

               Don't waste your time in ghosts and goats. If you want to explore inner space, explore inner
           space. How does occultism come in? That's a way of escaping from inner space, not exploring it.
           That's a way of keeping yourself engaged in sheer nonsense! And theosophy, particularly in this age,
           has released so much nonsense: hundreds of books and all kinds of foolish things. People are so
           gullible that they are ready to believe anything.
               Man today exists in a kind of vacuum. Old religions have died or are almost dying. Either they
           have died or they are on the deathbed; hence new creeds are cropping up everywhere, and all the
           new creeds need new fictions to allure you.
               I cannot give you any occult fiction. I am not interested in anything esoteric. I am a very
           down-to-earth man. I am simply stating the facts. I don't want to decorate them. I don't want to create
           illusions in your mind; I don't want to create projections in your mind. My effort here is to help you
           to go beyond the mind and all your occultism and esotericism, theology, anthroposophy -- and there
           are so many schools. You can create your own; there is no need to believe in anybody else's, you can
           create your own. All that you need is a pencil and paper; you can just go on writing your own fiction.
           That will be far more enlightening. At least it will be something creative. Then give your copy to
           somebody, and you will find a few believers. Then you will know how people go on believing in any
           kind of thing.
               J. Krishnamurti was brought up by theosophists. He was fed, spoon-fed with all kinds of
           occultism. He became so fed up that when the theosophists were going to declare him to be the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world teacher.... The day they had gathered from all over the world -- six thousand leading
           theosophists -- when they asked Krishnamurti to declare, he stood up and said, "I dissolve this
           organization. I am nobody's teacher. I am finished with it all, and I don't want to say anything more!"
               They were shocked, but as far as I see it, it is a logical conclusion. For years he was taught all
           kinds of nonsense by all kinds of stupid people. He was getting fed up with the whole thing. But old
           ladies, and particularly retired old people, were very interested. They were the majority of the
           theosophists -- retired people and old ladies who now had nothing else to do -- and they would
           gather and talk nonsense about ghosts and about Tibetan masters who come flying in the air, and
           about letters that Master K.H.... Now nobody knows who this K.H. is. His full name is Koot Humi.
           That too, nobody knows what it means. The less you understand, the better.
               Koot Humi -- in short K.H. -- used to write letters, until finally it was found that those letters
           were written by Blavatsky herself. A servant used to hide on the roof -- just think, just on the roof of
           Buddha Hall! -- and there was a small hole from where, when the theosophists would be sitting with
           closed eyes waiting for Koot Humi, he would drop a letter.
               Now, people are so foolish.... Just ordinary paper -- they could have seen what brand it was, in
           what factory it had been made -- ordinary ink, and the handwriting was Blavatsky's. Then the letter
           would be read, and those letters were collected, and they were great treasures. But in the High Court
           there was a case against one of the great theosophists, Leadbeater. He was a colleague of Annie
           Besant, and he was suspected of homosexuality. Just a dirty old man, that's all!
               So there was a case in the High Court against him, and in that case his servant confessed that he
           was the man who used to hide on the roof. He went and showed the hole and the place where he used
           to hide, and everything was discovered. Still, people go on reading those letters believing that Koot
           Humi wrote them.
               When people WANT to believe, when they are feeling empty, some belief is needed. They cling
           to anything, they don't listen... they don't listen to their own heart. They just need belief; so anybody
           is ready to supply it. Wherever there is demand there is supply. People need fictions, so there are
           other people -- clever, cunning people -- who go on supplying fictions.

              In a Catholic school, little Hans was asked to give an example of a dependent clause.
           "Our cat has a litter of ten kittens," he replied, "all of which are good Catholics."
           "That's excellent," said the teacher. "You have a good grasp on grammar as well as on our religion."
              The following week the bishop visited the school and the teacher called on Hans.
           "Our cat has a litter of ten kittens," said Hans, "all of which are good sannyasins."
           "That is not what you said a week ago!" snapped the teacher.
           "Yes," replied Hans, "but my kittens' eyes are open now."

              Be a little alert, be a little watchful. There are deceiving people all around; you can be easily
           deceived.

                Morrissey, the ventriloquist, was on his way down to a bar for a drink when a big shaggy dog fell
           in at his side.
                They went in, the ventriloquist ordered a scotch, and for a laugh he looked at the dog and said,
           "Well, are you having the usual?"
           "No, thanks, I have had enough this morning," said the dog.
                The barman was flabbergasted. He offered fifty dollars for the animal.
           "No, sir!" said Morrissey. "I have had him since he was a pup."
           "I'll make it a hundred dollars!" said the bartender.
                Morrissey shook his head. When the offer went to five hundred dollars the ventriloquist grabbed
           the money and headed for the door.
           "Alright," he added, "take good care of him." And with a last look at the dog, "Farewell, old pal!" he
           exclaimed.
           "Old pal, my foot!" said the dog. "After what you have just done I will never speak to another human
           being as long as I live!"

              Be aware of the cunning people, they are all around. Don't be exploited. Long enough humanity
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has been exploited by the cunning and the clever; it is time to put a full stop to it. Be a little more
           mature.
               If you want to explore inner space, meditate. Listen to what Buddha says: Quieten the mind,
           reflect, watch, and all darkness will disappear on its own accord, and you will be full of light.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOUR JOKES ARE FAR OUT! EASE UP A LITTLE ON THE PRIESTS.
              BELOVED MASTER, I REJOICE WITH EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT! I
              FEEL GOOD TO BE HERE, TO BE HOME AFTER YEARS OF SEARCHING.


               Deva Chintana, I am sorry if it hurts you. I know.... Deva Chintana has been a nun. She has been
           courageous. She dropped out of the monastery and became a sannyasin. And my jokes about the
           priests must be looking a little hard to her, naturally. I should have thought of her. I will be more
           careful in the future, Chintana.
           A joke for you:

               The pope died... and naturally assumed that he would go to heaven. So, dressed in all his papal
           finery, he went striding up towards the Pearly Gates, brushed past Saint Peter, and made straight for
           the entrance.
           "Hey, you! Where are you going?" shouted Saint Peter, and two guardian angels stepped forward to
           bar the way.
           "Look-a here," said the pope. "I am-a da popa and I...."
           "Who?"
           "Da Popa!!! I am-a da popa of da Catholic-a Church-a and I wanna go to heaven."
           "The pope?" said Saint Peter. "Never heard of you. We don't have anyone of that name in our books,
           do we, Gabriel? No, sorry sir, you cannot come in."
           "Hey, come on! I am-a da popa! You gotta let me in. Ask-a God da Father -- he knows me!"
               Saint Peter calls God the Father: "Hey, God, this is Saint Peter -- gate duty. Sorry to disturb you
           but there is a guy here who calls himself the popa and wants to come inside -- says you know him."
           "Who?" asks God the Father.
           "The popa."
           "Who?"
           "I think that's what he said."
           "No, never heard of him."
           "Sorry, Pope -- God the Father says he doesn't know you."
           "What? But leesten, I am-a da popa. He must know me! Look-a here, you ask God da Son. For sure
           he knows me -- I am-a his representative on da earth-a -- he must-a know me!"
               Saint Peter calls God the Son, but the answer is the same: "The pope? No, I've never heard of
           him!"
               The pope is in despair: "Look-a, you gotta help me. Ring-a the Holy Ghost -- for sure he knows
           me! I am da popa -- da popa of the Catholic-a Church-a, the spiritual representative of Jesus Christ-a
           on da earth-a!! He has just gotta know me!"
               Saint Peter calls the Holy Ghost. "Hmmm, the pope, you say!" answers the Holy Ghost. "Hmm,
           yes, I've heard that name before somewhere.... Wait a minute! He's that bastard who goes on
           spreading rumors about me and Virgin Mary. Tell him to go to hell!"

               Chintana, I will try my best. But the priests are the priests; they are the most ugly people on the
           earth, the most cunning and the most mean, although their appearance is totally different.
               And I am not saying that there are not some good people. Some good people are also caught in
           the net, but those good people are childish. Those good people are gullible, those good people are
           easily exploitable.
               Humanity has to get rid of priesthood, only then can there be religion. They have been very
           destructive. It is because of them that the world is not religious yet. They have divided humanity
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           instead of making humanity one whole. Much more blood has been shed in the name of religion than
           in the name of anything else. In fact, I am not really hard on them, I am very soft with them. They
           need to be hit harder. And when I am hitting them, I am not really hitting them, but simply hitting
           your conditioning.
               What do I have to do with the pope or the shankaracharya or the imam or Ayatollah
           Khomeiniac? I have nothing to do with these people. But when I hit them I am simply hitting the
           chains inside you that keep you in a bondage. My jokes about the priests are just to help you to come
           out of the prison, laughing. I don't want it to become a serious affair for you to come out of the
           prison, because if it becomes a serious affair you will be affected by your seriousness and you will
           carry that load with you. And there is every danger that you will start projecting your seriousness on
           me.
               I can free you from the priest very easily, but the danger is that you may start projecting all that
           you have been projecting on the priest, on me. That is not freedom at all; only your chains are
           changed.

           Someone else has asked me:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A COWARD AND I CANNOT TAKE SANNYAS. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME?


               Jesus was on the cross, a thief on either side of him. Suddenly the guards disappeared and they
           were alone. Seeing that there was no one around, Jesus addressed the two thieves.
           "Repent, my brethren!" he said. "Repent, and the Kingdom of God will be opened unto you. I will
           take you with me to the House of my Father. REPENT!"
               One of the thieves bowed down to Jesus, saying, "I repent, my Lord! Take me with you into the
           Kingdom of God!"
               The other thief turned his head away in disdain. "Stop all this crap!" he exclaimed.
           Jesus insisted, "Repent! Come to my feet!"
           "Fuck you!" replied the thief.
               Jesus looked at him compassionately, and said, "Tough luck, old bean! You won't be in the
           souvenir picture, that's all!"

              So don't be worried if you are not a sannyasin. If you cannot gather courage to be a sannyasin,
           you won't be in the souvenir picture, that's all. Don't take it seriously.
              My whole effort here is to make sannyas as nonserious as possible. I don't want to become a
           pope or a shankaracharya. I don't want to become a replacement for you, a substitute for you. I don't
           want to become a father figure to you. I want simply to be a friend.
              Hence my discourses are not ordinarily religious sermons. I am just chitchatting. They are not
           gospels, but gossips!
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                    Chapter #9
                                        Chapter title: Delight in meditation
           29 February 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8002290
              ShortTitle: DHAM1009
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 0 mins




              MASTER YOUR SENSES,
              WHAT YOU TASTE AND SMELL,
              WHAT YOU SEE, WHAT YOU HEAR.



              IN ALL THINGS BE A MASTER
              OF WHAT YOU DO AND WHAT YOU SAY AND THINK.
              BE FREE.



              YOU ARE A SEEKER.
              DELIGHT IN THE MASTERY
              OF YOUR HANDS AND YOUR FEET,
              OF YOUR WORDS AND YOUR THOUGHTS.



              DELIGHT IN MEDITATION
              AND IN SOLITUDE.
              COMPOSE YOURSELF, BE HAPPY.
              YOU ARE A SEEKER.


                Freedom is the ultimate goal of true religion -- not God, not paradise, not even truth, but
           freedom. This has to be understood because this is Gautam Buddha's essential message to the world.
           Freedom is the highest value according to him, the SUMMUM BONUM; there is nothing higher
           than that. But by freedom he does not mean political freedom, social freedom, economic freedom.
           By freedom he means the freedom of consciousness.
                Our consciousness is in a deep bondage; we are chained. Inside is our prison, not outside. The
           walls of the prison are not outside us; it exists deep in our unconscious. It exists in our instincts, it
           exists in our desires, it exists in our unawareness.
           Freedom is the goal.
           Awareness is the method to reach that goal.
                And when you are really free you are a master; the slavery disappears. Ordinarily we may appear
           free, but we are not free. It may appear that we are the choosers, but we are not the choosers. We are
           being pulled, pushed by unconscious forces.
                When you fall in love with a woman or a man, do you think you have decided it, it is your
           choice? You know perfectly well you cannot choose to love, you cannot force yourself to love
           somebody. You are not the master, you are just a slave of a biological force. That's why in all the
           languages the expression is 'falling in love' -- you FALL in love: you fall from your freedom, you
           fall from your selfhood. If love were your choice you would rise in love, not fall in love. Then love
           would be out of your consciousness, and it would have a totally different quality, a different beauty,
           a different fragrance.
                The ordinary love stinks -- stinks of jealousy, anger, hatred, possessiveness. It is not love at all.
           Nature is forcing you towards something which is not of your choice; you are just a victim. This is
           our slavery. Even in love we are slaves, what to say about other things? Love seems to be our
           greatest experience; even that consists only of slavery, even in that we only suffer.
                People suffer more in love than in anything else. The greatest suffering is that it deludes you -- it
           creates the illusion that you are the chooser, and soon you know that you are not the chooser; nature
           has played a trick upon you. Unconscious forces have taken possession of you, you are possessed.
           You are acting not on your own; you are just a vehicle. That is the first misery that one starts feeling
           in love, and one misery triggers a whole chain of misery.
                Soon you become aware that you have become dependent on the other, that without the other you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot exist, that without the other you start losing all sense of meaning, significance. The other has
           become your life, you are utterly dependent; hence lovers continuously fight, because nobody likes
           to be dependent, everybody hates dependence. Nobody likes to be possessed by somebody else
           because to be possessed means to be reduced to a thing. The whole humanity suffers for the simple
           reason that every relationship goes on reducing you, goes on making your prison smaller and
           smaller.
               Buddha says: This life is not true life. You are being lived, you are not really living. You are
           being lived by unconscious forces. Unless you become conscious, unless you take possession of your
           own life, unless you become independent of your instincts, you will not be a master. And without
           being a master there is no bliss, no benediction; life remains a hell.

           The first sutra:

               MASTER YOUR SENSES,
               WHAT YOU TASTE AND SMELL,
               WHAT YOU SEE, WHAT YOU HEAR.


                This sutra has been very misunderstood, misinterpreted, so much so that the Buddhists have
           taken exactly the opposite meaning of it. MASTER YOUR SENSES does not mean destroy your
           senses. If you destroy them, whom are you going to master? And that's what has been done for
           twenty-five centuries: Buddhists have been destroying the senses. That is easier, hence the mistake.
           It is difficult, arduous to master your senses. It needs great consciousness to master your senses; to
           destroy them needs nothing.
                If you want to make a beautiful house you will have to learn many things, but if you want to
           demolish it you need not learn anything. Anybody can demolish it, any madman can do that. In fact,
           a madman can do it faster than anybody else, quicker. You need not know architecture to demolish a
           building. Destruction needs no art, no intelligence.
                And that's how this sutra has been interpreted down the ages, for the simple reason that
           destruction is easier; any stupid person can do it. And your so-called saints are almost always stupid.
           It is very rare to come across a real saint who is a creative person. They are worshipped as saints
           because they have been successfully committing suicide -- slow suicide, of course -- destroying
           themselves slowly, poisoning themselves slowly. We have worshipped death, destruction. We should
           learn -- it is time now -- we should learn to love life and to love creativity, creation.
                MY understanding of this sutra is totally different. "Master your senses" means become more
           conscious of your senses, become more sensitive. Don't destroy them; otherwise you will be left
           without the doors and windows into creation, into God, into truth.

               There is a story of a Hindu mystic. I don't believe that it is true because I have been deeply
           impressed by that mystic's great sayings; they are so beautiful that it is impossible for me to conceive
           that he could have done such a thing.
               Surdas is his name. He was a blind man, not born blind; that's how the story goes. He destroyed
           his eyes himself because he saw a beautiful woman and became fascinated by her. She took his
           fancy, he started thinking of her -- and he was a monk. He destroyed his eyes because he thought it
           was these two eyes that had made him aware of her beauty. If these eyes were not there, he would
           not have been infatuated.

                I don't believe the story, but it is true of thousands of other people. My own experience is that
           Surdas must have been blind from the very beginning because his insight in his poetry is such that it
           is inconceivable that such a man will do such a stupid act.
                By destroying your eyes you cannot get freedom from women or from men. You can close your
           eyes, that will not make much difference. In fact with closed eyes women appear more beautiful than
           they are!
                That's why whenever you make love to a woman she closes her eyes; you appear more beautiful.
           Otherwise, looking at you she will become afraid, because on your face the expression of passion
           and lust can't be described as beautiful; it is ugly, it is animal. A man full of lust is nothing but an
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           animal. Women must have learned the art of closing their eyes seeing again and again that the man
           turns into an animal.

           I love a famous Zen anecdote:
               Two monks were coming back to the monastery; they had gone into the village to preach. It was
           evening, the sun was setting; soon it would be night. They came across a river. A young woman, a
           beautiful woman, was standing there on the bank hesitating whether to enter the river or not: it may
           be too deep, it appears very deep.
               The first monk -- the older one -- followed the Buddhist rule not to look at a woman. But that is a
           very strange rule: first you have to look, then only will you be able to see whether she is a woman or
           not. You can follow the rule only by breaking it! So he must have looked -- of course a stolen look --
           and then he must have looked down. The Buddhist rule is: Don't look more than four feet ahead.
           Such fear... and he must have been trembling inside. And he crossed the river.
               When he was crossing the river and was reaching the other shore, suddenly he remembered his
           younger fellow monk, who was also coming behind. What has happened to him? He looked back.
           The younger monk was carrying the woman on his shoulders! The older one was really enraged; in
           his rage there must have been jealousy also; otherwise why be angry?
               The younger one brought the girl to the other shore, left her there, and both the monks moved
           towards the monastery. For one mile the old man didn't say a single word. Then, when they reached
           to the gate of the monastery, the old man turned to the younger monk and said, "Listen, I will have to
           report it to the abbot. This is against the rules. Buddha has said: Don't touch a woman, don't look at a
           woman. You have not only seen her, you have not only touched her, you have carried her on your
           shoulders. This is too much! This is going against the law."
               I don't think that Buddha has said that. A man like Buddha cannot say such nonsense things. But
           twenty-five centuries of stupid interpreters have done as much harm as they can do.
               The young monk said, "But I have left the woman on the bank, far behind. Are you still carrying
           her on your shoulders?"

               It has a great truth in it: the old man was really still carrying her. You can see without seeing,
           you can carry without carrying, you can touch without touching. Man has great imagination.
               Hence I cannot believe that Surdas destroyed his eyes; otherwise it would be impossible for him
           to give such beautiful insights. He must have been a man of inner vision, of inner eyes, of great
           understanding. So I don't believe in the story, but the story is significant. It is true about so many
           so-called saints. It may not be true about Surdas but it is true about almost all so-called saints --
           Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian.
               In Christianity there has been a sect which used to cut off their genital organs -- just in order to
           transcend sex. If just by cutting off your genital organs you can transcend sex, things will be very
           easy. You can just go to the Sassoon Hospital and they will really do a butchery on you! They are
           official butchers, government butchers, recognized, authorized. But by removing your sexual organs
           you will not transcend sex; you may become more obsessed with sex than ever before.
               That's what happens to old people -- hence the expression, 'the dirty old man'. You don't say 'the
           dirty young man' -- why? The old man is called dirty for the simple reason that now all his sexuality
           has entered into his mind. His sex center has moved into his mind; it has become cerebral. Now he
           thinks about it only, he continually thinks about it. Physiologically he has become incapable; that
           does not mean that psychologically he has transcended it, that he has mastery of his sexuality -- no.
               By destroying your senses you don't, you can't become masters. Then what is the way to become
           the master?
               Buddha says: MASTER YOUR SENSES.... He could have simply said: Destroy your senses. But
           mastery is a totally different phenomenon; it needs great art, skill, awareness, meditativeness,
           watchfulness, alertness. Only then the senses will remain there. In fact, the master is more sensitive
           than the slave.
               My own understanding is that Buddha smells more deeply; his sense of smell is far deeper than
           yours. Your sense of smell is repressed, very much repressed. For centuries you have been
           repressing sex, and the sense of smell is very much connected with your sexuality. You have been
           repressing your sense of smell. You use so many perfumes just to hide the smell of your sexuality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Otherwise, when a woman has her period she smells differently; you can smell that she has her
           period. When a woman is sexually aroused she starts smelling differently; you can know just by her
           smell that she is sexually aroused. And the same is true about man: sexually aroused, his body starts
           smelling because there are great chemical changes happening inside him. They affect his body, his
           perspiration, his breathing, his blood.
               Man has been so much afraid of his sexuality: somebody may become aware, somebody may
           note what is happening to him. He has used clothes to hide his body, he has used perfumes to hide
           his natural smells. He has tried in every possible way to appear as nonsexual as possible. And we
           have had to repress our noses very much....
               You know the animals. They know through their noses whether the female is willing or not. Just
           the nose is enough to know whether the female is saying yes. Unless the nose says the female is
           saying yes, the male won't approach the female. That is aggression, that is rape. No animal ever
           rapes, remember, except man. Man is the only rapist animal in the world. I am not including the
           animals who live in the zoos because they have become more like human beings. Living in the
           company of human beings they have been distorted; otherwise no animal rapes. Love happens only
           when both the parties are absolutely willing. But man has lost his sensitivity of smell. It is because of
           the so-called religious teaching down the centuries.
               My understanding is that Buddha's sense of smell is far more clear than yours because there is no
           repression in him. His eyes see better than you can see because his eyes are not clouded by any
           prejudice, by any a priori conceptions. He hears perfectly well because his ears are not full of noise,
           his mind is silent.
               When the mind is utterly silent you are capable of listening. Then you are capable of listening to
           the song of the birds, a distant call of the cuckoo. Then you are able to listen even to the silence. Just
           now, listen to the silence... not only sound but soundlessness can be listened to. But you have to be
           noiseless.
               And you can start smelling people not only in their sexuality, you can start smelling their anger
           because anger also changes their body chemistry. You can start smelling their greed, their jealousy,
           their hatred. You can start smelling all kinds of emotions. The moment a person comes to you, if
           your mind is silent and your senses are clear, unclouded, without any fog, you can smell everything
           that the man is carrying. He may be smiling on the surface, but deep down you can see that he is
           angry, a hypocrite. Try smelling people -- their greed, their anger, their cruelty.
               And if you can learn to smell cruelty, anger, greed, slowly slowly you will be able to smell more
           subtle things: their compassion, their love, their prayer. Yes, even their meditativeness, their silence
           has its own fragrance. When a person is full of greed, he stinks of greed; when a person is full of
           silence, he exudes something of the beyond, something of the unknown.
               Buddha is not saying destroy your senses. He is saying master your senses, become more aware
           of your senses. Bring awareness to your senses so that they become more sensitive. They are doors,
           windows, bridges with existence. Without them you will be just a closed phenomenon, a Leibnizian
           monad, windowless. You will not see the light of the sun, moon, stars. You will not feel anything.
               Destroying your senses will simply mean you are killing yourself. You have five senses. Destroy
           your eyes and eighty percent of your life is destroyed -- eighty percent, because your eyes contain
           eighty percent of your life; eighty percent of your sensibility depends on your eyes. Hence we feel so
           much sympathy for the blind man. You don't feel that much sympathy for the dumb or for the deaf.
           Why, all over the world, do we feel so much sympathy for the blind man? -- because he is really
           suffering much. He can't see colors, he can't see the light -- and life consists of light and life consists
           of colors. It is a rainbow. He will remain utterly in the dark. He will not know what colorful
           existence was available. He will not know the butterflies and the roses and the marigolds. He will not
           know the green and the red and the gold of the trees. He will not know the faces of the people, he
           will not be able to look into the eyes of the people. His main bridge is broken.
               Destroy your ears, and something more dies in you. Destroy your tongue, and something more
           dies in you. When you have destroyed all your senses you are just a corpse, you are no longer alive.
           Life means sensitivity: more sensitivity and you have more life. So I cannot say destroy your senses
           -- you have already destroyed them. Revive them, rejuvenate them, pour energy into them. And the
           method to pour energy into them is by becoming aware.
               Sometimes just become aware of your ears, as if you are just the ears and nothing else, as if your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole body has become the ears. Just be ears, and you will be surprised that you become aware of
           such subtle noises, such subtle happenings around you that you have never been aware of. You may
           start hearing your own breathing, your own heartbeat. You may start hearing many things -- and you
           have lived always amongst these things, but you were never aware; you were so occupied into
           yourself.
               Buddha says: WHAT YOU TASTE AND SMELL, WHAT YOU SEE, WHAT YOU HEAR --
           MASTER YOUR SENSES. Bring your awareness to taste. When you are eating, forget everything
           else; just become your tongue, just your taste buds. Exist there in your totality. Taste your food as
           deeply as possible, and you will be in for a great surprise -- not one but many surprises.
               First you will become aware that you cannot eat more than is needed. You need not diet -- only
           foolish people diet. And you can diet for a few days, and then you jump upon the food with a
           vengeance, and you gain more weight than you have lost! If you are intelligent, bring your
           awareness to your taste. Why do you eat more? The simple reason is that you don't taste, and your
           hunger for taste remains, so you go on stuffing more. If you really taste, soon you will be satisfied,
           contented. Soon the body will say, "Stop!" And if you are alert you will be able to listen when the
           body says stop.
               Right now you are not there at all. You are eating, but you are not there, present. You may be in
           your office or you may have gone somewhere else, doing a thousand and one things. One thing is
           certain: that you are not at the table where you are sitting, you are always somewhere else. You are
           never where you are; you can't be found where you are. If you are really there, totally absorbed in
           eating, you will be surprised. The first thing will be that for the first time, food becomes something
           divine.
               The Upanishads say: ANNAM BRAHMA -- food is God. Such a beautiful statement: Food is
           God. These people must have tasted. Without tasting you cannot see God in food. These people can't
           be against food, they can't be for fasting, they can't teach you to starve your body. The people who
           have said: Annam Brahma -- food is God -- cannot be in favor of starving. Starvation cannot be
           anything spiritual.
               Eat, but eat meditatively, silently. When you are eating you are talking. Don't talk, because if you
           are talking you will miss the joy of absorbing God into yourself. You will miss the joy of eating, and
           when you miss the joy of eating, your hunger for taste goes on asking for more, so you go on
           stuffing. And that seems to be nonending. People are stuffing the whole day and still it seems they
           are not satisfied. Eating twice may be enough or at the most thrice, but people are eating the whole
           day -- particularly Americans! If they are not eating they won't know what else to do. Just doing
           something with the mouth keeps them occupied. If they are not eating they are talking, if they are not
           talking they are smoking, if they are not smoking they are chewing gum -- as if the mouth has to
           remain continuously occupied.

               Stan and Sid, both on the road with noncompeting merchandise, usually traveled together,
           sharing the same car and hotel rooms to save money.
               One evening the two friends registered at a small hotel in Schenectady, and Stan immediately sat
           down to write his wife a letter.
               Sid happened to notice his buddy's unusual salutation. "Tell me something, Stan," he said
           curiously. "How come you always address your wife as 'Dear AT&T'? Is she a big investor?"
           "No, nothing like that," answered Stan. "AT&T does not stand for American Telephone &
           Telegraph. It means 'Always Talking & Talking'."

               People are continuously talking, particularly women more so -- for the simple reason that man
           has taken every other avenue from them. They are left only with one thing -- talking; they are not
           allowed anything else. Every other door has been closed, so their whole energy is turned into talking.
           They are talking because their minds are too noisy and they have to pour them out: it is a kind of
           catharsis. Even when you are eating you are talking. How can you taste food and how can you be
           sensitive to taste?
               When you go into the garden you are talking. If you are not talking with somebody else you are
           in a constant dialogue within yourself. You divide yourself into many persons, you make a crowd
           inside yourself. You are questioning and answering within yourself. You don't look at the flowers.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You don't feel the fragrance, the joy of the birds, the celebration of the trees. You don't allow
           yourself any sensitivity, any opportunity to be more sensitive, to be more available to existence, to
           be more vulnerable.
               Sensitivity means openness, vulnerability, availability.
               Buddha says: MASTER YOUR SENSES, WHAT YOU TASTE AND SMELL, WHAT YOU
           SEE, WHAT YOU HEAR.
               People are either talking or reading newspapers or listening to the radio or watching the
           television -- even five hours, six hours per day, watching television, destroying your eyes! And there
           is so much to see, and you are sitting before a box, glued to your chair!

               In his heavenly abode, the patriarch Abraham lit the shabbes candles and then, over a glass of tea
           and lemon, he settled back to read the 'Forvetz'.
               Suddenly, from down below on Earth, he heard a raucous tumult.
           "Now, who could be desecrating the Sabbath like that?" he wondered.
               With his new laser telescope, he looked down and there he saw a crowd of at least eighty
           thousand people in the Houston Astrodome watching a baseball game. A quick count showed him
           that over thirty thousand Jews were among the spectators. Outraged, he picked up the phone and
           dialed G-O-D. After a few rings, the boss picked up the receiver.
           "Hello," said Father Abraham, "that you, Joe?"
           "Now look here, Abe -- the name is Jehovah! Show a little respect!"
           "Alright, Jehovah, then. I have a complaint."
           "What is it this time? Those people from the New Testament picking on you again?"
           "Nothing like that. But you really must do something about all that goyishe conduct back on Earth.
           Did you know that at this very minute thirty thousand Jews are watching a baseball game at the
           Astrodome?"
           "You got something against baseball?"
           "No, of course not. But that is not the point. This is Friday evening and it seems to me our people
           ought to be a little more observant of the holy day."
           "What is the big attraction they are all watching the game?"
           "Hank Aaron is coming to bat and he is about to break Babe Ruth's record."
           "You are absolutely right, Abe. That is no excuse for them to act like a bunch of wild Republicans.
           Call me back after the game and I will do something about it.... And by the way, what channel is it
           on?"

               Not only man but even God is glued to his chair, looking at the television!
               Buddha says: Whatsoever you are doing... small things -- eating, walking, drinking water, taking
           a bath, swimming in a river -- whatsoever you are doing -- lying down in the sun -- be utterly there,
           be totally there. Become your senses. Come down from the mind to the senses, come back to the
           senses.
               And what the Buddhists have done for twenty-five centuries is just the opposite: they have gone
           more and more into the head, they have destroyed their senses completely. They have become dead
           as far as their bodies are concerned. Only their heads are continuously working, occupied day and
           night in great interpretations. And they have created so many absurd laws in the name of Buddha
           that you will not believe it. Thirty-three thousand laws and rules to be followed; even to remember
           them is impossible. Thirty-three thousand laws and rules to be followed!
               Buddha knows only one law and that is awareness -- and that's enough; it takes care of
           everything. He gives you the master key; you need not carry thirty-three thousand keys with you.
           Otherwise, whenever the time arises to open a lock you will be at a loss, searching into those
           thirty-three thousand keys! I don't think you will be able to find the right key. It is impossible to find
           the right key, because that's how things work. If you are supposed to take two pills, open the bottle
           and they will always come in threes, never twos! If you are supposed to take three pills, they will
           come in twos, they will never come in threes. Life is very mysterious!
               Thirty-three thousand keys... and you think you will be able to find the right key when you come
           across a lock? Impossible... or it will take thirty-three thousand lives for you to find it; by that time
           the lock will be gone. Either you will have the key or you will have the lock, but never both at the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same time. In your unconsciousness how can you carry thirty-three thousand laws?

              Mulla Nasruddin came home one night late, utterly drunk. He was trying... and he had only one
           key, but it wouldn't go in the lock because he was trembling and shaking.
              The policeman came to see because for half an hour Mulla was trying and trying. And he said,
           "Wait! Give me the key, I will open it."
              He said, "No need to bother with the key. You just hold the house in place and I can open it!"

               In your unconsciousness, thirty-three thousand keys! You will be burdened. That's what has
           happened to Buddhism. That's what has happened to all the religions. So many laws and so many
           rules that people have become burdened so much with them, they have forgotten all about them.
               Religion is very simple. It consists of a single law -- awareness -- and that is the master key.
           Make each act of your life full of awareness. Focus your awareness on each act, and that very
           focusing transforms it, because when you give your awareness to anything it becomes alive; you are
           pouring your life into it. Your senses will become totally sensitive, and because you are aware you
           will remain the master. Slavery means unawareness.

                Karl the Knaidel, King of Kansas City, had everything in life that a man could ask for, except for
           one thing: he wanted a grandson to carry on the family name, to say nothing of the family business.
           So he was understandably happy when his bachelor son told him one evening that he had fallen in
           love and was planning to marry.
           "It is a smart thing you are doing," advised Karl. "Until a man marries he is incomplete."
                He pondered the wisdom of his own statement for a moment or two and then added solemnly,
           "He is not only complete -- he is finished!"

               And you are not falling in one thing -- in love -- you are falling in a thousand things -- in anger,
           in greed. You are continuously falling, falling victims of some unconscious forces within you that
           you have carried from your animal heritage.
               We have to make our unconscious full of light. No nook or corner should be left without light
           inside you. Only one tenth of our mind is conscious; nine tenths is in darkness, deep darkness. We
           are like an iceberg: one tenth shows up, nine tenths is hidden underneath -- and that nine tenths is
           nine times more powerful.
               So you may decide something, but you will not be able to follow it; that nine tenths will destroy
           it any moment. You may decide to get up tomorrow early at five o'clock, but this decision is only by
           the one tenth of your mind; nine tenths is completely unaware of your decision, absolutely unaware
           of your decision. So when in the morning the alarm goes, nine tenths of the mind says, "What is the
           hurry? And it is so beautiful and so cozy and so warm. And that Dynamic Meditation can wait!
           Tomorrow we can meditate." And of course, the tomorrow never comes. And when you wake up you
           will feel guilty -- but this is again not the mind that stopped you from waking up which is feeling
           guilty; that is another one tenth which is feeling guilty.
               And this goes on your whole life, this hide-and-seek. One part decides, another part cancels. And
           the part that cancels is nine times more powerful. You have decided many times not to be angry
           again, but all your decisions are impotent because that nine times more powerful unconscious is
           always there and it won't allow the one tenth to take possession, to be powerful.
               Hence the transformation is not through decisions, through taking vows; the transformation
           needs a totally different approach. You have to change your unconscious slowly slowly into
           consciousness. That's what meditation is all about: it is making your light grow bigger, spreading it
           deeper, slowly slowly diving deeper into your own being.
               As more and more of your unconscious is reclaimed by the consciousness your decisions will
           start becoming great fulfillments. Then you can promise yourself something. Right now all your
           promises are false; you know they are not going to work. You know you have failed so many times
           and you know you will fail again; but you go on hoping -- hoping against hope.
               The ordinary religion taught in the temples and the churches by the priests teaches you character.
           The real religion -- the religion of the buddhas, the awakened ones -- teaches you consciousness, not
           character. Character is a by-product; when you are conscious, character comes on its own accord.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The ordinary religion teaches you conscience; it is cheap. The buddhas teach you consciousness, not
           conscience.
           Buddha says:

              IN ALL THINGS BE A MASTER
              OF WHAT YOU DO AND WHAT YOU SAY AND THINK.
              BE FREE.


               Man can be divided into four parts. The outermost circumference consists of action, what you do.
           The second layer, a little deeper than your action, consists of your saying, what you say. A little
           deeper, the third layer consists of your thinking, what you constantly think. And the fourth is not a
           layer; the fourth is your reality, your being. That is your center, the center of the cyclone. Your
           center, your being is surrounded by three concentric circles: thinking, saying, doing.
               Buddha says: IN ALL THINGS BE A MASTER OF WHAT YOU DO.... Are you aware of what
           you are doing? Are you doing it consciously or just because others are doing it? Are you an imitator,
           just following the crowd like a sheep? Be a man, don't be a sheep! Don't follow the crowd, be
           individual. Only then can you be a master; only individuals can be masters. In the crowd you have to
           be a slave; the crowd consists of slaves. The crowd wants you to remain a slave; only then the crowd
           remains powerful. All the politicians and all the priests of the world want you to remain slaves; only
           then can they be priests and can they be great leaders. Otherwise who will follow your stupid
           leaders? Who is going to follow your so-called religious priests?
               If you are a little alert, aware, you will be able to see perfectly well that your leaders are
           hocus-pocus, that your priests are pseudo, that you need not follow them, that following them you
           have been falling in ditches. Who is going to follow Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin or Ayatollah
           Khomeini? Who is going to follow these people? Only slaves, only people who don't know what
           they are doing.

               A young sports car enthusiast saved up enough money to buy the latest model of sports car.
               After trying out the car, he went to his favorite pub to brag to all his friends about it. "Shit, man
           -- my new car is so fantastic! I just went from London to Liverpool in one hour!"
               The next day he was back at the pub again, bragging to his friends. "Today," he said, "I made it
           from London to Liverpool in forty minutes!"
               The day after, the young sports car enthusiast was again at the pub. "Today," he said, "would you
           believe it? London to Liverpool in twenty-eight minutes!"
               After an absence of two days, to the astonishment of his friends, the young man arrived at the
           pub on foot.
           "Where is your car?" asked his friends.
           "I've sold it," he replied sadly.
           "But why?" they asked incredulously.
           "I could not help it," he told them. "What the fuck was I supposed to do in Liverpool every day?!"

               But people go on doing it! This man must have been a little intelligent. They go on going to
           Liverpool, never thinking why. Why do you go to the church? Why do you go to the synagogue -- or
           to the mosque, or to the temple? Why do you go on following stupid ideologies, ridiculous
           politicians? Why? You have never asked.

               I have heard about a man who went to the court and wanted his name changed. The magistrate
           was a little puzzled, but he could not object. He was puzzled because the new name that he had
           chosen was very strange. His new name was 'None of the above'.
           The magistrate said, "What kind of name is this?"
               He said, "But this is what I want." So he was allowed. He changed his name; he became 'None of
           the above'.
               Then he stood for president. Then the secret was known. All other candidates who had stood for
           president objected because this man is dangerous: his name is 'None of the above'. Anybody marking
           his name on the vote list, on the vote, means canceling everybody! They objected. The man was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           called back to the court.
           The court said, "Your name is a little deceptive."
               He said, "Whatsoever it is, it is my name and I want to change the president. I want to give
           people a chance to cancel everybody else. I am not interested in being the president myself; my
           whole interest is to cancel all the others, because everybody knows they are all fools, but you have to
           choose somebody. So I simply want to give them a chance: if they want to reject all, they can reject.
           They can simply mark on my name: 'None of the above'."

               If you look at the situation of the world you will be able to see what these politicians and the
           priests have done to humanity: they have made it a hell. There is no need to ask for any proof. Now
           there is no need to ask whether hell exists or not. Politicians and priests, in a deep conspiracy, have
           made it a reality on the earth. Who is going to follow them? That's why they don't want you to be
           intelligent, they don't want you to think, they don't want you to be alert. They want you to live in a
           kind of deep sleep. They want you to be machines, not men.
               Buddha says: IN ALL THINGS BE A MASTER -- so that you are not reduced to a machine --
           OF WHAT YOU DO....
               Watch what you are doing and why. Is it worth doing? Is it worth wasting your life and your
           breath? Are you just doing it because you don't know what else to do? It is better to do nothing than
           to do something without knowing why, without knowing what. ... OF WHAT YOU DO AND SAY
           AND THINK.
               You go on saying things and you suffer much because of your sayings. And many times you
           have decided not to say such things because unnecessarily you get into trouble; you say something
           and you are in trouble. But still you will go on saying the same things and getting into the same
           troubles, as if you never watch yourself, what you are doing. You are moving like a somnambulist in
           your sleep.
               And have you ever looked at what you think? Have you ever looked inside? You will be
           surprised: you are carrying many many mad people inside you. But nobody looks inside; people are
           continuously occupied on the outside. Nobody thinks what he is doing, what he is saying, what he is
           thinking.

               Rabbi Isaacs was quite fond of the Shapiro family whose members were long-time congregants
           of his temple. So it was understandable that he would react sympathetically when they asked him to
           have a serious talk with their daughter, Rachel, who was unmarried but pregnant again for the third
           time.
               He confronted the young lady on the following evening. "I can't understand how a nice Jewish
           girl could allow such a disgraceful thing to happen," he began severely. "Three times yet! I suppose
           the babies all have different fathers!"
           "Ah no!" said Rachel. "It is the same fellow."
           "He is single, this man?"
           "Certainly. You think I would go with a married man?"
           "Then why don't you marry him?" demanded the rabbi.
           "Well, frankly," Rachel answered with complete candor, "he does not appeal to me."

                Just look at yourself and you will not laugh at Rachel. People are living with each other not
           knowing why.
                So many people come to me, they write letters to me. They say, "I am living with a man for
           fifteen years. I don't know why because all that he gives me is misery, suffering!" Maybe that's why
           -- because you are a masochist. You love being miserable, you want to suffer. That man is giving
           you good service! And people write to me, "I am living with a woman and my life is hell." But why
           are you living with that woman? Nobody is forcing you. People say to me, "I am working in a job
           that I hate" -- but why? Get out of it immediately! Walk out of it!

              I was a professor in the university. One day I was talking to the vice-chancellor and I told him,
           "This whole thing is nonsense. Just give me a piece of paper so I can write my resignation."
              He said, "What are you doing? Are you mad? Such a good job, so little work!" He said, "I know
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           perfectly well that you don't do even that!" And that was true! "Why are you leaving?"
           I said, "It is just nonsense. Enough is enough!"
               He said, "But wait! I have been in this business for thirty years -- I also know it is all nonsense.
           But how can you leave like this? I have not been able to leave this. Many times I have decided, but
           now look -- I have succeeded. I have become the vice-chancellor. One day you may become the
           vice-chancellor."
           I said, "Forget all about it!"
               He rushed... when he saw me leaving his office, he rushed out. He pulled me back inside. He
           said, "What are you doing? Think it over!"
               I said, "Finished is finished! I don't think twice!"
               He thought I was ill or something, or I had taken some drug. He said, "Wait! I don't think you are
           in a state to drive back home. I will come with you."
               I said, "You don't be worried. In fact, this is the first time I am perfectly sane! I was insane when
           I joined this university!"
               But he came with me just to see whether I could drive back home. For two or three days he
           continued to come. He said, "You think. I am still keeping your resignation, I have not sent it. I have
           not told anybody."
           I said, "That's up to you. I am not coming back."
               The fourth day he said, "You are really a man! I have also thought many times to divorce my
           wife -- I could not. And now I have seven children!" Seven children from a wife you always wanted
           to divorce.... So what were you doing with her?
               I asked him, "Are those children really yours? If you wanted to divorce the woman, why were
           you making love to her?"
           He said, "You are right, but what else to do?"
               And for thirty years he had been thinking to drop out of the job, because he always wanted to be
           a musician. And now the poor fellow is dead -- just two years ago he died. He could never become a
           musician; he died a vice-chancellor. What a failure! What frustration! But that's how things are.

               Watch your life. Buddha is all for watchfulness. IN ALL THINGS BE A MASTER OF WHAT
           YOU DO AND SAY AND THINK. BE FREE. If you can be a master, if you can be watchful,
           freedom comes on its own accord. Freedom is the shadow of being a master of your life.

              YOU ARE A SEEKER.


                Remember, always remember. Buddha insisted again and again: Remember you are a seeker.
           You are seeking your true home; you have not yet found it. Many lives you have been seeking, this
           life also you are seeking. Have you found it? Don't waste your time, don't go astray. Pour your whole
           energy into seeking, because nobody knows about tomorrow. This may be your last day. Find it so
           that you can live joyously and you can die joyously. YOU ARE A SEEKER.

              DELIGHT IN THE MASTERY....


               The only delight in life is when you master something. And when a man has mastered all his
           being -- his action, his saying, his thinking -- his delight is infinite. DELIGHT IN THE
           MASTERY....

              OF YOUR HANDS AND YOUR FEET,
              OF YOUR WORDS AND YOUR THOUGHTS.


              Buddha never divides your bodymind. He says: Be a master of both because you are
           psychosomatic, you are bodymind. So be a master of your body and be a master of your mind. Then
           you will know who you are. Then you will know the master is you beyond bodymind. Then you will
           know you are pure consciousness.
10/28/07                                                     Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              DELIGHT IN MEDITATION....

              Delight in silence, stillness; that is meditation.



              AND IN SOLITUDE.


               Delight in being alone. Enjoy being alone as much as feasible, as much as practical. Delight in
           solitude.

           Sitting silently, doing nothing,
           The spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

               If you can sit silently doing nothing, the spring is not far away, the spring is bound to come. It
           always comes in silence. It always comes when you know how to delight in your aloneness because
           only then are you independent. If you delight in others' company you are dependent. If you feel
           lonely when you are alone you don't know aloneness yet.
               Loneliness and aloneness are two different things, notwithstanding what the dictionaries say. In
           dictionaries they are synonymous, but in existence they are totally different. Loneliness is negative.
           It means you are dependent, you are hankering for the other, you are suffering. Your being alone is
           not a joy, it is a misery. You want to be occupied.

               The zookeeper guided the visitors to the next cage. "Now here, ladies and gentlemen, we have
           the laughing hyena. Now, the laughing hyena has sex on only one night in the year."
           "Well, what has he got to laugh about then?" asked a young lad in the group.
           "Aha! Well, tonight's the night!"

               People are happy with others, but that happiness is dependent; it can be taken away. It WILL be
           taken away, it is bound to disappear. It can't be permanent, it is momentary.

               Raleigh Rosenblum, the romantic young bachelor of Palm Beach who was also a big spender,
           telephoned the girl he had just met the night before. She was not only gorgeous but had also proved
           to be a real swinger. He wanted another date. To his surprise, however, she turned him down.
           "How come you are refusing to go out with me tonight?" he demanded. "Only yesterday you said
           there was something about me you adored."
           "There was, baby," she crooned in a husky voice, "but you spent it."

               All happiness that is dependent on others is bound to disappear sooner or later. It is temporary, it
           is momentary, it is illusory. Only that joy is yours which wells up within your own being. Hence
           Buddha says: DELIGHT IN MEDITATION, delight IN SOLITUDE.
               Aloneness is the joy of being just yourself. It is being joyous with yourself, it is enjoying your
           own company. There are very few people who enjoy their own company. And it is a very strange
           world: nobody enjoys his company and everybody wants others to enjoy his company! If they don't
           enjoy he feels insulted -- and alone he feels disgusted with himself. In fact, if YOU cannot enjoy
           your own company, who else is going to enjoy it?
               Aloneness, solitude is positive. It is overflowing joy for no reason. It is our very nature to be
           joyous; hence there is no need to depend on anybody else. There is no other motive in it, it is simply
           there. Just as the water flows downwards, your being rises upwards. Just give it a chance -- give it
           solitude. And remember again, solitude is not solitariness, just as aloneness is not loneliness.

              COMPOSE YOURSELF, BE HAPPY.
              YOU ARE A SEEKER.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha reminds you again: YOU ARE A SEEKER. COMPOSE YOURSELF.... Be harmonious,
           be graceful. Learn the art of being alone and yet utterly happy. Then one day, in that solitude,
           something starts happening which you had never expected. Something immense, something vast
           descends in you. Something of the beyond penetrates you. A great uplift, a great feeling of levitation
           arises in you. You are being uplifted, you start rising towards the ultimate. Call that ultimate God,
           truth, whatsoever you prefer to call it. Buddha calls it freedom, nirvana: cessation of the ego,
           freedom from the ego, freedom from all bondage, freedom from all dependence on others. And you
           become unbounded, you become as vast as the sky: even the sky is not your limit.

              MASTER YOUR SENSES,
              WHAT YOU TASTE AND SMELL,
              WHAT YOU SEE, WHAT YOU HEAR.



              IN ALL THINGS BE A MASTER
              OF WHAT YOU DO AND WHAT YOU SAY AND THINK.
              BE FREE.



              YOU ARE A SEEKER.
              DELIGHT IN THE MASTERY
              OF YOUR HANDS AND YOUR FEET,
              OF YOUR WORDS AND YOUR THOUGHTS.



              DELIGHT IN MEDITATION
              AND IN SOLITUDE.
              COMPOSE YOURSELF, BE HAPPY.
              YOU ARE A SEEKER.

              Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                   Chapter #10
                                      Chapter title: Love is its own reward
           1 March 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8003010
              ShortTitle: DHAM1010
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 21 mins
              Q2 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I TAKE MYSELF AND EVERYTHING SO SERIOUSLY?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Prembodhi, the ego can exist only if you take yourself and everything seriously. Nothing kills the
           ego like playfulness, like laughter. When you start taking life as fun, the ego has to die, it cannot
           exist anymore. Ego is illness; it needs an atmosphere of sadness to exist. Seriousness creates the
           sadness in you. Sadness is a necessary soil for the ego. Hence your saints are so serious, for the
           simple reason that they are the most egoistic people on the earth. They may be trying to be humble,
           but they are very proud of their humbleness. They take their humbleness very seriously.
                The real saint cannot be serious. The really religious person has to be a celebrant. Just look
           around... look at the trees -- are they serious? Look at the birds, listen to them -- are they serious?
           Look at the stars, the moon, the sun -- are they serious? Existence is utterly nonserious; it goes on
           dancing. It is an eternal celebration, it is a festivity.
                Only man is serious, because only man has been trying to create a separation between himself
           and existence. He doesn't want to be part of the whole, because then he disappears. He wants his own
           identity, his own name, his own form, his definition. Even if it creates misery it is okay, even if he
           has to live in hell he is ready for it.
                Once George Bernard Shaw was asked where he would like to go after he dies -- to hell or to
           heaven. He said, "Wherever I can be the first, I don't want to be the second" -- and in heaven there is
           no chance to be the first, because so many saints have already reached there: Jesus and Zarathustra
           and Mahavira and Buddha. Who will take note of poor George Bernard Shaw? He is willing to go to
           hell if he can be the first there.
                Ego wants to be the first, ego wants to put everybody below itself; hence it takes itself seriously.
           Hence it is perfectionist: it demands perfection, which is impossible. Nobody is perfect; nobody can
           exist for a single moment if he is perfect. Imperfection is the way of life, because it is possible to
           grow only if you are imperfect. If you are perfect there is no more growth, no more evolution. If you
           are perfect you are stuck. Perfection means death; imperfection means flow, growth, movement,
           dynamism.
                The ego demands perfection of oneself and of others too. It asks for the impossible, and because
           the impossible cannot be achieved it can go on living. It is not happy with the ordinary; it wants the
           extraordinary, and life consists only of the ordinary. But the ordinary is beautiful, the ordinary is
           exquisite. There is no need of anything extraordinary. The ordinary life is sacred, but the ego
           condemns it as mundane. It demands extraordinary life. Hence all the religions go on inventing
           stories about their founders which are all untrue: Moses separating the sea, Jesus walking on the
           water... all these stories are inventions, lies, created by the followers just to prove that their master is
           extraordinary; he is not an ordinary human being.
                In fact, the truth is that you cannot find a more ordinary human being than Buddha, Mahavira,
           Jesus, Moses, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu. They are so simple! They have accepted themselves as they are.
           They live in suchness, in TATHATA. They don't hanker for any perfection. They are perfectly at
           ease with the imperfect world, utterly contented with it. And they don't take themselves so seriously
           that they have to attain to great heights, great peaks, that they have to surpass everybody. They are
           not insane! They are beautiful people, and their beauty consists in having accepted the ordinary as
           the extraordinary, the mundane as sacred.
                Prembodhi, you ask, "Why do I take myself and everything so seriously?"
                Everybody takes himself and others seriously. That's the way of the ego to exist. Start being a
           little more playful and you will see ego evaporating. Take life nonseriously, as a joke -- yes, as a
           cosmic joke. Laugh a little more.
                Laughter is far more significant than prayer. Prayer may not destroy your ego; on the contrary, it
           may make it holy, pious, but laughter certainly destroys your ego. When you are really in a state of
           laughter, have you observed? -- the ego disappears for a moment. You are again a child, giggling.
           Again you have forgotten that you are special. You are no longer serious; for a moment you have
           removed your fixation.
                That's why I love jokes -- they are poison to your ego! You would like me to talk about serious
           things: astral planes and how many bodies men have, seven or nine, and how many chakras. And
           every day there are questions -- esoteric, occult. These are the serious people. They have fallen in a
           wrong company!
                I am not serious at all. I don't laugh with you because that is part of telling a joke: the person who
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tells it has to be very serious, he cannot laugh with you. All my laughter I have to do alone. But my
           approach towards life is utterly nonserious, playful, because in my experience this is how the ego
           disappears.
                Watch when you laugh: where is the ego? Suddenly you have melted, suddenly you are liquid, no
           more solid, but flowing. You are not old, experienced, knowledgeable.
                Listen to this joke and try to find out whether the ego remains or not.

               Shortly after arriving at their honeymoon suite, the still nervous groom became worried about the
           state of his bride's innocence. Deciding on the direct approach, he quickly undressed, pointed at his
           exposed manhood, and asked his mate, "Do you know what that is?"
               Without hesitating, she blushed and answered, "That's a wee-wee."
               Delighted at the idea of instructing his naive wife, the husband whispered, "From now on,
           dearest, this will be called a prick."
           "Ah, come now," the girl chided, "I've seen lots of pricks, and I assure you, that's a wee-wee."

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHAT IS HAPPINESS?


              Jayananda, it depends. It depends on you, on your state of consciousness or unconsciousness,
           whether you are asleep or awake.

               There is one famous maxim of Murphy. He says there are two types of people: One, who always
           divide humanity in two types, and the other, who don't divide humanity at all.

               I belong to the first type.... Humanity can be divided in two types: the sleeping ones and the
           awakened ones -- and, of course, a small part in between.
               Happiness will depend on where you are in your consciousness. If you are asleep, then pleasure
           is happiness. Pleasure means sensation, trying to achieve something through the body which is not
           possible to achieve through the body, forcing the body to achieve something it is not capable of.
           People are trying, in every possible way, to achieve happiness through the body. The body can give
           you only momentary pleasures, and each pleasure is balanced by pain in the same amount, in the
           same degree. Each pleasure is followed by its opposite because body exists in the world of duality,
           just as the day is followed by night and death is followed by life and life is followed by death. It is a
           vicious circle. Your pleasure will be followed by pain, your pain will be followed by pleasure.
               But you will never be at ease. When you will be in a state of pleasure you will be afraid that you
           are going to lose it, and that fear will poison it. And when you will be lost in pain, of course, you
           will be in suffering, and you will try every possible effort to get out of it -- just to fall again back into
           it.
               Buddha calls this the wheel of birth and death. We go on moving in this wheel, clinging to the
           wheel... and the wheel moves on. Sometimes pleasure comes up and sometimes pain comes up, but
           we are crushed between these two rocks.
               But the sleepy person knows nothing else. He knows only a few sensations of the body -- food,
           sex. This is his world; he goes on moving between these two. These are the two ends of his body:
           food and sex. If he represses sex he becomes addicted to food: if he represses food he becomes
           addicted to sex. Energy goes on moving like a pendulum. And whatsoever you call pleasure is, at the
           most, just a relief of a tense state. Sexual energy gathers, accumulates; you become tense and heavy
           and you want to release it.
               The man who is asleep, his sexuality is nothing but a relief, like a good sneeze. It gives you
           nothing but a certain relief. A tension was there, now it is no more there; but it will accumulate
           again. Food gives you only a little taste on the tongue; it is not much to live for. But many people are
           living only to eat; there are very few people who eat to live.

               The story of Columbus is well-known. It was a long trip. For three months they saw nothing but
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           water. Then one day Columbus looked out at the horizon and saw trees. And if you think Columbus
           was happy to see trees, you should have seen his dog!

              That's why the Siberian dogs are the fastest in the world: because the trees are so far apart.
              But this is the world of pleasure. The dog can be forgiven, but you cannot be forgiven.

               During their first date, the young man, looking for ways to have a good time, asked the young
           lady if she would like to go bowling. She replied that she did not care to go bowling. He then
           suggested a movie, but she answered that she did not care for them. While trying to think of
           something else he offered her a cigarette which she declined. He then asked if she would like to
           dance and drink at the new disco. She again declined by saying she did not care for those things.
               In desperation he asked her to come to his apartment for a night of lovemaking. To his surprise
           she happily agreed, kissed him passionately and said, "You see, you don't need any of those things to
           have a good time!"

                It depends on people what can be called happiness. To the sleeping, pleasurable sensations are
           happiness. He lives from one pleasure to another pleasure. He is just rushing from one sensation to
           another sensation. He lives for small thrills. His life is very superficial; it has no depth, it has no
           quality. He lives in the world of quantity.
                Then the people who are in between, who are neither asleep nor awake, who are just in a limbo, a
           little bit asleep, a little bit awake. You sometimes have that experience in the early morning: still
           sleepy, but you can't say you are asleep because you can hear the noise in the house, your wife
           preparing tea, the noise of the samovar or the milkman at the door or children getting ready to go to
           school. You can hear these things, but still you are not awake. Vaguely, dimly these noises reach to
           you, as if there is a great distance between you and all that is happening around you. It feels as if it is
           still a part of the dream. It is not a part of the dream, but you are in a state of in-between.
                The same happens when you start meditating. The nonmeditator sleeps, dreams; the meditator
           starts moving away from his sleep towards awakening. He is in a transitory state. Then happiness has
           a totally different meaning: it becomes more of a quality, less of a quantity; it is more psychological,
           less physiological. He enjoys music more, he enjoys poetry more, he enjoys creating something. He
           enjoys nature, its beauty. He enjoys silence. He enjoys what he had never enjoyed before, and this is
           far more lasting. Even if the music stops, something goes on lingering in you. And it is not a relief.
                The difference between pleasure and THIS happiness is: it is not a relief, it is an enrichment. You
           become more full, you become a little overflowing. Listening to good music, something is triggered
           in your being, a harmony arises in you -- you become musical. Or dancing, suddenly you forget your
           body; your body becomes weightless. The grip of gravitation over you is lost. Suddenly you are in a
           different space: the ego is not so solid, the dancer melts and merges into the dance. This is far higher,
           far deeper than the joy that you gain from food or sex. This has a depth. But this is also not the
           ultimate.
                The ultimate happens only when you are fully awake, when you are a buddha, when all sleep is
           gone and all dreaming is gone, when your whole being is full of light, when there is no darkness
           within you. All darkness has disappeared and with that darkness, the ego is gone. All tensions have
           disappeared, all anguish, all anxiety. You are in a state of total contentment. You live in the present;
           no past, no future anymore. You are utterly herenow.
                This moment is all. Now is the only time and here is the only space. And then suddenly the
           whole sky drops into you. This is bliss. This is REAL happiness.
                Seek bliss, Jayananda; it is your birthright. Don't remain lost in the jungle of pleasures; rise a
           little higher. Reach to happiness and then to bliss.
                Pleasure is animal, happiness is human, bliss is divine. Pleasure binds you, it is a bondage, it
           chains you. Happiness gives you a little more rope, a little bit of freedom, but only a little bit. Bliss is
           absolute freedom. You start moving upwards; it gives you wings. You are no more part of the gross
           earth; you become part of the sky. You become light, you become joy.
                Pleasure is dependent on others. Happiness is not so dependent on others, but still it is separate
           from you. Bliss is not dependent, is not separate either; it is your very being, it is your very nature.
           To attain it is to attain to God, to nirvana.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The third question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHAT IS SELFISHNESS?


                Yoga Chetana, selfishness is the shadow of the idea of a separate self. It is a shadow of a shadow,
           a reflection of a reflection. It is as if you see the moon in the lake and then you see the moon
           reflected in the lake in a mirror. It is far far removed from reality. Even the reflection in the lake is
           not real, but the reflection of the lake in the mirror is even more unreal.
                The ego is a reflection in the lake of your true being. Your true being is the moon; the ego is only
           a reflection in the lake. The reflection in the lake can be disturbed even by a small pebble. Throw a
           small pebble and you will see: the moon is disturbed, distorted. Ripples arise and the moon is broken
           into thousands of pieces.
                Selfishness is the shadow of the ego, even more unreal. You are not a self. In Buddha's words,
           you are not an ATTA -- a self; you are ANATTA -- a no-self. Hence, Buddha does not teach you
           altruism, neither do I teach you altruism. This point has to be understood well: I don't teach you to be
           altruistic. That's what the priests of almost all the religions go on doing. They say, "Selfishness is
           bad." They don't say, "Selfishness is false." They say, "Selfishness is bad, selfishness is sin." But
           they accept its reality, they don't reject its reality. If it is unreal, then they cannot condemn it as a sin.
           How can you call anything unreal a sin? If it does not exist in the first place, how can it be sin and
           how can it be bad? So they go on saying, "Selfishness is bad, selfishness is sin." And to avoid it they
           teach you to be altruistic: "Serve others, be servants of humanity, public servants."
                Many times people who have been conditioned by these priests and missionaries come to me
           and, of course, they are shocked because I never talk about altruism. And they ask me why I don't
           teach my sannyasins to be altruistic.
                I cannot, because in the first place the self is false, so to tell them to be unselfish is absolutely
           wrong. To tell them to serve others, to be altruistic, is taking them deeper and deeper into unreality.
                My effort here is to help them to see that the self is false. Hence I am not against the self -- it
           does not exist. How can I be against something which does not exist? And I don't teach you altruism.
           If the disease is false, what is the point of giving you some medicine?
                I simply tell you to look within yourself, watch silently... and you will not find the ego at all. The
           self disappears. In fact, to say "disappears" is not right; it has never been there, but you had never
           looked in. When you look you don't find it.
                It is like you say, "In my room there is darkness," and I give you a lamp and I tell you, "Go and
           search with the lamp where the darkness is." You go with the lamp and you search -- and you can't
           find it! You come back and you say, "I can't find it!" So I say, "It is finished! Don't be worried about
           it. Whenever this itching arises in you, this urge, this doubt, take the lamp and go again and search."
           Slowly slowly, the truth will settle in you that there is no darkness; it is only absence of light.
                Ego is absence of your attention, absence of your awareness, nothing else. If you move in, if you
           look in, it is not found at all. And with self gone, where is selfishness?
                And then your life is a life of love, of compassion. Then your life is truly altruistic. I will not call
           it "unselfish," I will call it "nonselfish," because in the word 'unselfish' the reality of the self is
           recognized. I would like to use the Buddhist word, 'nonselfish' -- anatta, no-self.
                Buddha's insight is tremendous, very significant. There is no need to teach people to be unselfish.
           Just let them know that there is no ego, and then their whole life, without any effort, becomes a life
           of love. They will not become missionaries because they will not be doing anything in particular.
           They will not brag that they have done so much for humanity; they have done it because they
           enjoyed it. They are already well rewarded. The reward is not somewhere in a future life, after death,
           in paradise; the reward is in love itself. Love is its own reward.
                When you live out of love, your life is tremendously joyous, ecstatic; that is the reward. And
           when you live out of a false ego, your life is a misery, it is a suffering, it is hell; that is the
           punishment. There is no need to wait -- that after death you will be thrown into hell. Forget all these
           stories! They are good to tell to children because they can't understand anything else; they can
           understand only stories. But to mature people those stories are irrelevant.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Each act is either its own punishment or its own reward. If it is arising out of your reality it
           brings great joy, beauty, bliss, benediction. If it is arising out of some false idea it brings misery,
           pain, suffering. That's what hell is.
               Yoga Chetana, selfishness is the shadow of a self which does not exist at all. But don't accept
           what I say just because I am saying it. You will have to look in, let it become your experience. You
           will have to become a little more awake to look in. You will have to come out of your slumber.

               It was down South in a dry state. The railroad station was packed with a party on their way to a
           football game. Over at one side of the waiting room stood Baxter, a quiet little man, fidgeting about
           and attempting to hide himself from the crowd.
               A federal agent, assigned to this moonshine-making area, noticed Baxter had something under
           his jacket from which drops were falling in slow trickles. The fed, with a gleam in his eye, walked
           over to him, put a finger out under one of the drops, caught one, and tasted it.
           "Scotch?" he asked.
           "Nope," said Baxter. "Airedale pup."

              You missed it! Taste it again... it is not Scotch, it is an Airedale pup.

              There was a big alcoholic party on at this flat in San Francisco. Everything was at its drunkest
           and wildest when it happened -- an earthquake. Chimneys toppled in the street, water mains were
           broken. All the guests rushed outside from the wild party. But one man was missing. The heroic host
           dashed back and there in the bathroom he found the missing man, knee-deep in water. The inebriated
           guest could only mumble, "Honest, Paul, I swear all I did was pull the handle."

               Yoga Chetana, you will have to become a little more conscious, that's all. Come out of your
           drunkenness; it is very ancient. For many many lives we have lived in a drunk state. You will have to
           make a little effort to pull yourself out of the mud of unconsciousness. And then the ego disappears
           and a pure space is left behind.
               Out of that pure space, lotuses bloom -- lotuses of compassion, of love, of joy. Not only are you
           blessed, but you become a blessing to the whole existence.
               Don't fight with selfishness, remember. Fighting with it is what you have been told again and
           again. Don't fight with it. Fighting with it means you have already accepted its reality; hence I don't
           teach you to fight with your ego. If you fight with your ego you will become humble, but then in
           your humbleness the ego will hide. Then the ego will go on bragging about its humbleness. The ego
           can even say, "I am the most humble person in the world, the greatest humble person in the world."

               Three Christian priests were talking; they met on a crossroad. One belonged to a Trappist
           monastery. He said, "As far as asceticism is concerned, nobody can compete with us. We are the
           most ascetic people in the whole Christian kingdom."
               The second belonged to another monastery. He said, "That may be so, but as far as scholarship is
           concerned you are nowhere. Our people sacrifice their whole life for the scriptures to find out the
           truth and the gems."
               The third one smiled and said, "You both may be right, but as far as humbleness is concerned, we
           are the tops!"

           "As far as humbleness is concerned we are the tops...."
                Hence, Yoga Chetana, I will not say fight with your selfishness. Fighting has not been of any
           help; it has only created pious egoists all over the world. My suggestion is watch it, look at it,
           observe it. Observe how it functions, how you go on creating it -- because it IS your creation.
                It is very arbitrary. It is a fiction that you maintain and manage. And the maintenance is very
           costly because it keeps you in hell; it destroys your whole life just to maintain something false.
           Watch it. The moment you will see its falseness it is gone. You need not drop it, it simply drops on
           its own accord. It is not found at all.
                And then a totally new life begins. You are reborn. That's what I call sannyas.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT YOU NEVER WORKED IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE?


               Sandesh, it is really true. I am the original hippie! You may not know it, but I am the founder of
           the whole movement!

               The shop foreman, irritation showing plainly in his face, strode over to Sheldon, a hippie.
           "Listen," he grated, "do me and everyone else in the shop a big favor and quit whistling while you
           work."
           "Hey, man," retorted Sheldon defensively, "who's working?"

               I have lived, I have not worked! Whatsoever I have done I have enjoyed it; it was not work, it
           was my joy, it was play. I loved it, that's why I did it. I was not doing any service to anybody, I was
           not working for any other motive; hence it was not work at all, it was my joy.
               I am talking to you. It is not work, it is my joy. I enjoy -- yakkety, yakkety, yakkety... this is not
           work! I simply love it. To call it work will not be right -- it is fun!
               Whatsoever I have done in my life, it has never been work. I have been simply whistling!

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ARE EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN SEEKING FOR THE LAST TWENTY YEARS IN
              STUDIES, POLITICS, YOGA, FAMILY AND COMMUNITIES. NOW FINALLY I AM HERE. AND IT'S
              SO BEAUTIFUL! AND TOMORROW I LEAVE. AND I AM HAPPY, TOO. WHY?


                Hans Peter Finger, there is no tomorrow. Today you are here, and that's more than enough; that's
           more than one can ask for. Who knows about tomorrow? I myself may be leaving, even before you
           leave!
                And it is not a question of BEING here. If you have found me, you have found me; wherever you
           are you will be with me, I will be with you. The whole thing is once you have found the right person
           with whom you fit together, with whom you find absolute harmony, communion, then no space can
           divide you. That's why you are feeling happy. I can understand your problem.
           You say, "And I am happy, too. Why?"
                Ordinarily, if you have fallen in love with me and are going tomorrow you should have thought,
           expected to be miserable, because "Now here is the man I have been looking for, for twenty years
           and now I have found him, and I have to leave tomorrow." But you are not miserable. That is a
           clear-cut indication that you have really found me. To find me AND be miserable is impossible!
                There are a few people who are here AND miserable, because they have not found me. And there
           are people who are not here but are immensely joyous because they have found me, wherever they
           are.
           You will belong to me from now onwards.
                A single moment of deep harmony is enough, a single moment of love is eternity.
           Then time does not matter, space does not matter.
                Your heart knows it, but your mind is questioning because it seems illogical. Your mind says, "If
           you are really so much in love, then why are you leaving? If you are really enjoying, then why
           should you go at all? For twenty years you have been searching! You wasted twenty years and now
           you have found -- and you are going! And still you are happy! What is happening to you?" This is
           your mind which is creating a question mark, but your heart knows you have found me. Now
           wherever you are, this communion will continue.
                Whatsoever has transpired between me and you is something beyond time, beyond space. So you
           can go happily, you can go joyously. And whenever you will close your eyes and remember me, you
           will be now and here.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My buddhafield has not to become confined to the commune; it has to spread all over the earth.
           So wherever a person exists who loves me deeply, he creates a small buddhafield around himself.
               Hans-Peter, not only will you remain related to me, but you will become a bridge to many people
           towards me. You will become a messenger -- not a missionary but a messenger. A missionary is
           bogus. A missionary is one who himself has not understood at all, who has not experienced anything
           at all. A missionary is a professional: he has chosen religion as a profession, he earns his livelihood
           out of it. You will be a messenger. You will be spreading the word to many more people -- to your
           friends, to people you know, you love.
               Yes, it is perfectly good -- go and share me with others. And whenever it is needed you will be
           called forth, you will be back here again. And if it is needed to be here forever you will be here
           forever. Whatsoever is needful will happen.
           Trust!

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES NOBODY TAKE ANY NOTICE OF ME?

              Narendra, meditate over Murphy's maxim:
              Nobody notices when things go right.

              You must be going right. People notice only when something goes wrong. If everything goes
           absolutely right, people are not going to notice you at all.

               It is said of Mahavira that he wanted to renounce his kingdom. He asked the permission of his
           mother. The mother said, "Stop this nonsense -- never ask me again! Till I die I won't allow you. If
           you leave the house without permission you will be doing something very violent to me -- and you
           go on talking about nonviolence. So remember!"
               Mahavira never asked her again. After two years she died. When they were coming back from
           the funeral he asked his elder brother on the way home, "Can I leave now? -- I was just living here
           because our mother said, 'Never ask again.' Now, fortunately, she is dead -- so can I go?"
               The brother said, "Stop all this nonsense! Such a calamity has fallen over us -- our mother has
           died -- and you want to leave me? Till I die you are not allowed."
               And Mahavira was so obedient -- he said okay. He started living in the palace as if he had
           renounced. He would meditate, he would be silent, he would move so quietly and so gracefully that,
           slowly slowly, he became almost absent. It is a beautiful story, that the family stopped taking any
           notice of him.
               Then one day suddenly the brother realized, "For months we have not taken any notice of him."
           He remembered, "Where is he?" He went in search of him. He called the whole family and asked
           them, "What to do now? He has almost left! He has become so silent, so peaceful. He makes no
           noise, he never interferes, he never says anything to anybody. He is as if he is not in the house at all!
           So what is the point of preventing him anymore?"
               They all gathered together and requested Mahavira, "Now you can go. In fact, you have already
           gone because we have stopped taking any notice of you."
               Mahavira said, "It makes no difference now. But if you say go, I will go."

               Narendra, don't be worried. People take notice only when you are doing something wrong. When
           a dog bites a man it is not news, but when a man bites a dog it is news! So if you want to become
           news, bite a dog! Do something stupid, become some kind of nuisance. Only people who are a
           nuisance are taken notice of.
               That's why you see in the newspapers all the politicians are covered every day, for the simple
           reason that they have nuisance value. You can ask any prime minister or any president of the world
           on what grounds he chooses his cabinet. It is nuisance value! Whoever is going to create nuisance, if
           he is not chosen has to be chosen. The more you are a nuisance, the more you will be taken notice of,
           obviously. If you are a silent person living in deep harmony with yourself and existence, who is
           going to take any notice of you? Do something wrong, anything!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              That's why your saints go on doing such stupid things -- just to be taken notice of. Stand on your
           head in the M.G. Road market and a crowd will gather. People will stop wherever they were going.
           They may have been going on some urgent work, but now a greater thing is happening: a foolish
           man is standing on his head! They have to stop, they have to watch. Do something stupid.

               Robert Ripley says that one man wanted to become famous. He asked Ripley what to do. Ripley
           is a famous man; he has written many books -- BELIEVE IT OR NOT.... He used to accumulate all
           kinds of unbelievable things; he was an expert in unbelievable things -- true but unbelievable. People
           used to ask him also... somebody asked him how to become famous.
               He said, "You do one thing. Shave half the hair of your head and just walk silently all over New
           York. For three days go on walking and don't say anything, just let people watch."
               And within three days he was in every newspaper! That a strange man is there, half his head
           shaved, walking all over New York, never saying anything. You ask him and he keeps quiet. Very
           strange!

             That's why I have chosen orange for you, so that wherever you are -- New York, Berlin, Paris,
           Rome, wherever you are, everybody has to take notice of you. It helps my work! People start asking,
           "What has happened to you?" My sannyasins all look like Jesus is back!
             Narendra, you must be doing everything right. Be happy that nobody is taking notice of you.

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO YOU GIVE THE PRIESTS SUCH A BAD TIME? THEY DON'T STOP YOU DRINKING AND
              YOU ONLY HAVE TO LISTEN TO THEM ONCE A WEEK.


               Niranjan, it is enough to poison people if they have to listen once a week to all kinds of
           nonsense. For centuries it has been propagated... it has come into the air, it has become part of the
           atmosphere. It is not a question of listening to them once a week only; their vibe is everywhere. They
           go on reminding you in every possible way. Whenever you pass, there is a church or a temple or a
           mosque. Do you think it does not remind you of something? And they go on tolling bells in the
           churches just to remind you, "Don't forget we are still here!" And the towering churches, you can see
           them from anywhere; they are reminding you. These are subtle processes of reminding you.
               In India you cannot pass a street without coming across a temple -- everywhere temples. And it is
           so simple in India to make a temple: you can just paint any stone. You can try! Just bring a rock from
           anywhere, put it under a tree, paint it red and just sit by the side with closed eyes. Within a few
           minutes you will see people are arriving. Somebody will put flowers, somebody will bow down to
           the rock; they will think this is the statue of Hanumanji!
               India does not believe in very costly things; it has made everything cheap. It is a poor country,
           you know, so things have to be cheap, within everybody's capacity. You can have as many gods as
           you want. Any stone will do; just, if it is round it becomes Shankara, Shiva. If it is not round, ugly in
           shape, paint it red; it becomes Hanuman! Just sit by the side and wait, and you will find worshippers
           have started coming.
               I am not giving a bad time to the priests. In fact, the intelligent priests are immensely pleased
           with me.
               Just the other day I received a card from a priest who is very happy because he has been listening
           to my tapes, reading my books. He is happy because I am here -- a congratulation card from a priest!
           I am not giving a hard time to intelligent priests. No, I am simply showing them the exit! And a few
           have escaped. There are many priests, monks and nuns who have become sannyasins. And there is
           great fear now because if this goes on happening there is danger.
               The Protestant authorities in Germany have ordered all the Protestant churches of Germany that
           my name has not to be mentioned in any sermon. There was an eighteen-page report published by a
           special commission appointed by the Protestant church to investigate what I am saying. They have
           read all the books... and my feeling is half of them will be converted because the report seems to be
           very confused! Sometimes they seem to be favorable to me, sometimes they seem to be against me.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They are not in a situation to say whether this man is right or wrong. Their report is very revealing.
               They say, "This man talks like Jesus -- yet beware of him." Now I think more priests, particularly
           Protestant priests in Germany, will read the books. They have quoted all the books. They have given
           the names of the books. Even the priests who would not have known about me will be knowing
           about me now! This is how things happen in the world. This is a very strange world!
               And I am not giving anybody a hard time. At the most, I told a few jokes about the priests. And
           my feeling is that reading them when they are alone they must be enjoying!

               The pope stood before a hushed crowd of attentive villagers and spoke to them, "You must not
           use the Pill!"
               A lovely signora stepped forward, shaking her finger. "Look," she chided the pontiff, "you no
           play da game-a, you no make-a da rules!"

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              MY HUSBAND IS MAD, BUT SOMETIMES WHAT HE SAYS IS TRUE. IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A
              MADMAN TO DO THAT? 8


               Neelam, madmen can do anything, obviously -- they are mad! They can even say the truth. It is
           the so-called sane people who are unbelievable, who are expert in lying. Mad people are simple; they
           can say the truth. They don't worry, they don't care.
               Listen to your husband. He is far saner than the other so-called sane people. If sometimes you
           find that he is telling you the truth, maybe at other times also he is telling you the truth, you are just
           not aware of it.
               Mad people are beautiful people. They are mad only because they are so sensitive that they
           cannot live in this mad world. This mad world drives them mad! They are so sensitive and
           vulnerable that they become victims. They are not cunning; they are innocent, sincere and honest
           people. I know many mad people -- in fact, I know only mad people -- and I respect them.
               You ask me, Neelam, "Can a madman do that? Is it possible for a madman to say the truth?"
           Only madmen can say the truth.
               Jesus must have been mad; otherwise he would not have said the truth. He would have played the
           game of the crowd and he would have become a famous rabbi, not crucified but crowned. But he was
           mad and he said the truth.
               Socrates must have been mad, utterly mad; otherwise why bother about truth? Live as other
           people live, imitate them; lie as they lie, deceive as they deceive, be hypocrites as THEY are. Why
           try to be true? Why insist on truth? But he must have been mad.
               The judges had asked him in the last moment... because they also felt sorry for the man, they
           knew his sincerity. They told him that if he was ready to leave Athens he could be forgiven -- but he
           could not enter Athens again.
               Socrates said, "That I cannot do. I have lived in Athens, I have taught in Athens, my disciples are
           here, my people are here. Now in this old age, where am I going to start my business again?"
           Yes, he actually used the word 'business'.
               The judges asked, "What do you mean by your business?"
               He said, "The business of telling the truth -- that is my business."
               The judges were really sympathetic. They said, "Then you do one thing. You can live in Athens,
           but stop talking, be silent."
               He said, "That is not possible. It is better to die because then my death will speak. And let me
           remind you," he said to the judges, "even after centuries, when I am dead, my death will go on
           speaking to people about the truth. And you will be remembered only because of me; otherwise
           nobody will remember you. I cannot stop my business of speaking the truth. I am ready to die."
               He must have been mad! Even his disciples thought that he was mad. Life is so valuable! But to a
           man of truth, truth is more valuable.
               And mad people can do anything. Help your husband, don't hinder him. Help him to be authentic
           and true and don't call him mad. Who knows who is mad? In fact, no definition exists.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Psychoanalysts call Jesus neurotic. Friedrich Nietzsche says Buddha is mad. Freud says Nietzsche is
           mad. Jung thinks Freud is mad. Who is to be believed?

              The noted doctor opened the patient's stomach and a bunch of butterflies flew out.
           "Say," the doctor said, "this guy was really telling the truth!"

               And maybe he is just playing a role, just acting, because sometimes it is really beautiful.
               I know one madman. When he was alone with me he was absolutely sane, and when he would go
           home he would become mad. I asked him, "What is the matter?"
               He said, "This is very comfortable. I don't have to go to work, I don't have to bother about the
           family business, I don't have to worry about anything. I enjoy! I swim in the river, I lie down in the
           sun, and everybody thinks, 'He is mad!' My wife, my children, they have all taken all the
           responsibility. My wife runs the shop, my children about whom I was always worried -- now they
           are worried about me! And I am enjoying, I am having the time of my life!" He said, "I have done
           enough. Now this is the only way."

               There are many mad people who are simply pretending to be mad.
               Just help your husband. Maybe it is just because of you that he is pretending to be mad! Neelam,
           women are dangerous! You should see Aseema....
               Aseema is a beautiful sannyasin. I have seen her two ex-husbands -- both have gone crazy! Then
           I started thinking, what is the matter? And both are beautiful people -- you know both. One is
           Sarvesh, the ventriloquist. He was perfectly okay before he met Aseema. Now this beautiful
           sannyasin has driven him mad! Another is Nikunj; Nikunj is mad. The whole credit goes to Aseema!
           Now, if anybody else is thinking to fall in love with Aseema, think twice! And then stop yourself!

           A woman goes to a palm reader.
           "Your husband will die a violent death," she is told.
           "One more question," she asks. "Will I be acquitted?"

               A group of hikers passing a hillbilly's cabin smiled as they saw the owner reclining in a rocking
           chair on the porch. They noticed his wife going into the house via the front, and only door. A few
           seconds later they saw a wildcat leap through the open window.
               They rushed up to the mountaineer. "Do something quick!" someone shouted. "A wildcat just
           leaped into your house and your wife is in there."
           "That's his tough luck," said the hillbilly. "I never did like wildcats, anyway."

              So, Neelam, meditate a little about yourself. Why is this poor man behaving as if he is mad?

               At the height of the unfortunate American involvement in East Asia, an owlish-looking young
           fellow approached the recruiting officer's desk.
           "What must I do to get to Vietnam as soon as possible?" asked the prospective soldier.
           "Well, first you have to sign up," exclaimed the officer with a grin.
           "Do volunteers have to take a physical?"
           "Certainly."
           "Darn, that'll slow me up. I wanna get to the front lines right away."
           "In any case, you'd have to go to boot camp for training," explained the officer. "Nobody goes where
           the fighting is until he's properly trained."
           "Then at least will the army fly me to Vietnam? I'd hate to go there by slow boat."
           "What are you so all-fired anxious about?" growled the army man. "Don't you realize you could get
           killed or wounded over there?"
           "So I get killed or wounded. What's the difference, as long as I'm getting all the glory?"
           "Listen, buddy," snapped the recruiter, "why don't you go home and forget the whole thing? You're
           crazy!"
               The young fellow abruptly reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a paper and thrust it into the
           army officer's hands.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Here," he said quickly. "Just sign!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                    Chapter #11
                             Chapter title: All is not lost, but time is running short
           2 March 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8003020
              ShortTitle: DHAM1011
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 43 mins
              Q1, Q4 and Q5 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU BEING CONTINUOUSLY MISUNDERSTOOD AND MISINTERPRETED BY
              PEOPLE?


                Rajesh, it is absolutely inevitable, it is unavoidable. It has to be so. It is part of the destiny of
           those who speak the truth. They are bound to be misunderstood, misinterpreted. If they were not
           misunderstood, not misinterpreted, that would be a miracle. It has not happened up to now and there
           is no hope that it is ever going to happen.
                Buddhas have always been misunderstood for the simple reason that they speak from a totally
           different vision which is not available to the masses. They speak from a totally different experience.
           Their experience is such that it cannot be expressed through words, yet they try to express it through
           words -- they try to do the impossible. Saying it through words creates trouble. They use words in
           their own way, they give the words their own color, but when those words reach YOU they have lost
           all the meaning that was given by the awakened ones. Immediately you interpret them, you translate
           them into your experience.
                Buddhas speak from sunlit peaks and you live in dark valleys. They talk about light and you have
           never seen light. They talk about eyes and you have not even dreamed about eyes. They talk about
           eternity and all that you know is time; all that you know is temporary and they talk of that which
           never changes, which is always the same, which abides. It is unbridgeable, the gap. Unless YOU
           become also conscious it remains unbridgeable.
                Hence only a few disciples, slowly slowly, attain to the meaning of the masters. Very slowly a
           few people become awakened, they come out of their sleep. It is arduous, too, because all that you
           know about your life is your sleep and your dreams. Leaving your dreams and your life behind is
           hard. It is demolishing your whole past. It is entering into such an unknown territory and without
           maps -- one feels scared.
                Only disciples can understand; the masses cannot understand. The masses have every investment
           in NOT understanding. Even if there is some possibility of understanding they will avoid that
           possibility. They will not come close to the buddhas. They will try in every possible way to create
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more and more barriers. They will create rumors, all kinds of rumors. They will surround the
           buddhas with so much smoke of their own creation that the buddhas become almost invisible to
           them. They don't WANT to listen -- it hurts. Their whole life is rooted in lies and the truth hurts, it
           shatters.
               And the masses are vast, the blind people are millions. The people with eyes are rare, few and far
           between. Only once in a while comes a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu, a Jesus, a Moses, a Buddha. They are
           doing something unimaginable. They are trying to explain light to the millions who are blind. The
           blind people can hear the word 'light', but they cannot understand it -- or they will understand it in
           their own way, whatsoever is their idea, opinion about light. And they are not only blind; they have
           thousands of opinions. They have much knowledge -- without knowing anything at all. They are full
           of scriptures. They hide their blindness behind scriptures. They can quote scriptures, they can argue.
           They are clever and skillful in argument.
               In fact, truth cannot be argued about. Either you know it or you don't. Truth cannot be proved
           either; either you know it or you don't. Knowing is all that is possible, or not-knowing; there is no
           way to prove it.

           Once it happened:
               A blind man was brought to Gautama the Buddha. He was a logician, a philosopher, very
           argumentative. He had been arguing with the village that there is no light, "and you are all blind, just
           as I am blind. I know it and you don't know it, that's the only difference." He was saying this to
           people who had eyes! And he was so clever in argument that the villagers were at a loss what to do
           with this man.
               He was asking them, "Bring your light. Let me taste it or smell it or touch it. Only then will I
           believe."
               Now, light cannot be touched, cannot be tasted, cannot be smelled. You cannot hear it. And these
           were the four senses available to the blind man. Then he would laugh in victory. He would say,
           "Look! There is no light. Otherwise, give me the proofs!"
               When Buddha came to the village, the villagers thought it would be good: "Let us take this man
           to Buddha."
               They brought the man to Buddha. Buddha listened to the whole story and then he said, "He does
           not need me. I also work with blind people, but of a different kind -- spiritually blind people. I heal
           them, I cure them. But this is physical blindness. You take him to a physician. You take him to my
           personal physician."
               He had a personal physician a king had given him. The greatest physician of those days, Jivaka,
           was given to Buddha as a gift to take care of his body. "You take him to Jivaka, and I am certain that
           he will be able to do something. He needs a physician; he does not need great philosophy about light.
           Talking about light is just stupid. And if you argue with him, he is going to win. He can prove that
           there is no light."
               Remember, to prove that there is no God is very easy; to prove that there IS God is impossible.
           To prove the negative is easy because all logic tends to be negative. To prove the positive is not
           possible; logic has no opening towards the positive. Hence the atheist is more argumentative and the
           theist feels almost defeated. He cannot prove the existence of God or the soul.
               Buddha said, "You take him to Jivaka." Jivaka cured his eyes. Within six months the man was
           able to see. He came dancing with many flowers and fruits as a present to Buddha. He fell at his feet
           and he said, "If you had not been there I would have argued my whole life against light -- and light
           is! Now I know!"
               Buddha said, "Can you prove it? Where is light? I would like to taste it and touch it and smell it!"
               And the blind man -- the EX-blind man -- said, "That is impossible. Now I know it can only be
           seen; there is no other way to approach it. Excuse me, I am sorry. I was blind, utterly blind, and in
           my blindness I was saying things. I was arguing against something which exists and is the most
           beautiful experience of life. If YOU were not there I would have argued my whole life against
           something which is, and I would have remained a blind man. And you did well that you did not say a
           single word about light; otherwise, I had come prepared, fully prepared to argue with you, and I
           know now, even you would not have been able to prove it. But your insight is deep: you could see
           that I didn't need any proofs; I needed some medicine. I didn't need philosophy, I needed a physician.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You directed me to the right person. I am immensely grateful."
              And the man never left Buddha. He said, "What you have done to my physical eyes, now do to
           my spiritual eyes too."
           He became a disciple, he became a sannyasin.

               To be a disciple means to be ready to be operated on. It is a surgery, a very internal surgery:
           surgery in the very deepest core of your being. Only then can you understand me, what I am saying
           to you.
               But the masses are not ready. And don't be worried about them, Rajesh. That is none of our
           business. If they misunderstand, for us it does not matter. If they misunderstand, they miss
           something. If they misinterpret, it is their loss. Try to help them to come closer to me, but don't argue
           with them.
               I am a physician, I am not a philosopher. My work here is that of a surgeon, not that of a teacher.
           The master is always a surgeon. He cuts away all that is false in you, chunk by chunk. Slowly
           slowly, he demolishes the whole edifice of your falsehood. And then what is left behind is your truth,
           is your being. When you have experienced it, only then will you be able to understand what is being
           conveyed to you through words, through silence, through communion.
               I am trying every possible way to reach to you, but I can reach you only if you are open to me. I
           cannot reach to the masses; that is not possible in the very nature of things.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW CAN I BECOME THE NEW MAN THAT YOU SPEAK ABOUT?


                Bhagwato, Jesus says: Unless you are born again you will not enter into my kingdom of God.
           Exactly that's what I say to you: Unless you are born again....
                There are two births. One is given to you by your parents; that is a physical birth. That is only an
           opportunity for the second birth. If you think that the first birth is all, you have missed the whole
           point. The first birth is only a seed. It is of immense value if the second happens; it is of no value at
           all if you miss the second birth. You have to be twice-born. That's how we have defined the buddhas
           in the East.
                The second birth has to happen within you; it is of consciousness. It is not of your body, it is not
           even of your mind; it is of awareness.
                Ordinarily, the first birth makes you only a machine. You start living in a very superficial way;
           you don't have any depth, you don't have any soul yet. You eat, you drink, you work, you sleep, but
           all like a robot. You don't see the beauty of existence -- you can't see it. You don't see the godliness
           of every moment; it is impossible for you to experience it. It needs a transformation of your whole
           interiority. It needs a new subjectivity, a new vision, a new perspective.
                You see in a certain sense, you hear only in a certain sense. Yes, you hear the words, but the
           meaning is missed. You read the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas, but just like a parrot. Even parrots are
           far more intelligent than your so-called pundits, than your so-called knowledgeable people. You go
           on repeating like a gramophone record. And you are so egoistic that you can't accept, you can't say,
           "I don't know."

               Jascha Heifetz, the distinguished violinist, was in London where he was scheduled to give a
           concert. A few hours before curtain time, he noticed that a violin string had broken, so he hurried to
           a music supply shop for a replacement. He was waited on by a girl who was new to the business.
           "I would like to have an 'E' string for my violin," said Heifetz.
           "A what?" asked the uncomprehending girl.
           "An 'E' string."
           "Sorry, luv," she replied apologetically, "but ye will have to pick it out yourself. I can't tell the he's
           from the she's!"

              People are very reluctant to accept the fact that they don't know. They try in every possible way
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to manage a facade that they know. This is the greatest mistake in life. You are not yet born, but if
           you think you are already born, if you think you have already attained to life, then this whole
           opportunity is going to be lost. It will go down the drain.
                And you can learn great words; they are available. You can learn them so much so that if you
           meet Jesus you may repeat his words better than he can do it himself because you have been
           repeating them for so long. You may defeat him; in a competition he may not be able to survive at
           all. Some stupid priest may win the competition because he will be just repeating exactly, word for
           word. Jesus cannot do that; that is impossible. He has to be spontaneous. He will respond to the
           situation. He may say some new things -- because twenty centuries have passed. How can he go on
           saying the same old things? Impossible.
                That's why the people who believe that they know are the most ignorant in the world. To be
           ignorant is not that bad, but to believe that you know, without knowing, is very dangerous.

               It seems that talking parrots had become quite fashionable. Understandably, Mulla Nasruddin's
           wife decided she must have one for herself. However, every store she went to had sold out of parrots.
           Finally she found a shop that had one left.
           "But," the owner cautioned, "this bird was previously owned by a madam in a whorehouse and its
           language may be quite salty. Perhaps if you keep him covered for a week, he will forget what he has
           seen and heard."
               Mrs. Nasruddin purchased the bird and did as the shopkeeper bid. At long last the week was over
           and the bird was finally uncovered. He first blinked his eyes and then after adjusting to the light
           looked around and said, "Hmm... pretty new house. Hmm... pretty new madam. Hmm... pretty new
           girls too."
               Just then Mulla Nasruddin walked in. The bird took one look at him and said, "Ah, shit! Same
           old customers. Hi, Mulla!"

                Yes, even parrots are more spontaneous than your pundits. You go on repeating. Your parents
           believed that they lived and their parents believed that they lived, and they have given you the idea
           that you are alive. You are not alive, you are only vegetating. To be alive means to be awakened.
                Bhagwato, when I say the new man, I mean the conscious man. Humanity cannot be saved if the
           conscious man does not arrive. In the past it was not so necessary, but now it is absolutely necessary,
           it is a must. If the new man does not arrive on the earth, if more and more people are not going to
           become conscious, alert, awake, then this earth is doomed. Its fate is in the hand of the stupid
           politicians, and now they have immense power of destruction, such as they never had before. That is
           something new.
                Just five years ago they had so much power that they could have killed every single human being
           seven times -- although you don't need to kill any human being seven times, once is enough. We had
           five years ago so much atomic energy -- atom bombs, hydrogen bombs -- that we could have
           destroyed this earth seven times. And within five years we have really progressed -- now it is seven
           hundred times! We can destroy seven hundred earths like this earth, and we go on piling up.... And
           any moment, any mad politician can trigger the process of self-destruction.
                The coming twenty years are going to be the most dangerous in the whole history of humanity; it
           has never been so dangerous -- we are sitting on a volcano. Only more consciousness, more alertness
           can save it; there is no other way. We have to de-automatize man. The society automatizes you. It
           creates efficient machines, not human beings.
                My effort here is to de-automatize you. I am doing something absolutely antisocial. The society
           makes you a machine and my effort is to undo it. I would like this fire to spread and reach to all the
           nooks and corners of the earth, to help as many people as possible to be conscious. If in a great
           quantity consciousness grows on the earth, there is a possibility, a hope, we can save humanity yet.
           All is not lost, but time is running short. Everything is being controlled by politicians and by
           computers, and both are dangerous. Politicians are mad. It is impossible to be a politician if you are
           not mad enough. You have to be absolutely insane, because only insane people are power-obsessed.
                A sane person lives life joyously; he is not power-obsessed. He may be interested in music, in
           singing, in dancing, but he is not interested in dominating anybody. He may be interested in
           becoming a master of himself, but he is not interested in becoming a master of others.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Politicians are insane people. History is enough proof. And now computers are dominating.
               You know the saying: To err is human.... That is true, but if you really want to create a great
           mess, human beings are not enough -- you need computers. Now machines and mad people are
           dominating the whole world. We have to change the very foundation. That's what I mean by a new
           man.
               A new man means more conscious, more loving, more creative. This whole process is possible
           through being more meditative. Become more meditative, silent, still. Experience yourself deeply. In
           that experience, a fragrance will be released through you. And if many many people become
           meditators, the earth can be full of a new perfume.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I NEVER KNOW WHAT IS COMING NEXT.
              IT IS NO USE BEING PREPARED.
              YOU ARE KILLING ME.
              I AM SO GLAD, BUT IT IS SO PAINFUL AND SO SCARY.
              P.S. THIS IS FOR A FEW STROKES. PLEASE DON'T CAUSE ANY MORE TROUBLE.


               Prem Samarpan, a few strokes are enough to cause trouble. And when you ask it, you get it!
           Sometimes people get it even without asking. Whatever you need and whenever you need, it is given
           to you.
               Pain is not always bad; sometimes it is absolutely necessary. It is a blessing in disguise. You
           grow through it; you cannot grow if you try to bypass it. One becomes integrated, crystallized
           through pain. The only condition to be fulfilled is that you should go into it consciously. Then pain,
           too, is a gift of God, just as death is. Then everything is a gift, if you can go consciously into it. Then
           everything prepares you for the new birth, for the new man.
           You say, "I never know what is coming next."
               Nobody knows and nobody needs to know. Samarpan, it is good not to be bothered about the
           future. The present is enough. And to live in the present, totally absorbed in the present, is the way of
           the sannyasin.
               Jesus says to his disciples, "Look at the lilies in the field, how beautiful they are!" And what is
           their secret? The secret is, they never think of the morrow, they live in the present. The whole
           existence lives in the present, except man. Hence, except man, there is no anxiety, no anguish. All
           anxiety, all anguish is man-created; it is our own doing. It simply exists in our own minds. Either we
           are worried about the past -- which is so stupid because you can't do anything about it; whatsoever
           has happened has happened, you cannot go back. But we go on thinking, "Had I done this, had I said
           this...." You are simply wasting more time. People go on repenting about the past -- that which is not
           is not worth repenting about. People feel guilty about their past. That which is gone is gone forever.
           Feel disconnected, become discontinuous.
               Each moment, Samarpan, one has to become discontinuous with the past. And if you become
           discontinuous with the past, only then do you stop worrying about the future, because the future is
           nothing but a projection of the past. The people who live in the past also live in the future. The future
           is a reflection of the past. What exactly is your idea of future? It means you are not going to commit
           the mistakes that you committed in the past -- delete those mistakes. And you are going to enjoy all
           that was pleasant in the past more deeply. That's what your future is: intensifying your pleasures of
           the past and deleting your pains of the past.
               But you don't understand life. Pains and pleasures are joined together. If you want the same
           pleasures that you enjoyed in the past and you want them to be more intense, you are asking for the
           pain that you also suffered in the past. And, of course, the pain will be as intense as the pleasure.
           They are always balanced, they move together, they are inseparable. They are two sides of the same
           coin.
               So you are simply wasting time, whether you are thinking of the past or of the future. And the
           future is not going to be according to YOU. Who are you to decide about the future? This vast
           universe can't be decided by your private will, by your ego. You have to stop pushing the river. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to learn how to go with the river, how to go with the wind.
               Lao Tzu says: Be like a dead leaf, so wherever the wind blows the leaf goes with it. It has no
           destiny of its own, it has no private goals of its own, it has no will of its own. It is utterly
           surrendered. That is the meaning of your name, Samarpan. SAMARPAN means "totally
           surrendered": one who has lost his will into the will of the whole.
               Jesus says on the cross, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." That is samarpan, that is
           surrender. "Thy will, not mine." That is his last prayer and the very essence of prayer, the very soul
           of a religious man.
               There is no need to prepare for the future. Live in the present so totally, that's all. That is
           preparation for the future without preparing at all. Why? -- because when you live totally in the
           present, the future is going to be born out of the present. From where is it going to come? It is going
           to grow out of this moment. If you have lived this moment in its total beauty, joy, celebration, the
           next moment will come out of it and you will be able to live it even more totally, even more
           joyously. But you don't think about it and you don't prepare for it because thinking and preparing
           means missing this moment. And if you miss this moment you will miss the next too, because it will
           be coming out of this empty moment which you absolutely missed.
               So a strange phenomenon happens, a very strange law of life: those who prepare for the future
           are the ones who go on missing, and those who don't prepare but LIVE in the present, utterly
           surrendered to the whole, they never miss anything. Their future comes out of the present, flows out
           of the present. Then the whole takes care. When you are surrendered, the whole takes care; when you
           are not surrendered, you have to take care of yourself. And that is like trying to pull yourself up by
           pulling your shoestrings.

                Mulla Nasruddin went for his first airplane flight. When he came back he was looking very tired
           -- and just a fifteen-minute flight from Bombay to Poona -- he was trembling, his face was looking
           so pale.
           I asked, "What is the matter?"
                He said, "What is the matter! Those two plane flights!"
                I said, "What two plane flights? You have been only on one plane flight."
                He said, "Two -- my first and my last! I am finished with this nonsense! I was so afraid, I had to
           sit just on the edge of the chair."
           "But why on the edge?" I asked him.
                He said, "So that my whole weight was not on the plane, that's why."

              And this is the way millions of people are living in the world: so their whole weight is not on the
           whole; otherwise something may go wrong.
              The whole is capable of carrying you. You are almost nothing; it is not a problem for the whole.

               A man who had finished his life went before God. God reviewed his life and showed him the
           many lessons he had learned. When he had finished God said, "My child, is there anything you wish
           to ask?"
               The man said, "While you were showing me my life, I noticed that when the times were pleasant
           there were two sets of footprints, and I knew you walked beside me. But when times were difficult
           there was only one set of footprints. Why, Father, did you desert me during the difficult times?"
               And God said, "You misinterpret me, my son. It is true that when times were pleasant I walked
           beside you and pointed out the way. But when times were difficult, I carried you."

               You say, Samarpan, "I never know what is coming next. It is no use being prepared."
               Certainly, it is no use being prepared -- or, there is a totally different way of being prepared. That
           is what I am trying to show you. Live in the moment totally, fully aware. That is the real way of
           preparing WITHOUT preparing. That is preparation without preparation. You will be ready for the
           next moment naturally, without any worry.
           You say, "You are killing me."
           Yes, in a sense. And in another sense....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Meditate over this story:
              A man is taking a walk in a park late at night. Suddenly, behind some bushes he hears strange
           gasps and muffled screams. Alarmed, he shouts, "Is anybody being killed in there?"
           "No, no," shouts back a voice. "Just the opposite!"

               Yes, in one sense I am killing you; in another sense, I am giving you a new birth. I am doing just
           the opposite.
               The master is a womb. He takes the disciple inside his womb. We call that womb the
           buddhafield. And then the disciple grows in his love, is nourished through his love, in his light. He is
           showered continuously with his compassion, with his understanding. And one day he comes out of
           the womb of the master, a totally new man. The old dies and the new is born. This is how you
           become twice-born.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU TALK ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'KNOWING' AND 'KNOWLEDGE'. BUT TO
              BECOME A MASTER, DO YOU NOT HAVE TO HAVE 'KNOWLEDGE' AS WELL AS 'KNOWING'? IT
              SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU, IN YOUR TALKS, SHOW MUCH KNOWLEDGE. CAN THIS NOT BE A
              PART OF THE WAY FOR SOME?


               Nicholas Mosley, there is a great difference between knowledge and knowing. And to you,
           knowing may appear as knowledge because you are not acquainted with knowing at all; you know
           only knowledge. Hence you may find much knowledge in what I am saying, but it is not
           KNOWLEDGE to me, it is knowing to me. Knowing means my own experience; knowledge means
           something borrowed.
               And it is not necessary that my knowing should go against the knowing of Buddha or Jesus or
           Krishna. In fact, it cannot go against anybody's knowing. Knowing is the same, the process is the
           same, whether Buddha knows or Zarathustra. It is the same.
               Knowing means you enter into your interiority, you move inwards, you reach to the very center
           of your being. You experience who you are... and in that very experience you know you ARE God,
           because only God exists. To say, "God is," is a tautology because God means "is"; "isness" is God.
               Whatever I am saying here may appear to you as knowledge because it can be found in the Bible,
           in the Koran, in the Gita, in THE DHAMMAPADA. And you will think, "Of course, it is
           knowledge." It is not. The difference is subtle and delicate.
               One can know about love -- libraries are full; thousands of books about love have been written.
           You can gather as much knowledge about love as possible. You can make an encyclopedia of love.
           You can become an encyclopedia of love. Still, if you have not experienced love, all that you know
           is rubbish, all that you know is verbal, intellectual; it has no existential value.
               Buddha used to say: It is like a man who goes on counting other people's cows and buffaloes
           every day -- and he himself has no cow, no buffalo. Counting other people's cows and buffaloes you
           may become very expert in counting, you may become very reliable, but unless you have your own
           cow you will not be nourished by that counting.
               To know means to be silent, utterly silent, so you can hear the still, small voice within. To know
           means to drop the mind. When you are absolutely still, unmoving, nothing wavers in you, the doors
           open. You are part of this mysterious existence. You know it by becoming part of it, by becoming a
           participant in it. That is knowing.
               And once knowing has happened, then to read the Bible and the Koran and the Gita is beautiful,
           because then they all become witnesses. Otherwise you can read, you can repeat, but they are only
           words with no meaning, with no content.
               Knowledge is without content, empty shells with nothing inside. But if you have seen only
           knowledge, from the outside both will look almost the same. Knowledge comes through studying
           and knowing happens through meditation. The processes are different. In knowledge you have to go
           into words, into language, into scriptures. In knowing you have to go within yourself. The processes
           are not only different but polar opposites. In knowing, first you have to drop knowledge because that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becomes a hindrance. First you have to know that "I don't know." You have to become innocent.
              Jesus says: Unless you are as innocent as small children you will not enter into my kingdom of
           God.

              The clergyman was telling his guests a story when his little girl interrupted.
           "Daddy," she asked, "is it true or is it mere preaching?"

              There is a great difference whether something is true or is just preaching -- "mere preaching."

               An old priest had to leave his village one Saturday -- the day everyone goes to confession. He
           taught the new young priest who was taking over his job the necessary basics: "If a woman steals
           money from her husband -- three 'Ave Maria' and two 'Pater Noster'; if someone commits adultery --
           five 'Ave Maria' and three 'Pater Noster'; for those who have been telling lies -- one 'Ave Maria' and
           two 'Pater Noster', and so on."
               The young priest heard first the confession of a pretty village girl.
           "Father, I have committed a sin," the girl said.
           "What have you done-a, my child-a?" asked the priest.
           "I have given the boy next door a blow job," she replied timidly.
               The young priest was puzzled because he had not been instructed about such a situation. At that
           moment, he saw the old priest passing by, his suitcase in hand, preparing to leave. Quickly he called
           out to the old man, "Father, Father, one moment please. There is a young-a girl-a here. What do I
           give her-a for a blow-a job?"
           "Fifty dollars," replied the old priest.

                Knowledge is borrowed; knowing is yours, your own. It is authentic. Knowledge is information,
           knowing is transformation.
                You ask me, Nicholas, "You talk about the difference between knowing and knowledge. But to
           become a master, do you not have to have knowledge as well as knowing?"
                Knowing is enough. To be a master, knowing is enough.
           "It seems to me," you say, "that you, in your talks, show much knowledge."
                I am not a master because of my knowledge, but in spite of it! I was a professor in the university.
           I had to struggle a great deal to get out of my knowledge. Still, something of it goes on lingering
           around me. Forgive me for that! But it has nothing to do with being a master.
                Jesus had no knowledge; he was more fortunate. He was not a professor in a university, he was
           just a poor carpenter's son. Mohammed was fortunate; he was absolutely illiterate. I was unfortunate.
           I have suffered a lot from knowledge. My whole problem was how to get rid of it. That's why I am
           so much concerned about you and I continuously insist on being aware of knowledge -- don't become
           knowledgeable. I am saying it because of my own experience.
                It is easy to renounce wealth, it is easy to renounce power, prestige, because they are outside
           things. The greatest problem is to renounce your knowledge because it goes so deep. It becomes
           almost a part of your being, it becomes so ingrained. You can escape to the Himalayas -- the wife,
           the shop, the power, everything will be left behind, but not knowledge. It will be there with you
           wherever you go. It is not a shadow, it is something inside your skin. It is easy to get out of your
           skin; it is more difficult to get out of your knowledge. Hence I go on saying to you: Beware, beware
           of becoming knowledgeable. And there is a great tendency in the mind to become knowledgeable
           because it is very ego-fulfilling.
                But one need not be knowledgeable to become a master. If you are already knowledgeable, then
           put it aside. Become innocent again so that you can know on your own, and when you have known
           you can use your knowledge. It can be used, but only later on. Knowing comes first, then you can
           use your knowledge, but your use of knowledge will be totally different from the use of the scholars.
                That's why MY interpretation of Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira, is totally different from the
           interpretations of scholars. It is bound to be so. Their interpretations are verbal, they are only logical
           interpretations. They are great argumentators, clever in hairsplitting.
                My interpretations are not argumentative, are not intellectual. My interpretations are paradoxical.
           If you are against me you can call them anti-intellectual; if you love me you can call them
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           supra-intellectual. It depends on you. If you are against me, they are irrational; if you are in love with
           me, they are suprarational. If you are against me, they are self-contradictory; if you love me they are
           mysterious, paradoxical.
               And when I say anything I am not concerned whether I am being true to Buddha or not. My
           concern is whether I am being true to myself or not. If I am true to myself I know that I must be true
           to Buddha; it can't be otherwise. So I don't take much care whether I am literally true to Buddha, to
           Jesus, or not. I take every freedom.
               Sometimes I change the stories because when I see that this story is not possible, it can't happen
           to a buddha... sometimes I invent stories too.

               Once a great Buddhist scholar, Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, came to see me. He said,
           "Everything you say is beautiful, but a few stories I have come across which I have not found in any
           scriptures."
           I asked him, "For example?"
               He said, "For example, just the other day I was reading a beautiful story you have told: Buddha is
           passing down a street talking to his disciple, Ananda, and a fly sits on his head. He goes on talking
           and just moves his hand to scare away the fly, and then he stops suddenly in the middle of the road.
           The fly is gone, but he moves his hand again slowly as if the fly is there.
           "Ananda is very much puzzled. He says, 'What are you doing? The fly is no longer there!'
           "Buddha says, 'Yes, I know, but this is how I should have done it before. I continued to talk with you
           and automatically I allowed my hand to move. That is not right for me. I should move my hand with
           more awareness. So now I am doing it as I should have done.'"
               Anand Kausalyayan said, "I have never come across this story. I have read ALL the scriptures."
               I asked him, "But do you think the story is beautiful?"
           He said, "The story is beautiful."
               Then I said, "It is perfectly right. Then why bother about the scriptures? Don't you see a Buddhist
           flavor in it?"
           He said, "I can see."
           "So that is the whole point!"

              I am not functioning here as a man of knowledge, but only as a man of knowing.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM LOSING MY MEMORY AND IT IS WORRYING ME TO DEATH. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

              Mamta, nonsense! Just forget all about it!

              The sixth question:



              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WAS WRONG WITH THE INDIANS?

              Madhuri, almost everything!

              The seventh question:



              BELOVED MASTER,
              YES! I WAS NOT SURE UNTIL NOW! I SAID THE SAME WORDS TO ASEEMA A MONTH AGO:
              "YOU HAVE DRIVEN TWO OTHER MEN MAD. DON'T LET IT BE ME." WOW! WE HAVE BEEN IN
              LOVE FOR MAYBE ONE YEAR NOW, AND TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH I AM REALLY ALLOWING
              HER TO AFFECT ME IN ALL POSSIBLE WAYS. BOTH NIKUNJ AND SARVESH ARE AFFECTED
              BY HER, AND FOR MYSELF I SEE WHAT IT IS: LOVE WITH A WITCH! RELEASE ME, BELOVED
              MASTER.
              AH... WHAT SHALL I DO?
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Narayana, it is too late! And I am not a witch doctor! Now, nothing can be done. In fact, you are
           already mad.

               Mulla Nasruddin plays on the sitar, but he goes on playing the same note continuously for hours.
           His wife has gone mad, his children have gone mad, his parents have gone mad.
               One day he continued to play the same note, and a neighbor asked him, "Mulla, we have seen
           many people playing sitar, but they change notes."
               Nasruddin said, "I know they go on changing -- because they have not yet found the right note.
           And I have found it, so why should I change?"
               The neighbor said, "But now it is two o'clock in the night. Please! Just one hour more and I will
           go mad. Stop it!"
               Nasruddin said, "It is too late because I have stopped already. It is almost two hours since I
           stopped! What are you talking about?"

                Narayana, one year with Aseema... you are finished! She is dangerous -- all beautiful women are.
           All women are witches! In fact, the word 'witch' means wise. It is exactly the equivalent of 'buddha'.
           If a woman becomes enlightened she becomes a witch.
                Aseema is just on the verge of becoming enlightened, and on the way she is giving whatsoever
           help she can. Whosoever meets her, she helps him. You have been helped by her, and there is no
           way now for you to be released. All is finished! You had better settle in it.
                Nikunj and Sarvesh got mad because they tried to escape. Only then they became aware that they
           were mad. If they had remained with Aseema, there would have been no problem.
                So don't try to escape from Aseema, that's my only advice. Remain with her. She is beautiful and
           I love her.

           The eighth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE ANY GOOD QUALITY IN THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE OR NOT AT ALL?


              Jagdeesh, an ancient scripture says... this is knowledge: Marriage is an institution that teaches a
           man regularity, frugality, temperance, forbearance and many other splendid virtues he would not
           need had he stayed single.

               The venerable old man was celebrating his one-hundredth birthday and was asked by a reporter,
           "To what do you attribute your advanced age and remarkable physical condition?"
           "I will tell you," replied the centenarian. "When my wife and I were first married, the rabbi who
           performed the ceremony suggested that whenever I saw an argument coming I should take a walk
           around the block. I took the rabbi's advice and I want you to know that for seventy years the constant
           exercise did wonders for my health."

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ABOUT THIS TALK YOU GAVE IN FAVOR OF MIXED MARRIAGES. I COME FROM GOOD OLD
              TRADITIONAL DUTCH STOCK AND HAVE RECENTLY GOTTEN TOGETHER WITH A
              SIMPLE-MINDED, BEER-BOOZING COCKNEY. SINCE THEN I HAVE TAKEN UP DISCO
              DANCING, ROCK 'N' ROLL SINGING, PARTIES AND BEER. I AM HAVING A BALL -- BUT ARE
              YOU SURE THIS IS THE WAY TO RAISE THE CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE WORLD?

              Arup, I am absolutely sure!
              Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                    Chapter #12
                                    Chapter title: A new man with a new vision
           3 March 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8003030
              ShortTitle: DHAM1012
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 45 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM AN UNEDUCATED MAN. CAN I STILL BECOME ENLIGHTENED?


               John, there is more possibility for you than for an educated man. The education that exists in the
           world is not true education. True education will be a help towards enlightenment because it will
           make you more meditative, more silent, more aware, more inward-looking.
               The education that exists in the world makes you more ambitious, outward-looking, more
           egoistic, more superficial. It gives you all kinds of wrong values. It is a kind of poisoning. It does not
           help you, in any way, to be yourself. It is destructive. It helps you to be somebody else, and that's its
           very destructive foundation. It is a poisoning, but so slow that you never become aware. It begins the
           day you are born and it goes on slowly slowly destroying you, distracting you from your nature.
               By the time you come out of the university you are no longer a natural being. You are artificial,
           arbitrary. Universities are like factories, assembly lines, where man is destroyed and machines are
           created, where man is reduced to a machine.
               Enlightenment means discovering your being. It has nothing to do with education. In fact, those
           who are educated will have to become, in a certain sense, uneducated again. Those who are
           knowledgeable will have to cease to be knowledgeable. They will have to become again childlike,
           innocent, so their eyes can be full of wonder, surprise, so they can again see the tremendous beauty
           of existence, the eternal joy, the celebration that surrounds you. But the knowledgeable person is
           absolutely unaware because he thinks he knows; that is his barrier.
               The more you know, the less you are surprised by anything. The more you know, the less you
           wonder. And God is only for those whose wonder is total, who know the experience of being in awe;
           those who can dance with the wind and the sun and the rain; those who, seeing a roseflower, are so
           struck by its beauty that they become speechless, that for a moment their minds stop functioning.
           Only those few can know God. Only those few can become enlightened.
               John, you are fortunate. Of course, if you are educated you will be able to earn more money --
           but not more meditation. You will be able to have more political power because you will be more
           cunning, more clever -- but not insight into your own being. You may be able to possess many
           things, but that will be only a deception. In fact, things will possess you because you will not be your
           own master. It is better to possess one's own being than to possess the whole world. It is better to be
           a buddha -- a beggar -- than to be Alexander the Great, because the buddha lives a full life and dies a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           full death, and Alexander the Great lives an empty life, hollow, somehow stuffing it in an effort to
           convince himself that he is not empty, and then dies utterly empty.
               When he died he said to his generals, "Let my hands hang out of my coffin."
           "Why?" they asked, because that was not the way to carry a dead body.
               He said, "That may not be conventional, but I would like my hands to hang out of my coffin so
           people can see that I am dying empty-handed."
               That's how his body was carried. Millions of people had gathered to see, and everybody was
           wondering, "Why are his hands hanging out?" And, slowly slowly, the rumor went around that
           Alexander wanted it to be known by everybody that he was going empty-handed. His life had been
           utterly futile.
               John, no need to be worried about education, knowledge. In the inner world, the ordinary
           education is not needed -- something else, a TRUE education.
               The word 'education' is beautiful. It means "drawing something out": drawing out that which is
           within you. In fact, we should not use it for the ordinary education. It is wrong to use a beautiful
           word like 'education' for this rotten system of schools, colleges and universities. It is not education in
           the literal sense even, because instead of drawing out what is within you it forces things from the
           outside upon you. It is an imposition.
               Real education is like drawing water from a well, not pouring something into the well. Real
           education is drawing out your being so that your inner luminosity starts filtering through your body,
           through your behavior.

               I am reminded of a beautiful story. It really happened, it is not just a story.
               Stosh, a new immigrant, got off a boat at Ellis Island and set about finding himself a job.
           Door-to-door inquiries brought no luck until he rang the bell of a whorehouse. The madam was
           sympathetic and employed him to clean up the basement. After completing the task in record time,
           Stosh asked for further work, whereupon the madam suggested that he become their permanent
           bookkeeper.
               When Stosh explained that he could neither read nor write, the madam paid him ten cents and
           sent him off on his way with her best wishes.
               With the ten cents Stosh bought two apples in the market. He ate one and sold the other in the
           town center for ten cents. He returned to the market and bought two more apples which he sold again
           for ten cents each. Increasing his business this way he eventually became the owner of a small fruit
           wagon, then several fruit wagons, then a small fruit store, then a supermarket, and finally a chain of
           supermarkets.
               When several of the giant national food chains offered to buy him out, he accepted the highest
           bid -- seven and a half million dollars. The contracts were drawn up and the corporate executive and
           Stosh, surrounded by a large number of attorneys, met in the plush corporate offices atop one of
           Manhattan's most prestigious skyscrapers. The contracts were looked over, heads were nodded and
           finally the executive signed on the relevant dotted line. Then Stosh picked up the solid gold pen and
           laboriously scrawled his 'X' at the bottom of the page.
               The corporate executive leaped up from his chair and shouted, "My God, man! You mean to say
           you have amassed this business worth seven and a half million dollars without being able to read or
           write?"
           "Hell!" snorted Stosh emphatically. "If Stosh could read or write, Stosh would still be a bookkeeper
           in a whorehouse!"

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS MECHANICAL GOODNESS?


              Gina Goyt, there is nothing like mechanical goodness. Goodness cannot be mechanical and
           anything mechanical cannot be good. It is a contradiction in terms. Goodness can only be conscious,
           nonmechanical; and evil can only be unconscious, mechanical.
              But I understand your question. It is relevant, because for centuries something like mechanical
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           goodness has been taught to people because it is easy. People ARE mechanical. To bring real
           goodness in their lives, real virtue, you will have to transform their unconsciousness into
           consciousness, you will have to change their darkness into light. That is an arduous effort, and the
           society, moreover, is not interested in it at all. In fact, it is afraid of it because whenever a REALLY
           good person has happened in the world he has created trouble for the society.
                A Jesus, a Lao Tzu, a Buddha, a Kabir, these are the greatest rebels for the simple reason that
           they were so conscious that they could see through the whole stupid game that we go on playing.
           They could see through our lies, they could see through our deceptions. It was impossible to deceive
           them and it was impossible to exploit them and it was impossible to enslave them. Not only was it
           impossible to enslave them, but they created great movements of consciousness in the world. They
           created chains, they triggered chains. Many many people became enlightened through their efforts.
           Their efforts were thought to be antisocial. That's why Jesus was crucified.
                Where can you find a man who is more good than Jesus? What was his crime? His crime was
           that he was REALLY good. If he had been only mechanically good there would have been no
           trouble. There were many rabbis who were mechanically good. The society is not afraid of
           mechanical people; they are manageable. They are dependent on the society. They always live with
           the collective, they are always following the crowd. The crowd is very happy with these people. And
           it is easy to create mechanical goodness because, in the first place, people ARE mechanical. You
           have just to replace their evil ideas with good ideas, not changing at all their beings.
                For example, hell was created -- the idea of hell -- to create mechanical goodness. People are
           afraid, people live in fear; priests became aware of it in the very beginning of humanity, that it can
           be exploited: make them more afraid. They depicted hell in such detail, they created so much fear in
           people, that people became conditioned -- out of fear.
                It is the same type of conditioning that can be done now in easier ways because we have more
           developed technology. There is no need to teach for twenty-five years the idea of hell; then a person
           becomes mechanically good. Now you can ask Pavlov, Skinner and other behaviorists: they will
           teach you some methods. Just electric shocks will do.
                Somebody smokes and you don't want him to smoke -- just give him electric shocks. Whenever
           he smokes let him have an electric shock. Within three days he will drop smoking because the
           moment he takes a cigarette in his hand he will start trembling. He will become so much afraid that
           now the shock is coming. That's how they teach rats, they teach monkeys and chimpanzees. And
           that's how they are trying to teach human beings.
                Religious people created hell, politicians created prisons -- just to torture people. If you torture
           them enough, people become accustomed. Pavlov calls it "conditioned reflex." He worked his whole
           life with dogs; he conditioned his dogs.
                If you bring food before a dog, of course, it affects his saliva. He starts salivating, his tongue
           starts hanging out, saliva starts dripping. Seeing delicious food, it is natural. But if you ring a bell it
           won't happen. There is no connection between a bell and saliva glands, but Pavlov did one thing:
           whenever he would give food to his dogs he would ring a bell. Whenever he would ring a bell he
           would give food to the dogs. The bell and the food became associated, linked, hooked with each
           other. After fifteen days he just rang the bell and the dogs started salivating and their tongues
           hanging out. Now, there is no natural connection between the bell and the tongue, but a new,
           unnatural connection has been created.
                Pavlov became the founder of communist psychology. That's how in Soviet Russia, in China and
           other communist countries, people are being conditioned. They don't think that man is any different
           from dogs; maybe a little more developed, a little more complicated, but still a dog.
                Skinner goes on working on rats and goes on finding how to condition rats, and he says the same
           is applicable to human beings. You just create fear and then they will not do certain things; and you
           create greed.... And that's why paradise, heaven were created. These are simple strategies for
           dominating people. Create fear for that which you want people not to do and create the idea of
           reward for that which you want them to do -- and you have created a mechanical behavior. They will
           not do the bad and they will do the good.
                But what kind of good is this? It is exploitation by the society, by the church, by the state -- by
           the vested interests. It has not changed the BEING of the man. It has not made him more aware,
           alert, more joyous, more celebrating. It has not given him any taste of bliss. It has not opened any
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           window for him from where he can have a little glimpse of God. I don't call it goodness, virtue. My
           idea of virtue is that it should be a by-product of consciousness. You should become so conscious
           that you CAN'T do wrong -- not because you are conditioned but because you can see it is wrong.

               For example, I was born in a Jaina family. Now, Jainas are the most fanatic vegetarians in the
           world. In my house even tomatoes were not allowed because their redness reminds you of meat and
           blood. Even poor tomatoes, so innocent! In my childhood, the very idea of somebody eating meat
           was enough to make me sick. In my family there was no possibility to eat in the night. Jainas don't
           eat in the night. Who wants to suffer in hell just for eating in the night?
               When I was eighteen years old, for the first time I ate in the night. It was so much against my
           whole background, but I had to because we had gone for a picnic and all the other boys were Hindus.
           They were not interested the whole day in preparing food, and I don't even know how to prepare tea!
           So I had to depend on them. I told them many times, but they were not interested. They were
           interested in exploring the mountains we had gone to, the fort, a very ancient fort, and the statues and
           there were many other things.
               The day was tiring and by the evening we were utterly tired. Then they started cooking food. The
           food was ready in the night. Tired, hungry... and the delicious food that they were preparing... and
           the aroma! And I was the only one who was in such suffering! I could not eat because just one
           night's wavering and you suffer in hell for eternity. But I was wavering -- naturally. On the surface I
           was keeping calm and cool as I was supposed to, but they were persuading me -- and deep down I
           was ready to be persuaded. In fact, I was hoping that they would be able to persuade me! Finally
           they persuaded me and I ate. But I have never suffered so much. The whole night I was sick and
           vomiting. Nobody else was vomiting, nobody else was sick. It was just my conditioning.

              Now, this kind of vegetarianism is not good. It does not come out of your consciousness -- it is
           mechanical.
              Mechanical goodness is not real goodness; it is just a facade. Intelligence is needed to be good,
           awareness is needed to be good.

               The unshaven and booze-smelling Polack was arrested for public drunkenness, and now he stood
           in front of the judge.
           "Your honor," he pleaded, "I honestly didn't mean to drink a whole quart of vodka at one time."
           "Then why did you do it?" demanded the judge.
           "I lost the cork."

               A contractor working for the U.S. government in Vietnam submitted a bill for the tiling of a roof.
           The government office was astonished at the total of over twenty thousand dollars, most of it for
           medical expenses incurred on the job. A lieutenant was dispatched to the hospital to investigate.
               This was the contractor's explanation: "At the outset of the job I attached a pulley to the edge of
           the roof and ran a rope through it. To one end I attached a large barrel; the other end I tied to a stake
           in the ground. I then filled the barrel half full with tiles, untied the rope, hoisted the barrel up to the
           roof, retied the rope to the stake, climbed up the ladder, unloaded the tiles on the roof, lowered the
           barrel, climbed down the ladder, and repeated this process several times until all the tiles were on the
           roof.
           "Early in the evening the job was completed and I began loading the unused tiles into the barrel. I
           had overestimated the number of tiles needed and so had a full barrel of extras. I climbed down the
           ladder and unhooked the rope.
           "It was then that I realized my error. The barrel, now full of tiles, was heavier than I and began
           descending. In my shock, I forgot to let go -- up I went! Halfway up, the barrel and I met, breaking
           my right hip. I continued up, breaking several fingers and one hand as I hit the edge of the roof.
           Meanwhile the barrel hit the ground, tipped over and spilled out most of the tiles. The barrel, now
           lighter than I, came back up. I descended. Halfway down we met again -- this time my ribs were
           crushed. When I hit the ground my left leg was broken.
           "It was at this time that I had the presence of mind to let go of the rope. A few seconds later the
           barrel landed on my head giving me concussion!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              More intelligence is needed, more awareness is needed, and then life becomes naturally good,
           spontaneously good.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM HOMOSEXUAL. I FEEL TERRIBLY OPPRESSED AND STRICKEN BY THE STIGMA OF
              HOMOSEXUALITY. IT SEEMS FALSE TO ME TO COME HERE TO FIND A WAY TO COME
              CLOSER TO MYSELF AND AT THE SAME TIME NOT TO HAVE THE COURAGE TO SHOW
              MYSELF THE WAY I AM. THEN I WANT TO RESIGN AND RETURN HOME SO THAT I DON'T
              HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT ANY LONGER. WHAT CAN I DO?


               Hein Steff, there is nothing wrong in being homosexual. You need not feel guilty about it. One
           certainly has to go beyond sex, but that is as much applicable to heterosexuality as it is applicable to
           homosexuality. Heterosexuality or homosexuality are just styles of the same stupidity! You need not
           feel guilty.
               In fact, looking at the population of the world, homosexuality should be supported. At least you
           will not be increasing the population of the world, you will not be loading the earth more. It is
           already loaded too much. Homosexuality should be valued, respected -- it is pure fun!
           Heterosexuality is dangerous. And what is wrong? If two persons are enjoying each other's bodies,
           nothing is wrong. It should be their concern; nobody else's business to interfere.
               But the society is continuously interfering in everything; it does not leave anybody any privacy.
           It enters in your bedroom too. Your society is not a free society. It talks of freedom and democracy
           and all that rot, but it is pure slavery. It is a big prison. And your priests and your so-called God are
           all Peeping Toms. They are all looking into your private lives, what you are doing. It should be
           nobody's business.
               What is wrong in loving a man or a woman? Two men can love each other, two women can love
           each other. Love is a value in itself. And fun should not be condemned. Life is already such a
           burden, such a drag, such a boredom. Leave at least something in life so people can feel a little less
           bored.
               Here you need not feel afraid to show yourself the way you are. My whole approach is to help
           you to be the way you are because that is the only way to help you transcend it. Feel guilty and you
           will remain the same. Guilt never transforms anybody.
               And homosexuality is such an innocent phenomenon. Why is it so much condemned? The reason
           is that if it is not condemned, the fear is that almost everybody will turn homosexual because every
           child has the tendency. Every child passes through the stage when he is homosexual. Every boy,
           every girl, passes through a time when boys like boys and girls like girls. The fear is that if many
           people turn homosexual -- and particularly in the past when the population was not big and every
           society wanted more numbers because numbers meant power.... To allow homosexuality was
           dangerous; it had to be condemned, absolutely condemned, so much so that in a few countries it is
           the greatest crime.
               For example, in Ayatollah Khomeiniac's country, Iran, it is one of the greatest crimes. You can
           be imprisoned for your whole life or you can even be sentenced to death, just for being homosexual.
           It seems absolutely absurd, ridiculous, but in the past there was some reason in it. Every society
           wanted to be more powerful. It was a constant struggle -- a struggle between groups, struggle
           between tribes, struggle between clans -- the deciding factor was your number, how many you are. If
           people become homosexual, then the population will decrease; hence it has to be condemned as the
           greatest sin.
               It may have some meaning if you think of the past, but in the present it is absolutely meaningless.
           In fact, the whole situation has become just the opposite: now heterosexuality is the danger; less
           numbers are needed. If humanity goes on growing this way, then we cannot support humanity, we
           cannot live any longer. By the end of this century the population will be so much, the poverty will be
           so much, that there seems to be no way out except a third world war which will kill almost
           everybody -- so that a few people can start the whole story again.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           I have heard a story, a twenty-first century story:
               The third world war has happened, and a monkey is sitting on a rock taking a sunbath. A female
           monkey comes with an apple and gives the apple to the monkey. And the monkey says, "My God,
           are we going to start it all over again?"

                Homosexuality is condemned because there is every possibility that if it is not condemned many
           more people will turn towards it. The inner tendency is there in every person. In fact, the person who
           is against it... the more he is against it, the more he has the tendency. Deep down, unconsciously, he
           knows it is there. To repress it he has to be very much against it; he feels disgusted by the very idea.
                But nobody is telling HIM to become homosexual. If others feel attracted, then it is not your
           business to interfere or to condemn them. It is their freedom, and they are not doing any harm to
           anybody. It is a harmless game -- stupid, certainly, but not a sin. But as far as stupidity is concerned
           all sex is stupid, for the simple reason that it is a biological urge and you are not the master of it, you
           are just a victim.
                And you need not be so much worried about it, Hein, because homosexuality has a very beautiful
           origin: it originated in the monasteries. It is something religious! The first homosexuals were monks
           and nuns -- Christians, Buddhists, Jainas; all great religions have contributed their share to it. It was
           bound to be so because there are monasteries even now in existence where no woman has ever
           entered.
                In a Catholic monastery in Europe, Mount Athos, for one thousand years no woman has entered;
           not even a six-month-old girl has been allowed to enter in. What kind of people are living there? A
           six-month-old girl and they are afraid even of that! What can they do? But repressing sex creates
           fear, so the whole monastery is full of men; and homosexuality is a natural by-product if only boys
           are together or only girls are together.
                Religious people have contributed greatly. Educationists have contributed greatly, because boys
           have to be educated separately. They have to reside in different hostels specially for them and girls
           have to stay aloof in separate hostels, in separate schools. If you put too many girls together they are
           bound to become lesbians, because when the sexual urge takes possession of them and they cannot
           find a boy, then anything is better than nothing.
                In zoos even animals turn homosexual -- only in zoos, remember. In their wild state they don't
           become homosexual. There is no need -- females are available. But in a zoo, if females are not
           available, they become homosexual. A zoo is worth studying. I used to study zoos because the zoo
           gives you many indications about human society. The human society is a big zoo because everything
           has become so unnatural.
                Go to a zoo and watch the animals and you will be able to see many things. They become
           homosexuals; they never become homosexuals in their wild stage. They are FORCED to become
           homosexuals. They go crazy, they become insane, mad. In wild states they never become insane. No
           animal ever becomes mad in his wild state; he remains sane. But his sanity needs a little freedom.
                A lion has a big territory in his wild state, miles of territory, and he is the king of the whole
           territory. In a zoo he is in a small cage. If you go to the zoo you will see the lion walking up and
           down the cage, up and down, up and down, the whole day. It can drive anybody mad. He needs
           freedom, he needs a certain territory. In such a small space he is overcrowded. He becomes angry,
           enraged, violent.
                Many diseases never happen in the wild. For example, no animal suffers from tuberculosis or
           cancer, but in a zoo animals suffer from tuberculosis and cancer. Strange! In the wild there are no
           medical facilities for them and in the zoo every kind of medical facility is available. Doctors are
           there to look after them, great doctors, doing something great! What they cannot take care of on their
           own -- cancer, tuberculosis -- doctors help them with. Animals become victims of illnesses which
           they have never known before.
                Human society has been so much forced to live in unnatural circumstances -- and the monastery
           is one of the most unnatural circumstances. It is a zoo, a religious zoo! Homosexuality was born
           there, so you need not feel very bad about it. You are a religious person! And you have a great
           lineage of homosexuals....
                If you look for homosexuals you will be surprised. Many poets, many authors, many painters,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many musicians, many dancers, many great people, many creative people, were homosexuals. Many
           Nobel Prize winners have been homosexuals.
               And don't be worried about enlightenment either, because at least one homosexual I know has
           become enlightened -- Socrates; he was a homosexual. And there are suspicions about Jesus. I
           cannot prove it, they are only suspicions -- because he always moved with the boys. Those twelve
           apostles... who knows? But if he was, nothing is wrong in it. Socrates was certainly a homosexual.
           Plato was, Aristotle was. Greeks are great people!

               One American girl was going to marry a Greek. The mother was very much worried. She said,
           "Wait! If you can avoid this marriage...."
               The girl was mad. She said, "No. He looks so beautiful, just like a Greek god!"
               The mother said, "I know, but after only a few days you will know he is nothing but a
           goddamned Greek! And one thing more," the mother said, "if you marry this man then remember one
           thing: never turn your back towards him, never! Whatsoever happens sleep on your back the whole
           night!"
               The girl got married. She insisted, and soon she found the mother was right: the Greek god was
           nothing but a goddamned Greek! And she was also puzzled because he was always trying to tell her,
           "Why don't you turn over?" -- but she wouldn't turn over; she was also stubborn!
               After six months all efforts failed. The Greek said, "Listen. If you don't turn over you are not
           going to have children ever."
               Then the girl had to turn because she wanted children. The Greek played a logical trick.

               Greeks have been homosexuals for centuries. All their great people have been homosexuals. So
           you need not worry -- you have a great history behind you! Walt Whitman was a homosexual -- one
           of the greatest poets of all the ages.
               There seems to be something in homosexuality that makes people creative, or creative people
           homosexuals. There is something in it and I can see the point. When you stop creating children, your
           creativity takes new turns, new dimensions. You create poetry, you create painting.
               And the people who have been condemning homosexuality for ages are also condemning it for
           one more reason. As far as the man/woman relationship is concerned it is always on the rocks,
           because man cannot understand the mind of the woman, the woman cannot understand the mind of
           the man. They are poles apart. That is their attraction, but that is also their conflict, constant conflict.
           If homosexuality is allowed, accepted, the fear is that many people will settle into it because a man
           can understand another man more easily -- they have the same mind. And women can understand
           each other more easily -- they have the same mind.
               That's why homosexuals are called "gay" people. They are really gay! The heterosexuals look so
           sad. Whenever you see a couple you can immediately know whether they are married or not: if they
           are sad they are married, if they are looking dull and dead they are married. Marriage kills all joy for
           the simple reason that it creates so many conflicts. Hence all societies have condemned
           homosexuality, for the simple reason that if it is not condemned, what will happen to reproduction?
           In the past it had some meaning, but now it has no meaning.
               Now the day has come when homosexuality CAN be accepted, should be accepted as a natural
           outlet of your sexual energies. I am not against it, I am not for it either. I am simply saying that if
           you have to live your sex you can choose your style, you are free to choose your style. If you decide
           to be stupid, at least you should be given the freedom to choose what kind of stupid you want to be! I
           give you total freedom.
               My effort here is to help you to go beyond it, so if you are homosexual you have to go beyond
           homosexuality, if you are heterosexual you have to go beyond heterosexuality. And there are other
           people also who are neither, who are autoerotic, autosexual. They have to go beyond their
           autoeroticism. Man has to transcend sex, whatsoever kind of sex it is, because unless you go beyond
           your biology you will never know your soul. But meanwhile -- before you go beyond -- it is your
           freedom to be whatsoever you want to be.
               You say, "I am homosexual. I feel terribly oppressed and stricken by the stigma of
           homosexuality."
               There is no need to be "terribly oppressed." You must be accepting people's condemnation. Deep
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down somewhere you are also against it; otherwise, why feel oppressed? If people are against, let
           them be against! You need not declare to everybody that you are a homosexual. You need not move
           with a flag that you are a homosexual! You can remain a homosexual. Of course, you cannot hide it
           because your sex style changes your body language. The way the homosexual walks is totally
           different from the heterosexual; the way he talks is totally different. And he looks so gay, so happy!
               So you will have to remain a little less happy, that's all. Don't look so happy, and walk a little
           more consciously, that's all. Don't feel oppressed and don't feel stricken by the stigma of
           homosexuality. That is all nonsense!
               And you say, "It seems false to me to come here to find a way to come closer to myself and at the
           same time not to have the courage to show myself the way I am."
               What courage are you talking about? Here there is no question of courage. If you are homosexual
           you are homosexual! Here it does not need courage to declare it. Here you can write on your shirt, "I
           am homosexual." Nobody will take any notice of it. People will say, "So what?"
               This is a totally different world. Here we accept all kinds of people: sane, insane, crazy -- we
           have no objection. Unless you start harming others we have no objection. And homosexuality is a
           harmless game, absolutely harmless. But you think that this is courageous that you are declaring that
           you are a homosexual. Here it is not; anywhere else it will be. And I will not suggest that you declare
           it anywhere else; there is no need. Why brag about it? Accept it silently, relax into it.
               But you wanted to say it because it is boiling within you. Don't be worried what others say. Just
           look within yourself, what you are saying to your own homosexuality. You are not at ease with it.
           The society has corrupted you, contaminated you. The society has given you ideas. It has created a
           certain conscience in you and that conscience is pricking, continuously feeling hurt.
               Now you say, "Then I want to resign and return home so that I don't have to think about it any
           longer."
               Just by going back home you will not be getting rid of it. Neither you will get rid of
           homosexuality nor will you get rid of the stigma or the feeling of being oppressed. You will have to
           drop your conscience that has been created by the society in you. You will have to understand
           yourself and clean yourself of all ideas imposed by others; only then will you be able to relax.
           You ask me, "What can I do?"
               Hein, don't make a problem out of it. Nothing has to be done about it. I don't tackle individual
           problems. My whole approach is that there are millions of diseases, but there is only one cure, and
           that cure is meditation.
               You meditate -- homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual.... You meditate. You become more still and
           more silent. You create inner emptiness. You become more transparent, and then things will start
           changing. You will be able to see what you are doing to yourself. If it is right you will go on doing it
           with more joy, with more totality, with more intensity, with more passion. If it is wrong it will
           simply drop, just like dead leaves falling from a tree.
               So I cannot suggest any specific method because to me all the problems are arising because we
           have become minds and we have forgotten that deep down there is a space within us which can be
           called no-mind. Entering that space, no-mind, will give you perspective, vision, clarity.
               Meditate. Sit silently watching your thoughts -- homosexual, heterosexual, whatsoever they are,
           it doesn't matter. You watch, you become the witness. Slowly slowly, a distance will be created
           between you and your thoughts. And one day suddenly, the realization that you are not your mind.
           And that day a revolution has happened within you. After that day you will never be the same again.
           A transcendence has happened. After that, whatsoever you do is right; you can't do wrong then. And
           before that, whatsoever you do is wrong.
               So when I say I have nothing against homosexuality I am not supporting it, remember. I am not
           saying, "Be homosexual." I don't have anything against heterosexuality either, but I am not
           supporting heterosexuality. I am not supporting anything. These are all mind games -- and you have
           to go beyond all the games.
           Your mind is created by the society.

             Fifteen-year-old Bobby was running out of a theater where he had just seen a porno movie.
             The manager stopped him. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
           "My mother told me," said Bobby, "that if I ever looked at anything bad I would turn to stone -- and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have started!"

              Two members of London's exclusive Explorers Club were discussing a mutual friend over large
           brandies and soda.
           "Well, I'll be damned," said the first old boy. "You say Parkhurst has gone to Africa and married an
           ape?"
           "Quite so, old man."
              There was a pause and the first clubman asked in a discreet tone, "A female ape, naturally?"
           "Of course," came the reply. "There is nothing queer about old Parkhurst."

              The mind functions as an agent of the society within you.
           To go beyond mind is to go beyond society.
              To go beyond mind is to go beyond the whole history.
           To go beyond mind is to go beyond past.
           To go beyond mind is to enter into God.
           And then whatsoever happens is good, is virtue.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE WEST SEEMS TO BE OBSESSED WITH SEX. PEOPLE ARE STUFFED WITH ENDLESS
              TECHNIQUES AND PORNO IMAGES. WHY, IN ALL THIS TIME, ARE PEOPLE STILL STUCK AND
              UNABLE TO MOVE INTO THE TANTRIC EXPERIENCE OF SEX, OF LOVE AND OF LIFE? 4


               Prem Karin, it is not a question of West or East. Both are obsessed with sex -- of course, in
           different ways. The West is indulgent, the East is repressive, but the obsession is the same. And the
           significant question is: Why is the West so indulgent? It is two thousand years of Christianity and its
           repressive methods that have brought this indulgence.
               The East is repressive; sooner or later, it is going to become indulgent. The mind of man moves
           like a pendulum, from the right to the left, from the left to the right. And remember, while the
           pendulum is moving to the right it is gaining momentum to move to the left, and vice versa. It
           appears it is going to the left, but it is gaining momentum, energy, to go to the right. When a society
           is repressive it is gaining momentum to become indulgent, and when a society is indulgent it is
           gaining momentum again to become repressive.
               So a strange thing is bound to happen, and in fact, it is happening: the West has been indulgent
           for a few decades and the repressive trend is arising again. There are many cults which preach
           celibacy now. The Hare Krishna movement preaches celibacy, BRAHMACHARYA, and thousands
           of people have become interested in it. And there are many cults arising which are all agreed on one
           point: that sex has to be repressed. In the name of yoga, in the name of Zen, in the name of
           Christianity, many cults are arising which are again repressive. The West will become repressive
           soon.
               And in the East, the number of porno magazines is growing every day; porno movies are coming
           more and more. The East is a little slow in everything, a little lazy in everything, so it takes a little
           longer. The West moves with speed. But the East is becoming West and the West is becoming East,
           and that is one of the greatest problems. If this happens, then the misery remains the same. Again the
           pendulum has moved and again you will go on doing the same things.
               This has happened many times in the past. A repressive society becomes indulgent sooner or
           later. When the repression comes to a point where you cannot repress it anymore it explodes: people
           go berserk. Or when a society has been very indulgent it starts seeing the futility of it, the sheer
           wastage of energy. And it gives no contentment; rather it makes one feel more and more frustrated.
           Then one starts thinking of brahmacharya -- celibacy. Maybe the ancient RISHIS were right!
               In the East also it has happened many times. The Hindu religion, in the beginning, was very
           indulgent; it was not a repressive religion. The Hindu seers were married people. Not only were they
           married, they were allowed to have a few other women also as their concubines. They were allowed
           even to purchase women -- because in those days in India, men and women were sold in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           marketplaces just like any commodity.
               Beware of all those people who go on talking about the Golden Age of India. There has never
           been any golden age. Even in the days of Rama... Hindus talk very much about Ramarajya -- the
           kingdom of Rama is thought to be the highest pinnacle. People were sold like commodities in the
           marketplaces, and particularly women were thought to be just property; anybody can sell, anybody
           can purchase. People used to give them as gifts. A guest would come to your house and he would
           like one of your women, and you would present the woman to him. Even the so-called saints used to
           have many women; they were all indulgent. All the stories of those days, even about the gods, are
           very indulgent.
               You must have seen Shiva temples -- temples devoted to the god Shiva. The statue is nothing but
           a phallic symbol. If you look, if you observe minutely, you will be surprised: it has both man and
           woman's sexual organs in it. It depicts the meeting of man and woman. The story is this:

               One day Vishnu and Brahma went to see Shiva... this is the Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu,
           Shiva. Brahma is the creator god, Vishnu is the maintainer god and Shiva is the destroyer god. All
           the three are needed to keep the world running. One creates, one maintains, one destroys; then again
           one creates, the other maintains and the third one destroys. So it remains in a flow.
               Brahma and Vishnu went to see Shiva. As it happened, the guard was fast asleep, so they entered
           in without asking any permission, and Shiva was making love to his wife, Parvati. He was so
           passionately into it, so drunk! -- he may have taken some drug, because he is perfectly well known to
           have used drugs. Marijuana and hash and opium were all known to him.
               He continued to make love and these two gods stood there watching. Great gods! They could not
           even say, "Excuse us," and get out. They must have enjoyed the scene -- living pornography! Six
           hours it continued, the love-making, and these two gods stood there for six hours watching. A long
           blue film! -- and nothing else, just making love! No other incidents, nothing else... just Shiva making
           love to his wife. But they were very angry.
               When Shiva was finished they told him, "We have been waiting for six hours and you have not
           even taken any notice of us. We are very angry and we curse you that you will be remembered
           forever and forever by your sexual organs."
               That's why in the Shiva temple you see the phallic symbol: Shiva is remembered by his sexual
           organ.

                Now, these Hindus must have been very indulgent. Their gods, too, were very indulgent. But
           then came a reaction, the pendulum moved. Buddhism and Jainism rebelled against this indulgence
           and they created a very repressive world, a repressive morality.
                India still lives under that influence, but it is moving slowly slowly again towards the indulgent.
           The West is influencing it -- Western films, Western novels are influencing it. The West is being
           influenced by Buddha, by Zen, by Patanjali, by yoga, by meditation, and the East is influenced by
           PLAYBOY! People are reading PLAYBOY, hiding it inside their Gitas!
                Prem Karin, you ask, "The West seems to be obsessed with sex."
                It is not true only about the West. The whole of humanity, up to now, has remained obsessed
           with sex, and it is going to remain so unless we change the whole gestalt. Up to now the gestalt has
           been repression/indulgence, indulgence/repression, going on moving between these two. We have to
           stop exactly in the middle. Have you ever tried to stop the pendulum of a clock in the middle? What
           happens? The clock stops. The time stops.
                That's my effort here. I don't want you to be indulgent and I don't want you to be repressive. I
           would like you to be balanced, just in the middle. It is in the middle that transcendence is possible,
           and it is in the middle that we can create a humanity which will be neither Eastern nor Western. And
           it is immensely needed, urgently needed, that a man comes on the earth which is neither Eastern nor
           Western: a new kind of man with a new vision, freed of all the bondage of the past.
                You ask, "Why, in all this time, are people still stuck and unable to move into the tantric
           experience of sex, of love and of life?"
                Tantric experience means neither to be repressive nor to be indulgent. Tantric experience is
           possible only if you move deep into meditation, otherwise not. When you become very very still,
           silent, aware, alert, then only is it possible that you will know something of tantra. Otherwise, tantra
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can also become an excuse for indulgence -- a new name, a religious name. And you can move into
           indulgence behind the name of tantra. Names won't make much change; your being needs change.

                Zelda, the Hebrew zebra, was walking down a country lane, some place in the boondocks of
           Pennsylvania. Soon she came upon a flock of sheep.
           "Yoo-hoo, may I speak to you, please?" she called out.
           One of the sheep came to the fence.
           "What do you want to speak about?"
           "I represent the Hadassah Zebra Association of South Africa. You are Jewish?"
           "Oh yes, we are all Jewish here."
           "Well, I am on a fact-finding tour. Our zebras are interested in learning how Jewish animals in
           America earn a living. Would you mind telling me what kind of work you do?"
           "What do I do?" exclaimed the sheep. "What kind of a question is that? I give wool, what else?
           Every year they shear it off and next season they do the same thing. Is it any different there in South
           Africa?"
           "Oh no, it is just the same. Well, I must be running along. Ta-ta, and thank you most kindly."
                Zelda continued on her fact-finding mission until she met a cow.
           "Excuse me, madam, I am from the Hadassah Zebra Association of South Africa. I am interviewing
           Jewish-American domestic animals. Would you be so kind as to describe your work?"
           "Glad to," murmured the cow. "I am employed by a strictly kosher dairy, being orthodox myself, of
           course. My work, you ask? Well, I am a purebred Guernsey, and I give Grade A milk. I live up there
           in that pretty white barn. Sorry I can't ask you in, but we were not expecting company and the place
           is a mess."
           "That's perfectly alright. Thank you for your information. You have been most helpful. Toodle-oo."
                A short time later, Zelda saw a stallion in a pasture, and there was no mistaking his Jewishness.
           He happened to see her at just about the same moment. He charged toward the fence, skidded to a
           four-footed stop and loomed over the zebra with nostrils flaring.
           "And just what is it that you do, sir?" asked the zebra demurely.
           "Honey, you just slip out of those fancy pajamas," he said, "and I will show you what I do!"

                The whole humanity is suffering from obsession, either through indulgence or through
           repression. The whole humanity is concerned with sex twenty-four hours a day.
                Psychologists have discovered that every man thinks of women at least once in three minutes,
           and every woman thinks of man at least once in six minutes. That may cause enough problems -- the
           difference; that may be the whole trouble between man and woman.
                Tantric sex is not sex at all; it is meditation. Meditation has to spread all over your life.
           Whatsoever you do, do meditatively. Walk meditatively, eat meditatively. If you are making love,
           make love meditatively. Meditation has to become your life twenty-four hours a day; then only the
           transformation. Then you go beyond sex, you go beyond body, you go beyond mind. And for the
           first time you become aware of godliness, of ecstasy, of bliss, of truth, of liberation.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THE INDIANS SUCH A PROUD PEOPLE?


                Paul, God knows! They have no reason to be. I am also surprised. There is nothing -- but the ego
           clings to anything or it invents something. India goes on inventing a beautiful past. It is invention,
           pure invention. It has never been there, it has never existed.
                Yes, there have been people like Krishna and Mahavira and Buddha, but they are not Indians at
           all. Jesus is not Jewish and Lao Tzu is not Chinese. These people are universal; nobody can claim
           them. The whole earth belongs to them; they are our common heritage, so you cannot brag about
           them.
                But every country has to invent something to feel good. Just as individuals need egos, countries
           need egos, races need egos, religions need egos. And Indians have a tremendously big ego. They
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           think they are the most spiritual people on the earth, and that is just bullshit! The very idea is
           unspiritual.
               To be spiritual means to be humble. To be spiritual means to be nobodies. To be spiritual means
           not to belong to any country, to any nation. To be spiritual means not to be Hindu, not to be
           Mohammedan, not to be Christian. But even spirituality is being used as a prop.
               It happens every day: some new Indians come, once in a while, those who don't understand me...
           because it is not possible to understand me just if you come once as a visitor just to look around. You
           can't understand me if you come as a tourist. Indians come, but they come only as visitors.
               And the few Indians who have become absorbed into my commune, who have become
           sannyasins, I don't count them as Indians anymore. They have become universal. It is a universal
           brotherhood.
               But when new Indians come they ARE Indians, very much Indians. And what egos they carry!
           When I pass around the Buddha Hall with my hands joined together, with my head bowed down to
           them in love, in prayer, in salutation, they can't even respond. They sit like stones. Not even a formal
           gesture they can show. They look so silly, so stupid, and I feel so sorry! How to help them? These
           people seem to be beyond help, beyond approach. And they see the whole ocean of sannyasins with
           their hands joined together joyously bowing, responding in love, communing, but they can't do it.
           They just sit there like dead rocks. Strange... but not so strange because deep down they think they
           already know. Deep down they think they are great inheritors of a spiritual tradition. They know the
           Vedas and the Gita and the Upanishads.
               I watch them, I watch their spirituality. They don't look at me -- they look at my Rolls Royce!
           That's why I have asked my secretary to bring a Rolls Royce: at least for Indians there must be
           something to see! They are more interested in the car -- and they are spiritual people, not
           materialists! When they come to the ashram, the first question they ask the guides here is, "Where is
           the Rolls?" They are not interested in seeing meditations, they are not interested in seeing Sufi
           dancers, they are not interested in seeing vipassana, they are not interested in anything. "Where is the
           Rolls?" Their whole mind is materialistic, but they go on pretending to be spiritual. And you can
           always invent something or other.
               The country is poor so they cannot brag about richness. The country is uneducated, they cannot
           brag about education. The country is technologically backward, they cannot brag about technology.
           So they have fallen upon something invisible: spirituality. You can always brag about spirituality.
           Nobody can disprove it. Of course, you cannot prove it either, but one thing good about spirituality
           is that it cannot be disproved. So you can go on talking about your spirituality -- which exists
           nowhere, which has never existed.
               Individuals have been spiritual beings, societies have never been. We have still to wait for that
           great day when there will be so many individuals awakened that the society will start having the
           color of spirituality. Up to now, it has not happened. Hitherto it has not been happening; it has only
           been a hope. But every religion believes that they are religious. Just believing in certain ideas gives
           you a false feeling of being religious. And whenever you come across a real religious person you
           shrink back, you become afraid.
               Hence they are against me -- they are bound to be against me. I am shattering all their structures.
           I am shattering their whole egoistic patterns. I am trying to bring them down to the earth, to the
           reality -- and it hurts.
               India has never been against anybody as India is against me, for the simple reason that nobody
           has ever shattered their egos. I am making every possible effort to shatter their egos because that is
           the only hope. If India loses its ego, there is a possibility of a rebirth. The country can be reborn. It
           has great potential. It has the same potential as when you don't use a field for many many years, you
           don't grow any crop, and the field becomes more and more potential every year.
               For centuries India has not grown any creativity. It has become the most potential country in the
           world. If it explodes into creativity it is really going to be something great, something of great
           consequence to the whole earth. But before it can ever happen the shell of the seed has to be
           shattered, has to be broken.
               I am going to be condemned, criticized, rejected; that is bound to be my destiny. But I am the
           only hope. If I succeed in helping a few intelligent Indians to come out of their closed egos into the
           open, that will help not only India but the whole world. It will be a great contribution to the growth
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of consciousness.
               It is possible, and you are all here to help it happen.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 10
                                                 Chapter #13
                      Chapter title: Religion is a song, poetry, a dance of your heart
           4 March 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8003040
              ShortTitle: DHAM1013
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 43 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU CONVERTING PEOPLE TO YOUR OWN RELIGION?


                Christina, I don't have any religion at all: a certain kind of religiousness, but no religion in
           particular. That's why it is so easy for me to absorb Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra, Moses,
           Mohammed, Mahavira. If I had a religion, then it would not be possible for me to be so universal.
                To have a religion means to become limited. To have a religion means you have defined life, you
           have made a dogma out of life, you have demystified it. It is no longer infinite; it is no longer
           unknown, unknowable. You have reduced it to a system of thought.
                My whole effort here is to melt all systems of thought, to melt your minds which have become
           ice-cold, frozen into prejudices, so that a new kind of warmth surrounds the earth. It will be a kind of
           religiousness -- just a vague feeling, not a definite thought. You can experience it, but you cannot
           explain it. It will not be like a flower, it will be more like a fragrance. If you are not suffering from
           cold you will be able to feel it, the fragrance. And people's heads are too full of coldness; they are
           suffering from cold, they have become frozen. One is a Hindu, another is a Christian.
                That is the meaning of your name, Christina: a Christian.
                Be a christ and never be a Christian! Be a buddha, never be a Buddhist! That is settling for
           rubbish. When you can experience the truth yourself, why settle for secondhand knowledge? All
           religions are secondhand knowledge.
                When a master is alive he has a certain climate, there is no doubt about it, a certain atmosphere
           around him, where people start growing -- growing into themselves. That is true conversion.
           Conversion does not mean a Hindu becoming a Christian or a Christian becoming a Hindu; that is
           not conversion. That is simply changing one prison for another, moving from one dead system of
           thought to another dead system of thought -- but you remain the same.
                Conversion means a radical change in your being. It is not a question of changing your ideology,
           it is a question of changing your consciousness. In that sense, people are certainly being converted.
           And I am not converting them, they are allowing themselves to be converted. Remember that
           difference. I am not interested in converting anybody; I am simply making a space available for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           those who want to go through this revolution. They can go through this revolution. Neither directly
           nor indirectly am I trying to make you part of any religion.
               Just the other day I was reading... somebody has written -- a Hindu -- that I am converting people
           into Jainism because I was born in a Jaina religion. And Jainas think that I am converting Jainas into
           the Hindu religion because orange is a Hindu color -- as if colors can also be Hindu or
           Mohammedan! And Christians have been writing letters to me, writing articles against me, that I am
           converting Christians to Hinduism. It is a very strange world! Christians think I am converting you
           to Hinduism, Hindus think I am converting you to Jainism, Jainas think I am converting you to
           Hinduism, Mohammedans think I am converting you to Buddhism and Buddhists thinks I am
           converting you to something else.
               I am not converting you to any organized system of thought, directly or indirectly. I am not
           interested in that at all. But certainly I am making a dimension available to you. If you are interested
           in going through a revolution you can go. If you have guts and courage you can have a new
           consciousness.
               But I can understand the question, particularly from a Christian, because Christians have been
           doing this business of conversion all over the earth for centuries, in every possible way, right or
           wrong. If people cannot be converted by convincing them, then convert them by swords. If swords
           have become out-of-date and look ugly, then convert them by money, by bread and butter. People
           are poor and starving.
               In India I have never come across a single rich family who has become Christian. Only very poor
           people who are always on the verge of dying because of starvation have become Christians. The
           reason is not that they are interested in Christ; they are simply interested in surviving -- and
           Christian missionaries have the money. They can give them the money, employment, clothes,
           medicine, schools, hospitals. And when it is a question of survival, who cares about religion? To
           what religion you belong does not matter -- the first requirement is to survive. So in India all the
           poor people, very poor people have been converted. This is converting them by bribery. Now instead
           of swords, a very subtle methodology is being used to convert them.
               But I am not interested in converting anybody. I love Jesus as much as I love Buddha because I
           don't see any difference. Both are religious because both are awakened. There is no difference at all
           between the awakened people. But the churches are not concerned with awakening or the awakened
           people; their concern is with numbers, and they use every possible way, direct, indirect, gross and
           subtle to convert people.
               Hence, Christina, the question has arisen in your mind: maybe I am doing something like the
           Christian missionaries. I am not a missionary.

               Mr. and Mrs. Chotnik had hoped that their son, Stanley, would follow in the path of their own
           orthodox ways and pursue his higher education at Yeshiva University. Instead, despite their voluble
           concern, he entered a Christian college. But when he returned home for summer vacation, they were
           vastly relieved to see that their fears had been groundless. Stanley had not forsaken his ancestral
           faith, he had not been converted, he had not, it was clear, been affected in the slightest way by his
           non-Jewish environment. In fact, on the very next Friday, he readily agreed to accompany them to
           synagogue.
               That evening, at the close of shabbes services, the rabbi, an old friend of the Chotnik family,
           greeted the young student with a wide smile.
           "It is good to see you here in the temple again, Stanley," said the rabbi, shaking the youth's hand.
           "Frankly, your parents and I were afraid you might be Catholicized there at South Bend."
               Stanley's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Impossible!" he declared. "No one will ever convert me,
           Father."

               There are subtle ways to convert. The person who is being converted does not become aware at
           all what is happening. You go on conditioning him, slowly slowly. You go on repeating the gospels
           and slowly slowly, without his awareness, his mind becomes full of all that has been repeated. He is
           being conditioned. It is a process of hypnosis.
               MY effort here is just the opposite: it is a process of dehypnosis, deconditioning. I decondition
           you, whosoever you are, Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan. I simply decondition you and then I leave
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it to you so that you can be yourself. I don't recondition you again. I stop with deconditioning so that
           you are free from the old pattern, from the old gestalt that has been imposed upon you. Once you are
           free then my work is finished. Then you can grow on your own according to your own light,
           according to your own inner needs. Each individual has a birthright to be himself.
                The world does not need Christians, Hindus and Mohammedans; it needs certainly religious
           people. And what do I mean when I use the words 'religious people'? I mean people who are aware
           that the world is not only matter, that the world is something more, something plus. It is not finished
           with matter; matter is only the circumference: consciousness is at the center. And this is possible
           only when you experience consciousness at your own center; then you can experience consciousness
           everywhere. When you start feeling consciousness everywhere you have come across godliness. This
           experience is religion.
                I am certainly interested in introducing you into this vast experience, but you have to come to it
           on your own. You have to come to it without any beliefs, prejudices -- open, vulnerable, ready to see
           that which is, rather than to project what should be. I don't give you any shoulds and should-nots, I
           don't give you any commandments. I simply help you like a gardener helps a seed. It is not an effort
           to make a lotus out of a rosebush or vice versa. The gardener helps the rose to be a rose and the lotus
           to be a lotus. Whatsoever is your potential, you have to be that.
                I am not here to decide what you have to be; I can only give you hints how to grow into your
           own being. And that's how a person becomes a Jesus, a Buddha, a Zarathustra.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE WEST IS OVERPOPULATED WITH PSYCHOTHERAPISTS AND THEIR PATIENTS, BUT WHY
              DOES NO ONE SEEM TO BE HELPED?


               Patrick, the help is possible only through a buddha. The help is possible only through the
           awakened one.
               The psychotherapists are as asleep as you are; they are in the same boat. There is no qualitative
           difference between you and them -- in fact they may be crazier than you are. They may be more in a
           mess than you are because they constantly deal with mad people; day in, day out, they are
           surrounded by mad people. Rather than helping the mad people to become sane, just the opposite
           happens: being constantly in contact with mad people, slowly slowly they become mad themselves.
               This is natural. They don't have yet that awareness which can remain aloof, unaffected. They
           don't have that distance, that coolness, that detachment. They are not living on sunlit peaks; they are
           groping in the same dark valley where you are groping. They are as blind as you are, but they have
           to pretend that they are not blind -- and that is more dangerous.
               If a person is blind and knows that he is blind and never pretends otherwise, there is every
           possibility he will walk more cautiously. If he pretends that he is not blind, if he projects that he is
           not blind, if he convinces others that he is not blind, slowly slowly he will be hypnotized by his own
           sayings, auto-hypnotized. He will start believing that he is not blind and he will start walking less
           cautiously. And that is more dangerous.

           I have heard:
               Once a blind man came to visit a Zen master. When he was leaving -- it was night, a dark night,
           no moon, and so many clouds -- the master said to the blind man, "Please take this lamp with you."
               The blind man laughed loudly. He said, "Are you joking? What can a lamp do for me? I cannot
           see! It is all the same to me whether I have a lamp or not."
               But the master said, "That I know, that you cannot see, but at least others will be able to see in
           the darkness that you are coming so they will not stumble into you."
               The argument appeared right. The blind man took the lamp, went away. He had just walked only
           a hundred yards and a man just walked into him. He said, "What is the matter? Are you too blind?
           Can't you see this lamp?"
               And the man said, "I am not blind. Excuse me, but your lamp is no longer lit; its flame has gone
           out."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The blind man went back to the Zen master and said, "Look, never give a lamp to another blind
           man again. If there was no lamp I would have walked more cautiously. I always walk cautiously.
           Because of the lamp I walked as if I were no longer blind -- and the lamp went out. But how was I to
           know that the lamp went out? Because of this lamp, for the first time I have been hurt by a man.
           Otherwise, I have walked my whole life in every possible situation, but because I was so cautious,
           always making noise with my stick on the road so people can feel that some blind man is there,
           always groping with my stick in the darkness so I know where I am, whether I am facing a wall or a
           door.... It was the first time that I walked without any fear."

               And that's what is happening to your psychotherapists, Patrick. They think they know -- they
           know nothing. They are more informed, but information is not knowing. They are well educated, but
           they have not a higher being than you. And help is possible only when somebody higher than you
           gives you a hand.
               More psychotherapists go mad than any other profession and more psychotherapists commit
           suicide than any other profession. And it is natural. Living with mad people, one can understand --
           they become affected.
           A few scenes will be helpful to you....

           The first scene:
           A man walks into a psychiatrist's office.
           "You must help me!" he exclaims.
           "What do you do for a living?" asks the shrink.
           "I am an automobile mechanic."
           "Get under the couch!"

           The second scene:
           First psychiatrist: "Hello!"
               Second psychiatrist: "I wonder what you mean by that?"

           The third scene:
              The patient: "Of course I am upset, doctor. I have eleven children and I find out my husband
           does not love me."
              The doctor: "You are very lucky. Imagine if he did!"

           The fourth scene:
           "Doctor, my wife accuses me of being a compulsive card-player."
           "That's ridiculous. Now shut up and deal!"

           And the fifth scene:
           "Doctor, now that you have cured me of my homosexual tendencies and since this is our last session,
           may I kiss you goodbye?"
           "Don't be ridiculous -- men don't kiss. I shouldn't even be lying on the couch with you!"

               You ask me, Patrick, "The West is overpopulated with psychotherapists and their patients, but
           why does no one seem to be helped?"
               Help is possible only from higher sources. A person who is on the same ground as you cannot be
           of any help to you. Help is possible only when a fully conscious man tries to help the unconscious. It
           is as if you are asleep; do you think somebody else asleep can help you in any way? Only somebody
           who is awake can wake you. If you want to be awakened at a particular hour, you don't say to
           somebody else who is asleep, "Please wake me up at five o'clock in the morning. I have to go for that
           goddamned Dynamic Meditation!" You have to ask somebody who is awake. Only somebody awake
           can wake you up. In fact, the person who is asleep may help you to fall into a deeper sleep.
               You may have watched it happen. If a few people are sitting just by your side yawning, you start
           feeling sleepy. They create a certain vibe; they create a certain atmosphere in which anybody
           vulnerable will start feeling it is better to go to sleep.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The same happens with awakened people: a buddha creates a totally different vibe. He shakes
           you up, he wakes you up. He goes on shocking you in many ways; he finds devices to shock you.

               Kavita has asked, "Beloved Master, sometimes you use such words that I feel shocked -- and I
           used to think that no word can ever shock me. Don't you have any couth?"
               Kavita, I will go on using these words unless you wake up. You would like to listen to lullabies
           -- but lullabies are not going to help. What appeals to you, what you like is not going to help.
           Something that shocks you.... I am going to use rough words till you stop yawning.
               Whenever I see somebody yawning somewhere, immediately I have to say something which
           shocks you -- and I can see his yawning disappears. The moment I say "bullshit" -- immediately I
           say it he stops yawning! His spine is erect, his kundalini is rising upwards!
               Unless you all become awakened I am not going to leave you at ease; I will go on hitting you in
           every possible way.

              Help is possible, Patrick, only from the awakened ones. You don't need psychotherapists, you
           need buddhas.
              Secondly: you go to the psychotherapist, but you don't really want to be helped. You have great
           investment in your pathology.
           A few scenes again.

           First:
           "Doctor, my wife thinks she is a refrigerator."
           "Why don't you divorce her?"
           "I would but I need the ice."

           Second scene:
           "Doctor, my girlfriend thinks she is a rabbit."
           "Bring her in. I will see what can I do."
           "Okay, but whatever happens, I hope you don't cure her."

               Nobody wants really to be helped. People are only playing games. They go to the psychiatrist in
           the hope that he can't do anything, that he is not going really to change them. Nobody wants to be
           changed; everybody wants to remain the same as he is. You have become so accustomed to your
           misery, to your pathology... it is your life, it is your way of life.
               If you want to be changed you will seek a master, not a psychotherapist.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE ANY TRUTH IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICAL IMMORTALITY WHICH SAYS THAT
              IT IS ONLY OUR BELIEF IN THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH WHICH PRODUCES OLD AGE,
              DISEASE AND DEATH? TO WHAT EXTENT DO OUR THOUGHTS MANIFEST RESULTS?


               John Fisant, man is afraid of death; hence he goes on creating all kinds of stupid ideas. Physical
           immortality is sheer nonsense because anything that begins is bound to end. Physical immortality is
           possible only if you are not born through parents but manufactured in a factory. If you are made out
           of plastic, if you are not a real man, then there is a possibility. Plastic seems to be the only immortal
           thing.
               So if you don't have skin but plastic instead, if you don't have real blood but synthetic blood
           which you can change any time -- you can go to the petrol pump -- and all that you have in your
           body -- your bones, your joints, everything -- is replaceable so whenever there is some problem,
           things can be replaced; you just have to change a few parts and parts will be available.... You may
           have to go to the garage for a time; a few things may have to be unscrewed and screwed again. Then
           you can be physically immortal -- but then you will not be a man, you will be a machine.
               If you are born you are bound to die. Yes, it is possible your life can be prolonged -- life HAS
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been prolonged. As medicine has evolved, as scientific technology has come to help human beings,
           as we have become more and more aware of the secrets of life, life has been prolonged. It may be
           prolonged from seventy years to seven hundred years, but then too you will not be physically
           immortal.
               And I don't think many people would like to live seven hundred years; even seventy years is too
           much! People start thinking after a time, "Now it will be better to die." Death is a relief, a relaxation.
           Everything wants rest; death is going into rest. Your body also gets tired, matter also gets tired. It
           wants to go back to its original source: water into water and air into air and earth into earth and fire
           into fire. Everything wants to go back to its source to rest, to rejuvenate itself, and come back again.
           But man has always cherished these ideas -- physical immortality. And not ordinary people, even
           people who are thought to be extraordinary, they also go on having such stupid ideas.

                Sri Aurobindo and the mother of Sri Aurobindo both believed in physical immortality -- and both
           died! When Sri Aurobindo died nobody believed it, because all the disciples who had gathered there
           had gathered for the simple reason that he knows the secret of physical immortality and by being his
           disciples THEY are going to become physically immortal. How can they believe that he had died?
                For three days it was kept a secret that he had died. They waited: he may be in deep samadhi, he
           may come back. But after three days when they saw no sign of his coming back and his body started
           stinking, then they had to bury it. Then they hoped that the mother would be immortal. She lived a
           long life, but a long life does not mean physical immortality. When she died, again they were
           shocked. Their whole philosophy was confused by these two persons' deaths.
                But one thing is good about death: now you cannot ask Sri Aurobindo, "Why have you been
           telling your whole life that physical immortality is possible, that you know the secret, that you have
           been able to bring God into the physical world?"

               But fools gathered. Fools become attracted always to strange things. Just deep down the fear is
           there -- nobody wants to die. Why? Why in the first place are you afraid of death? Death is not the
           enemy. To a man who has really lived, death is the friend. It is like sleep. Nobody wants to remain
           wakeful twenty-four hours a day.
               There are a few people who think that sleep is also just an old habit and they try to reduce it. For
           centuries they have tried. Yes, it can be reduced, it can be reduced to two hours because two hours is
           the essential sleep; you also sleep only two hours in a deep way. Somewhere between two and four
           or three and five you sleep for two hours very deeply; those are the refreshing moments. All
           dreaming disappears, you are almost dead. Hence the ancients used to say sleep is a small death. But
           people have been trying to avoid sleep also.
               The logic is: if you can avoid sleep then you can one day avoid death too. If sleep is a small
           death and you have conquered sleep, you will be able to conquer the big sleep, death, too. But why?
           What is wrong in dying? The people who are afraid of death are the people who have not really lived
           their lives. They are not afraid of death, they are simply afraid that they have not lived yet and death
           has come.
               Rather than thinking of physical immortality, think of living your life totally. While you are here,
           live your life in a multidimensional richness. And then when death comes you will feel it as a
           crescendo, as a peak, as an ultimate -- life reaching to the highest -- and you will enjoy death as
           much as you have enjoyed life. You will be utterly satisfied with death because it will give you rest,
           relaxation; it will renew you. It will take away the old garments and it will give you new garments.
               But people go on philosophizing. They have created things like Christian Science, mind over
           matter. They think that if you believe that you are not going to die then you will not die.

               I heard about a man who was a Christian Scientist. One day he met a young man. He asked the
           young man, "Any news about your father?"
           The young man said, "He is very ill."
               The Christian Scientist said, "All nonsense! Tell him, 'Mind over matter.' He believes he is ill,
           that's all; it is his belief that is creating illness. Don't believe in illness and you will be healthy."
               After a few days again the young man came across this Christian Scientist, and the Christian
           Scientist asked, "How are things now with your old man? How is he?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              And the young man said, "Now he believes that he is dead."

               It is not a question of belief: illness has a reality, and death too has a reality. Yes, by believing
           also you can create a few illnesses -- which are false, bogus -- and by disbelieving in them you can
           destroy them. But you cannot destroy a real illness; the illness has to be false in the first place. If you
           BELIEVE in it and create it, then by disbelieving in it, it can be dropped.
               But death is not your belief; otherwise why do animals die? They don't believe, they don't
           believe that they are going to die. Why do trees die? They don't believe that they are going to die,
           they don't have any belief system. Why do stars and suns and moons die? Why do earths die? They
           don't believe; death is a universal phenomenon, it happens everywhere. It is part of life; it is the other
           side of the coin.
               I am not in any support of Christian Science. It is neither science nor Christian -- it is simply
           nonsense.

                Two middle-aged men were walking off the tennis court after only a few minutes of play. The
           older, somewhat corpulent fellow was puffing heavily.
           "I guess I am in pretty poor shape," he confessed ruefully.
           "How long have you been playing, Herbie?" asked the young man.
           "About two weeks."
           "Then let me give you a little practical advice. Try the Christian Science way -- mind over matter."
           "I already have," admitted the fat one. "When my opponent serves the ball to me, my Christian
           Science mind says, 'Now, Herbie, you just race right up to the net, slam a blistering drive to the far
           corner of the court and then jump back into position.' That's exactly what my Christian Science mind
           tells me....
           "But my Jewish body says, 'Herbie, to make a schlemiel out of yourself you don't need!'"

               In fact, body and mind are not two things: the body is the outer side of the mind, the mind is the
           inner side of the body. To use the phrase 'body AND mind' is not right; you are bodymind, not even
           a hyphen in between. We should use it as a single word 'bodymind', 'psychosomatic'. So of course,
           your inner affects your outer, your outer affects your inner -- you are bodymind -- but you are not
           finished with the bodymind. There is a witness also.
               John Fisant, rather than bothering about physical immortality, get in touch with your witnessing
           soul which watches the body and mind both. It watches life, it watches death; hence it transcends life
           and death both. Only this witness is immortal because it is never born and it never dies.
               The Zen people call it the original face. This witnessing is your original face. And meditation is
           nothing but an art to discover your original face. You are immortal, but not physically; just in your
           awareness, in your consciousness you ARE immortal, you are universal.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WAS BUDDHA NOT A POET? DID HE NOT HAVE A LOGICAL MIND? HOW ARE WE AS NEW
              MEN AND WOMEN TO GO BEYOND WHAT YOU HAVE CALLED HIS ONE-DIMENSIONALITY,
              WHEN IT SEEMS THAT YOUR BASIC TEACHING, AS WELL AS THAT OF BUDDHA, IS SIMPLY
              AWARENESS?


                Roderick, Gautama the Buddha was not a poet if you understand him directly, but if you
           understand him via me, he IS a poet. When I am speaking on Buddha it is very natural that my color
           is reflected in him.
                I love poetry and I go on finding poetry even where it is not.
                Buddha is like a desertland -- but I love oases and I go on discovering them. If you had seen
           Buddha you would have seen immediately that he couldn't have anything to do with poetry. Poetry
           was fiction for him, as much fiction as it was for Plato. In his Republic, Plato says, poets will not be
           allowed, for the simple reason that they are liars, they live in lies. What is poetry? Beautiful lying!
           Buddha was also of the same mind; he would have agreed with Plato. He was very insistent on truth.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My approach is different. I don't see religion as a dry, dead thing. To me religion is a song, a
           dance. If I am going to create a republic, a utopia, then poets will be the only citizens there; they will
           be the only ones allowed -- because beauty is far more valuable than truth itself. And the poet
           discovers beauty -- not only discovers, he creates. The poet is creative.
               It is because of me that in Buddha you will find poetry. Excuse me, I cannot do otherwise. That's
           why Buddhists are not happy with me; particularly Buddhist scholars are not happy at all. They say I
           go on finding in Buddha things which are not there. I am not much concerned whether they are there
           or not. I use Buddha only as an excuse, just as I use Jesus and I use Mahavira and I use Patanjali. I
           am not a commentator -- I have my own vision. I use them as pegs to hang myself on.
               When you are hearing Buddha through me, it is a totally different phenomenon. You are looking
           through MY eyes; hence Buddha will look like a poet -- but he was not. He was a very logical man;
           hence I say he was one-dimensional. He was utterly logical, as logical as Ludwig Wittgenstein.
               Wittgenstein says you should not speak about something which cannot be spoken of. That's
           exactly Buddha's standpoint; Buddha would have immediately agreed with Wittgenstein. That's
           exactly what he said twenty-five centuries before Wittgenstein. He never spoke about God because
           nothing can be spoken about God; hence don't say anything. Even to say that nothing can be spoken
           about God is to say something about God; better not to say even that.
               The Upanishads say: Nothing can be said about God; he is indefinable. Buddha will not say even
           that because that is self-contradictory. To say that nothing can be said about God is
           self-contradictory because you have said something already. Even to say that nothing can be said is
           saying something. Buddha was utterly logical, absolutely logical. He kept absolutely silent.
               Whenever he would enter a town, a city, a village, his disciples would go ahead of him to
           declare, "Don't ask these eleven questions to the Buddha, because he is not going to answer, so don't
           waste your time and his time." Those eleven questions consisted of everything that philosophy,
           theology, metaphysics is made of. If you don't ask those eleven questions, nothing is left to ask --
           nothing metaphysical. Then you can ask only actual problems. You can ask about your anger, your
           greed, your sex. You can ask about your misery, suffering, how to get rid of it, but you cannot ask
           whether God is. You cannot ask what will happen after death. You cannot ask what is truth, what is
           beauty, what is good; he forbade it. He was a very logical man and one-dimensional.
               Life is three-dimensional. And up to now there have been people, great people, but they were all
           one-dimensional. For example, Buddha is logical, so is Socrates. There have been great poets --
           Kalidas, Rabindranath, Shelley, Shakespeare. They are one-dimensional: beauty is their god. And
           there have been moral people, absolutely moral people, virtuous people whose whole life was
           devoted to being just as virtuous as possible: Mahavira, Lao Tzu. But all are one-dimensional.
               Humanity has come now to a crossroads. We have lived the one-dimensional man, we have
           exhausted it. We need now a more enriched human being, three-dimensional. I call them three C's,
           just like three R's.
               The first C is consciousness, the second C is compassion, the third C is creativity.
               Consciousness is being, compassion is feeling, creativity is action. My sannyasin has to be all the
           three simultaneously. I am giving you the greatest challenge ever given, the hardest task to be
           fulfilled. You have to be as meditative as a Buddha, as loving as a Krishna, as creative as
           Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci. You have to be all together simultaneously. Only then your
           totality will be fulfilled; otherwise something will remain missing in you. And that which is missing
           in you will keep you lopsided, unfulfilled. You can attain to a very high peak if you are
           one-dimensional, but you will be only a peak. I would like you to become the whole range of the
           Himalayas, not just a peak but peaks upon peaks!
               The one-dimensional man has failed. It has not been able to create a beautiful earth, it has not
           been able to create paradise on the earth. It has failed, utterly failed! It created a few beautiful
           people, but it could not transform the whole humanity, it could not raise the consciousness of the
           whole humanity. Only a few individuals here and there became enlightened. That is not going to help
           anymore. We need more enlightened people, and enlightened in a three-dimensional way.
           That is my definition of the new man.
           Roderick, you ask me, "Was Buddha not a poet?"
               He was not! But the people who will become awakened here with me are going to be poets.
           When I say "poets" I don't mean that you have to WRITE poetry -- you have to be poetic. Your life
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has to be poetic, your approach has to be poetic. Logic is dry, poetry is alive. Logic cannot dance; it
           is impossible for logic to dance. To see logic dancing will be like Mahatma Gandhi dancing! It will
           look very ridiculous. Poetry can dance; poetry is a dance of your heart. Logic cannot love; it can talk
           about love, but it cannot love. Love seems to be illogical. Only poetry can love; only poetry can take
           the jump into the paradox of love. Logic is cold, very cold; it is good as far as mathematics is
           concerned, but it is not good as far as humanity is concerned. If humanity becomes too logical then
           humanity disappears; then there are only numbers, not human beings -- replaceable numbers.
                Poetry, love, feeling give you a depth, a warmth. You become more melted, you lose your
           ice-coldness. You become more human.
                Buddha is superhuman, about that there is no doubt, but he loses the human dimension. He is
           unearthly. He has a beauty of being unearthly, but he does not have the beauty that Zorba the Greek
           has. Zorba is so earthly.
                I would like you to be both together: Zorba the Buddha! One has to be meditative, but not against
           feeling. One has to be meditative but full of feeling, overflowing with love. And one has to be
           creative. If your love is only a feeling and it is not translated into action, it won't affect the larger
           humanity. You have to make it a reality, you have to materialize it.
                These are your three dimensions: being, feeling, action. Action contains all creativity, all kinds
           of creativity: music, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, science, technology. Feeling contains
           all that is aesthetic: love, beauty. And being contains meditation, awareness, consciousness.
                You ask me, "It seems awareness is your basic teaching, as well as that of Buddha...."
                I have no basic teaching, I cannot have a basic teaching. I am not a teacher at all. I don't teach
           you, I am simply a presence. You can learn, but I don't teach. You can imbibe my spirit, and my
           spirit and its implication will depend on you.
                There are people to whom awareness will help as a basic teaching; they will learn awareness
           from me. And there are people to whom love will help; then they will learn love as a basic teaching
           from me. It will depend on you. I am multidimensional, hence I can absorb all kinds of people.
                Buddha would not have accepted you all, remember, neither would Jesus or Mahavira; they
           would have chosen. A few people would have been chosen by Buddha and a few would have been
           chosen by Jesus and a few would have been chosen by somebody else. But I don't choose at all, I am
           absolutely choiceless. Whosoever comes to me is accepted, absolutely accepted, totally accepted,
           because I don't have a basic pattern. I have only hints -- and hints for all, for all kinds of people.
                It is not a teaching; teaching becomes rigid, becomes defined. It is only a presence. I am only a
           window; through me you can look into God. And once you have looked into God, then you can look
           into God on your own -- I am not needed anymore.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE ALL THE AWAKENED ONES AGAINST DESIRING? WHAT IS WRONG WITH DESIRE?


               Sujata, meditate over Murphy's maxim: Be careful about what you want, because you are liable
           to get it.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I ALWAYS FIND IT DIFFICULT TO RELATE TO MY WIFE?


              Richard, because you are British, and you know British wives!

              Sent to Australia for an extended business trip, the Englishman was asked if he missed his wife,
           who was still back in London.
           "Ah, I don't miss her all that much," he explained. "One day a week I hire a local woman to come in
           and nag."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               After they had been discussing their problems for more than an hour, the prissy English lady said
           to the marriage counselor, "I think it is unfair to suggest that I don't enjoy sex. But what can you say
           about a man who wants it five or six times a year?"

           And the last:

           "I am taking Kung Fu lessons just in case some sex fiend tries to rape me on some dark night," the
           prune-faced Englishwoman told her long-suffering husband.
           "Why bother?" remarked the husband. "It will never get that dark."

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ALL THE BUDDHAS SAY THAT ONE SHOULD LEARN TO BE SILENT, BUT IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
              ONE HAS TO SPEAK. THEN WHAT SHOULD ONE DO?


              Shakti, first meditate over Murphy's maxim: Think twice before you speak and then don't say
           anything.
              But if you have to say something, then meditate over this:

               Walker, a newspaperman, was on vacation up in Maine. He came across a lonely hut and began
           interviewing the owner with the idea of doing a story on the locale.
           "Whose house is this?" asked the reporter.
           "Moggs'," replied the Mainer.
           "What in the world is it built of?"
           "Logs."
           "Any animals natural to the locality?"
           "Frogs."
           "What sort of soil have you?"
           "Bogs."
           "How about the climate?"
           "Fogs."
           "What do you live on chiefly?"
           "Hogs."
           "Have you any friends?"
           "Dogs."

           Be telegraphic!

           The eighth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              AHA! I THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING FAMILIAR ABOUT HIM -- MURPHY IS A JEW! USED
              TO BE CALLED MOSHE KAPOYER?


               Tao, this is a remarkable discovery! I wonder how you managed to find it out. It is true. Moshe
           Kapoyer was the only Jew in a small town and since business was bad he decided to change his
           name. There were other reasons also to change his name: because he was a Jew and the only Jew,
           people were avoiding him and his business was suffering. And secondly because his name, Moshe
           Kapoyer, means Mr. Topsy-turvy or Mr. Upside-down, so he was not very happy with his name
           either.
               He went to a judge and became Mr. Jones. One week later he was back before the same judge
           asking that his name be changed to Murphy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Why do you want your name changed? I just changed it last week."
           "So that when people ask me what my name was before it was Murphy, I can say it was Jones."

           The ninth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN I ALSO BE A GOD?


               Krishna, Deva, I have given you the name Krishna Deva. It means God Krishna. Yes, there is no
           trouble about it. In fact you ARE a god; even if you want to be somebody else you cannot.
           Everybody is trying to be somebody else, but nobody has ever succeeded in being somebody else.
           God is our nature. You can forget all about it, but you cannot change it.

              Flaherty and Gluckstein were discussing the merits of their religion.
           "Answer me this," said the Irishman, "could one of your boys be pope?"
           "No," answered Gluckstein. "Could one of your boys be God?"
           "Why, of course not!" replied Flaherty.
           "Well," said Gluckstein, "one of our boys made it!"

                If Jesus can make it, if Buddha can make it, why not you? In fact, they could make it because it is
           not something to be achieved, it is something to be only discovered. We have forgotten it; it is
           already there like an undercurrent. Our godliness is always there; wherever you go it goes with you.
           It is you. It is in the sinner, it is even in the saint!

           The tenth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I LOVED YOUR ANSWER THE OTHER DAY TO ARUP'S QUESTION. THE ONLY TROUBLE IS
              THAT I HAVE STARTED COMING HOME EARLY AND NOT DRINKING SO MUCH, WHILE ARUP
              IS GETTING DISCO PARTIES TOGETHER, GOING OUT AND GENERALLY HAVING A GOOD
              TIME. AM I BECOMING MEDITATIVE, WHILE ARUP IS BECOMING AS LOOSE AS A GOOSE?


              Niranjan, now you know why I said to Arup that this is absolutely the sure way to raise the
           consciousness of humanity. She has started -- she has begun with you. You are her first victim!

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS MISUNDERSTANDING?

              Dhyanesh, three stories for you:


              Anna: "Is it true what I hear about your husband cutting down on his smoking?"
              Hannah: "Yes, now he is smoking only after meals -- his meal, my meal, the children's meals,
           everybody's meal!"

           The second:
               The defendant was accused of sullying the honor of a pure young maiden, according to the lady's
           testimony, and he was having a difficult time explaining the circumstances.
           "I am innocent, Your Honor," he declared. "All I did was offer her a scotch and soda, and she
           reclined!"

           And the third and the last:
              Young Moishe was getting married. On the day of his wedding, his father took him aside and
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           said, "Look here, Moishe, if you want to have a successful marriage you've got to make three things
           clear right from the start: you've got to show your wife that you're the master of the house, that
           you're a man, and that you're independent."
               Moishe thanked his father and went off to his wedding and honeymoon.

           Kavita, if you are asleep, be awake!

               After the couple had returned and father and son were alone together in a quiet moment, the
           father asked how his advice had worked.
           "Ah, beautiful!" beamed Moishe. "I put it into practice on the first night of our honeymoon. When
           we were alone in the hotel room, I first ripped off her clothes to show her who's the master; then I
           ripped off my clothes to show her that I'm a man; and then I jerked off in front of her to show her
           that I'm independent!"

           Enough for today.




   The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                    Talks given from 11/04/80 am to 20/04/80 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                   Year published:
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                    Chapter #1
                                          Chapter title: Hold your tongue
           11 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004110
              ShortTitle: DHAM1101
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              HOLD YOUR TONGUE.
              DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF
              BUT LIGHTEN THE WAY
              FOR YOUR WORDS ARE SWEET.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              FOLLOW THE TRUTH OF THE WAY.
              REFLECT UPON IT.
              MAKE IT YOUR OWN.
              LIVE IT.
              IT WILL ALWAYS SUSTAIN YOU.



              DO NOT TURN AWAY WHAT IS GIVEN YOU,
              NOR REACH OUT FOR WHAT IS GIVEN TO OTHERS,
              LEST YOU DISTURB YOUR QUIETNESS.



              GIVE THANKS
              FOR WHAT HAS BEEN GIVEN YOU,
              HOWEVER LITTLE.
              BE PURE, NEVER FALTER.


               Life is full of complications. Even when we are born there is a string attached. The greatest
           complication, the source of all complications is unawareness, unconsciousness. We are focused on
           the objective world and we are totally unaware who we are.
               The whole message of Gautama the Buddha is to turn in. The message is simple, but the
           implementation is arduous. It is arduous because for many many lives we have lived outwardly, we
           have lived the life of an extrovert. We have completely forgotten how to relate with our own beings,
           how to be with ourselves. We have forgotten the path, the language, the method. Not only that, we
           have become completely oblivious that there is an interiority to us. We think as if we have only an
           outside. Now that is stupid. The outside can exist only with an inside; without the inside the outside
           is impossible. If we can see out, we can also see in. In fact, to see in is easier because it is there that
           we are rooted.
               But never seeing in, we go on rushing in all directions, doing all kinds of things, not knowing
           why, just because others are doing them. We are imitating, following. We become carbon copies.
           That's the most ugly thing in life: to be a carbon copy. Man can never be blissful unless he is
           original, unless he knows his original face.

               I have heard a very beautiful story. It may be true, it may not be true. Its truth is not historical
           but, far more significant, it is metaphorical.
               The story is: Alexander the Great was on his way to India. He met a fakir sitting by the roadside
           with a round, small, crystal-like object in his hand.
           "What's that?" inquired Alexander.
           "I will not tell you," said the fakir, "but I will bet you that it is heavier than all your gold, silver and
           jewels."
               Alexander ordered an enormous balance to be brought along with all of his treasures. On one
           side of the balance he piled all the treasures; the fakir put his small round crystal on the other side
           and, lo! it was heavier. Down it went and the vast treasures were lifted into the air. Alexander was
           amazed.
               Then the fakir said, "I will show you one more thing." He took a little dust and spread it over the
           crystal. It immediately became light, went up into the air, and the treasures came down.
               Alexander could not contain his amazement anymore and asked the fakir, "Please, you must tell
           me. What is this object?"
               Said the fakir, "It is nothing special. It is only a human eye."

               Man has the capacity to see himself too, but that capacity is full of dust. We have an inner eye
           too -- the third eye -- but that eye is not functioning, and we have not used it for so long that it has
           gone out of function completely; it has become a paralyzed part in our being.
               Now even physiologists have discovered a certain part in the human brain which seems to be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely superfluous. They are puzzled because nature never creates anything superfluous. It must
           have a purpose, but it seems to have no purpose. It can be removed and that will not affect you at all.
                But all the mystics down the ages have been saying the same thing -- of course, not in scientific
           terminology; they have their own way of saying it. They call it the third eye. A certain part of your
           mind is capable of functioning in an introvert way only. Meditation creates the right atmosphere, the
           right climate for it to function.
                Meditation simply means removing the dust that the fakir threw on the eye. And the dust is
           nothing but the whole mind process of thoughts, desires, imagination, memory. If you become
           capable of a few intervals, gaps, when all thought processes cease... suddenly you are and there is
           nothing to see inside. Then the turning happens; then immediately there is a radical change in your
           vision, your gestalt changes. The outside world disappears and the inside world appears.
                It is because of this that the mystics say that the outside world is illusory. Not that it does not
           exist; it exists, but it is illusory because the mystic knows a certain state of consciousness when it
           simply evaporates, it is found no more. You enter into a totally different dimension: the dimension of
           bliss, the dimension of peace, the dimension of Buddha, Christ, Krishna.
                These sutras today are very special. This whole series... this is the last series of Buddha's sutras.
           Up to now he was talking to the disciples who were getting ready. Now this last part of his sutras is
           meant for the BODHISATTVAS, for those who have become ready, for those who have experienced
           something of the inner. It is not for the initiates, it is not for the adepts. Hence this last part is the
           most important part.
                Buddha says there are two kinds of enlightened people in the world; he is very scientific about
           his approach. His categories are very significant; nobody has done that before or since. He says the
           first category of the enlightened ones is called ARHATAS. The arhata is a mystic; he has known, he
           has realized, but he is utterly unconcerned about others. He has found the way. He has reached his
           home and he does not care about others who are seeking and searching, because his understanding is
           that if they seek and search authentically they will find the way themselves. And if they are not true
           seekers, nobody can make them true seekers; hence no help is needed. The arhata does not help
           anyone. He has traveled alone and he knows everybody has to travel alone.
                When Buddha became enlightened himself, his first idea was to become an arhata. For seven
           days he remained absolutely silent, not saying a single word.

               The story is: Gods from heaven came. They were very much worried because only once in a
           while does a person become awakened, and if he remains absolutely silent the world will miss his
           message. And his message is a medicine for those who are dying; his message is a nourishment for
           those who are starving for truth. His message can be a boat to the other shore. His message HAS to
           be delivered, he has to be persuaded. They came, and they argued.
               But Buddha said, "You must agree with me that nobody was able to help me -- of course, I
           knocked on many doors -- because it is something which is not transferable. Even if they had it they
           could not give it to me; I had to find it by my own effort. Hence I think that is the only way: people
           have to seek and search; it cannot be borrowed."
               He was right and the gods had to agree. And he said, "Even if I say it, only one out of ten
           thousand people will understand. The remaining ones will not understand; on the contrary, they will
           MISunderstand. So why create so much misunderstanding in the world? The world is already in
           confusion -- why create more confusion? Out of compassion I am keeping quiet. And the one who
           will understand will find it himself anyway. The man who can understand what I say is so intelligent
           that really he needs no help. So what is the point? Why should I bother?"
               The gods were silenced. They moved into the woods to ponder over the matter. "How to
           convince the Buddha? He appears to be right, he is logical, but some way has to be found." It is good
           that they were able to find some way, otherwise we would have missed THE DHAMMAPADA;
           these beautiful sutras would have been missed. The world would have been far poorer. The whole
           credit goes to those anonymous gods who persuaded Buddha!
               They pondered over the matter for hours; they found a way. They came back and they said, "We
           agree with you, but only on one point we cannot agree. And that point is that we understand that only
           one person will understand out of ten thousand, so you need not bother about that one person; he will
           find himself sooner or later. It is only a question of time, and time does not matter because existence
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is eternal. So what does it matter, how does it matter, whether one achieves today and somebody else
           achieves tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? All those who have become awakened are
           contemporaries; it does not make much difference at all."
               That's why I say I am a contemporary to Buddha, a contemporary to Jesus, a contemporary to
           Zarathustra, a contemporary to Lao Tzu. Once you know, you become contemporary to all the
           knowers. All small time gaps simply disappear, they are so tiny. Twenty-five hundred years make no
           difference at all.
               That's why in the East we have not bothered much about time. Nobody knows when Krishna was
           born. We could have also created a calendar in the name of Krishna -- before Krishna, after Krishna
           -- we could have made a history. And Krishna certainly preceded Jesus by at least three thousand
           years, so his calendar would have been five thousand years old by now. But we have never bothered
           about it. Nobody knows when the founder of Jainism, Adinatha, was born or when he died. He must
           have preceded even Krishna by at least five thousand years. If we had a calendar then, his calendar
           would by now have been at least ten thousand years old. I am saying "at least," because Jainas say
           that he is far older. According to them he is almost ninety thousand years ancient; it is possible.
               But we have not created history, we have not written history, for the simple reason that the
           people who are worth writing about go beyond time; for them time becomes irrelevant. And the
           people who are not worth writing about, only they make much noise in the world of time. Genghis
           Khan, Tamerlane, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Ayatollah Khomeiniac, these people make much noise
           in the world of time. A Buddha, a Krishna, a Jesus, a Zarathustra simply make no trace in time; they
           disappear without leaving a trace, as if they are not part of history, or they are part of a totally
           different kind of history which is nontemporal.
               The gods argued with Buddha. They said, "We agree about that one person: he will find it
           whether you tell him or not, he is so intelligent; if he can understand you immediately, then he will
           find it by himself. And we also agree about the others, that thousands will not understand you at all;
           they will, on the contrary, misunderstand you. But they are already misunderstanding, what more
           misunderstanding can there be? So you need not be worried about that point. They are already in
           confusion, you cannot confuse them any more."
               And this is my experience too: howsoever I try I cannot confuse you any more! You have already
           touched the rock bottom; there is nothing below it, you can't go deeper than that. You are utterly
           secure.
               So the gods said, "You cannot confuse them more. They are so skillful in confusing themselves,
           they have done it already to the maximum. So about that we don't agree.
           "And one thing more: there may be one or two people among ten thousand who are just between
           these two sorts of people -- the one who can understand you and the millions who cannot understand
           you and are bound to misunderstand you. Between these two do you think," they said to Buddha,
           "there is not a possibility of a few people, one or two or three -- yes, they will be very few, they can
           be counted on the fingers -- who may be just in the middle, neither so confused that they cannot be
           helped at all nor so clear that they can find their path on their own? Speak for them; they will be
           helped by you."
               And Buddha had to agree; it was not an argument for argument's sake. People like Buddha don't
           argue for argument's sake; he saw the truth of it. He said, "I have to agree with you. Yes, there are a
           few people who are exactly in the middle, on the boundary line. If I don't say anything to them they
           may be lost in the crowd; if some help is given to them, a little hand, they may be pulled out of their
           mud. I will speak for them."

               He was going to be an arhata. Arhata means one who has arrived but is unconcerned about
           others, almost cold, does not care a bit. He became a bodhisattva; that is the second category.
               Bodhisattva means one who is not only a mystic but also a master, who has not only known
           himself, but tries to make it known to others. Of course, the work of the bodhisattva is far more
           difficult; the arhata is in a better position. The bodhisattva has to struggle with all kinds of insanities
           -- insane people, split people, schizophrenic people, neurotics, psychotics. Humanity is full of these
           people. The bodhisattva has to go into the crowd, into the mud where you are, because that is the
           only way to help you out. Unless he comes amongst you, unless he lives with you, unless he relates
           with you, communicates with you, in a thousand and one ways seduces you, creates the longing for
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           truth in you, he cannot help you. And these are not easy things.
               People are not concerned about truth at all. They are concerned about money, they are concerned
           about power, about prestige. They are not interested in being liberated, they don't want to be sane.
           They protect their insanity in every possible way because they have invested so much in their
           insanity. It is THEIR insanity and they are very proud of it.
               Are you not proud of being a Christian, of being a Hindu, of being a Mohammedan? Are you not
           proud of being a German or British or an Indian? You are proud of all these insanities. These
           divisions have been destructive. These divisions have proved curses to humanity. They have been
           calamities, but you are very proud. Everybody seems to be proud.

           I have heard:
               An Englishman was talking to an Italian. And the Englishman asked the Italian, "If you had been
           given a choice before you were born, what nationality would you have chosen?"
           He said, "Of course I would have been British!"
               And the Englishman asked, "How would you have felt?"
           He said, "I would have felt very proud!"
               These were the days of the second world war and the Italians and the Germans were being
           defeated. They were losing their prestige and their power, they were condemned all over the world.
               The Italian asked the Englishman, "If you had not been born British, how would you have felt?"
               And the Englishman said, "I would have felt ashamed."

                That's why the British seem to be the most neurotic of all -- very much obsessed with being
           British, as if it is something very great.
                The same is the case with the Indians; they also suffer from the same chronic disease. They feel
           very proud of being Indian. They don't think that anybody else in the world is really human; all are a
           little below. But that's how everybody thinks deep down.
                When the first Westerners reached China, they wrote in their diaries that they could not believe
           the Chinese were human. Encountering such a different race for the first time it must have been
           difficult for them to accept them as human. And what about the Chinese? Their records say that
           looking at the Western people they were very much puzzled -- they had never thought that monkeys
           could talk like human beings!
                Everybody tries to protect his insanity; hence it is difficult work.

           "Psychiatry is a lot of junk," said one man to another.
           "Oh?" said his companion. "Why do you say that?"
           "Well, today my psychiatrist told me that I am in love with my umbrella. Have you ever heard of
           anything so silly?"
           "It does sound rather daft."
           "I mean, me and my umbrella certainly have a sincere affection for each other. But love? That is just
           ridiculous!"

               Affection is okay: "... A certain affection between me and my umbrella, that's okay, but love?
           That's ridiculous!"
               Just watch yourself, the functioning of your mind, how you go on protecting, how you go on
           defending yourself. And what are you? Nothing but a bundle of insanities!
               These sutras are for the bodhisattvas, for those who are going to work with the crowds, with the
           insane people. These are suggestions for them. Try to understand each single sutra as deeply as
           possible.

              HOLD YOUR TONGUE.


               Buddha says: Speak, but speak only when it is absolutely necessary. Speak, but speak only to
           those who are ready to listen. Don't go on speaking to each and everybody; that is a sheer wastage.
           Speak only to the disciples because only a disciple is ready to risk. It is really a risk to transform
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yourself. It is a risk to encounter yourself. It is a risk to find yourself, to know yourself. It is a risk
           because by knowing yourself all your old projects will fall down to the dust, and your whole life that
           you have spent working for them will be gone down the drain. You will have to start from ABC,
           afresh.
                Unless you are very courageous you cannot make an effort to know yourself. Yes, you would
           like to know ABOUT yourself; that is cheap. Knowing about is cheap because it is only information,
           it is not transformation. But knowing oneself is transformation; it hurts, it cuts you. It has to cut
           many chunks out of your being which are unnecessary, which are only a drag on you, which are only
           an unnecessary weight and a barrier to your growth. And it hurts because it goes against your idea of
           yourself, your image of yourself.
                Hence Buddha says: Speak, but be alert -- speak only to those who are ready to listen. Speak
           only to those who are surrendered to listening. Otherwise: HOLD YOUR TONGUE.
                Buddha is asked thousand of questions by all kinds of people; he rarely answers. He answers
           only when a disciple asks.
                This happens here too every day. Many people ask questions who have come just for one day --
           visitors, tourists, and immediately they ask great questions. I never answer their questions; they feel
           offended. They write angry letters: "Why don't you answer my questions?" I cannot answer your
           questions unless you are ready to listen, unless you are a disciple.
                A disciple means one who is ready to learn. If your question comes out of your knowledge I am
           not going to answer it; if it comes out of your innocence, certainly I am here to answer it. If you are
           asking only to be confirmed that whatsoever you think is right, I am not going to answer because I
           am not here to confirm all kinds of stupid ideologies.
                Somebody believes in UFO's and goes on asking, "What do you think about UFO's?" Why
           should I think? I don't think at all!
                Just a few days ago somebody was here who was asking about the theory of the hollow earth. I
           laughed at his question, I joked about his question. But people are so encapsulated in their
           knowledge. Back in America he wrote a letter thanking me, saying, "Whatsoever you say, I know
           you believe in the theory of the hollow earth." How does he know that I believe in the theory of the
           hollow earth? He gives the reason that it is impossible for an enlightened person NOT to believe.
           Now if I am to be an enlightened person I have to believe in the theory of the hollow earth. Buddha
           never heard about it and he was enlightened; Jesus never knew about it and he was enlightened. But
           this man writes a letter saying, "You may joke, you may laugh at it, because you don't want to say
           anything about it. There may be some reasons why you don't want to talk about it, but I am
           absolutely certain that you know that it is so."
                Even if you deny it, even if you laugh and joke, the people who are convinced of a certain idea,
           whatsoever it is, howsoever insane, absurd, will find ways and means to get support for it. If you
           don't answer they will think you are not answering because other people, the common people, won't
           understand it; it is such a subtle matter that only very few people can understand it.
                Now one woman has inquired, "Beloved Master, what do you say? I feel I have become
           enlightened." I never asked anybody. Why should you ask me? If you are enlightened, very good!
           Get lost! What are you doing here? Now become a bodhisattva and help others to become
           enlightened. Go to California because there you will find so many enlightened people, and all
           confirming each other!
                Buddha says: The first thing to remember when you move into the masses is to hold your tongue.
                Once he was convinced of the fact that people are in need of great help he insisted his whole life
           that, unless you find it absolutely contrary to your innermost nature, become a bodhisattva. But there
           are a few people for whom it may be against their inner nature; then they have to remain arhatas.
           Don't force them. Remember: people need help. If you can be of any help, do whatsoever you can,
           but if you cannot, if it feels simply something totally against your intrinsic nature, your inner voice,
           then forget all about it.
                An arhata also helps in his own way; without helping he helps -- by his presence. He remains in
           his silence, he lives his ordinary life without telling anybody anything, without manifesting his
           experience, without expressing his joy. He lives joyously, but he makes no deliberate effort to
           communicate. Still, a few sensitive souls will be attracted to him. They will start following him
           silently, they will sit by his side. He will not say anything; they will listen to his silence. If he has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           arrived then there is an aura around him; they will be nourished by this aura. If he has found his
           home there will be such peace radiating that you will be bathed in it, you will be blessed to be with
           him. He will be able to help you only indirectly.

               A hot and flustered city gent in his big car was hopelessly lost in a maze of country lanes.
           Spotting a local sitting on a gate, chewing a piece of straw, he drew up opposite and shouted, "I say,
           my good man, can you tell me where this road goes to?"
           "No," was the reply.
           "Can you tell me where that road goes to, that turns off to the left?"
           "No."
               Getting quite a bit irritated the city gent yelled, "Well, where does that road that goes off to the
           right go to?"
           "Don't know," was the reply.
           "You must be some sort of idiot!" yelled the frustrated gent.
           "Maybe," said the cool man, "but at least I know where I am."

               This is the way of the arhata: he knows where he is. He will not say anything about any road,
           anything about any way, but he knows where he is and he is utterly contented with that. You can sit
           by his side, you can be nourished by his presence, but he is not going to make any direct effort.
           Indirectly... if you can drink out of his presence you are welcome, but he will not call you forth, he
           will not seek and search for you.
               Buddha says: Mostly it happens that fifty percent of the enlightened ones are arhatas and fifty
           percent are bodhisattvas. That's how nature keeps its balance on every plane. So don't be worried if
           you feel one day that you have arrived, but there is no desire to help anybody; then don't force it.
           Forcing it will be ugly, will be violent, will be destructive. If it is not there it is not there. Then God
           is happy with you as you are.
               But if you feel that there is a desire arising in you to help, to be compassionate, to hold
           somebody's hand, to make a boat and take people to the further shore, then don't be worried about
           the troubles. The troubles ARE there, but the world needs some people who can show the way, and
           only those who know can show the way. Even for them it is difficult. And the world is in immense
           need because it is being led by stupid people. It is being guided by politicians and priests, all kinds
           of people who don't know what they are doing. That's why it is always in such chaos.

               Mulla Nasruddin's son came home late from school. The Mulla grabbed him and gave him a
           beating, saying, "Let this be a lesson to you not to come home late!"
               The next day the boy came home with his clothes dirty from playing. The Mulla gave him a good
           smacking, saying, "Let this be a lesson to you not to dirty your clothes!"
               The following day the boy came home with bad grades. The Mulla beat him again, saying, "Let
           this be a lesson to you not to get bad grades!"
               The fourth day, as soon as the son came home, the Mulla just grabbed him and beat him.
           "What is the matter, father?" asked the boy, crying. "Today I came on time, with clean clothes, and
           with good grades!"
           "Let this be a lesson to you," said Mulla Nasruddin. "There is no justice in the world!"

                Now these are the people who have created the world and who are guiding it and who are
           teaching and who are bringing up new children -- to create more chaos in the world.
                Yes, bodhisattvas are needed, but their path is far more arduous than the path of the arhatas. The
           mystic enjoys his bliss. He is like a beautiful roseflower, fragrant, dancing in the wind, in the sun, in
           the rain, but unconcerned about anything else. The bodhisattva takes the burden of others on his
           shoulders. He tries to help people who are mostly incapable of taking any help, who are not only
           incapable of taking any help but who are also very stubborn in their refusal of it, who feel offended if
           you try to help them.
           That's why Buddha says: HOLD YOUR TONGUE.
                Be very conscious of what you are saying, to whom you are saying it, for a few reasons. The
           first: the truth that you have found cannot be said; language is inadequate. You can only indicate,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you can only make a few gestures -- fingers pointing to the moon. You cannot argue for it. You can
           persuade, but you cannot convince anybody. It is not their experience, so don't be angry if they don't
           listen to you. If they go against you, don't feel that they are ungrateful. They are simply behaving the
           way they can behave. You have to be very very patient with them. You have to accept all kinds of
           abuse that they will throw on you. You have to accept their stones as flowers. Even if they kill you,
           you have to die loving them.
                That's how Jesus died: with a prayer on his lips to God, "Forgive them, for they know not what
           they are doing."
                Secondly: to say the truth is to falsify it -- so try to say it indirectly; never make direct statements
           about it. Don't say "God is" or "God is not." These direct statements have created much confusion in
           the world; rather than helping people they have created conflict, wars, murders. Don't make any
           direct statement about God or truth or nirvana. You have to be very very subtle. You have to live in
           such a way that people become aware that you have attained something which is missing in their
           lives, that there is something more in life which is not available to them. That's all that you can do.
                Speak not in prose but in poetry. Sing a song -- no syllogism is needed. Let your laughter and
           your joy trigger some process in them so that they can also start searching and seeking. Let YOU be
           the proof rather than making great arguments. A bodhisattva is not a theologian, he does not argue
           for anything. He IS the proof; he gives no other proof.
                Truth is something which is beyond words and beyond even meaning. It is closer to music. So let
           there be a music around you: HOLD YOUR TONGUE... otherwise your words may destroy the
           music. Silence is more musical, more eloquent. Words give to truth a certain meaning, naturally,
           because words have meanings. Meaning gives a frame to the truth which is infinite.
                It is like when you are looking from the window towards the starry sky and your window gives a
           frame to the sky. The sky has no frame; it begins nowhere, ends nowhere, but now your window is
           making a frame on the sky. That frame belongs to the window, but the person who has always lived
           inside the window and has never gone out of it will think that the sky is square like the window, that
           it has the same shape and form.
                People live in words, they have never known anything wordless, so give them an experience of
           wordlessness. Help them to meditate. Rather than giving them a doctrine give them an experience.
                Third: remember always, whatsoever you say is bound to be misunderstood by millions. So don't
           feel offended, don't feel angry, don't feel judged. When they are misunderstanding you they are
           simply saying something about themselves, not about you. Unless you can remain cool with all kinds
           of misunderstandings being heaped upon you, you cannot be of any help to them; then you yourself
           will need help.

               Two very hippie hippies were walking down a country lane.
               One hippie turned to the other and asked, "Did you shit in your pants?"
           "No," replied the other.
               A little further down the lane the first hippie again asked the other, "Are you sure you haven't
           shit in your pants?"
           "Quite sure," said the other.
               Further on down the lane the first hippie said, "Come on, take down your pants and let me see."
               When the other hippie had obliged, the first hippie exclaimed, "There, I told you so!"
           "Oh," said the other, "I thought you meant today!"

           People understand according to themselves.

               Mulla Nasruddin was going to Italy, so I told him, "Nasruddin, learn a little bit of Italian."
               He said, "I have done it. I have been taking lessons from Radha."
               When he came back from Italy he was very angry. I said, "What is the matter?"
               He said, "One day I went-a to a big town to a big-a hotel. In-a the morning, I go down to
           breakfast. I tell-a the waitress, 'I wanna two piss toast.'
           "She bring-a me only one piss. I tell-a her, 'I wanna two piss.'
           "She say, 'Go to the toilet.'
           "I say, 'No, you no understand -- I wanna two piss on-a my plate.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "She say, 'You better no piss on-a the plate, you sonavabitch!'
           "Later I go out to eat at a big-a restaurant. The waitress bring-a me a spoon and knife, but no fock. I
           tell-a her, 'I wanna fock.'
           "She say, 'Everyone wanna fock.'
           "I tell-a her, 'You no understand -- I wanna fock on-a the table.'
           "She say, 'You better no fock on-a the table, you sonavabitch!'
           "So I go to my room in-a hotel and there is no shits on-a my bed. I call-a the manager and tell-a him,
           'I wanna shit.'
           "He tell me, 'Go to the toilet.'
           "I say, 'You no understand -- I wanna shit on-a the bed.'
           "He say, 'You better no shit on-a the bed, you sonavabitch!'
           "I go to check out and the man at the desk say, 'Peace to you.'
           "I say, 'Piss on-a you too, you sonavabitch. I gonna go back home!'"

               When you are learning Italian, avoid Radha! I have also been learning from her, but since Mulla
           Nasruddin told me I have stopped -- it is dangerous!
               People have their own language, their own minds, their own prejudices, their own concepts, their
           own systems of philosophy, religion. When you talk to them you are talking to a mind which is full
           of garbage; you are not talking to somebody who is silent. And unless one is silent one is bound to
           misunderstand. Hence Buddha says: HOLD YOUR TONGUE.
               And the fourth reason is: truth is something existential, it is not philosophical. Philosophy can be
           talked about; in fact, you can't do anything with philosophy except talk about it. About and about it
           goes, round and round it goes. The word 'about' means round and round. But truth is existential. You
           have to help people to taste it. So talk only if you see that through talk you can persuade a person to
           meditate, to be silent.
               It is a very paradoxical effort, hence the difficulty. You have to talk to people to help them
           become silent. You have to talk about silence because people can't understand silence directly. It is
           very absurd -- talking about silence, teaching people to be silent -- but that has to be done,
           particularly in the beginning.

           Second: DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF....

               It is very natural when you become enlightened. It is not egoistic, it happens very naturally. It
           has nothing to do with the ego because if the ego is still there you cannot become enlightened.
               Buddha says: HOLD YOUR TONGUE. DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF... because when you
           become enlightened the ego HAS disappeared -- you can become enlightened only when you have
           fulfilled that condition -- but now the experience is so vast, so overflowing, so ecstatic that it starts
           expressing itself. You have to learn....

               It is said of al-Hillaj Mansoor -- who was crucified like Jesus, in a far more inhuman and cruel
           way than Jesus himself -- it is said about him that the day he became enlightened, he shouted,
           "ANA'L HAQ -- I am the truth! I am God!"
               His master, Junnaid, was present. He came close to him, whispered in his ear, "Mansoor, keep it
           inside you. Please keep it inside you! Contain it! I know it is very difficult to contain it -- it is so
           vast, almost uncontainable. It expresses itself. I know you are not uttering it, it is being uttered by
           some unknown force, by God himself, but still I say to you, hold your tongue!"
               And Mansoor promised, "I will hold my tongue." He understood the point, but again and again
           he would forget. Again and again he would come into that same state of inner light, joy, bliss, and
           again the shout -- the lion's roar, as Buddha used to call it -- would come out of him in spite of
           himself.
               He would come and apologize to Junnaid, his master, but the master would say, "Mansoor,
           something has to be done; otherwise you are going to get into trouble unnecessarily. You could be of
           great help to humanity, but this way you will be unnecessarily in trouble. And not only you, you will
           stop my work too. It happened to me too, but I had to contain it and you have to contain it too."
               But Mansoor was not capable of it. Junnaid sent him to Kaaba for a three-year pilgrimage.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Maybe on this three-year-long journey, being with many mystics, he may cool down. The
           experience is so new; by and by he will become accustomed to it." But he could not become
           accustomed to it; when he came back he was again in the same state. He was caught by the king, by
           the people... because it was a Mohammedan country and it was one of the greatest crimes, the
           greatest sins, to call oneself God, to declare oneself God. He was killed.
                For centuries it has been discussed among Sufis who was greater, Junnaid or Mansoor.
           Ordinarily one would say Mansoor: he was really a great martyr: he suffered and suffered
           laughingly. He died with laughter. Even Jesus had gone a little forsaken. When the last nail was put
           in his hands he looked at the sky and said, "God, have you forsaken me? Have you forgotten me?
           Why is all this happening to me?" There must have been a little doubt, just a shadow of doubt. He
           understood immediately, he apologized. He said, "No, forgive me. Let thy will be done." But for a
           moment he had wavered. Mansoor never wavered.
                And he was killed so mercilessly that Jesus' crucifixion seems to be very humane compared to
           Mansoor's. First his legs were cut off, then his hands were cut off, then his eyes were destroyed, then
           his tongue was cut off, then his head was cut off. But even though all this suffering was there he was
           all laughter.
                Before his tongue was cut off, somebody asked, "Why are you laughing?"
                He said, "I am laughing because you cannot destroy my experience; whatsoever you do is
           irrelevant. And I am laughing because you are killing one person and I am somebody else. You are
           such fools, that's why I am laughing! And I am also laughing at God. I am laughing at him, 'You
           cannot deceive me. In whatsoever form you come I will recognize you. I recognize you in the
           butcher who has cut off my feet, who has cut off my hands. It is you who are in him, and nobody
           else.'"
                In fact, Junnaid seems to be a little cowardly; many people think that he was a little cowardly.
           Why should he tell Mansoor to keep it inside? But that is not true -- he was not a coward. In fact, he
           sacrificed far more than Mansoor. Mansoor's sacrifice is apparent; Junnaid's sacrifice is not apparent,
           it is very subtle.
                To contain the truth when it happens is a superhuman feat, it is a miracle. And he tries to contain
           it so that he can help people. He is a bodhisattva and Mansoor is an arhata. He cares nothing for the
           work, he cares nothing for anybody else. He has attained, now there is no problem. Death is not a
           problem at all, he knows he is immortal.
                Junnaid is working silently, in the dark, to help people who are blind. And you don't know HIS
           suffering. His suffering is that he has to contain something which is uncontainable.

               Buddha says: DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF.... Avoid any exaltation, avoid any declaration --
           unless you find it is going to help, unless you find it is going to prepare the way; then it is okay.
               Buddha himself declared, "I am the most perfect enlightened one." He knew that this was going
           to help. But if Jesus had asked him he would have said, "No, contain it," because Jesus was in a
           wrong country with wrong people. To declare there that, "I am God" was just asking for your death,
           nothing else.
               Jesus could only work for three years. Hence Christianity is so poor, because the master lived
           only three years. Up to his thirtieth year he was working for his own enlightenment. When he was
           ready he came out of the monasteries, started working, and then lived only three years. By the age of
           thirty-three he was crucified. Now, three years' time is not enough at all. Buddha worked for
           forty-two years; even that is not enough.
               If Jesus had asked Buddha, Buddha would have told him, "Keep quiet, work silently. Just be an
           ordinary rabbi. There is no need to declare that you are the Son of God. You know it, that's enough;
           and God knows it, that's enough."
               But in India, Buddha himself declared it. It is a totally different milieu, it is a totally different
           climate. For centuries buddhas have happened in this country, they have prepared the way; hence it
           is very simple to declare, no problem.
               Still Buddha says: Be very cautious, because your function is to LIGHTEN THE WAY. Don't
           create more trouble for people who follow you. They are already in trouble, they are living in hell.
           You have to make their burden light.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FOR YOUR WORDS ARE SWEET.


                If your words come out of silence, compassion, understanding, out of absolute emptiness -- if
           your words don't come from somebody who is extraordinary but from somebody who is just ordinary
           -- then they will be sweet and they will help people far more deeply than anything else.

              FOLLOW THE TRUTH OF THE WAY.


               What is the truth of the way? Buddha is always for experience and never for believing. He says:
           Whatsoever you have experienced, now follow it. Don't believe it because it has been told by other
           buddhas; follow it only when you have experienced and follow it only to the extent that you have
           experienced. If you follow it to that extent, your light will fall a little further ahead and you will be
           able to follow in that light a little more and a little more. And just by a small lamp one can travel
           thousands of miles; one can pass the dark night of the soul very easily, howsoever long it is.
               And remember never to find a shortcut. Belief is a shortcut; experience is not a shortcut.
               Just a few days ago my samurai-in-chief, Shiva, had a fall from a wall. Now, a samurai is not
           supposed to be a Humpty-Dumpty! So I inquired, "What happened?" I came to know that he was
           trying to find a shortcut from one house to another house by crossing the wall. And the shortcut
           turned out to be a long cut -- he had twelve stitches!
               Avoid shortcuts; shortcuts don't help. There are no shortcuts in life. Life has to be lived in all its
           totality. A shortcut means you are avoiding a few things. You are jumping to the conclusion,
           avoiding the process, avoiding a few steps. You may reach the conclusion, but it will not be your
           conclusion. And if it is not your conclusion it is of no value, it is borrowed. You are like a parrot.
           Even a parrot can be very knowledgeable, but that does not make him a buddha.

               Rastus, the hot, black Harlem stud, decided that he needed an exotic parrot for his classy
           apartment.
               After searching for some time, he finally found a pet shop that sold talking parrots. The
           shopkeeper showed him one for twenty-five dollars.
           "Polly wanna cracker?" inquired Rastus, to which the parrot did not respond. "This parrot doesn't
           talk," said Rastus, "I wants me a talking parrot. Do you have any others?"
               The owner said there was one for seventy-five dollars. He brought out a cage from behind the
           counter and uncovered a most attractive bird.
           "Polly wanna cracker?" asked Rastus again, and again there was no response. "This parrot don't
           talk!" shouted Rastus with annoyance. "Don't you have any birds that talk?"
               The shopkeeper told him that he did keep another one in the back room, but that it was quite
           expensive -- two hundred and fifty dollars.
               He brought out the most beautiful bird Rastus had ever seen, and he excitedly asked, "Polly
           wanna cracker?" There was no response. Rastus was outraged. "Do you or don't you have any talking
           birds?" he asked.
               The shopkeeper hesitated and then replied that he did have one bird that was quite exceptional,
           and although he had not planned to sell it, for two thousand dollars he would consider it. He led
           Rastus to a room at the very back of the shop. There, surrounded by one of the most complete
           libraries Rastus had ever seen, was the parrot. He was sitting in an overstuffed chair under a reading
           lamp, book in his lap, wearing glasses, a smoking jacket and slippers. He was smoking a pipe, deeply
           involved in his reading.
           "Polly wanna cracker?" inquired Rastus breathlessly from the doorway.
               Slowly slowly, the parrot looked up from his reading and wryly responded, "Nigger want a
           watermelon?"

           Even then a parrot is a parrot!
              Unless you have experienced, whatsoever beliefs you have are absolutely worthless. Hence
           Buddha says: FOLLOW THE TRUTH OF THE WAY. He means that which you have experienced
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           by moving on the way of meditation, REFLECT UPON IT. Before you start helping others, reflect
           upon the experience that has happened to you through meditation -- because it is one thing to
           experience, it is totally another to express. Meditation is not so difficult as expressing the experience
           of meditation and persuading people to meditate. Mystics have been many, masters are very few.
                A master has a golden touch. The moment he touches you, something in you starts growing. He
           is like a gardener who has green fingers.

              REFLECT UPON IT.
              MAKE IT YOUR OWN.


              Absorb it totally. Meditation in the beginning is just an experience and you are the experiencer.
           Slowly slowly, the distance between the experiencer and the experience disappears; it takes time.
           Unless the experience and the experiencer become one you cannot help others. Unless meditation
           becomes your very heartbeat you will not be able to persuade anybody. It is almost a seduction!
           MAKE IT YOUR OWN.

              LIVE IT.


               Before you start helping others, live it in all possible ways. Walk meditatively, eat meditatively,
           sit meditatively, even sleep meditatively. Let meditation be spread all over your life. It should
           become a twenty-four-hour phenomenon, like breathing -- so much so that you need not remember to
           meditate. It becomes so much your own that it is always there like an undercurrent. Only then can
           you help.
              LIVE IT.



              IT WILL ALWAYS SUSTAIN YOU.



              DO NOT TURN AWAY WHAT IS GIVEN YOU....


               Remember, meditation will give you many joys, many blessings, many gifts will descend on you.
               DO NOT TURN AWAY WHAT IS GIVEN YOU. Don't be a miser in receiving. People are
           miserly in giving, they are miserly in receiving too. When great gifts descend on you, you shrink
           away, you back away; you become afraid because those great gifts are so great that you feel you may
           be drowned. When bliss comes to you it is like a flood.
               Hence Buddha says: DO NOT TURN AWAY WHAT IS GIVEN YOU... because if you turn it
           away you will miss the opportunity, and it may not knock on your door again for a long time. One
           never knows when the moment will come again. So whenever something happens to you in
           meditation, open your heart. Even if you are afraid of the unknown, still go into the unknown. And
           go dancing, go joyously, because in meditation nothing wrong can ever happen to you. In
           meditation, only blessings are possible.

              NOR REACH OUT FOR WHAT IS GIVEN TO OTHERS....


               But that's how our minds function. Even when the minds are gone, even when the snake is no
           more, it leaves its trace on the sand. People become more interested in what is happening to others.
           Rather than receiving that which is happening to them they start becoming interested in what is
           happening to others; they start striving for those things.
               Remember, that which is happening to you is yours and that which is not happening to you, you
           are not yet ripe for; and it cannot happen before its time, so don't hanker for it. Wait. Keep yourself
           as patient as possible. Receive whatsoever comes and don't hanker for that which does not come on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your way; it will come.

              ... LEST YOU DISTURB YOUR QUIETNESS.


               You can disturb your quietness in two ways. One: by refusing that which comes to you, out of
           fear. And two: by asking for that which has not come to you, out of ambition.

              GIVE THANKS....

              For all that comes to you, be grateful.



              ... FOR WHAT HAS BEEN GIVEN YOU,
              HOWEVER LITTLE.
              BE PURE, NEVER FALTER.


               Whenever Buddha uses the word 'pure' he always means innocent. Don't become knowledgeable.
           Even if you have come to know yourself, don't become knowledgeable. Even if you have
           encountered God, don't become knowledgeable. Whatsoever you have known, forget all about it.
           Become again innocent. Remain always in the state of not-knowing, then much more will go on
           happening to you.
               What ordinarily happens when you move into meditation is that something happens, but you
           don't feel grateful; on the contrary, you feel this is your due -- in fact it should have happened long
           ago. You are such a worthy person, so virtuous, so holy, and you have done so much; why should
           you be grateful?
               That is a wrong approach; that means you are stopping the process. In gratefulness much more
           will come to you. So even if a little glimpse comes to you, feel grateful. Just a ray of light and feel
           grateful, as if the whole sun has come to you. And the whole sun will be coming, following the ray.
           But if you are not grateful you become closed; even the ray will disappear and you will again be in
           your darkness, back in your darkness.
               And remember to remain always in the state of not-knowing. Don't start becoming
           knowledgeable, don't start philosophizing, don't start creating systems of thought. This happens;
           that's why Buddha is making his bodhisattvas alert.
               I would like you to remember these sutras because many of you -- at least fifty percent of you --
           are going to become bodhisattvas sooner or later. So remember these sutras -- they ARE for you. I
           am not interested in THE DHAMMAPADA, I am interested in YOU! I am speaking for YOU! THE
           DHAMMAPADA is just an excuse. I would like to say the same things to you, but Buddha has said
           them so beautifully, so poetically that I don't see any need to say them on my own; I can just
           comment on him -- because the truth is eternal and it remains the same forever.
               Avoid philosophizing when you enter into the world of meditation. It arises, it arises inevitably --
           the itch to philosophize -- because so many beautiful things are happening and you would like to
           create systems of thought around them. All these philosophies in the world have arisen in this way.
           Something, just a little, had happened, and they started creating a big palace out of that. Just a brick
           was there and they made a big house, a palace, just an imaginary palace, out of it. Even the brick is
           lost in that imaginary palace.

               Three small mice were sitting in front of their holes in a field. They were in a sad mood, as they
           silently watched the birds flying from one tree to another. After a while one mouse said, "It must be
           wonderful to be a bird and to fly in the sky."
               All three mice pondered about it for a long time and became more sad.
               Eventually the second mouse said, "It would be very nice to be one bird, but it would be even
           nicer to be two birds. If you were two birds you could fly behind yourself."
               The mice thought about this even longer and they became even sadder than before.
               After a long time the third mouse said, "The most beautiful feeling must be to be three birds,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because then you could watch yourself fly behind yourself!"

               This is what philosophy is. People just go on thinking things which are nowhere. But you can
           enjoy it. Philosophy is enjoyed by many people for the simple reason that everybody can afford it. If
           these three mice can afford it, what about man? Every man is a philosopher.
               Buddha is very much against philosophy. He says philosophy corrupts, it makes you
           knowledgeable -- without making you a knower it makes you knowledgeable. It brings impurity; it
           pollutes your inner being.
           Be pure and never falter from your purity.
               If you want to help people, these sutras have to be remembered constantly. Meditate over them,
           make them your own, live them. They will always sustain you; they are a great nourishment.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                     Chapter #2
                                           Chapter title: In a right moment
           12 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004120
              ShortTitle: DHAM1102
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 44 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY CAN'T I TAKE SANNYAS? I GO ON THINKING AND THINKING AND THINKING.


               Richard, sannyas has nothing to do with thinking at all. It is the crazy man's way to
           enlightenment! By thinking you can never come to a decision as far as sannyas is concerned.
           Thinking, at the most, can only help you to postpone it, and you can go on postponing it ad
           infinitum. Thinking, in fact, is a process of postponement.
               Sannyas is not something that you can think about. You don't know it, you have not experienced
           it. Thinking moves within the world of the known; it has no approach towards the unknown, no
           bridge with the unknown. And sannyas is unknown for you. You may have seen sannyasins; that
           does not mean that you know what sannyas is. By seeing lovers you cannot know what love is. By
           seeing meditators you cannot know what meditation is. There are things which are known only
           existentially.
               Sannyas is not a philosophical phenomenon, it is something existential. You have to take the
           jump... then think later on, then think as much as you want, to your heart's content. But once you
           have tasted it, then there is no way of going back.
               Thinking is part of the head and sannyas happens in the heart; it is a love affair. It is utterly mad,
           as mad as love or even madder, because love happens biologically and sannyas happens spiritually.
               Sannyas happens only to a very few, rare human beings. Love is ordinary; it happens to animals,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to birds, even to trees. It is nothing special. Religion is absolutely supernatural: it surpasses your
           instinctive world. But our hearts are not functioning, and the head cannot work in the place of the
           heart.
               That's what you are doing, Richard. You can go on doing it, but you will never arrive in the
           world of sannyas. The head is impotent; it cannot act because it is never spontaneous. It is only the
           heart that acts. The head only reacts; the head only goes on repeating the past. You have not been a
           sannyasin before, so how can you think about it? What can you think about it? There is no base to
           begin with.
               Only the heart is courageous enough to take a jump into the unknown, into the unfamiliar. But
           with the unfamiliar open up millions of possibilities. With the unknown you start growing. With the
           known you go on moving in circles. Be a little heartful, not so thoughtful.
               Richard, your name means hard. Transcend hardness, become a little soft, a little more feminine,
           a little more round. Losing a few corners will be of tremendous help. Logic is hard, love is soft.
           Logic is square, love is hip! Logic is always a coward; it thinks and thinks before it acts. And, in
           fact, by the time it comes to act it is already too late; the moment has passed.
               Life is not static. It won't stand still for you, it won't wait for you. Who knows? Tomorrow I may
           stop giving sannyas -- then what? Then you will have missed the train! And remember, the sannyas I
           am giving to you nobody else can give to you. Gather a little courage. Today is the day!

              The two skeletons in the corner closet were grumbling about the heat, the dust, the boredom.
           "What are we staying here for anyhow?" one asked.
           "Damned if I know," the second skeleton answered. "I would leave in a minute if I had any guts."

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM MORE AFRAID OF LIVING THAN OF DYING. IS IT POSSIBLE?


                Yogananda, it must be possible if it is happening to you! Do you think you are managing the
           impossible? In fact, it is a very common phenomenon, nothing extraordinary about it -- very normal.
           Nobody is more afraid of dying than of living. The fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of
           life.
                That's why thousands of people around the earth commit suicide, and many more think many
           times in their lives of committing suicide. Many try but are prevented; many try but try
           halfheartedly. But very few people try to live. The number of people who try to live life is much less
           than those who try to commit suicide or actually commit suicide.
                The man who lives life becomes a buddha. How many buddhas do you have? They can be
           counted on your fingers. Only once in a while is there a man like Jesus, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu.
           Centuries pass; millions of people come and go, then only is there a man who really lives,
           authentically lives, lives to the utmost, lives fearlessly. Then what are the others doing? Their life is
           not life; on the contrary, it is a constant avoidance of life. They are simply protecting themselves
           from life. They are hiding in their black holes in the name of security, safety, comfort. They are
           simply trying to evade life.
                You can watch yourself -- have you lived? You can watch others around you -- are they really
           living? People only become aware that they were alive when they die. When death knocks on your
           door, suddenly you become aware: "My God, I was alive! And now death has come." But when
           death comes, millions of people feel relieved -- relieved of the burden, of the anxiety, of the constant
           fear of life.
                Death has no fear in it. When you are no more, what fear can there be? Death cannot hurt you --
           life can hurt you. Life hurts because one needs to be very intelligent, alert, to live. If you live
           unconsciously, life is bound to be a painful experience, an agony. Life can be ecstatic too, but only
           when you are alert, aware. Life is an opportunity, but it demands; it is a challenge, it is an adventure,
           a moment-to-moment adventure into the uncharted.
                You cannot be imitators if you really want to live. You cannot be Christians and Hindus and
           Mohammedans. If you really want to live you have to be yourself -- simply yourself. You cannot be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anybody else; that is a way of avoiding true life.
               God never repeats. He creates each and every individual unique, absolutely unique. You are not
           manufactured like cars on an assembly line. Hence Jesus will never be again, Krishna will never be
           again, howsoever beautiful they were. God does not believe in carbon copies; he always creates
           individuals. He is a creator and no creator would like to repeat.
               But that's what you have been told to do, and you are doing it. Somebody is trying to be like
           Krishna or like Confucius or like Mohammed; these have become your ideals. Then you go on
           missing that which you are -- and that is the only way you can be. You become pseudo. Yes, to be
           pseudo seems to be a little more comfortable than to be original, because you can adjust to a pseudo
           society more easily, more comfortably. When everybody is false like you, you can easily become
           part of the crowd. When you are true and authentic, living your life on your own, in your own light,
           with no blueprints given by others to you -- by the parents, by the priests, by the politicians -- when
           you are moving every day into the unknown with no idea of what is going to happen, with great
           creativity, sensitivity, awareness, but with no fixed ideology; when you are exploring newer
           pastures, new peaks of being, then certainly you are no more a part of the crowd.
               And the crowd hates individuals for the simple reason that they are so different. It hates them
           because they are rebels. It hates them because they cannot be enslaved easily; in fact, it is impossible
           to enslave them. It hates them for their intelligence, it hates them for their joy, it hates them for their
           creativity. It wants to destroy them.
               Yogananda, that's why people are afraid of life: life has many dangers. The path of life is full of
           hazards. One never knows what is going to happen the next moment; everything is possible. You
           cannot live with expectations because life has no obligation to fulfill your desires. You can live with
           an open heart, but you cannot live with expectations. The more expectations you have, the more
           frustrated you will be.
               And then you can go astray. In death, nobody can go astray; in life you can go astray. In life you
           can commit errors, mistakes. In fact, if you really want to live you will have to commit many errors
           and many mistakes. Remember it: never be afraid of committing errors and mistakes; otherwise you
           will be paralyzed because of the fear. Go on committing mistakes and errors. Remember only one
           thing: don't commit the same mistake again. Once is enough. Invent new mistakes, discover new
           errors! Don't go on falling in the same ditch -- find new ditches! By committing mistakes, by going
           astray, you grow. That's the only way to grow.
               Life is dangerous; death is very cozy, very comfortable. Lying down in your grave, what danger
           is there? There is no problem, no anxiety. You can't go bankrupt, your wife cannot leave you, you
           cannot die anymore. You are so safe in death! Life is not safe -- anything is possible. Life is full of
           accidents. Some madman may cut off your head...!

           I have heard:
               A great psychoanalyst was reading, sitting in his garden underneath a tree, and his only daughter,
           just eight, nine years old was playing with one of her friends on the lawn. Suddenly she hit her friend
           on the head with a stick so hard that blood started coming out of her head. The psychoanalyst rushed
           over, but before he could say anything his daughter turned towards him and asked, "Daddy, now tell
           me why I did this!"

               She must have been hearing again and again that her father goes on finding reasons for every act,
           unconscious reasons and this and that, so now she asks, "Now tell me WHY I have done this."
               Life can do anything and you cannot even ask why: you have to accept it. There is nobody to
           answer. Hence the fear, Yogananda. You say, "I am more afraid of living than of dying."
               Everybody is more afraid of living; that's why people are dead. People die nearabout the age of
           thirty. Of course, they are not put into their graves at that time; they go to their graves nearabout
           seventy, eighty. The fifty years between their death and their entry into the grave are just a drag. It is
           a miracle to see dead people walking, talking, doing all kinds of things. It certainly is a miracle!
               Love life. That's why to me life is the only religion, the only god. Live life in its totality. And the
           beauty is that if you live life in its totality there is no death. The body is bound to die one day, but
           you are not the body. If you have lived your life totally, if you have loved your life totally, you will
           have come across the eternal in you. That is the meeting with God. That is the encounter with truth
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that transcends time. And to know it is to know bliss; to know it is to know all that is worth knowing.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO YOU CALL THIS PLACE A PUB? A PUB! I HAVE BEEN HANGING AROUND THIS PUB FOR
              TWO YEARS AND I STILL CAN'T GET THE RIGHT BEER!


               Niranjan, Perce walked in to where the Last Supper was being held, sat down at the table and
           said to the waiter, "Give me a scotch and soda!"
           "I am sorry, sir," said the waiter, "all we are serving is wine."
           "Okay, give me a nice steak with a baked potato and salad."
           "Sorry, but all we are serving is bread."
           "Holy mackerel! Only bread and wine! The guy who is giving this party ought to be crucified!"

               Niranjan, please don't crucify me! This is not the Last Supper! And if you cannot find the right
           beer, the reason is because you are not the right person. You are so full of beer already, how can you
           find the right beer? How can you manage to know what is right and what is wrong? I don't think that
           in Niranjan's veins there is blood -- just beer! Go to the Medical Center and be examined. You can't
           have blood in your veins: you are really full of beer!
               If some cannibals ever find you they will dance with joy. They will have found the right beer!
           And they are not going to kill you or cook you -- they will sip you!

               Michael picked up a blonde at a bar and after quite a few drinks they went to a hotel room and
           made love. In the middle of the night Michael woke up to go to the bathroom and noticed that the
           woman had taken off a wooden leg and laid it by the bed.
               As the girl slept Michael began fiddling with its springs and braces and finally found he had
           taken the wooden leg apart and could not put it back together again.
               He went out into the hall and stopped a man perfumed with booze, saying, "Can you help me?
           I've got a woman in my room with one leg apart and I can't seem to get it back together."
           "Hell!" said the drunk, "I got a woman in my room with BOTH legs apart and I can't even find the
           goddamn room!"

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DOES THE SEEKER HAVE TO SUFFER INEVITABLY ON THE WAY?


               Deva Louis, it all depends. Growth in itself has no suffering in it; suffering comes from your
           resistance towards growth. Suffering is created by you because you resist continuously, you don't
           allow it to happen. You are afraid to go totally with it; you go only halfheartedly. Hence the
           suffering -- because you become divided, you become split. A part of you cooperates and a part of
           you is against it, resists it. This conflict inside you creates suffering.
               So drop the idea -- many people have that idea -- that you have to suffer if you are to grow. It is
           sheer nonsense. If you cooperate totally there is no suffering at all. If you are in a let-go, instead of
           suffering you will rejoice. Every moment of it will be a moment of bliss and benediction.
               So don't throw the responsibility on growth. Our mind is very tricky and cunning: it always
           throws the responsibility on somebody, on something; it never takes the responsibility on itself.
           YOU are the cause of suffering.
               If you can remember three things.... The first is: drop the past if you want to grow, because it is
           from the past that resistance arises. You are always judging from the past. The past is no more, it is
           absolutely irrelevant, but it goes on interfering. You go on judging according to it; you go on saying,
           "This is right and that is wrong," and all those ideas of right and wrong, all those judgments are
           coming from something which is dead. Your dead past remains so heavy on you that it does not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           allow you to move.
                Drop the past completely and you will be surprised: much of the suffering has disappeared.
                The second thing to remember is: don't create expectations for the future. If you are expecting,
           then again you will create suffering, because things are not going to happen according to YOU;
           things are going to happen according to the whole. The wave, the small wave in the ocean, cannot be
           the deciding factor. The ocean decides; the wave has to be in a state of let-go. If the wave wants to
           go to the east, then there is going to be trouble, then there is going to be pain. If the winds are not
           going to the east, if the ocean is not willing, then what is the wave going to do? It will suffer. It will
           call it fate, it will call it circumstances, social conditions, the economic structure, the capitalist
           society, the bourgeois culture, the Freudian unconscious... and now you will call it growing pains.
           But you are simply shifting the responsibility.
                The real thing is that you are suffering from your expectations. When they are not fulfilled -- and
           they are never going to be fulfilled -- frustration arises, failure arises, and you feel neglected, as if
           existence does not care for you.
                Drop expectations for the future. Remain open, remain available to whatsoever happens, but
           don't plan ahead. Don't make any psychological, fixed ideas about the future -- that things should be
           like this -- and much more suffering will disappear. These two are the root causes of suffering.
                And the third is: the Human Potential movement lacks something essential. It tries to help you to
           grow, but it has not yet been able to create a meditative space in you. So there is constant struggle,
           effort, will, but no relaxation, no rest. Hence the third thing to be remembered and all suffering will
           disappear: create meditative energy, create a meditative space within you. Western methods lack that
           something which is very essential.
                That's why here in my commune the effort is to use all the Western methods side by side with all
           the Eastern methods. This may be the only place in the whole world today where East and West are
           REALLY meeting, and not meeting in a diplomatic way as they meet in the UNO. Here they are
           really merging -- not politically, not diplomatically, because a diplomatic meeting is not a meeting, it
           is only a facade, it is pseudo. It is a love meeting that is happening here. For the first time East and
           West are in a love affair.
                The West has grown a few very important methods: gestalt, encounter, primal, bioenergetics and
           many more. The East has also grown many methods: zazen, vipassana, Sufi whirling, yoga, tantra.
           Their approaches are different, so different that both are only halves of one whole; hence both lack
           something. The Eastern methods can create a meditative space, but they make you so introverted that
           you start escaping from life; all Eastern methods have proved escapist in the past. You want to go to
           a monastery, you want to go to the Himalayas, you want to go to a cave somewhere and to live
           alone. They teach you how to be alone, joyously alone -- but then something is missed.
                Life is also relationship, life is also togetherness, life is also communion. It is beautiful to be
           blissful when you are alone, but that is only half the story; you should be blissful also when you are
           together with someone. And when you are blissful with someone, the bliss reaches a higher peak.
           When you are alone you are like a solo flute player; when you are blissful together in relationship,
           the music is more like an orchestra.
                The West has created methods which give you more impetus to be extroverts. They allow you
           methods, skills to relate, and to enjoy relationship. They are love methods, but something is missing.
           You enjoy relationship, but whenever you are alone... and essentially you ARE alone. You are born
           alone and you will die alone, and at the deepest core of your being you are always alone. So on the
           surface you remain happy, but deep down a subtle current of misery continues. You cannot
           encounter yourself, you cannot face yourself, you cannot meet yourself.
                The West has failed because all that it has developed is extroversion; the East has failed because
           all that it has developed is introversion. And man is neither extrovert nor introvert.
                I would like it to be on record that Carl Gustav Jung's typology is absolutely wrong. Man cannot
           be divided so easily into categories -- that somebody is an extrovert and somebody is an introvert --
           because man is a totality, a wholeness. He has an inside and he has an outside, and both have to be
           nourished and both have to be fulfilled.
                So if you are only following Western methods you will be going through much pain because you
           will not be able to create a meditative space through them. If you are following only Eastern methods
           you will be able to create a meditative space, but you will become absolutely useless in the world,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and you will miss the enrichment that comes with communion with other human beings.
               My effort here is to create the first synthesis between extroversion and introversion and help man
           to become so capable of both, together, simultaneously, so easily able to move from extroversion to
           introversion and from introversion to extroversion, that there is no need to divide man into such
           categories. Man can become so fluid.
               It is as simple as when you come out of your house: you don't think that you are becoming
           extrovert coming out of your house. When you feel it is cold inside and outside there are no clouds
           and it is so sunny, you come out, but you don't think at all. You don't decide, "Now I want to be an
           extrovert." Or when the sun becomes too hot and you start feeling the heat, you don't make a
           deliberate decision, "I should go in. Now I want to be an introvert." No, when the sun is too hot you
           simply move in! And when inside it is cold you come out. Coming out of your house or going into
           the house is not a problem at all, because you are free from the inner and the outer.
               My effort here is to help you to be free from the inner and the outer, because you are neither the
           inner nor the outer, you are something transcendental to both. The inner and the outer are just parts
           of your personality; it is the house in which you live which has an outside and an inside. But your
           awareness has no inside and no outside.
               So these three things are to be remembered: drop the past, drop future expectations, and third,
           create a synthesis between extroversion and introversion... and all misery disappears.
               Deva Louis, it is not inevitable for a spiritual seeker to suffer. You suffer because you are not
           aware of your own responsibility. It is not because of growth that you suffer. You suffer because you
           are unconscious of your resistance, of your past-orientation, of your future expectations, and you are
           unaware that you don't have any meditative space within you.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT POSSIBLE TO MISS THE PERFECT JEWEL? IS IT POSSIBLE?


               Prem Maitri, it depends how conscious you are. If you are conscious it is impossible to miss. If
           you really know the perfect jewel, if you recognize it, if it is your own vision, your own
           understanding, it is impossible to miss it. But it may not be so. You may have heard others say, "This
           is a perfect jewel"; it may be a borrowed understanding. Then it is not only possible to miss it, it is
           absolutely inevitable that you will miss it -- it is impossible not to miss it.
               If you come across a buddha and you pay your respects just because others are paying their
           respects, because others are saying, "He is a buddha, he is enlightened, he is awakened," you will
           miss. But if you have even a glimpse of your own into the being of the buddha, just a little taste of
           his milieu, just a small experience of his perfume, that's enough; it is impossible to miss. Then no
           force in the world can distract you. But it has to be your own experience. And we are so unconscious
           that nothing seems to be our own experience.
               People say that Jesus is Christ, so you believe it. But the people who crucified him, they could
           not see anything in him; otherwise, do you think it would have been possible for them to crucify a
           man like Jesus? They crucified him so easily. No problem was felt; their conscience was not
           disturbed. They did it just as they used to kill criminals every year. The day they crucified Jesus they
           also crucified two thieves. They treated all three persons in the same way; in fact, they treated the
           thieves in a far more human way because the thieves were more like them.
               Thousands of people had gathered to see. Nobody was crying, nobody was weeping, nobody had
           any pain in the heart. Even Jesus' own disciples had escaped, fearing that they may be caught.
               When the people had gone -- when the show was over -- and Jesus was almost dead on the cross,
           three soldiers were there just playing cards. They were on duty so nobody could steal the dead body
           of Jesus. So just sitting underneath the cross they were playing cards!
               And Maitri, you ask, "Is it possible to miss the perfect jewel?"
               Those three soldiers were just people like you. Of course, now you will think, "Those soldiers
           must have been utterly stupid, great sinners, unconscious, not knowing what they were doing -- we
           could not have done it," because now you have heard for two thousand years continuous propaganda
           that Jesus was Christ. But Jews still don't think that he was Christ; they still think that he was a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           charlatan, that he was a deceiver, that he was a false messiah. Two thousand years' continuous
           propaganda has not helped at all; they have kept on clinging to their idea.
               Do you think you would have recognized Buddha? Now, of course -- because now twenty-five
           centuries have passed and Buddha has become bigger and bigger, so huge; he looms large on the
           horizon like a beautiful sunrise -- you cannot believe that people could have missed him. But they
           were missing him! Even his own father could not recognize that he was enlightened; even his own
           wife could not recognize that he was enlightened. There were only a few people who had the courage
           to recognize him -- because to recognize him means you have to change your life-style, to recognize
           him means you can't remain the same anymore. To recognize a buddha as a buddha means you are
           waking up.

               The big cafeteria was crowded. A long line of people carrying trays was slowly moving along the
           counter when someone shouted, "Fire! McGinty's house is on fire!"
               Came the crash of a tray of dishes as an Italian near the front of the line made a mad dash out of
           the restaurant, around the corner, and up the side street, bumping into people and knocking several of
           them down as he worked his way homeward.
               Then, just as suddenly, after he had narrowly escaped death several times, the man stopped short,
           clapped his hand to his head and moaned, "Hey, what am I doing? My name ain't McGinty!"

              People are living in such unconsciousness. What to say about recognizing a buddha? -- you don't
           even know who YOU are!
              Maitri, it is possible to miss the perfect jewel if you are not aware. But if you are aware then it is
           impossible. It all depends on your awareness.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DID GOD REALLY MAKE THE WORLD, AND JUST IN SIX DAYS?


                Sujata, looking at the world, one thing is certain: it has been made in a hurry. Whoever made it, it
           is in such a mess that it must have been made in six days. Whether God made it or not I cannot say,
           because if you look at the world it seems more like a creation of the Devil than of God!
                Man is so destructive, so violent, so mad, that it is very improbable that God made this kind of
           mind. Either the Devil made it or it was only the first time that God was making it so he made many
           mistakes. And he became so afraid of his own creation that he has not tried again. It seems he has
           escaped! Seeing what he has done he must have become frightened.
                The story is that he made trees and mountains and rivers and animals. On the sixth day he made
           man and since then he has not made anything. It seems man brought him to his senses: "What are
           you doing?" He simply stopped absolutely.
                But, Sujata, why do such questions bother YOU? It is none of your business! One thing is
           certain: you have not made it, so why should you be worried? You are not responsible, I am not
           responsible either -- I have not made it. So why should we waste our time with it? There are many
           crazy people who have nothing else to do -- leave it for them to think about. These are great subjects;
           one can go on thinking about them for ever and ever; they are unending. That's why philosophy
           begins but never ends, theology begins but never ends. It goes in circles. Each answer brings more
           questions than it answers.
                If I say, "Yes, God made it," then immediately many questions will arise: "Why did he make it in
           the first place? Why did he not ask us whether we wanted to be made or not? This seems to be such a
           dictatorial act, not democratic at all -- people are being made without even asking them! And why
           did he make THIS kind of world when he is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient? He must have
           seen what was going to happen, he must have seen the future. He must have seen that there would be
           Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and Adolf Hitler and Mussolini and Tojo; he must have seen all these
           people. He must have seen that man would fight thousands of wars. He must have seen that sooner or
           later man would discover atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs and deathrays and whatnot. Then why
           did he create this world? Is he a sadist? Is he enjoying all this misery? And millions of people live in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           such misery -- and what does he go on doing? Can't he come and help?"
               In scriptures it is said... in the SRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA Krishna declares: I will come
           whenever there is too much misery. Is it not enough, the misery that man is living in now? When is
           he going to come? And what did he do when he really came? He didn't help anybody. In fact, in his
           days the greatest war in India was fought. If we believe the scriptures, so many people died in that
           war... the whole of India could not have contained so many people. Even now the whole world
           contains only three times as many. It must have been some war! Today it would have been one
           person out of three; in those days, five thousand years ago, the population was not so large. It could
           have been the end of the whole of humanity. What kind of help was that?
               And God comes in Jesus: he sends his only begotten Son to save humanity. Nobody seems to
           have been saved. Jesus could not even save himself -- he was crucified! The savior was crucified by
           those for whom he had come; he had come to save them.
               Thousands of questions will arise. Leave these questions to mad people.

               Two inmates of a Michigan mental institution were chatting in the recreation room. The first
           loony said, "Don't talk to me, I am Napoleon!"
           "What do you mean, you are Napoleon?" asked the second nut.
           "I told you not to speak to me. I am Napoleon."
           "How do you know you are Napoleon?"
           "God told me I am Napoleon."
           A little voice from the corner piped, "I did not!"

           Leave such theological problems to nuts!

              Some visitors to an insane asylum were being shown around by a guard.
           "You see that man over there?" said the guard. "He thinks he is the Lord."
              One of the visitors approached the lunatic and asked, "Did you really make the earth in seven
           days?"
              The nut sneered at him, "I'm not in the mood to talk shop!"

               Sujata, these are not really religious questions, although religious people have been talking about
           these questions for centuries -- because religion has been dominated by lunatics for centuries.
               The really religious questions are concerned with YOU, with your unconsciousness and how to
           transform your unconsciousness into consciousness. Real religion is not metaphysical; it is rooted in
           psychology, it is psychological, because real religion means a way to transcend the mind. Unless you
           understand the mind you cannot transcend it.

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              "HOLD YOUR MOUTH," YOU SAID.
              DIFFICULT! ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR AN ITALIAN. MY APPROACH TO THE
              BODHISATTVAHOOD IN THESE DAYS IS CONTAINED IN THIS LITTLE STORY THAT HAS BEEN
              HAUNTING ME FOR MONTHS:
              THERE IS THIS LITTLE MAN (ANYONE) THAT I MEET IN A STREET (ANYWHERE) AND HE
              LOOKS VERY MISERABLE, LIKE ALL THE LITTLE MEN EVERYWHERE... AND SEEING ME
              AFTER A LONG TIME, HE SAYS, "HEY, YOU LOOK GREAT!"
              "HMM," I REPLY, "I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT YOU, BUT YOU LOOK SO
              SAD!"
              "WELL, YOU KNOW MY LIFE... I FEEL SO MISERABLE. BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU? HOW COME
              YOU LOOK SO RADIANT?"
              "WELL," I SAY TO HIM WITH A SMILE, "I HAVE FOUND A MASTER."
              "AH!" HE LOOKS AT ME SADLY. "AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"
              SO PLEASE, YOU AND THE OTHER GUY, BUDDHA, DON'T TELL ME TO HOLD MY MOUTH. I
              CAN'T BEAR THIS LITTLE MAN KNOCKING EVEN WHEN I AM DANCING, AND ASKING, "WHY
              DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sarjano, now you have told him, what happened? The little man has not come to me yet. Just
           your telling him is not going to make any difference; he will simply think that you are crazy.
                The miserable people think that if you are looking blissful you are mad. They can't believe that
           anybody can be blissful; that is beyond their grasp. Their whole life is such a misery, how can they
           believe there is any possibility of being blissful? -- unless you are mad. If you tell them that you
           have found a master they may not say anything to your face, but behind your back they will laugh at
           you; they will think something has gone wrong. They are not going to believe you. How can one
           become blissful by finding a master? They can't see any relatedness between their problems and
           finding a master. If their wives are nagging them to death, how is finding a master going to change
           it? Now the master will nag you more! If they are suffering from nightmares -- and everybody is
           suffering from nightmares, day in, day out -- how is finding a master going to help? They can't make
           any sense out of the statement.
                I can understand your difficulty, Sarjano. It is very difficult to keep silent when you know the
           answer, but part of being a bodhisattva is to learn the art of being silent. Let them ask again and
           again. Let them feel that your bliss is not just something crazy, that your bliss is something real,
           authentic. Let them feel it of their own accord. Let them come and knock at your doors again and
           again.
                Only in a right moment, when you see that they can understand, when you feel that their hearts
           are open, when you see a real thirst, a longing in them, when a search has arisen in them, only then
           tell them; otherwise you will simply be wasting your breath. And if you go on telling everybody and
           nobody listens, sooner or later you will feel very tired of the whole thing.
                Buddha is right -- that guy is almost always right. Of course, he was not talking to Italians! That
           was not his problem, that is MY problem! But I know how to manage it.
                Truth insists that it should be spoken, although it cannot be spoken -- that is the paradox -- but it
           insists that it should be spoken.
                When you know and you see that others can be helped, it is impossible to resist the temptation to
           tell them -- but that is part of being a bodhisattva.
                Somebody else has asked: "Beloved Master, you say fifty percent of enlightened people become
           arhatas and fifty percent become bodhisattvas. Still you say again and again that there are many
           mystics but very few masters -- there seems to be a contradiction in it...?"
                There is no contradiction in it. Yes, apparently there is, but only apparently. Not all bodhisattvas
           are masters. The bodhisattva is one who tries to help others; the master is one who SUCCEEDS in
           helping others. Just trying does not mean that you will succeed. Many try, very few succeed.
           Whosoever attains truth is bound to have the temptation to tell it. If he is not by nature an arhata then
           he will try to say it to each and everybody, and he will be thought just crazy. Communication is a
           difficult art, and communicating the ultimate truth is the most difficult phenomenon in the world. A
           master is one who waits for the right time.
                Many people have asked me why I kept silent although I became enlightened in 1953. For almost
           twenty years I never said anything about it to anybody, unless somebody suspected it himself, unless
           somebody said to me on his own, "We feel that something has happened to you. We don't know what
           it is, but one thing is certain: that something has happened and you are no more the same as we are --
           and you are hiding it."
                In those twenty years not more than ten people asked me, and even then I avoided them as much
           as I could unless I felt that their desire was genuine. And I told them only when they had promised to
           keep it a secret. And they all fulfilled it. Now they are all sannyasins, but they all fulfilled it, they
           kept it a secret. I said, "You wait. Wait for the right moment. Only then will I declare it."
                I have learned much from the past buddhas. If Jesus had kept a little quieter about being the Son
           of God it would have been far more beneficial to humanity. I had made it a point that until I stopped
           traveling in the country I was not going to declare it; otherwise I would have been killed -- you
           would not be here.
                Once I had finished with traveling, mixing with the masses, moving from one town to another....
           For twenty years continuously I was moving, and there was not a single bodyguard. Shiva and his
           samurai had not yet arrived! And I was in constant danger. Stones were being thrown at me, shoes
           were being thrown at me.
                I would reach a town after traveling for twenty-four hours in a train and the crowd wouldn't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           allow me to get down at the station; they would force me to go back. A fight would ensue between
           those who wanted me to get down from the train and those who did not want me to get down, in their
           town at least.
               If I had declared it I would have been killed very easily. There would have been no problem in it;
           it would have been so simple. But for twenty years I kept absolutely silent about it. I declared it only
           when I saw that now I had gathered enough people who could understand it. I had gathered enough
           people who were mine, who belonged to me. I declared it only when I knew that now I could create
           my own small world and I was no more concerned with the crowds and the masses and the stupid
           mob.
               Sarjano, there IS a difficulty. I can understand your difficulty. But please keep your big mouth
           shut -- Italian or not Italian! Otherwise you will simply be thought crazy. And if you cannot keep
           your mouth shut, then I will declare, "He is crazy!" Then nobody will listen to you. Then you can go
           on saying to these little men, "I have found the master," but they will say, "The master says you are
           crazy!"

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY IS EVERYTHING TOPSY-TURVY HERE?


              Anurati, it must be because of the Italians! One has to find some reason....

               The Italian died and went to the Pearly Gates where he was greeted by Saint Peter and his
           impressive Golden Book. After staring intently at the new applicant's sallow face, weak chin and
           shifty eyes, Saint Peter declared in thunderous tones, "I trust you are not Italian?"
               Saint Peter's voice became stentorian, "Are you Italian?"
               The Italian's reply was meek, "No, sir, I am Puerto Rican."
               Saint Peter smiled. "Pass, friend," he said, "Come in."

           Even Saint Peter is afraid!

              And then there was one Italian chick -- so ugly that when she came into a room all the mice
           jumped up on the chairs.

           Can anyone doubt that New York is a great city?
              The Jews own it, the Irish run it -- and the Italians after fifty years are still wondering what
           happened!

           How did Columbus happen to discover America?
           He was trying to get away from Italy.

           What did God say when he made the first Italian?
           "Shit! I fucked up again!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                    Chapter #3
                                Chapter title: The quiet way to the happy country
           13 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 8004130
              ShortTitle: DHAM1103
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              YOU HAVE NO NAME AND NO FORM.
              WHY MISS WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE?
              THE SEEKER IS NOT SORRY.



              LOVE AND JOYFULLY
              FOLLOW THE WAY,
              THE QUIET WAY TO THE HAPPY COUNTRY.



              SEEKER!
              EMPTY THE BOAT,
              LIGHTEN THE LOAD,
              PASSION AND DESIRE AND HATRED.



              AND SAIL SWIFTLY.



              THERE ARE FIVE AT THE DOOR
              TO TURN AWAY, AND FIVE MORE,
              AND THERE ARE FIVE TO WELCOME IN.



              AND WHEN FIVE HAVE BEEN LEFT
              STRANDED ON THE SHORE,
              THE SEEKER IS CALLED OGHATINNOTI --
              "HE WHO HAS CROSSED OVER."


               A new inmate checked into a California asylum. He seemed quite happy -- in fact, he was
           laughing uproariously. "Nearest kin?" asked the examining physician.
           "Twin brother," responded the fellow. "We were identical twins. Couldn't tell us apart. In school he
           would throw a spitball and the teacher would blame me. Once he was arrested for speeding and the
           judge fined me. I had a girl, he ran off with her."
           "Then why are you laughing?"
           "Because I got even with him last week."
           "What happened?"
           "I died and they buried HIM."

               Man IS mad. Madness is not a disease, it is the normal condition of mankind. Yes, people differ
           in degrees, but that is not much of a difference. Man as he exists on the earth is insane.
               The effort of all the buddhas is to bring sanity to you, to dispel your madness. But because
           everybody is mad, just like you, you remain oblivious of the fact your whole life. Unless you come
           across a buddha you will never be aware of the fact that you are mad. The buddha becomes a mirror:
           he reflects your reality, he shows you your face as it is -- and it is utterly distorted. It is not the way
           you are meant to be. Something has gone fundamentally wrong, something very basic is missing.
               Man is born in such a state of unconsciousness that whatsoever he does brings more and more
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           misery to him and to others. He goes on blaming fate, he goes on blaming nature, he goes on
           blaming the society -- but he always goes on blaming others, he never blames himself. The moment
           you gather courage enough to blame yourself, the moment you accept the responsibility of
           whatsoever you are, a ray of light enters into your being. You are on the path of inner
           transformation.
               These sutras are for the bodhisattvas. Now Buddha is saying to his bodhisattvas -- to those
           disciples who are going to become helpers to mankind, who are ready to go into the world and to
           help people who are drowning in their own insanity -- Buddha is saying to his bodhisattvas, "These
           are the basic things you have to start your teaching with."
               The first thing he says: Tell the people that... YOU HAVE NO NAME AND NO FORM --
           because that is where millions are stuck. People live and die for name and fame. It seems their life
           purpose is to have a name known to the whole world, a name which is going to be written in golden
           letters in history, a name which will go on resounding down the corridors of time for ever and ever.
               And the whole thing is so stupid, so ridiculous, because you don't have any name in the first
           place. You are born nameless, you are nameless. All names are arbitrary. Don't sacrifice your life for
           a name. Don't sacrifice the real for something unreal. We are sacrificing something true for
           something which is untrue and cannot be made true.
               When a child is born, you know he does not bring a name with him; he is born as namelessness.
           But of course a name is needed; it has a certain utility but no reality. It is arbitrary. You can call him
           anything, any name will do -- X, Y, Z will do. In a more scientific age there is every possibility that
           we will drop these old names. Somebody will be O-11, somebody will be X-13. Names are going to
           be more mathematical one day because they will be more precise. And there is no need to have the
           same name for two persons; computers can decide. The computer can say that this is a new name,
           nobody has it all over the world. Right now so many people have the same name; it is bound to
           happen. It is not very scientific, but it works.
               Buddha wants his bodhisattvas to tell the people the first thing: You are nameless. So don't be
           worried about your name or your fame. You are also formless: your innermost being has no form.
           Your body has a form, but your body goes on changing; every day it changes. Within seven years
           your body is completely new, entirely new. Not even a single cell of the old exists in it, everything
           goes on changing.
               If you come across the first sperm of your father that started your life, will you be able to
           recognize it as yourself? Impossible. Will you be able to recognize your mother's egg as yourself?
           Impossible. That was your form one day, but you were not it. And then in nine months' time in the
           mother's womb you passed through many forms.
               The scientists say that each child passes quickly, very speedily, through the whole evolution of
           humanity. From the fish to the monkey to the man, he passes through all the phases -- of course in
           very quick succession because he has to fulfill the whole evolution in nine months. That's why a
           premature child is a little retarded, because he has not evolved yet completely; he has not been able
           to complete the whole cycle of evolution. Every child begins as a fish in the mother's womb. Will
           you be able to recognize that fish as you? But one day that was your form. Will you be able to
           recognize your face the day you were born? If a picture is shown to you it will be impossible for
           anybody to recognize that, "This is me." Right now you have a certain form; that form will also go
           down the drain in the same way. Every moment it is changing.
               But there is something eternal in you: your consciousness, your being, your awareness. You can
           call it your soul, whatsoever you want to call it; names don't matter. But one thing is certain: that you
           don't have any particular form; you pass through many forms. You can pass through many forms
           only because you don't have any form, so don't become attached to any form. Don't become attached
           to any name and don't become attached to any form.
               This is the beginning of sannyas. This is the beginning of initiation into the path.
               In fact, you don't have any father, you don't have any mother; you can't have. The father fathered
           your body and the mother mothered your body; they both contributed to your body, to your form, but
           not to your essential core. Your body is accidental. You have been in many bodies before, thousands
           of bodies. You have passed through, you have lived in many many houses, and when you were living
           in a certain house you became identified with it.
               Hence the pain of death. It is not because of death, remember; it is just because of your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           identification with the body, with the form. If you understand the message of Buddha, there is no
           pain in death. If you are not identified with any name or form there is nobody who is born and there
           is nobody who is dying.
                In fact, that should be the real meaning of Jesus' virgin birth. Everybody is born in the same way.
           It is not only that you don't have a father, you don't have a mother either. The day you discover your
           original being you will know that you pass through the mother and the father, you come through
           them, but you are not created by them.

               A snoopy social worker investigating conditions in an old tenement stopped a ragged,
           neglected-looking youngster and asked him where his mother lived.
           "Ain't got no mother," replied the child.
           "What about your father, then?"
           "Ain't got none, lady."
           "What, both your father and your mother dead!" exclaimed the social worker.
           "Nope, never had any."
           "Good grief, but that's impossible, my boy!"
           "If you've gotta know, lady," said the urchin contemptuously, "some damned racketeer played a dirty
           trick on my aunt."

               In fact, nobody has a father or a mother -- and no dirty racketeer has played any trick on your
           aunt either. You are eternal beings: you are never born and you never die. Death and birth are
           episodes in the long journey, in the eternal journey of your life. Life does not begin with birth and
           does not end with death.
               But this is possible to know only if you become a little detached from the form with which you
           have become so much attached. You are not man and you are not woman either; your body is male
           or your body is female. You are not man, you are not animal, you are not vegetable. These are all
           forms, accidental forms, just circumferences, not the centers of your being. The centers of your being
           are totally different from the circumferences. And we have become so attached to the circumferences
           that we have completely forgotten the centers.
               This is the basic and fundamental cause of our insanity. A man who does not know his center is
           insane.

           Buddha says, tell the people:

              YOU HAVE NO NAME AND NO FORM.
              WHY MISS WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE?


               How much people suffer if they are not famous, if they are not well-known! To be anonymous
           feels so humiliating. If nobody knows you, you feel as if you are no longer alive. The more people
           know you, the more alive you feel. If the whole world knows you, your ego is puffed up to the
           extreme, it is bursting.
               That's why politics has so much interest for people, because that is the easiest way to become
           world-famous. You don't need to be very intelligent to be a politician; in fact, if you are very
           intelligent you cannot be a politician. You need a certain stupidity, in good quantity, to be a
           politician. You need to be stubborn, you need to be violent, you need to be utterly mediocre -- so that
           you can't see what you are doing, so that you can't see how you are wasting your life, and you go on
           and on.... You have to be utterly blind, you have to be very gross. Politics has great appeal because it
           can give you both a great name and great fame; it can make you a world figure.

           I have heard:
               A pope and a politician both showed up in heaven one day. Saint Peter greeted them and led the
           pope to his quarters where he would be spending eternity. Upon opening the door, the pope found a
           small, plainly furnished room with but one window. When he looked out he noticed the politician
           being shown to the luxury apartments across the way, which were equipped with hot tubs, saunas,
           swimming pools, tennis courts and the like.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Filled with righteous indignation, he turned to Saint Peter and protested vehemently, "I am a
           pope! Why is this politician being treated like this while I get almost nothing?"
           "Well," replied Saint Peter, "we have over two hundred popes up here, but this is the first time we've
           seen a politician!"

               But here on the earth the politicians make much fuss. Politics has become the center of life; your
           newspapers are full of it, your radio programs are full of it. Everything seems to be colored by
           politics for the simple reason that these people have got something which you are all hankering for --
           they have got name and fame.
               But Buddha says: WHY MISS WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE? And, in fact, why miss that
           which you do not have and can never have? To believe that you are famous is to live in a fool's
           paradise. And even if your name is going to be written in history... you can make so much nuisance
           that they will have to write it down in history. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, of
           course their names will remain in history, but not in golden letters. History is not written in golden
           letters at all, and their names will be only in some footnotes. And even if they are there, what does it
           matter? Your whole history is bunk! It is less history and more hysteria! Of course, if you are very
           hysterical you will become historical. But what is the point of it all? You would have missed a great
           opportunity.
               The real man does not care about name and fame. The authentic man lives his life irrespective of
           name and fame; he does not care a bit whether anybody knows him or not.

              THE SEEKER IS NOT SORRY.


               Buddha says: Teach people that the search for truth should not be a sad search. This is one of the
           things which has been very much misunderstood. Somehow the sad people have dominated the
           whole religious scene down the ages. Only once in a while do you find a Buddha or a Jesus or a
           Zarathustra who talks about joy, who talks about living in bliss. Only once in a while do you find a
           Krishna -- who not only teaches dance but dances himself, who not only teaches singing but sings
           himself. Otherwise the scene is dominated by pathological people, either by masochists or by sadists.
               Ninety-nine percent of so-called religious people are ill, seriously ill people. They have gone into
           religion because they have failed in life, they have gone into religion because they could not cope
           with life. It is an escape -- and the escapist can never be happy.
               Christians say that Jesus never laughed. Now, there cannot be a greater lie than that. Jesus, and
           never laughed? Then who will be able to laugh? Then nobody will be able to laugh at all! And the
           whole life of Jesus proves that he must have been a man of very joyous nature. He must have been
           really spiritual -- in the sense the French use the word SPIRITUEL. In French this word 'spirituel'
           means both "spiritual" and "humorous." There seems to be a great insight in it -- the same word
           meaning both. He must have laughed with his companions. It is well known that he used to enjoy
           eating and drinking, and when a man enjoys eating and drinking it is difficult to think of him never
           laughing. People who enjoy eating and drinking, people who enjoy parties, also enjoy dancing and
           singing and joking. He must have laughed, he must have joked. One cannot believe that twenty-four
           hours a day he was delivering only gospels -- he must have gossiped!
               But the people who are sad, they would like him also to be sad. All the figures, statues, paintings
           of Jesus seem to be false. And they have been changing down the ages. In the earliest pictures he
           was shown without beard and mustache. After two centuries, suddenly the beard and the mustache
           appeared -- because without a beard and a mustache he did not look like a prophet; he looked too
           young, not mature enough. A face without a beard and without a mustache looks a little boyish...
           suddenly the beard appeared.
               In the East just the opposite has been the case. Buddha is never painted with a beard, neither is
           Krishna or Mahavira, neither is Rama or Patanjali... nobody. Why? -- because the Eastern idea is that
           these people were so young, spiritually young, that it is better to let them appear young from the
           outside too. The outside should represent the inside.
               Buddha became very old, he died when he was eighty-two, but still he is never depicted as
           having a beard. Jesus died when he was only thirty-three, but the beard appeared after two centuries.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Still his face was not sad. After two centuries even that face changed. He became more and more sad
           -- as if he were carrying the whole burden of the earth. Now they have changed him into the savior;
           he is carrying the cross. He has come to deliver you from your sufferings, he is taking your
           sufferings on himself. And they have falsified this beautiful man who used to enjoy the company of
           very ordinary people -- carpenters, laborers, gardeners, fishermen, gamblers, prostitutes, drunkards,
           tax collectors, every kind of people -- even tax collectors! They are making him more and more
           abstract; he is losing his earthliness. He is becoming more and more a concept rather than a real
           human being; he is losing his humanity. He is no more the Son of Man, he is becoming only the Son
           of God.
               These are the sad people who are projecting their sadness on him. They say he never laughed -- I
           can't believe it. I can believe a far more impossible thing....
               The followers of Zarathustra say that he laughed the very moment he was born -- I can believe
           that, that he was born laughing. It looks absolutely impossible -- no child is ever born laughing -- but
           it has something beautiful about it. Zarathustra getting out of the womb, laughing, appeals to me
           more. Such a joyous spirit! That's why Zarathustra could not become a world religion. The followers
           of Zarathustra are confined to Bombay only. And they are good people -- not religious in the
           ordinary sense, not at all.
               Nobody thinks that Parsis are religious; in India nobody thinks them religious. They enjoy
           eating, they enjoy beautiful clothes, they enjoy the beautiful things of life, they enjoy beautiful
           houses... they enjoy everything! And we have the idea of religion as renunciation.
               I can believe Zarathustra coming into the world laughing, but I cannot believe Jesus never
           laughing, because to me sadness can never become the source for the search -- although millions of
           people go in search of God just because they are sad. You remember God only when you are
           unhappy, miserable; when you are in deep anguish then you remember God, otherwise who cares?
               But let me tell you: if you remember God only when you are miserable, your remembrance is not
           worth anything. It is almost a complaint; it is not a prayer, it cannot be. You cannot be grateful for
           being miserable, and prayer needs to be essentially gratitude.
               Buddha says: THE SEEKER IS NOT SORRY. He is telling his bodhisattvas: Go to the people
           and tell them that if you don't drop your being sorry you can never become a real seeker. Seek God
           out of happiness, seek God out of joy, seek God because this call of the cuckoo is so beautiful,
           because the songs of the birds are so joyous, because the flowers are so ecstatic, because life is such
           a blessing. Look at the blessing that life is and then go for the source of it. From where are all these
           songs and all these flowers and all these stars born? What is the cause of it all, of this mysterious
           existence?
               Don't go in search because you are sad, miserable, a failure. If you go with failure in your heart
           you will be simply repressing your sadness. You may start smiling, but that smile will be only a
           painted smile. You can see the priests smiling, but that smile is not true, it can't be true. They have
           never loved life enough for their smile to be true, they have never lived life enough for their smile to
           be true. They are escapists, they are afraid of life. And the people who are afraid of life, their search
           is wrong from the very beginning. But this misunderstanding has happened and this
           misunderstanding has to be dispelled.

               A policeman patrolling lovers' lane late at night shines his flashlight in the window of a car and
           sees a couple making love. He taps on the window and says, "I am next!" In ten minutes he comes by
           again and the couple is still making love, so he taps on the window again and says, "I am next!"
               In twenty minutes he comes by again and the couple is still making love. Again he taps on the
           window and says, "I am next. What's taking you so long anyway?"
               The man looks up and says, "Man, I'm really nervous. I've never screwed a cop before!"

           Misunderstandings and misunderstandings....
              Buddhas have been misunderstood so much that whatsoever you think about Jesus, Krishna,
           Buddha, Lao Tzu, be very cautious -- ninety-nine percent of it is going to be a misunderstanding. If
           you ask me, "Who are Christians?" I say "The people who have misunderstood Christ." If you ask
           me, "Who are Buddhists?" I will say, "The people who have misunderstood Buddha."
              Misunderstanding is so easy because if you want to understand a buddha you will have to rise a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           little higher to see what he is showing. But if you want to misunderstand you need not move
           anywhere; wherever you are, remain there and you can misunderstand. To misunderstand is so
           comfortable, so cozy. You can misunderstand without any effort; it requires no change on your part.
           But it will show in your life.
                People go to the temples, but there is no dance in their eyes. Going to the temple and no dance in
           your feet and no dance in your eyes -- then why are you going? What is the point? Why are you
           wasting your time? People are praying, but there is no joy, there is no light on their faces. Then why
           are you wasting your time and God's time? But one thing is good: that God is utterly deaf -- deaf to
           all languages. He listens only to silence, he is available only to silence. So you can go on praying --
           nobody is listening. It is a monologue.
                Martin Buber says that prayer is a dialogue. I say no, unless a prayer is absolutely silent it is not
           a dialogue. Martin Buber says a prayer means an I/Thou dialogue. If there is I, then there can be no
           Thou; these two things can't exist together. If there is I AND Thou, then the Thou is only a
           projection and there is no dialogue at all; it is a monologue. You can believe that somebody is
           listening -- nobody is listening. You are simply wasting your time, your breath. Do something else,
           anything will be better. Even playing cards will be far better, drinking Coca-Cola will be far better!
                Your prayers are meaningless. You cannot hide the fact. If you move towards God or truth in
           sadness, in misery, in some way or other, your life will show it. Truth cannot be repressed.

               The Gladwells had a baby born without ears. They brought it home and their neighbors, the
           Petersons, were preparing to visit it. "Now, please be careful," said Mrs. Peterson to her husband.
           "Don't say anything about the baby not having any ears."
           "Don't worry," said Peterson. "I won't do anything to hurt their feelings."
               So they went next door, up into the nursery and stood over the new baby's crib with the
           Gladwells. "He's so cute," said Mrs. Peterson to the baby's mother.
           "Yeah," agreed Mr. Peterson. "What strong arms and legs the kid has -- he's gonna grow up to be a
           bruiser."
           "Thanks," said the baby's father.
           "How's the kid's eyes?"
           "They're perfect!" said Gladwell.
           "They'd better be -- he won't ever be able to wear glasses!"

                Somehow or other it is going to come up. How can you avoid it? The more you avoid, the greater
           is the possibility you will stumble upon it. In fact, the very effort to avoid it makes you focused on it;
           then you can't see anything else.

                A very holy man went into an optician's one day to order a new pair of spectacles. Behind the
           counter was an extremely pretty girl, which reduced the customer to total confusion.
           "Can I help you, sir?" she asked with a ravishing smile.
           "Er -- yes -- er... I want a pair of rim-speckt hornicles... I mean I want a pair of heck-rimmed
           spornicles... er... I mean...."
                At which point the optician himself came to the rescue.
           "It's alright, Miss Jones. What the holy man wants is a pair of rim-sporned hectacles."

                Hence Buddha says the seeker has to start his journey not out of misery but out of joy. Rejoice in
           life. He says:

              LOVE AND JOYFULLY
              FOLLOW THE WAY,
              THE QUIET WAY TO THE HAPPY COUNTRY.


               When one first comes across these words one feels a little surprised. Buddha, and saying: LOVE
           AND JOYFULLY FOLLOW THE WAY, THE QUIET WAY TO THE HAPPY COUNTRY...?
           Yes, one is a little shocked because the Buddhist priests have been avoiding these beautiful sayings,
           they have been bypassing them. They have been emphasizing those words of Buddha which
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           emphasize pessimism. And he was not a pessimist at all, he could not be. One who knows, how can
           he be a pessimist? It is impossible. He is not even an optimist, remember, because the optimist is
           connected with the pessimist; he is the other extreme.
               Buddha is beyond both; he is neither a pessimist nor an optimist. He simply wants you to see that
           which is -- and that is enough to make you love life. It is enough, more than enough, to make you
           dance with joy, with gratitude.
               And the way is silent, very quiet. Hence Buddha has not taught any prayer, he only teaches
           meditation. When prayer is silent it is meditation; when meditation becomes eloquent it is prayer.
           But first you have to learn meditation; otherwise you will move in a wrong direction. Without
           knowing meditation all your prayers are going to be false. You will be pouring your rubbish on God
           -- holy rubbish, but it is all holy cow dung!
               First learn to be silent. And yes, out of silence some songs are born, out of silence some flowers
           bloom. Then offer those songs, those flowers to God. But they will be of joy, of tremendous joy.

              SEEKER!
              EMPTY THE BOAT,
              LIGHTEN THE LOAD,
              PASSION AND DESIRE AND HATRED.


                Let me remind you again and again: Buddha is talking to his bodhisattvas, to his messengers, to
           his apostles, who are going to the masses. He is helping them with what to say, from where to begin.
           He is saying the first thing a seeker has to fulfill is, the first requirement of a true seeker is, that he
           should not have any belief system, that he should not have any philosophy, any ideology. If you
           already believe then there is no question of seeking, inquiring. Inquiry means you start with a state of
           not-knowing. Hence: SEEKER! EMPTY THE BOAT.... Empty your mind of all the baggage that
           you have been carrying all along. Become utterly empty. Then the same mind that has been causing
           you so much insanity, so much turmoil, so much anguish... the same mind when empty becomes the
           boat for the other shore, for the further shore. Empty, it becomes a vehicle; burdened with all kinds
           of thoughts, with all kinds of beliefs, scriptures, which each generation goes on handing over to the
           next generation.... We are so much burdened that we are carrying almost Himalayas of weight on our
           heads; it is not possible to move with such a load. You need unlearning. You already have too much
           knowledge; all this knowledge has to be dropped.
                EMPTY THE BOAT, LIGHTEN THE LOAD.... When you are utterly empty, when you say, "I
           know nothing," then the inquiry starts. It is fresh, it is young, it is authentic, because there is a
           fundamental law of life that if you are in a state of not-knowing, a great urge will arise in you to
           know. Just as nature abhors a vacuum and it rushes to fill it, exactly in the same way if your mind is
           totally empty, truth rushes in and fills it.
                But right now there is no space. Your mind is so full, even YOU cannot go in. You have to live
           somewhere on the outside. People are living in their porches; their houses are so full of junk that
           they are afraid to go in. They may get lost, and there is no space either.
                And three things Buddha mentions particularly which are making you loaded, much too loaded.
           The first he calls passion, the second, desire and the third, hatred.
                Passion means animal lust, biological, unconscious lust. Every animal has it, there is nothing
           special about it. If man has it he simply remains part of the animal kingdom; it is an animal heritage.
           You don't really become human unless you go beyond lust. You think that it is your love and you
           have great, romantic words to describe it and you use great poetry, but that is all rubbish. If you look
           deep down it is biology, it is chemistry, it is hormones and nothing else. If your hormones are
           changed you will not be interested in any woman anymore, or if you are a woman and your
           hormones are changed you will not be interested in any man anymore, and all poetry and all romance
           will disappear. The Don Juan simply needs a small operation... and he will disappear.
                Buddha says the first thing that keeps your mind full of junk is lust. And it is, in a way, natural
           because for millions of years we have been in animal bodies; we are still carrying those imprints, we
           are full of animal heritage. We are ninety-nine percent animals; only one percent perhaps -- that too
           is a perhaps -- are we human beings. Just a little part of us has risen a little above.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A fiery-tongued Italian priest was laying down some heavy stuff about sex and morality.
           Stabbing his bony finger at his Little Italy congregation, the guinea padre bellowed, "Sex is-a dirty! I
           want-a see only good-a girls tonight. I want-a every virgin in-a church to-a stand up."
              Furious at the lack of his parishioners' response, he repeated the exhortation.
              After a long pause, a sexy-looking chick with an infant in her arms got to her feet.
           "Virgins is what I want-a!" the outraged preacher said.
           "Hey, Father," the lady asked, "you expect a two-month-old baby to stand by herself?"

               It is said that's why Jesus chose to be born two thousand years before us, because now where can
           you find a virgin? And, moreover, where will you find three wise men? Even if you find a virgin -- a
           two-month-old baby, okay -- but three wise men? The conditions cannot be fulfilled now.
               People tell me again and again, "Jesus has promised he will come again." I say to you, forget all
           about it! -- he cannot come. The conditions cannot be fulfilled. If he drops his conditions, then it is
           okay. But then he won't be a Jesus, remember -- he will be just another hippie, maybe a Jesus freak
           but not Jesus!
               Remember, Buddha does not want you to repress your lust, he wants you to understand, he wants
           you to meditate over it. He wants you not to repress it, because repression has never helped. It is
           repression that has made this sad situation in which humanity is living. It is repression that has
           driven humanity mad.
               Buddha wants you to transform sex energy, not to repress it, because it is the only energy you
           have got. It can be refined, it can be uplifted, it can be channeled in new directions; it can be moved
           towards higher planes of being. And it all happens through a simple process of meditation.
               The process of meditation is not complicated at all. If your mind can drop its load and if it can
           become absolutely empty, immediately your sex energy starts rising upwards to fill the gap, as if the
           emptiness pulls it upwards. A new law starts functioning: the law of levitation. Ordinarily we live
           under the law of gravitation: everything goes downwards. And you are so top-heavy that nothing can
           go towards the top; the top is already full, everything goes downwards. Make the top light.
               In Japan they make a DARUMA doll. Daruma is the Japanese name of Bodhidharma, one of
           Buddha's greatest disciples, who founded Zen in China; he is the first patriarch of Zen. Bodhidharma
           was his Indian name, Daruma is his Japanese name. They have made a doll in his name, in his
           memory; for centuries the doll has been made. It is one of the most beautiful dolls; it has a great
           message. You throw the doll any way, it always sits back in a Buddha posture; you cannot put it
           upside-down. You can throw it, you can tilt it, you can do anything with it, but you cannot shake or
           make Daruma fall. He always sits back again in the lotus posture, as Buddha used to sit.
               The secret is: his top is not heavy, his bottom is heavy. He has a hollow head, an empty head;
           there is nothing inside. The head is so empty and the bottom is so heavy that naturally he settles back
           again into the Buddha posture. It is a beautiful doll. It was invented by the Zen monks for children to
           play with, and the children are bound to ask, "What is the secret?" And the secret is that the head is
           totally empty -- the secret is meditation.
               The second thing is desire. Desire is psychological; just as lust is biological, desire is
           psychological. Desire means more and more, always for more. Nothing satisfies, nothing fulfills; you
           go on running for more and more. And you know it, because many times you have achieved your
           target but your discontent remains the same. Again the desire arises for more, and you start running
           without giving it a second thought.
               Buddha says: Wait, contemplate. Where is it going to end? You are chasing an illusion. The
           desire for more can never be fulfilled. You can have ten thousand rupees and your mind asks for one
           hundred thousand; you can have one hundred thousand, the mind starts asking for more -- and so on
           and so forth. Whatsoever you have, the distance between what you have and what the mind asks for
           remains the same. It is unfulfillable. It is driving people crazy. Seeing it, seeing the point of it, one
           drops it. Or it would be better to say: the moment you see the futility of it, it drops of its own accord.
               And the third thing is hatred. Hatred arises because of these first two, passion and desire.
           Whosoever comes in the way of your passion or in the way of your desire, whosoever becomes a
           hindrance, whosoever becomes a competitor, becomes your enemy. Whosoever tries to grab
           something that you wanted creates hatred in you. If the first two disappear, the third disappears on its
           own.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The first two are like fire and the third is just smoke. If you are still feeling hatred for something,
           for somebody, then remember somewhere there is fire still. Wherever there is smoke there is fire.
           Hatred and anger simply show that you are still living through lust and desire, consciously or
           unconsciously. But your smoke shows that the fire has not been put out. Go back deep into your
           being and put out the fire. And it can be put out not by repressing but by understanding.
               Understanding is the most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha. If it happens, you can
           SAIL SWIFTLY.

              THERE ARE FIVE AT THE DOOR
              TO TURN AWAY, AND FIVE MORE,
              AND THERE ARE FIVE TO WELCOME IN.



              AND WHEN FIVE HAVE BEEN LEFT
              STRANDED ON THE SHORE,
              THE SEEKER IS CALLED OGHATINNOTI --
              "HE WHO HAS CROSSED OVER."


               These fives have to be understood. THERE ARE FIVE AT THE DOOR....
               The first five: Buddha says the first is selfishness, the second is doubt, the third is pseudo
           spirituality, the fourth is passion and the fifth is hatred. They are always standing at the door. You
           have to be very conscious; otherwise they will jump upon you.
               Even the people who think they are doing selfless service -- their service is selfish. They are
           hoping to gain some reward in the other world, in paradise; hence they are serving. Their service is
           not just out of love, their service is a bargain. It is a search for some great reward -- heaven, paradise
           and the heavenly joys. Beware of selfishness.
               Second is doubt. Even people who believe are full of doubt; in fact, if you are not full of doubt
           there is no need to believe. Belief simply means you have covered up a doubt. You have a wound,
           you cover it up with a beautiful flower, but the wound remains.
               Third is pseudo spirituality. When people want to be spiritual it is easier to be pseudospiritual
           because it costs nothing. You can be a Christian, you can be a Hindu, you can be a Mohammedan; it
           is so easy, it is so formal. You go and do certain rituals in a temple and you are a Hindu, or you go to
           the church every Sunday and you are a Christian -- and it is so easy!
               But real spirituality is going through fire. Real spirituality is rebellion against all that is rotten,
           against all that is past, against all that is being forced on you by others, against all conditionings.
           Real spirituality is the greatest rebellion there is. It is risky, it is adventurous, it is dangerous.
               So beware of pseudo spirituality which is always there, available, easily available at the door.
               And passion.... You can drop passion here, you can repress it here, but then you are asking for it
           somewhere else. In heaven, all the religions have provided for your passion -- beautiful women are
           available there. Of course, because these stories have been written by men they talk only about
           beautiful women. Now I think some liberated woman is going to write a few scriptures; then they
           will manage some beautiful men, very beautiful men who always remain young, never become old,
           are always nice....
               Your so-called mahatmas and saints, all have been hoping that beautiful women are waiting; it is
           only a question of a few days. Just torture yourself a little more and you will get an even better one.
           Just go into the scriptures of your religions and look and you will be able -- it is so clearly there -- to
           see the projections.
               In the Hindu heaven the girls never grow older than sixteen, because in India that is thought to be
           the best age. So thousands of years have passed, but in heaven the same beautiful women are still
           hanging around at sixteen. They don't perspire; in heaven you don't need deodorants, you need not
           use perfumes, etcetera! Their bodies are made of gold. I think if right now you write the scriptures
           again you will not make the bodies of gold because they will be too heavy. Carrying a golden
           woman will give you a heart attack! A plastic one will be far better -- with washable, exchangeable
           parts! And just a few buttons... so you push one button and the woman smiles and you push another
           button and the woman goes into an orgasm and you push another button... and it will just be far more
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           scientific now. In the old days those old fools could not think of anything better -- gold bodies! And
           if it is solid gold it is going to be really difficult.
                But you can see the desire.... So Buddha says: Beware! You can repress here, but you will be
           desiring somewhere else. Passion is not going to leave you so easily.
                And hatred: all your saints are full of hatred -- hatred for the sinners. That's why they have
           created hell: heaven for themselves and hell for the sinners; heaven for themselves and hell for
           people who don't follow their religion. If you are a Catholic you will go to heaven -- according to
           Catholic priests. The Hindu has no hope. First he has to become a Catholic, then he can hope;
           otherwise he is bound to go to hell. And ask the Hindus: they laugh at the whole idea! Their
           scriptures are far more ancient and they have a longer tradition -- and a longer propaganda. They
           think that except Hindus nobody is going to heaven; and not even all the Hindus -- the SUDRAS, the
           untouchables, have no place there.
                This is hatred! This is still the same mind, the same ugly mind playing new games, but nothing
           has changed.
                THERE ARE FIVE AT THE DOOR TO TURN AWAY.... These are the five. Buddha says:
           Turn them away. Be watchful so they don't catch hold of you.
                AND FIVE MORE.... These five are very visible, and there are five more which are not so
           visible, but they are also there hiding behind these five. Those five are: first, lust for life.... It is easy
           to drop the lust for a woman or the lust for a man, but it is very difficult to drop the lust for life itself.
           Everybody wants to live and to live as long as possible.
                You can ask in India -- yogis are trying hard to live as long as possible. Now what is that? Why
           should they be so much concerned about living long? And what is going to happen even if you live
           long?
                Before Bernard Shaw died he left a message to be engraved as an epitaph on his grave. The
           message was, "I knew all along that if I lived long enough, something like this was going to happen."
                So whether you live ninety years or a hundred years or two hundred years, what is the point of it?
           Death is going to happen. But lust for life.... Buddha says that ordinary people lust for money,
           power, prestige, and your so-called saints lust for life, long life. And the yogis go on pretending that
           they are more aged than they are.

           I have heard:
                One yogi was telling people that his age was seven hundred years, and all the Indians were
           nodding their heads. One Westerner was also there, a tourist, who could not believe this. The man
           looked not more than seventy -- and he was saying he was seven hundred years? Impossible! He
           wanted to find out so he remained there.
                He saw one man who used to serve the old man; he bribed the young man. And it is so easy in
           India to bribe anybody! In fact, nobody feels offended by it; it is absolutely accepted. It is a way of
           life in India, no problem in it.
                And the young man was happy. He said, "What do you want?"
                The Westerner said, "I want to know only one thing. Is your master really seven hundred years
           old? -- because only you can tell me; you have been with him."
                He said, "Yes, I can tell you only one thing, more than that I don't know. I have been with him
           for only three hundred years."
           And the man was not more than thirty years old!

               And there are books -- now they are being translated into all the languages of the world -- saying
           that if you practice yoga you will prolong your life. And if you eat this and if you eat that, and if you
           do this ASANA, this posture, your life will be prolonged. If you breathe in this way or that way....
               Buddha is saying this is the same lust. So the first subtle thing is lust for life.
               And second: longing for birth in higher realms. Even if you drop it from here -- "Okay, I don't
           want to live long here" -- then you have a deep desire to be born on some subtle planes, some higher
           planes, bodiless planes. You would like to be angels. Beware of all these games!
               The third is vanity. The people who are virtuous are very vain, they are not humble. In fact they
           may have practiced humbleness for years, but their practicing of humbleness has given them only a
           new kind of vanity, a new kind of ego.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Fourth: restlessness. These people are restless, they are not at ease herenow, they can't be. All
           their hopes are somewhere else, beyond death, in heaven, in paradise. How can they be at ease
           herenow?
               A really spiritual man is absolutely at ease herenow. He has no other time; his only time is now,
           and his only place is here. And he is utterly at ease, at home. He does not hanker for anything.
               And the fifth is self-ignorance. These people go on practicing yoga... a thousand and one
           methods are available. You can distort your body this way and that -- you can become a good
           performer in a circus -- but that will not help you to know who you are. And unless you know "Who
           am I?" all your knowledge and all your cultivated virtues and practices are simply futile -- exercises
           in utter futility.
               AND THERE ARE FIVE TO WELCOME IN. And what are those five? Faith.... Remember, by
           faith Buddha does not mean belief; by faith he means trust, a loving trust, a trust in existence -- not
           in theories, not in scriptures, not in dogmas and creeds, but in existence itself, a trust -- because this
           is our home, we are part of it. If we live in doubt, we live disconnected from the whole; if we live in
           trust, a bridge is slowly slowly made between the part and the whole. Only with trust can one know
           what one is and what the whole is; and they are not different. The dewdrop contains the whole
           ocean; in exactly the same way, every man contains the whole of God.
               Second: vigilance. One has to be very alert. Alertness is Buddha's method; his only yoga that he
           has taught is that of being alert. We are living almost mechanically, robotlike. Bring alertness to your
           actions, to your thoughts, to your feelings.
               And the third is energy. We go on dissipating energy in stupid things -- quarreling, arguing, for
           no reason at all. Preserve your energy because unless you have an overflowing energy you will not
           be able to take the ultimate jump. The ultimate jump means the river entering into the ocean, the
           river disappearing into the ocean and becoming the ocean. If you are not full of energy you will not
           be able to reach the ocean; you will be lost somewhere in a desert.
               And the fourth is meditation. By "meditation" he means remaining more and more silent so
           slowly slowly, a shift happens from mind to no-mind, so slowly slowly, the gestalt changes from
           noise to silence.
               And fifth: wisdom. Wisdom is not knowledge. Knowledge is borrowed, wisdom is yours.
           Knowledge can be gathered from a library; you can contain the whole library in your mind. Still you
           will remain as ignorant as before; in fact, you will be far more ignorant than before because now the
           load is bigger. Wisdom comes from your own heart; it is the voice of our own inner being. It
           happens in meditation: when you are silent you start hearing the still, small voice within. That is
           wisdom.
               AND WHEN FIVE HAVE BEEN LEFT STRANDED ON THE SHORE.... What are those five?
           Greed, anger, delusion, ego, false teachings. ... THE SEEKER IS CALLED OGHATINNOTI -- "HE
           WHO HAS CROSSED OVER."
               This is Buddha's message for the seekers. He is telling his bodhisattvas to go and give it to the
           people who are ready, to the people who are prepared, to the people who are willing to listen, to
           understand, to follow the path.
               Meditate over these sutras -- they are for you. Everything that Buddha says is very significant. It
           is no ordinary religion, it is pure religiousness.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                    Chapter #4
                                            Chapter title: I goofed again!
           14 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004140
              ShortTitle: DHAM1104
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 42 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              THERE IS SOMETHING THAT EVEN YOU CANNOT DO. YOU CAN'T PUT AN ITALIAN IN AN
              IRISH JOKE. IT IS AGAINST THE DHARMA.


              Dharma Chetana, it is true, I goofed again! Go on reminding me. These goddamned jokes are
           dangerous! And I love the Italians so much that wherever I can find a place for them I try to manage.
           Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but you caught me.
           To put the record right, the joke is:

              Two gentlemen are sitting in a garden, one British, one Irish.
              The British gentleman asked the Irish, "If you were not Irish, what would you be?"
           The Irish says, "Of course I would be British."
              And then he asks the British, "If you were not British, what would you be?"
           And the British said, "I would be ashamed."

               But I got mixed up. That's why I have all my jokes typed with me. That one was not typed with
           me. About God and about truth and about religion there is no trouble -- I know them from my
           personal experience. But these jokes!
               Yes, Chetana, it is against the Dharma. And I hope it is not going to happen again.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY CAN'T I SEE MY OWN FAULTS WHILE I AM IMMENSELY CAPABLE OF SEEING OTHERS',
              EVEN THEIR SMALLEST ONES?


               Prageeta, it is very normal. It is not something exceptional. Our eyes are focused on others; we
           are other-oriented. We only see the others -- it is not only a question of faults -- we never see
           ourselves. Even if we want to see ourselves we have to look in a mirror, we have to create the image.
           When the image is there the other has appeared. The mirror helps us to see ourselves because it
           creates the other. Otherwise we are absolutely extroverts; we have forgotten the language of how to
           look in. Hence, as a consequence, you cannot see your own faults; nobody can.
               The moment you start seeing your faults they start dropping like dry leaves. Then nothing else
           has to be done; to see them is enough. Just to be aware of your faults is all that is needed. In that
           awareness they start disappearing, they evaporate. One can go on committing a certain error only if
           one remains unconscious of it. Unconsciousness is a must to go on committing the same errors. Even
           if you try to change you will commit the same error in some other form, in some other shape. And
           they come in all sizes and all shapes. You will exchange, you will substitute, but you cannot drop it
           because deep down you don't see that it is a fault. Others may be telling you because they can see.
               That's why everybody thinks himself so beautiful, so intelligent, so virtuous, so saintly -- and
           nobody agrees with him! The reason is simple: you look at others, you see their reality, and about
           yourself you carry fictions -- beautiful fictions. About yourself you are very fictitious. All that you
           know about yourself is more or less a myth; it has nothing to do with reality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The moment one sees one's faults, a radical change sets in. Hence all the buddhas down the ages
           have been telling only one thing: awareness. They don't teach you character. Character is taught by
           priests, politicians, but not by the buddhas. Buddhas teach you consciousness -- not conscience.
           Conscience is a trick played upon you by others. Others are telling you what is right and what is
           wrong; they are forcing their ideas upon you. And they go on forcing them from your very
           childhood, when you were so innocent, so vulnerable, so delicate, that there was a possibility to
           make any impression on you, any imprint on you. They have conditioned you from the very
           beginning. That conditioning is called conscience and that conscience goes on dominating your
           whole life. Conscience is a strategy of society to enslave you.
               Buddhas teach consciousness. Consciousness means you are not to learn from others what is
           right and what is wrong; there is no need to learn from anybody. You have simply to go in; just the
           inward journey is enough. The deeper you go, the more consciousness is released. When you reach
           the center you are so full of light that darkness disappears. When you bring light into your room you
           don't have to push the darkness out of the room. The presence of the light is enough because
           darkness is only an absence of light. So are all your insanities, madnesses.
               But everybody can see others' faults, so don't be worried about it, Prageeta. This is the situation
           in which everybody is living.

                A man dressed as Adolf Hitler visited a psychiatrist.
           "You can see I have no problems," he said. "I have the greatest army in the world, all the money I
           will ever need and every conceivable luxury you can imagine."
           "Then what seems to be your problem?" asked the doctor.
           "It's my wife," said the man. "She thinks she's Mrs. Weaver."

              Don't laugh at the poor man. It is nobody else but you.

              A man went into a tailor's shop and saw a man hanging by one arm from the center of the ceiling.
           "What is he doing there?" he asked the tailor.
           "Oh, pay no attention," said the tailor, "he thinks he's a light bulb."
           "Well, why don't you tell him he's not?" asked the startled customer.
           "What?" replied the tailor. "And work in the dark?"

              The moment you know you are mad you are no longer mad. That's the only criterion of sanity.
           The moment you know you are ignorant you have become wise.

               The Oracle at Delphi declared Socrates the most wise man on the earth. A few people rushed to
           Socrates and they told him, "Be pleased, rejoice: the Oracle at Delphi has declared you the wisest
           man in the world."
               Socrates said, "That is all nonsense. I know only one thing: that I know nothing."
               The people were puzzled and confused. They went back to the temple, they told the Oracle, "You
           say that Socrates is the wisest man in the world, but he himself denies it. On the contrary, he says he
           is utterly ignorant. He says he knows only one thing: that he knows nothing."
               The Oracle laughed and said, "That's why I have declared him the wisest man in the world, the
           greatest wise man in the world. That's why -- precisely because he knows that he is ignorant."

               Ignorant people believe they are wise. Insane people believe they are the sanest.
               Yes, Prageeta, it happens; it is part of human nature that we go on looking to the outside. We
           watch everybody except ourselves. Hence we know more about others than about ourselves; we
           know nothing about ourselves. We are not witnesses to our own functioning of the mind, we are not
           watchful inside.
               You need a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn -- that's what meditation is all about. You have to
           close your eyes and start watching. In the beginning you will find only darkness and nothing else.
           And many people become frightened and rush out because outside there is light. Yes, there is light
           outside but that light is not going to enlighten you, that light is not going to help you at all. You need
           inner light, a light which has its source in your very being, a light which cannot be extinguished even
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           by death, a light which is eternal. And you have it, the potential is there! You are born with it, but
           you are keeping it behind you; you never look at it.
               And because for centuries, for many lives, you have looked outside, it has become a mechanical
           habit. Even when you are asleep you are looking at dreams. Dreams mean reflections of the outside.
           When you close your eyes you again start daydreaming or thinking; that means again you become
           interested in others. This has become such a chronic habit that there are not even small intervals,
           small windows into your own being from where you can have a glimpse of who you are.
               In the beginning it is a hard struggle, it is arduous, it is difficult -- but not impossible. If you are
           decisive, if you are committed to inner exploration, then sooner or later it happens. You just have to
           go on digging, you have to go on struggling with the darkness. Soon you will pass the darkness and
           you will enter into the realm of light. And that light is true light, far truer than the light of the sun or
           the moon, because all the lights that are outside are temporal; they are only for the time being.
               Even the sun is going to die one day. Not only do small lamps exhaust their resources and die in
           the morning, even the sun with such an immense resource is dying every day. Sooner or later it will
           become a black hole; it will die and no light will come from it. Howsoever long it lives it is not
           eternal. The inner light is eternal; it has no beginning, no end. It is synonymous with God.
               And I am not interested in telling you to drop your faults, to make yourself good, to improve
           your character -- no, not at all. I am not interested in your character at all; I am interested only in
           your consciousness.
               Become more alert, more conscious. Just go deeper and deeper into yourself till you find the
           center of your being. You are living on the periphery, and on the periphery there is always turmoil.
           The deeper you go, the deeper the silence that prevails. And in those experiences of silence, light,
           joy, your life starts moving into a different dimension. The errors, the mistakes start disappearing.
               So don't be worried about the errors and the mistakes and the faults. Be concerned about one
           single thing, one single phenomenon; put your total energy into one goal, and that is how to be more
           conscious, how to be more awakened. If you put your total energy into it, it is going to happen, it is
           inevitable. It is your birthright.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY CALLING SARJANO A BIGMOUTH?

              Nirmal, exactly that: a big mouth!
              I will tell you a fictitious story:


               I was going to the Himalayas; Radha was accompanying me. The train was stopped in the middle
           of the night in the jungle and the whole train was robbed. The robbers came to our compartment also.
               I told them, "Don't disturb us. Take whatsoever you want."
               So they carried away the two suitcases. I was worried about Radha, that she might get very much
           frightened, might become very much concerned about her things, but I was surprised. When they left
           she started laughing, "Ha, ha! Ha, ha!"
               I said, "What is the matter, Radha? What's-a matta?"
               She said, "I befooled them! I have saved your fifty-thousand-dollar diamond watch, I have saved
           my Rolex, I have saved my earrings, I have saved my gold and diamond ring, and all the valuables."
           I said, "How did you manage?"
           She said, "I kept all of them in my mouth."
           I said, "That makes me feel very sad."
           She said, "Why?"
               I said, "If we had brought Sarjano with us, he would have saved the two suitcases! Next time we
           come to the Himalayas never forget: Sarjano has to accompany us!"

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DOES IT MEAN THE SAME TO WEAR A MALA OR A CROSS?


                Jan, it does not mean the same -- they are polar opposites. The people who have become
           interested in the cross are pathological. They are not interested in Christ, they are interested in the
           cross. If they were really interested in Christ they would have also been interested in Buddha, in Lao
           Tzu, in Krishna, in Kabir. But they are not interested in Christ, they are interested in the cross.
                Hence I don't call Christianity "Christianity," I call it "Crossianity." If Jesus had not been
           crucified there would have been no such thing as you find all over the world in the name of
           Christianity. These people became interested in death; this interest is morbid. They became
           interested in worshipping death. Jesus is secondary, the cross became primary. Because he was
           crucified, because he suffered, he caught their attention. There are people who are always interested
           in suffering, in misery, in death.
                My interest is not death, my interest is life. I love life unconditionally. I celebrate death too, just
           because it is part of life -- not as death but as part of life, as the finishing touch, as the crescendo, as
           the ultimate flowering of life. If you have lived rightly, your death is a beautiful phenomenon. But
           my interest basically, intrinsically, is life.
                The mala represents life, the cross represents death. The mala represents a certain art of making
           life a garland. The beads are the moments. Each bead has to be perfect; each moment has to be lived
           in its perfection. And there is a thread running through them which is invisible, passing through each
           bead; that thread is of eternity. Each moment is threaded with eternity.
                Unless your life knows what eternity is your life will be just a heap of beads or a heap of flowers,
           but it will not be a garland, it will not be a mala. It will not have any inner harmony -- the beads will
           remain unrelated. It will be a chaos, it will not be a cosmos; there will be no order, no discipline. But
           the discipline should be invisible like the thread.
                And how does one come to know eternity? The only way to know the thread is to go inside the
           bead. There, at the very center of the bead, you will find the thread passing. Going deep into each
           moment, going totally into it, you will find eternity. Each moment is part of an eternal procession, of
           an eternal celebration.
                The mala represents time as beads, visible, and the thread as eternity, the invisible. There are one
           hundred and eight beads in the mala. One hundred and eight beads represent one hundred and eight
           methods of meditation; all the methods of meditation can be reduced to one hundred and eight -- one
           hundred and eight methods are the fundamental methods of meditation. Then they can have
           thousands with little differences, little changes -- joining two methods or three methods or a few
           parts of one method and a few parts of another method. One can make as many methods as possible,
           but the fundamental methods are one hundred and eight.
                The mala has one hundred and eight beads and a locket with a picture of somebody... nobody
           knows who he is. Somebody anonymous, somebody who is more a nobody than a somebody; a man
           who has died long ago as a separate entity, who does not exist anymore as an 'I' but is only an open
           space. That is where you have to reach, that is where you have to arrive. That is your ultimate home.
                The mala is not a cross. Christianity worships death and that is where it has gone wrong. It has
           lost the joy of life, the laughter, the humor. It has lost contact with Jesus. It goes on worshipping the
           crucified Jesus, but it is not capable of worshipping the alive Jesus.
                And my effort here is to help you to worship life, to live so joyously, with such humor, that your
           life becomes a dance. I don't want you to become sad and serious -- sincere of course, but serious,
           never. I would like you to go deeper into existence. Dance with the flowers! Have dialogues with the
           stars! Look into people's eyes and love and don't hold back. The only unspiritual people are those
           who are holding back, who are living in a miserly way, who are living only partially, fragmentarily,
           who are not integrated.
                And don't live an accidental life; let there be a thread running through it. The Sanskrit word for
           thread is SUTRA. That's why these great sayings of Buddha, Patanjali, Krishna, Mahavira are called
           sutras: these are threads. If you understand them your life will not remain just a heap, an accidental
           heap. You will not be just driftwood at the mercy of unconscious forces. Your life will become a
           conscious movement, your life will become an art. It will have a sense of direction, and each act will
           be connected with every other act of your life. You will not be accidental. If you are accidental you
           will be only a noise; if you are not accidental you can become music.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The mala represents music, it represents harmony. It shows that you have found the sutra, the
           thread that makes your life one whole, one piece. Life is beautiful when it is one piece; life is ugly
           when it is fragmentary -- when you are just a crowd and when the crowd is always fighting within
           you, when there is always a civil war.
                Of course, the cross has influenced humanity very much, because millions of people find
           meaning in the cross -- because it fits with their lives. Their lives are almost on the cross: they are
           living in agony, they have never tasted what ecstasy is.
                It is not an accident that Krishna's message has not reached millions. Just the other day I was
           telling you that Zarathustra has not reached millions for the simple reason that he loved life. Jesus
           has reached millions not because of himself but because of an accident in his life. It is because of the
           Jews and the Romans: if they had not crucified him, if they had tolerated him, he would have died by
           himself and then nobody would have heard anything about him. All these churches and thousands of
           monks and nuns would not have been seen at all -- they gathered around the cross. The cross became
           significant because it synchronizes with something in their life. Their life is of suffering and the
           cross represents it. They are also on the cross. Their whole life is agony, their whole life is hell.
                What I am saying is not going to appeal to many people. It is going to appeal to only a few
           intelligent ones, courageous ones, to only a few who are really healthy and whole. This is
           unfortunate, but this has been so up to now.
                Whenever somebody comes here to teach life to you he seems far away; there seems to be no
           dialogue happening between him and you. He talks about dance and you don't even know how to
           walk! He talks about ecstasy and you don't know what that word means.
                One of my sannyasins has just come from Greece. She has informed me that in Greece 'ecstasy' --
           EKSTASIS -- means bus stop! That seems to be more meaningful. And in a sense it is a bus stop, in
           fact the terminus, the last stop. Beyond that there is no way to go -- the last bus stop. You hear the
           word 'ecstasy', the sound comes to you, but the meaning is missed. But when you hear the word
           'suffering' it is not only the sound that comes to you, you know the meaning too. When you know
           what the cross is, you perfectly agree; your life agrees with it.
                But your life is wrong. Your life is not yet life, you are not yet born. That's why Jesus goes on
           saying again and again: Unless you are born again....
                My whole effort here is to give you a rebirth. The mala is not a cross.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THE JOURNALISTS ALWAYS WRITING AGAINST YOU?


               Sudarshan, feel happy that they are always writing; don't be worried about what they write. It
           they are writing that means something is happening here. And they can only write against because
           when you write something in favor you have to experience what is happening here; without
           experiencing it you cannot write a favorable report about it. You have to be here for a few months.
               They come only for one day, they look around, they see the meditators -- but by seeing the
           meditators you can't see meditation. They see that something is happening and something so new for
           them that it does not fit with their idea of an ashram, of a monastery. Hence, naturally they turn
           against me, they become antagonistic.
               If they are Hindus they are bound to be absolutely against me -- for the simple reason that this is
           not a Hindu ashram; it does not fit with their idea of an ashram. The Hindu ashram has to be very
           dull and dead. And here there is so much dance and so much song and so much joy and so much
           love, they are shocked. And things are so intense here.
               For centuries they have created a certain ideal of the Hindu ashram. People should not be active
           there; inaction is worshipped. People should renounce life -- and here we rejoice life. How can they
           write in favor? To them it appears that I am destroying their whole ideal. To them it seems for
           centuries they have worshipped a certain ideal and I am sabotaging it. And in a way they are right.
               I want to sabotage that stupid idea of an ashram: that it should be dead, people should be
           inactive, people should be dull, uncreative, against life, against love, against everything that smells
           of joy -- they should be walking corpses!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the Hindu idea of sannyas is that one should become a sannyasin only after seventy-five
           years. That means in India, nobody can become a sannyasin! The average age is thirty-six, so as far
           as the average man is concerned there seems to be no possibility of anybody ever becoming a
           sannyasin. Seventy-five years, then sannyas: the fourth stage of life, when death starts knocking on
           your doors, when one foot is already in the grave -- then you should become a sannyasin.
               And here they see young people, so young they cannot believe their eyes. Why have these people
           become sannyasins? This is not the time for sannyas!
               I am trying to create a totally new concept of sannyas. Because they are against life... of course,
           if you are against life seventy-five years seems to be the right time. Because life has already left you
           now you can renounce, at least you can enjoy the idea that you are renouncing life. Life has already
           left you -- what is the point of renunciation now? What are you renouncing? The whole idea is
           stupid. Then why not take sannyas when you are dead? Just wait a few days more, maybe one week.
           Why be in such a hurry? Just a little more!
               In India when a man dies, they cover him with orange clothes. I don't know whom they are
           deceiving; the dead body is covered with the clothes of a sannyasin. And they chant the name of God
           when they are taking the dead body to cremate it. Now I don't know who is hearing their chanting --
           that poor fellow is no more there. They are simply deceiving themselves.
               Hindus are bound to be against me. Jainas come here, they are bound to be against me -- this is
           not a Jaina ashram. In fact, Jainas have always been against ashrams; there is no such thing as a Jaina
           ashram. They want their sannyasins to be wanderers. They are very much afraid that if a person stays
           in one place he may become attached to the place; to the house, to the people surrounding him. And
           they are so much afraid of life that it is better to keep moving. The Jaina monk has to stay not more
           than three days in one place; the fourth day he has to leave. So no attachments, no friendships, no
           love affairs are possible; at the most he becomes acquainted. In three days you cannot have
           intimacies with people. One day you come, in fact only one day you remain in the village, the third
           day you are preparing to leave. This is fear of life! And to me, a sannyasin should be fearless.
               So when a Jaina comes here, seeing so many people living together with so much joy, with such
           love, in deep involvements with each other, in great intimacies, friendships, love affairs.... Much
           more love is happening in these six acres than may be happening all over the world. In fact,
           sometimes I wonder how much love six acres can contain! It seems the capacity to contain love is
           infinite.
               And anybody who comes... if a Christian comes he can't find the idea of his monastery. There are
           Christian monasteries where women are not allowed; for one thousand years no woman has ever
           entered. Not even a small female baby, a two-month-old baby is allowed. What kind of people are
           living inside -- monks or monsters? They are afraid of a two-month-old baby. What can a poor,
           two-month-old baby do to them? They are afraid of themselves -- they may do something. They are
           boiling! And they are committing all kinds of perversions, they become perverted. If people are not
           allowed to be natural their energies become perverted.
               All sexual perversions came out of the monasteries, remember it. They all have religious origins,
           they are very very spiritual and holy. All sexual perversions have their sources somewhere in
           religion. Now only monks are living in a monastery... how long do you think they can avoid
           homosexuality? Only nuns are living in a nunnery; how long can they avoid lesbianism? --
           impossible to avoid. It is natural, something is bound to happen.
               So when these people come here they are somebody. It is very difficult to find a journalist who
           has no prejudices of his own; he comes with his prejudices. And this place is totally new, so
           naturally they are offended, outraged. And my statements are outrageous -- they are meant to be.
           They are electric shocks to these people. They get very much disturbed and they take revenge.
               Remember one thing: if you report something good it never becomes news. Nobody is interested
           in good things; people are interested in something bad, something sensational. So they are in search
           of sensation. And you can find enough sensational things here, more than you can find anywhere
           else. You need not invent them -- we provide them!

             Father Murphy was a priest in a very poor parish. He asked for suggestions how he could raise
           money for his church, and was told that horse-owners always had money.
             He went to a horse auction, but he made a very poor buy as the horse turned out to be a donkey.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               However, he thought he might enter the donkey in a race. The donkey came in third, and the next
           morning the headlines in the paper read, "Father Murphy's Ass Shows."
           The archbishop saw the paper and was very angry.
               The next day the donkey came in first and the headlines read, "Father Murphy's Ass Out Front."
               The archbishop was up in arms and figured something had to be done.
               Father Murphy entered the donkey for a third time and it came in second. Now the newspaper
           read, "Father Murphy's Ass Back In Place." The archbishop thought this was too much so he forbade
           the priest to enter the donkey the next day, which inspired the editor to write the headline,
           "Archbishop Scratches Father Murphy's Ass."
               Finally, the archbishop heard this and ordered Father Murphy to get rid of the donkey. But he
           was unable to sell it, so he gave it to Sister Agatha for a pet. When the archbishop heard this he
           ordered Sister Agatha to dispose of the animal at once. She sold it for ten dollars.
               Next day the headlines read, "Sister Agatha Peddles Her Ass For Ten Dollars."

               Don't be worried about the journalists. Enjoy whatsoever they write and help them to find things
           so they can go on writing. I am much more concerned right now that they should go on writing,
           because whether they write for or against they bring more and more people to me. And once a person
           comes here it is very difficult to escape! So I am just absolutely grateful to the journalists,
           whatsoever they are doing. They are doing such humanitarian work, such a great service to me!
               So when they come here, don't feel antagonistic. Help them in every possible way.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM SITTING SILENTLY DOING NOTHING, AND THE WEEDS ARE GROWING ALL AROUND ME.


                Roderick, weeds are divine. Don't call them weeds. They are as spiritual as the buddhas. They
           partake of God as much as roses. Remove men from the earth -- will there be any difference between
           weeds and roses? All these distinctions are made up by the mind.
                You are not really sitting silently; otherwise, who is telling you weeds are growing? Your mind
           is still functioning, whispering things to you. It is your mind! If you are really silent there is no mind
           -- then whether weeds grow or roses grow it is all the same to you. What difference is there? Can't
           you enjoy weeds? They are beautiful people! See the weeds swaying, dancing in the wind, in the
           sun.... What do you think is lacking in them which roses have? Nothing is lacking. This is just an
           idea, and ideas change. It is possible one day that roses may go out of fashion, weeds may become an
           "in" thing.
                A hundred years ago nobody had ever thought that cactuses would be loved by people, but now
           the cactus is "in" and the rose is "out." To talk about the rose looks old-fashioned, looks orthodox,
           conventional; to talk about cactuses is avant-garde, it shows that you are modern, contemporary.
           People are keeping cactuses in their bedrooms -- dangerous cactuses, poisonous cactuses, which can
           kill you! But they have come into fashion, and once something comes into fashion there are so many
           fools who start appreciating it.
                People simply go on following whatsoever is made fashionable by a few clever and cunning
           people. Just a hundred years ago nobody would have liked Picasso's paintings, and now Picasso is
           the greatest artist -- not only of this century but of the whole history. What has happened? Just the
           fashion has changed. People get tired of one thing; they go on moving to the opposite extreme.
                Roderick, there is nothing wrong in weeds! There is nothing wrong in anything. The idea of right
           and wrong means the mind is there. You are not sitting silently and you are not sitting doing nothing.
           You are discriminating, and that is action. You are labeling, and that is thinking. And you are
           judging.
                Drop all judgment, all labeling, all discrimination... and just watch weeds growing. So what -- let
           them grow! When you don't have a mind at all, you are also a weed; so weeds growing around you, it
           is not something strange -- weeds surrounding a weed! Enjoy!

              Once a Zen master was asked by a king -- because the master was a great painter -- to paint a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           picture of a bamboo.
           The master said, "It will take time."
           "How long?" asked the king.
                The master said, "That is difficult to say, but at least two or three years."
                The king said, "Are you mad or something? You are one of the greatest painters. I was thinking
           you could just draw it right now!"
                He said, "That is not the problem, drawing a bamboo is not the problem -- but first I have to be a
           bamboo; otherwise how do I know what a bamboo is? I want to know the bamboo from the inside!
           So I will have to go and live in a bamboo grove. Now, one never knows how long it will take. Unless
           I know the bamboo from within I cannot paint it. That has been my practice my whole life: I paint
           only that which I have known from its deepest core."
           The king said, "Okay, I will wait."
                One year passed. He sent a few people to see what was happening, whether the man was alive or
           dead. They came back and said, "The man is alive, but we don't think that he is a man anymore -- he
           is a bamboo! He was swaying with the bamboos in the wind. We passed by his side; he didn't take
           any notice. We said, 'Hello!' He didn't hear. We wanted to talk to him. We looked at his eyes -- they
           were so empty that we became frightened; either he has gone mad or something has happened. And
           he can do anything, so we escaped. He may kill or, who knows? -- he may jump upon us! He is no
           more the same man."
                The king himself went to see, and the master was swaying in the wind, in the sun. And the king
           asked, "Sir, what about my painting?" He didn't answer.
                After three years he appeared at the court and he said, "Now bring the canvas and the paints. I am
           ready. And why were you people disturbing me again and again? If you had not disturbed me I
           would have come a little earlier. These fools from your court, they were saying things to me. They
           were saying, 'Hello!' Do you say hello to a bamboo? They disturbed the whole thing. It took months
           for me to again settle into being a bamboo and to forget that I am a man. And then you came and you
           said, 'Sir.' Is that the way to address a bamboo? 'When are you going to paint?' Has anybody ever
           heard that bamboos paint? You are a fool, you are surrounded by fools! I had told you that I would
           come whenever I was ready."
                The canvas was brought, the brushes and the color, and within seconds he drew the bamboo. And
           it is said that the king wept for joy. He had never seen such a painting: it was so alive! It was no
           ordinary painting. It was not from the outside, it was from the bamboo -- as if a bamboo had
           sprouted on the canvas, not been painted.

               Roderick, sit silently doing nothing, and let things happen -- whatsoever is happening. If weeds
           are growing, let them grow. They have the right to grow as much as you have the right to grow. And
           if you allow everything without any judgment, if you are nonjudgmental, you will grow to such
           pinnacles of joy and benediction that you cannot imagine right now.

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT IS TERRIBLE WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT ITALIANS. TRUE, OF COURSE, BUT TERRIBLE.


               Adi, I know it is terrible, but what can I do? I love the Italians and I want to talk about them as
           much as I can. They are beautiful people. I hit only when I love. You should be worried about those
           whom I am not hitting. For example, I have not yet hit the Dutch. I am waiting -- when I have
           gathered enough love for them I am going to hit them too! It is my way of showing love and
           showering love.

           Why don't Italians believe in reincarnation?
             Well, look at it this way: who would want to come back to life as an Italian?

              A woman with a baby in her arms was sitting in the waiting room at a railway station in Italy,
           sobbing bitterly. Up came a porter and asked her what the trouble was.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Oh, dear me," she cried, "some people were in here and they were so rude to me about my son. I'm
           all upset -- they said he was so ugly!"
           "There, there now, luv," said the porter soothingly. "Don't worry about it. I tell you what -- how
           about a nice cup of tea?"
           "You are very kind," she said, wiping her eyes. "That would be very nice."
           "And while I'm at it," he said, "how about a banana for your monkey?"

                An Italian with a one foot high man sitting on his shoulder walked into a bar and ordered a
           scotch and soda. The barman was stunned but delivered the drink as ordered. Just as the fellow was
           about to drink it, the little man knocked it out of his hand. He ordered another one, and again the
           little man knocked the drink onto the floor. This scene was repeated three times.
                Finally, the bartender could stand it no longer. "What's going on here?" he asked.
           "It is a long story," the Italian said, "but many years ago I was in Egypt and found a magic lamp. I
           rubbed it and a genie offered me three wishes. First I wished for ten million dollars. Then I wished
           for everlasting life."
           "Sounds great," said the bartender. "What was your third wish?"
           "I wished for a prick twelve inches long."

               Get it? Remember if you come across a genie some time, never ask for the third wish. Look in
           the dictionary to find out the real meaning of "prick."

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL SHOCKED WHEN YOU USE THE WORD 'FUCK'. WHAT TO DO?


               Sargamo, it is one of the most beautiful words. The English language should be proud of it. I
           don't think any other language has such a beautiful word.
               One Tom from California has done some great research on it. I think he must be the famous Tom
           of Tom, Dick and Harry fame.
           He says:

               One of the most interesting words in the English language today is the word 'fuck'. It is one
           magical word: just by its sound it can describe pain, pleasure, hate and love. In language it falls into
           many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive (John fucked Mary) and
           intransitive (Mary was fucked by John), and as a noun (Mary is a fine fuck). It can be used as an
           adjective (Mary is fucking beautiful). As you can see there are not many words with the versatility of
           'fuck'.
           Besides the sexual meaning, there are also the following uses:
           Fraud: I got fucked at the used car lot.
           Ignorance: Fucked if I know.
           Trouble: I guess I am fucked now!
           Aggression: Fuck you!
           Displeasure: What the fuck is going on here?
           Difficulty: I can't understand this fucking job.
           Incompetence: He is a fuck-off.
           Suspicion: What the fuck are you doing?
           Enjoyment: I had a fucking good time.
           Request: Get the fuck out of here!
           Hostility: I am going to knock your fucking head off!
           Greeting: How the fuck are you?
           Apathy: Who gives a fuck?
           Innovation: Get a bigger fucking hammer.
           Surprise: Fuck! You scared the shit out of me!
           Anxiety: Today is really fucked.
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              And it is very healthy too. If every morning you do it as a Transcendental Meditation -- just
           when you get up, the first thing, repeat the mantra "Fuck you!" five times -- it clears the throat.
           That's how I keep my throat clear!
           Enough for today.




                     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                   Chapter #5
                                      Chapter title: How sweet to be free
           15 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004150
              ShortTitle: DHAM1105
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              SEEKER!
              DO NOT BE RECKLESS.
              MEDITATE CONSTANTLY
              OR YOU WILL SWALLOW FIRE
              AND CRY OUT: "NO MORE!"



              IF YOU ARE NOT WISE,
              HOW CAN YOU STEADY THE MIND?
              IF YOU CANNOT QUIETEN YOURSELF,
              WHAT WILL YOU EVER LEARN?



              HOW WILL YOU BECOME FREE?



              WITH A QUIET MIND
              COME INTO THAT EMPTY HOUSE, YOUR HEART,
              AND FEEL THE JOY OF THE WAY
              BEYOND THE WORLD.



              LOOK WITHIN --
              THE RISING AND THE FALLING.
              WHAT HAPPINESS!
              HOW SWEET TO BE FREE!



              IT IS THE BEGINNING OF LIFE,
              OF MASTERY AND PATIENCE,
              OF GOOD FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY,
              OF A PURE AND ACTIVE LIFE.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SO LIVE IN LOVE.
              DO YOUR WORK.
              MAKE AN END OF YOUR SORROWS.



              FOR SEE HOW THE JASMINE
              RELEASES AND LETS FALL
              ITS WITHERED FLOWERS.



              LET FALL WILLFULNESS AND HATRED.



              ARE YOU QUIET?
              QUIETEN YOUR BODY.
              QUIETEN YOUR MIND.



              YOU WANT NOTHING.
              YOUR WORDS ARE STILL.
              YOU ARE STILL.



              BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS
              WAKEN YOURSELF, WATCH YOURSELF.
              AND LIVE JOYFULLY.



              YOU ARE THE MASTER,
              YOU ARE THE REFUGE.
              AS A MERCHANT BREAKS IN A FINE HORSE,
              MASTER YOURSELF.
              HOW GLADLY YOU FOLLOW
              THE WORDS OF THE AWAKENED.



              HOW QUIETLY, HOW SURELY
              YOU APPROACH THE HAPPY COUNTRY,
              THE HEART OF STILLNESS.



              HOWEVER YOUNG,
              THE SEEKER WHO SETS OUT UPON THE WAY
              SHINES BRIGHT OVER THE WORLD.



              LIKE THE MOON,
              COME OUT FROM BEHIND THE CLOUDS!
              SHINE.


               The Scots angler died, made his way to heaven, and was stopped at the gate by Saint Peter who
           said, "You have told too many lies to get in here!"
           "Have a heart," replied the angler. "Remember you were a fisherman once yourself!"

              Gautama the Buddha is reminding his bodhisattvas that the path that they have followed
           themselves, the very beginning of the path, they may have completely forgotten about by now. Who
           remembers the dreams in the morning when he is awake? Within seconds those dreams are forgotten.
              The same happens when you become enlightened: all the misery, all the nightmares, all the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sorrows that you had suffered so much simply become so insignificant, so irrelevant that they
           disappear from your consciousness. They are no more part of your life story -- as if they had
           happened to somebody else and not to you. Hence Buddha is reminding his bodhisattvas how the
           journey starts from the very beginning; only then can these people be of help to others.
                The first thing he says: Remember only to talk to seekers. There are many who are inquirers but
           who are not seekers, many who are curious but not seekers. The curious person is a little childish.
           Every child is curious -- curious about each and everything, curious about one thousand and one
           things, but not really interested in knowing. He asks one question; by the time you answer him he
           has started asking about something else. He is not listening to your answer at all, he is not interested
           in it anymore; it was a momentary phenomenon. He had just become attracted to something: he saw
           a flower and he asked about it, and then he heard the noise of an airplane and he started asking about
           airplanes, and then something else caught his eye....
                A seeker means one for whom the inquiry is not only curiosity, not a childish phenomenon, but a
           mature inquiry, for whom it has become a question of life and death. Unless truth becomes a
           question of life and death you are not a seeker.
                Buddha is saying to his bodhisattvas, his apostles: Talk only to seekers, address yourself only to
           seekers. Don't waste your time with childish people who are curious about each and everything.
           Their questions may look very great, but their hearts are not in their questions. They have asked just
           to ask; they are not interested in finding the answer and they are not ready to risk anything. If they
           can get the answer free, maybe they are ready to listen; but they are not ready to pay. And life's real
           questions are not to be solved in such a cheap way. You have to pay and you have to pay with your
           whole being. You have to get involved; it needs commitment.
                Anybody can ask about God, but very few people are ready to risk anything, to go into the
           unknown, to go into the adventure -- and the adventure for God is the greatest adventure there is.
           And it demands; it is very demanding -- it demands your total commitment. It won't allow you any
           other involvement. It can't be just one involvement among many other involvements; it has to be the
           one and only involvement. Only then is there a hope that some day you may find the answer which
           liberates you. Hence he says:

              SEEKER!
              DO NOT BE RECKLESS.


               And the first thing to be taught to these people who are seekers is not to be reckless. People are
           living very recklessly, people are living very accidentally. Their lives have no sense of direction.
           They don't know where they are going, from where they are coming, why they are doing a certain
           thing. Maybe others are doing it so they are imitating, but imitators are not seekers. Maybe others are
           going to the church or to the temple so they are also going. They are not really men but sheep.
               A seeker has to be a lion. He has to learn to be free from the crowd psychology, from the mob
           mind. He has to learn ways of individuality, of independence. He has to think of what he is doing
           and why. He should not be just a victim of natural life forces; he should have a certain sense of
           direction. Only then is there a possibility of achieving, of coming back home, of reaching
           somewhere, of attaining contentment, fulfillment, flowering, fruitfulness. Otherwise life remains
           meaningless; it is just a jumble of unrelated events.
               DO NOT BE RECKLESS. First thing: Do not be just curious. Second thing: Do not be reckless.

               New York City was jammed for the convention. Every hotel and rooming house was full.
           Phillips was tired -- he simply had to find a place to sleep that night.
           "Anything will do," he said to the hotel clerk.
           "I can let you have a cot in the ballroom," replied the clerk, "But there's a woman in the opposite
           corner. If you don't make any noise she'll be none the wiser."
           "Fine," said Phillips. He went to the ballroom but five minutes later came running out to the clerk.
           "Say," he cried, "that woman there is dead!"
           "I know," was the answer, "but how did YOU find out?"

              Everybody is curious for no reason at all -- it was none of his business. Even he cannot answer
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           why -- some unconscious instinct, maybe biology, maybe chemistry, but not his consciousness.
              Who or what is deciding your life? -- your biology, your chemistry, your psychology, your
           hormones? Who is deciding your life? Are you? -- you as a conscious being?

              A drunk walked into a bar in Glasgow and asked, "Was I in here last night?"
           "Yes, you were," replied the barmaid.
           "Did I spend much money?"
           "About thirty pounds."
           "Thank God -- I thought I'd lost it!"

              Angus was staggering home after a night with his fishing pals when he came upon a scarecrow,
           arms outstretched.
           "Hey, Jimmy," he said, "I refuse to believe you. There never was a trout that size."

               A number of Scottish soldiers were court-martialed for wrecking a public house, and one of them
           was asked to explain to the court how the trouble had started.
           "Well, sir," he said, "Private McSporran called Private McDougall a liar, and Private Paterson hit
           him over the head with a chair. Private Fraser pulled out his dirk and cut a slice out of Private
           McDougall's leg. Two or three of Private McDougall's mates piled onto Private Fraser, and a couple
           of others started throwing glasses and tables around. One thing led to another and then the fighting
           started."

           Buddha says: SEEKER! DO NOT BE RECKLESS.

              MEDITATE CONSTANTLY.
              OR YOU WILL SWALLOW FIRE
              AND CRY OUT: "NO MORE!"


               MEDITATE CONSTANTLY. The person who is a seeker will not really be interested in getting
           only philosophical answers from others; he will be interested in knowing on his own. He will not be
           interested in philosophy, he will be interested in religion. That is the difference between philosophy
           and religion. Philosophy is juggling with words, the art of hairsplitting, arguing endlessly about
           abstract ideas, arriving nowhere. Religion is more like science: it experiments, it emphasizes
           experience. Science is the religion of the objective world, and religion is the science of the subjective
           world.
               Philosophy is going to die one day; it is already on its deathbed. You can go to the universities
           and see: every year less and less people are turning to the departments of philosophy. Many
           philosophy departments are empty, deserted. People are going to science or to religion. Those who
           are interested in knowing the truth about the world are going to scientific inquiries, to physics, to
           chemistry, to mathematics, to biology. Or, people who are interested in their own interiority, in their
           own subjectivity, in their own consciousness, are moving towards religion, more and more towards
           religion.
               Religion is the science of the inner. Philosophy is neither: it is neither the science of the outer nor
           the science of the inner; it is just in between. It only thinks; it thinks about everything -- about
           science, about religion -- but it only thinks. And just by thinking, nothing ever happens. You can
           make very clever answers, but they are not going to solve your real problems; the problems are real
           and the answers are just abstract. Real problems can be solved only by real answers.
               Hence Buddha says: The seeker can be persuaded to meditate -- only the seeker can be persuaded
           to meditate. Meditation means you start changing your inner world. You start removing dust from
           the inner world, you start removing all that is unnecessary in the inner world. You remove all that
           clutter, all the rubbish you are full of. Meditation means emptying yourself of all that the society has
           put inside you so that you can have a clean, clear vision, so that you can have a mirrorlike quality.
           When a mirror is without any dust it reflects reality; so is the case with meditation.
               Meditation means making your consciousness a mirror. Thoughts are like dust, they have to be
           removed. And thoughts contain everything belonging to the mind: desires, ambitions, memories,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fantasies, dreams... all mindstuff is different forms of thoughts, different kinds, different layers of
           dust. And the dust is so thick that the mirror is not functioning at all -- hence you have to ask others.
           Once the dust is removed you need not ask anyone, you yourself can see. Existence has given you
           the magic mirror -- it is within you.
               I have heard a beautiful parable; it must be a parable, it cannot be an historical phenomenon:

               When Alexander the Great came to India he collected many valuable treasures. And when he was
           leaving he came across a fakir, a naked fakir. He asked him, "Do you see my treasures? Have you
           ever seen anybody with so many treasures?"
               The fakir said, "All your treasures are nothing, but I can give you one thing that will really make
           you rich!"
               Alexander could not imagine what this naked fakir could give him. In his begging bowl he had a
           small mirror. He gave the mirror to Alexander.
               Alexander said, "This mirror will make me the richest man in the world? You must be mad!"
           The fakir said, "First look in the mirror."
               And Alexander looked into the mirror: it did not show his face -- it showed his inner being, it
           showed his interiority, it showed his subjectivity. His being was reflected in the mirror.
               He touched the feet of the fakir and said, "You are right -- all my treasures are nothing before
           this mirror."
               And it is said he kept that mirror continuously with him.

               The parable is beautiful. That mirror represents meditation. The fakir must have given him some
           meditation because only meditation can make you aware of who you are.
               But Buddha says meditation has to become something constant. Buddha brings a totally new
           vision of meditation to the world. Before Buddha, meditation was something that you had to do once
           or twice a day, one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening, and that was all. Buddha gave a
           totally new interpretation to the whole process of meditation. He said: This kind of meditation that
           you do one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening, you may do five times or four times a day,
           is not of much value. Meditation cannot be something that you can do apart from life just for one
           hour or fifteen minutes. Meditation has to become something synonymous with your life; it has to be
           like breathing. You cannot breathe one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening, otherwise
           the evening will never come. It has to be something like breathing: even while you are asleep the
           breathing continues. You may fall into a coma, but the breathing continues.
               Buddha says meditation should become such a constant phenomenon; only then can it transform
           you. And he evolved a new technique of meditation.
               His greatest contribution to the world is vipassana; no other teacher has given such a great gift to
           the world. Jesus is beautiful, Mahavira is beautiful, Lao Tzu is beautiful, Zarathustra is beautiful, but
           their contribution, compared to Buddha, is nothing. Even if they are all put together, then too
           Buddha's contribution is greater because he gave such a scientific method -- simple, yet so
           penetrating that once you are in tune with it, it becomes a constant factor in your life.
               Then you need not do it; you have to do it only in the beginning. Once you have learned the
           knack of it, it remains with you; you need not do it. Then whatsoever you are doing, it is there. It
           becomes a backdrop to your life, a background to your life. You are walking, but you walk
           meditatively. You are eating, but you eat meditatively. You are sleeping, but you sleep meditatively.
           Remember, even the quality of sleep of a meditator is totally different from the quality of the sleep
           of a nonmeditator. Everything becomes different because a new factor has entered which changes the
           whole gestalt.
               Vipassana simply means watching your breath, looking at your breath. It is not like YOGA
           PRANAYAMA: it is not changing your breath to a certain rhythm -- deep breathing, fast breathing.
           No, it does not change your breathing at all; it has nothing to do with the breathing. Breathing has
           only to be used as a device to watch because it is a constant phenomenon in you. You can simply
           watch it, and it is the most subtle phenomenon. If you can watch your breath then it will be easy for
           you to watch your thoughts.
               One thing immensely great that Buddha contributed was the discovery of the relationship
           between breath and thought. He was the first man in the whole history of humanity who made it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely clear that breathing and thinking are deeply related. Breathing is the bodily part of
           thinking and thinking is the psychological part of breathing. They are not separate, they are two
           aspects of the same coin. He is the first man who talks of bodymind as one unity. He talks for the
           first time about man as a psychosomatic phenomenon. He does not talk about body and mind, he
           talks about bodymind. They are not two, hence no 'and' is needed to join them. They are already one
           -- bodymind -- not even a hyphen is needed; bodymind is one phenomenon. And each body process
           has its counterpart in your psychology and vice versa.
                You can watch it, you can try an experiment. Just stop your breathing for a moment and you will
           be surprised: the moment you stop your breathing, your thinking stops. Or you can watch another
           thing: whenever your thinking is going too fast your breathing changes. For example, if you are full
           of sexual lust and your thinking is getting too hot, your breathing will be different: it will not be
           rhythmic, it will lose its rhythm. It will be more chaotic, it will be unrhythmic.
                When you are angry your breathing changes because your thinking has changed. When you are
           loving your breathing changes because your thinking has changed. When you are peaceful, at ease,
           at home, relaxed, your breathing is different. When you are restless, worried, in turmoil, in anguish,
           your breathing is different. Just by watching your breath you can know what kind of state is
           happening in your mind.
                Meditators come across a point: when the mind really completely ceases, breathing also ceases.
           And then great fear arises -- don't be afraid. Many meditators have reported to me, "We became very
           much afraid, very much frightened, because suddenly we became aware that the breathing has
           stopped." Naturally, one thinks that when breathing stops death is close by. It is only a question of
           moments -- you are dying. Breathing stops in death; breathing also stops in deep meditation. Hence
           deep meditation and death have one thing similar: in both the breathing stops. Therefore, if a man
           knows meditation he has also known death. That's why the meditator becomes free of the fear of
           death: he knows breathing can stop and still he is.
                Breathing is not life; life is a far bigger phenomenon. Breathing is only a connection with the
           body. The connection can be cut; that does not mean that life has ended. Life is still there; life does
           not end just by the disappearance of breathing.
                Buddha says: Watch your breathing; let it be normal, as it is. Sitting silently, watch your breath.
           The sitting posture will also be helpful; the Buddha posture, the lotus posture, is very helpful. When
           your spine is erect and you are sitting in a lotus posture, your legs crossed, your spine is aligned with
           the gravitational forces, and the body is at its best relaxed state. Let the spine be erect and the body
           be loose, hanging on the spine -- not tense. The body should be loose, relaxed, the spine erect, so
           gravitation has the least pull on you.
                Have you watched it? If you want to go to sleep you have to lie down, for the simple reason that
           when you are lying down flat on the ground you are in touch with the gravitational forces at the
           maximum, because all over the body the gravitational pull works, it pulls you. You immediately start
           falling asleep. It is difficult to fall asleep standing. The most difficult posture to fall asleep in is the
           lotus posture. The body is so relaxed there is no need to fall asleep, and the gravitational forces are at
           the minimum; hence they cannot pull you downwards; they can't make you heavy and dull and
           lethargic. You are bright, you are full of life. You are more intelligent in the lotus posture than you
           can ever be in any other posture. The body affects your mind.
                Scientists now agree with this: that it is only because a few of the monkeys somehow... they have
           not been able to find the reason why and how it happened, and monkeys are monkeys -- it may have
           just happened out of curiosity, a few monkeys tried to stand on two legs and these are the monkeys
           who became the original men; they were the originators. That was the greatest innovation; nothing
           else has been greater than that. A few monkeys standing erect on their two legs created a great
           revolution; the revolution happened in the growth of the mind. The erect posture helped the mind to
           come out of sleep. It became more intelligent, it became more alert, it became more conscious.
                Other animals who move on their four legs have not been able to develop intelligence, although
           many of them have a mind of almost the same capacity as man. For example, the elephant has a mind
           of almost the same capacity as man, but has not been able to develop it and I don't think it is ever
           going to happen. In circuses they try hard to teach the elephant to sit in a chair or to stand even for a
           few seconds on two feet, but the body is so heavy the elephant cannot manage to be on two feet.
           Hence the brain remains clouded; the gravitational pull keeps it unconscious.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Hence this lotus posture is something valuable. It is not just a body phenomenon; it affects the
           mind, it changes the mind. Sit in a lotus posture -- the whole point is that your spine should be erect
           and should make a ninety-degree angle with the earth. That is the point where you are capable of
           being the most intelligent, the most alert, the least sleepy.
                And then watch your breath, the natural breath. You need not breathe deeply, you don't change
           your breathing; you simply watch it as it is. But you will be surprised by one thing: the moment you
           start watching, it changes -- because even the fact of watching is a change and the breathing is no
           more the same.
                Slight changes in your consciousness immediately affect your breathing. You will be able to see
           it; whenever you watch you will see your breathing has become a little deeper. If it becomes so of its
           own accord it is okay, but you are not to do it by your will. Watching your breath, slowly slowly you
           will be surprised that as your breath becomes calm and quiet your mind also becomes calm and
           quiet. And watching the breath will make you capable of watching the mind.
                That is just the beginning, the first part of meditation, the physical part. And the second part is
           the psychological part. Then you can watch more subtle things in your mind -- thoughts, desires,
           memories.
                And as you go deeper into watchfulness, a miracle starts happening: as you become watchful less
           and less traffic happens in the mind, more and more quiet, silence; more and more silent spaces,
           more and more gaps and intervals. Moments pass and you don't come across a single thought. Slowly
           slowly, minutes pass, hours pass....
                And there is a certain arithmetic in it: if you can remain absolutely empty for forty-eight minutes,
           that very day you will become enlightened, that very moment you will become enlightened. But it is
           not a question of your effort; don't go on looking at the watch because each time you look, a thought
           has come. You have to again count from the very beginning; you are back to zero. There is no need
           for you to watch the time.
                But this has been the experience in the East of all great meditators: that forty-eight minutes
           seems to be the ultimate point. If this much of a gap is possible, if for this much of a gap thinking
           stops and you remain alert, with no thought crossing your mind, you are capable of receiving God
           inside. You have become the host and the guest immediately comes.

              IF YOU ARE NOT WISE,
              HOW CAN YOU STEADY THE MIND?


                You have to be very intelligent; only then can you steady the mind. And what does he mean by
           intelligence? Ordinarily we behave in a very unintelligent way: we behave according to beliefs;
           beliefs keep us unintelligent. We behave according to borrowed knowledge; that keeps us
           unintelligent.
                Try to accept the challenges of life directly; don't act out of belief or knowledge. Don't follow the
           scriptures and the traditions. They are the root cause of making you stupid, because unless you face
           life directly, unless those challenges are encountered, your intelligence will not arise -- because there
           will be no opportunity for it to arise. Give it the opportunity. Life gives many opportunities but you
           go on missing the opportunities because you live on borrowed answers.
                Face life and its questions and its realities on your own, even if your own responses are not so
           great -- they cannot be. Of course you cannot respond like a buddha, but by borrowing some answer
           from Buddha you will never be intelligent enough to become a buddha yourself. Yes, you will
           commit many errors, many mistakes. Yes, you will go astray many times -- go, don't be worried!
           Life is meant for that, so that you can try. It is through trials, many errors, many mistakes, that one
           learns. When you learn by your own efforts you become intelligent. And only an intelligent person
           can see the beauty of meditation, can understand the significance of meditation.

              IF YOU CANNOT QUIETEN YOURSELF,
              WHAT WILL YOU EVER LEARN?


              And all learning happens through meditation; it does not happen through study. That is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           accumulation of information, it is not learning. Always be alert about borrowed knowledge:
           howsoever precious it appears it is all false, pseudo -- for you. It is not pseudo for the man who has
           lived it. It is true for Buddha, true for Jesus, true for Krishna, but not for you. You will have to
           live....
               Buddha also had the scriptures available. He could have read Krishna; the Gita was available.
           And he was well-educated -- he was the son of a king. All the scriptures must have been available to
           him and great scholars and great teachers were available to him. He could have recited the Gita
           every day; he could have learned the Gita so absolutely that he would have been able to repeat it just
           from memory, but then he would have missed buddhahood.
               And in Krishna's time also the Vedas were available, but Krishna did not borrow knowledge
           from the Vedas. In Jesus' time the Old Testament was available, but Jesus tried to find out the truth
           for himself. This is something very essential to understand: truth has to be found by oneself. Only
           then is it liberating; otherwise it becomes a bondage -- a beautiful bondage, but a bondage all the
           same.
           And if you cannot learn....

              HOW WILL YOU BECOME FREE?


               It is only by experiencing truth on your own that freedom happens. Freedom is the fragrance of
           the experience of truth.

              WITH A QUIET MIND
              COME INTO THAT EMPTY HOUSE, YOUR HEART,
              AND FEEL THE JOY OF THE WAY
              BEYOND THE WORLD.


               Buddha says: With the silent mind, the quiet mind... COME INTO THAT EMPTY HOUSE,
           YOUR HEART.
               Your heart is your real home; it is utterly empty. Your head is full of rubbish, your heart is totally
           empty. Move from the head to the heart! The whole process of meditation is a movement from the
           head to the heart, from the mind to no-mind.
               COME INTO THAT EMPTY HOUSE, YOUR HEART, AND FEEL THE JOY OF THE WAY
           -- and you will be full of joy -- BEYOND THE WORLD. A joy that is not of this world, a fragrance
           that comes from the beyond.

              LOOK WITHIN --
              THE RISING AND THE FALLING.


               The rising and falling of your breath: that is the way of looking within. Many have said: Look
           within. Socrates has said: Look within, know thyself, but nobody has given the exact method.
           Buddha gives you the exact method: the rising and the falling of the breath. It is through the breath
           that you are bridged. Breath is the bridge between your soul and your body. If you can watch your
           breath rising and falling, slowly slowly you will be able to see the body as separate from yourself
           and also the breath as separate from yourself, because the watcher cannot be the watched, the
           observer cannot be the observed. Suddenly one day you will realize that you are the witness of it all.
           And the witness is certainly transcendental to all that it witnesses. In that very moment freedom has
           happened to you. Then:

              WHAT HAPPINESS!
              HOW SWEET TO BE FREE!



              IT IS THE BEGINNING OF LIFE....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              Birth is not the beginning of life. This is the beginning of life, when you experience your
           witnessing soul. IT IS THE BEGINNING....

              OF MASTERY AND PATIENCE,
              OF GOOD FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY,
              OF A PURE AND ACTIVE LIFE.


               Meditate over these words. Buddhists have not understood these words at all. How can this man,
           Gautama the Buddha, be an escapist? He says: IT IS THE BEGINNING OF a new LIFE, OF
           MASTERY AND PATIENCE, OF GOOD FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY....
               He is giving you a new world, a new way to love, a new way to be friendly; he is giving you new
           friends. In fact, only meditators can be friendly towards each other because they are not competitors.
           Nobody else can be friendly, they only pretend. How can competitors be friendly? Deep down they
           are enemies because everybody is coveting the same things. You are greedy for money, your friend
           is also greedy for money. How can you be friendly? Impossible. All friendship is bogus, phony.
               You want to be the prime minister and your friend also wants to be the prime minister. Who does
           not want to be the prime minister? How can you be friendly? Hence they say in politics there is no
           friendship at all. A few are enemies openly, a few are enemies in a hidden way. That's why in
           politics every day changes happen: somebody who was a friend yesterday, today is an enemy;
           somebody who was an enemy yesterday, today is a friend. It is a strange world, the world of politics.
               Machiavelli, in THE PRINCE, suggests to the politicians, "Never say anything to your friends
           that you would not like to be known by your enemies, because any friend can become your enemy
           any day." He also says, "Never say anything against your enemies that you would not like to say
           against your friends because any enemy can become a friend any day" -- then there will be difficulty.
           Then you will have to swallow something and it will be humiliating.
               Politicians go on doing that: they go on spitting and swallowing it back again and again. They
           say one thing today, another thing tomorrow; they have to. In politics no friends are possible.
               Friends are possible only on the way, on the way towards God, because it is not a competition.
           You can have God, I can have God; there is no question that by your having God I will not be able to
           have God anymore. Millions of people can have God and there is no problem because God is
           infinite, truth is infinite. My having the truth does not mean that now you cannot have it. In fact, on
           the contrary, my having the truth means that you can also have it! If I can have it, why not you?
           Hence, on the way, there is a totally new kind of friendship.
               ... OF A PURE AND ACTIVE LIFE. How can Buddha be called an escapist? He says: ... OF A
           PURE AND ACTIVE LIFE. He means creativity, a creativity that comes out of meditative
           innocence, of meditative purity. And a real creator is possible only through meditation. Your
           so-called painters, ninety-nine percent of them, are not real painters. Your so-called poets are not
           poets, your so-called musicians are not musicians -- maybe technicians. They know how to play,
           they know how to compose, they know how to paint, but just knowing how to paint does not make
           you a creator.
               A creator is a totally different phenomenon. The creator brings something of God into the world,
           something of the creator into the world. But how can you bring something of God into the world if
           you have not known God yourself?
               A Buddha is a creator, a Jesus is a creator. Their words, their acts are the only proof that God
           exists. Their very presence is proof that God exists. Their presence is creative: in their very presence
           thousands of people are transformed. Buddha is not an escapist; he cannot be. No awakened person
           can be an escapist. Cowards escape, courageous people are creative.
               SO LIVE IN LOVE -- these are Buddha's words, mind you:

              SO LIVE IN LOVE.
              DO YOUR WORK.
              MAKE AN END OF YOUR SORROWS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He is not against love, he is not against creativity, he is not against work either. DO YOUR
           WORK -- because unless you do the work that is close to your heart you will remain unfulfilled. And
           the meditator finds immediately what his work is. The meditator finds intrinsically that this is his
           work; he does not have to think about it. It is so clear and so loud that he knows that he has to be a
           musician or he has to be a poet or he has to be this or that. It comes so clear that there is no question
           of doubt. And then he starts working; that work is his meditation.
               There are many people here who are afraid of work. They don't know that the work that is
           happening here is totally different from the work that you have come across in your life. That was
           something totally different. When I give you some work it is to help your growth. Until you become
           capable of finding your own work I will go on giving it to you -- only up to the moment when you
           are capable of finding it yourself. And any work that is being given here is nothing but a meditation
           for you. If it is not a meditation for you then you have not understood my message at all.

              FOR SEE HOW THE JASMINE
              RELEASES AND LETS FALL
              ITS WITHERED FLOWERS.



              LET FALL WILLFULNESS AND HATRED.


                Buddha says: As the jasmine flowers fall when they have withered away or leaves fall from the
           trees when they die, dead leaves. Just like that, LET FALL WILLFULNESS AND HATRED. The
           first thing he says that has to be dropped -- easily, without effort, just like a withered jasmine flower
           falling of its own accord -- is willfulness, your will, your ego.
                So sometimes I have to put you in a certain work where you have to drop your ego and you think
           it is a kind of punishment. It is not a kind of punishment; it is a challenge, it is a situation where you
           will have to drop the ego sooner or later because it will be creating misery again and again for you. It
           will make you clearly aware that your ego is causing your misery.
                Just the other day, Anshumali wrote saying, "Beloved Master, working in Vrindavan under
           Deeksha seems to be a punishment." It is not, Anshumali. It is a reward, not a punishment! It is a
           punishment if you want to cling to your ego; if you let the ego fall, it is a reward. And then you will
           be able to see the beauty of the work, and you will be able to see the beauty of Deeksha too. She is a
           beautiful Italian mama! She loves her workers, she loves her people; she is utterly devoted. Of
           course, she loves so much that she shouts also, she screams also. Her love is such that she trusts that
           you will understand her screaming too. But she is a good device; she has been of immense help to
           many people.
                There are one hundred therapy groups here, but Deeksha's is the best! Although it is not known
           as a therapy group -- it is a secret therapy group.
                If you drop your willfulness, your ego, then hatred also drops because hatred is nothing but the
           shadow of your ego. If there is no ego there is no hatred; if there is ego, there is always hatred
           following it. Whosoever comes in the way... and everybody will come in the way because egos
           cannot adjust to each other. Egos are always in conflict, egos are always quarreling, they are
           quarrelsome, hence the hatred.
                Drop the ego and see the beauty of egolessness. Then there is no hatred, no anger. You become
           so silent, your energy becomes so calm and quiet, that suddenly you start seeing the world in a
           different light, in a different perspective. Then this ordinary world is no longer ordinary -- it
           becomes sacred.

              ARE YOU QUIET?
              QUIETEN YOUR BODY.
              QUIETEN YOUR MIND.


              Buddha says: First start with the body and then move to the mind. Quieten your body by
           watching your breath, quieten your mind by watching your thoughts.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              YOU WANT NOTHING.
              YOUR WORDS ARE STILL.
              YOU ARE STILL.


               Then you will come to see that there is no desire. How can desire exist in a silent mind? Desire is
           a state of turmoil, desire is a state of unconsciousness, desire is mad. When you are silent, madness
           disappears.

               Three times Jessie brought Sandy to the vicarage, hoping to be made man and wife, but each
           time the minister refused because of the groom-to-be's intoxication.
           "Why do you persist in bringing him to me in such a state?" asked the minister.
           "Please, Reverend," explained Jessie, "he won't come when he's sober!"

               The moment you are sober, silent, you will not do many things that you are doing and you will
           start doing things that you have never thought of before. Your life will no more be a wastage; it will
           become creativity, tremendous creativity. Your life will not grow thorns, it will grow flowers. It is
           the same energy!
               But the mind keeps you occupied in such stupid things, in such stupid details about stupid things.
           Just see what your mind goes on doing... and you will not need anyone to tell you that you are mad.

               A little man walks into "The Perfect Stationers" -- an exclusive New York shop specializing in
           paper products. He is approached by an elegant salesman in a Brooks Brothers suit. "Can I help you,
           sir?" the salesman intones in a cultured voice.
           "Yes, I would like some writing paper, please."
           "Would you prefer lined or unlined paper, sir?"
           "Oh, anything is fine. It doesn't matter."
           "Then will you be writing with a fountain pen or a ballpoint?"
           "I really don't know. Whatever comes to hand...."
           "Would you like to have a thick paper or onion-skin paper, sir?"
           "Look, anything is fine. Just give me any old packet!"
           "Perhaps you would prefer one of the perfumed varieties?"
           "If you like. But I have a bus to catch -- just give me some paper, PLEASE!"
           "It will just take a moment now, sir. Would you like a hand-made paper in a special presentation box
           or a simple commercial brand?"
               The little man's voice rises an octave. "Look, for the tenth time... any paper will do! Make it fast,
           would you?"
           "Then perhaps you have a favorite color -- red, blue, yellow...?"
               Just at that moment another man bursts into the shop. His eyes have dark circles underneath and
           his cheeks are wet with tears.
           "Look," he sobs, "this tile is the color of my bathroom and this is the size of my toilet. I showed you
           my asshole yesterday. Now, could I please have some toilet paper?"

               Just look at your mind... stupid things and stupid details ad infinitum! You go on and on -- when
           are you going to stop?... please! That's what Buddha is saying.

                Feinberg, the funeral director, was lunching with his friend, Weinstein.
           "I got a good bargain for you in a coffin," he said.
           "I don't like to think about things like that. How much?"
           "It's made of mahogany with silver handles and a lock. For you, only two thousand dollars."
           "I'll think about it."
                On his way home from work, Weinstein stopped at the Minkis Mortuary to compare prices.
           "I can give you something nice," said the director. "I've got a mahogany coffin with silver handles
           and I'll even throw in a lock. The price is one thousand dollars."
                Weinstein rushed over to Feinberg's and began screaming. "Some friend you are! I just saw the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same coffin you wanted to sell me and it was a thousand dollars cheaper."
           "Was it mahogany with silver handles and a lock?"
           "Yes!" replied Weinstein.
           "Did it have a silk lining?"
           "I didn't look. I don't think so."
           "You see!" said Feinberg. "In six months you'll need a new lining."

                Not only about life but even about afterlife, the mind goes on preparing even for that. People
           decide about their wills, they decide about their epitaphs, they decide how their tombs have to be
           made, in what kind of marble. Man seems to be so utterly unintelligent and he goes on wasting his
           life on such things which don't make any sense at all. But you have to look into your own mind.
                YOU WANT NOTHING. YOUR WORDS ARE STILL. YOU ARE STILL. Buddha says this is
           how one should be -- no desire, because all desires are futile. They are about the future; life is in the
           present. All desires distract you from the present, all desires distract you from life, all desires are
           destructive of life, all desires are postponements of life. Life is now and the desire takes you away,
           farther and farther away from now. And when we see that our life is misery we go on throwing the
           responsibility on others, and nobody is responsible except us.

           "My good man," said the visitor to the prisoner, "how did you happen to come to this sad place?"
           "Well, sir," replied the convicted man, "you see in me the unhappy victim of the unlucky number
           thirteen."
           "Indeed!" said the visitor. "How was that?"
           "Twelve jurymen and one judge, sir."

               Nobody wants to take the blame on himself. Anything will do -- unlucky number, palmistry, fate,
           astrology... stars, poor stars are creating misery for Anshumali! Even if they search for Anshumali it
           will be difficult for them to find him; they cannot even find the earth -- the earth is so tiny. Our sun
           is twelve thousand times bigger than the earth and our sun is a very mediocre star. There are stars
           millions of times bigger than the sun; compared to those stars this earth is just a particle of dust,
           unnoticeable, negligible. It can be neglected, ignored. And there are millions of stars that science has
           counted and millions more must be beyond because our reach is limited, our instruments are limited.
           And these stars are deciding the fates of a clerk in the collector's office, of a peon in the railway
           station!
               Man is so stupid, unbelievably stupid. He goes on throwing the responsibility on somebody else.
           Unless you stop this you will never become religious. A religious person is one who takes the
           responsibility upon himself.
               The first thing that is making you miserable is your desiring, constant desiring for this and that.
           Stop that. And when there is no desire there are no thoughts either. The function of the thoughts is to
           help you desire; they are instrumental. If you don't have desires, thoughts are bound to disappear of
           their own accord. And when there are no desires, no thoughts... YOU ARE STILL. You are calm,
           collected, centered, rooted.

                It was an early morning fire, and the young Italian reporter was lucky enough on arriving at the
           scene to get an account of it from one of the residents of the apartment house who had escaped.
           "It was terrible," narrated the man. "Imagine walls crumbling about you, the flames of the fire
           practically licking your cheek in whatever direction you turned and the very iron of the bannisters
           smoking under your hands. But in the midst of it all, I want you to know, I kept quite cool and
           balanced."
           "It's a shame, since you were so calm and cool," replied the reporter, "that you didn't think of putting
           your pants on."

               The people who think they are quiet and calm are not quiet and calm, they are just believing that;
           they are just hoping that they are quiet and calm. Only very rarely is a person quiet and calm. It
           happens only at the ultimate peak of meditation, not before it. So don't deceive yourself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS
              WAKEN YOURSELF, WATCH YOURSELF.
              AND LIVE JOYFULLY.


               Accept the responsibility and that gives you great insight. If you are responsible for all your
           misery, if you are responsible for all your nightmares, then the other thing is also possible: you can
           wake up. If you are responsible for your sleep, you can wake up; if you are not responsible, some
           stars are responsible, then what can you do? You are just a victim and you have to suffer. Unless the
           stars change their mind, if they have any mind....
           BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS WAKEN YOURSELF, WATCH YOURSELF. AND LIVE
           JOYFULLY. And people say Buddha is a pessimist? -- and he says: LIVE JOYFULLY.
               Buddha says: Don't believe in a savior because that is the old mind, the same mind that wants to
           throw the responsibility on somebody else. Now Christians think Jesus saves. Hindus think that
           whenever the need arises, Krishna will come back; he will take another incarnation to save
           humanity. When are you going to feel your responsibility? And people don't think that this is just
           ugly, insulting, humiliating; it is falling below human dignity.

               A Christian and a Jew were out walking. They came across a church and in front of it there was a
           big board with the words, "Jesus saves!"
           The Jew said, "That's nothing -- Moses invests!"

               Nobody can save you; don't wait for any savior. You can save yourself, that is true.
               This is also one of Buddha's great insights into human misery, into human reality, that he says:
           Don't believe that somebody will save you. You are the cause of your misery, you can be the cause
           of your bliss.

              YOU ARE THE MASTER,
              YOU ARE THE REFUGE.
              AS A MERCHANT BREAKS IN A FINE HORSE,
              MASTER YOURSELF.



              HOW GLADLY YOU FOLLOW
              THE WORDS OF THE AWAKENED.


               And if you meditate, if you become a little silent, a little alert, you will love these words because
           they have the taste of truth -- but only for those who are meditating.
               HOW GLADLY YOU FOLLOW THE WORDS OF THE AWAKENED. Then all the awakened
           ones suddenly become your contemporaries. Then only can you understand Jesus, Buddha, Krishna,
           Mahavira, Lao Tzu. Then only, when you meditate, suddenly mysteries open up, closed doors open
           and things which were never clear to you suddenly become clear. But it happens through meditation
           and there is no other way. Not by studying, not by gathering more and more knowledge, not by
           arguing, not by philosophizing, but only by becoming more and more silent. In utter silence, God
           speaks to you through all the awakened ones.

              HOW QUIETLY, HOW SURELY
              YOU APPROACH THE HAPPY COUNTRY,
              THE HEART OF STILLNESS.


               And then your steps have a confidence because all the buddhas are witnesses to you. As you start
           tasting the joys of meditation, as you start becoming alert to the beauties of meditation, as flowers
           start blossoming inside you, all the buddhas become witnesses to you. You know you are on the right
           track; great confidence arises in you.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HOW QUIETLY, HOW SURELY YOU APPROACH THE HAPPY COUNTRY, THE HEART OF
              STILLNESS.



              HOWEVER YOUNG,
              THE SEEKER WHO SETS OUT UPON THE WAY
              SHINES BRIGHT OVER THE WORLD.


               And it is not a question of age. Buddha was the first to initiate young people into sannyas.
           Otherwise, in India the tradition was that only very very old people, older than seventy-five, were
           allowed to take sannyas. Sannyas was for the old people. Buddha created a revolution: he initiated
           young people.
               And my own experience is: the younger you are, the better, because as you become older you
           gather more and more rust, more and more dust. As you become older you become more and more
           burdened with experience, knowledge and all kinds of stupid things. As you become older you start
           losing the vigor, the energy, the courage to experiment with the unknown, to explore the unknown.
           As you become older you become so afraid of death that out of fear you go to God, and those who go
           out of fear to God never reach God. Fear is not a bridge, it is a wall. Those who go towards God
           inquiring for truth out of love for truth, only they are bridged. It needs a certain youth, a certain
           courage, a certain capacity to take risks. It needs energy, freshness; because religion basically is
           rebellion.
               Buddha says: HOWEVER YOUNG.... Don't be worried about that. Maturity has nothing to do
           with age; growing old is not necessarily growing up. One can be young and grown-up and one can
           be very old and very childish. Age and maturity have no necessary link. Maturity comes through
           meditation. Aging is an ordinary process; everybody ages. Animals age, trees age, people age; that
           has nothing to do with transformation.
              HOWEVER YOUNG, THE SEEKER WHO SETS OUT UPON THE WAY SHINES BRIGHT OVER
              THE WORLD.



              LIKE THE MOON,
              COME OUT FROM BEHIND THE CLOUDS!
              SHINE.


              Buddha says to his bodhisattvas, go and tell the seekers: LIKE THE MOON, COME OUT
           FROM BEHIND THE CLOUDS! SHINE.
              The same I say to you: LIKE THE MOON, COME OUT FROM BEHIND THE CLOUDS!
           SHINE.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                   Chapter #6
                                            Chapter title: Rising in love
           16 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004160
              ShortTitle: DHAM1106
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 37 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH A WOMAN I HAD DIVORCED TWO YEARS AGO. IS IT
              POSSIBLE?


                Shraddhan, man is almost a machine. Man is not yet man; he functions unconsciously, he lives in
           sleep. Hence everything is possible. In fact, you always fall in love with the same woman, even
           though apparently you fall in love with somebody else. The type is the same because your liking is
           the same, your mind is the same, your choice is the same.
                Just watch people, watch their love affairs, and you will be surprised. It is always the same man
           or the same woman -- yes, with a different face or with a different mask, different clothes, different
           shape and size. But these differences are not real differences.
                Unless you are new how can you fall in love with somebody new? Who is going to choose? How
           is one going to choose? The same mind will like the same type of face, the same eyes, the same
           color, the same shape, the form, the way the woman walks, the way she talks. Again within a few
           days you will be tired, just as you were tired before. Again you will find you are trapped,
           imprisoned, and the woman will also find the same thing. But man lives in such an unconscious state
           that you cannot expect more than that.
                If man is conscious, then many things become impossible. In the first place, falling in love itself
           becomes impossible. You start rising in love, not falling in love; the very quality of your love
           becomes totally different. It is no more a relationship, it is more a state of your being. You are full of
           love, you share your love, but there is no demand on your part. It is no longer a business, it is no
           longer conditional, it asks nothing. It is simply thankful that somebody accepted, that somebody did
           not reject your love. You feel grateful. It is not a bondage for the other, it does not enslave the other.
           It is not possessive; it is absolutely nonpossessive, unconditional, undemanding. It gives freedom.
           And when love gives freedom, lovers start soaring high, they start moving towards God. Love
           becomes a door to the divine.
                Right now love simply drags you downwards. 'Falling in love' is a meaningful phrase -- you
           certainly fall, you gravitate downwards. In the beginning you feel great, but only in the beginning.
           That is just infatuation, because you are hoping something new is going to happen. In the beginning
           you are excited, it seems a great adventure, but soon you find it is the same old, rotten thing --
           nothing special, nothing new. Just the partners have changed, but the game is the same -- and played
           with the same violence, with the same ugliness.
                Shraddhan, it is not only you who have fallen in love with the same woman; everybody is doing
           that. In the ordinary, unconscious state of humanity more than that cannot be hoped for. You were
           fortunate that you got divorced, but it is difficult to live alone unless you know the beauties of being
           alone.
                The moment you are alone you start suffering from loneliness, you start hankering for the
           company of the other. And then anybody will do, even the same woman that you had divorced; it is
           better than being lonely. Even if it is miserable, people prefer misery for company rather than
           loneliness.
                Unless you know the joys of meditation you cannot avoid falling in love. Once you start enjoying
           your own being, the joy, the space, the absolute freedom, the unhindered consciousness, nobody
           occupying your attention, nobody trying to catch your attention, nobody impinging on your freedom,
           interfering with your freedom.... When you start enjoying your aloneness you have become a
           meditator. Yes, love will also be possible after that, but a totally different kind of love.
                You must have been suffering from loneliness and, finding the same woman again, you may have
           thought it is better to be with her than to be lonely. And you must have forgotten all the miseries --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people's memories are very short.
               And this has to be understood: the mind tends to forget the miserable part, it tends to remember
           the pleasurable part. That is one of the strategies of the mind to remain in control, to remain your
           master. It always tends to forget the misery; it goes on magnifying, enhancing, decorating the
           pleasurable part. Reality is totally different, but the mind lives in imagination.
               And your memories are not reliable at all because your memories are fictitious. You just think
           how beautiful it was, you have forgotten all the misery; you have chosen only a few moments that
           may have been beautiful. There must have been a few moments which were beautiful, but only a few
           moments, few and far between. And they cannot be as beautiful as you were thinking; otherwise
           what was the need to divorce the woman? The misery must have been much more, the pain must
           have been too much, unbearable. You must have suffered too much, the woman must have suffered
           too much. It is not a question of the woman being at fault or you being at fault; it is simply that two
           unconscious people being together are bound to create misery for each other.
               If you cannot be happy alone, how can you create happiness for anybody else? You yourself are
           not happy, how can you give happiness to the other? You can give only that which you have. You
           are miserable -- you can pretend that you are not miserable, but for how long? The honeymoon
           cannot last forever. Within a week or at the most two weeks it is finished, and then you know that
           both are miserable people. And when two miserable people live together, misery is not only doubled,
           remember, it is multiplied.
               But you forget all that. Later on you efface those parts which were miserable, you preserve the
           beautiful moments. And not only do you preserve them, you go on decorating them, painting them,
           again and again. Slowly slowly they have no relationship with the reality. Your past is fictitious,
           your future is fictitious; only your present is real. But you don't live in the present at all; either you
           live in the past or you live in the future.
               And why has this question arisen, Shraddhan? Misery must have started again! That's why you
           are asking, "Is it possible?" You have done it, and you are asking me, "Is it possible?" You yourself
           cannot believe what you have done.
               When people are together they want to be alone; when they are alone they want to be together.
           People are impossible!

               Middle-aged Rizzoli sat on the front steps weeping bitterly.
           "What's-a matta for you?" asked his neighbor, Pasquale.
           "Bonnaocchi's wife-a just-a die," said Rizzoli, wiping his tears.
           "So what?" said his neighbor, "She was-a no blood-a relative of yours."
           "I know that," said Rizzoli. "It is-a just-a that everybody seems-a to have-a good luck but-a me!"

               When you are with someone, immediately a thousand and one problems arise which were not
           there before. When you are alone those problems disappear, but a new problem arises: the loneliness
           seems to be so empty. You feel at a loss, you don't know what to do. Soon you start forgetting all the
           misery that was coming out of your relationship; you start hankering for another relationship. You
           think, "Maybe this time it is going to be different." Maybe she has changed, maybe you have
           changed. Maybe both of you have learned from the experience.

               Harry and his girl, Francesca, were on the couch watching an old Roy Rogers movie on TV. As
           Roy rode through a pass, Harry said, "I will bet you a screw his horse steps in a gopher hole and
           falls."
           "Okay," said Francesca, "you're on!"
           Sure enough, the horse stumbled.
               After the bet was paid in full Harry said, "I oughta tell you I saw the movie before. That's how I
           knew."
           "So did I," said the Italian girl, "but I didn't think-a a horse-a be dumb-a enough to fall-a in the same
           hole twice-a!"

           But man is more dumb.
              Now make the best out of it. When you have fallen in the hole, try to make a home there! You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are an American, and the only religion the American believes in is: Try and try and try again.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOU; I HAVE TRIED HARD BUT FAILED. WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?


               Govindo, is there a need to understand me? What is understanding? It is an intellectual effort.
           What I am trying to communicate to you has nothing to do with the intellect. You can feel it, but you
           cannot understand it. You can live it, and only by living it will you be able to understand it.
               But people try just the opposite -- first they want to understand. The idea is: Unless we
           understand a thing, how can we try it, how can we live it? It is logical that first one should
           understand and only then should one try to live.
               But life is not logical; life is far deeper than logic, and many times life is absolutely illogical. If
           you try to cling to logic you will miss many things, and those many things are the most precious.
           You will miss love, you will miss meditation, you will miss joy, you will miss God, you will miss
           freedom. You will miss all that makes life significant, that gives life beauty, splendor. You will miss
           the presence of godliness that surrounds you. Logic is a barrier, not a bridge.
               And Govindo, you say, "I cannot understand you." You must be trying from the head. It is a
           heart-to-heart communion. If you want to misunderstand me then the head is the right instrument;
           then you can go on misunderstanding me forever and forever. But if you want to understand me, then
           you have to forget all about your old patterns of understanding things. It is not mathematics that I am
           teaching here, it is not philosophy that I am teaching here.
               I am teaching something absolutely existential. You have to live it, you have to take the quantum
           leap. You have been told again and again that before you take the jump, think twice. And what I am
           saying to you is: Take the jump first and then think as many times as you want, because then
           thinking cannot do anything, it cannot do any harm. But let the jump happen first.
               Meditation has to be experienced. If you try to figure it out, what it is, you will miss the point
           because it is not a question of mind at all. Meditation means a state of no-mind. I am constantly
           pulling you towards the state of no-mind, in every possible way.
               What I am doing here is absurd, it is not logical. You will have to put logic aside; otherwise I
           will say one thing and you will understand something else.

              The judge asked the philosopher who was produced in court, "Now tell me, sir, why did you park
           your car where you did?"
              The professor said, "There was a sign saying, FINE FOR PARKING."

               Put your intellect aside. And remember, I am not telling you to put your intelligence aside. On
           the contrary, if you can put the intellect aside you will be far more intelligent because intelligence
           and intellectuality are not synonymous, they are antagonistic. Intelligence is a clarity; intellectuality
           is nothing but a clouded state. Intellectuality means you are too knowledgeable; your knowledge
           goes on interfering. Your mind is continuously interpreting, your mind is judging.
               Listen to me without any judgment. I am not saying agree with me -- there is no question of
           agreement or disagreement -- just listen.
               When you go to the mountains and you listen to the sound of a waterfall, do you agree with it or
           disagree with it? You simply listen! When you listen to beautiful music, do you agree or do you
           disagree? There is no question of agreement or disagreement; listening is nonjudgmental.
               Hence the critics go on missing many things. If a critic goes to listen to music, his listening is not
           total; he is constantly comparing, judging, interpreting. You have to be very noncritical. You have to
           be just open, vulnerable, receptive, silent; so that whatsoever is happening can penetrate to the
           deepest core of your being.
               If you are full of your own mind, Govindo, you are going to misunderstand me; that is bound to
           happen.

              Miss Zockwoski, an attractive redhead, got on a crowded bus and stood near a young fellow.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The lad, thinking of giving his seat to her, looked up and said, "How far?"
           "You got your nerve!" snapped the Polish girl. "Would I ask you how long?"

               If you are carrying something in your mind, if you are preoccupied, then whatsoever you hear is
           not what is being said, it is what you are capable of hearing.

              Quizmaster: "Lady, for fifty dollars, tell me who was the first man on earth?"
           Lady: "Adam."
              Quizmaster: "Right. Now for two hundred dollars tell me Eve's first words when she met Adam."
              Lady (stuck for an answer, turns to the quizmaster and says): "Gee, that's a hard one, isn't it?"
           Quizmaster: "Give this lady two hundred dollars!"

               Govindo, don't remain preoccupied with your own thoughts. You must have come with great
           knowledge, you must have come with conceptions of your own and you are listening through a
           jungle of your own ideas.
               What I am saying is very simple, utterly simple. My statements are absolutely ordinary. I am not
           a holy man, I am not a saint. I am far more ordinary than you are! I have nothing special about me. I
           don't exist at all, how can I be special? So my statements are very simple -- a child can understand
           them. But you can go on missing.

               On a Third Avenue bus in Manhattan, a very prim spinster was shocked overhearing Scarpetti,
           the immigrant, saying to his friend, "Emma come-a first, I come-a next, two assa come-a together, I
           come-a again, two assa come-a together again, I come-a once-a more, pee-pee twice, then I come-a
           for the last-a time."
               When Scarpetti was finished, the crimson-faced old maid turned to a policeman sitting nearby.
           "Aren't you going to arrest that terrible old man?" she whispered.
           "Why?" asked the policeman. "For spelling 'Mississippi'?"

              Let me repeat: "Emma come-a first, I come-a next, two assa come-a together, I come-a again,
           two assa come-a together again, I come-a once-a more, pee-pee twice, then I come-a for the last-a
           time."

               You ask me, "What should I do? I have tried hard but failed." Now please don't try hard. In fact,
           stop trying, drop trying. Just listen for the sheer joy of listening. The wind passing through the pine
           trees... listen. The sound of running water... listen. The birds singing in the morning... listen. Don't
           try to understand. And just by listening something will start reaching your heart. A song, a dance
           will start happening. Your heart will start opening up like a flower and great fragrance will be
           released -- and that will be real understanding.
               Govindo, you have been unnecessarily trying hard. Relax with me, don't try hard. If you try hard
           you will be tense -- and there is no possibility of understanding me through tension. Relax, rest. I am
           here to teach you relaxation and total rest.
               Understanding is going to happen but not through the head, it is going to happen through the
           heart -- not through logic but through love.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY IS CREATIVITY SO PAINFUL?


               Prem Sarva, creativity is the highest peak of your consciousness; hence it is painful, it is arduous.
           You are going uphill. To be uncreative is very comfortable; it is a downward journey. You need not
           do anything, nothing is needed on your part; just the gravitational pull is enough. When you are
           coming down from the hill towards the plains you can just turn your car engine off, no gas is needed;
           the car will go on rolling down. But if you are going uphill then effort is needed, great effort is
           needed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Creativity needs the greatest effort because many things have to be dropped when you are
           moving upwards; unnecessary weights have to be dropped. And you are carrying so much luggage; it
           is all unnecessary, it is useless. But people go on collecting, people are great collectors. They will
           collect any kind of rubbish, hoping that maybe some day it will prove of some use. They are greedy
           and they feel empty so they go on stuffing themselves with every kind of thing. You are so full of
           ego and ego is a great weight. You cannot move upwards. You will have to put the ego aside -- and
           that is the greatest pain.
                To be a creator means you drop the very idea that "I am separate from existence." Creation
           happens only when you are one with the existence. Creation happens only when you are so in tune
           with the creator that there is no disturbance from your side. And the greatest disturbance comes from
           the ego. It nourishes itself on disturbance, it lives on disturbance. Ego means the idea that "I am
           separate." And if you think you are separate, you are living in a lie -- and creativity flows out of the
           experience of truth.
                You have to know the truth, that you are not separate. No man is an island, we are all part of one
           vast continent. The whole existence is one, it is one organic unity; hence all that is great has come
           out only in those moments when the creator was dissolved into the whole. Great paintings, great
           poems, great music, great dance, all happen only when you are dissolved, when you are no more. If
           you are, suddenly you become the block, you stop the flow. Then God cannot use you as a flute, he
           cannot sing through you. The flute has to be just a hollow bamboo, just an open space, just a vehicle.
           The great poets, the great musicians, the great dancers, are all vehicles. They don't dance, they are
           being danced. They don't sing, some unknown energy sings through them.
                That's why creativity is painful, because nobody wants to melt and merge and dissolve. We cling
           to our identities. In fact, we want to be creative so that we can hang a few more awards around our
           egos -- so the ego can become more famous, so that you can say, "I am somebody special. I am a
           great poet or a great composer or a great author" -- or something. And that's the greatest problem to
           be faced by any creator: that he has to drop his ego.
                And in the beginning it is for the ego that you want to be creative. It is a very paradoxical
           process: you have to drop the very ego that was the impetus in the beginning, that wanted to be
           famous, that wanted to leave its name resounding down the corridors of time, that wanted to make
           history. That very same ego becomes the cause of stopping the flow of unknown energies in you.
           Otherwise God is always pouring; you have just to be open, available. You are not to be separate.
                It hurts in the beginning; it hurts more if you are resisting. If you are not resisting much it hurts
           less; if you are not resisting at all it doesn't hurt at all. Then dropping the ego can be one of the most
           joyous acts.
                That's what sannyas is all about. The whole message is based on this single phenomenon:
           dropping the ego joyously. It is not a question of surrendering your ego to me. Ego is not something
           that you can surrender; it is just a fiction, it is not a reality. So when the master says, "Surrender your
           ego to me," he is simply giving you a device, because you live with the idea that ego is very
           substantial. He knows it is nothing, so he says, "Surrender it to me, give it to me, and you be free of
           it." Not that you are giving anything -- there is nothing to give; not that he is receiving anything --
           there is nothing to receive. But to help you to get rid of a false notion, a device is created. Once you
           have dropped the idea, suddenly you see the whole thing: nothing has been given, nothing has been
           taken. You are the same, only the old wrong notion has disappeared. People are very reluctant to
           surrender.
                Just the other day one sannyasin wrote to me saying, "I can do everything you are saying, but I
           cannot surrender." Then how can you do everything that I am saying? That is the first thing that I am
           saying! And he says, "I can do everything you are saying, but I cannot surrender." And he is thinking
           he is making a very clear statement. That is the only thing that I am saying: Surrender the ego. And it
           is not a question of surrendering it to me -- surrender it to a tree, but surrender. Surrender it to the
           river, go and drown it in the river. Burn it, bury it, cremate it! Do whatsoever you want to do, but be
           finished with it.
                I am not interested in collecting your egos. What will I do with so many egos? If you are
           suffering so much with one, I will be in the seventh hell with so many egos! I am not an ego
           collector. It is just a device, a simple device. You say, "Where can I put my ego?" I say, "Okay, give
           it to me," because I know that there is nothing to give, but you will be happy in giving it. At least
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will feel great that you have surrendered; at least you have given your ego into the right hands.
               But this sannyasin says, "I cannot surrender." And people coming from the West, particularly,
           find it very difficult.
               This is something which has to be understood: the Western education, the Western psychology,
           all emphasize ego; they all emphasize, "Enhance the ego, strengthen the ego." In different names the
           ego is strengthened. Willpower -- it is nothing but another name for ego. The whole idea is that man
           has to have an ego of steel, unbendable, strong, rocklike, hard, because life is a constant struggle for
           survival. You have to fight, you have to conquer.
               Even a man like Bertrand Russell writes a book on science and calls it CONQUEST OF
           NATURE. The whole idea, the Western idea, is how to conquer; even nature has to be conquered.
           And who are you? -- a part of nature. A part is trying to conquer the whole. It is like your left hand
           trying to conquer your whole body. Is it possible? It is ridiculous. Science has not conquered nature,
           but in the very effort to conquer it, it has destroyed much.
               In the East we have a totally different idea: nature has to be understood. The law -- what Buddha
           calls dhamma, the fundamental law of life -- has to be understood so that you can be in tune with it.
           It is not a question of conquering but of being in step with it, being in harmony with it. To be
           harmonious with nature is to be blissful.
               If the West has lost all bliss, all peace, nothing is responsible except this stupid idea of
           conquering nature. Nature has not to be conquered. But the same idea persists in many ways -- in
           science, and even so-called religious people go on talking about willpower. Hundreds of books have
           been written on willpower. It is a sheer wastage, and not only a wastage but it is poisoning people's
           minds. People like Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill go on poisoning: HOW TO WIN FRIENDS
           AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. Deep down the idea is the same: how to win, how to influence.
           Napoleon Hill has written a book: THINK AND GROW RICH. And what is the secret of growing
           rich? When you look, you will find it is willpower; the whole secret, the magic secret is willpower.
           But willpower is only another name for ego power -- and ego is impotent, there is no power in it. So
           people go on struggling unnecessarily, fighting with each other, competing with each other, and the
           end result is that everybody is miserable. Hence for the Western mind it seems very difficult to
           surrender.
               The situation is not better in the East either. In the East for thousands of years it has been taught
           that surrender is the key, so people are very easily ready to surrender, so easily ready that it has
           become a simple formality; it has no significance. The Eastern man can touch the feet of the master
           with no intention of surrender. He touches the feet of each and everybody; that is just formal. It is
           like shaking hands, it does not mean anything; it is like saying hello. It has no meaning in it, it is
           formal. It is a kind of greeting to elderly people, to anybody who is respected by others, to anybody
           who is known as religious, holy, saintly. People touch the feet of their fathers, their mothers, their
           elderly relatives; it is just a conditioning.
               So the Eastern person is in a different difficulty. His difficulty is that he does not know what
           surrender is; he has not enough ego to surrender. And the Western man has too much ego; hence he
           feels resistant. But on the whole the Western man is in a better position, because if he understands
           the point and he consciously surrenders the ego, his surrender goes far deeper than the Eastern man's
           surrender.
               That is my experience of thousands of sannyasins from the East and from the West. The Western
           sannyasin's surrender is far more total. Of course it is difficult for him, it takes longer for him, but
           whenever it happens, it really happens. The Eastern man's surrender takes no time; he is always
           willing, he is ready, even before you have asked, but it does not change him. He has been touching
           so many people's feet; in fact, he has started feeling a new, subtle kind of ego, "I am so humble that I
           am ready to surrender. I am so surrendered." But that 'I' persists now in a far more subtle way.
           You ask me, Sarva, "Why is creativity so painful?"
               It is because of the ego. And then there are other problems also. If you are too knowledgeable it
           will be difficult for you to be creative.
               In Zen they have an ancient tradition. They say if you want to become a painter, for twelve years
           learn as perfectly as possible the technique of how to paint, and then for twelve years forget all about
           the technique and painting; do something else. Turn your back on painting completely; forget all
           about it, as if you have nothing to do with it. And then one day start painting again.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is something significant. For twelve years you have to learn the technique, because without
           the technique your painting will be childish; but if it is just the technique, then technically it will be
           perfect but it will not have any life, it will not be creative. So you have to learn the technique, let it
           soak in and then forget all about it so it becomes part of your blood, of your bones, of your marrow.
           And then after twelve years, one day suddenly start painting again. Now you don't know the
           technique. In a way you know, existentially it has become part of you; it is no longer knowledge. So
           your painting will not be just technical and it will not be childish either.
               First learn the technique and then unlearn the technique. Only then one day does creativity
           explode. First learn the technique of how to dance, then forget all about technique and become
           spontaneous. Then only....
               And there are two types of people -- one who will think that there is no need to learn the
           technique: "I want to be a creative person, not a technician." Then their painting, their music, their
           dance, will remain just a childish effort, amateurish; cannot be of much value. And then there are the
           opposite people who will learn the technique as much as they can and then they are caught in the
           technique. They paint perfectly but something is missing: the soul is missing, the spirit is missing; it
           is a dead corpse. So you have to drop all knowledgeability. You have to unlearn so again you can
           become fresh, innocent.
               And third: if you are trying to be creative with a certain hidden motive you will never find the
           right direction for your energies, because if painters are famous then there will be many painters. For
           example, in France there are many painters. In India you will not find so many painters, but many
           saints -- just whatsoever is the fashion. In France painting is fashionable; the people who are thought
           to be intelligent should be painters. In India they should be saints -- the same fools! If they were born
           in France they would be painting; in India the same fools have become saints.
               In each country the fashion is different, and at different times. For example, in India no saint will
           ever think of painting, but in Japan all the saints try to paint. They learn calligraphy and painting --
           just the fashion.
               When you are living according to a certain prevalent fashion, that simply means you want to be
           famous, you want to be accepted by the tradition and by the people. You are not inquiring about your
           real potential; you are far more interested in other people's opinions. You have to drop that too. Don't
           be worried about other people's opinions; simply find out what feels good for you. Nobody may ever
           appreciate it -- so what? You may not become famous -- so what? Don't be worried about it. The
           reward is not in being famous; the reward is in being involved, totally involved in creativity. The
           reward is in the act itself; it is not beyond the act, it is not after the act. It is not when you have
           painted the painting and people have appreciated it and it is being exhibited all over the world. No,
           the reward is when you are painting it, when you are utterly absorbed in it. That silence, that joy, that
           energy, that moment when you are not and God is: that is the reward.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT HAPPENS? I AM AN ITALIAN AND YET NOT ENLIGHTENED.


                Anand Shravan, it is enough to be an Italian; enlightenment is no longer needed. Enlightenment
           is for others who are not Italians. You have the first prize -- enlightenment is the second prize! You
           should not be greedy for that. To be an Italian is such a great phenomenon; that's why no Italian has
           ever become enlightened. And I don't think it is ever going to happen, for the simple reason that
           Italians are born enlightened. Drop this greed. What will you do with enlightenment? Spaghetti is
           enough! Enjoy it to your heart's content. Leave enlightenment to poor Indians; they don't have
           anything else. That's why in India so many enlightened people have happened: when you don't have
           anything else at least you can have enlightenment.
                And enlightenment needs a few things which are basically missing in Italians. It needs
           intelligence. Where are you going to get it? It is not a commodity; you cannot find it in the
           marketplace, you cannot purchase it. It is not available in the outside world. And Italians are utterly
           extrovert, and enlightenment happens somewhere inside. It needs great understanding -- and Italians
           are very skillful in misunderstanding.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               One summer in New York a gorilla escaped from a traveling circus. As Bronzini was walking
           down Broadway the ape suddenly appeared and sidled up beside the Italian.
               An astonished police officer directing traffic rushed over to the unusual sight of Bronzini and the
           gorilla.
           "Hey," said the cop, "what are you doing with that ape?"
           "I don't know," said Bronzini, "He just-a come up and-a take-a walk-a with me!"
           "You better take that ape to the zoo!"
           "Okay, boss," said the Italian.
               The next day the same policeman spotted Bronzini and the gorilla walking hand in hand along
           Park Avenue. The cop was livid. "Just a minute," he shouted to Bronzini, "I told you yesterday to
           take that ape to the zoo!"
           "I did," said the Italian, "and he like-a it so much, today I'm-a take-a him to the moving picture
           show!"

               Italians are so earthy, they are pure Zorbas! Except for me, nobody is going to accept them as
           sannyasins. But I love to do absurd things. I want to do this miracle: to make a few Italians
           enlightened. There is not much hope -- I am hoping against hope -- but there is nothing to lose. They
           need a good try.
               They are very bodily people, utterly body-oriented. The Romans have always been the most
           physical people on the earth. That has a beauty of its own, because the people who think they are
           spiritual become in many ways eccentric, crazy, insane, very egoistic -- of course, in a very pious
           way. They are always thinking they are "holier-than-thou." And they are wishy-washy. They talk
           about great things, but their life becomes ugly.
               That has happened to the East: they talk about God -- and the bread and butter is missing. And
           without bread and butter there is no God, no possibility of God.
               So nothing is wrong in being body-oriented; one should be rooted in the body. One should be a
           Zorba, but one should not remain stuck there. One should go a little higher. Zorba should also
           become a Buddha. Then there is fulfillment; both are fulfilled, the body and the soul.
               Italians are too body-oriented and they are stuck there.

               Granaldi's wife had just died and he was making an awful scene at the graveside. Over and over
           he kept tearing at his hair and yelling, "What-a am I gonna do? What I am-a gonna do? What-a am I
           gonna do?"
               The parish priest gently took Granaldi's arm and tried to console him. "My son, I know you have
           suffered a terrible loss, but you will get over it in time," he said, leading Granaldi away from the
           cemetery.
           "Oh, what-a am I gonna do?" wailed Granaldi. "What I am-a gonna do?"
           "Try to control yourself," said the priest. "Months will pass, you will get over your grief, and then in
           a year or two you will meet some fine young woman and marry her and everything will be fine."
           "Yeah, Father, I know all that!" said the Italian. "But what-a am I gonna do tonight?"

               The Italians have to be freed from their excessive body-orientation. Enlightenment is the ultimate
           flowering of consciousness. It can happen only when you are rooted in the body, but it cannot
           happen only with the body. You have to move inwards, you have to transcend the body too. Your
           roots should be in the body and your wings should be in the soul.
               Shravan, don't be worried. It has not happened yet, but it can happen. There are so many Italians
           here; their surrender is deeper than anybody else's. Their commitment is also deeper than anybody
           else's. For the first time so many Italians are trying to move deeper into meditation; something is
           bound to happen out of it. But they find something in me that they cannot find anywhere else. They
           can find a connection with me because I am not against the body. I am not against anything. I don't
           think there is any problem if you love spaghetti -- you can still be spiritual! There is no antagonism.
               For me even sex and samadhi are related, together. For me gossiping and gospels are not
           different -- somewhere deep down they are aspects of the same coin. Hence Italians find a deep
           affinity with me. They cannot be interested in any other spiritual man, but I am not a spiritual man in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the ordinary sense. I am a whole man, I am not holy.

              Locatelli, Swenson and O'Hara were sitting in the corner saloon. "There's no doubt about it," said
           Swenson, "Italian broads are the greatest!"
           "Yeah," agreed O'Hara, "I would like to spend a nice long weekend with Gina Lollobrigida."
           "Me," said Swenson, "I will take Sophia Loren."
           "That's-a very nice," said Locatelli, "but I wanna Virginia Pipe-a Line-a!"
           "Never heard of her!" said Swenson.
           "Who is she?" asked O'Hara.
           "Why, she is-a just-a the greatest Italian girl of them all. She even make-a the headlines in-a
           newspaper," said Locatelli. "See, here it is on-a page-a one." And there was a headline: "Five Die
           Laying Virginia Pipeline."

                Don't be worried, Shravan, I am here to help you. This time maybe you cannot escape. So many
           Italians are caught in the net, a few of them are bound to become buddhas. Don't be worried,
           enlightenment is going to happen to many people -- Italians included!

           And the last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              AND WHAT ABOUT THE POLACKS?


               Purnananda, my God, are you a Polack? I was aware that one of my sannyasins, Anando, was a
           Polack, but I was not talking about Polacks because one Polack cannot do much. But two Polacks are
           too much; then there is danger! Polacks are great people, even greater than the Italians. Italians are
           nothing compared to the Polacks! You see, they were searching for a pope, they could not find one in
           Italy -- they had to choose a Polack. If you are searching for a fool you have to go to Poland.
               Swami Anando has contributed this authentic letter from his Polish mother:

           Dear Son,
               Just a few lines to let you know that I be still alive. I writing this letter slowly because I know
           you not able to read fast.
               You won't know the house when you get home. We moved.
               There be a washing machine in the house when we move in, but it not working too good. Last
           week I put fourteen shirts into it, pull the chain, and I not see the shirts since.
               Your sister Hanna had baby this morning. I not find out yet whether it be boy or girl, so I not
           know whether you be an aunt or an uncle.
               Your uncle Leopold drown last week in a vat of whisky. Some of the men dived in to save him,
           but he fight them off hard. We cremated his body, but it took three days to put out the fire.
               Your father not have much to drink at Christmas. I put a bottle of Castor oil in his pint of beer. It
           keep him going until New Year's Day.
               It only rain twice last week. First for three day and then for four day.
           Try to learn write me soon.
           Your loving mother,
           XXX
           P.S. I be going to send you ten dollars, but I already seal the envelope.

               Polacks are great people -- more Polacks are needed here! But it is difficult for poor Polacks to
           come because their country is dominated by the communists.
               Just a few days ago I received a letter saying they would like to start a center somewhere in
           Poland. They would like the center to remain hidden; I don't think they will be able to manage it!
           They even want to become sannyasins but they will be caught.
               In Russia there are a few sannyasins. They cannot wear orange, they cannot wear the mala, but
           they have been managing well. They have their malas, they have made arrangements for the malas to
           reach them. Now, this letter from Poland: they want malas and they want books -- but they have not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           given their address!

               Johnson went to the zoo to see Samson and Lionel, billed as the two most vicious lions in the
           world. There was no doubt about Samson, the smaller one, for if even a feather came within his
           reach he would pounce on it and rip it to shreds. But Lionel, the other, larger lion, did nothing but lie
           against some rocks licking between his hind legs.
               Johnson asked the zookeeper how come Lionel was advertised as being so savage.
           "Even though he is just lying there licking his sensitive areas," explained the zookeeper, "Lionel is
           more ferocious than the other one. In fact, not twenty minutes ago he ate a Polack that fell into the
           cage."
           "Then why is he licking himself like that?"
           "Oh," said the zookeeper, "he is trying to get the taste out of his mouth!"

                Purnananda, meet Anando. Try to find out -- there may be a few other Polacks also trying to hide
           themselves, because they know once they are known I will be after them. Now you can declare
           whosoever is a Polack because I will be after them anyhow! So you can declare whoever is a Polack.
           You can make a small society of the Polacks.
                In the new commune it will be good to have small communities, separate communities, of
           Italians, Polacks, of Germans.... There will be a few difficulties.
                Gayan wrote to me this morning saying, "Beloved Master, you may not be aware, but now I have
           to tell you that I am half Italian -- the fault was my father's, he was Italian -- and half German; that
           fault is my mother's, she was German."
                There will be some difficulty for people like Gayan, but we can make arrangements: they can
           live on the boundary line, half in the Italian commune and half in the German commune. And I don't
           think there will be people who are German and Italian and Polack, all three; that will be difficult,
           very difficult.

               Miss Zabriski walked into a physician's office and said, "I would like to get a vassilation."
           "Miss," said the M.D., "I think what you are talking about is a vaccination."
           "Yeah," said the Polish girl, "and I don't want you to give it to me on my arm because I wear a
           sleepless nightgown."
           "You mean sleeveless nightgown?"
           "And I don't want it on my thigh because I have a zucchini bathing suit."
           "You mean bikini?"
           "And I don't want you to vaccinate me on my Virginia."
           "You mean vagina?"
           "Alright," shouted the girl. "Virginia, vagina, just as long as I don't get small cox!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                     Chapter #7
                                         Chapter title: Beyond the beyond
           17 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004170
              ShortTitle: DHAM1107
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              WANTING NOTHING
              WITH ALL YOUR HEART
              STOP THE STREAM.



              WHEN THE WORLD DISSOLVES
              EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR.



              GO BEYOND
              THIS WAY OR THAT WAY,
              TO THE FARTHER SHORE
              WHERE THE WORLD DISSOLVES
              AND EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR.



              BEYOND THIS SHORE
              AND THE FARTHER SHORE,
              BEYOND THE BEYOND,
              WHERE THERE IS NO BEGINNING,
              NO END.



              WITHOUT FEAR, GO.



              MEDITATE.
              LIVE PURELY.
              BE QUIET.
              DO YOUR WORK, WITH MASTERY.



              BY DAY THE SUN SHINES,
              AND THE WARRIOR IN HIS ARMOR SHINES.
              BY NIGHT THE MOON SHINES,
              AND THE MASTER SHINES IN MEDITATION.



              BUT DAY AND NIGHT
              THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE
              SHINES IN THE RADIANCE OF THE SPIRIT.

              "Look, Captain Columbus, land! We've discovered land!"
              "Wonderful! Cable Queen Isabella immediately!"
              "But, Captain, the cable hasn't been invented yet!"
              "Mamma mia! Do I have-a to do everything myself-a!"


               Science is a tradition, it does not depend on one man's discovery. It is a continuity; many people
           have contributed, still many will go on contributing. Then too it is never going to be complete;
           something will always remain to be discovered. It is a social phenomenon. Without Newton there is
           no possibility of Albert Einstein; without Albert Einstein there will be no possibility of anybody else
           to find something beyond the concept of relativity. Science is interdependent; it is not one man's
           work. Much has to be accepted from others, much has to be borrowed; it is inheritance. Hence
           science depends on the past, it is rooted in the past.
               Religion is totally different: every individual has to discover on his own. Religion is not a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tradition and can never be a tradition. You cannot borrow insights from somebody else; the insight
           has to be authentically yours. Only then is it significant. You can see only through your own eyes,
           you can understand only through your own meditation, you can experience only through the
           flowering of your own heart.
               And there is no question of dependence. If there had been no Buddha you could still be
           awakened, if there had been no Christ you could still be enlightened. Your enlightenment is
           absolutely your own, it is individual. That's the beauty of religion; that's why religion cannot be
           taught. Science can be taught; religion has to be discovered again and again by each and every
           individual, by each and every seeker. The path of science is like walking on the earth; you leave your
           footprints. Buddha has said: The path of religion is like birds flying into the sky -- they don't leave
           any footprints... so nobody can follow a buddha.
               You can love a Buddha, but you cannot follow him. You can love a Christ, but you cannot follow
           him. Yes, your love will help you, will help you to understand, will give you courage to inquire, will
           strengthen your spirit to go into the unknown. It will be a tremendous help because the journey is
           without any maps and you are going into the ocean. The other shore, the farther shore is not visible;
           there is no guarantee that you will ever reach it. By loving a Buddha, a Christ, a Zarathustra, a
           Krishna, a Lao Tzu, a deep trust arises in you about the farther shore -- that it exists: "If I search with
           my total being there is a possibility I may discover it." But the risk is great and everything has to be
           done by you. You have to go alone. You have to be totally alone; nobody can accompany you on the
           way.
               The master can show you the path, but he cannot go with you. He can push you, he can
           encourage you, he can help in many ways, but still you have to go alone. You have to discover
           everything, each detail of the truth, again.
               In science it is totally different: once a truth is discovered it is discovered for the whole of
           humanity. Once electricity is discovered there is no need for everybody to discover it again and
           again. That will be stupid, utterly stupid. Once discovered it becomes part of the whole humanity's
           heritage.
               But it is not true about the inner, subjective truth. Thousands of times it has been discovered, but
           when it comes as a question, as an inquiry for you to discover it, you have to go again from ABC, as
           if you are the first, as if nobody has preceded you. You have to break the ice, you have to move in
           the virgin land.
               This is a great challenge. Cowards shrink from it, but courageous people feel tremendously
           attracted. Courageous people find it almost like a magnetic force pulling them. Hence Buddha
           always talks about fearlessness. He says: WITHOUT FEAR, GO.
               Other religions, particularly the organized religions, are rooted in fear. If Buddha had written the
           ancient parable of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from heaven he would have written it in a
           totally different way. He would have appreciated Adam and Eve. He would not have called it the
           original sin, he would have called it the original virtue -- that they rebelled, that they were not afraid
           of God and the punishment, that they were fearless people.
               He would not have condemned them, that much is certain; he would have praised them
           immensely. It was a challenge to their spirit, to their very soul, to have been told, "Don't eat from
           this tree, the tree of knowledge, because if you eat from this tree you will be punished, tremendously
           punished -- not only you but your progeny also will be punished for ever and ever."
               And the punishment was going to be great. God had said to Adam and Eve, "If you eat from the
           tree of knowledge, if you eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, you will become mortal. Right now
           you are immortal." Death was going to be the punishment. What more punishment can there be?
           Death is the ultimate in punishment.
               Buddha would have appreciated them. If Adam and Eve had not rebelled, had not eaten from the
           tree of knowledge, there would have been no humanity -- and there would have been no Christ, no
           Buddha, no Zarathustra, no Lao Tzu. Adam and Eve would be still roaming naked like animals in the
           Garden of Eden. There would have been nothing like humanity. This consciousness, this awareness,
           this inquiry -- nothing would have been there. The whole credit goes to Adam and Eve.
               And the serpent would not have been the Devil. In Buddha's story, the serpent must have been an
           ancient buddha provoking Adam and Eve, "Go without fear and eat the fruit and don't be afraid, don't
           be cowards!" In the East the serpent has always represented wisdom. Jesus also says: Be ye as wise
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as serpents. The serpent in the East represents the inherent power, the seed power of your ultimate
           flowering; it is your potential. Hence KUNDALINI is called serpent power.
               Kundalini means the serpent lying there fast asleep; it has to be awakened. Once it wakes up it
           starts rising upwards. When it reaches to the ultimate center of your being -- SAHASRAR -- the last
           center, the last rung of the ladder, you have arrived home. The serpent is not a representative, a
           disguised form, of the Devil. Buddha would have written the whole story in a totally different way.
               But Christianity, Judaism, both are fear-oriented; so is Islam, so is Hinduism. Only two religions
           in the world, Buddhism and Jainism, are not; otherwise all other religions are fear-oriented. Only
           these two religions are rooted in fearlessness, and I cannot see how a religion can be fear-oriented. In
           all the languages of the world we have words like 'God-fearing' for religious people; that is utter
           nonsense. A religious person is not God-fearing, he is God-loving -- and love and fear don't exist
           together. If you love somebody you are not afraid; if you are afraid you cannot love.
               Love does not exist in the world for the simple reason that we have been trying to create love
           through fear. The father, the mother, the priest, the politician, they all are trying to create fear in you.
           The mother says, "Listen to me, otherwise you will suffer!" The father says, "I am powerful." In a
           thousand and one ways he proves his power over the helpless child and then says to the child, "Love
           me -- I am your father!" Of course the child has to pretend, because he is dependent, he is helpless.
           He loves the mother out of fear; his love is pseudo. He loves the father out of fear; it is only a
           pretension, it is hypocrisy. He loves God out of fear -- the fear of hell, the fear of being punished, the
           fear of being tortured.
               And do you know? Christianity believes that if you commit sins you will suffer in hell forever.
           That seems such an absurd concept. How many sins can a man commit in one small life? And
           Christianity believes in only one life. If Hindus were thinking that you will suffer for a long time in
           hell one could understand the arithmetic because they believe in millions of lives, so you can commit
           as many sins as you like. Of course, the suffering will be in the same proportion, the punishment will
           be in the same proportion. But Christianity proposes an eternal hell. And what sins can you commit?
           You can smoke cigarettes and then in hell you will be thrown in fire and you will smoke forever and
           forever! Or you can be an alcoholic, but how much can you drink in one small life? Out of seventy
           years one third goes into sleep; you can't commit any sin in your sleep unless your dreams are also
           counted. Another one third goes into the offices, into the factories, into the fields, into the shops....
           How much time have you got to commit sins? Just count all the days -- you will not find much time.
           And your sins will be just trivia. Yes, you can fall in love with your neighbor's wife, but for that you
           will be suffering for ever and ever? It is utterly unjust, unfair! Maybe three or four years'
           imprisonment in hell will do, but eternity? Can you conceive of eternity? It will never end, the
           suffering will be unending!
               This is just to create fear. And people love God out of this fear, they pray out of this fear.
               Buddha is against fear; fear is the original sin according to him. He believes in fearlessness -- he
           believes, and he believes rightly; it is his experience. It is my experience too, that true love happens
           only when fear disappears completely.
               A true religion has not happened in the world because we have been trying to create a cheap
           religion based on fear. True love has not happened in the world. The wife is afraid of the husband,
           hence she pretends to love; the husband is afraid of the wife, hence he goes on saying, "Darling, I
           love you!" as many times as possible.
               That's what Dale Carnegie suggests to all the husbands: "Whether you love her or not, that is not
           the point. Repeat it as many times in the day as possible, as many opportunities as there are. Once or
           twice from the office phone your wife just to say 'I love you.'" And this is all out of fear.
               Because of fear the world is missing the roses of love. Love can happen -- every man is born
           with infinite capacity for love -- but fear cripples everybody, paralyzes everybody.
               Buddha says to his bodhisattvas: Go and teach people these few fundamental things. The first
           thing he says:

              WANTING NOTHING
              WITH ALL YOUR HEART
              STOP THE STREAM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                These sayings are his code words; you will have to understand his code words. In those old days
           things had to be remembered, so only very small sutras, very condensed sutras were given. Each
           sutra is expressed in a code language; you have to decode it. You have to translate it into
           contemporary language; otherwise you will miss the significance of it.
                WANTING NOTHING.... How is it possible -- wanting nothing? That is the most fundamental
           truth in Buddha's teachings. He is not saying don't want anything, remember; that will be a
           misunderstanding. He is saying: WANTING NOTHING WITH ALL YOUR HEART STOP THE
           STREAM.
                By "the stream" he means the mind. He always calls the mind the stream because it goes on
           flowing; whether you are awake or asleep it goes on flowing. It is the stream of thoughts.
                In the modern world, William James, one of the great psychologists, used for the first time a
           Buddhist expression for the mind; he called it "stream of consciousness." Buddha says it is like a
           river constantly flowing. How can you stop it? The old methods are to repress, to control, but they
           have failed, utterly failed; they had failed even in Buddha's time.
                In a sense Buddha is the first psychologist of the world, not Sigmund Freud. And Buddha's
           insight into the mind is far deeper than all your psychologists put together. There is no way to get rid
           of the constant overpowering flood of mind energy, of mindstuff, just by controlling it or by
           repressing it. Repression is absolutely destructive. If you repress something it will come up again
           and again and you will have to repress it again and again. Your whole life will become a kind of civil
           war; you will be constantly fighting with yourself. And the fight is going to be unending because you
           cannot destroy the mind in this way; this is not the way to get rid of the mind. In fact, you are giving
           mind great energy by fighting with it.
                Mind can be given energy in two ways: either by fighting with it or by indulging in it. One leads
           to repression, the other leads to identification, and both go on nourishing the mind. The stream
           becomes bigger and bigger.
                You can repress -- repression is easy -- and the whole of humanity has learned to repress because
           you always fall for the easy. Repression is not a difficult thing. Anger arises: you can sit upon it, you
           can go on smiling a false smile, and sooner or later you will forget about it. But it is there boiling
           within you and you are accumulating every day more and more anger. Anger has a beauty of its own
           if it is spontaneous, but you are accumulating anger which will become irrelevant, it will not be
           spontaneous.
                Something may have happened ten years ago; now it has no reference to reality, no context -- and
           suddenly you explode. You look insane. That's how people go insane. If they had been angry ten
           years before when the right context was there, nobody would have called them insane, but for ten
           years they were sitting on it; then it became too much. And then for ten years continuously they were
           accumulating more and more anger. Every day they were repressing, they were sitting on a volcano;
           sooner or later it was going to erupt. Either that, or you have to become so dead and dull, so unalive
           that nothing can erupt. You have to withdraw yourself so totally from life, into a monastery, you
           have to become so insensitive to life that people can go on insulting you and you gather such a thick
           skin that nothing penetrates you....

               Giovanni was sentenced to jail for having made love with his wife's body a few hours after her
           death. "Do you have anything to say in your own defense?" asked the judge.
           "Honest, Mista Your Honor," replied the Italian, "I didn't know she was-a dead. She has-a been
           like-a that for the last-a twenty years!"

               There are millions of people who are not really alive -- afraid of being alive because if they are
           alive then their anger, their lust, their greed, all become alive. To keep them repressed they have to
           remain at the minimum; they never live at the maximum. And not to live at the maximum is to miss
           God, is to miss all -- all the beauties and the benedictions of life.
               You should live at the maximum; only then do you come to know the tremendous beauty of
           existence. Only from that height do you become aware of the immense splendor, of the constant
           celebration that goes on and on. But you cannot live to the maximum; you are afraid because if you
           live so totally then all that you have repressed will come up.
               Millions of people have decided for a dead life; before they really die they are dead. They live
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only for the minimum, to earn a livelihood; not to live but just to vegetate. They are so afraid -- the
           priests have made them so afraid.
               Buddha is against repression. And if you repress something it will start finding some other way
           to come up, some perverted way. That's why I say that all sexual perversions have religious origins,
           for the simple reason that all religions have been against sexuality.
               Sex has to be transformed, not repressed. It is pure energy, it is fire! But you need not burn your
           house with the fire. You can heat your house when it is too cold, you can make your house full of
           light when it is dark. It is the same fire which becomes light, which becomes heat, but it can also
           burn your house. You have to be very alert, careful, cautious.
               Your life energies are neutral: they can harm you, they can help you; it all depends on you. Don't
           condemn them. You are responsible -- and only you!
               But people go on condemning sex as if sex has something to do with you. Sex has nothing to do
           with you; sex is pure energy. But if you repress it it will become a perversion; then it will find ways.
           If you close the natural way, then it comes through some unnatural way. And you are the same stupid
           person, you have not changed at all; your understanding has not grown up.

               Mulla Nasruddin came from his village to the big city, and a rich friend invited him to his box at
           the opera.
               Said the friend, "We will be sitting close to other people, so be sure to change your socks before
           you come!"
               A short time after they entered their opera seats, the neighbors started turning their noses up at
           the bad smell.
           "I told you to change your socks," said the friend to Mulla.
           "I most certainly did," said Nasruddin. "And furthermore I knew you wouldn't believe me, so I
           brought the old socks right here in my pocket to prove it!"

               If you are the same old stupid guy it does not matter what you do with your sex, with your greed,
           with your jealousy. They will be coming back in some other form, by some other route; they will
           become even more subtle.
               Buddha says what is needed is more awareness, more understanding -- neither repression nor
           control. If you can become aware of your desires, if you can watch your desires, then a miracle
           happens, the greatest miracle of all. The moment you become aware of your desires you can easily
           see that no desire can ever be fulfilled; its very nature is unfulfillable. Every desire is just a
           hankering for something which cannot be, every desire means more and more and more. Now, how
           can you fulfill this constant hankering for more? You can have all the wealth of the world, still the
           desire will be there.

               I have heard that when Diogenes said to Alexander the Great, "Have you ever thought about one
           thing? -- although it is a very remote possibility, have you thought about it? You may really conquer
           the whole world -- then what? There is no other world to conquer, there is only one world. If you
           really succeed -- have you ever pondered over the matter? -- then what will you do?"
               And it is said that Alexander became very sad. Diogenes laughed and he said, "Look! You have
           not yet conquered it, but the very idea that if you conquer the whole world... what are you going to
           do next? -- because there is no other world. You will be quite at a loss, because the mind will ask for
           more. It is not going to be satisfied with this world only -- it is not going to be satisfied."

               Mind means discontent; it is its very nature. Desires are only manifestations of this discontent.
           When you watch your desires you slowly slowly become aware of the futility of desiring, you
           become aware of the absurd nature of desiring. You become aware that by their very nature desires
           are unfulfillable. Seeing this, a transformation happens, a miracle happens, a radical change sets in;
           but by seeing this -- not by repression, not by control but by understanding.

               A violinist was convinced he could use his art in music to tame wild animals. So, violin in hand,
           he traveled to the heart of the African jungle to prove it.
               He had no sooner begun to play than the jungle clearing was filled with animals of all kinds
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gathering to hear him play. Birds, lions, hippos, elephants -- all stood round entranced by his
           beautiful music.
               Just then a crocodile crept out of the nearby river and into the clearing and -- snap! -- gobbled up
           the violinist.
               The other animals were extremely irate. "What on earth did you do that for?" they demanded.
           "We were enjoying that."
           "Eh?" said the crocodile, cupping its hand to its ear.

                The mind is absolutely deaf; it goes on and on doing the same stupid things, never seeing, never
           listening to the message. Every desire brings you to a point where a radical change can happen, but
           the mind can neither see nor can it hear. It is blind, it is deaf. As one desire fails it simply jumps on
           another desire. If one desire fails, the mind thinks, "If this desire has failed that does not mean that
           all other desires are going to fail." It goes on hoping that there must be some desires which can be
           fulfilled, maybe not this time but next time; if not today then tomorrow; if not in this life then in the
           life after death, in heaven. But the mind goes on and on thinking in the same old rut.

               At the scene of a bank raid the police sergeant came running up to his inspector and said, "He got
           away, sir!"
               The inspector was furious. "But I told you to put a man on all the exits!" he roared. "How could
           he have got away?"
           "He left by one of the entrances, sir!"

                The mind always finds a way to convince you again of the same stupid game. Buddha says watch
           it. It is only through watchfulness that wanting nothing happens.
                And your watchfulness has to be with all your heart; it should not be partial, otherwise it is not
           going to work -- because if you only watch partially then the part that has not been involved will go
           on doing the old tricks, the old strategies. Your whole heart has to be watchful so no dark spot is left
           in you, so your whole being becomes aware of the absurdity of desiring.

               Jimmy Carter was visiting one of the largest institutions for the mentally unbalanced. He finished
           inspecting the main building and wanted to see the Farm Section. His chauffeur was not around so
           the president boarded the regular bus.
               In a few minutes the keeper brought on some inmates. When they were seated he began counting,
           "1, 2, 3, 4, 5...." He got to the president and said, "Who are you?"
               Mr. Carter said, "Why, I'm the president of the United States!"
           The keeper said, "6, 7, 8...."

               It does not matter who you are, where you are. If you are still desiring you are mad: "6, 7, 8...."
           You are insane. In fact, unless you are insane enough, how can you try so hard to be the president of
           a country? For years people try to become the president of a country; almost their whole life is
           devoted to a single goal, to be the president of a country. And what is attained? With the same
           energy they could have become buddhas, with the same effort they could have become awakened.
           But we put our energies to such wrong goals -- money, power, prestige -- and they all lead to
           insanity.
               Desiring is insane. Enjoy life! -- but don't be too much bothered about tomorrows. Don't sacrifice
           your today for tomorrows; otherwise you will always go on missing all the opportunities which open
           up for your inner growth.
              WANTING NOTHING WITH ALL YOUR HEART STOP THE STREAM.

               Watch. Try to understand the very nature of desiring, and in that very understanding there comes
           a stop of its own accord. The stream simply disappears, evaporates, as if it has never been there. And
           the moment you are free of the mind you are free of all misery, of all discontent.

              WHEN THE WORLD DISSOLVES
              EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               With the dissolution of the mind, the whole world that the mind has created around itself also
           dissolves, obviously -- it depended on the mind, it was mind's projection. Not that the trees will
           disappear and the roses will disappear... roses will be far rosier and trees will be far greener. People
           will be far more beautiful; even pebbles on the seashore will be like diamonds. Everything will
           become precious.
               This world, the real world, is not going to disappear with your mind, but you are living in a
           totally different private world: the world of your desires. You don't see the real world, you only see
           your own private world projected on the real world. The real world is simply being used as a screen
           on which you go on projecting your desires. You never see that which is; you only go on seeing that
           which you desire.
               It is said that the shoemaker never looks at people's faces, he always looks at their shoes. Of
           course he is not concerned with their faces, he has nothing to do with their faces; he is concerned
           with their shoes. And by seeing the shoes he knows about the person; the shoe contains all the
           messages for him: whether the person is rich or poor, successful or unsuccessful. The shoe will say
           everything: the shape of the shoe, the newness, the oldness, the tiredness of the shoe; everything will
           say what kind of man this is. The shoe, analyzed by a shoemaker, will give you a perfect analysis of
           the man. There is no need to go to a psychoanalyst, you can go to the shoemaker, leave the shoe with
           him. And he can make a chart about you: what kind of man you are, what is happening in your life.
               The tailors never see you, they only see your clothes. They decide from your clothes. People see
           only that which they desire and they project their desire. If somebody is full of lust even an ugly
           woman may look beautiful.

               Mulla Nasruddin goes to a hill station once in a while; he has a bungalow there. Sometimes he
           says, "I am going for three weeks," and comes back after only ten days. It happened many times so I
           asked him, "You never follow your decision. You say, 'I am going for three weeks,' then you are
           back within a week. Sometimes you say, 'I am going for five weeks,' and you are back in ten days.
           What is the matter?"
               He laughed; he said, "I have a criterion and I cannot decide from here. You know that I have got
           a bungalow in the hill station -- well, I have kept one woman there to look after the bungalow. She is
           the ugliest woman you can conceive of and how long I am going to stay is determined by that
           woman."
           I said, "I don't understand."
               He said, "Let me explain. She is so repulsive, so disgusting, but when I go there, after two or
           three days she is not so repulsive, so disgusting. After four or five days I even start seeing something
           beautiful in her. By the seventh or eighth day she starts looking really beautiful. The moment I see
           that a desire for her is arising in me, I escape -- that's how I decide. That means now it is time for me
           to leave. I know that she is ugly, but my eyes are deceiving me now, now they are projecting. Now
           my unfulfilled sexual lust is being projected on her; she is not what she is appearing to me. Then I
           start escaping -- I am going insane. Then I immediately rush back home; it is time to go home,
           otherwise there is danger. And I don't want to make love to that disgusting woman. I know perfectly
           well she is disgusting, but there comes a time, somewhere between seven and ten days, when she
           starts looking so beautiful, as if she is a Sophia Loren."

               You experience this again and again, but you don't understand. When for the first time you fall in
           love with a woman or a man, the other looks almost like a god or a goddess; that is your projection.
           Soon you will be disillusioned. The fault lies with you, not with the other. It is not that the other has
           cheated you; the other has not done anything. You were starving, you were hankering, you were
           living with a repressed desire and that desire created an illusion for you. You fell in love, you saw
           something which was not there. Lovers go on seeing things which are not there, nobody else sees
           them; that's why lovers are thought mad by everybody else. They themselves will think they were
           mad after two or three weeks, but when they are in love for the first time they think they have
           discovered the woman they are made for -- that they are made for each other.
               Here, I go on receiving letters. One woman sannyasin finds somebody almost every month and
           she writes to me and she forgets all about the fact that she has been writing it for at least three years:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Beloved Master, it seems we are made for each other." She has no idea that she has written this at
           least fifty times! But when she is infatuated with somebody she forgets everything else.
               I reminded her. She said, "The other times I may have been wrong, but this time, believe me, we
           are made for each other!" And within two or three weeks these people who are made for each other
           are finished.
               In fact, nobody is made for anybody else; everybody is made for himself or herself. Nobody is
           made for anybody -- God never makes you in pairs! Drop that whole nonsense. He simply makes
           individuals.
               In the East we have stories -- they must be stories, they cannot be history. In Jaina scriptures it is
           said that in the beginning when the world started, God used to make men and women together. Each
           mother used to give birth to twins, one girl, one boy; they were going to be husband and wife. They
           were not sister and brother -- they were made for each other! That must be a wish fulfillment. Man
           has always been thinking, "There must be someone with whom I am going to fit absolutely.
           Somewhere someone must exist who is just for me and I am for her." There is nobody just for you or
           you for anybody. God creates only individuals, God believes in individuality -- he is an individualist.
               In fact, marriage is a human invention, God does not believe in marriage. He himself is alone
           without a wife; you can see -- the point is so clear. Otherwise he would at least have married the
           Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost can be turned into a woman or a man -- a ghost is a ghost! He does not
           have any body; he could have given it a body. If he can create the whole world, can't he create a
           woman for himself? He was so generous with man -- he gave man first a woman, Lilith. And Lilith
           was really a beautiful woman, but the first night there was a pillow fight -- the first liberated woman!
           The Women's Liberation movement started with Lilith. And the fight was because God had given
           them only a single bed and both wanted to sleep on it and it was not big enough for two persons.
           Lilith simply rejected the idea that she should sleep on the floor. She said, "If you want to sleep on
           the floor you can!"
               Adam felt very insulted -- a man, and sleeping on the floor, and the woman sleeping in the bed?
           In the middle of the night they knocked on God's door and said, "You have to settle it."
               God also seems to be very strange -- it was such a simple thing. He could have called Asheesh:
           "Make a double bed!" That's what I would have done. Why make so much fuss about it? Or if
           Asheesh was going to take a long time -- as he usually does -- he could have removed the bed: "Both
           of you can sleep on the floor, be equal!" He could have sent Deeksha to remove it; she would have
           removed everything, even the floor! But God's ways are strange.
               He dissolved Lilith. He said, "You disappear. You will not be able to work it out." Then he made
           Eve, taking a rib out of Adam so that she would be a part of Adam. That is an ugly act, that is very
           antifeminist. And since then God has been a male chauvinist pig!

                Nobody is made for anybody else, hence no two persons can fit absolutely. All your ideas about
           fitting with the other are illusions, and they are shattered sooner or later. Either you have to
           compromise or you have to separate. But nobody is made for the other.
                Those who understand, they start accepting the uniqueness of the other, they start respecting the
           uniqueness of the other. They know they are different, yet they have decided to be together. And it is
           beautiful that they are different because that variety gives richness to life.
                But you go on creating a world around yourself, an illusory world. Buddha is talking about that
           world when he says: WHEN THE WORLD DISSOLVES -- he means when the mind dissolves with
           all its projections -- EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR.
                When all your projections are gone you have a clarity, an immense clarity, no clouds in your
           consciousness. You can see through and through. That seeing is freedom, that seeing is salvation,
           that seeing is nirvana, that seeing is coming home.

              GO BEYOND....


              Go to that seeing. Go beyond the mind, go beyond the known, because the mind consists of the
           known. And go beyond the knowable because whatsoever is knowable will sooner or later become
           known and will again create the mind. So go beyond the known -- known means that which has
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           already become your mind -- and the knowable -- that which is potentially going to become your
           mind sooner or later. Go beyond the known and the knowable so that you can enter into the
           unknowable, into the mysterious. The beyond represents the mysterious.

              THIS WAY OR THAT WAY....


               Buddha is not a fanatic; he says it doesn't matter which way you follow. Remember: you have to
           go beyond the mind. Follow any way! This is his beauty -- it is very rare. You will not find this
           quality in religious fanatics; he is not a fanatic at all. He says it is immaterial what way you follow,
           whether you swim to the other shore or you go by a boat or a steamship or how you manage... that is
           up to you. Go to the other shore; that is the point. Every path is valid if it leads to the other shore,
           every path is valid if it leads you beyond the mind.
               And there are only two paths. One is awareness, meditation -- Buddha's path. And the other is
           love, devotion, the path of the Sufis. There are basically only two paths, but Buddha is very clear. He
           says: THIS WAY OR THAT WAY....
               By "this way" he means his path; by "that way" he means the path of love, of devotion. That is
           not his path, but he does not prohibit you. He does not say that you cannot reach by the other path.
           He does not say, "My path is the only path." He does not say, he does not claim, "Only those who
           come with me will reach and everyone else will fall into hell." No! He says, "You can follow other
           paths too. Just keep one thing in your consciousness -- that you have to go beyond."

              TO THE FARTHER SHORE
              WHERE THE WORLD DISSOLVES
              AND EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR.



              BEYOND THIS SHORE
              AND THE FARTHER SHORE,
              BEYOND THE BEYOND,
              WHERE THERE IS NO BEGINNING,
              NO END.

              "Beyond the beyond" is Buddha's expression for God; he never uses the word 'God'. But "beyond the
              beyond" is exactly what the word 'God' represents. Why does he say "beyond the beyond"? Is it not
              enough to call it "the beyond"? It is not, because when you say "the beyond" it seems you have
              comprehended it; it means your mind has comprehended. When you say "the other shore" it means
              that it is the other shore, but it is something like this shore; at least it is also a shore so it must be
              something like this -- maybe a little bit different, more beautiful, with more trees, with more greenery,
              with more beautiful flowers and fragrance -- but a shore is a shore.
              "This shore" and "that shore" your mind can comprehend. Hence he says: Anything that is
              comprehensible to the mind has to be left behind. The beyond is comprehensible.

              BEYOND THIS SHORE AND THE FARTHER SHORE -- you have to go beyond both the
           shores -- BEYOND THE BEYOND, WHERE THERE IS NO BEGINNING, NO END.

               When a man came to Buddha -- he had been practicing meditation for years -- he said, "You have
           told me, 'Attain to nothing,' and I have attained it. Now what else do I have to do?"
               Buddha said, "Now throw it away! Go out and throw it away!"
               He was puzzled. He said, "I have spent years in attaining it!"
               Buddha said, "The only purpose in attaining it is to throw it -- then only will you be really in a
           state of nothing; otherwise, this nothing has become something -- you have attained it. It is not real
           nothing. How can you attain real nothing? Real nothing is not attainable, it is not graspable. It is
           beyond grasp, it is beyond comprehension. So go out and throw it!"

                A king came to Buddha with many diamonds in one hand, very precious, very rare, and with a
           lotus flower in the other hand, out of season. He wanted to offer the diamonds. Buddha said, "Drop
           it!" So he dropped the diamonds -- reluctantly, because it was such a great treasure -- thinking, "This
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man does not understand what he is saying." But ten thousand monks are there and now not to drop
           them will look miserly and people will laugh and they will say, "If you have come to offer him
           something and he orders, 'Drop it!' then drop it! You have offered them to him, now it is his business
           what to do with them." So he dropped them, but very reluctantly.
               Then he offered the lotus flower. Buddha said, "Drop it!" He dropped that flower too. Now he
           was standing with empty hands and Buddha said, "Drop it!" Now the king was at a loss. He said,
           "Sir, I don't have anything to drop; my hands are utterly empty." Buddha said, "Then DROP it!"
           Now the king thought, "This man is crazy! I am saying my hands are empty, still he says 'Drop it!'"
               One of Buddha's bodhisattvas, Manjushree, laughed and he said, "Sir, you don't understand my
           master. He is saying, 'Don't carry this idea of emptiness, drop that too -- because the idea of
           emptiness is enough to fill yourself; the idea of emptiness is enough to create a mind.' Buddha is
           saying, 'Drop ALL unconditionally. And when you have dropped all, don't carry this idea that now
           nothing is left. Drop that too so you have nothing to claim.'"

              That is the meaning of going beyond the beyond. That is the ultimate state of nirvana -- when the
           ego, the mind, the personality, all cease to exist and you disappear into the mysterious, into the
           miraculous, into the universal.

              WITHOUT FEAR, GO.



              MEDITATE.


                This is what meditation is all about: watching your desires, understanding their nature... and
           letting them fall like dry leaves from the trees in the autumn.

              LIVE PURELY.


               And when meditation has happened and desire has disappeared, then live out of that innocence.
           Right now you are living out of desires. You desire this, you desire that, and sometimes you desire
           even God, sometimes you desire nirvana, sometimes you desire even meditation, but you live out of
           desires.
               There is another kind of life -- the real life -- which is lived through innocence, without desiring.
           So whatsoever comes on the way you enjoy, you rejoice, but you don't desire.
               LIVE PURELY -- that's what Buddha calls a pure life: a life which is not lived out of desires.

              BE QUIET.


              Naturally you will be quiet -- when there is no desire left there is no turmoil left.

              DO YOUR WORK, WITH MASTERY.


               Then whatsoever you are doing, whatsoever you enjoy doing, do it with mastery and skill. He
           loved skill very much, he loved excellence, he loved perfection. He was not a perfectionist,
           remember, because he was not a neurotic person, but he loved perfection. Do everything with your
           totality. Whatsoever you are doing, do it with such love, with such commitment and involvement
           that for the moment that is your whole life.

              Once Vincent van Gogh was asked by somebody, "Which is your best painting?"
              He was doing a painting. He said, "This one -- this is the best."
              After a few months the man asked again -- he was painting something else -- he asked, "Which is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your best painting?"
           He said, "This one."
               The man said, "But this is not right. Just a few months ago you said about some other painting
           that that was your best."
               Vincent van Gogh said, "Whatsoever I am doing at the moment is the best. It is always this, it is
           never that. It is always now, it is never then."

               This is the way of perfection, the way of excellence, the way of skill, mastery. Whatsoever you
           are doing, do it as if it is a question of life and death. Put your total energy into it, and it will give
           you tremendous bliss. Don't be halfhearted. Only then does creativity bloom, only then do you
           become a participant in God the creator.

              BY DAY THE SUN SHINES,
              AND THE WARRIOR IN HIS ARMOR SHINES.
              BY NIGHT THE MOON SHINES,
              AND THE MASTER SHINES IN MEDITATION.


               These are code words. The sun represents the warrior. The sun is hot energy; the sun is violent
           energy. The moon represents the meditator, the mystic; it is cool energy. It is the same energy,
           remember -- it is the same energy, it is not a different energy. But passing through the moon the
           sunrays become cool; that is the miracle of the moon, the alchemical change that happens through
           the moon. The moon simply reflects sunrays; it is a mirror. But just by passing through the moon a
           radical change happens: the rays which are hot, violent, become silent, cool, peaceful.
               The sun represents the warrior, the fighter, the soldier. The moon represents the sannyasin, the
           meditator, the mystic.
               Buddha says: BY DAY THE SUN SHINES, AND THE WARRIOR IN HIS ARMOR SHINES.
               The day belongs to the warrior, the sun belongs to the warrior. The warrior means one who is
           trying to conquer others, who is trying to become a master of others. That is a stupid effort, but it is
           cheaper. It is easy to enslave somebody else, it is always easy to find somebody who is weaker than
           you, it is easy to impose yourself upon somebody.
               But the mystic, the meditator is moving in a totally different direction -- he is moving in his
           interiority. He is trying to be a master of himself, not of others but of himself -- and that is true
           mastery. The first effort is stupid.
               And the world has been dominated by the soldiers for centuries, that's why the world is in such a
           mess. The world needs more and more sannyasins because each sannyasin becomes a moon: he
           transforms the violent energy of the world into a cool pool of energy. The world needs to be full of
           sannyasins, only then can we have a world which forgets the ways of war and learns the language of
           peace and love. The world needs many sannyasins as transformers of energy.
               That's exactly what is meant by a buddhafield: where many sannyasins are together and create
           such a great transforming force that all kinds of energies passing through the buddhafield become
           cool, become feminine, become more like flowers and less like rocks. They lose their hardness, they
           become delicate -- delicate like rose petals.
               BY NIGHT THE MOON SHINES.... The night is the time of the mystic, the day is the time of
           the warrior. The night represents a change in the whole atmosphere. It is easier to meditate in the
           night than in the day. Meditation is far closer to sleep than to any other activity, with only one
           difference: in sleep you fall unconscious, in meditation you remain conscious, but with the same
           relaxation. In the day it is difficult to sleep; if you want to sleep in the day you have to close the
           doors and the windows and pull all the curtains so it becomes dark. If sunrays are coming they won't
           allow you to sleep; sunrays activate your energies. Night helps you to rest and relax. It is the time of
           the mystic.
               Sannyasins should use the time of night more and more for meditation. You can go deeper, and
           easily, because the winds are blowing that way; you can move with the winds with less effort. In the
           day you are moving against the winds. In the day active meditations are good; dynamic meditation is
           good in the day, dancing meditation is good in the day. But in the night vipassana, silent meditations,
           just sitting and doing nothing, just relaxing because the whole atmosphere is relaxing.... The sun has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gone down, the trees have fallen asleep; it is a totally different quality of energy that surrounds you
           in the night. It is easy to meditate.
               Buddha says: THE MASTER SHINES IN MEDITATION in the night.
               By "the master" he means one who is trying to be a master of himself; by "warrior" he means one
           who is trying to be a master of others. But once you have attained, once you have become
           enlightened, then there is no question of day and night, no question of sun and moon.

              BUT DAY AND NIGHT
              THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE
              SHINES IN THE RADIANCE OF THE SPIRIT.


               The buddha, the awakened, the enlightened one shines both in the night and in the day; there is
           no difference for him. Once you have become awakened, then nothing makes any difference. But till
           that happens use the night atmosphere more and more for meditation.
               And when the moon is there in the night it is far easier to meditate. The full-moon night is the
           best for meditation. Many people who have become buddhas have attained their enlightenment on
           the full-moon night, even Buddha himself. It may have been a coincidence, but it is significant to
           remember: he was born on the full-moon night, he became enlightened on the full-moon night and he
           died on the full-moon night. Something in the full moon seemed to be synchronizing with his energy.
               Use it. Be alert and use every possibility to help you go in. Once you are awakened, then there is
           no problem. Then you can be at ease, at rest, at peace, anywhere.

              Somebody asked Buddha, "When you die will you go to heaven?"
              Buddha said, "Don't ask nonsense questions. Wherever a buddha is there is heaven. Buddhas
           don't go to heaven; wherever a buddha goes, heaven goes there."

               This is much closer to the truth, far more beautiful; the very statement is significant. There is no
           question of enlightened ones going to paradise -- enlightened ones live in paradise wherever they
           are. You can send them to hell -- if there is a hell -- and the hell will be transformed. By their very
           presence the hell will become a buddhafield. By their very presence the energies of hell will go
           through a transformation.

           Once it happened:
               A Christian priest was delivering a sermon one Sunday and he said, "Those who don't believe in
           God and live immoral lives will go to hell; those who believe in God and live moral lives will go to
           heaven."
               A man stood up and asked, "A question has arisen in me. The question is: Those who don't
           believe in God and live a moral life, where will they go? Those who believe in God and live immoral
           lives, where will they go?"
               The priest was at a loss; he had not thought about it. The question was tricky. He said, "Please
           give me time to ponder over it. After seven days I will answer, next Sunday."
               Those seven days were real hell for him. He tried to figure it out, but it was impossible to figure
           it out. If he says, "Those who don't believe in God and are moral still go to heaven," then the man
           will say, "Why believe in God? Why bother about God at all? Just being moral is enough." He
           thought, "And if I say the people who don't believe in God and are moral have to go to hell, then
           morality loses all relevance. Then why be moral? Just believing in God is enough. Believe in God
           and live as immorally as possible. Why miss that opportunity?" He was driving himself crazy, he
           could not sleep. Continuously he was thinking and consulting books, but there was no answer
           coming.
               Sunday came; he came a little early to the church to pray to Jesus. "Help me!" he prayed to Jesus.
           The whole night he had not slept so while he was praying he fell asleep, and he dreamed a beautiful
           dream, a very significant dream. He saw that he was in a train. He asked where the train was going
           and the other passengers said, "The train is going to heaven."
               He said, "This is very good! That's what I wanted to see -- see with my own eyes. Socrates never
           believed in God, but he lived a moral life. Buddha never believed in God, but he lived one of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           purest lives. Mahavira never believed in God, but who can surpass Mahavira in his moral life? If I
           can find these three people there, then the question is solved; if I don't find them there, then too the
           question is solved."
                The train reached heaven; he was very much surprised. Seeing heaven, he could not believe it --
           it looked more like hell! Of course the board said it was heaven, but it had not been painted, it seems,
           for centuries. So much dust had collected, everything was dirty. It looked like a desert: no greenery,
           no trees, no roses, no lotuses. He came across a few saints who looked almost dead, somehow
           dragging themselves. Dust had also gathered on them as if they had forgotten how to take a bath, as
           if nobody took baths in heaven.
                He asked, "Is Socrates here? Is Buddha here? Is Mahavira here?"
           Those saints said, "Never heard of these people."
                He rushed to the inquiry office. He inquired, "Is there a train that goes to hell?"
                They said, "Yes, it is leaving immediately. You can catch it right now."
                And he rushed in the train towards hell, and as hell came closer he was again in for a great
           surprise: so much fragrance, so much greenery, so many flowers, so many beautiful birds, and
           singing and dancing. He said, "What is the matter?" And everybody looked so joyous, so radiant. He
           asked people on the station, "Is this really hell? Is THIS hell?"
                They said, "Yes, this is hell, and nobody can believe this is hell. Since these three people --
           Socrates, Buddha and Mahavira -- arrived, everything changed. They have transformed the whole
           scene. Just the name is hell now -- it is really heaven. And the other place is only heaven in name; it
           has become hell."

                I agree absolutely with the dream. I can visualize that your so-called saints, wherever they are,
           will create hell. But if a man like Buddha or Socrates or Mahavira or Jesus or Lao Tzu or Zarathustra
           is in hell, then hell has to change. It is not a question of the place; the question is of who is there.
              BUT DAY AND NIGHT THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE SHINES IN THE RADIANCE OF THE SPIRIT.

               You can say hell or heaven... THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE SHINES IN THE RADIANCE OF
           THE SPIRIT. Wherever he is he creates a new world, he creates a totally new energy. He is an
           alchemical transformer.
               First, don't be soldiers, be sannyasins, because that is how one day you can become buddhas.
           Move towards self-mastery. Use all devices, methods, to become a master of your own self. And
           then one day, when the mind has disappeared with all its illusions and you have attained to clarity,
           when you can see that which is as it is, you are a buddha. Then wherever you are there is paradise.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                    Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title: Laughter: love, joy, gratitude
           18 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004180
              ShortTitle: DHAM1108
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 39 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The first question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               IS IT ALL A JOKE? BUT I DON'T GET IT.


               Vimalkirti, it certainly is a joke, but you cannot get it. You are German, and not only an ordinary
           German -- you are the great-grandchild of the German emperor! Just think of the old man in his
           grave: he must be tossing and turning, seeing you in orange, cleaning floors in Poona! What do you
           think? -- is it not a joke? Could your great-grandfather ever have imagined or dreamed that this was
           going to happen to his own children one day? Impossible that he would have ever dreamed about it
           -- but it has happened.
               You have been told for centuries that life is a serious affair; it has become a deep conditioning.
           Otherwise life is really a joke. It is playfulness, it is LEELA. It all depends on how you take it. If you
           take it seriously it becomes serious, but then you suffer -- you suffer from your own idea. Life
           becomes heavy, it becomes a weight, a mountain on your chest; you are crushed underneath it. Life
           loses all joy, all laughter. You simply drag, you don't live. How can one live without laughter?
               It is man who is the only animal on earth who knows how to laugh. Laughter is the only thing
           that is special to human beings, not reason but laughter. Animals can also reason -- they reason in
           their own way -- but they cannot joke, they cannot laugh, they cannot see the humorous side; that is
           impossible for them. All animals are serious people and all serious people are animals! The moment
           you get rid of your seriousness you get rid of your animality.
               Hence I have no respect for your saints. They are very serious, far more serious than the
           donkeys, far more serious than the buffaloes. They have fallen, they have not risen. Your saints are
           serious, your politicians are serious, your revolutionaries are serious, your scientists are serious.
           They are all taking life as if somehow one has to pass through it -- not dance. The very concept of
           dance is far away from them. They cannot even walk, they drag. They don't live, they only slowly
           die. They are all waiting for death to relieve them of the pain and the suffering of life.
               It is very rare to find a human being who has not contemplated committing suicide once or twice.
           On average, four times in his life every human being thinks of committing suicide. He does not do it,
           that is another matter. Maybe he has no guts to do it, maybe he is afraid of what is going to happen
           after death. Who knows? It may be far worse than life itself. At least life is known, familiar; it is
           risky to move into the unknown.
               Indians don't commit suicide much because they believe that they will be sent back again, so
           what is the point? -- millions of times you have to be born. All Indian religions seek and search not
           for God, remember, but for freedom from life, freedom from the circle of birth and death. How can
           these people rejoice and how can these people be thankful to God? They are complaining and their
           complaining is very loud. They are saying, "We don't want to be born. We never wanted to be born.
           Why didn't you ask us first? It is unfair! It is not a gift, it is unfair to send us into a life which we had
           never asked for. And it is unfair to go on sending us into a life which is nothing but misery."
               But life is not misery. It is our approach, it is our way of looking at it that has made it ugly. Our
           vision is distorted, not life itself. Our mirror is distorted, not life itself. Because our mirror is
           distorted, life appears distorted.
               Vimalkirti, to me it is all a joke. And I am not joking -- I am really serious about it!
           You say, "But I don't get it."
               I have heard that in Germany people are not allowed to tell jokes on Saturday evenings. Why? --
           because they might burst out laughing in church on Sunday morning. It takes time for them to
           understand! And you are the great-grandchild of the German emperor, it may take a little longer for
           you! But if you are here you are bound to get it. Don't be worried. Life is so full of hilarious
           moments that it is almost impossible to miss them. It is a miracle how people go on missing them;
           otherwise you will come across jokes everywhere.

               When Winston Churchill was appointed prime minister for the first time -- he was tired from the
           election campaign and all the politics that had gone before and all the struggle to reach the top -- his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wife thought it would be good to call a friend who knew many beautiful jokes so he could tell a few
           jokes to Winston Churchill. "That will relax him, help him to laugh a little. He has been so serious
           for so many days and he looks so tired."
               The friend was called; he came with all the latest jokes. He asked Winston Churchill, "Would
           you like to know the latest jokes?"
               Churchill looked at him and said, "Please, no more -- I have appointed them all in my cabinet!"

              If you look around, if you are watchful enough, then you are bound to stumble again into
           something so beautiful and so ridiculous. The very idea of creating the world and creating you all is
           such a cosmic joke! God must have a sense of humor.

               An old rabbi was dying and somebody asked him... because they were afraid for the old rabbi.
           He was not very religious, not very virtuous; in fact, he was just the opposite. They were worried.
           They asked him, "Are you ready to meet God?"
               He opened his eyes and said, "Yes, that's what I am doing -- I am just trying to remember a few
           beautiful jokes to tell him. He must be getting tired of all those long faces, sad saints. He will really
           enjoy a few jokes, a few gossips about the earth."

              And I absolutely agree with this old rabbi. If you meet God, don't fall on your knees and start
           praying -- he is tired of all that! Tell him a beautiful joke. That will be a deeper communion with
           him. Let him have a good laugh. In that laughter there will be a revelation.
           Vimalkirti, a few jokes for you:

               Karpuik was rushed to the emergency room of the city hospital. The doctor on duty was amazed
           to discover that Karpuik had scalded his scrotum. "How did it happen?" he asked.
           "I was making tea," replied the Polack, "and the directions said, 'Soak bag in hot water.'"

               Pilzudski took his wife to the doctor and complained that he could not have intercourse with her
           because she was too tight.
           "Alright," said the doctor, "let's test it!"
               The sawbones put the wife on the table, applied some vaseline to his instrument and entered
           Pilzudski's wife easily.
           "Hey," said the Polack, as he watched the doctor pumping away, "if it not be for the medicine I think
           you be screwing my wife!"

           There once was a pious young priest,
           who lived almost fully on yeast;
           "For," he said, "it is plain
           that we'll all rise again,
           and I want to get started at least!"

               My approach towards life is that of laughter. And laughter contains love, laughter contains joy
           and laughter contains gratitude. Laughter contains a tremendous thankfulness towards God.
               When you are really in deep belly laughter, your ego disappears. It happens very rarely in any
           other activity, but in laughter it is bound to happen. If the laughter is total the ego cannot exist;
           nothing kills the ego like laughter. That's why all egoists are serious. Ego can exist only in
           seriousness; ego lives, feeds on seriousness. And serious people are dangerous people.
               We have to destroy all kinds of seriousness in the world. Temples should be full of laughter and
           song and dance and celebration. That's how trees are, stars are, rivers are, oceans are. The whole
           existence, except man, is in a nonserious state; only man seems to be very serious. No child is born
           serious, remember, but we destroy the innocence of the child. We destroy his qualities of wonder and
           awe, we destroy his laughter, we destroy everything that is beautiful and valuable, and instead we
           give him a load to carry on his head -- of knowledge, of theology, of philosophy. The more and more
           he becomes educated by us, the more and more he loses all sense of humor. He can't see any humor
           in existence because he starts living through his knowledge; he knows everything. Because of his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledgeability all wonder is destroyed. Because of his knowledgeability, the greatest religious
           quality -- awe -- is killed.

           A young man at college, named Breeze,
           weighed down by B.A.s and M.D.s,
           collapsed from the strain;
           said his doctor, "It's plain
           you are killing yourself by degrees!"

               By the time you come back from the university you are almost dead. Your state is pathological.
           You are ill -- ill with knowledge, suffocated by knowledge. And you cannot laugh; that is only for
           children and madmen.
               And my whole effort here, Vimalkirti, is to make you both simultaneously: to make you childlike
           and to make you utterly mad. If these two things happen, then only are you a sannyasin. My only
           commandment is laughter!... and everything else will follow. If you can love and if you can laugh,
           totally, wholeheartedly, your life will become such a bliss and a benediction, not only to yourself but
           to everyone else. You will be a blessing to the world.
               You have to drop all seriousness. You have to drop this seriousness because it has been forced
           upon you; this is not your nature. You did not come serious into the world, you came laughing. Each
           child is bubbling with joy and by the time he is four he starts dying. The age of four for the boys and
           the age of three for the girls is the time when death starts occurring. Girls are always ahead of boys
           in every way; even in this matter they are one year ahead.
               And once death settles in you, it kills you slowly slowly. It is not that you die suddenly when you
           are seventy or eighty; that is only the completion of a process that started at the age of three or four.
           Have you ever noticed the fact that if you try to remember backwards you cannot pass the barrier of
           the age of three? At the most you can remember when you were three years old; beyond that all is
           blank. Why? You were here, certainly, and those three years were not blank at all; in fact they were
           more full of experience than any other year of your life is ever going to be. Each moment was full of
           experiences. You were constantly exploring life, people, everything; you were constantly in inquiry.
               In one university they were doing an experiment. The experiment was... that children seem to be
           so active -- from where do they get so much energy? Their bodies are so small and their bodies are
           so delicate -- they are just like flowers, fragile -- but they seem to be so energetic, so vital, so
           overflowing with energy. From where do they get so much energy?
               So they tried an experiment. They arranged that a very strong man would follow a child, and he
           would do exactly whatsoever the child was doing. And they were going to pay him; whatsoever he
           wanted they were going to pay him. He was a really big man, a wrestler, a famous wrestler, so he
           was not worried about following a child. What can a child do? But within four hours he was flat on
           the ground, because once the child knew that he was imitating him, the child jumped and the child
           ran and the child rolled on the floor and the child laughed uproariously.... And the child did so many
           things that the wrestler, within four hours, was finished!
               He said, "Never in my life have I been so tired. I have been fighting my whole life, I have fought
           great fights, I have been always a winner. This is my first defeat!"
               And that small child was not tired at all; he was still ready, he was still challenging the man. He
           said, "Come on! Let us have a little more fun! Are you finished? Why are you lying down on the
           ground?"
               Every child is born with such great energy, but we destroy it. We paralyze every child, we
           cripple every child. And our churches and our temples and our priests have done the greatest wrong
           to humanity. They are the greatest criminals in the world, they are the real sinners. They have sinned
           against humanity -- they have paralyzed every human being. You don't know who you would have
           been if you had been allowed total freedom from the very beginning -- if your laughter had been
           free, your love had been free, your joy had been free, and you had not been hindered, interfered with,
           distorted, manipulated, forced, channeled in certain directions....
               No child is interested in money, because no child is foolish. No child is interested in being the
           president of a country or the prime minister, because no child is so stupid. His interests are far more
           natural. He is interested in the flowers, he is interested in the butterflies, he is interested in the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pebbles on the seashore. He is interested in dancing under the stars, in dancing in the sun, in dancing
           in the wind. He is interested in climbing the tree or in climbing the mountain. He is interested in
           swimming the river or in going into the ocean.
               His interests are totally different, but we divert all his energies. We say, "No need to climb the
           tree, no need to climb the mountain. Climb the ladder of success!" -- which is an absolutely mediocre
           process, which is an absolutely unintelligent process. "Climb the ladder of success. Be more rich
           than others. Be competitive. Be jealous. Be possessive. Fight!" -- a fight for things which are
           meaningless. Then you lose your joy, then you lose your laughter. Then life seems more like a
           nightmare than like a beautiful joke.
           Vimalkirti, it is a cosmic joke.
               And my vision is that the future religiousness is bound to be rooted more in life than in death,
           more in laughter than in sadness, more in dance than in dragging your life.

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               WHY, DESPITE APPEARANCES, IS THE VOID MORE TANGIBLE THAN THE FORM,
               CONSCIOUSNESS MORE THAN THOUGHT, SILENCE MORE THAN THE WORD?


                Deva Bruce, the void is the source of all forms. The void is eternal, forms are temporary. Forms
           are like ripples in the lake, the void is the lake itself. Forms come and go, the void remains. Forms
           are only appearances, the void is the reality.
                Hence Buddha calls reality SHUNYA. Shunya means the ultimate void. Yes, it is far more
           tangible than your so-called real things, because these real things come from the void and will go
           back down to the void. The void is the source and the goal. Everything comes out of nothingness and
           disappears back into nothingness.
                Hence, remember, nothingness does not mean that it is nothing; nothingness simply means that it
           is all. Nothingness means "no-thingness." Things are forms; nothingness is a formless energy. It can
           manifest in millions of forms, and it can only manifest in millions of forms because it has no form of
           its own. It is fluid, it is available for any form, it has no resistance to any form. It can express itself in
           millions of ways because it has no obsession, it has no fixation. It can bloom as a rose, it can bloom
           as a lotus. It can be a song, it can be a dance, it can be silence. All is possible because nothingness
           simply means that no form has yet been taken. Once a form is taken, things become limited,
           alternatives become limited. Once a form is taken you are not totally free; your form becomes your
           bondage. Hence, meditation is an entry into nothingness.
                The Western religions have missed the point completely. Even their God has a form; God cannot
           have a form. To give God a form is anthropocentric, it is projecting our own form onto God.
                If horses were philosophers -- and who knows, a few horses may be -- then God would be a
           horse, a beautiful horse, with all the great qualities of a horse. Horses cannot think of God as a man,
           impossible. Man has not been good to the horses at all. They can think of the Devil as man, but not
           of God as man. Man thinks of God as man.
                The Bible says God created man in his own image. The truth is just the contrary: man creates
           God in his own image. Hence the Negro God will have a Negro form, the Hindu God will have a
           Hindu form, the Chinese God will have a Chinese form. The Chinese God cannot have a Hindu
           form; it is impossible. The Chinese cannot think that God can have another form than the Chinese --
           of course, the most beautiful Chinese form, but it is going to be Chinese. These are our ideas
           projected onto God.
                God is not a form, God is formlessness. God is absolute nothingness, God is total void. Out of
           that voidness everything arises -- trees, people, mountains, earths, stars, creations. They come, for
           the time being they are there, and then they again disappear into the ultimate void. That is the
           beginning and the end; it is before the beginning and after the end. Buddha calls it the beyond, the
           ultimate beyond, beyond the beyond.
                You ask me, Bruce, "Why, despite appearances, is the void more tangible than the form,
           consciousness more than thought, silence more than the word?"
                Consciousness is God because consciousness is nothingness. Thought is a world; hence Buddha
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           calls mind "the world." The moment a thought arises, a wave has arisen in the lake of consciousness,
           a form has arisen, and the form is only temporal, momentary. Soon it will disappear; it is not going
           to abide, it is not eternal. Don't cling to it. Watch it come in and watch it go out. Watch it arising and
           watch it disappearing, but don't cling to it. Remember consciousness, in which it arises and in which
           it dissolves again. That is your reality, that is your truth. The thought can be good, the thought can be
           bad, but good or bad it makes no difference. A thought is a thought; it is not eternal -- and that is the
           only criterion of reality.
                That's how the mystics have always been judging reality: whatsoever is eternal is real and
           whatsoever is momentary is only a dream phenomenon. There is no difference between the dream
           that you see in the night and the dream that you see in the day, the dream that you see with closed
           eyes and the dream that you see with open eyes. Yes, there is a little difference: one dream is
           absolutely private. In the night with closed eyes you see a private dream; in the day with open eyes
           you see a collective dream, an objective dream. There are many participants in it, hence it gives you
           the feeling as if it is real. It is not so. What happens when you fall asleep? You forget all about the
           day.

               It is said about Chuang Tzu that one morning he woke up and started laughing. His disciples
           gathered together and they asked, "What is the matter?"
               Chuang Tzu said, "I have come across a problem that I cannot solve. Help me to solve it."
               That was the first time that he was asking the help of the disciples to solve a problem. Otherwise
           he was always solving their problems.
               The disciples said, "It must be a really great, complicated problem -- you tell us."
               He said, "The problem is simple, but in a way very complicated -- and I don't think it can be
           solved, it seems insoluble. That's why I am laughing. I have looked at it from every side; it seems
           absolutely insoluble. The problem is, in the night I dreamed that I had become a butterfly."
               The disciples said, "That's nothing. We all dream all kinds of things -- dreams are dreams. Now
           you are awake the dream is finished. Why make so much fuss about a dream?"
               He said, "I am not making much fuss about a dream. The problem is: if Chuang Tzu can dream
           that he is a butterfly -- now the problem arises -- the butterfly may have fallen asleep and is
           dreaming that she is Chuang Tzu! Now what is what? Am I Chuang Tzu who dreamed about the
           butterfly or am I the butterfly who is dreaming of being Chuang Tzu?"

               In fact there is no difference. The butterfly is also a form and Chuang Tzu is also a form. One
           form arose when you were asleep, another form arose when you were awake, but both are forms.
           Chuang Tzu is neither -- he is neither the butterfly nor Chuang Tzu. He is the consciousness, he is
           the awareness; the awareness of the dream, the awareness of the butterfly and Chuang Tzu. That
           awareness he is. And that awareness is far more real, the only reality in fact. No thought is real.
               And the same is true about silence. Words arise in the lake of silence, beautiful words, but they
           are just forms. Hence the insistence of all the mystics: move from words to wordlessness, move from
           sound to silence, move from form to formlessness, move from thought to consciousness. Don't get
           entangled with the forms, thoughts, words. That's what meditation is all about.
               Don't get identified with all that arises in you and disappears. Remain centered in that which
           never appears and never disappears, which is always there. Remain centered in the abiding reality of
           your being, and you will know the greatest bliss possible and you will know the truth that liberates.
           You will know freedom from all forms -- because all forms create bondage. You will know you are
           neither a man nor a woman, neither white nor black, neither this nor that -- NETI, NETI. You will
           know that you are only the pure awareness which has no name, no form.
               That's what Buddha says: You don't have any form and you don't have any name. Don't hanker
           for that which you are not, because hankering for that which you are not is creating misery for
           yourself, is creating unnecessary pain for yourself. Just be that which you are and have always been
           and will always be. Don't try to become -- be! And that you already are. It is not a question of
           becoming, it is not a question of desiring, it is not a question of reaching somewhere. You are
           already there, you have always been there. Just wake up! Wake up from the dreams, all the dreams --
           night dreams, daydreams. Wake up from all the forms and abide in the formless.
               And all the awakened ones say the same thing: Knowing that formlessness, knowing that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           eternity, your life is fulfilled. You will attain to tremendous contentment and bliss and benediction.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM GREEK AND I LOVE GARLIC. MY GIRLFRIEND CAN'T STAND IT, SHE IS BRITISH. SHE
              CALLS ME PRIMITIVE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?


               Devo, nothing is wrong with you, nothing is wrong with garlic either, but garlic is going to create
           a few problems for you. And the problem that you have come across is not really a great problem;
           soon you will have to face greater problems. The British lady at the most may leave you; that is not a
           problem -- that will be getting out of the problem!
               Find some woman -- be free of ladies! A woman is beautiful, a lady is a problem. And it is very
           difficult to find a British woman -- I have not come across one yet. They are all ladies. The men may
           not all be lords, but the women are all ladies.

               An Englishman and his wife were strolling around their West Indian estate when they came
           across a black girl and boy making love in the bushes.
           "My gracious!" exclaimed the British lady to her husband. "They do it just like human beings!"

               If she thinks you are primitive that is nothing -- at least she thinks you are a human being! Or
           maybe she does not think that you are a human being, but she cannot say it. It is so unmannerly to
           say to you that you are not a human being so she says you are primitive. That is not a great danger --
           at the most the lady will leave you. You continue eating garlic. If there is going to be a choice
           between a British lady and garlic, prefer garlic; it is far healthier. But the real problem will come
           later on -- once the British lady has left you, then you will be in trouble.

              Did you hear about the Gypsy girl who had to give up wearing garlic around her neck?
              It kept the vampires away alright, but it attracted too many Italians.

                So if you want to drop garlic, drop it when the British lady has left you; meanwhile she will
           protect you from the Italians. Every man needs a woman as a protection; otherwise he is so helpless.
           Once the other women see that one woman is protecting you they don't bother you. The moment they
           see you are unprotected they all jump upon you!
                So first use garlic to get rid of the British lady, then immediately stop garlic; otherwise Italians
           will start coming. And it is easy to get rid of a British lady; it is next to impossible to get rid of
           Italian women because they are not ladies. They are true women and they will create so much trouble
           for you. They help only in one thing: they make you so much aware of the trouble that love brings,
           or that comes in the wake of love, that you start thinking of religion, God, meditation. All these great
           things would not have been possible without women. The people who started thinking about all these
           great things were people who were tortured by women. These were their escapes, escape routes, so
           they could tolerate whatsoever was happening around. They could hope for a paradise somewhere
           after death. They lost all hope in life because they knew wherever they went some woman was going
           to create trouble for them.
                It seems God sent man alone first. He made Adam, but if man had been alone here he would
           never have thought of God. He made woman -- the woman is a constant reminder. She never leaves
           you at ease, she forces you to believe in hell. And once you believe in hell you have to believe in
           heaven too.
                Devo, nothing is wrong with you, but if you want to live with garlic you have to renounce life.
           The British lady may be right in a sense: you have to be primitive, you have to go to the caves, as far
           away from humanity as possible. Garlic is simply dangerous for any communion, for any
           communication. It is very medicinal; it will keep you healthy and it will keep you alive longer than
           you would have lived without it. Or maybe because you will have to live alone your life will look
           longer!
                If you want more advice about garlic you can ask Maitreya -- he is the expert about garlic and all
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           its great qualities. I have never tasted it, so whatsoever I am saying is not very reliable. And I have
           never allowed any primitive to be close to me. You know my sniffers! No people who eat garlic will
           ever be able to come close to me! Garlic is good but a little inhuman: it is good for you, but bad for
           everybody else.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN INNOCENCE IN AN ADULT HAPPEN WITHOUT AWARENESS?


               Anand Manuel, it is impossible for innocence to happen to an adult without awareness.
           Awareness is the only method that can help you to destroy all the conditionings that the society has
           imposed on you. Society has hypnotized you, but the hypnosis is done in such a subtle way, for such
           a long time, and it starts when you are so small, that you never become aware of it. You are
           hypnotized with the milk of your mother, you are given all kinds of conditionings, and those
           conditionings destroy your innocence.
               Unless you become aware, you will not be able to see that you are a conditioned human being,
           that you are living with borrowed ideas -- ideas which have been imposed by others on you against
           your will -- that you are almost a prisoner. Not that you live in a prison, but you live in an ideology
           which is a subtle prison. You are a Hindu -- how can you be innocent? You are a Christian -- how
           can you be innocent? The ideology keeps you away from innocence; it makes you knowledgeable,
           and knowledgeability is the only thing that destroys innocence. It takes all wonder away from you.
               There are millions of people who don't feel any wonder in life. They will see a roseflower and
           yet they will not see anything -- no beauty, no awe. They will not even stop for a single moment. The
           rose seems to have no message for them, as if they have not seen it at all.
               Every day you pass by beautiful trees, birds singing in the early morning sun, flowers releasing
           their fragrance, but you are a robot. You go on chattering inside your mind, yakkety-yakkety-yak...
           you go on and on. And what you are chattering inside has been put inside you. Your mind has been
           used like a computer: just as they feed a computer they have fed you.
               In communist Russia they will feed you with communism. They will also teach you the holy
           trinity, their own holy trinity. They will teach you their own Bible, they will teach you their own
           religion. Communism is a religion, a substitute for other religions. Marx, Engels, Lenin, that is their
           trinity; DAS KAPITAL is their Bible. And they believe in all these things as fanatically as any
           Catholic, any Hindu, any Mohammedan. The Mohammedan believes in Kaaba and the communist
           believes in the Kremlin. The objects differ, but the belief is there. Both are knowledgeable, both
           have lost their purity, their innocence, their childlike quality.
               Once you are full of knowledge you think you know all the answers. You don't know anything
           because unless you know yourself, nothing is known. And the beauty of self-knowledge is that it
           deepens the mystery of life, it does not demystify it; it makes it more mysterious, more miraculous.
           The person of wisdom, one who has dug deep into his own consciousness, becomes more and more
           full of wonder and awe. But the ordinarily knowledgeable person goes on living in absolute
           unawareness; nothing makes him wonder. He knows all the answers.

           A dog walked into a restaurant and ordered a steak.
           "How would you like it cooked?" asked the waiter.
           "I like it well done, with crushed cherries on top. Then put some marinated tomatoes on it and soak it
           in pepper."
           The waiter brought the food.
           "Did you enjoy your dinner?" the waiter asked when he was finished.
           "Very much," answered the dog. "By the way, don't you think this is all very odd?"
           "No," answered the waiter, "I like my steak the same way."

              The waiter knows too much about the steak -- he is not looking at the dog at all.

              It was two o'clock in the morning and Gedalia the goniff was trying to break into a house. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tried all the doors and windows but he could not pry any of them open. Cautiously he climbed up to
           the second-floor balcony. Peering through a locked window, he saw a baby in its crib. By this time
           he was quite desperate so he decided to enlist the aid of the infant.
           "Hoo-hoo, bay-bee," he called softly. "Itsy-bitsy boo-boo, is oo gonna open window for nice
           mansi-wansie, hmm?"
           "Open the window?" yelled the baby. "Why, ya dumb schnook, I can't even walk yet!"

               The baby cannot walk, but he has become knowledgeable, he can talk.
               You have all become knowledgeable. You know nothing and yet you are full of knowledge.
           Your knowledge simply covers your ignorance, it does not make you wise. It simply makes your
           foolishness a little decorated, a little polished.

              A troubled young man went to see a doctor. The doctor told him to take off his clothes for an
           examination, then said, "Ah, you have orange candle wax in your navel? -- I know about this
           problem. Just the other day a girl came to see me; she also had wax in her navel -- because her
           boyfriend likes to eat by candle-light. Does your girlfriend like to eat by candlelight too?"
           "No," said the man, "she needs the candle to find it."

                Just look at things, don't bring your knowledge in, and you may be always in for a surprise.
                You ask me, "Can innocence in an adult happen without awareness?"
                It is impossible. The beginning of innocence in an adult is to be aware that you are conditioned.
           Millions of people are not aware that they are conditioned. If you don't know that you are in a prison,
           why should you try to get out of it in the first place?
                Just the other day I came across a newspaper. The editor must have been here, he must have
           listened to one of my discourses. He comments that whatsoever I said was against Indian culture --
           as if that is enough to criticize me, that it was against Indian culture! He takes it for granted that
           anything that is against Indian culture is bound to be wrong. But who has said that I am not against
           Indian culture? I am against all rotten things -- Indian, non-Indian, it makes no difference! I am
           against the very idea of Indian culture and Chinese culture and Japanese culture. I am against the
           very idea of dividing humanity and I am against the past. I am not here supporting Indian culture. So
           that is not a criticism of me -- in fact, that is a compliment!
                I am against all that is dead. One should not carry dead bodies for ever and ever, they should be
           buried or burned. I don't believe in any culture and I don't believe in any country and I don't believe
           in any race and I don't believe in any religion.
                I believe in religiousness, I believe in culturedness, I believe in humanity. But humanity is not
           Indian, religiousness is not Christian or Hindu or Mohammedan, culturedness has nothing to do with
           any country. It is a grace that comes through meditation, through awareness. It is a beauty that
           happens to you when you become rooted in your consciousness, when you are settled in your
           consciousness, when nothing can distract you from your consciousness.
                Yes, every person has to become a child again, but how is he going to become a child again?
           Except through becoming aware there is no other way. First, become aware of your conditionings --
           and there are a thousand and one layers of conditionings -- and when you are aware, then slowly
           slowly disentangle yourself from all the conditioning. Drop those conditionings, become
           dehypnotized, so no layer of dust remains on the mirror of your being. When there is no layer of dust
           on the mirror of your being, you will be able to reflect that which is -- and that is God and that is
           truth and that is nirvana.
                But you are asking the question so that you can avoid awareness. You would like to find some
           shortcut to innocence. There is no shortcut; awareness cannot be avoided. Awareness is the only
           method -- let me repeat, the ONLY method -- which can cut from the very roots all the conditionings
           and can make you free from the prison in which you are living. And it is only a question of
           becoming more and more aware; nothing else can help you. I cannot do it for you, nobody else can
           do it for you. If somebody else does it for you, you will be reconditioned again. Remember it, you
           have to be unconditioned, not reconditioned. That's what happens: a Christian becomes a Hindu; of
           course he becomes unconditioned as a Christian, but he becomes reconditioned as a Hindu.
                My effort here is to uncondition you, to help you to be unconditioned, and not to recondition you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           again. My effort is to leave you in total freedom; then you have to decide what to do with your life.
           You are the master of your life; I can simply give you a few indications of how to get rid of all the
           nonsense that has been forced upon you. Once you are free from all that nonsense, I am not going to
           give you any positive instructions about what to do or what not to do, because that will be a
           reconditioning again.
               So awareness will help you in two ways: first it will help you to become unconditioned and then
           it will help you to find ways and means to live your life. It will be the only way to uncondition and
           the only way to find a new style of life, a new vision of life.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM LEAVING SOON ON A TRIP WITH RADHA. BEFORE HEARING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE
              OF TRAVELING WITH HER I FELT CONFIDENT AND SAFE ABOUT OUR LUGGAGE, BUT NOW
              DO YOU THINK I NEED SARJANO ALSO TO COME ALONG WITH US?


               Anand Amito, no, categorically no! Sarjano may help to save your boxes and bags, but what
           about Radha? Radha will be in danger. It is better to risk the suitcases -- you will not be able to save
           Radha from Sarjano. Avoid Sarjano, even if he wants to come. Certainly he will help you to save the
           suitcases, but Radha will be gone.
               So it is up to you. If you are too much attached to your suitcases, then you can take Sarjano with
           you; otherwise, that incident is not going to happen every time. And it was a fictitious journey that I
           talked about -- you are going on a real journey. On a real journey things like that don't happen....

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO YOU REALLY KNOW ITALIAN? THEN PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE ITALIAN WORD IS FOR
              REFRIGERATOR AND ALSO THE ITALIAN WORD FOR A PRETTY GIRL.


               Satyam, I don't know that much Italian, but I will try my best. The Italian word for refrigerator is
           'ice-a box', and the Italian word for a pretty girl is 'nice-a box'!

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR SOMEONE FROM AMERICA? WHAT ABOUT ONE WHO COMES
              FROM CALIFORNIA, BUT IS ENGLISH AND GERMAN; HAS A SCOTTISH STEPFATHER AND A
              JEWISH MOTHER; LOOKS SWEDISH AND FEELS ITALIAN?
              P.S.: AND LIVES WITH A NEW YORK JEWISH-RUSSIAN POLACK!


              Anupama, you are in quite a mess! Enlightenment is absolutely sure!
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                    Chapter #9
                                            Chapter title: What mischief!
           19 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004190
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: DHAM1109
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video:     No
                Length: 0 mins




              A MASTER GIVES UP MISCHIEF.
              HE IS SERENE.
              HE LEAVES EVERYTHING BEHIND HIM.



              HE DOES NOT TAKE OFFENSE
              AND HE DOES NOT GIVE IT.
              HE NEVER RETURNS EVIL FOR EVIL.



              ALAS FOR THE MAN
              WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER,
              AND EVEN MORE FOR HIM
              WHO RETURNS THE BLOW.



              RESIST THE PLEASURES OF LIFE
              AND THE DESIRE TO HURT --
              TILL SORROWS VANISH.



              NEVER OFFEND
              BY WHAT YOU THINK OR SAY OR DO.



              HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE
              AND SHOWS YOU THE WAY.
              HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SACRIFICE.



              MATTED HAIR OR FAMILY OR CASTE
              DO NOT MAKE A MASTER
              BUT THE TRUTH AND GOODNESS
              WITH WHICH HE IS BLESSED.



              YOUR HAIR IS TANGLED
              AND YOU SIT ON A DEERSKIN.
              WHAT FOLLY!
              WHEN INSIDE YOU ARE RAGGED WITH LUST.



              THE MASTER'S CLOTHES ARE IN TATTERS.
              HIS VEINS STAND OUT,
              HE IS WASTING AWAY.
              ALONE IN THE FOREST
              HE SITS AND MEDITATES.


               Hank was riding the range, a-singing and a-humming. Suddenly his horse reared and stopped. In
           front of them was a huge snake. Hank drew his gun and was about to fire when the snake cried,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Don't shoot! If you spare my life I have the power to grant you any three wishes you make!"
           "Okay," said Hank, figuring he had nothing to lose. "My first wish is a handsome face like Paul
           Newman. Second I want a muscular body like Muhammad Ali. And my last wish is to be equipped
           like my horse here!"
           "Granted!" said the snake. "When you wake up tomorrow you will have all these things."
               Next morning Hank awoke and rushed to the mirror. Sure enough, he had a face like Paul
           Newman and to his delight he saw a pair of massive shoulders and arms like Muhammad Ali. Then
           glancing down in great excitement he let out a blood-curdling howl, "My God, I clean forgot!" he
           babbled. "Yesterday I was riding Nellie!"

                Man lives almost in a kind of deep sleep. He is not aware who he is, what he is doing, what he is
           thinking, where he is going, why he is going. His whole life is the life of a somnambulist, a
           sleepwalker. He is utterly unconscious. Out of this unconsciousness arise a thousand and one
           mischiefs; not that he knowingly wants to do them, he cannot avoid them. It is not a question of his
           decision to stop being mischievous; it is a question of his awareness. If he is aware, mischiefs
           disappear as darkness disappears when you bring light in. If he is not aware he may think he is doing
           something good, he may believe with his whole heart that he is doing something good, but he will be
           doing something mischievous. The total outcome of his life is going to be more chaos in the world.
                You can watch the do-gooders: they all try to help, they all try to serve; they make it a point that
           their whole life should be one of service. So many public servants in the world, so many
           missionaries, so many social reformers, so many great revolutionaries -- and look at the shape the
           world is in. Can it be more in a mess? This is the outcome of all your great efforts, of all your great
           saints. The tree is known by the fruit, and all your religions and all your saints and holy men can
           only be known by the world that they have helped to create. It is the most ugly world possible.
                Not that God is responsible -- God has made a beautiful world. His world is immensely beautiful:
           the trees, the flowers, the rivers, the mountains, the stars. But the world that man has made, the
           social structures that man has created are all ugly, violent, utterly mischievous. But everything bad
           can be done in the name of good.
                Adolf Hitler was not consciously trying to do evil, remember it. He was not knowingly
           destructive; he was thinking he was trying to help humanity. He was thinking he was trying to bring
           a better human being into the world -- the superman. He believed deeply in Friedrich Nietzsche's
           philosophy of the superman and he also believed that the Germans were the really superhuman
           beings, that they were entitled to rule the world.
                And it was not that he was deceiving anybody; he was utterly convinced of the fact. It was not a
           fiction for him, it was a fact that the German race is the real Aryan race, that the Nordics are the
           purest people in the world. He could influence millions of very intelligent people for the simple
           reason that he was convinced of what he was saying and doing. His conviction was hypnotizing. He
           was not a man of great intelligence, he was utterly mediocre, but one thing was there: he was
           convinced that only through him could the world be made a better place to live in. By murdering
           millions of Jews, he was not thinking that he was doing any violence -- he was serving humanity, he
           was getting rid of the enemies of humanity. And it was not a question of his befooling anybody -- he
           was so unconscious that he himself was befooled by his own convictions.
                Adolf Hitler did great mischief -- all the politicians do. And they always do it behind beautiful
           slogans: socialism, democracy, freedom, equality and whatnot. They are all trying to improve upon
           the world, but the total result is more and more confusion and chaos. The world would be a far better
           place if we could be alert enough not to listen to these lunatics. But we are also asleep. What they
           say appeals to us; it has a great magnetic quality in it.
                In fact, a Buddha is bound to be misunderstood, not Adolf Hitler; a Jesus is bound to be
           misunderstood, but not Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, they speak the
           language that you understand. They are just people like you; they live in the same kind of sleep.
           Hence there is a communication between you and them which is missing between you and a Buddha,
           between you and a Lao Tzu.
                Buddha stands on the Everest and you live in the dark valleys far below. You don't look up, you
           have forgotten how to look up. You crawl in the mud. Those who are crawling by your side can be
           understood more easily by you. They speak your language, they speak your idiom; they are perfectly
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in tune with you. They are not different people. But a Buddha, a Krishna, a Mohammed, these are
           different people. They speak a different language, from a different height, from a different vision --
           although they use the same words. But they give different meanings to your words, and you are
           going to miss those meanings.
           Meditate over this:

           "Why won't you, honey?"
           "I'm too tired."
           "Ah, come on...."
           "Leave me alone!"
           "I won't be able to sleep!"
           "Well, I can't sleep now."
           "Please."
           "Why -- in the middle of the night?"
           "Because I'm hot."
           "You get hot at the damnedest times!"
           "You don't love me!"
           "Yes, I do...."
           "If you loved me you would do it."
           "Well, damn it -- alright."
           "What's the matter?"
           "I can't find it."
           "That feels better."
           "It should be -- it's all the way up."
           "That's enough; thanks, dear."
           "Next time, open the damned window yourself!"

           And all the time, what were you thinking?

           Buddha says:

              A MASTER GIVES UP MISCHIEF.


                ... Because a master gives up mind. Mind is mischief; there is no other mischief. Mind is the
           source of all mischief. A master is a master only because he has ceased to be dominated by the mind.
           A master is a master of himself; he is no longer unconscious. Whatsoever he does, he does it
           knowingly. Whatsoever he is, he is perfectly aware about it. His life is not accidental. His every act
           is rooted in consciousness, it is intentional.
                We live in the mind. The mind can even become a saint, can pretend to be holy, but it will not be.
           It is impossible; it is not in the very nature of the mind to be holy. Just look at the history of religions
           -- they are full of bloodshed. In fact more crimes have been committed in the name of religions than
           in the name of anything else. More people have been killed, butchered in the name of religion, God,
           truth, Christianity, Islam, than in the name of political ideologies even. Religion tops the list.
           Religion has been far more mischievous; it has even defeated the politicians. It could defeat them for
           the simple reason that the politician cannot hide himself for very long; sooner or later he is exposed.
           But the religious person can hide himself for centuries and you will never know.
                The people who crucified Jesus have not even yet understood that they committed a sin. I have
           not come across a single Jew who accepts it consciously, that it was a crime to crucify Jesus. And it
           is not that there are not good Jews, not that there are not saintly Jews, not that there are not learned
           rabbis... there are very pious people. Even a man like Martin Buber could not gather the courage to
           say, "We have committed a crime in the past." No, that seems impossible. The crime was on Jesus'
           part because he tried to declare himself the Son of God. That is the crime: that he tried to project his
           image as the messiah, as the messenger of God. That was the crime and he was rightly punished --
           Jews are absolutely convinced of that.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Two thousand years have passed; I have not come across a single book written by a Jew who can
           accept that "We committed a mistake." It seems impossible. They can't see it because the crime was
           committed in the name of religion.
               Thousands of Christians have been killed by Mohammedans, and vice versa. And these wars
           have been called JIHADS -- holy wars. Now, no war is ever holy, no war is a jihad; all wars are
           unholy. What excuse you find, that is another matter; that is just an excuse to fight. You want to
           fight, you want to kill and destroy. You find good excuses, beautiful excuses -- holy wars... and
           millions of people destroyed.
               In these holy wars millions of women were raped; now, that rape is holy. If murder is holy, why
           not rape? That too is holy -- it is done in the name of religion. Everything that is done in the name of
           religion is good.
               Your saints, who look so holy and pious, are the causes of all this nonsense, of all this nuisance
           in the world. When are we going to get rid of all this stupidity? Is man not yet mature enough? Has
           not the time come yet that we should get rid of all this foolishness that has remained overwhelmingly
           powerful down the ages? Is not the time ripe to disconnect ourselves from the past?
               But the only way to disconnect yourself from the past is to disconnect yourself from your mind
           because your mind is the past. Mind means the known, the past. Mind is history, mind is time. Mind
           is Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, mind is Indian, German, Chinese. And unless you get out of the
           hold of the mind, whatsoever you do is going to be mischievous. It may or may not appear
           mischievous to you -- that is another matter -- but it is going to be mischievous. Out of mind nothing
           good can ever happen.
               Good is a by-product of meditation, and bad, a by-product of mind.

              A man said to Mulla Nasruddin, "How is your great friend, the lawyer?"
              Mulla said, "I'm afraid he is lying at death's door."
           "These lawyers! At death's door and still lying?"

               That's the state of the mind: it goes on lying even at death's door. In fact, as death comes closer to
           you you start lying more and more, you start deceiving yourself with many more fictions, you start
           creating myths around you of God, of heaven, of hell. You start creating dreams and you start living
           in dreams because your whole life is shattered. You have wasted the opportunity. You have not been
           creative, you have been destructive.
               And remember, nobody can be neutral. Either you create something in life or you destroy; either
           you live in the mind or you live beyond the mind. If you live beyond the mind you become creative.
           To be in meditation is to be creative. Then whatsoever you do is beautiful; it brings more glory,
           more blessings to the world. Otherwise whatsoever you do is going to make the world more ugly.

               The table and the chair were profoundly in love. They decided to get married and in due course
           they had a new arrival.
           "What shall we christen him?" asked the chair.
           "Chable," was the other's logical reply.

              Of course the child of a table and a chair should be called a chable. And that's what people are
           doing: they go on producing chables. That seems to be their only productivity: all that they can do is
           produce more children.

              A woman was telling me, "I hate my husband! From my very guts," she was saying, "I hate my
           husband! I am afraid some day I may kill him, may poison him!"
              I said, "If you hate him so much, then how come you have eighteen children?"
              She said, "I was trying to create such a crowd that he would get lost in it."

              People hate and still they go on reproducing because their productivity knows no other way.

              Rena went into the city clerk's office to report the birth of her sixth child.
           "But, miss, this is your sixth child by the same father," said the clerk. "Why don't you marry him?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Are you jivin'?" replied Rena. "I don't even like the sonofabitch!"

              But people have to do something; they can't just sit. They have to find something to remain
           occupied with. That's how all the mischiefs arise in the world.
           Buddha says: A MASTER GIVES UP MISCHIEF.

              HE IS SERENE.


               Serenity is the flavor of meditation, serenity is the fragrance of meditation. He is so serene, so
           silent that he can be absolutely empty, with no desire to do anything. When all desire to remain
           occupied disappears, then only can something good happen through you, then God can happen
           through you -- and good only happens through you when God happens through you. Good is nothing
           but God flowing through you.
              HE IS SERENE.



              HE LEAVES EVERYTHING BEHIND HIM.


               He leaves the past, he leaves his mind, he leaves his memories, he leaves his tradition. He is not a
           conformist, he cannot be a conformist. No master has ever been a conformist; that would be a
           contradiction in terms. He is always a rebel. He is pure rebellion. He dies every moment to the past;
           he never collects the past. Hence he remains always fresh, as fresh as the dewdrops in the early
           morning sun, as fresh as the lotus leaf, as fresh as the petals of a rose. He is always fresh, he is
           always young; he never grows old. He grows up, but he never grows old. The body of course grows
           old, but his consciousness remains absolutely fresh; it never gathers any dust or rust. And he is so
           serene that he can sit alone for eternity with nothing to do -- still he will be absolutely blissful. He
           will enjoy his serenity.
               This serenity cannot be cultivated from the outside; this serenity comes only when you have
           become a watcher of the mind, when you have become a witness of the mind and through witnessing
           you have transcended the mind. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a serenity explodes from all
           directions. It showers on you like flowers and it goes on showering. Your life then is a life of virtue.
           It is not a question of cultivating it, it is not a question of creating it -- it is a consequence of
           meditation.
               This point should be remembered again and again; never forget it, because it has been forgotten
           millions of times. Again and again a buddha comes to remind you but you go on forgetting it, for the
           simple reason that a cultivated serenity is cheap. You can look serene, you can make a serene face;
           you can act it, you can be a good actor, you can be very efficient, but that will be nothing but
           hypocrisy. Deep down you will be boiling; deep down inside you there will be hell. And from the
           outside you have perfumed yourself and inside you are stinking. Inside you are clinging to all your
           misery, to your past, to all that is dead, to all that is rotten, to all that should be burned; you are
           clinging to it. And those who cling to dead corpses slowly slowly become dead themselves; those
           who live with corpses become corpses themselves. On the surface you may smile, you may laugh;
           deep down there are only tears -- tears of pain.
               But this strange fact about man has to be understood: that he clings to the past. Even if the past is
           ugly he clings to the past, even though he has only suffered. Why does he cling to the past? --
           because the past gives him a definition, the past gives him an identity, the past gives him an idea of
           who he is.

               After six weeks away on business the married executive entered a West Side brothel in Chicago.
           He walked up to the madam, handed her a hundred-dollar bill and said, "I want the worst screw in
           the house!"
           "But sir," answered the madam, "one hundred dollars will buy you our best."
           "No," demanded the businessman, "I want the worst available."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I can't let you do this," the woman pleaded. "You're entitled to the top of the line."
           "Listen, lady," said the man, "I'm not horny, just homesick!"

               Watch your mind, how you cling to the past. There is nothing to cling to -- just dry bones,
           skeletons, but you are holding onto them as if they are your very life. And because you are holding
           them, your hands are not empty to hold anything else; because you are looking towards the past you
           cannot see the present and you cannot enjoy the beauty of it, the joy of it. You cannot enter into the
           present -- and the present is the door to God. The past is no more.
               And God is never past, God is always present. God is never future either, God is always present.
           You cannot say "God was," you cannot say "God will be," you can only say "God is." In fact to say
           "God is" is a repetition because God means isness; isness and God are synonymous.
           Buddha says: HE LEAVES EVERYTHING BEHIND HIM.
               The master cannot be a Hindu, cannot be a Buddhist, cannot be a Christian. The master is simply
           a master; these names are of the slaves. Somebody is a slave in the name of Christianity and
           somebody is a slave in the name of Hinduism. These are all slaves; they don't know what freedom is.
           They are clinging to such utter nonsense, but they are clinging so hard that they can't see anything
           else. Their eyes are full of the dust of the past. They are blind because of the past; they are blind for
           no other reason.
               You are not missing God because you are sinners; you are missing God because you are
           past-oriented. And God is available only now... here. God knows only one time, now, and only one
           place, here. And you are never now and you are never here; you are always somewhere else. 'Then'
           and 'there' are significant words for you; 'now' and 'here' are almost meaningless to you.
               The master lives now and lives here. HE LEAVES EVERYTHING BEHIND HIM. He goes on
           destroying the bridges he has crossed.

              HE DOES NOT TAKE OFFENSE
              AND HE DOES NOT GIVE IT.
              HE NEVER RETURNS EVIL FOR EVIL.


              Obviously, if somebody insults him he does not take it. You cannot insult a master, that is
           impossible. How can you insult a man who does not take it? To insult a man two things are needed:
           somebody to insult him and his readiness to take it.

               Once Buddha was insulted very much by a few people. They abused him badly. He listened
           silently and then he said, "Have you anything more to say? -- because I have to reach the other
           village in time. People must be waiting there. If you still have something else to say, when I come
           back I will be coming by the same route and I will inform you and I will keep a special time for you,
           so you can come and say whatsoever you like."
               Those people were very much puzzled. They said, "We are not saying something, we are
           insulting you!"
               Buddha laughed. He said, "For that you have come a little late. You should have come at least
           ten years ago. Now I am not so foolish. You can insult, that is your freedom, but whether to take it or
           not that is my freedom. I am not taking it."
               And he said to them, "In the other village which I just passed before yours, people came with
           sweets to offer me. I thanked them. I said, 'I don't need sweets and I don't eat sweets.' What do you
           think they must have done with the sweets?"
               Somebody from the crowd said, "They must have taken them back home."
               Buddha said, "Now what will you do? You will have to take your insults back home. I don't take
           your insults -- there is no other way, you have to take them back."

               When you feel insulted you have participated with the person. But you are not conscious, so
           anybody can push your buttons. You function like a machine: push the button and you are on; push
           the button and you are off. Anybody can enrage you, anybody can make you smile and laugh,
           anybody can make you cry and weep. Anybody, any stupid fellow can do that! One just needs to
           know where the buttons are -- and almost always they are in the same places. It is very rare to find a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           person whose buttons are in different places.

              A Polack was driving his Volkswagen, when suddenly it stopped for some reason. He went to
           look -- maybe there was some trouble in the engine -- but he could not find the engine. So he
           thought, "My God, my engine has been stolen!"
              Just then another Polack stopped by his side. He said, "Is there some trouble?"
              The first man said, "Yes, it seems my engine has been stolen."
              The man said, "Don't be worried. This morning I was looking at the back of my car -- there is a
           spare engine. You can take it!"

               Now in a Volkswagen the engine is not in the usual place; it is at the back, not in the front. But
           God has not yet learned anything from the Volkswagen -- he still makes the same engine with the
           same buttons, maybe a little bit different here and there, just a little change. Anybody can find... just
           a little groping and you can find anybody else's button. If you know your buttons you know
           everybody else's buttons.
               You will be in a difficulty only with a buddha, because you can go on pushing his buttons and
           nothing will happen because he is no more identified with his mechanism. He will watch you
           pushing his buttons and he will enjoy the exercise that you are giving him, but that's all.
               HE DOES NOT TAKE OFFENSE AND HE DOES NOT GIVE IT. HE NEVER RETURNS
           EVIL FOR EVIL. He understands humanity so deeply. By understanding himself he has understood
           the miserable state of all human beings. He feels sorry for people; he is compassionate. He does not
           return evil for evil for the simple reason that he does not feel offended in the first place. Secondly, he
           feels sorry for you; he does not feel antagonistic towards you.

           Once it happened in Baroda:
                I was talking to a big crowd. Somebody sitting just in the front row became so disturbed by what
           I was saying, he became so disturbed by it he went out of control, he lost his senses. He threw one of
           his shoes at me. At that moment I remembered that I used to play volleyball when I was a student, so
           I caught hold of his shoe in the middle and asked him for the other one. He was at a loss.
                I said, "You throw the other one too! What am I going to do with one? If you want to present
           something...." He waited. I said, "Why are you waiting? Throw the other one too, because this way
           neither will I be able to use the shoe nor will you be able to use it. And I am not going to return it,
           because evil should not be returned for evil! So you please give the other one too."
                He was so shocked because he could not believe it... first, what he had done he could not believe
           -- he was a very good man, a scholar, a well-known Sanskrit scholar, a pundit. He was not expected
           to behave like that, but it had happened -- people are so unconscious. If I had acted the way he was
           unconsciously expecting, then everything would have been okay. But I asked for the other shoe, and
           that shocked him very much. He was dazed.
                I told somebody who was sitting by his side, "You pull off his other shoe. I am not letting him
           off, I want both the shoes. In fact, I was thinking of purchasing some shoes, and this man seems to be
           so generous!" And the shoe was really new.
                The man came in the night, fell at my feet, and asked to be forgiven. I said, "You forget all about
           it, there is no question... I was not angry, so why should I forgive you? To forgive, one first has to be
           angry. I was not angry, I enjoyed the scene. In fact, it was something so beautiful that many people
           who had fallen asleep were suddenly awakened! I was thinking on the way that it is a good idea, that
           I should plant a few of my followers, so once in a while they can throw a shoe so all the sleepers
           wake up. At least for a few moments they will remain alert because something is happening! I am
           thankful to you."
                For years he went on writing to me, "Please forgive me! Unless you forgive me I will go on
           writing."
                But I told him, "First I have to be angry. Forgiving you simply means that I accept that I was
           angry. How can I forgive you? You forgive me, because I am unable to be angry with you, unable to
           forgive you -- you forgive me!"
                I don't know whether he has forgiven me or not, but he has forgotten me. Now he writes no more.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ALAS FOR THE MAN, Buddha says,
              WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER,
              AND EVEN MORE FOR HIM
              WHO RETURNS THE BLOW.


               Why ALAS FOR THE MAN WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER...? Because he
           is raising his hand against himself, because there is no one who is other. All existence is one. When
           you hit somebody you are hitting yourself. You are simply being childish. It is the same reality: I am
           one of its waves, you are another of its waves. One wave hitting another wave in the ocean -- they
           are both hitting themselves.
               ALAS FOR THE MAN WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER, AND EVEN
           MORE FOR HIM WHO RETURNS THE BLOW. Why more for him? -- because then he creates a
           vicious circle. And that's how we are living, in many many vicious circles. People go on fighting;
           once something starts then it seems there is no end to it. You do something in revenge and the other
           has to wait for his opportunity to do something against you, then you do something against him, and
           so on and so forth. It goes on from one life to another life, it continues.
               The wise person is one, the master is one, who stops all these vicious circles.

               Once a man came and spat on Buddha's face, he was so angry. Buddha asked him, "Is that all or
           do you want to do something more? Please do it and finish it."
               The man asked, "What do you mean -- 'Please do it and finish it'?"
               Buddha said, "In a past life I had insulted you and now the time has come when the vicious circle
           can be closed. Now you insult me and I will not return anything; I will simply accept it and close the
           circle -- it is just to close the accounts with you. I was waiting for you; in fact, the day I came into
           this town I was hoping that you would come and you would do something and the accounts could be
           closed. This is my last vicious circle; I have closed all others. Now I am out of all vicious circles. I
           am thankful to you; otherwise something was hanging in the air -- only one thread, but something
           was hanging in the air, something incomplete.
           "Now the circle is complete and I don't want to continue it anymore. Now it is up to me to continue
           or not to continue. Now I am the master; up to now you were the master. By spitting on my face your
           mastery is gone; now I am the master and I don't want to continue this vicious circle anymore. This
           is my last life and I want to close all accounts with everyone -- good accounts, bad accounts, all
           kinds of accounts have to be closed -- so that I can disappear into the ultimate with no strings
           attached to the world. I am immensely happy," Buddha said to him.

              RESIST THE PLEASURES OF LIFE
              AND THE DESIRE TO HURT --
              TILL SORROWS VANISH.


               Pleasure is dependent on others, and whatsoever is dependent on others will make you a slave,
           will create a bondage. And Buddha's ultimate goal is freedom, nirvana -- freedom from all bondage.
               Hence all the awakened ones have been saying: Search for bliss. Don't waste your time in
           ordinary pleasures. In the first place they are momentary; in the second place every pleasure brings
           pain. Pain is the other side of the same coin. It brings pain in the same proportion; the greater the
           pleasure, the greater the pain. So when you are enjoying something, be aware: soon the pain will
           follow; it is inevitable. Just as the day follows the night and the night follows the day, pain and
           pleasure follow each other. They are not separate, they are inseparable.
               First, pleasures are momentary, they are just soap-bubbles. To waste your precious life for them
           is simply stupid, unintelligent. Second, every pleasure brings pain. But people are so foolish that
           they never look at the association. They think pain has come from some other source, they think
           pleasures can be forever. Again and again they are ditched by their pleasures into pain; again and
           again they go on thinking that there were some reasons why this pleasure was destroyed.
               Whether reasons were there or not is irrelevant; every pleasure is momentary, it is going to
           disappear, and in its wake the pain.... You can rationalize it; that rationalization will only help you to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           continue in the same old rut. But see the fact. Seeing the truth is a great liberation; seeing that every
           pleasure is inevitably a bringer of pain, you will be freed from both.
               And third: it is the same energy that is involved in pleasure which has to move towards bliss.
           Pleasure is dependent on others; bliss is totally independent, it is your own. It arises within your
           being, it is your self-nature; hence you are not dependent on anybody. And because it is your
           self-nature it is forever. There is no contrary, there is no opposite to bliss.
               Happiness is just in between pleasure and bliss. In happiness something is independent and
           something is dependent; it is a mixture of both. Hence the man who lives in sheer pleasure is in a
           better condition in a way; he is healthy, as healthy as animals are. Animals live in sheer pleasure:
           when the pain comes they suffer, when the pleasure comes they enjoy. They go on rotating between
           pleasure and pain. The man who lives only in pleasures -- a Don Juan -- he is in a way healthy,
           normal, because he is part of the animal world; he is not yet human. In a way his life is clear, it has
           no complexity.
               But the man who lives in happiness or tries to find happiness, lives for happiness, is far more
           confused because he is nowhere. He is neither the animal nor yet the divine; he is in a limbo. He is
           riding on two horses; he will be in very great difficulty. And that's where almost all human beings
           are. It is very rare to find a human being who lives purely in pleasure -- it is rare to find a Zorba the
           Greek who lives purely in pleasure. He is clear, there is no confusion in him. He simply walks on the
           earth; he has no idea of flying in the sky. He has accepted the law of gravitation and he knows no
           other law.
               The man who lives for happiness, who knows the beauty of music, who knows the beauty of
           paintings, art, who knows something higher than the animals can know, is far more confused; he is in
           far more of a mess... because while you are listening to great music something is contributed by the
           music which is outside and something is contributed by the music which is inside; it is a meeting of
           two polarities. You are hanging in the middle and both are pulling you in separate directions. You
           will find more anxiety in your life.
               That's why poor people are less in anguish than rich people. Rich countries live in anguish
           because they have enough pleasure; they are fed up with it. Now they want something higher, and
           with the higher the problems arise.
               The animal part is well settled because it is your heritage of millions of years. It is in your
           chemistry, in your biology, in your physiology. Everything is settled, instinctive. You need not be
           aware, you need not do anything. But if you seek and search for happiness then you are going into a
           more shadowy world which is less substantial -- higher but more shadowy.
               And the third goal is bliss, which again is very clear, as clear as the first, in fact far more clear
           than the first because the first has a clarity, but the clarity is of a much lower kind. The third has a
           clarity of the highest quality. Only the awakened one knows the clarity of the third.
               Buddha says: RESIST THE PLEASURES OF LIFE.... Become a little more mature. Don't be
           childish, don't remain animals. Put your energies towards the highest goal in life -- let bliss be your
           goal.
               And people who live in pleasures also have one thing more in their life, and that is the desire to
           hurt others, because pleasures create competition. If you want more money, of course you have to
           snatch it from somebody else. If you want power, then somebody else will lose power. If you want to
           be the president, then somebody else will not be the president. Hence it is a constant struggle. You
           have to hurt many to succeed. You have to be very destructive, inhumanly destructive.
               It is only the goal of bliss which can be nonviolent; otherwise pleasures are going to be violent.
               Buddha says: RESIST THE PLEASURES OF LIFE AND THE DESIRE TO HURT -- TILL
           SORROWS VANISH. Be alert. He is not saying repress, he cannot say that. Be aware -- so that
           pleasures don't pull you downwards, so that slowly slowly you are freed from your animal heritage,
           so that slowly slowly you can transcend your biology.
               And avoid the desire to hurt others. There is a certain joy in hurting others. We go on hurting
           people; it gives you the feeling of power. It helps you to feel that you are powerful when you can
           hurt somebody. It is a very ugly desire, egoistic, but everybody does that. Watch yourself, in how
           many ways you hurt people. You may not be doing anything in particular to hurt them, but your
           gesture may be enough. People walk in such a way, talk in such a way, that others are hurt. And
           nobody can blame them because what they are doing is so subtle. They use words which can hurt,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and they use them with such skill that you cannot blame them. They can always find a way to
           rationalize.

               A black gentleman was arrested for shooting a man. The next morning he was brought into court.
           "Why did you shoot that man?" asked the judge.
           "Because he called me a black sonofabitch!"
           "You didn't have any business shooting a man for that!"
           "Well, Your Honor, what would you have done if he called you that?"
           "Oh, he wouldn't have called me that!"
           "I know, Judge, but suppose he had called you the kind of a sonofabitch you are, then? Of course he
           cannot call you 'a black sonofabitch' -- you are not black -- but the kind of a sonofabitch you are, if
           he had called you that, what then?"

              People can go on finding ways skillfully.... One has to remain aware until all sorrows vanish.

              NEVER OFFEND
              BY WHAT YOU THINK OR SAY OR DO.


                That does not mean, remember, that people will not be offended. They may still be offended, but
           it should not be an intention on your part. Buddha is not saying that nobody will be offended by the
           master, because thousands were offended by Buddha himself. Certainly many were offended by
           Jesus; otherwise why should he have been crucified?
                Buddha is saying: NEVER OFFEND BY WHAT YOU THINK OR SAY OR DO. It should not
           be your intention. Still, it is going to happen: whenever the master speaks it is almost inevitable that
           many will be offended because they will understand in their own way what he is saying. They will
           not hear what he is saying; they will hear only what they can hear. They are going to misunderstand
           him. That is absolutely inevitable, it cannot be avoided.

               It was late afternoon in a small town. Joe, the owner of the local beer parlor, was lazily polishing
           glassware when his friend, Mickey, came running in.
           "Joe," he shouted, "get over to your house real quick. I just stopped off to see if you were home and I
           heard a stranger's voice in your bedroom. So I looked in the window and, gosh, I hate to tell you this,
           but your wife is in bed with another man!"
           "Is that so?" said Joe, matter-of-factly. "What does this guy look like?"
           "Oh, he is tall and completely bald."
           "And did he have a thick red mustache?" asked Joe.
           "Right! Right!" yelled Mickey.
           "Did you notice if he had a gold front tooth?"
           "Damn it, man, you're right!"
           "Must be that jackass, Dick Roberts," said Joe. "He'll screw anything!"

               Now, when you are talking to a husband about his wife it is a totally different matter. He does
           not care, he is no longer interested, he is fed up, he is finished. You may be excited that something
           has to be done, but the husband will hear through his experience of being a husband to the woman;
           he cannot put that experience aside.
               I am saying something to you; you will hear it through your experiences, through your memories,
           through your ways of interpreting things. Nobody knows what you are going to gather out of it; that
           will be more your own than mine. I may have triggered the process, that's all, but you will be the
           creator of the whole phenomenon.
               Hence, remember, the master never offends, still people are offended.
           Buddha says:

              HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That has been one of the most beautiful things in the East -- that flower has bloomed in the East
           -- the East can be proud of it: we have always honored the man who is awake. In other parts of the
           world, particularly in the West, the expert is honored, the technician is honored, the scientist is
           honored, the man who can do many things is honored. But the man who is conscious is not
           considered at all just for his consciousness.
                Gurdjieff was not honored at all. In the East he would have been a buddha; in the West he was
           not honored at all -- insulted in every possible way, for the simple reason that the West has no idea
           how to honor the awakened man, because the awakened man fulfills no utilitarian purpose. If your
           machine is broken he cannot be of any help; he cannot mend your car... he cannot help you in any
           way in the world. In fact, all that he can do is help you to get rid of the world. And nobody wants to
           get rid of the world; everybody wants to be in possession of the world. Hence the expert is honored
           in the West; in the East the expert has not been honored, never. The expert is okay -- he is a servant,
           he serves, he is paid for it. But we have honored the buddha.
                To honor a buddha is to honor a roseflower, which has no utilitarian purpose. You cannot eat it.
           If it is a question of starvation, roses won't help; wheat will be far better. If it is a question of choice
           between wheat and roses you are going to choose wheat. What are you going to do with roses? A
           buddha is like a rose: you can appreciate the beauty, you can dance around the rose, you can sing
           songs to it, you can look at the rose and praise the Lord, but what else? It cannot fill your hungry
           stomach, it cannot help you to succeed in the world, it cannot make you a great warrior. If you carry
           a roseflower you will not become Alexander the Great; a sword is needed, not a rose.
                But the expert is as much asleep as you are; there is no difference, no qualitative difference.
           Hence in the East the expert is paid but he commands no honor.

              A motion picture actor told his psychiatrist, "I'm attracted to men instead of women."
              The shrink replied, "You've come to the right place, handsome!"

               Now the shrink cannot be honored in the East; in the West he has become one of the most
           honored people. He has even defeated the priests. Now priests are learning how to be shrinks; priests
           are going to the universities to learn psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychosynthesis and all kinds of
           nonsense, because now they know the profession of the priest is finished; they have to add
           something more to its glamor. And they see the shrink is getting higher and higher; he is the most
           highly paid person in the West. In the East nobody will think anything special about a shrink. Yes,
           he cannot be more than a motor mechanic, maybe he is a mind mechanic -- he is also a plumber. You
           pay him, but honor is totally different.
               Honor is due only where payment won't do. Where you cannot pay, where there is no possibility
           of paying back, then honor. Honor is the acceptance of the fact that it is impossible to pay back; the
           debt cannot be paid.

              HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE
              AND SHOWS YOU THE WAY.
              HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SACRIFICE.


               The buddhas show you the way. You have to walk, you have to go; buddhas only point. They
           don't give you detailed directions because each individual is so unique and different that no detailed
           directions can be given. Only vague instructions, only indicators, pointers, hints at the most -- not
           orders, not commandments....

              I have heard the story about the Ten Commandments. Of course God had asked the Indians first,
           "Would you like to have a few commandments?" They said, "No, not at all."
              Then he asked the French and they said, "We want to live in freedom, we don't want any
           hindrances."
              And he went on asking and nobody was ready. Finally he asked Moses, "Would you like a few
           commandments?"
           He said, "How much?"
           And God said, "Free, absolutely free!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "Then I will have ten!"

               HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE AND SHOWS YOU THE WAY. He does not command
           you; he does not tell you, "Do this and don't do that." He simply gives you a few hints here and there
           -- and keeps you free, allows you total freedom. He is not to be imitated or followed; he is only to be
           understood. You have to learn from the awakened person the beauty, the bliss of being awakened,
           that's all, and then you have to search on your own. It is always an individual search, a private
           exploration. Truth cannot be transferred from one hand to another; it is untransferable.
               HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SACRIFICE.... And why should a buddha be honored? -- because
           of the fire of his sacrifice. It is impossible for you to understand the sacrifice of a buddha because it
           is absolutely invisible to you. You will know it only when you become a buddha. What he has
           known cannot be put into words, still he tries; it is a constant sacrifice.
               What he has known is beyond the mind, yet he tries in every possible way to make you
           understand it, to help you understand it. He puts all his energy into making the incomprehensible
           comprehensible. His sacrifice is great. He takes so much trouble -- for no reason at all, because he is
           not going to gain anything out of it. His work is finished! His ship has arrived. He can leave the body
           any moment, any moment he decides, still he goes on living in the body -- which is a confinement,
           which is a bondage. Still he goes on suffering in the body for the simple reason that he would like to
           convey the unconveyable. His compassion is infinite.

                Ramakrishna suffered from cancer. Many times his disciples said to him, "Paramahansadeva, if it
           is too much of a pain, we will be very sad, miserable, but you please leave your body."
                He said, "It is all the same whether the body has cancer or does not have cancer. To be in the
           body now is a suffering; even if it is healthy it is a suffering because now I can be as vast as the sky.
           But for you I will cling to the body a little longer."

               And the master has to find ways and means to cling to the body because all the old associations
           are broken, all the old connections are broken. He has to forge new connections, which is really one
           of the most difficult things in existence.

               Ramakrishna was very much interested in food, so much so that his wife was always feeling
           embarrassed. He would be talking to his disciples and suddenly in the middle of it he would rush to
           the kitchen and ask Sharda, "What are you cooking?"
               It is just like if suddenly, in the middle of the lecture, I rush to the kitchen and ask Vivek, "What
           are you cooking?" and then come back again, and you have to wait!
               Sharda said many times, "This is not right. What will the people think?"
               Ramakrishna always laughed and never answered. One day Sharda persisted: "You answer me!
           There is something strange about it." Whenever she brought his food he would stand up; he was so
           eager to know. He would remove the cloth and look into the THALI. People were always sitting
           there and they would start laughing and giggling: "What kind of God-realized man is this?"
               One day Sharda persisted, then Ramakrishna said, "If you want to know the truth I will tell you:
           this is the only way I am clinging to the body. I have created a false desire for food. And remember,
           the day I show no interest in food then that is the end. Only three days more will I live after that."
               Sharda did not pay much attention to it -- who pays much attention to such people? They go on
           talking about things, so many things; you listen and you don't pay much attention.
               But one day Sharda came in with the thali... Ramakrishna did not stand up. Not only that: he was
           looking at the door, he turned his back towards Sharda and started looking out of the window in the
           other direction. Sharda suddenly remembered -- the thali fell from her hands.
               Ramakrishna said, "So now you understand; that day you missed. Now only three days more...."
           And exactly on the third day he died.

                Only when you become enlightened, awakened, will you know how a man who has come home
           still goes on living in the caravanserai -- dirty, ugly -- and still goes on helping people who are
           insane. HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SACRIFICE.... Hence, Buddha says, honor him.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              MATTED HAIR OR FAMILY OR CASTE
              DO NOT MAKE A MASTER
              BUT THE TRUTH AND GOODNESS
              WITH WHICH HE IS BLESSED.



              YOUR HAIR IS TANGLED
              AND YOU SIT ON A DEERSKIN.
              WHAT FOLLY!
              WHEN INSIDE YOU ARE RAGGED WITH LUST.


               Character is not a decisive factor. You can cultivate a beautiful facade around yourself, but the
           really decisive factor is your inside.

              THE MASTER'S CLOTHES ARE IN TATTERS.
              HIS VEINS STAND OUT,
              HE IS WASTING AWAY.
              ALONE IN THE FOREST
              HE SITS AND MEDITATES.


               For years Buddha was meditating in the forest, alone, not caring about his clothes, not caring
           about his body, not caring about anything else except his meditation; except for one thing all was
           dropped from his consciousness: how to reach the center. Once you have reached it then there is no
           problem, but before you can reach it, it has to be a one-pointed search. You have to be
           concentratedly concerned about only one thing, excluding everything else. Unless your search is so
           total, so whole, so wholehearted, you will not succeed in it.
              ALONE IN THE FOREST HE SITS AND MEDITATES.

               Wherever you are, learn to be alone, sit alone. It is difficult, the most difficult thing in the world,
           because when you are alone the mind starts dying. It cannot exist in aloneness, it needs company.
           Hence whenever you are alone the mind says, "Do something, go somewhere. Turn on the TV or the
           radio." The mind wants company, engagement, occupation.
               If you can be just alone... sitting silently doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by
           itself. One day your inner being blooms into a one-thousand-petaled lotus. That day you have also
           become a buddha, and only then will you be able to understand the meaning of Jesus' life, the
           meaning of Buddha's sayings, the meaning of Lao Tzu, Zarathustra. Before that whatsoever you try
           to understand is just your mind interpreting, and that interpretation has been one of the greatest
           causes of mischief.
               Drop the mind -- the only thing to be renounced in the world is the mind -- and move towards the
           no-mind, the inner silence and serenity. Know yourself in your absolute aloneness and your life will
           be fulfilled, your life will be blessed: blessed with eternal bliss, blessed with truth, blessed with
           freedom.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11
                                                    Chapter #10
                                       Chapter title: Laugh your way to God
           20 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004200
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: DHAM1110
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video: Yes
                Length: 37 mins
              Q2 and Q4 on video




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              TO BECOME ENLIGHTENED, DO YOU NEED TO BE JEWISH OR DOES IT JUST HELP?


                 Amitabh, religion has been missing one very fundamental quality: the sense of humor. It has
           been very unfortunate because it has made religion sick.
                 The sense of humor is part, an essential part, of the wholeness of man. It keeps him healthy, it
           keeps him young, it keeps him fresh. And for centuries the sad people have dominated religion. They
           have expelled laughter -- from the churches, from the mosques, from the temples. The day laughter
           enters back into the holy places they will be really holy, because they will be whole. Laughter is the
           only quality that distinguishes man from other animals. Only man can see the ridiculous, the absurd.
           Only he has the capacity and the consciousness to be aware of the cosmic joke that existence is. It IS
           a cosmic joke; it is not a serious affair.
                 Seriousness is a disease, but seriousness has been praised, respected, honored. It was absolutely
           essential to be serious to be a saint; hence only pathological people became interested in religion,
           people who were incapable of laughter. And people who are incapable of laughter are subhuman,
           they are not human yet -- what to say about their being divine? That is impossible -- they have not
           yet become human. And to be human is the bridge between the animal and the divine. Hence I have
           tremendous respect for the sense of humor, for laughter.
                 Laughter is far more sacred than prayer, because prayer can be done by any stupid person; it does
           not require much intelligence. Laughter requires intelligence, it requires presence of mind, a
           quickness of seeing into things. A joke cannot be explained: either you understand it or you miss it.
           If it is explained it loses the whole point; hence no joke can be explained. Either immediately you get
           it.... If you don't get it immediately then you can try to find out the meaning of it; you will find out
           the meaning, but the joke will not be there. It was in the immediacy.
                 Humor needs presence, utter presence. It is not a question of analysis, it is a question of insight.
                 Amitabh, as far as humor is concerned, to be a little bit Jewish is very good -- everybody should
           be a little bit Jewish! For enlightenment it will prepare the ground, it will make you more alive.
           Enlightenment is becoming totally alive. Laughter brings life to you.
                 And if you can laugh totally there are a few more things to be understood. In deep laughter the
           ego disappears, it is not found at all. You can't have both laughter and the ego. If the ego is there it
           will keep you serious. All egoists are serious people, and all serious people are egoists.
                 To be able to laugh, you need to be like a child -- egoless. And when you laugh, suddenly
           laughter is there, you are not. You come back when the laughter is gone. When the laughter is
           disappearing far away, when it is subsiding, you come back, the ego comes back. But in the very
           moment of laughter you have a glimpse of egolessness.
                 There are only two activities in which you can feel egolessness easily. One is laughter, another is
           dancing. Dancing is a physiological method, a bodily method to feel egolessness. When the dancer is
           lost in his dance he is no more -- there is only dance. Laughter is a little more subtle than dance, it is
           a little more inner, but it has also the same fragrance. When you laugh.... It has to be a belly laughter.
           It should not be just superficial, it should not be just polite, it should not be just a mannerism.

           I have heard:
               One typist was leaving her job. This was her last day in the office, and the boss was telling the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           old jokes that he had always been telling. Everybody was laughing, except the typist. The boss
           asked, "What is the matter with you? Can't you get the jokes?"
               She said, "I got them long ago. You've been repeating them a thousand and one times, but I need
           not laugh anymore. Anyway tomorrow I am leaving. These fools are laughing because they have to
           laugh -- you are the boss. So whether the joke is worth laughing at or not doesn't matter. They have
           to laugh, it is part of their duty. But I'm leaving, what can you do to me? I'm not laughing, you
           cannot make me laugh at all those rotten jokes."

               If you laugh out of duty or out of a sense of mannerism, out of politeness, then it is not a belly
           laughter, then it is just superficial; on the circumference, you are managing it. You will not
           understand what I am saying about laughter then.
               Laugh so that your whole body, your whole being becomes involved, and suddenly there will be
           a glimpse. For the moment the past disappears, the future disappears, the ego disappears, everything
           disappears -- there is only laughter. And in that moment of laughter you will be able to see the whole
           existence laughing.
               Indians don't have the sense of laughter. In India we don't have any Indian jokes. All the jokes
           that are told in India are borrowed, there is no such thing as an Indian joke. Indians are serious
           people, very religious people, holy people. How can they descend to such low things as joking? They
           talk about God, they talk about moksha, they talk about nirvana... they can't laugh. These are not
           laughing matters! You cannot laugh about God. But if you can't laugh about God you will never
           understand God.
               The Indian statues of Buddha are totally different from the Chinese or the Japanese statues of
           Buddha. You must have noted the difference; the difference is great. The Indian Buddha has a very
           athletic body. His belly is very small, almost nonexistent. He never had a belly laugh. If there is no
           belly how can you have a belly laugh? But the Chinese Buddha has a big belly, and not only a belly
           -- even on the statue you can see ripples of laughter on the belly. Even in marble you can see he is
           laughing, the belly is laughing.
               No Indian will agree with the Chinese statue. He will say, "This is not right, Buddha was not like
           this, with such a big belly...." The Chinese Buddha looks like a clown -- but I have great respect for
           the Chinese Buddha. The Chinese Buddha has absorbed Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu. He is
           pregnant with Lao Tzu, that's why that big belly. Inside his belly there is Lao Tzu. And you cannot
           keep Lao Tzu quiet. He must be laughing and kicking and doing things; hence the ripples on the
           belly.
               Lao Tzu has the sense of humor. Maybe because of that Lao Tzu could not become the founder
           of a great religion. There exists no religion in his name. Yes, a few rare people have followed his
           path, but there is no organized church, for the simple reason that Lao Tzu seems so nonserious. He
           used to ride on a buffalo. Now, can't you find a horse? Anybody could have afforded at least a
           donkey -- but a buffalo...? And that too, not in the right position, but sitting backwards! The buffalo
           is going one way and Lao Tzu is looking the other way. He must have created laughter wherever he
           passed. People must have gathered to see the scene, what is happening.
               And Chuang Tzu far surpassed his master. There has never been such a beautiful man as Chuang
           Tzu. All that he has said is utterly absurd, ridiculous! -- but with profound meaning. First you will
           laugh and then slowly you will see the point that he is indicating, in a very joyful way, towards
           certain truths which can only be indicated in a joyful way. If you are serious you cannot make people
           understand the beauty of existence, the celebration of existence.
               Life is not a tragedy, it is a comedy. It is not tragic. But religious people have depended on the
           very idea of life being tragic: it is misery, utter misery -- what is there to laugh at? Hence they
           attracted the people who are incapable of laughter, of living, of loving.
               My effort here, Amitabh, is just the opposite. I want you to learn as much from Buddha, as much
           from Lao Tzu, as much from Krishna, as much from Chuang Tzu as possible. I would like you to
           absorb all the great experiences that have happened in the past, so that a higher synthesis becomes
           possible. In that higher synthesis laughter is going to be one of the most essential qualities. With
           truth, courage and virtue, laughter also has its own place.
               In that sense Jews are beautiful people. They have the greatest sense of laughter in the whole
           world. They are on the one extreme; on the other extreme are the British people. So many letters I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have received, angry: "Beloved Master, you don't understand the British." Who cares to understand?
           And why should I understand the British, for what? Is nothing else left to understand?
               I have been telling so many jokes about the Italians, but not a single angry letter. They
           understand that jokes are jokes! If you understand too much you cannot joke. A little bit of
           misunderstanding is needed.
               Now, one of the most British of all the British sannyasins, Prembodhi, has written, "You don't
           understand the British at all." You simply prove my point!
               Somebody else has written, "This is not right. You say that no British woman is a woman; they
           are all ladies." I was simply paying respect!
               And I think it is a well-known fact that nothing should be said against the dead. For the dead you
           should always show respect. That's what I was doing! Why are you angry about it?
               I repeat again: it is very difficult, almost impossible, to find a British woman -- only ladies are
           there. All men may not be gentlemen; men after all are men, boys are boys! And old boys more so!
           But as far as women are concerned, they carry the culture, the religion, they are the foundation
           stones. The British woman has a certain face. No other woman has that kind of nose... they all need
           plastic surgery!
               Amitabh, the only problem with the Jews is when it comes to the question of price. Then they
           will go on haggling for centuries. Enlightenment will be just in front of them, but they will haggle
           for the price.
               So that is the problem, Amitabh; there you have to be aware.

                A Scot went into a tailor's and asked to see a suit.
                The Jewish proprietor came back with a nice Harris tweed. "Look at this," he said, "and it's not
           fifty pounds, not even forty. Thirty pounds and it's yours."
                The Scot examined it carefully. "I wouldn't give you twenty-five pounds for it, not even twenty.
           My price is eighteen pounds."
           "Right," said the Jew. "That's the way I like to do business -- no haggling."

               Then there were the two Jews who bumped into each other after forty years, and rushed to the
           nearest pub to celebrate.
           "It will be magic to have a drink together after all these years," said one.
           "Yeah," said the other, "but don't forget, it's your round."

              The rich widow needed a blood transfusion, so a Jew donor saved her life. She was so grateful,
           she gave him a hundred pounds, but after a relapse she needed another one and this time gave the
           donor fifty pounds.
              The third time he saved her life she had so much Jewish blood in her that she just thanked him
           very much.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM UTTERLY MISERABLE. HOW CAN I GET OUT OF MY MISERY?


               Vandan, I have never come across a person who is utterly miserable. You are tolerating it, you
           are existing with it, you are living with it. If it is so bad one should stop breathing! Why should one
           go on living?
               It can't be so bad. Maybe you love to exaggerate. There are people who always like superlatives,
           who magnify everything. Small miseries of course there are, but what big misery can you have?
           Where will you have it? I cannot conceive of any misery that can be so bad that you can call it
           absolute; otherwise one will simply die, immediately.
               So one thing, remember, stop exaggerating. That is also a way of the ego. The ego is so strange
           that it wants to exaggerate everything. Even if it is misery it will magnify it, it will make a big fuss
           about it. There may be nothing much in it: if you go to the roots you may find a mouse, but you are
           talking about elephants.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              And I know you, Vandan. I have never seen you utterly miserable. You look perfectly normal.
           Unless all normal people are utterly miserable... just the ego has the habit of magnifying.

               A boy came running home from school. He was breathing hard, puffing, perspiring. He told his
           mother, "Somehow God saved me. A tiger is following me, a very dangerous tiger, a very ferocious
           tiger."
               The mother said, "You stop exaggerating! I have told you a million times not to exaggerate, and
           again you are doing it. Where is that tiger?"
               The boy showed her from the window. A very small dog, thin, lean, hungry, was standing
           outside. And the mother said, "This is the tiger? You go upstairs, pray to God and ask his
           forgiveness. And never exaggerate again. Enough is enough!"
               So the boy went upstairs. After five minutes he went back to the mother, and the mother said,
           "Did you pray?"
               He said, "Yes, I prayed, and do you know what God said? He said, 'You don't be worried. When
           for the first time I saw that dog I myself thought that it was a ferocious tiger. So nothing to be
           worried about. I myself was deceived, so what about you? And I am so big, still I thought it is a very
           dangerous tiger. I was just getting ready to run away, then I had another look and found: oh no, it is
           just a dog. And you are a small child, so if you got frightened it is natural.'"

                Misery is not so big as you make out. So the first thing is to reduce it to the right proportions.
           Before you can get out of it let the tiger disappear. Be very factual. If you really want to transform
           your life, be factual. You cannot get out of fictions. You can get out of facts; facts can be tackled, but
           fictions cannot be tackled.
                But this is the way of the mind, the way of the ego, to magnify everything. It makes everything
           look big. And then of course you start suffering in a big way. The cause is not so big, but the effect
           can be very big -- it depends on you.
                Look again, consider again, reconsider the whole situation. What is it that you are calling "utterly
           miserable"? And then you will find ordinary facts of life. But we don't want to be ordinary. The ego
           hankers to be extraordinary. Even if it is misery we would like to be extraordinary.
                Somebody asked George Bernard Shaw, "Where would you like to go when you die, to heaven
           or to hell?"
                He said, "Wherever it is, that does not matter. What matters is: I want to be the first. Even if it is
           hell, I want to be the first. I don't want to be second to anybody. Hence I think hell will be better,
           because in heaven Buddha and Jesus and Zarathustra... and there are so many competitors. And I will
           have to stand in a queue, and that I hate! I am ready to go to hell, I am ready to suffer in hell, but I
           want to be the first."
                The ego is always hankering to be the first. It says, "My misery is bigger than anybody else's.
           Whatsoever I am, I am bigger, I am special, I am extraordinary."

               Once a high court judge came to me. His wife used to come to me. I was surprised, because the
           wife always used to say that he is very much against me and he does not want her to listen to me or
           read my books or to go and see me. But whenever I visited that city she was always coming.
               So I was surprised. I asked him, "Your wife always says you are very much against me."
               He said, "Not that I am very much against you -- I am simply afraid that.... My wife is already
           crazy, and what you are saying, if it gets into her mind, she exaggerates everything. You will create
           more trouble for me."
           I asked him, "Why have YOU come?"
               He said, "I have just come to say to you that if she says that she has cancer, reduce it to a
           headache. Don't be bothered about her cancer. I have suffered my whole life. Then I have learned
           this lesson: she exaggerates."
               And in fact that was the case. Every time she used to come she was talking about cancer. She
           was telling that she has cancer of the heart and this and that -- and the husband said she had nothing!
           Just a hypochondriac... she goes on exaggerating.

              A hypochondriac died. Before he was dying his wife asked, "Have you some last words?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              He said, "Yes. On my gravestone write in big letters: Now do you believe me or not?"

               The first thing for you is to bring things down to the level of reality. It is difficult, Vandan,
           particularly so for a woman. They live in fancy. When you fall in love you think you have fallen in
           love with a Greek god, and by the time the honeymoon is finished you know he is nothing but a
           goddamned Greek! Within seven days the Greek god is nothing but a goddamned Greek.
               And again it will happen. Again you will fall in love, and again you will create a great fancy, you
           will create projections. And all your projections are going to be shattered sooner or later, because
           reality has no obligation to fulfill your projections.
               So first bring down your idea of misery to the fact, to the real. And then it is not difficult to get
           out of it. Then the second thing is to be aware of it. Just be aware of it, and you are out of it --
           because you can be aware only if you are not it.
               That is the miracle of awareness. When you observe something one thing is certain, absolutely
           certain: that you are not it. The observer is never the observed. The observed is there as an object
           confronting you. You are the observer, you are the subject.
               So misery is there, pain is there or pleasure, or whatsoever experience is there -- you are not it.
           You are out of it!

               Two ham actors were moaning about how tough things were in the motion picture business.
           "I haven't had a part for over ten years," one of the thespians sighed.
           "That's nothing," the other ham said. "I've not worked since sound pictures came in."
           "That's really tough."
           "You bet it is. I wish to hell I could figure some way to get out of this business."

                For forty years you are not in the business, and you are still figuring out how to get out of it!
                Just watch. These two steps, Vandan: first, bring your misery to the level of reality, and then
           watch it -- because only reality can be observed; fictions cannot be observed, you become identified
           with them. Once the reality is there, it is objective; watch it, and suddenly a great realization
           happens. You are the watcher, you are out of it.
                You ask me, "How can I get out of it?" Vandan, you ARE out of it. Right now you are out of it!
           It is only an illusion that you are in it. If you want to believe you can go on believing that you are in
           it. Otherwise you can snap out of it any moment. Try. Try to snap out of it. Snap your fingers and
           slap your face and wake up!

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU AGAINST GARLIC? I HAVE BEEN EATING IT SINCE MY CHILDHOOD AND I DON'T
              THINK THAT IT STINKS.

              Virago, meditate over this story....

               Forster sat in the posh offices of Park Avenue's most famous physician.
           "I've got this terrible problem," he explained. "Everything I eat turns to gas. I just had steak and
           potatoes and it turned to gas."
           "That could be serious," countered the doctor.
           "But fortunately," said Forster, "my gas is noiseless and odorless. Can you cure it?"
           "I'm sure that I'll be able to help, but first I'm going to fit you with a hearing aid and then I'm going
           to fix your nose."

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              RECENTLY YOU MENTIONED THAT THE SPIRITUAL EGO IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE
              NORMAL EGO. CAN YOU EXPLAIN?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Prem Unmado, all egos are dangerous, because the ego is a false entity. It does not exist, in fact.
           It is there because you are not aware of who you are.
                The ego is just like darkness. Darkness has no positive existence of its own; it is only the absence
           of light. Hence you cannot do anything directly with darkness. If you want to remove darkness you
           cannot remove it directly; you will have to bring light in. If you want to bring darkness in you cannot
           bring it directly either; you will have to put the light off. Whatsoever you want to do, you will have
           to do with the light, because the light has existence. Darkness has no existence, and with the
           nonexistential nothing can be done.
                The ego is nonexistential, it is a nonentity. It is the absence of awareness, of alertness. You are
           not conscious; hence the ego prevails, hence the darkness remains.
                All egos are dangerous, because you are living in something which is not. You are living for
           something which is not, you are sacrificing that which is for something that is not. This is the danger.
           A real life is being sacrificed at the altar of the nonexistential ego.
                You are running after money, after power, after prestige, but in fact nobody is really interested in
           power, money, prestige. They are just ways of the ego to exist. If you have more money you can
           have more ego; if you have more power you can have more ego. The basic desire is to expand the
           ego, but the more your ego becomes strengthened, the more the darkness becomes dense, the less is
           the possibility of your becoming aware. And without becoming aware you are missing the whole
           opportunity of life, a golden opportunity, in which God can be realized, in which truth can be lived.
           A life which can be a constant celebration, an eternal joy, is sacrificed for something absolutely
           meaningless.
                Hence, remember, all egos are dangerous. But the spiritual ego is the most dangerous simply
           because all other egos are gross. You can see that the politician is after his ego, you can see even the
           politician in some moments can see it. It is very gross, how can you avoid seeing it? You are bound
           to stumble on it, it is like a rock.
                But the spiritual ego is very subtle, it is like fragrance. You don't stumble, it does not hit you like
           a rock. You cannot remove it so easily as you can remove a rock. It is a subtle fragrance. The more
           spiritual you become, the more your ego becomes subtler and subtler. Your ego becomes pious, and
           when the poison is pious, of course it is more dangerous, because you think it is nectar. Now, the
           label is nectar; inside the bottle is the same poison.
                Hence your saints are more egoistic than your sinners. There is every hope for the sinners, they
           can reach to God far more easily than your so-called saints. Your saints are living with such egoistic
           attitudes, they are full of holy cow dung, rubbish.
                The man of the world claims that he has so much money and the religious man claims he has so
           much virtue. The worldly man claims he has so much power, so much prestige, and your so-called
           holy man claims he also has power, spiritual power. He tries to show his spiritual power.

               Once such a so-called spiritual man came to see Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna was sitting on the
           bank of the Ganges in Dakshineshwar, where he used to live. The spiritual man said to Ramakrishna,
           "I have heard that you are a great saint. If you really are, then come with me and walk on the water.
           If you can walk on the water then I can believe that you are spiritual."
           Ramakrishna laughed. He said, "Can you walk...?"
           The man said, "Yes, I can walk."
               Ramakrishna asked him, "How long did it take you to learn to walk on the water?"
               The man said, "It took me eighteen years of tremendous effort, austerities, TAPASCHARYA,
           fasting, prayer. I lived in a cave in the Himalayas. I sacrificed everything. Then this spiritual power
           has been given to me."
               Ramakrishna said, "I am not spiritual, I am a simple man, very ordinary. But one thing I would
           like to tell you. When I want to go to the other shore, the ferryman takes me for just one paisa. Your
           whole eighteen years' effort is not worth much more than that. You wasted your eighteen years. You
           may be spiritual, but you are a fool, you are utterly stupid! I have never come across such an
           unintelligent person -- wasting eighteen years just to walk on water! Then what is the point? Okay,
           you can walk on water, so what?"

              This is the spiritual ego, which will go sooner or later to exhibit its powers, to prove that "I am
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           holier than you." That man had come with that idea -- to prove to Ramakrishna that "I am holier than
           you, I am higher than you."
                It is meaningless. Buddha is not reported to have done any miracle. Mahavira is not reported to
           have done any miracle. And my own understanding is that all the miracles that are talked of in the
           name of Jesus are inventions.
           (the sound fails....)
                You see? Some Christian got mad! They are all inventions of the Christians.
                I have a totally different approach. When Christians say Jesus turned water into wine it is not a
           literally factual thing. It simply means that people like Jesus get drunk on simple water. I know it
           from my own experience. I never mix my soda with whisky; I mix my soda with soda, and I get
           drunk, so what is the point of mixing it with whisky? Just pure air is enough to get drunk; water is
           enough. It all carries the essence of God, what more do you need to get drunk? This existence is
           more than is needed.
                But the spiritual man will try to prove in some way that he is spiritual. He will prove it through
           miracles, he will become an exhibitionist. That's why the spiritual ego is more dangerous. He will
           not be able to see it, and others will not be able to see it either. Because you cannot see it easily,
           Unmado, I called it more dangerous.
                Drop the very idea that you are separate from existence. And I am not telling you to fight with
           the ego, that is nonsense. I am telling you to create more awareness in you, become more full of light
           and consciousness and the ego will disappear on its own. And when it disappears on its own it has a
           beauty, it has a benediction. When there is no ego in you, no ego worldly or otherworldly -- when
           there is no ego at all of any kind, you are one with God. The barrier is removed, the last barrier has
           fallen.
                And to experience God is to experience life in its utter simplicity, in its utter beauty. To
           experience God is to experience truth in its eternity. Then you are beyond death and beyond time.
                Ego is the only barrier. But don't fight with it -- spiritual or worldly, it is the same. Create more
           consciousness, be more meditative. Meditation is the only medicine. Both the words come from the
           same root: 'meditation' and 'medicine' -- because meditation also is a medicine. It heals you, it cures
           you from the greatest disease, the disease of the ego.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WILL YOU ONE DAY GO IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DISCOURSE TO THE KITCHEN TO INQUIRE
              WHAT IS BEING PREPARED FOR YOU?


               Pantha, sorry, I cannot do that -- for many reasons. One is, I am not Ramakrishna; I am just
           myself, I am nobody else.
               Secondly, all my kitchen people are here: Vivek is here, Astha is here, Nirgun is here, Pragya is
           here -- there is nobody to ask.
               Thirdly, I eat the same food, morning, evening, year in, year out. In fact, all my kitchen people
           are bored with preparing it. Except me everybody is bored! This is a device to bore them.
               Just think: the same thing they have to prepare, morning, evening, every day. Unless they
           become enlightened they are going to go crazy.
               So there is nothing to ask, I already know. There is no change ever in my food.
               Thirdly, I don't know where my kitchen is! So, Pantha, even if I want I cannot find it. I know
           only my room, and the way from the room to Buddha Hall and back. I will get lost into Lao Tzu
           House. And after many many lives somehow I have found the way. Please don't make me get lost
           again.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIRTIEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN THE INDIAN LANGUAGE?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Darshan, 'work'!

              The seventh question:



              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU DID NOT FINISH THE STORY OF THE PRIEST AND HIS SUNDAY SERMON. IS IT NOT SO?


               Chetan Hari, that is true. Knowingly I did not finish it, but now that you have asked I have to
           finish it.

               When the priest saw the hell, so beautiful, with such ecstatic people, he certainly became
           infatuated. He knew all the ways to reach to heaven, he had no idea how to go to hell. And now,
           seeing hell, he wanted to go to hell, not to heaven.
               So he inquired of a few people. They said, "Better you ask the Buddha, he is there sitting under
           the tree."
               He went to the Buddha and he asked, "Sir, can you show me the way to hell, because now I don't
           want to see heaven again. Once is enough. I don't want to go there at all. I have lived my whole life
           preparing for heaven. I know all the ways and all the methods and means how to reach there. I don't
           know how to get to hell."
               Buddha said, "You go back to the station and buy a ticket to Poona and take sannyas. That is the
           best and shortest way to go to hell."

               The priest is here. Please don't ask me his name, because priests are a little shy, and he will feel
           embarrassed -- and particularly a Catholic priest. But he is here. If you try a little harder you will
           find him.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              OKAY, GIVE IT TO ME STRAIGHT. CAN GOD REALLY EXIST IN AMERICA? LEAVING
              TOMORROW, I GET A LITTLE NERVOUS REALIZING HOW SERIOUS THE WORLD TENDS TO
              BE, AND WELL, YOU KNOW, GOD TOO. SO WOULD YOU GIVE ME ONE OF YOUR
              FUDDY-DUDDY JOKES TO SHARE WITH HIM JUST IN CASE WE MEET?


               Toshen, you forget this word 'him'. God is not a he, God is a she. If you go with this idea that he
           is a he, you will never find him. That's how people go on missing him. They go on looking for him
           as if he is a man, and he has changed himself long ago.

               Colonel Stanford, a staunch segregationist, died and somehow made his way to heaven. A week
           later his friend, Colonel Beauregard, departed and was also allowed to get past the Pearly Gates. The
           two of them met.
           "Never had any doubt we would make it," said Colonel Beauregard, "but now that we did, tell me,
           how are things up here?"
           "Not bad," answered Colonel Stanford, "but I would advise you to watch your step. I saw God the
           other day and she is a Negress."

               And not only that he is a she, she is a Negress -- a black woman. So if you are really in search of
           God in America, remember this.
               And then you will have to learn a few things. If you meet a black woman you will have to learn
           some art, you will have to learn to be a little like a black man, otherwise there will be no
           communication, no communion.
               God has changed. He was tired of being male and white. Everybody gets tired of being the same.
           And people are still thinking that he is the old. You are worshipping old photographs, you are
           carrying old albums. No wonder very few people find him.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now think of God as a woman. And God can only be a woman; the very idea of God being a
           man is the male chauvinist idea, it is the idea of man. The Christian trinity has not a single woman in
           it. Look at the nonsense: they have made even a place for the Holy Ghost. Now, who is this Holy
           Ghost? The trinity would not have missed much if there was no Holy Ghost, but the trinity looks a
           little ugly without a woman. The father is there, the son is there, and where is the mother? Do you
           think God is gay?
                This is man's egoistic projection. Remember: the she contains he, but the he does not contain she.
           Man is born out of a woman, but no man can give birth to a woman. It is natural to think of God as
           woman -- as mother, not as father. That is a fascist idea.
                It is not accidental that Germans call their country "fatherland." Nobody calls their country
           "fatherland." Everybody calls his country "motherland" -- that seems to be right -- except the
           Germans... they call it "fatherland."
                God is a mother, a motherly phenomenon. This whole existence is motherly. And God is far
           softer than man can ever be, far more vulnerable, far more open. God is the womb of existence. The
           whole existence comes out of the womb.
                So, Toshen, drop this idea of "he" and "him"; think of "she" and "her." And remember: he is tired
           of being white, he is no longer white. He is black now, and he is enjoying being black, because very
           few people are able to find him now. Even if you come across him, you think, "It is just a nigger."
           Even if he knocks on your door you will not open the door.
                And if you meet him, you are asking me that you would like to tell him some joke. Tell him this
           joke:

           "What makes you black men such good lovers?" asked the white employer of Kinney, the chauffeur.
           "The trouble with you white folks is that you just go in there and rush, rush, rush, and before you
           know it, it is all over," said Kinney. "Now the way us black folks do it is get in there, take it easy,
           make long strokes, talk sweet a while, stop a while, take our time, then some more slow long strokes,
           nice and cool-like."
               That night whitey climbed into bed with his wife and began making love to her exactly as
           Kinney had suggested.
               After twenty minutes of sheer delight she gasped, "My God, where did you learn to screw like a
           black man?"

           Enough for today.




   The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                    Talks given from 21/04/80 am to 30/04/80 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                   Year published:
           The original tape and book title was "The Book of the Books, Vols 1 - 6". Later reissued as
           twelve volumes under the present title.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                      Chapter #1
                                          Chapter title: No-self actualization
           21 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004210
              ShortTitle: DHAM1201
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




               A MAN IS NOT BORN TO MASTERY.
               A MASTER IS NEVER PROUD.
               HE DOES NOT TALK DOWN TO OTHERS.
               OWNING NOTHING, HE MISSES NOTHING.



               HE IS NOT AFRAID.
               HE DOES NOT TREMBLE.
               NOTHING BINDS HIM.
               HE IS INFINITELY FREE.



               SO CUT THROUGH
               THE STRAP AND THE THONG AND THE ROPE.
               LOOSEN THE FASTENINGS.
               UNBOLT THE DOORS OF SLEEP
               AND AWAKE.



               THE MASTER ENDURES
               INSULTS AND ILL TREATMENT
               WITHOUT REACTING.
               FOR HIS SPIRIT IS AN ARMY.



               HE IS NEVER ANGRY.
               HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
               HE NEVER STRAYS, HE IS DETERMINED.
               THIS BODY IS MY LAST, HE SAYS!



               LIKE WATER ON THE LEAF OF A LOTUS FLOWER
               OR A MUSTARD SEED ON THE POINT OF A NEEDLE,
               HE DOES NOT CLING.



               FOR HE HAS REACHED THE END OF SORROW
               AND HAS LAID DOWN HIS BURDEN.


               Man is born only as a seed, not as a flower. Flowering has to be achieved; one should not take it
           for granted. Birth itself is only the opportunity for life, it is not life itself. You can still miss life --
           and millions miss it for the simple reason that they think that just being born is enough to be alive. It
           is not enough. It is necessary -- without it there will be no life -- but it is not synonymous with life.
           You have to be twice-born.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Jesus says: Unless you are born again you shall not enter into my kingdom of God.
                A kind of rebirth is needed. The ordinary birth is the birth of the bodymind mechanism, but your
           spirit is only a potential -- it has to be actualized. Abraham Maslow has called this process
           self-actualization. Gautam Buddha would call the same process "no-self actualization." Abraham
           Maslow has no idea of the ultimate; he is thinking about it, speculating about it. He has stumbled
           upon a certain truth, but he does not know how to express it. He has not experienced it himself; it is
           only an intellectual understanding, hence he calls it "self-actualization."
                But in that ultimate flowering the first thing that disappears is the self. In fact, the self is the only
           barrier for that flowering. The self is the hindrance, not the help. The self surrounds you like a wall;
           it is not the bridge.
                When you are really born, born to life or to God -- to me both are synonymous -- you are no
           more, no more as you understand yourself to be. A pure emptiness prevails, an utter void prevails, a
           silence which is soundless. A music is there certainly, but without any sound. The Zen people call it
           the sound of one hand clapping. That no-self is your original face. When you are not, you are, and
           you are for the first time.
                If Abraham Maslow had experienced the ultimate state of flowering he would never have called
           it self-actualization; he would have called it "no-self actualization." You are born as a self, as an ego.
           This is the seed and the seed has to disappear before the sprout can start growing. The seed has to die
           in the soil; then and only then the life that is hidden inside the seed will start manifesting itself.
                It is a miracle! You are blind, that's why you can't see. So many miracles are happening all
           around you. When a seed becomes a sprout, a great miracle is happening. If you cut the seed you will
           not find any leaves, you will not find any flowers, you will not find any tree, you will not find
           anything at all -- just emptiness. Through analyzing the seed you will not reach any conclusion. But
           if you let the seed fall down into the right soil, if you allow the seed to die and disappear, out of that
           nothingness something immensely beautiful arises, something impossible happens. Leaves come,
           branches come, a big tree grows. Such a small seed contains such a big tree! Now hundreds of
           people can sit under its shade, hundreds of birds can make their nests, can come to rest every night in
           its shelter, and thousands of flowers will bloom.
                A single seed is capable of making the whole earth green. It has so much potential -- infinite
           potential, because out of a single seed millions of seeds will arise, and so on and so forth. If you have
           one single seed the whole earth can be a garden. Why just the whole earth? -- the whole universe can
           be a garden! The potential is infinite; you have just to find the right opportunity for its expression,
           for its manifestation, for its realization.

           Buddha says:

               A MAN IS NOT BORN TO MASTERY.


               Every man is born as a slave. It hurts to know it; we would like to be told that we are born as
           masters. We believe that we are masters -- nobody suspects it. The people who start suspecting their
           mastery are the only people who are capable of becoming, some day, masters. You doubt everything,
           but you never doubt your mastery over yourself, and that is the most doubtful thing, the most
           doubtable thing. What kind of mastery have you got? You are a slave, an utter slave of biological
           instincts, of sex, of anger, of greed, of ambition. You stink of all these things, you are full of all these
           things. And still you go on believing deep down somewhere that you are masters.
               And rather than making an effort to destroy this slavery you start proving your mastery over
           others. You try to become Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. That is an effort to
           deceive yourself. That is an effort to prove something which is not there at all. You are trying to
           gather proofs about your mastery. Of course, if you become powerful enough over many people you
           can believe more easily that you are a master. It is easier for Alexander to believe that he is a master,
           but it is only a belief with no foundation to it. He is as much a slave as anybody else; maybe he is a
           far bigger slave than anybody else.

               When he was coming to India, Alexander met a rare man, Diogenes. Had Diogenes been born in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           India he would have been considered a buddha; he was one of the awakened ones. Even Alexander
           was immensely impressed by him. He lived utterly naked by the side of a river. It was early morning
           when Alexander went to see him; he was lying naked on the bank of the river taking a sunbath.
           Seeing the man, feeling his presence, Alexander for the first time felt a kind of inferiority arising in
           him. He had come across many kings, he had defeated many kings, but here was a real king -- a
           master.
               When you come across a master it is impossible not to feel the presence -- unless you are
           absolutely blind, absolutely deaf, utterly dead. Alexander must have been a little sensitive, a little
           alert, otherwise he would not have come to see this naked fakir. Just the fact that he came to see him,
           out of the way, shows that he had some deep feeling that all his possessions were not enough to
           make him contented: "There must be some other way to be contented. Life cannot be only
           possessions and power; life must have some more secrets to it."
               He had heard many things about Diogenes: "He carries a lighted lamp in the day, in the full light
           of the day. Naked he is, but he carries only one thing in his hands -- a lamp, a lighted lamp. And
           people ask him, 'Why do you carry this lamp?' And he says, 'I am seeking and searching for a real
           man; I have not come across one yet. I carry this lamp so that I don't miss him.'"
               A real man? Is he so rare? Alexander must have brooded over it. He must have thought, "I am a
           real man. Let me go and see this Diogenes." He had heard many stories about him: "He seems to be
           the most blissful person in the world. Nobody has ever seen him in anxiety, in anguish, in fear; he is
           utterly fearless."
               Alexander had heard that once he was caught by a few people -- eight people were needed to
           catch this simple man -- but he told them, "Don't make so much effort, you need not. What do you
           want? Simply tell me."
               They said, "We want to sell you in the slave market."
               He said, "Then there is no need to strain yourselves so much -- I hate to give trouble to anybody.
           I am coming with you."
               And he went with them, ahead of them. They followed him as if they were his followers. And
           when they reached the market where men were sold and purchased, everybody was attracted towards
           this beautiful man. He stood there on a platform and shouted, "Listen, all you slaves who have
           gathered here: a master is being sold! Is there any slave interested in purchasing a master?"
               So many stories were in the air about Diogenes... Alexander slowly slowly became so interested
           that he went to see him. The very interest shows that there was some deep feeling in him about the
           futility of his own endeavors to conquer the world. And seeing Diogenes he immediately felt himself
           a nonentity, while Diogenes was an authentic being. Still he tried to laugh it away.
               Diogenes said, "Stop laughing! Don't try to befool yourself! You can see the fact that you are
           missing life."
               And Alexander said, "Yes, sir, I can feel it. For the first time I have seen a really alive person.
           What can I do for you? I have enough money, I can do anything. Just you say and it will be done."
               Diogenes said, "I don't need anything. You may have all the money in the world, but I don't have
           any desire, so all your money is absolutely irrelevant. But one thing you can do is stand aside,
           because you are blocking the sun. That's all that I can ask from you and you will be kind enough if
           you can stand aside."
               He didn't ask for anything. Alexander said to him, "If I have to come into the world another time,
           I will ask God to make me Diogenes instead of Alexander the Great."
               Diogenes said, "Why wait for the next life? You can be Diogenes right now! Can't you see the
           point?" he said. "Nothing is needed to be a Diogenes. You are making so much effort to conquer the
           world and even if you succeed, what are you going to gain out of it? You will be as miserable as
           ever, in fact far more miserable, because right now your mind is occupied with the idea, with the
           ambition of conquering the world. Once you have conquered it you will be at a loss what to do.
           Better stop now!"
               Alexander said, "I can understand -- you are right -- but I cannot stop in the middle of my
           journey. I have decided to conquer the world."
               Diogenes said, "Then go, don't stop -- but death will stop you in the middle. It always stops
           everybody in the middle, and then you cannot do anything. Then you will remember me. And your
           victories won't help you at all. When death knocks on the door, a slave, a poor man, a great king, a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world conqueror, all are the same -- they are all equal in the eyes of death. Death cannot knock at my
           door," Diogenes said. "Listen, and look into my eyes. I have conquered death. That is a real victory
           because I have come to know my real being which is deathless. I have come to experience my
           consciousness which was before I was born and which will be there after I am gone. I am eternal."
              And the day Alexander died he remembered Diogenes -- with bitter tears, of course, because
           Diogenes was right: his whole life had been a sheer wastage. He had struggled and struggled for
           nothing.

               You have heard the proverb: Nothing succeeds like success -- that is absolutely wrong. I suggest
           to you another proverb: Nothing fails like success. But because very few people succeed very few
           people come to know about it. Those who succeed, they always come to know the utter impotence of
           success.
           Buddha says: A MAN IS NOT BORN TO MASTERY.
               The first thing to be understood is that you are a slave of unconscious forces. This is the
           beginning, the first step towards mastery; to recognize your slavery. To see that you are unconscious
           is the beginning of consciousness. But you go on throwing the responsibility on others, you never
           look inwards; for ANY causes you never look inwards.

                The judge looked sternly down at the defendant. "Young man, it is alcohol and alcohol alone that
           is responsible for your present sorry state."
           "I'm glad to hear you say that, Your Honor," the man replied with a sigh of relief. "Everybody else
           says it's my fault."

               Nobody wants to recognize that he is responsible for the sorry state he is in. You always try to
           find some excuse. Any excuse will do; if you cannot find one, you can always invent. But you never
           feel responsible.
               The beginning of a religious life is: total responsibility for yourself. Whatsoever you are, you are
           responsible and nobody else. And your life is a mess.

              Have you heard about the Polack who tried to throw himself on the floor... and missed?

               Your whole life is a failure -- whatsoever you do, even throwing yourself on the floor -- the
           reason is that you are not conscious at all, not aware at all. You are living in such unconsciousness,
           you are almost a machine.
               Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, "You are not men, you are machines." And people used to
           feel very offended; nobody likes the idea that he is a machine. "I and a machine? Me -- a machine?
           Others maybe!" But Gurdjieff was saying something very essential: man IS a machine. Everybody
           else can see it; everybody else can see it about you -- except you. But that is not going to help unless
           YOU see it.

               There were three travelers -- a Jew, a Hindu and an Italian -- who needed a place to stay
           overnight. They knocked on a farmer's door. The farmer said he only had room for two in the house,
           but one could sleep in the barn. The Jew said he would sleep in the barn.
               They all settled down for the night. A little while later there was a knock on the door. The farmer
           answered it; it was the Jew. He apologized, but said there was a pig in the barn and as pigs were not
           kosher he could not spend the night in the same place as them. The Hindu said he would sleep in the
           barn as pigs did not bother him.
               Again the farmer went back to bed. A little while later there was a knock at the door; it was the
           Hindu. He apologized and said he was sorry, but there was a cow in the barn and as cows were
           sacred animals it was not proper for him to sleep in the same place as them. So the Italian offered to
           sleep in the barn as he had no problem with cows or pigs.
               Again the farmer went to bed, but a little while later there was a knock at the door. The tired
           farmer got up and answered it. There stood the cow and the pig!

              Even cows can see, even pigs can feel that you are an Italian -- but not you! You never look at
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yourself, you always look at others. You are focused on others. You are so extrovert that you don't
           know how to turn your eyes in. And a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn is needed. Unless you start
           seeing yourself there is no possibility of mastery in your life; you will remain a slave.
               When you fall in love you think you are a master. Are you, or is it just a biological, chemical
           phenomenon? If it is a biological and chemical phenomenon you are not the master. When somebody
           insults you and you become angry, are YOU angry or are you just a victim of some unconscious
           force that is being released in you? When you are angry, enraged, you are almost temporarily insane;
           you can do anything. You can destroy, you can kill, you can commit suicide. And whatsoever you
           do, if you survive the moment you will repent. You will say, "I cannot believe how it happened, how
           I could do such a thing? I did it in spite of myself!"
               That expression is significant. Whenever you say, "I did it in spite of myself," you are
           recognizing, without knowing it, your slavery: that things happen in you which are happening
           without you -- you are just a victim.
               Nobody is born as a master, but everybody is born with a tremendous potential to be a master.
           Everybody can be a master, but very rarely do people attain to their potential. Very rarely do people
           attain to their maximum peak, to the crescendo of their being.
               The psychologists say that the ordinary person only uses seven to ten percent of his potential in
           his whole life; ninety percent or more remains unused. And this is about the ordinary person. The
           psychologists say even the talented people, very talented people, don't use more than twelve to
           thirteen percent. And the people we call geniuses, they don't use more than fifteen percent of their
           potential.
               Just think, if the whole of humanity were using one hundred percent of its potential -- which it is
           capable of -- there would be no need to IMAGINE a paradise, we could make it here. We will be in
           paradise if one hundred percent potential is being used by everyone. But if you don't use it, it
           remains like a weight. Rather than being a help in your life it becomes such a weight, like a rock
           hanging around your neck. That which could have become a boat becomes the cause of your
           drowning.
               Religion is concerned basically with helping you to bring your potential into action, to make
           your potential actual, so it is not just there as a seed but becomes a flower and a great fragrance is
           released.
               That's what happened to Gautama the Buddha, that's what happened to Jesus the Christ. These
           few people were just like you, made of the same stuff. There is nothing special about them, they are
           not special beings. Forget that idea. The priests have been preaching it down the ages -- that they
           were special, that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God. It is all sheer nonsense. You are as much
           a son of God as Jesus was, no more or less -- no difference between you and Jesus. As far as the
           potential is concerned you are absolutely alike. But Jesus actualized it and you have not even
           touched it, it is simply lying there. It is a treasure which has not been used, and anything which is not
           used for a long time goes dead, becomes stale. It goes rotten, it becomes a dead weight on you, it
           makes you heavy and ill.
               Buddha has nothing special in him. Of course, the Buddhist priests say that he is special. Why do
           these priests go on saying that Buddha is special, Mahavira is special, Jesus is special, Krishna is
           special? Why? -- for a simple reason: that helps to protect our egos. They are special, what can we
           do? If they became enlightened they were bound to become enlightened, they came with a special
           capability. We are normal human beings, they were AVATARAS. They were direct descendants of
           God, we are very very faraway, distant relatives, and the distance is so much that it is impossible to
           bridge it. They were coming directly from the above; they were messengers of God, messiahs,
           prophets, TIRTHANKARAS -- and we are ordinary people. This is a way of defending our egos -- a
           very logical way, a very rational way.
               Do you think you are paying respect by saying that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God? You
           are not paying respect, you are being very cunning; you are trying to protect yourself. You are
           saying, "You are special and we are ordinary, so we have to behave in an ordinary way. You can
           behave like an enlightened person. What can we do about it? We are made in this way. The
           responsibility is God's, not ours. It is not our fate to be a Buddha or to be a Krishna or to be a Lao
           Tzu. It is not our destiny to be a Zarathustra. They were destined and we are not destined. So if
           something happened to them it was bound to happen, and if nothing is happening to us, nothing is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happening to us because nothing is destined for us."
               This is a trick, a strategy. Buddha wants you to be reminded that you are made of the same stuff,
           the same blood, the same bones, the same marrow, the same consciousness. The only difference is
           that you are not working on yourself, you are not using the opportunity, you are not transforming
           yourself. And you go on finding excuses: "How can we do it? We have so many children and the
           wife and the husband and the parents. And we have to work in the world and we have to earn money
           and a livelihood." You go on making excuses.
               That's why my insistence is that none of my sannyasins are to leave the ordinary world. They
           have to become enlightened in the ordinary world so that this excuse, this traditional excuse, can be
           dropped forever.
               And there have been people who have become enlightened living very ordinary lives. Kabir was
           a father and a husband, and he worked his whole life -- he was a weaver -- yet he became
           enlightened. He didn't renounce the world, he didn't escape. Or Raidas, he was a shoemaker. He
           continued his work, he remained in the world, and became enlightened.
               And there have been many, but you will be surprised: priests don't talk much about these people
           because these people are dangerous. They talk about the renunciation of Buddha, that he renounced
           the world, went into the forest; they talk about Mahavira who renounced his kingdom. In the first
           place you have to have a kingdom to renounce. Where is the kingdom? And if you don't have the
           kingdom, then in this life at least you can't become enlightened. Even if you have the kingdom, then
           you have to renounce it.
               Jesus is presented in such a way that it becomes almost impossible to conceive of him as a
           human being. He is born out of a virgin mother -- now, what nonsense! You are not born out of a
           virgin mother, so at least this life you have missed the train. Next life choose a virgin mother,
           because everything starts from there! In the first place you have chosen a wrong train.... But there are
           difficulties: if you choose a virgin mother you are a bastard. If Jesus chooses a virgin mother he is
           simply exceptional -- it is God's grace.
               The priests have been trying to create a distance between you and the enlightened ones so that
           you can feel at ease. And the effort of all the buddhas is not to let you feel at ease, is to make you
           restless, to make you divinely discontented, to make you aware that you are capable of tremendous
           bliss and you are missing it, to make you alert that it is your birthright and yet you have not claimed
           it.
              A MAN IS NOT BORN TO MASTERY.



              A MASTER IS NEVER PROUD.


                But Buddha immediately in the second sutra says something very significant, because there is
           every possibility that he will be misunderstood -- hence the second statement. He says that mastery is
           an achievement, but not in the ordinary sense of the word, because whenever you achieve something
           you become proud; you say, "I have achieved this." If mastery is an achievement -- which certainly it
           is -- it is in a totally different sense from ordinary achievements. It is not like becoming a president
           of a country or becoming the richest man in the world; it is not like becoming famous -- it is totally
           different. The difference is that in the very achievement of it the achiever dies.
                Remember it, never forget about it; otherwise your spirituality can also become a new ego trip.
           Hence, immediately, Buddha adds: A MASTER IS NEVER PROUD. He cannot be -- because he is
           no more! This is a very strange achievement: in the very process of achieving it, the ego melts,
           disappears. In fact it happens only when the ego is found no more. It is a very paradoxical
           achievement: an achievement certainly, but there is no achiever. Just as a sugar cube dissolves into
           the tea, the achiever dissolves into the achievement itself. He is no more found anywhere. He
           becomes one with the achievement. The achievement is not something that he can brag about, it is
           simply a natural flowering. He is not proud of it.
                Roses are not proud, lotuses are not proud, of course, however beautiful they are. The sunrise is
           not proud, the sunset is not proud, the night full of stars is not proud, the full moon is not proud. It is
           natural; there is nothing to say about it. It is how it should be. There is no question of being proud
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about it, no ego enhancement about it.
               Beware of the ego. If you start bragging about your spiritual attainment you have missed the
           whole point. It is no longer spiritual at all; it is again the same game played with new words. Only
           the words have changed, but nothing has really changed; there has been no transformation.
               And people play the game of the ego in many ways. The Indian thinks that he is the holiest, the
           most spiritual person in the world; now that is the same game. The American thinks, for different
           reasons, that he is special, that he is higher than anybody else. And so is the case with everybody.
           You will not find a single race in the world, a single nation in the world which does not think that it
           is special. Now the game is played in the name of nation, race.
               Every religion thinks, "This is the only way, the true way: all other ways are false." If you ask
           the Jaina he thinks all other ways are pseudo. If you ask the Christian he has the same idea: "Unless
           you are a Christian you are not going to be saved, you will suffer in hell." Ask the Mohammedan....
           And you will be surprised: they belong to different religions, but do they really belong to different
           religions or do they all belong to the same religion -- the religion of the ego? They all belong to the
           same religion: the religion of the ego.
               The white man thinks he is special, the black man thinks he is special....

               I have heard a story about Dr. Radhakrishnan. He was the president of India and he was talking
           to a few friends.
               One white man said, "We are the best -- otherwise why did God make us white?"
               Radhakrishnan said to the white man, "You are half-cooked, that's why you are white!"
               A black man was also present; he was very happy. He said, "That's right. We are the best!"
               Radhakrishnan said, "You are cooked too much -- you are almost burnt! WE are the best, we are
           just in the middle, neither white nor black. Cooked just right."

              People go on trying to defend their egos in every possible way.

               An Egyptian and an Indian archaeologist were vying with each other.
           "In our recent excavation we came across lengthy cables and have deduced that there was some kind
           of a telephone system then," the Egyptian boasted.
           "We dug and dug and could find no cable. We have reached the conclusion that there was wireless
           during those times in India," said his Indian counterpart.

              Beware! We are playing the same game in the name of religion, in the name of nation, in the
           name of race, in the name of color, but the game is the same. The name of the game is ego.
              The spiritual man is one who has stopped playing the game. He is the master. A MASTER IS
           NEVER PROUD.

              HE DOES NOT TALK DOWN TO OTHERS.


                He has no holier-than-thou look. But look at your so-called saints -- they are all looking at you
           with deep condemnation. They know you are sinners and they are saints. They are higher beings,
           superior beings; you are mundane, worldly, ordinary. What have you done? What virtue can you
           claim? They can claim that they have been fasting for years, that they are celibates, that they eat only
           once a day, that they sleep only three hours per night. And they have invented many kinds of torture
           for themselves. And of course torture has been thought for centuries to be the way towards
           spirituality. It is masochism, pure masochism: it has nothing to do with spirituality. But when a
           person tortures himself, of course he can feel his ego fulfilled. You cannot do it and he is doing it.
           And you certainly start feeling inferior because it is difficult for you to do it.
                If you see a man lying down on a bed of thorns you cannot do it. Certainly he is higher, has
           superior powers. And if he looks at you as the condemned, as the people who are going to hell, you
           have to accept it because he is earning rewards. What have you done? You have not done anything
           like that. You cannot sleep on such a bed; you are a very ordinary human being. His will is like steel
           -- look at his willpower!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And it is nothing. He is simply more stupid than you are, he is more dull than you are, his body is
           less sensitive than yours. And there are methods to make your body less and less sensitive. If you sit
           naked in the hot sun your body starts getting burnt; slowly slowly, all the sensitive parts which are
           very fragile become hard -- they have to become hard. You become thick-skinned and the thicker the
           skin, the more easily you can lie down on a bed of thorns.
               Have you not watched? Women can use sleeveless clothes more easily than men for the simple
           reason that their arms are less sensitive -- more beautiful but less sensitive. Even in cold countries
           they can move very easily with sleeveless clothes; man finds it difficult. Man's body is more
           sensitive in that way and more fragile. In cold countries he needs a necktie to prevent any air going
           in. And look at the women -- their clothes are almost disappearing!
               Their bodies are just less sensitive; they have to be less sensitive because they have to be
           mothers. Giving birth to a child and having a very sensitive body will be difficult, will be very
           painful, will be utterly painful. Have you any idea... if the body is very sensitive then carrying the
           baby for nine months in your belly will be a great torture. Just think of yourself carrying a baby in
           your belly for nine months... you will commit suicide! It will be impossible. Nature makes the
           woman's body less sensitive and compensates it with more beauty and more roundedness. Man's
           body is not that beautiful, not that rounded, but more sensitive -- sensitive to cold, sensitive to heat,
           sensitive to many things.
               That is one of the causes of the constant conflict between men and women: because the woman
           comes to orgasm very slowly; her sensitivity is much less. It takes a longer time for her to come to
           an orgasm. Man comes quickly; his body is very sensitive. And the gap between the man's body and
           the woman's body creates a great problem. Unless the man is very alert and takes every care to move
           slowly with the woman's body, the woman will never be satisfied.
               And her dissatisfaction will show in many ways: your tea will be cold, your vegetables will have
           too much salt. The whole day, from the kitchen, such noises of breaking things will come, as if you
           are living in an earthquake! Not that she is doing it consciously, that too is absolutely unconscious --
           nobody is a master, all are slaves -- but she is taking revenge in her own way.
               So whenever you want to make love to a woman, immediately she has a headache, she is tired,
           she is no longer interested, for the simple reason that she never achieves the orgasm. Why should she
           participate in a game in which she is always the loser? It is only recently that man is becoming aware
           of the difference; that difference can be bridged, but skill is needed.
               Just ask your wife to prick your back with a needle on many places, and you will be surprised:
           there are a few places which are absolutely insensitive -- the prick will not be felt at all -- and a few
           places where the prick will be felt. A few spots are blind. Those people who are lying on a bed of
           thorns have simply arranged the whole thing in such a way that the thorns are touching the blind
           spots. It is just a kind of skill; there is nothing in it, nothing holy in it.
               You can eat once a day. There are tribes, many aboriginal tribes in India, in South Africa, in the
           Himalayas, who eat only once a day. The body is so adjustable: you can eat once a day, then it eats
           too much. You can eat twice, you can eat thrice, then it divides. You can eat five times... and, in fact,
           to eat five times is far more scientific than to eat one time, because to eat one time means putting too
           much load on the system. It is better to divide the load. And if man has really come down from the
           monkeys, look at the monkeys -- they are eating the whole day! Americans are doing exactly that, so
           whether Darwin is correct about anybody else or not, he is correct about the Americans!
               You can eat one time a day; the body will adjust to that. These things are nothing to do with
           spirituality, but these are the things that your so-called saints go on bragging about.
               A real master is not proud: HE DOES NOT TALK DOWN TO OTHERS. The real master is one
           who has recognized that everybody has the same potential. How can he talk down to others?
               Buddha has said that when he became enlightened, immediately he saw that the whole universe
           had become enlightened with him. This is true as far as he is concerned. Of course the whole
           universe has not become enlightened -- you have not become enlightened yet -- but as far as Buddha
           is concerned it is absolutely true. He saw the potential, he saw that everybody is the same. Just that a
           few people are awake and a few are asleep; that is the only difference, and that is not such a big
           difference. Don't make such a fuss about it.
               And even if your saints don't say directly, "We are holier than you," in a thousand and one
           indirect ways they go on telling you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Every time the cowboy rode through the Indian village he would wave at the aged chief. In
           response the old man would give him the finger in the usual vertical manner, then he would turn his
           hand so that the third digit stuck out horizontally.
               After a few weeks the cowboy could stand it no longer. He stopped his horse and said to the
           redskin, "I know what it means to get the finger straight up, but what does it mean when you turn it
           sideways?"
           "I don't like your horse either!" replied the chief.

               There are direct ways and indirect ways, gestures. The way your saints look at you -- they may
           not say a single word -- the way they behave, all points to one thing: that they are higher than you.
           And they keep you constantly afraid of hell. They are telling you, "Beware of hell. You are bound to
           go to hell." So they are making you alert in advance.

               Preacher Pitts had undertaken that morning to describe the terrors of hell to his congregation.
           "Brothers and sisters," he intones, "some of you have seen melted iron running out of a furnace,
           haven't you? It's white, sizzling and hissing. Well, in the place I'm talking about they use that stuff
           for ice cream!"

               Their whole effort is to make you as frightened as possible. Look at the great idea of ice cream!
           And if you want to go to heaven you have to follow their advice, you have to follow in their
           footprints, you have to become imitators. And imitators are pseudo people. A real master is never an
           imitator.
               Hence I say to you, never become Christians, be a christ, and never become Buddhists, be a
           buddha. Your potential is of such infinite possibility that why should you settle for some small
           thing? Just being a Christian is a poor substitute -- why not be a christ? Why not be a buddha
           yourself? Why be Buddhists?
               But your preachers are telling you: Be Christians, be Buddhists, be Jainas, be Hindus! They are
           not telling you about your ultimate potential, they want you to be followers. And of course there is
           no Buddha, no Jesus available, so they are the representatives. They have created a strategy: Follow
           Jesus! Of course you will have to follow the pope -- where is Jesus? The pope is the representative
           and the pope is infallible. Look at the foolishness of it all. Only a fool can say that he is infallible --
           even God is not infallible.
               Fallibility is part of the fun -- God must be fallible; otherwise he would not have made you! God
           must be fallible; otherwise why and how did he manage to create man? And since then he has not
           created anything; he stopped -- seeing what he had done he stopped the whole process. Since then
           nothing has been heard about him, where he is, what he is doing.
               The Bible says that in six days he created the world -- okay; the seventh day he rested. And what
           about the next week? Did the Monday come or not? And since then what has he been doing? Seeing
           that he has committed a mistake he must be escaping as far away as possible.
               Now the scientists say the world, the universe is expanding. The simple reason is that God is
           escaping, so with him of course the world goes on expanding; the boundary goes on expanding with
           tremendous speed. Do you know at what speed he is escaping from you? One hundred and eighty-six
           thousand miles per second! That is the speed at which the universe is expanding; that must be the
           speed of his escape. And I don't think we will be able to catch him; it seems impossible to make
           spaceships which can go at that speed, because that is the speed of light and anything moving at that
           speed will immediately become light. So if you are moving with that speed, the plane and the
           passengers and the pilot, all will disappear; they will become simply pure light. With that speed
           everything will melt and become light. Unless we can find some way not to follow him but to try to
           find him from the other side....
               And I think that is the way of the buddhas. They don't try to reach God, they don't run after him,
           they simply stand silently. That is the other way, the other way round -- because how long can he
           escape for? If the universe is also round, finally he will come back to where these people are
           standing -- and there is the possibility of meeting.
              HE DOES NOT TALK DOWN TO OTHERS.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              OWNING NOTHING, HE MISSES NOTHING.


               The buddha simply uses, the master uses. He owns nothing, he is not an owner. Either he owns
           nothing or he owns the whole universe -- which is saying the same thing in two different ways.
           There is no need to own anything -- he uses. You use the sun, you use the moon; you need not own
           them. So, if one day the sun is cloudy you need not become anxious, you need not go mad, you need
           not get worried: "What is happening to my sun?" It has nothing to do with you. If one day the moon
           has an eclipse you are not worried at all because you don't own it; if you own it, then trouble arises.
           If you own the garden and the roses are not blooming, then there is anxiety; if you don't own it then
           you just enjoy.
               The master enjoys existence but he owns nothing; because he owns nothing he misses nothing.

              HE IS NOT AFRAID.

              There is nothing to lose, why should he be afraid?



              HE DOES NOT TREMBLE.


               Soren Kierkegaard says that every man is trembling inside, there is a constant trembling -- and he
           is right. The fear of death keeps you constantly trembling. You may keep yourself occupied in a
           thousand and one things and you may forget about your inner trembling, but it is there.
               Soren Kierkegaard is one of the most important thinkers of the Western hemisphere. What he is
           saying he must be saying from his own personal experience; he was very much afraid of death. He
           was afraid only of two things: death and money. He never earned anything. His father had left a
           certain bank balance for him; he lived on it. Each month, on the first day, he would go to the bank
           and withdraw a certain amount and live on it. He lived in a very very economical way, but he was
           very much afraid: sooner or later the money was going to be finished -- that was his constant worry.
           People had seen him in Copenhagen going to the bank and coming home always in a state of
           trembling.
               And then death... and death is certainly related to money. People who are very much afraid of
           death start accumulating money as a protection -- as if money can protect! People who are not afraid
           of death don't care much about money; they use money, but they don't care.
               And one strange thing happened: Soren Kierkegaard died on the road the day he withdrew the
           last amount of money from the bank. He was coming home from the bank; this was the last amount,
           the bank balance was finished. The manager had said, "Next month you need not come -- all the
           money is finished." He fell in the middle of the road -- he didn't reach home -- and died then and
           there. If money is finished, life is finished! He must have been a man of tremendous fear.
               When he was young he loved a woman, a very beautiful woman, Regina. For three years the love
           affair continued and finally, when they were going to get married, he refused. It was very strange
           because Regina was a beautiful woman and he was an ugly man. If Regina had refused it would have
           been logical, but why did Kierkegaard refuse? He refused out of the simple fear that "If we get
           married and some trouble arises, then? If some fighting arises or if she falls in love with somebody
           else? -- she is such a beautiful woman...." Afraid of the possibilities of the future, he simply refused.
           He refused to live! He never left the city, he was so afraid of accidents. So when he says man is a
           trembling he is saying it from personal experience.

               Buddha says: The master does not tremble. All his trembling disappears because he knows there
           is no death. Knowing himself he has transcended death. He has no fear of the future because he lives
           in the present. He is not possessive; hence nothing can be taken away from him.

              NOTHING BINDS HIM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE IS INFINITELY FREE.


              Because he is nonpossessive, NOTHING BINDS HIM. He is freedom, absolute freedom.

              SO CUT THROUGH
              THE STRAP AND THE THONG AND THE ROPE.
              LOOSEN THE FASTENINGS.
              UNBOLT THE DOORS OF SLEEP
              AND AWAKE.


               Three things are our bondage: body, mind, self -- THE STRAP, THE THONG AND THE ROPE.
           SO CUT THROUGH.... Be aware you are neither the body nor the mind nor the self. Awareness is
           the sword with which to cut through.
               And LOOSEN THE FASTENINGS: lust, greed, anger, hatred, ambition, jealousy,
           possessiveness.
               UNBOLT THE DOORS OF SLEEP: awaken yourself, become conscious.

               On a crowded subway a well-built mulatto secretary felt behind her the presence of a sexually
           excited soul brother. She tried to move away, but her fidgeting only made things worse. Finally she
           turned around and snapped, "Mister, you are vulgar!"
           "I didn't do nothin' wrong, honey!" said the black man. "But I can understand why you're a little
           peeved. I got paid tonight, the boss had nothing but small change, and it makes a lump in my pants
           pocket. Believe me, baby, that's all there is to it."
           "I suppose," said the woman, "you also want me to believe that all the time we're standing here your
           boss is giving you raises!"

               Just look at your sex, at your anger, at your greed. You are utterly in their power, helplessly in
           their power.
               Buddha is not a metaphysician; he is a superb psychologist. He is the first to create the
           psychology of the buddhas.
               He is saying: Cut through all this slavery. UNBOLT THE DOORS OF SLEEP AND AWAKE.

               Mrs. Rafferty was sitting at home in Dublin with her children, all waiting for the man of the
           house to come home from his job in the local brewery. A knock came at the door. When Mrs.
           Rafferty opened it she saw Mick standing with downcast eyes and a sad look on his face. "Bad
           news," he said. "Pat fell into a vat of whiskey and drowned this afternoon."
               Mrs. Rafferty and the children burst into anguished tears, but she managed to stammer, "Oh
           Jesus, did he suffer? Was it a painful death?"
               Mick coughed reverently and took off his hat. "No, mam," he said, "I don't think so. He got out
           twice for a piss!"

               Be awake. Just see what you are doing, just see what your life consists of. Is there any awareness
           or is it just an unconscious play of unconscious forces? Are you just a victim of forces you are not
           aware of -- either from where they come or what they are doing to you? Are you going to die in this
           way?

              THE MASTER ENDURES
              INSULTS AND ILL TREATMENT
              WITHOUT REACTING.


               The master cannot react. He responds, but he never reacts. Reactions come from the past,
           response is spontaneous; it is in the present. The slave reacts, the master responds. The unconscious
           mind reacts, the conscious man responds. He has no ready-made answers. He encounters the
           situation, he reflects the situation. He accepts the challenge of the situation -- and acts accordingly.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           His action is born out of the present.
                And remember one fundamental secret of life: if the action is born out of the present it is never
           binding; if it comes out of the past it is binding, it is karma. If the action comes out of your present
           awareness it is not karma, it is not binding. You do it and it is finished, you do it and you get out of
           it; it never accumulates in you. The master never accumulates the past; he dies every moment to the
           past. He is born anew every moment.
              THE MASTER ENDURES INSULTS AND ILL TREATMENT WITHOUT REACTING.



              FOR HIS SPIRIT IS AN ARMY.


               He need not react. Insults cannot insult him, ill treatment only brings his compassion, because he
           knows his awareness is a citadel, is a shelter which cannot be broken. It is an ultimate protection; he
           is ultimately secure in his awareness.

              HE IS NEVER ANGRY.
              HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
              HE NEVER STRAYS, HE IS DETERMINED.
              THIS BODY IS MY LAST, HE SAYS!



              LIKE WATER ON THE LEAF OF A LOTUS FLOWER
              OR A MUSTARD SEED ON THE POINT OF A NEEDLE,
              HE DOES NOT CLING.


              He does not cling to anything -- body, mind or self. He clings not, he is no more there to cling.
           He is just pure emptiness. And out of that pure emptiness arises innocence, out of that pure
           emptiness arises godliness.

              FOR HE HAS REACHED THE END OF SORROW
              AND HAS LAID DOWN HIS BURDEN.


               According to Buddha the only burden is the self, the ego. Put the burden aside and you are
           absolutely free. He does not talk about God; he only talks about the burden, the ego. Put it aside and
           you will know what God is. There is no need to talk about God; talking about God is utterly futile.
           He emphatically avoids talking about God; it is useless. He gives you the right way to experience
           godliness.
               You are gods. Just the seed has to die, the self has to die, and you will start growing. That growth
           is divine. Religion is the process of inner growth, the process of actualizing the potential, the process
           of being reborn. Unless you are born again you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                    Chapter #2
                                     Chapter title: Just throw the whole bag
           22 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004220
              ShortTitle: DHAM1202
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   Audio: Yes
                   Video: Yes
                  Length: 39 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAY THAT ENLIGHTENMENT CAN HAPPEN ANY MOMENT. TO ME IT FEELS LIKE A VERY
              SLOW PROCESS OF LEARNING AND BECOMING AWARE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS PARTS OF
              MY BEING. DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS?


                Dharmapriya, enlightenment is not a process of learning; on the contrary, it is a process of
           unlearning. Whatsoever you know has to be dropped. Knowledge, the knowledgeable mind, has to
           be renounced.
                If it were a process of learning, then certainly it would take time, it would be gradual. But if it is
           a question of dropping something then it is not gradual, it need not be gradual. You can simply drop
           it instantly.

           Once it happened:
               A man came to Sri Ramakrishna with ten thousand gold coins to offer him. Ramakrishna
           accepted his offering and then said, "Now these coins are mine -- you go to the Ganges and throw
           them all into the river." Ramakrishna lived in a temple just on the bank of the Ganges.
               The man was very much shocked. "Ten thousand gold coins, solid gold coins, and this fool is
           saying, 'Throw them into the river!' And I have always thought that this man had become enlightened
           -- he is simply mad!" He hesitated.
               Ramakrishna said, "When you have offered them to me they no longer belong to you. Why are
           you hesitating? I can send somebody else to throw them away. You please go."
               The man went, reluctantly of course, and he didn't come back. One hour passed. Ramakrishna
           inquired, "What happened to that man? Has he escaped with the coins? Go and inquire."
               Somebody was sent. There was a great crowd, he had gathered a great crowd, and he was
           throwing each single coin, one by one, and counting them!
               When Ramakrishna was told, "This is what is happening -- it may take a few hours more,"
           Ramakrishna went himself, hit the man on the head and said, "Are you mad or something? When
           you collect coins, of course you collect them one by one, it is a gradual process. But when you are
           throwing them away, why are you counting? Just throw the whole bag! Whether they are ten
           thousand or a few more or a few less, it doesn't matter. The Ganges won't take any note of it!"

               This is the situation. When you stop gathering knowledge you also unlearn slowly, not because
           unlearning has to be slow. It is only your clinging mind. It is the mind that does not want to renounce
           knowledge, hence it goes on postponing. It finds beautiful rationalizations.
               The idea of gradual enlightenment is one of the most beautiful rationalizations, and it appeals to
           the mind because all that mind knows is gradual. The whole language of the mind is the language of
           time. Whatsoever the mind can do has to be done in time, it needs time.
               But enlightenment does not happen in time. When I say it can happen in a moment, please don't
           misunderstand me -- the moment is not part of time at all! I am saying it can happen immediately; it
           needs no time at all, not even a single moment is needed. It can happen now... but you cling. You
           say, "How is it possible? I have to become slowly slowly alert, aware, meditative. Chunk by chunk I
           have to transform my unconscious being. I have to drop greed, anger, lust, jealousy, possessiveness,
           hatred, and there are a thousand and one things, and each thing is going to take time. I have to drop
           fear, I have to drop my identification with the body and the mind, I have to drop my attachments...."
           And the list is almost infinite. It will take eternity for you to become enlightened; in fact, you will
           never become enlightened. The very idea that it is going to be a gradual process is only a strategy of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the mind to postpone it.
                Enlightenment is always sudden. It is a question of understanding, insight, illumination. It is like
           sudden lightning. It has always happened like that.
                Gautam Buddha was trying for his enlightenment for six years; it was a lengthy process. He was
           following many methods, many paths. He was doing whatsoever is humanly possible to do, but
           nothing was happening. He was moving in circles; he was where he had started, he was not going
           anywhere else. He was becoming tired, utterly tired. Finally one evening this sudden illumination
           happened to him that his whole effort was irrelevant.
                Enlightenment is not something like an achievement; one cannot achieve it. One has to disappear
           for it to happen. It is a happening and it happens only in the absence of the ego. And whenever you
           are doing something the ego becomes more and more strengthened. The ego is a doer, and
           enlightenment happens in a state of nondoing. It is simply the realization of who you are; it is not a
           question of achievement. You are already it! Just an awakening, just a turning in!
                Seeing the point, Buddha relaxed; he dropped all his methods. That is the only use of methods:
           you get tired of them, you feel utterly bored with them. One day out of sheer boredom you drop all
           the methods.
                That evening he dropped his whole spiritual search. He had dropped all worldly search six years
           before, but it is the same search whether you are seeking money or meditation, whether you are
           seeking power or enlightenment, whether you are running after prestige or God -- it is the same
           thing! The mind needs some object to run after. The mind wants something to desire. It wants an
           objective goal; whatsoever that objective goal is doesn't matter -- XYZ, anything will do.
                Seeing the point, "It is the same mind -- I have renounced the world, but I have not renounced the
           mind, and the mind is the real world. And these six years I have only been changing the objects of
           my desire, but I have not dropped desiring. Instead of money, now I desire enlightenment. Instead of
           power, now I desire ultimate truth. But is there any difference? It is the same desiring mind, the same
           ambitious ego; in fact, it has become more subtle. It was gross before, now it is very subtle..." seeing
           it, he laughed. These six years he had not laughed at all, he had been serious. He laughed at the
           whole ridiculousness of the effort.
                Spiritual effort is more ridiculous than the worldly effort. The worldly effort has a certain
           relevance, but the spiritual effort has no relevance.
                He relaxed -- obviously, naturally. Not that he made an effort to relax: relaxation came to him
           because there was nothing to achieve, nowhere to go. Relaxation simply came to him; from the
           beyond something descended. He fell into deep rest.
                That night he slept for the first time without dreams. When there are no desires there are no
           dreams; dreams are reflections of desires. That night there was no nightmare; for six years he had
           been suffering from many nightmares. A nightmare simply says that you are desiring impossible
           things; hence your night is disturbed, your sleep is disturbed. There is no rest; it is feverish, it is
           pathological, it is not healthy. For the first time in his life he relaxed and slept well, totally, like a
           small child newly born.
                Deeply rested, in the morning when he opened his eyes the last star was disappearing from the
           sky. Seeing the last star disappear, the last trace of the ego disappeared in him. He had found it -- but
           he had found it without any effort. It had happened, but it had happened not as a goal, not as an
           achievement -- it had happened out of deep relaxation.
                But remember, don't start trying to relax; that is the most absurd thing in the world. And there are
           many stupid people writing books about relaxation. I have come across one book -- the name of the
           book is YOU MUST RELAX! Now that very word 'must' is enough to keep you tense. Relaxation
           cannot be a "must," it cannot be an effort.
                Try one night to go to sleep, make an effort to go to sleep, and it will become more and more
           impossible for you. Every night you go to sleep very easily. If you want to suffer from insomnia this
           is the sure method to suffer from insomnia. Try, make an effort to go into sleep. Toss and turn and
           take long breaths and count sheep and jog in the room and take a bath and do some Transcendental
           Meditation. And then naturally sleep will become impossible, because all these things will be
           disturbances, distractions. How do you go to sleep? If somebody asks you, will you ever be able to
           explain? How do you manage? Every night when you fall asleep you are doing a miracle! You are
           moving from doing to nondoing, from action to no-action. How do you manage it? Is there any art?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Have you learned it? What is the trick in it? Try to think about it, and then you will never be able to
           sleep.

                I have heard about one centipede -- the centipede has one hundred legs. The centipede was taking
           a morning walk and a spider became very much intrigued. The spider must have been a
           mathematician or something like that. He said, "Uncle, can you satisfy my curiosity? How do you
           manage? One hundred legs! Which one to put first and which one to put next and then... a hundred
           legs! You don't fall, you don't get confused? Do you keep counting inside? If I had one hundred legs
           I am certain I would not be able to walk. My legs would become entangled with each other, I would
           fall immediately."
                The centipede laughed. He said, "You mathematicians, you are always asking nonsense
           questions! You know that I am managing perfectly well -- but I have never thought about it. Let me
           think it over."
                So he tried to walk and think -- and he fell down immediately. He was very angry at the spider
           and he said, "Listen! Never ask a centipede this question again -- now for my whole life I will be in
           trouble! I had never thought about it, things were going perfectly well. I had never looked into the
           matter. Now that you have asked me I will never be at ease until I have found the answer. Trying to
           figure it out... you see I am in a mess! Please never ask any centipede. You have crippled me for my
           whole life. Now I don't think that I will ever be able to walk. One hundred legs! Of course you are
           right, and I don't know how everything was being managed."

                If somebody asks you how you go to sleep, don't try to find out the answer; otherwise you will
           suffer from insomnia from that very day. People who suffer from insomnia, all that they need is to
           forget about sleep; there is no need to worry about it. If you are not feeling sleepy, be happy, enjoy.
           Read something, listen to music, sing, dance, go for a walk -- you are more fortunate than the people
           who are fast asleep and snoring. But forget all about sleep. Watch the stars, enjoy the stars, feel
           yourself far more fortunate than the others, and you will fall asleep without any effort on your part.
           But don't make any effort.
                Enlightenment is something like that. It is not a question of making effort.
                Dharmapriya, you say, "To me it feels like a very slow process." It is not a process at all -- it is a
           jump, a quantum leap! And it has nothing to do with learning; it is UNlearning. You are conditioned.
           Enlightenment means becoming unconditioned again, becoming a child again. You were a child
           once so you can be a child again. You have just to put aside all kinds of rubbish that you have
           gathered around yourself. You have to jump out of it, that's all. It is not a question of a slow process
           of learning, it is simply a question of seeing the point.
                But we are cunning, mind is very cunning. It can't accept the simple fact that we still want to
           avoid enlightenment. We don't want to be enlightened, we are afraid of the fact, but we are cunning
           and we cannot accept it. Hence we find out ways -- ways to deceive ourselves that it is a slow
           process, a very slow process; that it takes not only one life but many lives to become enlightened. It
           does not take time at all, what to say about a life or many lives? It has nothing to do with time. It is
           immediate -- it can happen now!
                See the point. Allow relaxation to happen, don't try to relax. Simply relax, don't make it a "must."
           Rest... and if you rest you will start falling into the deep abyss of your own being, and sooner or later
           you will reach the rock bottom of yourself. To experience that rock bottom of yourself is to be
           enlightened, is to be a buddha, is to be a christ.
                That's why I insist again and again it can happen any moment, just to remind you that your mind
           is very clever. It can deceive others, it can deceive you. Beware of the mind! It keeps you clouded, it
           never allows you to see things as they are.
                Enlightenment is your nature, hence there is no question of learning, no question of reaching
           somewhere. You are already there, it has already happened. It is your very being, your very ground.
           It is in your every breath and in every beat of your heart.

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHY DON'T I FEEL ANY SURPRISES IN MY LIFE? ALL SEEMS SO DULL AND DRAB.


                Gyano, I have given you the name Gyano: Gyano means knowledge. You are too knowledgeable,
           you know too much. And when one knows too much, life loses the quality of being mysterious. Then
           you are never surprised by anything. Your knowledge goes on supplying you all kinds of answers;
           even before you have asked, the answer is there, you seem to know everything. Knowing nothing
           you go on believing in borrowed knowledge, and slowly slowly, that borrowed knowledge
           hypnotizes you so much that you forget that you don't know. You start believing in your own
           knowledge -- and it is not your own, it is just borrowed. You may have read the Bible, the Gita, the
           Koran....
                Krishna knew what he was talking about, but when you read you don't know. Jesus knew what he
           was talking about, but when you read the Sermon on the Mount you are simply collecting, gathering
           words -- words which are not meaningful to you at all, which cannot have any meaning because
           meaning comes from experience.
                Jesus says: If somebody hits you on one of your cheeks, give him the other one too. You can read
           it, it is a simple statement. You can even try to follow it -- thousands of Christians are trying to
           follow it.

              I have heard about a Christian saint who used to talk too much about this statement. A
           mischievous person came and hit the saint on one cheek. Of course, true to his teaching, the saint
           gave him his other cheek hoping that now he would understand: "He will see how great I am, how
           compassionate, how considerate, how full of love!"
              But the mischievous person was also a great devil; if the saint was great he was also great. He
           was not in any way inferior to the saint. He hit on the other cheek even harder.
              Now this was too much! The saint immediately jumped upon him and started hitting him. The
           mischievous person was surprised. He said, "What are you doing? What happened to your teaching?
           What happened to Jesus?"
              He said, "Jesus has said: If somebody hits you on one cheek, give him the other. I have got only
           two cheeks, so his teaching is finished -- now I am free of the teaching. I will show you who I am! I
           have followed the teaching literally, exactly."

              Once Buddha was asked by a man, "How many times do you say one should forgive?"
              Now, the very question is enough to show the quality of the person. He is saying, "How many
           times...?" When you ask about how many times, you are not a man of compassion.
           Buddha said, "Seven times."
           The man said, "Okay."
              Because of the way he said, "Okay," Buddha said, "Wait -- seventy times!"
              The man felt a little reluctant about accepting seventy times, but still he said, "Okay."
              Buddha said, "I withdraw my words. You have to forgive infinitely; even seventy times won't do.
           The way you are accepting it, it seems that when seventy times are over you will take revenge. And
           you can do harm in a single blow, you can take revenge in a single blow. You are not a man of
           compassion. You don't understand me, it is not a question of how many times."

               You can read Buddha, THE DHAMMAPADA, you can recite it every day; you will become
           knowledgeable. All questions will disappear because you will have all kinds of answers, but all those
           answers are borrowed. Hence they will destroy the beauty of life and they will destroy your sense of
           awe and wonder, which are the most essential religious qualities.
               If someone asks me which is the most fundamental religious quality, I will say wonder. And
           knowledge kills wonder. You start knowing about everything and the more you know, the more your
           life will be dull and drab, because all that dust of knowledge that gathers around you makes your
           mirrorlike consciousness so clouded -- there are so many layers of knowledge -- that you lose the
           quality of childlike wonder. You can't see the beauty of flowers, you can't see the beauty of a sunset,
           you can't see the miracle of existence. And existence is full of miracles, and surprises are
           everywhere, all around you.
               Just look, but look with open eyes. The knowledgeable person is blind; the most blind person in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existence is the knowledgeable person.
                Gyano, I have given you the name just to remind you again and again that that is your problem,
           that is your main characteristic. Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, "The first thing for the disciple
           is to know what his main characteristic is." Your main characteristic is knowledgeability.
                Look around without carrying your burden of knowledge, and then you are stumbling
           continuously into new surprises and life again becomes worth living, worth rejoicing. Life again
           becomes a mystery to be loved and lived. It is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived.

           "Brothers," said the colored preacher, "the subject of my sermon today is 'liars'. How many in this
           congregation have read the sixty-ninth chapter of Matthew?"
           Nearly every hand went up.
           "You are the very people I want to preach to," the reverend said. "There is no such chapter!"

               But nobody wants to accept that he does not know. Sixty-ninth chapter of Matthew.... Everybody
           wants to pretend. And I will not say that they were doing it very consciously, deliberately. Maybe
           they were thinking that they had read it, maybe they were believing that they had read it, and seeing
           so many hands going up they must become convinced that yes, there is such a chapter.

               In the old days down South, a minister had a Negro named Ezra in his household. Ezra was smart
           and ambitious, but he could not read or write.
               One Sunday the minister saw Ezra in the church, scribbling away industriously through the
           sermon. Afterwards, the minister asked him, "Ezra, what were you doing in church?"
           "Taking notes, sir. I's eager to learn."
           "Let me see," said the minister, and he glanced over Ezra's notes, which looked more like Chinese
           than English.
           "Why, Ezra," he chided, "this is all nonsense!"
           "I thought so," said Ezra, "all the time you was preaching it!"

              Your preachers have poisoned you. Your knowledge has destroyed you; it has taken away the
           simple joy of not-knowing. Regain that joy of not-knowing. That's the whole purpose of meditation:
           coming out of knowledge just as a snake slips out of its old skin.
              Slip out of your knowledge, Gyano, and then life is full of surprises. Every moment you will
           come across so many wonderful things. A seed becoming a sprout is a miracle. A bud opening in the
           morning is a miracle. A flower releasing its fragrance is a miracle. The night full of stars... what
           more miracles do you need? The whole existence is in a constant celebration!
              And still you say, "I feel dull and drab and dragging"?
              Then you must be at fault somewhere; nobody else is responsible for it. But we cling to our
           knowledge because it fulfills our ego.

               D.H. Lawrence was walking in a garden with a small child. And, as children are prone to, the
           child asked, "Why are the trees green?"
               D.H. Lawrence is one of the people I love and I respect. D.H. Lawrence is one of the people of
           this century who had tremendous insight into things. He stood there, thought for a moment, closed
           his eyes, meditated.
               The child said, "Is it such a difficult question for you? Don't you know why the trees are green?"
               D.H. Lawrence said, "The trees are green because they are green."
           The child said, "Right! That's the right answer."
               But you will not agree; no knowledgeable person will agree with D.H. Lawrence. He will say
           trees are green because of chlorophyll or some other nonsense. But his answer is tremendously
           beautiful: "Trees are green because they are green!"
               And the child was immensely happy. He said, "Right, that's what I also feel. We agree about it!"

              Drop your knowledge, become more childlike, and regain your joy in life. To rejoice in life is
           sannyas. My sannyas is not renunciation: it is rejoicing, it is celebration.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU HAVE SUSSED ME OUT. NOW IS THE TIME TO TELL MY DREADED SECRET! I AM ONE OF
              YOUR POLACKS. WHAT TO DO?


               Prem Veechi, that's the most beautiful thing about Polacks I love and like. You are not the first
           Polack who has declared it. Asha wrote a note saying that, "Beloved Master, I am also a Polack."
           Anupama wrote a note saying that her lover, Amitabh, is a Polack. And many others. This is
           beautiful!
               And see what the British are doing. One British lady, Prem Lisa, has written saying, "We ARE
           superior so what can we do?"
               Veechi, it is beautiful to be a Polack. It is beautiful to be a little foolish, not so superior as the
           British.

           Why don't they have ice-cubes in Poland?
           Because the woman with the recipe died.

               One Polack arrived in New York seeking his fame and fortune. As he strolled down the sidewalk
           he noticed a great long ladder propped against the side of a building, stretching upward as far as the
           eye could see. He started to pass on by, but a voice high in the clouds called down, "Climb up the
           ladder to success!"
               Somewhat nervously he began to ascend, rung by rung, all the way to the top of the fifty-story
           edifice. When he got there, a slender, blond, blue-eyed boy seated on the ledge of the building
           smiled sweetly at him.
           "Hi, there!" he said. "I am Cess!"

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF GOD IS A SHE, WHY DO YOU KEEP ON CALLING HER A HE?
              AND ANOTHER QUESTION: YOU SAY THE ENGLISH ARE LADIES AND THE ITALIANS, WOMEN.
              WHERE WOULD YOU PUT THE GERMAN FEMALES?


               Prem Prageeta, the German females are precisely that -- females -- neither ladies nor women.
           'Female' is more scientific and more German, more scholarly, neutral; it has no evaluation in it.
           And God, in fact, is neither he nor she.
               So if you say he is a he I will say he is a she; if you say he is a she I will say he is a he -- simply
           to unhinge you from your convictions.

           Once it happened:
               Buddha entered a village. A man asked him as he was entering the village, "Does God exist?"
           He said, "No, absolutely no."
               In the afternoon another man came and he asked, "Does God exist?"
           And he said, "Yes, absolutely yes."
               In the evening a third man came and he asked, "Does God exist?"
               Buddha closed his eyes and remained utterly silent. The man also closed his eyes. Something
           transpired in that silence. After a few minutes the man touched Buddha's feet, bowed down, paid his
           respects and said, "You are the first man who has answered my question."
               Now, Buddha's attendant, Ananda, was very much puzzled: "In the morning he said no, in the
           afternoon he said yes, in the evening he did not answer at all. What is the matter? What is really the
           truth?"
               So when Buddha was going to sleep, Ananda said, "First you answer me; otherwise I will not be
           able to sleep. You have to be a little more compassionate towards me too. I have been with you the
           whole day. Those three people don't know about the other answers, but I have heard all the three
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           answers. What about me? I am troubled."
                Buddha said, "I was not talking to you at all! You had not asked, I had not answered YOU. The
           first man who came was a theist, the second man who came was an atheist, the third man who came
           was an agnostic. My answer had nothing to do with God, my answer had something to do with the
           questioner. I was answering the questioner; it was absolutely unconcerned with God.
           "The person who believes in God, I will say no to him because I want him to drop his idea of God, I
           want him to be free of his idea of God -- which is borrowed. He has not experienced. If he had
           experienced he would not have asked me; there would have been no need.
           "The person who believed in God, he was trying to find confirmation for his belief from me. I was
           not going to say yes to him -- I am not going to confirm anybody's belief. I had to say no, I had to
           deny, just to destroy his belief, because all beliefs are barriers to knowing the truth. Theist or atheist,
           all beliefs, Hindu or Christian or Mohammedan, all beliefs are barriers.
           "And the person with whom I remained silent was the right inquirer. He had no belief, hence there
           was no question of destroying anything. I kept silent. That was my message to him: Be silent and
           know. Don't ask, there is no need to ask. It is not a question which can be answered. It is not an
           inquiry but a quest, a thirst. Be silent and know. I had answered him also; through my silence I gave
           him the message and he immediately followed it -- he also became silent. I closed my eyes, he closed
           his eyes; I looked in, he looked in, and then something transpired. That's why he was so much
           overwhelmed, he felt so much gratitude, for the simple reason that I did not give him any intellectual
           answer. He had not come for any intellectual answer; intellectual answers are available very cheap.
           He needed something existential -- he needed a taste. I gave him a taste."

               Remember this: God is neither man nor woman; he cannot be man or woman. Either he is both or
           he is neither. God is the ultimate synthesis of all opposites. Man is one extreme, woman the other.
           God is not an extreme, he is the whole existence. He is vast enough to contain the opposites; all
           opposites become complementaries in God.
               So don't cling to my answers; they are not answers. I am not a teacher at all. I am not here
           teaching you a certain dogma, a certain creed. I am simply trying to help you to be unburdened of
           your knowledge so that you can be silent with me. And I am in a hurry because soon I want to go
           into silence, so you also have to be quick. Don't linger too much. Don't go on postponing because I
           will not be talking for ever and ever. Soon I want to be silent. You can sit in silence with me then,
           you can sing, you can play music, you can dance, but I want to stop all kinds of intellectual
           communications between you and me. I want to be existentially related to you. I am simply
           preparing the ground -- I am pulling out weeds.
               So it depends: whatsoever your belief is I am going to destroy it. I am against all beliefs. That's
           why you will find Christian priests against me, the Catholic pope against me, the Hindu
           shankaracharya against me, the Mohammedans against me, even the communists against me; for the
           simple reason that I am against all beliefs, communist or Catholic, Hindu or Buddhist, it doesn't
           matter -- belief is belief.
               I want you to be in a state of no-belief, in a state of not-knowing. I want you to function from
           that state of not-knowing, from that innocence. Only in that innocence will you be able to know. So
           if you have communist weeds in you I will pull them out. If I need the help of Catholic instruments, I
           will use Catholic instruments to pull out communist weeds. If you are a Catholic and communist
           instruments are needed, I will use communist instruments to pull out Catholic weeds.
               My function here is that of a surgeon. I am not much interested in what instruments are being
           used -- surgery has to be done. Something has to be pulled out of you. Your soil has to be completely
           cleared of all stones, of all weeds. Only then will your nature start growing roses.
               So you will be puzzled. Many times you will find my statements contradictory -- they are, and I
           don't want to hide the fact. They are contradictory, they are absurd! Because I will say one thing one
           moment and I will contradict it the next moment. And I am not at all consistent -- or I am only
           consistent in one thing: about my inconsistencies, that is my only consistency. I am consistently
           inconsistent, that's all. I am always contradictory, for the simple reason that you have come here
           from different backgrounds and I am trying to destroy all backgrounds, all conditionings. So it
           depends on you.
               God is neither a man nor a woman. In fact, God is not a person at all. The very idea of God being
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a person is anthropocentric. There is no God, in fact, but only godliness. Drop the idea of God as a
           person. You all have that childish idea of God as a superfather sitting somewhere on a golden throne
           in the sky, pulling everyone's strings -- a puppeteer or something, controlling, managing, a
           superboss, a great manager, engineer, architect. You have this idea of God.
               God is not a person at all; God is the ultimate harmony of existence. Remember the harmony, the
           accord, the music, the melody, the faraway, distant call of a cuckoo... and there is godliness in it.
           This bird calling... and there is godliness in it. This silence here in which you are all drowned... and
           there is godliness in it. Godliness certainly exists.
               I perfectly agree with H.G. Wells; he has made one of the most profound statements about
           Buddha ever made. He said that Buddha was the most godless yet the most godly person who ever
           walked on the earth. The most godless and yet the most godly?
               Yes, that's how existence is. It is a godless existence but tremendously godly. Godliness has to be
           remembered, God has to be forgotten. If you remember God you will go to the church and to the
           temple and to the mosque and you will do all kinds of stupid things which have been done down the
           centuries. If you remember godliness then it is not a question of going to Kaaba or Kashi; then it is a
           question of living it. Then live in a way which is godly. Live in harmony, live beautifully, live
           aesthetically, live sensitively, live lovingly. Let your life be a tremendous love affair.
               Then there is no need for prayer, because there is nobody to hear it. It is a question of meditation,
           not of prayer. Then don't go on calling on God; you are wasting your time. Be silent, more and more
           silent, and live out of that silence, act out of that silence. Meet people and animals and the trees and
           the rocks with deep reverence because all is divine.
           Existence is nothing but God.
           Existence is synonymous with God.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A TOURIST. I AM HERE ONLY FOR ONE DAY. CAN I ALSO RECEIVE YOUR GRACE?


               Tom, so you have come! I was always waiting. Where are Dick and Harry? And you are from
           California -- of course, you can't be from anywhere else. Californialand consists only of tourists!
           "Tourist" is a new species: they are not ordinary human beings. That is a new development, a
           breakthrough -- or a breakdown. A tourist is a strange kind of person: he is always rushing to
           nowhere, he does not know why -- from one place to another place. When he is in Kabul he thinks of
           Poona, when he is in Poona he thinks of Goa, when he is in Goa he thinks of Kathmandu. He is
           never where he is, he is somewhere else; he is all over the place except the place where he is. He is
           never at home. You will never find him in his own home; he has always gone somewhere else, he is
           always dreaming of other places.
               The tourist goes on missing everything; he is in such a rush that he can't see anything. To see
           things you have to be a little more relaxed, a little more restful. But the tourist is always on the go.
           He will take his breakfast in New York, his lunch in London, and he will suffer indigestion in
           Poona!
               He carries a camera, inevitably, because he cannot see anything right now, so he goes on taking
           photographs. Later on he makes albums -- he is a bum and makes albums! And then later on, when it
           is all over, he looks at the Himalayan peaks, at the Goa beach -- and when he was there he was not
           there! The camera was doing his work. He need not be there; in fact, why does he bother at all? He
           can purchase these photographs anywhere, better photographs than he can take because he is
           amateurish; professionals are already taking photographs. He can get beautiful albums and, sitting at
           home, he can look at them. But now the problem is that he cannot sit down.
               It is one of the qualities that a few people are completely losing; they cannot sit. They have to do
           something, they have to go somewhere, and they have to go fast. They don't want to lose any time --
           and they are losing their whole lives in not losing time! They will not appreciate anything because
           appreciation needs intimacy.
               If you want to appreciate a flower you have to sit by the side of the flower, you have to meditate,
           you have to allow the flower to have its say. You have to experience the joy, the dance of the flower
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the sun, in the wind, in the rain. You have to see all the moods of the flower in the morning, in the
           afternoon, in the hot sun, in the evening, in the full moon. You have to see all the moods of the
           flower. You have to become acquainted, you have to create a friendship. You have to say "hello" to
           the flower; you have to get into a dialogue, an existential dialogue. Only then can the flower reveal
           its secrets to you.
                But the tourist is pathological. Why is he rushing? -- for the simple reason that he does not know
           what to do with himself if he is left alone, if he is not to go anywhere, if he has just to sit silently. He
           does not know what to do with himself. He feels awkward, embarrassed; he has to do something.
                Man has become a doer. He has lost the quality of being a witness, a watcher.
                The tourist cannot understand the Zen approach, the essential Buddhist approach of sitting
           silently doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
                Zen people sit for years doing nothing -- just sitting, watching... what is outside and what is
           inside, watching their breath....
                Now, the tourist will think this is absolutely ridiculous. Why watch your breath? What is the
           point of it all? Why not watch TV, some horror film? They are glued to their chairs only when the
           TV takes them into some torture story, into some murder, into some sexual orgy, into something so
           they can become participants. They are no more spectators, they become identified with the
           characters. They start becoming part of the story.
                Now new dramas are being developed in the West in which the spectators can participate, for the
           simple reason that spectators cannot sit for three hours, so they are allowed to come on the stage. At
           least they can come on the stage from this side and go from that side, and the play goes on. Or they
           can say something, they can have a little chitchat with the actors -- on the stage! Now they are even
           developing new techniques where the stage should be just in the middle and it's okay if anybody
           wants to come in, sit on the stage, do something, do some yoga postures. Now in a Shakespearean
           drama somebody comes and stands on his head... that will help! The people who have fallen asleep
           will wake up -- something is happening! Otherwise who wants to see Shakespearean drama? The
           universities have bored people to death with Shakespeare; people are finished with Shakespeare.
           Once they get out of the university they don't want to even hear the name of Shakespeare. It feels
           like a dirty word! But the real reason is that people cannot sit there for three hours; they have to do
           something. They have to be allowed some action; then they can sit.
                A strange quality has happened to humanity, a very insane quality: that nobody can sit silently.
           And that is what meditation is all about.
                You ask me, "I am a tourist. I am here only for one day."
                I am grateful that you are here for one day, Tom, because there are tourists who are not here even
           for one day.
           "Can I also receive your grace?" you ask.
                My grace is available, but are you available to my grace?

              An American tourist was gazing into the crater of a Greek volcano. "It looks like hell," he said.
           "Ah, you Americans," said his guide, "you've been everywhere!"

               Where are you going? And what is the hurry? Can't you be here a little longer? You will be going
           to Goa -- it is almost certain, it is predictable. What are you going to do in Goa? You can do all those
           stupid things here!
               We run almost one hundred therapy groups -- for what? Just for people who can't sit silently, just
           to tire them. So they are pushed and pulled and they are massaged and Rolfed. Do you know what
           the latest thing in hell is? -- Rolfing! Learn it here because otherwise you will be in difficulty there.
           Ida Rolf has died and gone to hell; now she is training people there! But we have managed all kinds
           of groups here. If you pass through these one hundred groups and you can survive, then you need not
           be afraid of hell at all. In fact, the Devil and his disciples will be afraid of you! The moment they see
           the orange people coming they will close the doors. They will say, "Go to the other place!"
               And we do all kinds of stupid things with expertise. In Goa you will be just amateurish! Here we
           have the best experts in the world -- and package deals!
           Tom, just be here a little bit more....
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I CAN'T MAKE UP MY MIND WHETHER I WANT TO BE A PSYCHIATRIST OR AN AUTHOR.


              Veetrag, why not toss for it -- heads or tales? Get it...?

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I THOUGHT I HAD FOUND A NICE-A BOX-A, BUT SHE TURNED INTO AN ICE-A BOX-A. WHAT IS
              THIS KARMA THAT THIS NEW YORK JEWISH BOY HAS TO WORK OUT WITH GERMAN
              WOMEN?


              Prem Samvid, every nice-a box-a turns into an ice-a box-a finally; it is nothing special about you.
           "Nice-a box-a" is only the label -- "ice-a box-a" is the reality! But you are fools, you go on being
           befooled by the labels. Nobody else is responsible for it.
              Every ice-a box-a carries a beautiful facade written in big neon letters: NICE-A BOX-A. Once
           you are caught, then you know: every woman is a nun!

              Hattie and Aretha were standing on a street corner talking when two nuns passed.
           "Say," asked Hattie, "why do they call them ladies nuns?"
           "Because," replied Aretha, "they ain't had none, they ain't got none, and they ain't never gonna get
           none."
           "No wonder they wear mourning!"

               But every woman basically is a nun -- and no man is a monk! That is the trouble. God loves
           troubles! He creates puzzles, jigsaw puzzles. There is no way to solve them; one simply learns to
           accept.
               Samvid, you accept the ice-a box-a. And it is summer and you will need an ice-a box-a! And
           when winter comes, we will see. Who knows about tomorrow? By that time you may be befooled by
           another box-a.
               And it has nothing to do with any karma; it is simply the sheer stupidity of the human mind.
           Women are always attractive when they are not available to you. They are seducers, they are all
           coquettish. That is natural, that comes just naturally, part of their femaleness. And man is constantly
           befooled, again and again. Once he is befooled he thinks for a few days, becomes very wise -- but
           only for a few days. That wisdom does not last long; after a few days again he is deceived. He starts
           thinking, "Maybe all women are not the same." But I tell you: all women are the same and all men
           are the same!
               Be more aware. Either accept things as they are... then you are not miserable about it because
           you have no more expectations; you know this is how things are going to happen -- a deep
           acceptance of things as they are. Or, don't be deceived again, if you are fortunate to get out of this
           trap this time -- which is not easy, which is very difficult. To get into the trap is always easy.
               And the beauty is that it is the man who tries in every possible way to get trapped. The woman
           knows there is no need to go after you, she simply waits. She believes perfectly in your stupidity,
           that you will come. The more aloof she remains, the more you are attracted. Once a woman starts
           running after you, you will escape, you will become afraid. That is like a mousetrap running after a
           mouse! The mousetrap simply sits there, knowing perfectly well that the mice are bound to come.
           Where else can they go? And they circle around.... And the mousetrap has all the allurements --
           bread and butter and everything... spaghetti! And once the mouse is in, there is no way out -- no exit!
               Jean-Paul Sartre has defined hell as "No Exit." Once you get in, you are in forever, you cannot
           get out of it. That's why it is called hell. And even if by some chance you get out of it you will feel
           very lonely. You have become so accustomed to the comforts of the mousetrap, to the security.
           There is some security; if you are inside a mousetrap, no cat can catch you. You see the security, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           safety! Outside the mousetrap there is always danger. So sooner or later you will enter into another
           mousetrap -- of a different color. The hair will be different, the nose will be different, the body will
           be different -- just a few differences, but the inside is the same.
               Once this is understood -- that every man and every woman carries on the same program -- once
           this is understood, you can deprogram yourself, you can decondition yourself. Then you can remain
           with a woman; there is no problem about it. She has turned into an ice-a box-a because you still want
           her to be a nice-a box-a. If you don't want her to be a nice-a box-a, then what does it matter what she
           is? Let her be a nice-a box-a or an ice-a box-a -- it is perfectly okay! You become cool and calm.
               And the same is the problem with the woman from the other side. Again and again she thinks
           that this man will fit, this man is going to deliver the goods. No man ever delivers the goods, no man
           can ever deliver, that is beyond their capacity. No man is responsible really, but your expectations
           are so high that nobody can meet them. They are impossible; hence everybody falls short. Every
           woman finds sooner or later just a henpecked husband and nothing else. And who loves a henpecked
           husband? No woman can love a henpecked husband.
               Just watch your life, whether you are man or woman, watch your program, your biological
           program. Be aware of it so it can be deprogramed. Then wherever you are you will be free of it
           because you will be free of expectations.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A RUSSIAN. CAN YOU TELL ME A JOKE ABOUT THE RUSSIANS?


              Darshan, I am never miserly about jokes. If you ask me for one I will tell you two. The first:

                Brezhnev, the head of the Russian Communist Party, invites his aged mother to leave the village
           where she has always lived to come visit him in Moscow. When she arrives he proudly shows her his
           huge luxury flat inside the Kremlin... the priceless Persian carpets, the imported Swedish furniture,
           the antique silverware and crystal tableware, and the latest labor-saving machines from America.
           "It's beautiful, son," she says.
           "That's not all, Mama," he replies.
                So he takes her in his huge, chauffeur-driven limousine to his country villa outside Moscow and
           shows her his private forest, the swimming pool, the stables full of race-horses and the household
           staff of fifty servants.
           "So what do you think of all this?" he asks, sweeping his arm around the estate.
                His mother looks a bit worried and whispers, "But, Leonid, what will you do when the
           communists come back?"

           And the second:
               Ivan, a small Russian boy, is having great difficulty grasping the basic principles of Soviet
           communism. After several hours of instruction, his father finally says to him, "Well, look at it this
           way. Imagine that I, your father, am the party, that your mother is the motherland, that your brothers
           and sisters are the unions and you are the people."
               Ivan still cannot understand the relationship between these institutions, and in a fit of rage his
           father locks him inside a cupboard in the parental bedroom.
               Later that night, forgetting Ivan is still there, his father makes love to his mother. When he is
           finally released by an embarrassed father the next morning, Ivan exclaims:
           "Now I know what you meant, father. The party rapes the motherland while the unions sleep and the
           people stand by and suffer!"

           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                        Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                    The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                              Chapter #3
                             Chapter title: With love among the unloving
           23 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004230
              ShortTitle: DHAM1203
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              HE LOOKS DEEPLY INTO THINGS
              AND SEES THEIR NATURE.
              HE DISCRIMINATES
              AND REACHES THE END OF THE WAY.



              HE DOES NOT LINGER
              WITH THOSE WHO HAVE A HOME
              NOR WITH THOSE WHO STRAY.
              WANTING NOTHING,
              HE TRAVELS ON ALONE.



              HE HURTS NOTHING.
              HE NEVER KILLS.



              HE MOVES WITH LOVE AMONG THE UNLOVING,
              WITH PEACE AND DETACHMENT
              AMONG THE HUNGRY AND QUERULOUS.



              LIKE A MUSTARD SEED FROM THE POINT OF A NEEDLE
              HATRED HAS FALLEN FROM HIM,
              AND LUST, HYPOCRISY AND PRIDE.



              HE OFFENDS NO ONE.
              YET HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH.
              HIS WORDS ARE CLEAR
              BUT NEVER HARSH.



              WHATEVER IS NOT HIS
              HE REFUSES,
              GOOD OR BAD, GREAT OR SMALL.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE WANTS NOTHING FROM THIS WORLD
              AND NOTHING FROM THE NEXT.
              HE IS FREE.



              THE MASTER LOOKS DEEPLY INTO THINGS
              AND SEES THEIR NATURE.
              HE DISCRIMINATES
              AND REACHES THE END OF THE WAY.


               Only the master can look because only the master has eyes. Without meditation you are blind.
           You can see, but only the most superficial things, only the surface of things, only the circumference
           and never the center. You cannot penetrate into the nature of things. And truth remains hidden at the
           very core.
               Meditation gives the master an insight into himself and the same insight becomes his bridge to
           the whole of existence. He is no more blind. Only a man of meditation is not blind. Unless you have
           attained meditation think of yourself as blind. Yes, you can see, but you can see only outwardly. And
           the real nature is inside you; it is in your interiority, it is in your subjectivity.
               You live outside the house of your being; you have never entered into the innermost shrine. Not
           knowing yourself, you know nothing. And if you don't know even yourself, what else can you know?
           All that you think you know is only inferences -- not knowledge, not authentic knowledge but only
           guesswork.
               All your knowledge depends on guessing. Sometimes it works only by coincidence, sometimes it
           does not work. When it works you think you are very intelligent, when it does not work you think
           fate is against you. But you never realize the fact that you have no eyes yet to see into things.

               Two men were riding on a train for the first time. One of them had a bunch of bananas. He
           offered one to his friend and began to peel one for himself. Just then, the train entered a tunnel.
           "Have you tasted your banana yet?" asked the first man, very alarmed.
           "No, I haven't," replied his friend.
           "Well, for heaven's sake don't!" said the first man. "I took one bite and went blind."

               This is what your knowledge is -- just inferences from coincidences.
               Just the other day I told you a joke about a Polack who had come to New York to earn name,
           fame, money, power, prestige. He heard a voice coming from far away in the sky, "Climb up to
           success!" A little hesitant, a little scared, he tried; he started climbing the ladder, a fifty-story-high
           ladder, rung by rung. He reached the very end and there he found a young man who said, "Hi there,
           my name is Cess!" And would you believe that last night the young man came to take sannyas! In
           my whole life this is the first time a man with the name of Cess has come to take sannyas! I must
           have given sannyas to more then one hundred thousand people; thousands of Johns and Peters have
           turned up, but Cess for the first time! And I think it may be the last time too.
               Life is full of coincidences; there is nothing esoteric about it. And he looked exactly like the
           description! But he was an intelligent man -- he wanted to change his name.
               You go on inferring. Inference is not knowing, inference is just guesswork. Yes, sometimes it
           may work, but more often it fails. Knowing is totally different; it is never guesswork, it is a clear
           insight into things, into the very nature of things. To see into the very nature of things is the whole
           purpose of meditation.
               Meditation is not something occult, it is very scientific. It is a process of cleansing your eyes, of
           giving you clarity, of making you alert. Your minds are so full of prejudice that you can't see. Your
           minds are so full of a priori conclusions that whatsoever you see is colored by your conclusions, by
           your conditionings. Your observation is not pure; it is polluted, it is poisoned. You don't see what is
           the case, you go on seeing what you want to see or what you are prepared to see or what you are
           conditioned to see. This is not real seeing.
               Meditation means removing all your prejudices, putting all your conclusions aside -- seeing
           without any hindrance, seeing without any curtains, seeing clearly without any mediation of any
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thought, seeing without Buddha standing between you and reality, or Krishna standing or Christ
           standing.
               That's why Buddha is reported to have made one of the most strange statements; only a man of
           the caliber of Buddha can say it. He said to his disciples, "If you meet me on the way, kill me. Don't
           allow me to stand between you and the truth. Immediately kill me, remove me; otherwise I will be
           the barrier."
               The true master is one who helps the disciple finally to get rid of the master too, so that the
           disciple can encounter reality directly, immediately. The false master is one who creates more and
           more dependence in the disciple, makes him a slave, so much so that the disciple cannot even think
           of being without the master.
               That's what is happening all over the world. So many so-called saints go on creating dependence
           in you; their whole effort is how to enslave people. They condition you in such a way that their
           conclusions become your conclusions. They don't give you eyes, they give you ideas.
               The real master gives you eyes, not ideas. He gives you insight into reality and then leaves you in
           total freedom to function out of that insight.

           Buddha says:

               HE LOOKS DEEPLY INTO THINGS
               AND SEES THEIR NATURE.
               HE DISCRIMINATES
               AND REACHES THE END OF THE WAY.
                   'Discrimination' is one of the very important words to be understood. Buddha has used the word
               again and again; his word is VIVEK. Vivek has far deeper meanings than the English equivalent
               'discrimination'. Vivek contains awareness, and discrimination through awareness. One can
               discriminate without being aware; then it will not be discrimination according to Buddha. You can be
               told what is right and what is wrong and you can discriminate, "This is right and this is wrong," but
               because it is not your awareness it is not discrimination. Unless you see what is right and what is
               wrong it is not going to help much.

               The Ten Commandments are of no help to you unless they are handed over to you by God
           himself, not to Moses. They may have been of infinite value to Moses because he came to those
           insights himself, independent of the whole past, of the whole tradition. But you are simply repeating
           like parrots.
               From their very childhood we start teaching children what is right and what is wrong, what
           should be done and what should not be done. And they become conditioned so much that they forget
           completely that this is not their own voice. They start thinking this is their conscience -- it is not. It is
           a strategy of the priests and the politicians, a conspiracy against man. They have created a
           conscience in you and because they have created a conscience in you they have prevented the growth
           of your own conscience. Your own conscience comes out of your own consciousness; it can't come
           from the outside. Nobody can give it to you, it has to happen to you in your deep aloneness.
               Buddha says: The master knows what is false and what is true. He knows on his own authority,
           not on any other authority. He does not know according to the Koran and he does not know
           according to the Talmud, he does not know according to the Vedas -- he knows himself. And only
           when you know yourself does your knowing have a validity, an authenticity -- an authenticity that
           can transform you, that can give you a new birth.
               And he REACHES THE END OF THE WAY.... The moment that authentic insight has arisen in
           you, your consciousness is born, YOU are born. This is a rebirth. You are born anew. You have
           reached the end of the way, there is nowhere else to go. You have arrived home.

               HE DOES NOT LINGER
               WITH THOSE WHO HAVE A HOME
               NOR WITH THOSE WHO STRAY.
               WANTING NOTHING,
               HE TRAVELS ON ALONE.


               In India, people are divided into two categories; this is a traditional division. It was so in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha's time too, it is a very ancient division. Buddha is trying to make a distinction: he is trying to
           make his disciples a third category. The old, ancient categories are two. The first is the worldly, the
           householder, those who have a home. They are called householders for the simple reason that they
           live in the fallacy of security, safety -- a safety that they think comes through money, power,
           prestige, a security that they think comes out of relationships. The wife thinks she is safe with the
           husband, the husband thinks he is safe with the wife, the parents think they are safe with their
           children. The safety is fallacious because neither the family nor money nor anything else of this
           world can save you from death.
                When death comes it shatters everything; it shatters all your sandcastles. The householder lives
           in a kind of dreamworld, a world of his own projections. It is not true, it does not correspond to
           reality; it is his own projection. The wife thinks the husband is her security and the husband thinks
           the wife is his security. Now, both are insecure. How can two insecure persons give security to each
           other? Two insecure persons together become doubly insecure, but the fallacy is created.
                This is the first category: the GRIHASTHA, the householder.
                And the second category is of those who have renounced the first category, who have moved to
           the other extreme -- who don't live in houses, who don't live in families, who don't earn money, who
           don't even touch money, who have moved to exactly the opposite extreme. They are known as
           sannyasins. They used to wander around the country in small or big groups.
                Jaina monks are not allowed to move alone. In Buddha's time there were thousands of Jaina
           monks because Jainism had existed for at least three thousand years before Buddha. Thousands of
           Jaina monks -- they are not allowed to move alone, they have to move in a group of at least five, for
           the simple reason that a person moving alone cannot be trusted. He may fall into some error and,
           knowing that nobody is with him, nobody knows, he may drink wine somewhere or he may fall in
           love with a woman or he may go and visit a prostitute or he may do something.... But moving with
           four others it is impossible; the other four are constantly watching.
                So that was a strategy to prevent anybody getting any kind of freedom, any kind of license -- a
           psychological strategy. Unless all the five decide to conspire together... and that is very difficult, that
           is almost impossible. Sinners are known to become friendly to each other, saints are not known to
           become friendly to each other. They don't know what friendship is, they can't conspire. They will
           watch, they will try to find every kind of fault in the other and they will report to the master. And
           Hindu monks used to move -- even now they do the same -- in big groups of hundreds.
                Buddha says: You have dropped a small family and now you have moved into a bigger crowd --
           you have become another family. Nothing has changed. First you were thinking that was your
           security, now you think this is your security, but the old idea of security still persists.
                He says that to be a sannyasin means to accept the natural insecurity of life. That very acceptance
           is sannyas -- to accept that, "I am born alone and I will die alone, and between these two alonenesses
           all ideas of being together with somebody are just fantasies. I am alone even while I am alive." One
           is born alone, one lives alone, one dies alone.
                Buddha's emphasis is very much on the fact of your aloneness; he wants you to be aware of it.
           Once you are aware of it you will be surprised at the beauty of it, at the joy of it. You will not be
           scared; you will rejoice in it because it has a freedom, it has an ecstasy in it, it has a purity and
           innocence in it. And why hanker for security?
                Life is insecure in its very nature, hence it is simple logic: those who want to be more alive, they
           have to live in insecurity. The greater the insecurity, the more will be your aliveness; the greater the
           fallacious, so-called security, the less will be your aliveness.
                That's why you see so many dead people in the world, almost dead, for the simple reason that
           they have become so much attached to the idea of security. And the more dead you are, the more
           secure you are. Don't do anything that can create any insecurity, remain confined to the familiar,
           don't ever go beyond the limits. You will never know the ecstasy of going beyond the limits. You
           will never know the ecstasy of exploring the unknown and the unknowable.
                According to Buddha, both categories are the same people. Of course they are extremists and
           they appear opposite to each other, but don't be deceived. They are not really opposite; they have
           found different kinds of security.
                A Jaina monk wrote to me that he would like to come here. He has been reading my books and
           he wants to become my sannyasin, but he is afraid he will lose all his security because now the Jaina
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           community protects him, feeds him, takes every care of him, respects him. Once he leaves the
           monkhood, the Jaina community won't be protecting him anymore.
               He asked me whether I am ready to take his life in my hands, whether I will be his security. Now
           he wants to change from one security to another security, he cannot take a jump into insecurity. And
           my sannyas is insecurity.
               Real sannyas is always insecurity because real life is insecurity. There is a great security in being
           insecure. In dropping the very idea of security you are secure with the whole, with God, with the
           total. And there is great excitement then, because each moment you don't know what is going to
           happen.
               Buddha says that the master... DOES NOT LINGER WITH THOSE WHO HAVE A HOME. He
           does not linger with the first category, the people who are obsessed with money, power and prestige.
           He does not waste his time with these people, he does not linger with these insane people.
               And he says: ... NOR WITH THOSE WHO STRAY -- nor with those who go on roaming around
           the country in groups because that is another kind of security, a subtler kind, but the mind is the
           same. One wants to belong, one can't be alone.
               He says: WANTING NOTHING, HE TRAVELS ON ALONE -- because the real master has no
           desire, not even desire for life; hence he is not afraid of death. He has no desire in this world or in
           the other; hence he is not concerned with creating all kinds of safeties around himself. He is not
           concerned. He can be alone, utterly alone. He is not trying to be clever and cunning with existence;
           he trusts existence.
               People are trying to be very cunning with existence, although they call their cunningness their
           intelligence. They always give good names to ugly things. Just look at your life, how cunning you
           have been trying to be -- even with existence. On the one hand you will go to the church and pray,
           and on the other hand you are trying to be very cunning in every possible way, seeking your ends,
           sacrificing everybody else for your ends, not caring about anybody, utterly uncaring, having no
           respect, no love, no reverence for life. And on the one hand you go on praying in the churches and
           the temples; that too is part of your cunningness. You know what you are doing in your life; to
           compensate you go to the church every Sunday, or you go to Kaaba....
               At least once in his life every Mohammedan is expected to go to Kaaba. For what? -- to repent
           for all the sins that he has committed, so that he can be forgiven. Hindus go to the Ganges as many
           times in their lives as possible, just to take a dip in the Ganges because they think the Ganges
           cleanses you of all your sins. You commit sins and the Ganges has the responsibility of cleansing
           you of your sins. And what will happen to the Ganges, taking so many people's sins? It must be the
           most polluted river in the whole world, the most impure! Each drop of the Ganges must be full of
           millions of sins. So many Hindus for so many thousands of years have been cleansing their sins
           there. Avoid the Ganges! Even if by chance you come near the Ganges, escape as fast as you can!

               Once a man came to Ramakrishna; he was going to the Ganges to take a dip, a holy dip. He
           asked Ramakrishna, "Paramahansadeva, you bless me -- I am going for a holy dip. Do you think all
           my sins will be cleansed?"
               Ramakrishna was a very polite man. He said, "Of course, when you take a dip in the Ganges all
           sins fly away from you; you are freed."
               The man said, "When YOU are saying it, I trust it. So it is worth going."
               Ramakrishna said, "It is worth going, but remember one thing: when you dive in the Ganges,
           don't come out."
               The man said, "What are you saying? Have you gone mad? I will have to come out, I cannot
           survive under the water for more than a few seconds!"
               Ramakrishna said, "Then it is futile because whenever you come out... have you seen the big
           trees standing on the banks of the Ganges?"
           He said, "Yes, I have seen."
           "Do you know their purpose and their function?"
               He said, "That I don't know. It is not mentioned in any scriptures."
               Paramahansadeva said, "I will tell you the secret. When you take the dip, when you dive in, your
           sins have to leave you because of the purity of the Ganges, but they sit on the trees waiting for you.
           When you come back they jump upon you! And the danger is that some other sins may also jump
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           upon you which were not yours in the first place. So be very alert -- if you take a dive, then don't
           come out!"

               People have found cunning ways to continue their lives as they are. All your so-called religions
           are your cunning ways of avoiding God, not of finding God.

                A young clerk in a telegraph office got married and, after a couple of years, was going to attain
           fatherhood. He was sure that the child would be a boy. However, he wanted to keep the whole thing
           secret from his co-workers so that he could surprise them with the news that he was the father of a
           male child.
                As the delivery was imminent, he sent his wife to her father's place and asked her to send a
           telegram to him. The telegram, he told her, should contain only the following words: "Cycle
           arrived," so that he would know that she had safely delivered.
                When the time was ripe she gave birth to a female child. As the telegram, "Cycle arrived," was to
           be given only after the delivery of a male child, the wife was in a fix as to what to do. Luckily her
           brother was an intelligent person and he sent the telegram in this fashion: "Cycle arrived with front
           tire punctured."

               Now these people are thought to be intelligent. All kinds of cunning people are thought to be
           intelligent people. And you have to watch your own cunningnesses. To be cunning is not to be
           intelligent; to be intellectual even is not to be intelligent. Intelligence has a totally different flavor
           from intellectuality. Intelligence is the fragrance of meditation -- only a master is intelligent.
               WANTING NOTHING, HE TRAVELS ALONE. He can see that the householders are living in
           a projection, in a projected world of their own; and the so-called monks and nuns are living in
           another projection, but again it is a projected world. He moves alone -- it has not only to be an
           outward act, it has to be an inward feeling also.
               To be alone is the most fundamental thing for a meditator -- to experience aloneness, to sit
           silently and just be yourself, just be with yourself, not hankering for any company, not hankering for
           the other. Enjoy your being, enjoy your breathing, enjoy your heartbeat. Enjoy the inner accord, the
           harmony. Enjoy just that you are, and be utterly silent in that enjoyment.
               People find a thousand and one ways to avoid this aloneness; there are worldly ways and there
           are otherworldly ways. The worldly person will start listening to the radio or he will turn on his idiot
           box -- his television. He can't be alone. And the otherworldly person, the religious person, will start
           praying or reading the Bible. He is also doing the same.
               You have to be constantly aware that there are religious ways of avoiding yourself too --
           irreligious ways, religious ways, all kinds of ways are available to avoid yourself. The religious
           person will start a dialogue with God. He will start praying in a formal way -- the Christian prayer,
           the Lord's Prayer, or the Jewish prayer or the Hindu prayer -- and he will recite mantras, just like a
           gramophone record, meaning nothing. All that he wants is occupation. All that he wants is somehow
           not to feel alone. All that he wants is that God is there: "If nobody is there then at least God is there;
           I am not alone."
               The whole idea of God as a person is the fiction created by the people who cannot be alone;
           hence they have created God. When nobody is there, at least God is always there; you need not be
           worried about that, he is everywhere. To have an idiot box you need some money and you cannot
           carry the idiot box everywhere, but God is always there following you like your own shadow. He is
           always with you. Even when you are in your bathroom he is not gentlemanly enough to leave you
           alone; he comes with you. You are lying down in your bath naked and he sits by your side. He is a
           kind of Peeping Tom -- he goes on looking at you! You are making love to your wife and he is
           standing there; you don't even allow him to be a little gentlemanly. No need for him to be British, but
           if he is a little gentlemanly, there is nothing wrong in it.
               This idea of God is created out of fear -- fear of aloneness. When you close your eyes you are
           alone, but God is there. Even in your inner being he persists, he insists on being there. This is
           violence! But there is no God -- it is your idea.
               It is like when you are alone and moving into a dark lane in the night or you have lost your way
           in the forest and you start whistling, just to cheer yourself up. Now that is stupid. It is your whistling,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is nobody else, but even that helps. It is psychologically helpful. You start whistling, you start
           singing, humming -- to forget that you are alone, to forget that you are lost.
               All your prayers are nothing but whistling in the dark.
               Buddha is not in favor of prayers. And this difference has to be understood: he is absolutely in
           favor of meditation, but never in favor of any prayer. Prayer is again the old trick, the old game
           which does not allow you to be alone. Meditation is the art of being alone. He says: WANTING
           NOTHING, HE TRAVELS ON ALONE.
               Aloneness is not loneliness, remember it. Aloneness is not solitariness, remember it. Aloneness is
           solitude. It is tremendously beautiful; it is innocent because there is nothing to pollute it, there is
           nothing to disturb it, to distract it. It is pure stillness, it is silence. It has a music of its own.
               Once you have heard the music of your own aloneness you will not like any other music. Then
           all other music is only noise; howsoever beautifully arranged, it is noise.

              HE HURTS NOTHING.
              HE NEVER KILLS.


               It is impossible for him to hurt or to kill, because now he knows that he is not separate from
           existence, that there is nobody else. It is all one, it is one organic unity. We are all waves of the same
           ocean. Hurting another wave is hurting yourself. It is like hitting your hand, one hand with another
           hand. It is childish, it is insane. Sometimes small children do that. If the table has hurt them they hit
           the table hard; they are hurt more, but they enjoy. They think they are punishing the table.
               Whenever you punish somebody you are punishing yourself. Whenever you torture somebody
           you are torturing yourself -- because there is nobody else. The master knows it. It is not only a belief
           for him, it is his experience. Reaching his own center he has reached the center of the whole
           existence.
               This fundamental has to be remembered: that as far as the circumference is concerned we are all
           different, but as far as the center is concerned we have only one center. That one center you can call
           God or truth or nirvana.

              HE MOVES WITH LOVE AMONG THE UNLOVING,
              WITH PEACE AND DETACHMENT
              AMONG THE HUNGRY AND QUERULOUS.


               HE MOVES WITH LOVE AMONG THE UNLOVING.... His work is difficult. He is talking to
           his bodhisattvas, making them aware of the arduousness of their work. It is not going to be easy, it is
           not going to be cheap, because the awakened one has to move amongst those who are fast asleep.
           The person who has eyes has to live with those who have no eyes. Communication becomes
           impossible. He says one thing, they understand something totally different. He tries to help them and
           they feel offended. He tries in every possible way to save them, but they think that he is trying to
           exploit them or something.

               Just a few days back, a friend from Germany took sannyas. His name was Richard; I have called
           him Veet Richard. Richard means "hard"; German names are like that. Strange, that all German
           names I come across, either they mean "hard" or they mean "strong" or they mean "masculine" or
           they mean "bear-strong" or they mean "the walk of the wolf" -- Wolfgang. I told him, "Go beyond
           your hardness. VEET means going beyond. Become soft, become a little less German."
               And just the other day he wrote a question, saying, "While you were giving me sannyas I was
           looking at your shoulders and I could not believe that 'This man is my master.'" Now, what do my
           shoulders have to do with my being a master or not? This is something new! I have come across
           thousands of definitions of what a master means, but neither Buddha nor Lao Tzu nor Zarathustra
           nor Jesus, nobody has said anything about the shoulders! And he was looking at my shoulders, not
           looking into my eyes -- I had asked him to look into my eyes.
               But this is how things are. When you are moving with people who are fast asleep they have their
           own ideas. Then, Veet Richard, go to Muhammad Ali! Find some stupid wrestler for your master.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And now I am wondering -- whatsoever I was saying to him, was it worth saying to him? I was
           simply wasting my time and his time. There is no possibility of any communication. He was in his
           own world; maybe he was looking for Adolf Hitler or somebody. I am not Adolf Hitler and I am not
           Muhammad Ali either, but he must be carrying some idea....

                Everybody is carrying some idea -- strange ideas people are carrying. And I cannot fulfill your
           ideas. You are so unloving and I go on pouring my love on you and there seems to be no response.
                People write me such ugly letters that if you come to know about those letters you will be simply
           shocked. You will not be able to believe it. One woman wrote just the other day, "Either you are mad
           or you are a fool!" Madam, can't I be both together? Is there any contradiction? Not all fools are
           mad, true, not all madmen are fools, true, but there are a few who are both together. I belong to that
           third category. And certainly I must be mad; otherwise why should I be working on you? And I
           should be a fool, I must be a fool; otherwise I would not have initiated this madam into sannyas. You
           don't belong here.
                But the problem is, everybody who comes is asleep, unloving, and they can't see their sleep, they
           can't see their unlovingness, they can't see their prejudices.
                So many questions have come from British ladies and British gentlemen saying, "The British
           lady is just a myth and you should not be so interested in a myth. It is not a reality -- the British lady
           exists nowhere." But these same people believe that the Polack exists, the Italian exists, the Jew
           exists; they are not myths... because when I am joking about Jews or Italians or Polacks no British
           lady or gentleman writes to me that these are myths -- they are realities.
                Now, no Jew, no Italian, no Polack is writing to me that the British lady is a myth. Why are only
           the British writing to me about it? Can't you see the point? And if it is a myth -- and I know it is a
           myth! -- why not enjoy it? Why become so much worried about it? Somewhere deep down you
           believe it is not a myth, otherwise why? Have a good laugh and it is finished!
                But your concern to make me aware of the fact that the British lady does not exist... I KNOW it!
           I am surrounded by British ladies! I have more British ladies around me than I have Jews or Polacks
           or Italians. I know it is a myth -- but a beautiful myth!
                And one thing is very good about British ladies: they never disappoint you because from the very
           beginning they are ice-a box-a. That must be said in their appreciation. The Italian lady begins with a
           nice-a box-a; ultimately, finally, you find out, but then it is too late, that she is not a nice-a box-a,
           she is an ice-a boxa. But the British lady from the very beginning is clear; she never disappoints
           anybody. She is truthful, sincere. If you want an ice-a box-a, it is your responsibility.
                Buddha says: HE MOVES WITH LOVE AMONG THE UNLOVING.... Yes, the master has to
           move among the Polacks and the Italians and the Jews, the British and the French... and he has to
           move with people who know nothing about love, although they all believe they love. And the love of
           the master is so different that you cannot understand his love. His love is very cool; to you it appears
           it is cold because you know only two categories, cold or hot. You don't know the third category:
           cool, neither cold nor hot.
                Coolness is not coldness, remember. The master is never cold, but certainly he is not hot either.
           You know a love which is hot, passionate, lusty, and you know a love which has gone dead, has
           become cold -- ice-a box-a -- everything has become frozen, it is a corpse. But you don't know the
           third possibility: the coolness of love and the freshness of that coolness. And the coolness has a
           paradoxical quality in it. If you compare it with cold, then it is cool; if you compare it with hot, then
           it is warm. It is exactly in the middle where warmth and coolness are one. The master has a warmth
           which is cool and has a coolness which is warm, but that is very difficult for people who live in
           extremes to understand.
                HE MOVES WITH LOVE AMONG THE UNLOVING, WITH PEACE AND
           DETACHMENT.... He loves but he is never attached, and you cannot understand a love which is not
           attached. To you love and attachment are always associated; it is impossible for you to keep them
           separate. Love is always attachment to you; the deeper the attachment, the more you think it is love.
           But the master's love is utterly detached. He loves, yet he is not bound by it. He loves, but he is not
           binding on you. You know a love which creates excitement. The master's love is utterly peaceful;
           there is no excitement. It is nothing to do with romance.
                HE MOVES... AMONG THE HUNGRY.... The people who are always desiring more, Buddha
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           calls them hungry, constantly hungry. They go on stuffing themselves with every kind of thing and
           they are never satisfied. Their hunger is impossible, their thirst is unquenchable. The more you give,
           the more they want. They are never grateful.
               ... AND QUERULOUS. And, of course, when they are always hankering for more they are
           quarreling with each other. The master is never querulous, he is never hungry. He is fully contented,
           utterly contented, absolutely contented. He has arrived! He asks for nothing. Hence it becomes more
           and more difficult for you to understand him.

              LIKE A MUSTARD SEED FROM THE POINT OF A NEEDLE
              HATRED HAS FALLEN FROM HIM,
              AND LUST, HYPOCRISY AND PRIDE.


               The most important thing to remember is: these things have fallen from him. He has not dropped
           them, they have fallen. If you drop them they will hang around you. He has not repressed them, he
           has transcended them -- and the difference is great. If you repress them they will always be with you.
           If you repress lust it will spread deep down inside your being like cancer. If you repress hypocrisy
           you will be creating a deeper kind of hypocrisy, that's all. If you repress pride you will become a
           pious egoist.
               Beware of it. Millions are befooled by this because repression is easy, anybody can do it. It needs
           no intelligence; it needs only a little stubborn stupidity and you can do it. You just have to be a little
           stubborn, you have to insist and you have to force something inside yourself. You have to put
           pressure on it, you have to sit upon it. But then you will be in trouble. It is always there boiling,
           ready to explode any moment.

               Three priests -- an archbishop, a bishop and a rather young, newly ordained priest -- stood in the
           lobby in the airport. The archbishop told the priest to get the tickets while they took care of the
           baggage.
               The priest approached the ticket counter, noting the shapely, seductively dressed young woman
           behind the counter. By the time she got around to him he was quite flustered by her and stammered,
           "I would like three pickets to Tittsburgh."
               Embarrassed and ashamed, he ran from the counter back to his two companions. He told the
           archbishop, "Father, I am sorry, I cannot get the tickets. Furthermore, I have sinned... I was tempted
           by the flesh!"
               The archbishop said, "You are young, my son, and weak -- we shall pray on your problem."
               The archbishop then sent the bishop for the tickets. The bishop, though not easily swayed in his
           faith, was also quite taken with the young woman's beauty. He said, to her, "I must apologize for my
           brother -- he is young. Now, I would like three tickets to Pittsburgh and I would like the change in
           nipples and dimes."
               Shocked by his slip and completely overwhelmed by embarrassment, he returned to the
           archbishop without the tickets.
               The archbishop was by now quite angry at both the priests and the young woman. He then went
           for the tickets himself. He said, "I would like three tickets to Pittsburgh and I would like my change
           in nickels and dimes."
               As the young woman began processing the tickets, the archbishop said, "Look at you... you
           should be ashamed. How do you dare to leave the house that way? Why, your breasts are not covered
           and your skirt is entirely too short. Every man who approaches you is tempted. When you go to
           heaven," he said, with his voice raising in pitch, "Saint Finger will surely shake his peter at you!"

               That is bound to happen. Hence Buddha says: LIKE A MUSARD SEED FROM THE POINT
           OF A NEEDLE HATRED HAS FALLEN FROM HIM.... He has not dropped it or repressed it; it
           has fallen of its own accord. ... AND LUST, HYPOCRISY AND PRIDE.
               How does this miracle happen that these things fall of their own accord? They fall of their own
           accord if you become more aware of them -- not repression but awareness is needed. Repression
           makes them more unconscious and more dangerous. Become more conscious of them, watch them,
           meditate over them. And as you become more and more capable of watching all kinds of thoughts in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your mind, you will become more and more detached from them. You will come to know that the
           observer is separate from the observed, that they are there like the traffic on the road and you are just
           a spectator. They have nothing to do with you, they are not part of your being. Repress them and
           they become part of your being. Repress them and you become more and more controlled by them.
           You will remain afraid your whole life if you repress anything. Repression creates fear, because you
           know it is there -- any opportunity and it can arise again.
               My approach is also the same: don't repress anything -- watch. Nothing has to be repressed,
           everything has to be watched. Just by being watchful things start dropping on their own. And then
           there is a beauty because a silence comes to you, a stillness comes to you which is not forced, not
           cultivated.

              HE OFFENDS NO ONE.
              YET HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH.
              HIS WORDS ARE CLEAR
              BUT NEVER HARSH.


               HE OFFENDS NO ONE -- he cannot because all violence has disappeared from him -- but HE
           SPEAKS THE TRUTH. If truth offends you, then he is helpless. There is no intention to offend you,
           but if you are living in lies then truth offends. About that the master cannot do anything, he has to
           say the truth. In fact, he says only the truth; otherwise he is not interested in saying anything to you.

              The little baby was very quiet. He never cried or chuckled or said "Mama" or "Dadda."
              When he was three, the parents began to get rather worried, thinking he might never talk at all.
              At last, when the child was seven years old, he suddenly spoke. They were sitting having lunch
           when he said, "Not enough salt."
           "Good gracious!" exclaimed his mother. Then she asked, "How is it that in seven years you have
           never said a word?"
           "Well," said the child, "up to now everything has been alright!"

                The master speaks only if something is wrong; otherwise he keeps quiet, he remains silent. He
           speaks only if something is wrong. But that can hurt you, that can offend you. To show that
           something is wrong with you seems to be offensive to you. You love to be appreciated, not
           criticized. You love to be buttressed, not to be criticized. You love that your lies should be
           supported, not destroyed. But about that the master cannot do anything. He has to shatter your lies,
           he has to bring the truth to your notice. If truth hurts, then that is another matter; otherwise, the
           master has no intention of hurting anybody. HIS WORDS ARE CLEAR BUT NEVER HARSH.

           "How was Lady Hastings' party?" Lord Peter was asked.
               With an absentminded, faraway glance in his eyes, he said, "Had the soup been as warm as the
           wine, had the wine been as old as the chicken, had the chicken been as tender as the maid and had
           the maid been as willing as the Lady, it would have been a great party!"

               The master will not be that roundabout. He will simply say it clearly, although he is not harsh.
           But he can appear harsh to you -- that is your problem. He is always sweet, and if sometimes he
           appears harsh to you, ponder over it, why he appeared harsh to you. Maybe something was inside
           you that started pinching, that started hurting. Maybe there was a wound inside you that you were
           hiding and the master hit the wound. He has to hit your wounds. He has to pull much pus out of your
           being. It hurts. The master is a surgeon.
               Buddha himself has said again and again: I am not a preacher but a physician.

              WHATEVER IS NOT HIS
              HE REFUSES,
              GOOD OR BAD, GREAT OR SMALL.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That's exactly the definition of meditation according to Buddha and according to all other
           buddhas too. Watch your mind, and whatever is not yours, whether it is good or bad, great or small,
           don't get identified with it, don't accept it, go on refusing.
                In the East this method is called -- even prior to Buddha it was called -- NETI, NETI, neither this
           nor that. Go on saying that "I am not this, I am not this, I am not that either." Go on rejecting inside
           your being whatsoever you can observe you are not.
                Slowly slowly, eliminating all that you are not, one day only that is left which you are. That day
           is a day of great rejoicing. Then the watcher turns over onto itself. Nothing else to watch, it starts
           watching itself. Nothing else to see, it starts seeing itself. That is the moment you become a seer.
           That is the moment your wisdom explodes. That is the moment when darkness disappears and there
           is just light and light and nothing else.

              HE WANTS NOTHING FROM THIS WORLD
              AND NOTHING FROM THE NEXT.
              HE IS FREE.


               Once you know that all that the mind contains is not you, all that the mind craves is not you, all
           that the mind is hungry for is not you, you are becoming free. Slowly slowly, desires disappear.
           Seeing that all desires are basically futile, that all desires end in frustration, seeing it on your own --
           not because I say it or the Buddha says it -- seeing it on your own, desiring evaporates. You are left
           without any desire and there is no smoke of desire. Your flame of awareness burns bright, and
           freedom is the fragrance of that flowering of awareness.
               Ordinarily we are living like robots. Ordinarily we are living mechanically. We are not conscious
           at all, although we believe that we are conscious. We are not conscious at all. And because we are
           not conscious, if we drop the desires of this world, then we start desiring something in the other
           world. It is absolutely ridiculous.
               See your so-called saints and mahatmas desiring the same things that they have dropped desiring
           in this world, but now they are desiring the same things in the other world.... Mohammedans believe
           that in their paradise there are streams of wine. Now this seems to be very illogical! Here wine is a
           sin and there it is the reward -- reward for all your virtues. And you don't have to go to a pub --
           streams are flowing everywhere! Here the woman is hell and the woman has to be renounced, and
           there...?
               In the Hindu paradise beautiful women are available, always young, stuck at the age of sixteen;
           they don't grow beyond that. In fact, I always wonder how they reached sixteen! They must have
           been born sixteen years old from the mother's womb. Since then they have not grown. And they have
           bodies of gold -- solid gold, it seems! And not American gold, mind you, pure gold,
           twenty-four-carat gold! And their eyes are made of emeralds, pure green emeralds. And their bodies
           don't perspire of course, how can they perspire? If their bodies are made of solid gold it is impossible
           to perspire. They may melt in the heat, but they cannot perspire!
               Here women have to be renounced. And the Hindu scriptures say: The woman is the door to hell.
           And there the mahatmas are provided with beautiful APSARAS, beautiful women. What kind of
           nonsense is this?
               And the same is the case with all the religions. Because in Mohammed's time when the Koran
           was written homosexuality was very prevalent in the Arabian countries, provision is made for gay
           people also! In the Mohammedan paradise not only are beautiful women available but beautiful boys
           too. They never grow their mustaches, they remain always the same -- young. Now here, in all the
           Mohammedan countries, homosexuality is one of the greatest crimes. The homosexuals have to be
           beheaded, death is the penalty. Can't you see the absurdity? In paradise you will be provided with all
           kinds of beautiful boys! I am not against homosexuality, I am simply against this absurdity. It is
           perfectly good, generous -- but then why are you against it here?
               It is the stupid, unconscious mind of man. He is ready to let go of something in this world, but
           then he moves to the other extreme. He lets it go here, he renounces it here, and he starts asking for it
           in the other -- the same thing. The problem does not change. From one problem he moves to another
           problem, from one desire to another desire.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A fat, round-bottomed Italian woman comes to the doctor's office with her husband. "My
           husband no shit-a!" she exclaims.
               The doctor gives her a small bottle of cod-liver oil, saying, "Give him this tonight and he will be
           alright tomorrow."
               But the next day the woman returns and says, "My husband no shit-a!"
               So the doctor gives her a bigger bottle with the same instructions.
               The following day the woman is back again: "My husband no shit-a!"
               The doctor finally gives her a huge bottle of cod-liver oil. The next day the woman comes back
           again.
           "Doctor, Doctor," she exclaims, "no husband, only shit-a!"

               But the problem remains; now it is the other extreme.
               The seeker of truth has to be very watchful not to move from one prison into another, from one
           desire into another. He has to be very alert and aware. He has to de-automatize himself. He has to
           become a man, not continue as a machine. You are born as a machine, and unless you make a great
           effort, you will remain as a machine and you will die as a machine. Make every effort to become
           aware so that you are no more a machine. Then the real man is born.

               A wild West cowboy purchases a horse from the local priest. "This horse is very special," the
           priests explains. "When you shout, 'Praise to the Lord' this horse will start galloping like crazy and
           the only way to stop it is to call out, 'Amen!'"
               At once the man jumps up on the horse's back and shouts, "Praise to the Lord!"
               He shoots like an arrow across the desert. Suddenly he becomes aware of a steep canyon ahead
           of him. "Goddam! I forgot the other command," he says. "What shall I do with no means to slow
           down this mad horse?"
               Cursing and sweating, he approaches the deep canyon, and at the last moment he remembers:
           "Amen!" And just above the gorge the horse comes to a standstill.
               Trembling and relieved, with tears in his eyes, the cowboy looks up to the sky and says, "Praise
           to the Lord!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                   Chapter #4
                                       Chapter title: Music comes closest
           24 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004240
              ShortTitle: DHAM1204
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 39 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT REALLY SO DIFFICULT FOR THE AWAKENED ONES TO WORK WITH US BLIND PEOPLE
              AS GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA SAYS?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Aseema, yes, it is even more difficult than Gautama the Buddha says, because man has become
           far more blind now than he has ever been before -- he has become more knowledgeable. That is his
           blindness. Now he lives under the illusion that he knows and that is the greatest illusion of all. Once
           you start believing that you know, the work of an awakened one becomes almost impossible.
               The awakened one can work easily only when you are ready to accept the fact that you know
           nothing, that your knowledge is borrowed, that it is mere information, that it is not any inner
           flowering of your being, that it is not your own music, that it is not your own experience. Once a
           person accepts this, things become very simple. The very acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of
           disciplehood.
               But as time has passed, man has been accumulating more and more knowledge, his mind has
           become more and more capable of memorizing. He has become a walking encyclopedia. Today man
           knows more than ever, hence the difficulty is greater today than ever before.
               The eyes are blind in proportion to the weight of knowledge that you carry. Children are not
           blind. The younger the child, the more clearly he sees, far more clearly. His perspective is totally
           different from the so-called grown-up.

                Just the other day there was a letter from a young boy from Germany. One month ago he also
           wrote -- that he wants to become a sannyasin. He is only sixteen years old so I told him, "You
           inquire of your parents, ask their permission; otherwise they will create difficulties for you. If they
           allow, you are welcome."
                His answer has come and what he says is tremendously beautiful. He says, "Beloved Master, my
           parents will never understand you. We went to see the film about your ashram -- I was the only one
           in my family who understood it. My father and mother were absolutely unable to comprehend it,
           what it was all about. And I am afraid that if I become more grown-up like them I may miss the
           opportunity. Moreover," he says, "I have dyed all my clothes orange so I am already half a sannyasin
           -- just the mala is needed."
                He says, "I understood the film completely but my parents were simply confused by it. I have
           been trying to explain it to them, but they seem incapable of understanding." He also says, "I am
           afraid that if this is what happens when one becomes grown up, then I may miss the opportunity of
           becoming a sannyasin. So please, send the mala immediately before I become blind!"

               A child is not burdened with knowledge. You have to become a child again; then the work of a
           Buddha is very simple. It is the simplest work in the world -- because the Buddha is not going to
           make you achieve something, he is simply helping you to see what is already the case. What can be
           more simple?
               But grown-up people are really blind, utterly deaf. Their hearts are closed, they can't feel, they
           are hung up in their heads, and to communicate with a Buddha you need an open heart. People are
           encapsulated in their thoughts, so much so, that they live in their own world, continuously
           imprisoned in their ideologies, in their words. You can't talk to them. You say one thing and they
           immediately understand something else.

               Just the other day I received a letter dated April 18, from the Ritz Hotel, Mysore:
           "Dear Sir,
               I am very upset since one of your devotees staying at this hotel, a friend of Swami Anand Hasyo,
           informs me that you make fun of our new president, the Reverend Canon Banana, in your daily Sufi
           dances. I am told that your devotees are taught to sing: 'You are a banana to me.' This is very
           disrespectful. How would you like it if in Zimbabwe we taught our people to sing, 'You are not my
           Bugwan'? Trusting that you will deal with this matter without delay...."
           The song is this:
           "You can fall in love with a star,
           You can fall in love with a tree.
           I love you just the way that you are.
           You are a mystery to me."
               Or, if your partner looks serious, say "banana" instead of "mystery to me."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This Sufi dance has been going on for years, and this fellow, Reverend Banana, became president
           only on 7th April this month, only one week ago. In fact the nation of Zimbabwe is only one week
           old. On 11th April he became the president elect, on 17th April he actually became the president. We
           have been using the word 'banana' for years; it has nothing to do with Reverend Banana.
               The letter-writer has also sent a picture of Reverend Banana -- and he LOOKS like a banana, so I
           can very well understand why he is upset!
               Now he should approach the UNO to change the English language; bananas should not be called
           bananas anymore. And what will you do about the expression "He has gone bananas"? Now you will
           have to say, "He has gone Reverend Bananas." That will be much more suitable. All the other
           bananas will be very happy.
           Now, these stupid people are all over the world....
               And would you believe what the name of this man is? His name is Israel Tomato!
               Now I am waiting for some letter from Michael Potato! I really got worried about the whole
           thing. I love bananas, I love tomatoes, I love potatoes. Now to eat them will mean you are a
           cannibal!
               I immediately went into the garden and asked a bunch of bananas, "What do you think? What
           should I do?" The bananas were so ashamed they didn't speak a single word. I shook them and I said,
           "You have to say something!" They said, "We are sorry, but once in a while a banana falls.... But this
           man has fallen too much! Please don't include him in our family. No other banana has ever been a
           politician before. Yes, we have fallen and we have committed many sins before, but this is too much.
           We feel ashamed!"
               I asked the tomatoes, and they are such innocent people -- they look so meditative, almost like
           Zen masters sitting silently, doing nothing. And they all laughed and they said, "Don't be worried.
           Continue to eat us. That is the only way for us to become buddhas!"
               And he says, "How would you like it if in Zimbabwe we taught our people to sing, 'You are not
           my Bugwan or Bhagwan'?" I would love it -- please do it! ANYway, if your people start
           remembering me, that will be good. In fact, my sannyasin kids already call me Bugwan, and it
           sounds so beautiful! It is far smoother than Bhagwan -- nothing is wrong with it.
               But this fellow has not given his address; otherwise I was thinking to send him my answer! And
           these people are all around the world.
               Now my South African sannyasins will be very very happy because they were writing to me
           again and again, "Beloved Master, you never say anything about the South Africans." Veena, Vidya,
           Veetrag, they were all worried because I am talking about the Italians and the Jews and the British,
           and nothing is being said about the South Africans. This Tomato has given me an opportunity to say
           something.

              The doctor advises an African to jog ten miles a day for two weeks.
              The guy reports that he feels fine; his only complaint is that he is one hundred and forty miles
           from home!

               One African applying for a post as footman in a country house is asked by her ladyship to raise
           his trouser leg so that she may ascertain whether his legs will be sufficiently shapely in plush
           knee-breeches. He does so. She then appears satisfied but asks to see his testimonials.
           "And that," he says, recounting the event, "was where I made my big mistake and spoiled
           everything!"

           Get it?

           "Why are you so angry?" the doctor at the maternity ward asked the African father. "You should be
           proud that your lovely wife had twins."
           "Oh yeah," snarled the leaping African. "Just wait till I find the other guy!"

               The African sergeant gave an order for the whole company to raise the right leg. One confused
           draftee raised his left leg in error. The sergeant looked down the line and saw the upraised left leg of
           one soldier right next to the upraised right leg of the recruit beside him. "Who is the smart aleck in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the middle of the line," he bellowed, "who raised both legs?"

              And to Mr. Tomato I would like to say that I have no respect for politicians; whether they are
           African or American or Indian or European, it does not matter.

               A cannibal rushed into his village to spread the word that a hunting party had captured a
           politician.
           "Good," said one of the cannibals. "I've always wanted to try a baloney sandwich."

               Three surgeons were at the pub, chatting about their experiences.
               The first said, "One guy who came to me had been in a car accident and had lost both his legs. I
           fixed him up and today he's a champion runner."
           "Wow," said the second. "I had a patient once who had been hit by a train and his body was
           completely smashed. We gave him surgery and today he's a famous dancer."
           "That's nothing," said the third. "One guy came to me -- he was a bomb disposal expert. One day a
           bomb went off and all they found was an asshole and a pair of ears... today he's the president!"

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM A MUSICIAN AND I HAVE COME ACROSS MANY MUSIC TEACHERS OVER THE YEARS.
              BUT NOW IT SEEMS THAT I HAVE NOT ONLY FOUND A MASTER BUT ALSO THE ULTIMATE
              MUSIC TEACHER. IS IT PERHAPS THE SAME THING? AND COULD YOU PLEASE SAY
              SOMETHING TO US ABOUT MUSIC AND MEDITATION?


               Harisharan, music comes closest to meditation. Music is a way towards meditation and the most
           beautiful way. Meditation is the art of hearing the soundless sound, the art of hearing the music of
           silence -- what the Zen people call the sound of one hand clapping. When you are utterly silent, not a
           single thought passes your mind, there is not even a ripple of any feeling in your heart. Then you
           start, for the first time, hearing silence.
               Silence has a music of its own. It is not dead, it is very much alive, it is tremendously alive. In
           fact, nothing is more alive than silence.
               Music helps you from the outside to fall in tune with the inner. Music is a device; it was invented
           by the buddhas. All that is beautiful in the world, all that is valuable in the world has always been
           discovered by the buddhas. Only they can discover because they have traveled the inner country, the
           inner, immeasurable universe. Whatsoever they have found in the inner world, whatsoever they have
           experienced in the inner world, they have tried to make something similar on the outside for those
           who can only understand that which is objective, who are not yet able to enter the interiority of their
           own being, who are not yet even aware that there is an inner world. Devices can be created on the
           outside which can help.
               Listening to great music you suddenly become silent -- with no effort. Falling in tune with the
           music you lose your ego with no effort. You become relaxed, you fall into a deep rest. You are alert,
           awake, and yet in a subtle way drunk.

           Once it happened:
               A great musician came to the court of a king. The musician must have been an awakened master,
           must have been a buddha. He said to the king, "I will play on my instruments, but you will have to
           fulfill one of my conditions. Unless this condition is fulfilled I cannot play."
               The king said, "Whatsoever the condition is, it will be fulfilled. You say it." He had never
           thought what the condition could be: "Maybe he will ask for much money -- that can be given easily
           -- or for some other favor which can be given easily." The king had been waiting a long time for this
           man.
               But the condition was very eccentric. The condition was: "While I am playing nobody should
           move his head. If anybody moves his head, his head has to be cut off. So the audience has to be
           informed beforehand that people should come knowing that they are playing with fire. If they start
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moving their heads in tune with the music, then they will lose their heads -- make it clear to
           everyone who comes. And surrounding the audience let at least one thousand soldiers stand with
           naked swords so everybody remains aware and never forgets."
                The king was so interested in hearing the musician -- he had heard about him for years and he
           was not ready to lose this opportunity even at this cost. Of course, whatsoever he was demanding
           was simply insane, but the king had to agree. He said, "Okay, your condition will be fulfilled."
                The whole capital was informed. Thousands of people would have come, but now they were
           afraid -- only one thousand people came to listen to the musician. Even seeing one thousand people
           come, the king was surprised: "So many lovers who are risking their lives!" And one thousand
           soldiers were standing with naked swords. Again it was declared, "You have to remember and go on
           looking at the swords -- they are standing for you. Nobody can escape." And there were people
           standing who would take notes -- whoever shook his head, moved his head, would not reach home
           alive.
                The musician started playing, and he was such a master! After only a few minutes, a few heads
           started moving in tune with the master's music. The king was very much afraid. He saw heads
           moving, swaying -- people were getting drunk. He himself was afraid for his own head! But a
           tremendous desire arose in him too, he could not resist it. He himself started moving his head, he
           forgot all about it. What to say about the audience? The people who were standing with naked
           swords, many of them started moving their heads and their swords were swaying!
                The queen was very much worried. She saw that there were going to be hundreds of people
           unnecessarily murdered. But sooner or later almost everybody was drunk with his music.
                When he finished in the middle of the night, the people who had to report, they reported that
           "Not a single soul has remained without swaying, and we are sorry to say that we are also on the
           list!"
                The king said, "Now, Master, what do you want? -- all these people butchered, murdered? I am
           also on the list, my wife is also on the list, my whole court is on the list!"
                The master laughed and he said, "I was waiting for these people. These are the right people for
           whom I can play. Forget all about the condition! It was just a strategy to prevent those who were not
           ready to risk their lives, it was to prevent the cowards. These are the people for whom I will play.
           And not only today -- I am going to stay in this town for months together because these are MY
           people. They have forgotten about their lives, or even if they had remembered they could not resist.
           The joy was so tremendous that they were ready to go, even with the risk; they were perfectly aware.
           These are the people for whom I exist because these are the people who can be turned inwards. They
           were fully aware and yet drunk."

               And that is the whole secret of meditation. The paradox disappears -- the paradox between
           drunkenness and awareness. And its first experience can happen in music more easily than in any
           other place, than in anything else. Music, dance... all these are devices, discovered by great
           awakened masters. They have fallen into wrong hands.
               To be a teacher of music is one thing -- he can teach you the technique. I am not a teacher of
           music -- I cannot teach you the technique -- but I can help you to listen to the inner music, and that is
           real music.
               In China they have the saying: "When the musician becomes perfect he throws away his
           instruments" -- because they are no more needed. He can close his eyes, he can turn himself inwards
           and he can listen to the music that is already there and always there. And when the archer becomes
           perfect he throws away his bow and his arrows; there is no need for them.
               Whenever any art is perfect it ends in meditation -- it HAS to end in meditation. If it is not
           leading you towards meditation then something has gone wrong.
               That's why much of the modern art is not art, it is insanity. Much modern music is not music; it
           simply makes you sexually excited. It is just the opposite of real music. Real music helps you to
           transcend your biology, your physiology, your psychology. Real music takes you to the world of the
           beyond -- what Buddha calls the farther shore, even beyond the beyond.
               Gurdjieff used to call real art "objective art." Modern art is not, in that sense, objective art. In the
           past the awakened masters have used all kinds of devices: painting, sculpture, music, dance, drama.
           Every kind of device has been used to help you, because there are different types of people who can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be helped in different ways: somebody through music, somebody through painting, somebody
           through poetry.
               And that's my function here: to create a buddhafield, a commune where all kinds of devices are
           used. But the purpose is one, the purpose is single, one-pointed. All these paths are leading you to
           the same goal -- to your own inner being.
               Harisharan, you have come to the right place. I am not a teacher of music because I don't teach
           you the technique of music, but I am certainly the master of the inner music. I have heard it and I can
           help you to hear it -- not only to hear it but to be it.
               And to be it is to be for the first time. To be it is to be reborn. To be it is to know what bliss is
           and benediction is.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              TWO YEARS AGO I WAS A CALIFORNIAN TOURIST. AFTER ALL THIS TIME YOU STILL FILL ME
              WITH WONDER AND AWE. I LOVE YOU.


               Deva Nartano, I am not a consistent man. With a consistent man you are bound to get bored
           because the consistent man goes on repeating the same thing. I am so inconsistent, so unreliable, so
           unpredictable that you never know what I am going to say and what I am going to do. What is going
           to happen in this commune tomorrow nobody knows -- not even me! I will know only when I have
           done it. I know only when I have said it.
               Hence you can be here your whole life and your wonder and awe will not disappear; in fact it
           will deepen, it will become more and more profound.
               And I am not imparting information to you, because it kills wonder. And wonder is such a
           valuable treasure; no information is of such worth.
               I am not here to help you to learn about anything; on the contrary, my work is to help you
           unlearn. If you become knowledgeable, naturally whatsoever you know has no surprise for you in it
           anymore. Your awe and wonder disappear, it becomes old. You know it -- how can you still feel
           wonder for it? You can feel wonder only if you remain in a state of not-knowing.
               That's what I call meditation: the state of not-knowing. I cleanse you. I don't allow any dust to
           gather on your mirrors. I want you to remain fresh and young. The moment you become
           knowledgeable you will lose wonder. The moment you become knowledgeable you have lost contact
           with me.
               This place is not for pundits and scholars. This place is for people who have the quality and the
           courage of remaining ignorant before the immense mystery of existence.

               Winslow walked into the saloon and asked for a double bourbon. Suddenly he looked up and
           realized that tending the bar, apron and all, was a large dog.
           "What's the matter?" asked the canine. "Haven't you ever seen a dog tending a bar before?"
           "Oh, it's not that," replied Winslow. "What happened to the horse? Did he sell the joint to you?"

              This is how the knowledgeable person functions -- nothing can surprise him.

              McCarthy walked into a saloon where there were only the bartender, a dog and a cat.
              As McCarthy ordered his drink, the dog stood up, yawned and said, "Well, so long, Joe," then
           walked out.
           "Did you hear that?" said McCarthy to the bartender. "The dog talked!"
           "Don't be a jackass," said the barkeep, "a dog can't talk."
           "But I heard him."
           "You think you heard him. Dogs can't talk. It's just that wise-guy cat over there -- he's a
           ventriloquist."

              The moment you start feeling that you know something, remember, you are losing your contact
           with existence. Knowledge is the barrier, the only barrier that prevents you from communing with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God. Remain innocent, remain ignorant. Go on dying to the past and go on dying to all your
           experiences. Don't collect them, don't be a collector. Remember that every night before you go to
           sleep, be finished with that day, be totally finished. Go to sleep again as a child and in the morning
           when you wake up, again wake up as a child. And you will never lose the eyes of wonder and the
           heart which can feel awe.
                And this is what I call the fundamental quality of a religious person: not that you know the
           dogma, not that you know the creed, but that you know nothing, or that you know only one thing --
           that you know nothing. It is better to be a fool with the trees, with the rivers, with the mountains,
           than to be a scholar, because as the scholar reaches the trees, the trees simply stop any
           communication, they close their doors. As the scholar reaches close to the flower it is not the same
           flower; it stops sending its fragrance.
                If you reach as a fool and you can say "Hello!" to the tree and you can say "How are you?" the
           tree feels rejoiced: "Here is a man who is worth talking to, with whom I can have a dialogue." Sit
           with the tree, hug the tree, kiss the tree, feel the tree. Of course, people will think that you are mad.
           Let them think! It doesn't matter. What people think about you is absolutely immaterial; don't pay
           any attention to it. But make friends with trees, because they have deeper secrets to reveal. Make
           friends with rocks, feel their texture, their coolness, their weight, their age. Commune with nature
           and soon you will be surprised that if you are available to nature, nature starts becoming available to
           you. And it is not only that YOU say hello -- the tree responds. It sends its messages to you clearly
           and loudly.
                Now even scientists are aware of the fact that the tree behaves with different people differently.
           When the woodcutter comes, the tree trembles in fear. Now there are machines like cardiographs
           which can detect the trembling; they make a graph of what is happening in the inner being of the
           tree. Seeing the woodcutter with his axe coming to cut the tree, the tree is trembling, the tree is
           afraid, the tree is angry, the tree is full of hate, the tree does not like this man. If the tree could run
           the tree would run away from this man. If the tree could attack this man the tree would attack him, in
           sheer self-defense. But because the tree is rooted and she cannot do anything, at least she can
           become utterly dead.
                But when the gardener comes to water the tree, there is a different graph on the cardiogram. The
           tree is dancing and swaying, she is all open to the gardener as if she is ready to embrace him, to kiss
           him. If the tree could make love to the gardener the tree would do it. She is full of love. The
           fragrance of the flowers is more when the gardener is close by.
                Now these are scientific facts -- although there are mythological stories about Buddha that trees
           would become greener when he sat underneath them and meditated. It is possible -- now it can be
           said on scientific authority, it may be possible. A Buddha sitting underneath the tree, what more
           happiness can a tree have? And the tree underneath which Buddha became enlightened must have
           felt tremendous joy.
                Now scientists say that the tree Buddha became enlightened sitting underneath is the most
           intelligent tree of all the trees: the bo tree. It has the same chemical in the biggest proportion that
           makes a man capable of having a mind. No other tree has that quantity of that particular chemical.
           Buddha must have chosen that tree. And the tree has been preserved, still it is there. It has a different
           quality, but the quality can be felt only by those who are innocent.
                And the same is true about the whole of existence: it is full of God, overfull, overflowing with
           God. All that you need is an innocent heart to receive it. You are not open, you are closed.
                My whole message to you is: function from a state of not-knowing and you will know the truth --
           not through knowledge but through innocence.
                Nartano, I am happy that you say, "Two years ago I was a Californian tourist. After all this time
           you still fill me with wonder and awe. I love you."
                It is really difficult for a Californian tourist because California is so gullible that all kinds of
           fools have gathered there -- Muktananda in Palm Beach... all kinds of stupid people from all over the
           world. They are being attracted towards California as if California has a magnetic force. And any
           fool can gather disciples there. All that you have to know is some esoteric nonsense. You talk about
           seven chakras and seven planes and you talk about kundalini and the serpent power and you talk
           about SIDDHIS, spiritual powers and astral travels, and you will find people coming to you --
           intelligent people, far more intelligent people than these Muktanandas. In fact, it is a miracle!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have met Muktananda. Once I was passing by the side of his ashram and he invited me in, so
           just for a few minutes I went there. I have come across all kinds of stupid people -- he tops them all!
           But in California he has a great following. And what is he doing there? -- arranging Hindu
           marriages! Now, any kind of nonsense -- as if the Hindu marriage is something spiritual. It is the
           most absurd thing in the world, but people are ready to do anything outlandish.
                It is difficult for a Californian tourist, but you made it. That's really creditable. I appreciate it,
           because to be with me one needs guts. One needs to be ready to drop all bullshit. And Californians
           are carrying so much bullshit because they are going from one so-called guru to another guru and
           collecting it from everywhere. Tibetan lamas are there and Hindu monks are there and Japanese Zen
           gurus are there and the so-called Sufis are there....
                In fact, real masters never go anywhere. The disciple has to seek and search, the disciple has to
           come to the real master. The thirsty person has to come to the well; the well does not go running
           after the thirsty.
                If two years have not destroyed you and your innocence, that means now nothing will ever
           destroy it. Even if you are not here you have tasted the beauty of being silent, you have tasted the
           beauty, the joy of being innocent. Wherever you are you will never allow anybody to disturb your
           innocence, to destroy your beauty.
                Be alert. If you can simply live an ordinary life with joy, if you can relish the ordinary things of
           life, then nothing else is needed. Religion is not something exotic, it is not something supernatural. It
           is the very ordinary experience of being silent and innocent, of being full of wonder and awe.

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE MEANING OF MATURITY?


                Prem Lalit, maturity means the same as innocence, only with one difference: it is innocence
           reclaimed, it is innocence recaptured. Every child is born innocent, but every society corrupts him.
           Every society, up to now, has been a corruptive influence on every child. All cultures have depended
           on exploiting the innocence of the child, on exploiting the child, on making him a slave, on
           conditioning him for their own purposes, for their own ends -- political, social, ideological. Their
           whole effort has been how to recruit the child as a slave for some purpose. Those purposes are
           decided by the vested interests. The priests and the politicians have been in a deep conspiracy, they
           both have been together.
                The moment the child starts becoming part of your society he starts losing something immensely
           valuable; he starts losing contact with God. He becomes more and more hung up in the head. He
           forgets all about the heart. And the heart is the bridge which leads to being; without the heart you
           cannot reach your own being, it is impossible. From the head there is no way directly to being; you
           have to go via the heart. And all societies are destructive to the heart; they are against love, they are
           against feelings. They condemn feelings as sentimentality. They condemned all lovers down the ages
           for the simple reason that love is not of the head, it is of the heart. And a man who is capable of love
           is sooner or later going to discover his being. And once a person discovers his being he is free from
           all structures, from all patterns. He is free from all bondage. He is pure freedom.
                Every child is born innocent, but every child is made knowledgeable by the society. Hence
           schools, colleges, universities exist; their function is to destroy you, to corrupt you.
                Maturity means gaining your lost innocence again, reclaiming your paradise, becoming a child
           again. Of course it has a difference, because the ordinary child is bound to be corrupted, but when
           you reclaim your childhood you become incorruptible. Nobody can corrupt you, you become
           intelligent enough. Now you know what the society has done to you and you are alert and aware, and
           you will not allow it to happen again.
                Maturity is a rebirth, a spiritual birth. You are born anew, you are a child again. With fresh eyes
           you start looking at existence. With love in the heart you approach life. With silence and innocence
           you penetrate your own innermost core. You are no more just the head. Now you use the head, but it
           is your servant. First you become the heart, and then you transcend even the heart....
                Going beyond thoughts and feelings and becoming a pure isness is maturity. Maturity is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ultimate flowering of meditation.
               Jesus says: Unless you are born again you will not enter into my kingdom of God.
               He is right, you have to be born again. The whole process of sannyas is a process of rebirthing.

               Once Jesus was standing in a marketplace and somebody asked, "Who is worthy of entering into
           your kingdom of God?"
               He looked around. There was a rabbi and the rabbi must have moved forward a little, thinking
           that he would be chosen -- but he was not chosen. There was the most virtuous man of the town --
           the moralist, the puritan. He moved forward a little hoping that he would be chosen, but he was not
           chosen.
               He looked around. Then he saw a small child who was not expecting to be chosen, who had not
           moved, not even an inch. There was no idea, there was no question that he would be chosen. He was
           just enjoying the whole scene -- the crowd and Jesus and people talking, and he was listening.
               He called the child, he took the child up in his arms and he said to the crowd, "Those who are
           like this small child, they are the only ones worthy of entering into my kingdom of God."

                But remember, he said, "Those who are LIKE this small child...." He didn't say, "Those who are
           small children." There is a great difference between the two. He did not say, "This child will enter
           into my kingdom of God," because every child is bound to be corrupted, he has to go astray. Every
           Adam and every Eve is bound to be expelled from the garden of Eden, they have to go astray. That is
           the only way to regain real childhood: first you have to lose it. It is very strange, but that's how life
           is. It is very paradoxical, but life is a paradox. To know the real beauty of your childhood, first you
           have to lose it; otherwise you will never know it.
                The fish never knows where the ocean is -- unless you pull the fish out of the ocean and throw it
           on the sand in the burning sun; then she knows where the ocean is. Now she longs for the ocean, she
           makes every effort to go back to the ocean, she jumps into the ocean. It is the same fish and yet not
           the same fish. It is the same ocean yet not the same ocean, because the fish has learned a new lesson.
           Now she is aware, now she knows, "This is the ocean and this is my life. Without it I am no more -- I
           am part of it."
                Every child has to lose his innocence and regain it. Losing is only half of the process. Many have
           lost it, but very few have regained it. That is unfortunate, very unfortunate. Everybody loses it, but
           only once in a while does a Buddha, a Zarathustra, a Krishna, a Jesus regain it.
                Jesus is nobody else but Adam coming back home. Magdalene is nobody else but Eve coming
           back home. They have come out of the sea and they have seen the misery and they have seen the
           stupidity. They have seen that it is not blissful to be out of the ocean.
                The moment you become aware that to be a part of any society, any religion, any culture is to
           remain miserable, is to remain a prisoner, that very day you start dropping your chains. Maturity is
           coming. You are gaining your innocence again.
                But every child is not a saint. Of course every saint -- real saint -- is a child. The child has the
           same quality, but he is unaware of it. And what is the point of having something if you are not aware
           of it? You may have a great treasure and you are not aware of it; then it is as if you don't have it.
           Having it or not having it makes no difference.

               A very rich man was very much puzzled because his whole life he tried to be rich and rich and
           rich, and finally he succeeded. He became rich, he became the richest man in the world, but there
           was no bliss. And he was thinking that once you become rich, bliss is attained. He was very
           frustrated. That is the fate of all successful people. He started going around asking for any wise
           person who could help him to attain bliss.
               Somebody suggested a Sufi master. He went to the Sufi master on his beautiful horse. He was
           carrying a big bag full of diamonds, maybe the most precious stones in the world, and he told the
           master, "I have all these diamonds, but not a drop of bliss. How can I gain bliss? Can you help me?"
               The master jumped -- the rich man could not believe his eyes -- the master snatched away the bag
           and ran away. The rich man followed him crying, shouting, "I have been robbed! I have been
           cheated! This man is not a master, this man is a thief -- catch hold of him!"
               But in that village the master was well acquainted with all the roads and all the lanes and all the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           streets, so he dodged the rich man. And the rich man had never run after anybody; it was difficult. A
           crowd started following. They knew the Sufi master, that his ways were very strange.
               Finally they came back to the same tree where the master had been sitting and the rich man had
           found him. The master was again sitting under the tree with the bag. The rich man came there, the
           master gave the bag to him, and the rich man held the bag close to his heart and said, "I am so
           blissful. I am so happy that I have found my lost treasure!"
               And the master said, "Have you tasted a little bit of bliss? Unless you lose it you cannot taste it. I
           have made you taste it. This is the way to taste bliss -- lose something."

               If you can lose your ego you will gain yourself -- what Buddha calls no-self. He calls it no-self
           for the simple reason that it is not your old ego anymore. It has no shadow of the ego at all; hence he
           calls it no-self. Lose the ego and gain the self or no-self, and suddenly you are mature. Lose the mind
           and gain consciousness and you are mature. Die to the past and be born to the present and you are
           mature.
               Maturity is living in the present, fully alert and aware of all the beauty and the splendor of
           existence.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT DO YOU CALL THE AMERICAN FEMALES?


               Vivek, they are also ladies, but not in the British sense. English English has one meaning of
           'ladies'; the American English has another meaning. A lady is one who is a good lay -- but that is the
           American meaning!

           The American hangman comes home.
           "It's terrible, darling," he says to his wife. "I'm going to change my profession."
           "Why?" asks the wife.
           "I'm so fed up with seeing one hanging!"
           "Me too," says his wife. "That's why I'm going to divorce you."

               The American is the most alive person on the earth today. He is the most alive person for the
           simple reason that "American" is not a race, it is a mixture -- a mixture of all races. It is a
           meeting-place -- a meeting-place of all the countries. America has become the richest country for the
           simple reason that crossbreeding brings out the best in every child. Other races are small ponds
           breeding amongst themselves; it is as if you are breeding in your own family. The smaller the race,
           the lower the standard of its intelligence becomes. That's why it is prohibited for brothers to marry
           their sisters -- for the simple reason that the child will be just dumb, he will not have any salt. He
           will not be really a man, he will be more a banana or a tomato! He will not have any intelligence.
               Intelligence comes through crossbreeding. And America is the most fortunate country in that
           way, because its whole history is only of three hundred years and all the world has met there. It is the
           future of the world; that's how the whole world is going to be. All other countries should learn
           something; crossbreeding should become the normal thing. Marry somebody as far away as possible
           from you. But people marry in just the opposite way. They find somebody in the neighborhood,
           somebody of the same religion, of the same race, of the same color. That is destroying humanity.
               Now, you can ask animal breeders -- they have raised the quality of all kinds of animals. Ask the
           people who are working on raising the quality of fruits and vegetables; they have raised the quality
           of fruits and vegetables for the simple reason that they have used crossbreeding. But about man we
           are very unscientific and very superstitious.
               In America all these superstitions have broken down. They had to because it was a new country
           and the whole world converged there. People from every country, from Spain, from Portugal, from
           Italy, from France, from Holland, from Poland, from England... from everywhere people gathered
           together there. A totally new kind of human being has been born which is far more intelligent, far
           more healthy, lives longer, has tremendous capacities for adventure, has courage. And it has created
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the richest country in the world.

               An Indian, an Englishman and an American were walking in a cemetery. "When you die, who
           would you like to be placed alongside of?" asked the American of his buddies.
           "Mahatma Gandhi," said the Indian.
           "Winston Churchill," said the Englishman.
           "Well," said the American, "I would like to be next to Raquel Welch.
           "Wait a minute," said the Indian, "she ain't dead yet!"
           "I know," said the American. "But neither am I!"

               Even small children in America are showing great insight, intelligence, far more than anywhere
           else.

               Jimmy decided it was time to lecture his young son who was something of a screwball.
           "Bob," he said, "you're getting to be a young man now and I think you ought to take life more
           seriously. Just think if I died suddenly, where would you be?"
           "I would be here," replied the kid. "The question is, where would YOU be?"

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              SO THIS IS NOT THE NUT-HOUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS -- IT IS A ZOO! TODAY A SPIDER, A
              CENTIPEDE, A MOUSE, A CAT (NOT TO MENTION THE MONKEYS ON THE ROOF),
              YESTERDAY A PIG AND A COW, AND BEFORE THAT FISHES, FROGS, PRINCESSES.... ARE
              YOU NOAH?


               Premananda, you have stumbled upon a truth. I am Noah and this is Noah's Ark!
               You say, "So this is not the nut-house I thought it was."
               There you are wrong. It IS a nut-house, but now you yourself have become one of the inmates!
           That's why you can't see that it is a nut-house. No nut will see it as a nut-house. Of course, it is a zoo
           too. It is many things....
               And you say, "Today a spider, a centipede, a mouse, a cat (not to mention the monkeys on the
           roof)...."
               There too you are wrong. They were not monkeys... they were American tourists on the way to
           Goa!
               And you have mentioned a spider, a centipede, a mouse, a cat, monkeys, pig, cows, fishes, frogs,
           princesses... you have forgotten ducks, so I will tell you a joke about ducks; otherwise many orange
           ducks will be angry at you. Nobody here wants to be forgotten. I am being reminded every day. The
           Australians are writing every day, "Have you forgotten us?" Norwegians, Swedish, Swiss, they are
           all writing letters, "Beloved Master, when is our turn coming?"

               When their father died, three brothers inherited one duck each. They decided to sell their ducks
           and see who could get the most money.
           The first brother sold his for five dollars.
           The second sold his for ten dollars.
               The third brother was walking along a country road when he met a pretty young girl.
           "Give you my duck if you'll make love with me."
           "Sure," said the girl.
               When they finished, the girl was so pleased she said, "I'll return your duck if you'll make love
           with me again."
           "Sure," said the third brother.
               Walking along the road again, the duck got free from the brother's arms and ran out into the path
           of an oncoming car. The car ran over the duck. The driver agreed to pay fifteen dollars for the dead
           duck.
               When all the brothers had gathered together again the first brother said, "I got five dollars for my
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           duck."
              The second brother said, "I got ten dollars for mine."
              Then they both turned to the third brother and said, "What did you get for yours?"
              The third brother replied, "I got a fuck for a duck, a duck for a fuck, and fifteen dollars for a
           fucked-up duck."

           Enough for today.




                     The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                  Chapter #5
                                          Chapter title: He is the moon
           25 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004250
              ShortTitle: DHAM1205
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING,
              BEYOND JUDGMENT AND SORROW
              AND THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES,
              HE HAS MOVED BEYOND TIME.
              HE IS PURE AND FREE.



              HOW CLEAR HE IS.
              HE IS THE MOON.
              HE IS SERENE.
              HE SHINES.



              FOR HE HAS TRAVELED
              LIFE AFTER LIFE
              THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF ILLUSION.



              HE DOES NOT TREMBLE
              OR GRASP OR HESITATE.
              HE HAS FOUND PEACE.



              CALMLY
              HE LETS GO OF LIFE,
              OF HOME AND PLEASURE AND DESIRE.



              NOTHING OF MEN CAN HOLD HIM.
              NOTHING OF THE GODS CAN HOLD HIM.
              NOTHING IN ALL CREATION CAN HOLD HIM.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              DESIRE HAS LEFT HIM,
              NEVER TO RETURN.
              SORROW HAS LEFT HIM,
              NEVER TO RETURN.


               Gautama the Buddha is describing the indescribable. He is describing the inner world of a
           master. He is defining what a master is, what the quality of his consciousness is. Where does he
           exist? -- in time or beyond time, in space or beyond space? Does he have any limitations? any
           boundaries? or has he only a pure vastness, the vastness of the sky? The very phenomenon is so
           mysterious that it is beyond the words that we use, that we can use. But still a few indications have
           to be given. These are only hints -- don't cling to these hints. They are not scientific statements; think
           of them as pure poetry. Yes, fingers pointing to the moon, but forget the fingers and remember the
           moon.
               No word is adequate enough to define a master. All words do injustice to the master because
           words are meant to describe the ordinary and the master has transcended the ordinary. Words belong
           to the world; the master is in the world and yet he is no more of it. He exists here and still he does
           not exist here. He is only a reflection in the lake. He is only a shadow lingering on this shore; the
           real one has already reached the other shore.
               If you can remember this, then even these words will be of great help; otherwise you are bound
           to misunderstand them.... I have been telling you again and again that life is a mystery to be lived,
           not a problem to be solved. And Prem Mukta informs me, "Osho, this really happened: I overheard
           an Italian sannyasin enthusing after the lecture, 'Osho really knows what life is like. It is so true what
           he says, that: Life is not a problem to be solved but a misery to be lived.'"
               Words are dangerous! You can hear in them something which is not there. You can project into
           them something which is your own, and it is impossible to detect what you are doing. It is good that
           the sannyasin was saying it to somebody else, but if you don't say it to anybody else... and there are a
           thousand and one things that you will never say to anybody else -- then they simply remain part of
           your inner world. And if you have utterly misunderstood them in the first place, then you can start
           making a foundation out of them for your life. Words can be dangerous.

           A true story:
               Two mothers were overheard talking about their sons.
           "My boy has taken up meditation," said one.
               The other replied, "Well, I suppose it's better than sitting around doing nothing."

               But that's exactly what meditation is: sitting around doing nothing -- REALLY nothing, not even
           inside, not even thinking, not even feeling. When action as such stops in toto, meditation begins.
           When doing ceases utterly, categorically, when there is no movement in your being, then for the first
           time there is the flowering of meditation.
               So listen to these words. These words are beautiful if understood rightly -- which is very difficult
           because you are so unconscious, you are so blind. You are living in a state of stupor. You are almost
           drunk -- although you never think of it that way. You may see the drunkenness of others, but you
           never think that you are also drunk -- drunk with greed, lust, ambition, ego. And these are more
           alcoholic than any alcohol.
               One of the greatest problems with man is: he can see very easily that others are wrong but he
           cannot see that he himself is in the same boat.

           Two pink elephants walked into a pub.
           The barman looked up and said, "He's not here yet!"

                Get it? He is thinking of some other drunkard who sees pink elephants. He is not drunk, it is
           some other guy who gets drunk and starts seeing pink elephants. Now he is seeing them, but he is
           telling the elephants, "Wait, he has not come yet. He must be coming sooner or later."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The moment you start seeing your own state, a great, radical change sets in.
               So listen to these sutras with great alertness, awareness, not in a kind of half-asleep, half-awake
           state. People are mostly in that state twenty-four hours a day: half asleep, half awake. Something
           they hear, something is always missed. And the trouble is that whatsoever is more significant is
           always missed because that is beyond their capacity. Whatsoever is nonessential is immediately
           heard, is understood by them; that is within their capacity. But they go on forgetting the essential --
           even if they hear it.
               Just watch yourself. Understanding a Buddha, a Christ, a Krishna is one of the greatest exercises
           in awareness.

                Paul was riding his bicycle on a blistering hot summer day. But the heat and fatigue had finally
           so gotten to him that he stopped and sat down beside the road. Minutes later, a small Mercedes
           pulled up.
           "Anything wrong?" asked the man behind the wheel.
           "No, sir, I'm on my way to town," replied the black boy. "I'm just plumb tuckered out."
           "As you can see I don't have enough room for you and your bicycle," said the occupant of the
           Mercedes. "But if you tie your bike to my rear bumper you can sit on it and I will tow you."
                In a few moments the car, pulling the black boy on his bicycle, headed down the highway. At the
           first stop-light a Jaguar pulled alongside. "Hey," said the man inside, "wanna race?"
           "You got it!" was the reply.
                They were soon racing at over one hundred and twenty miles an hour, the Mercedes driver
           having completely forgotten about the black boy behind him on the bike.
                Both cars were up to one hundred and forty when they passed a squad car. The bewildered police
           officer quickly picked up his radio mike. "Hey, Sarge, you ain't gonna believe this!" he shouted. "A
           Jaguar's racing a Mercedes all hell bent for leather, and there's some white kid keeping up with them
           on a bicycle!"

               Listen to these beautiful sutras very consciously, meditatively, in tremendous reverence, in deep
           trust, because Buddha is revealing the greatest secrets of life.

              DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING,
              BEYOND JUDGMENT AND SORROW
              AND THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES,
              HE HAS MOVED BEYOND TIME.
              HE IS PURE AND FREE.


               Go slowly -- each word is significant. DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING.... You
           have been told by the priests down the ages, "Don't doubt, drop doubting." But why in the first place
           do you doubt? You doubt because you desire. Buddha is bringing the very root of the problem to
           your consciousness. If a man desires nothing he has no need to doubt anything at all; it is desire that
           brings doubt in its wake.
               This is something very special, nobody has said it so clearly. In fact, nobody had said it before
           Buddha. If you desire you cannot get rid of doubt because desire brings belief and belief brings
           doubt. And what your priests are doing is simply ridiculous. They insist that you should believe and
           you should not doubt. They are putting you in a difficult situation which is impossible to maintain. If
           you believe, you are bound to doubt; all believers are doubters. This is the great insight of Buddha:
           no believer can ever get rid of doubt.
               Belief means basically that there is doubt and you are covering it with belief. Doubt is there like
           a wound and you are covering it with beautiful flowers of belief. But by covering a wound with
           flowers you are not curing it, it is not being healed. In fact by covering it you will make it far more
           dangerous. It will be growing deep inside you, it will go on spreading; it will become a cancer
           finally. Why do you believe in the first place? If you don't doubt, what is the need to believe?
               Buddha's approach is always very fundamental; he goes to the very root of the problem. You
           believe because you doubt. And why do you doubt? He does not stop there. Why do you believe,
           why do you doubt? -- because you desire.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                For example, you believe in an afterlife and you also doubt an afterlife. Both the belief and the
           doubt persist in you side by side. You believe in afterlife because you desire; there is a great lust for
           life, you don't want to die. Because you don't want to die, any priest can exploit you. He can tell you,
           "Don't be worried, only the body dies; your soul will live forever. Your soul is immortal." And you
           are immediately ready to believe. Why? Without inquiring into such an important matter, you
           believe some stupid priest who knows nothing about it, who has not experienced anything about it
           himself, who has not gone deeper into his own being. Maybe he knows the scriptures, he can quote
           the Bible and the Koran and the Gita, but so what? By knowing the Gita or the Koran or the Bible he
           does not know that the soul is immortal. How does he know? On what authority is he speaking? On
           the authority of Christ? -- then it is borrowed. On the authority of Krishna? -- then it is not his own.
           And unless it is his own there must be doubt in him.
                Unless some experience arises in your own being, doubt cannot be dispelled. You can go on
           believing in light sitting in a dark room, but that does not mean that the darkness will disappear by
           your believing. You can recite the Gita and you can talk about light, but darkness will remain. You
           can deceive yourself by believing in light, you can say there is no darkness, you can pretend that
           there is no darkness, but you know that there is darkness. Otherwise, why are you talking about
           darkness at all if there is no darkness? Why are you saying there is no darkness? If there is no
           darkness there is no darkness! Why waste your time?
                Why are the priests continuously teaching people that the soul is immortal? They know people
           are afraid of death and desire life. The fear of death and the desire for life are two sides of the same
           coin.
                Buddha says: If you desire something then you have to believe. Why do you believe in God?
           Have you seen God? Have you experienced God? You can say Jesus saw God, but he may have been
           a deluded man. Either he himself lived in an illusion or he was deceiving you. Who knows? How can
           you be certain that he knew? What grounds have you got that anybody has ever seen God?
                If you are suffering from a headache, nobody else can know except you yourself. Yes, if you say
           it, people can sympathize with you. They may not say so -- they may agree with you, they may
           disagree with you -- but how can they know that you are suffering from a headache? Only you know.

              A visiting psychiatrist, wandering through the wards of a state asylum, saw a patient huddled in a
           corner scratching himself incessantly.
           "Excuse me," said the doctor, "why do you scratch yourself like that?"
           "Because," replied the man, "I'm the only one who knows where I itch."

               There are things which can only be trusted if they become your personal experience.
               But you are afraid of death, you believe in an afterlife, you desire an afterlife. You are afraid of
           being alone, you want protection. You want a God, a father figure. You are still childish. You can't
           live on your own, you can't stand on your own feet. Your real father may be dead or if he is not dead
           now you know perfectly well that he is as limited as you are -- he has his own fears, he has his own
           tremblings. Now you cannot believe in him in the same way as you used to believe when you were a
           small child; then your father was all-knowing, all-powerful.
               Every child brags about his father, saying, "He is the greatest man in the world!" But sooner or
           later, he finds he is just an ordinary man like everybody else. He knows that, "He suffers from the
           same fears as I do." Now he is no more a protection to him.
               You cannot hide behind your mother anymore.... You need a greater father, hence the projection
           of God. It is just your need, your desire for security, safety, for protection. You are not mature
           enough yet; hence you believe in God.
               And look at the qualities of God: omnipresent... obviously. If he is not everywhere, then what is
           the point of believing in him? You may fall in a ditch and he is not there, and you may go on
           shouting and he is not there, or he is engaged somewhere else. And there are millions of people on
           this earth and this is not the only earth. Scientists say there are at least fifty thousand earths which
           are populated with life, millions of stars. If he is not omnipresent -- and you are so small and the
           universe is so big -- how is he going to take care of you? Of course you believe he is omnipresent, he
           is everywhere, so wherever you need him he is immediately available, instantly available.
               So he may be omnipresent, but if he is not omnipotent, then? He may not be capable enough to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           help you; he may have only two hands, and with two hands how much can he do? Hence there are
           people who believe that he has thousands of hands. But even thousands of hands won't do much, so
           you have to believe that he is infinite, that his power is infinite, he can do anything.
               And not only that: you also have to believe that he is omniscient because he may be omnipotent
           and he may be omnipresent, but if he is not omniscient then he can only take care of the present.
           That means when you have fallen in the ditch, only then can he help you, but you have fallen and
           broken your leg and you have fractures. He is omniscient, he can see the future, he can see
           everything, so before you fall in the ditch he can prevent you from falling in the ditch.
               Just look at the qualities that you have given to your God. Those are not the qualities of God,
           those are your desires of how God should be. Then you can believe in him; if these qualities are
           missing then doubts will start arising. And God has to be infallible; if he is fallible, then there is
           danger. How can you believe in a fallible God? You cannot believe in a fallible God because he may
           mismanage, he may mess you up. Rather than helping you he may create more trouble. He has to be
           infallible. And when God is infallible, his son Jesus Christ has to be infallible, because if the father is
           infallible how can the son not be infallible? And then his representative, the pope of the Vatican, has
           to be infallible.
               Now, you see how your logic goes on in this way... but it is rooted in desire. You believe in such
           foolish things -- that the pope is infallible. And even now, after two thousand years, you still believe
           that the pope is infallible. And the popes have done so many stupid things.

               Galileo said that the earth moves around the sun, not vice versa.... The Bible says the sun moves
           around the earth, all the scriptures of the world say that the sun moves around the earth, because it is
           apparently so. All the languages have these words -- 'sunrise', 'sunset'. We experience it every day;
           every day we see the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. We see the whole
           movement of the sun from the east to the west, and then in the night it disappears; it has gone to the
           other side of the earth, it is going round the earth. It is our experience! That's what we know, so
           before Galileo, all the scriptures of the world believed that the sun went round the earth.
               Galileo was the first man who said that the reality is just the opposite: the earth goes round the
           sun. Now this was against the Bible and to find any fault in the Bible is dangerous. If one thing can
           be faulty in the Bible, then what about other things? Maybe they are also faulty; they just need some
           other Galileo to find the faults. Then where will it end? And if prophets are faulty, what about the
           pope? And all the popes had believed....
               Galileo was called into the court of the pope. He was forced -- he was very old, seventy years
           old, ill -- he was dragged in chains to the court. He was in bed and so ill that he was going to die any
           day. And he didn't live long after. He was forced to apologize. And Galileo must have been a man of
           great insight. He said, "Of course, if the Bible says and if all the prophets agree and if all the popes,
           who are infallible, if they say that the sun moves around the earth, I apologize, I am sorry."
               The pope was very happy, the court was very happy that they had brought a sinner back to his
           senses.
               Then Galileo said, "But one thing I must tell you: I can apologize, I can say if you want me to
           that the sun moves round the earth -- but the sun won't listen to me and the earth has no obligation to
           follow my orders. Still the earth will go on moving round the sun, my apologies apart. I apologize,
           but what can I do? If the earth moves around the sun I cannot stop it."

               And these popes have been preventing all scientific growth. Still in the twentieth century
           millions of Catholics go on believing that the pope is infallible. But this is really a logical
           consequence: if you believe God is infallible, then of course his son is infallible, then his son's
           representatives are infallible.
               But deep down, why do you believe in such nonsense? And this is not only so about Catholics; it
           is so about Hindus, about Mohammedans, about Jainas, even about Buddhists. They all go on
           believing in utter nonsense.
               Buddhists believe that Buddha was born while his mother was standing in the garden; she had
           gone for a walk. Not only that, he was also born in a standing posture himself. He came out of the
           womb, stood on the earth, walked seven steps and declared, "I am the awakened one!" Now for
           twenty-five centuries Buddhists have believed in this nonsense. No baby can do that, but if you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suspect it then you suspect the scriptures. If you doubt the scriptures then great trembling arises in
           you because then you become afraid. Doubting is not good, doubting is irreligious; one should
           believe. And the more absurd the belief, the greater is the test for the believer.

                Buddha is saying: DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING.... The master desires
           nothing, hence he doubts nothing -- because he believes nothing. A master lives without desire,
           without belief, without doubt. And then what is left in the inner being of the master is trust. Trust is
           not belief; it is absence of both doubt and belief. Buddha calls it SHRADDHA. It can only be
           translated as trust -- trust in existence.
                Belief is rooted in desire and every belief carries its own counterpart, doubt, as a shadow. Trust
           is absence of desire, belief, doubt. It is purity of the heart, innocence of the heart. In that innocent
           heart there is a meeting and merging with the universe. That is trust; it has nothing to do with you. It
           is not that you trust; you are no more there, only trust is.
                DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING, BEYOND JUDGMENT AND SORROW....
           The master goes beyond judgment; hence there is no question of belief or doubt. He never judges; he
           never says, "This is right and that is wrong." He has dropped the mind which is a constant process of
           judgment. The mind continuously judges; its judgment has become an obsession.
                You see the roseflower and before you have even seen it, the mind has said, "It is beautiful." You
           see a man passing by and before you have seen the man rightly, the mind says, "He is ugly." The
           judgment is instantaneous, it seems to take no time. You are continuously judgmental.
                The master looks at the fact but has no judgments, because in fact beauty and ugliness all are our
           projections. When you say a rose is beautiful it is your idea, nothing else. The rose is a rose is a rose;
           it is neither beautiful nor ugly, it is simply itself. The ugly man is not ugly and the beautiful man is
           not beautiful; it is only a question of your idea of what beauty is. Hence with different people
           different things are thought to be beautiful.
                In China beauty has a different color, a different form; in India it has a different form and color,
           in Europe obviously it is going to be different. Each country has its own idea of beauty and those
           ideas go on changing, they come like fashions. One thing is beautiful today and tomorrow it becomes
           ugly; today it is ugly and tomorrow suddenly it becomes beautiful.
                Can you believe that Picasso's paintings would have been thought beautiful just two hundred
           years ago? Impossible! Not even a single person would have been found in the whole world who
           would have said they were beautiful. And whosoever would have said they were beautiful would
           have been thought insane.
                Vincent van Gogh could not sell one of his paintings, not even one, for the simple reason that
           everybody thought they were just insane -- not only ugly but insane too. Now only two hundred
           paintings are in existence and each painting has so much value that if those people come back and
           see that Vincent van Gogh's paintings are being sold for millions of dollars they will not be able to
           believe their eyes, what has happened to man. "What kind of beauty have people started seeing
           suddenly in Vincent van Gogh's paintings? Nobody thought them beautiful." The idea of beauty has
           changed.
                Modern poetry is not beautiful in the same way as Shakespearian poetry is; it is not beautiful in
           the same way as Kalidas or Bhavabhuti, as Byron or Shelley. It is a totally different kind of beauty.
           Just our idea! If man disappears from the earth there will be nothing beautiful and nothing ugly.
           Weeds will be as valuable as roses; there will be no difference, there will be simple equality.
                A master is one who has dropped all human ideas about things, hence he has no judgments. He
           lives in a nonjudgmental way. And can you see? -- when you live in a nonjudgmental way you attain
           to great serenity, naturally; nothing disturbs you, nothing offends you, nothing attracts you, nothing
           infatuates you.
                BEYOND JUDGMENT and you are BEYOND SORROW. Buddha says: If you really want to
           go beyond sorrow, go beyond judgment. But going beyond judgment means going beyond mind.
           Mind is judgmental; if you live in the mind it will keep you tethered to all kinds of judgments. If you
           drop the mind then suddenly the whole existence becomes available to you. For the first time you are
           unclouded.

           "Come on, let's screw," the Italian told his new date five minutes after he called for her.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Oh, you're so sophisticated, Pietro," she said.

           "So sophisticated" -- after five minutes only! But in Italy it may be sophisticated; after five minutes,
           in India, it will be rape and the girl will shout for the police. It will take months for you to woo the
           woman, to persuade her, to bring her down to earth. It is a long long process. But things in Italy
           seem to be quick: five minutes and she says, "You are so sophisticated, so cultured!" It all depends
           on your ideas.
              DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING, BEYOND JUDGMENT AND SORROW AND THE
              PLEASURES OF THE SENSES, HE HAS MOVED BEYOND TIME. HE IS PURE AND FREE.

                These four things have to be understood. The first is the senses and their pleasures; that is the
           lowest kind of life. And remember, by calling it the "lowest" Buddha is not judging it, it is not an
           evaluation -- it is simply stating a fact. Just as you say "the lowest rung of the ladder" -- there is no
           judgment. It is not bad, it is no more special than the highest rung. It is simply a statement of fact.
           This has to be continuously remembered, otherwise you will forget; you will start thinking that
           Buddha himself is judging. Then is he a master or not? He is not judging, he is simply stating a fact.
                Senses are the lowest because they are on the circumference, they are part of your body. There
           are people who live only in the senses, they are still living like animals. Again remember, it is not a
           judgment: animals are not bad, animals are not immoral. There is no question of hierarchy. But
           animals live in the body, and the man who lives only in his senses is living an animal kind of life. He
           is living in the porch of his palace. Not that he is immoral, but certainly he is unintelligent. He could
           have lived in the palace and he is living in the porch -- and suffering the heat of the sun, and in the
           rains he suffers the rains and in the cold he suffers from the cold. He could have been in the safety
           and the comforts and the coziness of the palace. The palace belongs to him, but he lives in the porch
           believing that that's all there is to life.
                The man who lives only in sensuality, lust, who is obsessed with food, who is obsessed with his
           body, continuously thinking of the body, is not yet a man. He is a good animal, but utterly blind to
           the potential that he is born to, utterly blind to what he can become, unconscious of the whole range
           of his being.
                The second circle, deeper than the body, is that of the mind. Mind has its own pleasures which
           are a little higher. Again, remember, it has nothing to do with judgment. They are a little deeper, they
           are a little closer to the innermost shrine. They actualize a little bit of your potential. The man who
           enjoys mathematics, science, philosophy certainly has a deeper sense of joy. Plato has a deeper sense
           of joy than Nero.
                It is said about Nero that he used to keep four physicians constantly with him even when he went
           to war. Those four physicians were to help him vomit because he liked to eat so many times in the
           day. Now you cannot eat so many times a day; there is a limitation. You can eat three times, four
           times, five times at the most; more than that will be impossible. The body will not contain it, you
           will burst. So after eating, the physicians would help him to vomit immediately so he could eat
           again. He used to eat at least twenty times per day. He must have been the greatest eater in the world.
           But what kind of life is this? -- twenty times vomiting to eat twenty times! -- as if he lived only in
           the buds of the tongue, in the taste buds.
                Of course Plato is far deeper. He enjoys a contemplative life: he contemplates the stars, he
           contemplates the sunrise and the sunset, he contemplates the possibility of human progress. And he
           enjoys it -- and he enjoys it so much that many times he forgets to eat, he forgets completely that he
           has missed a meal.

           It happened once:
               Albert Einstein was brought his breakfast and he was so deep in contemplation -- it must have
           been some great mathematical puzzle he was involved in -- that he was sitting with closed eyes. So
           the servant did not disturb him; he left the breakfast in front of him and went away.
               Meanwhile a friend came. He also saw him so deeply absorbed that he thought, "It is better... the
           breakfast is getting cold." So he ate the breakfast and pushed the plates aside.
               At that moment Einstein opened his eyes, looked at the empty plates, looked at his friend and
           said, "Sorry, you came a little late. I have taken my breakfast."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Now, this is better than being a Nero. But there is a third layer still higher, still deeper: the layer
           of the heart -- love, music, poetry, dance. People who enjoy art, people who can enjoy and appreciate
           harmony, color, people who can see some poetry in life and existence, who can feel some celebration
           going on all around, of course they are going still deeper. A Rabindranath... the poet goes deeper
           than the mathematician, the musician goes deeper than the philosopher. But these are still concentric
           circles around your center.
               The fourth -- the mystics in India have called it simply, "the fourth," TURIYA -- is the world of
           your being, the innermost core. Those who enjoy meditation, neither food nor philosophy nor poetry,
           but who have gone beyond all these and entered into the world of utter silence, of absolute
           emptiness, who know how not to be.... Yes, the question is, "To be or not to be?" Those who have
           chosen not to be, they are the meditators. They have moved from the senses to samadhi, and that is
           the highest experience of life.
               Buddha says: DESIRING NOTHING, DOUBTING NOTHING, BEYOND JUDGMENT AND
           SORROW AND THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES, HE HAS MOVED BEYOND TIME.
               The man who has moved into his being has moved beyond time. Time exists with the body, with
           the mind, with the heart, but with the being there is no time. You suddenly experience timelessness
           -- or you can call it eternity. It is only in that state when you have transcended mind, transcended
           time, that you are pure and free. For the first time you know what purity is. It is not something to be
           cultivated; it is something like a fragrance of deep meditation. The joy, the song, the celebration that
           arises out of silence, the sound of soundless silence -- that is purity, that is innocence; you have
           become a child again. And that is maturity too, that is growth. You have come of age. You are really
           born, you are born anew.

              HOW CLEAR HE IS....


               Now the master has clarity because all the clouds have disappeared, the clouds created by the
           body.... The body creates the darkest clouds, the densest clouds, the thickest clouds. As you go
           further inwards the clouds are less dark, less thick, less dense. When you have reached the fourth,
           turiya, all clouds have disappeared; there is pure clarity. You can see through and through. The
           whole existence becomes transparent. Nothing is hidden from you anymore. HOW CLEAR HE IS.

              HE IS THE MOON.
              HE IS SERENE.
              HE SHINES.


                At this point, suddenly there is an alchemical change in his energy. Ordinarily a man lives as a
           sun energy; the master lives as moon energy. These are just metaphors, but tremendously significant,
           very expressive indicators. Moon energy means cool energy, sun energy means hot energy. When
           you live in passion, lust, anger, greed, jealousy, possessiveness, hatred, you live as fire. It is not only
           that others are burned through you, you are burning yourself. In fact, if you want to burn others you
           have to burn yourself first; only then can you burn others. You are constantly in a fever. The sun
           energy is feverish, it creates insanity, it drives you crazy. It keeps you running and rushing after
           illusions.
                Meditation is the miracle that transforms the sun energy into moon energy. The moon creates
           magic every night. The moon has no rays of its own, it simply reflects the sunrays. It absorbs the
           sunrays and reflects them back; the moon functions only as a mirror. Hence the moon represents two
           things: first it is a mirror. The master is a mirror, meditation makes you a mirror -- without any dust,
           absolutely clean and pure, so everything is reflected in you as it is, with no judgment but simply as it
           is in its absolute facticity.
                And second, the moon, just by reflecting them, transforms the hot rays of the sun into cool
           energy. That's what happens through a master. He absorbs the same energy that you absorb, he eats
           the same food as you eat, he drinks the same water as you drink, he breathes the same air as you
           breathe, but some alchemical change is constantly going on in him.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Out of your food you become more and more sexual, out of your breathing you become more and
           more hot. The master breathes the same air, but some miracle happens within him that is not
           perceptible to you. The same air no longer creates the same results for him as it creates for you, the
           same food no longer creates for him the same problems as it creates for you. The master does not
           live in another world; he lives in your world and he lives in the same way as you live.
               Those who escape from the world are not real masters; they are afraid of the world. They are
           afraid to absorb this crazy energy. The world is full of it; hence they escape to the Himalayas. But
           they simply show by their escape that they are not yet masters. The real master lives here in the
           world. He absorbs the same crazy energy, but when it comes back, when it is reflected back through
           him, it is no longer crazy. It becomes a grace, it becomes cool. He showers a thousand and one
           blessings even on those who are not worthy, even on those who are not receptive, even on those who
           will never feel thankful, even on those who may do harm to him.
               Jesus even kissed Judas and washed his feet, and he knew the man had betrayed him. He knew
           perfectly well, because before he washed the feet of Judas he told his disciples, "Tonight I am going
           to be betrayed by one of you." But he cannot do otherwise: he can only kiss, he can only wash the
           feet. He has no ego, he is utterly humble. In fact, he has no self; he is a nonself. Buddha's word for it
           is ANATTA -- no-self. And he is constantly radiating the cool energy of the moon.
               HE IS THE MOON. HE IS SERENE. HE SHINES -- he is as serene as the moon and he shines
           as beautifully as the moon.

              FOR HE HAS TRAVELED
              LIFE AFTER LIFE
              THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF ILLUSION.


               He knows from bitter experience. He has every compassion for you. If you are deep in your mud
           he only has compassion for you. He makes every effort to pull you out of the mud because he has
           been in the same mud for lives. He has traveled the same path, he has gone astray thousands of
           times, he has suffered in the same way.
               That is one of the most beautiful things Buddha taught, because all other religions were trying to
           prove something else. Hindus were saying in India that Krishna, Rama and all their AVATARAS,
           they descend from heaven, they are parts of God, they are incarnations of God. That is the meaning
           of 'avatara'; avatara means "descending from above." They are not part of us, they came as
           messengers of God. They have not traveled on the same muddy path. How can they understand our
           misery? How can they understand our problems? They have never suffered the same problems.
               And the same was the case with Judaism. And remember, these are the only two religions; all
           other religions are born out of these two. Judaism was also preaching the same idea: that God sends
           his messengers, messiahs, prophets. Those are special people, they are not ordinary like you.
               Buddha's approach is tremendously human; he is the first humanitarian mystic. He says, "I have
           traveled on the same muddy path, I have suffered in the same way you are suffering, I have
           committed the same mistakes. Hence I can understand you, and I can understand why you are unable
           to understand me, because I have come across many buddhas in my other lives, many buddhas; I
           never understood them, I always misunderstood them. So if you are misunderstanding me there is
           nothing to make a fuss about. It is simple, it is natural, it is inevitable. So whatsoever you do to me,"
           Buddha says, "it is okay. Still I will go on showering my flowers on you because I have nothing else
           to shower."
               Buddha is not an avatara. He has not come from the above, he has risen from the below. He is a
           lotus: he has grown out of the same mud in which you are struggling. And I completely agree with
           him. The Hindu and the Jewish concept is utterly inhuman; that concept is not right. That cannot
           help humanity to be transformed.
               Buddha brings a totally new insight. His approach is not mythological, his approach is scientific.
           FOR HE HAS TRAVELED LIFE AFTER LIFE THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF
           ILLUSION -- so he knows and he understands you. You may not understand him, but he understands
           you.

              A little girl was being driven very erratically in a car by her grandma.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Don't go round corners so fast, Gran," she pleaded.
           "Do as I do, dear," said the sweet old lady, "and close your eyes!"

               Blind people are leading other blind people and they have created all kinds of superstitions,
           mythologies, religions. Only a buddha is capable, only one who is awakened, only one who up to
           now had belonged to you. You are asleep and he is awake, that is the only difference; there is no
           other difference. He can help you to be awakened because he knows how he has become awake, how
           difficult it is, what problems have to be faced. He knows your state.

               The bandage-covered patient who lay in the hospital bed spoke dazedly to his visiting pal.
           "Wh-wh-what happened?"
           "You had one too many last night and then bet that you could jump out of the window and fly around
           the block."
           "Why didn't you stop me?" he screamed.
           "Stop you, hell! I had twenty-five dollars on you!"

               The receptionist of a five-star hotel picks up the phone: "May I help you?"
           "Yes," is the reply, "can you please tell me when your bar opens?"
           "Yes, sir. The bar opens at five o'clock."
           "Thank you."
               An hour later the phone rings again and the same voice asks, "C-c-an you tell me, p-p-please,
           when the b-b-b-bar opens?"
           "At five o'clock, sir," says the receptionist.
           "Th-th-thank you!"
               Another hour passes and the phone rings again. "Please, when doesh... doesh... doesh the bar
           (hic) o-open?"
           "I repeat, at five o'clock," answers the annoyed receptionist.
               Still another hour later, the phone rings again. "Hic! Hic! Heelloo!"
           "You again!" exclaims the receptionist, "I told you we open our bar at five o'clock, but in your state
           of inebriation we cannot allow you into our bar!"
           "But... but... but -- hic -- I don't want to get in!" cries the drunk. "I want to get out!"

               Only somebody who has been in knows the ins and the outs. Only one who has been drunk like
           you can help you. That's why the organization called Alcoholics Anonymous is so helpful. It has
           helped thousands of drunkards for the simple reason that other drunkards are helping. They
           understand each other, they understand the problems. They are not standing high above the others
           looking with eyes of condemnation at them, looking at them with that stupid holy look,
           "holier-than-thou," and preaching to them to be good. They have been in the same plight, they have
           suffered much; they understand each other's language.
               Hence Buddha helped more people to become enlightened than anybody else in the whole history
           of humanity. I don't think Krishna helped anybody to become enlightened; he was enlightened, but
           he could not help anybody else. I am afraid Jesus could not help anybody, not even among his own
           twelve apostles. They remained very ordinary to the very end; not one of them became enlightened.
               Buddha seems to be an exceptional master -- in fact the first master whom we can really call a
           master, because through him thousands of people became enlightened. And the reason why Buddha's
           appeal is so deep is that he is not a pretender. He is not a messiah, he has not come from above, he
           claims nothing. He is not the only begotten Son of God; he does not talk about God at all. He does
           not talk any nonsense. He is very sensible and very down-to-earth. He means business. And he can
           help immensely. He says: FOR HE HAS TRAVELED -- the master has traveled -- LIFE AFTER
           LIFE THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF ILLUSION.
               When are you going to wake up? You go on postponing, you go on saying tomorrow. And you
           have been doing this for centuries, and tomorrow has not come yet. When is it going to come? Stop
           postponing. Postponing is a trick of the mind.

              After a smooth take-off the captain of the Boeing 707 welcomes his passengers: "Ladies and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gentlemen, welcome aboard. I, Captain Cook, and my crew wish you a pleasant flight. We land in
           Amsterdam in approximately five hours."
               A few minutes later the same voice is heard through the speakers: "Shit, Johnny, I feel like a nice
           cool beer and a good screw...."
               As the stewardess runs towards the cockpit to inform the pilot that the speakers are on, a
           passenger grabs her by the arm and says, "Hey, lady, what's the rush? We still got another five hours
           to go!"

               We are always thinking in terms of the future. Stop thinking in terms of the future; that is the
           way of the mind to live, to prolong, to get nourished. The future is the food of the mind. The moment
           you become decisive about the present, the mind has started dying. It is the beginning of the end, the
           end of the mind. And the end of the mind is the beginning of your real existence, your real life.
               And can't you see that life has been very treacherous, that it has been deceiving you again and
           again? Still you go on being deceived. How gullible you are! And you go on falling in the same
           ditches -- they are not even different -- the same traps.

               A Jew and a Polack are sitting together in a train compartment. The Jew is eating some apple
           seeds.
               After some time, the Polack becomes curious and asks the Jew, "Why are you eating apple
           seeds?"
           The Jew replies, "Apple seeds make you smart!"
               The Polack, even more curious, asks, "Are they for sale?"
               The Jew answers, "Yes, of course, You can have these five apple seeds for five dollars only."
               The Polack agrees to the deal and starts eating the seeds. Suddenly the Polack turns to the Jew
           and says, "Hey, you, listen, for five dollars I could have bought five kilos of apples!"
               The Jew turns to him with a satisfied smile and answers, "Now you see -- it has started working
           already!"

               You go on repeating the same mistakes. You go on being exploited by the treacherous life, by all
           kinds of traps which are all around you. And the emperors and the beggars are all in the same boat;
           there is no difference. The poor and the rich are in the same boat; there is no difference because all
           are full of desires. And wherever desire exists ego exists, and wherever ego exists illusion exists
           because ego is the greatest illusion there is. Even in a beggar who has nothing else you will find the
           same ego as you will find in Alexander the Great, because desiring is the same. Alexander the Great
           may have much money and much power, that does not matter; he is still desiring. The beggar may
           not have anything, but he is also desiring.
               The distance between you and your desire always remains the same. It is like the horizon:
           between you and the horizon the distance is always the same. You can go on moving towards the
           horizon your whole life; the distance is never shortened, it remains the same. You can renounce the
           world, you can start running away from the horizon, but then again you will be facing another
           horizon. And now the desire to reach the other horizon.... If you were heading west, now you will be
           heading east, but it is the same horizon -- or south or north. You can go in any direction, it is the
           same horizon. Escaping won't help. You can renounce the world, it will not change you.
               There is only one change -- only one change, only one revolution and that is the revolution of
           dropping the illusion of the ego. It is the ego that keeps you on the muddy and treacherous road of
           illusion.
               And remember, don't fool yourself that "Alexander the Great is an egoist. I am a poor man, a
           humble man. I go to the church every Sunday -- how can I be an egoist?" You are in the same boat,
           in the same way. You have the same ego.

              As a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce stopped at some traffic lights, a tramp tapped on the window
           and held out his hand. The somewhat literary English gentleman in the back seat rolled down the
           window and said in a very cultured voice, "'Neither a borrower nor a lender be'... William
           Shakespeare." And the Rolls Royce drove on.
              The tramp, seeing that the Rolls had stopped at the next set of lights, raced down the road and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tapped on the window again. The gentleman rolled down the window and the tramp said, "'Fuck
           you'... D.H. Lawrence."

              HE DOES NOT TREMBLE
              OR GRASP OR HESITATE.
              HE HAS FOUND PEACE.


               He has no fear. Once desire has gone fear cannot exist. When desire is there you are always
           afraid -- are you going to make it this time or not? Or if you have achieved the goal of your desire
           then you are afraid whether you are capable of keeping it forever or not. If you want to become the
           president then comes the fear -- how are you going to make it? Millions of people want to be the
           president. There are so many neurotic people -- you are not the only one. The whole world is mad;
           you are not the only mad person. Are you going to make it? And you have to be really the maddest to
           make it because you will have to fight with other madmen. There is always trembling.
               And if by chance -- and it is always a chance -- if by some coincidence you become the
           president, then a new fear arises: are you going to keep it? -- because so many people are pulling
           you. Your legs are being pulled, people are pushing you from your chair. And there are so many
           people around you and everybody is dangerous because everybody wants to sit in the same chair, but
           the chair can contain only one person. Now there is great fear, you cannot sleep. In fact now you are
           more afraid than you ever were; you know sooner or later they will topple you. They are so many
           and you are alone. They will gather together to topple you.
               But the master has no trembling because he has no desire. And he does not cling to anything
           because he knows that there is nothing worth clinging to; he has that clarity of vision. All that is his
           is always his, nobody can take it away. He sees it now. And all that is not his is going to be taken
           away whether you cling to it or not, so what is the point of clinging? Why waste time?
               He never hesitates -- his clarity is such. For a master it is never a question of deciding between
           alternatives; he simply sees... and he acts. It is not a question of either/or. Never! He sees the door
           and goes out through it. It is not a question of deciding whether to go through the wall or through the
           door. It is always a question for you to decide whether to go through the wall or through the door. In
           fact, the wall looks more appealing because millions of times you have tried through the wall and
           you are really angry at the wall and you want to prove that one day you are going to defeat this wall.
           This dumb wall has been defeating you again and again; you want to take revenge. In fact, you can't
           see the door; you only see this wall and that wall. It is always a question of choosing which wall you
           want to go through.
               For the master it is never a question of choice. He lives choicelessly because he lives
           consciously. He is alert, he has eyes to see, and you are blind; hence you always hesitate. Because he
           has no fear, no clinging, no hesitation: HE HAS FOUND PEACE. Naturally, there is tremendous
           peace in his being.

              CALMLY
              HE LETS GO OF LIFE,
              OF HOME AND PLEASURE AND DESIRE.


               CALMLY HE LETS GO OF LIFE.... He does not make any fuss about it, he does not brag about
           renunciation. Whatsoever he sees is futile, he drops it. In fact, to say he drops it is not right -- he lets
           it go, he allows it to be dropped. He does not resist, that's all. He makes no effort to keep it. And very
           calmly, without any effort. His life is effortless.
               OF HOME.... Home represents security -- he drops the idea of security. What security can there
           be here when death is going to take everything away? In this life there can be no security, on this
           shore there is no security; hence he does not bother about security.
               AND PLEASURE... because he knows pleasure always brings pain. He has seen it clearly, that
           pleasure is only a facade; behind it comes hidden pain. He can see through and through; hence he
           lets it go. And desire he has lived for many many lives and seen that it is unfulfillable. It is always
           after more: the more you have, the more you ask for. It is an absolutely absurd exercise in futility.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Seen, all these things start disappearing from his life. Not that he renounces.... That's what my
           emphasis is: never renounce anything. If things are worthless they will fall of their own accord. And
           when things fall of their own accord there is tremendous beauty in them, because they leave you
           peaceful, calm and quiet, collected and centered.

              NOTHING OF MEN CAN HOLD HIM.
              NOTHING OF THE GODS CAN HOLD HIM.
              NOTHING IN ALL CREATION CAN HOLD HIM.


               When there is no desire, what can hold him? What can make him a prisoner? Neither this world
           nor the other world, neither the earth nor paradise.
               All the religions of the world talk about heaven and hell. Buddha says there is something beyond
           heaven and hell and that is the true existence. He calls it nirvana. No other religion talks about
           nirvana; nirvana is a totally different vision. It means you are not hankering for heavenly desires,
           heavenly joys and pleasures, because it is the same stupidity again repeated on a bigger scale, on a
           higher plane, but the stupidity is the same.
               The master knows the futility of desire; hence he has no desire for heaven, he has no desire at all.
           Nothing binds him and nothing holds him.

              DESIRE HAS LEFT HIM,
              NEVER TO RETURN.


               ... Because he has seen that it is futile. If you drop it because I am saying it, then it will return
           again and again. If you drop it out of your own experience through meditation, then it has gone
           forever, NEVER TO RETURN.

              SORROW HAS LEFT HIM,
              NEVER TO RETURN.


               And sorrow is only a shadow of desire. Remember it always: everything has to happen to you
           through your own experience.
               Buddha's last words to his disciples were: Be a light unto yourself. And how can you be a light
           unto yourself? Go beyond the body, the mind, the heart. Find the center of your being and suddenly
           there is light. It is already there, it is already burning bright. It is your very being; you just have to
           discover it.
           Discovering it one discovers truth.
           Discovering it one discovers peace.
           Discovering it one discovers bliss, nirvana.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                     Chapter #6
                                          Chapter title: Life, love, laughter
           26 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004260
              ShortTitle: DHAM1206
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Length: 40 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              RAMAKRISHNA STAYED IN HIS BODY THROUGH SHOWING INTEREST IN FOOD. NOW TELL
              ME THE TRUTH -- IS IT THE JOKES THAT KEEP YOU HERE?


                Anand Masta, yes, in a way it is true. Religion has for centuries lacked many things. One of the
           most important of them all is laughter; religion has been too serious. Seriousness is a kind of disease:
           it is the cancer of the soul. It is very destructive, it is suicidal. Hence, if you don't see religion
           flowering on the earth -- although there are three hundred religions, millions of churches, temples,
           mosques, still the earth goes on missing religious consciousness -- the simple reason is that
           seriousness has killed religion.
                Seriousness tends to become sad. You cannot be serious without being sad; they are two sides of
           the same coin. And you can be serious and sad only if you have missed your roots in life and
           existence. Only the pathological people are serious; the healthy, the whole will never be serious,
           cannot be serious.
                It was one of the most unfortunate accidents in human history that religion became associated
           with seriousness. That association has to be destroyed, mercilessly destroyed. Religion has to be
           freed from the imprisonment of seriousness. Only then will it be healthy, only then will it be able to
           sing and dance and rejoice. The serious religion has always been rooted in the idea that there is
           something wrong in life, something basically wrong in life, as if life is a punishment.
                Life is a gift of God, not a punishment. And there is nothing wrong in life. If something is wrong
           it must be in you. You don't know the art of living, you are incapable of moving into the depth and
           into the mystery of life. You must be a coward; hence you cling to the shore, to the known, to the
           familiar. And life always goes on moving into the unknown. Life is adventurous and you are a
           coward, hence you soon part company. Life goes on its way of adventure and you cling to your
           security. Clinging to your security you become dead, and when you become dead, life seems to be a
           drag, a dull affair. In fact, you have lost contact with life.
                It is as if you uproot a rosebush from the earth -- soon it will start dying, it will lose its
           greenness, its roses will wither away. Nothing is wrong with the rosebush, nothing is wrong with the
           earth either, only you have disconnected them. The rosebush needs nourishment, then it can bloom in
           thousands of flowers, it can have all the green of the world and all the red and all the gold. Man also
           is a rosebush. He needs his own soil, he needs roots into existence.
                When you are born you are born only with the potential to exist, to survive, not with the art of
           making life a joy, a bliss, a celebration. That art has to be learned. To me, religion is that very art, the
           supreme art: the art of transforming the lower into the higher. Religion to me is alchemy. It is the
           process of transforming the potential into the actual. Man has lived at the minimum; hence he looks
           so dull. Man can live at the maximum and then there will be great brilliance and great radiance and
           then there will be great flowering.
                Laughter is as precious as prayer or even more precious than prayer, because the man who
           cannot laugh cannot pray either. A prayer that does not come out of a joyous heart is already dead. It
           cannot reach God, it cannot leave the earth, it has no wings. It is like a rock: it will fall back to the
           earth, it cannot fly into the sky.
                Religion has lived without laughter, that's why religion has been a corpse. And you are
           worshipping corpses in your churches and in your temples and in your mosques, you have become
           worshippers of death. Rather than worshipping life you have been worshipping death.
                My approach is totally different -- I bring you a new vision. Religion is against laughter, is
           against love, is against rejoicing, is against celebration. The religious person, the so-called religious
           person, condemns everything of this world; he lives surrounded by a thousand and one
           condemnations. He lives in fear, in trembling. He does not live, he only vegetates.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Your so-called saints and mahatmas are not real people, they don't have the guts to be real, they
           are phony. But you have worshipped them for so long, and you still go on worshipping them. And
           the reason you worship them is because they are so dead, because they are so serious, because they
           are so ugly, because their whole approach towards life is so negative. They are anti-life, anti-love,
           anti-laughter -- how can they be FOR God? It is only through love and laughter and a tremendous
           joy in life that you start feeling the presence of something that is beyond.
                When life becomes an adventure, a dance of ecstasy, then only do you move beyond the
           confinement of the body and the mind and soar high towards the infinite.
                Yes, Masta, you can say I live on your laughter. I rejoice seeing you dance, sing and laugh. I
           rejoice seeing you in deep love. I rejoice seeing you dropping the garbage of centuries, the rotten,
           stupid superstitions of centuries. I rejoice seeing you getting out of the old, being born anew.
                All the religions were born thousands of years ago; everything has changed. Those religions don't
           fit anymore, they have no relevance, their context has disappeared. But they go on sitting on your
           head, heavy mountains, and they don't allow you to move. In fact, the older the religion, the more
           precious you think it is. It is not so: the older the religion, the more irrelevant it is.
                Religion has to be as new as life itself. Religion has to be new every day, each moment. And
           that's how the religious person lives: he goes on dying to the past every moment, he is born anew
           every moment. He moves with life. He has no clinging to the Vedas and no clinging to the Bible and
           no clinging to the Koran. He can read them as beautiful literature, but he does not cling to them.
           Those who cling to them are being stupid because something may have been relevant two thousand
           years ago, but it has no meaning anymore. And you know it perfectly well, but you don't have
           courage enough to get out of the old fold.
                All the vested interests are against you getting out of the old fold. All the vested interests want
           you to remain committed to the past because then you can be exploited more easily. If you are not
           committed to the past the priests will disappear, because they represent the past. Who will pay any
           attention to the pope or to the shankaracharya? They will become laughingstocks! In fact they are
           ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. All their ideas are so out-of-date that you go on tolerating them only
           because it is risky to say that they are out-of-date. It is risky because you may lose something in your
           business, in your investment. You may start falling apart from the society. You are afraid of being
           individuals, you want to remain part of the crowd.
                And religion's whole purpose is to make you individuals. Religion loses all meaning when it
           starts making you, forcing you, in fact, to be part of the crowd. Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan,
           Buddhist -- these are crowds. You have not chosen to be a Christian; it is accidental that you are
           born a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu. How can religion be accidental? Is such an important
           phenomenon decided by the accident of birth? You have to be consciously alert to choose your path
           towards God. You have not chosen your path, you have not even chosen God. You have been forced
           to choose, and you have allowed all this to happen. It is a bondage! Your being a Christian is a
           bondage.
                The people gathered around Christ were real Christians, were the only Christians, because they
           had chosen. They were going against the crowd, they were risking their lives, they were moving in
           danger. They were born as Jews. They would have been more comfortable, they would have lived
           more conveniently if they had not followed Jesus. Following Jesus was dangerous. It proved
           dangerous to Jesus himself; he was crucified. His disciples were victimized in every possible way.
           Those were real people, authentic people. To be a Christian now means nothing.
                The people who were gathering around Gautama the Buddha were real Buddhists. They were
           religious people, because going against the whole crowd of the Hindus, against the whole pattern of
           the society and following a very rebellious man, being with him, was accepting the life of insecurity.
           They were genuine, authentic seekers. But the man who is born a Buddhist has not risked anything;
           it is just a coincidence that he is born a Buddhist.
                If you had been adopted by a Mohammedan when you were a small child you would have been a
           Mohammedan; if you had been adopted by a Jew you would have been a Jew. And you would have
           never known who you were by your birth, because nobody is born as a Christian or a Buddhist or a
           Hindu -- everybody is born free. God gives you freedom to choose.
                But society does not want you to be free. Neither the state nor the church nor other vested
           interests want you to be free. They want to cripple you and paralyze you, they want to destroy your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intelligence. They don't want you to be very happy either because happy people can be dangerous.
           Miserable people are good, miserable people are always controllable, miserable people are always
           ready to become enslaved. They are so miserable, they are always seeking somebody who can give
           them support, who can make their lives a little easier. The happy person becomes independent; the
           happier he is, the more independent.
                A Jesus or a Buddha or a Krishna or a Confucius, these are the most blissful people the earth has
           known. They are utterly independent people. They don't care a bit about what others say; they don't
           bother about their opinions for the simple reason that they don't depend on anybody else. Their bliss
           is inner.
                The society does not want you to be really blissful. It wants you to be sad and ill; it wants you to
           be pathological, neurotic. Only a neurotic society can be dominated by the priests and the politicians.
           Only people who have lost all intelligence can be led by idiots like Adolf Hitler and Benito
           Mussolini. People who have intelligence can't be led by such people. These people are insane! In a
           better world, there won't be any possibility of Adolf Hitlers. The moment there is somebody like that
           he will be put in a mental asylum: he has to be treated, he is mad. But right now these mad people
           have become very influential. Their very madness makes them powerful. They are so mad that the
           people who are not so mad start following them. They look like leaders.
                And people are different only in degrees. Somebody is more mad than you and you are a little
           less mad than him; of course, one who is more mad than you is going to be your leader. He will be
           more stubborn, more dogmatic, he will appear more determined, he will appear to have more
           willpower, he will have a certain hypnotic influence, but that is possible only if you have lost all
           your intelligence.
                My effort here is to give you back that which is really yours. I don't want you to become part of
           any religion. I simply want you to be religious -- neither Christians nor Hindus, nor Mohammedans
           -- just religious. That is enough! There is no need to choose a particular doctrine. Religion has
           nothing to do with doctrines, it is more existential.
                And unless you love life you will not be able to love God either. If he is the creator you have to
           love his creation to love him. To hate his creation and to show love to the creator is absurd. To
           condemn the creation and to praise the creator is utterly stupid, illogical, unintelligent. If you love
           the music, only then do you love the musician, or vice versa. And this existence is so beautiful!
                Except in man you will not find any sadness anywhere. The trees are not sad and the animals are
           not sad and the stars are not sad, even rocks are not sad, only man -- because only man has been
           manipulated, exploited, distracted from his center.
                Yes, Masta, when I see you laughing, loving, rejoicing, dancing, singing, I feel like lingering a
           little more in the body for you.
                I have given you the name Anand Masta. ANAND means bliss and MASTA means mad -- madly
           blissful, utterly drunk in blissfulness. And very few sannyasins are so deeply fulfilling their names as
           you are doing. I am absolutely happy with you, all my blessings are for you. Get more and more
           drunk!
                God is not far away. Just when you lose yourself in love he is as close as he can ever be. When
           you lose yourself in dance, when you abandon yourself in dance, when the ego disappears in your
           dance, he is just your partner in the dance -- nobody else but him. Whoever the partner is, he is the
           partner. When your heart is throbbing with joy and ecstasy in singing, he is in your heart, at the very
           core of your being. And when you laugh, if the laugh is total, if every fiber of your being is
           laughing....
                That's why I love jokes. Jokes are very religious, very spiritual! All jokes are spiritual because
           they suddenly trigger a process in you and you forget all your seriousness. For a moment you are
           again an innocent child, again full of wonder and awe. And the laughter overwhelms you, you are
           drowned in the laughter. The ego is not found when you are deep in laughter. And whenever ego
           disappears, God is.
                Remember it as one of the most fundamental laws: whenever the 'I' is absent, God is present --
           they both cannot be present together. The relationship between the ego and God is just like the
           relationship between darkness and light. If light is present, darkness cannot be there, because
           darkness is nothing but the absence of light. How can there be presence and absence together? If
           darkness is there then light cannot be there.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           There is an ancient parable:
               After many many millions of years, Darkness approached God and told him, "This is too much! I
           have been patient enough, but for no reason at all your Sun goes on torturing me, chasing me every
           morning. I have not even taken enough rest and he is back and the chase begins. And I have to run
           and he goes on running after me. Now it is getting tiring. I have not done anything wrong to this Sun.
           Why is he so much after me? Why is he carrying such enmity for me?"
               God also thought, "This is unfair!" And he called the Sun. The Sun came and said, "I don't know
           what you are talking about. Have you gone mad or something? What Darkness? I have never come
           across any Darkness. I have never seen her, I have never met her, so of course, why should I chase
           your Darkness? I don't even know her! Where is she? You bring her before me! And unless you
           bring her before me, how can I answer? Both parties have to be present in court. First I have to see
           who this Darkness is who has been complaining against me and with whom I am not even
           acquainted. All these millions of years since you have made me I have never seen her, I have never
           met her. I don't even know her whereabouts."
           And God said, "That is right. I will call her."
               And since then, millions of years have again passed and God has been trying. You have heard
           that God is omnipotent -- he is not, because he has not been able to call both of them together yet.
           Yes, sometimes Darkness comes and complains and sometimes the Sun comes and says, "This is
           unfair -- let us both be present." But even God is not capable of making that happen. So it is just
           pending, it is in the files. One day, just looking in the files I came across it, and I think it is going to
           remain forever in the files.

               Darkness and light cannot be present together. The ego is just darkness; absence of
           consciousness is ego. When you become conscious, ego disappears. When consciousness is total,
           ego is not found at all. And the totality of consciousness is another name for the experience of God.
               God is not a person, let me remind you again and again -- God is only an experience of absolute
           awareness, of ultimate ecstasy. Hence I say laugh deeply, love deeply, live deeply. Risk everything
           for love, laughter, life. Let your life be a great exploration and go on always moving into the
           unknown and the unknowable.
               Nobody else has used jokes in a spiritual way; hence sometimes people are shocked. When they
           come for the first time to listen to me, naturally they are shocked because they want to hear
           something very serious -- as if they are not serious enough already! They want to hear something
           esoteric, something nonsensical, something which makes no sense to them; then they think there
           must be great meaning in it. When something is incomprehensible to them they think this is great
           philosophy! Whenever they come across something written in stupid jargon, esoteric, occult,
           spiritual, they become very much interested. They think they are going to find some treasure in it.
               The treasure is not hidden in big words, the treasure is hidden in you. And it is to be discovered,
           not through big words, it is to be discovered through wordlessness, it is to be discovered through
           silence.
               And haven't you felt after deep laughter that a sudden silence comes to you in the wake of it? --
           the silence after a storm. For a moment it is as if the mind stops functioning... you are utterly relaxed,
           in a deep rest.
               Those are the moments, Masta, when you start feeling the presence of God. Those are the first
           glimpses that God is. There is no other proof.
               Hence my commune is going to remain a shock to the traditional people. They have seen many
           spiritual communes, but they were all serious. Jesus will understand what I am saying, but not the
           pope of the Vatican, because these fools go on saying that Jesus never laughed. And I tell you, on my
           own authority, that he must have been one of the most hilarious persons. Who else can laugh so
           beautifully as Jesus? Who else has the right? He was not a deadly kind of saint; he lived, and lived
           very close to the earth. He lived with all kinds of ordinary people -- with drunkards and gamblers
           and tax collectors and prostitutes -- and he loved eating and drinking.
               Indian spiritual phonies are very much against drinking. That's why they cannot believe that
           Jesus is enlightened. Many Jaina monks have asked me, "Why do you say that Jesus is enlightened,
           as Buddha and Mahavira are? He used to drink wine!" There is nothing wrong in it, one just has to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           learn the art of drinking wine. One should not drink too much; the golden mean has to be followed.
           Nobody has ever heard that Jesus was lying in the street! He must have known how much to drink
           and when to drink and when not to drink.
                And moreover, wine is absolutely vegetarian; far more vegetarian than milk which Hindu, Jaina
           and Buddhist monks think is the purest food. It is animal food! It is closer to nonvegetarian food than
           to vegetarian food. It is part of the human body or the animal body. Wine has nothing wrong in it.
           And if one is foolish one can drink too much water and can get into trouble. So it is not a question of
           drinking.
                And what is wrong with enjoying eating? He must have enjoyed eating because we have many
           references that every night with his disciples the gathering used to continue late into the night,
           eating, drinking.... And do you think he was eating and drinking and they all were eating and
           drinking and everybody was sitting serious and somber and saintly? Is this the way to drink and eat
           and enjoy it? They must have been telling jokes and they must have been gossiping and they must
           have been talking like human beings.
                He was very human in that sense, far more human than Buddha and Mahavira. They look more
           abstract, more in the sky and less on the earth. He was very earthly. He used to stay in the house of a
           prostitute, Mary Magdalene. Now, your Vatican pope will not have that much guts! Even though he
           is a Polack, that much guts I don't think he will have!
                But when people come here, these people who think themselves spiritual, they come with their
           ideas, their prejudices -- that there should be no laughter, no dancing, no singing. And when they see
           sannyasins hugging, then this is too much -- as if there is something wrong in hugging! When they
           see people holding hands with deep love they are shocked. Spiritual people should be very anti-life,
           utterly life-negative; they should not affirm life in any way. And my whole effort here is to affirm
           life in all possible ways.
           Masta, a few jokes for you:

               Once there was a little girl who came across the word 'frugal' and asked her mother what it
           meant. She was told that it meant "to save." The next day the child was asked to write a story at
           school, and handed in the following:
           "Once upon a time a princess was lost in the woods and as night fell she became frightened. She
           began to run, crying out, 'Frugal me! Frugal me!'
           "A passing prince heard her pleas and ran to her rescue. He frugaled her and they lived happily ever
           after."

           "Hey, Giulio, where did you get the black eye?"
           "Aw, I was at my girl's house," explained the young lover, "and we was-a dancing together real-a
           tight-a when her father walked-a in!"
           "So?"
           "So," said the Italian, "the old-a guy's deaf-a. He couldn't-a hear the music-a!"

              A Texas cowboy was walking down a Tijuana street. Suddenly young Pablo walked up to him
           and yanked on his sleeve.
           "Hey, meester," said the boy, "you wanna make love to my seester?"
           "Podnah," said the Texan, "Ah don't even drink the water here!"

           The second question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAID THAT FOR BUDDHA FREEDOM IS THE HIGHEST. BUT HIS "DHAMMA" MEANS "THE
              LAW," WHICH INHIBITS FREEDOM. HOW DO FREEDOM AND LAW GO TOGETHER? PLEASE
              COMMENT.


               Anand Maitreya, freedom for Gautama the Buddha is the very law of life. Hence there is no
           contradiction. Life itself is rooted in freedom. We are not machines, we are not preprogramed. We
           are utter freedom -- now it is up to us what to make of it. All the alternatives are open, we can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           choose any alternative, that is our choice. We can become anybody, that is our choice.

              It is as if you find a marble rock -- now it depends on you what you want to make out of it. You
           can sculpt a Christ, you can also sculpt a Judas. The rock is totally available to you; now you have to
           decide, it is your decision, your conscious decision, what you want to make out of it.

                Michelangelo was passing by a shop which used to sell marble. He saw a big marble rock outside
           the shop, he had seen it lying there for years. He asked the owner, "What's the matter? Can't you sell
           it?"
                The man said, "I have dropped the idea. I can't sell it. Nobody is ready to purchase it, it is
           useless. I have thrown it out. But if you are interested you can take it free of charge so at least my
           place will be empty and I can put other rocks there."
                Michelangelo took the rock with him, and after one year he invited the owner to see. The owner
           could not believe his eyes; he had never seen such a beautiful Jesus. He said, "How could you do it?
           You are really a magician! That rock was utterly useless; no other sculptor was ready to take it even
           free of charge."
                And Michelangelo is reported to have said, "It has nothing to do with me. When I was passing,
           Jesus called out from the rock saying, 'I am imprisoned here! Help me to get out of this rock!' And I
           have just removed the unnecessary chunks, I have freed him."

               But a Michelangelo is needed to hear it, to hear the Jesus inside the rock calling him to help him
           to be freed.
               A rock is just a rock; it depends on you what you make out of it. That's what existentialists say:
           that man is born absolutely free. In the ancient days, philosophers used to think that man is born with
           an essence. Existentialists say man is born only as an existence, with no essence. He has to create the
           essence out of his own choice. And I perfectly agree with the existentialist approach.
               Buddha is the first existentialist of the world and far more truly an existentialist than Martin
           Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jaspers and others, because after all these existentialists are only
           thinkers -- they think about existence. Buddha really transformed himself. He was not talking about
           the essence -- he created it, he showed the world what man can make out of himself.
               Gurdjieff used to say that man is not born with a soul. The meaning is the same. It looks very
           strange when you hear for the first time that man is not born with a soul. The soul has to be created,
           man is born empty. And millions die only as hollow emptinesses. Their souls are never born because
           they never make any effort. The old idea is that everybody is born with a soul; it frees you from the
           great responsibility of creating your own being, of creating yourself. When there is no responsibility
           to create, you go on living accidentally, like driftwood.
               Buddha says freedom is the very law of life. What he means by it is that there is nothing higher
           than freedom. But by the word 'law', please don't misunderstand him. In fact for dhamma, the word
           'law' is only approximately right. In the English language there is not exactly the right word for
           dhamma. In Chinese there is a word tao that exactly means dhamma. The closest word in English is
           logos, but that has gone out of use. Hence 'the law' is used, but 'law' has other associations: the
           ordinary law of the state, of governments, of societies. That is not the meaning of Buddha. Of course,
           these laws are inhibitions; they prohibit you, they hinder you from freedom.
               Buddha is saying freedom is the only real law and anything that hinders your freedom is against
           the law of life. Be free. All those laws have to be broken, sabotaged. You have to take your life in
           your own hands and you are responsible for it. No fate is responsible, no destiny is responsible. You
           have to create yourself by your own effort.
               You are just a tabula rasa. You can write beautiful poems on it, beautiful calligraphy, you can do
           beautiful paintings on it; or you can leave it as it is. Or you can simply throw colors on it,
           meaninglessly, in an insane way, like a small child. You can destroy the whole thing. And there is
           nobody else who is responsible except you; the total responsibility is yours.
               That is the most emphatic thing that Buddha wants you to remember: don't shirk your
           responsibility. Whatsoever you are is your own work and whatsoever you want to be you can be. But
           you can be that only if freedom is the law of life. If everything is destined, if there is something like
           fate, if there is something which has been preprogramed in you, then you are not a man at all, then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are just a biocomputer. You are simply going to repeat the program, you are a gramophone
           record. You don't have any freedom, you can't change anything. You are just play-things in the hands
           of unknown forces.
               Buddha says this is not true. Hence he even denies the existence of God for the simple reason
           that if God is there then there will be trouble; then he will be the suprememost being. His very
           presence will become an inhibition to you.
               That's exactly the logic of Friedrich Nietzsche. He said: God is dead, therefore man is now free.
           But Nietzsche was only a philosopher. He could not contain that much freedom. He went mad.
               Buddha is not a philosopher at all, he is a mystic. He used the freedom. He really became
           responsible for himself. He created his own being and he became the most beautiful person who has
           ever lived on the earth. He followed the law of freedom and achieved the ultimate joy, the ultimate
           truth.
               You can do the same too. That is his message. He says, "Whatsoever has happened to me can
           happen to you. If it is not happening, nobody else is responsible except you." So take the total
           responsibility in your own hands, feel and be responsible, and use the law of freedom because it is
           available. Life has been given to you with no preprogram; now it is up to you what you want to make
           out of it. You can become an ugly monster -- a Genghis Khan, a Tamerlane, a Nadirshah -- or you
           can become a Gautam Buddha, a Jesus Christ, a Lao Tzu, a Zarathustra. It all depends on you, it is
           your freedom. Choose!
               But you can choose only when you are conscious; you can choose only when you are aware,
           alert. The more aware you are, the more you are capable of choosing the course of your life. The
           more aware you are, the more you know, the more you can feel a sense of direction.
               Freedom is the foundation of life and freedom is the ultimate goal too. Freedom is the source and
           freedom is the goal.
           Use freedom to be free from all bondage.
           Use freedom to become ultimately free.
           Use freedom to become freedom itself.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I-A NEVER-A THOUGHT-A IT WOULD-A COME-A TO THIS-A, BUT-A I WISH-A I-A WERE-A AN-A
              ITALIAN!
              MUCH-A LOVE-A AND-A PASTA, BIGGA PREMA.


                Bigga Prema, avoid such desires, because if you carry them too long they start becoming a
           reality. Then don't make me responsible for it! Be very careful what you desire, because the danger
           is that the desire may be fulfilled sooner or later.
                I love Italians -- as much as I love others -- but naturally many people are feeling jealous of
           Italians, for the simple reason that I am telling so many jokes about Italians. But the reason is not
           that I love Italians more than the Dutch or the Australians; the reason is simply that my librarian
           happens to be Lalita, an Italian, so she goes on finding Italian jokes for me! So rather than you
           desiring to be an Italian, just desire that I may get one assistant for Lalita from every country. In the
           new commune, I am thinking Lalita must have at least a dozen assistants! But beware of having this
           desire.

              Do you know why they hang salami at Italian weddings?
           To keep the flies off the bride.

              And do you know who fired the bullet into Mussolini's body?
           One hundred top Italian marksmen.

              Bianco, the barber, nicked his customer six times while shaving him. Finally the bleeding man
           asked if he could have a razor.
           "Why?" asked the Italian. "You wanna shave-a yourself?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "No," said the victim, "I want to defend myself!"

              Collared by the cops after he roared up a one-way street and crashed his 1949 Ford into a store
           window, the Italian drunk wanted to know what the hell was going on.
           "You went against the traffic, you dumb bastard," the angry cop said, "Didn't you see the arrows
           back there?"
           "Holy Mother-a Jesus!" the boozed-up guinea said. "I didn't even see the Indians!"

               And if you really want to change in your next life, in the next round when you come back, Bigga
           Prema, rather than being an Italian, be a Polack! Now you see, the Polack has become the pope -- he
           has defeated all the Italians! Now if a Polack can become a pope, the next thing is that a woman is
           going to become a pope-a.

           Why do Polack dogs have flat noses?
           From chasing parked cars.

           And why can't Polacks be pharmacists?
              They can't fit the little brown bottles in their typewriters!

              And do you know what is written on the bottom of Polish milk bottles?
           "Open at other end."

              Wojawicz walked into the department store with his mangy mutt. A floorwalker rushed over,
           pointed to the sign that read, NO DOGS ALLOWED and said, "Hey, mister, can't you read?"
           "So," said the Polack, "who's smoking?"

                And just the other day all the orange Italians and all the orange Polacks gathered together to
           decide who is really the greatest. Of course, there was no question of intellectual discussion... it had
           to be something existential! So they decided to go to the football ground by the side of the railway
           station and play football -- whoever wins....
                For two hours everything happened -- except football. Karate chops were flying and yoga was
           done and boxing and wrestling and Dynamic Meditation and Kundalini Meditation. And they had
           forgotten completely that they needed a few referees as well; there were no referees at all.
                After two hours even the football lying by the side started laughing! "What is happening?" Then
           a train passed by and hearing the whistle of the train the Italians thought the game was over, so they
           left the ground, thinking, "We are equal and the game is over."
                But the Polacks were bent upon winning, and now, because the sun was going down, the game
           became even more fierce. And finally after one hour's effort the Polacks were able to score one goal
           -- without the Italians, but that doesn't matter!

              So if you want to be something really great, it is better to be a Polack rather than an Italian. Why
           choose something second-rate?

                Milewski was trying to light a match. He struck the first match, it didn't work, he threw it away.
           He struck a second match. That didn't work either and he threw it away. He struck a third one and it
           lit up.
           "That be a good one," said the Polack, blowing it out. "I got to save it!"

              A Polack and a Jew were walking in the desert. The Jew was carrying a watermelon, the Polack
           was carrying a car door.
              After a while the Polack said, "Why are you carrying that watermelon?"
              The Jew said, "So when it gets too hot I cut it open and eat a piece of it."
              After a while, the Jew said, "And why are you carrying that car door?"
           "So," said the Polack, "when it gets too hot I just roll down the window!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              A WHILE AGO I WROTE TO YOU ABOUT BEING CONFUSED, AND YOU SAID YOU WERE
              TAKING CARE. NOW SINCE THEN I HAVE GOT EVEN MORE CONFUSED! WHAT ARE YOU
              DOING TO ME?!


               Prem Asang, taking care! That's my way of taking care! You get confused because you are
           carrying certain ideas and prejudices in the mind. If you don't carry any ideas, any prejudices in the
           mind, even I cannot confuse you; nobody in the whole world can confuse you. Confusion arises from
           your own inner causes.
               For example, if you believe in a certain idea and I say something against it, then there is
           confusion. You cannot leave the old idea; it is so old, it has got so many roots in you and you have
           lived with it so long that it has become comfortable and cozy. You have believed in it so long, it has
           given you so many consolations, that now suddenly to drop it will mean moving in a state of
           insecurity; it has become your security and safety.
               But listening to me you cannot cling to it anymore. You cannot drop it and you cannot cling to it,
           hence the confusion. You cannot cling to it anymore because what I am saying appeals to you, your
           heart understands it. Deep down something in your inner being says, "Yes, it is so." Between your
           heart and head a conflict ensues; that is confusion.
               Confusion simply means that now you are unable to decide where to go: to go on clinging to the
           old, which will be impossible because now you have seen that that is not right, that you have been
           clinging only to a comfortable lie. It is not true, and your heart feels that it is not true... although it
           gives you consolation. Lies can give you consolation, they are very consoling; otherwise nobody
           would believe in lies. Everybody believes in lies for the simple reason that they are cheap and give
           you great consolation. You need not make any effort to realize them. They are handed over to you by
           others: by your parents, by your teachers, by the society, by the atmosphere. You simply go on
           gathering from everywhere, from every source.
               You are living in a sandcastle; but everything goes well -- unless somebody tells you that this is a
           sandcastle. Once you have heard that this is a sandcastle, the problem arises: you cannot live in it
           anymore, it is dangerous to live in it. And you cannot get out of it because you have become so
           accustomed to it. Hence the confusion. Confusion simply means you are unable to decide.
               Unless you become decisive, Asang, the confusion will go on growing. My work consists in
           creating confusion in you, because without creating confusion I cannot pull you out of your
           sandcastles, I cannot pull you out of your paper boats, I cannot pull you out of your lies and dreams.
           And I know perfectly well that when you have put so much investment in a certain belief -- maybe
           you have lived for thirty years, forty years in a certain belief -- to see now that it was wrong, that it
           was utterly stupid, that it was ridiculous, creates a great problem for you. Your self-image of being
           intelligent is shattered. For forty years you have carried something ridiculous without seeing it. What
           kind of intelligence do you have? You become suspicious of your own intelligence and that doesn't
           feel good.
               That's why to be with a master needs courage. To be with a master needs the courage to accept
           that "I don't know."
               The moment you accept, Asang, that "I don't know," all confusion will disappear, evaporate,
           simply evaporate -- just as dewdrops evaporate in the early morning sun leaving no trace behind
           them. The confusion is because you are clinging to a few things which in the past you thought were
           very valuable. You thought that they were ornaments, golden, studded with diamonds, and now I
           have made you aware that they are nothing but chains -- maybe golden chains and maybe studded
           with diamonds, but what are diamonds? -- they are also stones. And what is gold? The difference
           exists only in man's mind, otherwise gold and iron are the same. The evaluation is ours, the
           projection is ours. But chains are chains and the chains have to be broken. Now the things you have
           believed were ornaments, decorations, are being shown to you persistently as nothing but chains.
               Either you will have to escape from me... but remember, escaping won't help you. Once you have
           been on my surgical table it is better to go through the whole operation! If you escape in the middle
           of the operation you will remain confused your whole life, because whatsoever you have understood
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from me is not going to leave you, it will haunt you. So there is no escape from me.
               Once you are with me you have to learn the ways of transformation, you have to go through a
           radical change. You have to die to the past and be born anew. It is hard, it is painful. Every birth is
           painful, and spiritual birth particularly is very painful. There are no sedatives available. For spiritual
           birth one has to go through many pains, but those pains are worth it because you grow out of your
           imprisonments; you grow into freedom, you grow up.
               And once you have tasted the joy of growing up, of becoming mature, then there is no problem.
           Then you know that all that you have left behind was worthless, was rubbish.
               But, Asang, this moment has to be passed through. This critical moment has to come in every
           disciple's life when the disciple is in a kind of limbo, neither here nor there, half in the past and half
           moving with me, many times thinking to escape.

               Just the other day Somendra asked a question: "But, Beloved Master, where is the exit?" There is
           no exit here! It is one-way traffic. You only come in... we don't have another door, only the entrance.
           Then you have to be reborn; that is the only exit. But the exit is not in escape, it is in "inscape." It is
           going inwards.

               Asang, I am taking as much care as you can tolerate at this moment! I will take more.... The
           medicine is bitter and it has to be given in small doses. And this is not homeopathic treatment,
           remember, this is pure allopathy -- it is pure poison! It is crucifixion, because only then is there
           resurrection. But that too takes three days. Between the crucifixion and the resurrection... three days.
           Remember those three days; they are significant, very significant. Those three days are the most
           difficult days.
               Just think of Jesus: three days in the cave, neither dead nor alive. He couldn't have been
           completely dead because once you are completely dead you are gone. He was not completely alive
           either; otherwise he would not have remained for three days in the cave, he would have escaped
           sooner. He must have been hanging between these two polarities of birth and death.
               Those three days are significant, they are symbolic. Those three days represent body, mind,
           heart. You have to die in the body, in the mind, in the heart; then only can you be born as a soul. You
           have to pass through this dark night of the soul. This is the womb period, those nine months in the
           mother's womb. In exactly the same way, the disciple has to be in the womb of the master. This
           buddhafield is nothing but a womb. You are in the womb. It depends on you: if you go on clinging
           too long it will take a long time for you to come out.

               In India we have many beautiful stories about Lucknow. Lucknow is the most mannerly city in
           India, very mannerly; too much in fact, so it is said. Once it happened, a woman got pregnant and
           she was carrying two children within her womb, and they wouldn't come out. Nine months passed,
           then nine years passed, then ninety years passed....
               Finally the woman died and the doctors had to open the womb. Two small, ninety-year-old
           gentlemen were standing there and they were saying to each other, "Sir, you first!"

                Don't take that much time -- here you need not be that mannerly! Jump out of the womb as
           quickly as possible... because the spiritual womb has no natural time -- nine months or nine years --
           it all depends on the individual. It can happen in a single moment or it may not happen in an eternity.
                Asang, I am taking care of you, and as you become a little more available to me, a little more
           patient, a little more capable of absorbing my energy, I will take more care of you.
                Just a few days ago I was going to call you one night as a guest medium, but Arup informed me
           that, "The first time you called Asang as a guest medium, for many days she was almost in a state of
           craziness, so please don't call her so soon." So I had to drop the idea.
                If you are ready, you can come tonight! But then don't get too insane for many days. Try to
           absorb me. The more capable you become, the more I will confuse you till nothing is left to confuse,
           till the mind is completely gone and there is nobody to confuse.
                That's what happens to my disciples who have been here long enough. Now, whatsoever I say,
           they listen joyously without making any comparison, without making any judgment, without any
           evaluation. They don't think of what I said yesterday, because if they think of that they start
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           becoming confused. So they live in the moment with me. I live in the moment, and once you have
           understood how to live, you will also live in the moment with me. And then there is no confusion,
           then there is all clarity. And clarity is innocence and clarity is freedom.

           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS YOUR DOGMA?


               Peter, I believe you must be a tourist here; otherwise you cannot ask such a question. I don't have
           any dogma. In the first place I don't like dogs at all! And 'dogma' means mother of dogs! Neither do I
           like any sonofabitch, nor do I like any mother of dogs! There are Christian dogmas and Hindu
           dogmas and Mohammedan dogmas, and what do they do? They go on barking at each other! I don't
           have any dogma at all. Even my kids understand it here, my small sannyasins. You can ask them.

           Upachara has informed me:
              Just heard on the steps in front of the office. Five sannyasin kids are having a serious talk. One of
           them says, "Osho is not even a sannyasin!"

           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                    Chapter #7
                                Chapter title: No yesterday, no tomorrow, no today
           27 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004270
              ShortTitle: DHAM1207
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              HE IS CALM.
              IN HIM THE SEED OF RENEWING LIFE
              HAS BEEN CONSUMED.
              HE HAS CONQUERED ALL THE INNER WORLDS.



              WITH DISPASSIONATE EYE
              HE SEES EVERYWHERE
              THE FALLING AND THE UPRISING.



              AND WITH GREAT GLADNESS
              HE KNOWS THAT HE HAS FINISHED.
              HE HAS WOKEN FROM HIS SLEEP.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND THE WAY HE HAS TAKEN
              IS HIDDEN FROM MEN,
              EVEN FROM SPIRITS AND GODS,
              BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY.



              IN HIM THERE IS NO YESTERDAY,
              NO TOMORROW,
              NO TODAY.


               The master is calm, but with a difference. Many people are calm, but they are not masters. Calm
           can be cultivated very easily from the outside; it will deceive others, but it cannot deceive existence.
           Deep inside you will remain in a turmoil.
               Hence, the first thing to be understood is that Buddha is never in favor of anything cultivated.
           The moral preachers, the moralists, are continuously telling people, "Be this, be that. Try to be calm,
           practice calm." And for thousands of years these things have been told to you; these qualities have
           been praised, appreciated, worshipped. Naturally you try to be calm and quiet and collected, but
           when you practice something it simply means you are creating a facade, you are just creating a face.
           It can't transform your being -- it is an exercise. Yes, it will help you to be more prestigious, to be
           more respectable; people will look up to you as a holy man. But in fact you have become
           schizophrenic, you have become a split personality, you are divided. Your surface says one thing,
           your inner reality is totally the opposite. You will live in a continuous civil war, you will be
           continuously at daggers with yourself.
               It is hell to be a saint in this way. Sinners may go to hell after they die; your so-called saints live
           in hell here and now. There is no certainty about the future hell, but the saint's hell is very much a
           reality.
           Never try to cultivate any quality.
               Then what has to be done? Should one remain violent, disturbed, insane? No, Buddha says there
           is another way, the right way. The right way is that these things should come as consequences --
           consequences of inner awareness. The magic of awareness is that the more you become alert,
           naturally, the more a calm surrounds you. You need not cultivate it, it follows you like a shadow, it
           is simply your vibe. You are surrounded by a subtle aura of peace, serenity. When you are aware
           inside, there is a grace radiating from your being. That grace is spontaneous, not cultivated. And
           when something is spontaneous it has tremendous beauty. It is not an artificial flower, it is not a
           plastic flower; it is something that has grown in you, that has bloomed in you. It is your own
           flowering. It has fragrance because it has roots in your being.
               Unless calmness comes as a shadow of awareness, beware of it. It is false, it is utterly futile. The
           whole effort that you have put into cultivating it has been a sheer wastage. The same effort could
           have been put into becoming aware.
               That is the difference between morality and religion. Morality is a social phenomenon; society
           needs it because society consists of millions of people. It has to keep a certain order, a certain
           discipline; otherwise there will be chaos. Morality keeps that order. Morality creates a conscience in
           you. Conscience functions as an inner policeman who does not allow you to do anything that is
           against the law or against the code or against the tradition. Society has imprinted in your heart
           certain ideas and now you are dominated by those ideas. Even if you go against those ideas they will
           torture you, they will become a nightmare to you. If you follow them you will feel you are not
           tortured so much.
               So the immoral person finds himself in two difficulties. One comes from the outside because he
           starts losing people's respect; and in this world respect is the most valuable thing in people's eyes
           because it is a nourishment for the ego. The moment you lose respect your ego starts dying, your ego
           is hurt, your ego is wounded. Secondly, something inside you starts creating an inner torture for you
           -- your conscience. That conscience is also created by the same society.
               Hence, society pressures you from both sides, outer and inner. You are just crushed between
           these two rocks. So cowards cannot be immoral people; cowards are always moral people. In fact
           they are not moral but only cowards; because they are cowards they cannot be immoral -- that is too
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dangerous, too risky. And the moral people, the so-called moral people, live a superficial life. They
           are bound to live a superficial life because their conscience is not their own -- what else can be their
           own? They don't possess even their own conscience, what else can they possess? They are the
           poorest people in the world.
               And they are not moral because they understand the beauty of being moral; they are moral
           simply because they don't have guts enough to be immoral. They follow the dictates of the society
           and the conscience just out of fear. There is fear of the law and there is fear of hell; there is fear of
           the policeman and there is fear of God. They are constantly trembling, their life is nothing but a
           constant trembling. Their prayers arise out of that trembling -- naturally those prayers are false; they
           are fear-oriented. Even their conception of God is nothing but a projection of their fear.
               That's why these people are rightly called God-fearing people. They are not God-loving people.
           And remember, one who fears God can never love God, and one who loves God need never fear.
           Fear and love can't exist together, it is impossible. Their coexistence is not possible in the nature of
           things.
               But society pays you enough to be moral, gives you as much ego as it is possible to give -- not
           only here but in the afterworld too. There are also places, special places reserved for you in heaven.
           The sinner is suffering here and the sinner will suffer in hell too, and the so-called saint is respected
           here and he is going to be respected in the other world too.
               This is a strategy, a very subtle psychological strategy of society -- to exploit you. But because of
           this strategy you have completely lost track of real morality: a morality that is not dictated by fear, a
           morality that does not arise out of cowardice, a morality that is not fear-oriented.
               A totally different vision of morality has been given by the buddhas, by the awakened ones of all
           the ages. Their vision is that real morality comes not out of conscience but out of consciousness.
           Become more conscious, release more conscious energy in your being, explode into consciousness!
           -- and then you will see you are living a life in absolute attunement with existence. Sometimes it may
           be in tune with society and sometimes it may not be in tune with society, because society itself is not
           always in tune with existence. Whenever society is in tune with existence you will be in tune with
           society; whenever society is not in tune with existence you will not be in tune with society.
               But the real moral person never cares, he is even ready to risk his life. Socrates did that, Jesus did
           that. Buddha was constantly living in danger. This has always been the case, for the simple reason
           that they were living according to their own light. If it fits with society, good; if it does not fit with
           society it is bad for society but it has nothing to do with you. Society has to change itself. Socrates is
           not going to change himself, Jesus is not going to change himself according to society, Buddha is not
           going to live according to the crowd. The crowd consists of blind people, of utterly unconscious
           people who are fast asleep, who know nothing of themselves. To follow them is the most stupid
           thing in the world that a man can do. One should be intelligent enough to wake up one's own
           consciousness.
               Religion consists not of conscience but of consciousness. Hence, even an atheist can believe in
           morality. Of course, in Soviet Russia or communist China they have to follow a certain code of
           morality. They may not believe in God, but they have to enforce morality on people. In fact, they
           have to enforce it even more because the fear of God is lost. Now the state has to be really very
           dangerous, because that is the only fear which will keep people confined within the boundaries of
           morality.
               It is not accidental that the Russian government and the Chinese government don't allow any
           freedom; they cannot allow it. Capitalist countries can allow a little freedom because God is there to
           help. You allow a little freedom, God won't allow that freedom -- it compensates. But in a
           communist country there is no God so there is no fear of the supreme, the ultimate, and no other life
           so there is no fear of hell.
               Communist countries have to create hell here, right now, so they create concentration camps;
           they use Siberia as a substitute for hell. And they have created all kinds of very complicated tortures,
           all kinds of inhuman tortures. Even the Devil himself can learn much from them! Now in Russia if
           you don't agree with the society you are immediately declared a mental case -- not that you are
           politically of a different opinion, no, that is impossible. There can't be any possibility of somebody
           being politically different from the government policy, from the authoritarian principles, from the
           recognized ideology. Only an insane person can think that he is different. How can you go against
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Marx, Engels and Lenin? Impossible! This unholy trinity rules absolutely. The Russian government
           is totalitarian; it has to be because it has to function in such a way that the fear of God has to be
           replaced by something; otherwise people will become unmanageable.
               Communist countries are bound to become totalitarian. They cannot be democratic, it is
           impossible, because who will do the work of keeping people afraid and trembling? Unless they
           accept God and hell.... God and hell are very helpful because they do almost all of the work. For a
           religious person -- a so-called religious person -- that fear is enough to hold him back, and the rest
           can be done by the government, but that is a lesser part, not more than twenty or twenty-five percent.
           Seventy-five percent of fear comes from the psychological creation of a conscience. In a communist
           country there is no question of conscience, and of course the question of consciousness does not
           arise at all because no such thing as meditation is accepted.
               A few people in Soviet Russia have become interested in my way of thinking. They have started
           meditating, but they have to meditate hidden underground in their basements. They cannot tell
           somebody else that they are meditating because meditation means you have gone insane! "There is
           no need to meditate at all. Why should one meditate? There is no soul to experience, no God to
           experience. Man is nothing but a by-product of matter. When death comes all ends, nothing remains
           beyond death, nothing abides." So consciousness cannot be allowed because meditation is not
           allowed: meditation is the science of releasing consciousness. And conscience cannot be created
           because the old ways of creating fear are no more accepted. The whole work has to be done by the
           government. Of course the government becomes ugly, the government becomes a monster.
               But the same is happening in other countries too -- in more subtle ways. Communists are gross;
           the capitalist countries, the so-called democratic countries, are not so gross, they are subtle, but they
           do the same thing. They keep you tethered to the crowd, but in such an indirect way that it needs
           great intelligence to become aware of the fact that you are chained. Those chains are invisible.
               Religion really consists in creating a different kind of morality, not the so-called ordinary
           morality, but a morality which is spontaneous, a morality which arises by itself and is not imposed, a
           morality which is a consequence of your own intelligence.
               Buddha is talking about that when he says: The master IS CALM. He means that he has gone
           deep into his center, he has penetrated his being to the very core, and he has settled there; now he is
           at rest. All hustle and bustle has dropped, all running hither and thither has disappeared. Now he
           knows there is nowhere to go. He has arrived home, he has found his ultimate shelter, the ultimate
           refuge. Now he knows, "This is my shrine." Sitting in that shrine he is absolutely calm. You cannot
           see where he is, but you can feel his calm. You can feel him like a cool breeze, you can feel him as a
           shower of silence. If you come close to him, suddenly you will be touched by something invisible.
           Your heart will start dancing. Not that he has done anything to you, but your mind can deceive you,
           your mind can start rationalizing.

               Just the other day I was reading a manuscript. One woman came a few months ago, a friend of
           Pankaja and Savita. She came here just to see what had happened to Pankaja and Savita. Pankaja is a
           well-known novelist and has published beautiful novels. Suddenly she became a sannyasin and
           dropped her beautiful career. There were great possibilities: she could have become world-famous.
           She was on the way -- she was becoming more and more known. Not only did she become a
           sannyasin, she never went back to England. Not only that -- rumors must have reached England that
           now she functions in the ashram as a toilet cleaner. Her friend must have been puzzled -- what had
           happened to her?
               Then Savita also disappeared. She was also doing well in her profession. She was a therapist,
           earning a lot of money and moving ahead. And she also never returned to England.
               Their friend came here just to see what was happening to these people -- "They must have been
           hypnotized." What else can the mind think? The simple explanation comes to the mind: "These
           people have been hypnotized." Otherwise why should one leave one's prosperous career, good
           livelihood -- a career which was full of possibilities? Why should one suddenly leave? Either one has
           gone insane or one has become hypnotized.
               She came here just to observe what is happening. Then she also became a sannyasin. But she
           escaped immediately -- I gave her the name Kanan. She escaped. Now she writes a book about the
           whole experience and she says, "I don't know what happened, why I became a sannyasin. There is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something which pulls you. There is something intangible -- one cannot figure it out, what it is
           exactly -- but something like hypnosis." She infers, "It may be in the eyes of this man or in the sound
           of his voice that one feels to become a sannyasin. Even I became a sannyasin, but then I became very
           much afraid: now I am being pulled the same way into this orange whirlpool in which Pankaja has
           disappeared, Savita has disappeared. It is better to go before I am too much in it and escape becomes
           impossible. I escaped. I dropped sannyas immediately because I was afraid -- carrying this man's
           mala and his picture around my neck was dangerous. Who knows what is hidden in it?"
               Now, this woman thinks she is very clever, she thinks she is very rational, she thinks she has
           done the right thing. All that she has done is she has missed an opportunity which comes only once
           in a while; maybe for many lives she will not come across such a man again.
               There is no hypnotism. Nobody is trying to pull you, nobody is trying to influence you. But
           certainly there is a fragrance which affects you, which affects you deeply. There is a calm which
           goes into the heart and stirs the fast-sleeping heart into a kind of wakefulness. But if you are too
           much in your dreams, and you have invested too much even in your nightmares, you may become
           afraid -- you may become afraid of being awakened. You may miss the opportunity, you may escape
           from the opportunity. But then you try to rationalize. You HAVE to rationalize, otherwise how will
           you console yourself?
               Now, by writing this book she is trying to convince herself that she has done the right thing. She
           has done the most stupid thing in her life.
               And the opportunity is still not lost, Kanan. Wherever you are in the world my eyes are reaching
           there too. And whatsoever I am saying here, the sound of my voice goes on resounding around the
           earth. If you have even a little bit of intelligence you will be pulled back into the orange whirlpool!

              HE IS CALM.
              IN HIM THE SEED OF RENEWING LIFE
              HAS BEEN CONSUMED.
              HE HAS CONQUERED ALL THE INNER WORLDS.


               What has happened in the master? What has really happened in the inner world of the master?
           Buddha says: The first, most fundamental thing is that the seed of renewing life is burnt, utterly
           burnt, is consumed in the fire of awareness. Yes, awareness is a fire. It burns all that is rubbish, but it
           also purifies all that is gold. It does two things: burns the rubbish and purifies the gold. It is alchemy.
           "The seed of renewing life" is desire. Buddha used to call it TANHA. Tanha means one wants to be
           born again and again, one wants more and more. In this life you want more and more, but that more
           is never fulfilled. When you are dying, all desires are standing there unfulfilled so you start desiring
           another life, one more chance.

               There is a beautiful story, a great parable in the Upanishads:
               One of the great kings, Yayati, was dying. He was a hundred years old, ripe enough to die -- one
           should be ready by that time -- but not grown-up enough; the seed of renewing life was not yet burnt.
           So when death came, Yayati fell at the feet of Death -- a great king, a great conqueror! -- and he said
           to Death, "Spare me only one hundred years more. I don't ask for more, just one hundred years more.
           And it is nothing for you, you can do it. All my desires are still unfulfilled because I had never
           thought about you. I was simply preparing and preparing. I have not enjoyed my life. Now that
           everything is ready -- I have conquered the whole world, I have all the riches, the most beautiful
           women, the most intelligent and courageous sons, the best army in the world, everything is settled,
           all enemies killed -- I was just thinking to relax and enjoy. Is this the time to come? All these
           hundred years have been spent simply in preparing for these moments. Spare me just one hundred
           years more so that I can live to my heart's content."
               Death laughed and said, "I am ready to spare one hundred years more to you, but I will have to
           take one of your sons because I have to go with somebody who resembles you; if not you, at least
           one of your sons. I can't go empty-handed, I have to give the account to my boss himself. He will
           ask, 'Where is Yayati?' What am I going to say? Such a thing has never been done before, but I feel
           sorry for you. Just ask one of your sons."
               Yayati had a hundred sons; he must have had a hundred wives too. He asked his sons. The oldest
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was eighty, but he started looking downwards, was not ready to say yes. Why should he? He had
           lived only eighty years; if his father is not contented with a hundred years, how can he be contented
           with only eighty years? At least twenty years more he is entitled to live. In those days, the story says,
           people used to live a hundred years. Why should he die a premature death, an untimely death? And
           this old fellow has lived enough! He did not want to hurt the old man so he didn't say anything, he
           kept quiet.
                The father was very much shocked; he used to think that his sons were ready to sacrifice
           themselves. But in this world nobody is ready to sacrifice himself for anybody else. He looked
           around. His sons also started looking at each other, meaning "Why don't YOU go?"
                The youngest, who was only twenty years old, stood up and he said, "I am ready. Take me with
           you, I am coming with you."
                Even Death felt sorry for the boy. Death came close to the young man and said, "Are you a fool
           or something? Your other brothers -- one is eighty, one is seventy-five, one is seventy, sixty,
           sixty-five, fifty -- these people are not ready to go and you are the youngest, you have not lived at
           all. Why are you ready to go?"
                The young man said, "If my father could not live in a hundred years, if my eldest brother could
           not live in eighty years, if my other brothers... nobody has been able to live, then the whole project is
           nonsense. I don't want to waste time. If I have to die it is better to die now. Why wait for eighty
           years? If THESE people have not been able to manage, it is absolutely certain it is unmanageable.
           And let my father try a hundred years more."
                Death tried to convince him, but he wouldn't listen. Death had to take him away.
                After a hundred years, Death came back and the situation was the same. Again Yayati fell at his
           feet and started crying and weeping and he said, "I know that now I should be ready, but nothing is
           fulfilled yet; all the desires are the same. I have LIVED all the desires, I cannot say that I have not
           lived them, but nothing is fulfilled. I want more! Now that I have lived a hundred years a new desire
           has arisen -- I want more! I want to live at least one time more, a hundred years more, just one time
           more."
                And this went on happening again and again. When Yayati became one thousand years old and
           Death came, he was just going to fall at his feet. Death said, "Wait -- enough is enough! Can't you
           see the point, Yayati? Are you so blind? You have lived one thousand years, and you have been
           doing the same things again and again. You have done nothing new in these one thousand years, and
           still you want more? Can't you see the simple point that mind lives in the more, it goes on asking for
           more? There is no end to it. Now you come with me -- I am not going to listen anymore. Now even
           my boss is feeling angry with me. He says, 'This is too much! This man has been given too much
           time.' But I also wanted to try -- let us see what you can make out of one thousand years. You have
           not made any progress, you are exactly in the same place, going in circles."

               Buddha calls this tanha -- going in circles -- this constant desire for more. One becomes a master
           when this desire for more disappears, when the seed is burnt in the fire of awareness. HE IS CALM.
           Then of course he is calm.
               When there is no desire, when the winds of desire are blowing no more, there are no waves in the
           inner ocean, then the ocean becomes absolutely calm. In fact, the ocean is not the cause of waves --
           the cause is the invisible winds. You see the waves in the ocean so you think the waves are caused
           by the ocean; they are not. The waves are caused by invisible winds blowing over the ocean. If the
           winds stop the ocean will be absolutely calm.
               Why are you in a turmoil? Why are there constantly so many waves inside you, so many
           thoughts and so many memories, fantasies? Why does this whole circus go on? For the simple reason
           that there are invisible winds of desire blowing upon you.
               The watchful person, the intelligent person, becomes aware of the root cause: it is in the winds,
           the winds of desire. He stops desiring. Seeing the futility of desire he drops desiring. The seed is
           burnt and then there is calm. This calm is not the calm of your so-called polished, cultured man. This
           calm is totally different, its quality is different, its source is different -- it comes from the innermost
           core. The Buddha is calm because the winds are not blowing anymore. And they cannot blow
           because the very seed has been burnt. HE HAS CONQUERED ALL THE INNER WORLDS. There
           are worlds upon worlds inside you too, just as outside there are worlds upon worlds. Scientists go on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           discovering new solar systems, new stars, new galaxies of stars, new milky ways. They go on
           discovering, there seems to be no end. There seem to be universes and universes unending. So it is in
           the inner world: there are also many planes and many universes, but all are rooted in a single seed.
               Out of a single seed a big tree can grow. You can't see it in the seed, but if you put it in the soil
           soon a tree starts growing. A small seed brings such a big tree with such thick foliage that thousands
           of people can sit underneath it, thousands of birds can make their nests in it. And millions of seeds
           will grow in this tree and each seed contains again millions of trees, and so on and so forth. The
           scientists say a single seed can make the whole earth green; not only this earth but all the earths in
           the universe can be made green by a single seed. What potential!
               You are all carrying frozen seeds within you which are just waiting for their right opportunity.
           Maybe you have forgotten completely about a certain desire because there has not been an
           opportunity to provoke it. That's why monks and nuns and the traditional sannyasins used to escape
           from the world, simply to deceive themselves -- because when they went to the caves in the
           mountains they were going away from the opportunities where they would have become aware of the
           seed, where the seed would have had a chance to grow.
               But remember, the seed is there whether you give it a chance to grow or not, and the seed can
           remain there for years; for lives it will wait. Give it an opportunity, an accidental opportunity, and
           immediately the seed becomes alive. The seed can remain frozen, almost dead for millions of lives.
               That's why I am absolutely against escapism -- for the simple reason that if you want to burn the
           seed the best place is in the world, in the marketplace, because there are all kinds of opportunities.
           You cannot avoid seeing the seed and seeing it means you have to do something about it. If you stop
           seeing it, if you put a seed on a rock, you will forget about the seed because it cannot grow on the
           rock.
               That's why monks and nuns used to move to the monasteries, nunneries; those were rocks. And
           they chose to be in the mountains. Have you observed it? -- that all the monasteries of the world
           have been made in rocky mountains, not beautiful mountains where there are great trees and animals
           and birds -- because there is danger: even two birds making love is enough of an opportunity to give
           you the idea! Just two animals in foreplay, and the monks and the nuns will have a great desire
           arising in them. Suddenly the seed will start sprouting. So they chose to be in rocks, utter rocks
           where not a tree grows. Or the monasteries were built somewhere in the desert. All Christian
           monasteries were made in the desert. The ancient Christians lived in the desert, for the simple reason
           that, in a desert, life is so absent, so utterly absent, that you can forget all about it.
               Jaina monks chose mountains, but ugly mountains, just rocks and nothing else, because anything
           beautiful can create trouble. The distant call of a cuckoo can drive you cuckoo! -- because it has a
           sexuality of its own, it has a sensuality of its own, it is a sensual call. Do you know? -- it is the male
           cuckoo who is calling; the female simply waits. She simply waits for the male to come closer. Yes,
           she gives hints that "I am available," and yet keeps herself very aloof, very proud -- available, but
           not so easily available either!
               Have you seen in the animals one strange phenomenon? -- that it is always the male who is
           taking the initiative. The peacock with beautiful feathers is the male; one should have thought
           otherwise, but it is the male not the female. The female has no feathers; the female is ordinary, does
           not look so beautiful. The male looks very beautiful and the male dances with great exhibition of all
           his feathers -- they are really beautiful feathers -- and he dances a great dance. He tries to allure.
               Something strange has happened in man only; it seems unnatural. In fact, ornaments should be
           used by men, not by women. Men should use more colorful clothes than women. There is no need
           for women to bother about anything else, just to be female is enough! That's the whole story of
           nature if you look around: all the strategies have been used by males.
               The monks and nuns have to be protected, but this kind of protection is not going to help. Even if
           the seed can remain protected for many lives it is there, it is not burnt yet.

              An old maid had been going to sit in the park each day for years. As she fed the pigeons, which
           always roosted and fluttered around the bronze statue of a young Apollo, her eyes would wander
           over his nude form and she would dream of holding him alive in her arms.
              One day as she sat there, a good fairy took pity on her.
              Appearing by her side, the fairy offered her three wishes. Without delay the old maid began,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "First I want to be young and very desirable."
           This was no sooner said than done.
           "Second, I wish that the statue of Apollo would come to life."
               A wave of the fairy's wand and instantly he sprang down from the pedestal, vibrantly alive. The
           new voluptuous maid faltered and began to blush. Fluttering her eyelashes coyly she murmured, "I
           would like to give the third wish to Apollo."
               Turning to the naked young god, the good fairy said, "What is your wish?"
           "I want to shit on a pigeon," he answered.

                Now the marble statue had been carrying this seed maybe for hundreds of years. Those pigeons
           were continuously doing this thing to him. Waiting, waiting, waiting... one day the time arrived -- all
           that he wants to do is this.
                Buddha says: HE IS CALM. IN HIM THE SEED OF RENEWING LIFE HAS BEEN
           CONSUMED. HE HAS CONQUERED ALL THE INNER WORLDS.
                There are three worlds, and within those three there are many worlds within worlds. The first is
           the world of the body, the mysteries of the body. The second is the world of the mind, the mysteries
           of the mind. And the third is the world of the heart, the mysteries of the heart. And each contains
           many worlds. Because of these three layers there have arisen three yogas, three sciences. One is
           HATHA yoga. Hatha yoga means going into the mysteries of the body. And the body has many
           mysteries; if you go into the mysteries of the body they are unending. You can go on and on forever,
           it is an infinity in itself.
                But that is not the way to freedom and that is not the way to nirvana: you are caught in a new net.
           You are no more interested in money and you are no more interested in being a president, you are no
           more interested in worldly name or fame, but now your whole interest is how to become a superman,
           how to attain the powers that your body contains. For thousands of years so many yogis have been
           wasting time in that.
                Buddha is not concerned with that type of inquiry at all. He wants you to cut through it. He wants
           you to remember that, if you go into the mysteries of the body, you may be able to walk on water,
           you may be able to walk in fire, but what is the point of walking on water or in fire? It is simply
           stupid! Even if you can walk in fire, so what? What is gained? You can fly in the air like a bird, so
           what? Birds are doing it already -- nothing special.

               Three yogis were eating their lunch on the seventeenth-floor girder of a new skyscraper. They
           were working on their bodies, talking about it continuously, discovering new mysteries.
           "Wow," said the second man, who was new on the job. "I see why you guys like to eat your lunch
           here. The view of the city is beautiful!"
           "Yes, the view is nice," said the first man. "But do you want to know why we really like to eat lunch
           here?"
           "Yes," said the new yogi.
           "Well," explained the first, "there's the most incredible updraft right at the fourth floor, and when we
           finish lunch we like to jump off and ride back up on that air current. It puts you right back on the
           very spot you jumped from."
           "Bullshit!" said the second man. "I don't believe you."
           "You don't?" said the first, putting down his coffee thermos. "Then I'll show you."
               He jumped. Down he went, and sure enough, right at the fourth floor -- whoosh! He was turned
           back and landed on the seventeenth-floor girder on the exact spot from which he had leaped.
           "Wow!" said the second man in total amazement. "That beats the hell out of hang-gliding or
           anything! Let me do it next!"
               He stood up and jumped. Down he went -- then fourth floor, third floor, second floor... splat! All
           over the sidewalk! Finished!
               Back up on the seventeenth floor, the third man, who had been silent until now, turned to the first
           and said, "You know, Superman, sometimes you're a real prick!"

           What is the point of it all?
             Buddha is not interested in the yoga of the body, neither is he interested in the yoga of the mind
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- MANTRA yoga and other methods which work on the mind and create mental powers, SIDDHIS.
           Yes, you can do miracles... you can read others' thoughts, but are not one's own thoughts enough?
           You can predict others' futures, but what is there to predict? It is going to be almost the same as their
           past.
               Just the other day one sannyasin asked... he had been to some Hindu astrologer, very famous.
           And the astrologer said to him, after great deliberation, brooding, thinking about his chart and
           meditating about his future, that in this lifetime he cannot become enlightened. Now, this much can
           be said by any fool about you, because a man who goes to an astrologer to ask about his future is
           bound to remain unenlightened! That is enough proof. And what does that foolish astrologer know
           about enlightenment? Is HE enlightened? You should have asked him, "What about you? Are you
           enlightened, and still doing astrology?"
               Because of these fools I have to appoint Kabir here! Why go to other places? Somebody right on
           the spot is available here. Kabir makes beautiful charts, very colorful! He is doing a good job. Fools
           need... what to do? And if they are going to go somewhere, it is better to finish them here.
               Only fools are interested in the future. The intelligent person is interested only in the present.
           And enlightenment is not predictable; enlightenment is absolutely unpredictable. It is such a
           mysterious phenomenon that there is no possibility of predicting it.
               But now this idea has been put into his head. Now he will feel at ease: "This time it is not going
           to happen, so why bother?" So this man will stop meditating, he may even think of dropping
           sannyas. What is the point when you are not going to become enlightened this lifetime? "So we will
           see next lifetime when the time comes, we will meditate again and become enlightened."
               But I tell you one thing: next lifetime you will go again to an astrologer -- I can predict it right
           now! And last time also you had done this! Are you really interested in becoming enlightened or
           not? Why go on finding excuses? And people can find any kind of excuse -- people are great
           rationalizers. Now you have a reason not to meditate -- because this time around it is not going to
           happen, so why waste time? But then how is it going to happen? And why should you go to an
           astrologer in the first place? Even stars are not enlightened! At least one thing is absolutely certain:
           that enlightenment is not determined by any causes, it is a sudden phenomenon. Your death may be
           predictable, your illnesses may be predictable, your foolishnesses may be predictable, but not
           enlightenment. You see? (AT THIS MOMENT THE VIDEO LIGHTS SUDDENLY COME ON...!)
           How does it happen? -- for no reason at all!

             Somebody asked Picasso, "You seem to be so much interested in art studies in the nude. Why?"
           "Well," said Picasso, "I guess it's because I was born that way."

           One can always find some reason.

              Julie: "And if I refuse you, Edward, will you kill yourself?"
           Edward: "That has been my usual custom."

               The third world is of the mysteries of the heart, BHAKTI yoga. First is hatha yoga, second is
           mantra yoga, third is bhakti yoga. Buddha says: Go on cutting across them; don't move sideways,
           otherwise you will be lost in the inner worlds. Hence Buddha is neither interested in yoga, nor in
           mantra, nor in bhakti, devotion, prayer -- nothing. His simple interest, one-pointed interest, is
           awareness.
               And I absolutely agree with him because that is the only possibility for you to get rid of all this
           nonsense that you have been living for millions of lives. And you will go on repeating it, because
           just by living through it again and again you don't become intelligent. You change a little bit, but the
           basic foolishness remains the same.

               A telegram arrived at the army camp saying that Private Smith's father had died. The sergeant
           was told by the colonel to break the news gently to Private Smith. With the colonel watching, the
           sergeant went over to the private and said, "Smith, your father died."
               The colonel called the sergeant over and said, "If it ever happens again you must be more gentle
           -- break the news easier!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Two weeks later another telegram arrived saying that Private Smith's mother had died.
              The sergeant lined up the whole platoon and said, "Anyone who has a mother take two steps
           forward.... Not so fast, Private Smith!"

                Now, just the strategy has changed, but it is the same! And that's what has been going on in your
           life, life after life. A little bit, of course, you change in the details, but the fundamental foolishness
           persists.

              WITH DISPASSIONATE EYE
              HE SEES EVERYWHERE
              THE FALLING AND THE UPRISING.


                One who has become aware, he sees everywhere only one thing: that everything is born and dies,
           everything begins and ends, that everything is a flux. Nothing is worth clinging to, nothing is worth
           holding, nothing is worth possessing, because it is bound to disappear sooner or later. Hence he
           remains nonpossessive. He moves through the world detached, calm, cool, seeing everywhere the
           falling and the uprising. He knows things come and go; he watches. When something arises he
           watches and knows perfectly well it will go. Misery comes -- he is not worried because he knows it
           will go. Happiness comes -- he is not excited because he knows it has come, it will go.
                WITH DISPASSIONATE EYE.... Awareness gives him a new kind of eye, a new vision --
           dispassionate. He simply looks with no desire; it is a totally different vision. When you look with no
           desire, the world appears totally different; when you look with desire you are confined in your desire
           and you color everything according to your desire.

           "What are you thinking about, John?"
           "The same as you, Jane."
           "Oh, if you do, I'll scream!"

              Not even a single word can you hear which is not colored by your inner processes of thought.

               A farmer persuaded one of his cowhands to buy two raffle tickets for which the draw was to be
           held that night at a dance. The next day the cowhand asked the farmer who had won the draw.
           "Oh, I won the first prize," said the farmer. "Aren't I lucky?"
           "And who won second prize, farmer?" asked the cowhand.
           "My wife won that. Wasn't she lucky?"
           "Arr, she were that. And what about third prize?"
           "Oh, my daughter won that. Wasn't she lucky? By the way, you haven't paid me for your tickets yet,
           have you?"
           "No," replied the cowman. "Aren't I lucky?"

               Everybody is looking with his own world of desires, expectations, passions, lust, greed, anger.
           There are a thousand and one things standing between you and your world; that's why you don't ever
           see it as it is.
               Once your eye is completely clean, clean of all the dust, once it becomes a pure mirror, it reflects
           that which is. And that is truth and truth liberates, but it has to be your own. My truth cannot liberate
           you, Buddha's truth cannot liberate you. There is only one possibility of liberation, that is your own
           truth. And all that you have to do is to create a dispassionate eye.

              AND WITH GREAT GLADNESS
              HE KNOWS THAT HE HAS FINISHED.
              HE HAS WOKEN FROM HIS SLEEP.


              The master is glad that he is finished with all the nonsense, with all the stupidity, with all the
           games of life. He is glad that he is finished, he is out of it, he has transcended. HE HAS WOKEN
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           FROM HIS SLEEP.

               Willie D. left Harlem to visit friends in Mobile. On his second night there he met Laura Mae, a
           beautiful lady whom he soon led out in the woods. As they prepared to make love, Willie removed
           his pants and hung them neatly on a tree.
           "You must be from the North," said Laura Mae.
           "Right on, baby," said Willie, "but how could you tell?"
           "A Southern boy don't hang up his clothes 'cause when we're finished we're gonna be three miles
           from here!"

              And these games are there... and where are your pants and where are you? Three miles away!
           Where are your senses? Where is your intelligence? You must have hung it up somewhere and you
           have completely forgotten where.

              The nurse took the gentleman standing by the bed of a woman in the maternity ward aside and
           asked, "Would you like to see the baby?"
              The gentleman nodded. "Looks just like you!" she enthused when they finally came out of the
           baby room.
              Later the nurse told the woman about her husband's delight at seeing the baby. The woman was
           horrified. "Husband? My husband is on duty in the next town and hasn't arrived yet to see the baby!
           That man was here to collect the overdue installment on my refrigerator!"

               People are asleep. What is happening to them is almost accidental. Why you have fallen in love
           with somebody is accidental. Your birth is accidental, your death is going to be accidental.
               Buddha says: The master looks at everything falling and rising, rising and falling. All are
           accidents. There is only one thing which is not accidental, which is intrinsic, and that is your
           awareness of it all. That awareness makes you awake.

              The couple evolved a perfect plan for spending their time. One night a week he goes out with the
           boys, the other six nights SHE does.

              Here is a flash from Detroit: They have come up with a fast car with equally fast brakes -- you
           can come to a standstill in just the car's length from a hundred miles per hour. It is equipped with a
           device which automatically wipes your remains from the windscreen.

              Altie and Big Bertha stood before the altar. Big Bertha weighed two hundred pounds, her groom
           a mere one hundred.
           "Does you take dis woman for your lawful wedded wife?" asked the minister.
           "Ah takes nothin'," replied Altie. "Ah's bein' took!"

           Just watch your life, what is happening.

              After a long, boring sermon, the minister asks Sandy, "Well, how did you like my sermon,
           Sandy?"
              Sandy replies, "Oh, a bit like outer space, Minister."
           "What do you mean, 'a bit like outer space'?"
           "Well," says Sandy, "plenty of it but not much in it!"

               And that's exactly what your life is: plenty of it, but nothing much in it. Just accidents and
           nothing else. You have not yet known the intrinsic. That's what Buddha calls sleep.
               The master has woken from his sleep. He has come to see that which is eternal in him. He has
           come to see his own consciousness, he has become aware of his own awareness. And that is the
           ultimate truth, the ultimate awakening.

              AND THE WAY HE HAS TAKEN
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IS HIDDEN FROM MEN,
              EVEN FROM SPIRITS AND GODS,
              BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY.


               And the way he has taken is invisible. It is not that of fasting; people can see that you are fasting,
           starving, killing your body. It is not that of torturing your body, it is not that of distorting your body
           through so-called yoga postures. The way of the buddha is so subtle; nobody can see it except you
           yourself -- unless you come across another buddha. Only another buddha can see it because it is
           simply the way of being watchful. How can anybody else see it? It has no ritual.
               Buddha's religion is tremendously beautiful -- no ritual, no so-called ordinary religious
           performances -- simply, you remain watchful. But that is something inside you, nobody else can
           even detect what you are doing. You can be driving your car, you can be sitting in your office and
           you can be doing it. It is not even deep breathing -- that others can feel, that you are doing some deep
           breathing. It is simply vipassana, it is simply watching, watching everything -- outside, inside.
               Buddha has given the purest way and the simplest and the subtlest -- but the most fundamental.
           He has given the golden key, the master key which can unlock all the mysteries of life and existence.

              IN HIM THERE IS NO YESTERDAY,
              NO TOMORROW,
              NO TODAY.


               Time has disappeared, because when you become absolute awareness there is no time left. Not
           only yesterdays disappear... they disappear first. In that order they disappear.
               IN HIM THERE IS NO YESTERDAY.... First yesterdays disappear; you become more and more
           unconcerned about the past. What is gone is gone, only fools care for it. And there are fools who are
           so worried about their past -- they even write letters to me....
               One man from Switzerland has written a letter just the other day, saying, "Seeing your picture
           and reading a few of your books I have recognized you, that we have met in our past lives. I
           recognize you absolutely. I am sending my picture -- do you recognize me? If you recognize me,
           then I will come."
               I have told Laxmi, "Inform that fellow that I don't recognize anybody from the past. The past is
           finished! You have not read my books and you have not seen me yet. And why should you be
           concerned about being recognized -- that I had seen you in the past? What purpose is it going to
           fulfill?" Some ego-fulfillment is involved: "Then I will come" -- if I recognize him, that I have seen
           him in the past.
               Now, this type of foolish person is caught by people like Muktananda. They will immediately
           say, "Yes, we have been together in the past. You have been a disciple to me in the past too and you
           were working so beautifully and you were growing so high. Just a little bit is left that can be done
           now, so get initiated into siddha yoga."
               The past exists nowhere. Many people write to me, "Give us methods so that we can remember
           our past lives." What are you going to do? Even if you remember that you were Alexander the Great
           or Cleopatra, how is that going to help in any way? It will create more complications. You are
           already in such a mess!
               That's why nature closes the door every time you die. This is great compassion, otherwise you
           will be born mad. Remembering all your past lives you will be in such a state that it will be
           impossible for you to function at all, because your mother may have been your wife in the past life
           and in another life she may have been your daughter. Now, how to behave with her? -- as your
           mother, as your wife, as your daughter? You will get very confused!
               There is no need to bother about the past. As you become aware, the first thing to disappear from
           your mind is the past, and the past is one third of the mind. It is the very base of the mind, the
           foundation. Once it disappears, then the whole building starts collapsing.
               The second to go is tomorrow. When there is no yesterday you cannot conceive of tomorrow.
           Tomorrow is nothing but a projection of yesterday. You would like to live the joys of yesterday
           again tomorrow and you would like to avoid the miseries of yesterday; that's what your tomorrow is.
           If yesterday is gone, tomorrow is finished; soon it will disappear.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And when yesterdays are gone and tomorrows are gone, where is today? It exists between the
           two. If both the banks have disappeared, the river itself will disappear. If both the banks have
           disappeared, the bridge will disappear. Chunk by chunk in three pieces, time dissolves: first the past,
           then the future, and finally the present. Then you are left with no time, a state of timelessness. And
           this, Buddha says, is nirvana.
               To experience timelessness is to experience deathlessness. To experience timelessness is to
           experience that which really is. It is neither past nor present nor future; it simply is. It cannot be
           confined to any compartment, into any category; it cannot be categorized. You simply experience
           each moment with tremendous peace and silence and joy. And each moment becomes so fragrant, so
           alive! Each moment becomes such a benediction that it is impossible to imagine it, it is impossible to
           describe it. One has to know it to know it; there is no other way. Nobody can explain it to you. It is
           not expressible, it is not explainable. It is the greatest mystery. When time disappears, mind
           disappears, what is left? That which is left, that vastness... that is your real being -- in Buddha's
           words, your nonbeing, your no-self.
               Jesus will call it the kingdom of God; that is a positive way of describing it. And Buddha calls it
           a state of cessation -- all has ceased. AND WITH GREAT GLADNESS HE KNOWS THAT HE
           HAS FINISHED. HE HAS WOKEN FROM HIS SLEEP.
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                     Chapter #8
                                           Chapter title: Born enlightened
           28 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004280
              ShortTitle: DHAM1208
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 43 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS INNOCENCE AND WHAT IS THE WAY TO BECOME INNOCENT?


               Sonja, innocence is your very nature. You do not have to become it, you are already it. You are
           born innocent. Then layers and layers of conditioning are imposed upon your innocence. Your
           innocence is like a mirror and conditioning is like layers of dust. The mirror has not to be achieved,
           the mirror is already there -- or rather, here. The mirror is not lost, it is only hidden behind the layers
           of dust.
               You don't have to follow a way to reach your nature because you cannot leave your nature, you
           cannot go anywhere else. Even if you wanted to, it is impossible. That's exactly the definition of
           nature: nature means that which cannot be left behind, that which cannot be renounced. But you can
           forget about it. You cannot lose it but it can be forgotten.
               And that's exactly what has happened. The mirror is not lost but forgotten -- forgotten because it
           is not functioning anymore as a mirror. Not that any defect has arisen in it, just layers of dust are
           covering it. All that is needed is to clean it, to remove those layers of dust.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The process of becoming innocent is not really a process of becoming, it is a process of
           discovering your being. It is a discovery, not an achievement. You don't attain to something new,
           you simply attain to that which you have always been. It is a forgotten language.
               It happens many times: you see a person on the road, you recognize him, his face seems familiar.
           Suddenly you remember also that you know his name. You say, "It is just on the tip of my tongue,"
           but still it is not coming to you. What is happening? If it is just on the tip of your tongue, then why
           can't you say it? You know that you know it, but still you are not able to remember it. And the more
           you try, the more difficult it becomes, because making an effort makes you more tense, and when
           you are tense you are farther away from your nature, you are farther away from that which is already
           there. When you are relaxed you are closer; when you are utterly relaxed, it will surface of its own
           accord.
               So you try hard, but it doesn't come, so you forget all about it. Then lying down in your bath, or
           just swimming in the pool, and you are not even trying to remember that man's name when suddenly
           it bubbles up. What has happened? You were not trying to remember, and you were relaxed. When
           you are relaxed you are wide, when you are tense you become narrow -- the more tense, the more
           narrow. The passage between you and that which is inside you becomes so narrow that nothing can
           pass through it, not even a single name.
               All the great scientific discoveries have been made in this very mysterious way -- in this very
           UNscientific way, so to speak.

               Madame Curie was working on a certain mathematical problem for three years continuously and
           the more she tried, the farther and farther away the solution seemed. She tried every possible way,
           but nothing was working, nothing was happening. And there was somewhere a deep, tacit feeling
           that "The solution exists. I am not struggling with something absurd." This tacit feeling continued all
           the time as an undercurrent; hence she could not drop the effort either. She was getting tired -- three
           years wasted for a single problem. But deep down within herself somebody was saying, "The
           solution IS possible. This exercise is not futile. Go on." And she went on stubbornly, she persisted.
           She dropped all other projects, she forced herself totally into the one problem. But the more she
           tried, the more impossible it became.
               One night it happened, almost as it happened to Gautama the Buddha; of course, the problems
           were different, but the process was the same. Buddha had struggled for six years to attain
           enlightenment and he had attained nothing. Then one night he dropped the whole effort, went to
           sleep, and, by the morning when the last star was setting, he became enlightened.
               That night Madame Curie dropped the idea, the whole project -- she closed the chapter. "Enough
           is enough! Three years wasted is too much for one problem." There were other problems which were
           waiting to be solved. It was finished in her mind, although the tacit understanding was still there just
           like a constant murmur. But she had followed it long enough, it was time. One has only a limited
           time; three years is too much for one problem. Deliberately she dropped the idea. As far as she was
           concerned she closed the whole project. She went to sleep never to be bothered by that problem
           again.
               And in the morning when she got up she was surprised. On a piece of paper on her table, the
           solution was there, written in her own handwriting. She could not believe her eyes. Who had done it?
           The servant could not have done it -- he knew nothing of mathematics, and if Madame Curie had not
           been able to do it in three years, how could the servant have done it? And there was nobody else in
           the house. And the servant had not entered in the night -- the doors were locked from inside. She
           looked closely and the handwriting resembled hers.
               Then suddenly she remembered a dream. In the dream she had seen that she had got up, gone to
           the table, written something.... Slowly slowly, the dream became clear. Slowly slowly, she
           remembered that she had done it in the night. It was not a dream, she had actually done it. And this
           was the solution! For three years she had been struggling hard and nothing was happening -- and the
           night she dropped the project, it happened. What happened? She became relaxed.

               Once you have dropped the effort you become relaxed, you become restful, you become soft, you
           become wide, you become open. It was there inside her, it surfaced. Finding the mind no longer
           tense, it surfaced.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Innocence is there, you have simply forgotten it -- you have been made to forget it. Society is
           cunning. For centuries man has learned that you can survive in this society only if you are cunning;
           the more cunning you are, the more successful you will be. That's the whole game of politics: be
           cunning, be more cunning than others. It is a constant struggle and competition as to who can be
           more cunning. Whosoever is more cunning is going to succeed, is going to be powerful.
               After centuries of cunningness man has learned one thing: that to remain innocent is dangerous,
           you will not be able to survive. Hence parents try to drive their children out of their innocence.
           Teachers, schools, colleges, universities exist for the simple work of making you more cunning,
           more clever. Although they call it intelligence it is not intelligence.
               Intelligence is not against innocence, remember. Intelligence is the flavor of innocence,
           intelligence is the fragrance of innocence. Cunningness is against innocence; and cunningness,
           cleverness are not synonymous with intelligence. But to be intelligent needs a tremendous journey
           inwards. No schools can help, no colleges, no universities can help. Parents, priests, the society, they
           are all extrovert; they cannot help you to go inwards. And buddhas are very rare, few and far
           between. Not everybody is fortunate enough to find a buddha. Only a buddha can help you to be an
           intelligent person, but you cannot find so many buddhas who want to become primary school
           teachers and high school teachers and university professors; it is impossible.
               So there is a substitute for intelligence. Cunningness is a substitute for intelligence -- a very poor
           substitute, remember. And not only is it a poor substitute, it is just the opposite of it too. The
           intelligent person is not cunning; certainly intelligent, but his intelligence keeps his innocence intact.
           He does not sell it for mundane things. The cunning person is ready to sell his soul for small things.
               Judas sold Jesus for only thirty silver coins -- just thirty silver coins. And a Jesus can be sold.
           Judas must have thought that he was being very intelligent, but he was simply cunning. If you don't
           like the word 'cunning' you can call him clever; that is just a good name for the same thing, for the
           same ugly thing.
               The society prepares you to be cunning so that you are capable of competing in this struggle for
           existence, the struggle to survive. It is a cut-throat competition, everybody is after everybody else's
           throat. People are ready to do anything to succeed, to be famous, to climb the ladder of success,
           name and fame. They are ready to use you as stepping-stones. Unless you are also cunning you will
           be simply used, manipulated. Hence the society trains every child to be cunning, and these layers of
           cunningness are hiding your innocence.
               Innocence has not to be achieved, Sonja, it is already there. Hence it is not a question of
           becoming, it is your being. It has only to be discovered -- or rediscovered. You have to drop all that
           you have learned from others, and you will immediately be innocent.
               Hence my antagonism towards all knowledge that is borrowed. Don't quote the Bible, don't quote
           the Gita. Don't behave like parrots. Don't just go on living on borrowed information. Start seeking
           and searching for your own intelligence.
               A negative process is needed; it is to be achieved through VIA NEGATIVA. That is the
           Buddha's way. You have to negate all that has been given to you. You have to say, "This is not mine;
           hence I have no claim over it. It may be true, it may not be true. Who knows? Others say it is so;
           unless it becomes my experience I cannot agree or disagree. I will not believe or disbelieve. I will
           not be a Catholic or a communist, I will not be a Hindu or a Mohammedan. I will simply not follow
           any ideology." Because, whoever you follow, you will be gathering dust around yourself. Stop
           following.
               Here, being with me, you are not my followers, remember it. Friends certainly, but not followers.
           You are in a love affair with me, but it is not a question of following. And my work here is not to
           teach you something, but to help you to discover yourself. Just drop all knowledge. It hurts because
           you have carried that knowledge for so long and you have been bragging so much about that
           knowledge -- your degrees, M.A.s and Ph.D.s and D.Litt.s, and you have been bragging about all
           those degrees. And suddenly I am saying to you: Drop all that nonsense.
               Just be as simple as a child. Just be again a child as you were born, as God sent you into this
           world. In that mirrorlike state you will be able to reflect that which is. Innocence is the door to
           knowing. Knowledge is the barrier and innocence is the bridge.

           The second question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN I ALSO BECOME A GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA?


               Govind, yes and no. Yes because buddhahood is nobody's personal possession. Gautama does not
           have it as a personal attribute; he is not the owner of it and he is not the only buddha. There have
           been many buddhas before him, there have been many buddhas after him. The word 'buddha' simply
           means the awakened one.
               You are asleep. Naturally, if you can be asleep you can wake up. One who is capable of sleep is
           also capable of waking up; the very phenomenon of sleep implies the capacity to wake up. If you are
           incapable of waking up you will be incapable of sleeping too; they are two sides of the same coin.
               So, Govind, if you can sleep, if you can dream, you can wake up, you can be a buddha. Hence I
           say yes -- but you cannot be a GAUTAMA the Buddha; Gautama you cannot be. You can be Govind
           the Buddha, but not Gautama the Buddha; that is not possible. Nature never repeats. They say history
           repeats -- and it certainly repeats because history consists of stupid human beings. What else can
           they do? They can only repeat. But nature never repeats; it never creates the same person again, the
           same form again. Nature is immensely innovative.
               That's the meaning when we say God is a creator. A creator is never repetitive, he never creates
           the same painting again and again. He goes on creating something new, he is always on a new
           venture.
               Govind, God has never created another person like you and will never create another person like
           you. He loves individuality, he loves uniqueness. That's his way of showing respect to you,
           tremendous respect. And it is not only so with human beings: go into the garden, watch the leaves
           minutely -- you will not find even two leaves exactly the same. Not on the whole of the earth will
           you find two leaves exactly the same, or two pebbles exactly the same on all the seashores.
               Everything is unique, everything has its own signature. Just as your thumb is unique and its print
           is unique -- there is nobody else who has the same print -- what to say about your soul? Even about
           such small details God is so careful -- or you can say "nature," if "God" has lost its appeal for you. If
           the word 'God' has lost its appeal for you, 'nature' is as beautiful, or 'existence', or whatsoever you
           want. Buddha likes the word 'dhamma' -- the universal law. Lao Tzu loves the word 'tao' -- the
           harmony of existence, the inner order.
               The universe is not a chaos, that much is certain. Whether there is a God or not is irrelevant, the
           universe is not a chaos. That's why we call it a universe. It has a certain unity, hence "universe,"
           otherwise we would have called it a "multiverse." It is not a chaos, there is an order running inside it,
           a thread which joins everything together. Even the smallest grass blade is joined to the biggest star.
           Nothing is separate, and yet everything is unique and individual. This is the tremendous beauty of
           existence: it loves and respects the individual, it nourishes the individual.
               Hence, Govind, you cannot be Gautama the Buddha, but there is no need to be Gautama the
           Buddha. That will be ugly, that will be imitative. Never try to imitate because then you will always
           be only a carbon copy and never something original. And unless you are something original you are
           not using your life's opportunity to its maximum, you are wasting it.
               Don't be a Christian -- be a christ. And don't be a Buddhist -- be a buddha. The Christian is trying
           to be like Jesus Christ, the Buddhist is trying to be like Gautam Buddha, and this is not possible.
           What is possible is that you will become an imitator, an actor. And you can act beautifully. You can
           walk like Buddha, you can talk like Buddha, you can sit like Buddha. You can use the same words,
           the same language, the same gestures, but still deep down you will be Govind, not Gautam. And you
           will know it! That all that you are doing is just on the outside. And it is ugly because it will create a
           kind of hypocrisy in you.
               Hence all Christians are hypocrites and all Buddhists are hypocrites. All followers are bound to
           be hypocrites because they are divided persons, split persons. And whatsoever they show is only on
           the surface, and whatsoever they really are is hidden behind. And there is a constant conflict between
           these two, they live two kinds of lives. Avoid this.
               I know this desire arises. This desire seems to be very prevalent.

              Jesus and Moses were playing golf. When they came to a two-hundred-yard water hazard. Jesus
           took out a five iron club. Moses warned him that two hundred yards were too far for a five-iron, but
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Jesus insisted, "If Arnold Palmer can make it with a five-iron, so can I!"
                He hit the ball and it landed in the middle of the lake.
           "Will you get the ball for me, Moses?" asked Jesus.
           "Just this once," he replied, walked over, raised his club, and parted the water. Then he walked out
           and brought the ball back to Jesus.
                Again Jesus took a five-iron and again Moses warned, "If you don't make it, I'm not going to get
           it for you!"
                Jesus reassured him, "If Arnold Palmer can do it, surely I can do it!"
                Again he swung the five-iron and again the ball fell in the water. This time Jesus walked out on
           the water, reached down, and was picking up the ball when the next foursome came up to the tee
           where Moses was standing. The leader of the group asked Moses, "Who does he think he is, Jesus
           Christ?"
           "No," replied Moses, "he thinks he is Arnold Palmer!"

               Govind, you just be Govind the Buddha. There is no need for you to be Gautama the Buddha.
           Gautama was beautiful, but once it is beautiful -- twice it is too much. And what is the point? What
           will your contribution to existence be if you are Gautama the Buddha? No contribution. Gautama has
           done it, he has done what a Gautama can do. You cannot improve upon it.
               You do something that YOU can do and no Gautama can ever do. God has great hopes for you:
           he hopes you will contribute something to existence. He never loses hope, that's why he goes on
           creating people. Although people go on deceiving, people go on misusing the opportunity, people go
           on wasting time, but still God goes on hoping. With each child a new hope is born in the world. You
           have to contribute something that only you can do and nobody else can do, hence YOU have to do it.
           Forget this whole idea of being Gautama the Buddha -- just be yourself.
               And that's exactly what Buddha has taught, that's exactly his essential message. His last words to
           his disciples were: APPA DEEPO BHAVA -- be a light unto yourself.
               When he was dying, naturally thousands of disciples had gathered and they started crying and
           weeping. The master was leaving, it was natural, and the master had lived with them for forty-two
           years and they had loved the man, they had loved his vibe. He was one of the most beautiful men
           who has ever walked on the earth. Not only was he spiritually beautiful, physically he was also one
           of the most beautiful men. About Jesus that cannot be said. He was spiritually beautiful, but the
           ancient scriptures say that physically he was not beautiful. He was only four feet five inches and,
           moreover, a hunchback. Buddha was one of the most beautiful expressions physically too, really a
           lotus flower. And they had all loved him. They had renounced everything and risked everything for
           this man and now he was leaving. They started crying. One can understand their crying and their
           weeping and their tears.
               But Buddha said, "Stop! Stop all this nonsense! Why are you crying? What difference is it going
           to make? I was not your light, you have to be your own light. And," Buddha said to them, "it may be
           a blessing in the form of a curse, because when I am gone you will try to find yourselves. While I
           was here you were more interested in me; although I was insisting: Go in! you were focused on me.
           Now I will not be here, you are bound to go inside."
               And that's exactly what happened: many people became enlightened after Buddha died. When
           they were asked, "Why did so many people become enlightened when Buddha died?" they all said,
           "Now we understand what he meant, that in the form of a curse it is a blessing -- because once you
           have seen a buddha and he is gone there is nothing worth seeing outside. So we closed our eyes.
           "We have seen all that was the most worth seeing: we have seen the most beautiful person. What else
           is there? There is nothing worth hearing, worth seeing. We closed our eyes, we turned inwards and
           because Buddha was not there anymore we heard his words for the first time. When he was here we
           were able to postpone, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We were so much enchanted by his
           personality, by his charisma. Once he was gone we had to fall back upon our own selves. Maybe that
           was his last device."
           Govind, be Govind the Buddha!

           The third question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE THERE GREAT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT RACES OF MANKIND?


                Meera, essentially there are no differences at all. Essentially there cannot be any differences. The
           whole of mankind is one species of being. But different races have evolved different qualities. They
           have lived in different climates, they have encountered different situations, they have passed through
           different histories; naturally they have learned to behave in different ways.
                For example, the Jews had to experience a totally different history from anybody else. They have
           lived for centuries without a country, they have wandered all over the world, they have lived without
           security, without a home; naturally that has made them very money-minded. When you don't have a
           home, when you don't have a country, then all your security becomes focused on money; then it is
           only money that can save you. And when you become focused on money, naturally you become
           more clever than others in earning it. Your whole being turns into a money-making machine. That's
           what a Jew is -- a money-making machine. Nobody can defeat him in that because they have lived a
           totally different past.
                When you are living in your home surrounded by the same kind of people, the same race,
           protected by the country, by the society, you need not worry too much about money. Even without
           money you are not going to die, people will support you, you can depend on that. But the Jews had
           no way to depend on anything else; hence money became their country, money became their
           religion, money became their home, money became their security. That was bound to happen.
                In a country like India where for thousands of years everybody has been told to seek and search
           for his salvation.... And, of course, you can seek and search only for YOUR salvation; you cannot
           seek and search for somebody else's salvation, that is not possible. The inward journey has to be
           done in absolute aloneness. But the by-product of it has been that Indians have become very selfish.
           It was bound to happen. It is an ugly phenomenon, but too much insistence on going inwards,
           extreme insistence on going inwards, has made people very selfish, because there is nobody who is
           yours. That has been the teaching of all the mahatmas: "You are alone. You are born alone, you have
           to live alone, you have to die alone. Nobody is going with you. All relationships are just superficial,
           so don't be bothered much by them and don't invest much in them." That has made India more selfish
           than any other country.
                This is one of the most selfish countries in the world. It is because of this selfishness that India
           has remained in bondage for thousands of years -- because everybody thinks only of himself. So if an
           enemy comes and conquers the country, who bothers about the country? The country does not really
           exist; there is no idea of nation in India. Individuals are there, but there is no nation. Hence all kinds
           of quarrels and small divisions and subdivisions... you will not find the same thing happening
           anywhere else in the world. Every political party goes on splitting into many many small fragments.
           Then those small fragments start splitting into smaller ones, and the process seems to be unending --
           unless you are your own party! You are the member and you are the president and you are the
           secretary. When only you are left alone, only then will the process stop. And who knows whether
           there too the process will stop or not? -- because the habit of splitting everything has gone so deep
           that you may start saying, "Legs are not part of my party, the lower part of my body is not in my
           party, only the higher. The higher part is superior and the lower is inferior. The higher part means the
           brahmins, and the lower means the SUDRAS, the untouchables."
                Every race has passed through different phases, different climates. This is a hot country. A hot
           country makes people lazy, so you cannot compete with Indians as far as laziness is concerned. They
           are utterly lazy and lousy! You cannot compete with them, it is impossible; they will surpass
           everyone in that. No country can have any superiority as far as laziness and lousiness is concerned.
           Indians are the tops!
                Because it is a hot country and the climate is not provoking people to work more, people have
           remained poor. If one person in the whole family earns then it is enough. If just enough is available
           to survive, Indians are satisfied, more than satisfied. Of course, they find rationalizations for it, they
           find great spiritual rationalizations for it -- "We are very contented people." That is all nonsense. The
           reality is that they are simply lazy and the climate is hot and they don't want to work -- so they have
           to create a philosophy to support themselves: "We are not much concerned about mundane things,
           we only think of spiritual things."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               India condemns everybody as materialist -- and those materialists have always been coming and
           conquering these great spiritualists! And all their spiritual power has not been of any use. All their
           Sai Babas, etcetera, have not been of any help. All they can do is, they can produce ash, holy ash,
           through their spiritual powers, nothing else. Just ordinary magic tricks, any stupid person can do it --
           nothing to do with spirituality.
               This country has not been able to create science, technology, because, the Indians will say, "We
           are so spiritual we don't bother about creating material wealth." But they all hanker for it, deep down
           they all are longing for it. Their hearts are full of desires, but because of their old habit of laziness
           they can't do anything.
               The cold countries became world powers for the simple reason that in a cold country if you want
           to be alive you have to work. In fact, when the climate is cold it provokes you, challenges you to
           work; otherwise you will become cold, you will die. You have to work hard, only then can you feel
           hot and alive. Cold countries became world powers; no hot country has ever been a world power,
           cannot be. Cold countries easily defeated big, hot countries.
               England is a small country, not bigger than a small state of India, a small province, but it
           dominated India -- easily, very easily, with no problem. It was so simple to dominate. Cold countries
           become adventurous; Indians have never been adventurous. They will not leave their villages. There
           are thousands of people in India who have never gone beyond the boundary of their village, and they
           will never go. But the cold countries started traveling around the world. Now the world is finished;
           they are trying to reach the stars -- they have reached the moon.
               Everest is Indian, the mountain is Indian, but no Indian has ever tried to climb it. "For what?"
           Indians will say. "For what? What is there? It is so futile!" But for a hundred years Western
           mountain-climbers have been coming and risking their lives; many have died knowing that it is
           risky. The more risky it was, the more it was a challenge.
               When Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the top of Everest, was asked, "Why?" -- of course
           by an Indian! -- "Why did you try in the first place?" do you know his answer? He said, "Simply
           because it is there! It is a challenge. For no other reason. We cannot tolerate this mountain unless we
           conquer it -- it is a humiliation! The mountain stands there so high and goes on telling us that nobody
           has been able yet to climb up to the top. It is a constant challenge!" But no Indian is challenged by it.
               Every country, every race has lived in a different way for centuries: climate, situations, history,
           accidents, ideologies also have made much difference.
               For example, Jews would not have been in such trouble if they had not carried this idea that they
           are the chosen race of God. The very idea has been the cause of all their trouble. If you think you are
           the chosen people of God, then of course you will be in trouble, because others will start fighting
           with you and proving that you are not the chosen people. "We are the chosen people. Who says you
           are the chosen people?" The very idea has been torturing them.
               But this is something to understand: people love their misery. People are sadomasochists, they
           always love suffering. So any idea that gives you suffering, you cling to it. Jews have suffered so
           much, but they don't drop their idea. In fact, the very suffering and the antagonism of the whole
           world proves that they must be the chosen people of God; otherwise why is everybody against them?
               So there are great differences on the surface -- and the surface is all that comes in contact with
           others. Intrinsically no two human beings are different; in their innermost core all human beings are
           just human beings.
               So, Meera, we have to understand both things. Essentially, all human beings are one, but
           accidentally they are not one. And it is not bad that they are not one. Variety is beautiful, it enriches
           the world, it makes the world more beautiful. It will be an ugly world where only Hindus live, where
           only Jews live, or where only Negroes live. It will lose all charm, it will lose all beauty.
               It is such a beautiful mess.... Italians and Polacks and the Germans and the French, and they all
           have their own ways, their own understandings, and they have all developed different styles.
               So although everybody, every human being belongs to one species, still we have been able to
           create a variety -- different flowerings on the same bush. It makes the world really rich. I would not
           like to destroy these differences, I would like to enhance them -- still with this understanding that
           human beings are human beings. Nobody is higher and nobody is lower; we should drop the idea of
           hierarchy, but variety is good.
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Do you know how to recognize an Italian in a submarine? He is the only one carrying a
           parachute!
              And how do you recognize the Polack? He is the one running after the Italian to steal his
           parachute!

              A colored maid and her white employer became pregnant at the same time and gave birth on the
           same day. A few months later the white woman came running into the kitchen and exclaimed to the
           maid, "My baby said his first word today!"
              In the crib the colored baby sat up and said, "He did? What did he say?"

           An American couple was touring Europe.
               As the bus pulled up at yet another famous cathedral in yet another famous town, the wife turned
           to the husband and said, "You do the inside of the cathedral, dear, and I will do the outside."

               An airplane full of tourists is flying from New York to Texas when one of the engines stops
           working.
               The captain speaks to the passengers: "Ladies and gentlemen, in order to stay alive we have to
           throw all the luggage overboard. Then we will have less weight and we will safely reach our
           destination."
               So they do. But a few hours later the second engine stops working and again the captain speaks
           to the passengers: "Ladies and gentlemen, in order to safely reach our destination we need three
           persons to jump off the plane."
               An Englishman stands up. "Sorry," he says, "I beg your pardon... but of course...." He turns
           around to the rest of the passengers, grabs his umbrella and jumps out of the plane shouting, "God
           save the Queen!"
               A Frenchman gets up with tears in his eyes. "Vive la France!" he cries and jumps out.
               A man from India wearing pure white khadi clothes, looking more like Morarji Desai than
           Morarji Desai himself, walks through the plane, grabs one old woman by the throat, throws her out
           of the plane and shouts, "Long live Mahatma Gandhi!"

               Once a British lady was approached by a German man. As he was quite taken by her beauty, he
           marched over to her and shouted, "I love you!"
               She said, "If you really love me, jump off the cliff!"
               Before he could think he kissed her hand and jumped.
               A short time later the British lady was approached by an Italian. He swaggered up to her and
           passionately whispered in her ear, "Amore mio!"
               She responded by whispering in his ear, "If you really love me, jump off the cliff."
               Coming up for air between kisses he answered, "If you really love me, you must jump with me!"
               Impressed with his wit, she conceded to make love with him.
               Still a short while later the British lady was approached by a British man. He made her
           acquaintance and invited her for tea. After several hours of polite conversation, he said, with some
           reserve, "I love you."
               She answered, "If you really love me, jump off the cliff."
           To which he gallantly replied, "Ladies first!"

           The fourth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE REALLY NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ORDINARY PERSON AND ONE WHO IS
              ENLIGHTENED?


              Narendra, everyone is born enlightened. Everyone is born absolutely innocent, absolutely pure,
           absolutely empty. But that innocence, that purity, that emptiness, is bound to be lost because it is
           unconscious. One has to regain it -- one has to gain it consciously. That is the only difference
           between an ordinary person and the enlightened one.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The ordinary person came with the same potential, has got the same potential still, but he has not
           claimed it yet. The enlightened one has lost it and claimed it back. The ordinary person is in a state
           of paradise lost and the enlightened person is in the state of paradise regained. But you can gain it
           any moment, it is up to you. Nobody can prevent you from becoming enlightened.
                It is not a question of any particular talent. Not everybody is a musician and not everybody can
           be a musician; that is a question of talent. Only a few are musicians and real musicians are born
           musicians. You can learn the technique; if you go on and on practicing music, sooner or later you
           will be able to play, but you will still not be a musician. You will only be a technician -- one who
           knows how to play but one who has no inspiration, one who is not really in tune with the music of
           existence. Music is not flowing through you naturally, spontaneously.
                Not everybody can be a poet and not everybody can be a scientist or mathematician; these are
           talents. But enlightenment is not a question of talents. Everybody is enlightened; to be alive is
           enough. Life itself is the only need, the only requirement. If you are not dead you can still become
           enlightened. If you are dead, then of course wait for the next round, but nobody is so dead. People
           are ninety-nine percent dead, but even if you are one percent alive that is enough. That much fire is
           enough; it can be kindled, it can be helped. It can be used to create, to trigger more fire in you.
                The difference between the enlightened one and the ordinary person is not one of talent. This is
           the first thing to be remembered, because many people think that it is a question of talent. "A Jesus is
           talented, a Buddha is talented; we are not so talented. How can WE become enlightened?" No, it is
           not a question of talent at all. You cannot become a Michelangelo and you cannot become a
           Shakespeare unless you are born one, but you can become a christ, a buddha.
                Everybody is entitled to it, it is everybody's birthright, but you will have to reclaim it. And the
           effort has to be made consciously. You have lost it simply because you were unconscious. And if
           you remain unconscious, then the difference will remain. The difference is only of unconsciousness.
                Buddha is as ordinary as you are, but he is full of awareness in his ordinariness. Because of
           awareness his ordinariness becomes luminous. He lives the same ordinary life, remember it. That is
           another illusion that people are carrying within themselves: that a Buddha has to be extraordinary,
           that a Jesus has to walk on water. You cannot walk on water, so how can you be a Jesus? A buddha
           has to be special, from the very beginning.
                The stories say that before Buddha was born his mother had a few dreams. Those dreams are
           absolutely necessary. If the mother has not had those dreams before the birth, then the person cannot
           be a buddha. Now this is sheer stupidity! Joining Buddha with the dreams of his mother is sheer
           nonsense, there cannot be a more stupid idea.
                And what kind of dreams? Jainas have different dreams. Before Mahavira is born, the mother has
           a few dreams. She sees one white elephant -- that is a must. Every TIRTHANKARA, every prophet
           of the Jainas, before he is born has to be preceded by a dream of the mother of a white elephant -- as
           if the son is going to be a white elephant!
                Buddha's mother has to see a few dreams, a series of dreams.... These are just stories, fictitious,
           created by the followers afterwards. The story is that the mother of a buddha has to die immediately
           when he is born, she cannot live. How can she live after such a great phenomenon? It is so vast and
           so big, the experience is such that it is bigger than death, she simply disappears. But Mahavira's
           mother lives, Jesus' mother lives; they didn't have that idea there. But they have other ideas: that
           when Jesus is born he has to be born to a virgin mother.
                Now people can go to absurdities, to the very extremes of absurdities, just to make one thing
           settled in your minds: that Jesus IS special while you are ordinary. Now where will you find a virgin
           mother?... and you have already missed. Next time maybe you try again to find a virgin mother --
           and unless you conspire with the Holy Ghost, it is impossible. How will you manage? And then three
           wise men have to come and a star has to lead them. Now stars don't do that at all, no star can do it.
           Stars go on their routes; they cannot lead the wise men from the East to the exact place where Jesus
           is born in a stable, in a poor man's house. Stars can't do that -- that is impossible.
                These fictitious stories have been invented just to give the idea that you are ordinary and these
           people are special.
                My whole effort here is to proclaim to you that if they are special you are special, if you are
           ordinary they are ordinary. One thing is certain: you don't belong to different categories, you belong
           to the same category.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The miracle is not walking on water, the miracle is not walking in fire; the miracle is waking up.
           That is the real miracle. All else is nonsense.
                Wake up... and you are a buddha! Wake up and you are enlightened! And when you wake up it is
           not that you will become totally different from your ordinary self; you will be the same person but
           luminous. You will eat in the same way, but it will not be the same, there will be an intrinsic
           difference. You will live in the old way, yet it will not be the old because YOU will be new. You
           will bring a new touch to everything and whatsoever you touch will start turning into gold, will start
           turning into something meaningful. Before it was meaningless, now it will have significance and
           meaning. And it is time that you wake up!
                The master cannot force you to wake up; the master can only create a situation in which a
           process can be triggered in you. And ANY situation can be helpful.
                Lao Tzu became enlightened just by seeing a leaf, a dry leaf falling from a tree. As the leaf
           started falling towards the earth, he became enlightened. Now what happened? Seeing the dead leaf
           falling on the wings of the wind, with no idea of its own, utterly relaxed, utterly surrendered to the
           winds, he had a glimpse. He must have been in a very vulnerable state. And from that very moment
           he became a dead leaf in the winds. He surrendered his ego, he surrendered his clinging, he
           surrendered his own ideas of what should be and should not be. He surrendered all his mind, he
           simply became a let-go. And that's how he became enlightened.
                Anything can trigger the process. The master only creates a thousand and one situations. Who
           knows what situation is going to trigger the process?
                Here you are going through hundreds of groups, doing all kinds of meditations, because nobody
           can predict in what moment, in what situation, what is going to trigger the process. It has always
           happened in such a mysterious way, it is not a scientific phenomenon. It is not a question of cause
           and effect, otherwise things would have been easier. You heat the water to a hundred degrees and it
           becomes vapor -- but it is not like that. A few people evaporate at zero degrees, a few people
           evaporate at a hundred degrees, a few people evaporate at one thousand degrees. People are not
           matter; people are consciousness, people are freedom, so nobody knows what will trigger the
           process. Not even the master can say that this is going to trigger the process. He can arrange all kinds
           of devices and he can wait patiently, lovingly, compassionately, prayerfully, and you have to move
           through all kinds of devices.
                I am talking to you. Any word may trigger it... or maybe just a pause may trigger it... and
           suddenly the sleep is gone, the dreams have disappeared. You are born, spiritually born, twice-born.
           You have again become a child. That's what buddhahood is, that's what enlightenment is.
                Narendra, you ask me, "Is there really no difference between an ordinary person and one who is
           enlightened?"
                There is no difference in this sense: that both belong to the same world of consciousness. One is
           asleep, one is awake; hence the difference. But the difference is only peripheral, not central, not
           intrinsic, but accidental.
                Respect the buddhas and that will teach you to respect yourself. Respect the buddhas, but don't
           condemn yourself. Love yourself because you are also carrying a buddha within you. You are also
           carrying a bud which is going to become a buddha. Any moment, any day... it can be now, it can be
           here....

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              A GERMAN NEWSPAPER CALLED YOU THE MOST FAMOUS RELIGIOUS LEADER AFTER POPE
              PAUL AND KHOMEINI. HOW DO YOU FEEL IN THAT COMPANY?


               Veet Vivarto, I would rather be in hell than be in that stupid company -- Pope Paul the Polack
           and Khomeini the Khomeiniac! I have not done anything so sinful in my life to suffer that company.
           I have no karmas to be punished -- that will be a punishment.

           I have heard:
               One mahatma, a great saint, died -- must have been someone like Muktananda. One of his
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           followers died the next day. When the follower reached heaven, the first thing that he was interested
           in was, "Where is our guru, our Muktananda? He must be enjoying -- he must have been given all
           the joys that only heaven can provide."
                And then suddenly he saw Muktananda underneath a beautiful tree... with whom, do you know?
           -- with Sophia Loren! Sophia Loren sitting in his lap, both naked, hugging each other! The follower
           fell at the feet of Muktananda. He said, "Guru Deva, O Great Master, I always knew that you were
           the greatest master; now I am seeing with my own eyes. God is so pleased with you, he has given
           you Sophia Loren as a reward!"
                Muktananda looked very angrily at the man and said, "You fool, stop talking nonsense! You
           don't understand a thing. She is not my reward, I am her punishment!"

               I have not committed any sin so I don't think that I belong to that company. I belong to very
           ordinary people -- drunkards, gamblers, not to such stupid people, full of holy cow dung!
               But that journalist must think he is praising me. That's what goes on in the world: people are so
           unconscious that they don't know what praise is and what condemnation is. This is condemnation,
           not praise!
               Khomeini is not religious at all. Khomeini is the most irreligious person present today. And do
           you think Pope Paul is religious? If he is religious he cannot even be Catholic, what to say about
           being Pope Paul? He cannot be a pope. A religious person cannot be a Catholic or a Christian or a
           Hindu or a Mohammedan. These are just politicians playing the same game of power politics in the
           name of religion.
               I have seen the article. The article is one of the most positive articles written about me, except for
           this small condemnation. So the journalist is not really trying to condemn me; in his vision, in his
           idea, he is praising me as the third most important religious leader.
               I am not religious in the ordinary sense of the word, and I am not a leader at all. I don't like
           leading anybody. Certainly I am a finger pointing at the moon, but I am not a leader. You have to do
           all your walking, I am not coming along with you. I am not going to be ahead of you leading you.
           You are not to follow me, you have to be your own self. I can simply share my experience.
               If that experience touches something in you, if that experience makes you aware that life is not
           what you think it is, that it is far more, that's enough. If I can create a thirst in you, that's enough -- a
           thirst for God. I am not a leader. If I can create enough thirst in you, then you will seek and search.
           And those who seek find, and those who search are bound to find, are absolutely, inevitably bound to
           find. All that is needed is an authentic thirst, a thirst in the very heart, in the very center of your
           being.
               But these people are fast asleep. This journalist has never been here, he does not understand
           anything that I am saying. Otherwise he would not have compared me with Khomeini and Pope Paul.

               The Prince of Wales was vacationing in Paris. After a sumptuous dinner and many drinks he
           asked the hotel manager for a beautiful young lady to keep him company during the night. The
           manager showed him to his room and sent him a young lady.
               Although the prince was quite drunk he tried to make love with the lovely woman. Each time he
           tried, however, she would cry out, "MATOUSKA! MATOUSKA!" After several attempts he fell
           asleep exhausted.
               The next morning the prince went for a stroll to a nearby village where he noticed some boys
           shooting marbles into holes in the ground. Suddenly one of the boys shouted, "Matouska!
           Matouska!"
               The prince, surprised to hear this word used again, was curious and asked what it meant.
           One boy answered, "Matouska means the wrong hole."

                What more can you expect from a man who is fast asleep and drunk? But he was doing his best --
           at least he was trying to make love.... Missing the target, that is another thing.

           The sixth question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHAT IS A FATHER?


               Anand Sugeet, a father is a Catholic priest -- who is neither a husband nor a father; but Catholics
           are well known to do such strange things. Why they call their priests "father" is really strange. Pope
           also means "father"; it is another form of "papa."

               Father Francesco and Father Viggiani were sitting in a grotto chatting.
           "Do you think the pope will ever allow priests to marry?" asked Father Francesco.
           "It won't happen in our time," replied Father Viggiani. "Maybe in our children's."

           The seventh question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN I ALSO BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA?


                My God, Tom! I believe you must be the same Tom -- Tom the Tourist! Now great things are
           happening to you! Reading your question for the first time I understood the meaning of the word
           'tomfoolery'. I had always wondered, why this word 'tomfoolery'? Now I know.
                Yes, you can be the president, only I think President Tom won't look right. Change your name to
           Banana, Tomato, Potato. Mr. Potato the President -- what pure poetry! And I think you have the
           required qualifications for it. The first thing is, you have to be stupid.
                You have seen what Jimmy Carter did just two days ago? When Vivek told Asheesh, Asheesh
           thought it was a joke... because our orange people don't read newspapers. Who cares about all this
           nonsense? But what he has done is so stupid one cannot believe it. They must have sent their best
           people for this rescue mission, and what happened is really just great, far out! The two American
           planes crashed into each other and eight persons died and the rescue mission was canceled. Now the
           whole world is laughing!
                But this is bound to happen when you make a peanut grower a president -- this is bound to
           happen. What else can he do? His whole life he was growing peanuts, now he has grown up and
           become a nut himself!
                So the first requirement is: you have to be stupid. If you are not, at least pretend to be. That's
           what Nixon was trying to do; he was not that stupid, but he pretended long enough. But finally the
           Americans found out that he was not that stupid; they threw him out immediately. So don't be caught
           -- continue doing something stupid. If you are caught, the same fate awaits you. Be like Ford, just
           pure stupidity, unadulterated!
                The second requirement... that I have been trying to find for you. I have been doing great
           research since your question! The second requirement is: you need an ugly wife. This is something
           strange. Nixon, Ford, Carter, they have such ugly ducklings. It is strange, it cannot be coincidental.
           Only Kennedy had a beautiful wife, and they killed him, remember. So avoid!
                Now Reagan has every chance, because just the other day, I was looking at his wife's
           photograph. I said, "This man seems to have every possibility. Now he can defeat anyone -- as far as
           his wife is concerned he can defeat Nixon, Ford, Carter, all." And they are sitting together on a sofa
           and the caption reads, "Reagan is being charged by his wife." I was simply wondering... this woman
           can DIScharge anybody! If you have such a wife you will renounce the world immediately! And
           Reagan is being charged by his wife....
                So these two things I have found -- stupidity and an ugly wife. And change your name: become
           Reverend Banana, Reverend Tomato, Reverend Potato -- anything will do. Tom does not look good,
           it is too ordinary; you need a special name, and then you can become the president. And you have
           toured enough now -- go back home. This is the time! Carter is losing ground every day, don't miss
           this opportunity. Get married to an ugly woman, pretend to be stupid. Learn to laugh for no reason,
           no rhyme. Just exercise your lips, keep them open as much as possible. And I think you have every
           possibility, as any other American has. Don't waste your time here anymore, because you don't
           belong here. This is not the place. We don't prepare people to become presidents and prime
           ministers.
10/28/07                                           Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The last question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              BUDDHA SAYS, "THE MASTER GIVES UP MISCHIEF." BUT AS I KNOW YOU, YOU ARE PAR
              EXCELLENCE MASTER OF MISCHIEF! HAVE YOU SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT?


              Dharma Bodhi, do you think I need to say something about it? But Buddha had no knowledge
           about me. When he said that, I was not included in it. When I make sutras, then you will see!
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                    Chapter #9
                                Chapter title: Possessing nothing, wanting nothing
           29 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 8004290
              ShortTitle: DHAM1209
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              POSSESSING NOTHING,
              WANTING NOTHING.



              HE IS FULL OF POWER.
              FEARLESS, WISE, EXALTED.
              HE HAS VANQUISHED ALL THINGS.
              HE SEES BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY.



              HE HAS COME TO THE END OF THE WAY,
              OVER THE RIVER OF HIS MANY LIVES,
              HIS MANY DEATHS.



              BEYOND THE SORROW OF HELL,
              BEYOND THE GREAT JOY OF HEAVEN,
              BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY.



              HE HAS COME TO THE END OF THE WAY.



              ALL THAT HE HAD TO DO, HE HAS DONE.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               AND NOW HE IS ONE.

               These are the last golden sutras of THE DHAMMAPADA:



               POSSESSING NOTHING,
               WANTING NOTHING.



               HE IS FULL OF POWER.


                Why does man want to possess? It is one of the most fundamental things to be understood.
           Unless you understand why there is a constant hankering to possess more and more things, money,
           power, you will not be able to get rid of this insanity of possessiveness. Man wants to possess
           because he has not known who he is; he is unaware of his inner kingdom. He thinks he is a beggar,
           hence he begs.
                Desires are beggars. The more you desire, the more you prove that you are unaware of your own
           treasures. That very unawareness leads you into the desert of possessiveness. It is a desert because
           you will not attain to anything. You may possess the whole world, still you will remain the same
           hollow person, empty, your life meaningless, your vision clouded, your heart dead, your soul unborn.
                Man wants to possess because he feels tacitly that something is missing. What exactly is missing
           he is not able to decipher, but something is missing -- that much is felt by everybody -- so rush and
           fill the gap. Naturally we start imitating others.
                Children are imitators; the only way they learn things is by imitating their parents and the people
           who surround them. They are all running after money, after power, prestige, respectability. Naturally
           the child thinks these are the things that have to be attained, achieved. "Whatsoever the cost, I have
           to risk all. And life is short; hence I have to focus my energies in a concentrated way. I have to move
           in one particular direction with my totality. I have to be money-mad if I really want to possess
           money, because I am not the only one who is running after it; millions of people are running after it.
           It is going to be a great struggle and only those who are cunning, clever, crafty, are going to win the
           race." So be cunning, be crafty, but anyhow you have to win the race. You have to prove yourself,
           that you are somebody, that your life was not in vain.
                The child learns all this in a very unconscious way from the atmosphere into which he is born.
           And whatsoever the society is, the game is the same. Somewhere it is money that is more important.
           If you are born in America, money is more important; that brings power. If you are born in Soviet
           Russia, then money is not so important; then political power is real money, real gold. You have to be
           high in the hierarchy of the Communist Party, but the game is the same. If you are born in a so-called
           religious country like India, then you have to become a great saint, you have to defeat all the other
           saints. It is the same game now played in the name of religion. You have to be the greatest ascetic,
           the most famous; you have to leave everybody far behind.
                Look deep down: it is one single game being played in so-called religious countries, in capitalist
           countries and in communist countries. Whatsoever the format, the structure, the game is the same.
           The game is the game of the ego.
                And we are tremendously interested in fulfilling our ego, but it cannot be fulfilled. It is
           impossible to fulfill it -- because in the first place the ego is a nonentity. It is not real, it is fictitious.
           If you have real hunger there is a way to satisfy it, but if your hunger is unreal there is no way to
           satisfy it. If you have a real disease it can be cured, but if you are a hypochondriac and you invent
           diseases which exist nowhere, nobody can cure you. It is impossible to cure you -- there is nothing to
           cure. And if somehow you are convinced that one disease has been cured, you have the same old
           mind and it will invent another disease. It will go on inventing.
                Ego is your invention. The hunger of the ego is your invention. You have to keep yourself
           occupied because you feel in a state of embarrassment. You are not even aware of who you are --
           how can you be at ease? You feel a deep unease, it is always there. To hide it you keep yourself
           occupied with money, with power, with religion, with politics. These are all escapes. You can find
           any escape -- there are many alternatives available -- but you keep yourself occupied so that there is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no need to become so conscious of your inner trembling.
                Whenever you have time, whenever you are unoccupied, suddenly the inner hollowness starts
           opening up and you become afraid. It is like an abyss, you are afraid you may slip into it. Hang onto
           something, invent something if there is nothing else to hang on to.
                That's why people are even ready to cling to their misery; nobody is ready to drop his misery
           easily. That's my experience of working with thousands of people. All their problems can be reduced
           to one problem, that they cling to their misery. It is very difficult for them to drop their miseries
           because their miseries keep them occupied. Their miseries help them to avoid themselves and their
           inner hollowness, emptiness, meaninglessness. Their miseries are nothing but a way to escape. Of
           course those miseries are hurting; hence they talk about how to get rid of them, but they cannot drop
           them because dropping them means they will be left empty.
                So they are in a double bind: they don't want to be miserable and yet they cannot drop their
           miseries. Miseries are not clinging to you, remember -- you are clinging to your miseries.
                You can drop your miseries only when some inner meaning starts flowering in you. Miseries can
           be dropped only when meditation starts blooming in you because then you start enjoying your
           emptiness, it is no longer empty. Emptiness itself starts having a positive fragrance; it isn't negative
           anymore. That's the whole magic of meditation: it transforms your emptiness into a positive
           fulfillment, into something overwhelming. Emptiness becomes silence, emptiness becomes peace,
           and emptiness becomes divine, it becomes godliness.
                There is no greater magic than meditation. To transform the negative into the positive, to
           transform darkness into light, that is the miracle of meditation. To transform a trembling person into
           a fearless soul, to transform a person who was clinging to every stupid thing into a nonclinger, into a
           nonpossessor, that is what happens through meditation.
                Buddha used to call meditation a great sword, it cuts your problems at the very root. It makes
           you aware that you need not be afraid of your inner abyss. It is beautiful, it is blissful. You have not
           experienced its bliss and beauty because you have never gone into it, you have always been
           escaping. You have not tasted of it; it is nectar, it is not poison. But how are you going to know
           without tasting it? You are running away from something which can become your life's fulfillment.
           You are running away from something which is the only thing worth achieving. You are running
           away from yourself.
                POSSESSING NOTHING, WANTING NOTHING.... Buddha says that's where meditation
           brings the master. He is no longer interested in possessing and he is no longer desiring anything. All
           desires have left him because he has found the ultimate beyond which there is nothing else. He has
           found the inexhaustible treasure of joy, of bliss, of ecstasy. What else can he desire? He has found a
           mine of diamonds; now he cannot go on collecting colored stones and seashells on the seabeach.
           Now that whole activity is stupid -- not that he renounces it.
                That is one of the most significant things to be remembered: the real sannyasin never renounces
           anything, he simply understands his own inner world -- its beauty, its benediction, its blissfulness.
           And understanding it, great renunciation happens of its own accord. All that is futile slips out of his
           hands, he cannot cling to it anymore. He becomes nonpossessive. Nothing is so important to cling to
           anymore. Everything of this world becomes just a toy to play with, good for those who are not yet
           grown up -- but a meditator has become adult.
                Only a meditator becomes adult. Otherwise, your chronological age may be seventy, eighty or
           ninety, it does not matter -- you are only an old child... ninety years old but still immature because
           still interested in toys, still carrying your teddy bears, still interested in possessing more and more
           toys. Children can be forgiven, but you cannot be forgiven. Only a meditator comes of age; for the
           first time he becomes mature, grown-up. All childishness disappears from him.
                And the beauty is, when all childishness disappears from you, you again become childlike but on
           a different plane. No childishness but absolutely childlike -- the same purity, the same innocence, the
           same wonder, the same awe. Again existence becomes a mystery. But it is not that you are childish --
           you are childlike. It is a totally different phenomenon. Childishness is immaturity; to have a childlike
           purity is maturity. They are polar opposites.
                POSSESSING NOTHING, WANTING NOTHING... the master is at home. He is no longer
           running after shadows, he is not running at all. Just now to say to you that you are also buddhas will
           look absurd; at least to you it will look absurd. You will listen, you love me and you will try to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understand what I am saying, but deep down you will not be convinced that you are buddhas.
               That's why we have been finding every possible rationalization to prove to ourselves that
           buddhas are a totally different race. Every country has tried to prove to its own heart's content that
           "Buddha belongs to some other plane of existence, Christ belongs to some other plane of existence.
           They are amongst us, but they are totally different from us. They are strangers, they are outsiders.
           Whatsoever they say is true, but it is not applicable to us, it has no relevance to our world. We live in
           an ordinary world and they come from some extraordinary existence -- from the beyond."
               Every country, every race has convinced itself that Moses, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Jesus,
           Mohammed are not ordinary people. In some way or other we have been trying to prove that they are
           extraordinary. Not that we are much interested in their being extraordinary, we are simply interested
           in one thing: if they are extraordinary then we need not worry. Then we can go on the way we are
           going, we need not change. We can simply remain the same, as we are. To avoid a radical change we
           create these great rationalizations.
               I say unto you that they are all as ordinary as you are -- or as extraordinary as you are. No
           difference at all. Just a very small difference which is not a difference really: you are asleep and they
           are awake. You can be awakened, you can wake up -- unless you decide not to wake up. But right
           now it is difficult for you to understand that you are buddhas.
               The function of the master is to remind you that you may be believing that you are slaves, but
           you are not -- that is only your belief. You are masters. The function of the master is to remind you,
           to go on reminding you again and again that you are buddhas. If you are behaving like fools that is
           your choice. You have the freedom to behave like fools, but you also have the freedom to transform
           your being totally, to become as centered as a Buddha.
               Looking at yourself it will be difficult to believe, looking at your life it will be difficult for you
           yourself to believe that you can ever be mature, that you can ever be a master, that you can ever say
           about yourself: POSSESSING NOTHING, WANTING NOTHING. You are always wanting. People
           are so ridiculous that if they become convinced about wanting nothing, then they start wanting this
           state of wanting nothing. But it is the same game; now the desire has come from the back door.

           I have heard:
                After Beethoven finished his joyous Fourth Symphony he went through a dry period. Inspiration
           left him, his imagination went blank and he could compose no new music. This was too much for his
           restless energy and he fell to drinking at the local taverns where he often wound up in bar fights or
           went off with whores.
                One night, after losing a bar fight and being rejected by the cheapest whore in town, Beethoven
           sat spending his last pennies on cheap wine. As he was the last customer in the empty tavern, the
           bartender came over to him and said, "Hey, buddy, you are always causing trouble around here.
           What do you do for a living anyway?"
                Beethoven looked up, his face bruised, his lip bleeding, and said through clenched teeth, "I am a
           composer."
                The bartender said, "You, a composer?! Ha-ha-ha -- Ha!"
           That's how the Fifth Symphony was born!

              Looking at you it is very difficult to believe that you are buddhas -- bruised face, bleeding lips,
           even rejected by the cheapest whore, drinking cheap wine. Who will believe that you are a buddha?
           But I believe it! And not only do I believe it. I know it.
              Just something is needed to trigger it. Just something is needed to wake you up.
              Beethoven went home and again the inspiration was back, again the sources were flowing.
              The master cannot do anything directly, but he can push you, pull you in indirect ways, to help
           you to see the point. Once seen it becomes yours and unless it becomes yours it is of no use, it is of
           no meaning, it has no validity.
              You are so unaware of yourself. That's why you are running after money, power, prestige.
           Become a little more aware of who you are. Give a little more attention to yourself.

               Lukowski went to the bank to cash a cheque. Since Lukowski had no account at the bank, the
           clerk asked if he could identify himself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Say," asked Lukowski, "is there a mirror around here?"
           "Yes," said the teller, "on the post beside you."
              Lukowski glanced in the mirror and heaved a sigh of relief. "Yeah," he said, "it is me alright."

               That is how you recognize yourself, always looking in the mirror. The mirrors differ. You look in
           the eyes of other people; if they think you are a good man, you think you are a good man. If they
           think you are beautiful, you think you are beautiful. If they think you are intelligent, you think you
           are intelligent. All that you know about yourself is collected from others -- others who don't even
           know themselves.
               This is a very strange world: you are asking people, "Who are you?" and they don't know
           themselves, and you depend on what they say about you -- you depend on it. You go on collecting
           information. That's why it hurts when somebody says you are a fool. Why does it hurt? Let him say
           that you are a fool; just by his saying it you don't become a fool. But why does it hurt then? It hurts
           because all that you know about yourself depends on public opinion. Now that opinion comes from
           the same source -- from the outside -- from where you have been collecting the opinion that you are
           very intelligent. Now you are in a contradiction, that's why you are upset, disturbed. Now he has
           created a contradiction. Now he has created trouble for you, he has created a dilemma. Now you are
           again confused, you don't know who you are.

           A Sufi parable:
               A Sufi stayed in a caravanserai but there was no empty room available. So the manager said,
           "You will have to share the room with somebody else."
               The Sufi said, "That is going to create trouble because when I am alone in my room, in the
           morning when I wake up I know perfectly well it is me, but when there are two persons in the
           morning, how am I going to decide who is who?"
               While this strange conversation was going on, the man with whom the Sufi was to share the
           room was also listening to the whole thing. He had a great idea. The manager said, "That seems to be
           a relevant point" -- because the manager had come across these mad Sufis many times: "They are
           always saying strange things. Now what is this thing he is talking about?"
               But the Sufi was saying something really significant: how do you know in the morning who is
           who? When there are two persons and there has been a gap of the whole night's sleep, how to gather
           again that "I am myself"?
               The manager said, "I have come across many Sufis and slowly slowly, I have learned many
           things about them. Do one thing: take this rope with you and when you go to sleep tie this rope
           around your feet so when in the morning you see the rope around your feet you will know it is you."
           The Sufi said, "That seems to be sensible."
               In the night, in the middle of the night, when the Sufi was snoring, the other man took away the
           rope just to play some mischief, tied the rope around his own feet and went to sleep. And in the
           morning there was havoc! The Sufi woke up; the other man was still sleeping. He shook him and he
           said, "Now I know you are the Sufi, but then who am I? I am perfectly certain you are the Sufi -- the
           rope is there -- but the problem is, now who am I? And I had told this foolish manager that some
           trouble is bound to arise; now this trouble has arisen."

               This Sufi parable is significant, it is about you. That's how you know who you are. Yes, not so
           visibly; but invisibly how do you recognize yourself? -- in the mirror or in the mirror of other
           people's eyes, in the mirror of their opinions?
               Only a buddha is unaffected by others' opinions because he really knows who he is. He needs no
           arbitrary method, no ropes, no mirrors, no information from anybody else; he knows himself
           directly. He has an intuitive feeling about his own being, but you don't have any intuitive feeling
           about your own being.
               You say you are a Christian. This is a rope your parents have put around your neck -- not even
           around your feet, around your neck! And you are dying because you go on getting bigger and the
           rope was tied when you were a small child; it is becoming tighter every day. A few people are dying
           as Christians, a few as Hindus, a few as Mohammedans, and everybody has a rope around his neck.
               How do you know you are a Christian? You never encountered Christ. If you had not been told
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you were a Christian there is no possibility that you would have ever loved Christ or ever
           thought about him. No Jaina ever thinks about Christ, no Jew ever bothers about Christ, although
           Christ was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a Jew. But it is the same. No Christian ever bothers
           about Mahavira. Who cares about Mahavira? Even if you come across a statue of Mahavira you may
           look at it as a beautiful piece of art, an antique, or you may be a little puzzled why this man is
           standing naked.

               In one of the hotels in Bombay... just a few days ago the hotel opened. It belonged to a Jaina
           family so they placed a statue of Mahavira naked, a marble statue, a beautiful statue, in the
           compound of the hotel, in a beautiful spot surrounded by plants and fountains. Immediately it
           became a great attraction for the tourists. And the Jaina family was very happy, thinking, "We are
           spreading the message of Mahavira." But the tourists were not interested in Mahavira or in his
           message; they were only interested in his nakedness. They were taking photographs.
               The manager asked, "Why are you so interested in this statue? Are you interested in Jaina
           philosophy?"
               They said, "What Jaina philosophy? We don't know anything about Jaina philosophy, we don't
           even know who this man is. All that we know is that he is standing naked and we are interested in
           nudity."
               Once this was known, the Jaina community was very much against it: "This is insulting to
           Mahavira. Remove the statue." First they were very happy, now they are against. Now they know
           perfectly well why people are taking photographs and why tourists are coming to the statue: for the
           simple reason that it is a statue of a naked, beautiful body -- and Mahavira has a beautiful body.

               In fact, only a man like Mahavira who has such a beautiful body should be allowed to be naked,
           nobody else; that should be a condition. I have seen many Jaina monks -- they are so disgusting!
           They should be forced to wear clothes because to look at them is nauseating! They are eyesores.
               No Christian is interested in Mahavira, no Jaina is interested in Christ, no Mohammedan is
           interested in Buddha, no Buddhist is interested in Mohammed. You are interested only in the rope
           that was tied around your neck when you were a child. You are still carrying it, it has become your
           identity.
               Who are you? If you write it down, then you will write your name which has been given by
           others -- you were born without a name. And you will write your degrees which have been conferred
           by others -- you were born without any degrees. If you write down the whole description of yourself
           you will be surprised: there is nothing that depends on your own experience, all is dependent on
           others. This is not self-knowledge, this is self-deception.
               Unless you drop this whole deception and start discovering yourself from ABC you will never be
           able to know this beautiful experience of: POSSESSING NOTHING, WANTING NOTHING. This
           continuous wanting of something is simply to stuff your inner emptiness. And this constant
           hankering to be on top is nothing but a projection of a deep feeling of inferiority. All the politicians
           suffer from inferiority complexes; all the Alexanders and the Napoleons and the Hitlers and the
           Stalins, without any exception, they suffer from deep inferiority complexes. Somewhere deep down
           they know that they are nothing; they have to cover this nothingness with something beautiful. They
           know they are like a wound, they have to cover the wound with beautiful flowers.

               A politician was very much in love with his dog. One day he went to the market to buy some dog
           biscuits.
               He entered a shop and shouted, "Have you got biscuits for dogs?"
               The shopkeeper calmly replied, "Do you want to eat them here or do you want to take them
           home?"

               Politicians fight like dogs. They are dogs, and they have to be, because it is a very difficult
           struggle that they have to go through. They have to be very stubborn and stupid, doggedly stupid and
           doggedly stubborn, only then is there a possibility that some day they may reach the top. Of course,
           they will not find anything there, but they will go on smiling because now it is meaningless to say, "I
           have not found anything here." People will laugh. People will say, "We knew it from the very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beginning -- there is nothing." That's how people are. They always say, "We knew it from the very
           beginning. We told you before that you were a fool trying to climb an empty ladder -- on the last
           rung you would not find anything." So one who has reached the last rung has to go on smiling as if
           he has achieved something, just in order not to show his idiocy; that he has been an idiot, that he has
           wasted his whole life.
               There is no need to struggle really, life is spacious enough. If we drop these foolish ideas of
           hierarchy, of who is on the top and who is the first and who is the president and who is the prime
           minister... if we drop these stupid ideas of hierarchy, if we simply start living whatsoever we are,
           wherever we are, life can be infinitely rich because the whole energy available can transform this
           earth into a paradise.

               Noah was closing the gate of the ark ready to leave when the elephant appeared on the horizon
           running like mad.
           "Come on," encouraged Noah, "faster!"
               The elephant walked the last few steps into the ark. At that moment the mosquito who also was
           late rushed in, stumbling upon the elephant's ass -- sting!
               The elephant turned back in anger and said, "Don't push, please. There is plenty of room for
           everybody!"

               Even elephants understand there is plenty of room for everybody -- and just a mosquito! There is
           enough room for you if there is enough room for an elephant -- don't push. But these political
           mosquitoes, they go on pushing like mad; their whole life depends on pushing. Go on pushing till
           you reach the end -- and then there is nothing. There has never been anything, but we are brought up,
           educated, conditioned, to be ambitious, to be egoists. Yes, people drop desiring and wanting only
           when they are almost on their deathbeds, but then it is too late.
               The old idea of sannyas was that you should become a sannyasin after seventy-five years.
           Buddha changed it; he brought a revolution into the very concept of sannyas. Hence India has never
           been able to forgive him. Even now India has not forgiven him, although he was born in India. He
           was the best flowering of Indian genius, no other person can be compared to him. In the whole
           history of the Indian subcontinent he is the brightest star, but India rejected him. There were many
           reasons to reject him; one of the most important was that he destroyed the old idea of sannyas.
               The old idea of sannyas was, when you are too old to live, when life itself is slipping out of your
           fingers, then renounce. Buddha said, "What is the point of renouncing then? Life is renouncing you.
           Now why are you trying to deceive yourself? You deceived yourself your whole life -- do you still
           want to deceive yourself?" Buddha said, "If you want to renounce life, renounce it when desires are
           very young, when possessiveness is very strong, when your whole being is ambitious. THAT is the
           moment. If you cannot do it then, you have missed one life."

               Mrs. Silver and Mrs. Gold were gossiping over the back fence as they hung out the wash.
           "My husband, ah, such a faithful man!" boasted Mrs. Silver. "He never even looks at another
           woman."
           "The same with my husband," said Mrs. Gold. "He never chases after women either. He is too fine,
           too decent -- too old!"

              Buddha says: POSSESSING NOTHING, WANTING NOTHING....

              HE IS FULL OF POWER.


               When you try to possess, your power becomes invested in meaningless things. When you desire,
           your power becomes desires and desires are infinite. Each desire becomes a leakage of your power.
           When all possessiveness and all desires have been understood as futile, and dropped, you become a
           reservoir of power. And to be a reservoir of power is the only experience that gives you the feeling
           that God is -- because God is power. When you also experience power within yourself, overflowing,
           abundant power, you know God is. If you are empty, with no power, tired, wasted in your desires, no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           proof that God exists can help. All those proofs are for impotent people.
              The real person needs no proof for God. He comes to know God from the experience of inner
           power, from his own inner glow.

              FEARLESS, WISE, EXALTED.
              HE HAS VANQUISHED ALL THINGS.
              HE SEES BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY.


               And when you are full of power, death disappears. Death appears only because you are so
           powerless. Death appears only because your desires are exploiting your power, they are sucking your
           power. Desires are suckers, parasites; they leave you empty. When you are overflowing with energy
           there is no death. That experience of overflowing power makes you absolutely certain without any
           doubt that you cannot die. The body will go, the mind will go, but this power that you have felt is
           going to remain. It is going to expand; there is no way to destroy it. If you yourself don't waste it in
           desires, death cannot take it away from you.
               And when there is no death there is no fear. All fear is death-oriented, all fear is the shadow of
           death. When you don't possess anything you are fearless, when you don't desire anything you are
           fearless. Nobody can take anything away from you because you don't possess anything. Nobody can
           hinder you because you don't have any desire. Nobody can obstruct your path, nobody is your
           enemy. The whole of existence suddenly becomes friendly.
               And when there is power, fearlessness, wisdom arises. Wisdom means your capacity to see the
           truth. You become a seer. Not that you know the Koran, the Gita or the Bible, but that now you
           know the inner scripture of consciousness itself. You know the inner christ, you know the inner
           krishna. You know that as Mohammed was receiving messages from God you are also receiving
           messages from God; you are no less than any Mohammed. You are also a prophet and a messenger,
           you are also a messiah. When you are full of power you become receptive.
               God can connect with you only when you have power. Right now you are powerless; there is no
           possibility of any communion between you and God. Power can only be connected with power.
           Powerlessness cannot be connected with power. Only the same can meet the same. You have to be
           something of the divine in your own right; then only do you earn, do you deserve that God should
           communicate with you.
               He becomes wise, exalted -- exalted by existence itself. Society may not respect you, society may
           condemn you, society may crucify you, but who cares about society? Society is man-made.
           Existence itself exalts the man of wisdom -- the man who has known himself, the man who has
           experienced God, the man who can say authoritatively, "I know God, not through the scriptures but
           through my own experience," existence exalts him.
               It is said that when Buddha became enlightened trees bloomed out of season. When Mahavira
           became enlightened gods descended from heaven and showered flowers on him. These are just
           metaphors, remember, not historical facts, but they indicate something. Whenever a man becomes a
           buddha, whenever a man becomes enlightened, the whole of existence exalts him, the whole of
           existence bows down to him. He has come home. The whole of existence welcomes him.
               And why does the whole existence exalt him? -- because existence itself is exalted through him.
           One of its members has reached the ultimate peak of awakening; through him the whole existence
           has moved a little ahead in evolution. Just cancel a dozen names from the history of humanity -- Lao
           Tzu, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Christ, Kabir, Nanak... just a dozen names,
           cancel them, and where will mankind be? You would all have been Reverend Bananas or Reverend
           Tomatoes, Reverend Potatoes, but not human beings at all. You may know, you may not know; you
           may be aware, you may not be aware, but these few people have contributed immensely to the
           growth of human consciousness. Without Buddha and Mahavira and Krishna and Christ, humanity
           would be still hanging in the trees, just like American tourists!
               They came a few days ago and they were making much noise on the roof. You knew them as
           monkeys, but you could not see them because they were on the roof. I can see through the roof! I
           immediately recognized them -- these are American tourists on their way to Goa, just paying their
           homage for a moment here and then gone. You would have all been American tourists!
               These few people have released so much consciousness into the world. With each buddha, with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           each person becoming enlightened, humanity goes a little ahead, a step ahead. Hence the whole
           universe exalts him.
               HE HAS VANQUISHED ALL THINGS. Buddha means by "all things" the world of the mind;
           not that he has vanquished all the things which are really there. You don't live in reality, you live in
           your projections.

           "The water is absolutely divine this morning," enthused the pretty lass as she came out on the beach.
           "It is full of men!"

              It is your projection. You live in a world of your own ideas.

           "My wife deserted me," moaned the unhappy husband. "She took the car and ran off with a traveling
           salesman."
           "Why, that is terrible!" exclaimed his friend, aghast. "Your brand new car!"

           Everybody lives in his own world of ideas.
                Buddha says: HE HAS VANQUISHED ALL THINGS. Now there is no world of ideas, he has
           vanquished the mind. Once the mind disappears you can see things as they are in reality. Otherwise
           you never see them as they are, you see them according to your ideas. You always look through your
           own projections; those projections are subtle, but they color everything. You always look through
           your own prejudices; those prejudices are so close to you that you are not aware that they are there.
           It is as if on the panes of your window a layer of dust has gathered.

           I have heard:
               One old woman was looking out of a window and she said to the small boy playing outside, who
           must have been her grandson, "Bobby, today the morning seems to be very cloudy."
               And the boy said, "Grandma, the day is perfectly fine as it always is. There are no clouds, it is
           just that on our window much dust has gathered."

               But the old woman is not aware, may not be able to see; her eyes are weakening. She is not able
           to see that the panes are dusty and she thinks the morning is cloudy.
               Your window panes are dusty, but when they are so close to your eyes you become unaware of
           them; they are colored, hence the whole world looks colored.
               Buddha says: When you are full of power and all desires and all possessiveness have disappeared
           from you, that means your mind has died, ceased to exist. Now you can see things as they are. HE
           SEES BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY. Now everything is pure. He does not see through any screen,
           he sees through purity. Now he regains the wonder of childhood again, the same awe, the same
           mystery.

              HE HAS COME TO THE END OF THE WAY,
              OVER THE RIVER OF HIS MANY LIVES,
              HIS MANY DEATHS.


               And this is the end. When the mind ends, the journey ends. Now there will be no birth anymore
           and no death anymore. You have been born millions of times and you have died millions of times.
           What have you been doing all this time, all along? Nothing in fact, just playing the same games
           again and again and forgetting the lessons again. It seems man never learns a thing. Each time he
           dies he forgets all the lessons of that life. Next time, next birth, he starts from ABC again.

           It happened:
               A great king asked to be initiated by Buddha and became a BHIKKHU, became his sannyasin.
           But he was just a junior sannyasin; there were elders who had meditated for thirty years, forty years.
           So where Buddha was staying in a caravanserai, the younger sannyasins -- not younger according to
           age, younger according to the time of initiation.... This king was old and he was a great king, but in
           the world of Buddha those things don't count, neither the age nor the money nor the kingdom. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was the most junior because just that day he had taken sannyas, so he had to sleep in the porch
           because there was no other place.
               The king could not sleep; it was difficult, and one can understand his difficulty. He had never
           slept in such a place. And you know Indian mosquitoes... and the king had never experienced
           mosquitoes. And the ground was hard and the bhikkhus use no pillows, just their hands, their arms.
           He tossed and turned but he could not go to sleep.
               In the middle of the night he thought, "What have I done? This seems to be stupid! I should be
           sleeping in my palace, I had everything. This seems to be pointless. Tomorrow morning the first
           thing I am going to do is to ask permission of the master: 'Please excuse me. I cannot tolerate such
           unnecessary misery. I am going back to my palace.'"
               But in the middle of the night Buddha came out and he said, "Why wait for the morning? If you
           want to drop sannyas, drop it right now! Why suffer the whole night?"
               The king was amazed. He had not said it to anybody -- there was nobody else, he was alone in
           the porch. He said, "But how did you come to know? It was just a thought in me."
               Buddha said, "If your thoughts disappear you can start seeing others' thoughts because others'
           thoughts are then like things. It is because of your thoughts that you cannot see others' thoughts. You
           are so covered with your own thoughts that there is no space for others' thoughts. But you please
           go!"
               The man said, "Now I cannot go. How can I leave such a master?"
               Buddha said, "But my suggestion is still this, because you will again think of leaving. You had
           better leave. Only one thing I have to remind you of: you took sannyas in your past life too -- and the
           same difficulty was there, and you renounced sannyas. Now the same difficulty has arisen and it will
           arise again and again. You have not learned anything from your past life."
               As Buddha was saying this, the man suddenly felt a tremendous upsurge of the memories of the
           past life. He could see, he could remember that yes, this had happened. The whole situation was the
           same. The master was different, the serai was different, the mosquitoes must have been different, but
           the king was the same person and the difficulty was the same.
               The king said, "That's enough, now I am not going to leave; I am going to stick to it. Now
           whatsoever happens.... I have lived in palaces many times and I have not gained anything so I am not
           going to waste this life anymore."
               And he became enlightened one day. He persisted; a great perseverance must have been needed.

               HE HAS COME TO THE END OF THE WAY, Buddha says, OVER THE RIVER OF HIS
           MANY LIVES, HIS MANY DEATHS.
               What have you been doing all your past lives? You have been just a driftwood at the mercy of
           the winds, no sense of direction. You have not achieved any integrity. Don't waste THIS life; make
           something out of it, create something out of it.

               Bailey, a violin player from New York, finally found a job in a small restaurant orchestra. But on
           his first night of work he played so terribly that the other musicians decided to fire him on the spot.
               Bailey explained to them that he could really play much better, but he had been traveling for two
           months and had not been able to even touch his instrument. Tomorrow he would practice the whole
           day to get back in shape.
               The second day of work came and he sounded just as bad. Now he was really going to get fired,
           but he explained to the others that his wife had been nagging him the whole day so that he had been
           unable to play even one note. Now this was something that the other musicians had much
           understanding for, so they gave him another chance. Bailey said that tomorrow his wife would go to
           her mother's so he could practice the whole day.
               But the third day Bailey sounded so bad that now even the waiters complained. That was it -- he
           did get fired.
               Just as he was about to leave one of the other musicians walked up to him and said, "Excuse me,
           but just out of curiosity, do you really make a living as a musician?"
           "Yes," replied Bailey.
           "Oh, but where do you work?"
           "Well, three nights here and three nights there," answered Bailey.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               And that's what you have been doing for many nights: three nights here and three nights there,
           somehow earning your livelihood, somehow just trying to hold yourself together. But for what
           purpose? What have you achieved? What has been the gain? Certainly you have passed time, but life
           is such a valuable phenomenon, it is not just to pass through. It is an opportunity to grow, to be.

              BEYOND THE SORROW OF HELL,
              BEYOND THE GREAT JOY OF HEAVEN,
              BY VIRTUE OF HIS PURITY.


               ... The master transcends. BEYOND THE SORROW OF HELL, BEYOND THE GREAT JOY
           OF HEAVEN.... He is no longer interested in pain and pleasure. Remember, if you seek pleasure you
           are bound to suffer pain in the same amount; they always come in the same proportion. If you have
           so much pleasure you will have to suffer so much pain; that is unavoidable. This is a fundamental
           law of life, life keeps a balance. The more pleasure you have, the more you will have to suffer pain.
               Hell and heaven are not geographical places but psychological experiences. And they are not
           separate either, they are two sides of the same coin. If you have one, the other is there just waiting
           for the right opportunity to assert itself.
               The man of understanding, the man of awareness, the man who has gone deep into meditation,
           into no-mind, becomes aware of this whole phenomenon; he drops the whole coin. He is neither
           interested in hell nor in heaven. He is neither worried about hell nor desirous of heaven, because he
           knows if you desire heaven you will suffer in hell.
               This is something tremendously beautiful -- remember it. The so-called religious people are all
           desirous of heaven and the heavenly joys; they are not religious at all. And these are the people who
           will suffer in heaven... in hell. Wherever they are it is not going to make much difference because if
           you desire one, the other follows it like a shadow.

               I have heard about a man.... In Hindu mythology it is said that in heaven there are
           KALPAVRIKSHAS. A kalpavriksha means a wish-fulfilling tree. You sit underneath the tree and
           whatsoever your wishes are they are fulfilled immediately. You wish and they are fulfilled instantly.
           Even instant coffee takes a little time, it is not so instant, but under a kalpavriksha there is no time
           gap between the desire and its fulfillment; you have not even desired and it is fulfilled.
               One man, a very religious man, reached heaven. He was tired -- the long journey from earth to
           heaven. The first tree that he came across he sat underneath. Tired he was, weary from the journey,
           and the tree was cool, shady. He rested underneath the tree.
               Suddenly he felt hungry. Immediately beautiful food appeared. He was so hungry he did not even
           bother from where this food had appeared. He ate to his heart's content.
               Then he thought, "If there was something to drink...." Immediately a cold drink -- maybe
           Coca-Cola! -- appeared. He was very happy and he thought, "Now I would like to rest a little bit, but
           the ground is so uneven. If there was some bed available somewhere...." Suddenly out of nowhere a
           beautiful bed -- he had never seen one like it in his life. He fell asleep; he was so tired that there was
           no question of becoming curious. But when he woke up the sun was just coming down, was going to
           set. Now he was refreshed, well, nourished. He became a little suspicious: "What is the matter? I
           desired food, food appeared. I desired drinks and drinks appeared. I desired the bed and the bed
           appeared. It seems this tree is haunted by ghosts! My God! Are there ghosts?" he thought.
               And suddenly ghosts appeared, so terrible, big monsters, just ready to jump upon him. He said, "I
           am finished! These people are not going to leave me!" And, of course, he was finished; they did not
           leave him, because whatsoever you wish.... They jumped upon him, tore him to pieces and ate him
           up then and there, raw!

              The religious person, the so-called religious person, is not going to find peace even in heaven
           because his whole desire for heaven is basically wrong. The desire for pleasure is wrong because it
           contains the other side, pain. You cannot divide them, they are indivisibly one.

              This is one of the greatest contributions of Buddha: that he helped religious consciousness to go
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beyond heaven and hell. Otherwise Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, they are all
           confined to the world of heaven and hell. Their ultimate desire is how to attain to heavenly joys.
           Buddha says the ultimate is how to drop all desire, even that of heaven, because only when all desire
           disappears are you in a state of absolute freedom. He calls it nirvana. When the mind ceases then you
           yourself are bliss. But it happens not because of desiring, it happens only when the state of
           desirelessness has been achieved. When desires have left you, in that space, bliss starts growing in
           you.

              HE HAS COME TO THE END OF THE WAY.


              Of course there is no longer anywhere to go -- he has come home.

              ALL THAT HE HAD TO DO, HE HAS DONE.



              AND NOW HE IS ONE.


                ... One with himself and one with the whole. You are many, you are a crowd. The master is one,
           he is not a crowd. You are not one, you are many selves. So one moment you are one thing, another
           moment you are another thing. You go on changing. Just watch your mind -- every moment you go
           on changing, because one self says do this, then another self comes and says don't do this, then
           another self comes and says do something else. And you have many selves -- you are multipsychic.
           You don't have one mind, you have many minds. And you are being tortured by all these minds,
           pulled into different directions.
                The master has no mind, hence he becomes one. With no desire, with no possessions, with no
           desire even for heaven, he is bound to become one. He becomes integrated. He is really individual,
           literally individual. The word 'individual' means one who is indivisible. You are not individuals, you
           are only persons, personalities -- and that too not one. You have many personalities, many faces, you
           wear many masks. The master has no masks, no faces; he has only one face -- his original face. He is
           simply natural. He has no mind; hence he is one.
                And the miracle happens: when you are one with yourself, when you are one within yourself, you
           become one with the whole. And that is the ultimate state. Call it nirvana, call it kingdom of God,
           call it God-realization, or whatsoever name you want to give it -- it is nameless. But this has been the
           real goal of all the seekers of truth.
                Let this be your only goal. Prepare for it. I hope these beautiful sutras of Buddha will help you
           tremendously. Meditate over them. They are not philosophy; they are just statements of inner truths,
           statements of his experience. And they are also statements of my experience.
                Whatsoever I am saying here is not just a commentary on Buddha's sutras; Buddha's sutras are
           just an excuse. I am saying something which is my own experience. I would like you to be able to
           say one day this is your experience too. It is possible. You all have the potential of being a buddha.
           Don't settle for anything less than that.
           Shake yourself and wake up!
           Enough for today.




                      The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 12
                                                   Chapter #10
                                          Chapter title: Forget all about it
           30 April 1980 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8004300
              ShortTitle: DHAM1210
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 42 mins




              The first question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU CONTINUALLY SPEAK OF DROPPING THE EGO, BUT HOW CAN I DO SO WHEN I CAN'T
              DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WHAT IS THE EGO AND WHAT IS MY TRUE NATURE?


               Anand Vedant, the ego cannot be dropped. It is just like darkness -- you cannot drop darkness,
           you can only bring light in. The moment light is, darkness is no more. You can say this is the way of
           dropping darkness, but don't take it literally. Darkness does not exist at all -- it is absence of light.
           Hence you cannot do anything directly to it. You can only do something to light -- either bring light
           in or take light out. If you want darkness, put the light off; if you don't want darkness, put the light
           on. The ego cannot be dropped.
               Meditation can be learned. Meditation functions as a light, meditation IS light.
               Become light, and you will not find the ego anywhere.
               If you want to drop it you will be in trouble, because who is this one who wants to drop it? It is
           the ego itself -- now playing a new game, the game called spirituality, religion, self-realization. Who
           is asking this question? It is the ego itself, befooling you. And when the ego asks how the ego can be
           dropped, naturally you think, "This can't be the ego. How can ego ask for its own suicide?" That's
           how ego goes on deceiving you.
               Your self-nature has no questions, it needs no answers. Your self-nature is absolutely light, full
           of light. It knows no darkness, it has never met any darkness.

               Bodhidharma reached China. He was one of the greatest buddhas of all the ages. After Gautam
           Buddha, Bodhidharma seems to be the most precious person in the Buddhist heritage. When he
           reached China, his fame had reached far ahead of him. Even Emperor Wu who ruled over the whole
           of China came to receive him at the boundary. And the conversation that transpired between the two
           is of immense importance. It has to be meditated upon again and again. It has a tremendous message
           for you all.
               Emperor Wu was not only a great emperor, he was very religious too, and he had done much for
           Gautam Buddha's message. In fact no other person except Emperor Ashoka had done so much for
           Buddhism as Emperor Wu had done. He transformed the whole of China into a Buddhist world. He
           made thousands of temples for Buddha, he made hundreds of monasteries -- millions of Buddhist
           monks were supported by the royal treasury. He translated all the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.
           Thousands of scholars worked for years, almost their whole lives. He had done great work.
           Naturally, he wanted to know from Bodhidharma, "What is my merit?"
               The first thing that he asked Bodhidharma was, "I have done so much, what is my merit? What
           have I gained? What virtue?"
               Bodhidharma looked at him very sternly. If you have seen Bodhidharma's pictures you will be
           puzzled. He looks more like a lion than like a man -- very fierce; his eyes are very penetrating, like
           swords. He must have cut Wu down to his proper size just by his look.
               Wu started trembling, he had never come up against such a man. He had conquered many
           enemies, he had conquered many dangerous kings, but Bodhidharma was the most dangerous person
           he had come across. It was a cool morning, but he started perspiring.
               And Bodhidharma said, "Merit? Virtue? You are stupid! Now this is the ego and nothing else
           getting nourished and fat in the name of religion and spirituality. You are bound for the seventh hell,
           mind you!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Wu could not believe his ears, could not believe his eyes. He said, "But thousands of other
           monks have come from India and they have all said, 'Wu, you have done a great service to Buddha's
           religion. You are a beloved of Buddha, you are blessed by Buddha.' But you are saying just the
           opposite!"
               Bodhidharma said, "Forget all about those monks! They were buttressing you, they were praising
           you because they knew that that's what you expected from them. They are cunning and crafty people.
           They know nothing of Buddha and his message. I am a buddha myself, I am not a Buddhist monk. I
           speak on my own authority, and I say to you: You are cursed!"
               Emperor Wu asked, "Do you mean to say there is nothing holy, nothing spiritual, in all these
           beautiful acts?"
               Bodhidharma said, "No action is holy, because every action arises out of the ego. When you
           forget all about actions, when you disappear and things start happening on their own and you cannot
           claim that they are YOUR actions, only then does something of immense value, of immense beauty
           penetrate your life.
           "Spirituality has nothing to do with doing, spirituality is the fragrance of being, and you are not a
           being yet. You are still concerned that you have done this, you have done that.
           "The ego is a doer, your self-nature is a nondoer. Your self-nature simply allows existence to flow
           through it, it simply allows the ultimate law to function through it. Your self-nature is just a hollow
           bamboo. In the hands of the ultimate nature it becomes a flute and a beautiful song is born out of it.
           But the flute cannot say, 'This is my song. What is my merit? What am I going to gain out of it? To
           what heaven, to what joys will I attain?' The bamboo flute is just nothing. Its whole being consists of
           nothingness. That's why the song can flow through it, it is utterly empty."
               Shocked -- but he could see the point -- Wu said, "You are the first man who is not impressed by
           my great power, money, my empire. You are the first man with whom I am feeling that something is
           possible. How can I drop this ego? Yes, I can understand your point. First, I was claiming a great
           empire, now I am claiming something of the beyond. But the claim is the same and the claimer is the
           same. I can see your point. I bow my head to you. I am grateful that you have not been polite to me,
           that you have hit me hard. You have wounded me but I am thankful. How can I drop this ego?"
               And Bodhidharma asked, "What ego do you want to drop? Again you want to do something. If
           YOU drop it, then the ego will persist. This is the subtle game of ego: if you drop it, the ego starts
           coming from the back door. It starts saying, 'Look! I have dropped the ego. Look how humble I am.
           There is nobody who is more humble than me. I am the humblest person in the world -- just dust
           under your feet.' But look into the eyes, look into the heart of the man who is claiming that he is the
           humblest person -- it is the same ego. It is not egolessness. Egolessness cannot claim humbleness.
           Egolessness cannot claim egolessness. Egolessness cannot claim at all, it simply falls silent. It cannot
           even say, 'I am not, I am nobody' -- because the 'I' can exist in any claim whatsoever."
               The emperor asked, "Then help me because I cannot get out of this ego."
               Bodhidharma said, "Come early in the morning, three o'clock. Come alone, don't bring anybody
           with you. And don't be worried -- I will finish it once and for all."
               The emperor could not sleep the whole night. "What does he mean? -- this mad monk. He will
           finish it once and for all? And the man looks so dangerous... and three o'clock is not the time to meet
           such a person. He can do anything, he's so unpredictable. And he has asked that I should come
           alone."
               Many times he decided not to go, but the pull was great, the man had something magnetic. He
           had to go. At three o'clock he found himself getting ready. He went. Bodhidharma was staying
           outside the town in a small temple. It was dark, and Bodhidharma was waiting... with his staff in his
           hand.
               And he said, "So you have come! although you hesitated much. You decided many times not to
           come. You could not sleep the whole night, neither did you allow me to sleep -- because I had to go
           on pulling you. But now that you have come things can be settled forever. Sit in front of me, close
           your eyes, go in, and find out where the ego is! And don't fall asleep because I am sitting in front of
           you with my staff. I will hit you on the head immediately if you go to sleep! Be alert because when I
           hit I hit really hard. And find out.... If you can find the ego, just show me that this is the ego and I
           will finish it. First you have to find it, where it is."
               The emperor followed the logic. He closed his eyes. It was impossible to fall asleep.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bodhidharma was sitting there. Even with closed eyes he could see Bodhidharma sitting there, and
           once in a while Bodhidharma would hit his staff on the ground just to let him know that "I am here.
           You go on searching."
               Two hours passed, three hours passed. Wu looked and looked. For the first time he looked inside.
           In fact if you look inside and you can remain alert, just for forty-eight minutes.... That is the limit.
           The ego can go on eluding you only for forty-eight minutes, not more than that. This has been the
           experience of all the buddhas down the ages. Now, don't ask why forty-eight minutes, because that's
           impossible to answer. It is just like at a hundred degrees water evaporates, nobody asks why. Why
           not at ninety-nine degrees? Why not at a hundred and one degrees? There is no question about it, it is
           simply so, the law of nature. At a hundred degrees water evaporates. Exactly like that, if you can
           remain alert and watchful continuously without wavering, for forty-eight minutes, your whole inner
           being becomes so quiet, so silent, so peaceful, so alert. For the first time there is clarity, transparent
           clarity. You can see everything that is there.
               And Wu looked and looked and looked and could not find any ego -- because ego cannot be
           found. It is fictitious, it is just your idea, it has no substance in it. It is not even a shadow, what to say
           about substance? It exists only because you have not looked in. Looking in, your light is discovered
           -- which is always there, you just have to look in and find it. He was looking for the ego but he found
           the light, because the ego is not there and the light is there. He had gone to search for the ego but he
           found the light. And once the light was found there was no darkness.
               Three hours passed and then the sun was rising, and Wu's face was transformed. He had a new
           beauty, a new grace. Bodhidharma laughed and he said, "Now, open your eyes. You have not been
           able to find it... so I have finished it forever."
               Wu opened his eyes, touched Bodhidharma's feet and said, "Master, you have not done anything
           and yet you have finished it." That's the miracle of a master; he never does a thing, and yet the
           ultimate miracle happens in his presence. His presence is the miracle, his presence has the magical
           quality.

               Anand Vedant, you need not drop the ego. Just look in, search for where it is -- first find it. Don't
           worry about self-nature right now. Just go in, search for the ego, and you will not find it; instead you
           will find your self-nature, luminous, fragrant like a lotus flower. One never comes across such
           beauty anywhere else. It is the most beautiful experience of life. And once you have seen your own
           lotus of light, your own lotus blossoming, the ego is finished forever. Then you will not ask such
           meaningless questions.
           "How to distinguish," you say, "between what is the ego and what is my true nature?"
               Either the ego is there, then the true nature is not known; or the true nature is known, then there
           is no ego left. You cannot have both, hence you cannot make any distinctions; you cannot
           distinguish them, they can't both be present together. Only one can be present.
               Right now, whatsoever you are is ego, so don't be worried about distinguishing. If there were no
           ego the question would not have arisen at all. Self-nature knows no questions, self-nature is ecstasy,
           not a problem.

           The second question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS BETWEEN SURRENDERING TO A MASTER AND
               FOLLOWING A MASTER?


               Edward Kiefer, there is a great difference. They are poles apart. Surrendering to a master is
           something of the heart, it is a love affair, it is not an intellectual conviction. It is not that you are
           convinced intellectually that what the master is saying is right. It is not philosophical. What the
           master is saying may be absurd -- in fact, it is bound to be absurd, because he speaks from a totally
           different kind of vision, from the peak where opposites meet, where the ultimate synthesis has
           happened, where life and death are one, where man and woman are one, where negative and positive
           are one. Hence whatsoever he says is bound to be paradoxical.
               Surrendering to a master means you have felt his grace. It is not a question of his
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledgeability. He may not be knowledgeable at all. Jesus was not knowledgeable. Mohammed
           was not even able to read or write, he was not even able to sign his own name. But thousands fell in
           deep love with the man. He had no logical acumen. If you go into the Koran you will not find great
           philosophy -- simple statements which can be refuted very easily. But the man must have had
           something totally different. So many people gravitated towards him. Now you cannot see
           gravitation; it is an energy, it is a force, invisible. It is a communion, heart-to-heart. The master's
           presence overwhelms you, then surrender happens.
                It is not something that you do. You cannot do surrender, remember. Surrender done is not
           surrender at all, because you can withdraw. Any day you can say, "I take back my surrender."
           Surrender is something that happens. Sometimes it happens even in spite of you, you never wanted it
           to happen, you resisted it. People resist to the very end; when it becomes impossible to resist, only
           then do they surrender, because surrender goes against the ego, it shatters your ego. The very idea of
           surrendering to someone is against your whole upbringing, your whole education, your whole
           psychology. You are brought up with the idea of having a strong ego.
                Surrender means you are dropping your whole upbringing, you are pushing aside all your
           knowledge, you are bypassing your mind, you are allowing the heart to say "Yes!" -- a total yes. It is
           a happening, not a doing. It is just like falling in love.
                What is the difference between falling in love and marriage, an arranged marriage? Exactly that
           is the difference between surrendering to a master and following a master. Surrendering to a master
           is like falling in love. The force is irresistible. You are behaving like a madman. The master is mad,
           now you are becoming mad. The master is like a flame, and you are moving towards the flame like a
           moth, to your own death.
                Following a master is a safe phenomenon, like an arranged marriage. You are moving on safe
           ground. You think about everything -- about the family of the woman or the man, about their
           economic status, about their social prestige, about everything except love. It is a calculated
           phenomenon. There is no risk in it. And not to take any chances you go to the astrologer so that he
           can even predict the future, how things will be going in the future: "Will I be sailing safely?"
                You make everything safe before you take the plunge. It is not a jump, it is a calculated step. And
           that's what following a master is. It is intellectual, it is of the mind, it is of the head. You are trying to
           understand intellectually, logically what he is saying. Does it appeal to you?
                And who are you and what do you know? And how are you going to judge whether he is right or
           wrong? -- according to your prejudices, according to your conditioning? A Christian coming across
           Jesus may be impressed, but not a Jew, because their conditioning differs.

           I have heard about two hippies:
               They were hungry and had no money, and on a Sunday morning they were just passing by a
           church when an idea occurred to them. Both had long hair, beards, tattered clothes -- they looked
           exactly like Jesus and his followers would have looked.
               One said to the other, "We should find a cross; we should go to the cemetery and take one cross
           from some grave. You carry the cross, you look more like Jesus, and I'll go ahead of you proclaiming
           that the Lord has come. Let's see, maybe something is possible."
               So they entered the church. It was a Protestant church. The first entered and shouted loudly,
           "Awake! Behold! The Lord has come back! He has fulfilled his promise."
               Everybody looked and then entered the second hippie with the cross. A few women fainted, a
           few old people fell at his feet. And people started giving money. When they went out they had
           collected fifty dollars. They were very happy.
               The week went beautifully -- marijuana and all. They enjoyed it as spiritually as possible.
               The next week they entered a Catholic church. Even more things became possible. The Catholics
           went crazy! They could not believe their eyes. People were crying and weeping and trembling and
           calling "Lord!" They collected one hundred and fifty dollars. That week they were really high....
               The third week, just for fun, they thought why not try the synagogue? So they went into the
           synagogue. They proclaimed, "Behold! The Lord has come back as he promised!"
               The old rabbi fixed his glasses, looked, and then asked his assistant, "You go and bring the
           hammer and nails -- it seems that fool has come back."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You behave according to your conditioning.
               If Mahavira appears suddenly on M.G. Road, only Jainas -- and that too only DIGAMBARA
           Jainas -- will recognize him. The SVETAMBARA Jainas, another sect of the Jainas, will not
           recognize him because they don't believe that he lived naked. He lived in white clothes -- of course
           those clothes were invisible. So they will ask, "Where are the invisible clothes?" And Hindus and
           Mohammedans and Christians will simply rush to the police station, because a naked man is standing
           on M.G. Road -- he seems to be an Osho freak!
               How are you going to judge? According to your prejudices. When you become convinced that
           this man is saying the right thing, that simply means he is saying the thing that you think is right. But
           if you know already what is right, there is no need to bother about this man.
               Following is useless, it is unnecessary. You are simply collecting support for your own beliefs. It
           is not going to help, it is not going to change you. Only surrender transforms. Anything that happens
           through the heart can bring a radical revolution into your being. The head is impotent -- avoid the
           head.
               Sir, avoid the head! Listen to the heart and follow the heart, then surrender happens of its own
           accord.

           The third question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS MISUNDERSTANDING?


               Sahajananda, misunderstanding happens only to knowledgeable people, it never happens to the
           innocent. It never happens to those who know that they know nothing; only to them understanding
           happens. But to those who think they know already, their very knowledge is a disturbance, a
           distraction. It is knowledge that creates misunderstanding.
               If you are already carrying something in your mind, and then you listen to me, there are only two
           possibilities: either you find me agreeing with you or you find me disagreeing with you. If you find
           me agreeing with you, you must have misunderstood, because I cannot agree with you. It is
           impossible, I can agree with you only if you are also awakened, if you are also in the same space,
           only then. So you must have distorted the words, dropped a few words, added a few words, given
           them new meanings -- your meanings, coloring them, dyeing them according to your philosophy,
           way of life, or whatsoever you call it. It is a kind of adjustment. And then you can be very happy that
           I agree with you.
               I cannot agree with you. It is impossible. Agreement is possible only if we both exist in the same
           space, otherwise not. In your confusion, in my clarity, there is no possibility of agreement. So that is
           the first kind of misunderstanding, which is far more dangerous than the second kind of
           misunderstanding.
               The second kind of misunderstanding is: I say one thing and you immediately jump against it
           because you have come with a negative approach. The first misunderstanding comes from the one
           who has come with a positive approach. Ordinarily, people think that if you come with a positive
           approach you cannot misunderstand. The positive approach is very much appreciated around the
           world. Of course, your priests, your leaders praise your positive approach because you are agreeing
           with them. I cannot praise it because your agreement means nothing to me.
               Your negative approach means disagreement, but both are misunderstandings. If you have come
           already with a negative mind -- that you are against me, that this man is wrong -- you must have
           gathered it from public opinion, from newspapers, from magazines. And if you have come already
           with a negative attitude, then whatsoever I say you will find something wrong with it. You are bent
           upon finding something wrong with it. That is another kind of misunderstanding.
               To me, both are misunderstandings. And the first is more dangerous, because the second
           misunderstanding is not going to do any harm. You will go empty-handed, that's all; you have not
           lost anything. But the first misunderstanding can be dangerous. You will go with the idea that I agree
           with you. You will become more egoistic, thinking that your ideas are right, and that is more
           dangerous. If you think my ideas are wrong, there is no problem, you remain the same. But if you
           think that your ideas are right because they are in agreement with me and I am in agreement with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, then you are going with a more strengthened ego.
               The positive approach is far more dangerous than the negative.
               The real seeker comes with neither the positive mind nor the negative mind. He comes only with
           an open mind. He comes silently. He has no a priori idea this way or that way. He simply listens, he
           does not interfere. He does not go on continuously judging. He remains in a kind of let-go -- silent,
           open, vulnerable. It is not a question of agreeing or of disagreeing. You are simply listening! What
           this man has to say, you are simply listening to it. And you are not continuously commenting inside
           yourself that "Yes, this is right, that is wrong. This agrees with the Gita and this does not agree with
           the Gita. If it does not agree with the Gita how can this man be right? The Gita is bound to be right."
               And what do you know about the Gita? All that you know about the Gita is your idea of the Gita.
           You can't understand Krishna. To understand Krishna you have to be a krishna, to understand
           Buddha you have to be a buddha -- there is no other way. And when you are a buddha, why should
           you bother to understand Buddha? When you are a krishna, what is the need to understand Krishna?
           You yourself know.
               The real seeker listens with an empty mind, utterly empty. He listens totally, with no evaluation,
           no judgment. Then there is no possibility of misunderstanding. And the miracle of right listening is
           that, if you listen silently, whatsoever is true immediately strikes deep down somewhere in your
           heart a chord, a rhythm. Deep down somewhere in your heart a synchronicity happens. That is the
           miracle of truth. If the mind is silent and if truth is being told, your heart immediately starts beating
           with it, starts dancing with it. And that is true agreement, not the agreement of the head, not the
           agreement of the ego, but something existential, something total. Then you have understood. And if
           something is not true, your heart remains cold.
               So there is no need to bother whether it is right or wrong. If it is right it touches something so
           deep in you that you were not even aware that such a depth exists. And if it is not right nothing
           moves in you. So your whole being becomes decisive, not just your head -- which is just a fragment.
           Never allow the fragment to decide for the whole; let the whole decide.

               The fanatic fisherman was telling a pal about his great dream: "I dreamt I was out on a lake alone
           in a boat with Elizabeth Taylor."
           His pal said, "Wow -- how did you make out?"
           He said, "Great -- I caught a ten-pound flounder!"

               You know fishermen, you know people who are mad about catching fish -- who cares about
           Elizabeth Taylor? That is beside the point. He catches a ten-pound flounder.

              He was really a golf nut. He was just about to tee off on the first hole when a beautiful girl came
           running up to him in a gorgeous bridal outfit.
              The golfer waved her away and said, "Sylvia, I told you -- only if it rains!"

               Two drunks were driving over a bridge and one said, "When you come to the end of the bridge,
           turn left."
               The other slobbered, "What're you telling me for? You're drivin'!"

               In your state of sleep, in your state of drunkenness, what agreement? what disagreement? what
           understanding? what misunderstanding? It is all the same.
               Here, listening to me, become more and more silent and alert. Forget all about agreeing and
           disagreeing. I am not interested in converting you, I am not a missionary. I am not interested in
           creating a following -- not at all. I am certainly interested in sharing my joy with you, certainly
           interested in sharing my truth with you. But that is a totally different matter.

               Dave and Mabel were just married and on their way home to the farm. Their old horse was
           getting slower and slower, and despite Dave's efforts, just before dusk the nag fell and died! There
           was nothing to do but put up camp for the night under a nearby tree.
               The newly-weds snuggled under the blanket, and Dave turned to Mabel, saying, "Well, what
           about it, love?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "What about what, dear?" Mabel replied.
           "Oh, never mind," said Dave.
              Shortly after, Dave said, "Well... ah, hum, what about it?"
           Mabel replied, "What about WHAT, dear?"
              Dave asked, "Oh, didn't your mum ever tell you about what marriage is for?"
           Mabel answered, "I don't know what you mean, dear!"
              Dave said, "Well -- ah -- um -- ah -- you are a woman, and I am a man, and you see -- well -- a
           man has this -- and it gives life."
           "Well, for God's sake, Dave," said Mabel, "go and stick it in the horse and let's get going!"

           The fourth question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               IN YOUR PROPHETIC VISION, WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE?


                Raju Bharathi, I have no prophetic vision. I am not a prophet -- I am not that old-fashioned at all.
           Do you think I am coming out of the Old Testament?
                I am a twentieth-century man and still fully alive, and I don't care a bit about the future; neither
           do I care about the past. My whole concern is the present, because only the present exists. The past is
           no more, the future is not yet. Both are nonexistential. Those prophets must have been mad who
           were concerned about the future. They were always talking about the future.
                There are only two types of mad people in the world: a few who are always talking about the
           past, and a few who are always talking about the future. The people who are talking about the past
           are the historians, archaeologists, etcetera. And the people who are talking about the future are the
           prophets, visionaries, poets. I am neither.
           My whole concern is this moment... now... here.
                So drop that idea, Raju. Raju is a scientist, and naturally he is interested in the future of science. I
           am not a prophet, but one thing I can say, and it has nothing to do with the future really. It is
           happening right now. Because people are blind they cannot see it. I can see it. It has already become
           a reality.
                The greatest thing that is happening -- which will be understood only later on -- is the meeting of
           science and religion, is the meeting of East and West, is the meeting of materialism and spiritualism,
           is the meeting of the outer and the inner, is the meeting of the extrovert and the introvert. But that is
           happening right now. It will grow in the future, but my concern is the present. And I am
           tremendously happy that something of great importance is on the way.
                The seed has sprouted. You are so much concerned with the past or with the future that you can't
           see the small sprout that is growing right now. Here, under your eyes... the meeting of the opposites
           -- the opposites are turning into complementaries.
                Science alone is only half and cannot be a fulfillment for man. It can give you a better body, it
           can give you better health, longer life. It can give you more comforts, more luxury. I am not against
           any of these. I am not an ascetic, I am not that stupid at all. But it can only give you things of the
           outer world -- which are beautiful in themselves.
                I would like everyone to live in more comfort, in more luxury, in better health, better nourished,
           better fed, better educated. But that's not all -- that is only the circumference of life, not the center.
                Religion provides the center. It gives you a soul. Without it science is a corpse -- a beautiful
           corpse maybe. You can paint the corpse, you can wash the corpse and put beautiful garments on it,
           but a corpse is a corpse! And, remember, the same is the case with religion. Religion alone is not
           enough at all. Religion alone makes you a ghost, maybe a holy ghost, but it makes you a ghost.
                You can see this happening in India. The whole country has become a holy ghost -- the body has
           disappeared, the physical health has disappeared, the material wealth has disappeared. And when
           there is no body to support a soul, you are simply talking nonsense. You can go on talking about the
           Brahman -- the ultimate reality -- but on a hungry stomach it does not work. It may be just an escape
           from reality.
                If religion itself is not realistic it becomes an escape from reality. If religion is not materialistic
           enough it becomes an escape, it becomes a dreamworld, a Disneyland. That's what has happened in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the East: we talked too much of the spirit and forgot all about the reality that surrounds us. We
           became introverts, too much concerned about ourselves. We forgot all about the beauties of the trees
           and the mountains and the sun and the moon and the stars. Humanity in the East became ugly. It has
           a center but no circumference. Everything has shrunk to the center.
               The West has a circumference but no center. People have everything, but something essential is
           missing.
               Science and religion are becoming one. They are already becoming one. I am not saying they
           will become one, they are already becoming one. All the greatest scientists -- Eddington, Planck,
           Einstein -- people of the highest caliber in the world of science, became aware that science alone is
           not enough. There is something far more mysterious which cannot be grasped only through scientific
           methodology and means, something which needs a different approach, which needs more meditative
           awareness.
               Eddington says in his autobiography, "When I started my career as a scientist I used to think that
           the world consisted of things, but as I grow old I am becoming more and more aware that the world
           does not consist of things but of thoughts."
               Reality is far closer to thoughts than to things. Reality is far more mysterious than you can
           weigh, measure, than you can experiment with. Reality is not only objective but also subjective.
           Reality is not only content but also consciousness. And the greatest religious people, like J.
           Krishnamurti, are aware that religion cannot exist anymore as it has existed up to now. Something of
           a radical change is needed.
               My own approach is that we have to create Zorba the Buddha.
               Today, just by coincidence, is Buddha's birthday, also his enlightenment day, and also the day of
           his death. He was born on this day, he became enlightened on this day, he died on this day. Today's
           full moon belongs to him. It is a strange coincidence that this long series of Buddha lectures -- one
           hundred and twenty-six lectures in all... when I started I had no idea that it would end today.
               Just the other night Laxmi told me, "Tomorrow is Buddha Purnima" -- Buddha's full moon.
               Let this day also be the birth of a new buddha. The new buddha will be a synthesis of Zorba the
           Greek and Gautama the Buddha. He cannot be just Zorba, and he cannot be just Buddha.
               And that's my whole effort here, Raju, to create a bridge between Zorba and Buddha -- to create
           a bridge, a golden bridge, or a rainbow bridge, between the earth, this shore, and the farther shore,
           the beyond. It is happening here! You can't see it happening anywhere else....
               We have all kinds of scientists here. Now, Raju himself has become a sannyasin. He has great
           scientific intelligence. He is young, but of tremendous intelligence. He is one of those scientists who
           put the first man on the moon -- he belongs to that project. There are so many other scientists here.
           There are poets and musicians, painters -- all kinds of people, and they have all joined together in
           one great effort: meditation. There is only one meeting-point here and that is meditation. Only on
           one point do they meet; otherwise they all have their own individualities. Out of this meeting a
           tremendous explosion is possible. It is already happening. Those who have eyes can see it
           happening.
               This may be the only place on the earth where all the countries are represented. We were missing
           Russians but now I am happy to say that they are also here. All the races are meeting here, all the
           religions are meeting here. This is a miniature universe, a small world, and we are all meeting here
           as human beings. Nobody is a Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan. Nobody knows who is a scientist,
           who is a musician, who is a painter, who is a famous actor. Nobody even tells....
               Just the other day I came across the news: one of our sannyasins has won a great, world-famous
           prize. She has been here, she was here for months, but she never told anyone that she is a great
           actress. And now she is world-famous; she is now thought to be one of the most serious contenders
           for the highest award. But she never told anybody anything.
               There are musicians of great caliber, poets, authors, painters, sculptors, magicians... all kinds of
           people are here. And they have all met in a deep merging. Their only meeting-point is meditation --
           and their love for their master.
               A totally new science is bound to arrive. It will be both science and religion, only then can it be
           total. It will be science both of the inner and the outer. In fact, the days of religion are over, just
           science will do, one word will do. 'Science' is a beautiful word; it means knowing, wisdom.
               Science should be divided in two categories: objective science -- chemistry, physics,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mathematics, etcetera -- and subjective science. Then there is no need to divide religion and science.
           And the meeting of religion and science in one whole will create for the first time a whole man on
           the earth. Otherwise, up to now humanity has been schizophrenic, split, insane, divided.
               I am all for the whole man, because to me the whole man is the holy man.

           The fifth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING MAD AND BEING ENLIGHTENED?


              Deva Sadyo, not much. The only difference is that the enlightened person knows that he is mad
           and the madman does not know that he is mad.

           The sixth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF ITALIANS ARE "WOMEN," BRITISH ARE "LADIES" AND GERMANS ARE "FEMALES," WHAT
              ABOUT SOUTH AMERICAN WITCHES? CAN YOU MAKE SOME COMMENT ABOUT THEM?

              Deva Samya, they are amazons.

              The seventh question:



              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM LEAVING TOMORROW FOR FRANCE. PLEASE TELL ME A JOKE TO MAKE THE
              FRENCHIES LAUGH.


              Toshen, an agitated Frenchman came into a Paris bistro and told the waiter to bring him a triple
           shot of cognac. He downed the huge drink in one gulp and asked for another.
              The waiter brought it and asked, "What's the matter, monsieur? Did your wife catch you making
           love to the maid?"
           "No," he sighed. "The maid caught me in bed with my wife!"

           The eighth question:

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES THE BUDDHA ALWAYS SAY: BE A LIGHT UNTO YOURSELF?


               Paritosho, simple. Buddha says: Be a light unto yourself, because you cannot trust Indian
           electricity.
           In fact, you cannot trust anything made in India.

              What is the difference between an American computer and an Indian one?
              The American computer has a memory; the Indian one has a vague remembrance.

              How many Polacks does it take to put in a light bulb?
              Four -- one to hold the bulb and three to spin him around.

           How many Jews does it take to put in a light bulb?
           Three -- one to put it in and two to supervise.

              How many Californians does it take to put in a light bulb?
              Four -- one to put it in and three to share the experience.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               How many Italians does it take to put in a light bulb?
               About sixteen -- one to give the orders, one to handle the money, one to get the bulb, one to tell
           the rickshaw driver where to go, one to clean up the broken glass, one to translate, three to carry the
           ladder, one to check the switch, one to shoo away the beggars, four to entertain you while you wait
           two or three minutes, two or three minutes, two or three minutes... etcetera.

               And how many Indians it takes to change a light bulb?
               Two hundred -- one to hold the bulb... and one hundred and ninety-nine to turn the house around!

           And the last question:

               BELOVED MASTER,
               IN A PREVIOUS LIFE YOU MUST HAVE BEEN AN ITALIAN. COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING
               ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE?


              Satyen, I am not a Californian, so I cannot share the experience with you. But I will tell you a
           few jokes....

           "I find it hard to believe that you murdered that crippled old man for fifty cents," the outraged judge
           told the Italian mugger.
                The Italian shrugged. "Fifty cents here, fifty cents there -- it adds up."

               Martinelli always takes his superugly wife along with him when he goes away on business.
               He explains, "It's easier to take her along than to kiss her goodbye."

               Maria was complaining to her neighbor, Donna Arminda, "These pains drive me crazy. Every
           night it's the same thing. If I turn right, the pain attacks the liver; if I turn left, it attacks my heart. It's
           really hell!"
           "But why don't you sleep on your belly?" asked the neighbor.
           "On my belly? If I sleep on my belly, Roberto attacks me!"

               An Italian was walking down the street with a pig under his arm.
           "How much did that cost you?" asked a passerby.
           "Fifty cents," replied the pig.

           "I see you are no gentleman," hissed the woman on the street corner at the Italian who laughed as the
           wind swept her skirt over her head.
           "No," he replied, "and I see-a you are not-a one-a either."

               A long-suffering Italian husband was burying his wife. It chanced that in passing through the
           gate, the coffin was thrust hard against one of the posts. Almost immediately, to the amazement of
           the mourners, a muffled scream was heard. The lid was hastily unscrewed, and lo! the woman was
           not dead at all. She was taken home, and lived for three years. Then she died again.
               At the funeral, as the coffin was being lowered from the hearse, the husband addressed the
           bearers very solemnly: "Boys, mind that post!"

           Enough for today.




                                            The Diamond Sutra
                    Talks on Vajrachchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra of Gautama the Buddha
10/28/07                                      Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                Talks given from 21/12/77 am to 31/12/77 am
                                          English Discourse series
                                                11 Chapters
                                            Year published: 1979




                                        The Diamond Sutra
                                              Chapter #1
                                 Chapter title: That Realm of Nirvana
           21 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712210
              ShortTitle: DIAMON01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 80 mins




              VAJRA CHEHEDIKA
              PRAJNAPARAMITA
              SUTRA

              OF
              GAUTAMA

              THE
              BUDDHA



              THUS HAVE I HEARD AT ONE TIME.
              THE LORD DWELT AT SRAVASTI.
              EARLY IN THE MORNING THE LORD DRESSED,
              PUT ON HIS CLOAK, TOOK HIS BOWL,
              AND ENTERED THE GREAT CITY OF SRAVASTI
              TO COLLECT ALMS.



              WHEN HE HAD EATEN AND RETURNED
              FROM HIS ROUND, THE LORD PUT AWAY
              HIS BOWL AND CLOAK, WASHED HIS FEET,
              AND SAT DOWN ON THE SEAT ARRANGED FOR HIM,
              CROSSING HIS LEGS, HOLDING HIS BODY UPRIGHT, AND
              MINDFULLY FIXING HIS ATTENTION IN FRONT OF HIM.
              THEN MANY MONKS APPROACHED TO WHERE
              THE LORD WAS, SALUTED HIS FEET WITH
              THEIR HEADS, THRICE WALKED ROUND HIM
              TO THE RIGHT, AND SAT DOWN ON ONE SIDE.



              AT THAT TIME THE VENERABLE SUBHUTI
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              CAME TO THAT ASSEMBLY, AND SAT DOWN.
              THEN HE ROSE FROM HIS SEAT,
              PUT HIS UPPER ROBE OVER ONE SHOULDER,
              PLACED HIS RIGHT KNEE ON THE GROUND,
              BENT FORTH HIS FOLDED HANDS TOWARDS
              THE LORD, AND SAID TO THE LORD:
              'IT IS WONDERFUL, O LORD,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL, O WELL-GONE,
              HOW MUCH THE BODHISATTVAS,
              THE GREAT BEINGS, HAVE BEEN HELPED
              WITH THE GREATEST HELP BY THE TATHAGATA.
              HOW THEN, O LORD, SHOULD ONE WHO HAS
              SET OUT IN THE BODHISATTVA-VEHICLE,
              STAND, HOW PROGRESS,
              HOW CONTROL THE THOUGHTS?'



              AFTER THESE WORDS THE LORD SAID TO SUBHUTI:
              'THEREFORE, SUBHUTI, LISTEN WELL,
              AND ATTENTIVELY!'



              SOMEONE WHO HAS SET OUT IN THE VEHICLE
              OF A BODHISATTVA SHOULD PRODUCE
              A THOUGHT IN THIS MANNER:
              'AS MANY BEINGS AS THERE ARE
              IN THE UNIVERSE OF BEINGS,
              COMPREHENDED UNDER THE TERM "BEINGS",
              ALL THESE I MUST LEAD TO NIRVANA,
              INTO THAT REALM OF NIRVANA
              WHICH LEAVES NOTHING BEHIND.
              AND YET, ALTHOUGH INNUMERABLE BEINGS
              HAVE THUS BEEN LED TO NIRVANA,
              NO BEING AT ALL HAS BEEN LED TO NIRVANA.'
              AND WHY?
              IF IN A BODHISATTVA THE NOTION
              OF A "BEING" SHOULD TAKE PLACE,
              HE COULD NOT BE CALLED A BODHI-BEING.
              AND WHY?
              HE IS NOT TO BE CALLED A BODHI-BEING
              IN WHOM THE NOTION OF A SELF
              OR OF A BEING SHOULD TAKE PLACE,
              OR THE NOTION OF A LIVING SOUL
              OR OF A PERSON.'


               I love Gautama the Buddha because he represents to me the essential core of religion. He is not
           the founder of Buddhism -- Buddhism is a byproduct -- but he is the beginner of a totally different
           kind of religion in the world. He's the founder of a religionless religion. He has propounded not
           religion but religiousness. And this is a great radical change in the history of human consciousness.
               Before Buddha there were religions but never a pure religiousness. Man was not yet mature.
           With Buddha, humanity enters into a mature age. All human beings have not yet entered into that,
           that's true, but Buddha has heralded the path; Buddha has opened the gateless gate. It takes time for
           human beings to understand such a deep message. Buddha's message is the deepest ever. Nobody has
           done the work that Buddha has done, the way he has done. Nobody else represents pure fragrance.
               Other founders of religions, other enlightened people, have compromised with their audience.
           Buddha remains uncompromised, hence his purity. He does not care what you can understand, he
           cares only what the truth is. And he says it without being worried whether you understand it or not.
           In a way this looks hard; in another way this is great compassion.
               Truth has to be said as it is. The moment you compromise, the moment you bring truth to the
           ordinary level of human consciousness, it loses its soul, it becomes superficial, it becomes a dead
           thing. You cannot bring truth to the level of human beings; human beings have to be led to the level
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of truth. That is Buddha's great work.
               Twenty-five centuries ago, just some day early in the morning -- just like this day -- this sutra
           was born. Twelve hundred and fifty monks were present. It happened in the city of Sravasti. It was a
           great city of those days. The word Sravasti means the city of glory. It was one of the glorious cities
           of ancient India; it had nine hundred thousand families in it. Now that city has completely
           disappeared. A very very small village exists -- you will not find even its name on any map; even the
           name has disappeared. Now it is called Sahet-Mahet. It is impossible to believe that such a great city
           existed there. This is the way of life -- things go on changing. Cities turn into cemeteries, cemeteries
           turn into cities... life is a flux.
               Buddha must have loved this city of Sravasti, because out of forty-five years of his ministry he
           stayed in Sravasti twenty-five years. He must have loved the people. The people must have been of a
           very evolved consciousness. All the great sutras of Buddha, almost all, were born in Sravasti.
               This sutra -- The Diamond Sutra -- was also born in Sravasti. The Sanskrit name of this sutra is
           Vajrachchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra. It means perfection of wisdom which cuts like a thunderbolt.
           If you allow, Buddha can cut you like a thunderbolt. He can behead you. He can kill you and help
           you to be reborn.
               A buddha has to be both -- a murderer and a mother. On the one hand he has to kill, on the other
           hand he has to give new being to you. The new being is possible only when the old has been
           destroyed. Only on the ashes of the old the new is born. Man is a phoenix. The mythological bird
           phoenix is not just a mythology, it is a metaphor. It stands for man. That phoenix exists nowhere
           except in man. Man is the being who has to die to be reborn.
               That's what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a professor, a learned man, a rabbi, a
           member of the board that controlled the great temple of Jerusalem. One dark night he came to see
           Jesus. He could not gather courage to come to him in the day time; he was afraid what people would
           say. He was so respectable, so much respected. Going to a vagabond teacher?... going to somebody
           who is hated by all the rabbis and all the learned people?... going to somebody who moves with
           thieves and drunkards and prostitutes? But something in him was very desirous to see this man.
           maybe he had seen Jesus walking, coming to the temple. He must have felt something deep in his
           unconscious for this man. He could not hold himself back.
               One night when everybody had left, when even the disciples had gone to sleep, he reached Jesus
           and he asked, "What should I do so that I can also enter into the kingdom of God?"
               And Jesus said, "Unless you die nothing is possible. If you die, only then can you enter into the
           kingdom of God. You will have to die as you are, only then can you be born as really your inner
           being is."
               The ego has to die for the essential being to surface. That is the meaning of Vajrachchedika
           Prajnaparamita. It cuts like a thunderbolt. In one stroke it can destroy you. It is one of the greatest
           sermons of Buddha. Get in tune with it.
               Before we enter into the sutra, a few things to be understood that will help you to understand it.
           Gautama the Buddha has started a spirituality that is nonrepressive and nonideological. That is a
           very rare phenomenon. The ordinary kind of spirituality, the garden variety, is very repressive. It
           depends on repression. It does not transform man, it only cripples man. It does not liberate man, it
           enslaves man. It is oppressive, it is ugly.
               Listen to these words of Thomas a Kempis, author of Imitation of Christ. He writes: "The more
           violence you do to yourself, the greater will be your growth in grace. There is no other way save of
           daily mortification. To despise oneself is the best and the most perfect counsel." There are thousands
           of saints down the ages who will agree with Thomas a Kempis. And Thomas a Kempis is
           pathological.
               Or the French priest Bossuet says: "Cursed be the earth! Cursed be the earth! A thousand times
           cursed be the earth." Why? Why should the earth be cursed? Life has to be cursed. These people
           have been thinking as if God is against life, as if life is against God. Life IS God, there is no
           antagonism, there is no separation even. They are not different things, they are two names for one
           reality.
               Remember this: Buddha is nonrepressive. And if you find Buddhist monks to be repressive,
           remember, they have not understood Buddha at all. They have brought their own pathology into his
           teachings. And Buddha is non-ideological. He gives no ideology, because all ideologies are of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind. And if ideologies are of the mind, they cannot take you beyond the mind. No ideology can
           become a bridge to reach beyond the mind. All ideologies have to be dropped, only then the mind
           will be dropped.
               Buddha believes in no ideals either -- because all ideals create tension and conflict in man. They
           divide, they create anguish. You are one thing and they want you to be something else. Between
           these two you are stretched, torn apart. Ideals create misery. Ideals create schizophrenia. The more
           ideals there are, the more people will be schizophrenic, they will be split. Only a nonideological
           consciousness can avoid being split. And if you are split how can you be happy? how can you be
           silent? how can you know anything of peace, of stillness?
               The ideological person is continuously fighting with himself. Each moment there is conflict. He
           lives in conflict, he lives in confusion, because he cannot decide who really he is -- the ideal or the
           reality. He cannot trust himself, he becomes afraid of himself, he loses confidence. And once a man
           loses confidence he loses all glory. Then he is ready to become a slave to anybody -- to any priest, to
           any politician. Then he is just ready, waiting to fall in some trap.
               Why do people become followers? Why are people trapped? Why do people fall for a Joseph
           Stalin or an Adolf Hitler or a Mao Zedong? Why in the first place? They have become so shaky, the
           ideological confusion has shaken them from their very roots. Now they cannot stand on their own,
           they want somebody to lean on. They cannot move on their own, they don't know who they are.
           They need somebody to tell them that they are this or that. They need an identity to be given to them.
           They have forgotten their self and their nature.
               Adolf Hitlers and Joseph Stalins and Mao Zedongs will be coming again and again until and
           unless man drops all ideologies. And remember, when I say all ideologies, I mean ALL ideologies. I
           don't make any distinction between noble ideologies and not so noble. All ideologies are dangerous.
           In fact the noble ideologies are more dangerous, because they have a more seductive power, they are
           more persuasive. But ideology as such is a disease, exactly a dis-ease, because you become two: the
           ideal and vou. And the you that you are is condemned,,, and the you that you are not is praised. Now
           you are getting into trouble. Now sooner or later you will be neurotic, psychotic or something.
               Buddha has given a nonrepressive way of life, and nonideological too. That's why he does not
           talk about God, he does not talk about heaven, he does not talk about any future. He does not give
           you anything to hold onto, he takes everything away from you. He takes even your self. He goes on
           taking things away, and finally he takes even the idea of self, I, ego. He leaves only pure emptiness
           behind. And this is very difficult.
               This is very difficult because we have completely forgotten how to give. We only know how to
           take. We go on taking everything. I TAKE the exam and I TAKE the wife and even I TAKE the
           afternoon nap -- a thing which cannot be taken, you have to surrender to it. Sleep comes only when
           you surrender. Even a wife, a husband, you go on taking. You are not respectful. The wife is not a
           property. You can take a house -- how can you take a wife or a husband? But our language shows
           our mind. We don't know how to give - how to give in, how to let go, how to let things happen.
               Buddha takes all ideals away, the whole future away, and finally he takes the last thing that is
           very very difficult for us to give -- he takes your very self, leaves a pure, innocent, virgin emptiness
           behind. That virgin emptiness he calls nirvana. Nirvana is not a goal, it is just your emptiness. When
           you have dropped all that you have accumulated, when you don't hoard anymore, when you are no
           longer a miser and a clinger, then suddenly that emptiness erupts. It has always been there.
               Hakuin is right: "From the very beginning, all beings are buddhas." That emptiness is there. You
           have accumulated junk so that emptiness is not visible. It is just like in your house you can go on
           accumulating things; then you stop seeing any space, then there is no more space. A day comes when
           even to move in the house becomes difficult; to live becomes difficult because there is no space. But
           space has not gone anywhere. Think of it, meditate over it. The space has not gone anywhere; you
           have accumulated too much furniture and the TV and the radio and the radiogram and the piano and
           everything -- but the space has not gone anywhere. Remove the furniture and the space is there; it
           has always been there. It was hidden by the furniture but it was not destroyed. It has not left the
           room, not for a single moment. So is your inner emptiness, your nirvana, your nothingness.
               Buddha does not give you nirvana as an ideal. Buddha liberates instead of coercing. Buddha
           teaches you how to live -- not for any goal, not to achieve anything, but to be blissful herenow --
           how to live in awareness. Not that awareness is going to give you something -- awareness is not a
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means to anything; it is the end in itself, the means and the end both. Its value is intrinsic.
               Buddha does not teach you otherworldliness. This has to be understood. People are worldly; the
           priests go on teaching the other world. The other world is also not very otherworldly, it cannot be,
           because it is just an improved model of the same world. From where can you create the other world?
           You know only this world. You can improve, you can decorate the other world better, you can
           remove a few things that are ugly here and you can replace a few things which you think will be
           beautiful, but it is going to be a creation out of the experience of this world. So your other world is
           not very different, cannot be. It is a continuity. It comes out of your mind; it is a game of
           imagination.
               You will have beautiful women there -- of course more beautiful than you have here. You will
           have the same kinds of pleasures there -- maybe more permanent, stable, but they will be the same
           kinds of pleasures. You will have better food, more tasty -- but you will have food. You will have
           houses, maybe made of gold -- but they will be houses. You will repeat the whole thing again.
               Just go into the scriptures and see how they depict the heaven and you will find the same world
           improved upon. A few touches here and a few touches there, but it is not in any way otherworldly.
           That's why I say the otherworldliness of other religions is not very otherworldly; it is this world
           projected into the future. It is born out of the experience of this world. There will not be misery and
           poverty and illness and paralysis and blindness and deafness. Things that you don't like here will not
           be there, and things that you like will be there and in abundance, but it is not going to be anything
           new.
               Mind cannot conceive of anything new. Mind is incapable of conceiving the new. Mind lives in
           the old, mind IS the old. The new never happens through the mind. The new happens only when
           mind is not functioning, when mind is not controlling you, when mind has been put aside. The new
           happens only when the mind is not interfering.
               But all your scriptures talk about the heaven -- and the heaven or the paradise or FIRDAUS or
           SWARGA, is nothing but the same story. It may be printed on a better art paper, with better ink, in a
           more improved press, with more colorful illustrations, but the story is the same; it cannot be
           otherwise.
               Buddha does not talk of otherworldliness or the other world. He simply teaches you how to be
           here in this world; how to be here alert, conscious, mindful, so that nothing impinges upon your
           emptiness; so that your inner emptiness is not contaminated, poisoned; so that you can live here and
           yet remain uncontaminated, unpolluted; so that you can be in the world and the world will not be in
           you.
               The otherworldly spirituality is bound to be oppressive, destructive, sado-masochistic -- in short,
           pathological. Buddha's spirituality has a different flavor to it -- the flavor of no ideal, the flavor of no
           future, the flavor of no other world. It is a flower here and now. It asks for nothing. All is already
           given. It simply becomes more alert so you can see more, you can hear more, you can be more.
               Remember, you are only in the same proportion as you are conscious. If you want to be more, be
           more conscious. Consciousness imparts being. Unconsciousness takes being away. When you are
           drunk you lose being. When you are fast asleep you lose being. Have you not watched it? When you
           are alert you have a different quality -- you are centered, rooted. When you are alert you feel the
           solidity of your being, it is almost tangible. When you are unconscious, just dragging by, sleepy,
           your sense of being is less. It is always in the same proportion as the consciousness is.
               So Buddha's whole message is to be conscious. And for no other reason, just for the sake of
           being conscious -- because consciousness imparts being, consciousness creates you. And a you so
           different from you that you are, that you cannot imagine. A you where 'I' has disappeared, where no
           idea of self exists, nothing defines you... a pure emptiness, an infinity, unbounded emptiness.
               This Buddha calls the state of meditation -- SAMMASAMADHI, right state of meditation, when
           you are all alone. But remember, aloneness is not loneliness. Have you ever thought about this
           beautiful word, alone? It means all one. It is made of two words -- all and one. In aloneness you
           become one with the all.
               Aloneness has nothing of loneliness in it. You are not lonely when you are alone. You are alone
           but not lonely -- because you are one with the all; how can you be lonely? You don't miss others,
           true. Not that you have forgotten them, not that you don't need them, not that you don't care about
           them, no. You don't remember others because you are one with them. All the distinction between one
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and all is lost. One has become the all and all has become one. This English word alone is
           immensely beautiful.
                Buddha says sammasamadhi is aloneness. The right meditation is to be so utterly alone that you
           are one with all. Let me explain it to you. If you are empty your boundaries disappear because
           emptiness can have no boundaries. Emptiness can only be infinite. Emptiness cannot have any
           weight, emptiness cannot have any color, emptiness cannot have any name, emptiness cannot have
           any form. When you are empty, how will you divide yourself from others? -- because you don't have
           any color, you don't have any name, you don't have any form, you don't have any boundaries. How
           are you going to make any distinctions? When you are empty you are one with all. You have melted
           into existence, existence has merged with you. You are no more an island, you have become the vast
           continent of being.
                Buddha's whole message is condensed in this one word -- sammasamadhi, right meditation. What
           is right meditation and what is wrong meditation? If the meditator exists then it is wrong meditation.
           If the meditator is lost in meditation then it is right meditation. Right meditation brings you to
           emptiness and aloneness.
                This sutra... this whole sutra is concerned with how to become utterly empty. This is his basic
           gift to the world.

              THUS HAVE I HEARD AT ONE TIME.


               These sutras have been remembered by Buddha's great disciple Ananda. And one thing to be
           remembered: all sutras start: THUS HAVE I HEARD....
               When Buddha died all the disciples gathered together to collect whatsoever Buddha had said in
           those forty-five years. Ananda was the only one who had lived continuously for those forty-five
           years with Buddha. He was the most authentic to be relied upon. Others had heard, but they had
           heard from others. Sometimes they were with Buddha and sometimes they were not with Buddha.
           Only Ananda had lived like a shadow.
               So Ananda relates, but the beauty is that he never says that "Buddha said this"; he simply says,
           "Thus have I heard". The difference is great. He does not say, "Buddha has said this," because he
           says, "How am I to say what Buddha has said? All that I can say is this -- that this is what I have
           heard. What Buddha said, only he knows. What he meant, only he knows. All that I can remember is
           what I have heard. My capacities are limited. He may have meant something else. I may have
           forgotten a few words, I may have put a few words of my own."
               This is a great sincerity. He could have claimed, "This is what Buddha said. I was present, I am
           an eyewitness." And he WAS an eyewitness; nobody can deny that. But look at the humbleness of
           the man: he says "Thus have I heard. Buddha was saying, I was hearing -- I can only relate what I
           have heard. It may be right, it may not be right. I may have interfered, I may have interpreted, I may
           have forgotten a few things, something of my own mind may have got into it -- that all is possible. I
           am not an enlightened man." Ananda was not yet enlightened, so he says, "This is all that I can say, I
           can vouch for."

              THUS HAVE I HEARD AT ONE TIME.
              THE LORD DWELT AT SRAVASTI.
              EARLY IN THE MORNING THE LORD DRESSED,
              PUT ON HIS CLOAK, TOOK HIS BOWL,
              AND ENTERED THE GREAT CITY OF SRAVASTI
              TO COLLECT ALMS.
              WHEN HE HAD EATEN AND RETURNED
              FROM HIS ROUND, THE LORD PUT AWAY
              HIS BOWL AND CLOAK, WASHED HIS FEET,
              AND SAT DOWN ON THE SEAT ARRANGED FOR HIM,
              CROSSING HIS LEGS,
              HOLDING HIS BODY UPRIGHT, AND MINDFULLY
              FIXING HIS ATTENTION IN FRONT OF HIM.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This you will be surprised at. When Ananda says, he goes into very small details. One never
           knows -- when you are reporting about a buddha, you have to be very careful, mm? Even this much
           he reports again and again -- such small things.

               EARLY IN THE MORNING THE LORD DRESSED,
               PUT ON HIS CLOAK, TOOK HIS BOWL,
               AND ENTERED THE GREAT CITY OF SRAVASTI
               TO COLLECT ALMS.


              Ananda is following him like a shadow, a silent shadow just watching him. Just to watch him
           was a benediction. And he watches everything.

               WHEN HE HAD EATEN AND RETURNED
               FROM HIS ROUND, THE LORD PUT AWAY
               HIS BOWL AND CLOAK, WASHED HIS FEET,
               AND SAT DOWN ON THE SEAT ARRANGED FOR HIM.


               When for the first time Buddhist sutras were translated into Western languages, the translators
           were a little bit puzzled -- why this continuous repetition? It goes on and on like that; again it will
           be, again this repetition. Why are these small things related? They could not understand it. They
           thought that this is repetitive, that this is a very unnecessary repetition; it is not needed at all. What is
           the point of it all? But they missed. What Ananda is saying is that Buddha pays attention to small
           things as much as to big things. For a buddha there is nothing small and nothing big -- one thing.
               When he takes his bowl he is as respectful to the bowl as he would be respectful to any God.
           When he puts his cloak or puts his dress on he is so mindful; he's absolutely alert, he is not
           mechanical. When you put your dress on you are mechanical. You know mechanically how to put it
           on, so what is the point of paying attention to it? Your mind goes on moving into a thousand
           directions. And you take a shower -- but you are very disrespectful to the shower. You have not been
           there, you have been somewhere else. You eat, but you are disrespectful to the food. You are not
           there, you simply go on swallowing the food inside you. You go on doing your things habitually,
           mechanically. When Buddha does a thing he is utterly there, he is nowhere else.

               WHEN HE HAD EATEN AND RETURNED
               FROM HIS ROUND, THE LORD PUT AWAY
               HIS BOWL AND CLOAK, WASHED HIS FEET,
               AND SAT DOWN ON THE SEAT ARRANGED FOR HIM,
               CROSSING HIS LEGS,
               HOLDING HIS BODY UPRIGHT, AND MINDFULLY
               FIXING HIS ATTENTION IN FRONT OF HIM....


                These minor details are worth relating, because they bring the quality of buddhahood. Each
           moment he lives in awareness. What he is doing is irrelevant; each moment he pours his attention
           into whatsoever he is doing. When he makes a gesture he is totally the gesture. When he smiles he is
           totally the smile. When he talks he is totally his words. And when he is silent he is totally silent.
                To watch a buddha is a blessing in itself -- how he walks, how he sits, how he makes gestures,
           how he looks at you. Each moment is a radiant moment of awareness. That's why Ananda reports.
           There must have been great silence when Buddha came, arranged his dress, washed his feet, sat on
           the seat arranged for him, sat upright, then focussed his whole attention in front of him. What is this
           'fixing your attention in front of yourself'? That is a special Buddhist method called
           ANAPANSATIYOGA -- mindfulness of breath coming in and breath going out. That is the meaning
           of focussing your attention in front.
                When Buddha is doing something, for example dressing, then he is attentive of that act. When he
           is walking he is attentive of walking. When he is not doing anything then he is attentive of breath
           coming in and breath going out. But he is attentive; even while he is asleep he is attentive.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ananda asked Buddha once.... For ten years he lived with Buddha and he was surprised that he
           remained in the same posture the whole night. Wherever he put his hand, he kept it there the whole
           night. He must have looked many times, must have sneaked in in the night. It was worth it, mm? --
           how the Buddha sleeps? And he was surprised and puzzled that he kept the same posture -- the same
           posture the whole night. He could not hold his curiosity. One day he said, "It is not right for me to
           get up in the night and look at you, I should not do such a thing, but I am curious about you and I am
           puzzled -- you remain in the same posture? Do you sleep or do you continue your awareness?"
               And Buddha said, "Sleep happens in the body, I remain alert. Now the sleep is coming, now it
           has come, now it has settled, now the body is relaxed, the limbs are relaxed -- but I keep my
           awareness bright."
               Meditation is a twenty-four hour thing. It is not that you do it once a day and you are finished
           with it. It has to become your flavor, it has to become your climate. It should surround you wherever
           you are, whatsoever you are doing.

              ... AND MINDFULLY FIXING HIS ATTENTION
              IN FRONT OF HIM, HE SAT.
              THEN MANY MONKS APPROACHED
              TO WHERE THE LORD WAS,
              SALUTED HIS FEET WITH THEIR HEADS,
              THRICE WALKED ROUND HIM TO THE RIGHT
              AND SAT DOWN ON ONE SIDE.


               To ask a question to a Buddha needs a certain attitude, only then will you receive the answer.
           Not that Buddha will not give the answer. You can ask very disrespectfully -- Buddha will give the
           answer, but you will not receive it. So it is not a question that only when you are respectful will
           Buddha give the answer. Buddha will give the answer anyway, but if you are not very respectful,
           very humble, receptive, feminine, you will miss it. How you ask the question determines whether
           you will be able to receive the answer or not.
               How you ask, in what mood.... Are you receptive? Are you just curious? Are you asking the
           question out of your accumulated knowledge or is your question innocent? Are you asking just to
           test whether this man knows or not? Are you asking from a state of knowledge or from a state of not
           knowing? Are you humble, surrendered? Are you ready to receive the gift if it is given to you? will
           you be open, will you welcome it? will you take it to your heart? Will you allow it to become a seed
           in your heart? To ask a question to a Buddha is not to ask a question to a professor. It needs a certain
           quality in you; then only will you be benefited by it.

              THEN MANY MONKS APPROACHED
              TO WHERE THE LORD WAS,
              SALUTED HIS FEET WITH THEIR HEADS,
              THRICE WALKED ROUND HIM TO THE RIGHT
              AND SAT DOWN ON ONE SIDE.


                Walking thrice is symbolic of the three bodies. The first round is for the physical body, the body
           that we can see, which is available to the senses. The physical body of the Buddha is also beautiful;
           it is the shrine where God abides. So the first round is a salutation for the first body, the physical
           body. The second round is for the bliss body, the second body. And the third round is for the Buddha
           body, the truth body.
                These three rounds are symbolic of something else too. In Buddhism there are three shelters,
           three refuges: "I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the sangha, I take refuge in the
           Dhamma." These three rounds are symbolic of them too.
                When a person comes to Buddha to ask anything, he has to take refuge. He has to have this state
           of mind -- that "I am falling in tune with Buddha," that "I am ready to vibrate in the same
           wavelength." "I take refuge in the Buddha. You are my shelter, I come to you as a disciple, I come to
           you knowing that I don't know, I come to you in innocence, I bow down to you, I recognize that you
           know and I don't know -- so I am ready to receive whatsoever you think I am ready to be given."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I take refuge in the sangha, in the commune."... Because one Buddha is only a representative of all
           the Buddhas of the past and the future. One Buddha is a door to all the Buddhas. You can call the
           Buddhas the Christs or the Krishnas; it doesn't make any difference. These are different names given
           by different traditions.
               So the first refuge is in this Buddha who is just in front of you. The second refuge is in all the
           Buddhas, the sangha, the commune of the Buddhas -- past, present, future. And the third refuge is in
           the Dhamma -- that essential being that makes a man a Buddha. That art of awakening is Dhamma,
           the religion.

              AT THAT TIME THE VENERABLE SUBHUTI
              CAME TO THAT ASSEMBLY AND SAT DOWN.


              One of the great disciples of Buddha is Subhuti. THEN HE ROSE FROM HIS SEAT, says
           Ananda -- and again he repeats the whole thing. Because Subhuti is also no ordinary man. He is
           almost a Buddha, just on the verge of it. Any moment he is going to become a Buddha. So Ananda
           repeats again:

              THEN HE ROSE FROM HIS SEAT,
              PUT HIS UPPER ROBE OVER ONE SHOULDER,
              PLACED HIS RIGHT KNEE ON THE GROUND,
              BENT FORTH HIS FOLDED HANDS TOWARDS
              THE LORD, AND SAID TO THE LORD:
              'IT IS WONDERFUL, O LORD,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL, O WELL-GONE,
              HOW MUCH THE BODHISATTVAS,
              THE GREAT BEINGS, HAVE BEEN HELPED
              WITH THE GREATEST HELP BY THE TATHAGATA.
              HOW THEN, O LORD, SHOULD ONE WHO HAS
              SET OUT IN THE BODHISATTVA-VEHICLE,
              STAND, HOW PROGRESS,
              HOW CONTROL THE THOUGHTS?'


               Subhuti is almost close to buddhahood. He is a bodhisattva. Bodhisattva means one who is ready
           to become a Buddha, who has come almost close to it; one step more and he will become a Buddha.
           Bodhisattva means bodhi-essence, bodhi-being: ready ninety-nine degrees -- and on the hundredth
           degree he will evaporate. But a bodhisattva is one who tries to remain a little longer at ninety-nine
           degrees so that he can help people out of his compassion, because once he has jumped the hundred
           degrees, he has gone beyond.... GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHISWAHA.
           Then he has gone and gone beyond and beyond. Then it will be very difficult to make contact with
           the people who live on this shore.
               The greatest help is possible from those who are at the ninety-nine degree point. Why? -- because
           they are still not enlightened. They know the ways of the people who are unenlightened. They know
           the language of the people who are unenlightened. They are yet with them, and yet in another sense
           ninety-nine percent they have gone beyond. That one percent keeps them linked, bridged.
               So a bodhisattva is one who is close to buddhahood but is trying to remain on this shore a little
           longer so that he can help people. He has arrived; he would like to share his arrival. He has known;
           he would like to share what he has known. Others are stumbling in darkness; he would like to share
           his light with them, his love with them.
               Subhuti is a bodhisattva. Ananda reports about him also in the same way as he reports about
           Buddha.
               THEN HE ROSE FROM HIS SEAT.... Just imagine, visualize, a bodhisattva arising. He is utter
           awareness. He is not just rising like a robot. Each breath is known, fully known. Nothing passes
           unknown. He is watchful. What the Catholic tradition calls recollectedness, that is what Buddhists
           call SAMMASATI -- right mindfulness. Mindfulness or recollection, to be recollected,, to live
           recollectedly: SAMMASATI -- not to do a single act unconciously.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE ROSE FROM HIS SEAT,
              PUT HIS UPPER ROBE OVER ONE SHOULDER,
              PLACED HIS RIGHT KNEE ON THE GROUND,
              BENT FORTH HIS FOLDED HAND TOWARDS
              THE LORD AND SAID TO THE LORD...


               And remember, even a bodhisattva, who has come very close to becoming a Buddha, bows down
           to the Buddha in utter gratitude.
              'IT IS WONDERFUL, O LORD,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL,
              O WELL-GONE....'


               Well-gone means one who has gone to the other shore. Subhuti is on this shore, Buddha is on
           that shore. Subhuti has come to that understanding: he can see the other shore, he can see Buddha on
           the other shore. 'O Well-gone...'
               This word 'well-gone' has many meanings. One: one who has reached to the other shore. Another
           one who has reached to the ultimate of meditation. Buddha has said that there are eight steps towards
           ultimate meditation. One who has reached to the eighth is called 'well-gone'. But it is the same. One
           who has reached samadhi, the ultimate samadhi, he has gone to the other shore. he is no more -- that
           is what is meant by 'well-gone'. Gone, utterly gone. He is no more, he is just an emptiness. The self
           has disappeared, evaporated.
              'O WELL-GONE,
              IT IS WONDERFUL,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL,
              HOW MUCH THE BODHISATTVAS,
              THE GREAT BEINGS,
              HAVE BEEN HELPED WITH THE GREATEST HELP
              BY THE TATHAGATA.


              TATHAGATA is the Buddhist word which means well-gone. Subhuti says, "How much help has
           been given, how wonderful it is -- it is exceedingly wonderful, it is unbelievable how much you have
           given to us. And you go on giving, and we don't even deserve it."
              '... WONDERFUL, O LORD,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL, O WELL-GONE,
              HOW MUCH THE BODHISATTVAS, THE GREAT BEINGS,
              HAVE BEEN HELPED BY THE TATHAGATA.
              HOW THEN, O LORD, SHOULD ONE
              WHO HAS SET OUT IN THE BODHISATTVA-VEHICLE...


              One who has decided to remain on this shore a little longer to help people.

              ... HOW SHOULD HE STAND, HOW PROGRESS,
              HOW CONTROL THE THOUGHTS?'


               What is he asking? He is asking a question which may not be relevant to many of you, because it
           becomes relevant only when you have become a bodhisattva. But some day, some day or other, you
           will be becoming bodhisattvas. Some day or other the question will be relevant. It is better to think
           about it, it is better to meditate over it.
               He says, "Those who have decided to be bodhisattvas, how should they stand?" He is saying,
           "The attraction of the other shore is so much, the pull of the other shore is so much -- how should
           they stand on this shore? We would like to help people, but how? The pull is such, the magnetic pull
           is such -- the other shore is calling. So teach us how we can stand here, how we can become again
           rooted on this shore. We have become uprooted; in this world we don't have any roots. Ninety-nine
           percent of the roots are gone."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Just think of a tree -- ninety-nine percent of the roots are gone; only one percent of the roots are
           there. The tree is asking, "How should I stand now? I am going to fall, and I understand that if I can
           stay a little longer I will be of immense help to people, and they need it. I was in need -- you helped
           me. Now, others are in need -- I should help." That is the only way a disciple can pay his debt to the
           master. There is no other way. The master has helped you; the master needs no help -- how to pay
           the debt? what to do? The only thing to do is help somebody who is still stumbling, groping in the
           dark. Do whatsoever the master has done for you to others, and you have paid your debt.
               He asked "How to stand?" -- it is difficult, it is almost impossible -- and "How to progress, how
           to start helping people?" -- because that too is difficult. Now we understand their miseries are all
           false. Now we understand that they are suffering just nightmares; their miseries are not true. Now we
           know they are afraid only of a rope, thinking that it is a snake. Now it is very difficult to help these
           people. It is ridiculous. And we know that they need help, because we know our own past. We were
           trembling, crying, screaming. We know how much we have suffered, although now we know that all
           suffering was just like a dream, it was illusory; it was maya."
               Just think, if you know that the other person is just talking nonsense, that he has no wounds....
           Once a man was brought to me. He had got the idea somehow that two flies had entered into his
           stomach -- because he sleeps with an open mouth. And the flies kept on revolving in his stomach.
           Naturally, if they have entered they will revolve. He was continuously worried and he was not even
           able to sit in one posture. He would move to this side and that and he would say, "They have gone to
           this side, and now they have gone to that side." He was almost mad.
               Now, he had been to all the doctors and nobody was of any help, and they all laughed; they said,
           "You are just imagining." But just to say to a person that he is imagining his misery is not of much
           help, because he is suffering. It may be imaginary to you, but to him it makes no difference whether
           the suffering is imaginary or real; he is suffering all the same. What you call it makes no difference.
               I touched his stomach and then said, "Yes, they are there." He was very happy. He touched my
           feet, he said, "You are the only man. I have been to many doctors and physicians -- ayurveydic and
           allopathic and homeopathic -- and they are all fools! And they go on insisting on one thing. I tell
           them, If you don't have any medicine simply say that you don't have any medicine, but why do you
           go on saying that I am imagining? Now here you are. Can't you see?"
               I said, "I can see perfectly -- they are there. I deal in such problems." I said, "You have come to
           the right person. This is my whole work -- I deal in such problems which don't exist really. I am an
           expert in dealing with problems which are not." I said, "You just lie down and close your eyes. I will
           have to blindfold you, and I will take them out. And you open your mouth and I will call them. A
           great mantra is needed."
               He was very happy. He said, "This is how it should be done." I blindfolded him, told him to open
           his mouth, and he was lying there, very happy, waiting for the flies to come out. And I rushed into
           the house to find two flies. It was difficult because I have never caught flies before, but somehow I
           managed it, and when he opened his eyes and saw those two flies in the bottle he said, "Now give
           this bottle to me. I will go to those fools." And he was perfectly okay. But it is very difficult to help
           such people, very difficult, because you know that their difficulty is all false.
               Subhuti is asking, "Lord, first tell us how to stand here, because our roots are gone, we don't
           belong to this world any more. Our attachments are gone -- they are the roots. And how to progress,
           to work? -- because we now know that this is all just nonsense; people are imagining all their
           miseries. And how to control thoughts?"
               What does he mean? Because a bodhisattva has no thoughts ordinarily -- not the thoughts that
           you have. Now there is only one thought, and that thought is of the other shore... and the other shore
           continuously pulls. The door is open, you can enter into utter bliss, and you are holding yourself at
           the door -- and the door is open.
               First you were searching for many lives for where the door is; then you were knocking and
           knocking for many lives -- now the door is open. And Buddha says, "You wait, you remain outside
           the door. There are many who have to be helped." Naturally a great desire to enter, a great passion to
           enter through the door will arise. That's what he is asking.

              AFTER THESE WORDS
              THE LORD SAID TO SUBHUTI:'THEREFORE, SUBHUTI, LISTEN WELL
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND ATTENTIVELY. SOMEONE WHO HAS SET OUT
              IN THE VEHICLE OF A BODHISATTVA
              SHOULD PRODUCE A THOUGHT IN THIS MANNER;'


              It does not look very good in the English translation. The Sanskrit word is CHITTOPAD. One
           should create such a mind, such a decision; one should create such a great decision, determination --
           CHITTOPAD -- in this manner:
              '"AS MANY BEINGS AS THERE ARE
              IN THE UNIVERSE OF BEINGS,
              COMPREHENDED UNDER THE TERM 'BEINGS',
              ALL THESE I MUST LEAD TO NIRVANA..."'


               "Not one or two, Subhuti, not one or two, but all the beings -- men, women, animals, birds, trees,
           rocks. All the beings in the world. One should create such a determination that 'I will lead all of them
           into Nirvana.'"
              '... INTO THAT REALM OF NIRVANA
              WHICH LEAVES NOTHING BEHIND.
              AND YET, ALTHOUGH INNUMERABLE BEINGS
              HAVE THUS BEEN LED TO NIRVANA;
              NO BEING AT ALL HAS BEEN LED TO NIRVANA.'


               That too you have to remember, you should not forget; otherwise, leading others, you will fall
           into ignorance again.
               All the beings have to be led to the other shore, and still you have to remember that their miseries
           are false, so your remedies are also false. And you have to remember that they have no selves;
           neither do you have any self. So don't forget; don't think that you are helping people, that you are a
           great helper, this and that, otherwise you will fall again. Again you will grow roots on this shore.
               So two things have to be remembered. You have to remain on this shore with great
           determination, otherwise you will be pulled by the other; and yet you are not to grow roots, again
           otherwise you will not be of any help. You will destroy yourself, you will fall into the dream again.
              'AND WHY?
              IF IN A BODHISATTVA
              THE NOTION OF A "BEING" SHOULD TAKE PLACE,
              HE COULD NOT BE CALLED A "BODHI-BEING".
              AND WHY?
              HE IS NOT TO BE CALLED A "BODHI-BEING"
              IN WHOM THE NOTION OF A SELF
              OR OF A BEING SHOULD TAKE PLACE,
              OR THE NOTION OF A LIVING SOUL
              OR OF A PERSON.'


               "So you have to remember, Subhuti, two things. One, that you have to lead all the beings to the
           other shore, and still you have to remember that nobody has a being -- neither you nor they. All egos
           are false and illusory.
           "Go on remembering this and go on with great determination. Help people to the other shore. They
           are already there; you just have to make them alert and aware. But don't get lost, don't become a
           saviour -- these two things."
               And again and again Buddha will repeat in this sutra THE VEHICLE OF THE BODHISATTVA.
           I would like you all to become bodhisattvas.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Diamond Sutra
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                    Chapter #2
                                            Chapter title: Love Released
           22 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712220
              ShortTitle: DIAMON02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 66 mins




              The first question:


              OSHO,
              IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE NO-MIND EVOLVES QUITE NATURALLY OUT OF THE MIND
              WITHOUT STRUGGLE AND ANGUISH, WITHOUT EXPLODING, HAMMERING, CUTTING AND
              SUCH WILD ACTS? IS THE VERY IDEA OF NO-MIND, WHICH SEEMS TO BE IN THE MIND AND
              YET TRANSCENDING THE MIND, A SEEDLIKE FORM OF THE NO-MIND? IS IT HELPFUL TO
              MEDITATE ALONG THESE LINES OF MIND-TRANSCENDING CONCEPTS LIKE ETERNITY,
              NIRVANA, DEATH? MY MIND SEEMS TO EXPLODE WHEN I DO. IT FEELS LIKE I AM PUSHING
              OVER MY LIMIT AND I GET AFRAID OF BECOMING SCHIZOPHRENIC.


                The no-mind cannot arise out of the mind. It is not a growth of the mind, it is not in continuity
           with the mind; it is discontinuous. It is as discontinuous as disease is with health. The health does not
           arise out of the disease, it arises out of the removal of the disease. Disease was encroaching the space
           and was not allowing the health to bloom. The disease has to be removed. It is like a rock blocking
           the path of a small spring. You remove the rock and the spring starts flowing. It does not arise out of
           the rock. The rock was blocking it, the rock was a block. So is the mind. Mind is the block for the
           no-mind.
                No-mind simply means that which is not mind at all. How can it arise out of the mind? If it arises
           out of the mind, it may be super-mind, but it can't be no-mind. That's where I differ from Shree
           Aurobindo. He talks about the super-mind. A super-mind is the same mind more decorated, more
           cultivated, more cultured, more sophisticated, more strong, more integrated -- but all the time the
           same old mind.
                Buddha says not super-mind but no-mind; not super-soul but no soul; not super-individuality,
           super-self, but no-self, ANATTA. That is where Buddha is unique and his understanding the deepest.
           A super-mind is a growth, a no-mind is a leap, a jump. The no-mind has nothing to do with the mind
           at all. They never meet even, they never encounter each other. When the mind is there, the no-mind
           is not there. When the no-mind is there, the mind is not there. They don't even say hello to each other
           -- they can't. The presence of the one is necessarily the absence of the other. So remember it.
                That's why I say Shree Aurobindo never became enlightened. He remained polishing the mind.
           He was a great mind, but to be a great mind is not to be enlightened. So is Bertrand Russell a great
           mind. But to be a great mind is not to be enlightened. So is Friedrich Nietzsche a great mind -- and
           Aurobindo and Nietzsche have many similarities. Nietzsche talks about the superman and Aurobindo
           also talks about the superman. But the superman will be a projected man. A superman will be this
           man; all the weaknesses destroyed, all the strengths strengthened -- but this man. Bigger than this
           man, stronger than this man, higher than this man, but still on the same wavelength, the same ladder.
           There is no radical change, there has never been a discontinuity.
                No-mind means discontinuity with all that you are. YOU have to die for no-mind to be.
                So the first thing. You ask, "Is it possible that the no-mind evolves quite naturally out of the
           mind?" No. It is not an evolution, it is a revolution. The mind is dropped and suddenly you find the
           no-mind is there, has always been there. The mind was clouding, making you confused, was not
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           allowing you to see that which is. So it is not an evolution.
                And you ask, "Is it possible without struggle and anguish?" It has nothing to do with struggle and
           anguish. No-mind has nothing to do with struggle and anguish. It does not come out of struggle and
           anguish. Anything that comes out of struggle and anguish will carry the wounds. Even if those
           wounds are healed, the scars will be carried. It will be again a continuity.
                The struggle and anguish is not for the no-mind; the struggle and anguish arises because the
           mind struggles to keep itself in power. The fight is given by the mind. The mind does not want to go,
           the mind wants to stay. The mind has become so powerful; it possesses you. It says, "No, I am not
           going to get out. I am going to stay here." The whole struggle and anguish is because of the mind.
           The no-mind has nothing to do with it. And you will have to go through this anguish and struggle. If
           you don't go through the anguish and the struggle, the mind is not going to leave you.
                And again let me repeat, the no-mind is not born out of your struggle; out of your struggle only
           comes the mind. The no-mind comes without any struggle. The rock gives you the struggle. It does
           not want to move. It has remained in that spot for centuries, for millennia -- who are you to remove
           it? "And about what spring are you talking? There is none. I have been here for centuries and I know
           -- there is none. Forget all about it!" But you want to remove the rock. The rock is heavy, the rock is
           rooted in the earth. It has remained there for so long. It has attachments; it does not want to go. And
           it knows nothing of the spring. But you will have to remove this rock. Unless this rock is removed,
           the spring will not flow.
                You ask: "without exploding, hammering, cutting and such wild acts?" The no-mind has nothing
           to do with your acts. But the mind will not go. You will have to hammer and cut and you will have to
           do a thousand and one things.
           "Is the very idea of no-mind, which seems to be in the mind and yet transcending the mind, a
           seed-like form of the no-mind?"
                No -- there is no seed in the mind of the no-mind. The mind cannot contain even the seed of
           no-mind. The mind has no space to contain it. No-mind is vast, like the sky. How can it be contained
           in a tiny thing, the mind? And the mind is already too full -- full of thoughts, desires, fantasies,
           imaginations, memories. There is no space.
                In the first place it is very tiny -- it cannot contain the no-mind. In the second place it is so full,
           overcrowded, so noisy. The no-mind is silent, the mind is noisy. The mind cannot contain it; the
           mind has to cease. In that cessation is the beginning of a new life, a new being, a new world.
                Is it helpful, you ask, to meditate along these lines of mind-transcending concepts like eternity,
           nirvana, death?
                Those so-called mind-transcending concepts are still concepts and are of the mind. When you are
           thinking of eternity, what will you do? You will think. When you are thinking of nirvana, what is
           going to happen? Your mind will spin and weave, and your mind will give you beautiful ideas about
           nirvana -- but that will be all mind work. What can you think about death? What will you think if
           you think about death? You don't know. How can you think anything about that which you don't
           know?
                Mind is perfectly capable in repeating the known; with the unknown it is impotent. You don't
           know eternity, all that you know is time. Even when you think of eternity it is nothing but
           lengthened time, stretched time -- but it is time. What do you know about nirvana? -- all that you
           have heard about it, read about it. That is not nirvana. The word nirvana is not nirvana, and the
           concept of nirvana is not nirvana. The word God is not God, and all the pictures and all the statues
           that have been made of God have nothing to do with him -- because he has no name and no form.
                And what are you going to think about death? How can you think about death? You have heard a
           few things, you have seen a few people dying, but you have never seen death. When you see a man
           dying what do you see? He breathes no more; that's all that you see. His body has become cold; that's
           all that you see. What more? Is this death? -- the body becoming cold, breathing stopping? is this all?
           What has happened to the innermost core of the person? You cannot know without dying. You
           cannot know without experiencing. The only way to know the unknown is to experience it.
                So these concepts won't help. They may rather, on the contrary, strengthen the mind, because the
           mind will say, "Look, I can even supply you mind-transcending concepts. See what I am doing for
           you. Keep me with you always. I will help you to become enlightened. Without me you will be
           nowhere. Without me how will you think about death and nirvana and eternity? I am absolutely
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           essential. Without me you will not be anything at all."
                No, these meditations won't help. You have to see it -- that the mind is not going to help at all.
           When you see the point that mind is not going to help at all, in that very helplessness, in that very
           state, there is silence; all stops. If the mind cannot do anything, then nothing is left to do. Suddenly
           all thinking is paralyzed; it is pointless. In that paralysis you will have the first glimpse of no-mind...
           just a small window will open. In that stopping of the mind you will have a taste of no-mind. And
           then things will start moving. Then it will be easier for you to get lost into the boundariless-ness.
                You cannot meditate, you have to go into it. Meditating upon it is a pseudo activity; it is a kind
           of avoiding, escaping. You are afraid of death, you think about death. You are afraid of nirvana, you
           think about nirvana. Thinking gives you the feeling that you are capable even of thinking about death
           and nirvana.
           My mind seems to explode when I do.
                Mind is very cunning. It must be deceiving you -- because mind cannot explode while you are
           thinking. About what you are thinking does not matter; while you are thinking, mind cannot explode.
           Mind will be enjoying it, and in that very enjoyment you are thinking you are exploding.
                It feels like I am pushing over my limit and I get afraid of becoming schizophrenic.
                Dinesh, you need not be afraid of ever becoming schizophrenic, because you already are --
           everybody is. Mind is schizophrenic, because mind knows nothing of unity. Mind is always split.
           Mind always has alternatives. To be or not to be, to do this or to do that. Mind is always indecisive.
           Even if you choose something it is only a part of the mind that chooses it, the other part remains
           against it.
                The mind is never total, so mind is schizophrenic. You need not be afraid of that. To be in the
           mind is to be schizophrenic. Only Buddhas are beyond it. The whole humanity is schizophrenic,
           more or less. When you go beyond a point then you have to seek and search for the psychiatrist, but
           the difference is only of degrees; the difference is only of quantity not quality. Even between you
           and your psychoanalyst there is only a difference of degrees.
                Remember, mind will not help. Mind cannot help, mind can only hinder. Seeing this, no-mind
           arrives. It is not that you bring it; it arrives on its own accord.

           The second question:


              IN YESTERDAY'S SUTRA, BUDDHA SAYS 'SOMEONE WHO HAS SET OUT IN THE VEHICLE OF
              A BODHISATTVA SHOULD DECIDE THAT "I MUST LEAD ALL THE BEINGS TO NIRVANA, INTO
              THAT REALM OF NIRVANA WHICH LEAVES NOTHING BEHIND."' OSHO, WHAT IS THIS REALM
              OF NIRVANA WHICH LEAVES NOTHING BEHIND?


                Buddha has talked about two kinds of nirvana. One he calls nirvana with substratum. The tree
           has disappeared, the tree of desires. The foliage, the leaves, the flowers, the fruits -- everything has
           disappeared. But the roots are still there underground, hidden in the dark soil. From the outside the
           tree has been removed, but the tree is still capable of renewing itself again. The substratum is still
           there, the seed has not been burnt yet. This he calls 'nirvana with substratum.
                This is exactly the same that Patanjali calls SABEEJ SAMADHI -- samadhi with seed. It is very
           difficult from the outside. The tree has been completely removed, but underneath the soil the roots
           are still alive, waiting for the right moment to sprout again. Rains will come and they will sprout.
           They are waiting for their season, for the moment again to assert.
                This is the state when many times you have come to the point where mind disappears, no-mind is
           felt, but again mind comes back, again it sprouts. You reach to a peak. That moment of that peak
           experience, you think all is finished, now you will never be falling back to the valley of darkness.
           You think that you will never go back into those ugly and miserable days, that the dark night of the
           soul is over, that the morning has arrived, that the sun has arisen.
                But again one day you suddenly find you are slipping back into the darkness -- again the valley,
           again light is no more, again that peak experience is just a memory. And one starts becoming
           doubtful whether it has happened or not. "Have I been just imagining? Or maybe I was just
           dreaming." ... Because if it had happened then where has it gone? Where is that sunlit peak? Where
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are those moments of ecstasy? And misery is back and anger is back and agony is back -- you have
           fallen into hell again. This happens many times.
               This Buddha calls nirvana with substratum; sabeej samadhi in Patanjali's words. Manifestation of
           the world is gone but the unmanifested seed remains.
               The second nirvana Buddha calls the nirvana without substratum. In Patanjali's words NIRBEEJ
           SAMADHI -- seedless samadhi. Not only the tree has been destroyed, but the seed also burned. A
           burned seed cannot sprout again, all substratum is gone. Then you remain on the peak forever, then
           there is no falling back.
               That's what Buddha says in yesterday's sutra: 'SOMEONE WHO HAS SET OUT IN THE
           VEHICLE OF A BODHISATTVA SHOULD DECIDE THAT "I MUST LEAD ALL THE BEINGS
           INTO NIRVANA, INTO THAT REALM OF NIRVANA WHICH LEAVES NOTHING
           BEHIND..."' which leaves no substratum, no roots, no seeds behind.

           The third question:


              OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE ZEN APPROACH TOWARDS SEX? THE ZEN PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE A NEUTER
              GENDER, OR ASEXUAL AURA ABOUT THEM.


                Zen has no attitudes about sex, and that is the beauty of Zen. To have an attitude means you are
           still obsessed this way or that. Somebody is against sex -- he has an attitude; and somebody is for sex
           -- he has an attitude. And for and against go together like two wheels of a bullock cart. They are not
           enemies, they are friends, partners in the same business.
                Zen has no attitude about sex. Why should one have any attitude about sex? That's the beauty of
           it -- Zen is utterly natural. Do you have any attitudes about drinking water? Do you have any
           attitudes about taking food? Do you have any attitudes about going to sleep in the night? No
           attitudes.
                I know there are mad people who have attitudes about these things too: that one should not sleep
           more than five hours. Sleep is a kind of sin, something like a necessary evil, so one should not sleep
           more than five hours; or in India there are people who think only three hours. And I have come
           across one person who has not slept for ten years. And he is worshipped for this only; he has nothing
           else, no other creative talents. It is his only talent. Maybe he is just an insomniac. Maybe even this is
           not a talent, maybe he cannot sleep.
                He has gone so neurotic that he cannot relax, and he looks mad. One will become mad if for ten
           years one has not slept. And people come, crowds come, to worship him. He has attained something
           great. What has he attained? What is the attainment there? He is just an abnormal person, ill. To
           sleep is natural. And he is bound to be very tense -- he is tense. He must be boiling within. Just think,
           for ten years not sleeping! But now it has become a great investment, now it is paying. His madness
           has become an invest-ment, now thousands of people worship him -- only for this?
                Down the ages this has been one of the greatest calamities -- that people have been worshipping
           uncreative things, and sometimes pathological things. Then you have an attitude about sleep. There
           are people who have an attitude about food. To eat this or to eat that; to eat only so much, not more
           than that. They don't listen to the body, to whether the body is hungry or not. They have a certain
           idea and they impose the idea on nature.
                Zen has no attitudes about sex. Zen is very simple, Zen is innocent. Zen is childlike. It says there
           is no need to have any attitudes. Why? Do you have any attitude about sneezing? -- to sneeze or not,
           whether it is sin or virtue. You don't have any attitude. But I have come across one man who is
           against sneezing, and whenever he sneezes he immediately repeats a mantra to protect himself. He
           belongs to a small foolish sect. That sect thinks that when you sneeze the soul goes out. In the sneeze
           the soul goes out, and if you don't remember God it may not come back. So you have to remember,
           you have to immediately remember so that the soul is given back. If you die while sneezing you will
           go into hell.
                You can have attitudes about anything. Once you have attitudes, your innocence is destroyed and
           those attitudes start controlling you. Zen is neither for anything nor against anything. Zen says
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whatsoever is ordinary is good. To be ordinary, to be a no one, to be a nothingness, to be without any
           ideology, to be without character, to be characterless....
               When you have a character you have some kind of neurosis. Character means something has
           become fixed in you. Character means your past. Character means conditioning, cultivation. When
           you have a character you are imprisoned in it, you are no more free. When you have a character you
           have an armor around yourself. You are no more a free person. You are carrying your prison around
           yourself; it is a very subtle prison. A real man will be characterless.
               What do I mean when I say he will be characterless? He will be free of the past. He will act in
           the moment according to the moment. He will be spontaneous; only he can be spontaneous. He will
           not look back into the memories for what to do. A situation has arisen and you are looking in the
           memory -- then you have a character. Then you are asking your past, "What should I do?" When you
           don't have any character you simply look into the situation and the situation decides what has to be
           done. Then it is spontaneous and there is response and not reaction.
               Zen has no belief-system about anything, and that includes sex too -- Zen says nothing about it.
           And that should be the ultimate thing. Tantra has an attitude about sex. The reason? -- it tries to
           redress what the society has done. Tantra is medical. The society has repressed sex; Tantra comes as
           a remedy to help you redress balance. You have leaned too much to the left; Tantra comes and helps
           you to lean to the right. And to redress the balance sometimes you have to lean too much to the right,
           only then the balance is gained. Have you not seen a rope walker, a tightrope walker? He carries a
           staff in his hand to keep balance. If he feels he is leaning too much to the left, he immediately starts
           leaning to the right. Then again he feels that now he has leaned too much to the right, he starts
           leaning towards the left. This is how he keeps in the middle. Tantra is a remedy.
               The society has created a repressive mind, a life-negative mind, an anti-joy mind. The society is
           very much against sex. Why is the society so much against sex? -- because if you allow people
           sexual pleasure, you cannot transform them into slaves. It is impossible -- a joyous person cannot be
           made a slave. That is the trick. Only sad people can be turned into slaves. A joyous person is a free
           person; he has a kind of independence to him.
               You cannot recruit joyous people for war. Impossible. Why should they go to war? But if a
           person has repressed his sexuality he is ready to go to war, he is eager to go to war, because he has
           not been able to enjoy life. He has become incapable of enjoying, hence has become incapable of
           creativity. Now he can do only one thing -- he can destroy. All his energies have become poison and
           destructive. He is ready to go to war -- not only ready, he is hankering for it. He wants to kill, he
           wants to destroy.
               In fact, while destroying human beings he will have a vicarious joy of penetrating. That
           penetrating could have been in love and would have been beautiful. When you penetrate a woman's
           body in love, it is one thing. It is spiritual. But when things go wrong and you penetrate somebody's
           body with a sword, with a spear, it is ugly, it is violent, it is destructive. But you are searching for a
           substitute for penetration.
               If society is allowed total freedom about joy, nobody will be destructive. People who can love
           beautifully are never destructive. And people who can love beautifully and have the joy of life will
           not be competitive either. These are the problems.
               That's why primitive people are not so competitive. They are enjoying their life. Who bothers to
           have a bigger house? Who bothers to have a bigger balance in the bank? For what? You are happy
           with your woman and with your man and you are having a dance of life. Who wants to sit in the
           marketplace for hours and hours and hours, day in, day out, year in, year out, hoping that in the end
           you will have a big bank balance and then you will retire and enjoy? That day never comes. It can't
           come, because the whole life you remain an ascetic.
               Remember, the business people are ascetic people. They have devoted everything to money.
           Now a man who knows love and has known the thrill of love and the ecstasy of it will not be
           competitive. He will be happy if he can get his daily bread. That is the meaning of Jesus' prayer:
           "Give us our daily bread." That is more than enough. Now Jesus looks foolish. He should have
           asked, "Give us a bigger bank balance." He asks only for the daily bread? A joyous man never asks
           for more than that. The joy is so fulfilling.
               It is only unfulfilled beings who are competitive, because they think life is not here, it is there. "I
           have to reach to Delhi and become the president," or to the White House and become this or that. "I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have to go there, joy is there" -- because they know here there is no joy. So they are always on the
           go, go, go, go. They are always on the go, and they never reach. And the man who knows the joy, is
           here. Why should he be going to Delhi? For what? He is utterly happy herenow. His needs are very
           small. He has no desires. He has needs certainly, but no desires. Needs can be fulfilled, desires
           never. Needs are natural, desires are perverted.
               Now this whole society depends on one thing and that is sex repression. Otherwise the economy
           will be destroyed, sabotaged. War will disappear and with it the whole war machinery, and the
           politics will become meaningless and the politician will no longer be important. Money will not have
           value if people are allowed to love. Because they are not allowed to love, money becomes the
           substitute, money becomes their love. So there is a subtle strategy. Sex has to be repressed,
           otherwise this whole structure of the society will fall immediately.
               Only love released into the world will bring revolution. communism has failed, fascism has
           failed, capitalism has failed. All 'isms' have failed because deep down they are all sex repressive. On
           that point there is no difference -- no difference between Washington aud Moscow, Beijing and
           Delhi -- there is no difference at all. They all agree upon one thing -- that sex has to be controlled,
           that people are not to be allowed to have innocent joy in sex.
               To redress the balance comes Tantra; Tantra is a remedy. So it emphasizes sex too much. The
           so-called religions say sex is sin and Tantra says sex is the only sacred phenomenon. Tantra is a
           remedy. Zen is not a remedy. Zen is the state when the illness has disappeared; and of course, with
           the illness, the remedy too. Once you are cured of your illness you don't go on carrying the
           prescription and the bottle and the medicine with you. You throw it. It goes to the dustbin.
               Ordinary society is against sex; Tantra comes to help humanity, to give sex back to humanity.
           And when the sex has been given back, then arises Zen. Zen has no attitude. Zen is pure health.

           The fourth question:


              OSHO,
              IS EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD OKAY? AND WHAT HAS THAT TO DO WITH LOVE? WHEN
              YOU SAY THE WORLD IS OKAY IT SOUNDS OKAY TO ME. IF ANYBODY ELSE SAYS SO, OR IF I
              SAY SO, IT SOUNDS WRONG.


               It depends on who is saying it. When I say the world is okay, I am not propounding a theory, I
           am sharing a vision. In fact, the word theory comes from a Greek root THEORIA, and theoria means
           vision. When I am saying anything to you, it is not mind stuff; I am sharing my experience. In those
           moments, if you are available to me and open to me, you will also have the vision; a little bit of my
           vision will spill into your being. For the moment the doors will open and you will say, "Yes, this is
           so."
               When somebody else is saying it, and if it is not his vision.... Even when you say to somebody
           and it is no more your vision -- it was just a borrowed eyesight -- it will not sound right. If a man like
           Buddha even tells a lie, it will sound like truth. And if you tell even a truth, it will sound like a lie.
               It depends more from where it comes, the source; not what you say, but who says. You can go on
           repeating Christ's words and nobody is going to crucify you. Why? Why don't they crucify you? You
           can declaim the whole Sermon on the Mount and you can go on standing. And that's what people are
           doing all over the world -- Christian priests, and missionaries and Witnesses of Jehovah, mm? All
           kinds of people are doing that -- carrying the New Testament, quoting the New Testament, repeating
           the words, and nobody crucifies them. Why? When Jesus said these things what was the matter? The
           words had fire then. Jesus was sharing his vision. When you repeat, there is no vision in it; it is a
           mere word. It has no passion, no intensity, no truth. Truth comes only through experience.
               You ask: "IS EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD OKAY?" When I say the world is okay, what do
           I really mean? I mean this is the only world and there is no other world. You don't have any way to
           compare. Okay or not okay is irrelevant. This is the only world there is; there is no other. You cannot
           compare whether it is better or not better. Comparison is not possible. Comparison is possible only
           when there are two worlds, but there are not.
               So when I say, "All is okay," I mean there is no point in comparing. But why do people say that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this is not the right world? They have created an utopia in their mind and they compare with the
           utopia. They have an idea of how things should be and then nothing seems to be right, because
           things are not like their utopian idea. If you think man should have four eyes.... And that looks very
           logical; two for the back. Two eyes don't look right -- what about the back? What if somebody
           comes from the back and hits you? God has missed there... two eyes in the back. Then things are not
           okay -- man has only two eyes; man should have four. Then suddenly man is not okay. And man is
           the same; you have just created an idea, and that idea condemns.
               Man should live more than seventy years. Why? Once you say that man should live seven
           hundred years then seventy years look very poor. But why? What will you be doing here for seven
           hundred years? Don't you think seventy years are enough to do harm? to destroy? You need seven
           hundred years? Just think of Adolf Hitler living seven hundred years.
               Once you have an idea, a goal, then things become different. I have no idea; I am absolutely
           non-utopian, I am absolutely realistic. I carry no ideals in my mind. Then this is the only world;
           roses are red and trees are green and people are this way -- the way they are -- and it is absolutely
           beautiful.
           "IS EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD OKAY? AND WHAT HAS THAT TO DO WITH LOVE?"
               That has much to do with love. If the world is okay, only then you can love. If the world is not
           okay, you become a politician, you become political. The politician depends on the idea that the
           world is not okay: he has to bring a revolution, he has to change things, he has to put things right, he
           has to improve upon God. That is the politician's mind. And the politician has no love, he has only
           condemnation, because he has judged.
               The religious mind has no judgment. Jesus says, "Judge ye not." The religious mind has no
           judgment, has no condemnation, hence he can love. And remember, in your life also, you can love
           only when you don't judge. If you have too many ideas to judge with, you will never love. You will
           go on imposing your ideas on whomsoever becomes a victim of your so-called love. You will go on
           imposing your ideas on him. Even if a child is born to you, immediately you will jump on him and
           start manipulating, managing, improving. And you will destroy the being. That's how everybody has
           been destroyed by the parents and by the society.
               If you love a woman, you immediately start improving how she should be. And the woman, of
           course, is a great improver. If you become a victim of a woman's love, then you are no more. Then
           she will improve you so much that she will make something else out of you. After a few years you
           will not be able to recognize who you are. She will cut and prune and do things and paint: "Behave
           this way" and "Speak this way" and "Talk this way."

               A young woman fell in love with a man. The woman was a Catholic and the man was a Jew. The
           woman's family was very worried, and they said, "We cannot allow vou." The family was very rich,
           and they said, "If you marry this man then you will not inherit anything." And she was the only
           child, so all the money was hers.
               Now this was too much, so she asked, "What should I do?"
               So they said, "First convert him, let him become a Catholic -- then....
           "So she tried, and she was very happy, because the Jew was more interested in the money than in the
           woman, so he was very willing. A Jew is a Jew, he was very willing. He started reading The Bible
           and started going to the church, and he was over-enthusiastic. The woman was very happy -- things
           were going perfectly well -- and after every month she would report to her parents that things are
           going perfectly well.
               Then one day she came home and was crying and weeping and the father asked, "What is the
           matter? What happened?'
               She had gone to ask the man to get married, she was thinking that he was ready. And she said to
           her father, "Yes, he is ready, but I have done too much reformation, I have reformed him too much."
               The father was confused. He said, "I don't understand. What do you mean? Too much?"
               She said, "Yes, now he wants to become a Catholic monk. I have overdone."

               What you call love is more or less reforming the other. And you go on saying that you want to
           reform the other because you love. This is absolutely untrue. If you love you never reform anybody.
           Love accepts. Love respects the other as he is.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If the world is okay as it is, only then can you love it. The revolutionary, the politician cannot
           love it; only the religious consciousness can love it. And when you love you come to know that it is
           even more okay than you had thought before. Then you love more, and then you come to find that it
           is immensely beautiful, not just okay. Then more love... and by and by you find that the world
           disappears -- it is God himself.

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              THE FIRST TIME I SAW A DEAD HUMAN BEING WAS WHEN I SAW MY DEAD GRANDMOTHER.
              SHE LAY THERE AND LOOKED SO WHITE AND PEACEFUL, SO SILENT AND HAPPY, OPEN
              AND CLOSED AT THE SAME TIME. I WAS JEALOUS, BUT AT THE SAME TIME AFRAID. I
              THOUGHT SHE MUST BE SO LONELY. I COULD NOT REACH HER ANY MORE.
              WHEN I SAW YOU, DEAR OSHO, ON YOUR BIRTHDAY DARSHAN, I HAD EXACTLY THE SAME
              FEELINGS. DID YOU NOT FEEL VERY VERY LONELY BETWEEN ALL THE NOISES,
              SHATTERINGS, MOVINGS? YOU WERE SO FAR AND IN HOLY SILENCE -- AS NEVER BEFORE
              FOR ME.
              ARE YOU DEAD AND ALIVE AT THE SAME TIME?

              The question is from Ma Prem Aranyo.

               Death is beautiful, as beautiful as life -- if you just know how to communicate with death. It is
           beautiful because it is relaxation. It is beautiful because the person has fallen back into the source of
           existence -- to relax, to rest, to be ready to come back again.
               A wave rises in the ocean, then falls back into the ocean, then rises again. It will have another
           day, it will be born again in some other form. And then it falls again and disappears.
               Death is just disappearing into the source. Death is going to the unmanifested. Death is falling
           asleep into God. You will bloom again. You will again see the sun and the moon, and again and
           again till you become a Buddha -- till you are capable of dying consciously, till you are capable of
           relaxing consciously, knowingly, into God. Then there is no coming back. That is utter death, that is
           ultimate death. The ordinary death is a temporary death; you will be coming back again. When a
           Buddha dies, he dies forever. His death has the quality of eternity. But even the temporary death is
           beautiful.
               And you are right, Aranyo, I am dead and alive at the same time. As a person, I am dead. As
           somebody, I am dead. As nobody, I am alive.
               You say: "THE FIRST TIME I SAW A DEAD HUMAN BEING WAS WHEN I SAW MY
           DEAD GRANDMOTHER. SHE LAY THERE AND LOOKED SO WHITE AND PEACEFUL, SO
           SILENT, SO HAPPY, OPEN AND CLOSED AT THE SAME TIME. I WAS JEALOUS BUT AT
           THE SAME TIME AFRAID."
               Remember, that may be your relationship with me too, jealous and at the same time afraid too.
           You will have to put your fear aside, because the fear can prevent you -- can prevent you from
           enjoying this opportunity that is available to you. It is very difficult to find a nobody; you have found
           one. And unless you also become a nobody, go on remembering you are missing the opportunity.
           Die as I have died, and then you will be alive as I am alive.
               There is a life which has nothing to do with any person. There is a life which has nothing to do
           with any self. There is a life of emptiness, innocent and virgin. I make it available to you. Put your
           fears aside, come closer to me. Let me become your death and your resurrection.
               A Zen master, Bunon has said, "While living, be a dead man, be thoroughly dead, and behave as
           you like and all is well."

           The last question:


              IS KNOWLEDGE ALWAYS DANGEROUS?
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Not always. And knowledge is not dangerous, knowledgeability is dangerous. To know about
           facts is perfectly good, but to forget the mystery of life is dangerous. So knowledge is not always
           dangerous; sometimes it can be of great help too.
           A little anecdote:

               Irish Paddy's wife Maureen had been rushed to the hospital that morning. Nine months pregnant
           and now in labor, she gives birth to two beautiful twin daughters.
               Irish Paddy, after a day's work laboring with rubble on the building site, marched up to the
           hospital in the cool of an autumn evening to visit his wife in the maternity ward.
           "Oh, hello, little sweet darling," he cooed to his Maureen, as he approached the bed with a glint of
           curiosity in his right eye, as he observed two tiny babies arriving by the bed, hand in hand with a
           nurse.
           "I have had twins, me luv," said Maureen. And for ten long minutes Paddy sat bemused by that bed,
           not knowing how to work it out.
               The ward bell rang, Paddy kissed his wife and left. "By Christ!" he muttered, as he walked the
           long corridor, "If I find the other bugger I will kill him."

           Enough for today.




                                             The Diamond Sutra
                                                   Chapter #3
                                     Chapter title: The Wheel of Dhamma
           23 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712230
              ShortTitle: DIAMON03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 67 mins




              VAJRACHCHEDIKA
              PRAJNAPARAMITA
              SUTRA
              OF
              GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA

              'BECAUSE A BODHISATTVA
              WHO GIVES A GIFT
              SHOULD NOT BE SUPPORTED BY A THING,
              NOR SHOULD HE BE SUPPORTED ANYWHERE.'
              'THE GREAT BEING SHOULD GIVE GIFTS
              IN SUCH A WAY
              THAT HE IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE NOTION OF A SIGN.
              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE THE HEAP OF MERIT OF THAT BODHI-BEING,
              WHO UNSUPPORTED GIVES A GIFT,
              IS NOT EASY TO MEASURE.'



              THE LORD CONTINUED:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, CAN THE TATHAGATA
              BE SEEN BY THE POSSESSION OF HIS MARKS?'
              SUBHUTI REPLIED:
              'NO INDEED, O LORD. AND WHY?
              WHAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT BY THE TATHAGATA
              AS THE POSSESSION OF MARKS,
              THAT IS TRULY A NO-POSSESSION OF NO-MARKS.'



              THE LORD SAID:
              WHEREVER THERE IS POSSESSION OF MARKS,
              THERE IS FRAUD;
              WHEREVER THERE IS NO-POSSESSION OF NO-MARKS,
              THERE IS NO FRAUD.
              HENCE THE TATHAGATA IS TO BE SEEN
              FROM NO-MARKS AS MARKS.'



              SUBHUTI ASKED:
              'WILL THERE BE ANY BEINGS IN THE FUTURE PERIOD, IN THE LAST TIME, IN THE LAST
              EPOCH, IN THE LAST FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, AT THE TIME OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE GOOD
              DOCTRINE WHO, WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA ARE BEING TAUGHT, WILL
              UNDERSTAND THEIR TRUTH?'



              THE LORD REPLIED:
              'DO NOT SPEAK THUS, SUBHUTI!
              YES, EVEN THEN THERE WILL BE BEINGS WHO, WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA ARE
              BEING TAUGHT, WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR TRUTH. FOR EVEN AT THAT TIME, SUBHUTI,
              THERE WILL BE BODHISATTVAS.
              AND THESE BODHISATTVAS, SUBHUTI, WILL NOT BE SUCH AS HAVE HONORED ONLY ONE
              SINGLE BUDDHA, NOR SUCH AS HAVE PLANTED THEIR ROOTS OF MERIT UNDER ONE
              SINGLE BUDDHA ONLY.
              ON THE CONTRARY, SUBHUTI, THOSE BODHISATTVAS WHO, WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE
              SUTRA ARE BEING TAUGHT, WILL FIND EVEN ONE SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH, BE
              SUCH AS HAVE HONORED MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BUDDHAS, SUCH AS HAVE
              PLANTED THEIR ROOTS OF MERIT UNDER MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BUDDHAS.
              KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA THROUGH HIS BUDDHA-COGNITION.
              SEEN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, BY THE TATHAGATA WITH HIS BUDDHA-EYE.
              FULLY-KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA. AND THEY ALL, SUBHUTI WILL
              BEGET AND ACQUIRE AN IMMEASURABLE AND INCALCULABLE HEAP OF MERIT.'


              THEREFORE, SUBHUTI, LISTEN WELL AND ATTENTIVELY, says Gautama the Buddha.

               These are strange words -- strange, because Buddha is addressing a bodhisattva. They would not
           have been strange if they were addressed to an ordinary human being. One can understand that the
           ordinary human being needs to listen well. To listen is so difficult. To listen means to be herenow.
           To listen means to be without any thought. To listen means to be alert and aware. If these conditions
           are fulfilled, only then you listen.
               The mind goes on like a maniac inside, a raving maniac. The mind goes on spinning a thousand
           and one thoughts, and the mind goes on moving all over the world -- in the past, in the future. How
           can you listen? And whatsoever you listen to, it will not be right listening at all. You will listen to
           something else which has not been said at all, you will go on missing that which is said -- because
           you will not be in tune. You will listen to the words of course, because you are not deaf, but just that
           much is not listening.
               That's why Jesus goes on saying to his disciples: "If you have ears, listen. If you have eyes, see."
           Those disciples were neither blind nor deaf. They had eyes as healthy as you have, ears as good as
           you have. But Jesus' words are not strange; they are relevant. He is talking to ordinary people; he has
           to bring their attention, he has to shout. But Buddha's words are strange -- he is addressing a
           bodhisattva, a great being, a bodhi-being; one who is just on the verge of becoming a Buddha.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                What does it mean exactly when he says: "THEREFORE, SUBHUTI, LISTEN WELL AND
           ATTENTIVELY?"
                To listen well ordinarily means to listen in a receptive mood, in deep receptivity. When you
           listen, if you are arguing, if you are judging, if you are saying, "Yes, this is right because it fits with
           my ideology and this is not right because it doesn't appeal to me logically. This is right, this is not
           right. This I can believe, this I cannot believe...." If you are continuously sorting out things inside,
           you are listening but you are not listening well.
                And you are listening with your past mind interfering. Who is this judging? It is not you, it is
           your past. You have read a few things, you have heard a few things, you have been conditioned for a
           few things. It is the past continuously interfering. The past wants to perpetuate itself. It does not
           allow anything that can disrupt it. It does not allow anything new; it allows only the old that fits with
           it. That's what you go on doing when you judge, when you criticize, when you discuss inside and
           debate.
                To listen rightly means to listen obediently. This word obedience is beautiful. You will be
           surprised to know that the original root from which the word obedience comes is OBEDIRE -- it
           means 'a thorough listening'. Why does obedience mean thorough listening? Are they the same
           thing? Yes, they are. If you listen totally, thoroughly, you will obey. If truth is there, you will obey.
           You will not need any decision on your part. Truth is self-evident. Once heard, it automatically
           follows that you will follow it. Once heard, you will become obedient to it. Hence this word
           obedience comes from obedire -- listening thoroughly.
                Or as the Jewish tradition says, 'to bare your ear'. If you have really opened your ear and there is
           no interference and no disturbance inside, and no distraction from anywhere, you have not only
           opened your ear, you have opened your heart. And if the seed falls into the heart, sooner or later it
           will become a tree, sooner or later it is going to bloom. It may take a little time for it to become a
           tree. It will have to wait for the right season, for the spring to come, but it will become a tree. You
           will obey it if you have heard the truth.
                That's why the mind does not allow you to hear it, because the mind is aware of the fact that once
           truth is heard then there is no way to escape. So if you want to escape, it is better not to hear. Once
           heard, you are caught into it; then there is no escape. How can you escape when you know what truth
           is? Then the very phenomenon that you know what truth is, creates a discipline in you. You start
           following it. And it is not something that you enforce upon yourself; it comes on its own accord.
                The earlocks have to be removed. What are the earlocks? The fear of truth is the basic lock. You
           are afraid of the truth -- notwithstanding what you say, notwithstanding that you again and again say,
           "I want to know the truth." You are afraid of truth because you have lived in lies. And you have lived
           in lies so long that all those lies are afraid, trembling -- if truth comes they will all have to leave you.
           They have become owners of you. Just as darkness is afraid of light, so lies are afraid of truth. The
           moment you come closer to truth, the mind will become very much disturbed. It will create much
           stir, it will raise much dust, it will create a cloud around you so that you cannot hear what truth is.
                The earlocks have to be removed. The basic lock is fear. You are locked in fear. Buddha has said
           that unless you are fearless you will not attain to truth. And look at your religions, at what you have
           done. Your so-called religions are all based in fear. And through fear there is no way to truth; only
           fearlessness knows what truth is.
                When you bow down in a church or in a mosque or in a temple, to a statue, to a scripture, to
           tradition, from where is your bowing coming? Just watch inside -- and you will find fear and fear
           and fear. Out of fear there is no faith, but the so-called faith is all based on fear. That's why it is very
           rare in the world to come across a man who has faith, because faith happens only when fear has
           disappeared. Faith appears only on the death of fear.
                Faith means trust. How can a fearful man trust? He is always thinking, he is always cunning, he
           is always protecting, defending. How can he trust? To trust, you need courage. To trust, you need to
           be brave. To trust, you need to be able to risk. To trust, you need to move into danger.
                Just the other day I was looking at a Chinese ideogram for crisis and I was intrigued by it,
           because the Chinese ideogram for crisis consists of two symbols: one means danger, another means
           opportunity. Yes, that moment is a critical moment when you are facing danger and opportunity
           both. If you don't go into danger you will miss the opportunity. If you want the opportunity you will
           have to go into danger. Those who know how to live dangerously, only they are religious. Fear is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           basic earlock. Then there are others, but they arise out of the fear -- the judging, the argumentation,
           clinging with the past, not allowing the new any entry in your being.
                In many many forms, in many many languages, the word for obedience is an intensive form of
           the word listening. HORCHEN, GEHORCHEN, obedire, etcetera -- all these words simply say
           passionate, intense, total listening. One thing more. You will be surprised to know that the word
           absurd is the exact opposite of obedience. ABSURDUS means absolutely deaf. So if you say
           something is absurd, you are simply saying, "I am absolutely deaf to what this is going to tell me."
           Replace an absurd attitude with an obedient attitude and then you will be baring your ear, then you
           will be utterly open.
                But it is good to say to an ordinary human being, "listen attentively." Why does Buddha say this
           to Subhuti? There is something very significant to be understood. A word has no meaning in itself;
           the meaning is created only when the word is addressed. To whom it is addressed will determine the
           meaning. So you cannot find the meaning in any dictionary, because dictionaries are not written for
           bodhisattvas; they are written for ordinary human beings.
                So what does this mean -- 'LISTEN WELL AND ATTENTIVELY?' It means a few things which
           have to be understood. One: when a man like Subhuti is there, there is no question of earlocks, not at
           all. There is no question of his openness to Buddha, there is no doubt about it, he is open. There is no
           doubt that he is no longer arguing with Buddha; he is totally with him, flowing with him. But when a
           person has attained to bodhisattvahood, when one has come very close to buddhahood, there arise a
           few new problems.
                Each new stage of consciousness has its own problems. This is the problem with a bodhisattva:
           he is open, he is receptive, he is ready, but he has become uprooted from the body. His heart is open,
           his being is open, but he is no more rooted in the body. He has become detached from the body, the
           body is just hanging around. He does not live in the body, he is almost unidentified with the body --
           that is the problem.
                When someone says to you, "Listen well," he means that your body is listening but you are not
           listening. When Buddha says it to Subhuti he means, "You are listening, but your body is not
           listening." It is just the opposite. When you listen, your body is here, you are not here. The words
           reach to the ear, they make sound and noise there, and from the other ear they go out. They never
           cross your being; your being does not touch them. With a man like Subhuti just the opposite is the
           case. His being is there but his body is not there. He has lost track of the body. He forgets, he tends
           to forget the body. There are moments when he will not think of the body at all. He will be there but
           the body will not be there. He has come to bodilessness.
                Now, listening is possible only when body and soul both are together. In you the body is present,
           the soul is absent. In Subhuti the soul is present but the body is absent. That is the meaning of
           Buddha when he says, "Subhuti, listen well." Bring your body here. Let your body function. Get into
           the body, be rooted in the body, because the body is the vehicle, the body is the instrument, the
           medium.
                And Buddha says, "... and attentively." Is Subhuti lacking in attention? That is not possible
           otherwise he would not be a bodhi-being. A bodhi-being is one who has attained to attention, who is
           aware, who is alert, who is conscious, who is no more a robot. Then why does Buddha say. "Be
           attentive, listen attentively"? Again a different meaning has to be understood.
                A man like Subhuti tends to go inwards. If he is not making an effort he will drown into his
           being, he will be lost there. He can be outside only if he makes an effort. Just the opposite is with
           you. With a very great effort you can rarely move into your inner being. For a single moment
           thoughts stop and you are lost into the inner splendor. But it rarely happens, and after long arduous
           efforts, meditation, yoga, this and that, and then only for a few moments you have that beauty, that
           benediction. The sky opens, the clouds disappear and there is light, and there is life and there is utter
           joy. But only for rare moments... again and again it is lost. If you make great effort to be attentive,
           you attain the inner experience.
                With Subhuti, just the opposite is the case: he is lost inside himself, he is utterly drowned by his
           inner joy. Unless he makes an effort he will not be able to listen to what Buddha is saying. He is
           perfectly capable of listening to Buddha's silence. If Buddha is silent there is communion, but if
           Buddha is saying something then he has to make effort, he has to pull himself together, he has to
           come out, he has to come in the body, he has to be very attentive. He is drunk with the inner wine.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Hence Buddha says these strange words: "LISTEN WELL, AND ATTENTIVELY." And this is
           for the first time that I am explaining to you these words. For twenty-five centuries nobody has
           commented on these words. They have been taken ordinarily, as if Buddha is saying to anybody,
           "Listen well, attentively." Buddha is not talking to an ordinary human being.
               For twenty-five centuries nobody has commented rightly. People have been thinking they
           understand the meaning of the words. The meaning of the words changes; it depends by whom they
           are used, for whom they are used. The meaning of the words depends on the context and the
           circumstance. The words don't have any meaning in themselves. The words are meaningless. The
           meaning arises only in a particular situation.
               Now this situation is very rare. Buddha has used these words thousands of times; every day he
           had to use these words to people -- "Listen well, attentively." So those who have commented on The
           Diamond Sutra have missed. I think the commentators were not knowers. They knew the language
           but they were completely unaware of this strange situation. Buddha has not addressed some ordinary
           human being; Buddha has addressed somebody who is very close to buddhahood, who is just on the
           boundary of it, entering into buddhahood.
               And he starts the statement with therefore: "THEREFORE, SUBHUTI, LISTEN WELL AND
           ATTENTIVELY." Now this 'therefore' is also very illogical. therefore is only logical when it comes
           as a part, as a concluding part, of a logical syllogism: All men die. Socrates is a man, therefore
           Socrates is mortal. Then 'therefore' is perfectly right. It is part of a syllogism, a conclusion. But here
           there is no logic, nothing has preceded it, there has been no premise. And Buddha starts with the
           conclusion -- THEREFORE?
               That too has a strangeness about it. And that is Buddha's way. That is how in The Heart Sutra he
           addressed Sariputra -- "Therefore, Sariputra....". Now he says, "Therefore, Subhuti...." Subhuti has
           not said anything for which 'therefore' is needed, Buddha has not said anything for which 'therefore'
           is needed, but something is present in Subhuti's being. 'Therefore' is related to that presence; nothing
           has been uttered.
               A master responds to what is present in you. A master responds more to your silence than to your
           words. A master is more interested in your quest than in your questions. A master is more interested
           in your needs than in your questions. This 'therefore' indicates a subtle need in the innermost being
           of Subhuti. Maybe Subhuti himself is not aware of it, maybe Subhuti will take a little time to become
           aware of it.
               The master has to go on looking into the disciple's being, and the master has to respond to the
           inner need -- expressed, unexpressed, that is not the point. Maybe left alone the disciple will take
           months to find out the need; or even years, or even lives. But the master looks not only into your
           past, not only into your present, but into your future too. What is going to be your need tomorrow
           and the day after tomorrow, this life and the next life -- the master provides for the whole journey.
           This 'therefore' is related to some need in Subhuti's inner being.
           Now the sutras:
              'BECAUSE A BODHISATTVA
              WHO GIVES A GIFT
              SHOULD NOT BE SUPPORTED BY A THING,
              NOR SHOULD HE BE SUPPORTED ANYWHERE.'


               This is the need for which Buddha has used "THEREFORE, SUBHUTI, LISTEN WELL AND
           ATTENTIVELY." Deep down Subhuti must be having this idea, a very subtle idea -- "If I give to
           people what I have attained, great will be my merit."
               This may not be inwards, this may not have yet become a thought; it may be just a feel, a ripple,
           deep inside. "If I give the Dhamma as a gift to people..." and that is the greatest gift, Buddha had
           said. The greatest gift is to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest.
           Somebody shares his money, it is nothing. Even if he is not going to share, the money will be left
           here when he dies. Somebody shares something else. But to share enlightenment is to share eternity,
           to share enlightenment is to share God, to share enlightenment is to share the ultimate. Buddha has
           called it the greatest gift.
               Now he is saying to Subhuti to share whatsoever you have attained. And create a decision,
           chittopad, create a great decision in your being that you will not leave this shore unless you have
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           liberated all the human beings. Make a great decisive act in your being before you start disappearing.
           Before your boat starts moving to the other shore, create a great desire to help people. That desire to
           help people will function as a chain with this shore. Before it is too late, create chittopad. Bring your
           whole energy into it -- that "I will not leave this shore whatsoever the temptation of the other shore."
               And there is great temptation. When all has changed and you have become capable of moving to
           the other shore for which you have been longing and longing for millions of lives, the temptation is
           great not to be here at all. For what? You have suffered enough, and now you have the passport to
           enter into nirvana. And Buddha says, "Deny the passport, throw it away, and make a great decision
           that you will not leave this shore until and unless you have liberated all the human beings."
               Listening to this, a subtle desire must have arisen into Subhuti's heart, at the deepest substratum
           of his being, that "that will be a great thing. How much merit I will get out of it, how much PUNYA,
           how much virtue." That must have been a small ripple. It is even difficult for Subhuti to read it, to
           read what it is. It must have flashed, an intuitive flash, just for a second or a split second, but it has
           been reflected in Buddha's mirror.
               A master is a mirror. Whatsoever is in you is reflected in him. Sometimes he will not answer the
           question that you have asked because your question may be just a curiosity and has nothing to do
           with your inner being, or your question may be just an exhibition of your knowledge. Or your
           question may be just to prove to others, "Look what a great seeker I am. I ask such beautiful
           questions." The question may not be existential, it may be just intellectual. Then the master is not
           going to answer lt.
               And sometimes the master will answer a question that you have not asked; not only not asked,
           but that you have never known existed in you. But it will relate to your innermost need and
           requirement.
           Buddha says:
              'BECAUSE A BODHISATTVA
              WHO GIVES A GIFT
              SHOULD NOT BE SUPPORTED BY A THING,
              NOR SHOULD HE BE SUPPORTED ANYWHERE.'


               The support means motive. The support means that "I will be getting something out of it." Then
           you have missed the whole point. Then it is a bargain, then it is no more a gift. And nirvana can only
           be a gift, it cannot be a bargain. It is not business. You have to give it for the sheer joy of giving it.
           You should not carry any motive to gain anything out of it. If you are carrying any motive to gain
           anything out of it you cannot help anybody; in fact you yourself still need help. You are not liberated
           yet, you don't have the passport for the other shore yet. You can misguide but you cannot guide.
               The real gift is an overflowing. You are so full of your enlightenment that it simply goes on
           overflowing. It is anybody's to take. And you feel obliged when somebody takes it from you because
           he unburdens you. When a cloud comes and showers on the earth, it feels thankful to the earth,
           because the earth has received and the cloud is unburdened. Yes, exactly like that.
               When enlightenment is arising, it goes on welling up. You can go on sharing as much as you
           want, and it goes on again and again coming up, again overflows, again overflows. There is no end
           to it. You have come to the eternal source. Now you should not be a miser and you should not be
           motivated and you should not have any idea to get anything in return.
              'BECAUSE A BODHISATTVA
              WHO GIVES A GIFT
              SHOULD NOT BE SUPPORTED BY A THING,
              NOR SHOULD HE BE SUPPORTED ANYWHERE.
              THE GREAT BEING SHOULD GIVE GIFTS
              IN SUCH A WAY
              THAT HE IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE NOTION OF A SIGN.'



              He will not think, "This is a gift," and he will not think that "I am the giver and you are the recipient." No,
              all these ideas and notions should be dropped. There is no giver, no gift, no recipient; it is all oneness.
              The one you are helping is also you. The one you are giving to is another form of you... as if you are
              giving from the left hand to the right hand. There is no need to feel great about it. There is no giver,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               there is no receiver and there is no gift.
               'THE GREAT BEING SHOULD GIVE GIFTS
               IN SUCH A WAY
               THAT HE IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE NOTION OF A SIGN.
               AND WHY?
               BECAUSE THE HEAP OF MERIT OF THAT BODHI-BEING,
               WHO UNSUPPORTED GIVES A GIFT,
               IS NOT EASY TO MEASURE.'


               Now this is a problem you will have to face again and again. The problem is, your merit is great
           if you don't think about it. If you think about it, it disappears. If you desire it you will never get it. If
           you don't desire it, it goes on showering on you.
               On the lower plane, Jesus' statement is right. That statement has been given to ordinary people:
           "Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you.
           "But Buddha is speaking to Subhuti, and he is exactly saying, "Ask and it shall not be given. Seek
           and you will not find. Knock and the doors will turn into a China wall; they will never open." And
           remember, the difference comes from the audience. Jesus is talking to common people, Buddha is
           talking to a very uncommon person.

               THE LORD CONTINUED:'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, CAN THE TATHAGATA
               BE SEEN BY THE POSSESSION OF HIS MARKS?'
               SUBHUTI REPLIED:'NO INDEED, O LORD. AND WHY?
               WHAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT BY THE TATHAGATA
               AS THE POSSESSION OF MARKS,
               THAT IS TRULY A NO-POSSESSION OF NO-MARKS.'
               THE LORD SAID:
               WHEREVER THERE IS POSSESSION OF MARKS,
               THERE IS FRAUD;
               WHEREVER THERE IS NO-POSSESSION OF NO-MARKS,
               THERE IS NO FRAUD.
               HENCE THE TATHAGATA IS TO BE SEEN
               FROM NO-MARKS AS MARKS.'


               These will look like puzzles. They are not. They appear to be puzzles but they are not. But on
           those heights from where Buddha is speaking everything becomes contradictory; contradiction
           becomes the only expression. One has to be paradoxical on those plenitudes of being. Logic loses all
           meaning. If one insists on being logical then one cannot move on those plenitudes and one cannot
           express that truth. That truth is bound to be contradictory.
               Buddha asks, "Subhuti, is a tathagata to be seen by the possession of his marks?" Buddhist
           scriptures say that a Buddha has thirty-two marks of being a superman. Those thirty-two marks, are
           they to be the deciding factor?
               For ordinary human beings it is okay, because you don't have any other eyes; you can see only
           the outward sign. You live by signs, marks. But for a man like Subhuti, who can see inward, who can
           see in the Buddha, those marks should not be any more relevant. And moreover, to possess anything
           is not the quality of a Buddha -- not even those thirty-two marks. They are irrelevant. A Buddha has
           to be utterly ordinary, because he possesses nothing. That is his real mark, not to possess anything.
           Not to possess even buddhahood, that is the real mark of buddhahood. This is how things become
           contradictory.
               A real Buddha is one who does not claim even to be a Buddha, because all claims are fraudulent.
           To claim is to be a fraud. A Buddha claims nothing, he has no claim. He desires nothing. He is not in
           any way interested in exhibiting. He is not interested in convincing anybody about who he is. He is
           utterly there -- you can partake of him, you can join him in his dance, you can share his celebration
           -- but he is not there to prove anything. To prove anything only proves that you have not attained yet.
           He is not defensive.
               And those outer marks can be created by people who may not be Buddhas. Anything can be
           created. For example, Buddha's breathing is utterly silent, as if he does not breathe at all. But that
           can be done by any yogi who is not a Buddha. You can practice breathing, you can practice
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exercises, and you can bring the breathing to almost a halting point. You can defeat Buddha.
               His breathing is slow because he has slowed down, not because he has practised any breathing
           exercises. His breathing is slow because he is not going anywhere, because all desires have
           disappeared; that's why his breathing is slow, almost invisible. The reason is not that he is a great
           yogi, no. The reason is that desires dropped, there is no hurry. He is just on a morning walk. He is
           not going anywhere. He has no future, no worry.
               Have you watched? When you are worried your breathing becomes disturbed. When you are
           angry your breathing becomes violent. When you make love and passion arises, your breathing
           becomes very very disturbed, feverish. A Buddha's passion has become compassion, his desires have
           dropped, disappeared... as if ripe leaves have fallen from the tree. And his breathing has slowed
           down, slowed down, slowed down.
              But if this is the sign, then any pretender can show the sign. Buddha sits utterly silently, his posture is
              unmoving, he remains in one posture. But this can be done by anybody, just a little practice is needed,
              but by that practice you will not become a Buddha.
              So Buddha says...
              'WHEREVER THERE IS POSSESSION OF MARKS,
              THERE IS FRAUD....'



              If somebody claims 'I possess these marks of Buddha. Look, I am a Buddha!' then there is fraud,
              because the very claim is a proof of fraud.
              'WHEREVER THERE IS NO POSSESSION OF NO-MARKS
              THERE IS NO FRAUD.
              HENCE THE TATHAGATA IS TO BE SEEN
              FROM NO-MARKS AS MARKS.'


               Why does Buddha suddenly ask this question of Subhuti? A desire must have arisen in Subhuti...
           mm? -- these are the things to be understood. A desire must have arisen in Subhuti. He is just on the
           verge of becoming a Buddha. A desire must have arisen: "Soon I will possess thirty-two marks. Soon
           I will be a Buddha, I will be proclaimed a Buddha. I will have thirty-two marks."
               This may have been just an unconscious desire, but a ripple.... Seeing the Buddha and his
           thirty-two marks, his grace, his beauty, who will not start desiring? And Subhuti is capable now, just
           on the threshold of buddhahood. While Buddha is talking about giving as if you are not giving, while
           Buddha is saying that if you can give without the notion of a giver and the gift and the receiver, great
           will be your merit... listening to this he must have longed. The longing may have been a subtle seed,
           but he must have longed. "Then with that great merit I will become a Buddha. I will have thirty-two
           marks -- the same fragrance that surrounds the Buddha, the same grace, the same splendor, the same
           benediction! Aha!" He must have somewhere created the desire.
               Seeing that desire, Buddha says, "What do you think, Subhuti, can the tathagata be seen by the
           possession of his marks?" Unless you see this undercurrent in Subhuti's consciousness or
           unconsciousness, you will not understand The Diamond Sutra.

              SUBHUTI ASKED:'WILL THERE BE ANY BEINGS IN THE FUTURE PERIOD,
              IN THE LAST TIME,
              IN THE LAST EPOCH,
              IN THE LAST FIVE HUNDRED YEARS,
              AT THE TIME OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE GOOD DOCTRINE
              WHO, WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA
              ARE BEING TAUGHT,
              WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR TRUTH?'


              Now you will be surprised: this is the time Subhuti is talking about, and you are the people.
           Twenty-five hundred years have passed. Subhuti has asked about you.
              Buddha has said that whenever a religion is born, whenever a Buddha turns the wheel of
           Dhamma, naturally, slowly slowly the wheel starts stopping. It loses momentum. mm? You turn a
           wheel, it will start moving. Then by and by, by and by, a moment will come when it will stop.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When a Buddha moves the wheel of Dhamma, it takes two thousand five hundred years for it to
           stop completely. After each five hundred years it goes on losing momentum. So those are the five
           ages of the Dhamma. After each five hundred years, the Dhamma will be less and less, decreased
           and decreased and decreased, and after twenty-five centuries the wheel will stop again. It will need
           another Buddha to turn it for the coming twenty-five centuries.
              This is a rare phenomenon. It is really intriguing that Subhuti asked Buddha:
              'WILL THERE BE ANY BEINGS IN THE FUTURE PERIOD,
              IN THE LAST TIME,
              IN THE LAST EPOCH,
              IN THE LAST FIVE HUNDRED YEARS,
              AT THE TIME OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE GOOD DOCTRINE
              WHO, WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA
              ARE BEING TAUGHT,
              WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR TRUTH?'
              THE LORD REPLIED: 'DO NOT SPEAK THUS, SUBHUTI!
              YES, EVEN THEN THERE WILL BE BEINGS WHO,
              WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA ARE BEING TAUGHT,
              WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR TRUTH.
              FOR EVEN AT THAT TIME, SUBHUTI,
              THERE WILL BE BODHISATTVAS.
              AND THESE BODHISATTVAS, SUBHUTI,
              WILL NOT BE SUCH AS HAVE HONORED
              ONLY ONE SINGLE BUDDHA,
              NOR SUCH AS HAVE PLANTED THEIR ROOTS OF MERIT
              UNDER ONE SINGLE BUDDHA ONLY.
              ON THE CONTRARY, SUBHUTI, THOSE BODHISATTVAS WHO,
              WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA ARE BEING TAUGHT,
              WILL FIND EVEN ONE SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH,
              BE SUCH AS HAVE HONORED
              MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BUDDHAS,
              SUCH AS HAVE PLANTED THEIR ROOTS OF MERIT
              UNDER MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BUDDHAS.
              KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA
              THROUGH HIS BUDDHA-COGNITION.
              SEEN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, BY THE TATHAGATA
              WITH HIS BUDDHA-EYE.
              FULLY-KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA.
              AND THEY ALL, SUBHUTI
              WILL BEGET AND ACQUIRE
              AN IMMEASURABLE AND INCALCULABLE HEAP OF MERIT.'


               Buddha is talking about you. The Sutra is being read to you. Twenty-five centuries have passed.
           Subhuti has asked about you.
               The other day I had told you that many of you will become bodhisattvas, many of you are on the
           way. It is strange that Subhuti should ask such a question. And more strange is that Buddha says
           "Those people after twenty-five centuries will not be less fortunate than you but will be more
           fortunate."
               Why? I have been telling you many times that you are ancient ones, that you have walked on this
           earth many many times, that you are not listening to Dhamma for the first time, that you have come
           across many Buddhas in your past lives -- sometimes maybe a Krishna and sometimes maybe a
           Christ and sometimes maybe a Mahavira and sometimes maybe a Mohammed, but you have come
           across many many Buddhas, many enlightened people.
               You are fortunate to know so many Buddhas, and if you become a little alert, all the seeds that
           have been sown in you by the past Buddhas will start blooming, will sprout. You will start
           flowering.
           Buddha says:

              KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA
              THROUGH HIS BUDDHA-COGNITION.
              SEEN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, BY THE TATHAGATA
10/28/07                                                     Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               WITH HIS BUDDHA-EYE.
               FULLY-KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA.


                It is very mysterious, but it is possible. A Buddha can have a vision of the future. He can see
           through the fog of the future. His clarity is such, his vision is such, he can throw a ray of light into
           the unknown future. He can see. It will look very mysterious that Buddha sees you listening to The
           Diamond Sutra. From your standpoint it seems almost unbelievable, because you don't know even
           how to see in the present. How can you believe that anybody can see in the future?
                You know only one capacity: that is the capacity to look into the past. You can only look
           backwards. You are past-oriented. And whatsoever you think about your future is not a vision of the
           future, it is just a projection of the modified past. It is not future at all. It is your yesterday trying to
           be repeated as tomorrow.
                Something you have tasted yesterday and it was sweet and you want it again tomorrow: this is
           your future. You have been in love with somebody and you want to make love again in the future:
           this is your future. It is a repetition of the past. It is not future at all. You don't know what future is at
           all. You can't know what future is because you can't even know what the present is. And the present
           is available and you are so blind that you cannot even see into that which is already here.
                But then, eyes open, you can see even into that which is not present, that which is going to
           happen. You can have glimpses of that. The way to see the future is first to see the present. One who
           can be absolutely in the present becomes capable of looking into the future.
                This is ecstatic to even think that Gautama the Buddha had seen you listening to The Diamond
           Sutra. In The Diamond Sutra you are talked about. That's why I have chosen it. When I came across
           these words I thought, "This is the thing for my people. They must know that even they have been
           looked into by Gautama the Buddha; that something about them has been said twenty-five centuries
           ago; that they have been predicted.'
                The wheel that Buddha moved has stopped. The wheel has to be moved again. And that is going
           to be my and your life-work -- that wheel has to be moved again. Once it starts revolving it will have
           again twenty-five centuries' life. Once it starts moving it goes on moving for twenty-five centuries at
           least.
                And it has to be done again and again and again because everything loses momentum, everything
           functions under the laws of nature -- entropy. You throw a stone, you throw with great energy, but it
           goes a few hundred feet and it falls down. Exactly like that Dhamma has to be made again and again
           alive. Then it breathes for twenty-five centuries and then dies. Everything that is born has to die.
                But Buddha says, "Subhuti, do not speak thus." Subhuti must be thinking, "Only we are
           fortunate. We have listened to Buddha, lived with Buddha, walked with Buddha. We are fortunate,
           we are blessed people. What will happen after twenty five centuries when the wheel of Dhamma has
           completely stopped moving?" He is thinking about you unfortunate people.
               Buddha says, "Do not speak thus, Subhuti. Don't start thinking that only you are fortunate." That is a
               very subtle ego: "We are fortunate, nobody else is so fortunate." Buddha immediately puts his hand on
               Subhuti's mouth:
               'DO NOT SPEAK THUS, SUBHUTI!
               YES, EVEN THEN THERE WILL BE BEINGS WHO,
               WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA ARE BEING TAUGHT,
               WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR TRUTH.'



               And I know, here are people who understand the truth. Slowly slowly the morning is happening, the
               dark night is disappearing. Slowly slowly the seed is gaining ground, entering in your heart.
               'FOR EVEN AT THAT TIME, SUBHUTI,
               THERE WILL BE BODHISATTVAS,'



               There are many here who are going to become bodhisattvas. Just a little work more, just a little play
               more, just a little more effort into meditativeness, just a little more pouring of the energy, just a little
               more concentration of the energy, avoiding of distractions, and it is going to happen. And it is going to
               happen to many. And you are the fortunate ones, Buddha says.
               'AND THESE BODHISATTVAS, SUBHUTI,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WILL NOT BE SUCH AS HAVE HONORED
              ONLY ONE SINGLE BUDDHA,
              NOR SUCH AS HAVE PLANTED THEIR ROOTS OF MERIT
              UNDER ONE SINGLE BUDDHA ONLY.
              ON THE CONTRARY, SUBHUTI, THOSE BODHISATTVAS WHO,
              WHEN THESE WORDS OF THE SUTRA ARE BEING TAUGHT,
              WILL FIND EVEN ONE SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH...'



              If you can even understand a single word of The Diamond Sutra, if you can understand a simple look
              of my eyes into your eyes, if you can understand a simple gesture of my inner dance....
              Buddha says:
              '... WILL FIND EVEN ONE SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH,
              BE SUCH AS HAVE HONORED
              MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BUDDHAS,
              SUCH AS HAVE PLANTED THEIR ROOTS OF MERIT
              UNDER MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BUDDHAS.
              KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA
              THROUGH HIS BUDDHA-COGNITION.
              SEEN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, BY THE TATHAGATA
              WITH HIS BUDDHA-EYE.
              FULLY-KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA.
              AND THEY ALL, SUBHUTI,
              WILL BEGET AND ACQUIRE
              AN IMMEASURABLE AND INCALCULABLE HEAP OF MERIT.'


              And you are the people Buddha is talking about. And you are the people I am depending on. The
           wheel of Dhamma has stopped. It has to be turned again.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Diamond Sutra
                                                    Chapter #4
                                          Chapter title: From the Beyond
           24 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712240
              ShortTitle: DIAMON04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 58 mins




              The first question:
    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT HAS GONE WRONG? WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE MEET EVERYTHING NEW
              RELUCTANTLY, AND WITH FEAR, RATHER THAN WITH EAGER JOY?


               The new does not arise out of you, it comes from the beyond. It is not part of you. Your whole
           past is at stake. The new is discontinuous with you, hence the fear. You have lived in one way, you
           have thought in one way, you have made a comfortable life out of your beliefs. Then something new
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knocks on the door. Now your whole past pattern is going to be disturbed. If you allow the new to
           enter you will never be the same again, the new will transform you.
               It is risky. One never knows where you will end with the new. The old is known, familiar; you
           have lived with it for long, you are acquainted with it. The new is unfamiliar. It may be the friend, it
           may be the enemy, who knows. And there is no way to know. The only way to know is to allow it;
           hence the apprehension, the fear.
               And you cannot remain rejecting it either, because the old has not given you yet what you seek.
           The old has been promising, but the promises have not been fulfilled. The old is familiar but
           miserable. The new is maybe going to be uncomfortable but there is a possibility -- it may bring bliss
           to you. So you cannot reject it either and you cannot accept it; hence you waver, you tremble, great
           anguish arises in your being. It is natural, nothing has gone wrong. This is how it has always been,
           this is how it will always be.
               Try to understand the appearance of the new. Everybody in the world wants to become new,
           because nobody is satisfied with the old. Nobody can ever be satisfied with the old because
           whatsoever it is, you have known it. Once known it has become repetitive; once known it has
           become boring, monotonous. You want to get rid of it. You want to explore, you want to adventure.
           You want to become new, and yet when the new knocks on the door you shrink back, you withdraw,
           you hide in the old. This is the dilemma.
               How do we become new? -- and everybody wants to become new. Courage is needed, and not
           ordinary courage; extraordinary courage is needed. And the world is full of cowards, hence people
           have stopped growing. How can you grow if you are a coward? With each new opportunity you
           shrink back, you close your eyes. How can you grow? How can you be? You only pretend to be.
               And because you cannot grow you have to find substitute growths. You cannot grow but your
           bank balance can grow, that's a substitute. It needs no courage, it is perfectly adjusted with your
           cowardliness. Your bank balance goes on growing and you start thinking that you are growing. You
           become more respectable. Your name and fame go on growing and you think you are growing? You
           are simply deceiving yourself. Your name is not you, neither is your fame you. Your bank balance is
           not your being. But if you think of the being you start shaking, because if you want to grow there
           then you have to drop all cowardice.
               How do we become new? We do not become new of ourselves. Newness comes from the
           beyond, say from God. Newness comes from existence. Mind is always old. Mind is never new, it is
           the accumulation of the past. Newness comes from the beyond; it is a gift from God. It is from the
           beyond and it is of the beyond.
               The unknown and the unknowable, the beyond, has ingress into you. It has ingress into you
           because you are never sealed and set apart; you are not an island. You may have forgotten the
           beyond but the beyond has not forgotten you. The child may have forgotten the mother, the mother
           has not forgotten the child. The part may have started thinking, "I am separate," but the whole knows
           that you are not separate. The whole has ingress in you. It is still in contact with you. That's why the
           new goes on coming although you don't welcome it. It comes every morning, it comes every
           evening. It comes in a thousand and one ways. If you have eyes to see, you will see it continuously
           coming to you.
               God goes on showering on you, but you are enclosed in your past. You are almost in a kind of
           grave. You have become insensitive. Because of your cowardliness you have lost your sensitivity.
           To be sensitive means the new will be felt -- and the thrill of the new, and the passion for the new
           and the adventure will arise and you will start moving into the unknown, not knowing where you are
           going.
               Mind thinks it is mad. Mind thinks it is not rational to leave the old. But God is always the new.
           That's why we cannot use past tense or future tense for God. We cannot say "God was," we cannot
           say "God will be." We can only use the present: "God is." It is always fresh, virgin. And it has
           ingress in you.
               Remember, anything new coming in your life is a message from God. If you accept it you are
           religious. If you reject it you are irreligious. Man needs just to relax a little more to accept the new;
           to open up a little more to let the new in. Give way to God entering you.
               That is the whole meaning of prayer or meditation -- you open up, you say yes, you say "Come
           in." You say, "I have been waiting and waiting and I am thankful that you have come." Always
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           receive the new with great joy. Even if sometimes the new leads you into inconvenience, still it is
           worth it. Even if sometimes the new leads you into some ditch, still it is worth it, because only
           through errors one learns, and only through difficulties one grows. The new will bring difficulties.
           That's why you choose the old -- it does not bring any difficulties. It is a consolation, it is a shelter.
               And only the new, accepted deeply and totally, can transform you. You cannot bring the new in
           your life; the new comes. You can either accept it or reject it. If you reject it you remain a stone,
           closed and dead. If you receive it you become a flower, you start opening... and in that opening is
           celebration.
               Only the entry of the new can transform you, there is no other way of transformation. But
           remember, it has nothing to do with you and your efforts. But to do nothing is not to cease to act; it
           is to act without will or direction or impulse from your past. The search for the new cannot be an
           ordinary search, because it is for the new. How can you search for it? You don't know it, you have
           never met it. The search for the new is going to be just an open exploration. One knows not. One has
           to start in a state of not-knowing, and one has to move innocently like a child, thrilled with the
           possibilities -- and infinite are the possibilities.
               You cannot do anything to create the new, because whatsoever you do will be of the old, will be
           from the past. But that does not mean that you have to cease to act. It is to act without will or
           direction or impulse from your past. Act without any will or direction or impulse from the past -- and
           that is to act meditatively. Act spontaneously. Let the moment be decisive.
               You don't impose your decision, because the decision will be from the past and it will destroy the
           new. You just act in the moment like a child. Utterly abandon yourself to the moment -- and you will
           find every day new openings, new light, new insight. And those new insights will go on changing
           you. One day, suddenly you will see you are each moment new. The old no more lingers, the old no
           more hangs around you like a cloud. You are like a dewdrop, fresh and young.
               Remember, a Buddha lives moment to moment. It is as if a wave rises in the ocean, a majestic
           wave. With great joy and dance it comes up, with hope and dreams to touch the stars. Then the play
           for the moment, and then the wave disappears. It will come again, it will have another day. It will
           again dance and again it will be gone. So is God -- comes, disappears, comes again, disappears. So is
           a Buddha-consciousness. Each moment it comes, acts, responds, and is gone. Again it comes and is
           gone. It is atomic.
               Between two moments there is a gap; in that gap Buddha disappears. I say a word to you, then I
           disappear. Then I say another word and I am there, and then I disappear again. I respond to you and
           then I am no more. The response is again there and I am no more. Those intervals, those emptinesses
           keep one utterly fresh, because only death can keep you absolutely alive.
               You die once, after seventy years. Naturally you accumulate seventy years' garbage. A Buddha
           dies every moment -- no garbage is accumulated, nothing is accumulated, nothing is ever possessed.
           That's why Buddha said the other day that to possess marks is to be a fraud, because possession is of
           the past. Not to possess marks is to be a Buddha.
               Just think of it -- each moment arising, just like a breath. You breathe in, you breathe out. You
           breathe in again, you breathe out again. Each breath coming in is life and each breath going out is
           death. You are born with each incoming breath, you die with each outgoing breath. Let each moment
           be a birth and a death. Then you will be new.
               But this new has nothing to do with your past, your will, your direction, your impulse. It is to act
           spontaneously. It is not reaction but response. All that is done out of the past is old, so that one can
           of oneself do nothing new. To see this is to be done with the old and with the past and with yourself.
           That is all we can do. But it is everything, it is all. Upon the ending of the old, the new may follow, it
           may not. It does not matter. The very wish for the new is an old wish. Then one is utterly open. Even
           to ask for the new is an old wish.
               A Buddha is not even asking for the new. There is no desire for anything, that "It should be like
           this." If there is desire you will manage it like that, you will impose yourself upon it. See life
           desirelessly. See life without any conditions. See life as it is -- YATHA BHUTAM -- And you will
           be continuously renewed, rejuvenated.
               That is the real meaning of resurrection. If you understand this you will be free from memory,
           psychological memory that is. Memory is a dead thing. Memory is not truth and cannot ever be,
           because truth is always alive, truth is life; memory is persistence of that which is no more. It is living
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in a ghost world, but it contains us, it is our prison. In fact, it is us. Memory creates the knot, the
           complex called 'I', the ego. And naturally this false entity called 'I' is continuously afraid of death.
           That's why you are afraid of the new.
               This 'I' is afraid, not really you. The being has no fear, but the ego has fear, because the ego is
           very very afraid of dying. It is artificial, it is arbitrary, it is put together. It can fall apart any moment.
           And when the new enters, there is fear. The ego is afraid, it may fall apart. Somehow it has been
           managing to keep itself together, to keep itself in one piece, and now something new comes -- it will
           be a shattering thing. That's why you don't accept the new with joy. The ego cannot accept its own
           death with joy -- how can it accept its own death with joy?
               Unless you have understood that you are not the ego, you will not be able to receive the new.
           Once you have seen that the ego is your past memory and nothing else, that you are not your
           memory, that memory is just like a biocomputer, that it is a machine, a mechanism, utilitarian, but
           you are beyond it.... You are consciousness, not memory. Memory is a content in consciousness, you
           are consciousness itself.
               For example, you see somebody walking on the road. You remember the face but you can't
           remember the name. If you are the memory you should remember the name too. But you say, "I
           recognize the face but I don't remember the name." Then you start looking in your memory, you go
           inside your memory, you look to this side, to that side, and suddenly the name bubbles up and you
           say, "Yes, this is his name." Memory is your record. You are the one who is looking into the record,
           you are not the memory itself.
               And it happens many times that if you become too tense about remembering something it
           becomes difficult to remember it, because the very tension, the very strain upon your being does not
           allow the memory to release its information to you. You try and try to remember somebody's name
           and it doesn't come, even though you say it is just on the tip of the tongue. You know that you know,
           but still the name is not coming.
               Now this is strange. If you are memory, then who is preventing you and how is it not coming?
           And who is this who says, "I know, but still it is not coming"? And then you try hard and the harder
           you try the more difficult it becomes. Then, fed up with the whole thing, you go into the garden for a
           walk, and suddenly, looking at the rosebush, it is there, it has surfaced.
               Your memory is not you. You are consciousness, memory is content. But memory is the whole
           life-energy of the ego. Memory is of course old, and it is afraid of the new. The new may be
           disturbing, the new may be such that it may not be digestible. The new may bring some trouble. You
           will have to shift and reshift yourself. You will have to readjust yourself. That seems arduous.
               To be new one needs to become disidentified with the ego. Once you are disidentified with the
           ego you don't care whether it dies or lives. In fact you know that whether it lives or dies it is already
           dead. It is a mechanism. Use it but don't be used by it. The ego is continuously afraid of death
           because it is arbitrary. Hence the fear. It does not arise out of being, it cannot arise out of being,
           because being is life. How can life be afraid of death? Life knows nothing of death.
               It arises out of the arbitrary, the artificial, the somehow put together, the false, the pseudo. And
           yet it is just such letting-go, just that death that makes a man alive. To die in the ego is to be born
           into being, into God.
               The new is a messenger from God, the new is a message from God. It is a gospel. Listen to the
           new, go with the new. I know you are afraid. In spite of the fear, go with the new, and your life will
           become richer and richer and you will be able one day to release the imprisoned splendor.

           The second question:


               WHAT DO YOU MEAN, OSHO, BY SAYING THAT LIFE IS PERFECT?


               I mean exactly that. Life is perfect. But I understand why the question has arisen. The question
           has arisen because you have some ideas about perfection, and life does not fit with your ideas hence
           you call it imperfect.
               When I call life perfect, I don't mean that it fits with my idea of perfection -- I have none. When I
           call life perfect, I simply mean there is nothing else to compare it with, there is no ideal. This is all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is; it has to be perfect.
               Your perfection is always comparison, my perfection is just a simple statement of fact; it is not a
           comparison. You compare, you say, "Yes, this is perfect, that is not perfect," and you have a
           criterion of what is perfect.

               I have heard about a Sufi master who was talking to a few people in the coffee house and he said
           an old Sufi saying,"Life is perfect, everything is perfect, everybody is perfect."
               A hunchback was listening, he stood up and he said, "Look at me! I am the proof that life is not
           perfect. Look at me! Is this not enough to disprove your idea that life is perfect? Look at me -- how
           ugly I am, and in how much difficulty. I am a hunchback."
               The Sufi looked and said, "But you are the most perfect hunchback that I have ever seen." The
           most perfect hunchback....

                Once you start seeing life as it is and you have no idea how it should be, everything is perfect.
           Even imperfection is perfect. What I mean when I say life is perfect is a simple thing: I mean don't
           bring your ideals to it; otherwise you make life imperfect, because once you bring the ideal then you
           are creating the imperfection.
                If you say man has to be seven feet tall and he is not, there is difficulty. Or if you have the idea
           that man has to be only four feet tall and he is not, then there is difficulty. Life simply is. Somebody
           is seven feet tall and somebody is four feet tall. One tree grows to the clouds, another remains small.
           But all is perfectly well, all is as it should be, because there is no 'should' in my mind. I simply listen
           and see life as it is. I have no idea how it should be. That's why I say it is as it should be, there is no
           other life.
                The message is drop comparing, drop judging; otherwise you will remain miserable, and just
           because of your judgments and comparisons. Look at life without being a judge. Who are you to
           judge? What do you know about life? What do you know even about yourself? Who are you to
           judge? Judgment comes from the idea that you know, judgment is knowledgeability.
                Look at life with a state of not-knowing, through a state of not-knowing, look at life through
           wonder -- and suddenly all is perfect. Yes, sometimes it is cloudy, but it is perfect. And sometimes it
           is sunny and it is perfect. And sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn't rain, but it is perfect. As it
           is, it is a blessing. To be in tune with this blessing is to be prayerful.

           The third question:


              YOU SOMETIMES SAY ABOUT PEOPLE THAT THEY HAVE MISSED AGAIN OR LIVED IN VAIN.
              THAT SOUNDS LIKE THERE IS A GOAL OR A POINT WHICH CAN EITHER BE MISSED OR
              ATTAINED, AND THEN AGAIN YOU SAY THERE ;IS NO GOAL, EVERYTHING JUST IS, SO HOW
              CAN I POSSIBLY MISS?


               Dinesh, you missed again! The moment you ask how, you miss. There is a point, not to be
           realized but only to be recognized. And there is no 'how' to it because it is already there; you have
           just to look, you have just to be in a silent space so that you can look. You have to be just in a
           moment when you are not doing anything, not going anywhere, not trying to improve upon things --
           relaxed. In that pause, in that relaxation, it is there. It is a recognition; not a realization but a
           recognition, because deep down you are already that and you have always been that.
               Ask how and you miss again because how means something has to be done about it. No method
           is needed, no path is needed, no technique is needed. All techniques and all paths and all methods
           have to be dropped. You have to be in a state of utter silence so that you can hear the still small voice
           within you. It has been there all along, but you are so noisy with your desires that you cannot listen
           to your own music.
               Don't ask how, and drop all the methods that you have accumulated through asking how. Just fall
           into a silent space. It is a knack, not a technique. Looking at the morning sun rising, just sit silently
           and look; what is there to be done? The moon is there in the sky, just lie down on the grass and be
           there with the moon, and the white clouds floating... just be with them. And the birds are singing and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the children playing, and you don't do anything.
               Be passive. In your passivity, God comes. Be feminine. In your femininity, God comes. Have
           you not watched it? Buddha looks very feminine, Krishna looks very feminine. Why? -- because it is
           simply a metaphor. They have been depicted as feminine, graceful, to show that that is their inner
           quality -- receptivity .
               When you are doing something you are being aggressive. When you are not doing anything you
           are non-aggressive. And God cannot be conquered; you can only allow him to conquer you.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS RESPECT TO A MASTER? HOW DO WE RESPECT YOU? ARE RITUALS NEEDED IN
              HONOR OF YOU? CAN WE JOKE WITH YOU?
              IN SUFI DANCING WE WERE TOLD TO THINK OF SOMETHING TO MAKE US GIGGLE. I
              THOUGHT OF YOU SLIPPING, JUST LIKE SLIPPING ON A BANANA PEEL. IS IT DISRESPECT
              OR IS IT JUST OKAY?


              With me it is perfect. But you have been disrespectful to the banana peel. And remember,
           bananas are not Buddhas -- they will never forgive you.

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              CAN MEDITATION BE PASSIONATE?


               Yes, that is the only way for meditation to exist. Passion is energy, passion is fire, passion is life.
           If you are doing meditation just so-so, without any passion, without intensity, without fire, nothing
           will happen. If you are praying just as a formality and it is not love that has arisen in your heart, it is
           meaningless, it is absurd.
               If you are praying to God without passion there will be no connection between you and God.
           Only passion can become the bridge, the thirst, the hunger. The more thirsty you are, the more is the
           possibility. If you are utterly thirsty, if you have become just a thirst, your whole being is consumed
           by your passion, then only something happens -- in that intensity, in that moment of hundred-degree
           passion.
               Don't be lukewarm. People live a lukewarm life. They are neither this nor that, hence they remain
           mediocre. If you want to get beyond mediocrity, create a life of great passion. Whatsoever you do,
           do it passionately. If you sing, then sing passionately. If you love, then love passionately. If you
           paint, then paint passionately. If you talk, then talk passionately. If you listen, then listen
           passionately. If you meditate, then meditate passionately.
               And from everywhere you will start having contact with God -- wherever passion is. If you are
           painting with utter passion, your painting is meditation. There is no need for any other meditation. If
           you are dancing with absolute passion so that the dancer disappears and only the dance remains, it is
           meditation, no other need, nowhere to go, no yoga postures. This is the yoga postures: the dancer has
           disappeared and the dance is there. It is pure energy -- energy vibrating.
               In that state you contact. Why in that state do you contact? -- because when the passion is great,
           the ego dies. The ego can exist only in mediocre minds; only mediocre people are egoistic. The
           really great are not egoistic, they cannot be. But their life has a totally different direction, a different
           dimension -- the dimension of passion.
               Have you observed these two words -- passion and compassion? Passion becomes transformed
           into compassion. There is a quantum leap from passion into compassion -- but the quantum leap
           happens only when you are boiling at one hundred degrees. Then the water becomes vapor. It is the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same energy that exists as passion and one day becomes compassion. Compassion is not antagonistic
           to passion; it is passion come of age, it is passion bloomed. It is the spring season for passion.
               I am all for passion. Do whatsoever you do but be lost into it, abandon yourself into it, dissolve
           yourself into it. And dissolution becomes salvation.

           The sixth question:


              OSHO,
              THIS MORNING, SITTING BY YOUR STAGE AFTER LECTURE, I FELT AS IF I WAS SITTING AT
              YOUR FEET AND YOU WERE SHARING A BEAUTIFUL STORY OF WATERFALLS AND TREES
              AND HAPPINESS. YOU WERE SMILING AND THERE WAS SO MUCH JOY AND YET WHEN YOU
              LEFT ONLY MINUTES EARLIER THERE WAS A STUNNED FEELING OF HAVING BEEN HIT
              OVER THE HEAD WITH A VERY BIG STICK, HARD.
              OSHO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US? ARE YOU TELLING US BEAUTIFUL STORIES OR
              HITTING US OVER THE HEAD OR WHAT?


               Samata, those stories are just a preparation for the hit. I am doing both. First I have to tell stories
           to you -- beautiful stories of trees and mountains and clouds, beautiful stories about the other shore,
           beautiful stories of buddhahood and bodhisattvahood. And when I see that now you are lost in the
           stories and I can hit and you will not be angry, then I hit. The stories only just prepare the ground,
           but the basic work is a hammer on your head. I have to destroy you.
               Naturally the work is such that first I have to persuade. First I have to seduce you to come closer
           and closer and closer; only then the hammer can descend on you. Otherwise you will escape. Those
           stories don't allow you to escape, they keep you close to me. Those beautiful stories function like a
           glue between me and you, and when I see the right time has come I hit -- and when I hit, I hit
           passionately.

           The seventh question:


              OSHO,
              YOU WOULD LIKE US ALL TO BECOME BODHISATTVAS. THAT MEANS ONE HAS TO MAKE
              THAT FIRM DECISION TO HELP OTHERS TO THE OTHER SHORE. HOWEVER, I DO NOT FEEL
              ABLE TO MAKE THAT DECISION. SOMETIMES I FEEL LOVE TOWARDS OTHERS, SOMETIMES I
              AM JUST BUSY WITH MYSELF.
              SO SHOULD I WAIT OR IS THE DECISION NOT SUCH A THING AS A STATEMENT BUT RATHER
              LIKE A FRUIT THAT RIPENS BY ITSELF. AND WHY THEN IS BUDDHA A BUDDHA AND NOT A
              BODHISATTVA?


               First, these three things have to be understood. One, the ordinary state of human mind -- when
           you cling to the world, to this shore, and the other shore seems to be fictitious. You cannot trust the
           other shore. You cling so much to this shore that the only problem is how to help you to uncling
           from it.
               Right now, Sandeha, this is not going to help if you start thinking of being a bodhisattva. This is
           not going to help, this will be dangerous. This will only be a strategy to cling to this shore. You are
           not yet freed of this shore. This will be a new way to cling to the world again. And this is very tricky
           -- now it will be in the name of religion, compassion, love for people, service. Now it will have great
           ideology in it -- "I am here to help people, that's why I am not going to the other shore." And you
           don't want to go to the other shore, and you don't know that the other shore exists, and you don't even
           believe that the other shore is. Now you are falling into a very subtle trap.
               This is the first stage of the ordinary mind: it clings with the world, it goes on finding more and
           more new reasons to cling. It is very difficult to uncling. The second stage is of a bodhisattva, one
           who has come to that unclinging state where he is ready to fly to the other shore, he has no longer
           any roots in this world. In the first stage it is difficult to uncling, in the second stage it is very
           difficult to cling.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The Diamond Sutra is for the second stage people, not for the first stage people. First you have to
           uncling, first you have to destroy all your roots in this world. When you have destroyed all your
           roots, then only can you be of help to others, otherwise you cannot be of any help. You don't have
           anything to share. You can go on believing "I love people" but you don't have love yet. Still you
           desire people to love you. You are still a beggar, you are not yet in that position to share your love
           for no reason at all, just for the sheer joy of sharing.
               First reach to the second stage. First let yourself be utterly egoless. Destroy all your roots in this
           world, don't be possessive. Only then will what Buddha is saying be relevant to you. Then the
           problem will arise. First the problem is how to uncling, then the problem arises how to cling a little
           more.
               Buddha says when you have no roots then you are needed here. Then you have something to
           share. Then you have diamonds to share. Then before leaving, share, and remain here as long as you
           can. This is the second stage. The third stage is of a Buddha who has reached to the other shore.
               Now you ask: "And why then is a Buddha a Buddha and not a bodhisattva?" The third stage is
           more difficult. To be on the other shore and yet be on this shore is the most difficult thing. To be on
           the other shore and still go on helping people is the most difficult thing. So these are the three
           difficulties. First, to uncling from this shore. Second, when the unclinging has happened, to remain
           on this shore. And third, when you cannot remain on this shore... because a moment comes when it
           becomes impossible.
               Every bodhisattva has to become a Buddha. You cannot cling to this shore, that is illegal. A point
           comes when you have to leave. A little is possible; at the most one life, not more than that. Then you
           will have to leave. One life you can cling, because all the roots are destroyed but you have the body,
           so you can remain in the body. One life you can cling at the most, then you have to leave.
               Then comes the third stage -- the Buddha. Buddha is one who has left and yet goes on helping
           people. But remember, if you have been a bodhisattva, only then will you be able in the third stage to
           help people, otherwise not.
               There are two words to be understood. One is ARHAT, another is bodhisattva. Arhat is one... it
           is the same state -- the world is destroyed, he has no more attachment, the ego is gone -- but
           immediately he moves to the other shore. He is called arhat. He does not bother about others, he
           simply goes to the other shore when he is ready.
               The arhat will not be able to help from the other shore because he will not know how to help, he
           has never been trained for help. A bodhisattva is also in the same state as an arhat. He has known, he
           has seen, he has become truth, but he stays on this shore a little longer and goes on helping people in
           whatsoever way he can. He learns the way to help.
               If you have been a bodhisattva and then you go to the other shore, on the other shore the arhat
           will also become a Buddha and the bodhisattva will also become a Buddha -- the other shore is the
           shore of Buddhahood -- but the one who has been a bodhisattva on this shore will be able to help
           from the other shore too. He will find ways and means. And the Buddha goes on helping down the
           centuries.
               Even now, if you are open to Buddha, the help will be coming to you. Even now, if you are
           passionately in love with Buddha, the help will be coming to you. He is still shouting from the other
           shore, but the shout from the other shore is very far away. You will have to listen very attentively,
           more attentively than you are listening to me, because the voice will be coming from the other shore.
               Sooner or later I will be gone. If you learn how to listen to me attentively, many of you will be
           able to listen to me from the other shore too.
               Buddhahood is the ultimate state of consciousness, but if you pass through bodhisattvahood you
           will remain available to the world. You will be a window to God forever. If you don't pass through
           bodhisattvahood, you will disappear into the infinite, but nobody will be helped by you.

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHENEVER YOU TALK ABOUT REALIZING ONE'S BUDDHAHOOD, YOU SAY IT IS SUDDEN,
              LIKE LIGHTNING, NOT A PROCESS, BUT WHAT I CAN SEE HAPPENING IN ME IS A VERY
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SLOW PROCESS OF BECOMING MORE CONTENTED, LESS IN THE GRIP OF THE EGO.
              CAN YOU CLARIFY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAT PROCESS AND THE 'SUDDEN FLASH'
              THAT HAPPENED TO YOU? IS THERE ANY DANGER IN BECOMING TOO CONTENTED WITH
              THE SLOW PROCESS?


               No, Deepta, there is no danger. The enlightenment is always like lightning. It is in a flash, it is a
           sudden explosion. It cannot come gradually because it cannot be divided; you cannot have it in bits.
               Then what is happening to Deepta? She feels she is becoming slowly contented. This is not
           enlightenment, this is the ground in which enlightenment happens. The ground can be prepared
           gradually, in fact has to be prepared gradually. You cannot prepare the ground like lightning, in a
           flash. Sometimes it takes lives to prepare the ground.
               The preparation for buddhahood is gradual, but the actual happening of buddhahood is a sudden
           explosion in you. So don't be afraid, this is good. You are moving on the right track. Become more
           and more contented.
           The day you are utterly contented, the flash.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Diamond Sutra
                                                   Chapter #5
                                   Chapter title: The Taste of Enlightenment
           25 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712250
              ShortTitle: DIAMON05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 78 mins




              VAJRACHCHEDIKA
              PRAJNAPARAMITA
              SUTRA

              OF
              GAUTAMA

              THE
              BUDDHA



              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE, SUBHUTI, IN THESE BODHISATTVAS
              NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF TAKES PLACE,
              NO PERCEPTION OF A BEING,
              NO PERCEPTION OF A SOUL,
              NO PERCEPTION OF A PERSON.
              NOR DO THESE BODHISATTVAS HAVE
              A PERCEPTION OF A DHAMMA
              A PERCEPTION OF A NO-DHAMMA OR
              NO PERCEPTION OR
              NON-PERCEPTION TAKES PLACE IN THEM.
10/28/07                                         Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



           AND WHY?
           IF, SUBHUTI, THESE BODHISATTVAS,
           SHOULD HAVE A PERCEPTION OF EITHER A DHAMMA,
           OR A NO-DHAMMA,
           THEY WOULD THEREBY SEIZE ON A SELF,
           ON A BEING, ON A SOUL, ON A PERSON.



           AND WHY?
           BECAUSE A BODHISATTVA SHOULD NOT SEIZE
           ON EITHER A DHAMMA OR A NO-DHAMMA.
           THEREFORE THIS SAYING HAS BEEN TAUGHT BY THE TATHAGATA
           WITH A HIDDEN MEANING:
           "BY THOSE WHO KNOW THE DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA
           AS LIKE UNTO A RAFT,
           DHAMMAS SHOULD BE FORSAKEN,
           STILL MORE SO, NO-DHAMMAS."'



           THE LORD ASKED:
           'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
           IS THERE ANY DHAMMA WHICH
           THE TATHAGATA HAS FULLY KNOWN AS
           "THE UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT",
           OR IS THERE ANY DHAMMA WHICH
           THE TATHAGATA HAS DEMONSTRATED?'
           SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NO, NOT AS I UNDERSTAND
           WHAT THE LORD HAS SAID.



           AND WHY?
           THIS DHAMMA WHICH THE TATHAGATA
           HAS FULLY KNOWN OR DEMONSTRATED --
           IT CANNOT BE GRASPED,
           IT CANNOT BE TALKED ABOUT,
           IT IS NEITHER A DHAMMA NOR A NO-DHAMMA.



           AND WHY?
           BECAUSE AN ABSOLUTE
           EXALTS THE HOLY PERSONS.

           The Taste of Enlightenment

           To recapitulate:
           In the last sutra Subhuti asked
           'WILL THERE BE ANY BEINGS IN THE LAST EPOCH,
           AT THE TIME OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE GOOD DOCTRINE,
           WHO WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE DHAMMA?'
           BUDDHA SAID: 'DO NOT SPEAK THUS, SUBHUTI!
           YES, EVEN THEN THERE WILL BE BEINGS WHO
           WILL UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH.
           EVEN ONE SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH
           IS ENOUGH TO TRANSFORM A MAN.
           KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA
           THROUGH HIS BUDDHA-COGNITION.
           SEEN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, BY THE TATHAGATA
           WITH HIS BUDDHA-EYE.
           FULLY-KNOWN, SUBHUTI, THEY ARE TO THE TATHAGATA.'


           A few things to be understood; then it will be easy to enter into today's sutra. First, the good
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doctrine, the Dhamma. Buddha calls a doctrine good if it is not a doctrine. If it is a doctrine it is not a
           good doctrine. Buddha calls a philosophy good philosophy if it is not a philosophy. If it is a
           philosophy then it is not good philosophy.
                A doctrine is a set, fixed phenomenon. The universe is in flux; no doctrine can contain it. No
           doctrine can be just to it, no doctrine can do justice to existence. All doctrines fall short.
                So Buddha says, 'My doctrine is not a doctrine but just a vision. I have not given you any set
           rules, I have not given you a system.' He says, 'I have only given you an approach towards reality. I
           have only given you the keys to open the door. I have not said anything about what you will see
           when you open the door. Nothing can be said about it.'
                Just think of a man who has lived always in a dark cave, who knows nothing of light, who knows
           nothing of color, who has never seen the sun or the moon. How can you tell him about the rainbows?
           How can you talk to him about stars? How can you describe roses to him? It is impossible. And
           whatsoever you say to him, if he understands it, it will be wrong. He will create a doctrine and that
           will be wrong.
                So Buddha says, 'I have not given any doctrine to you. I have given you only the key to open the
           door so that you can come out of the dark cave of your being and you can see yourself what is the
           case -- YATHA BHUTAM, that which is.' Nothing has been said about it; that's why it is not a
           doctrine. Buddha is not a philosopher. He is a physician. That's exactly what he has said -- that 'I am
           a physician, not a philosopher'.
                A philosopher is one who goes on talking about color and light to a blind man, and goes on
           confusing him and confounding him. The blind man is incapable of understanding anything about
           light. Buddha says, 'I am not going to philosophize about light I will simply give you a medicine, I
           will try to cure your eyes. Then you can see for yourself.' This is called the good doctrine, this is
           called Dhamma. This is a totally different vision.
                The second thing to understand: Buddha says to Subhuti, Do not speak thus.' Why? Because this
           idea has been persistently arising in people -- even in people like Subhuti, of the highest spiritual
           qualities -- that they are special, that their time is special, that their age is special, that never again
           will people be able to touch such heights. This is an egoistic, a subtle egoistic attitude. It shows
           much about Subhuti He is still carrying a subtle ego.
                Down the ages almost all people have suffered from this disease, they think that their time is
           something special. No time is special. God is available in all times. In India Hindus say that now
           nobody can become enlightened because it is Kali Yuga, it is the last, the dirtiest age. Nobody can
           become enlightened Jainas say that nobody can become enlightened because it is Pancham Kal, the
           fifth epoch. Even Buddhists, perfectly aware of 'The Diamond Sutra', go on saying that nobody can
           become enlightened in this age, and even they try to interpret Buddha's words in such a way that it
           starts appearing as if nobody can become enlightened.
                Just the other night I was reading a commentary on 'The Diamond Sutra'. The commentary says
           'Yes, Buddha says that people will be there who will be able to understand a little bit of the truth, and
           great will be their merit -- but merit is not enlightenment. Merit is just the ground.'
                So the interpreter, the commentator says, 'In this age nobody can become enlightened; at the
           most you can attain to some merit. You have to wait for the right age to become enlightened. Your
           merit will be of great help, it will put the foundation, but you cannot make the shrine right now. This
           is how people go on.
                What Buddha is saying is simply this fact. That all time is similar for the seeker, and so it is for
           the non-seeker. In Buddha's time there were millions of people who never became enlightened. It is
           not like spring -- that when spring comes all the trees bloom. If that is the case then all the people in
           Buddha's time would have become enlightened. Only a few people became enlightened. So it is not
           like spring, it is not a question of climate, it is not a particular auspicious time that makes people
           enlightened.
                Those who seek and search, they attain. Those who don't seek and search, they will not attain;
           even if the time is auspicious, it doesn't matter. And the time is the same, the time is neither good nor
           bad. Time is neither for enlightenment nor against enlightenment. Whatsoever you want your life to
           become, time gives you the opportunity.
                Time is impartial. It does not impose anything on you, it simply gives you freedom. You can
           become enlightened, as enlightened as you desire, or you can remain as unenlightened as you decide.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Existence cooperates with you But this idea arises again and again. I have come across many
           scriptures of the world, people think 'What will happen to others in the future?'
               This idea persists even in ordinary human beings. You can see any old man and he talks about
           his time. Those beautiful days, those golden days which he had lived were something special, now
           there is nothing in the world. And remember, when you become old you will tell to your children the
           same long tales, tall tales, and you will again say, 'Those were the days.'

              I have heard about a man who went to Paris when he was eighty with his wife, who was almost
           seventy-eight. They looked around, the old man said, 'Things have changed, Paris is no more Paris. I
           had come fifty years ago when I was thirty -- that was the real Paris.'
              The woman laughed, and as women are more earthly, more pragmatic, she said, 'My
           understanding is different. I think you are no more you, that's all Paris is the same. Just look at the
           young people -- they are enjoying, as much as you must have enjoyed when you were young.'

               Now for a man who is eighty, Paris means nothing, Paris is its night-life. For a man who is
           eighty, it is irrelevant. He is no more so foolish to enjoy it. He is no more that young to be so foolish.
           Dreams have disappeared. And I think the wife is right -- 'You are not you, Paris is the same.'
               It happens to you too. You start thinking that those days of your childhood were beautiful. Now
           things are not so good. You feel sorry for the kids who are living now. You don't know -- they will
           feel sorry for other kids again. This has always been so. And every man thinks his time has some
           special quality, it is revolutionary.
               And I have heard, these were the first words uttered by Adam when Adam and Eve were thrown
           out of the garden of Eden. He told Eve, 'Look, we are living in we are passing through great
           revolutionary times.' Naturally, being thrown out of the garden of Eden must have been a great crisis,
           nobody has been through such a crisis again.
               Buddha says, 'Do not speak thus, Subhuti.' Why? Because all time has the same quality. Space
           and time are not corrupted by you, they cannot be corrupted. You cannot even catch hold of time,
           how can you corrupt it? They are not polluted. You can pollute the air and the sea, but you cannot
           pollute time, or can you?
               How can you pollute time? You cannot even catch hold of it. By the time you catch hold of it, it
           is gone. By the time you become aware of the moment, the moment is no more It has already become
           past, it has already become history. You cannot pollute time. Time is one of the most pure things, it
           is always pure.
               That's why Buddha says, 'Do not speak thus, Subhuti. Yes, even then there will be beings who
           will understand truth,' because truth is not a quality that happens sometimes and does not happen
           sometimes. Truth is always there. That is what is called truth -- that which is always there.
               Truth has nothing to do with time, it is eternal. You can attain to truth in the day, you can attain
           to truth in the night, you can attain to truth in the marketplace, you can attain to truth in the
           Himalayas, you can attain to truth being a man or a woman, a child, a young man, an old man. You
           can attain to truth any moment, any place, because truth is always available, you just have to become
           available to it.
               And Buddha says, 'Even one single thought of serene faith is enough to transform a man. ONE
           SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH.... What is faith in Buddha's sense of the word?
           Ordinarily faith is fear, faith is nothing but fear. If you go to the churches and to the temples and the
           gurudwaras, you will find fearful people, frightened people -- frightened of life and frightened of
           death and just seeking some shelter in some god; feeling helpless, finding some security somewhere;
           or missing their father and their mother and projecting some father and mother there in heaven.
               They are not mature, they cannot live without their mums and dads. The dad may be dead, the
           mum may not be any more alive, but they are children. They need some apron to cling to, they need
           somebody. They cannot live on their own, they cannot trust themselves.
               When you are afraid and because of your fear you become religious, this religion is bogus. This
           religion is a kind of monkey religion, ape religion, imitative. Out of fear arises imitation. What does
           Buddha mean when he uses the word 'faith'? His word is SHADDHA. The Sanskrit form of
           SHADDHA is SHRADDHA; it does not really mean faith, it means confidence, faith in oneself. It is
           a totally different religion. Buddha calls it right religion and the other religion he calls the wrong
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religion.
                If you approach reality out of fear and trembling, you are approaching in a wrong way, and when
           you are approaching in a wrong way, whatsoever you come to see and feel will be wrong. Your eyes
           are wrong, your heart is wrong. Truth cannot be known out of fear, truth can only be known out of
           fearlessness. SHADDHA is needed, a confidence in oneself is needed, a trust in one's own being is
           needed.
                One should approach reality out fo trust not out of fear. The essence of faith or trust is letting-go.
           The fearful man can never let go. He is always on the defence, he is always protecting himself, he is
           always fighting, he is always antagonistic. Even his prayer, his meditation, is nothing but a strategy
           to protect himself.
                The man of faith knows how to let go, the man of faith knows how to surrender, the man of faith
           knows how to flow with the river and not to push it. He goes with the stream wherever it takes him.
           He has that courage and confidence that he can go with the stream.
                This is my experience and observation too. Whenever a fearful person comes to me he is
           incapable of surrender, although he thinks he is so strong that he cannot surrender. Nobody likes to
           feel that he is weak, particularly the weaklings never like it. They don't want to come to the
           realization that they are weak, that they are cowardly. They think they are very strong -- they can't
           surrender.
                My own observation is the stronger the person, the easier is the surrender. Only the strong man
           can surrender, because he trusts himself, he is confident of himself, he knows that he can let go. He
           is unafraid. He is ready to explore the unknown, he is ready to go into the uncharted. he is thrilled by
           the journey of the unknown. He wants to taste it, whatsoever the cost and whatsoever the risk. He
           wants to live in danger.
                A man of faith always lives in danger. Danger is his shelter, insecurity is his security, and a
           tremendous enquiring quest is his only love. He wants to explore, he wants to go to the very end of
           existence, or to the very depth of existence, or to the very height of existence. He wants to know
           what it is -- "What is it that surrounds me? What is it that I go on calling 'I'? Who am I?"
                A strong man is ready to surrender. He knows that there is no need to fear. 'I belong to existence,
           I am not a stranger here. Existence has mothered me, existence can't be inimical to me. Existence has
           brought me here, I am a product of existence Existence has some destiny to fulfill through me.'
                The strong man always feels THAT destiny there, 'I am here to do something that is needed by
           the existence and nobody else can do it except me, otherwise why should I be created?' So he is
           always ready to go into the dark, to search, to seek. This Buddha calls shaddha, faith. It is better to
           translate it as trust.
                EVEN ONE SINGLE THOUGHT OF SERENE FAITH. And then he adds another condition to
           it -- SERENE faith. You can have a kind of trust. It may not be serene, it may be full of turmoil. That
           won't help, that won't take you far. Faith has to be serene. Faith has to come out of stillness, not out
           of the noise of the mind. Faith has not to be a belief. Belief is always noisy.
                You choose one belief against others. Naturally there is conflict, it is a choice. There are
           thousands of beliefs around you hankering for your attention: the Christian, the Hindu, the
           Mohammedan, the Buddhist, the Jaina -- thousands of beliefs. There are three hundred religions on
           the earth and each religion has many sects. Now they are all competing for you, they want to possess
           you, and naturally your mind becomes very very shaken and wavering. What to choose, what not to
           choose, with whom to go?
                And even if you choose out of this noise and turmoil, a part of your mind always goes on saying,
           'You are not doing right.' And that part will take revenge. Sooner or later that part will assert and will
           disrupt your being and you will be torn apart.
                Buddha says a serene faith is needed. What is serene faith? A faith that does not arise out of
           choice but out of understanding. Just the other day I received a letter from Chintana. She has been a
           Christian nun and she is very much torn apart. She cannot decide whether to be with me or to go
           back to her nunnery. Now whatsoever she will do will be out of chaos. If she decides to be with me,
           a part of her mind will go on fighting with her. If she decides to go to the nunnery, a part of her mind
           will go on desiring to be here.
                Whatsoever she chooses will be wrong. The choice itself will come out of turmoil, anxiety. It
           will be a kind of repression If she chooses the nunnery, she will be repressing the love for me. If she
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           chooses me, she will be repressing the desire for the nunnery -- the seclusion, the isolation, the
           protection, the comfort, the convenience of the nunnery.
               Now what will Buddha suggest to Chintana? Buddha will suggest meditate, don't choose. There
           is no hurry. Be choiceless. Meditate, pray, become more and more silent. One moment will come
           when out of serenity, the choice. Not that you are choosing against any of your parts,; just out of the
           serenity it blooms like a lotus. It is a total blooming, your whole being is with it. It is not a choice
           against any other alternative. It is just your very fragrance. Then you are not torn apart. This Buddha
           calls serene faith And he says even a single thought of serene faith is enough to transform a man.
               This is my suggestion to Chintana too. Today she may be even more worried; it is the
           twenty-fifth of December -- torn apart she will be. But I will not suggest to her to choose me or to
           choose the monastery. Don't choose. Wait, have patience. Let God choose for you. You meditate.
           How can you choose? You are not yet wise enough to choose. Pray, and wait.
               And don't play tricks -- because you can play tricks with your own mind. You can have your idea
           -- you have really chosen -- and then you can wait, and then from the back door you can force your
           choice and you can believe that this is from God. No, when I am saying don't choose, don't choose.
           Forget about choosing. How can you choose?
               Meditate, become serene, still, silent. One day when there will be no thought in the mind
           suddenly you will feel something has been decided and you are not the one who has decided it, it is
           God's decision. Then whatsoever it is, it is good.

              KNOWN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, TO THE TATHAGATA
              THROUGH HIS BUDDHA-COGNITION.
              SEEN THEY ARE, SUBHUTI, BY THE TATHAGATA
              WITH HIS BUDDHA-EYE.
              FULLY-KNOWN, SUBHUTI, THEY ARE TO THE TATHAGATA.'


               Now these two things have to be understood. One is the word TATHAGATA. It is a very strange
           word and has two meanings, absolutely opposed to each other, two meanings diametrically opposed
           to each other. It is a strange word. The first meaning is tath-agata, that means thus came. The second
           meaning is tatha-gata, it means thus gone. One meaning is thus came, another meaning is thus gone.
               A few people have chosen the first meaning -- thus came. Then it means a man who has not
           come on his own, who has no motive for coming here. Mm? That is what Christians like about Christ
           -- he's sent by God. He has no motive, no desire to be fulfilled here. He has come as a messenger.
               That is what Mohammedans like about Mohammed. They call him Paigamber, the messenger.
           He has not come for any of his own desires to be fulfilled here. He is utterly contented, he has no
           cause to be here. Others are here with a cause, they have not just come. They have come because of
           their desire. They wanted to come, that's why they have come.
               Buddha has come, not that he wanted to come, he is sent by existence itself. It is existence that
           has taken form in him. It is uncaused, unmotivated, no personal desire. That is the first meaning of
           Tathagata -- thus came.
               The second meaning a few people have chosen -- thus gone. That means one who has already
           gone from here. If you go deep into Buddha you will not find anybody there, he has left the abode.
           He no more exists in the body, he is no more present in the body. He has become empty. He is
           well-gone, perfectly gone to the other shore. His real existence is on the other shore, on this shore
           only a shadow is moving.
               But my own choice is both together. I would like to interpret the word 'Tathagata' as 'thus came,
           thus gone'... like wind. The wind comes for no reason of its own, for no motivation of its own. It is
           utterly surrendered in existence. Wherever the existence sends it, it comes. Wherever there is need, it
           comes. It has no goals of its own. It does not say, 'I will go only to the North. I'm not going to the
           South, I am fed up with the South.' Or, 'I am going only to the East, I am a very religious wind.' Or, 'I
           am only going to the West, I want to enjoy life.' No, the wind says nothing. Wherever there is the
           need, the wind goes. 'Thus came, thus gone.'
               And when it goes from that place, it doesn't cling there. A wind comes and goes. It does not say,
           'Now I have arrived. and I have taken so much trouble to come, I will not go. Now I will remain
           here. After such a long journey, crossing so many seas and mountains, I have come here. Now I will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not go, I will stay here. Otherwise what is the purpose of my coming here?' No, the wind comes and
           the wind goes.
               Buddha is like that wind. Thus came, thus gone. No clinging. His coming and going is
           mysterious. His coming and going is unpredictable, it is unexplainable, because only motives can be
           explained and causes can be explained. In that ultimate state of enlightenment, in that purity, on that
           planitude, things are mysterious, things simply happen. One never knows why, there is no need to
           ask 'why'. Everything is beautiful and a benediction.
               Coming is benediction, going is benediction. To be in the body is benediction, to go out of the
           body is benediction. To have a being is benediction, to disappear into non-being is benediction. All
           is benediction.
               The taste of enlightenment is of benediction. Whatsoever happens, it makes no difference, it
           doesn't matter. There is no choice, no motive, no desire. Things happen on their own, they are very
           mysterious. That's why a Buddha cannot be explained. A Buddha can be experienced, hence the need
           of disciplehood
               Sometimes people come and ask me, 'What is the need of becoming a sannyasin?' The need is
           that without becoming a sannyasin you will not be able to have the taste of me The need is that
           without becoming a sannyasin you will never come close to me, you will never have that orgasmic
           experience that is possible by feeling deep empathy with me.
               Sannyas is empathy -- to be totally with me, utterly with me, to drop all defences, to come so
           close that my nothingness starts overflowing in you, to come so close that there are no more
           boundaries, that we start overlapping. For that experience, sannyas is needed And a Buddha can be
           known only that way, there is no other way.
               And the other thing to be understood is, he says, 'I have seen through the Buddha-eye, I have
           known through Buddha-cognition.' What is this Buddha-eye and the Buddha-cognition? What in
           Yoga is known as the third eye, or Hindus know as SHIVA-NETRA, the eye of Shiva, is known in
           Buddhist scriptures as the Buddha-eye.
               You have two eyes, they are symbolic of duality, you are divided. When you attain to one single
           sight, when a third vision arises in you which is not divisible, then you start seeing the unity of
           existence. It is as if you break a mirror and then all those fragments reflect so many faces of you.
           You have only one face, but those fragments of the mirror reflect a thousand faces. If you put that
           mirror again together, again one face arises.
               Reality is one but we have two eyes, hence everywhere reality becomes divided For example,
           one thing you call love, another thing you call hate. In fact they are one thing Love and hate are not
           the right things to describe them. The energy is the same -- it is love-hate. The 'and' has to be
           dropped. In fact you cannot even put a hyphen between the two, lovehate is one word. Daynight is
           one word, lifedeath is one word, miserybliss is one word, painpleasure is one word, mattermind is
           one word. But because we have two eyes, everything is divided in two and then we go on arguing for
           centuries.
               Now for five thousand years man has been arguing whether man is body or soul. There are not
           two things. The body is nothing but the outermost form of the soul, and the soul is nothing but the
           innermost core of the body. They are not two. And God and the world are not two either. The creator
           and the creation are one.
               This is called the Buddha-eye -- to come to a point where your two eyes merge and melt and
           become one. Jesus says, 'If your eyes be like one, then your whole being will be full of light.' That's
           what enlightenment is.
               A few words of Jesus are beautiful, 'When you make the two one, and when you make the inner
           as the outer, and the outer as the inner, and the above as the below, and when you make the male and
           the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female not be female, then
           shall you enter the Kingdom.'
               Or again, 'It is impossible for a man to mount two horses and to stretch two bows; and it is
           impossible for a servant to serve two masters, otherwise he will honor the one and offend the other.'
           'But if your eyes be like one then your whole being will be full of light.'
               In Buddhist tradition that oneness of vision, that unfragmented vision, that total vision, that
           whole vision, is called Buddha-eye. And whatsoever is seen through Buddha-eye is
           Buddha-cognition. And when you have the Buddha-eye and you look at life with that one vision, it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unites everything, and then you are able to know fully, not before that. Before that, your knowledge
           is always partial, fragmentary, lopsided.

           Now the sutra.

               AND WHY?
               BECAUSE, SUBHUTI, IN THESE BODHISATTVAS
               NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF TAKES PLACE,
               NO PERCEPTION OF A BEING,
               NO PERCEPTION OF A SOUL,
               NO PERCEPTION OF A PERSON.
               NOR DO THESE BODHISATTVAS HAVE
               A PERCEPTION OF A DHAMMA
               OR A PERCEPTION OF A NO-DHAMMA.
               NO PERCEPTION OR NON-PERCEPTION
               TAKES PLACE IN THEM.


               These eight things are known as the eight barriers to wisdom. They have to be understood. First,
           this is the definition of a Bodhisattva. Who is a Bodhisattva? One who has crossed these eight
           barriers of wrong attitudes, of wrong approaches towards life.
               The first, NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF TAKES PLACE. These four words have to be
           understood -- they are almost synonymous, but only almost, self, being, soul, person. In the
           dictionaries they are almost the same, but Buddha gives different colors to them, and they have
           different colors, slight differences.
               First, the self means the ego -- 'my', 'mine', 'I' -- as distinct from the five elements that constitute
           me. Man is constituted of five elements, just a combination of these five. You take the five apart and
           man disappears. Buddha says there is nothing else than the five. It is like a chariot. You take parts of
           the chariot apart, you take the wheels, you take the horses, you take everything else, and if in the end
           you want to know where the chariot is, the chariot has disappeared, because the chariot was just a
           combination of those parts.
               This is one of the greatest insights of Buddha, no other religion has gone to that height. All other
           religions have stopped with some idea of self, with some idea of ego. Howsoever refined, howsoever
           holy, howsoever virtuous, but some idea of the ego has remained. You call it self, you call it soul,
           you call it ATMA; what you call it doesn't matter. Buddha is very very clear about it -- that your
           deepest core consists of nothingness. There is no ego.
               The word 'I' is only utilitarian, it corresponds to no reality. It is needed even Buddha uses it. It is
           good as a means to communicate, it designates, but it corresponds to no reality.
               So the first, self, means 'I am separate from the constituents'. Buddha says you are not there, only
           the constituents are there. You are utter emptiness. The second is being -- being means individuality,
           the idea of being identical with oneself at different times. You say that 'I was once a child, now I am
           a young man, and soon I will become an old man'. You have some idea as if you persist. One time
           you were a child, then you became young -- but you are the same. And then you will become old and
           you will be the same Buddha says each moment you are changing.
               He is perfectly in agreement with Heraclitus. You cannot step twice in the same river. The river
           goes on flowing. When you were a child you were a different individual, now you are a different
           individual. When you will be old you will be a different individual again. In fact every day you are
           different, every moment you are different.
               Why does this idea persist that 'I am the same'? This persists because the change is so subtle and
           your vision is not so subtle. It is as if you light a candle in the evening, it burns the whole night, and
           in the morning you blow it and you say, 'It is the same flame that I am blowing out.' It is not. The
           flame has been continuously changing, disappearing, new flame arising each moment. But between
           two flames, one disappearing, another arising, the gap is so subtle, so small, that you cannot see it.
           That's why this idea of individuality, of being, persists.
               Buddha says life is a process, life is not like a thing. It is a continuous move. Life is a river.
           Buddha says if we want to be true to reality we should drop all nouns from the language, only verbs
           are true. River is not true, rivering is true. Tree is not true, treeing is true. Love is not true, loving is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           true. Life consists of verbs, not of nouns.
               And the third thing is the soul, the idea of a supra-force abiding in the body, a unifying and
           vivifying force separate from everything else. That too -- Buddha says there is no supra-force. There
           is nothing inside abiding in you. It is not that you are the house and there is a host inside, a resident
           inside. All that resides inside is pure nothingness.
               And the fourth is the idea of person, the being. The belief in a permanent entity who would
           migrate from rebirth to rebirth. That Buddha calls person -- that you will die and your person will
           immediately be born into some other womb. Continuity is there but there is no person. Continuity is
           there but there is no self. Continuity is there but there is no individuality. Continuity is there but
           there is no soul.
               This vision of Buddha is so utterly unique that even this country, such a religious country, India,
           could not swallow it. It was felt as if Buddha had decided to destroy the whole foundation of
           religion. He was giving a totally new vision, far higher than the ordinary concepts of souls, self,
           etcetera. Because in those concepts your ego goes on hiding in new ways. They are nothing but ways
           of the ego to exist and to continue existing.

           Buddha says:

              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE, SUBHUTI, IN THESE BODHISATTVAS
              NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF TAKES PLACE.


               When a person turns inwards, when your consciousness turns inwards and looks into your own
           being, nothing is found:

              NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF TAKES PLACE,
              NO PERCEPTION OF A BEING TAKES PLACE,
              NO PERCEPTION OF A SOUL TAKES PLACE,
              NO PERCEPTION OF A PERSON TAKES PLACE.

              These four things are immediately dissolved.



              NOR DO THESE BODHISATTVAS HAVE
              A PERCEPTION OF A DHAMMA.


               Dhamma means the positive element in life and no-Dhamma means the negative element in life.
           The positive and negative -- Buddha says even these are not true, they disappear. A perception of a
           Dhamma does not take place. You don't come upon a positive reality inside, neither do you come
           upon a negative reality inside. You simply come upon a total nothingness.
               And remember, that nothingness should not be thought synonymous with no reality, with
           negativity. Nothingness simply means no positive, no negative. Both have disappeared, that duality
           is no more there. This is utter silence. Not finding anything, not even finding yourself, you are freed.
           Not that you are freed, but you are freed from yourself.
               When others speak of freedom they always mean that you will be there, free. When Buddha talks
           about freedom he says you will be freed, you will not be there. How can you be in freedom? If you
           are there in freedom there will remain a kind of imprisonment. You are the imprisonment. You can't
           be free. When you are not, freedom is. When you are, freedom is not.
               And seventh, NO PERCEPTION. When there is nothing to see, how can you see it is a
           perception? No self, no positivity, no negativity -- there is nothing to see. When there is nothing to
           see, you cannot see that a perception has taken place. A perception needs something to perceive. So,
           the seventh thing, no perception exists. But then you can say, 'Then does non-perception exist?'
               Buddha says when there is nobody to see and nothing to see, how can non-perception exist
           either? He is destroying all the roots for the ego, all the subtle ways of the ego. These are the eight
           barriers. When all these have disappeared, a person is a Bodhisattva.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              And then the problem arises, 'How to remain on this shore?' Only then.... Then you have
           something to share -- your nothingness. Then you have something to share your paradise. Then you
           have something to share -- your utter existence. But now how to remain on this shore? How to linger
           here a little while more?

           And Buddha says:

              AND WHY?
              IF SUBHUTI, THESE BODHISATTVAS
              SHOULD HAVE A PERCEPTION
              OF EITHER A DHAMMA OR A NO-DHAMMA,
              THEY WOULD THEREBY SEIZE ON A SELF,
              ON A BEING,
              ON A SOUL,
              ON A PERSON.


               If you see something inside, remember, you are still outside. If you see something, even Krishna
           playing on his flute, or Jesus crucified and fresh blood flowing from his hands, or Buddha sitting
           silently under his Bodhi-tree, if you come across anything inside, remember, you are still outside.
           That's why Buddha says, 'If you meet me on the way, kill me immediately.'
               One has to come to a point where there is nothing to see. When there is nothing to see, the seer
           also disappears; that is the point to remember. It is very difficult to understand. The seer exists only
           with the seen. That's why Krishnamurti goes on saying again and again 'the observer is the observed'.
           When there is nothing to see, how can you be as a seer there? When content disappears, the
           container also disappears. They exist together, they are two aspects of the same coin.
               Buddha says there is no such thing as spiritual experience, all experiences are non-spiritual. Mm?
           Somebody comes and says, 'My kundalini is rising.' A Gopi Krishna in Kashmir says his kundalini is
           rising. It is not spiritual, no kundalini is spiritual. It is a physical phenomenon, a worldly
           phenomenon, and can give you pleasure, just as sex can give you pleasure. It is the same energy
           moving upwards. It has nothing to do with spirituality, not at least with what Buddha means by
           spirituality.
               And Gopi Krishna says that he has attained because his kundalini has risen. He feels tingling
           energy moving in his spine. But a spine is a spine. And now he thinks that the kundalini has arisen, it
           has reached to SAHASRAR, the seventh chakra, and he has become creative. So he has started
           writing poetry. Those poems are just rubbish. If they prove anything, they simply disprove all
           kundalini. I have never come across such rubbish poetry -- just like school children. Even sometimes
           they write more beautiful things.
               You can find only one comparison, and that is Shree Chinmoy. He writes poetry. In one night he
           will write one thousand poems. Even to call them poems is an exaggeration They are not even prose,
           they don't have anything of poetry in them.
               But these people think they have attained to spiritual creativity, because kundalini has arisen.
           Somebody has seen light in the head and he thinks now enlightenment has happened -- 'Because I
           have seen light. When I close my eyes there is great light.' And I am not saying that light cannot be
           seen and I am not saying kundalini does not arise. It arises so easily, you can see here, so many
           sannyasins are in that state that Gopi Krishna thinks is kundalini. It is nothing to brag about.
              Any experience is bound to be outside, because you are the experiencer and the experience is there,
              facing you. When all experiences disappear, there is spirituality. But then a phenomenon happens,
              when all experiences disappear, the experiencer also dis-appears. In the wake of it, it disappears,
              because it cannot exist, it cannot subsist without experiences. It feeds on experiences. When the
              experience and experiencer are both gone you are a Bodhisattva.
              'AND WHY?
              BECAUSE A BODHISATTVA SHOULD NOT SEIZE
              ON EITHER A DHAMMA OR A NO-DHAMMA.
              THEREFORE THIS SAYING HAS BEEN TAUGHT BY THE TATHAGATA
              WITH A HIDDEN MEANING:
              "BY THOSE WHO KNOW THE DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA
              AS LIKE UNTO A RAFT.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DHAMMAS SHOULD BE FORSAKEN,
              STILL MORE SO, NO-DHAMMAS."'


               Buddha says everything has to be forsaken -- Dhammas, no-Dhammas, experiences, great
           experiences, spiritual experiences, and finally the experiencer too. Everything has to be forsaken.
           When nothing remains, not even a trace of anything, not even the idea that now there is nothing....
               Even if this idea remains -- that now there is nothing -- everything is there. This idea is enough to
           contain the whole world. If you say, 'Now nothing is there,' you have missed the point. You cannot
           even say that -- that nothing is there. Who is there to say? Who is there to observe? There is utter
           silence, absolute silence.
               So Buddha says that the Dhamma, the religion, is like a raft. These are his famous words.
           Buddha says in 'Majjhima Nikaya': 'Using the figure of a raft, brethren, will I teach you the norm as
           something to leave behind, not to take with you. If one has crossed with the help of a raft a great
           stretch of water, on this side full of doubts and fears, on the further side safe and free from fears, one
           would then not take it on one's shoulders and carry it with one, but though it was of great use to him,
           he would leave it behind and have finished with it. Thus, brethren, understanding the figure of the
           raft, we must leave righteous ways behind, not to speak of unrighteous ways.'
               All methods -- Yoga, Tantra -- all techniques, all meditations and all prayers, are strategies to
           reach to the other shore. Once you have reached, they have to be left behind. Feel thankful, but don't
           start carrying them on your shoulders, otherwise you will be a fool.
               Or Buddha says again: 'The example of the raft shows Dhammas should be treated as
           provisional, as means to an end. The same holds good of emptiness too, the negation of Dhammas.
           This corollary has elsewhere been illustrated by the simile of medicine which can heal any illness.
           Once a cure has been effected it must be abandoned together with the illness because its further use
           would only make one ill again.'
               Buddha says: 'Just so, when this medicine called emptiness has brought about a cure of the
           disease of the belief in existence. Attachment to emptiness is a disease as much as attachment to
           existence. Those who continue to use this medicine of emptiness after they have gained possession
           of health, only make themselves ill again.'
               Remember, first one has to drop everything and become empty, and then one has to drop that
           emptiness too. That emptiness is just a medicine. Buddha is right when he says, 'I am a physician,
           not a philosopher'. He does not give you a doctrine to cling to. And whatsoever he gives to you is
           provisional, arbitrary, and one day it has to be dropped and forgotten.
               When all disappears -- the world and God, matter and mind, body and soul, you and I -- when all
           disappears and finally the idea that all has disappeared also disappears, you have arrived, you have
           become a Bodhisattva. Then is the problem how to linger on this shore, how to be here even a single
           moment?
               You will have to create a CHITTOPAD, a great decision 'There are others stumbling in darkness.
           I have attained I have to share it,' Out of that CHITTOPAD, out of the creation of a new mind...
           because the old mind has gone And with the old mind gone, you cannot stay here. You will have to
           create a new mind.
               Two words to be understood, one is passion, another is compassion. They both have passion in
           them. Passion is the old mind, the desiring mind, the mind full of desire. When all desires have
           disappeared and the old mind is gone, you will have to immediately create compassion so that
           through compassion you can be here. For a little while you can help a few people to raise their eyes
           to the other shore. For a little while you can direct a few people, you can indicate the way.

              THE LORD ASKED:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI?
              IS THERE ANY DHAMMA
              WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS FULLY KNOWN AS
              "THE UTMOST RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT"'?



              That is one of the methods of Buddha -- he asks his disciples sometimes, 'What do you think, Subhuti?
              Do you think that I have attained the truth, the Dhamma, or have I preached truth to people? What do
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              you think about it?'
              'IS THERE ANY DHAMMA
              WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS FULLY KNOWN AS
              "THE ULTIMATE RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT",
              OR IS THERE ANY DHAMMA
              WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS DEMONSTRATED?'
              SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NO.'


               It was very easy to fall in the trap of the Buddha, the question was difficult. The question was
           such that one would tend to say yes. 'Yes, Buddha has attained, otherwise who has attained?' But the
           very idea of attainment will be unspiritual. And Buddha is saying there is nothing to attain and
           nobody to attain.
               And it would have been very very simple for Subhuti to say, 'Yes, Lord. You have preached as
           nobody has preached, you have demonstrated as nobody has demonstrated.' But if there is nothing to
           attain, what can there be to demonstrate? If there is nothing to attain and nobody to attain, who can
           demonstrate it and what is there to demonstrate?
           But Subhuti was not deceived by Buddha's question.

              SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NO, NOT AS I UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD HAS SAID.
              AND WHY?
              THIS DHAMMA WHICH THE TATHAGATA
              HAS FULLY KNOWN OR DEMONSTRATED,
              IT CANNOT BE GRASPED,
              IT CANNOT BE TALKED ABOUT,
              IT IS NEITHER A DHAMMA NOR A NO-DHAMMA.'



              So first he says, 'No, you have not attained anything, because there is nothing to attain if I understand
              you rightly. And how can you demonstrate that something which is beyond something is beyond
              nothing too? How can you demonstrate it? There is no way to grasp it and no way to say it, because it
              is neither positive nor negative.' Language is capable only of catching hold of the positive and
              negative, that which transcends both is not graspable.
              And again, the final thing he says is:
              'AND WHY?
              BECAUSE AN ABSOLUTE EXALTS THE HOLY PERSONS.'


                The absolute means the beyond, the transcendental, that which is beyond hate and love, that
           which is beyond life and death, that which is beyond day and night, that which is beyond man and
           woman, that which is beyond hell and heaven, that which is beyond all dualities, that is the absolute
           -- and the ABSOLUTE EXALTS THE HOLY PERSONS. An absolute, that absolute, that
           transcendental, is exalting you.
                The Sanskrit word for it is very rich. It is PRABHAVEETA. It means many things, it contains a
           wealth of meanings. It means 'exalted by', 'glorified by', 'draw their strength from', 'owe their light
           to'. The moon reflects the light of the sun -- it is PRABHAVEETA, it is just a mirror.
                So is a Buddha. A Buddha is an empty mirror. He simply reflects existence as it is -- YATHA
           BHUTAM. He does not say anything. A mirror says nothing, a mirror has nothing to say, it simply
           reflects. It does not do anything to that which is, it simply reflects as it is -- YATHA BHUTAM.
                In Buddha, existence is reflected. The Absolute exalts, the Absolute is reflected. Buddha is not
           doing anything.
                A real master is just a mirror, he simply reflects that which is. He has no philosophy to preach,
           no doctrine to propound. Existence is his philosophy, life is his doctrine. He has nothing to grind, he
           has no motive anywhere. He himself is not, that's how he has become a mirror.
                A Bodhisattva is on the point of becoming a mirror. If he creates a new mind, a new route,
           CHITTOPAD, of compassion, he will linger on this shore a little while. It is very miraculous,
           because he no more belongs to this world. The world exists in him no more, still it happens, this
           miracle happens.
                The being of a Buddha here on this shore even for a few days or a few years is a miracle, the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           greatest miracle. A man came to Buddha once and he asked, 'Why don't you show a few 'miracles?'
           And Buddha said, 'I am the miracle.'
           Enough for today.




                                                The Diamond Sutra
                                                    Chapter #6
                                           Chapter title: Bodhisattvahood
           26 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712260
              ShortTitle: DIAMON06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 81 mins




              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS ALL THIS STUFF ABOUT BODHISATTVAS? I DON'T BELIEVE A WORD OF IT. THERE IS
              NO SUCH THING.


                Yes, Somendra, it is all nonsense. But you will have to understand the word nonsense. It is
           beyond sense. You need not believe it, you cannot believe it -- you can only experience it. It is a
           nonsense experience. But it is true, it is absolutely true. It happens. Till it happens there is no way to
           believe in it, and there is no need either. Buddha is never in favor of any kind of belief. Whatsoever
           he says, it is experience, it is existential. It is something beyond the mind.
                Ordinarily we use the word nonsense for that which is below mind. But there is something
           beyond mind too -- that too is nonsense. The mind cannot make any sense out of it. Unless your
           mind disappears you will not be able to see what this bodhi-being is. It is not a thing, true. It is an
           experiencing.
                You know desire, you know passion, you know sex, you know love. Try to explain it to a child in
           whom the sexual desire has not yet taken form, and he will say it is all nonsense. Just try to explain it
           to a four-year-old child -- that you have fallen in love -- and he will look at you with unbelieving
           eyes. What are you talking about? What is this stuff 'love'?
                And all your romance and all your poetry and all that is throbbing in your heart is impossible to
           relate to a child. He has not tasted of that experience yet, he is unaware of it. The desire has not
           arisen in him. Buddha calls that desire WASANA. That wasana has not arisen in him. And unless it
           arises there is no way to communicate anything about it.
                The same wasana, the same energy that is involved in desire, in sex, in love, one day is freed of
           desire. One day desire drops. Just as one day it arises, one day it drops too. Anything that is born will
           die, anything that begins will end. And if life goes very very naturally and spontaneously then there
           is a certain stage which can be demarked.
                Sex arises at the age of fourteen -- sexual maturity -- and the child is thrilled with something
           unknown and new. The child has got the wind of desire, a great passion and fire is arising in him.
           Now never again will he be that innocence that was there before this desire. He will never look at
           things with that innocence again.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If life moves spontaneously, naturally, then exactly fourteen years before your death the desire
           will disappear; exactly fourteen years before your death sex will become irrelevant. Suddenly again
           you will find that dream is no more there, that passion has subsided, that storm has disappeared, and
           there is silence, utter silence. But your energy was involved in the desire, the desire has disappeared,
           where will the energy go?
                You are still creating energy by food, by breathing, by exercise, by living. You go on
           transforming divine energy into human energy. Where will this energy gO? The old path is no more
           available; it cannot move into the direction of sexuality. Where will it move? Buddha has another
           word for it. He calls it KARUNA, compassion.
                Passion is no more significant. Energy is available, great energy is available. It needs somewhere
           to move, because energy cannot be static, its very nature is to be dynamic. It starts overflowing from
           you in compassion. That is the state of a bodhisattva. When sex disappears, desire disappears, future
           disappears. When you are suddenly herenow and you have that great energy in you and you cannot
           contain it, it starts flowing, it starts overflowing your cup. It is compassion.
                This is the state of a bodhisattva. It is not a thing. And it does not happen ordinarily because
           people have become unnatural. That's why in all the languages of the world, when an old man is
           interested in sex it is thought to be something dirty -- the dirty old man. Why dirty? The young man
           is not thought to be dirty, but why the old?
                The phrase has come down the ages from the ancient past when it used not to happen. It was an
           ill state of affairs. It was not normal, it was abnormal -- something had gone wrong. Otherwise,
           before your death the desire has to disappear. Otherwise, what have you been doing in life if you
           have not even come to that point where desire disappears? You have missed the opportunity of life.
                And remember, I am not against desire. I am all for it. When it is time, go into it. And go into it
           so totally that when the time comes to get out of it, you can get out of it totally too. Only one who
           goes totally in it will be capable of coming totally out of it. One who goes lukewarm, halfheartedly,
           partially, in a repressed way, will never be able to get out of the entanglement, will never be able to
           see the stupidity of it, will never be able to see the illusoriness of it.
                So I am not against desire. I am all for passion: go into it, and go totally and wholeheartedly.
           While it is time, see whatsoever is possible to see. That very seeing will make you free of it, and one
           day the fruit is ripe to fall down. When the ripe fruit falls down, the tree is unburdened. In that
           unburdening, what will you do? The energy will still be there -- more so, because before it was
           involved in so many things; now it is not involved at all. Relaxed, you will become a reservoir of
           energy. This energy will start overflowing you, for no reason at all.
                A bodhisattva is one who has so much that he needs to give it, who has so much that when you
           accept his love, his being, his enlightenment, you oblige him. He is like a flower full of fragrance...
           and the fragrance wants to be freed to the winds. Or he is like a cloud full of rainwater... and is
           searching a thirsty earth which can welcome it, which can absorb it. So is a bodhisattva... a cloud full
           of rainwater, moving hither and thither in search of a thirsty soul, in search of somebody who will
           wel-come. The bodhisattva is obliged to you when you accept his gift.
                Bodhisattvahood is a state of consciousness. It is nonsense, true. It is not a thing, true, Somendra
           -- but it happens. It is very illogical. It is illogical, it looks absurd, because it does not relate to your
           experience yet. But soon many of you are going to enter into that realm. I see many of you just
           standing on the threshold. You cannot see. I can see that you are on the threshold, getting ready to
           take the ultimate jump. When it has happened then you will know what Buddha is talking about.
                The Diamond Sutra is not preached to the layman, it is preached only to the sannyasins, only to
           those who are coming to bodhisattvahood or those who have come. In fact it has to be preached
           before one is coming to bodhisattvahood, because in that moment of bodhisattvahood, if you don't
           know anything about what to do, if you are not aware that there is a way to unburden -- that you can
           release your blissfulness, that there is no need to contain it -- if you don't know anything about it, it
           will be difficult for you, very difficult. Your very blissfulness will become a pain in the chest, will
           become an ache in the heart. Rather than becoming a dance and a song it will become painful.
                Do you know, when bliss becomes very intense it becomes painful. When light is too intense it is
           too dazzling, and you almost go blind. When love is too much you cannot bear it. When joy is too
           much, your heart can stop; it can be too painful. And you don't know anything. When
           bodhisattvahood happens, the joy is such, the magnitude of it, the blissfulness is such, the intensity
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of it, that you can die just out of it or you can go mad.
                Buddhism is the only tradition in the world where bodhisattvas have not been known to go mad.
           Why? In Sufism they go mad, in Hinduism they go mad, many of them go mad. Sufis have a special
           name for them -- MASTAS. But there is nothing like that in Buddha's tradition. Why? Buddha is so
           aware of all the possibilities and is preparing the path so scientifically that he goes on giving you
           indications, directions, suggestions, for those moments which are going to happen.
                Down the ages, in these twenty-five centuries, never a Buddhist saint has been known to go mad,
           it is rare. In Sufism many go mad, in Hinduism many go mad. The reason is that Sufis and Hindus
           have nothing compared to bodhisattvahood; no instruction is given. And in the West the problem is
           even more complicated. Christianity has no idea about it. So in Christianity it has happened that
           ordinary people who were not in any way saints, have been worshipped as saints. and those who
           were saints have been declared mad, or possessed by the devil.
                In many Western asylums there are people who are not really mad but because of
           bodhisattvahood they have gone mad. They don't need psychiatric treatment, they don't need electric
           shocks, they don't need tranquilizers. They don't need unnecessary torture, they don't need
           psychoanalysis. All that they need is a compassionate Buddha around them. The presence of a
           Buddha -- all that is needed is that. Just the presence of the Buddha will bring them back, will
           become a great pull, a magnetic force, and will bring them back to their consciousness. But they are
           being tortured, they are being put through unnecessary things, because once you think they are mad
           you start treating them as mad.
                Buddhism is one of the most scientific religions of the world. It has all the maps that are needed
           for the growth of consciousness. And bodhisattvahood is very essential. Before one becomes a
           Buddha one is bound to pass through bodhisattvahood. But, Somendra, it is nonsense, that is true.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHERE DOES CARE FOR OTHERS BECOME INTERFERENCE?


               The moment ideology enters, care becomes interference, love turns bitter, becomes almost a kind
           of hatred, and your protection becomes a prison. The ideology makes the difference.
               For example, if you are a mother, take care of the child. He needs you, he cannot survive without
           you. You are a must. He needs food, he needs love, he needs care -- but he does not need your
           ideology. He does not need your ideals. He does not need your Christianity, your Hinduism, your
           Islam, your Buddhism. He does not need your scriptures, he does not need your beliefs. He does not
           need your ideals of how he should be. Only avoid ideology, ideals, goals, ends, and then care is
           beautiful, then care is innocent. Otherwise care is cunning.
               When there is no ideology in your caring -- you don't want to make your child a Christian, you
           don't want to make your child this or that, communist or fascist, you don't want your child to become
           a businessman or a doctor or an engineer.... You don't have any ideas for your child. You say, "I will
           love, and when you grow up, YOU choose -- and be whatsoever is natural for you to be. My
           blessings... whatsoever you are, my blessings.
           "And whatsoever you will be, from my side you are accepted and welcome. Not that only when you
           become the president of the country will I love you and if you become just a carpenter then there will
           be no love, then I will feel ashamed of you. Not that only when you bring a gold medal from the
           university will there be a welcome and if you come a failure I will be ashamed of you. Not that only
           when you are good, virtuous, moral, this and that, will you be my child and otherwise I am not
           related to you, you are not related to me."
               The moment you bring any idea, you bring poison in the relationship. Care is beautiful, but when
           care has some idea, then it is cunningness, then it is a bargain, then it has conditions. And all our
           love is cunning, hence this misery in the world, this hell. Not that care is not there -- care is there,
           but it is with too much cunningness. The mother cares, the father cares, the husband cares, the wife
           cares, the brother, the sister -- everybody is caring. I'm not saying that nobody is caring -- people are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           caring too much, but still the world is hell.
               Something is wrong, something is fundamentally wrong. What is that fundamental wrong?
           Where do things go wrong? Caring has conditions in it: "Do this! Be that!" Have you ever loved
           anybody with no conditions? Have you ever loved anybody as he or she is? You don't want to
           improve, you don't want to change; your acceptance is total, utter. Then you know what care is. You
           will be fulfilled through that care, and the other will be helped immensely.
               And remember, if your care has no business in it, no ambitions in it, the person you cared about
           will love you forever. But if your care has some ideas in it, then the person you cared about will
           never be able to forgive you. That's why children are incapable of forgiving their parents.
               You go and ask the psychiatrists, the psychoanalysts -- all the cases that come to them are the
           cases of children whose parents cared too much. But their care was businesslike; it was cold, it was
           calculated. They wanted some of their ambitions to be fulfilled through the child. Love has to be a
           free gift. The moment there is a price tag on it, it is no more love.

           The third question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY DON'T YOU ALLOW NONVEGETARIAN FOOD IN THE ASHRAM?


                The question is from Swami Yoga Chinmaya. There must be some idea in Chinmaya's mind to
           eat meat. There must be some deep hidden violence. Otherwise the question is coming from a
           vegetarian and there are thousands of nonvegetarians here. This looks very absurd, but this is how
           things are. The vegetarian is not a true vegetarian; he is just a repressed one. Desire arises.
                But why I don't allow nonvegetarian food in the ashram has nothing to do with religion, it is just
           pure aesthetics. I am not one who thinks that if you take nonvegetarian food you will not become
           enlightened. Jesus became enlightened, Mohammed became enlightened, Ramakrishna became
           enlightened -- there has been no problem about it. You can take nonvegetarian food and you can
           become enlightened, so there is no religious problem about it.
                To me the problem is that of aesthetics. Because Jesus continued to eat meat, I have a feeling that
           he did not have a great aesthetic sense. Not that he is not religious -- he is perfectly religious, as
           religious as Buddha, but something is missing in him. Ramakrishna continued to eat fish; just
           nonaesthetic, it looks a little ugly.
                Enlightenment is not at stake, but your poetry is at stake, your sense of beauty is at stake. Your
           humanity is at stake, not your super-humanity. That's why it is not allowed in my ashram -- and it
           will not be allowed. It is a question of beauty.
                If you understand this many things will be clear to you. Alcohol can be allowed in this ashram
           but not meat, because alcohol is vegetarian -- fruit juice.... fermented, but it is fruit juice. And
           sometimes to be a little drunk gives rise to great poetry. That is possible, that has to be allowed. In
           the new commune we are going to have a bar -- Omar Khayyam. Omar Khayyam is a Sufi saint, one
           of the enlightened Sufis.
                But meat cannot be allowed, that is just ugly. Just to think that you are killing an animal to eat,
           just the very idea, is unaesthetic. I am not against it because the animal is killed... because that which
           is essential in the animal will live, it cannot be killed, and that which is nonessential, whether you
           kill it or not, is going to die. So that is irrelevant, that is not a point for me to consider.
                The question is not that you have killed the animal and killing is not good, no. The question is
           that you have killed the animal -- you. Just to eat? While beautiful vegetarian food is available? If
           vegetarian food is not available, that's one thing. But the food IS available. Then why? Then why
           destroy a body? And if you can kill an animal, then why not be a cannibal? What is wrong with
           killing a man? The meat derived from a human body will be more in tune with you. Why not start
           eating human beings? That too is a question of aesthetics.
                And the animals are brothers and sisters, because man has come from them. They are our family.
           To kill a man is only to kill an evolved animal, or to kill an animal is just to kill somebody who is
           not yet evolved but is on the way. It is the same. Whether you kill the child when he is in the first
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           grade or whether you kill the young man when he has come to his last grade in the university, it does
           not make much difference. The animals are moving towards human beings, and human beings had
           once been animals. It is only a question of aesthetics. Why not kill your wife and eat her? She is so
           beautiful and so sweet....

               A friend came to a cannibal and the food was prepared and the friend had never tasted anything
           like it. He had never even dreamed that food could be so tasty, so delicious. When he was leaving he
           said to the cannibal, "I loved the food. I have never loved food so much. When I come next, prepare
           the same dishes."
               And the cannibal said, "That is difficult, because I only had one mother."

               Why can't you eat your mother? Why can't you eat your husband or your child? -- so delicious.
           The question is not religious, I would like to remind you again, it is a question of aesthetics. An
           aesthetic man will see that life remains beautiful it does not become ugly and nightmarish.
               But the question has arisen in Chinmaya's mind, that shows something. In India people who are
           vegetarian are not really vegetarian; it is just because they are born in a vegetarian family, so from
           the very beginning the vegetarianism has been imposed on them. And naturally they are curious,
           naturally they want to taste other things also, and naturally the idea arises, "The whole world is
           nonvegetarian; people must be enjoying." The vegetarian feels that somehow he is missing much.
           That's why the question has arisen.
               It has nothing to do with meditation. You can eat meat and you can meditate. You can eat meat
           and you can love. It has nothing to do with love either. But you will be showing one thing about
           yourself -- that you are very crude, that you are very primitive, uncultured, uncivilized; that you
           don't have any sense of how life should be. It was out of an aesthetic sense that vegetarianism was
           born. It became entangled in religion and got lost. It has been taken out from the religious context.
               People come to see me and they ask, a Jaina asked me, "How can you say that Jesus was
           enlightened? -- because he was a meat-eater...." His question is relevant because he thinks that
           meat-eaters cannot become enlightened. Meat-eaters can become enlightened, just as people who are
           not poets can become enlightened. That is not a barrier. People who don't have any sense of beauty,
           who will not see any beauty in a rose, can become enlightened... who will not see any beauty in the
           moon, can become enlightened... who will not have any taste for Beethoven's music, can become
           enlightened. But Jesus shows something crude. Maybe it was not possible, maybe he lived amongst
           people who were all meat-eaters. It would have been difficult for him to be a vegetarian. It would
           have been almost impossible for him. But still, that trouble has to be taken.
               But remember that here my whole approach is an integrated approach. Meditation is needed, so
           is poetry, so is aesthetics, so is religion, so is music, so is art. Man should evolve in many
           dimensions in an integrated way. Then comes the ultimate flowering when all your petals have
           opened. And you will have greater joy and greater benediction in life.
               Saint Francis is far more aesthetic than Jesus. Naturally there are stories about Saint Francis that
           birds would come and sit on his shoulders, that fishes would jump out of the river to see him. He had
           a kind of affinity with the animal kingdom. He would talk to trees and would say 'sister' and with
           birds 'brother' and with the sun and the moon. That would not happen to Jesus, that would not
           happen to Mohammed. That cannot happen.
               And still I say they are enlightened people, but their enlightenment misses one thing -- aesthetic
           sensibility. Why miss it? Why not have the whole of it. Why not become enlightened in all the
           possible ways? in your totality?

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHAT IS IT TO BE SURRENDERED TO YOU?


              Savita, that which you don't have and you think that you have, has to be surrendered to me. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't really have the ego, the I, the self. You don't have it really. You are living in a kind of illusion
           that you are separate from existence. That separation is not there. You cannot live for a single split
           moment as separate. You cannot live like an island. You are part of the whole. The whole goes on
           participating in your being, the whole goes on showering you with its energy, but you have the idea
           that "I am separate."
               That 'I' has to be surrendered to me. And you don't have it, so you will not be really surrendering
           something to me, just an illusion. Let me repeat: that which you don't have, I want to take it away
           from you. And that which you have, I want to give it back to you. Your reality I want to give back to
           you; you have forgotten about it. And your unreality I want to take away from you.
               Remember, when you surrender your ego you don't lose anything, you gain -- you gain reality. It
           is as if you were sleeping and you were dreaming and then I come and wake you up. Your dream is
           lost. But have you lost anything? The dream was not there in the first place, it was not a reality. It
           was a dream, only a dream, and now you open your eyes and it is morning and the sun is rising and
           the birds are singing and the trees are happy with the new day.
               I give you that which is and I take away that which is not. I wake you up. You don't lose
           anything. And remember, I don't gain anything because of your surrender. So don't be miserly. Don't
           think that I will be gaining anything out of your surrender -- I don't gain anything. When I wake you
           up, your dream is lost but I don't get your dream. Otherwise I would never have said to surrender
           your egos to me; otherwise I will be almost crushed, killed.
               A very boring man came to see his friend. The friend was very afraid because of his past
           experiences with this man. He bored him and bored him and talked and talked, hours and hours, and
           then when he was leaving he said, "This is strange. When I came I had a headache, now it has gone."
               And the sufferer, the victim, said, "Don't be worried about that -- I have got it now. It has not
           gone anywhere."
               When you surrender the ego, I don't get it. When you surrender your headache, I don't get
           anything out of it. So don't be miserly. Don't think that I must be piling up great treasures because so
           many people are surrendering to me. I don't get anything. What you surrender is nothing. But you
           gain much out of the surrender. You get reality, you get your authenticity back.

           The fifth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              AS I LISTEN TO YOU TALK ABOUT BUDDHA AND SARIPUTRA SUBHUTI, ANANDA,
              MAHAKASHYAPA, I FEEL MORE AND MORE THAT YOU WERE ACTUALLY THERE WHEN
              BUDDHA LIVED AND THAT YOU UNDERSTAND AND REVERE HIM NOT ONLY BECAUSE YOU
              SHARE THE SAME CONSCIOUSNESS, BUT BECAUSE YOU EXPERIENCED HIM DIRECTLY
              WHEN HE WAS IN THE BODY. IS THIS SO?


              Pramod, yes. But don't tell it to anybody. Keep it a secret. And never ask anything about it again.

           The sixth question:


              WHAT DO YOU THINK OSHO? HAVE I THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT
              OR WOULD THE SLIGHTEST IDEA BE THE WRONG THING TO HAVE?

              Yes, Subhuti.

              The seventh question:




              OSHO,
              BUDDHA SAYS THAT ALL WE ARE IS A RESULT OF WHAT WE HAVE THOUGHT. IT IS
              FOUNDED ON OUR THOUGHTS, IT IS MADE UP OF OUR THOUGHTS. IF A MAN SPEAKS OR
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ACTS WITH A PURE THOUGHT HAPPINESS FOLLOWS HIM LIKE A SHADOW.
              HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO NO-MIND FOR WE CAN THINK PURELY AND CONTROL OUR
              THOUGHTS, WE CAN OBTAIN HAPPINESS, YET NO-MIND SEEMS TO APPEAR TO BE
              CONTRADICTORY TO CONTROLLING THOUGHT?


                The first thing. There are three minds possible. One: the evil mind, which lives in a destructive
           way, which thinks of destroying, which enjoys creating suffering for people. To such a mind Buddha
           says misery will follow like a shadow. If you want to create misery for others you will be creating
           misery for yourself finally. If you are against existence, existence will be against you -- because
           existence is a mirror, it echoes you.
                If you abuse, abuses will come and fall on you. If you sing a beautiful song, the song will come
           back and shower upon you. Whatsoever you give comes back to you a thousandfold. Whatsoever
           you sow you will reap a thousandfold. So the evil mind is followed by misery, the evil mind is
           followed by hell. The evil mind is one who enjoys torturing, destroying, murdering. Tamurlane,
           Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin -- these are the evil minds.
                Then there is the holy mind -- against the evil mind, just diametrically opposite to it. It is
           creative, it enjoys seeing people happy. It helps, serves, is a great bestower of happiness on others. It
           loves to see people happy. Happiness follows like a shadow to this mind -- the holy mind.
                But there is one thing more that you are not aware of. If happiness is there, then just beyond it
           somewhere unhappiness will be present. If unhappiness is there, then somewhere on the boundary
           happiness will be present. They go together. The evil mind is followed by misery, by hell, but
           somewhere hell is followed by heaven. The holy mind is followed by happiness, but happiness is
           followed by unhappiness, because they cannot be separate. They are not two phenomena.
                How can you be happy if you cannot be unhappy? If you have forgotten what unhappiness is you
           will have forgotten happiness too. If you don't know what disease is, illness is, you will not be able
           to feel your health, wellbeing. It is impossible. To keep alert that you are healthy, sometimes illness
           is a must.
                You cannot write with a white chalk on a white wall. Not that you cannot write -- you CAN
           write, but nobody will be able to read it, not even you. To write with a white chalk you need a
           blackboard. The blackboard functions as the background. The white chalk becomes the figure. So is
           life. Your happiness is like the white chalk: it needs a black background. The holy man lives in
           happiness but his happiness is a figure and unhappiness is there like a background. Without
           unhappiness there he will never be able to know what happiness is; without contrast there is no way
           to know.
                So ultimately the holy mind and the evil mind are not two minds, they are two aspects of the
           same coin. The saint and the sinner exist together. The saint can turn into a sinner any moment and
           the sinner can turn into a saint any moment. They are not far away, they are not distant neighbors.
           They live very close by, they are very intimate. Their boundaries meet and merge.
                The third mind is no-mind -- neither saint nor sinner, neither happiness nor unhappiness. The
           duality is dropped. Then there is silence, serenity. Then there is peace, all turmoil is gone.
                Remember, even happiness is a turmoil, even happiness is a kind of fever. You like it, that is one
           thing, but it is fever, it is feverish. Have you not watched it? When you are happy, you start getting
           tired of it. Once in a while it is okay, but you cannot remain happy for long. Sooner or later you
           become fed up with it. It is tiring.
                If you are too happy you will not be able to sleep in the night. In the same way, if you are too
           unhappy you will not be able to sleep in the night, you will not be able to relax. Happiness becomes
           a tension. Both are tiring. When happiness tires you, you move towards unhappiness. When
           unhappiness tires you, you start moving towards happiness, and that's how the pendulum of life goes
           on swinging, swaying, from one extreme to another. No-mind is a totally different thing. It has
           nothing to do with mind, happy or unhappy, holy or unholy.
                Do you remember? When Bodhidharma went to China, the Emperor Wu asked him a few
           questions. One of the questions was, 'I have created many monasteries, made many Buddha temples.
           I have opened my treasures for the spread of Buddha's message. Don't you think it is holy?'
                And Bodhidharma laughed and he said, 'What is holy in it? It is a kind of business. You are
           planning for the other world, you are hoping for heaven. There is nothing holy in it, it is as unholy as
           anything else.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                What does Bodhidharma mean? He is saying that your so-called holy acts are bound to be
           followed by unholy things, because deep down the very desire is unholy.
                The Emperor was embarrassed, shocked, angry, and he said, 'Then what do you think -- is not
           Buddha a holy person?'
                And Bodhidharma laughed and he said, 'He is neither holy nor a person. He is utter emptiness.
           How can holiness exist there? It will be a kind of dirt. He is utterly silent, he is emptiness.'
                The state of no-mind is neither holy nor unholy. Buddha is neither a saint nor a sinner. He has
           transcended duality. Buddha is a transcendence.
                So please remember, from an evil mind you can become a holy mind but there is not a real
           transformation. It is only a question of degrees, you have not gone beyond mind yet. Only no-mind
           can liberate you.
                So don't try to become a holy person. Holy persons are unholy. Don't try to become saints
           because all that effort is nothing but an ego trip -- mind playing a new game, and a very subtle game.
           Just drop that whole nonsense of being holy or unholy. Saint and sinner, say goodbye to both. Dark
           and light, say goodbye to both. Heaven and hell, say goodbye to both.
                And then arises a totally new world which you have not even dreamed of. Then there is utter
           serenity, then there is peace, then there is no turmoil, then not even a ripple arises. In that state is
           Buddha-hood. There is no pain, no pleasure then, because pleasure is not different from pain and
           pain is not different from pleasure.
                Then what is there? Buddha is silent about it, nothing can be said about it, because whatsoever
           can be said will become part of duality. If you say it is bliss then you will think it is not misery. If
           you say it is light then you will think it is not dark. If you say it is summer then you will think it is
           hot winter. If you say it is a kind of flower then you will think it is not a thorn. But you will start
           thinking in duality.
                Buddha keeps absolutely silent about it. The reason is that it can only be expressed in silence. It
           is silence. How can you express silence through sound?

           The seventh question:


              A FEW YEARS AGO THROUGH YOGA AND MEDITATION I EXPERIENCED SOME PEAKS OF
              PRAYER. MY WHOLE BEING FELT THE BLISS OF IT -- ALL WAS DIVINE LOVE, AND
              THANKFULNESS. FOR SOME REASON I CAME OUT OF IT AND NOW I FIND MYSELF BACK IN
              THE DARK VALLEY. SOMEWHERE THINGS WENT WRONG. IT FEELS GUILTY AND SO
              ARDUOUS TO STAND UP AGAIN. PLEASE COMMENT.


                If your silence and your bliss is caused by anything, it is bound to disappear. That which is
           caused cannot be eternal. You managed it through Yoga and meditation, but it was not a natural
           happening. It was artificial, it was arbitrary. It was as arbitrary as you can manage through chemical
           drugs, but the drug will wear off.
                You have taken a certain quantity of LSD and you will fed blissed-out, and all is blissful and all
           is joy and life has immense beauty and splendor and trees are more green and roses are more red and
           every face looks radiant. Life is luminous, psychedelic. But the LSD is going to wear off. The next
           morning you will look and the trees are dusty again; that greenness is not there, that luminosity is not
           there. They are not illumined from within. You will see people's faces -- those dull, boring faces
           again. All is dusty, all is ordinary.
                The same can happen through Yoga, the same can happen through fasting, the same can happen
           through any technique whatsoever. Techniques are good to give you a glimpse, but they can only
           give you a glimpse; it cannot become your state of affairs, it cannot become your consciousness.
                So there is not a problem in it, it is simple. It was going to be lost, nothing is wrong with you.
           The only wrong thing is your attitude. You were think-ing that through yoga and meditation you
           would be able to create something eternal. That is not possible. The eternal cannot be created.
           Anything that is created will fall one day or other, sooner or later.
                The eternal comes to you uncreated. The eternal happens, is not done. When you have gone
           beyond techniques and methods, when you have dropped all techniques and all methods, when you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have come to see one thing -- that just to be is enough, nothing else is needed, that there is no need to
           make any arrangement, that all beings are Buddhas from the very beginning.... When you have
           understood this -- that you are not to grow into something, that you are already there, it is already the
           case -- then you relax.
                And the relaxation should not be a method. You should not relax through a Yoga posture. This
           very understanding is relaxing, this very understanding is relaxation. You relax, effort disappears.
           You live your ordinary life -- you chop wood and you carry water from the well and you cook food
           and you eat and you sleep and you love and you live ordinarily with no hankering and no desire for
           anything extraordinary.
                And then one day it is there, not of your making. One day it is suddenly there. One day you open
           your eyes and it is there -- and then it never leaves. But it has to come on its own. Otherwise,
           managed by you, it will come and leave; it will be only a glimpse.
                You ask: "A few years ago through yoga and meditation I experienced some peaks of prayer."
           They were created peaks, they were dreams and imaginations that you managed to have. "My whole
           being felt the bliss of it." But you were there. You felt the bliss of it but you were there. You had not
           disappeared. "All was divine." This is an interpretation. The mind was functioning, the mind was
           saying, "All is divine". You must have heard, you must have read. Your mind was interpreting -- all
           is divine love and thankfulness. These were ideas floating in the mind.
                But you were there, the memory was there, the past was there. Otherwise who would say 'All is
           divine'? If all is really divine then what is the point of saying all is divine? If all is divine all is
           divine, there is no need to say even. Saying simply says that you know that all is not divine. Saying
           simply says that you are posing, imposing.
                Yes, there must have been a kind of happiness created by meditation and yoga, there must have
           been a kind of joy, and on that joy you imposed your whole philosophy -- that this is what God is,
           that this is divineness, that this is love and thankfulness. And for a few days you enjoyed your dream
           -- it was a dream.
           "For some reason I came out of it." Not for some reason, it is very simple. You had to come out of it,
           you could not have lived in a dream forever -- nobody can live in a dream forever. A dream is never
           forever, otherwise what will be the distinction between reality and dream? A dream is only for the
           moment. Sooner or later you wake up, you open your eyes and the dream is not there and the
           ordinary life is there.
           "I came out of it and now I find myself back in the dark valley." You were there at those sunlit peaks
           and you are there in the dark valleys. One thing is similar : you. Dark valleys or sunlit peaks, it does
           not matter; all that matters is you -- the ego is there. The ego is in the dark valley, the ego is at the
           peak, and the ego goes on creating dreams.
                Let me tell you one thing : even the dark valley is your dream and your imposition, your idea.
           There are no dark valleys. If all is divine, how can there be dark valleys? And if there are dark
           valleys, how can all be divine? There are neither dark valleys nor sunlit peaks; it is just the game of
           the ego. It goes on moving in polarities, from one point to another. When you see it -- that the sweet
           dream is a dream, so is the nightmare, both are dreams -- wake up and drop both the dreams. Then
           for the first time you have contact with reality.
                But remember, in that moment when reality is there, you are not. That is the only criterion to
           understand, no other criterion exists. The only criterion is, if the experience is of reality you will not
           be found there, you cannot be found there. You will be utterly absent. Bliss will be there but you will
           not be there. There will be nobody to say "I am feeling bliss." God will be there but you will not be
           there. There will be nobody to say "All is divine." Let that be remembered.
                And this can happen only, this cannot be done. You cannot produce it. A produced thing is
           artificial, it goes only so far, then it disappears. A produced thing is cheap. Just think what you are
           doing. When you do yoga, what are you doing? Standing on your head -- how can standing on your
           head make you enlightened? How? Just standing on your head? So cheap?
                Standing on your head may give a shock to your head, maybe a kind of shock treatment. Too
           much blood rushing to the head may give you a moment of stoppage -- thinking stops. Too much
           blood has rushed so suddenly, mm? -- because you are standing on the head so the gravitation is
           pulling all your blood towards the head. And the head cannot manage it, it is a kind of flood. So for a
           moment there is a stopping of thinking. In that stopping you will feel, "I am joyous, I am blissful, all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is divine." But how long can you stand on your head? And even if you learn to stand a long time, the
           mind will also learn how to go on continuing thinking with that flood of blood. There is no problem,
           mind will also learn by and by. Then you can stand on your head and you can go on thinking.
               When I was a child I used to stand on my head very very long. It became such a habit that one
           day I fell asleep. That is almost impossible. When I told one old man, who was a kind of yogi in my
           village, he said, "This is impossible, this has not even happened to me. To fall asleep standing on
           your head..." Because for sleep to happen, the head needs less blood flow than ordinarily. That's why
           we use pillows in the night to put the head a little higher so blood does not go too much in the head;
           otherwise the head continues functioning. The more intellectual a person is, the bigger the pillow he
           will need -- two, three, four pillows. Otherwise just a little blood and the thought process starts. So
           the food supply has to be completely cut.
               The old man said, "This is impossible." But it happened to me. Not only did I fall asleep but I fell
           from my SHIRSHASANA. It had become so habitual. Not only thoughts, but sleep and dream are
           possible. So if you stand on your head too long you will be accustomed to it and the joy that has
           happened for the first time will never happen again.
               And what do you do when you meditate? How can you manage enlightenment through
           meditation and yoga and fasting and dieting? No, the thing is far beyond -- beyond the stars. All
           these small things are very earthly. Yes, they can purify you, cleanse you, but they cannot give you
           enlightenment. They can give you a few moments of joy, but that joy is not to be interpreted as bliss,
           because you are there. They can sometimes fill you with great light, but that light is not the eternal
           light. For the eternal you can only be feminine, you cannot be a doer. You have to be in a kind of
           inactivity, passivity. You have to wait patiently. Be ordinary and wait
               And I am not saying don't do yoga exercises; they ARE good for the body. And I am not saying
           don't do meditations; they are perfectly good and cleansing. But don't think that by yoga and
           meditation you will produce God. God cannot be produced. But you will be cleansed, and there will
           be more possibility for God to happen.
               But God happens only when you are unawares. When you are not even looking for him, when
           you are simply sitting, not doing anything and there is no desire -- not even a small fragment of
           desire in the mind to be anything else, to be somebody else, to become enlightened and all that --
           when you are just there, sitting and doing nothing, suddenly it happens. It is always sudden. It
           descends on you. But then you are no more, enlightenment is and you are not. God is and you are
           not.

           The last question:


              OSHO,
              FOR TWO MONTHS I LIVED IN THE COMMUNE AA AND FOR TWO YEARS IN SOME
              COMMUNES IN FRANCE. THEY HAVE ALL FAILED -- HATE BECOMING STRONGER THAN
              LOVE.
              I FELT THAT I COULD BE MORE TOTALLY MYSELF LIVING IN A GROUP WITH COLLECTIVE
              DECISIONS AND PROPERTY AND FREE SEXUALITY. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE WAY OF
              LIVING IN COMMUNES?


               The problem is not where you live, the problem is you. You can go to a commune and you will
           carry all your problems with you. And others who have come to live in the commune have also come
           just like you, with all their problems. Sooner or later those problems will surface. These outer things
           cannot help. They are distractions.
               The real change has to happen in you, commune or no commune. The real change has to happen
           in the deepest core of your being. If it happens there only then will life be different, otherwise it will
           not be different.
               You say: "They have all failed." They have failed because you are the same. They have not failed
           really. Their failure only proves that you are frustrated, they have not fulfilled your expectations.
           And what were your expectations? You were thinking that just living in a commune would do. And
           your problems would be solved.
               Neither can a commune help, nor can going to the Himalayas and living in a cave help. Life has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be tackled very realistically. You have to see into your problems, you have to go to their very
           roots, you have to burn the very seed of those problems, and only then -- then it can happen
           anywhere.
               You were searching for a heaven, mm? That's what people have been doing down the ages. They
           don't change themselves, they hanker for a heaven, but wherever they go they will create hell. They
           ARE hell -- it is not a question of finding heaven somewhere. Unless you have it already in you, you
           will not find it anywhere.
           Anubodhi has sent me a beautiful parable:

               Once I knew a man who had won an all-expenses-paid trip to both heaven and hell. He was
           asked where he would like to go first. "I would like to visit hell first," he replied, and so it was
           arranged.
               Upon arriving in hell a great sight met his eyes. He found himself in a large banquet hall in
           which long tables were laden with every imaginable kind of food. The people sat along the tables,
           forks poised above the food, which steamed deliciously and filled the air with the most tempting
           smells, but no one was eating.
               The man was puzzled, but when he looked closer he noticed that the people were all suffering
           from a strange paralysis of the elbow. Try as they might, they just could not get the food to their
           mouths.
           "So this is hell," the man thought. "To live in a bounteous universe, abundant with all that one could
           need or desire, but to starve in the midst of plenty, unable to feed oneself."
               Turning away, the man asked to be transported to heaven. In heaven he saw the same large
           banquet hall, filled with the same long tables, laden with the same delectable food. Looking closer he
           noticed that the people were all suffering from the same paralysis of the elbow. "This is heaven," he
           cried, almost aloud. But upon even closer inspection he noticed one difference. He saw that between
           heaven and hell there was one small difference which made all the difference. What he saw was that
           in heaven they were feeding each other.
               They were paralyzed just the same, but they were feeding each other. It was impossible to bring
           the food to their own mouths but it was possible to feed the other, and the other was feeding them.

              This is the only difference, but the difference is inside -- compassion has arisen. Unless you are a
           bodhisattva, wherever you are you will be in hell. When passion is transformed into compassion....
              Then, wherever you are, you are in heaven. That is the only paradise there is.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Diamond Sutra
                                                    Chapter #7
                                         Chapter title: A Dweller in Peace
           27 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712270
              ShortTitle: DIAMON07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 75 mins
10/28/07                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           VAJRACHCHEDIKA
           PRAJNAPARAMITA
           SUTRA

           OF
           GAUTAMA

           THE
           BUDDHA



           THE LORD THEN SAID:
           'YES, SUBHUTI, FOR THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT
           THAT THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS
           ARE JUST NOT A BUDDHA'S SPECIAL DHAMMAS.
           THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CALLED
           "THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS".'



           THE LORD ASKED:
           'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
           DOES IT OCCUR TO THE STREAMWINNER,
           "BY ME HAS THE FRUIT OF A STREAMWINNER
           BEEN ATTAINED"?
           SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NO INDEED, O LORD.
           AND WHY?
           BECAUSE, O LORD, HE HAS NOT WON ANY DHAMMA.
           THEREFORE IS HE CALLED A STREAMWINNER.
           NO SIGHT-OBJECT HAS BEEN WON,
           NO SOUNDS, SMELLS, TASTES, TOUCHABLES,
           OR OBJECTS OF MIND.
           THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED A "STREAMWINNER".
           IF, O LORD, IT WOULD OCCUR TO A STREAMWINNER,
           "BY ME HAS A STREAMWINNER'S FRUIT BEEN ATTAINED,"
           THEN THAT WOULD BE IN HIM A SEIZING ON A SELF,
           SEIZING ON A BEING,
           SEIZING ON A SOUL,
           SEIZING ON A PERSON.'



           THE LORD ASKED:
           'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
           DOES IT THEN OCCUR TO THE ARHAT,
           "BY ME HAS ARHATSHIP BEEN ATTAINED"?'
           SUBHUTI: 'NO INDEED, O LORD.
           AND WHY?
           BECAUSE NO DHAMMA IS CALLED "ARHAT".
           THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED AN ARHAT.
           AND WHY?
           I AM, O LORD, THE ONE WHOM THE TATHAGATA
           HAS POINTED OUT AS THE FOREMOST OF THOSE
           WHO DWELL IN PEACE.
           I AM O LORD, AN ARHAT FREE FROM GREED.
           AND YET, O LORD, IT DOES NOT OCCUR TO ME,
           "AN ARHAT AM I AND FREE FROM GREED."
           IF, O LORD, IT COULD OCCUR TO ME
           THAT I HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP,
           THEN THE TATHAGATA WOULD NOT HAVE DECLARED OF ME
           THAT "SUBHUTI, THIS SON OF GOOD FAMILY,
           WHO IS THE FOREMOST OF THOSE
           WHO DWELL IN PEACE,
           DOES NOT DWELL ANYWHERE;
           THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A DWELLER IN PEACE, A DWELLER IN PEACE".'

              A Dweller in Peace


                The Diamond Sutra will appear to most of you as absurd, as mad. It is irrational but not
           anti-rational. It is something beyond the reason, that's why it is so difficult to express it in words.
                Once a whisky-drinking, chainsmoking and popcorn-munching American priest was staying with
           me. Roaming in my library, accidentally he found The Diamond Sutra. For just ten to fifteen minutes
           he looked into it here and there, then he came to me and said, "This man Buddha must have been
           mad. And not only was he mad, he had mad followers too.'
                I can understand his statement. Buddha will look mad to you too, because he is trying to say that
           which cannot be said. He is trying to catch hold of something which is essentially elusive. Hence all
           these strange sayings -- they ARE strange. They are strange because the way they are put, the way
           they are expressed, is not logical. It does not make any sense, not at least on the surface.
                And if you have not felt something of the beyond, it is very difficult for you to understand what
           Buddha is trying to do. We can understand only that which we have experienced, if not in toto then
           at least in part. Otherwise our understanding remains rooted in our experience.

           It happened:
                Charlie had been to school that morning for the first time. When he came home his mother said,
           "Well, Charlie, how do you like school?"
           "I like it well enough, but I have not got my present yet."
           "Your present?" queried the mother. "What do you mean?"
           "Teacher said, when she saw me, 'You may sit here for the present, little man.' I sat there all morning
           and didn't get a thing!"

               Now, a small child's understanding is a small child's understanding. And that's how you are --
           small children as far as Buddha is concerned, as far as his statements are concerned. His statements
           are of the ultimate experience. You will have to be very very patient, only then something will start
           dawning in your consciousness. They are of utter significance. Even if a single statement is
           understood, that will prove radical, that will change you from your very roots.

                A father took his young son to an opera for the first time. The conductor started waving the baton
           and the soprano began her aria. The boy watched everything intently and finally asked, "Why is he
           hitting her with his stick?"
           "He is not hitting her with the stick," the father explained.
           "Then why is she screaming?"

               In your mind many times these ideas will come: What is Buddha saying? It looks so utterly mad,
           it doesn't make sense. It is beyond sense. You will have to gather yourself together to climb to
           something higher than you. You will have to stretch your hands towards the beyond. Even if you can
           touch just a fragment of these sayings, your life will not be the same again.
               But it is difficult. We live rooted in the earth. We are like trees rooted in the earth. Buddha is a
           bird on his wings in the sky. Now these trees rooted in the earth are trying to understand the message
           of the bird who has no roots in the earth any more, who is flying in the sky, who knows the vastness,
           the infinity of the sky. He has a different understanding, a different vision. And the distance is
           immense.
               Only very few can have a few glimpses of what Buddha is trying to do. Something of absolute
           value is being conveyed to you. If you cannot understand then remember that you cannot understand.
           Don't say, like that whisky-drinking, chainsmoking, popcorn-munching priest, that Buddha is mad.
           Don't say that, beware of that. It is easier to say that Buddha is mad. Then you are freed of the
           responsibility of understanding; then you can close The Diamond Sutra and forget all about it.
               If you say, "It is beyond me," then there is challenge. When you say, "Maybe I am very childish,
           juvenile. I cannot understand, I have to grow into my understanding. How can Buddha be mad?"
           then there is a challenge and you start growing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Always remember that: never decide about the other. Even if Buddha is mad, take it as a
           challenge. You will not lose anything. If he is mad, then too you would have gone beyond your
           boundaries just in the effort to understand him. If he is not mad then you have met with something
           precious, then you have stumbled upon a great treasure.

           The sutras:

              THE LORD THEN SAID:
              'YES, SUBHUTI, FOR THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT
              THAT THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS
              ARE JUST NOT A BUDDHA'S SPECIAL DHAMMAS.
              THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CALLED
              "THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS".'


               Now look at the absurdity -- but it is significant, it is very meaningful. What are the Dhammas of
           the Buddhas, the special characteristics of a Buddha? His special characteristic is that he has no
           characteristics, that he is utterly ordinary, that if you come across him you will not recognize him.
               He is not a performer, he is not a politician, he is not an actor. He has no ego to perform. He is
           not there to convince anybody about his importance. He is utterly absent. That is his presence. That's
           why these absurd statements.
               His characteristic is that he lives as if he is dead; that he walks and yet nobody walks in him, that
           he talks yet nobody talks in him... there is utter silence, never broken.
               Zen monks say Buddha never uttered a single word, and Buddha spoke for forty-five years
           continuously. If anybody can surpass him, that is me, nobody else can surpass him. And I say to you
           I have also not uttered a single word. Zen people are right. I agree with them with my own
           experience. I go on saying things to you and yet deep inside there is absolute silence, not disturbed
           by what I say. When I am speaking, the silence is there, not even a ripple arises in it.
               I am here, in a way utterly present, in another way absolutely absent, because there is nothing
           arising in me which says 'I'. Not that I don't use the word; the word has to be used, it is utilitarian --
           but it connotes to no reality. It is just a utility, a convenience, a strategy of language; it corresponds
           to no reality.
               When I say 'I', I am simply using a word to indicate towards me, but if you look into me you will
           not find any 'I' there. I have not found. I have been looking and looking and looking. The more I
           have looked in, the more the 'I' has evaporated. The 'I' exists only when you don't look inwards. It
           can exist only when you don't look. The moment you look, the 'I' disappears.
               It is just like when you bring light in a dark room, darkness disappears. Your look inwards is a
           light, a flame. You cannot find any darkness there -- and your 'I' is nothing but condensed darkness.
               The basic characteristic of a Buddha, the Buddha Dhamma, his unique quality, is that he is not,
           that he has no attributes, that he is indefinable, that whatsoever definition you put upon him will be
           unjust because it will demark him, it will limit him, and he is not limited. He is pure void. He is a
           nobody.
               Buddha is so ordinary that if you come across him you will not recognize him. You can
           recognize a king, you know the language how to recognize a king, and the king knows what
           language you recognize. He prepares for it, he rehearses for it. He is bent upon proving to you that
           he is special. Buddha has nothing like that. He is not trying to prove anything to anybody. He is not
           trying to be recognized by you. He has no need to be recognized. He has come home. He does not
           need your attention.
               Remember, attention is a psychological need. It has to be understood. Why do people need so
           much attention? Why in the first place does everybody want people to pay attention to them? Why
           does everybody want to be special? Something is missing inside. You don't know who you are. You
           know yourself only by others' recognition. You don't have any direct approach into your being, you
           go via others.
               If somebody says you are good, you feel you are good. If somebody says you are not good, you
           feel very very depressed -- so you are not good. If somebody says you are beautiful you are happy. If
           somebody says you are ugly you are unhappy. You don't know who you are. You simply live on
10/28/07                                                      Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opinions of others, you go on collecting opinions. You don't have any recognition -- direct,
           immediate -- of your being. That's why you gather a borrowed being. Hence the need for attention.
                And when people are attentive to you, you feel as if you are being loved, because in love we pay
           attention to each other. When two persons are in deep love they forget the whole world. They
           become engaged into each other's being absolutely. They look into each other's eyes. For those
           moments all else disappears, exists not. In those pure moments they are not here. They live on a
           plenitude somewhere high in the sky, or in heaven, and they are absolutely pouring their attention
           into each other.
                Love is attentive -- and everybody has missed love. Very rare people have attained to love,
           because love is God. Millions live without love because millions live without God. Love has been
           missed. How to substitute that gap? The easier substitute is to get people's attention. That will befool
           you, deceive you that they love you.
                That's what happens to a political leader: he becomes the prime minister of the country or a
           president of the country and of course the whole country has to pay attention to him. He feels good.
           It is a vicarious way of feeling loved, and nobody loves him. Once he is out of the post, nobody is
           going to care where he is.
                Who cares about Richard Nixon, whether he is alive or dead -- who bothers? You will know
           about him only when he dies. Then newspapers will have to say something about him. Then
           suddenly you will know, "So he was alive?" Who cares about a politician who is not in power? But
           when he is in power people pay attention. They pay attention to power, but the politician thinks the
           attention is being paid to him.
                And the politician is one who is searching for love and has not been able to love and has not been
           able to be loved. The search is for love; it has taken a very very subtle change and turn. Now it has
           become a search for attention. He wants to see his picture every day in the newspaper. If one day his
           picture is not there in the newspaper he feels neglected.
                He is fulfilling his love-desire, but it cannot be fulfilled that way. Love, whenever it happens,
           brings attention with it like a shadow, but attention does not bring love. Attention can come in a
           thousand ways. You can create some mischief and people will pay attention to you. The need of the
           politician and the criminal is the same.
                The criminal also wants the same thing -- attention. He murders and then his picture is in the
           newspapers, his name is on the radio, he is on the TV. He feels good. Now everybody knows who he
           is, now everybody is thinking about him -- that he has become a name in the world. The famous and
           the notorious both seek the same thing.
                Buddha is absolute love. He has loved existence, existence has loved him. That's what samadhi
           is, when you are in an orgasmic relationship with the total. He has known the total orgasm -- the
           orgasm which is not of the body and not of the mind either, but of totality, not partial. He has come
           to know that ecstasy. Now there is no need to ask for any attention from anybody.
                He will pass you on the road and you will not be able to recognize him because you recognize
           only politicians, criminals and people like that. You can recognize a madman on the road because he
           will be creating mischief, but you will not recognize a Buddha. Buddha will pass so silently, without
           a whisper.
              That is his chief characteristic, to be as if he is not. But if that is the chief characteristic -- to be as if
              one is not -- then he has no characteristics.

              That's what Buddha means when he says:
              'YES, SUBHUTI, FOR THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT
              THAT THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS
              ARE JUST NOT A BUDDHA'S SPECIAL DHAMMAS.
              THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CALLED
              "THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS".'


               The extraordinariness of a Buddha is his utter ordinariness. His ordinariness is his
           extraordinariness. To be ordinary is the most extraordinary thing in the world.
               Just the other night I came across a very beautiful story about Saint Francis, a Buddha.

              Saint Francis of Assisi lay on his deathbed. He was singing, and singing so loudly that the whole
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           neighborhood was aware. Brother Elias, a pompous but prominent member of the Franciscan order,
           came close to Saint Francis and said, 'Father, there are people standing in the street outside your
           window.' Many had come. Fearing that the last moment of Francis' life had come, many who loved
           him had gathered together around the house.
               Said this brother Elias, "I am afraid nothing we might do could prevent them from hearing you
           singing. The lack of restraint at so grave an hour might embarrass the order, Father. It might lower
           the esteem in which you yourself are so justly held. Perhaps in your extremity you have lost sight of
           your obligation to the many who have come to regard you as a saint. Would it not be more edifying
           for them if you would, er, die with more Christian dignity?"
           "Please excuse me, Brother," Saint Francis said, "but I feel so much joy in my heart that I really can't
           help myself. I must sing!"

               And he died singing. In the whole Christian history, he's the only one who has died singing.
           Many Zen people have died singing, but they don't belong to Christianity. He is the only Zen master
           amongst Christian saints. He didn't care a bit about Christian dignity.
               Now what happened? This brother Elias wants to prove to people that Saint Francis is a saint.
           Now he is afraid that people will not think that he is a saint; they may think he is mad or something.
           A saint has to be sad by the very definition. Christians believe only in sad saints. They cannot
           believe that Jesus ever laughed. That is below Christian dignity. Laughter? -- so human, so ordinary?
           They know only one thing, to put Jesus there high above humanity -- but then all that is human has
           to be taken out of him. Then he becomes just a dead, bloodless thing.
               This brother Elias is worried. This is the last moment, Francis is dying, and he will leave a bad
           name behind him. People will think either he was not a saint or he was mad. He is worried because
           he wants to prove. In fact he is not worried about Saint Francis, he is worried about himself and the
           order: "It will be very embarrassing for us later on. How are we going to answer these people? What
           happened in the last moments?" He is worried about himself. If the master is mad then what about
           the disciple? He is a disciple.
               But see two different planes, two different dimensions together. Elias is concerned with public
           opinion. He wants to prove his master to be the greatest master, to be the greatest of saints, and he
           knows only one way to prove it -- that he should be serious, that he should take life seriously, that he
           should not laugh and should not sing, should not dance. They are too human, they are too ordinary.
           Ordinary mortals can be forgiven, but not a man of the stature of Saint Francis.
               But Saint Francis has a different vision -- he is just ordinary. He says, "Please excuse me,
           Brother, but I feel so much joy in my heart that I really can't help myself. I must sing!" In fact, it is
           not that Francis is singing, Francis has become the song. That's why he cannot help, he cannot
           control. There is nobody left to control it.
               If the song is happening it is happening. It is not within control, it can't be, because the controller
           has disappeared. The self, the ego, no more exists. Saint Francis does not exist as an individual.
           There is absolute silence inside. Out of that silence this song is born. What can Francis do? That's
           why he says, "I can't help it. I must sing!"
               And he died singing. And there can be no other better death. If you can die singing, that proves
           that you lived singing, that your life was a joy and death became the crescendo of it, the culmination.
               Saint Francis is a Buddha. The characteristic of a Buddha is that he is ordinary, that he has no
           ideas about himself of how he should be, that he simply is spontaneous, that whatsoever happens,
           happens. He lives on the spur of the moment, that is his authenticity.
              You can call it his characteristic, but what kind of characteristic is this? It is simply that he has no
              character, he has no strait-jacket of a character around himself, he has no armor, he does not live
              from the past, that he does not know what Christian dignity is. He lives in the moment like a child.
              'YES, SUBHUTI, FOR THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT
              THAT THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS
              ARE JUST NOT A BUDDHA'S SPECIAL DHAMMAS.
              THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CALLED
              "THE DHAMMAS SPECIAL TO THE BUDDHAS".'


              Ordinariness is his extraordinariness, nobodiness is his somebodiness, absence is his presence,
           death is his life.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THE LORD ASKED:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT OCCUR TO THE STREAMWINNER,
              "BY ME HAS THE FRUIT OF A STREAMWINNER
              BEEN ATTAINED"?
              SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NO INDEED, O LORD.
              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE, O LORD, HE HAS NOT WON ANY DHAMMA.
              THEREFORE IS HE CALLED A STREAMWINNER.
              NO SIGHT-OBJECT HAS BEEN WON,
              NO SOUNDS, SMELLS, TASTES, TOUCHABLES,
              OR OBJECTS OF MIND.
              THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED A STREAMWINNER.
              IF, O LORD, IT WOULD OCCUR TO A STREAMWINNER,
              "BY ME HAS A STREAMWINNER'S FRUIT BEEN ATTAINED,"
              THEN THAT WOULD BE IN HIM A SEIZING ON A SELF,
              SEIZING ON A BEING,
              SEIZING ON A SOUL,
              SEIZING ON A PERSON.'


                Buddha had talked about four stages of the seeker. The first he calls the streamwinner.
           Streamwinner means one who has entered into the buddhafield, one who has become an initiate, one
           who has become a sannyasin.
                Why is he called the streamwinner? -- because he is no more standing on the shore, he is no more
           static, he has started moving with the stream of life. He is no more fighting with the river. That ego
           that used to fight with the river and that ego that used to go upstream is no longer there.
                Now again you will feel it is absurd. The stream has won, that's why he is called a streamwinner.
           He has dropped all conflict. He has surrendered, that's why he has become victorious, that's why he
           is called a streamwinner. Strange words.
                First he was trying to win the stream. That's what all are doing in the world -- trying to have a
           life according to their own desires and plans and projections, trying to impose a pattern of their own
           making, of their own dreams, of their own desires, upon life Everybody is trying to go upstream,
           everybody is trying to fight with life, with nature, with God. The ordinary human life is the life of
           conflict.
                But with whom are you fighting? You are fighting with your own source. With whom are you
           fighting? With yourself. And the fight is going to lead you into deeper and deeper frustrations
           because you cannot win, that is not the way to win. You will be defeated, because you are only a
           small part and the existence is vast, is enormous. You cannot win against it. You can win only with
           it.
                You cannot win against it, you can win only through it. If it supports you, you can win. If it
           doesn't support you, you can go on believing but you will be defeated. It is only a question of time.
           Sooner or later you will be tired, frustrated, exhausted by the fight, and then you will drop -- but then
           you drop in defeat. And then in that defeat there is no joy. How can there be joy in defeat? The
           people of understanding know that before defeat comes, if you can surrender there will be joy.
                Surrender and defeat are so different and so alike. The defeated also seems to be surrendered, and
           the surrendered seems to be defeated but that is just apparent, only on the surface. Deep down they
           are worlds apart. The defeated is feeling angry, in rage, in frustration, he is in hell. The surrendered,
           the one who has surrendered, has no misery. He is elated, he is ecstatic. He has understood that the
           whole fight was meaningless, that the whole fight was destined to fail, doomed to fail.
                It is as if my left hand starts fighting with my right hand. It is as if my fingers start fighting with
           my body. How can they win? It is foredoomed. The man of understanding surrenders. He says, "Let
           God be. Let thy will be done. Let thy kingdom come." He says, "I am no more. Flow through me. Let
           me be just a hollow bamboo, a reed flute. Sing through me if you wish so. If you don't wish so, let
           silence pass through me." He becomes just a passage. He starts moving with the stream. He says,
           "Let life's stream take possession of me. I will not fight. I will not even swim. I will float, I will go
           with the wind."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               To enter into such an understanding with life is called 'becoming a Streamwinner'. But it is a
           strange word. surrender is called winning -- because fighting leads to failure and defeat. Surrender
           leads to conquest, to victory.
               This life is paradoxical. What can Buddha do? Life is paradoxical. Those who have surrendered
           prove themselves to be the winners and those who go on fighting, one day find they have lost all
           their energy in fight and there is no sign of any victory anywhere.
               Remember, Alexander has failed, not Francis. Napoleon has failed, not Jesus. Genghis Khan and
           Tamurlane have failed, not Buddha. The real history should not be bothered with failures -- Genghis
           Khan, Tamurlane, Alexander. The real history should think more of Buddha, Jesus, Francis -- the
           real people who have won. But their winning came out of their surrender.
               Just think of it, just think of the beauty and benediction of it, when you are not fighting, when
           you are just going down the river with it. It takes you to the ocean, it is going to the ocean. You are
           unnecessarily making much fuss. It is going already. You simply go with it and you will reach to the
           ocean, to the ultimate, to the infinite. This utter surrender to existence Buddha calls the fruit of the
           streamwinner.
               The second stage is called once-returner and the third, never-returner and the fourth, arhat. The
           streamwinner forsakes three fetters. The first is ego, individuality, the idea of a separate self.
           Naturally that is the whole root cause of fighting.
               Second, living by mere rule and ritual. There are so many religious people but they live only by
           rule and ritual. They know nothing of religion. Ritual is not religion, rule is not religion. Religion is
           a totally different kind of life -- a life of awareness, life of love, life of compassion. But if you look
           around the world you will see millions of people going to the churches, temples, mosques,
           gurudwaras, praying, doing this and that, and it is all ritual, and religion is nonexistential.
           I have heard an ancient Indian story:

                A man was doing the traditional SHRADDH ceremony to honor his just-departed father.
                Shraddh is a ceremony that when somebody's father dies you pray for his journey, you pray for
           him.
                During the ceremony the family dog wandered into the prayer room. Afraid of defiling the
           occasion the man hastily got up and tied his dog to a post outside on the verandah.
                Years later, when he died, his son performed the shraddh ceremony in his turn. Anxious to
           follow it in every detail he had to catch hold of a dog from the neighborhood, because he
           remembered that it must be very important. "My father had got up in the middle of his prayers to do
           it, and when he had tied the dog to the post then he was so happy and he went again and prayed."
           And he was not going to miss anything, the ceremony had to be perfect.
                By this time it happened that the family had no dog so he had to run in the neighborhood to find
           a stray dog. He caught hold of one, tied it carefully to a post on the verandah, then finished the
           ceremony with a satisfied conscience. In that family, down the centuries, the rule is still followed. In
           fact, the sacred dog ritual has become the most important item in the ceremony.

               That's how things move. People live in unconsciousness. Your fathers were doing something,
           their fathers and their fathers were doing something. It takes on an aura of sacredness. You just go
           on repeating it, you don't care what the meaning of it is.
               Jesus called God 'my Father -- Abba.' You go on calling him father but it is meaningless. You
           don't have that heart, the ritual is just superficial. You don't have that heart that can call God Abba.
           The word abba is not meaningful, but the feeling in the heart. If that feeling is there, there is no need
           even to say that word, feeling will do. But if the feeling is not there then it is a dead ritual.
           I have heard:

               After the four-year-old girl was tucked in bed, she folded her hands and started praying. By
           mistake she started saying her table-prayers. Realizing what she had done, she looked upward with a
           big smile and said, "Erase that, Jesus." Then she proceeded with her bedtime prayer.

              Rituals are like that. They don't grow in you, they are just imposed from the outside. You go on
           repeating, they become mechanical.
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha says that a few things have to be dropped by the streamwinner. One is ego, the second is
           living by mere rule and ritual, and the third is doubt, perplexity.
                A doubting mind cannot relax. A doubting mind cannot surrender. A doubting mind can never be
           total; a part goes on fighting, a part goes on saying no. A doubting mind cannot say an absolute yes,
           and that is the fundamental of becoming a streamwinner -- to say yes to life, to say yes
           unconditionally, to say yes simply, with your whole being. That is prayer enough. If you can simply
           sit silently and can say yes to existence, enough -- nothing more is needed, no ritual.
                These three things have to be dropped by a streamwinner. Then the second stage is called
           once-returner. Once-returner means one who will die and come once more. He has to forsake greed,
           sensuality and ill-will. But he will come once more.
              The third stage is called never-returner, one who will not come again. He has to forsake lust for life,
              lust for the other life, lust to be. And the fourth stage is called the state of arhat, one who is absent,
              nobody, nothingness. He has become a Buddha.
              Buddha asked Subhuti about these four. He asks:
              'DOES IT OCCUR TO THE STREAMWINNER
              "BY ME HAS THE FRUIT OF A STREAMWINNER
              BEEN ATTAINED"?'

              A simple question, but very significant.



              SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NO INDEED O LORD. AND WHY?
              BECAUSE O LORD, HE HAS NOT WON ANY DHAMMA.'


               If you say, "I have surrendered," then you have not surrendered, because how can YOU
           surrender? You have to BE surrendered. The 'I' has to be surrendered. You cannot say, "I have
           surrendered." If it is something of your doing then it is not surrender.
               People come to me and they ask, "How can we surrender to you?" And I say, "You cannot. You
           are the barrier in surrender. You just get out of the way and there is surrender."
               Surrender is not something that has to be done or that can be done, it is not a doing. Surrender is
           an understanding. 'I' is always in a fighting mood. 'I' can never be without fight, it exists through
           fight, it survives through fight, it depends on fight. Either you will be fighting with others, or if you
           change that you will start fighting with yourself. That's what your monks go on doing in the
           monasteries. They don't fight in the world, they don't fight with anybody, they have renounced the
           world; now they start fighting with themselves.
               The body says, "I am hungry," and they say, "No." Now this is fight. Now ego has arisen in a
           new way. The ego says, "Look, I control my body so beautifully. I am the master and the body is the
           slave." Your eyes are tired and they say, "We want to go to sleep," and you say, "No. I have decided
           to stay awake the whole night. This is my meditation. I am on a particular meditation, I cannot
           sleep." And you feel good. Now you are fighting.
               Your body wants a little comfort and you sleep on the stones, your body wants a little shelter and
           you stand in the hot sun, your body wants a few clothes and you stand naked in the cold. These are
           ways of fighting. Now you don't have the world to fight with so you have divided yourself in two.
               The ego lives through friction, any kind of friction will do. The husband fights with the wife, the
           wife fights with the husband. These are nothing but ways of feeding the ego. The more you fight, the
           more the ego becomes strong and the greatest strength the ego gets is from fighting with yourself,
           because that is the hardest fight.
               To kill somebody else is one thing; to kill yourself slowly, continuously, for many years, is a
           difficult job, it is a slow suicide, and the ego feels very good. That's why the so-called religious
           monks have great egos; you will not find such great egos in the ordinary people in the marketplace.
           If you want really great egos, if you want to see how they are, go to the Himalayas and in the caves
           you will find them.
              The man who has surrendered cannot claim that "I have surrendered," he can only say surrender has
              happened.
              'NO, INDEED, O LORD. AND WHY?
              BECAUSE, O LORD, HE HAS NOT WON ANY DHAMMA.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEREFORE HE IS CALLED A STREAMWINNER.'



              Because you have dropped the 'I', that's why you are called a surrenderer. You cannot claim that "I
              have surrendered." If you claim you have missed the whole point.
              'NO SIGHT-OBJECT HAS BEEN WON, NO SOUNDS,
              SMELLS, TASTES, TOUCHABLES, OR OBJECTS OF MIND.
              THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED A STREAMWINNER.'


              He has not won anything like an object. In fact, rather than winning anything he has dropped the
           very idea of winning. That's why he is called a streamwinner. He has dropped the whole fight, the
           whole war, that he was doing for many many lives. He has dropped the whole project, he is no
           longer interested in it.
              He cannot show you anything and say, "I have won this. See! This is my victory." He cannot show you
              his kingdom that he has won. He has not won anything visible. In fact, rather than winning anything
              visible he has dropped his ego. But in that losing of the ego is great victory. But that victory is such it
              cannot be claimed.
              'IF O LORD,
              IT WOULD OCCUR TO A STREAMWINNER,
              "BY ME HAS A STREAMWINNER'S FRUIT
              BEEN ATTAINED,"
              THEN THAT WOULD BE IN HIM
              A SEIZING ON A SELF
              SEIZING ON A BEING,
              SEIZING ON A SOUL,
              SEIZING ON A PERSON.


               The moment you think, "I have won, I have surrendered," again you have created a new 'I', again
           a self has arisen, again you have started seeing in the ways of the ego. Again you have perceived the
           self.
               The English word perception is beautiful. It comes from PER-CAP and CAPIO, meaning to take
           hold of, to seize, to grasp, to capture. The moment you perceive that you are there in any way, you
           have captured again the ego and the ego has captured you. Again you are back into the old rut. The
           whole point is lost, you are no more a streamwinner.
               This way Buddha asks about once-returner and never-returner, but because it is the same I have
           dropped it, I have not taken it into the sutra. Finally:

              THE LORD ASKED:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT THEN OCCUR TO THE ARHAT,
              "BY ME HAS ARHATSHIP BEEN ATTAINED"?'
              SUBHUTI: 'NO INDEED, O LORD.
              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE NO DHAMMA IS CALLED "ARHAT".
              THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED AN ARHAT.
              AND WHY?
              I AM, O LORD, THE ONE WHOM THE TATHAGATA
              HAS POINTED OUT AS THE FOREMOST OF THOSE
              WHO DWELL IN PEACE.
              I AM O LORD, AN ARHAT FREE FROM GREED.
              AND YET, O LORD, IT DOES NOT OCCUR TO ME,
              "AN ARHAT AM I AND FREE FROM GREED".
              IF, O LORD, IT COULD OCCUR TO ME
              THAT I HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP,
              THEN THE TATHAGATA WOULD NOT HAVE DECLARED OF ME
              THAT "SUBHUTI, THIS SON OF GOOD FAMILY,
              WHO IS THE FOREMOST OF THOSE
              WHO DWELL IN PEACE,
              DOES NOT DWELL ANYWHERE;
              THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A DWELLER IN PEACE, A DWELLER IN PEACE".'


                Simple once you get the idea. The idea is that when you start moving into the world of truth, you
           cannot be a claimer. Your claim will be a disclaim.
                Once a man came to Buddha and asked, "Have you attained?" and Buddha said, "I cannot claim
           because I have attained."
                Just see the beauty of it. He says, "I cannot claim BECAUSE I HAVE attained. If I claim, that
           will be a sure sign that I have not attained." But see the difficulty too. If Buddha says, "I have not
           attained," then he is saying a lie. If he says, "I have attained," that is not possible because there is no
           'I' in that attainment. That attainment is such that it happens only when the 'I' has gone. You see the
           difficulty, how language becomes impotent.

              BUDDHA ASKED:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT THEN OCCUR TO THE ARHAT,
              "BY ME HAS ARHATSHIP BEEN ATTAINED"?'


               Now arhatship is not a state. It is not something like an object. You cannot catch hold of it, you
           cannot possess it, you cannot hoard it. It is a freedom, not a thing to be possessed. It is a freedom.
           You simply go on dropping your chains. One day all chains have disappeared -- even the last chain
           of the idea of 'I' has disappeared. Then there is nobody present. That consciousness is called arhat.
              Buddha asks, "Does it occur to the arhat 'I have attained arhatship'?"
              'THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED ARHAT.
              AND WHY? I AM, O LORD,
              THE ONE WHOM THE TATHAGATA HAS POINTED OUT
              AS THE FOREMOST OF THOSE
              WHO DWELL IN PEACE.'


                Now Subhuti takes himself as an example. He says "You have declared of me that I have
           attained. You have declared of me that I have become an arhat. You have declared that I dwell in
           peace." This is a special way of Buddha of saying that there is nobody inside -- dwelling in peace.
                Dwelling in peace means there is nobody, because if there is somebody, peace is not possible. If
           there is somebody some turmoil will continue. The house is silent only when there is nobody in the
           house. Even if somebody is there a little bit, turmoil will continue. Even if one person is there he will
           put things from here to there, he will do something. Even if he is fast asleep he will snore. Something
           is bound to happen. When there is nobody at all then there is peace.
                Buddha calls the state of arhathood when there is absolute peace, so much that there is not
           anybody to be found there. When Buddha used to say, "Now Subhuti, you dwell in peace," he is
           saying, "Now Subhuti, you are no more." It is the same.
                Subhuti says, "You have declared that Subhuti dwells in peace, you have declared that Subhuti
           has become an arhat, and you must be true, Lord. How can you be untrue? But I cannot say, it does
           not occur to me, 'An arhat am I and free from greed.' If it occurs to me, then you are wrong.
           "If it occurs to me that I am an arhat, then ego has arisen, then a self is seized, then again I am caught
           in the old trap. If it arises in me that I dwell in peace then the peace is lost because the 'I' has come
           back, the dweller is back." Then you cannot dwell in peace, then something is bound to happen --
           some misery, some dream, some desire, and the world, the whole world starts.
                The ego is the seed of the world. The small seed contains the whole world. Just feel "I am" and
           the whole world comes following immediately.

              SUBHUTI SAYS: 'IT DOES NOT OCCUR TO ME,
              "AN ARHAT AM I AND FREE FROM GREED."
              IF, O LORD, IT COULD OCCUR TO ME
              THAT I HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP,
              THEN THE TATHAGATA WOULD NOT HAVE DECLARED OF ME
              THAT "SUBHUTI, THIS SON OF GOOD FAMILY,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHO IS THE FOREMOST OF THOSE
              WHO DWELL IN PEACE,
              DOES NOT DWELL ANYWHERE;
              THAT IS WHY HE IS CALLED
              A DWELLER IN PEACE, A DWELLER IN PEACE".'


               When one has disappeared, when the dweller is no more, then the peace is attained.
               Nothingness is the taste of Buddha's message. One has to come to that point when one is not,
           when only absence prevails, but then nobody can claim, then nobody can come and say and brag
           about it.
               To understand Buddha you will need a few glimpses of nonbeing. Just linguistically you can
           understand what he is saying, but that won't help much, that won't take you far into it You will have
           to have a few glimpses of it -- and they are possible.
               Sometimes just sitting silently, doing nothing, keep quiet; not even a mantra to disturb you, not
           even the name of God, not even a special yoga posture to sit in, not even to contemplate, not even to
           meditate -- just sitting silently in your room or by the side of a tree or by the side of the river, lying
           in the grass, looking at the stars or with closed eyes. Just being there, just a pool of energy going
           nowhere -- and glimpses will start coming to you. For a moment you will feel you are and you are
           not.
               You are, utterly you are, and still you are not. You are not and for the first time you are. Then
           you will see why Buddha is so paradoxical. You are only when you are not. When all is absent there
           is great presence. When the ego has completely disappeared, you are the whole, you are the all. You
           disappear as the drop and you become the ocean. On one side you have disappeared and on another
           side you have appeared and for the first time.
               Enlightenment is a death and a resurrection. And they both happen together, simultaneously.
           Here happens death and immediately it is followed by resurrection. But you will have to taste, you
           will have to savor it. These words are not mere words, these are not just doctrines and philosophies;
           they are existential experiences.
               I understand your difficulty. Many questions have come to me that "When you talk on Sufis our
           hearts dance, but this Diamond Sutra and our hearts are not dancing." This is higher, this is more
           rarified.
               Sufis you can understand, they are close to you. They talk about love. At least you have heard
           about the word love, you have some ideas what love is. You may not understand the Sufis' love,
           what they mean, but at least you know something about love, you know at least what you mean, and
           when hearing about love your heart starts melting. But these words of Buddha are far superior.
               But it is not so with everybody. A few questions have come to me that they are thrilled. It
           depends. You can ask Prasad, his heart is dancing so much with The Diamond Sutra that he is almost
           having a heart attack. Or you can ask Pradeepa.
               Remember one thing: here I am speaking for so many people. They are different, their
           approaches are different. Sometimes it will fit with you, sometimes it may not fit with you. When it
           doesn't fit you have to keep patience, because when it fits with you it will not fit with somebody else.
           He has to keep patience. I am speaking for many people -- and not only am I speaking with you and
           for you, I am speaking for millions who are not here, to whom these words will reach.
               Sometimes if you feel the thing is too difficult for you or unapproachable for you, be patient.
           Listen. Maybe your heart is not dancing, maybe it is higher or deeper than the heart. There are things
           of the head, there are things of the heart, and there are things which are beyond. This is of the
           beyond. And the beyond is very difficult. You know something of the head, you know something of
           the heart but you know nothing of the beyond.
               But these words are rare. This Diamond Sutra is a diamond, the most valuable diamond that
           exists in the world literature. Nobody has spoken like that, nobody has taken such flights. But if you
           feel that you cannot fly so high, don't close yourself. Make efforts. Even if you can go a little further
           than you can go right now, even if you can take a few steps towards the unknown, that will be
           enriching to you.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                The Diamond Sutra
                                                    Chapter #8
                                             Chapter title: Already Home
           28 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712280
              ShortTitle: DIAMON08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 82 mins




              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              WHY HAVE ALL THE GREAT MASTERS COME FROM THE EAST?


               Because humanity has yet not been total. The East is introvert, the West is extrovert. Man is split,
           mind is schizophrenic. That's why all the great masters have come from the East and all the great
           scientists have come from the West. The West has developed science and has completely forgotten
           about the inner soul; is concerned with matter, but has become oblivious of the inner subjectivity.
           The whole focus is on the object. Hence all the great scientists are born in the West.
               The East has become too much concerned with the inner soul and has forgotten objectivity,
           matter, the world. Great religious masters developed out of this, but this is not a good situation, this
           should not be so. Man should become one. Man should not be allowed to be lopsided anymore. Man
           should be a fluidity, neither extrovert nor introvert. Man should be capable of being both together.
           The inner and the outer, if balanced, give the greatest ecstatic experience.
               The person who is neither leaning towards the inner too much nor towards the outer too much is
           the person of equilibrium. He will be a scientist and a mystic together. That is something that will
           happen, that is something that is going to happen. We are preparing the field for it. I would like to
           see a man who is neither Eastern nor Western, because to be Eastern as against Western is ugly. To
           be Western as against Eastern is again ugly. The whole earth belongs to us and we belong to the
           whole earth. A man should be just man, a man should be just human -- total, whole. And out of that
           wholeness will arise a new kind of health.
               The East has suffered, the West has suffered. The East has suffered; you can see it all around --
           the poverty, the starvation. The West has suffered, you can see inside the Western mind -- tension,
           anxiety, anguish. The West is very poor inwardly, the East is very poor outwardly. Poverty is bad.
           Whether it is inner or outer makes no difference, poverty should not be allowed. Man should be rich,
           inner, outer, both. Man should have all-dimensional richness.
               Just think of a man who is an Albert Einstein and a Gautam Buddha both. Just meditate on that
           possibility -- that IS possible. In fact if Albert Einstein had lived a little longer, he would have turned
           into a mystic. He had started thinking about the inner, he was becoming interested in the inner
           mystery. How long can you remain interested in the outer mystery? If you are really interested in
           mystery then sooner or later you will stumble upon the inner too.
               My concept is of a world which is neither Eastern nor Western, neither inner nor outer, neither
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           extrovert nor introvert -- which is balanced, which is whole.
               But this has not been the case in the past. That's why your question is relevant. You ask: "Why
           have all the great masters come from the East?" Because the East has been obsessed with the inner as
           against the outer. Naturally, when down the centuries you have been obsessed with the inner, you
           will create a Buddha, a Nagarjuna, a Shankara, a Kabir. It is natural.
               If you are obsessed with the outer as against the inner, you will create an Albert Einstein, an
           Eddington, an Edison, that's natural. But this is not good for the totality of human beings. Something
           is missing. The man who has inner growth and has not grown outwardly remains juvenile in the
           outside, remains stupid outside. And the same is the case with the man who has grown much, who
           has become mature, very mature, as far as mathematics goes and physics goes and chemistry goes,
           but who inside has not been even born yet, who is still in the womb.
               This is my message to you: drop these hemispheres -- East and West -- and drop these
           hemispheres of inner and outer. Become fluid. Let movement, flow, be your very life. Remain
           available to the outer and to the inner both.
               That's why I teach love and meditation. Love is the passage to go out, meditation is the passage
           to go in. And a man who is in love AND meditative is beyond schizophrenia, is beyond all kinds of
           split. He has become one, he is integrated. In fact, he has soul.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              DON'T YOU GET BORED, BORED AND FED UP, DAY AFTER DAY ANSWERING THE SAME
              QUESTIONS, WHILE WE SIT THERE WITH EARS BLOCKED, EYES TIGHT, MOUTH SEALED,
              NEVER EVER GETTING THE MESSAGE -- THAT THERE ARE NO ANSWERS? YOU
              CONTINUALLY ASTOUND ME IN YOUR DEWDROP FRESHNESS IN THE EARLY MORNING
              LIGHT, AND STILL I AM BLIND, DEAF AND LAME, CUT OFF FROM SHARING IN YOUR
              RADIANCE EXCEPT FOR BRIEF MOMENTS.


                The first thing: I am not, so I cannot be bored and fed up. First you have to be to be bored. The
           more you are the more you will feel bored. The less you are the less bored. That's why children are
           less bored than old people. Have you not observed it? Children are almost not bored. They go on
           playing with the same toys, they go on running after the same butterflies, they go on collecting the
           same seashells. They are not bored.
                Have you ever told a story to a child? After listening to it he says, "Tell it again... and again."
           And whenever you will meet him again he will say, "Tell me that story. I loved it." Why is a child
           not bored? -- because he is not. Or he is in a very rudimentary way; the ego has not evolved yet. The
           ego is the factor that creates boredom.
                Animals are not bored, trees are not bored, and what novelty is there in the life of animals and
           trees? The rosebush goes on producing the same roses year in, year out, and the bird goes on singing
           the same song every morning and every evening. The cuckoo knows not many notes, just a single
           note. It goes on repeating it; it is monotonous. But not a single animal is bored, not a single tree is
           bored. Nature knows nothing of boredom. Why? -- because nature has no ego yet.
                A Buddha is not bored, a Jesus is not bored, because they have dropped the ego again. Nature has
           not evolved it yet, Buddha has dropped it. Buddha and nature are almost the same. I say almost
           because there is only one difference -- of great significance, but only one difference. The difference
           is that of awareness. Nature is without ego but unaware, Buddha is without ego but aware.
                Once you know you are not there, who is going to be bored? who is going to be fed up? That's
           why I can come every morning and go on answering your questions. I am not bored. I cannot be
           bored. For almost twenty-five years I have not tasted boredom. I have started forgetting the very
           taste of it, how it feels.
                The second thing: the questions are not the same. They cannot be -- they come from different
           people, how can they be the same questions? Yes, sometimes the words may be the same, but the
           questions are not the same. Two persons are so different from each other -- how can they ask the
           same question? Even if the words are the same, even if the construction of the question is the same,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yet I would like you to be reminded -- they can't be the same.
               Now this question is asked by Anand Shaila; nobody else can ask it. Nobody else upon this big
           earth can ask it. To ask this question a Shaila will be needed. And Shaila is only one; there are not
           many Shailas.
               So remember, each individual has such uniqueness. To call those questions the same is
           disrespectful. I respect your questions. They are not the same. They have nuances of their own,
           colors of their own, but you need very penetrating eyes to see the difference, otherwise you may not
           be able to see.
               When you look around and you see all the trees are green, do you think it is the same green?
           Then you don't know how to look at color. Then bring a painter, then ask the painter and he will say,
           "They are all different greens. There are thousands of types of greens -- different shades, different
           nuances. No two trees are the same green." Just look around and you will see -- yes, each green is a
           different green.
               So are questions. And even if the same person asks the question again and again, then too it
           cannot be the same, because you go on changing. Nothing is static. You cannot step in the same river
           twice, and you cannot meet the same person again. Shaila cannot ask this question tomorrow,
           because there will be no more the same person tomorrow. The Ganges will have flowed, much water
           will have gone down. This moment it is relevant, tomorrow it may not be relevant, something else
           may surface in the consciousness.
               No two persons can ask the same question, and not even the same person can ask the same
           question again, because the person goes on changing. A person is like a flame, constantly changing.
           But again you have to look very deep. I have never come across the same questions. I am always
           thrilled by your questions. I always wonder how you manage to ask.
           "Don't you get bored, bored and fed up, day after day answering the same questions while we sit here
           with ears blocked, eyes tight, mouths sealed, never ever getting the message that there are no
           answers?"

               Just because you sit there "ears blocked, eyes tight, mouth sealed, never ever getting the
           message," it becomes a challenge to me. It is a great adventure. You persist, I also persist. The
           question is: Who is going to win? Whether you will remain always closed or some day you will take
           pity on me and you will listen... open your ears, your heart, a little bit? It is a struggle. It is wrestling
           that goes on between the master and the disciple -- a constant fight.
               And the disciple cannot win. It has never been heard that he can win. He can postpone, he can
           delay, but he cannot win. And the more you delay the more your defeat becomes certain. I am
           encroaching on your being in different ways. You just go on sitting there with your closed ears and
           closed eyes and closed heart -- you just remain there, that's all. You just be here. Sooner or later, one
           day, you will have heard the message.
               How long can you go on remaining closed? They say if a man persists in his folly he becomes
           wise. You persist. Some day, in spite of you, you will have heard. That's why I go on speaking every
           morning, every evening, year in, year out.
               And you say, "... never ever getting the message -- that there are no answers." You will get that
           message only when there are no questions in your mind, never before that. How can you get the
           message that there are no answers if you have questions yet? The very question presupposes an
           answer. The question is the search for the answer. The question has taken it for granted that the
           answer exists, otherwise how will the question exist? The question cannot exist on its own, it
           depends on the answer or at least on the possibility of the answer.
               The day you realize that there are no longer any questions in you, only that day will the message
           be heard that there are no answers. And that day you will see that neither you have asked nor I have
           answered. There has been utter silence. All that questioning and answering has been like a dream.
               But because you question, I have to answer. That is the only way to help you to get rid of your
           questions. Remember, my answers are not answers but only devices. My answers are not answering
           your questions, because I know perfectly well that there are no questions. All questions are false.
           You have dreamed about them. But when you ask, I respect you. I answer. My answer is just a
           respect to you, and my answer is a device. It will help you to see that the question by and by
           disappears.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One day suddenly you will be awake with no questions. That day you will see that I have not
           answered a single thing. Nothing can be answered because there is not a single question in existence.
           Existence exists without any questions. It is a mystery -- not a problem to be solved but a mystery to
           be loved, a mystery to be lived.
               And Shaila says: "You continually astound me in Your dewdrop freshness in the early morning
           light and still I am blind, dead, lame, cut off from sharing in Your radiance except for brief
           moments."
               Those brief moments will do. Those brief moments are the hope. In those brief moments I will
           enter in you. Those brief moments will become bigger and bigger slowly. One day you will find
           those brief moments have won over you. Even if for a single moment there is a contact between me
           and you, it is enough, it is more than enough. Even that small insight will become a fire in you. That
           small spark is going to burn your whole mind utterly, to the very roots, root and all.

           The third question:


               OSHO,
               I DON'T ENJOY THESE BUDDHA SUTRAS. THEY ARE DRY, DIFFICULT AND COMPLICATED. IS
               NOT TRUTH SIMPLE?


               Truth is simple and truth is difficult. In fact it is difficult because it is simple. It is so simple and
           your minds are so complicated that you cannot understand it, you go on missing it. It is so simple
           that it gives no challenge to you. It is so simple that you pass by the side of it remaining completely
           unaware that you have passed truth.
               Truth is simple because truth is obvious. But simple does not mean easy. The simplicity is very
           complex. If you enter in it you will be lost, you may never be able to get out of it. That simplicity has
           depth in it, it is not shallow. And to attain to that simplicity you will have to lose many things -- and
           to lose those things is difficult.
               For example, why do these Buddha sutras look difficult to you? -- because they are illogical. If
           you can lose your logic, they will be simple. The difficulty is coming from your mind, not from
           Buddha's sutras. He is a very simple man. He is simply stating a fact. But the problem arises from
           you, because you cannot accept that simple fact. You have your ideas. Those ideas interfere.
               You say, "How can this be? If this man is right then my whole logic is wrong." And that you
           cannot accept -- your whole education, training, has been of logic. And he goes on stating illogical
           things. He is helpless. At that height, at that plenitude logic does not exist. What can he do? At that
           plenitude everything is paradoxical. At that plenitude, opposites meet, contradictories become
           complementaries. What can he do? He has to assert them. The problem is arising from you --
           because you want those truths to be translated according to your logic.

               Suppose a boy in a high school physics class were to object, "I don't approve of Albert Einstein's
           formula."
           "No?" says the teacher. "Why not?"
           "Well, firstly it is boring, and whenever you explain it I inevitably fall asleep. Secondly, it is
           unbalanced. Look at it! E = mc2. He has put one figure all by itself on one side of the equation, and
           three others all together on the other side. It is unartistic. Why didn't he move one of those figures to
           the left side to make the formula more symmetrical? That's why I hate it."

               Now he is raising beautiful questions. It is not symmetrical, "What kind of equation is this? Both
           sides are not equal. It is unartistic Just by putting one figure on the other side, things would have
           been far better, more symmetrical."
               The boy is completely unaware of what he is talking about, but whatsoever he is saying looks
           logical. But the Einsteinian formula is not there to entertain you. It is to express reality. If you are
           bored with it, that simply shows that you are very dull witted, that you cannot understand that
           penetrating insight. It is said that only twelve persons used to understand Einstein's theory of
           relativity. All around the earth, only twelve?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The truth is simple, but when you go into its details, when you start penetrating into its reality, it
           becomes difficult. For example, Saint Augustine is reported to have said, "Everybody knows what
           time is. I know what time is, but when somebody asks me 'What is time? Try to explain it to me,'
           then I am at a loss."
                You know what time is, you live according to time. Six o'clock in the morning you get up, eleven
           o'clock in the night you go to bed, one o'clock you take your lunch. You go to the office, you come
           home. You use time, you know what time is, but can you explain it? The moment you try to explain,
           it becomes elusive. You have never seen it, you have never seen it in your hand. You cannot grasp it.
           What is it?
                Augustine is right -- that the problem arises when you try to explain it. Light is so simple, it is all
           around, dancing on the trees, the whole sky is full of light. Try to explain it to a blind man and he
           will be bored and he will say, "Stop all this nonsense." First, you will find it very difficult to put it
           into words.
                Or, drop the question of light. It is a scientific question, you may not be interested in it. You have
           loved, you know what love is. You must have loved -- at least you must have loved your mother,
           your father, your sister, some woman, your wife, your husband, your children. Can you explain what
           love is? Then you become dumb. Then suddenly you lose all intelligence -- as if somebody has
           simply struck you dead. You become paralyzed. What is love? Can you define it?
                Love is everybody's experience, more or less, but nobody can define it. Nirvana is not
           everybody's experience -- once in a while nirvana happens -- and Buddha is trying to explain to you
           what nirvana is.
                Truth is simple, but the moment you try to explain it, it becomes difficult.
                But remember, you are not here only to be entertained. And I am not against entertainment either
           -- it is good in its own time. But something more than entertainment is needed, only that will become
           your enlightenment. Entertainment is a very lower need. Enlightenment is the highest need. If you
           simply go on from one entertainment to another you will remain shallow, you will never grow, you
           will remain immature. You have to sometimes go into the depths of life and love and light and God.
           Sometimes you have to fly into eternity to have a taste of it. Only that will make you mature.
                I understand your difficulties. You say: "I don't enjoy these Buddha sutras." Then learn how to
           enjoy. Then learn how to enjoy higher things. There are higher things. If you want to enjoy classical
           Indian music you will have to learn. You cannot just go and enjoy it, it needs a certain preparation in
           you, it needs a certain receptivity in you. It is not vulgar. It needs a certain understanding in you... a
           deep understanding of sounds and silence -- because music consists of sound and silence. It is not
           only sound, it contains silence in it.
                The music becomes higher and deeper when it contains more silence in it. When it provokes your
           silence, when it penetrates your heart and releases your inner silence, when listening to it your mind
           disappears, your thoughts stop.... But then you will have to learn, you will have to go through a
           certain discipline, you will have to become more meditative. One day you will be able to enjoy it.
           But if you want to enjoy it right now and you are not ready for it, don't blame it.
                Don't say that Buddha's sutras are boring, just say that you are not capable yet of understanding
           that plenitude, that you are not capable of looking to that height, that you are not capable enough to
           climb the Everest of consciousness. Buddha is talking from the highest peak. You will have to move
           from your dark hole a little bit. You will have to climb the mountains, only then you will understand
           those sunlit sutras.
                It is a difficulty because for that understanding we are not prepared at all, hence sometimes you
           may feel bored. But fight with boredom, destroy your boredom, pull yourself out of it. You have to
           go with the Buddha, you have to see what he has seen. Seeing it, you will be fulfilled.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              IS THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS US FROM COMING HOME THE DOUBT THAT WE ARE NOT
              ALREADY HOME, WHICH IS REINFORCED BY EVERYONE AROUND US?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Yes, Shobha. The doubt is the only thing that prevents -- the doubt that we are not as we should
           be, the doubt that God cannot be within us. How can God be within us? -- because you have been
           taught God is there in the seventh heaven sitting on his golden throne, surrounded by his angels
           playing on their harps, singing hallelujah.
                He is not here, he is far away. He is big, he is huge, he is eternal, he is this and he is that. How
           can he be in your heart? Such a tiny heart you have. And how can he be in your heart? -- you are so
           ugly and you are so horrible and you condemn yourself in a thousand and one ways continuously.
           How can he be there? If God is there in you, then where will the devil live? The doubt....
                And when somebody says that God is within you, you cannot accept it. You have heard it many
           times, Jesus saying to people, "The kingdom of God is within you." But even Christians don't listen,
           even the followers. Even Jesus' intimate followers, immediate followers, go on asking about God
           who is in heaven and Jesus goes on saying, "He is within you," and they go on talking about the God
           who is in heaven, and they go on saying, "When we all will die, how will we live in paradise? Who
           will be at the right hand of God? What will be our position there? Who will be who? What will be
           the hierarchy?" And Jesus goes on saying, "He is within you," but nobody believes it, because you
           have not been taught to trust yourself.
                From your very birth you have been distracted from your being. Everybody has condemned you
           -- your parents, your teachers, your priests, your politicians. Everybody has condemned you.
           Everybody has said, "You! You are not right as you are. You have to become right. You have to
           attain to some perfection."
                Goals have been given to you, and because of those goals and those perfectionist ideals you
           remain condemned and crushed. How can you receive the message that God is within you, that you
           are already home, that you have never left it in the first place, that all is okay as it is? Just relax and
           it is yours. Not that you have to search and seek, but just relax into it and it is yours.
                Doubt arises: "God within me? And my father was saying, 'You are the ugliest kid in the town.'
           And my mother was saying, 'Why didn't you die? You are a condemnation to the family, you are a
           blame to the family. We are sorry that we have given birth to you.'" And your teacher was saying
           that you are a fool, that you are stupid, that you are idiotic. And the priest was saying that you are
           bound for hell, that you are a sinner.
                Just the other night I was reading about an Indian mystic who was invited into a Christian
           church. After the talk the Christian priest shouted loudly to the congregation: "All you sinners! Now
           kneel down and pray! Kneel down in prayer!"
                They all knelt down except the mystic, the Hindu mystic. The priest looked at him, he said,
           "Aren't you going to participate with us in prayer?"
                He said, "I was going to participate, but I am not a sinner. And I don't see that anybody else here
           is a sinner. I was going to participate in the prayer, but now you have made it impossible for me. I
           cannot kneel down. I am not a sinner. God is within me. I cannot be that disrespectful to God. I can
           pray only because God is within me. And I am not praying for anything -- my prayer is my
           thankfulness, my gratitude for all that he has already given to me. My thankfulness is that he has
           chosen me as his abode, that he has honored me, that I am part of him, that he belongs to me. I am
           ready to pray, I am ready to kneel down, but not as a sinner, because that is not true."
                You have been taught that you are sinners, that unless Jesus saves you, you are bound to go to
           hell. You have been condemned so much that when this Eastern message bursts forth in your being
           you start doubting: "This is not possible. I? And I have never left home? Maybe it is true about
           Buddha, maybe it is true about Jesus, but I? -- I am a sinner."
                Nobody is a sinner. Even while you are in the darkest hole of your life you are still divine. You
           cannot lose your divinity, there is no way to lose it. It is your very being. It is the stuff you are made
           of.
                Shobha has asked: "Is the only thing that keeps us from coming home the doubt that we are not
           already home, which is reinforced by everyone around us?"
                Yes, it is reinforced by everyone around you. That's why I say love is only when somebody
           accepts you as divine. He reinforces the truth that you are divine. If anybody reinforces the untruth
           that you are not divine, it is not love. She may be your mother, he may be your father, it doesn't
           matter. If anybody gives you a self-condemnatory idea, he is poisoning you. If anybody says that you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not accepted as you are, that God will love you only if you fulfill certain conditions, then he is
           destroying you, he is your enemy -- beware of him.

           The fifth question:


              OSHO,
              THE OTHER DAY I CAME THROUGH THE GATES WITH AN INDIAN SANNYASIN AND HE WAS
              TURNED AWAY BY THE GUARD WITH NO REASON GIVEN. WHEN I SPOKE TO LAXMI ABOUT
              IT, SHE MORE OR LESS TOLD ME TO MIND MY OWN BUSINESS. WHENEVER I SEE PEOPLE
              BEING UNJUSTLY TREATED, MY IMMEDIATE REACTION IS TO GO TO THEIR ASSISTANCE. IS
              IT REALLY NONE OF MY BUSINESS WHAT HAPPENS TO OTHER PEOPLE?

              The question is from Ma Deva Tulika.

                This is significant for everybody present here, and everybody who is going to be in any way
           related to me. Whatsoever happens in this commune happens according to me. I know who was
           turned from the gate. And the man who has been turned away knows why he has been turned from
           the gate. And it is none of your business to come into it.
                This you have to understand absolutely, that whatsoever happens here... I may not come out of
           my room, I never come out except in the morning and the evening, and I never go around the ashram
           -- but whatsoever happens here is perfectly known to me, is happening according to me. Please don't
           interfere.
                There are a few other people also like Tulika who are continuously interfering with the work.
           You are nobody to judge what is right and what is wrong. If you know it already you are not needed
           here, you have become enlightened -- you go home.
                This is none of your business to decide what is just and what is unjust. This is not an ordinary
           place so ordinary things won't apply here. Some extraordinary experiment is on. I know what is
           somebody's need. If I feel that somebody has to be rejected from the gate, he has to be rejected. If I
           feel that no reason has to be given, then no reason has to be given. That's my device for his life and
           for his work.
                Now you should not come into it. If you start coming into it you will only lose your opportunity
           for growth. Guards have their duties, they know what they are doing. And I am in contact with them,
           with what they are doing. You simply bypass.
                It is not an ordinary place. Everything is looked after, and if somebody needs a hit on the head,
           he is given. You should not prevent it, otherwise you will be coming into his growth too, you will
           hinder him, and you will be hindering yourself. And you can get unnecessarily excited about it.
                There are a few people -- Padma Sambhava is one. They go on writing to me that this has
           happened and somebody has done this and this should not be. Here you are nobody to decide what
           should be and what should not be. The moment you become part of my commune you leave
           everything to me; otherwise work will be impossible.
                Now I know the man who has been rejected and I know why he is rejected -- and he also knows
           why he has been rejected. There is no reason to give any reason. If reasons have to be given for each
           and every thing, then my whole work will be simply to go on supplying reasons. There are thousands
           of people coming, and everybody has to be given reasons and explanations about everything? Laxmi
           is right.
                And always remember that Laxmi never does anything on her own. She is a perfect vehicle.
           That's why she has been chosen for that work. Now I cannot choose Tulika for work, because she has
           her own idea what is right and what is wrong. Laxmi has no idea. She simply listens and does.
           Whatsoever is said, she does.
                And you have to learn these ways, because soon we will be becoming a bigger commune and
           thousands of people will be coming, and these things have to be settled. You should not bring them
           again and again. Again and again you go on writing questions: "Somebody has done this...." That is
           for me to look to, and if I think that it is not right it will be prevented. You need not bring it to my
           notice even. You waste my time.
                And you get so excited.... There are some foolish people who have renounced their sannyas
           because they saw something unjust was being done. Now they're just losing their opportunity. It was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not their business. You have come here for your own growth. This acceptance has to be total, only
           then work is possible, only then I can help you. Please don't give suggestions to me. The moment
           you give me a suggestion, you are disconnected from me.
               This is not going to be a democracy. You are not to be asked what should be done and what
           should not be done. This should be remembered from the very beginning -- that this is not going to
           be a democracy. Your votes will never be taken. You become part of it with that knowledge, that
           whatsoever I decide is absolute. If you don't choose that way you are perfectly happy to leave.
               People are prevented from entering but nobody is prevented from leaving. You can leave. Have
           you seen anybody being prevented from leaving? Leaving is perfectly free -- you are free, that is
           your decision. If you want to be here you have to be totally here. If you feel that this is not the place
           for you, that your ideas are not being fulfilled, that it is not according to you, you are free to leave.
               This place will never be according to you. This place is to change you, it is not to be according to
           you. This place is going to be a transformation for you. And these are the beginnings. Who are you
           to know what is right and what is wrong? And who are you to ask for the reason? How do you come
           in?
               The Indian who has been prevented, if he feels like asking he will come and ask. He has not
           asked because he knows, he has been told why he is being prevented. He has been a nuisance around
           here. But these things are not to be inquired about by everybody. And this is not good, that
           everybody should be told about this nuisance. This is disrespectful to him. He has been told, and he
           understands because he knows what he has been doing.
               Now YOU suddenly jump in. You think you are doing some great work, some great service. You
           think you are saving some person from some injustice. You don't know the whole story. And you
           need not know the whole story, because who is sitting there to tell you all the stories about
           everybody? You decide only about your own self.
               This is a place where many things will never be according to you. You have to fall in tune with
           things. If you think that that is not possible for you, you are free to leave.
               And let this be the last question. Many questions have been coming to me. Somebody
           participates in a group and writes, "Why is there so much violence in the encounter group?" And that
           comes from a groupleader, a woman who has been a groupleader. She participated for one or two
           days in the Encounter group and dropped out.
               And she had asked for it. I was not going to give her the encounter group, I was giving her some
           other groups, but she asked, "I want to do the encounter." So I said "Okay." But when I say, "Okay,"
           you should understand what I mean. I mean that then it is for you to decide.
               She thinks she knows because she is a groupleader. She has been leading groups so she thinks
           she knows. And I knew that very moment that she would not be able to go through it, because the
           encounter group that is going on here is the best in the world at this moment. Nowhere else is such
           absolute freedom allowed.
               In the West the encounter group has limitations, because the encounter groupleader has
           limitations. He can go only so far. When he sees that things are becoming difficult, that now he may
           not be able to control, that things may go too far, that he may not be able to bring them back, then he
           prevents. Here we don't believe in any boundaries.
               I send people to the encounter group only when I see that now they understand that they have to
           go beyond all boundaries -- boundaries of sex, boundaries of violence, anger, rage. They have to
           break all boundaries. That is breakthrough -- when all those boundaries break down.
               Now the woman became very much afraid, now she is against the group. Now she is asking me,
           "Why do you allow such violence?" That is not your business. If you are not capable of going into it,
           you are not required to go into it, mm? You can do some non-violent group -- Zazen, Vipassana. We
           have all kinds of toys around here. Mm? you can choose.
               But don't go on writing to me. Whatsoever happens here is happening with my knowledge. Not a
           single thing happens here which is not known to me, so you need not inform me about things, I know
           them already. It is a sheer wastage of time.
               And the moment you surrender and become an initiate, a sannyasin, that surrender has to be total.
           Just live a few months in that total surrender and you will see -- it is alchemical, it transforms you.
               New people come and they think, "What is the matter? The old sannyasins don't interfere.
           Somebody is prevented by the guard and the old sannyasins simply go by. What has happened to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           these people? Do they understand or not that this is not right? Have they become apathetic,
           indifferent?"
               No, they have learned, and they have learned just like you. Slowly slowly they have learned that
           whatsoever happens is happening according to a plan, a device. There is some hidden pattern in it.
           And nobody except me knows what that hidden pattern is. So you cannot go to Laxmi, she does not
           know. She simply asks me what is to be done and she does it. You cannot ask Sant on the gate,
           "What are you doing?" He simply does what he is told to do.
               If you are to be a part of this commune you have to understand this. You have to relax, you have
           to stop judging. Soon, after a few months of relaxation and acceptance, you will be able to
           understand. That's what has happened to the older sannyasins -- now they understand.

           The sixth question:


              OSHO,
              I HAVE ALWAYS FELT THE NEED FOR LITTLE REWARDS AT THE END OF THE DAY -- A FEW
              BEERS, CIGARETTES OR DRUGS. NOW NONE OF THESE THINGS BRING ANY SATISFACTION,
              YET THE DESIRE FOR SOMETHING, SOME FORM OF GRATIFICATION, CONTINUES. WHAT IS
              THIS LONGING AND WHAT WILL SATISFY IT?


               Nothing will satisfy it. There is a subtle mechanism of desire to be understood. Desire functions
           in this way, desire places a condition on your happiness. "I will be happy if I can get this car, this
           woman, this house." Fulfillment of the desire removes that condition on your happiness. In your
           relief you feel good. Actually all you have done is remove a quite unnecessary obstruction to your
           happiness, but it is not long before you find yourself thinking, "If I can create that obstruction again,
           then remove it all over again, the relief I felt in removing it the last time will feel as good as it did
           then." And so it is that desires, even when we fulfill them, lead again and again to the creation of
           new desires.
               Do you follow it? First you make a condition. You say, "Unless I get this woman I am not going
           to be happy. I can be happy only with this woman." Now you start striving to get this woman. The
           more difficult it is the more you become enthusiastic, feverish.
               The more difficult it is the more you are challenged. The more difficult it is the more you put all
           your being at stake; you are ready to gamble. And of course more hope arises and more desire to
           possess the woman. It is so hard, it is so difficult. It must be something great, that's why it is so hard,
           that's why it is so difficult. You chase and chase and chase and one day you get the woman.
               The day you get the woman the condition is removed: "If I get the woman then I will be happy."
           You had put that condition in the first place. Now you get the woman, you feel relief. Now there is
           no more chasing, you have arrived, the result is in your hands, you feel good -- good because of the
           relief.

                One day I saw Mulla Nasruddin walking, swearing and in great pain. I asked him, "What is the
           matter? Is your stomach aching or do you have a headache or something? What is the matter? You
           look in such agony."
                He said, "Nothing. The shoes that I am wearing are too small."
           "But then why are you wearing them?"
                He said, "This is the only relief that I get at the end of the day -- when I take my shoes off. God,
           it is such... then I enjoy. But this is the only joy I have, so I cannot drop these shoes. They are one
           size too small. It is really hell, but in the evening it gives heaven. When I go home and I take my
           shoes off and I fall on my sofa, I say I have arrived. It's so beautiful!"

              That's what you are doing. You create pain, you create anguish, chasing, fever, and then one day
           you come home and take the shoes off and you say, "Great, this is great. So I have arrived!" But how
           long can it last? The relief lasts only a few moments. Then again you are hankering.
              Now this woman is useless because you have got her. You cannot make a condition again. You
           can never say again, "If I get this woman I will be happy," because she is already with you. Now you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           start looking around at somebody else's woman, "If I get that woman..." Now you know one trick --
           that first you have to put a condition on your happiness, then you have to follow the condition
           desperately, then one day relief comes. Now this is futile. A man of understanding will see that there
           is no need to put any condition, you can be unconditionally happy. Why go on walking in small
           shoes and suffer just to get relief in the end? Why not have the relief all the time? But then you will
           not feel it, that is the problem. To feel it you need contrast. You will be happy but you will not feel
           it.
                And that is the definition of a really happy man: a really happy man is one who does not know
           anything about happiness, who has never heard about it, who is so happy, so unconditionally happy,
           that how can he know that he is happy? Only unhappy people say, "I am happy, things are going
           great." These are unhappy people. A happy person knows nothing about happiness. It is simply there,
           it is always there. It is like breathing.
                You don't feel very happy about breathing -- then just do one thing, close your nose. Do some
           yoga exercises and repress your breath inside and go on repressing and go on repressing. Now the
           agony arises. And you go on repressing. Be a real yoga disciple -- go on repressing. And then it
           bursts forth and there is such great joy. This is foolish -- but this is what everybody is doing. That's
           why you wait for the result in the evening.
                Happiness is herenow, it needs no condition. Happiness is natural. Just see the point of it. Don't
           make conditions on your happiness. Remain happy for no reason at all. There is no reason to find
           some cause to be happy. Just be happy.
                Trees are happy and they will not get any beer in the evening and any cigarettes, and they are
           perfectly happy. Look! ... And the wind blowing is happy, and the sun is happy, and the sands are
           happy and the seas are happy, and everything is happy except man -- because nobody is making any
           conditions. Just be happy.
                If you cannot be happy, then don't make such impossible conditions -- that it is difficult. Then
           Mulla is right -- such a small thing. I understand. He is far more intelligent than you understand him
           to be. Such a simple device -- wearing one size smaller shoes -- such a small device, nobody can
           prevent you from it, and by the evening time you are happy. Just small devices, create small devices,
           and be as happy as you want.
                But you say, "I will be happy only when this great house is mine." Now you are making a big
           condition. It may take years, and you will be tired and exhausted, and by the time you reach to the
           palace of your desires you may be close to death. That's what happens. And you wasted your whole
           life and your great house will become your grave. You say, "Unless I have a million dollars, I am not
           going to be happy." And then you have to work and waste your whole life. Mulla Nasruddin is far
           more intelligent: make small conditions and have as much happiness as you want.
                If you understand then there is no need to put any conditions. Just see the point of it -- that
           conditions don't create happiness, they only give relief. But the relief cannot be permanent, no relief
           can ever be permanent. It lasts only for a few moments. Have you not watched it again and again?
           You wanted to purchase a car; the car is in your porch and you are standing there, very very happy.
           How long does it last? Tomorrow it is this old car, one day old. Two days after it is two days old,
           and all the neighborhood has seen it and they all have appreciated it, and finished! Now nobody talks
           about it. That's why car companies have to go on putting out new models every year, so that you can
           have new conditions.
                People go on hankering after things just to get relief, and relief is available.

               Have you heard the story? A beggar was sitting under a tree and a rich man's car broke. The
           driver was fixing it and the rich man came out and the beggar was having a good rest under the tree.
           It was breezy and sunny and beautiful, and the rich man also came and he sat by the side of the
           beggar and he said, "Why don't you work?"
           The beggar asked, "For what?"
               And the rich man said, "If you work, you can earn money."
           The beggar asked, "For what?"
               The rich man felt a little annoyed and he said, "When you have money you can have a big
           balance in the bank."
           But the beggar again asked, "For what?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The rich man was even more annoyed. He said, "For what? Then you can retire in your old age
           and rest."
           "But," the beggar said, "I am resting now! Why wait for old age? And do all this nonsense? -- earn
           money and make a bank balance and then finally rest. And can't you see? -- I am resting now! Why
           wait?"

               Why wait for the evening? And why wait for the beer? Why not drink water and enjoy it while
           you are drinking it?,
               You have heard Jesus' story that he turned water into wine? Christians have missed it. They think
           he really turned it into wine. That is not true. He must have taught the secret that I am teaching you
           to his disciples. He must have told them, "Drink it so joyously that water becomes wine."
               You can drink water so joyously that it almost intoxicates you. Try! Just water can intoxicate
           you. It depends on you. It does not depend on the beer or the wine. And if you don't understand it,
           ask some hypnotist, ask our Santosh. He knows. Even if water is given to somebody who has been
           hypnotized and told under hypnosis that this is wine, he will become intoxicated -- with water.
               Now doctors know about placeboes, and sometimes the results are very puzzling. In one hospital
           they were doing some experiments. To one group of twenty patients with the same disease medicine
           was given and to the other twenty with the same disease just water was given -- just to see whether
           water can work. Neither the doctors nor the patients know which is water and which is medicine,
           because if the doctor knows then even his behavior will change. Giving water he will not give it that
           seriously and that will make some suspicion arise in the patient. So neither the doctor nor the patient
           -- nobody knows. The knowledge is kept in a vault, locked.
               And the miracle is that the same number of patients are helped by water as are helped by
           medicine. Out of twenty, seventeen persons are healthy by the second week, from both the groups.
           And the more miraculous thing is, those who were kept on water remained healthy longer than those
           who were kept on medicine. The people who were kept on real medicine started coming back soon,
           after a few weeks.
               What happened? Why did water help so much? The idea that it is medicine helps, not the
           medicine. And because water is pure water, it cannot harm. Medicine will harm. That's why the
           people who had been given real medicine started coming back. They started creating some new
           desire, some new disease, some new problems... because no medicine can go without affecting your
           system in some way or other. It will have its reactions. Water cannot have any reaction. This is pure
           hypnosis.
               You can drink water with such zest, with such prayer, that it becomes wine. You see the Zen
           people drinking tea with such ceremony and ritual, with such awareness. Then even tea becomes
           something phenomenal. Ordinary tea is transformed. Ordinary acts can be transformed -- a morning
           walk can be intoxicating. And if a morning walk cannot be intoxicating then something is wrong
           with you. Just watching a roseflower can be intoxicating. And if it cannot intoxicate you, then
           nothing can intoxicate you. Just looking in the eyes of a child can be intoxicating.
               Learn how to live the moment joyously. Don't look for results, there are none. Life is not going
           anywhere, it has no ends. Life is not a means to any end, life is just herenow. Live it. Live it totally,
           live it consciously, live it joyously -- and you will be fulfilled.
               Fulfillment should not be postponed, otherwise you will never be fulfilled. Fulfillment has to be
           now -- now or never.

           The last question:


              PEOPLE THINK I AM MEAN, BUT I FEEL I AM ONLY MISERLY. WHAT DO YOU SAY, OSHO?

              I will tell you one anecdote.

               A young man was overjoyed one morning to learn that he had won fifty thousand pounds on the
           football pools. He lived with his mother and father, both elderly and not too well off, and when he
           told them about his win they too were overjoyed.
           "Naturally," he said, "I want you to share in my good fortune, so I am going to make you a present of
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ten pounds each."
               There was silence for a moment and then the old man spoke. "Well, son," he said, "we have done
           a lot for you, mother and I, and you have never gone short of anything over the years, but now that
           you are able to stand on your own two feet, I think you should know that, well, your mother and I
           were never legally married."
           "What!" exclaimed the young man. "Do you mean to say that I am a...?"
           "Yes, you are," said the old man. "And a ruddy mean one at that!"

           Enough for today.




                                             The Diamond Sutra
                                                   Chapter #9
                                       Chapter title: Pure Land Paradise
           29 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712290
              ShortTitle: DIAMON09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 65 mins




              VAJRACHCHEDIKA
              PRAJNAPARAMITA
              SUTRA

              OF
              GAUTAMA

              THE
              BUDDHA



              THE LORD ASKED:
              WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, IS THERE ANY DHAMMA WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS
              LEARNED FROM DIPANKARA?' SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NOT SO, O LORD, THERE IS NOT.'



              THE LORD SAID:
              IF ANY BODHISATTVA WOULD SAY, "I WILL CREATE HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS," HE
              WOULD SPEAK FALSELY. AND WHY? THE HARMONIES OF BUDDHAFIELDS, SUBHUTI, AS
              NO-HARMONIES HAVE THEY BEEN TAUGHT BY THE TATHAGATA. THEREFORE HE SPOKE OF
              "HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS."'



              THE LORD SAID:
              'AND AGAIN, SUBHUTI, SUPPOSE A WOMAN OR A MAN WERE TO RENOUNCE ALL THEIR
              BELONGINGS AS MANY TIMES AS THERE ARE GRAINS OF SAND IN THE RIVER GANGES;
              AND SUPPOSE THAT SOMEONE ELSE, AFTER TAKING FROM THIS DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA
              BUT ONE STANZA OF FOUR LINES, WOULD DEMONSTRATE IT TO OTHERS. THEN THIS
              LATTER ON THE STRENGTH OF THAT WOULD BEGET A GREATER HEAP OF MERIT,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IMMEASURABLE AND INCALCULABLE.'



              THEREUPON THE IMPACT OF DHAMMA MOVED THE VENERABLE SUBHUTI TO TEARS.
              HAVING SHED TEARS, HE THUS SPOKE TO THE LORD: 'IT IS WONDERFUL, O LORD, IT IS
              EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL, O WELL-GONE, HOW WELL THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT THIS
              DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA. THROUGH IT COGNITION HAS BEEN PRODUCED IN ME, AND IT IS
              INDEED NO PERCEPTION. AND WHY? BECAUSE THE BUDDHAS, THE LORDS, HAVE LEFT ALL
              PERCEPTIONS BEHIND.'
              THE LORD SAID:
              'SO IT IS SUBHUTI. MOST WONDERFULLY BLEST WILL BE THOSE BEINGS WHO, ON HEARING
              THIS SUTRA, WILL NOT TREMBLE, NOR BE FRIGHTENED, OR TERRIFIED.' 'MOREOVER,
              SUBHUTI, THE TATHAGATA'S PERFECTION OF PATIENCE IS REALLY NO PERFECTION. AND
              WHY? BECAUSE, SUBHUTI, WHEN THE KING OF KALINGA CUT MY FLESH FROM EVERY LIMB,
              AT THAT TIME I HAD NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF, OF A BEING, OF A SOUL, OR A PERSON.
              AND WHY? IF, SUBHUTI, AT THAT TIME I HAD HAD A PERCEPTION OF SELF, I WOULD ALSO
              HAVE HAD A PERCEPTION OF ILL-WILL AT THAT TIME.' 'AND FURTHER, SUBHUTI, IT IS FOR
              THE WEAL OF ALL BEINGS THAT A BODHISATTVA SHOULD GIVE GIFTS IN THIS MANNER.
              AND WHY? THIS PERCEPTION OF A BEING, SUBHUTI, THAT IS JUST A NON-PERCEPTION.
              THOSE ALL-BEINGS OF WHOM THE TATHAGATA HAS SPOKEN, THEY ARE INDEED
              NO-BEINGS. AND WHY? BECAUSE THE TATHAGATA SPEAKS IN ACCORDANCE WITH
              REALITY, SPEAKS THE TRUTH, SPEAKS OF WHAT IS, NOT OTHERWISE. A TATHAGATA DOES
              NOT SPEAK FALSELY.'



              TATHAGATA, SUBHUTI, IS SYNONYMOUS WITH TRUE SUCHNESS.'



              THE LORD ASKED:
              WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI?
              IS THERE ANY DHAMMA
              WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS LEARNED FROM DIPANKARA?'
              SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NOT SO, O LORD, THERE IS NOT.'


               Dipankara is an ancient Buddha. Gautama Buddha, in his past life when he was not enlightened,
           had gone to Dipankara. He wanted to be accepted as a disciple, but Dipankara laughed and he said,
           "There is nothing to be learned." Truth cannot be learned. Yes, something has to be understood, but
           nothing has to be learned. Truth has to be recognized. It is already there in your being, it has to be
           uncovered. But there is nothing to learn.
               Truth is not new, truth is your very being. You have to become aware. Not that you have to
           become more knowledgeable, in fact the more knowledgeable you are the less aware you will be.
           The more you think you know the more you will be covered with ignorance. Knowledge is
           ignorance. The knowledgeable person is covered with dark clouds of memory, information,
           scripture, philosophy.
               Dipankara said to Gautama, "You need not think in terms of learning. Truth is already in you.
           Truth cannot be transferred." Not only this, but when Gautama touched the feet of Dipankara,
           Dipankara bowed down and touched the feet of Gautama. Gautama was not enlightened in those
           days. He was very puzzled, embarrassed too.
               There was a great assembly of monks; nobody could understand what was happening, what was
           going on. Dipankara had never done that to anybody else. And Gautama said, "What have you done?
           Why have you touched my feet? I am a sinner, an ignorant person. To touch your feet is right, but
           you touching my feet is absurd. Have you gone mad?"
               And Dipankara laughed again and he said, "No, Gautama. You are puzzled because you don't
           know your future. I am not mad. I can see it happening -- you will be a Buddha soon. Just to honor
           that fact I have touched your feet. And moreover, for one who is enlightened all are enlightened. It is
           only a question of time. It doesn't matter much. I have become enlightened today, you will become
           enlightened tomorrow, somebody else will become enlightened the day after tomorrow -- it doesn't
           matter. Enlightenment is going to happen to everybody, to every being. You can go on delaying it,
           that is up to you. The moment you stop delaying, the moment you stop postponing, it is there. It has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           always been waiting for you to recognize it."
                It is one of the most beautiful stories -- that Dipankara touched the feet of Gautama. And
           Gautama was an unknown man. After centuries, nearly three thousand years afterwards, Gautama
           became enlightened. The first thing that he did was he bowed down to Dipankara. Then there was no
           Dipankara, but he bowed down and he laughed and he said, "Now I understand why you touched my
           feet. Now I can touch everybody's feet. Now I know that the whole existence is going to be
           enlightened."
                Enlightenment is a natural happening. If we don't hinder it, it is bound to happen. It is not that
           you have to achieve it, all that you have to do is not to hinder it. You hinder it in a thousand and one
           ways. You don't allow it to happen. When it starts to happen you become frightened. When it takes
           possession of you, you cannot give that much possession -- you shrink back, you withdraw. You
           come back in your tiny cell of the ego. There you feel protected, defended, secure.
                Enlightenment is the open sky of insecurity. It is vastness, it is uncharted ocean. The journey is
           from one unknown to another unknown. There is nothing that can be known. Knowledge, the very
           idea of knowledge, is part of human stupidity. Life is such a mystery it cannot be known. And if it
           cannot be known how can it be taught? And if it cannot be taught, what is the point of being a master
           and a disciple?
                Just a few days ago there was a question: "Why have you declared yourself to be the Blessed
           One?' It is a drama. I have decided to play the part of the Blessed One and you have decided to play
           the part of disciples -- but it is a drama. The day you will become aware you will know, there is no
           master and no disciple. The day you will understand, you will know that it was a dream -- but a
           dream which can help you to come out of all your other dreams, a thorn which can help to pull out
           your thorns from your flesh, it can be instrumental -- but a thorn all the same. A poison which can
           help you to drop your other poisons -- but a poison all the same. Use it as a raft. That's why I say it is
           a drama.
                Your being a disciple and my being a master is a drama. Play it as beautifully as possible. To you
           it is a reality, I know. To me it is a drama. From your side it is a great reality, from my side it is a
           game. One day you will also understand that it is a game. That day will be the day of your
           enlightenment.
                Dipankara was simply saying to Gautama, when he touched his feet, that this is just a game. You
           touch my feet or I touch your feet -- it makes no difference. We are all enlightened, we are all gods.
           Not that I am god and you are not god -- ALL is divine. Trees are gods, so are animals, so is
           everything, even rocks!
                God is fast asleep in the rocks. He has become a little alert in the trees, a little more alert in the
           animals, a little more alert in you. In a Buddha he has come perfectly to absolute alertness. But the
           difference is not of quality, the difference is only of quantity. And if you are this much aware, you
           can become that much aware too.
           Buddha says:

              THE LORD ASKED:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, IS THERE ANY DHAMMA WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS
              LEARNED FROM DIPANKARA?'?


               He is asking, "Have I learned anything from Dipankara?" There is nothing to learn. Truth is a
           given fact. Whatsoever you learn will be lies. Truth need not be learned. Truth has not to be invented
           but only discovered, or more right will be to say it has only to be rediscovered.
               And the word learning is dangerous. Learning is accumulating information. The more you
           accumulate information the deeper your reality goes into the unconscious. You become burdened,
           you become too top-heavy. Your head starts clamoring with knowledge, becomes very noisy, and
           then you cannot hear the still small voice of your heart. That silence is lost in the noise of
           knowledge.
               That's why even sinners achieve but scholars miss -- because the sinner can be humble but the
           scholar cannot be humble. The sinner can cry and weep, but the scholar knows. He is adamant in his
           knowledge, he is egoistic in his knowledge. He is hard, he cannot melt. He is not open, he is closed.
           All his windows and doors are blocked by his knowledge, his scriptures that he has accumulated.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              To come to truth means unlearning rather than learning. You have to unlearn that which you
           have known. It is not a becoming but an unbecoming, it is not a learning but an unlearning. To
           unlearn is the way. If you can unbecome then you will be capable of becoming. If you are capable of
           unlearning, if you can drop all knowledge utterly, unconditionally, without any clinging, you will
           become innocent -- and that innocence brings you home.

              SUBHUTI REPLIED: 'NOT SO, O LORD, THERE IS NOT.'


                Between a master and a teacher what is transferred? Not truth, not knowledge -- then what is
           transferred? In fact, nothing is transferred. In the presence of the master something arises in the
           deepest core of the disciple, not that it is transferred. Nothing travels from the master to the disciple,
           nothing at all, but the presence of the master, the very presence of the master, and something that
           was deep inside starts surfacing. The presence of the master calls forth the being of the disciple -- not
           that something is given or transferred. Just the very presence of the master becomes a catalytic
           presence and the disciple starts changing.
                Of course, a disciple will think that something is being done by the master. Nothing is being
           done. No real master ever does anything. All his doing consists of is being present to you, is being
           available to you. All his work consists of one simple thing -- that he should be there, just like the
           sun.
                The sun rises in the morning and buds open and become flowers. Not that the sun gives them
           something, not that the sun comes and opens the buds -- nothing is done by the sun, just the presence
           of the light and the bud starts opening. The opening comes from the bud itself... and the flowering
           and the fragrance -- it all comes from the bud itself. The sun has not added anything to it, but the
           presence has been catalytic. Without the sun being present there the bud would find it almost
           impossible to open. It would not know that opening is possible. It would never become alert of its
           possibilities and potential.
                A master simply makes you aware of your potential. If he has achieved, you can achieve. He is
           just like you -- the blood and the bones and the body. He is just like you. If something is possible in
           his being, if his bud can become a flower, then why can't you become? This very idea sinks deep into
           the heart, stirs your whole being, and energies start surfacing, your bud starts opening.
                This is called SATSANGA in the East -- to be in the presence of the master. And the real
           disciple is one who has come to know how to be present to the master. The master is present, but
           how to be present to the master?
                Have you seen the sunflower? That is the symbol for the disciple. Wherever the sun moves, the
           sunflower moves that way. It is always present to the sun. In the morning it is facing East, in the
           evening it is facing West. It has moved with the sun. Wherever the sun is, the sunflower moves. The
           sunflower is the symbol, the metaphor for the disciple.
                Buddha is asking, "Do you think, Subhuti, I have learned anything from Dipankara?" Subhuti
           says, "Not so, O Lord" -- because there is nothing to learn. Does it mean Buddha is ungrateful to
           Dipankara? No, not at all. When he became enlightened, the first gratitude was towards Dipankara
           who had disappeared into the infinite long long ago, not even a trace was left behind. He exists only
           in the memory of Buddha, nowhere else.
                About Dipankara there exists no scripture. Maybe in those days scriptures were not written.
           There exists no other reference about him. Buddha is the only sole reference. Three thousand years
           have passed, nobody knows anything about Dipankara, but when Buddha became enlightened, the
           first gratitude, the first thankfulness, was towards Dipankara.
                Why? -- because it was in his presence that the longing became a passion -- to become a Buddha.
           It was in his presence that the great desire to become a Buddha arose. It was in his presence that the
           bud of Gautama started dreaming of becoming a flower. It was in his presence that the dream
           unfolded. It took three thousand years to drop the hindrances, the obstacles, but what are three
           thousand years in the eternity of time? Nothing... just a few moments.
                Why is Buddha asking Subhuti? So that Subhuti can understand that there is nothing to be
           learned from Buddha. Buddha himself has not learned anything from Dipankara, so "There is
           nothing, Subhuti, to learn from me. Be with me, don't think in terms of learning. The moment you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           think in terms of learning you are not with me."
               Here also there are two types of people -- the disciples and the students. The students are those
           who are in search of learning something. They are here to gather something so that they can brag and
           say that they know this and they know that. They are just collecting colored stones while diamonds
           are available.
               The disciple is one who is not interested in knowledge, who is interested in being, who is
           interested just to be here with me, for no other reason, for no other motive. His heart has been
           touched, his dream has started unfolding, a great intense desire is arising in him.
               Just the other night Saroj was here and she was saying that she becomes very afraid of death. I
           asked her, "Why? Why do you become so much afraid?" And her answer was beautiful. She said,
           "Not because of death, Osho, but because I have not yet known anything, not yet realized anything. I
           have not yet felt anything. I am afraid that I might die without knowing the truth, that is my fear."
               A disciple is one who has become immensely interested in being -- in truth itself, not knowing
           about it. She is not afraid of death, she is afraid death may come in and may disturb the intimacy that
           is arising between me and her. Death may come and may disrupt the presence that she is drinking,
           the presence that is going into her being and changing a thousand and one things in her soul -- that is
           the fear.
               A disciple is one who does not bother about knowing but is interested in being. Not that he wants
           to know something about God, but that he wants to taste God, to drink out of that reservoir called
           God, to become part of that oceanic energy.
               Remember, if you are a student here you are not very wise. To be a student here is to be
           unintelligent. This is not a school. Life is available here -- but you have to be a disciple. To be a
           disciple means to be courageous enough to come close to a master, whatsoever the cost. The disciple
           means the one who can take the risk of being close to a master. It is a risk -- a risk because you will
           die. The bud will die, only then the flower can come. The seed will die, only then the tree can come.
           You will have to die, only then God can bloom in you.

              THE LORD SAID:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, IS THERE ANY DHAMMA WHICH THE TATHAGATA HAS
              LEARNED FROM DIPANKARA?'


               A great seeker has written, "I went to the wise for answers. There were many wise men, each one
           with his answer. It was by that that I came in time to see that they betrayed themselves. But there
           were also a few I happened upon who were otherwise, one or two, who sat with a serene vitality,
           who smiled at my questions, and in face of my insistence for answers, generously gave me further
           questions.
           "There were moments with them that I forgot all about wisdom and smiled as carelessly as fools and
           children only can. I got no answers from the truly wise. It was lack of wisdom that had sent me to the
           wise. How then could I have understood anything wise, even if it was sayable, even if it was said?
           The truly wise were too true to give wise answers."
               The truly wise gives you his being, gives himself. The truly wise simply makes himself available
           to you, and if you are courageous you can drink and eat out of his being. That's what Jesus means
           when he says to his disciples: "Eat me! Drink me!" The master has to be eaten. The master has to be
           absorbed, digested, only then will you stumble upon your own truth. There is nothing to learn -- no
           Dhamma to learn, no doctrine to learn, no philosophy to learn.

              THE LORD SAID:
              'IF ANY BODHISATTVA WOULD SAY,
              "I WILL CREATE HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS,"
              HE WOULD SPEAK FALSELY.
              AND WHY?
              THE HARMONIES OF BUDDHAFIELDS, SUBHUTI,
              AS NO-HARMONIES HAVE THEY BEEN TAUGHT BY THE TATHAGATA.
              THEREFORE HE SPOKE OF "HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS".'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The word buddhafield is of tremendous importance. You have to understand it, because that is
           what I am doing here -- creating a buddhafield. It is just to create a buddhafield that we are moving
           away from the world, far away, so that a totally different kind of energy can be made available to
           you.
               Buddhafield means a situation where your sleeping Buddha can be awakened. Buddhafield
           means an energy field where you can start growing, maturing, where your sleep call be broken,
           where you can be shocked to awareness -- an electric field where you will not be able to fall asleep,
           where you will have to be awake, because shocks will be coming all the time.
               A buddhafield is an energy field in which a Buddha matures beings, a pure land, an unworldly
           world, a paradise on earth, which offers ideal conditions for rapid spiritual growth. A buddhafield is
           a matrix.
               The word MATRIX comes from Latin; it means the womb. From that word we get the words
           matter, mother, etcetera. The womb offers three things to a newly forming life: a source of
           possibility, a source of energy to explore that possibility, and a safe place within which that
           exploration can take place.
               That's what we are going to do. The new commune is going to be a great experiment in
           buddhahood. Energies have to be made available to you, possibilities have to be made clear to you.
           You have to be made aware of your potential, and you have to be given a safe place from where you
           can work: a place where you are not distracted by the world, a place where you can go on without
           any disturbance from the crowd, a place where ordinary things, taboos, inhibitions, are put aside,
           where only one thing is significant -- how to become a Buddha; where everything else simply
           disappears from your mind -- money and power and prestige; where all else becomes insignificant,
           when all else becomes exactly what it is -- a shadow world -- and you are no longer lost in the
           apparent.
               MAYA is to be caught up in the apparent. That is the greatest illusion in the world. The apparent
           holds such sway on our minds. A buddhafield is a place where you are taken away from the
           apparent.
               In the silence of a commune, in the uninhibited, untabooed atmosphere of a commune, the master
           and the disciple can enact the drama totally. The ultimate is when the master can touch the feet of the
           disciple, when the master and disciples are lost into one reality.

              THE LORD SAID:
              'IF ANY BODHISATTVA WOULD SAY,
              "I WILL CREATE HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS,"
              HE WOULD SPEAK FALSELY.
              AND WHY?
              THE HARMONIES OF BUDDHAFIELDS, SUBHUTI,
              AS NO-HARMONIES HAVE THEY BEEN TAUGHT
              BY THE TATHAGATA.
              THEREFORE HE SPOKE OF "HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS".'


               Now understand: if somebody says, "I will create the buddafield," and the emphasis is on 'I', then
           the statement is false, because a person who has the 'I' still alive cannot create a buddhafield. Only a
           person who has no 'I' within him can create a buddhafield. In fact then to say he creates is not right;
           language is inadequate.
               The Sanskrit word for creation is far better. The Sanskrit word is NIRPADAYATI. It means
           many things. It can mean to create, it can mean to accomplish, it can mean to ripen, it can mean to
           mature it can simply mean to trigger into existence. That's exactly the meaning.
               A Buddha does not create, he triggers. Even to say he triggers is not good; in his presence things
           happen, in his presence things are triggered, processes start. Just his presence is a fire, a spark, and
           things start moving and one thing leads to another, and a great chain is created.
               That's how we have been going on. I simply sit in my room doing nothing, and seekers from all
           over the world have started pouring in. I don't even write a letter... just the presence. One comes,
           another comes, and the chain is created. Now the time has come when a buddhafield is needed, a
           matrix is needed, because you don't know -- thousands more are on the way. They have already
           moved, they are already thinking of coming.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And the more people are there, the bigger the buddhafield will be there, and the more powerful it
           will be. The possibility is that we can create one of the greatest and the most powerful buddhafields
           ever created in the world, because never before was there such search, because never before was man
           in such a crisis.
                We are on the threshold of something new that is going to happen to humanity. Either humanity
           will die and disappear, or we will take a jump, a leap, and a new being will be formed. We are
           exactly at the same point as millions of years ago when monkeys came down from the trees and
           humanity started and a new being was born. Again the moment is coming very close. It is a very
           dangerous moment, because there is every possibility....
                It was possible that the monkey may not have survived on the earth, he may have died on the
           earth, but a few monkeys took the risk. And they must have been thought of as fools by other
           monkeys, mm? who had always lived on the trees and were perfectly happy. They must have
           thought, "These people are going mad, crazy. Why in the first place are you going to live on the
           earth? Why create unnecessary trouble for yourselves? Our fathers and their fathers and their fathers
           have all lived on the trees."
                Again the same situation is going to happen. Man has lived a long time the way he has lived. By
           the end of this century a critical quantum leap is possible. Either man will die in a third world war or
           man will take the jump and will become a new man. Before that happens, a great buddhafield is
           needed -- a field where we can create the future.
                But a bodhisattva cannot say, "I will create the harmonious buddhafields." If the emphasis is on
           'I' then the person is not yet a Bodhisattva. Even Buddhas use the word 'I' but they insistently
           emphasize that it corresponds to no reality, that it is just a language use, that it is utilitarian.
                And Buddha says, "Those harmonious buddhafields are not even harmonious." Why? -- because
           harmony means conflict is still alive. Harmony means the conflicting parts are there but they are no
           longer conflicting. Buddha says the real harmony is when the conflicting parts have dissolved into
           one unity. But then you cannot call it harmony, because harmony needs many, harmony means that
           there are many fragments in a harmonious whole. Buddha says the real harmony is when those many
           are no longer there; they have become one.
              So a harmony, a real harmony, cannot even be called harmony. The real harmony is simple unity.
              There is no conflict and no friction, because all the fragmentary parts have disappeared, dissolved.
              'AND WHY?
              THE HARMONIES OF BUDDHAFIELDS, SUBHUTI,
              AS NO-HARMONIES HAVE THEY BEEN TAUGHT
              BY THE TATHAGATA.
              THEREFORE HE SPOKE OF "HARMONIOUS BUDDHAFIELDS".'


               Remember again and again; it is a question of the inadequate language. That's why Buddha goes
           on insisting again and again to remind you so that you don't become a victim of inadequate language
           expressions.

              THE LORD SAID:
              'AND AGAIN, SUBHUTI, SUPPOSE A WOMAN OR A MAN
              WERE TO RENOUNCE ALL THEIR BELONGINGS
              AS MANY TIMES AS THERE ARE GRAINS OF SAND
              IN THE RIVER GANGES;
              AND SUPPOSE THAT SOMEONE ELSE,
              AFTER TAKING FROM THIS DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA
              BUT ONE STANZA OF FOUR LINES,
              WOULD DEMONSTRATE IT TO OTHERS.
              THEN THIS MATTER ON THE STRENGTH OF THAT
              WOULD BEGET A GREATER HEAP OF MERIT,
              IMMEASURABLE AND INCALCULABLE.'


              It is said that Hui Neng, one of the greatest Zen masters, the sixth patriarch in the Zen tradition,
           became enlightened by hearing four lines of The Diamond Sutra. And he was just passing by in a
           marketplace. He had gone to purchase something, he was not even thinking of enlightenment, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody by the side of the road was reading The Diamond Sutra. That man had been reading The
           Diamond Sutra for his whole life -- he must have been a kind of scholar, or a parrot -- and it was his
           usual thing, his ritual, to read the sutra every morning, every evening.
               It was evening and the market was just closing and people were going home and Hui Neng was
           passing. He heard just four lines. He was struck dumb. He stood there, it is said, for the whole night.
           The Diamond Sutra finished, the market closed, the man who was chanting it went, and Hui Neng
           was standing there and standing there and standing there. By the morning he was a totally different
           man. He never went home, he went to the mountains. The world became irrelevant. Just hearing?
           Yes, it is possible if you know how to hear. This Hui Neng must have been of a very very innocent
           mind. He was a wonderful man.
               Buddha says that even if somebody demonstrates one stanza of four lines from The Diamond
           Sutra, his merit is more, his merit is immeasurable and incalculable, more than the merit of a man or
           a woman who were to renounce their belongings as many times as there are grains of sand in the
           river Ganges.
               Renunciation does not help, understanding helps. Renouncing the world is not going to take you
           anywhere, you have to understand. Renunciation is a stupid effort. Only stupid people renounce, the
           wise tries to understand what the case is. The wise is never an escapist. Only the stupid people are
           escapists, because they cannot face life, they cannot encounter life, and they cannot take its
           challenge. They don't have the guts.
               They move to the Himalayas, they escape to Tibetan monasteries or somewhere else. They run
           away from the world. These are the cowards. And religion is possible only if you have courage --
           immense courage is needed.
               Buddha says these sutras are so valuable that if you can listen totally, with an open heart, if you
           are vulnerable to them, they can transform your life. Even sometimes a single word can be such a
           transforming force.

               I have heard about a man, he must have been like Hui Neng. He was very old, sixty-five or
           seventy. He had gone for a morning walk, and some woman must have been waking her son, or
           somebody else, inside a hut. The old man was on the road and the woman was saying, "It is time to
           get up. It is morning! It is no longer night!"
               The old man heard these words. Mm? -- It was not even The Diamond Sutra, it was just a
           woman telling somebody, "Get up! It is enough! You have slept long. It is no longer night. The sun
           has risen, it is morning," and the old man heard. He must have been in some receptive state of mind
           -- the early morning, the birds singing and the sun and the cool breeze -- and those words struck
           hard, like arrows in the heart: "It is morning and you have slept too long and it is no longer night."
           He never went home.
               He went outside the town, sat in a temple meditating. People came to know about him, and the
           family came rushing and they said, "What are you doing here?"
               He said, "It is morning. It is no longer night, and I have already slept enough. Enough is enough!
           Excuse me. Leave me alone. I have to wake up. Death is coming -- I have to wake up."
               And whenever he would pass the door of that woman -- he had never seen that woman -- he
           would go and bow down at the door. That was his temple and that woman was his master. He had
           never seen the woman, and the woman was an ordinary woman.
               Sometimes a few words, even uttered by ordinary people, can fall in the right soil of the heart
           and can bring great transformation. What to say about words of a Buddha?...

              THEREUPON THE IMPACT OF DHAMMA
              MOVED THE VENERABLE SUBHUTI TO TEARS.
              HAVING SHED TEARS, HE THUS SPOKE TO THE LORD: 'IT IS WONDERFUL, O LORD,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL, O WELL-GONE,
              HOW WELL THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT
              THIS DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA.
              THROUGH IT COGNITION HAS BEEN PRODUCED IN ME,
              AND IT IS INDEED NO PERCEPTION.
              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE THE BUDDHAS, THE LORDS,
              HAVE LEFT ALL PERCEPTIONS BEHIND.'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              It is very rare that a man of the qualities of Subhuti will cry and weep and tears will come to him.
           But when such compassion, when such love from Buddha is showering on him, when such diamond
           words are falling on him like rain... he was overwhelmed.

              THEREUPON THE IMPACT OF DHAMMA
              MOVED THE VENERABLE SUBHUTI TO TEARS.


               Remember, there is no deeper way to relate your gratitude than tears, there is no higher way to
           pray than tears. Just a few days ago Geet Govind had come from Esalen. He could not say a single
           word to me -- tears and tears. And he started feeling a little embarrassed. He wanted to say
           something, but nothing was coming.
               Those tears were beautiful. And since then he has been crying here. For all these two or three
           weeks that he has been here he has been crying, and he has been writing to me: "Osho, what to do?
           How to stop these tears? They go on and on." The impact.... He has made contact with me, hence the
           tears. He has seen me, hence the tears. His eyes are showing gratitude, hence the tears. The eyes are
           fulfilled, hence the tears.
               Never be afraid of tears. The so-called civilization has made you very afraid of tears. It has
           created a kind of guilt in you. When tears come you start feeling embarrassed. You start feeling,
           "What will others think? And I am a man and I am crying! It looks so feminine and childish. It
           should not be so." You stop those tears -- and you kill something which was growing in you.
               Tears are far more beautiful than anything that you have with you, because tears come from the
           overflow of your being. And tears are not necessarily of sadness; sometimes they come out of great
           joy and sometimes they come out of great peace and sometimes they come out of ecstasy and love. in
           fact they have nothing to do with sadness or happiness. Anything that stirs your heart too much,
           anything that takes possession of you, anything that is too much, that you cannot contain and it starts
           overflowing -- that brings tears.
               Accept them with great joy, relish them, nourish them, welcome them, and through tears you will
           know how to pray. Through tears you will know how to see. Tear-filled eyes are capable of seeing
           truth. Tear-filled eyes are capable of seeing the beauty of life and the benediction of it.

              THEREUPON THE IMPACT OF DHAMMA
              MOVED THE VENERABLE SUBHUTI TO TEARS.
              HAVING SHED TEARS, HE THUS SPOKE TO THE LORD: 'IT IS WONDERFUL, O LORD,
              IT IS EXCEEDINGLY WONDERFUL, O WELL-GONE,
              HOW WELL THE TATHAGATA HAS TAUGHT
              THIS DISCOURSE ON DHAMMA.
              THROUGH IT COGNITION HAS BEEN PRODUCED IN ME....'


              He says, "Your presence, your compassionate words, your love, your grace, has produced
           cognition in me. It has given me an insight, a vision, of what is truth, AND IT IS INDEED NO
           PERCEPTION." Still Subhuti says, "But let me remind you, it is no perception because there is
           nobody to perceive it. It is pure cognition."
              Knowing has arisen but there is nobody who knows and there is nothing that is known, only knowing
              has arisen. It is pure knowing. The division is not there of the knower and the known and the knowing.
              It is just knowing.
              'AND WHY?
              BECAUSE THE BUDDHAS, THE LORDS,
              HAVE LEFT ALL PERCEPTIONS BEHIND.'

              "And now I know why it is said that the Buddhas have left all perception behind, because perception
              needs the perceiver and the perceived, observation needs the observer and the observed. All these
              dualities have been dropped. There is only oneness."

              It is very difficult -- to say it. Michael Adam's words will be helpful: "It has taken all these words
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to tell, but what is there to tell? Here and now, what is there? A wind in the trees; it blows and they
           bend. I have spoken in many words. It is cause for smiling now, for truth is only a word. Life is a
           word, death is a word, happiness is a word, God is a word. The wind and the tree, the robin and the
           seal, the child and the sun are real. The rest is only words.
           "Words about the sun lack even the reality of shadows and are colder by far. What the sun is the
           clamoring mind and the seeking heart cannot know, for the sun is of another kind, makes no sound
           and does not strive. But this still and silent earth would seem to understand, all without effort the
           earth would seem to know what the sun is. Beneath this semblance of death, under the shroud of
           snow, in the very midst of the winter, the open quiet earth well knows what the sun is."
               The disciple has to become like thirsty earth -- the thirsty earth knows what the cloud is. The
           disciple has to become like open, vulnerable earth. The vulnerable earth knows what the sun is. It
           cannot say it, it cannot express it, but it knows.
               That's what Subhuti means when he says, "Cognition has arisen in me. I cannot say, I am not
           there to capture it, I am not there to seize it, I am just an emptiness -- but perception has arisen,
           cognition has arisen, darshan has arisen. I have seen, and there is no seer."

              THE LORD SAID:
              'SO IT IS, SUBHUTI.
              MOST WONDERFULLY BLEST WILL BE THOSE BEINGS WHO,
              ON HEARING THIS SUTRA,
              WILL NOT TREMBLE, NOR BE FRIGHTENED, OR TERRIFIED.'



              These sutras are deathlike, they are crucifixion -- you will have to die. Only through death will you
              know what life is. Resurrection is possible but only through crucifixion. That's why Buddha said these
              sutras are dangerous and
              'MOST WONDERFUL BLEST WILL BE THOSE BEINGS WHO,
              ON HEARING THIS SUTRA,
              WILL NOT TREMBLE, NOR BE FRIGHTENED, OR TERRIFIED.'
              MOREOVER, SUBHUTI,
              THE TATHAGATA'S PERFECTION OF PATIENCE
              IS REALLY NO PERFECTION.
              AND WHY? BECAUSE, SUBHUTI,
              WHEN THE KING OF KALINGA CUT MY FLESH FROM EVERY LIMB,
              AT THAT TIME I HAD NO PERCEPTION OF A SELF,
              OF A BEING, OF A SOUL,
              OR A PERSON.
              AND WHY? IF, SUBHUTI,
              AT THAT TIME I HAD HAD A PERCEPTION OF SELF,
              I WOULD ALSO HAVE HAD A PERCEPTION
              OF ILL-WILL AT THAT TIME.'


               He reminds Subhuti of his old experience of a past life, when the king of Kalinga had cut his
           limbs. He says, "At that time when my limbs were cut, my hands were cut, my legs were cut, and my
           tongue and my eyes were taken away, I was watching and I could not see any 'I' arising in me. There
           was nobody who was seeing it, there was nobody who was hurt by it."
           "If any perception of 'I' had arisen at that time, then it would have been followed by ill-will. Then I
           would have been angry with the king who was killing me and destroying me, but I was not angry.
           There was no anger."
              The ego brings anger. Anger is the shadow of the ego. The ego brings aggression, violence. Once the
              ego disappears all violence disappears. A man becomes love only when the ego has completely
              disappeared.
              'AND FURTHER, SUBHUTI,
              IT IS FOR THE WEAL OF ALL BEINGS
              THAT A BODHISATTVA SHOULD GIVE GIFTS IN THIS MANNER.
              AND WHY?
              THIS PERCEPTION OF A BEING, SUBHUTI,
              THAT IS JUST A NON-PERCEPTION.
              THOSE ALL-BEINGS OF WHOM THE TATHAGATA HAS SPOKEN,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEY ARE INDEED NO-BEINGS.
              AND WHY?
              BECAUSE THE TATHAGATA SPEAKS IN ACCORDANCE WITH REALITY, SPEAKS THE TRUTH,
              SPEAKS OF WHAT IS, NOT OTHERWISE. A TATHAGATA DOES NOT SPEAK FALSELY.'
              'TATHAGATA, SUBHUTI, IS SYNONYMOUS WITH TRUE SUCHNESS.'


               Buddha says, "I have said only that which is -- YATHA BHUTAM. I have not said anything
           else. That's why my statements are so paradoxical, so illogical, because truth is illogical. To
           understand truth, you will have to drop logic."

           Enough for today.




                                               The Diamond Sutra
                                                   Chapter #10
                                           Chapter title: Utter Emptiness
           30 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712300
              ShortTitle: DIAMON10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 83 mins




              The first question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              EVEN IN MY RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU, WORDS BECOME LESS IMPORTANT ALL THE TIME.
              WHY SHOULD A BUDDHA AND A BODHISATTVA NEED TO TALK AT ALL?


              What are you talking about, about what talk? It never happened. Nobody has said anything and
           nobody has heard anything. The Diamond Sutra has no sutras in it, Mahasattva, that's why it is called
           The Diamond Sutra. It is an utter emptiness. If you get caught in the words you will miss the
           message.
              The Diamond Sutra is absolutely empty, there is no message in it. There is nothing to read and
           nothing to hear. It is utter silence. If you read something in The Diamond Sutra you have missed it. If
           you find some doctrine in it, some philosophy in it, then you must be imagining, it must be your
           dream. Buddha has not talked anything, neither has Subhuti heard anything.
              In that non-talking and non-hearing, something has happened -- something which is beyond
           words. Ananda has tried to capture that for you in words, but it was not delivered in words. It was a
           communion between two emptinesses.
              You just go to the sea and you see the morning, and the fresh air and the sunrays and the waves,
           and you come home and you relate to somebody what you have seen. Then you relate only words.
           The word sea is not the sea and the word sun is not the sun and the word freshness is not freshness.
           How do you commune? You have come back from the beach and your beloved asks, "What
           happened?" You bring all that has happened into words, knowing perfectly well that it cannot be
           brought into words, it cannot be reduced into words. Words are so pale.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Something has certainly happened between Buddha and Subhuti, something which is
           transcendental. Maybe they had just looked into each other's eyes. Something was triggered in the
           consciousness of Subhuti by Buddha's presence. Ananda is trying to report it for you. You are blind.
           You cannot see light, you can only hear the word light.
               So remember: The Diamond Sutra is not a sutra at all, that's why it is called The Diamond Sutra,
           the most precious, because it contains no philosophy, no system, no theory. It contains no words, it is
           an empty book.
               If you can forget the words and you can go deeper into the gaps between the words, if you can
           forget the lines and can go deeper between the lines, in the intervals, in the pauses, then you will find
           what has happened. It is not a verbal communication.
               I am also talking to you, but still I would like to remind you to remember that my message is not
           in my words. You will have to step upon the words to get it. Use the words as a staircase, as stepping
           stones. Remember, stepping stones can become hindrances if you don't know how to step over them.
           You have to listen in silence to silence.
               Mahasattva, Buddha has not said a single word, neither has Subhuti heard a single word. It is the
           compassion of Ananda to make a few maps for you. Those maps are not the countries. If you have a
           map of India, that map is not India, it cannot be. How can it be? But it can be of some limited help to
           you; it can lead you to the real India. It is like the arrow on the milestone by the side of the road, it
           points towards something.
               This whole Diamond Sutra points towards silence. Hence so many contradictions in it, because
           only through contradictions can silence be created. Each word has to be contradicted by its opposite
           immediately it is uttered so that they destroy each other and in the wake, silence is felt.

           The second question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              THE DEEPER INTO MYSELF, THE MORE ALONE I FEEL. THERE IS ONLY NOTHINGNESS. AND
              SOMETIMES, LOOKING INTO YOUR EYES, I GET THE SAME FEELING OF A VAST EMPTINESS.
              IF IT IS NATURAL -- IF BEING ALONE IS BASIC, THE VERY ESSENCE OF MY BEING -- THEN
              HOW COULD THE ILLUSIVE IDEA OF BECOMING ONE, OF FALLING IN LOVE WITH SOMEBODY
              ETERNALLY, COME INTO BEING IN THE FIRST PLACE? AND WHY IS IT SO PAINFUL TO
              BECOME AWARE THAT IT IS AN ILLUSION? PLEASE CLEAR MY DOUBTS.


               You are the doubter and you are the doubt. There is no other doubt. First, when you say, "The
           deeper I fall into myself, the more alone I feel," if you have really been falling deeper you will feel
           aloneness but you will not feel "I am alone," because then there are two things, I and aloneness.
           Then you are not alone. Then there is the experiencer and the experienced, the observer and the
           observed. Then you are not alone; the other is there -- the experience is the other.
               When you really fall deep into yourself, you will not find yourself; that is the whole thing to
           understand. It is only on the surface that the waves exist. If you go deeper into the ocean you will not
           find waves, or can you? How can you find waves in the depth? They exist only on the surface, they
           can exist only on the surface. They need winds to exist.
               The 'I' can exist only on the surface because it needs thou, the wind of the thou to exist. When
           you go deeper into yourself the winds are no longer there, thous are no longer there. How can there
           be 'I'? I and thou exist in a pair, they are never divorced. Yes, you will find aloneness, but not I-ness.
           And aloneness is beautiful. Let me remind you again, the word alone means all one. That's how it is
           constructed -- all one. On the surface you are separate from all. In fact on the surface you are lonely
           because you are separate from the all. In the depth, when you have disappeared, there is no
           distinction between you and all. All is one, you are no longer, aloneness is.
               You say, "The deeper I fall into myself the more alone I feel." You must be imagining that you
           are falling deeper into yourself. The mind can go on playing games. It can play the game of being
           alone, it can play the game of being in prayer, it can play the game of being in meditation, but if 'I'
           remains then you can be certain it is a game, nothing real has happened. That's why again the desire
           for the other will arise.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The 'I' cannot exist alone. It needs the other to support it, to feed it, to nourish it. It will bring you
           back to the other. That's why when you are lonely you start thinking of your beloved, of your friend,
           of your mother, father, this and that, a thousand and one things. You create imaginary 'thous'. If a
           man is put in isolation for more than three weeks he starts talking to himself. He creates the whole
           dialogue. He himself is divided in two -- I and thou. He becomes two so the game call be played. 'I'
           cannot exist separate from 'thou'.
           "The deeper I fall into myself, the more alone I feel."
                No, you must be feeling lonely. Never use these two words as synonymous. Loneliness is
           negative, aloneness is positive. Loneliness simply means you are missing the other. The other is
           absent, there is a gap in you. Aloneness means you are present, there is no gap in you. You are full of
           presence, you are utterly there. Loneliness is the absence of the other, aloneness is the presence of
           your eternal being.
                You say "there is only nothingness." No, if there is only nothingness then there is no problem. If
           there is only nothingness and nobody to know it, nobody to feel it, then there is no problem. Then
           from where comes the doubt? How can the doubter arise? No, you are there. That nothingness is
           bogus because you are there. How can it be nothingness? It is just your idea.
                This used to happen in my family when I was a child. I was so lazy -- I am still -- I was so lazy,
           utterly lazy, that my family lost all hope with me. By and by they started forgetting about me,
           because I would never do anything. I would sit in the corner and just sit, either with closed eyes or
           with open eyes, but I was so absent to them that by and by they became oblivious to me.
                Sometimes it would happen that my mother would need something from the market, vegetables
           or something, and I would be sitting in front of her and she would say, "Nobody seems to be present
           here." She was just sitting in front of me and talking to me, "Nobody seems to be here. I want
           somebody to go and fetch vegetables from the market." And I was sitting in front of her and she said,
           "Nobody is here."
                I was counted as nobody. Even if a stray dog would enter in the house I would allow it. I was
           sitting at the gate and the dog would enter and I would watch. And my mother would come rushing
           out and she would say, "nobody is here to prevent this dog" -- and I was sitting there!
                By and by they had accepted that I was as if not. But that does not make much difference; I was
           there. I had seen the dog coming, I was hearing their words. I knew I could manage to go to the
           market-place and fetch vegetables for her. And I would laugh at the whole idea -- that she went on
           saying that nobody was there.
                That's what is happening to you. You are there, and you say nothingness is. You are oblivious of
           yourself, you don't take note of yourself, otherwise you are there. If you are not there, who is saying
           that nothingness is? Then there is nothingness when you are not there, then there is pure nothingness.
           In that purity is nirvana, enlightenment. That is the most valuable place to be, the most spacious
           place to be. It is the space everybody is searching for, because it is unlimited, infinite. And its purity
           is absolute. It is not polluted by anything; even you are not there. There is light and there is
           consciousness, but there is no 'I'. 'I' is like ice, frozen consciousness. Consciousness is like melted
           ice, liquid, or, even better, even the water has evaporated, has become invisible.
                And you say: "And why is it so painful to become aware that it is an illusion?" -- the other. It is
           painful because the I starts dying. To recognize the other as the illusion, to recognize love as illusion,
           is very hard, because then the I starts dying. If you drop the you, the I cannot exist. And you don't
           know the beauty of dropping the I.
                And you ask: "If it is natural -- if being alone is basic, the very essence of my being -- then how
           could the illusive idea of becoming one, of falling in love with somebody eternally, come into being
           in the first place?"
                It came only because of that -- because aloneness is basic, essential. The Hindu scriptures say
           that God was alone. Just think, just visualize God alone and alone and alone for eternity. He became
           fed up with his aloneness, it was monotonous. He wanted to have a little play. He created the other
           and started playing hide-and-seek.
                When you are tired of the play, when you become fed up with the play, you become a Buddha
           again. You again drop your toys. They are created by you, the value is imagined by you; you have
           put the value on them. The moment you withdraw your value they disappear, you are again alone.
                The Hindu concept is tremendously valuable, significant. It says God was alone, it became
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           monotonous, and he created the world, the other, just to have a little chitchat with the other, to have a
           little dialogue. Then again and again one comes and feels tired and bored with the other, disappears
           into oneself, again reaches to one's nothingness and becomes a god.
                You are all gods who are deceiving themselves. It is your choice. The day you choose not to be
           this way you will be free. It is your dream. Because of aloneness, because aloneness is the essential
           quality of your being, the other has been created.
                You just try it, go for a few weeks to the mountains and sit alone and you will feel very good.
           Everybody is tired of relationship and fed up and bored. Go to the mountains and sit silently and you
           will feel so beautiful, but after three or four days, five days, seven days, three weeks, you will start
           thinking of the other. Your woman again starts being attractive to you. You forget all the nastiness
           and all the nagging. You forget all that she has been doing to you, you completely forget all. She is
           again beautiful, she is again lovely, she is again fantastic, mm? -- you put value again.
                Then you have to come down from the mountains to the plains, and for two or three days with
           the woman things are going beautifully -- a new honeymoon and after two or three days things
           become difficult again, and again you start thinking how to meditate, how to be silent. This is how
           you go on. Just watch your consciousness and its fluctuations and through it you will know the
           whole process of existence, because you are a miniature existence.
                The pendulum of consciousness goes on swinging between meditation and love, between
           aloneness and togetherness. And because all the religions of the world up to now have been either of
           love or of meditation, they were fragmentary, they were not total. I am giving you the total religion. I
           am not choosing.
                For example, Buddha had chosen meditation. He gives you the love for meditation, no other
           love. He teaches you only to be alone, absolutely alone and nothing else. It is good, it is
           tremendously good for people who are tired and fed up with the world.
                He was tired and fed up with the world. He was a king, he was not a beggar. He was tired of
           women. His father had brought all the beautiful girls from the kingdom for him. He had one of the
           most beautiful harems. If you get all the beautiful women of the world in your house, how long will
           you be able to live there? Just think of it: one is more than enough. Now all the beautiful women of
           the kingdom were there. It must have been maddening. If he escaped, it is no wonder. All the
           pleasures were arranged for him, every kind of pleasure was arranged for him. If he became fed up,
           it is no wonder. He moved to the other pole. The other was too much. He escaped into the jungle, he
           became alone.
                There are religions which are religions of meditation -- Buddhism, Jainism. There are religions
           which are religions of love -- Christianity, Mohammedanism. And this has to be understood. Jesus is
           a poor man, so is Mohammed. This can't be accidental. Mahavira is a king, so is Buddha. The two
           kings have given to the world the religion of meditation, and the two poor people of the world have
           given the religion of love.
                The poor cannot be fed up with the other. The poor has not had that much of the other. The poor
           hankers for the other. The other may be the woman or money or power or prestige or God; it makes
           no difference -- the other is needed.
                Christianity and Islam are both religions of prayer, love -- love for God, prayer for God. In
           Buddhism, in Jainism, there is no place for God at all because there is no place for the other.
           Aloneness is enough. In Jainism and in Buddhism there is no existence of anything like prayer, the
           word has not been heard; they know only of meditation. Christianity knows nothing of meditation.
           These are not accidental things, they show something about the founders.
                I am giving you a total religion, a religion which allows both. When you are feeling tired with
           the other, move into meditation, swing into meditation. When you are feeling tired of aloneness,
           swing into love. Both are good. Both are contradictory, but through contradiction great joy arises. If
           you have only one you will not have that kind of richness. The one can give you silence or can give
           you great joy, but both can give you something infinitely precious, incomparable. Both together,
           they can give you a silent ecstasy, a peaceful joy. At the innermost core you remain utterly silent,
           and on the periphery, the dance. And when silence dances or silence sings, that is the richest, the
           peakest of peaks. Hence my insistence for both.

              George Bernard Shaw once at a party was sitting alone at the edge of the room. His hostess came
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           over to him and inquired solicitously, "Aren't you enjoying yourself?"
           Shaw replied, "That's all I am enjoying."

               He has hit upon a great truth, a great insight is there: one's self is all anyone can enjoy. Life starts
           taking the quality of silence. But if you can enjoy only yourself and never the other then you will
           miss the other dimension. One should be capable of enjoying oneself and the other too. That's what I
           call the whole man, the holy man.

           The third question:


               OSHO,
               WHEN I HEAR YOUR DISCOURSES AND AT OTHER TIMES, I KNOW THAT I KNOW ALL THAT IS
               NEEDED TO BE ENLIGHTENED. AT THOSE TIMES AM I ENLIGHTENED? PLEASE COMMENT
               ON HOW THIS OBVIOUSLY SUPERFICIAL 'KNOWING' CAN PENETRATE AND BECOME
               BEINGNESS. IT SEEMS THAT THIS KNOWING IS ROBBING ME OF INNOCENCE AND MORE
               COMPLETE EXPERIENTIAL REALIZATION, THAT KNOWLEDGE HAS FAR OUTSPACED THE
               GROWTH OF MY BEING, AND YET, KNOWING THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MY BEING, I
               DON'T FEEL WHOLLY MOTIVATED TOWARDS GROWING ONE.


               The first thing, you say: "When I hear your discourses and at other times I know that I know all
           that is needed to be enlightened."
               Nothing is needed to be enlightened, so how can you know all that is needed to be enlightened?
           Nothing is needed to be enlightened. Enlightenment is your natural state; it is not something that has
           to he produced, manufactured, created. If you are manufacturing something new, then many things
           will be needed. If you are not manufacturing anything new, what is needed? You are enlightened.
           How can anything be needed? Nothing is needed.
               So your idea that you think "I know that I know all that is needed to be enlightened" is barring
           your way. Nothing is needed to be enlightened and nothing is needed to be known to be enlightened.
           Enlightenment is already there, is already the case. It is not a realization, it is only a recognition. It is
           not that you have to make efforts to bring it; all that you need is not to make any effort. Drop all
           efforts -- and suddenly it is there. You cannot see it because you are continuously making efforts to
           see it. Your very effort to see it is functioning as a barrier.
               And you say: "At those times am I enlightened?" You are enlightened all the time, not when you
           hear me, not when you read something from The Diamond Sutra -- not only in those moments. You
           are all the time enlightened. From the very beginning to the very end, you remain enlightened. You
           can go on deceiving yourself that you are not enlightened as long as you want, but all the same you
           are enlightened.
               It is like a man who is pretending to be a woman in a drama. He is all the time a man. He can go
           on pretending, sometimes even he may forget. If he is a good actor, a really good actor, he may get
           into the idea and forget about it. For a few moments he may think that he is a woman, but again and
           again he will know that he is a man.
               It is a miracle that you forget that you are enlightened, that you go on forgetting it, but you ARE
           enlightened. Remember, enlightenment is not a quality that is going to happen to you in some future.
           You have brought it from the very beginning. It is in your breathing, it is in your heartbeat. It is the
           stuff you are made of.
           "At those times am I enlightened?" No, if you think that sometimes you are enlightened and
           sometimes not, then you are not enlightened. The day you know, the moment you know you are
           always enlightened, then you are enlightened. Once you have felt enlightenment, it is always there
           surrounding you like an aroma.
               Still you can go on playing a thousand and one games. I am playing, Buddha is playing, but that
           doesn't make any difference. Then it is with full awareness that the game is played. It does not
           entangle, it does not imprison.
               Once you play a game knowing that it is a game, then there is no problem. Then you can be in
           the world, then you can be whatsoever you enjoy to be, but deep down you know you are not that.
           Deep down you remain far away. You become a lotus flower -- in the water and yet the water
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           touches you not.
           "At those times am I enlightened?" you ask. "Please comment on how this obviously superficial
           knowing can penetrate and become beingness."
               Superficial knowing can never become beingness. Even deep and profound knowing can never
           become beingness. Knowledge itself is the obstacle. Knowing can never become being -- superficial
           or profound. Don't make these distinctions. These are tricks of the mind again. It is the
           knowledgeable mind.
               The knowledgeable mind can say to you, "It is right, superficial knowledge cannot give you
           enlightenment, but what about profound knowledge?" This is again a trick played upon you.
           Profound? Then certainly you are caught again in the same net. Profound or not profound,
           knowledge as such is superficial. The profoundest knowledge is superficial, to know is superficial.
           To be is to be in that profoundness you are talking about.
               You will have to be aware. Mind is very cunning. It can accept many things and again bring them
           back from the back door. It can say, "Right, I perfectly agree with you. How can superficial
           knowledge give you enlightenment? That is not possible. I will show you the way how to get
           profound knowledge."
               What will you do to get profound knowledge? It will be superficial knowledge again because
           knowledge is superficial. At the most you will have more superficial knowledge, the quantity will
           grow, and through the quantity you will have the illusion that you are becoming profound.
               You may go into deeper details, but details don't lead you to depth. You can know one thing
           about one thing or a thousand things about that one thing; it makes no difference -- knowledge is
           about and about. It never hits the point, it never reaches the target.
               The target is reached only by being, and to be, knowledge has to be dropped absolutely, totally,
           with no conditions, with no choice that "This is good, keep it, and that is bad, drop it. This is
           profound, keep it, and that is not profound, drop it." If you keep anything of knowledge, you will
           remain unenlightened. And the wonder of wonders is that you are enlightened and you go on
           remaining unenlightened.
               The question is from Chipper Roth. He must be a newcomer to this place, he must be an outsider.
           Be here. We will take away your knowledge slowly slowly. My whole work consists of making
           people ignorant. Ignorance has depth, ignorance has innocence, ignorance is profound -- not
           knowing has no limits to it. Knowing is always limited. How can it be profound? Howsoever great
           your knowledge, it will have a limit, a boundary to it. Only ignorance has no boundary.
               They say that science is an effort to know more about less and less. If you go on and on with this
           approach -- to know more and more about less and less -- what will be the end? The end will be that
           you know all about nothing. That will be the logical conclusion.
               I would like to say that religion is just the opposite approach: to know less and less about more
           and more. And what will be the ultimate result? One day... you go on knowing less and less about
           more and more; one day you know nothing about all. And that is the experience -- to know nothing
           about all. That's what I call ignorance.
           Roth, please be here a little longer, hang around.

           The fourth question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I AM ENJOYING THE PLAY VERY MUCH THESE DAYS. A VERY MASTERFUL PERFORMANCE
              THIS MORNING. EVERY MORNING I WAIT EAGERLY WONDERING WHAT THE CURTAIN'S RISE
              WILL BRING. I OVERFLOW WITH YOU BUT IT BRINGS LAUGHTER, NOT TEARS. WHERE ARE
              THE TEARS?

              Sucheta, they are in your laughter.

               Laughter and tears are not different. There are two types of people, the tear people and the
           laughter people. There are always two kinds everywhere, the whole existence is divided into duality
           -- man and woman, yin and yang, positive/negative, day/night, life/death. So there is this division,
           the laughter people and the tear people.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The tear people are introverts, they are easily ingoing. And when you go in, the deeper you go in
           the more and more your eyes will be filled with tears. Sucheta is an extrovert, she is a laughing
           Buddha. Geet Govind is a tearful Buddha. She is an extrovert, outgoing, a real American. So when
           something overwhelms her she will laugh.
               And remember always, never imitate anybody. If Geet Govind tries to imitate Sucheta he will be
           in difficulty. His laughter will be very poor and it will look phony. If Sucheta tries to imitate Geet
           Govind it will be very difficult to bring tears, and even if she can manage with some artificial aid
           they will not be true, they will be false.
               Extroverts should follow their way. In their life, laughter will be their overflowing energy. Love
           will be easier for them, meditation will be a little difficult. For the introverts, meditation will be
           easier, love will be a little difficult; tears will be easier, laughter will be a little difficult.
               Never imitate anybody, just go on your own way, and by and by you will see a transformation
           coming when you have touched the extreme. For example, if you go on laughing... for example, if
           Sucheta goes on laughing to the utter extreme, tears will come. There will come a moment in
           laughter when the laughter will start disappearing and tears will come. If Geet Govind goes on
           crying and crying and crying in tears and tears and tears to the very end, suddenly he will find a
           change happening: laughter will arise. The revolution is only from the extreme.
               Once I was talking to a council of Buddhists. Now to say to Buddhists that the revolution is from
           the extreme, or that truth is only at the extreme, is very difficult because they believe in the middle
           way, the golden mean. Buddha's path is known as MAJJHIMA NIKAYA, the middle way.
               I forgot that they were Buddhists. I talked about the extreme and I told them that the revolution
           happens only from the extreme, from the utter extreme. Unless you reach to the utter extreme there is
           no truth. Truth is at the extreme, this or that -- but at the extreme. Either love at the extreme or
           meditation at the extreme.
               They were patient -- Buddhists are patient; they are not like Mohammedans, they will not start
           fighting -- but still, patience has a boundary. One Buddhist could not tolerate, it although Buddha has
           said to tolerate. He stood up. He said, "This is too much. Have you forgotten completely that
           Buddha's path is known as the middle path?"
               Then I remembered and I said, "True, I know, but unless you are at the extreme middle there is
           no truth." I was talking about the extreme, it had nothing to do with the middle. "If you are at the
           extreme middle, exactly the middle, then again truth. Truth happens only with the extreme."
               From the extreme the pendulum swings towards the other polarity. So, good Sucheta. Laugh,
           laugh to the extreme. One day you will see your laughter is bringing beautiful tears.

           The sixth question:


              OSHO,
              CANNOT ONE DECLARE THAT ONE HAS EXPERIENCED GOD?


               If you have experienced, your very existence will be the declaration, you need not declare. At
           least you need not ask. If the declaration comes it comes, what can you do? One who has
           experienced God will not decide anything, not even this -- whether he has to declare or not. One who
           has experienced God has dropped the mind. Now whatsoever happens he will be into it, he will be
           totally into it. If declaration comes it comes.
               It came to Mansoor. He declared, "ANA'L-HAQ, I am God." His master, Junnaid, told him,
           "Mansoor, this is not right. You will get into trouble. I also know but I have never declared because
           you know these Mohammedans who are all around -- they will kill you."
               But Mansoor said, "What can I do? When he declares what can I do? Suddenly he catches hold
           of me and declares."
               Junnaid was so afraid that he expelled Mansoor from his school. He said, "You go away, go
           somewhere else. You will get into trouble, and you will also get me into trouble."
               But Mansoor said, "What can I do? If he wants to get into trouble himself, what can I do?" And
           he got into trouble. But it was true that he could not do anything. He declared at the last moment also
           from the cross: "ANA'L-HAQ, I am God" -- and laughed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Somebody asked from the crowd, "If you can still deny, if you can still say that you were wrong
           in declaring yourself God, there is still hope that you can be forgiven."
               He laughed and he said, "But what can I do? He declares."
               And you are asking me: "Cannot one declare that one has experienced God?" If God declares,
           good. If God is not declaring, you please keep quiet, leave it to him.

           J. Donald Walters writes:
               A few years ago I met a man who was holding forth, somewhat drunkenly, and with massive
           self-importance, on his version of how the universe ought to be run. I forget how it came about, but I
           happened to mention that I thought I had met perhaps six people in my life who knew God. My
           companion held out a huge, hairy paw. "Shake!" he cried hoarsely. "Ya just met the seventh."
               Donald Walters writes that he could not believe that this man had experienced God, because he
           thinks how, if you have experienced God, will you declare so blatantly, "Shake! Ya just met the
           seventh."

               But that it not my opinion. It is possible. Because sometimes God is hoarse, sometimes very
           polite and sometimes very hoarse. God comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes his hands are very
           very smooth and sometimes very hairy. He comes in all the ways. His ways are mysterious.
               So if he wants to declare through you, go to the housetops and let him declare. But if he does not
           want to declare and you declare on your own, you will get into trouble. If he wants to get into trouble
           that is his business, but don't decide on your own otherwise it will be just an ego trip.
               Reading this story of Donald Walters, I felt very much for the man who said, "Shake! Ya just met
           the seventh."
               Walters writes condemningly. He thinks this is not the way. Who will decide what is the way?
           No one should decide. Who am I to tell you that you should not declare? If he wants to declare, who
           am I to tell you? Let his will be done.
               But remember always, it should not be your decision. If you decide to declare, that simply means
           you have not known. Then the mind is playing the greatest megalomaniac trick. Then the mind is
           going mad.

           The seventh question:


              OSHO,
              A DEAR FRIEND OF MINE SENT A LETTER TO YOU FROM THE WEST ASKING FOR A
              SANNYAS NAME AND THEN CAME HERE BEFORE SHE RECEIVED AN ANSWER AND TOOK
              SANNYAS HERE. THE NAME SHE WAS GIVEN BY LETTER WAS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT KIND
              OF NAME FROM THE ONE YOU GAVE HER HERE. I WAS VERY DISTURBED WHEN I HEARD
              ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF MY NAME AS MY PATH. I HAVE USED
              IT TO DIRECT ME WHEN I HAVE BEEN CONFUSED. WHAT REALLY IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
              THE NAME YOU GIVE TO US.


               Veera, all holy cow dung. Don't be deceived by the names. You are always hankering to catch
           hold of something, to make something big out of nothings. The names I give you are just like lovers'
           sweet nothings. Don't make much fuss about them.
               In fact, once I have given you the name, never come and ask me about its meaning again because
           I forget. It is in that moment that I create the meaning around it. Then how am I supposed to
           remember? I must have given thirty thousand names or more.
               A name is just a name. You are nameless. No name confines you, no name can confine you.
           They are just labels to be used -- utilitarian, nothing spiritual in it. But because I pay so much
           attention to your name and I explain it to you, you get hooked with it. That is just my way of
           showering my attention on you, nothing else; just my way of showing my love to you, nothing else.

    BELOVED OSHO,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHY DO I ALWAYS FALL ASLEEP IN DISCOURSE? SOMETIMES I CAN'T HELP COMPARING
              MYSELF TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO SIT ABSOLUTELY STILL, JUST IMBIBING YOU, AND THAT
              MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I HAVE SO FAR TO GO, ESPECIALLY EVERY TIME WHEN PEOPLE
              COME UP TO ME AFTER THE LECTURE AND SAY, "WASN'T IT AMAZING TODAY?"
              MAYBE MORE WOULD COME THROUGH TO ME IF I JUST ACCEPT THAT DISCOURSE IS A
              GOOD PLACE FOR ME TO SLEEP.


               It is the perfect place. Don't be worried about those people who come and tell you, they must be
           joking. You sleep well. They must be trying to disturb you, they must be trying to create some
           jealousy in you. They must be really jealous of you -- that you are sleeping so well and snoring, and
           those poor people are just sitting. They want to disturb you. Don't be worried. Go on sleeping. You
           have to go far, but in sleep, nowhere else.

              The game was drifting off into total boredom when a man in the crowd suddenly burst into a
           round of applause. The man next to him said, "Why did you do that?"
           "Sorry," he replied. "I was trying to keep myself awake."

               You don't know how much difficulty people are having in keeping themselves awake. You just
           go into your sleep, relax into it. If you can accept it totally, that will become a great experience.
               The mind always creates conflict. If you don't sleep, the mind says, "I am feeling like it would be
           good if I could sleep." If you sleep, the mind says, "You have missed something, you should not do
           this." The mind always creates conflict, friction. It is never happy with anything. Drop that mind. If
           sleep comes naturally, then allow it. In that very acceptance and the disappearance of the mind, you
           will be hearing The Diamond Sutra.
               Patanjali says sleep is just next to samadhi. A good sleep, a deep sleep, and samadhi, are
           different only in one sense: samadhi has awareness, sleep has no awareness. But awareness can
           happen in sleep. Don't make trouble for yourself, don't divide yourself.
               If sleep is not coming, perfectly good, keep awake, but then it will not be an effort. If sleep is
           coming then fall asleep, then don't try to keep yourself awake. And I am not saying that if sleep is
           not coming you have to try to go to sleep. Accept whatsoever is the case. Accept reality as it happens
           in a certain moment. Be totally in the moment.
               That's my whole message, to be utterly with the moment. This is desire: "I should not be asleep."
           Why? This is not spiritual -- to sit in a discourse and fall asleep. Why? Sleep is a perfectly spiritual
           activity, a great spiritual activity. It is as good as sitting there and thinking, dreaming is as good.
           Dreaming is just a primitive form of thinking, more colorful. Others are thinking, you are dreaming.
           What is the difference? Dream well, sleep well, relax.
               One day, out of this relaxation you will start becoming aware and alert, but that alertness will
           have a different quality to it. It will not be forced, it will not be manipulated by you, it will come.
           One day suddenly in the middle of the discourse you will open your eyes, fresh, young, from the
           deep sleep, and something, just a word, may go into your being and will transform you.
               The whole Diamond Sutra was not needed when Hui Neng heard four lines -- that was enough.
           Sometimes a single word from a Buddha is enough. It just goes like an arrow and pierces your heart
           and you are no longer the same.
               So don't be worried. Relax well. And if you have relaxed well and you open your eyes, some
           time it is possible -- there may happen the meeting between you and me. And you will be so fresh
           from sleep, unthinking, not knowing who you are....
               Don't you know? Sometimes it happens in the morning when you wake, it takes a few seconds
           for you to recognize who you are, the mind takes time to come back. Sometimes you cannot even
           recognize where you are. Suddenly awakened in the middle of the night, everybody will wonder who
           he is, where he is. He will take a little time to gather himself together.
               So it is possible, sleeping, one day in the middle you hear my shouting. Suddenly you wake up
           and you don't know where you are. That is the right moment I can enter in you.
               So don't be worried. Whatsoever happens is good. All is accepted here. I accept you as you are. I
           have no 'shoulds' for you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The last question:


              OSHO,
              WHY CAN'T PEOPLE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER'S RELIGIONS?
              WHY IS THERE ALWAYS SO MUCH CONFLICT?


               The ego. It has nothing to do with religions, just the ego. Whatsoever is yours has to be the best
           in the world. Whatsoever is others' cannot be the best, cannot be allowed to be the best in the world.
               Your wife is the most beautiful woman, your husband is the most beautiful person. You are the
           greatest man in the world. You may not say so, but you say it in a thousand and one ways. And
           whatsoever belongs to you has to be the best. People are just like small children. Small children go
           on fighting, "My daddy can lick your daddy any time."

               A small boy was telling another boy, "My mother is a great orator. She can speak on any subject
           for hours."
               The other said, "That's nothing. My mother is such a great orator she can speak without any
           subject for hours. Nobody knows what she is speaking."

              People go on bragging about their things, about everything, about religion too.

               Mulla Nasruddin's son asked him, "Pop, if a Mohammedan leaves his religion and becomes a
           Hindu or a Christian, what would you call him?"
               The Mulla became very angry and he said, "He is a traitor! He should be shot. This is the greatest
           sin in the world -- to change your religion, to betray your religion. He is NAMAK HARAM -- he has
           betrayed his salt."
               Then the boy asked, "Then Pop, if a Hindu or a Christian becomes a Mohammedan?"
               Mulla was all smiles, Jimmy Carter smiles. He said, "That is great. That man is wise. That man
           should be welcomed and respected and honored. He knows what is truth and he is courageous. He is
           a convert, my son!"

               Now the thing has changed. If a Mohammedan becomes a Hindu or a Christian he is a traitor; if a
           Hindu or a Christian becomes a Mohammedan he is a convert and he is a great man and he should be
           honored and respected. He is wise because he has recognized what is the real religion.
               That's how our egos function. That's why religions, rather than bringing peace to the world, have
           been the cause of bloody wars. Many more people have been killed in the name of religion than in
           any other name. Not even politicians have been able to surpass the so-called religious people in
           murder. The greatest murderers have been the churches and the mosques and the temples.
               In the future this ugliness has to be dropped; it should be immediately dropped. A religion is a
           personal choice. If somebody does not like the roseflower, you don't kill him and you don't say that
           he is ugly, you don't say that he is wrong. You say that that is his liking. He does not like the
           roseflower, it is finished. I like the roseflower. But it is a question of liking. There is no question of
           truth in it, there is no question of arguing about it and there is no reason to prove why I don't like the
           rose. If I don't like, I don't like. If you like, you like. There is no conflict. Religion should be like
           that.
               Somebody likes Jesus -- perfectly beautiful. Somebody likes Buddha, somebody likes Krishna --
           likings. A religion should not have anything to do with birth. It should be a pure liking. Then there
           will be no conflict, then there will be no unnecessary arguing which goes on and on down the
           centuries. Rather than praying, people have been arguing. The whole energy that they have put to
           argument, if it would have been put into prayer they would have known what God is. But they go on
           arguing, great debates continue, and nothing is ever proved because nothing can ever be proved.
               If you like Jesus, it is just like when you fall in love with a woman. You cannot prove anything.
           Why? ... And whatsoever you prove will look foolish to others. If you say to others, "Look at her
           nose -- how long, how beautiful," people will say "That looks ugly, it is out of shape, it is too big,
           the face is not in proportion." If you say, "Look at the eyes -- so big, so beautiful," then somebody
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will say, "They look frightening. I cannot stay with that woman in the night. Those two big eyes... I
           am scared. And they are too big and not symmetrical!"
                There is no way to prove your liking. Somebody likes Jesus and somebody likes Buddha. This is
           falling in love -- you need not prove it. And if you prove it you will look a fool to others. That's how
           it looks. Hindus think people who are in love with Jesus are foolish: What is there in this man? You
           ask the Hindus? -- they have a beautiful theory of karma. They say you suffer only if you have done
           wrong in your past lives. Why was Jesus crucified? He must have done great sins; otherwise why?
           Krishna is not crucified, Rama is not crucified -- why is Jesus crucified? He must have been a sinner.
                Now the whole perspective changes. Now you ask a Christian about Krishna playing upon the
           flute. It looks so beautiful and Jesus on the cross looks so sad, and he will say, "What are you talking
           about? This world is in such misery, this man Krishna must have been of a very stony heart. He is
           playing on the flute and people are dying and people are in misery and there is death and disease and
           this man is playing on the flute. He must have a very very rocklike heart. He has no heart. If he had
           any heart he would have sacrificed himself for the downtrodden, for the oppressed, for those who are
           in misery. Look at Jesus -- he is the savior. He died for us so that we can be redeemed. This Krishna
           looks shallow."
                But ask the Hindu who follows Krishna. He will say, "What are you talking about? There is no
           misery. All misery is illusion. And if people are suffering they are suffering for their sins. Nobody
           else can redeem them. And the only redeemer that can be of any help is one who brings joy into the
           world. Only joy is the healing force. How can you redeem?"
                Hindus say if somebody is crying and you sit by the side and you also cry, can you redeem him?
           Crying is doubled. Somebody is ill and you fall in sympathy and lie down by their side -- how are
           you helping? To help you have to be healthy. You need not fall ill. Krishna is healthy, Krishna is joy.
           The world is so in misery, that's why he brings his flute. Crosses everybody is carrying already --
           what is there in carrying a cross? Everybody is carrying a cross. A flute is needed. Now these are the
           ways and everybody can go on arguing for and against.
                To me, religion is a love affair. It has nothing to do with intellect, it has nothing to do with
           reason. It is falling in love. With whomsoever you have fallen in love, that is your way. Go through
           it -- that is your door.
                Love is the door, it is irrelevant with whom you have fallen in love. Love redeems, neither Jesus,
           nor Krishna. Love redeems. Fall in love. Love is the only redeeming force. Love is the savior. But
           your egos....
           Meditate over this beautiful story:

                Patrick the First, the Irish pope, was sitting in his office in the Vatican one day, reading the
           CATHOLIC HERALD, when a small article in the Irish section entitled "Record Births" caught his
           attention.
           "Holy Mary Michael!" said the pope to his secretary, Cardinal Fitz-Michael. "Do you see this,
           bejaisus!"
           "And what is that, Monseigneur," said Michael, jumping up from his paperwork.
           "It says the wife of Paddy O'Flynne from Dublin has just presented him with his fifty-sixth child,"
           said the pope.
           "The saints be praised, sir," said Michael. "Some miracle indeed, is it not?"
           "The Lord's work, to be sure," cried the pope, "and should be commemorated in some way for the
           unity of the Catholic church, world faith in general, and the Emerald Isle in particular."
           "Indeed sir, what exactly do you have in mind?"
           "No mind, Michael," replied the pope excitedly, "Action! Go this very moment to the workshop,
           have a golden madonna stuck up, top priority job, then run around to the travel agents and book me a
           first class return flight to Dublin on Aer Lingus. I myself personally will take the madonna as a little
           gift and present it to the O'Flynnes. I could do with a little holiday in the old country."
                The next morning sharp, Pope Pat, clutching the madonna, the HERALD, and a bottle of Irish
           whiskey for the flight, boarded the plane for Dublin. On arrival he went straight to O'Flynne's home
           whereupon he was taken to the local pub by one of the family to where the main celebrations were
           taking place.
           "Someone to see you, Dad," yelled the kid to the roomful of drinkers.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Tell him to grab a Guinness and come over!" a voice replied.
                The pope grabbed a Guinness and pushed his way, madonna first, into the center of the
           high-spirited group of inebriates. Some hours and many Guinnesses later, the pope finally staggered
           up to Paddy and, thrusting the madonna at him slurred, "I would like to offer my sincere
           congratulations to you."
           "And who do I have the honor of addressing, sir?' said Paddy, beholding the drunken cleric,
           Guinness in one hand, madonna in the other.
           "Well, you don't know me personally, Paddy, but in fact I am the pope."
           "The pope!" exclaimed Paddy. "And you are in a dangerous place to be sure. Will you have another
           little Guinness?"
           "I will indeed," said the pope, "if you will just promise me one thing before I do."
           "For a drinking man," said Paddy, "it will be hard to refuse."
           "I would like you to accept this madonna as a little gift from us all at the Vatican and take it and put
           it on the altar of your local Catholic church."
           "Ah now, sir," said Paddy. "I will take the madonna, sir, to be sure, and very grateful I am, but put it
           on the altar of me local catholic church I cannot do."
           "And why ever not," said the pope in amazement, "as a gift to Mother Mary?"
           "Well, the truth is, sir," said Paddy, "I am not a Catholic, I am a Protestant."
           "What!" screamed the pope. "You mean to say I have come all this way to present me golden
           madonna to a fucking sex maniac!"
           Enough for today.




                                               The Diamond Sutra
                                                   Chapter #11
                                    Chapter title: The Fully Enlightened One
           31 December 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7712310
              ShortTitle: DIAMON11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 82 mins




              VAJRACHCHEDIKA
              PRAJNAPARAMITA
              SUTRA

              OF
              GAUTAMA

              THE
              BUDDHA



              THE LORD ASKED:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, DOES IT OCCUR TO THE TATHAGATA, "BY ME HAS
              DHAMMA BEEN DEMONSTRATED"? WHOSOEVER, SUBHUTI, WOULD SAY, "THE TATHAGATA
              HAS DEMONSTRATED DHAMMA," HE WOULD SPEAK FALSELY, HE WOULD MISREPRESENT
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ME BY SEIZING ON WHAT IS NOT THERE. AND WHY?
              'BECAUSE NOT EVEN THE LEAST DHAMMA IS THERE FOUND OR GOT AT. THEREFORE IS IT
              CALLED UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT. FURTHERMORE, SUBHUTI,
              SELF-IDENTICAL IS THAT DHAMMA, AND NOTHING IS THEREIN AT VARIANCE. THEREFORE IS
              IT CALLED UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT. SELF-IDENTICAL THROUGH
              THE ABSENCE OF A SELF, A BEING, A SOUL, OR A PERSON, THE UTMOST, RIGHT AND
              PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT IS FULLY KNOWN AS THE TOTALITY OF ALL THE WHOLESOME
              DHAMMAS.'
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI, DOES IT OCCUR TO A TATHAGATA, "BY ME HAVE BEINGS
              BEEN SET FREE"? NOT THUS SHOULD YOU SEE IT, SUBHUTI! AND WHY? THERE IS NOT ANY
              BEING WHOM THE TATHAGATA HAS SET FREE.'



              FURTHER THE LORD TAUGHT ON THAT OCCASION THE FOLLOWING STANZAS: 'THOSE WHO
              BY MY FORM DID SEE ME,
              AND THOSE WHO FOLLOWED ME BY VOICE
              WRONG THE EFFORTS THEY ENGAGED IN,
              ME THOSE PEOPLE WILL NOT SEE.' 'FROM THE DHAMMA SHOULD ONE SEE THE BUDDHAS,
              FROM THE DHAMMA-BODIES COMES THEIR GUIDANCE. YET DHAMMA'S TRUE NATURE
              CANNOT BE DISCERNED, AND NO ONE CAN BE CONSCIOUS OF IT AS AN OBJECT.'
              'WHOSOEVER SAYS THAT THE TATHAGATA GOES OR COMES, STANDS, SITS OR LIES
              DOWN, HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF MY TEACHING. AND WHY?
              "TATHAGATA" IS CALLED ONE WHO HAS NOT GONE ANYWHERE, NOR COME FROM
              ANYWHERE. THEREFORE IS HE CALLED THE TATHAGATA, THE ARHAT, THE FULLY
              ENLIGHTENED ONE.

              To recapitulate:



              THE LORD SAID:
              'THE TATHAGATA SPEAKS IN ACCORDANCE WITH REALITY,
              SPEAKS THE TRUTH,
              SPEAKS OF WHAT IS,
              NOT OTHERWISE.
              TATHAGATA, SUBHUTI,
              IS SYNONYMOUS WITH TRUE SUCHNESS.'


                The word suchness is of immense importance in Buddha's approach towards reality. The word
           suchness is as important in Buddhism as God is in other religions.
                The Buddhist word for suchness is TATHATA. It means, "Seeing things are such, don't take any
           attitude, don't make any opinion, don't judge or condemn." The Buddhist meditation consists of
           suchness. The method is very practical and very deep-going. Buddha has said to his disciples, "Just
           watch things as they are, without interfering." For example, you have a headache. The moment you
           note it, immediately the opinion enters that "this is not good. Why should I have a headache? What
           should I do not to have it?" You are immediately worried, you have taken an opinion, you are against
           it, you have started repressing it. Either you have to repress it chemically, through an aspro or
           novalgin, or you have to repress it in the consciousness -- you don't look at it, you put it aside. You
           get involved in something else, you want to be distracted in something else so you can forget it. But
           in both ways you have missed suchness.
                What will Buddha suggest? Buddha says take note twice, "Headache, headache." Don't feel
           inimical towards it, neither friendly nor antagonistic. Just take a simple note, as if it has nothing to
           do with you: "Headache, headache." And remain undisturbed, undistracted, uninfluenced by it,
           without any opinion.
                See the point. Immediately, ninety percent of the headache is gone... because a headache is not a
           real headache, ninety percent arises out of the antagonistic opinion. Immediately you will see that the
           greater part of it is no longer there.
                And another thing will be noted: sooner or later you will see that the headache is disappearing in
           something else -- maybe you are now feeling anger. What happened? If you repress the headache
           you will never come to know what its real message was. The headache was there just as an indicator
           that you are full of anger in this moment and the anger is creating a tension in the head, hence the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           headache.
               But you watched, you simply took note of it -- "Headache, headache" -- you remained impartial,
           objective. Then the headache disappears. And the headache gives you the message that "I am not a
           headache, I am anger."
               Now Buddha says take note again, "Anger, anger." Now don't become angry with anger,
           otherwise again you are trapped and you have missed suchness. If you say, "Anger, anger," ninety
           percent of the anger will be gone immediately. This is a very practical method. And the ten percent
           that will be left will release its message. You may come to see that it is not anger, it is ego. Take note
           again: "Ego, ego." And so on and so forth. One thing is connected with another, and the deeper you
           move the closer you come to the original cause. And once you have come to the original cause, the
           chain is broken -- there is no beyond it.
               A moment will come when you will take note of the last link in the chain, and then nothingness.
           Then you are released from the whole chain, and there will arise great purity, great silence. That
           silence is called suchness.
               This has to be practiced continuously. Sometimes it may happen that you forget, and you have
           made an opinion unconsciously, mechanically. Then Buddha says remember again, "Opinion,
           opinion." Now don't get distracted by this -- that you have made an opinion. Don't get depressed that
           you have missed. Just take note, "Opinion, opinion," and suddenly you will see -- ninety percent of
           the opinion is gone, ten percent remains, and that releases its message to you. What is its message?
           The message is that there is some inhibition, some taboo; out of that taboo the opinion has arisen.
               A sex desire comes in the mind and immediately you say, "This is bad." This is opinion. Why is
           it bad? -- Because you have been taught it is bad, it is a taboo. Take note, "Taboo, taboo," and go on.
               Sometimes it will also happen that you have judged -- not only judged, you have made an
           opinion; not only made an opinion, you have become depressed that you have missed. Then take
           note again, "Depression, depression," and go on.
               Whenever you become conscious, at whatsoever point, from there take note -- just a simple note
           -- and leave the whole thing. And soon you will see the entangled mind is no longer as entangled as
           it has always been. Things start disappearing, and there will be moments of suchness, tathata, when
           you will be simply there and the existence is there and there is no opinion between you and
           existence. All is undisturbed by thought, unpolluted by thought. Existence is, but mind has
           disappeared. That state of no-mind is called suchness.
               Buddha says A TATHAGATA IS SYNONYMOUS WITH SUCHNESS. Synonymous -- not that
           he has the quality of suchness, he is suchness.
               And Buddha says A TATHAGATA SPEAKS IN ACCORDANCE WITH REALITY. He cannot
           do otherwise. It is not that he chooses to speak in accordance with reality -- there is no choice.
           Whatsoever is real is spoken through him. It is not that he chooses, "This is real and I should speak
           this, and that is unreal and I will not speak that." If that choice has arisen, you are not a Buddha yet.
               A Tathagata speaks out of choicelessness. So it is not that the Tathagata speaks truth. In fact it
           should be said in this way, that whatsoever is spoken by a Tathagata is truth. HE SPEAKS IN
           ACCORDANCE WITH REALITY. In fact, reality speaks through him. He is just a medium, a
           hollow bamboo. The reality sings its song through him, he has no song of his own. All his opinions
           have disappeared and he himself has disappeared. He is pure space. Truth can pass through him into
           the world, truth can descend through him into the world.

              HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH, HE SPEAKS OF WHAT IS.
              YATHA BHUTAM.



              Whatsoever is the case, he speaks. He has no mind about it, he never interferes. He does not drop a
              thing, he does not add a thing. He is a mirror: whatsoever comes in front of the mirror the mirror
              reflects. This reflectiveness is suchness.
              'A TATHAGATA, SUBHUTI,
              IS SYNONYMOUS WITH TRUE SUCHNESS.'


              And why does he say TRUE suchness? Is there some untrue suchness too? Yes. You can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           practice. You can practice, you can cultivate a certain quality called suchness, but that will not be
           true. The true suchness has not to be cultivated, it comes.
                For example, what do I mean when I say you can cultivate? You can decide, "I will only speak
           the truth, whatsoever the consequence. Even if I have to lose my life I will speak the truth." And you
           speak the truth -- but this is not true suchness, it is your decision. The untruth arises in you. You go
           on pushing down the untruth. You say, "I have decided that even if my life is at stake I am going to
           be true."
                It is effort. Truth has become your prestige. Deep down you are longing to be a martyr. Deep
           down you want to let the whole world know that you are a truthful man, that you are ready to
           sacrifice your life also for it; you are a great man, a mahatma. And you sacrifice your life, but it is
           not true suchness.
                True suchness knows nothing of choice. You are simply an instrument of reality. You don't come
           in, you don't stand in between, you simply have withdrawn yourself. The mirror docs not decide,
           "This man is standing in front of me. I am going to show him his real face, whatsoever the
           consequence. Even if he throws a stone at me -- because he is so ugly, he may get angry -- but I am
           going to show him his real face."
                If a mirror thinks that way then the mirror is no longer a mirror -- mind has come in. It is not
           mirroring, it is his decision. The purity is lost. But a mirror is simply there, it has no mind. So is a
           Buddha. That's why Buddha uses the word TRUE suchness.
                This Buddhist meditation of taking note -- try it, play with it. I cannot say practice it, I can only
           say play with it. Sitting, walking, sometimes remember it -- just play with it. And you will be
           surprised that Buddha has given to the world one of the greatest techniques to penetrate into your
           innermost core.
                Psychoanalysis does not go that deep. It also depends on something like this -- free association of
           thoughts -- but it remains superficial, because the other's presence is a hindrance. The psychoanalyst
           is sitting there; even if he is sitting behind a screen, but you know he is there. That very knowledge
           that somebody is there hinders. You cannot be a real mirror, because the presence of the other cannot
           allow you to open totally. You can open totally only to your own self.
                Buddha's method is far more deep-going because it is not to be told to anybody else. You have
           just to take note inside. It is subjective and yet objective. The phenomenon has to happen in your
           subjectivity, but you have to remain objective.
                Just take note, and go on taking note as if it is none of your business, as if it is not happening to
           you, as if you have been appointed to do some job: "Stand on this corner of the road and just take
           note of whosoever passes by. A woman, a woman. A dog, a dog. A car, a car." You have nothing to
           do, you are not involved. You are absolutely aloof, distant.
                It can take you from one thing to another. And one moment comes when you have reached to the
           very cause of a certain chain. And there are many chains in your being, thousands of threads have
           got intertwined into each other. You have become a mess. You will have to follow each thread,
           slowly slowly, and you will have to come to the end of each thread. Once the end is reached, that
           chain disappears from your being. You are less burdened.
                Slowly slowly, one day it happens -- all threads have disappeared, because you have looked into
           all causes that were causing them. They were effects. One day, when all causes have been looked
           into, you have observed everything -- all the games of the mind that it goes on playing with you, all
           the tricks and cunningnesses of it, all the deceptions and mischiefs -- the whole mind disappears, as
           if it has never been there.
                There is a famous sutra which Buddha has said about the mind, about life, about existence. The
           sutra is one of the most golden ones. He says:

           Think about the mind
           As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp,
           A mock show, dewdrops, or a bubble,
           A dream, a lightning flash, or a cloud,
           So should one view what is conditioned.

              Mind is a conditioned phenomenon. It is the effect of some causes. You cannot destroy the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           effects directly, you will have to go to the causes. You cannot destroy a tree just by cutting its
           branches and leaves and foliage; you will have to go to the roots -- and roots are hidden underneath.
                So are the roots in you. These things have to be understood. Buddha says, "Think of your mind
           as stars." Why? Stars exist only in darkness. When the morning comes and the sun rises they
           disappear.
                So is your mind; it exists only in unconsciousness. When the sun of consciousness rises it
           disappears -- just like stars. Don't fight with the stars. You will not be able to destroy them, they are
           millions. Just become more aware and they will disappear on their own accord.
                A FAULT OF VISION. Your eye is ill, it has some fault.
                Then you see things which are not there. For example, you may be seeing double or you may be
           seeing patterns, because your eye is not as it should be. If your liver is not good your eyes will start
           seeing things which are not there; a weak liver, and eyes will see patterns in the air, bubbles, designs,
           patterns. They are not really there, they are caused by your eye itself. You cannot fight with them,
           you cannot destroy them, because they don't exist. All that is needed is that you will have to go to a
           physician. Your eye needs treatment, your eye needs to be cured.
                Buddha used to say, "I am not a philosopher, I am a physician. I don't give you a doctrine, I
           doctor you. I don't give you a theory, I simply give you a medicine. I don't talk about what light is, I
           only help you open your eyes so you yourself can see it."
                The blind man cannot be helped by definitions of light and color and rainbows. The only help
           possible is that his eyes have to be brought back. You cannot explain to a deaf person what music is.
           Only when he can hear will he know. The experience is the only explanation.
                Third, Buddha says think of the mind as a lamp. Why as a lamp? The lamp burns only while the
           oil in it lasts. Once the oil is finished the flame disappears. So is the mind -- and the oil is the desire.
           If there are desires in the mind, the mind will remain alive. Don't fight with the flame, just don't go
           on pouring fuel on it. Desire is the fuel.
                Desire means that which is, you are not satisfied with it, you want something else. You are not
           living in suchness -- that's what desire means. Desire means you want things to be other than they
           are. You don't want them the way they are. You have your own ideas, you have your private dreams
           to impose upon reality. You are not contented with reality as such, you want to change it according
           to your heart's desire. Then mind will remain. Mind exists because you are not contented with
           reality.
                So many people come to me and they ask, "How to stop the thoughts?" They want to stop the
           thoughts directly. They cannot be stopped. Thoughts exist because desires exist. Unless you
           understand desire and drop desire, you will not be able to drop thoughts -- because thoughts are
           by-products.
                First the desire comes in. You see a beautiful car passing by and a desire arises. Buddha will say,
           "Say, 'Car, car.' Finished. If a desire has arisen in you, say again, 'Desire, desire,' and be finished".
           But you have seen a beautiful car, and a dream, a desire, takes possession of you.
                Now so many thoughts will arise -- "How can I manage to purchase this car. Should I sell my
           house? Should I go to the bank? Should I earn more money, legal/illegal? What should I do? This car
           has to be possessed." Now how can you stop thoughts?
                A politician used to come to me and he wanted to stop thoughts, he wanted to meditate. I said,
           "First you drop your politics, otherwise how can you stop? You are so ambitious."
                First he was an M.L.A. He was very ambitious, he became a deputy minister. But he was again
           ambitious, he became a minister. Now he was trying to become the chief minister of a state. And he
           said, "But I have come only for this, that if you can help me to relax, to meditate, I will be more
           capable of fighting, of giving a good fight to my competitors. And you are saying drop politics? That
           I cannot do."
                But if you don't drop desire, how can you stop thinking? Thinking comes as a help. You want to
           be the chief minister, the mind starts spinning and weaving. The mind says, "Now I have to look into
           things, into how it should be managed." Now there are a thousand and one problems to be solved,
           only then can your desire be fulfilled. Thinking is a device of desire to fulfill itself. You cannot stop
           thinking directly.
                Buddha says desire is like oil in a lamp. If the oil is no more, the flame will disappear on its own.
           Think of mind as a lamp, think of mind as a mock show, a magic show. Nothing is substantial there,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is a kind of hypnotic state. The hypnotist has hypnotized you and he says, "Look -- the animal, the
           camel is coming." And there arises a form of a camel in your mind, and you start looking at the
           camel and the camel is there -- for you. Everybody is laughing, because nobody is seeing the camel
           but you are seeing it.
                Your mind is a magic-box, that's what Buddha has said again and again. It goes on creating
           phantoms, imaginations, which have no substance in them -- but if you want to believe in them, they
           will become real. Your mind is a great mock show. In fact the English word magic comes from the
           Indian word MAYA. Maya means illusion.
                Illusions can be created, and you all create illusions. You see a woman, but you never see
           YATHA BHUTAM -- as she is. That's why there is so much frustration afterwards. You start seeing
           things which are not there, which are only projections of your mind.
                You project beauty, you project a thousand and one things on the poor woman. When you come
           closer, when you are able to live with the woman, those phantoms will start wearing out. Those
           imaginations cannot persist against reality for long, the woman's reality will assert. And then you
           will feel cheated and you will think she has cheated you.
                She has not done a thing. She herself is feeling cheated by you, because she has also projected
           something on you. She was thinking you are a hero, an Alexander or something, a great man, and
           now you are just a mouse and nothing else. And she was thinking you are a mountain -- you are not
           even a molehill! She feels cheated. You both feel cheated, you both feel frustrated.

           I have heard:
               A woman walked into the Missing Persons Bureau. "My husband disappeared last night," she
           reported.
           "We'll do our best to find him," the officers assured her. "Kindly give us a description of the man."
           "Well," she waited a little and then said, "he's about five feet tall, wears thick glasses, has a bald
           head, drinks a lot, has a red nose, has a high squeaky voice...." And then she stopped and thought for
           a moment, and said, "Oh, just forget the whole thing!"

               If you see the reality, that is how it is. You will say, "Oh, forget the whole thing." But you don't
           see. You go on projecting.

               One day Mulla Nasruddin said to me, "My uncle lived in Italy for years. He died from wine,
           women and song."
               I said to him, "Nasruddin, I had never thought that your uncle was so Omar Khayyamic. Tell me
           something more about your uncle. I am interested."
               Mulla Nasruddin said, "Actually it is not as romantic as it sounds. And I will not hide the real
           thing from you. I will tell you the truth, Osho. He was singing this rude song under a married bird's
           window and her husband came out and brained him with a chianti bottle. He died of wine, women
           and song."

           That's how we go on and on.
               Reality is never frustrating, reality is always fulfilling. Frustrations come because we impose our
           illusions on reality.
               Buddha says it is a mock show. Be aware -- your mind is a magician. It shows you things which
           are not there, which have never been there. It deludes you, it creates an unreal world around you, and
           then you live in that unreal world.
               This world of trees and birds and animals and mountains is not unreal! But the world that your
           MIND creates is unreal.
               When you hear people like Buddha talking about the unreality of the world, don't misunderstand
           them. They don't mean that the trees are unreal, they don't mean that the people are unreal. They
           mean that whatsoever you have been thinking about reality is unreal -- your mind is unreal. Once
           mind is dropped, all is real. Then you live in suchness, then you become tathata, then you are
           suchness.

              The professor was telling his 8 a.m. class, "I have found that the best way to start the day is to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exercise for five minutes, take a deep breath of air and then finish with a cold shower. Then I feel
           rosy all over."
               A sleepy voice from the back of the room responded, "Tell us more about Rosy!"

               The mind is ready to jump upon anything, to project. Be very careful with the mind. That's what
           meditation is all about -- being careful, being not deceived by the mind.
               The fifth thing: think of the mind as dew drops. Very fragile.... Just for the moment the dewdrops
           exist. Comes the morning sun and they evaporate. Comes a little breeze and they slip and are gone.
           So is the mind. It knows nothing of reality, knows nothing of eternity. It is a time-phenomenon.
           Think of it as dewdrops. But you think of it as pearls, diamonds -- as if it is going to stay.
               And you need not believe in Buddha, you just watch your mind. It is not the same even for two
           consecutive moments. It goes on changing, it is a flux. One moment it is this, another moment it is
           that. One moment you are in deep love, another moment you are in deep hate. One moment you are
           so happy, and another moment you are so unhappy. Just watch your mind!
               If you cling with this mind you will always remain in a turmoil, because you will never be able to
           remain in silence -- something or other will go on happening. And you will never be able to have any
           taste of eternity and only that taste fulfills. Time is constant change.
               And sixth: think of your mind as a bubble. Like bubbles, all mind experiences burst sooner or
           later and then nothingness is left in the hands. Go after the mind -- it is a bubble. And sometimes the
           bubble looks very beautiful. In the sunrays it may look like a rainbow, it may have all the colors of
           the rainbow, and it looks really enchanting, majestic. But go rushing for it, catch hold of it, and the
           moment you catch hold of it, it is no longer there.
               And that's what happens every day in your life. You go on rushing after this and that, and the
           moment you catch hold of something it is no longer the same. Then all beauty is gone -- that beauty
           was only in your imagination. Then all joy is gone -- that joy was only in your hope. Then all those
           ecstasies that you were thinking were going to happen, do not happen -- they were only in your
           imagination, they were only in the waiting.
               Reality is totally different than these bubbles of your imagination -- and they all burst. Failure
           frustrates, so does success. Success also frustrates, ask the successful people. Poverty is frustrating,
           so is richness, ask the rich people. Everything, good or bad, is frustrating because all are
           mind-bubbles.
               But we go on chasing the bubbles -- not only chasing, we want to make them bigger and bigger
           and bigger. There is a great mania in the world to make every experience bigger.
               There is a story to the effect that a group of students from different nations were asked to write
           individual essays on the elephant. A German student wrote on the uses of the elephant in warfare. An
           English student, on the elephant's aristocratic character. A French student, on lovemaking among the
           elephants. An Indian, on the elephant's philosophical attitude. And an American chose for his
           subject, how to make bigger and better elephants.
               The mind is continuously thinking. The mind is American, how to make things bigger -- a bigger
           house, a bigger car, everything has to be bigger. And naturally, the bigger the bubble becomes the
           closer it comes to bursting. Small bubbles may float a little longer on the surface of the water; bigger
           bubbles cannot even float that much. Hence the American frustration. Nobody is as frustrated as the
           American.
               The American mind has succeeded in making the bubble very big; now it is bursting from
           everywhere. Now there seems to be no possibility to protect it, to save it; it is exploding. And
           nobody is at fault, because nobody thinks, "It is our deepest desire and we have succeeded in it."
           Nothing fails like success.
               Seventh: Buddha says think of the mind as a dream. It is imagination, subjective, one's own
           creation. You are the director, you are the actor and you are the audience. All that goes on in your
           mind is a private imagination. The world has nothing to do with it. The existence has no obligation
           to fulfill it.

               A doctor had just finished giving a patient, who was quite a bit more than middle-aged, a
           thorough physical examination. "I can't find a thing wrong with you, sir," the doctor said. "But I
           recommend you give up about half of your love life."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The old man stared at the doctor for a moment and then said, "Which half -- thinking about it or
           talking about it?"

               Mind is insubstantial -- thinking or talking. It knows nothing of the real. The more mind you
           have the less reality you will have; the less mind you have the more reality. The no-mind knows
           what reality is, tathata. Then you become a tathagata -- one who has known suchness.
               Or think of the mind as a lightning flash, says Buddha. Don't cling to it, because the moment you
           cling to it you will create suffering for yourself. The lightning is only for the moment there, and it is
           gone. Everything comes and goes, nothing remains, and we go on clinging. And by clinging we go
           on creating misery.
               Watch your mind, how ready it is to cling to anything, how afraid the mind is of the future, of
           change. It wants to make everything stable, it wants to cling to everything that happens. You are
           happy, you want this happiness to remain. You will cling with it. And the moment you cling you
           have crushed it already, it is no more there.
               You have met a man, a woman, you are in love, and you cling and you want this love to stay
           forever. In that very moment -- when you desire that the love should stay forever -- it has
           disappeared. It is no longer there. All mind experiences are like lightning, they come and they go.
               Buddha says: "You simply watch." There is not time enough to cling! You simply watch, take
           note: "Headache, headache." "Love, love." "Beauty, beauty." Just take note. That is enough. It is
           such a small moment that nothing more can be done. Take note and become aware.
           Awareness can become your eternity -- nothing else.
               And the last thing, the ninth: Buddha says think about mind experiences as clouds, changing
           forms, fluxes. You look at the cloud; sometimes the cloud is like an elephant, and immediately it
           starts changing and becomes a camel or a horse, and so many things. It goes on changing. It is never
           static, so many forms arise and disappear. But you are not worried. What does it matter to you
           whether the cloud looks like an elephant or it looks like a camel? It does not matter, it is just a cloud.
               So is the mind a cloud around your consciousness. Your consciousness is the sky and the mind is
           the cloud. Sometimes it is an anger cloud, sometimes it is a love cloud, sometimes it is a greed cloud
           -- but these are forms of the same energy. Don't choose, don't become attached. If you become
           attached with the elephant in the cloud you will be miserable. Next time you will see that the
           elephant is gone and you will cry and you will weep. But who is responsible? Is the cloud
           responsible? The cloud is simply following its nature. You just remember -- a cloud is there to
           change, so is the mind.
               Watch from your inner sky and let the clouds float. Become just a watcher. And remember,
           clouds will come and go, you can remain indifferent.
               Buddha has given indifference very great value. He calls it UPEKSHA. Remain indifferent, it
           doesn't matter.

               Two astronauts, a man and a woman, were visiting the planet Mars, where they found the
           Martians very hospitable and eager to show them around. After a few days the astronauts decided to
           pose a pressing question to their hosts, "How is life reproduced on Mars?"
               The Martian leader proceeded to take the astronauts to a laboratory where he showed them how
           it was done. First he measured some white liquid into a tube, and then carefully sprinkled a brown
           powder on top, stirred the mixture and set it aside. In nine months, the astronauts were told, this
           mixture would develop into a new Martian.
               Then it was the turn of the Martians to ask how life was reproduced on earth. The astronauts, a
           bit embarrassed, eventually gathered courage to give a demonstration, and began to make love. They
           were interrupted, however, by the hysterical laughter of the Martians.
           "What is so funny?" the astronauts asked. "That," replied the Martian leader, "is how we make
           Nescafe."

              All forms. One need not be worried about these forms. Just watch. Think of mind

           As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp,
           A mock show, dewdrops, or a bubble,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           A dream, a lightning flash, or cloud,
           So should one view what is conditioned.

              And then the conditioning disappears and you come to the unconditioned. That unconditioned is
           suchness, truth, reality. YATHA BHUTAM.
           Now the sutras.

              THE LORD ASKED:
              "WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT OCCUR TO THE TATHAGATA,
              "BY ME HAS DHAMMA BEEN DEMONSTRATED"?
              WHOSOEVER, SUBHUTI, WOULD SAY,
              "THE TATHAGATA HAS DEMONSTRATED DHAMMA",
              HE WOULD SPEAK FALSELY,
              HE WOULD MISREPRESENT ME
              BY SEIZING ON WHAT IS NOT THERE.
              AND WHY? 'BECAUSE NOT EVEN THE LEAST DHAMMA
              IS THERE FOUND OR GOT AT.
              THEREFORE IS IT CALLED
              UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
              FURTHERMORE, SUBHUTI,
              SELF-IDENTICAL IS THAT DHAMMA,
              AND NOTHING IS THEREIN AT VARIANCE.
              THEREFORE IS IT CALLED
              "UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT".
              SELF-IDENTICAL THROUGH THE ABSENCE OF A SELF,
              A BEING,
              A SOUL,

              OR A PERSON,
              THE UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT
              IS FULLY KNOWN AS THE TOTALITY
              OF ALL THE WHOLESOME DHAMMAS.

              Buddha says:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT OCCUR TO THE TATHAGATA,
              "BY ME HAS DHAMMA BEEN DEMONSTRATED"?'


               It cannot occur to a tathagata, because there is no more a person inside. Personality is a form of
           the mind, the idea of 'I' is a form in the clouds. To a tathagata, clouds have disappeared, there is only
           pure sky indefinable, infinite. There arises no idea of 'I'.
               So a tathagata cannot say, "I have demonstrated the Dhamma." In the first place, he is not. In the
           second place, because he has disappeared, now he knows nobody is.
               For example, you all fall asleep tonight and you all start dreaming. Somebody starts saying
           something and somebody starts groaning and somebody is shouting and a man who is awake, what
           will he think? He will laugh at you -- because he knows dreams are just dreams, they are not
           realities.
               One is groaning, one is crying, one is shouting, or one is very ecstatic and one is laughing -- and
           he knows all is false. Neither is there any cause to laugh, nor is there any cause to weep. All is false.
           People are asleep. He will not go to the person who is crying and console him, "Don't cry," and he
           will not feel happy because somebody is laughing. He knows that they are dreaming.
               That is the situation of a tathagata, of a Buddha. One who has known his inner sky now knows
           that everybody is that sky, but everybody is clouded. And those clouds are false, imaginary. And if
           those clouds are false and imaginary then there are no beings. To whom can the tathagata
           demonstrate the Dhamma? There is nobody, there is pure sky. The moment you disappear, all beings
           disappear. Then there are no longer separate beings, it is all one. There is nobody like a master and
           nobody like a disciple.
               That's why I said to you the other day that this is a game, a great drama that we are enacting here.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It is the ancient drama, enacted many times -- enacted with Buddha and his disciples, Christ and his
           disciples, Krishna and his disciples. The same drama is being enacted. From your side it is a very
           real thing, from my side it is just a drama. From your side it is a serious thing to be a disciple, from
           my side it is neither serious nor nonserious, it is simply a cloud. And my whole effort here will be to
           help you to see that it is just a cloud, a formation in the clouds.
              And the day you become awakened you will laugh, because there is nothing to be achieved -- nothing
              to lose, nothing to achieve. All is as it has always been since the very beginning, to the very end, it
              remains the same. Do you think the sky changes when clouds gather in the rainy season? Do you
              think the sky changes when it is summer and the clouds disappear? Do you think there is any change
              in the sky? The sky remains the same, clouds come and go.
              So is SAMSARA -- so is the world, the mind.
              Buddha says:
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT OCCUR TO THE TATHAGATA,
              "BY ME HAS DHAMMA BEEN DEMONSTRATED"?
              WHOSOEVER, SUBHUTI, WOULD SAY,
              "THE TATHAGATA HAS DEMONSTRATED DHAMMA",
              HE WOULD SPEAK FALSELY, HE WOULD MISREPRESENT ME
              BY SEIZING ON WHAT IS NOT THERE.'



              There is neither I nor you, there is neither the master nor the disciple. And there is nothing to
              demonstrate, all is as it is. There is nothing to teach, there is nothing to learn.
              'BECAUSE NOT EVEN THE LEAST DHAMMA
              IS THERE FOUND OR GOT AT.
              THEREFORE IS IT CALLED
              UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.'


                Buddha says: That's why we call it perfect enlightenment. There are other religions in the world
           whose idea of enlightenment cannot be called perfect. For example, the Christian idea of trinity --
           God, the Son and the Holy Ghost. It means that at the very ultimate end also there remain three
           distinctions, divisions. That means some cloud has been retained, some form has been retained, some
           formality has been retained. The world continues a little bit still, mind has not been dropped utterly.
                The Hindu idea is a little better. Only two remain: the God and the soul. Better than three, but
           still the two, the duality. All duality is of mind. It is mind that separates things, it is mind that
           defines. So this too cannot be perfect enlightenment.
                In the Jaina concept only one remains, the soul. This is far better -- better than Christianity, better
           than Hinduism. only one remains, the soul. But Buddha says that too is not perfect enlightenment,
           because to think of one, it will be necessary to think of two and three and four and five. Just to say
           'one' is enough to bring in the whole train. The one cannot be defined without bringing the two in.
                What will you mean by 'one'? You will have to say not two. So the one will need the other at
           least for its definition. The other will remain somewhere hidden it has not disappeared completely. If
           I am there, then you will be there. It cannot disappear completely. The 'I' will need the 'you'; just for
           its own sheer existence the 'you' will be needed. 'I' exists only in the pair with 'thou'. They are
           together:; I-thou is one reality.
              So Buddha says 'I' has also to disappear. Then the whole trinity is gone. In the ultimate experience
              there are neither three nor two nor one. It is pure sky -- nothingness, no being, no entity. It is zero,
              SHUNYATA. That's why Buddha says this is
              '... UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
              FURTHERMORE, SUBHUTI,
              SELF-IDENTICAL IS THAT DHAMMA,
              AND NOTHING IS THEREIN AT VARIANCE.
              THEREFORE IS IT CALLED
              UTMOST, RIGHT AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
              SELF-IDENTICAL THROUGH THE ABSENCE OF A SELF,
              A BEING,
              A SOUL,

              OR A PERSON....'
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              All forms have disappeared. That's why the sky remains identical with itself. There are no longer
           any forms arising, disappearing, no longer any change, no movement. All dreams have disappeared.
              It is morning and the sun has risen and one is awake. There is awareness, but there is nobody who
              can say, "I am aware." There is teaching, but nobody can say, "I am the teacher." There is a path, but
              almost pathless. Methods -- but they cannot be called methods. The master and the disciple -- but only
              from the side of the disciple; from the side of the master all has disappeared.
              'WHAT DO YOU THINK, SUBHUTI,
              DOES IT OCCUR TO A TATHAGATA,
              "BY ME HAVE BEINGS BEEN SET FREE"?
              NOT THUS SHOULD YOU SEE IT, SUBHUTI!
              AND WHY?
              THERE IS NOT ANY BEING WHOM
              THE TATHAGATA HAS SET FREE.'



              How can that idea arise in a tathagata -- that "I have set many beings free"? In the first place, nobody
              is unfree. So if you ask, "Is Buddha a savior?" Buddha will say, "No, I am not a savior -- because
              nobody needs to be saved. There is nobody to be saved." And freedom is everybody's nature.
              Freedom is there, it need not be brought. One has to just become alert of what is already there. So
              Buddha says:
              'THERE IS NOT ANY BEING WHOM
              THE TATHAGATA HAS SET FREE.'
              FURTHER THE LORD TAUGHT ON THAT OCCASION
              THE FOLLOWING STANZAS:
               'THOSE WHO BY MY FORM DID SEE ME,
              AND THOSE WHO FOLLOWED ME BY VOICE
              WRONG THE EFFORTS THEY ENGAGED IN,
              ME THOSE PEOPLE WILL NOT SEE.'


              If you see Buddha as the form, as the body, then you miss. If you only hear the word of the
           Buddha and don't hear his silence, you miss. If you see only his face and you don't see his inner sky,
           you miss.
              Buddha speaks only to utter silence. Buddha is there in the form only to express the formless.
              Remember this stanza. I can also say to you the same:
              'THOSE WHO BY MY FORM DID SEE ME,
              AND THOSE WHO FOLLOWED ME BY VOICE
              WRONG THE EFFORTS THEY ENGAGED IN,
              ME THOSE PEOPLE WILL NOT SEE.'
               'FROM THE DHAMMA SHOULD ONE SEE THE BUDDHAS....'



              From the standpoint of the sky, not from the standpoint of the cloud.
              'FROM THE DHAMMA SHOULD ONE SEE THE BUDDHAS,
              FROM THE DHAMMA-BODIES COMES THEIR GUIDANCE,
              YET DHAMMA'S TRUE NATURE CANNOT BE DISCERNED,
              AND NO ONE CAN BE CONSCIOUS OF IT AS AN OBJECT.'


               This is saying in words that which cannot be said -- AVACHYA, unspeakable. Buddha is saying:
           From where comes the Buddha's guidance? Not from himself but from the eternal, from the sky.
           Buddha is just a passage, the eternal floats through him.
               Don't be too much obsessed by the words that he uses, listen to his silence. Don't be too much
           concerned by the body he lives in, don't be concerned with the house in which he resides. Think of
           the inner presence, think of his being. See deep.
              And how to see deep in a Buddha? The only way to see deep in a Buddha is not with open eyes but
              with closed eyes. To see deep into yourself is the only way to see deep into a Buddha. If you become
              acquainted with your own inner sky, you will be acquainted with the Buddha's -- all the Buddhas of all
              the ages, past, present and future too. Descend into your own being.
              'WHOSOEVER SAYS
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THAT THE TATHAGATA GOES OR COMES,
              STANDS, SITS OR LIES DOWN,
              HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING
              OF MY TEACHING.
              AND WHY?
              "TATHAGATA" IS CALLED
              ONE WHO HAS NOT GONE ANYWHERE,
              NOR COME FROM ANYWHERE.
              THEREFORE IS HE CALLED THE TATHAGATA,
              THE ARHAT, THE FULLY ENLIGHTENED ONE.'


               When clouds come, do you think the sky has gone somewhere? When the clouds go, do you
           think the sky has come back? The sky remains. Your innermost nature remains.
               Once you were a rock. That was a cloud that had taken the form of a rock; you lived in the
           mineral world. Then you became a tree, you changed your form; you became a rosebush or a pine or
           a cedar of Lebanon. But the inner nature remained the same. Now the form of the cloud changed,
           you lived in the vegetable kingdom. Then you became an animal -- maybe a lion, a tiger, a crocodile,
           a deer, a dog. Only the form changed, but the inner sky remains the same. Then you became a man
           or a woman -- again the form is changing. You can become an angel in the heaven -- only the form
           will change.
               You can go on moving from one form to another, you can go on dying in one form and being
           born into another form. This is called samsara: getting caught in one form, then getting caught in
           another, moving from one form to another form, from one prison to another prison.
              What is buddhahood? Becoming aware of the inner sky that was in the rock, in the animals, in the
              trees, in man and in woman. Once you become aware of that inner sky, you are released from all
              forms. That is freedom. Not that you become free, because in that freedom you don't exist, you can't
              exist.
              "You become free" simply means you become free from yourself. All selves are forms. The rock has a
              self, a soul. The tree has a self, the animal has a self. The Buddha has no self -- he is utter freedom.
              That's why Buddha says:
              'WHOSOEVER SAYS
              THAT THE TATHAGATA GOES OR COMES....


               Certainly he goes and comes -- this Diamond Sutra started with that. See the beauty of it: The
           Diamond Sutra started with it -- that Buddha goes to beg, then he comes back, puts down his bowl,
           cleanses his feet, sits, looks in front of him, and Subhuti asks.
               The sutra started with the form and the sutra is ending on the formless.
               That is the beginning. You cannot listen to my silence first; first you will have to listen to my
           words. You cannot see my inner sky directly, first you will have to see this cloud that surrounds me.
           Only then, slowly slowly, will you start falling in tune with the innermost. First, naturally, you come
           to the outer. First you see the house and then you will see the dweller.
              It is natural, nothing is wrong in it, but don't cling to the house. Move from the house, from the dwelling
              to the dweller. This is the beauty of this sutra -- it starts with Buddha's body -- how he walks, how he
              sits, how he looks, what he does. And now it ends on this strange sentence:
              'WHOSOEVER SAYS
              THAT THE TATHAGATA GOES OR COMES,
              STANDS, SITS OR LIES DOWN,
              HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING
              OF MY TEACHING.
              AND WHY?
              "TATHAGATA" IS CALLED
              ONE WHO HAS NOT GONE ANYWHERE,
              NOR COME FROM ANYWHERE.
              THEREFORE IS HE CALLED THE TATHAGAT,
              THE ARHAT, THE FULLY ENLIGHTENED ONE.'


              Who is called the fully Enlightened One? One who has come to know the sky that never moves,
           one who has come to know the eternal which is beyond time, one who has come to know truth.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Truth is always the same -- dreams change, truth is always the same. Be acquainted with
           Buddha's words but don't remain there. That is just an introduction -- move from there.
                What I say to you, listen to it but don't become obsessed with it -- move from there. By and by,
           fall in tune with my silence. By and by, forget me -- forget the cloud, and enter the sky. Then you are
           really in tune. Then you have started moving into truth itself.
                Words are about truth, they are not truth themselves. The word God is just a word, it is not God.
           The word love is just a word, it is not love. Use the word, then throw it away. It is the container, not
           the content.
                With the master, don't become too much attached with his body. That attachment will become a
           barrier. Love the master, but go deeper. Slowly slowly, step by step, penetrate his innermost core.
           And you will be surprised -- because the innermost is the same. In the innermost, the disciple and the
           master meet. In the innermost there is no distinction.
                Kabir has said a very strange sentence: "The moment has come when the master touches the feet
           of the disciple." Then there is no distinction. Who is the master and who is the disciple -- there is no
           distinction.

               When Rinzai was with his master -- the master was a very very hard master, as Zen masters are --
           Rinzai was beaten so many times, was thrown, and the master would jump on him and beat him.
           Then one day Rinzai was going on a journey, a pilgrimage, and the master called him and started
           beating him. Rinzai said, "But I have not even said a single word! And I have not done anything."
               The master said, "l know, but you are going on this pilgrimage and my feeling is that when you
           come back you will be enlightened and I will never have any chance to beat you again. That's why --
           this is the last chance."
               And when Rinzai came back, yes, it had happened. The master bowed his head and said, "Now
           you can beat me." Not that Rinzai has beaten the master, but the master says, "Now you can beat me.
           Now you enjoy -- I have enjoyed beating you so much. You have arrived home."

           At the innermost core there is no distinction.
               Buddha is saying don't be too much concerned with the words. Use them as steps,
           stepping-stones. Don't be too much concerned with Buddha's movements, bodily movements. People
           are there, imitative people, who will start walking like the Buddha, who will start talking like the
           Buddha, who will start using the same words, the same gestures. Buddha is saying those are not the
           real things. The real thing is beyond forms. It cannot be imitated.
               Don't imitate the master. Only then one day will you be able to become the master. Love, listen,
           but always remember that you have to go far in. You have to transcend all clouds.
           Enough for today.




                   The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                       Discourses on the 42 Sutras of Buddha
                                    Talks given from 21/08/76 am to 30/08/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1976
           Originally published in two volumes, later released as four volumes.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #1
                                      Chapter title: The most excellent way
           21 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608210
              ShortTitle: TRANS101
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              TO BE FREE FROM THE PASSIONS AND TO BE CALM, THIS IS THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY.
              THOSE WHO LEAVE THEIR PARENTS, GO OUT OF THE HOME, UNDERSTAND THE MIND,
              REACH THE SOURCE, AND COMPREHEND THE IMMATERIAL, ARE CALLED SHRAMANAS.
              THOSE WHO OBSERVE THE PRECEPTS OF MORALITY, WHO ARE PURE AND SPOTLESS IN
              THEIR BEHAVIOUR, AND WHO EXERT THEMSELVES FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF THE FRUITS
              OF SAINTSHIP ARE CALLED ARHATS.
              NEXT IS THE ANAGAMIN. AT THE END OF HIS LIFE, THE SPIRIT OF THE ANAGAMIN ASCENDS
              TO THE HEAVEN AND OBTAINS ARHATSHIP.
              NEXT IS THE SKRIDAGAMIN. THE SKRIDAGAMIN ASCENDS TO THE HEAVEN (AFTER HIS
              DEATH), COMES BACK TO THE EARTH ONCE MORE, AND THEN ATTAINS ARHATSHIP.
              NEXT IS THE SROTAPANNA. THE SROTAPANNA DIES SEVEN TIMES AND IS BORN SEVEN
              TIMES, WHEN HE FINALLY ATTAINS ARHATSHIP.
              BY THE SEVERANCE OF PASSIONS IS MEANT THAT LIKE THE LIMBS SEVERED THEY ARE
              NEVER AGAIN MADE USE OF.


                GAUTAM BUDDHA is like the highest peak of the Himalayas, like Gourishanker... one of the
           purest beings, one of the most virgin souls, one of the very rare phenomena on this earth. The rarity
           is that Buddha is the scientist of the inner world -- scientist of religion. That is a rare combination.
           To be religious is simple, to be a scientist is simple -- but to combine, synthesize these two polarities
           is incredible. It is unbelievable, but it has happened.
                Buddha is the richest human being who has ever lived; rich in the sense that all the dimensions of
           life are fulfilled in him. He is not one-dimensional.
                There are three approaches towards truth. One is the approach of power, another the approach of
           beauty, and the third the approach of grandeur.
                The scientific approach is the search for power; that's why Lord Bacon said 'knowledge is
           power'. Science has made man very powerful, so much so that man can destroy the whole planet
           earth. For the first time in the history of consciousness man is capable of committing a global
           suicide, a collective suicide. Science has released tremendous power. Science is continuously
           searching for more and more power. This too is an approach towards truth, but a partial approach.
                Then there are poets, mystics, people with the aesthetic sense. They look at truth as beauty --
           Jalaludin Rumi and Rabindranath Tagore and others, who think that beauty is truth. They create
           much art, they create new sources of beauty in the world. The painter, the poet, the dancer, the
           musician, they are also approaching truth from a totally different dimension than power.
                A poet is not like the scientist. The scientist works with analysis, reason, observation. The poet
           functions through the heart -- irrational... trust, love. He has nothing to do with mind and reason.
                The greater part of religious people belong to the second dimension. The Sufis, the Bauls -- they
           all belong to the aesthetic approach. Hence so many beautiful mosques, churches, cathedrals,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           temples -- Ajanta and Ellora -- they were created by religious people. Whenever religious activity
           predominates, art is created, music is created, great painting is created; the world becomes a little
           more beautiful. It doesn't become more powerful, but it becomes more beautiful, more lovely, worth
           living.
               The third approach is that of grandeur. The old Bible prophets -- Moses, Abraham; Islam's
           prophet Mohammed; Krishna and Ram -- their approach is through the dimension of grandeur... the
           awe that one feels looking at this vastness of the universe. The Upanishads, the Vedas, they all
           approach the world, the world of truth, through grandeur. They are full of wonder. It is unbelievably
           there, with such grandeur, that you can simply bow down before it -- nothing else is possible. One
           simply feels humble, reduced to nothing.
               These are the three dimensions ordinarily available to approach towards truth. The first
           dimension creates the scientist; the second, the artist; the third, the prophets. The rarity of Buddha
           consists of this -- that his approach is a synthesis of all the three, and not only a synthesis but it goes
           beyond the three.
               He is a rationalist. He's not like Jesus and he is not like Krishna -- he's absolutely a rationalist.
           Einstein, Newton or Edison cannot find any flaw in his reasoning. Any scientist will be immediately
           convinced of his truth. His approach is purely logical, he convinces the mind. You cannot find a
           loophole in him.

               Somebody has sent me a beautiful anecdote about a famous atheist, W. C. Fields. He was doing a
           tour of the States. One day his manager came into his hotel room and was shocked to see him
           reading Gideon's Bible.
               'Bill!' he said, 'what the hell are you doing? I thought you were an atheist.'
               Fields replied, 'Just looking for loopholes, just looking for loopholes.'

                But you cannot look for a loophole in the Buddha. Yes, you can look for loopholes in Jesus, there
           are many -- because Jesus believes, trusts, he has faith. He is simple like a child. There is no
           argument in him. The proof exists but there is no argument for it. His whole being is his proof.
                But it is not so with Buddha. You may not be at all in harmony with his heart, you may not
           believe him at all, you may not look at the proof he is, but you will have to listen to his argument. He
           has both the proof and the argument. He himself is the proof of what he is saying, but that is not all.
           If you are not ready to look at him he can force you, he can convince you; he is a rationalist.
                Even a man like Bertrand Russell, who was an atheist, purely logical, has said, 'Before Buddha I
           start feeling hesitant. With Jesus I can fight.' He has written a book 'Why I Am Not A Christian' -- a
           great argumentative book. It has not yet been replied to by Christians; his argument still holds. But
           before Buddha he suddenly feels hesitant, he is not so certain about his ground -- because Buddha
           can convince him on his own ground. Buddha is as much an analyst as Bertrand Russell.
                You need not be a religious person to be convinced by Buddha, that's his rarity. You need not
           believe at all. You need not believe in god, you need not believe in the soul, you need not believe in
           anything -- still you can be with Buddha, and by and by you will come to know about the soul and
           about the god also. But those are not hypotheses.
                No belief is required to travel with Buddha. You can come with all scepticism possible. He
           accepts, he welcomes, and he says, 'Come with me.' First he convinces your mind, and once your
           mind is convinced and you start travelling with him, by and by you start feeling that he has a
           message which is beyond mind, he has a message which no reason can confine. But first he
           convinces your reason.
                Buddha's religion is supra-rational, but not against reason. This has to be understood in the very
           beginning. It has something to do with the beyond, supra-rational, but that supra-rational is not
           against the rational. It is in tune with it. The rational and the supra-rational are a continuity,
           continuous. This is the rarity of Buddha.
                Krishna says to Arjuna, 'Surrender to me.' Buddha never says that. He convinces you to
           surrender. Krishna says, 'Surrender to me, then you will be convinced.' Buddha says, 'Be convinced
           first, then surrender comes like a shadow. You need not worry about it, don't talk about it at all.'
                Because of this rational approach he never brings any concept which cannot be proved. He never
           talks about god. H. G. Wells has said about Buddha, 'He is the most godly and the most godless man
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the whole history of man.' Yes, it is so -- most godly and most godless.
               You cannot find more godly a person than Buddha. Every other personality simply fades before
           him. His luminosity is superb, his being has no comparison, but he does not talk about god.
               Because he has never talked about god, many think that he is an atheist -- he is not. He has not
           talked about god because there is no way to talk about god. All talk about god is nonsense.
           Whatsoever you can say about god is going to be false. It is something that cannot be said.
               Other seers also say that nothing can be said about god, but at least they say this much -- that
           nothing can be said about god. Buddha is really logical, he will not say even this, because he says,
           'Even to say that nothing can be said about god, you have said something. If you say, "God cannot be
           defined," you have defined him in a negative way -- that he cannot be defined. If you say, "Nothing
           can be said," that too you are saying.' Buddha is strictly logical. He will not utter a single word.
               Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the greatest thinkers of this age, one of the greatest of all the ages
           also, has said, 'That which cannot be said must not be said. That which cannot be said, one must be
           silent thereof.' Because to utter something about something which is unutterable is a sacrilege.
               Buddha is not an atheist but he never talks about god. That's why I say he is a rarity. He brings
           many people to god -- he brought more people than anybody else has done. Millions of people were
           brought to become godly in his presence, but he never uttered the word. Not only god, but even soul,
           self -- he has no theory about it. He simply says, 'I can show you the way how to go in. You go and
           see.' He says, 'Buddhas can only indicate the path, they cannot provide you with a philosophy. You
           are there, go in and see.'
               One man came to Buddha. He was a great scholar, a sort of professor, had written many books,
           was known all over the country. Maulingaputta was his name. He said to Buddha, 'I have come with
           dozen questions and you have to answer them.'
               Buddha said, 'I will answer, but you will have to fulfill a requirement. For one year you will have
           to be with me in total silence, then I will answer -- not before it. Right now I can answer but you will
           not receive the answers because you are not ready, and whatsoever I say you will misinterpret
           because you have too many interpretations crowding your mind. Whatsoever I say will have to pass
           through your mind. For one year you just be silent so that you can drop the knowledge. When you
           are empty, whatsoever you want to ask I will answer, I promise you.'
               While he was saying this, another of Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, sitting under a tree, started
           laughing -- a mad laughter. Maulingaputta must have felt embarrassed. He said, 'What is the matter?
           Why are you laughing?'
               He said, 'I am not laughing about you, I am laughing about myself. One year has passed. This
           man deceived me also. I had come with many questions and he said, "Wait for one year," and I
           waited. Now I am laughing because now those questions have disappeared. He goes on asking,
           "Now, bring those questions!" but I cannot bring those questions. They have disappeared. So,
           Maulingaputta, if you really want your questions to be answered, ask now, don't wait for one year.
           This man is deceptive.'

               Buddha introduced many people, millions of people, to the inner world, but in a very rational
           way. This is simple -- that first you have to become a receiver, first you have to attain to silence, then
           communion is possible, not before it.
               Buddha never used to answer any metaphysical questions. He was always ready to answer any
           question about methods, but he was never ready to answer any question about metaphysics. This is
           his scientific approach. Science believes in method. Science never answers the 'why', it always
           answers the 'how'.
               If you ask a scientist, 'Why is the world there?' he will say, 'I don't know -- but I can answer how
           the world is there.' If you ask him, 'Why is the water there?' he cannot answer, he will just shrug his
           shoulders. But he can say how the water is there; how much oxygen, how much hydrogen makes the
           water happen. He can give you the method, the 'how', the mechanism. He can show you how to make
           water, but he cannot show you why.
               Buddha never asks any 'why' questions, but that doesn't mean that he is an atheist. His approach
           is very different from other atheists Theists require you to believe, to have faith, to trust. Buddha
           says, 'How can one believe? You are asking the impossible.' Listen to his argument.
               He says if somebody is doubtful, how can he believe? If the doubt has arisen already, how can he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           believe? He may repress the doubt, he may enforce the belief, but deep down like a worm the doubt
           will go on lurking and eating his heart. Sooner or later the belief is bound to collapse, because it is
           unfounded; there is no foundation to it. In the foundation there is doubt, and on the foundation of
           doubt you have raised the whole structure of your belief. Have you watched it? Whenever you
           believe, deep down there is doubt. What type of belief is this?
               Buddha says if there is no doubt then there is no question of belief. Then one simply believes.
           There is no need for any Krishna to say, 'Surrender, believe' -- there is no point. If Arjuna has faith,
           he has; if he has not, then there is no way to bring it. Then at the most Arjuna can play a game of
           showing, pretending that he believes. But belief cannot be enforced.
               For those whose faith is natural, spontaneous, there is no question of faith -- they simply believe.
           They don't know even what belief is. Small children, they simply believe. But once doubt enters,
           belief becomes impossible. And doubt has to enter; it is part of growth. Doubt makes one mature.
               You remain childish unless doubt has penetrated your soul. Unless the fire of doubt starts
           burning you, you remain immature, you don't know what life is. You start knowing life only by
           doubting, by being sceptical, by raising questions.
               Buddha says faith comes, but not against doubt, not as belief. Faith comes by destroying doubt
           by argument, by destroying doubt by more doubt, by eliminating doubt by doubt itself. A poison can
           be destroyed only by a poison -- that is Buddha's method. He does not say believe. He says go deep
           into your doubt, go to the very end, unafraid: Don't repress. Travel the whole path of doubt to the
           very end.
               And that very journey will take you beyond it. Because a moment comes when doubt starts
           doubting itself. That's the ultimate doubt -- when doubt doubts doubt itself. That has to come if you
           go to the very end. You first doubt belief, you doubt this and that. One day when everything has
           been doubted, suddenly a new, the ultimate doubt arises -- you start doubting doubt.
               This is tremendously new in the world of religion. And then doubt kills doubt, doubt destroys
           doubt, and faith is gained. This faith is not against doubt, this faith is beyond doubt. This faith is not
           opposite to doubt, this faith is absence of doubt.
               Buddha says you will have to become children again, but the path has to go through the world,
           through many jungles of doubts, arguments, reasonings. And when a person comes back home,
           attains back to his original faith, it is totally different. He is not just a child, he is an old man...
           mature, experienced, and yet childlike.

               This sutra, 'The Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters', has never existed in India. It never existed in
           Sanskrit or in Pali. This sutra exists only in Chinese.
               A certain Emperor Ming of the Han dynasty, AD 67, invited a few buddhist masters to China to
           bring the message of Buddha there. Nobody knows the names of those buddhist masters, but a group
           went to China. And the Emperor wanted a small anthology of buddhist sayings as a first introduction
           to the chinese people.

               Buddhist scriptures are very big, the buddhist literature is in itself a world -- thousands of
           scriptures exist and they go into very great detail, because Buddha believes in logical analysis. He
           goes to the very root of everything. His analysis is profound and perfect, so he goes into very deep
           details.
               It was very difficult. What to translate in a totally new country where nothing like Buddha has
           ever existed? So these buddhist masters composed a small anthology of forty-two chapters. They
           collected sayings from here and there, from this scripture and that, from this sermon and that.

               This book was compiled in the fashion of confucian analects because it was going to be
           introduced to a confucian country -- people who had become very well aquainted with the way
           Confucius talks, with the way confucian scriptures were made and compiled. People were familiar
           with Confucius, so exactly on the same lines the buddhist masters composed this sutra. The analects
           of Confucius start every sentence, every paragraph with the phrase 'The master said...' This sutra
           starts in a similar way -- 'The Buddha said...' Every saying starts with 'The Buddha said...'
               In the beginning of this century scholars used to think that the original must have existed in
           Sanskrit or Pali, then it disappeared, was lost, and this sutra in the Chinese is a translation. That is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absolutely wrong. This sutra never existed in India. As it is, it never existed. Of course, each saying
           comes from Buddha, but the whole work is a new work, a new anthology. So you have to remember
           that.
               And that's why I have chosen it as a first introduction for you to the Buddha's world. It is very
           simple. It contains all in a very simple way. It is very direct. It is in essence the whole message, but
           very short, not very long and lengthy as other buddhist scriptures are.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              TO BE FREE FROM THE PASSIONS AND TO BE CALM, THIS IS THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY.


               He always talks about the way, never about the goal. Because he says, 'What to say about the
           goal? It is futile to talk about it. If you know, you know. If you don't know, there is no way to know
           about it before you reach it.'
               He talks only about the way. He has not even a single word for the goal -- god, brahma, the truth,
           the absolute, the kingdom of god. No, he has not any word for the goal. All that he talks about is the
           way.

              TO BE FREE FROM THE PASSIONS AND TO BE CALM, THIS IS THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY.


               In this one simple sentence his whole teaching is present. TO BE FREE FROM THE PASSIONS
           AND TO BE CALM.... These are two aspects of one phenomenon, two aspects of one coin -- to be
           free from passions and to be calm. You cannot be calm if you are not free from passions, and you
           cannot be free from passions if you are not calm. They both go together and one has to work for both
           together.
               Why is man so tense? Why is there so much anxiety and anguish? Why is man not calm,
           collected and centered? So many passions go on pulling you this way and that, pushing you this way
           and that. You are being pulled in many directions, hence you become fragmentary, you become
           divided, you become split. You lose your center. You forget completely who you are.
               Watch. When you are greedy for money, who are you? You are just a greed for money and
           nothing else. When you are angry, your ego is hurt, who are you? You are just anger, a wounded
           ego, nothing else. When you are full of sexual passion, who are you? You are just sexuality, nothing
           else -- libido. When you are ambitious and you want power, prestige, respectability, who are you?
           You are simply ambition and nothing else.
               Watch, and you will find many passions in you, but you will not find who you are -- all passions
           pulling you apart, and each passion goes in its own way. If you want money then you will have to
           sacrifice other passions for it. A man who is mad after money may forget all about sex. It is very
           easy for a miser to be celibate. In fact, celibacy may be a sort of miserliness. You don't want to share
           your energy, you don't want to share your sexual energy with anybody. You are a miser.
               A person who is politically ambitious can become celibate very easily because his whole passion
           drives him in one way. A scientist who is too much into his search can forget all about women. It is
           easy. If one passion possesses you completely then you can forget everything else.
               It is a well-known fact that scientists are very absent-minded people. Their whole mind goes into
           one direction, but then they become very very poor also. Their field, their vision goes on becoming
           narrower and narrower and narrower. That's what specialization is. A greedy person becomes
           narrower and narrower and narrower. He thinks, meditates, only about money; he goes on counting
           money. His whole mind knows only one music and that is that of money; only one love, and that is
           that of money.
               In one way, the people who are possessed by one passion are in a way integrated. They are not
           rich, they don't have many dimensions to their being, they have only one taste -- but they have a
           certain integration. They are not split. You will not find this type of person going mad, because they
           are mad in one direction, so they are not split. But this happens rarely. Ordinarily a person runs in all
           the directions.

           I have heard:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               A scientist and a gorilla were sent into outer space together. Pinned to the front of the gorilla's
           space-suit was an envelope with special instructions in it. Dying of curiosity, the scientist waited
           until it was the gorilla's turn to sleep so that he could sneak a peek into the envelope.
               Very carefully he slit the envelope open and unfolded a single piece of paper that was inside.
           Printed on it was the following: DON'T FORGET TO FEED THE SCIENTIST.

               A scientist becomes one-pointed; his life is that of concentration. A concentrated person attains
           to a false sort of unity. Ordinarily people are not concentrated. Meditation is far away -- they are not
           even concentrated. Their life is hodge-podge, a mess. One of their hands is going towards north, one
           leg is going towards south, one eye is going to the east, another eye is going to the west. They are
           going in all directions. This pull and push of many directions takes them apart. They become
           fragmentary, they lose wholeness. How can you be silent, how can you be calm?
               The person who is concentrated also cannot be calm, because his life becomes lopsided. He is
           just moving in one direction; all other sides of his life are starved. A scientist never knows what
           beauty is, what love is. He does not know what poetry is. He is too much confined to his
           mathematical world. He becomes lopsided. His many parts are starved, hungry. He cannot be calm.
           When you are starved, how can you be calm?
               The person who is moving in all directions has a little more richness than the specialist, but his
           richness has a schizophrenia in it; he becomes split. How can you be silent and calm when so many
           are your masters, pulling you into different directions?
               These are ordinarily the two types of people, and both are uneasy, deep in turmoil.

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               TO BE FREE FROM THE PASSIONS AND TO BE CALM, THIS IS THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY.


               What is his way?

               THOSE WHO LEAVE THEIR PARENTS, GO OUT OF THE HOME, UNDERSTAND THE MIND,
               REACH THE SOURCE, AND COMPREHEND THE IMMATERIAL, ARE CALLED SHRAMANAS.


               This word has to be understood, this is very basic -- SHRAMANA. In India two paths have
           existed. One, that of the brahmin; another, that of the shraman. The path of the brahmin is the path of
           grace. The brahmin believes that by your own effort you cannot arrive. Your effort is so small, you
           are so tiny. How can you conceive of knowing truth by your own effort? God's help will be needed,
           grace will be needed.
               The path of the brahmin is the path of grace, so you have to pray. Only when god helps can you
           move on the path. Unless he wills, you cannot arrive. There is no possibility for you to move alone.
           God is necessary, his help is necessary, his hand is needed. Unless he takes you above the world, you
           will be struggling in vain. So, prayer is the path. The brahmin believes in prayer.
               The shramana is just diametrically opposite. The word 'shramana' comes from a root 'shram'.
           Shram means to exert oneself, to make effort. Shram means effort. There is no possibility of any
           grace, because Buddha never talks about god. Buddha says, you don't know god -- how can you
           pray? To whom are you going to pray? Your prayer will be in deep ignorance. How can you pray to
           a god you don't know, you have never seen? What type of communication is possible? You will be
           just talking to the sky, empty sky. You may be just talking to yourself as well. It is mad.
               Have you seen mad people talking to themselves -- sitting alone talking to somebody? They are
           talking to somebody, but everybody knows that there is nobody else. They are talking to themselves.
               To the rationalist approach of Buddha, a man praying to god is mad, crazy. What are you doing?
           Do you know god exists? If you know then there is no need to pray. You say that to know god, you
           are praying. The brahmin says, 'We can know god only by prayer, by his help, by his grace.'
               Now this is absurd, logically absurd. You are moving in a circle. You say, 'We can know god
           only by prayer.' Then how can you pray? -- because you don't know god yet. And you say, 'Only by
           prayer will we be able to attain to his grace.' This is a vicious circle, this is illogical. The flaw is very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clear, the loophole is apparent.

               This is the problem with the ordinary religious person -- he cannot argue. The atheist can destroy
           your whole argument in a second. Religious people avoid argument, because they know they don't
           have any base from which to argue.
               You say, 'We are searching for god,' and then at the same time you say, 'Only by prayer will we
           be able to search for him.' You don't know yet -- prayer is not possible. And if you know him, prayer
           is not needed.
               Buddha says only by your own effort, by your own shrama, will you achieve him. There is no
           question of any grace. In a way it looks very hard, in another way it seems to be very very scientific.
               You are alone here, lost in this forest of the world, and sitting under a tree you are just praying,
           not knowing to whom you are praying, where the god is, whether he is or not. You may be wasting
           your time. If there is no god, then...? All the time that you wasted in prayer could have been used to
           search, to find out.
               Buddha says once you understand that you are lost and you have to find your own way and there
           is no help coming, you become responsible. Prayer is an irresponsibility. To pray is just to avoid. To
           pray is to be lazy. To pray is just an escape.
               Buddha says effort is needed. And it is also insulting to pray. So in the buddhist structure nothing
           like prayer exists, only meditation. You can meditate, you cannot pray.
               This is the difference between meditation and prayer. Prayer needs a belief in god, meditation
           needs no belief. Meditation is purely scientific. It simply says that there are states of mind where
           thinking stops. It simply says there are ways to stop the thinking, to drop thinking and to come to a
           silent state of mind... a tranquil, serene state of mind. And that state of mind gives you what truth is,
           gives you the glimpse, opens the door -- but it is only by your own effort.
               Man is alone and has to work hard, and if you miss, only you will be responsible. If you don't
           arrive, you cannot blame anybody because there is nobody to blame.
               The path of Buddha is the path of the shramana -- one who believes in his own effort. It looks
           very austere, arduous. One starts feeling afraid. In our fear we need somebody's help. Even a belief
           that somewhere some god exists, gives us relief.

           I have heard:
               The seasick passenger lying listlessly on his deck chair stopped a passing steward. Pointing into
           the distance, he said, 'Over there -- it's land, isn't it?'
           'No, sir,' replied the steward. 'It's the horizon.'
               'Never mind,' sighed the passenger, 'it's better than nothing.'

               But the horizon is nothing. How can it be better than nothing? It only appears, it is not there.
           Nothing exists like the horizon; the horizon is just illusory. But that too, to a seasick passenger,
           seems to be good. At least something -- better than nothing.
               Belief, to Buddha, is like the horizon. Your gods are like horizons, mirages. You believe in them
           because you feel alone. You don't know they are; you create them because you need them. But your
           need cannot be a guarantee of their truth. Your need cannot be a guarantee of their reality.
               You are in a dark night passing through a forest. You are alone. Your need is there for a
           companion. You can imagine a companion, you can start talking to a companion, you can even start
           answering as from the companion. It will give you an illusion that somebody is there. You can
           believe in the companion, you can be completely hypnotized by it, but that does not mean that you
           can create the companion.
               People start whistling when they are alone. Passing in a dark night, they start whistling. That
           helps, it is better than nothing. You listen to your own noise and it gives you the idea that there is
           somebody else. People also start singing. Listening to their own voice gives a feeling that there is
           somebody else also. Because you have always listened to others talking. The very sound that you can
           hear gives you a feeling that the other must be there.
               But Buddha says that just because you need, reality has no necessity to fulfill it. Reality does not
           change by your need. Your need is true -- that you are alone and you would like a father figure in the
           sky, a god. That's why Christians call god 'the father'; it is a father figure.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Psychologists will agree with Buddha. Psychologists say that god is just a need for a father
           figure. Every small child has a father -- protective, giving security. One feels absolutely okay
           because the father is there. Then you grow, then you become mature. Then your father is no more a
           protection. Then you know that your father is as weak as you are. Then you know your father is as
           limited as you. And by and by you see your father is becoming weaker and weaker every day,
           becoming old.
               Your trust is lost, but the need remains. You need some father figure. You want somewhere to go
           and talk to your father, who is no more there. Lost, you create a god, or you create a mother -- call it
           Kali, Amba... but you create a father or mother figure. It is your need, certainly -- a psychological
           need -- but this need keeps you immature.
               Buddha is all for maturity. He says drop all these figures, they don't exist, and even if they exist
           this is not the way to find them. The way is to become calm and quiet. The way is to become so
           alone and so accepting of one's aloneness that there is no need for anybody's grace. Become so silent
           and alone that you are fulfilled within your own self, that you are enough unto yourself. Then you
           will be calm. Then a grace will start happening to you, but it is not a grace coming from god. It is a
           grace spreading from your own center towards your own periphery. You will become graceful.
               Buddha sitting, standing, walking, is just grace personified. But this grace is not coming from
           somewhere else; it is surfacing from his own innermost depths, it is bubbling up from his own
           center. It is like a flower that has flowered on the tree -- it has come out of the tree. It is not a gift
           from somebody else, it is a growth.
               This is the difference between the path of the brahmin and the path of the shramana. On the
           brahmin's path, truth is a gift, god's gift. On the shramana's path, truth is a growth that happens to
           you from your own being. It is yours. Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is
           something inside to be realized.

              THOSE WHO LEAVE THEIR PARENTS, GO OUT OF THE HOME, UNDERSTAND THE MIND,
              REACH THE SOURCE, AND COMPREHEND THE IMMATERIAL, ARE CALLED SHRAMANA.


               Now, the definition of the shramana. Who is called a shramana? Who is really a seeker of truth?
           Who is making real effort, authentic effort to discover what truth is? The first thing -- they leave
           their parents.
               Now this is very symbolical, don't take it literally. It is very symbolical and very psychological.
           A child has to remain for nine months in the womb of his mother... totally protected, in such a
           beautiful warm atmosphere that never again will he be able to find such comfort. No worry, no
           responsibility -- even for breathing. He has no need to breathe himself, the mother breathes for him.
           He has no worry that he will be hungry or left hungry; the mother goes on feeding him. He is so
           protected, so secure.
               Psychologists say that in religious search people are seeking the same womb again. All their
           concepts of paradise are nothing but magnified wombs... absolutely comfortable. In the hindu
           mythology they say that in heaven there is a tree called kalpavriksha -- wish-fulfilling tree. You sit
           under it, and the moment any desire arises, even before you come to know that it has arisen, it will
           be fulfilled. You think of food and food will be there, instantly. You think of a bed because you are
           feeling sleepy -- instantly the bed will be there.
               This is what the womb is. Womb is a kalptaru, a wish-fulfilling tree. The child never becomes
           aware of any need. Before he becomes aware it is fulfilled. It is absolutely automatic. But the child
           has to leave the womb; it is needed for his growth. Because comfort alone can never help you to
           grow, because there is no challenge. The child has to leave the womb, and the first thing the child
           will have to do after leaving the womb is the basis of all survival -- he will have to breathe on his
           own. He will have to make effort on his own. He is becoming a shramana.
               In the mother's womb he was a brahmin. Everything was happening by grace. Everything was
           happening, he was not doing anything. But everybody has to come out of the womb. Every brahmin
           has to become a shramana. Buddha says through being a shramana, growth is possible.
               Then the child by and by grows farther away, farther away from the mother. After the birth he
           will still have to depend on the breast of the mother. Then a moment will come when he will no
           more depend on the breast either, but still he will depend on the mother to feed him. Then he will go
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to school. He is going farther away from the mother, he is becoming more and more independent, he
           is becoming more and more an individual. Then one day he falls in love with another woman and he
           is cut off from the mother completely.
                That's why no mother can ever forgive the woman who has taken away her son. Never -- it is
           impossible for the mother to forgive the woman who has taken away her son... a deep conflict. But a
           man becomes really mature when he falls in love with a woman, because then he has turned his back
           towards his mother completely. Now he has turned one hundred and eighty degrees.
                Buddha says that in the psychological world still many roots have to be cut. You should become
           more and more aware that you may have come far away from the mother, but then you create
           psychological mothers. You may have come far away from the father, but then you create a father
           figure in the heaven -- god ruling all over the world, the supreme sovereign. And you call him father.
           Again you are trying to become dependent -- as if you are afraid of your independence. All these are
           roots; all the roots have to be cut.
                Jesus says somewhere... and I suspect that he must have got those ideas from some buddhist
           source, because Jesus came five hundred years after Buddha, and by the time Jesus came, buddhist
           attitudes had spread all over the Middle East. They had penetrated far into the middle of Asia, they
           had entered deep into Egypt.
                Jesus was brought up in Egypt. He must have come to know. And there is every possibility that
           he visited India before he again went to Jerusalem to teach. There is every possibility. There are
           sources that say that he visited the university, the buddhist university, of Nalanda. He must have
           come to know about the path of the shramana, because in his teachings he says a few things which
           have no traditional source in jewish ideology.
                For example he says, 'Unless you hate your father and mother, you cannot become my disciples.'
           Christians always feel embarrassed if you say this. What type of teaching is this? -- 'Unless you hate
           your father and mother....' And you say that Jesus is love and he has come to teach love to the world?
           And you say that God is love? And the teaching seems to be very full of hatred -- 'Hate your mother
           and father.' All the great teachers have said; 'Respect your father and mother,' and what nonsense --
           Jesus is saying hate? He must have heard it from some sources.
                Those sources can only be buddhist, because Buddha says: THOSE WHO LEAVE THEIR
           PARENTS, GO OUT OF THE HOME...
                Don't take them literally. Don't take Jesus literally either. He is not saying 'hate your father and
           mother'. He is simply saying cut yourself completely away from father and mother. He is saying cut
           yourself away from security. Become insecure. Cut yourself from all dependency. Become
           independent. Become an individual. That's what he is saying.
                He is using a very rough language, Buddha is using very cultured language. Jesus was not very
           well educated; he was a rough man, a carpenter's son. And the jewish tradition is very rough. The
           prophets speak in fiery language. Their language looks more political than religious. Buddha was the
           son of a king -- well educated, well cultured. Their terminology has become different because they
           are different persons, but the meaning is the same.
                One has to leave the parents, one has to leave the home, one has to leave the past. One has to
           become totally independent, alone... trembling in that aloneness -- but one has to become alone.
                One has to become absolutely responsible for oneself, and then only you can understand the
           mind. Because if you go on depending on others, your very dependence will not allow you to
           understand who you are.
                Cut all sources, cut yourself away from all relationship. You are left alone, now there is nobody
           else. You have to see into your own soul. You have to encounter yourself. That is the only way to
           encounter oneself. Then you reach to the very source of your being, by understanding the mind...
           AND COMPREHEND THE IMMATERIAL.
                See, Buddha does not say comprehend the spiritual. He says COMPREHEND THE
           IMMATERIAL. This is the difference. His approach is so rational, he will not assert something in
           which you can find a loophole. He will not say 'the spiritual'; he simply says 'the immaterial'.
                Ask the physicist, he will understand the buddhist language. He says, 'By analysing the atom we
           came to electrons.' Electrons are just electric particles, almost immaterial. Matter has disappeared,
           only energy is there. You cannot call it matter, you can only call it im-matter. And then by analysing
           the electron they have come to almost emptiness -- immaterial emptiness. The physicist will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understand the buddhist terminology.
               Buddha also reached the same point by analysing the mind. By analysing the mind he came to a
           stage where no thought was there... simple emptiness. He calls it immaterial. Thought is the inner
           material. When you disperse thought and only space remains, it is immaterial.
               The same has happened to modern physics. They were analysing matter in the outside world and
           they came to the immaterial. Buddha reached the immaterial on his inner journey, and science has
           reached the immaterial in its outer journey, but both have reached the immaterial. Scientists also will
           not say that this is spiritual. The scientist can only say this much -- that whatsoever was matter is no
           more there. He cannot say what is there. This much can be said -- that whatsoever we used to think
           of as matter is no more there. All that we can say is a denial.

           Buddha says:

              AND COMPREHEND THE IMMATERIAL, THEY ARE CALLED SHRAMANAS.


              Now the categories of shramanas:

              THOSE WHO OBSERVE THE PRECEPTS OF MORALITY, WHO ARE PURE AND SPOTLESS IN
              THEIR BEHAVIOUR, AND WHO EXERT THEMSELVES FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF THE FRUITS
              OF SAINTSHIP, ARE CALLED ARHATS.


               Arhat is the highest state of no-mind. The word 'arhat' means 'one who has conquered his
           enemies'. Ari means enemy and arhat means 'one who has conquered the enemy'.
               Who is the enemy? They are not outside you. The passions, the distractions, the desires, the
           hatred, jealousy, possessiveness, anger, sexuality -- these are the enemies.
               In one way your mind is the enemy, the root enemy. One who has conquered the mind is called
           arhat. This is the highest state -- one who has come above all the clouds.
               Have you sometimes, travelling by air, watched when the aeroplane comes above the clouds? All
           the clouds are just below you and you are in the pure, blue sky. That is the state, the inner state of
           arhat. One goes on penetrating the mind. By and by the clouds of passions are no more there, they
           are left far behind, and you are soaring higher and higher into pure space, into the immaterial space.
           This is the state of arhat.
               In buddhist terminology that is the highest state. What Christians call christ, Buddha calls arhat.
           What Jainas call arihanta; that word also means the same. Or what Hindus call the avatara -- Rama,
           Krishna -- that is the same state, the state of arhat.
               But Buddha is very scientific in that too. He does not call it avatara, because avatara means 'god
           descending into the world' -- you have to believe in god. He does not call... in any way he does not
           use any term that has to have some presuppositions. He uses simple terms without any
           presuppositions.

              NEXT IS THE ANAGAMIN.


              Arhat is the highest state, next to it is the anagamin. Anagamin means 'one who will not come
           again', one who...

              AT THE END OF HIS LIFE, THE SPIRIT OF THE ANAGAMIN ASCENDS TO THE HEAVEN AND
              OBTAINS ARHATSHIP.


               It is just below the arhat state.
               Anagamin -- the word means 'one who will not come again'. Gone, he will be gone. Gone, he will
           be gone forever, he will not return. He has come to the point of no return. He is just close to being an
           arhat, he has passed the clouds. Just on the boundary, he is standing on the threshold of being an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           arhat. Maybe a small clinging has remained in him, and that clinging is with the body. So when he
           dies, that clinging also disappears. He will not be coming back.

              NEXT IS THE SKRIDAGAMIN.


              Skridagamin means 'one who comes back'.

              THE SKRIDAGAMIN ASCENDS TO THE HEAVEN (AFTER HIS DEATH COMES BACK TO THE
              EARTH ONCE MORE...


               Only once.... He has still some clinging; very faint -- but there are still a few roots and he will be
           pulled back to another womb again. He is not absolutely desireless. Arhat is absolutely desireless. A
           skridagamin has passed beyond the gross desires, but subtle desires are still there.
               What are the gross desires? Desire for money, for power, prestige -- these are gross desires.
           Desire to be free, desire to be calm, desire to attain to the last state of arhatship -- these are subtle
           desires, but they are still desires. He will have to come back only once.

              NEXT IS THE SROTAPANNA.


               The word srotapanna means 'one who has entered into, the stream'. Srota means stream and
           apanna means 'one who has entered'. Srotapanna means 'one who has entered the stream'. He has just
           begun his journey on the path. He is no more worldly -- he has become a sannyasin, he has entered
           into the river. Far is the ocean, but he has entered into the river, he has started.
               And when the journey is begun, it will end. Howsoever far it is, it is not far away. The real
           problem is with those who have not even entered into the stream. They are standing on the bank.
           These are the worldly people, standing on the bank. The sannyasin, the bhikkhu, is the one who has
           entered into the river -- knows well that the ocean is far away, but now half the journey is over, just
           by entering.

              NEXT IS THE SROTAPANNA. THE SROTAPANNA DIES SEVEN TIMES AND IS BORN SEVEN
              TIMES, WHEN HE FINALLY ATTAINS ARHATSHIP.


               These are just symbolic, don't take them literally... these are just symbolic things. 'Seven' does
           not mean exactly seven. It means many times he will die, many times he will be born, but his face is
           turned towards the ocean. He has entered into the Ganges and the journey has started.

              BY THE SEVERANCE OF PASSIONS IS MEANT THAT LIKE THE LIMBS SEVERED THEY ARE
              NEVER AGAIN MADE USE OF.


              And Buddha said that by dropping the passions, he means that it is as if somebody cuts off your
           hand; then you cannot use it. Or somebody takes your eyes out; then you cannot see through them. A
           man who is ready to enter into the stream is one who, on his own, voluntarily drops his passions. He
           says, 'I will not use them again.'
              Remember, this is not repression in the freudian meaning of the term. He does not repress it, he
           simply withdraws his energy from it. Sex remains there -- he does not repress it, he simply does not
           cooperate any more.
              The difference is tremendous. When sex is there and you repress it, you fight with it, you don't
           go above it, you remain with it. If you fight with it you remain clinging to it, and if you fight with it
           you will remain afraid of it.
              Buddha says one simply does not cooperate with it. A desire, a sexual desire arises -- what will
           you do? Buddha says you simply watch. Let it be there. It will come and it will go. It will flicker in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the mind, will try to attract you; you remain watchful, you don't allow any unconsciousness,
           otherwise it will enter in you. You simply remain watchful.
               Says Buddha, 'A man has to be just mindful. Then the man is like a house where lamps are
           burning, where lamps are lit -- the thieves are afraid to enter. When lamps are not there and the
           house is dark, then thieves enter easily. The man who has really become mindful is like the house
           where on the door there is a guard, fully awake, and lamps are lit. It is difficult for the thieves to
           enter, they cannot gather courage.'
               The same happens when you are aware -- you have a guard. When you are aware, your house is
           lit with light. Passions cannot enter you. They can come, they can roam around, they will try to
           persuade you, but if you simply watch, they will disappear on their own accord because they live by
           your cooperation. Don't fight with them and don't indulge in them; just remain aware. Then by and
           by they will drop like severed limbs.
               If you start fighting, you are creating another problem. Instead of being an indulgent person you
           will become a repressive person. The problem is not solved, only the name is changed.

           I have heard:

               A doctor was treating a man who had been brought in paralytically drunk. 'If the patient sees
           green snakes again, give him some of this medicine,' he told the nurse.
               Later on he came back to find the man raving -- but the medicine hadn't been given to him. 'Did I
           not tell you to give him this medicine if he saw green snakes again?' the doctor demanded.
               'But he didn't see green snakes,' the nurse replied.
               'Oh?'
           'No, he has been seeing purple frogs.'

               Now whether you see green snakes or you see purple frogs makes no difference -- you are drunk.
               There are people who cooperate with their passions and there are people who fight with their
           passions -- but both remain with the passions. One is friendly, another is antagonistic, but both
           remain with the passions and both are ways of subtle cooperation. One has to drop out of the
           relationship. One has to just become a spectator, a watcher.
               Once you start watching you will become aware of layers and layers of passions. There are many
           layers. When gross passions are left, more subtle layers will be found.
               Our whole life is like an onion. You peel it -- another layer; you peel that -- another layer...
           fresher, younger, more alive. But if you go on peeling, a moment comes when just emptiness is left
           in your hands. That's what Buddha calls nirvana -- emptiness. All layers gone.

           I have heard:

               The guitarist of a pop group was involved in a car accident and sustained injuries to his head. On
           arrival at the hospital the doctor ordered that his long, thick hair be completely cut off to enable the
           extent of the injuries to be seen. A nurse was detailed to undertake the task, and she set to work with
           a large pair of scissors.
               After ten minutes or so she said to the young man, 'You went to North Lancaster Comprehensive
           School when you were younger, didn't you?'
               'Yes, I did,' answered the youth. 'Were you there as well?'
           'No,' said the nurse, 'I'm from London.'
               'Well, how on earth did you know which school I went to?' queried the young man.
               'I have just come to your cap,' replied the nurse as she carried on cutting.

               Layers upon layers.... And the deeper you cut, the more you will find -- many things that were
           missing for long, for many years; your cap you will find. The deeper you go in your mind, the deeper
           you will go in your childhood. Many things forgotten, lost -- again, they are there. Because nothing
           is ever lost, everything goes on accumulating.
               When you come to a point where you cannot find anything, then you have come to your being.
           The being is not like a layer; the being is simply space, pure space. The being is simply emptiness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha calls being non-being, he calls it anatta. Buddha says if you find yourself, then there
           must be some layer still left. When suddenly you come to a point where you cannot find yourself --
           you are, and you cannot find yourself -- then you have come home. And this can be attained only by
           effort.
               This is his framework. From tomorrow we will start moving into his methodology -- the ways of
           meditation, the ways of inner discipline; the ways how to transcend the ego, the ways how to
           transcend all. That's why I am going to call this series of talks 'The Discipline of Transcendence'. But
           this is his framework.

               Ordinarily you are standing on the bank. Then you cannot hope, then you are in a hopeless state.
           If you become a srotapanna, if you enter the stream, that's what I call sannyas. By sannyas you
           become a srotapanna -- you enter the stream, you take the courage, you take the jump. It is a
           quantum leap from the bank into the stream. They are very close, but they are totally different.
               The bank never goes anywhere. It has no growth, it never moves. It is static, stagnant, stale,
           dead. And by the side is flowing the river, which is going somewhere.
               If your life is not going anywhere, you are standing on the bank. Enter the stream and you start a
           journey. Your life starts changing, transforming. You start a transfiguration, a metamorphosis. And
           each moment new visions open their doors to you. One day the river reaches the ocean. That day you
           become arhat, you dissolve into the ocean.
               First srotapanna, then skridagamin, then anagamin, then arhata. These are the states. It is a very
           scientific framework. From being a worldly man become srotapanna and then your journey has
           started.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #2
                                        Chapter title: The greatest miracle
           22 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608220
              ShortTitle: TRANS102
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              SOMEBODY ASKED A ZEN MASTER, 'WHAT IS THE GREATEST MIRACLE IN THE WORLD?'
              THE MASTER REPLIED, 'I AM SITTING HERE ALONE WITH ME.'
              WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS PARABLE?


               IT IS NOT A PARABLE, IT IS SIMPLY A FACT. Look directly into it. There is no need to
           search for any meaning. It is like a rose flower -- a simple statement. If you start looking for meaning
           you will miss the meaning of it. The meaning is there, obvious; there is no need to search for it. The
           moment you start searching for meaning about such simple facts, you weave philosophies, you create
           metaphysics. And then you go on and on, and you go far away from the fact.
               It is a simple statement. The zen master said, 'I am sitting here alone with myself.' This is the
           greatest miracle. To be alone is the greatest achievement. One feels always a need for the other.
           There is a tremendous need for the other because something is lacking within ourselves. We have
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           holes in our being; we stuff those holes with the presence of the other. The other somehow makes us
           complete, otherwise we are incomplete.
                Without the other we don't know who we are, we lose our identity. The other becomes a mirror
           and we can see our faces in it. Without the other we are suddenly thrown to ourselves. Great
           uncomfort, inconvenience arises, because we don't know who we are. When we are alone we are in
           very strange company, very embarrassing company. We don't know with whom we are.
                With the other, things are clear, defined. We know the name, we know the form, we know the
           man or the woman -- Hindu, Christian, Indian, American -- there are some ways to define the other.
           How to define yourself?
                Deep down there is an abyss... undefinable. There is an abyss... emptiness. You start merging
           into that. It creates fear. You become frightened. you want to rush towards the other. The other helps
           you to hang out, the other helps you to remain out. When there is nobody you are simply left with
           your emptiness.
                Nobody wants to be alone. The greatest fear in the world is to be left alone. People do a thousand
           and one things just not to be left alone. You imitate your neighbours so you are just like them and
           you are not left alone. You lose your individuality, you lose your uniqueness, you just become
           imitators, because if you are not imitators you will be left alone.
                You become part of the crowd, you become part of a church, you become part of an organization.
           Somehow you want to merge with a crowd where you can feel at ease, that you are not alone, there
           are so many people like you -- so many Mohammedans like you, so many Hindus like you, so many
           Christians, millions of them... you are not alone.
                To be alone is really the greatest miracle. That means now you don't belong to any church, you
           don't belong to any organization, you don't belong to any theology, you don't belong to any ideology
           -- socialist, communist, fascist, hindu, christian, jain, buddhist -- you don't belong, you simply are.
           And you have learnt how to love your indefinable, ineffable reality. You have come to know how to
           be with yourself.
                Your needs for the other have disappeared. You don't have any loopholes, you don't have any
           holes, you are not missing anything, you don't have any flaws -- you are simply happy by being
           yourself. You don't need anything, your bliss is unconditional. Yes, it is the greatest miracle in the
           world.
                But remember, the master says, 'I am here alone with myself.' When you are alone you are not
           alone, you are simply lonely -- and there is a tremendous difference between loneliness and
           aloneness. When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness
           is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other was there -- your friend,
           your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband. It would have been good if the other was there,
           but the other is not.
                Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very
           positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the
           whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.
                If the whole world disappears this zen master will not miss anything. If suddenly by some magic
           the whole world disappears and this zen master is left alone, he will be as happy as ever, he will not
           miss anything. He will love that tremendous emptiness, this pure infinity. He will not miss anything
           because he has arrived home. He knows that he himself is enough unto himself.
                This does not mean that a man who has become enlightened and has come home does not live
           with others. In fact only he is capable of being with others. Because he is capable of being with
           himself he becomes capable of being with others. If you are not capable of being with yourself, how
           can you be capable of being with others? You are at the closest quarters. Even with yourself you are
           not capable of being in deep love, in delight -- how can you be with others? Others are far away.
                A man who loves his aloneness is capable of love, and a man who feels loneliness is incapable of
           love. A man who is happy with himself is full of love, flowing. He does not need anybody's love,
           hence he can give. When you are in need how can you give? You are a beggar. And when you can
           give, much love comes towards you. It is a response, a natural response. The first lesson of love is to
           learn how to be alone.
                It is a very significant statement. It has nothing like a parable in it. It is immediate, direct. It is
           like a rose flower encountering you. You never ask about a rose flower, 'What is the parable of this
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rose flower?' You don't ask, 'What is the meaning of this rose flower?'
               A master is like a rose flower. If you can see, see. If you cannot see, forget. You will never be
           able to know its meaning because the meaning is just in front of you. Don't make a parable out of it.
           Parables mean you have started interpreting, and whatsoever you interpret is going to be your
           interpretation.
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin was caught fishing at a place where there was a big sign: No Fishing Here. The
           warden who caught him asked, 'Nasrudin, can't you see the sign? Can't you read? -- No fishing here.'
           He pointed to the sign.
               Mulla Nasrudin said, 'Yes, I can read, but I don't agree. There is good fishing here. Who says "no
           fishing here". There is good fishing here. Just look at this lot I have landed today. Whoever put that
           sign up must be crazy.'

              Now this is your interpretation. It is a simple sign -- No Fishing Here. The meaning is not to be
           found, it is simply there.

               When a zen master says something, or when any master says something, his meaning is
           absolutely clear, obvious. It is just in front of you. Don't try to avoid it. If you start looking for
           meaning you will look left and right and you will miss that which is in front of you. It is a simple
           statement: 'I am sitting here alone with me.'
               Try it, to have the feel. Just sit alone sometimes. That's what meditation is all about -- just sitting
           alone, doing nothing, Just try. If you start feeling lonely then there is something missing in your
           being, then you have not been able yet to understand who you are.
               Then go deeper into this loneliness until you come to a layer when suddenly loneliness
           transforms itself into aloneness. It transforms -- it is a negative aspect of the same phenomenon.
           Loneliness is the negative aspect of aloneness. If you go deeper into it one moment is bound to come
           when suddenly you will start feeling the positive aspect of it. Because both aspects are always
           together.
               So be lonely, suffer loneliness. It is difficult, meditation is difficult. People come to me and they
           ask, 'Yes, we are ready to sit, but give us a mantra so that we can chant a mantra.' What are they
           asking? They are saying that they don't want to be alone, they don't want to face their loneliness.
           They will chant a mantra -- the mantra will become their companion. They will say, 'Ram, Ram,
           Ram' -- now they are not alone. Now this sound of 'Ram' continuously repeated will become their
           companion.
               They are missing the whole point. Transcendental meditation, TM, is not meditation at all,
           because meditation simply means to be alone, not doing anything -- not even chanting a mantra.
           Because this is a trick of the mind. That's what the mind has always been doing. When you sit alone,
           have you watched how many fantasies reveal themselves to you?... endless fantasies, daydreams.
           Whenever you are alone, you start daydreaming. Whenever you don't have anything to do and you
           feel bored, immediately you escape into daydreams.
               That's why if a person goes to the desert, to the Arabian Desert, to the Sahara, and sits there, he
           will start imagining, visions will start coming to him, because a desert is a very monotonous thing.
           Nothing to pay attention to -- just the same monotonous expanse of sands and sands; nothing to
           distract, nothing new -- monotonous, boring. A person becomes dreamy, one starts substituting. If
           there is nothing new outside, one creates one's own imaginative world and starts looking into it.
               That's what happens to people who go to the Himalayas and sit in caves to meditate. They start
           imagining. Then they can imagine anything -- gods and goddesses and apsaras and angels and
           Krishna playing on his flute, and Rama standing with his bow, and Jesus -- and whatsoever your
           imagination, whatsoever your conditioning. If you have been conditioned as a Christian, sooner or
           later in a himalayan cave you will encounter Jesus, and this will be pure imagination. Nothing to
           distract the mind outside, the mind starts creating its own dreams inside. And when you continuously
           dream, those dreams look very very real.
               Many experiments have been done in the West on sense deprivation. If a person is deprived of all
           impressions -- his eyes are closed, he is put in a box, his ears are closed, his whole body is encased
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in foam rubber so the touch is monotonous, the darkness in the eyes is monotonous, the
           soundlessness is monotonous, everything monotonous -- within two, three hours he starts dreaming
           -- such fantastic dreams, and so real... realer than real. And if a person is deprived for twenty-one
           days he will never come back sane. He will become insane, because his imagination will take
           complete possession of him.
               But why does the mind start daydreaming? The scientific explanation is that the mind cannot live
           alone with itself. So either it needs somebody in reality, or, if in reality somebody is not there, then it
           creates fantasy. Fantasy is a substitute. The mind cannot live alone.
               That's why you dream in the night -- because in sleep you are alone; the world disappears. Your
           husband is no more there, your children are no more there, your wife is no more there, you are
           simply alone -- and you have become incapable of aloneness. Your mind simply substitutes another
           world of dreams; dreams, cycles of dreams the whole night. Why are dreams needed? Because you
           cannot be alone.
               This whole illusion that exists around you is because you have not learned one basic thing -- of
           being alone. The zen master is right. He says, 'This is the greatest miracle. I sit here alone with
           myself.' To be with oneself and to be happily with oneself, blissfully with oneself, and not to move
           into fantasies... then suddenly one is at home, one is entering into one's own abyss.
               It appears like emptiness when you enter, but once you have entered it is the very fullness of
           being, the fulfillment, the blossoming, the climax, the crescendo. It is not emptiness. It only appears
           to be emptiness because you have lived with others and suddenly you miss the others; that's why you
           interpret it as empty. Others are not there, only you are there -- but you cannot see yourself right
           now, you simply miss the others.
               You have become too habitual; the idea of the other has become very ingrained, it has become a
           mechanical habit, so when you miss it you feel you are empty, lonely, falling in an abyss. But if you
           allow and fall into the abyss, soon you will realize the abyss has disappeared, and with the abyss all
           the illusory attachments have disappeared. Then happens the greatest miracle -- that you are simply
           happy for no reason at all.
               Remember, when your happiness depends on others, your unhappiness also will depend on
           others. If you are happy because a woman loves you, you will become unhappy if she does not love
           you. If you are happy for any reason whatsoever, then any day the reason is not there, you will
           become unhappy. Your happiness will always be on the rocks, you will always remain in stormy
           weather. You will never be certain whether you are happy or unhappy, because each moment you
           will see the ground underneath can disappear -- any moment it can disappear. You can never be
           certain. The woman was smiling just now, and then she has become angry. The husband was talking
           so beautifully and suddenly he has lost his temper.
               Depending on others is depending -- it is a bondage, it is a dependence, and one can never feel
           really blissful.
               Blissfulness is possible only in total, unconditional freedom. That's why in the East we call it
           moksha. Moksha means absolute freedom. To be with oneself is moksha because now you don't
           depend. Your happiness simply is your own, you don't borrow it from anybody. Nobody can take it
           away, not even death.
               Remember, death only separates you from others, it never separates you from yourself. Death
           seems so frightening because it will snatch you away from others -- the wife will not be any more
           with the husband, the mother will not be any more with the children. Death only separates you from
           others. It cannot separate you from yourself; there is no way to separate you from yourself.
               Once you have learned how to be with yourself then death is meaningless, then death does not
           exist. You become deathless. Then death cannot take anything away from you. That which death can
           take away from you, you have surrendered on your own accord.
               That's what meditation is -- to surrender the non-essential, that which death can take away from
           you. That which death is going to do, a meditator does on his own accord, voluntarily. Knowing it
           well -- that this will be taken away -- he surrenders it.
               It is immensely beautiful to be alone. There is nothing to be compared with it. Its beauty is the
           ultimate beauty, its grandeur is the ultimate grandeur, its power is the ultimate power.
               Come back home. And the way is: you will have to suffer loneliness first. Suffer it, go through it.
           You have to pay for the bliss that is going to be yours -- you have to pay for it. This suffering of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           loneliness is just paying for it. You will be tremendously benefited.


              YOU SAY TO SANNYASINS TO JUST WORRY ABOUT THEMSELVES -- AND THEY DO! IN ARICA
              WE HAVE WHAT IS KNOWN AS GROUP UNITY. THE RULE IS THIS: THE GROUP ONLY GETS
              AS HIGH AS ITS LOWEST MEMBER. THEREFORE OUR EVOLUTION ARE INTERCONNECTED.
              HUMANITY IS ONE BODY; WHY STRESS INDIVIDUALITY MORE THAN UNIVERSALITY?


               Yes, we are part of each other. Not only humanity is one, existence is one. But this oneness can
           be felt on two levels: one is in deep unconsciousness and another is in superconsciousness. Either
           you have to become a tree -- then you are one with the whole; or you have to become a Buddha --
           then you are one with the whole. Between the two you cannot be one with the whole.
               Consciousness is individual, unconsciousness is universal; superconscious is universal,
           consciousness is individual. So if somewhere in Arica or somewhere else they are teaching you to be
           part of the group, you will become unconscious. The greater possibility is that you will fall from
           your consciousness. Unless you become a Buddha, you cannot become one, you cannot know the
           real oneness with the whole.
               The real oneness of the whole can be known only in two ways: either become unconscious, lose
           your consciousness -- individuality is lost; or go beyond consciousness -- then your individuality is
           lost.
               That's why a crowd has so much appeal for people. Have you seen people in a crowd, how happy
           they look? Mohammedans going to destroy a temple, or Hindus going to kill Mohammedans -- just
           see how happy, bubbling, radiant with energy. Dull people... you have seen them before, walking on
           the streets -- dull, dead. Now suddenly they have become very alive -- shouting, cheering each other,
           rushing towards, as if something beautiful is going to happen.
               Why do people feel so happy in a crowd? Why does happiness in a crowd become so infectious?
           Because in a crowd they fall down, they become unconscious. They lose their individuality, they
           merge their individuality. By dropping their consciousness they drop their individuality. Then they
           are happy, then there is no worry, then there is no responsibility.
               Have you observed the fact that individuals have not committed great sins in the world? All great
           sins have been committed by crowds, never by individuals. An army can commit millions of sins.
           Ask single individuals of that army and they will start feeling responsible. Ask them, 'Can you do the
           same thing alone?' They will say, 'No. How can I do the same thing alone? It was the crowd, I
           became lost in it. I forgot myself. The crowd mood, the mob, was too much. I was lost. The crowd
           was doing something, I simply became a part of it. I have not done it.' Ask single Mohammedans,
           'Can you burn a temple or murder Hindus?' Ask Hindus, 'Can you murder Mohammedans --
           individually?'
               This is a miracle, but we don't observe it. No individual Mohammedan is bad, no individual
           Hindu is bad..individuals are beautiful people, as people are always beautiful. In a crowd suddenly
           they change their faces... a metamorphosis happens. They are no more individuals, they are no more
           conscious beings; they are lost. Then the crowd has its own way; nobody can control it.
               Then, of course, Arica is right -- THE RULE IS THIS: THE GROUP ONLY GETS AS HIGH
           AS ITS LOWEST MEMBER. That's why I say don't become a member of a group. Otherwise you
           will be as low as the lowest member. Become individuals. In a group you will always fall to the
           lowest denominator.
               It is natural, it is very scientific. If you are walking with a group of one hundred people, the
           slowest person will decide the speed. Because the slowest person cannot move faster, he has his
           limitations. And if the group has to remain a group, the group has to move with the slowest. The
           faster person can slow down, but the slower person cannot become fast; he has his limitations.
               The group is always ruled by the stupid person. The stupid cannot become intelligent, but the
           intelligent can relapse easily and become stupid. Have you seen any stupid person doing anything
           intelligent ever? But you have seen many intelligent people doing stupid actions, foolish actions.
           You can become any moment foolish, but it is not so easy to become any moment wise. A foolish
           person is very consistent -- he remains foolish. He cannot sometimes be wise, it is impossible. But a
           wise person is not so consistent; sometimes he relapses, becomes foolish. There are foolish moments
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in his life. There are holidays in his life when he relaxes a little and does not bother about his
           wisdom.
                If you are tied to a person who is lower than you in evolution, then you will have to walk with
           that person. Of course he cannot walk with you. Hence I say I also believe in the rule, but I interpret
           it in a different way. The rule is perfectly true -- THE GROUP ONLY GETS AS HIGH AS ITS
           LOWEST MEMBER. So if you want to get high, please remember -- never become a member of any
           group. Remember to remain individuals. Then you are free to move at your own pace. Then you are
           totally free to move alone. In a group you are tied.
                And of course, stupid people tend to make groups because alone they cannot rely on themselves.
           They are afraid, they don't have any intelligence. They know that alone they will be lost. They tend
           to make groups, crowds. So whenever a church exists, whenever a sect exists, ninety-nine percent it
           consists of fools. It has to be so. They decide policies of religion, politics and everything.
                Beware of this mobocracy and be alert. Because in you also there are moments, stupid moments,
           when you would like to relax. Then you are not responsible, then there is no worry. Then you can
           always throw the responsibility on the group. You can always say, 'What can I do? I am walking
           with the group, and the group is slow, so I am slow. The lowest member is deciding everything.'
                If you really want to grow, be alone. If you really want to be free, be responsible. Hence I insist
           on individuality. That does not mean that I don't know that the universe is one. But there are two
           ways to know it: either fall below consciousness, then the universe is one -- but then you don't know
           it because you have fallen below consciousness; or, go above consciousness, become
           superconscious, become enlightened, become a Buddha. Then you also know that the whole is one,
           but then the whole cannot drag you down. In fact a Buddha starts dragging the whole up.
                In an unconscious state, the lowest determines the growth rate. In the superconscious state the
           highest, the greatest decides. A Buddha pulls you up. His very presence pulls you up towards heights
           unknown to you, undreamed of. Then the highest becomes the deciding factor.
                That's why in the East we have always emphasized individuality, and we have always
           emphasized finding an individual master rather than becoming a part of any group. Be individually
           related to a master. Then the highest determines your life; then you can be pulled by him. In a group,
           the lowest will determine your life.
                Don't be a Hindu. If you can find Krishna, follow certainly -- but don't be a Hindu. Don't be a
           Christian. If you can find Jesus somewhere, rush to him, forget all about.... But if you cannot find a
           Jesus, don't be a Christian, because Christianity is a crowd. Jesus is a super-individual. Find a master
           and live in satsang with a master, live in the presence of the master -- and let it be a personal contact.
                I give you sannyas. You don't become part of any church, you don't become part of any crowd.
           Your relationship is personal with me. There are thousands of sannyasins, but each sannyasin is
           related to me personally. You are not related to another sannyasin at all, remember. Your
           relationship is with me... individually, personally.
                You don't have to relate to other sannyasins as a group. There is no need. You are all related to
           me personally, and of course you are related in a certain way with each other, but that is because of
           me. That relationship is not direct, it is through me.
                And I would like you to become more and more individual. One day you will become universal,
           but that is a hope, it is not a reality yet -- not for you. And if you want to make it reality, you will
           have to become more and more conscious -- so superbly conscious that one day consciousness is not
           needed. You have become so conscious that consciousness is no more needed, you can put it aside.
                Go and see a drunkard walking on the street. What has he done? He has done the same thing as a
           Buddha. Watch a Buddha and watch a drunkard -- they both have done the same thing. The drunkard
           has fallen into unconsciousness and become part of the universal. He has taken alcohol to drown his
           consciousness and worries, individuality. He has become part of the collective unconscious.
                And then there is Buddha, walking with his grace, with his beauty, with his grandeur. He has also
           disappeared -- but not like the drunkard. He has not fallen below humanity, he has gone beyond
           humanity. Both are in a way similar, because both are not individuals. So a drunkard has something
           similar with a Buddha -- both are not individuals. Yet you cannot find two people so far apart, such
           extremes -- yet they have something similar.
                Or, take another example. Patanjali says that sleep and samadhi, deep sleep and samadhi, are
           similar. Because in samadhi the individual disappears and in deep sleep also the individual
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappears. In deep sleep you become part of the unconscious, collective unconscious. In samadhi
           also you become part of the collective superconsciousness.
               They are similar and yet they are extremes, polar opposites. The similarity is only one -- that in
           both the ego disappears. But it disappears in such different ways. In sleep you become again like
           vegetables. You vegetate, you are like a rock; you don't have any individuality.
               In samadhi the ego is dropped. Now you don't have any limitation, no definition, you are merged
           with the whole -- but merged with the whole in a tremendous awareness. You are not asleep. Worries
           have disappeared, because worries exist only with the ego. So there are two ways to drop the worries
           -- either become part of a group, or become part of the superconscious plane.
               The Aricans say something which is true, but what they do is absolutely wrong.

           YOU SAY TO SANNYASINS TO JUST WORRY ABOUT THEMSELVES -- AND THEY DO!

               Yes, I say to them just to worry about themselves, because right now that should be their only
           concern. If they start worrying about the whole world they will not be able to do anything. Even to
           worry about oneself is too much. To get rid of those worries is too much, it is difficult, and if you are
           worrying about the whole world then there is no way to get out of it. Then you can be certain you
           will remain always worried.
               And don't think for even a single moment that you are helping the world by worrying about it.
           You are not helping the world by worrying about it, because a worrier cannot help anybody. He is a
           destructive force.
               So reduce the worries first to the minimum. That is, confine your worries to yourself, that's
           enough. Be absolutely selfish. Yes, that's what I say -- be absolutely selfish if someday you want to
           help others. If someday you want to be really altruistic, be selfish.
               First change your being. First create a light within your heart, become luminous. Then you can
           help others. And you will be able to help without worrying. Because worrying never helps anybody.
           Somebody is dying and you sit by his side and you worry. How is it going to help? If the patient is
           dying and the doctor is worrying, it is not going to help. How much he worries is pointless. He has to
           do something.
               And when a patient is dying, a doctor is needed who knows how not to worry. Only then can he
           be helpful, because only then can his diagnosis be clearer, more correct. That's why if you are ill and
           your own husband is a doctor, he will not be of much help, because he will worry too much about
           you. Somebody is needed who is impersonal.
               A child needs an operation. His own father may be a great surgeon, but he cannot be allowed to
           operate on the child because he will be worrying too much. His hand will be shaking -- his own
           child; he cannot be just an observer. He cannot be objective, he is too much involved. He will kill the
           child. Some other surgeon is needed who can remain impartial, who can remain far away, aloof,
           distant, unworried.
               So if you really want to help humanity, first you have to become unworried. And to become
           unworried you have to drop unnecessary worries first. Don't think about the world. The world has
           continued the same and it is going to continue the same. Don't be foolish. All Utopians are a little
           foolish -- they expect something which is never going to happen, which has never happened.
               All that is possible -- be realistic, be scientific -- all that is possible is that you can transcend
           worries. So just worry about yourself and find out a way to get above them, beyond them. When you
           have gone beyond, you can be of tremendous benediction to the world.


              I FEEL MOST OF THE TIME AS IF I ONLY EXIST IN THE EYES OF OTHERS, AS IF I REACT TO
              THEIR EXPECTATIONS OF ME. I FEEL NOT THAT I HAVE TRANSCENDED THE EGO, BUT AS IF
              I HAVE NO EGO, NO BEING, NO ESSENCE. I FEEL SO UNREAL. WHERE AM L? WHAT CAN I DO
              -- OR NOT DO?


               The first thing -- it is not only you who only exists in the eyes of others; everybody is existing
           that way. That is the common way of existence. You use the other as a mirror. Others' opinions
           become very important, of immense value -- because they define you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Somebody says you are so beautiful; in that moment you become beautiful. Somebody says you
           are a fool; in that moment you start suspecting -- maybe you are a fool. You may get angry, you may
           deny, but deep down you have become suspicious about your intelligence. Somebody says you are
           so holy and you start behaving like a holy man, because you have to keep your image.
               Once the society has decided that you are a criminal, you start behaving like a criminal. Because
           now what is the point? They have already decided that you are a criminal. Whether you are or not is
           not going to matter much, so why not be? Once a person goes to the gaol, he becomes a permanent
           visitor there; he comes again and again. Once the society has known that he is a criminal and he has
           been punished, once he has been branded as a criminal, he decides, 'Now, what is the point?'
               Psychologists say that if in the family you have been treated as a fool or a buffoon, by and by
           you start playing the role. You have to accept it because you don't know who you are. At least people
           call you a fool; they give you a certain definition. You can rely on them. Once a small boy is told
           that he is stupid -- in the house, in the school -- he starts behaving in a stupid way, because that
           becomes his definition. Otherwise he does not know who he is.
               First thing to understand -- it is not only you who exists only in the eyes of others; everybody
           else is existing in the eyes of others. This is the world. This is what in India we call the world of
           maya, illusion. You exist in others' eyes and others exist in your eyes. It is a mutual deception. They
           don't know who they are, you don't know who you are. You define them, they define you. It is a
           mutual trick. They play the game of defining you; you play the game of defining them. And all
           definitions are false, because your soul is never mirrored in anybody's eyes.
               If you want to know who you are, you will have even to close your eyes -- you will have to go
           withinwards. You will have to forget the whole world, you will have to forget what they say about
           you. You will have to go deep inside you and encounter your own reality.
               That's what I am teaching here -- not to depend on others, not to look in their eyes. There are no
           clues in their eyes. They are as unaware as you are -- how can they define you?
               I have heard about two astrologers who used to come to the marketplace of a certain town every
           morning to sit there and tell people their future. Just in the morning they would come and they would
           spread their hands before each other, just to know their own future, what is going to happen on that
           day whether they are going to earn money or not. And one astrologer would say about the other, and
           the other would say about the first, and they would both be happy. It was of course free of charge,
           because both were serving each other. Now, those people were predicting about others' future!
               Once it happened, I was staying in a city and a few friends brought a very famous astrologer to
           see me. He only sees the hand if you pay him one thousand and one rupees. He was thinking that of
           course he would be paid. He looked at my hand and then he asked for his fee. I said, 'Can't you see
           that I am not going to pay? You cannot see this much? If you are a real astrologer and you know my
           future, you should know at least yours.'
               You are looking into each other's eyes to find who you are. Yes, some reflections are there, your
           face is reflected. But your fact is not you; you are far behind the face. Your face has been changing
           so much that you can't be your face.
               Do you remember how you looked on the first day when you entered your mother's womb?
           There was no face at all. You were there, but there was no face. You could not have been seen with
           the naked eye; only a microscope would have helped to see. And there was no face, you were just a
           body, a cell. But you were there.
               Then you started growing and many faces passed. And then you were born. If somebody brings a
           picture of you the day you were born, do you think you will be able to recognize that this is you?
           Yes, if somebody says -- your mother and father -- that this is you, you may believe, but you cannot
           recognize that this is you. Constant change... your face is a flux. It goes on changing every day,
           every moment.
               You are not the face. Somewhere deep down hidden is your consciousness; it is never reflected
           into anybody's eyes. Yes, a few things are reflected: your actions. You do something; it is reflected
           into others' eyes. But your doing is not you. You are far greater than your actions.
               Actions are just like dry, dead leaves falling from a tree. Action is like a dead, dry leaf fallen
           away from you -- it is not you. In your actions there is no definition for you. It is as if you go under a
           tree and collect all the dry leaves and you think you have known the tree. The tree is far bigger,
           alive. Any action, the moment it is completed, is dead. It is part of the past, it is no more alive, it is a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dead leaf.
                Yes, many actions happen to you as leaves happen to a tree. But they go on happening. And there
           are moments when all the leaves are gone and the tree remains naked, bare against the sky... no
           leaves. So leaves cannot define the tree, they come and go. In the fall they disappear, in the spring
           they come again. Great foliage comes, great greenery comes, great flowers come -- but the tree is
           something else.
                You are that being -- the tree. Actions come and go; actions don't define you, they are reflected.
           And in fact people don't talk about your actions, they talk about their interpretations about your
           actions. They don't say what you have done, they immediately evaluate it. For example, if you are
           angry, they think you are doing something bad. They don't reflect your anger, they reflect their
           attitude about anger.
                Now modern research into the human mind says that anger is beautiful, it is not bad. in fact
           repressing anger is bad -- that is the new interpretation. If you repress the anger it becomes hatred --
           hatred is chronically repressed anger. If you simply express your anger you never accumulate
           enough anger to create hatred.
                Just like a small child -- in one moment he is so angry, fire, as if he can destroy the whole world,
           and next moment he is playing with the same boy, or sitting in your lap, laughing, giggling -- he has
           completely forgotten. He carries no ill-will, he carries no hatred. Whatsoever comes, passes. Anger
           comes like a breeze and passes.
                If you repress anger then you go on piling it, inside it goes on accumulating. It becomes pus, and
           then it explodes one day in hatred. A person who becomes easily angry can never murder. A person
           who never becomes angry and always is in control -- beware of him. He can murder someday
           because he is accumulating.
                Now, this is a new interpretation. I'm not saying whether this is right or wrong, I am simply
           saying interpretations change. In the past, anger was bad and an angry person was an evil person.
           Now the Humanistic Potential Movement has created a new interpretation. They say anger is good, it
           simply shows aliveness; it is pure energy, it is a communication; it is natural, it is human, nothing is
           wrong in it, don't repress it -- enjoy it.
                The new psychology says if you enjoy anger you will become more capable of enjoying love.
           The old psychology used to say that if you become angry you will lose all love, then your love will
           disappear. Now the interpretation has completely changed. Now if you repress anger you will
           become hateful; hatred will be accumulated. And if you express anger, it is nothing but an
           expression of love.
                In fact you become angry only with a person you care about, otherwise you don't bother. Your
           son is doing something; you become angry because you care, because you love. Your wife is doing
           something; you become angry because you love, you care. The neighbour's wife is doing the same
           thing. Let her do -- who bothers? You never become angry because there is no relationship. Anger is
           relationship.
                Again let me remind you I am not saying who is right, who is wrong. I am simply saying that
           interpretations change and people don't reflect you or your actions; they reflect their interpretations.
           Now if an old, traditional man is watching you angry, in a tantrum, jumping and jogging and
           throwing things, he will say you are mad. And the new humanist will say you are human.
           I have heard:

               The young nurse had only just finished her training and had the misfortune to come across a
           particularly difficult patient on her first day in the ward. He complained about everything, expected
           everybody to attend to his every want without delay, and generally made a complete nuisance of
           himself.
               The poor nurse was tired beyond endurance, and, remembering her lectures on nurse-patient
           relationships, finally lost her control and muttered angrily, 'Ah you -- you human being!'

              Now even 'human being' can be used in a condemnatory sense: 'Ah you -- you human being!' It
           depends on your interpretations.
              Your being is never reflected in the eyes of others. Your being you have to come to know only in
           one way -- and that is by closing your eyes to all the mirrors. You have to enter into your own
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inward existence, to face it directly. Nobody can give you any idea of it, what it is. You can know it,
           but not from others. It can never be a borrowed knowledge, it can only be a direct experience, a
           direct experiencing, immediate.
           So, don't be worried about it.

           I FEEL NOT THAT I HAVE TRANSCENDED THE EGO, BUT AS IF I HAVE NO EGO, NO
           BEING, NO ESSENCE. I FEEL SO UNREAL. WHERE AM I?

               You are just in between these two worlds. It happens to every meditator. Hm? You had one
           identity collected from others' eyes, culled from others' opinions. Then you start moving inwards;
           that identity becomes vague, vaguer, starts disappearing. You don't know who you are, and all that
           you know about yourself is disappearing. Just in between you stand one day.
               This is a transitory moment. You have not come in, and you have left the without far away. You
           are just standing on the threshold. The world is no more there, but you are also not yet. In this
           moment one feels very unreal, just a phantom, because one has no idea who one is, and all the ideas
           that one had are lost.
               And in fact nobody can transcend ego because ego does not exist. When we say 'transcending the
           ego' it simply means coming to know that the ego does not exist. It is not something real that you can
           transcend or you can drop, it is an unreal idea you have to simply understand. That very
           understanding is transcendence.

           Now let me repeat the whole question.

           I FEEL MOST OF THE TIME AS IF I ONLY EXIST IN THE EYES OF OTHERS, AS IF I
           REACT TO THEIR EXPECTATIONS OF ME. I FEEL NOT THAT I HAVE TRANSCENDED
           THE EGO, BUT AS IF I HAVE NO EGO, NO BEING, NO ESSENCE. I FEEL SO UNREAL.
           WHERE AM L? WHAT CAN I DO, OR NOT DO?

               You are on the threshold. You have come to understand that your identity in the eyes of others is
           false. Hence you cannot create your ego. The very food for the ego has disappeared. You feel unreal.
           Ego has been up to now your only reality, and you are feeling lost, you don't know where you are,
           but I know where you are. You are just in the middle of two worlds -- this world and that. You are
           just in a transitory moment between sansar and sannyas -- between the world and the real
           renunciation.
               Now, at this moment you are not expected to do anything, because whatsoever you do will take
           you again back into the world. Doing takes people into the world. Nothing is expected from you to
           be done. You are not to do anything, you are simply to wait and watch, not do. Not doing will help.
               Don't do anything and don't try to change the situation, because if you try changing it you will
           again fall back to your own known, familiar world; you will again cling to your old identity. You
           simply wait. Just by waiting, by and by you will slip into the inner world. Nothing is needed to do
           about it, only non-doing helps.
               It is just as if a stream has become muddy. What do you do to clean it? You simply sit on the
           bank; by and by the dust settles back. Again the stream is flowing clear, crystal clear. Just wait. Sit in
           between these two worlds. I know it is very inconvenient, very uncomfortable. One wants to have
           some reality, and it is very unreal. But wait.
               This is what, on the path, is called austerity, tapascharya. This is the arduousness, the real
           arduousness -- when one is losing the old and the new is not coming. You have taken a jump from
           the old and you have not been able to find where to land -- just hanging in between, in a limbo. It is
           uncomfortable, but just wait. Things will settle by themselves.
               In the inner world, action is not needed; only inaction is helpful. Inaction is the action of the
           inner world. Lao Tzu calls it wu wei -- inactive action, passive action. You don't do anything, you
           simply wait and things happen just by your waiting.
               It is good that you are freed from the opinions of others. It is better to be unreal than to be falsely
           real. Your unreality has a reality in it. When you are just real in others' eyes, you are falsely real.
           You only appear to be real, you are not real. And now you have understood, beware -- the trap is big
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and all around, and everybody is ready to force you back into the trap, because nobody likes you to
           get out of their trap. The father wants you to do things the way he wants them to happen. The mother
           wants you to do the things as she wants them to be done. The wife has her own ideas, your children,
           they have their own ideas. And everybody thinks that he has the right clue, and they all go on driving
           you crazy.
           I have heard:

               The familiar screen was carefully placed in position around the patient's bed, and the nurse came
           in with a tape measure. The patient remained silent and unprotesting as the nurse measured him from
           head to toe and from shoulder to shoulder, but could contain himself no longer when she measured
           the distance from the mattress on the bed to the height of his rather large stomach.
               'What on earth are you doing, nurse?' he asked weakly.
               'I am measuring you for a coffin,' was the unexpected reply.
           'But I am not dead!'
               'Be quiet! Do you want to make a fool out of the doctor?'

               Now, the doctor says, and he knows better whether you are dead or alive. 'Be quiet!' she says.
           'Do you want to make a fool out of the doctor?'
               Whatsoever you do, you will be wrong, because you will be going against somebody's wishes,
           somebody's ideas. It is very difficult to please all, and if you go on trying to please.all you will be
           simply wasting your life. And nobody is pleased, nobody can be pleased, it is impossible to please
           anybody.
               Stop fulfilling expectations of others, because that is the only way you can commit suicide. You
           are not here to fulfill anybody's expectations and nobody else is here to fulfill your expectations.
           Never become a victim of others' expectations and don't make anybody a victim of your
           expectations.
               This is what I call individuality. Respect your own individuality and respect others' individuality.
           Never interfere in anybody's life and don't allow anybody to interfere in your life. Only then one day
           you can grow into spirituality.
               Otherwise, ninety-nine percent of people simply commit suicide. Their whole life is nothing but
           a slow suicide. Fulfilling this expectation, that expectation... some day it was the father, some day it
           was the mother, some day it was the wife, husband, then come children -- they also expect. You have
           to fulfill their expectations. Then the society, the priest and the politician, and all around everybody
           is expecting. And poor you there, just a poor human being -- and the whole world expecting you to
           do this and that. And if you don't fulfill their expectations... and you can't fulfill all of their
           expectations, because they are contradictory.
               I was staying in a family and I asked the small boy, 'What are you going to become?'
           He said, 'I don't know. I think I will go mad.'
           'What do you mean?'
               He said, 'My father wants me to become an engineer, my mother wants me to become a doctor.
           My uncle says, "Be a businessman, only then you can...."
               'Another uncle, he says be a professor because that is the most simple profession. And I don't
           know. But this much I know -- that if all expectations are fulfilled, I will go mad.'
               That's how many people have gone mad. And when I am saying many people have gone mad,
           don't make an exception of yourself. You have gone mad fulfilling everybody's expectations. And
           you have not fulfilled anybody's; nobody is happy. This is the beauty. You are lost, completely
           destroyed, and nobody is happy. Because people who are not happy with themselves cannot be
           happy in any way. Whatsoever you do, they will find ways to be unhappy with you, because they
           cannot be happy. Happiness is an art that one has to learn. It has nothing to do with your doing or not
           doing.


              IF LOVE BECOMES DESTROYED IN MARRIAGE, HOW ARE WE TO LIVE IF WE WISH TO SHARE
              LOVE AND THOUGHTS ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, AND ALSO RAISE CHILDREN WITH BOTH A
              MOTHER AND A FATHER?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               I have never said that love is destroyed by marriage. How can marriage destroy love? Yes, it is
           destroyed in marriage, but it is destroyed by you, not by marriage. It is destroyed by the partners.
           How can marriage destroy love? It is you who destroy it, because you don't know what love is. You
           simply pretend to know, you simply hope that you know, you dream that you know, but you don't
           know what love is. Love has to be learned; it is the greatest art there is.
               If people are dancing and somebody asks you, 'Come and dance,' you say, 'I don't know.' You
           don't just jump up and start dancing and have everybody think that you are a great dancer. You will
           just prove yourself to be a buffoon. You will not prove yourself to be a dancer. It has to be learned --
           the grace of it, the movement of it. You have to train the body for it.
               You don't just go and start painting just because the canvas is available and the brush is there and
           the colour is there. You don't start painting. You say, 'All requirements are here, so I can paint. You
           can paint -- but you will not be a painter that way.
               You meet a woman -- the canvas is there. You immediately become a lover -- you start painting.
           And she starts painting on you. Of course you both prove to be foolish -- painted fools -- and sooner
           or later you understand what is happening. But you never thought that love is an art. You are not
           born with the art, it is nothing to do with your birth. You have to learn it. It is the most subtle art.
               You are born only with a capacity. Of course, you are born with a body; you can be a dancer
           because you have the body. You can move your body and you can be a dancer -- but dancing has to
           be learned. Much effort is needed to learn dancing. And dancing is not so difficult because you alone
           are involved in it.
               Love is much more difficult. It is dancing with somebody else. The other is also needed to know
           what dancing is. To fit with somebody, it is a great art. To create a harmony between two persons...
           two persons mean two different worlds. When two worlds come close, clash is bound to be there if
           you don't know how to harmonise. Love is harmony. And happiness, health, harmony, all happen out
           of love. Learn to love. Don't be in a hurry for marriage, learn to love. First become a great lover.
               And what is the requirement? The requirement is that a great lover is always ready to give love
           and is not bothered whether it is returned or not. It is always returned, it is in the very nature of
           things. It is just as if you go to the mountains and you sing a song, and the valleys respond. Have you
           seen an echo point in the mountains, in the hills? You shout and the valleys shout, or you sing and
           the valleys sing. Each heart is a valley. If you pour love into it, it will respond.
               The first lesson of love is not to ask for love, but just to give. Become a giver. And people are
           doing just the opposite. Even when they give, they give only with the idea that love should come
           back. It is a bargain. They don't share, they don't share freely. They share with a condition. They go
           on watching out of the corner of their eye whether it is coming back or not. Very poor people... they
           don't know the natural functioning of love. You simply pour, it will come.
               And if it is not coming, nothing to be worried about -- because a lover knows that to love is to be
           happy. If it comes, good; then the happiness is multiplied. But even if it never comes back, in the
           very act of loving you become so happy, so ecstatic, who bothers whether it comes or not?
               Love has its own intrinsic happiness. It happens when you love. There is no need to wait for the
           result. Just start loving. By and by you will see much more love is coming back to you. One loves
           and comes to know what love is only by loving. As one learns swimming by swimming, by loving
           one loves.
               And people are very miserly. They are waiting for some great beloved to happen, then they will
           love. They remain closed, they remain withdrawn. They just wait. From somewhere some Cleopatra
           will come and then they will open their heart, but by that time they have completely forgotten how to
           open it.
               Don't miss any opportunity of love. Even passing in a street, you can be loving. Even to the
           beggar you can be loving. There is no need that you have to give him something; you can smile at
           least. It costs nothing -- but your very smile opens your heart, makes your heart more alive. Hold
           somebody's hand -- a friend or a stranger. Don't wait that you will only love when the right person
           happens. Then the right person will never happen. Go on loving. The more you love, the more is the
           possibility for the right person to happen, because your heart starts flowering. And a flowering heart
           attracts many bees, many lovers.
               You have been trained in a very wrong way. First, everybody lives under a wrong impression
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that everybody is already a lover. Just being born, you think you are a lover. It's not so easy. Yes,
           there is a potentiality, but the potentiality has to be trained, disciplined. A seed exists, but it has to
           come to flower.
               You can go on carrying your seed; no bee will be coming. Have you ever seen bees coming to
           the seeds? Don't they know that seeds can become flowers? But they come when they become
           flowers. Become a flower, don't remain a seed.
               Two people, separately unhappy, create more unhappiness for each other when they come
           together. That's mathematical. You were unhappy, your wife was unhappy and you both are hoping
           that being together you both will become happy? This is... this is such ordinary arithmetic -- like two
           plus two makes four. It is that simple. It is not part of any higher mathematics; it is very ordinary,
           you can count it on your fingers. You both will become unhappy.

               'You don't love me any more?' asked Mulla Nasrudin's wife. 'You never say anything nice to me
           any more like you used to when we were courting.' She wiped a tear from her eye with the corner of
           her apron.
               'I love you, I love you,' retorted Mulla Nasrudin. 'Now will you please shut up and let me drink
           my beer in peace?'

               Courting is one thing. Don't depend on courting. In fact before you get married, get rid of
           courting. My suggestion is that marriage should happen after the honeymoon, never before it. Only if
           everything goes right, only then marriage should happen.
               Honeymoon after marriage is very dangerous. As far as I know, ninety-nine percent of marriages
           are finished by the time the honeymoon is finished. But then you are caught, then you have no way
           to escape. Then the whole society, the law, the court -- everybody is against you if you leave the
           wife, or the wife leaves you. Then the whole morality, the religion, the priest, everybody is against
           you. In fact society should create all barriers possible for marriage and no barrier for divorce.
           Society should not allow people to marry so easily. The court should create barriers -- live with the
           woman for two years at least, then the court can allow you to get married. Right now they are doing
           just the reverse. If you want to get married, nobody asks whether you are ready or whether it is just a
           whim, just because you like the nose of the woman. What foolishness! One cannot live by just a long
           nose. After two days the nose will be forgotten. Who looks at one's own wife's nose?
           I have heard:

              A certain ward was staffed completely by nurses who looked as though they were finalists in the
           Miss World Contest, but every time one of the patients saw them, he stared intently and said,
           'Rubbish! '
              The man in the next bed could not understand it at all. 'Gorgeous nurses like these to look after
           you and all you can say is "Rubbish". Why?'
              'I was not thinking of the nurses,' said the other sadly, 'I was thinking of my wife.'

               The wife never looks beautiful, the husband never looks beautiful. Once you are aquainted,
           beauty disappears.
               Two persons should be allowed to live together long enough to become aquainted, familiar with
           each other. And even if they want to get married, they should not be allowed. Then divorces will
           disappear from the world. The divorces exist because marriages are wrong and forced. The divorces
           exist because marriages are done in a romantic mood.
               A romantic mood is good if you are a poet -- and poets are not known to be good husbands or
           good wives. In fact poets are almost always bachelors. They fool around but they never get caught,
           and hence their romance remains alive. They go on writing poetry, beautiful poetry.
               One should not get married to a woman or to a man in a poetic mood. Let the prose mood come,
           then settle. Because the day-to-day life is more like prose than like poetry. One should become
           mature enough.
               Maturity means that one is no more a romantic fool. One understands life, one understands the
           responsibility of life, one understands the problems of being together with a person. One accepts all
           those difficulties and yet decides to live with the person. One is not hoping that there is only going to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be heaven, all roses. One is not hoping nonsense; one knows reality is tough. It is rough. There are
           roses, but far and few in between; there are many thorns.
               When you have become alert to all of these problems and still you decide that it is worthwhile to
           risk and be with a person rather than to be alone, then get married. Then marriages will never kill
           love, because this love is realistic. Marriage can kill only romantic love. And romantic love is what
           people call 'puppy love'. One should not depend on it. One should not think about it as nourishment.
           It may be just like ice-cream. You can eat it sometimes, but don't depend on it. Life has to be more
           realistic, more prose.
               And marriage itself never destroys anything. Marriage simply brings out whatsoever is hidden in
           you -- it brings it out. If love is hidden behind you, inside you, marriage brings it out. If love was just
           a pretension, just a bait, then sooner or later it has to disappear. And then your reality, your ugly
           personality comes up. Marriage simply is an opportunity, so whatsoever you had to bring out will
           come out.

                I am not saying that love is destroyed by marriage. Love is destroyed by people who don't know
           how to love. Love is destroyed because in the first place love is not. You have been living in a
           dream. Reality destroys that dream. Otherwise love is something eternal, part of eternity. If you
           grow, if you know the art, and you accept the realities of love-life, then it goes on growing every
           day. Marriage becomes a tremendous opportunity to grow into love.
                Nothing can destroy love. If it is there, it goes on growing. But my feeling is, it is not there in the
           first place. You misunderstood yourself; something else was there. Maybe sex was there, sex appeal
           was there. Then it is going to be destroyed, because once you have loved a woman, then the sex
           appeal disappears -- because the sex appeal is only with the unknown. Once you have tasted the
           body of the woman or the man, then the sex appeal disappears. If your love was only sex appeal then
           it is bound to disappear.
                So never misunderstand love for something else. If love is really love.... What do I mean when I
           say 'really love'? I mean that just being in the presence of the other you feel suddenly happy, just
           being together you feel ecstatic, just the very presence of the other fulfills something deep in your
           heart... something starts singing in your heart, you fall into harmony. Just the very presence of the
           other helps you to be together; you become more individual, more centered, more grounded. Then it
           is love.
                Love is not a passion, love is not an emotion. Love is a very deep understanding that somebody
           somehow completes you. Somebody makes you a full circle. The presence of the other enhances
           your presence. Love gives freedom to be yourself; it is not possessiveness.
                So, watch. Never think of sex as love, otherwise you will be deceived. Be alert, and when you
           start feeling with someone that just the presence, the pure presence -- nothing else, nothing else is
           needed; you don't ask anything -- just the presence, just that the other is, is enough to make you
           happy... something starts flowering within you, a thousand and one lotuses bloom... then you are in
           love, and then you can pass through all the difficulties that reality creates. Many anguishes, many
           anxieties -- you will be able to pass all of them, and your love will be flowering more and more,
           because all those situations will become challenges. And your love, by overcoming them, will
           become more and more strong.
                Love is eternity. If it is there, then it goes on growing and growing. Love knows the beginning
           but does not know the end.




                                The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #3
                                             Chapter title: Only nothing is
           23 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7608230
              ShortTitle: TRANS103
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THE HOMELESS SHRAMANA CUTS OFF THE PASSIONS, FREES HIMSELF OF ATTACHMENTS,
              UNDERSTANDS THE SOURCE OF HIS OWN MIND, PENETRATES THE DEEPEST DOCTRINE OF
              BUDDHA, AND COMPREHENDS THE DHAMMA, WHICH IS IMMATERIAL.
              HE HAS NO PREJUDICE IN HIS HEART. HE HAS NOTHING TO HANKER AFTER. HE IS NOT
              HAMPERED BY THE THOUGHT OF THE WAY NOR IS HE ENTANGLED IN KARMA. NO
              PREJUDICE, NO COMPULSION, NO DISCIPLINE, NO ENLIGHTENMENT AND NO GOING UP
              THROUGH THE GRADES AND YET IN POSSESSION OF ALL HONOURS IN ITSELF. THIS IS
              CALLED THE WAY.
              THE BUDDHA SAID.
              THOSE WHO SHAVING THEIR HEADS AND FACES BECOME SHRAMANAS AND WHO RECEIVE
              INSTRUCTION IN THE WAY SHOULD SURRENDER ALL WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND BE
              CONTENTED WITH WHATEVER THEY OBTAIN BY BEGGING. ONE MEAL A DAY AND ONE
              LODGING UNDER A TREE AND NEITHER SHOULD BE REPEATED, FOR WHAT MAKES ONE
              STUPID AND IRRATIONAL IS ATTACHMENTS AND THE PASSIONS.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THERE ARE TEN THINGS CONSIDERED GOOD BY ALL BEINGS, AND TEN THINGS EVIL.
              THREE OF THEM DEPEND UPON THE BODY, FOUR UPON THE MOUTH, AND THREE UPON
              THOUGHT.
              THREE EVIL DEEDS DEPENDING UPON THE BODY ARE: KILLING, STEALING, AND
              COMMITTING ADULTERY. THE FOUR DEPENDING UPON THE MOUTH ARE: SLANDERING,
              CURSING, LYING AND FLATTERY. THE THREE DEPENDING UPON THOUGHT ARE: ENVY,
              ANGER AND INFATUATION. ALL THESE THINGS ARE AGAINST THE HOLY WAY, AND
              THEREFORE THEY ARE EVIL. WHEN THESE EVILS ARE NOT DONE, THERE ARE TEN GOOD
              DEEDS.


               THE FIRST THING: Buddha emphasizes very much the idea of a homeless wandereR -- the idea
           of homelessness. It need not be taken literally, but the idea is tremendously significant. If you build a
           house, if you build a home around you, you are doing something which is not possible in the nature
           of things. Because this life is a flux, this life is not more than momentary. This life is not stable, not
           permanent -- here we are only for a few moments. Death is approaching continuously; we are dying
           every moment while we are living.
               To make this place, this space, a home, is absurd. The home is not possible here. The home is
           possible only in eternity. Time cannot be made a home, and if you try to make a home here then you
           will be constantly in misery, because you will be fighting against nature; you will be going against
           what Buddha calls dhamma.
               Dhamma simply means tao, the way things are. If you want to make a dream permanent, you will
           suffer, because dream as such cannot be permanent. Its very nature is to be non-permanent. In fact,
           even to repeat the same dream again is difficult. The dream is illusory, you cannot live in it forever.
               To think of a permanent life here on this shore, the shore of time, is stupid. If you are a little
           intelligent, if you are a little aware and if you can see all around you what is happening.... You were
           not here one day, and you will not be here one day again. How can you make a home here? You can
           stay here as if one stays overnight in a serai -- when the morning comes you have to go.
               Yes, you can pitch tents here, but you cannot make a home. You can have shelter, but you should
           not become attached to it. You should not call it 'my', 'mine'. The moment you call anything 'mine',
           you are falling into stupidity. Nothing belongs to you, nothing can belong to you.
               One is a homeless wanderer in the very nature of things. Time is impermanent. Time means the
           temporary. Time cannot have any eternal home in it. To make a home in time is to make a house on
           the sands, or to make a signature in water -- you go on making it; it goes on disappearing.
               Buddha says to understand this homelessness is to become a sannyasin. There is no necessity that
           you leave the home. You can leave if you feel good that way. If it fits with your nature you can leave
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the home, you can literally become a wanderer, but that is not a must. You can remain in the home,
           but it is no more a home for you. You know you don't possess it. You may be using it for a while, but
           tomorrow you have to go.
                So don't make a home anywhere, not even in the body -- because that body is also continuously
           disappearing. If you don't make a home anywhere then you are a sannyasin in spirit -- and a
           sannyasin is never miserable. Because misery comes out of attachment. When your attachments are
           not fulfilled as you wanted them to be, when your expectations are not fulfilled, frustration arises.
           Frustration is a by-product.
                If you don't expect, nobody can frustrate you. If you don't want to make a home here, even death
           cannot frighten you. Nothing can frighten you. If you don't cling to anything, how can you be made
           miserable? Your clinging creates misery, because you want to cling and in the very nature of things,
           things are changing; you cannot cling. They are slipping constantly out of your hands. There is no
           way to cling to them.
                You cling to the wife, you cling to the husband, to the children, to the parents, to the friends. You
           cling to persons, to things, and everything is in a constant flux. You are trying to hold a river in your
           arms and the river is flowing fast; it is rushing towards some unknown goal -- you are frustrated.
                The wife falls in love with somebody else -- you are frustrated. The husband escapes -- you are
           frustrated. The child dies -- you are frustrated. The bank fails, goes bankrupt -- you are frustrated.
           The body becomes ill, weak, death starts knocking at the door -- you are frustrated. But these
           frustrations are because of your expectations. You are responsible for them.
                If you understand that this place is not a home and you are a homeless wanderer here, a stranger
           in an unknown land; you have to leave, you have to go... if you have penetrated that point, if you
           have understood it, then you don't make a home anywhere. You become a homeless wanderer, a
           parivrajaka. You may even literally become so; it depends on you. You may really become a
           wanderer, or spiritually you may become a wanderer.
                My own emphasis is not to become literally a wanderer, because what is the point? Buddha's
           emphasis was not so; let it be clear to you. Buddha has not said what to do, whether to follow him
           literally or not. Millions followed him literally -- they dropped out of their homes, out of their
           families; they really became bhikkhus wandering all over the country, begging. I don't insist on that.
                If really you understand then there is no need to do it in such a factual way. Because to me it
           appears that when a person does not understand the idea completely, only then he literally becomes a
           wanderer; otherwise there is no need. You can be in the home, you can be with your wife and your
           children, and yet remain alert that nothing belongs to you; remain alert that you don't fall into
           attachments; remain alert that if things change you are ready to accept the change, that you will not
           weep for the spilt milk, that you will not cry, that you will not go crazy and mad.
                To me this seems to be more significant than really becoming a wanderer, because that is easier.
           And if there is no home and if you don't possess anything, then how can you renounce? The very
           idea of renouncing it makes it clear that somewhere deep in the unconscious you thought that you
           possessed it, because you can renounce only something which you possess.
                How can you renounce? Your wife is not yours -- how can you renounce? Your children are not
           yours -- how can you renounce? They don't belong to you, so where is the point to renounce then?
           You can simply understand that they don't belong to you; that we are strangers -- we have met on the
           way, or we have stayed under the same tree for a few days, but we are strangers.
                Understanding it deep in your awareness is enough. My emphasis is to become a spiritual
           wanderer. There is no need to drag the body like a beggar; just let your spirit be that of a wanderer,
           and that is enough. Don't create bondage for your spirit.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THE HOMELESS SHRAMANA CUTS OFF THE PASSIONS...


               Passions are our dreams. Passions are our dreams of the future, desires of the future, desires of
           how things should be. Deep down we are always discontent; whatsoever is, is not satisfying. We are
           continuously weaving dreams to change things -- to make a better house, to have a better wife, to
           have a better education, to have more money, to have this, to have that. We are continuously
           thinking in terms of how to make life better. We go on living in the future which is not.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Living in the future is a dream because it exists not. Living in the future is based on a deep
           discontent with the present.
               So two things have to be understood about passions. One, whatsoever we have we cling to it.
           Look at the paradox: whatsoever we have we cling to it and still we are not satisfied with it. We are
           miserable with it, so we desire to modify it, to decorate it, to make it better. We continuously cling to
           that which we have and we continuously desire for that which we don't have. And between these two
           we are crushed. And this will be so always and always. It was so yesterday, it is so today, it is going
           to be so tomorrow... your whole life.
               Whatsoever you will have you will cling to it so that nobody can take it away, and still you will
           be miserable with it and you will hope that someday things will be better. A man who lives in
           passion, in desire, lives a futile life -- always miserable, always dreaming. Miserable with reality and
           dreaming unreal things.
           I have heard:

              'How many fish have you caught?' a passerby asked old Mulla Nasrudin who was fishing off the
           end of the pier.
              'Well,' said the old Mulla thoughtfully, 'if I catch this one that is nibbling at my bait and two
           more, I will have three.'

           He has nothing....
              This is how human mind goes on dreaming. Our life is short, very short, and our dreams are
           immense.

               Seamus and Bridget met on Rockaway beach. As they stretched out together on a blanket under
           the boardwalk, Seamus whispered huskily, 'Bridget, I love you.'
           'But,' protested Bridget, 'we have only just met!'
               'I know,' replied Seamus, 'but I am only here for the weekend.'

               But everybody is here only for the weekend. Life is really very short. How is love possible? How
           can you make a home here? How can you possess anything? Everything is continuously
           disappearing. You are chasing shadows.
           Buddha says:

              THE HOMELESS SHRAMANA CUTS OFF THE PASSIONS, FREES HIMSELF OF
              ATTACHMENTS...


               By attachments he means relationships that really don't exist, only you believe that they exist.
           You are a husband -- you believe that a certain relationship exists between you and your wife, but it
           is just a belief. Have you not observed the fact that even living with a woman for forty, fifty years,
           she remains a stranger, and you remain a stranger to her?
               Down the centuries, men have been trying to understand the woman, the mind, the feminine
           mind -- but man has not been able to understand it yet. The woman has been trying to understand the
           mind of man, yet it remains a mystery. And man and woman have lived together for centuries.
               Observe it. How can you relate to anybody? The other remains out of your grasp. The other
           remains other... unreachable. You may touch the periphery and the other may even pretend that yes,
           you have related, but we remain alone. Relationship is just a make-believe. It helps, it helps in a way.
           It allows us to feel that we are not alone. It makes life a little more comfortable, but that comfort is
           illusory. The other remains the other, and there is no way to penetrate the mystery of the other. We
           ARE alone.
               When Buddha says, THE HOMELESS SHRAMANA FREES HIMSELF OF ALL
           ATTACHMENTS, he means he comes to see that attachment is not possible here.
               Attachment is impossible, relationship is impossible. All relationship is just an absurd effort,
           because you cannot reach the other, you cannot touch the center of the other's being. And unless you
           have touched the center, how can you relate? You don't know the other's soul, you only know the
           body, actions, attitudes -- they are just on the periphery. We meet on the periphery.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That is the misery of relationship. We remain on the periphery and we continuously believe our
           hope, our desire, that someday the relationship will really happen and center will meet to the center,
           the heart will meet to the heart... that we will dissolve -- but it never happens. It cannot happen.
               To become aware of this very disturbing reality is difficult because it takes the very ground from
           underneath your feet. You are left so lonely that you again start believing in old dreams, relationship,
           this and that. You again start creating bridges, but you never succeed, have never succeeded. Not
           that your effort is not enough, not that your skill is not enough, but because in the very nature of
           things, attachment is an impossibility. You are trying to do something which reality does not allow.
               Your aloneness is eternal. Buddha says to understand this aloneness and to remain true to it is the
           meaning of dropping attachments. Not that you escape from the world, but simply all attachments
           drop, bridges drop. And this is the beauty -- that when all attachments drop, you become more
           understanding, and your life with others becomes more peaceful... because you don't hope, you don't
           hope for the impossible, you don't expect. Whatsoever happens you feel grateful and whatsoever
           does not happen you know it cannot happen. You become, in a deeper way, very accepting. You
           don't force reality according to your desires. You start learning how to let go, how to be one and
           harmonious with the reality itself.

              ... UNDERSTANDS THE SOURCE OF HIS OWN MIND, PENETRATES THE DEEPEST DOCTRINE
              OF BUDDHA...


                What is THE DEEPEST DOCTRINE OF BUDDHA? Buddha's greatest message is the message
           of no-self, anatta -- that is his deepest doctrine. That you have to understand. First he says don't make
           a home here, then he says don't be attached, then he says look into yourself; you are not.
                First he says the world is illusory, don't make a home here. Then he says attachments are just
           dreams, drop all attachments from your mind. And then he comes to his deepest doctrine. The
           doctrine is: now look inside, you are not.
                You can exist only with the home, with the possessions, with the relationships. The 'I' is nothing
           but a combination of all these dreams, a cumulative effect. Dreams of possessing things, dreams of
           possessing people -- relationships, attachment, love, passion, dreams of future -- all these accumulate
           and become the ego. When you drop all these, suddenly you disappear, and in your disappearance
           the law starts functioning in its truest way. That is what the Buddha calls the dhamma, the tao, the
           ultimate law.
                So there are three layers of the ego. First layer, the world -- your house, your car, your bank
           balance. Second, attachments -- your relationships, your affairs, your children, wife, husband,
           friends, enemies. And the deepest layer, you. And these all are joined together. If you really want to
           get rid of your ego, you will have to move in a very scientific way. That's what Buddha is doing.
                First, no home; second, no relationships; third, no self. If you do the two first things, the
           preliminary things, the third happens automatically -- you look inside and you are not there. And
           when you see that you are not there -- there is no entity inside, no substantial entity, you cannot call
           yourself 'I' -- you are freed. This is what liberation is in the buddhist way. This is what nirvana is.
                The word nirvana means cessation of the self, arising of a no-self, emptiness... the zero
           experience. Nothing is, only nothing is.
                Then how can you be disturbed? because now there is nobody to be disturbed. Then how can you
           die? because now there is nobody to die. How can you be born? because now there is nobody to be
           born. This nobodyness is tremendously beautiful. It is opening and opening, space and space, with
           no boundaries.
                This is Buddha's concept of reality. It is very difficult to understand. We can understand that ego
           can be dropped -- but the soul? Then we go on in a subtle way still remaining an egoist. Then we call
           it the soul, the atman. Buddha is very consistent. He says any idea of yourself, that you can be in
           some way, is egoistic.
                Let me try to explain it to you through modern physics, because modern physics has also come to
           the same point. Ask the modern scientist. He says the maner only appears, it is not. If you go deeper
           in the maner, only emptiness. It is nothing but emptiness. If you analyse the maner, if you divide the
           atom, then it disappears. At the ultimate core only emptiness remains... only space, pure space.
                The same analysis Buddha did with self. What scientists have been doing with matter, Buddha
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           did with mind. And both agree that if analysis goes deep enough, then there is no substance left, all
           substance disappears. Non-existence is left.
                Buddha could not survive in India. India is the oldest country in the world which has believed in
           the self, the atman. The Upanishads, the Vedas, from Patanjali to Mahavira, everybody has believed
           in the self. They were all against the ego, but they never dared to say that the self is also nothing but
           a trick of the ego. Buddha dared to assert the ultimate truth.
                While he was alive, people could tolerate. His presence was such a powerful presence, his
           presence was so convincing that they could not deny, they could not say that what he is saying is
           against human mind, absolutely against human mind. They may have discussed here and there;
           sometimes a few people came to discuss with him also -- 'What are you saying? Then what is the
           point of being liberated if nobody remains? We hope for liberation so that we will be liberated.'
                Buddha's emphasis is that you will never be liberated, because until and unless you die there is
           no liberation. Liberation is from the self, the self is not liberated. Liberation is from the self itself.
                But his presence was very convincing; whatsoever he was saying must be true. His existence was
           a proof. The grace that has happened to him, the harmony that was surrounding him, the
           luminousness that was following him wherever he walked, moved... the glow. People were puzzled
           -- because this man was saying that there is no self, only tremendous emptiness inside. They could
           not deny.
                But by the time Buddha had gone, they started criticizing, arguing; they started denying. Only
           five hundred years after Buddha left his body, Buddhism was uprooted from India. People could not
           believe in such a drastic attitude. Nothing is, the world is illusory, attachments are stupid, and in the
           final analysis you are not. Then what is the point?
                If everything is a dream and even the self is a dream, then why should we go into it? Let it be a
           dream -- at least something is there. Why should we make so much effort, so many arduous efforts to
           achieve just to nothingness?
                But you have to understand. What Buddha calls nothingness is nothingness from your side. He
           says nothing remains -- nothing of your world, nothing of your relationship, nothing of you, but he is
           not saying that nothing remains. He is saying nothing remains from your side, and that which
           remains cannot be expressed. That which is left, there is no way to express it to you, no way to
           communicate it. Because in whatsoever way it is communicated, it will be misunderstood.
                If Buddha says, 'Yes, the atman, the self exists, but the self is a non-ego state,' you may nod your
           head that yes, we understand. But you don't understand, because the very idea of self carries
           something of the ego in it: 'I am'. Howsoever pure, but the 'I' remains. Your idea of atman, self,
           supreme self, Self with a capital S, is nothing but a transfigured ego.
           It happened:

               Mulla Nasrudin and the local priest were always fighting and arguing and eventually they
           finished up in the court. After listening to evidence from both sides, the magistrate said, 'I feel sure
           that this can be settled amicably. Shake hands with each other and say something for good will.'
               The priest shook Nasrudin's hand and said, 'I wish for you what you wish for me.'
               'See, Your Honour,' said the Mulla, 'he is starting it again.'

               He has not said anything, he has simply said, 'I wish for you what you wish for me.' But Mulla
           knows well what he wishes for him. He says, 'See, Your Honour, he is starting it again.' Whatsoever
           is said to you will be coloured by you.
               Buddha remained very pure; he wouldn't allow you to corrupt. He wouldn't give you even a hint.
           He simply denied totally, absolutely. He said whatsoever you know disappears -- your world, your
           love, your attachments, your things, your relationships, you. You are the center, your world is your
           periphery. They all disappear together. It is not possible that you can be saved when your world is
           lost. When the periphery, the circumference is lost, the center is also lost. They go together. When
           the elephant moves, the tail of the elephant also moves with it. When your whole world drops, you
           also drop with it; you are part of it, an organic part of that dream.
               But let me remind you -- don't misunderstand Buddha. He was very logical not to say anything
           about that which remains. He said, 'Come and experience it.' He said, 'Don't force me to relate it to
           you linguistically. Let it be existential experience.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You disappear but in a way for the first time you appear. But this appearance is something so
           totally different from all your experiences that there is no way to relate it. Whatsoever will be said
           will be wrong, because you will interpret it in your own way.

              THE HOMELESS SHRAMANA CUTS OFF THE PASSIONS, FREES HIMSELF OF ATTACHMENTS,
              UNDERSTANDS THE SOURCE OF HIS OWN MIND, PENETRATES THE DEEPEST DOCTRINE OF
              BUDDHA, AND COMPREHENDS THE DHAMMA WHICH IS IMMATERIAL.


               This much Buddha allows -- that there is a dhamma, a natural law, which is immaterial. He will
           not say spiritual; he simply says WHICH IS IMMATERIAL. What is this dhamma? What is this
           law?
               It will be easy if you understand Lao Tzu's concept of tao, or if you understand the vedic concept
           of rita. There must be something like a law which holds everything together. The changing seasons,
           the moving stars... the whole universe goes on so smoothly; it must have a certain law.
               The difference has to be understood. Jews, Christians, Mohammedans, Hindus, call that law
           'god'; they personify it. Buddha is not ready to do it. He says to personify god is to destroy the whole
           beauty of it, because that is anthropomorphic, anthropocentric attitude. Man thinks as if god is just
           like man -- magnified, quantitatively millions of times bigger, but still, like man.
               Buddha says god is not a person. That's why he never uses the word 'god'. He says dhamma, the
           law. God is not a person but just a force, immaterial force. Its nature is more like law than like a
           person. That's why in Buddhism, prayer does not exist.
               You cannot pray to a law; it will be pointless. You cannot pray to the law of gravitation, can
           you? It will be meaningless. The law cannot listen to your prayer. You can follow the law, and you
           can be in happy harmony with the law. Or, you can disobey the law and you can suffer. But there is
           no point in praying to the law.
               If you go against gravitation you may break a few of your bones, you may have a few fractures.
           If you follow the law of gravitation, you can avoid the fractures -- but what is the point of praying?
           Sitting before the icon and praying to the Lord -- 'I am going for a journey, help me' -- it is absurd.
               Buddha says the universe runs according to a law, not according to a person. His attitude is
           scientific. Because, he says, a person can be whimsical. You can pray to god and you can persuade
           him, but that is dangerous. Somebody who is not praying to god may not be able to persuade him
           and god may become prejudiced -- a person is always capable of prejudice.
               And that's what all the religions say -- that if you pray, he will save you, if you pray you will not
           be miserable, if you don't pray you will be thrown into hell.
               To think in these terms about god is very human, but very unscientific. That means god loves
           your flattery, your prayers. So if you are a praying person and you go regularly to the church, to the
           temple, and you read the Gita and the Bible, you recite Koran, then he will help you; otherwise he
           will be very annoyed by you. If you say, 'I don't believe in god,' he will be very angry at you.
               Buddha says this is stupid. God is not a person. You cannot annoy him and you cannot buttress
           him, you cannot flatter him. You cannot persuade him to your own way. Whether you believe in him
           or not, that doesn't matter. A law exists beyond your belief. If you follow it, you are happy. If you
           don't follow it, you become unhappy.
               Look at the austere beauty of the concept of law. Then the whole question is of a discipline, not
           of prayer. Understand the law and be in harmony with it, don't be in a conflict with it, that's all. No
           need for a temple, no need for a mosque, no need to pray. Just follow your understanding.
               Buddha says that whenever you are miserable it is just an indication that you have gone against
           the law, you have disobeyed the law. Whenever you are in misery, just understand one thing; watch,
           observe, analyse your situation, diagnose it -- you must be going somewhere against the law, you
           must be in conflict with the law. Buddha says it is not that the law is punishing you; no, that is
           foolish -- how can a law punish you? You are punishing yourself by being against the law. If you go
           with the law, it is not that the law is awarding you -- how can the law award you? If you go with it,
           you are awarding yourself. The whole responsibility is yours -- obey or disobey.
               If you obey, you live in heaven. If you disobey, you live in hell. Hell is a state of your own mind
           when you are antagonistic to the law, and heaven is also a state of your own mind when you are in
           harmony.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              HE HAS NO PREJUDICE IN HIS HEART.


             Buddha says one who understands the law HAS NO PREJUDICE IN HIS HEART. HE HAS
           NOTHING TO HANKER AFTER. HE IS NOT HAMPERED BY THE THOUGHT OF THE WAY,
           NOR IS HE ENTANGLED IN KARMA. NO PREJUDICE, NO COMPULSION, NO DISCIPLINE,
           NO ENLIGHTENMENT, AND NO GOING UP THROUGH THE GRADES, AND YET IN
           POSSESSION OF ALL HONOURS IN ITSELF -- THIS IS CALLED THE WAY.

                This is a very revolutionary statement. You cannot come across such a statement in Krishna's
           assertions, or Jesus' assertions, or Mohammed's. This is tremendously revolutionary.
                Buddha says a real man of understanding does not even hanker for enlightenment. Because even
           to desire enlightenment is to desire, and desire is misery. Whether you desire money or you desire
           satori, whether you desire some person or you desire enlightenment, whether you desire prestige,
           power, respectability, or you desire dhyana, samadhi, meditation, enlightenment, desire as such is the
           same; the nature of desire is the same. Desire means desire, and desire brings misery. What you
           desire is irrelevant -- you desire, that's enough to make you miserable.
                Desire means you have moved away from reality, you have moved away from that which is.
                Desire means you have fallen into the trap of a dream.
                Desire means you are not herenow, you have gone somewhere in the future.
                Non-desire is enlightenment, so how can you desire enlightenment? If you desire enlightenment
           your very desire prevents its happening. You cannot desire enlightenment. You can only understand
           the nature of desire, and in the light of understanding, desire disappears -- as you bring a lamp into a
           dark room, darkness disappears.
                Desire is darkness. When you light a candle of understanding, desire disappears. And when there
           is no desire, there is enlightenment. That's what enlightenment is.
                Try to understand this; this is one of the things you will need very much. It is very easy to change
           the object of your desire from worldly things to otherworldly things.
                I was in a certain town. I had gone for an evening walk. Just when I was approaching the garden
           a woman came to me and gave me a booklet. On the booklet there was a beautiful garden on the
           cover page and a beautiful bungalow by the side of a spring. Tall trees and far in the background
           snow peaks. I looked inside. Inside, I was surprised to see it was a propaganda pamphlet by some
           christian community. In the pamphlet it said, 'If you want to have a beautiful house in the garden of
           god, then follow Jesus. If in the other world you want such a beautiful house then follow Jesus.'
                Now this type of attitude seems to be very worldly, but this has been so. Except Buddha's
           attitude, all other religions are in some way or other asking you not to drop desire, but asking you to
           change the object of desire. That is the difference. They say, 'Don't desire worldly things, desire
           heavenly things. Don't desire money, desire god.'
                Now you can see the difference, the revolutionary change. Buddha says simply don't desire. It is
           not a question of what you desire. If you desire you will remain in misery. Don't desire, that's all. Be
           desireless, that's all. And when you are desireless you are calm and quiet and collected. When you
           are desireless ego disappears, when you are desireless misery disappears, and when you are
           desireless you fall in tune with the law.
                Your desire is always a conflict with the law. Your desire simply says that you are not satisfied
           with what is given to you. You ask for more or you ask for something else. A desireless person
           simply says, 'Whatsoever is, is. Whatsoever is happening is happening. I accept it and I go with it. I
           have no other mind. If this is what is happening, I will simply delight in it. I will enjoy it. I will be
           with it.'
                This is what I call surrender. Surrendering means non-desiring.

              HE IS NOT HAMPERED BY THE THOUGHT OF THE WAY.


              If you are desiring god, paradise... in fact the very word 'paradise' means a walled garden... if you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are desiring some beautiful palaces in the other world, then even the way, the path, the religion, the
           Bible, the Koran, the Gita, they will hamper you, they will burden you -- because a desiring mind is
           always disturbed, always wavering, always thinking whether it is going to happen or not, always
           doubting whether it has ever happened to anybody.
               'Am I foolish in desiring it? Does it really exist? Does it exist, the other world? the god? the
           happiness? the paradise? or is it just a myth, a story for children, for people who need toys?' And
           then even the way becomes a tension, because he uses everything as a means to reach to some end.
               Buddha says the man of understanding is not even hampered by the thought of the way, because
           he is not going anywhere, so there is no point of any way. He is simply here. When you are going
           somewhere you need a way. When you understand, you simply enjoy being here. This moment is
           enough. There is nowhere to go, so what is the point of a way, a path, means? There is no end, no
           goal, nowhere to go.
               That's my emphasis also. There is nowhere to go. Just be here. Just be here as totally as possible.
           Don't allow your mind to go anywhere. And in that moment when you are not going anywhere,
           everything falls into silence. Experience it. You can experience it right now, listening to me -- if you
           are not going anywhere.
               You can listen to me in two ways. One way is of the mind, of the desire. You can listen to me in
           order to find out some clue so that you can become enlightened; to find out some clue so that you
           can enter into the palace of god; to find out some key. Then you will be uneasy, restless.
               And you can listen to me without any idea of going anywhere. You can simply listen to me, you
           can just be here with me. In that silence when you are just here, delighting with me, listening to me
           as one listens to a waterfall, as one listens to birds chirping in the trees, as one listens to the wind
           blowing in the pines -- just listening for no reason -- then in that moment you are in tune with tao,
           you are in tune with dhamma, you are in tune with the universe.
               The universe is going somewhere; you fall in tune with it, you move with the river. Then you
           don't push the river. Then you don't have any other goal than the goal of the whole.

               ... NOR IS HE ENTANGLED IN KARMA.


               A man who understands has nothing to do, he has just to be. His being is all his action. His action
           is his delight, he enjoys it. You ask a painter. If the painter is a real painter, then he enjoys painting,
           not that there is some result to it. There may not be, there may be; that is irrelevant.
               Somebody asked Van Gogh, 'What is your best painting?' He was painting something. He said,
           'This one -- that which I am doing right now.' People were worried why Van Gogh was painting at
           all because his paintings were not selling. Not a single painting was sold while he was alive. And he
           was dying, starving himself, because he had only enough money to live. Each week his brother was
           giving him a certain amount of money, enough just to survive. So for three days he would eat, and
           for four days he would fast every week to save money for colours, brushes, canvases -- and they
           were not selling at all. People used to think that he was mad, but he was tremendously happy...
           starving and happy. What was his happiness? The very act of painting.
               Remember, an action becomes a karma, a bondage, if you have some end, if you are going
           somewhere through it. If your action is just your delight -- like children playing, making sand
           castles, enjoying, no goal to their activity, just playing, intrinsic play in the very activity -- then there
           is no karma, then there is no bondage. Then each action brings more and more freedom.

               ... NO PREJUDICE, NO COMPULSION, NO DISCIPLINE.


              A man of understanding need not discipline himself. His understanding is his discipline. You
           need discipline because your understanding is not enough.
              People come to me... just the other night somebody was there. He wrote a letter to me that he
           knows what is right but he goes on doing what is wrong. He knows what is wrong, still he goes on
           doing it. 'So how to change it,Osho?' he writes. Now if you really know what is right, how can you
           do wrong? Somewhere your knowledge must be borrowed, it cannot be yours. If you really know
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what is wrong, how can you do it? It is impossible. If you do, that simply shows you don't know.
                Socrates used to say, 'Knowledge is virtue.' If you know something, it starts happening. But the
           knowledge must be real, and by real I mean it must be yours, it must have come through your own
           life, it must be an essence of your own experience. It should not be borrowed, it should not be
           academic, it should not be scriptural, it should not be just information. It should be your own
           experience, authentically lived. Then you cannot go against it, there is no way.
                How can you pass through a wall knowing that it is a wall? You go through the door. You never
           come to me and say, 'I know, Osho, where the door is, but still I first try to go through the wall. It
           always hits my head. What to do now?' If you know where the door is you pass through it. If you say
           you know and still you try to go through the wall, that simply shows you don't know. You may have
           heard, somebody else may have told you, but you don't trust. Your action shows what you know.
           Your action is the only proof of your knowledge, nothing else.
                Buddha says no discipline is needed if understanding is there. Understanding brings its own
           discipline -- intrinsic, inner.
                There are two sorts of discipline, as there are two sorts of knowledge. If knowledge comes from
           without, then you have to enforce discipline on yourself. If knowledge springs, wells up from within,
           then there is no need to enforce any discipline. Discipline comes as a shadow to it; it follows.

              ... NO DISCIPLINE, NO ENLIGHTENMENT, AND NO GOING UP THROUGH THE GRADES.


                And Buddha says there are no grades. People are there who come and say to me, 'I am advanced
           but still not yet attained.' They want from me a certificate also, so that I can give them an indication
           of how far they are advanced, on what grade they are.
                Buddha says in fact there are no gradations. There are only two types of people -- enlightened
           and unenlightened. There is no in between. It is not that a few people are there who are just in the
           middle. Either you are alive or you are dead, there is no in between. Either you know or you don't;
           there is no in between. Grades don't exist.
                All grades are tricks of the ego. The ego says, 'Yes, I am not yet enlightened, but I am far
           advanced. Just ninety-nine degrees. One degree more and I will be enlightened. I am not far behind
           -- far advanced.' Drop all that nonsense. If you are not enlightened you are simply not enlightened.
                All unenlightened people are the same and all enlightened people are also the same. The
           difference is just as if you are sleeping and somebody is sitting by your side fully alert and aware.
           This is the only difference. If you are awake, you are awake. You cannot say, 'I am just in between.'
           There is no state like that. If you are asleep, you are asleep; if you are awake, you are awake.
                And the difference is small and yet tremendous. A man fully alert sitting awake and a man
           snoring by the side -- both are the same human beings, same consciousnesses, but one is in deep
           darkness, lost, oblivious of itself; another luminous, alive, attained to its own inner flame.
                If something happens then they both will react in different ways. The alert person is bound to
           react in a different way. His reaction will be a response; he will respond, knowing well what he is
           doing. If the sleepy person reacts, his reaction will be a mechanical reaction, not knowing what he is
           doing.

           Buddha says:

              ... NO DISCIPLINE, NO ENLIGHTENMENT, NO GOING UP THROUGH THE GRADES, AND YET IN
              POSSESSION OF ALL HONOURS IN ITSELF -- THIS IS CALLED THE WAY.


               Buddha says if you surrender the ego, if you surrender yourself, you come in a harmony with the
           law and everything starts happening on its own. You have but to surrender. If you are ready to
           disappear, you will be full of the law and the law will take care.
               Have you watched it? If you trust the river you can float. The moment you lose the trust you start
           drowning. If you trust, the river takes you in her hands. If you become afraid you start drowning.
           That's why dead bodies start floating on the surface of the river, because dead bodies cannot doubt.
           Dead bodies cannot be afraid.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Alive, the same persons went down into the river and drowned. When dead, they surface, they
           start floating on the surface. Now it is very difficult for the river to drown them -- no river has been
           able to up to now. No river can drown a dead body. Alive, what happens? What happens? The dead
           man must be knowing some secret. The secret is, he cannot doubt.
               You must have heard the beautiful parable in Jesus' life -- that his disciples are crossing the lake
           of Galilee and he is left behind and he says, 'I will be coming soon. I have to say my prayers.' And
           then the disciples are very much puzzled -- he is coming walking on the lake. They are afraid,
           frightened, scared. They think it must be some evil force. How can he walk?
               And then one disciple says, 'Master, is it really you?' Jesus says, 'Yes.' Then the disciple says,
           'Then if you can walk, why can't I, your disciple?' Jesus says, 'You can also walk -- come!' And the
           disciple comes and he walks a few steps, and he's surprised that he is walking -- but then doubt
           arises. He says, 'What is happening? This is unbelievable.'
               The moment he thinks, 'This is unbelievable. Am I in a dream, or some trick of the devil, or what
           is happening?' he starts drowning. And Jesus says, 'You, you of little faith! Why did you doubt? And
           you have walked a few steps and you know that it has happened; then too you doubt it?'
               Whether this story happened in this way or not is not the point. But I also know; you can try. If
           you trust the river, just relax in the river and you will float. Then the doubt will arise, the same doubt
           that came to Jesus' disciple: 'What is happening? How is it possible? I'm not drowning' -- and
           immediately you will start drowning.
               The difference between a swimmer and a non-swimmer is not much. The swimmer has learned
           how to trust; the non-swimmer has not yet learned how to trust. Both are the same. When the
           non-swimmer falls into the river, doubt arises. He starts feeling afraid -- the river is going to drown
           him. And of course then the river drowns him. But he is drowning himself in his own doubt. The
           river is not doing anything. The swimmer knows the river, the ways of the river, and he has been
           with the river many times and he trusts; he simply floats, he is not afraid.
           Life is exactly the same.

           Buddha says:

              AND YET IN POSSESSION OF ALL HONOURS IN ITSELF -- THIS IS CALLED THE WAY.


               The man of understanding is in a total let-go. He allows the law to function. If you want old
           religious language, non-buddhist language, you can call it surrender to god. Then the devotee says,
           'Now I am no more, only you are. I am just a flute on your lips, a hollow bamboo. You sing; the song
           will be yours, I will be just a passage.' This is old religious language.
               Buddha is not happy with the old language. Buddha is not happy with the poets' language.
           Buddha likes the scientific language more. He talks the same way as Albert Einstein, or Newton, or
           Edison. He talks about the law. Now it is for you to decide. The difference is only of language, but
           the basic thing is letting go, a total surrender.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO SHAVING THEIR HEADS AND FACES BECOME SHRAMANAS AND WHO RECEIVE
              INSTRUCTIONS IN THE WAY, SHOULD SURRENDER ALL WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND BE
              CONTENTED WITH WHATEVER THEY OBTAIN BY BEGGING.



              ONE MEAL A DAY, AND ONE LODGING UNDER A TREE, AND NEITHER SHOULD BE
              REPEATED, FOR WHAT MAKES ONE STUPID AND IRRATIONAL IS ATTACHMENTS AND THE
              PASSIONS.
              THOSE WHO SHAVING THEIR HEADS AND FACES BECOME SHRAMANAS...

               Just as I insist for ochre robes, a mala around your neck, Buddha insisted for his sannyasins to
           shave their heads, their faces. These are just gestures, don't take them literally. They are just
           gestures, indications that you are ready to surrender. They don't have any other meaning. The only
           meaning is that you are ready to go with Buddha.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When you take sannyas, when you are initiated in sannyas, you are simply saying yes to me. You
           are saying, 'Yes, Osho, I am coming with you. Even if you say to do something mad, I'm ready to do
           it.'
                Now this is something mad -- wearing orange. What is the point of it? But this is just a gesture
           that you are ready even to become a laughing stock; even if people think it is ridiculous, you are
           ready to go. You are ready to be ridiculous, but you are prepared to go with me, whatsoever the cost.
           It is just a surrendering gesture.
                Buddha used to say that a shramana should live in insecurity. That's why he said become
           beggars. Again, don't take it literally. Try to understand the spirit of it. He says you cannot possess
           anything, it is impossible to possess anything. Life is insecurity and there is no way to become
           secure. Death is coming and will destroy all your securities. So don't be bothered. Even if you are a
           beggar, be happy, be a beggar happily. There is no point in worrying too much about your security.
           Understand the insecurity of life, accept it -- in that very acceptance you become secure.

               And Buddha used to say:... ONE MEAL A DAY AND ONE LODGING UNDER A TREE AND
           NEITHER SHOULD BE REPEATED.
               Because Buddha says that if you repeat a certain thing again and again, it becomes a habit, a
           mechanical habit. And when you become mechanical you lose awareness. So don't repeat. Go on
           changing the situation, so in every situation you have to be alert. Go on changing the town. Don't beg
           from the same door again and don't sleep under the same tree again. These are just devices so that
           you have to remain alert.
               Have you watched it? If you move into a new house, for a few days you feel very uneasy. By and
           by you become accustomed to the new house and then you become at home. It takes a little time:
           between three days and three weeks, a person becomes at home in the new house. Then the house
           has become a habit. Buddha says before that happens, move. Not even under the same tree sleep
           twice, otherwise there is a tendency in the mind to claim.
               Beggars also claim. A beggar sits under a tree and begs. Then he will not allow any other
           beggars to sit there. He will say, 'Go somewhere else. This is my tree!' Beggars have their
           dominions. A beggar comes to beg in this neighbourhood; he will not allow other beggars to come
           here, he will fight -- this territory is his. You may not know, but you belong to his territory. He will
           not allow other beggars to enter here.
               Buddha says don't allow the mind to become lazy, don't allow the mind to become mechanical.
           Remain alert, moving. Don't become stagnant, go on moving. Because one becomes stupid and
           irrational if attachment and passions are allowed. If you become attached you become stupid, you
           lose intelligence.
               The more secure you are, the more stupid you become. That's why it rarely happens that
           intelligent people come from rich families... very rarely. Because they are so secure, they have no
           challenges in life, they have all that they need -- why bother? You cannot find rich people very
           sharp. They are almost always a little dull -- a sort of stupor, dragging. Comfortably dragging,
           conveniently dragging, dragging in Rolls Royces -- but dragging, dull. Life seems to have no
           challenge because there is no insecurity.
               Buddha used it as a device: become insecure so you become sharp. A beggar has to be very sharp
           and intelligent -- he has nothing. He has to live moment to moment. That's why Buddha insisted for
           his sannyasins to become beggars. He called them bhikkhus. Bhikkhu means a beggar. It was just a
           reversal. In India sannyasins have always been known as swamis -- swami means a master. Exactly,
           the word 'swami' means 'lord'. Buddha changed the whole thing. He called his sannyasins bhikkhus,
           beggars. But he brought a new dimension, a new meaning, a new challenge.
               He said live moment to moment. Having nothing, you will never be secure -- and you will never
           be stupid. Have you watched? When you have money, you become lethargic. When you don't have
           money you become alert. If suddenly all is lost you will become very alert. If you have to keep
           yourself alive by begging, you cannot be certain about the tomorrow. Nobody knows what is going
           to happen,.whether you will be able to get something or not, whether you will be able to find
           somebody to give you something or not; you don't know. Tomorrow is not settled... uncertain. In
           uncertainty, in insecurity, your intelligence becomes more and more sharp. You become more
           brilliant.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THERE ARE TEN THINGS CONSIDERED GOOD BY ALL BEINGS, AND TEN THINGS EVIL.


              What are they?

              THREE OF THEM DEPEND UPON THE BODY, FOUR UPON THE MOUTH, AND THREE UPON
              THOUGHT.
              THREE EVIL DEEDS DEPENDING UPON THE BODY ARE: KILLING, STEALING, AND
              COMMITTING ADULTERY. THE FOUR DEPENDING UPON THE MOUTH ARE: SLANDERING,
              CURSING, LYING AND FLATTERY. THE THREE DEPENDING UPON THOUGHT ARE: ENVY,
              ANGER AND INFATUATION. ALL THESE THINGS ARE AGAINST THE HOLY WAY, AND
              THEREFORE THEY ARE EVIL.


               Look at the difference. Buddha says they are against the holy way. If you do these ten things you
           will be miserable, you will be continuously in pain, anxiety, anguish. It is difficult for a man to be
           violent and not be miserable. If you kill somebody you will remain in misery. Before you kill you
           will be in misery, when you kill you will be in misery, and after you have killed you will be in
           misery. Destructiveness cannot bring happiness; destruction is against the law of creation.
               The law of creation is to be creative. So Buddha says if you are destructive you will be
           miserable. If you are envious, infatuated, competitive, ambitious, jealous, possessive, you will be in
           misery. The only criterion to know what is wrong is: whatsoever makes you miserable.
               Now this is a very different attitude. Not that god says, 'Don't do this'; not that there are ten
           commandments.... Buddha also says there are ten things to be avoided, but not that there is a despot,
           somebody dictating, somebody like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin sitting there on a golden throne in
           the heaven and dictating, 'Do this and don't do that.' There is nobody. It is for you to decide.
               Buddha gives you just a criterion: whatsoever brings misery is wrong. He does not say it is a sin.
           Look for the emphasis. He says it is simply wrong -- just as two plus two are not five. If you make
           two plus two five, nobody will say that you have committed a sin. It is simply wrong, a mistake.
               In buddhist terminology there is nothing like sin; only mistakes, errors. There is no
           condemnation. You can correct the error, you can correct the mistake. It is simple. You can put two
           plus two as four, the moment you understand.

              ALL THESE THINGS ARE AGAINST THE HOLY WAY AND THEREFORE THEY ARE EVIL.


              There is no other reason for them to be evil: simply because they create misery for you. In fact,
           you create it by following them. If you don't want to be miserable, then avoid these things.

              WHEN THESE EVILS ARE NOT DONE, THERE ARE TEN GOOD DEEDS.


              And this is very significant. Listen to this sentence again:

              WHEN THESE EVILS ARE NOT DONE, THERE ARE TEN GOOD DEEDS.


               Buddha does not talk about the good deeds. He says if you don't do these ten, you will be in
           harmony with the whole, with the law, and whatsoever will be happening will be good.
               Good is not that which one needs to do. Good is when you are not a doer; when you are in a
           let-go with the whole, moving with the law, with the river, good happens. Good is not an act. Now
           there is no sin, only errors. And there is no virtue, no punya, only good deeds happening when you
           have surrendered yourself.
               So Buddha says avoid the bad deeds, the evil things. He is not saying practise the good ones, he
           is simply saying avoid the wrong and you will come in tune with the whole, you will become
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           harmonious with the law, and then whatsoever happens is good.
               Good is like health. Don't be ill, then you are healthy. Just avoid illness, that's all, and you will be
           healthy. If you go to the doctor and you ask him what the definition of health is, he will not be able
           to define it. He will say, 'I don't know. I can simply diagnose your illness. I can prescribe a medicine
           for the illness. When the illness has disappeared you will be healthy and then you can know what
           health is.'
               The same is the Buddha's attitude. Buddha used to call himself a physician, a vaidya, a doctor.
           He used to say of himself, 'I am just a doctor, a physician. You come to me, I diagnose your disease,
           I prescribe medicine. When diseases have disappeared, whatsoever is left, that presence is health.'

              WHEN THESE EVILS ARE NOT DONE, THERE ARE TEN GOOD DEEDS.


               So he is not giving you a positive discipline to be followed, just a negative understanding. Just
           try to understand, so that the error is not committed, so that you become harmonious with the whole.
               Harmony is happiness, and harmony is heaven. And harmony happens only when you are in tune
           with the whole. To be with the whole is to be holy.




                                The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #4
                                      Chapter title: Two empty skies meeting
           24 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608240
              ShortTitle: TRANS104
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins




              JESUS AND BUDDHA WERE CERTAINLY INDIVIDUALS. CANNOT THEIR INDIVIDUALITY AND
              ITS EXPRESSION BE CALLED PERSONALITY? YOU TOO, IT COULD BE SAID, HAVE A
              PERSONALITY, YET NOT AN EGO.
              PLEASE CLARIFY THE CONCEPTS OF PERSONALITY, EGO, INDIVIDUALITY, AND SELF.


               THE FIRST THING to be understood is about the words 'individuality' and 'personality'.
           'Individuality' means one who is indivisible, one who has become a unity, one who is no more
           divided. It is a beautiful word. In this sense, Buddha, Jesus, Zarathustra, can be called individuals --
           in this root meaning of the word, not the way you use it.
               Your use of 'individuality' is almost a synonym for 'personality'. 'Personality' has different
           orientations. It comes from greek drama. In greek drama the actors used to have 'personas', masks.
           They would be hiding behind the mask. You could not have seen their faces, you could have only
           heard their voice. 'Sona' means sound. 'Persona' means you can have a contact only with their
           sounds, not with their faces. They are hiding somewhere. From that comes the word 'personality'.
               In that sense Buddha, Jesus, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, have no personalities. They are just there in
           front of you, not hiding anything. They are naked, confronting you in their absolute purity. There is
           nothing to hide. You can see them through and through, they are transparent beings.
               So you cannot say rightly that they have personalities or that they are persons. They are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           individuals, but remember the meaning of the word -- they cannot be divided. They don't have
           fragments. They are not a crowd. They are not polypsychic. They don't have many minds. Their
           manyness has disappeared and they have become one, and their oneness is such that there is no way
           to divide it. No sword can cut them in two. Their indivisibility is ultimate.
                In that sense you can call them individuals. But it is dangerous. Because this oneness comes only
           when the many is lost. When the many is lost how can you say even that one is one? Because one
           can be called meaningfully one only when the possibility for many exists. But the very possibility
           has disappeared.
                Buddha is not many, but how can you call him one? That's why in India we call god advaita,
           non-dual. We could have called him one, but we have resisted that temptation. We have never called
           him one, because the moment that you call something one, the two has entered -- because one cannot
           exist without the two, the three, the four. One is meaningful only in a series. One is meaningful only
           in a hierarchy.
                If really one has become one, how can you call him one? The word loses meaning. You can call
           him only not-many; you can call him non-dual, advaita, not two. But you cannot call him one.
           Not-two is beautiful. It simply says that the twoness, the manyness, has disappeared. It does not say
           what has appeared, it simply says what has disappeared. It is a negative term.
                Anything that can be said about the ultimate truth has to be negative. We can say what god is not,
           we cannot say what he is. Because to say what he is, we define him. Every definition is a limitation.
           Once god is defined he is no more infinite, he becomes finite.
                So in a way you can call Buddha an individual, but it will be better to resist the temptation. He is
           certainly not a person, he has no personality, but to call him individual is also not right -- better than
           calling him a person, but still not perfect. He is not a person, he is not an individual -- because he is
           not.
                The very idea of his being has disappeared. He is just a vast emptiness. He is space. He has no
           boundaries now.
                Remember, if you have boundaries you can be divided. Anything that is finite can be divided.
           Ask the physicists. They say you can divide the molecule -- it is very small, but you can divide it
           because it has a boundary. You can divide the atom. It is very minute, but still it has a boundary; you
           can divide it. You can divide the electron, the neutron, the proton, because they also have
           boundaries. But beyond that, division is impossible because boundaries disappear; beyond that,
           matter loses all limitation; beyond that is the infinite pure space. You cannot divide. It is impossible
           to divide pure space.
                So somebody becomes an individual only when he has become infinite. It will look paradoxical,
           but let me say it: somebody becomes individual only when he has become universal, when he is one
           with the whole. Then somebody is an individual. But then to call him an individual will be stretching
           the meaning of the word too far. It will be a little too outlandish. It is better to call Buddha a nobody
           -- neither a person nor an individual. All those things have been left far behind. He has transcended
           all limitations.

               The question is from Prem Divya. She asks, PLEASE CLARIFY THE CONCEPTS OF
           PERSONALITY, EGO, INDIVIDUALITY AND SELF.
               Personality and ego are two aspects of the same coin, just as individuality and self are two
           aspects of the same coin. The personality has a center -- that center is called the ego. Because
           personality itself is false, the center is also false, because a false circumference cannot have a real
           center and a real center cannot have a false circumference.
               Personality is unreal. Personality is that which you pretend to be, but you are not. Personality is
           that which you show, but you are not. Personality is your exhibition, not your reality. Personality is
           that which you create around yourself -- a fiction to deceive -- but you are not. This personality has a
           false center, as false as it is itself. That false center is the ego. When you drop personality, ego
           disappears. Or you drop the ego and the personality collapses to the ground, to the dust.
               Remember not to pretend that which you are not, otherwise you will never be able to drop the
           ego. Then you go on feeding the ego. Never try to look in any way different than you are.
           Whatsoever the cost, be true to yourself. Don't try to decorate it, to clothe it in manners, etiquettes, a
           thousand and one falsities. Be naked as you are. Let people feel your real pulse, and you will not be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           at loss.
               In the beginning you may see that you are getting into trouble, but soon you will find that you are
           never at a loss. With reality nobody ever loses. With unreality you only think you are gaining, you
           go on losing. That's how many people destroy their whole life -- by being unreal -- and then they say
           that they are not happy. How can an unreal person be happy?
               It is as if you have put stones in the soil instead of seeds and you are waiting, you are waiting for
           them to sprout and bloom and fill your life with flowers and fruits. It is impossible -- those stones
           cannot grow. Those stones are not seeds of something, they don't have any potentiality. They may
           look like seeds, you may have coloured them in such a way, you may have painted them in such a
           way that they look like seeds, but they are not seeds, they cannot grow.
               The ego cannot grow. It is dead, a false entity. It is not alive. You can go on and on living with it,
           but your whole life will become like a desert... empty. No fulfillment, no contentment, no bliss will
           ever knock at your door.
               You can wait for eternity, nobody will ever come. Because in the very beginning you missed
           something -- something very essential and basic. Only you can grow, not the pretensions.
               I told you the word 'personality' comes from 'persona'. If you have a mask, the mask will not
           grow. You will grow. You may have put the mask on your face when you were a child, now you may
           be a young man -- but the mask will remain the same... a dirty old thing, rotten. It will simply rot, it
           cannot grow. You will be growing behind it, and it will give you many pains because it will be a
           confinement. It cannot grow and you are growing. It is as if you are still wearing your childhood
           clothes. You are growing and those clothes are not growing, so they have become a bondage. They
           don't give you freedom, they confine you, they crush you. You feel continuously a pressure, a
           tension, an anguish.
               You can try it. You can wear shoes which are smaller than for your feet, and walk -- and you will
           know what is happening to millions of people. Their personalities are too small and their being is
           growing. Try to walk with shoes two sizes too small....
               One day I was sitting with Mulla Nasrudin. He looked at a woman and said, 'This woman is
           trying to do the impossible.'
           I said, 'What do you mean?'
               He said, 'She's wearing shoes two inches too small.'
           I asked, 'How do you know?'
               He said, 'I know because she is my wife. Look at her face -- in such agony, in such anguish.'
               Look at the faces of people -- their agony and anguish is written so clear. They are broadcasting
           nothing else but their agony and their anguish. And the problem is they are wearing a dead mask, a
           personality, which cannot grow with them. Of course it is always lagging behind. It cannot grow.
           They are growing continuously and it becomes a dead weight.
               Remember, with the false you will be crushed. Never keep company with the false. If you really
           want to grow into a blooming being, if you really want to give freedom to your being, never keep
           company with the false. Be true, whatsoever the cost. I repeat again: in the beginning it may seem
           that these pretensions are very good. They are not. Your mind is deceiving you.
               And if you try to keep company with the true, ego will disappear on its own accord. Otherwise it
           goes on finding new ways, new methods to feed itself.
               People have become so false that you cannot imagine. I was reading an anecdote:

               Sadie Perlmutter was sent to the finest, most expensive finishing school in New York. There she
           learned all there was to know about etiquette. Despite the expense, her mother was very proud of
           her. Then one dark night Sadie staggered into their Park Avenue apartment with her clothes all
           ripped. 'I have been raped on Central Park South,' Sadie sobbed.
           'You know who did it?'
           'No, I don't.'
           'You mean, after all the etiquette you studied you did not even ask, "With whom am I having the
           pleasure?"'

              People go on keeping their etiquette, their mannerisms, their falsities, their pretensions, even in
           such situations where it is unimaginable.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I know one man whose house was on fire, but the first thing that he did running out of the house
           was to tie his tie. The house is on fire and he could not run out of it without his tie. The personality
           becomes so clinging to you and you become so clinging to it.
               I have heard about a great professor who was so polite that even when he was angry he would be
           polite -- even in the expression of his anger. One day he was so angry with a student that he was
           boiling hot, and he said, 'Please go to hell!'... Please go to hell?
               Just watch yourself. Personality is the father of the ego. If you drop personality you will find the
           ego has died on its own accord.
           I have heard:

              An elderly woman visited an art gallery showing abstract paintings and asked the attendant,
           'What is that?'
           'That is the painter, lady.'
           'And that?'
              'The painter's wife, lady.' The attendant was a little annoyed.
              'Well,' the woman commented, 'I hope they are not planning to have any children.'

                The ego is the child of the personality. Many people would like to drop the ego, but they don't
           understand the inner connection. They would like to drop the ego because it gives so much misery. It
           continuously hurts, it is like a wound. It never allows you any rest, it always keeps you restless. It is
           a disease. Many people by and by start feeling that it is better if they can get rid of the ego, but they
           never think that this is the child of the personality. If you want to get rid of the ego, you will have to
           drop your personality.
                That's why Buddha left the palace -- because it was impossible to drop the personality and still be
           a prince. Mahavira became naked, he dropped even his clothes -- he was one of the most courageous
           men the world has ever known -- because he came to realize that even clothes are not for the body;
           they are just part of a social mannerism, just part of a social etiquette. Of course he suffered for it.
           He was chased out of towns -- people used to throw stones at him. They thought he had gone crazy.
           He suffered for it, but his achievement was tremendous out of it.
                By and by his personality completely eroded, disappeared. When the personality disappeared,
           when all that he had learned from the society was dropped -- all pretensions, all exhibitionistic tricks,
           all ego-trips -- suddenly he saw that ego has also disappeared.
                He left his palace, his father's palace, he dropped his clothes, and he dropped language also: for
           twelve years he didn't speak a single word. His logic was absolutely correct, because in our very
           language our personalities have entered. The way you speak, the way you use words, may be part of
           your personality.
                You can see it. If a man comes from a village you can see by his language that he is a villager. If
           a man comes from a very rich, cultured family, you can see by his language that he comes from a
           cultured family -- and of course Mahavira was a prince. In the very language personality enters -- in
           your expressions, in your gestures.
                Mahavira for twelve years completely dropped everything. He was the perfect dropout.
           Language, clothes, society, security, everything he dropped. Then by and by his innocence surfaced;
           all the layers of personality dropped, ego disappeared.
                Remember, ego is very tricky. It is very subtle, its ways are very subtle. You drop it from one
           side, it comes from another. Unless you become very very alert how it arises, how it feeds....
                Divya is a primal therapist, she will enjoy this anecdote.

               Three primal therapists were standing on a street corner arguing about which one of them had the
           greatest memory, who could go farthest back.
               'Hey man,' bragged the first, 'I can remember my mama wheeling me in my carriage down 125th
           Street, hear?'
               'That's nothing,' scoffed the second guy. 'I can recall the day I was born and the doctor slapping
           my bottom.'
               'You call that remembering, dude?' challenged the third. 'I can remember the night I went to a
           party with my daddy and I came home with my mama.'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                The ego can find food from anywhere. Whatsoever the game, I am the top. Whatsoever the game
           -- the name of the game may be humbleness, but I am the topmost humble man. The names can be
           different. Always remember that whenever you start feeling that you are the topmost -- maybe it is
           humbleness, it makes no difference; maybe it is egolessness, it makes no difference -- if you think
           that you are the most egoless person in the world you are again in the same trap.
                The ego lives on claims. The ego is competitive and personality goes on feeding it through subtle
           ways. Personality is the circumference of your pretensions, of your exhibitions, of your deceptions,
           and ego is the center. They go together, they remain together.
                Now the second couple: individuality and self. Individuality is the circumference, self is the
           center. They are more real than personality and ego, they are more real than the first couple, but still
           not ultimately real.
                When personality is dropped, you become individual. When you become individual then a sense
           of self arises -- 'I am.' It has no claim, it is not competitive. Self is not competitive: it does not say
           that I am better or worse, that I am ahead or far behind. It does not compare, it is not comparative. It
           simply says 'I am'. It is not relative to others. Individuality is a simple expression of whosoever you
           are, and a deep sense of 'I am'.
                But Buddha or Jesus cannot be even called individuals because they go a little further, where
           even the sense of self disappears.
                The ego is comparative, very ill; the self is a little healthy, not so ill -- it has no comparison with
           anybody -- but still the very idea that 'I am' divides, separates from the total unity. The way of Jesus
           is: 'My father and I are one.' That is his way of saying, 'I am not a self, my father is myself.' You can
           translate it better if you say that the center of the whole is my center; then the language becomes
           more scientific.
                Buddha is even more keen. He will not use any wishy-washy expressions. He says simply, 'I am
           not.' Because the danger is -- saying that I am god, or god is my center -- the danger is that the 'I'
           may enter again from the backdoor. Buddha says, 'I am not.' He simply goes on dissecting the very
           phenomenon of 'I', and comes to a point where nothing is left. Just as matter disappears in the hands
           of the physicist, self disappears in the hands of Buddha.
           I have heard:

               One day an elephant went walking through the jungle. He was feeling in the pink, ready to
           challenge the whole world. As he walked along he met a lion. He threw out his chest, issued a loud
           trumpeting noise and said, 'Why are you not as big as I am?'
           'I don't know,' the lion gasped, walking away.
               Next the elephant met a hyena. He swelled out his chest and asked, 'Why are you not as big as I
           am?'
               'I don't know,' said the hyena as he walked away as well.
               Then the elephant met a poor little mouse with a runny nose and pink eyes.
           'Why are you not as big as I am?' he roared.
               The mouse looked up at him and said, 'I have been very sick lately.'

               Everybody, even a mouse, has his own ego. Everybody, even a religious man, has his own ego.
           Even while declaring, 'I am just dust underneath your feet,' you are gathering ego.
               The ego and the personality have to be dropped, then you will find individuality arising... a
           feeling of uniqueness. Yes, you are unique. Everybody else is also unique. In this world only unique
           people exist, so comparison is just stupid, because you alone are like yourself. There is nobody like
           you, so how to compare?
               Comparison is possible if there are many people alike, similar to each other, but this existence is
           so tremendously creative, so originally creative, it never repeats. It does not believe in carbon copies.
           It makes everybody an individual, unique. When personality is dropped you suddenly feel you are
           unique -- but remember, you also feel everybody else is also unique. Uniqueness is a common
           quality of all, there is nothing to brag about. It is the universal quality of every being.
               With the individuality you have a subtle center of a feeling -- 'I am'. Buddha goes far beyond it.
           Mahavira, Krishna, Jesus, they don't say anything beyond this. Maybe they think it is not possible to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say the beyond -- they stick to individuality and the feeling of 'I-amness'. But Buddha goes to the
           very end of his logic. He says personality has been dropped, now drop this individuality also. The
           ego has been dropped, now drop this 'I-amness' also, this self-hood also.
                Then nothing is left, then only nothing is left, and in that emptiness you become virgin,
           uncorrupted. Emptiness cannot be corrupted. Being is, but there is no feeling of 'I am'.
                Have you not ever come to some moments when you are, tremendously you are, but still there is
           no feeling of 'I am'? Those are the moments of grandeur, grace. They happen to everybody. You may
           not have noticed, you may not have accepted them, you may not remember them, you may have
           rejected them because they seem so outlandish. They don't fit with your life -- with your life of the
           ego and personality. They don't fit. They are not consistent with your routine way of life, so you drop
           them, you forget them. You think that they may be just the imagination, a dream.
                But to everybody those moments come. I have not come across a single human being who has
           not in some way or other, in some moment or other, felt himself tremendously there and yet with no
           sense of 'I'. Those are the moments when you feel beauty, when you feel love, when you feel
           wonder.
                Looking at the stars in the night suddenly something disappears, suddenly an emptiness arises in
           you... virgin, uncorrupted, unpolluted by society, culture, civilization, religion, scripture, tradition.
           Again you are pure, innocent. You are. In fact, for the first time you are very substantial but with no
           'I' anywhere. There is empty sky and the stars shining, and here you are -- empty -- and the stars
           reflecting. Two skies, both empty, meeting.
                These are the religious moments -- moments of prayer, beauty, wonder, awe. They come to
           everybody. Sometimes making love, suddenly you are not there and still you are. This is the paradox.
           You are for the first time, very very real, absolutely real, and yet no weight of the ego, no sense of 'I'.
           Making love, sometimes you are simply pure energy.
                The experience of ecstasy is very natural to love -- if you are ready to lose yourself in it. If you
           still continue controlling, you still remain in the ego, then you miss the very door that love opens.
           You miss orgasm. Orgasm is a door to the infinite. It is a point for your ego to evaporate, to melt, to
           disappear. But if you go on controlling.... This misfortune has happened all over the world -- you go
           on controlling.

               And now, in the West particularly, people have become too much manipulators. The man goes
           on thinking whether he is making love perfectly or not, whether he is making love according to the
           experts or not -- Masters and Johnson and others -- whether he is going according to the reports of
           Kinsey or not -- and he's trying, making all efforts to satisfy the woman. And the woman is trying to
           satisfy the man. And both are missing because both are too much in the ego.
               The woman is trying to satisfy her man as no other woman can satisfy; the man is trying to
           satisfy his woman as no other man can satisfy. Both are on an ego-trip and both remain dissatisfied.
           Because satisfaction comes only when nobody is trying to satisfy anybody; when everybody is
           simply disappearing into that vagueness, that merger, where personalities are no more separate,
           where things overlap, when one never knows who is who.
               The man continues to be the man, the woman continues to be the woman -- then you miss that
           rare opportunity that love makes available. You remain closed to that door. The door opens and;
           closes, but you cannot enter into it. You are engaged somewhere else, with small things, trivia.
               In deep lovemaking you can attain first glimpses of samadhi -- or in music, or in dancing, or
           looking at the sunset, or just sitting silently not doing anything.
               But remember, whenever you are a doer you are missing, because the doer carries his ego. The
           doer is the ego.
               Whenever you are a non-doer there is a possibility you may fall into line with the whole, you
           may fall into harmony with the whole -- what Buddha calls the way, the dhamma. You will become
           one with the dhamma, and suddenly a rush of bliss -- it rains all around, your whole being becomes
           saturated with a new benediction that you have not known before.
               Personality has to go. With personality goes the ego. Then individuality has also to go, and with
           individuality goes the self. Then nothing is left and you are at home. Gone -- you have arrived.
               One of Buddha's names is tathagata. It means 'who has gone very skilfully, disappeared very
           skilfully'. Gata means gone. Another of Buddha's names is sugata -- well gone, who has gone so well
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you cannot find a trace behind... nothing is left, just pure innocence. Become a sugata, become a
           tathagata. Allow yourself to evaporate and disappear. Only then will you find who you are.
               You are not you. Your very sense of 'I' is a confinement, a bondage, an imprisonment, a cage.
           When the cage disappears the whole sky is yours; even the sky is not your limit. You contain the sky
           in your inner being. You are vaster than the sky, bigger than the space.


               A SCHOLARLY YOUNG KOREAN BUDDHIST MONK TOLD ME THE STORY ABOUT A WOMAN
               WHO MADE LOVE TO EVERY MAN WHO CAME TO HER FOR SEX, BUT HER CHEEK WAS
               ALWAYS WET FROM TEARS. I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY THIS STORY AND IT COMES TO MY
               MIND OFTEN. I CAN SIMPLY IDENTIFY WITH HER. COULD YOU COMMENT ON THIS?


               This question is from Prem Vartya. She is a dancer from Korea. She is my first korean sannyasin
           and has much potential. I can understand what she means. The story is really beautiful. A very small
           story, nothing much in it, and yet tremendous is its content.

           A WOMAN WHO MADE LOVE TO EVERY MAN WHO CAME TO HER FOR SEX BUT HER
           CHEEK WAS ALWAYS WET FROM TEARS.

               Just a one sentence story, but the story can be the story of the whole humanity. This is what is
           happening.
               Love is possible, but it never rises above sex. Hence all the cheeks are full of tears... wet. I can
           see your cheeks full of tears, tears rolling down. One of the greatest miseries in human life is that
           one remains with sexuality and never moves beyond it and never achieves a moment of love.
               Love is born in sexuality but sexuality is not love. The lotus is born in the mud, but the lotus is
           not just mud. And if mud remains mud of course there are bound to be tears on the cheeks.
               You are waiting to become a lotus, you are waiting to flower in higher space, and you remain
           rooted. This is happening down the centuries. There have been very few individuals who attained to
           love. Then they have smiles on their faces, then you can see the grace, the beauty, the beauty of the
           unknown descending in them. Love transforms.
               Sex at the most is a release. Hygienic, healthy, I'm not against it, it's natural, but it is not the end,
           just the beginning. It is the very alphabet of love, but you have to make poetry out of it. All the
           poetry can be reduced to the alphabet.
               It happened once that a friend of Mark Twain's, a great religious preacher, invited him to come to
           his talk. He had been inviting him many times down the years and Mark Twain would not go, but
           that day he said, 'Okay, I am coming.'
               The priest prepared his talk, as beautiful a talk as he had ever delivered -- and he was a great
           preacher. Thousands of people listened to him in deep rapture. Mark Twain was just sitting in front
           of him, and that was his climax. The audience was spell-bound, as if there was nobody... there was
           such dense silence -- and the speaker was again and again looking from the corner of his eyes at
           Mark Twain, at what was happening to him -- and he was sitting there, bored!
               When they were going back in the car, for a few minutes the preacher could not gather courage
           to ask. Then eventually when Mark Twain was getting out of the car at his house, he asked, 'Can I
           ask you how it was? Did you like it?'
               Mark Twain said, 'All nonsense and all borrowed. By chance I have been reading a book these
           days and all that you said is in that book.'
               The preacher could not believe, because he had not copied from anywhere. Maybe a few
           sentences could be found here and there, but the whole speech? And Mark Twain said, 'Word by
           word, you have simply repeated. It is a robbery.'
           The preacher said, 'I would like to see the book.'
               The next day Mark Twain sent him the book. It was a dictionary. Of course, in a dictionary every
           word is there.
               Every poem can be reduced to the alphabet, but poetry is not just alphabet. All Buddha's sayings
           can be reduced to the alphabet, but those sayings are not just alphabet. That's what Freud has done --
           he has reduced all love into sex.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sex is only the alphabet of love, bricks out of which you can make a Taj Mahal. But Taj Mahal is
           not just bricks. You can pile up bricks; it will not become a Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal is a composition
           of infinite love, of infinite creativity. Bricks are only the visible part of it. Taj Mahal is something
           invisible. Bricks have made that invisible visible in a certain way and you can feel it. Bricks help the
           invisible to be felt, but the bricks are not the invisible.
                Sex is just like bricks. And if you go on piling sex, one is bound to feel in tears. The woman must
           have been a woman of deep understanding.
                People look at each other, but they don't look at each other at all. They are just looking for the
           sex object. A woman passes. Have you ever seen a woman as a being? Sometimes you become
           interested in a woman, but not as a being. You feel a certain attraction, but not as a being, but as a
           sex object. Or sometimes you are repelled, that too is sexual. Or sometimes you are not interested --
           bored, neither repelled nor attracted, just indifferent -- but that too is sexual.
                And unless you can come across a person who can look at you in your eyes as a being, not just as
           a sexual object; who can love you as a being... then you have found your friend, not before it.
                We go on looking for only that which we have a desire for. Men looking at women, women
           looking at men, are not looking at each other. They are looking for something. They are looking for
           their own food. They have an appetite, a hunger -- that hunger is sexual. Hence whenever somebody
           looks at you as a sex object you feel offended, because he is reducing your identity to a very muddy
           state. He is reducing you to the lowest denominator, to the lowest rung of your being.
                A person can love you without reducing you. In fact, love never reduces you. Love helps you to
           rise above the ordinariness, love helps you to soar high. It makes you meditative, ecstatic. Love
           becomes the first proof that god exists, that life is not just matter, and man is not just body, that soul
           exists, that there is the world of the beyond.
                That woman must have been missing it. She may have loved many people, but whenever she
           looked into their souls there was nothing but a desire for sex.
                Many women have told me that they weep and cry when their man makes love to them --
           because men make love and then they fall into sleep. It is a ritual. It helps to fall asleep, it is like a
           tranquilliser. And the woman goes on crying and weeping. She has been used and thrown away. Like
           a plastic thing -- you use it and throw it away. There is no need to be bothered at all now. Your need
           is fulfilled.
                We look at the other person only through our need; then that look is offensive. When you look at
           the other person as a beauty in its own right, a grandeur, a divinity, a god or a goddess.... Yes, that's
           what I would like to tell you -- that each man is a god and each woman is a goddess. When you look
           at the other as a god and a goddess then the other is fulfilled; that very look enhances grace, that very
           look helps the other to soar high.
                In all the languages of the world we have such expressions as 'falling in love'. That is ridiculous.
           Why 'falling in love'? Why not 'rising in love'? 'Falling in love' indicates the very idea that love is
           just a trick -- really you want to fall into sex, you want to go low; you pretend.
           I have heard

              The new maternity ward had been open for six months during which time over five hundred
           babies had been delivered and every one of them a girl. During the early part of the seventh month a
           boy was born there and the nurses held a party to celebrate the occasion. At the height of the party a
           reporter arrived and asked whether the baby looked like his father or his mother.
              'I don't know,' answered one of the nurses. 'We have not looked at his face yet.'

                Just for six months only girls were born. Who bothers about his face now?
                When a person looks at you with sexuality and passion in his eyes, he is looking at your genital
           organs, not at you. He is insulting you, he is reducing you to your genital organs. He is simply saying
           you are just an appendage. He is saying, 'I am interested in your sexuality, in your genital organs. I
           am not interested in you. You are just a situation, nothing more, but my interest is in your sexuality
           -- in you as a man, in you as a woman.' That is offensive, insulting, degrading, humiliating.
                That woman must have been a woman of deep love. And if you have deep love you will feel
           always tears on your cheeks, because it will be very difficult to fulfill it.
                Only lower needs can be fulfilled in this world, because people have fallen very low. If you have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any higher need, you will suffer, if you have any higher need you will not find a right partner; if you
           have a higher need you will remain alone. That was the problem with the woman. And this I see as
           the problem of all human beings who are intelligent, who have some understanding.
               People have reduced everything to money or to sex. These two things seem to be the real gods --
           either money or sex. And people are after money also only for sex, because money can help.
           I have heard:

               A Jew went to a whorehouse and told the madam that he wanted the cheapest chippie in the
           place.
           'We have a black girl for ten dollars,' she told him.
           'But I only have four dollars,' he protested.
           After a long argument the madam consented to take him on herself for four dollars.
           The Jew did not return to the whorehouse for another ten years. When he did, the madam greeted
           him cordially and told him that as a result of their relationship years ago, he had a nine-year-old son.
           She called the boy out and introduced him to his father.
           'So you are my dad,' said the boy. 'You know, ever since I was born I've wondered what my last
           name was. Tell me, dad, what is my last name?'
           'Goldberg,' the father replied.
           'My god!' exclaimed the boy, 'you mean I am jewish?'
           'Don't knock it, boy,' he replied. 'If I had had six dollars more ten years ago you would have been
           black too.'

               The whole thing seems to be either money or sex. And everybody seems to be reducing life to be
           just a whorehouse. All sacredness of life is damaged. And then it is natural that if you have a heart
           which is waiting for love you will remain unfulfilled.
               Never look at another human being as if he or she is only sexuality. Look at human beings as
           really they are. Sexuality is part of them, but they are not just sexuality. A very small part, a
           beautiful part in itself, nothing wrong about it, but if that part becomes the whole then everything
           goes ugly. Whenever any part claims to be the whole then things go ugly.
               If it is your head which claims your whole personality, you are ugly. Then you have lost your
           roots into wholeness. If it is sex that claims your whole personality and you start living for it, then
           again you are reduced -- reduced to the earth, your sky is lost. Then you are reduced only to the roots
           and you don't have any branches which can spread into the sky and greet the sun and the rains and
           meet with the clouds and communicate with the sky.
               Sex is good, healthy, beautiful, in its own place. Try to understand me: if sex follows as a
           shadow of love it is tremendously holy. But if love is nothing but a seductive measure, if love is
           nothing but a salesmanship, if love is nothing but a seduction and only sex is the goal, then sex is
           ugly, love is ugly; then your whole being, by and by, will become ugly. You will exist like a wound,
           not like a flower.
               Never reduce anybody to being just a sexual object, and never allow anybody to reduce you to
           being just a sexual object. If sex follows love, if it becomes a harmony in love, it has a totally
           different quality to it. Then it is no more sexual.
               When it comes as a part of love... you love a person, you want to share everything with the
           person. When you love the person you want to share your mind, you want to share your body, you
           want to share your soul, you want to share your meditation, you want to share your... whatsoever you
           have. If you have an aesthetic sense, you want the person you love to share your poetry, to share
           your painting, to share your vision, to share your dreams.
               Of course, when you love a person you also want to share your sexuality; then it is beautiful,
           then it has nothing like sex in it, then it is not the libido of Sigmund Freud. Then the energy has a
           totally different quality to it, and then it helps you to go higher and higher.
               Nothing helps you to go higher than love. Nothing can help you as much as love can help you to
           go higher -- because it becomes such a tranquillity, such a calmness, such content, one feels as if one
           has arrived. One feels grateful, one feels at home in existence. One is no more a stranger.
               Remember: while you are relating with a person never relate only for sexuality, otherwise your
           whole being will become absurd. And treat sexuality as prayer. It is one of the doors towards the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           divine. Don't do any sacrilegious act about it.
           I have heard:

              A pregnant jewish girl asked her doctor what position she would have to lie in to give birth to her
           baby.
              'The same position you were in when you started it,' the doctor told her.
              'My god!' she exclaimed. 'Do you mean I will have to drive around Berlin in a taxi for two hours
           with my feet hanging out the window?'

               But this is happening. Your aquaintance with love happens in such odd and ugly places. Now the
           back seat of a taxi! It should happen in a church, in a temple. The very association is ugly.
               One should make love only when one is feeling tremendously beautiful, happy, celebrating. One
           should dance before one makes love, one should sing and pray before one makes love, one should
           read a few sayings of Buddha, or a few sayings of Jesus, or one should recite the Koran -- it is
           beautiful before one makes love.
               Love should be entered as a shrine of god. Then love will give you such fulfillment as nothing
           else can give.


              YOU HAVE SAID THAT YOU EAT WHEN THE BODY IS HUNGRY, AND YOU SLEEP WHEN THE
              BODY NEEDS REST, BUT I HAVE HEARD THAT YOU EXACTLY FOLLOW THE CLOCK FOR
              YOUR BATH, FOOD, SLEEP, ETC. PLEASE EXPLAIN.


                Mm? It is from Krishna Radha. But she is asking like a magistrate: 'Please explain!'
                It is just the other way around -- the clock follows me, and I look at the clock just to see whether
           it is following or not.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

               Mulla Nasrudin was testifying in court. He noticed that everything he was saying was being
           taken down by the court reporter. As he went along he began talking faster and still faster. Finally
           the reporter was frantic to keep up with him. Suddenly the Mulla said, 'Good gracious, mister. Don't
           write so fast. I cannot keep up with you.'

               I am not following the clock at all. But I have come to understand my body. I have come to feel
           its needs. I have learned much by listening to it. And if you also listen and you become attentive to
           your body, you will start having a discipline which cannot be called a discipline.
               I have not forced it on myself. I have tried all sorts of things in my life. I have been continuously
           experimenting just to feel where my body fits perfectly. Once I used to get up early, at three o'clock
           in the morning. Then at four o'clock, then at five o'clock. Now I have been getting up at six for many
           years. By and by I watched what fits with my body. One has to be very sensitive.
               Now physiologists say that everybody's body, while sleeping, loses its normal temperature for
           two hours; the temperature falls by two degrees. It may happen to you between three and five, or two
           and four, or four and six, but everybody's body falls two degrees in temperature every night. And
           those two hours are the deepest for sleep. If you get up in between those two hours, the whole day
           you will feel disoriented. You may have slept six, seven hours; that makes no difference. If you get
           up between those two hours when the temperature was low, then you will feel the whole day tired,
           sleepy, yawning. And you will feel that something is missing. You will be more disturbed. The body
           will feel unhealthy.
               If you get up exactly after two hours, when those two hours have passed, that is the right moment
           for you to get up. Then you are perfectly fresh. If you can sleep only two hours even that will do.
           Six, seven, eight hours are not needed. If you sleep only for those two hours when the temperature is
           two degrees lower, you will feel perfectly happy, at ease. The whole day you will feel a grace,
           silence, health, wholeness, well-being.
               Now everybody has to watch when those two hours are. Don't follow any discipline from the
           outside, because that discipline may have been good for the person who created it.... Vinoba gets up
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           at three o'clock in the morning. It must be fitting well with him, but then the whole ashram, then all
           his followers get up at three o'clock and they feel dull the whole day. I have seen his followers --
           dullards. And then they think that they are not capable of such an ordinary discipline. Then they feel
           guilty. They try hard but they cannot win and then they think that Vinoba seems to be very
           exceptional, very great. He's never dull. But it simply suits with him.

                You have to find your own body, its way, what suits -- that's right for you. And once you have
           found it, you can easily allow it, and it will not be enforced because it will be in tune with the body,
           so there is nothing as if you are imposing it; there is no struggle, no effort. Watch, while eating, what
           suits you. People go on eating all sorts of things. Then they get disturbed. Then their mind gets
           affected. Never follow anybody's discipline, because nobody is like you, so nobody can say what is
           going to suit you.
                That's why I give you only one discipline and that is of self-awareness, that is of freedom. You
           listen to your own body. The body has a great wisdom in it. If you listen to it, you will always be
           right. If you don't listen to it and you go on enforcing things on it, you will never be happy; you will
           be unhappy, ill, ill at ease, and always disturbed and distracted, disoriented.
                This has been a long experimentation. I have eaten almost all sorts of things, and then by and by
           I eliminated all that was not suiting me. Now whatsoever suits, I eat only that. Vivek is in trouble,
           because she has to cook almost the same thing every day and she cannot believe how I go on eating
           and go on enjoying it. Eating is okay -- but enjoying it?
                If it suits, you can enjoy the same thing again and again. It is not a repetition for you. If it doesn't
           suit, then there is trouble.
           It happened:

               One Thursday night Mulla Nasrudin came home to supper. His wife served him baked beans. He
           threw his plate of beans against the wall and shouted, 'I hate baked beans!'
               'Mulla, I can't figure you out,' his wife said. 'Monday night you liked baked beans, Tuesday night
           you liked baked beans, Wednesday night you liked baked beans, and now all of a sudden on
           Thursday night you say you hate baked beans. This is inconsistent!'

                Ordinarily you cannot eat the same thing every day. But the reason is not that it is the same thing,
           the reason is that it doesn't suit you. One day you can tolerate, another day it becomes too much. And
           how can you tolerate it every day? If it suits you then there is no problem; you can live your whole
           life on it, and every day you can enjoy it, because it brings such harmony. It simply fits with you, it
           is in accord with you.
                You go on breathing; it is the same breath. You go on taking a bath; it is the same water. You go
           on sleeping; it is the same sleep. But it suits, then everything is okay. Then it is not a repetition at all.
                Repetition is your attitude. If you are living perfectly in harmony with nature, then you don't
           bother about the yesterday that has gone, you don't carry it in your mind. You don't compare your
           yesterdays with your today and you don't project your tomorrows. You simply live here and now,
           you enjoy this moment.
                Enjoyment of the moment has nothing to do with new things. Enjoyment of the moment has
           certainly something to do with harmony. You can go on changing new things every day, but if they
           don't suit, you will always be running from here to there and never finding any rest.
                But whatsoever I'm doing is not enforced, it is spontaneous. That's how by and by I became
           aware of my body's needs. I always listen to my body. I would never impose my mind on the body.
           Do likewise and you will have a happier, a more blissful life.


               SO MUCH GRACE WITH A TALK ON GRACELESS MINDFULNESS. I WONDER IF THE BUDDHA'S
               LISTENERS BENEFITED SIMILARLY.


                It depends on the listeners. It has nothing to do with Buddha or with me. It depends on the
           listeners. If you are en rapport with me, then you feel grace; if you are en rapport with Buddha, then
           you feel grace. If you are en rapport, that is the thing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You can listen to me with a very logical mind, then you may be even annoyed. You can listen
           with your accumulated knowledge, then you may even feel disturbed -- because if I am contradicting
           whatsoever you know, you will be disturbed. Or, you can listen with argumentativeness: then here I
           am speaking and there you are also speaking inside your mind -- contradicting, saying yes, no,
           arguing. Then there will be no grace.
                If you are just listening... the knowledge has been put aside and you are listening to me as one
           listens to a musical instrument, to a melody; as one listens to wind passing through the trees; as one
           listens to dead leaves falling on the ground, whispering to the ground... if you are listening to me en
           rapport, in tune with me, grace will arise. It depends on the listener.
                And it also depends on the listener what you hear. It is not so important what I am saying, the
           more important thing is what you are hearing. It is not necessarily the same thing. I may be saying
           something else, you may be hearing something else.
           I have heard:

              Two men were walking along a crowded sidewalk in a downtown business area. Suddenly one
           exclaimed, 'Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket!' But the other could not hear. He asked his
           companion how he could detect the sound of a cricket amidst the din of people and traffic. The first
           man, who was a zoologist, had trained himself to listen to the voices of nature, but he did not
           explain. He simply took a coin out of his pocket and dropped it on the sidewalk, whereupon a dozen
           people began to look about them.
           'We hear,' he said, 'what we listen for.'

               There are people who can listen only to the sound of a falling rupee on the ground -- that's their
           only music. Poor people. They think they are rich, but they are poor people, whose whole music
           consists only in the sound of a rupee falling on the ground. Very poor people... starving. They don't
           know what life consists of. They don't know the infinite possibilities, they don't know the infinite
           melodies surrounding you -- the multidimensional richness. You hear only that which you listen for.
               If you listen en rapport, in a deep merger with me, then grace will happen. The same grace has
           been happening always to all those who, whenever a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna was walking on the
           earth, were courageous enough to walk with these people. If you walk with me, if you sit with me en
           rapport, then you will be fulfilled. I am pouring something in you, but if you don't open your heart I
           cannot fulfill you, I cannot fill you. But if you open your heart soon you will be overflowing and that
           overflowing will make you a lotus out of the mud.
               The lotus is nothing but an overflowing energy. Hence in the East we have respected the flower
           of lotus like nothing else. It has become the ultimate symbol of growth. We call the last center in
           your being, sahasrar -- one thousand-petalled lotus. Sex is the lowest center, sahasrar the highest. By
           sex you become joined with nature, by sahasrar you are in tune with god, or with the whole. Move
           from the mud, transcend the mud, and hope and pray and wait for the lotus to open and flower in
           you.
               It is possible. These moments that you are here with me are of tremendous import -- but you can
           hear only that which you listen for.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Be therefore mindful
           25 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608250
              ShortTitle: TRANS105
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED MANY A MISDEMEANOUR DOES NOT REPENT AND
              CLEANSE HIS HEART OF THE EVIL, RETRIBUTION WILL COME UPON HIS PERSON AS SURE
              AS THE STREAMS RUN INTO THE OCEAN WHICH BECOMES EVER DEEPER AND WIDER.
              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED A MISDEMEANOUR COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT,
              REFORM HIMSELF AND PRACTISE GOODNESS, THE FORCE OF RETRIBUTION WILL
              GRADUALLY EXHAUST ITSELF AS A DISEASE GRADUALLY LOSES ITS BANEFUL INFLUENCE
              WHEN THE PATIENT PERSPIRES.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              WHEN AN EVIL-DOER, SEEING YOU PRACTISE GOODNESS, COMES AND MALICIOUSLY
              INSULTS YOU, YOU SHOULD PATIENTLY ENDURE IT AND NOT FEEL ANGRY WITH HIM. FOR
              THE EVIL-DOER IS INSULTING HIMSELF BY TRYING TO INSULT YOU.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              ONCE A MAN CAME UNTO ME AND DENOUNCED ME ON ACCOUNT OF MY OBSERVING THE
              WAY AND PRACTISING GREAT LOVING KINDNESS. BUT I KEPT SILENT AND DID NOT
              ANSWER HIM. THE DENUNCIATION CEASED.
              I THEN ASKED HIM, 'IF YOU BRING A PRESENT TO YOUR NEIGHBOUR AND HE ACCEPTS IT
              NOT, DOES THE PRESENT COME BACK TO YOU?' THE MAN REPLIED, 'IT WILL.' I SAID, 'YOU
              DENOUNCE ME NOW, BUT AS I ACCEPT IT NOT, YOU MUST TAKE THE WRONG DEED BACK
              UPON YOUR OWN PERSON. IT IS LIKE AN ECHO SUCCEEDING SOUND, IT IS LIKE SHADOW
              FOLLOWING OBJECT. YOU NEVER ESCAPE THE EFFECT OF YOUR OWN EVIL DEEDS. BE
              THEREFORE MINDFUL AND CEASE FROM DOING EVIL.'


               MAN IS A CROWD, a crowd of many voices -- relevant, irrelevant, consistent, inconsistent --
           each voice pulling in its own way; all the voices pulling man apart. Ordinarily man is a mess,
           virtually a kind of madness. You somehow manage, you somehow manage to look sane. Deep down
           layers and layers of insanity are boiling within you. They can erupt any moment, your control can be
           lost any moment, because your control is enforced from without. It is not a discipline that has come
           from your center of being.
               For social reasons, economic reasons, political reasons, you have enforced a certain character
           upon yourself. But many vital forces exist against that character within you. They are continuously
           sabotaging your character. Hence every day you go on committing many mistakes, many errors.
           Even sometimes you feel that you never wanted to do it. In spite of yourself, you go on committing
           many mistakes -- because you are not one, you are many.
               Buddha does not call these mistakes sins, because to call them sin will be condemning you. He
           simply calls them misdemeanours, mistakes, errors. To err is human, not to err is divine. And the
           way from the human to the divine goes through mindfulness. These many voices within you can stop
           torturing you, pulling you, pushing you. These many voices can disappear if you become mindful.
               In a mindful state mistakes are not committed -- not that you control them, but in a mindful state,
           in an alert, aware state, voices, many voices cease; you simply become one, and whatsoever you do
           comes from the very core of your being. It is never wrong. This has to be understood before we enter
           into these sutras.
               In the modern Humanistic Potential Movement there is a parallel to understand it. That's what
           Transactional Analysis calls the triangle of PAC. P means parent, A means adult, C means child.
           These are your three layers, as if you are a three-storied building. First floor is that of the child,
           second floor is that of the parent, third floor is that of the adult. All three exist together.
               This is your inner triangle and conflict. Your child says one thing, your parent says something
           else, your adult, rational mind says something else.
               The child says 'enjoy'. For the child this moment is the only moment; he has no other
           considerations. The child is spontaneous, but unaware of the consequences -- unaware of past,
           unaware of future. He lives in the moment. He has no values and he has no mindfulness, no
           awareness. The child consists of felt concepts; he lives through feeling. His whole being is irrational.
               Of course he comes into many conflicts with others. He comes into many contradictions within
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           himself, because one feeling helps him to do one thing, then suddenly he starts feeling another
           feeling. A child never can complete anything. By the time he can complete it his feeling has
           changed. He starts many things but never comes to any conclusion. A child remains inconclusive. He
           enjoys -- but his enjoyment is not creative, cannot be creative. He delights -- but life cannot be lived
           only through delight. You cannot remain a child forever. You will have to learn many things,
           because you are not alone here.
               If you were alone then there would be no question -- you could have remained a child forever.
           But the society is there, millions of people are there; you have to follow many rules, you have to
           follow many values. Otherwise there will be so much conflict that life would become impossible.
           The child has to be disciplined -- and that's where the parent comes in.
               The parental voice in you is the voice of the society, culture, civilization; the voice that makes
           you capable of living in a world where you are not alone, where there are many individuals with
           conflicting ambitions, where there is much struggle for survival, where there is much conflict. You
           have to pave your path, and you have to move very cautiously.
               The parental voice is that of caution. It makes you civilized. The child is wild, the parental voice
           helps you to become civilized. The word.'civil' is good. It means one who has become capable of
           living in a city; who has become capable of being a member of a group, of a society.
               The child is very dictatorial. The child thinks he is the center of the world. The parent has to
           teach you that you are not the center of the world -- everybody thinks that way. He has to make you
           more and more alert that there are many people in the world, you are not alone. You have to consider
           them if you want yourself to be considered by them. Otherwise you will be crushed. It is a sheer
           question of survival, of policy, of politics.
               The parental voice gives you commandments -- what to do, what not to do. The feeling simply
           goes blind. The parent makes you cautious. It is needed.
               And then there is the third voice within you, the third layer, when you have become adult and
           you are no more controlled by your parents; your own reason has come of age, you can think on your
           own.
               The child consists of felt concepts; the parent consists of taught concepts, and the adult consists
           of thought concepts. And these three layers are continuously in fight. The child says one thing, the
           parent says just the opposite, and the reason may say something totally different.
               You see beautiful food. The child says to eat as much as you want. The parental voice says that
           many things have to be considered -- whether you are really feeling hungry, or just the smell of the
           food, the taste of the food is the only appeal. Is this food really nutritious? Is it going to nourish your
           body or can it become harmful to you? Wait, listen, don't rush. And then there is the rational mind,
           the adult mind, which may say something else, totally different.
               There is no necessity that your adult mind may agree with your parents. Your parents were not
           omniscient, they were not all-knowing. They were as fallible human beings as you are, and many
           times you find loopholes in their thinking. Many times you find them very dogmatic, superstitious,
           believing in foolish things, irrational ideologies.
               Your adult says no, your parent says do it, your adult says it is not worth doing, and your child
           goes on pulling you somewhere else. This is the triangle within you.
               If you listen to the child, your parent feels angry. So one part feels good -- you can go on eating
           as much ice-cream as you want -- but your parent inside feels angry; a part of you starts condemning.
           And then you start feeling guilty. The same guilt arises as it used to arise when you were really a
           child. You are no more a child -- but the child has not disappeared. It is there; it is just your ground
           floor, your very base, your foundation.
               If you follow the child, if you follow the feeling, the parent is angry and then you start feeling
           guilt. If you follow the parent then your child feels that he is being forced into things which he does
           not want to do. Then your child feels he is being unnecessarily interfered with, unnecessarily
           trespassed upon. Freedom is lost when you listen to the parent, and your child starts feeling
           rebellious.
               If you listen to the parent, your adult mind says, 'What nonsense! These people never knew
           anything. You know more, you are more in tune with the modern world, you are more contemporary.
           These ideologies are just dead ideologies, out of date -- why are you bothering?' If you listen to your
           reason then also you feel as if you are betraying your parents. Again guilt arises. What to do? And it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is almost impossible to find something on which all these three layers agree.
                This is human anxiety. No, never do all these three layers agree on any point. There is no
           agreement ever.
                Now there are teachers who believe in the child. They emphasize the child more. For example,
           Lao Tzu. He says, 'The agreement is not going to come. You drop this parental voice, these
           commandments, these Old Testaments. Drop all 'shoulds' and become a child again.' That's what
           Jesus says. Lao Tzu and Jesus, their emphasis is: become a child again -- because only with the child
           will you be able to gain your spontaneity, will you again become part of the natural flow, tao.
                Their message is beautiful, but seems to be almost impractical. Sometimes, yes, it has happened
           -- a person has become a child again. But it is so exceptional that it is not possible to think that ever
           the humanity is going to become a child again. It is beautiful like a star... far distant, but out of reach.
                Then there are other teachers -- Mahavir, Moses, Mohammed, Manu -- they say listen to the
           parental voice, listen to the moral, what the society says, what you have been taught. Listen and
           follow it. If you want to be at ease in the world, if you want to be peaceful in the world, listen to the
           parent. Never go against the parental voice.
                That's how the world has followed, more or less. But then one never feels spontaneous, one never
           feels natural. One always feels confined, caged. And when you don't feel free, you may feel
           peaceful, but that peacefulness is worthless. Unless peace comes with freedom you cannot accept it.
           Unless peace comes with bliss you cannot accept it. It brings convenience, comfort, but your soul
           suffers.
                Yes, there have been a few people again who have achieved through the parental voice, who
           have really attained to the truth. But that too is very rare. And that world is gone. Maybe in the past,
           Moses and Manu and Mohammed were useful. They gave commandments to the world. 'Do this.
           Don't do that.' They made things simple, very simple. They have not left anything for you to decide;
           they don't trust that you will be able to decide. They simply give you a readymade formula -- 'These
           are the ten commandments to be followed. You simply do these and all that you hope, all that you
           desire will happen as a consequence. You just be obedient.
                All the old religions emphasized obedience too much. Disobedience is the only sin -- that's what
           christianity says. Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of god because they disobeyed. God
           had said not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge and they disobeyed. That was their only sin. But
           every child is committing that sin. The father says, 'Don't smoke,' and he tries it. The father says,
           'Don't go to the movie,' and he goes. The story of Adam and Eve is the story of every child. And then
           condemnation, expulsion....
                Obedience is religion for Manu, Mohammed, Moses. But that world has gone, and through it
           many have not attained. Many became peaceful, good citizens, good members, respectable members
           of the society, but nothing much.
                Then there is the third emphasis on being adult. Confucius, Patanjali, or modern agnostics --
           Bertrand Russell -- all humanists of the world, they all emphasize: 'Believe only in your own reason.'
           That seems very arduous, so much so that one's whole life becomes just a conflict. Because you have
           been brought up by your parents, you have been conditioned by your parents. If you listen only to
           your reason, you have to deny many things in your being. In fact, your whole mind has to be denied.
           It is not easy to erase it.
                And you were born as children without any reason. That too is there. Basically you are a feeling
           being; reason comes very late. It comes when, in fact, all that has to happen has happened.
           Psychologists say a child learns almost seventy-five percent of his whole knowledge by the time he
           is seven years old. Seventy-five percent of his whole knowledge he has learned by the time he is
           seven years old, fifty percent by the time he is four years old. And this whole learning happens when
           you are a child, and reason comes very late. It is a very late arrival. It comes when, in fact, all that
           has to happen has happened.
                It is very difficult to live with the reason. People have tried -- a Bertrand Russell here and there --
           but nobody has achieved truth through it, because reason alone is not enough.
                All these angles have been chosen and tried, and nothing has worked. Buddha's standpoint is
           totally different. That's his original contribution to human consciousness. He says not to choose any,
           he says move in the center of the angle. Don't choose reason, don't choose parent, don't choose the
           child; just move in the very center of the angle and remain silent and become mindful. His approach
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is tremendously meaningful. And then you will be able to have a clear perspective of your being.
           And out of that perspective and clarity let the response come.
                We can say it in another way. If you function as a child, that is a childish reaction. Many times
           you function as a child. Somebody says something and you get hurt, and a tantrum and anger and
           temper... you lose everything. Later on you feel very bad about it -- that you lost your image.
           Everybody thinks you so sober and you were so childish, and nothing much was at stake.
                Or you follow your parental voice, but later on you think that still you are dominated by your
           parents. You have not yet become an adult, mature enough to take the reins of your life into your
           own hands. Or sometimes you follow reason, but then you think that reason is not enough, feeling
           also is needed. And without feeling, a rational being becomes just head; he loses contact with the
           body, he loses contact with life, he becomes disconnected. He functions only as a thinking
           mechanism. But thinking cannot make you alive, in thinking there is no juice of life. It is a very dry
           thing. Then you hanker, you hanker for something which can again allow your energies to stream,
           which can again allow you to be green and alive and young. This goes on and you go on chasing
           your own tail.
                Buddha says these are all reactions and any reaction is bound to be partial -- only response is
           total -- and whatsoever is partial is a mistake. That's his definition of error: whatsoever is partial is a
           mistake. Because your other parts will remain unfulfilled and they will take their revenge. Be total.
           Response is total, reaction is partial.
                When you listen to one voice and follow it you are getting into trouble. You will never be
           satisfied with it. Only one part will be satisfied, the other two parts will be very much dissatisfied. So
           two thirds of your being will be dissatisfied, one third of your being will be satisfied, and you will
           always remain in a turmoil. Whatsoever you do, reaction can never satisfy you, because reaction is
           partial.
                Response -- response is total. Then you don't function from any triangle, you don't choose; you
           simply remain in a choiceless awareness. You remain centered. And out of that centering you act,
           whatsoever it is. It is neither child nor parent nor adult. You have gone beyond PAC. It is you now --
           neither the child nor the parent nor the adult. It is you, your being. That PAC is like a cyclone and
           your center is the center of the cyclone.
                So whenever there is a need to respond, the first thing, Buddha says, is become mindful, become
           aware. Remember your center. Become grounded in your center. Be there for a few moments before
           you do anything. There is no need to think about it because thinking is partial. There is no need to
           feel about it because feeling is partial. There is no need to find clues from your parents, Bible,
           Koran, Gita -- these are all P -- there is no need. You simply remain tranquil, silent, simply alert --
           watching the situation as if you are absolutely out of it, aloof, a watcher on the hills.
                This is the first requirement -- to be centered whenever you want to act. Then out of this
           centering let the act arise -- and whatsoever you do will be virtuous, whatsoever you do will be right.
                Buddha says right mindfulness is the only virtue there is. Not to be mindful is to fall into error.
           To act unconsciously is to fall into error.
           Now the sutras.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED MANY A MISDEMEANOUR DOES NOT REPENT AND
              CLEANSE HIS HEART OF THE EVIL, RETRIBUTION WILL COME UPON HIS PERSON AS SURE
              AS THE STREAMS RUN INTO THE OCEAN WHICH BECOMES EVER DEEPER AND WIDER.
              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED MANY A MISDEMEANOUR DOES NOT REPENT...


               Repentance means retrospective awareness, repentance means looking backwards. You have
           done something. If you were aware then no wrong can happen, but you were not aware at the time
           you did it. Somebody insulted -- you became angry, you hit him on the head. You were not aware
           what you were doing. Now things have cooled down, the situation has gone, you are no more in
           anger; you can look backwards more easily. You missed awareness at that time. The best thing was
           to have awareness at that time, but you missed it, and now there is no point in crying and weeping
           over the spilt milk. But you can look, you can bring awareness to that which has already happened.
               That is what Mahavir calls pratycraman, looking back; what Patanjali calls pratyahar, looking in.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           That's what Jesus calls repentance. That's what Buddha calls pashchattap. It is not feeling sorry, it is
           not just feeling bad about it, because that is not going to help. It is becoming aware, it is reliving the
           experience as it should have been. You have to move into it again.
                You missed awareness in that moment; you were overflooded by unconsciousness. Now things
           have cooled, you'll take your awareness, the light of awareness, back. You move in that incident
           again, you look into it again as you should have really done; that is gone, but you can do it
           retrospectively in your mind. And Buddha says this cleanses the heart of the evil.
                This looking back, continuously looking back, will make you more and more aware. There are
           three stages. You have done something, then you become aware -- first stage. Second stage: you are
           doing something, and you become aware. And third stage: you are going to do something, and you
           become aware. Only in the third stage will your life be transformed. But the first two are necessary
           for the third, they are necessary steps.
                Whenever you can become aware, become aware. You have been angry -- now sit down,
           meditate, become aware what has happened. Ordinarily we do it, but we do for wrong reasons. We
           do it to put our image back in its right place. You always think you are a very loving person,
           compassionate, and then you suddenly become angry. Now your image is distorted in your own eyes.
           You do a sort of repentance. You go to the person and you say, 'I am sorry.' What are you doing?
           You are repainting your image.
                Your ego is trying to repaint the image, because you have fallen in your own eyes, you have
           fallen in others' eyes. Now you are trying to rationalize. At least you can go and say, 'I am sorry. I
           did it in spite of myself. I don't know how it happened, I don't know what evil force took possession
           of me, but I am sorry. Forgive me.'
                You are trying to come back to the same level where you were before you became angry. This is
           a trick of the ego, this is not real repentance. Again you will do the same thing.
                Buddha says real repentance is remembering it, going into the details fully aware of what
           happened; going backwards, reliving the experience. Reliving the experience is like unwinding; it
           erases. And not only that -- it makes you capable of more awareness, because awareness is practised
           when you are remembering it, when you are becoming again aware about the past incident. You are
           getting a discipline in awareness, in mindfulness. Next time you will become aware a little earlier.
                This time you were angry; after two hours you could cool dawn. Next time after one hour you
           will cool down. Next time after a few minutes. Next time, just as it has happened you will cool down
           and you will be able to see. By and by, by slow progression, one day while you are angry you will
           catch hold of yourself red-handed. And that is a beautiful experience -- to catch yourself red-handed
           committing an error. Then suddenly the whole quality changes, because whenever awareness
           penetrates you, reactions stop.
                This anger is a childish reaction, it is the child in you. It is coming from the C. And later on,
           when you feel sorry, that is coming from the P, from the parent. The parent forces you to feel sorry
           and go and ask forgiveness. You have not been good to your mother or to your uncle -- go and put
           things right.
                Or it can come from A, from your adult mind. You have been angry and later on you recognize
           that this is going to be too much; there is a financial loss in it. You have been angry with your boss,
           now you become afraid. Now you start thinking he may throw you out, or he may carry the anger
           within him. Your salary was going to be raised; he may not raise it -- a thousand and one things...
           you would like to put things right.
                When Buddha says repent, he's not telling you to function from C or P or A. He is saying when
           you become aware, sit down, close your eyes, meditate upon the whole thing -- become a watcher.
           You missed the situation, but still something can be done about it: you can watch it. You can watch
           it as it should have been watched. You can practise, this will be a rehearsal, and by the time you have
           watched the whole situation you will feel completely okay.
                If then you feel like going and asking forgiveness, for no other reasons -- neither the parent, nor
           the adult, nor the child -- but out of sheer understanding, out of sheer meditation that it was wrong....
           It was not wrong for any other reason; it was wrong because you behaved in an unconscious way.
           Let me repeat it. You go and you ask for forgiveness not for any other reason -- financial, social,
           political, cultural; no -- you simply go there because you meditated on it and you recognized and you
           realized the fact that you acted in unawareness; you have hurt somebody in unawareness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You have to go and console the person at least. You have to go and help the person to understand
           your helplessness -- that you are an unconscious person, that you are a human being with all the
           limitations, that you are sorry. It is not putting your ego back, it is simply doing something which
           your meditation has showed you. It is totally a different dimension.

              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED MANY A MISDEMEANOUR DOES NOT REPENT AND
              CLEANSE HIS HEART OF THE EVIL, RETRIBUTION WILL COME UPON HIS PERSON AS SURE
              AS THE STREAMS RUN INTO THE OCEAN WHICH BECOMES EVER DEEPER AND WIDER.


               Ordinarily what do we do? We become defensive. If you have been angry at your wife or at your
           child, you become defensive; you say it had to be done that way, it was needed -- it was needed for
           the child's own good. If you are not angry, how are you going to discipline the child? If you are not
           angry with somebody people will take advantage of you. You are not a coward, you are a brave man.
           How can you just let people do things which should not be done to you? You have to react.
               You become defensive, you rationalize. If you go on rationalizing your errors... and all errors can
           be rationalized, remember it. There exists not a single error which cannot be rationalized. You can
           rationalize everything. But then, Buddha says, such a person is bound to become more and more
           unconscious, more and more deeply unaware... AS SURE AS THE STREAMS RUN INTO THE
           OCEAN WHICH BECOMES EVER DEEPER AND WIDER.
               If you go on defending yourself then you will not be able to transform yourself. You have to
           recognize that there is something wrong. The very recognition helps change.
               If you feel healthy and you are not ill, you are not going to go to a physician. Even if the
           physician comes to you, you are not going to listen to him. You are perfectly okay. You will say, 'I'm
           perfectly well. Who says I am ill?' If you don't think you are ill, you will go on protecting your
           illness. That is dangerous; you are on a suicidal path.
               If there has been anger, there has been greed, there has been something that happens only when
           you are unconscious, recognize it -- the sooner you do it the better. Meditate upon it. Move to your
           center and respond from the center.

              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED A MISDEMEANOUR COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT,
              REFORM HIMSELF AND PRACTISE GOODNESS, THE FORCE OF RETRIBUTION WILL
              GRADUALLY EXHAUST ITSELF AS A DISEASE GRADUALLY LOSES ITS BANEFUL INFLUENCE
              WHEN THE PATIENT PERSPIRES.


               If you acknowledge it you have taken one very meaningful step towards changing it. Now
           Buddha says one very important thing: 'If you come to acknowledge it, if you come to the knowledge
           of it, reform yourself.'
               Ordinarily, even if we sometimes recognize that 'yes, something wrong has happened', we don't
           try to reform ourselves, we only try to reform our image. We want everybody to feel that they have
           forgiven us. We want everybody to recognize that it was wrong on our part, but we have asked for
           their forgiveness, and things are put right again. We are again on our pedestal. The fallen image is
           replaced back on the throne. We don't reform ourselves.
               You have many times asked forgiveness, but again and again you go on doing the same thing.
           That simply shows that it was a policy, a politics, a trick to manipulate people -- but you have
           remained the same, you have not changed at all. If you have really asked forgiveness for your anger
           or any offence against anybody, then it should not happen again. Only that can be a proof that you
           are really on the path of changing yourself.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              IF A MAN WHO HAS COMMITTED A MISDEMEANOUR COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT,
              REFORM HIMSELF AND PRACTISE GOODNESS...


              So, two things he is saying. First: the moment you feel that something goes wrong, something
           continuously makes you unconscious, and you behave in a mechanical way, you react, then you have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to do something -- and the doing has to become more aware. That is the only way to reform yourself.
                Watch how many things you do unconsciously. Somebody says something and there is anger.
           There is not even a single moment's gap. It is as if you are just a mechanism -- somebody pushes a
           button and you lose your temper. Just as if you push the button and the fan starts moving and the
           light goes on. There is not a. single moment. The fan never thinks whether to move or not to move; it
           simple moves.
                Buddha says this is unconsciousness, this is mindlessness. Somebody insults and you are simply
           controlled by his insult.
                Gurdjieff used to say that a small thing transformed his life completely. His father was dying and
           he called the boy -- and Gurdjieff was only nine years old -- and he said to the boy, 'I have nothing
           much to give you, but only one advice that was given from my father to me from his deathbed, and it
           has tremendously benefited me. Maybe it can be of some use to you. I don't feel that you will be able
           to understand it right now, you are too young. So just remember it. Whenever you can understand, it
           will be helpful.'
                And he said, 'Remember only one thing -- if you feel angry, then wait for twenty-four hours.
           Then do whatsoever you want to do -- but wait twenty-four hours. If somebody insults you, you tell
           him, "I will come after twenty-four hours and do whatsoever is needed. Please give me a little time
           to think over it."'
                Of course the nine-year-old Gurdjieff could not understand what it is, but he followed it. By and
           by he became aware of the tremendous impact of it. He was completely transformed. Because two
           things he had to remember -- one, he had to be aware not to do the anger, not to move into anger
           when somebody was insulting, not to allow himself to be manipulated by the other -- he had to wait
           for twenty-four hours. So when somebody was insulting or saying something against him, he would
           simply remain alert not to be affected. For twenty-four hours, he had promised his dying father, he
           would remain cool and calm. And by and by he became capable.
                And then he understood it -- that after twenty-four hours it is never needed. You cannot be angry
           after twenty-four hours. After twenty-four minutes you cannot be angry, after twenty-four seconds
           you cannot be angry. Either it is instant or it is not. Because anger functions only if you are
           unconscious; if you are this much conscious -- that you can wait for twenty-four seconds -- finished.
           Then you cannot be angry. Then you have missed the moment, then you have missed the train; the
           train has left the platform. Even twenty-four seconds will do -- you try it.
                Buddha says one who acknowledges his errors... and he simply says acknowledges it, he does not
           say 'who condemns', because there is nothing to condemn. It is human, it is natural; we are
           unconscious beings. Buddha used to say that god, or the universal soul, or existence, sleeps in the
           mineral, totally oblivious; in the vegetable the sleep is not so deep, a few fragments of dreams have
           started moving around; in the animal, god is dreaming; in man he has become a little aware -- just a
           little. Those moments are few and far between. Sometimes months pass and you are not aware for a
           single moment, but in man there is the possibility of a few moments of awareness. In a Buddha, god
           has become perfectly aware.
                Watch existence all around. In these trees, Buddha says there are just a few fragments of dreams.
           In the rocks... fast, deep sleep, dreamless -- sushupti. In the animals -- in the cat, in the dog, in the
           lion, in the tiger, in the birds -- god is dreaming, many dreams. In man he is coming above, just a
           little, a few moments of awareness.
                So don't miss any opportunity whenever you can become aware. And those are the best moments
           -- when unconsciousness pulls you deep down. If you can use those moments, if you can use those
           moments as challenges, god will become more and more aware in you. One day your awareness
           becomes a continuous flame, an eternal flame. Then god is perfectly awake, no sleep, no dream.
                This is the meaning of the word 'buddha'. 'Buddha' means one who has become absolutely aware.
           In no situation does he lose his mindfulness. His mindfulness has become just natural like breathing.
           Just as you breathe in and breathe out, in exactly the same way he inhales awareness, he exhales
           awareness. His centering has become permanent. He does not function from personalities -- the
           personality of the child, the parent, the adult, no. He simply functions from a point which is beyond
           all personalities.
                This is what he calls 'reform'. The word 'reform' is beautiful. It means 'to make it again' -- reform,
           to re-build, to re-create. Reform does not mean just reform, reform does not mean just modifying
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           here and there. Reform does not mean that somewhere the plaster has fallen so you put it again,
           somewhere the colour has disappeared, evaporated, so you paint it again. Reform does not mean
           small modifications. Reform is a very revolutionary word. It simply means form it again, be reborn,
           be totally new, take a quantum jump, move from the old personality, be away from the old nucleus,
           attain to a new center.

              HE REFORMS HIMSELF, PRACTISES GOODNESS...


               Whatsoever you feel is your basic error, just don't get chronically attentive towards it, don't get
           obsessed by it. That too is a fault. There are many people, they come to me and they say, 'We cannot
           control anger. We continuously are trying to control it, but we cannot control. What to do?'
               Buddha says don't become obsessive about anything. Recognize it, become aware, and do
           something just the opposite. If you feel anger is your problem, don't be too attentive towards anger;
           become more compassionate, become more loving. Because if you become too much concerned
           about anger, where will you put the energy that will be released if you don't become angry? Create a
           path for the energy to move. It is the same energy. When you have compassion it is the same energy
           as it was in anger. Now it is positive, then it was negative. Then it was destructive, now it is creative.
           But it is the same energy -- anger becomes compassion. So before you want to change anger you will
           have to channelize, you will have.to make new channels towards compassion.
               So Buddha says practise goodness, practise virtue. Find out your chief fault and create new
           pathways in your being. If you are a miser then just crying about it and talking about it is not going
           to help. Then start sharing. Whatsoever you can share, share. Do something that becomes a
           breakthrough, do something that goes against your past, do something that you have never done
           before. It is possible that you are angry because you don't know how to have compassion. It is
           possible you are a miser because you don't know how to share.
               Buddha's emphasis is to be positive -- do something so the energy starts moving and flowing.
           Then by and by it will be taken away from anger. Become conscious but don't be obsessed.
               You will have to make a distinction between these two things because human mind is such that it
           goes on misinterpreting. When Buddha says become mindful, he is not saying become obsessed, he
           is not saying continuously think of anger. Because if you continuously think of anger you will create
           more and more angry situations for yourself. Be conscious, but there is no need to contemplate. Be
           conscious, but there is no need to be too much concerned. Take a note of it and then do something
           which changes your energy pattern. That's what he means when he says practise goodness.

              ... THE FORCE OF RETRIBUTION WILL GRADUALLY EXHAUST ITSELF AS A DISEASE
              GRADUALLY LOSES ITS BANEFUL INFLUENCE WHEN THE PATIENT PERSPIRES.


               Somebody has taken too much alcohol. What do you do? You can give him a hot bath or you can
           put him in a sauna bath. If he can perspire the alcohol will go with his perspiration.
               Buddha says to do virtue is like perspiration. Your unconscious habits evaporate through it. So
           not doing bad is actually doing good. Don't be negatively interested, be positive. If you just sit and
           think about all the wrongs that you have done, by and by thinking too much about wrongs that you
           have done, you will be giving too much food to them. To give attention is to give food, to give
           attention means to play with the wound.
               Take note, be mindful, meditate, but don't play with the wound. Otherwise you will be making
           the wound again and again more alive. It will start bleeding. So don't become too much concerned
           about your small things -- they are small.
               I have heard about a saint who used to beat himself every morning, and he would cry, 'God,
           forgive me. I have committed a sin.' This continued for forty years. Again and again he was asked...
           He had become a very respectable man, he was thought to be a very holy man, and nobody knew that
           he had ever committed any sin because he was such a virtuous man. And for forty years people had
           watched him -- he was always in the public eye, he was always surrounded by people. When he was
           asleep, then too people were surrounding him, and nobody had seen that he had ever done anything
           wrong; he was continuously praying. But every morning he would beat himself, blood would flow
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from his body.
               Continuously he was asked, 'What wrong have you done?' What sin? Let us know.' But he would
           not say. Only when he was dying, he said, 'Now I will have to say, because last night god appeared
           in my dream and he said, "You are creating too much fuss about it. Forty years is enough! And I
           have to tell you this, otherwise I won't allow you in heaven. You have not done anything wrong."'
           Just when he was young he saw a beautiful woman pass and desire arose in him, just an urge to have
           this woman. That was the only sin that he had committed -- just a thought -- and for forty years he
           was beating himself. Even god had to appear to him in a dream: 'Please, now... because tomorrow
           you are going to die. I will not allow you in heaven if you continue this. You have not done anything
           much, but you are creating too much fuss about it. Don't be fussy.'
               All errors are just ordinary. What extraordinary sin can you commit? All the sins have been
           committed already; you cannot find a new sin -- it is very difficult. It is almost impossible to be
           original about sin. For millions of years people have committed everything that can be committed.
           Can you find anything new? It is impossible -- and what can you commit?
               Bertrand Russell used to say that the christian god seems to be almost absurd, because the
           christian god says that if you commit a sin you will be thrown into hell for eternity. Now this is too
           much. You can throw a man for five years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years. If a man has lived for
           seventy years you can throw him for seventy years. That means he was continually sinning for
           seventy years -- not even a gap, not even a holiday. Then too you can throw him for seventy years.
               And christians believe in only one life. It is good that they believe in one life, otherwise what
           will they do? For one life's sins they throw you in hell for eternity! Just think of hindus -- so many
           lives; one eternity will not be enough.
               Russell used to say, 'I count my sins -- those which I have committed and also those which I have
           not committed, only thought -- and I cannot conceive how, for these small things, I am going to be
           thrown for eternity into hell, and I will be tortured for eternity. Even a very very hard magistrate
           cannot send me to jail for more than four years.' And he was right.
               What errors can you commit? What errors have you committed? Don't call them sin because the
           very word has become contaminated, it has a condemnation in it. Buddha simply calls them
           'misdemeanours', ungraceful acts. Beautiful is his term -- ungraceful acts, acts in which you behaved
           in an ungraceful way. You became angry or you said something which was not graceful, or you did
           something which was not graceful -- just misdemeanours.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              WHEN AN EVIL-DOER, SEEING YOU PRACTISE GOODNESS, COMES AND MALICIOUSLY
              INSULTS YOU, YOU SHOULD PATIENTLY ENDURE IT AND NOT FEEL ANGRY WITH HIM. FOR
              THE EVIL-DOER IS INSULTING HIMSELF BY TRYING TO INSULT YOU.


               Try to understand this sutra. It always happens -- if you become good you will find many people
           becoming angry at you. Because your very goodness creates guilt in them -- they are not so good.
           Your being good creates a comparison. It is very difficult for people to forgive a good man. They can
           always forgive a bad man, but it is very difficult for them to forgive a good man. Hence for centuries
           they remain angry against a Jesus, against a Socrates, against a Buddha. Why does it happen? You
           can watch in life.
               I was once in a university, I was a teacher there, and one clerk who was the best on the whole
           staff and a very sincere worker, told me, 'I am in trouble. The whole staff is against me. They say,
           "Why do you work so much? When we are not working you are also not supposed to work. Just two
           hours is enough -- just go on putting files from here to there, there is no need..."' His table was
           always clean, no files piling, and everybody else' stables were full of files. Of course they were
           angry, because this man's presence created a comparison. If this man can do, why can't they do?
               A good man is never loved because he creates comparison. A Jesus has to be crucified, because
           if such innocence is possible, then why are you not so innocent? It becomes a deep wound in your
           ego. You have to crush this man; only by killing him will you be satisfied. You have to poison
           Socrates because this man is so truthful. Why can't you be so truthful? Your lies are revealed by this
           man's truth. This man's reality, authenticity, makes you feel all pseudo. This man is dangerous. It is
           as if in a valley of blind people one man comes who has eyes.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               H. G. Wells has a story that there was a valley of blind people somewhere in South America, and
           once a traveller came who had eyes. All the blind people gathered together and they thought that
           something must be wrong with this man; it had never happened. They decided to operate. Of course,
           in a valley of blind people, if you have eyes something is wrong with you.

               Mulla Nasrudin is a hypochondriac. Once he came to me and told me, 'There must be something
           wrong with my wife.'
               I said, 'What is wrong with your wife? She looks perfectly healthy.'
               He said, 'There must be something wrong. She never goes to the doctor.'
               He goes every day, regularly, religiously, and every doctor of the town is annoyed by him. Now
           he is worried about his wife. There must be something wrong with her because she never goes to any
           doctor.

               If you live with unhealthy people, to be healthy is dangerous. If you live with insane people, then
           to be sane is dangerous. If you live in a madhouse, even if you are not mad at least pretend that you
           are mad, otherwise those mad people will kill you.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              WHEN AN EVIL-DOER, SEEING YOU PRACTISE GOODNESS, COMES AND MALICIOUSLY
              INSULTS YOU...


               They will come and insult you. They cannot tolerate the idea that you can be better than them. It
           is impossible for them to believe that anybody can surpass them. Then the surpasser must be a
           pretender, then he must be a deceiver, then he must be trying just to create an image about himself,
           about his ego. They become restless. They start taking revenge.

              WHEN AN EVIL-DOER, SEEING YOU PRACTISE GOODNESS, COMES AND MALICIOUSLY
              INSULTS YOU, YOU SHOULD PATIENTLY ENDURE IT...


               You should remain at your center, you should patiently endure it, you should simply watch it,
           what is happening. You should not get disturbed about it. If you get disturbed then that malicious
           person has defeated you. If you get disturbed then you are conquered. If you get disturbed then you
           have cooperated with him.
               Buddha says just keep quiet, endure it, remain patient, and don't feel angry with him... FOR THE
           EVIL-DOER IS INSULTING HIMSELF BY TRYING TO INSULT YOU. He is insulting his own
           potentiality.
               When we crucified Jesus, we crucified our own innocence. When we crucified Jesus, we
           crucified our own future. When we crucified Jesus, we killed our own divinity. He was nothing but a
           symbol that this is possible to you also, that whatsoever has happened to him can happen to you also.
               When we poisoned Socrates we poisoned our whole being, we poisoned our whole history. He
           was nothing but the coming star, the herald of the future. He was saying, 'This is your potentiality.
           Whatsoever I am is just a messenger to give you the message that you can also become like me.'
               Buddha says: FOR THE EVIL-DOER IS INSULTING HIMSELF BY TRYING TO INSULT
           YOU. You remain patient, you endure it, don't get angry.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              ONCE A MAN CAME UNTO ME AND DENOUNCED ME ON ACCOUNT OF MY OBSERVING THE
              WAY AND PRACTISING GREAT LOVING KINDNESS.


              It looks absurd. Why should people go to somebody, who has done nothing wrong to them, to
           denounce him? Why should they go and denounce Buddha? Because he has not done anything
           wrong to anybody. He is in nobody's way -- he has renounced all competitiveness. He is almost a
           dead person as far as the world is concerned. But why should people go out of their way to denounce
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him?
               His very presence is insulting to them. The very possibility that a man can be so good hurts them.
           Then why are they not so good? It creates guilt. That's why down the centuries people go on writing
           that a man like Buddha never existed, that Jesus is a myth, that these are just wish-fulfillments.
           These people never existed, these are human desires, utopias; they never really existed. Or even if
           they existed they were not like they are depicted; they are just fantasies, dreams. Why?
               Even today people go on writing against Buddha, against Jesus. Still today something hurts.
           Twenty-five centuries have passed since this man walked, but still there are people who don't feel at
           ease with this man. If he existed really, historically, then they are condemned. They have to prove
           that this man never existed, it is just a myth. Then they are at ease.
               Once they have proved that there has never been a Buddha, never a Jesus, never a Krishna, once
           they have proved that there is no god, then they can rest, then they can be whatsoever they are, then
           there is no comparison. They are the last word in existence. Then they can remain as they are
           without any transformation. Then they can remain and go on doing whatsoever they are doing. Then
           they can go on doing rubbish and they can go on talking garbage, and they can go on being
           unconscious drunkards as they are. But if ever a man like Buddha walked on the earth -- with such
           flame, with such glow, with such glory -- they feel hurt.

              ONCE A MAN CAME UNTO ME AND DENOUNCED ME ON ACCOUNT OF MY OBSERVING THE
              WAY AND PRACTISING GREAT LOVING KINDNESS. BUT I KEPT SILENT AND DID NOT
              ANSWER HIM.


               That's what I mean when I say get out of the triangle of PAC. Because if you answer you will
           react. You remain quiet, you simply remain at your center; don't be distracted. You just remain
           silent, serene, collected, calm.

              BUT I KEPT SILENT AND DIDN'T ANSWER HIM.


               That has to be understood. Because what is the point in answering such a man? He will not
           understand in the first place. In the second place the possibility is he will misunderstand.
               Pontius Pilate asked Jesus at the last moment when he was going to be crucified, 'What is truth?'
           and Jesus remained silent, he didn't say a single word. His whole life he was talking about truth, his
           whole life was sacrificed into the service of truth, and at the last moment why is he quiet? Why is he
           not answering? He knows that the answer is futile, it won't get home. There is every possibility that
           it will be misunderstood.
               Silence is his answer -- and silence is more penetrating. If some disciple had asked him he would
           have answered, because a disciple is one who is ready to understand, who is receptive, who will take
           care of whatsoever is said to him, who will feed on it, who will digest it. The word will become flesh
           in him.
               But Pontius Pilate is not a disciple. He is not asking it in a deep, humble attitude, he is not ready
           to learn. He is just asking -- maybe out of curiosity, or just joking, or just trying to make a laughing
           stock of this man. Jesus remained quiet, silence was his answer.

           And Buddha says:

              I KEPT SILENT AND DID NOT ANSWER HIM. THE DENUNCIATION CEASED.


               Because that silence must have surprised the man. An answer would have been okay, he could
           have understood. But silence he couldn't understand at all. He must have been shocked. He is
           denouncing and Buddha is simply quiet, silent. He is insulting and Buddha is unperturbed. If he was
           perturbed, if he was disturbed and distracted, then the man could have understood the language. That
           language he knew, but he did not know this totally unknown language of silence, of grace, of peace,
           of love, of compassion.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He must have felt embarrassed, he must have felt puzzled. He could not figure it out. He was at a
           loss. THE DENUNCIATION CEASED. What is the point of going on now? This man seems to be
           almost like a statue. He has not answered, he has not reacted.

              I THEN ASKED HIM, 'IF YOU BRING A PRESENT TO YOUR NEIGHBOUR AND HE ACCEPTS IT
              NOT, DOES THE PRESENT COME BACK TO YOU?'


              Rather than answering him, when the denunciation ceased Buddha asked him:

              'IF YOU BRING A PRESENT TO YOUR NEIGHBOUR AND HE ACCEPTS IT NOT, DOES THE
              PRESENT COME BACK TO YOU?' THE MAN REPLIED, 'IT WILL.' I SAID, 'YOU DENOUNCE ME
              NOW, BUT AS I ACCEPT IT NOT, YOU MUST TAKE THE WRONG DEED BACK ON YOUR OWN
              PERSON. IT IS LIKE ECHO SUCCEEDING SOUND, IT IS LIKE SHADOW FOLLOWING OBJECT.
              YOU NEVER ESCAPE THE EFFECT OF YOUR OWN EVIL DEEDS. BE THEREFORE MINDFUL
              AND CEASE FROM DOING EVIL.'


               He has shown something without saying it. He asked the man, 'If you bring a present to a
           neighbour...' he calls it a present '... and he accepts it not, what will you do?' Of course the man must
           have said, 'I will take it back.' He was persuaded, now he cannot turn back. Buddha said, 'And you
           have brought a present to me -- maybe of insults, denunciation -- and I accept it not. You can bring,
           that is your freedom, but whether I will accept it or not is my freedom, it is my choice.'
               This is something beautiful to be understood. Somebody insults you. The insult is not yet
           meaningful unless you accept it. Unless you immediately take it, it is meaningless, it is noise, it has
           nothing to do with you. So in fact nobody can insult you unless you take it, unless you cooperate
           with it.
               So whenever you were insulted, you felt insulted, it was you, it was your responsibility. Don't
           say that somebody else insulted you. Why did you accept it? Nobody can force you to accept it. It is
           his freedom to insult, it is your freedom whether to accept or not. If you accept then it is your
           responsibility, then don't say that he insulted you. Simply say, 'I accepted the insult.' Simply say, 'I
           was not aware; in unawareness I simply accepted it and then I became disturbed.'
               Buddha says, 'Accept only that which you need. Accept only nourishment.' Why accept poison?
           Somebody brings a cupful of poison and he wants to present it. You say, 'Thank you sir, but I don't
           need it. If sometime I want to commit suicide I will come and ask, but right now I want to live.'
           There is no need; just because somebody has brought poison to you there is no necessity that you
           should drink it. You can simply say, 'Thank you.' That's what Buddha did.
               He says,'But as I accept it not, what are you going to do with it? You will have to take it back. I
           feel sorry for you. You will have to take it on yourself, it will fall on yourself... just as a shadow
           follows the object, or the echo succeeds the sound. Now it will follow you forever and ever. Your
           insult will be like a thorn in your being. Now it will haunt you. You have not done something against
           me, you have done something against yourself.'
               To be a help to this poor man who has done something wrong against himself, Buddha feels
           sorry, Buddha feels compassion. He says, 'Be therefore mindful. Do only that which you would like
           to follow you. Do only that which will follow you and you will feel happy. Sing a song, so if the
           echoes come, they will shower more songs on you.'
               In Matheran, a hill station just nearby, I used to have many camps. The first camp, I went to see a
           place, an echo point. A few friends were there with me. One started barking like a dog and the whole
           valley echoed as if many dogs were barking. I told the man, 'Take a lesson -- this is the whole
           situation of life: life is an echo point. If you bark like a dog, then the whole valley will echo and it
           will follow and haunt you. Why not sing a song?'
               He understood the point and he sang a song, and the whole valley showered, echoed.
               It depends on you. Whatsoever you do with others, in fact you are doing with yourself, because
           from everywhere things will return back, a thousand-fold. If you shower flowers on others, flowers
           will come on you. If you sow thorns in others' paths, the path is going to be yours.
               We cannot do anything to anybody else without doing it to ourselves in the first place. We can do
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something to somebody else only if he accepts it, and that is not decidedly so. Maybe he is a
           Buddha, a Jesus, and he simply sits silently. Then the deed falls on our own being.
                Buddha says: BE THEREFORE MINDFUL... He must have said in deep compassion... AND
           CEASE FROM DOING EVIL... because you will suffer unnecessarily.
                Let me repeat one thing so that you can remember it. You have three layers: the child, the parent,
           the adult -- and you are none. You are neither the child nor the parent nor the adult. You are
           something beyond, you are something eternal, you are something far away from all these struggling
           parts, conflicting parts.
                Don't choose, just be mindful, and act out of your mindfulness. Then you will be spontaneous
           like a child, and without being childish. And remember the difference between being like a child and
           being childish. They are two different things.
                If you act out of mindfulness you will be like a child and yet you will not be childish. And if you
           act out of your mindfulness you will be following all the commandments without following them at
           all. And if you act out of your mindfulness whatsoever you do will be reasonable. And to be
           reasonable is to be really rational.
                And remember, reasonableness is different from rationality. Reasonableness is a very very
           different thing, because reasonableness accepts irrationality also as part of life. Reason is
           monotonous, rationality is monotonous. Reasonableness accepts the polarity of things. A reasonable
           man is a feeling man as much as a reasoning man.
                So if you act out of your innermost core, you will become tremendously content; contented,
           because all layers will be fulfilled. Your child will be fulfilled because you will be spontaneous.
           Your parent will not feel angry and guilty because naturally all that is good will be done by you, not
           as an outer discipline but as an inner awareness.
                You will follow the ten commandments of Moses without ever having heard about them; you
           will naturally follow them. That's where Moses got them -- not on the mountain but on the inner
           peak. And you will be following Lao Tzu and Jesus -- and you may not have heard about Lao Tzu
           and Jesus. That's where they got their childhood again, that's where they got born. And you will be
           following Manu and Mahavir and Mohammed, very naturally, and still you will not be irrational.
                Your mind will be in total support with it. It will not be against your adult rationality. Your adult
           rationality will be totally convinced by it, your Bertrand Russell will be convinced by it.
                Then all your three conflicting parts fall into one whole. You become a unity, you are together.
           Then those many voices disappear. Then you are no more many, you are one. This one is the goal.
              SO, BE THEREFORE MINDFUL.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #6
                                          Chapter title: Nothing is lacking
           26 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608260
              ShortTitle: TRANS106
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




              WHY CAN'T WE LET ONE ANOTHER BE? WHY CAN'T WE JUST SIMPLY ACCEPT OURSELVES
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND OTHERS JUST THE WAY WE ARE? WHY THIS PERSISTENT 'CHASING-THE-TAIL GAME'
              OF TRYING TO BE DIFFERENT? -- THAT IS, MORE OPEN, MORE AWARE, MORE. YOU HAVE
              SAID OFTEN THAT EVERYTHING IS FINE, PERFECT, THE WAY IT IS....
              ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME WE STARTED PLAYING A NEW GAME? I'M GETTING VERY EXHAUSTED
              BY THIS OLD ONE. AND LIFE AND LOVE AND FEAR AND INSECURITY IS SO EXQUISITE --
              JUST THE WAY IT IS. COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE MORE?


                THE FIRST THING TO BE UNDERSTOOD -- the 'more' has already happened, and there
           cannot be anything more; but it is very difficult to accept it because you can always imagine more.
           The problem arises out of imagination, and it is going to remain unless you drop imagination as
           such.
                You have ten thousand rupees -- you can imagine more; you have ten million rupees -- you can
           imagine more. There is no end to imagination. The 'more' comes out of the faculty of imagination.
                The trees are not in any way hankering for more; the animals are not in any way hankering for
           any growth, they are not going anywhere. The reason is simple -- they have no imagination. Buddhas
           are also not going anywhere, they are also not part of this mad game, because they have dropped the
           imagination.
                Unless you drop imagining, you cannot drop 'more'. 'More' simply means you can imagine. You
           are in love -- you can imagine that more could have happened, more can happen. That's why man
           remains in a continuous dissatisfaction; it is imagination that creates it.
                The way is, either you become idiotic, fall back.... Idiots are not troubled. You will find idiots
           always in a happy mood. They cannot imagine. They are incapable of imagination. And many have
           tried to become idiots in the name of religion, many have tried practising things which make you
           idiotic.
                If you escape from the world and you live a monastic life, a life of no relationship, a life
           absolutely lonely, with yourself, monotonous, then by and by your mind becomes dull, you lose
           imagination, you become crippled. You can do it in many ways, you can use many methods.
                You can stand on your head for hours together; that will destroy your subtle faculties of the
           mind. The so-called yogis have been doing that. When blood rushes too much into the brain it
           destroys many tiny nerves, and by and by one becomes dull, stupid.
                You can go to drugs -- by and by you lose your subtle faculties, your receptivity; you become
           stale, you become aloof, distant, indifferent. You start withdrawing into yourself. You become
           closed, and imagination is lost.
                This seems easier to people -- to lose imagination -- because you are going downhill. But this is
           not the way to become blissful, because blissfulness is possible only when you are utterly intelligent.
           The trees are not hankering for more, but they are not blissful either, because they are not aware.
           How can blissfulness happen when you are not aware? They look blissful to us because we can see
           and watch, because we can observe.
                Flowers look beautiful to us, children look beautiful to us -- so silent, so innocent -- because we
           can observe and we can be aware. But in themselves they are simply below the threshold of
           awareness. Nothing is happening there, because happening starts only with awareness.
                So you can fall into a dull existence, monotonous, stale, flat, and then the game is no more there.
           Or, you can rise above, you can move upwards, and you can come to a point from where, from the
           hilltop you can look at the valleys, and the whole game seems meaningless. Not that you stop
           playing it; you continue to play -- because it is meaningless but beautiful. You continue to play with
           no idea of any goal in it. You participate in it, but you are no more a participant.
                That is the meaning of the zen saying: 'Be in the world but be not of it.' Be in the world but don't
           let the world enter in you. Move in the river but don't be touched by the water, don't allow the water
           to touch you.
                There is nothing wrong in the game if you understand that it is just a game; then you can play it.
           The problem arises when you become very serious about the game. And you can watch people --
           even playing cards they become very serious. Even playing chess they become very serious and very
           tense. They know they are playing a game but they go on forgetting again and again. The game
           becomes serious.
                It is beautiful to participate in it. Chess is beautiful, a good sharpener of intelligence. But to
           become serious, it creates anxiety. To become very serious about it can create madness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have heard about one emperor of Egypt. He went mad because he was such a serious player of
           chess. His whole life was nothing but a concern about chess. When he went mad his physicians were
           very much worried. They enquired all over the country. They asked old wise men what to do. One
           sufi mystic suggested, 'If some good chess player is ready to play with him he will be okay. But you
           will have to find a very serious player, and really a match for him.'
                They were ready to pay whatsoever was demanded. One of the greatest, a world champion, came
           and accepted the offer. One year continuously he played chess with the mad emperor. After one year
           the emperor was back to his sanity -- but the other fellow went mad.
                There is nothing wrong in being playful, but don't get serious about it. And it seems -- the
           question is from Prabha -- it seems she is serious about it. Let us dissect the question step by step.
                First: WHY CAN'T WE LET ONE ANOTHER BE? Because we are not ourselves, so how can
           we allow others to be themselves? You can allow the other only that which you have allowed
           yourself. You cannot allow more than that, remember it. If you are not free you will not allow
           freedom to anybody else. If you are repressed you will not allow expression to others.
                Whatsoever you are, you go on trying to enforce it upon others. You would like everybody to be
           just an image of you. That gives you a very egoistic feeling -- that everybody is imitating you,
           everybody is a carbon copy of you. And it puts you at ease -- that everybody is like that. If
           somebody is free and you allow freedom and you yourself are not free, you will feel very much
           depressed by the comparison. That's how repression has been perpetuated down the ages.
                The parents were repressed by their parents, they have repressed their children, and these
           children will repress their children. And it is a chain, and it is very difficult to break it. Only rarely
           somebody gathers so much courage and becomes so individualistic that he jumps out of the chain.
                To jump out of this chain is to jump out of the world. Then you are no more conditioned by
           anybody, and then you never condition anybody. Then you live in freedom and you impart freedom.
                But you can give only that which you have. Being, you have not. How can you allow others?
           You are constantly finding ways and means how to destroy the freedom of the other, how to
           dominate, how to possess, how to command, how to force obedience. You are not at ease, you have
           not yet come home. You are not fulfilled, you cannot allow anybody else to be fulfilled. You are like
           a barren tree -- you cannot allow other trees to have fruits, because that will hurt you very much.
                You ask: WHY CAN'T WE LET ONE ANOTHER BE? Because you are not. So start from the
           very beginning. First, be! First allow yourself to be, then you will be capable of allowing others also.
                I can give you utter freedom. I have no discipline here to teach to you, because I have tasted utter
           freedom, and I know that if you can taste -- even a little bit of it -- your whole life will be
           transfigured.
                You would like me to give you discipline. People come to me and they say, 'Give us some
           discipline, give us clearcut rules -- what we should do and what we should not. You never give us
           clearcut rules. You talk in vague terms.' It looks vague to them. I am talking in terms of freedom -- it
           looks vague. They say, 'You talk in an ambiguous way. We cannot decide what you mean. Why can't
           you give us clearcut ways? Why can't you reduce whatsoever you want to teach? Why can't you put
           it in a few commandments, like the ten commandments? Then it will be easy for us to follow and we
           will not be confused. Why do you confuse us?'
                I am not confusing you, I am simply giving you total freedom -- and of course, freedom is
           confusing. Confusing, because you have to decide every moment. I am not going to decide for you.
           Who am I to decide for you? Anybody who decides for you is a murderer. And you are in search of
           your murderers. You want somebody to take the whole responsibility.
                That's what you ask -- clearcut rules so that you need not be aware, so that you need not be
           responsive, so that you need not be responsible. Whatsoever happens you can look in the book of
           commandments and follow the book. By and by you can learn the book by rote, memorise it, and
           then you can function through the memory. And then there is no need to function through your
           center.
                Wherever rules are given, remember -- the man himself has not attained freedom. If he has
           attained freedom then he will know, he must know, that freedom starts at the first step. It is not
           something that happens in the end; it begins from the beginning. You have to sow seeds of freedom,
           then only will you be able to harvest freedom, liberation, nirvana.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           WHY CAN'T WE LET ONE ANOTHER BE?

                Because you are not. You are a non-entity. You yet exist not. You are just a dream, and that too
           very hodge-podge. You don't have yet any integration, you are not one. You jump on others,
           whosoever falls under your territory -- your children, your wife, your husband, your mother, your
           father, your friends -- whosoever is available to you, you jump and crush his or her freedom. Once
           you have crushed the freedom you feel at ease; now there is no danger.
                If you really want to give freedom to others, you will have to begin at home. Everything begins
           at home. Be free, become a being. Enjoy this tremendous freedom that life gives to you. Don't follow
           any rules. Just follow one thing, and that is your awareness. And let your awareness decide each
           moment fresh what is to be done.
                There is no need to function through memory and through past knowledge, experience. Just
           function with fresh, virgin knowing, virgin awareness. And then you will see how beautiful it is to be
           free, and then you will see how beautiful it is to live with free people. Because to live with prisoners
           is to become a prisoner oneself.
                Have you watched? A jailer is not a free man, cannot be. A jailer is more jailed than the
           prisoners. If you force so many people to be prisoners, how can you be free? That enforced
           imprisonment reflects in your being also; you become a prisoner yourself. Never enforce any
           imprisonment on anybody. Allow freedom and you will be free. You be free, and you will be able to
           allow more freedom. They work together.

           WHY CAN'T WE JUST SIMPLY ACCEPT OURSELVES AND OTHERS JUST THE WAY WE
           ARE?

               Because you have been conditioned to reject, not to accept. You have been conditioned to deny,
           you have been conditioned to say 'no'. You have not yet known how to say 'yes'. You have been
           conditioned to condemn. You were condemned and the same you are doing to others. You go on
           condemning yourself also, and of course the same you have to do with others. You cannot do
           otherwise.
               Your parents were telling you, 'You are wrong, this is not right, this should never be done,' and a
           thousand and one times they have repeated it. And you have gathered one message: that you are not
           accepted as you are, you are not loved for your simple being.
               If you fulfill their desires they love you; their love is a bargain. If you follow them like shadows,
           they appreciate, they approve. If you just become a little free and you try to be an individual, they
           are against you -- their eyes, their behaviour, everything changes. And every child is so helpless --
           just to survive he has to be political, he has to accept whatsoever the parents are saying.
               Then there is society, then there is the establishment of education. And by and by you go deeper
           and deeper into the mess, and everybody is there to force you to follow him. Then there are priests
           and politicians, all do-gooders, and they all want you to follow them, and they all have trained you.
           Your mind is a conditioned mind. That's why you cannot accept yourself and you cannot accept
           others.
               But the possibility exists. If you understand this -- that this is just conditioning -- you can drop
           out of it clean, right now! Don't get identified with it, that is the only way. Don't think that this is
           you; just remember that this is society speaking through you. Don't call it your conscience, it is not
           your conscience. It is a pseudo-conscience created by the society. It is a trick, it is a very dangerous
           trick. But the society has put inside you its own ideas and they function as your conscience. In fact,
           they don't allow your real conscience to surface, they don't allow your own consciousness to come
           and take charge of your life.
               Society is very political. Outside it has posted the policeman and the magistrate; inside it has
           posted the conscience. That is the inner policeman, the inner magistrate. And it is not even satisfied
           with this arrangement -- above it has posted a god, the super-policeman, the head constable. So he is
           looking from there; even in your bathroom he is watching you. Somebody is following you
           continuously, you are never left alone to be yourself.
               Drop this -- this is your idea, you are clinging to it. It has been given to you by others. It has been
           given so early that you don't remember, but it is a political arrangement. It is not religious.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Religion is an unconditioning. The very process of religion is to make you unconditioned, to free
           you of all conditions, and to allow you whatsoever you are meant to be, to allow you your destiny.
               Drop out of this conditioning. That's what a real drop-out has to be. It is not just dropping out of
           the society -- that won't help because where will you go? Even if you become a hippie and you drop
           out of the society, you will create an alternate society, and again there will be rules, and again there
           will be conditionings.
               If you move in the ordinary society, the establishment, you are expected not to have long hair.
           And if you move amidst hippies you are expected not to have short hair. But it is the same.
               If you are moving in the established society, you are expected to take a bath every day. And if
           you are living with hippies and you take a bath every day, they will think something is wrong with
           you. But it is the same thing, upside down.
               You cannot move out of the society. Many times it has been tried, but only alternative societies
           are created, and they become their own establishments.
               You can move out of the society only in a very subtle way, there is no gross way. The subtle way
           is to drop inside, out of the layer of conditioning. Just remember that now you are mature
           enough,..you need not bother what others say; you have to be yourself. And enjoy, start enjoying this
           freedom, and then you will be able to impart freedom to others also. Because if you want your
           freedom to grow you will need people who are free around you, because freedom can prosper only
           with free people.

           WHY THIS PERSISTENT 'CHASING-THE-TAIL GAME OF TRYING TO BE DIFFERENT --
           MORE OPEN, MORE AWARE, MORE? YOU HAVE SAID OFTEN THAT EVERYTHING IS
           FINE THE WAY IT IS...

               I have said it but you have not heard it. What I say is not going to change you unless you hear it.
           Hence I have to go on repeating in different ways. My message is the same. I am not saying a new
           truth every day. I'm saying the same truth in so many forms, in so many expressions.
               Now I have to hammer you from different directions because I see you so fast asleep. I can hear
           your snoring. I say it and in a way you also hear it, because you are not deaf -- but you have not yet
           heard it.
               Once you have heard it -- that means, once it has hit home, once it has reached your heart -- then
           this question will not arise. Then you will not ask why. Then suddenly you will be able to see and
           the clarity will happen to you. You will see the whole game is this: you have been taught to improve,
           to go on. You have been taught to remain discontent. You have been taught that unless you are
           discontent you will never be progressive. If you are not discontent you will vegetate. Be discontent!
           Ask for more! And go on asking for more. If you don't ask, nobody's going to give you anything.

           ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME WE STARTED PLAYING A NEW GAME?

               But the new game will be the same if there is not a new mind. You can play the new game, that's
           what you are doing. What is this orange colour and mala? You are playing a new game; with a new
           name, you are playing a new game. But if the mind has not changed, if there has not been a
           revolution within you, then this game will also become, sooner or later, an old game. There are old
           sannyasins here who have settled. Now they have accepted this new role -- the revolution has not
           happened.
               It is very easy to change your clothes, very easy to change your name; it is very difficult to
           change your attitude, your vision. What will you do, Prabha? Even if you start a new game you will
           be the same. Only the name of the game will change, nothing else will change. If you are the same,
           the result is going to be the same with the new game also.
               There is no point in changing the game. The point, the basic point is to change yourself. Then
           you can play the same game if you like, or you can play a new game if you like, but that is not
           relevant. The relevant thing is -- you change. Have a totally different vision.
               What do I mean? There are two types of vision in the world. One, of the unenlightened person.
           That vision is: accumulate more, whatsoever it is -- money? okay; meditation? okay -- accumulate
           more, have more of it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The unenlightened person is interested in having. He knows only one way of being and that is
           having -- have a big house, have a big car, have more money, have more virtue, have more bank
           balance -- in this world and the other also -- have more... more women, more men, more love affairs
           -- have more. His only idea of being is having more.
               Having has nothing to do with being. You can have the whole world -- being is not going to
           result that way. You can have the whole world at your feet, and you will remain empty, because
           there is no way to change having into being.
               Then there is another vision -- the vision of the enlightened person, of the Buddha. It is a shift, it
           is a radical change. Being is important, having is not important. Then there is no question of
           progression -- you are already, you cannot be more than you are. You can have more, but you cannot
           be more.
               Let me repeat it: you can have more -- you can have a bigger house, there is no problem about it.
           Certainly you can have more money. Even if you are a Rockefeller you can have more money. Even
           if you are a president of a country you can have more power. Even if you are a great saint you can
           have more virtue.
               But the whole... the dimension of having is always the dimension of discontent. You can always
           have more. Imagination has continuous work, imagination is applicable.
               The dimension of being -- you are already that which you can be. The goal has already been
           arrived at. There is nowhere to go.
               The dimension of having is the extrovert dimension, the dimension of being is the introvert
           dimension. You go within yourself just to see who you are. Let us first know who we are, what we
           are. I'm not against having things, you can have, but first have your being. I'm not against living in a
           big house -- live, nothing is wrong in it, but first live in your inner being, then everything is okay.
           Then even if you are a beggar, it is okay; even if you are an emperor, it is okay. I am not insisting
           that you be a beggar.
               My whole emphasis is first be! -- then everything is okay. But if you are not, then nothing is
           okay. Then you can have as much as you desire and still you will remain unsatisfied, unfulfilled.
               So don't change the game; change your dimension, change your vision, have a radical revolution.
           The word 'radical' is very good; it means 'of the roots'. When I say have a radical change, I mean
           change your very roots. Changing leaves won't help, pruning the branches won't help. Change your
           roots, change your very soil. Be! Celebrate! Nothing is lacking. Sing, dance, love, laugh, cry --
           nothing is lacking.

           I'M GETTING VERY EXHAUSTED BY THIS OLD GAME.

               You can get exhausted by the old game, and you can change to a new game. Again you will get
           exhausted with the new, because everything new will become old someday. Who is exhausted with
           the old game? It is the mind which always gets exhausted with the old and always hankers for the
           new.
               Prabha is asking the question but she has not understood it, what she is asking. If you are
           exhausted by the old and then you are seeking for the new, you are seeking again for something
           more. Fed up with the old you want something new -- a new sensation, a new thrill. But sooner or
           later the new will become old, then what? Everything new will become old, because everything that
           is old was new one day.
               Try to understand it. It is not going to help by changing the game from A to B, from B to C. You
           can go on jumping. The change has to happen within you. You become new, and then everything
           remains new, then never is anything reduced to boredom. Then one is never fed up. YOU become
           new, not the game. You bring newness to you.
               And being is always new because it is always happening... always dying and always being born.
           Each moment your breath is fresh; the moment it becomes stale it is thrown out -- new breath is
           rushing in. In the same way god rushes in you. Every moment the stale god is thrown out and the
           new god enters you.
               Your river is flowing; just become acquainted with this inner river of consciousness, this stream
           of consciousness which is always fresh.
               By its very nature it is fresh, it cannot be old. Mind is always old, consciousness is never old;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind is always bored, consciousness is never bored.

           I AM GETTING VERY EXHAUSTED BY THIS OLD ONE. AND LIFE AND LOVE AND FEAR
           AND INSECURITY IS SO EXQUISITE JUST THE WAY IT IS.

                Then who is preventing you? Jump into life, Prabha. Jump into life, love, fear, insecurity. Who is
           preventing you? At least not I.
                For whom are you waiting? For whose permission? Why are you asking me this? Again you need
           somebody's approval. Then again you are trying to throw responsibility on me. Then if it is not really
           so, not as exquisite as you say, you can say, 'Osho, you told me to move into love, and now... I am
           having a hell of a time. You told me to be insecure, and now I am trembling -- now what to do?' If it
           is really exquisite, as you say, if you have understood the point, then why waste time in asking the
           question?
                Jump into life, because it is slipping by. Before the time is gone jump into the stream, splash
           around.
                And in the end again the question remains the same. COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE MORE?
                How can it be proved that there is not anything more? In fact, you come to listen to me just to
           find out -- is there something more? And when I say there is nothing more, you don't believe me. I
           know it, you don't believe me. You say, 'This man is playing.' You know there is something more,
           you are missing it -- but you are missing it not because there is more and you have not grown up to
           it; you are missing it because you are too much obsessed with the more and it is right here now
           already available.
                You are missing, that I know. And because you are missing you cannot believe me that there
           cannot be anything more. You look into my eyes and you know that there is something more. You
           feel me and you know that there is something more. So you cannot believe it.
                If I say there is something more and you have to attain it and much effort is needed, you will nod
           your approval. You will say, 'Right.' That's how you get caught by the gurus. Otherwise no guru can
           catch hold of you. Your desire for the more is your readiness to be caught -- that functions as a bait.
           And anybody who can shout loudly that there is more can get followers -- because everybody is
           missing and this man says there is more; maybe he knows, so follow him.
                It is very difficult to be with me because I am not promising you anything more, I am not
           promising any rose gardens to you. And I know you are missing, that is true. But you are not missing
           because it is far away, you are missing because it is so obvious.
                If you ask a fish about her life experiences, she will tell about everything except the ocean. She
           will talk about her love affairs, children, husband, family matters, her psychoanalyst, her guru, and
           things like that, but she will not mention the ocean because it is obvious. The fish ordinarily never
           comes across the ocean. She lives in it, but she has been born into it. It was already there before she
           came in. It has been so close that it is very difficult to know about it. There is no distance.
                God is like the ocean. It is just sitting by your side, hand in hand.
                You are missing him not because he lives on a distant star. You are missing him because he
           follows you like a shadow, here on this earth.
                You are missing him because he is sitting within you and you are looking out.
                You are missing him because he has become you and you are searching somewhere else. He is in
           the seeker; the sought is in the seeker.
                Any day it can happen. Any day you decide to trust me, it can happen. I am not here to show you
           a path, I am here only to show you the goal. Because a path means one has to travel far, far -- the
           goal is somewhere else. My whole effort is to call you away from your so-called paths because the
           goal is here; where are you going?


              IN THE PAST FEW DAYS YOU HAVE TOLD SOME JOKES THAT SHOCKED ME.


              It is from Swami Anand Prashanta. Good, congratulations to you. At least you were shocked,
           something happened.
              Once I was telling a joke to four persons. The first never heard it, he was asleep. He was a great
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           professor, so fast asleep in his knowledge. The second heard it but could not understand it. He was a
           politician -- stupid. The third heard it, understood it, but misinterpreted it -- he was a psychoanalyst.
           And nothing can be said about the fourth, because he had been dead for many years -- he was a
           priest.
               Prashanta was shocked. Good, very good. At least he was not asleep, at least he is not dead.
           Because you cannot shock a dead man. He understood. Of course, he misinterpreted. He is in the
           profession of psychoanalysis. He assists Nirgrantha in his psychotherapy.
               Yes, that is the very purpose. If you are alert I will stop telling jokes to you. When I feel that now
           I am going too far away and you are going too far in, I have to tell a joke -- so that you are jogged,
           shocked, so a shiver goes in your spine and you become a little more alert and you can listen to me.
           And of course all jokes are shocking, otherwise they are not jokes. The whole purpose is to shock
           you.
               You live covered with many buffers. Some sort of shock-therapy is needed. Yes, many jokes are
           crude -- it depends on you. If I see you are really fast asleep I have to tell you a very crude joke.
           There is no other way. A soft joke will simply pass over you. It will not give you any shivering in the
           spine.
               But good -- that at least one person is not asleep here, Prashanta. But he misinterpreted. It is
           natural because interpretations come from our own mind. He misinterpreted because he thought that
           they are crude and racist, because I joke so much about Jews.
               I love Jews! I am myself an old Jew, so it is difficult for me to forget them. They are the most
           beautiful people on the earth, hence so many jokes exist about them. And jokes exist because Jews
           are so intelligent. You joke only about a certain community because you cannot compete with it. The
           joke is a compensation.
               Jews are really intelligent, one of the most intelligent races in the world, and everybody feels
           incompetent with them -- then you take revenge in your jokes. Jokes are very indicative. They don't
           say anything about the object of the joke, they simply say who has created the joke; they say
           something about who has created the joke. Wherever Jews exist people joke about them -- because
           there is no other way to take revenge; in actual life they are far superior. It happens always.
               So your interpretation is your interpretation. You think that I am against Jews or something? I am
           a lover. But I can understand. Prashanta says, 'These are the stories I told when I was a boy. And
           when I told them it was with cruel intentions.' So of course you must be projecting your own cruel
           intentions on me. The stories may be the same, but the storyteller is not the same. Remember that,
           don't forget it.
               Ordinarily Buddhas have never joked. It is for the first time a Buddha is joking. It is something
           very new, so you are a little puzzled. But to me everything is sacred. There is nothing profane. From
           sex to sahasrar, I accept everything. My acceptance is total. My acceptance is absolute.
               So sometimes the joke can look crude, it can look obscene, but to me, nothing is obscene.
           Everything is just beautiful as it is. The obscene is an interpretation of the mind.
               Drop your interpretation. The shock is very good, Prashanta, but interpretation has to be dropped
           otherwise you will misunderstand me, and you will miss an opportunity.
           I have heard:

              After nineteen years of hard married life, Clancy finally came across and presented his wife,
           Maggie, with the latest in real squirrel jackets. As she paraded grandly up and down in the kitchen
           with it on, their little son Terence exclaimed, 'The poor animal really suffered in order for you to
           have the coat.'
              'Shut up!' his mother yelled,.as she smacked him across the mouth. 'Don't you ever be talking that
           way about your own father!'

               Now the mother is saying something about her own mind. The poor boy was saying something
           totally different.
               It always depends on your mind how you take it. If you are cluttered too much with traditional
           ideas -- that this is obscene and this is not obscene, and this is very cultured and this is very crude... I
           have no distinctions like that. Life is simply life to me -- crude and cultured both. Crudeness is part
           of it, of its very aliveness. But we interpret in our own ways.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Remember it -- whenever you interpret me, remember that it may be your projection. You may
           be seeing something which is not there, you may be putting in something which is not there. And this
           is natural, I understand it. I'm not angry about it. I can understand it. This is very natural, because
           that is the only way you can understand right now. One day it will become possible for you to listen
           to me without any interpretations. Otherwise there is a constant chattering inside your mind.
           It happened:

               A very well-bred english lady decided to get married, but she insisted that her husband be a man
           who had never known another woman. Her solicitors searched far and wide, and finally came up
           with a strapping young Australian who had lived almost all his life in isolation. They brought him to
           London, had him properly outfitted at a Bond Street shop, and presented him to her ladyship. She
           was delighted, and the marriage was quickly arranged.
               On their wedding night they registered at the Dorchester and retired to a posh suite. As soon as
           they were alone the young man began to push all the furniture to the sides of the room. 'Whatever are
           you doing?' asked her ladyship.
               'I don't know about this sex with a woman,' he replied, 'but if it is something like kangaroos we
           are going to need all the room we can get!'

               Now that is his only world. He knows only about kangaroos.
               So, Prashanta, don't bring your kangaroos in. Just listen to me, what I am saying.
               And to shock you is my purpose. So when you get a shock, let it enter as deep as possible. Don't
           be in a hurry to interpret it because that becomes a disturbance; then the shock will not go to the very
           core of your being. If you allow me to give you as many shocks as I think are needed for you, by and
           by you will start growing steel in your spine. You will become shockproof.
               It is said about Mulla Nasrudin that he was so tired of dinner parties, he was so fed up, and he
           wanted to get rid of all those dinner parties. He devised a technique. He developed a system designed
           to guarantee that he would never be invited again.
               First he would ask the woman on his right if she was married. If she said yes, he would ask her if
           she had any children. If she said no, he would ask her how she avoided it.
               Second, he would ask the lady on his left if she was married. If she answered no, he would ask if
           she had any children. Third, he would ask the lady across the table if she had any children. If she
           said yes, he would ask if she was married. Now, nobody invites him.
               All my jokes are there purposefully to shock you, and those people who are very weak,
           weaklings, they have disappeared. They don't come to listen to me, they cannot come. Now only
           people who are courageous and who are ready to absorb these shocks can come close to me. But that
           is done knowingly.


              YOU SPOKE OF THE THREE WAYS: BEAUTY, GRANDEUR AND POWER. WHICH IS YOUR
              WAY? OR IS IT ALL THREE?


               It is neither. I have no way, because I am not leading you anywhere. I am trying to wake you up
           herenow. You are already wandering all over the earth. My effort is to bring you home. And of
           course your wandering is only in a dream.
               It is as if you sleep in Poona and you dream of Philadelphia. In the morning you are again in
           Poona. So if I see that you are dreaming of Philadelphia, what am I supposed to do? Should I give
           you a path to come back to Poona? Should I arrange for a ticket so that you can travel back to
           Poona? I can only give you a shock, so you jump out of your bed and here you are. You have never
           been to Philadelphia, you were simply dreaming.
               That's why in the East we call the world a dream, maya, illusion. It is a beautiful term. It simply
           says you are dreaming. It simply says that nothing is to be done except that you become aware,
           awake.
               You have never gone away from the home, you have always been here; that is the only way to
           be. You cannot go anywhere else, that is not permitted. In the very nature of things everybody is
           there where he belongs. But everybody is dreaming and in dream one has drifted very very long --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many lives of dreaming, and one has been drifting and drifting and drifting, and one thing leads to
           another and one goes on and on.
                You may have reached millions of miles away from the home, but still you are here, because in
           the very nature of things nobody can go anywhere else than his own being. Nobody can go away
           from his nature, his tao, his dhamma. That which you cannot lose is your god. Howsoever hard you
           try, that which cannot be lost is your law, it is your tao. So as far as I am concerned you are sleeping
           and you have to be awakened. There is no path to travel, no way, because you have never gone
           anywhere else.
                A master has to devise methods to awaken. Zen people have the right word; they call their path
           'pathless path', 'gateless gate'. Paradoxical, but exactly expressive of the reality.
                And if you awake herenow, you will be full of beauty, full of grandeur, and full of power. Those
           three are the qualities of the awakened soul.
                The awakened soul is beautiful, nothing ugly can exist in an awakened soul. Awareness is the
           only beauty there is. The awakened soul is in a tremendous grandeur, grace. It is a mystery. You can
           enter into it, but you can never come to know it. It becomes known and yet remains unknown. One is
           simply struck with awe, one simply is wonderstruck.
                And when you are awakened you are tremendously powerful. Not powerful in the sense that you
           can destroy, not powerful in the sense that you can dominate, not powerful in the sense of the
           politician's use of the word, or the scientist's use of the word.
                Powerful in the sense that suddenly you don't feel any limitation, you don't have any boundary,
           you are infinite.
                Powerful in the sense that you don't have any death, you are deathless.
                Powerful in the sense that your bliss is tremendous, incredible.
                Powerful in the sense that now your discipline is impeccable, perfect, and you don't have to force
           it; it's simply there.
                Powerful in the sense that now you are a god, nothing less.
                And powerful in the sense that now there are all gods and goddesses in the world and you are not
           separate, you are one with the universe, one with existence.
                These three things happen to you when you are awakened. You are already that, but you feel
           very impotent. You feel impotent because you don't know who you are. You feel impotent because
           you don't know your treasures. You are almost drunk with ignorance.
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin, on his way home, accidentally staggered into the zoo, and ended up in front of
           the hippopotamus' cage. He was absolutely drunk. 'Don't look at me in that way,' he begged. 'I can
           explain everything.'

           He thought it was his wife.
               When you are drunk you see things which are not there -- a hippopotamus may look like your
           wife, or your wife may look like a hippopotamus. By the morning when you are no more drunk and
           the hangover is gone, things appear in their true colour.
               We are drunk with ignorance, drunk with unawareness... drunkards stumbling on the path of life
           for many years, for many lives. The only thing you need to do is to become a little more alert. Get
           out of this hangover.
               That's what meditation is all about -- to give you a little awareness. If you can become aware
           even for a few moments you will be able to see what reality is, and that experience of the reality will
           start transforming you. Then more and more of those moments will be coming to you, and more and
           more you will become real. Right now you are unreal, that's why you have created an unreal world
           around you. When you become real, a real world arises in your vision.
               God is the experience of those who are real. The world is the experience of those who are unreal
           -- unreal because of unawareness. The more real you become, the more aware you become.


              YOU HAVE SAID THAT THERE IS NO DEVIL BUT ONLY GOD. IN THE WEST THERE WAS A LOT
              OF TALK ABOUT DEVIL POSSESSION WHEN I WAS THERE, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE OF THE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FILM 'THE EXORCIST'.
              WHAT HAPPENS TO A PERSON WHO BELIEVES HIMSELF POSSESSED? IS THIS SOME FORM
              OF OBSESSION OR IS IT REALLY A SPIRIT? IS THIS A DANGER OR ALL IN THE IMAGINATION?


               The devil is like darkness. It is and yet it is not. Darkness is the absence of light, the devil is the
           absence of god. You bring light in, darkness disappears; you bring god in, the devil disappears.
           There has never been a meeting between darkness and light, and there has never been an encounter
           between the devil and god.
               There is an old hindu story. Once darkness went to god and appealed and said, 'I have not done
           anything wrong, but your sun every morning goes on chasing me, for no reason at all, and I am tired
           of running away from here to there, and the sun goes on chasing me round the earth! This is unjust.'
               God said, 'I will call the sun.' The sun was called, and god asked the sun, 'Why do you go on
           creating trouble for my darkness? She has not done anything wrong to you. This is unjust.'
               The sun was surprised. He said, 'I have never come across her. What are you talking about? What
           do you mean by darkness? I have never come across anything like that. Please call her in front of
           me.'
               The case is still in the files. God has been trying but it is impossible to call darkness in front of
           the sun. It is not possible in the nature of things because darkness is not a reality. It exists and yet it
           does not exist. It is absence.
               It is the same with the devil, and it is good that the devil is painted as dark, black. That is just to
           show that the nature of it is like darkness. God is called 'light' in the Koran, in the Bible, in the
           Vedas. In all the scriptures of the world, god is synonymous with light. Meaningful, significant. It
           simply says that when god is there, the devil cannot be.
               The questioner has asked: YOU HAVE SAID THERE IS NO DEVIL BUT ONLY GOD...
               Yes, but god can be absent, god can be asleep -- then the devil is. God can be fast asleep -- then
           the devil is very much. Don't fight with the devil because that will be fighting against darkness. If
           you really want to destroy darkness just bring light. Don't fight with darkness, that is foolish. Don't
           fight with the devil, just bring light, just bring god, just become a little more aware and make your
           god inside a little alert and the devil disappears by itself.

           IN THE WEST THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT DEVIL POSSESSION WHEN I WAS
           THERE...

               It has been always so. Down the centuries, all over the world, people have talked about the devil,
           because in fact the devil is more a reality in people's experiences than god. God has happened to only
           few people. Somewhere a Buddha, a Jesus, a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu, a Mahavir -- it has happened
           very rarely.
               The devil is everybody's experience, so there are people you can find, atheists, who don't believe
           in god -- but even atheists believe in the devil. There are people who don't believe in god, but even
           those people go on believing in the devil. Because the devil is a more solid experience of the masses,
           of the majority. Maybe Buddha was deceived, hallucinating, hypnotized; watching his own navel he
           became crazy or something -- Who knows? What is the proof? -- but millions of people have
           experienced the devil.
               Yes, that is true. The devil is more real an experience than god, but still I would like to tell you,
           the devil is not. It is more an experience because you are asleep and unaware. And you can go any
           moment berserk; you can be possessed by it. The difference between a possessed human being and a
           non-possessed human being is only of degrees.
               You just watch your mind. You can always feel that you are almost always on the verge. Any
           moment you can move into the territory of the devil. He is just sitting on the fence watching for you,
           inviting you. You just sit down, close your doors and windows and write down whatsoever comes
           into your mind for fifteen minutes, and you will see that it is as if it is a scripture written by the
           devil. Just be true, nobody is going to see it. You just be true and honest and just write whatsoever is
           going. You will feel almost madness oozing out of you. This madness can any day become devilish.

           ... WHEN I WAS THERE PARTICULARLY BECAUSE OF THE FILM, 'THE EXORCIST'....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Films, stories, incidents, create their own atmosphere. When Marilyn Monroe committed suicide
           in 1962, the suicide rate in many cities of America went very high for a few days. It was five times
           more in New York and Chicago and San Francisco -- five times more than usual.
               Just one woman committed suicide. Many suicidal people are there; suddenly they got the
           message. Suddenly they were obsessed with it. People live by imitation, and when Monroe, such a
           beautiful woman, can commit suicide, then why bother? You can also do it.
               People simply go on doing things by imitation. In Japan in 1950, one schoolgirl jumped in a
           volcano crater. Then within two months three hundred schoolgirls jumped in the same crater. What
           happened? What madness? Things spread like infection. Man is so mad, just waiting for anything to
           trigger him.
               And you are also prone. Remember that. Anything can become a trigger-point. That's why I insist
           -- never imitate, never become a carbon copy to anybody. Try to become yourself, try to be yourself.
           Protect your individuality and don't get lost in a crowd, don't become part of the collective mind.
               If you become an individual mind, one day there is a possibility you will become a member of
           the universal mind. But if you fall into the collective mind you are falling into the devil. The crowd
           is the devil, imitation is the path towards the devil. So if a film like 'The Exorcist' was there then
           many people will start talking about the devil and ghosts and possessions and many will become
           possessed, many will pass through many nightmares.
               Mind is so greatly influenced so easily. That is the danger. That's how you have become a
           Christian, a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Jew. It is just that you have been impressed by others. And
           anything that starts happening becomes a chain reaction. Beware, you have to protect your
           consciousness.
               Never be a part of any sect, never be part of any organization, never be part of any country. I
           know there are practical difficulties -- you have to keep a passport. I'm not saying throw it in the
           river. But remember that this is just a convenience. Don't become a part of any country -- India or
           America or France. Never think in terms of boundaries. Don't think that you are a Christian or a
           Hindu or a Mohammedan. For practical convenience everything is okay, but remember that deep
           down you remain uncommitted, or, you remain committed to your own being.
               This is a must, one of the most fundamental things to remember, otherwise humanity has suffered
           very much. Things spread like plague, things spread like infectious disease, and once they spread
           they spread like fire, and they become uncontrollable. You are prone, your mind tends to imitate, so
           beware. Cultivate individuality, cultivate your own awareness and then you will be less and less in
           the grip of the devil. The devil means the collective mind, the devil means the collective sleepiness,
           the collective drunkenness.


              ONE OF YOUR SANNYASINS, ANUBUDDHA BHARTI, STAYS WITH US IN CHICAGO. HIS
              ENTIRE LIFE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED BY YOU. HE IS CONCERNED ABOUT YOU LEAVING
              HIM SOON. WHAT CAN I TELL HIM WHEN I GO BACK?


               Tell him that even if I leave the body I am not going to leave my sannyasins. I will be as much
           available as I am right now. But the only thing to remember is -- are you available to me?
               I am available to you, and I will remain as available forever. If you are available to me then there
           is no need to be afraid, then a link exists.
               And with my sannyasins I am individually linked. It is not a question that you belong to an
           organization, it is not an organization at all. It is a personal relationship, it is a love affair.
               If you are open to me, even if this body disappears, it is not going to make any difference. I will
           be available to you.
               Tell him that he need not be afraid. He can remain in trust and in love.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                 The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #7
                                          Chapter title: Living the dhamma
           27 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608270
              ShortTitle: TRANS107
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              EVIL-DOERS WHO DENOUNCE THE WISE RESEMBLE A PERSON WHO SPITS AGAINST THE
              SKY. THE SPITTLE WILL NEVER REACH THE SKY BUT COMES DOWN ON HIMSELF.
              EVIL-DOERS AGAIN RESEMBLE A MAN WHO STIRS UP THE DUST AGAINST THE WIND. THE
              DUST IS NEVER RAISED WITHOUT DOING HIM INJURY.
              THUS THE WISE WILL NEVER BE HURT BUT THE CURSE IS SURE TO DESTROY THE
              EVIL-DOERS THEMSELVES.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IF YOU ENDEAVOUR TO EMBRACE THE WAY THROUGH MUCH LEARNING, THE WAY WILL
              NOT BE UNDERSTOOD. IF YOU OBSERVE THE WAY WITH SIMPLICITY OF HEART GREAT
              INDEED IS THIS WAY.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO REJOICE IN SEEING OTHERS OBSERVE THE WAY WILL OBTAIN GREAT
              BLESSING.
              A SHRAMANA ASKED THE BUDDHA: 'WOULD THIS BLESSING EVER BE DESTROYED?'

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IT IS LIKE A LIGHTED TORCH WHOSE FLAME CAN BE DISTRIBUTED TO EVER SO MANY
              OTHER TORCHES WHICH PEOPLE MAY BRING ALONG. AND THEREWITH THEY WILL COOK
              FOOD AND DISPEL DARKNESS, WHILE THE ORIGINAL TORCH ITSELF REMAINS BURNING
              EVER THE SAME. IT IS EVEN SO WITH BLISS OF THE WAY.


              The first sutra.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              EVIL-DOERS WHO DENOUNCE THE WISE RESEMBLE A PERSON WHO SPITS AGAINST THE
              SKY.


               THE FIRST THING TO BE UNDERSTOOD is why in the evil person the very desire arises to
           spit against the sky, why in the first place the evil person wants to denounce the wise. The evil
           person cannot allow himself to accept that somebody is wise -- the very idea hurts him, hurts him
           very deep. Because all evil arises out of egoistic attitudes. And this is very shattering to the ego -- 'I
           am not wise and somebody else is wise. I am not good and somebody else is good. I am still in
           darkness and somebody has attained to light.' This is impossible to accept.
               Two ways open: one is 'I should try to become wise' -- that is very difficult and arduous. The
           simpler and cheaper way is to denounce the wise, that he is not wise. Whenever you are faced with a
           challenge always these two alternatives present themselves before you, and if you choose the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cheaper one you will remain in the evil.
               Never go for the cheap, never go for the shortcut, because life is learnt only the hard way.
           Arduous are its ways, long, uphill is the task, because learning cannot come easily -- because
           learning is not just collecting knowledge, it is not just collecting information. Learning has to change
           you. It is spiritual surgery, much has to be destroyed and thrown away.
               Much is rotten in you and has to be renounced. Much is just like a rock around your neck; it
           won't allow you to float, it will drown you. You have to cut off relationships with many things, with
           many attitudes, with many prejudices. You have to unburden yourself.
               Learning, real learning, wisdom, comes only when you are transformed. It is not an additive
           process -- you cannot just add, go on adding knowledge to you. You will have to go through
           transmutation -- that is hard. The easier way is to denounce. Whenever you face the challenge --
           somebody has become wise -- immediately the shortcut is to say, 'No, it is not possible. In the first
           place wisdom never exists, in the second place, even if wisdom exists, it cannot exist in this man. I
           know him well, I know his faults.' And then you start magnifying his faults, and you start
           condemning him.
               It is not just a coincidence that Socrates is poisoned, Jesus is crucified, Mansoor is murdered. It
           is not just a coincidence that all the Buddhas are denounced, all the Jainas are denounced. When they
           walk on the earth they walk continuously in danger, because there are so many who feel their egos
           hurting.
               Just to think that somebody has become enlightened is difficult. It is easy to denounce and to say,
           'No, in the first place enlightenment is impossible -- it never happens, it is just an illusion, god does
           not exist. Samadhi? -- is nothing but auto-hypnosis. This man is deluded, he has not become
           enlightened. We know him well, we have known him from his very childhood. How can he suddenly
           become an enlightened person? He is just like us, pretending. He is a pretender, a deceiver.'
               This is our ego choosing the cheaper way. Beware of it. The desire arises in everybody to
           condemn, to deny. So whenever a person like Buddha is alive we condemn him, and when he dies,
           we worship in guilt. All worship arises because of guilt. First you denounce a person, knowing well
           that something has happened, but you can't accept it. Deep down in your own self you can see that
           the person is transfigured, he has a luminosity. You cannot really deny it; in your deepest core of
           being you feel that a ray of light has entered. But consciously, deliberately, you cannot accept it. It
           will be accepting your failure. Doubt, you certainly doubt deep inside; whatsoever you are doing --
           your condemnation -- you doubt it, but still you go on doubting.
               Then one day the person is gone, Then only the fragrance remains, the memory. And when a
           person dies and you have been not accepting his reality, a guilt arises. You feel, 'I have been guilty. I
           was not good. I missed the opportunity.' Then you start feeling remorse. Now what to do? To
           balance guilt, you worship.
               That's why dead masters are worshipped. Very rare are the people who worship an alive master.
           Because when you worship an alive master it is not out of guilt, it is out of understanding. When you
           worship a dead master it is out of guilt.
               For example your father is alive and you have not respected him, you have not loved him. You
           have been in many ways against him. In many ways you have dishonoured him, in many ways you
           have rejected him. And then one day he dies, and you start crying and weeping. And then every year
           you will do shraddh. One day every year you will give a feast to friends and brahmins. This is out of
           guilt. And then you will put a portrait of your father in your house, and you will put flowers.
               You never did that when he was alive. You never came with flowers unto his feet. Now he is
           gone you feel guilty -- you have not been good to the old man. You have not done that which was
           needed to be done. You have not fulfilled your love and your duty. Now the opportunity is gone, the
           man is no more there to forgive you. The man is no more there so that you can cry and weep and fall
           into his feet and say, 'I have been bad to you, forgive me.' Now you feel, in a certain way, deep guilt.
           Remorse arises -- you put flowers. You respect the memory. You never respected the man -- now
           you respect the memory.
               Remember, if you had really loved the man, if you had really respected the man, then there
           would have been no remorse, then there would have been no guilt. Then you would have been able
           to remember him with no guilt, and that remembrance has a beauty. That remembrance is totally
           different, it has a totally different quality. The difference is tremendous. In fact you would have felt
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fulfilled.
               It is not death that you weep for; it is always guilt. If you loved a woman, if you really loved a
           woman and you never betrayed her, and you never deceived her, when she dies of course you feel
           sad, but in that sadness there is a beauty. You miss her, but there is no guilt. You remember her, you
           will always remember, it will always remain a cherished memory, but you don't go out of your way
           to cry and weep and to make much show of it. You don't exhibit it, there is no exhibitionism in it.
           You will cherish the memory deep in your heart. You will not carry a picture in your pocketbook,
           and you will not talk about the woman.

               I used to know a couple -- the husband had been very bad to his wife. It was a love marriage, a
           very rich family, but the husband was a sort of Don Juan, and he had been betraying his wife in
           every way possible. Then she committed suicide -- she committed suicide because of him.
               I was passing through their town so I went to see, because somebody said that the husband was
           very unhappy. Since the wife had died his life had taken a change. I could not believe it. I thought he
           should have been happy. It was always a miserable relationship, a continuous conflict was there.
               I went to see him. He was sitting in his drawing room surrounded by many pictures of his wife --
           all around -- as if the wife had become a goddess. And he started crying. I said, 'Stop this nonsense!
           -- because you were never happy with this woman, she was never happy with you, that's why she has
           committed suicide. That's what you always wanted. In fact you have told me many times that if this
           woman dies you will be free. Now she has done that.'
               He said, 'But now I feel guilty, as if I have been the cause of her death, as if I have killed her.
           Now I am not going to ever get married.'
           This is guilt, it is ugly.

               When a Buddha dies many people worship him. They were there when he was alive, but they
           never came to him. When a Mahavira dies, for centuries and centuries people go on worshipping.
           These people were there when Mahavira was alive, but now they feel guilty.
               Look, Jesus was crucified. At the last moment even his own disciples deserted him; there was
           nobody to say, 'I am his follower.' Even the last disciple... when Jesus was caught, Jesus told him,
           'Don't follow me because you will not be able now any more to follow me.' He said, 'I will come,
           Master. I will go wherever they are taking you.' Jesus said, 'Before the sun rises you will have denied
           me at least thrice. Don't do it, leave me.' But he insisted.
               Jesus was caught, the enemies took him, and the disciple followed in the crowd. The crowd
           became aware that somebody looks like a stranger, and they asked him, 'Who are you? Are you a
           disciple of Jesus?' He said, 'Who is this Jesus? I have never heard the name.' And thrice, actually
           thrice before the sun rose, he denied. And when he denied the third time, Jesus looked back and he
           said, 'Yet the sun has not come over the horizon.'
               Nobody else must have understood but the disciple must have cried deep down that he has denied
           Christ -- that he does not know this man, he is a stranger in the town, he is simply coming out of
           curiosity. At the last moment even the disciples disappeared. Then Jesus was crucified, then disciples
           gathered, then more disciples gathered, then more and more. Now almost one-third of humanity is
           Christian.
               This seems to be a tremendous guilt. Just think, if Jesus was not crucified -- not crucified -- there
           would have been no Christianity at all. It is not Jesus that has created Christianity, it is the cross.
           That's why the cross became the symbol of Christianity. I call Christianity 'Cross-ianity', not
           Christianity. In fact it is the cross, it is the death, that created the guilt. And it created so much guilt
           that... what to do when guilt arises? You can compensate only by worship.
               When a master is alive you love him: your worship has love in it, and your worship has no
           exhibition in it. It is a natural flow of your heart. But when a master is dead and you have been
           always denying him, then you worship him: your worship has a fanaticism in it, exhibition in it. You
           want to prove something. Against whom? Against your own attitudes.
           I have heard:

              'You sure looked depressed,' a fellow said to Mulla Nasrudin. 'What is the trouble?'
              'Well,' said the Mulla, 'you remember my aunt who just died? I was the one who had her
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           confined to the mental hospital for the last five years of her life. When she died, she left me all her
           money. Now I have got to prove that she was of sound mind when she made her will six weeks ago.'

                That's what happens. First you deny a wise man -- that he is wise. You deny that he is
           enlightened, you deny that he is good. Then when he dies he leaves his whole legacy for you, he
           leaves all his money in your name. He becomes your heritage. Now suddenly things change, things
           take a one hundred and eighty degree turn. You were denying this man because he was hurting your
           ego, now suddenly you start worshipping him because now he becomes ego-fulfilling. The cause
           remains the same, whether you condemn or you worship.
                Hindus destroyed Buddhism completely in India, but they accepted Buddha as their tenth
           avatara. Why? Because now it is okay to deny Buddhism, but how can you deny the heritage of
           Buddha? He was the greatest Indian ever. If you deny him your ego will fall short. Now with Buddha
           your ego shines like a star, a pole star. You cannot deny Buddha.
                Now you go on claiming him -- that he was the most wise man, the greatest man ever. Now your
           own ego feeds on the name of Buddha. Now you want that it was your Buddha -- it was your Buddha
           now you say -- who transformed the whole face of Asia. He is the light of the world. Of course you
           killed Buddhists, you destroyed the buddhist scriptures, you denied everything -- but you carry on
           the name of Buddha.
                Just think, when India became free and they had to choose a symbol for the flag, they chose a
           buddhist symbol. Is Hinduism lacking in any way about symbols? There are millions of beautiful
           symbols in Hinduism. But why have they chosen the buddhist wheel for the flag? Now Buddha is
           their heritage. Now they would like to claim that Buddha was born here in this country, in this
           religious country, that he is ours. When he was alive you were throwing stones at him, now you
           claim he is yours.
                When Buddha was alive, in every town he was condemned, wherever he was passing he was
           condemned. Now every town claims that he has been here, that he was born here, that he died here,
           that he stayed here in this house, that for forty years continuously he was coming here, twenty times
           he came. Every town in Bihar claims.
                The whole of Bihar condemned him. Now the name 'Bihar' is because of him, because he walked
           there. Bihar means 'where Buddha walks'. Now the whole place is called Bihar. Now we go on
           claiming. Nehru took his bones back, brought his bones back to India. Nehru was not a religious
           person at all, not at all. Why? Now the indian ego can feel very fulfilled. Buddha has to be brought
           home. The same ego was condemning him, now the same ego goes on worshipping him. Remember
           it. Your ego always denies -- watch it.

               These sutras are for you. Remember. They are not airy-fairy things, they are not theories. They
           are very empirical, pragmatic: Buddha was a very pragmatic man.
               Just the other day it happened, Mulla Nasrudin came to see me -- after yesterday's morning talk.
           He shook hands with me and said, 'Wonderful, wonderful sermon. Everything you said applies to
           somebody or other I know.'

               These sutras apply to you, not to somebody or other you know. If somebody says that 'X' has
           become enlightened, what is your first reaction? Watch it. You say, 'X? That fool. He has become
           enlightened? Impossible!' Just watch your first impression. Be alert what happens in your mind. And
           immediately you will start talking about all the defects and faults that you know. And watch that you
           are also exaggerating.
               Sometimes it happens that if somebody says to you that some person has become enlightened, he
           has become very wise, you will say, 'That man? I know him well from his very childhood. I have
           seen him, I have watched him. Enlightenment doesn't happen in a day. It is a process. It is not
           possible.' Or you find something irrelevant.
               Buddha used to say that once in a town a man said to his friend, 'Have you heard about our
           neighbour? He is such a virtuous man.' The other said, 'How come? It is not possible, it is
           impossible. I live by his side, we have lived together -- how can it happen without me knowing it
           before you knew it? We are neighbours and I know everything, in and out. It is just a pretension. He
           is pretending, but who does he think he can befool?'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is very difficult to accept that somebody is wise because in accepting that somebody is wise,
           you are accepting that you are ignorant -- that is the problem. It is not the question of the other being
           wise, the question is in relation to you. When you accept somebody as beautiful, you accept very
           reluctantly.
               Talk to a woman about some other woman who is beautiful and she becomes reluctant and she
           starts immediately condemning. Because to accept that another woman is beautiful is to accept that
           you are not so beautiful. A comparison immediately arises -- ego exists through comparison.
               In Zen they say that one man was a beautiful flute player. Somebody was praising him in the
           coffee-house, that he is a beautiful flute player. Immediately another person started condemning. He
           said, 'He is a liar, he is a thief -- how can he play beautiful flute?'
               Now there is nothing contradictory. You can lie and still play beautiful flute, you can be a
           beautiful flute player. You can be a thief, still you can play the flute beautifully. There is no
           contradiction. But the other man simply said, 'He cannot. He is a thief, he is a liar...' and this and
           that. 'I know him -- he cannot play.' And when people become too much condemning, shouting, their
           very shouting carries weight. The person who was talking about the flute player was silenced.
               He was talking to somebody else the next day and he said 'That man is a thief.' The other man
           said, 'How can he be a thief? He plays the flute so beautifully.' Now again there is no contradiction,
           but this second man has a totally different vision. This second man is open to grow, who says, 'How
           can he be a thief? I know him he plays the flute so beautifully. Such an aesthetic person cannot be a
           thief. Impossible! I cannot believe it.' Whether that person is a thief or not is not the question, but
           these two reactions will decide many things for these two persons.
               When somebody says, 'There is a good man,' watch, don't start condemning -- because when you
           condemn goodness you condemn your own future. If you go on condemning goodness and wisdom
           you will never become good and never become wise, because whatsoever you are condemning
           cannot happen to you. You will become closed.
               Even if that man is not good, even if that man is not wise, it is not good to deny. Accept it. What
           are you losing in it? The very acceptance that that man can be good and wise will help you to
           become good and wise. Your doors open, you are no more closed. And if that man can become good
           and wise, why not you? If you think that that man is ordinary, don't condemn him. Simply be happy,
           accept it as good news -- 'That ordinary man has become wise, sol also can become wise because I
           am also ordinary.' Why make it a negative point? That's why Buddha says:

              EVIL-DOERS WHO DENOUNCE THE WISE RESEMBLE A PERSON WHO SPITS AGAINST THE
              SKY.


               You are spitting on your own face. When you spit against the sky, the sky is not going to be
           corrupted by you. You will be corrupted by your own spitting. The spit is going to fall on you. Your
           whole effort is absurd. The sky will remain the sky.
               The wise man is like the sky. That too is very symbolic. Sky means pure space.
               Why this proverb that spitting against the sky is foolish? Why? -- because the sky is not there. If
           the sky is there your spit may corrupt it. You spit against the wall -- it will not come back to you.
           You spit against the roof -- if you are expert it may not come back. You can practise it. There is no
           necessity that it will come back, because the roof is there; it can be corrupted. That which is can be
           corrupted, that which is not cannot be corrupted.
               The wise man is not, his ego has disappeared. He is not a substance, he is just pure space. You
           can pass through him, you can spit through him, and there is no hindrance. The spit will pass through
           him, he will not catch hold of it.
               If you insult a wise man, your insult is not taken by him. It is as if, in an empty room, you are
           insulting. Yes, you will create a sound, that's all. When the sound has disappeared the room is again
           the same. The room will not carry your insult, the room is empty.
               The wise man is empty like the sky. The saying must be buddhist because Buddha says that the
           wise man means no self, no ego. The wise man means non-existential. He is not there, he is a pure
           presence, no material in him. You can pass through him. There will be no obstruction found in him,
           no hindrance found in him.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              EVIL-DOERS WHO DENOUNCE THE WISE RESEMBLE A PERSON WHO SPITS AGAINST THE
              SKY. THE SPITTLE WILL NEVER REACH THE SKY...


               Not that the sky is very far away. No, the sky is very close, you are in the sky. But it cannot
           reach to the sky because sky is so pure existence. It is simply space and nothing else. Everything
           comes and goes and the sky remains innocent.
               How many wars have happened on the earth? -- but you cannot find any blood marks in the sky.
           How many people have lived on the earth? How many misdeeds have been committed, murders,
           suicides? -- but the sky carries no record, not even a trace. The past simply does not exist. Clouds
           come and go and the sky remains the same. Nothing corrupts it.
               A wise man becomes so spacious that nothing corrupts him.
               You can only believe that you are insulting him; your insult will come back to you. The wise
           man is like a valley; your insult will be re-echoed. It will fall upon you.

              THE SPITTLE WILL NEVER REACH THE SKY BUT COMES DOWN ON HIMSELF.


              That too has to be understood. The wise man is higher than you, the wise man is like a peak, a
           himalayan peak. You are standing in the darkness, in the valley, in ignorance.
              If you spit against the higher, the spit will fall back on you. It is against nature, it is against
           gravitation. So if somebody is insulted by your insult you can be certain that he is lower than you. If
           somebody is not insulted by your insult you can be certain that he is higher than you, that your insult
           cannot reach him. Because insults follow gravitation. They go to lower depths.
              So if you are angry you can only infuriate an inferior person. A higher person simply remains
           beyond you. You can infuriate only a weaker person, the stronger person remains unaffected by you.
           You can manipulate through insult only lower beings, higher beings are far beyond.

              EVIL-DOERS AGAIN RESEMBLE A MAN WHO STIRS THE DUST AGAINST THE WIND. THE
              DUST IS NEVER RAISED WITHOUT DOING HIM INJURY. THUS THE WISE WILL NEVER BE
              HURT BUT THE CURSE IS SURE TO DESTROY THE EVIL-DOERS THEMSELVES.


               Remember it. We go on doing things which are against us. We go on doing things which are
           suicidal. We go on doing things which will destroy our future. Each act that you are doing is in some
           way defining your future.
               Beware -- don't do anything that is going to do harm to you. And whenever you try to harm
           somebody, you are doing harm to yourself. Whenever you try to do some wound, whenever you
           want to hurt, you are creating a karma for yourself. You will be hurt by it.

               It happened, once a man came and spat on Buddha -- actually. Buddha wiped his face and asked
           the man, 'Sir, have you anything else to say?' The man was puzzled, embarassed. He was not
           expecting such a reaction. He was thinking Buddha would be angry. He could not believe his own
           eyes. He was dumb, he was in a daze.
               Buddha's own disciple, Ananda, was sitting by his side. He became very very angry. He said to
           Buddha, 'What is this?' If you allow people this way, life will become impossible. You just tell me
           and I will put him right.' He was a strong man, this Ananda. He was a warrior, he was a
           cousin-brother to Buddha, he himself was a prince. He was very much angry. He said, 'What
           nonsense. Just give me a hint and I will put him right.'
               Buddha laughed and he said, 'He has not surprised me, but you surprise me. Why are you
           jumping in it? He has not done anything to you. As far as his spitting on me is concerned, I know I
           have insulted him in some past life. The accounts are closed today. I am happy.'
               'Thank you sir,' he said to the man. 'I was waiting for you because the account has to be closed. I
           have insulted you somewhere. You may not remember, I remember it. You may not know, I know it.
           You may have forgotten because you are not very aware, but I have not forgotten. Today I am happy
           you came and you finished the whole thing. Now we are freed from each other.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              'This is my own doing,' he said to Ananda, 'that has come back to me.'

               Of course when you spit against the sky, it takes a little time to come back. It does not come
           instantly, it depends on many things -- but everything comes back. Whatsoever you do is sowing:
           one day or other you will have to harvest, one day or other you will have to reap it.
               If you are miserable today, these are the seeds which have flowered. These seeds you may have
           sowed somewhere in your past -- this life, another life, somewhere. Whatsoever you are today is
           nothing but your accumulated past. Your whole past is your present. Whatsoever you are going to be
           tomorrow will be whatsoever you are doing today.
               Nothing can be done about the past, but much can be done about the future. And to change the
           future is to change all. If you start changing your ways of life, your ways of awareness, if you start
           understanding the laws of life... this is one of the fundamental laws, the law of karma: whatsoever
           you do you will have to reap.
               Never forget it for a single moment. Because forgetting it has created so much misery for you.
           Remember it. Again and again old samskaras, old tendencies, will force you just by habit to do the
           old things. Remember -- and drop out of old habits, drop out of mechanical reactions; become more
           conscious. A small awareness and great changes start happening.
           I have heard:

               It happened in Japan. Once a mother visited her son at college and was pained to see suggestive
           pictures on the walls of his room. She said nothing, but hung a picture of Buddha among the others.
           When she came again to see the boy the other pictures were gone, only the one of Buddha was left.
           The boy said, 'Somehow I could not keep him there and those pictures too -- so they had to go.

               Just a small thing, just a small picture of Buddha, and all those suggestive, pornographic pictures
           had to go. What happened? The boy started feeling uneasy. How to put Buddha there with all those
           pictures? By and by Buddha's presence was felt; the more and more aware he became, the more
           pictures disappeared. Just a small ray of light is enough to dispel all darkness. Just allow the first
           ray!
               If you start becoming aware in a small way -- nothing to be worried -- by and by you will see all
           other pictures have gone and only awareness has remained. Buddha means awareness, the very word
           'Buddha' means awareness.
               If you really want to be happy and blissful, to be eternally blissful, if you are fed up with all the
           miseries that you have lived through, then bring awareness to your reactions. And start trusting the
           good.
               In English you have an expression 'too good to be true'. This expression is very dangerous. Too
           good to be true? Just if something is too good you disbelieve it; it can't be true? Change it, let it be
           this way: TOO GOOD TO BE UNTRUE.
               Believe in goodness, believe in light, believe in higher reality -- because whatsoever you believe
           becomes an opening to you. If you don't believe that a higher being than you is possible, then
           finished, all growth is stopped.
               Trusting a Buddha or a Mahavira or a Jesus, Zarathustra, is nothing but opening yourself... the
           very idea that higher beings than you have existed, walked, lived -- higher beings are possible. It is
           not impossible to be a Buddha -- the very notion, and a ray of light enters in your being. And that
           light starts transforming you. Your very chemistry changes.
               Hence all the religions insist on trust, shraddha, faith. It has nothing to do with superstitions, it
           has nothing to do with theological beliefs. It is just an opening of the heart. If you don't believe, if
           you insist that roses don't exist, then even if someday you come across a rosebush, you will not
           believe. You will say, 'There must be some illusion, somebody is playing a trick, or I am in a mirage,
           or I am dreaming, because roses can't exist.'
               In the first place if you don't believe in the existence of roses the very possibility is you may
           come across them and you may not look at them because we look only at things we believe are
           possible. We go on passing, indifferent. Whatsoever you believe becomes effective.
           I have heard:
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It happened in a hospital. A nurse put a screen round a male patient's bed, gave him a specimen
           bottle and said, 'I will be back in ten minutes for your specimen.' Then another nurse came and gave
           the man a glass of orange juice. The man, who was something of a wit, poured the orange juice into
           the specimen bottle. When the first nurse came back, she took a look and said, 'This specimen is a
           little too cloudy.'
                'So it is,' agreed the patient. 'I will run it through again and see if I can clean it up.' And as he put
           the bottle to his lips the nurse fainted.

               Just your belief, just the very idea -- what is this man doing? He was simply drinking orange
           juice. But once you believe a certain thing it becomes effective. Now the nurse is thinking he is
           drinking his urine. It is only in her idea -- but ideas are great realities, they change your outlook.
               If you are looking for beauty you will find beauty. If you believe beauty does not exist, you may
           come across it but you will not look for it. You see only that which you are looking for.
               Faith, trust, simply means this much -- that we are not the last, we are not the crescendo of
           existence... higher reality is possible. To believe in a Jesus or a Buddha is simply to believe in your
           own future, that you can grow. To believe in Buddha is to believe in growth, that there is still
           something which can happen to you.
               That's why in the past centuries people were never as bored as they are today -- because now
           nothing is possible. You are just in a rut. The more people become materialistic, the more they are
           bored. You cannot find more bored people than Americans. Now they have everything that down the
           centuries man has been hankering for, and they are bored to death, because they have no future. And
           when there is no future there is no meaning.
               You have a beautiful car, you have a beautiful house, you have a beautiful job -- so what? The
           question arises 'so what?' But where are you going? In a rut, moving in the same wheel again and
           again and again. The same morning, the same evening, the same work, the same money pouring in --
           what to do now? Then people are playing small games just to pass the time, but they know that
           nothing is going to happen. That creates boredom.
               Never in the history of human beings has man been so bored as in this century, because always
           there was a possibility, always there was an opening into the sky -- you could have become a
           Buddha, you could have become a Jesus or a Krishna. You were always growing. You were not in a
           wheel; there was growth. Suddenly you are in a wheel in this century -- there is no god.
               Nietzsche says, 'God is dead and man is free.' Free for what? -- to be bored. Free not to grow,
           free to rot, free just somehow to vegetate and die.
               Freedom is meaningful only when it brings growth. Freedom means only that there is a
           possibility to grow -- better flowers are possible in you. Your potentiality has yet a destiny -- that
           brings meaning, that brings enthusiasm, that brings a thrill. Your life starts throbbing with meaning.
               Remember more and more that you are the cause of your misery, you can become the cause of
           your bliss. You are the cause of the hell you are living in, you can create the heaven also. You alone
           are responsible and nobody else.
               Never try to do harm to anybody because all will fall back on you. If you can do something good,
           do. If you can help somebody, help. If you can have some compassion, love, let it flow, because that
           will be coming back. In moments of need you will have something to depend upon, to fall upon.
               Love as much as you can, help, and don't be bothered whether the help is paying right now or
           not. It pays, it pays tremendously. You don't be bothered about the time and the place -- it pays.
           Someday, whenever you are in need, it rushes towards you. It goes on accumulating.

              Mulla Nasrudin kept begging the noted pianist to play. 'Well all right, since you insist,' he said.
           'What shall I play?'
              'Anything you like,' said Nasrudin. 'It is only to annoy the neighbours.'

               People go on doing things like that. They may not be enjoying it at all, but if you can annoy the
           neighbours it is enough enjoyment for them. This is morbid, but this is how people are. People enjoy
           torturing, and then when they are tortured they cry and they say that life is very unjust and god is not
           just!
               Buddha says there is no god. He simply drops the possibility of god. So that you cannot throw
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the responsibility on anyone else he says there is a law, no god, and the law follows its own course.
           If you follow the law you will be happy, if you don't follow the law you will be unhappy.
               He drops the idea of god just to help you, because with a god the possibility remains that we can
           do something wrong and then we can cry and weep and pray and say, 'I was a fool, but now you save
           me.'
               Before a law you cannot pray, before a law you cannot say, 'I was a fool.' If you were a fool you
           have to suffer, because the law is not a person. It is absolutely indifferent, it simply follows its own
           course.
               If you fall on the ground and your bones are broken and you have many fractures, you don't go
           and tell the law of gravitation, 'Don't be so much against me. You could have at least given me one
           warning. Why did you get so angry?'
               No, you never talk about the law of gravitation, because you know if you follow rightly it is
           protective. Without the law of gravitation you will not be here on the earth, you will be floating in
           the sky. You cannot stand on the earth. The law of gravitation keeps you on the earth, it is your very
           root. Without it you will not be here. It allows you to walk, it allows you to be. But if you do
           something wrong, then punishment.
               But the law does not punish you, it does not reward you. It has nothing to do with you
           personally. You punish yourself, you reward yourself. Follow the law and you reward yourself.
           Don't follow the law, disobey the law and you are a victim, you suffer.
               Buddha calls the law dhamma -- that is his god. He takes personality out of it, because with
           personality man has created too much trouble. Then Jews think that they are the chosen people of
           god, so he is going to be a little lenient with them. This is nonsense.
               Christians think they are the chosen people of god because he sent 'his only begotten son' to save
           them, so whosoever follows Jesus will be saved. But that seems like nepotism -- because you are
           related to Jesus and he is the son of god. It seems like indian government officials, politicians. You
           are related. This is nonsense.

               I have heard that when the Japanese were defeated a japanese general was talking to an english
           general and the japanese general said, 'We cannot understand why we were defeated, how we were
           defeated.'
               The english general said, 'You don't know. We believe in god and we pray. Every day we start
           fighting, we pray first.'
               But the japanese man said, 'We also do that. We also believe in god and we also pray.'
               The english man laughed. He said, 'But have you ever thought about it? God does not understand
           Japanese.'

              Buddha takes all personality out of god. Then there is no need for him to understand Japanese,
           English,Hebrew, Sanskrit. Hindus say that Sanskrit is his bona fide language -- DEVAVANI, god's
           own language. All other languages are just human, Sanskrit is divine. But this foolishness exists all
           over the world. Buddha takes the very base out. He says god is not a person, it is a law. Follow it,
           obey it, and you reward yourself. Don't follow it and you suffer.

              THUS THE WISE WILL NEVER BE HURT BUT THE CURSE IS SURE TO DESTROY THE
              EVIL-DOERS THEMSELVES.


              So remember it as a fundamental rule that whatsoever you do to others you are really doing to
           yourself -- whatsoever, I say, you do to others you are doing it to yourself. So watch out.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IF YOU ENDEAVOUR TO EMBRACE THE WAY THROUGH MUCH LEARNING, THE WAY WILL
              NOT BE UNDERSTOOD. IF YOU OBSERVE THE WAY WITH SIMPLICITY OF HEART, GREAT
              INDEED IS THIS WAY.


              This way, this dhamma, this law, this ultimate law of life, cannot be understood by learning, by
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge, by reading scriptures and memorising philosophies. You have to live it to know it. The
           only way to know is to live it. The only way to know is existential, it is not intellectual.
           I have heard a very famous anecdote:

               Years ago word spread through academic communities about a young scholar at a talmudic
           college in Poland. He was hailed for his great learning and his concentration on his studies. Visitors
           came away deeply impressed by the young man.
               One day an outstanding talmudic authority called and asked the head of the college about the
           young man. 'Does this young man really know so much?'
               'Truly,' answered the old rabbi with a smile, 'I don't know. The young man studies so much that I
           cannot understand how he could fine time to know.'

                If you are too much engaged with your intellect you will not find time to be engaged with your
           total being. If you are too much in your head you will miss much that is available. The way can be
           known only if you deeply participate with existence. It cannot be understood from the outside, you
           have to become a participant.
                Just a few days back, a professor of psychology was here. He teaches in Chicago. He is an
           Indian, lives in America. He had come -- he has been writing to me for almost two years: 'I am
           coming, I am coming.' Then he came, and he wanted to know about meditation. For ten, twelve days
           he was here and he watched others meditating, and he said, 'I am watching.'
                But how can you watch meditation? You can meditate, that is the only way to know about it. You
           can see a meditator from the outside -- that he is dancing, or that he is standing silent, or that yes, he
           is sitting -- but what are you going to know about it?
                Meditation is not sitting, meditation is not dancing, meditation is not standing still. Meditation is
           something happening is his very being, deep inside. You cannot observe it, there cannot be any
           objective knowledge about it.
           I told him, 'If you really want to see -- dance.'
                He said, 'First I have to see, first I have to convince myself that it is something, only then will I
           do.'
                Then I said, 'If you stick to your condition you will never do. Because the only way to know is to
           do it, and you say you will do only when you have known it. Then it is impossible. You are putting
           such an impossible condition that it will never happen.'
                It is as if somebody says, 'I will love only when I have known what love is.' But how can you
           know love without loving? You can watch two lovers holding each other's hands, but that is not love.
           Even two enemies can hold hands. Even while two persons are holding hands they may not be in
           love, they may be just pretending. Even if you see two persons making love to each other, there may
           be no love. It may be something else; it may be just sex, no love. There is no way to know about love
           from the outside. There are things which are only allowed to be revealed to you when you become an
           insider.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              IF YOU ENDEAVOUR TO EMBRACE THE WAY THROUGH MUCH LEARNING, THE WAY WILL
              NOT BE UNDERSTOOD.


               There are things which can be understood by learning -- they are outside things, objective things.
           That is the difference between science and religion. Science needs no subjective experience. You can
           remain outside and watch; it is an objective approach towards truth.
               Religion is a subjective approach. You have to go in, withinwards; it is introspective. You have
           to dive deep within your own being. Only then can you know. Only from your own center will you
           be able to understand what the way is, what the dhamma is -- or call it what god is -- but you will
           have to participate.
               You can know god only by becoming a god, there is no other way. You can know love only by
           becoming a lover. And if you think that it is very risky without knowing -- and going into love IS
           risky -- then you will remain without love, you will remain a desert.
               Yes, life is risk, and one should be courageous enough to take risks. One should not always be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           calculating. If you go on just calculating your whole life, you will miss all. Take risks, be
           courageous.
               There is only one way to live and that is to live dangerously. And this is the danger -- that one
           has to move without knowing, one has to move in the unknown. Hence, trust is needed.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              IF YOU ENDEAVOUR TO EMBRACE THE WAY THROUGH MUCH LEARNING, THE WAY WILL
              NOT BE UNDERSTOOD.


               You can see it. You can look at scholars, great scholars, and somehow you will find they are
           missing. They may know much about the Veda, the Bible, the Koran, they can recite, but you can see
           there is no radiance in their eyes. Yes, much dust that they have gathered from scriptures, much
           smoke that they have gathered through knowledge. They are well-informed -- but almost dead. They
           have missed life somehow, they could not find time to know what life is.
           I have heard:

               A great scholar and a clergyman, a pundit, stopped in a pet shop and asked the price of a parrot.
           The shopkeeper said he would not sell him that parrot because all it did was utter profanity. 'But,'
           said the shopkeeper, 'I have another parrot coming in from South America. When I get it trained I
           will phone you to pick it up.'
               Several months later the pundit, the great scholar, was told to stop by and see the parrot the
           storekeeper had for him. The shop-keeper ushered the pundit into a backroom where the parrot was
           perched with a string on each foot. The proprietor pulled the string on the right foot and the bird
           recited 'The Lord's Prayer' from beginning to end.
               'This is wonderful and edifying!' exclaimed the preacher, the pundit -- that's what he himself had
           been doing his whole life. Then he pulled the string on the left foot and the parrot burst into 'Nearer
           My God to Thee'. 'This is tremendous!' cried the preacher. 'Now tell me, what would happen if I
           pulled both strings at the same time?' Before the shopkeeper could reply the parrot said, 'You
           damned fool! I would fall on my ass!'

               It is simple, even a parrot knows it, but a pundit -- he is worse than a parrot. He simply lives in
           ideas, he lives in logic, he lives a verbal life. He has forgotten real roses, he is only acquainted with
           the word 'rose'. He has forgotten real life, he only knows the word 'life'. Remember, the word 'life' is
           not life, the word 'love' is not love, the word 'god' is not god. The real life is an existence, is an
           experience.
           It happened:

                A recent graduate from agriculture school was making a governmental inspection of a farmer's
           land and stock. He told them he was making an appraisal so that the government could help the
           farmer get out of the red. So he inspected everything, making careful notes in his neat little
           notebook. When he thought he had everything listed he saw an animal stick its head around the side
           of a barn.'What is that thing? And what is it for?' asked the young man. It was an old goat, but the
           farmer was not going to help the all-wise young inspector. 'You are the expert,' said the farmer. 'You
           tell me.'
                Now it was very difficult. He had never seen such a thing. He had been learning in the university,
           he knew everything about agriculture, but he had never done anything. He had no experience. He
           had never come across such an animal as a goat. Consequently the young man sent off a wire to New
           Delhi asking them to identify for him 'a long, lean object with a bald head, chin whiskers, an empty
           lean stomach, a long sad face, and cadaverous eyes'. The next day he got a reply from the secretary
           of agriculture: 'You blithering idiot! That is the farmer!'

              Remember, the head can be very disconnective; it can disconnect you from life. Use the head but
           don't be confined to it. Use your intellect to approach existence, don't make a barrier out of it.
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IF YOU ENDEAVOUR TO EMBRACE THE WAY THROUGH MUCH LEARNING, THE WAY WILL
               NOT BE UNDERSTOOD. IF YOU OBSERVE THE WAY WITH SIMPLICITY OF HEART, GREAT
               INDEED IS THIS WAY.


                WITH SIMPLICITY OF THE HEART.... Life can be known only with a simple heart. Head is
           very complex and life is very simple. It is difficult from a complex head to understand the simple
           life. Life is simply simple. You have also to be simple.
                A child understands more. He has a rapport with life. A poet understands more. He has a rapport.
           A mystic understands more -- tremendously deep and profound is his understanding because he puts
           his head completely away. He looks through the eyes of a child, he approaches with wonder, awe.
                He is surprised at every step. He has no ideas, no fixed ideas to project. He has no prejudices: he
           is neither a Hindu, nor a Mohammedan, nor a Christian. He simply is. He has a throbbing heart, a
           loving heart. That is enough requirement to know what life is.

                GREAT THEN INDEED IS THIS WAY... known -- known through the heart. Better to call it
           felt -- felt through the heart.

                Life is very simple. Just sometimes put your head away, sometimes behead yourself, sometimes
           look with no clouds in the eyes -- just look. Sometimes sit by the side of a tree -- just feel. By the
           side of a waterfall -- listen. Lie down on the beach and listen to the roar of the ocean, feel the sand,
           the coolness of it, or look at the stars, and let that silence penetrate you. Or look at the dark night and
           let that velvety darkness surround you, envelop you, dissolve you. This is the way of the simple
           heart.
                If you approach life through this simplicity you will become wise. You may not know the Veda,
           you may not know the Bible, you may not know the Gita, but you will come to know the real song of
           life -- and that is where the real Gita is, the real song is. You may not know the Veda, but you will
           come to know the real Veda -- that which is written by god himself.
                This life is his book, this life is his Bible, this life is his Koran. Recite it! Recite this life. Sing it,
           dance it, be in love with it -- and by and by you will know what the way is, because by and by you
           will become more and more happy. The more happy you become, the more you are acquainted with
           the way, the right way. And whenever a step goes out of line, immediately you feel pain.
                Pain is an indication that you have missed the law, and happiness is an indication that you have
           been in harmony. Happiness is a by-product. If you go in accordance with the law you are happy.
           Unhappiness is an accident. It simply shows you have gone far away from the law.
                Make happiness and unhappiness your criterion. That's why I go on saying that I am a hedonist.
           In fact Buddha is a hedonist, Mahavir is a hedonist, Krishna is a hedonist, Mohammed is a hedonist,
           because they all want you to become tremendously happy. And they show you the path.
                The path is: become simple, trust more, doubt a little less. If you really want to doubt, doubt
           doubt, that's all. Doubt doubt; trust trust -- and you will never miss.

               THOSE WHO REJOICE IN SEEING OTHERS OBSERVE THE WAY WILL OBTAIN GREAT
               BLESSING.


               And Buddha says not only those who follow the way are benefited, but even those who rejoice in
           seeing others following the way, they are tremendously blessed.
               Yes, it is so. Because by rejoicing that so many people are moving towards meditation...'Good --
           I have not been moving yet, I have not yet gathered courage, but so many people are moving --
           good'... even this will make you happy because this Will open your doors.
               You are not condemning them, you are not saying that meditation is impossible. You say, 'It is
           possible -- I am not yet courageous enough, but you are going on the way -- go happily! My
           congratulations for you, my greetings! One day I hope also to come and follow you.'
               Buddha says if you greet a sannyasin you have greeted your future. If you see somebody moving
           on the path and you feel happy, tremendously happy -- knowing well that you are not following on
           the path, you are yet not ready for it, but you don't condemn the man, in fact you rejoice, you help
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           him to go on the path -- you have started following on the path.
               That's what I said in the beginning to you: in life whenever you hear somebody has become a
           sannyasin, don't start condemning him -- rejoice. When somebody has started meditating, don't
           condemn him that he has gone mad or something -- rejoice. By your rejoicing you are bringing your
           own meditative possibilities closer to you. By rejoiCing you have taken sannyas in a deeper way.
           Inside it has happened, outside it will come. That is not so important either.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO REJOICE IN SEEING OTHERS OBSERVE THE WAY WILL OBTAIN GREAT
              BLESSING.


               That's why in this country a sannyasin has always been respected tremendously. Even sometimes
           one who is just wearing an orange robe and is not a sannyasin at all -- even he is respected. Because
           who are we to decide whether he is a true sannyasin or not? Buddha says, 'Rejoice!"
           I have heard an old story:

               A man who was a great robber robbed the palace of the king, and by the time he was escaping it
           was known, so guards followed him. He was in tremendous danger. He came to the bank of a river
           and the horses of the soldiers were following and he could hear the noise that was approaching close,
           and the river was big and there was no bridge. He was afraid, and it was a cold night -- so what to
           do?
               Seeing nothing, no possibility, he saw a sannyasin sitting under a tree. He threw off his clothes,
           became naked, closed his eyes, started meditating -- of course, pretending, because he had never
           known what meditation is. But you can pretend, you can close your eyes, you can sit in a padmasana,
           in the lotus posture. He closed his eyes.
               The guards came, the police arrived. There was nobody, just these two sannyasins. They touched
           their feet. The man inside started feeling very very guilty. 'This is not good,' he thought. 'I am a thief,
           a robber, and these people are touching my feet. And I am just a pseudo-sannyasin. And if so much
           respect is given to a pseudo-sannyasin, what will happen if I really become a sannyasin?' A ray of
           light entered into his life. He dropped his old ways, he became a sannyasin.
               His fame spread. One day even the king came to touch his feet. And the king asked him, 'How
           did it happen to you? How did you renounce the world? I also hope, dream, that one day that great
           blessing will shower on me, god will give me courage to renounce everything. How did you
           renounce, sir? Tell me your story. That will give me courage.'
               The ex-robber started laughing. He said, 'I will tell you. You helped me much -- your soldiers
           following me.'
               The king said, 'What do you mean?' Then he told the whole story. He said, 'And when I saw that
           a pseudo-sannyasin like me -- a robber, a murderer -- can be respected, suddenly it became
           impossible for me to go back to my old ways. And I felt so beautiful when they touched my feet. I
           had never felt that before. It was such a beautiful moment. And since then I have been meditating,
           and since then I have really renounced the world, and I am tremendously happy. I have arrived
           home.'

              Buddha says even those who rejoice seeing others observe the law.... Never condemn -- even if
           sometimes it is possible; it is always possible. When there are real. coins there are bound to be
           counterfeit coins also. When so much respect is given to sannyasins, there are bound to be people
           who will be deceiving. But that is not the point. What can they deceive? What can they cheat? What
           have you got? But rejoice.

              A SHRAMANA ASKED THE BUDDHA: 'WILL THIS BLESSING EVER BE DESTROYED?'


               Will it be just a temporary thing if we rejoice in others being in meditation? The shramana has
           heard, he knows that if you meditate you attain to eternal bliss -- but just by rejoicing because others
           are reaching... WOULD THIS BLESSING EVER BE DESTROYED?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IT IS LIKE A LIGHTED TORCH WHOSE FLAME CAN BE DISTRIBUTED TO EVER SO MANY
              OTHER TORCHES WHICH PEOPLE MAY BRING ALONG. AND THEREWITH THEY WILL COOK
              FOOD AND DISPEL DARKNESS, WHILE THE ORIGINAL TORCH ITSELF REMAINS BURNING
              EVER THE SAME. IT IS EVEN SO WITH THE BLISS OF THE WAY.


               Buddha is saying those who follow the way, they become blissful, but even those who simply
           rejoice seeing so many people following the way, they also become blissful. And not only
           temporarily, not only momentarily -- their bliss is also eternal. In fact, by their very rejoicing they
           have become fellow-travellers. Deep inside they have gone on the journey; the outside will follow --
           that is not the basic point.
               But when you condemn those who are following the path, when you condemn those who are
           praying, meditating, when you condemn those who are somehow trying to feel and grope in the dark
           for the way, you are condemning yourself. You are cursing yourself. Your doors will be closed, your
           potentiality will remain a potentiality, will never be actualized.
               You are like a seed, and if somebody has flowered and bloomed, rejoice. In that very rejoicing
           you will start sprouting. Don't say that there are no flowers because they have not happened to you.
           If you say there are no flowers because they have not happened to you so how can they happen to
           anybody else....
               Friedrich Nietzsche says the same thing. He says, 'How can there be any god? If there is any god
           then I am the god. If I am not, there cannot be any god. How can I tolerate the idea that somebody
           else is a god? Impossible, I cannot allow this idea.' He says, 'God is dead, god does not exist.'
               But then man is left in the limbo. Then there is no way to go up. Then you can go on growing
           old, but you never grow up, you never become a grown-up. Remember it! Growing old is not
           grow-ing up. Growing up means exactly what it says -- growing up, growing upwards. Growing old
           is horizontal, growing up is vertical.
               Growing up means growing up like a tree. Growing old is like a river -- it remains horizontal, it
           does not change its level, it doesn't change its plane.
               If somebody else is growing up, rejoice, celebrate. At least one human being has become a
           Buddha. Good -- he has shown the path. In fact, in him all human beings have become Buddhas in
           essence, because whatsoever can happen to one human being can happen to every other human
           being.
               We may not become Buddhas for lives together, but that doesn't matter. One man has become a
           Buddha -- he has shown the possibility. Maybe we have to wait long, but we can wait because the
           morning is coming closer. It has to come; it has come to one, it will come to us also. It is dark and
           the night is very long, but now there is hope.
               Rejoicing with a Buddha is creating hope for yourself. Then your life is no more hopeless. A
           hopeless life is a bored life, and a hopeful life, the very possibility... maybe it will happen after many
           many lives; that doesn't matter, one can wait -- but one can wait with hope.

              IT IS LIKE A LIGHTED TORCH WHOSE FLAME CAN BE DISTRIBUTED TO EVER SO MANY
              OTHER TORCHES WHICH PEOPLE MAY BRING ALONG. AND THEREWITH THEY WILL COOK
              FOOD AND DISPEL DARKNESS WHILE THE ORIGINAL TORCH ITSELF REMAINS BURNING
              EVER THE SAME. IT IS EVEN SO WITH BLISS OF THE WAY.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                    Chapter #8
                                       Chapter title: Sincerity in the search
           28 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 7608280
              ShortTitle: TRANS108
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins




              YOU TOLD US TO REJOICE WHENEVER WE SEE OTHER PEOPLE BECOMING SINCERE
              SEEKERS, AND IT IS INDEED A MOVING EXPERIENCE TO SEE NEW PEOPLE BECOME
              SANNYASINS AND BEGIN TO MEDITATE. BUT HOW ARE WE TO FEEL WHEN WE SEE REALLY
              BEAUTIFUL, SINCERE YOUNG PEOPLE GIVING UP EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW DESTRUCTIVE,
              FALSE, SO-CALLED MESSIAHS WHO ARE ONLY USING THESE FOLLOWERS FOR THEIR OWN
              MATERIAL AND POLITICAL GAIN?
              I AM THINKING OF A MAN NAMED MOON WHO IS GAINING MORE AND MORE ADHERENTS
              EVERY DAY. HE IS ALSO MAKING MORE AND MORE ENEMIES IN THE WEST, WHO CRITICIZE
              HIM AND HIS METHODS MOST VEHEMENTLY. BUT HIS POOR BLIND DISCIPLES USE THIS
              PERSECUTION AS PROOF THAT HE IS A NEW JESUS.


               IT IS A VERY COMPLICATED PHENOMENON and you will have to be very subtle about it.
           The first thing -- it is none of your business. If somebody follows Moon or Muktananda it is none of
           your business. You should not have any attitude about it, because who are you to decide? Whether
           Moon is right or wrong, how can you decide? And why should you decide? You are not following
           him. You should keep out of it. Because there is no way to decide from the outside.
               The same thing was said really against Jesus also. And the people who were against Jesus, they
           were also saying the same thing to people: 'Why are you going with this man? He is a false messiah.'
           That's what Jews were saying against Jesus. They still say -- they may not say loudly because they
           have been forced to be silent, crushed down the centuries, but they still say. Who is going to decide?
           And how?
               The same people are saying against me -- you following me. People will say that you have fallen
           into the hands of a dangerous man. He has brainwashed you, he has destroyed you, you are
           hypnotized, and so on, so forth.
               So the first thing is, never be concerned about these things. Don't waste your time. If somebody
           feels good to be with Moon, it is his business to decide. And you say 'sincere, beautiful people...' If
           they are really sincere they will understand sooner or later that this messiah is false. If their sincerity
           cannot reveal to them the falsity of their messiah, then who is going to reveal? So let them go
           wholeheartedly. If they are moving with a wrong person, sooner or later they will realize. And if
           they don't realize, then too it is for them to choose.
               In fact, the more you criticize Moon and others, the more you make it impossible for the
           disciples to see themselves. The more you criticize, the more they become defensive.
               And logic is a double-edged sword. When you start being too much against, then Moon says,
           'Look, the same happened to Jesus, the same is happening to me. People are against me. It has
           always happened to great prophets that people are against them.' By your being against him you are
           proving that he is important, you are giving him too much significance.
               If Jews had not bothered about Jesus, there may not have been any Christianity. I'm not saying
           that Jesus was wrong or right, I'm simply saying there would not have been any Christianity. But too
           much against him created a defensive attitude in his followers. They started fighting, arguing.
               Be indifferent. If you cannot rejoice then do at least one thing -- be indifferent. If you can rejoice,
           good.
               Somebody who is following Moon at least is seeking -- maybe seeking in wrong directions,
           maybe -- but still seeking. Better than those people who are not seeking. Rejoice. Moving with a
           wrong person, but moving. Groping in the dark, far away from the door, but groping. Better than
           those who are sitting in the dark and not groping at all. Better than Christians, Hindus,
           Mohammedans, Jains, Buddhists, who are just sitting silently. Their groping has stopped. They think
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they have found.
               Just by birth you become a Christian. Christianity is not your choice -- just an accident by birth.
           Just by birth you have become a Hindu. It is better at least that somebody is trying to move on his
           own. There is danger, but the whole life is danger.
               It is better to be a follower of Moon, alive, than to be a follower of a dead Christ. And I am not
           saying that he is right or wrong -- he may be wrong -- but at least the person has the courage to
           follow, to choose. If he is wrong, sooner or later his own experience will prove it -- that he is wrong.
           But those people who are simply sitting in the darkness, they will never come to know whether they
           are wrong or right. The real trouble is with these people.
               You have taken it for granted that you are a Christian. How can you be a Christian? There were
           only a few Christians who followed Jesus alive. They risked their life. The greatest risk was this: that
           there was no way to decide whether they were following the right person or wrong -- that was their
           greatest risk. Had they been with the old church -- if they had remained Jews there was no risk.
           Things were settled by the tradition. For centuries down, everything was settled, every dogma was
           settled.
               These people started looking for themselves; they were trying to open their eyes. I am not
           worried whether Jesus was right or wrong, but I say these people are more alive people.
               Yes, even with a Muktananda it is good to move. And if you are a sincere seeker, how long can
           Muktananda or Moon deceive you? How long? Your sincerity is your only protection, nothing else.
           Go on -- one has to grope long, one has to knock on many doors before one comes to the right door.
           There is no other way.
               So don't criticize. There is no need; it is none of your concern. If you want to follow Moon, then
           you have to think about it. Others are following -- let them think. Why should you take their
           responsibility? Why should you have any power over others? If somebody decides to follow a fool,
           that's his decision -- and he has the freedom to follow the fool. Forced -- even if you are following
           the greatest wise man in the world, a Buddha -- then too it is ugly, because it kills your freedom.
           With your own choice if you follow a fool, it is beautiful.
               My emphasis is on your freedom. And people who are against Moon, why are they against
           Moon? The same reason why people were against Jesus -- because if Moon's influence grows then
           more and more Christians will be disappearing. They will become 'Moonites'.
               These people are against Bhaktivedanta, the Hare Krishna movement leader, because more and
           more people are becoming Hindus; Christians are disappearing. These people are against Maharishi
           Mahesh Yogi because more and more people are dropping their christian prayer and starting TM.
           The same happens everywhere.
               Here people are against me because if you come with me, by and by you will not be a Parsee, and
           you will not be a Hindu, and you will not be a Christian -- you will become a pure human being, a
           simple human being with no adjectives.
               So those who live with the adjectives, how can they just watch it? They are afraid, their
           establishment is eroding. They will try in every way. But I will suggest to them that if they really
           want that no one should come to me, they should remain indifferent.
               The more they are against me, the more they make me important. Their very against-ness helps
           many people to become interested in me. The best way for them will be not to be bothered by me, be
           indifferent. Let people come and let people find. If they find more nourishment with me than they
           were finding in their old church, in their temple, in their mosque, then it is for them to choose. If
           they don't find any nourishment with me, they move away, they go on searching.
               But if people are against me then you start becoming defensive. Then your eyes become
           dogmatic, then you are in an arguing mood. You have to prove somehow that your master is right
           and is the only true master in the world. Then even if sometimes you see flaws in me, errors,
           mistakes, you bypass them. How can your master have any mistake, flaw in his life? -- impossible.
           And you go on hiding. And by and by you become almost determined by the people who are against
           me. They talk against me, you have to talk for me. They help me in a way.
               This is my suggestion: there is no need to be worried -- the world is vast, and everybody is free
           to choose, should be free to choose. If somebody feels that he is attaining something with Moon --
           and Moon may be wrong, as far as I know he is wrong -- but even then if somebody follows him I
           am not going to distract the person. This is my attitude -- that he is wrong. Even if he is wrong
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody may be benefited by him. Life is very mysterious -- you learn by your errors also.
               I know many people, like Muktananda, who have nothing to give. It is a miracle that
           Muktananda can also become a guru. But still if somebody is following Muktananda, I will not say
           don't follow him. I will say go headlong. Because that is the only way to find out, to figure it out. I
           will say, 'Go headlong with open eyes; maybe this is how your life is going to grow.' Nothing is
           wrong in it. Why be so much afraid?
               One learns from fools as much as from wise people, and one learns from pseudo-gurus as much
           as from authentic gurus. They are part of one phenomenon. In fact, you get that which you deserve.
           Now there are a few people who deserve Muktananda. What to do? They have earned Muktananda
           through their lives; many lives of karmas and they have earned Muktananda. Now who am I or who
           are you to prevent them? Why? They deserve, that is their growth, they have to pass through it.

               One day Mulla Nasrudin came to me and he was very much worried and he said, 'I would like to
           become a guru myself.'
               I was intrigued. I said, 'There are good opportunities. Why not? You try.'
               He said, 'Yes, that's what I'm thinking. If Muktananda of Ganeshpuri can become a guru, why not
           I?' And then he said, 'Osho, there is one request. You supply me with my first disciple.'
               A man was sitting by the side who suffers from an inferiority complex and he has seen
           psychoanalysts -- Freudians, Jungians, Adlerians -- and he has defeated all of them, and he goes on
           suffering with inferiority complex. In fact he has become more skilled in it. The more he has been
           psychoanalysed, the more he has become skilful about it. In fact, he is enjoying it.
               So I told Nasrudin, 'You take this man. Try -- this man suffers from inferiority complex.'
           Nasrudin took him away, sat with him, looked into his eyes, meditated a little, closed his eyes, and
           then told him finally, 'I have good news for you. You have no inferiority complex, you really are
           inferior.'

               Now there are people who really are inferior. They deserve Muktanandas, Moons, and that type
           of people. There are stupid people. What to do? Stupid gurus are also needed. Stupid gurus cannot
           disappear from the world unless stupid people disappear. It is a subtle economic law. Your demand
           has to be fulfilled, somebody from somewhere has to supply goods that you need.
               People think as if it is only just Moon or people who are exploiting. No, you want to be
           exploited, you cannot rest unless you are exploited. People think that followers are innocent. This is
           nonsense! You cannot exploit an innocent man. They are cunning, the followers are cunning -- then
           they are exploited by more cunning people. An innocent person cannot be exploited by a cunning
           person, because innocence is so pure; in that purity he will immediately see that this whole thing is
           nonsense. You cannot exploit an innocent person, you can exploit only a cunning person.
               I was staying in a town. Mulla Nasrudin deceived somebody. He said he could double rupees just
           by magic, and he showed the trick. He doubled a one hundred rupee note. It was just a trick but the
           person was impressed. So the person brought all, whatsoever he had. He was not a very rich man, but
           whatsoever he had -- ornaments, gold, precious stones, money -- whatsoever he had he put before
           Nasrudin. Then he played the game and he disappeared with the whole lot.
               Now the man came to me and said, 'Why do you allow such cunning people with you?' I said,
           'You are cunning -- that's why he could exploit you. You wanted your money to be doubled without
           any effort -- that's why he could exploit you. If you were innocent, how could you be exploited?
           Your logic and his logic were not different. What were you expecting from him? He exploited your
           greed. He exploited because you were ready to be exploited. Can't you see the whole nonsense of it?'
           I told him, 'If it is in my power, then I will send you both to the jail, because you are a participant.
           He alone is not responsible. In fact, his responsibility is secondary to you. If you were not ready how
           could he exploit you?'
               So don't call those people sincere, innocent, who are exploited by cunning people. No, they must
           have some cunningness in themselves; they must be looking for shortcuts, for nirvana. Then anybody
           can exploit you.
               Somebody comes and says, 'This will do. Just a mantra -- you have to repeat it twenty minutes in
           the morning, twenty minutes in the evening, and you will attain to perfect bliss.' Now he is
           delivering something so cheap -- you call it Transcendental Meditation or something, whatsoever
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you want -- and if he asks a hundred dollar fee what is wrong in it? And you say this man is
           exploiting. He is not exploiting your innocence; innocence cannot be exploited. An innocent man
           will understand -- 'How is it possible? Just by uttering "Rama, Rama, Rama", twenty minutes in the
           morning and evening and you become enlightened?'
                Be reasonable, and if you are unreasonable and he asks a hundred dollar fee, he is asking simply
           something that fits with your logic. And you pay the hundred dollar fee, and then you think that he
           has been exploiting you!
                Nobody can exploit you unless you are ready to be exploited, nobody can deceive you unless you
           are ready to be deceived. The responsibility is yours, so be alert, be reasonable. Don't be a fool,
           otherwise somebody is bound to -- somebody is bound to become your guru. And then don't go on
           shouting and crying and making a fuss about it that you have been exploited. You wanted to go to
           nirvana very cheap.
                Always remember -- you fall into bondage because you want to become a slave. You cannot
           remain free, that's why you fall into a sort of bondage. But it is you, otherwise nobody can imprison
           you. You are afraid of freedom, you are afraid of growing, you are afraid of facing life as it is.
                So from somewhere or other, sometimes from Korea -- Moon comes from Korea; sometimes
           from India -- Muktananda comes from India; sometimes from Japan... and of course these people
           have to come from the East because the East has the credit of being religious, spiritual.
                Just in the same way, if an engineer comes from Germany he has more prestige in India; a doctor
           comes from England, he has more prestige in India. The indian doctor may be as educated as the
           english doctor, but the english doctor has prestige -- he comes from the world of science, he has an
           aura. It is just as if you have a watch, an indian-made watch, HMT watch -- it is an ordinary watch,
           made in India. If you have a swiss-made watch, it has an aura: imported.
                The same happens as far as religion is concerned. In America you need imported gurus and India
           has nothing else to export. So we are exporting in bulk. They carry an aura.
                Here it is difficult for them to find disciples. But they come from the East, the world of the rising
           sun, they come from the fabulous East, the land of Buddhas, Mahaviras, Krishnas -- they carry an
           aura. Just very ordinary people with no talent, with no genius, with no intelligence, but they can just
           sit there and things start happening. And then you think they are doing something.
                You are hankering that something must happen to you and nothing is happening. The West is
           very much bored; something should happen. Now you have everything that you always needed,
           desired; all material things are there. Now for the first time the West is becoming aware that
           something spiritual is needed, a spiritual need is being felt.
                It always happens -- whenever a society becomes very rich and affluent, only then the religious
           need is felt. A poor country cannot become religious howsoever it may pretend. It has never been so,
           it cannot be.
                I am not saying that a poor man cannot become religious. Individuals can be exceptions -- a
           Kabir, a Nanak -- but poor societies cannot be religious; their basic needs are unfulfilled. Religion is
           a very high need.
                It is as if you are hungry: who thinks in that moment of listening to beautiful music? When you
           are hungry you need bread, you don't need music. Beethoven won't do, Mozart is meaningless when
           you are hungry. When you are hungry, starved, naked, what to do with Shakespeare, Goethe,
           Kalidas? -- it makes no sense.
                When your basic needs are fulfilled -- your body is healthy, you have a hygienic world to live in,
           a good house, good clothes, good food, nourished -- suddenly you feel that you need something of
           the aesthetic world -- music, art, poetry. You become interested in Picasso and Van Gogh, and you
           become interested in Pablo Neruda -- and a thousand doors open.
                When your aesthetic needs are also fulfilled, when you are getting bored by Beethoven also,
           Mozart also, then suddenly another door opens -- the door of the Buddha, Krishna, Christ. That is the
           highest need. When every lower need is fulfilled then spirituality arises.
                The West has fulfilled its lower needs. Now suddenly a desire has possessed it; a passion for the
           ultimate is being felt all over the West, particularly in the new generation -- a tremor, a longing for
           the unknown. It is a very critical moment.
                In this moment there will be many people who will exploit this need, because the West is like a
           child -- a child in the world of spirit. They don't know what is what. They just have a need, that's all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they know. And whosoever comes and says, 'I can fulfill your need,' whosoever is clever enough at
           least to pretend, you will follow him. But this is natural.
               Sooner or later you will be finished with Moons and Muktanandas. Because sooner or later you
           will see that they promise but they never deliver. How long can this go on? And then only will you
           become interested in true masters -- Krishnamurti or Gurdjieff or Raman. Then you will start getting
           interested.
               But this is natural. In the beginning it has to be so. You don't know what real roses are, so people
           who bring paper roses and plastic roses -- you don't know what real roses are, you don't have any
           comparison -- you simply purchase them. But how long can it go on?
               That's why I decided not to go to the West. Right now it is a supermarket. And there are so many
           people standing on their soap-boxes and shouting and selling and advertising, that it is futile. I
           decided rather to wait here because people who have been with Moon, with Muktananda, with this
           and that, and are finished, and have come to know that these people have nothing to give, are bound
           to come towards the East in search. I decided to wait for them here, not to go there. Because when a
           seeker comes, travelling so far, then his desire is very authentic, then he is risking much. He is
           risking his whole life.
               And it is better that he should have passed through the super-market, so he knows. If sometimes
           somebody comes to me directly I am not much interested in him because I know it is better he
           should pass through the right channel -- Muktananda, Moon, etc. When he passes through all of them
           and then he comes to me, there is a sudden contact, an immediate contact.
               So in a way they help. Here are many people who have been in all sorts of movements in the
           West. This is good, a good training. You have some background, you have a certain gestalt, to judge.

              So the first thing... YOU TOLD US TO REJOICE WHENEVER WE SEE OTHER PEOPLE
           BECOMING SINCERE SEEKERS, AND IT IS INDEED A MOVING EXPERIENCE TO SEE
           NEW PEOPLE BECOME SANNYASINS AND BEGIN TO MEDITATE. BUT HOW ARE WE TO
           FEEL WHEN WE SEE REALLY BEAUTIFUL, SINCERE PEOPLE GIVING UP EVERYTHING
           TO FOLLOW DESTRUCTIVE, FALSE, SO-CALLED MESSIAHS WHO ARE ONLY USING
           THESE FOLLOWERS FOR THEIR OWN MATERIAL AND POLITICAL GAIN?

                Let them go. Help them to go there. Tell them to go to the very end. Sincerity, their search -- if it
           is true they will come out, and they will come out more mature, less childish. They will come out
           more experienced. Nothing to be worried.
                Never prevent anybody if he is really going somewhere. Let him go. There is only one way to
           learn and that is through experience; there is no other way. And if you think that he may be lost, then
           he deserves to be lost, then that is what he needs right now.
                Nothing happens without your deserving it. Whatsoever happens you deserve it. Nobody can
           exploit you unless you were in need to be exploited. Nobody can make you a slave unless you were
           ready to become a slave and you were afraid of freedom. Nothing happens to you for which you
           were not hankering, for which you were not desiring, consciously or unconsciously. So it is your life
           and it is your freedom.

               It happened one night, the phone rang at four a.m. 'What do you want?' I shouted into the
           instrument. 'Nothing,' was the reply.
               'Then why did you call me in the middle of the night?'
           'Because the rate is cheaper.'

               That's why I stopped keeping the phone in my room since then, because there are absurd people.
           Because the rate is cheaper -- that may be the only reason they phone in the middle of the night.
               You go with Moon because the rate is very cheap. You go with Muktananda because the rate is
           very cheap. What do I mean? I mean they promise you something and they don't ask you to be
           transformed. The rate is very cheap. They say god can happen to you without any change on your
           part; just do this mantra for twenty minutes.
               When you come to me it is not a question of twenty minutes, it is a question of your whole life.
           You have to change from the very roots. I ask for a radical change. You have to drop your old
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           values, your old morality, your old concepts, your old world view.
               You have to almost die with your past, only then your future starts sprouting. I ask you to be
           crucified so that you can be resurrected. I am like a death, and that is what the meaning of sannyas is
           -- you die in me and a totally new person is born.
               I'm not saying that your life will become easy. No, it may become more difficult. I'm not
           promising you rose gardens. One thing only I can promise and that is if you are ready to take the
           risk, there may be many more difficulties, but you will start growing. I can only promise growth.
           Growth is always hard, painful; you have to destroy and dismantle many things in you, and you have
           to learn new ways of being, new styles of life. It is painful.
               I don't say you will become rich, as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says: 'If you meditate you will
           become successful, you will become rich.' I don't say that. In fact you may become more of a failure
           if you go with me. And you may never be rich if you go with me. Because if you go with me you
           will become less and less ambitious. If you go with me you will become less and less aggressive, less
           and less violent.
               Ambition is violence, the very effort to succeed in the world is violent. You may be a loser as far
           as the outside world is concerned. I cannot say anything about it. You may turn out to be just a
           beggar. But one thing I can say: you will be growing in, you will be enriched within, you will
           become more blissful. I don't say more successful, I say more blissful. You will become more restful,
           you will be more relaxed. But I don't say that you will have money and success and things like that.
               With me you will have to lose much, and with me the gain will be so inner that only you will
           know and nobody else will know. So you cannot exhibit it, you cannot show it to anybody. The gain
           is going to be very inner and very subtle and the loss is going to be very gross and very outer.
           Everybody will know that you are losing.
               Just the other night one indian sannyasin came and said, 'My whole ambition is gone and I am
           becoming indifferent to all success. I don't even feel like struggling any more. I want to be in a deep
           let-go.' I said, 'Perfectly good. That's how it should be.'
               He was disturbed about one thing. He said, 'But something is happening, and that is I am not
           even interested in meditation any more. I feel happy, silent, but I am not interested in meditation any
           more.' I said, 'That's what one should expect finally -- drop that too.'
               About this he was a little puzzled -- whether to drop meditation or not -- because only through
           meditation has he come up to this point where he is feeling at home... so much so that all his desiring
           is disappearing. He wanted to cling to meditation. When I said, 'Drop that too,' his last barrier was
           broken.
               Now if you look at this person it will be difficult for you to see what is happening. In fact he may
           have looked more radiant to you before than he will look right now, because now he is so silent, his
           whole energy is so silent. You will not find him laughing; at the most he can smile -- in fact that too
           he will have to do by an effort. Not because he is unhappy, he is simply happy.
               You laugh because of unhappiness. Twenty-four hours of unhappiness, you gather unhappiness,
           then you have to do something to get out of it -- you laugh.But if a man becomes really happy then
           the very need for laughter disappears.
               It will be difficult to judge from the outside that something has happened inside in him -- and a
           great transformation IS happening inside him. This is what sannyas is -- he is disappearing from the
           world.
               For this transformation very few people are ready, and those who are not ready, they also need
           somewhere to go, somewhere to seek. They also need a guru, a master. Good, nothing wrong in it,
           but remember the dictum that you get only that which you deserve. They will find somebody.

               One politician used to come to me, and I asked him, 'Why do you come to me?' He said, 'Just for
           your blessings. I have been trying hard, but for twelve years I have remained a minister and I
           couldn't succeed in becoming a chief minister. Now every minister has his own guru, and I know
           only you, so I come to you.'
               I said, 'You have chosen a wrong guru. Go to Satya Sai Baba. You have chosen a wrong guru --
           because if you come too often here there is every possibility you will not even remain a minister.
           Don't listen to me, to what I am saying, and don't come close to me. It is dangerous.' Since then he
           has disappeared. He must have got the point.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               With me you will fail in the world -- of course very few people are ready to fail in the world.
           With me you can succeed in the inner -- but very few people are mature enough even to desire for
           that. So there are so many grades of growth, so many types of people, so many centuries living
           together. Now a person who goes to Sai Baba and a person who comes to me are not contemporaries,
           cannot be. The person who goes to Satya Sai Baba because miracles are happening must be living
           somewhere two thousand years back, when these things were thought to be spiritual. These are just
           ordinary magical tricks. A Buddha is not known to have done anything like that. It would have been
           foolish.
               Two thousand years have passed: a few people have remained in that primitive state of mind.
           They go there. They cannot see simple things. There is no need to discuss about it -- any ordinary
           magician on the street can do these things. But when a magician is doing these things you think he is
           just a magician. And when a religious person is doing these things you think these are miracles. They
           are the same things.
               Now Bangalore University has appointed a small committee of twelve people, and they have
           asked Satya Sai Baba to help them. They want to see the miracles done before the committee so they
           can see whether there is any scientific validity or not. He didn't answer. Three letters were written
           from the Vice Chancellor -- he would not answer.
               And when the Vice Chancellor released his letters to the press, then Sai Baba was very angry.
           Then he answered in a public talk, and answered in such an unspiritual way that it is unbelievable,
           ridiculous. He said: 'These people are trying to fathom me. It is as if an ant is trying to fathom the
           ocean. These people are trying to pull me down. It is as if dogs are barking and thinking that stars
           will fall.'
               Now this is very non-religious language, profane, not even gentlemanly. And if really you are
           doing miracles then why be afraid? Let them come. It will be a good opportunity for you to prove.
           Why not allow them? They will become your followers. They will beat the drum for you all over the
           world, that you are really a siddha, a miracle man. Why not allow them? Why are you afraid? They
           simply want to watch.
               Only one thing I have to suggest to the Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University is that their
           committee is not of the right people. In their committee there are professors of philosophy and
           psychology and science -- physics, chemistry. These people cannot judge a magician, these people
           have no background. What has it to do with physics? These are simple people, very innocent people.
           They have lived in mathematics.
               The committee needs a Gogia Pasha, a K. Lal. Only then can these people be brought down to
           earth. A Gogia Pasha, a magician, is needed in the committee because he will know what Satya Sai
           Baba is doing. Every magician knows what he is doing. Professors won't be of any help, professors
           are very poor people. What can they do? They don't have any concept of magic.
               If you are going to find out the truth of a magician, take magicians with you. Only they will
           know. It is a very tricky world, the world of magic. Very great skill is needed. To deceive is not so
           easy; it is an art, a great art.
               But people are there; even if you expose Satya Sai Baba, that doesn't matter -- another Baba will
           arise because these people have a need. They will say, 'Yes, that Baba was bogus, but this Baba is
           true.' You go on exposing, it makes no difference, because you don't understand that there is a basic
           need in people. Unless people are raised in their consciousness, Satya Sai Babas will continue. You
           can expose one Satya Sai Baba, another will be born. You can expose that one, another will be born,
           because people are in a real need. They don't know any higher religion than that.
               All are not contemporaries. People coming to me are a totally different type of people. In fact
           they are a little ahead of their time; they will not be understood. That's why when you go into Poona
           people cannot make out what you are, what you are doing. They cannot figure it out, because you
           don't belong to this century. You have come a little earlier than your time.
               They cannot believe how a sannyasin can move with a girl, hand in hand -- impossible. I am
           giving you something which will be possible only in the twenty-first century -- one hundred years
           more are needed... when religion will not be anti-life, when religion will be life-affirmative... when
           religion will not be anti-love, when religion will be a tremendous release of love... when religion will
           not be anti-sex -- because to be anti-sex is to be anti-life... when religion will be a total acceptance of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all that life gives, of all the benedictions that life makes available.
                Then religion will be just a deep gratitude towards god. Whatsoever he has given, one has to
           move into it, love it, experience it, transcend it -- but no anti-attitude.
                So when you go into Poona town people cannot believe that you are sannyasins; they have their
           own notions of the past. A sannyasin has to be anti-life, you are not. Now one of my old sannyasins,
           Paritosh, goes to the racecourse. What to do? And not only that, he is winning there. But good! I
           approve of it. I am not here to destroy your life, your enjoyment, your delights. I am here to enhance
           them, I am here to help you to become more flowing.
                To me, sannyas is not to take life very seriously -- take it playfully. The racecourse is also part of
           life. And if you enjoy, it is perfectly good, nothing is wrong in it.
                So whatsoever one is following, remember, it may be a need to him. Let him go, help him, at
           least he is trying to find something. Some day we can hope he will find a place where he can bow,
           where he can surrender, and where he will not be exploited.
                And of course, if you start arguing, then people become defensive. It is just part of the ego of the
           disciple to defend the master. If somebody says anything against me, you simply feel it is against
           you. And it is natural, because you belong to me, I belong to you. If somebody is saying something
           against me you feel hurt, you start defending. And if he goes to exaggerations in his criticism, you go
           to exaggeration in your defence, and both become false.
           I have heard:

               The puerto rican couple had been married only three months when the wife gave birth to a
           bouncing baby girl. The proud grandmother was accosted on the street one day by one of her
           neighbours. 'Hey, I see your Rosita just had a baby after only three months,' smirked the neighbour.
               'You surprised?' asked the new grandmother. 'My Rosita is such an innocent. How would she
           know how long to carry a baby?'

                Never argue, it is useless. Then you make the other person defensive, and then -- extremes.
                Many people are simply going here and there because of curiosity. That too is good. Not to be
           curious is not to be alive. That too is good. But curiosity is not enough for spiritual growth.
                There are three words in the East: curiosity we call kutahel. It is childish, you don't put anything
           at stake. You just ask why the trees are green and then you forget about it. If nobody answers it you
           don't go on thinking about it. Who created the world? Not that you are really interested -- just a
           floating idea in the mind; not that you are ready to put your life for this question, that you have to
           find the answer. It does not matter.
                Then enquiry we call jigyasa. Enquiry means now your curiosity is not just curiosity; it is taking
           deep roots in you, it is becoming a part of your life. You are not asking for asking's sake, you really
           want to go into it.
                And then there is a third word, mumuksha, for which no english equivalent exists. Curiosity is
           just amusement, enquiry becomes more scientific, mumuksha literally means the desire, passionate
           desire to know the truth.
                Curiosity will not take you anywhere else, you will remain a news-paper reader, that's all. Every
           day you read the newspaper but it is just curiosity. Then you throw it.
                Enquiry can make you a scientific worker, a philosopher, a logician, but still it will not make you
           a religious person, a spiritual being.
                When your enquiry becomes so passionate -- by passionate I mean when it becomes a question of
           life and death -- when you cannot rest at ease unless you know the truth; when you are ready to die
           for it, for your enquiry, only then can you find a real master.
                So there are three types of masters: people who fulfil your curiosity, people who fulfil your
           enquiry and people who fulfil your mumuksha, your passionate desire to know the truth. It depends
           on you. Curiosity-mongers can go to Muktananda, Moon -- that will do. They are never ready to
           commit, they are just spectators. And of course they get into many troubles.
           I have heard:

               A Jew was standing on a manhole cover jumping up and down and shouting, 'Sixty-nine,
           sixty-nine, sixty-nine!'
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A German came along and asked, 'What are you doing?'
              The Jew jumped off and took the German by the arm. 'Here,' he said, 'you try it for a while.'
              The German got on the manhole cover and as he started to jump the Jew grabbed the cover away
           and the German fell down the sewer. 'Ha!' exclaimed the Jew as he replaced the cover and starting
           jumping again. 'Seventy! Seventy! Seventy!'

               Curiosity is just like that. Somebody shouting, 'Sixty-nine! Sixty-nine! Sixty-nine!' and just in
           your mind an idea arises: 'What does he mean? What is sixty-nine?' Now you are no more... you
           have nothing to do with it. If you are really a little alert you will bypass. Let him say 'Sixty-nine!
           Sixty-nine!' Let him shout. Why should you get into it?
               But man is a monkey. If somebody is shouting, suddenly you become curious. What is the
           matter? That is how things are going. A Muktananda goes on shouting, 'Kundalini! Kundalini!
           Kundalini!' What is kundalini? Sixty-nine becomes seventy.
               So first you get caught and then it becomes very difficult to get out, because then it becomes an
           involvement with the ego.

              The seven-year-old was being taught the proper way to ask a girl for a dance. A half hour later he
           asked the teacher, 'Now, how do you get rid of her?'

               It is very easy to ask a girl to dance with you; the real problem arises in how to get rid of her. It is
           very easy to fall in love, the problem arises when you want to get out of it. You had never really
           thought of all the implications.
               When you go to somebody you may be just going for curiosity's sake. Some friend goes there,
           your neighbour goes there and they say, 'Baba is incredible!' So you have to go -- sixty-nine! Then
           you have ambitions, then you have illnesses, then you have a pending law suit against you in the
           court, then you have a thousand and one problems. And when you go to the Baba and there are
           people who say that he is a miracle, he can create things out of nothing, then your desire becomes
           aflame. 'If he can create things out of nothing, maybe he can help me for my court case, or he can
           help me for my disease to disappear, or he can help me for my ambition, for my success in life.'
               Then you are caught. And then others start saying that you are going to a false messiah. Then
           you defend, it becomes your ego problem. You? -- how can you go to a fake messiah? When you go
           there the messiah has to be true. You cannot go; you are such an intellectual person, so intelligent.
           How can you be caught by a false messiah? Impossible. Then you try to prove that he is not false.
               Now you are getting into a trap on your own. And one day it will be very difficult to get out
           because then you will be swallowing your own thing that you have spat. You have been saying that
           he is the greatest master, then one day you want to leave. Now how to leave? It goes against your
           own assertions; ego becomes involved.
               One thing only I would like to say: go wherever you want to go, don't get egoistically involved.
           Remain alert, watchful. If you can learn something, learn. If you find that there is nothing to learn,
           then be ready to leave.
               There is no need to leave with a grudge. There is no need to leave him only when you start being
           against him. There is no need to be an enemy -- simply leave. Because to be too much in attachment
           is bad, and to be too much full of hatred is bad also.
               You go to a person; whatsoever you can learn you learn. If you feel that this is the home, you
           have arrived, then good for you. If you feel this is not, then leave, and thank him for whatsoever he
           has done for you. Maybe he has not done anything, but at least he has made you aware that you can
           become a victim of somebody who has nothing to give. Next time you will not become a victim so
           easily. Thank him for that.

               Three logicians were standing under one umbrella. 'This is terrific,' said one of them. 'None of us
           are getting wet.'
               'That is because it is not raining,' said one bystander.

               There are many people who think they are happy because of the Baba, because the Baba's
           blessing is making them happy. They think Baba is like an umbrella. But first look whether it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           raining or not.
                This is my experience: if a hundred persons come to a Baba, fifty will become hangers-around.
           Fifty will leave, because those fifty will not feel any fulfilment, and these fifty will feel some sort of
           fulfilment -- not because of the Baba; it is simple statistics. If a hundred ill persons come, almost
           fifty percent will be helped. Not because of the Baba; if they had not come then too they would have
           become healthy. They simply become healthy because it is not raining.
                You go on distributing anything -- just water. You try it. You can just go and sit under a tree and
           start distributing water to people. Within a week you will see many people are hanging around you.
           What has happened? Many will start saying that you are a miracle: 'I had a headache for many years,
           that disappeared.' Somebody says he had a stomach ache and it has disappeared. And you will be
           surprised, but by and by you will see that things are working so you will become more confident.
                When you become more confident, things will work more. And these people who will hang
           around you because they have been helped, they will create an aura around you. Whenever a new
           person comes, they will say, 'Certainly it is going to happen, absolutely it is going to happen. Look --
           to all of us it has happened. This man had a headache, and this man had a stomach ache, and this
           man was suffering from this and that man was suffering from that. We have all been helped.'
                This creates a sort of deep suggestibility. When so many people have been helped then why not
           you? You become hopeful, faith arises, and then the water works. These are simple auto-suggestions
           that work. And then things go on growing.
                It is just like a snowball rolling on snow. Just by rolling more snow collects around it -- it goes
           on bigger and bigger and bigger.
                Human stupidity is tremendous, and man has lived down the ages in such ignorant, stupid ways,
           unintelligent ways, that it seems natural. Nobody understands how things work. Still science has not
           been able to know exactly how things work, but the basic things are known. How do things work? --
           they work through faith. Nobody is working, nobody is doing anything, just your own faith.
                Jesus is true. He again and again says.... People come to him -- they are healed and they want to
           thank him, and he says, 'Don't thank me. Your faith has healed you.' He is a true man. He says, 'Don't
           thank me. I have not done anything. Your faith has healed you.'
                And these Babas also don't understand. They are as much mystified as you are mystified by what
           goes on happening.

              Mulla Nasrudin had been out speaking all day in an election campaign and returned home late at
           night, tired and weary. 'How did your speeches go today?' his wife asked.
              'All right, I guess,' the Mulla said. 'But I am afraid some of the people in the audience did not
           understand some of the things I was saying.'
           'What makes you think that?' his wife asked.
              'Because,' whispered Mulla Nasrudin, 'I don't understand them myself.'

               Just watch how your mind functions: how your mind tends to be superstitious, how your mind
           tends to be egoistic, how your mind tends to be defensive, rationalizing. Just watch that. The real
           work is to be done inside your mind.
               Don't be worried about Moon and others, you just think about your own mind, and by and by
           clarity will come to you.
               Understanding the mechanism of the mind, one becomes freed of that mechanism. Becoming
           aware, one goes beyond the mind, and that state of beyond the mind is the state of freedom. Then
           you cannot be exploited, then nobody can enforce you into any sort of imprisonment. Then nobody
           can deceive you, befool you.

               The last question is from Shanti Sudheer. He has sent me just a blank paper. He has been writing
           questions almost every day. Of course I never answer him, so this is his last desperate effort. He is
           the greatest questioner around here, but because all his questions were just head things I have never
           bothered to answer him -- because they were just intellectual rubbish; they had nothing to do with his
           being. They had nothing to do with himself: fifty percent of them were concerned with others, fifty
           percent were just bookish.
               He must be a good reader, he goes on sending books to me. He must have studied much and that
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           goes on moving his mind, and then questions arise.
                Those questions have nothing to do with his being, or with his growth; those questions are just
           useless -- curiosities at the most, not even enquiries.
                When I come across the questions, first I try to answer those questions that belong to mumuksha,
           which belong to your passionate effort to get rid of illusions and to arrive into the world of truth.
           First I answer only those questions which are really life and death questions. If I cannot find that
           type of question then second I answer those questions which belong to jigyasa, enquiry. If even that
           is not possible then only I answer questions which belong just to curiosity.
                Just because you have asked a question I am not going to answer it. I have to choose -- because
           you don't know yourself what you are asking, and why you are asking. If I don't answer your
           question that is my answer. That simply shows that the question was in some way irrelevant, was not
           worth.
                So I never answered Shanti Sudheer. He is a good soul, very innocent, but too much in the head.
           And I wanted to pull him down a little towards the heart. This is his desperate effort, but the best that
           he has done -- that's why I have decided to answer, though he has not asked anything. This shows a
           little glimpse of the heart... this blank piece of paper. Yes, heart is just as blank as this blank piece of
           paper. Head is too full, it is crowded. Heart is pure empty sky, unclouded.
                Yes, the heart is just like this piece of paper with only one small distinction -- that this piece of
           paper has his name on it. That is the only flaw I can find in this question. Had there been no name on
           it, it would have been perfect. A little ego... you can carry that little ego in the heart also, but then it
           corrupts the whole heart.
                If he had sent just a blank piece of paper without any name that would have been something
           tremendously valuable.
                There are many people who ask questions just to hear their name from me. They are not
           interested in the questions, they are interested only in their names. Then I make it a point not to
           mention their names. I mention somebody's name only when I see the person is interested -- not at all
           interested in the name only interested in the question. I have my own ways.
                But to Shanti Sudheer I would like to say: learn something; this blank piece of paper should
           become your reality. Drop the name also. Just be simply blank. Mind has so many questions and no
           answers. The heart has no questions and only the answer. This is the paradox. The mind goes on
           asking, never finds the answer. And the heart never asks and is always with the answer.
                Just the other night Govinda came back -- he is a sannyasin, a rare being, a very pure being. He is
           a world-famous architect. I asked him, 'Have you any questions to ask?' He said, 'No, Osho. This
           time I have no question to ask. I have just come to be here.' And I told him, 'Then you will receive
           the answer.'
                Because if you are sitting by my side without any question, then who can prevent the answer?
           Then how can the answer be prevented? Then it will shower on you, then it will reach to you.
                That is the meaning of satsang -- being with a master without any mind... just being with him so
           energies can meet and merge and flow. If you are empty I can fill you totally, you will start
           overflowing. But if you are already full of questions then it is very difficult for me to get inside you.
           Impossible.
                Become a blank piece of paper. Don't write even your name on it. Be just empty. In that
           emptiness perfection descends. When you are not, god is.




                                The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                     Chapter #9
                                       Chapter title: The truth beyond magic
           29 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608290
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: TRANS109
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video:     No
                Length: 104 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE GOOD MAN THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BAD MEN.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA THAN TO
              FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SROTAPANNA THAN TO FEED TEN THOUSAND OF THOSE WHO
              OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SKRIDAGAMIN THAN TO FEED ONE MILLION OF SROTAPANNAS.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ANAGAMIN THAN TO FEED TEN MILLIONS OF SKRIDAGAMINS. IT
              IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ARHAT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF ANAGAMINS.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE PRATYAK BUDDHA THAN TO FEED ONE BILLION OF ARHATS.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE OF THE BUDDHAS EITHER OF THE PRESENT OR OF THE PAST
              OR OF THE FUTURE THAN TO FEED TEN BILLIONS OF PRATYAK BUDDHAS.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO IS ABOVE KNOWLEDGE, ONESIDEDNESS, DISCIPLINE, AND
              ENLIGHTENMENT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BILLIONS OF BUDDHAS OF PAST,
              PRESENT OR FUTURE.


               LET US FIRST talk a little about the disease called man. Man is a disease because deep down
           the very being of man is split, it is not one. Hence continuous disease, uneasiness, anxiety, angst,
           anguish. Schizophrenia is just a normal state of affairs. It is not that a few people become
           schizophrenic: man is born schizophrenic. It has to be understood.
               Man is born in dis-ease, born as dis-ease. When you entered your mother's womb, the first
           moment of your life was based on two parents, the mother and the father. Your very beginning was
           dual divided -- male/female, yin/yang, positive/negative. The first unity of your being was already
           based on division. Half of you came from one parent, the other half from another parent. From the
           very beginning you have been two.
               So schizophrenia is not something that happens to a few unfortunate people, it is just the normal
           state of affairs. Man is born split, hence continuously there is a duality, an indecisiveness, a
           wavering. You cannot decide who you really want to be, you cannot decide where to go, you cannot
           choose between two alternatives, you remain ambiguous.
               Whatsoever you do, a part of you remains against it. Your doing is never total. And a doing that
           is not total cannot be fulfilling, and a doing that is chosen only by one part of your being against the
           other part, will create more and more rift in your being. This has to be understood.
               Unity is in the end, not in the beginning. You can become a unitary being, you can become
           non-dual, you can come to yoga -- yoga means unity, unison, integration, individuation -- but that is
           in the end, not in the beginning. In the beginning is the dual, in the beginning is the division, in the
           beginning is disease.
               So unless you understand it and make an effort to transform it.... The merger has not yet
           happened; it has happened on one level only -- on the level of the body. On the level of the body you
           have become one, your mother and your father have melted -- on the plane of the body. You have
           become one body. Out of two bodies a new unity has arisen, but it is only on the body, in the body,
           not deeper than the body. Deep in your mind you are split. And if you are split in your mind there is
           no way to go beyond the mind. Only a mind that has become a unity, integrated, one, becomes
           capable of going beyond it.
               This sutra of Buddha is tremendously significant. A very simple sutra, but don't take it literally.
           Of course literally also it is true, but it is the whole progress -- how to become one, how to dissolve
           the twoness on all levels of your being, from the most gross to the most subtle, from the
           circumference to the center... how to drop all duality and come to a point where suddenly you are
           one.
               That point is the goal of all religions, the goal of all yogas, the goal of all prayers, all
           meditations, the goal of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism -- the goal of all the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           seekers. Because once you have become one, your misery disappears.
                Misery is because of the conflict. Misery is because your house is divided, misery is because you
           are not one, you are a crowd -- a thousand and one voices inside you pulling you and pushing you in
           all sorts of ways and all directions.
                You are a mess, a chaos. It is a miracle how you manage not to go mad, because you are boiling
           with madness. It is a miracle how somehow you go on remaining sane, how you are not lost into this
           crowd. But whether lost or not, you are sitting on a volcano which can erupt any moment.
                Remember this: madness is not something that happens to a few unfortunate people, madness is
           something everybody is prone to. Madness is something which you are carrying within you like a
           seed -- it can sprout any moment; it is only waiting for the right season, the right climate, the right
           opportunity. Any small thing can trigger it and you -- you simply go berserk. You are berserk
           because your foundation is split. It is possible to become one but then one has to be very aware about
           this whole situation.
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin went to his psychiatrist and asked if the good doctor could not split his
           personality.
               'Split your personality?' asked the doctor. 'Why in heaven's name do you want me to do a thing
           like that?'
               'Because,' said Mulla Nasrudin, 'I am so lonesome. Because I feel so lonely.'

                Don't just laugh at it. Maybe that's why you never work hard to become one unity, because this
           duality gives you a certain company. You can talk with yourself, you can have a dialogue --
           everybody is having a dialogue, continuously. Sitting in your chair, what are you doing when you
           close your eyes? The continuous dialogue is there. You question, you answer, from this side, from
           that side.
                Watch this dialogue. If this dialogue stops will you not feel very lonesome? Will you not feel
           very alone? Will you not feel very empty if this dialogue stops? Will you not suddenly feel that all
           noise has disappeared? Will you not become frightened that only silence is there?
                No, you go on feeding this dialogue. You go on helping this dialogue to be there. Either you are
           talking with others, or if it is not possible because others are not always available, then you are
           talking with yourself. While you are awake you are talking with others, while you are asleep you are
           talking with yourself.
                What is your dream? A drama that you enact inside your being to create a society, because you
           are so lonesome. In the dream you are the director, you are the story-writer, you are the actor, you
           are the screen and you are the audience -- you alone, but you create a beautiful drama. The whole
           day and the whole night what are you doing? Talking with yourself? This constant talking, this
           constant dialogue with yourself -- is it not boring?
                Yes, you are bored, you are bored with yourself, but still you have chosen the lesser evil -- you
           think that if this dialogue stops you will be even more bored. At least there is something to say,
           something to do inside. Left alone with no dialogue you will be simply lost. This dialogue keeps you
           a little alive, throbbing with life. Mulla is right. He says, 'l am feeling so lonesome.'
                Remember, the whole effort of sadhana is to help you to become alone, because only when you
           are ready to become alone, when you are ready to fall into inner silence, when you are no more
           clinging to this constant talking, inner talk, then only can you become a unity. Because this constant
           inner talk helps you to remain dual, divided.

               Just the other night a sannyasin came to me and he said that in the night sometimes he falls from
           his bed and only in the morning he becomes alert. And one day it happened that he found himself ten
           feet away from his bed. So what is happening? Now he must be getting into deep dreams,
           nightmares, and the dreams must be so deep that even if he falls from his bed... he found himself ten
           feet away from the bed -- that means the slumber must be like a coma.
               I asked him one thing: 'Do you talk too much in the day?' He said, 'No.' Then that explains it.
           There are two types of people: talkers and listeners, T-people and L-people. Talkers talk the whole
           day, then in the night they have to listen; then they go to listen to a religious discourse or something
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- they go to the church in the dream, to the priest in the dream. The whole day they have been
           talking; one has to compensate -- they listen in their dream. People who have to listen in their day,
           and have become listeners, talk much in the night; they shout, they say things that they always
           wanted to say but they could not manage in the day -- nobody was ready to listen to them.
                It happens to people that when they go to a psychoanalyst and the psychoanalyst listens to them,
           patiently, attentively -- of course he has to listen because he is paid for it -- their dreams start
           changing. Their talking in their dreams by and by subsides, the quality of the dream changes,
           because now they have found somebody who listens to them -- they have become the talker and they
           have found a party who listens attentively. Their dreams become more silent, they are not talking
           and shouting in their night. Their nights are more silent, more at ease.
                Remember, whatsoever you miss in the day you will do in your dreams. The dream is
           complementary, it compensates and completes whatsoever has remained incomplete in the day. If
           you are a beggar in the day, in the night you will dream that you are an emperor. If you are an
           emperor during the day, in the night you will dream that you have become a Buddha -- a beggar.
                That's how it happened. Buddha was born in an emperor's palace but he started dreaming about
           becoming a beggar. When after twelve years he came back home, enlightened, his father said, 'Stop
           all this nonsense! You are my only son. Come back, I'm waiting for you. This whole kingdom is
           yours. And in our family there has never been a beggar.'
                Buddha laughed and he said, 'Maybe, sir, in your family there has never been a beggar, but as far
           as I am concerned, I have been dreaming for many lives of becoming a beggar.'
                When you become very rich you start thinking that poor people must be living in tremendous
           beauty, relaxedness. When you live in a city, a megalopolis like Bombay or Tokyo or New York,
           you think villages are beautiful. Ask the villagers. They are hankering to reach to Bombay, to Tokyo,
           to New York. They dream. When you are poor you dream about the rich, when you are rich you
           dream about the poor.
                Watch your dreams: they will show you that something that is lacking in the day is being
           fulfilled. In the day you are one part of your polarity, in the night you become another part of your
           polarity. You are two. So not only does a dialogue continue in you in your dreaming, but in your
           moments of awakening there is also a dialogue.
                If you are a bad man while awake, you will become a saint while you are asleep. If you are a
           saint while awake, you will become a sinner while you are asleep. That's why your so-called saints
           are so much afraid of sleep, they go on reducing their sleep -- because the whole day somehow they
           managed to remain saints, but what to do about the night? The whole day they have been celibate,
           they have not looked at any woman's face, they have avoided life -- but what to do in the night? All
           those faces they have avoided but could not avoid, surface in their being.
                Beautiful women, more beautiful than they have ever seen in the daytime, erupt. They think that
           it is Indra, the god of heaven, who is sending apsaras to destroy them. Nobody is sending any
           apsaras, nobody is interested in these poor fellows. Why should Indra be interested? For what?
                No, this is compensatory. In the day they control their saintliness. In the night when they relax --
           and they have to relax, they have to rest -- when they rest, everything is relaxed, their control is also
           relaxed. Suddenly all that they have been repressing comes up.
                Your day and your night are in constant dialogue. Psychoanalysts say that watching your day life
           is not as significant as watching your dream life, because in the day life you are pretenders,
           hypocrites. You go on showing faces which are not true. In the dream you are more real; you are no
           more hypocrites, no more pretenders, you don't have any mask. That's why all the psychoanalysts try
           to analyse your dreams.
                This is ironical but it is true -- that your dream is truer than your day, that while you are asleep
           you are more authentic than when you are awake. This is unfortunate but this is so. Man has become
           so deceptive.
                What I'm saying to you is this: unless you become a unity this will continue. In the day you can
           control, you can become a good man. In the night you will become a bad man, you will become a
           criminal in your dreams. You will do the same things that you have been controlling the whole day,
           exactly the same things. If you have fasted in the day, you will feast in your dream. Your denied part
           will take its revenge. And you cannot go both ways together. That's the disease called man, that's the
           angst, the anguish of man -- you cannot go both ways. You cannot be good and bad together, you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot be saint and sinner together, that is the difficulty.
               You have to choose. And once you choose, you are torn apart, you are in a dilemma, you are on
           the horns of a dilemma. The moment you choose, difficulty arises. That's why many people choose
           not to choose; they live a life of drifting -- whatsoever happens, happens. They don't choose, because
           the moment they choose, this creates anxiety.
               Have you watched, observed, that whenever you have to make a decision you become very very
           anxious? Maybe it is a very ordinary decision. You are purchasing a pair of shoes and you cannot
           decide which pair, and anxiety arises. Now it is rubbish -- but still anxiety arises.
               Anxiety has nothing to do with great decisions, anxiety has something to do with decision as
           such. Because you are two -- whenever you decide, both your parts try to dominate. Your mother
           tries to dominate, your father tries to dominate. And of course you know well, they never agreed
           about anything, they don't agree in you also.
               Your mother says this pair is good. Your father says don't listen to her, she is foolish; this pair is
           right. Your male energy says one thing, your female energy says another thing. Your female energy
           has different attitudes; it looks at the beauty of the pair of shoes, the shape, the form, the colour,
           aesthetics. The male energy has a different attitude. It looks at the durability of the shoe, the price,
           the power -- whether the shoe has a powerful shape so when you go walking on the streets your male
           ego is exhibited through it.
               Each thing that the male ego chooses has to be somehow a phallic symbol. The male ego chooses
           a car with great speed -- a phallic symbol, forceful. You will always find impotent people sitting in
           great phallic cars -- impotent people. The more impotent they become, the more powerful a car they
           choose. They have to compensate.
               The male ego always chooses that which will fulfill the male ego: I am powerful -- that is the
           basic consideration. The feminine ego chooses something which gives another sort of power -- I am
           beautiful. Hence they never agree. If your mother purchases something, your father is bound to
           disagree with it. They are not made to agree, their visions are different.
           It happened:

                Mulla Nasrudin tried many girls, but his mother would reject. So he came to me. He said,
           'Sir,.help me. Whomsoever I choose, my mother is so dominating and so aggressive and she
           immediately rejects. I am tired. Am I going to remain a bachelor my whole life?'
                I told him, 'You do one thing. You choose a woman considering your mother's likes and dislikes.
           Only then will she approve.'
                Finally he found one woman. He was very happy, he said, 'She walks like my mother, she wears
           clothes like my mother, chooses the same colours, cooks the food the same way. I hope she will like.'
                I said, 'You go.' And the mother liked, she liked tremendously and Mulla came but he was very
           sad. I said, 'Why are you sad?'
                He said, 'It seems I am going to remain a bachelor for my whole life.'
           I said, 'What happened? Your mother didn't like?'
                He said, 'She liked, she liked tremendously -- but my father? He rejects. Now it is impossible!
           My father says, "She is just like your mother. One is enough! And I'm fed up. Don't you get into the
           same trouble! What are you doing? Again the same mistake?"'

              These two polarities in you are the basis of your anxiety, and the whole effort of a Buddha, of a
           master, is to help you to go beyond this duality.
              This sutra is very significant. Before I read the sutra I would like to tell you a very symbolic
           parable. John Fowles has given this parable in his beautiful book, THE MAGUS.

           The Prince and the Magician.
               Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not
           believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in god. His father the king told
           him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and
           no sign of god, the prince believed his father.
               But then one day the prince ran away from his palace and came to the next land. There to his
           astonishment from every coast he saw islands and on these islands strange and troubling creatures
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat a man in full evening dress approached
           him along the shore.
           'Are those real islands?' asked the young prince.
                'Of course they are real islands,' said the man in evening dress.
           'And those strange and troubling creatures?'
           'They are all genuine and authentic princesses.'
           'Then god must also exist!' cried the prince.
                'I am god,' replied the man in evening dress with a bow.
                The young prince returned home as quickly as he could. 'So you are back,' said his father the
           king.
                'I have seen islands, I have seen princesses and I have seen god,' said the prince reproachfully.
                The king was unmoved. 'Neither real islands nor real princesses nor a real god exist.'
           'I saw them.'
           'Tell me how god was dressed.'
           'God was in full evening dress.'
           'Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?'
                The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled. 'That is the uniform of a magician.
           You have been deceived.'
                At this the prince returned to the next land and went to the same shore where once again he came
           upon the man in full evening dress.
                'My father the king has told me who you are,' said the prince indignantly. 'You deceived me last
           time but not again! Now I know that those are not real islands and those are not real princesses,
           because you are a magician.'
                The man on the shore smiled. 'It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there
           are many islands and many princesses, but you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them.'
                The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father he looked him in the eyes. 'Father,
           is it true that you are not a real king but only a magician?'
                The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves. 'Yes my son, I am only a magician.'
           'Then the man on the other shore was god?'
                'The man on the other shore was another magician,' said the king.
                'I must know the truth, the truth beyond magic,' cried the prince -- the truth beyond magic,
           remember these words.
           'There is no truth beyond magic,' said the king.
                The prince was full of sadness. He said, 'I will kill myself. If there is no truth beyond magic, then
           what is the point of going on living? I will kill myself, and I am saying to you, honestly.'
                The king, by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince.
           The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful
           princesses and then he said, 'Very well. I can bear it. If everything is magic and nothing is beyond
           magic, then I can accept death also.'
                'You see my son,' said the king. 'You too now begin to be a magician.'

               Now this parable is very very significant. It is very easy to change one magic for another. It is
           very easy to change one ideology for another. It is very easy to become a Christian from a Hindu, or
           a Hindu from a Christian. It is very easy to change from the world and move to a monastery, or from
           the monastery come back to the world and get married. It is very easy. But you are moving and
           changing nothing but magical worlds.
               Unless you realize who you are, unless you come to the point... who is this one who is deceived?
           Who is this consciousness upon which this whole play of illusion goes on working, enchanting,
           hypnotising? Who is this basic consciousness?
               Yes, a dream can be untrue, but the dreamer cannot be untrue. Even for the dream to exist, a real
           dreamer is needed.
               This is the conclusion of the whole eastern search for truth. Let it be clear to you. In the day you
           live in a world; you think it is real. Your thinking does not matter much, because in the night when
           you are asleep you forget this real world completely. Not only do you forget about it, you don't even
           remember that ever you knew about it. This whole reality simply disappears. In the dream world you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           start thinking dreams are real. The dream when it happens is as real as this world.
                Now, right now you are sitting before me. Is there any way to decide whether you are really
           listening to me or you are dreaming about me? Is there any criterion to decide? You may be simply
           asleep and dreaming. Or maybe I am asleep and dreaming about you, or maybe it is true. But how to
           decide?
                Just the feeling that it feels real cannot make it real, because in a dream it feels that the dream is
           real. So just your feeling cannot be enough guarantee for reality. Because you feel it looks real does
           not make any sense, because in a dream you feel absolutely that it is real. You have never doubted in
           your dream. Of course you doubt when you are out of your dream, but that is not the point.
                If someday this dream that you call your waking life is broken -- and it is broken one day, that is
           the meaning of becoming a Buddha -- when this waking dream is broken and suddenly one realizes
           that it all was just magic, illusion, a dream that you were living through, then it becomes unreal. Just
           as every morning you wake up and the whole night and the dream world disappears, and suddenly
           you realize -- there is nothing.
                In the night the dream looks real, in the day whatsoever you call reality looks real, but they are
           suspicious, because in the night the day reality disappears, in the day the night reality disappears.
           And you have never been able to compare them because you cannot have them both together.
           Comparison is possible only when you can have on one side a pile of dreams, on the other side a pile
           of your so-called reality. Then you can compare. But you cannot have them both together.
                When the dream is there reality is not there, your so-called reality I mean. When the reality is
           there, the dream is not there. How do you compare? There is no way to compare.
                So the eastern sages have been saying that there is no need. The only thing which is real, or about
           which you can be certain, is you; not what you see, but the seer. One can be certain that for a dream
           to exist -- the dream may be unreal or real, that is irrelevant -- but for a dream to exist, even if it is
           unreal a real seer is needed.
                In the night, YOU were real, the dream was unreal. In the morning, the dream is no more there,
           only YOU are there. Again another dream unfolds.
                When one becomes enlightened even that dream disappears, but you are again real, you are still
           real. There is only one reality and that is your inner consciousness, your witnessing soul. Everything
           else may be real, unreal, and there is no way to decide it.

               It is said about Chuang Tzu that he dreamed one night that he had become a butterfly, moving
           from one flower to another, rushing in the garden. In the morning when he awoke he was very
           puzzled. He was a great teacher, a great master, one of the greatest Buddhas ever born on the earth.
           His disciples gathered and they looked at him, and he was very sad. They said, 'Master, you have
           never been sad. What has happened?'
               He said, 'There is a problem to be solved for you: and the problem is that I, Chuang Tzu,
           dreamed in the night that I had become a butterfly.'
               They laughed, they said, 'Now the dream is gone, you are awake, why bother about it?'
               Chuang Tzu said, 'Listen to the whole thing. Now, a problem has arisen: if Chuang Tzu can
           dream, and in dream can become a butterfly, why can't it happen vice versa? A butterfly can go to
           sleep and dream that she has become a Chuang Tzu. Now who is who? Whether Chuang Tzu
           dreamed that he had become a butterfly or the butterfly is dreaming that she has become a Chuang
           Tzu. This is the problem that is making me very sad.'

               It is said that no one from his disciples could solve this conundrum, this koan. How to solve it?
           How to decide who is who? But if there was somebody deeply meditative, he would have answered.
           In fact, Chuang Tzu has posed the question just to know whether somebody has really become
           meditative among his disciples. Because then neither the butterfly is true, nor Chuang Tzu is true,
           but the one who is puzzled, the one who watched the butterfly, who is watching Chuang Tzu: the one
           who watched Chuang Tzu becoming a butterfly and who watched the butterfly becoming Chuang
           Tzu. That watchfulness, that awareness, that witness, that sakshin, that is the only reality.
               This is the meaning of the concept of maya -- that all that you see is unreal; only the seer is real.
           Go on moving towards the seer, otherwise you live in a magical world. You can change from one
           magic world to another. Man lives in lies; people call their lies their philosophies.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Freud has said somewhere, a very penetrating insight, that man cannot live without lies. As man
           is, Freud seems to be right. Man cannot live without lies. Man without lies is difficult, because then
           you will need much courage. Your lies make life smooth, they function like lubrication, they make
           you move more easily.
                Somebody believes in a god, that makes life a little smooth. You can throw your responsibility
           on somebody. Somebody believes that there is a world beyond. Maybe here we are miserable, but
           there paradise is waiting for us, ready to welcome us. It helps. Marx has said that religion is the
           opium of the people. Yes, he is also true in a way.
                All hopes are lies, all expectations of the future are lies. Yes, religion can be the opium, but so
           can communism -- anything that gives hope for the future, in this world or in another world;
           anything that helps you to sacrifice your present for something.that may happen, may not happen;
           anything that gives you a feeling of meaning; anything that gives you a feeling that you are a hero;
           anything that helps to feed your ego.
                Once the Maharani of Gwalior invited me to Gwalior for a series of talks. After the first talk she
           heard she was very much disturbed; a very hinduistic mind, a very dogmatic mind -- orthodox,
           old-fashioned. She was very much disturbed. She came to see me in the afternoon and she said, 'Sir,
           whatsoever you say appeals, but it is dangerous. And I have come with one request: please don't
           destroy people's faith.'
                I told her, 'If a faith can be destroyed, it is not worth. If a faith is a faith that can be destroyed, it
           is a faith in lies. A faith that is really a faith in truth is never afraid of being destroyed, it cannot be
           destroyed because truth cannot be destroyed.'
                Hindus are afraid, Christians are afraid, Mohammedans are afraid, Jainas are afraid, everybody is
           afraid -- don't destroy our faith! In their faith they are just hiding their lies, their magic worlds, their
           dreams, their expectations. They are very touchy. If you just poke into their ribs their faith is
           skin-deep, not even that. They immediately become irritated because their faith is not anything deep
           in their heart, it is just a belief in the mind.
                The Maharani of Gwalior said to me, 'I wanted to bring my son. He is very interested. Listening
           to you, he became fascinated -- but I prevented him. I have not brought him to you -- you are
           dangerous and he is young, and he can become too much impressed by you. So I have not brought
           him at all.'
                What is this fear? Are you clinging to lies? Only lies are afraid of being broken, only lies need
           protection. Truth in itself is self-evident. So if you have some faith which is just a lie, it makes you
           secure, I know; it helps to adjust with the world, I know -- but it is not going to help you ultimately.
           Sooner or later you will be awakened out of your dreaming and you will see your whole life has been
           a wastage.
                There is no need to cling to anything outside, because it is not yet in any way possible for you to
           decide what is true and what is false outside. Right now it will be better that you just move inwards
           to it and forget all about the outside. Don't be bothered about Hinduism, Christianity,
           Mohammedanism; don't be bothered about Vedas and Gitas and Korans. Just go in and let one be
           your goal: to know who is this consciousness, what is this consciousness, who I am.

               This sutra is a gradual indication of the inner journey. Listen to it.

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE GOOD MAN THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BAD MEN.


               Who is a bad man and who is a good man? What is the definition? The bad man is one who is
           inconsiderate of others. The bad man is one who uses others and has no respect for others. The bad
           man is one who thinks he is the center of the world and everybody is just to be used. Everything
           exists for him. The bad man is one who thinks that other persons are just means for his gratification.
               Keep this definition in mind because you ordinarily think the bad man is the criminal. The bad
           man may not be the criminal: all bad men are not criminals. All criminals are bad, but all bad men
           are not criminals. A few of them are judges, a few of them are very respectable people, a few of them
           are politicians, presidents and prime ministers, a few of them are even parading as saints.
               So when we will be talking about this sutra, remember the definition of a bad man -- Buddha
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           says a bad man is one who has no consideration for others. He simply thinks about himself only -- he
           thinks he is the center of existence and he feels the whole existence is made for him. He feels
           authorized to sacrifice everybody for his own self. He may not be bad ordinarily, but if this is the
           attitude, then he is a bad man.
                Who is a good man? Just the opposite of the bad man: one who is considerate of others, who
           gives as much respect to others as he gives to himself, and who does not pretend in any way that he
           is the center of the world, and who has come to feel that everybody is the center of the world. The
           world is one, but millions of centers exist. He is very respectful. He never uses the other as a means.
           The other is an end in itself. His reverence is tremendous.
                Watch, watch your own life. Are you using your wife just for your sexuality? You may not go to
           a prostitute. Ordinarily you think that a person who goes to a prostitute is bad -- that is a very gross
           definition. If you are using your wife just as a sexual object, you are as bad as anybody else. The
           only difference between you and the person who goes to a prostitute is that you have a permanent
           prostitute, that your marriage is a permanent arrangement and the other man makes arrangements
           day by day. You have a car in your garage and he uses a taxi.
                If you don't respect your wife, then your wife is a prostitute -- if you don't respect her as a person
           in her own right. What does it mean? It means if she is not feeling, if she is not in the mood to make
           love, you will not enforce her; you will not say, 'I am your husband and I have the right, legal right...'
           No, you will respect. You will respect her intention. Good if you both agree. If the other is not
           agreeing, you will not coerce in any way. You will not quote scriptures that a wife has to sacrifice to
           the husband, you will not say that a wife has to believe in the husband as if he is a god. All this is
           nonsense, all this is a male-oriented trip.
                If a wife is using her husband only as an economical thing, financial security, then it is
           prostitution. Why do you condemn a prostitute? Because she sells her body for money? But if a wife
           just thinks to make love to the husband because he has money and with him there is security and the
           future is not uncertain, and she goes on staying with him with no love, with no love in her heart, and
           she sleeps with this man, then she is prostituting herself. Then in her idea the husband is nothing but
           his money, his bank balance.
                When Buddha says who a good man is, he defines the good man as one who respects the other as
           much as he respects himself. Jesus says, 'Love the other as you love yourself -- that is the definition
           of a good man. His respect is tremendous, his reverence is tremendous.
                Even if a child is born in your house, you don't enforce your ideology on him. You may be a
           Mohammedan, you may be a Hindu. A child is born in your home; you don't enforce the child to
           become a Hindu or a Mohammedan. Because if you enforce the child, you are not respectful towards
           the child. You are just using an opportunity because the child is helpless, and the child has to depend
           on you. He has to follow you. If you take him to the temple or to the church he has to come, because
           it is necessary for his survival to say yes to you, whatsoever you say. If you are using this
           opportunity, then you are exploiting a helpless child. Maybe it is your child, but you are exploiting
           him.
                If the world consists of good people, children will be totally free, not enforced into any religion.
           There will not be Christians and Hindus and Mohammedans in the world: there will be only good
           people, growing people, and they will choose wherever they feel their heart fits. Maybe it is a
           temple, or it is a church or a mosque or a gurudwara. They will choose their religion, that is their
           freedom. They will choose their life, that is their freedom.
                You don't enforce. You love your child, but you don't give your knowledge to him. You love
           your child but you don't poison his being with your ambitions. You love the child but you don't
           possess him. You help the child not to grow according to you, but to grow according to his being, to
           be himself. Then you are a good person.

               IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE GOOD MAN THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BAD MEN...
           because if you feed bad men you feed badness; if you feed good men you feed goodness. Help the
           world to become better. Don't leave the world just the same as you have found it -- make it a little
           better, make it a little more beautiful. Let there be a few more songs, a few more celebrations, let
           there be a few less wars, a few less politicians, let there be more love, less hatred. That is the
           meaning when Buddha says FEED ONE GOOD MAN -- that is better, far better, than feeding one
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hundred bad men.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA THAN TO
              FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN.


               Now who is this whom Buddha calls one WHO FOLLOWS THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF
           BUDDHA, the panchashilas?
               The panchashilas are, the five precepts are: no possessiveness, no theft, no violence, no untruth,
           no sexuality. One who follows these five precepts of the Buddha, he is not just good, he is not just
           good to others, he is not just moral -- he is starting to be religious.
               That is the difference between the good man and the religious man. The good man lives through
           intellect: he thinks, contemplates, he tries to find out ways through thinking, and he comes to feel,
           'As I exist, as I have the right to exist, others also have the right to exist; as I would like to be free,
           others also like freedom.' This is his considered opinion. He thinks about it. He is not religious; he is
           a very very intelligent man.
               A Bertrand Russell is a good man, a moral man, but he is not religious. Whatsoever he comes to
           think good, he will do. But goodness comes as a logic, as a syllogism -- it is a conclusion of
           thinking.
               The religious man is not only good by thinking, he starts being good by being, he starts to grow
           into meditativeness. The religious man follows these five precepts. They are all negative: no theft, no
           untruth, no sexuality, no violence, no possessiveness. The religious man is negative, because he
           himself has not yet experienced what truth is. He has come to feel the truth through somebody else:
           he follows the Buddha, he lives close to a master, he has seen somebody becoming a flame, he has
           watched it happen somewhere -- but it has not happened in himself. He is attracted, he is convinced
           of the truth of it, but still it is from the outside -- he is a follower.
           That's why Buddha says:

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO OBSERVES THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA THAN TO
              FEED ONE THOUSAND GOOD MEN.


               His approach is still negative, because the positive truth can be attained only by you. Somebody
           may have attained. Watching him, being in deep rapport with him, you may feel that yes, there is
           truth -- but that is remaining outside of it, it is not your experience.
               You are thirsty and you see somebody who is coming from the river, his thirst gone. You can see
           from his face, from his eyes the glow, that his thirst is quenched. And you can feel that he must have
           found a source of water, and you follow him towards the river, but still you have not quenched your
           thirst.
               But better than to be just good. Then you are not moving just by your intellect, now you have
           started moving by your intuition. Now you are not just a head, you are moving, leaning towards the
           heart.
               To find a master is the only way to become a religious person. Without a master you can be at
           the most a moral person, a good person, but you cannot be a religious person. Because how to
           believe something which you have never tasted? How to believe something which you have never
           experienced? How to believe in something which you have never seen happen even to somebody
           else?
               When a Buddha passes in the world, many people are thrilled, their enthusiasm surges high, they
           start feeling that yes, the world does not end with the worldly things, there is something more to it.
           The very presence of a Buddha, his coolness, his silence, his overflowing bliss and compassion, his
           enlightened luminous being, just his vibe pulsates you towards a new life, opens doors of the
           unknown. But still, Buddha says, you are following; you are not yet capable of your own light. Your
           eyes are dazzled, but you have not attained to your own flame.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SROTAPANNA THAN TO FEED TEN THOUSAND OF THOSE WHO
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


               Then, Buddha says, it is better to feed a sannyasin -- srotapanna means a sannyasin, one who has
           entered into the river; one who is not standing on the bank and watching others swimming in the
           river, thrashing around, enjoying, celebrating in the coolness of the river.
               The religious man is standing on the bank. He can see that there are people in the river,
           tremendously happy, but he has not been yet able to gather courage to take a jump. He has still much
           involvement with the bank, in the world. He has much involvement in ordinary, mundane things --
           money, power, prestige, family, body, health -- a thousand and one things. He is not yet courageous
           enough to let go.
               Srotapanna means one who has surrendered, who has entered the stream. Srotapanna exactly
           means what I mean by sannyas: the courageous person who has taken the jump. It is almost an
           insane jump, because those who are standing on the bank will laugh, and they will say, 'What are you
           doing? Where are you going? You don't know swimming. First learn swimming, then enter.' But how
           can one learn swimming without entering in the river?
               Their logic is impeccable: they say first learn, first know, then go. But first learn on the bank,
           otherwise you are taking a risk. The river may be too deep for you and you may not be able to come
           back home. And who knows where it is going? And these people who are in the river, maybe they
           are all deluded, maybe they are all mad. Just look, the majority is standing on the bank, only a few
           people are in the river. The majority cannot be wrong.
               The people on the bank say, 'The few can be wrong, the mass cannot be wrong. There are only a
           few sannyasins in the world, very rare are Buddhas in the world -- maybe they are deluded. Don't be
           in a hurry. Maybe they are deceiving others -- who knows? Maybe they have some other hidden
           motives. Wait and watch. Don't do such a thing in a hurry.'
               But such things are done only in a hurry. If you wait and watch, waiting and watching becomes
           your mechanical habit. Then you simply go on waiting and watching. That's what many are doing for
           many lives.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SROTAPANNA THAN TO FEED TEN THOUSAND OF THOSE WHO
              OBSERVE THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


               Because the srotapanna will have some experience of the stream. He will have his own
           experience to depend upon, he will have some taste of the stream, he will have the cool experience of
           the stream -- that it relaxes, that worldly cares and anxieties disappear, that one stops struggling,
           anguish by and by moves distant and distant and goes far away. Ordinary cares, anxieties disappear.
           One becomes more collected and calm. But this can be known only by a srotapanna, a sannyasin.
               A sannyasin has taken an existential step. He has moved into the abyss. He has risked his life.
               Buddha says respect a man, feed a man who has risked his life. Maybe you are not yet
           courageous, but be close to people who are courageous. Courage is also infectious like everything
           else. Find people who have entered the stream, be with them, feed them, at least that will give you an
           idea what is happening to somebody. You may start dreaming, desiring it. Your hidden energies may
           start surfacing. You may start feeling the challenge of the unknown.
               The religious person is negative, the srotapanna is positive. The religious person follows
           somebody else, the srotapanna has entered into the stream of life, into the stream of consciousneSs.
           He has dropped his ego. Now he is not any more a follower of a Buddha. This has to be understood.
               Ordinarily if you are my sannyasins people will say that you are my followers. By becoming a
           sannyasin, in fact you have become part of me, you are no more a follower. Before you became a
           sannyasin you may have been a follower. Then you decided that following is not enough, that you
           are ready to go with me headlong, that you are ready to go with me wherever I am going.
               Now, once you are a sannyasin you are not a follower, you are part of the energy I am, you are
           just one with me. People ask me, 'If we don't take sannyas, will you not help me, will you not help
           us?' I say, 'I will help, that is not the problem, but you will not be able to take it, because you will go
           on remaining separate, you will go on remaining on the bank.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The river is ready to take you to the ocean, the invitation is already given to you, it is a standing
           invitation, but you are standing on the bank. What can the river do? It cannot snatch you away from
           the bank. And it wouldn't be good, even if it was possible, because you have to drop into the river on
           your own accord. Only then is it freedom. If you are snatched by the river, if I take you away
           forcibly, it cannot help you. It can destroy you, it cannot give you freedom. How can it give you
           ultimate freedom, moksha? From the very beginning it will be a bondage.
               So I will not take you like a flooded river takes people, I will have to wait. You will have to
           come to me, you will have to enter into the stream, you will have to become part of the stream.

               The srotapanna, or the sannyasin, is positive. Now, instead of non-truth, truth arises in him.
           Non-truth was just a preparation so that truth can enter. Instead of non-violence or no-violence, love,
           compassion arises in him. Non-violence was just a preparation for it. No violence, no untruth and
           other negatives are just medicinal.
               You are ill; the physician gives you a medicine to destroy the illness. When the illness is
           destroyed then health arises in you. Medicine never brings health, it only destroys the disease. Health
           cannot be brought by any medicine, there is no health-giving medicine. Health is your inner being --
           once the hindrances are removed your waters of life start flowing; once rocks are removed your
           fountain bursts forth.
               Health is something natural, no medicine can give it to you. Disease is something unnatural.
           Disease enters you from the outside; an outside medicine can take it away. Health is your innermost
           core, it is you. When you are naturally yourself you are healthy.
               The religious man is under treatment, he is hospitalised. The srotapanna has come back home --
           he is no more hospitalised, he is not under treatment, his health has started sprouting. His spring of
           life is flowing well. He is positive. His goal is not non-violence, his goal is not non-truth, is not
           untruth. His goal is not to delete something, eliminate something, his goal is not to destroy
           something; his goal is to help that which is already bubbling, radiating in his being.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE SKRIDAGAMIN THAN TO FEED ONE MILLION OF SROTAPANNAS.


                Buddha goes deeper and deeper. A skridagamin is one who will die and will come once again in
           life. His samadhi is just coming closer. Srotapanna is one who has jumped into the stream from the
           bank; a skridagamin is one whose river is coming very close to the ocean. He is getting ready to take
           the ultimate, the final jump. But he will come once more. Just that much difference.
                A srotapanna will be born seven times -- that much is the distance from the bank to the ocean. A
           sannyasin will be born seven times; a skridagamin once more, only once more. Then his accounts
           will be closed, then he will have passed through the final graduation from life, then this world is no
           more for him. But once more he will come, maybe for his post-graduation.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ANAGAMIN THAN TO FEED TEN MILLIONS OF SKRIDAGAMINS.


               The anagamin is one who will not come. Anagamin means one who has passed beyond the point
           of coming back... crossed the shore of this world. Once died, he will not be coming again to the
           world. He is just on the verge of the ocean, the river is just there -- just there on the threshold, ready
           to jump. He will not even look back.
               The skridagamin is looking back, hesitating a little, would like to come once more. This world is
           beautiful, it attracts. It has many celebrations, many flowers bloom here. The skridagamin is one for
           whom subtle desires are still lurking somewhere in the deep unconscious. Yes, he knows that one
           has to go, but a little more he would like to linger on this shore. Before he takes the final jump and
           disappears forever, he would like to taste this life once more, just as a farewell, to say good-bye.
               The anagamin is one who will not look back, he will not even say good-bye. He is totally
           finished. The skridagamin is perfectly certain that a better world is waiting, but still a little longing
           for the past.
               You always feel that -- a little nostalgia. When you are leaving a house where you have lived for
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           twenty years, have you watched? -- you look back. Or you leave a town you have lived in for twenty
           years, where you were born -- you look back. Even when the train leaves you go on looking out of
           the window, your eyes a little wet with memories, nostalgia, the past, the whole past. You have been
           here for so long. You loved here, you hated here, you had friends, you had enemies, you had many
           sorts of experiences here; you owe too much to this life. Yes, you are ready to go, you are already in
           the train, but still eyes of longing look backwards.
               The skridagamin will come once, the anagamin will not come. His departure is total, perfect. He
           will not look back, he has no nostalgia. The future that is happening, that is going to happen, is far
           more beautiful; this world simply has disappeared from his consciousness. The golden peaks of god
           are waiting for him, the oceanic infinity is waiting for him. He does not hanker any more for the
           bounded existence of a river.
               Yes, there were many flowers on the bank and beautiful trees and shadows and many dreams, but
           that is gone. Gone is gone.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ANAGAMIN THAN TO FEED TEN MILLIONS OF SKRIDAGAMINS. IT
              IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ARHAT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF ANAGAMINS.


               The arhat is one who has dropped into the ocean, disappeared. The anagamin is one who is just
           on the verge of disappearing, just on the boundary line -- one step more and he will become an arhat.
           Just a little distance and he will become an arhat -- one drop more, just the last straw is needed on
           the back of the camel and the camel will collapse.
               The anagamin is boiling at ninety-nine degrees; one degree more... The arhat is one who has
           crossed one hundred degrees and evaporated. Arhat is one who has evaporated.

              BUDDHA SAYS:
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE ARHAT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF
              ANAGAMINS.


               The arhat is one whose ego is lost, who has become part of the whole. He no more exists as
           himself, now he exists as the universe, as the whole. In fact that is the meaning of the word 'holy':
           one who has become whole. Arhat is holy. Not holy in the sense Christians use the word 'saint' -- no,
           not in that sense.
               The christian word 'saint' is very ugly. It comes from a root 'sanctus': sanctioned by the church.
           That is ugly -- how can you sanction? Who is there to sanction? No government can issue certificates
           for saints -- even the government that exists in the Vatican, even the Pope has no authority. A saint
           cannot be certified, but the christian word 'saint' means one who is certified by the Pope.
               Arhat does not mean saint in that way. Arhat means one who has lost himself in the whole and
           has become holy.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE PRATYAK BUDDHA THAN TO FEED ONE BILLION OF ARHATS.


               Then who is this pratyak Buddha?
               Arhat is one who has followed Buddhas and arrived home. Pratyak Buddha is one who has never
           been a disciple to anybody, who has come searching alone -- his journey has been absolutely alone,
           his path has been absolutely alone. A pratyak Buddha is a rare phenomenon. There are millions of
           arhats down the centuries, but very far and few in between are pratyak Buddhas, who have struggled
           absolutely alone. And of course, they are needed, otherwise arhats will not be possible.
               Pratyak Buddhas are needed so that others can follow them; they are the pioneers, they are the
           breakthroughs, they create the path.
               Remember it: pratyak Buddha is one who moves in the jungle of life for the first time and creates
           a path by his very movement. Then others can follow. Those others will reach to the same point, to
           the same goal, but they will be arhats. They have not made the path, they are not the path-finders,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they are not the path-builders. More respect is needed to be given to a pratyak Buddha because no
           path was there: he created the path.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE OF THE BUDDHAS EITHER OF THE PRESENT OR OF THE PAST
              OR OF THE FUTURE THAN TO FEED TEN BILLIONS OF PRATYAK BUDDHAS.


               Then what is the difference between a pratyak Buddha and a Buddha?
               A pratyak Buddha is one who creates the path and never bothers if anyone is following him or
           not. He has no compassion. He is a lonely traveller and he has found alone, so he thinks everybody
           can find when he has found. What is the point of going and telling people? He is not a master.
               A pratyak Buddha makes the path -- not for others, remember. He is just moving and the path is
           created by his movement... a small footpath in the jungle. Because he has moved, others follow him;
           that is for them -- he never cares. He is a lonely traveller, and he thinks what can happen to him can
           happen to others.
               When Buddha himself became enlightened these two alternatives were before him: whether to
           become a Buddha or a pratyak Buddha. For seven days he remained quiet: there was every
           possibility he may have chosen to be a pratyak Buddha. Then the whole humanity would have
           missed something of tremendous value.
               It is said that Brahma came with all his gods from heaven -- it is a beautiful parable. They bowed
           down at the feet of Buddha and they prayed to him: 'Open your eyes and teach us whatsoever you
           have found.' But Buddha said, 'What is the point? If I can find, others can also find.' He was leaning
           towards becoming a pratyak Buddha. His logic was perfect: if I can find, then why not others? 'And,'
           he said, 'even if I teach, those who want to listen, only they will listen to me. Those who are ready to
           go, only they will go with me. They can go without me. And those who are not ready to go, they
           won't listen and they will not go even if I shout from the housetops. So why bother?'
               The gods discussed between themselves what to do, how to convince this man. A great
           opportunity has happened in the universe and if he becomes a pratyak Buddha, then again the
           message will be lost. Of course, a few people will again find the way, but there is a possibility to
           make a superhighway. And a footpath can disappear very soon; the trees can overrun it again. It has
           to be prepared in such a way that for centuries to come people can follow, and the trees and the
           jungle will not destroy it, will not cover it again. They discussed, they argued amongst themselves,
           then they found an argument.
               They came to Buddha again and they said, 'You have to teach, because we watched, we looked
           all around the world. Yes, you are right, there are a few people who will immediately follow you.
           And we know that those are the people, even if you don't say, they will find -- a little later, maybe a
           few more steps, but they will find; we are certain about it, they are already on their search. So maybe
           your teaching will bring the goal sooner, but nothing much more is going to happen -- you are right.
               'And there are people -- millions we know, we have seen, we have looked into the hearts of
           humanity -- who will not listen, who are deaf to any person like you. So, talking to them is not of any
           meaning. But we have seen a few people who are just in between the two, just lurking on the
           boundary. They will not go if you don't speak. And if you speak they will listen and they will gather
           courage. So just please, for those few people.'
               And Buddha could not argue, he had to concede, and he became a Buddha and dropped the idea
           of becoming a pratyak Buddha.
               Buddha is one who has found his path; not only that -- he created that path in such a way that
           many more can follow it... who has tremendous compassion for others, for all those struggling
           human beings who are groping in the dark.

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE OF THE BUDDHAS THEN TO FEED TEN BILLIONS OF PRATYAK
              BUDDHAS.
              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO IS ABOVE KNOWLEDGE, ONESIDEDNESS, DISCIPLINE, AND
              ENLIGHTENMENT THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BILLIONS OF BUDDHAS OF PAST,
              PRESENT OR FUTURE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And then he comes to the last point, the zero point -- even beyond a Buddha. As far as human
           intellect can go, Buddha seems to be the last point. That's why we call Gautam Siddhartha 'the
           Buddha', because that is as far as language can go. But there is a point beyond language, there is a
           point which is not expressible -- beyond symbols, ineffable: that Buddha calls going beyond even
           being a Buddha.
               Then one is not even in any way thinking that he is enlightened, then one has no discipline, then
           one has no character. Then one is not -- one is simply empty space.
               Because in a Buddha at least a little desire to help others exists, a compassion for others. But that
           too will be a bondage. That means the Buddha still thinks, 'Others are and I am, and I can help
           others.' Still the last subtle boundary of 'I' and 'you', of 'me' and 'thou' exists.
               The last point, Buddha says, is a zero point where all knowledge disappears, all experience
           disappears -- even the experience of nirvana -- because there is nobody to experience it. It is difficult
           to say anything about it, only negative descriptions are possible.
               You can find this point in all the religions. They have different words for it. Jews, Christians,
           Mohammedans, Hindus, call this point god. That is their way of saying 'the beyond'. But the
           buddhist way seems to be far superior. Jainas, Sankhyas, Yogins, call this state moksha, absolute
           freedom. Or others call it kaivalya, absolute aloneness. But still, all these words confine it. Buddha
           has not used any word, he simply says:

              IT IS BETTER TO FEED ONE WHO IS ABOVE KNOWLEDGE, ABOVE ONESIDEDNESS, ABOVE
              DISCIPLINE, ABOVE ENLIGHTENMENT, THAN TO FEED ONE HUNDRED BILLIONS OF
              BUDDHAS OF THE PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE.


               These are the possibilities within you. Ordinarily you exist as a bad man, so you are existing on
           the minimum, on the lowest rung. Try to become a good man. It is better than to be bad, but don't
           think it is the goal -- it is all comparative, it is all relative.
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin was in love with a woman. He went to the girl's father and requested that he
           should be allowed to have his daughter's hand. The father was completely willing, he said, 'I'm
           absolutely happy, I have nothing to say against it, but my wife will not agree. She thinks with your
           long hippie-like hair, with your poetic style of life, with your unisex dress, she thinks you look
           effeminate.'
               Mulla brooded over it and he said, 'She is right -- in comparison to her.'

               Everything is comparative. The good man is good in comparison to the bad, but in comparison to
           the religious man, he is just like the bad man. The sannyasin is good in comparison to the religious
           man, but how to compare him with the skridagamin? -- and so on and so forth.
               The more you travel on the inner path, the more higher peaks become available to you. Never
           rest content unless you have reached to the very last, the uttermost. And the uttermost is beyondness
           -- where nothing exists or only pure existence remains.
               That purity is the goal and in that purity you become one. Until that purity is achieved, somehow
           duality goes on -- first in a gross way, then in a subtle way, then in a very very subtle way. First in
           the conscious, then in the unconscious, but it goes on; then even in the superconscious it persists -- it
           goes on making shadows.
               So remember it, the goal is to disappear completely. The goal is to transcend all duality, all
           definition. The goal is to become one with the whole.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
                                                       Chapter #10
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                       Chapter title: Thus come, thus gone
           30 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608300
              ShortTitle: TRANS110
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins



              The first question is from Anand Nirgrantha.


              YOU SAY THAT BUDDHA WOULD NOT SPEAK OF GOD BECAUSE IT CANNOT BE PROVEN.
              YET IN THE NEXT BREATH HE SPEAKS OF OTHER LIVES, AND REINCARNATION. HOW DOES
              THIS FIT INTO SCIENTIFIC FACT?
              A BUDDHA SAYS THERE IS NO SOUL. WHAT IS IT THAT REMAINS AFTER DEATH? WHAT IS
              REINCARNATION? I VAGUELY UNDERSTAND THAT IT CAN BE THE FORMLESS THAT
              REMAINS, BUT CAN THAT HAVE AN INDIVIDUAL ENTITY? THE SAME WAVE IS NOT REBORN.


               THE QUESTION IS VERY SIGNIFICANT. It is one of the most fundamental contributions of
           Buddha to human consciousness -- the idea of no-self. It is very complex. You will have to be very
           silently alert to understand it, because it goes against all the patterns that you have been conditioned
           to.
               First a few analogies, so you have a certain idea what he means by no-self. Your body is a bag of
           skin. The skin defines your body; it defines where you and the world starts. It is a demarcation
           around you. It protects you from the world, it divides you from the world, and it allows you only
           certain apertures to enter into the world or let the world enter in you. If there is no skin, you will not
           be able to exist. You will be losing your boundaries with all that surrounds you. But you are not your
           skin. And skin goes on changing.
               It is just like the snake who goes on getting out of his old skin again and again. You also get out
           of your skin again and again many times. If you ask the physiologists, they will say, 'If a man is
           going to live seventy years, then nearly ten times he will change his skin completely.' But the process
           is very slow, so you never become aware. Such a tiny part changes every moment that you cannot
           feel it; your feeling is not so subtle. The change is very subtle. The skin goes on changing and still
           you go on thinking to yourself that this is your body, the same body. It is not the same body, it is a
           continuum.
               When you were in your mother's womb, the first day you were just a small cell, invisible to the
           naked eye. That was your skin that time, that was your body. Then you started growing. After nine
           months you were born -- then you had a totally different body. If suddenly you come across yourself
           just one day old, just born, you will not be able to recognize that this is you. You have changed so
           much. But still you think you are the same. In a way you are the same because you are the same
           continuity. In a way you are not the same because you have been continuously changing.
               In the same way, just like the skin, is the ego. The skin holds your body into a pattern, into a
           definition, into a limit. The ego holds the contents of your mind into a limit. The ego is the inner skin
           so that you know who you are; otherwise you will be lost -- you will not know who is who; who is
           me and who is the other.
               The idea of self, I, ego, gives you a definition, a utilitarian definition. It makes you clearly
           separate from others. But that too is a skin, a very subtle skin, that holds all the contents of your
           mind -- your memory, your past, your desires, your plans, your future, your present, your love, your
           hate, anger, sadness, happiness -- it holds all that in a bag. But you are not that ego either. Because
           that too goes on changing and that changes more than the bodily skin. Each moment it is changing.
               Buddha uses the analogy of a flame. A lamp is lighted: you see the flame, but it is continuously
           changing, it is never the same. By the morning when you put the light off, you don't put the same
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           flame off. It has been continuously changing the whole night.
                Every single moment the flame is disappearing in the smoke and the new flame is replacing it.
           But the replacement is so fast that you cannot see the absence -- that one flame has gone, another has
           come. That is gone, another has come. The movement is so fast that you cannot see the gap between
           the two. Otherwise there is only a continuity; it is not the same flame. But still, in a way, it is the
           same flame because it is the continuity of the same flame. It is born out of the same flame.
                Just as you were born out of.your parents -- you are a continuity. You are not the same. You are
           not your father, you are not your mother -- but still you are your father and your mother, because you
           continue the same tradition, the same line, the same heritage.
                Buddha says the ego is a continuity, it is not a substance -- continuity like a flame, continuity like
           a river, continuity like the body.
                The problem arises... we can concede to it that okay, it may be so: if a person dies at death and
           everything disappears, then perfectly true -- maybe it is just a flame. But Buddha says a person is
           reborn -- then the problem arises. Then who is reborn?
                Then again, a few analogies. Have you seen a big house on fire, or a jungle on fire? If you watch
           you will come to see a phenomenon. Simply a flame jumps from one tree and reaches to another tree.
           It has no substance in it, it is just a flame. It has no material in it, it is just pure energy, a quanta of
           energy, a certain quantity of energy -- it jumps from one tree and reaches to the other and the other is
           on fire.
                Or, you can bring an unlighted torch close to a lighted torch? What happens? The flame from the
           lighted torch jumps to the unlighted torch. It is a quantum leap, it is a jump. The pure flame jumps
           towards the other torch and starts another continuity.
                Or, right now you are listening to me. If you put a radio on, suddenly you will start listening to a
           certain broadcast from some station that is passing right now. Just a receiver set is needed. Once a
           receiver set is there, something that is being broadcast from London or from Moscow or Peking, you
           can catch hold of it.
                No substance is coming, just pure thought waves jumping from Peking to Poona... just thought
           waves, nothing substantial. You cannot hold them in your hand, you cannot see them, but they are
           there because your radio set catches them, or your television catches them.
                Buddha says when a person dies, his whole life's accumulated desires, his whole life's
           accumulated memories, his whole life's sanskaras, karmas, jump like energy waves into a new
           womb. It is a jump. The exact word is in physics: they call it 'quantum leap' -- 'a leap of pure energy
           without any substance in it'.
                Buddha is the first quantum physicist. Einstein followed him after twenty-five centuries, but they
           both speak the same language. And I still say that Buddha is scientific. His language is of modern
           physics; he came twenty-five centuries before his time.
                When a person dies, the body disappears, the material part disappears, but the immaterial part,
           the mind part, is a vibration. That vibration is released, broadcast. Now, wherever a right womb is
           ready for this vibe, it will enter into the womb.
                There is no self going, there is nobody going, there is no ego going. There is no need for
           anything substantial to go, it is just a push of energy. The emphasis is that it is again the same bag of
           the ego jumping. One house has become unlivable, one body is no more possible to live with. The
           old desire, the lust for life -- the Buddha's term is tanha, lust for life -- is alive, burning. That very
           desire takes a jump.
                Now, listen to modern physics. They say there is no matter. You see this very substantial wall
           behind me? You cannot pass through it; if you try you will be hurt. But modern physics says it is
           nothing, nothing substantial. It is simply pure energy moving with such tremendous spped that the
           very movement creates the falseness, the illusion, the appearance of substance.
                You have sometimes watched a fan moving fast -- then you cannot see the spades. There are only
           three spades, but they are moving so fast it looks like a circle, like a plate; you cannot see the gaps
           between two spades. If a fan is moved with the same velocity as the electrons are moving -- the
           velocity is tremendous -- then you can sit on the fan and you will not fall from it. You can sit as I am
           sitting on the chair and you will not feel any movement, because the movement is so fast.
                Exactly the same is happening in this chair and the same is happening underneath you in the
           floor. It is not a marble floor, that is only an appearance, but the energy particles are moving so fast
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that their very movement, their fastness, creates the illusion of substance. Substance exists not, only
           pure energy exists. Modern science says matter exists not, only immaterial energy exists.
                Hence I say Buddha is very scientific. He does not talk about god, but he talks about immaterial
           no-self. Just as modern science has taken the idea of substance out of its metaphysics, Buddha took
           the idea of self out of his metaphysics. Self and substance are correlates. It is difficult to believe that
           the wall is non-substantial and in the same way it is difficult to believe that no self exists in you.
                Now, a few things more which will make it more clear. I cannot say that you will understand it,
           but it will make it more clear.
                You walk, you are walking, you have gone for a morning walk. The very language -- that we say
           'you are walking' -- creates a problem; in our very language is the problem. The moment we say
           somebody is walking, we assume that somebody is there who is walking -- the walker. We ask, how
           is walking possible if there is no walker?
                Buddha says there is no walker, only walking. Life does not consist of things. Buddha says life
           consists of events. And that is exactly what modern science is saying: there are only processes, not
           things -- events.
                Even to say that life exists is not right. Only thousands and thousands of living processes exist.
           Life is just an idea. There is nothing like life.
                In the sky one day you see black clouds have gathered and there is thunder and lightning. When
           there is lightning do you ask, 'Is there something behind lightning? Who is lightning? What is
           lightning?' You will say, 'Lightning is simply lightning -- there is nobody behind it; it is just a
           process. It is not that there is something which is lightning. It is simply lightning.'
                The duality is brought by the language. You are walking -- Buddha says there is only walking.
           You are thinking -- Buddha says there is only thinking, no thinker. Thinker is just created by the
           language. Because we use a language which is based in duality, it divides everything into duality.
                While you are thinking, there is a cluster of thoughts, all right -- but there is no thinker. If you
           really want to understand it you will have to meditate deeply and come to a point where thinking
           disappears. The moment thinking disappears you will be surprised -- the thinker is also gone. With
           thinking, the thinker also disappears. It was just an appearance of moving thoughts.
                You see a river. Does a river really exist, or is it just a movement? If you take the movement out,
           will there be a river? Once the movement is taken out the river will disappear. It is not that the river
           is moving; the river is nothing but rivering.
                Language creates the difficulty. Maybe because of this particular structure in certain languages,
           Buddha became important and significant and became rooted only in Japan, China, Burma -- because
           they have a totally different language. It is very significant to understand why he became so
           important in the chinese mind, why China could understand him and India could not. China has a
           different language which fits with buddhist ideology absolutely. The chinese language does not
           divide in two. In the chinese language, or in Korean, or in Japanese or Burmese, a totally different
           structure exists than in Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Greek, Latin, French, German -- a totally different
           structure.
                When for the first time the Bible was being translated into Burmese there was much difficulty,
           because a few sentences could not be translated at all. The moment you translate, their whole
           meaning is lost. For example, a simple sentence, 'God is'; you cannot translate it into Burmese. If you
           translate it, it becomes 'God becomes'. 'God is' cannot be translated because there is no equivalent
           term for 'is', because 'is' shows staticness.
                We can say 'the tree is', but in Burmese you have to say 'the tree is becoming', not 'is'. There is no
           equivalent for 'is'. The tree 'becomes'. By the time you say 'the tree is', it is no more the same, so why
           do you say 'is'? 'Is' gives a staticness. It is a riverlike phenomenon -- 'tree is becoming'. I have to say
           'tree is becoming' but in Burmese it will be simply 'tree becoming', the 'is' will not be there. 'The river
           is' -- if you want to translate -- will be 'river moving'. 'River rivering' will be the exact translation in
           Burmese.
                But to say 'God becoming' is very difficult, because Christians cannot say that. God is perfect, he
           cannot become. He is not a process, he has no growth possibility -- he has already arrived. He is the
           absolute -- what do you mean by 'becoming'? Becoming is possible if somebody is imperfect. God is
           perfect, he cannot become. So how to translate it? Very difficult.
                But Buddha immediately penetrated the burmese, chinese, japanese, korean mind; immediately
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           penetrated. The very structure of the language made it possible; they could understand Buddha very
           easily.
                In life there are only events. Eating is there but there is no eater. Just watch eating. Is there really
           an eater? You feel hungry, right -- hunger is there, but there is nobody who is hungry. Then you eat
           -- eating is there, but there is nobody who is an eater. Then hunger is satisfied, then you feel satiation
           -- this satisfaction is there but there is nobody who is satisfied.
                Buddha says life consists of events. Life means living. Life is not a noun, it is a verb. And
           everything is a verb. Watch and you will be able to see: everything is becoming, nothing is static.
                Eddington has said that in the english language there are a few words that are absolutely false:
           for example, rest. Nothing is ever in rest, the very word is wrong, because there is no equivalent in
           reality. Have you ever.seen anything at rest? Even when you are at rest, it is resting, it is not rest. It
           is a process: something is happening, you are still breathing.
                Lying down, relaxing -- but it is not rest; many things, a thousand things are happening. Have
           you ever seen anything at rest? It is impossible, rest does not exist. Even when a person is dead, then
           the body continues its processes.
                You may not have heard -- sometimes it happens: Mohammedans, Christians, those people who
           bury their dead in the ground, sometimes come to know that the person is dead but his beard has
           grown, his hairs have become longer, his nails have grown. The person is dead!
                Now this is very weird. If you shave a man and put him in the grave and after six months you
           open the grave and he has a beard... now what to say, whether he is alive or dead? And you will be
           very much afraid; you will escape home, and that face will haunt you in the night. What has
           happened? If the man is dead then how come his beard has grown? And if his beard can grow, is he
           really dead or not -- just pretending?
                Life is millions of processes. Even when your ego disappears from this base, takes off from this
           airport, and lands in some other womb, many processes continue still. All processes don't stop,
           because there are many processes which have nothing to do with your ego; nothing to do with your
           ego -- your ego can go and they will continue. Hairs growing, nails growing, have nothing to do....
                And, immediately, the moment your ego leaves, millions of small microbes will become alive
           and they will start working and functioning. You will be almost like a marketplace. You will be fully
           alive in that way. Much will be happening: many microbes running, rushing here and there, making
           love, marriages, dying, and everything will be happening. The moment you leave the body, your
           body becomes a landing ground for many other people who were waiting and who were saying,
           'Please leave! Let us come in.'
                Life is a continuous process -- not only process but processes, a continuity.
                Buddha says the very idea of self is because of language. You feel hungry: in language we say 'I
           am hungry'. Language creates the idea of I. How to say it? To be exactly right you can only say
           'hunger'. 'I am hungry' is bringing something absolutely false in it. 'Hunger' -- that's enough.
                Watch your processes and you will feel it. When you feel hungry today, just watch it. Is there
           really somebody who is hungry or is there just hunger? And is it just a language pattern that gives it
           a twist and divides it in two, and you start feeling 'I am hungry'?
                Buddhism is the first religion which brought this message to the world -- that your religions, your
           philosophies, are more grounded in your linguistic patterns than in anything else. And if you can
           understand your language better, you will be able to understand your inner processes better. He was
           the first linguist, and his insight is tremendously meaningful.

           YOU SAY THAT BUDDHA WOULD NOT SPEAK OF GOD BECAUSE IT CANNOT BE
           PROVEN.

               Yes, he would not speak about god because it cannot be proven and he would not speak about
           god because the god that you think exists, exists not. Your god is again the same old fallacy of self.
           You think you have a self, so the whole universe must have a self. Because you have a self, the
           whole universe must have a supreme self. That supreme self is god.
               Buddha says you don't have any self. The universe is, but there is no supreme self in it... millions
           of processes, but no supreme self. There is no center to it; it is all circumference.
               Very difficult to catch hold of it -- unless you meditate. That's why Buddha never goes into
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           metaphysical discussions; he says, 'Meditate.' Because in meditation these things become so clear.
           When thinking stops, suddenly you see the thinker has disappeared. It was a shadow. And when the
           thinker disappears, how can you say, how can you feel 'I am'? There is no 'I' left, you are pure space.
           That's what Buddha calls anatta, the pure space of no self. It is a tremendous experience.

           ... YET IN THE NEXT BREATH HE SPEAKS OF OTHER LIVES AND REINCARNATION.

               He speaks, and Buddhists have always been in trouble because of it. Buddha is so scientific that
           he cannot twist the fact. If he was not such a scientific man, if he was just a metaphysician, either he
           would have accepted self to make his whole philosophy look consistent, or he would have dropped
           the idea of reincarnation, because both things look contradictory. But he is such a scientist that he
           will not enforce anything from his mind on reality. He simply stated the fact. If it is contradictory, he
           says, 'Maybe it is contradictory, but it is so.'
               This is what is happening in modern science. Just fifty years ago, when scientists entered into the
           innermost core of matter, they were very puzzled, because the electrons were behaving in a very
           illogical way.
               Now you cannot force electrons to be logical, you cannot send them to the university to learn
           Aristotle and you cannot tell them, 'You are behaving illogically, so behave! this is not correct.' You
           cannot say that. If they are behaving illogically, they are behaving illogical!y -- you have to
           understand it, that's all; nothing can be done.
               And the illogic was REALLY great, it was no ordinary matter. Sometimes the same electron
           would behave like a wave and sometimes it would behave like a quanta, like a particle. Now the two
           things are impossible, they are non-euclidian and non-aristotelean -- as if these electrons don't
           believe in Euclid and Aristotle. What are they doing? Have they never heard of Euclid?
               It is simply geometry, we have all learned in school -- that a dot cannot be a line and a line
           cannot be a dot. A line is many dots put together in sequence, so a single dot cannot behave like a
           line, otherwise the whole geometry will be disturbed. You put a dot and you go to the bathroom, you
           come back and it has become a line! Then what will you do?
               But this is exactly what is happening in the innermost core of matter. You go on watching and it
           was looking like a dot and suddenly it is a line. And the jump is such that you don't see it even
           growing into a line.
               In one instant of time it is a dot, in another instant of time it is a line -- not even growing into a
           line, just a jump... so sudden, so illogical. If it grows slowly, we can understand that too: maybe it is
           like a seed, sprouting and becoming a tree. Okay, we can understand. In one moment of time it is a
           seed, in another moment of time it grows, by and by and by and by, gradually, and becomes a tree.
           We can understand.
               If a dot becomes a line slowly, we will be able to understand. But suddenly? And not only
           suddenly, even more illogical is this: that two observers in a single moment of time, simultaneously
           can observe -- one can observe it as a dot and another can observe it as a line. Now what to do? One
           observer seeing it as a seed and another seeing it as a tree? In a single moment of time.
               The whole of western science has grown out of greek logic. These electrons were rebelling
           against Aristotle, and there was no way to put them right. Scientists tried in many ways, because
           mind tends to cling to its own concepts, patterns. It is not so easy to relax and surrender to these
           stupid electrons.
               For almost two, three decades, scientists were puzzled and they were trying to find out some way
           to explain it, or at least to explain it away, why it is happening. But finally they had to concede to the
           fact and they accepted it. Hence the theory of quantum physics.
               Quanta: the very word was invented; it had never existed before because never has man come
           across such an illogical phenomenon. Quanta means a dot and line together, simultaneously. Quanta
           means a particle and a wave together, simultaneously. We had to find a name for something which
           was absolutely illogical and we had no symbol for it.
               And when people ask scientists, 'How do you explain it? -- it is illogical,' they say,'It is illogical
           but it is so and we cannot do anything. We have to listen to reality. If reality is illogical, then
           something must be wrong with our logic, that's all. We can change the logic, but we cannot change
           the reality.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's what happened when Buddha came into the world. He entered into the innermost core of
           your so-called self and he was also puzzled -- what to do? There is no self, and there is reincarnation.
           Now if he was not really such a great scientist, and if he was just an ordinary philosopher, then he
           would have forgotten; he would not have talked about this fact at all -- he would have chosen. The
           choice is simple: either you say there is no reincarnation because there is no self....
               That's what people who don't believe in the soul have always been saying. The atheists,
           charvakas, they have always been saying that there is no self -- when you die you simply die,
           nothing survives, and there is no rebirth. That's simple, logical. Or there are eternalists, theists,
           people who believe in the self. They say that you die but only the body dies; your self, your center
           survives. Your soul, your atma survives; it is eternal. That too is logical.
               Buddha is very illogical and he is illogical because his insistence not to go against reality is
           absolute. His emphasis is this: that whatsoever reality reveals we have to listen to it. We are not here
           to impose our own ideologies on it. Who are we?
               If this is the fact, then something is wrong in our logic, in our language, in our very way of
           thinking. We have to change that rather than avoiding reality, escaping reality. So he seems to be the
           most absurd thinker in the world, because this is one of the most absurd statements -- that you don't
           exist but you are reborn.
               You can see it clearly, it is absurd. If you don't exist how can you be reborn? And he says, 'That I
           don't know. You don't exist and you are reborn -- that much I know, that I have come to see, that I
           have seen. And if you want to see it, meditate. Go deeper into your being as I have gone into my
           being and you will also be puzzled, very much confused. But by and by you will settle with the
           reality. And then you will change your whole language.'
               Buddha changed the whole language, the whole philosophical style. There has never been such
           an original man before. It was almost impossible to understand him because he was not speaking the
           same language as you speak, and he was bringing some new visions into the world.
               The person who does not believe in the soul is very old, nothing new in it. Marx is not saying
           anything new. For thousands of years there have been atheists who have denied soul, who have
           denied rebirth. Neither Mahavir nor Patanjali are saying anything new, because there have always
           been people who have believed in the soul and reincarnation.
               Buddha is bringing a real vision, very original. He says: there is no soul and yet there is
           reincarnation. It is a quantum jump.
               So when I say that he is a scientist, I mean it. And if you understand the language of modern
           physics, you will be able to understand Buddha. In fact, to understand Buddha without understanding
           modern physics is impossible. For the first time, modern physics has provided a parallel. Heisenberg,
           Planck, and Einstein, they have provided a parallel. Matter has disappeared; there is only energy,
           with no self in it, no substance in it. And what Buddha says is the same: anatta, no self.

           HOW DOES THIS FIT INTO SCIENTIFIC FACT?

               It fits perfectly. In fact, when Nirgrantha is asking how it fits into scientific fact, his idea of
           science is of the nineteenth century; he is not aware of modern science, he is not aware of the latest
           developments. His idea of science is very orthodox, very old, out of date. Science has changed
           tremendously.
               If Newton comes back, he will not be able to understand science at all, because science has
           changed so fast, and its insight has become so puzzling that scientists are speaking like
           metaphysicians, mystics. They are not talking now like mathematicians, they are talking like mystics
           and poets.

           I VAGUELY UNDERSTAND THAT IT CAN BE THE FORMLESS THAT REMAINS.

               No, you will not be able to understand it intellectually, because your formless will again be of a
           certain form. How can you conceive the formless? The word is okay, but the moment you try to
           conceive the formless, immediately it starts taking a form -- because only form can be conceived; the
           formless cannot be conceived. It is an empty word.
               You can go on calling god formless, but you cannot conceive it. And whenever even people like
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Shankara, who talk about a formless god, go to worship, they go to worship before a form. Then they
           start singing Bhaj Govindam Muramatee. Then again there is a statue, a ritual, a god, a goddess, a
           form.
               Even a man like Shankara goes on talking about the formless, the attributeless -- the nirguna --
           but his worship, his prayer, is of the saguna -- with attribute, with form -- because it is impossible to
           conceive the formless. Conception is only of the form; or whatsoever you can conceive, by the very
           possibility of its being conceived, it will take a form. So it is just a vague idea.
               Nirgrantha says, I VAGUELY UNDERSTAND THAT IT CAN BE THE FORMLESS THAT
           REMAINS.
               No, it is not a question of vaguely comprehending. Intellectually there is no way. The way is
           only meditative, existential. You don't figure it out through intellect, you simply move more into
           meditation, open a new dimension of vision. Nobody has emphasized meditation as much as Buddha.
           His whole method is meditation.
               And what is meditation? Meditation is by and by becoming thoughtless; not falling into sleep --
           remaining alert and yet becoming thoughtless. Once thoughts disappear, everything is crystal clear --
           that the thinker was just a by-product of moving thoughts. It was a bundle of thoughts and nothing
           else. It had no separate existence.
               Then you walk, but the walker is no more there; then you eat, but the eater is no more there; then
           you sleep, but the sleeper is no more there; then you live, but there is nobody who is living; then you
           die, and there is nobody who is dying.
               You are just a pure space in which millions of processes exist, in which life flows with all its
           processes and you remain uncorrupted by it. You are like an open sky... clouds come and go.
               One of the most beautiful names given to Buddha is tathagata. It means 'thus came, thus gone'.
           There was no one who came and there was no one who has gone -- just coming and going. That is
           the meaning of tathagata -- just a process of coming and a process of going; there was no one who
           has come and no one who has gone.
               Zen masters have always been saying that this man never existed, this man called Gautam the
           Buddha never existed. Yes, he came certainly, and he went also, but he never existed. It is just like a
           dream process. A dream comes and goes and by the morning you know it never existed.
               Once you understand yourself as pure space and many things happening, you become detached.
           Then you become fearless, because there is nothing to lose, there is nobody to lose anything. Then
           you are no more full of lust for life, because you don't conceive of any self. Then you are not afraid
           of death and you are not in a lust for life. Then you don't think of the past and then you don't project
           the future. Then you simply are -- as pure as the vast sky outside; you also become a pure sky inside.
           And the meeting of these two skies, the inner and the outer, is what Buddha calls nirvana.

           I VAGUELY UNDERSTAND THAT IT CAN BE THE FORMLESS THAT REMAINS, BUT CAN
           THAT HAVE AN INDIVIDUAL ENTITY?

           No, it has no individual entity.

           THE SAME WAVE IS NOT REBORN.

               True. In fact, if you watch closely -- go to the river or to the ocean and watch waves; you will be
           surprised to see something new that you never thought of before. When you see a wave coming
           towards you, nothing is coming, the wave never comes to you. You see it moving towards you; it is
           not moving. One wave simply helps other waves to arise by the side. The other wave helps another
           wave to arise. But it happens so fast that it creates a mirage, an illusion -- you think the same wave is
           coming towards you. Nothing is coming towards you.
               When one wave arises, by the impact of that wave other waves arise; just in the close vicinity,
           another wave. By the force of the first wave, second wave; by the force of the second wave, third
           wave; by the force of the third, the fourth -- that's how waves arise. But they give an illusion as if the
           same wave is coming towards you. They never come. When you see a wave arising far away there
           on the horizon, it remains there; it never comes to you.
               It can happen: you can put a driftwood just in the middle of the river: that driftwood will come to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, but don't be deceived by it -- the wave is not coming. When one wave goes high, that driftwood
           moves to the other wave; the other wave goes high, it moves with the third wave. With the rising and
           falling waves the driftwood comes to the shore, but the waves never come. This is a scientific fact.
           They only appear to be reaching.
                Right, precisely, that is what Buddha is saying. THE SAME WAVE IS NOT REBORN. He is
           not saying you will be reborn, he simply says there is a rebirth.
                But in a way we can say you will be born, because it will be a continuity. The same wave: wave
           A creates wave B, wave B creates wave C -- it is a continuity; a continuum is the right word. That
           too comes from modern physics: continuum.
                Buddha calls it santati. Just as a child is born to you: he is you in a certain way, and yet not you,
           not totally you. He will have his own personality, but you created the wave. It is father's and
           mother's energy creating a new wave. This wave will go -- the father may die, the mother may die --
           this wave will continue, and this wave will create other waves in its own way, in its own time.
                Santati, continuum. You are not born, only your desires are born again; because you are not, so
           you cannot be born. Hence, Buddha says, if you drop desiring you will be never born again. Hence,
           if you understand the whole futility of desire and you stop desiring, you drop desiring, then there will
           be no birth for you.
                Then, first you become a srotapanna, you enter into the stream, you start understanding how
           things are, what things are: life processes with no self. This is what he means by becoming a
           srotapanna, entering the stream: entering into the idea of the stream -- that life is like a river, not
           static but dynamic; no things but only events; a dynamism, an energy phenomenon.
                Then, by and by, as you move deeper into this stream you become a skridagamin -- only once
           more will you be born. You understand, but yet your understanding is not total. Then you become an
           anagamin -- you will not be born again. You have understood the whole phenomenon. In that very
           understanding you are liberated.
                By becoming capable of not being born again, you become an arhat -- one who has achieved, one
           who has arrived. Now I am using a language which is not buddhist, so beware. I have to use a
           language which is not buddhist, so I am using terms -- I say, 'one has arrived'. Now, there is no other
           way to say it, but you have to understand: when I say 'one has arrived', there is no 'one', only
           'arrival'... only 'arriving', not even 'arrival'.
                Buddha's vision is very existential and nothing is as liberating as Buddha's vision. Because if you
           believe in a soul you can leave the world, but then you will desire paradise -- because you don't leave
           your self. Desire shifts into a new dimension. You drop greed, but really you don't drop it -- subtle
           greed arises.
                Just see the paradise of Mohammedans or Christians or Hindus. It looks so worldly, so profane.
           Because whatsoever these religions are telling you to drop here, is provided there, and in bulk. They
           say, 'Don't drink alcohol!' and in the Mohammedan paradise, phirdous, rivers of alcohol are there.
           There is no need to purchase or buy, there is no need to carry a license; you just jump in. You can
           bath, you can swim. Now, what is this?
                In Mohammedan countries, homosexuality has been very much prevalent, so even that is
           provided for. Not only beautiful women are there, but beautiful boys are also provided. Now this
           looks ugly, but ordinary human mind....
                Whatsoever you are dropping here, you are dropping only to get more -- this is the logic.
                Beautiful women -- apsaras Hindus call them, houris Mohammedans call them... and not only
           houris but gilmis, beautiful boys, handsome boys also are available, because a few homosexuals will
           reach; what will they do?
                Buddha says unless you drop the self, you will go on perpetuating the same nonsense again and
           again. Your paradise will be nothing but a projected world -- the same world modified, made more
           beautiful, more decorated. Here on the earth women age, become old. In paradise, in the hindu
           paradise, they never become old; they are stuck at the age of sixteen. They must be feeling very fed
           up -- at the age of sixteen; they never grow beyond that.
                In fact, that is the desire of every woman -- to get stuck at sixteen. It never happens here, but
           there.... After sixteen women grow very reluctantly: in three, four years, only once their birthday
           comes. Very reluctantly.... But that has been the desire -- to make beauty permanent.
                Here it is impossible. Even with all the scientific gadgets, instrumentation, methods of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beautification, plastic surgery, this and that, even then it is not possible. One has to age. In paradise
           -- hindu, mohammedan, christian, jewish -- that miracle has happened: god has prepared a beautiful
           walled garden paradise for you. He is waiting. If you are virtuous, if you obey him, you will be
           rewarded tremendously; if you disobey, then the hell.
                So the self exists here as the center of desire and god exists as the center of fulfilling that desire.
           Buddha says both are not, get rid of both; neither god is, nor self is. Look at reality, don't move in
           desires. Drop fantasies, stop dreaming and look at what is. And he says there is only this
           impermanent world of processes -- this flux-like world, this vortex of reality... everything
           impermanent and changing, nothing is permanent.
                That is the meaning of his insistence that there is no self, because you are trying to make
           something in you permanent. You say, the body changes, okay; the world changes, okay;
           relationships change, become rotten, okay -- but the self, the self is eternal. Yes, this visible world
           changes -- but the invisible god, he is eternal. You want something eternal so desperately that you
           start believing in it. It is your desire that the eternal should be there.
                Buddha says there is nothing eternal. Everything is impermanent, everything is in flow.
           Understand this, and this very understanding will liberate you.
                Remember, when others talk of liberation, they talk of liberation for the self. When Buddha talks
           of liberation, he talks of liberation FROM the self. And that is a tremendously radical standpoint.
           Not that you will be liberated, but liberated from you.
                The only freedom that Buddha says is real freedom is freedom from you. Otherwise your mind
           will go on playing games. It will go on painting new desires on new canvases. Nothing will change.
           Canvases you can change. You can get out of the marketplace and sit in a temple -- nothing will
           change, your mind will project the same desires in heaven and paradise.
                Look at this mind. Look at its desires. Watch, become aware. Again and again I will have to
           remind you, because I am talking in non-buddhist language. So when Buddha says become aware, he
           means: be awareness. There is nobody who becomes aware, there is only awareness.
                Yes, you will never be born again, but if you carry the idea that you are, then you will remain in
           a continuum. If you drop the idea of the self, the continuum disappears; you evaporate.
                That's what nirvana is. Just as if you put off a lamp and the light ceases, disappears, you put off
           your desiring mind and all misery, and all transmigration, and all suffering, ceases. Suddenly, you
           are not there.
                But that does not mean that nothing is, otherwise there will be no difference between a charvak
           and a Buddhist, then there will be no difference between the atheist and Buddha. There is
           tremendous difference. He says you cease and for the first time reality takes over. But he never gives
           it any name, because naming is not possible -- to name it is to falsify it. To say it is, is to be untrue to
           it. He keeps quiet, absolutely silent about it. He indicates the way how to experience it. He does not
           spin and weave a philosophy around it.


              YOU HAVE TOLD US MANY TIMES: BE SELFISH. WHAT IS IT TO BE SELFISH?


               Drop the self. Because that is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you. That will be the
           greatest contentment that can come to you.
               Drop the self, if you really are selfish. If you really want to be blissful, drop the self -- because
           self is creating all your miseries and all your hells.
               Difficult, because it looks like a paradox. But have you watched? All miseries come to you
           because of your self, because of the ego. You are hurt again and again, you suffer so much because
           of the ego. It is like a wound which remains always alive, and anything, even a breeze, a cool breeze,
           hurts you. Somebody smiles and it hurts, somebody laughs and it hurts, somebody is going on his
           way, maybe lost in his own thoughts, not looking at you, then it hurts.

              Mulla Nasrudin was saying to his wife, 'Don't annoy me any more! You are irritating me!' And
           he was really mad.
              The wife said, 'But I have not said a single thing. I am doing my work.'
              Mulla said, 'That's why. You are keeping so quiet, it is annoying. For god's sake, say something!'
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Now, if you keep quiet, then too somebody can get annoyed. If you speak, then there is trouble.
           Ego is ready to be hurt; it will find ways and means to be hurt. So a person who lives with the ego,
           with the self, is not really a selfish person, he is a foolish person. Because he only suffers. What type
           of selfless selfishness is this, if you only suffer?
               I show you the way: drop the self. Forget all about the ego. Be as if you are not, exist as an
           emptiness, and see -- millions of beautiful experiences become available to you. Everything becomes
           a deep, satisfying experience. Everything brings a gift, a grace. Everything becomes a benediction.
               The ego is always expecting and hence always being frustrated. The non-egoistic person expects
           nothing, hence everything is fulfilling; whatsoever happens is tremendous, whatsoever happens is
           fantastic. Even if he comes across a small grass flower, he is hypnotised by it. 'So beautiful a flower!
           And I have not done anything, I have not deserved it, and it is there just waiting for me.' Just looking
           at the sky, and he is fulfilled. Just listening to the birds, and a great song arises in his heart. Then
           everything fulfils him.
               Remember, frustration is out of expectation, and ego is always expecting. The ego is a beggar.
           I have heard a beautiful sufi story.

                A beggar came to an emperor and the beggar said, 'If you are going to give me anything there is a
           condition.' The emperor had seen many beggars -- but beggars with conditions? And this beggar was
           really strange, a very powerful man. He was a sufi mystic. He had charm, a charisma, his personality
           had an aura. Even the emperor felt a little jealous. And conditions?!
                The emperor said, 'What do you mean? What do you mean by your condition?'
                The beggar said, 'This is my condition: I accept only if you can fill my begging bowl absolutely.'
                It was a small begging bowl. The King said, 'What do you think I am? Am I a beggar? I cannot
           fill this dirty small begging bowl?'
                The beggar said, 'It is better to tell you before, because later you can get into trouble. If you think
           you can fill, fill.'
                The King called his vizier and told him to fill it with precious stones: with diamonds and rubies,
           emeralds. Let this beggar know with whom he is talking! But then there was difficulty. The bowl
           was filled but the king was surprised -- as the stone fell into it, it would disappear. It was filled many
           times and each time it was again empty. Now he was in a great rage, but he told the vizier, 'Even if
           my whole kingdom goes, if all my treasuries are emptied, let them be -- but I cannot allow this
           beggar to defeat me. This is too much.'
                And all the treasures, it is said, disappeared. By and by the king became a beggar. It took months.
           And the beggar was there and the king was there and the whole capital was there and everybody was
           wondering what was going to happen, what would happen in the end. Everything was simply
           disappearing.
                Finally the king had to fall at the feet of the beggar and he said, 'Forgive me, but before you
           leave just tell me one thing. What is the secret of this begging bowl? All has disappeared in it.'
                The beggar started laughing. He said, 'It is made of human ego. I have made this begging bowl of
           a human ego: everything disappears in it, nothing ever fulfils it.'

                It is a tremendously beautiful story. That's what is happening to you. It is not a story, it is your
           life. You go on putting in your begging bowl houses, cars, bank balances -- everything disappears.
           Again you are empty. Never any satisfaction, never any contentment. Again you are begging. You
           have been doing it for many lives. It is your story. It is literally true, it is not just symbolically true. It
           is a truth in everybody's life, in every man's life.
                We remain a beggar. The begging bowl remains empty. It seems it has no bottom to it. You drop
           anything, it simply disappears.
                The ego is never fulfilled. So the egoist is a person who is very unselfish. Remember this
           paradox: the egoist is a person who is very unselfish, because he is never fulfilled. The non-egoist is
           a person who is very selfish because he is fulfilled. He attains to bliss.


               DAILY YOU COME FOLDED-HANDED, SMILING, AND THE SAME WAY YOU GO BACK AFTER
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE LECTURE. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS GESTURE?


               I am saying, come smiling, go smiling. That is the meaning of tathagatha: thus come, thus gone.
           Let this coming and going be just a smile, nothing more substantial than a smile. A smile is the most
           non-substantial thing in the world. You cannot catch hold of it; it slips, it is elusive, ineffable. Let
           your life be just a smile. Come smiling, go smiling.
               And, of course, folded-handed, otherwise somebody can get hurt. If you smile without your
           hands folded, somebody's ego can get hurt. He can say, 'What do you mean? Smiling at me?' So just
           to protect any misinterpretation....
               But don't try to make it an empty gesture, because a smile which is false is one of the most
           dangerous things to learn. Never smile falsely, because once you start smiling falsely, you will forget
           how to smile authentically. Never corrupt your smile. Otherwise it is just a pretension, and a very
           dangerous pretension; not only that you are deceiving others, you may be deceiving yourself.
               Let your smile be just out of your inner emptiness, let it come from the very core of your no-self
           and spread around you. Let it be like a flower that comes from the very roots, the sap runs through
           the roots to the very peak and flowers. Let your smile come from your very authentic existential
           core. It should not be painted.
           I have heard:

               Recently an elderly and devout Jew gave his children fits. They thought he had converted to
           Christianity, because he seemed to cross himself every time he left the house.
               'Nonsense!' he said when they confronted him. 'I touch my right side to make sure I have my
           glasses, and my left to be sure I have my handkerchief. I put my hand to my head to make sure my
           yammulka is on, and I touch my fly to make sure it is buttoned.'

               Your cross can be like that. Your smile can also be like that. Never make futile gestures. Be true.
           Even true sadness is better than a false smile -- at least it is true. A true tear is better than an untrue
           laughter -- at least it is true, authentic, it helps you grow. One grows through authenticity.
               So I am not saying learn smiling, I am saying attain to smile. I am not saying learn, I am saying,
           attain, rise to smile.


              AT TIMES I FEEL LIKE A SHEEP, AT TIMES LIKE A FOX, SOMETIMES MORE LIKE A DISCIPLE.
              IS IT LOVE OR UNDERSTANDING THAT TRANSFORMS ONE INTO A DISCIPLE?


              It is a true observation. That's how everyone is. It is from Prem Asheesh. It is an authentic
           observation. That's how things are.

           AT TIMES I FEEL LIKE A SHEEP...

               And if you are like a sheep, you cannot be a disciple. Of course many sheep think that they are
           disciples. If it is only because of fear that you follow me, you follow your fear, you don't follow me.
           I am not here to make sheep out of you. The society, the politicians, the priests have done enough
           damage -- no more is needed. You have been reduced to cowards down the centuries; everybody has
           been there forcing you to be a coward. Everybody has forced you into a frightened existence; you are
           always trembling.
               I am here to help you to drop this trembling. There is nothing to fear because there is nothing to
           lose. There is nothing to fear even with death, because there is nobody to die. No harm can be done
           to you. Once you understand this, the sheep disappears. The sheep can be a follower but not a
           disciple.
               And a follower is not necessarily a disciple. A follower is just finding ways and means to protect
           himself, to be secure. A follower is trying just to throw responsibility onto somebody else's
           shoulders. The follower is simply trying to find a group where he can be lost and his own fears are
           no more there, where he is not alone. He is simply seeking company. He cannot be alone, he is afraid
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be alone. He cannot trust himself. A follower is one who cannot trust himself.
               A disciple is one who trusts himself. Out of his trust he comes to learn from somebody who has
           gone a little further than himself. He is not a follower, he is not an imitator and he is not seeking
           security -- he is seeking understanding. Even if that understanding brings more insecurity, he is
           ready for it.
               A follower is never ready for insecurity; he comes to a guru, to a master, to seek protection,
           shelter, to hide behind him. He is seeking a father figure.
               A disciple is seeking a master, not a father figure. He wants to learn what life is. Even if life is
           insecurity, he is ready to learn. Even if life implies death, he is ready to learn.
               The follower just wants a map. The disciple wants to go on an adventure. He is not worried about
           the map, he simply wants a challenge. 'Challenge me!' says the disciple. 'Pull me out of my stupor,'
           says the disciple. 'Send me on a venture,' says the disciple. The follower says, 'Protect me, never
           leave me alone. Without you I am lost. Don't send me away! Just let me hide behind you.'
               Remember, the disciple is a seeker, the follower is simply sick with fear.

           AT TIMES I FEEL LIKE A SHEEP...

              Those are the times you cannot be a disciple, at least not to me.

           AT TIMES I FEEL LIKE A FOX.

               Yes, a fox can also not be a disciple. A fox is a very cunning fellow, calculating, rational. The
           fox mind is always in search of more information, more knowledge -- not more understanding. The
           fox mind is just grabbing whatsoever can be grabbed from every source so he becomes more
           knowledgeable. Because knowledge brings power.
               The fox is in search of power. The sheep is in search of a powerful person who can protect, and
           the fox is in search of power. The fox pretends to be a sheep many times just to grab a little more
           from somebody, but deep down the fox is learning only to become more egoistic.
               There are people who come to a master just to become a master sooner or later -- that's their only
           goal. They don't come to learn; in fact, deep down they have come to teach. Reluctantly they learn,
           because it is difficult to teach without learning.
               The fox is too cunning to be humble. The fox is too cunning and knowledgeable and calculating
           to move in a deeper relationship with a master, to move in love. The sheep cannot be a disciple
           because the sheep is too much afraid; the fox cannot be a disciple because the fox deep down is on a
           power-trip.
               But these both are there. And Asheesh has really watched it rightly, exactly rightly.

           AT TIMES I FEEL LIKE A SHEEP, AT TIMES LIKE A FOX. ONLY SOMETIMES LIKE A
           DISCIPLE.

               Precious are those moments when you feel like a disciple. Nourish them. Those moments have to
           be nourished more and more, so by and by they come more and more to you, they happen more and
           more to you. Surrender your sheep and fox both to those rare moments when you are a disciple.
               A disciple is neither afraid, nor in search of power. A disciple is in search to know what this life
           is. He does not want to conquer, he does not want to prove himself in the world that he is somebody,
           he simply wants to know, 'Who am I?' He is not in any way interested in proving, he simply wants to
           know, 'What is this mystery that has happened to me?' In deep humbleness he asks.
               His query is not of curiosity, his query is not only of enquiry, his query is that of an authentic
           seeker, a mumukshu. His query is mumuksha -- passionate desire to know what life is. A disciple is
           one who is in passionate love with life and wants to know what this life is, wants to enter in this
           mystery.

           IS IT LOVE OR UNDERSTANDING THAT TRANSFORMS ONE INTO A DISCIPLE?

              Love alone will not make you a disciple. Understanding alone will also not make you a disciple.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It is loving understanding that makes you a disciple. If you simply understand me, you will remain
           far away; there will be a distance, because there will be no bridge. Without love there is no bridge.
           You will understand, but your understanding will remain dry. You will not be connected with me; I
           will not be flowing in you, you will not allow my flow, you will not allow me to flood you, to
           transform you. You will remain aloof, mathematical.
                And just love alone won't help, because love is so happy that it forgets to understand. Love is so
           celebrating, it forgets to understand. It gets so involved in love that there is no detachment to
           understand.
                Understanding with a master happens only when you are detached enough to understand, and yet
           related enough to understand. A bridge exists: I call it loving understanding. Then you participate
           with me, then you are thrilled with me -- but that thrill does not drown you, that thrill does not make
           you a drunkard. You drink me as much as you can, but still you remain alert, aware; you are not lost
           in it.
                It is a very paradoxical state -- loving understanding. Then you are in a deep participation with
           me, and yet you remain separate; you are one with me and yet you are separate. Only then, and only
           then, you become a disciple.


              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MUMMY, A MOTHER, AND A MA?


               I don't know much, but I will try my level best. A mummy is one who is pretending to be a
           mother, but is not; who thinks to be a mother, but is not. Because to be a mother is very very
           difficult. To be a mummy is very easy. Just to reproduce is enough to be a mummy. No
           understanding is needed.
               The whole world is full of mummies, but to find a mother is very difficult. A mother is one who
           helps you to be yourself. The mummy is one who thinks, believes that she loves you, but loves really
           herself, and wants you to become a projection of her ambition. That's what a daddy is also.
               Mummy and daddy you can find everywhere; they have corrupted the whole world -- mummies
           and daddies. Freud says if you go deep into neurosis you will always find a mummy in the end. All
           psychoanalysis verges, finally, on some problem which the mother -- the mummy -- has created. So
           mummy is the pretension of a mother -- the physical counterpart of the spiritual mother.
               To be a mother is very difficult. Only one who has arrived home can be a mother. To give birth is
           very easy, it is just natural, biological; but to be a mother is something spiritual.
               The mummy would like you to follow her, she would like to possess you -- to make you become
           a part, a precious possession to her. She will cling around you.
               The mother will help you to become independent. She will help you to become individual. She
           will love you, but she will not try to force anything on you. She will give her love to you, but will
           not give her knowledge to you. She will send you into the world to find your own truth, to find your
           own life. She will not give you a pattern or a mould. She will not structure you, she will simply help
           you, whatsoever you can be.
               The mother is just the ideal, it rarely happens. Mummy you can find anywhere. The mother is
           just the ideal, the utopian ideal -- one who can give birth to your soul. Only a Buddha can be a
           mother, or a Meera can be a mother, or a Krishna, or a Mohammed can be a mother -- only one who
           can give you your soul, your destiny.
               Mummy is just biological. The concept of mother is spiritual. And Ma is very simple to
           understand. Ma is a woman who is suffering from a disease called Rajneeshitis!




                   The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                       Discourses on the 42 Sutras of Buddha
                                    Talks given from 31/08/76 am to 10/09/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                        11 Chapters
                                                    Year published: 1976
           Originally published in two volumes, later released as four volumes.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                  Chapter #1
                                  Chapter title: The challenge of the buddha
           31 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7608310
              ShortTitle: TRANS201
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 118 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THERE ARE TWENTY DIFFICULT THINGS TO ATTAIN OR ACCOMPLISH IN THIS WORLD.
              1. IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE POOR TO PRACTISE CHARITY.
              2. IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE STRONG AND RICH TO OBSERVE THE WAY.
              3. IT IS DIFFICULT TO DISREGARD LIFE AND GO TO CERTAIN DEATH.
              4. IT IS ONLY A FAVOURED FEW THAT GET AQUAINTED WITH A BUDDHIST SUTRA.
              5. IT IS BY RARE OPPORTUNITY THAT A PERSON IS BORN IN THE AGE OF A BUDDHA.
              6. IT IS DIFFICULT TO CONQUER THE PASSIONS, TO SUPPRESS SELFISH DESIRES.
              7. IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO HANKER AFTER THAT WHICH IS AGREEABLE.
              8. IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO GET INTO A PASSION WHEN SLIGHTED.
              9. IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO ABUSE ONE'S AUTHORITY.
              10. IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE EVEN-MINDED AND SIMPLE-HEARTED IN ALL ONE'S DEALINGS
              WITH OTHERS.
              11. IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE THOROUGH IN LEARNING AND EXHAUSTIVE IN INVESTIGATION.
              12. IT IS DIFFICULT TO SUBDUE SELFISH PRIDE.
              13. IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO FEEL CONTEMPT TOWARD THE UNLEARNED.
              14. IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE ONE IN KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTISE.
              15. IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO EXPRESS AN OPINION ABOUT OTHERS.
              16. IT IS BY RARE OPPORTUNITY THAT ONE IS INTRODUCED TO A TRUE SPIRITUAL
              TEACHER.
              17. IT IS DIFFICULT TO GAIN AN INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE OF BEING, AND TO PRACTISE
              THE WAY.
              18. IT IS DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW THE STEPS OF A SAVIOUR.
              19. IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE ALWAYS THE MASTER OF ONESELF.
              20. IT IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THOROUGHLY THE WAYS OF BUDDHA.


               LIFE IS NOT A BED OF ROSES. It is difficult, it is complex. It is very rare to be alive in the
           true sense of the word. To be born is one thing; to be alive, quite another. To be born is to be just
           biologically here; to be alive is a totally different dimension -- the dimension of spirituality.
               Unless a man is spiritual he is not alive yet. But to move from the biological realm to the
           spiritual realm is very difficult, arduous. It is the greatest challenge there is. It is the greatest
           quantum leap -- from the body to the soul, from the material to the immaterial, from the visible to the
           invisible, from time to timelessness, from out to in. It is arduous.
               Buddha, in this sutra, says there are twenty difficult things. These twenty difficult things can
           become twenty steps of the challenge. These twenty difficult things are not to make you beware of
           them; Buddha is talking about these twenty difficult things not to make you avoid them -- it is an
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           invitation, it is a challenge.
                These twenty himalayan peaks are just a challenge for you... a great invitation. Don't remain in
           the valley. The valley is very secure, convenient, comfortable. You will live comfortably, you will
           die comfortably. But you will not grow. You will only grow old, but you will not grow.
                Growth happens only when you are accepting a challenge. Growth happens only when you start
           living dangerously. These twenty things are indicative of how one should live.
                There is only one way to live and that is to live dangerously, courageously. You become rightly a
           human being only when you have accepted this challenge of the Buddha.
                We will go into these twenty things. They look small on the surface, but Buddha cannot talk
           about small things. You will have to go into the depth of these small things, and then you will see --
           they are really difficult.
                Before we enter this sutra, one thing I would like to tell you -- that the search for truth is the
           search for the impossible. Religion itself is nothing but a passion for the impossible. But the beauty
           is -- that impossible happens, that impossible also becomes possible. But you have to pay for it, and
           you have to pay tremendously. You have to sacrifice yourself utterly. You have to stake your whole
           life.
                If you stake your so-called life, you will attain to what Buddha calls to be alive, to what Jesus
           calls to be reborn, to what Hindus call to be twice born, dwij. Then a totally new dimension and a
           totally new quality of being arises in you... uncorrupted by time and space, uncontaminated by
           anything, absolutely and eternally virgin.
           Long for the impossible. Desire for the impossible.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THERE ARE TWENTY DIFFICULT THINGS TO ATTAIN OR ACCOMPLISH IN THIS WORLD.
              FIRST: IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE POOR TO PRACTISE CHARITY.


                Because unless you have it, how can you share it? To share something with somebody else you
           must have it first. In the first place you must have it; only that can be shared which you have. And
           this is something that we go on forgetting continuously.
                I see so many people trying to share their love and they don't have any love. Of course, their
           sharing brings misery to them and to others. Because you can share only that which you have. You
           may think you are sharing your love, but you share only your misery in fact, because that is what you
           have. You go with hope, you move with dreams, but what is the actual result of it? In fantasy love is
           good; in reality it becomes a misery, a hell.
                You don't have love in your being; that energy is not existent there. First you have to become
           radiant with love, only then can you share it. Before you can become a lover, you have to become
           love. People think that they will become love only by becoming a lover. Stupid is their logic,
           illogical is their way of thinking. You cannot become a lover unless you have love -- and love you
           don't have.
                Everybody goes on believing that one has the capacity to love; one has just to find somebody to
           receive. One is full of love energy; one needs only just a receiving end. That's how people go on
           moving, finding. Many times they find beautiful people, but the total result is miserable.
                They think they are sharing love -- they share only their loneliness. They think they are sharing
           something divine -- they share only their ugliness. They think they are sharing their innermost being
           -- but they share only their dirty surface. They themselves are not aware of their innermost core. That
           is the meaning of a poor man.
                When Buddha talks about a poor man, he does not mean a man without money. When Buddha
           talks about a poor man, he means a man who is not rich inside... a loveless man. How can he share?
           How can he become a tremendous sharing? No, charity is not possible. Charity is possible only when
           you are overflowing. Overflowing is charity.

              IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE POOR TO PRACTISE CHARITY.


              And remember it in the reverse way also. Whenever you are unable to share, whenever you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unable to practise charity, note down -- you must be poor. You may have much in the eyes of others,
           but deep down you must be poor if you cannot share.
                You possess only that which you can give. Only by giving do you become the possessor. If you
           cannot give, then you are not in possession, you are not the master. Then the thing that you think you
           possess, is possessing you. Then you are possessed by your possession.
                Charity is a beautiful flowering of one who has, one who is in possession of his being; one who
           is not poor, one who is rich.
                This man may be a beggar on the streets. It has nothing to do with your bank balance. The rich
           man may be a beggar, but if he has his being, authentic being, if he can love, if he can sing, if he can
           dance, if he can see poetry in the world, he is rich. He may not have anything at all. As far as
           material things go, he may not have anything. But he has something of the spiritual... something
           which cannot be taken away from him.
                Observe this fact: that which you really possess cannot be taken away from you. You can only
           give it -- if you want -- but nobody can take it away. That which you don't possess, and by which you
           are possessed, you can never give -- it can only be stolen or taken away, robbed.
                Your love cannot be robbed. There is no way to rob it. You can give it voluntarily, you can give
           it freely, but nobody can rob it. You can be killed, but your love cannot be killed. There exists no
           way to murder love.
                Love seems to be more eternal than your so-called life. Your life can be destroyed very easily...
           just a hit on the head, just a bullet through the heart; very simple... but nothing can destroy love.
           Love seems to be the only eternal thing; something not belonging to the world of time. You can give
           it, but nobody can take it.
                Your money, your respectability, your power, your prestige -- they all can be taken away from
           you. That which can be taken away from you creates a clinging in the mind. You become poorer and
           poorer, because you have to cling more and more, you have to protect more and more, and you are
           always afraid and trembling.
                The so-called rich people are continuously trembling... trembling. Deep down they are always
           afraid because they know that that which they have can be taken away. They can never be certain
           about it. The very uncertainty goes on eating their heart like a worm. You possess only that which
           grows out of you, which belongs to you, which is rooted in you.
                A rich man is one who has poetry in life, dance in life, celebration in life, silence in life,
           centeredness in life, rootedness in life... who blooms into his inner sky. The rich man is one who is
           so full, like clouds in the rainy season... ready to shower on anybody who becomes available. Or like
           an opening bud... ready to share its fragrance with any wind that passes by, or any traveller that
           comes by. Sharing is overflowing.
                Buddha says this is one of the most difficult things -- to try to share that which you don't have --
           and that's what people are doing. They go on trying to love without ever considering the fact that
           love has not yet grown in their heart. In fact, you don't love yourself -- how can you love others? The
           basic is missing, the very basic is missing.
                You are not happy alone -- how can you be happy together with somebody else? If you are
           unhappy alone, when you come together with somebody, you will bring your unhappiness to be
           shared. That's all you have -- your poverty, your rottenness, your misery, your depression, your
           sadness, your angst, anxiety, anguish... your disease.
                Try to possess something -- that which cannot be taken away by anybody, not even by death.
           Difficult, but possible. It looks impossible. How to be loving without finding a lover? Our whole
           mind has been conditioned in a wrong way. You can dance without the audience; why can't you love
           without there being somebody? You can sing without a listener; why can't you love without a lover?
           Your mind has been conditioned wrongly. You think you can love only when there is somebody to
           love.
                Practise love. Sitting alone in your room, be loving. Radiate love. Fill the whole room with your
           love energy. Feel vibrating with a new frequency, feel swaying as if you are in the ocean of love.
           Create vibrations of love energy around you. And you will start feeling immediately that something
           is happening -- something in your aura is changing, something around your body is changing; a
           warmth is arising around your body... a warmth like deep orgasm. You are becoming more alive.
           Something like sleep is disappearing. Something like awareness is arising. Sway into this ocean.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Dance, sing, and let your whole room be filled with love.
               In the beginning it feels very weird. When for the first time you can fill your room with love
           energy, your own energy, which goes on falling and rebouncing on you and makes you so happy,
           one starts feeling, 'Am I hypnotising myself? Am I deluded? What is happening?' Because you have
           always thought that love comes from somebody else. A mother is needed to love you, a father, a
           brother, a husband, a wife, a child -- but somebody.
               Love that depends on somebody is a poor love. Love that is created within you, love that you
           create out of your own being, is real energy. Then move anywhere with that ocean surrounding you
           and you will feel that everybody who comes close to you is suddenly under a different kind of
           energy.
               People will look at you with more open eyes. You will be passing them and they will feel that a
           breeze of some unknown energy has passed them; they will feel fresher. Hold somebody's hand and
           his whole body will start throbbing. Just be close to somebody and that man will start feeling very
           happy for no reason at all. You can watch it. Then you are becoming ready to share. Then find a
           lover, then find a right receptivity for you.
           I have heard a small anecdote:

               The greatest surprise of Mary's life was receiving half a dollar on her fourth birthday. She carried
           the coin about the house and was seen sitting on the steps admiring it.
               'What are you going to do with your half dollar?' her mother asked.
           'Take it to Sunday school,' said Mary promptly.
           'To show to your teacher?'
               Mary shook her head. 'No,' she said, 'I'm going to give it to god. He will be as surprised as I am
           to get something besides pennies.'

               Whatsoever you are giving to people are just pennies, not even that. And then one day when your
           love fails... in fact it has never been there even to fail; it has been from the very beginning missing...
           just your belief that you were a loving man fails one day, then you start thinking of god and prayer.
               God and prayer are possible only when your love has succeeded. When you have become a great
           lover, then only prayer can arise. Out of small pennies of love, something bigger arises -- prayer.
           Then you have something to offer to god.
               But almost always it happens that people who have failed in their life, they go to the temple and
           to the church. Of course, they bring their empty hearts... completely dry, not even tears in their
           hearts. And then they pray. Then nothing happens. They think the world is godless, they think god is
           absent, or god is deaf, or god has never existed; or maybe in the past he existed because so many
           people talk about him, but he must be dead by now, or he is indifferent.
               Nothing is like that. In fact you are missing love energy, and without love energy, prayer cannot
           arise. Prayer is a refined phenomenon of the same energy -- love. It is out of love that the subtle
           fragrance of prayer arises.
               God is also tired of your pennies. God is also tired of your poorness. God is also tired of your
           misery. Bring celebration to god. Bring something alive. Don't bring deserts -- bring gardens to god.
           Don't bring corpses -- bring somebody dancing, alive.
               Buddha's first sutra says: Try to become rich so that you can share.
           Second:

              IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE STRONG AND RICH TO OBSERVE THE WAY.


               Yes, it is very difficult for the strong and the rich to observe the way, because ordinarily only
           weaklings come to the temple, to the church, to the mosque. The strong people don't come. They are
           too much in their pride, they are too egoistic; they are not ready to surrender.
               People surrender only when they have become absolute failures. People surrender only when
           they have nothing to surrender. When the life has completely crushed them, when they are bankrupt,
           then they surrender. But what is the point of surrendering when you are a bankrupt?
               People remember god only when nothing else seems to help. In deep hopelessness they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           remember god. It is not possible to remember god in deep hopelessness. When you are full of hope,
           radiant, vibrating; when there is meaning in your life, when you feel the hands of destiny in your life,
           when you are riding on waves, when you feel at the top of the world -- those are the moments to
           remember truth, to remember god, to move towards the way.
           But Buddha says:

              IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE STRONG AND RICH TO OBSERVE THE WAY.


               Why is it difficult for the strong? Because the strong thinks, 'I am enough unto myself. What is
           the need to ask god's help?' The weak thinks, 'I am not enough unto myself so I have to need, I have
           to ask god.' But only when you are strong do you have energy to ask. Only when you are strong will
           your prayer have enough energy to reach god. Only when you are strong is there a possibility that
           you can touch higher realms. Out of impotence you cannot reach higher realms. You need an inner
           strength.

              DIFFICULT FOR THE STRONG TO MOVE TOWARDS THE WAY...


               ... but that is the only possibility. So if you are feeling strong, move towards the way, because
           these are the right positive moments; this is the opportunity. When you are feeling successful, this is
           the time to remember. When everything is going good, don't miss this opportunity -- this is the time
           to pray.
               Looks absurd, because our logic is this -- that when we are happy, we never remember. We
           completely become oblivious.
               A small boy was saying... I asked him, 'Do you remember god when you go to sleep?'
           He said, 'Yes, every night.'
           And I asked him, 'In the morning?'
               He said, 'What is the point in the morning? In the night I feel afraid, in the morning everything is
           okay. What is the need? Why bother?'
               This childish attitude seems to be the very common attitude. When you are ill, suddenly you start
           feeling very religious. When death is approaching close by and you are getting older and older and
           you start stumbling in life and your feet are no more strong enough to hold you and you are
           trembling, you start remembering god. People go on postponing god for their old age.
               In India they say.... If somebody young comes to me and I initiate him into sannyas, sooner or
           later somebody comes and he says, 'This is not good; he's too young to be a sannyasin. Sannyas is for
           old people.' When they are almost dead, when they are ready to be thrown on the junkyard, when one
           of their feet is already in the grave, then sannyas.
               People go on postponing sannyas for the very end. God seems to be the last item on their list.
           They have a shopping list -- god is the last. When they have purchased everything -- consistent,
           inconsistent, relevant, irrelevant -- when they have wasted all their energy, when nothing is left,
           when they are just exhausted, then they remember god. But who is going to remember god then?
               Sannyas is for the young. Sannyas is for the strong. Buddha initiated a new trend into sannyas.
           He dropped the old hindu concept that one should become a sannyasin in the old age.
               Hindus have four stages -- they are very calculating, very mathematical. Manu seems to be the
           greatest mathematician of life... very clever. He has divided life -- twenty-five years for education,
           brahmacharya; then twenty-five years for living in the world, the life of a householder, grihastha;
           then twenty-five years for getting ready to leave the world... Looking after children who have
           become grownups now, who are getting married, who are coming from their universities; and then
           the last -- sannyas, the fourth stage of life. That means after seventy-five years. The last -- when
           everything has happened, when there is nothing else, then... then god.
               This seems to be very insulting. This is very insulting to god -- that you are fit for him only when
           you are dead. It seems you somehow relate god with death, not with life. God should be in the very
           center of life.
               And Buddha says it is difficult to be religious when young -- but that is the challenge. It is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficult to observe the way when you are strong -- but that is the challenge. It is difficult to become
           religious when you are rich -- but that is the only way to become religious.
               When you are rich and strong and young, when energy is streaming, when you are ready to do
           something, when you are ready to go into a venture, when you have courage, when you can take
           risks, when danger has appeal for you, when death has not weakened you, when you are full of zest
           and life, that is the point -- take the challenge and move into the unknown.
           The third:

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO DISREGARD LIFE AND GO TO CERTAIN DEATH.


               IT IS DIFFICULT TO DISREGARD LIFE AND GO TO CERTAIN DEATH. It is very difficult
           to disregard life. Life is very enchanting, very hypnotising. It is beautiful, it is a miracle, a magic
           world -- but made of the stuff dreams are made of.
               It is difficult to awake in this beautiful dream. When you are having a nice dream... maybe you
           are on a trip with Marilyn Monroe or something like that; or you have become the president of the
           United States.... When you are having a beautiful dream, nice, as you always wanted it and it is
           happening, and then somebody shakes you, you become aware -- but the dream is lost. You feel
           annoyed. Is this the right moment? Could you not wait a little more? I was having such a beautiful
           dream.
               But a dream is a dream, beautiful or not beautiful. A beautiful dream is also a dream; so futile, a
           wastage.
           Buddha says, IT IS DIFFICULT TO DISREGARD LIFE.
               Yes, when life has deserted you, then it is very simple. When life itself has deserted you, when
           you are left behind and life has gone out of you, or is going out of you; when life has oozed out of
           you and you are left just like a dead dry thing, then it is very easy to disregard life. Even then it
           seems difficult. Even in old age people go on behaving childishly.
           I have heard:

                An ancient man described his recent visit to a bordello.
           'How old are you anyway?' the madam asked him.
           'I am ninety-three,' he said.
           'Well, you have had it, sir,' she told him.
           'I have? Ah -- then how much do I owe you?'

               Now his memory is gone, but still he has come in search of a prostitute. He cannot remember,
           but the passion persists. He must be just on the deathbed. He may have been carried by others to the
           bordello. To the very end....
               This is my observation -- that out of a hundred persons, almost ninety-nine persons die thinking
           of sex. In fact when death comes, the idea of sex becomes very strong. Because death and sex are
           opposite each other; they are the polar opposites. Sex is birth and death is the end of the same energy
           that birth released. So while dying, a person becomes obsessively interested in sex. And that
           becomes the beginning of another birth.
               To die without thinking about sex is a great experience. Then something of tremendous import
           has happened to you. If you can die without thinking of sex at all, no lurking shadows of sex in your
           mind, of lust for life, you are dying as one should die. Only one percent of people die that way.
               These are the people Buddha calls srotapanna -- those who have entered into the stream, those
           who have become sannyasins, those who have taken a step towards understanding what is real and
           what is unreal, those who have become discriminative of what is dream and what is true.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO DISREGARD LIFE AND GO TO CERTAIN DEATH.


               Even when death is coming, then too it is difficult to disregard life. Even when death has become
           certain. In fact, death is the only certainty. Everything else is uncertain. Everything else may happen,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may not happen, everything else is accidental. Death is absolutely certain. The day you were born,
           death became certain. With the very birth, only one thing has become absolutely certain -- that you
           will die.
                Death is certain. You may know it or you may not know it; you may look at it, you may not look
           at it -- but death is certain. Still, even with so much certainty, one is afraid to go into it; one clings
           with uncertain life, with dreamlike life. Death seems to be more real than whatsoever you call your
           life.
                Buddha says it is difficult to accept death and move into death, and it is difficult to disregard
           so-called life. But a man of understanding starts disregarding life and regarding death. He respects
           death more because death is more certain, must be more part of reality than so-called life -- because
           the so-called life is just like dreaming.
                You have lived for thirty or forty or fifty years. Now look back, think retrospectively. What has
           happened in these fifty years? Was it real or just a long dream? Can you make any difference... if it
           was real or a dream? How will you distinguish? Maybe you have dreamed all. Maybe it was just an
           idea in your mind. What proof have you got that it was real? What is left in your hand? Nothing...
           emptiness. And you call it life? And only emptiness results out of it?
                Buddha says, better call it death. Now look into death -- maybe there is real life.
                It is difficult, but a person who becomes interested in death, intrigued by death, the phenomenon
           of death, becomes a different type of person. He is a srotapanna.
                The people who cling to the bank are the people who think this life is all. The people who try to
           understand, penetrate deeply into the life, become aware that this is not the real thing. Then they take
           a jump into the river which is going somewhere else -- towards death.
                Meditation is an effort to die voluntarily. And in deep meditation one dies. In deep meditation,
           the so-called life disappears and for the first time you encounter death. That experience of
           encountering death makes you deathless. Suddenly you transcend death. Suddenly you know -- that
           which is going to die is not you.
                All that can die, you are not. You are neither your body nor your mind nor your self. You are
           simply pure space -- which is never born and never dies.
                People talk about death very rarely. Even if they talk about it, they talk very reluctantly. Even if
           they are forced to talk about it, they feel embarrassed -- even people who believe that the soul never
           dies, even people who believe that after death a person goes to the eternal god, to the paradise.
                In his 'Unpopular Essays', Bertrand Russell has a telling anecdote.
                "F. W. H. Myers, whom spiritualism had converted to belief in a future life, questioned a woman
           who had lately lost her daughter as to what she supposed has become of her soul.
                The mother replied, 'Ah, well, I suppose she is enjoying eternal bliss, but I wish you would not
           talk about such unpleasant subjects."'
                Now if really she is enjoying eternal bliss, then why is this subject unpleasant? One should be
           happy to talk about it. In fact it is unpleasant to talk about it, and just to hide the unpleasantness, one
           has invented many theories, beliefs, that after death one goes to eternal heaven. Everybody has to
           somehow convince himself that he will not die.
                Buddha's teaching is that you have to accept the fact that you will die. Not only that -- that all
           that you think you are, absolutely, in toto, is going to die. Buddha is very stern about it.
                If you ask Mahavir, he will say that body will die, mind will die, but your soul? -- no, your soul
           will remain. Now there is some protection. We can think, 'Okay, the body will die. We would like it
           not to die, but we can accept. Body is not me.'
                In India you can find many monks, sadhus, just contemplating: 'I am not the body. I am not the
           body. I am the soul eternal.' Now, what are they doing? If they really know that they are the soul
           eternal, then why this constant repetition? Who are they trying to befool? Why this constant
           repetition that 'I am not the body'? If you are not, you are not -- finished.
                No, they don't believe really; they are trying to autohypnotize themselves. 'I am not the body.'
           Repeating it continuously for many years, they may come to an autosuggestion that 'I am not the
           body', but that is not going to be their experience. It will remain just an autosuggestion. They have
           befooled themselves, they have fallen into a delusion.
                And then they are saying, 'I am the eternal soul -- infinite, satchidananda -- true, always true,
           existential, always existential, blissful, always blissful. They are fighting with death and they are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           trying to find some place where they can hide against death.
                Buddha's approach is totally different. He says there is no place to hide. You have to go headlong
           into it. And Buddha says your body will die, your mind will die, your so-called soul will die --
           everything, in toto. You are going to die. Nothing is going to remain.
                This is very very difficult to even conceive. But Buddha says, if you can conceive this, and if you
           are ready for this, only then you will be able to know that innermost space which is beyond time and
           space.
                But remember -- you don't know that space at all, so it has nothing to do with you. Whatsoever is
           your identity is going to die completely and that which is going to remain has nothing to do with
           you.
                So Buddha says don't ask about that. Because you are such rationalizing animals, such tricky
           fellows, that if Buddha says, 'Yes, there is an inner space which will remain,' you say, 'Okay, that's
           what I call my soul.' Again you are back in the old trap. 'So, I am going to survive. Nothing to be
           afraid of.' You will find some identity with that inner space.
                Buddha keeps completely quiet. He must have been tempted many times to talk about it. It is
           very difficult to keep secrets when you know -- but Buddha has kept it.
                It is really almost superhuman to keep secrets. You may have observed the fact. Whenever
           somebody says to you, 'Don't tell it to anybody, keep it a secret,' then you are in a difficulty. The
           whole mind tends to tell it to somebody. There seems to be a natural thing in it. It is as if you eat
           something; then how can you hold it forever and ever inside your stomach? It has to be defecated. It
           has to be thrown out. Otherwise you will have permanent constipation and it will be very disturbing.
                The same happens with the mind. Somebody says something to you: 'Keep it a secret.' Your
           husband comes home and he says, 'Listen, keep it a secret.' Now the wife is in trouble, because
           something has gone into the mind. It has to come out, otherwise there will be a mental constipation.
           And she feels very heavy unless she can find somebody. She is going to talk to the servant. And of
           course she will say, 'Don't tell it to anybody.' And the servant will rush faster to his home, to his
           wife, because -- what to do? And within minutes the whole town will know.
                It is very difficult to keep a secret. You can keep a secret only if it has not come from the outside,
           remember it. If it has come from the outside, it has to go outside; it cannot be kept. If it has arisen in
           your own being, if it has flowered within you, if it has existential roots in your own being, you can
           keep it a secret -- because it has not come from the outside; there is no need for it to go outside.
                Buddha could keep this secret because it was his own experience. Nobody had told it to him, he
           had not found it in the Vedas, he had not heard it from the traditional sources, he had not read about
           it. It had not entered in his being; it had bloomed into his own being -- it was his own flower. When
           something blooms into you, it is yours; it is for you to keep or to share.
                Buddha is continuously tempted. A thousand times, I think almost every day, people are coming
           to him and asking him, 'Yes, we can understand that the soul will die, the body will die, the mind
           will die -- but the soul? the self? the atman?' And Buddha goes on saying flatly, 'Everything will die.
           Everything that you know your identity is, will die. You will die completely and that which will be
           saved, you don't know anything about.'
                When you disappear, then you will know that which remains. That has nothing to do with you.
           That existed before you existed. That exists just now, just parallel to you. You never meet with it.
           You are two parallel lines; you never meet. You are hiding it. When you are not, it is revealed.
                Buddha says, go into death as deeply as possible. And that is possible only if you start
           disregarding your so-called life. To disregard it means to know it -- it is a dream.

              The swain and his girl had just encountered a bulldog that looked mean and hungry.
              'Why, Percy,' she exclaimed as he started a strategic retreat. 'You always swore you would face
           death for me.'
              'I would,' he flung back, 'but that damned dog ain't dead yet!'

               People say they can face death, but when it comes to facing death, suddenly their whole courage
           disappears. People say that they can surrender their life very easily. It is not so easy.
               Lust for life is very deep. You have watered it for many lives; its roots have gone deep into your
           being. Even if you cut a few branches, it makes no difference; even if you cut the whole tree, it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           makes no difference -- new shoots will be coming out.

              IT IS ONLY A FAVOURED FEW THAT GET AQUAINTED WITH A BUDDHIST SUTRA.


                Buddha says it is very few, a very favoured few, a fortunate few, a chosen few, a blessed few,
           who become aquainted with the wisdom of a Buddha.
                Because to be in contact with a Buddha, you have to pass through a few experiences that life is
           illusory, that death is certain. Unless your illusion about life is shattered completely, you will not
           listen to a Buddha. He is irrelevant, he does not exist for you.
                Buddha exists for you only if you have become alert that this life is fleeting, slipping by; that this
           life is just a shadow, not a reality... a reflection in the mirror. When all your dreams about life are
           shattered, then you become interested in a Buddha. And when you become interested, only then is
           there a possibility to understand buddhist wisdom, the wisdom of an awakened man.
                Who is an awakened man? One who has come to know what is dream, one who has come to
           know what is not dream. When you are asleep, dream looks real. In the morning when you awake,
           then you know that it was unreal. A Buddha is one who has awakened -- awakened out of this
           so-called life and has come to realize that it is a dream.
                If you are also feeling the pain, the frustration, the misery of this dreamlife, this futile life, only
           then you start moving towards a source of light; otherwise not. Buddha says those are the few
           favoured ones.
           Fifth:

              IT IS BY RARE OPPORTUNITY THAT A PERSON IS BORN IN THE AGE OF A BUDDHA.


               IT IS BY RARE OPPORTUNITY... Yes, it is so, because a Buddha is rarely there. Thousands of
           years pass, then a person becomes a Buddha. And even then it is not necessary that he will start
           teaching. He may not teach at all. He may simply disappear into the unknown. There is no necessity
           that he should become a master. So, Buddhas are few, and then Buddhas who become masters and
           help people on the way are even fewer.

              IT IS BY RARE OPPORTUNITY THAT A PERSON IS BORN IN THE AGE OF A BUDDHA.


               So if you can find a person who is awakened, if you can find a person who is a little different
           from you, if you can find a person in whose eyes you don't see the clouds of sleep and around whom
           you can feel the aura of awakening, then don't miss the opportunity, because it may not be for many
           lives that you will come across such a man again.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO CONQUER THE PASSIONS, TO SUPPRESS SELFISH DESIRES.


               IT IS DIFFICULT TO CONQUER PASSIONS. That's why Buddha says a courageous man will
           not bother to go to the top of the Himalayas. Yes, it is difficult -- but nothing compared to
           conquering your own passions. A real man of courage will not try to go to the moon. It is difficult --
           but nothing compared to conquering your own passions and lust for life.
               The greatest adventure in life is to become passionless, to become free of lust. To just be,
           without any hankering to be something else; to just be herenow; with no desire for the future, no
           desire for any repetition of the past... with no projection.

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO HANKER AFTER THAT WHICH IS AGREEABLE.


              Why do we live in dreams? -- because dreams many times are agreeable. That is the trick of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dreams, that's how they persuade you; that is their bait.
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin stood quietly at the bedside of his dying father. 'Please, my boy,' whispered the
           old man, 'always remember that wealth does not bring happiness.'
               'Yes, father,' said Nasrudin, 'I realize that, but at least it will allow me to choose the kind of
           misery I find most agreeable.'

               That's what we are doing -- trying to find a misery which appears agreeable. That's your whole
           search.
           Buddha says:

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO HANKER AFTER THAT WHICH IS AGREEABLE.


               Agreeable or disagreeable is not the point. Because a dream can be agreeable, a lie can be
           agreeable, sometimes poison can be agreeable, sometimes suicide can be agreeable -- that is not the
           point. The point is what is real.
               The real man endeavours to know the real, and the unreal man tries only to find things which are
           agreeable, comfortable, convenient. Look, watch out. Don't go after the agreeable, otherwise dreams
           will go on pulling you and pushing you here and there, and you will remain like a driftwood.
               Let your emphasis be on what is real. Even if it is not agreeable, choose the real. Let me repeat it:
           even if the real is not agreeable to you, choose the real, become agreeable to it. Then only you can
           come to truth; there is no other way.

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO GET INTO A PASSION WHEN SLIGHTED.


               Anger is so easy; so mechanical. You need not have any awareness for it, it is robotlike.
           Somebody insults you; you become angry. Buddha says, try; when somebody insults you, remain
           calm and quiet. Don't miss this opportunity. This is an opportunity to get out of your mechanical
           world. This is an opportunity to become more conscious. The person is giving you a beautiful chance
           to grow. Don't miss it.
               Whenever you find an opportunity where it is natural to be mechanical, try to be non-mechanical,
           become more conscious of the situation. And that will become your growth ladder.
               Somebody insults you. It is very easy to be hurt. It is mechanical; you are not needed for it; no
           intelligence is needed for it. It is very easy to get into a rage, anger, fire. No intelligence is needed
           for it. Even animals do it, so nothing is special in it.
               Do something special. Remain calm and quiet and collected. Relax, watch inside that the
           mechanical thing does not possess you. Become a little loose from your mechanical habits and your
           benefit will be tremendous. You will start becoming more and more aware.

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO ABUSE ONE'S AUTHORITY.


                Very difficult -- because in the first place people seek authority just to abuse it.
                You have heard Lord Acton's famous dictum that power corrupts. It is not true. His observation
           is right in a way, but not true. Power never corrupts anybody, but still Lord Acton is right -- because
           we always see people being corrupted by power. How can power corrupt people?
                On the other hand, in fact, corrupted people seek power. Of course, when they don't have power,
           they cannot express their corruption. When they have power, then they are free. Then they can move
           with the power, then they are not worried. Then they come in their true light, then they show their
           real face.
                Power never corrupts anybody, but only corrupted people are attracted towards power. And when
           they have power, then of course they use it for all their desires and passions.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It happens. A person may be very humble. When he is seeking a political post he may be very
           humble, and you may know him -- you may have known that for his whole life he was a simple and
           humble person -- and you vote for him. The moment he is in power, there is a metamorphosis; he is
           no more the same person. People are surprised -- how does power corrupt?
               In fact, that humbleness was false, bogus. He was humble because he was weak. He was humble
           because he had no power. He was afraid he would have been crushed by other powerful people. His
           humbleness was his politics, his policy. Now he need not be afraid, now nobody can crush him. Now
           he can come to his true being, now he can express his own reality. Now he looks corrupted.
           Buddha says:

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO ABUSE ONE'S AUTHORITY.


               Difficult, because in the first place only people who want to abuse their authority become
           interested in authority. If you have some authority, watch. Even small authorities corrupt people.
           You may be just a constable standing on the crossroads, but if you have the opportunity, you will
           abuse it; you will show yourself who you are.

              Mulla Nasrudin used to serve as a constable. He caught hold of a woman who was driving a car.
           Of course, a woman and a car driver never go together, so she was going wrong. Mulla took his
           notebook and started writing. The woman said, 'Wait! I know the chief minister, so don't be worried.'
           But Mulla continued writing; he didn't pay any attention. The woman said, 'Do you know, I even
           know the governor!' But the Mulla continued writing.
              The woman said, 'Listen, what are you doing? I even know Indira Gandhi!'
              Mulla said, 'Listen lady, do you know Mulla Nasrudin?'
           She said, 'No, never heard of him.'
              He said, 'My name is Mulla Nasrudin, and unless you know Mulla Nasrudin, nothing doing.'

               When you have authority, then one tends.... It is so easy, mm? You can watch it all around. You
           are just standing at the railway window of a railway station and the booking clerk goes on doing
           something -- and you can see that he has nothing to do. He goes on turning pages here and there. He
           wants to delay. We wants to show you that now he has the authority. He says, 'Wait.' He cannot lose
           this chance to say no to you.
               Watch -- in yourself also. Your son comes and says, 'Daddy, can I go out to play?' You say, 'No!'
           And you know well and the son knows well that you will allow him. Then the son starts shrieking
           and jumping and screaming and he says, 'I want to go!' Then you say, 'Okay, go.' And you know it; it
           has happened before the same way. And there was nothing wrong in going outside and playing. Why
           did you say no?
               If you have authority, you want to show it. But then the son also has some authority. He starts
           jumping, he creates a tantrum, and he knows that he will create trouble and the neighbours will listen
           and people will think wrong about you, so you say, 'Okay, go.'
               In every human encounter you will see it happening -- people are throwing their authority all
           around; either bullying people or being bullied by others. And if somebody bullies you, you will
           immediately find some weaker person somewhere to take the revenge.
               If your boss bullies you in the office, you will come home and bully your wife. And if she is not
           a lib movement woman, then she will wait for the child to come home from the school, and she will
           bully the child. And if the child is old-fashioned, not american, then the child will go to his room and
           crush his toys, because that is the only thing he can bully. He can show his power on the toy. But this
           goes on and on. This seems to be the whole game. This is what real politics is.
               To get out of the political mind is the meaning of this sutra:

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO ABUSE ONE'S AUTHORITY.


              So whenever you have some authority.... And everybody has some authority or other. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot find a person, you cannot find the last person who has no authority; even he has some
           authority, even he has a dog he can kick. Everybody has some authority somewhere. So, everybody
           lives in politics. You may not be a member of any political party; that doesn't mean that you are not
           political. If you abuse your authority, you are political. If you don't abuse your authority, then you
           are non-political.
               Become more aware not to abuse your authority. It will give you a very new light -- how you
           function -- and it will make you so calm and centered. It will give you tranquillity and serenity.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE EVEN-MINDED AND SIMPLE-HEARTED IN ALL ONE'S DEALINGS WITH
              OTHERS.


                It is very difficult, because people are cunning. If you are simple-hearted, you will be cheated.
                Buddha says, be cheated. It is better to be cheated than to cheat. If these are the only alternatives
           -- to be cheated or to cheat -- then Buddha says choose the first, be cheated. At least your inner being
           will remain uncorrupted.
                That is the meaning when Jesus says, 'If somebody hits, slaps your face, then give him the other
           side also. If somebody forces you to carry his load for one mile, go two miles. And if somebody tries
           to steal your coat, give him your shirt also.'
                The whole meaning is this: that it is better to be cheated, because when somebody is cheating
           you, he can cheat you only of immaterial things, meaningless things. When you cheat somebody, you
           are losing something of your inner being... something which is tremendously valuable.

              IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO BE EVEN-MINDED AND SIMPLE-HEARTED IN ONE'S DEALINGS WITH
              OTHERS.


               It is very simple to be simple-minded when you are alone. That's why many people go to the
           Himalayas or to the monasteries where they drop out of the world. It is very simple not to cheat
           when you are alone. It is very simple to be simple when you are alone -- but what is the point?
               Of course, when you are alone you cannot be dishonest. Of course, when you are alone you
           cannot lie. Of course, when you are alone you cannot be egoistic, you cannot be competitive, you
           cannot deceive, you cannot hurt. But that doesn't mean that you have changed and transformed. The
           real test is in the world.
               So, never leave the world -- change yourself. It is very easy to change the circumstances, but that
           is not the real thing -- change your consciousness.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE THOROUGH IN LEARNING AND EXHAUSTIVE IN INVESTIGATION.


               Mind tends to be lazy -- all laziness is in the mind. Mind wants to avoid any effort. That's why
           mind does not want to move in new dimensions. It remains clinging to the old, to the familiar,
           because it knows it is very efficient there. It has a certain proficiency and skill. Now, once you have
           settled, you don't want to change it.
               Many people go on living with a woman or with a man, not because they love the man or the
           woman, but just because it is familiar. Now it will again be a trouble to move with another woman
           and start from ABC. They are simply lazy.
               People go on living the way they are living -- even if it is miserable, even if nothing exists out of
           it except anguish, but they continue, because at least it is familiar, known; they have become skillful
           about it. And they can go on sleeping.
           Mind is lazy. This laziness is one of the barriers.
           Buddha says:

              IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO BE THOROUGH IN LEARNING AND EXHAUSTIVE IN INVESTIGATION.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You have not even been thoroughly aware of your life, which is the most important thing here.
           You have not even investigated it -- what it is. You have taken it for granted, on the surface. All your
           knowledge about your life is borrowed. Whatsoever you know is not what you know -- it is from
           somebody else.
           I have heard:

               A student nurse was faced with the following question on an examination paper: 'Name five
           reasons why mothers' milk is better for babies than cows' milk.'
               She answered. First: because it is fresher. Second: because it is cleaner. Third: because the cats
           can't reach it. Fourth: because it is easier to take with you on journeys.
               Try as she would, she could not think of a fifth reason. You try... even these four are not reasons.
           In desperation, she glanced at the paper of a male student sitting next to her, and then wrote, Fifth:
           because it comes in such cute little containers.

              This is the way you borrow knowledge, looking here and there. This is all that you know. You
           have not looked directly. And unless you look direct, you will remain stupid, you will remain
           mediocre.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO SUBDUE SELFISH PRIDE.


               One of the most arduous things in life is not to think of oneself as extraordinary. Of course, this
           is the most ordinary thing in the world to think, because everybody thinks he is extraordinary.
           Everybody thinks he is extraordinary, so the feeling of being extraordinary is the most ordinary
           thing. Look around -- still you go on thinking that you are extraordinary.
               Buddha says it is very difficult, but if you really want to move on the path, start feeling... just be
           ordinary. Don't claim any extraordinariness.
               And this is the beauty of the whole thing -- the moment you become ordinary, you become
           extraordinary. The moment you don't claim that you are exceptional, you are exceptional... because
           the claim is so ordinary. Everybody is claiming he is unique, exceptional. People may say, may not
           say, but deep down they know who they are.
               Become alert. How can you be extraordinary? Either everybody is extraordinary, then you are
           also extraordinary -- but what is the point? If extraordinariness is just a common quality of
           everybody, then what is the point of claiming it? Either everybody is extraordinary, because
           everybody comes from the same source of existence, or everybody is ordinary, because everybody
           comes from the same source of existence.
               Whatsoever you think about you, think about others also. And whatsoever you think about
           others, think about yourself also. And then pride will disappear. Pride is always vain. Pride is always
           for wrong reasons. Pride is like a fever and you can never be healthy with it. It is a temperature.

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO FEEL CONTEMPT TOWARDS THE UNLEARNED.


               Buddha specifically mentions it. When you see somebody who is more ignorant than you, you
           suddenly feel a contempt. It is very difficult not to feel that contempt. Because when you see
           somebody more learned than you, you feel jealous. Both these things go together -- contempt for
           those who are behind you and jealousy for those who are ahead of you. Contempt and jealousy
           simply show that you are continuously comparing yourself with others.
               Never compare, because all comparison is foolish. Everybody is just like himself. What is the
           point of comparing? Who are you to compare? And who are you to fix a criterion -- to decide who is
           learned and who is not learned? Who are you to make a criterion who is beautiful and who is not
           beautiful? Who are you? Why should you judge? Jesus says, 'Judge ye not.'

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE ONE IN KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Unless the knowledge is your own, there will always be a rift between what you know and what
           you do. Because whatsoever you do cannot be transformed by knowledge gathered from others; it
           cannot be changed by borrowed knowledge. It changes only when your insight flowers. It is difficult
           to have a synthetic, harmonious life between what you know and what you do.
                Watch it. Whatsoever you do, in fact, that is indicative that only that is what you know.
           Whatsoever you know and you don't do, that you don't know at all. Drop it, throw it! It is rubbish!
           Watch your doing, because that is your real knowledge.
                You say anger is bad and you don't want to do it, but then somebody insults and you become
           angry and you say, 'What to do? In spite of me I became angry. I know very well that anger is bad,
           poisonous, destructive. I know it, but what to do? -- I became angry.'
                If you come to me, I will say, 'You don't know that anger is poisonous. You have heard about it.
           Deep down you know that anger is necessary; deep down you know that without anger you will lose
           your standing, everybody will be bullying you. Without anger, you will not have any spine; your
           pride will be shattered. Without anger, how can you exist in this world of continuous struggle for
           survival?' This is what you know, but you say, 'I know anger is poisonous.'
                Buddha knows anger is poisonous. You have heard Buddha, you have listened to Buddha, you
           have learned something from him -- but that is his knowledge.
                Whatsoever is your doing, remember -- it is your knowing. Go deep into your doing to find out
           exactly what you know. And if you want to transform your doing, then borrowed knowledge won't
           do. If you really want to know what anger is, go into it, meditate over it, taste it in many ways, allow
           it to happen inside you, be surrounded by it, be clouded by it, feel all the pang and the pain and the
           hurt of it, and the poison, and how it brings you low, how it creates a dark valley for your being, how
           you fall into hell through it, how it is a downward flow. Feel it, know it. And that understanding will
           start a transformation in you.
                To know truth is to be transformed. Truth liberates -- but it must be your own.

              IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO EXPRESS AN OPINION ABOUT OTHERS.


               Very difficult. We go on unconsciously expressing our opinion about others. Do you know
           others? You don't know even yourself. How foolish it is to express opinions about others. You may
           have known somebody for a few days. You know his name, you know how he walks; you have
           known him in a few situations -- how he acts -- but do you know him ? He is a vast continent. You
           have known only a fragment of it.
               It is as if a page torn from the Bible has come in your hands... winds have brought it to you, torn
           apart... and you read a few sentences. They are also not complete -- somewhere one word is missing,
           somewhere the ink has been washed by the rain water, somewhere mud has settled... and then you
           decide about Jesus, or you decide about Christianity. It will be foolish.
               It is as if you are brought into a movie which is going on. You enter from one door, you look at
           the movie, and you go out through the other door; just for a few seconds you are inside -- and you
           decide about the whole story. It will be foolish. It will be sheer stupidity on your part. In fact, you
           will not decide. You will say, 'I have not seen the whole movie. I don't know what went before, what
           was coming afterwards, and I have only been here in the movie hall for a few seconds; just a few
           pictures were there, they are almost irrelevant to me -- I don't know the context.'
               That's how we know persons. A life is a tremendously rich phenomenon. One never knows,
           because only a part of it comes in the actions, only the tip of the iceberg -- the real thing remains
           inside. What you do is a very small tiny part of what you are. What you do is a very small part of
           what you think, of what you feel, of what you dream, of what you fantasize, of what goes on inside
           your being... just fragments.
               Buddha says, IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO EXPRESS AN OPINION ABOUT OTHERS -- but
           take the challenge. Resist the temptation. Don't express your opinions about others and you will
           grow in understanding. Because your opinion becomes a barrier to understanding; it becomes a
           prejudice.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IT IS BY RARE OPPORTUNITY THAT ONE IS INTRODUCED TO A TRUE SPIRITUAL TEACHER.


               In fact, to be introduced to a true spiritual teacher is a very unique phenomenon.
               First, nobody is searching truth. Even if a master passes you by, you will remain completely
           oblivious of his existence. That's how it happened when Buddha passed. Millions of people remained
           oblivious. When Jesus passed, people had not even heard his name. He was an unknown figure.
           When Mahavir was here, very rare souls came in contact with him.
               Because you can come in contact with a master only when you are really seeking truth intensely,
           passionately; when you have mumuksha, a fiery desire to know, and you are ready to stake
           everything for it.
               When you are ready to know, when you are ready to become a disciple, only then can you come
           into the contact of a master, only then can you be introduced to the world of a master. Your readiness
           to become a disciple will be your introduction.
               It is very difficult to become a disciple. It is easy to become a student, because a student has no
           personal relationship. He comes to know things. You go to the university, you are a student. If you
           come to me as a student, you will miss me, because then you hear only what I say, and you will
           collect it as information; you will become more knowledgeable. But if you really want to come to
           me, you have to come to me as a disciple.
               A disciple is one who says, 'I don't know anything. I surrender totally, utterly. I will be just
           receptive. I trust. I am ready to annihilate myself. If you say, "Jump into the fire," I will jump.'
               A disciple means one who is ready to trust somebody... very difficult... ready to drop himself,
           ready to go with somebody into the unknown, uncharted world. Only a very courageous soul
           becomes a disciple. To learn, one needs to be humble. To learn, one needs to be totally empty,
           receptive, sensitive, meditative.
               A student needs concentration, a disciple needs meditation. Concentration means he has to listen
           correctly to what is being said. Meditation means you have to be present rightly; not only listen
           rightly -- that is only a small part of it.
               You have to be here with me present rightly, in tune, in harmony, in deep rapport, en rapport, so
           my heart can beat with your heart, so you can breathe with my breathing, so you can vibrate with my
           frequency.
               A moment comes between the master and the disciple when they both start vibrating in the same
           rhythm. Then something is transferred, then something transpires between them. That which cannot
           be said can be transferred in those moments. That which cannot be expressed can be handed over in
           those moments. A transmission beyond scripture... that's how zen buddhists express it... a
           transmission beyond scripture, a transmission immediate, direct.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO GAIN AN INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE OF BEING, AND TO PRACTISE THE
              WAY.


               DIFFICULT TO GAIN AN INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE OF BEING -- because one has to
           go inwards. Outwards we go easily. To go outward is to go downward; it is easy. To go inward is to
           go upward. It is an uphill task, it is difficult.
               To go to others is simple -- the way of the world. To go to oneself is difficult -- it is not the way
           of the world, not the way of the crowd. Only very few people, rare souls, try to move inwards.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO GAIN AN INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE OF BEING AND TO PRACTISE THE
              WAY.


              First, it is difficult to have an insight into your own being, and then it is even more difficult to
           practise it, because then you will be practising nothingness. Then you will be walking as an
           emptiness. Then you will not be there.
              Because if you go into the deepest core of your being, you will find that man is like an onion --
           you go on peeling it, layer upon layer... go on peeling it... and in the end only emptiness is left in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hand. Then you have come to the very core of the onion -- that is from where it has developed. Out
           of nothingness it has become something. Out of the immaterial, matter has arisen. Out of no-being,
           being has gathered.
               It is difficult to know it, first, because who wants to know that one is not? Who desires to
           disappear? Who longs for total ultimate death? It is difficult first to know it and then it is even more
           difficult to practise it -- because when you are nobody, nothing is left to practise.
               To walk like a Buddha is really the impossible. It happens. It is incredible, it cannot be believed.
           How does Buddha walk? Have you ever pondered over it? He has no desire to go anywhere, still he
           walks. He has no desire to do anything, still he lives. He has no desire to achieve anything, still
           every morning he gets up, starts helping people. He has nothing to achieve now, nowhere to go --
           then why does he go on breathing? He is practising nothingness. It is one of the most incredible
           phenomena -- to come to know that you are not and then still to exist.
               Many disappear. Those who disappear, Buddha calls them arhatas. When they come to know
           their inner emptiness, they simply dissolve into it. Then what is the point of even breathing? Why
           breathe? why eat? why drink? why be? They simply disappear.
               Those who try hard, knowing well that they are not, but who still try hard to help others...
           knowing well that others are just in dream, knowing well that others also don't exist in reality.... To
           have compassion on phantoms, to have compassion on shadows, and still make an effort to help
           them, is the most impossible thing. But it happens.
               You exist because of passion, desire. Buddha has to exist for compassion. He has no desire.
           There is nothing -- no future for him. All that has to happen has happened. Still he practises the way.
           He moves as alert as he wants you to move. He behaves in the way he wants you to behave.
               Jesus was leaving his disciples on the last night and he washed their feet and touched their feet.
           They were very embarrassed and they said, 'What are you doing, master?'
               And Jesus said, 'There is no need for me to touch your feet, but I am touching so that you will
           remember -- don't become too egoistic. Remember that your master touched your feet, so remember
           when people come to you as disciples, don't become too egoistic that you know and they don't know,
           that they are ignorant. Touch their feet.' Jesus says that just to help them to remember, he's touching
           their feet.
               Buddha says, 'I behave the way you should behave. Not that there is any more any discipline for
           me, but I go on behaving the way I would like you to behave. For you, still there is much to be done.'
               A Buddha is absolute freedom. He can be in any way, there is no problem. But still he goes on
           following. Every morning he sits in meditation. What compassion.
               Somebody, his great disciple Sariputta, asked Buddha, 'Why do you sit in meditation? Because
           you are twenty-four hours in meditation.'
               Buddha said, 'That's right, but if I don't sit, others will take advantage of it. They will think, "If
           Buddha is not meditating, why should we bother?"'
               Now he has nothing to meditate, but he sits under the tree every morning so that others can sit
           under the tree.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE OF BEING, AND TO PRACTISE THE
              WAY.
              IT IS DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW THE STEPS OF A SAVIOUR.


               Because to follow the steps of a saviour is to commit suicide. You have to dissolve yourself by
           and by. The closer you come to a saviour, the more you disappear, the more and more you disappear.
           When you come the closest, you are not there. One who is ready to dissolve is ready to become a
           disciple.

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE ALWAYS THE MASTER OF ONESELF.


              Small things prove you -- that you are a slave. Somebody insults -- and anger. You are simply
           proving that he is the master. He can insult any day and can create anger in you -- you are not the
           master of your anger. Somebody comes and flatters you and you smile. He has brought the smile in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you; he is the master. You are not the master.
           Buddha says it is very difficult, but try.
               I call you swamis. The word 'swami' means a master. Try in every way to remain a master. Don't
           allow anybody to manipulate you. Don't allow anybody to reduce you to just a mechanism. Remain
           master in every situation. And if you make effort, sooner or later you will start feeling a new power,
           a new surge of energy in you.

           And the last, the twentieth:

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THOROUGHLY THE WAYS OF BUDDHA.


                It is difficult because you are not a Buddha yet. Only the similar can understand, only the equal
           can understand. A Jesus can be understood only by a Jesus. A Buddha can be understood only by a
           Buddha.
                How can you understand? If you live in the valley, if you have the language of the valley, and
           somebody comes from the top of the hill where you have never been, and he talks about the sunlight
           and the clouds, and the beautiful colours of the clouds, and the flowers that bloom on the top of the
           hill, how will you understand?
                You know only the valley, the darkness, and your crawling life. You will misinterpret, you will
           translate whatsoever he is saying into the language of your valley. That's why Buddhas say, 'Come,
           come with us. Come to the reality we exist at. Come to the top. There only will you be able to
           understand it.' It is not a question of logical discourse; it is a question of changing and transforming
           your plane of being.
                Whatsoever I am saying to you, you can listen to it. In a certain intellectual way you can
           understand it also, but you will always feel puzzled. You will always feel that this man is talking in
           contradictions. Sometimes he says this, sometimes he says that. You will always remain in a
           confusion.
                Just the other night a sannyasin came to me and she said, 'I was never so confused as I have
           become listening to you.'
                I said, 'That's right. You were thinking that you know. Now you know that you don't know. You
           were thinking that everything is okay. Now you know -- nothing is okay. You were thinking that this
           valley is all that exists. Now you know there are unknown peaks. Now the challenge has penetrated
           your heart. Now the desire has arisen and much has been stirred by the desire. You don't know what
           those peaks are, but you have started longing for those peaks.'
                Confusion is bound to happen, because the language of the valley and the language of the peak
           are two different languages. There has been a meeting between the two; chaos has arisen.
                'But don't be bothered by it,' I told her.'Start moving towards the direction I am indicating, and as
           you move higher, your confusion will start changing into a fusion. Confusion will be left behind in
           the valley. By the time you reach the peak, everything will be crystal-clear.'

              IT IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THOROUGHLY THE WAYS OF BUDDHA.


               It is enough if you can even understand a bit of it. Try hard. Don't leave any stones unturned. Try
           hard to understand. Knowing well it is almost impossible -- but try hard. By your very effort, you
           will become integrated. A center will be born in you, and that center will become a transforming
           point.
               One day you are all destined to be Buddhas. The whole thing will be understood only on that
           day, not before it. You will have to grope in the dark, but don't be lazy -- grope.
               The door is there, certainly. If you go on groping, you are bound to find it. The hill exists. If you
           take courage and start moving beyond the valley, you are bound to reach.
               Yes, arduous is the path, dangerous is the path, but that is the only way one matures, grows and
           attains to life abundant.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #2
                                        Chapter title: Happy for no reason
           1 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609010
              ShortTitle: TRANS202
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 108 mins




              WHY AM I ALWAYS DAYDREAMING ABOUT THE FUTURE?


               THE QUESTION IS FROM GAYATRI. It is not only you, Gayatri, who is continuously
           daydreaming; everybody is doing that. Human mind as such is a daydreaming faculty. Unless you go
           beyond the mind, you will continue to daydream. Because the mind cannot exist in the present. It can
           either exist in the past or in the future. There is no way for the mind to exist in the present. To be in
           the present is to be without mind.
               You try it. If there is a silent moment when no thought is crossing your being, your
           consciousness, when the screen of consciousness is absolutely unclouded, then suddenly you are in
           the present. That is the moment, the real moment -- the moment of reality, the moment of truth. But
           then there is no past and no future.
               Ordinarily, time is divided into these three tenses: past, present, future. The division is basically
           wrong, unscientific. Because present is not part of time. Past and future only are parts of time.
           Present is beyond time. Present is eternity.
               Past and future are part of time. Past is that which is no more, and future is that which is not yet.
           Both are non-existential. Present is that which is. The existential cannot be a part of the
           non-existential. They never meet, they never cross each other's way. And time is mind; past
           accumulated is what your mind is.
               What is your mind? Analyse it, look into it. What is it? -- just the past experiences piled up,
           accumulated. Your mind is just a blanket term, an umbrella term; it simply keeps, holds, your whole
           past. It is nothing else. If by and by you take your past out of the bag, the bag will disappear.
               If past is the only reality for the mind, then what can the mind do? One possibility is that it can
           go on chewing, rechewing the past again and again. That's what you call memory, remembrance,
           nostalgia. You go again and again backwards; again and again to the past moments, beautiful
           moments, happy moments. They are few and far between, but you cling to them. You avoid the ugly
           moments, the miserable moments.
               But this you cannot do continuously because this is futile; the activity seems to be meaningless.
           The mind creates a 'meaningful' activity -- that's what daydreaming about the future is.
               The mind says, 'Yes, past is good, but past is finished; nothing can be done about it. Something
           can be done about the future because it is yet to come.' So you choose out of your past experiences
           those which you would like to repeat again, and you drop experiences that were very miserable,
           painful; that you don't want to repeat in the future.
               So your future dreaming is nothing but past modified, better arranged, more decorated, more
           agreeable, less painful, more pleasant. This your mind goes on doing. And this way you go on
           missing reality.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Meditation simply means a few moments when you are not in the mind, a few moments when
           you slip out of the mind. You slip in reality, in that which is. These existential moments are so
           tremendously ecstatic that once you taste them, you will stop daydreaming.
               Daydreaming will continue unless you start tasting meditation. Unless you are nourished on
           meditation, you will go on starving and hankering for some food in the future. And you know the
           future is not going to bring it, because today was future just one day before. Yesterday it was future,
           and you were daydreaming about it. Now it is there. What is happening? Are you happy? Yesterday
           was also one day in the future. The past was all part of future one day, and it has slipped -- and the
           future will also slip. You are befooling yourself in daydreaming.
               Become a little more aware and try to bring your consciousness more and more to the facticity of
           existence. See THIS flower, don't think about THAT flower. Listen to THIS word I am uttering, not
           to THAT word that I am going to utter. Look at me right now. If you postpone even for a single split
           moment, you miss me.
               And then it becomes a habit, a very ingrained habit. Tomorrow also you will miss me, and the
           day after tomorrow also, because you will remain the same. Not only that -- your habit of
           daydreaming will have become more strong.
               I was reading the other night a beautiful japanese story. Such stories exist in all the folktales of
           the world, on similar patterns. It is a beautiful story. Listen to it.

               There was once a man who hewed stones from the rock. His labour was very hard and he
           laboured much, but his wages were slight and he was not content.
               Who is content? Not even emperors are content, so what to say about a stone-cutter? His work
           was certainly hard and the payoff was almost nothing.
               He sighed because his labour was hard, and he cried, 'Oh, I wish I was rich so I could rest on a
           couch with a cover of silk.' And an angel came from heaven, saying, 'You are what you have said.'
               And this really happens -- not only in parables and stories; it happens in real life. Whatsoever
           you think about yourself, starts happening. You create your world by your thought, you create your
           world by your desire. Whatsoever you insist on, starts happening. Reality goes on cooperating with
           you. It waits for the moment, for the day, when you will cooperate with it. Until then, it goes on
           cooperating with you.
               And the angel said, 'You are what you have said.' And he was rich, and he did rest on a couch,
           and the cover was of silk, and the king of the land went by with horsemen in front of his carriage and
           behind the carriage there were also horsemen, and a golden parasol was held over the head of the
           king.
               And when the rich man saw this, he was vexed that no golden parasol was held over his own
           head and he was not content. He sighed and cried, 'I wish to be a king.' And the angel came again
           and he said, 'You are what you have said.'
               And he was king and many horsemen rode in front of his carriage, and there were also horsemen
           behind his carriage and a golden parasol was held over his head, and the sun shone hot rays and
           scorched the earth so that the grass shoots withered. And the king complained that the sun burned his
           face and that it excelled him in power and he was not content. He sighed and cried, 'I wish to be the
           sun.' And the angel came and he said, 'You are what you have said.'
               And he was the sun and he directed his rays upward and down, to the right and to the left --
           everywhere -- and he scorched the grass shoots on earth, and the countenances of kings who were on
           earth.
               And a cloud placed itself between him and the earth, and the rays of the sun bounced back from
           it and he grew wrathful that his power was resisted. He complained that the cloud excelled him in
           power and he was not content. He wished to be the cloud, which was so powerful, and the angel
           came and he said, 'You are what you have said.'
               And he became a cloud and placed himself between the sun and the earth and caught the rays so
           that the grass grew green. The cloud rained large drops on the earth causing the rivers to swell and
           floods to carry the houses away, and he destroyed the fields with much water. He fell upon a rock
           which did not yield, and he splashed in great streams, but the rock did not yield, and he grew
           wrathful because the rock was not yielding to his power, and the power of his streams was in vain
           and he was not content.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He cried, 'That rock has been given power which excells mine. I wish to be the rock.' And the
           angel came and he was the rock, he did become the rock, and did not move when the sun shone nor
           when it rained.
               And then there was a man with a pick and with a chisel and with a heavy hammer, and he hewed
           stones out of the rock and the rock said, 'How can it be that this man has power that excells mine and
           hews stones out of my lap?' and he was not content.
               He cried, 'I am weaker than he. I wish to be that man.' And the angel came from heaven, saying,
           'You are what you have said.'
               And he was a stone-cutter again. And he hewed stones from the rock with hard labour, and he
           laboured very hard for small wages -- and he was content.

                I don't agree with the conclusion. That is the only disagreement with the story; otherwise the
           story is beautiful. I don't agree with the conclusion. Because I know people -- they cannot be so
           easily content. The wheel is complete. The story in a way has come to a natural end, but the real
           stories in life don't come to any natural end. The wheel again starts moving.
                That's why in India we call life 'the wheel'. It goes on moving, goes on repeating itself. As far as I
           can see, unless the stone-cutter became a Buddha, the story must have been repeated again. Again he
           will become discontent. Again he will long for a beautiful couch and a cover of silk, and again the
           same thing will start. But if this stone-cutter was really content, then he has jumped out of the wheel
           of life and death. He has become a Buddha.
                This is what goes on happening to each mind -- you long for something, it will happen, but by
           the time it happens you will see that you are still discontent. Something else is creating the misery
           now.
                This is something to be understood -- that if your desire is not fulfilled, you are frustrated; if it is
           fulfilled, then too you are not fulfilled. That is the misery of desire. Fulfilled, you are not fulfilled.
           Suddenly many new things arise.
                You had never thought that when you will be a king, and horse-men will be in front of you and at
           the back of you, and a golden parasol will be over your head, the sun can be so hot that it can scorch
           your face. You had never thought about it. Then you dreamed of becoming a sun, and you become a
           sun, and you had never thought about the cloud. Now the cloud is there -- and proving you impotent.
                And this goes on and on and on, like waves in the ocean... non-ending -- unless you understand
           and simply jump out of the wheel.
                Life is here, life is now. God is here and god is now. If you are searching him in your daydreams,
           your search is in vain, because god is nothing but deep contentment.
                The mind that goes on telling you, 'Do this, be that. Possess this, possess that... otherwise how
           can you be happy if you don't have this? You have to have a palace, then you can be happy....' If
           your happiness has a condition to it, you will remain unhappy. If you cannot be happy just as you are
           -- a stone-cutter... I know hard is the labour, wages are poor, life is a struggle, I know -- but if you
           cannot be happy as you are, in spite of it all; if you cannot be happy, you are not going to be happy
           ever.
                Unless a man is happy, simply happy, for no reason at all, unless a man is mad enough to be
           happy without any reason, a man is not going to be happy ever. You will always find something
           destroying your happiness. You will always find something missing, something absent. And that
           missing will become your daydream again.
                And you cannot achieve a state where everything, everything is available. Even if it is possible,
           then too you will not be happy. Just look at the mechanism of the mind: if everything is available as
           you want it, suddenly you will feel bored. Now what to do?
                I have heard this -- and I think it is reliable -- that people who have reached heaven are bored --
           it is from very reliable sources, you can depend on it -- they are sitting under their kalptarus, the
           wish-fulfilling trees, and they are bored. Because the moment they say something, the angel appears,
           and immediately he fulfills their desire. There is no gap between their desire and their fulfillment.
           They want a beautiful woman, a Cleopatra, and she is there. Now what to do with such a Cleopatra?
           It is pointless -- and they get bored.
                In Indian Puranas there are many stories of devas who became so bored in heaven that they
           started longing for the earth. They have everything there. When they were on the earth, they were
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hankering for heaven. They may have been great ascetics, they may have renounced the world,
           women, everything, to attain to heaven. Now they have reached heaven; now they are hankering for
           the world.
           I have heard:

               The pilot of a new jet plane was winging over the Catskills and pointed out a pleasant valley to
           his second-in-command.
               'See that spot?' he demanded. 'When I was a barefoot kid, I used to sit in a flat-bottomed rowboat
           down there, fishing. Every time a plane flew by, I would look up and dream I was piloting it. Now I
           look down and dream I am fishing.'

               Now he has become a pilot. First he was a poor boy, fishing, and jet planes would roar above and
           he would look up and he would dream that 'one day, god willing, I will become a pilot'. The thrill of
           the open sky, the winds, the vastness.... He must have been dreaming, and he must have been feeling
           very miserable -- just a poor boy, fishing in an ordinary rowboat.
               And now he says to his second-in-command, 'Now I am the pilot. Now I look down and dream I
           am fishing.' Now the small, beautiful lake, deep down in the valley, with beautiful trees, and birds
           singing, and the meditative relaxation of fishing.... Now he must be dreaming how to get retirement,
           how to get rid of this piloting.
               That's how it goes on and on. When you are not famous you want to be famous. You feel very
           hurt that people don't know you. You pass through the streets -- nobody looks at you, nobody
           recognizes you. You feel like a non-entity.
               You do hard work to become famous. One day you become famous. Now you cannot move in
           the street. Now the crowd stares at you. You don't have any freedom. Now you have to remain
           closed in your chamber. You cannot get out, you are imprisoned. Now you start thinking about those
           beautiful days when you used to walk on the streets and you were so free... as if you were alone.
           Now you hanker for those days. Ask the famous people....
               Voltaire writes in his memoirs that once he was not famous -- as everybody was one day not
           famous -- and he desired and desired and he worked hard, and he became one of the most famous
           men in France. His fame increased so much that it became almost dangerous for him to go out of his
           room, because in those superstitious days people used to think that if you can get a piece of the
           clothes of a very great man, it becomes a protection; it has tremendous value, protective value. It
           protects you against ghosts, against bad accidents and things like that.
               So if he had to go to the station to catch a train, he would go under police escort, otherwise
           people would tear his clothes. Not only that -- his skin would be torn, and he would come home with
           blood flowing.
               He became so fed up with this fame -- that he could not even get out of his house; people were
           always there like wolves to jump upon him -- and he started praying to god, 'Finished! I have known
           this. I don't want it. I have become almost a dead person.' And then it happened. The angel came,
           must have come, and he said, 'Okay.' By and by his fame disappeared.
               People's opinions change very easily; they don't have any integrity. Just like fashion, things
           change. You can be famous one day, the next day you can become the most notorious man. One day
           you are at the top of your fame, the next day people completely forget about you. One day you are
           the president, the next day you are just citizen Richard Nixon. Nobody bothers.
               It happened that people's minds changed, the opinion, the climate changed, and people
           completely forgot about him. He would come to the station and he would long that at least someone,
           at least one person must be waiting there to receive him. And nobody would come to receive him --
           only his dog.
               When he died, there were only four persons giving him the last goodbye; three were men and the
           fourth was his dog. He must have died in misery, again hankering for fame. What to do? This is how
           things go on.
               Mind will never allow you to be happy. Whatsoever the condition, the mind will always find
           something to be unhappy about. Let me say it in this way: mind is a mechanism to create
           unhappiness. Its whole function is to create unhappiness.
               If you drop the mind, suddenly you become happy... for no reason at all. Then happiness is just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           natural, as you breathe. For breathing, you need not be even aware. You simply go on breathing.
           Conscious, unconscious, awake, asleep, you go on breathing. Happiness is exactly like that.
                That's why in the East we say that happiness is your innermost nature. It needs no outside
           condition; it is simply there, it is you. Bliss is your natural state; it is not an achievement. If you
           simply get out of the mechanism of the mind, you start feeling blissful.
                That's why you will see that mad people are more happy than so-called sane people. What
           happens to mad people? They also get out of the mind -- of course in a wrong way, but they get out
           of the mind. A madman is one who has fallen below the mind. He's out of the mind. That's why you
           can see that mad people are so happy. You can feel jealous. You can even daydream, 'When will this
           blessing happen to us?' He is condemned, but he is happy.
                What has happened to a madman? He is no more thinking of the past and no more thinking of the
           future. He has dropped out of time. He has started living in eternity.
                It happens the same way to the mystic also, because he goes above mind. I am not telling you to
           become mad, but I am telling you that there is a similarity between the madman and the mystic.
           That's why all great mystics look a little mad and all great mad people look a little like mystics.
                Watch a madman's eyes and you will find his eyes very mystic... a glow, some otherworldly
           glow, as if he has some inner door from where he reaches to the very core of life. He is relaxed. He
           may have nothing, but he is simply happy. He has no desires, no ambitions. He is not going
           anywhere. He is simply there... enjoying, delighting.
                Yes, madmen and mystics have something similar. That similarity is because both are out of the
           mind. The madman has fallen below it, the mystic has gone beyond it. The mystic is also mad with a
           method; his madness has a method in it. The madman has simply fallen below.
                I am not saying become mad. I am saying become mystics. The mystic is as happy as the mad
           and as sane as the sane. The mystic is as reasonable, even more reasonable, than so-called rationalist
           people, and yet so happy, just like mad people. The mystic has the most beautiful synthesis. He is in
           a harmony. He has all that a reasonable man has. He has both. He is complete. He is whole.
                You ask, Gayatri, WHY AM I ALWAYS DAYDREAMING ABOUT THE FUTURE? You are
           daydreaming about the future because you have not tasted the present. Start tasting the present. Find
           out a few moments where you are simply delighting.
                Looking at the trees, just be the look. Listening to the birds, just be a listening ear. Let them
           reach to your deepest core. Let their song spread all over your being. Sitting by the side of the beach,
           just listen to the wild roar of the waves, become one with it... because that wild roar of the waves has
           no past, no future. If you can tune yourself with it, you will also become a wild roar. Hug a tree and
           relax into it. Feel its green shape rushing into your being. Lie down on the sand, forget the world,
           commune with the sand, the coolness of it; feel the coolness saturating you. Go to the river, swim,
           and let the river swim within you. Splash around, and become the splashing.
                Do whatsoever you feel you enjoy, and enjoy it totally. In those few moments, the past and future
           will disappear and you will be herenow. And those moments will bring the first good news, the first
           gospel of god.
                The gospel is not in the Bible. The gospel is in the rivers and in the wild roar of the ocean and in
           the silence of the stars. The good news is written all over. The whole universe is a message. Decode
           it. Learn its language. Its language is that of herenow.
                Your language is that of past and future. So if you go on speaking the language of the mind, you
           will never be in tune, in harmony with existence. And if that harmony is not tasted, how can you stop
           daydreaming? -- because that is what your life is.
                It is as if a poor man is carrying a bag of ordinary stones, thinking that they are great diamonds,
           rubies, emeralds, and if you say to him, 'Drop these. You are a fool. These are just ordinary stones,'
           he cannot believe you. He will think you are tricking him. He will cling to it, because that's all he
           has.
                I will not say to that man to renounce his bag. I will try to show him real rubies, emeralds,
           diamonds. Just a glimpse of them and he will throw the bag. Not even that he will renounce it --
           because there is nothing to renounce; it is just ordinary stones. You don't renounce ordinary stones.
                He will simply become aware that he was living under an illusion. Now there are real diamonds.
           Suddenly his own stones fade, they disappear. And he will simply empty his bag immediately
           without your telling him, because now he has something else to put in the bag. He will need the bag,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the space.
               So I don't say to you, drop going into the future, drop going into the past. Rather, I would like to
           say to you, make more contacts with the present. When present arises with its grandeur, its beauty,
           everything pales down. Renunciation follows awareness like a shadow.


              IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A TRICKSTER. IT ALSO SEEMS TO ME THAT I
              HAVE TO COOPERATE WITH YOUR TRICKS FOR MY OWN GOOD. IS THIS POSSIBLE? IS NOT
              THIS ALL A BIT CRAZY?


               You call it a bit crazy! It is absolutely crazy! And I have to be a trickster with you. Try to
           understand.
               If somebody is in an illusion, you cannot bring him out by talking about the truth. An illusion can
           be destroyed only by another illusion. Poison is to be destroyed by other poison. If you have a thorn
           in your foot, another thorn will be needed to take it out.
               All Buddhas are tricksters. You don't need reality; reality is already there. You just need a shock
           so that you can open your eyes, so that your eyes pop open and you can see. You just need a trick.
               Somebody is fast asleep. What do you do? You shake him, you put an alarm, and when the bell
           starts ringing, what are you doing? You are simply creating a disturbance. That's what all devices
           are. You are fast asleep. Not that reality is not there -- reality surrounds you -- but you are fast
           asleep.
               I am not here to give you the truth. Nobody can give you the truth. Truth you already have, but
           somehow you have tricked yourself into lies. Now you will need bigger, stronger lies to crush your
           lies. All philosophies are lies, devices, to help you to come out of your lies.
               A man was brought to me. He was very much afraid of ghosts. They were just in his imagination
           -- they are always in your imagination -- but just to say to him, 'This is your imagination,' was not
           going to help. Everybody was saying that to him. 'You are just imagining. Where are the ghosts? We
           don't see them.'
               And he was seeing them continuously; they were surrounding him. Somebody was standing on
           the right, somebody was standing on the left, somebody was standing at the back -- they were
           following him everywhere. It was impossible for him to sleep, it was impossible to be alone, because
           they were torturing him. Now what to do?
               Everybody had been saying to him that this was imagination. The doctor had said to him that this
           was imagination, the psychiatrist had said that nothing could be done, he was simply imagining, he
           had no real problem. But whether he had a real problem or not, you cannot deny his problem. He had
           a problem -- real, unreal, is immaterial. For him it was real. He was suffering; his suffering was real.
               When he came to me, I looked to his right and I said, 'Perfectly right, the man is there!' He
           smiled at me; I was the first man who understood him. And I said, 'By your left side also I can see
           people, and they are following you. How do you survive with so many ghosts?'
               He said, 'Nobody listens to me' -- but he relaxed. He touched my feet. He said, 'You are the only
           person, otherwise I go on proving and nobody listens. They say, "It is all imagination. You are in a
           sort of delusion. Drop imagination. There are nothing like ghosts."'
               But I said, 'I can see. Who are these people?' His father was with him, his wife was with him, and
           they became afraid when I said, 'Yes, they are there.' And he said to his father, 'Now, listen to what
           Osho is saying. And you were thinking I am a fool.' Now he gained his confidence.
               What I was saying was a lie; there were no ghosts -- but that is not the point. The man was
           suffering from lack of confidence, the man was suffering from fear. Now, just by accepting his lie... I
           am also a liar, I am saying, 'Yes, they are there'... I helped him to regain his confidence. He looked
           better, he looked stronger. Maybe the ghosts are there, but he is not wrong. Maybe the ghosts are still
           there, but he is not a fool, not an idiot. And I told him, 'Nothing to be worried about. There are
           methods; we will deal with them.'
               He said, 'That's what I am asking people. Help me! Give me something to deal with them.'
               'Don't be worried. And as I can see, they are not stronger than you.' Immediately his height was
           greater than before. He took a deep inhalation, his spine became erect. And I gave him just an
           ordinary locket, nothing in it, empty, and I told him, 'You just keep it with you. And whenever you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feel they are there, you just hold it in your hand, and they will start becoming afraid; they will be
           frightened and they will start rushing. Don't be worried, just hold it in your hand.'
                He tried and he laughed. He said, 'They are doing that. They are running away from me. Now I'm
           not afraid.'
                Just two weeks time and he was a normal man. When he was normal and the ghosts had
           disappeared and he had regained his normality, I told him, 'Now, give me that locket, because it has
           nothing in it.'
           He said, 'What do you mean?'
                I said, 'There were no ghosts. The medicine was as false as the disease.' But then he could
           understand. He laughed, he said,' But you tricked me out of it. If you had said the same thing to me
           fifteen days ago, I would have never listened to you, but now I know, and if you say, I believe.'
                I opened the locket; it was empty. I said, 'You can see; it is just empty. Just the idea that you
           have the power has helped. Now I would not like you to carry this locket forever, because now this
           will become a disease. If someday it is lost, you will start trembling, and those ghosts which have
           gone will come back because the locket is lost.'

               All your illusions are just illusions. They are illusions. You are not really ill; you have imagined
           illness. You have not really fallen away from god; you have only dreamed about it. You have never
           been expelled from the garden of Eden; you have only thought it that way. You are still in the garden
           of Eden. You still exist in the very heart of god. There is no way to get out of it. It is just your dream.
               How to destroy a dream? One has to be very very skillful about it. You cannot just say to people,
           'This is your dream'. They won't listen. Their eyes are so full of dream they won't be able to see. You
           have to accept their reality, only then can you help.
           I have heard:

               Once upon a time a young woman dreamed that a handsome prince rode up to her, scooped her
           up in his arms, kissed her, and rode off into the night with her.
               'Goodness!' she cried in a frightened voice. 'Where are you taking me?'
               'You tell me,' answered the prince sharply. 'It is your dream.'

               It is your illusion that you have gone astray, now I have to bring you home. It is your dream that
           you have forgotten god, and I have to remind you. It is your dream that you think that you are
           miserable, and I have to remind you that you are not.
               But just by saying that this is all maya, illusion, you will not be helped. I have to be very skillful
           about it. I have to persuade you. I have to be really a salesman. I have to persuade you by and by.
           Hurry will not help. Impatience will not help. If I say too much to you, you will not be able to absorb
           it.
               One man asked me once, 'Osho, you go on talking every day, morning and evening. How is it
           possible?'
               I said, 'All lies! So what is the difficulty in it? If I am talking only truth, then there is not that
           much truth to talk every morning, every evening. That much truth does not exist!'
               You have some lie in your life; I create another lie, an antidote. Once both the lies come in
           contact, they cross each other, they cancel each other. You are left with the truth.
               I am not saying the truth. If you listen to me, my lie will kill your lie and the truth will be left
           behind.
               Truth is there. I cannot give it to you. Nobody can give it to you. You are truth, so all that I can
           do is to create antidote lies for you -- that's what all religions are.
           The day you will understand, you will laugh.
               When Bodhidharma attained to his enlightenment, it is said he started laughing. The laughter was
           mad, he could not contain. He was rolling on the ground. Other bodhisattvas gathered, other seekers
           gathered, and said, 'What is happening to you?'
               He said, 'It is absolutely ridiculous. I cannot believe that truth was never lost, that we had only
           imagined that we had lost. And then comes this Buddha, this trickster, and he says, "Come here!
           Behold! This is the truth!" and he hands you another lie. But it helped tremendously. Both the lies
           cancelled each other.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And of course, when you come against the lie created by a Buddha, you cannot win. Your lie is
           very amateurish. When a Buddha lies, it is perfect and professional. He lies very knowingly and
           deliberately.

               A magician performed brilliantly in the salon of an ocean liner. On this ship was a parrot who
           hated the magician. Every time the magician did a trick, the parrot would scream, 'Phoney! Phoney!
           Take him away!'
               In the course of the voyage, the ship sank. The parrot and the magician ended up on a long plank.
           One day passed, they said nothing -- they were enemies. Two days passed, still they said nothing.
           Finally the parrot could down his suspicions no longer. He glared at the magician and squeaked, 'All
           right, wise guy. You and your damn tricks! What did you do with the ship?'

              One day it is going to happen between you and me... the whole ship, the whole ship you call
           sansar, the world. What I am doing is just sabotaging.

           IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A TRICKSTER.

           Perfectly true.

           IT ALSO SEEMS TO ME THAT I HAVE TO COOPERATE WITH YOUR TRICKS FOR MY
           OWN GOOD.

           Perfectly true. There is no way to escape.

           IS THIS POSSIBLE?

           It is already happening.

           IS NOT THIS ALL A BIT CRAZY?

               It is absolutely crazy. But you are crazy and only a crazy master can help you.
               One day you will realize the tremendous compassion of all those who have become awakened to
           the truth. It is their compassion that they go on devising methods for you, knowing well that in fact
           no method is needed. But, looking at you, it seems almost impossible that you will be able to come
           out of your dreams and illusions without methods. You have gone too far.
               And if you are left alone, you will go on farther and farther away, because one thing leads to
           another; it is a chain thing. If you understand, then there is no need for any device. If you understand,
           in that very moment you have already arrived, because you had never departed.

               Higgins lived in Staten Island, New York, and worked in Manhattan. He had to take the
           ferry-boat home every night. One evening he got down to the ferry and found there was a wait for
           the next boat, so he decided to stop at a nearby bar. Before long, Higgins was feeling no pain.
               When he got back to the ferry slip, the ferryboat was just eight feet from the dock. Higgins,
           afraid of missing this one and being late for dinner, took a running leap and landed right on the deck
           of the boat.
               'How did you like that jump, buddy?' said Higgins to a deck-hand.
               'It was great,' said the sailor. 'But why didn't you wait. We were just pulling in.'

               That's what one day you are going to realize. That in fact there was no need to jump. But right
           now it is difficult and that's why I go on telling you, 'Jump! Take a quantum leap!' knowing well the
           boat is just coming in. But you are drunk, you are almost unconscious. You don't know what is going
           and what is coming. You don't know what is in and what is out. Everything is mixed, is in a chaos
           and a confusion in you. Hence religions are needed.
               If some day man becomes healthy, silent, aware, religions will disappear from the world; they
           will not be needed. Religions don't show that the world is in a good shape; they simply show that the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world is in a very bad shape. If in your house every day a doctor is needed, then things are not going
           good. When for years the doctor is not needed, then things are going good.
               One hindu monk came to see me once, and he said that this country -- as Hindus always go on
           declaring, claiming -- that this country is the most religious country in the world. I asked him, 'Why?
           What is the evidence for it?'
               He said, 'Evidence, you ask me? It is so clearcut. All the twenty-four teerthankaras of the Jainas
           were born here, twenty-four Buddhas were born here, all the avataras of Hindus were born here. God
           has come to this earth so many times. Is not it a proof that this country is religious?'
               I said, 'This is simply a proof that this country must be very anti-god. Otherwise what is the need
           of god coming so many times here? Krishna himself in Gita says,' I told him 'that whenever there
           will be darkness, and whenever there will be evil in the world, he will come. What does it show? --
           that whenever he comes, things are wrong. And he has been coming to India so many times. That
           simply shows that India must be in a very irreligious state, very ill. The doctor has to come again and
           again.'

               In a healthy world, religion will disappear. Just as in a healthy world, psychoanalysis will
           disappear. If people are really happy, then all methods to make them happy will be irrelevant. Then
           priests and temples and churches will not be needed. Then by and by people will start forgetting
           about Jesus, Buddha, Christ, Krishna. There will be no need.
               That's what Lao Tzu says. 'When in the ancient days people were really religious, nobody had
           ever heard of religion.' True. Says Lao Tzu, 'In the ancient days, when people were simple, nobody
           had ever heard about saints, because everybody was a saint, a saintly soul. When people became ill,
           evilish, then saints became important in contrast.'
               Maybe it was so in the beginning, or maybe it was not so. At least this much we can hope -- that
           in the end this must be so. A day must come when all devices are useless. For humanity maybe it
           will take a long time to come, but for you, individually, it can come any moment. This moment is as
           much open for its coming as any other moment.
               Just look at the fact -- that you go on creating illusions around you. Don't create those illusions.
           And then no devices are needed, no yoga is needed, no discipline is needed, no character is needed.
           Just don't create your illusions. Then all medicinal arrangements become futile. You can go and
           throw all of them on the junkyard. Then you are simply a being, in tune with the whole.


              BEFORE TAKING SANNYAS, I WAS ON THE VERGE OF COMMITTING SUICIDE. NOW I AM TOO
              HAPPY TO SAY, BUT STILL I AM SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW. OSHO, AFTER
              ALL, WHAT DO I WANT? PLEASE SAY SOMETHING.


               Sannyas is a real suicide.You say, BEFORE TAKING SANNYAS I WAS ON THE VERGE OF
           COMMITTING SUICIDE. You have committed it -- and you have committed it on a deeper plane.
           Destroying the body would not have helped much. You would have been born again in a similar
           pattern of body, because your mind would have remained the same.
               By committing suicide, by jumping into a river, or in the ocean, or from a hilltop, you can
           destroy the physical part of you. But your physical part is not basic, your mental part is the base.
           Your mental part carries the blueprint for the physical. Your mind will jump into another womb and
           will start gathering another physical part. It will be born again.
               Suicide is useless. I am not against suicide because it is a crime. I am against suicide because it is
           futile, it is foolish. It is stupid.
               If you really want to commit suicide, then become a sannyasin. Then you will be destroying the
           mind, the deep blueprint for your future lives. That's what Buddha said -- become a srotapanna, enter
           the stream. Rather than jumping from the cliff, rather than jumping into the ocean and dying a
           physical death, jump into a Buddha and die a spiritual death. That's what sannyas is all about --
           dying in me. It is carrying your own cross.
               If you are really fed up with your life, then destroy the very possibility of its being repeated again
           and again. Become a srotapanna. Then you will become a skridagamin; once more you will come.
           Then you will become an anagamin; no more you will come.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The anagamin is the one who has committed real suicide. He never comes back. He is really
           finished with the world, he has closed his accounts with the world. He has now far better ways of
           being. He does not come into this mess, he does not descend into this darkness, this ugly hell. He
           goes on soaring higher and higher towards the very source of light.
               You say, BEFORE TAKING SANNYAS I WAS ON THE VERGE OF COMMITTING
           SUICIDE.
               In fact only a person who is on the verge of suicide can be a real sannyasin. When you are really
           fed up with life, bored with it, looking at its ridiculous absurdity, the vicious circle moving round
           and round and leading nowhere... when you understand that nothing is happening in it and you are
           unnecessarily suffering -- you are becoming more and more dark, heavy, weighty, you are losing
           wings; you are becoming more and more like a dead thing... when you see this -- that life is killing
           you, not making you really alive -- then two doors open: suicide or sannyas.
               Let me tell you, in the East, few people commit suicide. In the West, many more people commit
           suicide. The eastern people think that they are less suicidal, that's why it is so. Western psychologists
           think that the western mind is more suicidal, that's why it is so. Neither what the eastern people say,
           nor what western psychoanalysts say is the truth.
               The truth is that in the West, sannyas has disappeared, so whenever one is fed up with life only
           one alternative is available -- suicide. In the East, sannyas is as much an alternative as suicide. If you
           count sannyasins and the persons who commit suicide in the East, then the number will come exactly
           the same. There will be no difference.
               Sannyas is a transformation of life. Suicide is an escape from life. In both the ways you go
           beyond. In both the ways you get rid of this so-called life. But by suicide it is only a temporary thing
           -- again you will be back, again and again you will be back.
               With sannyas, the door opens. You may not come back, or, even if you come, you will come in a
           better way, more aware. Even if you come, you will come to learn something, to mature.
               In the East, the whole concept of growth is to grow out of life, to grow beyond life.
               Sannyas is creative, suicide is destructive. In suicide, you are simply doing something desperate.
           In sannyas, you are doing something very deliberate to transform your ways, your very style of life.
           In fact it is not with life that you are fed up it is with your way of life. It is not really with life that
           you are fed up -- because in fact you don't know what life is -- but with your pattern of life, the
           narrowing that you have made your life, the tunnel-like phenomenon that you have created out of
           your life, the imprisonment that you created out of your life.
               You don't know what life is, you know only a tunnel thing -- dark, dirty, confining, crushing,
           crippling, paralysing -- and in the end you see there is nothing but death. So what is the point of
           being tortured? Why not commit it today? If it is going to happen tomorrow, then why wait for
           tomorrow? That is the logic of the suicide.
               In fact people who commit suicide are more intelligent than those who never think about it. Only
           idiots never commit suicide; only idiots are never bored; only idiots never become aware of the
           futility of their life....
               Intelligent people are bound to think sometimes, 'What is the point of it all? Why am I going?
           For what? Nothing has happened, nothing seems to happen, nothing can be hoped out of it -- the
           whole thing seems to be hopeless. Then why go on?' The suicidal idea arises because of intelligence.
           So, I say, idiots never think about suicide; intelligent people think about suicide.
               But those who are really intelligent -- not moderately intelligent but at the very peak of their
           intelligence -- they think of sannyas. Because they think, 'This whole exists. If I am not able to find
           the meaning of it, maybe it is my style that is not allowing me to find the meaning of it. If I am not
           capable of being happy, maybe somewhere I have put conditions which don't allow me to be happy.
           Maybe there is another way to live.' That 'another way to live', that alternative way to live, is what
           sannyas is.
               'Can't I live non-ambitiously? Ambitiously I have lived and found misery comes, grows more,
           becomes intense... suffering and suffering and suffering. I have tried ambition. Now let me try
           non-ambition. Let me have a one hundred and eighty degree turn. Let me be converted.'
               Conversion means a one hundred and eighty degree turn, about turn. 'Greed I have tried. Now I
           will try no-greed. Possessiveness I have tried. Now I will try sharing. Mind I have tried. Now I will
           try no-mind, meditation. Sex I have tried. Now I will try love, compassion.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               'I have lived in an unnatural way -- the way the society has forced on me. Now let me try the
           natural way -- the way of tao, the way of dhamma, the way of rit. I have lived in conflict, struggle,
           fighting. Now let me try surrender. Now let me try let-go. I have been trying to go upstream. Now let
           me try going downstream, with the stream, wherever it leads.' This is what sannyas is.

               So, let me repeat. The most stupid person never thinks about suicide. Of course, he cannot even
           dream about sannyas. He has not that much intelligence to look into the futility of so-called life. In
           the middle are those intelligent people who become aware that life is futile, but who are not too
           intelligent to become aware that 'maybe it is just my style, not life itself'. They think of suicide and
           they sometimes commit suicide.

              Then there are the pinnacles of intelligence -- a Buddha, a Christ, a Lao Tzu, a Zarathustra --
           who immediately see the point: 'I am missing because my ways are wrong.' And they change their
           ways. They change their life pattern radically. That radical transformation is sannyas.

               I would like to say to you that you have really committed suicide -- and in a better way, in a very
           intelligent way; the way it should be committed. You have become a sannyasin.

           NOW I AM TOO HAPPY TO SAY, BUT STILL I AM SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING I DON'T
           KNOW.

               It happens. When you are a worldly man, you know what you are searching. You are searching
           money, better sex objects, power, prestige -- things are clear. You have been trained for them, you
           have been educated for them, you have been conditioned for them. Your mind knows what you are
           seeking. Your mind computer has been fed goals.
               When you become a sannyasin, you are really in a chaos for a few days -- because the old goals
           become meaningless and the new goal is not clear. In fact, sannyas is not going to give you a new
           goal. Once all the old goals disappear, suddenly you will see there is no goal.
               And one has to live life without any goal; then one lives tremendously beautifully. Because to
           live life with a goal means to live in the future. Then the stone-cutter wants to become the rich man,
           the rich man wants to become the emperor, the emperor wants to become the sun, and the sun wants
           to become the cloud, and the cloud wants to become the rock, and the rock again wants to become
           the stone-cutter. Then it is a wheel.
               When you don't want to become anybody, when you simply accept whosoever you are, when you
           drop all goals, all future orientations, all ends -- you drop time, you drop desire, you drop mind --
           then suddenly you are here and the whole universe is available... this great energy surrounding you,
           dancing around you, inviting you to participate with it.
               Sannyas is not a goal. Sannyas is an understanding that goals don't exist.
               The universe is always fulfilled. Not that the fulfillment has to happen somewhere else; it is
           already happening. That's why you will feel for a few days, 'After all, what do I want?' Old wants
           have disappeared and you have not yet become grounded into a no-wanting attitude.
           There is a zen story:

               There was once a red-haired man who had no eyes and no ears. He also had no hair, so he was
           called red-haired only in a manner of speaking. One has to call him something.
               He was not able to talk because he did not have a mouth. He had no nose either. He did not even
           have any arms or legs. He also did not have a stomach, and he did not have a back. And he did not
           have a spine, and he also did not have any other insides. He did not have anything in fact, so it is
           hard to understand who we are talking about. So we had better not talk about him any more.

               By and by.... First you call him the red-haired man, because one has to call him something.
               When you are moving in a worldly wheel, I invite you. I say, 'What are you doing there? Are you
           not going to try god?' You become greedy about god. You say, 'Okay. Here I am getting nothing,
           maybe there is something in god.' You jump out of the wheel. Then you ask me, 'What about god?'
               I say, 'In fact nobody knows anything about him, whether he existed or not. It is just a manner of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saying.' We call him the red-haired man because one has to call him something, mm?
               Then by and by you go along with me, and by and by the story is revealed to you -- 'There was
           once a red-haired man who had no eyes and no ears. He also had no hair, so he was called red-haired
           only in a manner of speaking. He was not able to talk because he did not have a mouth. He had no
           nose either. He did not even have any arms or legs....'
               By and by, the more you try to understand me, I become more and more truthful. The more I see
           that now you are getting in tune with me, there is no need to lie too much. 'He did not even have any
           arms or legs. He also did not have a stomach, and he did not have a back....'
               And when I see that you are not disturbed, you are listening to the story well up to now, then I
           say, '... and he didn't have a spine.' I have to move very cautiously because you can become afraid
           and go back to your wheel.
               'And he also did not have any insides...' When I see that up to now you have come... and of
           course you feel a little puzzled, but now the truth can be said...'He didn't have anything. So it is hard
           to understand who we are talking about. So we had better not talk about him any more.' About
           whom? -- about the red-haired man.
               Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, they start the story -- they talk about the red-haired man -- and
           Buddha ends it... nobody, not even you.
               He says, first drop ambition, drop desires. Don't think you are the body, don't think you are the
           mind; then don't think you are the self. Then in fact we should not talk about you because you are
           not.
               By and by we go on eliminating. First we say, drop worldly goals -- because it will be too much
           to tell you to drop all goals; you will not understand. You can understand that worldly goals should
           be dropped because you have suffered much and nothing has come out of it; you are frustrated. You
           say, 'Okay. I was also thinking to drop it.' And you say, 'Good, so I will change. I will drop the
           worldly goals. Now I will look for god, heaven and paradise.' And I go on laughing inside me. I say,
           'Okay, first drop these, then we will see.'
               Once you have dropped those, then by and by I will persuade you to drop god, self, nirvana,
           moksha. Because when every goal is dropped, then only you are in tune.
               The goal is a jarring note. The goal simply says you are missing. The goal says there is some
           condition which has to be fulfilled, only then can you become happy.
               When all goals disappear and life is not looked on as a desire project, when life is not thought of
           as a work and becomes play, leela, then... then you are at home. Then you have arrived.


               IF YOU TAKE GOSSIPING OUT OF SOCIAL INTERACTION, IT SEEMS LITTLE IS LEFT EXCEPT
               UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCES. SO WHAT IS SOCIALIZING ABOUT?


               Of course the question is from a woman.
           The woman exists with gossip. Man has many more things to do; gossiping is not all. Woman has
           nothing else to do, she has only gossiping.
               It is really difficult to think, conceive, of what is left if all gossiping is dropped. The questioner is
           right. It is from Deva Richa. She said 'then only uncomfortable silences are left'.
               Why do you feel uncomfortable about silence? Why is it so embarrassing?
               It is true, her insight is right. You always have felt it, everybody knows it. If you sit with
           somebody and you don't have anything to say, then one starts feeling embarrassed. One finds
           something to talk about. So people talk about weather, climate... useless. They both know that it is
           raining outside, so what is the point? Or it is a beautiful morning, so what is the point?
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin was travelling together with a friend for two days in a train without even a word
           passing between them. On the third day the friend at length ventured to remark that it was a fine
           morning. 'And who said it was not?' replied the Mulla. 'And who said it was not?'
               Silence is embarrassing because we have completely forgotten the dimension of silence.
           Whenever we are silent, it seems empty. It is not full of radiance, presence. When we are talking,
           there is something. When we are not talking, it is only absence of talk. Our silence is just absence of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           talk, that's why it is embarrassing, empty... not even a word to fill it. One feels very poor, stuck. But
           if you know really how to be silent, then it will not be embarrassing or uncomfortable.
                Sometimes it happens in your life also. Those moments are rare and one tends to forget them
           because they don't fit with your main pattern. Sometimes, sitting with a friend, there is no talk; you
           just enjoy each other's presence. It is not embarrassing, it is very fulfilling. It is not uncomfortable; in
           fact to talk in those moments will be uncomfortable. It will disturb that music that is flowing
           between the two. It will be an interference, a distraction, if you talk. You love a woman and you are
           sitting holding each other's hands on the beach or on the river or looking at the stars....
                Everybody must have come to a few moments when silence is communicative, when it is
           expressive of your heart; more than any word. When something transpires between two hearts, when
           some energy is transferred from one polarity to the other -- from yin to yang, from yang to yin --
           when suddenly you feel a link which is not verbal, a link which is existential; when suddenly you
           feel that you have become one energy throbbing with one rhythm... breathing together, being
           together, merging and melting into each other -- then silence is not uncomfortable. It is tremendously
           warm. It is not cold. You don't miss talk. In fact, if somebody starts talking you will feel offended. It
           will be sacrilege.
                But we have lost that dimension. We don't know how to be silent, we only know how to talk. We
           have been trained for talking. Parents, schools, colleges, universities -- they all train you for talking.
           And people who can talk skillfully become very important. In fact, talking seems to be the greatest
           art.
                If you cannot talk, you will never become a part of the society. If you cannot talk well, you will
           never become famous in any way. Poets, priests, politicians, all people who become important,
           significant, are really good talkers. The society knows only one way to communicate and that is talk.
           And the other way is completely lost.
                I am not against talking. How can I be? That would be against myself. I am not against talking,
           but if you don't know the dimension of silence, then your talk will be empty, then your talk will be
           just dead words. Then your words will be just like a goods train, carrying dead wood.
                If you know the dimension of silence, then your words become alive, because something of your
           silence can be carried by the words. When your words carry something of your innermost silence,
           are soaked in it, when some fragrance of that silence goes with the words towards you, only then
           words are meaningful, significant. Otherwise they are meaningless, otherwise they are just gibberish.
                I am in favour of both. I am not telling you to become dumb and not talk to anybody. I am telling
           you, sometimes be so silent that you have something to say. Be so silent that you experience
           something which can be conveyed. Otherwise what will you convey? Be silent, enjoy silence, and
           feel silence as presence, not as absence.
                Silence is presence of your awareness, your being. Fill your silence with your own presence,
           radiance, and feel it as a positive phenomenon; don't look at it just as absence of words. It is not
           absence. If you can be positively silent, if you can enjoy it, if you can rejoice it, you will be
           tremendously benefitted. And not only you -- others who come in contact with you, they will also be
           tremendously benefitted. Then sometimes be silent with them, when it is the season to be silent.
                There are moments when talking is dangerous, when silence is golden. There are moments when
           talking is beautiful; it is a poetry, it is expression. But remember always, first you must have
           something to express. And to have that you will need silence. Silence gives you the poetry; words
           can relate it to others.
                Then in your ordinary life find a few extraordinary moments of silence. Sitting under the tree on
           the bank of the river, or just sitting in your room doing nothing, just sitting, feeling silence,
           cherishing it, tasting it, being nourished by it, being so overflowingly silent that if somebody passes
           by with his head full of words, even he will have a breeze of silence....
                That's what happens when you sit near a master. His silence starts being infectious. It comes like
           a breeze, dances around you, soothes you, cools you, warms you, makes you more alive, makes you
           feel loved, cared for... as if a mother is just singing a lullaby.
                In the close affinity of a master, in satsanga, that is the real thing -- that something starts
           happening between two energies. The master starts falling into you like a waterfall... tremen-dously
           silent. And his silence makes you silent. And for the first time you have a few glimpses of what
           silence is. Then you have something to say, something to sing about, something to dance about.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I am not against talking, but your talking should not be empty. I am not even against gossiping. I
           myself gossip so much. But let your gossiping also be creative, not destructive. Let your gossiping
           also have a quality of poetry and creativity in it. Gossip about god. What are gospels? Gossips about
           god. Gossip about truth, gossip about beauty, gossip about grace, grandeur. Gossip about this wonder
           that surrounds you. Gossip about the unknown.
               What do you do with your gossiping? You are very destructive. People gossip only as a means to
           destroy others, to hurt others. Don't be aggressive; then nothing is wrong in gossiping.
               All the parables of Jesus are gossips, and all the stories of Mahavir and Buddha are gossips. All
           the puranas of the Hindus are tremendously beautiful gossips. It is impossible to improve upon them;
           they have done the last, the ultimate thing in gossiping.
               The West cannot understand it. They think these are just myths, stories, they are not true. That is
           not the point. Who said they are true? They are truer than truth. They are not just true. They are truth
           told in beautiful language so that people who cannot understand truth, even they can understand it.
           They are cosmic gossips. They are indicators of something beyond the known, beyond the word,
           beyond the expressed. They are fingers raised towards the ineffable.

           IF YOU TAKE GOSSIPING OUT OF SOCIAL INTERACTION, IT SEEMS LITTLE IS LEFT
           EXCEPT UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCES.

               Right now it will be so, because your social interacting is nothing but gossiping, criticizing,
           slandering. Your social interaction is nothing but subtle violence. If it is left, you don't know how to
           be silent. It will be uncomfortable, it will be embarrassing.
               First learn how to be silent. Learn it with trees and rocks. They are silent and they are not
           uncomfortable at all. Learn it from the stars. They are silent, not embarrassed at all. Learn what
           positive silence is. Be meditative; it will come to you.
               And then by and by stop destructive gossiping. Gossip about something beautiful. Gossip
           something about the really significant. Let your gossiping also be a sort of communication for that
           which cannot be communicated. And of course you will never feel embarrassed, and your social
           interaction will not be just an impotent gesture; it will be real communication.
           I have heard:

               Mulla Nasrudin's wife told him that he must stop exaggerating about 'the one that got away' and
           said that next time he did it in company, she would cough to remind him.
               Some friends called on them shortly afterwards and Nasrudin, after behaving himself for a while,
           suddenly said, 'I had this fish on my line last week. It must have been six feet long.' Just here his
           wife coughed loudly. 'And,' continued Nasrudin, 'half an inch wide.'

               I'm not saying to change it so abruptly. Go slowly. I'm not saying to be so abruptly dramatic.
           First learn silence, then learn what beautiful gossiping is, mm? Then start practising it. Not only you
           will be benefitted by it, others will also be benefitted by it.
               All beautiful poetry is gossiping. All beautiful story-telling is gossiping. Tell beautiful stories,
           invent beautiful stories, be a little creative. And that very thing will change your relationship with
           others. Your relationship will not be just a formality, it will become really intimate.


              OSHO, WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE YOU AS OUR GURU, OUR MASTER?


              I don't know anything about you, but I must have done terrible karma to deserve you!




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                      Chapter #3
                                         Chapter title: In accord with the way
           2 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609020
              ShortTitle: TRANS203
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 90 mins




               IN ACCORD WITH THE WAY
               A MONK ASKED THE BUDDHA: UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS IS IT POSSIBLE TO COME TO THE
               KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST AND TO UNDERSTAND THE MOST SUPREME WAY?

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               THOSE WHO ARE PURE IN HEART AND SINGLE IN PURPOSE ARE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND
               THE MOST SUPREME WAY. IT IS LIKE POLISHING A MIRROR WHICH BECOMES BRIGHT
               WHEN THE DUST IS REMOVED. REMOVE YOUR PASSIONS AND HAVE NO HANKERING AND
               THE PAST WILL BE REVEALED UNTO YOU.

               A MONK ASKED THE BUDDHA: WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS GREAT?
               THE BUDDHA ANSWERED:
               GOOD IS TO PRACTISE THE WAY AND TO FOLLOW THE TRUTH. GREAT IS THE HEART THAT
               IS IN ACCORD WITH THE WAY.


                LIFE IN ITSELF IS NOT THE GOAL. The goal surpasses life. The life is just an opportunity to
           realize the goal. The goal is hidden deep in life; you cannot find it on the surface. You will have to
           penetrate to the very center. The life is like a seed. In itself it is not enough. You will have to work
           hard so the seed sprouts, becomes a tree and comes to bloom.
                This is one of the most fundamental things to remember -- that man has to surpass himself, that
           life has to transcend itself. If you don't understand this, then you will be lost in the means and you
           will forget the end. That's what happens ordinarily. We become too attached with life and we forget
           that life was just an opportunity to understand something which is deeper than life, higher than life,
           superior, far superior, than life.
                If you get too much obsessed with life itself, it is as if somebody was sent to the university and
           he became too much attached with the university and he could not leave it, and he could not even
           conceive of leaving it. The university is there just to educate you for something greater. For the
           universe, the university is to prepare you; that's why we call it the university. It itself is not the
           universe... just a preparation.
                In the East, life is just like a university, a discipline, a training for something far beyond it. If you
           become too much attached with life, then you will be coming back again and again every year to the
           university. Then it is futile, pointless. A university is to get ready. A university has to be renounced
           one day. It is just a preparation. And if the preparation becomes endless, then it becomes a burden.
                That is what has happened to many people. They take life as the goal. Then they go on preparing,
           they go on preparing endlessly. They never go on the journey, they simply prepare for the journey.
           And if their life becomes an impotent gesture, no wonder. It is natural, it has to be so.
                Just think about yourself -- always consulting timetables, always getting ready to leave, always
           enquiring from the tourist office, and never leaving, never going anywhere. You will go mad.
                Nothing is wrong with life itself, but if your attitude is this -- that life is an end unto itself -- then
           you will be in trouble. Then your whole life will become meaningless. The meaning is there, but the
           meaning is transcendental to it. The meaning is there, but you will have to penetrate to that core
           where it is revealed.
                To think of life as the goal is to remain on the periphery. That periphery Buddha calls the wheel.
           The symbol of the wheel is very significant and has to be understood. The periphery, Buddha calls
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the wheel... it goes on moving.
                You can watch a bullock cart moving. The wheels move. They move on something which is
           unmoving -- the center remains unmoving. The hub remains unmoving. On an unmoving hub, the
           wheel goes on moving.
                If you only look at the wheel, you will be looking at the temporal. If you become capable of
           looking at the hub, you will be able to penetrate the eternal. If you only look at the periphery, you
           will be watching the accidental. If you become capable of reaching to the center, to the hub, you will
           be able to know the essential. And unless you come to know the essential, you will be repeating the
           same thing again and again and again.
                The world is called the wheel because things go on repeating themselves again and again, and
           you by and by become repetitive. And the more you repeat yourself, the more you are bored. The
           more you are bored, the more dull and stupid you become. You lose intelligence, you lose freshness,
           you lose awareness. You become a robot, a mechanical thing.
                Watch people around you. They have become robots. They just go on doing the same thing again
           and again. Every morning, every evening, they go on moving in the same rut, and of course they
           look dead. There is no spark in their eyes; you cannot find any ray of light.
                Buddha calls this continuous repetition of the wheel, sansar. To get out of it, to get out of this rut,
           is nirvana.
                Before we enter the sutra, a few things have to be understood.
                Life is the game of the games, the ultimate game. It has tremendous meaning in it if you take it as
           a game and you don't become serious about it. If you remain simple, innocent, the game is going to
           impart many things to you.
                Sometimes you were a tiger, and sometimes you were a rock, and sometimes you became a tree,
           and sometimes you become a man; sometimes you were an ant, and sometimes an elephant. Buddha
           says all these are games. You have been playing a thousand and one games, to know life in every
           possible way. By playing game after game, the player may experience all the permutations of matter
           in evolution. That is the goal of life.
                When you exist like a tree, you know life in one way. Nobody else can know it except the tree.
           The tree has its own vision. When clouds come in the sky and the sun shines and there is a rainbow,
           only the tree knows how to feel it. It has a perceptivity of its own. When the breeze passes by, the
           tree knows how to be showered in it. When a bird starts singing, only the tree knows, only the tree
           has ears for it... for its music, its melody. The tree has a way to know life -- its own way. Only a tree
           knows that way.
                A tiger has another way of knowing life. He is playing another game. An ant is playing a totally
           different game. Millions of games....
                All these games are like classes of a university. You pass through each class; you learn
           something. Then you move into another class. Man is the last point.
                If you have learned all the lessons of life and the lesson of being a human being, then only will
           you become capable of moving into the very center of life. Then you will be able to know what god
           is, or what nirvana is.
                All through these games you have been trying to approach god -- through many directions, in
           many ways, in many perceptivities. But the goal is the same -- that everybody is trying to know what
           the truth is. What is the mystery of this life? Why are we here and who am I? And what is this that
           goes on existing?
                There is only one way to learn it, and that is the way of existence. But if you just move from one
           class to another like a sleepwalker, a somnambulist, unconscious, dragged from one class to another,
           not moving deliberately and consciously, you will miss.
                That's how many people arrive at the point of being human beings and they cannot see any god.
           That simply shows they have missed the lessons, they avoided the lessons. They were in the classes
           but they have not got the point. Otherwise every person who has arrived at the stage of being human
           must be religious.
                Being human and being religious must become synonymous. They are not synonymous. Very
           rarely a few people are religious. By religious I don't mean a person who goes to the church every
           Sunday. By religious I don't mean a person who is Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist.
           By religious I don't mean that you belong to a religious organization.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When I say religious, I mean a person who is aware that life is so full of transcendence... that
           from everywhere life is overflowing into something bigger than life... that every step is leading you
           towards god, truth, nirvana, freedom... that whether you know it or not, you are moving towards the
           ultimate temple.
                When a person starts feeling it in his very guts, then a person is religious. He may go to the
           church, he may not go to the church; that is irrelevant. He may call himself a Christian or a
           Mohammedan or a Hindu; that is irrelevant. He may not call. He may belong to any organization, he
           may not belong -- but he belongs to god.
                And when I say god, remember that by god I mean that which transcends. That is always ahead
           of you. You are always coming closer to it, approaching closer and closer and closer, but it always
           remains ahead of you.
                God is that omega point which always remains the goal. You come close to it but you can never
           possess it. It cannot be ever in your hands. You can drop yourself completely in it, you can merge
           yourself in it, but still you will know that much remains to be known. In fact the more you know, the
           more you feel that much remains to be known. The more you know, the more you become humble.
           The mystery, infinite, ineffable, cannot be exhausted.
                That inexhaustible source, that transcendental source, is what I mean by god. And by calling a
           person religious, I mean one who has become alert about the transcendental.
                When you are alert about the transcendental, your life has a beautiful charm, a grace. Then your
           life has energy, intelligence. Then your life has a sharpness, a creativity. Then your life has a holy
           aura to it. By becoming aware of the transcendental, you become part of the transcendental. He has
           penetrated in your awareness. A ray of light has entered into the dark night of your soul. You are no
           more alone, and you are no more a stranger in existence. You are deeply rooted in it. This is your
           home.
                A religious person is one who feels existence as his home. A religious person is one who feels
           existence constantly evolving and evolving, going higher and higher, towards that ultimate omega
           point where you disappear, where all limitations disappear and only infinity is left, only eternity is
           left.
                So this game of life has to be played very skillfully. Buddha calls skill, upaya. It is one of his
           most beautiful words. He says, 'be skillful'. If you are not skillful, you will miss much that is
           valuable. Be skillful means be aware. Just don't go on dragging yourself half asleep, half awake.
           Shake yourself into awareness. Bring more awareness into each act of your life, into each step of
           your being. Then only, with open eyes, you start seeing something which cannot ordinarily be seen
           when you are asleep, when you are unconscious. Shake all the dust from the eyes.
                Be skillful and live life consciously. Otherwise life becomes boring. You feel it. You know how
           it feels. Sooner or later everything feels boring; one is bored to death. One goes on living because
           one is not courageous enough to commit suicide. One goes on living just in the hope that sooner or
           later one will die -- the death is coming.

              Mulla Nasrudin was going on a world tour and he was travelling in a ship for the first time, and
           he was very seasick. The captain came to him and said, 'Don't be worried, Nasrudin. I have been
           working as a captain for twenty years and I have never seen any man die from seasickness. Don't be
           worried.'
              Mulla said, 'My god! That was my only hope -- that I will die. You have taken even that hope!'

               People are living just in the hope that some day or other they are going to die. So they go on
           saying to themselves, 'Don't lose heart -- death is coming.'
               If you are waiting for death, if you are so bored, then there is no possibility for any encounter
           with god. The encounter can only happen in radiance, in sharpness, in awareness.
               But why do we get bored? The buddhist explanation is of tremendous import. Buddha says you
           have done the same things -- not only in this life; you have been doing them for millions of lives,
           hence boredom. You may not remember them, but deep down the memory is there. Nothing is lost as
           far as memory is concerned.
               There is a reservoir of memory. Buddha calls it alaya vigyan, reservoir of memory. It is exactly
           what Jung calls the collective unconscious. You carry it. The body changes, the identity changes, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the bundle of memories goes on jumping from one life to another. And it goes on accumulating,
           gathering. It goes on becoming bigger and bigger.
               Nothing is lost as far as memory record is concerned. If you look into yourself, you have the
           whole record of the existence in you. Because you have been here from the very beginning -- if there
           was any beginning. You have been always here. You are an intrinsic part of this existence. All that
           has happened to existence has happened to you also, and you carry the record.
               You may not know it, but you have loved millions of times.
               Again falling in love -- it is nothing new, it is the very old story. You have done all the things
           that you are doing. You have been ambitious, you have been greedy, you accumulated wealth, you
           became very famous, you had prestige and power -- this has happened many many times, millions of
           times. And you carry deep down in the unconscious, the reservoir of memories, and whatsoever you
           are doing looks futile, pointless, meaningless.
           I have heard:

              A newspaper reporter was interviewing Mulla Nasrudin on his hundredth birthday. If you had
           your life to live over,' he asked, 'do you think you would make the same mistakes over again?'
              'Certainly,' said the old Mulla, 'but I would start a lot sooner. I would start a lot sooner....'

                This is what is happening. Out of mistakes you only learn how to start them sooner, you don't
           learn how to drop them. You only learn how to start them sooner and how to do them more
           efficiently next time.
                Buddha says if you can penetrate this reservoir of memories then you will be really fed up. Then
           you will see -- 'I have been doing the same thing again and again.' And then in that state of
           awareness, you will start doing something new for the first time. And that will bring a thrill, a fresh
           air into your being.
                There are two time concepts in the world. In the West, the linear time concept has been
           prevalent. Christians, Jews, Mohammedans -- they are all offshoots of one judaic concept of life.
           They have believed in the linear concept of time; that time is moving in a line. The eastern concept --
           the hindu, the buddhist, the jainist concept -- is different. It is circular. Time is moving in a circle.
                If time is moving in a line, then things are not repeated again. The line goes on moving; it never
           comes back to meet and move on the same old track again. If time is thought to be circular, then
           everything is being repeated. And the eastern time concept seems to be more true -- because every
           movement is circular.
                Just watch all the movements. The seasons moving around the year are circular -- again comes
           the summer... again, again. In the same way it moves. The earth moves in a circle, the sun moves in a
           circle, the stars move in a circle. And now Albert Einstein has suggested that the whole universe is
           also moving in a circle. Not only that -- Einstein introduced a very strange concept to the physics,
           and that is the concept of circular space. The whole space is circular.
                The East has always thought that the circle is the natural way of things. They move in a circle
           and by and by they become circular. All movement is circular. Then time has also to be circular,
           because time is nothing but pure movement. If you think about time as circular then the whole world
           view changes. Your whole life is also circular according to the eastern way of seeing.
                A child is born. Birth is the beginning of a circle, death is the end of the circle. And the old man
           in his last moments again becomes as helpless as a child. And if things have gone rightly, he will
           become as innocent as a child. Then the circle is complete. Then his life was a round-shaped life.
           Then his life will have a grace. If the circle is not complete, then the life will have something
           missing in it. Then there will be holes in his life, and his life will be tense. It will not be round,
           graceful.
                Buddha says that in each life the wheel moves once. The circle becomes complete. Another life
           -- the wheel moves again. The spokes are the same -- again childhood, again youth, again old age;
           the same desires, the same passions, the same lust, the same rushing, the same ambition, the same
           struggle, conflict, the same aggression, the same ego, and again the same frustration, the same
           misery. This goes on and on and on.
                If you can penetrate into your deepest memories, then you will be able to see that you are not
           doing anything new here. That's why in the East they say there is nothing new under the sun.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Everything has been done millions of times.
               So it became a very methodological thing in Buddhism and Jainism for every seeker to penetrate
           into his past memories. It became a necessary thing. Because Buddha says unless you can see the
           whole nonsense of repetition, you will continue to repeat.
               Just think about it. If you come across the whole record and you see that for millions of times
           you have been falling in love, and every time you were miserable.... Now it is time enough to
           understand. Now don't be foolish again. If you see that for millions of times you were born and you
           died again, and every birth brings death, then now what is the point in clinging to life. Then
           renounce it. If you see that every time you expected, you were frustrated, your expectations were
           never fulfilled, then what is the point now? Now drop expecting.
               This became a basic meditation -- to go into one's past memories. If you look in even one life,
           you will see constant repetition. Even in the very old age, you go on being the same way. It simply
           shows that you have not learned anything in life. Everybody passes through experiences, but that is
           not necessarily a learning.
               There is a difference between passing through life and learning. Learning means you go on
           looking at your experiences. You keep a record of the experiences, you observe your experiences,
           and you gather certain wisdom through them. You were angry and you did something foolish. Again
           you are angry and you do something foolish. Again you are angry -- but you never take account of
           all your angers, and you never look at the mechanicalness of it. And you don't learn a lesson out of it.
           Then you experienced, but you have not learned anything. If you simply experience, you become
           old. If you learn, you become wise.
               All old people are not wise. Wisdom has nothing to do with old age. A real man of understanding
           can become wise any time. Even as a child he can become wise. If you have a penetrating
           understanding, even a single experience of anger and you will be finished with it. It is so ugly. A
           single experience of greed and you will be finished with it. It is so poisonous.
           I have heard:

              'I am leaving home!' shouted Mahamud to his father, Mulla Nasrudin. 'I want wine, women,
           adventures!' His old man got up out of his chair.
           'Don't try to stop me!' shouted Mahamud at him.
              'Who is trying to stop you?' exclaimed old Mulla. 'I am coming with you.'

                The same foolishness continues. Young and old, educated, uneducated, poor, rich -- all seem to
           be in the same boat. They don't seem to learn. If you learn, a totally different vision arises in your
           life.
           I have heard:

              It was in the early barnstorming days of aviation, and the old fellow had finally worked up
           enough nerve to take a flight on a plane. When the rickety plane landed, the old fellow crawled out
           and said 'Sir, I want to thank you for both of those rides.'
              'What are you talking about?' asked the pilot. 'You had only one ride.'
              'No,' replied the passenger, 'I had two rides -- my first and my last.'

               If you understand a thing, then it is your first and last. Then you have had enough of it. Then it is
           not one ride, it is two rides.

              This sutra today consists of a question from a monk.

              A MONK ASKED THE BUDDHA: UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS IS IT POSSIBLE TO COME TO THE
              KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST AND TO UNDERSTAND THE MOST SUPREME WAY.
              UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS IS IT POSSIBLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST?


               Buddha insisted very much. He said, first move towards the past, first go backwards -- because
           that is where you have lived for millenia. Just look what you have been doing there. What has been
           your experience up to now? Go into it. Gather some lessons out of it. Otherwise you will tend to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           commit the same mistakes again and again.
                And there is a natural mechanism which does not allow you to remember it ordinarily. When a
           person dies and is reborn again, there comes a gap between his past life and the new life -- a layer of
           oblivion, forgetfulness. It is natural, because it will be very difficult for you to live if you
           continuously remember all that has happened before. Not only at the end of life; every day it is
           happening.
                Millions of things happen in the day. You don't remember all. Not that they are not recorded --
           they are all recorded. It is unbelievable how the mind goes on recording minute, small things.
           Whatsoever happens around you... you may not be even aware that it is happening, but the mind
           goes on recording.
                For example, you are listening to me, you are focused towards me, you are deeply in
           concentration -- but the train is passing by. You may not have heard it at all as far as your
           consciousness is concerned. If somebody asks you later on, 'Was there a train going by? Did you
           hear the noise?' you may say, 'I don't remember because I was so concentrated.' But your mind has
           recorded it. Even without your knowing it, mind goes on recording. If you are hypnotized and then
           asked, the mind will say everything.
                If I ask you suddenly, 'What happened on the first of January, 1970? What happened? Can you
           remember?' You will be simply blank. That does not mean that nothing happened on that day.
           Something must have happened -- a quarrel with your wife, or a headache. Twenty-four hours, the
           first of January, 1970 -- something must have happened. Twenty-four hours cannot be vacant,
           otherwise you would have become a Buddha. If you had remained empty for twenty-four hours,
           nothing happening, then nirvana would have happened. But you don't remember at all. You will
           shrug your shoulders that you don't remember.
                Unless something very special happened on that day -- that there was a car accident and you
           were almost killed; maybe you will remember it. Or some other type of accident -- you got married.
           You will remember it because there is no way to forget it now. You cannot forget and you cannot
           forgive yourself for it. It remains like a wound. But otherwise you are completely forgetful.
                But if you are hypnotized and you go in a deep trance and the hypnotist asks you, 'Now go
           backwards. Remember the first of January, 1970, and start relating what happened from the
           morning,' you will relate such minute things -- that the tea was cold and you didn't like it at all, that
           the night was not good and you had a nightmare.
                Things like this you will remember, minute details -- that a dog was barking when you were
           taking your morning tea, that the cup from your hand had fallen and broken. Small things -- that you
           were passing by the side of a tree and the tree had bloomed... and you will remember the smell. Or
           that it had rained and there was a beautiful smell coming out of the earth. You may not only
           remember; you will relive it. It will be so clear.
                Everything is recorded. But you have to forget it. Otherwise your mind will be so cluttered with
           unnecessary information that you will not be able to manage your life. So there is a natural
           mechanism which goes on sorting out inside you. Much work continues for twenty-four hours; a
           great sorting out goes on.
                Whatsoever is unessential is thrown into the basement. You may never need it. Then the
           secondary things which are not so absolutely irrelevant, which you may need sometime but for
           which there is no urgency, they are put into the subconscious, within reach. If sometimes you need
           them, you can bring them back to consciousness. And very few things, which you will need every
           day, are left in the conscious.
                For example, two plus two is four, mm? -- this remains in the conscious. You will need it every
           day, every moment. That this is your wife and this is your husband remains in the conscious. If you
           go on forgetting every day, it will create difficulties in life. Your name and your address and your
           phone number....
                So, everything, almost ninety-nine point nine percent, falls into the basement and disappears
           forever. But it remains there underground. It can be recalled by specific methods. That's what they
           are doing in primal therapy -- they are trying to recall all that has disappeared into the tunnels of the
           unconscious, to relive it. Once it is relived, you are freed from it.
                What primal therapists are doing now, Buddha has done twenty-five centuries ago. And on a
           greater, in a greater way, in a deeper way. Not only with this life -- he has done it with the whole
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           past.
               You have to pass through the womb again in your memory. Then you have to go back to the
           death that happened in the last life. Then go on moving to the birth in the last life. And this way one
           goes on moving back and back and back. And the more you practise it, the more you become
           efficient in revealing all the mysteries that you have been carrying.
               You are carrying a great record, and if you can relive it, you will be able to find out a few lessons
           from it. Those lessons will be of tremendous value. They will be liberating. They will liberate you
           from your past.
               Once you are liberated from the past, you are liberated from the future also. Because then there is
           nothing left to project. Once you are liberated from your past lives, you are liberated from life itself.
           Then all desires to cling to life disappear. Then you don't want to be born again. Then you don't want
           to cling. Then you are not afraid of death. Then you don't want to be confined in any womb, in any
           body. You don't want to be embodied again. You would like absolute freedom.
               This learning can be done in two ways -- either while you are living, learn it.... If you do that,
           you will become a Buddha, slowly. If you have not done that, then go backwards and relive your
           past experiences, your past lives.

              THE MONK ASKED BUDDHA: UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS IS IT POSSIBLE TO COME TO THE
              KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST AND TO UNDERSTAND THE MOST SUPREME WAY?


               Because first you have to understand your past lives, then only can you ask in a meaningful way
           how to get out of it... where is the exit? the way? When Buddha talks about the way, he means the
           way out. You have entered into life, now where is the way out?
           I have heard:

               Mike was going to Dublin for the last time and his friend Pat was giving him a few hints on what
           to do and where to go in the big city.
           'What do I do when I go to the zoo?' asked Mike.
               'You be careful about the zoo,' advised Pat. 'You will see fine animals if you follow the words
           "To the Lions", or "To the Elephants", but take no notice of "To the Exit". It is a fraud. It is outside I
           found myself when I went to look at it.'

                That we have been doing -- we have been avoiding the door that takes us out of life. We have
           avoided it for so long that it has almost become invisible to us. We have ignored it so long that it
           almost does not exist for us. Even if we come across it, we will not be able to recognize it.
                "To the Exit"... those words have become very faint; they have almost disappeared. We know
           only the entrance into life, we don't know the exit.
                Entrance of course we know, because we have entered many times. Again and again we enter in
           the womb. Here you die and there you enter; almost within minutes, at the most within days. Here
           you die... even while dying, your mind starts planning where to enter. You have not yet died and you
           are planning already for the future -- where to enter, how to enter. The fantasy has started working
           again.
                Remember, it is your decision to enter in the womb, that's why you enter. You are not thrown in
           it, you choose it. As the entrance exists, so exists the exit.
           The monk is asking:

              UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS IS IT POSSIBLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST
              AND TO UNDERSTAND THE MOST SUPREME WAY?
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO ARE PURE IN HEART AND SINGLE IN PURPOSE ARE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND
              THE MOST SUPREME WAY.


              THOSE WHO ARE PURE IN HEART AND SINGLE IN PURPOSE... People who live in their
           heads will find it very difficult to move into the past, because the head is always in the future. Head
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is really a mechanism to plan for the future. It always moves ahead of you. It is like a radar.
                In a plane, you must have seen a radar. The radar moves ahead of the plane. That is its whole
           meaning... two hundred miles ahead, four hundred miles ahead. On the radar, the clouds that are four
           hundred miles ahead start appearing. Because within seconds the plane will be reaching, so the pilot
           has to know beforehand. Because if he comes to know only when he has reached, then it will be too
           late; the speed is so much.
                Mind is a radar, your head is a radar system. It goes on groping in the future, it goes on planning
           for the future. It is never here in the present. And with the past it has nothing to do; it has already
           disappeared.
                The whole interest of the head is in the future. Even if sometimes it looks at the past, it looks
           only to find few clues for the future. Even if it wants to look into the past, it is just as a help to
           prepare for the future. But the interest, the center of interest is the future.
                Buddha says... PURE IN HEART AND SINGLE IN PURPOSE. People who are not in the head
           but in their heart, only they can enter into the past lives. Heart is very close to the unconscious
           basement, head is farthest away. Heart is closer to your navel center. Just somewhere near the navel
           is the corresponding point in the body with your unconscious. You have to come to the heart. Heart
           is midway between the head and the navel.
                If you become more and more full of feeling, full of heart, you will become capable of knowing,
           of entering into that great story of your past lives. It is not only YOUR biography; it is the biography
           of the whole universe. Because sometimes you were a tree, and still in your mind, deep down in the
           unconscious, you are carrying all those memories of being a tree. Someday you were a tiger, and
           someday you were a cat, and someday you were an elephant, and someday you were a woman, and
           someday you were a man, and millions of memories are there. The whole drama of life is there, in a
           very condensed form. If you go into it, it starts playing. You can again listen to those sounds.
                That's why in hypnosis it is possible that if you hypnotize a person and tell him that now he has
           become a tiger, he becomes a tiger. You may have seen hypnotists doing it on the stage. They tell a
           man, 'You have become a woman. Now walk!' And the man walks like a woman.
                It is very difficult, but he manages. He may have never walked like a woman. Now, how does he
           suddenly start walking like a woman? It is very difficult, because the woman has a totally different
           structure of the body. Because of the womb existing in her body, she has a different type of skeleton.
           She moves in a different way. Her movement is more round and more shapely. She cannot run fast.
           A man moves differently.
                But under hypnotic influence, the man can walk like a woman, the woman can walk like a man.
           Not only that. A person who has never heard a single word of Arabic or Latin or Chinese, can be
           provoked under hypnosis to speak Chinese. And if the hypnosis is really deep, he may start speaking
           Chinese. It is a miracle, and the hypnotist has not been yet able to explain it. How to explain it?
           What happens?
                The explanation is simple if you understand Buddha's hypothesis. Buddha says -- and it is agreed
           with by all the eastern masters -- that a man has been everything in his past life. You have been
           Chinese, you have been Japanese, you have been a German, you have been a Tibetan. So if
           somewhere deep in your memories the life that you lived as a Chinese person is still there, it can be
           provoked under hypnosis. It can be revealed. You can start speaking Chinese. You have never heard
           a single word of it, you don't know anything about it.
                A human being is vast. It is not so confined as you think. You think you are a Hindu, or a
           Mohammedan, or a Christian, or an Indian, or Japanese, or Chinese. These are just boundaries on
           your conscious mind. On the unconscious, you are infinite territory. You are all. Not only Hindu and
           Mohammedan and Christian, but even a tiger, a cat, a mouse, a lion, a tree, a rock, a cloud. You are
           vast. You are as vast as this universe.
                Once you start entering, you will become tremendously aware that no limitation exists. All
           limitations are a sort of belief. You believe, that's why they are there. If you drop them, they start
           disappearing.

              THOSE WHO ARE PURE IN HEART AND SINGLE IN PURPOSE...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               People who are more heart-oriented are single of purpose. They are not crooked, they are not
           cunning. The head is very cunning. The head is like a fox -- very calculating and very subtle in its
           ways. If it wants something, it will never go direct. If it wants something, it will go zig-zag. It will
           say something else, it will do something else. It would like to get something else. The head is very
           political, diplomatic.
               You can watch it in yourself -- how the head goes on deceiving, how the head goes on being
           political. It is never authentic. It cannot be. The heart is authentic. It knows no deception. It goes
           direct. The heart moves in straight lines, the head goes very zig-zag.
               Buddha says a person who wants to move into his past lives will need singleness of purpose.
           Crookedness won't do. One will have to follow straight, simple, direct.... ARE ABLE TO
           UNDERSTAND THE MOST SUPREME WAY. These people who are simple, heart-oriented,
           single, straight, direct, immediate -- these people enter easily.
               It has become more and more difficult since the days of Buddha to enter into past lives. It was so
           simple in Buddha's time. People were simple. Almost every sannyasin that was initiated by Buddha
           had to pass through past experiences, and the same was true with Mahavir.
               There is a famous story. A prince took sannyas, was initiated by Mahavir. But he had lived
           almost always in comfort, in richness, and now life was very hard with Mahavir. He had to move
           naked, to sleep on hard floors with no clothes. It was difficult.
               The first night he started thinking of dropping out; this was not for him. There were so many
           mosquitoes -- as there have always been in India; they seem to be the constant enemies of
           meditators. He could not meditate... so many mosquitoes... and he was naked and it was cold, and the
           place where he was sleeping was just in the middle, and hundreds of sannyasins were staying there.
           The whole night he could not sleep; people were coming and going. It was very crowded and he had
           never lived that way; that was not his way of life.
               So in the night he started feeling that the next morning he would leave. It is said that in the
           middle of the night Mahavir came to him. He was surprised. He said, 'Why have you come?'
               Mahavir told him, 'I have been watching you. I know your difficulty. But this has happened
           before. This is in fact the third time. You have been initiated twice before in your other lives and
           every time you have left.'
               He said, 'What do you mean?' And Mahavir told him to do a certain technique of meditation that
           he calls jati smaran -- the method to remember the past life. And he told him, 'You just do this the
           whole night. Sit in meditation and by the morning, whatsoever you decide....'
               He went into his past life. It seems very simple, it must have been. People must have been
           simple. He went into his past life so easily. And by the morning he came; he was full of new light.
           He touched Mahavir's feet and he said, 'I have decided to stay. Enough is enough. I looked into....
           Yes, you were right. How long can I go on repeating it again and again? It is insulting to take
           sannyas and leave it; it is below dignity.
               'No, it is not good for a warrior like me to be afraid of mosquitoes, to be afraid of small
           inconveniences. But you were right. Twice also it has happened the same way. I was initiated and
           the first night I became disturbed, and the next morning I left. And I was going to do it again. I am so
           grateful to you that you reminded me. Otherwise I would have committed the same thing again,
           thinking that I am doing this for the first time.'
               All the sannyasins of Buddha and Mahavir had to pass through jati smaran, through the memory
           of all the past lives. Today it has become very difficult. Difficult, because the head has become very
           heavy. Head is so heavy and energy is so much monopolized by the head, that it is not flowing in the
           heart at all. And the path towards past lives goes through the heart.
               So if you want to remember past lives -- and it is a great experience, very revealing and very
           liberating -- you will have to live for a few months and years a very simple-hearted life... the life of
           feelings. Don't allow your thinking to dominate you; let feeling balance it, Don't allow logic to be
           dictatorial; let love decide. And by and by you will see -- the ways of the heart are very simple. And
           they are always single in purpose.
               When the heart falls in love with somebody, then there is no problem; then your love object is
           the only love object for you. The moment the heart has fallen in love with a woman, then that is the
           only woman in the world. Then all the women have disappeared for you. Heart is single in purpose.
           But if the head had fallen in love -- in fact it has not fallen in love, it simply pretends -- then it is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficult. Then any woman that passes on the street attracts you, provokes you. Then any passing
           influence distracts you. Love knows single purposeness because love is really of the heart.
               If you are here with me through the heart, then it is a totally different relationship Then it is
           going to be eternal. Then I can die, you can die, but the relationship cannot die.
               But if it is only of the head, if you are simply convinced by what I am saying, not convinced by
           what I am... if you are only convinced by what I am saying -- my logic, my argument -- then this
           relationship is very temporary. Tomorrow you will be convinced by somebody else. Tomorrow
           somebody else can give you a better argument. Then it disappears.
               Just two nights ago a young man from the West came, the husband of a sannyasin. I asked him,
           'Have you something to say to me? Why have you come to me?'
           He said, 'My wife told me to come to you.'
               I said, 'Then it is not worth -- because your wife told you to come to me so you have come....
           Your coming is very accidental. You have not come to me. You are simply obliging your wife. Then
           don't waste my time. You can oblige your wife in many other ways. This is no way.'
               Then he listened to me, I talked to his wife, and then in the end he said, 'I am thinking to take
           sannyas.'
               I asked him, 'Thinking? Then it will be difficult. Even if you are convinced by thinking, you may
           become a sannyasin outwardly; inwardly you will never be a sannyasin, because it will be a head
           thing. Sannyas is not a logical conviction, it is a conversion in love.'
               But he couldn't understand. He said, 'I will think about it.'
               If he comes, then too he will not be coming. Because he will come only because he is convinced,
           his head is convinced. He will not be convinced by me, he will be convinced only by his head, or
           maybe by his wife. The wife may persuade him. She persuaded him to come from Europe to here, so
           she can persuade him to change the clothes also. He may find some rationalizations, but the whole
           thing is pointless.
               Unless you come through the heart, you don't come. Unless you reach me through the heart, you
           don't reach at all. Remember it. Religion is something that happens in your source of feelings. It has
           nothing to do with your thinking.

              ... PURE IN HEART AND SINGLE IN PURPOSE ARE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE MOST
              SUPREME WAY.


               And once you have seen your past lives, suddenly you see the way out. Because so many times
           you have come in again and again. The way to come in is really the way to come out also. You just
           have to move in the opposite direction.
               The way is the same. The entrance and the exit are not two. The direction is different. When you
           enter into the house, you enter from the same door. You go out of the house -- you get out of the
           same door. Just your direction is different.

               So Buddha says, if you look into your past lives and you see again and again you are clinging
           with life, clinging with lust, ambition, ego, greed, jealousy, possessiveness -- those are the ways you
           have been coming in again and again. Those are the ways to go out.
               If greed is the way to come in, no-greed is the way to go out. If ego is the way to come in, no-ego
           is the way to go out. If lust, desire, passion, is the way to come in, then no-passion, no-desire, or
           desirelessness is the way to go out.

              IT IS LIKE POLISHING A MIRROR WHICH BECOMES BRIGHT WHEN THE DUST IS REMOVED.
              REMOVE YOUR PASSIONS AND HAVE NO HANKERING, AND THE PAST WILL BE REVEALED
              UNTO YOU.


              So Buddha says three things. First, pure in heart, single of purpose, and third, he says that your
           consciousness is so much cluttered that your mirror is not reflecting. Otherwise you have such a
           beautiful mirror with such a penetrating clarity, that wherever you move your mirror of
           consciousness, you will be able to see everything that exists in that dimension.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              If you move your mirror towards the past, the whole past, in toto, will be revealed to you. If you
           move your mirror towards the future, the whole future will be revealed to you. If you move your
           mirror to the present, the whole present will be revealed to you. Your consciousness is your key.

              IT IS LIKE POLISHING A MIRROR WHICH BECOMES BRIGHT WHEN THE DUST IS REMOVED.


              Too much dust of thinking, too much dust of impressions, is covering your mirror. You have
           completely forgotten -- the mirror looks like a brick. Clean it, wash it -- that's what we are doing in
           meditations. It is just an effort to clean the mirror so it mirrors whatsoever is.

              REMOVE YOUR PASSIONS AND HAVE NO HANKERING AND THE PAST WILL BE REVEALED
              UNTO YOU.
              A MONK ASKED THE BUDDHA: WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS GREAT?
              THE BUDDHA ANSWERED: GOOD IS TO PRACTISE THE WAY AND TO FOLLOW THE TRUTH.
              GREAT IS THE HEART THAT IS IN ACCORD WITH THE WAY.


               Tremendously beautiful is his definition of the great. Understand it as deeply as possible. GOOD
           IS TO PRACTISE THE WAY....
               First one has to know the way -- no greed, no violence, no desire. In a way, all are negatives.
           Because whatsoever you know as positive has been the door to come in. Eliminate the positive and
           you will find the door to go out.
               GOOD IS TO PRACTISE THE WAY.... Buddha says, knowing the way, recognizing the way in
           a clear, mirror-like consciousness, the first thing that one has to do is to practise it. Just be
           recognizing, it won't help. Just by recognizing, it is not going to transform you. You have to walk,
           you have to discipline.

              GOOD IS TO PRACTISE THE WAY AND TO FOLLOW THE TRUTH.


               You have had a vision of truth. It is very far away like a distant star. Clear vision... but the
           distance is great. You have to follow, you have to move towards it slowly, gradually. You have to
           prepare for the journey. This Buddha calls good. This is what virtue is.

              AND GREAT IS THE HEART THAT IS IN ACCORD WITH THE WAY.


               When you are practising, there is bound to be a little struggle. When you are disciplining
           yourself, there is bound to be a little conflict, because the old habits will come in the way. You have
           always been greedy, now suddenly you decide not to be greedy. The whole past will come in the
           way, will distract you. Old habits will again and again possess you; again and again you will forget
           and waver. There is bound to be struggle.
               So Buddha says it is good but not great. Great is the man whose struggle is gone, whose
           discipline also is gone. Who is simply moving spontaneously in accord with the way is the great
           man. That's what Buddha calls great -- in accord. He is so surrendered that it is now natural for him.
               Not to desire has become as natural to him as it is natural ordinarily to desire. Not to be
           ambitious has become as natural as it is natural for people to be ambitious. People are habitually in
           discord with the way, and he becomes naturally in accord.
               Pythagoras calls this state harmonia. That is the right word -- in accord. Harmonia, in harmony....
           Lao Tzu calls this tao. Buddha calls it dhamma.
               To be in accord... as if you are not swimming, not struggling; you are completely relaxed and
           floating with the river. You are so one with the river that there is not even a slight distance between
           you and the river.You don't have any of your desires, you don't have any private goals. You go with
           the river to the ocean.
               A man of harmonia, accord, tao, dhamma, is the most beautiful flowering in this world. He is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lotus flower of consciousness.

              GREAT IS THE HEART THAT IS IN ACCORD WITH THE WAY.


               But it cannot happen immediately. First you will have to discipline, and then you will have to
           drop discipline also. First you will have to make it a point to relax, and then you will have to forget
           relaxation also. First you will have to fight with your old, ingrained habits, and once you have got
           over them, you have to drop new habits that you must have created in fighting with the old. First you
           have to meditate, then one day you have to drop meditation also.
               Meditation is good. Dropping of meditation is great. Being a saint is good, being holy is great.
           Being a good person is good, but not great. Because a good person still carries a subtle fight with the
           bad. He is constantly conflicting with the devil, with the evil inside himself. He is not at ease, he
           cannot relax. He knows that if he relaxes, the old, the past, is big and powerful and he will be
           possessed, and he will be thrown off balance. He has to continuously balance himself. A good man, a
           saint, is still not in absolute accord. He is trying hard, he is trying his best, and it should be
           appreciated that he is trying -- that's why Buddha calls him good.
               So never be satisfied by good. Remember, to be great is the goal... to be so deeply in accord that
           you simply disappear and only the dhamma remains, only the tao remains, only the nature remains.
           You are just a wave in the ocean and you don't exist separately. Your separate existence, your self,
           has to be dropped.
               The bad man has a self. The self is created by fighting against the law, against nature. The bad
           man has a self. He creates the self by fighting against dhamma. Whatsoever is good, he fights against
           it and creates a self. The good man also has a self. He fights against his bad habits that he has created
           in the past. Because of fight, he has also a self.
               The bad man has an ego, the good man has an ego. The bad man's ego is based on his mischief.
           The good man's ego is based on his virtue. But both have egos.
               The great is one whose ego has disappeared, who is completely immersed, merged into the
           whole. To be so merged into the whole, to be in such a harmony, is to be great. That is what is
           required. That is what has to be remembered continuously. Never lose sight of it.
               Life is just a training. One has to become so transcendental that not even good satisfies. One has
           to be continuously in a divine discontent to attain to this excellent transcendence where you are lost
           and only the whole is... when you have completely surrendered, when you have given way to the
           whole... you have become just a space.
               If you want to use non-buddhist terms, you can call it surrender to god. You are so empty that
           god can descend in you. If you want to use buddhist terms, then he says, you are not there -- now
           only the law functions, now only the dhamma, the tao goes on functioning. To function in such
           accord is bliss, satchidananda.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                      Chapter #4
                                            Chapter title: The Blessed One
           3 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609030
              ShortTitle: TRANS204
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 103 mins
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




               WHY DO YOU CALL YOURSELF BHAGWAN ? WHY DO YOU CALL YOURSELF GOD?


                BECAUSE I AM -- and because you are. And because only god is. There is no other way, there
           is no other way to be. You may know it, you may not know it. The only choice is between ignorance
           and knowledge. The choice is not between whether to be a god or not to be a god; the choice is
           whether to recognize it or not. You can choose not to call, but you cannot choose not to be. But it has
           to be understood, because it is one of the most radical standpoints about life.
                Life is made of one stuff. Call it god, call it matter, call it electricity. One thing is certain -- that
           life consists of only one stuff. At the deepest, life is one unity. You can call it whatsoever you like.
           Scientists used to call it matter, now they have decided to call it electricity. Religious people decided
           to call it god, non-religious people decided to call it the world. But one thing is certain -- that there
           exists only one thing.
                Now, calling it A, B, C, does not matter. Whatsoever you call it, it does not change the reality,
           but it can change you. It will show your attitude. A person who calls the world matter, cannot grow.
           He has dropped all future possibilities. He has closed his door. He has denied his destiny. Now he
           has no opening -- he is a windowless atom, a monad... closed, going nowhere. Because matter cannot
           have any destiny, matter cannot have any growth. Matter cannot have any potentiality. Matter cannot
           have any experiencing.
                The moment you say that life is nothing but matter, it does not change life. Because you call it
           matter, it does not become matter, but by calling life matter, you become a closed thing. By calling
           life matter, you become a thing. You lose your personality you lose that throb of aliveness.
           Something inside you suddenly goes dead. Then you are a grave; you will drag. The dance will be
           lost. Your life will become more like prose, it will not have any poetry then.
                When you call this life god, you bring poetry to it. You bring a vision, you open doors. You say,
           'More is possible.' You say, 'We are not the end.' Higher realms of possibilities arise in your vision.
           You start dreaming. The moment you say this existence is divine, dreams become possible. Then you
           can live a life of adventure: God is the greatest venture, it is the greatest pilgrimage.
                Calling existence divine, you bring something new to your vision. Then you are not finished,
           then you are not a full stop. Then you are a rushing river moving towards the ocean. By calling
           existence divine, you bring dynamism to your life. Then you are not stale, stagnant. Then fantastic
           possibilities are there. Just courage is needed, and you can go on and on... and there is no end to it.
                There are only two ways to give a label to life. One is the way of the realist -- he calls it matter.
           The other is the way of the poet, the dreamer -- he calls it god.
                I am an unashamed poet. I'm not a realist. I call myself god, I call you god, I call rocks god, I call
           trees god, and the clouds god.... The whole consists of only one stuff and I have chosen to call it god,
           because with god you can grow, with god you can ride on great tidal waves; you can go to the other
           shore. God is just a glimpse of your destiny. You give personality to existence.
                Then between you and the tree it is not emptiness. Then between you and your beloved it is not
           emptiness -- god is bridging everything. He surrounds you, he is your surround. He is within and he
           is without.
                When I call myself god, I mean to provoke you, to challenge you. I am simply calling myself god
           so that you can also gather courage to recognize it. If you can recognize it in me, you have taken the
           first step to recognizing it in yourself.
                It will be very difficult for you to recognize it in yourself, because you have always been taught
           to condemn yourself. You have always been taught that you are a sinner. Here I am to take all that
           nonsense away. My insistence is that it is only one thing that is missing in you -- the courage to
           recognize who you are.
                I call myself god to help you, to give you courage. If this man can be a god, why not you? I'm
           just like you. By calling myself god, I am not bringing god down, I am bringing you up. I am taking
           you for a high journey. I'm simply opening a door towards the himalayan peaks.
                Once you start recognizing that you are also divine, you become unburdened. Then there may be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           errors, but there are no sins any more. You are not a sinner. You may be mistaken, you may be
           wandering on astray paths, but you are not a sinner. Whatsoever you do, you cannot lose your
           godhood -- that is your nature.
               You can be a sinner, but still you cannot lose your godhood. Then, by becoming a sinner, your
           god becomes a sinner, that's all. You can be a fool, but that simply shows that god within you has
           chosen to play the game of being a fool, that's all.
               Millions of forms, but all forms divine. Millions of forms, all complementing each other and
           making this whole world a great cosmos.
               Calling myself god, I am just hinting something to you. I'm not interested in what you call me --
           that is pointless. It is just indicative, a gesture. I'm saying to you, 'Look at me! I'm just like you. If I
           can recognize the divinity within me, if I can respect my own being, why not you? Be respectful
           towards your own being.'
               It is not going to help that you go and worship a stone in the temple unless you start worshipping
           yourself, unless you start being respectful to your own being, unless you feel reverence for your own
           existence... that's what I mean when I call myself god.
               I respect my being. I don't feel any condemnation about me. I am happy as I am. I am
           tremendously happy as I am. I am tremendously grateful as I am.
               The indian term for god, Bhagwan, is even better than god. That word is tremendously
           meaningful. It simply means 'the blessed one' nothing else. Bhagwan means 'the blessed one' -- one
           who is fortunate enough to recognize his own being.
               It has no christian associations. When you say 'god', it seems as if I have created the world. I
           deny all responsibility! I have not created this world. I am not that much a fool. The christian idea of
           god is one who has created the world. Bhagwan is totally different. It has nothing to do with creating
           the world. It simply says one who has recognized himself as divine. In that recognition is
           benediction. In that recognition is blessing. He has become the blessed one.
               You can also become. If I can become, why not you? Nothing is lacking -- just a courage to
           penetrate your own soul, just a courage to enter yourself. You have been taught to be sinners --
           condemned crushed, crawling on the earth. Your wings have been cut and destroyed.
               Calling myself Bhagwan, I would like simply to say to you to gather courage, reclaim your
           wings... the whole sky is yours. But without wings it is not yours. Reclaim your wings and don't
           allow anybody to condemn you. Respect yourself! If you cannot respect yourself, you cannot respect
           anybody else.
               When you respect yourself, a great respect arises. Then you respect the tree, the rock, the man,
           the woman, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars. But those ripples of respect arise only when you
           have started respecting yourself.
               I call myself Bhagwan because I respect myself. I am tremendously fulfilled as I am. I am the
           blessed one. I have no discontent. That is the meaning of Bhagwan -- when you have no discontent,
           when each moment of your life is a fulfillment... when you don't desire anything in the future; your
           present is so full, overflowing... when there is no hankering.
               That's why we call Buddha Bhagwan. He has denied god in his cosmology. He says there is no
           god, no creator. Christians become very puzzled when Buddha says there is no god, no creator. Then
           why do Buddhists call him Bhagwan?
               Our meaning of Bhagwan is totally different. We call him Buddha, Bhagwan, because he has
           now no more desires. He is contented. He is happy and at home. He has come home -- that is his
           blessedness. Now there is no conflict between him and existence. He has fallen in accord, in
           harmonia. Now he and the whole are not two separate things. They vibrate in the same way. He has
           become part of the orchestra of the whole. And by becoming a part of this great orchestra of stars
           and trees and flowers and winds and clouds and seas and sands, he has become blessed -- we call
           him Bhagwan.
               Go on this adventure. Once you use a certain word, that word creates many things -- words are
           very creative. If you call the world just matter, that very word pulls you down. So there is nothing
           else? just matter? Then all else that looks superior to matter must be illusory.
               That's why a materialist goes on saying that the samadhi of Patanjali is illusion, the nirvana of
           Buddha is imaginary, the satori of zen masters is just a game of the mind. Why does the materialist
           go on denying these things? Once you have this concept of matter, that everything has to be reduced
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to matter, then there are many things that cannot be reduced to matter. How to reduce the experience
           of satori into matter? The only possible way is to deny it, say it is not.
               Nietzsche says god is not, god is dead, because if god is, then you have to accept Jesus, you have
           to accept Buddha, you have to accept Patanjali, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra. They are like rainbows...
           bridges between the known and the unknown. But you have to raise your eyes towards the sky.
               If you look down into the earth and you go on digging there, you cannot look at the rainbows. If
           you deny the existence of sky itself and somebody says, 'Look up!' you will say, 'Where? There is no
           up.' And if somebody says, 'I am seeing a beautiful rainbow in the sky,' you will say, 'You must be
           hallucinating, you must be in a delusion. What are you talking about? There is no sky, so there is no
           possibility for any rainbow.'
               By denying god, we deny all possibilities of all rainbows. But then man becomes stuck. Then
           you are not going anywhere, then you are a stagnant pool... just waiting to die. For a materialist there
           is nothing else -- just waiting to die. His life becomes a tremendous burden, anguish.
               Jean-Paul Sartre calls man a useless passion. If there is no god, he is right. If there is no god, then
           why are you existing, for what? If you cannot become god, then what is the point of it all? Why go
           on existing and why go on carrying this anguish, angst, this anxiety, this tense life? Why? Why
           continue this nightmare? Why not drop out of it?
               In one of Dostoevsky's great novels, 'Brothers Karamazov', one character says to god, 'If I ever
           meet you, I want to give back this ticket that you gave me to enter into the world. Take it back! I
           don't want to be here; it is so pointless.'
               Jean-Paul Sartre is right. If there is no god then existence is meaningless. Then it is just a tale
           told by an idiot, full of fury and noise, signifying nothing. Then it is a madhouse.
               With god, with the very concept of god, things start falling in line. Then it is not just a tale told
           by an idiot; then life has meaning. The meaning comes from the beyond. The meaning always comes
           from the transcendental. The meaning is always surpassing that which is. If you deny all future
           possibilities, then meaning disappears, then life is futile.
               I call myself god because I would like to introduce you to a life of passionate meaning, full of
           meaning... a life of significance, grandeur, beauty, truth. With god, everything becomes possible.
           Without god, everything becomes impossible.
               A man without god is not a man at all. He resembles man, but he is not a man because he has no
           transcending meaning in him. He is like a tree without flowers. The tree exists in a futile way, no
           fulfillment. Unless flowers bloom and the fragrance is released to the winds, the tree exists in vain.
           You can go and listen deeply; you will find it crying and weeping. Deep in its heart you will find
           pain. When flowers come to a tree, poetry has started happening, something transcendental.
               Can you ever imagine flowers by looking at the roots? If you have never seen any flowers and I
           bring the roots of a beautiful flowering bush and show you the roots, can you imagine that flowers
           are possible from looking at ugly roots? You will simply deny. But hidden in these roots are flowers.
               Somebody is needed to nourish these roots, to protect these roots, to water these roots, to give
           them light and shade and sun and wind and rains, and one needs to be tremendously trusting that
           something is going to happen, because long will be the awaiting. Then one day just a miracle
           happens -- the tree is blooming. You cannot believe your eyes. How did those ugly roots get so
           transfigured? so transformed? How have those ugly roots become such beautiful roses? Impossible.
           Illogical. It should not really happen. It goes against all reasoning. But it is so.
               If you exist without a god, you are a tree without flowers, a rosebush without roses. And what is
           a rosebush without roses? Just thorns....
               When I call myself Bhagwan, I am simply saying to you, 'Look at me -- the roses have bloomed.
           And what has happened to me can happen to you. So don't feel desperate and don't feel depressed.
           Look at me and your hope will come back, and you will not feel hopeless.
               'Allow me to enter you. At least allow my fragrance to enter your nostrils. Let me get to your
           heart. Let me stir your heart a little so that your own flowers start growing, your own buds start
           opening their petals.'
               Calling myself Bhagwan is just a device. I can drop it any day. The moment I see it has started
           working, the chain has started. The moment I see that now it is no more needed... a few people have
           become a flame; then they will be enough proof. There will be no need to call myself Bhagwan.
           They will be enough proof. If a few of my sannyasins start blooming, I will drop calling myself
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bhagwan. The device will have worked.
               A few years back, one day I called Yoga Chinmaya and told him to find a new word for me
           because I was going to function in a new way. I was known all over the country as the acharya. The
           acharya means a master, a teacher, and I was a teacher, and I was teaching and travelling. That was
           just the introductory part of my work; that was to invite people.
               Once the invitation reached, I stopped travelling. Now those who want, they should come to me.
           I have gone to their home, knocked on their doors. I have told them that I am here and any day the
           desire arises in them, they can come. I will wait. I have shown them the path towards me. And then
           one day I called Yoga Chinmaya and I told him, 'Now find a new word for me because the word
           "teacher" will not be enough.'
               He brought many names for the new function that I was going to take. He said, 'Maharishi, great
           seer.' I said, 'That is comparative -- seer and great seer, rishi and maharishi. No, that is not good. And
           everybody cannot be a seer. It is a talent. A few people can become seers, everybody cannot become
           a seer.'
               Then he said, 'Paramahansa, the great swan?' Again it is comparative. And it is a symbol of
           hierarchy. In certain old sannyasin orders, Paramahansa is the last stage. Just as in buddhist
           terminology, Arhat is the peak, one has arrived. In hindu terminology, Paramahansa is the peak --
           but it shows graduation, step by step. It is mathematical, calculative.
               He said, 'Then what about Avadhuta? That too is another comparative term, belonging to another
           sect of sannyasins. It is again parallel to Arhat and Paramahansa, and belongs to the Tantrikas.
           Avadhuta is their last stage. But it shows achievement.
               I said, 'Find something which is universal. Find something which is not relative.' And then he
           found 'Bhagwan'.
               It is a non-comparative term. You cannot be godlier than god; godder than god you cannot be. It
           is a non-comparative term. And it does not show any achievement; it simply shows your nature. Not
           that one has to become god; one is god, one has simply to recognize
               It does not show any talent. There is somebody who is a great poet, somebody who is a great
           seer, a great visionary; somebody a great painter, somebody a great musician, somebody a great
           dancer -- these are all talents. All cannot be great dancers; you cannot all be Nijinskys. And all
           cannot be great painters; you cannot all be Van Goghs. And you all cannot be great poets; you
           cannot all be Tagores and Pablo Nerudas.
               But Bhagwan you all are. It does not show an achievement; it simply shows your universality,
           your very nature. Already you are god.
               I loved the term. I said, 'That will do. At least for a few years it will do; then we can drop it.'
               I have chosen it for a specific purpose and it has been serving well, because people who used to
           come to me to gather knowledge, they stopped. The day I called myself Bhagwan, they stopped. It
           was too much for them, it was too much for their egos. Somebody calling himself Bhagwan?... it
           hurts the ego.
               They stopped. They were coming to me to gather knowledge. Now I've changed my function
           absolutely. I started working on a different level, in a different dimension. Now I give you being, not
           knowledge. I was an acharya and they were students; they were learning. Now I am no more a
           teacher and you are not here as students.
               If you are here as students, sooner or later you will have to leave, because you will find yourself
           in a wrong place; you will not fit here. Only if you are a disciple, then you can fit with me. Because
           now I am to give something more. If you are here for knowledge, then sooner or later you will see --
           you have to go somewhere else.
               I am here to impart being. I am here to make you awake. I am not going to give you knowledge, I
           am going to give you knowing -- and that is a totally different dimension.
               Calling myself Bhagwan was simply symbolic -- that now I have taken a different dimension to
           work. And it has been tremendously useful. All wrong people automatically disappeared and a
           totally different quality of people started arriving.
               It worked well. Chinmaya's choice was good. It sorted out well. Only those who are ready to
           dissolve with me remained, all others escaped. They created space around me. Otherwise they were
           crowding too much, and it was very difficult for the real seekers to come closer to me. The crowds
           disappeared. The word 'Bhagwan' functioned like an atomic explosion. It did well. I am happy that I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           chose it.
                Now people who come to me are no more argumentative. Now people who come to me come to
           drink me, to eat me, to digest me. Now people who come to me are great adventurers of the soul.
           And they are ready to risk -- to risk any and everything.
                Calling myself Bhagwan is a device. Sooner or later, when you have grown up and you have
           understood the point, and when your presence here has created a different quality of vibrations, I will
           stop calling myself Bhagwan. Then there will be no need. Then the whole atmosphere will be
           throbbing with godliness. Then people who will come, it will shower on them. It will penetrate into
           their hearts. There will be no need to call me anything -- you will know. But in the beginning it was
           needed, and it has been of tremendous help.
                The last thing about it. I am not a philosopher. Always remember me as a poet. My approach
           towards life is that of poetry, is that of romance. It is romantic, it is imaginative. I would like you all
           to be gods and goddesses. I would like you to reveal your true being.
                Calling myself god is a challenge. It is a subtle challenge. There are only two ways to settle with
           it. One is, you say, 'This man is not god, and go away, because then what are you doing here? If this
           man is not god, then why waste your time? You go away. Or, you accept that this man is god, and
           then you start being with me, and your own godliness starts flowering.
                One day you will also be a god, a goddess. Accepting me as god is in fact deep down accepting
           the possibility that you can also be a god, that's all. The very acceptance that this man can be a god,
           stirs something that has been fast asleep within you. Then you cannot remain as you are; something
           has to be done. Something has to be transformed, something has to be known. You cannot live at rest
           any more. A dream has taken possession of you.
           I was reading an anecdote:

              The cute and efficient young maid seemed to enjoy her work until one day without warning she
           gave notice.
              'Why do you wish to leave?' the lady of the house asked. 'Is there anything wrong?'
              'I just can't stand the suspense in this house a minute more,' the maid replied.
              'Suspense?' said the confused mistress. 'What do you mean?'
              'It is the sign over my door,' the girl explained. 'You know, the one that says: Watch ye, for ye
           know not when the master cometh.' 'Watch ye, for ye know not when the master cometh.'

               She misunderstood it, but it created a continuous suspense, uneasiness. 'Watch ye, ye know not
           when the master cometh....'
               If you decide to go with me, you will become more and more watchful. And the more watchful
           you will become, the more you will be able to understand me, the more you will be able to
           understand what has happened, what has transpired within my soul. You will become more and more
           a participant in this happening, in this dance, in this singing.
               And by and by you will see -- the master is coming. And it is not coming from the outside, it is
           coming from your innermost core, it is arising from your depths.
               The master cometh, the god comes, but not from the outside. He comes from your very center.
           He has been there waiting for you to call him. He has been there since eternity waiting that some day
           you will look in.
               I looked in and I found him there. My message is simple -- that I have found the god within me.
           My whole effort is to persuade you -- look within, the master cometh. Yes, it is possible. Yes, he
           comes. And he does not come from the outside; he explodes from the inside. He arises in you. He is
           your future, he is your destiny.
               You may know it, you may not know it. You are already in him and he is already in you. The
           only question is how to become aware. 'Watch ye, for ye know not when the master cometh.'
               The only question is of becoming a watcher on the hills. Become a witness -- alert, observing --
           and you will be fulfilled.


              WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE DANGEROUSLY?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                To live dangerously means to live. If you don't live dangerously, you don't live. Living flowers
           only in danger. Living never flowers in security; it flowers only in insecurity.
                If you start getting secure, you become a stagnant pool. Then your energy is no more moving.
           Then you are afraid, because one never knows how to go into the unknown. And why take the risk?
           The known is more secure. Then you get obsessed with the familiar. You go on getting fed up with
           it, you are bored with it, you feel miserable in it, but still it seems familiar and comfortable. At least
           it is known. Unknown creates a trembling in you. The very idea of the unknown and you start feeling
           unsafe.
                There are only two types of people in the world. People who want to live comfortably -- they are
           seeking death. They want a comfortable grave. And people who want to live -- they choose to live
           dangerously, because life thrives only when there is risk.
                Have you ever gone climbing the mountains? The higher the climb, the fresher you feel, the
           younger you feel. The greater the danger of falling, the bigger the abyss by the side, the more alive
           you are... between life and death, when you are just hanging between life and death. Then there is no
           boredom, then there is no dust of the past, no desire for the future. Then the present moment is very
           sharp like a flame. It is enough. You live in the here and now.
                Or surfing... or skiing... or gliding. Wherever there is a risk of losing life, there is tremendous
           joy. Because the risk of losing life makes you tremendously alive. Hence people are attracted to
           dangerous sports.
                People go climbing the mountains. Somebody asked Hillary, 'Why did you try to climb Everest?
           Why?' And Hillary said, 'Because it is there -- a constant challenge.' It was risky, many people had
           died before. For almost sixty, seventy years, groups had been going, and it was almost a certain
           death. But still people were going. What was the attraction?
                Reaching higher, going farther away from the settled, the routine life, you again become wild,
           you again become part of the animal world. You again live like a tiger or a lion or like a river. You
           again soar like a bird into the skies, farther and farther away. And each moment the security, the
           bank balance, the wife, the husband, the family, the society, the church, the respectability... all are
           fading away and away, distant and distant. You become alone.
                This is why people are so much interested in sports. But that too is not real danger because you
           can become very very skilled. You can learn it, you can be trained for it. It is a very calculated risk --
           if you allow me the expression, calculated risk. You can train for mountaineering and you can take
           all precautions.
                Or driving, speed-driving. You can go a hundred miles per hour. It is dangerous, it is thrilling.
           But you can become really skillful about it, and the danger is only for outsiders; for you it is not.
           And even if it is there, it is very marginal. And then, these risks are only physical risks, only the
           body is involved.
                When I say to you, live dangerously, I mean not only bodily risk, but psychological risk, and
           finally spiritual risk. Religion is spiritual risk. It is going to such heights from where maybe there is
           no return. That is the meaning of Buddha's term, anagamin -- one who returns never. It is going to
           such a height of point of no return; then one is simply lost. One never comes back.
                When I say live dangerously, I mean don't live the life of ordinary respectability -- that you are a
           mayor in a town, or a member of the cooperation. This is not life. Or you are a minister, or you have
           a good profession and are earning well and money goes on accumulating in the bank and everything
           is going perfectly well.
                When everything is going perfectly well, simply see it -- you are dying and nothing is happening.
           People may respect you, and when you die a great procession will follow you. Good, that's all. And
           in the newspapers your pictures will be published and there will be editorials, and then people will
           forget about you. And you lived your whole life only for these things.
                Watch -- one can miss one's whole life for ordinary, mundane things. To be spiritual means to
           understand that these small things should not be given too much importance. I am not saying that
           they are meaningless. I am saying that they are meaningful, but not as meaningful as you think.
                Money is needed. It is a need. But money is not the goal and cannot be the goal. A house is
           needed, certainly. It is a need. I am not an ascetic and I don't want you to destroy your houses and
           escape to the Himalayas. The house is needed -- but the house is needed for you. Don't
           misunderstand it.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               As I see people, the whole thing has gone topsy-turvy. They exist as if they are needed for the
           house. They go on working for the house. As if they are needed for the bank balance -- they simply
           go on collecting money and then they die. And they had never lived. They had never a single
           moment of throbbing, streaming life. They were just imprisoned in security, familiarity,
           respectability.
               Then if you feel bored, it is natural. People come to me and they say they feel very bored. They
           feel fed up, stuck. What to do? They think that just by repeating a mantra they will become again
           alive. It is not so easy. They will have to change their whole life pattern.
               Love, but don't think that tomorrow the woman will be available to you. Don't expect. Don't
           reduce the woman into a wife. Then you are living dangerously. Don't reduce the man into a
           husband, because a husband is an ugly thing. Let your man be your man and your woman your
           woman. And don't make your tomorrow predictable. Expect nothing and be ready for everything.
           That's what I mean when I say live dangerously.
               What do we do? We fall in love with a woman and immediately we start going to the court, or to
           the registry office, or to the church to get married. I'm not saying don't get married. It is a formality.
           Good, satisfy the society. But deep in your mind never possess the woman. Never for a single
           moment say that 'you belong to me'. Because how can a person belong to you? And when you start
           possessing the woman, she will start possessing you. Then you both are no more in love. You are
           just crushing and killing each other, paralyzing each other.
               Love -- but don't let your love degrade into marriage. Work -- work is needed -- but don't let
           work become your only life. Play should remain your life, your center of life. Work should be as a
           means towards play. Work in the office and work in the factory and work in the shop, but just to
           have time, opportunity, to play. Don't let your life be reduced into just a working routine. Because
           the goal of life is play. Play means doing something for its own sake.
               You come to me even to meditate, and you take meditation also as work. You think something
           has to be done to achieve god. It is nonsense. Meditation cannot be done that way. You have to play,
           you have to take it as fun. You have not to be serious about it. You have to enjoy it.
               When you enjoy it, it develops. When you start taking it as work, as a duty to be done -- because
           you have to do, you have to achieve moksha, nirvana, liberation -- then again you have brought your
           foolish categories into the world of play. Meditation is play, it is a leela. You enjoy it for its own
           sake.
               If you enjoy many more things for their own sake, you will be more alive. Of course, your life
           will always be in a risk, danger. But that's how life has to be. Risk is part of it. In fact the better part
           of it is risk, the best part of it is risk. The most beautiful part of it is risk. It is every moment a risk.
           You may not be aware. You breathe in, you breathe out. There is risk. Even breathing out, who
           knows whether the breath will come back or not? It is not certain, there is no guarantee.
               But there are a few people whose whole religion is security. Even if they talk about god, they
           talk about god as the supreme security. If they think about god, they think only because they are
           afraid. If they go to pray and meditate, they are going just in order that they remain in the good
           books -- in god's good books. 'If there is a god, he will know that I was a regular church-goer, a
           regular worshipper. I can claim.' Even their prayer is just a means.
               To live dangerously means to live life as if each moment is its own end. Each moment has its
           own intrinsic value. And you are not afraid. And you know death is there and you accept the fact that
           death is there, and you are not hiding against death. In fact, you go and encounter death. You enjoy
           those moments of encountering death -- physically, psychologically, spiritually.
               Enjoying those moments where you come directly in contact with death, where death becomes
           almost a reality, is what I mean when I say live dangerously.
               Love brings you face to face with death. Meditation brings you face to face with death. Coming
           to a master is coming to your own death. Facing somebody who has disappeared, is entering an
           abyss in which you can be lost, and you can become an anagamin.
               Those who are courageous, they go headlong. They search all opportunities of danger. Their life
           philosophy is not that of insurance companies. Their life philosophy is that of a mountain climber, a
           glider, a surfer. And not only in the outside seas they surf; they surf in their innermost seas. And not
           only on the outside they climb Alps and Himalayas; they seek inner peaks.
               But remember one thing -- never forget the art of risking, never never. Always remain capable of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           risking. And wherever you can find an opportunity to risk, never miss it, and you will never be a
           loser. Risk is the only guarantee for being truly alive.


              I FEEL STUCK. I FEEL I HAVE AN ESSENTIAL BEING INSIDE WHICH WANTS TO GET OUT. IT
              FEELS A LOT MORE ALIVE AND DANGEROUS THAN THE ONE I DRAG AROUND WITH ME. IT
              WANTS TO GRAB GIRLS AND SEXUALLY ENJOY.
              BUT YOU HAVE SAID THAT FOR LIFETIMES THE ENERGY HAS GONE DOWN; TIME FOR A
              CHANGE. IT WANTS TO FUME AND RAGE AT GETTING A HALF-CUP INSTEAD OF A FULL CUP
              OF MILK.


                The half-cup will always remain half. Because it is in the very nature of desires that they cannot
           be completed. It is the very nature of desire to remain half, to remain discontent. It is the very nature
           of desire to remain desiring.
                You desire one thing. When you get it, by the time you get it, your desire has increased. You
           were desiring ten thousand rupees. By the time you get ten thousand rupees, your desire has gone
           farther ahead. Now it is asking for twenty thousand rupees.
                In fact nothing has changed. You had five thousand rupees with you, and you were desiring ten
           thousand rupees. Now you have ten thousand rupees, you are desiring twenty thousand rupees. The
           proportion is the same. The distance between you and your goal is the same. It remains the same.
           The cup remains half. There is no way through desire to come to fulfillment.
                Buddha has said it is not the nature of desire to be fulfilled. Fulfillment comes only by
           desirelessness.
                Now, this is one of the most important paradoxes -- if you drop desiring, you will be fulfilled.
           The more you desire, the more you are getting into desire, the farther and farther away you go from
           your possibility of fulfillment. One desire creates many more desires... then many more desires,
           millions more. It is like a tree. First it is one, then many branches, then many small offshoots, and on
           and on it goes.
           The person has asked, I FEEL STUCK....
                Everybody who has been living in desire feels stuck. The problem is that if you don't try to fulfill
           your desire, you remain unfulfilled. If you try, even if you get the goal of your desire, then you
           remain unfulfilled -- then too, nothing changes. This is the nightmare of life.
                I have heard about a madhouse. A visitor had come, and the doctor, the superintendent, was
           taking him round. They came to a cage. A man was beating his head, pulling his hair, crying, and
           holding a small picture near his chest. Pathetic, very tragic was the scene.
                The visitor asked, 'What happened to this unfortunate man?'
                The doctor said, 'He used to love a woman and he could not get her. She decided to marry
           somebody else. Since then he has been mad. He is carrying that picture continuously -- day, night,
           awake, asleep -- and he goes on in deep anguish. His misery is immense.'
                Then they reached another cage, just in front of the first one. Another person was raving mad,
           hitting against the walls, fighting with some shadows. He was almost violent, aggressive; he looked
           like a murderer. And the visitor asked, 'What happened to this man?'
                The doctor started laughing. He said, 'The woman married this man! And this is what has
           happened by marrying the woman.'

               One is suffering because he could not get, another is suffering because he could get.
               There are poor people who are suffering because they don't have riches. And there are rich
           people who are suffering because now they have riches and yet they have nothing. There are
           unsuccessful people who are in tremendous pain because they failed and life failed them. And there
           are successful people who are simply empty, all life gone out of them. They put everything at stake
           and they succeeded and now what to do?
               Nothing fails like success. When it comes, you cannot believe what you were desiring. You can
           have a big house, and you can have respect and money, and suddenly you see -- you are just empty
           and your whole life has been a wastage. Things have accumulated and you have disappeared. Things
           are there, possessions are there, but the master is missing.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              This is the nature of desire. Everybody feels stuck.

           I FEEL STUCK. I FEEL I HAVE AN ESSENTIAL BEING INSIDE WHICH WANTS TO GET
           OUT.

               That is not your essential being. Because the essential being is that which has no desire. The
           being that desires is the accidental being. Be careful what words you use.
               The essential is one which has no desire. It is already fulfilled. That which desires is the
           accidental. It is continuously unhappy, continuously in discontent, continuously frustrated... and
           goes on desiring.
               And the problem is -- the more you desire, the more you get frustrated. The more you get
           frustrated, the more you desire. A vicious circle... and one goes on moving in it and is crushed by the
           wheel.

           I FEEL I HAVE AN ESSENTIAL BEING INSIDE WHICH WANTS TO GET OUT.

              The essential being never wants to get out. The essential being is your innermost core, it is your
           innerness. It never wants to get out. There is nothing for it to go anywhere. It is already where it
           should be. The essential is one which is already where it should be, which is already that which it
           should be. The essential is the ideal, the essential is the natural, the spontaneous.

           I FEEL I HAVE AN ESSENTIAL BEING INSIDE ME WHICH WANTS TO GET OUT.

               This is not your essential being that wants to get out. This is your accidental being. Maybe it
           arises because you are identified with the body, or it arises because you are identified with the mind.
           IT FEELS A LOT MORE ALIVE AND DANGEROUS THAN THE ONE I DRAG AROUND
           WITH ME.

               Yes, it is. It at least appears to be more alive. It at least deceives you to be more alive. Follow it
           and you will find that it tricked you.
               That's what people find by the time death is approaching. Their sex tricked them, their lust
           tricked them, their greed tricked them, their ambition tricked them. And now everything is gone, all
           energy lost, and they are going empty-handed. They have not matured. They have not got anything
           that they can carry beyond death.
               Life is that which cannot be destroyed by death, remember. That is the definition. And anything
           alive, if it is truly alive, is beyond death. It cannot be taken away by death. Nothing can destroy it.
           Aliveness is eternity.
               IT FEELS A LOT MORE ALIVE... It simply deceives you. It is very very tricky, it is very
           persuasive. It is a great salesman... AND DANGEROUS THAN THE ONE I DRAG AROUND
           WITH ME. Yes, and it is dangerous; not for you -- it is dangerous for others. For you, it is just an
           illusion.
               Of course it is dangerous, but not in the sense that I was talking about danger. That's what
           everybody is doing. That is nothing new. Everybody is greedy and everybody is full of lust. That is
           nothing new, that is nothing risky. That is the way of the world. Even animals are doing that, trees
           are doing that. Everybody is doing that.
               It is dangerous in a different way. It is dangerous in the sense that it is destructive. It will destroy
           you, and it will destroy others. It is not creative.
               Love is creative. Sex is destructive. And there is a lot of difference between the two. Sometimes
           you start thinking that your sexuality is your love. Then you are deceived. Sexuality can play the
           game of love, but it is a counterfeit game. I am not against sex, but I am certainly against sexuality.
           And the difference is that sex is a natural thing and sexuality is a mind thing.
               To love a woman is natural, to love a man is natural. To reproduce children is natural, nothing
           wrong in it. But to think about women, to carry pornographic pictures, to fall asleep every night
           thinking about women -- women and women and women -- that is sexuality.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mulla Nasrudin went to his psychiatrist. And the psychiatrist said, just as a test, 'Look at the
           clock on the wall. What does it remind you of?'
           He looked at the wall and said, 'Of women.'
               The clock!? The psychiatrist said, 'Okay, what does this chair remind you of?'
               'Of course,' Mulla Nasrudin said, 'of women.' Even the psychiatrist was shocked -- the chair?
           And then a camel was passing, so he said, 'And what does this camel remind you of?' Now, this is
           the farthest thing from a woman -- a camel.
           And he said, 'Of course, of women.'
               The psychiatrist said, 'This is too much. How can the camel remind you of women?'
               Mulla Nasrudin said, 'It is not a question of the camel or anything else. I never think about
           anything else. Everything reminds me of women. Even nothing reminds me of women. I simply
           think about women and nothing else.'

           Now this is sexuality.
               And the same is trying to erupt in the questioner. IT WANTS TO GRAB GIRLS AND
           SEXUALLY ENJOY.
               Now nothing is wrong in falling in love with a woman, but to grab a girl is ugly. Be a little more
           artful and a little more gentlemanly. Grabbing? The very word is aggressive, the very word is violent
           -- as if you don't have any respect for the woman you love. Grabbing? Is she a thing? Do you want to
           rape?
               This is what goes on happening in the ordinary mind. It has fallen from sex, it has become
           sexual. Sex is natural, normal. You love a woman, you love a man -- good. But then you are
           finished. If you love a woman, you are finished with being concerned with other women. Then that
           one woman represents all women, then that one man becomes all the men in one. Then the whole
           mankind is there. When you love a woman, you have found the essential woman that you were
           looking for. Now you are not looking at every passerby, and your mind is not grabbing. IT WANTS
           TO GRAB GIRLS AND SEXUALLY ENJOY.
               First thing to remember -- if you grab a woman, you will never enjoy. Because enjoyment cannot
           be forced. It is a subtle rhythm. When a woman also loves you, only then this music arises between
           the two which gives joy, delight.
               You can grab a woman -- and that's what people are doing. Somebody is doing just by physical
           force, somebody is doing by money-force... because he has money so he can purchase any woman...
           somebody is doing by some other means. As I see, out of a hundred, ninety-nine people have
           grabbed women and men. Rarely it happens that a person is in love.
               When you are in love, you don't grab the woman and the woman does not grab you. When you
           are in love, love possesses you both. When you are in love, you don't possess each other. You
           possess not -- not at all. And when you are in love, you don't think about enjoyment; it is there. All
           thinking about enjoyment exists because it is not there, it is missing.
               Joy is something which happens as a consequence; it is not a result. You cannot make any effort
           to be joyful. You can move into some activity so deeply that you forget yourself, and joy arises. Joy
           arises only when you are not. This is what Buddha says -- when the self disappears then joy arises.
               The self can disappear in meditation. The self can disappear in love. The self can disappear in
           prayer. The self can disappear in dance, in singing and painting. The self can disappear anywhere if
           you are completely lost in any activity, and the activity is so deep that you are no more a doer there;
           you have become one with it. It happens sometimes.
               Once a young man came to me. He was a good runner, a champion runner, and he asked me how
           to meditate, and he was so bubbling with energy. He was a great runner, and he said, 'When I sit, and
           you tell me to sit silently, I cannot sit; the energy is so much. Is there any possibility for me to ever
           become meditative?'
               I said, 'You forget about meditation. You run, and you drop yourself in running. One day
           meditation will happen.'
               He said, 'What are you saying? Just by running? Has anybody ever become a Buddha just
           running?'
               I said, 'Yes, there is a possibility. Because a person can become a Buddha in any activity.'
           He said, 'I will try.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                After a week he came and he said, 'It is unbelievable. I cannot even believe that it has happened.
           Something tremendously beautiful happened. I was running, I was going as fast as I could. And as
           you had said, I forgot myself completely. I was not performing, it was not a competition. I was
           simply in it... the sun falling on my being, showering me, the morning breeze, the birds singing, and
           the empty bank of the river. And I was running and running.
                'And by and by I started falling into a rhythm with the river, with the breeze, with the trees. And
           suddenly, yes, it was there. I was so full of joy. I have never been so joyful. Tell me, Osho, has it
           really happened? Because I cannot believe that just by running... and I have been running for many
           years and it has never happened.' He was not losing himself; running was a performance.
                Now, one of the most miserable things is happening in the West -- people are making even love a
           performance. They read Masters and Johnson, and they read Kinsey and his reports, and they read
           other so-called great sex researchers, and now they are trying to perform.
                They go on looking whether the woman is having the orgasm or not, whether she is thinking that
           the man is the greatest man in the world or not. And the woman is also thinking in the same way --
           seeing whether she is fulfilling the man and giving him great ecstasy or not. Now both are
           performing and the whole thing is destroyed. Now they are simply acting, they are no more in it.
                In the West, this century is proving the worst century for love. And they talk too much about
           love, and so many books are there -- but something is missing. Love is becoming a performance.
                I am saying to you that even a thing like running, if it is no more a performance, will give you
           the same orgasm that love can give, and the same ecstasy that meditation can give. Even cleansing
           the floor, you can attain to samadhi.
                Sarita goes on cleansing. I hope one day she achieves her samadhi through cleansing. She is
           moving by and by towards it. Sometimes she even misses my talks because she has to clean, and she
           enjoys cleaning so much that I say, 'Okay, you miss the talk. You will not be missing me.'
                Even an ordinary activity -- very ordinary activity -- can have tremendous import once you are
           completely lost in it. Don't be a performer.
                IT WANTS TO GRAB GIRLS AND SEXUALLY ENJOY. If you grab a girl you will have a
           corpse in your hands, not a human body. You can make love to a corpse. There have been people....
           It is said that when Cleopatra died, some foolish people dug her out of her grave and raped her...
           with a dead body. But this is not so strange. As I see, many people are doing it. It is not very strange.
           Cleopatra was tremendously beautiful, and men are foolish.
                H. G. Wells has written that if Cleopatra had had a little smaller nose, the whole history of
           humanity would have been different. Men are such fools that their whole history can be different if
           Cleopatra had had a little smaller nose. It must have been; H. G. Wells is right. The whole history
           would have been different. And some fools raped the dead body.
                But this is happening on a very large scale. If your woman is not ready to love you in that
           moment... maybe she is your wife; that does not make it sure... if she is not ready out of her own
           heart, if she is not flowing in it, you are making love to a dead body. If your man is not ready, drawn
           into it, losing himself into it, you are making love to a dead body.
                You can grab, but you will never reach the woman. The woman or the man can never be grabbed.
           And you can try to enjoy and you will be only frustrated, because nobody has ever attained any
           enjoyment by trying it. Enjoyment comes like a shadow. The whole effort is ridiculous.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

               Mulla Nasrudin and his wife were at the ballet. He suddenly started laughing. The wife asked,
           'Why?'
               'I was just wondering what the audience would do if I suddenly jumped on the stage, grabbed one
           of the girls, threw her down and made violent love to her,' he said.
               The wife thought a little and began to laugh. He asked, 'Why?'
               'I was just thinking,' she said, 'what would you do if the audience gave you a standing ovation
           and screamed for an encore. If the audience screamed, "Once more!" what would you do?'

               It will be really ridiculous. Performance is ridiculous. Don't be a performer.
               Never think of grabbing a woman or a man. Love -- love is beautiful. But loving needs a
           tremendous transformation in you, because it is a surrender. You have to surrender, you have to be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           respectful. You have to revere the other person, his being. Love is prayer. And if sex happens as part
           of love, sex is spiritual. Then sex is no more sexual, then it is a spiritual ecstasy. It is meditative and
           prayerful.

           BUT YOU HAVE SAID THAT FOR LIFETIMES THE ENERGY HAS GONE DOWN; TIME
           FOR A CHANGE. IT WANTS TO FUME AND RAGE AT GETTING A HALF-CUP INSTEAD
           OF A FULL CUP OF MILK.

               The very nature of desire is such, and you are tackling it in a very foolish way. Try to understand
           the nature of desire. I am not saying repress it. I am saying understand it. Because repression will not
           help. In fact, repression has brought you to this stage.
               The questioner must have been repressing. See, he has repressed his natural desires so much that
           they have become corrupted. Now he thinks that is his essential being. It is nothing but his repressed
           being. Then you can go on and on in your head, playing again and again the same repressed desires.
           And it is not going to fulfill you.
               I am not saying be repressive. I am saying be skillful, be aware.
           It happened:

                When Syble got to be twenty-eight without any prospects of getting married, her mother nagged
           her into inserting an ad in the matrimonial column. The ad read: Beautiful exotic young heiress seeks
           correspondence with devil-may-care gentleman who wants to go places fast.
                After the ad appeared, the mother asked anxiously, 'Well, any answers?'
           'Just one,' sighed the daughter.
           'Who wrote it?' demanded mama.
           'I should not tell you,' said the daughter.
                'But it was my idea,' shouted mama, 'and I insist on knowing.'
                'All right,' said the daughter, 'you asked for it. It is from papa.'

                If you go on repressing, then it will become uglier and uglier. And in old age all your repressions
           become very strong -- because you become weak and your repressions take revenge.
                I am not saying to repress. I am saying understand. Only if understanding can help, then it is
           good. And understanding helps.
                Meditate on your sexuality. See it through and through. Let it become transparent. And the first
           thing needed is -- at least make your sexuality normal. Let it be sex. Don't think in terms of grabbing.
           Be a little more romantic. Don't be so aggressive and violent. Be a little more poetic about life, and a
           little more graceful.
                First let your sexuality come to a normal point of sex, and then let your sex follow your love.
           Never put your sex before love. Love should be the driving force and sex should follow it.
                And once you have done this much, you are on the right track. Soon you will realize that
           whatsoever you have been calling your essential self was your repressed self. And once that
           repressed self is dispersed, eliminated, and you have become natural, healthy, whole, then your
           essential self will come for the first time into your vision.
                The essential self is your innermost god. The essential self is what truth is. The essential self is
           no-self.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #5
                                         Chapter title: A light unto yourself
           4 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7609040
              ShortTitle: TRANS205
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              A MONK ASKED THE BUDDHA: WHAT IS MOST POWERFUL AND WHAT IS MOST
              ILLUMINATING?
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL FOR IT HARBOURS NO EVIL THOUGHTS, AND MOREOVER
              IT IS RESTFUL AND FULL OF STRENGTH. AS IT IS FREE FROM EVILS IT IS SURE TO BE
              HONOURED BY ALL.
              THE MOST ILLUMINATING IS A MIND WHICH IS THOROUGHLY CLEANSED OF DIRT, AND
              WHICH, REMAINING PURE, RETAINS NO BLEMISHES. FROM THE TIME WHEN THERE WAS
              YET NO HEAVEN AND EARTH TILL THE PRESENT DAY THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TEN
              QUARTERS WHICH IS NOT SEEN OR HEARD BY SUCH A MIND. FOR IT HAS GAINED ALL
              KNOWLEDGE AND FOR THAT REASON IT IS CALLED ILLUMINATING.


                LIFE CAN BE LIVED IN TWO WAYS. One is that of the soldier, and the other, that of the
           sannyasin. Either you can fight with life or you can relax with life. Either you can try to conquer life
           or you can live in a deep let-go. The path of the soldier is the wrong path, because it is impossible to
           conquer life -- the part cannot conquer the whole. Frustration and failure is absolutely certain. You
           can play around the idea, but it is not going to succeed; it is doomed to failure. The soldier tries to
           conquer the life, and in the end finds he has been crushed by life, defeated by life, destroyed by life.
                Life destroys nobody, but if you fight with it you will be destroyed by your own violence. Life is
           not against you. How can it be? Life is your mother. It is life that has brought you here. You are born
           out of it. You are a ray of its light, a wave of its ocean. You are intrinsic and organic to it, you are
           not separate. But if you start fighting your own source of energy, you will be destroyed. Your very
           concept of fight will poison you. And of course, the more you feel that you are losing the battle, the
           harder you will fight. The harder you fight, the more frustrated you become.
                The soldier's way is the ordinary way. Almost ninety-nine point nine percent of people follow it
           -- hence there is so much misery, hence there is so much hell. It is created by you, by your wrong
           approach to life. Once you understand it, you start getting in tune with the whole, you start getting
           into a dance with the whole. You lose fighting, you start cooperating.
                The moment you decide to cooperate, you have become a sannyasin.
                The religious person is one who has no idea of separation from the whole... who never thinks,
           never dreams that he is separate... who has no private goal of his own... who simply moves with life
           in total trust. If you cannot trust life, who are you going to trust? If you cannot allow life to flow
           through you, you will be missing -- you will be missing this tremendous opportunity to be alive.
           Then you will get worried, then you will be caught in your own mind. And then misery is the natural
           outcome.
                To understand that conflict is not the way to be happy, is the greatest understanding. To
           understand that cooperation is the way to be blissful... and your dark night of the soul is over and the
           morning has come, and the sun is rising on the horizon. You will be transformed.
                This very understanding is a transforming force -- that cooperation is the key, not conflict. Trust
           is the key, not doubt. Violence is not the way... love. This is the basic framework.
           Now the sutra:

              A MONK ASKED THE BUDDHA: WHAT IS MOST POWERFUL AND WHAT IS MOST
              ILLUMINATING?


              We are all asking only these two questions. First, what is most powerful? Because we are all on a
           power trip. We want to be powerful because we feel we are impotent, we feel we are weaklings, we
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           feel we are limited. A thousand and one limitations surround you. Everywhere you come against a
           wall and you feel powerless. Each moment of life brings you the feeling of helplessness.
               So, the question is very pertinent, a very human question. What is the most powerful thing in the
           world? The monk must have been a seeker of power. Now, you have to understand it. The very
           effort, the very desire to be powerful, is one of the obstacles to attaining power. People who try to
           become powerful never become powerful. They are destroyed by their own search. Because the
           effort to become powerful means you are in conflict. You want fight -- that's why you want to be
           powerful.
               Otherwise, why do you need power in the first place? You must have some aggression, some
           violence, some grudge. You want to prove and perform. You want to prove to others that you are
           powerful and they are not. Deep down somewhere, like a shadow in the unconscious, an Adolf Hitler
           is seeking its way towards your conscious mind -- or a Nadir Shah, or a Napoleon, or an Alexander.
           Everybody is carrying an Alexander within himself.
               This desire for power has created many things in the world. Science has come as a desire for
           power, and it has created power. But that power is destroying humanity. It has come to such a state
           that people like Albert Einstein feel that they have done a crime against humanity. In the last days of
           his life, somebody asked Albert Einstein, 'If you were born again, what would you like to become?'
               He said, 'Never a physicist again, never a scientist. Rather, I would like to become a plumber.'
               He was a very sensitive man, very understanding. And only in the end could he understand that
           he has released so much energy, and he has made humanity aware of such a destructive force --
           atomic energy -- that if humanity destroys itself, he is bound to be one of the most responsible
           persons.
               The very framework of science is to conquer nature. That is the very terminology of science --
           conquest of nature. We have to overpower nature and we have to destroy all mysteries of nature, and
           we have to find all the keys of power, wherever it is. But the very idea takes you away from nature,
           makes you antagonistic to it and becomes destructive. The ecology of the earth has been destroyed
           by this power seeking. In the outside, in the inside -- both -- the natural rhythm of life is disturbed.
           I have heard:

               A very unusual idea occured one day to Frederick of Prussia. He was in the country when he saw
           some sparrows eating some grains of wheat. He started to think and reached the conclusion that these
           small birds consumed a million pecks of wheat a year in his kingdom. This cannot be allowed. They
           have to be either conquered or destroyed.
               Since it was difficult to exterminate them, he promised a price for each dead sparrow. All
           Prussians became hunters and soon there were no more sparrows in the country. What a great
           victory.
               Frederick of Prussia was very happy. He celebrated the event as a great conquest over nature.
           The king was very happy until the following year when he was told that caterpillars and locusts had
           eaten the crops because without sparrows the whole rhythm of life was destroyed. Sparrows go on
           eating caterpillars and locusts. There being no sparrows, the whole crop was destroyed by
           caterpillars. Then it was necessary to bring in sparrows from abroad. And the king said, 'I certainly
           have made a mistake. God knows what he is doing.'

               The great scientific minds of this century are coming, by and by, slowly, reluctantly, to recognize
           that a great mistake has been done.
               The very desire to be powerful is against nature, because the very desire to be powerful is
           antagonistic. Why do you need to be powerful? You must be thinking in terms of destroying
           somebody. Power is needed to destroy. Power is needed to dominate. Power is needed to conquer.
               The monk must have asked, 'What is the most powerful thing in the world?' In fact the actual
           word must have been siddhi. The monk must have asked, 'What is siddhi, what is power?'
               Science tries to penetrate nature to get more power, and there are many systems which penetrate
           your innermost being -- but again the goal is to get more power. Whether you become powerful in a
           scientific way, or you become powerful in a psychic way, it makes no difference. Now the West is
           becoming interested in psychic sciences, but the urge is the same -- to be more powerful.
               So first try to understand why man seeks power in the first place. The very desire is that of a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           soldier. You want power because without power you cannot be a great ego. For ego, power functions
           as food, nourishment. You seek power because only with power will you be able to say 'I am'. The
           more money you have, the more power you have, the more you can feel at ease with your 'I am'. The
           more you can destroy people, the more you can feel that nobody can destroy you.
               Now psychologists say that people are interested in murdering, killing, in war, because when
           they kill others they feel very powerful. They feel power against death. They think they can create
           death -- they can kill others. Now, they feel in a deep way that they have become immortal. Even
           death is under their control. It is foolish, but the idea arises. People who love killing are people who
           are afraid of death.
               Adolf Hitler was very much afraid of death -- so much so that he never allowed anybody to stay
           with him in his room in the night. Not even a girlfriend was ever allowed, he was so afraid of death.
           Who knows? -- the girlfriend may turn out to be a spy, may be an agent in the hands of the enemy.
           He never trusted even love.
               He was one of the most lonely men who has ever existed on earth... and so afraid, continuously
           trembling. But he continued killing people -- that was just to balance the fear. The more he killed,
           the more he felt that he had power. The more he felt that he had power, the more he felt that death
           could not destroy him. He started feeling as if he was immortal.
               Have you watched? -- in wartime people look very radiant. In wartime people look very fresh.
           Ordinarily they look very bored. When war starts, you can see -- their step has changed, their eyes
           have now a glimmer, a radiancy... their face looks more alive, as if the dust of the boredom is gone.
           Something sensational is happening.
               It should not be so, but whenever there is war people feel a power over death -- they can kill.
           Immediately, in the shadow of their unconscious they feel, 'Even death is within our boundary. We
           can bring it or we can stop it.' People love destruction just as a measure of providing security against
           death.
               The search for power is the search not to surrender, not to feel helpless, not to be in a state where
           you are not in control. And the religious man is doing just the opposite. He is seeking a state where
           he is not in control but the whole is in control -- call it god, call it the supreme, or whatsoever you
           like to call it.
               The religious person is one who wants to be in such a deep harmony that there is no question of
           conflict. He is seeking love. He is seeking a love affair with the universe. He never asks about
           power. He asks how to lose separation, how to merge. He asks, 'How to be in such a total surrender
           that I don't move in any way against the whole or separate from the whole, so that I can move with
           the river of life. And wherever the river of life goes, I can go with it'.

              WHAT IS MOST POWERFUL? ASKED THE MONK.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL.


               Jesus says, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' The statement looks absurd,
           because the meek? -- they have never been powerful enough to inherit the earth. And we cannot
           conceive that they will ever be able to inherit the earth. But Jesus is saying something very true:
           Blessed are the meek.
               And when he says they shall inherit the earth, he is saying this same message that Buddha is
           saying. MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL -- that is his meaning when he says they shall inherit
           the earth.
               Meekness is powerful, but the power has a totally different connotation now. Meekness is
           powerful because now there is nobody against you. Meekness is powerful because you are no more
           separate from the whole -- and the whole is powerful. Meekness is powerful because you are no
           more fighting, and there is no way of your being defeated. Meekness is powerful, because with the
           whole you have already conquered. All victory is with the whole. Meekness is powerful because you
           are riding on the wave of the whole. Now there is no possibility of your ever being defeated.
               It looks paradoxical, because the meek person is one who does not want to conquer. The meek
           person is one who is ready to be defeated. Lao Tzu says, 'Nobody can defeat me because I have
           accepted defeat already. Now how can you defeat a defeated person? Lao Tzu says, 'Nobody can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           defeat me because I am standing as the last person in the world. You cannot push me any further
           back -- there is no "further back". I am the last person.' Jesus also says, 'Those who are last in this
           world will be first in my kingdom of god.'
               Those who are the last will be the first? It does not seem possible in this world. In this world,
           aggressive people, violent people, tend to power, tend to be victorious. You will find the most mad
           people in the most powerful places, because to reach to that point one has almost to be crazy for
           power, the competition is such. The competition is so violent that how can a meek person reach to a
           state of power? No... but that is not the meaning.
               When Buddha says, MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL, he is saying you cannot defeat a meek
           person because he has no desire to conquer. You cannot force a meek person to be a failure because
           he never wanted to succeed. You cannot enforce a meek person to be poor, because he has no desire
           for riches. Poverty is his richness. Not to be anybody in particular is his way of life. To be a nobody
           is his very style.
               What can you take away from him? He has nothing. He cannot be cheated, he cannot be robbed.
           In fact, he cannot be destroyed because he has already surrendered that which can be destroyed. He
           has no self, no ego of his own.
               It happened when Alexander was going back from India, he wanted to take a sannyasin with him.
           When he was coming to conquer India, his teacher, the great philosopher Aristotle, had told him,
           'When you are coming back, bring a gift to me. I would like to see a sannyasin from India.' That is
           something very original to the East. That contribution belongs to the East. The West has given great
           warriors, the East has given great sannyasins. Aristotle was intrigued with the very idea of sannyas,
           what it is.
               Alexander, going back, remembered. He enquired. The people of that village where he was
           staying told him, 'Yes, there is a sannyasin, but we don't think you will be able to take him back.' He
           laughed at the foolishness of the villagers, because who can prevent Alexander? He said, 'If I want to
           take the Himalayas, even they will follow me. So you don't be worried, just tell me where he is.'
           They told him.
               He was a naked fakir, a naked man standing just by the side of the river outside the village... a
           beautiful person. Dandamis was his name -- that's how Alexander's historians have remembered him.
           Two soldiers were sent. They told the sannyasin, 'Alexander the Great wants you to follow him. You
           will be a royal guest. Whatsoever you need will be provided, every comfort will be made possible.
           Accept the invitation.'
               The naked man started laughing. He said, 'I have dropped all wandering. I don't go anywhere any
           more. I have come home.'
               They said, 'Don't be stupid. The great Alexander can force you to go. If you don't go as a guest,
           you will go as a prisoner. The choice is yours. Anyway you will have to go.'
               He started laughing again. He said, 'I have dropped the very thing that can be imprisoned.
           Nobody can make me a prisoner. I am freedom.'
               Alexander himself came. He took his sword out and he told the sannyasin, 'If you don't come
           with me, this sword is here and I will cut your head.'
               The sannyasin said, 'You can do it. In fact I have done it already. I have cut my head myself. And
           if you cut my head, you will see it falling down on the ground and I will also see it falling on the
           ground, because I have become a witness.'
               It is said that Alexander could not gather courage to kill this man. He was so happy, he was so
           fearless, he was so blissful.

                When Buddha says, MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL, he means one who does not exist as
           an ego is meek. One who does not exist as an ego cannot be conquered, cannot be defeated, cannot
           be destroyed. He has gone beyond.
                By going beyond the ego, you go beyond death. By going beyond the ego, you go beyond defeat.
           By going beyond the ego, you go beyond powerlessness. This is a totally different concept of power
           -- the power of a sannyasin.
                This power is no more out of conflict. This power is not created out of friction. You say
           electricity is created out of friction. You can create electricity out of friction, you can create fire out
           of friction. If you rub both your hands, they will become hot. There is a power that comes out of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           friction -- by conflict. And there is a power that comes by cooperation -- not by friction but by
           harmony. That's what Buddha says -- 'One who is in accord with the way is great.' One who is in
           accord with the way is powerful. But to be in accord with the way, one has to be meek.
               Blessed are the meek. Certainly they shall inherit the earth. History will never know about them,
           because history has nothing to do with them. History knows only friction, history knows only
           mischief. History knows only mischief-mongers. History knows only mad people -- because history
           records only when something goes wrong. When everything goes absolutely in tune, it is out of time
           and out of history also.
               History does not report much about Jesus -- in fact, nothing. If the Bible was not in existence,
           there would have been no record about Jesus. And I would like to tell you that many people like
           Jesus have existed, but we don't have any record about them. History never took any note. They were
           so meek, they were so silent, they were so in tune, so deep in harmony, that not even a ripple was
           created around them. They came and they left, and they have not left even a footprint.
               History has not been recording Buddhas. That's why when you hear about a Buddha or a
           Mahavira or a Zarathustra, they look like mythological figures, not historic. It appears that they
           never existed, or they only existed in the dreams of man, or they existed only in the poetries of a few
           imaginative, romantic people. They look like wish-fulfillments. They look like how man would like
           man to be... but not realities. They were real. They were so real that no trace has been left behind
           them.
               Unless you create some mischief, you will not be leaving your signature on history. That's why
           history records only politics, because politics is the mechanism of mischief. The politician is in
           conflict. The religious person lives in harmony. He lives like trees. Who records about trees? He
           lives like rivers. Who records about rivers? He moves like clouds. Who bothers about clouds?
               The meek person is one who is in harmony. And Buddha says he is the most powerful. But this
           concept of power is totally different. To understand it, a few things will be good to remember.
               In Japan they have a beautiful science -- aikido. The word 'aikido' comes from a word 'ki'. 'Ki'
           means power. The same word in Chinese is 'chi'. From 'chi' comes t'ai chi -- that too means power.
           Just equivalent to ki and chi is the indian word 'prana'. It is a totally different concept of power.
               In aikido they teach that when somebody attacks you, don't be in conflict with him -- even when
           somebody attacks you. Cooperate with him. This looks impossible, but one can learn the art. And
           when you have learned the art, you will be tremendously surprised that it happens -- you can
           cooperate even with your enemy. When somebody attacks you, aikido says go with him.
               Ordinarily when somebody attacks you, you become stiff, you become hard. You are in conflict.
           Aikido says even take attack in a very loving way. Receive it. It is a gift from the enemy. He is
           bringing great energy to you. Receive it, absorb it, don't conflict.
               In the beginning it looks impossible. How? Because for centuries we have been taught about one
           idea of power, and that is that of conflict, friction. We know only one power and that is of fight. We
           know only one power, and that is of no, saying no.
               You can watch it even in small children. The moment the child starts becoming a little
           independent, he starts saying no. The mother says, 'Don't go out.' He says, 'No, I will go.' The mother
           says, 'Keep quiet.' He says, 'No. I want to sing and dance.' Why does he say no? He is learning ways
           of power. 'No' gives power.
               Aikido says, 'say yes'. When the enemy attacks you, accept it as a gift. Receive it, become
           porous. Don't become stiff. Become as liquid as possible. Receive this gift, absorb it, and the energy
           from the enemy will be lost and you will become the possessor of it. There will be a jump of energy
           from the enemy to you.
               A master of aikido, without fighting, conquers. He conquers by non-fighting. He is tremendously
           meek, humble. The enemy is destroyed by his own attitude. He is creating enough poison for
           himself; there is no need for you to help him. He is suicidal. He is committing suicide by attacking.
           There is no need for you to fight with him.
               You just try it sometimes. You have watched it -- the same phenomenon happening in many
           ways. You see a drunkard walking on the road, and then he falls in the gutter. But he is not hurt. By
           the morning you will see him again going to the office, perfectly healthy and okay. The whole night
           he was in the gutter. He fell, but he has not broken his ribs or his bones, he has no fracture. You fall
           -- and you will immediately have a fracture. What is happening when a drunkard falls? He falls so
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           totally, he goes with it. He is drunk, he cannot resist.
                It is said about Chuang Tzu.... He came across an accident. A bullock cart had gone upside down,
           had fallen in a ditch. The driver was hurt very much, the owner was hurt; he had fractures. But a
           drunkard was also travelling in the bullock cart with the owner. He was not hurt at all. He was not
           even aware of what had happened, he was snoring. He had fallen on the ground. The others were
           crying and weeping and he was fast asleep. Chuang Tzu said, 'Seeing this, I understood what Lao
           Tzu means when he says "let go".'
                Children are doing this every day. You watch children. The whole day they fall here and there,
           but they are not hurt. You do the same. It will be impossible for you -- you will have to be
           hospitalized. Within a day, twenty-four hours, you will be hospitalized. The children fall in accord.
           When they fall they are not resisting, they are not going against the fall, they are not trying to protect
           themselves. They don't go stiff. In fact, they fall in a very relaxed way.
                Aikido, t'ai chi, or what Jesus calls meekness, what Buddha calls meekness, depend on the same
           principle -- the principle of harmony.
                You try it in your life; you just try in small experiments. Somebody slaps your face. Try to
           absorb it, receive it. Feel happy that he has released energy on your face -- and see how it feels. You
           will have a totally different feeling. And that has happened many times unawares. A friend comes
           and slaps you on your back. You don't know who it is -- then you look. He is a friend and you are
           feeling happy. It was a friendly slap. You look back and he is an enemy, and you feel hurt.
                The quality of the slap immediately changes with your attitude. If it is a friend you accept it. It is
           beautiful, it is a loving thing. If he is the enemy, then it is not loving, it is full of hate. The slap is the
           same, the energy is the same, the same impact of energy, but your attitude changes.
                You can watch it many times. Just now it is raining. You will be going back home. You can take
           it in an aikido way, or you can take it in the ordinary way. The ordinary way is that you will see that
           your clothes will become wet, or you may get cold, or this may happen, or that may happen. And
           you will be against the rains. You will be running towards home in a bad mood, antagonistic.
                This has happened many times. You try aikido. You relax, you enjoy the falling drops of water
           on your face. It is tremendously beautiful. It is so soothing, so cleansing, so refreshing. What is
           wrong in your clothes getting wet? Why be so worried about it? They can be dried. But why miss
           this opportunity? The heaven is meeting with the earth. Why miss this opportunity? Why not dance
           it?
                Don't rush and don't run. Slow down, enjoy. Close your eyes and feel the drops falling on your
           eyelids, moving on your face. Feel the touch of it. Accept it... a gift from heaven. And suddenly you
           will see -- it is beautiful, and you have never looked at it that way.
                Try it in ordinary life experiences. Conflict you have always been in. Now try accord. And
           suddenly you will see -- the whole meaning changes. Then you are no more in antagonism with
           nature. Suddenly the sun arises, the clouds have disappeared, and a great light falls on your face.
           Take it easily, take it as a love gift from the sun. Close your eyes, absorb it. Drink the light. Feel
           happy, blessed. And you will see -- it is a totally different energy.
                Otherwise you start perspiring. You may perspire still, because heat is heat, but deep down the
           meaning has changed. Now you perspire, but you feel good. Nothing is wrong in perspiring. It
           cleanses you, it takes toxins outside, it releases poison from the body. It is a purifying fire. Just the
           attitude....
               MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL.


              And meekness means the attitude of no-friction, no-conflict... the attitude of harmony. 'I am not,
           god is' is what meekness is. 'I am not, the whole is' -- that is the meaning of meekness.
              Ordinarily we live through the ego and we suffer. And the ego goes on misinterpreting. Last
           night I was reading a beautiful anecdote:

               Some years back a senator from the Interior Committee visited an Indian Reservation in Arizona,
           where he made a fine speech full of promises of better things, as politicians always do. 'We shall
           see,' he said, 'a new era of Indian opportunity.' To this the Indians gave a ringing cry of 'Hoya!
           Hoya!'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Encouraged, the senator continued, 'We promise better schools and technical training.' 'Hoya!
           Hoya!' exclaimed the audience with much enthusiasm. 'We pledge better hospitals and medical
           assistance,' said the senator. 'Hoya! Hoya!' cried the Indians.
               With a tear running down his cheek, the senator ended, 'We come to you as equals, as brothers,
           so trust us.' The air shook with one long mighty 'Hoya!'
               Greatly pleased by his reception, the senator then began a tour of the reservation. 'I see you have
           fine breeds of beef cattle here,' he said. 'May I inspect them?'
               'Certainly, come this way,' said the chief, 'but be careful not to step in the hoya.'

               The ego is just hoya, a misunderstanding. It is non-existential -- yet the dirtiest thing possible.
           The very idea that 'I am separate from existence', is dirty. The very idea that 'I have to fight with my
           own energy source', is foolish and absurd.
               But sometimes, what happens? -- you seem to conquer. That is a misinterpretation. When your
           ego sees that it is conquering, it is not the ego that is conquering. In fact, it is just a coincidence.
           Sometimes you are going to the left and the whole existence is also going to the left -- you coincide.
           But you think you are succeeding, you think, 'I am gaining power.' Sooner or later you will be in
           trouble, because it cannot always be so. It can be always so only if you are meek.
               A meek person becomes so sensitive that he is never against the whole. He is always sensitive to
           feel where the whole is going. He rides on the horse and goes with the horse. He does not try to give
           a direction to the horse. He trusts the horse.
           It happened:

               With a grinding of brakes, the officer pulled up his motorcar and shouted to a little boy playing
           in the field, 'I say, sonny, have you seen an airplane come down anywhere near here?'
               'No, sir,' replied the boy, trying to hide his slingshot. 'I have only been shooting at that bottle on
           the fence.'

               A small child can be forgiven. He is afraid that maybe because of his slingshot the airplane has
           fallen. He can be forgiven if he is hiding his slingshot. But this is what your so-called great
           personalities are doing. That's what all egoists are doing. They go on thinking that things are
           happening because of them.
           It happened:

               Drought struck the countryside, and the parson of the church prayed for rain. Rain came in such
           torrents that a flood followed. A rescue party in a boat spied the parson sitting on the roof of his
           house watching the current swirl by. 'Your prayers were sure answered,' shouted one.
               'Yes,' said the careful, stranded one. 'I figure it ain't bad for a little church like ours.'

               Sometimes your prayers are fulfilled -- not because of your prayers, just because by a
           coincidence the whole was also going in that way, in that direction. Your prayers coincided.
           Sometimes your efforts are fulfilled because they coincide. Ego is coincidental. You go on collecting
           your ego just out of coincidences.
               But this cannot happen always, that's why one feels miserable. One day you are succeeding,
           another day you are failing. And you cannot figure it out -- what is happening? Such a great
           intellectual, such a great man of understanding, power, strength, logic, reason -- failing? What is
           happening? You cannot believe it, because just now it was succeeding.
               Ego is always in trouble because it cannot always be a coincidence. Sometimes you are with the
           whole, unknowingly; sometimes you are not with the whole. When you are with the whole, you
           succeed. The whole succeeds always, you never.
               The meek person is one who says, 'I am not, only the whole is.' He drops himself completely. He
           does not become a barrier. He allows the whole to have its way.
           Buddha says this is real power.

              MEEKNESS IS MOST POWERFUL FOR IT HARBOURS NO EVIL THOUGHTS AND MOREOVER IT
              IS RESTFUL AND FULL OF STRENGTH.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               When you fight, you dissipate energy. When you fight, you lose energy. Buddha says, don't fight,
           preserve your energy, and you will be powerful.
               A man who goes on preserving his energy becomes such a tremendous pool of energy that his
           very being is powerful. Just his presence is powerful, his presence is magical, miraculous. Coming
           close to him, you will start feeling that you are being changed and transformed. Coming close to
           him, you will feel your darkness disappearing. Coming close to him, you will feel a silence
           descending. Just coming close to him, you will feel you are being lifted to another plane of being, to
           another altitude of being, to another dimension.
               People come to me and they ask how to find the right master. The only way to find is just to be
           close, and be silent, be in harmony. And if in that harmony and silence you start feeling that you are
           soaring higher and higher, then this man is your master. Then this man is going to become your door
           for the ultimate. Then your energy fits with his energy. Then something between you and him falls in
           tune. Then something between you and him transpires, becomes a solid force.
               You cannot decide by your intellect who is your master. You cannot decide by argumentation,
           and you cannot decide by your prejudice. You have heard many definitions -- that the master should
           be like this or like that. Those definitions won't help, because a person may be fulfilling all the
           definitions and still he may not fit you; your and his energies may not be complementary. And unless
           your energies are complementary, compensatory, completing each other, making a circle, then you
           cannot go high with that man. Going high has to be felt.

              MEEKNESS IS POWERFUL FOR IT HARBOURS NO EVIL THOUGHTS.


               When you have evil thoughts -- evil thoughts mean thoughts of violence, of destruction, thoughts
           of aggression, egoistic thoughts, ego-oriented thoughts -- then you dissipate energy. Then these
           thoughts take too much energy out of you. They are never going to be fulfilled. You are sowing
           stones; they are not going to sprout. Your whole energy will be wasted.

              ... AND MOREOVER IT IS RESTFUL AND FULL OF STRENGTH.


               Rest should be the criterion of power. A man of power is absolutely at rest, he has no restlessness
           in him. Because restlessness is nothing but dissipation of energy. When you are feeling restless, you
           are dissipating energy.
               Hence in the East, the meditator became the symbol of power. When a person meditates, he loses
           all restlessness. His thinking stops, his body movements stop; he becomes like a marble statue...
           totally still, unmoving. In that moment he is a pool of energy. He is tremendously powerful.
               If you see somebody meditating, sit by his side, and you will be benefited. Sitting by the side of
           someone who is in a meditative mood, you will move into meditation also. His energy will pull you
           out of your mess. Meditation is nothing but absolute rest.
               How you bring that absolute rest depends on many things. There are a thousand and one methods
           to create that rest. My own methods are such that first I would like you to become as restless as
           possible, so nothing is hanging inside you; restlessness has been thrown out -- then move into rest.
           And there will be no disturbance, it will be easier.
               In Buddha's time, such dynamic methods were not needed. People were more simple, more
           authentic. They lived a more real life. Now people are living a very repressed life, very unreal life.
           When they don't want to smile, they smile. When they want to be angry, they show compassion.
           People are false, the whole life pattern is false. The whole culture is like a great falsity. People are
           just acting, not living. So, much hangover, many incomplete experiences go on being collected, piled
           up, inside their mind.
               So just sitting directly in silence won't help. The moment you will sit silently, you will see all
           sorts of things moving inside you. You will feel it almost impossible to be silent. First throw those
           things out so you come to a natural state of rest. But, real meditation starts only when you are in rest.
               All the dynamic meditations are preparatory to real meditation. They are just basic requirements
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be fulfilled so that the meditation can happen. Don't treat them as meditations; they are just
           introductory, just a preface. The real meditation starts only when all activity has ceased -- activity of
           the body and activity of the mind.

              IT IS RESTFUL AND FULL OF STRENGTH.


                Remember, this definition of power is different from the ordinary definition of power. The
           ordinary definition of power depends on comparison. You are more powerful than your neighbour,
           you are more powerful than this man or that woman. You are powerful in comparison with
           somebody else. The power that Buddha is talking about is non-comparative; it has nothing to do with
           anybody.
                Power is your own state. When you are full of energy, you are powerful. When you are leaking
           energy, you are powerless. Evil thoughts are like holes through which energy leaks. Restlessness is
           like leaking, continuous leaking.
                You create energy every day, a tremendous amount of it, but you waste -- sometimes in anger,
           sometimes in sexuality, sometimes in greed, sometimes in competition, sometimes for no reason at
           all... just because you have it, what to do with it?

               There is a famous sufi story about Jesus. Jesus comes to a town and he sees a man drunk,
           shouting, lying down on the street. He comes close to him, shakes the man and says, 'What are you
           doing? Why are you wasting your life in such a way?'
               The man opens his eyes and says, 'My Lord, I was ill. You cured me. Now what else can I do?
           Now I am healthy. I was always ill and confined to my bed. You cured me. Now what am I supposed
           to do? Now I have energy and I don't know what to do with it.'
               Jesus feels as if he has committed a crime by helping this man. He is throwing the responsibility
           on him. He becomes very sad. He goes into the marketplace of the town, but he is sad. There he sees
           a young man following a prostitute with lustful eyes, almost oblivious of the whole world.
               Jesus prevents that young man and says, 'What are you doing? The eyes are not given for this.
           The eyes have been given to see God. What are you doing? Why are you wasting?'
               The man looks at Jesus, touches his feet, and says, 'My Lord, I was blind. You cured me. Now
           what to do with these eyes? I don't know anything else.'
               Jesus becomes very sad, he leaves the town. He comes out of the town and there he finds a man
           trying to commit suicide by hanging from a tree. His preparation is complete; he is just going when
           Jesus comes. He says, 'Wait! What are you doing? Such a precious gift of God -- life! And you are
           going to destroy it! Are you mad?'
               The man looks at Jesus and says, 'My Lord, I had died. You resurrected me. Why did you
           resurrect me. Now I am in trouble. I don't want this life at all! What to do with it?'

               You have energy and you don't know what to do with it. So one goes on wasting. There are
           people who say they are 'killing time'. Killing time means killing life. Killing time means killing
           opportunity to grow, to mature, to come home.
               The power that Buddha is talking about is the power when you don't do anything with your
           energy and you simply delight in its presence... a sheer delight in being full of energy... the sheer
           delight of a young, green tree... the sheer delight of a cloud, a white cloud wandering in the sky... the
           sheer delight of a lotus flower... the sheer delight of the sun coming out of the clouds... the sheer
           delight of being so full of energy... vibrant, alive, throbbing. When you don't put your energy to any
           purpose whatsoever, then energy itself starts moving in a vertical line.
               If you put it to work, to some action, it moves in a horizontal line. Then you can make a big
           house, you can have more money, you can have more prestige, this and that. When you put energy to
           work, it moves in the horizontal line. When you don't put energy to work, you simply delight in its
           presence, you are happy that it is there, then it moves in a vertical line. I am not saying stop all work.
           I am saying find a few moments for vertical movement also. Horizontal movement is okay, but not
           enough. It is necessary for life -- but man cannot live by bread alone.
               You can get bread through horizontal work, but love, meditation, god, nirvana -- they exist on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the vertical line. So sometimes just sit, do nothing. Sitting silently, doing nothing, and something
           goes on growing within you. You become a reservoir, and you start throbbing with an unknown
           delight. When you are full of energy, you are in contact with the whole. And when you are in contact
           with the whole, you are full of energy.

              AS IT IS FREE FROM EVILS IT IS SURE TO BE HONOURED BY ALL.


              The monk had asked:

              WHAT IS MOST POWERFUL AND WHAT IS MOST ILLUMINATING? THE MOST ILLUMINATING IS
              A MIND, says Buddha, WHICH IS THOROUGHLY CLEANSED OF DIRT, AND WHICH, REMAINING
              PURE, RETAINS NO BLEMISHES. FROM THE TIME WHEN THERE WAS YET NO HEAVEN AND
              EARTH TILL THE PRESENT DAY, THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TEN QUARTERS WHICH IS NOT
              SEEN OR KNOWN OR HEARD BY SUCH A MIND. FOR IT HAS GAINED ALL KNOWLEDGE, AND
              FOR THAT REASON IT IS CALLED ILLUMINATING.
              THE MOST ILLUMINATING IS A MIND WHICH IS THOROUGHLY CLEANSED OF DIRT.


                Thoughts are like dirt, clinging to the mirror of the mind. Thoughts, desires, imaginations,
           memories -- all are forms of dirt. Because of them, the purity of the mind is lost. Because of them,
           the capacity to reflect, the mirror-like quality of the mind is lost. A continuous cleaning is needed.
                So, meditation is not something that you do once and forget about, because each moment of life
           you go on gathering dust. It is just like a traveller who is travelling. Each day he goes on gathering
           dust on his clothes, on his body. Every day he has to take a bath to cleanse his body. Again the next
           day he will be gathering.
                Meditation is like a daily bath. It is not something that once you have done it, you are finished. It
           should become like a natural thing, matter of fact. As you eat, as you go to sleep, as you take a bath,
           meditation should become a natural part of your life. At least twice a day you should cleanse your
           mind.
                The best times are the morning, when you are getting ready for the day, the workaday world....
           Cleanse your mind so you have clarity, so you have transparency, so you don't commit errors,
           mistakes, so you don't have any evil thoughts, so you don't have any egoistic thoughts... you go in a
           purer way to the world. You don't go with corrupting seeds. And the next best time is before you go
           to sleep, again meditate. The whole day the dust collects. Clean the mind again... fall asleep.
                If you really start cleaning it, you will see tremendous changes happening. If you clean it rightly
           before you go to sleep, dreams will disappear. Because dreams are nothing but the dust gathered the
           whole day -- it goes on moving inside you, goes on creating fantasies, illusions.
                If your meditation is going right, your dreams will by and by disappear. Your night will become
           a peaceful sleep with no dreams. And if the night is without dreams, in the morning you will be able
           to come up very fresh, very young, virgin. Then meditate again, because even if there have been no
           dreams, with the very passage of time, dust collects.
                Even if you have not been travelling on dusty roads, just sitting in your house, dust collects.
           Even if your windows are closed, and doors are closed, in the morning you will find your room has
           gathered a little dust. Dust collects. The very passage of time is dust-collecting.
                In the morning, again meditate. And if you meditate rightly and you become a silent pool of
           energy, you will move in the world in a totally different way -- non-conflicting, non-aggressive, in
           harmony. Even if somebody hates you, you will transform that energy into love.
                Then you will move in the world deeply skillfully... with the attitude of aikido. Whatsoever is
           happening, you will take it, receive it, in a deep love and gratitude. Even if somebody insults you,
           you will accept it in deep love. And then the insult will be no more an insult. And then you will be
           nourished by it. By the insult he has thrown a certain amount of energy. He is losing it, you can gain
           it. You can simply receive it, welcome it.
                And if this becomes your natural way of life -- the way of the sannyasin, not the way of the
           soldier -- every moment you will feel things are growing into a new light and your mind is becoming
           more and more illuminating.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THE MOST ILLUMINATING IS A MIND WHICH IS THOROUGHLY CLEANSED OF DIRT AND
              WHICH, REMAINING PURE, RETAINS NO BLEMISHES. FROM THE TIME WHEN THERE WAS
              YET NO HEAVEN AND EARTH TILL THE PRESENT DAY THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TEN
              QUARTERS WHICH IS NOT SEEN, OR KNOWN, OR HEARD BY SUCH A MIND.


              When your mind is pure, uncontaminated, unpolluted, when not even a thought flickers in your
           mind, and there is no smoke around your mind -- your mind is like a clear sky without clouds --
           Buddha says you will be able to see everything that is. You will be able to know everything that is.
           Your sensitivity will be infinite. And whatsoever has existed from the very beginning of time will
           become available to you. Your knowing will become perfect.

              FOR IT HAS GAINED ALL KNOWLEDGE AND FOR THAT REASON IT IS CALLED ILLUMINATING.


                And this illumination, this luminosity, does not come from anything outside you. It explodes
           from your innermost core. You are like a lamp which is covered by many curtains, dark curtains, and
           no light comes out of it. Then by and by you remove one curtain, then another curtain, then another
           curtain. And slowly rays start coming -- not clear, but a glow. More curtains are removed -- the glow
           becomes more penetrating, more clear. More curtains are removed... one day when all curtains are
           dropped, you suddenly see that you are a lamp unto yourself.
                When Buddha was dying, this was his last message to the world. Ananda, his chief disciple, was
           crying and weeping. And Buddha said, 'Stop! What are you doing? Why are you crying and
           weeping?'
                Ananda said, 'You are leaving us. I was with you for forty years. I walked with you, I slept with
           you, I ate with you, I listened to you -- I was just like a shadow to you, and yet.... You were available
           and I could not become enlightened. Now I am crying that you are going, you are leaving.
                'Without you it seems impossible for me to become enlightened. With you I could not become. I
           have missed such a great opportunity. Without you... now there is no hope. That's why I am crying. I
           am not crying because you are dying, because I know you cannot die. I am crying because now for
           me there is no hope. Now, with your death, starts my dark night of the soul. For aeons of time,
           millions of years, I will be stumbling in the darkness. Hence I am crying -- not for you, for myself.'
                Buddha smiled and said, 'Don't be worried about that, because your light is in your own being. I
           am not taking your light away. I was not your light. Otherwise you could have become enlightened --
           if it was in my power to make you enlightened. It is your innermost capacity to become, so be
           courageous, Ananda, and be a light unto yourself... appa deepo bhava... be a light unto yourself.'
                Buddha died and after only twenty-four hours, Ananda became enlightened. What happened?
           This is one of the mysteries. For forty years he lived with Buddha, and just twenty-four hours after
           Buddha died, he became enlightened. The very death worked like a great shock. And the last
           message penetrated very deep.
                When Buddha was alive, Ananda was listening so-so -- as you listen to me. You listen and yet
           you don't listen. You say, 'Okay. If I miss today, tomorrow I will be listening again, so what is the
           hurry? If this morning is missed, nothing is missed; other mornings will be following.'
                So he had listened half-asleep, half-awake. Maybe he was tired, maybe the night was not good
           and he had not slept. Maybe the journey was too long and too exhausting. And Buddha was saying
           the same thing again and again and again, so how long to listen? One starts feeling that one already
           knows. One starts feeling, 'Yes, I have heard this before, so what is the point? Why not take a little
           sleep? A little nap will be good.'
                But when Buddha was dying, Ananda must have been alert, utterly alert. He was really trembling
           -- the very idea of millions of years again stumbling in darkness. And Buddha says, 'Don't be
           worried, your light is within you.' That struck home.
                Maybe that was the first time he heard. Those forty years he must have been missing. That may
           have been the first time he was not deaf. He had clarity. The very situation was such that he was
           trembling to his roots, he was shaking to his very foundations. Buddha was leaving... and when you
           have lived with a man like Buddha for forty years, it is difficult. The very idea to be without him is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difficult. It is impossible to believe.
               Ananda must have thought of committing suicide. It is not reported in the buddhist scriptures, but
           I say he must have thought about committing suicide. That idea must have happened to him; it is so
           human. Living forty years with Buddha, and then Buddha is dying and nothing has happened to him.
           He has remained desertlike, not even an oasis. He has missed the opportunity.
               His eyes must have become clear. This death must have penetrated him like a sword. Sharp must
           have been this moment. And Buddha said, 'Be a light unto yourself,' and he died. He died
           immediately. This was his last utterance on this earth: Be a light unto yourself.
               This struck home, this penetrated Ananda's heart, and within twenty-four hours he became
           enlightened.
               That source of luminosity is within you. It is not outside you. If you seek it outside, you seek in
           vain. Close your eyes and go within yourself. It is there... waiting since eternity. It is your innermost
           nature. You are luminosity, your being is luminous. This luminosity is not borrowed, it is your
           innermost core. It is you.
           You are light -- a light unto yourself.

              FROM THE TIME WHEN THERE WAS YET NO HEAVEN AND EARTH TILL THE PRESENT DAY,
              THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TEN QUARTERS WHICH IS NOT SEEN OR KNOWN OR HEARD BY
              SUCH A MIND. FOR IT HAS GAINED ALL KNOWLEDGE AND FOR THAT REASON IT IS CALLED
              ILLUMINATING.


               Meekness is power and meditation is illumination. Both are two aspects of the same coin. On one
           side it is meekness, egolessness; on another side it is purity of mind, illumination. They both go
           together.
               You will have to work on both these things simultaneously, together. Become more and more
           egoless, and become more and more meditative. And the greatest power will be yours, and the
           greatest knowing will be yours, and the greatest light will be yours.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #6
                                       Chapter title: My blessings with you
           5 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609050
              ShortTitle: TRANS206
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 103 mins




              SOME MONTHS AGO WHEN I LEFT YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME, I WAS FEELING STRONG,
              EXCITED, CONFIDENT IN MYSELF, AND YET I SPENT MY TIME SPEAKING WITH YOU, INSIDE
              OR OUTSIDE, ABOUT SOME PROBLEMS, TRYING TO FIND A SOLUTION.
              NOW I AM LEAVING AGAIN, PROBABLY FOR A LONGER PERIOD, AND I FEEL CALM,
              PEACEFUL, DETACHED -- EVEN IF MORE AND MORE WEAK, CONFUSED, AND WITHOUT ANY
              ANSWER. AND YET I DON'T FEEL THAT I HAVE ANY SPECIFIC QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED
              BY YOU, BUT ONLY AND ABOVE ALL, YOUR HAND ON MY HEAD AND YOUR BLESSING.
              PLEASE, WHAT IS HAPPENING? IT SEEMS NONSENSE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               THE QUESTION IS FROM NAGARJUNA. He is a psychoanalyst, a trained rationalist. His
           whole discipline of the mind is that of analysis. Coming to me, being with me, has transformed him
           tremendously, but his old mind goes on lingering somewhere in the unconscious. It goes on throwing
           judgements. The old mind goes on saying, 'What are you doing? It is nonsense.'
               It is nonsense in a way -- because it is beyond sense. Just to think that you ask only for the hand
           -- somebody's hand on your head -- is so irrational, so fanciful. Just to ask for blessings only, is so
           unreasonable. The reasonable person asks questions, waits for answers, analyzes those answers,
           judges whether they are right or wrong, creates more questions, and so on, so forth.
               To ask for blessings is difficult for the modern mind, but it is beautiful that it is happening to
           you, Nagarjuna. You are getting into contact with a deeper world which goes beyond sense and
           reason. You are asking for something which is not of this world. It cannot be understood by intellect
           alone. It can be understood only by the heart. You can feel it. There is no way to figure it out by
           reasoning. Allow it, go with it.
               To be capable of nonsense is to be alive. Because all that is beautiful is nonsense. Love is
           nonsense. Meditation is nonsense. God is nonsense. Poetry is nonsense. Beauty is nonsense. All that
           is beautiful, true, is far beyond sense.
               Sense is very narrow. Nonsense is vast. Remain sensible, but don't be confined by it. Use your
           sense, your reason, but never be a slave to it. One should be capable of putting reason and sense by
           the side whenever one wants.
               When you are watching a full moon in the night, put your reasoning aside. Be a child again.
           When you go to the sea and you listen to the roar of the waves, put your reason aside. Be again
           primitive. Those roaring waves are primitive. You also be primitive so that a deep contact becomes
           possible, so you become en rapport with them. When you go to the trees, please don't take your
           reason and sense with you. Otherwise you will miss much which was there just for asking.
               When you come to me, by and by you will have to put your reason aside. Because only then you
           will be able to enter deeper. Once you have known the beauty of nonsense, the truth of nonsense,
           then you will not call it nonsense; you will call it supra-sense. Then you will not think in terms
           condemnatory and negative. You will start thinking in more positive terms.

               Good that you have no more questions. That's my whole effort here -- to help you to become
           questionless. I am not here to supply you with answers, because no answer can be the answer. All
           answers in their own turn will create more questions. It is a non-ending process, it goes on ad
           infinitum. One question is answered, the answer creates more questions. They are answered and
           those answers create still more questions.
               The whole history of philosophy is nothing but creating more and more questions. The old ones
           are not solved. The questions remain the same as they were in the days of Solomon, as they were in
           the days of Vedas. They remain the same as they were in the days of Manu, Mahavir and
           Mohammed. They have not changed. Of course, they have become multiplied. The old are there,
           new have bubbled up. And those new have bubbled up out of the old questions. The old questions
           were answered, those answers created new ones.
               This is the difference between philosophy and religion. Philosophy tries to answer your
           questions. Religion tries to make you aware that questions cannot be solved, they have to be
           dropped. And in their dropping is the solution. And a questionless mind is a mind who has arrived
           home.
               So the real thing is to look deep into your questioning. They are all absurd. From the very
           beginning they are doomed. They cannot be answered; their very formulation is such.
               For example you ask, 'Who created the world?' Now this is a foolish question, it is absurd. It
           cannot be answered. The way it is asked prohibits its answer. If somebody says, 'God created the
           world,' you will ask the same question about god -- 'Who created god?' And if the person becomes
           angry -- as so-called religious people become angry if you ask them 'Who created god?' -- then they
           are simply showing that they are afraid.
               They are afraid that you may be bringing the question back again. Somehow they have tried to
           solve it, somehow they pretend that they have solved it -- and you are bringing the question again.
           Again the anxiety, again the worry. They become angry. They don't want you to open that Pandora's
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           box again. Somehow they are sitting on the lid. They have closed it: god created the world. They
           also know that the question still remains relevant.
               If to ask 'who created the world?' is relevant, then 'who created god?' is also relevant. The
           question is the same. Now if you say 'A created god,' then you ask, 'Who created A?' Say B. Then
           who created 'B'? It goes on and on. It is a foolish question.
               I am not here to answer your foolish questions. I am here just to show it to you -- that they are
           foolish. In that understanding, they drop.
               When I am answering you, in fact I am not answering you. I am just trying to make you a little
           more aware about your question, so that you can see that in the very asking of it you are entering into
           a ditch, and you will never be able to get out of it unless you drop the question.
               Religion is the art of dropping questions. So, good that now you don't have any questions. I am
           happy, my blessings are with you. My hand is on your head. And be careful -- sooner or later you
           will find only my hand is there, your head has disappeared! That is the whole effort. If you don't
           believe me, you can ask Yatri, our cartoonist. A few days ago he made a beautiful cartoon for me.
           He has understood the point -- that this is the whole magic.
               If you allow me to put my hand on your head, beware. Sooner or later you will find only the hand
           is and the head is gone. I am trying to behead you. And once your head disappears, you have arrived
           home. Then there is nowhere to go.
               It is all in your head -- this going, searching, enquiring, questions, problems, believing this, not
           believing that, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity. This is all in your head. When the head disappears, you
           are suddenly there. The old man is there. The essential man is there. God is there.
               Call it whatsoever you like... but there is no problem, there is no question. You are there full of
           wondering eyes. You are there, full of awe. Suddenly a tremendous 'Aha!' arises in your being and
           spreads all over you and goes on spreading into the existence. This is what psychologists call the
           'Aha!' experience, the peak experience.
               That's what ecstasy is -- such a great 'Aha!' that you are completely dissolved into it. It becomes
           your very song, your celebration, your dance. Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be
           solved. Life is a mystery to be lost in, not a problem to be handled.
               Good that you are becoming more and more capable of not asking questions. But I can
           understand the puzzlement.

           SOME MONTHS AGO WHEN I LEFT YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME, I WAS FEELING
           STRONG, EXCITED, CONFIDENT... AND YET ALL MY TIME I WAS ASKING QUESTIONS,
           TRYING TO FIND A SOLUTION.

                When for the first time you come to me, you start feeling very strong, because whatsoever you
           hear from me, your ego feeds on it. You start feeling very confident, very superior. You start feeling
           that you know, that you are somebody. Those are the honeymoon days. If you want to remain in that
           honeymoon, never come back again. Once is good, twice is dangerous. Thrice -- and you are
           finished!
                When you listen to me for the first time, you listen as you can listen. You don't know how to
           listen. Your whole life has been nothing but an effort to enhance the ego -- so whatsoever you get
           goes on enhancing the ego. If you get money, your ego immediately exploits it. If you get
           knowledge, your ego jumps on it and becomes more knowledgeable. If you succeed in anything, the
           ego.... Whatsoever you do, the ego goes on absorbing everything that comes to it. It goes on eating it,
           and goes on becoming bigger and bigger.
                When you come to me for the first time and take sannyas, I know very well the ego will jump on
           it also. It is its old habit, you have trained the ego for it. But this time it is getting into danger,
           because sannyas is like poison to the ego. It jumps on it -- as it has been jumping on everything.
                So for the first time you will feel everything getting better and better and better. Next time you
           come, the poison has started working, it has entered into your very guts -- the ego starts dying. Then
           you understand me more. You listen to me rightly. Then you understand what the game is -- the ego
           has to be dropped. Then you are no more so confident, then you don't feel so strong. Then you are
           not so excited. Then you start shrinking because the ego starts shrinking. Then you feel weak. It is
           natural and good. It indicates growth.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When Nagarjuna comes for the third time, I hope he will become even more capable, more
           receptive. Then again he will feel a new confidence arising, but this will not be of the ego any more.
           It will be of his being.
               You cannot call it confidence. The best way to say it is to say that there will be an absence of
           no-confidence. You cannot say that he will feel strong. The only way to say it is that he will not feel
           weak. You cannot say that he will feel more knowledgeable. You can only say that he will not feel
           that he lacks anything, or he needs anything. Not that there will be knowledge -- there will be
           knowing. Not that there will be confidence -- because all confidence is based somewhere on fear.
           There will be no confidence, no no-confidence. One will simply be there, just there, with no idea.
               In Zen they call these three steps. Bokuju is reported to have said, 'When I came to my master,
           rivers were like rivers and mountains were like mountains. Then everything got confused. I lived
           with my master and rivers were no more rivers and mountains were no more mountains. Everything
           was confusing, everything got entangled into each other, everything trespassed each other's
           boundary, everything became a mess. But I remained. Again one day rivers became rivers,
           mountains became mountains. But what a difference!'
               Again one day you will become the same as you were before, and yet not the same. It will be a
           totally different phenomenon in a way.
               For example, a person who feels very strong must be aware somewhere deep down that he is
           weak. Otherwise who will feel strong? A person who feels that he is confident must be alert at some
           level of his being that he lacks confidence. Otherwise who bothers about confidence? A person who
           feels superior must have some inferiority somewhere.
               We always project the contrary. Our projections are complementary. Whatsoever is lacking, we
           project. An ignorant person becomes knowledgeable, an egoistic person becomes humble, a person
           who feels inferiority starts projecting superiority in some way or other. Because it is so difficult to
           live with inferiority, with no confidence, with weakness, we project the other. We project something
           opposite, and we pretend, and we start believing in it.
               But when some day one comes really home, becomes aware, then there is no inferiority, no
           superiority -- and that is real superiority. Then there is no strength and no weakness -- and that is real
           strength. Then there is no ignorance and no knowledge -- and that is real knowing.

           NOW I AM LEAVING AGAIN, PROBABLY FOR A LONGER PERIOD, AND I FEEL CALM,
           PEACEFUL, SOMEHOW DETACHED -- EVEN IF MORE AND MORE WEAK, CONFUSED,
           WITHOUT ANY ANSWER.

               He has been able to understand his situation very correctly. Calm, serene, tranquil he is growing.
           But the more calm you become, the more you feel that all your strength was just your belief, that all
           your declarations were just bogus. They were efforts to hide behind, they were like masks.
               So those masks are falling down and you will feel weak, confused, without an answer. Live
           through it. Don't start falling back. Go through it. It will be hard, it will be arduous, but if you can go
           through it, soon the morning is coming closer. The dark night is going to end. But remember, before
           the morning comes, the night becomes very dark.
               Now, that is exactly the case with Nagarjuna. The night will become very dark, but don't be
           afraid. That is simply indicative that the morning is not very far. And still he is feeling he is more
           calm, more tranquil.
               Always remember that whenever you are feeling more calm, you are on the right track.
           Whatsoever else is happening, don't be bothered. Feeling calm, quiet, silent, is enough indication that
           you are coming closer and closer to the garden of god. The very calmness shows that you are coming
           closer to the cool garden. Shady trees are just waiting for you. The breeze has become cool, fragrant.
           You can feel it in the winds, you can feel it in the atmosphere. Calmness is the first indication of
           blissfulness. Silence, the first glimpse of the far away peak of bliss.
               So whenever you feel silent, whatsoever else is there -- confusion, weakness -- don't be worried;
           they will disappear. If calmness is not there and you are confused, then there is trouble. That means
           you are not growing, you are even regressing.
               So this has to be remembered by all. Whosoever is working with me, whosoever is in the work
           with me, should remember -- keep your eyes alert for calm, tranquillity, silence. If that is happening,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then don't be worried whatsoever else is happening. Let it be. It will disappear on its own accord.
           Maybe before it disappears it will create the last bout, it may create the last trouble that it can create.
           It has been there for so long... for millennia. Now suddenly you are ousting it.
                These diseases, these illnesses, have lived in the house so long that they have completely
           forgotten that they are guests. They think they are hosts. And you are going to turn them out. They
           are not going to leave you easily. They will create trouble. That is accepted, agreed. You just go on
           listening to the silence that is happening, the calmness that is arising in you, and you will be able to
           transcend them.
           My hand is on your head, my blessings with you.


              EMPATHY COMES AND GOES. WHEN IT GOES I AM A WRECK. I AM FALLING APART IN FEAR
              AND YEARNING. THE YEARNING IS GETTING DEEPER, TWISTING IN MY GUT.
              SOMETIMES I KNOW I AM A FOOL AND IN THOSE MOMENTS CAN HEAR THE BIRDS AND SEE
              THE SKY.
              I HAVE WRITTEN QUESTIONS FOR MONTHS AND NOT HANDED THEM IN BECAUSE THEY ALL
              SEEMED FOOLISH WHEN THE MOMENT PASSES.


                First, all questions are foolish. I have never come across a question which is wise. How can there
           be a wise question? Questions are foolish. All questions are childish.
                One of the very important therapists in the West was Fritz Perls. He used to say to his friends,
           patients and disciples, that only children ask questions. That seems to be perfectly true. Only
           children ask questions.
                Have you ever walked with a child -- just a morning walk? And see -- he will not allow you to
           walk at all. A thousand and one questions... each step brings questions. 'Why is this tree green papa?'
           Now who knows why this tree is green?
                Everything becomes a question for a child. Put anything in a child's mind and out comes a
           question. The whole mechanism is question-producing. Anything, any small thing -- and the child
           immediately makes it a question.
                Questioning is childish. The more your maturity comes, the more you grow in maturity, the more
           questions disappear. And when there are no questions, there is a possibility to see. Otherwise
           questions are clouding the eyes and the mind so much.
                This is my experience -- answering so many and their questions, I have come to observe that it
           almost always happens that the person who asked the question never listens to my answer.
           Everybody else listens. He is so much concerned with his question, he is so much worried with his
           question.
                Others listen and understand better, because they are not involved at all. This is not their question
           so they can listen silently. There is no worry about it. Their ego is not involved at all. But the
           questioner becomes very much involved. His ego is involved. He goes on looking from the corner of
           his eyes -- what am I saying? He has asked the question to be appreciated. He has asked the question
           in search -- not of the answer -- but in search that people will think he is very knowledgeable -- look,
           what a beautiful question he has asked!
                If I don't answer questions.... A few people go on asking. For example, Madhuri. She goes on
           asking every day, and I go on throwing her questions. She is more interested in asking than in
           listening to the answers. Because it is not a question that it has to be your question. Anybody's
           question is your question also. Any question that has happened to any human mind is part of you. If
           you listen rightly, it will solve many problems for you. It will give you insight, clarity.
                But there are people who are interested only in their questions. If I am answering their questions
           they cannot listen because I am answering their questions, and they get into excitement and fever. If
           I don't answer their questions they are sitting there limp and dead -- 'Again this man is not answering
           my question.'
                Questioners are in trouble. The very effort to question is a little immature. In the old days it was
           the custom, it was the tradition to go to a master and to be with him -- not to ask anything, just to be
           with him. Because what is there to ask? Even to ask, one has to know something, and one knows
           nothing. So what to ask? One has to be just with the master, to imbibe his being... just to be soaked
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           by his presence. One has to be like a sponge. One has to be open and receptive.
                This was the tradition in the old days -- that a disciple had to wait. When the master said, 'Now
           you can ask,' then the disciple could ask. And almost always it used to happen that when the master
           would say, 'Now you can ask,' the disciple would laugh and he would say, 'Now it is too late. My
           questions are finished. There is nothing to ask now.' In fact the master would ask the disciple to ask
           only when he would say, 'Now there is nothing to ask. Now the mind is absolutely clean. There are
           no question marks in the mind.'
                Question marks are like clouds. Behind those question marks your inner luminousness gets lost.
           When there is no question, all clouds disappear, the sky is clean, the sunrise is clear.
                The answer is in your inner illumination. The answer cannot come from the outside. I cannot
           answer you. The answer is in your certain state of centering.
                So the questioner has felt rightly -- all questions are foolish. But I am not saying, 'don't ask',
           because I know the modern mind is not the old mind. Great changes have happened. Now if you say
           to somebody to wait for years, then nobody can wait. The modern mind is in such a hurry that it is
           not in a state of patience, and the modern mind has been trained to ask. The modern mind has not
           been trained to be.
                That's why I go on answering your questions. Not that your questions are worth answering, or
           that answers are needed, or that I can answer your questions. No, nothing of the sort. I go on
           answering you questions because questioning has become part of the contemporary mind. Only by
           and by will you become able not to ask.
                Listening to your questions and their answers, you can wait. Not doing anything, just simply
           sitting there in silence, you cannot wait. Silence will be too much, intolerable. So I go on answering
           you just to give you a few toys to play with. Meanwhile you are growing -- and I am waiting for that.
                The child is growing meanwhile, while he is playing with the toys. I go on giving you toys every
           day. You play -- but my interest is in your growth. One day I know you will go beyond the toys and
           you will come to me and you will say to me, 'Thank you, Osho, for all the toys you gave us to play
           with, but no more are needed.'
                That will be the day when for the first time you will fall in harmony with me... and the answer
           will start flowing. It will not be a verbal answer, it will be a transfer of energy... a transfer beyond
           the scriptures. It will be a transmission, a jump -- because in that moment you will be perfectly open.
                Questioning shows doubting. Doubt creates barriers. A question is nothing but doubt in a very
           civilized dress. It looks very mannerly, but it is doubt. It is as if you go and you catch hold of a
           primitive man and take him to the barber, and the barber shaves and cleans him and shampoos him
           and gives him a bath, and then you take him to the dresser and give him a beautiful dress -- and then
           you bring that primitive man to me. He looks a perfect gentleman, but he is not. Deep down he is the
           same primitive man.
                A question is doubt pretending not to be doubt. A question is doubt in a very mannerly,
           gentlemanly way.
                When questions disappear, doubts disappear. Or when doubts disappear, questions disappear.
           Then you are in tune with me, en rapport. Then we are not two. Then I can look into your eyes, and
           you can look into my eyes and you can see a meeting happening... a meeting of two souls. And then
           it is very difficult to understand who is the master and who is the disciple, because the energies meet
           and mingle and become one. In that moment, in that intimate moment, the real answer will be heard.
                This is a paradox. What I am saying is this, can be summarized into this paradox -- if you ask,
           you will not get the answer; if you don't ask, the answer is available.
                Go on asking and you will go on missing the answer. Stop asking and the answer has been
           always waiting for you to receive it. A mind who goes on questioning never comes to the answer,
           and a mind who drops questioning suddenly finds the answer has been always there, luminous in
           one's own being. You had never lost it.
                Good that you could feel I HAVE WRITTEN QUESTIONS FOR MONTHS AND NOT
           HANDED THEM IN BECAUSE THEY ALL SEEMED FOOLISH WHEN THE MOMENT
           PASSES. SOMETIMES I KNOW I AM A FOOL AND IN THOSE MOMENTS CAN HEAR THE
           BIRDS AND SEE THE SKY.
                Let that be your key. Then be a fool. Then that is your path. If when you are a fool you can see
           the sky and you can hear the birds, then being foolish is your meditation. Then be a fool, then don't
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           try to be anything. Because whenever you become knowledgeable, clever, cunning, intelligent, you
           miss.
                The sky is there, the birds are singing -- they have always been singing. Since eternity, existence
           has been in celebration. The dance continues, it is an ongoing process, a continuum. It is a river
           flowing and flowing and flowing. Sitting on the bank -- what are you doing?
                Yes, there are moments, the questioner says... and exactly he has caught, he has found some deep
           intuition -- that whenever he is foolish, the sky is there and the birds are singing, and the celebration
           can be felt. Whenever he becomes intelligent, it is lost. So be a fool.
                When I say be a fool, I mean don't be a mind, I mean don't be cunning and clever. Don't be
           calculating. You have come across a beautiful intuition, an insight. Then be more and more like a
           fool.
                There is a beautiful novel of Feodor Dostoevsky, 'The Idiot'. Read it, meditate upon it. In that
           novel the main character is a fool... but a fool like St. Francis, a fool -- but like Lao Tzu, Chuang
           Tzu. He has dropped, or he has no calculating mind.
                Of course, if you are a fool you will be cheated. Of course, if you are a fool you will not be an
           achiever in this world. If you are a fool you will be poor -- but you will be tremendously rich with
           god. In this world you will not succeed, that's certain. In this world only calculating and cunning
           people can succeed. But what is their success? Finally comes death and their whole success is
           nullified. It comes to be zero. In the end they see that it has always been a dream. They were
           befooled by their own cunningness.
                If you are a fool you will have god within you. If you are a fool you will have all the beauties of
           life, tremendous riches of life. Your whole life will be a precious thing. Nobody can cheat you out of
           it because that is your innermost core. Nobody can take it away.
                Remember it -- it is better to be cheated than to cheat. If there is a choice, always choose to be
           cheated rather than to cheat. Because in the ultimate analysis of things, the cheater is the cheated,
           and the cheated has not been cheated at all. In the ultimate analysis of things, it is exactly as Jesus
           says: Those who are last in this world will be the first in the kingdom of god, and those who are first
           will be the last.
                The first will be the last and the last will be the first? The logic of existence is totally different
           from the logic of the marketplace. That is the difference between politics and religion. So I cannot
           conceive of a religious person being political, and I cannot conceive of a political person being
           religious. It is impossible. It cannot happen in the nature of things.
                A politician has to be cunning. A politician has to be always ready to rob and cheat. Of course he
           cheats and robs in such a way that it is very difficult to catch hold of him. Rarely it happens that a
           Nixon is caught. But all the politicians are exactly the same -- caught or not caught, that is not the
           point. Maybe Nixon did a little too much, he went beyond the limits. Hm? there are limits. If you
           remain below a hundred degrees, you will not evaporate; ninety-nine will do.
                The very clever politicians remain nearly ninety-nine. They never go beyond that. Nixon got a
           little too self-confident, went a little further, got himself into trouble. But all politicians are cunning.
           If they were not politicians they would be criminals. They belong to the same category. The
           criminals, if they were somehow brought up in a better way, would have been politicians. The
           quality of the mind is the same.
                A religious person is one who is virtually a fool in the eyes of the world. Accept that, and you
           will not be a loser. I promise you, you will not be a loser. Be a fool and enjoy it. Sometimes it is
           wisdom to be foolish, it is foolish to be wise.
                And what the questioner says.... The question is from Dayal. He has tremendous capacity to
           become like St. Francis. He is a very simple man... very simple. He has come to a great
           understanding. SOMETIMES I KNOW I AM A FOOL AND IN THOSE MOMENTS CAN HEAR
           THE BIRDS AND SEE THE SKY.
                Then stick to it. Then relax more and more and let those foolish moments come more and more
           to you. Allow them to enter you deeper. You have nothing to lose. What is there to be lost? Drop
           calculations and cunningness.
                People think that they are not calculating. But there are a few people who are calculatingly
           non-calculating. They think they don't calculate.
           I was reading one anecdote:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Mrs Meyerowitz was having tea with Mrs Abramowitz. 'These cookies of yours are so delicious,'
           raved Mrs Meyerowitz, 'I have already had five of them.'
              'Seven,' smiled Mrs Abramowitz, 'but who is counting?'

               People go on counting by the side, and they go on thinking, 'Who is counting?'
               Be a fool. Nothing is like it. Jesus is a fool. Buddha is a fool. In India we have a word 'buddhu' --
           buddhu means fool. It comes from Buddha. People must have thought that Buddha is a fool. So in
           indian languages, the very word for fool has become buddhu.
               When Buddha started sitting under his bodhi tree where he became enlightened, everybody must
           have thought that he was a buddhu, a fool. People must have come to him and said, 'What are you
           doing? Have you gone mad? You were meant to be the king.' He was the only son of his father, he
           was going to be the king. There was no competition even -- he was simply going to be the king. He
           had lived in tremendous riches, and suddenly he escaped. What to call this man?
               Everybody must have said that he was a fool. People must have come to him and said, 'What are
           you doing here, sitting like a fool?' His name, 'Buddha', became associated with foolishness. Now
           buddhu means the fool. Nobody bothers to go into the history of the word, but it is tremendously
           meaningful.
               Buddha was a fool. What else can you say? Everybody is trying to become the king, and he
           escaped. He was just on the verge. He had all the beautiful women possible. His father had brought
           all the beautiful girls from his kingdom for him. He was surrounded continuously with beautiful
           girls. Beautiful palaces were made for him -- one for each season. In summer he had one palace, in
           winter he had another palace, in the rains he had another palace. And the father really looked after
           him -- because he was born when the father was very old; he was his only hope. And suddenly one
           night he escaped. To all practical purposes he is a fool. Jesus is a fool. So is Francis, so is Lao Tzu,
           so is Chuang Tzu.
               Dayal, listen to your heart, and be simple. Be a fool. Let that be your very style of life, and more
           and more god will penetrate you.

           EMPATHY COMES AND GOES. WHEN IT GOES I AM A WRECK. I AM FALLING APART
           IN FEAR AND YEARNING. THE YEARNING IS GETTING DEEPER, TWISTING IN MY GUT.
           BUT SOMETIMES I KNOW I AM A FOOL AND IN THOSE MOMENTS CAN HEAR THE
           BIRDS AND SEE THE SKY.

                Empathy comes, compassion, love comes, but it comes only when you are a fool. That's why
           everybody thinks that lovers are foolish, blind, hypnotized by each other. Love is a sort of
           foolishness. In the world where money seems to be the only goal, where name and fame seem to be
           the only goals, love is foolish, meditation is foolish, compassion is foolish.
                That's why I insist -- be a fool. That's why I have given you these ochre robes to make a fool out
           of you. Now you will be moving in the world and everybody will laugh that here goes a madman.
           Children will follow you and they will laugh and they will think, 'What has happened to this man or
           this woman?' They will ridicule you. When they ridicule you, laugh. Laugh with them. Enjoy.
                People come and ask me, 'Why do you insist on orange robes?' It is a trick, a device, to force you
           to become fools. You can have it only if you are ready to surrender your so-called ideas of ego,
           respectability; your so-called ideas which society's approval gives to you. The society will
           disapprove of you. You will become strangers.
                That's the whole purpose. I want you to become strangers in this world so you become guests in
           the house of god. If you become too worldly, you will miss god.
                Compassion comes, there are moments when you are flowing, when nothing holds you, when
           you are open. Allow it! Enjoy it! Make it a point that it comes more and more. Don't close your
           heart. Float with it. Let it stream. In season, out of season, let it stream. With people, without people,
           let it stream. In the crowd, alone, let it overflow you. And by and by you will see that you have been
           missing. Without compassion, there is no truth.
                Buddha has said that truth and compassion come together... aspects of the same energy. If you
           become true, you will have compassion. Or if you have compassion, you will start becoming true. A
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man of compassion, how can he be untrue? Just think of it. It is impossible.
               If you love a person, how can you be untrue, unauthentic; how can you be false? How can you
           wear masks if you love a person? When you love a person you are naked, nude. You drop all
           curtains. You don't carry any masks. You are simply there, whosoever you are, whatsoever you are...
           in your simplicity, in your truth.
               Compassion or love brings truth. Truth brings compassion and love. Start from anywhere -- the
           same will be the goal, the same will be the outcome.
               For Dayal I would like to say, start by being a fool and by being compassionate. And everything
           will happen to you. Then you need not worry.


              THE OTHER DAY I FELT 'HELL IS MYSELF'. I AM IN HELL. HELL! DO I HAVE TO ACCEPT HELL
              BEFORE I CAN FIND BLISS? I DON 'T UNDERSTAND HOW.


                Listen to the question very deeply. THE OTHER DAY I FELT 'HELL IS MYSELF'. I AM IN
           HELL.
                No, you are not in hell. You are hell. The very ego is hell. Once the ego is not there, there is no
           hell. The ego creates structures around you which make you miserable. The ego functions like a
           wound -- then everything starts hurting it. The 'I' is hell.
                That is why Buddha says attain to no-self. Self is hell, no-self is heaven. Not to be is to be in
           heaven. To be is always to be in hell. DO I HAVE TO ACCEPT HELL BEFORE I CAN FIND
           BLISS ?
                You have to understand hell. Because if you don't understand hell, you will never be able to get
           out of it. And for understanding, acceptance is a must. You cannot understand anything if you go on
           denying it.
                That's what we have been doing. We go on disowning parts of our being. We go on denying --
           'This is not me.' That's what Jean-Paul Sartre says -- the other is hell. When you deny something in
           you, you project it on the other. Look at the mechanism of projection. Whatsoever you deny in
           yourself, you project it on others. You have to put it somewhere. It is there, you know.
                Just the other night a sannyasin told me that she has become very afraid that her husband is going
           to kill her. Now she has a very simple and beautiful husband, a very simple man. Rarely can you find
           such simple people. It is almost absurd -- the idea that he is going to kill her.
                When she was saying it, the husband started crying. The very idea was so absurd, tears started
           falling from his eyes. It is very rare to see a man crying, because men have been trained not to cry.
           He felt it -- what to do? And the woman thinks that any moment the husband is going to suffocate
           her. She feels his hands on her neck in the darkness. Now, what is happening?
                Then by and by she talked about other things. She has no child, and she desperately needs a
           child. And she told me that looking at others' children she feels that she would like to kill them. Now
           things are clear. Now nothing is complicated.
                She said she would like to kill the children -- others' children -- because she has no child and she
           would not like anybody else to be a mother. Now this murder is in her, and she does not want to
           accept it. It has to be projected on somebody else. She cannot accept that she has the murdering
           instinct in her; it has to be projected. It is very difficult to accept that you are a murderer, or that you
           have ideas of murdering children.
                Now, the husband is the closest person, the most available to be projected on, almost like a
           screen -- you can project. Now the poor man is crying and the woman thinks he is going to murder
           her.
                In the deep unconscious she may even have ideas of murdering the husband, because she must
           have this logic inside -- that because of this man she is not getting pregnant. If she were with some
           other man, she would have become a mother. She will not accept it on the surface. Deep down,
           because of this man, because of this man being her husband, she has not been able to become a
           mother. Somewhere in the unconscious there is a lurking shadow that if this man dies, he will be able
           to find another man -- or something like that. And then the idea that she would like to kill others'
           children... She is projecting it. Now, you project your ideas on others, then you become frightened.
           Then this man looks like a murderer.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This we all do. If you have some part of your being denied, disowned, where will you put it? You
           will have to put it on somebody. So Hindus go on projecting on Mohammedans. Mohammedans go
           on projecting on Hindus. Mohammedans think Hindus are very cunning. Hindus go on thinking that
           Mohammedans are very dangerous, murderous, violent, rascals.
               India goes on projecting on Pakistan; Pakistan goes on projecting on India. China goes on
           projecting on Russia; Russia goes on projecting on America; America goes on projecting on Russia.
           And they all deny that they have these things inside them.
               Just look! America goes on piling up armament, Russia goes on piling up armament. Now the
           competition has gone to foolish extremes. The people who understand it, they say, 'Now it is
           absolutely foolish to go on accumulating more armaments because already we have more than we
           need -- seven times more! This earth is too small we can destroy seven earths like this! We can kill
           every person seven times! Of course, this is not needed. One person dies once. There is no need. We
           have overkill capacity.' But still we go on.
               So now the problem is that Russia goes on piling up armaments, looking at the absurdity -- now
           where to, how to put it? how to make it understandable? She projects that America is after her, is
           getting ready to destroy her. The murderer is there -- that's why we have to prepare, get ready. The
           same is happening in America. Both project on each other, then they become frightened.
               Wars have continued, conflicts continue, violence continues... unless man comes to understand
           not to deny anything in himself, but to accept it. Reabsorb it into your organic unity, because the
           denied part will create many troubles for you. Whatsoever you deny, you will have to put somewhere
           else. You will have to project on somebody. The denied part becomes a projection. And the eyes
           which project, live in maya, illusion. Then they are not realistic.
               Jean-Paul Sartre says, 'The other is hell.' This is something to be understood. You always think in
           that way. He is simply saying a very common misunderstanding, expressing a very common illusion.
           If you are miserable you think somebody else is making you miserable. If you are angry you think
           somebody is making you angry -- but always somebody else.
               If you are angry, you are angry. If you are miserable, you are miserable. Nobody is making you.
           Nobody can make you angry unless you decide to become angry. Then everybody can be a help,
           then everybody can be used as a screen and you can project. Nobody can make you miserable unless
           you decide to be miserable. Then the whole world helps you to be miserable.
               Self is hell, not the other. The very idea that 'I am separate from the world' is hell. Separation is
           hell. Drop the ego and see suddenly -- all misery disappears, all conflict disappears. DO I HAVE TO
           ACCEPT HELL BEFORE I CAN FIND BLISS?
               Certainly, absolutely. You will have to accept and understand. In that acceptance and
           understanding, the hell part will be absorbed back into the unity. Your conflict will dissolve, your
           tension will dissolve. You will become more of one piece, you will be more together. And when you
           are together, there is no idea of ego at all.
               Ego is a dis-ease. When you are pulled apart, when you live in a split way... moving in many
           dimensions, directions simultaneously against each other... when you live in contradiction, then the
           ego arises.
               Have you ever felt your head without a headache? When the headache is there you feel the head
           is there. If all headache disappears, head disappears. You will never feel it -- that it is there. When
           you are ill you feel the body. When you are healthy you don't feel the body. Perfect health is
           bodilessness. You don't feel the body at all. You can forget the body; there is nothing to remember it.
           A perfectly healthy person is one who is oblivious of the body; he does not know that he has a body.
               A child is perfectly healthy. He has no body. The old man has a big body. The more old one
           becomes, the more illness, disease, conflict settles in. Then the body is not functioning as it should
           function, is not in harmony, is not in accord. Then one feels the body.
               All younger cultures accept the body; old cultures deny body. Old cultures reflect the old minds,
           old man's mind; younger cultures reflect the young man's mind. For example in India -- it is one of
           the ancient-most cultures -- body is denied. Your so-called monks, munis, saints, sadhus -- they are
           anti-body, they are enemies to the body. They have the old man's attitude towards the body. In
           America -- it is a very young country -- the body is accepted, enjoyed. When a country is young, the
           body is enjoyed, when the country is old, the body becomes the enemy. It simply shows the old
           man's attitude.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you understand this simple phenomenon -- that headache makes you aware of the head, illness
           makes you aware of the body -- then it must be something like illness in your soul which makes you
           aware of the self. Otherwise a perfectly healthy soul will not have any self. That's what Buddha says
           -- there is no self, no atman, anatta. No-self is... and that is the heavenly state. You are so healthy and
           so harmonious that there is no need to remember it.
                But ordinarily we go on cultivating the ego. On one hand we go on trying not to be miserable, on
           another hand we go on cultivating the ego. All our ways are contradictory.
           I have heard:

              A haughty socialite died and arrived at the gates of heaven. 'Welcome, come right in,' was Saint
           Peter's greeting.
              'I will not,' sneered the snob. 'If you just let anyone in without a reservation, this is not my idea of
           heaven.'

               If the egoist, even by chance, reaches to the gate of heaven, he will not enter. This is not his idea
           of heaven -- without reservation? anybody is welcome? Then what is the point? Only very chosen
           persons, very few, rare persons should be allowed. Then the ego can enter in heaven. In fact the ego
           cannot enter in heaven, it can only enter in hell. It will be better to say the ego carries its own hell
           wherever it goes.
           It happened:

               Mulla Nasrudin fell into a cesspool in the countryside and was not able to work his way out. So
           he stood there yelling, 'Fire! Fire!' and in a couple of hours the firemen finally arrived.
               'There is no fire here!' exclaimed the chief. 'What are you yelling "Fire" for?'
               'What did you want me to yell?' demanded the Mulla. 'Shit?'

                The ego is such that even if it is in hell, it will not accept, it will not accept it. The ego goes on
           decorating itself.
                You ask me, DO I HAVE TO ACCEPT HELL BEFORE I CAN FIND BLISS?
                There is no other way. You will have not only to accept, you will have to understand and
           penetrate. You will have to suffer the pangs and the pain of it so that you become perfectly aware
           what it is. Only when you know what it is will you be able to know how you create it. And only
           when you know how you create it, then it is for you whether you want to create it any more or not.
           Then it is your choice. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW?
                Yes, it is difficult to accept hell. Our whole effort is to deny it. That's why you may be crying
           within, you go on smiling on the outside. You may be sad, but you go on pretending you are happy.
           It is hard to accept that you are miserable. But if you go on denying it, it will by and by become
           disconnected from your awareness.
                That's what happens when we say something has become unconscious. It means it has become
           disconnected from consciousness. You have denied it so long that it has receded back into the
           shadow part of your life, it has moved into the basement. You never come across it, but it goes on
           working from there and affecting you and poisoning your being.
                If you are miserable you can smile, but that smile is painted. It is just an exercise of the lips. It
           has nothing to do with your being. You can smile, you can persuade a woman to fall in love with
           your smile. But remember -- she is doing the same. She is also smiling and she is also miserable. She
           is also pretending. So two false smiles create the situation that we call love. But how long can you go
           on smiling? You will have to relax. After a few hours you will have to relax.
                If you have a penetrating eye, you can see -- if you live with a person for three hours you can see
           his reality. Because to pretend for even three hours is very difficult. How to go on smiling for three
           hours if there is no smile coming from you? You will forget again and again and your miserable face
           will show.
                For moments you can deceive. That's how we deceive each other. And we promise that we are
           very happy persons, but we are not. The same is done by the other. Then every love affair becomes a
           misery, and every friendship becomes a misery.
                By hiding your misery you are not going to get out of it -- you will create more misery. The first
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing is to encounter it. Never move unless you have encountered your reality, and never pretend to
           be somebody else. Because that is not the way happiness ever happens. Just be yourself.
                If you are miserable, then be miserable. Nothing wrong is going to happen. You will be saved
           many troubles. Of course nobody will fall in love with you; okay -- you will be saved many troubles.
           You will remain alone -- but nothing is wrong in being alone. Face it, go deep into it, take it out,
           uproot it from the unconscious and bring it to the conscious.
                It is hard work, but it pays -- it pays tremendously. The pay-off is immense. Once you have seen
           it, you can simply throw it. It exists unseen, it exists only in the unconscious, in the darkness. Once
           you bring it to light, it starts withering.
                Bring your whole mind to light and you will see -- all that is miserable starts dying, and all that is
           beautiful and blissful starts sprouting. In the light of consciousness, that which remains is good, and
           that which dies is bad. That's my definition of sin and virtue. Virtue is that which can grow with
           absolute awareness; there is no difficulty. Sin is that which cannot grow with awareness; it needs
           unawareness to grow. Unawareness is a must for it.


              ABOUT A YEAR AGO I HEARD OF AN ENLIGHTENED BUDDHIST MASTER SOUTH OF KOREA
              AND WALKED THREE DAYS TO HIS TEMPLE FROM THE NEAREST TOWN. HE WAS
              NINETY-FOUR YEARS OLD, WITH A FACE LIKE A CHILD, A SMILE LIKE A BABY, AND MOST
              COMPASSIONATE EYES.
              HIS FIRST QUESTION WAS, 'HOW DID YOU GET HERE SINCE THERE IS NO ROAD?' I SIT
              HERE OFTEN AND WONDER HOW I GOT TO YOU, OSHO, SINCE THERE IS NO ROAD.


               There is no need for a road -- because your master is where you are. You can come to me only
           when you stop travelling, when you drop out of all paths and ways and roads. When you are simply
           there, where you are, you are with me. That is the only way to be with me. No path is needed. All
           paths lead astray. To come home, no path is needed. You have to stop travelling and rushing here
           and there.
               The old man really asked a beautiful question to you. 'HOW DID YOU GET HERE SINCE
           THERE IS NO ROAD?'
               He was talking in a zen way. In Zen they have a koan that a man had a goose. When the goose
           was very small, he put it into a bottle. Then the goose started growing. He continued to feed the
           goose in the bottle. Then the goose became too big -- so big that the mouth of the bottle was very
           small and it could not come out.
               Now the problem is -- the bottle has not to be broken, and the goose has to be taken out
           otherwise it will die. Now there is no space to grow and it is growing. The bottle has to be saved -- it
           is very precious -- and the goose has to be taken out, and the mouth is so small that it cannot get out.
           What to do?
               This is a zen koan. It is given to disciples to meditate over. Now it is absurd. What can you do
           about it? Whatsoever you do, again and again the same problem. The bottle has not to be broken.
           That seems to be the only way to bring it out. And the goose cannot be allowed inside any more,
           because now there is no space left and it will die. Now what to do? The question is urgent. And the
           disciple is told to meditate as intensely as possible.
               The disciple meditates twenty-four hours. Then he comes to the master, he finds some way -- but
           what way can you find? All ways are impossible. There is no other way, this is the only alternative.
           And the disciple becomes desperate and more desperate, and he thinks and meditates, and his mind
           starts reeling around. He cannot sleep, because the master says, 'The question is very urgent. The life
           has to be saved. The goose is dying -- and what are you doing sitting there? Be more intense, be
           more alert, and find out the solution.'
               And the master is walking around with his staff, and you cannot relax and you cannot sleep.
           Even in sleep the disciple thinks only of the bottle and the goose. And it continues -- day in, day out.
               And one day it happens. The disciple is sitting silently, relaxed. There is no worry. And the
           master comes and says, 'So, it has happened?'
               The disciple says, 'Yes, the goose is out... because it has never been in.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But this is not an intellectual answer. I have given it to you. You cannot deceive a zen master. He
           will beat you badly if you try to deceive. Because your whole being has to show it... your very being,
           your tranquillity, your silence, your relaxedness, has to show it. It is not a question that you have to
           answer.
                The disciple goes on thinking and thinking and thinking. And thinking becomes almost mad. His
           whole mind moving, moving moving. And there comes a point where no more thinking is possible.
           He has come to the very end of it.
                Every tension has to come to a point where you cannot go any more. Try it by closing your fist
           and making it as tense as possible, and go on making it tense and tense and tense. One moment
           suddenly you will see the fist is opening, you cannot make it any more tense. And you cannot open
           it; you cannot close it. It is simply opening on its own accord. Because to remain open is natural.
           When the extreme is touched, relaxation settles in.
                The same happens in the mind. The worry goes to a climax, a peak, and then suddenly all
           thoughts fall away, and the disciple is sitting there on a lotus flower, as if on a lotus flower... no
           worry, no problem, no koan, nothing. The goose is out -- because the disciple is out. That constant
           thinking was the bottle in which one was confined. Now the goose is out because the disciple is out.
                The old man must have asked you, 'How did you get here since there is no road?' like a zen koan.
                In fact there is no road to reach to god, because god is where you are. The goose is already out,
           the god has never been missed.
                And now you ask, I SIT HERE OFTEN AND WONDER HOW I GOT TO YOU.
                You may have forgotten me, but I have been always there. I am not separate from you. If I am
           separate then I am worthless. If I am separate from you and you have to come to me, and there is a
           path that connects you to me, then you will never reach to me. Then I will be like a mirage. You will
           be coming and coming and you will never reach to me.
                One day you will understand that you are just sitting here, doing nothing, and you are in me and I
           am in you. And that will be the beginning of a totally new dimension of life.
                Then god is in you and you are in god, and the world is in you and you are in the world. Then
           you are floating with the clouds and clouds are floating within you. Then you are flowering in the
           flowers and the flowers are flowering in you. Then division disappears. Then only one is. The goose
           is out. There is no road to it. The bottle is not to be broken, the bottle does not exist. The bottle is
           illusory. The bottle is just a belief. That you are far away and you have to travel is just a belief. That
           you have never gone anywhere and you have always been in the home is the truth.
           A small anecdote:

               A traveller, hundreds of miles from home, was walking across a flat, featureless desert. It had
           been twelve hours since he left the last oasis and he was beginning to feel a tinge of fear that he was
           lost, and soon night would come.
               Far off in the distance he saw a dust trail, hardly visible, and watched with relief as it drew
           nearer. Finally recognizing a figure walking towards him, as they drew nearer he shouted, 'How far
           to the nearest oasis?' And the oncoming figure did not respond.
               'How far to the nearest oasis?' he cried as the man passed beside him and still no answer. 'How
           far to the nearest oasis?' he yelled, nearly hysterical, as the dusty-robed figure disappeared in a cloud
           of windswept sand, and still no sign of an answer or even that the figure had heard.
               He walked on. Five minutes later he heard a distant sound. Turning, he heard the figure shout,
           very faint in the evening winds, 'Two hours.'
           'Why didn't you tell me before?'
           'Because I did not know how fast you walked.'

           It depends.
               But this journey is just the opposite journey. If you walk very fast, you will never reach me. If
           you don't walk at all, if you simply sit there inside you, you have arrived. In fact you had never
           departed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                     Chapter #7
                                      Chapter title: Reflections of emptiness
           6 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609060
              ShortTitle: TRANS207
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY, FOR IT IS LIKE
              STIRRING UP CLEAR WATER WITH HANDS. PEOPLE MAY COME THERE WISHING TO FIND A
              REFLECTION OF THEIR FACES WHICH HOWEVER THEY WILL NEVER SEE. A MIND
              TROUBLED AND VEXED WITH PASSIONS IS IMPURE, AND ON THAT ACCOUNT IT NEVER
              SEES THE WAY.
              O MONKS, DO AWAY WITH PASSIONS. WHEN THE DIRT OF PASSION IS REMOVED THE WAY
              WILL MANIFEST ITSELF.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              SEEING THE WAY IS LIKE GOING INTO A DARK ROOM WITH A TORCH. THE DARKNESS
              INSTANTLY DEPARTS WHILE THE LIGHT ALONE REMAINS. WHEN THE WAY IS ATTAINED AND
              THE TRUTH IS SEEN, IGNORANCE VANISHES AND ENLIGHTENMENT ABIDES FOREVER.


               WHO IS A BUDDHA? Or what is buddhahood? Unless you have a clear concept about it, it will
           be difficult to understand the sayings of Buddha. To understand those sayings, you will have to
           understand the source from where they arise. To understand the flower, you will have to understand
           the roots. Unless you understand the roots, you can appreciate the flower, but you will not be able to
           understand it.
               Who is a Buddha? Or what is buddhahood? The word 'buddha' means pure awareness, a state of
           absolute awareness. A Buddha is not a person but a state -- the ultimate state, the ultimate flowering.
           Buddha has nothing to do with Gautam the Buddha. Before Gautam the Buddha there have been
           many Buddhas, and after Gautam the Buddha there have been many Buddhas. Gautam the Buddha is
           only one who has attained to that ultimate consciousness.
               The word 'Buddha' is just like Christ. Jesus is only one of the Christs -- those who have attained
           to the ultimate flowering. There have been many Christs and there will be many. Remember it -- that
           buddhahood is not in any way confined by Gautam the Buddha. He is just only one example of what
           buddhahood is.
               You see one rose flower. It is not the rose flower, it is only one of the rose flowers. Millions have
           existed before, millions are existing right now, millions will exist in the future. It is simply a
           representative. This rose flower is simply a representative of all the rose flowers that have been, are,
           and will be.
               A Buddha is not defined by his personality. He is defined by the ultimate state of his being,
           which is beyond personality. And when a Buddha speaks, he does not speak like a person. He speaks
           through his ultimate awareness. In fact to say that he speaks is not good, not right. There is nobody
           to speak, there is no self in him to speak. And in fact he has nothing to say. He simply responds. Just
           as if you go and start singing in a valley the valley responds. The valley simply echoes you.
               When you come to a Buddha, he simply mirrors you. Whatsoever he speaks is just a reflection. It
           is an answer to you, but he has nothing to say himself. If another Buddha comes to him, they both
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will remain absolutely silent, two mirrors facing each other... nothing will be reflected. The mirrors
           will reflect each other, but nothing will be reflected. Two mirrors -- just think of two mirrors facing
           each other. If Christ comes to see Buddha, or Buddha somewhere on the roads of life comes across
           Lao Tzu, they will be absolutely silent -- there will be no echo.
                So when Buddha is speaking, remember it. He is not saying anything in particular. He is simply
           reflecting the people. That's why a Buddha can never be very consistent. A philosopher can be very
           consistent. He has something to say. He remembers it, he clings with it, he never says anything that
           goes against it... he manages. A Buddha is bound to be contradictory because each time somebody
           faces him, something else will arise. It will depend on the person who faces him.
                It is just like a mirror. If you come before the mirror, it is your face. Somebody else comes, then
           it is his face. The face will go on changing. You cannot say to the mirror, 'You are very inconsistent.
           Sometimes you show a woman's face and sometimes a man's face, and sometimes a beautiful face
           and sometimes an ugly face. The mirror will simply keep quiet. What can he do? He simply reflects.
           He reflects whatsoever is the case.
                So buddhist sayings are very contradictory. Jesus is contradictory, Buddha is contradictory,
           Krishna is contradictory, Lao Tzu is tremendously contradictory. Hegel is not contradictory, Kant is
           not contradictory, Russell is not contradictory, Confucius is not contradictory, Manu is not
           contradictory. They have a certain dogma. They don't reflect you. They have something to say. They
           go on saying. They are not like mirrors, they are like a photograph. It doesn't bother who you are; it
           remains the same. It is dead. It has a clearcut definition and form.
                Buddhahood is a formless awareness. Remember it, otherwise many times you will come across
           contradictions and you will not be able to figure out what is happening.
                When Buddha died, immediately there was much controversy, and the followers divided into
           many sects. Because somebody had heard Buddha saying this, and somebody had heard something
           absolutely contradicting it. So there was no possibility. How can one man say all those things? So,
           somebody must be lying... and people started sorting out. They sorted out in many different schools.
           Buddha was cut. Somebody carried his hand, somebody his head, somebody his legs -- but he was no
           more an alive phenomenon.
                Now, these philosophies are very consistent... very consistent, very logical -- but dead. A Buddha
           is not a philosopher, he is not a systematizer. A Buddha is not logical in any way. He is simply alive,
           and he reflects everything that is.
                So when you come to a Buddha, he answers you. He has no fixed answer to give to you, he
           answers you. He has no public face. All his faces are private and they depend on you. If you bring a
           beautiful face to him, you will see your own face reflected. And if you come without any face... pure,
           mirrorlike... nothing will be reflected. Then Buddha disappears, he has nothing to say.
                Those who lived with Buddha, they knew. When they had their own minds, those minds were
           reflected in him. When their minds dropped, they really became meditators, and when they looked at
           Buddha there was nobody... just emptiness, a valley, pure silence, primal innocence -- but nobody
           there.
                These sayings are collected, compiled, by a certain school. They are very consistent. Many
           sayings have been dropped which were apparently contradictory. Many have not been included
           which were ambiguous. These sayings were collected by a particular school. Later on I will be
           discussing other sources, and many times you will come across contradictions. Remember it.
                And those who are near me, they have to understand this, absolutely clearly, because I will be
           contradicting myself every day. It depends on the climate. It depends.... If the weather is very
           cloudy, I am cloudy. If the sun is shining bright and clear, I am that way.
                You not only come to me with questions, you also come with the answers. Maybe the answer is
           not known to you, maybe the answer is hidden in your unconsciousness, lurking somewhere in the
           darkness of your soul. The question is conscious, the answer unconscious. My function is to make
           your answer clearly obvious to you, to bring it to light. I am bound to be contradictory.
                I am not a public man. I am not interested in the crowds. I am interested only in disciples and
           devotees. That means I am interested only in intimate relationship. I am interested in you, and
           whatsoever I say to you is said to you and is irrelevant for others. When I talk personally, then I am
           talking to a particular person. To others it may not be relevant. Even to the same person it may not
           be relevant tomorrow, because he will be changing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Life is continuous change. And I am only consistent with life and nothing else. So I am bound to
           be contradictory. So if sometimes you come across contradictions, don't be in a hurry, and don't try
           to figure out somehow, and don't try to fix them. Let them be as they are.
                A man like Buddha has to be contradictory. He has to contain all contradictions because he
           contains all the possibilities of humanity. He contains all possible questions and all possible answers.
           He contains all the possible faces and all the possible phases. He contains the whole past of
           humanity, the present and the future.
                That is the meaning when Buddha says, 'When you have come home, when your innermost being
           is luminous, all will be known -- all that was past, present and future. Nothing remains unknown. In
           that knowing light everything is revealed.' But everything... and things are not consistent.
                That's the beauty of the world -- that things are not consistent. Things have different qualities,
           different personalities. All things are beings in their own way, and Buddha is simply reflecting... a
           reflection, a mirror.
                These sayings start always by, THE BUDDHA SAID. Remember it. When it is said, THE
           BUDDHA SAID, it simply means he has nothing to say. He reflected, he reflected you back. He
           simply showed you who you are. He revealed you to yourself. He brought you to your own center.

              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY, FOR IT IS LIKE
              STIRRING UP CLEAR WATER WITH HANDS. PEOPLE MAY COME THERE WISHING TO FIND A
              REFLECTION OF THEIR FACES WHICH HOWEVER THEY WILL NEVER SEE. A MIND
              TROUBLED AND VEXED WITH THE PASSIONS IS IMPURE, AND ON THAT ACCOUNT IT NEVER
              SEES THE WAY.
              O MONKS, DO AWAY WITH PASSIONS. WHEN THE DIRT OF PASSION IS REMOVED THE WAY
              WILL MANIFEST ITSELF.


               Many things of tremendous import are said in this sutra. First Buddha says, THOSE WHO
           HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY.
               What is passion? Passion is a sort of fever, a sort of trembling of your being, a sort of inner
           wavering. Passions means you are not content as you are. You would like something else, you would
           like something more, you would like a different pattern of life, a different style. Then you think you
           will be happy and contented.
               A mind full of passion is a mind full of discontent with the present. A mind with passion desires,
           hopes, but never lives; it postpones. It says tomorrow, always tomorrow. It is never here and now. A
           mind full of passion always goes on missing the present -- and the present is the only reality there is.
           So a mind full of passion goes on missing reality. It cannot reflect that which is, it cannot reflect the
           truth, it cannot reflect the dhamma, the way. It cannot reflect the real that surrounds you, because
           you are never here.
               Watch your mind. Whenever there is a desire, you have gone astray. You cannot be in the future,
           remember. You cannot be in the past, remember. That is impossible. That doesn't happen in the way
           things are. That simply doesn't happen. You cannot be in the past. Past is no more. How can you be
           in the past? But more or less you are always in the past. You are in the memory of the past. That is a
           way of not being, that is not a way of being. That is a way of not being. Or you are in the future
           which is impossible, because future is not yet. How can you live in a house which is not yet? But
           you live.
               Man goes on doing miracles. These are the real miracles. He goes on living in the past which is
           no more, and he starts living in the future which is not yet. You love the woman you have not found
           yet, or you go on loving the woman who is dead.
               The mind either clings with the past or with the future. This is a way of not being. This is how
           we miss existence. This is how by and by we become phantoms, shadows, ghosts. Watch yourself.
           As I see people, millions of people remain in a life of a ghost.

               A woman was here just a few days ago, and she said she is very much afraid of ghosts. And I
           said, 'This is something. Because sometimes ghosts come to me, and they say that they are very
           afraid of you. You are also a ghost. Why should you be afraid of ghosts?' I looked into her face. It
           was of the past, it had something of the future, but there was no real content of the present.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Living in the memories or living in imagination -- that is the way of passion. Passion is a
           wavering -- either to the left or to the right, but never in the middle. And middle is the truth, the
           present is the truth... the door to reality.
           Buddha says:

              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY.


               We are always on the way -- there is no other way to be -- but we never perceive that which we
           are always together with. We are always in god, but we never perceive god. God is so obvious. But
           we perceive everything except god, and he surrounds you... within and without. He is pulsating in
           everything. Only he is... but you cannot see him because you are never in the real, you are unreal. So
           how can the unreal meet the real? A mind full of passion cannot meet with the real. And this
           continues.
               Children are full of passion. One can understand -- they are childish, they don't know life yet.
           Young people are full of passion. One can forgive them too; they are yet too young. That means they
           are yet too foolish -- they will have to learn. But even old people, dying, on their deathbed... but still
           full of passion. Then it is too much; an old man cannot be forgiven.
               A child is okay, a young man can still be forgiven, but an old man? -- impossible to forgive. He
           has lived his whole life and he has not come to understand a simple fact -- that you cannot be in the
           future and you cannot be in the past. He has lived his whole life and he has been frustrated each
           moment of it, and yet he goes on expecting. He has lived his whole life, desiring and desiring and
           desiring, and nothing has come out of it. Death has come and life has not yet arrived. He has been
           waiting only, preparing for it... it has not happened. Yet he goes on -- hankering for more life.
               As I see many people... I have watched people dying -- it is very rarely that a person dies without
           passion. When a person dies without passion, the death is beautiful. It has tremendous significance, it
           has intrinsic value. But people die ugly deaths. Even death cannot shake them out of the dreams and
           passions and fevers. Even death cannot make them realize what is happening.
           I have heard a very beautiful anecdote:

               There is a whorehouse. The doorbell rings and the madam answers it, but she sees no one. Then,
           looking downstairs, she sees a man with no arms or legs sitting on a platform with wheels. She says
           to the guy, 'What could you possibly want here?'
               The guy looks up at her, smiles and says, 'I rang the doorbell didn't I?'

               Now that's enough. To the very end... dying, people think of sex. There is some interconnection,
           because sex means birth. So death and sex are really very deeply connected. If you have not been
           able to sort it out while you were fully alive, it will be very difficult to sort it out while you are
           dying. Because when death comes, it also brings its polarity, its shadow.
               Life starts with sex, life ends with death, and when death comes, the sex energy has a last bout. It
           becomes a flare. That very flare leads you into another life... the wheel starts moving again. Dying
           with a sexual, passionate mind, you are again creating a new life, a new birth. You have started
           seeking a womb. Sex means the search for a womb has started. Already you are not dead, but the
           search has started. Your soul is already preparing to take a jump into another womb.
               Buddha says if you can die without passion, you have broken the desire. You may never be born
           again. Or even if you are born it is going to be only once. Maybe a little karma is left, accounts have
           to be closed, things finished -- but basically you are free.
               When the mind is free of passion, the mind is free. Freedom means freedom from passion. And
           only a free mind can see what is real. Only a free mind -- free from passions -- can see what is here.

              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY, FOR IT IS LIKE
              STIRRING UP CLEAR WATER WITH HANDS.


               Have you watched sometimes? In a full moon night you go to the lake -- everything is silent...
           not even a ripple on the surface of the lake... and the moon is reflected so beautifully. Shake the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           water, create a few ripples in the water with your hands, and the moon is divided into fragments...
           the reflection disappears. You may see silver all over the lake, but you cannot see the moon.
           Fragments and fragments... the totality is broken, the integration gone.
               Human consciousness also can be in two states. One state is the state of passion -- when there are
           many ripples and waves hankering for some shore somewhere in the future, or still clinging from
           some shore in the past. But the lake is disturbed. The surface is not calm, quiet and tranquil. The
           surface cannot reflect the reality; it distorts. A mind full of passion is a mechanism for distortion.
           Whatsoever you see, you see through distortion.
               Go to a lake on a full moon night and watch these two things in the lake. First see everything
           quiet, calm, the moon reflected, a tremendous beauty, and everything so still -- as if time has
           stopped. And everything so present -- as if only present is. Then create ripples, or wait for a wind to
           come and distort. Then all reflection is gone or distorted. Then you go on looking -- you cannot find
           the moon, you cannot figure out what the moon is like. You cannot make it out from the reflection.
               These are the two states of the mind also. A mind without any thought, desire, passion, is quiet...
           quiet like a lake. Then everything as it is, is reflected. And to know that which is, is to know god, is
           to know truth. It is all around you, just you are not in a state to reflect it.
               When your passions drop, by and by things start falling in line, they become integrated. And
           when the reflection is perfectly clear, you are liberated. Truth liberates. Nothing else liberates. To
           know that which is, is to be free, is to be absolute freedom.
               Dogmas cannot liberate you, creeds cannot liberate you, churches cannot liberate you. Only truth
           liberates. And there is no way to find the truth unless you have come to create a situation in yourself
           where that which is, is mirrored.

              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY.


               Consciousness has to become without content. That is the meaning of being passionless. When
           you are, simply you are, I call it primal innocence. You are not hankering, desiring for anything. You
           are just in this moment, absolutely here and now. A great content arises into your being, a
           tremendous satisfaction arises into your being. You feel blessed.
               In fact that is what you are seeking. In all your desires you are seeking a state of contentment.
           But desires cannot bring it. Desires create more ripples on your lake. Desires create more
           restlessness in you. You are desiring only one thing -- how to come to a state where everything is
           just contentment... nowhere to go... one is simply delighted. Just by being, one is blissful. Just by
           being, one can dance and sing.
               That is what you are seeking. Even in your desires, in your greed, in your sexuality, in your
           ambition, that's exactly what you are seeking -- but you are seeking in a wrong direction. It cannot
           happen that way. It has never happened that way. It can happen in only one way -- the way of the
           Buddha, the way of Krishna or Christ. The way is the same; it belongs to nobody.
               That way is right now-here available to you... just you have to come to meet it here. You are
           escaping somewhere else, you are never found at your home. Whatsoever address you give, you are
           never found there. You are always somewhere else.
               God comes and seeks you. Of course, he trusts you, and he comes to your so-called address, but
           you are never there. He knocks at the door and the room is empty, the house is empty. He goes into
           the house, looks everywhere, but you are not there. You are somewhere else. You are always
           somewhere else -- somewhere else is your house.
               Ordinarily people think that they have to seek god. The truth is just the opposite -- god is seeking
           you, but you are never found.
               What Buddha is saying is, if you are passionless you will be found. You will be immediately
           found, because you will be sitting in the present moment. Your mind will not be wavering, your
           flame will be absolutely unwavering. In that very moment of meditation you meet god, you meet
           truth. You become free.

              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO PERCEIVE THE WAY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               But one thing has to be remembered. You can drop the worldly passions -- many people do. They
           become sadhus, monks, they move to the monasteries, but they don't drop the passion as such. Now
           they start thinking of god. Now they start thinking how to achieve in the other world. Their
           achiever's mind still continues, only their language has changed. Now they no more desire money,
           they no more desire a bank balance, but still they desire security -- security in the hands of god.
               When you are seeking a bank balance, or when you are going to an insurance company to be
           insured, these are just languages for a deep search for security. You leave them; then you become a
           Christian or you become a Hindu. By becoming a Christian, what are you seeking? You are seeking
           again security. You are thinking, 'This man Jesus is the begotten son of god. I will be more secure
           with him.'
               Or you are seeking to become a Hindu. You think, 'These Hindus, they have been longest in the
           profession of religion. They must know. They must know all the secrets of the trade. They must be
           having keys. Many civilizations have come and gone, but these Hindus have some trick -- they
           continue. Babylon is no more, Assyria is just ruins, the old civilization of Egypt is just in the
           museums. Many civilizations have existed on this earth and gone; only treasures are left here and
           there. But these Hindus are something; they have persisted. They have not been destroyed by time,
           they have a certain quality of eternity. They must be knowing some secret. Become a Hindu.' But
           you are seeking security.
               If you are seeking security, your mind still carries the same passion, desire, fear. You may not be
           interested in this world. There are many people who come to me and they say, 'This is impermanent,
           momentary. This world is not worth. We are seeking something like permanent bliss.' So, nothing
           has changed. In fact, they seem to be more greedy than ordinary people.
               Ordinary people are satisfied with momentary things. These people seem to be very much
           dissatisfied. They are not satisfied with momentary things -- a beautiful house and garden, a
           beautiful car, a beautiful woman and a husband, a wife and children, they are not satisfied. They say,
           'These are all momentary, sooner or later they will be taken away. We are seeking something which
           cannot be taken away.' These people are more greedy. Their passion knows no bounds. They think
           they are religious. They are not.
               A religious person is one who has dropped all passion, passion as such. Just by changing the
           language, nothing is changed.
           I have heard:

              Mulla Nasrudin was saying to his friend, 'I have never called you a son of a bitch.'
              'Yes you did!' The friend was very angry. He insisted, 'Yes you did!'
              'No I didn't!' Mulla repeated. 'All I said was, "When you get home throw your mother a bone".'

                But it is the same. Just by changing your language, nothing is changed.
                The so-called religious person is as worldly as worldly people, sometimes even more so. I have
           come across many religious people, many jaina monks -- they seem to me more worldly than their
           followers. Because the world does not mean the world. The world simply means passion, desire,
           greed. They are hankering for moksha, hankering for the other world, the heaven, the paradise. Their
           dreams are full of future.
                Your dreams are also full of future, but your future is not so big. Hm? you think only a few days
           ahead, or at the most a few months. If you are very very imaginative, at the most a few years, that's
           all. Your passion is not so strong. Their passion seems to be mad. They are not only thinking a few
           years ahead, they are thinking a few lives ahead -- the other world. Their desires have gone berserk,
           they are mad. They can leave and renounce the world, but that renunciation is false, because they are
           renouncing for better worlds. When you renounce for something better, it is a bargain, it is not a
           renunciation.
                You go to the film, to the movie. Of course, you have to renounce five rupees. You have to
           sacrifice five rupees immediately. But that is... nobody calls it renunciation. It is a bargain. If you
           want to live in heaven, in paradise, you have to pay for it.
                Remember this -- that whenever you are paying something for something, it is not renunciation.
           The very idea of paying makes it immediately clear that it belongs to the world of desire. Because
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life is free and nobody needs to pay for it. Let me repeat it. Life is absolutely free, nobody needs to
           pay for it. The moment you start paying for it, it is not life. It must be something like a commodity in
           the market -- maybe in the religious market, but it must be some commodity.
                If somebody asks you to renounce because that is the way to gain, then he is asking you to pay
           for it, sacrifice for it. He is talking economics, not religion. He is talking finance. He is telling you,
           'This much you have to pay. If you want to be in god's paradise, you will have to pay these things.
           You will have to sacrifice.'
                And of course it appeals to you, because you know the logic. How can you get anything free?
           You have to pay for it. And when you see god, you have to pay tremendously. You have to pay with
           all your pleasures. You have to become frozen, dead. You have to renounce life. So you become a
           'good boy', a 'nice boy'. And now god feels very happy. 'Look, this man has renounced everything for
           me. Now he should be allowed.'
                God never asks any sacrifice from you. How can he ask any sacrifice from you? It is not a
           market. The paradise is not to be earned. You are not to pay for it. You have only to learn to enjoy it,
           that's all. If you know how to enjoy it, right now it is available. You are not to pay for it.
                But our whole mind has been trained by economists and politicians. They say you will have to
           pay. Sacrifice your childhood in education so that when you are young you can have a beautiful
           house, a family, respect, a respectable job. You will have to pay for it -- so sacrifice your childhood
           so when you are young you have all the pleasures of the world.
                Then when you are young your wife says, 'Make insurance, because the children are growing and
           they will need. And we will be growing old -- and old age? What are you going to do?' Sacrifice
           your youth for old age so that in old age you can retire, and comfortably.
                So you sacrifice your youth for your old age. And then what do you do when you retire? Now the
           whole life is gone. Just preparing for something else always. And the more you prepare, the more
           you become skilful in preparing, that's all. Then you can prepare more. A man who becomes skillful
           in preparing is never ready to live. He becomes more ready to prepare, that's all.
                That's how the whole life is missed. And then in the old age they say, 'Now prepare for the other
           world. What are you doing? Pray, meditate, go to the church. Now become religious. What are you
           doing? Death is coming. Prepare for the afterlife.'
                Now this whole logic is foolish. The childhood sacrificed for youth, the youth sacrificed for old
           age, the old age sacrificed for after-life. So everything is just a sacrifice. When comes the time to
           enjoy? Let me say to you -- if you want to enjoy, never prepare! If you want to enjoy, enjoy! Do it
           right now, because there is no other way to do it.
                And if you become a great preparer, a great, skillful, efficient man in preparations, you will
           always prepare but you will never go for any journey. You will become so skillful in preparing,
           packing and unpacking, that you will not know how to go for the journey. You will only know how
           to pack and unpack again.
                That's what people are doing in life. Life is free, it is a gift... gift of god. Enjoy it. Let this go as
           deep as possible in your heart. Let this secret be now no more a secret. Life is a gift. Let there be
           dancing in the streets.
                There is no need to prepare. Preparation is always a shadow of passion. When you desire for the
           future, of course you have to prepare for it. In the present, no preparation is needed. The present has
           already arrived. The trees are already green, and the roses have flowered, and the birds are calling
           you. Where is the point in preparing?
                This craziness of preparing is absolutely human. You will never find it anywhere. Have you ever
           seen any animal preparing for anything? any tree preparing for anything? any star preparing for
           anything? They must be all laughing. Man is so ridiculous an animal. They must be all laughing.
           What has gone wrong. They are enjoying, just NOW they are enjoying.
                Reality must be more clearly reflected in animals, in birds, in rocks, than in man. Man's mind is
           full of ripples. These ripples have to be dropped.
                Man is in a very strange situation. Below man is nature -- absolutely unconscious and blissful.
           Above man are Buddhas -- absolutely conscious and blissful. Man is just in between -- a passage, a
           bridge... a rope stretched between two eternities. Man is neither as happy as the cuckoo in the
           garden, no, nor as happy as the Buddha. He is just in between -- stretched, tense, wants to move both
           the ways together... becomes more and more split.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's why I say schizophrenia is not a special disease, it is a very common phenomenon. It is
           not unusual. Everybody is schizophrenic, has to be. The very situation of humanity is schizophrenic.
           Man is not unconscious so he cannot be like trees -- enjoying without preparation. And he is not yet
           buddhalike, so he cannot enjoy without preparation. He is not in the present. He is just in the middle.
               But nothing to be worried about. You can never be as happy as the tree now. There is no way of
           going back -- that world is lost. That is the meaning of Adam's expulsion from the garden of Eden --
           he is no more part of the unconscious bliss. He has become conscious by eating the fruit of the tree
           of knowledge. He has become man.
               Adam is man, and every man is adam-like. Every childhood is in the garden of Eden. Every child
           is as happy as the animals, as happy as the primitive, as happy as the trees. Have you watched a child
           running in the trees, on the beach? -- he is not yet human. His eyes are still clear, but unconscious.
           He will have to come out of the garden of Eden.
               It is not that Adam was once expelled -- every Adam has to be expelled again and again. Every
           child has to be thrown out of the god's garden; it is part of growth. The pain is that of growth. One
           has to lose it to gain it again, to gain it consciously. That is man's burden and his destiny, his anguish
           and his freedom, man's problem and man's grandeur -- both.
               Buddha is nothing but Adam coming back, re-entering the garden of Eden. But now he comes
           with full awareness. Now the circle is complete. He comes dancing, he comes absolutely blissful. He
           is as blissful as any tree, but not unconscious. He has gained consciousness, he has risen towards
           consciousness. Now he is not only blissful -- he is aware that he is blissful. A new quality has
           entered.
               That's what is trying to enter in you -- knocking your head from everywhere. That's what I mean
           when I say god is searching you. I mean that consciousness wants to happen to you. Allow it to
           happen. Recognize that god is searching you. Let go, fall in accord with him. That's what Buddha
           calls dhamma -- being in accord with nature... fully accord, fully in accord, but aware.
               And don't wait. Don't wait for some age when the whole humanity will become aware and
           passionless. That will be a very futile waiting; you will be waiting in vain.
           I have heard:

              A drunkard was walking home when he came upon a group of men digging a big hole in the
           middle of the street. 'Watcha doing?' he asked.
           'We are building a subway,' came the answer.
           'When you gonna finish it?' he asked.
           'Ah, in about eight years.'
              The drunk thought for a while and then shouted back, 'Ah, the heck with it. I will take a taxi.'

               The humanity will someday become collectively conscious -- that possibility exists -- but nobody
           knows when. Millions of years will pass, and millions of individuals will have to become Buddhas
           before it can happen. Then one day it is possible that buddhahood may become a natural
           phenomenon.
               But before it, you have to strive individually. And you cannot wait for it. That waiting will be
           very suicidal. And if everybody waits for it, it will never happen. Because for it to happen a certain
           amount of individual souls are needed to become Buddhas.
               Now a few experiments are being done about meditation. It has been found that if in a village, a
           small village of four hundred people, the number of meditators rises at least one percent... for
           example, if in a village of five hundred people, five persons start meditating, the crime rate in the
           village falls immediately. People commit less crimes, just because one percent of the village is
           meditating. It affects the whole consciousness -- just one percent. And just meditating -- they are not
           Buddhas.
               If one percent of humanity becomes Buddhas, the whole quality will change. Consciousness will
           become more easy, may become almost natural and spontaneous.
               So if you are waiting, you are waiting in vain. And if you are waiting and everybody goes on
           waiting, it is never going to happen. Do something about it, because by doing something about it,
           you will be creating a situation in which it will become easier and easier for it to happen to others.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THOSE WHO HAVE PASSIONS ARE NEVER ABLE TO SEE THE WAY, FOR IT IS LIKE STIRRING
              UP CLEAR WATER WITH HANDS. PEOPLE MAY COME THERE WISHING TO FIND A
              REFLECTION OF THEIR FACES WHICH HOWEVER THEY WILL NEVER SEE.


              That's why you don't know who you are. You have not been able to see your own face in your
           mind. What to say of other things? What to say about the face of god? You have not been able to
           look at your own face in your mind, even that much reflection is not possible. The face does not
           become a reality, only fragments you see, because the mind is continuously shaking, wavering.
              The flame is never in a state of tremendous rest, so everything is flickering. Sometimes you see
           one of your eyes, sometimes you see your nose, sometimes you see one of your hands, sometimes
           you see a part of your face, but everything is muddled. And if you want to figure it out, it becomes a
           Picasso painting. You don't know what is what.

               I have heard that Picasso made a portrait of a friend. The friend came, he looked from all sides.
           He said, 'Good, beautiful, but I don't like the nose. You will have to change at least that much.'
           Picasso said, 'Okay, come after one month.'
           He said, 'One month! It will take so long?'
           Picasso said, 'I cannot be even certain whether I will be able to do it in one month.'
           He said, 'What do you mean?'
           Picasso said, 'Now don't force me to say the truth. In fact I don't know where I have made the nose. I
           will have to search and meditate upon it. I have made your nose certainly, somewhere, but where?'

                If you look about yourself, you are a Picasso painting. Everything is muddled, in a mess. You
           don't know your identity, who you are. So you cling to outer helps, supports -- your name, your
           father's name, your family name, your certificates from the university, your degree. These are outer
           supports. They help you somehow to give some idea who you are. But really you don't know who
           you are. Because how can you know yourself if you know that you are a doctor or an engineer or a
           plumber? What has that to do with your being?
                You can be a plumber, you can be a doctor, you can be an engineer -- that has nothing to do with
           your essential being. These are all accidents. You can be white or you can be black, but that has
           nothing to do with your essential being. These are just accidents, nothing essential. The difference
           between a white man and a black man is just of a small pigment. If you go to the market, the pigment
           will not cost more than four annas. That is the only difference between a negro and a white man.
           Very non-essential, but has become so tremendously important.
                What is the difference between a rich man and a poor man?... just accidents. Between a
           successful man and a failure?... just accidents. They don't really define you. But we don't know how
           to define in any other way, so we go on clinging with this fragment and we go on making something
           out of it.
                The reality of your being is within you. You just need a little silent mind; it will be reflected.
           You will know who you are. And that will become your first step to know what this reality is. What
           is this whole game? What is this magical world?
                By knowing yourself, you will have taken the first step of knowing god. By knowing yourself
           absolutely, you have taken the last step of knowing god. By knowing yourself, you know what god
           is. There is no other way -- because you are gods, but you have not been able to see your face.

              A MIND TROUBLED AND VEXED WITH PASSIONS IS IMPURE, AND ON THAT ACCOUNT IT
              NEVER SEES THE WAY.
              O MONKS, DO AWAY WITH PASSIONS. WHEN THE DIRT OF PASSION IS REMOVED THE WAY
              WILL MANIFEST ITSELF.


              THE WAY WILL MANIFEST ITSELF. There is no need to discover it. All that is needed is you
           should have an innocent, pure mind. And when Buddha says pure, he does not mean a mind which is
           moral. He does not mean a mind which is religious. His definition of purity is more scientific. He
           says a mind which is without thought.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Because a moral man is moral, but he has moral thoughts. An immoral man is immoral, but he
           has immoral thoughts. As far as the mind is concerned, both are full of thoughts. A worldly man has
           worldly thoughts, a religious man has religious thoughts. Whether you are singing a song from the
           latest movie or you are chanting a religious prayer, it makes no difference -- your mind is wavering,
           your mind is not silent.
               So, by pure, Buddha does not mean moral. No, he simply means a mind which has no content.
           All content brings impurity. Whatsoever the content, it is impure. He is not saying impurity in any
           condemnatory sense. He is saying it only in a very scientific sense -- anything foreign, anything
           alien, makes the mind impure.
               Mind is just pure reflection, the capacity to reflect. If the mind has some ideas in itself, they will
           not allow its reflection to be pure. Then projection starts and the reflection is destroyed. So whether
           you have religious ideas or non-religious ideas, whether you are a Communist or a Democrat, it
           makes no difference. Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, Sikh -- it makes no difference. If you have
           ideas, your mind is impure.
               A mind full of consciousness will be empty of all contents. He will be neither a Christian nor a
           Hindu nor a Jew. He will not be a moral man nor an immoral man. He will simply be. That being,
           that be-ness, is purity. That's what I call primal innocence. Then all dust is washed and you are just a
           reflective force.

              O MONKS, DO AWAY WITH PASSIONS. WHEN THE DIRT OF PASSIONS IS REMOVED THE WAY
              WILL MANIFEST ITSELF.


               And then suddenly you will see -- the way has always been herenow, only you were missing it. It
           is impossible to lose the way, it is impossible to lose god. You can try -- that's what you have been
           doing. You can try, and for moments you can also believe that you have succeeded. But in fact it
           never happens.
               You cannot lose the way, there is no way to lose the way. There is no way to go astray. You can
           only believe in your dreams that you can go astray, but in reality you cannot go astray. Any time
           when you become awake, you will simply laugh -- that you have been thinking you have gone far
           away. You have never even gone out of your home... you have always lived here. Just with closed
           eyes you go on dreaming and dreaming and dreaming.
               In dream you can go as far away as you like, but in reality there is no way to go anywhere except
           god.
               Because wherever you are, reality is. You are part of reality and you exist only as an organic part
           to reality. You cannot go away. You cannot separate yourself. You are intermingled with existence,
           you are interwoven with existence. We are not dependent, we are not independent, we are
           interdependent. We are members of each other. There is no way to go anywhere.
               So when the mind is pure, WHEN THE DIRT OF PASSION IS REMOVED, THE WAY WILL
           MANIFEST ITSELF.
               Suddenly you will see -- god is standing before you. Suddenly you will recognize that you have
           been always standing in the door, on the threshold. You will start laughing. The whole game has
           been so ridiculous.
               A really religious person never loses the sense of humour. And if you see a religious person who
           has no sense of humour, you can be certain he has not come home yet. Because a religious person...
           the more he understands, the more he sees the ridiculousness of the game, the more he starts
           laughing. How did it all become possible? How did I dream? How long have I been in dreams? --
           and those dreams were looking so real.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              SEEING THE WAY IS LIKE GOING INTO A DARK ROOM WITH A TORCH. THE DARKNESS
              INSTANTLY DEPARTS WHILE THE LIGHT ALONE REMAINS. WHEN THE WAY IS ATTAINED,
              AND THE TRUTH IS SEEN, IGNORANCE VANISHES AND ENLIGHTENMENT ABIDES FOREVER.


              A beautiful maxim to be remembered. SEEING THE WAY IS LIKE GOING INTO A DARK
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ROOM WITH A TORCH.
                If you go into a dark room with a torch, with a lamp, the darkness immediately disappears --
           immediately; Buddha says INSTANTLY. It does not take time. It is not that you bring light in, then
           the darkness lingers a little while, decides whether to leave or not, takes a little time and then goes.
           No, no time is needed because darkness is not real.
                If it was real, it will take a little time -- maybe a split second, but it will take a little time to go
           out. It will have to travel; travelling will take time. Sometimes it may be a lazy darkness, it may take
           a little longer time. Sometimes it may be a fast runner; then it will go fast. But anyway it will take
           time if it is real.
                When you bring light, the very bringing of the light is the disappearance. Darkness is not, only
           light is. When darkness is, in fact there is nothing. It is only the absence of light, that's all. Darkness
           has no positive being, it is just absence of light. So when you bring presence, the absence is no more
           there.
                Buddha says this world is just like darkness. Once you bring light to it, once you become aware,
           once you drop your passions and become meditative, once the mind attains to the purity of
           meditation, suddenly the light is there. Darkness dissipates, disappears instantly, immediately, within
           no time.

               SEEING THE WAY IS LIKE GOING INTO A DARK ROOM WITH A TORCH. THE DARKNESS
               INSTANTLY DEPARTS WHILE THE LIGHT ALONE REMAINS. WHEN THE WAY IS ATTAINED AND
               THE TRUTH IS SEEN, IGNORANCE VANISHES AND ENLIGHTENMENT ABIDES FOREVER.


                Enlightenment is that which has always been the case. Enlightenment is that which has always
           been there. You were not aware. You were fast asleep. It was just sitting by your side waiting for
           you to awaken. Enlightenment is your nature, is your very being. From the very beginning it has
           been there. It is there right now. If you can flare up in awareness, you can attain to it immediately. It
           is a sudden illumination.
                But if you want, you can take your time, you can move slowly, gradually. You can turn over and
           go to sleep again and wait a little more. But whenever you open your eyes, you will find it. It has
           been always there. Just for asking's sake it would have been achieved any time. It was never
           difficult. It seems difficult because you are asleep. Once you are awakened, you will laugh. How was
           it difficult? Why was it difficult? It was something that was present, only you had to claim it.
                The way is. Waves come and go... the ocean is. Minds come and go... no-mind is. Roles come
           and go... Buddha is. Buddha is your original face, your originality, your very being.

               O MONKS, DO AWAY WITH PASSIONS.


               Drop desiring. Our desiring culminates everything. Our desiring becomes our interpretation of
           everything. The more you desire, the more miserable you will be, because the more you desire, the
           more will be your expectation. The more you desire, the less grateful you will be, because the more
           you desire, the more you will feel man proposes and god disposes. The less you desire, the more
           grateful you be, because the less you desire, the more you will see how much is given without
           desiring, without asking. If you don't desire at all, you will be in tremendous gratitude, because so
           much is given already. Life is such a gift... but we go on with our mind.
           I have heard:

               A man was reckoned to be the laziest man in the country and naturally spent most of his time
           sleeping. He was so inactive and so useless that at one time the townspeople thought it would be a
           good idea to bury him whether he was dead or alive.
               They made a crude coffin, came around with it to his house, put him in it without any protest
           from his family, and started off with the live old critter for the cemetery. Of course there was no
           resistance from him; he was so lazy. He said, 'Okay.' Or he may not have even said that. He may
           have just watched what was going on.
               But before they got to the cemetery, they were stopped by a stranger who had heard of the grim
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           proceedings. They told the stranger the man would not work and had not a grain of corn on his place,
           and the town was sick of providing him with food. 'Enough is enough,' they said, 'and we are fed up.'
              'If you boys will hold off, I will gladly give that man a wagonload of corn,' said the stranger.
           Before the townspeople could reply, a head was raised out of the coffin, and the almost deceased
           asked, 'Is that corn shucked?'

               The lazy man is worrying about the corn -- whether it is shucked or not. He is ready to die, but if
           he has to shuck the corn, then it is too much effort.
               A man who is surrounded by laziness looks at everything through his laziness. His laziness
           becomes his interpretation of things.
               If you are sleepy, you will look at life with sleepy eyes, naturally.
               And if you miss life, it is natural -- because life is possible only if your eyes are fully alive, if
           your eyes are radiant with life. If you look at life with alive eyes, there is a meeting, a communion.
               We live surrounded by clouds of desire. Then those desires become our interpretation. Then we
           go on thinking according to those desires.
           It happened:

              Applicants for a job on a dam had to take a written examination, the first question of which was:
           What does hydro-dynamics mean?
              Mulla Nasrudin, one of the applicants for the job, looked at this, then wrote against it: It means I
           don't get the job.

               Whatsoever meaning we give to life, we give it to life. And Buddha is saying if you want to
           know the real meaning of life, then you have to drop giving all meanings to it. Then the way reveals
           itself. Then life opens its mysterious doors. You stop giving meaning to it -- your desires are giving
           meaning to it; they are defining the undefinable. And if you remain clouded with your desires,
           whatsoever you know is nothing but your own dreaming. That's why we say in India that this life,
           this so-called life lived through desires, is maya, it is a magical thing. You create it, you are the
           magician. It is your maya, your magic.
               We don't live in the same world, remember. We live in separate worlds, because we don't live in
           the same desires. You project your desires, your neighbour is projecting his desires. That's why when
           you meet a person and you want to live with a person, with a woman or with a man or with a friend,
           difficulties arise. That is a clash of two worlds.
               Everybody is good alone. Together, something goes wrong. I have never come across a wrong
           person, but every day I come across, I have to watch and see and observe wrong relationships. I
           never come across a wrong person, but every day I come across wrong relationships. It seems almost
           all relationships are wrong. Because two persons live in two desire worlds, they have their own
           magical worlds. When they come together those worlds clash.
           It happened:

               One night Mulla Nasrudin was sitting on one side of the fire and his wife on the other. Between
           them lay the cat and the dog, lazily blinking at the fire. The wife ventured this remark, 'Now dear,
           just you look at that cat and dog. See how peacefully and quietly they get along together. Why can't
           we do that?'
               'That's all right,' said Nasrudin, 'but just you tie them together and see what will happen.'

               Tie two persons together -- that's what a marriage is -- and see what happens. Suddenly two
           worlds.... It seems almost impossible to understand the woman you love. It should not be so -- you
           love her -- but it seems impossible to understand. It is impossible to understand the man you love. It
           should not be so -- you love him -- but it seems impossible to understand.
               It is very easy to understand strangers, it is very difficult to understand people who are very
           close. To understand your mother, father, brother, sister, friend, is very difficult. The closer you are,
           the more difficult -- because the worlds are clashing.
               These worlds surround you like a subtle aura. Unless you drop this magical creation that you go
           on feeding, you will remain in conflict. You will remain in conflict with persons, you will remain in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conflict with god. Because he has his own world, and you have your own private world. They never
           go both together. You have to drop your private mentation.
               Dropping mentation is what meditation is all about. You have to drop your thinking, desiring.
           You have just to be, and suddenly everything falls into an organic whole, becomes a harmony.
               And these desires are the root of the darkness that is surrounding you. These desires are the
           support, the foundation of the darkness that surrounds you. These desires are the hindrances that
           don't allow you to become alert.
               Beware of these desires. And remember -- the word 'beware' means be aware. That is the only
           way. If you really want to get rid of these desires, don't start fighting them. Otherwise you will miss
           again. Because if you start fighting with your desires, that means you have created a new desire -- to
           be desireless. Now this desire will clash against other desires. This is changing the language; you
           remain the same.
               Don't start fighting with the desires. When Buddha says, DO AWAY WITH PASSIONS, O
           MONKS, he does not mean to fight with the passions. Because you can fight only if there is a prize,
           if you are going to attain something. Then again a desire has arisen -- a new shape, a new form, but
           the same old desire. Don't fight, just be aware.
               Beware of desires. Become more watchful, more alert. And you will see -- the more alert you
           are, the less desires are there. Ripples start subsiding, waves start disappearing. And one day,
           suddenly... any moment it can happen, because all moments are as potential as any other. There is no
           auspicious moment for it to happen. It can happen in any ordinary moment, because all ordinary
           moments are auspicious. There is no need for it to happen under a bodhi tree. It can happen under
           any tree, or even without a tree. It can happen under the roof of your house. It can happen
           anywhere... because god is everywhere.
               But by and by become aware. Create more and more awareness, collect more and more
           awareness. One day the awareness comes to such a point, the energy is so much that it simply
           explodes. And in that explosion, darkness disappears and light is. Immediately darkness disappears,
           instantly darkness disappears -- and light is. And that light is your own luminosity, so you cannot
           lose it. Once known, it becomes your eternal treasure.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #8
                                             Chapter title: A distant star
           7 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609070
              ShortTitle: TRANS208
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              WHEN LIFE ITSELF IS SO FULFILLING, OVERFLOWING, SO BLISSFUL, THEN WHAT IS THAT
              WHICH MAKES A MAN MISERABLE?


               LIFE IS OVERFLOWING, life is blissful, but man has lost the contact with life. He has become
           too selfconscious. That selfconsciousness functions as a barrier, and one remains alive, yet not truly
           alive. Selfconsciousness is the disease.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The birds are happy, the trees are happy, the clouds and the rivers are happy, but they are not
           selfconscious. They are simply happy. They don't know that they are happy.
                Buddha is happy, Krishna is happy, Christ is happy, but they are pure consciousness. They are
           happy, but they don't know that they are.
                There is a similarity between the unconscious nature and the supraconscious beings.
           Unconscious nature has no self, the supraconscious beings also have no self. Man is just in between.
           He is no more an animal, no more a tree, no more a rock, and yet not a Buddha. Hanging in between
           is the misery.
                Just the other day a new seeker from the West wrote me a letter saying: 'Osho, I don't want to
           become a sannyasin. I don't want to become superhuman -- Buddha or Christ. I simply want to
           become just human. Help me to become just human.'
                Now, this is too ambitious, and it is impossible. Just to be human is impossible. Try to
           understand it. Because that means you are saying 'Let me just remain the process, in the middle.'
           Man is not a state, man is only a process. For example if a child says, 'I don't want to become young,
           I don't want to become old. Let me just remain a child,' is it possible?
                He is already becoming young, he is on the way. Childhood is not a state. You cannot remain in
           it, you cannot stick to it. It is a process. Childhood is already going, youth is already coming. And so
           is youth going. Howsoever hard you try to remain young, your efforts are doomed to fail, because
           the youth is already turning into old age.
                Just to be human, you ask. You ask the impossible. You are too ambitious. You can become a
           Buddha. That is simpler. You can become a god, that is simpler. But to ask that you would like to
           just remain human is impossible. Because humanity is just a passage, a voyage, a journey, a
           pilgrimage. It is a process, not a state. You cannot remain human. If you try too hard to remain
           human, you will become inhuman. You will start falling. If you don't go ahead, you will start
           slipping backwards. But you will have to go somewhere. You cannot remain static.
                To be human simply means to be on the way of being a god nothing else. God is the goal. To be
           human is the journey, the way. The way can never be permanent, it cannot become eternal.
           Otherwise it will be very tiring. The goal will never arrive then, and you will be just on the journey,
           on the journey, on the journey.
                To hope is to be human. But to hope means to hope to go beyond. To hope means to desire
           beyond. To hope means to hope to surpass, to transcend. This is really the state of a human being --
           that he is always surpassing, going, going... somewhere else is the goal.
                The person who has asked it must be a beautiful person. In fact, ready for sannyas -- but he does
           not understand what he is saying.
                Man is miserable because man has to be miserable. It is nothing of your fault, it is nothing like
           that you are in some error. To be human is to be miserable, because to be human is to be in the
           middle -- neither here nor there... hanging in the limbo. Anguish arises because of the tension.
                One home is lost -- the home where birds are still singing, animals still moving, trees still
           flowering -- the garden of Eden. That one home is lost. Adam has been turned out. Adam has
           become human.
                When Adam was in the garden of Eden he was an animal; he was not an Adam, he was not a
           man. God turned him out of the garden. That very expulsion became humanity.
                Man is expelled from one home so that he can search another home -- bigger, higher, deeper,
           greater. One home is lost. There is a nostalgia. Man wants to become animal. It is very difficult to
           forget that garden of Eden; it was so beautiful. And there are moments we become animal-like -- in
           deep anger, in violence, in war, we become animal-like. That's the enjoyment of being angry.
                Why do you feel so happy in being angry? Why do you feel such a rush of energy in destroying
           something? Why in wartime do people look more radiant, more healthy, more sharp, more
           intelligent? -- as if life is no more a boredom. What happens? Man falls back. Even for a few days, a
           few months, man again is an animal. Then he knows no law, then he knows no humanity, then he
           knows no god. Then he simply goes... drops his selfconsciousness, becomes unconscious; murders,
           kills, rapes -- everything is allowed in war.
                That's why man needs war continuously. After each ten years a big war is needed, and small wars
           have to be continued continuously. Otherwise it will be difficult for man to live.
                Man becomes a drunkard, becomes a drug addict. Through chemical drugs, man tries to reclaim
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the lost home, the lost paradise. When you are under LSD, you are back in the garden of Eden --
           from the backdoor; LSD is the backdoor of the garden of Eden. Again life seems psychedelic,
           colourful; again trees look luminous as they must have looked to Adam and Eve, as they must be
           right now for cuckoos and tigers and monkeys. The green has a luminosity in it. Everything looks so
           beautiful. You are no more human. You have fallen back. You have forced your being to fall back.
           Hence tremendous appeal exists for alcoholic beverages.
                Since the very beginning of human history, man has been after drugs. In the Vedas they called it
           soma, now they call it LSD. But it is not a different thing. Sometimes it was ganja, bhang, now it is
           marijuana and other things, but it is the same old game.
                Chemically it is possible to fall back, but you cannot really go back. There is no going back; time
           does not allow that. One has just to go forward.
                You cannot move backwards in time. The reverse gear does not exist. When Ford made his first
           car, there was no reverse gear. Only later on they thought that it was very difficult to come back
           home. You had to take long turns, unnecessary miles; then you could come back. Then the reverse
           gear was added as a later thought. But in time, god has not yet added the reverse gear; you cannot go
           back.
                Man has dreamed about it, fantasized about it. There are scientific fictions in which man can go
           back into time. H. G. Wells has an idea of a time machine. Mm? you sit in the machine and you put
           it in the reverse gear and you start moving backwards. You are young, you become a child, then you
           become a baby, then you are in the womb. Backwards you start moving. But no time-machine exists.
           It exists only in poets' minds, fantasies.
                To go back is not possible. There is only one possibility -- to go ahead.
                Man has to remain in anguish. There are only two ways -- either make it possible to go back, or
           to go beyond humanity. Humanity is a bridge. You cannot make a house on it. It has to be passed. It
           is not to be lived upon.
                When the Mohammedan mogul emperor Akbar, made a special city, Fatchpur Seekeri, he asked
           his wise men to find out something, a maxim to put on top of the bridge that joins the city to the
           world. They looked, they searched and they found a saying of Jesus. It does not exist in the Bible; it
           must have come from some other source, from Sufis. There were many sufis in Akbar's court. The
           saying is: The world is like a bridge -- don't make your house on it. Still on the bridge the saying is
           there. It is beautiful. That's how it is.
                Humanity is a bridge. Don't try to be just human, otherwise you will become inhuman. Try to
           become superhuman; that is the only way to be human. Try to become a god; that is the only way to
           be human. There is no other way. Have your goal somewhere in the stars, only then you grow.
                And man is a growing phenomenon, a process. If you don't have any goal, growth stops. Then
           you are stuck, then you become stagnant and stale. That's what has happened to millions of people in
           the world. Look at their faces -- they look like zombies, as if they are asleep or drugged, stoned.
                What is happening to these people's hearts? They don't show any freshness, aliveness, no spurt of
           life, no flame... dull. What is happening to them? They have missed something. They are missing
           something. They are not doing that for which they are made, they are not fulfilling that destiny
           which has to be fulfilled.
                A man is here to become superman. Let superman be your goal. Then only will you be able to be
           man, and at ease.
                The more you will be transforming into a superman, the more you will find you are not in
           anguish, not in anxiety. The buds are coming soon, there will be great rejoicing. Soon there will be
           blossoms. You can wait, you can hope, you can dream.
                When you are not going anywhere, when you are trying just to be human, then the river has
           stopped flowing. Then the river is not going towards the ocean. Because to go to the ocean means to
           have a desire to become the ocean. Otherwise why go towards the ocean? Going towards the ocean
           means merging into the ocean, becoming the ocean.
                God is the goal. You can be human only if you go on making all efforts, all possible efforts to
           become divine. In those very efforts, your humanity will start shining. In those very efforts, you will
           become alive.

           WHEN LIFE ITSELF IS SO FULFILLING....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Life is fulfilling, but you are not in contact with life. Old contact is lost, new has not been made.
           You are in a transmission, hence you are so dull, hence life looks so mediocre, sad, boring -- even
           futile.
               Says Jean-Paul Sartre: Man is a useless passion -- futile, impotent passion, unnecessarily making
           much fuss about life, and there is nothing in it... meaningless is life. The more you become enclosed
           in your self, the more life becomes meaningless. Then you are miserable. Then misery has some
           other payoffs.
               When you are happy you are ordinary, because to be happy is just to be natural. To be miserable
           is to become extraordinary. Nothing is special in being happy -- trees are happy, birds are happy,
           animals are happy, children are happy. What is special in that? It is just the usual thing in existence.
           Existence is made of the stuff called happiness. Just look! -- can't you see these trees?... so happy.
           Can't you see the birds singing?... so happily. Happiness has nothing special in it. Happiness is a
           very ordinary thing.
               To be blissful is to be absolutely ordinary. The self, the ego, does not allow that. That's why
           people talk too much about their miseries. They become special just by talking about their miseries.
           People go on talking about their illness, their headache, their stomach, their this and that. All people
           are in some way or other hypochondriacs. And if somebody does not believe in your misery, you feel
           hurt. If somebody sympathizes with you and believes in your misery -- even in your exaggerated
           version of it -- you feel very happy. This is something stupid, but has to be understood.
               Misery makes you special. Misery makes you more egoistic. A miserable man can have a more
           concentrated ego than a happy man. A happy man really cannot have the ego, because a person
           becomes happy only when there is no ego. The more egoless, the more happy; the more happy, the
           more egoless. You dissolve into happiness. You cannot exist together with happiness; you exist only
           when there is misery. In happiness there is dissolution.
               Have you ever seen any happy moment? watched it? In happiness, you are not. When you are in
           love, you are not. If love has ever made its abode in your heart, even for a few moments, you are not.
           When you see the beautiful sun rising, or a full moon night, or a silent lake, or a lotus flower,
           suddenly you are not. When there is beauty, you are not. When there is love, you are not.
               Hearing someone, if you feel there is truth, you simply disappear in that moment. You are not,
           truth is. Whenever there is something of the beyond, you are not; you have to make space for it. You
           are only when there is misery. You are only when there is a lie. You are only when there is
           something wrong. You are only when the shoe does not fit.
               When the shoe fits perfectly, you are not. When the shoe fits perfectly you forget the feet, you
           forget the shoe. When there is no headache there is no head. If you want to feel your head, you will
           need a headache, that is the only way.
               To be is to be miserable. To be happy is not to be. That's why Buddha says there is no self. He is
           creating a path for you to become absolutely blissful. He is saying there is no self so that you can
           drop it. It is easy to drop something when it is not. It is easy to drop something when you understand
           that it is not, it is just imagination.

               Mulla Nasrudin was telling his friends in the tavern one day about his family. 'Nine boys,' he
           said, 'and all good except Abdul. He learned to read.'

               Now when a person learns to read, difficulties arise; now the self is arising. In villages, people
           are more happy. They are closer to animals than in big cities -- they are far away. In primitive
           societies, the aboriginals are more happy. They are closer to trees and nature than in London, Tokyo,
           Bombay, New York. Trees have disappeared, only asphalt roads -- absolutely false -- concrete
           buildings, all man-made.
               In fact, if suddenly somebody from outer space comes to Bombay, New York, Tokyo, London,
           he will not find any signature of god there. All is man-made. Looking at Tokyo or Bombay, one will
           think man made the world. These concrete buildings, these asphalt roads, this technology -- all is
           man-made. The farther away you go from nature, the farther away you go from happiness... the more
           and more you are learning to read.
               God expelled Adam because he ate from the tree of knowledge -- he started learning to read. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           threw him out -- he became knowledgeable. A man is bound to be more miserable if he is more
           knowledgeable. The misery is always in exact proportion with your knowledgeability.
               Knowledgeability is not knowing. Knowing is innocence; knowledgeability is cunningness. It is
           very difficult for an educated person not to be cunning. It is almost impossible, because the whole
           training is cunning. The training is of logic, not of love. And the training is for doubt, not for trust.
           And the training is to be suspicious, not to be trusting. And the training is that everybody is trying to
           deceive you, so be aware. And before somebody else tries to cheat you, cheat -- because that is the
           only way to be protected.
               Says Machiavelli: the best way to defend oneself is to be aggressive. You see, all the
           governments of the world call their military organization, army, 'defence'. They are all arrangements
           for attack -- they call it 'defence'. Even Hitler called his military 'defence'. Nobody down the ages has
           ever said, 'I am attacking.' They say, 'We are defending.' They all follow Machiavelli. They all
           respect Mahavir, Mohammed, Moses, and they all follow Machiavelli. As far as respect is
           concerned, go to the temple, read the Bible. But as far as actual life is concerned, read THE
           PRINCE, read Machiavelli, read Chanakya.
               In Delhi, the Indian capital where politicians live, they call it CHANAKYA PURI -- the city of
           the Machiavelli. Chanak is the Indian counterpart of Machiavelli, even more dangerous than
           Machiavelli. The more a person becomes educated, the more machiavellian, cunning.
               When Machiavelli's book THE PRINCE was published, he was thinking that all the kings of
           Europe would invite him, and he would be posted on a high post as an advisor to some king, But
           nobody called him. The book was read, the book was followed, but nobody called Machiavelli. He
           was surprised. He enquired. Then he came to know that reading his book they had become afraid of
           him. He was so cunning that to give him a big post was dangerous. If he followed his own book, he
           would destroy, he would throw the king away. Sooner or later he would become the king. He lived a
           poor man's life, he could never get into any powerful post.
               Education makes you more cunning. Of course, education makes you more miserable. To be
           religious is to wipe out all this nonsense. To be religious means to learn how to unlearn, how to
           uneducate yourself again. Whatsoever the world has conditioned you for, you have to uncondition it.
           Otherwise you are in clutches. Man is miserable because man is caught in his own net. He has to
           come out of it -- and only a distant star will be helpful.
               Maybe there is no god. I'm not worried about it. But you need a god, a distant star to move
           towards. Maybe by the time you reach there you will not find god, but you will have become a god
           by that time. Reaching to that star, you will have grown.
               Man is miserable because man has learned the tricks to be miserable. Ego is the base of it. Man is
           miserable because bliss, happiness, is so obviously available -- that creates the trouble.

               The first time I met Mulla Nasrudin happened this way: I saw him fishing in a lake. I had not
           heard about him. I watched him. Hours passed, not a single fish. I asked him, 'What are you doing
           here? Just close by there is another lake, and don't you know? -- there are lots of fish there.'
               He said, 'I know. There are so much fish in that lake that it is even difficult for them to swim.
           The lake is full of fish.'
               'But then why are you sitting here? I don't see any fish at all.'
               He said,'That's why I am sitting here. What is the point of fishing in the other lake? Any fool can
           do that. To fish here is something!'

               The ego goes on fishing in lakes where fishes are not. That which is obvious, that which is
           available, is not attractive. That's why we miss god. God is available, god is your very surround. He
           is the very atmosphere we breathe in and out. He is our very life. He is the ocean in which we live,
           are born, and will dissolve. But he is so close, no distance. How to feel him?
               Watch it in your own life. Whatsoever you have loses interest for you. You have a beautiful
           house. It is beautiful only for your neighbours, not for you. You have a beautiful car. It is beautiful
           only for others who don't have cars, it is not beautiful for you. You have a beautiful woman or a
           beautiful man -- it does not make any appeal. You have it, that's enough. People are attracted only to
           that which they don't have. The non-existential attracts.
           I have heard:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               'Say, Ramon,' said Mulla Nasrudin, as they met in the street one day, 'I have been meaning to ask
           you something.'
           'Go ahead, Mulla,' said his friend.
               'My wife is kind of fat. In fact when she takes off her girdle at night she is one great big blob. Is
           your wife like that?' questioned Nasrudin.
               'Ah, no. My wife has a gorgeous figure. In fact she is so trim she does not wear anything
           underneath, and she is a real knock-out,' replied Ramon.
               'Well,' continued Nasrudin, 'my wife is so ugly, she covers her face up at bedtime with creams
           and curlers. Does not your wife do that?'
               'Ah, no. My wife does not need any creams or makeup, and her hair is magnificent,' replied the
           friend.
               'Well, Ramon, I have only one more question. How come you are chasing my wife?' demanded
           Nasrudin.

               That's the way of the ego -- always chasing somebody else's wife, always chasing something that
           you don't have. Once you have, all interest is lost.
               So an egoist remains miserable, because to be happy one has to be happy with that which one
           has. You cannot be happy with that which you don't have; you can only be unhappy with that. You
           can be happy only with that which you have. How can you be happy with that which you don't have?
           And ego is always interested only in that which you don't have.
               You have ten thousand rupees -- ego is no more interested in it. It is interested in twenty
           thousand. By the time you have twenty thousand, it is no more interested in it. It is interested only in
           thirty thousand. And so on, so forth... it goes on.
               The ego only gives you goals, but whenever those goals arrive, it does not allow you to celebrate.
           One becomes more and more miserable! As life passes, we go on gathering misery, we go on piling
           up misery. And it is very difficult to realize this -- that you are causing your own misery; that is
           against the ego. So you throw the responsibility on others.
               If you are miserable you think the society is such, your parents were wrong. If you listen to
           Freudians, they will say it is because of your parents, your parental conditionings. If you listen to
           Marxians, they will say it is because of the social structure, the society. If you listen to the
           politicians, they say because it is the wrong type of government. If you listen to the educationist,
           they say because some other type of education is needed.
               Nobody says that you are responsible -- the responsibility is thrown on others. Then it is
           impossible to be happy, because if others are making you miserable, then it is beyond you to be
           happy -- unless the whole world is changed according to you.
               Now it is difficult to choose your parents. It has already happened. What to do?

              Somebody asked Mark Twain, 'What does one person need to be really happy?'
              He said, 'The first thing is that one should choose his parents rightly.'

               Now that is impossible, it has already happened. You cannot choose your parents now. One
           should choose a right society. But you are always in a society. You don't choose it. You are always
           in the middle of it. And if you want to create it to your heart's desire, your whole life will be wasted.
           And it will never be changed because it is such a big phenomenon, and you are so tiny.
               The only hope of any transformation is that you can change yourself. That is the only hope, there
           is no other hope.
               But the ego does not want to take the responsibility. It goes on throwing the responsibility on
           others. In throwing responsibility on others, you are throwing your freedom also, remember. To be
           responsible is to be free. To give the responsibility to somebody else is to be a prisoner.
               That is the religious standpoint. The religion says you are responsible. That's why Marx was so
           much against religion. His reasoning is clearcut. He knew it perfectly well -- that either religion can
           exist in the world or communism. Both cannot exist together. And he is right: both cannot exist
           together. I also agree with him.
               Our choices are different. I would like religion to exist, he would like communism to exist, but
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           we agree that both cannot exist together. Because the whole standpoint of communism is that others
           are responsible for your misery. And the religious standpoint is that except you, nobody else is
           responsible. The communist says a social revolution is needed for a happy world. The religious
           person says a personal revolution is needed to be a happy person.
               The world is never going to be happy, it has never been so, and it is never going to be so. The
           world is bound to remain unhappy, only individuals can be happy. It is something personal.
               It needs consciousness to be happy. It needs intensity to be happy. It needs awareness to be
           happy. The world can never be happy because it has no awareness. Society has no soul, only man
           has it. But it is very difficult for the ego to accept this.
           It happened:

               Mulla Nasrudin made life very difficult for his associates because he believed he was infallible.
           Finally one of his workers spoke up. 'Nasrudin,' he said, 'you surely have not been right all the time?'
               'There was one time I was wrong,' admitted the Mulla.
               'When was that?' asked the surprised worker. He could not believe that Nasrudin would ever
           admit that he was ever wrong, even one time. He could not believe his own ears. He said, 'When was
           that?'
               'The one time,' recalled Mulla Nasrudin, 'when I thought I was wrong, but I was really not.'

                Ego is tremendously defensive. Ego is never wrong, hence you are in misery. Ego is always
           infallible, hence you are in misery.
                Start looking in the loopholes. Make your ego fallible -- and it will fall and disappear. Don't go
           on supporting it, otherwise you are supporting your own misery. But we go on supporting it. In good
           ways, in bad ways, we go on supporting it.
                You call somebody a good man, a moral man, a very respectable man. He has his own supports
           and props for his ego. He goes to the temple every day, to the church, reads the Bible or the Gita,
           follows the rules of the society. But he is just trying to find props for his ego -- he is a religious man,
           a respectable man, a moral man.
                Then there is somebody else who never follows the rules of society -- never goes to the church.
           Whenever he finds any opportunity to break any rule, he enjoys it. He is enjoying another sort of ego
           -- the ego of the criminal, the ego of the immoral person. He says, 'I don't care.' But both are finding
           supports for the same miserable thing. Both will be in misery.

               As Muldoon walked down the street, he pinched a strange woman on the behind, threw a brick
           through the jewelry store window, and cursed a poor old lady. 'That should do it!' he said to himself.
           'When I make my confession I will have enough to talk about.'

                Even when people go to confess, they don't want to confess small sins -- they are not worth
           confessing. This is the experience of many priests of many religions -- that people exaggerate their
           sins. When they come to confess, they exaggerate. They may have killed an ant and they think they
           have killed an elephant. They exaggerate, because it is not ego-fulfilling to do such a small thing.
                The ways of the ego are very subtle. If you go to the jail and you listen to the talk of the people
           confined there, you will be surprised. They all go bragging that they have done so many robberies,
           and they have killed so many people. They may not have done at all, but there -- that is the way of
           the ego. Then you are miserable, and then you become worried. Why? You create a barrier between
           you and life. Ego is nothing but barrier.
                When I say drop the ego I mean drop all demarcation lines. You are not separate from the life,
           you are part of it... Like a wave, you are part of the ocean. You are not separate at all. Neither as a
           saint are you separate, nor as a sinner are you separate. You are not separate at all. You are one with
           life. You are neither dependent on life, nor are you independent of life -- you are interdependent.
                When you understand that we are all interdependent, linked with each other... Life is one; we are
           just manifestations of it... then you start becoming blissful. Then there is nobody who can prevent
           you from bliss.
                Bliss is very obvious. Bliss is very close. Bliss is so natural and so close that mind tends to forget
           it. Every child is born in a blissful state, and every person -- almost every person -- dies in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendous misery. Only rarely someone -- a Buddha, a Jesus -- dies in a blissful state. What
           happens? What goes wrong?
                When a child is born he is not separate. When the child is in the mother's womb he is part of the
           mother, he does not exist separately. Then he is born -- then too he remains part of the mother. He
           goes on being fed by the mother. Then he goes on hanging around the mother. Then, by and by, he
           grows.
                This growth can be of two types. If he grows as ordinarily people grow, then he grows into an
           ego, he becomes hard, he gathers a hard crust around himself, and that will make him miserable.
           That is not the right way to grow. Something has gone sour, something has gone wrong.
                To me, if the mother is religious, if the father is religious, if the family is religious... and when I
           say religious, I don't mean that they are Christians or Hindus or Mohammedans or Jains or Buddhists
           -- that has nothing to do with religion. In fact, all these things never allow religion, to evolve. If the
           child is forced into a dogma, into a dogmatic ideology, then the ego will gather, then the ego will
           become Christian, and the ego will be against the Hindu and against the Mohammedan. Then the ego
           will become Hindu, and will be against the Christian and against the Mohammedan.
                But if the house is really religious -- by religion I mean meditative, loving -- they help the child
           to be, but yet without the ego. They help the child to feel more and more the affinity, the unity, that
           exists. The child has to be helped; he is helpless, he does not know where he is, he does not know
           where he is going. If he is loved and there is a meditative rhythm in the family and the family
           vibrates with silence, understanding, the child will start growing into a more organic way. He will
           not feel himself separate, he will start learning how to become part.
                That has not happened. I am not telling you to have any grudge about it -- but you can do it right
           now. You can stop helping your ego and you can start dropping the burden. Make it a point not to
           miss any opportunity where you can feel one with anything. If it is a full-moon night, feel one with
           the moonlit night. Allow to flow... stream with it, dance, sing... and drop your ego.
                There is nothing better than dance for dropping the ego; hence I insist that all meditators should
           dance. Because if you go really in a whirlwind, if you are really a whirling pool of energy, if you
           really are in the dance, the dancer is lost. In the dance the dancer is always lost. If it is not lost then
           you are not dancing. Then you may be performing, then you may be manipulating, then you may be
           doing some bodily exercises, but you are not dancing.
                Dancing means so lost, so drunk -- and enjoying the energy that is created by dance. By and by
           you will see your body is no more so solid as it was before. By and by you will see that you are
           melting; the boundary is losing its sharpness, it is becoming a little vague. You cannot exactly feel
           where you end and where the world starts. A dancer is in such a whirlpool, he becomes such a
           vibration, that the whole life is felt as in one rhythm.
                So whenever you can find a time, a place, a situation... you are in love with somebody; don't miss
           this opportunity. Don't talk nonsense, don't bring your ego and bragging. Drop that! Love is
           tremendously divine, god has knocked at your door. Be lost. Hold hands with your woman, or with
           your man, or with your friend. Get lost! Sing together, or dance together -- but get lost. Or sit
           together -- but get lost! And feel that you are no more an individual. Sitting by the side of a tree, get
           lost.
                That's how it happened to Buddha. In that moment the bodhi tree and Buddha became one. For
           five hundred years after Buddha, Buddha's statues were not built. Instead, only the bodhi tree's
           picture was worshipped. It was tremendously beautiful. Those people must have understood. Just the
           bodhi tree was worshipped. In buddhist temples there was just a symbol of the bodhi tree. Because in
           that moment Buddha completely disappeared. He was not there, only the bodhi tree was. He was
           completely lost.
                Disappearing, you appear. Non-being is your way of real being.
                And this can happen in ordinary life. You need not go to the Himalayas or to a monastery. There
           are millions of chances in ordinary life, millions of momentous situations where this can happen.
           You just have to be a little watchful and a little courageous to use them. Once you start using them,
           more and more situations will be coming. They have always been coming, but you were not aware so
           you missed them.
                Sitting on the beach taking a sunbath, melt with the sun. It is an energy experience. Suddenly you
           see you are nothing but sun energy. Melting and meeting with the sun, hindus came to worship the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sun. They said, 'The sun is god.' They said, 'The moon is god.' They worshipped trees as divine. They
           worshipped rivers, mountains.
                It is very significant. Wherever it happened that they met god... sitting by the side of a river,
           listening to the beautiful music of the river, seeing the beautiful patterns of ripples, if they got
           melted, dissolved, the river became the god. It happened there. Sitting on a lonely mountain, they
           dissolved and disappeared -- that mountain became their god.
                God comes in millions of ways to you, but your ego never allows you to see him. And he comes
           in such ordinary ways that you miss. He never comes like a monarch with a great procession, with a
           great band and noise and fuss. He never comes like that. Only foolish people do that. God comes
           very silently -- he never comes shouting, he comes whispering. You will have to be very quiet to
           understand his message. It is a love whisper. And man tends to forget the natural.
           I have heard a very beautiful joke:

              A very naive american went to Paris and got into an argument with a french jew about the
           number of ways to make love.
              'There are sixty-nine ways to make love, monsieur,' said the french jew.
              'I thought there was only one -- a man on top of a woman,' said the american.
              The jew apologized, 'Monsieur,' he said, ' I am very sorry. I miscalculated. There are seventy
           ways to make love.'

               Now the most simple, the most natural, the mind tends to forget. The mind is always interested in
           something exceptional -- because that is the interest of the ego. The ego is not interested in the
           common -- and god is very common. The ego is not interested in the simple -- and god is very
           simple. The ego is not interested in the near -- and god is very near. That's how you go on missing
           bliss and you become miserable.
               It is up to you to change it. It is your choice. Each moment of life brings you two alternatives: to
           be miserable or to be happy. It depends on your choice. Whatsoever you choose you become.

               It is said about a sufi mystic, Bayazid, that he was a tremendously happy man, almost ecstatic.
           Nobody had ever seen him unhappy, nobody had ever seen him sad, nobody had ever seen him doing
           anything like grumbling, like complaining. Whatsoever was -- and he was happy. It was not always
           good, it was not always right for others. Sometimes there was no food, but he was happy. Sometimes
           for days he would live without food, but he was happy. Sometimes there were no clothes, but he was
           happy. Sometimes he had to sleep under the sky, but he was happy. His happiness remained
           undisturbed. It was unconditional.
               He was asked again and again, but he would laugh and never say. When he was dying somebody
           asked, 'Bayazid, now give us your key, your secret. You will be leaving soon. What was your
           secret?'
               He said, 'There is nothing like a secret. It was a simple thing. Every morning when I open my
           eyes, God gives me two alternatives. He says, "Bayazid, do you want to be happy or unhappy?" I
           say, "But God, I want to be happy." And I choose to be happy and I remain happy. It is a simple
           choice, there is no secret.'

              You try it. Every morning when you get up, the first thing, decide. If you decide to be unhappy,
           nothing is wrong in it. It is your decision. But then stick to it: remain unhappy whatsoever happens.
           Even if you win a lottery, don't be worried -- remain unhappy. Even if you are chosen as the prime
           minister or the president, remain unhappy, stick to your choice. And then you will see -- you can
           remain unhappy if you choose. The same is true about happiness also. If you choose, you can remain
           happy.
              The day you decide that it is your decision to be happy or unhappy, you have taken your life into
           your hands -- you have become a master. Now you will never say that somebody else is making you
           unhappy. That is a declaration of slavery.

              Buddha was passing. A few people gathered and they insulted him very much. He listened to
           them very attentively, very lovingly. When they were finished, he said, 'If you have said all that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wanted to say, can I go now? -- because I have to reach the other village by the time the sun sets. If
           you have still something more to say I will be coming back again after a few days; you can tell me
           that time.' But he was absolutely undisturbed, his silence remained the same, his happiness the same,
           his vibration the same.
               Those people were puzzled. They said, 'Are you not angry with us? We have been insulting you,
           we have been calling you names.'
               Buddha said, 'You will have to remain puzzled. You came a little late. You should have come ten
           years before -- then you would have succeeded in disturbing me. Then I was not my own master.
           Now, it is your freedom to insult me, it is my freedom whether to take it or not. I don't take it. You
           insult me, true. That's your decision. I am free to take it or not to take it, and I say I don't take it.
           What will you do with it? I am also puzzled -- because in the last village people had come with
           sweets, and I said that I don't need them, so they had to take them away. I ask you, what must they
           have done with the sweets?'
               Those people said, 'They must have distributed them in the village or they must have eaten them
           themselves.'
               Buddha said, 'Now think about you. You come with these insults and I say, "Enough. I am
           finished with this. Nothing doing." What will you do? You will have to take them. I am so much
           sorry for you.'

               It is your decision. Life is your decision, your freedom. That's why I call my sannyasins 'swamis'.
           'Swami' means a master. It is just an indicator that from this moment you will try more to be a master
           than to be a slave.


               YOU SAY BY JUST BEING HERE RIGHT NOW IS ALL WE NEED TO KNOW TRUTH. WHY DO I
               FIND IT THE HARDEST THING TO DO? AND IF I DO IT, WHO IS HERE?


                Truth is -- you have nothing to do for it; you have just to be. Truth is already there. You are not
           to invent it, you have only to discover it. Even that word is not right, because truth is not covered --
           your being is covered.
                It is as if the sun has risen but you are sitting with closed eyes. The sun is not covered, only your
           eyes are covered. Open your eyes and the light is there. If you are in darkness it is because you are
           keeping your eyes shut.
                When I say just be, I mean be open. I mean don't try to be something else. Because in the very
           effort of being somebody else you will be strained, you will be tense, you will be under a stress, and
           you will remain closed. You can open only when you accept whatsoever you are.
                If a rose is trying to be a lotus, it will not be possible for it to be a rose. The whole effort will
           make it so tense. A rose is a rose; that's why it opens and becomes a rose. There is no problem about
           it. Don't try to be something else other than you are. Don't try to become some ideal. That's what I
           mean when I say just be.
                Being is a state of tremendous opening, of immense silence, no desire, no effort. You are just
           here, present. You are just a presence. In that presence all happens -- because in that presence you
           are so alert that nothing by-passes you. In that silence you start hearing god, you start seeing god. In
           that silence visions open, doors of the unknown open. The mystery is clear. But you have to be in
           that state. That's what meditation is all about just to be.
           You ask:

           YOU SAY BY JUST BEING HERE RIGHT NOW IS ALL WE NEED TO KNOW TRUTH....

           Yes, I repeat it again.

           WHY DO I FIND IT THE HARDEST THING TO DO?

              Because your whole life you have been training yourself to be somebody else. Your whole life
           you have been carrying some ideology in the head. That has become a mechanical pattern. You want
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be more beautiful, you want to be more intelligent, you want to be this, you want to be that. You
           are carrying great politics in you, you are ambitious -- that ambition makes you tense.
               Remember, these are the two dimensions of life: to be political or to be religious. To be political
           means compete, struggle, fight; you have to prove that you are somebody. That's why all politicians
           are, in a subtle way, stupid. They have to be.
           I have heard:

               Fondly Mulla Nasrudin and his wife looked into the cradle of their child. 'I think he is going to
           be a politician,' said the Mulla.
           'Ah, how can you say that?' asked the wife.
               'Well, he says more things that sound good and mean absolutely nothing than any other human
           being I ever saw. He is going to be a politician.'

                A politician is a mess. He is always striving to prove that he is somebody. That means that he
           must be suffering from inferiority complex. Every politician suffers from inferiority complex. In a
           better world they will not be in the capitals, they will be on the psychological couches. They should
           be put in madhouses. Mad people are not so dangerous; they have never done anything wrong.
                Have you ever heard of any mad people doing anything wrong like Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin or
           Tamurlane or Genghis Khan, or Mao tse Tung? Mad people have never done anything wrong. But
           politicians.... Their very effort to prove that 'I am somebody' shows that deep down they suffer from
           inferiority -- they feel they are nobody. They have to prove and perform. They feel they are nobody
           if they are not on a big power-post. They think they are nobody if they don't have power to crush,
           destroy people. This is a deep inferiority complex that is seeking to be superior.
                A religious person is one who is immensely satisfied; who says, 'I am -- there is no need to
           perform, there is no need to prove.' A religious person is one who says, 'Life is and I am. Why not
           enjoy? why not delight in it? why not celebrate?' A religious person is one who says, 'God is and I
           am. Now why not hold his hands and have a dance? have a little party? Let there be a deep orgasm
           between you and existence.'
                That's what I mean when I say: just be herenow. This is the only time to be -- there is no other
           time. And this is the only place to be -- there is no other place. All that ever has happened has
           happened only in the now and here. Now is the only time and here the only space. Don't think of
           then and there.
                A politician thinks of then and there. He says, 'Yes, one day I will enjoy. But wait, let me first
           arrange.' He prepares. He is a maniac in preparation. He goes on preparing, he goes on preparing.
                I have heard about a man who collected millions of books. He had no time to read because it took
           so much time to collect. He collected and collected -- his library became the best in the world -- but
           he had not read anything. Then came his death, and doctors said, 'You will not be surviving more
           than one week.'
                He said, 'But this is unjust! For my whole life I have been collecting and waiting that one day I
           will retire and read, but now there is no time. What to do?'
                Somebody suggested, 'You can hire scholars. They can read all the books and in a summary
           form, before you die, they can give you the gist.' So scholars gathered, they read all the books, and
           they prepared short notes, but still it was too big a thing. Again it was like a Bible; and the man was
           dying.
                On the seventh day they brought the book. He said, 'Are you mad? There is no time! Make it
           more short!'
                By the evening they came. They had shortened it to only one paragraph, but the man was getting
           unconscious. So they said, 'Wait! We have shortened it!' But he was not there, he was relapsing into
           unconsciousness. He died without ever enjoying a single book.

                Don't think that this is just a parable. This is the story of millions of people. You go on
           collecting. I have seen rich people collecting money, never enjoying it. Even poor people are not so
           poor sometimes. Rich people are very poor, they never enjoy. They say, 'A little more. Let us first
           collect enough.' But it is never enough, it can never be enough. Mind never says 'enough'. It says 'a
           little more, a little more, a little more'. It goes on demanding more and more. It is a mad demand.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You can collect money; that will not make you rich -- unless you enjoy it. You can have millions
           of books; that will not make you learned -- unless you enjoy them. You can have many flowers; that
           will not give you the sense of beauty -- unless you dance with them in the air, in the wind, in the
           rain... unless you have a little dance with them.
                Life is, god is, bliss is. God is never in the past tense: you cannot say 'god was'. God is never in
           the future tense: you cannot say 'god will be'. God is only in the present tense -- god is, life is, bliss
           is, truth is. Now you also be. Immediately there will be a meeting. Immediately you will be facing
           him, you will be encountering him. Not even a split second is needed to be wasted.
                But I know your difficulty. All your life you have been trained and you have trained yourself for
           something which never happens. You are not ready for that which is; you are always getting ready
           for that which should be. You are suffering from the disease called 'should'.
                From the very childhood the mother, the father, the society, the education, the priest, the
           politician -- they are always saying, 'You should be like this'. Nobody says, 'You are already --
           rejoice!' Except sometimes a Jesus comes to people and says, 'Rejoice! God is!'
                You have been always told to become something, to prove something -- that you are worthy; to
           struggle, be ambitious. And of course your resent it deep down, but still you have to follow it
           because you don't know what else can be done. You never come across a man who says simply,
           'Rejoice!' That voice has become almost absent from the world -- from the world of humanity, from
           the world of human beings. You resent, but still you go on doing.
                People come to me and they say, 'We resent discipline, we resent somebody saying to us "do
           this!"' And in the next breath they ask me, 'Osho, tell us, what should we do?' Now what to do with
           these people. They resent, they say, somebody telling them, and still they have come to me to ask,
           'Osho, what to do?'
                You have been trained, so even you go on resenting. You don't want to follow, still you go on
           asking 'what to do? what to follow? whom to follow? where to go? what is the ideal?' You have
           never been taught that you are original, you need not be a carbon copy. The habit can become so
           ingrained that even when you want to rebel, you want somebody to teach you how to rebel.
           It happened:

               Mulla Nasrudin lost his faith once, and became a hard-bitten aetheist. Now it is very difficult for
           a mohammedan, very difficult, but he became an aetheist. His new credo was -- he came to me and
           he said, 'This is my new credo: There is no god -- and Mohammed is his prophet.'

               The old habit -- Mohammed has to be the prophet whether there is god or not.
               You come to me and say, 'We resent discipline... and Osho, tell us what to do.' Mohammed is
           your prophet and there is no god. Now if you are always in a conflict, it is simple to understand.
           It happened:

              The two seven-year-olds were watching a movie. One of them kept sniffing loudly. A woman
           nearby finally advised him, with irritation in her voice, to blow his nose. The kid sniffed again.
              'You better do what she says,' his pal advised. 'After all, she ain't your mother.'

                Listen to what he says: 'After all, she ain't your mother. You better do what she says!' Who
           bothers to listen to a mother? Who bothers to listen to a father? One simply pretends to listen. But
           still, even in that pretension, the poison is entering in you.
                You have been always taught not to be yourself -- be somebody else. Be a Buddha, be a Krishna,
           be a Jesus -- never be yourself. But have you watched? Jesus is never repeated, never again. Buddha
           is never repeated, neither is Krishna repeated. God is such an original creator, he never repeats, he
           always creates new people. He peoples the earth with new beings. He is not looking towards you to
           become somebody else, he is looking at you to become you.

              A hassid fakir, Joshua, was dying. Somebody said, 'Joshua, are you reconciled with Moses?' He
           was a jew, a hassid. Joshua opened his eyes and he said, 'Stop nonsense. Enough is enough! Why
           should I get reconciled with Moses? In fact, I was deep down worried that when I go before god --
           and soon I will be present before him -- he is not going to ask me, "Joshua, why were you not like
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Moses?" He will ask me, "Joshua, why were you not Joshua?" That is my trouble. I have missed my
           being. Trying to be somebody else, I have missed my goal.'

               You can be only yourself, you can never be anybody else. You are an original person, you are
           not a carbon copy. When I say BE, I mean just be yourself, love yourself, accept yourself. Don't go
           on denying, don't go on hating yourself. If you hate yourself, you will never be able to love anybody.
           Love yourself, I say to you. I say respect yourself. Be happy that you are the way you are. Thank god
           for your being the way he has made you. Don't complain.
               That's what I mean by the religious dimension. Don't be political, don't be ambitious, don't be
           competitive. You are alone like you. Like you, you are the only one. You are incomparable. Don't be
           stupid, don't be competitive.

              A politician at a cocktail party said to Mulla Nasrudin, 'I keep hearing you use the word "idiot". I
           hope you are not referring to me?'
              'Don't be so conceited,' said the Mulla, 'as if there were no other idiots in the world.'

               I am reminded of another joke. There was a case, a politician sued a man in the court. He said, 'In
           a hotel, this man called me an idiot.' Mulla Nasrudin was there to support the politician. 'Yes, he is
           right, this man called him an idiot.'
               In India the leaders, the political leaders, are called NETARJI. Once it was a respectable term. In
           the days of the fight for freedom, before 1947, netarji, the leader, was a very respectable word. Then
           it deteriorated. Now it has just gone down the drain. Now to call somebody 'netarji' is to insult him.
           Now netarji means some crook, a fraud, a cunning fellow.
               Somebody had called netarji, the leader, an idiot. The magistrate asked Mulla Nasrudin, 'in the
           hotel there were so many people -- how can you say that this man called netarji an idiot? There were
           so many people -- he may have been calling somebody else an idiot. How can you prove it?'
               Nasrudin said, 'Absolutely it can be proved. There were almost two hundred people in the hotel, I
           know that, but this man called netarji an idiot.'
               The magistrate said, 'You tell us -- what is your proof?'
               Mulla Nasrudin said, 'Because there was no other idiot present at that time.'

               Don't be stupid. Just be yourself and you will be intelligent. That's what I mean. If you are just
           yourself, you will be an intelligent being. If you are yourself, totally accepting of yourself -- not only
           accepting but welcoming, happy, grateful just being the way you are -- your intelligence will start
           blooming. If you are competing, you will become stupid, you will become mediocre -- because you
           will be going against nature. If you compete and you try to become somebody else, you will destroy
           your inner spontaneity. That's what stupidity is. You will be retarded.
               Be religious, never be political. And when I say never be political, I don't only mean don't be a
           member of a political party; by political I mean don't be ambitious. All ambition is politics, all
           struggle to be the first is politics. A non-struggling, non-conflicting mind is religious. Just be.
               You have not been taught, I know. It is hard now to unlearn old habits -- but they can be
           unlearned. Whatsoever is learned can be unlearned. It is difficult, but not impossible.

           YOU SAY BY JUST BEING HERE RIGHT NOW IS ALL WE NEED TO KNOW TRUTH. WHY
           DO I FIND IT THE HARDEST THING TO DO?

                Everybody finds it, because your whole conditioning goes against it, all your habits go against it.
           It is hard, difficult, but not impossible. And once you understand the point, it will become easy. And
           once you allow your nature to flow, to be, it will become the easiest thing in the world.
                In fact, to be somebody else is the hardest thing. It needs tremendous effort to be somebody else.
           Then too, failure is certain. One never succeeds in being somebody else. That is the misery. That's
           why there are so many failures all around. You don't see so many failures in the trees, in the birds, in
           the animals, because they are not political.
                Or sometimes in a Buddha, Mahavira, Moses, Mohammed, you see the flowering of a natural
           being... spontaneous, animal-like, innocent. Just be -- god is already there waiting for you. Calm
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down a little; don't be in such a hurry to go somewhere else. Don't miss this moment, this
           tremendous blissful moment -- delight in it. Rejoice! And let your joy be your prayer. And let just
           being still, silent, just being, be your meditation... and god will come rushing towards you.
               Nobody need seek god, god is seeking you. Just you be silent, quiet, so he can find you. You are
           rushing, running, and god goes on trying to find you. But you are never found, because you are never
           in the present. The ambitious mind lives in the future, the religious mind lives in the present. The
           religious mind knows no other time. His only time is now, his only space is here. Now-here! -- let
           that be your mantra.
               If you miss now, you will miss always. If you miss here, you will miss there. Let now-here be
           your whole mantra. If this is not your mantra then god is nowhere.

                 Swami Ram used to tell a simple story about an aetheist. He was a professor, a very logical,
           learned man, and he was very against god. He had written on his wall a small sentence to deny god:
           god is no-where. Then a child was born to him, a small child, and the child was learning to read.
           'Nowhere' was too big a word for him, so he split the word in two. He was reading 'God
           is'...'nowhere' he could not read; it was too big a word, so he read, 'God is now-here.'

              Be that child. God is now-here. If you are not that child, then god is nowhere. Yes, Jesus is right
           when he says 'Only those who are like small children, only they will be able to enter into my
           kingdom of god.'




                              The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                  Chapter #9
                                Chapter title: The discipline beyond discipline
           8 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609080
              ShortTitle: TRANS209
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              MY DOCTRINE IS TO THINK THE THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE; TO PRACTISE THE DEED
              THAT IS NOT DOING; TO SPEAK THE SPEECH THAT IS INEXPRESSIBLE; AND TO BE TRAINED
              IN THE DISCIPLINE WHICH IS BEYOND DISCIPLINE. THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THIS ARE
              NEAR; THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED ARE FAR. THE WAY IS BEYOND WORDS AND
              EXPRESSIONS, IS BOUND BY NOTHING EARTHLY. LOSE SIGHT OF IT TO AN INCH OR MISS IT
              FOR A MOMENT, AND WE ARE AWAY FROM IT FOREVER MORE.


              THIS SUTRA IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT, one of the very central to Buddha's
           message. The very essence of his message is there like a seed. Go patiently with me into it, try to
           understand it. Because if you understand this sutra, you would have understood all that Buddha
           wants you to understand. If you miss this sutra, you miss all.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              MY DOCTRINE IS TO THINK THE THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE; TO PRACTISE THE DEED
              THAT IS NOT DOING; TO SPEAK THE SPEECH THAT IS INEXPRESSIBLE; AND TO BE TRAINED
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IN THE DISCIPLINE THAT IS BEYOND DISCIPLINE.


               The choice of the word 'doctrine' is unfortunate, but there are difficulties in translating. Buddha
           must have used the word SIDDHANTA. It has a totally different meaning. Ordinarily it is translated
           as doctrine; it should not be translated so. But the problem is that in the English language there is no
           equivalent to siddhanta. So I will have to explain it to you.
               A doctrine is a consistent logical theory. A siddhanta has nothing to do with logic, theory,
           consistency. A siddhanta is a realization, a siddhanta is an experience. A doctrine is intellectual,
           siddhanta is existential. You can make a doctrine without being transformed by it. You can make a
           great doctrine without even being touched by it. But if you want to achieve a siddhanta you will have
           to be totally transformed, because it will be a vision of a totally different person.
               The word siddhanta means the assertion of one who has become a siddha, one who has achieved,
           one who has arrived -- his statement. You can be a great philosopher, you can figure out
           intellectually many things, you can systematize your inferences, and you can make a very consistent,
           logical syllogism which almost appears like truth, but is not truth. It has been manufactured by your
           mind. A doctrine is man-made; a siddhanta has nothing to do with man and his effort. A siddhanta is
           a vision -- you come upon it.
               For example, a blind man can think about light and can try to figure out what it is all about. He
           can even listen to great treatises on light and he can make a certain idea about it -- what it is. But he
           will be as far away from light as he was before. He can even expound the doctrine about light, he can
           explain its physics, he can explain its structure. He can go deep into the constituents of light, he can
           talk about, he can write a Ph.D on it, a thesis. He can be declared a doctor by a university, because
           he has propounded a doctrine -- but still he does not know what light is. He has no eyes to see.
               A siddhanta is one which you have seen, which has been revealed to you, which has become
           your own experience, which you have encountered. A doctrine is almost imaginary, it is not real. A
           doctrine is almost always borrowed. You can hide your borrowing in many ways -- subtle, cunning
           ways. You can reformulate, you can take from many sources and you can rearrange everything, but a
           doctrine is a borrowed thing -- nothing original in it.
               A siddhanta is absolutely original, new. It is your authentic experience. You have come to see
           what reality is. It is an immediate perception, it is a benediction, it is a blessing, it is a grace, a gift.
           You have arrived and you have seen what truth is. The statement of a realization is siddhanta.
           Propounding a doctrine is one thing; giving expression to a siddhanta is totally different.
           I have heard:

              Once Mulla Nasrudin was talking to a few of his friends. He was telling his pals about the
           wonderful vacation he and his family had just had in the United States.
              'It is a wonderful country,' he exclaimed. 'Nowhere in the world is a stranger treated so well. You
           walk along the street and you meet a well-dressed fellow with lots of dollars. He tips his hat and
           smiles at you, and you talk together. He invites you into his big car, and shows you the town. He
           buys you a fine dinner, then takes you to the theatre. You have more fine food and plenty of drinks,
           and he invites you to his house and you sleep nice all night. Next morning...
              'What, Nasrudin,' a listener said, 'did all this really happen to you ? '
              'No, not exactly, but it all happened to my wife,' said Nasrudin.

               A doctrine is that which has happened to somebody else. You have heard about it. It has not
           happened to you -- it is borrowed, dirty, ugly. A siddhanta is virgin.
               A doctrine is a prostitute. It has been moving through many minds, through many hands. It is like
           dirty currency; it goes on changing its owner. A siddhanta is something absolutely fresh. It has never
           happened before, it will never happen again. It has happened to you. A siddhanta is deeply
           individual, it is a personal vision of reality.
               What happened to Buddha is a siddhanta -- what Buddhists propound is a doctrine. What
           happened to Christ is a siddhanta -- what Christians talk about is a doctrine. What happened to
           Krishna is a siddhanta -- what Hindus go on bragging about is a doctrine. What I am saying to you is
           a siddhanta -- if you go and repeat it, it will be a doctrine. That's why I say it is a very unfortunate
           choice of words to put into Buddha's mouth.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                MY DOCTRINE IS TO THINK.... No, let it be: My siddhanta is to think, my realization is to
           think, my own understanding is to think.... He is not proposing a theory, he is simply expressing an
           experience.
           A few more things before we enter into the sutra.
                A siddhanta is by its very nature paradoxical -- it has to be so, because life is paradoxical. If you
           really have experienced it, then whatsoever you see and say is going to be paradoxical. Life consists
           of contradictions. We call them contradictions; life does not call them contradictions. They are
           complementaries. Day and night dance together, life and death dance together, love and hate move
           hand in hand. We call them contradictions -- in life they are not so. Life is big and vast, immense. It
           comprehends all the contradictions into it; they are complementaries.
                When a person has realized, whatsoever he says is going to have the taste of paradox. That's why
           all great religious assertions are paradoxical. They may be in the Vedas, in the Upanishads, in the
           Koran, in the Bible, in the Tao te Ching. Wherever, whenever you will find truth, you will find it
           paradoxical -- because the truth has to be total; totality is paradoxical.
                A doctrine is never paradoxical, a doctrine is tremendously consistent -- because a doctrine is not
           worried about reality. A doctrine is worried about being consistent. It knows no reality. It is a mind
           game, and the mind is very very logical. And the mind says don't allow any contradiction in it. The
           mind says if you talk about light then don't talk about darkness because that will be inconsistent.
           Forget about darkness. The mind tries to prove that life is non-contradictory, because that is the
           mind's choice.
                Mind is very afraid of contradictions, becomes very shaky when it comes across a contradiction.
           It insists on its own pattern. Mind is logical, life is not. So if you find something very logical, beware
           -- something must be wrong in it. It must not be part of life, it must be man-made.
                Everything god-made is contradictory. That's why people go on arguing about god. Why, if he
           loves man so much, then why did he create death? The mind finds it very difficult to accept the idea
           that God created life and also death. If it was up to you, if you were the maker of the world, if mind
           was the creator, then you would have never done that.
                But think of a life where no death exists. It will be sheer boredom. It will be tedium. Think -- if
           death is impossible, then you will be continuously in hell. If mind had created the world, then there
           would be only love, no hate. But think of a world where only love exists. Then it will be too sweet --
           sweet to the point of being nauseous. It will lose all taste, it will lose all colour, it will be flat. Love
           is beautiful because of the possibility of hate.
                If mind was to create the world, or Aristotle was asked to create the world, then there would have
           been only day, no night; only work, no play. Then think what would have happened. God in his
           compassion never took any advice from Aristotle. And maybe that's the reason he created man in the
           very end. First he created other things -- otherwise man would start giving advice.
                That has been a problem -- why did he create man in the end? First he created trees and the earth
           and the sky and the stars and the animals and the birds and the whole -- then he waited and waited.
           Then he created man. And first he created man, then he created woman. Because man, just out of
           politeness, may have kept quiet, but a woman cannot keep quiet. He must have been afraid. Don't
           create man otherwise he will start giving advice -- do this, don't do that. And for woman he waited
           last. And since he created woman he has disappeared -- otherwise the woman would have nagged
           him to death.

               One great industrialist was saying to me that for his new factory everything has been planned,
           agreed upon. The engineers, the architects, the planners, they have done everything and everything
           has been agreed. But then I asked, 'Why do you repeat again and again that everything has been
           agreed? Has something gone wrong?'
               He said, 'Then I came home and talked about it to my wife -- finished. Now she is suggesting
           things which will alter the whole idea. And if I don't do it now, then it will be a constant problem for
           my whole life. She will nag me to death.'

              If Aristotle was asked to create the world, or help the world to be created, then the world would
           have been absolutely consistent -- absolutely consistent. But then it would have been a world of
           misery and hell. Life is beautiful because there are contradictions. Work is beautiful because there is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           play. Work means you are doing something to get something out of it. Play means you are simply
           doing it for its own sake.
               No, Aristotle won't allow it. Plato won't allow it. In his REPUBLIC, Plato says there will be no
           possibility for any poets; we won't allow them. They are dangerous people, they bring contradiction
           in the world -- poets, they are dreamers. And they talk in such ways which are vague, ambiguous.
           You cannot make anything out of it -- what they are saying, what they mean. In Plato's world, in his
           REPUBLIC, logicians, philosophers will be the kings; they will decide.
               It has not yet happened, only a few things like that have happened. For example, Soviet Russia is
           more platonic, China is more platonic. These two countries are run by logic. You cannot find more
           miserable people anywhere else. Well-fed well-sheltered -- because logic is a great arranger of
           things; everything has been arranged -- only life is missing. Somehow man is not happy, because
           man cannot live by bread alone. You need the opposite also. The whole day you work, in the night
           you rest. You need darkness also.
               A doctrine is a logical statement of a theory, and logic is like a chameleon -- it goes on changing
           its color, it is not reliable. It is not reliable because it is not based in reality. It is not responsible
           because it is not based in reality. It is untrue because it is a partial truth. Remember, a partial truth is
           more untrue than a total untruth. Because a partial truth gives a feeling of being true. It is only
           half-true and nothing can be half-true. Either it is true or it is not true. A half-truth is absolutely
           untrue, but logic gives it a feeling that it is true; at least on the way towards truth. It is not even on
           the way towards truth.
               And logicians go on doing somersaults, they go on changing their standpoints, because in fact
           they have not come to anything that is really real, just their mind games. One day one game, another
           day another game; they go on changing. They remain consistent -- consistent with their own train of
           thought, but inconsistent with reality.
           I have heard:

               'It is difficult to explain what a course of logic will do for a person's thinking, but let me
           illustrate,' said Mulla Nasrudin to his son. 'Suppose two men came out of a chimney. One is clean,
           one dirty. Which one will take a bath?'
           'The dirty one, naturally,' answered the boy.
               'Remember,' chided Nasrudin, 'that the clean man sees the dirty one and sees how dirty he is, and
           vice versa.'
               'Now I get it, Dad,' answered the boy. 'The clean one, seeing his dirty companion, concludes he is
           dirty too. So he takes the bath. Am I right now?'
               'Wrong,' said Nasrudin nonchalantly. 'Logic teaches us this -- how could two men come out of a
           chimney, one clean and one dirty?'

               Once you start playing the game of logic there is no end to it, and you will never win. The
           logician will always win. The logician will always win because you can always find a way. And you
           have nothing to compare with, you have no reality. That's why so many philosophies exist, and all
           opposing each other, and not a single conclusion has been arrived at yet.
               Down the centuries, almost for five thousand years, man has argued; man has not been doing
           much, but just arguing. Thousands of philosophies have been created, very neat and clean logic. If
           you read one philosopher you will be convinced. If you read his opponent you will be convinced.
           Read the third one, you will be convinced -- and you will be getting into a mess. By and by you will
           be convinced by all and you will be mad, because you will not know now what is true. They are all
           wrong because the logical approach is wrong.
               There are two ways to know reality. One is: just close your eyes and think about it. I call it
           'about-ism'. It is always about and about, it never goes directly. You go on beating around the bush.
           You never beat exactly the bush -- just around. You never penetrate the center of a problem, you
           simply go round and round. It is a merry-go-round. You can enjoy it -- logicians enjoy very much. It
           is so beautiful to come with a new theory which explains everything -- but it is just in the mind. You
           close your eyes, sit on your easy chair and think about. This is not going to give you reality.
               Reality is already there, you have not to think about it. You have to allow it. You have to drop all
           thinking so that you can see what is the truth, so that you can see that which is. If you go on thinking
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you cannot see that which is. It is impossible. Your thoughts will create a smoke around you. Your
           consciousness will be covered by the smoke, your eyes will not have clarity, you will not have
           sensitivity. And continuously you will be searching and seeking your own ideas, imposing them,
           projecting them on reality. You will not give reality a chance to reveal itself.
               A doctrine is arrived at through logical thinking. A doctrine comes through the process of
           'about-ism'. A siddhanta is arrived at not by closing your eyes, not by thinking too much, but by
           dropping thinking as such, in toto; by opening your eyes with no prejudice, with no a priori
           conceptions, and looking direct into reality, facing reality direct. It is already there, it needs only you
           to be there.
               And when you are absolutely without any thought, your mind is still, your memory is still, your
           thinking has completely ceased to be, then reality erupts, explodes. Then you become a receiver.
           Then siddhanta arises.

               MY SIDDHANTA IS TO THINK THE THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE....


                The first thing, Buddha says, is to think the thought that is unthinkable. It is a contradiction, a
           paradox. Now, no logician will ever utter such nonsense. It is from the very beginning nonsensical.
           That's why logicians go on saying that Buddha, Jesus, Bodhidharma, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra -- these
           people are all nonsense. Their propositions are meaningless -- because they say one thing and in the
           next breath they contradict. Now look at this sentence: MY SIDDHANTA IS TO THINK THE
           THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE....
                Now just in a small sentence absolute contradiction -- to think the unthinkable. How can you
           think the unthinkable? If it is really unthinkable you cannot think. If you can think then how can it be
           unthinkable? Simple, illogical -- but what Buddha means has to be understood. Don't be in a hurry;
           that's why I say go patiently.
                When he means... when he wants to say something, he means it. He is saying there is a way to
           know things without thinking. There is a way to know things without mind. There is a way to see
           into reality directly, immediately, without the vehicle of thought. You can be connected with reality
           without any agent of thinking -- that is what he is saying. He is saying that the mind can completely
           cease its activity, completely can drop its activity and yet be -- still, a reservoir -- and see into reality.
           But you will have to experience it, only then you will be able to understand.
                Sometimes try just to see. Sitting by the side of a rosebush, just look at the rose flower; don't
           think, don't even give names. Don't even classify. Don't even say that this is a rose -- because a rose
           is a rose is a rose; whether you call it rose or something else makes no difference. So don't label it,
           don't give it a name, don't bring language in. Don't bring any symbol in, because symbol is the
           method of falsifying reality.
                If you say this is a rose, you have already missed. Then you have brought in some past
           experience of other roses, which are not. Now your eyes are full of roses -- rows of roses. In your life
           you must have come across many types of roses -- white and black and red; all those roses are there
           floating in your eyes. Now you are crowded by your past memories. And then, beyond all those
           memories is this rose which is real. Now the crowd of the unreal is so much you will not be able to
           reach and touch the real.
                When Buddha says drop thinking he means, don't bring the past in. What is the point of bringing
           it in? This rose is here, you are here. Let it be a deep meeting, a communion, a connection. Melt a
           little with this rose, let this rose melt a little in you. The rose is ready to share its fragrance, you also
           share your being, your consciousness, with it.
                Let there be a handshake with reality. Let there be a little dance with this rose... dancing in the
           wind. You also move, be, look, feel, close your eyes, smell, touch, drink. This beautiful phenomenon
           that is facing you... don't go here and there -- just be with it. No more right and left, just be direct
           like an arrow moving towards the target. If you bring words, language, you bring society, you bring
           past, you bring other people.
                Tennyson has said something about the rose. Shelley has said something about the rose.
           Shakespeare has said something about the rose, or Kalidas. Once you bring language, Shakespeare
           and Kalidas and Bhaubhuti and Shelley and Keats -- they are all standing there. Now you are too full
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of your own ideas, now you are in a crowd, lost. You will not be able to see the simple truth.
                The truth is so simple. Yes, it is just like a rose flower in front of you. It is utterly there. Why go
           somewhere else? Why not move into this reality? Why go and find past and future? Don't say this
           rose is beautiful, because this rose needs no compliments from you. Let it be a feeling. This rose
           does not understand human language, so why puzzle this rose? Why say it is beautiful? Because this
           rose knows nothing of beauty and nothing of ugliness.
                For this rose, life is not divided and split; this rose is not schizophrenic. This rose is simply there,
           with no idea of what beauty is and what ugliness is. Don't call it beautiful. When you call it beautiful
           you have brought a concept. The mind has started functioning. Now, you may have a little
           experience of the rose, but it will not be true -- your mind will be a distortion. You will think of this
           rose just as a representative of all other roses.
                Plato says that every real thing is just a representative of something ideal. Plato says that there
           with god exists the idea of rose -- that is real. The idea of rose is real and this rose is just a reflection
           of that idea. This is nonsense, this is really absurd.
                This rose exists herenow with god. There is no idea in the mind of god. God has no mind as such.
           God is without mind. God is not a human being, and god has not been trained by any parents, and
           god has not been educated by any university. God has not been conditioned. There is no idea in the
           mind of god -- and this rose is a real rose. God exists with this rose and this rose exists with god, and
           god has no barrier with this rose, no mind barrier.
                But for Plato, the reality is unreal and ideas are real. For Buddha it is just the opposite: the reality
           is the real and ideas are unreal. If you follow Plato you will become a philosopher. If you follow
           Buddha you will become a religious man. Religion is not a philosophy, religion is an experience.
                So try it. Sometimes allow your no-mind to function. Sometimes push aside all your thinking.
           Sometimes let reality penetrate you. Sometimes let there be a blessing from reality. Allow it to
           deliver its message to you. But we go on living in words, and we pay too much attention to the
           words.
                I had a teacher in the university and we used to go for a walk together. After few days I said, 'I
           will not come. Better I should go alone.'
                He said, 'Why?' Because he was so much obsessed with names. Every tree which he would see
           he had to say to which species it belonged. Every flower -- what it contains, its history. If he would
           see a rose, he would not see a rose, he would see the whole history of rose: how it came from Iran, in
           what century, who brought it to India -- it is not an indian flower.
                Now, he would never look at the flower, and I would pull him again and again back -- 'This
           flower is enough. What is the point? Flowers don't have histories, only human beings have. This
           flower does not bother whether it is in Iran or in India. This flower has no idea of any past, it lives
           just herenow. It is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan, nor Indian nor Iranian. It is simply there. It is
           not even a rose!'
                But it was difficult for him. Any bird he would see he would say, 'Wait, let me listen. What
           species of bird is this? From where has it come? Has it come from Siberia? Or from Middle Asia? Or
           is it a himalayan bird?' After a few days I said, 'You excuse me. You go alone. Because I am not
           interested from where this bird has come. This bird is here, it is enough. I am not interested in the
           scientific, historical explanation.'
                Explanation, to a few people, is almost a disease. Through their explanations they try to explain
           away everything. They are obsessed with explanation. They think that if they can name a thing, label
           a thing, they know it. They are very uneasy unless they can label a thing, know a thing by name,
           categorize it, pigeonhole it -- unless they do it they are very uncomfortable. It seems as if a certain
           thing is just offending them -- why are you there without any classification? Once they have
           categorized it, pigeon-holed it, put a label on it, then they are at ease. They have known it. They are
           finished with the thing.
           I have heard:

               After the Second World War a german soldier raped a french woman and told her, 'In nine
           months you will have a son -- you may call him Adolf Hitler.' To which the french woman replied,
           'In nine days you will have a rash -- you may call it measles.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But by calling names, it changes nothing. What you call is absolutely irrelevant. Whatsoever is,
           is! By your giving it a name it never changes. But for you it changes. Just by giving a name, reality
           becomes different to you.
           It happened:

              A lion and an ass made an agreement to go out hunting together. By and by they came to a cave
           where many wild goats abode. The lion took up his station at the mouth of the cave and the ass,
           going within, kicked and brayed and made a mighty fuss to frighten them out. When the lion had
           caught many of them, the ass came out and asked him if he had not made a noble fight and routed the
           goats properly.
              'Yes indeed,' said the lion. 'And I assure you, you would have frightened me too if I had not
           known you to be an ass.'

              It may make a difference to you by calling names, but it does not make any difference to reality.
           It may make a difference to you because you live surrounded by your language, concept,
           verbalization. You immediately go on translating everything into language.
              De-language yourself -- that's what Buddha means. Un-mind yourself, un-wind yourself -- that's
           what Buddha means. Otherwise you will never know what is true.

              MY SIDDHANTA IS TO THINK THE THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE.


               You cannot think about reality. There is no way to think about it. All thinking is borrowed. No
           thinking is ever original. All thinking is repetitive, all thinking is mechanical. You can go on
           chewing and re-chewing the same things again and again and again, but nothing new ever arises out
           of thinking. Thinking is old, rotten. It is a junk-yard.
               You cannot think about reality because reality is every moment original. It is every moment so
           new that it has never been like that before. It is so absolutely fresh that you will have to know it.
           There is no other way to know it than knowing it.
               The only way to know love is to love. The only way to know swimming is to swim. The only
           way to know reality is to be real. Mind makes you unreal. Mind makes you too much like thoughts --
           mindstuff, words, concepts, theories, philosophies, doctrines, scriptures, isms. Mind does not give
           you the real thing, it gives you only reflections -- and those reflections are also distorted.
               Buddha says attain to a clarity. Just see, just be. And then you will be able to think that thought
           which is unthinkable. You will be able to have a meeting with reality, a date with god.
               THE THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE -- only that is worth thinking. All else is just
           wasting life energy.

              TO PRACTISE THE DEED THAT IS NON-DOING.


               This is what Lao Tzu calls wu-wei. Action in inaction -- again another paradox. But a siddhanta
           has to be paradoxical.

              TO PRACTISE THE DEED THAT IS NOT DOING...


               Ordinarily we know only deeds which we can do. We are surrounded by our doing. We don't
           know that there are things which are beyond our doing and still are happening. You are born. You
           have not given birth to yourself, it has simply happened, and it could not happen in a better way.
           You are breathing -- but you are not breathing as an act; it is happening. You can try to stop it and
           then you will see you cannot stop it. Even for a few seconds you cannot stop it; you will have to
           relax, you will have to allow it. Breathing is life. It is happening.
               All that is essential is happening, and all that is non-essential, non-existential, is to be done. Of
           course your shop will not be run if you don't run it. Of course you will not become a prime minister
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           or a president if you don't struggle for it. Nobody has ever become a prime minister without
           struggling for it; without violence you cannot become a prime minister. You will have to compete --
           a throat-cut competition. You will have to be cruel. You will have to be aggressive. You will have to
           do it, only then it can happen. All that depends on your doing is accidental and all that goes on
           without you is essential.
               Religion's whole concern is the essential, the world of the essential. You are there; not that you
           have done yourself, you are simply there for no reason. You have not earned it, it is nothing of your
           doing. It is a benediction, it is a gift. You are there: existence has willed you to be there, it is not
           your own will.
               Watch it, understand it. When such a thing like life -- so precious -- can happen without your
           doing, then why bother? Then allow more and more the dimension of happening. Drop more and
           more doing. Do only that which seems needful. Don't be bothered too much with the doing.
               That is the meaning of a sannyasin. The householder, the GRUSTHA, is one who is simply
           possessed by the dimension of doing. He thinks that if he is not going to do, nothing is going to
           happen. He is a doer. A sannyasin is one who knows that whether he is going to do it or not, all that
           is essential is going to continue to happen. Nonessential may disappear, but that is irrelevant -- but
           the essential will continue.
               Love is essential; money is non-essential. To be alive is essential; to live in a big house or not is
           non-essential. To be fulfilled, contented, is essential; rushing, ambitious, always trying to reach
           somewhere, trying to perform, trying to prove that you are somebody, is non-essential. People live
           only in two dimensions: the dimension of the doer and the dimension of the non-doer.
           Buddha says:

              TO PRACTISE THE DEED THAT IS NOT DOING...


               He says practise that. He says 'practise', because there is no other way to say it. The word
           'practise' looks like doing, that's the paradox. He says, 'Do that which cannot be done.' Do that which
           only happens. Allow, he means -- allow that which happens, allow god to be there. Allow life to be
           there, allow love to be there. Allow the existence to penetrate you, to infiltrate you. Don't continue to
           be a doer.
               He does not mean don't do anything at all. He says don't emphasize it. Maybe it is needful. You
           have to clean your room. Without your doing it, it is not going to happen. So do it! -- but don't get
           obsessed with it. It is just a minor part.
               The major part of life, the central part of life, should be like a happening. As the lightning
           happens in the clouds, so god happens. As rivers go on rushing towards the ocean and dissolve, so
           love happens. So happens meditation -- it has nothing to do with your doing. Your doing is not
           essential for it to happen. It can happen when you are sitting and not doing anything. In fact it
           happens only then, when you are not doing anything and you are sitting. I insist for you to do many
           things as methods, but the insistence is only this -- that you have to be tired, otherwise you won't sit.
               It is as if you tell a child, 'Sit silently in the corner of the room,' and he cannot sit; he is so
           restless, he is so full of energy. He wants to do this and that and run around. The best way is to tell
           him to go and have seven rounds -- run around the house seven times, around the block -- then come
           back. Then without your telling, he will sit silently.
               That's the whole point of my insistence to do dynamic, do kundalini, do nataraj -- be spent, so
           that for a few moments you can allow happening. You will not reach to meditation by doing, you
           will reach to meditation only by non-doing. And in non-doing will happen the real thing.
               The real thing cannot be produced; it always happens. One has to be just sensitive and open and
           vulnerable. It is very delicate. You cannot grab it. It is very fragile... fragile like a flower. You
           cannot grab it. If you grab it you will destroy it. You have to be very soft. It is not hardware, it is
           software. You have to be really soft, you have to be feminine.
           Buddha says:

              PRACTISE THE DEED THAT IS NOT DOING....
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                That is the message of all the great ones, the really great ones. The greatest realization on this
           earth has been this: that we are unnecessarily creating too much fuss. That which is to happen is
           going to happen if we wait. In the right season, the harvest; in the right season, the fruition. In the
           right season everything happens. If a man can learn only one thing -- how to wait prayerfully --
           nothing else is needed. Ecstasy is a PRASAD, a gift of god.
                You just try. Practise what Buddha says. At least for one hour you become a non-doer. At least
           for one hour, deep in the night, sit alone. Don't do anything -- not even chanting a mantra, not even
           transcendental meditation. Don't do anything. Just sit, lie down, look at the stars. That too should not
           be hard. Look very softly. Don't focus; remain unfocussed like an unfocussed photograph -- hazy,
           blurred, not knowing where the boundaries are. Just remain silent in the darkness.
                If thoughts come let them come. Don't fight with them either. They will come and they will go --
           you just be a watcher. It is none of your business whether they come or they go. Who are you? They
           come without invitation, they go without pushing. They come and go, it is a constant traffic. You just
           sit by the side of the road and watch.
                When I say watch, don't misinterpret me. Don't make watching an effort. Otherwise people
           become very stiff and they start watching in a very stiff and tense way. Again they have started
           doing. What I am saying, or what Buddha is saying is -- be in an attitude of not doing, be lazy.
                Just be lazy, and see what happens. You will be amazed. Some day -- just sitting, just sitting, not
           doing anything -- some day, from some unknown source, a lightning, a benediction. Some day, in
           some moment, suddenly you are transfigured. Suddenly you see a quiet descending upon you. It is
           almost physical.
                If a real meditator, a person who can relax, sits silently and allows, even somebody who is not a
           meditator will feel the presence -- that something is happening. You may not be able to figure it out
           what it is; you may feel strange or a little scared, but if you sit by the side of a meditator....
                Now, it is difficult to use the right word, because the word 'meditator' again gives the impression
           as if he is doing something -- doing meditation. Remember again and again -- language has been
           developed by non-meditators, so the whole language is, in a subtle way, wrong. It cannot express.
                When somebody is sitting there, just sitting there, like a tree, like a rock, not doing anything, it
           happens: something from the above descends, penetrates his very core of being. A subtle light
           surrounds him... a glow, a blessing can be felt around him -- even by those people who don't know
           what meditation is. Even passing by the side, they will also feel the impact of it. This benediction has
           been called god.
                God is not a person, it is a deep experience when you are not doing anything and existence
           simply flows in you... the immensity of it, the beautitude of it, the grace of it.
                You are not doing anything, you are not even expecting anything, you are not waiting for
           anything. You have no motive. You are just there like a tree standing in the winds, or like a rock just
           silently sitting by the side of a river. Or like a cloud perched on the hilltop -- just there, no movement
           of your own.
                In that moment you are not a self, in that moment you are a no-self. In that moment you are not a
           mind, you are a no-mind. In that moment you don't have a center. In that moment you are immense...
           vastness with no boundaries -- suddenly the contact. Suddenly it is there! Suddenly you are fulfilled,
           suddenly you are surrounded by some unknown presence. It is tremendous.
           That's what Buddha says:

              PRACTISE THE DEED THAT IS NOT DOING; TO SPEAK THE SPEECH THAT IS INEXPRESSIBLE.


                And if you want to say something, say that which cannot be said. Express the inexpressible.
           What is the point of saying things which can be said? -- anybody knows them, everybody knows
           them. If you really want to express something, express the inexpressible.
                What is the way to express the inexpressible? It can be expressed only through being. Words are
           too narrow. It can be expressed only by your existence, by your presence -- in your walking, in your
           sitting, in your eyes, in your gestures, in your touch, in your compassion, in your love. The way you
           are -- it can be expressed through it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha talks, but that is not very essential. More essential is his being, that he is there. Through
           his talking he allows you to be with him. The talking is just persuading you. Because it will be
           difficult for you to be in silence with a Buddha. He has to talk, because if he is talking you feel that
           everything is okay, you can listen. If he is not talking how will you listen? You don't know how to
           listen when nobody is talking. You don't know how to listen to that which cannot be expressed.
                But by and by, living around a master, a Buddha, a Jesus, by and by you will start imbibing his
           spirit. By and by, in spite of you, there will be moments when you will relax, and not only that which
           he is saying will be reaching into your heart, but that which he IS also will penetrate. And with him
           the whole dimension of happening opens. That's the meaning of satsanga -- being in the presence of
           a master.

              ... AND TO BE TRAINED IN THE DISCIPLINE BEYOND DISCIPLINE.


               And Buddha says there is a discipline which is not a discipline. Ordinarily we think about
           discipline as if somebody else is trying to discipline you. Discipline carries a very ugly connotation
           -- as if you are being disciplined, as if you are just to obey. The center that is disciplining you is
           outside you.
               Buddha says that is not discipline, that is surrendering to slavery. Be free, no need to be
           disciplined from any outside source. Become alert, so that inner discipline arises in you. Become
           responsible, so that whatsoever you do you do with a certain order, a certain cosmos in it; so that
           your being is not a chaos, so that your being is not in a mess.
               So there are two types of discipline: one, that can be forced from the outside. That's what
           politicians go on doing, priests go on doing, parents go on doing. And there is a discipline that can
           be provoked in you -- that can be done only by masters. They don't enforce any discipline on you,
           they make you simply more aware so you can find your own discipline.
               People come to me and they ask, 'Why don't you give a certain discipline? What to eat, what not
           to eat. When to get up in the morning and when to go to bed.' I don't give you any such discipline,
           because any discipline that comes from outside is destructive.
               I give you only one discipline -- what Buddha calls the discipline of the beyond, the discipline of
           transcendence.
               I give you only one discipline and that is of being aware. If you are aware you will get up in the
           right time. When the body is rested you will get up. When you are aware you will eat only that which
           is needed, you will eat only that which is least harmful to you and to others. You will eat only that
           which is not based on violence. But awareness will be the decisive factor.
               Otherwise you can be forced to become obedient, but deep down you go on being rebellious. I
           have heard a Second World War story.

               A sergeant and a private were up on a charge of kicking the colonel. When asked for an
           explanation, the sergeant replied, 'Well, sir, the colonel came round the corner as I was coming from
           the gym. I only had my plimsoles on, he was in riding boots, and he trod on my toe. I am afraid the
           pain was so great, sir, that I lashed out -- and before I realized who it was, sir.'
               'I see,' said the orderly officer. 'And what about you soldier?'
               To which the private replied, 'I saw the sergeant kick the colonel, sir. So I thought to myself,
           "The war must be over, so I can also kick".'

               Whenever somebody enforces a discipline on you, deep down you resent, deep down you are
           against it. You may surrender to it, but you surrender always reluctantly. And that's how it should be,
           because the deepest urge in a human being is for freedom, for moksha.
               To be free is the search. Down the centuries, for millennia, in many lives, we have been
           searching how to be free. So whenever somebody comes -- even for your own sake, for your own
           good -- and enforces something upon you, you resist. It is against human nature, it is against human
           destiny.
               Buddha says there is no need to be obedient to somebody else; you should find your own
           awareness -- be obedient to it. Be aware! -- that is the only scripture. Be aware! -- that is the only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           master. Be aware! -- and nothing can ever go wrong. Awareness brings its own discipline like a
           shadow. And then the discipline is beautiful. Then it is not like a slavery, then it is like a harmony.
           Then it is not as if enforced, then it is a flowering out of your own being, a blooming.

              AND TO BE TRAINED IN THE DISCIPLINE THAT IS BEYOND DISCIPLINE.


                People ordinarily seek somebody to tell them what to do -- because they are afraid of their
           freedom, because they don't know that they can rely on their own sources, because they are not
           self-confident, because they have always been told what to do by somebody else, so they have
           become addicted to it. They are searching father-figures for their whole life. Their god is also a
           father, nothing else. That god is false which is a father. And the search for a father-figure is anti-life.
                You should learn how to be free from all father-figures. You should learn how to be yourself.
           You should learn how to be aware and responsible. Then only you start growing. Maturity is always
           maturity towards freedom. Immaturity is always a sort of dependence and a fear of freedom.
                A child is dependent -- it's okay, it can be understood. He is helpless. But why remain a child
           your whole life? That is the revolution Buddha brought into the world. He is one of the most
           rebellious thinkers of the world. He throws you to yourself. It is dangerous, but he takes that risk.
           And he says that everybody has to take that risk. There is every possibility you may go astray -- but
           life is risk.
                It is better to go astray on your own accord than to reach heaven following somebody else. It is
           better to be lost forever and be yourself, than to reach paradise as a carbon copy, as an imitator. Then
           your paradise will be nothing but a prison. And if you have chosen your own hell on your own
           accord, out of your own freedom, your hell will also be heaven -- because freedom is heaven.
                Now here you will see the difference between Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity says
           Adam was expelled because he disobeyed god. Buddha says obey only yourself, there is no other
           god to be obeyed. Christianity calls disobedience the original sin, and Buddha calls obedience the
           original sin. Tremendous is the difference. Buddha is a liberator, Christianity created an
           imprisonment for the whole humanity.
                Buddha's liberation is pure. He teaches you rebellion, but his rebellion is not a political rebellion.
           He teaches you rebellion with responsibility, with awareness. His rebellion is not a reaction. You can
           be obedient, you can be disobedient. What is Buddha saying? Buddha is saying neither be obedient
           nor be disobedient -- because disobedience is again being conditioned by somebody else. You go on
           doing something because your father says don't do it, but again he is manipulating you in a negative
           way. You go on doing something because the society says don't do it, but again the society is
           determining what you should do.
                Buddha says rebellion is not reaction. It is neither slavery nor reaction, neither obedience nor
           disobedience. It is an inner discipline. It is a discipline, it is a tremendous order, but it comes from
           your inner core. You decide it.
                We go on throwing our responsibility on others. It is easier. You can always say that your father
           said to do it, so you have done it -- you are not responsible. You can always say the leader said to do
           it, so you have done -- you are not responsible. The whole country was going to do it, was going to
           war and was killing other countries -- you have done it because you simply obeyed orders, you
           simply obeyed.
                When Adolf Hitler's colleagues were caught after the Second World War, they all confessed
           before the court that they were not responsible, they were simply obeying orders. Whatsoever order
           was given they were obeying. If the order was given, 'Kill a million Jews!' they killed. They were
           simply following orders, they were simply obedient. They were not responsible.
                Now look and watch: you may be simply trying to find out someone who says 'do this' so you
           can throw the responsibility on him. But this is no way -- to throw the responsibility on anybody
           else. Life is yours and responsibility is yours.
                If you understand Buddha, the world will be totally different. Then there cannot be any more
           Hitlers, then there cannot be any more wars -- because there cannot be any obedience from the
           outside, and everybody responsible will think on his own. Not that 'Hindus are killing
           Mohammedans, so I have to kill'; nor 'Mohammedans are burning temples, so I have to burn because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I am a Mohammedan.' Each individual should become a light unto himself, and he should decide --
           not as a Mohammedan, not as a Christian, not as an Indian, not as a Pakistani; he should decide
           according to his own consciousness; not according to anything else. This is what Buddha calls the
           discipline that is beyond discipline.
               This is the definition of a religious person: He thinks the thought that is unthinkable; he practises
           the deed that is not doing; he speaks that which is inexpressible, ineffable; and he practises the
           discipline that is beyond discipline.

              THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THIS ARE NEAR; THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED ARE FAR.


              If these four things are understood, you are close to truth. If you don't understand then you are far
           away from the truth.

              THE WAY IS BEYOND WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS, IS BOUND BY NOTHING EARTHLY. LOSE
              SIGHT OF IT TO AN INCH OR MISS IT FOR A MOMENT, AND WE ARE AWAY FROM IT FOREVER
              MORE.


               Those who understand it are close.... Now let this be a criterion for you -- you can judge. Let this
           be a touchstone for your growth. If you feel these four things are happening in your life -- however,
           in whatsoever quantity... maybe a very small quantity, but if they are happening, then you are on the
           right track. If you are going away from these four things, you are going away from the way, the
           dhamma, the tao.

              THE WAY IS BEYOND WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS, IS BOUND BY NOTHING EARTHLY.


                The ultimate truth is not bound by anything that you can see, that you can touch. It is not
           dependent on your senses. The ultimate truth is not material, it is immaterial. It is not earthly. It can
           not be caused by anything. That's why it can never become part of science.
                You can mix hydrogen and oxygen and you can cause water to be there. There is no way to
           create ecstasy that way. There is no way to cause god that way. There is no way to cause truth that
           way. You can destroy water by separating hydrogen and oxygen, you can create water by mixing
           hydrogen and oxygen, but there is no way to destroy truth or to cause it. It is uncaused.
                It is not a chain of cause and effect. You cannot create it; it is already there. You cannot destroy
           it, because you are it. It is the very life. You can only do one thing -- either you can close your eyes
           towards it, either you can forget about it, you can become absolutely oblivious of it, OR you can
           remember, see, realize.
                If you are lost in too much doing, ambition, riches, money, prestige, power, then you will lose
           track of the truth which is always by the side of you -- just by the corner, just within reach -- but you
           are keeping your back towards it.

                OR you can allow it. If you become a little more meditative and less ambitious, if you become a
           little more religious and less political, if you become a little more unworldly than worldly, if you
           start moving more withinwards than without, if you start becoming a little more alert than sleepy, if
           you come out of your drunk state, if you bring a little light into your being, then... then you will be
           close, close home. You have never been away. Then your whole life will be transformed,
           transfigured. Then you will live in a totally different way; a new quality will be there in your life
           which has nothing to do with your doing, which is a gift, a benediction.

             LOSE SIGHT OF IT TO AN INCH, says Buddha, OR MISS IT FOR A MOMENT, AND WE
           ARE AWAY FROM IT FOREVER MORE.

              Look into it for a single moment, come close to it even a single inch, and it is yours, and it has
           always been yours.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is the paradox of a siddhanta. This is not a doctrine, this is Buddha's realization. He is
           simply trying to share his realization with you. He is not propounding a philosophy or a system of
           thought. He is simply pointing towards the moon, the reality.
               Don't look at his pointing fingers, otherwise you will miss; you will become a Buddhist. Look at
           the moon the finger is pointing to. Forget the finger completely and look at the moon and you will
           become a Buddha.
               This is the problem that humanity has to settle. It is very much easier to become a Christian than
           to become a Christ, very much easier to become a Buddhist than to become a Buddha, but the reality
           is known only by becoming a Christ or a Buddha. By becoming a Christian or a Buddhist you are
           again becoming carbon copies. Don't insult yourself that way. Have a little respect for yourself.
           Never be a Christian and never be a Buddhist and never be a Hindu. Just be consciousness
           undefined, unbound, unmotivated. If you can do that much, all else will follow on its own accord.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #10
                                           Chapter title: A hollow bamboo
           9 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609090
              ShortTitle: TRANS210
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 99 mins




              CAN ONE LIVE AND FUNCTION IN THE WORLD IN A STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT OR
              NO-MIND? IS AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE WORLD?


                THE STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT is not the state of individuality. There is no person in it.
           One who is enlightened is enlightened only because he is not; there is nobody to function. Activity
           continues, but there is nobody to do it. Functioning continues, but there is nobody to function it.
           Then it continues on its own... just as stars go on moving and the seasons move, and the sun rises,
           and the moon comes, and the tide, and the seas, and the rivers.
                An enlightened person is one with the whole; the whole functions through him. His activity is
           perfect because he is not there to distort it. He is just like a hollow bamboo -- whatsoever song the
           whole chooses to sing through him, it is sung. There is nobody to hinder, there is nobody to obstruct.
                An enlightened person is an enlightened emptiness... Luminous emptiness. He has disappeared.
           If you believe in the concept of god, if you use that term, then you can say god functions through
           him. If you don't like that term, then you can say the whole functions through him. But he is not to
           function there.
                When you function you create anxiety. All your functioning is in some way a sort of conflict
           with the whole. It is a struggle; there is motive, there is desire, there is ambition. When you are there,
           all illnesses are there. When you are there, neurosis is there -- the ego is neurotic. It tries to impose
           its own goals on the whole -- which is impossible. It tries to do that which cannot be done, hence
           gets more and more frustrated, enters deeper and deeper into hell and misery.
                An enlightened person simply allows; whatsoever happens is a happening. It is very difficult to
           conceive it because it is not of the mind. It is very difficult to understand it because there is no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           experience. You can understand it only when you have dissolved, when you have become that.
               There is no way to understand a Buddha unless you become a Buddha -- because it is such a
           totally different dimension of existence. We have never tasted of it. It is simply impossible for the
           mind to conceive, because the mind functions through motive: there has to be a desire, there has to
           be a goal, there has to be the doer. The mind says if you don't do, how is it going to happen?
               But millions of things are happening without anybody doing them. Who is doing the movement
           of the stars? Is not their functioning absolutely perfect? What is missing? What is lacking? Who is
           rushing these rivers to the ocean? Who goes on controlling the tide and the ebb? Who goes on
           maintaining this infinity, this immenseness? There is nobody. Because there is nobody, that's why it
           is so beautiful. Because there is nobody, that's why it is so absolutely perfect. If somebody is there,
           there is a possibility of error. If somebody is there, then there is a possibility of mistakes.
           There is nobody -- it is out of emptiness.
               The seed goes on sprouting. Each moment is a miracle, because each moment existence comes
           out of nothingness. Each moment the flower happens out of the blue. Nobody is forcing it, nobody is
           pulling it up. There is nobody to open the bud; it opens on its own accord. This is what Buddha calls
           the dhamma, the law, the ultimate law of life.
               The enlightened person is no more in any conflict with the ultimate law; he has surrendered. He
           floats, he flows with the river. He has almost become a wave in the river, he does not exist
           separately.

           CAN ONE LIVE AND FUNCTION IN THE WORLD IN A STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT OR
           NO-MIND?

                 Yes, one can function. One has functioned. Buddha lived forty-two years after he became
           enlightened. Mahavir lived forty years after he became enlightened. They functioned perfectly well.
           And yet, the beauty is, the grandeur is, that there was nobody doing it.
                 It is a moment to moment miracle. It is absolutely unbelievable, it is incredible to function out of
           nothingness, to function out of no-motive, to function out of no-mind. Just to function without
           having a center, without having a self.
                 An enlightened person is natural, spontaneous. He has no explanation why he is functioning. He
           will shrug his shoulders if you ask the question 'Why?' He cannot explain it, he can at the most say,
           'It is how it is. It is how it is happening.' He will say, 'I don't know, because there is nobody to know
           it.' It is a mysterious functioning.
                 Of course the functioning is going to be totally different than your functioning. Out of your
           activity, anxiety arises, tension. Out of your activity, fear arises. Fear -- are you going to succeed or
           not? Tension -- because there is competition, conflict; others are also rushing towards the same goal.
           Will you be able to become rich? Will you be able to become that which you want? It doesn't seem
           to be easy.

               Mulla Nasrudin was saying to me one day, 'When I was fourteen I decided that I was going to
           become the richest man in the world, whatsoever the cost.'
               Then I asked him, 'Then what happened? You never became the richest man in the world. You
           may be the poorest. What happened then?'
               He said, 'By the time I was twenty-one I thought it is easier to change my mind than to become
           the richest man in the world. It is easier to change my mind.'

                Everybody wants to become the richest man of the world. Everybody wants to be the most
           powerful man in the world. Everybody wants to be the most strong, beautiful, intelligent, famous in
           the world. Of course much anxiety is created. In that anxiety you are in a sort of continuous illness,
           dis-ease, restlessness, a fever, in which you go on, continuously trembling. And every moment there
           is frustration waiting for you.
                Hence people say, 'Man proposes and god disposes.' God has never disposed anything. In your
           very proposition you are disposing god, hence you get in trouble. Because the nature has its own
           way, the tao has its own way; it has its own destiny. It is as if a part is trying to go on its own
           journey, leaving the whole behind. It is not possible -- the part has to go with the whole. The tail has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to go with the elephant. If the tail starts going on its own way against the elephant, separate from the
           elephant, then there is going to be trouble -- the tail will go mad. And actually it will have to drag
           with the elephant; there is no other way.
               So there are only two types of people in the world. One, who have private goals -- they feel they
           are being dragged; they feel man proposes, god disposes. Then there is another type of people in the
           world -- very few, rare, far, far and few between, very few -- who have dropped all their
           propositions. They don't drag, they dance. They dance, because whatsoever god proposes they
           accept. And they have no private propositions, they don't have any desire of their own.
               That's what Jesus says on the cross, that is his last message to the world -- 'Thy kingdom come,
           Thy will be done'. Just a moment before he has hesitated a little, just a moment before he shouted
           and said, 'Why have you forsaken me? Why? Why are you showing me all this?'
               You cannot complain against Jesus -- that too is natural and human. He was only thirty-three, he
           was not yet old, he was just young, he had not seen the whole life yet, he had not tasted, he had not
           lived yet -- and suddenly he finds himself on the Cross, ridiculed, insulted, rejected by his own
           people. And it is natural that he shouts at god, 'Why have you forsaken me? Why are you showing
           me all this?' -- human, very human.
               But immediately he became aware of it. It must have escaped -- this shouting against god -- in a
           moment of unawareness. The pain may have been too much, the misery was too much. Death was
           just close by; he was shocked. But he regained balance. He was going to propose something. He
           simply said, 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.' He surrendered. He died as Christ.
               In a single moment he was no more Jesus, he was Christ. In a single moment he was no more
           human, he was superhuman. The gap is very small. That's why Buddha says, 'Miss it by a single
           inch, or by a single moment and you are thrown millions of miles away.' Just a single inch was the
           difference between these two sentences -- there was not much gap, maybe a single breath. But he
           was just ordinary when he shouted against god -- human, weak. Just a moment later on he was
           reconciled; there was no problem then. If this is the way god wants it to happen, then this is the way
           it has to happen. He accepted.
               A smile must have come to his face, and not only to his face but to his heart also. In that moment
           he must have expanded. Now there was nothing to shrink, to remain closed. Even death was
           accepted. When you accept death, you have accepted god. Everybody desires for life. When you
           accept life you don't accept much. When you accept death you have accepted all.
               An enlightened person is one who has not only accepted death, who has really died. He is no
           more there, the house is absolutely empty. Or he is that emptiness. That emptiness is luminous, full
           of light. Now he moves hand and hand with god. Now wherever god takes him, to whatsoever land --
           uncharted, unmapped -- he runs along, dancing. He is not dragged.
               If you are dragged by life, then you must be fighting with it. If you are bored by life, then you
           must be fighting with it. If you are frustrated by life, you must be fighting with it. These are
           indications that you are not reconciled to life, that you have not yet become mature enough to
           surrender; you are childish, you are in a childish tantrum.
               A man who is really mature has no will of his own. He says, 'Thy will be done.' It is only
           immature minds who go on carrying their own will, and of course they suffer. Will brings suffering,
           will is the way to hell. You bring suffering, you are the way to hell. You create suffering.
               Of course, an enlightened person functions totally differently. He himself does not know where
           he is going, and he is not worried about it either. He does not think about it -- where he is going. He
           trusts: wherever he is going, it is good. His trust is total and infinite.
               He trusts life, you trust yourself. He trusts the whole, you trust a tiny part. He trusts the immense,
           the infinite, you trust the mediocre human mind. His trust makes him wise, your trust makes you
           stupid. You doubt the whole and you trust yourself. He has dropped himself and he trusts the whole.
           He is never to be frustrated, he has no regrets. He never looks back, because whatsoever was, was --
           and whatsoever was, was good.
               And it is not just only a mind thing. He feels it, his whole existence is radiated with 'yes!' He says
           'yes' to life, you go on saying 'no'. No-saying creates ego, yea-saying drops the ego, helps the ego to
           drop and disappear.
               The enlightened person is an absolute, unconditional 'yes'. It is very difficult to understand it
           unless you have tasted something of it. That is the only way to know about it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           IS AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE WORLD?

                That's why I say you can understand it only if you have known it, if you have become it.
           Otherwise you will go on asking questions which are irrelevant. For example: IS AN
           ENLIGHTENED PERSON SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE WORLD?
                He has no self, so how can he be self-sufficient? He has no self, so how can he be in any way
           self-sufficient? I am not saying that he is discontented. I am not saying that he is unsatisfied, and I
           am not saying that he is not sufficient. I am simply saying that he cannot be self-sufficient because
           he has no self.
                An enlightened person comes to know that independence is impossible, dependence also
           impossible. The reality is neither dependent nor independent; the reality is interdependent. We exist
           together. And when I say 'we', the trees are included, the mountains are included, the skies are
           included. When I say 'we', everything is included, nothing is excluded. We exist together. We are
           together. Our very being is togetherness. Nobody is self-sufficient.
                That's what ordinarily we are trying to become -- self-sufficient. That is our whole struggle -- so
           that we are no more dependent on anybody. But just think: is it possible to be self-sufficient? And if
           it is possible for a man to become self-sufficient, will he be alive? He will be dead. Only when you
           are in your grave are you self-sufficient. Otherwise you will have to breathe -- and you cannot be
           self-sufficient about it. You will have to take in the breath, the vitality, the PRANA. You will have
           to wait for the sun to make you warm. You will have to eat the fruit of the trees so their juice
           becomes your blood. You will need billions of things. How can you be self-sufficient? The very idea
           is foolish.
                But there are people, the so-called saints -- who go on teaching you 'become self-sufficient'. That
           is an ego trip. It is not possible in the nature of things to be self-sufficient because self is a falsity.
           Self is just an idea, it has no reality, so how can you create sufficiency around a false idea? Self in
           itself is non-existential, so how can you create sufficiency around something which does not exist?
                The enlightened person is one who looks into life and comes to know that 'I am not, only god is,
           truth is. Truth is self-sufficient, the whole is self-sufficient. How can I be self-sufficient?' We are
           linked with everything else, and this linking is really complex. I am not only linked to you, you are
           not only linked to these trees, you are not only linked to the sun today -- you are linked to ALL the
           people who have ever lived on the earth. If your parents were not there you would not have been
           here. If your grandparents were not there you would not have been here. Just go back, go back -- if
           Adam and Eve were not there you would not have been here.
                So not only are we linked with the contemporary existence, we are linked with the whole past --
           not only of humanity, but of the whole universe. This is easy to understand -- that we are linked with
           the whole past -- otherwise how can we be? We are part of a procession, part of a river, an ongoing
           river. You are also linked with the future. It is a little more difficult because we think that maybe it is
           right -- we are linked with the past -- but how are we linked with the future?
                A river has two banks. It cannot flow with only one bank, otherwise it will never reach the ocean.
           The other bank may be hidden in deep mist, you may not be able to see it, it may be very far away.
           You cannot see it -- it is beyond the horizon -- but still you can think that it has to be there. The past
           is one bank of the river of time, the future is another bank. Without the future the past cannot exist;
           and without the past and the future the present cannot exist. The present is the river, the past is one
           bank, the future is another bank.
                We are not only linked with the past, we are linked with the future also. You are not only linked
           with your parents, you are linked with your children also -- children who are not born yet. You are
           not only one with the past that has been here, but with the future that is going to be here. You are
           linked with the yesterday and the tomorrow -- otherwise the today cannot exist. It has to exist
           between yesterday and the tomorrow -- yesterdays and tomorrows. The today is just a middle turn.
                If you look that way, then in space we are linked with everything. If the sun dies today we all
           will die. It is so far; the light takes ten minutes to reach to us. Ten minutes doesn't look such a big
           time, but for light to travel that much it is really big, because the light travels so fast -- one hundred
           and eighty-six thousand miles per second.
                The sun is ten minutes away. But if it dies, suddenly you will see these trees dying, suddenly you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will see yourself shrinking and dying. Suddenly you will see the whole beauty disappears from the
           earth, because the whole warmth disappears from the earth. Warmth is life. The very throb of the
           heart is connected with the sun. But the scientists say the sun itself is connected to some source of
           light, yet not discovered. Somewhere at the very center of the whole existence there must be a source
           the sun is connected with.
                Everything is connected. Have you watched a spider's web? Just touch it anywhere and the whole
           web trembles. Exactly that way is life. Touch it anywhere... touch a leaf of grass and you have
           touched all the stars, because everything is so interconnected. There are no boundaries -- we are not
           islands, we are a continent. Nothing defines you. All definitions are manmade. All definitions are
           just like the fence around your house -- it does not divide the earth. All boundaries are like lines on
           the map -- it does not divide the earth, it does not divide the ocean, it does not divide the sky. It is
           only on the map.
                An enlightened person is one who has dropped all demarcations; who is not a Christian, who is
           not a Hindu, who is not a Mohammedan, who is not a Buddhist, who is not a communist, who is not
           a fascist, who is not man, who is not woman, who is not young, who is not old -- who has dropped
           all lines of demarcation, who lives without definition. To live without definition is to live infinitely,
           because all definition is a finitude. To define means to make finite.
                An enlightened person is indefinable, infinite. He has no lines.
                Somebody asked Bokuju, a zen master, 'Master, you say everything is one. Then is a dog also a
           Buddha?' That is a zen way of asking, 'Is a dog also god?' Bokuju did not answer verbally; he
           jumped on his fours and started barking. He was a Buddha, an enlightened being. He simply showed
           that, 'Yes. Look -- here is a dog barking, and here is a Buddha too.' A dog is nothing but god in
           reverse. Just read it backwards; that is the only difference.
           Everything is divine and everything is one.
                The enlightened person is not self-sufficient. He is sufficient, certainly -- but not self-sufficient.
           Sufficient because there is no problem for him -- the whole is there available for him. The whole
           goes on supplying him even without asking. The whole takes care. He has dissolved into the whole;
           now the whole is responsible. The whole takes care of him. He is protected by the whole, he is
           sheltered by the whole. He is at home in the whole. Whatsoever happens is welcome, because it is
           happening through the whole. How can it be wrong? 'Thy will be done, Thy kingdom come.' He is
           just a zero.
                So I cannot say he is self-sufficient. He is tremendously sufficient, but not self-sufficient. His
           sufficiency comes not from his self, his sufficiency comes because he has dropped his self. He is
           sufficient because he is with the whole -- now how can he lack anything? It is impossible to lack
           anything. The sun is with him, the moon is with him, the trees, the rivers, the oceans -- he is no more
           poor.
                An enlightened person is the richest person possible, but his richness comes from surrender, not
           from fight. He does not... he has not any conflict with the whole. He has fallen in harmony, he is in a
           harmonia.


              LISTENING TO YOU TODAY I BECAME A CHILD. I WANTED TO CALL OUT, 'BUT I AM ONLY
              THREE,' AS I HAD DONE ONCE, YEARS AGO AT A DANCING CLASS. WHAT TO DO?


               The question is from Parijat. This too is a dance. Listening to me, you are in a subtle dance.
           Being with me, you are in a dance with me. It can happen. If you are really in a dance, your age can
           disappear. You can again become a child, you can regain that perceptivity that was yours when you
           were a child. You can regain that clarity that was yours when you were a child. You can come again
           close to god.
               A child is very close to god because he is very close to nature. A child is yet uncivilized, he is
           yet a primitive. A child is more close to animals than the so-called human beings. A child still lives
           through innocence and not through knowledge.
               That is my whole effort, Parijat. That is what I am trying to do: to destroy -- to destroy all that
           has become a blockage on you and on your childhood. Yes, that's what I am doing. I would like you
           to have another childhood. I would like you to enter into your innocence again, to gain that primal
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           innocence, to be reborn.

              Nicodemus asked Jesus, 'What should I do, master, to know the truth?'
              Jesus looked at him and said, 'You will have to be reborn. As you are you cannot make any
           contact. You carry too many obstacles, you carry too many blocks. You will have to become a child
           again.'

               Once Jesus was standing in a market place, a crowd had gathered, and somebody asked, 'Master,
           you continuously talk about the kingdom of god, but you never say to us who will be capable to
           enter into that kingdom. Who will be the worthy ones?' Jesus looked around. A small child was also
           there in the crowd. He took him up onto his shoulders and said, 'Whosoever is like this child. Only
           those who are like children will be able to enter into the kingdom of god.'

               There was one childhood which you have lost -- nothing to be worried about; it is natural. It had
           to be lost. It is just in the natural course of things. That childhood was too unconscious; you cannot
           carry it forever. It had to collapse and disappear. It was like the first teeth -- they are too soft. They
           will not be able to help for your whole life. They have to drop and give way for stronger teeth.
               The first childhood is just like first teeth. They have disappeared, they are no more there, and you
           are living without teeth -- without your childhood -- hence the misery. You will have to regain your
           childhood again, you will have to grow your childhood again. And this childhood will be very
           strong, tremendously strong. Because now it will be something conscious, it will be something that
           you have grown to.
               The first childhood was simply a gift of heaven, the second childhood will be more yours. It will
           be more deep-rooted. The first childhood was lost because it was unconscious, and the more you
           became conscious it disappeared. The second childhood has to be conscious, then there will be no
           problem. Then it can be with you for eternity.
               Again and again you come sometimes to a moment when you can hear the birds more clearly --
           again as you used to hear in your childhood; when you can see the flowers more clearly -- they
           become psychedelic, more colourful. You can see the trees and their green. It is so strong it hurts! It
           goes penetrating into the heart.
               Everything becomes very intense when you are a child. It was intense one day. Remember
           yourself running on the beach, collecting seashells, or running after butterflies in a garden.
           Remember again how things were totally different, how life was more colourful, how everything was
           a miracle and a surprise. How everything was simply amazing, how everything was just unbelievably
           beautiful. How everything used to catch your attention, how everything used to create a romance in
           you. And how you were full of energy, radiant, bubbling, joyous. How life was a totally different
           dimension. How you were delighted in small things, in meaningless things. How you were playful,
           how everything was a question mark, a mystery.
               The same can happen again, should happen again. That's what all religion is about -- to give you
           a second childhood. In India we call that man who attains to the second childhood, dwij, twice-born.
           He is born again -- not physically, psychologically. The first birth is out of your parents, the second
           birth is out of your master. The first birth is only of the body, the second birth is of the soul.

               Says Parijat, LISTENING TO YOU TODAY I BECAME A CHILD...

               Blessed you are -- now don't lose it. In the beginning it will be very fragile. It will come like a
           breeze and will be gone. It will be there dancing around you for a moment, and the next moment it is
           not there. It will be there like a window opening and closing. It will be there very fragile, very
           vulnerable. Allow it more and more, enjoy it more and more. Cooperate with it more and more. Wait
           for it more and more, pray for it more and more -- and it will be coming more and more. Soon it will
           be like a strong wind. Soon it will not be just a glimpse, it will become more real, more solid.
               In fact, when your second childhood becomes real, it has such a solidity that no matter can have
           that solidity. It is the most solid thing in existence. When it becomes solid, when it is always there --
           asleep it is there, awake it is there, eating, talking, sitting in silence it is there, walking in the market
           place it is there -- when you are surrounded by it.... Even when you are too much active, it is always
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there in the background.
                Whenever you are inactive it comes to the fore, whenever you are too much active it goes into
           the background -- but it goes on murmuring. Sometimes it is a distant murmur of a waterfall,
           sometimes it is a very wild uproar, but it remains always.
                The first glimpse has happened, the first ray has entered. Now follow it, now catch hold of this
           ray. It will be your first connection with innocence. Don't be frightened by it, because to get
           frightened is very easy. To think oneself a child again, one becomes frightened. What is happening?
           Because in our so-called world, so-called society and culture, all over the world, the child is not
           respected.
                The child is not thought to be real, the child is thought to be just a growing state. The child is
           thought to be just as a passage towards real life. The real life is when the childhood has disappeared
           -- that's what we have been taught. The childhood is nothing but a preparation. Go to the school, to
           the college, to the university; get prepared, get ready -- then begins the real life. So childhood is just
           like a preface, it is not the real book. That's what we have been taught.
                So again when you feel childhood raising its head, one can become scared. What is happening?
           Am I losing my memory? Am I losing my learning? Am I losing my adulthood? Am I losing all that
           I have learned with such cost, with such difficulties, with such hard work? -- am I relapsing back?
           regressing?
                If you ask a freudian analyst, he will say, 'Parijat, you are regressing. Beware, don't allow this.
           Otherwise all you have gained with such effort will be lost.' But I will tell you, you are not
           regressing. This is not the same childhood that you have lost; this is something absolutely new. It
           resembles the childhood, but it is something absolutely new. It is a new childhood, a second
           childhood, it is a rebirth. So don't get scared, don't start feeling that something is wrong.
                It happened to another woman... and it can happen to women more easily than to men, because
           women are still a little more uncivilized than men. They are closer to nature still. Because this whole
           society is man-oriented, women have been left behind. In a way this is very fortunate. Women are
           still more wild. That's why they can scream and get angry and cry and weep and tears can flow from
           their eyes. Man has become very frozen; women are still more fluid, liquid. So it is easier for women
           to enter the second childhood than for men. Men will have to make a little more arduous effort.
                To another woman it happened. She was very old, almost seventy. She became very much afraid.
           She came to me and she said, 'What is happening? I feel like a child. Not only that -- I feel like
           behaving like a child, laughing like a child, talking like a child. Not only that -- I would like to tease
           people.' A seventy-year-old woman wants to tease people like a small child. She was afraid,
           naturally so. I said, 'You don't be worried. You start playing with children.' She said, 'What? Start
           playing with children? You really mean so?' I said, 'Yes.'
                And she was really a good woman, a rare woman. She started playing with children -- Siddhartha
           and Purva, and small sannyasins became her friends. And even others were puzzled and surprised.
           And even others felt something tremendously beautiful happening. She used to play in the ashram
           with small children; small children of the labourers who worked for the Buddha Hall, with them also
           she became friends. It was a rare phenomenon. She accepted it and something started growing in her.
                When she left, she again came and said, 'Now, I am going to be in trouble. Osho, you have put
           me in trouble. I have enjoyed it so much. For the first time in my life there has been something
           significant. But how am I going to protect it in the West? People will simply put me in a madhouse.
           Here it is okay. Here you are, and here sannyasins are accepting, and they think that when Osho has
           said, then everything is okay. But who will protect me there? And I don't want to lose this dimension
           that has opened, I don't want to close this door. My whole life has been a wastage. These few days I
           have again become a child, I have loved to be, I have become so grateful to be -- a benediction has
           happened.'
                The same is possible for Parijat. She has a very soft heart. Let this first ray become more and
           more strong. Move with it, dance with it. Start singing again, start playing again. Even if people
           think it is mad, don't be bothered about those people. Because they have always been thinking that
           way. They thought St. Francis was mad because he had become like a child. They thought Jesus was
           mad, they thought Buddha was mad. They have always been thinking in those terms.
                In fact, they have lost all contact with nature. They are dead people. Whenever they see
           somewhere some radiance, some life arising, they start feeling humiliated. They cannot believe it --
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that it is possible. Because it has not happened to them, how can it happen to somebody else? 'How
           do you dare? It has not happened to me, how can it happen to you? Impossible! You must be
           imagining, or you must be in some psychological trouble.'
               Don't be bothered with these people. This society is mad. In this society every sane person is
           thought to be mad. He looks mad. It is a society of blind people. Suddenly your eyes open and you
           start talking about light, and all the blind people gather together and they say, 'What nonsense. This
           man has gone mad. Light does not exist. It is written in our scriptures that light does not exist. Our
           prophets have proved it, our philosophers have argued about it -- light does not exist. There is no
           god, there is no possibility of a second childhood.' They will deny.
               In fact, while they are denying, they are simply protecting themselves. They are afraid. If this is
           true, then it will create a restlessness in them, a discontent -- a divine discontent. And they are afraid
           of that discontent, because that will change their whole life, their whole style. It will destroy their
           past. For that they don't have courage enough. For that they are not brave enough. For that they will
           have to lose many conveniences, much comfort, a settled life, security -- no, they don't want to go
           that far.
               It is better to say 'god is dead'. It is better to say 'god never existed'. It is better to say that people
           who talk about god are just poets, dreamers, day-dreamers; people who talk about samadhi, ecstasy,
           meditation, are just navel-gazers, escapists. It is better to condemn these people. That is very
           protective. Then you can avoid the venture of the unknown.
               People are cowards; don't be worried about them. Go on your way, go on your way dancing.
           Remember only one thing: whatsoever feels good is good, whatsoever feels beautiful is beautiful,
           and whatsoever makes you joyful, gay, delighted, is truth. Let that be your only criterion. Don't be
           bothered by others' opinions. Let this be your only touchstone -- whatsoever makes you happy is
           bound to be true. Ananda -- bliss -- is the only criterion of truth.
               So, Parijat, if you feel good and happy, then don't be worried.

           LISTENING TO YOU TODAY, I BECAME A CHILD. I WANTED TO CALL OUT 'BUT I AM
           ONLY THREE.'

               Shout it to the trees, shout it to the world, shout it to the stars, that 'I am only three' -- and be.
           Three is exactly the age when a child dies, nearabout three. The child loses all contact with nature
           and becomes part of the society. It is the time, the boundary line which he crosses, loses all contact
           with his own being, becomes a member of the society. Up to then he was just like animals and trees
           and rocks. Then he is a citizen, then he starts learning manners, language, etiquette. Then, by and by,
           he is growing out of childhood, going farther and farther away from god.
               So if it has happened and you remember that 'I am three', be, be that age, and soon you will start
           going even deeper. You will be two, you will be one. One day you will suddenly see you are being
           born, passing through the birth canal, and one day you will see you are in the womb, surrounded by
           your mother's warmth.
               And at that moment first satori happens, first glimpse of samadhi. Because when you are in the
           womb there is no worry, no responsibility. You don't breathe even, the mother does that for you.
           When you are in a womb you are tremendously in surrender. In the womb there is no doubt, all is
           trust. In the womb the child knows no mind, he is simply there without any self.
               The first glimpse of enlightenment comes when one has entered again into the womb, one has
           come to recognize that one is again in the womb -- this whole universe becomes a womb. It is a
           womb. The whole universe becomes your mother. The whole universe becomes suddenly warm, it is
           not cold. It is loving. You are not in a strange world, you are at home. You are not an outsider, you
           are an insider. The first satori happens when you are again back in the womb of your mother.
               So, Parijat, go backwards. And this going backwards is not really going backwards, it is going
           forwards. Because you don't have any other language, that's why 'childhood', 'birth', 'womb', have to
           be used.
               Freud had a very uncanny, intuitive sense of recognizing a few things about which he was not
           even convinced. Sometimes he was against them, because he was not a religious person. But he had
           a very intuitive sense of recognizing things. Howsoever vaguely, but he recognized many things.
               One of his great insights was this: that religion is a search for the womb, and a religious person is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one who wants again to be a child in the mother's womb. Exactly it is so. He was talking about it in a
           negative way, he was condemning it. But it is exactly so. Then the circle is complete. You have
           come to the womb again; now the womb is the whole universe. Now your whole life has become
           circular, complete -- empty and complete, nothing and all.


              YOU HAVE SPOKEN OF SEX, LOVE AND COMPASSION. I KNOW WHAT SEX WITHOUT LOVE
              IS, AND I HAVE KNOWN ROMANTIC LOVE BASED ON UNFULFILLED DESIRES. BUT WHAT IS
              REAL LOVE WITHOUT SEX? WHAT IS COMPASSION?


                Man has three layers: the body, the mind and the soul. So whatsoever you do, you can do in three
           ways. Either it can be just from the body, or it can be from the mind, or it can be from the soul.
           Whatsoever you do, any act of yours, can have three qualities. Sex is love through the body;
           romantic love is sex through the mind; compassion is through the soul. But the energy is the same.
           Moving in a deeper way, its quality changes, but the energy is the same.
                If you live your love life only through the body, you live a very poor love life, because you live
           very superficially. Sex, just of the body, is not even sex -- it becomes sexuality. It becomes
           pornographic, it becomes a little obscene, it becomes a little brutal, ugly, because it has no depth in
           it. Then it is just a physical release of the energy. Maybe it helps you to become a little less tense,
           but just to become a little more relaxed you are losing tremendous energy, tremendously valuable
           energy.
                If it can become love you will not be losing it. In the same act you will be gaining also. On the
           physical level there is only loss -- sex is simply a loss of energy. Sex is a safety valve in the body:
           when the energy is too much and you don't know what to do with it, you throw it out. You feel
           relaxed because you are emptied of energy. A sort of rest comes, because the restless energy is
           thrown out -- but you are poorer than before, you are emptier than before.
                And again and again this will happen. Then your whole life will become just a routine of
           collecting energy by food, by breathing, by exercise, and then throwing it away. This looks absurd.
           First eat, breathe, exercise, create energy, and then you are worried what to do with it -- then throw
           it. This is meaningless, absurd.
                So sex becomes very soon meaningless. And a person who has known only sex of the body, and
           has not known the deeper dimension of love, becomes mechanical. His sex is just a repetition of the
           same act again and again and again.
           Prem Chinmaya has sent me a beautiful joke.

                There was this farmer and he was having a lot of trouble with his hens. He read an advertisement
           in a newspaper for a Super-cock: 'Five hundred dollars: we guarantee to double the fertility of your
           chickens.'
                Five hundred dollars is five hundred dollars, and so it took the farmer a couple of weeks to
           reckon that it was worth it. Finally, a week after he sent his cheque off, a truck arrived, the back
           doors were swung open, and the driver pulled out a large case with 'Super-cock' written all over it in
           red, white and blue. No sooner had the farmer opened the case than out sprang Super-cock.
                'Where is the hen house?' cried Super-cock. Amazed, the farmer pointed up some steps.
           Super-cock immediately ran over and up the steps and disappeared into the hen-house. Fifteen
           minutes later Super-cock emerged, victorious.
                The farmer said, 'That was fantastic, I have never seen anything like it before in my life. You just
           sit down here and eat your fill of this grain.'
                'No, no. Do you have any ducks? I love ducks also,' said the Super-cock. The farmer tried to get
           Super-cock to rest, as he knew how easily these new strains of cock became exhausted, and he had,
           after all, cost him five hundred dollars. Ten minutes later Super-cock returned from the stream where
           the farmer had reluctantly told him that the ducks were.
                Now the farmer was really angry at Super-cock and told him that he really had to rest or he
           would kill himself. 'You must have some turkeys? Which way is it to the turkeys?' cried the
           Super-cock. The farmer was so exasperated that he threw his arms in the air and walked off. Out of
           the corner of his eye he saw Super-cock strutting off in the direction of the turkey-house.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               An hour later he happened to look up in the sky and saw buzzards wheeling over his nearby field.
           Cursing and swearing under his breath, he walked over to where he could now see, sure enough, his
           five hundred dollar Super-cock dead in the field -- on his back with his feet raised in the air. Just as
           he was just about to pick Super-cock up by the legs, Super-cock opened one eye and said,
           whispering, 'Go away, go away. They are getting nearer.'

               A man who lives a life of physical sex is nothing but a Super-cock. He lives and dies just doing
           one thing, and all else is centered on that one thing. And it is futile, and it is not nourishing. Sex is
           not nourishing, it is destructive. Unless it becomes love it has no creative energy in it.

           YOU HAVE SPOKEN OF SEX, LOVE AND COMPASSION. I KNOW WHAT SEX WITHOUT
           LOVE IS....

                It is good that you recognize that you know what sex without love is. There are many people,
           millions of them, who will not recognize that, who will not even accept this -- they go on thinking
           and believing that they love. This is good -- this awareness is good; then possibilities open. Because
           once you recognize that you have touched only one layer of your being, then the second layer can be
           opened, penetrated.
                If you say that no, you know whatsoever there is to love, then it is very difficult to help you. So,
           good, the questioner is aware.... I KNOW WHAT SEX WITHOUT LOVE IS. It is miserable. It
           simply gives you a mechanical release. You can become addicted to it: you don't enjoy it then, but
           you will miss it. If you don't go into it you will feel restless, if you go into it there is nothing in it.
                That is what is happening in the West. People are going beyond sex -- not towards love, not
           towards compassion -- because that beyond is within; people are going beyond sex in a negative way
           -- sex is becoming absurd. They are finished with it. They are searching something else. That's why
           drugs have become so important. Sex is finished -- that was the oldest drug, the natural LSD. Now it
           is finished, and people don't know what to do now. The natural drug is no more appealing, they have
           had enough of it. So chemicals, LSD, marijuana, psilocybin and other things are becoming more
           important.
                In the West it is impossible now to prevent people from drugs. Unless sex starts becoming deeper
           and is transformed into love, there is no way: people will have to go towards drugs, helplessly. Even
           if they are reluctant they will have to go, because the old drug of sex is finished. It is not finished
           because it was futile, it is finished because people lived only on the superficial level. They never
           penetrated into the mystery of it.
                At the most people know something about what they call romantic love -- that too is not love;
           that is repressed sex. When you don't have the possibility of making a sexual contact, that repressed
           energy becomes romance. Then that repressed energy starts becoming cerebral, it starts moving into
           the head. When sex moves from the genital organs towards the head, it becomes romance. Romantic
           love is not really love, it is pseudo, it is a false coin. It is again the same sex but the opportunity was
           not there.
                In the past ages people lived very much in the romantic love because sex was not so easy. It was
           very difficult, the society created so many obstacles. Sex was so difficult that people had to repress
           it. That repressed energy would start moving into their heads -- would become poetry, painting and
           romance, and they would have dreams, beautiful dreams.
                Now that has disappeared, particularly in the West. In the East it is still there. In the West it has
           disappeared because sex has become available. Thanks to Freud there has been a great revolution in
           the West. The revolution has dropped all those barriers and inhibitions and repression upon sex
           energy. Now sex is easily available, there is no problem about it.
                It is so much available, more than you need -- that has created a problem. Romantic love has
           disappeared. Now in the West no romantic poetry is being written. Who will write romantic poetry?
           Sex is so easily available in the market, who will think about it? There is no need to think about it.
                Romantic love is the other side of the physical sex, the repressed side. It is not love. Both are ill.
           What you call sex, sexuality, and romantic love -- both are ill states of affairs. When body and mind
           meet, there is love. Love is healthy. In sexuality only body is there, in romantic love only head is
           there. Both are partial.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In love, body and mind meet: you become a unity, more of a unity. You love the person and sex
           comes just as a shadow to it. It is not vice versa. You love the person so much, your energies meet
           with the person so deeply, you feel so good by the other's presence, the other's presence is so
           fulfilling -- it completes you. Love comes as a shadow to it.
                Sex is not the center, love is the center; sex becomes the periphery. Yes, sometimes you would
           like to meet on the physical plane also, but there is no hankering for it. It is not an obsession, it is
           just a sharing of energy. The basic thing is deep. The periphery is good. With the center, the
           periphery is good; without the center, it becomes sexuality. Without the periphery, if it is only in the
           center, it becomes romantic love. When the periphery and the center are both together, there is a
           togetherness of body and mind. It is not only that you desire the other's body, but you desire the
           other's being -- then there is love. Love is healthy.
                Sexuality and romantic love are ill, unhealthy. They are a sort of neurosis, because they create a
           split in you. Love is a harmony. It is not only the body of the other, but his very being, his very
           presence that is loved. You don't use the other person as a means for release. You love the person.
           He is not, or she is not, a means, but an end unto herself or unto himself. Love is healthy.
                And there is another depth still left, which I call compassion. When body, mind and soul meet,
           then you have become a great unity. You have become a trinity. You have become trimurti. Then all
           that is in you, from the most superficial to the deepest depth, is in a meeting. Your soul also is part of
           your love. Of course, compassion is possible only through deep meditation.
                Sexuality is possible without any understanding, without any meditation. Love is possible only
           with understanding. Compassion is possible only with understanding and meditation, understanding
           and awareness. Not only do you understand and respect the other person, but you have come to your
           deepest core of being. Seeing your own deepest core, you have become capable of seeing the deepest
           core in the other also. Now the other does not exist as a body or a mind; the other exists as a soul.
           And souls are not separate. Your soul and my soul are one.
                When two bodies meet, they are separate. When two body-minds meet, their boundaries are
           overlapping. When two souls meet, they are one. Compassion is the highest form of love. It is
           possible only for a Buddha, or a Christ, or a Krishna to have compassion.
                But love is possible for many. A little more understanding of life, a little more watchfulness
           about life, will help many to become lovers. But if you are completely unconscious then you have to
           live the rotten life of sex. In compassion, the energy is purest; love completely has become of the
           depth. In fact in compassion love is no more a relationship, it has become a state.
                When you are in sexuality you don't bother much to whom you are making love -- any body will
           do. You just need a woman or a man, any body will do. You just need the other's body. In love, any
           body won't do, anybody's body won't do. You need a person who is in deep love with you, who has a
           certain affinity and harmony with you, in whose presence your heart starts singing, a deep bell starts
           ringing... in whose presence you feel a blessing. Then only is it possible for you to make love to the
           other person. To make love is possible only if the meeting -- the inner meeting -- has happened.
           Otherwise it is simply impossible to think, even to imagine that you are making love to a person you
           don't love.
                In the state of compassion, sex completely disappears. In the state of love, sex remains but
           becomes secondary. In the state of sexuality, sex is the only thing and the primary thing. In the
           second state -- of love -- sex is secondary, follows like a shadow. The flame is there and sex follows
           like smoke. In the first stage of sex, there is only smoke, there is no flame; the fuel is too wet for
           flame. There is only smoke and smoke and smoke. In the second state there is flame but still smoke
           is there, surrounding the flame. The flame is clouded by the smoke. In the third state of compassion
           there is only flame, no smoke -- it is a smokeless flame. Purity has attained absolutely.
                You can make sex to as many people as you want because there is no discrimination. It is
           animalistic. In the state of love you discriminate. Love is very individualistic, it is very choosey. In
           the state of compassion all individuality has disappeared; there is universality. You are simply
           compassion, you are simply love. Love goes on falling, overflowing. Whosoever comes close to you
           is fulfilled. Whosoever dares to come close to you is inflamed, carries a new glow.
                In compassion it is not a question between you and the other. You are not there, neither is the
           other -- only one energy, one tremendous energy of existence, dancing. It is NATARAJ, the dancing
           Shiva. The energy is in love with itself. It is tremendously ecstatic and happy. It is elated for no
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reason at all, it is extravagant. It has so much that it goes on pouring. It is a play.
               Sex is like work; you are too much worried about it. You want to do it, you want to finish it
           somehow. It is like a burden on you. Love is not like a burden, it is enjoyment. You cherish it, you
           taste it -- as a connoisseur tastes the wine. There is no hurry. There is no hurry to finish it, you would
           like to linger in it. You are slow, unhurried, patient.
               Sex is momentary, love has a longer period for it -- it lingers slowly. Compassion is eternal, it is
           timeless. Whether somebody is there or not is not the question then. A man of compassion has
           compassion. Buddha sitting under his bodhi tree is as loving as when he is surrounded by his
           sannyasins. When he is moving in the crowd he is as loving as when he is alone. Now love is a state.
               If you want to change from sex towards love, try to understand your sexuality. Watch it, watch
           the mechanicalness of it. See the futility, see the whole absurdity of it -- it is not leading you
           anywhere. Become a little more refined, become a little more subtle. Look not for the body, but
           somebody's being. Watch, explore. Sooner or later you will find somebody who fits with you.
               It can happen in the first sight even, because when energies fit, they fit. If they don't fit, they
           don't fit. You can struggle your whole life -- they will not fit. If they fit they fit immediately.
           Marriage has made love disappear badly, marriage has made love disappear from the earth. Because
           for other considerations marriage is arranged -- money, finance, family, prestige, astrology -- all
           absurd. They have nothing to do with the heart of the two persons who are going to be married.
               So marriage is almost always a failure; only in rare accidents it is not so -- but they are accidents,
           exceptions. They cannot be counted. Marriage is always on the rocks, because it is for wrong
           reasons. Only love can become the foundation of a real marriage, there is no other way. Because
           there is no other way to find that your wave length is exactly the same as the other's, that you vibrate
           in the same way as the other. There is no other way to find it out.
               Astrology is not helpful, neither somebody's prestige, family. No, nothing is important. Only one
           thing is important -- that two persons together vibrate in such a way that their vibrations become a
           pattern, a harmonious pattern. Only vibe can decide.
               In a better world people will be allowed to move and mingle and meet as many people as
           possible so they can find really somebody who gets into them and they get into him, or into her --
           somebody who has the same quality which fits and makes you complete and fulfills you.
               Love is possible. If the society is a little more healthy and less perverted, love is possible. In a
           good healthy society, love should be natural. In a perverted society -- the society in which we live
           and the whole world lives -- love has become impossible; only sex has remained possible. But
           compassion will become possible only if you make all efforts to become meditative, otherwise not.
               The last stage of compassion I call holy. The first stage I call unhealthy, ill; the second stage I
           call healthy, normal -- society can attain to the second stage. Only when society hinders with the
           individual life and tries to manipulate the individual and dominate it, the first stage happens.
               The third stage I call holy because it consists of the whole. That is possible only if you make
           individual efforts. Meditation will lead you to compassion. Buddha has said: If you meditate,
           compassion will arise automatically.


              OSHO, I HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, BUT EVERYTHING IN ME IS SAYING NO, NO, NO. I
              WANT TO LEAVE. I WANT TO GO HOME. YOGANANDA.


               Yogananda, you are a fool. You have come home. Where else do you want to go?
           It happened:

              Once a drunkard came back to his home in the deep mid-night.
              He was so drunk that he could not recognize his home. He knocked on the door. His old mother
           opened the door and said, 'Come in.'
              But he said, 'Old woman, I have knocked only just to ask -- where is my home? Just tell me. I
           remember faintly -- my home exists somewhere in this neighbourhood. The road seems to be
           familiar.
              The woman said, 'What are you talking? You fool! Come in! This is your home!'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yogananda, the same is my answer to you. You have come home. To whom are you saying no,
           no, no? Say yes -- and enter.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2
                                                    Chapter #11
                                       Chapter title: Spiritual enlightenment
           10 September 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7609100
              ShortTitle: TRANS211
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              LOOK UP TO HEAVEN AND DOWN ON EARTH AND THEY WILL REMIND YOU OF THEIR
              IMPERMANENCY.
              LOOK ABOUT THE WORLD AND IT WILL REMIND YOU OF ITS IMPERMANENCY. BUT WHEN
              YOU GAIN SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT YOU SHALL THEN FIND WISDOM.
              THE KNOWLEDGE THUS ATTAINED LEADS YOU ANON TO THE WAY.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              YOU SHOULD THINK OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF WHICH THE BODY IS COMPOSED. EACH
              OF THEM HAS ITS OWN NAME AND THERE IS NO SUCH THING THERE KNOWN AS EGO. AS
              THERE IS REALLY NO EGO, IT IS LIKE UNTO A MIRAGE.


                I AM REMINDED OF THE FATEFUL DAY of twenty-first March, 1953. For many lives I had
           been working -- working upon myself, struggling, doing whatsoever can be done -- and nothing was
           happening.
                Now I understand why nothing was happening. The very effort was the barrier, the very ladder
           was preventing, the very urge to seek was the obstacle. Not that one can reach without seeking.
           Seeking is needed, but then comes a point when seeking has to be dropped. The boat is needed to
           cross the river but then comes a moment when you have to get out of the boat and forget all about it
           and leave it behind. Effort is needed, without effort nothing is possible. And also only with effort,
           nothing is possible.
                Just before twenty-first March, 1953, seven days before, I stopped working on myself. A moment
           comes when you see the whole futility of effort. You have done all that you can do and nothing is
           happening. You have done all that is humanly possible. Then what else can you do? In sheer
           helplessness one drops all search.
                And the day the search stopped, the day I was not seeking for something, the day I was not
           expecting something to happen, it started happening. A new energy arose -- out of nowhere. It was
           not coming from any source. It was coming from nowhere and everywhere. It was in the trees and in
           the rocks and the sky and the sun and the air -- it was everywhere. And I was seeking so hard, and I
           was thinking it is very far away. And it was so near and so close.
                Just because I was seeking I had become incapable of seeing the near. Seeking is always for the
           far, seeking is always for the distant -- and it was not distant. I had become far-sighted, I had lost the
           near-sightedness. The eyes had become focussed on the far away, the horizon, and they had lost the
           quality to see that which is just close, surrounding you.
                The day effort ceased, I also ceased. Because you cannot exist without effort, and you cannot
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exist without desire, and you cannot exist without striving.
                The phenomenon of the ego, of the self, is not a thing, it is a process. It is not a substance sitting
           there inside you; you have to create it each moment. It is like pedalling bicycle. If you pedal it goes
           on and on, if you don't pedal it stops. It may go a little because of the past momentum, but the
           moment you stop pedalling, in fact the bicycle starts stopping. It has no more energy, no more power
           to go anywhere. It is going to fall and collapse.
                The ego exists because we go on pedalling desire, because we go on striving to get something,
           because we go on jumping ahead of ourselves. That is the very phenomenon of the ego -- the jump
           ahead of yourself, the jump in the future, the jump in the tomorrow. The jump in the non-existential
           creates the ego. Because it comes out of the non-existential it is like a mirage. It consists only of
           desire and nothing else. It consists only of thirst and nothing else.
                The ego is not in the present, it is in the future. If you are in the future, then ego seems to be very
           substantial. If you are in the present the ego is a mirage, it starts disappearing.
                The day I stopped seeking... and it is not right to say that I stopped seeking, better will be to say
           the day seeking stopped. Let me repeat it: the better way to say it is the day the seeking stopped.
           Because if I stop it then I am there again. Now stopping becomes my effort, now stopping becomes
           my desire, and desire goes on existing in a very subtle way.
                You cannot stop desire; you can only understand it. In the very understanding is the stopping of
           it. Remember, nobody can stop desiring, and the reality happens only when desire stops.
                So this is the dilemma. What to do? Desire is there and Buddhas go on saying desire has to be
           stopped, and they go on saying in the next breath that you cannot stop desire. So what to do? You
           put people in a dilemma. They are in desire, certainly. You say it has to be stopped -- okay. And then
           you say it cannot be stopped. Then what is to be done?
                The desire has to be understood. You can understand it, you can just see the futility of it. A direct
           perception is needed, an immediate penetration is needed. Look into desire, just see what it is, and
           you will see the falsity of it, and you will see it is non-existential. And desire drops and something
           drops simultaneously within you.
                Desire and the ego exist in cooperation, they coordinate. The ego cannot exist without desire, the
           desire cannot exist without the ego. Desire is projected ego, ego is introjected desire. They are
           together, two aspects of one phenomenon.
                The day desiring stopped, I felt very hopeless and helpless. No hope because no future. Nothing
           to hope because all hoping has proved futile, it leads nowhere. You go in rounds. It goes on dangling
           in front of you, it goes on creating new mirages, it goes on calling you, 'Come on, run fast, you will
           reach.' But howsoever fast you run you never reach.
                That's why Buddha calls it a mirage. It is like the horizon that you see around the earth. It
           appears but it is not there. If you go it goes on running from you. The faster you run, the faster it
           moves away. The slower you go, the slower it moves away. But one thing is certain -- the distance
           between you and the horizon remains absolutely the same. Not even a single inch can you reduce the
           distance between you and the horizon.
                You cannot reduce the distance between you and your hope. Hope is horizon. You try to bridge
           yourself with the horizon, with the hope, with a projected desire. The desire is a bridge, a dream
           bridge -- because the horizon exists not, so you cannot make a bridge towards it, you can only dream
           about the bridge. You cannot be joined with the non-existential.
                The day the desire stopped, the day I looked and realized into it, it simply was futile. I was
           helpless and hopeless. But that very moment something started happening. The same started
           happening for which for many lives I was working and it was not happening.
                In your hopelessness is the only hope, and in your desirelessness is your only fulfillment, and in
           your tremendous helplessness suddenly the whole existence starts helping you.
                It is waiting. When it sees that you are working on your own, it does not interfere. It waits. It can
           wait infinitely because there is no hurry for it. It is eternity. The moment you are not on your own,
           the moment you drop, the moment you disappear, the whole existence rushes towards you, enters
           you. And for the first time things start happening.
                Seven days I lived in a very hopeless and helpless state, but at the same time something was
           arising. When I say hopeless I don't mean what you mean by the word hopeless. I simply mean there
           was no hope in me. Hope was absent. I am not saying that I was hopeless and sad. I was happy in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fact, I was very tranquil, calm and collected and centered. Hopeless, but in a totally new meaning.
           There was no hope, so how could there be hopelessness. Both had disappeared.
               The hopelessness was absolute and total. Hope had disappeared and with it its counterpart,
           hopelessness, had also disappeared. It was a totally new experience -- of being without hope. It was
           not a negative state. I have to use words -- but it was not a negative state. It was absolutely positive.
           It was not just absence, a presence was felt. Something was overflowing in me, overflooding me.
               And when I say I was helpless, I don't mean the word in the dictionary-sense. I simply say I was
           selfless. That's what I mean when I say helpless. I have recognized the fact that I am not, so I cannot
           depend on myself, so I cannot stand on my own ground -- there was no ground underneath. I was in
           an abyss... bottomless abyss. But there was no fear because there was nothing to protect. There was
           no fear because there was nobody to be afraid.
               Those seven days were of tremendous transformation, total transformation. And the last day the
           presence of a totally new energy, a new light and new delight, became so intense that it was almost
           unbearable -- as if I was exploding, as if I was going mad with blissfulness. The new generation in
           the West has the right word for it -- I was blissed out, stoned.
               It was impossible to make any sense out of it, what was happening. It was a very non-sense
           world -- difficult to figure it out, difficult to manage in categories, difficult to use words, languages,
           explanations. All scriptures appeared dead and all the words that have been used for this experience
           looked very pale, anaemic. This was so alive. It was like a tidal wave of bliss.
               The whole day was strange, stunning, and it was a shattering experience. The past was
           disappearing, as if it had never belonged to me, as if I had read about it somewhere, as if I had
           dreamed about it, as if it was somebody else's story I have heard and somebody told it to me. I was
           becoming loose from my past, I was being uprooted from my history, I was losing my
           autobiography. I was becoming a non-being, what Buddha calls anatta. Boundaries were
           disappearing, distinctions were disappearing.
               Mind was disappearing; it was millions of miles away. It was difficult to catch hold of it, it was
           rushing farther and farther away, and there was no urge to keep it close. I was simply indifferent
           about it all. It was okay. There was no urge to remain continuous with the past.
               By the evening it became so difficult to bear it -- it was hurting, it was painful. It was like when a
           woman goes into labour when a child is to be born, and the woman suffers tremendous pain -- the
           birth pangs.
               I used to go to sleep in those days near about twelve or one in the night, but that day it was
           impossible to remain awake. My eyes were closing, it was difficult to keep them open. Something
           was very imminent, something was going to happen. It was difficult to say what it was -- maybe it is
           going to be my death -- but there was no fear. I was ready for it. Those seven days had been so
           beautiful that I was ready to die, nothing more was needed. They had been so tremendously blissful,
           I was so contented, that if death was coming, it was welcome.
               But something was going to happen -- something like death, something very drastic, something
           which will be either a death or a new birth, a crucifixion or a resurrection -- but something of
           tremendous import was around just by the corner. And it was impossible to keep my eyes open. I
           was drugged.
               I went to sleep near about eight. It was not like sleep. Now I can understand what Patanjali
           means when he says that sleep and samadhi are similar. Only with one difference -- that in samadhi
           you are fully awake and asleep also. Asleep and awake together, the whole body relaxed, every cell
           of the body totally relaxed, all functioning relaxed, and yet a light of awareness burns within you...
           clear, smokeless. You remain alert and yet relaxed, loose but fully awake. The body is in the deepest
           sleep possible and your consciousness is at its peak. The peak of consciousness and the valley of the
           body meet.
               I went to sleep. It was a very strange sleep. The body was asleep, I was awake. It was so strange
           -- as if one was torn apart into two directions, two dimensions; as if the polarity has become
           completely focused, as if I was both the polarities together... the positive and negative were meeting,
           sleep and awareness were meeting, death and life were meeting. That is the moment when you can
           say 'the creator and the creation meet.'
               It was weird. For the first time it shocks you to the very roots, it shakes your foundations. You
           can never be the same after that experience; it brings a new vision to your life, a new quality.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Near about twelve my eyes suddenly opened -- I had not opened them. The sleep was broken by
           something else. I felt a great presence around me in the room. It was a very small room. I felt a
           throbbing life all around me, a great vibration -- almost like a hurricane, a great storm of light, joy,
           ecstasy. I was drowning in it.
                It was so tremendously real that everything became unreal. The walls of the room became unreal,
           the house became unreal, my own body became unreal. Everything was unreal because now there
           was for the first time reality.
                That's why when Buddha and Shankara say the world is maya, a mirage, it is difficult for us to
           understand. Because we know only this world, we don't have any comparison. This is the only reality
           we know. What are these people talking about -- this is maya, illusion? This is the only reality.
           Unless you come to know the really real, their words cannot be understood, their words remain
           theoretical. They look like hypotheses. Maybe this man is propounding a philosophy -- 'The world is
           unreal'.
                When Berkley in the West said that the world is unreal, he was walking with one of his friends, a
           very logical man; the friend was almost a skeptic. He took a stone from the road and hit Berkley's
           feet hard. Berkley screamed, blood rushed out, and the skeptic said, 'Now, the world is unreal? You
           say the world is unreal? -- then why did you scream? This stone is unreal? -- then why did you
           scream? Then why are you holding your leg and why are you showing so much pain and anguish on
           your face. Stop this? It is all unreal.
                Now this type of man cannot understand what Buddha means when he says the world is a
           mirage. He does not mean that you can pass through the wall. He is not saying this -- that you can eat
           stones and it will make no difference whether you eat bread or stones. He is not saying that.
                He is saying that there is a reality. Once you come to know it, this so-called reality simply pales
           out, simply becomes unreal. With a higher reality in vision the comparison arises, not otherwise.
                In the dream; the dream is real. You dream every night. Dream is one of the greatest activities
           that you go on doing. If you live sixty years, twenty years you will sleep and almost ten years you
           will dream. Ten years in a life -- nothing else do you do so much. Ten years of continuous dreaming
           -- just think about it. And every night.... And every morning you say it was unreal, and again in the
           night when you dream, dream becomes real.
                In a dream it is so difficult to remember that this is a dream. But in the morning it is so easy.
           What happens? You are the same person. In the dream there is only one reality. How to compare?
           How to say it is unreal? Compared to what? It is the only reality. Everything is as unreal as
           everything else so there is no comparison. In the morning when you open your eyes another reality is
           there. Now you can say it was all unreal. Compared to this reality, dream becomes unreal.
                There is an awakening -- compared to THAT reality of THAT awakening, this whole reality
           becomes unreal.
                That night for the first time I understood the meaning of the word maya. Not that I had not
           known the word before, not that I was not aware of the meaning of the word. As you are aware, I
           was also aware of the meaning -- but I had never understood it before. How can you understand
           without experience?
                That night another reality opened its door, another dimension became available. Suddenly it was
           there, the other reality, the separate reality, the really real, or whatsoever you want to call it -- call it
           god, call it truth, call it dhamma, call it tao, or whatsoever you will. It was nameless. But it was there
           -- so opaque, so transparent, and yet so solid one could have touched it. It was almost suffocating me
           in that room. It was too much and I was not yet capable of absorbing it.
                A deep urge arose in me to rush out of the room, to go under the sky -- it was suffocating me. It
           was too much! It will kill me! If I had remained a few moments more, it would have suffocated me --
           it looked like that.
                I rushed out of the room, came out in the street. A great urge was there just to be under the sky
           with the stars, with the trees, with the earth... to be with nature. And immediately as I came out, the
           feeling of being suffocated disappeared. It was too small a place for such a big phenomenon. Even
           the sky is a small place for that big phenomenon. It is bigger than the sky. Even the sky is not the
           limit for it. But then I felt more at ease.
                I walked towards the nearest garden. It was a totally new walk, as if gravitation had disappeared.
           I was walking, or I was running, or I was simply flying; it was difficult to decide. There was no
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gravitation, I was feeling weightless -- as if some energy was taking me. I was in the hands of some
           other energy.
               For the first time I was not alone, for the first time I was no more an individual, for the first time
           the drop has come and fallen into the ocean. Now the whole ocean was mine, I was the ocean. There
           was no limitation. A tremendous power arose as if I could do anything whatsoever. I was not there,
           only the power was there.
               I reached to the garden where I used to go every day. The garden was closed, closed for the
           night. It was too late, it was almost one o'clock in the night. The gardeners were fast asleep. I had to
           enter the garden like a thief, I had to climb the gate. But something was pulling me towards the
           garden. It was not within my capacity to prevent myself. I was just floating.
               That's what I mean when I say again and again 'float with the river, don't push the river'. I was
           relaxed, I was in a let-go. I was not there. IT was there, call it god -- god was there.
               I would like to call it IT, because god is too human a word, and has become too dirty by too
           much use, has become too polluted by so many people. Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, priests
           and politicians -- they all have corrupted the beauty of the word. So let me call it IT. IT was there
           and I was just carried away... carried by a tidal wave.
               The moment I entered the garden everything became luminous, it was all over the place -- the
           benediction, the blessedness. I could see the trees for the first time -- their green, their life, their very
           sap running. The whole garden was asleep, the trees were asleep. But I could see the whole garden
           alive, even the small grass leaves were so beautiful.
               I looked around. One tree was tremendously luminous -- the maulshree tree. It attracted me, it
           pulled me towards itself. I had not chosen it, god himself has chosen it. I went to the tree, I sat under
           the tree. As I sat there things started settling. The whole universe became a benediction.
               It is difficult to say how long I was in that state. When I went back home it was four o'clock in
           the morning, so I must have been there by clock time at least three hours -- but it was infinity. It had
           nothing to do with clock time. It was timeless.
               Those three hours became the whole eternity, endless eternity. There was no time, there was no
           passage of time; it was the virgin reality -- uncorrupted, untouchable, unmeasurable.
               And that day something happened that has continued -- not as a continuity -- but it has still
           continued as an undercurrent. Not as a permanency -- each moment it has been happening again and
           again. It has been a miracle each moment.
               That night... and since that night I have never been in the body. I am hovering around it. I
           became tremendously powerful and at the same time very fragile. I became very strong, but that
           strength is not the strength of a Mohammed Ali. That strength is not the strength of a rock, that
           strength is the strength of a rose flower -- so fragile in his strength... so fragile, so sensitive, so
           delicate.
               The rock will be there, the flower can go any moment, but still the flower is stronger than the
           rock because it is more alive. Or, the strength of a dewdrop on a leaf of grass just shining; in the
           morning sun -- so beautiful, so precious, and yet can slip any moment. So incomparable in its grace,
           but a small breeze can come and the dewdrop can slip and be lost forever.
               Buddhas have a strength which is not of this world. Their strength is totally of love... Like a rose
           flower or a dewdrop. Their strength is very fragile, vulnerable. Their strength is the strength of life
           not of death. Their power is not of that which kills; their power is of that which creates. Their power
           is not of violence, aggression; their power is that of compassion.
               But I have never been in the body again, I am just hovering around the body. And that's why I
           say it has been a tremendous miracle. Each moment I am surprised I am still here, I should not be. I
           should have left any moment, still I am here. Every morning I open my eyes and I say, 'So, again I
           am still here?' Because it seems almost impossible. The miracle has been a continuity.
               Just the other day somebody asked a question -- 'Osho, you are getting so fragile and delicate and
           so sensitive to the smells of hair oils and shampoos that it seems we will not be able to see you
           unless we all go bald.' By the way, nothing is wrong with being bald -- bald is beautiful. Just as
           'black is beautiful', so 'bald is beautiful'. But that is true and you have to be careful about it.
               I am fragile, delicate and sensitive. That is my strength. If you throw a rock at a flower nothing
           will happen to the rock, the flower will be gone. But still you cannot say that the rock is more
           powerful than the flower. The flower will be gone because the flower was alive. And the rock --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing will happen to it because it is dead. The flower will be gone because the flower has no
           strength to destroy. The flower will simply disappear and give way to the rock. The rock has a power
           to destroy because the rock is dead.
               Remember, since that day I have never been in the body really; just a delicate thread joins me
           with the body. And I am continuously surprised that somehow the whole must be willing me to be
           here, because I am no more here with my own strength, I am no more here on my own. It must be the
           will of the whole to keep me here, to allow me to linger a little more on this shore. Maybe the whole
           wants to share something with you through me.
               Since that day the world is unreal. Another world has been revealed. When I say the world is
           unreal I don't mean that these trees are unreal. These trees are absolutely real -- but the way you see
           these trees is unreal. These trees are not unreal in themselves -- they exist in god, they exist in
           absolute reality -- but the way you see them you never see them; you are seeing something else, a
           mirage.
               You create your own dream around you and unless you become awake you will continue to
           dream. The world is unreal because the world that you know is the world of your dreams. When
           dreams drop and you simply encounter the world that is there, then the real world.
               There are not two things, god and the world. God is the world if you have eyes, clear eyes,
           without any dreams, without any dust of the dreams, without any haze of sleep; if you have clear
           eyes, clarity, perceptiveness, there is only god.
               Then somewhere god is a green tree, and somewhere else god is a shining star, and somewhere
           else god is a cuckoo, and somewhere else god is a flower, and somewhere else a child and
           somewhere else a river -- then only god is. The moment you start seeing, only god is.
               But right now whatsoever you see is not the truth, it is a projected lie. That is the meaning of a
           mirage. And once you see, even for a single split moment, if you can see, if you can allow yourself
           to see, you will find immense benediction present all over, everywhere -- in the clouds, in the sun, on
           the earth.
               This is a beautiful world. But I am not talking about your world, I am talking about my world.
           Your world is very ugly, your world is your world created by a self, your world is a projected world.
           You are using the real world as a screen and projecting your own ideas on it.
               When I say the world is real, the world is tremendously beautiful, the world is luminous with
           infinity, the world is light and delight, it is a celebration, I mean my world -- or your world if you
           drop your dreams.
               When you drop your dreams you see the same world as any Buddha has ever seen. When you
           dream you dream privately. Have you watched it? -- that dreams are private. You cannot share them
           even with your beloved. You cannot invite your wife to your dream -- or your husband, or your
           friend. You cannot say, 'Now, please come tonight in my dream. I would like to see the dream
           together.' It is not possible. Dream is a private thing, hence it is illusory, it has no objective reality.
               God is a universal thing. Once you come out of your private dreams, it is there. It has been
           always there. Once your eyes are clear, a sudden illumination -- suddenly you are overflooded with
           beauty, grandeur and grace. That is the goal, that is the destiny.

               Let me repeat. Without effort you will never reach it, with effort nobody has ever reached it. You
           will need great effort, and only then there comes a moment.when effort becomes futile. But it
           becomes futile only when you have come to the very peak of it, never before it. When you have
           come to the very pinnacle of your effort -- all that you can do you have done -- then suddenly there is
           no need to do anything any more. You drop the effort.
               But nobody can drop it in the middle, it can be dropped only at the extreme end. So go to the
           extreme end if you want to drop it. Hence I go on insisting: make as much effort as you can, put your
           whole energy and total heart in it, so that one day you can see -- now effort is not going to lead me
           anywhere. And that day it will not be you who will drop the effort, it drops on its own accord. And
           when it drops on its own accord, meditation happens.
               Meditation is not a result of your efforts, meditation is a happening. When your efforts drop,
           suddenly meditation is there... the benediction of it, the blessedness of it, the glory of it. It is there
           like a presence... luminous, surrounding you and surrounding everything. It fills the whole earth and
           the whole sky.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That meditation cannot be created by human effort. Human effort is too limited. That blessedness
           is so infinite. You cannot manipulate it. It can happen only when you are in a tremendous surrender.
           When you are not there only then it can happen. When you are a no-self -- no desire, not going
           anywhere -- when you are just herenow, not doing anything in particular, just being, it happens. And
           it comes in waves and the waves become tidal. It comes like a storm, and takes you away into a
           totally new reality.
               But first you have to do all that you can do, and then you have to learn non-doing. The doing of
           the non-doing is the greatest doing, and the effort of effortlessness is the greatest effort.
               Your meditation that you create by chanting a mantra or by sitting quiet and still and forcing
           yourself, is a very mediocre meditation. It is created by you, it cannot be bigger than you. It is
           homemade, and the maker is always bigger than the made. You have made it by sitting, forcing in a
           yoga posture, chanting 'rama, rama, rama' or anything -- 'blah, blah, blah' -- anything. You have
           forced the mind to become still.
               It is a forced stillness. It is not that quiet that comes when you are not there. It is not that silence
           which comes when you are almost non-existential. It is not that beautitude which descends on you
           like a dove.
               It is said when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, god descended in him,
           or the holy ghost descended in him like a dove. Yes, that is exactly so. When you are not there peace
           descends in you... fluttering like a dove... reaches in your heart and abides there and abides there
           forever.
               You are your undoing, you are the barrier. Meditation is when the meditator is not. When the
           mind ceases with all its activities -- seeing that they are futile -- then the unknown penetrates you,
           overwhelms you.
               The mind must cease for god to be. Knowledge must cease for knowing to be. You must
           disappear, you must give way. You must become empty, then only you can be full.
               That night I became empty and became full. I became non-existential and became existence. That
           night I died and was reborn. But the one that was reborn has nothing to do with that which died, it is
           a discontinuous thing. On the surface it looks continuous but it is discontinuous. The one who died,
           died totally; nothing of him has remained.
               Believe me, nothing of him has remained, not even a shadow. It died totally, utterly. It is not that
           I am just a modified RUP, transformed, modified form, transformed form of the old. No, there has
           been no continuity. That day of March twenty-first, the person who had lived for many many lives,
           for millennia, simply died. Another being, absolutely new, not connected at all with the old, started
           to exist.
               Religion just gives you a total death. Maybe that's why the whole day previous to that happening
           I was feeling some urgency like death, as if I am going to die -- and I really died. I have known many
           other deaths but they were nothing compared to it, they were partial deaths.
               Sometimes the body died, sometimes a part of the mind died, sometimes a part of the ego died,
           but as far as the person was concerned, it remained. Renovated many times, decorated many times,
           changed a little bit here and there, but it remained, the continuity remained.
               That night the death was total. It was a date with death and god simultaneously.
           Now this sutra.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              LOOK UP TO HEAVEN AND DOWN ON EARTH AND THEY WILL REMIND YOU OF THEIR
              IMPERMANENCY.
              LOOK ABOUT THE WORLD AND IT WILL REMIND YOU OF ITS IMPERMANENCY. BUT WHEN
              YOU GAIN SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT YOU SHALL THEN FIND WISDOM.
              THE KNOWLEDGE THUS ATTAINED LEADS YOU ANON TO THE WAY.



              LOOK UP TO HEAVEN AND DOWN ON EARTH AND THEY WILL REMIND YOU OF THEIR
              IMPERMANENCY.


              Look. You don't look, you never look. Before you look you have an idea. You never look in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           purity, you never look unprejudiced. You always carry some prejudice, you always carry some
           opinion, ideology, scripture -- your own experience or others' experiences, but you always carry
           something in the mind. You are never naked with reality.
               And when Buddha says, LOOK UP TO HEAVEN AND DOWN ON EARTH, he means look
           with a naked eye, with no coatings of opinions, ideas, experiences, borrowed or otherwise.
               Have you seen a naked eye? As far as humanity is concerned it is very rare to come across a
           naked eye. All eyes are so dressed up. Somebody has a christian eye, somebody has a hindu eye,
           somebody has a mohammedan eye. They look differently.
               When a Mohammedan reads the Gita he never reads the same thing that a Hindu reads in it.
           When a Jaina reads the Gita he reads something else again. A Hindu can read the Bible but he will
           never read that which a Christian reads. The Bible is the same. From where does this difference
           come? The difference must be coming from the eye, the difference must be coming from the mind.
               Have you ever read a single page of a book without bringing your mind in it, without corrupting
           it by your mind, by your past? Without interpreting it, have you ever looked at anything in life? If
           not then you have not looked at all, then you don't have real eyes. You have just holes not eyes.
               The eye has to be receptive, not aggressive. When you have a certain idea in the eye, in your
           mind, it is aggressive. It immediately imposes itself on things. When you have an empty eye, naked,
           undressed, not Christian, not Hindu, not Communist, just pure look, innocent... primal innocence --
           innocent as an animal's eye or a child, a newborn child. A just-born child looks around -- he has no
           idea of what is what. What is beautiful and what is ugly, he has no idea. That primal innocence has
           to be. Only then you will be able to see what Buddha says.
               You have been looking in life but you have not come to see that all is impermanence. Everything
           is dying, everything is decaying, everything is on a death procession. People are standing in a death
           queue. Look around -- everything rushing towards death. Everything is fleeting, momentary,
           fluxlike; nothing seems to be of eternal value, nothing seems to abide, nothing seems to hold,
           nothing seems to remain. Everything just goes on and on and on, and goes on changing. What else is
           a dream?
               Buddha says this life, this world that you live in, that you are surrounded with, that you have
           created around yourself, is but a dream -- impermanent, temporary. Don't make your abode there,
           otherwise you will suffer. Because nobody can be contented with the temporary. By the time you
           think it is in your hands it is gone. By the time you think you have possessed it, it is no more there.
           You struggle for it -- by the time you achieve it, it has disappeared.
               The beauty is fleeting, love is fleeting, everything in this life is fleeting. You are running to catch
           shadows. They look real; by the time you have arrived they prove mirages.

              LOOK UP TO HEAVEN AND DOWN ON EARTH AND THEY WILL REMIND YOU OF THEIR
              IMPERMANENCY.
              LOOK ABOUT THE WORLD AND IT WILL REMIND YOU OF ITS IMPERMANENCY.


                It is one of the most fundamental principles of Gautam the Buddha -- that one should become
           aware of the impermanent world we are surrounded with. Then immediately you will be able to
           understand why Buddha calls it a dream, a maya, illusion.
                In the East our definition of truth is that which abides forever, and of untruth, that which is there
           this moment and next moment is not there.
                Untruth is that which is temporary, momentary, impermanent. And truth is that which is, always
           is, has been, will be. Behind these fleeting shadows find the eternal, penetrate to the eternal, because
           there can be bliss only with the eternal; misery only with the momentary.

              BUT WHEN YOU GAIN SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT...


              That's why I was reminded of my own experience and I talked about it to you.

              ... BUT WHEN YOU GAIN SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT YOU SHALL THEN FIND WISDOM.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Wisdom cannot be found through scriptures; it is an experience. It is not knowledge, wisdom is
           not knowledge. You cannot gather it from others, you cannot borrow it. It is not information. You
           cannot learn it from the scriptures. There is only one way to become wise and that is to enter into a
           live experience of life.
                Something is said by Buddha -- you hear it; something I say -- you hear it -- but you don't
           become wise by hearing it. It will become knowledge. You can repeat it, you can repeat it even in a
           better way. You can become very skillful, efficient, in repeating it. You can say it in a better
           language, but you don't have the experience.
                You have never tasted the wine yourself. You have simply seen some drunkard moving,
           wobbling on the road, fallen in a gutter. You have simply watched a drunkard, how he moves, how
           he stumbles, but you don't know what the experience is. You will have to become a drunkard -- there
           is no other way.
                You can watch a thousand and one drunkards and you can collect all information about them, but
           that will be from the outside and the experience is inner. That will be from without, and you will
           collect it as a spectator. And the experience cannot be attained by seeing, it can be attained only by
           being.
                Now the modern world has become very obsessed by seeing; the modern world is the spectator's
           world. People are sitting for hours in the movie houses, just watching, doing nothing. In the West
           people are glued to their chairs for hours, six hours, eight hours even, just sitting before their tv:s.
           You listen to somebody singing and you see somebody dancing and you see somebody making love
           -- that's why people are so much interested in pornography -- but you are a spectator.
                The modern man is the falsest man that has ever existed on the earth, and his falsity consists in
           that he thinks he can know by just seeing, just by being a spectator. People are sitting for hours
           seeing hockey matches, volley ball matches, cricket matches -- for hours. When are you going to
           play yourself? When are you going to love somebody? When are you going to dance and sing and
           be?
                This is a very borrowed life. Somebody dances for you; maybe you can enjoy it, but how can you
           know the beauty of dance unless you dance? It is something inner. What happens when a person is
           dancing? What happens to his innermost core?
                Nijinsky, one of the greatest dancers, used to say that there come moments when he disappears,
           only the dance remains. Those are the peak moments -- when the dancer is not there and only the
           dance is. That's what Buddha is saying -- when the self is not there.
                Now Nijinsky is moving into an ecstasy, and you are just sitting there watching the movement.
           Of course those movements are beautiful. Nijinsky's movements have a grace, a tremendous beauty,
           but it is nothing compared to what he is feeling inside. His dance is a beauty, even when you are just
           a spectator, but nothing compared to what is happening inside him.
                He used to say that there are moments when gravitation disappears. I can understand because I
           have come across the feeling myself when gravitation disappears. And it was only for moments that
           gravitation disappeared for me. Now I have lived for years without gravitation. I know what he
           means.
                Even scientists were very much puzzled, because there were moments in Nijinsky's dance when
           he would leap and jump -- and those leaps were tremendous, almost impossible leaps. A man cannot
           leap that way; the gravitation does not allow. And the most beautiful and amazing part was that
           when Nijinsky would be coming back from the leap he would come so slowly that it is impossible.
           He would come so slowly as if a leaf is falling from a tree... very slowly, very slowly, very slowly.
                It is not possible, it is against the physical law, it is against physics. The gravitation does not
           make any exceptions, not even for a Nijinsky. And he was asked again and again, 'What happens?
           How do you fall so slowly? Because it is not within your power to control -- the gravitation pulls
           you.' He said, 'It does not happen always, only rarely -- when the dancer disappears. Then sometimes
           I am also puzzled, surprised, not only you. I see myself coming so slowly, so gracefully, and I know
           that the gravitation does not exist in that moment.'
                He must be functioning in another dimension where the physical law does not exist, where
           another law starts working that spiritualists call the law of levitation.
                And it seems absolutely rational and logical to have both the laws, because each law has to be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           counterbalanced by another law in the opposite direction. If there is light there is darkness, if there is
           life there is death, if there is gravitation there must be levitation that pulls you up. There must be
           ways where a person is pulled up.
                There are stories... especially the story about Mohammed -- that he went to heaven with his
           physical body; not only with his physical body, with his horse. Sitting on the horse, he simply went
           to heaven, upwards. It looks absurd, Mohammedans have not been able to prove it, but the meaning
           is clear. The story may have not exactly happened, but the meaning is clear.
                The meaning is to be understood, it is very symbolical. It simply says that there is a law of
           levitation and if Mohammed cannot be pulled by levitation, then who will be pulled? He is the right
           person, a person who exists not. The ego is under gravitation, the no-ego is not under gravitation -- a
           weightlessness arises.
                Nijinsky went mad because he was simply a dancer and he never knew anything about
           meditation, ecstasy, enlightenment. That became a trouble for him.
                If you don't understand and if you don't move with awareness and suddenly you stumble upon
           something which cannot be explained by ordinary laws, you will go mad. Because you will be
           disturbed by it. It is so weird, it is so eerie. You cannot explain it. You start getting disturbed by it.
           He himself started getting disturbed by the phenomenon. Finally it was so staggering it disturbed his
           whole mind.
                God is very destructive. If you don't go rightly, you will be destroyed, because god is fire. Many
           people go mad if they don't move rightly. If they don't move under right guidance they can go mad.
           It is not a child's play, one has to understand.
                And god -- if he happens like an accident -- you will not be able to absorb. Your old world will
           be shattered and you will not be able to create a new order, a new understanding. Because for the
           new understanding you will need new concepts, a new framework, a new gestalt. That is the whole
           meaning of finding a master.
                It is not just from gullibility that people become attached to masters, it has a scientific base to it.
           Moving into the unknown is a tremendous risk. One should move with somebody who has already
           moved into it. One should move hand in hand with somebody who knows the territory. Otherwise
           the thing can happen so shatteringly that you will be at a loss.
                Many people go mad if they don't know that somebody's help is needed. Somebody is needed
           like a midwife. You will be born, but somebody will be needed to watch over it. His very presence
           will be helpful; you can relax. The midwife is there, the doctor is there -- you can relax.
                They don't do much -- you can ask Dr. Ajit Saraswati -- they don't do much; what can they do? --
           but their very presence relaxes the woman who is going under labour. She knows the doctor is there,
           the nurse is there, the midwife is there. Everything is okay, she goes, she relaxes, she is no more
           fighting. She knows if something goes wrong people are around who will put it right. She can relax,
           she can trust.
                The same happens to a disciple. It is a process of rebirth. A master is needed. But from the
           master don't go on collecting knowledge; from the master take hints and move into experience.
                I talk about meditation. You can do two things. You can collect whatsoever I say about
           meditation, you can compile it. You can become a great, knowledgeable person about meditation --
           because every day I go on talking about meditation from different dimensions in different ways. You
           can collect all that, you can get a Ph. D. from any university. But that is not going to make you wise,
           unless you meditate.
                So whatsoever I am saying, try it in life. While I am here don't waste time in collecting
           knowledge. That you can do without me, that you can do in a library. While I am here take a jump, a
           quantum leap into wisdom. EXPERIENCE these things I am saying to you.

              BUT WHEN YOU GAIN SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT YOU SHALL THEN FIND WISDOM.


               Wisdom is only through one's own experience. It is never from anybody else. Wisdom always
           happens as a flower opens... just like that. When your heart opens, you have a fragrance -- that
           fragrance is wisdom. You can bring a plastic flower from the market, you can deceive neighbours.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I used to live near Mulla Nasrudin once. I used to see him every day pouring water into a pot
           which was hanging in his window, with beautiful flowers. I watched him many times. Whenever he
           would be pouring water, there was no water, the pot was empty. I could see that there was no water
           and the pot was empty, but he would pour twice every day, religiously.
              I asked Nasrudin, 'What are you doing? You don't have any water and you go on pouring it,
           which is not there! And I have been watching you for many days.' He said, 'Don't get disturbed.
           These flowers are plastic flowers. They don't need water.'

               Plastic flowers don't need water, they are not alive. They don't need soil, they are not alive. They
           don't need fertilizers, they are not alive. They don't need any manure, they are not alive.
               Real flowers are like wisdom. Wisdom is like real flowers, knowledge is plastic. That's why it is
           cheap. It is very cheap, you can get it for nothing, because it is borrowed. Experience is a radical
           change in your life; you cannot be the same.
               If you want to become wise you will have to go through transformations, a million and one
           transformations. You will have to pass through fire. Only then whatsoever is there which is ugly and
           useless will be burnt, and you will come out as pure gold.

               THE KNOWLEDGE THUS ATTAINED LEADS YOU ANON TO THE WAY.


               ... And the wisdom only. The knowledge thus attained through one's own experience, through
           one's own enlightening experience, through one's own satori, samadhi, makes you capable of falling
           in tune with the way.
               The Buddha calls it dhamma, tao. Then you are in harmony -- what Pythagoras calls harmonia.
           Then you are suddenly not there, only the law is there, the dhamma is there, the way is there -- or
           call it god... is there. Then you are simply with the whole. You go with it wherever it goes. Then you
           don't have any goal of your own. Then the whole's destiny is your destiny. Then there is no anxiety,
           no tension. Then one is immensely relaxed.
               In fact, one is so relaxed that one is not! The ego is nothing but accumulated tensions through
           lives. When you are totally relaxed and you look within, there is nobody. It is simple purity,
           emptiness, vastness.

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               YOU SHOULD THINK OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF WHICH THE BODY IS COMPOSED. EACH
               OF THEM HAS ITS OWN NAME AND THERE IS NO SUCH THING THERE KNOWN AS EGO. AS
               THERE REALLY IS NO EGO, IT IS LIKE UNTO A MIRAGE.


               Buddha says ego is just a concept, an idea; it does not exist in reality. When a child is born he is
           born without any 'I'. By and by he learns it, by and by he learns that there are other people and he is
           separate from them. Have you watched small children when they start speaking? They don't say, 'I
           am thirsty.' They say, 'Bobby is thirsty.' They don't say, 'I am thirsty.' They don't have any 'I'.
               By and by they learn the 'I', because they start feeling 'thou'. Thou comes first, then comes I, as a
           reaction to thou. They started feeling that there are other people who are separate from Bobby, and
           they are called 'thou', you. Then by and by he starts learning the 'I'.
               But it is just a utility. Useful, perfectly useful -- use it. I'm not saying stop using 'I', because that
           will create troubles. But know well that there is no 'I' within you; it is just a linguistic convenience.
           Just as the name is a convenience so is the 'I'.
               When a child is born he has no name. Then we call him Ram or Krishna, and he becomes a Ram.
           Later on if you insult the name 'Ram' he will start fighting, and he had come in the world without a
           name. And he has no name, it is just a label -- utilitarian, needed, but nothing true in it. He can as
           well be called Krishna or Mohammed or Mansoor or anything. Any name will do because he is
           nameless.
               That's why I change your names when I initiate you into sannyas -- just to give you a feeling that
           the name can be changed, it does not belong to you. It can easily be changed. It has a utility in the
           world, but it has no reality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The child learnt that his name is Ram. The name is for others to call him. He cannot call himself
           Ram because that too will be confusing. Others call him Ram, he has to call himself something else,
           otherwise it will be confusing.
               Swami Ram Teerth used to call himself Ram, in the third person. It was very confusing. He was a
           beautiful man, and just not to use 'I' -- because the 'I' has created so much trouble -- just as a gesture,
           he used to call himself Ram. When he went to America he would say suddenly, 'Ram is thirsty,' and
           people would not understand. What does he mean? -- 'Ram is thirsty.' They would look around --
           who is Ram? And he would say, 'This Ram is thirsty.' But this is confusing. You say, 'I am thirsty,'
           and things are settled. Because when you use the name it seems that somebody else is thirsty.
               So there is a need for a name others can call you, and there is a need for something, a symbol,
           that you can call yourself. It is a need of the society, it has nothing to do with existence or reality.

              YOU SHOULD THINK OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF WHICH THE BODY IS COMPOSED...


               Buddha says the body is composed of fire, earth, water, air -- these four things are there, they are
           real things, and there is nothing else. Behind these four things there is just pure space inside you.
           That pure space is what you really are -- that zero space.
               Buddha does not want to call it even a self, because the self carries again some distant reflection
           of the ego. So he calls it no-self, ANATTA. He does not call it ATMA, self, he calls it ANATMA,
           no-self. And he is right, he is absolutely right. One should not call it any name.
               I have come across it. It has no name, and it has no form. It has no substance, and it has no
           center. It is just immense, pure, empty, full. It is pure bliss -- satchidananda. It is truth, it is
           consciousness, it is bliss, but it has no 'I'-sense in it. It is not confined by anything, it has no
           boundaries. It is pure space. To attain to that purity is what Buddha says is nirvana.
               The word nirvana is beautiful. It means 'blowing out a flame'. There is a lamp, you go and blow
           the flame of the lamp. Then Buddha says, 'Do you ask where the flame has gone now? Can anybody
           answer where the flame has gone now?' Buddha says it has simply disappeared into infinity. It has
           not gone anywhere, it has gone everywhere. It has not gone to any particular address, it has become
           universal.
               Blowing out a flame is the meaning of the word nirvana. And Buddha says when you blow out
           your ego, the flame of the ego, only pure space is left. Then you are nobody in particular, you are
           everybody. Then you are universal. Then you are this vast benediction, this bliss, this beautitude.
           Then you are IT.




                   The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                        Discourses on the 42 Sutras of Buddha
                                     Talks given from 21/10/76 am to 30/10/76 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     10 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1976
           Originally published in two volumes, later released as four volumes.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                  Chapter #1
                              Chapter title: You Are Always on the Funeral Pyre
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           21 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610210
              ShortTitle: TRANS301
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




               THE SUTRA OF FORTY-TWO CHAPTERS
               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "MOVED BY THEIR SELFISH DESIRES, PEOPLE SEEK AFTER FAME AND GLORY. BUT WHEN
               THEY HAVE ACQUIRED IT, THEY ARE ALREADY STRICKEN IN YEARS. IF YOU HANKER AFTER
               WORLDLY FAME AND PRACTISE NOT THE WAY, YOUR LABOURS ARE WRONGFULLY
               APPLIED AND YOUR ENERGY IS WASTED. IT IS LIKE UNTO BURNING AN INCENSE STICK.
               HOWEVER MUCH ITS PLEASING ODOUR BE ADMIRED, THE FIRE THAT CONSUMES IS
               STEADILY BURNING UP THE STICK."
               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "PEOPLE CLEAVE TO THEIR WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND SELFISH PASSIONS SO BLINDLY
               AS TO SACRIFICE THEIR OWN LIVES FOR THEM. THEY ARE LIKE A CHILD WHO TRIES TO EAT
               A LITTLE HONEY SMEARED ON THE EDGE OF A KNIFE. THE AMOUNT IS BY NO MEANS
               SUFFICIENT TO APPEASE HIS APPETITE, BUT HE RUNS THE RISK OF WOUNDING HIS
               TONGUE."
               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "MEN ARE TIED UP TO THEIR FAMILIES AND POSSESSIONS MORE HELPLESSLY THAN IN A
               PRISON. THERE IS AN OCCASION FOR THE PRISONER TO BE RELEASED, BUT
               HOUSEHOLDERS ENTERTAIN NO DESIRE TO BE RELIEVED FROM THE TIES OF FAMILY.
               WHEN A MAN'S PASSION IS AROUSED NOTHING PREVENTS HIM FROM RUINING HIMSELF.
               EVEN INTO THE MAWS OF A TIGER HE WILL JUMP. THOSE WHO ARE THUS DROWNED IN
               THE FILTH OF PASSION ARE CALLED THE IGNORANT. THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO
               OVERCOME IT ARE SAINTLY ARHATS."


                THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA is not a religion in the ordinary sense of the term, because it has
           no belief-system, no dogma, no scripture. It does not believe in God, it does not believe in the soul, it
           does not believe in any state of moksha. It is a tremendous unbelief -- and yet it is a religion.
                It is unique. Nothing has ever happened before like that in the history of human consciousness,
           and nothing afterwards. Buddha remains utterly unique, incomparable.
                He says that God is nothing but a search for security, a search for safety, a search for shelter.
           You believe in God, not because God is there; you believe in God because you feel helpless without
           that belief. Even if there is no God, you will go on inventing. The temptation comes from your
           weakness. It is a projection.
                Man feels very limited, very helpless, almost a victim of circumstances -- not knowing from
           where he comes and not knowing where he is going, not knowing why he is here. If there is no God
           it is very difficult for ordinary man to have any meaning in life. The ordinary mind will go berserk
           without God.
                God is a prop -- it helps you, it consoles you, it comforts you. It says, "Don't be worried -- the
           Almighty God knows everything about why you are here. He is the Creator, He knows why He has
           created the world. You may not know but the Father knows, and you can trust in Him." It is a great
           consolation.
                The very idea of God gives you a sense of relief -- that you are not alone, that somebody is
           looking after the affairs; that this cosmos is not just a chaos, it is REALLY a cosmos; that there is a
           system behind it, that there is logic behind it; that it is not an illogical jumble of things, that it is not
           anarchy. Somebody rules it; the sovereign King is there looking after each small detail -- not even a
           leaf moves without His moving it. Everything is planned. You are part of a great destiny. Maybe the
           meaning is not known to you, but the meaning is there -- because God is there.
                God brings a tremendous relief. One starts feeling that life is not accidental; there is a certain
           undercurrent of significance, meaning, destiny. God brings a sense of destiny.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha says: There is no God -- it simply shows that man knows not why he is here. It simply
           shows man is helpless. It simply shows that man has no meaning available to him. By creating the
           idea of God he can believe in meaning, and he can live this futile life with the idea that somebody is
           looking after it.
                Just think: you are in an air flight and somebody comes and says, "There is no pilot." Suddenly
           there will be a panic. No pilot?! 'No pilot' simply means you are doomed. Then somebody says,
           "Believe the pilot is there -- invisible. We may not be able to see the pilot, but he is there; otherwise
           how is this beautiful mechanism functioning? Just think of it: everything is going so beautifully --
           there must be a pilot! Maybe we are not capable of seeing him, maybe we are not yet prayerful
           enough to see him, maybe our eyes are closed, but the pilot is there. Otherwise, how is it possible?
           This aeroplane has taken off, it is flying perfectly well; the engines are humming. Everything is a
           proof that there is a pilot."
                If somebody proves it, you relax again into your chair. You close your eyes, you start dreaming
           again -- you can fall asleep. The pilot is there, you need not worry.
                Buddha says: The pilot exists not -- it is a human creation. Man has created God in his own
           image. It is man's invention; God is not a discovery, it is an invention. And God is not the truth -- it
           is the greatest lie there is.
                That's why I say Buddhism is not a religion in the ordinary sense of the term. A God less religion
           -- can you imagine? When for the first time Western scholars became aware of Buddhism, they were
           shocked. They could not comprehend that a religion can exist -- and without God! They had known
           only Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All these three religions are in a way very immature compared
           to Buddhism.
                Buddhism is religion come of age. Buddhism is the religion of a mature mind. Buddhism is not
           childish at all -- and it doesn't help any childish desires in you. It is very MERCILESS. Let me
           repeat it: There has never been a man more compassionate than Buddha, but his religion is merciless.
                In fact, in that mercilessness he is showing his compassion. He will not allow you to cling to any
           lie. Howsoever consoling, a lie is a lie. And those who have given you the lie, they are not friends to
           you, they are enemies -- because under the impact of the lie you will live a life full of lies.
                The truth has to be brought to you, howsoever hard, howsoever shattering, howsoever shocking.
           Even if you are annihilated by the impact of the truth it is good.
                Buddha says: The truth is that man's religions are man's inventions. You are in a dark night
           surrounded by alien forces. You need someone to hang on to, someone to cling to.
                And everything that you can see is changing -- your father will die one day and you will be left
           alone, your mother will die one day and you will be left alone, and you will be an orphan. And from
           the very childhood you have been accustomed to having a father to protect you, a mother to love
           you. Now that childish desire will again assert itself: you will need a father-figure. If you cannot find
           it in the sky, then you will find it in some politician.
                Stalin became the father of Soviet Russia; they had dropped the idea of God. Mao became the
           father of China; they had dropped the idea of God. But man is such that he cannot live without a
           father-figure. Man IS childish. There are very few rare people who grow to be mature.
                My own observation is this, that people remain near about the age of seven, eight, nine. Their
           physical bodies go on growing, but their minds remain stuck there somewhere below the age of ten.
                Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, are the religions below the age of ten. They fulfil
           whatsoever are your needs; they are not too much worried about the truth. They are more worried
           about you, they are more worried how to console you.
                The situation is such: the mother has died and the child is crying and weeping, and you have to
           console the child. So you tell lies. You pretend that the mother has not died: "She has gone for a visit
           to the neighbours -- she will be coming. Don't be worried, she will be just coming."Or: "She has
           gone for a long journey. It will take a few days but she will I be back." Or: "She has gone to visit
           God -- nothing to be worried about. She IS still alive: maybe she has left the body, but the soul lives
           for ever."
                Buddha is the most shattering individual in the whole history of humanity. His whole effort is to
           drop all props. He does not say to believe in anything. He is an unbeliever and his religion is that of
           un-belief. He does not say "Believe!" he says "Doubt!"
                Now, you have heard about religions which say "Believe!" You have never heard about a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religion which says "Doubt!" Doubt is the very methodology -- DOUBT to the very core, doubt to
           the very end, doubt to the very last. And when you have doubted everything, and you have dropped
           everything out of doubt, then reality arises in your vision. It has nothing to do with your beliefs
           about God. It is nothing like your so-called God. Then arises reality: absolutely unfamiliar and
           unknown.
                But that possibility exists only when all the beliefs have been dropped and the mind has come to
           a state of maturity, understanding, acceptance that "Whatsoever is is, and we don't desire otherwise.
           If there is no God, there is no God, and we don't have any desire to project a God. If there is no God,
           then we accept it."
                This is what maturity is: to accept the fact and not to create a fiction around it; to accept the
           reality as it is, without trying to sweeten it, without trying to decorate it, without trying to make it
           more acceptable to your heart. If it is shattering, it is shattering. If it is shocking, it is shocking. If the
           truth kills, then one is ready to be killed.
                Buddha is merciless. And nobody has ever opened the door of reality so deeply, so profoundly as
           he has done. He does not allow you any childish desires. He says: Become more aware, become
           more conscious, become more courageous. Don't go on hiding behind beliefs and masks and
           theologies. Take hold of your life into your own hands. Burn bright your inner light and see
           whatsoever is. And once you have become courageous enough to accept it, it is a benediction. No
           belief is needed.
                That is Buddha's first step towards reality: all belief-systems are poisonous; all belief-systems are
           barriers.
                He is not a theist. And remember: he is not an atheist either -- because, he says, a few people
           believe that there is God and a few people believe that there is no God, but both are believers. His
           non-belief is so deep that even those who say there is no God, and believe in it, are not acceptable to
           him. H.e says that just to say there is no God makes no difference. If you remain childish, you will
           create another source of God.
                For example, Karl Marx declared: "There is no God," but then he created a God out of history.
           History becomes the God; the same function is being done now by history that was done previously
           by the concept of God. What was God doing? God was the determining factor; God was the
           managing factor. It was God who was deciding what should be and what should not be. Marx
           dropped the idea of God, but then history became the determining factor, then history became the
           fate, then history became kismet -- then history is determining. Now what is history? And Marx says
           communism is an inevitable state. History has determined that it will come, and everything is
           determined by history. Now history becomes a super-God.
                But somebody to determine is needed. Man cannot live with indeterminate reality. Man cannot
           live with reality as it is: chaotic, accidental. Man cannot live with reality without finding some idea
           which makes it meaningful, relevant, continuous, which gives it a shape which reason can
           understand; which can be dissected, analysed, into cause and effect.
                Freud dropped the idea of God, but then the unconscious became the God -- then everything is
           determined by the unconscious of man, and man is helpless in the hands of the unconscious. Now
           these are new names for God; it is a new mythology.
                The Freudian psychology is a new mythology about God. The name is changed but the content
           remains the same; the label has changed, the old label has been dropped; a fresh, newly-painted label
           has been put on it -- it can deceive people who are not very alert. But if you go deeper into Freudian
           analysis you will immediately see that now the unconscious is doing the same work that God used to
           do.
                So what is wrong with poor God? If you have to invent something, and man has always to be
           determined by something -- history, economics, unconscious, this and that -- IF MAN CANNOT BE
           FREE, then what is the point of changing mythologies, theologies? It makes not much difference.
                You may be a Hindu, you may be a Mohammedan, you may be a Christian, you may be a Jew --
           it makes not much difference. Your mind remains childish, you remain immature. You remain in
           search, you continue to search for a father-figure: someone somewhere who can explain everything,
           who can become the ultimate explanation.
                The mature mind is one who can remain without any search even if there is no ultimate
           explanation of things.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's why Buddha says: I am not a metaphysician. He has no metaphysics. Metaphysics means
           the ultimate explanation about things -- he has no ultimate explanation. He does not say, "I have
           solved the mystery." He does not say, "Here I hand over to you what truth is."
               He says, "The only thing that I can give to you is an impetus, a thirst, a tremendous passion, to
           become aware, to become conscious, to become alert; to live your life so consciously, so full of light
           and awareness, that YOUR life is solved."
               Not that you come to some ultimate explanation of existence -- nobody has ever come. Buddha
           denies metaphysics completely. He says metaphysics is a futile search.
           So the first thing: he denies God.

                THE SECOND THING: he denies MOKSHA, paradise, heaven. He says: Your heaven, your
           paradise, are nothing but your unfulfilled sexual desires, unfulfilled instincts, being projected into
           the other life, the life beyond, the life after death. And he seems to be absolutely true.
                If you see the depiction, the description of heaven and paradise in Islam, in Christianity, in
           Judaism, you will understand it perfectly, what he is saying. Whatsoever remains unfulfilled here
           you go on projecting in the hereafter. But the desire seems to be the same!
                Hindus say there are trees they call KALPVRAKSHA -- you sit under them and whatsoever you
           desire, without any lapse of time, it is fulfilled. You desire a beautiful woman, she is there --
           immediately, instantly. In the West you have invented instant coffee and things like that just now.
           India discovered a wish-fulfilling tree -- down the centuries it has believed in that. That is REALLY
           instantly fulfilling -- really instantly, without any time lapse. Here the idea arises, there it is fulfilled;
           not even a single second passes between the two. The idea is its fulfillment! You desire a beautiful
           woman, she is there. You desire delicious food, it is there. You desire a beautiful bed to rest on, it is
           there.
                Now, this is simple psychological analysis -- that man is unfulfilled in life. And he goes on. His
           whole life he goes on trying to fulfil it, still he finds it cannot be fulfilled, so he has to project in the
           future. Not that in the future it can be fulfilled -- desire as such is unfulfillable.
                Buddha has said: The very nature of desire is that it remains unfulfilled. Whatsoever you do,
           regardless of what you do about it, it remains unfulfilled -- that is the very intrinsic nature of desire.
           Desire as such remains unfulfilled. So you can sit under a wish-fulfilling tree -- it doesn't make any
           difference. You can feel many times it is being fulfilled, and again it arises. Ad infinitum it will go
           on arising again and again and again.
                The Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish, the Hindu -- all heavens and paradises, are nothing but
           unfulfilled projected desires, repressed desires, frustrated desires. Of course, they console man very
           much: "If you have not been able to fulfil here -- there. Sooner or later you will reach to God; the
           only thing you have to do is go on praying to Him, go on bowing down before some image or some
           idea or some ideal, and keep Him happy, keep God happy, and then you are going to reap a great
           crop of pleasures and gratifications.That will be His gift to you -- for your prayers, for your
           appreciation, for continuous surrender, for again and again touching His feet, for your obedience --
           that is going to be the reward."
                The reward is, of course, after death, because even cunning priests canNOT deceive you in this
           life -- even they cannot deceive. They know desire remains unfulfilled, so they have to invent an
           after-life. Nobody has known the afterlife; people can be deceived very easily.
                If somebody comes and says to you, "God can fulfil your desire here and now," it will be
           difficult to prove it -- because nobody's desire has ever been fulfilled herenow. Then their God will
           be at stake. They have tried a very cunning device; they say, "After this life." Is not your God potent
           enough to fulfil here? Is not your God potent enough to create wish-fulfilment trees on the earth? Is
           not your God powerful enough to do something while people are alive? If He cannot fulfil here, what
           is the proof that He is going to fulfil hereafter?
                Buddha says: Look into the nature of desire. Watch the movement of desire -- it is very subtle.
           And you will be able to see two things: one, that desire by its very nature is unfulfillable; and
           second, the MOMENT you understand that desire is unfulfillable, desire disappears -- and you are
           left desireless. That is the state of peace, silence, tranquillity. That is the state of fulfilment! Man
           never comes to fulfilment through desire; man comes to fulfilment only by transcending desire.
                Desire is an opportunity to understand. Desire is a great opportunity to understand the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           functioning of your own mind -- how it functions, what the mechanism of it is. And when you have
           understood that, in that very understanding is transformation. Desire disappears, leaves no trace
           behind. And when you are desireless, not desiring anything, you are fulfilled. NOT that desire is
           fulfilled, but when desire is transcended there is fulfilment.
                Now see the difference: other religions say, "Desires can be fulfilled in the other world." The
           worldly people say, "Desires can be fulfilled here" -- the communists say, "Desires can be fulfilled
           here. Just a different social structure is needed, just the capitalists have to be thrown, the proletariat
           has to take over, the bourgeoisie has to be destroyed, that's all -- and desires can be fulfilled here, the
           heaven can be created on this earth here."
                The worldly people say, "You can fulfil your desires -- struggle hard." That's what the whole
           West goes on doing: "Struggle, compete, cheat, by any means and methods! Acquire more wealth,
           more power!" That's what the politicians all over the world go on doing: "Become more powerful
           and your desires can be fulfilled." That's what scientists say, that only a few more technologies have
           to be invented and the paradise is just by the corner.
                And what do your religions say? They don't say anything different. They say, "Desires can be
           fulfilled, but not in this life -- after death." That is the only difference between the so-called
           materialists and so-called spiritualists.
                To Buddha, both are materialists; and to me also, both are materialists. Your so-called religious
           people and your so-called ir-religious people are both in the same boat. Not a bit of difference! Their
           attitudes are the same, their approaches are the same.
                Buddha is really religious in this way, that he says: Desire CANNOT be fulfilled. You have to
           look into desire. Neither here nor anywhere else has desire ever been fulfilled, never. It has never
           happened and never is it going to happen -- because it is against the nature of desire.
                What is desire? Have you looked into your desiring mind ever? Have you encountered it? Have
           you tried any meditation on it? What is desire?
                You desire a certain house; you work for it, you work hard. You destroy your whole life for it --
           then the house is there. But is fulfilment there? Once the house is there, suddenly you feel very
           empty -- you feel more empty than before, because before there was an occupation to achieve this
           house. Now it is there: immediately your mind starts looking for something else to get occupied
           with. Now there are bigger houses; your mind starts thinking of those bigger houses. There are
           bigger palaces.... You desire a woman and you have achieved your desire, then suddenly your hands
           are again empty. Again you start desiring some other woman.
                This is the nature of desire. Desire always goes ahead of you. Desire is always in the future.
           Desire is a hope. Desire cannot be fulfilled because its very nature is to remain unfulfilled and
           projected in the future. It is always on the horizon.
                You can rush, you can run towards the horizon, but you will never reach: wherever you reach
           you will find the horizon has receded back. And the distance between you and the horizon remains
           absolutely the same. You have ten thousand rupees, the desire is for twenty thousand rupees; you
           have twenty thousand rupees, the desire is for forty thousand rupees. The distance is the same; the
           mathematical proportion is the same.
                Whatsoever you have, desire always goes ahead of it.
                Buddha says: Abandon hope, abandon desire. In abandoning hope, in abandoning desire, you
           will be herenow. Without desire you will be fulfilled. It is desire that is deceiving you.
                So when Buddha said that these so-called religious people are ALL materialists, of course
           Hindus were very angry -- very angry; they have never been so angry against anybody. They tried to
           uproot Buddha's religion from India, and they succeeded. Buddhism was born in India, but
           Buddhism doesn't exist in India -- because the religion of the Hindus is one of the most materialistic
           religions in the world.
                You just look in the Vedas: all prayer, all worship, is just asking for more, for more, from gods
           or from God -- all sacrifice is for more. All worship is desire-oriented. "Give us more! Give us
           plenty! Better crops, better rain, more money, more health, more life, more longevity -- give us
           more!" The whole Veda is nothing but desire written large. And sometimes very ugly. In the Veda
           not only do the so-called rishis go on praying "Give us more!" -- they also pray: "Don't give to our
           enemies! Give more milk to MY cow, but let the enemy's cow die or let its milk disappear!"
                What type of religion is this? Even to call it religion looks absurd. If this is religion, then what is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           materialism? And even so-called ascetic people who have renounced the world... and there were
           many in the days of Buddha. He himself had gone to many masters while he was searching, but from
           everywhere he came back empty-handed -- because he could not see that anybody had really
           understood the nature of desire. They themselves were desiring; of course, their desire was projected
           in the faraway future, the other life, but still the object of desire was the same, the desiring mind was
           the same. It is only a question of time.
                A few people desire before death, a few people desire after death, but what is the difference? --
           that does not make any difference. They desire the same things -- THEY DESIRE! The desire is the
           same.
                Buddha went to many teachers and was frustrated. He could not see religion flowering anywhere,
           blossoming -- they were all materialistic people. They were great ascetics: somebody was fasting for
           months, somebody was standing for months, somebody had not slept for years -- they were just
           skeletons. You could not call them worldly and materialistic if you looked at their bodies; but look at
           their mind, ask them, "Why are you fasting? Why are you trying so hard? For what?" and there arises
           the desire to attain to paradise to heaven, to have eternal gratification in the afterlife.
                Listen to their logic and they all will say, "Here things are fleeting. This life is temporary. Even
           if you attain, everything is taken away when you die, so what is the point? This life is not going to be
           for ever. We are searching for something which will remain for ever -- we are after immortality, we
           are after ABSOLUTE gratification. People who are running here, in this life, after desires are fools
           because death will take everything away. You accumulate wealth, and here comes death and all is
           left behind. We are searching for some treasure which we can take with ourselves, which will never
           be lost, which cannot be stolen, no government can tax it -- nobody can take it away, not even
           death."
                You call these people religious people? They seem to be even more worldly than the so-called
           worldly; they are more materialistic than the materialists. Of course, their materialism is garbed in a
           disguise; their materialism has a flavour of spiritualism -- but it is a deception. It is as if on a
           dung-heap you have thrown some beautiful perfume. The dung-heap remains the dung-heap; the
           perfume can only deceive fools.
                Buddha was not fooled, he could see through and through. And he could always see that the
           desire is there. If desire is there you are a materialist and you are worldly.
                So he is not preaching any paradise to you, he does not believe in any paradise. Not that he does
           not believe in blissfulness, no. He believes in blissfulness, but that is not a belief: when all paradises
           are lost, when all desires drop, suddenly it is your innermost nature to be blissful. For it, nothing is
           needed -- no virtue is needed, no asceticism is needed, no sacrifice is needed. Just understanding is
           enough.
           The Way of the Buddha is the way of understanding.

               AND THE THIRD THING BEFORE WE ENTER IN THE SUTRAS: He does not believe in the
           soul -- no God, no paradise, no soul. Now, this seems to be very difficult.
               We can accept there is no God -- maybe it is just a projection; who has seen it? We can accept
           there is no paradise -- maybe it is just our unfulfilled desire dreaming about it. But no soul? Then
           you take the whole ground from underneath. No soul? -- then what is the point of it all? If there is no
           soul in man, if there is nothing immortal in man, then why make so much effort? why meditate? for
           what?
               Buddha says this idea of the self is a misunderstanding. You are, but you are not a self. You are,
           but you are not separate from the universe. The separation is the root-idea in the concept of self: if I
           am separate from you then I have a self; if you are separate from me then you have a self.
               But Buddha says: Existence is one. There are no boundaries. No-body is separate from anybody
           else. We live in one ocean of consciousness. We ARE one consciousness -- deluded by the
           boundaries of the body, deluded by the boundaries of the mind. And because of the body and the
           mind, and because of the identification with the body and mind, we think we are separate, we think
           we are selves. This is how we create the ego.
               It is just like on the map you see India, but on the earth itself there is no India -- only on the map
           of the politicians. On the map you see the American continent, the African continent as separate, but
           deep down, down under the oceans, the earth is one. All continents are together, they are all one
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           earth.
               We are separate only on the surface. The deeper we go, the more separation disappears. When
           we come to the very core of our being, suddenly it is universal, there is no selfhood in it, no soul
           there.
               Buddha has no belief for God, for soul, for MOKSHA. Then what is his teaching? His teaching is
           a way of life, not a way of belief. His teaching is very scientific, very empirical, very practical. He is
           not a philosopher, not a metaphysician. He is a very down-to-earth man.
               Buddha says: You can change your life -- these beliefs are not needed. In fact, these beliefs are
           the barriers for the real change. Start with no belief, start with no metaphysics, start with no dogma.
           Start absolutely naked and nude, with no theology, no ideology. Start empty! That is the only way to
           come to truth.
           I was reading an anecdote:

               This travelling salesman opened the Gideon Bible in his motel room. On the front page he read
           the inscription: "If you are sick, read psalm 18; if you are troubled about your family, read psalm 45;
           if you are lonely, read psalm 92."
               He was lonely, so he opened to psalm 92 and read it. When he was through, he noticed on the
           bottom of the page the hand-written words: "If you are still lonely call 888-3468 and ask for Myrtle."

               If you look deep down into your scriptures you will always find a footnote which will be more
           true. Look for the footnote on every scripture page! Sometimes it may not be written in visible ink,
           but if you search hard you will always find it there -- a footnote which is more real.
               Buddha says all your scriptures are nothing but your desires, your instincts, your greed, your lust,
           your anger. All your scriptures are nothing but creations of your mind. So it is bound to be so, that
           they will carry all the seeds of your mind. Scriptures are man-made. That's why religions try hard to
           prove that their scripture at least is not man-made.
               Christians say the Bible is not man-made; the Ten Commandments were delivered to Moses
           directly from God, directly from the boss Himself. The New Testament is a direct message from His
           own son, the only begotten son, Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with humanity -- it comes from
           above. Hindus say the Vedas are not man-made, they are God-made. And the same story goes on
           being repeated: Mohammedans say the Koran descended on Mohammed from heaven above.
               Why do these religions insist that their scriptures, and especially ONLY THEIR scriptures, not
           anybody else's...? Mohammedans are not ready to accept that the Vedas are God-made, neither are
           Hindus ready to accept that the Koran is God-made -- only THEIR Vedas are God-made and
           everything else is just manufactured by man. Why this insistence? Because they are aware that
           whatsoever man will create will have the imprint of man's mind and man's desires.
               Buddha says all the scriptures are man-made -- and he is true. He is not a fanatic at all. He does
           not belong to any country, and he does not belong to any race; he does not belong to any religion, to
           any sect. He is simply a light unto himself. And whatsoever he has said is the purest statement of
           truth ever made.

              I was reading... Paritosh has sent me this beautiful anecdote:

               One of the religious leaders in Ireland was asked by his followers to select a suitable burial place
           and monument for his mortal remains. A 'religious' war was in progress and his life had been
           threatened.
               Three separate plans had been submitted to him, and to the dismay of the committee he chose the
           least expensive.
               He was asked why he had made this selection, why he had chosen this humble resting-place,
           when the other two designs were of magnificent tombs.
               "Well, my dear friends," he told them, "I appreciate your generosity. But is it worth all this
           expense when I don't expect to remain in my tomb for more than three days?"

               Now, this sort of stupidity you will never find in Buddha. This sort of dogmatic certainty you
           will never find in Buddha. He is very hesitant. There is only one other name who is also so hesitant
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and he is Lao Tzu; these two persons are very hesitant.
                Sometimes, because of their hesitance, you may not be impressed by them -- because you are
           confused you need somebody to be so confident that you can rely on him. Hence, fanatics impress
           you very much. They may not have anything to say, but they beat the table so much, they make such
           a fuss about it, that their very fuss gives you a feeling that they must be knowing, otherwise how can
           they be so certain? The witnesses of Jehovah and people like that -- stupid people, but they are so
           dogmatic in their assertions that they create a feeling of certainty. And confused people need
           certainty.
                When you come to a Buddha, you may not be immediately impressed because he will be so
           hesitant, he will not assert anything. He knows better than that: he knows that life cannot be confined
           to any statement, and ALL statements are partial. No statement can contain the whole truth, so how
           can you be certain about it? He will remain always relative.
                Two great Masters of India, Buddha and Mahavir, both were very deep in relativity. Einstein
           discovered it very late; Einstein brought relativity to the world of science. Before Einstein, scientists
           were very certain, dogmatically certain, absolutely certain. Einstein brought relativity and brought
           humbleness to science, and brought truth to science.
                The same was done by Buddha and Mahavir in India: they brought relativity, the concept that
           truth cannot be asserted totally, that we can never be certain about it, that at the most we can hint at
           it. The hint has to be indirect; we cannot pinpoint it directly -- it is so big, so vast. And it is natural
           that we fragile human beings should hesitate. This hesitation shows his alertness.
                You will always find stupid, ignorant people very dogmatic. The more ignorant a person is, the
           more dogmatic. This is one of the greatest misfortunes in the world, that the foolish are absolutely
           certain, and the wise are hesitant. Buddha is very hesitant. So if you really want to understand him,
           you will have to be very alert in your listening, very open. He is not delivering truths to you
           wholesale. He is simply hinting at... indications at the most, and they too are very subtle.
                And, as I told you, Buddha is very down-to-earth. He never flies high into metaphysics. He never
           introduces, in fact; he has no preface to his statements. He simply says them directly, immediately,
           as simply as possible. Sometimes his statements may not look of any profound depth -- they are. But
           he does not beat around the bush, he does not make any fuss about it.
           I have heard:

               She was a sweet young thing; he was a fast-rising account executive with the well-known
           Madison Avenue advertising agency, BITTNER, BERMAN, DIRSTEIN AND OSMAN. Everyone
           thought it was an ideal marriage. But alas, there was a problem.... with sex. The honeymoon hadn't
           even begun.
               "B-b-eing an advertising man," she sobbed to a friend, "all he does every night is sit on the edge
           of the bed and tell me how wonderful it's going to be!"

              But it never happens! You can understand about an advertising man: he simply goes on saying
           how wonderful it is going to be.
              Buddha has no preface. He never advertises what he is going to say. He simply says it and moves
           ahead.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "MOVED BY THEIR SELFISH DESIRES, PEOPLE SEEK AFTER FAME AND GLORY. BUT WHEN
              THEY HAVE ACQUIRED IT, THEY ARE ALREADY STRICKEN IN YEARS. IF YOU HANKER AFTER
              WORLDLY FAME AND PRACTISE NOT THE WAY, YOUR LABOURS ARE WRONGFULLY
              APPLIED AND YOUR ENERGY IS WASTED. IT IS LIKE UNTO BURNING AN INCENSE
              STICK.HOWEVER MUCH ITS PLEASING ODOUR BE ADMIRED, THE FIRE THAT CONSUMES IS
              STEADILY BURNING UP THE STICK."


              A very simple and matter-of-fact statement.

              "MOVED BY THEIR SELFISH DESIRES, PEOPLE SEEK AFTER FAME AND GLORY."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               WHAT IS A SELFISH DESIRE? In the Buddhist way of expression, a selfish desire is one that
           is based in the self. Ordinarily, in ordinary language, we call a desire selfish if it is against somebody
           else and you don't care about others. Even if it harms others, you go ahead and you fulfil your desire.
           People call you selfish because you don't care for others, you don't have any consideration for others.
               But when Buddha says a desire is selfish, his meaning is totally different. He says: If a desire is
           based in the idea of self then it is selfish.
               For example: you donate, a million rupees you donate, for some good cause -- hospitals to be
           made or schools to be opened, or food to be distributed to the poor, or medicine to be sent to poor
           parts of the country -- nobody will call it a selfish desire. Buddha will say it is -- IF there is any
           motivation of self. If you are thinking that by donating a million rupees you are going to earn some
           virtue and you are going to be rewarded in heaven, it is a selfish desire. It may not be harmful to
           others -- it is not -- in fact, everybody will appreciate it. People will call you a great man, religious,
           virtuous; a great man of charity, love, compassion, sympathy. But Buddha will say the only thing
           that determines whether a desire is selfish or not is motivation.
               If you have donated without any motivation, then it is not selfish. If there is any motivation
           hidden somewhere -- conscious, unconscious -- that you are going to gain something out of it, here
           or hereafter, then it is a selfish desire. That which comes out of the self is a selfish desire; that which
           comes as part of the ego is a selfish desire. If you meditate just to attain to your selfhood, then it is a
           selfish desire.
               Buddha has said to his disciples: Whenever you meditate, after each meditation, surrender all
           that you have earned out of meditation, surrender it to the universe. If you are blissful, pour it back
           into the universe -- don't carry it as a treasure. If you are feeling very happy, share it immediately --
           don't become attached to it, otherwise your meditation itself will become a new process of the self.
           And the ultimate meditation is not a process of self. The ultimate meditation is a process of getting
           more and more into un-self, into non-self -- it is a disappearance of the self.

              "MOVED BY THEIR SELFISH DESIRES, PEOPLE SEEK AFTER FAME AND GLORY. BUT WHEN
              THEY HAVE ACQUIRED IT, THEY ARE ALREADY STRICKEN IN YEARS."


               And Buddha says: Look, you can attain to fame, to glory, to power, to prestige, respectability, in
           the world -- but what are you doing? Are you aware? You are wasting a great opportunity -- for
           something absolutely meaningless. You are collecting rubbish and destroying your own life-time,
           life-energy.

              "IF YOU HANKER AFTER WORLDLY FAME AND PRACTISE NOT THE WAY..."


               Buddha always calls his religion 'The Way' -- DHAMMA -- just the Way, because he says: Don't
           be bothered about the goal; the goal will take care of itself. You simply follow the Way, not even
           with the motivation to reach any goal, but just out of sheer delight of meditating, of praying, of
           loving, of being compassionate, of sharing. Out of sheer delight you practise the Way. Not that you
           are going to gain any profit out of it; don't make it a business.
           Ordinarily the mind is a businessman.

                The old father was dying and his family was gathered around the bed waiting for him to take his
           last breath. As the old man wheezed away life, his oldest son said to one and all, "When Papa goes,
           if it's tonight, we can bury him early tomorrow from the big funeral parlor downtown. Since the
           funeral will be early in the morning, we won't be able to get in touch with too many people, so we
           won't need a lot of cars or the big room, and it won't cost too much."
                His daughter was standing there and she said to the brother, "You know, death to me is a very
           personal thing. Why do we have to call a bunch of strangers together to witness such a sad scene -- if
           you two boys are there and I'm there, who needs anyone else?"
                The youngest son looked at them both and said, "I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, why do
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           we need the expense of taking Papa to an undertaker? He is dying in the house, let's bury him from
           the house."
               All of a sudden the old man's eyes flew wide open. He looked at his three children and shouted,
           "Give me my pants!"
               They answered in a chorus, "Papa, you are a very sick man. Where do you want to go?"
               He replied, "Give me my pants. I'll walk to the cemetery -- I am a businessman."

               The whole life people simply go on saving, saving -- for what? The life is slipping by; each
           moment a precious moment is gone and it cannot be reclaimed. Buddha says: Don't waste it in
           foolish things.
               Fame is foolish, it is pointless, meaningless. Even if the whole world knows you, how does it
           make you richer? How does it make your life more blissful? How does it help you to be more
           understanding? to be more aware? to be more alert? to be more alive?
           If you are not practising the Way:

              "... YOUR LABOURS ARE WRONGFULLY APPLIED AND YOUR ENERGY IS WASTED. IT IS LIKE
              UNTO BURNING AN INCENSE STICK. HOWEVER MUCH ITS PLEASING ODOUR BE ADMIRED,
              THE FIRE THAT CONSUMES IS STEADILY BURNING UP THE STICK."


               That's how life is: each moment burning. You are always on the funeral pyre because each
           moment death is coming closer, each moment you are less alive, more dead. So before this whole
           opportunity is lost, Buddha says, attain to a state of no-self -- then there will be no death. And then
           there will be no misery. And then there will be no constant hankering for fame, power, prestige.
               In fact, the more empty you are within, the more you seek fame; it is a sort of substitute. The
           more poor you are within, the more you seek riches; it is a substitute to somehow stuff yourself with
           something.
               I observe every day: people come to me, and whenever they have a problem with their love, they
           immediately start eating too much. Whenever they feel that their love is in a crisis, they are not being
           loved, or, they are not able to love, something has blocked their love-energy, they immediately start
           stuffing themselves with things, they go on eating. Why? What are they doing with the food? They
           feel empty -- that emptiness makes them afraid. They have to somehow stuff it with food.
               If you are feeling happy inside, you don't bother about fame;only unhappy people bother about
           fame. Who bothers whether anybody knows you or not if you know yourself? If you know yourself
           who you are then there is no need. But when you don't know who you are you would like everybody
           to know -- everybody to know who you are. You will collect opinions, you will collect people's
           ideas, and out of that collection you will try to arrange some identity, that "Yes, I am this man.
           People say, 'You are very intelligent' -- I am intelligent." You are not certain. If you were certain,
           who bothers what people say or not?
               You go on looking into people's eyes to see your face -- you don't know your face. You beg:
           "Say something about me. Say -- you are beautiful. Say -- you are lovely. Say -- you are charismatic.
           Say something about me?!" Have you watched yourself begging: "Say something about my body,
           about my mind, about my understanding -- say something!"
               You immediately grab if somebody says something. And if somebody says something which is
           shocking and shattering, you become very angry. He is destroying your image if he says something
           against you. If he says something in favour of you, he helps your image to be a little more decorated,
           it becomes a little more ornamental -- you come home happy. If people applaud you you feel happy.
           Why?
               You don't know who you are. That's why you go on seeking. You go on asking people "Who am
           l? Tell me!" And you have to depend on them. And the beauty of it is, or the irony of it is, that those
           same people don't know who they are. Beggars begging from other beggars. They have come to beg
           from you, so there is a mutual deception.
               You come across a woman; you say, "How beautiful! How divine!" And she says, "Yes, and I
           have never come across such a beautiful man as you." This is a mutual deception. You may call it
           love -- this is a mutual deception. Both are hankering for a certain identity about themselves. Both
           fulfil each other's desires. Things will go well -- till one day one of the two decides that enough is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enough and starts dropping the deception. Then the honeymoon is over... and marriage starts. Then
           things go ugly. Then you think "this woman deceived me" or "this man deceived me." Nobody can
           deceive you unless you are READY to be deceived, remember. Nobody has ever deceived anybody
           -- unless you are ready to be deceived, unless you were WAITING to be deceived.
               You cannot deceive a person who knows himself, because there is no way. If you say something
           he will laugh. He will say, "Don't be worried about it -- I already know myself who I am. You can
           drop that subject and go ahead with whatsoever you have to say. Don't be bothered about me -- I
           know myself who I am."
               Once you have an inner richness of life, you don't seek wealth, you don't seek power.
               Psychologists have become aware that when people start becoming impotent, they start finding
           some sexual, phallic symbols. If a person becomes impotent then he wants some phallic symbol to
           replace it. He may try to have the biggest car in the world -- that is a phallic symbol. He would like
           to have the most powerful car in the world; now his own power is lost, his own sexual energy is gone
           -- now he would like a substitute. While rushing his car to the maximum speed, he will feel good --
           as if he is making love to his woman. The very speed will give him power. He will get identified
           with the car.
               Psychologists have been watching the phenomenon for many years, that people who have a
           certain inferiority complex always become ambitious. In fact, nobody goes into politics unless he is
           deeply rooted in an inferiority complex. Politicians are basically inferiority complex people. They
           have to prove their superiority in some way, otherwise they will not be able to live with their
           inferiority complex.
               What I am trying to point out is: whatsoever you miss within, you try to accumulate something
           outside as a substitute for it. If you don't miss your life within, you are enough unto yourself. And
           only then are you beautiful. And only then you are.

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "PEOPLE CLEAVE TO THEIR WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND SELFISH PASSIONS SO BLINDLY
               AS TO SACRIFICE THEIR OWN LIVES FOR THEM. THEY ARE LIKE A CHILD WHO TRIES TO EAT
               A LITTLE HONEY SMEARED ON THE EDGE OF A KNIFE. THE AMOUNT IS BY NO MEANS
               SUFFICIENT TO APPEASE HIS APPETITE, BUT HE RUNS THE RISK OF WOUNDING HIS
               TONGUE.


                NOTHING IS ENOUGH IN THIS LIFE TO FULFIL YOUR DESIRES, to fulfil your appetite.
           This world is a dream-world -- nothing can fulfil because only reality can be fulfilling.
                Have you watched? In a dream someday, you feel hungry in the night and in the dream you go to
           the fridge and open it and you eat to your heart's desire. Of course, it helps in a way -- it does not
           disturb your sleep; otherwise, the hunger will not allow you to sleep, you will have to wake up. The
           dream creates a substitute; you continue to sleep, you feel "I have eaten enough." You have deceived
           your body.
                The dream is a deceiver. In the morning you will be surprised -- you are still hungry -- because a
           feast in the dream is equivalent to a fast. Feast or fast -- both are the same in a dream, because a
           dream is unreal. It cannot fulfil. To quench real thirst real water is needed. To fulfil, a real life reality
           is needed.
                Buddha says: You go on taking the risk of wounding yourself, but no fulfilment comes out of this
           life. Maybe here and there you have a taste of honey -- sweet, but very dangerous, unfulfilling. And
           the honey is smeared on the edge of a knife; there is every danger you will wound your tongue.
                Look at old people: you will not find anything else but wounds; their whole being is nothing but
           wounds -- ulcers and ulcers and ulcers. When a person dies you don't see blossoming flowers in his
           being; you simply see stinking wounds.
                If a person has really lived and not been deceived by his dreams and illusory desires, the older he
           grows the more beautiful he becomes. In his death he is superb.
                Sometimes you may come across an old man whose old age is more beautiful than his youth ever
           was. Then bow down before that old man -- he has lived a true life, a life of inwardness, a life of
           'interiorness'. Because if life is lived truly, then you go on becoming more and more beautiful and a
           grandeur starts coming to you, a grace; something of the unknown starts abiding in your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           surroundings -- you become the abode of the infinite, of the eternal. It has to be so because life is an
           evolution.
                If when you are no longer young and you become ugly, that simply means in your youth you
           tasted honey on too many knives -- you have become wounded. Now you will suffer these canceric
           wounds. Old age becomes a great suffering. And death is very rarely beautiful, because very rarely
           have people really lived.
                If a person has really lived -- like a flame burning from both ends -- then his death will be a
           tremendous phenomenon, an utter beauty.You will see his life aglow when he is dying, at the
           maximum, at the optimum. In the last moment he will become such a flame; his whole life will
           become a concentrated perfume in that moment, a great luminosity will arise in his being. Before he
           leaves, he will leave behind him a memory.
                That's what happened when Buddha left the world. That's what happened when Mahavir left the
           world. We have not forgotten them, not because they were great politicians or great people of power
           -- they were nobodies, but we cannot forget them. It is impossible to forget them. They had not done
           anything as far as history is concerned. We can almost omit them from history, we can neglect them
           from history -- nothing will be lost. In fact, they never existed in the main current of history; they
           were by the side of it, but it is impossible to forget them. Their very last moment has left such a
           glory to humanity. Their last glow has shown us our own possibilities, our infinite potentialities.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "MEN ARE TIED UP TO THEIR FAMILIES AND POSSESSIONS MORE HELPLESSLY THAN IN A
              PRISON. THERE IS AN OCCASION FOR THE PRISONER TO BE RELEASED, BUT
              HOUSEHOLDERS ENTERTAIN NO DESIRE TO BE RELIEVED FROM THE TIES OF FAMILY.
              WHEN A MAN'S PASSION IS AROUSED NOTHING PREVENTS HIM FROM RUINING HIMSELF.
              EVEN INTO THE MAWS OF A TIGER WILL HE JUMP. THOSE WHO ARE THUS DROWNED IN
              THE FILTH OF PASSION ARE CALLED THE IGNORANT. THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO
              OVERCOME IT ARE SAINTLY ARHATS."


               Buddha says: Those who are lost into the filth of passion and never transcend it, those who never
           transcend as the lotus transcends the mud it is born into, they are the ignorant people, the worldly
           people. Those who transcend lust and desire, those who understand the futility of desire, and those
           who become understanding about the whole nonsense that the mind creates and the dreams that it
           manufactures, they are the great ARHATS.
               'Arhat', the very word means one who has overcome his enemies. Buddha says desire, desiring, is
           your enemy. Once you have overcome your desire, you have overcome your enemy, you have
           become an Arhat. Arhat is the goal: to become desireless -- because only when you are desireless is
           there benediction.
               Our so-called religions are based in fear. Buddha's religion is based in an inner benediction. We
           worship God because we are afraid, because we don't know what to do with our lives. We are
           continuously trembling, scared -- death is coming and we don't know what to do, how to protect
           ourselves. We need a protector. It is out of fear. Buddha's religion is based in an inner benediction, in
           an inner blessing -- it has nothing to do with fear.

           Let me tell you one anecdote:

               Henry went on his first hunting trip. When he got back to his office his partner Morris couldn't
           wait to hear all about his trip. Henry told him, "Well, I went into the woods with the guide. You
           know me, two minutes in the woods, I get lost. I'm walking extra quiet, when all of a sudden the
           biggest bear you ever did see is standing right in front of me. I turn around and run just as fast as I
           can and that bear, he is running even faster. Just when I feel his hot breath on my neck, he slipped
           and fell. I jumped over a brook and kept running, but I was losing my breath and sure enough there
           was that bear getting close to me again. He was almost on top of me when he slipped again and fell. I
           kept on running and finally I found myself in the clearing of the woods. The bear was running as fast
           as he could and I knew I didn't stand a chance. I saw the other hunters and shouted for help, and just
           then the bear slipped and fell again. My guide was able to take aim and he shot the bear and killed
           him."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Morris said, "Henry, that was quite a story. You are a very brave man. If that would have
           happened to me, I would have made in my pants."
              Henry looked at him and shrugged, "Morris, what do you think the bear was slipping on?"

               The so-called religions are just out of fear. And anything based on fear can never be beautiful.
           Your gods, your churches, your temples, if they have come out of your fear they stink -- they are
           bound to stink of your fear.
               Buddha's religion is not based in fear at all. That's why he says the first step is to drop all beliefs.
           Those beliefs are because of the fear. Dropping the beliefs you will become aware of your fear, and
           that is good, to become aware of your fear. You will become aware of your death. You will become
           aware of this whole infinite cosmos -- nowhere to go, nobody to guide, nowhere to find any security.
           In that fear, in that awareness of fear, the only place left will be to start going withinwards -- because
           there is no point in going anywhere. It is so vast.

               THE INTERIOR JOURNEY STARTS when you have dropped all beliefs and you have become
           aware of the fear, death, desire. And once you are in, suddenly you see fears are disappearing;
           because in the deepest core of your being there has never been any death, there cannot be. Your
           innermost core is absolutely a non-self.
               A self can die. The no-self cannot die. If there is something, it can be destroyed. That's why
           Buddha says there is nothing inside you -- you are a pure nothing. That nothing cannot be destroyed.
           And once you have understood it, that death cannot destroy, that this nothingness is in itself so
           beautiful, there is no need to go on stuffing it with money, power, prestige, fame. This nothingness is
           so pure and so innocent and so beautiful that you are blessed in it. You start dancing in that
           nothingness. That nothingness starts a dance. Buddha hints you towards that dance.
               When Buddha was dying, Ananda started crying and he said, "What will I do now? You are
           leaving and I have not yet become enlightened."
               Buddha said, "Don't cry, because I cannot make you enlightened -- only you can do that miracle
           to yourself. Be a light unto yourself -- APPA DEEPO BHAVA."
               Buddha throws humanity into the interiormost core. Buddha says: Go within -- and there is
           nowhere else to go. YOU ARE THE SHRINE. Go within! And there is no other God anywhere to
           worship. The more you move inwards, the more a worshipping consciousness will arise -- without
           any object for worship; a prayer will arise, not addressed to anybody. A pure prayer... out of bliss,
           out of being, out of inner benediction.




                                The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                     Chapter #2
                                         Chapter title: Let There Be Prayer
           22 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610220
              ShortTitle: TRANS302
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins



              The first question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOUR LECTURE YESTERDAY WAS RUTHLESS, SHARP AND SHATTERING. I FELT
              THROUGHOUT THE LECTURE THAT A DEEP SURGICAL OPERATION IS HAPPENING WITHIN
              MY PSYCHE. WHAT IS THIS, OSHO? ALONG WITH THE VERBAL TALK WHAT ELSE DO YOU
              TRANSMIT TO THE LISTENER?


                THE WORD, THE VERBAL, has nothing to do with transferring anything to you. The verbal is
           just a toy, so you can play with it. When you are absorbed with the words, I have -- an opportunity to
           do something to your being -- otherwise you won't allow me.
                So whatsoever I am saying is just to keep you engaged. Once your mind is engaged with the
           words, you are available to me, your heart is available to me. When the mind is not engaged, the
           mind functions like a barrier, the heart becomes unavailable.
                So the real work is not through the words -- the real work is through the presence. If you stop
           thinking and you can put aside your mind, then there is no need for me to talk at all, then silence will
           do -- because that which is going to happen is going to happen through silence. It is going to happen
           not through any verbal communication, it is going to happen on a deeper level than words can reach,
           on a deeper level of your being where mind has nothing to say.
                The mind is only the surface, the circumference of your being. It is not your centre. But the
           circumference has become too strong. It surrounds you like a hard crust, it has become your prison.
           You need something so intriguing, so interesting, that your mind gets totally absorbed into it.
                And sometimes I will be shattering -- I have to be. Sometimes I have to be merciless, because
           that is the only way to help you, that is the only way to destroy you, annihilate you, and give you an
           opportunity to be reborn. As you are you have to disappear. As you are you have to die, only then
           can the new arise out of you. The ego has to disappear for your real being to be. The mind has to
           cease for God to be. The known has to be dropped for the unknown to be welcomed.
                Sometimes I am persuasive. Sometimes I am shattering. Sometimes through affection and love I
           try to seduce you to drop the mind. Sometimes I hammer hard on it. I change like the climate around
           the year. And you have to be with me in all the climates -- only then will you be able to know me.
           And you have to be with me in all of my forms -- only then will you be able to see the formless.
                If you allow me easily, then the operation is very easy. If you don't allow me easily, if you
           struggle, resist, don't cooperate, you create conflict, then too the operation is going to be done --
           once I have accepted you as my disciples, now it is my responsibility that you should be transformed
           -- then the operation will be hard. But the hardness will come because of your resistance, remember
           it.
                I have to be shattering sometimes only because you resist too much.

           Let me tell you one anecdote:

                Joe Levy went to a leading mountain resort for a week's vacation. That night when he ordered
           dinner the waiter told him that he highly recommended the chicken soup. Joe replied, "I hate soup. I
           never eat soup. I couldn't care less." He ate his dinner, played cards, and retired to his room early and
           fell asleep.
                In the middle of the night, the man in the room below his took sick suddenly and the house
           doctor recommended that they get a nurse and give an enema. The nurse arrived and in error entered
           Joe Levy's room, and before he even realised what was happening to him, gave him the enema and
           left.
                When he got back to New York, his friends asked him how he had liked the hotel. He said, "It
           was very nice, but if you ever go there and the waiter suggests that you eat soup, eat it, otherwise
           they shove it into you anyway."

           So please cooperate with me...!

           The second question:


              OSHO,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              YOU TELL US SO MANY JOKES -- WHAT IS THE BASIC SECRET OF A JOKE AND WHY DO YOU
              TELL THEM?


                I HAVE TO TELL JOKES TO YOU, otherwise you will fall asleep. A joke shocks you back into
           awareness. It is a small electric shock. That's the beauty of a joke, and that's the secret of a joke. It is
           impossible even for the dullest mind to remain unalert when a joke is being told. Even the dullest,
           the most stupid, will become interested -- even one who is snoring will come out of his snoring and
           will start listening to what is going on.
                That's the beauty of a joke. A joke is something that brings in you a subtle awareness. The
           awareness comes because you have to listen to the joke very alertly, otherwise you will miss the
           punchline. If you miss a single word in a joke, it is lost. A joke is a very small thing -- a few lines.
           You cannot afford to be unaware. If you miss one line, you will not be able to catch hold of it.
                And a joke takes a sudden turn -- that is its secret -- a very unexpected turn. A joke is not logical,
           that's why I love jokes -- they are illogical. Still, they have a logic of their own. A joke is illogical
           and yet logical -- very paradoxical. A joke takes such an illogical turn that you had never expected.
           If you can expect, then that much pleasure will be lost.
                If a joke is a simple syllogism, an Aristotelian syllogism, that you can simply go on and you can
           feel what conclusion is coming, and you can conclude because the premises are given already; if you
           can conclude logically, as if two plus two is four, this cannot be a joke -- because two plus two is
           four. When somebody is saying 'two plus two' you have already known the conclusion: it is going to
           be four. If a joke is absolutely logical and the conclusion is not absurd, then it is not a joke, it will
           not shock you into awareness.
                The joke takes a very unexpected turn. And yet, when you have listened to the punchline, you
           suddenly realise that there is a logic in it -- not Aristotelian, non-Aristotelian. When you have heard
           the punchline, then you suddenly recognize, yes, everything becomes clear. If a joke is absolutely
           absurd, then too it will be meaningless, because then the conclusion will not be in continuity with the
           whole story; then there will be discontinuity and you will not be able to know how to connect them.
                The joke has not to be absolutely logical, the joke has not to be absolutely illogical -- it has to be
           somewhere in the middle, very ambiguous, vague, surrounded by mist. You cannot figure out where
           it is going, and that's why it becomes intriguing. And it takes the turn so suddenly that in a single line
           it is there in its totality.

           Let me tell you one joke:

               A Jewish synagogue was collecting money for a new building for the synagogue -- the old one
           was rotten and was falling apart. They were doing everything that can be done to collect more
           money.
               They had sold lottery tickets and then the lottery was opened, and the president of the community
           declared the third prize: it was a beautiful TV set, and the man who got it was very happy. Then he
           declared the second prize -- of course, the man whose name was declared was hoping for something
           like a Cadillac, Impala, Mercedes, something like that. But when he came the president gave him a
           small box. He immediately opened it -- mm? -- he was puzzled as to what was there in the box. And
           there was nothing much: chocolates, cookies. He said, "What is this? You must have forgotten, you
           must have misplaced something. For the third prize you have given a TV set -- and second prize, just
           cookies? This is nonsense!"
               The president said, "You don't understand it: the rabbi's wife herself has prepared it for you."
               The man was annoyed. He said, "Screw the rabbi's wife!"
           The president said, "That's the first prize."

               Now this is a joke! You cannot expect, it is impossible, but once it is there then everything
           becomes clear. The conclusion makes the whole story clear. But if the conclusion has not been given
           to you, you will not be able to come to it logically.
               Logic proceeds in steps, from the beginning to the end. A joke spreads backwards, from the end
           to the beginning -- that is the beauty of it. And it brings laughter, because when the story is going on
           you become tense -- mm? -- you want the conclusion immediately. You become very curious about
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it, what is going to happen. You start throbbing with energy. You become alert, more alert, more
           alive -- and the energy is there; you cannot release it. It becomes a crescendo. Then comes the
           shattering punchline and the whole energy spreads all over your being. That's what laughter is.
               And I have to tell jokes, because the things that I am saying are so subtle, so deep and profound,
           that if I simply go on telling you those things, you will fall asleep and you will not be able to listen
           or to understand. You will remain almost deaf.
               The profounder the truth I have to tell you, the worst joke I choose for it. The highest the truth I
           am trying to relate, then the lowest I have to go in search for a joke. That's why even dirty jokes... I
           don't bother. Even a dirty joke can be helpful -- more so because it can shock you to the very roots,
           to the very guts. And that's the whole point! It helps you to come again and again to your alertness.
           When I see you are alert, I again go relating that which I would like to relate to you. When I see
           again you are slipping into your sleep, I have to bring in a joke again.
               If you really listen with alertness, there will be no need -- I can say the truth directly. But it is
           difficult. You start yawning... and it is better to laugh than to yawn.

           The third question:


              I AM GOING SOON TO THE WEST. OSHO, IF I CALL YOU THERE, WILL YOUR HELP BE
              AVAILABLE TO ME AS IT HAS BEEN AVAILABLE HERE?


               CALL ME ONLY WHEN IT IS ABSOLUTELY NEEDED, when you find that now nothing can
           be done. First try to do all that you can do. And out of a hundred cases, ninety-nine you will not need
           to call me. And if you have not called me for ninety-nine cases, you have earned for the hundredth
           case -- you can expect me in every possible way. But don't make it an everyday thing.
               Let me tell you one anecdote -- and it is a true anecdote. It has already happened. And I say it is
           true because it comes to me from a very reliable source: Kamal has sent this story to me.

               One day, Swami Arup Krishna, alias Chinani, and Sadar Gurdayal Singh were coming towards
           the ashram. It had rained for two, three days, and the roads were muddy and dirty water had
           collected everywhere, and the gutters were overflowing. And on a banana peel, Gurdayal slipped.
           Not only that: a small coin fell from his pocket and was lost into the gutter.
               He immediately cried, "Satya Sai Baba, Satya Sai Baba -- help me!"
               Of course, Arup Krishna was very surprised. He said, "Gurdayal, have you gone crazy? You are
           Osho's disciple!"
               Gurdayal said, "What do you mean? Should I call Osho in this dirty water in the gutter?!"

              So remember it: whenever you need really, and it is not dirty water and a gutter, and not only a
           small coin is lost -- then follow Gurdayal.

           The fourth question:


              CAN THE MIND COMMIT SUICIDE?


               THE MIND CANNOT COMMIT SUICIDE, because whatsoever the mind can do will
           strengthen the mind. Any doing on the part of the mind makes the mind more strong. So suicide is
           impossible.
               Mind doing something means mind continuing itself -- so that is not in the nature of things. But
           suicide happens. Mind cannot commit it -- mm? -- let me make it absolutely clear: mind cannot
           commit it, but suicide happens. It happens through watching the mind, not by doing anything.
               The watcher is separate from the mind, it is deeper than the mind, higher than the mind. The
           watcher is always hidden behind the mind. A thought passes, a feeling arises -- who is watching this
           thought? Not the mind itself -- because mind is nothing but the process of thought and feeling. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind is just the traffic of thinking. Who is watching it? When you say, "An angry thought has arisen
           in me," who are 'you'? In whom has the thought arisen? Who is the container? The thought is the
           content -- who is the container?
               The mind is like when you print a book: on white, clean paper, words appear. That empty paper
           is the container and the printed words are the content. Consciousness is like empty paper. Mind is
           like written, printed paper.
               Whatsoever exists as an object inside you, whatsoever you can see and observe, is the mind. The
           observer is not the mind, the observed is the mind.
               So if you can go on simply observing, without condemning, without in any way creating a
           conflict with the mind, without indulging it, without following it, without going against it, if you can
           simply be there indifferent to it, in that indifference suicide happens. It is not that mind commits
           suicide: when the watcher arises, the witness is there, mind simply disappears.
               Mind exists with your cooperation OR your conflict. Both are ways of cooperating -- conflict
           too! When you fight with the mind, you are giving energy to it. In your VERY fight you have
           accepted the mind, in your very fighting you have accepted the power of the mind over your being.
           So whether you cooperate or you conflict, in both the cases the mind becomes stronger and stronger.
               Just watch. Just be a witness. And, by and by, you will see gaps arising. A thought passes, and
           another thought does not come immediately -- there is an interval. In that interval is peace. In that
           interval is love. In that interval is all that you have always been seeking -- and finding never. In that
           gap, you are no more an ego. In that gap you are not defined, confined, imprisoned. In that gap you
           are vast, immense, huge! In that gap you are one with existence -- the barrier exists not. Your
           boundaries are no more there. You melt into existence and the existence melts in you. You start
           overlapping.
               If you go on watching and you don't get attached to these gaps either... because that is natural
           now, to get attached to these gaps. If you start hankering for these gaps... because they are
           tremendously beautiful, they are immensely blissful. It is natural to get attached to them, and desire
           arises to have more and more of these gaps -- then you will miss, then your watcher has disappeared.
           Then those gaps will again disappear, and again the traffic of the mind will be there.
               So the first thing is to become an indifferent watcher. And the second thing is to remember that
           when beautiful gaps arise, don't get attached to them, don't start asking for them, don't start waiting
           that they should happen more often. If you can remember these two things -- when beautiful gaps
           come, watch them too, and keep your indifference alive -- then one day the traffic simply disappears
           with the road, they both disappear. And there is tremendous emptiness.
               That's what Buddha calls 'Nirvana' -- the mind has ceased. This is what I call suicide -- but mind
           has not committed it. Mind cannot commit it. You can help it to happen. You can hinder it, you can
           help it to happen -- it depends on you, not on your mind. All that mind can do will always strengthen
           the mind.
               So meditation is not really mind-effort. Real meditation is not effort at all. Real meditation is just
           allowing the mind to have its own way, and not interfering in any way whatsoever -- just remaining
           watchful, witnessing. It silences, by and by, it becomes still. One day it is gone. You are left alone.

               That aloneness is what your reality is. And in that aloneness nothing is excluded, remember it. In
           that aloneness everything is included -- that aloneness is God. That purity, that innocence,
           uncorrupted by any thought, is what God is.

           The fifth question:


              I HOO MY GUTS OUT IN THE DYNAMIC, I LAUGH WITH YOU IN THE LECTURE, I DANCE FOR
              YOU IN NATARAJ, I CRY AND SCREAM AFTER NADABRAHMA, I WATCH MY TENSIONS IN
              KUNDALINI, AND LISTEN TO THE BIRDS WHICH COME TOGETHER SPECIALLY FOR THE
              MEDITATIONS WITH MUSIC -- THEY ENJOY TREMENDOUSLY.
              I PROVIDE DINNER FOR THE MOSQUITOES IN GOURISHANKAR. IN AND BETWEEN THE
              MEDITATIONS IT SEEMS I AM DOING ALL THE GROUPS AT ONCE. I FEEL VERY VERY CRAZY.
              I KNOW YOU LOVE IT -- HOW CAN I LOVE IT TOO?
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THEN YOU ARE NOT VERY VERY CRAZY... otherwise the question would never arise.
           When you are very very crazy, you have already fallen in love with it.
               A crazy person is one who is still resisting. A very very crazy person is one who has surrendered
           to it. That's the only difference! A crazy person is one who feels that there is something which is
           going crazy, but he is still fighting it, resisting it, repressing it -- still is against it, not allowing it. If
           you do that, then one day you will really go crazy. And when I say 'really go crazy', I mean it will
           not be a spiritual growth -- it will be simply a fall.

               If you go on repressing craziness... everybody has craziness, because God Himself is crazy. He
           never creates anybody without a certain streak of craziness in him. And the greater the person is, the
           more crazy, more eccentric. Buddha, Mahavir, Krishna, Christ -- these are eccentric people. And
           psychologists are right in a way: they call them abnormal. They are abnormal because they are
           super-normal. They are abnormal because they are not the common lot.
               If a Buddha walks on the earth, he is absolutely unique. No precedent, never has it happened
           before -- and never again is it going to happen! He happens only once. He is unrepeatable,
           irreplaceable. He is a unique moment in the consciousness of humanity. Of course, eccentric; bound
           to be a little crazy. People will think that he has gone mad: he was the son of a king; he renounced
           the palace, his beautiful wife, all comforts -- and became a beggar! Does it seem normal ?
               The normal is just the reverse: a beggar wants to become the emperor -- that is normal. Every
           beggar wants to become the emperor. Everybody wants to become the emperor. Ambition is very
           ordinary. To become rich, to become famous, to become known to the world, to become very
           powerful, is an ordinary phenomenon, nothing special in it. But an emperor getting down from his
           throne and moving like a beggar -- it is eccentric, crazy, very very crazy.
               If you go on suppressing your craziness.... Craziness is your uniqueness. Craziness is simply that
           element in you which cannot fit with anybody else in the world, which can never become part of the
           machinery of the society, which can never be a cog in the wheel. That's what craziness is. Your
           individuality is your craziness.
               The society does not want your individuality: it wants efficient mechanisms, robots. It does not
           want crazy people. It does not want Picasso's, it does not want Buddhas, it does not want Wagners,
           Nietzsches -- no. Once in a while they are good just for a change, but too many of them the world
           does not need. And they are very disturbing people: they shatter many ideals, they go on pulling
           humanity ruthlessly towards some unknown goal. They are never for the ordinary. Something
           extraordinary has to happen, only then can man feel at home. The usual and the ordinary and the
           common is futile, frustrating.
               The society does not want them. The society can tolerate a few -- that too society has learnt with
           much difficulty. Otherwise, why should Jesus be crucified? The society could not tolerate the man.
           He was risking not only his own life -- he was risking other people's lives. He was opening some
           crazy door, not only for himself but for others also. The society was afraid.
               Society wants people almost dead. Only one requirement is needed of living people by the
           society and that is that they should be efficient. They should work hard, produce more, be obedient,
           good citizens, live comfortably, and die silently. They should not create any noise in the world. They
           should not even sing a song. They should not dance on the streets. They should simply live as if they
           never existed. They should live as numbers not as individuals. They should not assert their
           individuality in any way. They should not say "I am." They should be slaves. They should not be
           free people.
               Society represses all sorts of individuality. And that repressed individuality, if it becomes too
           much, one day explodes -- then a person is crazy. This is my observation: that the crazy people who
           are confined in mental asylums are very sensitive people, more sensitive than the ordinary lot. They
           could not tolerate their inner individuality -- it exploded. They tried hard! They forced it as deep as
           possible, but they were fragile people, sensitive people; they were not dull.
               To be crazy, some intelligence is needed. To be just a part of the collective, no intelligence is
           needed -- any stupid person can become a perfect citizen. In fact, the more stupid you are, the more
           obedient you will be, the less rebellious you will be. Always you will be ready to fall in line with any
           fool who comes to command. Anybody who shouts loudly, you will fall into his feet; he will become
           your leader.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But to be an individual you need intelligence, sharp consciousness, because it is very difficult to
           live an individual life. Surrounded by so many stupid people, surrounded by the crowd, surrounded
           by the dull and the dead, it is very difficult to remain alive, throbbing, streaming. Then you are very
           alone.
               So those who are very sensitive.... And now in the West, modern psychiatrists have become
           aware of the fact that whomsoever you call crazy are the cream. You ask R. D. Laing. Now they say
           the crazy people are the cream; they should have been allowed more freedom, they should have been
           helped to be individuals, and then humanity would have risen higher than ever -- because they are
           the vanguard.
               Have you ever heard about any stupid person going mad? I am not talking about retarded people;
           when I say 'mad', I don't mean the retarded. The retarded person is physically retarded; the problem
           is not of the mind. A crazy person is one who is not retarded. In fact, crazy people have higher I.Q.'s
           than ordinary people. Crazy people have higher I.Q.'s than your politicians. A mad Nietzsche has a
           greater I.Q. than Richard Nixon. A mad Van Gogh has a higher I.Q. than Lenin, Mao, Stalin. A
           Picasso has greater intelligence than any Adolf Hitler. But they are all crazy people. In fact, they
           look crazy because the world is very dull.
               If everybody is allowed individuality, crazy people will not be found anywhere. If everybody is
           allowed to be rebellious and to be himself, authentically to be himself, there will be no need for
           mental asylums. Mad people are victims of the society, of a repressive society. First the society
           forces sensitive people to go crazy and then forces them into mental asylums or forces them into
           hospitals, gives them electric shocks, insulin shocks, forces them onto the psychiatrist's couch for
           years together -- a sheer wastage of potential, and of the purest potential.
               In primitive societies, crazy people don't exist. The more primitive a society is, the less is the
           possibility of anybody going mad -- because in a primitive society individuality is accepted. In a
           primitive society craziness is accepted as individuality. Somebody wants to live in this way,
           somebody else wants to live in some other way. If somebody walks naked in a primitive society,
           people accept it. It is his choice, nothing is wrong in it! But if you walk naked in London, or in New
           York, you are mad.
               Just think of Mahavir: he was very clever -- he chose India to be born in, and he chose a right
           time. If he had to choose the twentieth century and he was to be born in New York, can you think
           what would have happened to him? He would have been under psychiatric treatment. Naked! -- they
           would have given him shocks, electric shocks; they would have dulled his mind. They would not
           have been able to accept his individuality.
               What is wrong? A man wants to live naked under the sky, with the wind, with the sun; a man
           wants to be open to nature -- what is wrong in it? Why should a man be forced to wear clothes? If he
           likes to -- perfectly good. There is no need to force him to remain naked, because then you do the
           same again. But if somebody likes to be naked, what is wrong in it?
               Just think of yourself sitting naked in your drawing-room, and a guest comes, and you welcome
           him -- he will escape! He will not come again. He will go directly to the police station. And you
           were not doing anything to anybody: just sitting in your drawing-room, naked, enjoying, listening to
           music.
               You don't allow even small children to be naked. Such a repressive and violent society! The
           by-product is craziness, madness.
               I accept you as you are. I have never come across any crazy person, because the very word is
           meaningless. People are different! -- that's all. And the difference is beautiful. That's what makes life
           rich. That's what gives life variety. That's what gives life spice. Crazy people are the very salt of the
           earth. But if you reject it, if you become afraid of it, if you choose the social structure rather than
           your own individual freedom, then you will go on accumulating your craziness in the basement of
           your being. One day or other, if you are an intelligent person, a sensitive person, that will explode --
           you are sitting on a volcano. And once it explodes, then you will not be capable -- then you will go
           mad.
               The only way not to go mad is to accept your individual forms, individual styles, to accept so
           totally that you never repress anything -- and you will always remain sane.

              NOW THE QUESTIONER SAYS: "I feel very, very crazy. I know you love it -- how can I love
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it too?"
                Accept it, enjoy it! Love will arise by and by if you start enjoying it. Something great is
           happening to you; something very significant, spiritual. Your individuality is asserting itself. You are
           starting to feel that you are individual, not just a cog in the wheel of the mechanism that surrounds
           you. You are throbbing again with life. You are being reborn. This is going to be a new birth, the
           second birth. Enjoy it!
                My whole effort in this ashram is to give you absolute space to be yourself. It is very difficult,
           because this ashram also has to exist in the society. But let it be difficult -- it has to be done. Even if
           a few pockets, a few oases on the earth exist, where a person is not CONDEMNED as crazy, we will
           be creating a new sort of world and a new sort of society.
                And this is going to be the society of the future. This is going to be the shape of things to come.
           This small ashram is just a miniature world of the future, and you are pioneers -- feel blessed that
           you are creating a new sort of human being, who lives in freedom and yet with tremendous
           responsibility.
                One thing more I would like to say about this question: when you feel crazy you are completely
           allowed to be crazy -- but your craziness should not be forced upon anybody else, that's all.
           Otherwise you start repressing the other person.
                You want to sing a song loudly in the middle of the night -- nothing is wrong -- but then go far
           away from the town, because you are not allowed to disturb others' sleep. Your idea is perfectly
           beautiful: the middle of the night is so beautiful -- who would not like to sing a song? It's perfectly
           okay. Nothing is wrong in it, but others are sleeping. You need not disturb anybody. This is what I
           call responsibility.
                Freedom for you; responsibility for others. If you can keep yourself between these two, a balance
           will arise. And if you are responsible, society will not force you too much because you will not be
           coming in its way. If you are irresponsible, then the society will immediately catch hold of you and
           will not allow you to be crazy. So to be responsible is a good policy also.
                If you really want to be free, then responsibility has to be taken care of otherwise you will not be
           allowed freedom. And what are you against this big society? They can crush you. If they can kill
           Jesus, they can poison Socrates, they can kill anybody, they can poison anybody It is very simple. A
           man is so fragile, a man is like a flower -- can be crushed very easily.
                So if you really want to be free, then never be irresponsible. The more a person wants to be free,
           the more he has to learn the ways of responsibility. And if you can remain alert about responsibility,
           you will have more and more freedom available to you. Even in this society you can remain
           absolutely free -- I have remained, that's why I say it to you. I have never done anything that I never
           wanted to do. I have done only that which I always wanted to do. But then you have to be very, very
           intelligent, and you have to be very, very alert. I am a crazy person -- very, very crazy. But there is
           no problem in it. I don't suffer from it -- I celebrate it.
                Start enjoying it, rejoicing in it, and love will arise. Love always follows joy, and joy always
           follows love -- they are together. Either start by loving; or, if it is difficult, then start by rejoicing. If
           you can love your craziness, good -- joy will come out of it. If the question has arisen: I low to love
           it? then forget about loving -- you enjoy it and love will follow it. They go together, they are one
           phenomenon.

           The sixth question:


               ARE ALL DESIRES THE SAME? WHAT IS MY DESIRE FOR LOVE?


               IN THE ULTIMATE SENSE, all desires are the same -- because desire means you are not
           contented with yourself as you are. Desire is a discontent.
               Essentially, desire is a longing for that which is not. Essentially, desire is a complaint against
           existence. You say: "This is not the way I want to be. This is not the house I want to live in, and this
           is not the woman I want to love and be loved by. This is not the world, this is not the society, this is
           not the body, this is not the mind, that I can be content with."
               Desire means discontent, and desire means a hope in the.future -- that somewhere there must be a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           place where everything will fall in tune with you. Desire means that "I am not in tune with the world
           as it is, so I hope for another world with which I can be in tune." But you are not going to be in tune
           anywhere, because all the time you are learning only one thing, and that is not being in tune with.
               Yesterday you were not in tune with, the day before yesterday you were not in tune with. In
           childhood there was no harmony between you and the world. Young you were not in harmony. Old
           you are not in harmony. And you are hoping: "Tomorrow I will be in tune with things and things will
           be in tune with me." And the whole life is disciplined, trained, for NOT being in tune with.
           Tomorrow will always be the same as yesterday.
               In Hindi, we have the same word for both, for yesterday and tomorrow. That is something very
           significant -- the SAME word for both! Yesterday also we call KAL, and tomorrow also we call
           KAL. It simply means that your tomorrow is going to be nothing but a repetition of your yesterday,
           your future is nothing but a repetition of your past. So don't wait for the future because then the
           future will only be a repetition of the past.
               To be desireless means to be herenow, contented: whatsoever is is good; whatsoever is is the
           only way for things to be -- there is no other way, it cannot be otherwise. It is the way life is and life
           is meant to be. Suddenly you are surrounded by peace.
               Just see: this very moment I can see peace surrounding you. This moment being with me, there is
           no yesterday, no tomorrow. The past is not there, the future is not there -- you are just herenow. This
           nowness, this hereness, this is what desirelessness is. You are just happy being with me.
               This is the way to live your whole life. Let this be your DHAMMA -- the Way. Each moment,
           whatsoever is, enjoy it, celebrate it, feel thankful for it.
               So, ultimately, all desires are the same, because the nature of desire is the same. But if we don't
           think about the ultimate meaning of desire, then there are differences, then there are many
           differences.
           You have asked: "What is my desire for love?"
               Now the desire for love can have three meanings -- it depends on you. The ultimate meaning is
           certainly one, and that meaning is that you are not happy with yourself. You think you will be happy
           with somebody else. Now this is stupid, now this is not possible. You are not happy even with
           yourself? How can you be happy with someone else? And you can manage somebody else to live
           with you only if that someone else is also not happy with himself or herself -- otherwise why should
           she or he bother about you?
               You can manage and persuade somebody to live with you only because he or she is also in the
           same trap of desire. Now two unhappy persons meet. Now two persons who are not happy with
           themselves meet. You are asking for miracles -- miracles don't happen.
               Two unhappy persons meeting cannot make each other happy; they will become doubly
           unhappy, that's all. It is simple arithmetic. They will become very very unhappy. Not only doubled,
           in fact, their unhappiness will be multiplied because their unhappinesses will clash. They will be
           angry at each other. They will take revenge on each other. They will think the other has been a cheat,
           because "the other promised me a garden of roses, and there seems to be no possibility of any
           delivery."
               All promises prove false -- because out of unhappiness how can you promise? Out of
           unhappiness how can you give? You don't have it in the first place, how can you share? You share
           only that which you have. If you are happy, you share happiness. If you are unhappy, you share
           unhappiness. If you are sad, you share sadness.
               So you ask me: "What is my desire for love?" It will depend on you.
               First thing: it can be just a desire for sex. That is simple, not very complicated -- very gross. In
           fact, to call it love is not right. But we call everything love. Somebody says, "I love ice-cream."
           Somebody says, "I love my house. I love my dog. I love my wife. I love golf!" So what to do?
               'Love' is one of the most misused words. We use it for a thousand and one things. So when
           people need sex, they call it love. Sex is a very rudimentary form of love, very primitive, just the
           ABC of love. Cannot go very deep and cannot be very fulfilling. Or you can really mean love by
           'love'. Then it means that you are a happy person and you would like to share your happiness. You
           are burdened with your happiness.
               When your love means sex, you simply are burdened with sexual energy and you would like to
           release it. It is going to be a relief. You want somebody to help you relieve it. The sexual love is very
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           physical.
               If you really mean love by 'love' then you have to be happy, content, rejoicing in your life. Then
           celebration is needed in your heart, so that you can share. This is sharing of the heart. Sex is sharing
           of the body: love is sharing of the heart.
               And there is still another possibility I call prayer. When you have even gone beyond the heart,
           your whole being is in deep need to flower, bloom, needs to be shared, then it is prayer.
               Sex exists between two bodies; it can exist even with a dead body. That's what happens when
           you go to a prostitute. The prostitute is not there; just the body is there. The prostitute makes her
           body available to you, and she simply escapes from the body -- because she never loved you, how
           can she be there? She becomes absent. That is the whole art of being a prostitute. She becomes
           absent to you; she simply forgets all about you. She may start thinking about her boyfriend; she may
           create a dream about her boyfriend, and she will completely forget you and leave the body at your
           disposal. It is a dead body. You can use it, but it is just a means. It is ugly, it is tremendously ugly, to
           make love to a dead body.
               But I am not saying that it happens only with prostitutes -- it may be happening to you with your
           wife. Your wife may not be there. If love is not there, how can she be there? Your wife may not be
           present to you when you are making love to her; or, your husband may not be present there. He may
           be simply fulfilling a duty. Then again it is prostitution. Maybe marriage is a more permanent sort of
           prostitution, more institutional, more convenient and secure, but the difference is not of quality --
           maybe of quantity, but not of quality.
               Whenever you love a person and the person is not present, you love a person and you are not
           present, then only bodies are there. It is a mechanical thing. When you love a person, you have to be
           present to the person; you have to be present to the presence of the person. Two presences meet,
           overlap, merge, and there is tremendous joy, there is peace, silence.
               So many religious people are against sex because they have not yet understood what love is.
           They have understood love only as the first gross thing -- sex. So they go on talking against it. They
           have not understood the beauty of love; they have known only ugly sex. If you find a saint still
           talking about sex and being against it, you can be certain he has never known love. And a person
           who has never known love cannot know prayer, whatsoever his pretensions -- because sex becomes
           refined in love, and love becomes refined in prayer. It is a hierarchy, it is a pyramid. The base is sex
           and the peak is prayer, and between the two is the expanse of love.
               When you are present to another's presence, and fulfilled in the presence, and happy in the
           presence, there is a sharing. Love may become sexual, love may have a sexual dimension too, but
           then sex is elevated, then sex itself is no longer gross, then sex itself has come to a higher altitude.
           Then it has a different quality to it.
               When you love a person and sex happens spontaneously, just as a sharing -- not that there is any
           greed for it, not that you have been desiring it, not that you have been planning it, not that it has been
           in your mind, it has not been there at all -- you were simply sharing the presence, and out of that
           sharing even bodies started meeting and merging into each other, then sex is also different.
               In love, either sex disappears or is transformed. First it is transformed, then by and by it
           disappears. Then arises another, higher quality of love -- that is prayer. In prayer there is no sex left.
           Love is just in the middle between prayer and sex.
               In love, both are the possibilities: love may spread to the very roots, to sex; and love may
           sometimes rise to the very peak of prayer. Loving a person, sometimes you may love in a sexual
           way, and sometimes you may love in a prayerful way. Love will spread to both the banks. Love is
           the river; it touches both the banks. Sometimes even the body, and sometimes the person will be so
           transfigured that you will see god or a goddess. Unless your love starts feeling the presence of the
           other as divine, then there is no prayer.
               When you move to prayer then sex completely disappears. From prayer there is no fall to sex,
           that is impossible. Prayer is the other shore. From sex there is no contact with prayer -- sex is the
           other shore. They are far apart. They meet in love, so love is the MOST complex thing in human
           experience, because in love there is a meeting of two shores. In love, matter and spirit meet, body
           and soul meet, the creator and the creation meet. Never miss any opportunity to grow into love.

              BUT IT DEPENDS. You ask me: "Are all desires the same? What is my desire for love?"
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You will have to watch. I cannot give you an answer for it right now. You will have to observe.
           Be very clear about your own feelings. If it is sexual, nothing to hide, nothing to be worried -- it is
           natural. It has to rise from that natural source; you have to begin from there. Don't hide it, don't
           rationalize it -- let it be whatsoever it is. If it is sex, it is sex. Try to understand it. Help it to move
           towards more loving -- more and more towards the person, less and less towards the body.
               If you feel it is love, then help it to move in the direction of prayer. Then love the person, but
           remember God. Then hug the person, but remember God. Then hold the person of your love, the
           hand of your beloved, your lover, but remember that that hand belongs to God. Then let this
           remembrance go deeper and deeper.
               I cannot give you an answer -- you will have to find it. Even if I give you an answer, you will
           interpret it in your own way. I may talk about prayer, but if your energy remains stuck at sex you
           will interpret it in a sexual way.
               I have been saying for years that religion is a bridge from sex to superconsciousness. All sorts of
           people have heard it. Those who are obsessed with sex, they think: "Very good, so samadhi is also
           sex." They reduce samadhi to sex. Those who are really flowing into samadhi, they become very
           happy so they say, "Good, so now there is no need to condemn anything -- even sex has an element
           of samadhi in it. We can accept it, absorb it, and can be deep in peace, because when there is no
           conflict there is peace."
               I have talked to many people, but they understand always in their own way. Let me tell you one
           anecdote before you fall asleep:

               Mulla Nasrudin went to his doctor. He is old, very old, almost ancient, and he was looking very
           weak. And the doctor said, "Nasrudin, tell me about your love-life, because it seems you are wasting
           too much energy."
               He said, "My love-life is very simple: four times a week I make love to my wife; four times a
           week I make love to my secretary; and four times a week I make love to my typist."
               The doctor was horrified. He said, "Nasrudin, you will kill yourself! It is time you should take
           yourself in hand."
           Nasrudin said, "That too I do four times a week."

                Your understand ing is your understanding. Even if I talk about prayer, you will understand
           whatsoever you can understand. It is better you observe, it is better you go into your own mind, its
           functionings.
                Just one thing I would like to tell you: don't condemn, never condemn. A condemnatory mind
           will never be able to understand life. Never judge. Never evaluate. Just be a simple observer.
           Because once you have a judgement, then you don't allow your mind to open itself completely to you
           -- your judgement becomes a barrier. If you are already convinced that sex is sin, then how can you
           face your own sexuality? You will garb it. You will deceive yourself. You will rationalize it. You
           will find ways and means and words and philosophies to hide it.
                Never keep any prejudice, so that your existence becomes transparent to you. And whatsoever it
           is, at least with.me, everything is good -- whatsoever it is, it is good. It is your mind, it is your body,
           it is your energy. The first basic requirement is to see it clearly, and from that vision things start
           moving.
                If it is sex, nothing to be worried. It is good that you are not impotent -- think of that. It is sex, it
           is good -- you have energy. Now you can use that energy. Have you ever heard of any person who
           was impotent and became enlightened? I have not heard. And, believe me, it has not happened -- it
           cannot happen. An impotent man is the poorest man in the world because enlightenment cannot
           happen to him. Even if he tries, it cannot happen -- because he has no energy in the first place to
           transform.
                And let me tell you another truth: that whenever enlightenment has happened it has happened to
           a very sexual person -- always! Because more energy... and you can ride on it. It has not happened to
           so-called lukewarm people -- nothing happens to them; they are stuck with their lukewarmness. It
           has happened to very hot people.
                Buddha was very hot. He had lived a very sexual life, and out of that he became more and more
           understanding. And one day when he became aware of how much energy he was throwing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unnecessarily, he started channelizing that energy into a different direction -- towards love, prayer,
           compassion, meditation.
               It is the same energy! There is only one energy in the world and that energy is sexual energy.
           Even if God has to create something, He has to do it through it. A child is born, life is born, out of
           sex. A flower blooms -- it is sexual energy. The cuckoo goes on singing a crazy song -- it is out of
           sexual energy. Just look all around! The whole world is throbbing with sexual energy. It is the only
           energy there is! Sex is the stuff the universe is made of. So don't condemn it. Ride on the waves, the
           roaring waves of sex, and you will start feeling new dimensions, new altitudes.
               The first entry will be in love, and the second door will be of prayer. But you can start only from
           where you are. So the first thing to be absolutely certain about is where you are -- and only you can
           be certain about it.
               Watch... and just go on noting. And if you are not condemning, if you are not justifying, if you
           are not saying good or bad, if you are not a puritan moralist, if you are simply a pure observer, you
           will be able to see -- because it is within you, where your energy is. And once you have known
           where it is, start working.
               If it is hanging around the sex centre, then nothing to be worried. Just remember one thing: never
           make love to a person you don't love. That is a perversion -- because then you will remain obsessed
           with sex. Make love to a person you really love, otherwise wait -- because when you love a person,
           the very love will pull the energy upwards. And once the energy has started moving towards love,
           love is so satisfying that who bothers about sex? Sex has never satisfied anybody. It creates more
           and more dissatisfaction. Sex has never fulfilled anybody -- it knows no fulfilment.
               Have a sexual relationship only when you have a loving relationship, so love and sex become
           associated. And love is a greater centre, a higher centre. Once sex is hitched to love, it starts moving
           upwards. Once you feel that you are loving, then never go to pray in a temple or in a mosque or in a
           church -- that is foolish. Then again do the same as you did in the first place: your first prayer has to
           happen with your beloved or with your lover. Either before you make love, let there be prayer; or,
           after you have made love, let there be prayer; or -- and the third is the best -- while you are making
           love, let there be prayer.
               If love becomes joined with prayer, then it can hitch-hike, then it can be pulled by prayer. Love
           has to pull sex energy up, and then prayer has to pull love energy up. Once you are at the point of
           prayer, SAHASRAR -- the one-thousand-petalled lotus in your head -- opens. It only opens at the
           moment of prayer.

               These are the three basic centres: the sex centre, the heart centre, and the SAHASRAR -- the
           one-thousand-petalled lotus. The heart centre is just in the middle, between the SAHASRAR and the
           sex centre. From the heart centre the roads go to both the centres. From sex nobody can jump
           directly to SAHASRAR; one has to pass through love, through the heart centre. From the heart
           centre you can spread both ways -- nothing is wrong in it. Once you have reached SAHASRAR, the
           ultimate flowering of your inner lotus, then sex completely disappears. Then there is no sex left.
               In sex there is no prayer. In prayer there is no sex. In love both meet and mingle. That's why I
           repeat again: Love is the door of entering into this world, or entering into the other world. Love is
           the door which opens both the ways.
               Jesus is right when he says: God is love. But I would like to say -- and I feel my statement is
           better than Jesus' -- I would like to say to you: Love is God. Jesus says: God is love. I say: Love is
           God.

               Somebody asked me, a small child, "What is your name?"
           I said, "My name is love."
               And let that be your name also. Once you understand what love is, you have understood life. You
           have understood all that is needed to be understood.

           The seventh question:


              DO YOU GIVE THE LADY SANNYASINS A MORE DIFFICULT TIME THAN THE MEN, OR AM I
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IMAGINING THINGS AGAIN?


              LADY -- you are imagining.

           The last question:


              THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY YOU PARTED WITH YOUR OLD COMPANION HAND-TOWEL,
              CELEBRATING THE SILVER JUBILEE OF THE FRIENDSHIP. YOU HAD SAID THAT EVERYBODY
              SHOULD REMAIN SITTING AT HIS OR HER PLACE IN MEDITATION, AND LET THE TOWEL
              LAND ON SOME SANNYASIN AS COD DESCENDS IN THE SAME WAY. THEN WITH A
              HISTORIC, LOVING GESTURE YOU TOSSED THE TOWEL, BUT STRANGELY ENOUGH, IT
              STRUCK THE WALL BEAM AND LANDED ON THE EMPTY FLOOR IN FRONT OF YOU ABOUT
              TWO FEET AWAY FROM MAITREYA AND TEERTHA. MAITREYAJI STRETCHED HIS HAND AND
              TOOK IT.
              YOU PLAYED THIS MYSTERIOUS JOKE AND YOU WITNESSED IT TOO. NOW TO WHOM DOES
              THE TOWEL GO? IT REMAINS UNSOLVED! TO APPROACH MULLA NASRUDIN IS NOT
              POSSIBLE. WHO KNOWS WHERE HE IS? -- IN IRAN, IRAQ, IN BAGHDAD OR MAYBE IN OSHO'S
              ROOM! I DID APPROACH SWAMI YOGA CHINMAYA WITH THE PUZZLE. HE REDIRECTS ME TO
              YOU.
              OSHO, HELP ME WITH YOUR COMMENTS!


               NOW LET IT REMAIN A PUZZLE. It will be good for centuries to come to think about it. It is
           a koan.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

              A mailman was delivering letters on a new route in the heavily Irish south side of Boston. At one
           house there was such a racket from an argument going on inside that he was afraid to approach.

              Suddenly a little boy appeared on the porch. "What is all the noise about, sonny?" the mailman
           asked.
              "It is my parents fighting," answered the boy. "They are always fighting."
              The mailman glanced at his letters. "What is your father's name?" he asked.
              "That's just what they're always fighting about," said the boy.

               Now there is no way... and it is good that it should remain a mystery. Let people fight about it.
           Let people think about it.
               And the towel did well it landed on the floor. If it had landed on somebody's head, I would not
           have believed it, because God never descends on anybody's head. It would have been absolutely
           wrong! It did well. It descended on the floor, the empty floor. Whosoever is as humble as the floor,
           only on him does God descend.




                                The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                   Chapter #3
                                   Chapter title: There Is Nothing Like Lust
           23 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610230
              ShortTitle: TRANS303
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "THERE IS NOTHING LIKE LUST. LUST MAY BE SAID TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL PASSION.
              FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE BUT ONE THING WHICH IS MORE POWERFUL. IF THE THIRST FOR
              TRUTH WERE WEAKER THAN PASSION, HOW MANY OF US IN THE WORLD WOULD BE ABLE
              TO FOLLOW THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS?"

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "MEN WHO ARE ADDICTED TO THE PASSIONS ARE LIKE THE TORCH-CARRIER RUNNING
              AGAINST THE WIND; HIS HANDS ARE SURE TO BE BURNT."

              THE LORD OF HEAVEN OFFERED A BEAUTIFUL FAIRY TO THE BUDDHA, DESIRING TO TEMPT
              HIM TO THE EVIL PATH. BUT THE BUDDHA SAID: "BE GONE! WHAT USE HAVE I FOR THE
              LEATHER BAG FILLED WITH FILTH WHICH YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME?" THEN, THE GOD
              REVERENTLY BOWED AND ASKED THE BUDDHA ABOUT THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY, IN
              WHICH HAVING BEEN INSTRUCTED BY THE BUDDHA, IT IS SAID, HE ATTAINED THE
              SROTAAPANNA FRUIT.


               THE ESSENCE OF THE RELIGION OF BUDDHA IS AWARENESS. There is no prayer in it,
           there cannot be -- because there is no God. And there cannot be any prayer in it because prayer is
           always motivated. Prayer is a form of desire, a form of lust.
               Prayer has deep down hidden in it the very cause of misery. The cause of misery is that we are
           not contented as we are. The cause of misery is that we would like a different type of life, a different
           situation, a different world, and the world that is before us pales down before our imagination. The
           cause of misery is imagination, desire, hope. And in prayer all the causes are present, so there is no
           possibility for prayer in Buddha's religion. Only awareness is the key. So we have to understand
           what awareness is.
               When you pray, you ask for something. When you meditate, you meditate upon something. But
           when you are aware, you are simply centred in your being. The other is not important at all. The
           other is irrelevant. You are simply aware.
               Awareness has no object to it. It is pure subjectivity. It is a grounding in your being, it is a
           centring in your being. Standing there inside your being, you burn bright. Your flame is without any
           smoke. In your light the whole life becomes clear.
               In that clarity is silence. In that clarity, time ceases to be. In that clarity, the world disappears.
           Because in that clarity there is no desire, no motivation. You simply are... not wanting anything
           whatever. Not wanting any future. Not wanting any better world. Not wanting heaven, MOKSHA.
           Not wanting God. Not wanting knowledge, liberation. You simply are.
               Awareness is a pure presence, a centred consciousness. Buddha's whole effort is how to make
           you centred, grounded, a flame without smoke, a flame which knows no wavering. In that light,
           everything becomes clear and all illusions disappear and all dreams become non-existential. And
           when the dreaming mind stops, there is truth.
               Remember it: only when the dreaming mind has stopped is there truth. Why? Because the
           dreaming mind continuously projects and distorts that which is. If you look at a thing with desire,
           you never look at the thing as it is. Your desire starts playing games with you.
               A woman passes by, a beautiful woman, or a man passes by, a handsome man -- suddenly there
           is desire: to possess her, to possess him. Then you cannot see the reality. Then your very desire
           creates a dream around the object. Then you start seeing the way you would like to see. Then you
           start projecting -- the other becomes a screen and your deepmost desires are projected. You start
           colouring the object; then you don't see that which is. You start seeing visions, you start moving into
           fantasy.
               Of course, this fantasy is bound to be shattered; when the reality erupts, your dreaming mind will
           be shattered. It happens many times. You fall in love with a woman; one day suddenly the dream has
           disappeared. The woman does not look so beautiful as she used to look. You cannot believe how you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           were deceived into it. You start finding faults with the woman. You start finding rationalizations --
           as if she tricked you into it, as if she deceived; as if she pretended to be beautiful while she was not.
           Nobody is cheating you, nobody can cheat you -- except your own desiring and dreaming mind. You
           created the illusion. You never saw the reality of the woman.Sooner or later reality will win over.
               That's how all love affairs are always on the rocks. And lovers become afraid, by and by, to see
           the reality -- they avoid. The wife avoids the husband, the husband avoids the wife. They don't look
           direct. They are afraid. They are already aware that the dream has disappeared. Now, don't rock the
           boat. Now, avoid each other.
           I have heard:

               A man was very much worried about his wife. He had heard rumours that she was moving with
           somebody. Naturally, he was disturbed. He asked a detective to follow the woman and to make a
           film: with whom she is moving, what they are doing.
               Within a few weeks, the detective was back with the film ready. The film was shown to the man.
           He watched it; again and again he would shake his head as if he could not believe it. The wife was
           swimming with somebody, was going to a movie, hugging, kissing, making love to the man, and he
           was shaking his head in tremendous disbelief. The detective could not contain himself: "Why does
           he go on shaking his head?"
               Finally, when the film was over, the man said, "I cannot believe it!"
               The detective said, "This is too much -- you have seen the film, now what more proof do you
           need?"
               He said, "Don't misunderstand me. I cannot believe that my wife can make somebody so happy!
           Now try to find out what that man sees in my wife, because I have lived with her and I don't see
           anything at all. What does this man see in her?"

               Husbands stop seeing things that they used to see in their wives. Wives stop seeing things in their
           husbands that they used to see. What happens? The reality remains the same, only against the reality
           the dream cannot win for ever. Sooner or later the dream IS shattered. And that happens in all
           directions.
               You are after money, you are dreaming about money; you never look at the people who have
           money, you don't see them. You are just after money. You think when the money is there everything
           will be beautiful. Then you will rest and then you will enjoy, and then you will celebrate and sing
           and dance, and do whatsoever you always wanted to do when there was no money to do it and no
           opportunity to do it.
               But have you ever looked at people who have money? They are not dancing, they are not
           celebrating. They don't look happy. It is possible that sometimes you may come across a beggar who
           looks happy, but it is impossible to come across a rich man who looks happy. It is almost impossible
           to find a rich man who is happy. Because the beggar can still dream, that's why he can be happy. The
           beggar can still hope, that's why he can still be happy. He can believe that tomorrow things will be
           better, or the day after tomorrow things are going to be better.
               There is future for the beggar, but for a rich man the whole future has disappeared. He has
           attained whatsoever he wanted to attain, and there is nothing in it. When the money is piled up, he
           suddenly feels frustrated. Whatsoever he was seeing in the money, now he can no longer find in it.
           That dream has disappeared.
               Man continuously dreams for power, prestige, respectability. And whenever he gets it, there is
           frustration. The happiest people are those who never attain to their desires. The unhappiest people
           are those who have succeeded in attaining their desires -- then there is frustration.
               The nature of desire is dreaming, and you can dream only when things are not there. You can
           dream about the neighbour's wife -- how can you dream about your own wife? Have you ever dreamt
           about your own wife? It never happens. You can dream about somebody else's wife. HE may be
           dreaming about your wife.
               Whatsoever is far away looks beautiful. Come closer, and things start changing. Reality is very
           shattering.
               Buddha says that to be aware means not to dream, to be aware means to drop this unconscious
           sleep in which we live ordinarily. We are somnambulists, sleep-walkers. We go on living, but our
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           living is very superficial. Deep down there are dreams and dreams and dreams. An undercurrent of
           dreaming goes on -- and that undercurrent goes on corrupting our vision. That undercurrent of
           dreaming goes on making our eyes cloudy. That undercurrent of dreams goes on making our heads
           muddled.
               A person who lives in a sort of sleep can never be intelligent -- and awareness is the purest flame
           of intelligence. A man who lives in sleep becomes more and more stupid. If you live in stupor, you
           will become stupid, you will become dull.
               This dullness has to be destroyed. And it can be destroyed only by becoming more aware. Walk
           with more awareness. Eat with more awareness. Talk with more awareness. Listen with more
           awareness. I have heard:

               Once there was a mother monkey who had a philosophic turn of mind. This would make her
           forgetful and often inattentive to her baby whose name was Charles. Like many modern mothers, she
           just did not take enough care, distracted as she was by her thoughts. Nevertheless, she went through
           the routine as her mother had done before her, but not in the same spirit. She just hitched him on her
           back and absently scaled the palms. So there it was. And as she rummaged amongst the more
           midding nuts, revolving matters in her mind, baby just slipped off, with all his young life before him
           too.
               On the way down, Charles, who also tended to brood, called up, "Mother, why are we here?"
           "We are here," she observed, "to hang on."

               We are here to hang on -- all his life a sleepy person is doing only that. He goes on trying to hang
           on -- with hope, with dream, with future. He goes on somehow hanging around, as if that is the only
           goal in life, as if just to be here is enough. It is not enough. Just to be alive is not enough -- unless
           you come to understand what life is. Just to be here is not enough, unless you are so fully aware of
           being here that in that awareness is ecstasy, that in that awareness is contentment, that in that
           awareness is peace.
               A man can live in two ways. One is just to go on hanging around. Or, to be more aware: why I
           am here, and who I am. Buddha says the whole of religion is nothing but a tremendous effort to
           become aware.

           The first sutra:

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "THERE IS NOTHING LIKE LUST.
               LUST MAY BE SAID TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL PASSION."


               PEOPLE CAN BE DIVIDED IN TWO CATEGORIES very easily and very scientifically.
           People whose whole life is sex-oriented; whatsoever they do, whatsoever they say, is just superficial:
           deep down remains their obsession with sex. It starts when you are a small child not even aware of
           what sex is. Children start playing around, and children start learning things around. And it continues
           the whole life. And when people are dying in their old age, then too they remain sex-obsessed.
               This is one of my observations, that when a person is dying you can see in his face, in his eyes,
           what type of life he has lived. If he is dying in a reluctant way, resistant, fighting against death, does
           not want to die, feels helpless, wants to cling to life, then his has remained a sex-obsessed life. And
           in that moment of great crisis, in that moment of death, all his sexuality will surface in his
           consciousness.
               People die thinking of sex; ninety-nine per cent of people die thinking of sex. You will be
           surprised. Only rarely is there one person who dies not thinking of sex. A person who dies thinking
           of sex is immediately reborn -- because his whole idea is nothing but an obsession with sex.
           Immediately he enters into a womb. And this has to be so because in the moment of death your
           whole life becomes condensed. Whatsoever you have lived for simply has to be encountered in the
           moment of death.
               If you have lived a life of awareness, then death is very relaxed, peaceful, graceful; then there is
           an elegance and grace to it. Then one simply slips into it, welcoming it. There is no resistance --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is beauty. There is no conflict -- there is cooperation. One simply cooperates with death.
               A sexual person is afraid of death because death is against sex. This has to be understood. Sex is
           birth; death is against sex, because death will destroy whatsoever birth has given to you. Death is
           NOT against life. Let me remind you -- in your mind this is the dichotomy, life and death, that is
           wrong -- death is not directly opposed to life. Death is directly opposed to sex, because sex is
           synonymous with birth; birth is out of sex. Death is against birth; death is against sex. Death is not
           against life.
               If you live a life of awareness, by and by the energy that was moving in sexuality is transformed.
           Not that you have to transform it -- just by being aware, dreams disappear; exactly as you bring a
           burning torch into the room and the darkness disappears. Sex is like darkness in your being. It can
           exist only if you are unaware. And Buddha says:

              "THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THAT, NOTHING LIKE LUST. LUST MAY BE SAID TO BE THE MOST
              POWERFUL PASSION."


               It starts very early. If you listen to the Freudians, and they have to be listened to because they are
           more right than your so-called saints... your saints may be telling you convenient and comfortable
           truths, but truth is never convenient and never comfortable. Only lies are convenient and
           comfortable. Freud is telling very uncomfortable truths. Truth is uncomfortable, because you have
           lived a life of lies.
               Whenever somebody says a truth it shocks you, it hits deep, it hits on your lies, it makes you
           uneasy, uncomfortable. You start protecting your lies. When Freud asserted this, that a child from
           the very beginning is sexual, he was opposed all over the world. All so-called religious people
           opposed him. Now, I cannot believe it, that a religious person can oppose such a tremendous truth.
               A child is BORN in sex, HAS to be sexual. A child is OUT of sex, HAS to be sexual. And
           children start preparing for their sexual life. I was reading a beautiful story:

               A little four-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy walked hand in hand up to the front of their
           neighbour's house. "We are playing house," the little girl said when the neighbour opened the door.
           "This is my husband and I am his wife. May we come in?"
               The lady was enchanted with the scene. "Do come in," she said.
               Once inside, she offered the children some lemonade and cookies, which they gracefully
           accepted. When a second glass of lemonade was offered, the little girl refused by saying, "No thanks
           -- we have to go now -- my husband just wet his pants."

               It starts very early: the husband and the wife and playing house. They are preparing. And it goes
           to the very end.
           Another story:

              The octogenarian went to the psychiatrist to complain about her husband's impotence.
           "And how old is your husband?" the doctor asked.
           "He's ninety."
              "And when did you first notice his disinterest in you physically?"
              "Well," she said, "the first time was last night -- and again this morning."

               A ninety-year-old man, and the wife is worried about his impotence -- and she has noticed it last
           night and this morning too. It goes on -- the whole life is obsessed with sex, from beginning to end.
               You gain energy by eating food, by breathing oxygen, by exercise; by living you create energy.
           Man is a dynamo. He continuously creates energy. And when this energy accumulates in your being,
           you are uneasy, you want to throw it out -- because it feels like a burden. Sex is simply used as a
           relief. Now this is foolish.
               On the one hand, you go on working hard -- how to have better food, how to have more
           nourishment, how to have a better house, more rest -- on one hand, you want to have better air, more
           sun, more of the beach, more of the sky, more greenery: you work hard. Then you accumulate
           energy, you generate energy -- and then you are worried how to throw it somewhere, how to throw it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down the drain. And when you have thrown it, again you are accumulating. This is a vicious circle.
               From one end you go on accumulating energy, from another end you go on throwing it. This is
           the whole life! -- gathering energy, throwing energy; gathering energy, throwing energy. If this is all,
           then what is the point of it all? Why should one live? It is a repetition. It is a vicious circle. When
           energy is lost you are hungry for the energy; when energy is there you are ready to lose it. You find
           ways and means how to lose it.
               Buddha says that this is the most powerful thing in man's life. And if life is lived according to
           this, then life is a wastage, is a sheer waste. Nothing comes out of it. So much running, and never
           arriving anywhere. So much work, and no fulfilment. In the end comes death, and one finds one's
           hands are empty. Can this be the sole purpose of life? If this is the sole purpose of life, then life has
           no meaning, then life in itself is just accidental.
               One of the most profound thinkers of the West was G.K. Chesterton. He used to say that either
           man is a fallen god, or some animal has gone completely off his head. Only two are the possibilities:
           either man is a fallen god, or some animal has gone completely off his head. If sex is the only story,
           then some animal has gone completely off his head. There must be something more to it. There must
           be something more to life, otherwise it is meaningless. Your parents lived to give birth to you. You
           will live to give birth to a few more children, and they will live to give birth to somebody else. And
           this goes on and on -- but what is the purpose of it all?

               BUDDHA SAYS: By becoming aware, you open another door to energy. Sexual energy moves
           downwards; sexual energy moves towards the earth; sexual energy moves according to gravitation.
           When you become aware, there comes a change, a change of direction. The more aware you become,
           the more the sexual energy starts moving upwards -- it starts going against gravitation. It starts
           moving towards the sky. It starts moving on the lines of grace, not on the lines of gravitation.
               If sexual energy moves downwards, it is a wastage. If sexual energy starts moving upwards, you
           start exploding new worlds, new plenitudes of being, new altitudes of consciousness.
               Now, there are two possibilities to have this energy move upwards. You can FORCE it upwards.
           That's what hatha yoga does. That's why standing on the head became meaningful. Do you
           understand the meaning of standing on the head? It is a trick to use gravitation for sexual energy to
           cOme towards the head -- but still you live under gravitation. You stand on your head; head comes
           lower than the sex centre; energy can start moving towards the head. But how long can you stand on
           your head? Again you will have to stand on your feet. You don't go beyond the law of gravitation.
           You simply use the law of gravitation. In fact, you cheat the law of gravitation. That is doing
           something illegal in a legal way. But you don't change, you are not transformed. Your being remains
           the same.
               Hatha yoga has developed many methods to prevent sexual energy from going downwards and
           how to force it upwards -- but they are all violent, a sort of enforced conflict. The growth is not
           natural. You can see it on the hatha yogi's face. His face will be always tense. You will not find
           grace there. You will not find beauty, grandeur. You will not find God there -- you will find a subtle
           egoism. He has cheated -- he has cheated nature itself. But you cannot cheat; it cannot be a real
           thing.
               Buddha developed a totally different methodology -- the methodology of elegance, grace. For
           that Buddha became the symbol. Have you seen statues of Buddha? -- so graceful, so divine, so
           peaceful; not a single flaw, not a single tension on his face -- so innocent. What did he do with his
           energy? He never enforced it, he never fought against it, and he never cheated nature.
               Buddha became aware of one very subtle thing -- now science knows it very well -- that every
           law has its opposite whether you know it or not. If there is positive electricity there must be negative
           electricity, otherwise the positive cannot exist. If there is a law we call gravitation, the pull towards
           the earth, then there must be another law -- whether we know it or not -- that goes against
           gravitation. Laws are opposed to each other, and only because of their opposition do they create a
           balance. Because of their opposition and contrast, they create a situation where life becomes
           possible.
               Man exists because woman exists. Man cannot exist alone and woman cannot exist alone. The
           downward exists because the upward exists, and the outward exists because the inward exists. Life
           exists because death exists. If sex exists then there must be a law which can go beyond sex. And if
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sex moves downwards, there must be a law which has to be sought and discovered that moves
           upwards, that helps energy to move upwards.
                Buddha found that the more aware you become, energy automatically starts moving upwards.
                In the human body there are many centres, and each centre changes the quality of the energy.
           Have you not seen every day that electricity can be changed into so many forms? Somewhere it
           becomes light, somewhere it runs the fan, somewhere it runs the motor. Just different mechanisms
           are needed for it and it can be used in millions of forms. In the human personality there exist many
           centres. The sex centre is the lowest. When energy moves into that centre, it becomes a generative
           force; you can give birth to a child. It is the LOWEST use of the sexual energy. If it starts moving a
           little higher, then different qualities start coming to it. When it comes to the heart centre, it becomes
           love. And love gives you a totally different world.
                A man whose energy is moving at the sex centre can never know many things. If a woman passes
           by, he will only see the physical form. If your energy is moving at the heart centre, when a woman
           passes by you will be able to see her subtle body -- which is far superior, which is far more beautiful.
           If a woman passes by your side and your energy is moving at the heart centre, you will be able to
           feel HER heart, not only her body. And sometimes it happens that a beautiful heart can exist in a
           very homely body. And the contrary is also true: a very ugly heart can exist in a very beautiful body.
                If you can only see the physical body you will be in trouble sooner or later -- because a man does
           not live with a woman's body; a man lives with the woman's heart. Life is of the heart. You can
           choose a woman who looks beautiful and is ugly, if her heart is not beautiful, if her subtle form is not
           beautiful -- then you will be in trouble. You can choose a man who looks very handsome, very
           powerful, but may be just a beast, may not have any inner beauties, may not have any inner qualities,
           may be just a body and nothing else -- then you are bound for trouble. Then sooner or later you will
           have to encounter the beast and you will have to live with the beast. And you will be wondering
           always that "What happened to such a beautiful man? What happened to such a beautiful woman?"
                If your energy moves still higher, then the highest peak is SAHASRAR -- where it becomes
           prayer, where suddenly your innermost eyes open and you can not only see the body, you can see the
           heart, you can see the soul. A man whose SAHASRAR has opened looks into the world, but the
           world is totally different because he never sees just the body. Even if he looks at a tree, he looks at
           the soul of the tree. The form is not the only thing -- it is there, but now it is luminous from an inner
           light.
                A man who lives at his SAHASRAR, lives in a totally different world. You may think that
           Buddha is walking with you on the road -- he is walking on a different road, he is walking in a
           different world. He may be just walking with you, but that doesn't mean anything -- because his
           vision is different. His energy is at a different altitude. He looks at the world from a different clarity.

               BUDDHA SAYS THAT LUST IS THE MOST POWERFUL THING in man's life, because it is
           the reservoir of all his energies. But there is no need to feel despondent:

              "THERE IS NOTHING LIKE LUST. LUST MAY BE SAID TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL PASSION.
              FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE BUT ONE THING WHICH IS MORE POWERFUL. IF THE THIRST FOR
              TRUTH WERE WEAKER THAN PASSION, HOW MANY OF US IN THE WORLD WOULD BE ABLE
              TO FOLLOW THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS?"


               He says there is one thing which is higher than lust, that is the thirst for truth. There is one thing
           which is higher than life and that is the search for truth. People can sacrifice their life for it. They can
           sacrifice their passion for it. The highest passion is for truth; Buddha calls it the passion for truth --
           you can call it the passion for God -- it means the same thing.
               That's why the person who has lived only a sexual life cannot understand the story of a Meera,
           the story of a Chaitanya, the story of Christ, Buddha, Krishna -- he cannot understand. What type of
           people are these? When Jesus was there, many were wondering: "What type of man is this Jesus?
           What manner of man?" because they know only one life, that is of lust and sex. And this man seems
           to be in a totally different world. It seems as if his whole sexual energy is arrowed somewhere high
           in the skies. His target seems to be somewhere else -- it is not in this world. It is not visible: it is
           invisible. You cannot touch it. You cannot measure it You cannot see it. But his life is of great
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           passion, his life is of great adventure.
               Buddha is not in favour of renunciation, remember. He is in favour of transformation. The energy
           that is moving into sex has to be moved towards truth.
               Ordinarily, people just want to explore each other: a woman wants to explore a man; a man
           wants to explore a woman. It seems their whole life is just an exploration into each other's being.
           The thirst for truth means that one wants to explore into the being of this whole existence. It is a
           great passion -- the greatest passion. And it has to be more powerful than sex, otherwise, Buddha
           says, how will anybody ever move towards it?
               People have moved, but how do they come to know this thirst for truth? Let me explain it to you.
           And much depends on how you come to feel the thirst for truth. You can come by listening to me,
           you can come by reading a book, you can come by seeing a man of insight -- but that will not be of
           much help, because that will be borrowed and thirst can never be borrowed. Either it is there, or it is
           not there -- you cannot pretend that you are thirsty. By your pretensions thirst will not be created,
           and that creates much misery in the world.
               Many people come to me and they say they would like to search and thirst will not be created,
           and that creates much misery in the world.
               Many people come to me and they say they would like to search and seek what truth is. I ask
           them only one thing: Has your life, as you have lived it up to now, proved an illusion? If it has not
           proved an illusion, then the real thirst for truth cannot arise. When you have seen the illusoriness of
           your life, only then does a real thirst arise -- to know WHAT TRUTH IS. If you are still in the
           illusion of life, if you are still enchanted by it, if you are still hallucinated by it, if you are still in that
           hypnosis of desiring and dreaming, then talking about truth will again be only another illusion,
           another desire. It will not help.
               Truth cannot be one of your desires. Truth can only be there when all the desires have proved to
           be futile, and your whole energy is available and you don't know where to go, because the whole life
           seems to be meaningless. You are stuck. You are tremendously frustrated. You have FAILED and all
           your dreams have disappeared. You are shattered to the very roots. You are standing there throbbing
           with energy not knowing where to go. Then that energy becomes a pool and creates a new thirst in
           you: the thirst to know the truth. When the world has been known as an illusion, only then....
               So experience the world as deeply as you can. Don't escape from anywhere -- not even from sex.
           Never escape from anywhere. Just do one thing: wherever you are and wherever your dreams are
           moving, go with alertness, awareness. Even if you go into sex, make it a meditation, be watchful
           about what is happening. And by and by you will be able to see the illusoriness of it, the futility, the
           meaningless repetition, the boredom, the dullness, the death that goes on coming closer through it.
           The more you waste your energy, the closer you are to death.
           I have heard:

               A friend of mine tells the story about a travelling salesman who was passing through a small hick
           town in the West when he saw a little old man sitting in a rocking-chair on the stoop of his house.
           The little man looked so contented the salesman couldn't resist going over and talking to him.
               "You don't look as if you have a care in the world," the salesman told him. "What is your formula
           for a long and happy life?"
               "Well," replied the little old man, "I smoke six packs of cigarettes a day, I drink a quart of
           bourbon every four hours, and six cases of beer a week. I never wash and I go out every night."
               "My goodness," exclaimed the salesman, "that's just great!
           How old are you?"
           "Twenty-five," was the reply.

           You can go on wasting energy.....
                Each step taken in illusion is taken towards death. Each move which you take into lust you have
           taken towards death. So take it carefully and be aware. Be aware of what you really want through it.
           Is it just a habit? Is it just a natural hypnosis? Is it just that you go on doing it because you don't
           know what else to do? Is it just an occupation? Is it just a forgetfulness from the worries of life? Or
           WHAT is it?
                And don't go with any prejudice. Don't listen to what the saints have said. They may say it is bad,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but don't listen to it -- and they may be right, but you have to find it out by your own experience.
           Only then, and ONLY then, do you start moving towards truth. Only your experience can bring you
           to truth; nobody else's experience.
                Once you have seen the truth of it, that there is nothing in it, energy is relieved from the burden,
           energy is relieved from the old patterns, and energy goes on gathering inside you.
                Scientists have discovered a law that quantitative change becomes qualitative at a certain stage.
           For example, if you heat water it evaporates only when the heat is one hundred degrees, never before
           it. At ninety degrees it may be hot, but not evaporating. At ninety-nine degrees it is very hot, but not
           evaporating. And just one degree more, at one hundred degrees, and a sudden jump, a leap, and the
           water starts moving.
                And have you seen the change? Water naturally flows downwards, but when it evaporates it
           starts flowing upwards -- it has taken a different route. And you have not done anything but simply
           heated it to a certain degree. A certain quantity of heat and a qualitative change happens. Water is
           visible; vapour becomes invisible. Water goes downwards; vapour goes upwards.
                Exactly the same happens in the sexual energy: a certain amount, a certain quantity, has to be
           accumulated before the change happens. You have to become a reservoir of energy, and out of sheer
           quantity at a certain moment there is a jump; energy no more moves downwards -- energy starts
           moving upwards, and exactly like vapour.
                When energy moves downwards, sex is very visible. That's why scientists cannot discover what
           happens when the energy moves upwards -- it becomes invisible. It becomes immaterial. It certainly
           moves, but there is no passage for it. If you dissect the body of a Buddha, you will not find a certain
           passage for sexual energy to move upwards -- there is no passage. A passage is not needed. If water
           moves downwards, a channel is needed; but when water becomes vapour, no channel is needed -- it
           simply moves and becomes invisible. Exactly the same happens with sexual energy.
                Awareness is heat. In India, we have called it precisely that: TAP -- TAP means heat. TAP does
           not mean that you stand under the hot sun; it simply means you bring more fire of awareness inside
           you. That fire of awareness heats your sexual energy: this is the inner alchemy -- and energy starts
           going upwards.
                First your sex will become love, and then it will become meditation or prayer. If you follow the
           terminology of devotion, you can call it prayer; if you follow a more scientific terminology, then you
           can call it meditation. And once your energy is moving upwards, then you see things in a totally
           different light.
           I have heard:

               A little old man was sitting on a bus humming, "Dee dee dum dum, dee dee dum."
               The bus driver turned around and noticed a suitcase blocking the aisle. He turned to the old man
           and said, "Would you mind moving the suitcase?" to which the old man replied, "Dee dee dum dum,
           dee dee dum."
               In complete frustration, the bus driver jumped up and took the suitcase and threw it out the bus
           window and glared at the old man and shouted, "Now what do you have to say?"
               The old man looked at him and smiled and said, "Dee dee dum dum, dee dee dum -- it's not my
           suitcase."

              Once you have started moving, even death is not your death, even the body is not your body,
           even the mind is not your mind. You can go on singing: Dee dee dum dum.... Even when death
           approaches you, you can go on humming -- because the suitcase is not yours.
              A man of awareness can die so easily, so peacefully. He lives peacefully, he dies peacefully. A
           man of sexuality lives restlessly, dies restlessly. It is your choice.

               BUDDHA IS NOT FOR REPRESSION -- he cannot be, notwithstanding what Buddhist
           interpreters have said down the ages. I don't agree with them. The interpretation must be wrong --
           because I know it from my own experience that repression cannot help a person, repression can
           never become a transfiguration. Repression drags you down.
               It is not repression: it is awareness. Of course, from the outside it may look like repression. You
           are rushing towards money; suddenly on the road you come across a treasure, and somebody else is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           passing by. He also looks at it but is not interested. What will you think about that man? You were
           afraid that he might claim the treasure, he might start asking that it has to be divided in two parts --
           but he simply goes on, he does not bother about it. You will think either he is mad, or he is a
           renunciate, he has renounced the world and repressed the desire for money.
               You cannot understand that there can be a man who cannot see anything in money. You will
           think it is impossible because you see so much in it. Your whole life seems to be meaningless if there
           is no money. Money seems to be your whole life. How can you believe that there can be a man for
           whom money is simply meaningless? Only two are the possibilities: either the man is so stupid that
           he does not know the difference between money and no money; or he has repressed his desire -- he
           has repressed his desire, his greed, his ambition.
               When a man like Buddha happens in the world, people interpret it according to their own minds.
           He looks so far away, only two are the possibilities: those who are against him, they will say he is
           crazy; those who are for him, they will say he has disciplined his life, skilfully he has dropped his
           greed, lust. But both are wrong. Both have to be wrong because both are unable to understand a
           Buddha. You can understand a Buddha only when you are a Buddha; there is no other way to
           understand. If you want to understand somebody who is standing on the peak of a Himalayan hill,
           you have to go to that peak -- only then will his vision become your vision.
               I would like to say that all the interpretations about Buddha are wrong -- wrong in the sense that
           they all imply that it is as if he is teaching repression. He is not teaching repression. He is simply
           teaching awareness. In awareness, things change. Through repression, you may manage somehow
           but things remain the same.
           I was reading about a church and about a priest:

               A topless girl tried to enter the church. The vicar stopped her at the door. "But, Vicar, you can't
           stop me from going to church," she protested. "I have a divine right."
               "They're both divine," he said, "but that is not the question -- you'll have to go home and put on
           something that is more respectable."

                Now she says, "I have a divine right," and the priest says, "They both are divine." The priest's
           repressed mind -- he must be looking at her breasts. He says, "They both are divine, but still you will
           have to go home and put on something that is more respectable."
                You can repress a desire, but you cannot uproot it. It will come in subtle ways. It will surface in
           many forms. It may take such disguises that you may not even be able to detect it. A repressed
           person is not a transformed person. He remains the same -- he simply manages to be somebody else
           who he is not.
                Buddha is not for repression. Buddha is for transformation. Repression is very easy. You can
           repress your sex -- that's what so.many saints are doing. You can drop out of the society, you can run
           away from women. You can go to the Himalayan caves and sit there, and you can think that you
           have attained to celibacy -- but this is not celibacy. Sitting there in your Himalayan cave, you will
           still dream about women -- even more so, because you will be so far away from women. Your
           fantasy will become more psychedelic and colourful. Of course, you will fight with it, but by
           fighting you can force the desire deep into your unconscious -- you cannot uproot it. By fighting
           nobody is ever changed. Only by awareness is a person changed.
                Awareness is not a fight. What is awareness? Awareness is neither accepting nor rejecting.
                There is a famous saying of Tilopa: "Truly, because of our accepting and rejecting, we have not
           the suchness of things" -- we miss the suchness of things. We cannot become aware of what reality is
           because we accept or we reject. When we accept, we indulge. When we reject, we repress. Buddha
           says: Don't accept, don't reject -- just be alert, just see. Look, with no prejudice for or against.
                If you can be in such an indifferent UDASEEN -- in such non-valuing, non-judging awareness --
           things start changing of their own accord.
           Tilopa says:

              "IT NEVER LEAVES THIS PLACE AND IS ALWAYS PERFECT. WHEN YOU LOOK FOR IT, YOU
              FIND YOU CAN'T SEE IT. YOU CAN'T GET IT, YOU CAN'T BE RID OF IT. WHEN YOU DO
              NEITHER -- THERE IT IS! WHEN YOU ARE SILENT, IT SPEAKS. WHEN YOU SPEAK, IT IS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SILENT."


             "YOU CANNOT GET IT, YOU CANNOT GET RID OF IT -- it is always there. WHEN YOU
           DO NEITHER, THERE IT IS."

               Awareness is not something that you have to do. Awareness is not something that you have to
           force upon yourself, impose upon yourself. When you do nothing, it is there. Your doing is your
           undoing.

              "FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE BUT ONE THING WHICH IS MORE POWERFUL. IF THE THIRST FOR
              TRUTH WERE WEAKER THAN PASSION, HOW MANY OF US IN THE WORLD WOULD BE ABLE
              TO FOLLOW THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ?"
              THE BUDDHA SAID: "MEN WHO ARE ADDICTED TO THE PASSIONS ARE LIKE THE
              TORCH-CARRIER RUNNING AGAINST THE WIND; HIS HANDS ARE SURE TO BE BURNT."


               YOU CAN LOOK: EVERYBODY'S HANDS ARE BURNT. But you never look at your own
           hands. You always look at others' hands and you say, "Yes, their hands seem to be burnt -- but I will
           be more clever, I am more clever: I will carry the torch and run against the wind, and I will show you
           that I am an exception." Nobody is an exception. Existence does not allow any exceptions. Your
           hands will also be burnt if you are running, rushing against the wind and carrying a torch, a burning
           torch. Lust is rushing against the wind. Nobody has come out of it unburnt.
               But people go on looking at each other. Nobody looks at himself. The moment you start looking
           at yourself you have become a sannyasin.
           I was reading:

               Mrs. Cantor suspected her husband of playing around with the maid. Having to spend a few days
           with her sick mother, she told her small son, Harvey, to keep an eye on poppa and the maid.
               As soon as she returned she asked: "Harvey, did anything happen?"
               "Well," said the boy, "poppa and the maid went into the bedroom and took off their clothes
           and..."
               "Stop! Stop!" shouted Mrs. Cantor. "We will wait until poppa comes home."
               Poppa was met at the door by his irate wife, cringing maid and confused son. "Harvey, tell me
           what happened with poppa and the maid," stormed Mrs. Cantor.
               "As I told you, ma," said Harvey. "Poppa and the maid went into the bedroom and took off their
           clothes."
               "Yes! Yes! Go on, Harvey!" said Mrs. Cantor impatiently. "What did they do then?"
               Replied Harvey: "Why, mother, they did the same thing you and uncle Bernie did when poppa
           was in Chicago."

               Everybody goes on looking, everybody goes on seeing others' faults, flaws, foolishnesses.
           Nobody looks at himself. The day you start looking at yourself you are a sannyasin. The day you
           start looking at yourself a great change is on the way. You have taken the first step -- against lust,
           towards love; against desire, towards desirelessness -- because when you see your own hands, they
           have been burnt so many times, you are carrying so many wounds.
               Looking at others is just a way of avoiding looking at oneself. Whenever you criticize somebody
           else, watch: it is a trick of the mind so that you can forgive yourself. People go on criticizing others;
           when they criticize the whole world they feel very good. In comparison they can think they are not
           worse than other people; in fact, they are better. That's why when you criticize somebody, you
           exaggerate, you go to the very extreme; you make a mountain out of a molehill; you go on making
           the mountain bigger and bigger and bigger, then your own mountain looks very small. You feel
           happy.
               Stop this! This is not going to help you. This is very suicidal. Here you are not to think about
           others. Your life is yours. Thinking about others is not going to be of any benefit. Think about
           yourself. Meditate about your own self. Become more aware of what you are doing here -- just
           hanging around? or are you really doing something? And the only thing that can be relied upon is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           awareness. Only awareness can you carry through death, through the door of death -- nothing else.

           A beautiful parable comes:

              THE LORD OF HEAVEN OFFERED A BEAUTIFUL FAIRY TO THE BUDDHA, DESIRING TO TEMPT
              HIM TO THE EVIL PATH. BUT THE BUDDHA SAID: "BE GONE! WHAT USE HAVE I FOR THE
              LEATHER BAG FILLED WITH FILTH WHICH YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME?"
              THEN, THE GOD REVERENTLY BOWED AND ASKED THE BUDDHA ABOUT THE ESSENCE OF
              THE WAY IN WHICH, HAVING BEEN INSTRUCTED BY THE BUDDHA, IT IS SAID, HE ATTAINED
              THE SROTAAPANNA FRUIT.


               A BEAUTIFUL PARABLE: Brahma came to Buddha.... Hindus have never forgiven Buddhists
           for inventing such beautiful tales, because Hindus think that Brahma is the Creator of the world. And
           Buddhists say Brahma came to Buddha to be instructed on the Path. Of course, as a test he brought a
           beautiful fairy.
               It is significant because there are only two types of man: the man of sex and the man of truth. So
           if Buddha is really the man of truth then he cannot be deluded, then you cannot create any
           hallucination for him. The most beautiful fairy will not mean anything to him. And that is going to
           be the touchstone as to whether he has attained to truth. When a person is absolutely beyond sex,
           only then; otherwise his energy is still moving, still moving into the direction of lust, still going
           downwards.

              THE LORD OF HEAVEN -- BRAHMA -- OFFERED A BEAUTIFUL FAIRY TO THE BUDDHA,
              DESIRING TO TEMPT HIM TO THE EVIL PATH.


                That temptation is a test, and temptation comes only at the very end. In all the world religions
           you must have come across stories like this. When Jesus is just close, arriving home, the Devil
           tempts him. When Buddha has reached just very close, Brahma comes and tempts him. Such stories
           are there in the life of Mahavir, in the life of everyone who has attained to truth. There must be a
           meaning to these parables.
                I don't mean to say that it happened exactly as it is told in the parable. These are symbolic
           parables; they are not historical facts -- but they are very meaningful.
                I was reading about Baal Shem, a Hassid mystic, the founder of Hassidism. A disciple came to
           him one day and said, "Master, how can I avoid temptation? How can I avoid the Devil tempting
           me?"
                Baal Shem looked at him and said, "Wait! There is no need for you to avoid any temptation,
           because right now temptation cannot be given to you -- you are not worthy of it."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
                He said, "Temptation comes only at the last moment. Right now the Devil is not worried about
           you. In fact, the Devil is not chasing you at all -- you are chasing the Devil -- so you don't be worried
           about temptation. It is not going to happen to you so soon. And when it happens, I will take care of
           it. I will tell you what to do."
                The temptation comes only at the last moment. Why? Because when the sexual energy is coming
           to a point, the hundred-degree point, then the WHOLE past, millions of lives lived in sexuality, pull
           you back. The Devil is not a person somewhere -- it is just your past. Many lives of mechanical sex
           pull you back. You hesitate for a moment whether to take the jump or not.
                Just as when a river comes to the ocean she must be hesitating for a moment before she loses
           herself into the ocean, she must be looking backwards with nostalgia: the beautiful mountains, the
           snow-peaked mountains, the forests, the valleys, the song of the birds, the banks, the people, the
           journey -- the past, thousands of miles. And suddenly now here comes a moment: you jump and you
           are lost for ever. The river must be thinking: "To be, or not to be?" -- a hesitation, a trembling, a
           shaking to the very foundations.
                That's what temptation is. When Buddha has come to the point where the energy is ready to take
           the ultimate jump and become non-sexual, when desire is ready to dissolve into desirelessness, when
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the mind is ready to die and the no-mind is ready to be born -- it is such a great jump that it is natural
           one should hesitate. That is the meaning of the parable.

              THE BUDDHA SAID: "BE GONE! WHAT USE HAVE I FOR THE LEATHER BAG FILLED WITH
              FILTH WHICH YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME?"


               When a man has come to that point, then body is meaningless; then body is nothing but a bag, a
           skin bag, filled with filth. In fact, that's how the body is. If you don't believe it, go to the surgeon
           some time and see a body being opened -- and then you will believe Buddha. Or go to the hospital to
           see a post mortem, when the whole body is dissected, and then you will see what he is saying.
               In my town once it happened: a man was shot dead and there was a post mortem. Somehow I
           managed -- I was just a small child -- somehow I managed, I persuaded the doctor. His son was my
           friend so I succeeded in persuading him: "Just allow me to see, I would like to see." He insisted,
           "But why do you want to see?" I said, "I have come across the saying of Buddha that the body is
           nothing but a bag full of filth. Just let me have one glimpse!"
               He allowed me, and he said, "Okay, you can stay." But I said, "Now there is no need to stay and I
           cannot stay anyhow." It was stinking so much, and the stomach was open -- and just filth and
           nothing else.
               Each child should be brought to the post mortem. Buddha used to send his disciples to the
           burning place, where bodies are burnt -- just to watch and meditate there. He said, "Unless you are
           completely aware of what the body is you will not drop your illusion about the beauty of the body
           and dreams about the body." He's right.

              HE SAID: "BE GONE! WHAT USE HAVE I FOR THE LEATHER BAG FILLED WITH FILTH WHICH
              YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME?" THEN, THE GOD REVERENTLY BOWED AND ASKED THE
              BUDDHA ABOUT THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY...


              The touchstone proved that Buddha was real gold.

              THEN, THE GOD REVERENTLY BOWED DOWN...


              In Buddhist mythology even gods are as lustful as man -- even more so. Their whole life is
           nothing but one of lust.

              THE BRAHMA, THE LORD OF HEAVEN, BOWED DOWN AND ASKED ABOUT THE ESSENCE OF
              THE WAY, IN WHICH HAVING BEEN INSTRUCTED BY THE BUDDHA, IT IS SAID, HE ATTAINED
              THE SROTAAPANNA FRUIT.


                SROTAAPANNA means one who has entered the stream -- SROTAAPANNA: one who has
           entered into the stream -- of consciousness, awareness, alertness. That is the essential message of
           Buddha: no prayer, no ritual; no priest, no temple -- you are the priest, you are the ritual, you are the
           temple. Only one thing is needed. Buddha has reduced the requirement to the minimum; he is
           absolutely mathematical. He said only awareness is enough; if you can be aware, everything will
           take care of itself.
                Two drunks were weaving along the railroad tracks. One said, "I never saw so many steps in my
           life."
                The other said, "It's not the steps that bother me, it's the low railing."

              The only thing that is needed somehow is to bring them out of their drunkenness.

              Two other drunks were riding a roller coaster, when one turned to the other and said, "We may
           be making good time, but I've got a feeling we're on the wrong bus."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                Everybody is on the wrong bus -- unconsciousness is the wrong bus. Then wherever you are
           makes no difference. And whatsoever you do makes no difference. In your unconsciousness,
           whatsoever you do is going to be wrong. Wrong is that which is done in unconsciousness, and right
           is that which is done consciously.

              EDWIN ARNOLD HAS WRITTEN one of the most beautiful books about Buddha, The Light of
           Asia. A few lines to sum up:

              THIS IS PEACE -- TO CONQUER LOVE OF SELF AND LUST OF LIFE, TO TEAR DEEP-ROOTED
              PASSION FROM THE BREAST, TO STILL THE INWARD STRIFE; FOR LOVE, TO CLASP
              ETERNAL BEAUTY CLOSE; FOR GLORY, TO BE LORD OF SELF; FOR PLEASURE, TO LIVE
              BEYOND THE GODS; FOR COUNTLESS WEALTH, TO LAY UP LASTING TREASURE OF
              PERFECT SERVICE RENDERED, DUTIES DONE IN CHARITY, SOFT SPEECH, AND STAINLESS
              DAYS:
              THESE RICHES SHALL NOT FADE AWAY IN LIFE, NOR ANY DEATH DISPRAISE.

              THIS IS PEACE -- TO CONQUER LOVE OF SELF AND LUST OF LIFE...


              This is the whole essence of Buddha's message. Peace is not to be practised: it is a by-product of
           awareness. Love is not to be practised: it is a by-product of awareness. Righteousness is not to be
           practised: it is a by-product of awareness.
              Awareness is the remedy for all ills, because awareness makes you healthy, whole, and of course
           holy.




                              The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                 Chapter #4
                             Chapter title: Even Angels Don't Sing All the Time
           24 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610240
              ShortTitle: TRANS304
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 84 mins



              The first question:


              WE HAVE LEARNT FROM YOU THAT FREEDOM LIES IN THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE MIND,
              AND IT IS THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE MIND WHICH BRINGS
              ABOUT ITS TRANSCENDENCE. THE MAJOR PART OF RELIGION DEALS WITH THE MIND, AND
              SO DOES PSYCHOLOGY.
              AS MODERN PSYCHOLOGY HAS SUCCESSFULLY DISCOVERED AND REVEALED THE
              STRUCTURE AND PROCESS OF THE MIND, WOULD YOU CALL IT A RELIGION? OR A BRANCH
              OF RELIGION? OR A PARALLEL RELIGION?
              HOW DO PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGION DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER? KINDLY POINT OUT
              WHETHER PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGION CAN BE HELPFUL TO EACH OTHER.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                RELIGION UNDERSTANDS MIND in a totally different way from psychology. Their approach
           is different; their goal is different; their methodology is different.
                Psychology studies the mind as an object, from the outside. Of course, it misses much. In fact,
           the most essential is missed. Only the periphery can be understood that way. The innermost is not
           objective, the innermost is subjective. You can study it from the within, not from the without.
                Psychology is as if somebody wants to study love and watches two lovers hugging each other,
           holding hands, sitting together, making love -- goes on collecting data about how two lovers behave.
           This won't give him any idea of what love is, because love is not on the surface. The surface can be
           very deceiving, the appearance can be very deceiving. Love is something very inner. Only by being
           in love do you know it -- there is no other way to know it.
                Psychology tries to understand mind from the outside. The very approach makes mind material.
           Only matter can be understood from the outside, because matter has no inside to it. The mind can
           only be understood from the inside, because mind has no outside to it -- the first thing.
                That's why psychology goes on becoming more and more behaviouristic, more and more
           materialistic, more and more mechanical -- and more and more suspicious about the soul of man.
           The soul is completely denied by psychology. Not that the soul does not exist, but because the very
           approach prohibits it, the very approach becomes a limitation. The conclusion depends on the
           approach. If you start wrongly, you end wrongly.
                The second thing to be understood is that psychology tries to understand mind, not to go beyond
           it -- because psychology thinks there is no beyond to it, it is the end. Religion also tries to understand
           mind -- not to understand mind itself, but to go beyond it. The understanding is to be used as a
           stepping-stone.
                So religion is not concerned with the details of the mind. An essential understanding of the
           functioning of the mind will do. If you go into details there is no end to it. Religion also studies
           dream, but just to make you awake, that's all. Dream itself is not the concern. It does not go deep into
           the dreaming structure, and it does not go ad in-finitum analysing dreams. It simply tries to find the
           essential structure of the dream in order to transcend it, so you can become a witness. It is totally
           different.
                For example, if I give you a seed of a beautiful tree, and you become too much concerned with
           the seed, and you try to understand it, and you dissect it, and you go on and on trying to understand
           and dissect, and dissect more -- the chemical structure, the physical structure, the atomic structure,
           the electrons, the neutrons -- and you go on and on, you completely forget that the seed was meant
           only to become a tree.
                And howsoever deep your dissection, by dissecting a seed you are never going to come to the
           tree. You will come to the atomic structure of the seed, you will come to the chemical structure of
           the seed; you may come to the electrical structure of the seed, but that has nothing to do with the
           tree. And the more you dissect the seed, the farther away you are from the tree. Your dissection is
           not going to bloom. Your dissection is not going to spread its fragrance. And one day, if you have
           dissected it too much, and then you put it in the soil, it won't sprout. It is already dead. In dissection
           you killed it, you murdered it.
                Psychology is interested in mind just like you being too much obsessed with the seed. Religion is
           also interested in the seed, but not for itself -- interested in the seed because it carries in it a
           potentiality, a possibility of becoming a beautiful tree, a possibility of blossoms, a possibility of
           fragrance, a possibility of song and dance, a possibility that many birds can come and make their
           nests on it and many travellers can rest under its shade. But the concern is not the seed -- the concern
           is the tree.
                I hope you can see the difference. Religion's concern about the mind is only as a stepping-stone.
           The mind has to be understood because we are entangled in it. Let us take another example.
                You are thrown in a jail, in a prison cell. The religious person tries to understand the structure of
           the jail only to find out ways how to escape from it. Is there a gutter that can be used to escape? Is
           there a stupid guard who can be befooled? Is there a window which can be broken? Is there a wall
           you can climb over? Is there a right moment when guards change and the gap exists? Is there a right
           time in the night when guards fall asleep? Or are there other prisoners who are also interested in
           getting out of the prison, so you can be together and help each other? -- because climbing alone may
           be difficult, getting out of it alone may be difficult. A group can be created and the group can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a power. You try to understand the structure of the jail just to get out of it.
                But if you get too much interested in it and you completely forget the goal, and you go on
           studying the jail -- the walls and the warden and the prisoners and the guards, and you go on making
           maps about the structure -- then it is stupid. Modern psychology is a little stupid.
                In the East we had also developed a tremendously significant psychology. I call it the psychology
           of the Buddhas. But their whole interest was in how to get out of the prison of the mind, how to use
           its structure to go beyond it. Modern psychology is absolutely obsessed with the structure of the
           mind and has completely forgotten the goal.
                These two differences, they are very vital. Religion understands from within. Of course, then it is
           a totally different thing. When you study mind from the outside, you study somebody else's mind. It
           is never yours. And if you go to the labs of psychologists you will be surprised: they go on studying
           the minds of rats to understand the human mind. It is humiliating, it is very disrespectful. The
           understanding that is based on the rat's mind cannot be of much help.
                When a meditator watches his own mind, he watches the human mind alive, throbbing, beating.
           And he watches his own mind because that is the closest you can get to the mind. From the outside
           you can never get very close to the mind; from the outside you can infer, but it will remain inference.
           It can never become knowledge, because even rats can deceive you, and they have been found to
           deceive. Even rats are not just on the surface; their innermost core remains inaccessible.
                Why do psychologists go on studying rats? Why not man directly? Because man seems to be so
           complex. They study elementary structures. It is as if you want to study Einstein and you go to a
           primary school and you study a small child; and from that understanding you develop the
           understanding of an Einstein. It is simply absurd. It is not right at all, the direction is wrong. Every
           child is not going to become an Einstein. If psychologists were right, then every child would develop
           into an Einstein. But every child is not going to become an Einstein. Only a certain child has
           flowered as Einstein. If you want to understand Einstein, the only way is to understand Einstein.
                But how to understand an Einstein? From the outside he is as ordinary as anybody else. His
           distinction is inner, his uniqueness is inner. If you study his blood, his blood is just like anybody
           else's. If you study his bones, they are just like anybody else's. In fact, Einstein's brain was studied
           after his death -- nothing special. That is something to be noticed. Nothing special has been found,
           but certainly he was a unique man, you cannot deny it. Maybe there has never existed such a subtle
           mind on the earth before. Nobody ever had such glimpses as he had, but the brain seems to be as
           ordinary as anybody else's.
                Brain is not the mind. It is as if one day I am gone and you go into my room and you study the
           room; and you try to find out what type, what manner of man this was who lived in this room. Mind
           is the guest, the brain is the host. When the mind is gone, the brain is left. The brain is just the room
           you used to live in. If you study from the outside you can dissect, but you will find only the brain,
           not the mind. And to study the brain is not to study the mind.
                Mind is elusive, you cannot hold it in your hand. You cannot force it into a test-tube. The only
           way to know it is to know it from within, from your witnessing self. The more you become aware,
           the more you can watch your mind -- its subtle functioning. The functioning is tremendously
           complex and beautiful. Mind is the most complex phenomenon on the earth, the most subtle
           flowering of consciousness. If you want to really understand what the mind is, then you will have to
           detach yourself from your mind, and you will have to learn how to be just a witness. That's what
           meditation is all about.
                Psychology can become helpful to religion, but then psychology will have to change
           tremendously. A radical change will be needed. And psychology will have to become more
           meditative, introspective; and psychology will have to listen more to the East, to the great meditators
           -- Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavir. It will have to listen to their understanding.

               ONE THING MORE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO NOTICE, to keep in mind: psychology has
           developed through the study of the pathological mind. That too is something unbelievable,
           ridiculous. Psychology has developed through the study of the neurotic, psychotic, schizophrenic --
           the ill mind. Because who goes to the psychoanalyst? A healthy person never goes to a
           psychoanalyst. For what will you go to a psychoanalyst if you are healthy? You go only when
           something goes wrong, you go only when some illness takes possession of your mind. When you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not normal, then you go to the psychoanalyst. Then he studies the pathological mind. Studying the
           pathological mind he come's to certain conclusions. Those conclusions are applicable only to the ill
           mind. They are not applicable to the normal mind, and certainly not to a mind which has gone
           beyond mind. They don't say anything about a Buddha. They cannot say. No Freud, no Jung, no
           Adler, has ever studied a Buddha. In fact, the fault is with the psychoanalysts, because Buddhas have
           always existed.
               When Carl Gustav Jung came to the East, there was a Buddha alive -- Raman Maharshi -- but he
           wouldn't go to see him. It was even suggested, many friends suggested to him, that he go, but he
           wouldn't go. Maybe a subtle fear that his knowledge would prove futile there, a certain ego that he is
           a great psychoanalyst -- why should he go to anybody?
               But Buddhas are certainly not going to come to your laboratories; you will have to go to them.
           You will have to be respectfully close to them to understand them. They are not going to lie down on
           your couch. You will have to develop different methods, you will have to develop different
           structures, to understand them. And if you don't go, they are not at a loss -- psychology suffers.
               Psychology has remained at the level of the pathological. It is not even at the level of the normal
           man.
               For example, if you ask a psychoanalyst, "What do you say about Mahavir -- because he threw
           his clothes and became naked?" certainly they will say, "He is a certain type of psychotic. Many mad
           people suffer from that disease." Or, "He is an exhibitionist; he wants to show his naked body to
           people -- a sexual pervert."
               Is this right about Mahavir? And whatsoever they are saying, they are saying after a long study --
           but they have studied mad people. And they are true! The wrong comes only because they are
           stretching their understanding too far away. Mahavir used to pull his hair out, he wouldn't go to a
           barber -- because he said, "Even to depend for that on a barber is a dependence." So when the hairs
           were too long, he would simply pull them and throw them.
               Now ask the psychoanalyst what he says. He will say, "This is a sort of madness. There are mad
           people who pull their hair out." You may have also observed that when your wife goes mad she
           starts pulling her hair -- becomes angry and wants to pull her hair. A certain craziness -- and they are
           right! And yet not right. Their understanding remains at the pathological level.
               Ask them about Jesus. Many books have been written about Jesus because Jesus seems to be
           closer to them than Mahavir. They have neglected Mahavir, and it is good for Jains that they have
           neglected Mahavir -- otherwise they will prove certainly that he is a neurotic. About Jesus they have
           written many books -- that he is mad, that he is a megalomaniac. Why do they say this? Because
           there are cases in madhouses -- somebody says, "I am the only prophet of God."
               Have you heard the famous anecdote? In Baghdad it happened:

               A man declared, in the days of Calipha Omar, "I am the real prophet. After Mohammed I have
           been sent to the world." Of course, Mohammedans cannot tolerate such a thing -- at least not
           Mohammedans. If he had been in India he would have been tolerated, but Omar could not tolerate it.
           He was thrown in the jail.
               But after seven or eight days another man declared that he was God Himself. Now this was going
           too far. That man was thrown into jail.
               After a few days Omar went to the jail to see them because both were beaten badly, punished
           badly. He thought, "Now they may have come to their senses." He went and he asked the man who
           was declaring himself the new prophet -- and he was laughing! His whole body was covered with
           wounds, blood was flowing out of the wounds, but he was laughing loudly. Omar said, "Why are you
           laughing?"
               He said, "When God told me, 'You are going to be my last prophet, the final prophet,' He told me
           also that 'They will treat you badly -- they always treat prophets very badly.' And now the prediction
           has come true. So I am laughing -- it simply proves that I am the prophet!"
               While this dialogue was going on, the other man who was tied to another pillar, started laughing
           even more loudly. Omar asked, "What is the matter with you ?"
               He said, "This man is a liar. I never sent him. In fact, after Mohammed I have not appointed any
           prophet to the world.
           Mohammed is my last prophet!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               You can find many people in madhouses, and the psychoanalysts' understanding depends on
           them. And when Jesus declares that "I am God's only Son, the only begotten Son!" of course he is
           mad. Certainly! -- because there are mad people who declare such things. He is also mad.
               When Krishna declares that "I am the Creator and the Destroyer of the world!" certainly he is
           mad. This is the ultimate in being an egoist. How can you be more egoistic than this: "I am the
           Creator and the Destroyer of the world"?
               And Buddha says, "I have attained to the Ultimate, and even gods come to my feet to have
           instructions from me." Now these are mad people!
               Psychoanalysis still remains at the level of the pathological. It has not even known the normal
           human mind, and it has not even touched the super-normal. But sooner or later, a great revolution is
           going to happen, because if psychology does not change itself, then it will be in a rut, then it will go
           stale and die. It HAS to move. Everything alive has to move ahead. And this much I can say about
           psychology: it is very much alive and there is hope. Much work is going on, and by and by
           psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, are becoming more and more interested in meditation.
               You will be surprised. I have got ALL sorts of people here. From different professions people
           have come, but the most sannyasins have come from the profession of psychology, psychoanalysis. I
           have got hundreds of psychotherapists as my sannyasins. This is very significant. Not so many
           doctors have come, not so many engineers have come, not so many bankers have come, not so many
           politicians have come. The greatest number from any single profession is that of psychotherapists.
               That is a great indication. That shows psychology is moving beyond itself, psychology is moving
           into religion by and by. Sooner or later, psychology will become a very firm foundation for a
           religious leap. And unless it becomes a firm foundation for the religious jump, it will not have any
           meaning. It will get its meaning only when it becomes a step to the temple of God.
               But when I say "when it becomes a step towards religion," I mean simply religion. I don't mean
           Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism; Mohammedan, Jain, Buddhist, I don't mean. Those are not really
           religions, they have become politics. They are political organizations.
               A religion is very much individual. Religion is basically individual. It is a transformation of the
           individual consciousness; it has nothing to do with organizations. You are a Mohammedan or a
           Hindu or a Christian because you are born in that organization. Nobody can be born into a religion.
           Religion has to be consciously chosen. In the very conscious choice it becomes significant;
           otherwise it is meaningless.
               You have been brought up as a Christian. You can't have any personal relationship with Christ.
           You don't know Christ. You know only the Pope and the Church. And the Pope and the Church, and
           the priests, and the Shankaracharyas -- they are not religious people. They have very subtle politics
           hidden behind them -- racial, national, sectarian. And once a religion becomes an organization and
           people start being born in it without any personal contact, without any personal search, without any
           personal encounter with the Master -- when people simply are born in it, when religion becomes
           accidental, it is no more religion. Then it becomes a sort of opium for the people, an exploitation.
               So I don't mean Jew, Hindu, Christian. I mean simply religion. Religion has no adjective to it.
               Let me tell you one anecdote. Listen to it very carefully.

               Sigmund Steinberg, the well-known importer of ladies' gloves, paid an unexpected call on the
           rabbi of his temple. The rabbi was more than pleased to see his fabulously wealthy congregationer,
           who more than made up in contributions what he lacked in attendance and religious zeal. This time,
           however, the trip to the temple was for a completely religious, if rather unusual, reason.
               "Rabbi," Steinberg commenced after the usual amenities, "I am here to see you about someone
           most near and dear to me. Mine own, mine darling, mine three times a champion Westminster Abbey
           the Third, mine little poodle-la, is this coming Tisha Bov thirteen years old, and I want, Rabbi, you
           should Bar Mitzvah
               The rabbi was completely taken aback. "But my dear Mr. Steinberg, that is impossible! Who has
           ever heard of a dog being Bar Mitzvahed? There has never in the history of the Jewish religion been
           any mention of such a thing. It would be a scandal. The temple would be a laughing-stock. My
           orders would be revoked, the sisterhood would be abandoned, the building campaign would be
           halted, the gentiles would be hysterical, and the board of directors would have my neck!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Steinberg was unmoved. Without so much as the bat of an eyelash, he addressed the rabbi again.
           "For the occasion, I am donating to the temple the amount -- in cash! -- of five thousand dollars."
              "Mr. Steinberg," the rabbi beamed, "why didn't you tell me in the first place the dog is Jewish?"

               When it comes to money then even a dog becomes Jewish. When it comes to money and politics,
           then your Popes and your Shankaracharyas are no longer religious. Their religion consists only of
           rituals, dead rituals. It is a facade, it is not the reality. A real religious person has always found it
           difficult to exist in any organization.
               Jesus was born a Jew but could not remain in the Jewish fold. It was impossible. The priests
           wouldn't allow him. He fell out of it. Not only that, they killed him. Buddha was born a Hindu, but
           Hindus wouldn't allow him, the priests wouldn't allow him -- because whenever there is a religious
           person, he is such an alive revolution, he is rebellion incarnate. The priests wouldn't allow him. He
           was thrown out of the Hindu fold. Buddhism was destroyed from India.
               Jews killed Christ, Hindus killed Buddhism -- which is more subtle and more cunning. By killing
           Christ nothing is killed. Hindus are more clever. They never killed Buddha. Had they killed Buddha
           it would have been very difficult to destroy Buddhism in India. You can see: Christianity is there,
           and Christianity has flowered out of the crucifixion. Without the cross there would not have been
           any Christianity. By crucifying Jesus, they made Jesus so important, so historical.
               Hindus are more clever and cunning, very clever. They say Buddha is our tenth avatar, but they
           do it in such a clever way. They have a story in their PURANAS that when God created hell and
           heaven, millions of years passed. And then the Devil went to God and said, "Sir, why have you
           created hell? -- because nobody comes there. It remains empty. Not a single soul has turned up;
           people are so religious that everybody dies and goes to heaven. So what is the point of keeping it?
           Relieve me, I am just getting fed up and bored!"
               God said, "Wait, I will do something." And he took an avatar; he descended on the earth and
           became Buddha to destroy people's religion, to destroy people's honesty, to destroy people's truth. To
           confuse them he became Buddha. And since then hell is overflowing.
               Now this is very tricky! On one hand they accept that Buddha is an avatar -- an incarnation of
           God. On another hand they say, "Beware of him, because he has come only because the Devil had
           appealed. So if you listen to him you will go to hell. Of course, he is a God."
               You see the cunningness? Even Jews have been defeated by Hindus. They raised Buddha to the
           tenth avatar and they destroyed Buddhism completely.

               This has always happened. This will always happen. Try to understand it. Just being born in a
           household, in a certain religion, is accidental. You have to choose, you have to move on your own! It
           is an arduous journey, it is a great challenge and adventure, and there is great risk.

           The second question:


              IF I AM GOD, HOW COME I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING TO FIND MYSELF IN THIS BODY?


              FOR A GOD everything is possible.


              OH, DEAR, LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF THOUSANDS OF ORANGE ELEPHANTS ALL WEARING
              MALAS OF THEIR WHITE ELEPHANT KING. WHAT CAN THIS MEAN?


              THIS SIMPLY SHOWS that not only man but elephants can also go mad.

           The fourth question:


              AFTER EACH OF YOUR DISCOURSES ON HASSIDISM, I WOULD LEAVE GLOWING AND
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FEELING LIFE IS A LEELA TO BE LIVED FULLY AND ENJOYED. YET WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT
              THE BUDDHA I FEEL DESPAIRING AND EVERYTHING SEEMS FUTILE.
              DOES THE BUDDHA EVER LAUGH?


                HE LAUGHS, BUT NEVER BEFORE HIS DISCIPLES. He laughs when he is alone.
                Listening to me on Hassidism is half of the LEELA. And unless you can go with laughter while
           listening to me on Buddha, your laughter is not very deep. Listening to me on Hassidism, of course
           you were laughing and enjoying and you were thinking that life is LEELA. Immediately I have
           chosen Buddha. There is a mathematics to it. It is a dialectics. I never choose haphazardly.
                Things were going too sweetly with Hassidism. You need a little bitter medicine also. It was
           daylight with Hassidism, now it is night. With Buddha it is night. But unless you can enjoy the night
           also, your enjoyment of the day is not complete. Unless you can be happy even seeing the futility of
           life, you have not learnt what LEELA means. If you are happy only when you are happy, you have
           not learnt anything. When you are happy even when there is no happiness, then you have learnt the
           secret of it.
                Do you follow me? It is a very simple mathematics. When I am singing a song of life, you enjoy
           it. But when I start singing a sad song about death, then you cannot enjoy it. Then you will remain
           partial -- then you will choose the good, the sweet, the light part. What will happen to the bitter part?
           What will happen to the dark part? Then you will never be a whole, and if you are not whole you can
           never be holy.
                With me, sometimes it is life singing and sometimes it is death. And I would like you to learn
           both. I would like you to become so happy, so playful, that even when there is despair there is no
           despair. Even when things are going rough, you can laugh; even when things are going very heavy,
           you can dance. So try to laugh with Buddha also.
                To laugh with Hassids is very easy, to laugh with Buddha is difficult. It is an uphill task. But to
           laugh with Hassids, anybody can do that. It requires no effort on your part; it requires no growth on
           your part. To laugh with Buddha great growth, maturity is needed.
                And life consists of these polarities: good and bad, success and failure, day and night, summer
           and winter, birth and death, marriage and divorce, love and hate. The whole life consists of these
           diametrically opposite polarities -- and you are the whole. You cannot choose half of it. If you
           choose half of it you will remain half, and the other half will remain repressed.
                And the other half will take revenge some day or other. And if you cannot be really sad --
           happily sad, I say -- then your happiness cannot go very deep, because you will become afraid of
           depth. In depth, the other is waiting. So your happiness will be shallow; you will not allow it to go
           very deep, because the other is waiting there. You know that if you go a little deeper, you may touch
           sadness.
                Have you watched it? In villages in India mothers say that a child should not be allowed to laugh
           too much, because if he laughs too much then he starts crying. It is a great insight. Have you
           watched it? If you laugh too much your laughter tends to turn into tears.
                All happiness tends to turn into unhappiness. All life tends to turn into death. Youth tends to turn
           into old age. Health tends to turn into illness, disease. This is how things are. And if you learn only
           that "I will be happy while I am happy," what will you do with your unhappiness that is also there? If
           you say, "I will be happy only with the rose-flowers," what will you do with the thorns which are
           almost always there? and more than the flowers -- they are part of the game.
                With Hassidism I talked about the roses, now let me talk about the thorns. And if you can
           understand both and still be playful, then you know what LEELA is. LEELA means playfulness --
           playfulness in success, playfulness in failure; playfulness when you are winning, playfulness when
           you are being defeated.

           The fifth question:


              AM I OKAY?


              YOU CANNOT BE -- CERTAINLY NOT. Otherwise the question will not arise. The very
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           question says something is wrong somewhere, otherwise who will bother to ask it? 'Okayness' is
           such a feeling that when it is there you know it. It is just like a headache: you never ask anybody
           else, "Have I got a headache?" And if you ask they will laugh. They will say, "Have you gone mad?"
           If you have, you have, and you know! If you don't have, you don't have, and you know.
               Okayness is an inner well-being. A great, beautiful feeling arises in your being, and goes on
           spreading -- ripples upon ripples. Everything seems to be light. Everything seems to be weightless.
           You don't walk -- you run. You don't run -- you dance. You feel as if gravitation does not exist. You
           start flying. You move in unknown bliss. You go on drifting, very peacefully, towards the shore of
           the unknown. And everything seems to be beautiful, a blessing -- you are blessed and you can bless
           others.
               When it is there, there is no question. When it is there, you need not have any certificate from
           anybody. You know it! It is self-evident. And if okayness is also not self-evident, then nothing can
           be self-evident.

               Mulla Nasrudin and his wife were on a row-boat. The wife was shivering in the row-boat while
           Nasrudin was fishing: "Tell me again," she cried between blue lips, "how much fun we are having --
           I keep forgetting."

           Nobody can go on forgetting if there is bliss.

              A man purchased a secondhand car, and then after seven days he went back to the place he had
           purchased it from and he asked the salesman, "Please tell me again about this car.
           He said, "Why?"
              He said, "I go on forgetting. You praised it so highly, and it gives me so many troubles. Just to
           encourage me, tell me again. I need a little encouragement."

               Why do you ask, "Am I okay?" Do you need some encouragement? Remember: I am not a
           secondhand car salesman. And I am not going to encourage you. If you are unhappy, then my
           suggestion is: be unhappy -- there is no need to be okay. Be unhappy. Go into it to the very rock
           bottom of it. Let it be there! Listen to its message -- there must be a certain message in this
           unhappiness, because God never sends anything without any message in it. Don't try to hide it.
               Unhappy? -- then be unhappy. Be truly unhappy -- go to the very hell of it. And if you can go
           WITHOUT any rejection on your part, without any fight on your part; if you can simply relax and let
           it happen, you will gain tremendously out of it. You will see that unhappiness is there, but you are
           not unhappy -- you are the witness of it, you are the observer. It is there! Certainly it is there, but it is
           like a cloud that surrounds you -- you are not the cloud. And once you realise that, you have
           transcended. Then a totally different kind of okayness arises in you which is spiritual, which cannot
           be taken away from you.
               But people don't go deep in their unhappiness. This is what I call real sadhana: to go into your
           unhappiness. Don't avoid, don't escape. People don't look into their moods; people try to deceive
           themselves. People want somehow to carry on smiling always and always. But do you know? -- even
           in heaven, angels don't sing all the time. There are moments when they cry and weep. And you can
           believe me -- I am an eye-witness. But nothing is wrong with tears. Tears can be beautiful, if you
           welcome them.
               Go deep in your unhappiness; it is going to reveal many things to you.
           I have heard:

               A farmer was driving his horse laboriously along a dusty road. He came to a man sitting beside
           the road, pulled his team to a halt and called out: "How much longer does this hill last?"
               "You ain't on no hill," the stranger called back. "Your hind wheels are off."

               But people don't look deep down in their being. They think they are on a hill -- the hind wheels
           are no more there. You can go on a flat road, on a superhighway and you will feel you are on a hill,
           always going up, and it is difficult and more difficult. And, of course, without wheels you will
           always be in turmoil; rough will be the road.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Don't ask me whether you are okay or not. The very question decides that you are not. But
           people are such questioners; they go on asking everything. Maybe you are okay, but you cannot
           remain without a question; that too is a possibility.

              Mulla Nasrudin went to the hills on the suggestion of his psychotherapist, and from there he
           wired back after a week: "I am feeling happy -- why?"

              Now you cannot even feel happy without asking; now analysis is needed -- why?

              The mother went to see the analyst and asked, "Tell me -- I gotta daughter in college -- she
           doesn't use drugs -- she's not pregnant -- she doesn't drink -- she got the highest marks in her class
           and she writes to us every day -- tell me -- where did we go right?"

               Where did we go right? Now that becomes the problem. Questioning has become such a
           deep-rooted habit that sometimes when it is not needed at all, then too, you go on making questions.
           You cannot allow your being to remain without questions. Allow it! Because that is the moment
           when the answer will come to you -- when there is no question.
               Don't go on questioning and questioning and questioning. It is meaningless. I answer you only so
           that you learn how not to question. I don't answer you so that you can become more knowledgeable.
           I answer you only as a help, so that one day you can remain without questions. That very day a great
           revelation will open its doors to your being.
               When there is no question, the answer arises from your innermost depths. If you are too much
           concerned with the question, the answer will never arise -- you won't allow it space to arise.

           The sixth question:


              OSHO,
              IS DIRT REALLY DIRTY?


               IT DEPENDS. IT DEPENDS ON YOUR OUTLOOK. Nothing is good, nothing is bad. It
           depends on your interpretation, on how you interpret. It depends on your mind.
               Mind always divides things in two -- the good/the bad, the clean/the dirty, God/the Devil. The
           mind continuously divides. Mind is a divider. The truth is undivided, the truth is one. It is neither
           good nor bad, neither clean nor dirty.
           I have heard:

               A priest went into a tailor's shop and ordered a new suit. When he asked how much it cost, the
           tailor said, "There is no charge. I never charge the clergy." So the next day the priest sent the tailor a
           beautiful crucifix.
               Then a rabbi went into the tailor's shop and ordered a new suit. When he asked how much it cost,
           the tailor said, "There is no charge. I never charge rabbis." So the next day the rabbi sent the tailor
           two more rabbis.

              It depends on you, on how you look at things. Your mind is finally the decision-maker.

               A successful cloak-and-suiter had finally found the girl of his dreams, and he made preparations
           for a wedding the garment district would never forget. His own designers prepared a wedding-gown
           for the bride of the finest imported silks and satins, and his own marital raiment was truly a sight to
           behold.
               The affair was nothing less than breathtaking. No expense had been spared. Then, as the newly
           weds were about to embark on their honeymoon trip to Canada, an urgent message arrived in the
           form of a telegram.
               It is from my partner," the groom explained. "Urgent business. I'll have to attend to it
           immediately."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "But what about our honeymoon?" the bride asked tearfully.
               "Business comes first," he said. "But you go ahead. I'll catch a later plane and be there by
           tonight."
               "But what if you can't make it by tonight?" she moaned.
           "Then..." he blustered, "start without me."

               A businessman is a businessman. His whole outlook about life is that of a businessman.
               Nothing is good, nothing is bad; nothing is beautiful, nothing is ugly. It is you who decide.
               In India we have a certain stage of consciousness called PARAMAHANSA. The state of
           paramahansa means the state of no division -- when ugly and beautiful, clean and dirty, good and
           bad, both are alike. You can find a paramahansa eating, sitting by the side of the road -- the gutter is
           overflowing, the dogs are running around him. Or even the dogs also eating from the same bowl!
           Very difficult -- very difficult for the mind to understand. The mind will say "What type of man is
           this? How dirty!"
               But you don't know the state of a paramahansa. Don't condemn, don't be in such haste. There is a
           state of consciousness where divisions disappear, when the mind is totally dropped. Then one simply
           lives in a oneness with existence.
               But, I am not telling you to BECOME paramahansas -- remember. You cannot become a
           paramahansa; it descends on you. If you try to become a paramahansa, you will simply go mad. I am
           not saying to drop distinctions. I am saying become more and more aware so one day distinctions
           disappear. You can drop distinctions without becoming aware -- then you will be a madman, not a
           paramahansa. And sometimes paramahansas and madmen look very alike.

           The seventh question:


              TODAY'S DISCOURSE IS THE MOST WONDERFUL THING I HAVE EVER HEARD.


              It is from Vandana. But about the same discourse somebody else has said:


              WHY DO YOU GO ON CHATTERING CONTINUOUSLY? I AM FED UP WITH YOU, I AM BORED,
              AND I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOU ANY MORE. IT IS FROM MANEESHI.


               NOW WHAT TO DO? WHOM TO ANSWER? The same discourse can be tremendously
           beautiful to one; to another it can be terribly boring. It depends on you; it has nothing to do with the
           discourse. You are not saying anything about the discourse -- Vandana or Maneeshi. You are saying
           something about you.
               Vandana must have been in a flowing state; Vandana must have been in a 'beautitude'. Vandana
           must have been open -- I could enter into her. My words went deep into her heart and became songs.
               Maneeshi must have been closed -- too much in the head. Maneeshi must have been without
           heart, at least in that discourse. Then everything went wrong. It depends on you. Whenever you feel
           something like that, always remember it depends on you.
               Now Maneeshi asks: "Why do you go on chattering...?" I go on chattering because there are
           Vandanas also -- so I have to go on chattering for them.
               And you say: "I am fed up with you and I am bored...." But, who forces you to be here? This is
           something beautiful! There are two guards on two gates and Shiva with his big nose is there to smell
           you. And you have to pay to listen to me. Have you ever heard? -- in the history of India it has never
           happened -- religious discourses are always free. And you ask me: "Why do you go on chattering?"
           Why do you pay in the first place? You need not come. All the management that I can make to
           prevent you, I have made.
               It is your mind. But I know Maneeshi, I know his heart also. The heart goes on pulling him here;
           the head does not allow. That is the conflict. When heart and head meet there is a synchronicity.
           When head and heart meet there is a harmony. That's what happened to Vandana.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Maneeshi has lost contact with his heart. His heart goes on pulling him, so he cannot escape.
           Because he cannot escape he is annoyed with me -- as if I am doing something to him, as if I don't
           allow him to escape. You are completely free, Maneeshi -- though I know you cannot escape. It is
           impossible because wherever you are you will hanker for this chattering. I will haunt you because as
           far as your heart is concerned, I am in possession of it. The head will not allow you totally to be
           here, but it cannot help you to go away either.
               Listen from the heart because what I am saying has nothing to do with the head. What I am
           saying is not logical, what I am saying is not rational.
               Just the other day I was reading a letter in CURRENT written from some Rationalist Association
           in South India, that they would like me to become a member of their association.
               Now, I am overwhelmed. This is such a great honour. Even if a Nobel Prize was given to me I
           would not have been so much overwhelmed -- because Nobel Prizes have been given to so many
           people, hundreds. Who has ever heard about this Rationalist Association? that it has invited anybody
           else to become a member? This is without precedent. In fact I have never heard the name of the
           village either. Must be a very esoteric association. There are esoteric groups who work completely
           hidden behind, who don't believe in publicity.
               Such a great privilege! I hope the village has a post office and a primary school, and at least a
           bus stop -- because in India every village that has a bus stop and a primary school and a post office
           starts claiming for a university. It is enough to open a university. That's why every day universities
           are being opened, hundreds of universities. Sooner or later every village is going to have its own
           university.
               Just one condition they have made that is very simple, and I can fulfil it immediately, at the drop
           of a hat. One condition they have made: IF you drop being called Bhagwan. That I am ready to do,
           absolutely ready. Because in the first place I am a Bhagwan, so whether you call me or not makes no
           difference -- a rose is a rose is a rose. You can call it by another name, that makes no difference. I
           can pretend that I am not a Bhagwan -- there is not much of a problem in it -- but I cannot lose this
           membership.
               The trouble arises not by their condition; the trouble arises because it is a rationalist association.
           And I am absolutely irrationalist. I am almost absurd. I play with reason, certainly, as a toy. I enjoy
           reason certainly, but as a toy. But I am not a rationalist.
               Those who hear me from their heads will go on missing me. And when you hear me and you
           miss me, of course you will be fed up. You won't be able to see: "What is the point of it all? Why
           does this man go on talking?" -- because you don't get anything out of it. I go on nourishing you and
           you are there without being nourished. Then certainly you will feel bored.
               But boredom is your problem, and you have to learn how to listen from the heart. If you listen to
           me from the heart you can go on listening to me eternally -- and there will be no boredom at all. The
           more you listen to me, the more you will enjoy, because from the heart a tremendous revolution
           happens.
               Have you observed small children? You tell them one story, next day they come; they say,
           "Again, tell the same story!"
           And you say, "But I have told you."
           They say, "Okay, but you tell me again."
               And they are so thrilled. Again listening to the same story, and they know, and sometimes they
           will tell you ahead what is going to happen. But they are so thrilled, so enthusiastic about it. What is
           happening? They hear it from the heart; they hear from innocence, not from knowledge. They hear
           from a tremendous purity, from love. They hear for the hearing's sake.

               Howard, who was one of New York's leading custom tailors, went to Rome for a vacation. While
           there, his wife, who was a firm believer in 'when in Rome do as the Romans', insisted that they have
           an audience with the Pope. It was arranged through the American Embassy and they were granted
           their audience.
               When they returned to New York they told one and all of their trip and of course about the visit
           to the Pope. Howard's father asked, "Howard, tell me, what is the Pope really like?"
           His son replied, "He's a 42 short."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A tailor is a tailor. That is his understanding -- 42 short.

              Jack came home in the middle of the afternoon. He was met at the door by his wife and his son.
           His son exclaimed, "Dad there is a bogey-man in the closet."
              Jack rushed to the closet and flung the door open. There huddled among the coats was his partner
           Sam.
              "Sam," shrieked Jack, "why in hell do you come here in the afternoon and scare my kid?"

               Get it? It depends on your mind, on you, what attitude you will take. You can listen to me year
           in, year out, and you can remain thrilled.
               But I am not worried about that. At least I am always thrilled. If nobody comes to listen to me I
           will go on talking here. I love to say that which has happened to me, and I love to say it a thousand
           and one times. And that is the only way to convey it. Because one time you may miss, second time
           you may miss, but how many times can you miss? One day out of sheer boredom you will say, "Let
           us now listen to this man."

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I HATE TO DO THIS TO YOU, BUT I CAN'T RESIST THE TEMPTATION. WHAT ABOUT THE
              ROBE?


              THIS IS FROM MANEESHA. The first thing:

               Morris came home from work early one day and found his wife in bed. She said she was not
           feeling well. He went to the closet to hang up his hat and coat, and to his surprise he found a man
           hiding in the closet.
           He looked at him and shouted, "What are you doing in my closet?"
           The man shrugged and said, "Everybody has to be somewhere."

               So what about my robe? I have to be in my robe! Everybody has to be somewhere. But the
           question was going to come -- whether from Maneesha, or from somebody else. I was waiting for it.
               The towel was like a buffer-state. Let me tell you about a buffer-state first. In diplomacy, in
           politics, the clever nations always have buffer-states around them. For example, the Britishers in
           India used to have Tibet as a buffer-state between China and India.
               China is the greatest power close to India. A buffer-state they always maintained -- Tibet was the
           buffer-state. If China ever wanted to attack India, first China would have to attack Tibet. It could not
           approach directly. And once it attacked Tibet, the British would fight on Tibetan ground; so India
           remained untouched.
               When India became free, China attacked Tibet, and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru missed. He was not
           a diplomat, he was a poet, he was a visionary -- a great soul, but not a politician at all. He thought,
           "It doesn't matter to us. Why should we be worried about it? It is between China and Tibet."
               Britishers wouldn't have allowed that. It was not between China and Tibet. Basically it was
           between India and China -- Tibet is nothing. Once China took possession of Tibet, of course, the
           next step was bound to be India.
               If, instead of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira had been there, she would not have allowed it. She
           is more down-to-earth, less visionary, less of a poet. She would have fought there in Tibet. But
           Jawaharlal thought, "There is no point. It is for them to decide." Once Tibet was possessed, of course
           India became vulnerable -- the next step was India. And China attacked India. It was just natural, it
           was simple diplomacy.
               My towel was my buffer-state. I knew it well, that once I dropped it you would ask about the
           robe. So it is better that I should take my towel back. Vivek, bring a towel... because it is better to
           keep it, it is safe, it is my Tibet.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The joke has already been stretched too far -- three days have passed -- and a joke should not be
           stretched too far, otherwise it becomes dangerous.
           Maneesha, are you satisfied...?




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                    Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Become a Driftwood
           25 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610250
              ShortTitle: TRANS305
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING THE WAY SHOULD BEHAVE LIKE A PIECE OF TIMBER WHICH
              IS DRIFTING ALONG A STREAM. IF THE LOG IS NEITHER HELD BY THE BANKS, NOR SEIZED
              BY MEN, NOR OBSTRUCTED BY THE GODS, NOR KEPT IN THE WHIRLPOOL, NOR ITSELF
              GOES TO DECAY, I ASSURE YOU THAT THIS LOG WILL FINALLY REACH THE OCEAN. IF
              MONKS WALKING ON THE WAY ARE NEITHER TEMPTED BY THE PASSIONS, NOR LED
              ASTRAY BY SOME EVIL INFLUENCES, BUT STEADILY PURSUE THEIR COURSE FOR NIRVANA,
              I ASSURE YOU THAT THESE MONKS WILL FINALLY ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT."

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "RELY NOT ON YOUR OWN WILL. YOUR OWN WILL IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY. GUARD
              YOURSELVES AGAINST SENSUALISM, FOR IT SURELY LEADS TO THE PATH OF EVIL. YOUR
              OWN WILL BECOMES TRUSTWORTHY ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP."


                THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA is known as VIA NEGATIVA -- the path of negation. This
           attitude, this approach has to be understood.
                Buddha's approach is unique. All other religions of the world are positive religions, they have a
           positive goal -- call it God, MOKSHA, liberation, salvation, Self-realisation, but there is a goal to be
           achieved. And positive effort is needed on the part of the seeker. Unless you make hard effort you
           will not reach to the goal.
                Buddha's approach is totally different, diametrically opposite. He says: You are already that
           which you want to become, the goal is within you, it is your own nature. You are not to achieve it. It
           is not in the future, it is not somewhere else. It is you right now, this very moment. But there are a
           few obstacles -- those obstacles have to be removed.
                It is not that you have to attain godhood -- godhood is your nature -- but there are a few obstacles
           which have to be removed. Once those obstacles are removed, you are that which you have always
           been seeking. Even when you were not aware of who you are, you were That. You cannot be other
           than That, you cannot be otherwise.
                Obstacles have to be eliminated, dropped. So nothing else has to be added to you. The positive
           religion tries to add something to you: virtue, righteousness, meditation, prayer. The positive religion
           says you are lacking something; you have to be in search of that which you are lacking. You have to
           accumulate something.
                Buddha's negative approach says you are not lacking anything. In fact, you are possessing too
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many things which are not needed. You have to drop something.
               It is like this: A man goes trekking into the Himalayas. The higher you start reaching, the more
           you will feel the weight of the things you are carrying with you. Your luggage will become more and
           more heavy. The higher the altitude, the more heavy your luggage will become. You will have to
           drop things. If you want to reach to the highest peak, you will have to drop all.
               Once you have dropped all, once you don't possess anything, once you have become a zero, a
           nothingness, a nobody, you have reached.
               Something has to be eliminated, not added to you. Something has to be dropped, not
           accumulated.
               When Buddha attained, somebody asked him, "What have you attained?"
               He laughed. He said, "I have not attained anything -- because whatsoever I have attained was
           always with me. On the contrary, I have lost many things. I have lost my ego. I have lost my
           thoughts, my mind. I have lost all that I used to feel I possessed. I have lost my body -- I used to
           think I was the body. I have lost all that. Now I exist as pure nothingness. But this is my
           achievement*.
               Let me explain it to you, because this is very central.
               According to Buddha's approach, in the beginningless beginning of existence there was absolute
           sleep; existence was fast asleep, snoring, what Hindus call SUSHUPTI, a state of dreamless sleep.
           The whole existence was asleep in SUSHUPTI. Nothing was moving, everything was at rest -- so
           tremendously, so utterly at rest, you can say it was not existing at all.
               When you move into SUSHUPTI every night, when dreams stop, you again move into that
           primordial nothingness. And if in the night there are not a few moments of that primordial
           nothingness, you don't feel rejuvenated, you don't feel revitalized. If the whole night you dream, and
           turn and toss in the bed, in the morning you are more tired than you were when you went to bed. You
           could not dissolve, you could not lose yourself.
               If you have been in SUSHUPTI, in a dreamless state, that means you moved into that
           beginningless beginning again. From there is energy. From there you come rested, vitalized, new.
           Again full of juice, full of life and zest. That, Buddha says, was the beginning; but he calls it the
           beginningless beginning. It was like SUSHUPTI, it was tremendously unconscious; there was no
           consciousness in it. It was just like samadhi, with only one difference: in samadhi one is fully awake.
           In that SUSHUPTI, in that dreamless deep sleep, there was no consciousness, not even a single
           flame of consciousness -- a dark night. It is also a state of SATCHITANAND, but the state is
           unconscious.
               In the morning when you become awake, then you say, "Last night was beautiful, I slept very
           deeply. It was so beautiful and so full of bliss." But this you say in the morning. When you were
           really in that sleep, you were not aware; you were absolutely unconscious. When you awake in the
           morning, then you look retrospectively backwards and then you recognize: "Yes, it was beautiful!"
               When a person awakes in samadhi, then he recognizes that: "All my lives of the past, they were
           all blissful. I have been in a tremendously enchanted, magic world. I have never been miserable."
           Then one recognizes, but right now you cannot recognize -- you are unconscious.
               The primordial state is full of bliss, but there is nobody to recognize it. Trees still exist in that
           primordial state; mountains and the ocean and the clouds and the deserts, they still exist in that
           primordial consciousness. It is a state of unconsciousness.
               This Buddha calls nothingness, pure nothingness, because there was no distinction, no
           demarcation. It was nebulous: no form, no name. It was like a dark night.
               Then came the explosion. Now, scientists also talk about this explosion; they call it 'the big
           bang'. Then everything exploded. The nothingness disappeared and things appeared. It is still a
           hypothesis, even for scientists, because nobody can go back. For scientists it is a hypothesis, the
           most probable hypothesis at the most.
               There are many theories proposed, propounded, but the 'big bang theory' is accepted generally --
           that out of that nothingness things exploded, like a seed explodes, becomes a tree. And in the tree
           then millions of seeds; and then THEY explode. A single seed can fill the whole earth with greenery.
           This is what explosion means.
               Have you observed the fact? -- such mystery... a small seed, barely visible, can explode and fill
           the whole earth with forests. Not only the whole earth: all the earths possible in existence. A single
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           seed! And if you break the seed, what will you find inside it? Just nothingness, just pure nothing. Out
           of this nothingness, the Whole has evolved.
               For scientists it is just a hypothesis, an inference. For a Buddha it is not a hypothesis -- it is his
           experience. He has known this happening within himself. I will try to explain it to you, how one
           comes to know this beginningless beginning -- because you cannot go back, but there is a way to go
           on moving ahead. And, just as everything moves in a circle, time also moves in a circle.
               In the West, the concept of time is linear; time moves in a line, horizontal; it goes on and on and
           on. But in the East, we believe in a circular time. And the Eastern concept of time is closer to reality,
           because every movement is circular. The earth moves in a circle, the moon moves in a circle, the
           stars move in a circle. The year moves in a circle, the LIFE moves in a circle: birth, childhood,
           youth, old age -- again birth! What you call death is again birth. Again childhood, again youth... and
           the wheel goes on moving. And the year goes round and round: comes summer, and the rains, and
           the winter and again summer.
               Everything is moving in a circle! So why should there be an exception -- time? Time also moves
           in a circle. One cannot go back-wards, but if you go on ahead, moving ahead, one day time starts
           moving in a circle. You reach to the beginningless beginning, or, now you can call it the endless end.
           Buddha has known it, experienced it.
               What the scientists call 'the big bang' I call 'cosmic orgasm'. And that seems to me more
           meaningful. 'Big bang' looks a little ugly, too technological, inhuman. 'Cosmic orgasm' -- the cosmos
           exploded into orgasm. Millions of forms were born out of it. And it was a tremendously blissful
           experience, so let us call it 'cosmic orgasm'.
               In that orgasm three things developed. First, the universe; what we in the East call SAT. Out of
           the universe developed life; what we call ANANDA. And out of life developed mind, what we call
           CHIT. Sat means being; ANANDA means celebrating the being -- when a tree comes to bloom, it is
           celebrating its being. And CHIT means consciousness -- when you have become conscious about
           your bliss, about your celebration. These three states: SATCHITANANDA.
               Man has come up to the mind. The rocks are still at the first stage: universe -- they exist but they
           don't flower, they don't celebrate; they are closed, coiled upon themselves. Some day they will start
           moving, some day they will open their petals, but right now they are caved within themselves,
           completely closed.
               Trees, animals, they have come to the next stage: life -- so happy, so beautiful, so colourful. The
           birds go on singing, and the trees go on blooming. This is the second stage: life. The third stage, only
           man has reached it: the state of mind, the state of CHIT -- consciousness.
               Buddha says: These three are like a dream. The first, the beginningless beginning, the primordial
           state, is like sleep -- SUSHUPTI. These three are like a dream; these three are like a drama that goes
           on unfolding. If you move beyond mind, if you start moving towards meditation, that is towards
           no-mind, again another explosion happens, but now it is no longer explosion -- it is implosion. Just
           as one day explosion happened and millions of things were born out of nothingness, so when
           implosion happens, forms, names disappear -- again nothingness is born out of it. The circle is
           complete.
               The scientists talk only about explosion, they don't talk about implosion yet -- which is very
           illogical. Because if explosion is possible, then implosion is also possible.
               A seed is thrown into the earth. It explodes. A tree is born, then on the tree again seeds are born.
           What is a seed now? When the seed explodes, it is a tree. When the tree implodes, it is again a seed.
           The seed was carrying a tree; it opened itself and became a tree. Now the tree again closes itself,
           caves in, becomes a small seed.
               If explosion happened in the world, as scientists now trust, then the Buddhist idea of implosion is
           also a reality. Explosion cannot exist without implosion. They both go together. Implosion means
           again mind moves into life, life moves into universe, universe moves into nothingness -- then the
           circle is complete. Nothingness moves into universe, universe moves into life, life moves into mind,
           mind again moves into life, life again into universe, universe again into nothingness... the circle is
           complete.
               After implosion, when it has happened, when everything has again come to nothingness, now
           there is a difference. The first nothingness was unconscious; this second nothingness is conscious.
           The first was like darkness; the second is like light. The first was like night; the second is like day.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The first we called SUSHUPTI; the second we will call JAGRITI -- awareness, fully awake.
               This is the whole circle. The first scientists call 'the big bang theory' because there was so much
           explosion and so much noise. It was a big bang. Just a moment before everything was silent, there
           was no noise, no sound, and after one moment, when the existence exploded, there was so much
           sound and so much noise. All sorts of noises started.
               What happens when the explosion disappears into an implosion? The soundless sound. Now
           there is no longer any noise. Again everything is silent. This is what Zen calls the sound of one hand
           clapping. This is what Hindus have called ANAHATNADA, OMKAR -- the soundless sound.
               The first Hindus have called NADAVISPHOT -- big bang, the sound exploded. And the second
           is again when the sound moves into silence; the story is complete. Science is still clinging to the half
           story; the other half is missing. And one who watches this whole play -- from SUSHUPTI, dark
           night of the soul, to dream, and from dream to awareness -- the one who watches it all is the witness:
           the fourth state we call TURIYA -- the one who witnesses all. That one known, you become a
           Buddha; that one known, experienced, you become Arhat -- you have attained.

               BUT THE WHOLE POINT TO BE UNDERSTOOD IS THIS: that ALL the time, when you are
           asleep or dreaming or awake, you are That. Sometimes not aware, sometimes aware -- that is the
           only difference -- but your nature remains the same.
           T.S. Eliot has written a few beautiful lines:

           WE SHALL NOT CEASE FROM EXPLORATION
           AND THE END OF ALL OUR EXPLORING
           WILL BE TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED
           AND KNOW THE PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME.
           THROUGH THE UNKNOWN, REMEMBERED GATE
           WHEN THE LAST OF EARTH LEFT TO DISCOVER
           IS THAT WHICH WAS THE BEGINNING;
           AT THE SOURCE OF THE LONGEST RIVER
           THE VOICE OF THE HIDDEN WATERFALL
           AND THE CHILDREN IN THE APPLE-TREE
           NOT KNOWN, BECAUSE NOT LOOKED FOR
           BUT HEARD, HALF-HEARD, IN THE STILLNESS
           BETWEEN TWO WAVES OF THE SEA.
           QUICK NOW, HERE, NOW, ALWAYS --
           A CONDITION OF COMPLETE SIMPLICITY
           COSTING NOT LESS THAN EVERYTHING.....

                A CONDITION OF COMPLETE SIMPLICITY -- UTTER SIMPLICITY -- COSTING NOT
           LESS THAN EVERYTHING.... This is the meaning of Buddha's renunciation, his path of VIA
           NEGATIVA. You have to come to the point from where you started. You have to know that which
           you are already. You have to achieve that which is already achieved. You have to achieve that
           which, in the nature of things, CANNOT be lost; there is no way to lose contact with it. At the most
           we can become unconscious about it.
                Religion means becoming conscious of that which you are. It is not a search for something new;
           it is just an effort to know that which has always been there, is eternal. From the beginningless
           beginning to the endless end it is always there.
                Because the path is negative, there are a few difficulties about it. It is very difficult to be
           attracted to Buddhism, because ordinarily the mind wants something positive to cling to, the mind
           wants something to achieve -- and Buddha says there is nothing to achieve, rather, on the contrary,
           you have to lose something. Just the idea of losing something is very unappealing, because our
           whole concept is of having more and more and more. And Buddha says HAVING is the problem.
           The more you have, the less you are; because the more you have, the less you can recognize yourself
           -- you are lost.
                Your emptiness, your space is covered too much by things. A rich man is very poor -- poor
           because he has no space left, poor because everything is occupied, poor because he does not know
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any emptiness in his being. And through emptiness you have the glimpses of the primordial and the
           ultimate -- and they are both the same.
               It is very difficult to be attracted to Buddhism. Only very, very rare people who have a quality of
           tremendous intelligence can be attracted to it. It cannot become a mass religion. And when it
           became, it became only when it lost all its originality, when it compromised with the masses.
               In India Buddhism disappeared, because the followers of Buddha insisted for its purity. There are
           people who think that it is because Hindu philosophers and Hindu mystics refuted Buddhism, that's
           why Buddhism disappeared from India -- that is wrong. It cannot be refuted. Nobody has ever
           refuted it. There is no possibility of refuting it, because in the first place it is not based on logic.
               If something is based on logic, you can destroy it by logic. If something is based on logical
           proof, you can refute it. Buddhism is not based on logic at all. It is based on experience -- you cannot
           refute it. It is very existential. It does not believe in any metaphysics -- how can you refute it? And it
           never asserts anything about any concept. It simply describes the innermost experience. It has no
           philosophy so philosophers cannot refute it.
               But this is true, that Buddhism disappeared from India. The cause of its disappearance, the basic
           cause is: Buddha and his followers insisted for its purity. The very insistence for its purity became an
           unbridgeable gap. The masses could not understand it -- only very rare people, very, very cultured,
           intelligent, aristocratic, few, a chosen few could understand it, what Buddha means. And those who
           understood it, in their very understanding they were transformed. But for the masses it was
           meaningless. It lost its hold on the masses.
               In China it succeeded. In Tibet, in Ceylon, in Burma, in Thailand, in Japan, it succeeded --
           because the missionaries, the Buddhist missionaries who went out of India, seeing what had
           happened in India, became very compromising, they compromised. They started talking in the
           positive language. They started talking about achievement, bliss, heaven -- from the back door they
           brought everything that Buddha had denied.
               Again the masses were happy. The whole of China, the whole of Asia was converted to
           Buddhism -- except India. In India they tried to give just the pure, without any compromise; that was
           not possible. In China, Buddhism became a mass religion, but then it lost its truth.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

               A junior devil has been sent to earth to look around and see how things are progressing. He
           quickly returns to hell, horrified, and obtains an interview with Beelzebub, the chief devil himself.
               "Sir," he sputters, "something awful has happened! There is a man with a beard walking around
           on earth, speaking Truth, and people are beginning to listen to him. Something has to be done
           immediately."
               Beelzebub smiles pleasantly, puffing on his pipe but making no comment.
               "Sir! You don't realise the seriousness of the situation," continues the distraught junior devil.
           "Pretty soon all will be lost!"
               Beelzebub removes his pipe slowly, taps it out on the ashtray, and sits back in his swivel-chair,
           hands behind his head.
               "Don't worry, son," he counsels. "We will let it go on a little longer and, when it has progressed
           far enough, we will step in and help them to organize!"

               And once a religion is organized, it is dead -- because you can organize a religion only when you
           compromise with the masses. You can organize a religion only when you follow the desires of the
           common mass. You can organize a religion only when you are ready to make it a politics and you are
           ready to lose its religiousness.
               A religion can be organized only when it is no more a religion. That's to say: a religion cannot be
           organized as religion. Organized, it is no more religion. A religion basically remains unorganized,
           remains a little chaotic, remains a little disorderly -- because religion is freedom.

           Now the sutras: The Buddha said:
              "THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING THE WAY SHOULD BEHAVE LIKE A PIECE OF TIMBER WHICH
              IS DRIFTING ALONG A STREAM. IF THE LOG IS NEITHER HELD BY THE BANKS, NOR SEIZED
              BY MEN, NOR OBSTRUCTED BY THE GODS, NOR KEPT IN THE WHIRLPOOL, NOR ITSELF
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GOES TO DECAY, I ASSURE YOU THAT THIS LOG WILL FINALLY REACH THE OCEAN."


                A VERY SIGNIFICANT SUTRA. The first thing Buddha says: Surrender! The most basic thing
           is: surrender to reality. The more you fight, the more you are in conflict with it, the more you will
           create obstructions. The more you fight with reality, the more you will be a loser. Of course, through
           fighting you can attain to the ego, you can become a very strong ego, but your ego will be the
           hindrance.

              "THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING THE WAY SHOULD BEHAVE LIKE A PIECE OF TIMBER WHICH
              IS DRIFTING ALONG A STREAM."


               They should be completely surrendered to the river of life, completely surrendered to the river of
           existence. In deep surrender, the ego disappears. And when the ego is not there, for the first time you
           become aware of that which has always been there.
               The ego functions as a blindfold on your eyes. The ego keeps you blind; it does not allow you to
           see the truth. It creates too much smoke and the flame tends to be lost in it. The ego is like too many
           dark clouds around the sun -- the sun gets lost. Not that those clouds can destroy the sun, but they
           can hide it.

              "THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING THE WAY SHOULD BEHAVE LIKE A PIECE OF TIMBER...'


               ... they should become driftwood. Have you watched a piece of timber moving in the river? --
           with no idea of its own, not even trying to reach anywhere, not even knowing where this river is
           going. If it moves north, the timber moves north. If it moves south, the timber moves south. The
           timber is totally in tune with the river. This tuning with the river is what surrender is all about.
               But the idea of becoming a driftwood does not appeal. People come to me and they say: "Help
           us, Osho, to have more will-power. Help us to become more self-confident. Why are we missing
           will-power? How can we have a stronger will?"
               Everybody -- if you watch inside yourself you will find the same desire hidden there: how to
           have more will-power. Everybody wants to become omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent;
           everybody wants to become powerful. Somebody wants to become powerful through having more
           money; of course, money brings power. Somebody wants to have power by becoming a prime
           minister or a president of a country; of course, politics brings power. Somebody wants to become
           powerful by becoming virtuous, because virtue brings respectability. Somebody wants to become
           powerful by becoming religious, because religion gives you a halo of power, of divine forces.
           Somebody wants to gain power by becoming more knowledgeable; knowledge IS power. But it
           seems that everybody wants to be powerful; this seems to be the ordinary desire of the human mind.
               And Buddha says: Become a driftwood. What does he mean? What does he want to convey? He
           is saying: Drop this idea of becoming powerful. That is your hindrance. That's why you have become
           powerless -- the very idea that "I should become powerful" proves nothing but your impotence. All
           impotent people want to become omnipotent; they would like to have all the power there is in their
           hands -- but why? Ego is an illness, a megalomania.
               Buddha says: Become a driftwood -- powerless, helpless. Watch timber going down the stream:
           how helpless, no struggle, no conflict, simply cooperates. In fact, to say 'cooperates' is also not right.
           The driftwood is not there in any ego sense, so there is no point in saying it cooperates. It has no
           conflict, it has no cooperation. It is simply not there. Only the river is there. The timber is completely
           surrendered.
               This is how a disciple should be. And when somebody becomes so much surrendered, Buddha
           says he has become a SROTAAPANNA. 'Srotaapanna' means one who has entered the stream.
               In the East, the concept of surrender has been developed very minutely, in details. But this
           example of a driftwood is almost perfect; you cannot improve upon it. Sometimes, sitting by the side
           of the river, watch timber flowing down. See how peacefully, how relaxed how very trusting the
           driftwood is. No doubt. If the river is going south, it must be good to go to the south. None of its own
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           desire, no private goal -- "the river's goal is my goal." The river is already going towards the ocean.
           The river is going to dissolve into the vast infinity of the ocean. If you can surrender to it, that will
           be enough.
               Coming to a Master and surrendering to a Master is nothing but entering into the stream. The
           Master is one who is surrendered to the river of existence. It is difficult for you to see the river of
           existence, it is very invisible. It is not material, it is very immaterial. It is difficult to hold it in your
           hands, but when you stand by the side of a Buddha at least you can hold Buddha's hand.
               And he has become a driftwood. He is floating in the river. You cannot see the river right now;
           you don't have that much refined consciousness yet. Your eyes are not yet ready to see that river. But
           you can see Buddha, you can hold his hand. You can see Christ, you can hold his hand.
               Buddha is surrendered to the infinite river of life -- you can at least take courage and be
           surrendered to Buddha. By surrendering to Buddha you will be surrendering to the river to which
           Buddha is surrendered. A Master is just a midway passage, a door.
               That's why Jesus goes on saying again and again "I am the door." Jesus is reported to have said:
           "Nobody achieves unless he passes through me." Christians have misinterpreted it. They think
           nobody reaches to God unless one follows Christ. That is not the meaning. When Jesus says:
           "Nobody reaches unless he passes through me," he is saying, "unless he passes through one who has
           already attained." He is not talking about Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph; he is talking about
           Christ -- not about Jesus. He is talking about a state of consciousness.
               'Christ' is the name of a state of consciousness. 'Buddha' is also a name for a state of
           consciousness. When somebody is enlightened, he is no more -- he is just a door. If you surrender to
           him, you will be able to surrender in a roundabout way, in an indirect way, to the stream of life itself.
               To become a disciple means to be ready to float with the Master. And if you can float with a
           man, with a Master, you will start enjoying, you will start celebrating -- because ALL anxiety will
           disappear, all anguish will disappear. And then you will be ready to surrender totally.
               First a little taste is needed. That taste can come through a Master -- the taste of Tao, the taste of
           Dhamma, the taste of the Way.

               "THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING THE WAY SHOULD BEHAVE LIKE A PIECE OF TIMBER WHICH
               IS DRIFTING ALONG A STREAM. IF THE LOG IS NEITHER HELD BY THE BANKS..."


               NOW, BUDDHA SAYS, A FEW THINGS HAVE TO BE REMEMBERED. You should
           surrender, surrender should be total, but there are a few obstacles which have to be continuously
           watched.

               "IF THE LOG IS NEITHER HELD BY THE BANKS, NOR SEIZED BY MEN, NOR OBSTRUCTED BY
               THE GODS, NOR KEPT IN THE WHIRLPOOL, NOR ITSELF GOES TO DECAY, I ASSURE YOU
               THAT THIS LOG WILL FINALLY REACH THE OCEAN."


               Now, you can start clinging to the Master. Rather than surrendering you can start clinging -- and
           both look alike, but the difference is vast. To cling to a Master is not surrendering to him. To cling to
           a Master means you are still clinging to your ego, because all clinging is of the ego.
               Clinging is of the ego. To what you cling is immaterial. If you cling then you are trying to save
           yourself. I watch it. If I say to somebody to 'do this', if it is just according to HIS desire he says,
           "Osho, I am surrendered to you. Whatsoever you say I will do." And if it is not according to his
           desire, then he never says, "I am surrendered to you.' Then he says, "It is difficult." And then he
           brings a thousand and one reasons why he cannot do it. Now he is playing a game with himself.
               You cannot deceive me; you can only go on deceiving yourself. When it fits with your desire,
           then you say, "I am surrendered to you -- whatsoever you say." When it does not fit your desire, then
           you completely forget about surrender. But the real question arises only when it doesn't fit with your
           desire. If you can say yes then too when your ordinary mind goes on saying no, then there is no
           clinging, then it is real surrender. Otherwise, you can hide behind the Master -- and that hiding itself
           can become a protection, a security.
               A Master is a danger. A Master is insecurity personified. A Master is an adventure.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Buddha says:

               "I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THIS LOG WILL FINALLY REACH THE OCEAN -- ONLY IF IT IS NOT
               HELD BY THE BANKS, NOR SEIZED BY MEN, NOR OBSTRUCTED BY THE GODS."


               Buddha does not believe in any gods. He says people who believe in gods are only obstructed by
           their ideas; their very idea of God becomes their obstruction. If somebody is obstructed by
           philosophies dogmas, words, theologies....
               For example, a young woman came just two, three days ago, and she said to me, "I love you,
           Osho, but I am a disciple of Christ. You have helped me tremendously. You have strengthened my
           religion: whatsoever I used to believe, now I believe more deeply. You have helped me
           tremendously. I have come to give you my thanks."
               Now, I am not here to strengthen your religion. I am not here to fulfil your philosophies. If you
           think that I am strengthening your religion, then you must be hearing something else than what I am
           saying.
               Yes, I can bring you close to Christ, but the only way is if you go through me -- there is no other
           way. If you think you already know Christ, if you think that your Christ is the right Christ, then
           Christ will become the barrier. How can you interpret Christ? Two thousand years have passed, two
           thousand years of misinterpretations are there; thousands of treatises, thousands of interpretations --
           how can you interpret Christ now? Those interpretations will never allow you.
               A Protestant has a different idea of Christ; a Catholic again a different idea of Christ; a
           Mohammedan has a totally different idea of Christ. From where will you get your idea? Those ideas
           will be from the past. You will not attain to Christ -- because Christ is not a person who happened
           two thousand years before. Christ is a state of consciousness which is always available for those who
           really want to seek.
               I say to you: My consciousness is a state of Christ. If you listen to me and still you think that I
           am fulfilling YOUR idea of Christ, you are missing me. If you have understood what I am saying,
           then you will be able to see Christ in me -- IMMEDIATELY. Christ will become a presence --
           HERENOW. It has nothing to do with the Christ who happened two thousand years ago. That was
           one man, Jesus, coming to the state of Christhood. Here is another man who has come to the same
           state.
               Now, you come and listen to me and you think I am here fulfilling your idea of Christ? Your idea
           is bound to be your idea. It cannot be bigger than you, it cannot be higher than you. It will be as
           foolish as you are. It will be as idiotic as you are. It will be as dull and stupid as you are. It will be as
           ignorant as YOU are. Your idea is, of course, bound to be YOUR idea.
               I am not here fulfilling your ideas. I am not helping you to become better Christians and better
           Hindus and better Mohammedans. I am trying to drop all obstacles from your path so you can
           become that which you are. If you can flower to your totality, you will be a Christ, you will be a
           Buddha.
               But obstacles are there, Buddha says. Sometimes the banks. Sometimes men around you.
           Sometimes the gods, the philosophies, theologies. Sometimes your mind's own whirlpool. And
           sometimes you yourself can go to decay.
               If you are not alert and intelligent, you are already decaying, you are already dying. Every day
           your intelligence becomes more and more dull. Watch a child: how intelligent! how fresh! And
           watch an old man: how dull, rigid, dead! Every moment intelligence is slipping by, life is getting out
           of your hands.
               So Buddha says these things have to be remembered. If these things are remembered, and you are
           not caught by anything, just surrender to the stream and the stream will take you to the ocean.

               "IF MONKS WALKING ON THE WAY ARE NEITHER TEMPTED BY THE PASSIONS, NOR LED
               ASTRAY BY SOME EVIL INFLUENCES, BUT STEADILY PURSUE THEIR COURSE FOR NIRVANA,
               I ASSURE YOU THAT THESE MONKS WILL FINALLY ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               IF MONKS WALKING ON THE WAY ARE NEITHER TEMPTED BY THE PASSIONS..."
           because the passions are of the body, the passions are of the senses. They are very stupid!
               People come to me and they say, "What to do, Osho? I go on eating too much, I go on stuffing
           myself -- I cannot stop! The whole day I am thinking about food." Now the person who is saying this
           is simply saying that he has lost all intelligence. Food is needed, but food is not the goal. You need
           food to exist, but there are many people who exist only to eat more and more and more.
               Somebody is continuously obsessed with sex. Nothing is wrong with sex, but obsession is always
           wrong. With what you are obsessed is not the question -- obsession is wrong, because then it starts
           draining your energy. Then you are continuously moving in a whirlpool of your own making, and
           you go on round and round and round, and you waste your energy.
               And one day suddenly you find death has come and you have not lived at all, you have not
           known even what life is. You have been alive and yet you have not known what life is. You have
           been here and yet you don't know who you are. What a wastage! And what a disrespectful way of
           living! I call it sacrilege against God.
               It is good to eat, it is good to love, but if you are eating twenty-four hours a day you are mad.
           There is a balance. When the balance is lost then you are falling below human standards.

              "IF MONKS WALKING ON THE WAY ARE NEITHER TEMPTED BY THE PASSIONS..."


               Temptation is there -- and it will be greater when you start walking on the path. Ordinarily it may
           not be so, but when you start walking on the path, the body will struggle. That's how it happens.
               People who have come to meditate here, they were never aware that they were obsessed with
           food. Meditating, suddenly one day, a great obsession arises about food. They feel continuously
           hungry; they are surprised because it has never been so. What has happened? Out of meditation?
           Yes, it can happen out of meditation, because when you are moving in meditation the body starts
           feeling you are going distant, you are going away. The body starts tempting you. The body will not
           allow you to become a master.
               The body has remained master for many, many lives; you have been a slave. Now, suddenly you
           are trying to change the whole state: you are trying to make the slave the master, and the master the
           slave. You are trying to stand on your head -- to the body it looks exactly like that, that you are
           turning things upside down. The body revolts, the body fights, the body resists. The body says, "I
           will not allow you so easily."
               The mind starts fighting! When the body starts fighting you will feel a great obsession for food
           arising in you. And when the mind starts fighting, you will feel a great obsession with sex arising in
           you. Sex and food, these two are going to be the problems. These are the two basic passions.
               The body lives out of food. When you start moving in meditation the body wants more food to
           become more strong so it can fight you more. The body wants all strength now, so that it can resist
           the aggression that has come upon it. The effort that you are making to conquer it, to become a
           master of it, has to be destroyed. The body needs all energy that is possible. The body becomes mad
           in eating.
               The body survives because of food, and when the survival is at stake the body starts eating
           madly. The mind exists through sex. Why does the mind exist through sex? Because the mind exists
           by projecting in the future; the mind is a projection in the future. Let me explain it to you.
               You are a projection of your mother's and father's sexuality. Your children will be your
           projection in the future. If you don't eat you will die. If you drop sexuality your children will never
           be born. So two things are clear: if you drop sexuality, nothing is at stake as far as you are
           concerned; you will not die by dropping sexuality. Nobody has ever been heard to die by becoming
           celibate. You can live perfectly well. Only if you drop food you will die -- within three months, at
           the most you can survive three months if you are perfectly healthy, then you will die. Dropping food
           will be death to you. Dropping sex has nothing to do with you. Maybe your children will never be
           born; that will be a death to them -- death before they are even born -- but not death to you.
               Through sex the race survives; through food, the individual. So the body is concerned only with
           food. This body is concerned only with food, but your mind is concerned with sex -- because only
           through sex, the mind thinks, will it have a sort of immortality. You will die, that seems certain. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot deceive -- everybody some day is dying. And every time the bell tolls it tolls for thee. Every
           time death happens, you become shaken: your own death is coming close by. It WILL come. It is
           only a question of time, but it is to come; there is no way to escape from it. And wherever you
           escape to, you will find it waiting for you.

           I have heard a very famous story, a Sufi story:

               A king dreamt. In the night in his dream he saw Death. He became afraid. He asked, "What is the
           matter? Why are you making me so frightened?"
               Death said, "I have come to tell you that tomorrow by sunset I am coming, so get ready. It is just
           out of compassion so that you can prepare."
               The king was so shocked, his sleep was broken. It was the middle of the night; he called his
           ministers and he said, "Find people who can interpret the dream, because time is short. Maybe it is
           true!"
               Then the interpreters came, but as interpreters always have been, they were great scholars. They
           brought many big books and they started discussing and disputing and arguing. And the sun started
           rising, and it was morning. And an old man who was a very trusted servant to the king, he came to
           the king and he whispered in his ear, "Don't be foolish! These people will quarrel for ever and ever,
           and they will never come to any conclusion."
               Now, everybody was trying that HIS interpretation was right, and the king was more confused
           than ever. So he asked the old man, "Then what am I supposed to do?"
               He said, "Let them continue their discussions. They are not going to conclude so soon -- and the
           sun will be setting, because once it has risen the sunset is not very far. Rather, take my advice and
           escape -- at least escape from this palace. Be somewhere else! By the evening reach somewhere as
           far away as possible."
               The logic looked right. The king had a very fast horse, the fastest in the world. He rushed, he
           escaped. Hundreds of miles he passed. By the time he reached a certain town the sun was just about
           to set. He was very happy. He patted his horse and he said, "You did well. We have come very far."
               And when he was patting his horse, suddenly he felt somebody was standing behind him. He
           looked back -- the same shadow of Death. And Death started laughing. And the king said, "What is
           the matter? Why are you laughing?"
               Death said, "I was worried because you were destined to die under THIS tree -- and I was
           worried how you would manage to reach.
               Your horse is really great! It did well. Let me also pat your horse. That's why I came in your
           dream: I wanted you to escape from the palace because I was very worried how it would happen,
           how you would be able to reach. The place looked so far away, and only one day was left. But your
           horse did well, you have come in time."

               Wherever you go you will find death waiting for you. In all the directions death is waiting. In all
           the places death is waiting. So, that cannot be avoided -- then mind starts imagining some way to
           avoid it.
               First it spins philosophies that "the soul is immortal," that "the body will die -- I am not going to
           die." You are even more fragile than the body. This ego that thinks "I will not die" is more flimsy,
           more dreamlike than the body. The body is at least real; this ego is absolutely unreal. So you spin
           philosophies: "The soul will never die -- I will remain in heaven, in paradise, in MOKSHA." But
           deep down you know that these are just words, they don't satisfy.
               Then you find some other way: to earn money, make a great monument, a great palace -- do
           something historical, leave a place in history! But that too seems to be meaningless. In such a big
           history, even if you make all the efforts you will become only a footnote, nothing much. And what is
           the point of becoming a footnote in a history book? You will be gone all the same; whether people
           remember you or not does not matter. In fact, who bothers to remember? Ask school children who
           have to read history: the great kings... and they must have made great effort somehow to enter into
           the history books, and now children are just not bothered at all. They condemn. They are not happy
           that these great kings existed. They would have been more happy if nobody had existed and there
           was no history to be read and crammed. So what is the point?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then the mind has a very subtle idea. The idea is: "I will die but my children can live; my child
           will be my representative. He will live and somehow, deep down in him; I will live, because he will
           be my extension." It will be your sex cell that will live in your child -- in your son, in your daughter.
           Of course, then sons became more important, because the daughter will move into somebody else's
           life-stream, and the son will continue your life-stream. The son became very important; he will be
           your continuity. And the mind starts getting obsessed with sex, goes mad with sex.
               Whenever you come closer to meditation, these two things are going to happen: you will start
           stuffing yourself with food and you will start stuffing yourself with sexuality -- and you will start
           becoming a maniac.

           Buddha says:

              "IF MONKS WALKING ON THE WAY ARE NEITHER TEMPTED BY THE PASSIONS, NOR LED
              ASTRAY BY SOME EVIL INFLUENCES, BUT STEADILY PURSUE THEIR COURSE FOR NIRVANA,
              I ASSURE YOU THAT THESE MONKS WILL FINALLY ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT"


               You have to be alert not to be distracted by your passions, not to be distracted from the Way, not
           to be distracted from your meditation. Whatsoever the cause of distraction, it has to be avoided. You
           have to bring your energy again and again to your innermost core. You have to make yourself again
           and again relaxed, surrendered, non-tense.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "RELY NOT UPON YOUR OWN WILL. YOUR OWN WILL IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY. GUARD
              YOURSELVES AGAINST SENSUALISM, FOR IT SURELY LEADS TO THE PATH OF EVIL. YOUR
              OWN WILL BECOMES TRUSTWORTHY ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP."


               THIS IS A VERY SIGNIFICANT STATEMENT. Buddha never said that you need a Master,
           but in a subtle way he has to concede it -- because a Master IS needed.
               Buddha was against Masters, because the country was so cheated, exploited in the name of
           Guru-disciple relationship. There were so many charlatans and frauds -- there have always been and
           there will always be. And Buddha was very much worried about it, that people were being exploited,
           so he said there is no need for anyone to become anybody's disciple. But how can he avoid a very
           basic thing? There may be ninety-nine percent frauds -- that doesn't matter. Even if one right Master
           exists, he can be of tremendous help.
               So in a very indirect way, in a roundabout way, Buddha concedes. He says: "RELY NOT UPON
           YOUR OWN WILL." He says: If you rely upon your own will you will never reach anywhere. Your
           own will is so weak. Your own will is so unintelligent. Your own will is so divided into itself. You
           don't have one will; you have many wills in you. You are a crowd!
               Gurdjieff used to say you don't have one 'I', you have many small 'I's'. And those 'I's' go on
           changing. For a few minutes one I becomes the sovereign, and then it is thrown out of power;
           another I becomes the sovereign. And you can watch it! It is a simple fact. It has nothing to do with
           any theory.
               You love a person, and you are so loving. One I dominates: the I that loves. Then something goes
           wrong and you hate the person -- in a single moment love has turned into hatred. Now you want to
           destroy the person -- at least, you start thinking how to destroy the person. Now the hatred has come
           in: another I which is totally different is on the throne.
               You are happy, you have another I. You are unhappy, again... it goes on changing. Twenty-four
           hours, day in, day out, your I's go on changing. You don't have one I.
               That's why it happens that you can decide tonight: "Tomorrow morning I will get up at three
           o'clock; whatsoever happens I am going to get up." You fix the alarm and at three o'clock you stop
           the alarm and you are annoyed by the alarm. And you think, "One day -- what does it matter?
           Tomorrow...." and you go to sleep. And again when you get up at eight o'clock in the morning you
           are angry at yourself. You say, "How could it happen? I had DECIDED to get up. How did I
           continue to sleep?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               These are two different I's: the one I that decided and the one I that was annoyed with the alarm
           are different I's. Maybe the first I is again back in the morning and repents. You become angry and
           then you repent: these are two different I's -- they never meet! They don't know what the other is
           doing. The I that creates anger goes on creating anger, and the I that repents goes on repenting -- and
           you never change.
               Gurdjieff used to say that unless you have a permanent crystallized I you should not trust
           yourself. You are not one, you are a crowd: you are polypsychic.
               That's what Buddha says: "RELY NOT UPON YOUR OWN WILL." Then on whom to rely?
           Rely on somebody who has a will, who has an integral I, who has attained, who has become one in
           his being, is no longer divided, who is really an individual.

              "RELY NOT UPON YOUR OWN WILL. YOUR OWN WILL IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY. GUARD
              YOURSELVES AGAINST SENSUALISM, FOR IT SURELY LEADS TO THE PATH OF EVIL. YOUR
              OWN WILL BECOMES TRUSTWORTHY ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP."


               When you have come to know who you are, when you have become a realised soul, when the
           enlightenment has happened, then your I becomes trustworthy -- never before it. But then there is no
           point. Then you have come home. It is of no use now. When there was need it was not there. So you
           need somebody to whom you can surrender, you need somebody with whom trust can arise in you.
           That is the whole relationship of a Master and a disciple.
               The disciple has yet no will of his own, and the Master has. The disciple is a crowd and the
           Master is one unity. The disciple surrenders. He says, "I cannot trust myself, hence I will trust you."
           Trusting the Master, by and by, the disciple's crowd inside disappears.
               That's why I say that when I tell you to do something and you want to do it, and you do it, it is
           meaningless -- because it is still according to your I, your will. When I say to do something, and it is
           against you, AND you surrender and you say yes, then you are moving, then you are growing, then
           you are becoming mature. Then you are coming out of the mess that you have been up to now.
               Only by saying no to your mind do you say yes to the Master.
               Many times I simply say that which you would like, because I don't see that you will be able to
           do that which I like. I have to persuade you slowly. You are not ready to take a sudden jump. First I
           say change your clothes, then I start changing your body. Then I start changing your mind.
               People come to me and they say, "Why should we change clothes? What is the point?" They are
           not even ready to change their clothes; more cannot be expected of them. They say they are ready to
           change their souls, but they are not ready to change their clothes -- look at the absurdity of it. But
           with the soul there is one thing: it is invisible, so nobody knows.
               But I can see your soul, I can see where you are standing and what you are talking about; I can
           see through your rationalizations. You say, "What is there in clothes?" but that is not the question. I
           also know there is nothing in the clothes, but still I say, "change." I would like you to do something
           according to me, not according to you. That's a beginning.
               Then, by and by, first I take hold of your finger, then your hand -- mm? -- then of your totality.
           You say, "Why are you holding my finger? What is the point of holding my finger?" I know what the
           point is -- that is the beginning. Very slowly I have to go. If you are ready then there is no need to go
           slow, then I can also go in a sudden leap, but people are not ready.

           Buddha says:

              "RELY NOT UPON YOUR OWN WILL. YOUR WILL IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY."


               Find out a person in whose presence you feel something has happened. Find out a person in
           whose presence you feel a fragrance of the Divine, in whose presence you feel a coolness, in whose
           presence you feel love, compassion, in whose presence you feel a silence -- unknown,
           unexperienced, but it surrounds you, overwhelms you. Then surrender to that person. Then, by and
           by, he will bring you to the point where surrender will not be needed -- you will realise your own
           innermost core of being, you will become an Arhat. The Arhat is the final stage of enlightenment.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You become yourself only when all the selves that you have been carrying all along are
           dissolved. You become yourself only when there is really no self left but a pure nothingness. Then
           the circle is complete. You have come to the ultimate nothingness, fully aware. You have become a
           witness of the whole play of life, existence, consciousness.
               This state IS possible if you don't create obstacles. This state is certainly possible if you avoid
           obstacles. I can also assure you that if you become a driftwood and don't cling to the banks, and don't
           get attached to whirlpools, and don't start decaying in your unawareness, you are sure, absolutely
           sure, to reach the ocean.
               That ocean is the goal. We come from that ocean and we have to reach to that ocean. The
           beginning is the end -- and when the circle is complete there is perfection, there is wholeness, there
           is bliss and benediction.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                    Chapter #6
                                      Chapter title: When Two Zeros Meet
           26 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610260
              ShortTitle: TRANS306
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 82 mins



              The first question:


              WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF BEING SUCCESSFUL IN ORDINARY LIFE? -- I AM AFRAID YOU ARE
              AGAINST SUCCESS!


               I AM NEITHER AGAINST ANYTHING NOR FOR ANYTHING. Whatsoever happens,
           happens. One need not choose -- because with choice is misery. If you want to be successful then
           you will remain miserable. You may succeed, you may not succeed; but one thing is certain: you will
           remain miserable.
               If you want to succeed, AND you succeed by chance, by coincidence, it is not going to fulfil you
           -- because this is the way of the mind. Whatsoever you have got becomes meaningless, and the mind
           starts going ahead of you. It desires more and more and more -- the mind is nothing but the desire for
           more. And this desire can never be fulfilled, because whatsoever you have got you can always
           imagine for more. And the distance between that 'more' and that which you have got will remain
           constant.
               This is one of the most constant things in human experience: everything changes, but the
           distance between that which you have and that which you would like to have remains constant.
               Albert Einstein says: The speed of time remains constant -- that is the only constant. And
           Buddhas say: The speed of mind remains constant. And the truth is that mind and time are not two
           things -- they are both the same; two names for the same thing.
               So if you want to succeed, you may succeed, but you will not be content. And what is the
           meaning of a success if you are not content? And this, I say, is only coincidence that you may
           succeed; the greater possibility is that you will fail, because you are not chasing success alone --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           millions of people are chasing.
               In a country of six hundred million people only one person can be the prime minister -- and six
           hundred million people are wanting to be the president or the prime minister. So only one succeeds,
           and the WHOLE crowd fails. The greater possibility is that you will fail; mathematically that seems
           to be more certain than success.
               If you fail you feel frustrated; your whole life seems to be a sheer wastage. If you succeed, you
           never succeed; if you fail, you fail -- this is the whole game.
               You say that you suspect that I am against success -- no, I am not. Because if you are against
           success, then again you have another idea of being successful; that is: how to drop this nonsense of
           being successful. Then you have another idea... again the distance, again the desire.
               Now, this is what makes people monks, makes people move into monasteries. They are
           AGAINST success. They want to go out of the world where there is competition -- they want to
           escape from it all so that there will be no provocation, no temptation; they can rest in themselves.
           And they try not to desire success -- but this is a desire! Now they have an idea of spiritual success:
           how to succeed and become a Buddha, how to succeed and become a Christ, how to succeed and
           become a Mahavir. Again an idea, again the distance, again the desire -- again the whole game starts.
               I am not against success; that's why I am in the world, otherwise I would have escaped. I am not
           for it, I am not against it. I say: Be a driftwood -- whatsoever happens, let it happen. Don't have a
           choice of your own. Whatsoever comes on your way, welcome it. Sometimes it is day, sometimes it
           is night; sometimes it is happiness, sometimes it is unhappiness -- you be choiceless, you simply
           accept whatsoever is the case.

               This is what I call the quality of a spiritual being. This is what I call religious consciousness. It is
           neither for nor against -- because if you are for, you will be against; if you are against, you will be
           for. And when you are for something or against something you have divided existence into two. You
           have a choice, and choice is hell. To be choiceless is to be free of hell.
               Let things be. You just go on moving, enjoying whatsoever becomes available. If success is
           there, enjoy it. If failure is there, enjoy it -- because failure also brings a few enjoyments that no
           success can ever bring. Success also brings a few joys that no failure can ever bring. And a man who
           has no idea of his own is capable of enjoying everything, whatsoever happens. If he is healthy, he
           enjoys health; if he is ill, he rests on the bed and enjoys illness.
               Have you ever enjoyed illness? If you have not enjoyed it you are missing a lot. Just lying down
           on the bed doing nothing, no worry of the world, and everybody caring about you, and you have
           suddenly become a monarch -- everybody attentive, listening, loving. And you have nothing to do,
           not a single worry in the world. You simply rest. You listen to the birds, you listen to music, or you
           read a little, and doze into sleep. It is beautiful! It has its own beauty. But if you have an idea that
           you have to be always healthy, then you will be miserable.
               Misery comes because we choose. Bliss is when we don't choose.

               "What is your view of being successful in ordinary life?" My view is: If you can be ordinary, you
           are successful.

              The patient was complaining to his friends: "After one year and three thousand dollars with that
           psychiatrist, he tells me I am cured. Some cure! A year ago I was Abraham Lincoln -- now I'm a
           nobody."

               This is my idea of being successful: Be a nobody. There is no need for Abraham Lincolns, no
           need for Adolf Hitlers. Just be ordinary, nobody, and life will be a tremendous joy to you. Just be
           simple. Don't create complexities around yourself. Don't create demands. Whatsoever comes on its
           own, receive it as a gift, a grace of God, and enjoy and delight in it. And millions are the joys that
           are being showered on you, but because of your demanding mind you cannot see them. Your mind is
           in such a hurry to be successful, to be somebody special, that you miss all the glory that is just
           available.
               To be ordinary is to be extraordinary. To be simple is to have come home.
               But it depends: the very word 'ordinary' and you start feeling a bitter taste -- ordinary? you and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ordinary? Maybe everybody else is ordinary but you are special. This madness, this neurosis exists
           in everybody's mind.
               The Arabs have a special joke for it. They say that when God creates man, He whispers
           something into each individual's ear and He says: "I never made a man like you or a woman like you
           -- you are simply special. All others are just ordinary."
               He goes on playing the joke and everybody comes into the world full of this bullshit -- that "I am
           special. God Himself has said so, that I am unique." You may not say so because you think these
           ordinary people will not be able to understand it; otherwise, why say? -- there is no need to say. And
           why create trouble for yourself? You know, and you are absolutely certain about it.
               And everybody is in the same boat: the joke has not been played only upon you. God goes on
           playing the same joke on everybody. Maybe He has stopped doing it and He has just fixed a
           computer which goes on repeating the same thing, a mechanical device.
               It depends on you how you interpret. The word 'ordinary' is of tremendous significance -- but it
           depends! If you understand.... These trees are ordinary. These birds are ordinary. The clouds are
           ordinary. The stars are ordinary. That's why they are not neurotic. That's why they don't need any
           psychiatrist's couch. They are healthy, they are full of juice and life. They are simply ordinary! No
           tree is mad enough to be competitive, and no bird is bothered at all who is the most powerful bird in
           the world -- no bird is interested in that. He simply goes on doing HIS thing, and enjoys it. But it
           depends how you interpret.

               A father takes his little boy for culture to the Metropolitan Opera. Out comes the conductor with
           his baton, and out comes the big diva, and she starts to sing an aria. As the conductor is waving his
           baton, the kid says, "Papa, why is that man hitting that woman?"
               The father says, "He isn't hitting her -- that's the conductor."
               "Well if he ain't hitting her, why is she hollering?" asks the boy.

               Whatsoever you see in life is your interpretation. To me, the word 'ordinary' is tremendously
           significant. If you listen to me, if you hear me, if you understand me, you would like just to be
           ordinary. And, to be ordinary there is no need to struggle for it. It is already there.
               Then all struggle disappears, all conflict. You simply start enjoying life as it comes, as it unfolds.
           You enjoy the childhood, you enjoy the youth, you enjoy your old age -- you enjoy your life and you
           also enjoy your death. You enjoy all the seasons round the year -- and each season has its own
           beauty, and each season has something to give to you, some ecstasy of its own.

           The second question:

              DO YOU NEVER GET TIRED OF TALKING? WHY DO YOU TALK REGULARLY EVERY
              MORNING? DON'T YOU FEEL LIKE GOING FOR A HOLIDAY SOMETIMES ?


               I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN GOD. The Christian God created the world in six days and the
           seventh day He rested; hence, the Sunday is the holiday. 'Holiday' means the holy day, God's day of
           rest.
               In the East we have never known any God resting. The very idea is stupid: God and resting? Rest
           is needed if what you are doing is not of your heart; then you get tired. When it is out of your heart
           and out of your love, you don't get tired; in fact, you get nourished by it.
               Talking to you, I feel nourished. After talking to you I feel more energy than ever -- because it is
           my love. I enjoy it! It is not work.
               You can get tired if you are working. If you are playing, how can you get tired? Nobody has ever
           heard that people get tired by playing. In fact, when people are tired by work, they go to play as a
           rest -- they relax. Six days they have been working in the office, in the factory, in the market; the
           seventh day they go to fish, or they go for golf -- they play. They invite friends for a picnic; they go
           trekking in the hills. That is rest.
               To me, every day is a holiday. If you love whatsoever you are doing, you are never tired of it; it
           is nourishing, it is energy-giving, it is vitalizing.
               But I can understand the question. The question is from Yoga Chinmaya -- his whole concept of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           work is wrong. He works very reluctantly. He tries hard to avoid work. He finds out ways and means
           to escape from work. He goes on postponing and he will always be ready there with excuses why his
           work is being postponed. He does not love it. Hence the question.
               The question is not concerned with me -- always remember -- the question is yours, not mine. It
           shows something about you.

               Mulla Nasrudin was saying to me one day: "Osho, do you know the difference between a French
           woman, an English woman and a Jewish woman's reaction when she is kissed in bed by her
           husband?"
           I said, "No, I don't know -- you tell me."
               He said, "The French woman says: 'Oo la la, Pierre, your kisses are oo la la.'
               "The English woman says, 'Jolly well done -- I say, Winston your kisses are jolly well done!'
               "The Jewish woman says, 'You know, Sam, the ceiling needs painting.'"

                It depends how you look at things.... Now, Yoga Chinmaya is like a Jewish woman. His outlook
           towards life is not that of a delighted consciousness. He is simply avoiding. He simply goes on
           finding as many excuses as possible. The energy that he puts into finding excuses will be enough to
           do the work. And then he feels guilty and ashamed.
           Work is worship. Work is prayer.
                While I am talking to you, it is a prayer to me, it is worship. You are my temples, my gods.
           Whatsoever I am saying, I am not saying just to teach something. Teaching is a by-product, a
           consequence. Whatsoever I say to you is a prayer -- it is love, it is care. I care about you; I care as
           much as a painter cares about his canvas.
                Have you ever heard about Van Gogh being on a holiday? Have you ever heard about Picasso
           being on holiday? -- yes, you must have heard. He used to go for many holidays, but always with his
           canvas and brush; on the holiday also he would be painting. It was not a holiday from painting.
                When you love something, there is no holiday -- and then all your days are holidays. Each day to
           me is a Sunday, full of light -- that's why I call it Sunday. Each day to me is a Sunday because it is
           full of holiness.
                Chinmaya's attitude towards work is that of a utilitarian. It is not playful. He is worried about the
           work, tense about it. That too has a reason: he is a perfectionist -- and perfectionism is the root cause
           of all neurosis. A perfectionist is a neurotic person; sooner or later, he will create more and more
           neurosis around him.
                I am not a perfectionist. I don't bother a bit about being a perfectionist. I am a wholistic person. I
           like things in their wholeness, but I never bother about their perfection. Nothing can be perfect in the
           world -- and in fact nothing should be perfect in the world, because whenever a thing is perfect it is
           dead.
                One poet used to live with me for a few years. He would write, rewrite, again cancel it, rewrite
           again -- for days on end he would polish his poems. And by the time he would feel it was perfect, I
           would declare it was dead.
                The first glimpse was something alive -- it was not perfect, there were flaws in it. Then he went
           on improving it, removing all flaws, bringing more and more metre, grammar, better language, better
           words, better sounding words, more music. For months he would polish and change, and by the time
           he thought it was right to go to the press I would declare, "Now, you send it to the doctor for a post
           mortem -- it is dead! You killed it."
                Watch: perfectionist parents always kill their children. Perfectionist saints kill themselves and
           kill their followers. It is very difficult to live with a perfectionist saint -- he is boring, monotonous,
           and condemning. Whenever you go to him he will be looking from his perfectionist attitude, and you
           will be reduced below your humanity. And he will enjoy condemning you -- you are a sinner. This is
           wrong, that is wrong -- everything is wrong.
                I am not a perfectionist. I accept you with all your human frailty, with all your human flaws, with
           all your human limitations. I love you as you are.
                I am not saying be lousy -- that is another extreme. That means you don't care at all what you do.
           A perfectionist cares too much -- he is not worried about the work, he is worried about the
           perfection. He has an ideal to fulfil. And the lousy person does not care at all. With the lousy person
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the poem will never be written, and with the perfectionist it will be written a thousand and one times
           -- and by the time he declares that he is satisfied, the poem will be dead.
               Just between the two somewhere is the wholistic approach. Don't be lousy, don't be a
           perfectionist -- be human!
               Chinmaya has developed ulcers in the stomach because of his perfectionist attitude. He becomes
           too much worried; he has to do everything as perfectly as possible -- it is an obsession. When it is an
           obsession, then of course you get tired, deadly tired of it. You want to avoid it, because once you
           take any work in your hands you will go mad, you will become obsessed.

                One needs balance. Balance is sanity, and balance is health.
                I am not tired at all. And if any day I am tired, I will not talk to you -- because I will never
           enforce anything on myself. I don't enforce anything on you, how can I enforce anything on myself?
           If I am tired then it is finished! If I don't feel like speaking, then I can stop in the middle of my talk,
           or even in the middle of a sentence -- I will not complete it, remember. The moment I feel that I am
           tired, it is an indication, a sure indication, that now I have to stop. And I will not wait for a single
           moment to stop. That's how I live.
                I don't enforce anything on myself. Whatsoever is natural is good. Easy is right!

           The third question:


              I AM LOSING ALL MEANING, PURPOSE, SENSE IN EVERYTHING. THE WORLD IS A
              SCINTILLATING MASS OF LIGHT PARTICLES. I AM... I AM NOT... I AM... I AM NOT... SPINNING,
              WHIRLING, A VORTEX.... IN THAT SPACE THERE IS NO MEANING. I AM NOT HAPPY, I AM NOT
              SAD. THERE IS NOT EVEN ANYTHING TO UNDERSTAND, IT SEEMS.
              THEN, WHEN I RETURN TO ROUTINE REALITY, I FIND I SEEK A MEANING TO GIVE LIFE SOME
              SUBSTANCE. THAT MEANING IS LOVE. IS LOVE SOMETHING PERTAINING TO THE HUMAN
              DIMENSION? IS IT SOMETHING WE CREATE, OR IS IT ALL THERE IS AND HERE FOR US TO
              DISCOVER?
              THANK YOU FOR CREATING A LOVE-SPACE FOR US!!


               The question is from Divya.
           The ultimate meaning always looks like meaningless. The ultimate is certainly empty of all the
           meanings that you can imagine, all the meanings that you would like it to have -- it is empty of all
           that. It is empty of HUMAN ideas. It is empty of HUMAN philosophies, theologies. It is empty of
           human religions, ideologies. It is empty of human language and human theorizing.
               So when you start coming closer to the ultimate, to the really real, you start feeling that all
           meaning is lost. Yes, YOUR meaning is lost. The ultimate has nothing like your meaning, it has
           nothing to fulfil your ideas of meaning -- but that does not mean it has no meaning at all. It has a
           meaning of its own.
               Once you have come to the point where your meaning disappears, then the real meaning appears.
           In fact, even to call it 'meaning' is not right because it does not fulfil any human concept. But still I
           would like to call it meaning because there is no other word to substitute. It has tremendous
           meaning, but the meaning is intrinsic; the meaning is not external.
               Human meanings are external, never internal. You do something, you earn money, and
           somebody asks, "What is the meaning of earning money?" And you say, "I would like to have my
           own house -- that's why. That's why I am earning money." The idea of having one's own house gives
           meaning to the effort that you have to make for earning money. Money in itself seems to be
           meaningless. The meaning comes from somewhere else. All human activity is like that.
               The human activity is divided between means and ends. The end has the meaning, and you go on
           doing the activity as a means because without it there will be no end. But the ultimate meaning has
           no division, no split. God is not in any way split; God is not in any way schizophrenic. God is one
           unity, unison. The meaning is intrinsic. Means and ends are not there. The means itself is the end and
           the journey itself is the goal.
               For example, I am talking to you -- now, if I am talking to you to gain something out of it, then it
           is a worldly activity, then it has nothing to do with religion. Listen to it deeply. If I am talking here
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to gain something from my talking as an end -- money, power, prestige, respectability... anything --
           then my activity is worldly.
                If I am talking just out of my love, if I am enjoying talking itself -- not that something outside it
           is waiting for me that will make me happy -- if I am happy while talking, if I am happy as I am
           talking, if my talking is a total activity in itself, means and ends together, then it is a spiritual
           activity.
                That is the difference between a priest and a saint. The priest talks to gain something out of it;
           the saint talks to share. The saint feels grateful to you that you listened to him, that you became
           available to him, that you opened your hearts to him, that you allowed him to unburden himself -- he
           has tremendous riches and treasures and he wants to share it. He is like a flower that wants to share
           its fragrance to the winds -- not to gain anything out of it.
                The ultimate has a meaning, but the meaning has no connotation of the human idea of meaning --
           it is intrinsic. That's why Hindus say that it is a playful activity.
                You go for a morning walk, then you don't have any idea; you simply enjoy the morning walk.
           You go by the same road, in the same direction, to your office also, but then it is not intrinsic -- you
           have to go on the road because you have to reach to the office. You are in a hurry, rushing -- then
           you don't see the trees on the roadsides, you don't see the clouds passing in the sky, you don't see the
           children playing, you don't listen to the dogs barking -- you simply rush. Your vision is very narrow.
           It is focused on the goal: you have to reach to your office at eleven o'clock exactly. You are
           unconcerned about EVERYTHING that is going on around. But when you go for a morning walk,
           you are not going anywhere -- you are simply enjoying. The very activity of walking is so delightful:
           the breeze, the morning sun, the birds, the children, the noises -- everything! And you are not going
           anywhere.
                God is not going anywhere. He is simply herenow. His activity is not end-oriented. The means
           and the ends are the same thing. The journey is the goal.

           You ask: "I am losing all meaning..."

              Beautiful! Fabulous! Fantastic! Lose as fast as you can. Don't cling.

           "... purpose and sense in EVERYTHING."

               Beautiful! When all sense, purpose and meaning is lost, the Divine sends the divine purpose, the
           divine meaning is revealed. You are getting ready -- ready to receive the gift.

              "The world is a scintillating mass of light particles. I am... I am not... I am... I am not."

                Good! That's how, if you become aware, you will come to feel: when the breath goes out, you
           will feel 'I am not', when the breath comes in, you will feel 'I am'. There is a rhythm. This is the
           rhythm of life and death. Each moment you die and you are reborn. EACH MOMENT you disappear
           and you appear again. EACH MOMENT you move into nothingness and you come out of it again.
           Each moment you become nothing and each moment you materialize. This is the miracle the magic
           of existence -- this is the mystery.
                This is your inner rhythm. If you become aware, you will start feeling it. It is good. Just go on
           watching it. Don't be afraid and don't try to escape from it -- because when suddenly you feel 'I am
           not', a fear arises; you start clinging to things. Somehow, you want to feel you are. You don't want to
           disappear, you don't want to die. If that fear is there, then you will miss this great opportunity --
           death has become available to you.
                When you are not, you are not -- then simply be not! And when you are, be again. And DON'T
           think there is a contradiction in it. You must be thinking there is a contradiction; that's why you say:
           "... spinning, whirling, a vortex..." No, it is a simple rhythm, just like day and night, summer and
           winter. It is a simple rhythm. Enjoy it! Disappear when you disappear; appear when you appear. And
           don't hanker for the other; just be that which is.
                And soon you will see a new phenomenon arising in you: the witness -- which never disappears
           and never appears. When you are not, then too the witness is there; otherwise who will know 'I am
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not'? When you are, then too the witness is there; otherwise who will know 'I am'?
               'I am, I am not' is like breathing -- inhalation, exhalation. Allow it.... Be in deep rest in it. And
           the spinning and the whirling and the vortex, all those sensations will disappear and a GREAT peace
           will descend on you -- as it descended one day on Jesus like a dove. A great peace will descend on
           you, and in that peace something new will become revealed -- that is the witness.
               You are not that. That witness is what God is -- the witness of all.

              "I am not happy, I am not sad. There is not even anything to understand, it seems."

                This is a transitory period. Before you really become happy, before you REALLY attain to
           ANANDA -- blissfulness -- this moment comes when you are neither sad nor happy. A great
           indifference arises. You simply feel not attached to anything: happiness, unhappiness -- you become
           an onlooker to both.
                Sooner or later, when the time is ripe and the season has come for you, suddenly you will see a
           bliss arising in you. That bliss has nothing to do with your ordinary happiness. Your ordinary
           happiness is always carrying the seeds of unhappiness in it. Your ordinary happiness always turns
           into unhappiness -- and you know it! You have experienced it a thousand and one times. Your
           unhappiness carries again the seeds of your happiness. In your laughter there are tears -- maybe not
           visible, but they are there. And in your tears also there is laughter.
                I have heard, many times, laughter in your tears, and I have seen tears many times in your
           laughter. You are a duality.
                This transitory period comes when you become a little detached from the duality, when you start
           understanding that the laughter and the tears are not two separate things. There is nothing to choose:
           laughter brings tears, tears bring laughter, so what is the point in choosing? You become a little less
           choosey, then you are neither sad nor happy.
                This is what is called silence, peace. If you get in tune with it totally, then will arise bliss,
           ecstasy. That ecstasy has no seeds of anything. It is pure. It has no duality. It cannot turn into its
           opposite -- it has no opposite to it. That's what we call bliss, ANANDA, ecstasy. It has no opposite;
           it is simply alone there in its absolute purity, innocence.
                First a man has to live in duality -- sometimes sad, sometimes happy, again sad, again happy --
           and he goes on revolving. Then arises peace if you start becoming watchful. That is the second stage:
           peace. The duality is losing its hold on you. Then arises ecstasy. Ecstasy is the goal.
                God is not only silent. There are a few religions which have stopped at silence; they are not
           complete religions. For example, Jainism has stopped at peace, silence. I don't think Mahavir
           stopped there -- he was an ecstatic man, tremendously ecstatic, madly ecstatic. But Jains have
           stopped at peace. Buddhists have also done that, they have stopped at peace. Buddha was not only a
           man of peace -- certainly he was a man of peace, but he was more, he was plus.
                That plus point is missing in Buddhism; it was in Buddha, but it is missing in Buddhism. So
           whenever a person starts meditating on Buddhist lines he becomes a little indifferent to happiness,
           unhappiness. He certainly becomes more peaceful, but his peacefulness has a certain quality of
           sadness in it, a certain quality of unaliveness. Looks a little frozen, he looks a little dead. He is not
           throbbing, life is not kicking in him. He is not full of juice, he is not juicy. He seems to be dry,
           desertlike, not blooming. That is the danger of Buddhist meditations. One has to go beyond it.
                Always remember that peace is not the goal. The goal is ecstasy. Unless you can dance, unless
           you can abandon yourself in dance, unless your dance can become a deep orgasm, unless you can
           bloom, don't stop yourself somewhere in the middle of the journey.

              "There is not even anything to UNDERSTAND, it seems."

               You say 'it seems' -- in fact, it is so. There is nothing to understand. Life is a mystery which
           transcends understanding. All understanding is just children's play. You can play around! The really
           mature person comes to know that there is nothing to understand. In fact, there is nobody to
           understand and nothing to be understood. Life is a mystery to be lived, not to be understood.

              "Then, when I return to routine reality, I find I seek a meaning to give life some substance."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                That's where you go wrong. You will have to bring your silence and peace back to your routine,
           normal life. If you again start finding some ways and means to fulfil the zero that is arising in you, to
           fill that emptiness that is arising in you; if you start finding ways, occupations, methods,
           relationships, to fill the gap that is coming to you, to have some substance -- then you will be in a
           mess. Because on the one hand a great process is going on, and on the other hand you start
           destroying that process. Remain insubstantial! because that's how reality is.
                That is one of the messages of Buddha, that there is no substance. Matter is immaterial and man
           has no self. Substance exists not. All desire to have some substance is out of ignorance, is out of fear.
           You are a nothing! a profound nothing, a bottomless abyss. So don't be afraid -- fall into it, go on
           falling into it. Don't try to hang by some roots somewhere, by some branch of a tree, or with
           somebody, some occupation, something or other. Don't try to hang anywhere -- just drop yourself
           into this bottomless abyss. Dropping into it... dropping into it... you disappear. You disappear like
           smoke.
                And the day you have completely disappeared is the day of Nirvana -- then you know who really
           you are.
           Man is like a zero.

               THE CONCEPT OF ZERO WAS BORN IN INDIA. In fact, the nine digits and zero were
           invented by Indians. But zero in itself is meaningless. It has meaning only when you join it together
           with some digit. If you put it behind one, it becomes meaningful -- one becomes ten; zero carries the
           meaning of being equivalent to nine. If you put it behind two, it becomes twenty; the zero carries the
           meaning of nineteen now. You go on putting bigger figures in front of it and the zero goes on
           becoming bigger and bigger, and feels very substantial.
               That's what we are doing in life. A man is born like a zero. Then put a bank-balance in front of
           him -- he becomes substantial. Then tell him that "You have become the president of our country" --
           he becomes very substantial. The zero carries much meaning now: he has money, power, prestige,
           name, fame -- then the zero becomes more and more substantial. That's why we hanker after name,
           fame, money, prestige: to put something so we don't feel empty.
               But whatsoever you do is in vain, because empty you are. Emptiness is your nature. You can
           deceive, but you cannot change the reality.
               So this is my suggestion, that even in your ordinary reality, when you descend from your
           meditative state, bring that zero -- and don't try to fill it with anything, because that is very violent.
           That is like an elephant; that's what Indian scriptures say: The elephant goes to the river, he takes a
           good bath, showers himself with water, and then comes out of the river and throws dust upon
           himself. That's how Indian scriptures describe the man who goes into meditation, attains to the purity
           of nothingness, comes back, and throws dust upon himself. That is foolish, that is suicidal. Avoid it.
           That is a natural tendency, but avoid it. Don't be an elephant.

               "I find I seek a meaning to give life some substance. That meaning is love. Is love something
           pertaining to the human dimension?"

               The love that pertains to the human dimension is not really love; it is just a deep urge to fill
           oneself with the other's being, to put somebody else in front of your zero so you become meaningful.
           A woman alone feels nothing; moving with the husband, see the woman -- she is moving with a
           figure, the zero is moving with a figure. A man alone feels empty; moving with a woman he feels
           somebody. A husband is somebody! A bachelor is nobody.
               We go on finding somehow, with something, to block this experience of nothingness.
               No, human love is not really love. It is just a trick to deceive. The real love is something beyond
           human. And the real love is something which has nothing to do with filling the inner space -- just the
           contrary. It has something to do with sharing the inner space. You don't go like a beggar to the other;
           you go like an emperor. You don't go to beg; you go to share. And remember these two words.
               If you are begging something from somebody, then it is not love. If you are sharing, then it is
           love. Sharing is in a way beyond human beings, and yet in a way within human capacity. Sharing is
           the bridge which joins the human to the Divine. That's why love is the bridge which joins the human
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the Divine.
               So don't try to find a friend, a girlfriend, somebody to fill your inner space. No. Find someone to
           share with. Don't find a figure -- one, two, three -- don't find a figure. Find somebody who is also
           like a zero. When two zeros meet, there is love. When two emptinesses meet, there is love.
               And remember: when two zeros meet, there are not two zeros -- there is only one zero. Zero plus
           zero plus zero -- you can go on putting as many zeros as you want, but it always comes to one zero.
           The total is never more than one zero.
               Love is when two persons disappear. Love is when the lover is not and the beloved is not. Even
           in great love affairs, there are only a few rare moments when love is.
               Let me tell you in this way: I have read many great poems, many great epics, but even in a great
           epic, even in Shakespeare, in Kalidas. in Tulsidas, in Milton, in Dante, only rarely are there a few
           lines which are poetic. Sometimes just a fragment of a line is poetic; sometimes only a word, just a
           nuance is poetic. Even in a great love affair that's how it is: only a few rare moments are of love. But
           only when you completely disappear and two are not two and a non-duality exists, and the
           personalities are no more clashing, personalities have been dropped -- then love happens. That love
           has the quality of timelessness. That love has the quality of prayer. That love is God.

              "Is love something pertaining to the human dimension?"

               It can pertain to the human dimension -- if you work for it, if you create opportunities for it, if
           you become vulnerable to it. Naturally, it is not available. Ordinarily it is not available. Ordinarily
           only sex is available, and sex is nothing but a device -- an UPAYA -- to forget yourself.
               Love is a tremendous remembering, a great awareness, a brilliant flame with no smoke. But it
           exists as a seed in you. You can grow it, you can grow into that reality of love. You have the
           potentiality, but it has to be made actual.

              "Is it something we create, or is it ALL THERE IS and HERE for us to discover?"

              No, we don't create it -- love cannot be created. It cannot be manufactured; it is not man-made.
           Love that is manufactured is false love; it is like plastic flowers. Love that is discovered is real love.
           You are not to manufacture it -- you are to drift into it. You have to relax into it.

               Yes, right is Buddha when he says: Become like a timber floating down the stream -- you will
           reach to the ocean. I assure you, you will reach to the ocean. The ocean is already there: the river has
           to discover it; it is not to create it. How can the river create the ocean? Just think of the ridiculous
           idea! -- a river? How can it create the ocean? If a river creates an ocean, it will be just a small pool of
           water, it will not be an ocean, it will not be infinite. And if a river creates an ocean, it will become
           dirty, it will become stale, it will be dead.
               The river has to seek and discover. The ocean exists already. The ocean exists before the river
           ever existed. In fact, the river has come out of the ocean, through the clouds. We reach ultimately to
           the original source, nowhere else. The river falls into the ocean because the river came out of the
           ocean. We become gods because we come out of God.
               Love has to be discovered -- it is already there. And how to discover it? The more you are, the
           less is the possibility to discover love; the less you are, the more is the possibility to discover it.
           When the river disappears into the ocean, it discovers the ocean -- it becomes the ocean.

           The fourth question:


              IS IT BECAUSE OF YOUR DECISION THAT YOU DON'T GO OUT OF YOUR RESIDENCE? OR IS
              IT THAT GOING OUT SIMPLY DOESN'T HAPPEN?


              THERE IS NOWHERE TO GO NOW. All going has stopped -- because the one who used to go
           has disappeared. Wherever I am I am here and now. My room is as perfect as any other place
           anywhere, so what is the point of going anywhere? It is pointless.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You go on searching, you go on going: sometimes to the club, sometimes to the movie,
           sometimes to the hotel, sometimes here, sometimes there. You go on continuously, because
           wherever you are you are not content. Wherever you are, you feel you must be missing something
           which must be happening somewhere else.
               Of course, you become worried about me also: What does this man go on doing, sitting in his
           room? Doesn't he get fed up sometimes? Why isn't he going out? Rather than asking me why I am
           not going out, please start asking why you go on going out.
               It happened: Rabiya El Adaviya was sitting in her room meditating, praying. Another mystic,
           Hassan, was staying with her. He came out, it was early morning, the sun was just on the horizon. It
           was beautiful. It was musical. It was magical. And he called out loudly: "Rabiya, why don't you
           come out?! God has created a beautiful dawn."
               And Rabiya laughed and said, "Hassan, when will you become mature? Come in! rather than
           calling me out. The dawn is beautiful, but here inside I am facing the Creator of the dawn."
               Right, Rabiya is right: the outside is beautiful, but nothing to be compared with the inside. Once
           you have an inside view of things, who bothers about the outside? The outside is beautiful, nothing is
           wrong in it, but if you go on moving from one place to another and never come home you will
           remain in misery.
               I don't go, not because it is a decision on my part: for the last twenty-two or three years I have
           not decided anything. The day I died, 21st March 1953, decision also died. I am not there, so who is
           to decide? So whatsoever happens, happens -- and it is tremendously beautiful. More cannot be
           expected. It is more than man can ever desire.
               Eighty-six year old Harry Hershfield was accosted by a prostitute outside the Lambs Club. Harry
           told her: "There are three reasons why I can't go with you. First, I have no money -- "
               The lady interrupted, "Then the other two reasons don't matter.

              I have also three reasons why I don't go out. The first is: I am not -- and the other two do not
           matter.

           The sixth question:


              OSHO,
              FOR THE SAKE OF POSTERITY, YOUR HISTORIANS AND CHRONICLERS, AND FOR MY SAKE,
              WOULD YOU PLEASE BE TRUTHFUL FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE -- AND PLEASE CUT OUT A
              LONG DISSERTATION ON WHAT IS TRUTH AND WHAT IS UNTRUTH.
              ISN'T IT THE CASE THAT THE TOWEL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BUFFER-STATE OF
              TIBET OR WITH THE VARIETY OF ESOTERIC MEANINGS EMANATING FROM A CERTAIN
              ROOM IN JESUS HOUSE?
              ISN'T IT SIMPLY THAT YOU USE THE TOWEL TO CHASE AWAY AN INVASION OF INVISIBLE
              MOSQUITOES FROM JABALPUR?


               THE FIRST THING: that which can be said is all untruth; that which cannot be said is the truth.
           All the scriptures are beautiful lies. And all the sermons of Buddhas and Christs are beautiful,
           decorated lies.
               You ask me: "Please, be truthful for once in your life." You ask the impossible. That I cannot do;
           nobody has ever done it -- and nobody can ever do it. Truth cannot be expressed. And by saying it so
           clearly to you, I come the closest to truth that is possible. It cannot be said. And all that can be said
           will remain some sort of untruth.
           Words destroy truth. Expression corrupts truth.
               And you ask me about the towel: "Isn't it the case that the towel has nothing to do with the
           buffer-state of Tibet...?"
               It has nothing to do with any buffer-state or any Tibet. Not at least today does it have anything to
           do with it. I cannot promise you about tomorrow, and I have forgotten everything about yesterday.
               And all the esoteric meanings that are being given to it are simply stupid. But there are stupid
           people who need esoteric fabrications, esoteric theorizations.
               Esotericism exists in the world because of the stupid human mind. Otherwise, everything has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           always been open, in front of you; nothing is hidden from the very beginning. How can truth be
           hidden? Maybe it cannot be expressed, but that doesn't mean that it is hidden. It is just in front of
           your eyes. It is all over the place. It is everywhere, within and without.
                But it is good to understand how foolish theorizations can arise out of simple things. It was just a
           joke -- but there are people who will not even believe this. They will find some esoteric meaning in
           it, why I call it a joke. There are difficult people.
                It has nothing to do with anything. It is the only thing that I have. Let me tell you one anecdote:

               A hippie was walking down the street with a cigar-box under his arm when he met another hippie
           who asked, "Hey, man, What's cookin'? Where you goin' with that cigar-box?"
           "I'm movin'," said the first hippie.

               So this is something that whenever I want to move at least I can carry with me. And I was ready
           to drop it, I had already dropped it -- but Maneesha wouldn't allow it. Then she started asking about
           the robe.
               I can drop that too, but that will create many difficulties -- not for me, for you. Just for your sake,
           I am not dropping the robe.

                A sixty-year-old and an eighty-year-old met. The sixty-year-old said, "I don't know: I just can't
           seem to satisfy my wife. I try, but -- nothing."
                The eighty-year-old answered, "I have no problem whatsoever. Every night I come home and get
           undressed in front of my wife and I say, 'Take a look. Are you satisfied?' She shrugs 'yes' and that's
           it!"

               People can go on finding rationalizations -- now what type of satisfaction is this? All esoteric
           explanations are like this, they don't satisfy you -- because how can just verbal fabrications of ideas
           satisfy? Only truth can satisfy. And the truth is that it was just a joke.
               I love jokes. And there is no need to find any esoteric meaning in them. They are simple. But it is
           difficult to accept any simple thing.

               Pope Pius XII of Rome is arriving at Heaven's door. St. Peter opens, asks for his name and
           shakes his head, "Never heard."
           'So go to God-father, he will recognize me," the Pope demanded.
           Off St. Peter went. "Hey Boss, do you know a man called Pope Pius XII of Rome?"
           "Never heard of him," is God-father's answer.
           Peter, back at Heaven's door: "He doesn't know you."
           "So go and ask Jesus."
           St. Peter, already a little impatient, went off again: "Hey Junior, do you know a man called Pope Pius
           XII of Rome?"
           Junior: "Never heard, never seen him."
           Off St. Peter went to tell the desperate Pope the message." Do me a last favour," said the Pope, "ask
           the Holy Ghost."
           Peter sighed and back in Heaven he called the Holy Ghost: "Hello Smoky, do you know Pope Pius
           XII of Rome?"
           Smoky, murmuring: "Pope Pius, Pope Pius XII of Rome... send him to Hell! That's the guy who told
           that dirty story about Mary and me!"

               This was the man who invented the story of how Mary became pregnant -- without ever being in
           love with any man. There are PUNDITS and scholars, but remember: nobody will recognize you at
           Heaven's gate.
               Theories are just futile, but the mind craves and the mind wants to spin -- around anything! Just
           see... around the towel. You are creating so much fuss about it. In Chinmaya's room great meetings
           go on, and people visit him and ask him, and he goes on explaining....

           The last question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              THE TOWEL WHICH LANDED IN FRONT OF MAITREYA AND WHICH HE TOOK INTO HIS
              POSSESSION HAS MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT
              THIS?


                THESE TOWELS ARE VERY TEMPERAMENTAL. I know them: a long love affair...
           twenty-five years is too much in this world where even to live with a woman that long has become
           impossible -- three years at the most. Twenty-five years I have lived with that towel. They are very
           temperamental.
                And I have spoilt them also. I have loved them, respected them, worshipped them. Now,
           Maitreya is a simple man. He must have put the towel somewhere -- the towel won't like it that way.
           It is in his room, I assure you, but he will have to go through a little courtship. He will have to coo
           and woo. And that particular towel is a lady towel. Today I have a boy towel, so I give it to
           Maitreya: keep them together. They will feel better and happy.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                    Chapter #7
                                     Chapter title: Just Working for Peanuts
           27 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610270
              ShortTitle: TRANS307
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "O MONKS, YOU SHOULD NOT SEE WOMEN. (IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO SEE THEM), REFRAIN
              FROM TALKING TO THEM. (IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO TALK), YOU SHOULD REFLECT IN A
              RIGHT SPIRIT: 'I AM NOW A HOMELESS MENDICANT. IN THE WORLD OF SIN I MUST BEHAVE
              MYSELF LIKE UNTO THE LOTUS-FLOWER WHOSE PURITY IS NOT DEFILED BY THE MUD. OLD
              ONES I WILL TREAT AS MY MOTHER; ELDERLY ONES AS ELDER SISTERS; YOUNGER ONES
              AS YOUNGER SISTERS; AND LITTLE ONES AS DAUGHTERS.' AND IN ALL THIS YOU SHOULD
              HARBOUR NO EVIL THOUGHTS, BUT THINK OF SALVATION."

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "THOSE WHO WALK IN THE WAY SHOULD AVOID SENSUALISM AS THOSE WHO CARRY HAY
              WOULD AVOID COMING NEAR THE FIRE."


               THE MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE THAT BUDDHA BUILT consists of three floors; his teaching
           has three dimensions to it, or three layers. And you will have to be very patient to understand those
           three layers. I say so because they have been misunderstood down the centuries.
               The first floor of Buddha's teaching is known as HINAYANA; the second floor is known as
           MAHAYANA, and the third floor is known as VAJRAYANA. HINAYANA means 'the small
           vehicle', 'the narrow way'. MAHAYANA means 'the great vehicle', 'the wide way'. And
           VAJRAYANA means 'the supreme vehicle', 'the ultimate way', 'the transcendental way'.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           HINAYANA is the beginning and VAJRAYANA is the climax, the crescendo.
               HINAYANA starts from where you are. HINAYANA tries to help you to change your
           mechanical habits; it is just like Hatha Yoga -- very body-oriented, believes in great discipline; strict,
           almost repressive -- at least it looks repressive. It is not repressive, but the whole work of
           HINAYANA consists in changing your centuries old habits.
               Just as a tightrope-walker starts leaning to the left if he feels that he is going to fall towards the
           right, to balance one has to move to the opposite. By moving to the opposite, a balance arises -- but
           that balance is temporary, momentary. Again you will start falling into the new direction, then again
           you will need balance and you will have to move to the opposite.
               Sex is the very basic problem. And all the habits that man has created are basically sex-oriented.
           That's why no society allows sex total freedom. All the cultures that have existed -- sophisticated,
           un-sophisticated, Eastern, Western, primitive, civilized -- all cultures have tried in some way to
           control the sexual energy of man. It seems to be the greatest power over man. It seems that if man is
           allowed total freedom about sex, he will simply destroy himself.
               Skinner reports about a few experiments he was doing with rats. He has invented a new theory,
           that electrodes can be put into the human or animal brain, attached to particular centres in the brain
           and you just push a button and that centre will be stimulated inside you.
               There is a sex centre in the brain. In fact, you are more controlled by the sex centre in the brain
           than the actual sex centre of your body. That's why fantasy works so much. That's why pornography
           has so much appeal. The pornography cannot appeal to the sex centre itself; it stimulates the brain
           centre attached to the sex centre. Immediately the sex centre, the physiological sex centre, starts
           being active once the mind is active.
               He fixed electrodes into rats' brains and taught them how to push the button whenever they
           wanted sexual stimulation and an inner orgasm. He was surprised, he was not expecting that this was
           going to happen: those rats completely forgot everything -- food, sleep, play -- everything they
           forgot. They continuously pushed the button! One rat did it six thousand times and died -- he died
           pushing the button. Six thousand times! He forgot everything... then nothing else matters.
               Sooner or later, some Skinner or somebody else is going to give you also a small box to keep in
           your pocket, and whenever you feel sexual just push a button and your brain centre will become
           active and will give you beautiful orgasms, and nobody will ever know what is happening inside
           you. But you will almost follow the rat -- then what is the point of doing anything else? You will kill
           yourself.

               Sex is such a great attraction that if there were not limitations on it.... First there is a limitation
           that body puts on it. A man cannot have too many orgasms in a day; if you are young, three, four; if
           you become older, then one; when you become a little older still, then even that becomes difficult --
           once a week, once a month. And, by and by, your body puts so many limitations on it.
               Women are more free that way. The body has no limitation. That's why, all over the world,
           women have been completely repressed. She has not been allowed freedom; she has not been
           allowed even freedom to have orgasms in the past -- because she can have multiple orgasms. Within
           seconds she can have many orgasms -- six, twelve. Then no man will be able to satisfy a woman;
           then no man will be able to satisfy any woman. Then only group sex will be able to satisfy. A
           woman will need at least twelve husbands -- that will create tremendous complexities.
               That's why, down the centuries, for thousands of years, women were brought up in such a way
           that they have completely forgotten that they can have orgasm. Just within these fifty years women
           have again started learning what orgasm is. And with their learning, problems have arisen all over
           the world. Marriage is on the rocks. Marriage cannot exist with women having the capacity of
           multiple orgasm. And man only has capacity for one orgasm. There can be no compatibility between
           the two. Then monogamy cannot exist. It will become difficult.
               This society and the pattern that it has evolved up to now is doomed. Man has released some
           energy that has always been kept under a certain rigid control. But the attraction has always been
           there -- whether you repress, whether you control, discipline, that doesn't make any difference. The
           attraction is there -- twenty-four hours, deep down like a substratum, sexuality goes on like a river
           flowing. It is a continuum. You may eat, you may earn money, you may work, but you are doing
           everything for sex.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Somewhere, sex remains the goal... and this pattern has to be changed, otherwise your energy
           will go on being drained, your energy will go on being dissipated, your energy will go on moving
           into the earth. It will not rise towards heaven. It will not have an upward surge.
               HINAYANA works just exactly where you are. You are continuously obsessed with sex? --
           Hinayana tries to remove this obsession. It gives you a certain discipline, a very rigid discipline, how
           to drop out of it.

                HINAYANA SAYS THERE ARE FOUR STEPS TO DROP OUT OF SEX. The first is called
           purifying. The second is called enriching. The third is called crystallizing. The fourth is called
           destroying.
                First you have to move your total energy against sex, so that sexual habits developed in many
           lives no longer interfere -- that is called purifying. You change your consciousness, you shift. From
           sexual obsession you move to anti-sexuality.
                The second step is called enriching. When you have moved to non-sexuality, then you have to
           enjoy non-sexuality; you have to celebrate your celibacy. Because if you don't celebrate your
           celibacy, again sex will start pulling you backwards. Once you start celebrating your celibacy, then
           the pull of sex will be completely gone, and gone for ever.
                You are obsessed with sex because you don't know any other sort of celebration. So the problem
           is not sex really; the problem is that you don't know any other celebration. Nature allows you only
           one joy, and that is of sex. Nature allows you only one enjoyment, that is of sex. Nature allows you
           only one thrill, and that is of sex.
                HINAYANA says there is a greater thrill waiting for you -- if you move towards celibacy. But
           the celibacy should not be violently forced. If you violently enforce it you will not be able to enjoy
           it. One has to be just aware of the sexual habits, and through awareness one has to shift by and by
           towards celibacy.
                Celibacy should be brought very slowly. All that brings you again and again to sexuality has to
           be dropped slowly, in steps. And once you start enjoying the energy that becomes available, when
           you are not obsessed with sex, just that pure energy becomes a dance in you -- that is called
           enriching. Now, your energy is not wasted. Your energy goes on showering on yourself.
                Remember, there are two types of celibates. One: who has simply forced celibacy upon himself
           -- he is a wrong type, he is doing violence to himself. The other: who has tried to understand
           sexuality, what it is, why it is; who has watched, observed, lived through it, and, by and by, has
           become aware of its futility; by and by, has become aware of a deep frustration that comes after
           EACH sexual act.
                In the sexual act you have a certain thrill, a moment of forgetfulness, a moment of oblivion. You
           feel good -- for a few seconds, only for a few seconds, you drop out of this routine world. Sex gives
           you a door to escape into some other world -- which is non-tense; there is no worry; you are simply
           relaxed and melting. But have you observed? After each sexual act you feel frustrated.
                Sex has promised too much, but it has not been supplied. It is difficult to find a man or a woman
           who does not feel a little frustrated after the sexual act, who does not feel a little guilty. I am not
           talking about the guilt that priests have imposed upon you. Even if nobody has imposed any guilt
           upon you, you will feel a little guilt -- that is part, a shadow of the sexual act. You have lost energy,
           you feel depleted, and nothing has been gained. The gain is not very substantial. You have been
           befooled, you have been tricked, by a natural hypnosis -- you have been tricked by the body, you
           have been deceived. Hence comes a frustration.
                HINAYANA says: Watch this frustration more deeply. Watch the sexual act and the way your
           energy moves into the sexual act; become aware of it -- and you will see there is nothing in it. And
           frustration. The more you become aware, the less will be the enjoyment and the more will be the
           frustration. Then the shift has started taking place: your consciousness is moving away, AND
           naturally, AND spontaneously. You are not forcing it.
                The second step becomes available: enriching. Your OWN energy goes on feeding your being.
           You no more throw it into the other's body, you no more throw it out. It becomes a deep
           accumulation inside you. You become a pool. And out of that feeling of energy you feel very cool.
           Sex is very hot. The enriching stage is very cool, calm, collected. There IS a celebration, but it is
           very silent. There IS a dance to it, but it is very graceful; there is elegance to it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Then comes the third step: crystallizing. When this energy inside you has started an inner dance,
           by and by, slowly, enjoying it more and more, becoming more and more aware of it, a certain
           chemical crystallization happens in you. Exactly the same word was used by Gurdjieff in his work:
           crystallization. Your fragments fall together, you become one. A unity arises in you. In fact, for the
           first time you can say "I have an I." Otherwise there were many I's; now you have one I, a big I
           which controls everything. You have become your master.
                And the fourth step is destroying. When you have one I, then it can be destroyed; when you have
           many I's, they cannot be destroyed. When your energy has become one and is centred, it can be
           killed, it can be completely destroyed. When it is a crowd it is difficult to destroy it. You destroy one
           fragment, there are a thousand other fragments. When you rush after those other fragments, the first
           one grows again. It is just like the way trees grow branches: you cut one, three branches sprout out of
           it.
                You can destroy sexuality totally only when it has become a crystallized phenomenon; When a
           person has accumulated too much energy and has become one, is no more fragmentary, no more split
           no more schizophrenic, then Buddhists have a special term for it they call it 'Manjusri's sword'.
                It is said that when Manjusri reached to this third stage -- he was a disciple of Buddha, a great
           disciple of Buddha -- when he reached to this stage of crystallization, in one single moment he took
           his sword and destroyed it completely, utterly, in a single moment. It is not a gradual process then.
           That has become known down the centuries as 'the sword of Manjusri'.
                When a person reaches to the third state, he can just raise a sword and destroy it completely -- in
           one single attack. Because now the enemy is there, now the enemy is no longer elusive, now there
           are no longer many enemies -- just one enemy confronting you. And the sword is just the sword of
           perfect awareness, mindfulness, self-remembering. It is a very sharp sword.
                When Buddha destroyed his own sexuality, it is said he roared like a lion -- because for the first
           time the whole absurdity of it became clear. And so many lives wasted! so many lives of sheer
           stupidity -- gone for ever. He was so happy he roared like a lion.
                These are the four steps, and today's sutras are concerned with these four steps. Before we enter
           into the sutras, a few more things have to be understood.

                THE SECOND VEHICLE IS MAHAYANA. When your sexual energy is no longer obsessed
           with the other's body, when you are completely free of the other's body, when your energy has a
           freedom to it, then MAHAYANA becomes possible -- the second floor of Buddha's temple.
                MAHAYANA makes it possible for you to be loving. Ordinarily we think sex makes people
           loving -- sex can never make people loving. In fact, it is sexuality that prevents love from growing --
           because it is the same energy that has to become love. It is being destroyed in sex. To become love,
           the same energy has to move to the heart centre. MAHAYANA belongs to the heart centre.
                HINAYANA works at the sex centre -- MULADHAR. MAHAYANA works at the heart centre
           -- it says love, prayer, have to be developed now. Energy is there, now you can love. Energy is there,
           now you can pray.
                MAHAYANA is loving-effort. One has to love unconditionally -- the trees and the rocks and the
           sun and the moon and the people -- but now love has no sexuality in it. It is very cool, it is very
           tranquil.
                If you come near a person whose energy is moving in his heart centre, you will suddenly feel you
           are moving under a deep cool shade, no hot energy. You will feel suddenly a breeze surrounding
           you. The person of love, the person who lives at the heart centre, is to a traveller like a shady tree, or
           cool running water, or a breeze fragrant with many blossoms.
                MAHAYANA is not afraid of sex. HINAYANA is afraid of sex. HINAYANA is afraid of sex
           because you are too much obsessed with sex. You have to move to the opposite. MAHAYANA is
           not afraid of sex -- it has attained to the balance; there is no fear of the opposites. MAHAYANA is
           when the tightrope-walker is balanced; he neither leans to the left nor to the right.
                Then the third and the final stage, the third floor of Buddha's temple, is VAJRAYANA. 'Vajra'
           means diamond -- it is the most precious teaching; certainly very difficult to understand.
           VAJRAYANA is Buddhist Tantra.
                VAJRAYANA is called 'vajra', the diamond, because the diamond cuts everything. The diamond
           vehicle, the way of the diamond, VAJRAYANA, cuts everything completely, through and through --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all materiality, all desire, all attachment. Even the desire to be born in heaven, the desire to be in a
           peaceful state, the desire to become a Buddha, the desire to have Nirvana, enlightenment -- even
           these beautiful desires are cut completely.
                VAJRAYANA knows no difference between the world and Nirvana, knows no difference
           between ignorance and knowledge, knows no difference, no distinctions -- all distinctions are
           dropped -- knows no distinction between man and woman.
           Now let me explain it to you.
                On the stage of HINAYANA, man is man, woman is woman. And man is attracted towards
           woman, and the woman is attracted towards man -- they are out-going; their attraction is somewhere
           outside them. Of course, they will be slaves. When your attraction is somewhere outside you, you
           cannot be independent of it.
                That's why lovers never forgive each other, they cannot. They are annoyed. You love a person
           and you are irritated by the person at the same time. There is a reason for it. There is constant fight
           between lovers. The reason is: you cannot forgive the lover, because you know you are dependent on
           him or on her. How can you forgive your slavery? You know your woman makes you happy, but if
           she decides not to make you happy, then?... then suddenly you are unhappy. Your happiness is in her
           hands. Her happiness is in your hands. Whenever somebody else controls your happiness, you
           cannot forgive the other.
                Jean-Paul Sartre says: "The other is hell" -- and he is right. He has a great insight into it. The
           other is hell because you have to depend on the other. Sex canNOT make you free; somehow it takes
           you away from yourself; it takes you farther and farther away from yourself. The goal is the other.
                Gurdjieff used to say sex is one-arrowed -- the arrow is moving towards the other. Exactly the
           same metaphor has been used by Vajrayana: sex is one-arrowed -- it goes towards the other. Love is
           double-arrowed -- it goes to the other and to you also. In love there is balance.
                One arrow going towards the other, then you have to work with Hinayana. Two-arrowed: one
           arrow going towards the other, one arrow coming towards you -- you have attained to balance; that
           lopsidedness is no more there.
                A man of love is never angry with the other, because he is not really dependent on the other. He
           can be happy alone too; his arrow is double-arrowed -- he can be happy alone too. Of course, he still
           shares his happiness with the other, but he is no longer dependent on the other. Now it is no longer a
           relationship of dependence: it is a relationship of interdependence. It is a mutual friendship. They
           share energies, but nobody is anybody's slave.
                In VAJRAYANA the arrow completely disappears. There is no you and no other; I and thou,
           both are dropped. The mechanism has to be understood.
                When you are looking for a woman or for a man, you don't know one very important factor: that
           your woman is within you and your man too. Each man is both man and woman, and each woman is
           both woman and man. It has to be so!... because you are born out of two parents. One was man, one
           was woman; they have contributed to your being fifty percent each. You have something of your
           father and you have something of your mother. Half of you belongs to the male energy; half of you
           belongs to the female energy -- you are both.
                In HINAYANA you have to work hard to bring your energy to the inner woman or the inner
           man; that is its whole work.
                Just recently, in this century, Carl Gustav Jung became aware of this fact -- of this fact of
           bisexuality, that no man is pure man and no woman is pure woman. In each man a woman exists, and
           in fact every man is searching for that woman somewhere outside.
                That's why suddenly one day you come across a woman and you feel, "Yes, this is the right
           woman for me." How do you feel it? What is the criterion? How do you judge? -- it is not rational,
           you don't reason it out. It happens so suddenly, like a flash. You were not thinking about it, you have
           not reasoned it out. Suddenly if somebody asks you, "Why have you fallen in love with this
           woman?" you will shrug your shoulders. You will say, "I don't know -- but I have fallen in love.
           Something has happened."
                What has happened? Jung says you have an image of woman inside you; that image somehow
           fits with this woman. This woman seems to be similar to that image in some way or other. Of course,
           no woman can be absolutely similar to the inner woman -- that's why no lover can ever be absolutely
           satisfied. A little similar, maybe: the way she walks; maybe her sound, her voice; maybe the way she
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           looks, maybe her blue eyes; maybe her nose, maybe the colour of her hair.
               You have an image inside you that has come from your mother, from your mother's mother, from
           your mother's mother's mother -- ALL the women that have preceded you, they have contributed to
           that image. It is not exactly like your mother, otherwise things would have been simple. Your mother
           is involved in it, your mother's mother is also involved -- and so on and so forth. They all have
           contributed little bits.
               And it is the same with your man: your father has contributed, your father's father, and so on and
           so forth. From your father to Adam, and from your mother to Eve, the whole continuum has
           contributed to it. Nobody exactly knows, there is no way really to know, whom you are seeking. A
           man is searching for a woman, a woman is searching for a man -- the search is very vague. There is
           no clear-cut image, but somewhere in your heart you carry it; in the DARK corner of your soul you
           keep it, it is there.
               So many times many women and many men will appear to fulfil something of it, but only
           something. So each lover will give you a little satisfaction and much dissatisfaction. A part that fits
           will satisfy, and all other parts which don't fit will never satisfy.
               Have you watched it? Whenever you fall in love with a man or a woman, you immediately start
           changing the man and the woman according to something that you also don't know what.... Wives go
           on changing their husbands their whole lives: "Don't do this! Be like this, behave like this!"

               Just the other day, Mulla Nasrudin's wife was saying to me, "Finally, Osho, I succeeded."
           I asked, "About what?"
               She said, "I have stopped Mulla Nasrudin biting his nails."
               I said, "Biting his nails? Fifty years you have been married together -- Mulla is seventy -- now
           you have been able after fifty years?"
           She said, "Yes!"
           I asked, "But how did you succeed, tell me?"
               She said, "Now I simply hide his teeth so he cannot bite."

               People go on trying to change. Nobody ever changes -- I have never seen, I have never come
           across it. People even pretend that "Yes, we have changed," but nobody can change. Everybody
           remains himself. The whole effort is futile, but the urge to change is there. Why is the urge to change
           there?
               The urge to change is for a real necessity: the woman is trying to make her husband fit with some
           vague image inside her. Then she will be happy -- that he does not drink, that he does not smoke,
           that he does not go after other women... and a thousand and one things... that he always goes to the
           temple, that he listens to the saints. She has a certain image: she wants her husband to be a hero, a
           saint, a great man. The ordinary human being does not satisfy her.
               And the husband is also trying in a thousand and one ways: brings beautiful clothes, diamonds,
           rubies and pearls, and goes on decorating his wife. He is trying to find a Cleopatra. Somewhere he
           has some image of a beautiful woman, the most beautiful woman. Now he tries -- even from his very
           childhood.
           I have heard:

              The old man asked his precocious six-year-old how he liked the new little girl next door.
              "W-e-l-l," said the kid, "she's no Elizabeth Taylor, but she's nice."

               Now even small children think about Hema Malini and think about Elizabeth Taylor. And he
           says, "She's no Elizabeth Taylor, but she's nice." And this conflict continues. The reason is that we
           are always looking for someone -- who is not outside.
               HINAYANA turns you from looking outside. It says: Close your eyes to the outside.
           MAHAYANA makes you more alert and aware, fills your inner chamber with more light, so that
           you can see the inner woman. And VAJRAYANA makes it possible for you so that you can have an
           inner orgasm with your man inside or your woman inside. That INNER orgasm will satisfy you,
           nothing else. These three steps are of tremendous meaning.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                SO DON'T BE WORRIED ABOUT THESE SUTRAS that we will be discussing today.
                Just two days before, one woman sannyasin wrote to me, "Osho, what is happening to me? When
           you were talking about Hassids I was so flowering, so floating with it -- each talk -- and I would go
           happy and dancing and joyous. And now you are talking about Buddha, since then I am very
           depressed. I love my man and he is a very beautiful man, and the Buddha says: Nothing is there in
           the body -- it is just a bag full of filth. I don't want to hear things like that."
                I know nobody wants to hear, but they are true. And unless you pass through the Buddha you
           will never reach to the Hassids. Hassidism is VAJRAYANA, it is the ultimate flowering. Listening
           to Hassidism you feel very happy; when I talk about Tantra you feel very happy -- you think you are
           all tantricas. It is not so simple, it is not so cheap. To be a tantrica is the ultimate flowering of
           religion -- don't deceive yourselves. It is hard, arduous, to reach to that point.
                VAJRAYANA is Tantra, Buddhist Tantra, pure Tantra. But just look at the arrangement of
           things! HINAYANA is the first step, and HINAYANA seems to be absolutely repressive. But
           Buddha says: Unless you change your old patterns, you can go on rationalizing and you can go on
           living in your unconscious, robotlike life, and you can go on repeating it again and again. You have
           done it many times.
                How many times have you fallen in love with a beautiful man or a beautiful woman, and how
           long does it last? One day Buddha proves to be right: your beautiful woman, your Elizabeth Taylor,
           one day suddenly you find is a bag full of filth -- and he is saying it from the very beginning. But, of
           course, when you are on your honeymoon these sutras will not appeal to you.
                Never take Buddhist sutras when you are going on a honeymoon. But when you are approaching
           the divorce court these sutras will be very relevant! You will immediately see what he is saying. One
           day comes the ultimate divorce. The ultimate divorce is the day when you simply understand the
           whole absurdity of searching for the other.
                Divorces have happened many times to you, but you again and again forget. One divorce is
           finished -- even if it is not finished, the court proceedings may still be on -- you are again falling into
           another love affair. It may be in fact that because you have fallen in another love affair, that's why
           you are asking for the divorce. Before you are out of the first prison, you have already entered the
           other.
                You have become so accustomed to living in chains that freedom tastes bitter.
                To that woman sannyasin who is feeling very depressed I would like to say this, that that
           depression shows something is hitting deep in the heart: Buddha has some truth -- you cannot avoid
           it. You would like to avoid it. Who wants truth? People like lies. Lies are very comfortable; truth is
           always destructive, shattering.
                But don't make any judgement too soon -- this is Buddha's first layer of teaching. The second
           layer is more relaxed. The first layer is of great struggle. HINAYANA is struggle, sheer force of will
           -- because that is the only way you can get out of the mess you have been for so long -- a sheer
           struggle to get out of it. The second step is perfectly relaxed, MAHAYANA is very relaxed and
           graceful. The third step is of tremendous celebration. On the third step you transcend all discipline.
                This is the beauty of the Buddha's path; it is very scientific. Each step is a must. If you lose one
           step, the whole building will collapse, the whole temple will disappear.

               HINAYANA is very great discipline. MAHAYANA is relaxed discipline. And VAJRAYANA is
           no discipline -- one has come to such a point where he can have total freedom. But you have to earn
           that total freedom.

               HINAYANA IS BASED IN THE BODY, the material part of your being. When you are in your
           body, you can enjoy life only in drops. In fact, in the East, semen is called BINDU -- BINDU means
           a drop. You can enjoy sex only drop by drop. And you are so vast that this enjoyment drop by drop
           is MORE frustrating than fulfilling.
           I have heard:

             The oversized elephants were picketing the zoo. A lion happened to be strolling by and asked,
           "Why are you picketing?" and one of the elephants answered, "We're tired of working for peanuts."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is what sex is -- just working for peanuts.
               In Tibet they have a metaphor for it; they call it PRETA. PRETA means a hungry ghost. A
           hungry ghost they depict in a certain way: he has a belly like an elephant, and a neck so thin like
           thread, and a mouth so small like the eye of a needle. Of course, he has to remain hungry for ever
           and ever, because of that small mouth like an eye of a needle. He goes on eating twenty-four hours,
           but he has a belly like an elephant -- so he goes on eating and eating and eating and always is
           hungry.
               That's how sexuality is. You are VAST; you have no boundaries, no limits. Unless your bliss also
           is as vast as your being it is not going to give you any contentment. And sex is just drip, drip, drop,
           drop.... You can just entertain yourself; you can go on hoping against hope -- but it is not going to
           fulfil you.
               Sex creates neurosis, it is neurotic, because it can never satisfy you. Now, go to the madhouses of
           the world and just watch the mad people, and you will always find that somewhere or other there is a
           sexual problem. That's what Freud says, that ALL pathology is somehow connected with sex. Too
           much sex obsession becomes neurotic.
               If you live in the body, you are bound to become neurotic. You have to go a little deeper and
           higher than the body.
               The second layer Buddhists call the heart; you can call it mind but the heart is a better word. The
           heart includes the mind; it is bigger, more satisfying, more space is available. You feel more free.
           Love is more free than sex. In love there is less conflict than there is in sex. Then there is a still
           higher... the vast open sky of VAJRAYANA. Buddha gives it the name of compassion. You live in
           passion and you have to reach to compassion.
               Passion is obsession, neurosis. Compassion is when your energy has flowered. You are so
           contented within yourself, you are so enough unto yourself, now you can share, you can shower your
           bliss. Now you HAVE to give. Neurosis is when you go on demanding and nobody is ready to give
           to you, and you are a hungry ghost. Your demands are great, and all that the world provides is just
           peanuts.
               When, at the stage of VAJRAYANA, you are vast, full of energy, a great reservoir of energy, a
           pool, a tremendous pool, then you can give. In sex you ask. Passion means demand, passion means
           begging.
               Have you not watched it? Whenever you are sexually attracted to a woman, you go around her
           and wag your tail -- you are a beggar. In compassion you are an emperor, you share, you give; you
           give because you have. In sex you ask because you don't have.
               And this sex continues from the childhood to the very end. Children are getting ready for it, for
           this absurd journey. Old people are tired, sitting by the roadside -- very jealous of those who are still
           not tired and are young; feeling very jealous. Out of their jealousy they start preaching; out of their
           jealousy they start condemning.
               Remember, a saint never condemns; if he condemns then he is not a saint -- he is still interested
           in the same things. It is just that now he is jealous. Have you not watched this jealousy? A young
           boy climbing up a tree, and you immediately say, "Get down! You may get hurt or you may fall
           down." Have you watched? -- in your voice there is something of jealousy. You cannot climb the
           tree now; you are old, your limbs are more rigid; they have lost their flexibility. You are jealous but
           you cannot say you are jealous. You hide your jealousy.
               Whenever a person starts condemning sex, somewhere he must be carrying a jealousy. Buddha is
           not condemning. He is simply factual. He simply says whatsoever is the case. And he wants you to
           come out of it because your destiny is bigger, higher is the potentiality.
               A woman, an old woman, reached the insurance company's office. "But lady, you can't collect
           the life insurance on your husband -- he isn't dead yet," said the insurance man.
           "I know that -- but there's no life left in him."

           She has come to collect the insurance....
              When no life is left in you, you start hiding the fact; you start becoming religious. Your religion
           may be just a garb. Buddha is not saying that you have to become religious when you are old.
           Buddha is saying you have to become religious when the passion is alive, when the fire is alive --
           because only when the fire is alive can it be transformed, you can ride on the energy.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha introduced something absolutely new into the Indian consciousness. In India, sannyas
           was for old people -- old, dead; almost dead, one foot in the grave, then people used to take sannyas.
           The Hindu sannyas was like that: only for old people. When you have nothing left in you, then try
           sannyas -- that was the last item. Buddha introduced a new element: he said that is foolish -- only a
           young person can be really religious, because when the energy is there you can ride on it. He
           introduced sannyas to young people.
               And, of course, when you introduce sannyas to young people you have to make sure that they
           don't go on moving towards sex. For old people you need not bother too much. So in Hindu
           SHASTRAS, in Hindu scriptures, there exists nothing like Hinayana -- because there is no need! Old
           people become sannyasins; what is the point? There is no need to be worried about them. They can
           live as they want. But when a young person becomes a sannyasin, then much care has to be taken.
           He has energy, he has fire, and that fire can misfire too; it can lead him into wrong directions. And
           he is very fresh, unexperienced. For him these sutras are very helpful.

           Mulla Nasrudin tells this:

               My mother-in-law is a widow; she is eighty-two years old. One night, just to get her out of the
           house, I arranged a date for her with a man who is eighty-five years old. She returned home from the
           date very late that evening, and more than a little upset.
           "What happened?" I asked.
               "Are you kidding?" she snapped. "I had to slap his face three times."
           "You mean," I answered, "he got fresh?"
           "No," she replied, "I thought he was dead!"

               Now if you initiate such dead people into sannyas, then there is no need for these sutras.
               Buddha had to make it certain, because he took a great danger. He was very courageous: he
           introduced thousands of young people into sannyas. He had to make it absolutely certain that their
           energy moves from body to heart, from heart to soul. And every care has to be taken.

           The first sutra:

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "O MONKS, YOU SHOULD NOT SEE WOMEN. (IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO SEE THEM), REFRAIN
               FROM TALKING TO THEM. (IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO TALK), YOU SHOULD REFLECT IN A
               RIGHT SPIRIT: 'I AM NOW A HOMELESS MENDICANT. IN THE WORLD OF SIN I MUST BEHAVE
               MYSELF LIKE UNTO THE LOTUS-FLOWER WHOSE PURITY IS NOT DEFILED BY THE MUD. OLD
               ONES I WILL TREAT AS MY MOTHER; ELDERLY ONES AS ELDER SISTERS; YOUNGER ONES
               AS YOUNGER SISTERS; AND LITTLE ONES AS DAUGHTERS.' AND IN ALL THIS YOU SHOULD
               HARBOUR NO EVIL THOUGHTS, BUT THINK OF SALVATION."

               THE BUDDHA SAID:
               "THOSE WHO WALK IN THE WAY SHOULD AVOID SENSUALISM AS THOSE WHO CARRY HAY
               WOULD AVOID COMING NEAR THE FIRE."


               TO INITIATE A YOUNG MAN is to initiate somebody who is carry-ing hay -- he should avoid
           fire.
               Now, try to understand. These simple words are not so simple -- they have many depths and
           layers.
               First: they are addressed to monks, not to ordinary people. "O monks," Buddha says. The word
           'monk' is very beautiful; it means one who has decided to live alone. Monk, the very word, means
           solitary. Words like 'monopoly', 'monogamy', come from the same root. 'Monogamy' means one
           husband; 'monopoly' means one man's power; 'monastery' means where monks live, those who have
           decided to live alone.
               Ordinarily, you are seeking the other. The monk is one who has decided that the search for the
           other is futile, one who has decided to be alone. Enough he has searched into relationship, but that
           which he was searching he could not find there. Frustration was the only gain. He has failed -- he has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tried, but in vain. Now he decides, "Let me try alone. If I cannot be happy with others, let me try to
           be happy alone. If I cannot be happy in relationship, then let me be out of relationship, let me drop
           out of the social structure. I will try now to be alone. I have tried outside, now let me try inside.
           Maybe that which I am desiring is there."
                To be a monk means a decision that "Love has failed, relationship has failed, society has failed,
           now I will try meditation, now I will try my innermost core. Now I am going to be my only world,
           the only world there is. I will close my eyes and remain into myself." To be a monk is a great
           decision. The path of the monk is the path of the lonely, the solitary.
                One day or other, everybody comes to feel that -- that relationship has failed. You may not be
           courageous enough to drop out of it -- that is another thing. Or you may be not intelligent enough --
           that's another matter. Great courage is needed; even a little CHUTZPAH, what Jews call
           CHUTZPAH, even that is needed. Not only a little courage, but a little dare-devilishness -- otherwise
           one cannot get out of the old pattern; the familiar is so familiar. And the familiar, maybe it is
           uncomfortable, but still it is familiar; one has become accustomed to it.
                People go on smoking knowing well that T.B. is there, knowing well that cancer is approaching
           close -- they go on coughing, go on suffering, and go on asking how to drop it. Now there is no
           pleasure in it, but still they cannot drop it -- just an old habit, just a mechanical habit. They are not
           intelligent people. When you ask how to stop smoking, you are declaring you are stupid. You don't
           have any intelligence, and you don't have any courage to move into some new pattern of life. Yes, a
           little CHUTZPAH will be good. Let me explain it to you, what CHUTZPAH is.

                A man entered into a bank with a gun. He forced the cashier to give him $50,000. Of course,
           there was no choice for the cashier because the man was standing there and he was saying, "Give me
           it immediately, otherwise get ready to die!"
                He delivered him $50,000. He went to the next window and tried to open an account with the
           money.

           This is CHUTZPAH!
           Or there is an even better story.

               A man killed his mother and father, was caught red-handed, and appealed for mercy. And when
           the magistrate said, "Mercy, for you? What are your reasons?" he said, "Now I am an orphan."

           This is CHUTZPAH!
               Courage is needed, great courage is needed. And to be religious is almost to be madly
           courageous. Otherwise, there are MILLIONS of habits; one is entangled completely. It is not that
           you have one chain on your body -- millions of chains. And things become more complicated
           because you have decorated the chains and you think they are ornamental. In fact, you have made
           them golden and they seem valuable. You don't THINK they are chains. The prison you have
           decorated so long and so beautifully that you have forgotten that it is a prison, you think it is your
           home.
               A day is bound to come in everybody's life when a person realises that "All that I have tried has
           failed." Courage is needed to recognize that "I have failed utterly." Let me repeat it: only a
           courageous person can accept that "I have failed completely." Cowards always go on rationalizing.
           They say, "Maybe we have failed in this, but we will try another. Once more," they say, "then we are
           finished. One marriage more, then we are finished."
               That's what psychologists call the gambler's psychology. He goes on losing, but he thinks, "One
           time more... maybe this time I am going to win." If he starts winning, then too he cannot leave,
           because he thinks, "Now I am winning. Now I am fortunate, now God is with me, fate is with me -- I
           should not lose this opportunity. One stake more...."
               If he is losing, he goes on playing. If he is winning, he goes on playing. And the final result is
           always failure. Whether you win or lose in the middle makes no sense: ultimately failure comes into
           your hands.
               Courage is needed to recognize that "I have failed." The monk is one who has recognized the fact
           that "all my life-ways have failed," that "all my ideas have failed," that "my mind has proved
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           impotent. Now I am going to make a DRASTIC change in my life. I am going to bring a RADICAL
           transformation. I will turn inwards." This turning inwards makes a man a monk.
               A monk is a rebellious person. He completely drops out of the society, out of relationship.
               Buddha says: You can come back to the society at the third stage, when you are a
           VAJRAYANIST, when you have come to the third stage of flowering -- but not before it.
               So remember, these words are not uttered for householders. These words are not uttered for those
           who are still in the world and still dreaming. These words are uttered to a specific group of people
           who have dropped out of the world, and who have decided to search within, to explore their own
           souls. They have explored others' bodies -- because as far as others are concerned you can explore
           only the body; you cannot get deeper than that. These people have turned away from that. Now they
           are trying to explore their heart, they are trying to explore their transcendental witnessing self.

              "O MONKS, YOU SHOULD NOT SEE WOMEN."


               DON'T SEE WOMEN! You will be surprised: Buddha used to say to his monks that even in
           dream this sutra has to be followed -- even in dream you have to remain so alert!
               This sutra is a sutra of awareness. The actual thing happened in this way: one of Buddha's great
           disciples, Ananda, was going to another town to preach. He asked Buddha, "Bhagwan, if I meet a
           woman on the way, how am I supposed to behave?" This is the story of this sutra being born.
               Buddha said, "You should not see women. You close your eyes. You avoid" -- because the eye is
           the first contact with the other. When you see a woman or when you see a man, you touch the other's
           body with your eyes. The eye has its own touch.
               That's why you are not expected to stare at somebody. If you stare, that shows you are
           uncivilized, unmannerly. There is a certain time-limit: three seconds you can look; that is allowed.
           But more than that means you are uncivil, unmannerly, ungentlemanly. If you look at a woman for
           three seconds it's okay; beyond that the woman will start feeling uncomfortable. And if you go on
           staring, she will report to the police, or she will start screaming or shouting or she will do something.
           Because seeing is not just seeing -- eyes touch; not only touch, there are ways to penetrate the other's
           body with the eye. The eyes can function like knives. And the eyes can be lustful, then the other
           feels you have reduced her or him to an object of lust -- and who are you to reduce somebody? This
           is offensive.
               In Hindi we have a very beautiful word for such a person, we call him LUCHCHA. LUCHCHA
           means one who goes on looking at you -- exactly this; literally LUCHCHA means one who goes on
           staring. LUCHCHA comes from a Sanskrit root lochan. Lochan means the eye. LUCHCHA means
           one who goes on eyeing you, staring at you, and whose stare becomes like a knife, whose stare
           becomes lustful, whose stare becomes violent; who uses his eyes as if eyes are sexual organs -- that
           man is a LUCHCHA.
               "... YOU SHOULD NOT SEE WOMEN." When Buddha is saying this, he is saying you should
           not stare. Of course, when you are walking on a road in a town, sometimes you may have to see a
           woman -- but that is not the point. You should not see: you should not try to look; there should not
           be any deliberate effort to look at a woman; it should not be deliberate. You simply pass on.
               Buddha used to say to his disciples: You should not look, really, more than four feet ahead. The
           eyes should remain just four feet ahead -- more is useless, more is unnecessary, a wastage of energy.
           Just walk silently, looking four feet ahead; that's enough.
               And don't stare, because the stare simply shows that deep down lust is boiling. And once you see
           something, immediately desire arises. If you don't see, desire does not arise. You are walking on the
           road; you were not thinking of diamonds, for years you may not have thought, and suddenly you find
           a diamond there by the side just waiting for you. Suddenly it catches your eyes -- desire arises. You
           look all around: Is anybody seeing or not? You have become a thief. And you had not been thinking
           about a diamond; there was no desire at all. Just the eye contact and the desire has arisen from the
           unconscious. It must have been in the unconscious, otherwise it cannot arise.
               Buddha says: You know well, your unconscious is full of sexuality, so better not to stare;
           otherwise that which is in the unconscious will be stirred again and again. And that which is stirred
           again and again is strengthened. That which is stirred again and again and never allowed to rest and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappear becomes stronger. And a monk is one who has decided to drop out of relationship.
               "... YOU SHOULD NOT SEE WOMEN." It is said Ananda asked, "But if a situation arises in
           which one has to see a woman, then what?" So Buddha said:

              "(IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO SEE THEM), REFRAIN FROM TALKING TO THEM."


               Because if you don't talk to a woman, you cannot relate to her. Relationship arises with talking.
           Communication arises with talking. You can sit by the side of a woman for hours, and if you have
           not talked there is no bridge; you are as distant as stars. You can sit by the side, even your bodies
           touching, but if you have not talked there exists no bridge, your personalities remain far away.
               You can see in a commuter train so many people crowding the compartment, everybody touching
           everybody's body, but nobody talking. They are far away from each other. Once you talk, distance
           disappears; words bring you together.

               The shy character noticed a low-cut blonde sitting next to him alone at the bar. He gathered all
           his courage and sent a drink to her. She silently nodded her thanks. He repeated the same gesture six
           times. Finally, the drinks in him spoke up and he got up all the courage he could muster and
           mumbled, "Do you ever make love to strange men?"
               "Well," she smiled, "I never have before -- but I think you've talked me into it -- you clever,
           silver-tongued devil, you."

               Now, he has not talked much -- just one sentence.... Even a single gesture of communication can
           create relationship. If you don't talk you remain separate. That's why with people, if you are sitting
           silently, that shows something has gone wrong. If the husband is silent and the wife is silent, then it
           seems that something has gone wrong. That means communication has broken, the bridge is broken.
           When they are laughing and talking, then there is a bridge, there is communication.
               Animals have sex but no sexuality. Man has sex plus sexuality. Sex is physical, sexuality is
           mental -- and when you talk, your talk can be sexual. Animals have sex; that's a physiological act.
           They don't talk, they don't have any language; but man has language, and language is one of the most
           powerful instruments in the hands of man. You communicate through it, you relate through it. You
           seduce through words, you insult through words; you show your love through words, you show your
           hate through words. You repel or attract through your words.
           Buddha knows that the word is very potential.
               In the Bible they say: "In the beginning was the Word" -- maybe it is so or not -- but in the very
           beginning of every relationship there is a word. Maybe in the beginning of the world it was so,
           maybe not, but in every relationship -- relationship starts with a word. Can you start any relationship
           without a word? It will be difficult, very, very difficult. Silence will surround you like a citadel.
               So Buddha says: "IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO SEE THEM..." If some situation is there, for
           example, a monk is passing and there is an accident and a bullock-cart has fallen by the side in a
           ditch and a woman is there, hurt, broken, what is the monk supposed to do? Should he go without
           helping? No. compassion is needed. Buddha says: Help but don't talk, see but don't talk.
               Ananda asked, "But there can be certain situations in which one has to speak."

              "(IF YOU SHOULD HAVE TO TALK), SAYS BUDDHA THEN YOU SHOULD REFLECT IN A RIGHT
              SPIRIT: 'I AM NOW A HOMELESS MENDICANT....'"


               Never forget this, that you have fallen out of relationship. The old habits are strong. The pull of
           the past is strong. So remember that you are a mendicant, that you are a monk, that you are a
           BHIKKHU.
              "'IN THE WORLD OF SIN I MUST BEHAVE MYSELF LIKE UNTO THE LOTUS-FLOWER WHOSE
              PURITY IS NOT DEFILED BY THE MUD.'"


              So Buddha says: If you have to see, if you have to talk, if you have to touch, okay, but remember
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one thing, that you should remain like a lotus-flower, transcendental to the mud -- you should remain
           aware. Your awareness is your only shelter.

                HAVE YOU WATCHED? Whenever you are aware, you are alone. WHENEVER you are aware
           you are cut away from the whole world. You may be in the marketplace, but the marketplace
           disappears. You may be in the shop, in the factory, in the office -- if you are aware, suddenly you are
           alone.
                When I entered into my high-school, I had a very eccentric teacher, a Mohammedan teacher -- I
           loved him. I loved him because he was very eccentric; he had a few whimsical ideas. For example he
           would not allow any student to say, "Yes sir," when the attendance was to be taken. He would insist:
           "Say, 'Present sir.'" We used to annoy him by saying "Yes sir," but he would not allow it. Unless you
           said "Present sir," he would not allow you inside the class. He would force you to stand outside.
                Now, this was just whimsical. It doesn't matter whether you say "Yes sir," or you say "Present
           sir." But I started feeling that he had some point in it, and I started meditating on it. And whenever
           he would call my name, I would say "Present sir," and I would not only say it -- I would FEEL that
           "I am simply present, aware, alert." And I had beautiful moments; just for a half minute. I would
           become so present that the class would disappear, that the teacher would disappear. He also became
           aware of it.
                One day he called me; he said, "What do you do? What are you doing? Because when you say
           'Present sir' I see a sudden change on your face, your eyes go blank. Are you playing some trick upon
           me?" Because it was known in the school that before I entered the school, if some boy was to be
           called to the principal's office then the boy was in trouble. When I entered the school, the dictum had
           to be changed. Whenever I was called to the principal's office, the whole school would know: "The
           principal is in trouble!"
                So he said, "What! You are creating some trouble? And I feel very awkward when you say
           'Present sir.' And you change so tremendously, as if you are transported into another world. What
           exactly do you do? You embarrass me. If you continue doing this, then I will allow you to say 'Yes
           sir.'"
                I said, "Now it will not make much difference -- I have learnt it. And I am going to use it my
           whole life. And I am thankful to you that you insisted. The word 'present' opened a door."
                You try it! Walking on the road, suddenly become present. Just say to some unknown god
           "Present sir," and be present really; just become aflame of awareness. And suddenly you will see you
           are not in the world: you have become a lotus-flower. The mud cannot touch you. You become
           untouchable, you become something of the beyond, incorruptible.
                Buddha said: If you have to see, if you have to talk, even if you have to touch, then be present,
           remember, be mindful, that you are a mendicant, that you are pure awareness.
           And he says:

              "'OLD ONES I WILL TREAT AS MY MOTHER...'"


               Have you looked at the psychology of man? Can you ever think of making love to your mother?
           Even thinking is impossible. Something suddenly cuts the whole idea. The whole thing seems ugly --
           making love to your mother? or making love to your sister? The whole thing seems to be impossible,
           inconceivable. But your sister is as much a woman as anybody else's sister. Somebody else will fall
           in love with your sister -- bound to -- but you never fall in love with your sister. Who loves his own
           sister? The moment you say 'sister', some distance arises. Then sexual approach becomes impossible.
           The very word functions like a conditioning -- you have been conditioned. From the very childhood
           you have been conditioned; it has been repeated so often and so much, that the relationship between
           a sister and a brother is a holy relationship, that to think of sex is unthinkable.
               Buddha says: One who has become a monk has to create, at least in the beginning, these barriers,
           so he does not slip into old habits. And he must have been a great psychologist, he must have known
           the laws of conditioning. He must have known whatsoever is known by Pavlov in the modern times;
           he must have known everything about conditioned reflex. It is a conditioned reflex: the moment you
           say 'sister' something simply disappears. Sex becomes irrelevant. You call somebody 'mother' and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sex becomes non-existential.

           Buddha says:

              "'OLD ONES I WILL TREAT AS MY MOTHER; ELDERLY ONES AS ELDER SISTERS; YOUNGER
              ONES AS YOUNGER SISTERS; AND LITTLE ONES AS DAUGHTERS.' AND IN ALL THIS YOU
              SHOULD HARBOUR NO EVIL THOUGHTS. BUT THINK OF SALVATION."


               And take each situation as a challenge for your awareness, as a challenge you have to work
           through towards your salvation.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "THOSE WHO WALK IN THE WAY SHOULD AVOID SENSUALISM AS THOSE WHO CARRY HAY
              WOULD AVOID COMING NEAR THE FIRE."


               THIS IS THE FIRST STEP. THE SECOND STEP: you are allowed to be loving -- because old
           habits are broken, now there is no fear. In the third step you are allowed to be completely free of all
           discipline, because now your awareness has become a permanent phenomenon in you; now there is
           no need to think that "this woman is my mother, or this woman is my sister."
               In the third step, of VAJRAYANA, you have come in contact with your inner woman; your
           attraction for the outer woman has disappeared. The very moment you have come in contact with
           your INNER woman, you have met the perfect woman you have been always seeking and seeking
           and never finding. You have met your inner man -- you have found the perfect man. Yin and yang,
           they have become a circle, they have joined together.
               That is the theory of ARDHANARISHWAR in Hindu mythology. In Shiva, half is man and half
           is woman. And Shiva is said to be the greatest god -- MAHADEVA. All other gods are small gods;
           Shiva is the great god. Why is he called the great god? Because he has come to meet the inner
           woman, he has become ultimate unity; the woman and the man have disappeared.
               The same phenomenon has happened in a Buddha. You see!... what grace surrounds a Buddha,
           what feminine beauty -- and what strength, what power! Power comes from the man and the grace
           comes from the woman. Buddha is both: tremendously powerful and yet tremendously fragile, like a
           flower; can face the storm, is ready to face the whole world, and yet so open, so vulnerable, so soft,
           so delicate -- almost feminine.
               Look at Buddha's face -- so feminine. In India we have not even put a moustache and beard on
           him -- mm? -- just to show that the face has become absolutely feminine. Not that he was not
           growing a beard, not that he was lacking in some hormones, but we have not put one. We have not
           put a beard on Mahavir, on the twenty-four teerthankaras, on Ram, on Krishna -- we have not put
           that. Not that they all were lacking in hormones; even if one or two were lacking, maybe, but all
           cannot lack -- they must have grown beards, and they must have grown beautiful beards, but it is a
           symbol that the man has come to meet the woman inside, the man and the woman have mingled and
           merged and become one.
               This is the meaning of the name that I have given to these talks on these Forty-Two Chapters --
           THE DISCIPLINE OF TRANSCENDENCE. It starts with the discipline of HINAYANA, then with
           the relaxation of MAHAYANA, then the no-discipline of VAJRAYANA. But one has to begin from
           the beginning, one has to start by sowing the seeds, then comes the tree, and then the flowering.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                       Chapter #8
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                         Chapter title: The Forbidden Path
           28 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610280
              ShortTitle: TRANS308
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 87 mins



              The first question:


              I AM YEARNING FOR THE SNAKE TO BECOME ALIVE IN ME, SETTING ME AFLAME....
              AM I ON A FORBIDDEN PATH? I AM SCARED.


               THE FORBIDDEN PATH IS THE PATH. There is no other path. There is a certain rule to
           evolution, a certain principle to it. And the principle is: before you can become really innocent you
           have to lose all innocence. Before you can really become pure you have to move in all sorts of
           impurities. Before you can come home, you have to wander, go astray.
               That's the whole meaning of the Christian parable of Adam being expelled from God's paradise.
           He HAD to be expelled. It is not that Adam is responsible for his expulsions -- it is a certain basic
           rule of life.
               God told Adam that "The tree of knowledge is the forbidden tree, you are not supposed to eat
           from it." Only one commandment was given to him, that he was not to eat from the tree of
           knowledge. But this functioned as a provocation.
               If God really wanted him not to eat from the tree of knowledge, the better course would have
           been that Adam was never told about it. Paradise is infinite... millions and millions of trees. Even by
           now, Adam would not have been able to discover it -- one tree of knowledge. But the moment God
           said: "Don't touch that tree, don't go near it, don't eat it," that tree became the most important tree.
           Certainly. Obviously.
               Adam must have started dreaming about it. A temptation -- going into the forest, into the garden,
           again and again the tree would call him. He must have gone close to it, looked, waited, brooded;
           many times he must have been just close to it, at the very brink of committing the sin, of disobeying,
           of being rebellious.
               There is a fundamental law to it. Adam has to be expelled. Unless Adam is expelled, Adam will
           never become a Christ. He has to go astray to come home. Very contradictory! But unless you move
           into sin, you don't know what sainthood is.
               Every child is a saint, but that sainthood is very cheap. You have not earned it; it is just a natural
           gift -- and who bothers about a natural gift? You have to lose it. When you lose it you become aware
           of what you have lost. When you lose it then you start suffering, then you feel a great hunger for it.
           When you lose it, then by contrast it becomes clear what it was.
               If you want to see the beautiful dawn, you have to wander into the dark night. Only after the dark
           night is the morning beautiful. If you really want to be rich, you have to become poor. Only after
           poverty do you start feeling the beauty of riches.
               The contradiction is only apparent -- they are complementary.
               Christians have a theory; they call it FELIX CULPA -- a happy fault. Adam's sin has been known
           to Christian theology as FELIX CULPA -- a happy fault -- since it brings about the need of Christ
           the Redeemer. If there had been no disobedience on the part of Adam then there would have been no
           Christ.
               Adam is human consciousness going away from God. Christ is the same human consciousness
           returning back home. Adam and Christ are not two persons. Adam is the going away, Christ is the
           coming back. It is the same energy.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Disobedience is needed to become obedient. Rebellion is needed to know what surrender is. Ego
           is needed to become egoless. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Remember it, and
           never be afraid of the forbidden.
                The forbidden is the path. Go into it! Go courageously. Go totally -- so that you can finish the
           attraction. And you are not going to find anything in it. You will come empty out of it -- that will be
           a great experience, a great maturity. Sin can never be fulfilling, so why be afraid?
                If there were any possibility that sin might fulfil somebody, then there would have been danger.
           But sin has never fulfilled anybody. The more you go in it, the more frustrated you are. The more
           you go in it, the more you know it is just stupid, it is just unintelligent, it is just an old, routine rut, a
           vicious circle. You are not moving anywhere. You are not going anywhere, you are not growing.
                The more deeply you understand it, the greater the possibility that you will start on the backward
           journey -- you will start coming to the original source. Of course, when I say coming back to the
           original source I don't mean that you will really regress backwards. You will still go onwards, but
           the journey will turn towards the source. There is no going back. A second childhood comes. In
           India, when a person moves through that second childhood we call him twice-born -- DWIJ -- again
           born. He has attained to a new birth. He has again become a child, again innocent.
                So don't be afraid. The world is a temptation -- a temptation you have to go through, a temptation
           that has to be suffered. And the Devil is a partner with God -- he is not the enemy, he is the partner.
           He tempts you, he takes you into the forbidden, he helps you to disobey. He provokes you, he allures
           you, he seduces you. If you go wholeheartedly with him, sooner or later you will understand that he
           is the deceiver. Immediately he disappears.
                The moment you realise that the Devil is a deceiver, the Devil disappears. In that realisation is
           death for him. Suddenly you start laughing. A great laughter arises in you. You start roaring like a
           lion, a great uproar. Now you have seen the truth, why God had told you not to eat the fruit of a
           certain tree -- He wanted you to eat it.
                Of course, God cannot be so foolish. If He did not want then He would have kept quiet. He could
           have removed the tree! -- any ordinary gardener can do that. He did not remove the tree, He simply
           gave the commandment. And this is very psychological. The parable is really one of the most
           beautiful psychological parables.
                Wherever you are not allowed to go, you want to go. If some film is running in the town and
           there is an advertisement 'only for adults' all the children will rush -- then there must be something
           for them. If it is only for adults, then it has a provocation.
                Say to people: "Don't do this," and they will do it. You can be certain about it. And God made it
           absolutely certain. He must have been a little suspicious about Adam, so He created Eve. Man is a
           coward -- unless a woman tempts him. He may hesitate, but when a woman is there to tempt, man
           becomes very brave. When the wife is there, the husband becomes very brave. Never fight with a
           husband when the wife is present -- he will kill you. He has to prove himself because the wife is
           there. When he is alone you can fight; he will not bother -- he will say it is okay.
                When you have a woman with you, you become a daredevil. You have to prove to the woman
           that you are a hero, a great, courageous man, brave. Then you can be mad, you can do anything.
                But even then God was suspicious: maybe the woman is not enough. He created a snake: the
           snake seduced the woman, the woman seduced Adam. And of course it was very well planned --
           mm? -- it was a beautiful drama, well planned. All the characters are there. Adam can always say, "I
           am not responsible. Eve, she is responsible." She can always say, "I am not responsible -- the snake."
           And of course the snake cannot speak, so the story ends there. If the snake could speak he would
           have said, "God is responsible." Nobody has asked the snake -- who is responsible? The snake is
           completely silent.
                Look: whenever you say somebody else is responsible, what are you doing? You are simply
           shifting the responsibility. The husband says the wife is responsible; the wife says the children are
           responsible -- and children, of course, are dumb; they cannot say anything. So there it stops. We go
           on throwing responsibility on each other.
                You become religious the day you recognize "I am responsible." Be courageous. Feel your
           responsibility -- and go into all that tempts you, and go fully aware, go conscious. Go deliberately
           into it.
                I would like to tell you another law of life: if you go deliberately into something, it can never
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a bondage to you. Don't go as if you are being pulled. Don't go like a slave: go like a master.
           Even if you are going into something which is forbidden, which is a declared sin by all the religions,
           go courageously and go with responsibility. Say: "I want to go and I want to explore this dimension.
           And I am going." Don't feel guilty! because if you feel guilty you will go halfheartedly -- and when
           you go halfheartedly you are stuck. Then you will never be able to come back. If you go
           wholeheartedly you will immediately see the falsity of it, the foolishness of it. Go wholeheartedly!
           And explore it completely, utterly completely. Explore all the corners of it so it is finished. Once you
           have seen the whole game, you are out of it.

                YOU ASK: "I am yearning for the snake to become alive in me..." The snake is there. God never
           creates a man without the snake already there: it is built in, it is there. Call it sex or call it kundalini
           -- it is the snake. Sex is the snake moving downward. Kundalini is the same snake, the same
           serpent-power, moving upwards.
                Ordinarily, when a child is born, the snake is there coiled near the sex centre -- what yogis call
           MULADHAR -- the basic, root centre: it is coiled there, sleeping energy. At the time when the child
           becomes mature, sexually mature, at the age of fourteen or near about then, the snake uncoils and
           starts going downward, towards the valley. That's what sexuality is.
                One day, when you have explored sexuality and have found nothing -- nothing of worth, except
           trouble, anxiety, anguish, suffering -- the snake starts moving upward. It is the same snake! Now it
           starts moving towards the peak, towards the mountain.
                When it starts moving upwards, a great transformation is happening. From Adam you are
           becoming a Christ. And when the snake has hit the ultimate in you, SAHASRAR, the seventh chakra
           of your being, the highest peak, the Everest, the Gourishankar, when it has hit that chakra, suddenly
           you are neither Adam nor Christ -- you are God Himself.
                To feel oneself as an Adam is a dream, nightmarish. To feel one-self as the Christ is still a dream
           -- better than the first, not nightmarish at all, very sweet and beautiful, tremendously beautiful, but
           still a dream. To come to know oneself as God is to come to reality, is to come home.
                The snake is there, and it is very much alive! You may have become afraid about the snake. The
           society is working just AGAINST -- against you. The society does not want you to be an individual
           aflame with energy; the society wants you to remain in control. The society is afraid. Even a single
           individual can become very explosive.
                That's what happened when a Christ moved on the earth, or a Buddha -- just as a small atom can
           explode and can destroy a whole big city like Hiroshima. Just a tiny atom, invisible to the eyes,
           nobody has ever seen it, not even visible to instruments -- an invisible particle can explode and can
           generate so much energy. What to say about a human consciousness?
                If a human consciousness explodes, the society does not know how to control it. So society keeps
           you plugged to the lowest rung. It does not allow you to move. It keeps you just on the earth; it never
           gives you wings. You HAVE the wings, but it does not even make you aware that you have the
           wings. It teaches you everything, but the most basic is not taught.
                In the university your head is stuffed with rubbish. In schools, colleges, in universities, your head
           is used as a dustbin: people go on throwing things in it. They are taking revenge on their own
           teachers. They have filled their heads with straw, now they are doing the same with others -- and
           religiously, very seriously. Have you seen professors, chancellors, vice-chancellors? -- so serious, as
           if they are doing a great service to humanity. They are simply destroying.
                When the head becomes too heavy, you lose contact with your heart. When the head becomes too
           much important, you tend to forget about the heart. And the heart is the source of your life-energies.
           From the heart you are connected to the sex centre, and from the heart you are connected to
           SAHASRAR. The heart is the bridge between the sex and SAHASRAR -- the heart is the bridge
           between the valley and the peak. And they go on stuffing your head. They train your head so much,
           you become so clever, you become so efficient with the head, that you simply bypass the route that
           goes through the heart.
                Life moves through the heart. The snake is alive, but your heart is closed. The snake is alive and
           ready to jump on its journey, you will just have to open the doors of your heart. That's what I mean
           when I say dance, sing, be ecstatic, celebrate, love, feel.
                The real university of the future will be a training centre for the heart, not for the head. These
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           universities that exist today are just out of date; they are just ruins of the past. They can exist in the
           museums, but they should not be allowed to exist any more in reality.
               The real university has to be a great training for the heart, for the feeling.
               Your snake is alive. Just open your heart -- your snake is groping. When I see into you when you
           come to me and I personally encounter you, I see the snake groping for the heart. Towards the head
           it cannot go without moving from the heart. There is no way. It can only go to the head through the
           heart. When it goes through the heart it does not reach to your reason, it reaches to your intuition.
           When it goes through the heart it hits the SAHASRAR. The SAHASRAR is also in the head, but it is
           not the head that you are aware of.
               Even biologists, physiologists say that half of the head simply seems to be useless -- what is the
           function of it? Only half seems to work. The other half which seems useless and non-functioning is
           the seed of the SAHASRAR. When your energy moves through the heart, it reaches to the other half
           of the head which is ordinarily not functioning. It functions only when a man becomes a Buddha.
               And I will repeat again: the forbidden path is the only path. Be courageous! Remember: sin is a
           FELIX CULPA -- a happy fault -- because that is the only way one comes to become a saint.

           The second question:


              THIS DRAMA HAS OCCUPIED ME SINCE THE TRANSFERENCE OF THE TOWEL. YOU PASSED
              YOUR TOWEL TO SANNYASINS SAYING THAT IT WOULD DESCEND LIKE GOD -- BUT IT
              LANDED ON THE FLOOR. THEN YESTERDAY AGAIN YOU HAVE TAKEN IT BACK. BUDDHA
              TRANSFERRED THE FLOWER TO MAHAKASHYAP WHICH IS STILL WITH HIM.
              OSHO, IS THERE NO ONE OUT OF ALL YOUR SANNYASINS WHO CAN RECEIVE YOUR
              TOWEL? PLEASE SAY SOMETHING AND CLEAR IT CLEARLY.


               BUT THE QUESTION IS UNSIGNED... it must be from a coward. My whole feeling is not to
           answer it. Because if you cannot even declare your name, you are afraid -- even to ask a question
           you are afraid -- you don't want to expose yourself, even before me....
               My feeling is not to answer it, but the question is good -- the person may be a coward. So I am
           not answering the questioner, I will answer the question.
               The mind can look at things always in two ways, remember it. The mind can look in a negative
           way, the mind can look in a positive way. And the religious person is one who tries to find out the
           positive door because through the negative you never reach to the real.
               The real is always positive. And the positive person uses even the negative to find the positive --
           but the goal remains the positive.
               For example, this happened. I told you: Wait for the towel. It will descend like a God on
           somebody's head. But it descended on the floor. Now there are two possibilities: one, either nobody
           is ready to receive it; or, so many are ready that the towel is in a difficulty. But the negative mind
           always looks from the negative.
               That's what I would like to say to you: I have many more Mahakashyaps than Buddha had and
           the towel was in a difficulty. Worried, it hit the beam -- where to descend? on whom? It would have
           been unjust to choose one and not to choose the other.
               In the whole history of humanity there has never been such laughter as there is around me. When
           Buddha was holding the flower in his hand only one sannyasin, Mahakashyap, smiled. Hence, the
           flower was transferred to him. All were long-faced people, sad... must be thinking esoterically "What
           does it mean?" It means nothing! It is simply a meaningless gesture.
               Mahakashyap laughed, looking at the whole ridiculousness of it. He laughed, not at the flower;
           he laughed, not at Buddha -- he laughed at all those fools who had surrounded him there. They were
           just thinking, "What is it?" And they must have been going round about in their heads and spinning
           theories and looking into scriptures and into memories in the past: "Has there been any precedent?"
           And they must have been trying to find out some hidden meaning in it. There is nothing hidden in it.
               A Buddha is as open as a flower. There is nothing hidden in it. Buddhists have a saying from
           Buddha that there is nothing hidden in existence -- from the very beginning there is nothing hidden.
           Everything is just in front of you. Just you need to open your eyes.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Seeing the whole absurdity of the so-called great scholars who surrounded Buddha -- great
           pundits, logicians -- Mahakashyap laughed. Buddha called him and gave him his flower. And he said
           to his disciples: "Whatsoever can be said I have told to you. That which cannot be said I transfer to
           Mahakashyap."
                Now, for two thousand five hundred years those foolish scholars and pundits are again thinking:
           "What happened?" They are again thinking: "What transpired between Buddha and Mahakashyap?
           What was delivered?"
                In Zen the Masters give this as a koan. They say to their disciples: "Sit silently and find out the
           answer why Buddha chose Mahakashyap, why Mahakashyap laughed, why the flower was given to
           him, and what Buddha means when he says, 'That which cannot be said, I am delivering it to
           Mahakashyap. And that which can be said I have told to you.'"
                Of course, truth cannot be said, so Buddha is delivering truth to Mahakashyap. And all that can
           be said about truth is again a beautiful lie. So Buddha has told lies to others and truth has been given
           to Mahakashyap. And Mahakashyap was not one of the most prominent disciples, not at all. In fact,
           nobody hears his name except in this story.
                Sariputta was a great scholar; Modgalayan was a great scholar; Ananda was the chief disciple --
           and there were many. Mahakashyap? Nobody had ever heard about him. Must have lived a very
           silent life, unobtrusive, unpretending; must have been a nobody. But only a nobody can laugh. And
           he must have seen through the whole stupidity of the scholars.
                Zen Masters say to their disciples: "Think about it, meditate over it, contemplate, and bring the
           answer." And disciples go and meditate and bring answers -- and all answers are wrong. One day,
           after years it happens, sometimes after twenty years.
                There are stories on record that a disciple meditated for twenty years, came again and again,
           every month, twice a year, then once a year; will find a great answer, will create a philosophy around
           it, and will bring it to him and the Master will say, from the very beginning, just seeing the disciple,
           he will say, "Wrong!" And he has not said anything yet. Because it is not a question that you can
           bring an answer to -- your face shows it, that you are serious. And he will say, "Wrong."
                The disciple becomes very worried and he says, "But what does this mean? I have not even said
           anything." And the Master will say "It is not a question of saying or not saying -- the way you come,
           the way you hold your head, the way your face looks: the question is still there. You cannot deceive
           me."
                Then twenty years pass, and one day he comes; giggling, and the Master says, "So you have got
           it?!"
                Now the seriousness has disappeared. Now he has understood the point: it is not a question of
           philosophy. He has understood the point that for these nineteen years he has been following not
           Mahakashyap, but Saripuna, Modgalayan, Ananda -- those serious faces. Now he has understood
           that it is nothing... it is just a joke. Buddha played a game. And only a Buddha can play such a
           beautiful game.

               NOW YOU ASK WHY THE TOWEL DID NOT DESCEND ON SOMEBODY'S HEAD. I have
           so many laughing Mahakashyaps and very few Sariputtas, very few scholars and pundits. My whole
           effort is to bring laughter to religion. I would like you to laugh your way to God. And unless you
           reach laughing, you will not be allowed, you will not be welcomed, you will not be accepted.
               And I would suggest one thing to you: if you go to God, rather than taking a prayer with you,
           take a joke. He always waits for people who can tell a good joke to Him. And then He laughs, and in
           His laughter is grace, and in His laughter is benediction.
               But for the next time, I would like the questioner to sign his name. People would have enjoyed
           your name, they would have laughed. At least don't deceive here -- you deceive everywhere.

               A man threw a rupee to a blind beggar, who expertly retrieved it. The man was astonished. "I
           thought you were blind!" And there was a sign in front of the beggar: I am blind.
               "No, sir, I am not that blind beggar who usually sits here. Today is his day off and he has gone to
           see a movie. In fact, I am his friend; I am just tending his shop. Really, I am deaf and dumb."

              This is how things are. You go on deceiving. You go on pretending that you are somebody else.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You have many faces -- and your original face is lost in your so many masks. And unless you
           recognize your original face, you will not be able to reach anywhere. You will not have any meaning
           to your life. You will miss this opportunity.
               This life is only for those who are real. Your facade, your mask, has to be dropped. My whole
           effort is to go on hammering so that it becomes a little loose and your real face starts coming up.
           You will be surprised yourself, because your real face is the face of God Himself.
               The mask is yours, the falsity is yours. Ordinarily you don't exist as a real person -- you are a
           mythology, you are a myth, not reality. This word 'mythology' is beautiful; it comes from a Latin
           root MYTH; and MYTH comes from a Sanskrit root MITHIA. MITHIA means the false, the unreal,
           the fictitious. From MITHIA comes MYTH; from MYTH comes 'mythology'.

                You are a myth, you are a mythology. You are just a fiction, you are not real. And how can the
           fiction meet God? The fiction can meet only another fiction. Only the real can meet the real, the
           similar can meet the similar. So drop your masks, come into the open.
                When I ask that your question should be signed, that simply means that you accept that the
           question is yours, that you accept the responsibility of asking it. And if I ridicule the question, I
           prove that the question is stupid, you accept it, that it is your question, and you accept the ridicule.
           And you are not hurt about it. Because this is a surgical operation! If you start crying and weeping
           and you don't allow me to operate, then take your fee back -- because then it is meaningless! Why
           are you lying down on the operation table?
                The day you become a sannyasin you will remain on the operation table -- until I have succeeded
           in cutting off your head completely.
                But you are very clever, you are very political. But remember that the politician is the most
           stupid man.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

              Mulla Nasrudin decides he needs a new brain, so he goes to the brain bank. The caretaker shows
           him the bottled brain of a great mathematician, for 6000 rupees only. "Too expensive," Mulla says.
           The caretaker leads him to the brain of a nuclear physicist, for 9000 rupees. "Much too expensive,"
           Mulla replies. Finally the caretaker offers him the brain of a politician, for 20,000 rupees. "Why
           should I pay that kind of money for the brain of a politician?" Mulla protests.
              "But, sir," the caretaker explains, "this brain has never been used."

               The politician never uses his brain. To deceive, much brain is not needed. To be true, much brain
           is needed. To cheat, not much brain is needed -- very ordinary, very low I.Q. But to be honest, to be
           true, to be totally nude, in the open, great intelligence is needed.

           The third question:


              WHY DO YOU APPEAR TO GIVE MORE ATTENTION TO WESTERNERS AND, ON THE WHOLE,
              TO ALMOST IGNORE INDIANS? -- I AM THINKING ESPECIALLY OF WHEN YOU GIVE SANNYAS.


               THIS QUESTION IS VERY IMPORTANT and has to be understood both by Indians and
           non-indians.
               When a Westerner comes to me I have to approach him through his head, because there is no
           other entry possible. When an Indian comes to me a simpler approach is possible through the heart.
           When an Indian comes to me he comes for SATSANG -- he wants just to be in my presence. He has
           no questions.
               And those Indians who have questions, they never come to me. I have created too many barriers
           for them to come. Those Indians whose minds are too much stuffed, they don't come to me -- and I
           don't want them here. I have made every possible effort to prevent them from coming to me. I am not
           interested in them.
               The Indians who come to me, come to be with me -- silently. They can understand the language
           of silence. But when a Westerner comes, he cannot understand the language of silence. He can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           understand only the language of logic. So I have to talk -- I have to talk too much to the Westerners.
           By and by, I persuade them to become silent. By and by, they also become Indians. But it takes time.
               For a spectator it may appear as if I am not paying attention to the Indians. And the question is
           from a Westerner -- the question is from Anurag. You may see that when an Indian comes to take
           sannyas, I simply give him sannyas. Even if I ask him whether he has something to ask, he says no.
           Sometimes I don't even ask him -- I can see that he has not come to ask any question. He has come to
           be with me. And that is far more significant, far more deep. He has come just to see me, just to be
           with me. He wants a bridge in silence.
               But to a watcher it will seem that I am not paying much attention, because when I talk then you
           think I am paying attention. When I talk for half an hour to one person, of course, you think I have
           been too much attentive to him. That simply shows that the person is too much in the head and I
           have to persuade him.
               The Western mind is only mind -- it has forgotten the heart. The Eastern mind is not only mind --
           the heart is still predominant, fortunately; the mind is secondary. So there is no need to talk much.
           He touches my feet and he is happy, he is tremendously happy -- he has touched something real, he
           has touched something from the unknown. To a Westerner it seems just meaningless: Then why have
           you come? -- just to touch the feet? just to sit silently? Silently you can sit at your home. Then why
           did you travel so far?
               The Westerner knows only one way of communication and that is through language, through
           logic, reason. I have to convince him. The Indian needs no conviction. He is convinced about the fact
           of sannyas. If he has not taken sannyas, it is not that he is not convinced -- it is only that he is not
           courageous enough. He wants a little courage.
               Convinced he is! Convinced he is for many lives -- that sannyas is the only way to be, to be
           rightly in existence. Sannyas is the only way to reach God, to reach truth, he is convinced. That is in
           the blood and in the bones. An Indian is born with the desire to be a sannyasin. He may not be able
           to dare -- that's another thing. So when he comes to me, he has not come for any conviction --
           conviction is already there -- he has come to me just to feel my vibe, so that he can gather a little
           more courage and take the jump.
               When a Westerner comes, he is not convinced at all. Sannyas? Seems just outlandish, bizarre,
           eccentric! For the Westerner, sannyas simply has no appeal. He has never thought about it.
               So many Western sannyasins are here: have you ever had any dream in your life that you would
           become a sannyasin? Even now that you have become a sannyasin, you are puzzled -- what has
           happened to you? What are you doing here? -- such an intelligent person, what is he doing here?
               Ask Heeren: he is continuously thinking, such an intelligent person, almost a Jew, what is he
           doing here? He should be somewhere in the London market earning more and more money, having
           bigger and bigger houses -- what is he doing here? Just jumping and dancing like a fool!?
               The Westerner comes to me without any conviction, without any idea of what sannyas is. I have
           to talk him into it. I have to pull him into it. And I have to be very logical. I use logic only for
           Westerners. For Indians I use magic. And these are two different approaches.

           The fourth question:


              LATELY I FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN THROWING US BACK ON OURSELVES MORE AND MORE.


               WHERE ELSE SHOULD I THROW YOU? That is the only place! That's where you belong.
               The whole effort of a Master is to bring you back home, to throw you back to YOURself, to
           make you that which you are meant to be, to help you to be yourself. If there is some teacher who
           pretends to make you somebody else, beware! Escape from him. He is like poison. He will destroy
           you.
               I am not trying to make you into something else that you are not. I am simply helping you to be
           yourself -- whosoever you are, whosoever Allah wills you to be. I can only cooperate with the will of
           Allah; I am not here to interfere. Whatsoever you are going to be, whatsoever your destiny is, I
           simply help you towards that destiny. I don't interfere.
               One day, suddenly, you will see you have become absolutely independent, absolutely your own
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           authentic being. That will be the day for my happiness, and that will be the day for your gratitude.
           You will feel grateful. THAT day you will understand why I continue to throw you back to yourself.
           I don't want to become a crutch to you. I would like your own limbs to be strong enough -- I don't
           want to be a crutch. I don't want to become your eyes, because that will be impossible. You will be
           deceived.
                I don't want to give you what I know. In the first place, it cannot be given. In the second place, if
           it is given it is immediately corrupted. The moment it reaches you, it mixes with you, it is corrupt.
                Knowledge is possible only when your eyes open, when it is your own vision, when you have the
           clarity. I am not giving you answers -- I am simply trying to take away the questions. Remember it! I
           am not giving you any answers; that's why my answers are so elusive, so roundabout. I simply want
           to take away the thorn of question from your heart.
                My answer is just a trick. Once the questions have disappeared, you are the answer. And there
           are not many answers, remember -- there is only one answer because there is only one life and there
           is only one question. Because you don't know the one answer you go on asking a thousand and one
           questions.
                I am not supplying you any answers. In fact, I am pulling away the very earth beneath you. I will
           leave you hanging into the abyss, the bottomless abyss. You will be scared.
                My whole work is to help you not to get scared, to help you to keep courage -- because once you
           allow yourself to fall into the abyss... the questionless mind, the thoughtless mind is an abyss,
           because it is a no-mind. When the question is not, where is the mind? Then the mind has
           disappeared. And with the mind disappears the ego. And with the mind disappear I and you. With the
           mind disappear the Master and the disciple. With the mind disappear all distinctions. You start
           falling.
                If you allow me and if you cooperate with me, I would help you to fall like a feather... slowly,
           into the empty abyss of being.... That is the answer!
                The answer is your being. The questions come from your mind. The mind is not your being. Be
           mindless. Be beyond mind.
                You would like to cling to me, because that is very cheap and easy. You can throw all your
           responsibility on me. You can say, "Now, you take care." And you can go on living your life the way
           you were living.
                That's what people do in the world: they choose a Master, they surrender, and they say, "Now, I
           am finished -- now you take care of me." And they go on living the same way! The same dishonesty,
           the same distrust, the same falsity, the same myth -- they continue; as if they have done all that they
           were needed to do. This won't help.
                Surrender is not throwing away of responsibility. Surrender is simply an indication of trust, that
           you trust this man. Now whatsoever HE is going to say, you are going to do. Surrender is the
           beginning of a great effort! Surrender is the beginning of a great journey. Surrender is getting into
           the stream.
                When you surrender to me, you simply surrender to me so that I can make you yourself. You
           have tried in your own way and you have failed. You have tried and followed many people and you
           have failed -- because those people were not interested really in you; they were interested in their
           own idea. Somebody was trying to make you become a Christian. Somebody was trying to make you
           a Hindu. Somebody was trying to change you into a Mohammedan. They were interested in their
           own ways. They had their own ideas to impose on you. You were victims. With me, I am not trying
           to make you a Christian or a Hindu or a Jain or a Buddhist -- I am simply trying to make you just the
           one that you are, that you are meant to be, that God wants you to be.
                That's why I go on answering different people in different ways. Later on you will not be able to
           figure out what type of man this was, what manner of man this was. If you look through all of my
           books, you will not be able to sort it out -- what system? There is no system -- because my approach
           is individual. I say one thing to one person, and immediately just the opposite to another person.
                Just last night, to one I said, "You become a Buddhist monk -- be completely out of your
           sexuality, forget about it." And immediately after him, to another person I said, "You indulge -- you
           move into relationship." Now, it will be difficult for anybody to sort out what type of system this is.
                My approach is individual. I talk to one person, then I forget the whole world. And when I talk to
           the person, I am not important -- that person is important. When I talk to a person, I don't talk out of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           an ideology, I don't have a ready-made system; I don't try to fix that person in that system, because
           that will be inhuman, that is violence.
               And whenever you find a saint trying to fix you into some system, trying to force you into some
           system, remember, he is a murderer, he is very violent. His violence may have a sugar coating to it --
           all your so-called mahatmas are like that, very violent, tremendously violent people; trying to fix you
           into a mould. The mould is prefabricated. The mould was already there when you were not there;
           when you come, the mould is there -- you have to fit with the mould.
               When you come to me, I have no mould. I don't fit you into something. I simply look into you
           and I try to see where your innermost energy is moving, and I help it to move in that direction. That
           is your way. That's where you should be. You are not courageous to move into it; I help you, I give
           you courage. I give you a promise that "I am with you, you go -- you don't be worried." But I help
           you to be yourself.
               And to me religion means freedom to each individual, absolute freedom to each individual. Of
           course, in that freedom a great discipline is implied -- but that discipline has to arise out of your own
           consciousness; it has not to be imposed by anybody else. But right now, when you are in the process,
           you will not be able to understand it totally. The day you arrive, then you will understand what this
           man was doing to you. You will feel grateful.
               There is a story about a Chinese monk who was celebrating. Somebody asked, "Why are you
           celebrating? What has happened?"
           He said, "This is my Master's birthday."
               The Master had died, but the questioner was worried. He said, "But as far as I remember, you
           approached that Master many times and he always refused to become your Master -- so why are you
           celebrating? Because this ceremony is to be done only by a disciple who has been accepted by the
           Master. So why are you bothering? In fact, he rejected you so many times!"
               The man started laughing. He said, "Because he rejected me, I fell upon myself. And the day I
           realised my being, I felt grateful to him. He is my Master. If he had not rejected me I might not have
           arrived -- because in fact I was trying to find some support, somebody to lean on. I was not really
           interested in becoming absolutely individual and free.
               "I was talking about liberation, but I was not really trying to be liberated. I was trying to find a
           beautiful cage, a beautiful prison -- some holy prison, some religious pattern. But this man was
           simply incredible! How many times I approached him! -- and he would just throw me out, and he
           would say, 'Go home! I am not your Master.' And now I know he was my Master and this was his
           teaching. His rejection was his acceptance, because he could see through me that this was the only
           way I could grow. That's why he rejected me. But by rejecting me he accepted me."
               Can you see the point of it? I will go on throwing you upon yourself. Sometimes you will feel
           hurt. Sometimes a great pain will arise in you. But one day, finally when you come home, you will
           be thankful that I never became a crutch to you.

           The fifth question:


              YOU MADE ME REALISE I WAS A COWARD AND I ACCEPTED IT AND WAS HAPPY. NOW I AM
              GETTING A FEELING THAT I AM BECOMING BRAVE, AND I AM SCARED.


               IT IS FROM RAJ BHARTI. He is an army man, and of course he used to believe that he is a
           brave man. But he may have entered the army only to have this feeling of being a brave man. He is a
           colonel so he has credentials; he can prove that he is brave. But I looked into him and I saw that he
           was a coward -- and he was brave enough to accept it. He accepted it without any complaint, without
           any grudge. He accepted it totally. That was beautiful.
               When he accepted it, that very moment I knew that now he would become brave -- because this
           is the beginning of bravery. Only a brave man can accept that he is a coward. Cowards can never
           accept it. Cowards try to prove that they are brave.
               I had one teacher who continuously tried to prove that he was a very brave man. I approached
           him and I said, "You stop this nonsense. You talk so much about bravery that I have a suspicion that
           you are a coward -- and if you don't stop it, I will create trouble."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "What do you mean?"
                I said, "That you leave to me -- but you STOP immediately, because I know you are a coward. I
           have seen you trembling in the class. When you enter the class you perspire -- and you talk about
           bravery?! You immediately stop it! Otherwise, you will have to prove that you are a brave man, and
           it is going to be difficult."
                Not only did he stop, he simply disappeared. He resigned from his post. After a few years, when
           I was in the university, I came across him at a railway station. I said, "Where have you been?"
                He said, "You are dangerous. I am really a coward -- but when you said that I would have to
           prove my bravery and I started thinking about it, I said I better get out from here."
                Colonel Raj accepted it so simply, so innocently -- that very moment he started becoming brave.
           This is the logic of life. It is a very absurd logic. A coward goes on trying to prove that he is brave; a
           brave man accepts even his cowardice. A violent man tries to become non-violent; a really
           non-violent man accepts all violence that is inside him.
                A very sexual man goes on trying to become celibate; a real celibate accepts all the sexuality that
           is in him. A sinner goes on pretending to be a saint. A real saint is one who knows how many
           possibilities of getting into sin are still alive in him.
                Now he says: "Now I am getting a feeling that I am becoming brave, and I am scared."
                Again you are getting into the old rut. When you were a coward you accepted that you were a
           coward and you started becoming brave. Now you have started feeling that you are brave and you
           are becoming cowardly -- you are scared. See the logic of it.
                Never claim that you are brave and you will remain brave. Never claim that you are beautiful and
           you will remain beautiful. Never claim that you are wise and you will remain wise. The moment you
           claim, you have fallen into the trap again.
                The Upanishads say: The one who knows never says that he knows. The one who says he knows
           does not know.
                So see the game of the mind. Just watch. Don't start believing that you are brave, otherwise you
           will become a coward again. But if you can watch this whole game, and you can remain just a
           witness, then cowardice, bravery, all disappear -- and that which is left is the real you. It is neither. It
           is transcendental.

           The sixth question:


              YOU TELL US EVERY DAY TO SURRENDER, YET IT STILL DOESN'T HAPPEN -- WHY NOT? I
              REALLY WANT TO LET GO, YET TRYING DOESN'T WORK, NEITHER DOES NOT TRYING. WHAT
              TO DO AND WHEN, IF EVER, WILL IT HAPPEN ?


               IT IS NOT A QUESTION OF YOUR DOING or of your not doing -- because not-doing is also
           your doing. It is not a question of doing at all! -- positively or negatively. When you are neither
           doing nor not doing, then it happens.
               You move from one polarity to the other. First you try to do; when it doesn't happen you say,
           "Okay, so I will not do now -- let us see whether it happens or not." But the expectation is the same.
           It was behind doing, now it is behind non-doing. You are expecting it to happen. You are desiring it
           to happen. You are hoping for it to happen.
               Unless the DESIRE disappears, unless the hope is abandoned, it will not happen. Surrender
           happens only when the desire, the hope, disappears. In total abandon it happens.
               So neither your doing nor your non-doing is needed, because both are not different basically.
           Behind both is the same desire.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

               Mulla Nasrudin had to drive his wife and mother-in-law from Bombay to Poona, and all along
           the way the two women in his life were giving advice on how to drive.
               Finally Nasrudin couldn't take it any more and pulled the car to the side of the road, furiously
           turned to his wife in the back seat and whined, "Alright. Now let's get this straight once and for all.
           Who's driving this car? You.... or your mother?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               But whether the mother decides or the wife decides it is all the same: somebody else is deciding.
           Whether you try to let it happen by doing, or you allow it to happen by not doing, you don't allow
           God any chance.
               Surrender is a gift from God. When you are completely absent, neither doing nor not doing, it
           happens. But it has nothing to do with you, so you can completely forget about it. You simply do
           your ordinary things: eat, sleep, walk, dance, sing, love -- you do your ordinary things and you just
           forget all about surrender. One day, suddenly, it is there.
               Doing the ordinary things of life, not waiting for any extraordinary happening, not waiting for
           some miracle, one day it is there. It is simply there. One morning you rise and it is there -- your
           whole room is full of a benediction. And after that, you cannot lose it; there is no way to lose it.
           Because, really, in surrender what actually happens is that your own nature comes to a flowering.
           But it is a gift from God. Even pray not for it, because in your prayer also there will be desire.

           The seventh question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              I WENT IN SEARCH OF MULLA NASRUDIN AND COULD NOT FIND HIM. SO, UPON YOUR
              SUGGESTION, I LOOKED UP SWAMI YOGA CHINMAYA AND ASKED HIM WHY YOU THREW
              YOUR TOWEL. HE GAVE A HALF-HOUR-LONG DISCOURSE ON THE DEEPLY SYMBOLIC AND
              HIGHLY ESOTERIC REASONS. I CAME AWAY LAUGHING.
              OSHO, YOU TRICKED US AGAIN! SWAMI YOGA CHINMAYA IS MULLA NASRUDIN.


               HE IS TRYING HARD BUT HE IS NOT YET. It is a very difficult thing to be Mulla Nasrudin.
               To be Mulla Nasrudin means two things: Be foolish in your wisdom and be wise in your
           foolishness. It is a very great contradiction. Be wise in your foolishness and be foolish in your
           wisdom. Yoga Chinmaya is trying -- hard; but he has only been able to do the second part up to now.
           The first part is more difficult. If he goes on working hard at it, he may succeed.
               You should be aware of the fact that Mulla Nasrudin is a Sufi device. It is to make you clear that
           life is wise in its foolishness. And when you try to be wise you become a fool. The greatest wise
           people are like fools. And the greatest foolish people are those who pretend that they are wise.
               Socrates has said, "When I was not aware, when I was ignorant, I used to think that I knew.
           When I was ignorant I used to think that I knew! Now that I know, I know only one thing -- that I
           know not."
               In the tremendous flowering of wisdom, one becomes a fool. Jesus is a fool! Saint Francis is a
           fool! Buddha is a fool! Their ignorance is profound, their ignorance is ultimate. In their ignorance
           they declare that the life is a mystery -- immeasurable, infinite. There is nobody to solve it. It is not a
           problem to be solved: it is a mystery to be lived. In their ignorance they have become absolutely
           innocent. That is their wisdom.
               Then you go to the great philosophers -- Hegel, Kant, Aristotle, Plato -- they prove that they are
           very wise. That is their foolishness.
               If you have to choose, choose the fool and you will become wise. Don't choose to pretend
           wisdom, otherwise you will become a fool.

               One day I was walking with Mulla Nasrudin on the road. It suddenly started raining. I told Mulla
           Nasrudin, "Mulla, it is raining. Open your umbrella!"
               He said, "Wouldn't do any good -- it is full of holes."
               So I was surprised. I said, "So why, why are you carrying it? Why did you bring it in the first
           place?"
           He said, "I didn't think it would rain."

               There's this busy hospital clinic where patients can come for free medical treatment. Lots of
           elderly people who have nothing to do just come to tell the doctor their troubles. Mulla Nasrudin
           went every day. There was nothing wrong with him. But the doctors humoured him, listened
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           patiently, and actually looked forward to his visits. One day he didn't show up. Next day, his doctor
           asked, "Where were you yesterday? -- we missed you."
               "I'll tell you the truth," he replied. "I was sick."

               Mulla Nasrudin is so content and so happy, I asked one day, "What is your philosophy,
           Nasrudin? How do you avoid worries?"
               He said, "This is my philosophy in short. Life is very simple. The first thing to remember about
           life is -- don't worry about it. Really, there are only two things to worry about: either you're
           successful or you're not successful. If you're successful, there's nothing to worry about. If you're not
           successful, there are only two things to worry about: either you're healthy or you're unhealthy. If
           your health is good, there's nothing to worry about. If your health is bad, there are only two things to
           worry about: either you're going to live or you're not going to live. If you live, there's nothing to
           worry about; and if you don't live, you have only two things to worry about. Either you are going to
           heaven or you're not going to heaven. If you go to heaven, there's nothing to worry about -- and if
           you go to the other place, you'll be so dog-gone busy shaking hands with all your old friends, YOU
           WON'T HAVE TIME TO WORRY."

              I bless Swami Yoga Chinmaya and hope that one day he will become Mulla Nasrudin. The day
           one becomes Mulla Nasrudin, one has arrived home.

               The drunk Mulla Nasrudin was stopped by a policeman as he staggered about the street at three
           o'clock in the morning.
               "Can you explain why you are out at this time?" asked the policeman.
               "If I could," said the Mulla, "I would be home by now."

               If you knew what life is, you would be home by now. All esoteric explanations, all explanations
           as such, are foolish.
               Chinmaya is doing well as far as fifty percent of Mulla Nasrudin is concerned. All explanations
           are foolish, because all so-called wisdom is foolish. But this is how one grows. The other fifty per
           cent will also be coming -- when foolishness becomes wisdom.

           The last question:

    BELOVED OSHO,

              VERY MYSTERIOUS THINGS ARE HAPPENING.... A TOWEL HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE
              QUESTION BOX AND WE DON'T KNOW FROM WHERE IT HAS COME!
              COULD YOU PLEASE ENLIGHTEN US.


               CERTAINLY, MYSTERIOUS THINGS ARE HAPPENING. That's what Swami Yoga
           Chinmaya said to his chief disciple, Priya, just two days ago -- that many mysterious things are
           happening. And he said the day before yesterday, "The day after tomorrow many more mysterious
           things are going to happen." Today is that day after tomorrow, and now this has happened.
               Now it is absolutely difficult to use logic -- I will have to use magic. Let me give myself a little
           moment, a little time, to use my magic....

               The towel is from a woman -- Indian not Western; married not unmarried; a sannyasin. Her name
           starts with 'u'. And if you want more information about her, you can inquire care of Colonel Raj
           Bharti.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                    Chapter #9
                                     Chapter title: Away with the Passions!
           29 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610290
              ShortTitle: TRANS309
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "THERE WAS ONCE A MAN WHO, BEING IN DESPAIR OVER HIS INABILITY TO CONTROL HIS
              PASSIONS, WISHED TO MUTILATE HIMSELF. THE BUDDHA SAID TO HIM, 'BETTER DESTROY
              YOUR OWN EVIL THOUGHTS THAN DO HARM TO YOUR OWN PERSON. THE MIND IS LORD.
              WHEN THE LORD HIMSELF IS CALMED, THE SERVANTS WILL OF THEMSELVES BE YIELDING.
              IF YOUR MIND IS NOT CLEANSED OF EVIL PASSIONS, WHAT AVAILS IT TO MUTILATE
              YOURSELF?' "
              THEREUPON, THE BUDDHA RECITED THE GATHA:
              "PASSIONS GROW FROM THE WILL, THE WILL GROWS FROM THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION:
              WHEN BOTH ARE CALMED, THERE IS NEITHER SENSUALISM NOR TRANSMIGRATION."

              THE BUDDHA SAID,
              "THIS GATHA WAS TAUGHT BEFORE BY KASHYAPABUDDHA."

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "FROM THE PASSIONS ARISES WORRY, AND FROM WORRY ARISES FEAR. AWAY WITH THE
              PASSIONS, AND NO FEAR, NO WORRY."


               MAN IS IN MISERY, and man has remained in misery down the centuries. Rarely can you find
           a human being who is not miserable. It is so rare that it almost seems unbelievable. That's why
           Buddhas are never believed. People don't believe that they ever existed. People can't believe it. They
           can't believe it because of their own misery. The misery is such, and they are entangled into it so
           deeply, that they don't see that any escape is possible.
               The Buddhas must have been imagined -- people think -- Buddhas are dreams of humanity.
           That's what Sigmund Freud says: Buddhas are wish-fulfilments. Man wants to be that way, man
           desires to be out of misery, man would like to have that silence, that peace, that benediction -- but it
           has not happened. And Freud says there is no hope -- it CANNOT happen by the very nature of
           things. Man cannot become happy.
               Freud has to be listened to very keenly and very deeply. He cannot be simply rejected outright;
           he is one of the most penetrating minds ever. And when he says that happiness is not possible, and
           when he says that hoping for happiness is hoping for the impossible, he means it. His own
           observation of human misery led him to this conclusion. This conclusion is not that of a philosopher.
           Freud is not a pessimist. But observing thousands of human beings, getting deeper into their beings,
           he realised that man is made in such a way that he has a built-in process of being miserable. At the
           most he can be in comfort, but never in ecstasy. At the most we can make life a little more
           convenient -- through scientific technology, through social change, through better economy, and
           through other things -- but man will remain miserable all the same.
               How can Freud believe that a Buddha has ever existed? Such serenity seems to be just a dream.
           Humanity has been dreaming about Buddha.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This idea arises because Buddha is so rare, so exceptional. He is not the rule. Why has man
           remained in so much misery? And the miracle is that everybody wants to be happy. You cannot find
           a man who wants to be miserable, and yet everybody is in misery. Everybody wants to be happy,
           blissful, peaceful, silent, everybody wants to be in joy, everybody wants to celebrate -- but it seems
           impossible. Now, there must be some very deep cause, so deep that Freudian analysis could not
           reach it, so deep that logic cannot penetrate it.
               Before we enter into the sutras, that basic thing has to be understood: Man wants happiness,
           that's why he is miserable. The more you want to be happy, the more miserable you will be. Now this
           is very absurd, but this is the root cause. And when you understand the process of how the human
           mind functions you will be able to realise it.
               Man wants to be happy, hence he creates misery. If you want to get out of misery, you will have
           to get out of your desire for happiness -- then nobody can make you miserable. Here is where Freud
           missed. He could not understand that the very desire for happiness can be the cause of misery. How
           does it happen? Why in the first place do you desire happiness? And what does it do to you, the
           desire for happiness?
               The moment you desire for happiness, you have moved away from the present, you have moved
           away from the existential, you have already moved into the future -- which is nowhere, which has
           not come yet. You have moved in a dream. Now, dreams can never be fulfilling. Your desire for
           happiness is a dream. The dream is unreal. Through the unreal, nobody has ever been able to reach to
           the real. You have taken a wrong train.
               The desire for happiness simply shows that you are not happy right at this moment. The desire
           for happiness simply shows that you are a miserable being. And a miserable being projects in the
           future that some time, some day, some way, he will be happy. Out of misery comes your projection.
           It carries the very seeds of misery. It comes out of you -- it cannot be different from you. It is your
           child: its face will be like you; in its body your blood will be circulating. It will be your continuity.
               You are unhappy today; you project tomorrow to be happy, but tomorrow is a projection of you,
           of your today, of whatsoever you are. You are unhappy -- the tomorrow will come out of this
           unhappiness and you will be more unhappy. Of course, out of more unhappiness you will desire for
           more happiness in the future again. And then you are in a vicious circle: the more unhappy you
           become, the more you desire for happiness; the more you desire for happiness, the more unhappy
           you become. Now it is like a dog chasing its own tail.
               In Zen they have a certain phrase for it. They say: Whipping the cart. If your horses are not
           moving and you go on whipping the cart, it is not going to help. You are miserable, then anything
           that you can dream and anything that you can project is going to.bring more misery.

                So the first thing is not to dream, not to project. The first thing is to be herenow. Whatsoever it
           is, just be herenow -- and a tremendous revelation is waiting for you. The revelation is that nobody
           can be unhappy in the herenow.
                Have you ever been unhappy herenow? Right this moment you are facing me: is there any
           possibility of being unhappy right now? You can think about the yesterday and you can become
           unhappy. You can think about tomorrow and you can become unhappy. But right this very moment,
           this throbbing, beating, real moment -- can you be unhappy right now? without any past, without any
           future?
                You can bring misery from the past, from the memory. Somebody insulted you yesterday and
           you can still carry the wound, you can still carry the hurt, and you can still feel unhappy about it:
           Why? Why did it happen to you? Why did the man insult you? And you have been doing so much
           good for him, and you have been always a help, always a friend -- and he insulted you! You are
           playing with something that is no more. The yesterday is gone.
                Or you can be unhappy for tomorrow. Tomorrow your money will be finished -- then where are
           you going to stay? Where are you going to eat? Tomorrow your money will be finished! -- then
           unhappiness enters in.
                Either it comes from yesterday, or it comes from tomorrow, but it is never herenow. Right this
           moment, in the now, unhappiness is impossible. If you have learnt this much, you can become a
           Buddha. Then nobody is hindering your path. Then you can forget all the Freuds. Then happiness is
           not only possible -- it has already happened, it is just in front of you. And you are missing it because
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you go on looking sideways.
               Happiness is WHERE you are; wherever you are, happiness is there. It surrounds you. It is a
           natural phenomenon. It is just like air, just like sky. Happiness is not to be sought: it is the very stuff
           the universe is made of. Joy is the very stuff the universe is made of. But you have to look direct,
           you have to look in the immediate. If you look sideways then you miss.
               You miss because of you. You miss because you have a wrong approach.

                THIS IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH Buddha brought to the world. This is his
           contribution. He says: Go on dying to the past and never think of the future -- and then try to be
           miserable. You will fail. You cannot be miserable. Your failure is absolutely certain; it can be
           predicted. You cannot manage, howsoever efficient you are in being miserable, howsoever trained,
           but you cannot create misery this very moment.
                Desiring for happiness helps you look somewhere else, and then you go on missing. Happiness is
           not to be created -- happiness is just to be seen. It is already present. This very moment, you can
           become happy, tremendously happy.
                This is how it happened to Buddha. He was the son of a king. He had everything but was not
           happy. He became more and more unhappy -- the more you have, the more unhappy you become.
           That is the misery of a rich man. That's what is happening in America today: the more rich they are
           getting, the more unhappy they are becoming; the more rich they are getting, the more they are
           completely at a loss what to do.
                Poor people are always certain about what to do: they have to earn money, they have to make a
           good house, they have to buy a car; they have to send their children to the university. They always
           have a programme waiting for them. They are occupied. They have a future. They have hope: some
           day or other.... They REMAIN in misery, but the hope is there.
                The rich man is in misery and the hope has also disappeared. His misery is double. You cannot
           find a poorer man than a rich man; he is doubly poor. He remains projected in the future, and now he
           knows the future is not going to supply anything -- because whatsoever he needs, he has it. He
           becomes troubled, his mind becomes more and more anxious, apprehensive. He becomes anguish.
           That's what happened to Buddha.
                He was rich. He had everything that it was possible to have. He became very unhappy. One day
           he escaped from his palace, left all the riches, his beautiful wife, his newly born child -- he escaped.
           He became a beggar. He started seeking for happiness. He went to this guru, to that guru; he asked
           everybody what to do to be happy -- and of course there were a thousand and one people ready to
           advise him and he followed everybody's advice. And the more he followed their advice, the more
           confused he became.
                Buddha tried whatsoever was said to him. Somebody said: "Do HATHA yoga" -- he became a
           HATHA yogi. He did yoga postures and he did them to the very extreme. Nothing came out of it.
           Maybe you can have a better body with HATHA yoga, but you cannot become happy. Just a better
           body, a more healthy body, makes no difference. With more energy you will have more energy at
           your disposal to become unhappy -- but you will become unhappy. What will you do with it? If you
           have more money, what are you going to do with it? -- you will do that which you can do. And if a
           little money makes you so miserable, more money will make you more miserable. It is simple
           arithmetic.
                Buddha dropped all yoga. He went to other teachers, the RAJA yogis, who teach no body
           postures, who teach only mantras, chantings, meditations. He did that too, but nothing came out of it.
           He was really in search. When you are really in search then nothing can help, then there is no
           remedy.
                Mediocre people stop somewhere on the way; they are not real seekers. A real seeker is one who
           goes to the very end of the search, and comes to realise that all search is nonsense. Searching itself is
           a way of desire -- that he recognized one day. One day he had left his palace, he had left his worldly
           possessions; after six years of spiritual search, he dropped all search. The material search was
           dropped before, now he dropped the spiritual search. This world was dropped before, now he
           dropped the other world too.
                He was completely rid of desire... and that very moment it happened. THAT very moment there
           was benediction. When he was completely rid of desire, when he had lost all hope, the future
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disappeared -- because the future exists because of your hope. Future is not part of time, remember.
           Future is part of your hope, desire; future is part of your greed. Future is not part of time.
               Time is always present. Time is never past, never future. Time is ALWAYS here. The now is
           infinite. The time never goes anywhere and never comes from anywhere. It is already here and
           always here. It is your greed, it is your desire, it is your hope, that some way, in some situation, you
           are going to be happy.
               All desire dropped, all hope dropped, all hope abandoned, suddenly Gautam Siddartha became a
           Buddha. It was always there but he was looking somewhere else. It was there, inside, outside. It is
           how the universe is made. It is blissful, it is truth, it is divine.
               Man remains miserable because man goes on missing this fundamental truth about his desiring.
           This has to be understood, then these sutras will be very simple.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              "THERE WAS ONCE A MAN WHO, BEING IN DESPAIR OVER HIS INABILITY TO CONTROL HIS
              PASSIONS, WISHED TO MUTILATE HIMSELF. THE BUDDHA SAID TO HIM, 'BETTER DESTROY
              YOUR OWN EVIL THOUGHTS THAN DO HARM TO YOUR OWN PERSON. THE MIND IS LORD.
              WHEN THE LORD HIMSELF IS CALMED, THE SERVANTS WILL OF THEMSELVES BE YIELDING.
              IF YOUR MIND IS NOT CLEANSED OF EVIL PASSIONS, WHAT AVAILS IT TO MUTILATE
              YOURSELF?'"


               MANY THINGS TO BE UNDERSTOOD. First: a great misunderstanding exists about Buddha
           that he was anti-body. That is absolutely wrong. He was never anti-body. He was not FOR the body,
           that's true; but he was never anti-body. This sutra will make it clear. He says:

              "THERE WAS ONCE A MAN WHO, BEING IN DESPAIR OVER HIS INABILITY TO CONTROL HIS
              PASSIONS, WISHED TO MUTILATE HIMSELF."


               And there have been many persons like that, not only one person. Millions of people have
           destroyed their bodies in the search for truth, God, ecstasy, or whatsoever you call it. Millions of
           people have concluded that the body is the enemy. There is a certain logic in it.
               People think it is because of the body that you are in misery. People think it is because of the
           body that you have sexuality; it is because of the body that you have greed; it is because of the body
           that you need money; it is because of the body that you need relationship. People think it is because
           of the body that the whole trouble arises, so why not destroy the body? why not commit suicide?
               There have been many religious sects which are suicidal, which really teach suicide; which say,
           "This body has to be dropped. If you are courageous enough, then in one leap, drop this body. If you
           are not courageous, then slowly, in parts, cut the body, drop the body."
               There was a VERY popular sect in Russia before the revolution -- it was very popular -- that
           used to teach people to cut their sexual organs. And there were thousands and thousands of people
           who followed it -- just to mutilate the sexual organs. The idea is that by cutting the sexual organ you
           will go beyond sex. This is simply foolish, because the sex does not exist in the sexual organ -- it
           exists in the mind. You can cut the sexual organ and sex will still exist in fact, now it will become
           more neurotic because there will be no way to fulfil it.
               There have been sects all over the world which teach fasting. Once in a while, once a month,
           fasting can be of help, can be very healthy, can be a cleansing process. But to go on long fasts is
           destroying the body. But there have been sects: in Buddha's time there was this sect of the Jains
           which was obsessed with the idea of fasting. "Go on fasting -- one month, two months, three months
           -- and if you die while you are on a fast, you will reach to the highest heaven."
               Why did this idea of fasting become so deep-rooted? Food and sex seem to be the two obsessions
           of man. And the people who think, "How to get out of the misery?" think these two things are the
           reasons why they are miserable. In fact, just the opposite is the case.
           I have heard:

               One airline received this letter: "Gentlemen -- may I please suggest that your pilots do not turn
           on the little light that says 'Fasten Seat Belts', because every time they do, the ride gets bumpy."
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Now you can misunderstand the effect for the cause and the cause for the effect -- and it seems
           logical! This man who wrote the letter, must have watched again and again: whenever it is
           announced that you should fasten your seat belts, suddenly the ride gets jumpy, bumpy, rough. He
           had watched it many times. He must have been a professor of logic. Watching it again and again:
           whenever the light comes on and the announcement, immediately something goes wrong. His
           suggestion is very logical -- and yet absurd. The announcement comes only because the ride is going
           to be bumpy. The announcement is not the cause; the announcement does not create it. It is going to
           be bumpy -- the announcement tries to help you.
               But it happens in ordinary life too. Your mind is sexual. The cause is there. The body simply
           follows it. But when the body follows then you become aware. You are not yet so aware that you can
           see it when it is in the mind. When it enters into the body, it becomes very solid -- then you become
           aware. Your awareness is not sharp. You cannot catch it in the cause. When it has already moved
           into the effect, then you catch it.
               You catch it when it is already beyond control. You catch it only, you become alert about it only,
           when it has already become solidified.
               There are three states of any idea arising in you. First, the idea is wordless; it is not formulated in
           thoughts. That is the subtlest thing. If you can catch hold of it there, you will become free of it. The
           second stage is when it has entered into words; it is formulated -- there is a thought arising in you.
           People are so sleepy that they don't become aware even at the second stage. When the thought has
           become a thing, when it has already entered into the gross body and the body has become possessed
           by it, then you become aware. It simply shows your unawareness.
               Hence Buddha says if you really want to get rid of the misery, the pain, that life that is almost
           like hell, you have to become more and more aware. The more aware you become, the deeper the
           cause you can see. The deeper the cause known, the more capable you become to get out of it. If you
           can catch some desire when it has not even entered into your conscious mind, and it is still just a
           feeling with no words, just in the unconscious striving to get to the conscious, there it is very simple
           to stop it.
               It is just like: you can throw a small seed very easily. There is no trouble about it. But when it
           has taken root and has become a great tree, it will be difficult to uproot it.
               First the idea arises in the innermost core. Then it enters into the mind. Then it enters into the
           body. You feel it only when it has entered into the body. There are even more sleepy people who
           don't even feel it there. When it has entered into the world, then they feel it.
               For example, anger arises first in your deepest core, wordless, undefined. Then it comes to be a
           thought. Then it enters in your body; adrenaline and other poisons are released in the bloodstream --
           you are ready to kill somebody or beat somebody, bite somebody. You are getting mad. But you may
           not even become aware. When you hit somebody it has entered into the world. That is the fourth
           stage. Then you become aware: "What have I done?"
               Haven't you observed it many times? When you have hit somebody -- your child, your friend,
           your wife -- then suddenly you become aware: "What have I done? I never wanted to do it! It has
           happened in spite of me," you say. This simply shows your unawareness.
               Go deeper and catch hold of anything arising in the first step. And then it is so easy -- just like
           you can destroy a seed very easily, but to destroy a tree will be difficult. And when the tree has sent
           its millions of seeds into the air, then it is almost beyond your control. The winds have taken the
           seeds to faraway fields; now it is impossible to find out where they have fallen. Now the tree is not
           one; it has created many possibilities of its own being. It will be imitated in many fields.

               BUDDHA SAYS THAT DESTROYING THE BODY IS NOT GOING TO HELP. If your eyes
           make you desirous of beautiful women or beautiful men, it is not going to help if you destroy your
           eyes.
               There is a story in India about a saint, Surdas. I don't think it is true. If it is true then Surdas is not
           a saint. Surdas can only be a saint if the story is untrue. I am ready to say that the story is untrue; I
           cannot say Surdas is untrue. He is so authentic, his insight is so pure -- then the story must be wrong.
               The story is: Surdas left the world. He was moving in a town. He saw a beautiful woman -- he
           followed almost as if a magnet was pulling him. Started feeling guilty too! He is a sannyasin,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           renounced the world -- what is he doing? But he was incapable of controlling himself, so the story
           goes.
                He went to the woman, he asked for food -- but that was just an excuse. Then he started to go to
           the same woman every day: just to have a look at her face, just to have a look into her eyes, just to
           have a little contact. He started dreaming about her. The whole day he was continuously thinking
           and fantasizing, and was waiting for the next day when he would be able to go to the woman again.
                Then, by and by, he became aware that he was getting into a trap. And the story says that
           because it was his eyes that made him aware of the beauty of the woman, he destroyed his eyes and
           became a blind man.
                I say, and I say it categorically, this story is simply invented -- because this is so foolish! Surdas
           cannot do it. It must have been invented by other blind people; it must have been invented by other
           stupid people who always go on inventing stupid things. It is stupid because eyes cannot do anything
           -- it is the mind. It is the mind that approaches through the eyes. It is the mind that approaches
           through the hand.
                When you hit somebody or you kill somebody, it is not the hand that is the murderer -- it is you.
           And it is not going to help if you cut your hand. And you cannot go to the court and say to the
           magistrate, "It was my hand."
                It happened once in a court that a man argued this way. He said, "It is my hand which has killed."
           The magistrate was also very clever and cunning -- they have to be clever and cunning because they
           have to deal with clever and cunning people. They have the same logic.
                The magistrate said, "You are right, you are absolutely logical: you have not killed -- your hands
           have killed. So your hands will remain in the prison. You can go home, but the hands cannot go." So
           the hands were chained and the magistrate said, "Why don't you go now?"
           He said, "How can I go without the hands?"
                And the magistrate said, "If you cannot go without the hands, how can the hands do something
           without you? You are both partners. And in fact the hand is simply a servant -- you are the master."

              "THERE WAS ONCE A MAN WHO, BEING IN DESPAIR OVER HIS INABILITY TO CONTROL HIS
              PASSIONS WISHED TO MUTILATE HIMSELF."


               Buddha is not against the body; he is not anti-body. He cannot be! -- because the body is so
           innocent. It has never done anything wrong. It is so pure; you cannot find a purer thing in existence.
               Yes, one thing is certain, that whatsoever you want to do, the body follows you. It is a servant
           and very obedient. Even if you are going to murder somebody, the body follows; it never says no. If
           you are going to the temple to pray, the body follows. It never says no. Whether you are going to
           commit a crime or going to pray in the temple, the body follows you so obediently, like a shadow.
           No, the body is never responsible.
               And one thing has to be understood about the body. The body is a unique thing in the world;
           nothing can be compared to it. It has one unique situation and that is: it is the only object in the
           world that you can look at from both the sides, from without and from within. If you look at a rock,
           you look from the without. If you look at the moon, you look from the without. Except for the body,
           your body, everything else you look at from the without. Your body is the only object in the world
           you can look at from the without and you can look at from within.
               Hence, the body is the door for the within, the body is the door for the inner journey -- how can
           Buddha be against it? And you can see Buddha's body -- so beautiful, so graceful -- how can he be
           against it? Watch Buddha's statues: he must have loved his body, he must have had tremendous
           compassion for his body. His body is flower-like -- it is a rose-flower or a lotus. No, he cannot be
           against the body.
               And if people interpret that Buddha is against the body, those people are putting their own
           interpretations on him.

               "The Buddha said to him, 'Better destroy your own evil thoughts than do harm to your own
           person. The mind is lord. When the lord himself is calmed, the servants will of themselves be
           yielding.'"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BUDDHA'S WHOLE EFFORT IS TO MAKE YOU AWARE that whatsoever you are, the cause
           is your mind. If you are miserable, the mind is functioning in a wrong pattern. If you are happy, the
           mind is functioning in the right pattern.
               Happiness is nothing but the humming of the mechanism of mind when it functions perfectly.
           When the mind is simply in tune with the universe, you are happy. When the mind goes against the
           nature, against the natural law -- what Buddha calls DHAMMA -- when the mind goes against Tao,
           when the mind goes against the current, when the mind tries to swim upstream, then there are
           problems, there is misery. When the mind simply follows the stream like a driftwood, just goes with
           the stream wherever it is going, it is happy. And one day it reaches to the ultimate, the oceanic bliss.
           There is no need to reach to it, there is no need to make any effort -- effortlessly it happens.
               So Buddha says the basic question is not of the body, and it is not of the soul. The soul has no
           problems, and the body also has no problems. The problem is just in between the two. This mind
           which links the body and the soul is the problem; this mind that bridges the unknown to the known,
           the invisible to the visible, the formless to the form -- this bridge is the only problem. If you can
           solve the mind, suddenly you are at home.
               The mind is the problem. What can we do to change the mind? What can we do to have a better
           functioning mind? Again a desire arises, and again you are in the trap of the mind.
               If I teach to you that you should become desireless and you will be happy, immediately a desire
           arises in the mind: how to become desireless? Immediately you start looking for clues, methods,
           techniques, how to become desireless. Now, to become desireless is again a desire. If I say mind is
           the problem, you immediately ask how to solve it, how to dissolve it, how to get rid of it -- but the
           one who is asking the question is mind itself. And the one who is going to try is mind itself. So
           whatsoever you do you will never get out of the mind by doing anything. Still your question is
           relevant: Then what should we do?
               We should look into the nature of the mind and not try to do anything. Just a great insight into
           the nature of your mind is all that is needed. Let me try to explain it to you.
               Buddha says: Desire and you will be miserable. Suddenly a desire arises: "How to be desireless?
           because we want to be happy and we don't want to be miserable." And desire arises and new misery
           arises. When Buddha says desire creates misery, he means simply to watch how desire arises, how it
           creates misery. Just go on watching. Each desire brings its own misery.
               You are passing down the road; you see a beautiful car just pass by -- a flash -- and a desire
           arises to possess this car. Now you become miserable. Just a moment before you were perfectly
           okay, there was no misery, and here passes this car and misery arises. Buddha says, "Watch."
               Just a moment before you were humming a song and going for a morning walk. And everything
           was beautiful: the birds were singing, and the trees were green, and the morning breeze was cool,
           and the sun was fantastic -- everything was beautiful. You were in a poetic world full of joy and
           verve and gusto, and you were juicy and you were part of this beautiful morning. Everything was
           simply just as it should be... and there passes a car.
               It is not that the owner of the car has come to disturb you; he may not even be aware about you.
           He is not trying to create any misery for you -- don't be angry at him. It is not that the car is creating
           misery in you, because how can the car create misery in you? It is your desire.
               Seeing the car a desire arises: "I should become the possessor of the car; this car has to be in my
           garage." And suddenly, trees are no longer green, birds are no longer singing, the sun is no longer
           there -- it is already sunset. From morning the sunrise has disappeared; everything is dismal and
           dark. You are full of desire, you are surrounded by smoke. You have lost contact with life --
           immediately! Just a flicker of desire and you are millions of miles away from beauty, from truth,
           from joy.
               Just watch. Buddha says simply watch. Stand by the side of the road -- watch: what has
           happened? Just a small desire arising and you are thrown into hell, and you were almost in heaven.
           You change from heaven to hell so many times in twenty-four hours; you don't watch.
               People come to me and they ask, "Is there any heaven? Is there any hell?" And I am surprised
           because they go on shunting like a goods train between heaven and hell -- continuously! Just a
           second is needed, a split second -- in no time they are in hell and in no time they are in heaven.
               Just watch how desire brings hell, how desire is hell. And then don't ask how to attain to
           desirelessness, there is no need. If you have looked into the nature of desire and you have felt it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           brings misery, that very understanding will be the dropping of desire. Just go on watching. If it is not
           dropping that simply shows that your insight is still not deep enough, so make your insight deep.
               And it is not a question that somebody else can enlighten you about -- it is your desire and only
           you can watch. I cannot watch your desire. You cannot watch anybody else's desire. It is your private
           world. Hell or heaven are private things. And within a split second you can shift from one to another.
           Just watch....
               Buddha's word is 'watch'. Be watchful. Don't create any desire for desirelessness, otherwise you
           are simply behaving in a very stupid way. Now you are creating a new desire -- and this will create
           misery. You simply go into the nature of the desire, look deep into it. Watch... how it creates
           darkness, how it brings misery, how suddenly it takes you, overpowers you. Just go on watching.
               One day it is going to happen: a car will pass by and before the desire has arisen you will become
           watchful, and suddenly a laughter will come to you. You have become watchful; the desire has not
           arisen. It was just going to be, it was just ready to jump upon you and take you to hell -- but you
           were watchful. And you will feel so happy.
               For the first time you will have a key. You will know now that just being watchful, the desire has
           not arisen, the car has passed. The car has nothing to do with desire. Desire arises because you are
           unconscious, unaware, sleepy; you are living the life of a somnambulist, drunk.
               Awareness is desirelessness. Awareness of the desire brings desirelessness. And this key has to
           be used to open many locks.
               If you are greedy, don't ask how to get rid of it -- because that is greed again, under another
           name, in another form. You have heard saints, mahatmas, you have read scriptures, and they say if
           you are greedy you will go to hell. Now a greed arises to go to heaven. And those scriptures go on
           saying that in heaven everything is just beautiful, fabulous. They create greed. And now you ask how
           to get rid of greed because a new greed has arisen in you: how to achieve heaven? how to enter
           paradise? how to live there for ever and ever, eternally, ecstatically, blissfully? Now this is a new
           greed.
               This is not the way. The Buddha's way is really the best that has ever been brought to earth. The
           Buddha's way is the most penetrating and the most revolutionary way possible. He says; watch
           greed. Just watch greed and see what it is and how it creates misery for you. In that watching, a light
           will start arising in you; your inner flame will burn bright, and the darkness of greed will disappear.
               And the same with violence, the same with anger, the same with possessiveness -- and the same
           with ALL that makes you miserable.

               A maidservant happened to belch in front of her master -- of course, the master must have been
           Western because in India nobody takes any notice of belching -- the master became very angry and
           was going to strike her, but seeing her young and beautiful body his anger suddenly abated, and he
           took his pleasure with her.
               The next day when he was in his study there was a knock on the door. It was the maidservant.
           "What is it? What do you want?"
           "Please, sir, I belched again a little while ago."

               NOW, ONCE YOU TASTE SOMETHING, whatsoever it is, the desire arises again and again to
           repeat it. Whatsoever you have known in your past, you go on asking for again and again in the
           future. Your future is nothing but your modified past. Your future is nothing but the desire to repeat
           your past.
               And, of course, if you live a bored life, nobody else is responsible for it but you. You ask for
           boredom. And boredom is misery. You ask for boredom because you ask for repetition. Something
           happened; for example, you were sitting, and the first star of the evening was becoming visible. And
           you watched. And it was a quiet evening; and it was cool and birds were returning back to their
           nests. And it was silent and it was very musical and you were in tune. Just watching the star
           becoming visible you felt beautiful. Now, you have tasted something -- you will gather it like a
           treasure. THIS treasure will make you miserable.
               First, you will hanker for it again and again. That hankering will create misery. And it cannot be
           repeated by your hankering, remember -- because it happened only because there was no hankering
           in you. You were simply sitting there not knowing what was going to happen. It happened in a state
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of innocence. It happened in a state of non-expectation. It happened because you were not looking
           for it. That is a basic ingredient in it. You were not looking, you were not asking. In fact, you were
           not desiring -- you were simply there. Suddenly you became aware: the first star. And IN that
           moment when you became aware of the first star, you were not thinking that it was happiness,
           remember that too. That comes later on; that is a recapitulation. In that moment you were simply
           there -- not happy, not unhappy, nothing. These words don't mean anything. Existence is so vast that
           no word is meaningful about it.
                But then it is gone and there remains a memory. And you say again and again, "It was beautiful
           -- how beautiful! how divine!" Now a desire arises to repeat it every evening. Next day you are
           waiting again, but now the whole situation has changed: you are waiting for it, you are looking for it.
           You want to repeat the old experience. Now, this is something new which was not present in the
           previous experience. So this won't allow you. You are looking too much. You are not relaxed; you
           are tense -- you are afraid you may miss the first star. You are apprehensive. You are worried
           whether it is going to be again or not. It is not going to be.
                First, it is not possible now because you have lost that innocence, that unexperienced state where
           no memory existed, where past was not, where future was not. Secondly, if some day it is repeated it
           will be boring because it will be a repetition. You have already known it. The beauty is in the new, it
           is never in the old. The beauty is in the fresh, it is never in the dead. The beauty belongs to the
           original, never to the carbon copy. The beauty is when an experience is firsthand, not secondhand.
           Now, if it happens at all, it will not make you happy; it will be a secondhand experience. And
           remember: God is never secondhand. God is always fresh.
                To know that God in the beauty of the evening, or in the beauty of a bird on the wing, means you
           have to be absolutely innocent. The past has to be completely dropped and the future is not to be
           allowed to interfere. Then, and only then, there is beauty and there is benediction, there is blessing,
           there is happiness and bliss.
                Once you experience something, you start asking for it, you become a beggar. Then it will never
           happen. And you will carry the memory like a wound.
                Have you watched it? Watch it: whenever you are happy, in that moment you don't know it is
           happiness. It is only afterwards, when the experience is gone, faded away, is no more, then mind
           comes in and starts looking for it, starts comparing, evaluating, judging, and says, "Yes, it was
           beautiful! so beautiful!" When the experience itself was present, mind was not present.
           Happiness is when mind is not.
                And when mind comes in, happiness is no more there. Now there is only a memory, a dead
           memory. Your lover is gone; you are just carrying a letter written by your lover. The flower has
           faded; just an image in your mind. This image will not allow happiness to enter again in your being
           -- this image will be the barrier, will be the rock.
                Buddha says: Don't carry the past and don't ask for the future -- just be herenow. And then there
           is no-mind. And the body simply follows that no-mindness.
                Right now the body follows the mind, and the mind is the culprit -- and you go on punishing the
           body. It is almost like a small child: he comes running into the room, gets hit by the door, becomes
           angry at the door, starts beating the door -- as if the door is the culprit.
                Not only children but even grown-up people do such things. You are writing and your
           fountain-pen is not flowing well; you become angry and you throw it on the floor -- you punish the
           fountain-pen! And still you think man is rational? And still you believe man is a rational being?
                When you come home angry, have you watched? You open the door in such anger, you bang it.
           Now, the door has not done anything to you.
                It happened once: A man came to see a Zen Master; he banged the door, he threw his shoes. He
           came to the Master, bowed down, touched his feet. The Master said, "I cannot accept your greeting.
           You first go and ask the door to forgive you, and the shoes."
                The man said, "What are you talking about?! Do you want me to become a laughing stock?" --
           and there were so many people sitting around.
                The Master said, "If you don't do this then I am not going to allow you to be here -- you simply
           get out! If you can insult the door and if you can insult the shoes, then you have to ask for their
           forgiveness. When you insulted them, then you never felt that you were doing something ridiculous?
           Now you feel ridiculous? Go and do it!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the man went. He asked -- first he looked a little foolish, felt a little foolish, and people were
           watching -- but he asked to be forgiven. He said, "Sir, please, I was not conscious and I have done
           something wrong unconsciously, forgive me." And he was talking to the shoes and to the door, and
           when he came back he was a totally different man.
               The Master took him close and hugged him. And the man said, "It is tremendous! When I was
           asking to be forgiven, first I looked foolish, then suddenly I felt so good -- I have never felt. I
           actually felt they have forgiven me. I felt their compassion and their sympathy and their love."

              You go on behaving in such unconscious manners. That unconscious mannerism of your
           behaviour is all that Buddha means by the word 'mind'. Mind is your sleep. Mind is your absence.
           And if the body follows this mind, this sleepy, drunk mind, don't get angry at the body.

              "THE MIND IS LORD. WHEN THE LORD HIMSELF IS CALMED, THE SERVANTS WILL OF
              THEMSELVES BE YIELDING."


                When the mind is calm it becomes no-mind. No-mind and a calm mind mean exactly the same
           thing; they don't mean two different things. A calm mind, a cool mind, is a no-mind -- because mind
           is the fever. Mind is the continuous anxiety, tension, the disease -- yes, the disease is the mind. When
           the disease has disappeared, you function from a state which is of no mind, and then the body
           follows it.
                The body is a follower. If you have mind, the body follows the mind; if you have no-mind, the
           body follows the no-mind.
                But don't start fighting with the body. Don't be stupid.

              "IF YOUR MIND IS NOT CLEANSED OF EVIL PASSIONS, WHAT AVAILS IT TO MUTILATE
              YOURSELF?" THEREUPON THE BUDDHA RECITED THE GATHA: "PASSIONS GROW FROM
              THE WILL, THE WILL GROWS FROM THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION: WHEN BOTH ARE
              CALMED, THERE IS NEITHER SENSUALISM NOR TRANSMIGRATION." THE BUDDHA SAID,
              "THIS GATHA WAS TAUGHT BEFORE BY KASHYAPABUDDHA."


               BUDDHA SAYS,"There have been millions of Buddhas before me and there will be millions of
           Buddhas after me."
               This is something very new in the world of religions.
               Mahavir says, "There have been only twenty-three TEERTHANKARAS before me, and there
           will be no TEERTHANKARA any more."
               Mohammed says, "There have been only four prophets before me and there will be no prophet
           any more after me."
           Jesus says, "I am the only begotten son of God."
               Buddha is rare. He says, "There have been millions of Buddhas before me, and millions of
           Buddhas will be after me." And this seems to be truer -- because only twenty-three
           TEERTHANKARAS in the whole infinity? Then what about Ram, then what about Krishna? They
           are not included in the Jain TEERTHANKARAS.
               Mohammed says, "There have been only four prophets before me" -- then what about Mahavir?
           and what about Krishna? and what about Buddha? They are not included in it.
               And Jesus says, "I am the only begotten son." This looks absurd, that God should have only one
           son. And what has He been doing afterwards? Following birth control? This looks absurd, and
           creates fanaticism. Then the Christians think they are superior because they are the followers of the
           only son that God has. Others are prophets, at the most, if they recognize them at all. But theirs is the
           only son of God. That creates ego, superiority.
               Hindus say they have only twenty-four AVATARAS. A few centuries ago they had the idea of
           ten avataras. Then they expanded it a little -- mm? -- because Jains were claiming twenty-four
           TEERTHANKARAS so there was great competition. So they said, "Okay, we will also have
           twenty-four." The number twenty-four became very standard; even Buddhists started saying that
           there are only twenty-four Buddhas. And when TEERTHANKARAS are twenty-four and Buddhas
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are twenty-four then to have only ten AVATARAS looks a little poor. So Hindus extended the idea;
           they dropped the idea of ten AVATARAS; they also claimed they have twenty-four AVATARAS.
           But what about Mahavir? What about Adinatha? They are not included.
               Buddha includes all. He is tremendously inclusive. And he creates no superiority; he says
           millions of Buddhas have been before and millions will be afterwards. The world has never lacked
           Buddhas -- and that is how it should be! because to be a Buddha is just to be aware of your nature. It
           is nothing special. It looks special because you have not tried it; otherwise it is your own treasure, it
           has only to be claimed.
               And look at the beauty of it: Buddha claims nothing special for himself. He says many Buddhas
           have been, millions; and millions will be afterwards. Look at the beauty of his declaration: about
           himself he is saying, "I am just one in millions -- nothing special about me!" This is how a really
           religious person should be: nothing special, very ordinary. When there are millions of Buddhas, then
           how can you be special? You can be special if there is a limited number.
               There was much conflict, because when Mahavir claimed that he was the twenty-fourth, there
           were eight others who were claiming that they were the twenty-fourth. There was trouble! Nobody
           was ready to believe in the other, and there are no ways to prove it really. How can you prove who is
           the real TEERTHANKARA?
               A few chose Gaushalak and followed him; a few chose Mahavir and followed him. A few chose
           others -- Ajit Keshkambal, Sanjay Vilethiputta, and there were other claimers -- how do you decide?
           Christians say that Jesus is the only son of God -- and Jews crucified him. How do you decide? They
           thought he was a cheat.
               Jews are also waiting for a Messiah, they have been waiting for centuries, but they never allow
           anybody to become that Messiah -- because then for whom will they wait? They are hoping and
           hoping and hoping, and they have waited so long that now it has become habitual for Jews -- they
           don't allow anybody. Jesus claimed; many others have claimed after Jesus -- but whosoever claims
           that "I am the Messiah" has to be destroyed, has to be rejected, has to be proved a cheat.
               The Messiah is certainly to come, but they don't allow anybody to claim it. Centuries of waiting
           and they have become addicted. Now they will wait -- even if God comes they will crucify Him,
           because they will say, "Who wants you? We love waiting, we exist in our hope." Jews go on hoping.
               But everybody tries -- Jews think they are the chosen race, that God has chosen them specially;
           Hindus think they are the chosen race; Jains think they are the chosen ones. Buddha is rare. Buddha
           says there were millions of Buddhas before, countless. In fact, he has said that if you count the grains
           of sand in the Ganges, there have been more than that many Buddhas before, and there will be more
           later on. This makes his own stature very ordinary, but this is his beauty.
               Not to claim for any extraordinariness is what extraordinariness is. And when you claim, when
           you claim you are superior, you are simply showing that you suffer from an inferiority complex.
               Now, Mohammed says there will be no prophet any more. Why are you closing the door? Now if
           somebody claims "I am the prophet," Mohammedans will kill him -- because Mohammed has closed
           the door. But who is he to close the door? The door belongs to nobody, or it belongs to all. How can
           he close it?
               And why in the first place this idea? Mahavir thinks he is the last, Mohammed thinks he is the
           last, Jesus thinks he is the last -- then what do you mean by this? You simply don't allow evolution,
           you don't allow any new idea to evolve. You close the door, you make a closed dogma, so that
           nobody can disturb the dogma
               Buddha keeps all doors open: he says millions.... He remembers this GATHA from some past
           Buddha, Kashyapabuddha was his name. He says, "This gatha was told by Kashyapabuddha."

              "PASSIONS GROW FROM THE WILL, THE WILL GROWS FROM THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION:
              WHEN BOTH ARE CALMED, THERE IS NEITHER SENSUALISM NOR TRANSMIGRATION."


               THE WILL MEANS THE EGO. The will means to fight against existence. Whenever you see
           somebody fighting upstream, you say, "He is the man of will-power." What do you mean by
           will-power? All will is against God. You fight with it. You try to do something which is not in the
           nature of things. You try to force something. If you are violent with nature, then you have will.
               Many people come to me and they say, "Osho, somehow help us to have more will-power."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Why? Am I your enemy? Should I help you to become more mad? Will-power? But in the West,
           will-power is very important; because the whole West thinks that to have a strong ego is a must, you
           should have will-power, you should develop will-power. Thousands of books exist in the market on
           how to develop will-power. And they are sold, because people want to be more and more refined in
           their egos.
               Buddha says: "PASSIONS GROW FROM THE WILL... desires grow from the will." The I, the
           ego, is the root of your mind. Your whole mind is centred around the I.
               "THE WILL GROWS FROM THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION..." Thought comes from the
           past; imagination means movement in the future. Whatsoever you have experienced, thought, learnt,
           that is your ego. And whatsoever you want to experience in your future, would like to have in your
           future, is your will. These are two aspects of the same phenomenon.
               "WHEN BOTH ARE CALMED..." when thought is no more there, means when past is no more
           there, and when imagination, projection, dreaming, future is no more there: "WHEN BOTH ARE
           CALMED, THERE IS NEITHER SENSUALISM NOR TRANSMIGRATION. " Buddha says then
           ALL sensualism disappears; then one is no more greedy for senses and the experience of the senses.
               Remember: by the disappearance of sensualism he does not mean that your sensitivity disappears
           -- you become tremendously sensitive. A sensual person is not a sensitive person; a sensual person is
           very gross, very rough, very primitive. A sensitive person is very developed, highly developed; he is
           very receptive. A sensual person is after pleasure, and the sensitive person is one who knows bliss is
           here and he is open to it, and he goes on being showered by the divine bliss. He soaks it up like a
           sponge. He is sensitive.
               The sensual person is always after something, trying to achieve -- money, power, prestige. The
           sensitive person is simply alive herenow, enjoying the beauty that is available. When tomorrow
           comes then tomorrow will take care of itself.
               That's what Jesus means when he says, "Think not of the morrow." That's what Jesus says when
           he shows to his disciples the lilies in the field and says, "Look, how beautiful they are! And they toil
           not. They are simply here; they don't worry about what is going to happen tomorrow. Even Solomon,
           in all his glory, was not so beautiful," says Jesus, "as these poor flowers of the lilies."
               A sensitive person is a flowerlike person, open to existence, enjoying it -- enjoying it
           tremendously -- but not seeking anything. His search has dissolved. He is not chasing anything.

           I have heard:

               A man lost everything at the casinos in Vegas. He tried every one in town and each was a
           disaster. All he had left now was a Kennedy fifty-cent piece. He kept tossing it in the air -- a la
           George Raft -- as he walked along the street trying to figure out a way to get another stake, when his
           coin slipped out of his fingers and fell into a grating in the middle of the street.
               Our hero was after it like a shot, but before he could grab it he was hit by a taxi and carried off to
           the hospital with a broken leg.
               He was out in a couple of months, and with the settlement from the insurance company he started
           back to the casinos. On the way, he limped past the same grating where he had lost his coin. He
           started to look down to see if he could find it when he was hit by another taxi, and he was back in the
           hospital with his other leg broken.
               "How could you get knocked twice in exactly the same place?" the nurse asked him. "I mean,
           what in the world made you go back to that stupid grating?"
               "That was my good luck charm," he explained, "and I didn't want to lose it."

               People go on chasing, go on being hit every time. Their whole life becomes just wounds and
           wounds and wounds, but again and again they go on chasing the same things -- as if they don't see
           what is happening to them.
               A man of sensitivity remains wherever he is -- and God seeks him. And a man of sensualism
           rushes from here to there, from there to somewhere else, chasing and chasing. And this is the beauty
           of the whole process: if you are chasing God you will never meet Him, because you don't know
           where He is. If you are chasing happiness you will never meet it, because you don't know the
           whereabouts, you don't even know the face of happiness -- even if you come across her, you will not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be able to recognize her. The person who is sensitive simply sits wherever he is and happiness comes
           to him, and bliss comes to him, and God comes to him.
                This is to be remembered: It is not only you who are seeking God -- God is also seeking you.
           And the case is such that He comes and knocks at your door, but you are never there. You are
           somewhere else. He goes on knocking at your door but you are never found there -- because the door
           is in the present and you are in the future or in the past.

           The Buddha said:

              "FROM THE PASSIONS ARISES WORRY, AND FROM WORRY ARISES FEAR. AWAY WITH THE
              PASSIONS, AND NO FEAR, NO WORRY."


                OBSERVE IT. These are not theories. These are facts of life. Buddha is not a theoretician, not a
           metaphysician -- not at all. He is just a scientist of the basic facts of life. He talks only about a fact.
           You need not believe in it. You have simply to watch and you will find the truth of it.
                He says: "FROM PASSIONS ARISES WORRY..." Whenever desire arises, worry arises: how to
           get it? how to reach it? how to achieve? You are worried. When you are worried there are a thousand
           and one alternatives. Then more worry arises: which will be the right alternative to reach to it? which
           will be the right path? And then fear arises: whether you will be able to reach? There are so many
           competitors in the world, and so many people have tried and failed. Look at Alexander and Genghis
           Khan and Nadir Shah -- and so many people have tried, and tried so powerfully, tried so hard, and
           still they have failed. What is the guarantee that you will succeed? Then fear arises. These are simple
           facts!

              A man comes into a store to buy a suit. The salesman tries one jacket on him after another. He
           says to the customer, "Turn around, let's see it in this light; now let's look at it in the rear-view
           mirror; now from this angle, now this angle." Still the man asks to try on other jackets.
              Finally the boss comes up to them and picks out a jacket. The customer puts it on and buys it
           immediately. Says the boss, "See how easy it is to make a sale?"
              "Okay," says the salesman, "you made the sale -- but who made him dizzy?"

               Once a passion is there it will make you dizzy -- worries, apprehensions; what to choose, what
           not to choose; where to go, how to go; what will be the right technique, the right method, the right
           approach? And then the fear: whether you will be able to make it? A constant fear. One becomes
           dizzy.
               Passion is the salesman. And then comes the devil: the boss. Then you are thrown in hell. Desire
           makes you dizzy. And nobody can be certain, nobody.
           I was reading a beautiful anecdote:

               Father O'Malley and Rabbi Cohen were playing golf. On the third hole, Father O'Malley hit one
           into the rough, and he hollered, "Oh, shit!" And he looked up to heaven and said, "Dear Lord, I'm
           terribly sorry. It was an oversight." On the fifth hole he made another terrible shot into the rough.
           Again he shouted, "Oh, shit!" Again he looked up to heaven and said, "Dear Lord, again please
           excuse me. I'm terribly sorry." On the ninth hole, same thing again, into the rough. He hollered "Oh,
           shit!"
               Just then there was a bolt of lightning and Rabbi Cohen was struck and killed. A loud rumbling
           was heard in heaven and a voice saying, "Oh, shit!"

               Even a God can miss! so what is the guarantee of your ever being successful? One goes on being
           afraid, trembling, shaking with fear.
               Passions create worry; worry creates fear -- AWAY WITH THE PASSIONS, AND NO FEAR,
           NO WORRY.
               But people have only passions in their lives, that's why they have only worries and fear and
           nothing else. They come to me -- so many people -- and they want to get some peace of mind, they
           want a way to get OUT of their worries. But if you tell them, "Get out of your passions," then they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are not ready to follow you. They want some mantra, some cheap thing, so they can go on desiring,
           they can go on chasing their passions -- and still remain unworried.
               A politician used to come to me, and he would always say, "Somehow, Osho, help me to have
           some peace of mind."
               I said, "Being a politician you should not ask for it -- it never comes in the way of a politician.
           Peace of mind? If it can happen to a politician, then are the saints fools? What are they doing? Then
           why should they leave ambition? It can never come. Ambition creates tension, worry. You get out of
           your politics!"
               And he would say, "You may be right, but right now I cannot get out of it."
               Then I told him, "Then you be at ease with your tensions, accept them. You are trying to do
           something which is not possible. You want to eat the cake and have it too."
               Then he started going to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. For many days he didn't turn up. One day,
           suddenly we met in a train. I asked him, "You have not been coming to me for many days."
               He said, "What is the point of coming to you? You say get out of politics. Mahesh Yogi is better.
           He says, 'Wherever you are, I will make you more efficient. You are a politician? You will become a
           better politician -- just do TM.'"
               Now that fits, that completely fits. You are not to change anything; just repeating some foolish
           thing -- blah, blah, blah -- and that's all. Twenty minutes you repeat it and wherever you are, all
           success is guaranteed to you, all efficiency is guaranteed to you. Even thieves are doing TM,
           smugglers are doing TM, politicians are doing TM. The smuggler thinks that if he does TM he will
           never be caught, he will become more efficient.
               Meditation is not so cheap. Meditation is a total transformation of your being. And a great
           understanding is needed and a great intelligence.
               Buddha's sutras are only for those who are really intelligent people and who really want to get
           out of the misery that they have created around themselves. It is only for those who are really fed up
           with misery and are ready to get out of the trap.
               It is up to you, it depends on you. You have created it! Once you understand how you have
           created it, it will disappear -- because then you will not be able to create it any more.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
                                                   Chapter #10
                                    Chapter title: While I Am Here, Enjoy Me
           30 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610300
              ShortTitle: TRANS310
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 97 mins



              The first question:


              IT IS A SIGHT FOR GODS TO SEE THAT SO MANY MEN AND WOMEN, MOSTLY YOUNG AND
              INTELLIGENT, FROM ALL OVER THE GLOBE, HAVE GATHERED AT YOUR ASHRAM TO SEEK
              TRUTH AND TRUE RELIGION. BUT AREN'T YOU AT THE SAME TIME LAYING THE
              FOUNDATION OF ANOTHER ORGANIZED RELIGION, A GLOBAL ONE THIS TIME, WHICH WILL
              AGAIN TURN INTO IMPEDIMENTS IN THE WAY OF TRUTH AND RELIGION ITSELF, OR DO
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ORGANIZED RELIGIONS TOO PLAY A POSITIVE ROLE?


               THE FIRST and the most important thing to remember is: never think of the future, and never be
           entangled with the past. While I am here, enjoy me. While I am here, don't miss this opportunity.
               This is mind playing games. You are not enjoying me. You are not delighted -- you are creating a
           worry for yourself. Now the worry is about the future -- who are you to be worried about the future?
           And how can you manage to control it? -- there is no way. The future will take its own course. We
           cannot manage the future in a certain way, that it should be so or should not be so. All efforts have
           always failed.
               Buddha tried that there should not exist any organized religion in his name. He tried that there
           should not be any image made of him, but there are more images of Buddha than anybody else in the
           world. There are a few temples which are called 'thousand Buddha temples' -- one thousand images
           and one. There is one temple in China, a cave temple, which has ten thousand Buddha images.
               Even Buddha couldn't manage it. There is no way to manage it. The only way is to use the
           present, and leave the future for the future. There will be people; we will not be here -- what they are
           going to do with my words, it is their freedom. If they want to make chains out of them, that is their
           freedom. If they want to be liberated by these words, that is their freedom. If they want to make a
           prison out of the temple that we are creating, then it is their freedom! and it is their choice. Who are
           we to interfere?
               Now, Krishnamurti tries to interfere with the future. He thinks continuously about what will
           happen in the future, so no clue should be left for the future, so the religion cannot be organized. But
           to be constantly concerned so much about the future is wrong. Who are we? The future belongs to
           the future and will belong to future generations -- they will do whatsoever they like to do.
               One thing I can say: it is their freedom, whatsoever they do, and I have nothing against them. If
           they want to live in prisons, they will live in prisons. They will find a way to make a prison out of
           anything -- they have always done so.
               I am not concerned with the future at all. I am totally herenow. And this is what I would like you
           to be also, here and now. Whatsoever is transpiring between me and you, don't allow any
           interference. This idea is just a trap of the mind. This is the first thing I would like to say.

               THE SECOND THING: even organized religions play a positive role. The positive role consists
           in provocation, in challenge. Even the prison plays a positive role: it provokes the spirit of the
           courageous; it becomes a challenge for freedom -- it has its role, its function.
               I am not saying to live in the prison. In fact, the prison itself forces you to get out of it. The
           prison itself can be used in a positive way. If you are thrown in a prison, your spirit will continuously
           meditate and think about how to get out of it, how to find ways and means to escape. In a prison the
           courageous soul will start brooding and dreaming about freedom. The bigger the prison, the greater
           the enforced structure of it, the more the challenge will be. Only cowards will accept it.
               But cowards, even if they are out of prison, will remain in prison because they are not going
           anywhere -- they are imprisoned in their cowardice. And the courageous, even in a prison, will try to
           break through, they will try to get out. And in that very effort to get out, a strength is born. In that
           very struggle to get out, a new being is born; they have a new sense of urgency, a new force and
           power.
               Nothing is wrong. But remember, when I say nothing is wrong I am not saying to relax and go to
           sleep in a prison. I am saying the prison can be used in a positive way. Even your home can become
           a prison if you use it in a negative way -- that's what it has become for millions of people. They live
           in their homes, but they live in a prison. They call it their home, but it is their cowardice. They have
           lost the adventure of the soul. They are no longer adventurous. They are no longer wanderers. They
           are no longer interested in the unknown, in the unfamiliar. They always carry their maps wherever
           they go. They always have their guides wherever they go. They live a borrowed life. They don't have
           any passion to live fresh, to live young. They don't have any passion to move into the uncharted
           territory, to go to the ocean, to go into danger, and to face life.
               When you are in danger and you are facing life, you are for the first time in contact with your
           soul. The soul is not cheap. You have to put everything at stake. That's why I say even an organized
           religion can be a positive thing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha was born as a Hindu. Hinduism became the prison. He tried hard to get out of it, and he
           succeeded. Krishnamurti was trained in a certain discipline, was an inmate of a prison called
           theosophy -- but he tried hard, broke out of it, became free of it. If you ask me I will say one thing: if
           there had been no theosophical imprisonment for him in his childhood, it would have been difficult
           for him to become a free man. Annie Besant and Leadbeater and other theosophists created the
           whole situation -- unknowingly, of course, they were not meaning it. They were trying to do
           something else. They were creating a dogma around him, a cult around him. And they were so hard
           upon him that it became really impossible to live in it. He HAD to get out of it. The credit goes to
           those people -- Leadbeater and Annie Besant.
               If the prison had been a little more comfortable, if the prison had not been so hard and if the
           discipline imposed had not been so arduous, if the ideals had not been so superhuman, if he had not
           been asked to play a role so unnatural to him, he might have relaxed, he might have accepted it.
           That's what has happened to you.
               A Christian remains a Christian because Christianity is no longer a great pressure. On Sunday
           you can go to the church -- it is a formality. It remains the life of a non-Christian. You go on
           fulfilling the formalities of being a Christian. Your Christianity is not even skin-deep, and the church
           does not demand much. The church says, "You just come on particular days to the church: when
           your child is born come to the church for the baptism; when somebody dies, come to the church;
           when there is marriage, come to the church -- these three things will do and you will remain a
           Christian. Sometimes on Sundays come and participate in the ritual."
               Nothing much is asked. The prison is not much of a prison. It is almost as if you are free, only on
           Sundays you go to the jail and sit there for one hour and come home and you are again free. Who
           bothers? Who will fight against it? It is so convenient and comfortable.
               That's why so many people are Hindus and Mohammedans and Jains -- nobody is asking. These
           religions are just formal rituals; they don't challenge you. Nothing is at stake. Very difficult to get
           out of them -- because the prison is very lukewarm. You have become adjusted to it. It is so
           convenient and comfortable that you have become adjusted to it. It looks almost like a good policy, a
           good compromise.
               Krishnamurti fell into the hands of a very fanatical group -- theosophists. It was a new religion.
           Whenever a religion is new, it is very fanatical. By and by, it relaxes and compromises and becomes
           just a social phenomenon; then it is no more religion. Theosophy was just in its beginning, and
           Krishnamurti was only nine years old when he fell into the hands of those fanatics. They tried hard.
           They wouldn't allow Krishnamurti to meet and mix with ordinary children -- no -- because they had
           a goal that he had to become the world Teacher, JAGADGURU. He had to become the
           coming-Buddha; he had to become the incarnation of Maitreya.
               He was not allowed to move with any girl, because he might have fallen in love and the whole
           dream of the theosophists would have been shattered. He was constantly guarded. He was not
           allowed to move alone; somebody was always with him, watching him. And he was forced to follow
           very strict rules: three o'clock in the morning he had to get up and take a cold bath; and then he had
           to learn Sanskrit and he had to learn French and he had to learn English and he had to learn Latin and
           Greek -- because a World Teacher should be well cultured, sophisticated. Just a nine-year-old child!
               When he was twelve years old, they started forcing him to write a book. Now what can a
           twelve-year-old child write? In fact, the teacher, Leadbeater, he was writing in his name.
           Krishnamurti would write and Leadbeater would correct it and make it perfect. The book still exists.
           A beautiful book, but you cannot expect it of a boy just twelve years old. It is not from him. Even
           Krishnamurti cannot remember it. When he has been asked he has said, "I don't remember when I
           wrote it -- I don't remember at all how it came into being."
               And they were talking nonsense -- esoteric nonsense: "In his dreams he goes to the seventh
           heaven, and there God Himself is teaching him." And just a twelve-year-old child -- very vulnerable,
           soft, receptive; he would trust. And these people were world-famous; they had great names. And the
           movement was really big and worldwide; thousands and thousands of lodges were opened all over
           the world.
               Just a twelve-year-old boy had become a world-famous personality. Wherever he was going,
           thousands of people would gather just to see him. If you look at those pictures, you feel pity for him,
           compassion. He was continuously in a cage. And it was natural, I think it would have happened to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anybody -- it had nothing to do with Krishnamurti. Anybody in his place, if he had any spirit left,
           would have renounced this whole nonsense, and would have come out of it. It was too much of a
           prison.
               He could not write letters to anybody because he might have made some relationship through the
           letters. A World Teacher needs to be completely unattached. He started feeling a little love for a
           woman who was old enough to be his mother, but even that was stopped. It was nothing to do with
           sexuality or anything; he just started feeling love from the woman. The woman was already a mother
           of three children -- but the theosophists wouldn't allow it. They stopped it.
               He was completely in seclusion, never allowed to move into the outside world. He was not
           allowed to enter in any school, in any college, because there he would meet ordinary people and he
           would become ordinary. Special teachers were appointed; he was taught specially. And all around
           him, just a nine-year-old boy, all around him such big talk -- of Masters, Master K.H. sending
           messages, letters falling from the roof. They were all managed! Theosophists were caught later on --
           they were all managed: the roof was specially made and a letter would drop suddenly, and it was for
           Krishnamurti -- a message had come from the unknown.
               Just think of a small boy.... No freedom allowed became a great urge to be free. One day --
           nobody was expecting it, that he would renounce it -- the theosophists had gathered from all over the
           world for the first declaration in which Krishnamurti was expected to declare that he was the World
           Teacher and that God had entered into him.
               Suddenly, without saying anything to anybody.... He could not sleep the whole night. He
           brooded over it: he has become a slave, and they are all do-gooders; they have made you a slave
           because they want to do good to you; and they love you and their love became nauseating; and their
           well-wishing became poisonous. The whole night he brooded: what is he to do? Whether he has to
           continue and become part of this nonsense, or get out of it?
               And blessed he is that in the morning when they had gathered and they were waiting for God to
           descend in him and to declare that he is now no more Krishnamurti but Lord Maitreya -- Buddha has
           entered in him -- he suddenly declined and he said, "It is all nonsense. Nobody is descending in me. I
           am simply Krishnamurti and I am nobody's Master. And I am not a Jagadguru, not a World Teacher.
           And I dissolve this nonsense and this organization and the whole thing that has been made around
           me."
               They were shocked! They could not believe it: "Has he gone mad, crazy?" They had put much
           hope in him, much money; it was a great investment, years of training. But it was going to be so. If
           he had been absolutely a dead man, then only would he have accepted it. He was alive. They could
           not kill his life, that aliveness exploded.
               If he had been a dull, mediocre mind, maybe he would have accepted -- but he has an
           intelligence, a tremendous awareness. He got out of it. That whole movement and the whole
           organized thing functioned as a positive challenge.

               As far as I see, nothing can hold you. If you are alert, you will use organized religion as a
           challenge. If you are not alert, then organized religion or no organized religion, wherever you are
           you will create an imprisonment around you. You carry it around you -- in your cowardice, in your
           fear, in your urge to be secure and comfortable.

           The second question:


              FOR THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS I BELONGED TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SEVENTH
              DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH, (SATURDAY SABBATH). THOUGH I AM CONCENTRATING IN
              LISTENING TO YOU, I HAVE NOT PASSED THE STAGE OF CONFLICTS. ONE OF THE
              CONFLICTS HAS BEEN WHETHER ELLEN G. WHITE, THE FOUNDER OF THE CHURCH, WAS
              THE MESSENGER OF GOD OR NOT.
              WOULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN IT TO ME.


              EITHER EVERYBODY IS A MESSENGER OF GOD, OR NOBODY. The whole idea that
           somebody is a prophet and somebody is a TEERTHANKARA and somebody is a messenger or a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Christ is absurd. You all come from the same source. We all come from the same root. Nobody is
           special. And this is what a religious man tries to live.
               A religious man is one who sees that he is ordinary. A religious man is one who sees that he is
           exactly the same as others, and he does not pretend to be special -- because the very idea that "I am
           special" is foolish; the very idea that "I am the chosen one" is egoistic. And a religious man cannot
           claim that -- a religious man has no claim.
               He simply accepts and he realises that he is a part of this cosmos as you are a part of this cosmos.
           He never puts himself above you. This is his superiority, that he never puts himself above you. This
           is his 'aboveness', that he never thinks that he is extraordinary or special in some way. He never
           carries the attitude of 'holier than thou'. He knows that you are also gods and goddesses. Maybe you
           don't recognize it -- that's the only difference.
               The difference between me and you is only one: I recognize who I am; you don't recognize -- but
           there is no other difference. You are exactly the same as I am. You are a Buddha asleep, but there is
           no question about any difference. A Buddha is a Buddha, whether asleep or awake. You may not
           have come across your divineness, you may not have tried, you may not have opened the door of
           your inner treasures, but the treasure exists. You may think that you are not special and I am special,
           but how can I think the same way? You may think that -- it is natural.
               People may have thought that Christ was special -- that is natural, because Christ LOOKS
           special. He IS special in a way, because he has recognized his godhood, and in that very recognition
           he has become luminous, a clear light without any smoke, a pure flame. People recognize that he is
           special. But how can Jesus say he is special? In recognizing his own inner flame, in recognizing his
           own inner godhood, he has recognized everybody's godhood -- not only about human beings but
           about trees and birds and animals, even rocks. Even rocks he knows now are gods -- fast asleep,
           snoring. Some day or other rocks will awaken and will become gods!
               You may not see who you are, but I am seeing who you are. The day I recognized who I am, I
           recognized everybody's innermost core. A religious person cannot think he is special. And a
           religious person cannot think that you are condemned, that you are sinners. A religious person starts
           laughing. He laughs at you because you are a saint and thinking yourself a sinner. He laughs at you
           because you are God and thinking yourself somebody else. The whole thing seems to be absurd --
           what a drama! Everybody is having a mask and has completely forgotten his own original face. Your
           original face is God's face.
               So whosoever tries to prove that he is special, whosoever -- Ellen G. White or Reverend Moon or
           Satya Sai Baba -- whosoever says that he is special is simply asserting that he has not yet known.
               Satya Sai Baba said, "How can ants know the depth of the ocean?" Now this is foolish, this is
           stupid, because ants are as much gods as Satya Sai Baba. If you ask me whether Satya Sai Baba is a
           god or not, I will say yes, he is a god -- he is a FRAUD god but God all the same. He is a magician
           god, he is lost in magic. Somebody may be a fool, then he is a foolish god -- but I cannot deny that
           he is a god, I cannot say that. Everybody is God playing different roles.
               You cannot say that somebody else is just like an ant -- even ants are not ants. That's what a
           religious person recognizes. He said, "Dogs can go on barking but the stars will not fall down." Now
           you are looking at the dog in a very condemnatory way. And 'dog' is nothing but 'god' read
           backwards. And who is dog? About whom are you talking? Dogs exist not, because a dog is also a
           god -- pretending to be a dog, playing the game of being a dog.
               A religious person, one who has come home, recognizes that the whole existence is divine,
           unconditionally divine. There are not 'gods' and 'not gods' -- the whole existence is made of one fibre
           and that fibre is divinity.
               But there are people who go on searching new trips for the ego. Sometimes it is money,
           sometimes it is politics, sometimes it is religion, but the search is the same -- the ego. And religion
           happens only when there is an ego-loss; when the ego is lost, when the ego is shattered, and you are
           suddenly there with no idea of any 'I'. You are, but there is no 'I' in it.
               I am not saying become humble, because the ego can even try that -- it tries! It can become
           humble. It can pretend to be humble, but then look in the humble man's eyes: he says "I am nobody,"
           but he is waiting for you to say "You are the greatest man." He says, "I am humble, I am just dust on
           your feet," but don't accept him. Don't say, "Yes, we know -- we have always known. You are not
           saying anything new to us," otherwise he will never be able to forgive you. He will take revenge.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He's not saying that you have to accept it. In fact, he is saying, "Look -- how humble I am! Look,
           here is the most humble man in the world!" But the game is the same: "I am the most humble man in
           the world -- but 'I' am."
                Somebody says, "I am the richest man in the world." Somebody says, "I am the most powerful
           man in the world." Somebody says, "I am the most humble man in the world." Where is the
           difference?
                I am not saying become humble. Ego can become humble. I am talking about ego-loss. You have
           to see into the ego: its complexity its subtle games. You have to become aware of all its games. One
           day when you have looked into all its games, it simply disappears. Just by looking into them, just a
           clarity, just an awareness, and it disappears. It disappears as darkness disappears when you bring
           light into the dark room. Just bring awareness.
                I am not saying practise humility, and I am not saying become a humble man. I am saying,
           whosoever you are, just bring light to your life, bring a little more awareness, and you will see that
           ego is like darkness disappearing. One day when there is no ego, there is no humbleness either.
                A really religious person is neither humble nor egoistic -- he is simple. A humble person is very
           complex: he has practised humility. Anything practised is always complex, and anything practised is
           always false. Anything practised means simply a pseudo thing.
                Practice means you are imposing something upon yourself which is not there inside you in the
           first place. Otherwise, what is the need of practising it? If you have understood, you have understood
           -- there is no need for practice. Practice simply means you are trying to substitute understanding with
           practice. But nothing else is going to help except understanding, awareness.
           I have heard:

               Jesus is about to walk on the waters of the Dead Sea. He begins walking on the sea, and he turns
           to his disciples and says, "Trust in me, come follow me, and walk on the sea." Eleven of his disciples
           begin to follow him. Only Thomas remains behind on the shore.
               When the others inquire of him, Thomas explains that he had better stay dry as the cold waters
           are liable to affect his rheumatism.
               Jesus turns his head and says to Thomas, "Thomas, trust in me. Come follow me and walk on the
           sea."
               So Thomas begins to walk and is quickly in water up to his knees. Thomas cries, "Jesus! Jesus!"
               And Jesus once again says, "Trust in me, come follow me and walk on the sea."
               This goes on with Thomas calling for Jesus' help as Thomas continues to walk on.
               When the water has reached to the chin of Thomas, Peter turns to him and says, "Thomas, why
           must you always be different? Why can't you walk on the stones like everyone else?"

               THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN'T ALLOW THEMSELVES to be like everyone else. They
           have to be special in some way or other. This is a disease, a neurosis.
               You canNOT be different. Basically, we all belong to one consciousness. All differences are
           superficial, just on the surface. Of course, you have a different skin and I have a different skin.
           Somebody has a white skin and somebody has a black skin, and somebody has a different nose, and
           somebody has a different colour to his eyes, and somebody has a different colour to his hair -- but
           deep down, the deeper you go, the more we are the same.
               The English word 'self' is very beautiful. Its original meaning is 'same' -- self means the same.
           You use the words 'myself', 'himself', 'herself', 'themselves'. Myself, yourself: 'my' is different, 'your'
           is different, but the 'self' is the same. The word 'self' means 'the same'. Self is neither mine nor yours.
           When it becomes mine, it is 'myself'; then the 'self' has something added to it, plus to it. When the
           'my' is dropped, there is only 'self' left; when the 'you' is dropped, there is only 'self' left. When the
           body and mind and the superficial distinctions are no more there, deep in the innermost core we are
           one -- we are just THE SELF, the same.
               Don't try in any way to be special because all those trips are ego-trips and lead you into
           frustration and worry and fear.
               But when somebody comes and claims, he can always find a few disciples. The reason is not that
           his claim is true; the reason is that people are in very deep uncertainty, people are in confusion. They
           want somebody to cling to. They want somebody to make them certain. When somebody comes and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           says, "I am coming as a special messenger from God"... and these people are almost mad people, and
           they will speak with such power, with such force, with such fire, that you will start feeling that there
           must be something in it. You start feeling because you are confused. You always wanted somebody
           to tell you how to live your life. You always wanted somebody to lead you. You always wanted
           somebody who is certain so you can get rid of your uncertainties. You always wanted somebody
           who KNOWS so you need not be worried about your ignorance.
               Now here comes a man, and when he declares forcibly, fire in his eyes and magic in his words, a
           few people are bound to become victims of him -- they will trust him. And if you say to these people,
           "You are fools," they will not listen to you. Because it is not a question of whether their prophet is
           wrong or right; the moment you say their prophet is wrong, you are again bringing their uncertainty
           back, you are again making them confused. They were confused; now they are no more confused --
           they are following somebody.
               Even a Muktanand can have followers, can get followers. Seeing it I am simply surprised. I
           cannot see how it is possible. A Muktanand getting followers? If it is possible, then you are
           unnecessarily waiting -- you can become a great leader. If Muktanand can become, then anybody can
           become.

               I knew a man in Jabalpur who was a follower of Muktanand, and I told him, "You are simply
           foolish. You yourself can become a leader."
               He said, "How can I become? I don't know anything about religion."
               I said, "You come with me." I was going to Calcutta. I said, "You just come with me -- you keep
           quiet."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "We are going to play a game just to make you clear about how things happen."
               He followed me. I said, "Just one thing: you are not to say anything; you just keep quiet. When
           people ask some question, you close your eyes, you start swaying, and I will see that things happen!"
               So he came with me. The host where we were staying, he asked me immediately, "Who is this
           man?"
               I said, "He is a PARAMAHANSA. He keeps quiet -- he is a great soul."
               The man said, "But we never heard about him, so how did you hear?"
               "He never publicises, he is not a Mahesh Yogi, he does not believe in advertisement. He is very,
           very esoteric."
               The man fell at his feet! The garland that he had brought for me... he forgot me completely. And
           that man, I had trained him in the train as to what to do, so he started swaying -- the host also started
           swaying! I said, "Look, your kundalini is rising!"
               He said, "I can feel something; in my spine there is some sensation. I have never felt it and I have
           been to so many saints -- but this man is a miracle! Can't he say anything?"
           I said, "He never speaks."
               Within three days there was a great crowd -- people coming and bringing money and flowers.
           And in the night the man would say to me, "This is incredible! You must be doing something," he
           said to me, "because how can I raise their kundalini? I don't know anything about kundalini -- my
           own has not risen yet! You must be doing something, you are playing a trick -- otherwise, how can it
           happen? And one person can be a fool, but so many persons!" And rich people coming in their
           Cadillacs and Lincolns and Impalas, such.... And this man was an ordinary businessman.
               Three days after when we came back I told him, "Now what do you want? Do you want to
           continue your old business?"
               People need somebody to guide them. People need somebody to befool them. People need
           somebody to give them certainty. People are so shaky, uncertain of everything. Just claim -- just
           your claim... but it has to be very, very absolute. If you hesitate, you are gone; then in the spiritual
           world, in the spiritual supermarket, you are nobody. Claim absolutely, unconditionally, never
           hesitate! And that is one of the qualities of fools: they never hesitate. To hesitate you need some
           intelligence. A very intelligent person is always hesitant.

              Lao Tzu says: "I hesitate on every step. I must be confused. My whole town, everybody that I
           know, is so absolute; people are so clever -- I must be muddleheaded, because I feel so shaky.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Alternatives are there: what to choose, what not to choose?"
               He is being ironical, he is joking. Always it has been so. An intelligent person is hesitant; an
           idiot, never hesitant. Have you ever seen buffaloes hesitant? They simply go on; on the road they
           don't bother about the traffic rules. You go on honking your horn -- they don't bother about you.
           They simply go like spiritual saints.
               People are insecure, uncertain. They need somebody to claim. And when you need, somebody is
           bound to claim and exploit you.

           The third question:


               WHEN I LAUGH AT YOUR JOKES IN THE LECTURE I FEEL IT IS JUST A REFLEX, THAT MY
               LAUGHTER IS HAPPENING ON THE SURFACE AND NOT PENETRATING INTO MY BEING. I AM
               LAUGHING LESS AND LESS. NOW EVEN YOUR TOWEL MADNESS DOES NOT MOVE ME.
               IS THIS A QUESTION?


               IT IS A QUESTION AND A VERY SERIOUS ONE, because to me laughter is one of the
           greatest spiritual qualities.
               Try to understand: only man, ONLY man, can laugh -- no other animal. It is possible only at the
           stage of man that laughter happens. If you come across a donkey laughing, you will go mad. Or a
           horse laughing -- then you will not be able to sleep again. Animals don't laugh. They don't have that
           much intelligence. For laughter, intelligence is needed -- the greater the intelligence, the deeper the
           laughter.
               The laughter is a symbol that you are really human. If you cannot laugh, then you are below
           human. If you can laugh, you have become human. Laughter is a sure indication of humanity.
               Aristotle says man is a rational animal. I don't believe it, because I have watched man and I don't
           see any rationality in him. My definition is: man is a laughing animal.
               Laughter means you can become aware of the ridiculousness of things.
               And also: man is the only animal who can get bored. Boredom and humour are two aspects of the
           same coin, two sides of the same coin. Only man can get bored and only man can laugh. These are
           the two specific qualities that exist in man. They are the definition of humanity. Animals are never
           bored. They go on doing the same routine every day, year in, year out, from birth to death -- they are
           never bored. You cannot see boredom on their faces, because for boredom also intelligence is
           needed.
               The more intelligent a person, the more bored he is in the world. Buddha became BORED with
           the whole nonsense that is called life. He became bored with birth, he became bored with love, he
           became bored with death. In the East, religion is nothing but a search to get out of this boring
           existence, how to get out of AWAGAMAN -- this constant coming and going, this continuous birth
           and death. It is boring! It has nothing new in it. And the idea of many lives makes it even more
           boring.
               Christians are less bored, Mohammedans are less bored, Jews are less bored, because they have
           only one life. You cannot be much bored in one life. Once you are born, and then you die after
           seventy years. In seventy years, thirty years you sleep, fifteen, twenty years you work --
           continuously you are working -- three years you waste in eating. First you eat and then you defecate;
           so man is just like a pipe: in one end you go on pouring things, from another end you go on throwing
           out.
               If you count all the activities of man, then shaving, standing before the mirror.... I was just
           reading an article: a man stands before the mirror -- and it is about men, it is not about women --
           seventy days continuously, if we take it continuously, in his whole life. Seventy days he has been
           just standing before the mirror. Now look at the absurdity of it. And this is about MEN -- I think they
           have given the data about men and not about women because it cannot be counted. Women go on
           standing before the mirror, just looking at themselves. Once you have looked, finished! Now what
           are you looking for? Is something missing? Or can't you believe that it is you?
               If you see the whole activity of life, it is boring. But if life is only one, it is not so boring. That's
           why Christians, Mohammedans and Jews cannot be very religious. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have brought another quality to religion. They say it has been so millions of times: rebirth, again and
           again; reincarnation, again and again. It is not one life; one life is only one movement of the wheel.
           The wheel has been moving since a beginningless beginning. And you have done the same thing
           millions of times, and still you are not bored? Then you must be absolutely stupid. An intelligent
           person is bound to become bored.
                Boredom is human. And because man can become bored, man can laugh also. Laughter is
           another extreme of the same energy. The whole spectrum is between boredom and laughter.
                That's why I use so many jokes -- because I know religious truths are very boring. So first I take
           you towards boredom, I go into delicate matters -- mm? -- I take you into boredom. When I see now
           it is too much and you will not be able to tolerate any more, then I tell you a joke. The pendulum
           swings back. You are happy again. Again I can bore you. You are fresh, you are ready. You can still
           tolerate again ten, fifteen minutes. When I see that now you are coming to your limit, that you will
           get mad at me -- I don't want to be killed -- again, immediately I talk about something so you can
           laugh, and you can forgive me.
                Boredom and laughter are the most important qualities of human consciousness, but people are
           not ordinarily aware of either. When you get bored, before you become aware, you simply get
           occupied into some other activity which gives a new thrill, sensation. You go to the movie, you sit
           before the TV; you go to a friend, you start talking to somebody, the neighbour. You don't have
           anything to say, he has nothing to say -- you have talked about these things millions of times! Again
           about the climate, again about the weather, again about how your children are and how your wife is
           -- and you are not a bit concerned. But you are bored. Something you have to do to forget it. You
           have to talk.
                A person, in the usual daily routine, uses five thousand words. You may be thinking I am talking
           too much -- you are wrong. Once I have talked, I keep quiet -- but I never go beyond the limit of five
           thousand words. You spread it out over the whole day. I am finished in the morning. But I never go
           beyond the limit. I go on looking at the clock.
                People go on talking just to avoid their being, avoid their boredom. The husband is bored with
           the wife, the wife is bored with the husband, the mother is bored with the children, the children are
           bored with parents -- everybody is simply bored! But we keep it below consciousness, otherwise you
           will start committing suicide. What will you do?
                Marcel has written that suicide is the only important question, the only metaphysical question. It
           is -- because if the whole boredom becomes clear to you, what are you going to do then? If life is
           just a rut, then what is the point of it all? You go on avoiding it.
                In a religious community it is brought to your notice; it is not allowed that you should avoid it. In
           a Zen monastery they have a very boring routine -- fixed, fixed for ever, for centuries. Never a thrill,
           never a sensation. In the morning they get up, they do their za-zen, they take their tea, they do their
           walking meditation, they go for their breakfast. And everything is the same: the breakfast is the
           same, the tea is the same; again they do za-zen, again they go into the garden to work. And have you
           looked at the Zen garden?
                Around their meditation hall, they don't allow trees. They make a rock garden -- to bore you
           completely. Because trees change: sometimes it is spring and there are flowers and greenery, and
           sometimes it is fall and the leaves are dropping. Trees change! Trees are not monks. Trees go on
           changing round the year. In a Zen monastery they make a rock garden, so nothing changes. You go
           on doing the same thing every day, and you look out and there are rocks and sand, and the same
           pattern. Why?
                Boredom has been used as a technique, it is a device. In Zen, boredom is used as a device: you
           are bored to death, and you are not allowed to escape. You are not to go outside, you are not to
           entertain yourself, you are not to do, you are not to talk, you are not to read novels and detective
           stories. No thrill. No possibility to escape anywhere.
                And all the monks look alike: shaved. Have you noticed it? If you shave your hair, moustache,
           beard, you become almost a non-entity. Your face loses individuality. The monks look all alike, you
           cannot make out any difference. You see the shaven heads and you are bored. Hair gives a little
           style, a little difference -- all heads shaven look alike; with hair you can have a style. Somebody has
           a long hair-style, somebody a short hair-style; somebody is a square and somebody is a hippie. And
           there are a thousand ways to do something with hair. What can you do with the head? It is just the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same -- the dress is the same, the head is the same, the food is the same, the rock garden is the same,
           and the meditation is the same. Year in, year out, for twenty years.
                The work is to bring boredom to such a point where no escape is possible and you have to go
           through the breakthrough. When it is unbearable, when it comes to a crescendo and you cannot bear
           it, then it explodes. From that extreme, you jump. Suddenly all boredom disappears, because the
           mind itself disappears.
                Boredom is an indication of mind. That's why animals are not bored. If you go to the very
           extreme, if you go on putting pressure, more and more pressure, then there comes a climax when you
           simply cannot tolerate any more, and the boredom disappears -- and with the boredom, the mind.
           That's what in Zen they call 'satori'.
                Laughter can also be used in the same way. Bodhidharma used it. There have been Sufi Masters
           who have used it. There are a few Zen sects which use laughter also. If you can go on laughing at the
           ridiculousness of things, one day or other you will come to the extreme when suddenly you will see
           that laughter is not coming. That's the point. You go on laughing, still you go on trying to laugh --
           laughter is not coming. Everything seems to be stuck, but you go on trying. Much effort is needed
           now; force it to the very extreme, and one day laughter disappears, and with the laughter disappears
           the human mind.
                Boredom or laughter, both can be used. I use both together. First I bore you, then I help you to
           laugh. And I go on throwing you from one extreme to another, just like a tightrope-walker: when he
           is falling towards the left, he leans towards the right; when he leans towards the right too much and
           feels now he will fall, he leans towards the left. And by and by a balance arises. Now this is the third
           point of transcendence.
                Either you go to the left, FAR left, as much as you can go; or you go to the right, far right -- or,
           you just be in the middle, FAR in the middle, extreme middle. And there is transcendence. These
           three points are the points of transcendence. Either birth or death or love -- these three are the
           transcendence points. My whole effort is not to use any extremism, but to give you a balance.
                So I go on moving from left to right, but the whole idea is to keep you balanced on the rope. One
           day, balancing will bring you to a point where suddenly you are so balanced that the mind cannot
           exist. Mind can exist only either leaning to the right or leaning to the left. Mind can exist only with
           extremes. Mind can never exist with the middle, with the balance.

               Buddha has called his path MAJJHIM NIKAYA -- the middle way. My path also is the middle
           way. In many, many ways I am trying to help you to come to the absolute middle where everything
           disappears.

               NOW, YOU SAY "When I laugh at your jokes in the lecture I feel it is just a reflex, that my
           laughter is happening on the surface and not penetrating into my being."
               Go on trying. Don't be worried. Let it be a reflex. Go on trying. Sometimes you will even feel
           that the laughter is just in the body or in the mind and you are a witness -- those are beautiful
           moments. You have become a little transcendental to your laughter -- and that's good.
               "I am laughing less and less" -- it will happen, but you have to try hard. It is one of the most
           arduous things, to try hard for laughter, because how should one try? Laughter seems either to be
           coming or not coming -- how can you try for it? The more you try, the more you will find it is
           difficult to bring; but try, let it be difficult.
               Listen to my jokes now more consciously, more deliberately. When I am telling a joke, just
           forget the whole world. Meditate deeply on it so you can have the whole flavour of it and it
           penetrates to your very heart. And when laughter comes, even if it is slight, just a flicker, a ripple,
           cooperate with it, allow it to become a big wave. Sway with it, go with it -- be in a let-go. It will take
           you over.
               Sometimes it is possible, listening to me so much, laughing with me so much, by and by even
           laughing may look like a boredom. Every day laughing again and again -- that too creates boredom.
           Every day listening to jokes again and again, and you have a very small quality of laughter, a very
           small quantity of laughter in you -- it feels exhausted. But you have to learn now a few more things.
               Listen to the joke more alertly, and when the ripple arises in you cooperate with it, even
           exaggerate it, go with it. The question is from Bodhi, and I will suggest for him a special meditation:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           every morning he has to laugh for three minutes for no reason at all. When you get up, the first thing
           -- don't open your eyes first. When you feel the sleep is gone, just start laughing in your bed. For the
           first two, three days it will be difficult, then it comes -- and then it comes like an explosion.
                First it is difficult because you feel foolish: why are you laughing? there is no reason. But by and
           by you will feel foolish and you will start laughing at your foolishness -- and then it takes over. Then
           it is irrepressible. Then you laugh at the whole absurdity. And then somebody else -- your wife, your
           girlfriend, the neighbour -- may start laughing seeing that you are a fool, and then that will help you.
                Laughter can become epidemic. You just try, and you report to me after one month. Laugh every
           morning, and if you enjoy it then every night before you go to sleep. Then there is a possibility that
           in your dreams I may tell you a few jokes.
                Now let me tell you a few jokes for no reason at all:

               The beautiful girl was one candidate for the job at the zoo as a lion-tamer. The other was an
           eager young man. The manager said he would give them both a chance and told the girl to go into
           the cage.
               The girl, wearing a big fur coat, did so. The huge lion was let in with her and he immediately
           started to charge at her. Suddenly she stood upright, opened her fur coat and stood there completely
           naked. The lion stopped dead, spun around, and went meekly back to the corner.
               The manager was properly amazed. He turned toward the young man. "Well, pal, do you think
           you can top that?"
               "I'd like to try," said the guy. "Just get that crazy lion out of there."

               The father took his two teen-age sons to Miami for their first visit. "I want you to get plenty of
           sunshine," said the old man, "and to make sure you do, I'm going to fine you a dollar an hour if
           you're out after midnight."
               The first son arrived home at two a.m. and the next morning gave his dad two dollars, saying, "It
           was worth it. Was she beautiful! Was she romantic! Was she passionate!"
               The next day the second son came home at five a.m. and gave his father five dollars, sighing, "It
           was worth it. Was she beautiful! Was she romantic! Was she passionate!"
               The third night the father stayed out all night -- twenty-four hours. When he got home he threw
           his wallet on the table and said to his sons, "Take the whole thing. It was worth it. Was she beautiful!
           Was she romantic! And boy -- was she patient!"

           The fourth question:


              I AM CONFUSED. WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THE TWO-ARROWED LOVE I FELT PIERCED TO
              THE HEART AND A BEAUTIFUL PAIN AROSE IN ME. IS LOVE PAINFUL?
              WHERE AM I AND WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?


               LOVE IS PAINFUL, BUT THE PAIN IS CERTAINLY A BLESSING. Sex is not painful. Sex is
           very convenient, comfortable. People use it almost as a sedative, a tranquillizer.
               Love is painful -- because love brings growth. Love is painful because love demands. Love is
           painful because love transforms. Love is painful because love gives you a new birth.
               Sex does not touch you at all. It is mechanical. It is just physiological. Love brings your heart
           into relationship -- and when the heart is in relationship there is always pain. But don't avoid the
           pain. If you avoid the pain, you will miss all pleasures of life.
               In sex there may be relaxation. In sex there may be physiological health and hygiene. But there is
           no growth. You remain animal. With love you become human. With love you become upright. With
           love you stand erect on earth. With sex you are again animal, you are horizontal on the earth, just
           moving like other animals, crawling. With love you are erect, vertical.
               With love are problems. With sex there is no problem at all. But with problems is growth! The
           greater the problem, the greater the opportunity.
               So you ask me: "Is love painful?" Certainly love is painful, but that pain is a blessing. And you
           have felt it, the questioner has felt it. The question is from Deva Saguna.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                She says: "I am confused. When you talked about the two-arrowed love I felt pierced to the heart
           and a beautiful pain arose in me."
                She IS aware that it was beautiful. Now don't recoil back from it. More and more blessings are
           waiting for you, but, of course, more and more pain too.
                That's why many people never love -- it is so painful. They choose not to love, but then they
           remain animalistic; they never become human, they never become vertical. They never take their life
           in their own hands. They are never of any worth -- they are worthless. Love makes you precious.
                And if you are in love, then you will see that there is a still deeper pain that is of prayer. It
           shatters you completely. Love never shatters you completely. It simply shatters you a little, a little
           bit. It shatters the crust of your ego, but the centre of the ego remains intact. Then there is a deeper
           pain, deeper than love, and that is of prayer -- it shatters you utterly. It is a death. When you have
           learnt how to love, and you have learnt that the pain that love brings is a blessing in disguise, it is
           beautiful, it is tremendously beautiful, then you become able and you take another step -- that step is
           prayer.
                With a human lover you can exist, but with God as your love you cannot exist. That passion is so
           great, it simply burns you utterly. No residue is left. In love you are simply burnt, but you are there.
           Lovers remain, overlapping each other, burning each other a little in their fire, but not burnt
           completely. That is the beauty of love, and that is its misery too. Unless you are completely
           shattered, no residue remains, the ego is gone, totally gone, there will remain a little misery.
                All lovers feel a little miserable. They would like to disappear completely, but it is not possible
           in human relationship. Human relationship is limited. But one learns from it, that there is a
           possibility: if it can happen so much in a human relationship, how much more can happen in a
           relationship with the Divine?
                Love makes you ready to take the final jump, the quantum leap. That's what I call prayer, or you
           can call it meditation. If you use Buddhist terminology, it is meditation; if you use Hindu,
           Mohammedan, Christian terminology, it is prayer. But the meaning is the same. You have to
           disappear for God to be. Love is a training ground, a school, to learn first lessons -- of the beauty, of
           the blessing and benediction of disappearance; to learn that pain is blessed. And then a desire arises
           to feel the ultimate pain. The Hindu devotees have called it VIRAH -- ultimate pain; the pain that
           will remain unless one is consumed by God, consumed in God.
                So when you are in love, or when love arises, cooperate with it, don't try resisting. People come
           to a compromise. Lovers -- I have watched thousands of lovers. Every day they come to me; they
           bring their problems. But the basic problem that I have been looking at is that lovers by and by come
           to a compromise. The compromise is: You don't hurt me, I will not hurt you. That's what marriage is.
           Then people become settled. They become so afraid of pain that they say, "Don't hurt me and I will
           not hurt you." But then when pain disappears, love also disappears. They exist together.
           I have heard:

               The male patient complained to the dentist that he was in terrible pain, but he insisted on saving
           the tooth. The dentist put on his white coat, adjusted the light on his forehead, started his drill, and
           said, "Okay, now open your mouth and we'll see what we can do."
               Just then the patient grabbed him below the belt. "What the hell are you doing?" the dentist
           screamed.
               "Now," the man said quietly, not letting go, "we're not going to hurt each other, are we?"

               Now this is what happens. When you are in love, love hurts. It hurts terribly. Then you grab each
           other and you say, "What...! Make a compromise: let it no more be a love affair -- let it be a
           marriage. Make it legal. And I will not hurt you if you don't hurt me." Then husbands and wives live
           together without being together. They live together alone. They tolerate at the most. They are patient
           with each other, but love has disappeared.
               Love is painful. Never resist, never create any barrier for pain. Allow it. And by and by you will
           see that it was a wrong interpretation. It is not really pain. It is just that something is going so deep in
           you that you interpret it like a pain. You don't know anything else. You are only aware of pain in
           your past life, in your past experience. Whenever something penetrates deep, you interpret it as pain.
               Don't use the word 'pain'. When love and love's arrow goes deep into your heart, close your eyes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and don't use words -- just see what it is, and you will never see it is pain. You will see it is a
           benediction. You will be tremendously moved by it. You will feel joyous.
              Don't use words. When something new happens to you, always allow a deep look into it without
           any language.

           The last question:


              ARE YOU NOT A RICH MAN'S GURU?


               I AM -- BECAUSE ONLY A RICH MAN CAN COME TO ME. But when I say 'a rich man' I
           mean one who is very poor inside. When I say 'a rich man' I mean one who is rich in intelligence; I
           mean one who has got everything that the world can give to him, and has found that it is futile.
               Yes, only a rich person can become religious. I am not saying that a poor person cannot become
           religious, but it is very rare, exceptional. A poor person goes on hoping. A poor person has not
           known what riches are. He is not yet frustrated with it. How can he go beyond riches if he is not
           frustrated with them? A poor man also sometimes comes to me, but then he comes for something
           which I cannot supply. He asks for success. His son is not getting employed; he asks, "Bless him,
           Osho." His wife is ill, or he is losing money in his business. These are symptoms of a poor man, one
           who is asking about things of this world.
               When a rich person comes to me, he has money, he has employment, he has a house, he has
           health -- he has everything that one can have. And suddenly he has come to a realisation that nothing
           is fulfilling. Then the search for God starts.
               Yes, sometimes a poor man can also be religious, but for that very great intelligence is needed. A
           rich man, if he is NOT religious, is stupid. A poor man, if he is religious, is tremendously intelligent.
           if a poor man is not religious, he has to be forgiven. If a rich man is not religious, his sin is
           unpardonable.
               I am a rich man's guru. Absolutely it is so. Let me tell you one anecdote:

                They were married for twenty-five years and had their biggest argument on the day of their silver
           anniversary. She never hit harder or lower: "If it weren't for my money, that TV set wouldn't be here.
           If it weren't for my money, the very chair you're sitting on wouldn't be here!"
                "Are you kidding?" he interrupted. "If it weren't for your money -- I wouldn't be here!"

                And let me say this to you: If it were not for your money, you would not have been here. You are
           here because you are frustrated with your money. You are here because you are frustrated with your
           success. You are here because you are frustrated with your life. A beggar cannot come because he is
           not yet frustrated.
                Religion is luxury -- the last, ultimate luxury I call it, because it is the highest value. When a man
           is hungry, he does not bother about music, cannot. And if you start playing sitar before him, he will
           kill you. He will say, "You are insulting me! I am hungry and you are playing sitar -- is this the time
           to play sitar? Feed me first! And I am so hungry I cannot understand music. I am dying!" When a
           man is dying of hunger, what use is a Van Gogh painting? or a Buddha's sermon? or beautiful
           Upanishads, or music? -- meaningless. He needs bread.
                When a man is happy with his body, has enough to eat, has a good house to live in, he starts
           becoming interested in music, poetry, literature, painting, art. Now a new hunger arises. The bodily
           needs are fulfilled, now psychological needs arise. There is a hierarchy in needs: the first is the body;
           it is the base, it is the ground-floor of your being. Without the ground-floor, the first storey cannot
           exist.
                When your bodily needs are fulfilled, psychological needs arise. When your psychological needs
           are also fulfilled, then your spiritual needs arise. When a person has listened to all the music that is
           available in the world, and has seen all the beauty, and has found that it is all dream; has listened to
           all the great poets, and has found that it is just a way to forget yourself, just a way to intoxicate
           yourself, but it does not lead you anywhere; has seen all the paintings and the great art -- amusing,
           entertaining, but then what...? Then hands remain empty, more empty than they ever were before.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then music and poetry are not enough. Then the desire to meditate, the desire to pray, a hunger for
           God, a hunger for truth arises. A great passion takes possession of you and you are in search of truth,
           because you now know: unless you know what the secretmost truth of this existence is, nothing can
           satisfy. All else you have tried and it has failed.
               Religion is the ultimate luxury. Either you have to be very rich to come to this luxury, or you
           have to be tremendously intelligent. But in both the cases you are rich -- rich with money or rich
           with intelligence. I have never seen a person who is really poor -- poor in intelligence, poor in riches
           -- ever become religious.
               Kabir becomes religious. He was not a millionaire, but he was tremendously intelligent. Buddha
           became religious because he was tremendously rich. Krishna and Ram and Mahavir became
           religious because they were tremendously rich. Dadu, Redas, Farid, they became religious because
           they were tremendously intelligent. But a certain sort of richness is needed.
           Yes, you are right: I am the rich man's guru.




                   The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                       Discourses on the 42 Sutras of Buddha
                                    Talks given from 31/10/76 am to 10/11/76 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    11 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1976
           Originally published in two volumes, later released as four volumes.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #1
                                         Chapter title: The Eightfold Way
           31 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7610310
              ShortTitle: TRANS401
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY ARE LIKE UNTO WARRIORS WHO FIGHT SINGLE-HANDED
              WITH A MULTITUDE OF FOES.
              THEY MAY ALL GO OUT OF THE FORT IN FULL ARMOR; BUT AMONG THEM ARE SOME WHO
              ARE FAINT-HEARTED, AND SOME WHO GO HALFWAY AND BEAT A RETREAT, AND SOME
              WHO ARE KILLED IN THE AFFRAY, AND SOME WHO COME HOME VICTORIOUS.
              O MONKS, IF YOU DESIRE TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU SHOULD STEADILY WALK IN
              YOUR WAY, WITH A RESOLUTE HEART, WITH COURAGE, AND SHOULD BE FEARLESS IN
              WHATEVER ENVIRONMENT YOU MAY HAPPEN TO BE, AND DESTROY EVERY EVIL
              INFLUENCE THAT YOU MAY COME ACROSS; FOR THUS YOU SHALL REACH THE GOAL.


              GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA has no leaning towards abstraction, philosophy or metaphysics.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He's very practical, down-to-earth practical. He's very scientific. His approach is not that of a
           thinker; the approach is existential. When he attained and became a Buddha, it is said that the God of
           the Gods, Brahma, came to him and asked him, "Who is your witness? You declare that you have
           become a Buddha, but who is your witness?" Buddha laughed, touched the earth with his hand, and
           said, "This earth, this solid earth is my witness."
               He is very earthy; he made the earth his witness. He could have said so about the sky, but no; he
           could have said so about the sun or the moon or the stars, but no. He touched the earth and said,
           "This solid earth is my witness." His whole approach is like that.
               Before we enter into these sutras. his basic steps have to be understood.
               Buddha's Way is called 'the eightfold Way'. He has divided it into eight parts. Those divisions are
           arbitrary, just utilitarian; the Way is one. It is not really divided, it is divided so that you can
           understand it easily. And this is very fundamental: if you can understand these eight steps or eight
           divisions of the Way, the Way will open just in front of you. You are already standing on it, but not
           aware; your mind is wandering somewhere. The Way is in front of you. So try to understand these
           eight steps as deeply as possible.

           The first is: right view.
                And all these eight steps are concerned with rightness -- right view, right intention, right speech,
           right morality, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and the eighth, the ultimate, right
           SAMADHI. The word 'right' has to be understood first because the Sanskrit word SAMYAK IS SO
           meaningful, is so pregnant with meaning that it cannot be translated. 'Right' is a very poor translation
           for it for many reasons.
                First, the word 'right' immediately gives the idea as if it is against the wrong. SAMYAK never
           gives that idea; SAMYAK IS not against the wrong. Buddha's right is not against the wrong, because
           Buddha says, 'Wrongs are many, right is one -- so how can the right be against the wrong?" Health is
           one, diseases are many. There are not as many healths as there are diseases, so health cannot be
           against the diseases -- otherwise there would be sc many healths. Somebody is suffering from TB
           and then he becomes healthy, somebody is suffering from cancer and he becomes healthy, and
           somebody is suffering from flu and he becomes healthy. These three healths are not three healths.
           The diseases were different, but health is one, and one cannot be against the many.
                Exactly the same is true about right and wrong. Right is one. Wrongs are millions; you can go on
           inventing wrongs. Right cannot be invented; it does not depend on you. Right is a state of affairs
           where you are in tune with the whole. That is the meaning of health too: when you are in tune with
           the whole you are healthy. The music flows between you and the whole, there is no obstruction. You
           feel a well-being. There is no noise, everything is in harmony. When the individual is in tune with
           the universal, right exists, health exists. When you fall out of tune then so many wrongs arise -- there
           is no limit to them, they are endless. And you can invent new wrongs.
                Humanity has invented many new diseases which were not prevalent before. In the old
           scriptures, ayurvedic scriptures, many diseases are not mentioned. People think they are not
           mentioned because ayurveda was not yet enough of a science, so they could not diagnose those
           diseases. That is not true; ayurveda became a perfect science. But those diseases were not in
           existence, so how can you diagnose a disease which doesn't exist? They were non -existential. There
           were a few diseases which existed only for rich people, very rich people. They were called royal
           diseases. Tuberculosis was called 'royal'. It was not an ordinary disease. Now the whole world has
           become royal; now the whole world suffers from richness, affluence. Leisure has made many things
           available, many new diseases available.
                Cancer is a very new disease. It can exist only when the mind is very worried, when worry
           becomes like a wound. And around that subtle wound in the psyche arises a disease in the body
           corresponding to it. That's what cancer is: That's why cancer seems to be incurable. There is no way
           to cure it from the body side. It can be cured only from the mind side because basically it arises
           there.
                Each age has its own diseases, each age has its own vices, and each age invents its own sins. But
           virtue is ageless, timeless. Sainthood has nothing to do with any age, time period. It is not historical,
           it is existential.
                Buddha says: Right is that which is not your invention. It is already there. If you go away from it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are wrong, if you come close to it you are right. The more close you are, the more right you are.
           One day, when you are exactly home, you are perfectly right. SAMYAK and SAMADHI both come
           from the same root SAM. SAMYAK IS the step towards SAMADHI. If you don't understand
           SAMYAK, YOU will not be able to understand SAMADHI.
               So seven steps ultimately lead to the final step. 'Samadhi' means: now everything has fallen in
           tune with existence. Not a flaw exists; the music is utterly perfect. But there is no better word in
           English than 'right', so you have to understand it. 'Right' in the Buddhist meaning of the term means:
           balanced, centered, grounded, harmonious, tranquil -- all of these things. But the basic thing can be
           understood even if there is no synonymous term in English to translate it.
               But remember, it has nothing to do with wrong. Wrong is a human invention, right is divine.
           Right is not something that you have to do -- you were born right. Wrong is something that you have
           to do; you were not born wrong. Every child is born in harmony. That's why children are so
           beautiful. Have you ever seen a baby who is ugly? It doesn't happen. All babies are beautiful, but all
           grown-ups are not beautiful. So something somewhere must have gone wrong -- because all babies
           are beautiful. They have a grace, a tremendous elegance which has nothing to do with any practice,
           because they have no time to practice anything. They come into the world without any rehearsal.
           They are just there; so happy, so silent, so harmonious. Such grace surrounds them -- as if the whole
           existence is protective towards them. Then, by and by, they learn the ways of man and become
           wrong. Then ugliness appears. Then beautiful eyes can become horrible; then a beautiful face can
           become criminal; then a beautiful body can lose all grace. Then a beautiful intelligence.... Every
           child is born intelligent; that's how things are. An intelligent child can become stupid, mediocre.
           These are human achievements.
               The wrong is a human achievement, the right is divine. You are not to do anything for it. You
           have only to stop all that you have been doing to create the wrong. And when there is right, you don't
           feel you are right. That's why, I repeat again: It is not against wrong. When you are in the right you
           are simply natural. You don't have any feeling of being righteous. You don't have any feeling that
           you are a great saint. If you have that feeling then you are still wrong somewhere -- because the no is
           a jarring note. It does not allow the music to flow.
               'Right' means balanced, non-tense, centered; you are not a stranger in existence. That's what
           'right' means: you are at home. This existence is your family. You are not an alien. In the west, and
           in the east too, the modern mind continuously talks and thinks about alienation, that man has become
           an outsider, that man has become a stranger, that we seem to be just like accidents on earth.
           Existentialists have the right word for it: they say we have been thrown here. Thrown? Dumped!
           Expelled! Punished! And this existence is against us. And you can prove it: so many diseases --
           death is there; so many frustrations, failures. People go on saying man proposes and God disposes.
               So of course man is doomed, doomed from the very beginning, is born with great desires and
           without any possibility of any fulfilment, ever. How can this existence be your home? It can't be
           your family.
               The right is when you start feeling that you are at home. Nothing is alien, nothing is strange.
               Buddha says: If you are, you are wrong -- because whenever you are, you are separate from
           existence. When you are not you are right. Listen to this paradox; it is one of the most beautiful
           paradoxes. Buddha says: When you are, you are wrong. Your being is to be wrong. The very
           separation, the 'I am', creates a barrier. Then you don't melt, then you become frozen, then you are
           like an ice-cube. Dead. Closed. Then you have a boundary.
               When you start melting, and you start feeling, "The existence is, and I am just a part"... and you
           relax, and there is a let-go; you disappear. Then you are right. When you are not you are right.
               These eight steps are just indicators, by and by, of how to come to that tremendous courage,
           that.ultimate courage where you take the quantum leap and you simply disappear. When the self
           disappears, the Universal Self arises.
           The first is right view.
               Buddha says: Look at things without any opinion, otherwise you never look at reality. Look at
           things without any philosophy, without any prejudice, without any dogma, creed, scripture. Just
           look. Look at things as they are. Be factual; don't create a fiction. If you are looking for something
           with a prejudice, you will find it -- that is the trouble. If you are already full of a belief you will find
           it because the mind is so creative, so imaginative, so capable of auto-hypnosis, that whatsoever it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           believes it can create. Buddha says: Go to reality without any belief. Belief is the barrier.
           You must have watched it.
               If you are born a Hindu -- that means if you are being conditioned from your childhood by
           Hindus -- that means you are a victim of Hinduism. And the same applies to Mohammedans and
           Christians, Jews, Jains, communists: the whole humanity is a victim of this school or that, of this
           prejudice or that, of this belief or that. If you are born a Hindu, have been conditioned in certain
           dogmas, and you start meditating, you will start seeing visions of Krishna, Rama -- it depends on
           what you have been taught, who has been enforced and engraved in your mind -- but Christ will
           never come to you. Christ comes to a Christian, Buddha comes to a Buddhist, Mahavira comes to a
           Jaina. To a Jaina, Mohammed can never come; it is impossible. Even to conceive the idea is
           impossible. Even in a dream, Mohammed will not come to a Jaina. What is happening? Are these
           Buddhas, Mahaviras, Christs, really coming? or is your own belief creating them? Your own belief is
           creating them.
               To a communist, nobody comes. His belief is that all religion is nonsense, an opium for the
           people, a dangerous poison to be got rid of as soon as possible -- then nobody comes. It depends on
           you. If you have a belief, that very belief becomes a dream; and if you are very, very sensitive,
           receptive, that dream can look more real than the reality. In fact, this happens every day, even in
           non-religious people. You dream in the night and when you dream the dream looks so real. You have
           dreamed your whole life and every morning you cancel it as unreal. But again, next night you dream,
           and in the dream again it seems real.
               The dreaming faculty lives on belief. If you have a strong belief then the dreaming faculty joins
           with the belief, pours its energy into the belief, makes the belief a reality, and you start having
           visions. Buddha is not in favor of any visions -- because he says: "That which is, needs no visions. It
           needs simply clarity to see." Your mind need not have any dreams, great dreams of great saints,
           heaven and hell; these are all your creations.
               Right view is: having no prejudice, having no belief, having no opinion whatsoever. Difficult...
           Buddha's path is arduous; he demands too much. It almost seems to be a superhuman feat. But it is
           possible -- and that is the only way towards truth.
               If you have any opinion you will impose your opinion on the truth. You do it every day. If you
           come to me with the opinion that this man is good, you will go convinced that this man is good; if
           you come with the opinion that this man is bad. you will go convinced that this man is bad. Your
           belief will always find that which it wants to find. Belief is very selective. I have heard....

               The boy had been brought into court again charged with stealing auto hubcaps. The magistrate
           determined to appeal to his father: "See here," said the judge."This boy of yours has been in this
           court many times charged with theft, and I am tired of seeing him here."
               "I don't blame you, Judge," said the father. "And I am just as tired of seeing him here as you are."
               "Then why don't you teach him how to act? Show him the right way and he will not be coming
           here."
               "I have already shown him the right way," said the father, "but he just does not seem to have any
           talent for learning. He always gets caught!"

               Now, the right way is different for the judge and for the father. The father himself is a thief. He
           also wants the boy to learn 'the right way' so that he is never caught again. But his right way is HIS
           right way.

              For a holiday, Mullevy decided to go to Switzerland to fulfill a life-long dream and climb the
           Matterhorn. He hired a guide, and just as they neared the top the men were caught in a snowslide.
              Three hours later a Saint Bernard ploughed through to them, a keg of brandy tied under his chin.
              "Hooray!" shouted the guide. "Here comes man's best friend."
              "Ah," said Mullevy. "And look at the size of the dog that is bringing it!"

               Now, for one the dog is the greatest friend of humanity, for the other it is the bottle that he is
           bringing.
               "Ah," said Mullevy. "And look at the size of the dog that is bringing it!"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It depends on how you look at things. You can look at the same thing, and you may not be seeing
           the same thing. If you are listening to me in trust, you listen differently. If you are listening to me
           with disbelief, you listen to me differently. If you are listening as a disciple, you listen differently. If
           you are listening just as an outsider, a visitor -- just by the way, you have come with a friend -- you
           listen differently. What I say is the same, but how you interpret it will depend on you. Right listening
           will be that you listen as nobody: neither for nor against, with no prejudice -- just listening. If you
           can see things without any idea in the mind, then Buddha says it is right view.
                Right view needs no conceptualization. That's why Buddha says: Don't ask me any theoretical
           question. He does not say anything about God -- not that God is not. He does not say anything about
           it because it is pointless to create a theory. He tries to open your eyes to it. He says: To know the
           truth, you need eyes -- just as you cannot teach a blind man what light is like, howsoever you try.
           You cannot teach a blind man anything about the light. Of course, you can teach as much as you
           want and he may learn all the information that you deliver to him, but still, in reality, he will not be
           able to conceive what light is. He cannot conceive.
           It happened:

               A blind man was brought to Buddha. He was passing through the village, and the people of the
           village were tired of the blind man because he was very logical and very philosophical. He was so
           argumentative that he used to prove that the light exists not..He would say, "You just bring it, I
           would like to touch it"; or "You bring it so I can taste it"; or "You bring it, at least let me smell it"; or
           "You bring it and beat it like a drum so I can hear it."
               Of course, you cannot beat light like a drum, and you cannot taste it, and you cannot smell it, and
           you cannot touch

               The blind man would laugh, laugh with victory, and he would say, "You fools! You are trying to
           prove something to me which is not. I have got four senses. Prove it! I am ready, I am open."
               They could not prove it, so the blind man started thinking that they were just trying to befool him
           about this light: "The whole business is just a deception, a fraud. In fact, they want to prove that I am
           blind. They are insulting me. I am not blind, because light exists not. So what is the point? If light
           exists not, eyes need not be there. Eves are just a fiction."
               He would say, "You are all blind, but you are dreaming about something that exists not."
               They brought the man to Buddha, and Buddha said, "Don't bring him to me. I know a physician
           -- because he needs no conviction, he needs a vision of light. He needs eyes. He needs treatment, he
           needs no theory about it. But I know a physician. "
               Buddha had a beautiful, very learned physician. He was given to him by an emperor, to look after
           Buddha's body. The blind man was taken to the physician. He treated him, and within six months he
           was able to see.
               By that time Buddha had moved to another town. The man came running and dancing; he was
           ecstatic. He fell at Buddha's feet and he said, "You have convinced me."
               Buddha said, "Don't talk nonsense. I have not done anything. Your eyes have convinced you, and
           there is no other way."
               Buddha used to say: I am not a philosopher, I am a physician. I would like to treat your inner
           eyes, and the first step is right view. 'Right view' really means: a mind without views. If you have
           any view, it is wrong view. If you don't have any view, then you are simply open, clear. Then your
           window is completely open, you don't have any hindrance; whatsoever is available you will be able
           to see. Buddha never says anything about that which you will see; he only talks about how to treat
           your blindness, how to get out of your blindness.

               Mulla Nasrudin's son, studying political science, asked his father, "Dad, what is a traitor in
           politics?"
               "Any man who leaves our party," said the Mulla, "and goes over to the other one, is a traitor."
               "Well, what about a man who leaves his party and comes over to yours?" asked the young man.
               "He would be a convert, son," said Nasrudin, "a real convert."

               Now, when somebody goes from your party to another party he is a traitor, and when somebody
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           comes from the other party to yours he is a convert. When a Hindu becomes a Christian, to Hindus
           he is a traitor, to Christians he is a convert; and when a Christian becomes a Hindu, they welcome
           him: his understanding is back, he has realized what truth is. But to Christians, he is a traitor.
               If you live with views you cannot see the truth of anything. Your view always comes as a barrier.
           It obstructs, it distorts, it does not allow you to see things as they are. And God is that which is. To
           know the real you need not have any views. In fact, if you really want to know the real, you have to
           drop views. That is the first renunciation Buddha teaches: Drop all views, and right view will arise.
           All views are wrong views. The Hindu, the Christian, the Buddhist: all views are wrong views.
               A man without views, a man without opinion, a man with not a thought to cling to, a man who is
           just a mirror, reflects reality.

               The woman heard the preacher go through the commandments, and after every commandment
           she joined the rest of the audience in shouting, "Amen!"
               Where he came to the commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery, she said, "Now he is
           beginning to meddle."

               Something looks absolutely right until it doesn't fit with you -- as if you are the touchstone of
           truth, as if you are the criterion of truth. The moment it is not fitting with you it is wrong. This is a
           wrong approach, and if you have this approach you will never arrive to that which is real. If
           something is not fitting with you, then don't be in a hurry to settle the matter -- that it must be wrong
           because it doesn't fit with you. It need not fit with you. God has no obligation to fit with you. Reality
           has no obligation to fit with you. If it is not fitting with you, then a man of right understanding will
           change himself rather than deny the reality.
               So whenever it hurts, whenever reality hurts, and whenever you feel that you are unfit, it is you
           who are unfit, not the reality. And a man who has no views will never find that there is any conflict
           between him and the reality. He will always fit with the reality and reality will fit with him -- just
           like a glove fits on the hand. This is right view.

           The second step is: right intention.
               We live result-oriented, we live goal-oriented, we live with intention, with desire: "Things should
           be like this, then I will be happy. If they are not like this then I'm going to be unhappy." That's why
           we are so frustrated. Buddha says: Your frustration comes from your intentions. Your intentions
           seem to be going against reality; then you are frustrated.
               Drop intentions, drop desires, and just move moment to moment with reality, wherever it leads.
           Just become a driftwood; just float with the stream and you will never be frustrated. Frustration
           comes whenever there is conflict between you and the real. And remember, the real is going to win;
           you cannot win against the real. Nobody can win against God; that's not possible, that doesn't
           happen. You can win only with Him. Whenever you succeed remember, somehow, accidentally you
           must have been with Him. All success simply means this: that unknowingly you must have stepped
           with Him, and that's why you have succeeded. Failure means that unknowingly you must have
           stepped against Him. Failure is an indication, success is an indication.
               A man who has learned this drops all his intentions. He has no private desires. He says exactly
           what Jesus said on the cross: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done. He surrenders. Buddha has no
           concept of God. His approach is more scientific than Jesus'. Jesus is more poetic. God is poetry, a
           beautiful poetry. Buddha is not a poet, he's very mathematical. He says: There is no need to talk
           about God. Only one thing can be understood: you drop intentions. When you don't have any
           intentions, you have the right intention. And you have to remember this paradox in all the eight
           steps.
               'Right intention' means no intention on your part. Then the universe flows through you. Then the
           universe goes on fulfilling its intention through you. You become a vehicle.

               "Please," the little man prayed, "you know me. I am always praying to you and yet I have had
           nothing but bad luck, misery, sickness and despair all my life. And look at the butcher next door.
           He's never prayed in his life, and yet he has nothing but prosperity, health and joy. How come a
           believer like me is always in trouble and he is always doing good?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Suddenly a big booming voice sounded in his ear, "Because the butcher is not always bugging
           me, that's why!"

               Now, your prayer can be a 'bugging'. What are your prayers? -- your prayers are your intentions,
           the desires that you would like fulfilled. What are your prayers? -- your prayers are always against
           God. And look at the absurdity: you are praying to God, and the prayer is basically against God --
           because if it is not against God then there is no point in praying. You are ill: if you trust God that
           means you know that God wants you to be ill. This is how you are at this moment, this is what God's
           will is. You accept it. Then your prayer is only of gratitude. You don't beg for anything, you simply
           thank Him: "Thank you for making me ill. Thank you, because I know it must be needed. I may not
           understand, but I know you give me whatsoever is needed, whenever it is needed." You don't go to
           the temple or the church or the mosque and ask for help. If you ask, you are going against God. That
           which has happened already cannot happen against the will of the whole, whatsoever it is. If it is a
           dark night, then you must be in need of a dark night.
               A Sufi mystic used to say in his prayer every day, "Thank you, my Lord -- you always give me
           whatsoever is needed." His disciples were very annoyed by this, because they had seen him many
           times when he was poor, hungry, nowhere to rest in the night. And still, he would pray to God five
           times a day, and he would say, "Thank you. How grateful I am -- whatsoever I need you always give
           me."
               One day it was too much. For three days they had been hungry; nobody had even offered them
           food. For three days they had been sleeping under the trees, outside a town. and the town was very
           antagonistic and was ready to kill them. And the morning of the fourth day the mystic was praying
           again and he was saying, "Thank you. Whatsoever I need you always give me."
               One disciple could not contain himself. He said, "Stop all this nonsense! There is a limit to
           everything. What are you thanking God for? For three days we have been hungry, thirsty, no shelter.
           Nights are cold and we are getting frozen and you are thanking! For what! What has He given you!"
               The mystic laughed and said, "For these three days I needed to be hungry, needed to be without
           any shelter. It was part of my growth. These three days have done me tremendous good, they have
           been a great blessing. That's what was needed, and He always gives whatsoever is needed."
               In fact, whatsoever He gives is whatsoever is needed.
               But when you pray, your prayer is always 'bugging'. You are complaining, you are grumpy,
           grouchy. You are saying, "Nothing is right, everything is wrong. Put it right! Otherwise I will start
           disbelieving in you; otherwise I am going to become an atheist. If you are, then do these things. If
           you are not, then I am finished, I am not going to pray anymore."
               Is your prayer a sort of bribery? Do you praise Him just to persuade Him to fulfill your desires?
           Buddha says: The real religious person has no intention of his own -- and that is his right intention.
           He does not live a private life, he does not live a separate life. He moves with the universe, he's one
           with the universe. He has no separate goal, no separate destiny. The destiny of the whole is his
           destiny. Then the man becomes holy.
               The man who has no intention of course lives moment to moment. He cannot project into the
           future. To whatsoever is needed in this moment, he responds accordingly. He is spontaneous and he
           is responsible. When I use the word 'responsible' I use in its original sense. He is response-able; he
           can respond, and he can respond totally, because he has no intention of his own. He can simply say,
           "Yes l" and he can say it totally. He will not hold back anything. His yes will not be a reluctant yes.
           It will be like a flower... blooming, releasing its fragrance to existence.
               The man of right intention lives a life without any tension. Look at the word 'intention'; it is made
           of tension. All intention will create tension. It is made of two words, 'in', and 'tension'. When your
           inner reality is tense, it is IN TENSION. When your inner reality is relaxed and there is no tension --
           you are not going anywhere, you are not chasing anything, you are not after anything, you are just
           here and now, relaxed -- that state of no tension or no intention is what Buddha calls right intention.
           Because then suddenly the universe starts flowing through you. You become like a hollow bamboo.
           You become a flute.

           The third is right speech.
              Buddha says: Say only that which is. Never move into fictions. Only say that which is true and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           real. Only say that which you have experienced. Never talk about others' experiences. If you have
           not known God, please don't say anything about God -- because whatsoever you say will be a
           falsification, will be sacrilege, will be a sin. Because whatsoever you say will be wrong. If you have
           known God, only then; otherwise not. The world would be more beautiful, less confused, if Buddha's
           dictum were listened to: right speech. He says: Say only that which you have experienced, which is
           grounded in your experience, rooted in your experience. Never say anything else.
               Just think about it... haw many things we go on saying which we have never experienced, which
           we don't know anything about. We may have heard, we may have read, but that doesn't make you
           capable of uttering anything. It is all borrowed, and the borrowed is never the truth. Say only that
           which is. Be factual, not fictitious.
               Buddha has not created any mythology. His statements are bare of all poetry and fiction, all
           ornaments. He NEVER decorates his statements; they are nude, they don't have any dressing. He
           says: If you start playing with fictions. there is no end. And the many religions in the world are
           ninety-nine percent fiction. Hindus say: there is one hell, one heaven. Jainas say: there are seven
           hells and seven heavens. And there was a teacher, Gosala, in the days of Mahavir. Somebody asked
           him, "What do you say7 Because Hindus believe in only one heaven, one hell. And the disciples of
           Mahavira say that they have not gone deep enough, but their Master has gone deeper and he says
           there are seven hells and seven heavens."
               Gosala laughed. He said, "Nothing! I know there are seven hundred hells and seven hundred
           heavens."
               Now, you can go on playing; there is no end to it, and there is no need to prove it. In the name of
           religion fictions can continue. All sorts of foolish things can be said in the name of religion. There is
           no way to judge whether they are true or not. There is no way to make them valid or invalid; you
           cannot prove, you cannot disprove. That's why all sorts of nonsense continues. There are three
           hundred religions on the earth and every religion has its own fiction. They are all fictitious. If they
           are just fictitious, then there is no problem. If it is understood, if you want to enjoy a fiction, then
           you enjoy.
               Do you know that Krishnamurti goes on reading detective fictions? He never reads the GEETA,
           he never reads the KORAN, he never reads the BIBLE. He goes on reading detective novels.
           Nobody has asked him why, and he has never answered, but I know why -- because it is all the same.
           Whether you read a dectective novel, or you read the BIBLE or the KORAN, makes no difference.
           They are religious detective novels, they are secular detective novels. You may be surprised that a
           man of the qualities of Krishnamurti should read detective novels, but it is very indicative. He's
           simply saying that everything is a fiction, and if you want to read a detective novel then why not
           read a twentieth-century detective novel? Why go backwards and read rotten, primitive things? Why
           not the new, the latest model?
               Buddha says: Right speech means: don't be fictitious, don't be esoteric. Just be absolutely honest
           and authentic. There were many times when questions were asked of Buddha and he would remain
           quiet, he would not answer. He would say, "This is not needed for your spiritual growth. This is
           unnecessary." Somebody would ask, "Who created the world?" And he would say, "Don't ask --
           because if A created or B created or c created, what difference does it make to you? Or if nobody
           created it and it has been there without anybody's making it, creating it, what difference does it
           make? You just ask something real, empirical. You ask something which can be of some help to you.
           Don't ask foolish questions."
               Now see: he says, "These questions -- foolish!" because the answers won't help you in any way
           to grow. And there are people who go on fighting about these things. Somebody says God created it;
           somebody says in six days; somebody says He is still creating, the creation continues, it has never
           been finished, the full point has not come yet -- and they go on fighting and quarrelling. It seems
           they want to fight, so any excuse will do. And these are beautiful excuses because there is no way to
           end them. You can go on and on and on, ad infinitum. Then there are people who ask, "Who created
           God?" Now they are also asking a pertinent question.
               These questions are irrelevant, and Buddha says: Only say that which you know, and only say
           that which is helpful, and only say that which is beneficial. Don't be frivolous and don't be fictitious.
           Be sincere in your utterances.
           It happened:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               The local political leader was invited to speak to the inmates of a mental asylum. The politician
           had begun his talk and had been going for about ten minutes when a fellow in the back stood up and
           yelled, "Oh, you don't know what you are talking about! Besides, you are talking too much. Why
           don't you shut up and sit down!"
               "I will wait a minute until you put that man out," the politician said to the superintendent.
               "Put him out?" the superintendent asked. "Certainly not! That poor man has been here for eight
           years and that is the first time he has ever said anything that made any sense, sir."

               Have you listened to your politicians' speeches? They go on talking and talking -- and without
           saying a single thing. That's what diplomacy is: go on saying things without saying anything,
           otherwise you will be caught. So. roundabout and roundabout, people go on. In the end you cannot
           have any conclusion; there is no conclusion. They simply play with words. Words have their own
           charm, and if you watch you will be able to see. Sometimes you say a word, then that word leads to
           another word -- the words have their own charm -- then you go to the other word that leads you into
           another word, and finally you end up somewhere you had never wanted to. Words have their own
           charm, their own magic. Ask the novelists, poets; they know about it. The novelist starts a story, but
           it never ends according to him. By and by, the characters start asserting their own personalities. By
           and by, the words weave in certain ways and lead into certain directions. All great novelists have
           known it and said. "It's so -- that we start the novel but we never end it. It ends in its own way."
               You try to write a story. First you plan in the mind, you have a bare blueprint when you start.
           The moment you start, things start happening which you never intended. Then you are led astray and
           astray, and the novel or the story ends somewhere you had not even dreamt about. What
           happens?words have a magic of their own. One word leads to another, and one can go on and on.
               Buddha says: Be mindful. Don't be led astray by words. Say that which you really want to say,
           don't be frivolous.

              Just the other night Mrs. Mulla Nasrudin came to me. She said, "Do you know? I can stand at the
           door and by just looking at my husband's face I can tell whether he is lying or not."
              I was surprised. I said, "How on earth can you do that?"
           She said, "If his lips are moving, he's lying."

                Mulla Nasrudin is a politician. If his lips are moving... enough! Then he must be lying. What else
           can he do?
                Remember one thing: you have to be careful about what you take in, and you have to be careful
           about what you bring out. Only then can you have a life which is centered. People are careless: they
           go on stuffing themselves with whatsoever they find. Anything! They go on stuffing -- in the body,
           and in the mind too. Be careful.
                If your neighbor comes and starts gossiping, you listen very attentively. If the neighbor throws
           some rubbish in your garden, you will start fighting, but if he throws some rubbish in your head, you
           are perfectly welcoming of it. You don't see it: once somebody has been allowed to put rubbish in
           your head, what will you do with it? Sooner or later it will come through your mouth and enter into
           somebody else's head. You cannot keep it inside. That's why people have so much difficulty in
           keeping a secret. Tell somebody not to tell anybody anything, and you can be certain he will tell.
           Tell your wife, "This is very secret... don't tell anybody," and you can be certain that within
           twenty-four hours the whole town will know. Of course she will also say the same thing when she
           tells the story to the servant: "Don't say this to anybody, it is very secret." And he will say the same
           to his wife, and it will go on and on and on. Within twenty-four hours you will see the whole town
           knows about it. There is no better way to spread a thing around: just go on telling people, "Don't say
           it to anybody." Certain it is -- they will have to say it. Because whenever there is a secret it becomes
           difficult to keep it inside. It wants to come out.
                Don't go on taking anything in, and don't go on throwing anything out on people. If you are too
           full of rubbish, go to the riverbank, go to the forest, and just talk to the trees. Nothing will be
           harmful, because they don't listen. You can talk, you can unburden yourself, you can unwind and
           come back. But don't do that to human beings -- they are already too burdened.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha says: Right speech means very sincere speech.
                The Bible says: In the beginning was the word... and then everything came in. Buddha says: If
           you drop the word, there will be reality, the beginning. If you become silent, then whatsoever you
           say will have significance.
                Have you watched it? If you fast for one day, the next day your hunger has a different passion to
           it. If you fast then you have a fresh hunger arising in you. If you go on stuffing yourself every day,
           continuously, and never fast, you completely forget the language of hunger, the freshness, the
           beauty, the aliveness of hunger. Fast one day and next day you will have a fresh hunger arising, and
           next day you will have a different taste. The food may be the same, but it will become tasteful --
           because it is hunger that makes it tasteful.
                And the same happens with words. Keep silent, and then say something, and you will see: that
           something has power in it. Silence is like a fast: it brings life to your words. And in this world only
           those people who have kept themselves in deep silence, have been of tremendous import, and their
           words have been of lasting eternal value.
                Buddha was silent for many months, Mahavir was silent for twelve years. Whenever Jesus would
           feel that he was tired, he would go to the forest and he would say to his disciples, "Leave me. Leave
           me alone." He would be in silence for forty days, and then he would come back. And then his words
           would have a value to them: each word would be like a diamond.
                If you really want that your words should have value, then learn silence. Keep more and more
           silent; then one day you will know what right speech is.

           The fourth is: right morality.
               Buddha says: The morality that comes from without is not the right morality. The morality that
           comes from within is the right morality.
               All that we think is moral is not really moral. It is just conditioned by the society. You have been
           taught to behave in a certain way and you behave in a certain way -- but that behavior is the behavior
           of a slave. It is not that of a free man, it is not out of freedom. And how is morality possible out of
           slavery?
               Buddha says: Morality is possible only when you are totally free, without any conditioning. Not
           that you have to do certain things, not that it is your duty, not that you have to follow a certain rule;
           but that you have become conscious, you have become aware. And out of that awareness you behave
           in a certain way. AWARENESS is right morality; unawareness is wrong morality.
               You can be truthful. You may not be a thief, and Vou may not fool around with others' wives,
           and you may not be a deceiver, but if it is just because society has forced these things on you, you
           are not moral. You may be a good citizen but morality is a greater thing: it is not so cheap. You may
           be good to the society; society does not want anything more than that. If you don't create any trouble
           -- enough; if you don't create any mischief -- enough -- you are a good citizen. But to be moral
           means something more than being a good citizen. It means... a good man; it has nothing to do with
           society. It has something to do with your inner integrity.
               Buddha says: Become more conscious. Live through consciousness rather than living through
           conscience.
               Conscience is made by the society. If you are born in a Jaina family you will not eat meat, but it
           does not mean that you are non-violent. How can you be non-violent just by not eating meat? --
           because from your very childhood you have been taught not to eat meat and it has become
           nauseating. The Jaina cannot even look at meat: even seeing meat he starts feeling nauseous, he
           starts feeling sick.
               When I was a child, in my home even tomatoes were not allowed. I asked my mother, "Why are
           tomatoes not allowed?" She said, "They look like meat. One starts feeling sick if one looks at
           tomatoes.'
               Tomatoes, poor tomatoes... you cannot find more innocent people than tomatoes!
               But I had not tasted tomatoes for a long time in my childhood. When I went to a hostel, only then
           did I gather courage to eat tomatoes. And the first day, when I ate them, I could not sleep the whole
           night. My whole stomach was rumbling, and I was afraid I had committed a great sin. In the morning
           I vomited -- just a conditioning.
               The French language has only one word for both consciousness and conscience. That is right;
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Buddha would have agreed with it. It has only one word for both conscience and consciousness.
           Buddha also says: Your consciousness should be your conscience. You should become more aware.
           You should start seeing more things as they are, and then a nonviolence will arise. It is stupid to kill
           animals just for your food. It is not sin, it is stupid. It has nothing to do with sin. You are not going to
           be thrown into hell-fire.
           I have heard....

               A rich man died, a miser -- he must have been a Marwari. They are the Indian Jews. He died. He
           told his wife, "No need to put any clothes on me, because I know where I'm going. I am going to the
           hot place. I have committed so many sins, so I am going to hell. There is no need for clothes, and
           clothes are costly, and costs are rising higher and higher every day. You keep them. They will be
           useful for our children." So the wife burned him without clothes.
               But next night, in the middle of the night somebody knocked on the door. So she opened the
           door. The ghost of her husband was there, and he said, "Give me my woollen clothes!"
           "And what is the matter with you?"
               He said, "Now those old days are gone. They have air-conditioned hell. I'm shivering!"

               Forget all that nonsense -- that in hell you will suffer. So many politicians are there, so many
           scientists are there. It is natural that they would have air-conditioned it by now.
               Buddha says: Not because of fear should you be moral, but because of understanding; and not
           because of greed should you be moral -- because your ordinary religions are based on fear and greed,
           just the ordinary trick of reward and punishment. Just as you do with your children your religions
           have been doing with you: if you do this you will go to heaven, if you do this you will go to hell --
           fear and greed. They are playing on human fear and greed, and they say that one should not be
           afraid, and one should not be greedy, and their whole structure is based on the same fear and greed.
               Buddha says: Have no fear and have no greed. Just look into things, and out of your awareness a
           responsibility arises. You start behaving gracefully. You don't do foolish things, that's all.
               If you are doing things out of fear, you will never be able to be totally moral -- because deep
           down, beyond the fear, you will know.... And the desire to do the opposite, to be the opposite, will
           remain there.
           It happened:

               During a religious meeting an attractive young widow leaned too far over the balcony and fell.
           But her dress caught on a chandelier and held her suspended in mid air. The preacher, of course,
           immediately noticed the woman's predicament and called out to his congregation, "The first person
           who looks up there is in danger of being punished with blindness."
               Mulla Nasrudin, who was in the congregation. whispered to the man next to him, "I think I will
           risk one eye."

               An enforced morality cannot be total; one is always willing to risk one eye, at least. Who knows?
           It may be true, it may not be true....
               And the so-called moral people will always need holidays, because it will be tiring. It is based on
           conflict: one part of your being says something and morality says something else. You are divided,
           you are split. Because of this split the whole humanity is a little schizophrenic -- one part going
           south, one part going north. And you are always in an ambiguity, and you are always undecided,
           wavering -- where to go? what to do? Your instincts say something and your conditioning says just
           the opposite. You can enforce anything upon yourself, but really, it will never be part of you.
               An egoist can be told by the society to become humble, and he can try to become humble. But an
           egoist is an egoist: now humility will hide his ego.
           I have heard....

              A rabbi addressed his congregation. They were very moved by his sermon and one man stood up
           and said, "I'm Joe Smith. I came to this land without a cent. Now I am worth five million, but when I
           hear your words, I am nothing."
              Another man stood up and said, "I started out without a cent, too. Now I am worth ten million,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but when I hear your words, Rabbi, I am nothing, absolutely nothing.
               Then another man rose and said, "I work for the post office. I make eighty dollars a week, but
           when I hear your words I am nothing, utterly nothing." And the first millionaire said to the second,
           "Look who wants to be nothing."

               Just a postman, trying to become nothing? Then nothingness needs that you first become a
           millionaire. That's why in India, such a religious country, not even for a single time has a simple
           person been declared an AVATAR, a TEERTHANKARA. No, not yet; it has not happened --
           because if you are poor, what will you renounce? All the twenty-four TEERTHANKARAS of the
           Jainas come from royal families, sons of kings. Buddha himself comes from a royal family; Rama,
           Krishna -- everybody comes from a royal family.
               Why? Why not Kabir? Why not Fareed? Why not Dadu? Nothing is lacking. Only one thing is
           missing: they don't have anything to renounce. Look who is trying to be nothing! First you have; to
           renounce you must have much, you need much; YOU HAVE to have. A simple person is not really a
           humble person, only an egoist is a humble person. And then he tries, through his humbleness, to say
           that he is the greatest humble person in the world. But the same thing in a different garb continues.
           Your morality never transforms you.
               So Buddha says: Right morality is from within, from awareness -- not out of fear, not out of
           greed.

           The fifth step is: right livelihood.
              Buddha says: Life should be simple, not complex. Life should be based on needs, not on desires.
           Needs are perfectly okay: you need food, you need clothes, you need a shelter, you need love, you
           need relationship. Perfectly good, nothing wrong in it. Needs can be fulfilled; desires are basically
           unfulfillable. Desires create complexity. They create complexity because they can never be fulfilled.
           You go on and on working hard for them, and they remain unfulfilled, and you remain empty.
              The first thing about livelihood is: it should be based on needs, not on desires. Then a very small
           quantity of things is enough.
              Secondly: it should not be violent. You should not do something just because you can get some
           money out of it. You can kill somebody and get some money, you can be a butcher and you can
           make your livelihood, but that is inhuman... and very unconscious. Better ways are possible. One
           should be creative in one's livelihood, one should not be destructive.

           The businessmen were discussing a compatriot.
                "He used to work for me," said the first one. "I would not trust him with my money. He would
           lie, steal, cheat; anything for a buck."
           "How do you know him so well?"
                "How?" said the first. "I taught him everything he knows."

               One should be a little more alert. Money is not all, and one should not destroy one's own life just
           in accumulating money. Poverty can be tremendously beautiful. If you are just living by your needs,
           poverty can be a tremendous contentment. In fact, you will never find rich people contented.
           Sometimes you can come across a beggar with a contented face, but never a millionaire.
               The more you chase, the more you feel the horizon is far away. The faster you run, the closer you
           come to your death, but never to any fulfillment. The shadow of death, the fear of death, the fear that
           you are going to miss again, destroys all contentment.

           The sixth is: right effort.
                Buddha says: Never strain and never be lazy. One has to balance between the two. Then there is
           right effort; effort which is basically effortless.
                Have you seen children playing? They play, but there is no effort, there is no strain. They enjoy
           it. Have you seen a painter painting, a poet writing his poetry, a musician playing on his instrument?
           or a dancer? There is no effort. If there is effort then the dancer is not a real dancer. Then the dancer
           is just trying to earn something out of it. Then he is result-oriented, goal-oriented. Then the activity
           itself, the dance itself, is not his joy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              When Buddha says 'right effort' it means: everything that you do should be a joy unto itself. It
           should be an intrinsic value. It should be playful.

           And right mindfulness is the seventh step.
                'Mindfulness' is Buddha's word for meditation. By mindfulness he means: you should always
           remain alert, watchful. You should always remain present. Not a single thing should be done in a
           sort of sleepy state of mind. You should not move like a somnambulist, you should move with a
           sharp consciousness.
                Buddha used to say: Not even your breath should be allowed to go out and in without your
           consciousness. He said to his monks: Always go on watching your breath coming in, the breath
           going out. If you move, go on watching your feet moving. If you are talking, be watchful. If you are
           listening, be watchful. If you are eating, be watchful. Never allow any act to be done without
           awareness, and then nothing else is needed. This awareness will spread all over your life; it will be a
           twenty-four-hour thing. There is no need to keep separate hours for meditation. And Buddha says
           that meditation cannot be separate from life; it has to spread and mix with life, it has to be one with
           life.

                And the eighth, the last step is: right SAMADHI -- when YOU are totally absorbed into the
           center of existence....
                These seven steps will bring you to it, but still he says: right SAMADHI. That means there is a
           possibility of a wrong SAMADHI too? Yes, there is a possibility.
                If you fall into unconsciousness, if you fall into a coma, that is wrong SAMADHI; it is not right.
           It should bring you to total awareness, to perfect awareness. You should not fall in a coma, you
           should not become unconscious.
                One can become unconscious. One can go inside so deeply that one can forget the outside. Now
           look -- we ordinarily live outside, we have forgotten the inside. Inside we are unconscious; outside
           there is a little consciousness. We are out-moving, out-going. Then one day you just stand on your
           head, you change the whole process: you start forgetting the outside and you start becoming aware
           inside. A moment comes when you are totally inside and you have forgotten the outside. Buddha
           says that this is wrong SAMADHI. It is the same man just standing in a reverse posture.
                Buddha says: Right SAMADHI IS when, in and out, you are totally aware; not at the cost of the
           out. In or out, you are aware. Your light of consciousness is burning so bright, it fills you with light,
           it fills your outside also with light. In fact, in right SAMADHI the inner and the outer disappear;
           there is only light. Right SAMADHI IS not inner. Right SAMADHI IS transcendental to both inner
           and outer. Right SAMADHI IS transcendental to duality, to division.
                Now the sutra. This sutra simply says how a sannyasin should be.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY ARE LIKE UNTO WARRIORS WHO FIGHT SINGLE-HANDED
              WITH A MULTITUDE OF FOES. THEY MAY ALL GO OUT OF THE FORT IN FULL ARMOR; BUT
              AMONG THEM ARE SOME WHO ARE FAINT-HEARTED, AND SOME WHO GO HALFWAY AND
              BEAT A RETREAT, AND SOME WHO ARE KILLED IN THE AFFRAY, AND SOME WHO COME
              HOME VICTORIOUS.
              O MONKS, IF YOU DESIRE TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU SHOULD STEADILY WALK IN
              YOUR WAY, WITH A RESOLUTE HEART, WITH COURAGE, AND SHOULD BE FEARLESS IN
              WHATEVER ENVIRONMENT YOU MAY HAPPEN TO BE, AND DESTROY EVERY EVIL
              INFLUENCE THAT YOU MAY COME ACROSS; FOR THUS YOU SHALL REACH THE GOAL.


               These eight steps are the work.
           And Buddha says: There are many types of people: a few are cowards who never go on the Way; a
           few go fully armored but come back as they start feeling difficulties arising; a few go half the way
           half-heartedly, then return back; a few go a little further but are killed. Because they could never
           gather their energy, they could never become integrated, they can be easily destroyed. They were not
           ready enough to go into the battle -- maybe outwardly they were full of armor, maybe outwardly
           looking very strong, but inwardly hollow, empty. There are only very few who go into the battle, win
           the battle, and come back home.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That coming back home is what SAMADHI IS, and these seven steps before SAMADHI are the
           battle, the Way. Move slowly, otherwise you may be killed.
               For example: if a person of false morality goes into the battle he will be killed. You have to be
           authentically moral. 'Authentically moral' means that you have to be moral from within. Those false
           faces learned from the outside won't help. You will remain hollow inside. And you have to move
           step by step. You cannot jump steps. otherwise those missing gaps will become dangerous.
               That's why I talk about these eight steps, this eightfold path. This sutra is meaningful only if you
           understand these eight steps. 'Coming home' means SAMADHI. That means you have come to the
           very center of existence.
           Let me read it again.

              THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY ARE LIKE UNTO WARRIORS
              WHO FIGHT SINGLE-HANDED WITH A MULTITUDE OF FOES.


              Foes are many, and you are alone. So you have to be perfectly ready, otherwise you will miss the
           goal.

              THEY MAY ALL GO OUT OF THE FORT IN FULL ARMOR; BUT
              AMONG THEM ARE SOME WHO ARE FAINT-HEARTED...


              If you have not lived the right view, right intention, right speech, you will remain faint-hearted.
           You will remain very weak, a weakling. You will remain impotent.

              ... AND SOME WHO GO HALFWAY AND BEAT A RETREAT...


              If you have not practiced right morality and right livelihood, this is going to happen: you will
           come half the way. You will be a runner, an escapist.... AND SOME WHO ARE KILLED IN THE
           AFFRAY...

               Some go full-heartedly but are killed. If you have not practiced right effort and right
           mindfulness, this is going to happen. But there are only a few... WHO COME HOME
           VICTORIOUS. If you have practiced all the seven steps you will come home victorious, you will
           attain to SAMADHI.
              ... YOU SHOULD STEADILY WALK IN YOUR WAY, WITH A RESOLUTE HEART, WITH COURAGE,
              AND SHOULD BE FEARLESS IN WHATEVER ENVIRONMENT YOU MAY HAPPEN TO BE, AND
              DESTROY EVERY EVIL INFLUENCE THAT YOU MAY COME ACROSS; FOR THUS YOU SHALL
              REACH THE GOAL.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                  Chapter #2
                               Chapter title: Rich man's guru, poor man's guru
           1 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611010
              ShortTitle: TRANS402
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 82 mins




              I HAVE GLIMPSES OF HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL, EXISTENTIAL PAIN IS CREATED BY THE EGO.
              IT IS HOMEMADE, AND IT CAN BE UNMADE. BUT WHAT ABOUT PHYSICAL PAIN: WHY IS IT
              THERE? IS IT A NECESSARY PART OF DYING? I DO NOT FEEL I AM AFRAID OF DEATH AS
              MUCH AS I AM AFRAID OF PHYSICAL PAIN, SENILITY, OLD AGE.


                PSYCHOLOGICAL PAIN can be dissolved; and only psychological pain can be dissolved. The
           other pain, the physical pain, is part of life and death; there is no way to dissolve it. But it never
           creates a problem. Have you ever observed? -- the problem is only when you are thinking about it. If
           you think of old age you become afraid, but old people are not trembling. If you think of illness you
           become afraid, but when the illness has already happened, there is no fear, there is no problem. One
           accepts it as a fact. The real problem is always psychological. The physical pain is part of life. When
           you start thinking about it, it is not physical pain at all; it has become psychological. You think about
           death; there is fear. But when death actually happens there is no fear. Fear is always about something
           in the future. Fear never exists in the present moment.
                If you are going to the front in a war, you will be afraid, you will be very apprehensive. You will
           tremble, you will not be able to sleep: many nightmares will haunt you. But once you are on the front
           -- ask the soldiers -- once you are on the front, you forget all about it. Bullets may be passing and
           you can enjoy your lunch; and bombs may be falling and you can play cards.
                You can ask Gurudayal. He has been in the war, he has been to the front, he has been a soldier;
           he knows: the fear is about the future. Then the problem is not physical -- because the fear exists in
           your psychology. When the pain is actual, physical, there is no problem about it.
                Reality never comes as a problem; it is only the ideas about reality that create the problem.
                So the first thing to be understood is: if you can dissolve the psychological pain, no problem is
           left. Then you start living in the moment. 'Psychological' means: of the past, of the future, never of
           the present. Mind never exists in the present. In the present reality exists, not the mind. Mind exists
           in the past and the future, and in past and future reality does not exist. In fact, mind and reality never
           come across each other. They have never seen each other's face. Reality remains unknown to mind,
           and mind remains unknown to reality.
           There is an old fable....

               Darkness approached God and said, "Enough is enough! Your sun goes on haunting me, chasing
           me. I can never rest; wherever I go to rest he is there, and I have to run away again. And I have not
           done any wrong to him. This is unjust. And I have come to you to get justice."
           It was perfectly right; the complaint was true.
               And God called the sun and asked the sun, "Why do you go on chasing this poor woman,
           darkness? What has she done to you?"
               The sun said, "I don't know her at all. I have never seen her. You just call her in front of me; only
           then can I say something. I don't remember ever having done any wrong to her, because I don't know
           her. We are not familiar. Nobody has ever introduced us to each other, we are not even acquainted. It
           is for the first time from you that I am hearing about this woman, this darkness. You call her!"

                The case remains pending -- because God could not call darkness before the sun. They cannot
           exist together, they cannot encounter each other. When darkness is, the sun cannot be; when the sun
           is, the darkness cannot be.
                Exactly the same is the relationship between mind and reality: the psychology is the problem, the
           reality never is a problem. You just dissolve your psychological problems -- and they are dissolved
           by dissolving the center of them all: the ego. Once you don't think yourself separate from existence,
           problems simply evaporate, as dewdrops disappear in the morning when the sun rises, not even
           leaving a trace behind. They simply disappear.
                Physical pain will remain, but again I will insist that it has never been a problem to anybody. If
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your leg is broken, it is broken. It is not a problem. The problem is only in imagination: "If my leg is
           broken, then what am I going to do? And how am I to avoid, or how am I to behave and work my
           way so my leg is never broken?" Now, if you become afraid about such things you cannot live,
           because your legs can be broken, your neck can be broken, your eyes can go blind. Anything is
           possible; millions of things are possible. If you become obsessed with all these problems which are
           possible.... I am not saying they are not possible. They are all possible. Whatsoever has happened to
           any human being, ever, can happen to you. Cancer can happen, TB can happen, death can happen;
           everything is possible. Man is vulnerable. You can just go outside on the road and you can be hit by
           a car.
               I am not saying don't go outside on the road. You can sit in a room and the roof can fall. There is
           no way to save yourself totally and perfectly. You can be Lying down on your bed, but do you know
           that ninety-seven percent of people die on a bed? That is the most dangerous place! Avoid it as much
           as you can; never go to bed. Ninety-seven percent of people die in bed. Even travelling by aeroplane
           is not so dangerous; it is more dangerous to be in bed. And remember, more people die in the night...
           so, remain trembling. Then it is up to you. Then you will not be able to live at all.
               Psychological problems are the only problems. You can become paranoid, you can become split,
           you can become paralyzed because of fear -- but this is nothing to do with reality.
               You see a blind man walking on the road perfectly well; blindness in itself is not the problem.
           You can see beggars -- their legs broken, their hands gone, and still laughing, still gossiping with
           each other, still talking about women, making remarks, singing a tune. Just watch life: life is never a
           problem. Man has tremendous capacity to adjust to the fact, but man has no capacity to adjust to the
           future. Once you try to protect yourself and secure yourself in the future, then you will be in a
           turmoil, in a chaos. You will start falling apart. And then there are millions of problems -- problems
           and problems and problems. You cannot even commit suicide, because the poison may not be the
           right poison. In India you cannot rely on anything! They may have mixed something into it; it may
           not be poison at all. You may take it and you will lie down... and you will wait and wait and wait --
           and death is not coming.
           Then everything creates a problem.

               Mulla Nasrudin was going to commit suicide. He came across an astrologer on the street, and the
           astrologer said, "Mulla, wait. Let me see your hand."
               He said, "What do I have to do now with astrology? I am going to commit suicide! So there is no
           point; now there is no future."
               The astrologer said, "Wait. Let me see whether you can succeed or not."

                Future remains. You may not succeed, you may be caught by the police, you may misfire. There
           is no way to be certain about the future -- not even about death, not even about suicide. What to say
           about life? Life is such a complex phenomenon; how can you be certain? Everything is possible and
           nothing is certain. If you become afraid, this is just your psychology. Something has to be done to
           your mind.
                And if you understand me rightly, meditation is nothing but an effort to look at reality without
           the mind -- because that is the only way to look at reality. If the mind is there it distorts, it corrupts.
           Drop the mind and see reality -- direct, immediate, face to face. And there is no problem. Reality has
           never created any problem for anybody. I am here, you are also here -- I don't see a single problem.
           If I fall ill, I fall ill. What is there to be worried about? Why make a fuss about it? If I die, I die.
                A problem needs space: in the present moment there is no space. Things only happen, there is no
           time to think about it. You can think about the past because there is distance; you can think about the
           future, there is distance. In fact, future and past are created just to give us space so that we can
           worry. And the more space you have, the more worry.
                Now in India they are much more worried because they think, "Next life... and... and" -- ad
           infinitum -- "what is going to happen in the next life?" A person is doing something and he does not
           think only about the consequences that are going to happen here now; he thinks, "What KARMA am
           I going to gather for my future life?" Now he will become even more worried; he has more space.
           And how is he going to fill that space? -- he will fill it with more and more problems. Worry is a way
           to fill the empty space of the future.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The questioner says, "I have glimpses of how psychological, existential pain is created by ego. It
           is homemade, and it can be unmade."
                Just understanding it intellectually won't help; you have to do it. Do it, and then the next question
           will disappear. Do it, and then you will find there is not any problem left.
           "But what about physical pain?"
                Now this is how problems arise. Intellectually you have understood one thing, but that doesn't
           make any sense. The next question immediately brings your reality to the surface: you have not
           understood.
                It is as if a blind man goes on groping with his stick; he finds his path by it. And then we say,
           "Your eyes can be cured, but then you will have to drop your walking stick. It is not needed." The
           blind man will say, "I can understand that my eyes can be cured, but how can I walk without my
           stick?"
                Now, intellectually he has understood that eyes can be cured, but existentially, experientially, he
           has not understood it -- otherwise the next question wouldn't arise.
                Sometimes people come to me and they ask one question, and I say, "You go on; you ask the
           next two." Because one question may not show the reality; they may be just showing their
           intellectual understanding. But with the next question they are bound to be caught. They are bound
           to be, because with the next question, immediately they will miss.
                The first part of the question is perfect, but you have got the point only through the mind. It is
           not yet chewed well, it is not yet digested. It has not become blood, bones, marrow. It is not yet part
           of your existence. Otherwise you can never ask, "What about the physical pain?" -- because the very
           question is psychological. Physical pain is not a problem -- when it is there, it is there; when it is not
           there, it is not there. A problem arises when something is not there and you want it to be there, or
           when something is there and you don't want it to be there. A problem is always psychological: "Why
           is it there?" Now this is all psychological. Who is to say why it is there? There is nobody to answer.
           Only explanations can be given, but those are not really answers. Explanations are simple.
                It is very simple: pain is there because pleasure is there. Pleasure cannot exist without pain. If
           you want a life absolutely painless, then you will have to live a life absolutely pleasureless. They
           come together in one package. They are not two things really; they are one thing -- not different, not
           separate, and cannot be separated. That's what man has been doing through the centuries: separating,
           to somehow have all the pleasures of the world and not have any pain; but this is not possible. The
           more pleasures you have, the more pain also. The bigger the peak, the deeper will be the valley by
           the side. You want no valleys and you want big peaks. Then the peaks cannot exist; they can exist
           only with valleys. The valley is nothing but a situation in which a peak becomes possible. The peak
           and the valley are joined together.
           You want pleasure and you don't want pain.
                For example: you love a woman or you love a man, and when the woman is with you you are
           happy. Now, you would like to be happy whenever she is with you, but when she goes away you
           don't want the pain. If you are REALLY happy with a woman when she is with you, how can you
           avoid the pain of separation when she is gone and she is no longer there? You will miss her, you will
           feel the absence. The absence is bound to become pain. If you really want that you should not have
           any pain, then you should start avoiding all pleasure. Then when the woman is there don't feel
           happy; just remain sad, just remain unhappy -- so that when she goes, there is no problem.
                If somebody greets you and you feel happy, then when somebody insults you you will feel
           unhappy. This trick has been tried. This has been one of the most basic tricks that all of the so-called
           religious people have tried: if you want to avoid pain, avoid pleasure. But then what is the point? If
           you want to avoid death, avoid life -- but then what is the point of it all? You will be dead. Before
           death, you will be dead. If you want to be perfectly secure, enter into your grave and lie down there.
           You will be perfectly secure. Don't breathe, because if you breathe there is danger... because there
           are all sorts of infections, particularly in Poona. Never breathe in Poona; you breathe infections. A
           million diseases exist all around you; how can you breathe? the air is polluted. There is danger, so
           don't breathe, don't move... just don't live. Commit suicide; then there will be no pain. But then why
           are you searching for it? You want no pain and all pleasure. You demand something impossible: you
           want that two plus two should not be four. You want them to become five, or three, or anything, but
           never four. But they are four. Whatever you do, howsoever you deceive yourself and others, they
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will remain four.
               Pain and pleasure go together like night and day, like birth and death, like love and hate. In a
           better world, with a more developed language, we will not use words like 'hate' and 'love', 'anger',
           'compassion', 'day', 'night'. We will make some words which will carry both together: 'lovehate' --
           one word; 'daynight' -- one word, not two; 'birthdeath' -- one word, not two; 'painpleasure' -- one
           word, not two. The language creates an illusion.
               In language pain is separate, pleasure is separate. If you want to look in the dictionary for 'pain',
           you have to look for 'pain'; 'pleasure' will be separate. You want to look for 'pleasure', then you have
           to look for 'pleasure'. But in reality pain and pleasure are together, just as your right and left hands
           are together, just as two wings of a bird are together. The dictionary creates a great illusion;
           language is a very great source of illusions. It says 'love', and when it says 'love' you never think
           about hate. You completely forget about hate, but love cannot exist without hate. That's why you
           love the same person and you hate the same person.
               Many disciples come to me very disturbed, because they say, "Osho, we love you, but we hate
           you also." And this creates a great uneasiness in them. Never be uneasy about it. If you love me, you
           will hate me too. There will be moments when the hate part will be on top of you; there will be
           moments when the love part will be on top of you. Don't be uneasy about it; it is natural and human.
               You would like a world where coldness exists without anything like heat, or heat exists without
           anything like cold. Just think about it; it is absurd -- because heat and cold are together. And it
           depends on what you call them.
               You can put water in two buckets: in one, hot water, boiling, and in the other, cold, ice-cold
           water. Just put both your hands into them, and just feel. Are there two sensations? or just one
           spectrum? -- on one extreme is cold, on the other extreme is hot. Then let them settle. By and by you
           will see that you are coming closer and closer; the hot is becoming less hot, and the cold is becoming
           less cold. After a few hours you will say, "They are both the same now." Or you can try in one
           bucket of water: put one hand near heat and one hand near ice. Make one hand cold and one hot, dip
           both hands into one bucket of water and feel what it is. One hand will say it is cold, one hand will
           say it is hot, but it is the same water. It's relative. Something may look like pleasure to you, and the
           same thing may look like pain to somebody else.
               For example: you are making love to a woman; you think it is very pleasurable. Ask a Buddha;
           he will be simply horrified: "What are you doing? Have you gone mad?" Maybe that's why people
           make love in private -- otherwise others will laugh and ridicule. The whole movements of
           lovemaking will look very absurd. They will look ridiculous. In a passionate state of mind, you are
           almost drunk.
               When you are angry you do something; in that moment it gives you pleasure, otherwise you
           wouldn't do it. Anger gives tremendous pleasure, power, the feel of power. But when anger is gone
           you start feeling repentance, remorse. You start feeling that it was not good, now it is painful. When
           it was there you felt power and you felt pleasure. Now you look again in a less insane state; in' a less
           feverish state you look again. You are more cool and collected now; now it looks painful. The same
           thing can be pleasurable, the same thing can be painful -- it depends. And the same thing can be
           pleasurable to you and for somebody else can be painful -- that too depends. Pleasure and pain go
           together.
               What I am saying, what my suggestion is for you to do, is: there are two ways, and two ways to
           get out of it. One is, start becoming more and more insensitive. That's what old religions have been
           teaching -- become insensitive. When you are dull, insensitive, unintelligent, a crust, a hard crust
           surrounds your being. You will neither feel pain nor will you feel pleasure. That's what is happening
           to Jain monks and other monks -- they try to become insensitive. By and by, you can become
           insensitive. Then nothing feels pleasurable, nothing feels painful. You come to a state of stupor,
           stupidity, where you become very aloof. You are almost dead. Your eyes lose fire, your being loses
           all energy. You are just dead stuff, a stagnant thing, and you will start stinking of death. This is one
           way -- simple, easy, cheap. I don't suggest it. It is life-negative. It is violent; it is violence against
           yourself. It is a self-torture. You try it, it is simple.
               You can go to Benares and you can see people, sannyasins, lying on a bed of thorns -- and you
           will be amazed! But what have they learned? They have not learned anything -- just that if you go on
           lying on hard things your body becomes dead, it doesn't feel. But just to avoid pain they are avoiding
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           life itself. It is as if you wanted to be healthy and you wanted to drop the disease; just to drop the
           disease you killed yourself, because the disease was too painful. But now you don't exist at all.
               What I suggest is a very life-affirmative, life-loving way. My suggestion is: when there is pain,
           go deeply into it, don't avoid it. Let it be so, be open to it, become as sensitive as possible. Let the
           pain and its arrow penetrate you to your very core. Suffer it. And when the pleasure comes, let that
           too move you to your innermost core. Dance it. When there is pain be with pain, and when there is
           pleasure be with pleasure. Become so totally sensitive that each moment of pain and pleasure is a
           great adventure.
               And I would like to tell you one thing: that if you can do this, you will understand that pain too is
           beautiful. It is as beautiful as pleasure. It also brings a sharpness to your being; it also brings
           awareness to your being -- sometimes even more than pleasure. Pleasure dulls. That's why people
           who live just in indulgence will be found to be shallow. You will not see any depth in them. They
           have not known pain at all; they have lived only on the surface, moving from one pleasure to
           another. The playboys... they don't know what pain is.
               Pain makes you very alert, and pain makes you very compassionate, and pain makes you
           sensitive to others' pains too. Pain makes you immense, huge, big. The heart grows because of pain.
           And it is beautiful, it has its own beauty. I am not saying seek pain; I am only saying whenever it is
           there, enjoy that too. It is a gift of God and there must be a hidden treasure in it. Enjoy that too; don't
           reject. Accept it, welcome it, be with it. In the beginning it will be difficult, arduous. But by and by
           you will learn the taste of it. The taste has to be learned; it is just like other tastes.
               If you start drinking alcohol, in the beginning the taste is just bad and bitter.

           Mulla Nasrudin is a drunkard.
               One day his wife went to the pub, and he was drinking there with his friends. And the wife was
           in a REALLY bad mood; she had tried every way and he wouldn't listen. Today she wanted to shock
           him. And of course he was a little puzzled; she had never come to the pub: "Is she going to create a
           scene here? Home, it is okay. Home is the place where scenes are created and enacted, but in the
           pub?"
               And she came and just sat by his side and said, "Mulla, I have also decided to drink, from today.
           He was a little more puzzled. But then he poured a glass for her. She tasted and it was so bitter, and
           she just could not believe it.
           She said, "It is so bitter, Mulla."
               And Mulla said, "Look! And you have always been thinking that I am enjoying. It is a great
           SADHANA; it is not easy!"

               When you start anything new, you have to learn the taste. And of course the taste of pain is
           bitter. But once you have learned it, it gives such sharpness and brilliance to you. It shakes all dust,
           all stupor and sleepiness away from you. It makes you so fully mindful that nothing else can make
           you so mindful. In pain you can be more meditative than in pleasure. Pleasure is more distracting.
           Pleasure engulfs you. In pleasure you abandon consciousness. Pleasure tends to make you
           unconscious; pleasure is a sort of oblivion, a forgetfulness. Pain is a remembrance: you cannot forget
           pain.
               Have you not observed? -- whenever you are in pain you remember God, never when you are
           happy and in pleasure. Who bothers7 In fact. when you are in pleasure you forget yourself, you
           forget God, you forget everything. Things are going so well....
           But in pain, you remember God.
               So pain can become a very creative energy; it can become a remembrance of God. It can become
           prayer, it can become meditation, it can become awareness.
               What do I teach? I teach: when pain is there, use it as awareness, as meditation, as a sharpening
           of the soul. And when pleasure is there, then use it as a drowning, as a forgetfulness. Both are ways
           to reach God. One is to remember yourself totally, and one is to forget yourself. totally. And pain
           and pleasure both can be used, but to use them you have to be very, very intelligent. What I am
           teaching is not the stupid person's way; what I am teaching is the intelligent, the wise man's way.
           Whatsoever God gives you, try to find a way to use it, in such a way that it becomes a creative
           growth situation for you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           the second question:


              AFTER TODAY'S LECTURE, I FELT AS IF LEVITATING AND FLYING. I WALKED ALONG THE
              ROAD IN FRONT OF THE ASHRAM GATE, APPROACHED A FLOWERING BUSH, AND LOOKED
              AT IT, SUDDENLY HAVING THE SENSATION OF BEING ONE WITH NATURE AND FLOATING
              LIKE DRIFTWOOD IN THE RIVER. ALL OF A SUDDEN I REALIZED THAT THE DRIFTWOOD HAD
              STEPPED INTO A HEAP OF DOG SHIT. DO YOU HAPPEN TO SEE ANY SYMBOLIC
              SIGNIFICANCE TO THIS?


                The significance is there, but not symbolic; it is very real. You need not go into symbolism,
           because it is not a dream, It happened when you were perfectly awake. The reality is saying
           something to you....
                Listening to me you can feel that you are levitating, but you cannot levitate. The feeling is not
           the thing, not the real thing. Listening to me you can feel very happy, but that happiness is like a
           reflection. It is my happiness reflected in your mirror, it is not your happiness. You are bound to land
           somewhere in dog shit.
                One should not depend on anybody else. You need your happiness. Listening to me, you can
           become engulfed, you can be overwhelmed, but the farther you go from me, that music will start
           disappearing from you. It was not yours in the first place.
                It is as if I am sitting here: in my light your darkness disappears. Then you go away; the farther
           away you go, the darkness starts surrounding you again.
           It is as the Sufis say:

               Two travellers were going into a forest. One had a lamp, a lantern of his own, the other had none.
           But the other was not even aware of the fact. They both walked in light because one had the lantern,
           so the other also had the light on the path. Then came the moment where they had to depart; their
           paths were going separately. And when the man with the lantern went on his path, suddenly the other
           traveller recognized, realized, that there was immense darkness all around.

               You can walk with me to a certain extent. The disciple can walk with the Master to a certain
           extent, but then the paths separate. Then you have to go on your own way. Suddenly you will find
           you are in darkness.
               So while you are with a Master, don't just enjoy his bliss. Enjoy, but learn also how to create
           your own bliss and your own light. Those moments with a Master have to be tremendously enjoyed
           -- good. But just enjoyment is not enough. You have to learn the secret of how to create your own
           light -- so when the Master departs, or you have to go on your own way and paths are separate, you
           are not lost in darkness. Otherwise this will happen again and again.

                I heard one day that Mulla Nasrudin had been caught by the police, so I went to see him in the
           jail. I asked him, "Mulla, how do you happen to be here? What happened?"
           He said, "Housebreaking, and my fault too."
           I asked, "And how was that?"
                He said, "I spent three months getting acquainted with the dog, and then I went and stepped on
           the cat."

           You have to be fully aware.
               In Zen they say: The art of meditation is almost the art of being a thief.
               You have to be so aware that you can walk into somebody else's house where you may never
           have been before; not only can you walk, you can remove things without making any noise; not only
           that, but without any light in the dark night. You have to be like a thief: very aware, very conscious.
               What happened to this questioner? -- he was floating, he was no more in this world, he had
           moved into another world. A vision had dawned on him; he was in a dream, he was not aware, he
           was drunk. Hence he stepped into dog shit.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is very, very meaningful; remember it. Otherwise there are many ways to land in wrong
           places. Unless you are tremendously aware, many times you will come nearer to home and again you
           will miss the door.

           the third question:


              OSHO. ARE YOU ALSO THE POOR MAN'S GURU?


               Certainly!
           Whenever you give me an opportunity to contradict myself I never lose it. I contain contradictions. I
           am vast. I never feel uneasy about contradictions; I love them.
               Yes, I am a poor man's guru. But if you understand me there is no contradiction. My definition of
           a rich man and my definition of a poor man have to be understood well.
               Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor because theirs is the kingdom of God." And mind you, he does
           not say theirs will BE the kingdom of God; he says theirs IS the kingdom of God. Let me repeat it:
           he says, "Blessed are the poor, because theirs is the kingdom of God." But who are the poor in Jesus'
           definition? -- the same people I call rich.
               I call a man rich who has become absolutely frustrated with the world, who has known all that it
           can give, and has come to know that all of it is illusory. And he has become aware of his inner
           poverty. "No richness of the world can fulfill my hungry heart; nothing that I can possess can ever be
           a contentment to me. My poverty remains untouched by my riches." I call this man a rich man
           because he has come to see the futility of all riches; but he is also the poor man, the REALLY poor,
           because he has understood his inner poverty. He is'the poor in spirit'.
           Now let me confuse you a little more.
               There are two types of rich men: one, the first type, who has riches; and the other, who has no
           riches but still is a rich man -- because he has desires to be rich. The first has riches, the second has
           no riches, but both are rich men -- because both move for more and for more and for more. You may
           have ten rupees and you desire a hundred rupees. Somebody has ten million rupees and he is desiring
           a hundred million rupees. What is the difference? -- the proportion is the same. Both are moving
           towards riches.
               So there are rich people with riches and there are rich people with no riches at all. A beggar can
           also be rich if he is still moving into desire.
               Then there are two types of poor people: a poor person who has no riches, and a poor person who
           has all the riches in the world. If the poor person has understood that there is no meaning in riches,
           and the person who has all the riches has also understood that there is no meaning in riches, then
           both are poor in spirit. The basic thing to realize is that whatsoever is outside is not going to fulfill
           you. Whether you are rich or poor does not matter. But, it is easier....
               That's why I said that if a poor man wants to be religious, he will have to have more intelligence
           than the rich man -- because he will have to substitute by his intelligence what is lacking in riches.
           He will have to have a great vision, visualization power. If you have a beautiful woman, it is very
           easy to understand that just by having a beautiful woman by your side, no contentment comes. It is
           very easy to understand it; much intelligence is not needed. But if you don't have a woman and you
           live in a desert alone, and dream -- and dreams come, and you fantasize about women -- now, to
           understand that just by getting a woman you cannot be satisfied is difficult, very difficult. When you
           have riches by your side it is very simple to understand. Not much intelligence is needed to see that
           nothing has happened to your inner world. But when you don't have anything, not even something to
           eat, no house to give you shelter, it is very difficult to see that houses, food, money, are all
           meaningless. It is very difficult for a poor man to understand that money is meaningless. For a rich
           man, it is very simple.
               That's why I say if a rich man does not become religious he must be extraordinarily stupid, and if
           a poor man becomes religious he must be extraordinarily intelligent. Because when you have, it is
           very simple to see the arithmetic that nothing has happened; but when you don't have, then just to
           visualize and just to think in imagination that even by having it nothing is going to happen, is very
           difficult. A lurking doubt will remain inside... maybe there is something in it; the whole world is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           running after it: "Are they all fools? Am I alone the wise man? Then why is the whole world running
           after riches, money, power, prestige?" It is very difficult. When you live in a palace you know that
           life does not happen just by living in a palace. But when you live on the road, you live in a slum, it is
           very difficult to understand that just by living in a palace nothing happens. That's why I told you I
           am a rich man's guru. But only for that rich man who has understood that he is not rich is there the
           possibility of opening into the religious dimension. When he has understood his inner poverty, only
           then. So whosoever understands that he is poor, and he has nothing, and this world cannot give you
           anything, is capable of making a contact with a Master. There is no other way.
                Sometimes it seems very hard. Listening to me, sometimes you become very disturbed. The
           moment I say that I am only a rich man's guru, of course you become disturbed. You are not rich;
           then am I not your guru? But you misunderstood me. You could not get the point of it.
                Many times it is happening: I say something, you hear something else.

              Three little old ladies, loving but deaf, met at the supermarket.
           "Beautiful day," said one.
           "No, it is Thursday," said the other.
           "Me thirsty too," said the third. "Let us have a cup of tea."

              This is how things transpire between me and you. I say something, you hear something, and then
           you go on questioning and I go on answering....

               Two guys talking: One said, "I got married because I was tired of going to the laundromat, eating
           in restaurants, and wearing socks with holes." The other guy said, "That's funny. I got divorced for
           the same reason."

               When I say a poor man cannot be religious, it hurts -- and particularly in a country like India,
           which is poor. It hurts very much, and more so because India thinks it is a religious country, and I
           say a poor man cannot be religious. The country is poor and has pretensions of being rich. It hurts
           very deeply; it wounds the ego. But try to understand.
               There is a hierarchy, and unless you have fulfilled the lower needs first, the higher needs don't
           arise. In life you follow the rule very arithmetically: a boy has to go to the primary school, then to
           the middle school, then to the high school, then to a college, then to a university. There is a
           hierarchy. If somebody says, "I want to enter into the university directly," you won't allow. You will
           say, "First you have to fulfill a few requirements."
               God is the ultimate truth, and now everybody thinks he should be able to approach directly and
           that there should be no requirement. This is absolute nonsense. To me, your physical needs have to
           be fulfilled first. Your body has to be in a deep contentment, a well-being. When the body is
           perfectly well, healthy, has a pleasure of its own, is like a beautifully humming car -- no disturbance,
           no noise... I am not talking about Indian cars.
               They say that when the manufacturer of Ambassador cars died, when Birla died, the man who
           received him at the gate of heaven was very angry. He said, "We have received many complaints
           about your car, this Ambassador: that except for the horn, the whole mechanism makes noise!"
               When the car is really beautifully humming and the mechanism has a rhythm to it, there is
           well-being. When your body is humming in a musical, harmonious way, when everything fits
           together, when there is nothing wrong and you are simply happy with the body, suddenly there is an
           upsurge of energy. You start seeking aesthetic objects: art, music, poetry, painting. Suddenly you
           become interested in Picasso, Michaelangelo, Mozart. Suddenly your taste starts growing for
           something beautiful.
               When your mind is also humming, when your mind is also in a well-being -- the music is there,
           the poetry is there, the beauty is there, and you are satisfied -- again another jump, another quantum
           leap, and you start asking about truth, you ask about God. You ask the ultimate question only in an
           ultimate state of well-being, not before it. And then the search starts. Now it is very difficult; it is as
           difficult as in this story:

              Myron Cohen tells about the lady who was asked, "Sadie, if You found a million dollars in the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           street, what would you do with it?"
               "That depends," answered Sadie. "If I found it belonged to somebody very poor, I would give it
           back."

                Now, one million dollars! And the lady says, "If I found it belonged to somebody VERY poor,
           then I would give it back. It depends; otherwise I am going to keep it. If it belongs to a a rich man
           what is the point of giving it back?"
                But one million dollars belonging to somebody very poor? -- look at the absurdity of it.
                I have never come across a man whose lower needs are not fulfilled who can really inquire into
           the truth of God; not possible. I feel sorry to say so, but... truth is truth, and it has to be said even if it
           hurts. I cannot do anything; it is so. Then his desire remains hanging around -- his unfulfilled layer.
           He may talk about prayer, he may talk about love, but he will mean sex. If his sex is unfulfilled, his
           talk about love is not going to be about love; it will be about unfulfilled sex. He may use the
           word'love'; that is irrelevant. That doesn't make any difference. But if you go deeper into his love
           and his talk about love, you will find sexuality hidden there.
                It is impossible to jump to higher needs when the lower are not fulfilled. India was, one day in
           the past, a religious country -- in the days of Buddha and Mahavira. It was religious because it was
           the richest country in the world. It was thought to be as a golden bird -- most fabulous, most rich,
           luxurious. It has known its days; it was young, full of energy and vigor. It was at its peak. Nobody
           can remain at the peak forever. It goes on changing. In those days India was religious because it was
           rich. Then the richness was gone; India became more and more poor. And there is a logic in it.
                Whenever a country is very rich it starts becoming religious; when it starts becoming religious it
           becomes poor. When it becomes poor it is difficult to be religious. This is the mechanism, this is the
           dialectic. Why does it happen?
                Now look at America: America is now the most affluent country in the world, but the young
           generation is going against technology. The young generation talks about love, prayer, meditation.
           But if you go against technology, and if you burn Cadillacs, Rolls Royces, and you start living like
           mendicants, you become hippies and yippies and you drop out of the society, now what will happen?
           If it happens on a larger scale, America will become the poorest country in the world. Now look at
           the dialectics of it: America is interested in religion, America is interested in meditation, America is
           interested in God -- because it is rich. Now, once you become interested in God you say, "What is
           there in riches? Nothing. A poor man's life is beautiful; I would like to be a vagabond like Buddha, I
           would like to be a wanderer. I don't want to continue with this mechanical society. I don't want to be
           part of a consumer society anymore." Then you drop out; then bigger portions of the society drop
           out.
                And you are the future -- because the young generation will have to decide. The older generation
           will disappear soon. And when the new generation has to decide, it knows no technology. You will
           fall from your riches; you will become poor. When you become poor, then you will go on carrying
           that religion which.happened when you were rich, as a hangover. Just see it: when you were rich
           religion was true because you were trying to reach a higher peak. Now you have fallen from the
           riches, and you have fallen because of religion. Now you will carry a hangover of religion for
           centuries. You will go on talking about meditation but it will not mean anything.
                That's why in India the hangover has continued. India has known a golden peak. When it knew
           the golden peak, Buddha and Mahavira and Neminatha and ALL intelligent people dropped out of
           the society. They became mendicants, wanderers, BHIKKHUS; they started begging. And they said,
           "This is all nonsense. These great palaces and these great riches are all useless." And they were true:
           I am not saying they were wrong; I am simply telling you how the mechanism functions, how the
           wheel moves. They were true; they had to say this, there is no way to avoid it. But when they said it
           millions were convinced. Buddha had thousands of disciples, and they all came from rich families.
           They were either from royal families, or they were from very rich families. Of course, a few poor
           people also came. But in fact, at the time, nobody was poor.
                Now in America there are poor people, but if you look at them from the Indian standard, they are
           very rich. Even a poor person can have a car in America. Even your chauffeur can come in his car.
           Now, in India, just to think that a driver has his own car! Nobody will believe it: "Then why does he
           drive somebody else's car? It is impossible!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I used to stay in Indore at a rich man's family. He had gone for the first time to Switzerland, and
           the guide who was travelling with him to show him places invited him to his house. He had a
           beautiful house in the hills. This rich man was telling me -- he had been to the West for the first time
           -- he was telling me, "I could not believe, I was amazed -- because he had nine rooms -- just a wife
           and husband! And each room with attached bathroom!" In his house where I used to stay, he had
           only two rooms with attached bathrooms, and he is one of the richest men of Indore. One was for me
           and one was for himself. Attached bathrooms are a luxury. He could not believe it; and he could not
           understand why the man was functioning as a guide. He had his own car, he had his own house, he
           had a beautiful garden -- so why was he working as a guide? This rich man felt poor in comparison
           to that poor man.
               India was rich; even the poor men were rich. Millions of people were converted by Buddha and
           Mahavira, and they all left. Just think of the point: if millions of people suddenly turn into beggars,
           only a very rich society can afford them. Otherwise, how will you afford it? Who will give them
           food? Who will give them shelter? They were all sheltered, they were all getting good food, they
           were getting good clothes. In fact Buddha had to make rules that they should not receive more than
           this, otherwise people were given so many things that it would become difficult for the beggar to
           carry all that load. So one should not receive more than this -- a limited amount. And if you received
           more, then immediately you had to give something. But your possessions should be of a limited
           number. There were millions of BHIKKHUS, and Buddha had to make rules for them not to possess
           more. It was a rich country; religion flowered. When religion flowered, because of its very flowering
           the country became poor. When the country became poor, the religion continued as a hangover. Now
           India is not a religious country; religion is just a hangover from the past. If you look at the past, you
           can think that "Yes, sometime it must have been a religious country." But if you look at the future, it
           is going to be a communist country, sooner or later. It is one of the most materialist countries in the
           world now.
               Now let me tell you another thing: when a country becomes poor it becomes materialist; when it
           becomes materialist it does not bother about religion at all -- or, at the most, pays lip-service. Then it
           starts becoming rich; materialism makes you rich. When you again become rich, one day you
           become religious. And in this way the wheel goes on moving.
               Religion is always for the rich. And a hangover religion is very dangerous: it does not allow you
           to be really materialist, and you are materialist. It does not give you freedom to be really materialist.
           I am not against materialism, because I know that only at the highest peak of materialism does
           religion happen.
               Karl Marx had predicted that the richest country of the world would become communist. But he
           failed; his prediction was wrong. It was wrong because he never understood the real dialectics of
           society, he only understood the economic structure. If he was right then America should have been
           communist; not China, not Russia. Both are poor countries, the poorest. Karl Marx was wrong.
               What I am saying is truer: a rich country can never become communist; only a poor country
           becomes communist. A rich country becomes religious, not communist. A poor country becomes
           communist -- but this is how it is. I am not saying it should not be so: I am not saying anything about
           what should be and what should not be. I am simply saying what is; this is the mechanism. Now if
           Russia really becomes rich someday, it will lose contact with its communism. That's why there is a
           conflict between China and Russia: Russia is richer than China. China is really a poor man's country,
           and only the poor man can be materialist. Now, to China, Russia seems to be bourgeois. They don't
           want to have anything to do with Russia; it is already a bourgeois country. Sooner or later when
           Russia becomes richer.... That is bound to happen: when you become materialist, technological,
           scientific, you become rich. When you become rich, suddenly religion starts flowering.
               In Russia, you will be surprised to know that there are secret societies now gathering together
           somewhere in privacy, praying, meditating -- because now it is illegal. You cannot pray in public,
           you cannot talk about meditation in public. But there are societies, and people even risk their lives
           just to be together and talk about Jesus and Buddha. But they are all secret societies.

           the last question:

           It is from Yatri.
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FOR THE RECORD.... OSHO, TWO DAYS AGO, FOR REASONS CLEARLY SPIRITUAL, YOU
              ADMITTED TO SPEAKING ONLY A MODEST FIVE THOUSAND WORDS PER DAY. FROM A
              PURELY SCIENTIFIC VIEWPOINT, THIS STATEMENT WOULD SEEM TO CONTAIN CERTAIN
              INACCURACIES. THE ACTUAL FIGURE -- AND THIS ANY TRANSCRIBER, EDITOR OR TAPE
              OPERATOR WILL INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY -- IS APPROXIMATELY THREE TIMES THE
              AMOUNT, COUNTING BOTH THE MORNING DISCOURSE AND THE EVENING DARSHAN. THIS
              MEANS THAT ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND WORDS ARE SPOKEN EACH WEEK, AND
              A HANDSOME TOTAL OF FIVE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND WORDS ARE GIVEN TO
              US IN ONE YEAR. IN THREE SHORT YEARS A CHAIN OF SUCH WORDS WOULD INDEED
              GIRDLE THE EARTH. IS THIS A RECORD FOR AN ENLIGHTENED VOICE?
              WE ARE SURE THE MASTER NEEDS THE OPPORTUNITY TO VERIFY OR REFUTE SUCH
              EXTRAVAGANT CLAIMS.


               They are not extravagant, and I absolutely agree with you, Yatri. But, a Master always has his
           ways to escape; you cannot catch him so easily. And he can always bring some esoteric thing into it.
               Yes, fifteen thousand words are spoken: remember, I am not saying I am speaking.... Fifteen
           thousand words per day are spoken: five thousand from the body, five thousand from the mind, five
           thousand from me!
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

               A jaguar persuaded a cat to teach him how to pounce. After a few successful experiments with
           bugs and insects, the jaguar, his appetite whetted, decided to try out this new technique on the cat
           itself. The cat, however, jumped out of danger like a flash, and the jaguar landed in a heap.
           "That is not fair!" whined the jaguar. "You did not teach me that trick."
           "A smart teacher," the cat reminded him, "never teaches a pupil all his tricks."

           Remember that.
               And Yatri is right: my mathematics are poor. It has always been so. So whenever it comes to
           mathematics I will always agree with you. But metaphysics has its own ways to get out of any
           entanglement. That s why I can so easily contradict myself.
           I speak only five thousand words a day.




                              The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                   Chapter #3
                                      Chapter title: Remember the middle
           2 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611020
              ShortTitle: TRANS403
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              ONE NIGHT A MONK WAS RECITING A SUTRA BEQUEATHED BY KASHYAPABUDDHA. HIS
              TONE WAS SO MOURNFUL AND HIS VOICE SO FAINTING, AS IF HE WERE GOING OUT OF
              EXISTENCE. THE BUDDHA ASKED THE MONK, "WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION BEFORE
              YOU BECAME A HOMELESS MONK?" SAID THE MONK, "I WAS VERY FOND OF PLAYING THE
              GUITAR." THE BUDDHA SAID, "HOW DID YOU FIND IT WHEN THE STRINGS WERE TOO
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               LOOSE?" SAID THE MONK, "NO SOUND IS POSSIBLE." "HOW WHEN THE STRINGS WERE TOO
               TIGHT?" "THEY CRACK." "HOW WHEN THEY WERE NEITHER TOO TIGHT NOR TOO LOOSE?"
               "EVERY NOTE SOUNDS IN ITS PROPER TONE."
               THE BUDDHA THEN SAID TO THE MONK: RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE IS ALSO LIKE UNTO
               PLAYING THE GUITAR. WHEN THE MIND IS PROPERLY ADJUSTED AND QUIETLY APPLIED,
               THE WAY IS ATTAINABLE; BUT WHEN YOU ARE TOO FERVENTLY BENT ON IT, YOUR BODY
               GROWS TIRED; AND WHEN YOUR BODY IS TIRED, YOUR SPIRIT BECOMES WEARY; WHEN
               YOUR SPIRIT IS WEARY, YOUR DISCIPLINE WILL RELAX; AND WITH THE RELAXATION OF
               DISCIPLINE THERE FOLLOWS MANY AN EVIL. THEREFORE, BE CALM AND PURE, AND THE
               WAY WILL BE GAINED.


                MAN'S whole misery consists in his being off-center. here is a maladjustment between the hub
           and the wheel. There is a maladjustment between you and reality, and that maladjustment manifests
           itself in a thousand and one ways. The farther you are away from reality, the more miserable. Hell is
           the farthest point from reality. The closer you are to reality, the more close you are to heaven. When
           there is no maladjustment between you and reality, you are heaven itself.
                It Is not a question of going anywhere, it is a question of how to get in tune with reality again. It
           is a rediscovery -- because in the mother's womb each child is centered in reality. In the mother's
           womb each child is profoundly blissful. Of course he is unaware of it, not knowing anything about it.
           He's so one with his bliss that there is no knower left behind. Blissfulness is his being, and there is
           no distinction between the knower and the known. So of course the child is not aware that he is
           blissful. You become aware only when you have lost something.
                Mulla Nasrudin was saying to his son one day, "You don't know what happiness is until you get
           married -- and then it is too late."
                It is so. It is very difficult to know something without losing it, because when you have not lost it
           you are so totally one with it. There is no distance: the observer and the observed are one; the known
           and the knower are one. Every child is in a profoundly blissful state.
                Psychologists also agree with this. They say that the whole search of religion is nothing but a
           way to again find the womb of the mother. They use it as a criticism of religion, but to me it is not
           criticism at all. It is simply true. Yes, the search for religion is again a search for the womb. The
           search for religion is again a search to make this whole existence a womb.
                The child is in absolute tune with the mother. The child is never out of tune with the mother. The
           child does not know that he is separate from the mother. If the mother is healthy the child is healthy;
           if the mother is ill the child is ill; if the mother is sad the child is sad; if the mother is happy the child
           is happy; if the mother is dancing the child is dancing; if the mother is sitting silently the child is
           silent. The child has no boundaries of his own yet. This is the purest bliss, but it has to be lost.
                The child is born, and suddenly he is thrown off-center. Suddenly he is uprooted from the earth,
           from the mother. He loses his moorings and he does not know who he is. There was no need to know
           it when he was with the mother. There was no.need to know -- he was all, and there was no need to
           know, there was no distinction. There was no 'you', so there was no question of 'I' The reality was
           undivided. It was ADWAITA, pure ADWAITA, pure non-duality.
                But once the child is born, the umbilical cord is cut and he starts breathing on his own, suddenly
           his whole being becomes a quest to know who he is. It is natural. Now he starts becoming aware of
           his boundaries -- his body, his needs. Sometimes he is happy, sometimes unhappy, sometimes he is
           fulfilled, sometimes not fulfilled; sometimes he is hungry and crying and there is no sign of mother
           anywhere; sometimes he is on the mother's breast, again enjoying oneness with the mother. But now
           there are many moods and many climates, and he will start, by and by, to feel the separation. A
           divorce has happened; the marriage is broken.
                He was absolutely married to the mother; now he will always be separate. And he has to find out
           who he is. And the whole life one goes on trying to find out who one is. This is the most
           fundamental question.
                First the child becomes aware of 'mine', then of 'me', then of 'you', then of 'I'. This is how it
           proceeds. This is precisely the procedure, exactly in this order. First he becomes aware of 'mine'.
           Watch it, because this is your construction, the structure of your ego. First the child becomes aware
           of 'mine' -- this toy is mine, this mother is mine. He starts possessing. The possessor enters first;
           possessiveness is very basic. Hence all the religions say: Become non-possessive -- because with
           possession starts the hell. Watch small children: very jealous, possessive, each child trying to snatch
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everything from everybody else and trying to protect his own toys. And you will see children that are
           very violent, almost indifferent to others' needs. If a child is playing with his toy and another child
           comes you can see an Adolf Hitler, a Genghis Khan, a Nadirshah. He will cling to his toy; he is
           ready to hit, he is ready to fight. It is a question of territory, a question of domination. Possessiveness
           enters first; that is the basic poison. And the child starts saying, "This is mine."
               Now look -- nothing can be 'mine' in reality, in truth. We come empty-handed, we go
           empty-handed. This whole business of 'mine' and 'thine' is just a dream. But once the child says,
           "This is mine," now he is entering into a maladjustment with reality. So you will find that the more
           you have this idea of 'mine', the more you will be miserable, the more you will suffer. Everywhere:
           "This house is mine; this woman is mine; this man is mine," and EVERYWHERE you immediately
           claim and possess... and misery enters.
               Two persons are in love. If it is just a beginning the 'mine' has not started -- because if 'mine' has
           not started, the mind has not started. Once the 'mine' starts, the ego is on the way. The ego is the
           crystallized 'mine'. And once the 'mine' starts, love is lost. Love is beautiful only when there is no
           'mine'. But it enters immediately, because that has become our very structure. That is our foundation
           in this world. We are wrongly based.
           I have heard....

              This playboy was six and he was playing with the girl next door who was five.
              "Want to wrestle?" he asked. She said, "I can't wrestle. I am a girl."
           He continued, "Want to play ball?"
           She replied, "I can't play ball. I am a girl."
           Finally he said, "Okay, wanna play house?"
           She said, "All right. I will be the father."

               From the very beginning, who dominates whom? who possesses whom? Hence all the religions
           -- eastern, western -- all the religions that have existed on earth emphasize non-possessiveness,
           non-attachment -- because that will take the very earth from beneath your feet. If you become
           non-possessive the ego cannot exist. If you become aware of this basic flaw of your being, this claim
           for 'mine', you will be surprised that all your misery can be dropped by dropping this single word.
           This is not just a word, it is your whole style of life. The wrong style of life is based on 'mine'; the
           right style of life knows no 'mine', no 'thine'.
               Once we say 'mine' we are making ourselves separate from the whole. Now this separation will
           grow, and each step will take you farther away.
           I have heard....

               A small child was sitting with the family; the father and mother were quarrelling, as usual. Then
           the father became almost mad. Afraid he might hit the woman, or that he might do something wrong,
           he ran out of the house.
               The small child was watching. He said, "Will daddy be coming back?"
               The mother said, "Yes, within fifteen minutes he will be back."
               The child said, "Oh nuts! I was thinking to have his dessert."

               Once the 'mine' enters then you are a competitor with everybody. Once the 'mine' enters, your life
           will now be a life of competition, struggle, conflict, violence, aggression.
               The next step of 'mine' is 'me'. When you have something to claim as yours. suddenly through
           that claim arises the idea that now you are the center of your possessions. The possessions become
           your territory, and through those possessions arises a new idea: 'me'.
               Once you are settled with 'me', you can see clearly that you have a boundary, and those who are
           outside the boundary are 'you'. The other becomes clear; now things start falling apart.
               The universe is one, it is a unity. Nothing is divided. Everything is connected with everything
           else. It is a tremendous connectedness. You are connected with the earth, you are connected with the
           trees, you are connected with the stars; stars are connected with you, stars are connected with the
           trees, with the rivers, with the mountains. Everything is interconnected. Nothing is separate; nothing
           can be separate. Separation is not possible.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Each moment you are breathing -- you breathe in, you breathe out -- continuously there is a
           bridge with the existence. You eat, existence enters into you; you defecate, it becomes manure -- the
           apple on the tree will become part of your body tomorrow, and some part of your body will go and
           become manure, will become food for the tree... a continuous give and take. Not for a single moment
           does it stop. When it stops, you are dead.
               What is death? -- separation is death. To be in unity is to be alive, to be out of unity is to be dead.
           So the more you think, "I am separate," the less sensitive you will be, more dead, dragging, dull. The
           more you feel you are connected, the more this whole existence is part of you and you are part of this
           whole existence. Once you understand that we are members of each other, then suddenly the vision
           changes. Then these trees are not alien; they are continuously preparing food for you. When you
           breathe in you take oxygen in, when you breathe out you give carbon dioxide; the trees breathe in
           carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen -- there is a continuous communion. We are in tune. The
           reality is a unity. And with the idea of 'me', 'you ', we are falling out of the reality. And once a wrong
           conception settles inside, your whole vision becomes upside down.
           I have heard....

               The young New Yorker was in Texas for the very first time. Seeing a herd of buffalo, he asked
           his host what they were.
               "They are just wild pigs," said his host. "Everything in Texas is big."
               A little later the visitor saw a flight of eagles and asked what they were.
               "They are just sparrows," said his host. "Everything is big in Texas."
               Later that night the visitor went looking for the toilet and fell into the swimming pool. "For Pete's
           sake!" he cried "Nobody pull the flush!"

               Once you have a wrong conception of things, then that conception will distort everything. If
           'everything is big in Texas', then the swimming pool must be a toilet! It is natural -- one wrong
           conception leads to another wrong conception and one small wrong conception leads to a bigger
           wrong conception. If you go on settling with this, one day you simply don't know what reality is.
           You are simply clouded by your own conceptions.
               'Me', then 'you', and then as a reflection arises 'I', 'I' is the subtlest, the most crystallized form of
           the possessiveness. Once you have uttered 'I', you have committed sacrilege. Once you have said 'I',
           you are broken completely from existence -- not really broken, otherwise you would die. But in your
           ideas you are completely broken from reality. Now you will be in a continuous fight with reality.
           You will be fighting your own roots, you will be fighting with yourself.
               That's why Buddha says: Be a driftwood. You can be a driftwood only if you have dropped the
           idea of I -- otherwise you cannot be a driftwood. Struggle will persist. That's why it becomes so
           difficult when you come to meditate. If I say to just sit silently, you cannot do that -- such a simple
           thing. One would think it is the most simple thing; there should be no need to teach it. One should
           simply sit and be. But you cannot sit because the 'I' cannot allow you a moment of relaxation. Once a
           moment of relaxation is allowed, you will be able to see reality. Once reality is known, the 'I' will
           have to be dropped. Then it cannot persist. So the 'I' never even allows you a holiday. Even if you go
           to the hills, to the summer resorts, the 'I' never allows you a holiday even there. You take your radio,
           you take your tv set; you take all your problems and you remain occupied. There, at a hill-station,
           you had gone to relax, but you continue your whole pattern in the same way. You don't relax.
               The 'I' cannot relax. It exists through tensions. It will create new tensions, it will create new
           worries, it will constantly manufacture new problems, it won't allow you any rest. Even a minute's
           rest and the whole house of the 'I' starts toppling down -- because the reality is so beautiful and the 'I'
           is so ugly. One continues to fight his way unnecessarily. You are fighting for things which are going
           to happen of their own accord. You are unnecessarily fighting. You are desiring things which are
           going to be yours if you don't desire. In fact, by desiring you will lose them.
               That's why Buddha says: Float with the stream. Let it take you to the ocean.
               'Mine', 'me', 'you', 'I' -- this is the trap. And this trap creates misery, neurosis, madness.
               Now the problem is: the child has to go through it, because he does not know who he is and he
           needs some sort of identity -- maybe a false identity, but it is better than no identity. He needs some
           identity. He needs to know exactly who he is, so a false center is created. The 'I' is not your real
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           center. It is a false center -- utilitarian, make-believe, just manufactured by you. It has nothing to do
           with your real center. Your real center is the center of all. Your real self is the self of all. At the
           center, the whole existence is one -- just as at the source of light, the sun, all rays are one. The
           farther away they go, the farther away they are from each other.
                Your real center is not only your center, it is the center of the whole. But we have created small
           centers of our own, homemade, manufactured by ourselves. There is a need... because the child is
           born without any boundary, with no idea of who he is. It is a survival necessity. How will he
           survive? He has to be given a name, he has to be given an idea of who he is. Of course this idea
           comes from the outside; somebody says you are beautiful, somebody says you are intelligent,
           somebody says you are so vital. You gather the things that people say. Out of all that people say
           about you, you gather a certain image. You never look into yourself, at who you are. This image is
           going to be false -- because nobody else can know who you are, and nobody else can say who you
           are. Your inner reality is not available to anybody else except you. Your inner reality is impenetrable
           to anybody else except you. Only you can be there.
                The day you realize that your identity is false, put together; you have collected opinions from
           people....
                Sometime just think, just sit silently and think who you are. Many ideas will arise. Just go on
           watching from where they come and you will be able to find the source. Some things come from
           your mother -- much; about eighty to ninety percent. Something comes from your father, something
           comes from your schoolteachers, something comes from your friends, something from the society.
           Just watch: you will be able to divide from where it comes. Nothing comes from you, not even one
           percent comes from you. What type of identity is this in which you have not contributed at all? And
           you are the only one who could have contributed, in fact, the whole hundred percent.
                The day you understand this, religion becomes important. The day you realize this you start
           seeking for some technique, some method to enter into your being; how to know exactly, really,
           existentially, who you are. No more collections of images from the outside, no more asking others to
           mirror your reality -- but to face it directly, immediately; to enter into your nature, to feel it there.
           What is the need to ask anybody? And whom are you asking? They are as ignorant about themselves
           as you are about yourself. They don't know themselves; how can they know you? Just see how things
           are functioning, how things go on functioning, how things go on happening: one falsity leads to
           another falsity. You are almost swindled, duped. You are conned, and those who have swindled you
           may not have done it knowingly. They may have been swindled by others. Your father, your mother,
           your teachers, have been duped by others -- their fathers, their mothers, their teachers. And they have
           duped you in turn. Are you going to do the same to your children too?
                In a better world, where people are more intelligent, more aware, they will teach the child that
           the idea of Identity is false: "It is needed, we are giving it to you, but it is only for the time being,
           before you yourself discover who you are. It is not going to be your reality. And the sooner you find
           out who you are, the better. The sooner you can drop this idea, the better -- because from that very
           moment you will really be born, and you will be really real, authentic. You will become an
           individual."
                The ideas that we gather from others give us a personality, and the knowledge that we come to
           know from within gives us individuality. Personality is false, individuality is real. Personality is
           borrowed; reality, individuality, your authenticity, can never be borrowed. Nobody can say who you
           are.
                Your body can be seen by others. They can say whether your body is beautiful or not, and that
           too depends -- because no criterion for beauty exists. That depends on the idea of the person, on
           what he thinks is beautiful. Two persons never agree. It is almost like 'like' and 'dislike'. You may
           fall in love with a woman and you may think she is the most beautiful woman in the world -- and
           your friends may laugh at you. I'm not saying they are right, I'm not saying you are right. I'm simply
           saying that there is simply no criterion. You may think the woman is horrible and your friend is mad,
           but there is no criterion. There is no objective way to know who is beautiful, what is beautiful. It
           depends on your mind, your conditioning.
           I have overheard....

              A male elephant was watching a female elephant wiggle by. Said he, almost charmed, "Wow! A
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           perfect 250 by 210 by 400!"

               For an elephant, of course, those are the proportions of beauty -- not for a man. And as you are
           laughing about the proportions, elephants laugh about your ideas of beauty.
               In fact even a single individual's idea of beauty goes on changing. In childhood you have
           different ideas of beauty, in youth different ideas, in old age different ideas. And then it depends on
           your necessity, your need.
           I have heard....

               There was an advertisement in a farmer's magazine. The farmer had advertised that he wanted to
           meet a woman near about thirty years of age. He himself was forty-one. Object: marriage. But one
           condition had to be fulfilled: the woman had to have a tractor, and she had to send a picture of the
           tractor!

                It depends on your need, on your ideas, on your philosophy, religion, conditioning, culture.
           Somebody can say something about your body; that too is not objective. Somebody can say
           something about your mind -- a teacher can say you are very intelligent -- but that too depends.
           Because there is no way to decide who is intelligent. The very idea of an intelligence quotient,
           measuring the intelligence, has failed. Psychologists were thinking that they would be able to
           measure intelligence, but it has failed. Now it is out of date. It does not mean much.
                Who is intelligent? -- a child who is efficient in mathematics, or a child who is very efficient in
           painting? Who is intelligent? -- -a child who can compose poetry, or a child who can make an engine
           or a mechanism? Who is intelligent? There is simply no way to say. Of course, ordinarily, the
           mathematician, the mechanic, the technologist, will be thought intelligent -- because he has more
           utility. A painting has not much utility. A poem has no survival value; you cannot merchandise it. In
           the marketplace nobody will bother about it. But if you can create a gadget, a mechanical device,
           many people will be interested in it. But how to decide?
                In a different society.... For example: in ancient China, three thousand years ago, a man who
           could compose poetry was thought to be more intelligent than a man who could devise a machine --
           because the society existed on different principles. Lao Tzu had said that machines are not needed;
           Lao Tzu had said that machines are a way to cheat nature, to exploit nature. They are aggressive.
           Man does not need any mechanical things; poetry, painting, sculpture, music, is more valuable. So a
           child who was a born musician was thought to be more intelligent than a mathematician -- because
           what will you do with a mathematician? Of what use is it? But in the modern world the
           mathematician is more useful, has more utility, has more market value.
                But this is not going to be so for long. Sooner or later, even within this century, a few countries
           will come to such affluence that again they will need music, poetry, sculpture. People would like to
           listen to great music, would like to see dance, would like to enter into the realms of beauty, would
           like to go into deeper tune with reality. Who will bother about a mathematician, a technologist, an
           engineer? Sooner or later this is going to change. It depends on the needs of the society.
                People can say something about your body, something about your mind, but that too is not of any
           value. Who can say anything about your soul? -- not even your mother who has given birth to you,
           not even your father.
                When Buddha became enlightened he went back home. The father was very angry, naturally so.
           It is very difficult to satisfy a father, because whatsoever you do will go against his ambitions. It is
           very difficult to satisfy a father. If you don't have any personality, if you don't have any
           individuality, if you don't have any unique intelligence, you are dull. You may be obedient, but then
           the father is not satisfied because of your dullness, stupidity. You are obedient, okay; but what is the
           point of your being obedient? You have nothing to give. If you are intelligent, unique, have
           something to give, then you cannot be obedient. Intelligence is always rebellious. Only dull and
           stupid people are obedient.
                In the world today there is so much rebellion only because there has been an explosion of
           intelligence. Each generation is more intelligent than the previous one, hence more rebellion, more
           disobedience, more chaos in the world. You can watch it in your children. Just observe your children
           impartially. Were you so intelligent when you were a child? Now look at children; they are so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intelligent. You may not see it, because it hurts. You may not see it, you may deny it, but just watch
           -- and it HAS to be so. It is natural that consciousness goes on evolving. So when a child is
           intelligent he's rebellious, and the father is not satisfied. When the child is obedient but he is not
           intelligent, then too he is not satisfied. It is difficult to satisfy a father.
               Even a Buddha could not satisfy his father. Buddha's father must have thought that he had
           become a hippie. Maybe the term was not there, so he must have thought it in some other terms, but
           that's exactly what he was saying to Buddha when he came. He was very angry, annoyed, and he
           said, "What have you done? You are a king's son, and you are moving like a beggar? Drop all this
           nonsense and come back home. I am your father. Though you have pained me, and you have been a
           pain in my neck, still my heart is that of a father: I can forgive you. My doors are still open. You can
           come."
               Buddha laughed. He said, "You don't know me at all. I have entered into a great kingdom." The
           father, of course, became more furious. He said, "Stop all this! I know you well. I have given you
           birth." Buddha said, "There you are mistaken, there you err. You have given birth to my body, but
           not to me; and you don't know me at all. Even as I am standing in front of you, you are not seeing
           me. You are so full of your idea that you are the father and I am your son. That idea is functioning
           like a barrier. Just look at me! The son that has left your house has not come back. That person is
           gone, that person is dead! I am a totally new being. I come with a new identity, I come with a new
           realization: I come as awareness. I had gone as unconsciousness. I had gone as Gautam Siddhartha,
           your son. Now I come as Buddha, as enlightened, just enlightened. I had gone with a false identity,
           now I come with a real realization of who I am. Look at me!"
               In fact, there is no way for anybody else to see your reality. You have to go into it yourself. It
           cannot be done by servants. you cannot pay somebody to do it for you.
               A great Sufi saint was called by Calipha Omar to pray in his court. He went, but he said, "I
           cannot do it. There are a few things you have to do for yourself. You have to breathe for yourself;
           nobody else can do it. You have to make love to your woman yourself; nobody else can do it for you.
           And you have to pray for yourself; I cannot do it. Sorry." He said, "I can pray, but that will be prayer
           for myself. It will not be for you."
               He had brought a great truth home; there are things which nobody can do for you. At least one
           thing can never be done by anybody else -- that is, to give you the answer to who you are. No, you
           have to go, you have to dig deep into your own being. Layers and layers of identity, false identity,
           have to be broken.
               There is fear when one enters into oneself, because chaos comes in. Somehow you have managed
           with your false identity. You have settled with it. You know your name is this or that; you have
           certain credentials, certificates, degrees, universities, colleges, prestige, money, heritage. You have
           certain ways to define yourself. You have a certain definition, howsoever workable -- but it works.
           Going in means dropping this workable definition... there will be chaos.
               Before you can come to your center, you will have to pass through a very chaotic state. That's
           why there is fear. Nobody wants to go in. People go on teaching: Know thyself; we listen, but we
           never listen. We never bother about it. There is a very certain idea in the mind that chaos will be let
           loose and you will be lost in it, you will be engulfed in it. Because of the fear of that chaos, we go on
           clinging to anything from the outside. But this is wasting your life.
               The day you become courageous enough to enter into your being, you have become a sannyasin.
           Sannyas means: now you are taking your life into your own hands. Now you are trying to live the
           life that is yours, authentically. Now you are no longer playing roles. Now you will not allow
           anybody else to write the story of your life. Now you are ready to unfold that which you have always
           carried like a seed within you. Chaos is the problem; so when people become religious they begin to
           find some way to avoid the chaos. That has to be understood before we can enter into this sutra.
               A certain identity is there. For example: you are rich, you have much money -- that is your
           identity. When a person starts thinking, "How to know myself?" and when he comes to listen to the
           truths always explained by the sages: that 'mine', 'me', 'you', 'I', have to be dropped, he thinks, "Okay,
           so I will drop all my riches and I will become poor." He drops one identity -- the identity of being
           poor -- but he has moved to the other extreme. To avoid one wrong he has moved to its opposite
           wrong. And this is a fundamental thing: if you move against a wrong too much, you will again enter
           into another wrong. One wrong opposed by another thing cannot be corrected; the opposite is also
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wrong. Just in the middle, somewhere, is truth.
               When you are rich you have an identity. You drop that, you become poor, you become a beggar;
           now you have another identity. The first one was borrowed from the society, the second one is also
           borrowed from the society. Now everybody will say that you have renounced the world, you are a
           great sannyasin, you have dropped out of the world, you are simply great. You were great because
           you had money; now you are great because you have renounced the money -- but the identity is
           coming from the outside. First you were rich, now you are poor; now poverty is your richness. You
           were egoistic, you became humble; but now humbleness is your ego.
               One can move from one disease to another disease very easily, just like the pendulum can swing
           from one extreme to another extreme.
               Buddha says: Extremes are what wrong is. To be an extremist is to be in the wrong. Be in the
           middle, be balanced -- SAMYAK -- and that's where right is. Just be in the middle, don't move from
           one polarity to another. That's what people are doing. Somebody is rushing after women, then one
           day he decides it is futile; he starts running away from women. But running continues. First he was
           chasing, now he's afraid some woman may be chasing him. And that's how it happens: if you chase a
           woman, she runs. If you start running from her, she starts chasing you. Life is very mysterious... but
           the running continues. It is a game. Only one can be the chaser and one has to be the chased. Either
           you are the chaser or the woman becomes the chaser, but the game continues.
           Buddha says: Stop in the middle.
               This sutra is part of a very famous story in Buddha's life The story is about a prince named
           Srona.
               Srona was a very rich prince, and he lived the life of a super-Epicurean: eat, drink, be merry. He
           had lived as deeply in indulgence as possible. He had never known anything about discipline, he had
           never heard anything about awareness. Women, wine -- that was all, that was his whole life...
           confined to two words: women and wine. The whole day he was drunk, and the whole night he was
           indulging in sexuality. He was a maniac. But by and by the extreme started tiring him. By and by he
           became alert to what he was doing to his life.
               When you indulge too much, one day, if you are a little intelligent, you start feeling the whole
           futility of it.
               One day when Buddha was passing through his town, he heard about Buddha. He had been
           thinking for many days, "There must be another way of life, and there must be more to life than the
           way I am living it." Hearing that Buddha had come, he went to see him. He was an extremist. Seeing
           Buddha -- his silence, his grace, his peace -- he was touched. His heart was overwhelmed. He bowed
           down to Buddha and he said, "Give me sannyas this very moment!"
           Buddha said, "Wait. Don't be in such a hurry."
               "But," he said, "I cannot wait. I don't know what waiting is. When I want to do something, I want
           to do something. And enough is enough! I have lived the life of a debauch, and I have been simply
           wasting myself. It has been suicidal. Now I cannot go back home. You accept me."
               Even Buddha's disciples said, "Why don't you accept him? You never say no to anybody. Why
           are you hesitating?" Ananda said, "Why are you hesitating? He is great prince, well known, and he is
           ready. He is ready to surrender totally."
               Buddha said, "I am hesitating because I am afraid that this may be just another extreme. This
           man has been just indulgent. Now he may renounce and just move to another extreme -- and
           renunciation is in the middle."
               But Srona persisted; he wouldn't go. He was sitting there from the morning till the evening. He
           was a man of that type. The more Buddha said no, the more he became insistent. Next morning,
           Buddha accepted him as a disciple. This sutra is about Srona.
               The story says that when Srona became a BHIKKHU, a monk, immediately he turned to the
           other extreme -- the extreme that Buddha was afraid of, was apprehensive about. BHIKKHUS,
           Buddha's BHIKKUS, his monks, used to take one meal every day; Srona would take only two meals
           every week. The BHIKKHUS would walk, move from one town to another; then they would walk on
           the road. But this Srona would never walk on the path. He would walk in the forest, would get hurt.
           His feet would start bleeding; there were wounds. Buddha's BHIKKHUS were very tranquil people,
           silent people -- because the whole teaching is to remain in the middle. They were never indulgent
           and they were never ascetic, but this Srona became a great ascetic. When everybody would be sitting
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           under the trees, he would stand in the hot sun. He had a beautiful body, he was a beautiful young
           man. He became dark, black, and within a few months it was impossible to recognize him. When
           people from his capital would come they would be surprised; he had changed so much. He had
           become lean and thin, his eyes had lost luster, his face had lost all grace; he had started becoming
           ugly. And he was always ill, because the body has a limit of tolerance to certain things. But he was
           not worried; in fact, he was enjoying it. And all the monks started feeling that he was some great
           soul. Everybody started feeling that he was superior to them. Now a new ego was arising in Srona.
           This sutra is about Srona.

              ONE NIGHT A MONK WAS RECITING A SUTRA BEQUEATHED BY KASHYAPABUDDHA. HIS
              TONE WAS SO MOURNFUL AND HIS VOICE SO FAINTING, AS IF HE WERE GOING OUT OF
              EXISTENCE.


                Of course he must have become very sad, he must have become very low and depressed, he must
           have lost all joy. He was torturing himself. He must have been a little masochistic. He was
           destroying himself and enjoying the violence. He must have become very serious, a long-face; he
           must have become very deeply ill, all well-being disappeared. He was not a flowering. In fact, the
           tree was dying.
                He was reciting this sutra given by Kashyapabuddha. When you recite a sutra you have to recite
           it in joy -- otherwise it is meaningless. When you pray, if you cannot pray joyfully, it is meaningless
           -- don't waste your time. Because your prayer never reaches God unless it rides on the horse of joy.
           Unless you can celebrate, your prayer is never heard. Only through celebration does it reach to God
           -- because God understands only one language, and that is celebration; no other language -- He does
           not understand English, He does not understand Sanskrit, He does not understand Arabic. He
           understands only one language: the language of flowers, the language of clouds, the language of
           peacocks, the language of the cuckoos, the language of joy, the language of greenery, of rivers
           rushing to the ocean, glaciers gliding down from the mountains. He knows dance, He knows what
           singing is. Words are not meaningful, only music. He understands sounds, He does not understand
           words.
                Language is man-created, joy is from God. So whenever you meditate, you pray, you recite a
           sutra, or you recite the KORAN, do it in joy. Otherwise don't do it. There is no need because it is just
           useless. You are wasting your time. And you may be bugging Him, and He may get annoyed, and
           you may repent later on. At least don't bug Him.
                I have heard about a Sufi mystic, Hassan. He passed by a mosque, and a man was reciting the
           KORAN. His voice was so horrible, and he was doing it in such a terrible way, and he was so sad
           and so serious -- as if all his laughter had dried up. His voice sounded like a ghost voice.
           Hassan said, "What are you doing?"
           He said, "For God's sake, I am reciting this KORAN."
           Hassan said, "For God's sake, stop!"

               Unless you do it in joy, please don't do it. For God's sake, never do it. It is better to be an atheist
           and not to believe in God than to do something in sadness, depression, than to do something ugly
           and call it prayer.
               But you can do only that which you are. Joy you cannot manage suddenly. Unless it is bubbling,
           unless it is welling up in your being, unless it runs like sap, you cannot manage it. And it is not a
           question of managing your face, because God is not looking at your face; God is looking at your
           heart... so you cannot deceive. Unless joy is in your being, it will not reach -- your prayer will never
           be heard.
               That's why I insist that if you can dance and sing, that will do. There is no need to actually
           verbalize your prayer: let it be exhibited in dance, let it be exhibited in singing. There is no need.
           You can play guitar or you can play on the flute -- that will do. You are using something universal.

              HIS TONE WAS SO MOURNFUL AND HIS VOICE SO FAINTING, AS IF HE WERE GOING OUT OF
              EXISTENCE. THE BUDDHA ASKED THE MONK, "WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION BEFORE
              YOU BECAME A HOMELESS MONK?" SAID THE MONK, "I WAS VERY FOND OF PLAYING THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              GUITAR." THE BUDDHA SAID, "HOW DID YOU FIND IT WHEN THE STRINGS WERE TOO
              LOOSE?" SAID THE MONK, "NO SOUND IS POSSIBLE."


              When the strings are too loose, sound is not possible....
              "HOW WHEN THE STRINGS WERE TOO TIGHT?" "THEY CRACK." "HOW WHEN THEY WERE
              NEITHER TOO TIGHT NOR TOO LOOSE?" "EVERY NOTE SOUNDS IN ITS PROPER TONE."



              THE BUDDHA THEN SAID TO THE MONK: RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE IS ALSO LIKE UNTO
              PLAYING THE GUITAR. WHEN THE MIND IS PROPERLY ADJUSTED AND QUIETLY APPLIED,
              THE WAY IS ATTAINABLE.


                In fact, when the mind is just in the middle, neither too loose nor too tight; balanced, tranquil,
           still, neither moving left nor right; when the pendulum of the mind has stopped just in the middle,
           time disappears, the clock stops. In that very moment the Way is attainable. In fact, the Way IS
           attained. This is THE WAY: to be in the middle is the Way. You are missing the Way because you
           are not in the middle -- and the Way IS in the middle. In life's situations, in every situation, one has
           to be alert not to go to the extreme. Otherwise, sometimes the strings are too loose and the music
           does not arise, and sometimes they are too tight and they crack. And instead of music they create just
           noise. Music is possible only when things are just in the middle. There is a point when the strings are
           neither tight nor loose.
                You must have seen it: whenever Indian musicians play, first they try to bring their instruments
           to the middle. The drummer will drum his TABLA and will feel whether it is in the middle or not;
           otherwise he will tighten something or loosen something. The VEENA player will tighten or make
           loose his strings.
           It happened once:
                A viceroy was invited by a Nawab of Lucknow, and to welcome him he had asked his best
           musicians to play something for the viceroy. And of course, as it is done traditionally, the musicians
           started tightening and loosening their instruments. The Nawab asked the viceroy, "What type of
           music do you like most?" Just to be polite he said, "Exactly this music that is going on" -- just to be
           polite! He could not understand what was going on. And then, just to be polite, the Nawab ordered
           the musicians to continue. For three hours they simply continued.
                There is a point when the strings are neither loose nor tight -- and only a master knows it. It is
           easy to play on a guitar; it is difficult to bring the guitar to that tuning where music is born, and
           naturally born, effortlessly born. A man becomes a master or a maestro when he can tune his
           instrument. Playing is not so difficult; tuning is more difficult -- because for tuning you have to learn
           what the exact middle is. You have to be very alert, very sensitive. Your ear has to be very very
           sensitive. Only then can you fix where the middle is.
           And Buddha says:

              RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE IS ALSO LIKE UNTO PLAYING THE GUITAR. WHEN THE MIND IS
              PROPERLY ADJUSTED AND QUIETLY APPLIED, THE WAY IS ATTAINABLE. BUT WHEN YOU
              ARE TOO FERVENTLY BENT ON IT, YOUR BODY GROWS TRIED; AND WHEN YOUR BODY IS
              TIRED, YOUR SPIRIT BECOMES WEARY; WHEN YOUR SPIRIT IS WEARY, YOUR DISCIPLINE
              WILL RELAX; AND WITH THE RELAXATION OF DISCIPLINE THERE FOLLOWS MANY AN EVIL.
              THEREFORE, BE CALM AND PURE, AND THE WAY WILL BE GAINED.


               In every life situation, you have to remember it. This sutra is of tremendous import -- because
           mind tends to move to the polar opposite. And if you move to the polar opposite you have again
           missed the middle, and you are as far away from the middle as you were before. Somebody is an
           egoist -- he becomes a humble man.
               The real man of awareness is neither an egoist nor humble. He does not know the language of
           humility and ego. Humbleness is also the opposite of ego. It is not really opposite; it is the same
           language. When you say somebody is humble, what do you mean? You say that he is not an egoist --
           that means that from the peak of ego he has moved into the valley of humbleness. But if you come
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           across a Buddha you cannot say he is humble, you cannot say he is an egoist. He simply is. He has
           not dropped from the peak to the valley. He has just come onto plain ground. That is one of the most
           difficult things to understand.
                A Jesus is not humble in the sense that other saints are humble. A Jesus is not an egoist in the
           sense that people are egoists. He simply does not know what ego and what humbleness are: he has
           dropped out of that duality. He simply is, and he responds out of his isness. Sometimes he will look
           very egoistic to you; that is your interpretation. Sometimes he will look very humble to you; that too
           is your interpretation.
                For example: Christians will talk about those stories in which Jesus looks very humble -- that he
           touched and washed the feet of his disciples... so humble. But they avoid a few other things in which
           he doesn't look so humble. He chased the money-lenders out of the temple with a whip in his hand.
           Somehow, they avoid that story -- because there he was not humble at all. He was in a rage. He was
           a rebel, a revolutionary.
           In fact, he's neither humble nor egoistic.
                The same is true about ALL those who have attained. Krishna was working as a chariot-driver to
           Arjuna: that is his humbleness. Hindus talk about it very much "What humbleness" Anti-Hindus will
           not talk about it. They will say, "What egoism I He says to Arjuna, 'Forget all religions and come to
           my feet' What egoism What more can you ask? This is the peak of egoism." But in fact he is neither.
           If the situation demands, he can become a driver to his own disciple. He can take the horses to the
           river, give them a bath, wash them, massage them... the horses of his disciple I And then in another
           moment he can say to Arjuna, "Forget all I Drop all religions, drop all your ideologies. Come to my
           feet." Now, this is very paradoxical.
                But a real man of realization is neither humble nor egoistic. Whatsoever the situation, he
           responds totally.
                Remember, Buddha says: Whenever you are in the middle, you are on the Way. Whenever you
           are leaning towards the right and left, you are going astray.
                'Keeping in the middle' is what he means by being calm, because whenever you lean to the left or
           to the right, you become excited. So never be a rightist and never be a leftist. Just be in the middle
           and you will be nowhere, and you will be nobody -- because in the middle all excitement is lost. One
           is simply calm.
                And that's what he means by 'being pure'. When you lean to the left, the left corrupts you. When
           you lean to the right, the right corrupts you. When you don't lean, when you are simply in the
           middle, nothing corrupts you. You become incorruptible. You are pure.

              THEREFORE, BE CALM AND PURE AND THE WAY WILL BE GAINED.


               I told you that a child learns 'mine', 'me', 'you', 'I'. Now. you can move to the opposite and you
           can say, "Nothing is mine." And you can say that there is no ego in you, and you don't possess
           anything; 'me' exists not, and you are also a divine form, a form of the formless. But if it is just
           moving to the other extreme then nothing is gained. If it is an understanding from the middle, then
           something is gained. But from the middle you will not say, "I don't possess anything"remember it.
           This is possible only if you still think that something can be possessed. One day you think you can
           possess, another day you deny and you say, "I don't possess anything. I renounce." But in your
           renunciation also there is possession. How can you renounce the world if you don't possess it?
               A real man of understanding never renounces anything. He simply understands: "Nothing is there
           to possess, so how can I renounce?"

                It is said about a Japanese Emperor that he renounced his kingdom and went to a Zen Master. He
           bowed down at his feet and said in tremendous humbleness, "I have renounced the kingdom."
                The Zen Master said, "Then it is better that you go and possess it again, claim it again. It is better
           that you go."
                The Emperor was very disturbed. He said, "What do you mean? I have really renounced it."
                The Master said, "If you have really renounced it, then how can you say that you have renounced
           it? -- because real renunciation is simple understanding that nothing belongs to you. There is nothing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to renounce."

               Renunciation is possible only if, in the first place, you accept that possession is possible.
           Non-attachment is possible only if, in the first place, you accept that attachment is possible. A real
           man of understanding comes to know that attachment is not possible. Attachment is false. Possession
           is false; it is not possible. It is impossible to possess. Then what is the point of renouncing? What is
           the point of becoming non-attached? Attachment simply disappears. If attachment disappears and
           there is nothing left behind, not even non-attachment, the idea of non-attachment, then you are pure
           and calm. If attachment disappears but now it is replaced with non-attachment, you have moved to
           the other extreme. When violence disappears, it is not that there is non-violence in you. What is the
           point of non-violence? Violence has.disappeared, and nonviolence with it. The dualities go together.
           Now suddenly you are left alone, pure. If you get into one, you get into the other too.

               "Well, young man, I understand you want to become my son-in-law," said the father to his
           daughter's boy-friend, Mulla Nasrudin.
               "No sir, not exactly," replied Nasrudin. "But if I marry your daughter, I don't see how I can get
           out of it."

               The man had asked, "Well, young man, I understand you want to become my son-in-law"; and
           said Nasrudin, "No sir, not exactly. But if I marry your daughter I don't see how I can get out of it!"
               If you marry someone's daughter you become a son-in-law too, at the same time. It is not
           possible to choose one out of the two; they go together. In fact to call them two is not right. They are
           one phenomenon just looked at from two sides.
               When you become violent, non-violence comes in. When you become non-violent, violence
           waits behind. They go together. All dualities go together. When sex disappears, celibacy disappears
           too -- remember it. If you start claiming that you have become a celibate then sexuality still exists,
           and any day it can explode. You are sitting on a volcano. When sex has gone what is the meaning of
           celibacy? Then it is simply meaningless, the word is meaningless. 'Celibacy' can carry any meaning
           only in reference to sex.
               Buddha says: When both dualities are gone you are simply in the middle -- silent, calm, pure.
           The Way is attained. The Way is the middle Way.

               Finally, to make you remember it always, let me condense the whole thing into one sentence:
           Whenever you are tired, frustrated, finished with something, remain alert -- the mind will tend to go
           to the opposite.
               When the strings are too loose, the mind will tend to make them too tight -- and there, again you
           miss. And when the mind is too tight, the strings are too tight, one day you will get tired of that too
           because the music will not be coming out of it. Then the mind will tend again to make them too
           loose.
               This is how life goes... one life after another, you go on moving from one pole to another. You
           become a volleyball -- kicked from this side to that, kicked from that side to this. If you want to get
           out of this game, this game of SAMSARA, this game of the world, then be in the middle. Whenever
           a moment comes to decide, be very alert; never go to the other extreme. Remember to remain in the
           middle.
               If you can learn to remain in the middle you have learned all that is there to learn, and all that is
           worth learning. Buddha's Way is called MAJJHIM NIKAYA, 'the middle Way'. He is one of the
           most penetrating seekers of truth. He has made something very profound, discovered something
           which you can use. It is not a ritual, it is not a prayer. It is something to do with your awareness. His
           whole field of work is awareness.
               So remain in the middle. If you have been eating too much, don't start fasting. That is very
           simple. That's how people go on. I know many people: the first two or three months they will fast
           and diet, and then they will rush into food. And then they will become obsessed; for two or three
           months they will eat too much. Again, whatsoever the fast has done to their bodies is undone. Again
           they are ready to fast. This way they go on -- volleyballs kicked from here to there.
               Right food, right quantity, eaten with awareness, is enough. You need not eat too much, you need
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not fast.
           Remember the middle and you will always be right.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                     Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: Let go of the branch
           3 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611030
              ShortTitle: TRANS404
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 92 mins



              the first question:


              HOW TO BECOME INTEGRATED?


                INTEGRATION has nothing to do with becoming.
           In fact, all efforts to become bring dis-integration.
           Integration is already there at the deepest core of your being; it has not to be brought in. At your very
           center you are integrated, otherwise you could not exist at all. How can you exist without a center?
           The bullock-cart moves, the wheel moves, because there is an unmoving center on which the wheel
           moves. It moves on the hub. If the cart is moving the hub is there. You may know it, you may not
           know it.
                You are alive, you are breathing, you are conscious; lire is moving, so there must be a hub to the
           wheel of life. You may not be aware, but it is there. Without it, you cannot be.
                So the first thing, and very fundamental: becoming is not the issue. You are. You have just to go
           in and see it. It is a discovery, not an achievement. You have been carrying it all along. But you have
           become too attached to the periphery, and your back is to the center. You have become too outgoing,
           so you cannot look in.
                Create a little insight. The word'insight' is beautiful -- it means: sight in, to look in, to see in.
           Eyes open outwards, hands spread outwards, legs move away from you. Sit silently, relax the
           periphery, close your eyes and just go in... and not with effort. Just relax -- as if one is drowning and
           one cannot do anything. We go on doing even when we are drowning.
                If you can simply allow it to happen, it will come to surface. Out of the clouds you will see the
           center arising.
                There are two modes of life: one is the action mode you do something; the other is the reception
           mode -- you simply receive. The action mode is outgoing. If you want more money you cannot just
           sit. It is not going to come that way. You will have to struggle for it, compete, and you will have to
           use all sorts of ways and means -- legal, illegal, right, wrong. Money is not going to come by just
           sitting. If you want to become powerful, if you want to become a politician, you will have to do
           something about it. It is not going to come on its own.
                There is an action mode. The action mode is the outgoing mode. And there is an inaction mode
           too: you don't do anything, you simply allow it to happen. We have forgotten that Language. That
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forgotten language has to be learned again.
               Integration has not to be brought in -- it is already there. We have forgotten how to look at it, we
           have forgotten how to understand it. Move from the action mode more and more to the receptive,
           passive mode.
               I'm not saying to leave the world of action -- because that will make you lopsided again, You are
           lopsided right now. You have only one mode to your life, and that is action, doing something. There
           are people who cannot think of sitting silently; it is impossible. They cannot allow themselves a
           moment's relaxation. They are only interested in action.
           I have heard....

              Mulla Nasrudin's wife was standing near the window, and it was a beautiful sunset, and the birds
           were flying back to their nests. It was really a wonderful evening. And she told Nasrudin, "Look!
           Come here. See what a beautiful sunset!''
              Nasrudin, never looking away from his newspaper, said "Now what is he doing, this sun?''

                If something is being done; then he is interested. If it is just a sunset, then what is the point of
           looking at it?
                You are interested only in action, if something is happening. This has become too fixed. This has
           to be relaxed a little: you have to go for a few moments, for a few hours, sometimes for a few days,
           totally to the other mode of life, just sitting and allowing things to happen. When you look at a
           sunset you are not expected to do anything. You simply look. When you look at a flower, what are
           you supposed to do? You simply look.
                In fact there is no effort, even of looking at the flower. It is effortless. Your eyes are open, the
           flower is there... a moment of deep communion comes when the looked-at and the looker both
           disappear. Then there is beauty, then there is benediction. Then suddenly you are not the observer,
           and the flower is not the observed -- because to observe there must still be some action. Now you are
           there and the flower is there, and somehow you overlap each other's boundaries. The flower enters
           into you, you enter into the flower, and there is a sudden revelation. Call it beauty, call it truth, call it
           God.
                These rare moments have to be allowed more ana more. I cannot say they have to be cultivated, I
           cannot say you have to train for those moments, I cannot say that you have to do something --
           because again that will be using the language of the action mode, and will be very deeply
           misinterpreted. No, I can simply say to allow these moments more and more. Sometimes, simply
           don't do anything. Relax on the lawn and look at the sky. Sometimes close the eyes and just look at
           your inner world -- thoughts moving, floating; desires arising, going. Look at the colourful
           dreamworld that goes on within you. Just look. Don't say, "I want to stop these thoughts" -- again
           you have moved into the action mode. Don't say, "I am meditating -- go! All thoughts, go away from
           me" -- because if you start saying that, you have started doing something. As if you are not....
                There is one of the most ancient meditations still used in some monasteries of Tibet. The
           meditation is based on the truth that I am saying to you. They teach that sometimes you can simply
           disappear. Sitting in the garden, you just start feeling that you are disappearing. Just see how the
           world looks when you have gone from the world, when you are no longer here, when you have
           become absolutely transparent. Just try for a single second not to be.
           In your own home, be as if you are not.
                Just think, one day you will not be. One day you will be gone, you will be dead; the radio will
           still continue, the wife will still prepare the breakfast, the children will still be getting ready for
           school. Think: today you are gone, you just are not. Become a ghost. Just sitting in your chair, you
           simply disappear, you simply think, "I have no more reality; I am not." And just see how the house
           continues. There will be tremendous peace and silence. Everything will continue as it is. Without
           you. everything will continue as it is. Nothing will be missed. Then what is the point of always
           remaining occupied, doing something, doing something, obsessed with action? What is the point?
           You will be gone, and whatsoever you have done will disappear -- as if you had signed your name on
           the sands, and the wind comes, and the signature disappears... and everything is finished. Be as if
           you had never existed.
                It is really a beautiful meditation. You can try it many times in twenty-four hours. Just half a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           second will do; for half a second, simply stop... you are not... and the world continues. When you
           become more and more alert to the fact that without you the world continues perfectly well, then you
           will be able to learn another part of your being which has been neglected for long, for lives -- and
           that is the receptive mode. You simply allow, you become a door. Things go on happening without
           you.
                This is what Buddha means when he says: Become a driftwood. Float in the stream like timber,
           and wherever the stream goes let it take you; you don't make any effort. The WHOLE Buddhist
           approach belongs to the receptive mode. That's why you see Buddha sitting under a tree. All his
           images are of sitting, sitting and doing nothing. He's simply sitting there, he's not doing anything.
                You don't have that type of image of Jesus. He still goes on following the action mode. That's
           where Christianity has missed the deepest possibility: Christianity became active. The Christian
           missionary goes on serving the poor, goes to the hospital, does this and that, and his whole effort is
           to do something good. Yes, very good -- but he remains in the action mode, and God can only be
           known in the receptive mode. So a Christian missionary will be a good man, a very good man, but
           not, in the eastern sense, a saint.
                Now even in the east a person who goes on doing things is worshipped as a MAHATMA --
           because the east is poor, ill. There are thousands of lepers, blind people, uneducated people; they
           need education, they need medicine, they need service, they need a thousand and one things.
           Suddenly the active person has become important -- so Gandhi is a MAHATMA, Vinoba is a saint,
           and Mother Theresa of Calcutta has become very important. But nobody looks at whether they have
           attained to the receptive mode or not.
                Now if Buddha comes, nobody is going to pay respect to him, because he will not be running a
           school or a hospital. He will again be sitting under a Bodhi tree, just sitting silently. Not that nothing
           is done by him -- tremendous vibes are created by his being, but they are very subtle. He transforms
           the whole world by sitting under his Bodhi Tree, but to look at those vibrations you will have to be
           attuned, you will have to grow. To recognize a Buddha is to be already on the path. To recognize a
           Mother Theresa is very easy. There is nothing much in it. Anybody can see that she is doing good
           work.
                To do good work is one thing, and to be good is totally another. I'm not saying don't do good
           works. I am saying: let good works come out of your BEING good.
                First attain to the receptive mode, first attain to the passive, first attain to the non-active. And
           when your inner being flowers and you have come to know the integration inside -- which is always
           there, the center is always there -- when you have recognized that center, suddenly death disappears
           for you. Suddenly all worries disappear because you are no more a body now, and no more a mind.
                Then compassion arises, love arises, prayer arises. You become a showering, a blessing to the
           world. Now, nobody can say what will happen to such a man -- whether he will go and become a
           revolutionary like Jesus and chase the moneylenders from the temple; or whether he will go and
           serve poor people; or whether he will just continue sitting under the Bodhi Tree and spreading his
           fragrance; or whether he will become a Meera and dance and sing the glory of God. Nobody knows;
           it is unpredictable.
           You ask me, "How to become integrated?"
                My whole effort here is to make you aware that nothing is needed, nothing more is needed. You
           have it already there, existing inside you. But you have to make approaches. doors, ways to discover
           it. You have to dig for it; the treasure is there.
                So it is not a question of how to become integrated. "How to know that I am already integrated?"
           is the right question.
                The question comes from Nisagar, and I can understand why it comes from her. She has been
           related to Gurdjieff work in the west. Gurdjieff had a very strange idea; meaningful, but still strange.
           He used to say to his disciples, "The soul does not exist. The center does not exist; it has to be
           created. Man is not born with a soul"... a very strange theory. But I can understand what he was
           emphasizing: man is not born with a soul, he has to crystallize his soul by effort. Hence Gurdjieff's
           whole system is called'the work'. It is work and work and work. It is effort -- again the action mode.
                In fact, in the west, it is very difficult to teach people the non-action mode. So he was teaching
           techniques. methods of how to become integrated. He would say, "There is no soul already there."
           Not that there is no soul, and not that he was not aware of it; but it was a device. People had become
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very lethargic about the soul. They thought it was already there -- So why worry, why bother? It is
           there. Any day we can find it, so let us in the meanwhile find other things which are not already
           there. Meanwhile, let us find beautiful women, more wine, more money, more power -- things which
           are not there. So let us seek these. And the day we are fed-up with all this, at any moment, we will
           close our eyes and we will go in, and the soul will be there. It is never lost; you cannot lose it and
           you cannot gain it. It is already there." So people have become very lethargic.
               You can see it in the east. The whole east has become so lousy and lethargic. The soul is there
           and everybody knows it, everybody has heard it. God is within the heart, He is already there, so why
           create any fuss about Him? People seek that which is not there.
               Gurdjieff became aware of this fact: that the theory that the soul is already there had made people
           very lethargic, very uninterested in the soul; very uninterested, absolutely uninterested in the inner
           world. The mind is interested only in that which gives a challenge. which is an adventure. So
           Gurdjieff, to fit with the western mind, started saying that the soul is not there: "Don't sit patiently,
           do something -- because when persons die, all persons don't survive. Only those who have integrated
           their centers will survive. Others will simply disappear like vegetables, So it is for you choose. You
           are taking a risk," Gurdjieff said. "If you do something -- and doing means arduous doing, hard
           work, a whole life devoted -- then only will you be able to survive death. Otherwise you are going
           to be discarded. You will be thrown in the junkyard. God is not going to choose you unless you are
           integrated. You have to EARN it. Only very few will be saved after death, not all."
               This is a very strange theory, never propounded before, never in the whole history of humanity.
           There have been people who say, "There is no soul." We know them; they are atheists. They have
           always been there. There are people who say, "There is soul, and it cannot be destroyed. Even death
           cannot destroy it." We have heard about them; they have always been there. But Gurdjieff was
           saying something absolutely new, something which had never been said before. He was saying,
           "Soul is possible; it is not actual. It is simply possible. You may attain to it, you may not attain to it
           -- you may miss it. There is more possibility that you will miss it, because the way you are living,
           you are not earning it." Gurdjieff said, "Man is like a seed. It is not necessary that the seed will
           become a tree. It is not necessary -- the seed may not find the right soil. Even if the right soil is
           found, there may be no rains. Or even if there are rains, animals may come and destroy the plant.
           There are a thousand and one difficulties. The seed is not going to necessarily be a tree. If one
           thousand and one protections are taken, only then will the seed become a tree. You are not a soul;
           you are just a possibility. A thousand and one efforts have to be made; only then will you become a
           soul. Only rarely: in one million, one person becomes a soul. All others simply vegetate, die, and
           disappear."
               I say it is a strange theory, because it is not true. And I say it is very meaningful, because
           something like this is needed -- at least in the west it is needed. Otherwise, nobody bothers about the
           soul. But all the techniques that Gurdjieff was using are basically the same techniques that we have
           used in the east for discovering the soul. He simply changed the words. He called it'creating the
           soul', 'integrating the soul', 'crystallizing the center'. But those techniques are the same.
               You are already integrated. Not on the periphery -- on the periphery there is much turmoil. You
           are fragmented on the periphery. Move inwards, and the deeper you go, the more you will find that
           you are integrated. There comes a point, at the very innermost shrine of your being, where you
           suddenly find you are a unity, absolute unity. So it is a question of discovering. How to discover it?
               I would like to give Nisagar a technique. It is a very simple technique, but in the beginning it
           looks very hard. If you try, you will find it is simple. If you don't try and only think about it, it will
           look very hard. The technique is: only do that which you enjoy. If you don't enjoy, don't do it. Try it
           -- because enjoyment comes only from your center. If you are doing something and you enjoy it, you
           start getting reconnected with the center. If you do something which you don't enjoy, you are
           disconnected from the center. Joy arises from the center, and from nowhere else. So let it be a
           criterion, and be a fanatic about it.
               You are walking on the road; suddenly you recognize that you are not enjoying the walk. Stop.
           Finished -- this is not to be done.
               I used to do it in my university days, and people thought that I was crazy. Suddenly I would stop,
           and then I would remain in that spot for half an hour, an hour, unless I started enjoying walking
           again. My professors were so afraid that when there were examinations they would put me in a car
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and take me to the university hall. They would leave me at the door and wait there: had I reached to
           my desk or not? If I was taking my bath and suddenly I realized that I was not enjoying it, I would
           stop. What is the point then? If I was eating and I recognized suddenly that I was not enjoying, then I
           would stop.
               I had joined the mathematics class in my high school. The first day, I went in and the teacher was
           just introducing the subject. In the middle I stood up and tried to walk out. He said, "Where are you
           going? Without asking, I won't allow you in again." I said, "I'm not coming back again; don't be
           worried. That's why I am not asking. Finished -- I am not enjoying it! I will find some other subject
           which I can enjoy, because if I cannot enjoy it I am not going to do it. It is torture, it is violence."
               And, by and by, it became a key. I suddenly recognized that whenever you are enjoying
           something, you are centered. Enjoyment is just the sound of being centered. Whenever you are not
           enjoying something, you are off-center. Then don't force it; there is no need. If people think you
           crazy, let them think you crazy. Within a few days you will, by your own experience, find how you
           were missing yourself. You were doing a thousand and one things which you never enjoyed, and still
           you were doing them because you were taught to. You were just fulfilling your duties.
               People have destroyed even such a beautiful thing as love. You come home and you kiss your
           wife because it has to be so, it has to be done. Now, a beautiful thing like a kiss, a flower-like thing,
           has been destroyed. By and by, without enjoying it, you will go on kissing your wife; you will forget
           the joy of kissing another human being. You shake hands with anybody you meet -- cold, with no
           meaning in it, with no message in it, no warmth flowing. It is just dead hands shaking each other and
           saying'hello'. Then you start, by and by, learning this dead gesture, this cold gesture. You become
           frozen, you become an ice-cube. And then you say, "How to enter to the center?"
               The center is available when you are warm, when you are flowing, melting, in love, in joy, in
           dance, in delight. It is up to you. Just go on doing only those things which you REALLY love to do
           and you enjoy. If you don't enjoy, stop. Find something else that you will enjoy. There is bound to be
           something that you will enjoy. I have never come across a person who cannot enjoy anything. There
           are persons who may not enjoy one thing, then another, then another, but life is vast. Don't remain
           engaged; become floating. Let there be more streaming of energy. Let it flow, let it meet with other
           energies that surround you. Soon you will be able to see that the problem was not how to become
           integrated, the problem was that you have forgotten how to flow. In a flowing energy, you are
           suddenly integrated. It happens sometimes accidentally too, but the reason is the same.
               Sometimes you fall in love with a woman or a man, and suddenly you feel integrated, suddenly
           you feel you are one for the first time. Your eyes have a glow, your face has a radiance, and your
           intellect is no longer dull. Something starts burning bright in your being; a song arises, your walk
           has a quality of dance in it now. You are a totally different being.
               But these are rare moments -- because we don't learn the secret. The secret is: that there be
           something that you have started to enjoy. That's the whole secret. A painter may be hungry and
           painting, and still you can see that his face is so contented. A poet may be poor, but when he is
           singing his song he is the richest man in the world. Nobody is more rich than him. What is the secret
           of it? The secret is: he is enjoying this moment. Whenever you enjoy something, you are in tune with
           yourself and you are in tune with the universe -- because your center is the center of all.
               So let this small insight be a climate for you: do only that which you enjoy, otherwise stop. You
           are reading a newspaper and halfway through it you suddenly recognize that you are not enjoying it:
           then there is no necessity. Then why are you reading? Stop it here and now. If you are talking to
           somebody and in the middle you recognize that you are not enjoying it, you have just said half a
           sentence, stop then and there. You are not enjoying, you are not obliged to continue. In the beginning
           it will look a little weird. But my sannyasins are weird, so I don't think there is any problem. You can
           practice it.
               Nisagar is old, but I can see a childlike quality in her. She can also do it. And I hope she will do
           it. Within a few days many contacts will be made with the center, and then you will understand what
           I mean when I go on repeating again and again that that which you are seeking is already in you. It is
           not in the future. It has nothing to do with the future. It is already herenow, it is already the case.

           the second question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHY IS IT THAT BY GIVING A NAME OR A THEORY TO AN UNCOMFORTABLE, CONFUSING,
              OR PAINFUL PLACE, I FEEL BETTER?


                The human ego always feels humiliated when it comes across a fact that it cannot explain.
           Whenever the human ego comes across a fact that it cannot name, and it has to recognize its
           ignorance, it feels very offended. That's why people go on labelling things. They are no longer
           interested in things themselves; they are more interested in labelling.
                If they see a flower they don't see the beauty of it, they don't smell the fragrance of it, they don't
           look at the message of it. They simply start looking as to what species the flower belongs, what its
           name is. The flower really has no name. If you ask the flower, it cannot say any name to you. It has
           no identity card, it has no passport; it has no identity. It is simply there; and all names are given by
           man. And man is really continuously giving names, since the days of Adam.
                There is a story in the Bible that God created things and he told Adam, "You name it and that
           will be the name of it"... a beautiful story. So he started naming things. God created the rose, and
           Adam looked at it and he called it 'rose'. Not that he knew it was a rose -- nobody knows, not even
           God. God had told Adam to say, and whatsoever he said would be the name. And the names that he
           has given to things have remained, but they were just accidental. It was a very crazy way to name
           things, but that was the only way -- because things don't have any name. And man has named many
           things very wrongly.
                When God created woman He asked Adam; that was the last thing Adam named. He called her
           'Hava' or 'Eva' or 'Eve' or 'Haba'. These were the different pronunciations of what he called her:
           'Hava' or 'Haba' or 'Eve'. 'Hava' means life; he called the woman his life. But down through the
           centuries man has suffered very much; and many times man tried to change the name, but it was too,
           late. And since then this has been a continuous effort: all that scientists go on doing is just naming
           things.
                And you ask, "How do you name it?" It is the same old technique; it is just a crazy way. They
           discover a new star; how do they name it? How do they call it Pluto, or Neptune, or anything? Who
           decides? They go on naming things, just anything that comes to the mind. Now even on the moon
           they have decided on names. Wherever man reaches, the first thing he does is to decide on labels.
           Man has an obsession. The moment you see somebody you ask, "What is your name? What is your
           religion? What is your country?" Are these things in any way helpful to know this man who is
           standing in front of you? What difference does it make? How does it make any difference whether he
           is called Robert, or Ram or Raheem? It makes no difference. But it is easier -- if the man is called
           Raheem you know he is a Mohammedan. And if you are a Hindu, now there is a conflict. Now you
           can avoid this man; this is not of worth. It is dangerous. Now you can remain alert: "This is a
           Mohammedan; he must be carrying a knife, and he may kill you!" Or if he is Ram, you are very
           happy:"So he is a Hindu -- and not only a Hindu, but he must be religious; his name is Ram." You
           are very happy. Suddenly there is no barrier: you would like to talk to this man, you will come a
           little closer. You are ready to expose yourself to him.
                Naming, knowing who is who, helps you to become a little more certain about the uncertain
           reality. But the reality remains uncertain.
           Once.it happened....

               I was travelling, and there was only one more passenger in my compartment. He asked me what
           my name is. I told him one name. Then after a few minutes I said, "Sorry. that was not my name." I
           told him another name. Now he became very suspicious. I was the same man, but he became very
           suspicious. When the conductor came he told him that he wanted to change compartments. "What
           type of man is this? Just a few minutes ago he said 'this is my name', and then he himself says 'I am
           sorry'. Is he crazy? And it is dangerous to sleep with this man in the night."
               When he was leaving I said, "Sorry, the first was right."
           He simply escaped without saying anything.

               Names, labels, categories... the mind feels very happy. If you can explain -- maybe your
           explanation is absurd, foolish -- just the explanation makes you feel happy. People go to outlandish
           lengths, exotic explanations -- because nobody wants to recognize the simple fact that they don't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           know. If somebody asks, "What is your name?" and you say, "I don't know, because when I came I
           came without a name"; if somebody asks to what country you belong and you say, "I don't know,
           because the earth is one," then that man will feel uncomfortable, uneasy. Any explanation will do.
               People have a very great desire to remain knowledgeable, because knowledge is security and
           knowledge is power. That's why each century invents its own nonsense -- because there are millions
           of problems which can never be solved. Who knows who made the world? But there are foolish
           people who want to know. Only foolish people want to know who made the world; the question is
           foolish. It is foolish because the question will lead into an infinite regress. If you say, "God made the
           world," then the question arises, "Who made God?" And you go on and on; it cannot be ended. There
           is no way to end it.
               But there are people who are ready to supply you with answers. You ask and they are ready.
           They manufacture answers. Three hundred religions exist on the earth, and three hundred religions
           have at least three thousand metaphysical theories, and each theory is against the other, and there is
           no way to decide who is right -- because all are wrong. You cannot decide because all are just
           imagination.
           I was reading:

              In a ladies' turkish bath, one woman was standing out because of the length of her breasts. She
           had very, very long breasts, almost incredible.
              "Oh dear, what happened to your breasts?" she was asked by a friend.
              "Well," she tried to explain, "my husband is such a baby, he likes to sleep sucking my breasts."
              "Well, so does mine," said the friend, still not understanding.
              "The problem is," continued the first woman, "my husband and I sleep in two different rooms."

               Now everything is explained, now there is no problem! If you look at your metaphysical theories
           you will find such explanations. They are all stupid, but they satisfy a certain urge. They help a
           certain uneasiness. They help you relax: "God created the world? Okay." So you know the answer;
           so you are in the know, you are not ignorant. Then you would like to know what God looks like.
           Then somebody -- some painter, some sculptor, will make an image.

               A small boy was painting something and the mother asked, "You seem to be so interested. What
           are you doing? For hours you have been there."
               And the boy said, "I am trying to make the face of God."
               The mother laughed. She said, "Nobody knows how God looks."
               The child said, "Wait. When I have finished, everybody will know."

               That's what has been done. Temples, images, paintings -- nobody knows how God looks. It is
           everybody's guess, so you can give four faces to God, one thousand hands to God; it is up to you.
           Your god is your creation, but once you have made it, it is very difficult. If somebody says that it is
           just imagination, a guess, you will be angry. You will start fighting. That's why religions have been
           fighting with each other. Why does so much fight go on? Whether God had three faces or four, what
           difference does it make? But no, it is a great problem, and the problem is psychological.
               If you say to the person who has always believed that God has three faces that He has four, you
           are disturbing. You are disturbing his knowledge. He is not worried about God; who is worried about
           God? But he is worried about it. He has settled himself, he was feeling secure in his knowledge, he
           was feeling that he was in the know. Now here you come and you say,. "No, God has four faces."
           Now you create an anxiety in him, again the same anxiety that was there before he had decided.
           That's why one religion does not want to listen to another religion's ideas -- because it creates
           anxiety. It creates a great turmoil, it creates a great chaos.
               People want to remain fixed in their ideas; nobody should disturb them. But this is not
           knowledge. This is what belief is. Belief means: you cannot recognize the fact that you don't know.
           You are not courageous enough to recognize that you are ignorant. Cowards carry many beliefs with
           them, so there is no need to recognize the fact of ignorance. But ignorance is more beautiful than
           false knowledge; at least it is true, authentic. If a person says, "I don't know," to me, he is the
           beginning of a religious consciousness. He is at the door. The person who says, "I know," and if you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say anything against him he gets disturbed and is worried and starts protecting and defending
           himself, then it seems that his knowledge is just a security measure. He has just created a
           make-believe around him. He had been living in his dream, and you come and you disturb the dream.
               You cannot disturb a man of knowing -- because a man of knowing knows that the ultimate
           cannot be known. You can have a taste of it, but you can never formulate it. The ultimate remains a
           mystery; mystery is its very nature. There is no way to dissolve the mystery. He knows his
           ignorance, he knows the ultimate mystery. And the ultimate mystery and the seeker's ignorance meet
           with each other, and there is a great communion.
               When the person of knowledge goes to truth, he never listens to truth -- because truth is also
           disturbing. He has his belief: the truth has to follow his belief. The truth has to come in the form of
           his belief; only then can he recognize.
               It is said about Tulsidas, a great Hindu poet -- I will not call him a great Hindu saint, but he was
           REALLY a great poet....
               He was taken to a temple of Krishna's Mathura. He was a follower of Ram. A person took him to
           this beautiful temple, and Krishna's statue was there with a flute on his lips. But Tulsidas would not
           bow down. The friends asked, "Why? Why don't you bow down?" He said, "I cannot. I can bow
           down only to Rama. If," he said to Krishna's statue, "if you want me to bow down to you, then you
           will have to become Ram. Change your form, and rather than the flute take a bow, as Rama carries a
           bow." The story says that Krishna transformed his form. He became Ram with a bow on his
           shoulder. And then Tulsidas bowed down.
               The story must be fiction, but it is very symbolic: a person who has a belief would always like to
           force truth to come according to his belief, according to his channel. But truth never comes
           according to you. So half the story seems to be true and the other half seems to be fiction. It seems to
           be true that Tulsidas said that he would not bow down unless Krishna took the form of Rama,
           because he was a devotee of Rama's. Up to this point the story seems to be true. But Krishna taking
           the form of Rama? Truth following your belief? -- that means truth has to bow to you first, and then
           you will bow down to truth. That is ugly. Even to conceive it is horrible. No, truth is not there to
           fulfill anybody's expectations.
               Beliefs become barriers, but beliefs help. They help you to dissolve anxiety.
               The questioner asks, "Why is it that by giving a name or a theory to an uncomfortable, confusing,
           or painful place, I feel better?" -- because you become knowledgeable. Then the problem is
           dissolved. There is no mystery; you know. But this knowledge is very dangerous. Don't do it any
           more.
               Remain uncomfortable. It is better to remain uncomfortable. If you feel uneasiness. remain with
           your uneasiness. but don't just try to find an explanation. Don't invent any explanations. Remain
           uneasy. Accept that as natural, and soon you will come to a point where you will start loving the
           mystery of things. Then the uneasiness will disappear, and you will not become knowledgeable. You
           will not become a PUNDIT, a scholar -- because the scholar is in a worse place. Even sinners have
           reached to truth, but nobody has ever heard of a scholar -- because the scholar is in a worse place.
           Even sinners have reached to truth, but nobody has ever heard of any PUNDIT reaching to truth. It is
           impossible; it does not happen. The more you know, the farther away you are from truth, because the
           more corrupted you become with your knowledge. The more innocent you are, and the more your
           eyes are not filled by any theory and are simply there like open windows ready to absorb truth, the
           better it is.
               Be innocent, not knowledgeable. Be ignorant. It is better, because in your ignorance you accept
           the mystery of life. Life cannot be explained. All explanations are very tiny, small, rigid; and life is
           so vast, so immense -- it cannot be contained in any explanation. Neither Christian, nor Hindu, nor
           Mohammedan, nor Jaina, nor Buddhist: all attempts to explain have failed. All religions have failed.
               So don't choose convenience, choose truth. The truth is that truth is a mystery. Don't name it, and
           don't feel good just by naming it. Your name explains nothing; it simply protects you from truth.
           You become closed to truth, you are defending yourself against truth. And what type of defense is
           this? -- it is destructive. Don't be defensive, be vulnerable. If truth makes you uncomfortable, let it be
           so. That is the price one has to pay for truth.

           the third question:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              I KNOW I AM A WOMAN, BUT AT TIMES I DISPLAY TRAITS THAT SEEM TO BE VERY
              MASCULINE. ARE THERE SUCH THINGS AS INNATELY FEMALE OR MALE
              CHARACTERISTICS?


                Listen to the question. "I know I am a woman" -- that too has become knowledge: "I know."
           Can't it be said simply that you are a woman? Has it to go through knowledge? It is as if somebody
           says, "I think fire is hot." Can't you say simply, "Fire is hot?" Has it to go through your thinking
           first? You say, "I THINK that fire is hot." Fire is simply hot; your thinking is not needed. Either you
           are a woman or a man. What is the point of saying, "I know I am a woman?" Why does everything
           have to go through the door of knowledge? Why can't facts simply be facts?
                Even the question shows... everything shows your mind; even the formulation of the question
           shows it.
           I have heard....

               When asked by the marriage counsellor what seemed to be the problem in their marriage, the
           husband replied,
           "I don't have a problem. But old what's-her-name..." and he stopped and pointed to his wife, "she
           does not think I pay enough attention to her."

                'What's-her-name' he says. He does not even know the name of his wife.
           The very formulation shows the problem.
                "I know I am a woman" -- please stop knowing, start feeling. FEEL you are a woman. Feeling is
           from a different center; it is from the heart. Knowing is from a different center; it is from the head.
           Knowing is dead, feeling is alive.
                People come to me and they say, "I think I have fallen in love." Can't you simply fall in love?
           Has the head to interfere everywhere? Has the head to always be between you and your
           relationships, in any relationship, in every relationship? Can't you put your head aside a little?
                There is a famous dictum of a western philosopher, Rene Descartes: COGITO ERGO SUM -- I
           think, therefore I am. This is absurd: I THINK. therefore I am? It shows that thinking is primary and
           being is secondary -- I think, therefore I am.
                Thinking is secondary. being is first. First you are, then you think. If you are not, then who is
           going to think? Thinking cannot exist in a vacuum. If somebody says, "I am, therefore I think," it is
           right. But to say "I think, therefore I am" is simply absurd. But still there is a meaning to it:
           Descartes is the father of western philosophy, and the whole western mind has been influenced by
           two persons -- Aristotle and Descartes. So in the west everything goes through thinking; EVEN
           BEING GOES THROUGH THINKING. Even being is not a simple fact; you have to think about it
           first, then you are -- as if it is a logical conclusion. It is existential, it is not logical.
                So first stop thinking that you are a man or woman. Just know it. Knowing is direct. Somebody
           else can be in suspicion, but you should not be in suspicion. Somebody else can think about whether
           you are a man or a woman -- and if you live in hippie style, sometimes it can be very difficult.
                When I give sannyas to somebody and I cannot decide, I have to ask Mukta, "Mukta, what do
           you think?" And now she has learned; whenever she feels that I will be in suspicion, she silently
           whispers, "She is a woman."

               Two hippies entered a hotel, and the hotel manager said, "You cannot come in because we follow
           particular rules. Anybody who enters here has to wear a tie."
           So the one said, "Okay." He went out. Fifteen minutes later he came with a tie, and the manager said,
           "Okay, you can enter, but what about the other?"
           He said, "HE is my wife. Don't you even allow women to come into the hotel without ties?"

               If others are in suspicion as to whether you are a he or a she, it is okay. But you yourself? -- then
           the doubt has entered very deep and has become a disease. Drop that.
               But the question is very significant: "I know I am a woman but at times I display traits that seem
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to be very masculine. Are there such things as innately female or male characteristics?"
               Each individual is both -- because each individual is born out of both, a mother and a father. A
           part of you comes from your father, a part of you comes from your mother, so you cannot be
           absolutely a man or absolutely a woman. In fact, everybody is unisex; the difference is only of
           degrees, quantity. A man is more man than woman, that's all; a woman is more woman than man,
           that's all. The difference is of degree. That's why there is a possibility of change of sex. If hormones
           can be injected and your inner balance can be changed, a man can become a woman, a woman can
           become a man. And by the end of this century people will be changing sexes in large numbers,
           because it is natural. One gets fed-up with being a man, always a man, always a man; one gets fed-up
           with being a woman, and one wants to change places. By the end of this century changes of sex will
           become a very common thing. And it is good. A person can have three or four lives in one life: for a
           few years you remain a woman, then you become a man, and then you become a woman again. And
           it can be done now. It is scientifically feasible and better processes will be available soon. It can be
           done, because each is both.
               If you are a man then the conscious part of your brain is man and the unconscious part is woman.
           If you are a woman, then the conscious part is a woman and the unconscious part is a man. And
           many times there are reversals also.
               For example: as a man becomes older, he starts becoming more feminine, and when women
           become older they start becoming more masculine. Old women start growing moustaches, their
           voices become more like a male's, they become more quarrelsome, fighting, angry, irritated. As a
           man becomes old he becomes more docile, more obedient, more henpecked.

              Mulla Nasrudin's wife was telling her kids, of which there were fifteen, "From this month, every
           month I am going to give an award to the most obedient child."
           They all said, "This is unjust."
           She said, "Why?"
           They all said, "Papa will win the award."

               By and by the man becomes docile, and by and by the woman becomes more dominating. And
           there are changes every day also. If a woman becomes very angry, she loses her conscious part and
           the unconscious becomes very predominant. An angry woman is more dangerous than an angry man.
           An enraged woman is more dangerous than an enraged man. Because the woman's unconscious part
           is very fresh, it is rarely used, so when it is used she can become very dangerous. If a woman loves
           you, she loves you tremendously; if she hates you, then she hates you tremendously.
               When a man is loving, his love is very deep, deeper than a woman's, because his unconscious
           part is unused. In love, man goes very deep, deeper than woman -- because for a woman to love is
           very ordinary. It is her usual way; she is loving. But for a man to fall in love is very difficult. It is not
           his usual way, it rarely happens. But when it happens then his love is so deep that no woman can
           compete with him.
               This is my observation: if a woman loves -- and all women love -- love is just natural. It is part of
           the feminine mind. Ordinarily a man never loves so much. Ordinarily love is just one of the many
           things that they do, one of the many things, and may not even be the most important. Sometimes
           business is more important, and love is just a recreation, just a relaxation from business, secondary to
           business. If they have to choose, they will choose business.

              A Jew was caught red-handed with a gun in his hand.
           He was going to kill a man: the man was making love to his wife. The magistrate asked, "Your gun
           was loaded, then why didn't you really kill him? Were you simply pretending or something?"
           The man said, "When I took my gun and I was just about to kill him, this man asked, 'How much will
           you take for the gun?' Now, how can you kill a man who is talking business?"

               A Jew is a Jew: how can you kill a man when he is talking business? Then you forget all about
           the wife, that he was making love to the wife, when business comes.
               There are people for whom politics is more important than love -- money, respectability,
           morality; a thousand things are there for a man. But a woman loves. She loves totally -- that is her
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one thing. It is not one thing in many. When a man loves, he loves for a few minutes in a day. When
           a woman loves, she loves for twenty-four hours. This is natural. But if sometimes a man loves, then
           no woman be compared to him -- because then his inner woman erupts. Then there arises a Majanu,
           or a Farihad; a great lover is born. Have you watched this fact?that Majanu and Farihad and this type
           of man has existed, but no woman has existed in the stories to compare to them? Why? Nobody has
           loved so madly; no woman has loved so madly as Majanu, no woman has loved so madly as Farihad
           -- because when a man really goes into love, then he is no longer a man. Then his inner unconscious
           explodes and takes total possession of him.
               When a woman becomes angry, aggressive, then she can be very dangerous. Never provoke a
           woman. If you provoke a man he will follow some rules and regulations of fight and war; a woman
           does not follow these. She simply will jump upon you and tear you, bite you, kill you -- she will not
           follow any rules. She does not know them. Her man is not trained at all: when he explodes, he
           simply explodes.
               Both of these are together in you. What does the seeker have to do, what does a disciple have to
           do? He has to become aware of both, and he has to drop being identified with either. A true seeker
           has to drop identities. He has to learn that he is neither a man nor a woman; he is the witness. Then
           you go beyond biology. Then only do you go beyond body -- because man and woman exist in the
           body. At the most, their reflections exist in the mind. But the soul is neither man nor woman. You
           have to go beyond both. So watch... and remain distant, aloof. Remain aware. When the woman is
           there functioning, watch; when the man is there functioning, watch -- but remain alert that you are
           neither.
               That's why real awareness always leads you beyond sex, and celibacy happens on its own accord.
           Because to be in sex you have either to be identified with the male or identified with the female. A
           real celibate is one who has gone beyond, who is neither.
               But I am not talking about repression. I am not saying that you should repress. I am not saying
           that you should repress your woman or repress your man. I am against all repression. I am saying:
           express your womanhood, express your manhood, but remain alert. Because if you repress then it
           will come in some way or other.
           Let me tell you one anecdote:

                The three priests, dressed in slacks and tee-shirts, were about to tee off when the golf hustler
           interrupted and asked if he could make up the foursome. "Okay," said the eldest priest. "But we must
           tell you, we are not good golfers." Of course, the hustler swore he was a poor player too. "And how
           about a bet to make it more interesting?" One of the priests protested that they never bet, but to
           please him they made a rather steep wager. Naturally the golf hustler won and the priests paid up.
                When they all returned to the locker rooms, the hustler was shocked to see their habits and
           offered to return the the money.
                "No, we made a bet and we stick to it. It will teach us a lesson," said the eldest priest.
                "Well," said the man, "I still feel funny hustling priests. Is there anything I can do?"
           "Do you have parents?" asked the priest.
           "Yes, I do."
           "Well bring them to me and I will marry them."

               Repression is like that: you want to say 'bastard', but you go roundabout.
               And repression can create a change, but not a real change. You will move from one extreme to
           the other. Only awareness can take you beyond the duality.
           Let me tell you one more anecdote.

                On a long train ride in the hot afternoon, one of the passengers kept repeating aloud, "God, I am
           thirsty! God, I am thirsty! God, I am thirsty!" Annoyed by such mantric repetitions, the traveller
           sitting in front of him brought the thirsty man a large bottle of cold soda at the coming station. With
           eyes beaming in gratitude, the thirsty man stood up, grabbed the bottle, and drank it at once. For a
           split moment he seemed happy, satisfied, content. Then he sat down again and started repeating
           aloud, "God, I was thirsty! God, I was thirsty! God, I was so thirsty!"
           ... but the mantra continues.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              You can move from one extreme to the other; the change will be just on the surface. Deep down
           you will remain the same, and the change has to happen in depth. Only awareness goes into depth.
           Repression is just whitewashing; it does not change your roots, it is not radical.


               I AM CONFUSED ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SURRENDER AND FOLLOWING MY
               INNER LIGHT. IT SEEMS THAT WHEN I WANT TO SURRENDER, I AM AFRAID TO BE
               RESPONSIBLE FOR MYSELF, AND WHEN I WANT TO FOLLOW MY INNER LIGHT, I'M AFRAID
               OF WHAT YOU WILL ASK OF ME IN SURRENDER.


               You have to be absolutely clear about it: if you already have the inner light there is no need for
           any surrender, because surrender is only going to help you to bring the inner light. If you have it
           already, then forget all about surrender. But... you don't have it. Just to avoid surrender you imagine
           that you have it.
               If you have it, you have it. Then the question of surrender does not arise. You don't have it. You
           only have inner darkness, no inner light. So when you go in you find darkness; then you start
           thinking of surrender. When you start thinking of surrender then you become afraid -- because the
           ego comes in. It is not the inner light that is hindering you. Inner light never hinders anybody.
               Let me say it in this way: if you surrender, it is a help to the inner light; if there is inner light, it is
           a help to surrender -- because inner light and surrender are two aspects of the same coin.
               If you have inner light then there is no fear in surrendering, because fear comes only because of
           the ego. The inner light is already a surrendering phenomenon; you are already surrendered.
               So if you have the inner light, first I say there is no need to surrender; second I say that if you
           have the inner light, then there will be no problem in surrender. If you don't have the inner light, then
           there is trouble. Then you need surrender in the first place, and you will avoid surrender in the
           second place. Let me tell you one very beautiful story. Meditate over it.

               One day, an atheist was walking along a cliff when he slipped and fell over the edge. As he
           plunged downwards he managed to grab the branch of a small tree that was growing from a crevice
           in the rock. Hanging there, swaying in the cold wind, he realized how helpless his position was. Far
           below were jagged boulders and there was no way to climb up. His grip on the branch was
           weakening every second. "Well," he thought, "only God can save me now. I have never believed in
           God but I might be wrong. What have I to lose?" So he called out, "God, if you exist, save me, and I
           will believe in you." There was no answer. He called again, "Please God, I never believed in you, but
           if you will save me now, I will believe in you from now on!"
               Suddenly a great voice boomed down from the clouds, "Oh no you won't, I know your kind."
               The man was so surprised, he almost lost his grip on the branch. "Please God, you are wrong. I
           really mean it; I will believe."
           "Oh no you won't. That's what they all say."
               The man pleaded and argued. Finally God said, "Alright, I will save you. Let go of the branch."
               "Let go of the branch!" the man exclaimed. "Do you think I am crazy?"

           Think about this.
               Even when you have nothing to lose, you are afraid to surrender. Now the man says, "Let go of
           the branch! Do you think I am crazy?" Hanging onto this branch in the cold wind, and his grip every
           moment becoming weaker and weaker, and still he is not ready to surrender.
               God can save you only when you surrender. Your surrender shows that you trust; there is no
           other way to show it. Your prayer is not enough. The man was praying. "Save me!" but he could not
           show trust. Your prayer is impotent. If there is no trust to back it, then it means nothing. Only your
           trust shows that your prayer is meaningful, that you really mean it.
               If you feel that on your own nothing is happening and you are getting lost more and more in
           darkness; on your own if you see that only death is coming closer and closer and your grip is
           becoming weaker and weaker and you will dissolve into death sooner or later; if you see that, this is
           my message: let go of the branch. And if you can let go, immediately, in that very let-go you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saved... because you are saved from yourself.
               The problem is not somewhere outside; the problem is your ego. You have to be saved from the
           ego. The problem is man himself; man has to be saved from man himself. The enemy is not outside,
           the enemy is within. In surrender you drop that enemy. In that very dropping the inner darkness
           disappears. Not that you surrender and I will do something; remember, nobody can do anything.
           When you surrender, in that very surrender something happens and your inner light starts burning,
           your inner light starts becoming clear. Clouds disappear.
               Not that through your surrender I will do something to you; YOU do something to you through
           your surrender. I am just an excuse. And this has to be understood.
               Don't surrender to me in order not to have any responsibility. Don't surrender to me in greed.
           Don't surrender to me thinking that now I will do something. Nobody can do anything to you: that is
           your total freedom, nobody can interfere in it. I am just an excuse. Without me it will be difficult for
           you to surrender. Otherwise, you can go and you can surrender to the sky; the same will happen. You
           can go and you can surrender to a Buddha-statue and the same will happen. You can go to a mosque
           where there is no statue and surrender, and the same will happen. These are all excuses. Whichever
           excuse you like best you can do -- but surrender you have to do.
               In surrender your ego is dropped. Your ego is your ignorance, your ego is your darkness, your
           ego is your prison.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                   Chapter #5
                                 Chapter title: The discipline of transcendence
           4 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611040
              ShortTitle: TRANS405
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 99 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              WHEN A MAN MAKES UTENSILS OUT OF A METAL WHICH HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY
              CLEANSED OF DROSS, THE UTENSILS WILL BE EXCELLENT. YOU MONKS, WHO WISH TO
              FOLLOW THE WAY, MAKE YOUR OWN HEARTS CLEAN FROM THE DIRT OF EVIL PASSIONS,
              AND YOUR CONDUCT WILL BE UNIMPEACHABLE.
              EVEN IF ONE ESCAPES FROM THE EVIL CREATIONS, IT IS ONE'S RARE FORTUNE TO BE
              BORN A HUMAN BEING. IF ONE BE BORN A MAN, IT IS ONE'S RARE FORTUNE TO BE
              PERFECT IN ALL THE SIX SENSES. EVEN IF HE BE PERFECT IN ALL THE SIX SENSES, IT IS
              HIS RARE FORTUNE TO BE BORN IN THE TIME OF A BUDDHA. EVEN IF HE BE BORN IN THE
              TIME OF A BUDDHA, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO SEE THE ENLIGHTENED. EVEN IF HE BE
              ABLE TO SEE THE ENLIGHTENED, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO HAVE HIS HEART AWAKENED
              IN FAITH. EVEN IF HE HAVE FAITH, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO AWAKEN THE HEART OF
              INTELLIGENCE. EVEN IF HE AWAKENS THE HEART OF INTELLIGENCE, IT IS HIS RARE
              FORTUNE TO REALIZE A SPIRITUAL STATE WHICH IS ABOVE DISCIPLINE AND ATTAINMENT.
              O CHILDREN OF BUDDHA! YOU ARE AWAY FROM ME EVER SO MANY THOUSAND MILES, BUT
              IF YOU REMEMBER AND THINK OF MY PRECEPTS, YOU SHALL SURELY GAIN THE FRUIT OF
              ENLIGHTENMENT. YOU MAY, STANDING BY MY SIDE, SEE ME ALWAYS, BUT IF YOU
              OBSERVE NOT MY PRECEPTS, YOU SHALL NEVER GAIN ENLIGHTENMENT.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                CONSCIOUSNESS is like a lake: with waves it becomes the mind, without waves it becomes
           the soul. The difference is only of turmoil. Mind is a soul disturbed, and soul is mind silenced. The
           mind is just the ill state of affairs, and the soul is the healthy state of affairs. Mind is not something
           separate from the soul, as waves are not separate from the lake. The lake can be without waves, but
           the waves cannot be without the lake. The soul can be without the mind, but the mind cannot be
           without the soul. When there are great winds and the lake is disturbed, there is turmoil. And the lake
           loses one quality in that turmoil, and that is the quality of reflection. Then it cannot reflect the real.
           The real becomes distorted. There may be a full moon in the sky, but now the lake is not capable of
           reflecting it. The moon will still be reflected, but in a distorted way. It will be reflected in thousands
           of fragments. It will not be any unity; it will not be collected, integrated. It will not be one. The real
           is one. But now the lake will reflect many millions of moons; the whole surface of the lake may be
           filled with silver. Everywhere, moons and moons -- but this is not true. The truth is one: when the
           mind reflects it, it becomes many; when consciousness reflects it, it is one.
                Consciousness is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian. If you are a Hindu you are still
           in the mind, distorted. If you are a Mohammedan you are still in the mind, distorted. Once the mind
           has settled and the waves are no longer there, you are simply a consciousness -- with no adjective
           attached to it, with no conditioning attached to it. And then truth is one. In fact, even to say that truth
           is one is not right -- because one is meaningful only in the context of many. Truth is so one that in
           the east we have never called it 'one'; we call it 'non-dual', not two.
                Why have we chosen a roundabout way in calling it 'not two'? We want to say that it is difficult
           to say it is one, because one implies two, three, four. We simply say 'not two'. We don't say what it
           is, we simply say what it is not. There is no 'manyness' in it -- that's all. We have to express it VIA
           NEGATIVA, by saying that it is not two. It is so one and it is so alone; only it exists and nothing
           else. But that is reflected in consciousness when the mind is no longer there. When I say 'the mind is
           no longer there', remember, I am not talking about mind as a faculty. Mind is not a faculty. It is
           simply a disturbed state: consciousness waving, shaking, trembling, not at home.
                What winds blow on the consciousness that disturb it7 Buddha says: The name of that wind is
           passion, desire.
                Watch, and you will see the truth of Buddha's saying. It is a fact, it has nothing to do with any
           theory. Buddha is not interested in abstract systems; he simply says that which is. He's not
           formulating a philosophy. Always remember it, never forget it -- that he is very experimental,
           existential. His whole approach is just to say something that you can IMMEDIATELY experience.
           And your experience will prove that he is right. There is no other way to prove right or wrong. There
           is no way to argue about it.
                Just sometimes sit silently; even if for a single moment desire stops, you will see that all turmoil
           has disappeared. Sitting silently, not desiring anything; sitting silently, not moving in the future;
           sitting silently, contented; in that single moment you will be able to understand what Buddha means.
           Suddenly you will see that there are no waves at all. All the waves have gone. The waves arise only
           when you desire, when you are discontented with the present and you hope for the future.
                Desire is a tension between the present and the future. In that tension, waves arise. Then you are
           shattered -- and consciousness is VERY fragile. Consciousness is very soft: just a slight desire, just a
           flicker of desire, and the whole lake is disturbed. Go sometimes, watch, sit by the bank of a lake.
           See... there are no ripples. Throw a small pebble, a very small pebble, in the biggest of lakes, and the
           small pebble will start creating ripples, and those ripples will go on spreading to the farthest bank.
           Just a small pebble creates so much disturbance. Just a slight desire and disturbance comes through
           the back door. Desire is disturbance, passion is a fever. In passion you are not yourself. In passion
           you are beside yourself. In passion you are not centered: you lose your balance. In passion you do
           things you cannot even imagine that you could have done. Many murderers have confessed in the
           courts, down through the centuries, that they had not committed the crime; it happened. They were in
           such rage, they were almost mad. They had not done it deliberately; it had happened. They are not
           criminals, they are victims of their own rage. You may think they are deceiving; you may think they
           are now trying to escape from punishment. No, it is not so.
                Murder is impossible if you are conscious, if you are silent, if you are centered. It happens only
           when you are not, when you are so clouded, when there are only waves and waves and the surface of
           the lake is completely disturbed -- then it happens. All wrong happens only when you are disturbed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Ordinarily religious people say, "Cultivate character." Buddha says: Cultivate consciousness.
           Ordinary religious teachers say, "Do good." Buddha says: Be silent and good will be done. The good
           follows silence as your shadow follows you. And there is no way to do good unless you are silent.
           You can do good, but only wrong will happen if you are not silent. That's why the so-called
           do-gooders go on doing a thousand and one mischiefs in the world. Your so-called do-gooders are
           the most mischievous people, but they are doing good for your sake, they are doing it for good, and
           you cannot even escape from them.
                Everybody knows that good parents are dangerous parents. A parent that is too good is bound to
           be a wrong parent -- because he will encage you. Too much good is destructive. A good mother will
           destroy you, because the mother herself is not centered. Her good is enforced; she is TRYING to do
           good. The good is not natural and spontaneous. It is not like a shadow; it is effort, it is violent. Your
           so-called MAHATMAS go on crippling people, destroying people, destroying their freedom in many
           ways. They go on trying to dominate by subtle methods, in subtle ways. But the whole desire is to
           dominate, and it is very easy to dominate somebody when you are good. He cannot even rebel
           against you. Against a bad mother you can escape; but what to do against a good mother? She's so
           good that you start feeling bad. Watch it: everybody has passed through that state, and it has to be
           understood. Otherwise you will never be able to accept yourself.
                Whenever there is a child, there is bound to be some conflict between the child and the parents,
           particularly between the child and the mother in the beginning, and then later on with the father. It is
           natural -- because the mother has her own way, her own ideas, her own philosophy of how life
           should be lived. And the child is almost wild; he knows no society, no culture, no religion. He's
           coming directly from God; he's as wild as God. He has nothing but freedom, so there is bound to be
           some conflict. And the child has to be initiated into the walls of the society. He cannot be left alone
           -- that too is true. So conflict is natural. If the mother is very good then the child is in a difficulty, a
           very great anguish and anxiety. The anxiety is that the child loves his freedom and knows,
           intrinsically, that freedom is good. Freedom is an intrinsic value. There is no need to prove that
           freedom is good -- freedom IS good, it is self-evidently good. Everybody is born with that desire.
           That's why we called the ultimate goal in the east'total freedom', MOKSHA: where the intrinsic
           desire is completely fulfilled and one has no limitations of any sort. One is absolutely free,
           unconditionally free.
                Every child is born with that intrinsic desire to be free, and now everywhere there is bondage.
           The mother says, "Don't do this, don't do that, sit here, don't go there." And the child feels pulled and
           pushed from everywhere. Now, if the mother is bad, there is not much difficulty; the child can think
           that the mother is bad and deep in his heart he can start hating her. Simple, it is arithmetical -- she is
           destroying his freedom and he hates her. Maybe, for political reasons, he cannot express it, so he
           becomes a diplomat. He knows that she is the rottenest woman in the world, but he goes on paying
           lip service.
                But if the mother is good then the problem arises. Then the child is at a loss to figure it out; the
           mother is good... and freedom is good: "Now, if Mother is good then I must be wrong, and my
           freedom must be wrong. If I am good and my freedom is good, then Mother must be wrong." Now,
           to think that the mother is wrong is impossible -- because she is REALLY good, and she goes on
           caring, loving, and doing a thousand and one things for the child. The mother is REALLY good, the
           child knows that she is good. So there is only one possibility to decide, and that is: "I must be wrong.
           The mother is good, I must be wrong."
                Once the child starts thinking, "I must be wrong," he starts rejecting himself. I ordinarily never
           come across a person who accepts himself totally. And if you don't accept yourself totally you will
           never grow -- because growth is out of acceptance. If you go on rejecting yourself, you are creating a
           split. You will be schizophrenic. The part that you reject will hang around your neck like a great
           burden, a great sorrow, a great anxiety, a tension. You cannot throw it away, because it is part of
           you; it cannot be divided. At the most you can throw it into unconsciousness. You can become
           unaware of it, you can forget about it, you can believe that it is not there. That's how the unconscious
           is created.
                The unconscious is not a natural thing. The unconscious is that part of your being that you have
           rejected, and you don't even want to face it, you don't want to encounter it, you don't want to see that
           it exists at all. It is there; deep down in your being it goes on manipulating you. And it will take
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many types of revenge, because it also needs expression. Now this is the whole misery of human
           beings. A 'good' mother can create the idea of a 'bad' child. The child himself starts rejecting himself.
           This is a division, a split in personality. The child is getting neurotic.
                Because to feel good with oneself should be a natural and easy thing. That's what your religious
           preachers go on doing, what your priests go on doing: go to the mosque, go to the temple, go to the
           church, and they are there -- thundering, condemnatory, ready to throw you into hell, ready to reward
           you with heaven if you listen to them, if you follow them. Of course you cannot follow because their
           demands are impossible, and their demands are impossible because they don't show you the way to
           be good. They simply say. "Be good."
                The way to be good has nothing to do with being good. The way to be good has something to do
           with centering, with awareness. Being good has nothing to do with your character. A really good
           person has no character at all; he is characterless. And when I say 'characterless', I mean he has no
           armour, no armature around him. He has no defences around him, he's simply open. He's as
           characterless as a flower. He's neither good nor bad. He's simply there -- alert, conscious,
           responsible. If something happens he will respond, but he will respond directly, he will respond from
           here. He will respond out of the now, he will not respond out of the past. 'Character' means: you go
           on carrying the things that you have learned in your past. 'Character' means: the conscience that has
           been preached to you and forced upon you. Conscience is a prison for consciousness.
                Buddha brought a revolution into the world of religion, the greatest ever. The revolution was
           this: that he emphasized consciousness and not conscience. He emphasized awareness and not
           character. Of course, character comes automatically, but it comes like a shadow. You are not to carry
           it; it is not a burden then. Have you ever watched? -- your shadow goes on following you, and you
           are not burdened, and you need not care about it. You need not think about it. Even if you forget
           completely it will be there. You cannot lose it.
                Buddha says: Character is real only when you cannot lose it. If you are afraid that you can lose it,
           then it is conscience and not consciousness.
                So the first thing to be understood before we enter into these sutras is that a man becomes blind
           by passion, by desire. And why does he become blind by passion and desire?because desire and
           passion bring two things: first, a discontent with the present. It is the very root of desire. If you are
           not discontented with the present, desire cannot exist. Desire can come into existence only with
           discontent.
                Just see.... If you are sitting here and if you are contented in this moment -- and I don't see why
           you should not be contented in this moment -- then there is no desire. And when there is no desire,
           there is such calm, such quiet. The silence becomes so solid that you can almost touch it, you can
           taste it, you can hold it in your hands.
                Whenever there is contentment, there is no desire. When there is no desire you are at home,
           relaxed. In that relaxed state, there is no mind. Mind is the accumulated tensions. Mind is not a
           faculty, mind is just a bundle of all your desires, all the waves that you go on creating. One passion
           is lost; before it is lost you get involved in another passion. One desire is finished, and even before it
           is finished you start planning for another trip in the future.
                So you go on rushing into the future and you go on missing the present. And presence is possible
           only in the present. And when you are present there is no mind. And this state of no-mind is the goal,
           the Buddhist goal.
                When there is no tension, no thought, no desire, no passion, a great well-being arises in your
           soul; it wells up. That's what benediction is. You feel tremendously happy, and you feel happy for no
           reason. You feel tremendously high -- but this high has no cause to it. It is not that you have taken
           some drug, or alcohol; it is not that you have been chanting a MANTRA -- because MANTRA also
           changes your chemistry. The constant repetition of a certain sound brings changes in your body
           chemistry. It is a drug. A MANTRA is a drug, a very subtle drug: it creates certain waves in your
           being. And if you go on chanting a certain mantra -- Aum... Aum... Aum -- by and by, the sound
           'Aum' changes your whole body chemistry.
                Or you can go on a fast. And look at the absurdity: people who preach fasting are against drugs,
           but fasting is a chemical change. It is as much a drug as any other drug. When you fast what are you
           doing? -- you are not living certain chemicals to your body -- chemicals which, if not given, the
           balance of inner chemicals will be changed. It is the same I Either you take some drug -- that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           changes your inner proportion of chemicals; or you stop taking food -- that changes your inner
           balance of chemicals. When people feel high, when Mahatma Gandhi says that he feels very high
           when he is on a fast, he's not talking about anything different from what Timothy Leary says. Both
           are saying the same things: both are talking about chemistry. Though ordinarily we don't see fasting
           as a drug, it is a drug -- it can make you high, it can make you weightless.
               Or you can go on chanting. Chanting creates changes in the physical body chemistry. That's why
           a few sounds have become very important. Down through the centuries many people have tried
           many MANTRAS. Then a few MANTRAS succeeded and a few failed. Those that have succeeded
           are the MANTRAS which immediately bring changes to your chemistry. You may call it
           Transcendental Meditation: it is again a drug. Now, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is very much against
           drugs, and TM itself is a subtle drug.
               Or, you can change your body chemistry through postures, yoga; you can change your body
           chemistry through certain types of breathing -- but all changes are basically chemical. When you
           breathe deeply you bring more oxygen to the body, and more oxygen in the body starts changing
           your chemistry -- you start feeling high. When you don't breathe deeply more carbon dioxide collects
           in the lungs. The proportion changes; you feel dull, you feel low, you feel depressed. Yes, that word
           is right: you feel very'pressed' by something. It is carbon dioxide that brings depression; you are
           under a rock.
               But these are all changes -- physical, chemical. They don't go deeper than that. Buddha says: Just
           being aware, just being aware and contented.... He does not even preach a certain pattern, a rhythm
           of breathing. He says: Let the breathing be natural. He does not preach fasting; he preaches right
           food, the right quantity of food. He does not preach vigilance in the night. There are many sects,
           particularly Mohammedans, who stay awake the whole night. That too changes the body chemistry.
               Buddha simply says: One thing is needed, and that is that you should not move in the future, you
           should remain present herenow. You should remain contented with the moment. Move with the
           moment, don't go ahead, don't jump ahead. Let there be no passion. 'Passion' means: jumping ahead
           of yourself. Then you create anxiety, then you create frustration, then you create worry, and then a
           thousand and one waves arise on the surface of your consciousness. You become a mind. When
           these waves disappear, you are again a consciousness. Try it sometime.
               Gurdjieff used to give a method to his disciples. He used to call it 'The Stop Exercise'. He taught
           his disciples to sometimes, suddenly, stop the whole world. By stopping yourself, you can stop the
           whole world. You are walking on the road; suddenly, with a jerk, you stop. For a half-second you
           simply remain unmoving. That sudden non-moving will also help the mind to stop -- because the
           mind takes time. If you stop slowly, slowly, then the mind will not stop; it will get adjusted. If you
           suddenly stop then there is a shock; the mind stops. In that moment of sudden stopping you will be
           able to see that the whole world has stopped, because all the waves have disappeared.
           You try it.
               Just dancing, suddenly stop! Running, suddenly stop. Swimming, suddenly stop. Talking,
           suddenly stop -- and for a single moment be absolutely unmoving, as if you have become a statue --
           and you will see that your mind has stopped, for a split second, of course. Again it takes possession
           of you, but in that single moment you will see that it is so silent that it will become a glimpse, it will
           become a great support. And you will know that this is how reality is. In that single moment, that
           which is will reveal itself to you. That's what God is, or truth, or NIRVANA.
              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              WHEN A MAN MAKES UTENSILS OUT OF A METAL WHICH HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY
              CLEANSED OF DROSS, THE UTENSILS WILL BE EXCELLENT. YOU MONKS WHO WISH TO
              FOLLOW THE WAY, MAKE YOUR OWN HEARTS CLEAN FROM THE DIRT OF EVIL PASSIONS,
              AND YOUR CONDUCT WILL BE UNIMPEACHABLE.


               Cleanse your heart from the dross of passion. And in fact, to do it, nothing much is needed. It is
           not really the case that you have become impure. You are simply disturbed, that's all; that's what
           impurity is. Whenever you are undisturbed, impurity disappears. Impurity is not something that has
           entered into your being. It is just on the surface, like waves. So if you want it to happen, it can
           happen right now. And don't play with explanations. Don't say, "How can it happen right now? I
           have many KARMAS to settle first." All nonsense! tricks of the mind to postpone. The mind says,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "How can I do it right now? First I have to settle many, many lives' KARMAS." But do you know
           how many lives you have been here? Millions of lives! If you have really to settle those KARMAS,
           YOU will again take millions of lives to settle them. And after you have settled them millions of
           lives will have again passed -- and in these lives again you would be doing many KARMAS. There
           is no way to avoid it. If you are alive you will do something or other. You will eat something,
           KARMA IS created. You will breathe, KARMA IS created. You will walk, KARMA IS created.
           You will sleep, KARMA is created. Any action is KARMA. SO this is a vicious circle. For millions
           of lives you have existed; now to settle those KARMAS, again millions of lives will be needed. And
           even after that, nothing will be settled -- because in these millions of lives again you will be doing
           KARMAS. Then you cannot get out of this, out of this mess. Then there is no way out.
               Buddha says: There is a way out. It is not a question of settling the past KARMAS, it is simply
           settling the present state of mind, that's all.
               It is just herenow. If you understand, the settlement can happen. You have never done anything;
           you have been simply dreaming. The action or the actor, the doer and the doing -- all are dreamings.
               Buddha says: Your innermost core is simply empty. It has never done anything. It cannot do. It is
           a witness, by its very nature.
               Watch it. Find out whether what he says is true or not. Try it in your life. You were a child, now
           you are no longer a child; then you were a young man, now you are no longer young; now you have
           become old; the childhood body has gone, the childhood mind has disappeared. Then you had
           another body in your youth -- that has gone. The vigor, the vitality, the youth, the beauty --
           everything has disappeared. You had a different type of mind -- too ambitious, too desirous, too
           egoistic. Now all that is a story of the past. Now death is coming; you can hear the sound of its
           coming closer every day. You can feel that every day the distance is becoming smaller and smaller.
           But watch one thing: you have remained the same. Your innermost core has not changed a little bit,
           it has not changed at all. When you were a child, it was the same consciousness watching from
           behind. You were young; it was the same consciousness, watching. Then you became old; it is the
           same consciousness.
               It is as if consciousness is a mirror. A child stands before the mirror, the mirror reflects the child;
           a young man stands before the mirror, the mirror reflects the young man; an old man stands before
           the mirror, the mirror reflects the old man -- but the mirror is neither child, nor young, nor old. And
           when all have gone there is simply a mirror reflecting nothing, just being there.
           Your consciousness is a mirror.
               This metaphor of the mirror is tremendously meaningful. It will be very helpful on the Way if
           you can understand it. The consciousness is just standing behind, watching. It is a witness. Things
           come and go... just like a movie. You sit in a moviehouse; on the screen many things come and go.
           Sometimes you get identified too. Sometimes you become identified with an actor. Maybe he is
           beautiful, powerful, has a charm, a grace of personality, is impressive, has some charisma: you get
           identified, you forget yourself. For a moment you start thinking as if he is you. Sometimes it happens
           that there is a very sad scene, and you start crying, Your eyes are wet... and there is nothing on the
           screen -- just light and shadow passing. And you know it, but you have forgotten for a moment. If
           you remember it, you will start laughing at yourself: "What are you doing? crying? weeping?" But it
           happens when you read a novel too. At least there is something on the screen. Reading a novel there
           is nothing -- no screen, no actors, nothing. Just in your own fantasy the novel goes on and on and on.
           And suddenly sometimes you feel very happy, and sometimes you feel very sad; the climate of the
           novel starts possessing you.
               This is exactly what is happening in life. Life is a great stage, a great drama. And it is very
           complex -- because you are the actor, and you are the director, and you are the film, and you are the
           screen, and you are the projector, and you are the audience too. Now you are all layers: one part
           playing the role of an actor, another part directing, another part functioning as a screen, another part
           working as a projector. And behind it all is your real reality -- the witness who is just watching.
           This watcher....
               Once you start feeling its existence, once you start getting settled with it, more and more in tune
           with it, then you will see what Buddha means when he says consciousness is a mirror. The mirror is
           never contaminated, it only appears to be. You can put a heap of dung before a mirror; of course, it
           will reflect it. But still the mirror is not contaminated, it is not polluted. It doesn't become impure
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because a heap of manure or dung is reflected in it. It remains still pure. Remove the dung and the
           mirror is there in all its purity. Even when the dung was reflected the mirror was not contaminated.
           So whatsoever is impure is really a reflection; it is mirrored. And Buddha says: If you get cleansed
           of this dross, the dirt of evil and passions, your conduct will be unimpeachable.
               So the emphasis is not on conduct. The emphasis is on the mirror-like purity of consciousness.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              EVEN IF ONE ESCAPES FROM THE EVIL CREATIONS, IT IS
              ONE'S FORTUNE TO BE BORN A HUMAN BEING.


               These are the seven great rare fortunes. Buddha talks of them many times, in many ways. They
           have to be understood; they are of great import.
               First: it is a rare fortune to be born as a human being. Why? Why is it not a rare fortune to be
           born as a dog? or as a buffalo? or as a donkey? or as a tree? or as a rock? Why is it a rare blessing to
           be born as a human being? -- because except for human beings, the whole of nature is fast asleep.
           You also are not awake. Let me repeat: the whole of nature is asleep except for man, and man is also
           not awake, but just in the middle.
               Sometimes it happens in the morning that you go on tossing and turning in the bed. You know
           that now it is time to get up, and still there is sleep. It is a mid-way state. You can hear the milkman
           talking to your wife, you can hear the children rushing and getting ready for school, you can hear the
           bus stop outside the house to take the children, and still dreaming also continues. You still feel
           sleepy, the eyes are closed. Sometimes you drift into sleep, sometimes you drift out of it. This is the
           state of human beings.
               And Buddha says: It is a rare blessing -- because the whole of nature is very deeply asleep, so
           deeply asleep that there is not even a dream. It is in a state of SUSHUPTI. Man has come to the
           second state: the state of dreaming. At least there is a certain dream. Dream means that you are not
           fast asleep anymore. You are certainly not awake, because when you become awake you become a
           Buddha. You are somewhere in between the animals and the Buddha. You are hanging in a limbo.
               And Buddha says: It is a great opportunity, a rare blessing -- because if you make a little effort
           you can become awake. A dog cannot become awake, whatsoever effort he makes. A tree cannot
           become awake; howsoever hard it tries, it is not possible. If a tree tries hard, it will become a dog. If
           the dog tries hard, the dog may become a man. But awakening happens only when you are a human
           being. The way towards God goes only from the human being. And in the east we think -- and the
           thought has much validity in it -- that even DEVAS, angels, gods, are not as blessed as a man. Why?
           Because man stands on the crossroads. Even if gods have to become liberated, they will have to be
           born as men.
               Animals are fast asleep, man is just on the mid-way point, and the gods are in their dreams too
           much. The world of the gods is a dreamworld. That's why they have so many beautiful APSARAS: it
           is a dreamworld, a fantasy. They live in a fantasy. Man lives just mid-way, and there is a possibility
           that he can move towards more awakened states of being. He can become an awakening.

              ... IT IS ONE'S RARE FORTUNE TO BE BORN AS A HUMAN BEING.


               So don't miss this great opportunity. It is after very great struggle that you are born as human
           beings. It is simply ridiculous to waste it. For millions of lives you have been moving towards this
           state. Now that you have come, you may destroy it just by eating, drinking and being merry. You
           may simply lose the whole opportunity. There are People who if you tell them to pray or meditate,
           they will say, "Where is the time? We don't have any time." And then you can see them playing
           cards in a club, and you ask, "What are you doing?" And they say, "Killing time" -- the same people.
           When it is a question of meditating they say, "But there is no time." And when it is a question of
           drinking, of gambling, of going to a movie, or just sitting glued for hours before the TV, they have
           enough time. Then you ask them; they say, "We are killing time."
               Are you killing time, or is time killing you? Who has ever been able to kill time? Otherwise, with
           so many people who have been killing time, by this time, time would have died. Nobody has been
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           able to kill time. Time kills everybody. Each moment -- time brings death. In India we have the same
           word for both: time we call KAL; and for death we also have the same name, KAL... because time
           brings death.
                Time is death. Each moment, you are slipping into death. Each moment, death is coming closer
           and closer and closer. All clocks are in the service of death. The whole of time is serving death. And
           it is a rare opportunity to be a human being, and it is very easy to lose it. Buddha reminds us. The
           second thing he says:

              EVEN IF ONE BE BORN A MAN, IT IS ONE'S RARE FORTUNE TO BE PERFECT IN ALL THE SIX
              SENSES.


               There are people who may be born as men, but are blind, or deaf, or dumb, or mentally retarded.
           Then too it is impossible -- Nobody has ever heard of any mentally retarded person becoming a
           Buddha. It has never been heard of, it is not possible. Great intelligence is needed. It is very difficult
           to become aware if your senses are missing -- because for awareness, sensitivity is a must. A man
           who has eyes and a man who has no eyes are in different states, altogether different states. The man
           who has eyes is more sensitive, because eyes are the most sensitive part of the body. Eighty percent
           of your sensitivity belongs to the eyes. A man who is blind is only twenty percent as sensitive as a
           person who has eyes. A man who is blind is enclosed in a subtle darkness, and there is no way to get
           out of it. He lives surrounded in a very subtle prison. It is very difficult to escape it.
               Your outer eyes give you some glimpses, some visions, and you can start thinking about inner
           eyes too. But a person who has no outer eyes cannot have any conception of what a third eye can be,
           of what inner eyes can be. One who has never seen anything cannot have any INSIGHT. If
           the'out-sight' is missing, the in-sight will be missing; they exist in a pair. That's why when you see a
           blind man great compassion arises in you. Just watching a blind man one feels very, very
           compassionate. Why? The man is missing so much. He is human, and yet eighty percent of color
           experience, light, is missing. His whole life is colorless; he does not know what green is. Just think
           about yourself: if you had never known green, if you had never known a rose, if you had never seen
           a rainbow, if you had never seen the sunrise and the sunset, if you had never seen the face of a
           beautiful woman or a man, if you had never seen the beautiful, innocent eyes of a child, if you had
           never seen the face, the grace of one who has attained, how much you would be missing.
               You would be more like a rock, less like a human being.
               Buddha is not against senses; this sentence will prove it to you. Buddha says: Sensation, and the
           lust for sensation is bad, but senses are good. And to be sensitive is an absolute necessity. So become
           more sensitive.
               Let me make it clear to you. If you use your eyes just to reach for lust and you go on looking for
           lust, then your eyes will become, by and by, dull. Lustful eyes are always dull. Lustful eyes are
           always ugly. If a man looks at you with lustful eyes, you suddenly feel offended -- he's trespassing.
           His eyes function like a knife into the heart. He's not a cultured man, he's not gentlemanly at all.
           It happened:

               Mulla Nasrudin entered an office; he must have gone for some work. The receptionist was a
           beautiful woman. He looked at her with such lustful eyes, and then he asked, "Where is the
           bathroom?" The woman said, "You go directly to the end of the passage. You will find a room with a
           sign 'Gentlemen' -- and don't let that sign prevent you. Just go in."

               When you look at a woman with lustful eyes you are not a gentleman. In fact, you are a little
           inhuman. When eyes are sensitive, with no lust, they have a depth. When eyes are not sensitive, but
           only hungering for sensation, they are shallow. And you will find them muddy: they will not be
           transparent. When the eyes are tremendously sensitive, then they have a depth, a transparent depth.
           You can look into them and you can reach to the very heart of the man. The man becomes available
           through his eyes, and through the eyes you can see what type of man you are encountering.
               Eyes are very indicative. That's why criminals will never look directly into your eyes, they will
           avoid it. Guilty people will look sideways, they will not look directly -- because they are not
           innocent. They know that their eyes can reveal, their eyes can say things which they don't want to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say. If you can watch the eyes of a man, you have the very key to his personality.
               And the same is true about the other senses. Just think of a deaf person who has not heard
           Wagner, who has not heard Ravi Shankar, who has not heard the birds singing in the morning, for
           whom cuckoos don't exist, who has not heard somebody singing a love song or a sad song, for whom
           a flute is just a hollow bamboo. Just think how poor he is.
               Buddha says: The first blessing is that you are born as a man, the second blessing that you are
           born with six senses. Now use this opportunity; become more and more sensitive. And how can you
           become more sensitive? When you don't lust, you become more sensitive. When you lust, your
           sensitivity is lost; you become shallow. A man who does not lust, by and by, gathers so much
           energy. If a man is without lust, all his senses become clear windows -- no smoke, no barriers. And
           the inner and outer meet through that sensitivity.

               EVEN IF HE BE PERFECT IN ALL THE SIX SENSES, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO BE BORN IN
               THE TIME OF A BUDDHA.


                And Buddha says: You may be a human being, you may be born with all senses perfect, but if
           you are not born in the time of a Buddha you will miss the contact with the unknown. You may see
           the trees, you may see the flowers, you may see the stars, but these are nothing compared to a man of
           enlightenment -- because he represents the unknown in the world of the known. He brings a ray of
           God into the darkness of the earth. He's the real flowering of consciousness.
                "It is rare," Buddha says, "to be born in the time of a Buddha." In fact, it is a great blessing just to
           occupy the same time, the same space, as a Buddha occupies -- because something of his vital
           vibrations is bound to touch you. His presence is bound to become a showering of benediction. Even
           if you never go to him, even if you are against him, even if he passes through your town and you
           don't have any time to visit him, even then his coolness will bring something to you, something
           unasked for. He will reach you uninvited. Just think: if Buddha had not been born, the world would
           not be the same. And Christians have done well to begin their calendar after Christ. It is good --
           Christ makes a tremendous break with the past. Just his existence -- Christ was a Buddha -- his
           existence created a totally different history. It is good that Christians date their history as after Christ
           and before Christ. Before Christ it is nothing; it is all ordinary. After Christ a tremendous
           phenomenon happened, and humanity started moving at a different altitude.
                In India we could not do that, because we have encountered so many Buddhas. It was difficult
           for us to do it that way. Otherwise there would be so many calendars, and it would be confusing. But
           whenever a Buddha exists humanity takes a turn, an upward turn. Whenever a Buddha enters into
           history, history is never again the same -- the total perspective changes. And when Buddha is present
           it is very easy if you meditate, because his energy is moving. You can simply ride on his wave.
           When you are doing your meditations alone and a Buddha is not present, you are fighting with such
           great barriers single-handed; it is almost impossible, improbable, that you will be the conqueror.
           With Buddha it is almost like this.
                Ramakrishna used to say, "When the wind is blowing in the right direction, you simply leave
           your boat in the stream and the wind will take it. Just wait for the right direction; then you need not
           make any effort. You simply sit in the boat, the wind will take it." When Buddha is blowing and the
           whole existence is in an up-rise, then everything is going towards God. You can simply join hands,
           and you can ride on the wave very easily. You can simply leave your boat in the stream, and the
           stream is already going.
                Hence Buddha is right when he says: To be born in the time of Buddha is a rare opportunity.

               EVEN IF HE BE BORN IN THE TIME OF A BUDDHA IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO SEE THE
               ENLIGHTENED.


               But difficulties are there: you may be born in the time of Buddha but you may never go to see
           him -- because just the very idea that somebody is enlightened is against your ego. You cannot
           believe that somebody is enlightened and you are not. It is impossible that somebody has gone ahead
           of you. You cannot believe it because of your ego, and you will find a thousand and one reasons not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to go to a Buddha. You will find arguments that he is wrong, that he is a megalomaniac, that he is
           claiming, that he is not really a Buddha -- "What is the proof?" People used to go to Buddha and ask,
           "What is your proof? Who is your witness?"
               Now these are foolish questions. Who can be a witness? Buddhahood happens in such deep
           aloneness that nobody can be a witness. It is not an act in the world, it is an act out of the world.
           Who can be a witness? It happens in tremendous aloneness. It happens at the innermost core; nobody
           can see it. A Buddha has to be self-proclaimed; there is no other way. And who will certify that he is
           a Buddha? People used to go to him and they would find a thousand and one ways to prove that
           whatsoever he was saying did or did not coincide with the old scriptures. It never coincides; it
           cannot, in the very nature of things. Because whenever somebody becomes enlightened he brings a
           different vision into the world which had never existed before.
               Each enlightened person brings a new gift to the world which had not existed before. So if you
           look in the Vedas you may not find it; if you look in the Upanishads you may not find what Buddha
           is saying. It will look a little rebellious, unorthodox. An enlightened person is rebellious, is
           unorthodox, because truth is rebellious and truth is unorthodox. So whenever a Buddha comes,
           people just start looking in their old scriptures to see whether there is a proof, and it never happens.
               When Christ came Jews started looking in their old scriptures, and they never became convinced
           that this man was the Messiah for whom they were waiting. They crucified him. Why? -- because
           they could not figure it out.
               People believe in scriptures. Scriptures are dead things, and scriptures are made by you, collected
           by you, interpreted by you. Nobody knows what the scriptures really mean. Nobody can know --
           because words are there, but the content has to be given by you.
           I have heard....

               Mulla Nasrudin went to his doctor and said, "I am very worried. A week ago, I came home to
           find my wife in the arms of another man who talked me into going out for a cup of coffee. The next
           five nights, exactly the same thing happened."
               "My good man," said the doctor, "it is not a doctor you want. It is a solicitor."
               "No," insisted the Mulla, "it is a doctor I want. I have just got to know if I am drinking too much
           coffee."

               Now it depends... how you take a certain thing, how you interpret it. Interpretation is bound to
           come from your mind.
           Listen to an anecdote.

               It was their honeymoon-night, and the Jewish bride had put on a sheer nightgown and crawled
           into bed, only to discover that her Episcopalian husband was about to go to sleep on the couch. It
           was the month of Lent, when Christians are supposed to drop at least one of their enjoyments.
               "George," she called out, "are you not going to make love to me?"
           "I can't, honey," he replied, "because it is Lent."
               "Why, that's awful!" she exclaimed, bursting into tears. "To whom? and for how long?"

           Get it?
               Now the passionate mind, the lustful mind, has its own interpretations. Words don't matter much;
           you project your ideas on the words. If you are looking for something you will be able to see it. If
           you are not looking for something you may not be able to see it. And the natural tendency of the
           human mind is to first deny that somebody has arrived. It is offensive to the ego. That's why it is
           very difficult for you.
               If somebody comes and says that another man, your neighbor, is a murderer, you immediately
           believe. You don't bother about any proofs. You say, "I have known him long. I have always thought
           that he is." If somebody comes and says, "That man is a thief, immoral," this and that, you never
           bother about any proofs. If people bothered about proofs there would not be so much gossiping in the
           world. Who bothers about proofs? When somebody is being condemned you immediately believe it
           because that gives you a feeling that you are better than the other person. But if somebody comes
           and says, "One man has become a meditator, a great meditator," immediately there is suspicion. You
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           listen to it but you don't want to listen. You say, "It is not possible. I know that man; he is a cheat.
           How can he meditate? I know him from his very childhood; we were colleagues in school. No, he
           cannot. What is the proof?" you ask. Whenever somebody talks about somebody else being good,
           you ask for the proof because it hurts your ego: "So, somebody else has become good before me?"
                When a Buddha walks on the earth he's claiming the impossible, that which only rarely happens.
           He's saying he has become a Buddha, and of course only he can say that. There is no other way to
           prove it or disprove it. His statement is not provable or disprovable -- and your ego feels offended.
                Buddha says: It is a rare fortune to be born in the time of a Buddha, and still more rare a fortune
           to see the enlightened -- to go, to bow. Because only if you bow, if you surrender, will you be able to
           see. It is not a question of physical eyes. Many people saw the Buddha walking, passing from one
           town to another, but they were not the people who had seen him. Only those few rare individuals
           who became his disciples had seen. Because it is impossible to see a Buddha and not to become a
           disciple. If you have seen, then you have seen; and then you cannot be the same again. Then your
           whole life is upside down. Then you are in a chaos, then you are reborn. Then there is going to be a
           complete collapse of your past, a new birth, and of course, all the pain that is always involved in a
           new birth.

               ... EVEN IF HE BE ABLE TO SEE THE ENLIGHTENED, IT IS
               HIS RARE FORTUNE TO HAVE HIS HEART AWAKENED IN FAITH.


                You can see, but that is not much. Unless trust arises in you....
                ... HIS HEART AWAKENED IN FAITH. Try to understand this word 'faith'. It does not mean
           belief. 'Belief' means a dogma; 'belief' means believing in a dogma. For example, Christians believe
           in the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This is a belief. Or, Hindus believe in the
           three faces of God; that is a belief.
                When you encounter a Buddha and you trust the person, then it is faith. Faith is personal; belief
           is theoretical, conceptual. Faith is like love -- you fall in faith as you fall in love. It is not a belief. It
           is not that Buddha has convinced you about something. No, his being has convinced you about his
           own being. He has convinced you not to believe in a dogma, he has convinced you that something
           has happened here in this man. You have become convinced of the fact that here is a man who is
           transformed, transfigured, who is no more of this world. It is a conviction, a personal conviction. It is
           not an argument, it is not theology -- it is a love-affair.
                When people come to me to be initiated into sannyas, I can immediately make the distinction as
           to whether it is faith or belief. There are two types of people: one person comes and he says,
           "Whatsoever you say convinces me. Your argument is superb. Your reason appeals to me." Now,
           this man has come to me as a believer. He has not really come. Some day he can find somebody who
           can unconvince him about me -- because there can be better arguments. There is always the
           possibility, because logic is a double-edged sword; it cuts both ways. The same argument can be
           used to destroy the conviction, the same argument can be used to make it. Logic is like a prostitute,
           or like a lawyer. It can go with anybody, with whosoever pays.
           It happened:

               In a coffee-house there was great discussion. One philosopher said in the coffee-house one day,
           "If you will give me Aristotle's system of logic, I will force my enemy to a conclusion. Give me the
           syllogism and that's all I ask."
               Another philosopher said, "If you give me the Socratic system of interrogation I will run my
           adversary into a corner and defeat him immediately. That's all I ask."
               Mulla Nasrudin, hearing all this said, "My brother, if you give me a little ready cash, I will
           always gain my point I will always draw my adversary to a conclusion because a little ready cash is a
           wonderful clearer of the intellect."

               Logic is not very fundamental; it is superficial. If somebody comes and he says that he believes
           in what I say, then it is not faith. But there are a few rare people who say, "We don't know what you
           are saying, we don't even understand much. We enjoy what you say, but that is not the point. We
           have fallen in love with you." A faith has arisen. Now, nobody can destroy this faith, because it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           illogical.
               You cannot destroy faith because it is not based on logic. Anything based on logic can be
           destroyed: if you can pull the logic it will collapse. It has a cause; pull the cause away and the effect
           will disappear. But a faith is uncaused. It is just like falling in love. If you go to Majnu and prove to
           him that Laila is not the most beautiful woman in the world, and logically you go on proving it, he
           will say, "Don't unnecessarily puzzle yourself. Nobody can prove it."
               It actually happened that the King of Manju's town called him. He become very kind towards
           him. Majnu had been going, crying and weeping, and screaming in the streets in the nights. He
           would just call, "Laila! Laila!" And the King became very compassionate. He called him and he said,
           "You are a fool. I have seen your Laila; she is an ordinary girl. In fact, because you were crying so
           much I thought she must be very beautiful, so I myself became interested. But when I saw her I
           simply laughed. You are a fool! And I have much compassion for your foolishness. You are a good
           young man; don't waste your life."
               He called twelve beautiful women from his harem and he said, "You choose any one." They were
           the best, the most precious of his kingdom. Majnu looked and he said, "Nothing compared to Laila."
           And he said to the King, "Sir, if you really want to see Laila, you will need my eyes. Majnu's eyes
           will be needed. There is no way to see Laila and her beauty except through Majnu's eyes."
               A disciple is a Majnu. He is a madman; he has fallen in love. Buddha says: His heart awakened
           in faith.... The presence of Buddha is his appeal. The grace that surrounds Buddha has touched his
           heart. It is not Buddha's logic, it is not Buddha's philosophy. Even if Buddha remained silent it
           would not make much difference; he would be convinced all the same. Even if Buddha started
           contradicting himself it would not make any difference. That's why you see that I go on
           contradicting. Those who come through intellect by and by disappear. My contradiction helps me to
           throw the weeds out of my garden. Those who have come through love don't bother. They say,
           "Okay, you enjoy contradicting yourself, but we love you. You cannot deceive us." They say, "You
           can go on contradicting but you cannot force us to run away from you."
               Those who come through belief, sooner or later, will have to go -- because truth is paradoxical.
           Only theories are non-paradoxical. Truth has all the contradictions of life in it. Truth is very
           illogical, very irrational.

              EVEN IF HE HAVE FAITH, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO AWAKEN THE HEART OF
              INTELLIGENCE.


                And then Buddha says: But this is not the end. When your heart is full of love, and full of faith
           and trust, this is not the end. This is just the beginning. Now you have to help your intelligence to
           come up and take possession of you. Faith is the door: you should enter through it, but you should
           not remain at the door. Otherwise, you never enter into the palace. Finally, you have to come to your
           own experience. It is good to believe, it is good to trust in a Buddha, it is good to have faith, but that
           is not enough -- because your faith in Buddha is still not your experience. What has happened to
           Buddha must happen to you too. Then the second step happens: your own intelligence arises. Now it
           is not only love towards Buddha; now by your own experience you have become a witness. It is not
           only unfounded faith. In the beginning faith is unfounded, but in the end it becomes absolutely
           founded. The foundation is not supplied by logic, the foundation is supplied by your experience.
           When it has become your own experience, you don't say, "I trust in Buddha." You know it is right, it
           is true.
                Somebody asked Shri Aurobindo, "Do you believe in God?" and he said, "No." The man was
           puzzled. He had come from Germany, he was a professor. And he had come just to listen to this
           great man. He was simply shocked that this man said, "No." And he was in search of God. He said,
           "Have I heard you rightly, sir? You say no?" Aurobindo repeated, "Yes," he said, "absolutely not --
           because there is no question of belief. I know God is. There is no question of belief. You ask,'Do you
           believe in God?' I don't believe, I know."
           Belief is a poor substitute for knowledge.
                So Buddha says: First you trust. Trust means simply that you have come across a man who is
           away from you, far away from you. You have come across a man who has shown you your own
           future, your destiny. It is as if a seed has come to a tree, and the seed has become aware that the tree
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is possible. And the tree says, "Once I was also a seed just like you." Now trust arises in the seed. If
           he had never seen the tree, he would never have dreamed about it. How can a seed dream about a
           tree? He has never seen one. That's why to be born in the time of a Buddha is a great blessing --
           because there exists a tree, and your seed can start dreaming. When the first impact of the tree falls
           on the seed, he trusts. His own future becomes full of possibilities now. It is not going to be just a
           repetition of the past, it will be something new. He is thrilled. That thrill is faith. He's thrilled to the
           very roots. Now, for the first time, he knows there is meaning; now, for the first time, he knows there
           is destiny. Something is going to happen: "I'm not just an accident. I'm carrying a great message. It
           has to be translated, it has to be decoded. I have to become a tree and bloom, and spread my
           fragrance to the winds."
               Seeing a Buddha, you have seen your own possible Buddhahood. That's what faith is... but it is
           not enough. Then you have to work hard to make it real. The seed has to fall into the earth, die into
           the earth, be born as a sprout. And a thousand and one difficulties have to be crossed: winds are
           there, thunder is there, animals are there, and the new sprout is very fragile, very weak -- with
           infinite potentiality to become strong, but right now it is not strong. It will need somebody's help; it
           will need a gardener. That is the meaning of a Master.
               When you choose a Master, you choose a gardener. And you say, "Protect me until I have
           become strong enough to go my own way." But faith is just the door.

              EVEN IF HE HAVE FAITH, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO AWAKEN THE HEART OF
              INTELLIGENCE.


              And the last:

              EVEN IF HE AWAKENS THE HEART OF INTELLIGENCE, IT IS HIS RARE FORTUNE TO REALIZE
              A SPIRITUAL STATE WHICH IS ABOVE DISCIPLINE AND ATTAINMENT.


               The WHOLE goal of discipline is to come to a point where discipline can be dropped. The
           WHOLE goal of religious practice, SADHANA, IS to come to a moment when all SADHANA can
           be dropped and you can be simply spontaneous. Then you have flowered.
               For example, if you have to continue meditation, and one day you stop your meditation and the
           mind jumps back, then this is not a great state. A moment should be desired, longed for, when you
           can even drop your meditation. But nothing differs; it remains the same. Whether you do meditation
           or you don't do, you remain meditative. Meditation has become your innermost part, part of your
           being, no longer something imposed from the outside. Not that you have to force yourself to be
           good; not that you have to repress your temptations to be bad, no. Now there is no temptation, no
           enforcement. One has gone beyond discipline. This is what Buddha calls'The Discipline of
           Transcendence'. This is the seventh fortune, the last, the ultimate.
               To be born as a human being is just the beginning, and then you have to come to this point where
           all discipline can be dropped. Then you have become a God, then you have become as spontaneous
           as nature, then there is no tension, then you don't have any character, then you are as innocent as a
           child. Your awareness is perfect now, your awareness is enough now. Nothing else is needed.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              O CHILDREN OF BUDDHA, YOU ARE AWAY FROM ME EVER SO MANY THOUSANDS OF
              MILES. BUT IF YOU REMEMBER AND THINK OF MY PRECEPTS, YOU SHALL SURELY GAIN
              THE FRUIT OF ENLIGHTENMENT. YOU MAY, STANDING BY MY SIDE, SEE ME ALWAYS. BUT IF
              YOU OBSERVE NOT MY PRECEPTS, YOU SHALL NEVER GAIN ENLIGHTENMENT.


               And Buddha says: Never stop anywhere unless you have attained to the seventh -- the state of a
           disciplined no-discipline, the state of effortlessness, the state of TAO, DHAMMA, the state which
           Kabir calls SAHAJ, spontaneous. But you have to work hard for it.
               So Buddha says: You can remain with me, and if you don't follow what I am saying, if you don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bring it to your heart, to your intelligence, to your being, then you are thousands of miles away from
           me. But you may be thousands of miles away from me... if you are following what I have said, you
           are close to me, and your enlightenment is absolutely certain, assured, promised.
               To be close to a Buddha... there is only one way to follow his footprints. To be close to a Buddha
           means: become more and more aware, become more and more alert. Bring a little Buddhahood to
           yourself.
               The goal is that you also have to become a Buddha. Only then will you be able to understand
           exactly what is the meaning and significance and the grandeur of being awakened.
               This consciousness exists within you right now, this very moment. You may not be able to see it.
           I can see it. It is there like a mirror, and you get identified with all that reflects in the mirror. Drop
           your identifications: start seeing that you are not the body; start seeing that you are not the mind;
           start seeing that you are not the emotions, not the thoughts; start seeing that you are not pleasure and
           pain; start seeing neither old nor young; start seeing neither success nor failure. Remember always
           that you are the witness. By and by, this mirror-like quality will explode into your being.
               The day you recognize that you are a mirror, you are free. You are freedom. This is what
           MOKSHA OR NIRVANA IS all about.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                    Chapter #6
                                             Chapter title: Go on moving
           5 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611050
              ShortTitle: TRANS406
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins



              the first question:


              WHY DO I ASK SO MANY FOOLISH QUESTIONS?


               BECAUSE there are no wise questions, and there cannot be. A wise question exists not.
           Questioning as such is foolish. I am not condemning it, I am not saying don't ask. But remember, the
           questioning mind is a confused mind, and out of the confusion comes the question; whatsoever
           answer is given to it will enter into the confused mind again. That answer will be distorted. The
           confused mind will start playing on it and will create many more questions out of it. It is a vicious
           spiral.
               No answer is going to help unless you understand that questioning in itself is futile, unless the
           understanding grows deep that questioning is meaningless. There is nobody to answer your question.
           Existence is there without any explanations -- and it is absolutely silent. You go on asking, it does
           not respond. By and by you will understand that questions are meaningless -- then they disappear.
               The day questions disappear is a great day. On that very day the answer becomes available. The
           answer never comes through questioning, it comes when the questioning has disappeared. In fact, to
           say it comes is not right: when the questioning has disappeared you suddenly find that you are the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           answer, your very being is the answer. That is what you had been seeking and seeking for.
               All questions are foolish; they have to be. And all answers are lies; they have to be -- because
           you cannot answer a foolish question with truth. There will be no meeting between them. You ask a
           question, the Master goes on answering it -- in the hope that by and by your questioning will
           disappear. That's the difference between a Master and a teacher.
               A teacher believes that he can answer your question. He is also a fool, just like you. The Master
           knows there is no answer, but he goes on answering you in the hope that by and by you will start
           looking deeper. Your understanding will grow, and one day suddenly your questions will disappear.
           You will look inside and you will not find any questions. That very moment you become the
           answer... you are the answer.
               Meanwhile, continue to question. It is an unburdening process: only by questioning will you
           come to see that questions are futile. And one has to say whatsoever is.
           I have heard....

                A man rushed into a church, a Catholic church, went into the confessional booth and said,
           "Father, I have made love to a woman since the morning up to now, twenty-five times!"
                Even the Father was surprised: he had listened to many confessions, his whole life had been just
           listening to confessions, but this was something new -- twenty-five times since the morning?
           He asked, "Are you married?"
                The man said, "Yes, Father, to the same woman." So the Father relaxed and he said, "There is no
           problem; it is your wife, you can make love."
                He said, "I know. And moreover, I'm not a Christian, nor am I a Catholic: I am a Jew. But I had
           to tell somebody!"

                If something is burdening you, overburdening you, you have to tell somebody. You can ask me;
           let them be foolish.
                So when I say that all questions are foolish, I am not saying to stop asking. Otherwise, old
           Paritosh would be in trouble -- he has to bring questions. You continue asking....
                And by not asking you will not be able to understand that questions are foolish, but by asking,
           and by my constant answering and yet not answering them. This is the whole process of awareness.
           You ask the question; when you ask a a question you think it is very serious, you ask a question and
           you think it is very profound, and then I answer it and I answer it with a joke. The whole profundity,
           the seriousness is gone; you start laughing. A great possibility is there that you will start laughing at
           your question, at the ridiculousness of it.
                Life is there to be lived. Life has no question-mark; it is a mystery, there is no explanation. And
           it is good that there is none: it would be a great misfortune if there were an explanation. If there were
           an answer that could satisfy you, just think how flat things would become, how boring, how
           monotonous -- because no answer can answer your questions. Life remains an adventure, it remains
           a constant search.
                Searching, one day you come to a point where you understand that you are wasting your energies
           in searching. The same energies can be put to celebration. You can enjoy.
                These are two approaches towards life: the approach of the questioner, the seeker, the thinker,
           the philosopher; and the approach of the religious person, the mystic, the poet, the painter, the man
           of the heart. When a thinker enters into a garden he starts asking questions: "Why are trees green?
           Why are roses red?" When a poet enters he starts singing a song about the red roses and the green
           trees. When a painter comes, he paints. When a mystic comes, he simply stands there in tremendous
           awe. His breathing stops, time stops; it is so ecstatic. The question does not arise at all.
                The philosopher goes on asking. The artist goes on painting, creating the same beauty again and
           again. The mystic does neither: neither does he ask nor does he create the flower. He is simply there,
           standing in deep meditation, enjoying. The mystic knows the way of joy.
                Learn the way of joy, learn the way of dance, at least learn the way of poetry; and unlearn the
           ways of the thinker, unlearn the ways that create questions in you.
                But it will happen by and by. You will have to ask many questions.

              A convict sits in his cell awaiting a murder trial. In walks a well-dressed lawyer.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The lawyer says, "I am the very best. You have nothing to worry about. I am going to prove that you
           are completely insane, or were in Europe at the time of the murder. Also, the witnesses are paid off
           and my uncle is the judge for your case. Meanwhile, try to escape."

                There is no answer to any question. There is nobody to answer them, they have never been
           answered, they cannot be answered -- by the very nature of things. Meanwhile, go on asking.
           Because if you don't ask you will not move from the state where you are, and one should be moving.
                That is one of the great secrets of life, that life is a movement. And if you are stuck somewhere
           you lose contact with life. Then you are fogged and clouded; then you are lost, and you don't know
           who are, and where you are going, and what is happening. You miss all the clues.
                Go on moving. Wherever you are, one thing has to be remembered: don't get stuck. If your
           questioning helps you to move. good. A little movement from wherever you are is good; from that
           place you have to find another place -- because you are in contact with life only when you are
           dynamic, moving. Life is a flux, life is a flow. Whenever you are stagnant you lose contact.
                In the English language there is a beautiful word: 'affluence'. It has lost its original meaning. It
           has nothing to do with richness, it has nothing to do with luxuries, technological gadgets, a big
           palace and a big car and a great bank balance -- it has nothing to do with these. You may be a
           millionaire and you may not be affluent.
                'Affluence' means: one who is in the flow, one who is flowing. To be with the flow is to be
           affluent. The original meaning of the word is: to be in the flow, moving, flowing, not stuck. If you
           are flowing, moving with life, you are rich -- and that is the only richness there is. All other richness
           is a false substitute.
                So if your questions help you to move -- I am not saying they will help you to find the answer,
           because there is none -- but if your questioning helps you to move just a step further, good. It is time
           you should be moving.

                Branihan was driving down the road. By the way the car weaved in and out of traffic, you could
           tell that Branihan was pickled to the gills.
                "Where do you think you are going?" asked the motorcycle cop who finally stopped him.
                "I'm coming home -- hic -- from a New Year's Eve party."
                "Are you kidding?" asked the cop. "New Year's was three weeks ago!"
                "I know," said Branihan. "That's why I figure I better be getting home."

               You have been away from your home long enough. You should be getting home by now.
               Anything that moves is good. A question, if real, helps you to move. Again, let me repeat: it is
           not going to help you to find the answer, because there is none. But an authentic question that arises
           from your being is meaningful to you -- it may be foolish to m e but is relevant to you; it may be
           irrelevant in the ultimate understanding of things, but if it is relevant to you let it be foolish, let it be
           absurd -- you ask it. And my answer will just give you a push. You will be moving.
               Keep moving. One thing has to be remembered: keep moving. Then you will be alive. That's why
           a question is more important than a belief. I say all questions are foolish, but they are nothing
           compared to beliefs. Beliefs are ABSOLUTELY stupid. Questions are only foolish. To be a fool can
           be fun. but to be stupid is ugly, to be idiotic is to be ill.
               Beliefs are idiotic. Somebody says."I am a Hindu," somebody says, "I am a Christian,"
           somebody says, "I am a Jaina," somebody says."I am a Buddh.st" -- these are idiots, because belief
           means they have come to the answer. A questioner is at least moving; he has not come to the answer.
           He thinks he can come by questioning; that is why he is foolish. But still, he has not come to the
           answer. The man of belief who says "I am a Christian" has arrived. He thinks he has found the
           answer. Now, he is absolutely an idiot. He is stuck, his flow is completely gone. That's why you
           never see so-called religious people joyous. You will never see them streaming with life, flowering.
               The word 'flower' too MUST come from flow. I don't know exactly whether it comes from 'flow'
           or not, but it should come. Etymologically, linguistically, it may not come -- I don't bother, I don't
           care a little bit. But it SHOULD come. Flower -- flow. And look at a flower; that's what flow is. The
           whole tree has come to a peak of its flowering. From the roots to the flower there is a continuous
           flow of life, energy, sap. And in the flower the tree has bloomed; that flow has come to sing a song.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           There is a dance, the tree has bloomed.
                When all your questions disappear -- not giving you any belief; all beliefs gone, all questions
           gone -- then all stupidity, all foolishness will be gone. Then there is a flowering, a blooming, and
           that blooming is the answer. That answers all the questions. Suddenly you are in the know. There is
           no knowledge, but you are in the know. Suddenly you are at home. Then you are not struggling with
           life and enquiring about what it is. Now you know, from your deepest core of being, what it is. You
           have become it, you have allowed it to flow through you. Now you are no more separate from it.
                The English word 'religion' is beautiful: it means to be together, to be married, to be tied
           together, to be in union. It means exactly what the Sanskrit word 'yoga' means -- to be one. When
           your small flow is one with the flow of the whole, you are religious. When your small river falls into
           the great Ganges, and you start flowing with the Ganges and you lose your boundaries, you are
           religious.
                'Religion' is as beautiful a word as 'yoga'. It means: you have now come to an ultimate marriage
           with the whole. Right now when you are stuck you are in a state of divorce, separation at least. You
           are moving like a small stream -- not even moving; you have become a pool: stagnant, dying,
           stinking. Get out of it.
                If your questions help you to move, go on asking. It is better to be questioning than to be
           believing, because a believer has stopped asking questions. His movement has stopped.
                What do you mean when you say "I am a Christian". or "I am a Hindu", or "I am a
           Mohammedan"? What do you mean? -- you mean, "Now there is no questioning in me. I'm TIRED
           of questioning; I have started believing." Then your whole life has shrunk. Then you are no longer
           expanding, then you are no longer exploring, then you are no longer enquiring.
                To be a Mohammedan, to be a Hindu, to be a Christian, is worse than to be a questioner and an
           agnostic. It is better to be an agnostic and go on questioning -- because if you go on questioning, and
           if you are courageous enough to go on questioning to the very end, one day it comes: you remain and
           the question disappears. Not that a belief is given to you; the question simply disappears and a trust
           arises, a trust in life. Not trust in the BIBLE, not trust in the VEDAS, not trust in the KORAN -- but
           a trust in life from where all VEDAS and all KORANS, and all BIBLES come and disappear. That
           trust is the answer.
                Become a flow. And go on using anything that helps. Go on questioning. I am not going to give
           you any answers. I am not a teacher. That's why many times you feel a little worried. You start
           thinking, "Why does he go on avoiding?" If you watch, directly I never answer your question, I
           answer something else. I just push you onward. I answer you in such a way that you can ask many
           more questions. This pushing of your energy towards the ultimate will bring a climax where the
           questioning mind explodes. And when the question is not, and the belief is not, suddenly mind itself
           has disappeared. In that state of no-mind you are at home. You have come home.

           the second question:


              SOMETIMES I THINK YOU LIVE IN A DREAMWORLD.


               From your standpoint that can be said -- because whatsoever you think is real I think is unreal.
           So naturally, whatsoever I think is real looks unreal to you. But there is one advantage in which I am
           and you are not; and that advantage is: I have lived in your reality, in your so-called reality. I know
           both; you know only one.
               I was where you are, so I KNOW your reality, and I know my reality now. I am in a better
           situation to judge who is real and who is unreal. You know only your state, you don't know my state.
           So wait a little rather than judging it. Come to my state also; then you are totally free to judge.
               But whosoever has come to this state has never said that your world is real. Your world is maya:
           unreal, illusory. To judge you need to know both; only then can you compare. You cannot compare
           by knowing only one -- how will you compare?
               In the night when you fall asleep you start dreaming. In dreams, dreams look real -- because in
           dreaming you lose all contact with the world, with the world that you have known when you were
           awake. Now there is no comparison; you cannot compare. For example: if you see a stone, a rock, in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your dream, you cannot compare with the real rock that you have seen when you were awake
           because both rocks are never together. So of course the dream rock also looks real. How to judge it
           as unreal? because there is nothing except it to judge by. There is no criterion. When you wake in the
           morning then you realize that it was unreal. But again your judgment is not right because now the
           dream rock is missing. Now you have the real rock, the so-called real rock, and the dream rock is
           missing. Again your judgment is not right: only one is there and the other is missing. How can you
           judge unless you have both together, in front of you?
                There is another awakening. That's what we call Buddhahood: the ultimate awakening -- when
           you not only awake from your dreams, but you awake from your so-called awakened state too. Then
           they both are available, and then you can see that both are dreams.
                A few dreams are seen with closed eyes, a few dreams are seen with opened eyes, but both are
           dreams. And when you have awakened and there is no sleep left in you, when no part of your being
           is unconscious, you are absolutely conscious and your whole being is full of light, luminous, then
           only do you know what reality is. Right now you are asleep; all that you know is dream.
                But I can understand the question. From where you are it will almost seem that I am dreaming. I
           talk about love; you also know love. But listening to me you become aware that I am talking about
           something else which is not possible. How can love be non-possessive? How can love be pure
           sharing, without any self, without any motivation? How can love be unconditional? You listen to me,
           you listen to my words, but you cannot feel the reality of those words -- because you know a love
           which is conditional; you know a love which is always motivated; you know a love which is always
           based on selfish, desires; you know a love which is a trick to dominate and possess; you know a love
           which is really violent, aggressive.
                So when you compare your love with my love, your love looks real to you, and my love looks
           utopian, like fantasy. That's why the world has never trusted Buddhas -- because they talk about
           something which has nothing to do with your experience. It is SO beyond, it is SO transcendental, it
           is so far out, that you cannot comprehend it. It is incomprehensible. You cannot figure out what it is.
           In sheer desperation you cling to your reality and you say, "Forget all about it -- these people are
           either mystics or mad; poets of the unknown, dreamers, eccentric, crazy. Forget all about them!"
                You also cannot forget; that is the problem -- because whenever you come close to a Buddha he
           hits something deep in your heart. Your mind may go on saying that he is a dreamer, but somewhere
           your heart starts feeling what he is saying. Its fragrance approaches, reaches to the heart. What he is
           singing is heard somewhere, on some level of your being. Maybe it is not very conscious, maybe it is
           just like groping in the dark, but you have heard. And when you watch a Buddha, and if you are
           fortunate enough to be close to him, if you are blessed enough to become a disciple, to become an
           initiate, then by and by his reality will-become more real than your own reality. That is the meaning
           of surrender.
                Many times you ask me, "What is the meaning of surrender?" The word is so big; there are many
           meanings. This is one of the deepest meanings: when you come to a man and you feel that he has
           gone beyond.... Of course, you can only feel; you don't have any conceptual possibility, any mental
           system to comprehend it. You can only feel. It is very, very dark, but you can feel that it is very alive
           too. You can feel that something HAS happened. Your mind wants to deny it, your ego wants to
           deny it, but your heart starts feeling hypnotized -- as if a great magnet is pulling you towards some
           unknown center.
                Surrender means: falling in love with someone who is almost unreal to you, and yet has an
           appeal. You surrender your reality; you say, "Okay, my reality is a dream and your reality is real.
           Now I'm ready: take me to your reality."
                What is your reality really? Really, what is your reality? What is it except misery? What is it
           except a few tiny glimpses of happiness, very fleeting? You cannot catch hold and they are gone, and
           again there is misery. What is your reality except an experience in hell?
           I was reading:

              A man arrived in hell and was given a guided tour by the devil.
              "You may choose to spend eternity in one of these three rooms," he said.
              In the first room people were standing up to their necks in hot water. The water was boiling and
           evaporating. The man shuddered and closed the door.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In the next room people were up to their necks in icy cold water, and they were shivering. This
           did not appeal to the man either.
               With a smile, the devil opened the last door. The man was amazed and relieved, as the people
           were walking around in one foot of cow manure, drinking coffee and chatting pleasantly.
               The man said, "This is for me," and began socializing.
               A few minutes later one of the assistant devils came and called, "Coffee break is over. Back on
           your heads!"

               So all happiness you know is just a coffee break, and again on your heads!
           Just momentary allurements....
               Months and years of misery, and then there comes a small moment. And again you desire that
           moment, and you are ready to suffer again. And even that moment has nothing much in it. If you
           look into it you will find it hollow inside. Has what you call pleasure really anything substantial in
           it? Or is it just a hope so that you can carry on somehow in this hell? Without hope it would be too
           difficult. If there were no hope, how would you live? Even one day would be difficult; even to get
           out of the bed in the morning would be difficult. For what? The question will arise, "Why? Why to
           get up again, and why to go the office again, and to the same rotten routine, and the same boss, and
           the same wife, and the same kids? For what? Enough is enough!" You will simply relax and die in
           your bed. What is the point in getting out of it? But the hope that that which has not happened may
           happen today... "Maybe the opportunity has now come for that which has not happened yet. One
           should be up and take the opportunity as it comes."
               And it never comes really. All pleasure is in waiting, in hoping. All pleasure is in the future, in
           desire; it is never a reality. And you call it real?
               My bliss is not in hope. I am not hoping for anything, I have abandoned all hope. In fact, the day
           I abandoned all hope the reality happened to me. Through hope you don't allow reality to happen.
           The day you drop desiring, a great bliss descends on you. It was always there, but because of your
           desiring you were missing it. You were so constantly occupied with desire that you were not
           available to it, you were closed. Once desiring disappears you are open, you become available.
               I have known your reality. I have lived in that misery as long as you have lived in it -- for
           millennia, for many lives. Certainly it is difficult to believe in my bliss, in my truth. And the
           question arises, "This man may be dreaming."
               But one thing I would like to say to you: even if this is a dream, even if it appears like a dream, it
           is better than your reality. Try it. You have nothing to lose -- but still you are so afraid of losing it.
           Maybe you are so afraid of losing it so that you can go on thinking that you have something. The
           fear that you may lose it keeps you feeling that you have something to lose. But have you looked in
           your pocket? There is nothing. In fact there is a big hole. Your pocket holds nothing. But afraid that
           you may come across the truth, you never look in your pocket.

               Once I was travelling with Mulla Nasrudin. The conductor came and Nasrudin looked into this
           pocket and that, and the diary, and in the bag and the suitcase. He searched everything, even my
           suitcase! And then he started looking in my pockets. I said, "Nasrudin, wait! What are you doing?"
           He said, "My ticket is lost."
               "It cannot be in my pocket or in my suitcase. Have you gone mad?" I was watching, and I told
           him, "I see that you don't look in your right-side pocket."
           He said, "I cannot."
           I said, "Why?"
               He said, "If it is not there, then finished! Then it is nowhere! So first let me search for it
           everywhere. That is the last thing -- because that means I don't have the ticket!"

              You don't look in because you are afraid; maybe there is nothing.

             Cooperman sold strawberries off his truck out in the suburbs. He knocked on the door of a house:
           "Wanna buy some strawberries?"
             "Come around back," answered the pretty young blonde.
             Cooperman walked to the rear, rang the bell and the woman opened the door. To Cooperman's
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           shock she stood there stark naked, with not a stitch of clothes on. Cooperman started to cry. "What is
           the matter?" asked the blonde.
               "Today my wife ran away with my best friend," explained Cooperman. "I lost three thousand
           dollars on the stock market. And now you are gonna screw me out of my strawberries too!"

               Now, only strawberries... but he is crying, afraid that now they are also gone.
               What have you got with you? Not even strawberries.... And you are so afraid, so apprehensive, so
           continuously trembling. Nothing to lose!
               Try my reality too; you will not be a loser. And I say it with such certainty because I know both
           realities. Your reality is just a make-believe; my reality is real.
               You are in reality only when you are real. When your awareness is real you live in reality; when
           your awareness is faulty you live in the unreal. And you create it every day, but you don't seem to be
           aware.
               What happens when you fall asleep? Why do dreams come when you are asleep? -- your
           consciousness is lower, very much lower; it almost disappears. Then dreams bubble up. Are you
           drunk? You take alcohol, and again you are in a dreamworld. Or you take acid, you take LSD or
           something like that; your consciousness is lowered, you are again in a dreamworld.
               That's why it happens that LSD may not give you the same experience as it gave to your friend.
           Somebody may move into heaven, and somebody may move into hell -- because it depends on your
           mind what type of dream you can create. LSD or any drug can only lower down your consciousness.
           It simply removes all barriers, it simply helps you to move in a private world -- the world of the
           dream. And of course when you are on a drug trip things are tremendously beautiful, very
           psychedelic, very colorful.,.
               But it depends. If you are a poet and you have lived with trees and flowers and birds, you will
           have a very beautiful world opening up. But if you are a butcher, then beware; then you will have the
           world of the butcher -- a nightmare.
               That's why different people going into drug trips come back with different experiences. Some say
           it was paradise, and some say it was hell. It depends on you.
               You create the dream. The drug is not a dream-creating thing, the drug simply lowers your
           consciousness which does not allow dreaming. Sleep is needed for dreams. The more aware you are,
           the less possibility there is of dreaming. When you are perfectly aware dreams disappear. Then you
           don't create a dream; then you are simply face to face with that which is.
               When you are real you live in a real world. And what do I mean when I say'when you are real'? --
           I mean when you are aware. That's what Buddha's message is.

           the third question:


              DOES EDUCATION LEAD TO MEDITATION? PLEASE EXPLAIN EDUCATION AND RELIGION.


               Ordinarily that which is called education is almost against meditation. It should not be so but it is
           so. The original meaning of the word 'education' is not against meditation. The original meaning is:
           to draw out. To educate means to draw out; whatsoever is hidden in the individual has to be drawn
           out. The individual has to flower -- that is the original meaning of education.
               That is what meditation is too: you have to flower in your own being. You don't know what you
           are going to be, you don't know what flowers will come to you, what will be their color and what
           will be their perfume -- you don't know. You move into the unknown. You simply trust life-energy.
           It has given birth to you, it is your foundation, it is your being. You trust it. You know that you are a
           child of this universe, and this universe, if it has given birth to you, will take care too.
               When you trust yourself you trust the whole universe also. And this universe is beautiful. Just
           see... so many flowers are born in this universe; how can you mistrust it? Such tremendous beauty is
           all around; how can you mistrust it? Such grandeur, such grace, from a small dust particle to the
           stars; such symmetry, such harmony; how can you mistrust it?

              Basho has said, "If flowers are born out of this universe, then I trust it." Right? That is enough
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           logic, a great argument:"If this universe can give birth to so many beautiful flowers, if a rose is
           possible, I trust it. If a lotus is possible. I trust it."
                Education is a trust in yourself and in existence, allowing whatsoever is hidden in you
           unfoldment; bringing whatsoever is in, out.
                But that is not true of the so-called education that goes on in the world. Rather than bringing out,
           it forces things in. It simply pours in information. Again that word'information' is wrong; it should
           not be used -- it is'out-formation'.'Information' means: formation inside you. Something should grow
           in you -- then it is information. But nobody is bothered about you. The society is bothered about its
           own ideas, ideologies, prejudices, technology; they go on forcing you. Your head is used as a hollow
           place, so they have to provide the furniture. Ordinarily education, or whatsoever is available in the
           name of education, is nothing but stuffing your mind with knowledge -- because knowledge has
           some utility. Nobody is bothered about you, nobody is bothered about your destiny They need more
           doctors, they need more engineers, they need more generals, they need more technicians, plumbers,
           electricians. So they need them; they force you to become a plumber, or they force you to become a
           doctor, or they force you to become an engineer.
                I am not saying there is something wrong with being an engineer or a doctor, but there is
           certainly something wrong if it is forced from the outside. If somebody flowers into a doctor, then
           you will see a great healing happening around him. Then he will be a born healer. He will really be a
           physician, his touch will be golden. He is born to be that.
                But when it is forced from the outside and one takes it as a profession, because one has to live
           and one has to learn and earn one's living, one takes it over. Then one is crippled and crushed under
           the weight. One simply goes on dragging and dragging, and one day, dies. There has never been a
           moment of celebration in that life. Of course, he will leave much money for his children to become
           doctors in their own turn, to go to university, to the same university where he was destroyed. And his
           children will do the same to their children, and this is how things go on being transferred from one
           generation to another. No, I don't call this education. It is crime. It is really a miracle that in spite of
           this education sometimes a Buddha flowers in the world. It is a miracle. It is simply unbelievable
           how somebody can escape out of it: it is a methodology to kill you, it is arranged in such a way. And
           small children are caught in the mechanism of it, not knowing where they are going, not knowing
           what is being made of them. By the time they become aware, they are completely corrupted,
           destroyed. By the time they can think about what to do with their lives, they are almost incapable of
           moving in any other direction.
                By the time you are twenty-five or thirty, half the life is gone. Now to change seems to be too
           risky. You have become a doctor, your practice is going well; suddenly one day you realize that this
           is not the thing you were meant to be. This is not for you -- but now what to do? So go on pretending
           that you are a doctor. And if the doctor is not happy in being a doctor, he is not going to help any
           patient. He may drug the patient, he may give medicine, but he is not going to really be a healing
           force. When a doctor is really a doctor, a born doctor... and everybody is a born something. You may
           miss it, you may not even know it. Somebody is a born poet; and you cannot make a poet. There is
           no way to manufacture poets. Somebody is a born painter; you cannot manufacture painters.
                But things are very wrongly placed: the painter is working as a doctor, the doctor is working as a
           painter. The politician is there: maybe he could have been a good plumber but he has become a
           prime minister or a president. And the person who could have been a prime minister is a plumber.
                This is why in the world there is so much chaos: everybody is wrongly placed, nobody is exactly
           where he should be. Right education will exactly be a path to meditation. Wrong education is a
           barrier to meditation because wrong education teaches you things which don't fit with you. And
           unless something fits with you and you fit with it, you can never be healthy and whole. You will
           suffer.
                So ordinarily when an educated person becomes interested in meditation he has to unlearn
           whatsoever he has learned. He has to go back to his childhood again and start from there, from the
           ABC's That's why my insistence is for certain meditations in which you can again become a child.
                When you dance you are more like a child than like a grown-up person. That's why you don't see
           dignitaries coming to me and to my meditations. Somebody is a commissioner, a collector -- he
           cannot come, because he cannot dance. He is a commissioner, or he is a governor -- how can he
           dance with ordinary people?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But if you cannot dance, you may be a governor, but you are dead I If you cannot sing like a
           child. you are a burden on the earth. It is better if you commit suicide. At least you will vacate some
           space for somebody else to grow and flower. You are not going to flower; that is certain.
               Men who have some respectability become very stuck because they cannot do anything -- they
           cannot risk their respectability. They are afraid. They are not happy, they don't know what bliss is,
           they don't exactly know what being alive means -- but they are respectable. So they cling to their
           respectability, and then die. They never live; they die before they ever start living. They are many
           people who die before they have ever lived.
               My meditations are to bring you back to your childhood -- when you were not respectable, when
           you could do crazy things, when you were innocent, uncorrupted by the society, when you had not
           learned any tricks of the world, when you were other-worldly, unworldly. I would like you to go
           back to that point; from there, start again. And this is your life. Respectability or money are booby
           prizes, they are not real prizes. Don't be deceived by them.
               You cannot eat respectability, and you cannot eat money, and you cannot eat prestige. They are
           just games: meaningless, stupid, mediocre. if you are intelligent enough you will understand that you
           have to live your life and you are not to bother about other things. All other considerations are
           meaningless: it is your life. You have to live it authentically, lovingly, with great passion and with
           great compassion, with great energy. You have to become a tidal wave of bliss. Whatsoever is
           needed to do for it, do.
               Unlearning will be needed. Unlearning means that you stop those wrong routes, you stop moving
           in those wrong ways that the society has forced persuaded you, seduced you to go in. You take
           charge of your own life; you become your own master.
               That is the meaning of sannyas. That's why I call sannyasins SWAMI. 'SWAMI' means: one who
           has become a master of his own life. It has nothing to do with orthodox SWAMIS; they are not
           masters of their own lives. They are again on the same train, with the same society, with the same
           stupid power, prestige, politics.
               A real sannyasin is one who does not care about others' opinions, who has decided to live his life
           as he wants to live it. I don't mean for you to be irresponsible. When you start living your life
           responsibly, you not only care about yourself, you care about others also -- but in a totally different
           way.
               Now you will take every care that you don't interfere in anybody else's life -- this is what
           responsibility is. You don't allow anybody to interfere in your life, and naturally, you will not
           interfere in anybody's life. You don't want anybody to guide your life, you don't want your life to be
           a guided tow. A guided tour is not a tour at all. You want to explore on your own. You want to move
           in the forest without any map, so that you can also be a discoverer, so that you can also come to
           some fresh spots for the first time.
               If you carry a map you always come to the spot where many have come before. It is never new, it
           is never original, it is never virgin. It is already contaminated, corrupted. Many have moved on it: a
           map even exists.
               When I was a child, in the temple that my parents used to visit, I was surprised: there were maps
           of heaven and hell and MOKSHA. One day I told my father, "If maps exist about MOKSHA, then I
           am not interested in it."
               He said, "Why?" I said, "If maps exist, then it is already rotten. Many people have reached there,
           even map-makers have reached there. Everything is measured, and they know every spot, named and
           labelled. This seems to be just an extension of the same old world. It is nothing new. I would like to
           move in a world which has no map. I would like to be an explorer." That day I stopped going into the
           temple.
           My father asked me, "Why don't you come now?"
               I said, "You remove those maps. I cannot tolerate those maps there. They are very offensive. Just
           think about it: even MOKSHA IS measured? Then is there nothing immeasurable!"
               And all the Buddhas have said that truth is immeasurable; all the Buddhas have said that truth is
           not only unknown, it is unknowable. It is an uncharted sea: you take your small boat and you go into
           the uncharted sea. You take the adventure. It is risky, it is dangerous. But in risk and danger the soul
           flowers, becomes integrated.
               To me, if education is right it will be just a part of meditation; meditation will be the last point in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it. If education is right, then universities should not be against the universe. They should be just
           training-places, jumping-boards into the universe. If education is right, then it will not be concerned
           about money, and it will not be concerned about power and prestige. Then it will not be political at
           all.
                If education is right it will be concerned about your bliss, your happiness, music, love, poetry,
           dance. It will teach you how to unfold. It will not go on simply throwing information into your head.
           It will help you to come out of your being, to flower, to grow, to spread, to expand. It will be a
           totally different education.
                And naturally if education becomes involved with meditation it becomes religious. I don't call an
           education religious because it teaches the dogma of Christianity, or it teaches Hinduism. It is not
           religious. Education is religious if it makes you courageous enough to accept yourself, and live your
           life, and become an offering to God in your own way, in your own unique way.

           the fourth question:


              PLEASE, OSHO, CAN YOU ALSO TELL US LITTLE ANECDOTES ON SANNYASIN ENERGY
              GREED AS YOU DO ON JEWISH MONEY GREED?


               All greed is Jewish. 'Jew' is not the name of a certain race. No, anybody who is greedy is a Jew.
           And greed has nothing to do with money. Money is only one object of greed; anything can become
           the object.
               KUNDALINI can become the object of greed; spiritual energy, psychic powers NIRVANA,
           enlightenment, can become the object of greed... but then you are a Jew.
               Remember, 'Jew' is just a symbolic word: it represents greed. And there is no need to have new
           anecdotes. The old ones are perfectly good, and they will do.
               Now that you have asked the question, you have tempted

               The new minister caught his parishioner coming out of the Ideal tavern. "I am sorry," he said, "to
           see you coming out of such a place. My son, drink is of the devil. When the devil asks you to join
           him, why do you not refuse?"
               "I would, Reverend," said the man."But he might get sore and not ask me again."

               You have tempted me, so I will tell you a few anecdotes. You may not ask again. And remember,
           these Jewish anecdotes that I am going to tell you have nothing to do with Jews, they have
           something to do with your inner greed. By changing the object, nothing is changed. So the question
           is not of changing the objects, the question is of understanding the misery that greed brings. Once
           you understand it, greed is dropped.

               The man walking along Broadway was confronted by the business-girl whispering, "Love for
           sale."
           He said, "Sure, if you could do it the Jewish way."
               She said, "If you teach me to do it the Jewish way, I will give it to you for half price."
           He said, "That is the Jewish way."

              Old man Feinstein's relatives gathered for the reading of his will after his death.
              "Being of sound mind," read his lawyer, "I spent every last cent before I died."

               "Being of sound mind I spent every last cent before I died." People really live in a very
           self-centered world. Naturally, if they become miserable, nobody is at fault except themselves --
           because all great happenings in life happen when you are not a self, when you are not greedy, when
           you are ready to share.
               Love happens when you are ready to share with another human being. Prayer happens when you
           are ready to share with God. Meditation happens when you are ready to share with existence. Beauty
           happens when you are ready to share with a flower, or with a star, or with a bird on the wing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Whenever you share, there is beauty, there is truth, there is happiness. Whenever you hoard,
           whenever you live only for yourself, you don't really live. To live for oneself is to live in a grave. If
           you really want to live, start sharing more and more, be less greedy. And more and more life will
           hap9en to you. It is a great sharing. If you inhale and you just close your mouth and your nose, afraid
           that if you exhale the air will go out, will no longer be yours; if you become a hoarder of air, you
           will die. But you take it in, it goes out; you take it in, it goes out: just like in-breathing and
           out-breathing is the whole rhythm of life.

                One old Jew had to have open heart surgery. He called the medical society and asked for the best
           doctor in New York for this operation. They recommended the country's most famous surgeon, and
           old man Finkelstein went right to his office and arranged to have the operation. The operation was a
           complete success and the old Jew made a quick recovery.
                After he was home from the hospital, he received a bill from the doctor for fifteen hundred
           dollars. He called the doctor and asked to see him.
                Finkelstein looked at the doctor and said, "Doctor, I am an old man. For me to give you fifteen
           hundred dollars would mean spending almost all of my life's savings."
                The doctor said, "All right. I normally get fifteen hundred dollars for this operation, but under the
           circumstances I will take seven hundred and fifty dollars."
                Finkelstein looked very sad. He replied, "Doctor, seven hundred and fifty dollars is still a lot of
           money to an old man like me. After all, I don't work anymore, and it would take me a long time to
           save that much money again."
                The doctor, completely frustrated, answered, "Okay. How about two hundred dollars?"
                The old Jew said, "Two hundred dollars I know does not sound like much to you, but to me it is
           still a million dollars."
                The doctor, completely annoyed, looked at the old man and said, "You win! I won't charge you a
           thing for this operation. It is on the house. There is only one thing I would like to know: before you
           came to me you knew I was one of the most expensive surgeons in the the United States. So why did
           you come?"
                Finkelstein replied, "When it comes to my health, money is no object."

                The mind that is full of greed, the mind that is constantly obsessed with money, is already in hell.
           It is already out of paradise -- because paradise is there when you are simply not clinging to anything
           whatsoever. An unclinging state of mind is paradise.
                Ordinarily we go on clinging. You leave the world; then you start clinging to something
           other-worldly. You drop out of the rat-race for money, then you start another race for spirituality,
           psychic powers, NIRVANA. But you remain the same: the same competitive mind, the same
           ambition to be ahead of all others.
                To accept yourself wherever. you are.... And don't think in terms of competition! You need not
           be anywhere else. Wherever you are, if you can be happy there, you have become religious, you
           have become spiritual. Spirituality knows no competition, spirituality knows no greed, spirituality
           knows no ambition -- because spirituality means desirelessness.
                But people go on changing from one side to another side, from one extreme to the other. That's
           why Buddha insists so much on being in the middle. You can drop all your money, you can dispense
           with your bank balance, you can renounce the world, but then you will start hoarding some subtle
           money, some subtle currency of virtue, PUNYA. YOU will start collecting: "How many fasts have I
           done, and how many good deeds have I done?" You will keep an account to show to God: "These
           good things I have done: now what is my award?"
                To think in terms of award and result is to think in terms of greed. To think in terms of joy, to be
           joyful herenow, whatsoever you are doing, and never be bothered about the result of it, is to be out
           of greed. Then you can live in a palace and you can be surrounded with all the riches possible -- and
           still you will not be greedy. Or you can renounce the world and live in a cave in the Himalayas, but
           if you are still ambitious, desirous, then you are greedy and you are worldly.
           To be desireless is to be other-worldly.

           The last anecdote:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Harry and Tilly were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary and invited their three sons,
           their wives and grand-children, to join them for a party.
               The oldest son stood up and proposed a toast to his parents. He said, "Mom and Dad, I want you
           to know that no matter what I could think of to give you as a gift, I really could not think of anything
           good enough to give parents as wonderful as you."
               The middle son stood up and said, "Mom and Dad, I hope you understand why I didn't bring you
           a present to celebrate this occasion. But I am sure you understand that we are in the midst of
           refurnishing our new summer home and we just could not find the time."
               The third son, smiling, said, "Mom and Dad, I am sure you know how much I love you. Bringing
           you a present would not show you how sincere I am in my emotions."
               The father then stood up, turned to his sons, and said, "My dear children, now that Mother and I
           have celebrated fifty years of living together, I feel it is time to tell you something. You know, when
           Mother and I met I was poor, she was poor, I did not have a job, we didn't even know where our next
           meal was coming from. Would you believe it? We didn't even have enough money to buy a marriage
           licence."
               The eldest son stood up, enraged, and asked, "Are you trying to tell us that we are bastards?"
               The father smiled and answered, "Yes, and cheap ones too!"

                In the ordinary world all of our relationships are money relationships. All relationships are
           money relationships: some power trip, some money trip, domination, ego. But if all your
           relationships are just money trips, trips of greed, then you don't know how to relate. And if you don't
           know how to relate you can never be fulfilled. Because it is in deep relationship that fulfillment
           arises.
                There is a very ancient saying in Tibet: Whenever God gives you something, He never gives to
           you, He gives through you.
                I have meditated on that saying for long: it is really of tremendous significance. When God gives
           something to you, He never gives to you, He gives through you. He gives to you, but His way is to
           give through you.
                So if you are not sharing, you will start missing the gifts from God. If you are sharing, if you are
           non-greedy, if you simply go on sharing whatsoever you have -- like a flower shares its fragrance,
           you go on sharing; like the cloud shares its rainwater with the earth, you go on sharing; like the sun
           shares its rays with all the trees, and all the human beings, and all the animals, you go on sharing
           whatsoever happens to you -- you grow, more starts coming from you.
                The more you give, the more you get -- because God gives through you, He never gives to you.
           You simply function as a passage. If you stop giving, your passage shrinks and closes. When your
           passage is closed nothing can enter into you.
                It is almost like when you dig a well: if you go on drawing water out of it, fresh water goes on
           welling up in it. The well is supplied from many fountains deep in the earth, fresh water goes on
           coming. If you stop drawing water, become greedy, start thinking in terms of miserliness: "If I go on
           taking water, one day the water may disappear and there may be no water in the well. Then what am
           I going to do?" So you cover your well, you stop taking water from it. Even if you need it for
           yourself, you go to the river, or you go to the public place and you get your water from there. And
           you keep your well completely closed. What will happen to your well? Do you know? No fresh
           water will ever come to it now -- because for fresh water to come in, a space is needed. The old is
           filling the space, the new cannot come. And the old will become by and by stagnant, dead, and will
           start stinking. It will not then be possible for you to drink of it. It can become poisonous.
                Stale water always becomes poisonous. It is better, if you are wise, that you will not only draw
           water for yourself, you will invite your neighbors to draw water from your well. And you will feel
           thankful that they drew water from your well because the fresh will be coming more and more. The
           more you draw, the more fresh water is available.
                And the same is true about your innermost world: you are a well, and your fountains are
           connected with the divine, with the center of existence.
                Share... and more will come to you. If you can share totally, not holding anything, the total will
           come to you. The coming from God will be exactly in the same proportion as you have given to
           others.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A sannyasin is one who has dropped desiring and has started sharing. A sannyasin cannot be a
           Jew; and if a Jew is a sannyasin then he will have to choose either to remain a Jew or to become a
           sannyasin. It is not possible for you to be both, you cannot be both together.
           The Jew has to disappear for the sannyasin to be.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                   Chapter #7
                                   Chapter title: The ten grounds of the way
           6 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611060
              ShortTitle: TRANS407
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              THE BUDDHA ASKED A MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S LIFE?
              THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY DAYS."
              THE BUDDHA SAID: YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WAY.
              THE BUDDHA ASKED ANOTHER MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S
              LIFE?
              THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY THE TIME THAT PASSES DURING A MEAL."
              THE BUDDHA SAID: YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WAY.
              THE BUDDHA ASKED A THIRD MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S
              LIFE?
              THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY THE BREATH."
              THE BUDDHA SAID: VERY WELL, YOU KNOW THE WAY.

              THE BUDDHA ASKED A MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN S LIFE?
              THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY DAYS."


               VERY SIMPLE QUESTION, and a very simple answer. But much is implied in the question.
           And the answer also shows much about the monk -- his understanding, his state of mind.
               When Buddha asks, "How do you measure the length of a man's life?" he is raising a question
           that can only be answered by depth. Man's life can be measured only by depth. It looks paradoxical:
           length can be measured only by depth.
               In fact, the deeper you live, the longer you live. The length of your life depends on your depth.
           The quantity of your life depends on your quality. The monk could not understand it. He simply said,
           "By days." His simple answer also showed much about himself. 'By days' means by time; 'by days'
           means by the fleeting; 'by days' means by the flux, the changing. He measures life by the momentary,
           not by the eternal, not by the timeless.
               Life exists in time, but life does not belong to time. It penetrates time, and one day it disappears
           from time. It is just like when a ray of sun penetrates water, and when it penetrates the water its
           angle changes. That's why if you put a straight stick into water it will look curved. It will not look
           straight because the angle of light changes. And when the ray of light enters into the medium of
           water, it does not belong there, it has come from beyond. It will go back, it will be reflected back --
           because everything returns to its source, HAS to return to its source. Only then is the circle
           complete, and there is contentment.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When Buddha asked: How do you measure the length of a man's life? and the monk replied, "By
           days," he showed his understanding. He does not know anything beyond time; he thinks life is just
           that which consists of time: being born, getting married, living, then old age, then death. Days go on
           flicking by, just like numbers on a gasoline pump.
                But this is not life; this is just the very periphery. Have you observed that if you look inside, time
           exists not? If you look outside there is time, but if you look inside there is no time. Have you not felt
           it sometimes, sitting silently with closed eyes -- that inside you have not aged at all? Inside you
           remain the same as when you were a child, or as when you were young. Inside nothing has changed:
           the face is wrinkled by age, the hairs have gone gray, death is approaching -- this is all from the
           outside. If you look in the mirror then of course there are signs that much time has passed, that very
           little is left, that sooner or later you will be gone. But look within: there has never been any time
           there. You are exactly the same as you ever were when you were running in a garden or on the
           sea-beach and collecting colored stones and seashells. Just remember....
                Inside you are exactly the same this moment too. Time is a fallacy as far as the inner world is
           concerned, because in the inner world nothing ever changes. It remains the same, its taste remains
           the same.
                In the inner world time is simply irrelevant. And life is in the inner. It expresses itself in the
           outside, but it does not belong to the outside. It wells up from your within. It moves outwards like
           ripples, it pulsates outwards, but it arises from your innermost core.
                When Buddha was asking: How do you measure the life of a man? in a very simple question he
           was asking a very complicated philosophical question too. And the monk was deceived. The monk
           said, "By days." But there is no day, no night. Time is a utilitarian concept, it is needed outside.
           When you are alone time is not needed. It is a relationship between you and others; it is a relative
           concept. Try to find out, and you will be surprised that believing in time you have been believing in
           an illusion -- because that which does not correspond to your inner reality cannot be real.
                It is just like money: if you go to the market, it has value. If you simply sit alone with your
           money, it has no value. The value comes only when you relate with others, because the value is just
           an agreement between you and the others. That's why money has a beautiful name: it is called
           currency.'Currency' means: when money moves it has value; when it does not move it has no value.
           If you go on keeping it in your pocket always and always, it is meaningless. You can keep anything
           else instead of it; it will be the same.
                Money has value when it changes hands. From one hand to another -- then there is value. Value
           is in its being a currency, a moving force. When it moves from you to somebody else it has value.
           Again, if it is stuck there it loses value. That's why miserly people are the poorest in the world: they
           have money but they don't know that money has value only when it is a currency. You can hide it in
           your treasure chest; you will remain poor.
                Time is also a currency between two people, between relationships, between societies. But in the
           inner world, when you are alone, it is simply meaningless.
                All the concepts of time, if looked at deeply, look very stupid. But people don't look deeply into
           things because to look deeply creates anxiety. Then you become very anxious. Then settled things
           are unsettled, and whenever something is unsettled one feels anxious. One wants to be settled again.
                People say time passes. But where does it pass to? From where does it come? You say it comes
           from the future and goes into the past? That means the future exists before it has become present?
           Otherwise, from where is it coming -- from nowhere? from nothingness? And then you say it goes
           into the past? That means it goes on collecting in the past, it is still there? It still exists? Then what is
           the difference between present, past, and future, if they all exist2 Then they are all present. Then
           there is no past and no future.
                You say a moment that has passed is past, and a moment that has yet to come is future. You
           stand on a road, you have walked two miles; that has passed. But those two miles exist; you can look
           back, those two miles are still there. And if you want to go back you can go back. But can you go
           back in time?
                Look back -- nothing exists. Except for this present moment, on both sides there is simply
           smoke, and nothing. The past simply disappears, and the future appears out of nothing. And then a
           problem arises: if in the beginning there is nothing, and in the end again there is nothing, how can
           there be something between two nothings? It is impossible.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Time is not a valid concept at all. It is just utilitarian. It is accepted, it has utility. Every morning
           you come at eight o'clock; if there were no time it would be difficult. When would you come? How
           would you manage? And how would there be a possibility of me meeting you? It would become
           difficult. But remember it is just an agreement, it is not truth.
               Truth is timeless. Time is a human invention, truth is eternal. In fact, time does not pass, we pass.
           We come and go; time remains. Then time is not time; then it is eternity.
               Buddha was asking all these things in a simple question. The monk said, "By days." Buddha
           said: You do not understand the Way.
               The man's understanding was very superficial. We_ can call it the understanding on the level of
           the body. Of course, the body has a clock in it. Now the scientists call it the biological clock'. That's
           why if you eat every day at one o'clock, your lunch time, then every day at one o'clock the body will
           say you are hungry. The body has a clock. You need not actually look at the clock. If you listen to
           your body, the body will tell you, "Now it is time to sleep because every day you go to sleep at this
           time."
               And you can even put an alarm in your body-clock. When you are going to sleep you can repeat
           your own name loudly, three times. If your name is Ram, Vou can say, "Ram, listen. I have to get up
           at five o'clock. Help me." Talk to your body and go to sleep, and exactly at five o'clock your body
           will wake you. The body has a clock. That's why every month, after exactly four weeks, twenty-eight
           days, the monthly period comes to a woman. The body manages very exactly unless something has
           gone wrong with the body -- the woman may have disturbances. Otherwise, it is exactly twenty-eight
           days. If the clock is functioning well there will never be any problem: twenty-eight days means
           twenty-eight days. After nine months the body is ready to give birth to a child, EXACTLY after nine
           months. If the woman is healthy and there is no complication in her body, it will happen exactly at
           the moment nine months are complete. The body carries a clock and functions perfectly well.
               The body, of course, is measured by days. And the body shows every sign of passing time.
           Young, old: you can see it on the body. The body carries the whole biography.
               This man's understanding was very physical, very superficial.

               THE BUDDHA ASKED ANOTHER MONK. HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S
               LIFE?
               THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY THE TIME THAT PASSES DURING A MEAL."


               His understanding goes a little deeper. He is less physical and more psychological. To enjoy a
           meal you need a mind, to indulge you need a mind, to be sensual you need a mind. This man's
           understanding was a little deeper. What was he saying? He was saying that a man's life is measured
           by the pleasures, indulgences, sensuality, experiences that he has gathered in his life. The man is
           saying, "How long you live is not the point, but how much you enjoy the pleasures of life."
               There is a story about Nero, the Roman emperor. He must have been of the exact same type as
           this second monk. He always had two physicians with him. He would eat, and the physicians would
           help him to vomit. Then he would eat again. You cannot go on eating; there is a limit. So when he
           would feel that now the stomach was full, he would order the physician to help him vomit; then he
           could eat again. He would eat ten, twelve times a day.
               And don't think that this is very far-fetched: I have come across a few people who do it.
               There was one sannyasin: she told me this after she had been here for at least two years. She said,
           "I am ashamed, but I have to tell you that every day, when I eat, I vomit immediately." I said,
           "Why?" She said, "So that I can eat more. But then I vomit again."
               Now vomiting has become a habit. Now she cannot resist; when she eats she has to vomit. It has
           become a mechanical habit. It took almost six months to break her habit.
               Nero must have done it. Ordinarily, you may not be vomting but you can go on eating too much.
           There are people who live to eat. It is good to eat, it is good to eat to live, but once you start living
           for eating then you are in a very confused state. Eating is a means, not the end.
               This monk says, "By the time that passes during a meal."
               He must have been a glutton. He must have understood only one language, and that is of taste.
           He must have been a food addict. He says that if we count real life, then real life means those
           moments in which we are enjoying, indulging. It may be food, it may be sex, or other gratifications.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Many people are of that type. Their philosophy seems to be: Eat, drink, be merry -- and there is
           nothing else in life.
               There has been a great philosopher in India, Charvak. This was his message to his disciples:
           "Eat, drink, and be merry. And don't bother about the other life, and the soul, and God. This is all
           nonsense. These are just theories invented by the priests to exploit you." He was the first Marxist.
           Marx came three thousand years later; he was the first Marxist, communist.
               But if life is just eating, drinking, indulging, then it cannot have any meaning. That's why in the
           west a new problem has become very, very important, and the problem is: what is the meaning of
           life? All intelligent people are asking that in the west. Why? Nobody asks it in the east; but in the
           west the problem has become almost epidemic. It is no longer academic; everybody is asking what
           the meaning of life is. And they are asking at the wrong time -- when they have enough to eat,
           enough to drink, and enough to be merry. Why are they asking this question?
               In fact, when you have all that this world can give to you, then arises the question, "What is the
           meaning of it?" Yesterday you ate, today you are eating, tomorrow also you will eat -- so what is the
           point? Eating and defecating: on the one hand you go on stuffing yourself, on the other hand you go
           on emptying yourself. Is this your whole life? And in between there is a little taste on the tongue....
               It seems absurd. The effort seems to be too much, and the result seems to be nothing, almost
           nothing.
               Man needs to have a meaning, but the meaning can come only from the higher. The meaning
           always comes from the beyond. Unless you feel related to something higher, you feel meaningless.
           Because Nietzsche said, "God is dead," he opened the door for many ugly phenomena. For example,
           nazism, fascism, communism, became possible. Because once there is no God, that door is closed
           from where man has always felt meaning in his life.
               Meaning arises when you feel that you are part of a divine plan and you feel that you are part of a
           divine flow. When you feel that you are part of a great whole, then you have meaning. A brick in
           itself has no meaning, but when it becomes part of a great palace, part of the Taj Mahal, it has
           meaning. It has contributed something to the beauty of the Taj Mahal; it is not futile, it is significant.
               When God is not there man starts finding new meaning to his life: become part of a party -- the
           great Communist Party, or the great Fascist Party. Become part... then Stalin and Adolf Hitler
           become gods. Then you join hands with them so that you can feel a little meaning -- that you are not
           alone, that you are not just accidental, that you have some mission to fulfill. Maybe you are here to
           bring communism to the world, a classless society to the world; or you are here to bring the kingdom
           of the Aryans. Then one becomes part of a Hindu religion, Christian, Mohammedan. One finds some
           way, somewhere, to become part of something. And people go to foolish lengths: people become
           Rotarians and Lions just to have a feeling that they are part of an international organization. You are
           somehow chosen, you are a Rotarian; everybody cannot be a Rotarian. Only very few people can be
           Rotarians, but you are a Rotarian. So you have a meaning, but what a foolish meaning! What does it
           matter whether you are a Rotarian or not? It really does not bring meaning to your life, it simply
           deceives you.
               You can eat well, you can live well, you can have all the pleasures of life -- still you will remain
           empty. This man, the second monk, said that life is to be measured by pleasure, by indulgence, by
           sensuality. But Buddha said: You do not understand the Way -- because the Way cannot be
           understood by the body-oriented mind, and the Way cannot-be understood by the mind-oriented
           mind. Neither can it be understood through time, nor can it be understood through experience.
           The Way is beyond time and beyond experience.

              THE BUDDHA ASKED A THIRD MONK. HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S
              LIFE?
              THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY THE BREATH."
              THE BUDDHA SAID: VERY WELL, YOU KNOW THE WAY.


               Now, in an English translation, saying 'by breath' does not seem to be so significant as it
           appeared to Buddha when the monk said, "By PRANA." 'Breath' is a translation of 'PRANA', but
           PRANA IS much more meaningful than breath. The actual translation, closer to truth, would be
           'spirit', not 'breath'. And the word 'spirit' exists in such words as inspiration', 'expiration'. 'Spirit'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           seems to be closer to home, but still not exactly true. So let me first explain to you what PRANA IS;
           then you will be able to understand. Otherwise it looks a little absurd: the man says, "By breath," and
           Buddha says: Very well, you know the Way. The man just says, "By breath."
                The first thing: if you look at yourself you will find there is the body; the first circle around you,
           your outermost circle. Then there is your mind: the second circle within the first circle. And then you
           will come to a bridge: that bridge is your breath, PRANA. By that bridge you are joined with the
           soul. That's why when a person stops breathing we say he is dead, the bridge is broken. Now the soul
           is separate and the body is separate. When a child is born the first thing he is expected to do is to
           breathe. Through breath the soul and body become joined together. And again, the last thing he will
           do when he dies will be to stop breathing. Again there will be a divorce; the body and soul will be
           separate.
                PRANA IS the bridge, the glue by which you are glued together. A man can live without food for
           many days; you can live without water for many hours; but without breath you cannot live even for
           many minutes. Even seconds will seem difficult.
                Breath is the bridge between matter and no-matter, between the form and the formless, between
           the world and God -- or whatsoever terms you choose. Breath is the bridge, and much depends on the
           breath. How you breathe, what the quality of your PRANA IS: much depends on it.
                Watch... when you are angry you breathe in one way, when you are silent you breathe in another
           way. The pulse is different, the rhythm is different, the quality is different. When you are angry your
           breath is not rhythmic, not musical, not harmonious. It is bumpy. When you are in a passion, in
           sexual passion, again the breath is feverish. It is not in tune; something goes wrong with breathing.
           When you are sitting silently, just being peaceful, not doing anything -- no desire, no passion, no
           anger -- just full of compassion, full of love, your breathing is very soft. Your breathing has a rhythm
           to it, a dance to it. It has no violence, no aggression; it is very delicate.
                Have you watched it? -- when you are in passion your breath will have a very bad odor to it;
           when you are peaceful your breath will have a very sweet smell to it. Because you are at ease, the
           whole being is at ease, you are at home; the breathing will carry the message that you are at home.
                There are moments of deep meditation when breathing almost stops. I say almost; it does not
           stop really. But it becomes so silent that you cannot feel it. You can feel it only if you put a mirror
           close to your nose. Then on the mirror you can feel it; otherwise you cannot feel it. Those are rare
           moments of blessing and benediction.
                All the Yoga systems of the world have worked on breathing, because it is through the breathing
           that you will pass from the body to no-body. It is through breathing that you will enter into the
           innermost core of your existence.
                The monk is right when he says, "A man's life is to be measured by the way he breathes, by how
           he breathes." If you are afraid, your breathing is different; you are nervous, your breathing is
           different; you are sad, your breathing is different. With every mood your breathing changes. The
           breathing goes on showing where you are. If you can watch your breathing, you will learn the whole
           alphabet of your inner changing climates. You can see all the moods reflected in the breathing.
           Breathing is a great way to measure where you are, what you are, what you are doing. Buddha
           emphasized breathing very much. And his emphasis is unique: it is very different from Patanjali, it is
           very different from Hatha Yoga, it is very different from other systems, all other systems. He says:
           Don't use any system for breathing, because if you do something with breathing, you will create
           something artificial. Let breathing be natural -- you simply watch it. You don't do anything to it, you
           simply be a witness, you simply look at it.
                Now, if you watch breathing. by and by you will see that you are different from breathing.
           Certainly -- because the watcher cannot be the watched, the subject cannot be the object, the
           observer cannot be the observed.
                When you start watching your breathing -- and Buddha says to continuously do it: walking,
           sitting, whenever you are not doing anything else, just watch your breathing, go on seeing it -- by
           seeing it, a great serenity will arise in you. Because you will be standing behind breathing, and
           behind the breathing is your soul; you will be centered in your soul.
                And if you watch breathing, you will learn: subtle changes in breathing show where you are, and
           breathing continuously functions as a measuring-rod. A slight change in breathing will be noted
           when awareness is full. And you can drop then and there: you can become more alert. If you feel
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your breathing is wavering a little, and you feel that this wavering is the wavering that comes when
           sex takes possession, then it is the moment to become more aware. And if the wavering breathing
           settles again, you have passed. That desire that was going to possess you will not be able to possess
           you. By and by, you become aware of what type of changes happen in breathing when you become
           angry. They are so subtle that if you can become aware when the breathing changes slightly they can
           be dropped from there -- because they are right in the seed and the seed can be dropped easily. When
           they become big trees it is very difficult to drop them. You become aware of anger only when it has
           already possessed you. Your diagnosis is too late.
               In Soviet Russia they have developed a new photography; they call it Kirlian. And now Kirlian
           photographers say that we can catch hold of a disease six months before it really happens to the
           person. And if it can be done, then there will be no need for anybody to be ill. The person himself is
           not aware that he will be falling a victim of tuberculosis in six months. How can you be aware of
           that? But before it enters into the body, first it enters PRANA. Before it enters the body, first it
           enters your energy. They call it 'bioplasma' in Russia; it is exactly what we mean by PRANA --
           bioplasma: your vitality, your body electricity.
               First it enters into the body electricity, and then it takes six months to be transformed into a
           physical phenomenon. Then it becomes solid in the body. Then it is already too late. When you start
           treating it, it is already too late. If you could have caught it when it was in the bioplasma, you could
           have destroyed it very, very easily. There would have been no problem in it. And the body would
           never have suffered, the body would not even have known about it.
               Buddha says that anything that enters into the bioplasma first happens in your breathing.
           Anything that happens to your body, to your mind, first happens to your breathing. Maybe some day
           Kirlian photographers will be able to re-discover the fact that there is a certain association between
           the pulse of bioplasma and breathing. It has to be so -- because when you breathe deeply you have a
           bigger aura. That has been photographed. When you breathe deeply you have more oxygen and more
           flowing energy, and your body has a bigger aura, more luminosity to it. When you breathe in a dull
           way, the whole of your lungs are not full of oxygen and you go on carrying much stale carbon
           dioxide; then your aura shrinks and becomes very small.
               A really alive person has a very big aura, so big that when he comes close to you his aura touches
           your aura. And you will feel it: there are people with whom you will suddenly feel that you are
           attracted, pulled. They are irresistable, you would like to come close to them, closer and closer. Their
           aura has touched your aura.
               Then there are people whose auras are almost dead, whose auras do not exist at all. They repel,
           they don't attract. They are like dead people; nobody feels attracted towards them.
           Buddha says: Watch, become aware of your breathing.
               His Yoga is called ANAPANASATI YOGA -- the Yoga of watching the breath coming in and
           watching the breath going out. He says: This is enough. So when the monk said, "By the breath,"
           Buddha said: Very well, you know the Way.
               The Buddha's Way has ten grounds called BHUMIS. BHUMI means ground. Buddha has said
           that if you understand these ten grounds, and if you practice these ten grounds, you will attain to the
           ultimate. And I would like to go into these ten BHUMIS, these ten grounds. They are very practical.
               The first BHUMI IS PRAMU-GITA: it means joyousness. Now, you will be surprised. People
           have a misunderstanding about Buddha and his teaching -- they think that he is a very sad,
           pessimistic thinker. He is not. His first grounding is joyousness. He says: Unless you are joyous you
           will never reach to the truth. Joyousness, delight, celebration; that is the meaning of PRAMU-GITA.
               Be like a flower -- open, dancing in the breeze, and joyous. Only joy can take you to the other
           shore. If you are not joyous, your very sadness will function like a rock around your neck and will
           drown you. People are not drowned by anything else but their own sadness and pessimistic outlooks.
           Life has to be joyous; then life becomes spiritual.
               If your church is sad, then that church exists for death, not for life. A church, a temple, has to be
           joyous. If you come to a saint and he has no sense of humor, escape from him, beware. He can kill
           you, he will prove poisonous. If he cannot laugh, then you can be certain that he does not know what
           truth is. Truth brings a sense of humor; truth brings laughter; truth brings a subtle happiness, for no
           reason at all.
               PRAMU-GITA means: joyous for no reason at all. You are sometimes joyous, but that is not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           PRAMU-GITA -- because it has a reason. Some day you have won the race and you are very happy.
           What will you do? It is not going to happen every day. What are you going to do tomorrow? Or you
           have won a lottery and you are very happy, but this is not going to happen every day.

              One day I saw Mulla Nasrudin very sad, sitting on his verandah. I asked, "What is the matter
           Nasrudin? Why are you so sad?"
              He said, "Two weeks ago one of my uncles died and left me fifty thousand rupees."
              So I said, "This is nothing to be sad about. You should be happy."
              He said, "Yes, I was. And then the next week another uncle died and left me one LAKH of
           rupees."
              So I said, "Why are you sad? You should be dancing!"
           He said, "I know. But now... no more uncles left."

           It cannot happen every day; uncles cannot die....
                Your joyousness, if it is caused, is bound to turn into unhappiness sooner or later. It is on the way
           already; watch out. If you have a cause to be happy you are already getting into unhappiness --
           because the cause will disappear. Only uncaused joyousness can be yours; and then nobody can take
           it away.
                Only saints and madmen are joyous for no reason at all. That's why there is a similarity between
           mad people and saints, a little similarity, an overlapping. Their boundaries overlap. Both are very
           different: the saint is aware, the madman is absolutely unaware. But one thing is certain: both are
           happy for no reason at all.
                The madman is happy because he is so unaware that he does not know how to be unhappy; he is
           so unconscious that he cannot create misery. To create misery you need a little consciousness. And
           the saint is happy because he is so fully aware; how can he create misery? When you are fully aware
           you create happiness for yourself, you become a source of your happiness.
                That's what Buddha means by PRAMU-GITA, and he says this is the first ground.
                The second ground is VIMAL. It means innocence, purity, simplicity.
                Innocence... remember the word. If you become too knowledgeable, you lose innocence. If you
           become a pundit you lose innocence. So don't go on gathering beliefs and knowledge, otherwise your
           innocence will be corrupted. If you don't know, you don't know. Simply say, "I don't know." Accept
           your ignorance and you will be more innocent. And out of innocence, much happens. Never lose
           your childlike-ness. I don't mean that you should be childish. To be childish and to be childlike are
           totally different. To be childish means to be irresponsible; to be childlike means to be simple,
           innocent, trusting.
                The third ground is PRABHAKHARI. It means luminousness, light.
                Feel yourself as a flame, live as if you are an inner burning light, move with the inner flame. Do
           whatsoever you do, but always feel yourself as if you are made out of light. And by and by you will
           see a luminousness arising around you.
                It is already there! If you help, it will arise -- and you will have an aura.
                Now Kirlian photographers can even take photographs of it. It is now very tangible.
                Man is made of bio-electricity; everything is made of electricity. Electricity seems to be the basic
           component of all. Ask the physicists: they say matter consists of nothing but electricity. So
           everything is nothing but different formulations and combinations of energy. And Buddha says: Man
           is light. Light means electricity.
                You have just to recognize the fact, you have just to cooperate with it, and you will become a
           great light -- not only unto yourself; you will become a light to others too. And wherever you walk
           there will be light.
           This is PRABHAKHARI. the third grounding.

              The fourth grounding is ARSIMATI: radiance, aliveness, vitality.
              The religious seeker should not be dull and dead. But ordinarily you will find these people.
           That's why I am interested in telling you about these groundings -- even Buddhists have forgotten.
              If you see a Buddhist monk, you will see a pale, dead, dull person, sleepy, in a stupor, somehow
           dragging, somehow carrying the burden of life, not interested. Buddha says: Radiance, aliveness,
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           vitality; this is the fourth grounding. Be alive because it is only on the wings of life that you will
           reach to truth. If you are dull you are lost.
                And be radiant -- because when there is no anxiety for the future and no desire for the future,
           then the whole energy is available to you. Then you can burn your torch from both ends at once.
                The      fifth    is     SUDURJAYA.             It      means     adventurousness,         courageousness,
           challenge-welcomingness. Whenever there is a challenge, welcome it, don't avoid it. And whenever
           there is an adventure, don't escape. Go on the journey, go on the trip.
                Nobody ever loses anything by being adventurous. I am not saying that the path of adventure is
           full of roses -- it is not. Roses are few and far between, and there are many thorns. But one grows,
           one becomes crystallized when one accepts a life of adventure.
                Ordinarily people accept the life of security, of no adventure: a good job, a good house, a good
           wife, a good husband and good children -- and people are satisfied. People are satisfied in living and
           dying comfortably. as if comfort is the goal.
                Then they never grow, then they never achieve to any peaks, then they never achieve to what
           Maslow calls 'actualization'. They remain just possibilities. It is as if a seed has chosen to hide in the
           house and is not ready to go into the adventure of falling into the soil. It is dangerous, because the
           seed will have to die. It is dangerous, because the seed does not know what will happen when he has
           disappeared. No seed has ever known what happens after the seed has died. How can the seed know?
           The tree may happen or may not happen.
                Buddha says: SUDURJAYA -- look at the far. SUDUR -- that which is very far, let that be your
           challenge. Don't be confined to the comfortable, to the familiar, to the secure; don't base your
           philosophy on the promises of a life insurance company. Have a little more courage, move into the
           unknown.
                When you move into the unknown, the unknown moves to you. When you are ready to drop your
           securities, God is also ready to drop His mysteries. When you are ready to be nude and available,
           God is also ready to be nude and available. He responds, He exactly responds to you. He never goes
           further than you go. If you go towards Him, He comes towards you; if you escape, He also escapes.
           SUDURJAYA.
                And then the sixth grounding; ABHIMUKHI -- immediateness, face-to-faceness, encountering
           that which is. ABHIMUKHI: face-to-face immediateness. Don't bother about the past and don't
           bother about the future. Face the truth as it comes, encounter the fact as it comes, and with no
           preparation, with immediateness.
                A man who lives by preparation is a pseudo-man. In life there are no possibilities for rehearsals...
           but we all live through rehearsals. Before you go home you start preparing what you are going to say
           to your wife. Can't you be immediate? Can't you wait for the moment when the wife is there, and let
           what happens happen? But coming home from the office you are preparing: what is she going to ask,
           and what are you going to answer? Rehearsal... and then you are always clouded by your rehearsals.
           You cannot see that which is. You always see through your clouds. Those clouds are very distorting.
                Buddha says: ABHIMUKHI, immediateness -- be alert and let there be response. Whatsoever the
           result, don't be afraid of it. People start rehearsing because they are afraid of the results, so they want
           to plan everything. There are people who plan EVERYTHING, every gesture is planned. Then the
           life is of course that of an actor -- it is not real, it is not authentic, it is not true. And if your life is not
           true, then it is impossible for you to come to truth.

               The seventh is DURANGAMA -- far-goingness, accepting the call of the beyond. There is a
           beyond everywhere. We are surrounded by the beyond. That beyond is what God is; that beyond has
           to be penetrated. It is within, it is without; it is always there. And if you forget about it... as we do
           ordinarily, because it is very uncomfortable, inconvenient, to look into the beyond. It is as if one
           looks into an abyss, and one starts trembling, one starts feeling sick. The very awareness of the abyss
           and you start trembling. Nobody looks at the abyss; we go on looking in other directions, we go on
           avoiding the real. The real IS like an abyss, because the real is a great emptiness. It is vast sky with
           no boundaries. Buddha says: DURANGAMA -- be available to the beyond. Never remain confined
           to the boundaries, always trespass boundaries. Make the boundaries if you need them, but always
           remember you have to step out. Never make imprisonments.
               We make many sorts of imprisonments; relationship, belief, religion -- they are all
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           imprisonments. One feels cozy because there are no wild winds blowing. One feels protected
           although the protection is false, because death will come and will drag you into the beyond. Buddha
           says: Before death comes and drags you into the beyond, go on your own.
               A Zen monk was going to die. He was very old, ninety years old. Suddenly he opened his eyes
           and he said, "Where are my shoes?"
               And the disciple said, "Where are you going? Have you gone crazy? You are dying, and the
           physician has said that there is no more possibility; a few minutes more."
               He said, "That's why I'm asking for my shoes: I would like to go to the cemetery, because I don't
           want to be dragged. I will walk on my own and I will meet death there. I don't want to be dragged.
           And you know me -- I have never leaned on anybody else. This will be very ugly, that four persons
           will be carrying me. No."
               He walked to the cemetery. Not only that, he dug his own grave, lay down in it, and died. This is
           what Buddha means by DURANGAMA: such courage to accept the unknown, such courage to go on
           your own and welcome the beyond. Then death is transformed, then death is no longer death.
               Such a courageous man never dies; death is defeated. Such a courageous man goes beyond death.
           For one who goes on his own to the beyond, the beyond is never like death. Then the beyond
           becomes a welcome. If you welcome the beyond, the beyond welcomes you; the beyond always goes
           on echoing you.

               The eighth is ACHALA: centering, grounding, immovability. And Buddha says one should learn
           to be centered, unmoving, grounded. Whatsoever happens, one should learn how to remain
           unwavering. Let the whole world go into disappearance, let the whole world dissolve, but a Buddha
           will go on sitting under his Bodhi Tree, unmoved. His center will not be wavering, he will not go
           off-center.
               Try it. By and by, you start coming closer to your center. And the more close you come, the more
           happy you will feel, and a great solidity will arise in your being. Things go on happening, but they
           are happening outside; nothing penetrates to your center. If you are there, then nothing makes any
           difference. Life comes, death comes, success, failure, praise and insult, and pain and pleasure -- they
           come and go. They all pass away, but the witnessing center always remains.

                The ninth is SADHUMATI: intelligence, awareness, mindfulness. Buddha is very much in favor
           of intelligence, but remember that he does not mean intellect by it. Intellect is a heavy thing,
           intelligence is more total. Intellect is borrowed, intelligence is your own. Intellect is logical, rational;
           intelligence is more than logical. It is super-logical, it is intuitive. The intellectual person lives only
           through argument. Certainly, arguments can lead you up to a certain point, but beyond that, hunches
           are needed.
                Even great scientists who work through reason come to a point where reason does not work,
           where they wait for a hunch, for some intuitive flash, for some light from the unknown. And it
           always happens: if you have worked hard with the intellect, and you don't think that intellect is all,
           and you are available to the beyond, someday a ray penetrates you. It is not yours; and yet it is yours
           because it is nobody else's. It comes from God. It comes from your innermost center. It looks as if it
           is coming from the beyond because you don't know where your center is to be intuitive.
                Buddha uses intelligence in the sense of awareness, in the sense of mindfulness. The Sanskrit
           word, SADHUMATI, is very beautiful. MATI means intelligence, and SADHU means sage: sagely
           intelligence; not only intelligence, but sagely intelligence. There are people who may be rational but
           are not reasonable. To be reasonable is more than to be rational. Sometimes the reasonable person
           will be ready to accept the irrational too -- because he is reasonable. He can understand that the
           irrational also exists.The rational person can never understand that the irrational also exists. He can
           only believe in the limited logical syllogism.
                But there are things which cannot be proved logically, and yet they are. Everybody knows they
           are, and nobody has ever been able to prove them. Love is; nobody has ever been able to prove what
           it is, or whether it is or not. But everybody knows -- love is. Even people who deny -- they are not
           ready to accept anything beyond logic -- even they fall in love. When they fall in love then they are
           in a difficulty, they feel guilty.
           But love is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And nobody is ever satisfied by intellect alone unless the heart also is fulfilled. These are the two
           polarities inside you: the head and the heart. Sadhumati means: a great synthesis of both, head and
           heart. Sadhu means the heart, and mati means the head.
               When the sagely heart is joined together with a sharp intelligence, then there is a great change, a
           transformation. That's what awareness is all about.

                And the tenth is DHARMA-MEGHA: grace showering, becoming a cloud of truth, love and
           grace. DHARMA-MEGHA....
                Have you watched that just a few days ago there were so many clouds raining, showering on the
           thirsty earth? Buddha says: Unless you become a showering of grace you will not attain to the
           ultimate. The nine grounds are to prepare you. The tenth ground is the beginning of sharing; you
           start showering.
                Whatsoever you get you have to share; then you will get more. Whatsoever you have, you have
           to shower, you have to give it to others, you have to distribute it. All that you attain in your being has
           to become your compassion. Then you will get more. The more you become a spendthrift of your
           inner energies, the more space will be created for God to descend in you, for truth to penetrate you.
                That's why it is very difficult to know the truth and not to share it. It is impossible! Mahavir
           remained silent for twelve years, then suddenly one day he burst forth. What happened? For twelve
           years he was silent; he must have been moving into the nine grounds. Then came the tenth; he
           become a DHARMA-MEGHA: he became a cloud of truth and started showering.
                You cannot do anything about it. It is just like a flower opening and releasing its fragrance to the
           winds. It is just like a lamp burning and showering its light all around. There is no way to prevent it;
           you cannot be miserly about truth.
                Buddha attained to truth, then for forty-two years continuously he moved from one place to
           another -- continuously talking, continuously saying what had happened to him. One day he was
           asked, "You teach us to be silent but you go on talking."
                Buddha said: I have to talk to teach you to be silent. Be silent, so that one day you can also talk.
           Be silent, because in silence you will gather the juice.
                The flower remains closed until the right moment has come when the fragrance is ready. Then it
           opens its petals, not before it.
                Be silent, be aware, be adventurous -- one day all of these nine BHUMIS, these nine grounds,
           will prepare you to become a cloud. Then you will shower on people and you will share.
                Truth has always been shared in different ways. Meera danced; she knew how to dance the truth.
           Buddha never danced. Chaitanya sang; he knew how to sing. Buddha never sang. It depends on the
           individual. Whatsoever capacities you have, whatsoever creative possibilities you have, when truth
           comes into you it will find your possibilities, your creativities.
                Just the other night a sannyasin was saying to me, "It is very difficult; the more I become
           meditative, the more I like to compose music." He's a composer and he had stopped it. Now he
           thinks that this is like a disturbance: "What is happening? Whenever I am feeling meditative,
           immediately great ideas arise in me and I would like to compose. Now, what to do? Should I stop
           it?"
                There is no need to stop. Meditation brings your creativity to an expression. Whatsoever is
           hidden in you will become unhidden; whatsoever you are carrying within you will be sung, will be
           danced -- whatsoever it is. You will become a DHARMA-MEGHA.

               These three answers from the three monks show three types of understanding: the bodily, the
           psychological, and the spiritual. Breath means spirit -- that's why I call the third understanding
           spiritual. If you have the first understanding then these ten BHUMIS are not for you. If you have the
           second type of understanding, then too these ten grounds are not for you. If you have the third
           understanding, then these ten grounds are for you.
               And unless you can become a DHARMA-MEGHA, remember, your life was in vain. You lived
           without any purpose, you lived fruitlessly, barrenly. In fact, you lived not; you only appeared to live.
               So meditate on this small story of Buddha's, his asking, and the answers... just meditate on it. I
           will tell you a few anecdotes to show you how we understand.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A minister asked a little girl what she thought of her first church service.
              "Well," she said, after giving the matter some thought, "the music was nice, but the commercial
           was too long."

               Now, a small girl -- she knows only how to watch TV; that's her understanding. And she knows
           music and commercials. In the church also she thought that the sermon was the commercial. She
           said, "The music was nice, but the commercial was too long."

              The couple were married forty years. She decided to get a check-up at the hospital. When she
           came home, she was ecstatic.
           "The doctor says I am in perfect health," she bragged to her husband. "In fact, he said I can have sex
           twelve times a month."
              "Wonderful!" said the husband. " Put me down for two."

              Now a businessman is a businessman -- "Put me down for two."

              Two corpses were laid out in the same room at the funeral home. One night when everybody left,
           one corpse sat up and asked the other, "What did you die from?"
              "Cigarettes," he answered. "I just smoked too many cigarettes."
           "What kind did you smoke?"
           "Raleighs," he answered.
           "At least, did you save the coupons?"
           "Hell yes! How do you think I got this coffin?"

               Even when people are dead they will continue. Naturally, it is natural that they will continue
           their old past, their old ways of understanding, calculation.

               The girlie show was touring the army camps in Viet Nam. At one outpost, arrangements were
           being made to feed them before leaving.
               "I say," said the officer in charge. "Would you like to mess with the officers?"
               "Don't mind if we do, dear," said the leading lady, "but can't we have something to eat first?"

                Now a girlie show is a girlie show.... Even words don't carry the meaning that they have. You put
           the meaning into them. Each time you utter a word, watch; each time you listen to a word, watch;
           each time you make a gesture, watch -- and you will see that whatsoever your level of understanding,
           it is expressed in all the ways.

               Seated in a restaurant, a priest was scrutinizing the beauty of a young lady escorted by her male
           companion. A layman kidded him about his female interest.
               "Just because I am on a perpetual diet does not mean I can't study the menu once in a while!"
           said the priest.

              Your inner -- repressed, rejected, thrown into the basement, also goes on reflecting in your ways.
           Even sometimes when you avoid something, then too, in your very avoidance your understanding is
           shown.

           The famous story of two Zen monks....
               Crossing a ford they came across a woman, a very young and beautiful woman. She wanted to
           cross but she was afraid. So one monk took her on his shoulders and carried her to the other shore.
           The other monk was furious, the other monk was fiery: "It is prohibited! A Buddhist monk should
           not touch a woman. Now this is too much. Not only touching: he has carried the woman on his
           shoulder!" The monk remained quiet, but he was boiling within.
               Miles passed. When they reached the monastery, when they were entering the door, the other
           monk turned to the first and said, "Look, I will have to talk to the Master. I will have to report it. It is
           prohibited!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The first monk said, "What are you talking about? What is prohibited?"
              He said, "Have you forgotten? You carried that young beautiful woman on your shoulders. You
           should not touch!"
              The first monk laughed and he said, "Yes, I carried her, but I left her on the other bank, miles
           back. Are you still carrying her?"

           Yes, the other monk was still carrying her.
              Remember that your understanding is shown in every way, and if you watch correctly, your very
           watchfulness will take you to a further step.

               One unfortunate sailor was shipwrecked on a desert island in the South Pacific. Fortunately food
           and water were plentiful, and the weather was perfect. So he survived in comparative comfort for six
           months, after which time, to his intense excitement, he spotted a small craft on the horizon. As it
           drifted in closer and closer, he could see that it was a ship's life-raft containing one passenger. And
           as it got even closer he saw this passenger was a young woman. Eventually the raft splashed up on
           the beach and he went towards her. She was a beauty -- tall and glowing and blonde, and a cracker.
               "Hello! hello!" said the poor lonely sailor. "Are you shipwrecked too?"
           "Yes, I am," she replied.
           "I have been here for six months," he said.
               "Six months!" she exclaimed. "Well, then I am sure I have got something you have been
           missing."
               "Don't tell me you've got a fag on you!" he cried joyously.

               Your own desire, your own understanding, your own greed, is always there in EACH response,
           in EACH reaction. If you watch closely you will become aware that you go on showing your
           understanding or misunderstanding in each moment of your life.
               Buddha's ques;ions are very simple, and the monks who answered may not have thought at all
           that they have any metaphysical significance. They may even have laughed at the ridiculous
           questions Buddha was asking them. But with very simple questions he had provoked their layer of
           understanding. The significance of the story is great. I never ask you any questions, but the questions
           you ask me are enough. They show everything about you. When I read your question, I am less
           concerned about your question than I am concerned with the questioner. I am more concerned with
           the questioner.
               That's why I insist that you should always write your name under the question, you should
           always sign it -- because a question in itself means nothing. It becomes meaningful only when I
           know who the questioner is. My answer is not for the question, but for the questioner. One may ask a
           question and I may answer it in one way, another asks exactly the same question, with the same
           words, but I will not answer in the same way -- because it is not the question that is important, it is
           the questioner.
               Your question shows your understanding. Your question shows your confusion. Your question
           shows where you are. And I have to answer you where you are. Remember it.
               In DARSHAN it happens many times, and it is better that you should remember it. Many people
           come; somebody asks a question, others listen. You are allowed to listen, but those answers that I am
           giving to that particular person are not given for you. Otherwise there would be great
           misunderstanding.
               It happens sometimes that a questioner says something, I explain it to him, I help him to
           understand his problem; another comes and he says, "That is exactly my question and you have
           already answered." I say, "No, don't be deceived so easily. You two are so different. In fact, there are
           no two similar persons in the world, so how can your questions be similar? You ask your question,
           and forget what I have said to the other."
               And then many times people become puzzled, because they see that I can contradict myself.
               Just the other night one person asked about fear: "I am afraid." I talked to him about death
           because I could see why he was afraid. Death was in his eyes, death was around him, he was
           shadowed by death. I talked much about death rather than about fear, and he understood it. I said to
           him, "Accept death and fear will disappear."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The next person said, "Now there is no need to ask. I have also fear in me and you have
           answered." I looked at the person; his fear had no relationship with death at all. His fear was fear of
           loneliness; it was a totally different dimension of fear. And I said, "Forget all that I have said to the
           other person. It was not your question and it was not answered for you. Tell me about YOUR fear."
           And by and by it became clear that his fear had nothing to do with death. His fear was fear of being
           left alone; fear that maybe his aloneness would always remain there.
                The first was afraid of death, the second was afraid about whether love would happen or not. His
           fear was concerned with love -- whether he would remain always alone, or would somebody be there
           who would love him? And would he be able to love? Would there be a possibility that he would be
           together with somebody and this constant wound of loneliness would disappear? He was not worried
           about death, he was worried about life. His fear was not concerned with death, his fear was
           concerned with life and relationship and communication and communion, love. They were totally
           different, but they both used the word 'fear'.
                And when I give different answers to different people, naturally you can collect all the answers
           and you will see: "This man is mad!" They will be contradictory. They are bound to be
           contradictory. My approach is individual; my approach is person-to-person. I try to relate with you
           as individuals.
                In the morning discourse you can meditate over whatsoever I say, but whenever you are deciding
           to do something, ask me in person. Don't decide it through the morning discourse because you are
           too many, and I am talking in a general way. The morning discourse is just to make principles clear
           to you. The DARSHAN IS to make practice clear to you, not principle. The morning discourse is just
           to make you aware that so many possibilities are there to grow, and how to grow. But I am not
           talking to you personally, I cannot. DARSHAN is so that you can ask personal questions, you can
           approach me and you can see your face in my mirror and I can see directly into your eyes. The
           morning discourse is more philosophical, the evening DARSHAN IS more religious.
                And if you can remember this difference, there will be great benefit out of it, a great
           understanding out of it.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                  Chapter #8
                              Chapter title: The disappearance of the magician
           7 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611070
              ShortTitle: TRANS408
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins




              WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT, THE PRACTISE OF LIFE OR THE THEORY? IS IT POSSIBLE FOR
              SOMEONE AS IGNORANT AS I AM, WHO USED TO BE A REALLY DEVOTED ROMAN
              CATHOLIC, FIFTY YEARS OLD, TO ATTAIN TO ENLIGHTENMENT WITHOUT TAKING MUCH
              TIME TO STUDY ALL WHICH IS BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH?


               THE FIRST THING: life cannot be practised. That which can be practised is always the theory.
           Life has to be lived; there is no way to practise it, there is no way to prepare and rehearse it. Life is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spontaneous. Only theories, dogmas, philosophies are to be practised; they are unreal. The unreal has
           to be practised so that you can create an illusion of its reality. The real has to be lived.
               If you believe in some theory of love, then you will have to practise it. Love need not be
           practised, you can simply float in it. To be in love you will have to drop all theories of love,
           otherwise you will never be in love. And to be in the thick of life, in the intensity and passion of life,
           you will have to drop all philosophies of life. Otherwise you will remain clouded in your words.
               The problem is not arising out of life; the problem arises out of Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism,
           Buddhism. The problem arises out of the 'ism'. Life is very simple. Even animals can live it; it must
           be simple. Even trees are living it; it must be simple. It cannot be very complicated; even birds, even
           rocks and rivers are living it. Why has it become so complicated for man? -- because man can
           theorize about it. Man can weave and spin doctrines around it. Those doctrines are poisonous.
               If you are a Christian, you cannot live life. If you are a Hindu, no, life is not for you. To be alive
           one need not be a Hindu or a Christian. One simply needs to be, one needs just to be.

               The two explorers were going through the jungle when a ferocious-looking lion appeared on the
           track in front of them.
               "Keep calm," said the first explorer. "Remember what we read in that book on wild animals: if
           you stand absolutely still and look a lion straight in the eyes, he will turn tail and run away."
               "Fine," said the second explorer. "You have read the book, I have read the book, but has HE read
           the book?"

                The books create problems, the books puzzle you. And the thing is very absurd: they puzzle you
           in the name of trying to clarify things. They puzzle you through their explanations. You are caught in
           those explanations because you think that unless you have the explanations, how are you going to
           live?
                Have you heard the famous anecdote about a centipede who was walking? It was a sunny
           morning and it was beautiful, and the centipede was happy and must have been singing in his heart.
           He was going, almost drunk with the morning air.
                A frog sitting by the side was very puzzled -- he must have been a philosopher. He asked,
           "Uncle, wait! You are doing a miracle. A hundred legs! How do you manage? Which leg comes first,
           which comes second, third -- and so on and so forth, up to a hundred! You don't get puzzled? How
           do you manage? It looks impossible to me."
                The centipede said, "I have never thought about it. Let me brood." And standing there, he started
           trembling and he fell down on the ground. He himself became so puzzled -- a hundred legs! How is
           one going to manage?
                Philosophy paralyzes people. You are paralyzed by your philosophies. Life needs no philosophy,
           life is enough unto itself. It needs no crutches; it needs no support, no props. It is enough unto itself.
                This is the first thing I would like to convey to you; this is my understanding, not my theory; this
           is how I feel life to be. It is not a mind thing, it is my existential experience. Trust life. And if you
           trust in life, I call you religious. Trust in life is trust in God. God becomes a theory; when you
           dissolve that theory only life is left in its tremendous mystery, shimmering, just surrounding you
           within and without.
           And you are part of it, part of its ecstasy.

               "What is more important," the questioner has asked, "the practise of life or the theory?"
               Practise is needed only for a theory. Life needs no practise. You have simply to live it without
           brooding, without bringing the mind in. Once you bring the mind in you have started distorting life.
               "Is it possible for someone as ignorant as I am to attain to enlightenment?"
               It is possible only for those who recognize their ignorance -- because those are the innocent
           people, who recognize their ignorance. The recognition of ignorance is the very door to
           enlightenment. If you think you know, then you will be debarred.
               Pundits have never become enlightened -- they cannot. They have too much knowledge, they are
           burdened too much with knowledge. They are like donkeys carrying scriptures -- that's what
           Jalaluddin Rumi has said. And a donkey remains a donkey -- whether he carries a KORAN on his
           back or not does not matter. You can carry scriptures in your memory, but memory is not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge. To memorize a thing is not to know it. To memorize a thing is a way to avoid knowing
           it. It is very cheap. A computer can do it; there is nothing human about it, nothing special. The
           computer can do better. All that your mind can do the computer can do better. So there is nothing
           special about it, nothing human, nothing divine. It is a mechanical thing.
                You can remember, you can memorize as much information as available, but that is not going to
           help you. You can become a walking ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, but the donkey will be
           carrying the KORAN unless you become aware that life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be
           solved. Then you approach in a totally different way; the approach becomes qualitatively different.
           Then you approach through awareness, not through knowledge. Then you approach immediately,
           directly. You look into life without any clouds hindering your eyes -- Christian, Mohammedan,
           Hindu. No clouds; just pure eyes, just looking like an innocent child....
                To become that innocent child the first requirement is to understand that you are ignorant. It is
           one of the most difficult things. It is simple to renounce riches, but very difficult to renounce
           knowledge.
                Many people renounce riches: they renounce their families, their homes, the world, but they
           don't, they never renounce their knowledge.
                I used to know a man who renounced the world. We were together in the university. After a few
           years I came across him in a city; I went to see him. He had renounced everything, he had become a
           Jain monk. I asked him, "Are you still a Jain?"
           He said, "Why not? I am a Jain, I was born a Jain."
                I said, "I was thinking you had renounced everything, but knowledge you have saved? You have
           renounced your parents, but you have not renounced that which your parents have taught you. This is
           something! You have renounced your home, but you are still carrying subtle impressions of the
           home. That's what being a Jain is! If you had been brought up in a Mohammedan family, you would
           have been a Mohammedan. If you were never told by anybody that you are a Jain, you could not
           have become a Jain. You have renounced the family, you say. You say, 'I have renounced my
           mother, father, my wife, my children.' Then why are you carrying knowledge that was given by
           them? Renounce that too!"
           He looked puzzled. He said, "That is difficult."
                It is easy to renounce riches because they are outside; knowledge is an inner richness. It is easy
           to renounce the worldly things because they are like clothes -- you can undress. But to renounce
           knowledge is like renouncing your skin; it is not so easy. It is painful, very painful.
                And from where does the pain come? The pain comes from the ego -- because knowledge is the
           food for the ego. It is the subtlest food for the ego. The more you know, the more you feel powerful.
                Lord Bacon has said, "Knowledge is power." It is very difficult to renounce power. Money too is
           power, but nothing compared to knowledge -- because money can be robbed: the government can
           change, communists can come, money can be distributed. You cannot rely on the money; the bank
           can go broke.
                But knowledge is more secure: no government can take it away, no change of politics can take it
           away, nobody can rob you of it, and you cannot go so easily bankrupt. Knowledge seems to be more
           secure. And any day, if you have knowledge, you can produce money -- not otherwise. Knowledge
           can bring money, not otherwise. Money may not be able to bring knowledge, so knowledge is more
           of a richness, a greater wealth, more powerful -- and the subtlest possession inside. The ego feels
           very good: "I know." That's why it is one of the most difficult things to recognize that "I don't
           know".
                The moment you recognize that you don't know, you become innocent, you become available...
           the ego disappears.
                The question is from Deva Geeta. She is an old sannyasin. And she says, "Is it possible for
           someone as ignorant as I am to attain to enlightenment?" It is only possible for those who know that
           they are ignorant -- this is the beginning of real knowledge, the first sunray of wisdom penetrating
           into the darkness of your soul. The ego is the darkness, and this recognition that 'I don't know' is the
           first ray of wisdom.
                Socrates is reported to have said, "When I was young, I thought I knew everything. When I
           became a little more mature I started to feel that I knew only a few things. When I became old, one
           day I recognized that I don't know anything at all." That day he declared, "My ignorance is utterly
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ultimate and profound, and I don't see any way that I can get out of my ignorance."
               Because truth is mysterious and unknowable, and cannot be analyzed and dissected. There is no
           way to know it. You can BE the truth, but you cannot know it -- because for knowing, distance is
           needed. For knowledge, truth has to be there as an object, you have to be there inside as a subject,
           and between you two happens knowledge. Knowledge divides the world into three parts, a trinity:
           the knower, the known, and knowledge.
               Truth is one. Neither is there anything to know, nor is there anybody to know it, so how is
           knowledge possible? Truth is, existence is, life is, and we are part of it.
               Socrates says, "Now I can say I don't know anything." The day he declared this, the oracle in
           Delphi said to some people, "Socrates is the greatest man of wisdom alive on the earth." Those
           people came back and said to Socrates, "Blessed you are! The oracle of the temple of Delphi has
           declared you the greatest wise man of the world."
               Socrates laughed and said, "It is too late now. I know that I know nothing. There must be some
           mistake. At least this time the oracle has missed. You go back and tell the oracle that Socrates
           himself refuses it."
               Those people were very puzzled because they were thinking they were bringing good news.
           What more could there be? When the gods declare Socrates to be the wisest man of the world, what
           more can you expect? And here is this fool; he says, "I don't know anything. And it is too late. And
           you go and say that something has gone wrong; the oracle is not right."
               Those people, puzzled, confused, went back. They said to the god of the temple, "Socrates
           denies; he says, 'I am absolutely ignorant.'" And there was laughter in the temple, and God said,
           "That's why we declared him the greatest and the wisest man in the world. That's why! There has
           been no mistake."
               If you can understand this, then ignorance becomes innocence. Don't call it ignorance; ignorance
           has a wrong association. Ignorance means that still you are thinking in terms of knowledge, still you
           are thinking that something is missing, something is lacking. Drop that word. That word is not right.
               Innocence, childlike innocence.... And I know Deva Geeta is a childlike old woman.
               "Is it possible for someone as ignorant as I am to attain to enlightenment without taking much
           time to study all which is between heaven and earth?"
               There is no need to study anything. Everything is revealed; you just need clear eyes. Study is not
           needed. You are not to go into the books, you have just to see the greenery of the trees, smell the
           fragrance of the flowers, listen to the birds, and the sound of running water, and the beautiful clouds
           floating in the sky....
               Everything is so perfect and everything is so tremendously beautiful. You just approach this
           great shrine of God. God is enshrined here in every stone, and every stone is a sermon, and He is
           flowering in every flower, and He is breathing in every heart. You just approach with innocence, and
           everywhere you will find it is holy ground.
               Every bush is afire with God -- because life itself is what God is all about; the totality, the
           wholeness of life is what God is all about. You just approach with clear, childlike, innocent eyes.
           That will do. The universe is your university. And the KORAN and the VEDAS and the BIBLE and
           the GEETA are irrelevant -- God's greatest book is just in front of you. Turn its pages.
               When you move from the trees and you look up to the sky you have turned a page. When you
           look at the sun, you have turned another page. When you look at your child, into his eyes, you have
           turned another page.
               This is what the real VEDA, the real KORAN, the real BIBLE is. This is THE book, and all
           other books are man-made. Only this universe is the book that God has written Himself.
               Have you observed that all religions claim that their books are not man-made? Hindus claim that
           the VEDAS are APORSHEYA: not made by man but made by God Himself; and Sanskrit is the
           divine language, not human. You will find the same type and the same foolish claim everywhere.
           Mohammedans say the KORAN has descended from God, and so with Jews and Christians.
           Everybody is trying to claim that his book is the divine book and nobody bothers to look at the real
           divine book.
               You are also a page in that divine book! And everything is part of it. These books are beautiful; I
           am not saying that anything is wrong with them. The KORAN is beautiful -- recite it, sing it. The
           VEDAS are beautiful, but remember, don't be lost in them. Let them be stepping-stones towards the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           real book of life.

           the second question:


               IN ANSWER TO A DREAM I SENT YOU, YOU SAY DREAMS ARE DREAMS, WITHOUT ANY
               MEANINGS. WHY SAY SUCH A THING? I DON'T UNDERSTAND.


                I am not only saying that dreams are dreams; I say that whatsoever you see when you think you
           are awake is also a dream. The dreams that you see with closed eyes in your sleep, and the dreams
           that you see with your open eyes in your so-called awake state -- both are dreams and both are
           meaningless.
                The questioner must have felt hurt -- because you would like even your dreams to have meaning.
           That's how psychoanalysis has become so important. People are foolish: they want their dreams also
           to have great meaning. Even their lives are meaningless! and they think their dreams are meaningful.
                You don't have any meaning right now -- you cannot have. Meaning arises only when you are in
           flow, flowing with God. Meaning is a happening between you and God, when you are in tune: there
           is no other meaning. All other meaning is just illusion.
                Try to understand what I mean by 'meaning'. Meaning is when there is a harmony between you
           and the whole. When there is a subtle dance and you are in step with the whole, there is meaning.
           Life is an orchestra, and if you start playing your flute solo and you forget the orchestra, then there is
           no meaning. Then you are a nuisance. And whatsoever you are doing is not only meaningless, it is
           AGAINST meaning. It is better that you stop; for God's sake, stop! When you are flowing with the
           total and there is no individual left, no ego left, there is meaning. With the ego there is no meaning --
           because ego is a jarring note, ego is a noise, ego is a resistance against the whole.
                The ego says, "I am separate and I have my own private destiny." Hence, egoistic people always
           feel deep down that their lives are meaningless. In the west now meaninglessness has become almost
           a common thing, a cliche. Everybody is talking about meaninglessness.
                People are rich, people are well-fed, they have good shelters. In fact, for the first time in history a
           few countries have come to a point where they are free of poverty, of all the ugliness that comes
           through poverty and all the limitation that poverty brings. They are free. But the moment they
           become free, they start feeling meaningless.
                Poor persons are not so aware of meaninglessness. Because they have to earn money, there is
           meaning; they have to send their children to the university, there is meaning; they are going to make
           a good house somewhere in the future, they are accumulating, by and by, a little money for it, they
           will have an Ambassador car someday; there is meaning.
                One day suddenly you have all: a good life, good clothes, good food. Then meaning disappears.
           A poor man always seems hopeful. You can always see a glimpse of hope in the eyes of a beggar.
           But rich men's eyes become dim, dull; the hope disappears.
                The rich man's eyes become like a desert, with no oasis, with no hopes. What happens? -- all that
           he had been thinking up to now as meaningful has become meaningless because he has achieved it.
           And suddenly he becomes aware of the total emptiness within.
                Meaning happens, real meaning happens only when you start falling in tune with God, or the
           whole, or call it cosmos, existence, or whatever. When you are in tune with the whole there arises
           great benediction. Great grace surrounds you. Your heart is full, fulfilled; a deep contentment and
           peace and serenity. There is meaning.
                That's why I said that dreams are dreams; don't be too bothered by them. And if you want to have
           some meaning, you can have it. You can go to the Freudian psychoanalyst -- he will find meaning in
           it. He has some meaning already prepared for you. Whatsoever dream you bring, he will enforce his
           meaning on it.
                You saw the Taj Mahal in your dream? -- he will say these are phallic pillars. So the dream is
           sexual. Go to the Adlerian: he says that ALL problems arise out of an inferiority complex. You have
           seen the Taj Mahal? So you want to be like the Taj Mahal -- superior, great, unique. Go to the
           Jungian and he will find some other meaning.
                You can go to many psychotherapists and they will all find different meanings. And this is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something that nobody looks at: the whole thing that the meaning is not coming from your dream,
           the meaning is coming from the analyst.
               I have heard about President Sukarno of Indonesia. He was strictly a sex man, strictly a libido
           man, strictly Freudian. He could never pass a statue without patting it on the derriere. All his
           conversation away from the affairs of state -- and he had some of the greatest affairs in his state --
           was always about the ladies. Here is his description of women:

              A woman of twenty is like the continent of Africa -- wild and untamed.
              A woman of thirty is like Asia -- hot-blooded and passionate.
              A woman of forty is like the U.S.A. -- overly-trained and too well-techniqued.
              A woman of fifty is like Europe -- decaying and falling apart.
              A woman of sixty is like Australia -- everybody knows where it is, but who wants to go there?

                So you can go and take your dreams to some Sukarno; he will find nothing but sex. Even
           geography becomes symbolic only for sexuality. Even Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia -- suddenly
           they have a totally different meaning you have never heard before. You project.
                I am not a psychoanalyst. And people feel very good when they go to a psychoanalyst and the
           psychoanalyst listens very attentively to your nonsense. Nobody listens to your nonsense so
           attentively. And why should anybody listen? The psychoanalyst has to listen; you pay for it, so he
           listens very attentively. It is your time! In fact, who bothers? Even the psychoanalyst just pretends
           that he is listening.
           I have heard an anecdote about Freud.

               A young apprentice was working with him. He was young and full of energy, but to listen to
           people's nonsense dreams the whole day is tiring business, uninteresting, boring. But he was always
           surprised to see Freud: he was always full of energy. never bored. One day, by the evening when he
           was leaving his master, he asked Freud, "You are old, aged, but you are never tired. And from the
           morning to the night you are continuously listening to neurotic things, meaningless. But I get tired --
           after two, three patients, I'm completely exhausted."
           Freud laughed. He said, "Who listens?"

               You have just to pretend that you are listening, you have just to learn the trick of pretending that
           you are listening, that you are tremendously interested. You are interested only in the money that he
           is going to pay.
               But the patient feels very good: "Here is somebody who listens so attentively." There is a great
           desire in human beings that somebody should listen to their miseries. It unburdens them, and it gives
           them a feeling that somebody loves, cares. That's why you go on talking about miseries. Everybody
           goes on talking about his miseries, illnesses, this and that, and wants the other to sympathize. You
           feel you are not alone. And when you are telling nonsense dreams and the psychoanalyst brings
           beautiful explanations, great theories, suddenly you feel you are very meaningful, you are no
           ordinary person -- just see what beautiful dreams you have! Maybe you have not created a great
           painting like Picasso and you have not written a great book like Shakespeare, but so what? You have
           dreamed such beautiful dreams that even a Freud, a Jung, an Adler is interpreting them -- and they
           really interpret very beautifully.
               But this whole business is nonsense; a dream is a dream.
               And the whole effort in the east has been totally different: we have never bothered about the
           meaning of dreams. Our whole effort is to make you aware so that dreams disappear.
               I have been telling you again and again a famous Zen anecdote....

               A Zen Master woke up in the morning and he saw a disciple passing by. He called him, "Come
           here! I had a very beautiful dream. Would you like to interpret it?"
               He said, "Wait. Let me bring a bucket of water. You please wash your face."
               The Master waited. The disciple brought a bucket of water and the Master washed his face. By
           that time another disciple was passing, and he called. He said, "Listen, come here! I had a beautiful
           dream. Would you like to interpret it?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "Wait. You have washed your face? I will bring a cup of tea for you." And he brought a
           cup of tea.
               The Master was very happy and he said, "If you had tried to interpret, I would have thrown you
           out of the monastery!"

                This is the right interpretation: you had a dream? -- wash your face, be finished! Still lingering a
           little? -- have a cup of tea, but get out of it! It is a dream! What is there to interpret?
                Only one thing has to be remembered: that you dreamed because you were unconscious. And
           now you are trying to interpret it; still you are clinging to it. It happened because you were fast
           asleep.
                For a Buddha dreams disappear; they don't happen, they cannot happen -- because he becomes so
           alert that even in sleep a subtle layer of awareness remains. He never loses his awareness. That's
           what Krishna means when he says in the GEETA, "When everybody is fast asleep, the yogi is
           awake."
                It does not mean that the yogi just stands in the room and remains awake -- he would go mad! He
           also sleeps, but somewhere deep down a substratum remains alert, a small lamp continues burning
           inside. And in that light, no dreams can penetrate.
                Buddha is reported to have said that dreams are like thieves: if the house is dark and there is no
           lamp inside, the thieves become interested in the house. They come closer, they look from the
           windows. And if the master is fast asleep, then even better. And if the guard is no longer on duty
           today, then perfect -- they enter.
                Dreams are like thieves. When there is a guard sitting at the door, thieves stay away. When the
           light is inside the house and the windows are full of light, they don't dare to come close. And when
           they see that the master is fully awake and moving, and there is talk and singing and people moving
           around, and shadows, they don't come at all.
                Dreams happen because you are not aware in your sleep. And dreams continue to happen in your
           waking state also, because then too your awareness is just so-so, very lukewarm, nothing much.
                So think of dreams only as symbolic in this sense: they prove that you have not yet become alert
           enough -- that's all. That's the meaning when I said that to you.
                The questioner had written a long letter relating a dream. This was my message: that dreams are
           dreams, without any meaning; don't be too bothered by them. Only one thing is important: when
           dreams are happening in your sleep you lose all your consciousness. In the daytime also you are not
           very conscious; so become more conscious. Don't pay much attention to dreams, otherwise it can
           become a very dangerous game.
                You start playing with dreams -- their meaning, their symbols, their myth, and you go in and in --
           one layer upon another layer, and you will be lost!

               Mulla Nasrudin was walking into town one evening when he suddenly came across a pile of cow
           shit on the path. He bent over slightly and looked at it carefully.
           "Looks like it," he said to himself.
           He leaned closer and sniffed, "Smells like it."
               He cautiously put his finger in it, then tasted it, "Tastes like it. I'm sure glad I didn't step in it!"

           Beware of analysis! the third question:


              THE OBSERVER IS NOT THE OBSERVED -- THEN WHERE DOES THE OBSERVED SPRING
              FROM? AND WHAT ABOUT OUR CONTINUAL PROJECTIONS? IS IT ALL ILLUSION? AND YET,
              CAN'T THE NATURE OF THE ILLUSION THROW LIGHT ON ITS CREATOR-OBSERVER?


                The word MAYA has to be understood. In English there is no equivalent word: 'illusion' is not
           right.
                In the east we call real that which is eternal, timelessly there; has always been, will always be,
           there was never a time when it was not -- this eternal we call the real, the true. Exactly opposite to it
           is the unreal, the untrue -- which has never been, will never be. Between the two is MAYA. MAYA
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means that which appears to be and yet is not. It is just in the middle of the real and the unreal. It is a
           lie but it appears like truth. It is a decorated lie, and very convincing. When it is there it appears
           absolutely true; you know it.
               In the night when you dream you never suspect. Even very skeptical people, atheists, don't
           suspect. In a dream there is nobody who suspects. Even great doubters who suspect everything don't
           suspect the dream; when the dream is there it appears absolutely true. Absurd things also look true.
               When the dream is there it is real. It is so real that even absurdity does not make you doubt. In
           the morning when you open your eyes, suddenly it is unreal. Now from where had it come? -- it had
           come from your own unawareness. It was your projection. It was not there outside you, it was inside
           you; it was your game. And when you were so lost in it it became real. In the morning you are
           awake, the projection is withdrawn; you can see now that it was unreal.
               Now what to call a dream? Call it real? It is not real because there was a time when it was not,
           and now again there is a time when it is not. Should we call it unreal? But then it was there in the
           middle. In the evening it was not, in the morning it is not again, but in the night it is there. So how
           can you call it unreal? So in the east we invented a new term. We call it MAYA: what is unreal but
           appears as real because of our unconsciousness.
               MAYA is almost like magic -- something which is not but can be made to appear as if it is. It
           shows something about you. A dream shows something about the dreamer.
               For example, if you dream about women, sex, and things like that, that simply shows that in your
           waking life you must be trying to be celibate, or you must be trying to go beyond sex. You must be
           repressing sexuality. The repressed bubbles up in your dream, becomes a projection. If in the night
           you dream always about fasting and dinners and things like that, that simply means you must be
           trying to starve yourself in some way or other. You must be fasting, or you may be a food-maniac.
           You must be doing something wrong; your body is not satisfied. That dissatisfaction arises in your
           dream. Or you are repressing something that arises in your dream. It simply shows that your life is
           not going rhythmically. There is something disturbing its rhythm. That disturbance arises in the
           dream, becomes a projection.
               It shows something about the person who is dreaming.
               "The observer is not the observed -- then where does the observed spring from?" It springs from
           the observer -- but the observer is fast asleep, has not yet become REALLY an observer, is only
           potentially an observer, not actually. Out of that sleepiness, slumber, stupor, arise all sorts of
           illusions: you create them.
               "And yet can the nature of the illusion throw light on its creator-observer?" Yes, it throws some
           light.
               Let me tell you one very famous story of Idries Shah. Listen to it very attentively.

               A certain quiet dervish often used to attend the weekly meals given by a cultivated and generous
           man. This circle was known as the 'assembly of the cultured'. The dervish never took part in the
           conversation but simply arrived, simply shook hands with all present, seated himself in a corner, and
           ate the food provided.
               When the meeting was over he would stand up, say a word of farewell and thanks, and go his
           way. Nobody knew anything about him, though when he first appeared there were rumors that he
           was great saint. For a long time the other guests thought that he must indeed be a man of sanctity and
           knowledge and they looked forward to the time when he might impart some of his wisdom to them.
           Some of them even boasted of his attendance at their meetings to their friends, hinting at the special
           distinction which they felt in his presence.

               Gradually, however, because they could feel no relationship with this man developing, the guests
           came to suspect that he was an imitator, perhaps a fraud Several of them felt uncomfortable in his
           presence. He seemed to do nothing to harmonize himself with the atmosphere, and didn't even
           contribute a proverb to the enlightened conversation which they had come to prize as a necessary
           part of their very lives.
               A few, on the other hand, became unaware that he was there at all, since he drew no attention to
           himself.
               One day the dervish spoke. He said, "I invite all of you to visit my monastery. Tomorrow night
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you shall eat with me."

                This unexpected invitation caused a change in the opinions of the whole assembly. Some thought
           that the dervish, who was very poorly dressed, must be mad, and surely could provide them with
           nothing. Others considered his past behavior to have been a test. At last, they said to themselves, he
           would reward them for their patience in bearing with such dreary company. Still others said to one
           another. "Beware, for he may well be trying to lure us into his power."
                Curiosity led them all, including their host, to accept the hospitality. The following evening the
           dervish led them from the house to a hidden monastery of such size and magnificence that they were
           dazed. The building was full of disciples carrying out every kind of exercise and task. The guests
           passed through contemplation halls filled with distinguished-looking sages who rose in respect and
           bowed at the dervish's approach. The feast which they were given surpassed all powers of
           description. The visitors were overwhelmed. All begged him to enroll them as disciples forthwith.
           But the dervish would only say to all their entreaties, "Wait until the morning."
                Morning came and the guests, instead of waking in the luxurious silken beds to which they had
           been conducted the night before, clad in gorgeous robes, found themselves lying stiff and stark,
           dispersed on the ground within the stony confines of a huge and ugly ruin on a barren mountainside.
           There was no sign of the dervish, of the beautiful arabesques, the libraries, the fountains, the carpets.
                "The infamous wretch has tricked us with the deceits of sorcery!" shouted the guests. They
           alternately condoled with and congratulated one another for their sufferings and for having at least
           seen through the villain, whose enchantments obviously wore off before he could achieve his evil
           purpose, whatever that might be.
                Many of them attributed their escape to their own purity of mind. But what they did not know
           was that by the same means which he had used to conjure up the experience of the monastery, the
           dervish had made them believe that they were abandoned in a ruin. They were in fact in neither
           place.
                He now approached the company as if from nowhere and said, "We shall return to the
           monastery." He waved his hands and all found themselves back in the palatial halls. Now they
           repented, for they immediately convinced themselves that the ruins had been the test and that this
           monastery was the true reality. Some muttered, "It is as well that he did not hear our criticisms. Even
           if he only teaches us this strange art it will have been worthwhile."
                But the dervish waved his hands again and they found themselves at the table of the communal
           meal, which they had in fact never left.
                The dervish was sitting in his customary corner eating his spiced rice as usual, saying nothing at
           all. And then watching him uneasily all heard his voice speak as if within their own breasts, though
           his lips didn't move.
                He said, "While your greed makes it impossible for you to tell self-deceit from reality, there is
           nothing real which a dervish can show you -- only deceit. Those whose food is self-deceit and
           imagination can be fed only with deception and imagination."

              Now all that you come to experience in life is nothing but your own desire. Because you want to
           experience it, your mind conjures. Mind is a great magician. It is very tricky, it is the greatest magic
           show... your own mind. If you want to conjure something you will convince yourself. Even an ugly
           woman can become beautiful if you are full of desire.

               Mulla Nasrudin always goes to a hill-station. Sometimes he goes for three weeks but comes back
           in ten days; sometimes he goes for four weeks and he's back within two weeks.
               I enquired of him, "What is the matter? You had gone for six weeks and you are back within ten
           days."
               He said, "There is a way to decide how long I should stay there."
               I said, "Tell me what is your way? How do you decide?"
               He said, "I have kept a very ugly woman to take care of my house there on the hill-station. She is
           so ugly and nauseating, repulsive. When I go to the hill-station, this is my way to judge how long I
           should stay: when by and by I start seeing beauty in that woman, I escape."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Sexuality goes on accumulating, your desire to have a woman goes on accumulating. Then there
           comes a point when you don't see what is; you see what you want to see. Then even an ugly woman,
           nauseating, repulsive, can become the most beautiful woman, can become a Cleopatra.
               It is your desire that creates the trick. You can force yourself to believe anything whatsoever.
               This mind is the origin of maya, of all the illusions that you live through. Once you start
           becoming aware of the mind, awareness is totally different from the mind. Then the observer arises,
           then you become an awareness.
               When you become an awareness and you can see the games of the mind that have been playing
           with you for so many lives, suddenly you start laughing at the whole ridiculousness of it.
               It depends on you. You kiss a woman's lips, you think it is very beautiful -- it depends on you.
           There are tribes in the world, primitive tribes, who never kiss. And when they came to know that
           people kiss each other, they laughed. They could not believe it.

                In Thailand there is a primitive tribe which has never kissed, down through the centuries --
           because they say it is so ugly to put lips on anybody else's lips and to exchange saliva. it is so ugly!
           If they ever came to know about the French kiss they would die laughing! Tongues moving into each
           other's tongues! But ask a Frenchman....
                In fact, the French people think only they know how to kiss; nobody else knows. It is just a
           conditioning. These same people, this primitive tribe which has never kissed, rub noses with each
           other -- and they like it very much. It is their kiss. Now, you will feel a little awkward if somebody
           comes and starts rubbing his nose with your nose. You will say, "What are you doing? Have you
           gone crazy or something? Lips can be rubbed, but not noses. What are you doing?"
                In love, you can kiss each other. There are tribes who salute each other by touching each other's
           tongues; that is their salute. Westerners have been laughing about it. Just see: each tribe has managed
           to believe its own way. Many African tribes don't like women with hair. The women are shaved, then
           they become beautiful. Now, you cannot think women beautiful when they are shaved. They look
           like Buddhist nuns! And one feels an urgent desire to escape from them. Skulls without hair look
           ugly -- but that too is an idea. Thin lips are thought to be beautiful, but in Africa they like thick lips.
           They hang weights on their lips to make them more thick. Girls hang stones on their lips so their lips
           become very, very thick. You will think this is ugly, but this is beauty to them.
                What is beauty and what is ugliness? -- just a mind concept. Nobody has yet been able up to now
           to define what beauty is, and nobody is ever going to be able to define what beauty is -- because
           beauty is nothing but your idea of it. You create beauty and you can believe in it; then it is beautiful.
           You can believe in ugliness, and it is ugly.
                Just watch, and you will see that your mind conditions you towards certain things. And then you
           start looking for those things. And then you will project in your dreams, and by and by while you are
           awake you will project.
                This is now a scientific finding: that if you are left alone, in isolation, for three weeks, you start
           conjuring up all sorts of dreams. If you are just left in a cave, everything supplied to you, but you are
           not allowed to talk to anybody -- food comes from a hole, water comes from a hole, and you are
           comfortable in the cave, you see no human being for three weeks -- just after the fourth day you start
           talking a little loudly. Ordinarily you talk inside, you go on chattering. But after four days of
           isolation your lips start moving. After the first week you start talking very loudly. What is
           happening?
                And by the second week you are not only talking, you start answering too. You also talk for the
           other person who is not present. By the third week you are almost insane. What is happening? What
           happens in just three weeks' time? Left alone, the mind is starved of all outside things. It cannot
           remain without occupation, it creates its own occupation. It finds an image; it starts thinking a
           woman is sitting by your side. First you will laugh -- "This is just a play!" First you will say, "I know
           that it is just to find occupation." But by and by you will forget completely, and the woman will
           become real You may start making love to the woman; you may start fighting, talking, quarreling.
           Now you are fully awake, with your eyes open, and the dream has become real.
                Modern research about isolation and what happens in isolation is tremendously revealing.
                Bring more awareness to your mind, otherwise you are always on the verge of going mad, of
           becoming mad. There is not much difference between mad people and sane people. Sanity and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           insanity are only different by degrees. If you are sane you can become insane any moment. The bank
           goes bankrupt, or your wife dies, or your daughter elopes with somebody: just a little push and you
           go mad.
               Madness is boiling within you; you are just close to it. Become aware. Mind is what MAYA is --
           and all that is created by the mind is illusory, 'mayic', magical. Mind is a magician, and if you watch
           this magician you will be surprised. It is beautiful to watch what beautiful games and dramas it
           creates. Watching it, by and by, it subsides. One day mind disappears; there is body and there is soul,
           but mind disappears.
               When there is only body and soul and the mind has disappeared, you are enlightened.
           Enlightenment means the disappearance of the magician.

           the fifth question:


               I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF MOVEMENT DIFFERENT ENERGY STATES,
               TELEPATHIC HAPPENINGS, EVEN NEW GRAY HAIRS WILL DO. SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM,
               YES. BUT WHAT TO DO?


                The mind is always hankering. The mind is nothing but hankering, desiring something to happen.
           Sometimes it is thinking about money, to have more money, to have bigger houses, to have more
           respectability, to have more political power. Then you turn towards spirituality; the mind remains the
           same. Now you want to have more psychic powers -- telepathy, clairvoyance, and all sorts of
           nonsense. But the mind remains the same -- you want more. And if you want more you will remain
           ill.
                Health is in being contented with this moment. Health is when you are totally in this moment and
           happy and blessed. Illness is if you are asking for more.
                You can change the objects; that's very simple. That's what we go on doing. Small children play
           with toys and we tell them that these are toys. They have small cars, toy cars and toy trains and toy
           airplanes, of course. But you watch: when your boy has a toy airplane he goes out to show
           everybody in the neighborhood. To the other boys he says, "Look what I have got! I have an
           airplane!" He feels tremendously great.
                What are you doing later on? -- those toys disappear; bigger toys appear. Now if you have a big
           car, you would like everybody to become aware of it -- otherwise what is the point? Now if you have
           an airplane, you would like to advertise it so that everybody knows that you have such a big airplane.
           The same game continues....
                Now telepathy, or clairvoyance, or psychic powers: "If you can do this, I can do more than this. I
           can read people's thoughts thousands of miles away."
                There is a Zen story. It will be good for you to meditate over it.

               A man came to Master Lin Chi. The man said, "My master is a great psychic man. What do you
           say about your Master? What can your Master do, what miracles?"
               Lin Chi asked, "What miracles has your Master been doing?"
               The disciple said, "One day he told me to go to the other bank of the river, and I stood there with
           a piece of paper in my hand. The river was very wide, almost one mile. He was standing on the other
           bank and from there he started writing with a fountain pen, and the writing came on my paper. This I
           have seen myself, I am a witness! What can your Master do?"
               Lin Chi said, "My Master does greater miracles than this; this is nothing. When he is hungry he
           eats, and when he is sleepy he goes to sleep."
               The man said, "What are you talking about? You call these miracles? Everybody is doing that!"
               Lin Chi said, "Nobody is doing that. When you sleep you do a thousand and one things. When
           you eat you think a thousand and one things. When my Master sleeps he simply sleeps; no tossing,
           no turning, not even a dream. He simply sleeps, he is totally in sleep. Only sleep exists in that
           moment, nothing else. And when he feels hungry he eats. He is always wherever he is."
               The man was puzzled. He said, "I cannot see yet what there is in this."
               Lin Chi said, "But this is the miracle, the greatest miracle!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               What is the point of writing from one bank to another bank? It is just foolish. Only foolish people
           would be interested in it. What is the point?
               Somebody went to Ramakrishna and said, "My Master is a great man. He can walk on the
           water."
               Ramakrishna said, "Foolish! Because I can simply go to the ferryman, and with just two PAISA
           he takes me to the other side. How many years did your Master have to practice to do this miracle?"
           He said, "Eighteen years."
               He said, "This is too much; just two PAISA is the value of it! Your Master is a fool. Go and
           make him aware that he should not waste his life. It can be done so easily."
               Yes, this is what Ramakrishna is saying: all miracles are ego-trips. A real man of religion is a
           miracle, but his miracle is very subtle.

              Mulla Nasrudin came to me the other day and he said, "Osho, I ran a hundred yards in six
           seconds!"
              I told him, "Nasrudin, but that is not possible; the world's record is more than nine seconds."
           He said, "That's right, but I know a shortcut!"

               First you become interested in miracles, and when you don't know how to do them you find a
           shortcut, you start deceiving. Then you start playing tricks with people. That's what your Sai Babas
           and others are doing. They have found shortcuts -- just deceiving, cheating.
               But there are foolish people who will be impressed by these things. In fact only a fool can be
           interested and can be impressed by these things. Otherwise, what is the point? There is no point in it.
               Life in itself is a miracle, but the ego is not ready to accept that. It wants to do something special,
           something that nobody is doing, something extraordinary.

               The husband was primping before the mirror before leaving for his big speech. He was a political
           leader.
               "I wonder how many great men there are in the world?" he mused.
           "One less than you think," said his wife.

               Always remember that: whenever the idea arises of how many great men there are in the world,
           always remember there is one less. At least you should not get into that nonsensical trip.
               "I am always looking for signs of movement, different energy states, telepathic happenings, even
           new gray hairs will do. Spiritual materialism, yes. But what to do?"
               It is neither spiritualism nor materialism; it is simply stupidity. Drop it -- because to live with
           stupidity any longer is dangerous. One tends to become accustomed to it. One tends to make a habit
           of it.
               Whenever you feel that something stupid is there, immediately drop it, drop it like poison. Don't
           go on playing with it, not even for a single moment -- because even that single moment can prove
           fatal. In that single moment the stupidity can enter into your bloodstream, can become part of you,
           can start hiding somewhere.
               One thing has to be remembered as a criterion: this moment is all. If you can live in this moment
           you will have an allness, and if you ask for the next moment you will have an illness. Just this
           moment is enough.
               This continuous hankering for the next moment is a subtle discontent: "This moment is not
           fulfilling, so maybe the next moment...." -- hope for the next.
               My suggestion is: live this moment, whatsoever it is. Even if it is painful, live it -- because that is
           the only moment there is. The next moment never comes. Don't wait for it. Ambition always waits,
           ego always waits.

              Mulla Nasrudin was sitting in the audience once, listening to some poor soul drone on until there
           was nobody left but him.
              "This is terrible, " he said, looking out at the empty seats. "I really don't know what to say."
           "You could say good-bye," the Mulla shouted up.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "Anyway," the speaker continued, "it is nice of you to stay."
              "What nice!" the Mulla growled. "I'm the next speaker!"

               Waiting for the next moment, waiting, bored, but waiting for the next moment; waiting,
           exhausted, tired, but waiting for the next moment.... Only death will come. The next moment is
           death; life is this moment.
               So don't try to hide your old desires in new names: don't call it telepathy, don't call it
           clairvoyance, don't call it spiritual power. It is the same; it is the ego. Spirituality knows nothing of
           power.
               Spirituality is a tremendous peace. I am not saying it is powerless -- but it knows nothing of
           power. It is tremendously powerful, but there is nobody to feel powerful in it. The ego has
           disappeared; you are gone, gone forever. Only God is. Of course, God IS powerful.
               The Jews call God 'Elohim', it comes from a root 'el'. The root is the same as from where the
           Mohammedan word 'Allah' comes. It means the source of power, the powerful. Allah means the
           powerful; Elohim means the powerful.
               God is powerful. When you are not, He is there. But there is nobody to claim power. A spiritual
           man IS powerful, but there is nobody to claim it. When the claimer goes, only then does the power
           come; they never meet together.
               So forget about all your spiritual desires. You simply be in the moment -- that's what I call being
           spiritual.

           the last question:


              OSHO, WHILE YOU ARE SITTING IN CHUANG TZU AUDITORIUM TELLING STORIES ABOUT ME,
              I AM SITTING IN THE TURKISH BATH TELLING MY DISCIPLES STORIES ABOUT YOU. ALL I
              HAVE TO DO IS MENTION THE NAME BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH, AND EVERYONE
              BURSTS INTO UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER.
              MULLA NASRUDIN.


               That's true: I am nothing compared to Mulla Nasrudin. He is a great storyteller. He can manage
           to tell stories in such a way that even the mention of a name is enough.
           Let me tell you one anecdote.

                The large and friendly prison was getting a new warden. On the last day of office the old warden
           was introducing the new warden to the inmates, and made his farewell speech. In closing he said, "A
           little anecdote: number twenty-eight." The crowd of prisoners burst into wild laughter and applause,
           and the old warden stepped down.
                Afterwards, the new warden who had listened to the proceedings, asked the old warden about his
           final remarks, especially why the mention of number twenty-eight seemed to be so hilarious.
                "Well, you see, " the old warden said, "these men have been here so long and have heard my
           jokes so many times that instead of telling them the whole story, I just tell the number. The men
           remember the story and laugh accordingly."
                "Amazing, " the new man said. "You must write them all down for me and I will use one
           tomorrow in my opening talk."
                The next day the new man made his first speech to the inmates. He was a little nervous and
           decided a joke would be good.
                "In conclusion." he said, "a little anecdote -- number fifteen."
                A hush fell over the crowd. The warden became more nervous, smiled, and stepped down from
           the rostrum. Afterwards he asked the old warden, who had stayed to see if all went well, "What
           happened? Yesterday they seemed to love your story. Today I fell flat on my face."
                "I guess, " said the old warden, "some people can tell a story, some people can't."

               Mulla Nasrudin is superb. There is no comparison to him. He can tell a story just by mentioning
           the name. The way, the gesture, his whole presence may create a great hilarious situation.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is said about Mulla Nasrudin that when he was a small student in school, the headmaster
           cursed him -- because whenever he would go to school he would start telling stories, little stories.
           And children would giggle and laugh, and it was a great disturbance. All the teachers were very
           annoyed.
               One day the headmaster went to see what was going on. It was there: Mulla Nasrudin was telling
           the class something -- he was the last-bencher -- and the whole class was laughing uproariously.
               The headmaster cursed Mulla Nasrudin: "Let this be my curse: wherever your name is ever
           mentioned, people will start laughing just in listening to your name. And if somebody tells one story
           about you, at least seven stories will be told immediately -- somebody will tell another, and
           somebody else will tell another."
           And this has continued; the curse has been working.

               Once Mulla Nasrudin went to a meeting. Of course he was hoping that they would receive him,
           but the meeting had already started. The great Tamurlaine was sitting in a chair; he was the
           chairman. Nobody paid any attention to Mulla Nasrudin. He sat where people had put their shoes,
           but he started telling jokes. By and by, people turned. All the people turned towards Nasrudin, and
           they had their backs to Tamurlaine.
               He became very angry and he said, "Nasrudin, stop all this!"
               He said, "I cannot -- because wherever I am, I am the chairman. It makes no difference where I
           am sitting."

              He may be telling stories about me in his Turkish bath. Naturally, it has to be so: I pay him so
           much respect; he has to pay respect to me.




                              The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                   Chapter #9
                                    Chapter title: Provisions for the journey
           8 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611080
              ShortTitle: TRANS409
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              THOSE WHO STUDY THE DOCTRINE OF THE BUDDHAS WILL DO WELL TO BELIEVE AND
              OBSERVE ALL THAT IS TAUGHT BY THEM. IT IS LIKE UNTO HONEY; IT IS SWEET WITHIN, IT IS
              SWEET WITHOUT, IT IS SWEET THROUGHOUT; SO IS THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING.
              O MONKS, YOU MUST NOT WALK ON THE WAY AS THE OX THAT IS ATTACHED TO A WHEEL.
              HIS BODY MOVES, BUT HIS HEART IS. NOT WILLING. BUT WHEN YOUR HEARTS ARE IN
              ACCORD WITH THE WAY, THERE IS NO NEED OF TROUBLING YOURSELVES ABOUT YOUR
              OUTWARD DEMEANOR.
              THOSE WHO PRACTISE THE WAY MIGHT WELL FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF AN OX THAT
              MARCHES THROUGH THE DEEP MIRE CARRYING A HEAVY LOAD. HE IS TIRED, BUT HIS
              STEADY GAZE, LOOKING FORWARD, WILL NEVER RELAX UNTIL HE COMES OUT OF THE
              MIRE, AND IT IS ONLY THEN THAT HE TAKES A RESPITE. O MONKS, REMEMBER THAT
              PASSIONS AND SINS ARE MORE THAN THE FILTHY MIRE, AND THAT YOU CAN ESCAPE
              MISERY ONLY BY EARNESTLY AND STEADILY THINKING OF THE WAY.'
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                THE SEEKER has to go alone on his pilgrimage. Otherwise is not possible; it is not in the nature
           of things. Truth is not something outside you, otherwise you could go in company. It is within you.
           Truth is not objective, so it cannot be collective. It is subjective. Truth is subjectivity, it is your
           innermost core. Only you, and only you, can penetrate it; nobody else can go with you. The path has
           to be travelled in tremendous aloneness. And a Master knows it -- that he is pushing you in a journey
           where you will be left alone -- Buddha particularly is very much aware of it. He has not uttered a
           single word against it. He has never said, "I can lead you to the ultimate." You will have to go alone.
           The tour is going to be absolutely unguided, with no maps, with no guide to show you the path.
                Then of course you have to be prepared for it. You have to provide for all emergencies, all
           accidents on the way, all possibilities for your going astray. You have to carry provisions for the
           journey. Buddha has called these provisions PARMITAS; the word is beautiful. PARMITA means:
           that which can lead you beyond; the provisions for the other shore. The journey is going to be alone.
           The moment you leave this shore you will be left alone in a great and wild ocean, and you will have
           to fight the ocean, and you will have to find the Way absolutely on your own. No knowledge that
           you have gathered before is going to be of any help, because each person comes to truth in his own
           way. The perception of truth is absolutely unique and individual. No two persons have known truth
           in the same way, because no two persons are ever the same. They are different: their vision is
           different, their perception is different, their interpretation is different, their expression is different. So
           all that you have gathered about truth is not going to help you much. In fact it may hinder you, but it
           cannot help you. It can become an obstacle.
                So Buddha says: Don't carry knowledge. Then what does one have to carry with oneself? If the
           journey is going to be alone, then you have to create some qualities, PARMITAS, which can follow
           you like a shadow. These ten PARMITAS have to be understood very deeply.

              The first PARMITA IS DANA: generosity, sharing. Ordinarily mind is a miser. It tries to hold, to
           possess. Mind is not generous. And if you go with this mind you will be lost -- because a miser's
           mind is a very closed mind. Miserliness is a sort of closing in: you are not open to the world, you
           don't allow your windows and doors to bring more light from the outside, you don't allow your
           windows to bring new breezes from the outside -- because you are constantly afraid that something
           you are holding inside may escape.

               Mulla Nasrudin was standing the the court of the City Magistrate. And he was saying, "Now it is
           too much, and I cannot tolerate any more. We have a small room to live in, only one room. I live
           there, my wife lives there, my twelve children live there, and my wife is obsessive. She has a few
           goats in the room and a dog also sleeps there. And it is becoming so ugly and so dirty. It stinks! And
           I cannot live any more. So I have come to ask for a separation."
               The magistrate said, "But don't you have any windows? Can't you open your windows?"
           He said, "What! And let my pigeons out?"

               When you are holding something you cannot open the windows, you cannot open the door; you
           will be afraid. And if you don't open the windows of the mind you will be in trouble -- because when
           you are alone in the ocean, fighting with the waves, a closed mind will be a blind mind. You will
           need all openness there, because only out of openness can the response be right.
               So Buddha says: DANA, generosity, sharing, has to be learned. While you are on this shore,
           learn as much sharing as possible. Share whatsoever you have to share, because nothing really
           belongs to you. Your possession is a crime. Whatsoever you possess or claim that you possess is a
           crime against the whole. You can, at the most, use, but you cannot claim possession. Things have
           existed when you were not here, things will be here when you are gone and completely forgotten.
           Who is the possessor? We come empty-handed, and we go empty-handed. So while you are in the
           world, don't become like fists; remain open-handed. An open-handed person is an open-minded
           person too. In fact, the hand is nothing but an extension of the mind.
               The right side of your mind is joined with your left hand, the left side of your mind is joined with
           your right hand. When you move your right hand your mind moves, when you move your left hand
           the other side of your mind moves. When your hand is like a closed fist, then your mind is also
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           closed like a fist. Yes, this expression 'open-handed' is beautiful: an openhanded man is also
           open-minded.
               So Buddha says: The first PARMITA, the quality that can take you beyond, is sharing. He does
           not mention what to share, because it is not important what you share. Whether you share a song, or
           a dance, or you share your love, or you share your experience, your meditation, your money, your
           house, your clothes, your body; that is not the point. But sharing should become essential.
               Ordinarily hoarding is essential. A hoarder will remain clinging to this shore; he cannot go to the
           other shore -- because a hoarder, in the first place, cannot leave this shore. All his hoarding belongs
           to this shore. See the point of it. Somebody says, "Come, there is a bigger house," but you will say,
           "First I will have to carry the treasures which I have hidden in this house. I cannot go right now. I
           have much involvement with this house. My whole life's savings are here. I will have to take it with
           me; then only can I come." But the other shore is such that you cannot take anything from this shore.
               This is a beautiful paradox: you cannot take anything from this shore, but if you are sharing
           enough, and if you share all that you have on this shore, you can carry a sharing mind. You cannot
           carry your house, you cannot carry your money, but you can carry your love, your compassion. And
           that compassion will be helpful.
               Buddha says: If you have love and compassion in your heart, existence also behaves in the same
           way. Existence always reflects you. If you share, existence shares with you. If you are hoarding, that
           means you are against existence. A hoarder is against, he's afraid, he does not trust -- "Who knows
           what is going to happen tomorrow?" He does not trust existence, he trusts his own bank balance. His
           trust is in things that he has created or that he has accumulated. He is not trusting of the vast, of the
           infinite.
               Buddha says: If you trust, then the existence also responds in the same way. Existence is a
           mirror... it echoes you. If you go as a hoarder then you will be in trouble, because then everywhere
           you will see the enemy: in the waves of the ocean, in the infinite journey. A thousand and one
           problems will arise and you will be at a loss. There will be no guide, there will be no guidebook, and
           you will be alone, absolutely nude and alone, with no hoardings of your own, no securities, no
           insurance. It will be difficult for you to go.
               Buddha says: You can go only when you have already dispossessed all that you have. Now, you
           can dispossess in two ways. You can dispossess only as a means, so that you can possess on the
           other shore -- but that is not true dispossession, that is again just a trick of the mind. That's what
           many Buddhist monks, Jain monks, Catholics and others are doing. They are ready to renounce, but
           their renunciation is out of calculation. It is not out of love, it is out of calculation. They calculate
           that nothing can be saved on this shore, so why not renounce it and save something on the other
           shore, in the other world? Money cannot be saved, it is going to go, so why not have virtue in your
           possession?
           But the possessiveness remains the same.
               Buddha says: Be non-possessive; possess neither on this shore nor the other. Be always sharing.
               So there is a very specific teaching. Buddha has said to his disciples that when you meditate and
           you come to beautiful spaces in your being, immediately share them. If there is nobody, then just
           close your eyes and shower that blessing on the whole existence. But don't become a possessor of it
           -- even of meditation, even of wisdom... don't become a possessor.
           There is a beautiful anecdote.

               A young man came to Buddha. He was attracted by Buddha's presence; by and by, he started
           meditating. But there was one problem. One day he came and he said, "There's only one problem --
           the problem is: you say that when meditation flowers, then you have to release all the fragrance to
           the whole world. I can do this with just one exception: I cannot shower it on my neighbor. I can do it
           on the whole of the world, but just give me permission not to shower it on my neighbor."
               Buddha laughed and he said, "You fool, that is the whole point! You can shower it on the whole
           universe because you are indifferent to the whole universe. You cannot shower it on your neighbor
           because you have an enmity. Love knows no enmity. First you shower on your neighbor; only then
           will the universe receive it. There is no other way. First shower on your enemy, first befriend your
           enemy, then the whole universe will befriend you."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's the meaning when Jesus says: Love your enemy. Love thy enemy as thyself. Jesus also
           says: Love thy neighbor as thyself. Maybe, in almost all cases, the enemy and the neighbor are the
           same person. They are not different people, the neighbor and the enemy are almost always the same
           person -- because he who is very far away from you cannot be your enemy. To be your enemy
           somebody has to be very close to you. To be an enemy somebody has to be just on the boundary of
           your being, has to be your neighbor. Then he pinches you, then his very existence becomes an
           anxiety, then he interferes, then his very existence is non-acceptable.
               Buddha says: Shower your meditation, otherwise you have missed. Now, this is a very new
           teaching -- Patanjali has not said so -- this is a very new insight. Buddha says: If you attain to
           meditative states, shower it immediately. If you don't shower it, then you have not attained to the
           space that you think you have attained. Then you are in a deception, you are tn an illusion -- because
           a meditative state is, by its very nature, sharing. If you cannot share, then you must be in a deception
           somewhere. Then the state is pseudo, then the space is not real. A real meditative space, by its very
           nature, wants to be shared. If your meditation does not become compassion, then somewhere,
           something has gone wrong.
               This is his first PARMITA, the quality on which you can ride and go to the other shore.
               But ordinarily we live very clinging, afraid. Our attachments are more to things than to persons,
           and our attachments to persons are also very self-motivated. There is no compassion in them.
               So many people come to me and they say, "I am in love with this woman or with this man," and I
           look into them, and I see that they are in love only with themselves. Nobody seems to be in love with
           anybody else -- hence so many problems. If you really love a woman or a man, love will be enough.
           There will be no problem out of it. Love knows no problems. If problems arise that simply shows
           that somewhere love is not true, or it is something else just pretending to be love. Everybody is
           trying to exploit the other. It is not a sharing thing; you are using the other as a means. Sooner or
           later the other starts feeling that too -- that he or she is being used as a commodity -- then there is
           rebellion, reaction, revenge, conflict.
               People you call 'lovers' are continuously trying to dominate each other: we possess things, we
           possess people. And in this race, this mad race for possessions, we lose our own selves; one is lost in
           his possessions. If you really want to know who you are, you will have to become a little loose from
           your possessions.

               A rabbi and a Catholic priest were fishing in separate boats some distance apart. The priest got a
           bite and was so nervous that he fell out of the boat. He sank twice, and as he was coming up the
           second time, the rabbi rowed over and called out, "Father, can I have your boat if you don't come up
           again?"

               We may not be so direct, but this is how we are: just waiting -- how can we possess more? just
           waiting -- how can our territory become a little bigger? Even if others suffer for it, even if they have
           to die for it, we are ready to sacrifice the whole world. For what? -- for things which you will not be
           able to carry to the other shore. Death will come and shatter all your arrangements.
               Buddha said: Before death takes things away from you, share them. At least there will remain
           some gratitude in people's hearts for you, at least they will remember you. Death will not be able to
           efface your memory completely. And by sharing you will become open. And by sharing you will
           become more trusting -- and trust becomes the boat to the other shore. Trust people, because people
           are nothing but a manifestation of the universe, a manifestation of the universal soul. When you
           share with somebody, in fact you are sharing with God -- because EVERYBODY is a manifestation
           of God. When you water a tree and the tree feels happy, and the leaves seem to be delighted, and the
           tree starts swaying and dancing in the breeze, it is God you have watered. God was thirsty in the tree;
           you have watered, and God is happy.
               Whatsoever you do to people, to trees, to animals, you are doing to existence. And of course
           existence repays a thousandfold. When you are totally alone and there is nobody with you, only
           existence all around, it will repay you. Buddha says: This is the first PARMITA.

               Oscar Muscovitz and Sidney Margolis had a profitable little business going, importing artificial
           flowers for the ladies' dress trade. Mainly, it was profitable due to their seldom, if ever, paying Uncle
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Sam taxes. But to their loft came, as it must to all men, the agents of the Internal Revenue Service.
           Finding Oscar in charge, as Sidney was on a buying trip, the first agent tried to explain the nature of
           the visit.
               "Mr. Oscar, you people are doing business and failing to report to the government."
               Oscar turned purple: "Report? What report? What is to report?" he demanded.
               "Well," the agent replied, "first of all, we would like to know about your dependents, that is, your
           family exemptions."
               Oscar proceeded to tell them all about Harriet, his wife, dependent number one, and all the
           trouble and aggravations she had been giving him lately; then he got to his son and described in great
           detail how Freddie had gotten this girl in trouble, and the ensuing problems from that scene;
           dependent number three, his daughter Marjorie, a good girl, but no beauty, and how much she was
           costing.
               Finally, after absorbing as much of the detail of Oscar's private life as he could stand, the agent
           said, "Mr. Oscar, let us forget all that for a moment and concentrate on the business itself."
           Replied Oscar, "Like what, exactly?"
               "Like how much business you are doing, what the assets are worth, how much profit you
           made...."
               "What!" screamed Oscar, hysterically. "Are you crazy? I don't even tell my partner that!"

               You don't give, even to those who are very intimate with you. You don't give, even to those who
           love you. You don't give to your father, your mother, your wife, your children; you simply don't
           give. You don't know the language of giving. You know only one language: how to get more, how to
           get more, how to get from everybody else. You know only one way of thinking, and that is get-think.
               Buddha says: Learn give-think. Learn the ways of giving and you will flower. That flowering,
           that fragrance, will follow you. That will be one companion on the infinite pilgrimage.

           The second is SHILA.
               SHILA means discipline, SHILA means grace in living. Buddhists have misinterpreted SHILA in
           many ways; they think SHILA means a rigid character. It does not mean that. The very word means:
           a graceful life, a life that has grace in it, elegance. And what life can have grace in it? -- only a life of
           compassion, love, gratitude; only a life that is responsible, a life that cares for others. Now, you can
           be non-violent, but it is not necessary that your non-violence will be a grace. I have seen so many
           Jain monks: they are non-violent, but very ungraceful; the beauty is missing. And the fruit is the
           proof of the tree... and there is no other proof. If they were nonviolent there would arise a
           tremendous beauty: their eyes would show it, their very vibe would show it. There would be a
           constant soundless music around them -- but it is not there. Everything seems to be dull and dead.
           They are nonviolent, but their non-violence is not graceful. It has not happened spontaneously, it has
           been forced. Their non-violence has a violent element in it; it has been violently forced. They have
           tried hard to become non-violent, they have managed somehow to become non-violent, but the
           non-violence is not like a natural flowering, it is cultivated.
               The Buddhist word shila is very beautiful; it means graceful.
               There can be two types of stillness. You can force yourself according to Yoga methods, you can
           learn a certain posture. By and by, you can manage to force your body into that posture. First it will
           be uncomfortable; by and by the body adjusts. The body has tremendous capacity to adjust to any
           situation. Then you can force your body to sit unmoving. And if you go on doing it, by and by, after
           a few months you will become like a Buddha-statue. But that will be violence, and there will be no
           grace in it. Deep down you will be boiling; deep down there will be hell-fire; deep down, you have
           not changed. How can you change just by changing the body? The real phenomenon has to be just
           otherwise: the within has to change, then the outward thing follows. And THEN it has grace.
               It is not a question of forcing the periphery -- because the center will not be affected at all by
           forcing the periphery. You can keep quiet; that does not mean you are quiet. But if you are quiet that
           certainly means you can keep quiet. This difference has to be understood. This is one of the most
           vital distinctions in a person's religious life: the Way is not from out to in, the Way is from in to out.
           Don't force things from the outside, and don't think that by changing your body and your outward
           demeanor you can change your inner qualities. No, it doesn't happen that way. Change the inner, and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the outward follows. Then there is grace.
                And Buddha says: The second parmita is grace in living, a discipline that has arisen out of
           understanding.
                The word 'discipline' is meaningful. It comes from the same root as 'disciple'. It means: readiness
           to learn.'Disciple' means: one who is very ready to learn, very open to learn. When one is open to
           learn that means one is very aware, because learning is possible only when you are aware. When you
           are not aware you cannot learn anything. People who are aware can learn -- everywhere, anywhere.
                Just the other day I was reading about a Sufi mystic, Sibli. Sibli was asked, "Who guided you on
           the Path? Who was your first Master?" And the questioner was surprised, because Sibli said, "A dog.
           One day I saw him almost dead with thirst, standing by the water's edge. Every time he looked at his
           reflection in the water he was frightened and withdrew, because he thought it was another dog.
           Finally, such was his necessity that he cast away fear and leapt into the water, at which point the
           other dog vanished. The dog found that the obstacle, which was himself, the barrier between himself
           and that which he was seeking, melted away. In this same way my own obstacle vanished when I
           knew what I took to be my own self was just a reflection, not the reality. And my Way was first
           shown to me by the behavior of a dog. He was my first Master."
                A man of understanding learns from everywhere. A man of understanding learns and becomes a
           disciple. A discipline arises.
                And Buddha says: Unless you have discipline, the capacity to learn, to receive -- the awareness --
           you will not be able to go to the other shore. Knowledge will not help, but. the capacity to learn will
           help. And the difference is clear: knowledge is borrowed; the capacity to learn has to arise in you. It
           is your capacity. You cannot borrow the capacity to learn. You can borrow knowledge; knowledge is
           cheap. The capacity to learn means a great transformation in your being: you will have to drop the
           ego and you will have to drop accumulating. Knowledge you can accumulate, information you can
           accumulate; learning is not accumulation. You never accumulate learning, you simply remain
           learning. No treasure arises out of it. It is just like a mirror: something comes before it, it reflects it.
           When the thing has moved it remains quiet -- again a mirror, again simple, innocent. It does not
           collect. You cannot ask a mirror, "How many people have looked into you?" He does not collect, he
           is simply a mirror... he mirrors. Learning is like a mirror, and knowledge is like a photo-plate. It also
           mirrors, but only once. Then it is caught with the reflection, then it is destroyed.
           Buddha says: SHILA IS the second PARMITA.

               The third is SHANTI. SHANTI means patience. Of course, the journey is vast, and you cannot
           be in a hurry. If you are in a hurry you will never be able to move to the other shore. The journey is
           timeless; great patience is needed, infinite patience is needed. NIRVANA cannot be something
           instant.
               Sometimes people come -- very foolish people -- and they say, "I have come only for three days.
           Is meditation possible?" They don't know what they are asking; even three lives are not enough. And
           when you are in such a hurry, even three hundred lives will not be enough -- because in such hurry
           your mind is very tense. Slow down, relax a little bit. Don't be impatient -- and then it is possible.
           Maybe it can happen in three days. You see the point? Try to see the point: it can happen in three
           days, it can happen in three seconds, it may happen in a split-second -- but then you will need
           oceanic patience. How much time it takes will depend on how much patience you have. The more
           patience you have, the less time will be needed; the less patience you have, the more time will be
           needed. If you really want to have it, drop all impatience. Forget all about when it is going to
           happen. You simply enjoy the moment. Enjoying the moment, being totally in it, one day suddenly it
           is there. In fact, it has never left you; it was always there. But you were so much in a rush that you
           could not see it. The day you relax and sit silently in your room, suddenly you become aware of the
           presence. It is there, the whole room is full of it. The whole world is full of God; yes, every bush is
           afire.
               The Jews have the beautiful story about Moses going to the mountain, Sinai, and there Moses
           saw a green bush afire. He was puzzled, he could not believe -- because the bush was not burning
           and the fire was there. And then God spoke to him: "Don't be afraid, Moses. I am your God, your
           Lord. This fire is MY fire." And, of course, how can God's fire burn a bush? The bush is also God's
           fire. Moses saw one bush afire on the mountain, and I would like to tell you: every bush is afire.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           There is no need to go to Sinai, just look in this garden -- every bush is afire with God because all
           greenery is His fire, all life is His fire, each breath is His fire.
               Patience... then suddenly you start feeling He is present. Impatient, and you are rushing madly,
           and in your mad rush you cannot see. It is almost as if you carry a beautiful camera, and running
           around you try to take some pictures, and you go on rushing and running. What is going to happen?
           -- you won't have any pictures, you may have only a few destroyed plates. The whole film will be
           just a chaos. When you are taking a picture you have to hold the camera absolutely still; it should not
           be shaky. Then a clearcut picture comes out of it.
               When you are not rushing anywhere and your inner being is just still, herenow, God reflects.
           Then all chaos disappears, all questions disappear. Buddha says: SHANTI, patience, is the third
           PARMITA.

               The fourth is VIDYA. VIDYA has many meanings: it means energy, it means courage. Certainly
           courage is needed, and certainly energy is needed.
               One has to be continuously aware that one's life energy should not be wasted unnecessarily. One
           should not have leakages. We are leaking; we are NEVER a reservoir of energy. Infinite energy is
           given to you, but you are a leaking vessel. In every way, you dissipate energy, you never sit silently.
               Buddha used to call his meditation ZAN. ZAN IS a Pali term for the Sanskrit DHYANA. From
           ZAN came the Chinese CHAN and the Japanese ZEN. In Japan Zen became the crescendo; what
           Buddha had planted as a seed flowered in Japan, came to its climax. What Buddha had started came
           to a conclusion. And Zen people say: Meditation is nothing but sitting silently, doing nothing. That's
           what Buddha was doing -- doing nothing -- when he attained. That's what he was doing sitting under
           the Bodhi Tree. What was he doing? -- he was not doing anything; he was simply sitting so silently
           that there was no leakage of energy. That energy started rising higher and higher and higher -- that
           energy was reaching peaks. And then the energy rushed and touched the SAHASRAR, the seventh
           chakra; it came to the ultimate. Suddenly there was a flowering; Buddha became a lotus flower.
               You have the same energy but you go on throwing it. Whenever you have energy, a great desire
           to throw it away arises in.you. You may call it 'sexual urge' or you may call it something else; it
           makes no difference. But whenever you have energy a great desire arises to relieve oneself.
               In the west sex is thought of as a release. In the east we have taken the sexual energy in a totally
           different perspective: there is no need to release it, it is your energy. Because you go on releasing it,
           you remain empty. If you allow it sometimes to gather, if you simply let it gather inside you, the
           sheer quantity comes to a point when there is a qualitative change. The gathered energy rises higher
           and higher, the level goes on becoming higher and higher, and you touch higher altitudes of your
           being. A point comes when the energy has touched to the climax of your being. That's what
           SAMADHI IS.
               And Buddha says: VIDYA IS the fourth PARMITA. One should learn how not to dissipate
           energy. Remember, he is not telling you to become a miser -- because he has given you the first
           PARMITA: never be a miser. When he says, "Gather energy," he is not teaching you any
           miserliness, he is simply teaching you wisdom. He knows how it happened to him.
               Share whatsoever you have, but don't leak. Leaking is not sharing. That's why I see that two
           persons can make love to each other, and still there may be no sharing. Both leaked. They use the
           other just as a help to leak, that's all. Sharing is totally different; it is not a leaking. And this has to be
           remembered: when you leak, you simply lose, nothing is gained out of it; when you share, you give
           something very ordinary, and you gain something very extraordinary. In sharing you never lose.

               The fifth, Buddha calls DHYANA: meditation, silence, sitting, doing nothing.
               Let that penetrate your life more and more. Whenever you have time, whenever you have
           nothing to do, don't create unnecessary, unneeded occupations. Just sit silently, watch life flow by.
           Look at the trees or at the stars, or just look at your nose, or at your navel; or close your eyes and just
           look at the inner silence, or inner thoughts. Just be... and let things pass; you sit silently.
               Buddha says: If you can sit silently for even a few moments without doing anything, glimpses
           will start coming to you.
               Now, modern psychologists also agree that if a person can be allowed just to sit silently, that's
           enough. Nothing else is needed. All else is just a help to sit. Somebody gives you a mantra and says,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Sit silently and do the mantra." Now there is much research work going on about Transcendental
           Meditation. And Mahesh Yogi thinks it is because of the mantra that things happen; that is not true.
           It is just because you sit silently for twenty minutes that things happen. Mantra is not relevant: you
           can sit without the mantra and the same thing will happen. Maybe mantra gives you an excuse to sit
           -- because you are so foolish that you cannot sit, you have to have something to do. So if somebody
           says, "Say, 'Ram, Ram, Ram,'" you have some excuse to sit silently for twenty minutes because you
           are doing 'Ram, Ram, Ram.' Whatsoever results come -- your blood pressure goes low, your
           breathing becomes more silent, there are changes in the oxygen content of your body, even your
           heart beats with a different rhythm, you feel very relaxed, the alpha waves are created, and out of
           those alpha waves you feel very quiet and refreshed -- but it has nothing to do with the mantra, or
           with any mantra in particular. You can do, 'Ram, Ram'; you can do 'Aum, Aum'; you can do, 'Allah,
           Allah', or 'Ave Maria', or anything. Or you can create your own mantra; you can repeat your own
           name -- even that will do. In fact, it has nothing to do with any mantra; it has nothing to do with
           mantra as such. If you can simply sit for twenty minutes without doing anything, the same will be the
           result. So whatsoever psychological investigations have revealed about TM, it is nothing about TM,
           it is simply about sitting silently.
                Just sit silently and you will see: you are growing a new quality to your being; you are becoming
           more collected, more centered, more fulfilled. Your face will change, your eyes will change, you will
           have a serenity around you. Even others will start feeling your serenity. Even they will start feeling
           that something has happened to you -- because wherever you move you will bring a certain cool
           breeze with you. And the situations will remain the same.
                Somebody will insult you but now you will be able to laugh; no anger will arise. Not that you are
           controlling it; in fact, it is not arising. You can see the whole absurdity of it. You can see the point
           that that man, that poor man who is angry and insulting you, is in bad shape. It has nothing to do
           with you. You have to be more compassionate to him. You will feel compassion rather than being
           angry. Rather than being destructive to him, you will feel much pity for him... a totally different
           quality.
                Worries may be the same -- they continue. Through your meditation the world is not going to
           change, the world will be the same. But by your meditation YOU will be different, and when you are
           different the world is different, because it is your world; it depends on your vision, on your
           interpretation. Everything will be the same, but nothing will be the same anymore -- because you
           have changed.
                And Buddha says: On this lonely journey to the other shore, you will need to learn how to sit
           silently very much.
                Ordinarily we are almost obsessively occupied. You cannot sit silently, you have to do
           something. Doing is a madness. If you have nothing to do you feel at a loss, you start boiling within:
           you start reading the same newspaper again, or you go and start gossiping to the neighbor, and you
           have talked about these things a thousand and one times, and again you are there. You have to do
           something. You cannot remain quiet, you cannot remain unoccupied.
                In the west you have a very absurd proverb: The empty mind is the devil's workshop. This must
           have been invented by the devil himself -- because the empty mind is God's workshop. This must
           have been invented by the devil so that nobody remains empty and the devil can continue his work
           well. If you are really empty the devil cannot enter you, because thoughts function as horses for the
           devil: he cannot come. Without thought, evil cannot enter you. Without thought, there is no
           possibility of ANYTHING entering into you. All that enters into you from the outside enters through
           thought. When there is no thought the outside disappears; you are just an inside. That's what I said in
           the beginning: truth is subjectivity.

               The sixth PARMITA Buddha calls PRAGYA. PRAGYA means wisdom. It is different from
           knowledge: knowledge is that which is not based on your own experience, wisdom is that which is
           based on your own experience. Rely only on that which you have experienced. Don't rely on
           anything else -- otherwise when you are left alone, all your knowledge will disappear -- and nothing
           will be left. That which has come from others is not going to be with you when others have left you.
           Only that which is yours will be yours.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A disciple was leaving his Master. It was a dark night and it had become late. The disciple was a
           little apprehensive because he had to pass five miles of dense forest to reach to his village. The
           Master saw that fear. He said, "Are you afraid of the darkness?"
                The disciple said, "Yes, I am afraid, but I couldn't gather courage to say so."
                The Master said, "Don't be afraid." And the Master lit a candle, gave the candle to the disciple,
           and said, "This will do. You go."
                When the disciple was going out of the door, the Master suddenly blew the candle out. The
           disciple said, "I don't understand what you have done. Just a moment before you lit the candle for me
           with such compassion. Now why are you so cruel? Why have you blown it out?"
                The Master laughed. He said, "My candle will not be of much use to you."

                Buddha has said: APPO DEEPO BHAVA -- 'Be a light unto yourself.'
                "The night is dark, I know, and I would like to help you in every way; but I cannot do anything
           that is impossible. Only your light will help you in the dark night, so rely on yourself. Go with my
           blessings. Go into the dark night with my blessings. Rely on your own consciousness. Remain alert,
           let that be your light, because nobody else's light can help you."
                This is a beautiful parable, of infinite significance.
                Wisdom is that which is your own experience -- remember it. And all that you have gathered
           from others, throw it! burn it! That which is yours is true; that which is not yours is untrue. A truth is
           truth only if you have experienced it. Even a truth becomes a lie when you have not experienced it.
           When I say a truth to you it is truth when I say it. When you hear it it becomes a lie -- because for
           you it will not be based on your experience. So drop all that luggage that you have been carrying: it
           is useless, it is not going to help.
                Buddha says: In this journey to the other shore, you drop all the weight that you have gathered
           from others. Just take that much which is yours. Of course, you cannot drop it. You will have to take
           it; there is no way to drop it. Can you drop anything that you have known? Can you drop it? How
           can you unknow what you have known? -- there is no way. If you have experienced something in
           meditation, how can you drop it? You cannot drop it... because by experiencing it, it has become part
           of your being. That's what PRAGYA is. PRAGYA is some experience that has become part of your
           being, is no longer a possession. It is just your very being. And how can you carry that which you
           have not experienced? You cannot carry it. Only that is yours, which has been experienced by you.
                Beliefs have to be dropped. Only wisdom can be of help.

           There is a Hassidic story:
               Without telling his teacher anything of what he was doing, a disciple of Rabbi Baruch had
           enquired into the nature of God, and in his thinking had penetrated further and further until he was
           tangled in doubts and what had been certain up to that point became uncertain. When Rabbi Baruch
           noticed that the young man no longer came to him as usual, he went to the city where he lived,
           entered his room unexpectedly and said to him, "I know what is hidden in your heart. You have
           passed through the fifty gates of reason. You begin with a question and think and think up an
           answer... and the first gate opens. And to a new question, and again you plummet, find the solution,
           fling open the second gate, and look into a new question. On and on like this, deeper and deeper,
           until you have forced open the fiftieth gate. There you stare at a question whose answer no man has
           ever found -- for if there were one who knew it, there would no longer be any freedom of choice. But
           if you dare to probe still further, you plunge into the abyss."
               "So I should go back all the way to the very beginning?" cried the disciple.
               "If you turn, you will not be going back," said the rabbi. "You will be standing beyond the last
           gate. You will stand in faith."

           That's what Buddha calls wisdom.
              Belief is from others, faith is your own. Don't be deceived by dictionaries: dictionaries say faith
           means belief, belief means faith. They don't mean that. They are not synonymous; they are really
           opposite to each other, antagonistic. Belief is just faith in appearance; deep down, there is doubt,
           because you have not experienced -- how can the doubt disappear? You are simply pretending that
           you know. Without knowing the doubt will remain there deep inside your heart. One day or other
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you will have to face it. And the time that you wasted in repressing it is a sheer wastage. In the first
           place, you should have encountered it.
               Doubt encountered, not repressed, disappears. Then arises faith. Faith is the Jewish term for the
           same thing that Buddha calls pragya, wisdom. By belief you trust others, but others cannot go with
           you. Don't lean on others: that is Buddha's fundamental message. Lean on your own self, because
           you will be left alone in the final stage, and only your own eyes, your own wisdom, will be of help.
               Another Hassid story I would like to share with you....

               A woman came to Rabbi Israel, the Magid of Kosnitz, and told him with many tears that she had
           been married a dozen years and still had not borne a son.
               "What are you willing to do about it?" he asked her.
           She did not know what to say.
               "My mother, " so the Magid told her, "was aging and still had no child. Then she heard that the
           holy Baal Shem was stopping over in Ept in the course of a journey. She hurried to his inn and bade
           him pray that she might bear a son.
               "'What are you willing to do about it?' Baal Shem asked her.
               "'My husband is a poor bookbinder,' she replied, 'but I have one fine thing that I shall give to the
           Rabbi.'
               "She went home as fast as she could and fetched her good cap, her katinka, which was carefully
           stored away in a chest. But when she returned to the inn with it, she heard that Baal Shem had
           already left for Magditch.
               "She immediately set out after him, and since she had no money to ride, she walked from town to
           town with her katinka, until she came to Magditch.
               "The Baal Shem took the cap and hung it on the wall. 'It is well,' he said. "My mother walked all
           the way back from town to town until she reached Ept. A year later, I was born."
               "I too," cried the woman, "will bring you a good cap of mine so that I may get a son."
               "That won't work," said the Magid. "You heard the story; my mother had no story to go by."

               Old answers won't help, others' answers won't help. You cannot repeat in life; life is
           unrepeatable. You can read the VEDAS and the KORAN and the BIBLE: it won't help. It may help
           the RISHI who wrote the VEDA, but it won't help you -- because it is a borrowed thing to you. The
           rishi had never read any VEDA, Mohammed had never read any KORAN. YOU cannot have that
           which Mohammed gained, because he had never read any KORAN. And you are trying to gain it by
           reading the KORAN? No, it is not possible.
               Buddha says: Remember, life is unrepeatable, truth is unrepeatable. Nobody else's answer is
           going to help, you have to find your answer. Depend on only your experience. Sort it out in your
           mind; all that is not yours, throw it out. Go and throw it in the river. Keep only that which you know,
           which you know on your own, and that will become a provision, a PARMITA.

               The seventh is UPAI. UPAI means: skillful means. Buddha emphasizes very much that all means
           are not good; only very skillful means have to be used. What does he mean by 'skillful'? -- he means
           an UPAI: a method which can be dropped when its use is finished. Otherwise one can become too
           burdened by the method itself. He used to say: You use a boat to go to the other shore, but then you
           leave it. You don't carry it on your head. You don't say, "This boat has brought me to this shore, so
           now how can I be so ungrateful and leave it here? I will carry it on my head for my whole life."
               Buddha says: Use things, and drop them when their work is finished. When you have utilized
           them, go ahead. Leave them behind.
               All methods have to be dropped by and by. Ultimately, finally, before you reach to the other
           shore, you have to drop all -- meditations, disciplines -- everything has to be dropped. So be very
           skillful, otherwise there is a tendency to be caught by the method.
               I know people... even a person like Ramakrishna was in a difficulty. He used Mother Kali for his
           meditations, then he became obsessed with it. Then whenever he would close his eyes, Kali would
           be standing there. Her image would come... beautiful... but this was trouble. Now he could not be
           alone. Now there was no way to be totally silent; the Mother was always standing there, so there was
           always company. And when the Mother is standing, of course, Ramakrishna had to say something:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           praise her, sing a song, pray, do something. He became very disturbed: "What to do about it?" And
           he himself had cultivated it. For years he had cultivated it, for years he had prayed before the image,
           saying, "Come into my dreams." For years he had been asking, crying and weeping, "Mother, when I
           close my eyes, why don't you come to me?" Then it started -- not that the Mother heard; there is
           nobody to hear. Not that the Mother took compassion: there is nobody. But constantly asking,
           constantly remembering, he became hypnotized. It was an auto-hypnosis, but tremendously
           powerful; he was a powerful man. Now Kali was always standing there -- in the night, in the day -- it
           was difficult to have any privacy now. Even if he went in, Kali was there. Inner space also became
           occupied; he became burdened. But how to drop Kali? -- even the idea to drop her was difficult.
           Then he asked a very great saint who was passing by. He told him, "Something has to be done now."
               The saint could see the point: he had used a method but had used it unskillfully, so he had
           become too obsessed with the method. It was good, it could have been used, but one should always
           remember that every method has to be dropped one day, so don't become too attached. Now he had
           become too attached.
               The saint told him, "You close your eyes and when Kali appears, take a sword from inside and
           cut her in two."
               Ramakrishna said, "What are you saying? Have you gone mad? How can I cut Mother Kali? No,
           that is not possible. I cannot do it, I cannot even think about it!"
               Then the saint said, "Then you will be always obsessed with this idea. You will never attain to
           real SAMADHI, because real SAMADHI is when consciousness is absolutely pure and there is no
           content in it. The mirror is absolutely pure, nothing reflects." He said, "Then it is for you to decide."
               Now Ramakrishna was in much doubt about what to do. He wanted to attain to SAMADHI, but
           this attachment was coming in the way. Finally he decided: "Okay," he said, "I will do it. But from
           where to get the sword?"
               And the saint laughed and said, "From where you have got your Mother Kali, from the same
           place! It is imagination, so imagine a sword -- and imagination can cut imagination. This Mother
           Kali is your imagination, your sword is your imagination. And cutting, and Mother Kali falling apart,
           is also imagination. To destroy imagination, a real sword is not needed. For only an unreal thing, an
           unreal thing will do."
               Ramakrishna tried many times, but would not succeed. The saint got fed-up. He said, "Now
           tomorrow I am leaving. This is the last time. To help you I will do one thing: I'm going to bring a
           piece of glass, and when the Mother Kali arises"... because whenever the Mother Kali would be
           there, immediately you could see it from outside also: Ramakrishna would start swaying and tears of
           happiness would start rolling down his face.... He said, "When I see that now you are in your
           hypnosis and the Mother Kali is there, I will cut you on your third-eye center with my piece of glass.
           Blood will flow. At that moment, this is to remind you not to forget the sword. As I am cutting you,
           you cut your Mother Kali. You try it, otherwise tomorrow I will go." He was threatening to go, and it
           was difficult to find a man like him. His name was Totapuri, a very rare PARAMAHANSA.
               Ramakrishna tried, crying and weeping, and when Totapuri cut his third-eye center, he also took
           courage and cut the Mother inside. Suddenly, all disappeared, Mother and sword and all. He was in
           absolute silence.
               Buddha says: Use all means and methods in a very unattached way, so when the time is right to
           drop them, you can drop them. Everything has to be dropped.

               The eighth is PRANIHAN, surrender. And Buddha says: Remember, you have to do much, but
           the ultimate always happens when you are not doing anything. It happens in a let-go. PRANIHAN IS
           the state of let-go. You do all that you can do; it will help, it will prepare the ground, but it cannot
           cause the truth to happen. When you have done everything that you can do, then relax, then nothing
           more is left to be done. In that relaxing, in that let-go, the truth happens. Truth is not something that
           we can bring. It comes, it descends, it happens; it is nothing of your doing.

              The ninth, BALA, is power. After surrender is power. Now, see the difference.
              At the fourth Buddha said VIDYA, energy. It was not power, it was simply energy, human
           energy. Now after surrender there is BALA: power, divine power. When you have surrendered and
           your ego is dropped, suddenly you are full of unknown power. You have become a receptacle.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                And the tenth, GHYANA, IS seeing into the nature of things, or awareness. Buddha uses the
           word 'GHYANA' in a very specific way: seeing into the nature of things. When you have
           surrendered and the power of the divine or the power of the whole has descended on you, then there
           is that encounter, that vision, that realization -- NIRVANA.

              These ten are the PARMITAS. They have to be practised.
              Now, the sutra. The sutra is to remind you of how you have to work for these ten PARMITAS.
              THE BUDDHA SAID.
              THOSE WHO STUDY THE DOCTRINE OF THE BUDDHAS WILL DO WELL TO BELIEVE AND
              OBSERVE ALL THAT IS TAUGHT BY THEM.
              IT IS LIKE UNTO HONEY; IT IS SWEET WITHIN, IT IS SWEET WITHOUT, IT IS SWEET
              THROUGHOUT; SO IS THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING.


               This is one of the things to be understood. This is very significant, and Buddha has repeated so
           many times, "My teaching is like honey; sweet within, sweet without, sweet throughout; sweet in the
           beginning, sweet in the middle, sweet in the end. My teaching is like honey." He has repeated that a
           thousand and one times. Why? There is a very significant message in it.
               Ordinarily, whenever you feel happy, afterwards comes unhappiness. When you indulge you
           have a glimpse of happiness; then there is pain and frustration. So it is sweet in the beginning, but
           bitter in the end. Seeing this, many people have tried the reverse, the extreme opposite. That's what
           ascetics do: they say, "Fasting, austerities, discipline, is painful in the beginning, but very sweet in
           the end." These are the two ways in the world: the way of the worldly man who hankers for
           pleasure.... Even if in the end it brings pain, it's okay:"We will see. Right now, why miss?" Even if a
           drop of honey is there, he's ready to suffer for years for it. The worldly man thinks of the momentary
           and suffers for it.
               The so-called religious man, seeing this absurdity, stands on his head. He turns the whole thing
           upside-down. He says, "If in the world this is experienced, if you enter into a blissful, peaceful,
           happy state, in the end you become frustrated. The happiness is for a moment, and for years
           afterwards you remain frustrated." He tries the other: he says, "First I will move into pain -- I will
           fast, I will move away from all pleasure, I will go to the Himalayas, I will stand in the cold, or in the
           hot sun, I will move into pain myself -- and then comes pleasure." Yes, that's true. It happens
           because pain and pleasure are two aspects of the same coin. If first you look at one side, you will
           have to look at the other side later on.
               Buddha says: My teaching is totally different -- it is neither of the worldly nor of the
           other-worldly; it is neither of one extreme or of another extreme; it is sweet in the beginning, it is
           sweet in the middle, it is sweet in the end. He says: It is not a question of choosing between pain and
           pleasure. If you choose pleasure, pain will come; if you choose pain, pleasure will come. But on the
           whole both are there.
               "My teaching," Buddha says, "is of choiceless awareness." You don't choose. You should not
           choose -- neither pain nor pleasure; then the whole coin drops out of your hand. Then pleasure and
           pain both disappear, and that which is left behind is what bliss is, or peace, or serenity... but it is
           sweet.

              IT IS LIKE UNTO HONEY; SWEET WITHIN, SWEET WITHOUT, SWEET THROUGHOUT; SO IS
              THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING.
              THE BUDDHA SAID: O MONKS, YOU MUST NOT WALK ON THE WAY AS THE OX THAT IS
              ATTACHED TO A WHEEL. HIS BODY MOVES, BUT HIS HEART IS NOT WILLING.


               If your heart is not willing then there is no need. Then the time has not come for you to move on
           the Way or to go in search for the truth. Then you still need to live in the world and get a little more
           mature. But don't go against the heart, because that going is useless. If your heart goes with you into
           the search for truth, only then go.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HIS BODY MOVES, BUT HIS HEART IS NOT WILLING. BUT WHEN YOUR HEART IS IN ACCORD
              WITH THE WAY, THERE IS NO NEED OF TROUBLING YOURSELVES ABOUT YOUR OUTWARD
              DEMEANOR.


               Buddha says: If your heart is ready, if you have experienced life and the pain of it, if you have
           suffered life and understood the frustration of it and your heart is ready to move to the other shore --
           you have experienced this shore and have found that it is just empty, just illusory -- if you are ready
           to move to the other shore without looking backwards, not even a slight desire for this shore has
           remained in your being, then you are ready.
               Then Buddha says: You are free of all discipline. Then there is no need; then this much is
           enough: your heart is in accord with the Way. Discipline will come; this is enough. Discipline is
           needed because your heart is not in accord with the Way. "But then," Buddha says, "that discipline is
           not of much use."
               Remember, Buddha is not ready to take you on the Way if you are immature. Maturity is a must.
           And what do I mean by 'maturity'? By 'maturity' I mean: a man who has looked into life and found
           that this is just a dream. When the reality that you think is real starts looking like a dream, you are
           mature. Then it is very simple to move to the other shore alone -- there will be no difficulty; your
           heart will be in accord with the Way. You can go dancing, you can go singing, you can go
           laughing... you can go joyous, cheerful. You will not go reluctantly, you will not go resistantly, you
           will not go against yourself. In fact, you will not be going; you will simply be moving with the
           stream, like timber.

              THE BUDDHA SAID.
              THOSE WHO PRACTISE THE WAY MIGHT WELL FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF AN OX THAT
              MARCHES THROUGH THE DEEP MIRE CARRYING A HEAVY LOAD. HE'S TIRED, BUT HIS
              STEADY GAZE, LOOKING FORWARD, WILL NEVER RELAX UNTIL HE COMES OUT OF THE
              MIRE, AND IT IS ONLY THEN THAT HE TAKES A RESPITE. O MONKS, REMEMBER THAT
              PASSIONS AND SINS ARE MORE THAN THE FILTHY MIRE, AND THAT YOU CAN ESCAPE
              MISERY ONLY BY EARNESTLY AND STEADILY THINKING OF THE WAY.


               Buddha says: First, great effort is needed, and then great surrender too. That is the meaning of
           the Zen people saying that 'effortless effort' is needed. A great harmony is needed of effort and
           no-effort. If you rely on your effort, you will never reach; if you rely only on God's grace, you will
           never reach. The possibility to reach arises only when you have done all that you can do. Only at that
           moment does the universe shower on you, not before it. Then you can relax.
               So Buddha says: First do each thing that you can do. Never ask for help before that. Don't be
           lazy, don't be lethargic; bring all your energy into action. Become totally involved in the spiritual
           work. Of course, remember also that this is not going to give you the ultimate. A moment will come
           when you will have to surrender. But... you can surrender only when you have done all that you can
           do. God helps those who help themselves.
               There are two types of people. The.first type says, "If it is going to happen by His grace, it will
           happen. When He needs, or when He wants, it will happen. I will have to wait." Their waiting is
           impotent, their waiting is not of worth. They have not earned it, they have not taken even a step
           towards God. It is not going to happen.
               Then there are egoistic people; they say, "It is going to happen by our effort. There is no God,
           there is no grace, there is no possibility of the universe helping us; the universe is absolutely
           indifferent to human beings. We have to do all that we can do, and it is going to happen only by our
           effort."
               Buddha says: These people also will never reach. They are too egoistic. The first type is too
           lethargic, the second type is too active, and the reality is just in the middle: be active and yet ready to
           surrender.
               These are the differences among the three religions in India. Hinduism is of the first type,
           Jainism is of the second type, Buddhism is of the third type.
               Hinduism believes it will happen by God's grace; that whenever He wills, it will happen: Nothing
           can happen without His will. Not that what they say is wrong, but they don't earn it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Jainism says: It will happen by our will, our power. There is no grace, no help coming from the
           universe, so we have to fight and struggle. So Jainism becomes a very egoistic trip,
               Buddha says: You have to do all that you can do. Be a Jaina first, and then be a Hindu. That is
           the greatest synthesis ever brought to the world: be a Jaina first, and then be a H indu.
               In Buddha the whole east came to a synthesis. Buddha's contribution to the world is unique. And
           that's my teaching too: be a Jaina first, and then be a Hindu. First make all the effort that you can, go
           to the very end that you can, and then relax. Then you have earned; now the grace will be coming.
           Effort plus surrender, struggle plus surrender, brings one home.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                   Chapter #10
                                         Chapter title: The bear of reason
           9 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611090
              ShortTitle: TRANS410
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins



              the first question:


              OSHO, YOU ARE MY FAVORITE MEDITATION. DO BUDDHAS MIND BEING GAZED ON FOR
              MORE THAN THREE SECONDS AT A TIME?


              The question is from Maneesha. It is tremendously important to understand.

               JESUS was taking his leave from his disciples. The last night, when he was going to be arrested,
           breaking the bread he said, "This is my flesh, this is my meat; you eat it." Pouring the wine he said to
           his disciples, "This is my blood; you drink it." What he is saying looks very crude, but the meaning
           is very significant: a disciple has to become a cannibal. He has to eat his Master, his Master's vibes.
           The very presence of the Master has to be swallowed, chewed, digested. A Buddha exists only for
           that: so that you can eat him. Of course, it depends on you what will happen after you have eaten a
           certain vibe. The transformation will happen within you; you will have to be very careful.
               There are people who eat food, the best of foods you can give to them, and they will only
           produce manure and nothing else. There are people who will produce something more: thinking,
           philosophy, mind. There are a few more -- very rare -- who will produce something still higher:
           poetry, music, love, And there are very rare souls who will produce something even higher: prayer,
           meditation. And there are only a few, few and far between in the history of humanity, who will eat
           the same food you eat and will produce God, or NIRVANA. It is the same food that we eat. The poet
           also eats the same food that you eat, but something becomes poetry out of that food. An essential
           part of the food becomes poetry; it bursts out in song. A dancer also eats the same thing as a soldier,
           but the soldier only produces violence and the dancer produces grace. It depends on you how you
           will use my presence.
               Meditate as much as you can; that is the most basic thing -- everything else is secondary. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no limit to it: as much as you can digest, digest. There is no excess in it, there cannot be. The
           more you do, the more you will feel you can do still more. Until your whole being is transformed
           into the same kind of presence as your Master, go on meditating.
           Another scene....
                Bodhidharma lived in China for many years, and then one day he decided that now the time had
           come for him to go back to his home. He wanted to return to the Himalayas, he wanted to die in the
           Himalayas. He gathered his disciples, the four foremost disciples, and he asked them, "What is
           truth?"
                The first said something which was philosophical, logical, very systematic, but Bodhidharma
           was not happy. He looked very sad. He said, "You have only my skin."
                He asked the other; he said something. His answer was a little better than the first one: more
           intuitive, less intellectual, more poetic, more musical. Bodhidharma said, "You have my flesh"; but
           still he was not very happy.
                He asked the third the same question: what is truth? The third was still better; he said something
           which was more existential, had a glimpse of realization in it, just a ray of light. Bodhidharma was
           not unhappy, but not yet happy. He said, "You have my bones."
                And then he asked the fourth, and the fourth said nothing. The fourth answered with silence.
           Bodhidharma looked into his eyes: they were like an infinite abyss, a bottomless abyss. And the
           disciple fell unto his feet without uttering a word. Bodhidharma must have danced in his innermost
           being. He was tremendously happy; at least one had understood him totally. He said, "You have my
           marrow, my very soul."
                These four were all cannibals; they were eating the Master. But one produced only the skin; the
           other produced flesh; the third produced bones; the fourth exactly reflected the Master, gave birth to
           the Master again in his being.
                So while you are here with me, let it be your deepest meditation. I speak to you -- not that there
           is something to be told to you. It is just a device. It is just a device so you can be close to me; it is
           just a device so you can be engaged in listening and your being can be in deeper contact with me.
           You have learned the ways of language; it is very difficult for you to sit silently with me. If you sit
           silently you will be far away, you will be lost in your thoughts. There will be a great distance
           between me and you. I have tried that.
                I used to sit silently with people, but I found they were FAR away, thousands of miles away in
           their thoughts. They look physically just close; spiritually they are not there at all: somebody is
           moving into his past, somebody has already moved into some imagination in the future. I used to
           look into them and I found they were not there, they were somewhere else. Only their bodies were
           there -- empty shells, hollow. Their minds were not there. And if your mind is not there it is very
           difficult for your soul to be there.
                I talk to you so your mind becomes engaged in my thoughts. While you are engaged in my
           thoughts, at least you will be able to avoid your thoughts. You will be closer to me -- closer than you
           can be while you are thinking your thoughts. At least my thoughts are mine: they come from a deep
           emptiness, they carry the flavor, they have a subtle vibe in them. While engaged with me in a verbal
           communication, listening to me attentively, your mind becomes engaged, and your mind cannot go
           to the past and cannot go to the future. It has to be here, it has to be attentive, it has something to do
           here. While the mind is engaged in my words, I can communicate on a different level too; your being
           is close to me. And just being close is enough.
                That's the meaning of SATSANGA: just to be close to someone who has disappeared, just to be
           close to someone who is no more, just to be close to someone who is just a tremendous nothingness.
                Coming closer to this nothingness, you will also start disappearing and melting. It is natural.
           There will be a few moments when you will suddenly disappear. Those are the moments when you
           have tasted something of me. When you disappear, when you are completely lost, when the mind has
           simply stopped functioning -- you are just a pure attention -- then you and I are not two. Then there
           is no l-thou relationship. Then only one exists in which the I and the thou both have dissolved. Then
           we overlap each other: then your center is my center and my center is your center.
                The more these moments come to you, the more you will produce the highest possibility... your
           destiny.
                So Maneesha, go on meditating on me as much as you can.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And I know her -- she has been doing it; she has been very attentive, very aware. And with a
           great care and love, she has been absorbing me.
               You ask, "Do Buddhas mind being gazed on for more than three seconds at a time?" They cannot
           mind because they don't have any mind. In fact if you don't gaze at them, they feel sorry for you. If
           you look here and there and don't look directly to them, they feel sorry for you. You are thirsty and
           pure water is available, but you go on looking sideways. You don't look straight, you don't look
           direct, you don't look immediate. You will miss. Look at me, not only looking -- because eyes can
           absorb the subtlest vibe. It is a way of eating.
               Eat me, be cannibals. And remember, what I am saying is not important at all. What I am being
           here is important. So don't be lost in my words: they are just toys to play with. Listen to my being, to
           my presence.

           the second question:


              WHY MUST EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO DO MEDITATION OR HEAR THE LECTURE PAY FOR
              THIS?


              Why not?
           The rabbi climaxed his sermon with, "Life is like a glass of tea."
           Later, one of the congregation asked, "Rabbi, why is life like a glass of tea?"
           "Why not?" answered the rabbi.

               I also say to you: why not? You pay for everything in life, why not for your meditation? You pay
           for everything in your life, why not for God? Why do you want God for free?
               In fact, you don't want God. You are ready to pay for whatsoever you want. You know that you
           have to pay. Meditation you don't want. If it is given free, and even with a PRASAD, then you will
           think about it. You are ready to go to the movie and pay for it; why should you not pay for your
           meditation and the lecture if you want to hear it?
               The question comes, naturally, from an Indian and a nonsannyasin who does not understand me
           at all, who must be a newcomer. The Indians think they are the most religious people in the world;
           all bullshit. They are the most irreligious people in the world -- they just have an egoistic idea that
           they are very religious. If you are really religious, you will be ready to pay for your meditation with
           everything, even with your life.
               What is money? If you pay five rupees for something, and if you earn ten rupees a day, then you
           have paid with half the day. Money is just a symbol that you have devoted half your day's labor for
           it. You go to the movie and you pay ten rupees for a ticket; you earn ten rupees per day. You are
           saying that this movie is worth it -- "I can stake one day's labor for it." But you are not ready to stake
           anything for your meditation, prayer, for religion. In fact, religion is the last thing on your list. You
           want it free; basically you don't want it. If there is a price to it you start feeling uneasy.
               You ask why you have to pay here? The price that is asked is nothing; it is just the beginning of
           learning a certain lesson: that one has to pay for everything, and CERTAINLY for prayer,
           CERTAINLY for meditation -- because it is the highest thing in life. Those few rupees that you have
           to pay are very symbolic, just symbolic, just token -- they indicate something. If you are ready to pay
           something, then I know you will be persuaded to pay more. By and by, one day you will be able to
           stake your whole life for it. If you are not ready to even pay five rupees, it is impossible for you to
           stake your whole life.
               Gurdjieff used to ask much money for his lectures; and not only money, he would create all sorts
           of obstacles.
               For example: no lecture would be declared beforehand. If the lecture was going to be this
           morning at eight o'clock, early -- in the wee hours, at five o'clock -- you would receive a phone call:
           "At eight o'clock reach a certain place" -- and the place would be twenty miles or thirty miles or fifty
           miles away -- "and Gurdjieff is going to talk, and we have paid for it!"
               People used to ask, "Why do you create trouble? Why can't you say beforehand so we can
           manage?" And Gurdjieff would say, "If you can manage, then it is not of worth." If you could come
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suddenly, dropping all that you were going to do.... Maybe you were going to see the Prime Minister
           at eight o'clock, and suddenly now there is an alternative: either you go to Gurdjieff or to the Prime
           Minister -- and you go to Gurdjieff. Then something is going to happen. You have staked for it, you
           have taken trouble. And then too it was not certain that Gurdjieff would speak. He might come and
           he would look around, and he would say, "Not now. No, not today. I will inform you later on."
                Once it happened in Paris that for eight days he called people, and for eight days he cancelled.
           The first day there were near about four hundred people; the last day near about five or six people.
           When he looked at them he said, "Now, only the right ones are left. The crowd is gone, now I can
           say whatsoever I want to say to you."
                I am also not interested in the mob, in the crowd. I am not interested in casual visitors, I am
           interested only in the few sincere seekers. They have to show their mettle.
                And, the money that you have to pay is just the beginning. It is just the alpha; by and by I will
           persuade you to pay with your life. Unless you have that much courage, nothing is going to happen.
           Religion is not cheap, certainly not free.
                But the Indian mind is very money-minded: they talk about being religious but they are very
           money-minded people. Their whole outlook about things is money. No westerner has ever asked
           this; they understand: the ashram has to be maintained, the place has to be ready for you, some
           musician has to prepare for the music, somebody has to conduct the meditation, the gardens have to
           be looked after, the buildings have to be built. All needs money -- from where is it going to come?
           And you know well that I don't do any miracles.
                There are only two ways. One is: somebody else should donate for you. But why should
           somebody else donate for you? You will meditate and somebody else will donate for you? Why? If
           you want to meditate, you pay for it. And if you really want to meditate you will be ready to pay for
           it; there should be no hitch about it. If you don't have money, go and earn it. If it is absolutely
           impossible, then come and work in the ashram and pay that way, workwise. But don't ask to come
           for free.
                This idea of getting religion for free has entered so deep in the mind that people think they have a
           claim. People come to the office and they say, "Why are we not allowed?" But why should you be
           allowed? You have to earn it to be allowed. Just because you want to come in does not mean much.
                You have to show that you are sincere, you have to show that you are not just here out of
           curiosity. What is the way to check a person? The easiest way is money... because the greatest greed
           is for money.
                The greatest greed is for money, so whenever you have to lose your money you have to lose a
           little part of your greed. When you pay five rupees for entry, you are paying by dropping a little
           greed. The money is not the problem, the problem is greed; you are dropping a little greed. And this
           is just a beginning -- because meditation can happen only when all greed disappears. A slight greed
           inside you and meditation is not possible. For a greedy mind there is no meditation; meditation
           happens only in a non-greedy mind. If you don't have money, then work. Pay by your work and
           show your sincerity.
                But the person who has asked must have money, otherwise he would not have been allowed to
           enter here.
                He must have paid... must be greedy, must want to have everything free -- at least about God.
           Because nobody bothers about God.
                I have been moving in the masses for years. I have not decided in a hurried way to drop out of
           the mob -- I saw that it was absolutely absurd: you go on talking to people who are not ready to
           listen; you go on talking to people who are not seekers, who are not in any search; you go on talking
           to people who have come just for entertainment. Why should I waste my energy and time? I tried in
           every way to be available to bigger crowds, but then I found it was impossible. They come here as an
           entertainment, and they hear through one ear and from the other it is lost.
           There is a story about Bayazid, a Sufi mystic.

               He was passing through a cemetery and he came upon a heap of skulls. Out of curiosity he took
           one skull. He had always been of the thought that all skulls are almost the same, but they were not
           the same. There were a few skulls whose ears were joined together; there was a passage. There were
           a few skulls whose ears were not joined together; there was a barrier between the two. There were a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           few skulls both of whose ears were joined to the heart but not joined together; there was a passage
           running to the heart.
                He was very surprised. He prayed and asked God, "What is the matter? What are you trying to
           reveal to me?" And it is said that he heard a voice. God said, "There are three types of people: one,
           who hear through one ear; it never reaches anywhere -- in fact they don't hear, just the sound vibrates
           and disappears. There is another type, who hear, but only momentarily -- they hear through one ear,
           and through the other ear it is lost into the world again. There are a few souls, of course, who hear
           through the ears and it reaches to the heart."
                And God said, "Bayazid, I have brought you to this heap of skulls just to help you remember it
           when you are talking to people. Talk only to those who take whatsoever you say to their hearts --
           otherwise don't waste your energy, and don't waste your time. Your life is precious: you have a
           message to deliver."
                One day I also understood -- not by going to a cemetery and coming across a heap, but by
           looking into alive people. There are three types; Bayazid is right. The story may be true or not; that
           is irrelevant. I looked into thousands of people, and I found that only a very few are there who will
           take the seed to the heart, who will become soil to it, who will absorb it. And others are just
           curiosity-mongers, just entertaining themselves. Maybe the entertainment is religious, but it is
           meaningless.
                So here I don't exist for the masses. Let it be known once and forever: I am not interested in the
           crowd, I am interested only in individuals. And you have to show your mettle.
                And this is just the beginning of the ashram. Once the ashram is established rightly, there will be
           more and more difficulties for new people to enter.

           the third question:


              WHAT IS THE TEST OR CONFIRMATION THAT A MAN HAS FOLLOWED THE PATH OF
              AWARENESS? IN MY LIFE, ALTHOUGH I AM NOT VERY CERTAIN TO SAY THAT I WAS IN THE
              PRACTICE OF AWARENESS, AT TIMES I HAVE FELT. WHY AM I EATING? WHY AM I DOING
              THIS AND THAT? PLEASE COMMENT.


               'Why' has nothing to do with awareness. The 'why' leads into a totally different dimension: the
           dimension of analysis -- and analysis is not awareness. Once you ask the question 'why', you have
           moved from the fact already.
               You are confronting something; for example, anger has arisen in the sky of your mind. There is a
           cloud hovering around; it wants to settle on you, wants to get roots in you. And you feel disturbed;
           the anger is coming. Now, to be aware means just to see it, not to do anything; just to see it without
           any condemnation and without any evaluation; and just to see it, not to ask for a cause from where it
           is coming: "Why, why should it be?" And don't ask how it should be avoided -- because the moment
           you ask how it should be avoided, why it has come, you have moved away from the fact. The fact
           was that just a cloud of anger was surrounding you. To remain with the fact without any questioning,
           without even any tacit judgement.... Don't say it is bad -- because the moment you say 'bad' you have
           started going away. You don't want to see it. Don't say that you are against it, that it should not be --
           because if you are against something you cannot face it. Just remain aloof, neutral, indifferent.
               The questioner says that he thinks this is some sort of awareness; it is not. It is analysis. Analysis
           is not awareness, analysis is of the mind. Awareness is not of the mind, awareness is something
           beyond the mind. When you ask 'why', you have allowed the mind to interfere.
               You see a rose flower -- you don't ask 'why', you don't ask, "Who has planted this bush, who is
           the gardener?" If you ask these things then the rose is no more there, you are clouded by other
           thoughts. A REAL understanding of the rose is possible only when you don't even say, "It is
           beautiful" -- because these words will become a barrier. You don't even say, "This is a rose flower"
           -- because this labelling is dangerous. The moment you say, "This is a rose," all the roses that you
           have seen before have come in. They will be standing there in a queue. The very word 'rose' will
           revive all the memories connected with the rose. Not even a single word needs to be there. One has
           to be just an openness to see whatsoever is there.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Watch the rose flower without any language, without any appreciation, judgement, without
           saying anything, without asking any questions and without trying to find any answers. Otherwise
           you have moved in to the mind.
               What is mind? The thinking process is mind.'Why' creates the thinking process. Awareness
           means: just be a witness.
               There is a beautiful story about the Sufi mystic, Master Jalaluddin Rumi.

           He was standing on the bank of a river one day.
               Suddenly he spotted a fur coat floating downstream in the middle of the current. He hollered over
           to a scholar who was standing there on the bank too.
               "Hey man, there is a fur coat in the middle of the river. See it? Grab it man!"
               The scholar jumped in the river out of his greed, and swam out. Rumi was a little nearsighted; all
           he could see was a lot of commotion and flubbing around out there.
               "For Christ's sake, what are you doing out there! Bring it on in!"
               Finally the scholar heard his hulabaloo, and shouted back between gasps: "You cockeyed fool!
           This ain't a fur coat out here; it's a bear. And the more I struggle with him, the deeper his claws go.
           And he won't let go!"
               "Friend," said Jalaluddin Rumi, "that bear is reason."

                If you ask the question 'why', you are caught... you are caught by the bear of reason. And the
           more you ask questions, the more you will get entangled -- and the claws will go deeper into your
           body, into your being. Don't ask any question. If you want to be aware, just be aware.
                Awareness is a simple process with no questions, no answers. One simply watches. And rather
           than starting with complex things start with very simple things -- because there are people who start
           immediately with complex things. They never go to the primary school, they never go to the
           secondary school, they never go to the college; they simply go to the university, to the post-graduate
           school. Of-course they fail -- because to enter a post-graduate class you have to prepare.
                Listening to people like Krishnamurti or Ramana Maharshi, listening to them speak about
           awareness... and awareness is all -- it is the very essential religion, the central core of all religion...
           so when you listen to them speak about awareness, and you listen to Ramana Maharshi,
           Krishnamurti, Buddha, Gurdjieff, and everybody is praising it, you become greedy. You say, "So I
           must have this awareness too. I cannot allow it to go; I must have it. These people are enjoying so
           much awareness, and they are feeling so blissful, in such great benediction. I must have this
           commodity too." So you start grabbing. But you start wrongly: you start with complex things.
                Somebody is suffering from sexuality: he starts becoming aware of sex -- this will not be
           possible. You have taken a very complex thing. Or somebody is suffering from anger, and has
           suffered his whole life, and his whole life is destroyed by anger and the poison that is created by
           anger. Now listening about awareness, suddenly he will try it on anger; this won't do. And if you fail
           you lose self-confidence; that is very dangerous. Start with very simple things.
                Buddha used to say, "Start with breathing, because that is the most simple thing in the world, so
           simple that you don't do it at all. It happens on its own." You don't breathe. In fact you are never
           aware of breathing unless something goes wrong. You have some breathing trouble? then you
           become aware. Otherwise breathing goes on its own. You can go on sleeping and the breathing
           continues. And it is good -- otherwise, if you had to take care about it, life would be impossible.
           Someday you would sleep and you would forget to breathe, and... gone. And there is no way to undo
           it: once gone you are gone forever. Breathing is spontaneous, it is a very simple process: the breath
           just goes in, goes out -- nothing much in it. Buddha says, "Watch it, become aware of it. Sitting
           silently, simply see the breath going in, the breath going out." You will feel very bored because it is
           very montonous: the same breath coming in, the same breath going out.
                So the first problem has to be very simple, like breathing. And the second problem will be that
           you will have to face boredom. And if you can face boredom, boredom disappears and there is
           tremendous calm behind it. So start awareness with the breathing process. At least for one hour
           every day, sit silently just watching your breathing, doing nothing -- not even chanting a mantra --
           because then you are making it complex. You simply see the breathing; it is a natural mantra: it goes
           in, goes out, goes in, goes out. You are not to say that the breathing is going out. You have to simply
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go with the breathing: it is going out, the consciousness goes with it; it comes in, the consciousness
           comes in. You simply SENSE its going in and coming out. You try to remember it, and you will find
           difficulties even in this simple process. For a few seconds you will be aware, then you will forget.
           Then your mind has taken you away -- to your business, to your woman, to your children, or a
           thousand and one problems are there. Again after a few minutes you will remember: "I have
           forgotten; I am not watching my breath" -- then again come back. There is no need to repent, there is
           no need to fuss about having forgotten. Because now if you fuss about it, again this time is being
           lost. Whenever you recognize that you have lost track of breathing, come back; again start watching
           it. Doing it slowly, slowly, one day you will be able to watch your breath. If a person can watch his
           breath for forty minutes continuously, then there is no problem in life. He can watch any problem.
           And by watching, ANY problem can be dissolved.
                But first you have to learn how to watch -- so don't start with complex things, but with very
           simple things. Buddha says two things: watch either breathing or walking. Buddha himself did both:
           for one hour he would sit under the Bodhi Tree and watch' his breathing, and when his limbs would
           feel tired, cramped, then he would walk for one hour and watch his walking -- one foot goes...
           another foot, another, then he would turn. If you go to Bodhgaya where Buddha became enlightened,
           just near the Bodhi Tree there is a small path on which he used to walk.
                The breathing awareness in Buddhist terminology is called ANAPANSATIYOGA, and the
           walking meditation is called JANKRAMANA. These are two simple processes -- and both are
           tremendously beautiful: breathing can be watched sitting silently, and walking can be watched being
           active. But the walking process is very simple: you need not worry about it, you need not plan about
           it. Everybody is capable of walking; you need not even learn about it. Small, simple, spontaneous
           processes have to be made aware first. And then, when you have attained a certain capacity, you can
           try it on other things: anger, greed, sex, possessiveness, jealousy. Millions are the problems. Then
           you can try on other problems, and you will be surprised by the miracle of it. It is a very magical
           process: if you watch something silently, it disappears.
                A great sexual desire arises in you: simply watch it arising. It is throbbing in your body, it is
           moving in your mind, it is stirring fantasies in you -- just watch, with neither condemnation nor
           indulgence. Just watch, and you will be surprised: the more watchful you become, the less power
           there is in the sexual urge. There comes a moment when you are fully aware; you have become a
           light unto yourself. In that moment the urge has completely disappeared. AND, this is not repression
           -- because you have not repressed the sexual urge. If you repress you will be getting into trouble. All
           repressed people sooner or later are bound to become insane. So this is not repression: you are not
           against the sexual urge, you don't have any attitude about it, you simply watch it. And by just
           watching, the energy changes its quality -- the sexual urge becomes a fuel for awareness, and
           awareness burns bright. And there is no residue, there is no wound, no repression.
                This is how SHILA arises, the graceful discipline Buddha talks about: one is no longer indulgent
           and one is no longer repressive.
                The world has known only two things up to now: either you indulge or you repress. Buddha has
           shown a totally different path: neither do you indulge nor do you repress. You simply watch.
                But always start from the very small things. Never try the first time on some big enemy,
           otherwise you will be defeated. And once you are defeated you will lose confidence, and you will
           lose trust in the miracle of awareness too.

               The idiot of the village was employed by the priest as a church cleaner. One day, while he was
           cleaning the altar, a big crucifix fell on his head. Luckily he was not hurt very badly. The day after,
           the priest found him in a corner of the church with a heap of small, smashed crucifixes.
           "What on earth are you doing?" he asked furiously.
               Said the idiot, "Much better to kill them when they are still small!"

           Remember it: it is much better.
               Just first try with very small things which you can easily destroy through your awareness. Then
           great confidence arises, great certainty that"Yes, it works". Trust overwhelms you; now you have a
           secret key in your hands. But don't be in a hurry -- go on trying with small things, small problems,
           simple problems and then go on, by and by.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The tendency of the mind is just to try the most important problem. Once you have the key you
           want to open the ultimate door immediately, you want to unlock the mystery. Just having the key
           does not mean anything: you have to learn how to use it.
               And the ultimate lock is very complex. You may destroy your key. It may not work.
               Start with small things, and never ask 'why' -- because we are not interested in analysis. That is
           the difference between the eastern psychology which I call the psychology of the Buddhas, and the
           western psychology, the analytical process. This is the difference: if you go to a Freudian or a
           Jungian or an Adlerian, or other types of therapies, they will immediately start analyzing. They will
           say, "Tell us, what is your problem? Tell us in detail." In Freudian psychoanalysis, the patient talks
           and talks and talks, and the analyst simply sits by the side listening to his talk, and analyzing in his
           mind what is what. Then finally he gives the solution: "This is the problem." But this is an
           interpretation. It may show more about the psychoanalyst than about the patient. It is HIS analysis.
               You can try it -- you go to different therapists and they will always interpret your problem
           differently. If you go to Adler, he will interpret everything as an inferiority complex; that is his base.
           If you are in politics, he will say that you are inferior, that's why the power urge. If you go to Freud
           -- you are the same person -- and you say, "I am too ambitious, and I want to become a great
           politician, a great political leader"; he will analyze it through your sex. He will say that maybe you
           are getting a little impotent or something -- because whenever a person starts getting a little
           impotent, he wants some power to substitute for it.
               So political leaders are very dangerous near about the age of forty-five, fifty. Beware, because by
           the time they start losing their sex power, then they have to prove themselves somewhere else.
               There is every possibility that Adolf Hitler was impotent, and to prove that he was potent he
           became destructive. If you go to the Freudian he will analyze it in that way. If you go to the Jungian
           he will find very occult meanings, mythological meanings. He will go into the mythologies of the
           world and find the meanings.
               The eastern approach is totally different: it says 'why' is not the question; the fact is there, the
           fact is enough. We don't go into the history of it, it is not going to help. It will make it more
           complicated. Why go into the past, or why go into the future? The fact is here. It is present in front
           of you: face it, beware of it. 'Beware' means: be aware of it. Just look at it.
               This is a totally different approach. And the Buddhas have said -- and it is now one of the most
           existential and experiential foundations of eastern psychology: If you watch a fact rightly,
           penetratingly, it disappears. Just by observation, exactly as you bring light to your dark room,
           darkness disappears. And with darkness disappears all those problems that existed with darkness.
               For example: if you enter a dark house sometimes you stumble upon the furniture, and you
           become angry, and you beat the furniture and you say, "Some enemy exists here!" And then you
           grope in the dark; a painting falls on you and then you are furious and you want to smash everything.
           But all these problems are created by darkness.
               Bring light, bring awareness, and then suddenly darkness disappears -- and with darkness
           disappearing you no longer stumble upon the furniture, and the painting does not fall on you, and
           there is no anger and no rage, and you are not furious, and you don't go insane. Those problems were
           concerned with darkness; they disappear with darkness.
               In the west they start trying to analyze: "Why did this painting fall?" Now, it is a very costly
           affair to go to a psychoanalyst and get analysis: "Why did this painting fall in the first place? There
           must have been something wrong in your childhood between you and your mother -- otherwise why
           did the painting fall? Why did you stumble on the furniture? You must be accident-prone -- because
           other people have passed through the same room and they have not stumbled on the furniture. So it
           shows something about your childhood trauma. Maybe when you were being born you were stuck,
           and the doctor had to pull you out. So since then you are stumbling, and you go on stumbling. Now
           the trauma has to be dissolved." These things -- you laugh -- but they have become very serious
           philosophies in the west. And there are great propounders of them, and everybody claims that he has
           found the final solution.
               In the east we have not worked that way; we don't ask 'why'. We say, "The painting has fallen, so
           the painting has fallen. Now I am struck by it, sol am struck. The problem is not with the painting,
           the problem is not with the furniture, the problem is that the room is dark." Of course, you never
           stumble upon darkness -- see the point -- you stumble upon the furniture; you never stumble upon,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           darkness. A painting falls on your head and hurts you; darkness never falls on your head and hurts
           you, but darkness is the problem. If you pay too much attention to the problems that are happening
           you will go in a wrong direction, because they are not real problems. The real problem is that the
           room is lacking light. Bring light in.
               Awareness is not a question; it is just trying to become more alert, more mindful.
               I have heard.... A woman came before the local judge complaining that her husband had made a
           murderous attack on her with a large pair of scissors.
               "Judge!" she cried. "He rushed at me and slashed my face to pieces!" The judge looked at her
           face, on which not the slightest mark of conflict appeared.
           "When did you say this happened?"
           "Only last night, Judge."
               "But I don't see any marks on your face," said the puzzled judge.
               "Marks?" roared the woman."What do I care about marks! I have got witnesses!"

               Now, as if witnesses can prove it, as if just having witnesses is enough.
               You can find why you stumbled on the chair, why the painting fell upon you, but nothing will be
           solved by it. The darkness remains untouched. You can go on finding one explanation, another
           explanation -- not that in the east a few people have not tried it. A few people have tried it. It has
           never been a main current of the eastern approach, but a few people have tried it.
               That's what the theory of karma is: it is an effort to find an explanation.
               You are in business, you go bankrupt; now you ask 'why': "Why are others succeeding and I have
           gone broke? Why?" Now there is a constant question inside you -- "Why?" Then you go to a
           religious man, to the priest, to the astrologer. He looks at your hand and he says, "In your past life
           you have done something, that's why you have failed." Now you feel very relieved. You remain
           broke, it doesn't change anything. Your bankruptcy will remain there, but you feel satisfied just by
           the explanation that in your past life you have done something wrong, and that's why you are
           suffering. Now the answer is there, the answer satisfies your question, but the problem remains
           untouched. The problem is that you are bankrupt. It does not make any difference what explanation
           you get.
               Somebody is poor and he always feels, "I am good, honest, sincere, and I am poor." Then
           somebody explains, "This life you are good, honest, of course in the next life you will be paid
           enough for it. There is no injustice. There may be a little delay," they say in India, "but there is never
           any injustice. God will pay you -- wait, trust." But he says, "But I am poor, and I am hungry." And
           then they will say that in the past life you have done something wrong, bad KARMAS, SO YOU are
           suffering. That makes things clear.
               That's why in India there has not been a single revolution in five thousand years' history --
           because a revolution is killed by the explanation of KARMA. There cannot be any revolution here.
           There is no need for revolution: explanations are enough. The poor man is poor, the rich man is rich;
           the rich is rich because he has done good KARMA, and the poor is poor because he has done bad
           KARMA. Now if the poor man tries to do some revolution, he will suffer even in future -- again bad
           KARMA: violence, this and that. "So, at least now, don't do anything bad. Suffer, and in the next
           life"... and nobody knows what happens in the next life, so it is a very beautiful explanation.
               Yes, Marx is not wrong when he says that religion is the opium of the people; it has been used
           that way. Not that religion as such is REALLY so, but religion has been used as an opium. Then
           people can be drugged.
               I would like to say this to you: never bother about explanations. See the fact, and be aware of the
           fact, and don't be too concerned about explanations. Otherwise you will go on and on: you did
           something wrong in your past life, that's why you are so violent, aggressive, full of anger. But have
           you never asked the other question? -- "Why did I do something wrong in the past life?" Then they
           will say, "Even further back you did some wrong"; but that goes on and on. The question is: why, in
           the first place, did you do wrong in your first life? There is no explanation -- unless God Himself
           made you in such a way that you had to do something wrong. But then God is the culprit, you are
           not. Why should you suffer? Let Him suffer if He has committed a mistake.
               These explanations are poor efforts to console oneself. Somebody dies and you are hurt, and you
           are in much pain, and you want somebody to console you, and somebody comes to console you --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because wherever there is demand there is supply. That is an economic law, it applies everywhere. If
           you are crying and weeping, some foolish, stupid person is bound to come, and he will say, "Don't
           cry. The soul is immortal." Now, that doesn't make any change. Your wife has died, and you cannot
           make love to your dead wife. The problem is there: you will miss her. The immortal soul cannot
           cook food for you tomorrow. And you have to look after your children; the immortal soul is not
           going to come.
               But somebody says, "The soul is immortal"; it gives a sort of consolation: "So she has not died
           really. So she must be somewhere and there is a possibility to meet someday, somewhere, and it will
           be good." And you start dreaming, and it consoles. But this explanation is like a tranquilizer, a
           sedative, like alcohol; it intoxicates you.
               If somebody has died and you are in pain, what do I say to you? I say: don't ask for explanations.
           Look at this pain. Death has happened; watch it. It has hurt you deeply; watch it, beware. Be aware,
           be mindful of how fragile life is, how everything ends. Just see the flux-like phenomenon of life, the
           momentary dream-like existence. Just see, and don't try to explain, and don't try to escape, and don't
           try to avoid, and don't try to get occupied somewhere else. Just look: death has happened, you are
           sad, great sorrow has happened to you; look into it. And by watching and becoming aware of it,
           much will be revealed to you. The sorrow, the sadness will disappear -- and with it will disappear all
           attachments, because you will be able to see that all attachment brings sorrow. It is not the death of
           your wife that you are sorry for. It is not because of death. If she had been somebody else's wife,
           there would have been no problem. She was your wife. It is not the question of death that you are
           troubled with. Some part of your being is snatched away -- you had become too attached -- you feel
           uprooted. You will feel a gap in your heart, an empty space.
               Watching the sorrow that death brings, you will become aware that behind the sorrow is not
           death but attachment. And seeing the facticity of attachment, you will relax, you will become a little
           loose in your attachments. Next time death happens there will not be so much sorrow. And one day
           comes when death happens and there is no sorrow. You know this is how things are, you have
           accepted it. You have known the reality of life: that it ends in death. And there is nothing else to do.
           You have become aware.

           the fourth question:


              MY GREED FOR MONEY, TO HAVE MONEY AND TO SEE THAT I AM ABLE TO MAKE MONEY,
              WHAT DOES IT MEAN?


               It simply means that you are greedy.
           There is no need to go into great philosophy about it. It does not mean anything else than what it
           means: you are greedy. And greed says that you must be empty, so you want to stuff yourself with
           something or other.
               Money is a way to stuff oneself with things. Money can purchase everything, so money becomes
           very important. Then you can stuff your emptiness with everything: you can have as many women as
           you want, you can have as many palaces as you want, as many cars, airplanes -- whatsoever you
           want. You can go on stuffing yourself with things. You are empty.
           An empty person is a greedy person.
               And nobody is ever fulfilled by greed. Nobody is ever fulfilled by any thing -- because things are
           outside and the emptiness is inside, and you cannot take outside things into the inside. So you can
           become rich, but you will remain empty. Your treasure-chest may become full, but your heart will
           remain empty. Your bank balance will go on increasing, but your soul will not increase. In fact it
           may start decreasing -- because each time you run after money you lose some soul. It is a great risk.
           By losing your soul you earn money; by destroying your inner purity, your inner virginity, you go on
           selling your inner for the outer. You go on exchanging. In the end you have piled up much money
           and many things, but suddenly you realize that inside you are a beggar.
               The inner can be fulfilled only by the inner. I am not saying to renounce your money; that too is
           foolish. To continuously run after money is foolish, to renounce money is also foolish -- because
           nobody can fulfill his inner emptiness with money, and nobody can fulfill it by renouncing money...
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because both are outside. Whether you accumulate any money or renounce, both are outside. That is
           not looking into the problem directly.
                You are empty inside: something has to be done there. A prayer has to fill it, a meditation has to
           flower there -- only God's fragrance will be able to give you a fulfillment.
                So I am neither for money nor against money. Money can purchase many things: all that is
           outside can be purchased with money, there is no problem about it. But money cannot lead you to the
           inner contentment... and that is the problem. You have to work for that.
                My own observation is this: that the more money you have, the more is the possibility of
           becoming aware of the inner emptiness, because the contrast makes things very clear. A person who
           is poor inside and poor outside does not know his inner poverty. That's why poor people look more
           happy, beggars look more happy than rich people, than millionaires. Why? Because the beggar is
           poor in both ways: poor inside and poor outside. There is no contrast. It is as if you have written on a
           white wall with white chalk; you cannot read. A rich man has much richness around him, and just in
           the middle of it all is emptiness, poverty. Because of the contrast, it hurts. It is as if you are writing
           with white chalk on a blackboard; it comes clear and loud.
                So I am not against money. In fact, my whole approach is that only rich people can be religious.
           A poor person cannot be. It is very difficult for a poor person to be religious. To be poor and to be
           religious needs great intelligence, very great intelligence, unique intelligence. Only then can you be
           religious. To read something written with white chalk on a white wall you need very penetrating
           eyes, but to read on a blackboard is very simple.
                My analysis of the whole of human history is that a country becomes rich whenever it is
           irreligious. A country becomes rich whenever it is irreligious, and a country becomes religious
           whenever it is rich: this is how the wheel moves.
                India was religious one day, when it was a golden bird -- very rich -- in the days of Buddha. It
           was the richest country of the world; the whole world was jealous. Then it was rich and religious.
           But whenever a country becomes religious, it starts becoming poor -- because a religious person
           does not care about outward things. When you don't care, they disappear; then the country becomes
           poor. Now India is poor, and religious only for the name's sake.
                The sun will rise in America; the future of religion is in America, not in India. India is bound to
           move on the path of communism. It cannot avoid it, it is already on it. It is moving slowly. It is a
           very old country so it moves very slowly, at an old man's pace. But it is moving; slowly, slowly it is
           moving. It is dropping democracy, it is dropping freedom, and it is becoming more and more
           materialist, socialistic. That is the first step; then by and by it will be a communist country. By
           becoming communist it will become rich again; by becoming rich it will become religious again.
                America has become rich and will become poor, sooner or later. You can see the hippies: they
           have already moved. They have dropped out of the rich society because they have seen the futility of
           it. It is meaningless. They talk about love, not about war. The moment you start talking about love
           and not about war, your country is going to become poor -- because to remain rich one has to remain
           continuously violent and aggressive. They are talking of the simple life, but a simple life cannot be a
           rich life. Technology will disappear. If technology disappears, richness will disappear. America is
           rich, will become religious, and by becoming religious, by and by, it will lose its richness.
                There is a possibility of Russia, somewhere in the next century, becoming very rich and suddenly
           becoming religious. The wheel of history is very dialectical -- thesis, antithesis: this is how it moves.
                I am not against richness, I am in favor of religion. If you are very intelligent, then even in your
           poverty you can see the futility of riches. But then you have to be very perceptive: you have to think
           about something that you don't have and you have to recognize that it is meaningless. Without
           having it, to recognize it as meaningless is very difficult. Having it and recognizing that it is
           meaningless is simple. So I would like to repeat it again: if a poor man becomes religious he shows
           intelligence, and if a rich man remains irreligious he shows stupidity. A rich man who is not
           religious simply means he is a fool. A poor man and not religious simply needs sympathy; he is not a
           fool. You can forgive him. No rich person can be forgiven if he is not religious; that shows he is
           stupid: he has riches, and yet he has not been able to see that they are futile.
                Your greed simply shows that you are feeling empty. Now, you can fill it with things but it will
           never be filled. Or, you can start growing into your inward consciousness, and it will be filled.
                People can continue for their whole lives wasting all their energies in greed, this ambition is not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going to help you.

              Mulla Nasrudin and his neighbor were talking about the problems of raising their boys.
              "Is your son very ambitious, Mulla?" asked the neighbor.
              "Yes," said Nasrudin."He has such big ideas about being rich and successful that already he has
           begun to look on me as a sort of poor relation."

               Just the idea that he is going to be very successful and rich, and already he has started looking at
           his father as some sort of poor relation!
               You can go on an ego-trip if you start on the path of greed -- and that can take your whole life.
           To the very end people remain greedy; they are DYING and they remain greedy; even DEATH does
           not make them aware.

               Solomon and Irving were both partners in the dress business. They had the worst season of their
           careers, and were at a complete loss as to what to make that would sell. There was not a dress to be
           cut in their cutting-room. They both decided: the only way out to leave their families any money was
           to agree to a suicide pact. They drew straws and Solomon was to jump first. Solomon jumped out of
           the thirtieth-floor window, and as he was falling he noticed that every cutting-room on every floor he
           passed was busy.
           He yelled back to Irving, "Don't jump! Cut velvet!"

               Even to the very end -- you can be dying -- but the business, the business of greed continues.
           Once you are on the trip, it is very difficult to get out of it. One gets more and more involved. And
           on the path of greed you are insulted many times, humiliated, but still you get up again, and again
           you rush.

                There was a long line waiting in the early morning in front of a clothing store that advertised a
           special sale. A man walked to the front of the line; the people grabbed him and pushed him back to
           the end of the line. Once more he headed for the front of the line, and they kicked him and pushed
           him into the gutter. Finally he got up, brushed himself off, and said to a man at the end of the line,
           "If they do that once more, I am not going to open the store."

              Still he is ready to open the store! They have thrown him in the gutter! But people go on rushing,
           almost insane. Greed is a sort of insanity.
              Use money, but never be greedy. As a means money is perfectly good; it is a great means of
           exchange, very utilitarian. Use it but don't be used by it possess it but don't be possessed by it --
           remain the master.

           the last question:


              OSHO, AFTER YOUR TOUCHING DISCOURSE TODAY, I WENT UP RATHER SOLEMNLY TO
              WHERE YOU HAD BEEN SITTING, TO PROSTRATE AND SAY THANK YOU. BUT WHEN I
              PROSTRATED, I FOUND MYSELF LAUGHING INSTEAD.


               The question is from Paritosh.
           That's how it should be. That's the way to thank me, that's the way to be grateful to me. I am against
           seriousness. If you come closer to me, come laughing. Even sometimes when you come solemn and
           serious, I will make you laugh. Laughter to me is prayer. Serious faces are ill faces. Never go
           towards God seriously; go laughing and dancing, and your prayer will be heard... and your thank-you
           will reach to the address.
               It was good, Paritosh, that you came to thank me and you started laughing. That is the right way,
           the perfect way. Like a flower, it opens.
               Have you ever seen a solemn, serious flower? They are always laughing. Through their laughter,
           they are offered to God. Except for man nobody seems to be serious on this earth, and except for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man nobody seems to be in misery. Except for man nobody seems to be puzzled. Animals, birds,
           trees, rocks, rivers, mountains -- nobody seems to be serious. They are all laughing; in their laughter
           they are praying to God. Join hands with them.
               Remember it always: the deeper your laughter, the deeper will become your prayer. If you can
           dance, you have entered the shrine, you have come close to God.
           Yes, dancing is the only way to reach the divine.




                               The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4
                                                 Chapter #11
                          Chapter title: Collecting pebbles on the seashore of life
           10 November 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7611100
              ShortTitle: TRANS411
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 95 mins




              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              I CONSIDER THE DIGNITIES OF KINGS AND LORDS AS A PARTICLE OF DUST THAT FLOATS IN
              THE SUNBEAM. I CONSIDER THE TREASURE OF PRECIOUS METALS AND STONES AS
              BRICKS AND PEBBLES. I CONSIDER THE GAUDY DRESS OF SILKS AND BROCADES AS A
              WORN-OUT RAG. I CONSIDER THIS UNIVERSE AS SMALL AS THE HOLILA FRUIT. I CONSIDER
              THE LAKE OF ANAVATAPTA AS A DROP OF OIL WITH WHICH ONE SMEARS THE FEET. I
              CONSIDER THE VARIOUS METHODS OF SALVATION TAUGHT BY THE BUDDHAS AS A
              TREASURE CREATED BY THE IMAGINATION. I CONSIDER THE TRANSCENDENTAL DOCTRINE
              OF BUDDHISM AS A PRECIOUS METAL OR PRICELESS FABRIC SEEN IN A DREAM. I
              CONSIDER THE TEACHING OF BUDDHAS AS A SKY FLOWER BEFORE MY EYES. I CONSIDER
              NIRVANA AS AWAKENING FROM A DAYDREAM OR NIGHTMARE. I CONSIDER THE STRUGGLE
              BETWEEN HETERODOX AND ORTHODOX AS THE ANTICS OF THE SIX [MYTHICAL] DRAGONS.
              I CONSIDER THE DOCTRINE OF SAMENESS AS THE ABSOLUTE GROUND OF REALITY.


               THE BUDDHA is the greatest anarchist in human history. He does not believe in any rule from
           the outside. To help you become free from the outside, he teaches you an inner rule, an inner
           discipline. Once you have learned the ways of the inner discipline, he's there, ready to destroy that
           too -- because either you are ruled from the outside or from the inside. You are a slave; freedom is
           only when there is no rule.
               So the inner discipline is just a step to get out from the outer domination of the society, of the
           state, of the masses, civilization, culture, etcetera. Once you are free of the outer domination, then
           Buddha starts destroying your inner discipline too. That's why I call him the greatest anarchist ever.
           There have been people who have taught that no outside rule should exist, but Buddha is alone in
           teaching that even the inside rule is a form of slavery, a subtle slavery. No-discipline is his
           discipline. And when a person is absolutely without any discipline, then there is beauty -- because
           then there is freedom. Then one acts spontaneously; not according to any rule imposed by others or
           imposed by oneself. Then one simply acts out of nothingness. Then the response is total; nothing is
           being held back, and there is no enforcement of any sort, there is no violence. There is tremendous
           grace, there is benediction -- because now the actor has completely disappeared, the doer is no more
           there. If you are trying to discipline yourself, the doer remains, in a subtle way. If you are trying to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           discipline yourself, you remain schizophrenic, you remain divided. A part of you disciplines you,
           another part is being disciplined by you. So one part becomes the master and another part becomes
           the slave. Again there is division, again there is duality, again you are not one.
                And there is bound to be conflict in this duality, because in reality you are one, and this is a
           fiction. Who is trying to rule whom? Who is there to be dominated by whom? There is only one
           existence inside, one being. To bring any sort of discipline means to divide that unity, and that
           division is misery, that division is hell.
                So first Buddha says: There is no God -- because if there is a God and any belief in God, then
           man can never be free; because then there is a dominator, a dictator. With a God in the world, there
           can be no democracy -- impossible. If God has created man, then of course He is the ultimate power.
           If He's omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, then how can freedom exist? You are never left alone,
           He's everywhere: that's what the so-called religious people teach. They say, "He's looking at you
           wherever you are. In the most private situation also, He's there, watching you constantly. His eyes
           follow you."
                This seems to be a very dangerous teaching: it means you don't have any freedom, it means you
           don't have any privacy. And God is like a universal peeping-tom; He's always there at the keyhole,
           you cannot escape from Him. His very presence is destructive; His presence means that man has no
           freedom.
                Neitzsche's declaration that God is dead and now man is free, has a Buddhist tone to it. That's
           what Buddha has said: God is not and there is freedom. Freedom means: you are not created by
           anybody and you are not dominated by anybody and you are not manipulated by anybody. To
           Buddha, freedom is God. Try to understand it. It is difficult, because Buddha uses such terminology
           that it becomes very difficult for childish minds to understand. The childish mind can always
           understand that there is a God dominating you, looking after you: compassionate, kind, great -- the
           Father, the Mother. These are childish ways to understand the truth.
                Buddha says: There is no God, and freedom is absolute. That absolute freedom is Buddha's God.
           Freedom is God. Freedom is divine. So first he takes away all outer beliefs. There is no need to
           believe in a God. The belief itself will become the barrier.
                Just the other night a sannyasin came from England, and she was very nervous, trembling,
           shaking. And she said, "I am very much afraid, because I cannot yet believe in you." I said, "Who
           expects you to believe in me?" She was afraid because she thought that she doubts. The ordinary
           religions have taught people that you become religious only when you believe. If you don't believe,
           you are irreligious. The west is completely unaware of a great religion that has existed in the east
           which does not require any belief. In fact it says belief is a barrier. A religion without belief is very
           difficult for a Christian or a Mohammedan and a Jew to conceive. It was even difficult for Hindus
           and Jains to conceive.
                Buddha is a great revolution, a very radical outlook. He says: All beliefs are dangerous. You
           should not believe, you should see.
                I told the sannyasin, "Don't be worried; doubt is perfectly okay. Doubt is better than belief.
           Doubt can never hinder you; doubt remains open. Belief is a closing of the mind -- then the aperture
           is closed, then you don't look." In fact, a man who believes becomes afraid to look. Maybe the truth
           is against his belief. Then what to do? -- he closes his eyes. It is easier to protect one's belief with
           closed eyes than with open eyes. Who knows? -- the truth may not coincide with your belief, the
           truth may shatter your belief, the truth may be against your belief. It may not be Christian, it may not
           be Hindu, it may not be Mohammedan. Then what will you do? So it is better to remain with closed
           eyes.
                A man with belief becomes afraid: he does not seek and he does not enquire and he does not
           search. He never explores. He remains stuck with his belief. He holds his belief to his heart; this is
           out of fear.
                Religion is not out of fear -- at least REAL religion is not out of fear. At least, it should not be
           out of fear. Real religion is fearlessness. Buddha says: With a God, how can you be fearless?
                The Jewish God says: I'm very jealous. Don't worship any God other than me; I'm very jealous.
           And if you worship any other God, I will destroy you.
                Now, these words look very political, and very stupid. And to put these words into the mouth of
           God Himself is sheer nonsense. God saying"I am very jealous"? -- then God seems very human,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even below human -- because there have existed human beings who are not jealous. A Buddha has
           existed who is not jealous. Buddha seems to be in a better state of consciousness than the Jewish
           God! Jealous? Prohibiting his followers not to worship anybody else? -- "Because I am jealous, and I
           will destroy you"? What the Jewish God says is simply unbelievable. He says. "If you commit
           something against me, for ten generations I will torture you. Not only you: ten generations of your
           children will be tortured. And if you worship me, for a hundred generations the rewards will be
           coming to you."
                Now, what type of God is this? And your child has not done anything. You commit some crime,
           you disobey God, and for generations your children will suffer, and for a hundred generations your
           children will get the reward if you have done something good. And 'something good' means, in
           Jewish terms: if you have obeyed the omnipotent God. If you disobey it is sin; if you obey it is
           virtue.
                There seems to be no real value. God may be saying something absurd, but if you obey it is
           virtue, if you disobey it is sin. And this threat, that "For ten generations I will take revenge", and this
           bribery, that "For one hundred generations I will reward" -- look at what type of mind has worked
           out this concept of God. It cannot be very divine. It is not divine at all. It is, in fact, sub-human.
                Buddha says: There is no God. Don't be afraid. To make man fearless, Buddha says there is no
           God. And to make man an explorer of truth, he says there is no need for any belief. Belief is not a
           requirement: it is an obstacle. Be open. Explore. Doubt, think, meditate, experiment; and when a
           mind comes to experience truth without any belief, the mind itself becomes true -- because then there
           is a communion between truth and the mind.
                Be fearless. There is no need for anybody to dominate you; freedom is the very substratum.
                First he drops outer beliefs: in God, in hell, in heaven -- because your hell and heaven are just
           your projections. If you knew about different hells and heavens you would understand. The Tibetan's
           hell does not have fire in it, because the Tibetan's hell has to have more cold, more ice. They know --
           they suffer from cold, so hell has no fire at all. Of course, the Hindu's hell has fire; they suffer from
           heat. The Hindu's concept of heaven is almost of an air-conditioned heaven. The sun is never hot,
           and cool breezes are always blowing, and shady trees, and the flowers are like diamonds... and
           everything is cool. Of course, a hot country -- suffering for centuries from heat -- dreams.
                But things continue -- they are your projections. There are as many hells in the world -- and as
           many heavens -- as there are climates, because it will depend on the experience of your own climate.
           For a Tibetan, fire in hell will look almost like a heavenly gift. No, fire has no existence in hell, it is
           absolutely cold; you will be frozen to death by coldness. Fire exists in heaven. There, everything is
           warm.
                Now, what do these concepts show? They show your mind, they don't show anything about
           heaven or hell. Man continues in his dreams, in his projections.
                If you die, you may be dying as far as your body is concerned, but your mind continues. In fact,
           the Buddhist approach is that the idea of heaven and hell has arisen because during his whole life a
           man projects, thinks, about the after-life. And if he has been committing many crimes and sins, he
           becomes guilty; he feels that he is going to hell. He becomes very afraid. By the time he's dying the
           fear arises: "Now there is no time left to put things right." Now he is going into hell, and he has an
           idea of hell, of what hell is. So when a person dies, when he is free from the body, the projections
           become very real. He starts dreaming. So when a Hindu dies, certainly he dreams after death.
           Immediately he dreams either of heaven or hell; it depends. If he was a good man, virtuous, a
           worshipper, then of course he is very self-confident: when he dies, he knows that he is going to
           heaven. Immediately after death, the mind starts dreaming. The time between one death and another
           birth is used in dreaming.
                You live in a dreamworld -- exactly as you live in the night. What happens when your body
           relaxes and you go to sleep? -- you start dreaming. You forget your body in your sleep. Sleep is a
           tiny death, a very mini-death. You forget your body, you don't remember your body at all, you
           become just your mind; as if the mind is no more burdened by the body and the reality of the body.
           The mind is freed. There is no pressure on the mind of bodily reality, of objective reality. Mind is
           freed. Suddenly, you start dreaming. Of course, your dream is YOUR dream; it has nothing to do
           with any reality whatsoever.
                When you die this is exactly what happens, and it happens in a bigger proportion. Once you die
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all the pressure of bodily reality and objective reality disappears. The mind is free to dream. Even in
           sleep there is a burden, even in sleep you are connected with the body, but in death you are
           disconnected completely. Now the mind is completely free. Like a balloon, it starts rising into its
           projections. So if you have lived a bad life.... When I say 'if you have lived a bad life', I mean: if you
           THINK your life has been bad, if you have been taught that this life is bad.
                For example, if a Jain has been eating meat, he will suffer hell after his death -- but not a
           Mohammedan, not a Christian, not a non-vegetarian who has never thought about it. He will not
           suffer hell. But a Jain is bound to suffer hell. If he has eaten meat, his idea will make him guilty; the
           guilt will be there, the guilt will project. And he knows what hell is; the hell will be projected.
                Between death and birth there is a great dreaming time, and you can live long in that dream time
           -- because the dream time is absolutely different from your waking time. Have you sometimes
           observed that you are just sitting in your chair and for a minute you fall asleep and you dream? And
           the dream is so long that it takes years -- in dream time. Then suddenly you are awake and you look
           at the clock and only one minute has passed. Now you are puzzled. How, in one minute's dream,
           could you see a projection of many years? You were a child, then you become young, and then you
           went to the college and the university, and you fell in love and were married, and you were just
           coming out of the church -- and the dream is broken. And there is such an expanse of many years.
           How has it happened in a single minute?
                Dream time is different from actual time: it can happen in a single minute. So maybe between
           death and birth there are only a few minutes, or a few days at the most, or a few hours. But they will
           look very long; you can dream infinite dreams -- you can dream of hell, you can dream of heaven --
           but you continue.
                I have come across a beautiful anecdote sent to me by a few of my sannyasins.

               Once upon a time, there was a playboy named Shiva. One day, he suddenly died. His friends
           thought of enquiring if he had reached hell. Of course, naturally, they thought he must have reached
           hell. So they rang up hell.
               The phone was picked up and a voice boomed, "Hello, the devil speaking."
           "Hello, Mr. Devil, has Shiva come to hell?"
               "No, try the other place. We have enough playboys here, and we don't need any more trouble,"
           said the devil.
               So they rang up heaven and a very, very holy voice said, "Hello, Virgin Mary speaking."
           "Has Shiva come to heaven?"
           "No, not yet," said Virgin Mary. "Try tomorrow."
               So they rang up again the next day, and the same pure and holy and saintly voice said, "Hello,
           Virgin Mary speaking." They again asked about Shiva and she said, "No, not yet. Try tomorrow."
           And her voice was as sweet as honey; sweet in the beginning, sweet in the end, sweet throughout!
               So next day, they tried again and a wonderful and sexy voice came, "Hello, Mary speaking."
               The friends looked at each other and said, "So, he has reached."

               Your hell is your hell; your heaven is your heaven. It is your projection, it is your personality
           projected in dreams. These are not realities.
               Buddha is tremendously existential. He's the first religious man who has said that there is no
           heaven and no hell; it is just in the dreams of humanity that heaven and hell exist. If you have
           stopped dreaming while alive, then there is no heaven and no hell. In fact, there is no sin and no
           virtue. He's the greatest iconoclast, the idol-breaker. He takes everything away from you -- because
           he knows that unless everything is taken away, the mind continues. Mind needs props. If all the
           props are taken away, the mind collapses. And in that collapse, reality arises in its true color, in its
           true tone.
               The reality is only when the mind is not. Mind is a distorting faculty.
               Now these are the last sutras; of tremendous import. Each sentence is like a sword, and it cuts the
           roots of the mind. And when it comes to cutting the roots of the mind, Buddha excludes nobody, not
           even himself. That's his authenticity. It is not that he is against other philosophies, he's against
           philosophy as such -- against his own philosophy too. That's the authenticity of the Master. It is very
           easy to be against others' philosophies, but to be against one's own philosophy means the man has no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           philosophy of his own. He's simply asserting a truth: that philosophy is not the door to reality. He's
           against all methods, including his own.
               You will be surprised: "Then why does he use methods?" The methods are to be used only
           because of you: because you are not ready to take the jump. The jump is too big, and you take it in
           small doses. Hence, he has to invent methods. The same is true about me: I would like you to take
           the quantum jump without any methods, but you cannot take it. Then the abyss is too big and fear
           possesses you. So I have to make small steps for you. Slowly, slowly, I persuade you. The more you
           become ready, the more I push you into no-method, into no-mind, into no-religion.
               The essential religion is no-religion, and the greatest method is no-method. And to come to a
           state of no-mind is to come to awareness. Buddha has to talk to many categories of people, but these
           sutras are for those disciples who have come of age, who have become mature.
           It happened once:

               I was chatting with Mulla Nasrudin, who was a rabid fisherman. I told him, "I notice, Nasrudin,
           that when you tell about the fish you caught, you vary the size of it for different listeners."
               "Yes," he said, "I never tell a man more than I think he will believe."

                And that's what Buddha is doing too. If you have come to him with a childish mind, he will give
           you some toys to play with. If you have come with a little better, a little more grown-up mind, a little
           more mature, he will not give you those toys. And if you are really mature enough to listen to truth,
           unafraid, then... then these sutras.
                Today's sutras are the last. They are meant only for very grown-up people, so listen to them very
           attentively.
                It is said: Once Jesus' disciples asked him, "Have you brought a message of peace to the world?"
           He said, "No. I don't bring peace, I bring a sword." A sword? And Christians have puzzled over it
           down through the centuries, because it doesn't look right. Jesus is the messenger of peace and he
           says, "No, I have not brought peace to you, but a sword." And he says, "I will teach you how to hate
           your mother and how to hate your father and how to hate your wife and how to hate your husband
           and how to hate your children. And unless you are ready to hate your father and your mother, you
           cannot follow me."
                Now, these words coming from Jesus, who says, "God is love," look very contradictory, very
           inconsistent. It is difficult to sort out what he means. And it has been difficult for Christians; they
           avoid these sentences. But if you understand this sutra of Buddha, you will be able to understand
           Jesus too. By 'sword' he means: each Master brings a sword into the world to cut the roots of the
           mind. And when he says, "Unless you hate your father and your mother and your family, you cannot
           follow me," what is he saying? He's saying: Unless you drop that mind that has been given to you by
           your mother, by your father, by your family; unless you drop your past; unless you forget completely
           what the society has given to you -- the idea of good and the idea of evil; unless you drop the whole
           conditioning that society has given to you, you cannot follow me.
                These sutras are like swords: they cut, and they cut totally. Buddha is very hard because he has
           great compassion. He will not allow any loophole from where you can find your slavery again. So
           first, drop all outer discipline; and then, drop the inner discipline too. In that undisciplined state is
           freedom, is NIRVANA, is MOKSHA. And out of that freedom, whatsoever happens is virtue. Out of
           slavery, whatsoever happens is sin.

              THE BUDDHA SAID:
              I CONSIDER THE DIGNITIES OF KINGS AND LORDS AS A PARTICLE OF DUST THAT FLOATS IN
              THE SUNBEAM.


               He says: All political power, all power as such, is stupid. Don't rush after it, don't be ambitious,
           because all ambition collects dust and only dust. If you are not disillusioned by dust, you will not be
           able to know what truth is. A man obsessed with ambition is not capable of knowing truth at all.
           Eyes full of ambition never see what is; they only see what they want to see. The ambitious mind is
           the wrong mind; the non-ambitious mind is the right mind.
               To be non-ambitious -- what does it mean? It means that you are not hankering for the future,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that you are not hankering for the next moment; that you are not hoping for the next moment, that
           you have abandoned hope; that you live in this moment, that you don't have any future, that the
           present is all that is. A non-ambitious mind becomes still, and that stillness comes of its own accord
           -- not that you still yourself. A non-ambitious mind is still; there is nowhere to go, nothing to hanker
           after. Then reality is available.
               For an ambitious mind reality is not available, because reality is available only in the present and
           the ambitious mind is always somewhere else, ALWAYS somewhere else. The ambitious mind is
           never content. Discontentedness is its very base. Buddha says: For what are you desiring? Desiring
           for kingdoms? You want to become great kings and dignitaries?

              I CONSIDER THE DIGNITIES OF KINGS AND LORDS AS A PARTICLE OF DUST THAT FLOATS IN
              THE SUNBEAM.


               Why does he say 'that floats in the sunbeam'? Have you seen sometimes... a sunbeam enters
           through the roof, the whole room is dim and dark and just one beam of sun enters into the room; then
           you can see dust floating, dust particles floating in it. They shine, they look like diamonds. They are
           ordinary dust. If the sunbeam were not there you would not even see them, but in a sunbeam they
           look like diamonds. They shine, they become radiant.
               Buddha is saying: When you project an ambition, when the sunbeam of ambition is there, dust
           particles look very precious. They are not precious in themselves. And he should know: he was born
           a king. Then he left those palaces. The day his ambition dropped, suddenly the sunbeam disappeared
           and he saw only dust and dust.
               The night he left his palace and his kingdom and his newly-born child, the charioteer took him
           out of the kingdom not knowing where he was going. And the charioteer was not supposed to ask.
           But when Buddha came out of the chariot and he told the charioteer, "Now you take my clothes
           back, and please give your dirty clothes to me," he could not understand what he meant. He said,
           "What are you doing? Have you gone crazy?" He was an old man, the age of Buddha's father, and he
           said, "I have looked at you and I have loved you from your very childhood. What are you doing? I
           am just like your father; tell me, what is your agony? Why are you leaving these beautiful palaces,
           this kingdom? You are the happiest man in the kingdom. Where are you going?"
               And Buddha said, "I look at those palaces; they are on fire. Everything is burning, the whole
           world is burning and I want to move in a cool shade." The charioteer, of course, was not able to
           understand what he was saying.
               He said, "What are you talking about? I don't see any fire anywhere. What are you talking
           about?"
               And Buddha said, "You may not understand, but I have seen the fire. Everything is on fire,
           everything is burning, because everything is moving towards death."
               Just the day before, he had gone to the town, his capital town, to inaugurate a youth festival, and
           on the road he had come across a dead body. He had not seen a dead body up to that moment. He
           asked, "What has happened to this man?"
               The story is beautiful. The story is told in an eastern way, in a mythological way. The story says
           that the charioteer was prohibited by Buddha's father ever to talk about death, and ever to answer
           such questions -- because the father had been forewarned when the Buddha was born that if ever he
           came to know about death, he would renounce the world. So the charioteer was not going to say
           anything. But the story says that one god, looking at this, entered into the charioteer's body. Seeing
           that the moment had come when Buddha was ready to renounce, and only through that renunciation
           was he going to realize, the rare moment of existence had arrived, the gods helped. They forced the
           charioteer to say the truth.
           The charioteer said, "The man is dead, Sir."
               And Buddha asked, "Is this going to happen to me too?" And the charioteer had to say, because
           the gods were forcing him -- so he said, "Yes, this is going to happen to you too, sir.
               And Buddha said, "Then return home. Then there is no point in going to inaugurate the youth
           festival. I am no longer young. Seeing death, I have become old. Seeing death, I have died." A great
           glimpse, a great insight happened. And Buddha said the next day, "The whole world is on fire. I have
           seen death and when death is coming, then what is the point? I would like to find something which is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beyond death."

              I CONSIDER THE DIGNITIES OF KINGS AND LORDS AS A PARTICLE OF DUST THAT FLOATS IN
              THE SUNBEAM.


               But we don't see death; our ambition prevents us from seeing it. Even if death came right in front
           of you, you would not be able to see it because your ambition would function as a barrier. It won't
           allow you to see, it is like a blindfold.
           I have heard....

               A rich manufacturer from New York suffered a nervous breakdown.
               "You must have a rest," advised his doctor. "Go to Florida, lie around under the sun, go
           swimming. You will be better in a month."
               The businessman followed the doctor's advice and went to Miami, got into his swimming shorts
           and strolled the warm sandy beach. Then the water was too much to resist and he went for a dip. But
           he had overestimated all the years he had gone without exercise and before he realized it he was over
           his depth, and could not swim back.
               "Help! Help!" yelled the businessman. "Save me! I'm drowning!" An alert lifeguard heard the
           cry, dived into the water, and towed him to safety.
               The manufacturer's wife came running to the scene on the beach."Irving, baby, are you alright?
           Speak to me!"
               "I'm alright," wheezed Irving, dripping water, "but I've got to ask you something in private,
           please. Bend down."
               The worried wife stooped over."Yes, Irving, what is it that you want to ask me?"
           "Tell me, how much do I tip for a thing like this?"

               He had faced death... but he asks his wife, "Tell me, how much do I tip for a thing like this?" Life
           is not a problem; money is the problem: 'how much do I have to tip?' Even facing death a man never
           realizes that the very existence of death makes his whole life meaningless. Money has no meaning
           when death is there. But the ambitious mind lives in a very different world: the sunbeam of his
           ambition makes dust particles shine like diamonds. Once the sunbeam disappears. once the ambition
           is not there, everything falls flat and you can see where you were going, what you were hankering
           for. If life is going to disappear -- and it is going to disappear, it is going to move into the desert of
           death sooner or later; it is only a question of time -- then... then whatsoever you are hankering for is
           meaningless. Death will take everything away from you.
               Buddha says: Seek something which death cannot destroy.

              I CONSIDER THE TREASURE OF PRECIOUS METALS AND STONES AS BRICKS AND PEBBLES.


               All your money, all your precious stones, all your bank balances, Buddha says, "I consider as
           pebbles." You are children playing on the seashore of life, collecting pebbles -- colored of course,
           they look beautiful of course, but they are pebbles on the seashore -- of no significance. And while
           you are collecting them life is rushing out of your hands, slipping by. You are taking a great risk.
           This opportunity is not to be destroyed in only collecting pebbles.

               A man who took his two little girls to the amusement park noticed that Mulla Nasrudin kept
           riding the merry-go-round all afternoon. Once, when the merry-go-round stopped, the Mulla rushed
           off, took a drink of water, and headed back again. As he passed near the girls, their father said to
           him, "Mulla, you certainly do like to ride on the merry-go-round, don't you?"
               "No, I don't. Rather, I hate it absolutely and am feeling very sick because of it," said Nasrudin.
           "But the fellow who owns this thing owes me a hundred rupees, and taking it out in trade is the only
           way I will ever collect from him."

              Money seems to be the greatest obsession in the world. Money seems to be the greatest madness
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in the world. We go on selling our lives and collecting pebbles; we call it money. One day we simply
           disappear and the money is left here. And the life that you wasted in collecting that money could
           have been used in a more creative way. It could have become a song, a dance; it could have become
           a prayer, a meditation; it could have become a realization of truth, freedom... but you missed.

           Buddha says:
               I CONSIDER THE GAUDY DRESS OF SILKS AND BROCADES AS A WORN-OUT RAG.


               All that you go on desiring seems foolish. There are people who live only to eat; there are people
           who live only to dress; there are people who go on playing with things -- good when you are a child,
           but it seems that very few people ever become grown-ups. They certainly grow old, but very few
           people become grown-ups. To grow old is one thing, to become grown-up is quite another. A
           grown-up person is one who can see through things: what is a toy and what is not a toy. Small
           children playing -- you laugh at them; but have you looked into your own life? Have you grown up
           at all? Maybe you have changed your toys -- they are playing with toy cars and you are playing with
           real cars -- but the play remains the same. There are people....

                Once I was a professor in a university, and a professor used to live just across from me. He had a
           car but it was always sitting there, and he would clean it and wash it every day, religiously. I became
           puzzled, by and by, because it never came out of the porch.
                I enquired. He said, "You see, the traffic is such, and the car is so beautiful, and it is risky to take
           it to the university. You know the students; somebody may scratch it."
           "Then why have you purchased this car?"
           He said, "I love it."

               Now, think of loving a car! But there are people who love cars, who love houses. It is not very
           difficult to see what has happened to them. These are the people who cannot love a person; they can
           only love a thing -- because you can manipulate a thing, control a thing, better than a person. A
           person is always dangerous. If you love a woman it is always dangerous; if you love a man it is
           always dangerous -- because a man or a woman is a freedom, intrinsic freedom. You cannot totally
           control. Man has tried in every way -- to create marriage, and laws, and this and that, and create
           respectability around it, and punishment and awards, and everything just to make one thing certain:
           that the woman is no longer a freedom, that the man is no longer a freedom. When a man is a
           husband he is no more a person, and when a woman is a wife she is no more a person. The freedom
           has been killed. Now, a husband is a thing, and a wife is a thing: they can be controlled more easily.
           If the wife does something, you can go to the court. The magistrate will help you, the police will
           help you to force the wife back into her 'thinghood'.
               People love things... and people are afraid of persons.
               Then people can go to absurd limits. Now, a car has a utility; certainly it has a utility -- but to be
           in romantic love with a car is absurd. And this is romance! I would see him washing it every day, for
           half an hour, completely absorbed, and the car was never used. He went to the university on a bike,
           and the car went on sitting there. But he felt very happy that the car was there. He looked at the car
           as if he were looking at his woman, he touched the car as if he were touching a human body. I
           watched him: his eyes would suddenly become aglow when he looked at his car; something great
           happened around the car. It is absurd -- not only absurd, it is insane.

               I CONSIDER THIS UNIVERSE AS SMALL AS THE HOLILA FRUIT.
               I CONSIDER THE LAKE OF ANAVATAPTA AS A DROP OF OIL WITH WHICH ONE SMEARS THE
               FEET


               And Buddha says: If you become aware, the whole universe looks very tiny -- because awareness
           is bigger than the whole universe.
               Man is very tiny if you look at his body, man is very foolish if you look at his mind, and man is
           tremendously vast if you look at his consciousness. Three things meet in man. The vast, the infinite,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meet in his consciousness, in his awareness. That's what you become aware of when you meditate:
           boundaries recede and disappear. The body does not contain you; in fact, you contain the body.
           Ordinarily you think, "I exist in the body." It is absolutely wrong. The body exists in you; you are
           vaster, you are bigger -- not only bigger than the body, you are bigger than this whole universe. It is
           awareness that holds all. But if you look at the body you are very tiny. And then, if you go on getting
           identified with your body, a great desire arises to be big. That's what politics is, that's what the desire
           and ambition for money is, that's what you try when you use beautiful clothes to exhibit yourself:
           you try to hide the body, your tinyness, your smallness. You try to make it look beautiful, you try to
           make it precious.

               It is said that once Mulla Nasrudin was in his Turkish bath, and there came Tamurlaine, the great
           murderer and the great emperor and the great conqueror. And only two persons were there, Mulla
           Nasrudin and Tamurlaine. And Tamurlaine, as was his habit, asked Mulla Nasrudin, "I have heard
           that you are a very wise man. How much do you think is my cost, my price?" Of course, he must
           have been hoping that he would say, "You are priceless, sir. The whole universe is nothing before
           you."
               But he looked at him, brooded over it and said, "Sixty rupees."
               Tamurlaine was very angry and he said, "What do you mean? Sixty rupees Even this towel I am
           wearing is worth more than sixty rupees!"
               Nasrudin said, "That's why I said sixty rupees. I am not counting you -- you are nothing -- only
           this towel. I don't take any risks; that's why I say sixty rupees."

               If you are identified with the body, of course, your value is not much -- cannot be much. How
           much value do you think you can get out of your body if you go and sell it? If you ask the scientists
           they say, "Somewhere near around five rupees." Not even sixty rupees... somewhere nearer to five
           rupees. There is a certain amount of aluminium and iron and phosphorus and things like that; if they
           are all collected and sold in the market, they will cost near about five rupees -- and that's true
           because the cost of things has gone very high.
               And in the first place, nobody would be ready to purchase your body. Immediately, the moment
           you die, everybody is ready to dispose of you, some way or other: "Just finish it now."
           It happened:

                It is said about the great Emperor Akbar that he used to go to see a Sufi mystic, Fareed, and he
           used to touch his feet. Now, Akbar's court people became a little jealous: "Akbar, the great Emperor,
           touching the feet of a poor beggar?" And they told Akbar one day, "This doesn't look good, it is
           humiliating. You need not touch that beggar's feet. Your head is an Emperor's head and you put your
           head on his feet?"
                Akbar said, "You do one thing: you bring the head of a dead man and try to sell it."
                When the emperor had said, they had to try. Wherever they went people chased them out. They
           said, "Have you gone crazy! Get out from here! Your head is stinking, and who wants this head? Get
           out!" They tried in all the shops, in every market in Delhi, and from everywhere they were thrown
           out. They came back and they said, "Nobody is ready to purchase -- not only that, people don't even
           listen. They simply say, 'Get out from here! Have you gone mad? What will we do with a human
           head?'"
                Akbar said, "Then what do you think? My head is just a human head; one day you will not get
           any price for it. So if I put this useless head at the feet of Fareed, why do you think it is
           humiliating?"

                It is said that once a great Sufi mystic was caught by a few people who wanted to sell him in a
           slave market. He was a very young, healthy man, radiant. So they were very happy; they were going
           to get a good price. They took him. He said to them, "I know that you are going to sell me, but let me
           tell you one thing: if you listen to me, you can get the highest price possible. I know my price, you
           don't know, so whenever you are ready to sell, just ask me, 'Is it the right price?"'
                After just a few hours they came across a king, and the king said, "The man looks good; I will
           purchase him. I will give five thousand rupees." It was too much in those days, and they were ready.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           But the mystic said, "Wait, this is nothing, let the right purchaser come and I will tell you. Don't be a
           fool" -- so they refused. A rich man came and he offered ten thousand rupees. Now they were ready;
           they were not even going to ask. But the mystic said, "Wait! Are you a fool? Have you not seen? The
           price is double now. Just wait." And then came another rich man and he offered fifteen thousand
           rupees. By now, those people had become aware that he was right: "We have a very precious man."
           And this continued the whole day. Many people offered, but the mystic was saying, "Wait." The last
           offer was for fifty thousand rupees but the mystic said, "Wait!" After that, people started going
           home, the market was becoming deserted. The last man came and he was carrying just a bundle of
           straw. And that was the last man. Those people said, "Now there seems to be no purchaser, and we
           will again have to wait for eight days. Next week, again there will be a market."
               The mystic said, "Wait, ask this man." They asked the man and he said, "I can give you this
           bundle of straw. I don't have anything else." And the mystic said, "That is the right price; sell it! This
           is exactly the right price. Now don't miss this opportunity." Those people started beating their heads.
           They said, "We have got a madman! We have lost fifty thousand rupees and now he says, 'This is the
           right price!"'
               But he was showing, he was indicating something: there is no price; the body is very tiny and
           very small. If you get identified with it, you are getting identified with straw, a bundle of straw -- or
           as Buddha says, "A bag of skin, full of filth." If you get identified with the mind; you have a little
           more freedom. But mind is foolish, mind is stupid, mind is mediocre: it does not know anything
           about truth. It simply goes on inferring about truth, guessing. Mind is guesswork.
               Buddha says: If you get to really know yourself, then you are vast, infinite. Then you are God.

              I CONSIDER THIS UNIVERSE AS SMALL AS THE HOLILA FRUIT. I CONSIDER THE LAKE OF
              ANAVATAPTA AS A DROP OF OIL WITH WHICH ONE SMEARS THE FEET.


               Buddha is saying: If you know man in his true reality, he is so vast that the biggest lake is just an
           oil drop on his feet. He is so vast that the whole universe is smaller than him.

              I CONSIDER THE VARIOUS METHODS OF SALVATION TAUGHT BY THE BUDDHAS AS A
              TREASURE CREATED BY THE IMAGINATION.


               This is the sword: it cuts everything from the roots. Now he says: I consider the various methods
           of salvation taught by the Buddhas as a treasure created by the imagination. All methods are created
           by the mind, so they cannot lead you beyond the mind. That which is created by the mind cannot
           lead you beyond it. To go beyond it you will have to leave all that is created by the mind. Methods
           are also created by mind: Yoga, Tantra, Yantra, Mantra -- all methods are mind-creations,
           imagination... beautiful imagination, sweet dreams, golden dreams, and of course, they are created
           by Buddhas.
               To bring you out of your body, mind is used. So there are a few techniques to bring you out of
           the identification with the body. Then, to bring you to the very boundary of the mind, there are other
           methods which take you to the very brink of where mind ends. Then you have to jump out of the
           mind -- of course, by jumping out of all methods.

              I CONSIDER THE VARIOUS METHODS OF SALVATION TAUGHT BY THE BUDDHAS AS A
              TREASURE CREATED BY THE IMAGINATION. I CONSIDER THE TRANSCENDENTAL DOCTRINE
              OF BUDDHISM AS A PRECIOUS METAL OR PRICELESS FABRIC SEEN IN A DREAM.


                Buddha says: Even what I am saying to you... maybe it is very precious, but it is precious metal
           or precious stones seen in a dream.
                That's what I say to you always: that truth cannot be uttered. The moment you utter it, it becomes
           a lie. Truth cannot be said. The moment you say it, it is almost part of a dream now; no more truth.
                The Zen Buddhists say: Buddha never was born, never walked on earth, never taught a single
           teaching, never initiated anybody to be his sannyasin. And still they go and worship Buddha! Rinzai
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           used to say that it looks absurd.
                One sceptical philosopher came and he heard Rinzai saying that Buddha was never born. And
           just behind Rinzai was a great statue of Buddha. The thinker waited, and Rinzai said that Buddha
           never taught anything; in fact, he never existed, so how could he teach? And then, when the sermon
           was over, he went to the statue, touched the feet and offered a few flowers. The sceptical thinker
           said, "Wait! Now, there is a limit to everything. This is too much! You say this man never walked on
           the earth; you say he never taught; you say in fact that he was never there. And now, whose feet are
           you touching? Whose feet are you touching, and to whom are these flowers offered?"
                And Rinzai laughed and he said, "I am offering these flowers to this man because he taught and
           still he said, 'I have not taught you anything.' He was born and yet he said, 'That which is born is
           beyond birth and death.' He walked on the earth but still deep inside he remained immovable; he
           never walked. The wheel moved; the hub remained in its place, centered."
                Buddha's teaching is tremendously contradictory. First he teaches you, "Do this, do that," and
           then he suddenly says, "Drop all. Now the boundary of the mind has come. Now drop this last dream
           too."

              I CONSIDER THE TEACHING OF BUDDHAS AS A SKY FLOWER
              BEFORE MY EYES.


               Have you sometimes watched, sitting by the shore, on a beach? -- look into the sky and you will
           see flowers moving in the sky. Now scientists say they are ions. Or if you ask Wilhelm Reich, he
           says that they are particles of orgone energy. If you ask the eye specialists, they say that there is
           nothing; just the movement inside your eye nerves creates the fallacy of something in the sky. You
           can press your eye with a finger and then you can see those flowers more. These are called sky
           flowers -- they exist not, but you can see them. And if you move your eyes they will come down and
           they will go up; you can play with them like a yoyo. But they are not, they are not existential.
           Buddha says:

              I CONSIDER THE TEACHING OF BUDDHAS AS A SKY FLOWER BEFORE MY EYES.


               All teaching is meaningless. Truth cannot be taught, it can only be caught. There is no way to
           teach it. By teaching you can transfer words, doctrines, beliefs; truth is never transferred that way.
           But being with a Buddha, you can catch it... it is infectious. Hence the value of SATSANGA: being
           with a Buddha, being with a Master, being with one who has become enlightened.
               What does it mean, 'to become enlightened'? Buddha says it simply means,

              I CONSIDER NIRVANA AS AWAKENING FROM A DAYDREAM OR NIGHTMARE.


               He says you are living in a dream: the dream of ambition, desire, a thousand and one types of
           greed, anger, lust, passion. You live in a dream. NIRVANA, enlightenment, is nothing but coming
           out of the dream, just becoming awake. There is nothing occult in it, nothing esoteric in it. Buddha
           has no esoterics in his teachings; he is very simple. He says: This is all -- the man who lives in the
           world, the worldly man, the 'SAMSARIC' man, is in a dream -- that's all; and the Buddha is one who
           has come out of the dream. The difference is not in their consciousness, the difference is only that
           the worldly man has something more than Buddha. Buddha has only awareness; the worldly man has
           something more than the Buddha. Buddha has only awareness; the wordly man has awareness plus
           dreams. And because of those dreams, the awareness becomes clouded -- as if the sun is clouded and
           you cannot see. Clouds disappear and the sun is there. But as far as the inner light is concerned, there
           is no difference between a Buddha and an ignorant man. They are made of same stuff.

              I CONSIDER THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN HETERODOX AND ORTHODOX AS THE ANTICS OF
              THE SIX [MYTHICAL] DRAGONS.
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               And Buddha says it is all nonsense -- the traditional and the anti-traditional, the orthodox and the
           heterodox, the theist and atheist, and the thousand and one types of philosophies and systems
           fighting with each other, arguing, proving, disproving. He says it is just a game, a mind-game,
           mythological. It has no significance. Don't be too much entangled with theories and doctrines; they
           are part of the dream. Get out of the dreaming state, become more aware.

              I CONSIDER THE DOCTRINE OF SAMENESS AS THE ABSOLUTE GROUND OF REALITY.

              This is his ultimate assertion; meditate over it.



              I CONSIDER THE DOCTRINE OF SAMENESS AS THE ABSOLUTE GROUND OF REALITY.


               Buddha says: Things are not different, they are the same; they only look different, they only
           appear different. The tree there, and the rock, and you, and the animals and the stars, are not
           different. At the innermost core, reality is one and the same. Substance is one and the same, there are
           no distinctions. Distinctions are dreams.
               Physicists call that one reality 'electricity' or 'energy'. Materialists, Marxists, communists, call
           that reality 'matter'. idealists call that reality 'mind'. Yogis call that reality 'consciousness'. Buddha
           calls that reality 'nothingness'.
               Now, this word 'nothingness' is very important. 'Nothingness' means: no-thing-ness. No thing is.
           All things are just forms, dreams. We are different only in form, and forms are just dreams. It is as if
           out of gold you can make many sorts of ornaments. Those forms, different ornaments, are just
           dreams, because the gold is the reality. Behind all the forms is gold; behind all the forms is one
           reality. Buddha says: That sameness is the absolute ground of reality.
               If you go in, you leave the form. First you leave the form of the body. Have you observed it? --
           people who are close to me and meditating, come again and again to that insight -- and these sayings
           can be understood only if you have certain insights of your own. Otherwise, it is impossible to
           understand them. When you are meditating, many times it happens that you forget your form, your
           body; you don't know who you are and how you look. You forget your face. In fact, in deep
           meditation, you completely become oblivious of your body. When you close your eyes, you are
           formless. Your mind also has form. You are a Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, Jain, Buddhist; then
           you have a form of the mind: you think in terms of being a Christian, you have a certain identity,
           dogma defines you. But if you go still deeper, mind also disappears. Then you are no more a
           Christian.
               At the deepest core you are neither a body nor a mind. Then what are you?
               Buddha says: Nothingness, no-thing-ness: now you are not a thing, now you are universal. Now
           you are not confined in any idea, you are infinite. You are that which has always been there and will
           remain always. You are eternal. Then there is no birth to you and there is no death to you. You are
           like the sky: clouds come and go and the sky remains untouched by them. Millions of times clouds
           have come and gone, and the sky has remained pure and virgin. It has not been corrupted or polluted
           by them. You are the inner sky. And when all forms disappear, the inner and the outer also disappear
           -- because they are also forms. Then there is nothing inner and nothing outer... oneness, sameness.
               Buddha does not call it 'God' -- because to call it 'God' you may start thinking again of form. But
           that's exactly what the word 'God' means, or should mean -- God is that sameness that exists in all.
           'God' means existence, isness. The tree is, the rock is, the cloud is, the man is -- forms are different
           but isness is the same. As far as isness is concerned, a tree and you are the same. The form is
           different: the tree is green and you are not green, and the tree has flowers and you don't have any
           flowers, and the bird can fly into the sky and you cannot fly; but these are differences of the form.
           But isness is the same. To look into that isness is what meditation is all about. And to come to realize
           that isness is NIRVANA.
               This is the last message, the last sutra of this SUTRA OF FORTY-TWO CHAPTERS. This is the
           forty-second sutra, Buddha's ultimate message. I don't think you will be able to understand it right
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now. Intellectually of course you can understand it, but the real understanding has to be existential.
           That will come only if you follow the path of inner discipline to the point where you can drop it. If
           you follow the path of meditation to the point where even meditation becomes a hindrance, and you
           drop it.... It is as if you move on a staircase from one floor to another, but when you have reached to
           the next floor you get off the staircase. You don't cling to it. All methods are staircases -- or in
           Buddha's terminology: All methods are like boats; you cross the river, then you leave the boat, and
           you forget all about it.
               Methods have to be used and then dropped. It has to be remembered from the very beginning --
           because there is every possibility that you may become too attached to the method. You become so
           attached that the method becomes a clinging: you start possessing it and it starts possessing you.
           Then the medicine has become a disease.
               It happens: you are ill, you take medicine. Then illness goes but you cannot leave the medicine
           now. You have become accustomed to the medicine, to the drug. When the illness has gone, throw
           the medicine immediately.
               Meditation is a medicine -- because you are ill you have to use it. When wellness has come, then
           drop it immediately.
               All devices have to be dropped one day, and all scriptures have to be dropped one day. This is
           the greatness of Buddha: that he says that even his teachings, his methods, have to be dropped.
               When Zarathustra was saying goodbye to his disciples, the last thing that he said to his disciples
           has to be remembered. Keep it in your heart. This is what Buddha is saying in the last sutra. Said
           Zarathustra to his disciples, "Now I am going and this is my last message: Beware of Zarathustra!"
           And he left.
               Beware of Zarathustra? Beware of the Master... because you can fall in love too much. You can
           become too much attached. The real Master is one who helps you to fall in love, and then helps you
           to stand on your own so that you can leave the Master. A real Master never becomes a crutch for
           you. Never! Before he sees that you are clinging too much, he starts getting out of your life --
           because the ultimate goal is freedom -- freedom from all crutches, freedom from all props, freedom
           from every discipline, doctrine, method. Freedom from all: that's the goal.
               Always remember that goal. Remembering that goal will help you not to go astray.
               A small story and I will finish this discourse. It is a Hassid story: THE THREE PRISONERS.

                After the death of Rabbi Uri of Istalisk, who was called 'The Seraph', one of the Hassidim came
           to Rabbi Birnham and wanted to become his disciple. Rabbi Birnham asked, "What was your
           teacher's way of instructing you to serve?"
                "His way," said the Hassid, "was to plant humanity in our hearts. That was why everyone who
           came to him, whether he was a nobleman or a scholar, had first to fill two large buckets at the well in
           the marketplace, or to do some other hard and menial labor in the street."
           Rabbi Birnham said, "I shall tell you a story....
                "Three men, two of them wise and one foolish, were once put in a dungeon black as night, and
           every day food and eating utensils were lowered down to them. The darkness and the misery of the
           imprisonment had deprived the fool of his last bit of sense, so that he no longer knew how to use the
           utensils; he could not see. One of his companions showed him, but the next day he had forgotten
           again. And so his wise companion had to teach him continually. But the third prisoner sat in silence
           and did not bother about the fool.
                "Once the second prisoner asked him why he never offered his help. 'Look,' said the other, 'you
           take infinite trouble and yet you never reach the goal because every day destroys your work. But I,
           sitting here, am not just sitting. I am trying to bore a hole in the wall so that the light and sun can
           enter, and all three of us can see everything.' "

               Now, there are two types of Masters in the world. The first type I call the teacher. He teaches you
           things: disciplines. virtue, character, but next day you forget. Again he teaches you the same, and
           next day you forget again. The second I call the Master. He does not teach you virtue, he does not
           teach you character, he does not teach you ordinary humility, humbleness, poverty -- no. He bores a
           hole into your being so that light can penetrate, and you can see yourself. He tries to make you
           aware, full of light. That's the real Master. In the East we call him SATGURU, the right Master.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Teachers are many; SATGURUS are very few and far between. Remember this distinction.
               If you are with a teacher you may become a good man, but you cannot become enlightened. And
           your goodness will always remain on a volcano; it can erupt any moment. If you are with a teacher
           he will teach you outward things -- how to discipline yourself, how to be good, how to be a servant,
           how to serve people, how to be non-violent, how to be loving, kind, compassionate. He will teach
           you a thousand and one things.
               If you come to a Master, he teaches only one thing -- that is: how to become aware, how to bore
           a hole into your being so light can enter into your imprisonment. And in that light, everything starts
           happening of its own accord.
               And when things happen of their own accord, they have a beauty to them. Then there is great
           benediction.




                                         The Divine Melody
                                              Talks on Songs of Kabir
                                    Talks given from 01/01/77 am to 10/01/77 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1978




                                               The Divine Melody
                                                   Chapter #1
                                   Chapter title: God is dwelling everywhere
           1 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701010
              ShortTitle: MELODY01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 73 mins




              1.68 bhai kai satguru sant kahawai

              HE IS THE REAL MASTER, WHO CAN REVEAL THE FORM
              OF THE FORMLESS TO THE VISION OF THESE EYES:
              WHO TEACHES THE SIMPLE WAY OF ATTAINING HIM,
              THAT IS OTHER THAN RITES OR CEREMONIES:
              WHO DOES NOT MAKE YOU CLOSE THE DOORS, AND HOLD THE BREATH,
              AND RENOUNCE THE WORLD:
              WHO MAKES YOU PERCEIVE THE SUPREME SPIRIT
              WHEREVER THE MIND ATTACHES ITSELF:
              WHO TEACHES YOU TO BE STILL IN THE MIDST OF ALL YOUR ACTIVITIES.
              EVER IMMERSED IN BLISS, HAVING NO FEAR IN HIS MIND,
              HE KEEPS THE FEAR OF UNION IN THE MIDST OF ALL ENJOYMENTS.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE INFINITE DWELLING OF THE INFINITE BEING IS EVERYWHERE:
              IN EARTH, WATER, SKY, AND AIR:
              FIRM AS THE THUNDERBOLT, THE SEAT OF THE SEEKER
              IS ESTABLISHED ABOVE THE VOID.
              HE WHO IS WITHIN IS WITHOUT: I SEE HIM AND NONE ELSE.

              1.22. jab main bhula re bhai



              O BROTHER: WHEN I WAS FORGETFUL,
              MY TRUE GURU SHOWED ME THE WAY.
              THEN I LEFT ALL RITES AND CEREMONIES,
              I BATHED NO MORE IN THE HOLY WATER:
              THEN I LEARNED THAT IT I ALONE WHO WAS MAD,
              AND THE WHOLE WORLD BESIDE ME WAS SANE;
              AND I HAD DISTURBED THESE WISE PEOPLE.
              FROM THAT TIME FORTH I KNEW NO MORE HOW TO ROLL
              IN THE DUST IN OBEISANCE:
              I DO NOT RING THE TEMPLE BELL:
              I DO NOT SET THE IDOL ON ITS THRONE:
              I DO NOT WORSHIP THE IMAGE WITH FLOWERS.
              IT IS NOT THE AUSTERITIES THAT MORTIFY THE FLESH
              WHICH ARE PLEASED TO THE LORD.
              WHEN YOU LEAVE OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND KILL YOUR
              SENSES,

              YOU DO NOT PLEASE THE LORD:
              THE MAN WHO IS KIND AND WHO PRACTISES RIGHTEOUSNESS,
              WHO REMAINS PASSIVE AMIDST THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD,
              WHO CONSIDERS ALL CREATURES ON EARTH AS HIS OWN SELF,
              HE ATTAINS THE IMMORTAL BEING, THE TRUE GOD IS EVER WITH HIM.
              KABIR SAYS:` HE ATTAINS THE TRUE NAME WHOSE WORDS ARE PURE,
              AND WHO IS FREE FROM PRIDE AND CONCEIT.'


               What is religion? Religion is falling in tune with the whole, falling in love with the whole, falling
           in a togetherness with the whole. A religious person is one who is not against the whole and the
           irreligious is one who is fighting the whole, is in conflict with the whole. The religious person is
           life-affirmative. The irreligious person is life-negative. To the religious person all is good -- his
           affirmation is absolute and total. Nothing is wrong; even if it appears at times that it is wrong, it
           cannot be wrong. It must be a misunderstanding, a misinterpretation. It must be based somewhere in
           our ignorance because we don't know the whole story. So maybe some part looks as if not fitting
           with the whole. We have not heard the whole song, so some note appears to fall out of line. But
           everything has to be good if there is God. God is the guarantee of goodness. Evil, as such, cannot
           exist. If it appears, it must be a nightmare of our own minds; we must have created it.
               The religious mind denies not. His affirmation is absolute, unconditional. He says yes to
           existence. And his yes has no conditions -- remember it; when he says yes he means it. If you find a
           person who says no to existence, to life, to this and that, then remember, he is just an egoist -- not
           religious at all. He is fighting the whole, trying to prove himself a conqueror, trying to prove that he
           is something special. He is doomed to fail. His frustration is sooner or later going to be;it cannot be
           avoided for long, it is predestined. It is predestined by his own attitude of conflict. Religion is
           cooperation -- cooperation with all that is.
               Try to understand it as deeply as possible because only then will you be able to understand this
           mystic singer Kabir. He is a lover of life. He does not deny, he does not negate, he does not
           condemn, he never sees anything bad anywhere. Once you have had a vision of the whole, all
           becomes sublime. Then there is nothing secular;everything is sacred, and the whole existence is the
           temple of God, and the whole life is a prayer. Walking, you walk in God. Dancing, you dance in
           God. Sleeping, you sleep in God -- because nothing else exists than him.
               God is the guarantee of goodness. God means the good. The good is the substratum of existence,
           so evil is not possible. Evil is impossible. We must have misrepresented; we must have brought our
           own ideas, concepts, doctrines; we must have created our own stupid private notions of how things
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           should be. Things simply ARE.There is no SHOULD in existence. The idea of should is brought by
           man -- and once you bring the idea of should, existence is divided into two: good and bad. Once you
           say `Things should be like this', you have moved away from reality, you have moved away from that
           which is. And only that which is, IS; nothing else. Reality is here as it is; don't bring the should,
           otherwise the condemnation comes.
               In the West, Albert Schweitzer has created a very false notion about the East. He was a great
           thinker, but unfortunately not acquainted with the Eastern mind at all. And he was too Western. He
           has created a notion that East and Eastern religions are life-denying, life-negative. It is utter
           nonsense. And you will see, when we enter into Kabir you will see: more life-affirmation is not
           possible, more love for live is not possible. Even Jesus is not so life-affirmative as Kabir. Where else
           can you find a temple like Khajuraho, more life-affirmative? Where can you find an occult science
           like Tantra, more life-affirming? Where can you find such absolute YES? Life is God -- and there is
           no other god; and worship of life is worship -- and there is no other worship.
               But Schweitzer got his ideas because the Christian missionaries have been interpreting the
           Eastern religion in such a way that it looks life-negative. Of course there have been a few thinkers in
           the East who ARE life-negative, but they are very few, and the main current of Eastern religiousness
           does not consist only of them. In fact they are by the side of the road; they are not the main flow of
           Eastern consciousness. But Christian missionaries emphasized those life-negative thinkers, and,
           emphasized their life-negativities more and more, to create an atmosphere in the West as if
           Christianity is life-affirmative. The truth is just the reverse: Christianity is not life-affirmative. It has
           not loved man, it has not loved this world, it has not danced, it has not laughed.
               Go to a Christian church and you feel as if you have entered a cemetery -- dead, very serious,
           corpse-like. You enter a church and you start feeling that you are also becoming serious. The very
           vibe is not of laughter, no. Christians say Jesus never laughed. I don't believe it -- I cannot believe it,
           because I know Jesus better.
               But Christians say Jesus never laughed If I write the gospels, I would write that Jesus laughed his
           whole life. In fact, when he was crucified he had a belly laughter. He laughed tremendously,
           uproariously -- because this was just ridiculous. To try to kill that which cannot be killed, to try to
           kill Jesus -- the very idea is ridiculous, he must have laughed. I can still hear his laughter.... But
           Christians have not heard his laughter; they have based their religion more on the cross than on
           Christ.
               Christianity would have been benefitted tremendously if the cross had been forgotten -- because
           with the cross, death comes in. I call Christianity `crossianity'. It is a religion of death, of the cross --
           serious, sad. If Christianity had paid more attention to Jesus, then a totally different world view
           would have arisen. More emphasis should have been given to the resurrected Christ -- not to the
           crucified. Then Christianity would have been more life-affirmative, even death could not kill, even
           the cross could not destroy -- Jesus is resurrected. Then Christianity could have danced, then there
           would have been singing and celebration, and churches would have been more human, But that
           didn't happen; the whole of Christianity became attached too much to the cross.
               In fact, we are all too much attached to death. Death leaves a greater impression in us. If
           somebody is alive we don't bother to be happy with him, but if he dies we cry. We had never thought
           about it before, that that man was alive just a day before and we could have danced together and we
           could have celebrated a few moments and we could have allowed benediction to enter -- we never
           thought about it. Now he is dead, now we cry. We don't seem to be interested too much in life, we
           seem to be interested too much in death.
           I have heard...
               A great enemy of Voltaire died. They were lifelong enemies, critisising each other. Somebody
           rushed to Voltaire to release the news and said, `Your great enemy is dead.'
               Shocked, Voltaire said, `I will miss him tremendously.' He started crying and he said, 'He was a
           great man and it will be difficult to find a greater man than him. His intelligence was tremendously
           sharp and his whole life was a beautiful life.'
               The man who had come to release the news could not believe these words, that Voltaire would
           say these words -- he was expecting that he would be happy. Seeing him shocked, Voltaire said, 'All
           these things are true, provided he is really dead. Provided he is really dead -- if he is still alive, then
           forget all this.'
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When a person is dead he becomes good. We declare people good only when they are dead.
           Alive, they are not good; alive, they are not worth friendship; alive we fight. Dead ,we praise them to
           high pinacles.
           I have heard...
               A miserly man died. The widow went to the priest and asked him, `How much will it cost? -- you
           have to deliver a speech.'
               He said,` There are speeches and speeches. The best will cost two hundred dollars.'
               `Two hundred dollars?' the woman said. `My husband would not have allowed that much of a
           luxury. Isn't there a cheaper speech/'
               Them man said, `There are hundred-dollars -- but then I will not be able to praise him much.'
           The woman said, `Still come a little lower.'
               And the priest said, `Fifty dollars is still too much.'
               Then he said, `Okay, ten dollars -- but remember, then I will have to tell the truth.'
               When a person dies, we start telling lies... beautiful lies. In India everybody dies and goes to
           heaven -- even politicians. Nobody seems to go to hell; hell must be absolutely empty. Death seems
           to be very important to us. We are death-obsessed. That's why Christians made too much fuss about
           the cross -- that became a symbol. A religion that is centered on the concept of the cross and death
           and crucifixion cannot be a religion of life-affirmation. Schweitzer is wrong. He should have read
           Kabir -- his whole being would have been benefitted tremendously.
               Kabir is REALLY the religious person. His declaration about life is of tremendous trust. He does
           not say to you to renounce anything. He says rather, `Bring everything to God and bring God to
           everything.' You will be surprised by his assertions: these assertions are tremendously revolutionary.
           A few things more ,before we enter the songs.
               Religion is not traditional -- cannot be by its very nature. Tradition is that which is dead.
           Tradition is that which has passed away, tradition is just the dust of the past, tradition is just the
           memory. Religion is always alive, breathing. Religion can never be traditional. Whenever religion
           becomes traditional, it serves the Devil more than God. Then it serves death more than life. Then it
           serves politicians, priests, organizations, churches, but it doesn't serve the spirit of man. Then it is no
           more an opening towards the future. Tradition looks back; we have to go forward. Looking
           backward is meaningless; not only meaningless, but harmful too, dangerous -- because we cannot go
           backwards, we have to go forwards, and looking backwards and moving forwards is bound to create
           trouble.
               The second thing: religion is not in the scriptures, cannot be. Scriptures are dead letters. Yes,
           there was religion some day, throbbing in those words when they were being uttered by an alive
           Master. When Krishna told Srimat Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, it was alive. It was alive because of
           Krishna, it was illuminated because of Krishna -- when Krishna disappeared, the Bhagavad Gita
           became a corpse. Dead words: you can go on analyzing those words, interpreting this way and that...
           There are one thousand commentaries on the Gita -- famous ones; there are many more. In fact,
           whenever anybody reads the Gita, he has his own meaning of it. Krishna's meaning is lost; it
           disappeared with Krishna himself. The snake has passed... only the track on the sand is left. That
           track you go on worshipping as a scripture.
               When Jesus walked on earth and talked to his disciples, it was a throbbing truth, throbbing with
           life -- alive, vibrating, pulsating. The word was not dead; the word was God, the word was truth
           itself. The word had a heart in it. The word was suffused with love, experience, existence, being.
           When Jesus has gone, life is gone. Then you can collect words and you can make as many gospels as
           you want. Those gospels are going to be of no help.
               Real religion is never in the scriptures. And a real religious seeker does not go in search of
           scriptures, he goes in search of a Master -- a living Master. That is one of the basic tenets of Kabir's
           understanding: SATGURU -- the living Master. Go and search for a living Master! If you can come
           in contact with a living Master then dead scriptures will become alive again. They become alive only
           VIA the living Master -- there is no other way, because the living Master is the only scripture. When
           the living Master touches the Bhagavad Gita it will become alive; when he touches the gospel, the
           gospel will become alive. When he recites the Koran, the Koran will again become alive. He will
           give his own life to these words, they will start throbbing. But directly you cannot find religion in the
           scriptures.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So religion is not in the tradition and religion is not in the scriptures and religion is not in the
           rituals. Rituals are formalities. Unless you are in communion with a living Master, rituals are a dead
           weight. They will burden you, they will dry you, they will kill you, and you will be lost in infinite
           formalities. With a living Master, a new ritual is born. It comes out of the contact; it has a context to
           it, a living reference to it. It is not learned by dead tradition being transferred from one generation to
           another. You live it -- and through living it, you learn it.
                When you come to a living Master, deep down something in you wants to bow down. It is not
           that you are going to do a certain formality -- if you are doing, it is meaningless. But something
           really down in your spirit, deep in your spirit, deep in your center, wants to bow down. Then bowing
           to a Master is no more ritualistic. It is alive, it is meaningful, it is not an empty gesture. But you can
           just go on bowing down to anybody, because you have been taught to bow down -- then it is useless.
           Try to see the difference. When something is born into you out of your spontaneity, then it is true.
           When you have to do something as a duty, it is untrue. `Duty' is a dirty word. If something is born
           out of love, good. If something is born out of duty, avoid it, never do it -- because that is dangerous.
           If you learn the ways of duty too much, you will forget the ways of love. Duty is against love. Duty
           is a false substitute for love.
                Religion is not in the rituals. Of course, whenever there is religion there is ritual -- but that is a
           totally different matter. How can you avoid when Buddha walks amongst you, how can you avoid
           touching his feet? Impossible. You can do only two things and both are rituals: either you have to
           touch his feet, or you have to throw stones at him. Both are rituals -- one is that of the enemy and
           one is that of the friend, but both are rituals. You cannot neglect Buddha, you cannot be indifferent,
           that's all. The phenomenon is such that you cannot just bypass. Either you have to become a friend or
           you have to become an enemy; you have to choose. You have to have an attitude -- that attitude is
           ritual. But then it is born into your heart, not learned from somebody else. It simply arises in your
           being.
                Religion, wherever it is, always brings rituals; but when the religion disappears, the rituals
           become dead. Don't carry the corpse. Yes, you loved your mother very much and now she is dead --
           what are you going to do? Are you going to carry her corpse for your whole life? You have to burn it
           or bury it. You have to get rid of it, you cannot go on carrying it. But this same thing happens as far
           as religion is concerned. You loved the Buddha so much, and great passion arose in your soul, and
           great worship and great songs were born in his presence... now he is gone, you continue the song. By
           and by, it is a far away echo of the echo... goes on fading.
                When the pope speaks in the Vatican, it is not Jesus' voice at all -- cannot be. When Jesus speaks,
           he speaks on his own authority. When the pope speaks, he speaks on the authority of Jesus. A real
           Master speaks on his own authority, he is his sole authority.
                Religion is not in the tradition, not in the rituals, and NOT in the so-called religions -- Hindu,
           Christian, Mohammedan. Religion has no adjective to it. Religion is simply religion, as love is love.
           Do you call love Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan? If love is neither Christian nor Hindu nor
           Mohammedan, then why should God be Christian, Hindu and Mohammedan? Has not Jesus said
           `God is Love'? Religion is not in the religions; religion is pure of all adjectives, pure of all
           definitions, and each one has to seek it. Nobody can be born into a religion, religion has to be born
           into you. You have to open your soul and receive religion. It is showering all around... but you are
           carrying toys, substitutes, false coins, in your hands, and thinking you are having religion. In the
           church it is not, in the mosque it is not, in the temple it is not. Go somewhere where a living Master
           is: it is there. And that too exists only for a few moments -- the Master is gone, and the religion
           disappears.
                Hence Kabir's insistence for a SATGURU -- for a true Master
                Religion is individual, one has to seek it on one's own. It is not a social phenomenon, it has
           nothing to do with the crowd and the collective. It is a private thing, as intimate as love. You come to
           it alone, in deep intimacy, privacy... you open your heart. Religion is spontaneous in the sense that
           you cannot learn it. You can be it, but you cannot learn it. It is as spontaneous as love. Have you ever
           learnt what love is?And that day will be a doomsday, when man will have to learn how to love. That
           day seems to be coming closer every day, in the West particularly, and more particularly in America.
           Books are being written: How to Love, How to be Friendly -- foolish books, because if man has
           forgotten how to love, no book can teach it. To teach humanity how to love is as if somebody goes to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the fish and teaches the fish to swim -- that will be foolish. And so is the case with religion. Religion
           cannot be taught, it can only be caught; it is a sort of infection. You can go wherever a holy person
           exists and you can catch it, you can imbibe it.
               Religion is a rebellion. It is a rebellion against death, it is rebellion against all that is dead; it is
           rebellion against the outside: it is rebellion against politics, greed, society, culture, civilization.
           Religion is a rebellion: it says we have to listen to the innermost core of our being and follow it
           wherever it leads. Wherever... unafraid of the consequences, we will listen to the small still voice
           within and follow it. Religion is a risk. Those people who are after security too much can never
           become religious; it is a dangerous thing. If you pass through it, you will be passing through a
           crucifixion... but only after the crucifixion is resurrection.
           Now listen to the sutras of Kabir.

               HE IS THE REAL MASTER, WHO CAN REVEAL THE FORM
               OF THE FORMLESS TO THE VISION OF THESE EYES...


              Now if the real Master is the basic thing to search and seek for, then of course a definition is
           needed: Who is the real Master? Whom to call the real Master? How to know? Kabir says:

               HE IS THE REAL MASTER, WHO CAN REVEAL THE FORM
               OF THE FORMLESS TO THE VISION OF THESE EYES


               ... in whose presence the formless descends and becomes a presence... through whom you can
           have a look at the farthest star... through whom you can have a feeling of God himself... through
           whose words silence speaks, and through whose eyes the infinite peeks at you. And if you hold his
           hand, you will suddenly see: the hand is his, but not only his -- God is holding your hand through
           him. He is a vehicle, a bamboo flute on the lips of the infinite. He gives form to the formless, he is
           the embodiment of the formless.
               You have to be very open and vulnerable, only then will you be able to feel a Master. Don't go to
           a Master with a negative attitude, otherwise you will never reach him. The very negative attitude will
           not allow his vibe to reach you. The negative attitude will not allow you to move into the same
           wavelength in which he lives. Hence trust is needed. Hence, love is needed. Otherwise you will go
           empty and you will come empty -- and when you will come empty you will say,`This is not the real
           Master. I went empty and I have come empty.' If you are not open, you will come empty. Only if you
           are open is there a possibility to feel. And don't be afraid of open-ness. If you are open and the
           Master is not real, nothing will happen; and you will know it, and you will know it certainly, that this
           is not for you, that this is not the man you are seeking. But be open -- because if you are open, only
           then can you know whether he is true or not. If you are closed, already closed, then there is no
           possibility. In fact, if you are closed, sooner or later you will become a victim of somebody who is a
           pseudo-Master -- because pseudo-Masters try to convince you argumentatively.
               The real Masters are very paradoxical, very contradictory. They are as contradictory as life itself,
           because they embody life. They are as inconsistent as God himself, because they embody God. They
           are not logical, they are very illogical -- because they are superlogical, because they are bringing
           something which cannot be grasped through logic.
               In the closeness of a real Master you will feel you are close to an abyss... but if you are open --
           only then. If you are not open, you will become a victim to some pseudo-person who can convince
           you, who can talk you in, who can seduce you in. For example, if you are greedy he will talk about
           greed. He will tell you how much you are going to gain out of the meditation, the prayer. He will
           persuade your greed, how much you are going to have in heaven if you follow him. He will promise
           you much. A true Master never promises anything. In fact he shatters you completely -- your greed,
           your desire, your idea of becoming somebody, being somebody -- he shatters all in all. A real Master
           is a rock against which your boat is completely shattered... your whole mind is shattered. He drives
           you crazy; he does not argue. His argument is more of his being than of his words.
               But we are greedy. We live through greed, we are afraid, full of fear -- somebody gives us
           consolation, we become victims. A real Master is not a consolation, he is not a solace. He is, in fact,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           death to you. He kills you, he destroys you, he is very destructive... but creativity is possible only
           when the old is destroyed. When the old ceases to be, the new can enter in.

              I have heard a beautiful anecdote. Meditate over it....

                The letter from Sean to his old, old mother was heartening. `Dear mother,' he wrote, `I am
           sending you some pills that a witch doctor gave me and if you take one, it will take years of your
           life.'
                He came home a few weeks later, and there was a beautiful young woman outside his house
           rocking a pram in which a baby lay sucking a bottle.
           `Where's my mother?' he asked.
                `Arrah, don't be silly,' she said. `I'm your mother and these pills were marvellous.'
                `Imagine!' said Sean. `One pill, and you're as beautiful as anyone could be -- and what's more,
           you were able to have a baby. Lord, but they were powerful!'
                `You madman!' she cried. `That's not a baby, that's your father. He took two;'

               Avoid greed -- otherwise you will take two pills. And there are many people who are selling
           things like that. Witch doctors....
               A Master is not here to fulfill your greed, he is here to destroy your greed. Because once greed is
           destroyed, you become available to yourself. If you are greedy you are never available to yourself.
           Greed becomes desire, desire becomes a projection in the future. And you are always wandering
           somewhere in the future; you are never herenow. Greed takes you away from yourself: greed has to
           be destroyed.
               A Master never promises you anything -- but only in the presence of a Master something
           becomes possible. He will not tell you: `I will take death away from you', or `You will become
           immortal'. He is not giving you nectar, elixir, ambrosia. Of course, being with a Master one becomes
           immortal -- but not that he MAKES you immortal. He simply takes you deep into the existence of
           death.
               Just look at it: he takes you deep into the experience of death. That is what deep meditation is all
           about -- a death *experience. And when you have known your death, watched it, suddenly you
           realize you are separate from it. It happens, but it never happens to you. It happens on the periphery,
           it never reaches to the center. It happens to the body, it never happens to you. And the body is
           nothing but your abode. You have changed many bodies, and you will change many more -- but you
           are immortal. But a real Master does not promise it. He delivers it one day, but there is no promise
           for it. If you are seeking one state where fear will dissolve, some state where your greed will be
           fulfilled, some state where you will be titilated constantly with pleasure, paradise, then you are
           bound to become a victim of some pseudo-person.
               SATGURU means the real Master. A SATGURU means the pseudo-Master.

              HE IS THE REAL MASTER, WHO CAN REVEAL THE FORM
              OF THE FORMLESS TO THE VISION OF THESE EYES:
              WHO TEACHES THE SIMPLE WAY OF ATTAINING HIM....

               THE SIMPLE WAY -- not complex methods, not yoga postures, not very complicated rituals. He
           teaches simple ways, very simple, that anybody who wants to do it can do it right now. His ways are
           so simple and spontaneous that you will be surprised why you did not discover them yourself. They
           are so simple! Once the Master has taught you, once you have known the beauty of them, once you
           have tasted a little, you will be simply surprised why you could not discover them -- they are so
           simple.
               The real Master is not technical, he is simple -- because there is no technique to achieve God.
           God is not somewhere at the end of a technique, no. God is already available to you. You are in
           God;you just have to shake yourself a little so that you can become a little more alert. Just a little
           more alertness, that's all.
               Sometimes you do become alert, but you become alert also in a very unconscious way. You are
           driving a car and suddenly you see that a bus is coming and the driver seems to be drunk or mad and
           you see no possibility of avoiding the accident. The accident is going to be; it becomes almost a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certainty. In that moment you become alert, very alert, but that alertness is unconscious. You are
           alert, but you are not alert that you are alert.
               In some dangerous situation you become alert, but that alertness is unconscious. A Master simply
           teaches you how to be alert with full consciousness. He teaches you conscious awareness. Now you
           may be a little puzzled, because... conscious awareness? You think consciousness means awareness,
           awareness means consciousness. No. There are moments when you are aware but not conscious. If
           somebody comes suddenly with a pistol in his hand and forces the pistol on your chest, you will be
           aware but not conscious. Thinking will stop. The shock is so sudden, so unexpectedly sudden, and
           cannot figure out what is going to happen, and death is so close... in that shock, your mind stops.
           Your constantly spinning mind spins no more. Your constantly chattering mind is simply shocked
           into silence: you become aware. But this awareness is unconscious.
               The Master teaches only one thing: how to be consciously aware. And that's a very simple thing.
           You can start doing it any moment; you can apply awareness, consciousness, to any activity that you
           go on doing.If you are walking on the road, just walk consciously. Take each step in deep alertness.
           Listening to me, right now, listen attentively. You are listening attentively but that attention may be
           unconscious. Become conscious of the attentiveness, and suddenly you will see a tremendous
           blessing descends in you. Out of nowhere, suddenly it is there. Just a moment of conscious alertness
           and your doors open and God enters in -- as if he was just waiting there at the door, knocking and
           knocking and knocking. But you are so much preoccupied....

           Kabir says:
              WHO TEACHES THE SIMPLE WAY OF ATTAINING HIM....


               People who teach complex ways simply show that they have not known God -- because God
           needs no expertise. And people who teach complex ways have a reason to teach complex ways :so
           that they always can say to you `If you are not doing the thing rightly, how can you hope to attain?'
               Have you heard a beautiful story of Khalil Gibran?..

                A man used to move from town to town. He was a great teacher and he used to say to people,
           `Come and follow me, and I will show you the way to God.' But people were engaged. They had so
           many thousands of things to do and they would say, `We worship you, we respect you, and one day
           we are coming to follow you -- but right now it is difficult.'
                Nobody is ready now -- that's why so many pseudo-Masters can exist. Saint Augustine, in his
           confessions says: `I used to pray to God when I was young, "God save me, but not right now. Save
           me but not right now" -- because I was indulging in so many things,' he says, `and I wanted to enjoy
           all that is available. So this was not to be heard immediately. I was saying the prayer because it has
           to be said formally, but I would always say, "Save me Lord, but not right now."'

               So this preacher went from town to town, and people would say, `Not right now. We will come
           one day.' And he was very happy because nobody ever followed him and there was no trouble. A
           madman one day said, `Okay, I am coming.' He became a little afraid, but he said -- he was a very
           clever and cunning man -- he said, `Come.' And he would give him such complex procedures as are
           almost impossible to do. But the man was really mad. He would do them, and even this teacher could
           not find any fault. And the man continued. The teacher was thinking he would get fed-up sooner or
           later.
               One year passed, two years passed, and he would say, `When?' The disciple was too much! -- and
           he would ask again and again,`Now, what else to do?' And he was doing everything! Even the
           Master became afraid -- now he could not think what else to say for him to do, and he was doing
           EVERYTHING.
               Six years passed, and one day the disciple said, `How long is it still? I am ready to do anything
           but you are not giving me anything.' He said, `Listen: the truth is, in your company I have lost my
           own way. I used to know where he is, but since you have come.... You just have mercy on me and
           leave me.'
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Complex procedures have been invented by cunning people. First nobody is ready to do them;
           good -- the pseudo-Master can exist, because his techniques will never be put to any
           experimentation. Second if somebody tries to do it, they are so complex that it can always be said
           that you are not doing them rightly.They are so complex that you cannot trust yourself and you are
           always afraid that something may go wrong. But a real Master will give you very simple techniques
           -- anybody of average intelligence, of average health, can do them.

              WHO TEACHES THE SIMPLE WAY OF ATTAINING HIM,
              THAT IS OTHER THAN RITES OR CEREMONIES...


               He never teaches you rituals, rites and ceremonies. He may teach you celebration -- but never
           ceremonies. Celebration is of the heart, and ceremony is just a ritual of the mind.

              WHO DOES NOT MAKE YOU CLOSE THE DOORS, AND HOLD THE BREATH, AND RENOUNCE
              THE WORLD...


               The real Master is all for the world, because this world is a manifestation of God. This world is
           full of God. Every rock is so crowded with God, and every tree and every bird and all that exists is
           so full, overflowing with God... where to go? and for what? Whom to renounce? and for what? And
           how can one renounce? -- because wherever you are in God, and wherever you are you are in this
           world... because there is no other world.

              HE DOES NOT MAKE YOU CLOSE YOUR DOORS, AND HOLD YOUR BREATH, AND RENOUNCE
              THE WORLD:
              WHO MAKES YOU PERCEIVE THE SUPREME SPIRIT WHENEVER THE MIND ATTACHES
              ITSELF...
              Just look at the beauty if this sutra. Kabir says:

              WHO MAKES YOU PERCEIVE THE SUPREME SPIRIT WHENEVER THE MIND ATTACHES
              ITSELF...

               He says: Don't be worried. Whenever you mind feels attachment, don't be afraid of the
           attachment: go deep into it and try to find God there... and you will find him there. You love a
           woman-no need to escape from her: look deep into her eyes... and you will find God there. God is
           welling up everywhere. You love your child-don't renounce the world and don't throw the child to
           this hungry, violent, ugly world, don't abandon the child to the wolves: look into the eyes of the
           child. Put ears to his heart and listen deeply... and you will find God there.
               Kabir says: Unconditionally, whenever the mind attaches itself, perceive the supreme self.
               I have heard about a man who came to Kabir and he wanted to know god, and Kabir asked him,
           "Don't you love somebody?"
           He said, `Sorry, I don't love anybody.'
               Kabir said, `Anybody will do, but you love-because unless you love, there is no bridge.'
               The man was a little shy but then he confessed, `Yes, I love. I love my cow.' A poor man, and he
           had one cow and nothing else.
           Kabir said, `Perfectly good. That will do.'
           The man asked, `Then what have I to do now?'
               He said, `Now you start thinking that the cow is divine. Now she is no more a cow; she is a god,
           a goddess. You serve her, you love her, you pat her, you give her a bath, you do everything-but now
           she is a goddess. God is hidden there. And come after three months.'
               After three months the man was totally different, radiant with new energy. The disciple of Kabir
           were a little puzzled -- `Is he just joking with this man?' But when the man came, they were
           surprised. he had almost become a new man, a new being; and he fell at Kabir's feet and said,
           `Tremendous it is! I have found my God. And the day I found him in my cow, I found him
           everywhere.'
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Whenever your love falls, no need to escape and renounce. Let your love become your prayer.
              WHO TEACHES YOU TO BE STILL IN THE MIDST OF ALL YOUR ACTIVITIES.
              EVER IMMERSED IN BLISS, HAVING NO FEAR IN HIS MIND, HE KEEPS THE SPIRIT OF UNION
              IN THE MIDST OF ALL ENJOYMENTS.

               And Kabir says: Don't escape from enjoyments. Remember, they are his gifts. And don't escape
           from the worldly activities; remain passive. Move in the crowd and remain alone. The real thing is to
           be alone-not to be lonely. And one can be alone in the crowd, and you can be in a crowd when sitting
           in a Himalayan cave-it all depends on your mind. So the change has to be inner, not outer.
              THE INFINITE DWELLING OF THE INFINITE BEING IS EVERYWHERE:
              IN EARTH, WATER, SKY, AND AIR:
              FIRM AS THE THUNDERBOLT, THE SEAT OF THE SEEKER IS ESTABLISHED ABOVE THE VOID.
              HE WHO IS WITHIN IS WITHOUT: I SEE HIM AND NONE ELSE.

               You just become empty of your self. Empty yourself, become void... and you will become the
           seat, you will become the abode, you will become the temple.
              O BROTHER: WHEN I WAS FORGETFUL,
              MY TRUE GURU SHOWED ME THE WAY.
              THEN I LEFT ALL RITES AND CEREMONIES...

               When you have found the guru, what is the use of rites and ceremonies? When you have found a
           living Master, then what is the use of scriptures and traditions? `When I left my Master...
              I LEFT ALL RITES AND CEREMONIES,
              I BATHED NO MORE IN THE HOLY WATER;
              THEN I LEARNED THAT IT WAS I ALONE WHO WAS MAD, AND THE WHOLE WORLD BESIDE
              ME WAS SANE; AND I HAD DISTURBED THESE WISE PEOPLE.

               This must be you experience too, of all sannyasins. People will think you mad.
               And Kabir says: Since I have left foolish things -- I don't go to take a bath in the holy ganges and
           don't go to the temple and I don't do any ritual-people Think I have gone mad. Whenever you will
           come in close contact with a Master, the world will think you have gone mad. They are all sane, wise
           people. Their wisdom never leads them anywhere, their sanity never gives them a single glimpse of
           bliss; their sanity is nothing but their misery, and their wisdom is nothing but all stupidity-but still
           they think they are sane and they are wise, they should be blissful. If they are really sane, they would
           show intelligence, creativity. But they don't show anything.
               But people who come in close contact with a Master and are illuminated by his being will look
           mad. Always it has been so, and always it will be so. So of people think you are mad, don't be
           worried-they were thinking that even about Kabir.
              THEN I LEARNED THAT IT WAS I ALONE WHO WAS MAD,
              AND THE WHOLE WORLD BESIDE ME WAS SANE;
              AND I HAD DISTURBED THESE WISE PEOPLE.
              FROM THAT TIME FORTH I KNEW NO MORE HOW TO ROLL IN THE DUST IN OBEISANCE:
              I DO NOT RING THE TEMPLE BELL;
              I DO NOT SET THE IDOL ON ITS THRONE:
              I DO NOT WORSHIP THE IMAGE WITH FLOWERS.
              IT IS NOT THE AUSTERITIES THAT MORTIFY THE FLESH WHICH ARE PLEASING TO THE
              LORD.

               And Kabir declares: If you mortify yourself you are a perverted being, and God is not happy with
           you. If you torture yourself you are a masochist, and God is not happy with you. God is happy when
           you are happy, God is happy in you happiness... because he is hiding in you deepest core. When you
           torture yourself you torture God-how can he be happy? When you become a masochist and people
           start worshipping you like a MAHATMA, you are a masochist, a perverted being, insane-and
           torturing the God within yourself.
               Helpless is he, helpless like a small child. You an torture him easily.
              IT IS NOT THE AUSTERITIES THAT MORTIFY THE FLESH
              WHICH ARE PLEASING TO THE LORD.
              WHEN YOU LEAVE OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND KILL YOUR SENSES YOU DO NOT PLEASE THE
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              LORD...

               Listen to these rebellious maxims. It is not that when you destroy your senses God is pleased;
           rather, he is pleased when your sensitivity goes to a peak. When you can see more beauty in the
           world, When you can hear more music in the world, when you can love more deeply, when you can
           be more alive, he is happy.
              WHEN YOU LEAVE OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND KILL
              YOUR SENSES, YOU DO NOT PLEASE THE LORD:
              THE MAN WHO IS KIND AND WHO PRACTISES
              RIGHTEOUSNESS,WHO REMAINS PASSIVE AMIDST
              THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD, WHO CONSIDERS
              ALL CREATURES ON EARTH AS HIS OWN SELF.
              HE ATTAINS THE IMMORTAL BEING, THE
              TRUE GOD IS EVER WITH HIM. KABIR SAYS:
              `HE ATTAINS THE TRUE NAME WHOSE WORDS ARE
              PURE, AND WHO IS FREE FROM PRIDE AND CONCEIT.'

               One who is kind to himself and others, only one who loves himself and others.... You have been
           taught: `Never love yourself.' You have been taught: `Never be kind to yourself.' You have been
           taught to never forgive yourself. You have been taught much self-torture: you are praised in the same
           proportion as you torture yourself. If you want to become a MAHATMA you have to be a
           masochist-there is no other way. I f you are happy, joyous, delighted in your being, nobody is going
           to worship you.Who worships a happy man? Have you seen any happy man being worshiped?
           People worship sad longface, dead, dull, stupid people who can torture themselves. Their only art is
           that they can torture themselves; they are cruel to themselves, they are violent.
               Kabir says: Be kind, and let kindness flow through you. Love yourself, and only then can you
           love others too. In deep love, in deep sensitivity, God is pleased.
               The whole point is that you have to become a spiritual hedonist. That's my whole teaching too:
           become a spiritual hedonist. There are spiritual people but they are hedonists, and there are hedonist
           who are not spiritual. The West is hedonist but not spiritual; materialist. The East is spiritual but not
           hedonist-and both have missed. A higher synthesis is needed: hedonim and spiritualism. When they
           meet, the total man is born. And that total man is the enlightened man, that total man is the holy man.




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                    Chapter #2
                                           Chapter title: Become a flame
           2 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701020
              ShortTitle: MELODY02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              I REALIZED IN YESTERDAY'S DISCOURSE THAT I AM RESISTING THE WORD `GOD'.
              MY THOUGHTS GO BACK TO AN EVENT WHICH HAPPENED SEVERAL YEARS AGO WHEN I
              WAS CARING FOR A VERY ILL MAN IN THE HOSPITAL -- HE WAS DYING. HE HAD ASKED ME
              TO GET A PRIEST FOR HIM AS HE WAS AFRAID.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ON ARRIVAL OF THE PRIEST, THE ILL MAN SAID, "GOD DAMN YOU," DIRECTLY TO THE
              PRIEST. AND THE PRIEST WALKED AWAY, AND SAID TO ME, "HE ISN'T WORTH IT."
              I TOLD THE PRIEST, "THIS MAN IS VERY ILL AND THE WORDS HE USES, HE KNOW NOT."
              THE PRIEST STILL REFUSED TO HELP HIM. SINCE THAT DAY I HAVE NOT GONE INTO A
              CHURCH.
              I KNOW GOD IS WITHIN ME. WHAT IS THE RESISTANCE THEN? PLEASE HELP ME.


                The word `God' is not God. The word `love' is not love. The word `fire' is not fire. So the first
           thing is to remember: don't get attached too much to words, don't get obsessed too much with words.
           Words are only symbols, indicative: use them, but don't become burdened too much by them. If the
           word `god' creates trouble, forget that word. `Allah' will do, `Ram' will do, `X Y Z' -- choose another
           word if that word has become wrongly associated. But if you start creating a resistance against God
           himself, against the truth itself only you will be responsible, and only you will be missing something
           of tremendous value. but this happens. We use language; we become so much obsessed with
           language that we forget that language is not the reality. In fact, one has to put language aside to see
           the reality.
                The incident is significant. if you had become resistant against priests, there was nothing wrong
           in it; but that has not happened. The priest had refused to help -- not God. Avoid priests, there is no
           problem in it -- in fact, the more you avoid them, the closer you will be to God. The priest is not
           needed at all. He goes on propagating that he is needed; he emphasizes that without him there is no
           possibility for you to ever enter into the world of God -- but that is HIS proposition. It is his
           business, it is his trade secret, he has to create this atmosphere. Otherwise, no medium is needed;
           God is immediately available. But of course, priests have made a great business -- the greatest ever --
           and they ideal in such a commodity which is invisible, so you can never prove whether they deliver
           or not. The commodity itself is invisible. It is a beautiful game.
           I have heard...
           "What's the little boy crying about?" the kind old lady asked the ragged urchin.
           "That other kid swiped his candy," he replied.
           "But how is it that you have the candy now?"
           "Sure, I got the candy now," replied the urchin. "I'm the kids lawyer."
                You get it? The priest is going to exploit you; he becomes your lawyer, he becomes you agent.
           He himself is completely unaware of God -- otherwise he would not be a priest; he would have been
           a prophet, not a priest at all. `Priest' is an ugly word: one who is using religion as a business and
           exploiting people in the name of God. The prophet is one who helps you to be transformed,
           transfigured. The prophet is not so much concerned with God as he is concerned with you, your
           reality. Once your reality starts manifesting you will know what God is -- because you are God in
           seed. We can completely forget about God: Buddha never talked about it, Mahavira never talked
           about it. Yet Buddha helped tremendously. He insisted: God is not the question, God is not the quest;
           the quest is your innermost being. A prophet is concerned with your being. If your being flowers,
           blooms, in the fragrance you will know what god is. There is no other way.
                By prayer, by the temple, by the church, by the ritual, tradition, you are not going to get
           anywhere; only the priest will go on becoming richer and richer. And his investment becomes so big
           that the priest and the politician join together in exploiting people. That is the greatest conspiracy:
           down the centuries, the priests and the politicians have always joined hands together. They are the
           greatest culprits. Jesus was crucified because he was not a priest. He started behaving like a prophet,
           priests are afraid -- because he is going to destroy the whole business. Jesus was crucified because of
           the priests; the priests were behind the whole scene. No prophet is ever tolerated by priest -- cannot
           be tolerated; it is dangerous.
                So if you incident had helped you to become aware of priest, it was good. But somehow your
           association went wrong. Don't go to a church, there is no need; God is everywhere. Don't go to a
           priest, there is no need; God is available to you -- directly, immediately. But if you have a resistance
           to the word `god' itself, that will become a barrier. That will prohibit you; that won't allow you to
           flow towards the infinite. and there is no reason -- because God has not done anything. The priest
           turned away, but do you know that God turned away? God has never turned away from anybody. In
           fact, because the priest turned away, God may have looked and cared for the dying man more --
           because there was no other help. When a man is helpless, God simply starts flowing towards him. In
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendous helplessness you become receptive. When the man was completely helpless, and the
           priest turned away, and the man dying and death is enclosing upon him -- in that helplessness he
           must have made a contact; you cannot see it from the outside.
               Be against the priest. But there is no need, it is not warranted at all, that you say, I know God is
           within me. You don't know, you know it not at all. You have heard it. You have heard me say it, you
           have heard Jesus saying it -- "God is within you" -- but you don't know it at all. Because once you
           know it, then there is no problem; knowing that `God is within me', immediately God is without too.
           The moment you know a single ray of the divine penetrating you, you have come to know all that is
           there to be known, it becomes known, the without is known. The without known, it become known
           in the within too -- because within and without are not two separate things, they are two aspects of
           the same energy.
               Now, this thinking that `God is within me' may again be a trick of your resistance, because you
           don't want to see God out there. You are against it, because somewhere deep down in your mind you
           feel that if God is there then you will need a mediator, then you will need somebody to guide you
           there. If God is without, somewhere up in heaven, then somebody will be needed to guide you.
           Alone, you will not be able to find him, where he is. So you say, "God is within me" -- now there is
           no need for the priest. You are saying it just to avoid the priest -- but you don't know it.
               God is all. The distinction between within and without is false. Without and within are on; it is
           one reality, from one corner to another. It is not two, it is not dual, so don't divide it.
           I have heard...

              When Xerxes stood on the shore with his army and looked across the Hellespont, he asked
           himself, "How can I get my men across?" He commanded his generals to build him a bridge of boats,
           and they obeyed. But a storm came up and smashed his bridge into driftwood. In a towering rage, he
           ordered the execution of the overseers who had directed the work. But that was not enough to satisfy
           him as he was really in a great rage, almost mad. So he ordered his slaves to administer three
           hundred lashes to the sea.

                Now this is foolish -- three hundred lashes to the sea. But this how mind works; our mind is very
           childish. Have you not seen a small child? -- he hurts himself against the door or against the furniture
           and then he beats the furniture. As if the furniture is the enemy, as if the furniture has done
           something to him. He may have stumbled himself, but he feels the chair is responsible. This childish
           attitude continues. People become senile, but their childish attitude never changes.
                Now, a priest misbehaved. If you are a little reasonable.... First thing: if one priest has
           misbehaved, that does not mean all priests are wrong. Second thing: the priest has misbehaved, not
           God. Third thing: you don't know what happened to that dying man in his innermost core of being.
                Don't be in such a hurry to make conclusions. A wise man never concludes so easily, because all
           conclusions make your mind closed. We don't know enough; conclusions are dangerous. A
           conclusion is right only when you have known all. The greatest wise men of the world have said they
           know nothing, so how can we conclude? And whatsoever we know is so small, so tiny... as if you
           have read one line in the Bible, and the whole Bible has not been read by you, and from that one line
           you conclude something. It will be foolish; it is not wise.
                You ask, "What is the resistance then?" I don't think that the resistance depends on this incident.
           In fact, everybody is resistant against God; excuses may be different. This story is an excuse --
           because it is unreasonable to be resistant to God only because of this incident. So this must be an
           excuse. You wanted the resistance -- this story simply supplied you an argument, an excuse.
                Everybody is resistant against God -- why? Because if you want to know God, you have to
           disappear: that is the resistance. You have to die if God is to live in you. You have to disappear
           utterly, totally; you have to be vacant, you have to empty yourself. Only in you void can God
           descend; when you are too much, he cannot enter in you. Your cup is too full of yourself. This cup
           has to be emptied -- that's the resistance.
                Don't pay much attention to excuses -- they are meaningless. Behind the excuses the real
           problem hides. The real problem is: to become religious, one has to deny oneself -- that is the only
           sacrifice needed. The ego has to be dropped. The mind has to cease for the God to be -- and of
           course, then there is resistance.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So drop this incident. This has nothing to do.... In fact, it is very rarely that I come across a
           person who is not resistant, who is not deep down fighting with God. It is natural; try to understand
           it. We want to remain our own selves: God is the greatest danger. Hence, people go to the priest.
           They could have walked directly to God, but they go to the priest -- because they don't really want to
           go to God. The priest protects them from God. They go to the scripture, because the scripture is dead
           and you cannot find an alive God in scripture. This is a way to avoid.
               People don't go to a living Master, because to go to a living Master means jumping into the fire.
           You will disappear -- but only through that disappearance God appears.
               To be really religious is to commit suicide. And I mean it -- when I say suicide, I meant it --
           suicide. When a person kills himself, that is not suicide; just the body changes -- he will be born
           again. That is just a change of the body, change of the clothes, change of the abode. But when a man
           simply drops his ego, he has committed real suicide, authentic suicide; now he will be coming no
           more. Now there will be no need for him to have another abode in this world of misery, in this world
           of darkness, in this world which is almost a hell. He will not be coming again. Ego dropped, you
           journey is finished; you have learned the lesson. That's the resistance.
               So please forget about this excuse. Otherwise you will continuously think about this excuse --
           and that is no the true cause.

              I WISH I COULD KNOW MORE ABOUT GOD. CAN YOU HELP ME, BELOVED MASTER?


               There is no way to know more about God. You can know God, but you cannot know more about
           God. Knowing more about God is not knowing God. Knowing more is knowledge; knowing God is a
           totally different dimension. Knowing about is knowledge -- you can go on, about and about and
           about, but you will never reach to God. To know God is totally different than knowing about God.
               You can know much about love without knowing love at all. You can go to the libraries and you
           can consult the encyclopedias and you can collect all knowledge possible about love -- but if love
           has not happened to you, if that fire has not happened to you, you will not know what love is. You
           can collect all the stories about love -- Laila and Majnu, Shiri and Farhad -- you can collect stories
           about all the lovers of the world; that too won't help. Love has to happen to you; you have to fall into
           love. You have to take the risk, you have to gamble -- only then will you know.
               You say, "I wish I could know more about God." So, first thing: knowing more will not be of
           much help. That's how a person becomes a pundit, a scholar-knowledge. I am not here to help you
           become more knowledgeable; you already have too much knowledge. I am here to destroy your
           knowledge, to take it away from you. You have to learn how to unlearn.
               And then you say, "I wish." Wish is a very very weak thing. Just by wishing, nobody can move
           towards God. More urgency, more deep desire is needed... desire which becomes a flame in you.
           Hunger is needed; wishing won't help. Thirst is needed... as if you are lost in the Sahara desert, and
           for miles all around just sand and sand and the burning sun, and not a drop of water with you and
           you cannot see any greenery anywhere, and you are thirsty, and your whole being is at stake -- any
           moment you can die -- and the thirst goes on and on and you become a flame... in that thirst, God is
           possible.
               Become thirsty. Wishing is not enough; wishing is too weak. I have heard...

               A hungry-looking tramp stopped at a farmhouse and asked for some food. The housewife
           brought him some and he sat on the back step enjoying all she had set before him.
               As he sat there, a little red hen dashed by, being chased by a rooster. The tramp threw the rooster
           a piece of his bread. It stopped dead in its tracks and greedily swallowed the bread whole.
           "Gee!" said the tramp. "I hope I'll never be that hungry."

               You have to be tremendously hungry. It is not just a curiosity. God cannot be an object of your
           wish. God is not a wish-fulfillment, God is not your dream. God has to go like a flame into your
           guts. When you start feeling that nothing else matters, when God is the first priority and you are
           ready to sacrifice everything. When God becomes such an absorbing, urgent desire that even life is
           not meaningful any more without God-only then. And then there is no need for anybody to help you,
           your desire will do the work.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In that urgent thirst, in that intensity, all that is darkness in you disappears. In that flame, all that
           is useless burns down. You come out as pure gold.
               God is your reality as much as it is my reality. God is as much your reality as it was Jesus
           Christ's or Gautam Buddha's. The difference is, you have not yet been able to sort out the chaff from
           the wheat; the wheat is in you, but too much chaff is there. In a tremendous desire to know, to be, the
           chaff burns down -- and there is no other way.
               When you go to a master, he in fact does not help you to reach to God, he helps you to become
           more and more thirsty. He helps you to become more and more intensely hungry. He gives you thirst
           and hunger; he gives you a mad passion for the impossible.
               One man came to Buddha and asked, "If I come and follow you, will I be able to know truth?"
           Buddha said: That is not certain. I cannot guarantee. I can guarantee only one thing, that I will make
           you more and more thirsty. Then everything depends on you. I can transfer my thirst to you and if
           you are ready to allow that much thirst... because it is painful. The journey is painful; all growth is
           painful. If you allow me to create that much pain in you, that very pain will purify. Pain is a
           purifying process.
               So never ask about God as if it is your wish, and never ask that you would like to know more.
           God either is known or not known -- more or less is not the question. You cannot divide God -- "I
           know a little bit and somebody else knows a little more, and somebody almost half, and somebody a
           hundred percent." God cannot be divided; either you know, or you don't know. And the knowledge
           of God is not like any other knowledge. It is not like scientific knowledge, that you can go on
           knowing more and more and more, never ending, the procession continues. It is not a knowledge
           from the outside. The knowledge of God is not like knowledge, it is more like love. You disappear in
           your beloved -- that is the only way to know. And the more you disappear in your beloved, the more
           you know that "I don't know."
               The greatest knowers of God always say they don't know. They are like drops in the ocean --
           they have fallen into the ocean and disappeared, and the ocean has fallen into them and disappeared.
           Now, who is the knower and how is the known?
               Kabir has said: I was searching and searching and searching, and then I got lost, and then
           happened the miracle of miracles. When I was not there you were standing before me. And when I
           was there and searching and searching, you were so far away -- not even a glimpse. And now, look...
           I have disappeared. Searching, searching, I got lost, completely lost; my whole search absorbed me,
           destroyed me completely. Now I am no more... and my Lord, you are standing before me.
               Kabir has said that the seeker never reaches to the sought. Man never confronts God -- because
           unless you disappear he cannot appear, so there is no meeting-point. When you are, he is not; when
           he is, you are not -- so how can you claim that "I know?" You are not -- only then, he is. When the
           knower disappears, the knowledge appears; it cannot be just a wish-fulfillment.
               I can help you to become a flame -- thirsty, hungry, burning; I can give you the pain. Then
           everything else depends on you -- how much you go into that pain, into that fire. You can take a
           jump, and God can happen in a sudden moment. There is no need to wait, there is no need to
           postpone. This very moment it can happen... if you are ready to go into that pain totally.

               I GREW UP IN A TOTALLY UNRELIGIOUS HOME, BUT EVERY TIME I HEAR YOU MENTION THE
               NAME OF JESUS I CRY AND SOMETHING DEEP INSIDE ME IS MOVED. WHAT IS HAPPENING?


               That must be because you grew up in an unreligious home. Religious homes destroy religion
           forever. Religious homes are the most unreligious places on the earth. What do I mean when I say
           this? If you are born in a religious Christian home, they will go on forcing you to bow down to Jesus,
           they will go on forcing you to become a Christian. they will condition you. They will not listen to
           your desire, and they will not bother about your freedom; they will condition you to be a Christian.
           And of course, the innermost spirit rebels against all sorts of bondages. Christianity is a bondage, so
           is Hinduism, so is Islam, and all so-called religions. When a child is forced to become a Hindu or a
           Christian or a Mohammedan, the innermost being rebels. He resists. And when something is forced
           on you, howsoever beautiful it is, it becomes ugly.
               God has to be searched in freedom -- not through any conditioning. The world is so unreligious
           because of these religions, because of these religious people. They go on conditioning people; they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           destroy the very urge.
               Just think of it: you go into the garden, you watch the trees, you look at the flowers and you are
           very happy. But if it is forced on you, and a policeman follows you with a bayonet and says, "Look
           at the rose and enjoy!" what will happen? The rose will be the same, but how can you enjoy when a
           man is standing behind you and ordering you to enjoy?
               When you are forced to go to the Sunday-school and you wanted to go somewhere else -- to the
           zoo, or you wanted to go fishing, or you wanted to play, and all the children of the neighborhood
           were playing, but you are a Christian so you have to go to the church... and the child is sitting there
           in bondage -- listening yet not listening, ready to escape any moment, waiting for when this
           nonsense is over. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.... Jesus becomes a swear word; it loses all meaning. And then it
           is very difficult later on to dis-cover the meaning.
               You are fortunate that you were born and grew up in a totally unreligious home. In a better
           world, every child should be allowed to grow without any religious teaching.
               Love your children, but never give your ideologies. Love your children, let them feel that Jesus
           has done something for you, or Mohammed has done something for you, Or Mahavira -- let them
           feel, but don't force. Let them grow in freedom. Let them see when you pray, let them see your tears
           rolling down on the cheeks and the beauty of it. Let them see when you bow down to Jesus, let them
           watch... and children are very very watchful, very sensitive -- if things are not forced on them, they
           will move on their own. When they see you crying beautiful tears, when they see you bowing down
           before Jesus and they feel the vibe... suddenly everything has become quiet, suddenly the father is no
           more the father and the mother is no more the mother, suddenly they have become luminous beings...
           he will also start bowing down. Maybe in secret when you are not watching, he will go and he will
           also bow down. He would like to know what happens when one bows down to Jesus or Buddha,
           when one prays. Let them catch it -- don't teach it, don't force it. Everything becomes ugly when
           forced.
               Freedom is the basic thing. Consciousness grows in freedom and starts dying, becomes paralyzed
           and crippled, when things are forced. And up to now, this has been done. This is the greatest crime
           that parents have always committed against children. They go on forcing the child -- they are afraid,
           they don't trust their own prayer.
               When I was a child, I used to go with my father to his temple. In the beginning, he would tell me
           to do this and that. I told him, "If you tell me, I will do -- but from the very beginning, I will be
           against it. So please, don't enforce. Let me come, let me watch. If I feel something has happened to
           you, that will be the decisive factor." And he is a simple man. He allowed me. He said, "That's
           right." And he would go and pray, and I would simply sit and watch. Prayer, meditating, I would see
           how he changes, how his face suddenly goes through a transformation, how his face becomes
           luminous, how silent and graceful he becomes. That became an enquiry... one has to know these
           spaces too. Then the child is enchanted. Then a great desire arises in him to know what it is, what it
           is all about.
               Good, that you were brought up in an unreligious home. That may be the cause that whenever I
           mention the name of Jesus you cry and something deep inside you is moved. Good -- because you
           are not a Christian, Christ can still mean something to you. And because you are not a Christian,
           soon you will see that Buddha also is meaningful, and so is Patanjali and so is Kabir and so is
           Nanak. When one is not conditioned, one remains available to all the sources, to all the great
           masters.
               One should claim the whole heritage of humanity as one's own -- we are unnecessarily poor.
           Somebody says, "I am Christian." He is saying, "I claim only Jesus. I don't claim Buddha, I don't
           claim Zarathustra, I don't claim Lao Tzu." How poor a man! The whole humanity, the whole history
           of man, is yours. Jesus is as much yours as Lao Tzu, as Buddha, as Mohammed. They are all yours:
           claim them all together, that is your heritage. But that is possible only if you are not conditioned to
           be a Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan.
               Good, you are fortunate that Jesus can still have some meaning to you. This is my whole effort
           here -- to uncondition you. If you are a Christian, I want you to become unconditioned. Drop your
           Christianity, drop your Hinduism, drop your Jainism. And paradoxical it may look to you, but try to
           understand: if you drop Christianity, you may be able to have a love with Christ again. If you drop
           Hinduism, you may be able to dance again with Krishna; you may start singing the notes that he is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           still playing on his flute. Hinduism is standing like a great China Wall -- it does not allow you to
           reach directly to Krishna. Become unconditioned. Drop all culture, civilization, religion, sects,
           theologies, philosophies. Just be simple, be a child again.
                It is fortunate that you were not born in a religious home, otherwise you would have come in
           contact with the priests. And to come into contact with the priests is to become irreligious forever,
           because the priests are the most unreligious people. They pretend -- but pretensions can never be
           appealing, convincing. You know them; in their life they are as ordinary as anybody. Just in the
           pulpit, just in the church, they become suddenly very very eloquent about religion. Their life is
           completely silent; no flicker of consciousness, awareness, no possibility of any gods flowering in
           them, no fragrance around them, not a single vibe, not a wave... but when they stand on the pulpit in
           the church, suddenly they start talking about religion. Religion has nothing to do with them; they are
           as irreligious as anybody else. Pretenders, hypocrites....
           I have heard...

               A very sick-looking man sat down in the doctor's chair and the doctor looked him over and said,
           "What's the matter with you?"
               He said, "I don't really know. I feel weak, very, very weak, I worry too much, I haven't got any
           strength, I don't eat well and I can't sleep at nights And moreover, I'm becoming impotent. I look like
           losing my job too, if I don't try and pull myself together."
           "I see," said the doctor. "Tell me, what kind of work do you do?"
           "Well, you know those cartoon adverts in the papers -- those things that advertise Scroggs Super-Pep
           Tonic Wine? Well, I'm the fella who draws them."

                This is the type you will find in your priest. He goes on talking about God -- and look into his
           eyes... not even a shadow of God. Look deep into his being... and he is as far away from God as you
           are -- maybe even more. Maybe the people who come to the priest believe a little, but the priest is
           always an unbeliever. He knows; he knows the whole trade and the secret. He knows that there is no
           God. He cannot say it because he has invested too much in it, he depends on it. Priests are the most
           unreligious people on the earth, and there is a reason -- because they know; the statue in the temple
           is just a stone, they know. They have seen rats and mice running over it, and they know that the
           statue cannot do anything; and they have prayed for you, and they know the prayer reaches nowhere
           -- but they go on pretending.
                If you have come in contact with priests, there is every possibility you may become
           anti-religious. If you have not come in contact with priests, there is a possibility that someday the
           desire will arise -- because religion is a natural desire. If not corrupted by priests, everybody is born
           religious and everybody will find his way somehow. Just like rivers moving, now knowing where,
           but they reach to the ocean -- everybody will find his way to God if he is not hindered by priests and
           not prevented by religions. A really religious person will be religion-LESS.
                And these priests are really very serious people. They even kill your desire to love, to celebrate;
           they kill all possibility of being happy. They promise that in heaven you will be happy, but not here;
           it is not allowed here. In fact, you have to be masochistic here, torture yourself, and then in heaven
           you will have your reward. Nobody knows about heaven. The real prophets, who are never priests --
           a Buddha, a Jesus, a Mahavira -- the real prophets really teach to be delight-full herenow, this very
           moment; there is no need to postpone. Heaven is here... because heaven is not a geographical place,
           heaven is your attitude.
                I came across a cartoon some years ago that I have never forgotten and over which I still chuckle.
           Two men are standing on a street corner across from a church. It is obviously Sunday noon and
           people are pouring out of the church -- cheering, laughing, arms in the air, some even dancing. In the
           middle of all this, they are carrying out their be-robed preacher on their shoulders. Observing this,
           one man says to the other, "I wonder what he preached on!" Because such a scene in a church --
           people dancing, singing, carrying their priest on their shoulders dancing -- it seems impossible.
           Dance in a church? People enjoying, delighted, celebrating, in a church? Laughter in a church? -- not
           known. Right: observing this, one man says to the other, "I wonder what he preached on!"
                In fact, true religion will always create dance in you, true religion will always create a song in
           you, true religion will create the divine melody in you. True religion is nothing but true happiness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Fortunate you are that you were born in an irreligious family. Now that Jesus moves you, go
           wholeheartedly with him. Now that the mentioning of the name of Jesus makes you start crying, cry
           wholeheartedly. That will be your prayer: that IS prayer. Be really moved... religion is being born in
           you. This is how religion is always born. Nobody can teach when the right moment comes, when the
           ripeness comes... suddenly one day you start feeling new urges; new dreams hover around you, new
           paths open, new doors send their challenges to you, new adventures.
               This crying, this moving that is happening within your soul -- allow it, go with it. Don't try to
           control it -- I am saying this because there is every possibility you may try to control it, because we
           have been taught to control. Crying? -- control it. Laughter? -- control it. Control everything! And by
           control, you lose all spontaneity -- and God is spontaneity. If you become spontaneous, you are
           moving hand in hand with God; by being spontaneous, you are in God. That is the whole teaching of
           Kabir: SAHAJ SAMADHI BHALI -- be spontaneously in meditation. That's the best meditation.
               Now, if Jesus' name moves you, sit silently and let that name move you. Sometimes say silently,
           JESUS... and then wait. That will become your mantra -- this is the way that a real mantra is born.
           Nobody can give you a mantra, you have to find it. What appeals? What moves you? What creates a
           great impact on your soul? If Jesus, then beautiful. Sometimes, sitting silently, just repeat "Jesus"
           and wait... and let the name move deep, deeper into the recess of your being. Let it go to the very
           core. And allow -- if you start dancing, good; if you start crying, good; if you start laughing, good.
           whatsoever happens out of it, let it be. Let it be so; don't interfere, don't manipulate. Go with it, and
           you will have your first glimpses of prayer and meditation and first glimpses of God. The first rays
           will start penetrating your dark night of the soul.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL SO FRUSTRATED!


               So what! You must be responsible for it. If you don't want to feel frustrated then there is no need.
           You must be creating it. Nobody else is responsible; if you feel frustrated, you must be reaping the
           crop which you go on sowing. But you don't see the relationship. If you expect too much, you will be
           frustrated. If you don't want to be frustrated, don't expect. Live without expectations and there will
           be no frustration.
               But people go on expecting; they know no ends to their expectation. Then frustration comes in --
           frustration is the shadow of expectation. Frustration is never the problem, the problem is with
           expectation. When you feel frustrated you think that existence is doing something wrong to you. No
           -- you were asking too much. In fact, ask and you will be frustrated. Any asking is asking too much.
           Don't ask, be. And then you will be surprised -- whatsoever happens is good; you have no way to
           judge it.
               I used to stay with a rich family in Calcutta. Once I went; the family had come to take me from
           the airport. The husband was very sad. I enquired, "What is the matter?" He said, "There has been a
           great loss." Listening to this, his wife started laughing. She said, "Don't bother about what he says.
           There has been no loss -- in fact, there has been a great profit."
               I was puzzled. I said, "You both are here. Please try to explain this riddle to me." The wife said,
           "There is no riddle. He was expecting ten lakh rupees and he got only five lakh rupees. So he says,
           `Five lakh rupees' loss,' and I say, `You have profited' -- but he won't listen, and he is very said."
               When you expect ten lakh rupees and you get five lakhs you feel frustrated. If you are not
           expecting and you get five lakh rupees you are full of joy, thankfulness, gratitude. Don't expect, and
           you see your whole life becomes a joy. Expect, and your whole life becomes a hell. Expectation is
           the cause. If you want to change, never start by the effect, start by the cause. Frustration is the effect.
           You can go on fighting with frustration -- nothing will happen, you will become more and more
           frustrated. Start by the cause, always look for the cause. Whenever you are feeling miserable, go into
           it and find out where the cause is. and then it is up to you. If you want to drop the effect then avoid
           the cause; then become aware, more and more aware.
               If you are enjoying frustration... because there are many people who enjoy. There are many
           people who enjoy being miserable. In fact, they cannot tolerate happiness at all. When they are
           miserable they are happy, when they are happy they feel very miserable. You laugh at it, but this is a
           truth about the majority of people. And again, there are reasons. Whenever you are miserable you
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gain something: sympathy, attention. Whenever you are happy nobody shows any sympathy -- in
           fact, people become jealous. when you are unhappy everybody is a friend, everybody sympathizes
           with you -- even your enemy will sympathize with you. When you are happy even your friend will
           become jealous and inimical.
                When you are happy nobody pays any attention to you. People avoid you. In fact, they start
           thinking you must be mad: Happy? -- who has ever heard of anybody being happy?... must have
           gone crazy or something, or must be pretending. When you are unhappy they accept you. Then they
           think everything is okay, because this is how things have to be. And people enjoy your unhappiness,
           that's why they pay attention -- because whenever you are unhappy they can compare themselves,
           and deep down they can feel good -- "So I am in a better position. People are so unhappy! -- at least I
           am not that much unhappy. I am unhappy, but not so much." He can compare. When you are happy,
           you bring the man down; he becomes unhappy looking at your happiness -- "So you are happy? So
           you have attained?" He will deny, he will create trouble for you.
                This world consists of miserable people, unhappy people. They don't allow any happy person to
           live or to exist.
                I have heard about a man, a great poet; old, sixty years old, and he was in a hospital lying on his
           bed. Nothing to do, so he was meditating about his life -- that he has lived a miserable life. He has
           been creating beautiful songs -- but they are not real, they are just compositions. He has a knack of
           writing poetry -- but those poems have not grown in his soul, they are just intellectual. He has the
           skill, the technique, but they are not outpourings of his heart.
                So he was lying on the bed, nothing to do, was thinking, meditating, and he said, "Now I am
           sixty and within a few years I will be gone. Why am I wasting my life? Can't I be happy? And then
           he became aware that there is nothing really to be unhappy about. He has everything -- whatsoever a
           man needs, he has. He has prestige, respectability, name, money, house, a good wife, children -- he
           has everything. Why is he unhappy? He started laughing at the whole ridiculousness of it -- "I have
           nothing to be unhappy about, and I am unhappy. This is foolish!" He started laughing. The nurse
           heard him; she immediately ran to the doctor. And he saw that the nurse was shocked and she had
           run out of fear, so he started laughing even more. And then the doctor came and the doctor was
           shocked and said, "What has gone wrong?" -- so he laughed more.
                Immediately he was taken to the mental department. He told me himself, "I was laughing even
           more there -- `You people, have you gone mad or something?' And I would tell them that nothing is
           wrong -- but who listens? They said, `Everybody says that! Suddenly out of the blue you started
           laughing.'" Something has gone wrong; his mind is no more sane. When he came to see me and he
           told me this story, he said, "This is something! Nobody ever thought I was mad when I was
           miserable."
                It happens to my sannyasins every day. One of my sannyasins wrote a few days before, that he
           took sannyas, he was very happy, he went dancing from his station to his home -- he went dancing,
           he was so happy. The whole town gathered together; they said, "He has gone mad." His wife started
           crying and weeping! and his children, they said, "Poppa, what are you doing?" And looking at this,
           he started laughing more. He said, "What am I doing? I have become a happy person!" They forced
           him into the hospital. He telegrammed here: Beloved Master, save me! They are going to give me
           tranquillizers and electroshock. What am I to do?
                Happiness is not allowed. Happiness is something mad. You say, "I feel so frustrated!" Look into
           it. If you enjoy it, then there is no problem -- it is your choice. If you enjoy it, then I will tell you this
           anecdote...

              The nervous tourist didn't like standing too near the edge of the cliff on Beachy Head in Sussex.
           "What would I do," he said to the guide, "if I fell over?"
           "Look to the right in that case," enthused the eager conductor. "You'd love the view."

           "Look to the right in that case..." If you are going to fall, you are going to fall! "Look to the right,
           you'd love the view."
               So if you are going into frustration and you love it and you enjoy it, then go into it more alert,
           aware. And enjoy it! Then don't complain, don't create a contradiction. You love frustration? -- love
           it! go into it. Become more artistic about it, decorate it a little more; make new possibilities, new
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doors to become more frustrated... if you enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, then I don't see the problem.
           Just go deep into it, watch, and you will find some expectation hidden behind. Whenever you expect,
           you are asking for frustration. Drop expectations.
               The life of a sannyasin should be a life of no expectations. And then every moment is such a
           bliss, such a benediction, because whatsoever God gives is so much. Then you always feel grateful.
           But your desires are so much that whatsoever God gives always looks so little; and you feel
           frustrated, and you feel complaints, and you cannot feel grateful. And without gratitude, there is no
           possibility of prayer arising in your heart. Gratitude is prayer.

              WHY DO I MAKE FUNNY FACES?


               It is from Amida. First, an anecdote...
           A person was frighteningly ugly. Once he was asked how he could go on living with such a terrible
           face.
           "Why should I be unhappy?" answered the man. "I never see my own face. Let others worry."

                So Amida, you simply throw your mirrors -- that's all. And this is others' problem, not yours.
           They will come to me -- "What to do with Amida's faces?" But, one thing: all faces are funny,
           because deep down you have no face at all. That's why all faces are funny. Nobody is ever satisfied
           with their face; even the most beautiful people are not satisfied. You may think otherwise, but you
           don't know. Even Cleopatra was worried that her nose was a little longer than it should be. Marilyn
           Monroe committed suicide -- a beautiful woman, but not satisfied, not contented. There is something
           in it. All faces are funny because all faces are false. Deep down, your being is faceless. That's what
           Zen people call the original face. When a disciple comes to a Zen master, the master says, "Go and
           meditate upon your original face." And what is the original face? The face that you had before you
           were born and the face that you will have again when you are dead: find out that original face. It is
           not a face at all.
                Have you ever thought about it? The shape of your face is given by the body. It can be changed
           by plastic surgery. And you will not be changed by the change of the face: your nose can be longer,
           shorter, your eyes can be different, eyebrows can be different -- much can be done now. And you
           will remain the same. So the face is not your being, it is just the shape of your body. It is not YOUR
           face. Have you got any face? Sometimes with closed eyes go deep into it... and you will be surprised
           to see you don't have any face. God has no face at all -- and you are gods and goddesses.
                That's why one is never contented. One can never be contented with this face, howsoever
           beautiful. This face is not going to satisfy you unless you come to the original face, the facelessness
           of your being: purity with no shape, the formless, the attributeless. The form is of matter. The form is
           not of consciousness; consciousness is formless. Your body is a meeting-place of the form and the
           formless, of matter and consciousness. Your body is a container. The contained is you, and that
           contained has no face. So always, any face is funny. The very idea of having a face is funny because
           all faces are false. Face as such is false.
                This hunger to be more than we are reminds me of a four-year-old who met an old friend of the
           family who had not seen the little lad for several years. "Oh, John," said the friend, "I'm surprised at
           how bit you are!" To which the boy replied, "Oh, but I'm bigger than this!"
           "Bigger than this" -- you always have that feeling that you are bigger than this, that you are more
           beautiful than this, that you are more truthful than this, that you are more eternal than this. And
           because of this a great problem arises. Everybody looks at your face, and nobody can look deep into
           your being. And you are aware, a little aware of your being; you don't think you end with your face.
           You may think you start from there, but that is not the end. But for others that is the end, the terminal
           point.
                You love a woman, and whatsoever you do she will never be satisfied, because she always feels
           she is bigger than this, more beautiful than you feel her. And the same is true about you -- the
           woman may love you very much but you know she has not yet known you; just on the periphery. 'I
           am bigger than this, I am more than this." So no relationship becomes satisfying -- cannot be. It
           cannot be, in the very nature of things, because you know something which is very great,
           tremendously great, huge, enormous... and the other knows only the face, the body form. You are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reduced to a small thing -- and whatsoever his praise, it never comes to satisfy you. It cannot.
                And, every child makes funny faces. Have you watched? Leave him in the bathroom and watch
           from the keyhole, and he will make funny faces. In fact he is enjoying having a face, trying to
           manipulate it in many ways, playing with it. And he can play because he is separate. When he is
           making a funny face, he knows "I am not this funny man. This face is only the face; I am behind it.
           This is just a mask." And even grown-up people do it in the bathroom. If nobody is watching,
           everybody is tempted to do a little.... In the mirror, one wants to make funny faces. Nothing wrong in
           it -- it simply shows that you cannot adjust yourself with the body, that the body is not all, that you
           are far beyond it, that you can play with the body like a mask. It is a mask.
                In fact there are many old meditations which make use of making funny faces. You can make it a
           meditation -- in Tibet, it is one of the oldest traditions. Keep a big mirror: stand naked, make faces,
           do funny things -- and watch. Just doing it and watching for fifteen, twenty minutes, you will be
           surprised. You wills tart feeling you are separate from this. If you are not separate, then how can you
           do all these things? Then the body is just something in your hand -- you can play with it, this way
           and that. That's why I always say mimicry, mime, is a spiritual art. And soon we are going to open a
           small school of mime. If you can learn how to make faces, if you can act with your body in many
           ways, you will be suddenly freed from the body; your identity will be broken.
                This is my experience. Many people come to me and ask, "Why do so many actors come to
           you?" My experience is this, that acting is one of the most spiritual professions in e world. Because
           an actor moves into so many actings -- sometimes he is this, sometimes that -- so many identities that
           he becomes loose. Then one day he suddenly starts thinking, "Who am I? One day I am Abraham
           Lincoln, another day I am George Washington, another day I become this and that," and every day
           he goes on changing. In one film he is one, in another film he is another. Sometimes he is a saint,
           and sometimes he is a sinner. Only then can he be a perfect actor.
                You can ask Veeten, Veeten is here. You can ask Vijay Anand, Vinod -- they are my sannyasins.
           By and by he comes to know, a good actor comes to know, that all are acts. "Then who am I?" In
           ordinary life you are identified with one thing: you are a doctor, so you are a doctor -- morning,
           evening, night, you are a doctor; for thirty, forty years, you are a doctor -- you become fixed with the
           identity, with the role. It is a role too -- but you never change, so you become fixed. You forget; the
           role becomes your being. When a person has to change many roles, he becomes loose. by and by the
           question arises: Who am I? All these are roles -- then who am I? who is this man who some day
           becomes a sinner and some day becomes a saint? And some day plays the role of a murderer, and
           some day becomes a great lover? Who is this man? Who is this being behind all these actings?
                To me, acting is one of the most spiritual professions. And if you take life as an acting, you will
           start moving towards spirituality. Take life as an acting, you will start moving towards spirituality.
           Take life as acting, a great drama. The world is a vast stage. You are a mother -- that is only one
           role. You are a father -- that is only one role. You are a businessman -- another role. You are a
           brother to somebody -- another role. You are a son, husband -- another role... a thousand and one
           roles if you watch. And you go on changing your faces. When your servant comes to see you, you
           have a different face. When your boos comes to see you, you have a different face. Watch it, become
           a little more alert, and you will see you have a thousand and one faces, continuously changing. It is
           automatic. You need not do anything -- they change automatically. You have become very skillful.
           Once you understand this, you start moving inwards where there is no face at all.
                Amida, good. You make it a meditation. You start doing this meditation every day for twenty
           minutes. Find out new ways to make funny faces, funny postures -- do whatsoever you can do. And
           it will give you a great release; and you wills tart looking at yourself not as the body, not as the face,
           but as the consciousness. It will be helpful.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HAVE I BECOME ENLIGHTENED? AND IF NOT YET, THEN WHEN?


               Enlightenment is not an object to be desired, it is not a goal to be achieved. And you will become
           enlightened only when you have forgotten all about it -- otherwise, never. And it is not a question to
           be asked. Even if I say you have become enlightened, that won't help.
               The very question shows that you are still desiring. Enlightenment has become your greed. You
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may have been desiring other things before -- money, respectability, power, prestige; now you are
           desiring enlightenment. The desire has moved to a different object, but it has not changed. The desire
           is still the same and desire is the problem.
           To desire anything is to remain unenlightened.
           Let me tell you one anecdote...

               The doctor slapped the asylum patient on the back and said, "Well, old man, you're completely
           cured. Run along and write to your family and tell them you'll be back home in a couple of weeks, as
           good as new."
               He went off to write his letter. When he was licking the stamp, it slipped through his fingers and
           fell onto the back of a cockroach which happened to be passing at the time. Amazed, the patient
           watched the stamp zig-zagging across the floor, up the wall and right around the skirting-board and
           then under the door. After a while he tore up the letter. "Two weeks!" he said. "Hell!" I won't be out
           of here for two lives."

              That stamp is your desire, and if you look behind the desire you will find the cockroach of your
           ego. And if you don't look behind the stamp at the cockroach, even two lives won't help -- you will
           remain unenlightened. Enlightenment is not something that you have to achieve. It is your nature;
           you have just to remember it. Look into your games of the ego -- subtle are those games. Just watch.
           Nothing is to be done, just see how ego goes on creating ambitions. And once you have seen all the
           ways of the ego the cockroach dies, the ego disappears, and you are there -- as enlightened as you
           have always been.
              Enlightenment is your nature. It is not something to be achieved, it is already the case.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS YOUR TASK HERE?


               What is my task here?
           Once upon a time, there was a frog. But he really wasn't a frog, he was a prince who looked and felt
           like a frog. A wicked witch had cast a spell on him: only the kiss of a beautiful maiden could save
           him. But since when do cute chicks kiss frogs? So there he sat, unkissed prince in frog form. But
           miracles happen. One day a beautiful maiden grabbed him and gave him a big smack. Crash! Boom!
           Zap! There he was, a handsome prince. And you know the rest: they lived happily ever after.

           So what is my task here? To kiss frogs, of course.




                                               The Divine Melody
                                                 Chapter #3
                              Chapter title: The bee has received it's invitation
           3 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701030
              ShortTitle: MELODY03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 96 mins
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I.20. MAN NA RANGAYE KAPADA

              THE YOGI DYES HIS GARMENTS,
              INSTEAD OF DYEING HIS MIND IN THE COLORS OF LOVE:
              HE SITS WITHIN THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD,
              LEAVING BRAHMA TO WORSHIP A STONE.
              HE PIERCES HOLES IN HIS EARS, HE HAS A GREAT BEARD
              AND MATTED LOCKS, HE LOOKS LIKE A GOAT:
              HE GOES FORTH INTO THE WILDERNESS, KILLING ALL HIS DESIRES,
              AND TURNS HIMSELF INTO AN EUNUCH.
              HE SHAVES HIS HEAD AND DYES HIS GARMENTS;
              HE READS THE GITA AND BECOMES A MIGHTY TALKER.
              KABIR SAYS: "YOU ARE GOING TO THE DOORS OF DEATH,
              BOUND HAND AND FOOT."



              III.102. HAM SE RAHA NA JAY



              I HEAR THE MELODY OF HIS FLUTE, AND I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF:
              THE FLOWER BLOOMS, THOUGH IT IS NOT SPRING;
              AND ALREADY THE BEE HAS RECEIVED ITS INVITATION.
              THE SKY ROARS AND THE LIGHTNING FLASHES,
              THE WAVES ARISE IN MY HEART,
              THE RAIN FALLS; AND MY HEART LONGS FOR MY LORD.
              WHERE THE RHYTHM OF THE WORLD RISES AND FALLS,
              THITHER MY HEART HAS REACHED:
              THERE THE HIDDEN BANNERS ARE FLUTTERING IN THE AIR.
              KABIR SAYS: "MY HEART IS DYING, THOUGH IT LIVES."


               Man is a rainbow, all the seven colors together. That is his beauty and that is his problem too.
           Man is multi-faceted, multi-dimensional. His being is not simple, it is a great complexity. And out of
           that complexity is born the harmony we call God: the divine melody.
               So the first thing to be understood about man is that man is not yet. Man is only a possibility, a
           potentiality. Man can be, man is a promise. The dog is, the rock is, the sun is... man CAN BE. Hence
           the anxiety and anguish -- one can miss too; there is no certainty. You may flower, you may not
           flower. Hence the shivering, the shaking, the trembling inside: "Who knows whether I will be able to
           do it or not?"
               Man is a bridge between the animal and the divine. The animals are tremendously happy -- of
           course not aware, not CONSCIOUSLY happy, but tremendously happy, unworried, non-neurotic.
           God is tremendously happy and conscious. Man is just in between the two, in limbo, always
           wavering -- to be or not to be?
               Man is a rainbow, I say, because a rainbow will give you the total perspective in which man can
           be understood -- from the lowest to the highest. The rainbow has seven colors, man has seven centers
           of his being. The allegory of the seven is very ancient. In India, the allegory has taken the form of
           seven chakras: the lowest is MULADHAR and the highest is SAHASRAR and between these two
           are five steps, five more chakras. And man has to pass through all these seven chakras -- seven steps
           towards the divine.
               Ordinarily, we are stuck at the lowest. The first three -- MULADHAR, SVADHISTHAN and
           MANIPURA -- are animal chakras. If you live in the first three you are no more different than the
           animals -- and then you are committing a crime. Not that you are actually committing a crime -- you
           are committing a crime because you will not be able to be what you were meant to be; you will miss
           the possibility. If a seed does not grow to be a flower, it has committed a crime -- against nobody;
           against himself. And the sin that one commits against oneself is the greatest. In fact, we commit sins
           towards others only when we have committed the first, fundamental sin against ourselves.
               The first three chakras are concerned with food, money, power, domination, sex. food is the
           lowest, sex is the highest, in the lowest three chakras. This has to be understood. Food is the lowest
           -- a food-obsessed person is in the lowest category of animals. He simply wants to survive. He has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no purpose, he just wants to survive to survive. If you ask him for what, he has no answer to give to
           you.

               One day, Mulla Nasruddin told me, "I wish I had more land."
           I asked him, "But why? As it is, you have enough."
           He said, "I could raise a lot more cows."
           I asked him, "And what would you do with them?"
           He said, "Sell them and make money."
           "And then? Then what you are going to do with that money?"
           "Buy more land."
           And I asked him, "For what?"
           "To raise a lot more cows."

               This way it goes, just a vicious circle in which you never come out: you eat to live, you live to
           eat. This is the lowest possibility. The lowest form of life is the amoeba. The amoeba simply eats,
           that's all. An amoeba has no sex life, an amoeba goes on eating whatsoever is available -- the
           amoeba is exactly the symbol of the lowest man. The amoeba has no other organs, only the mouth;
           his whole body functions as a mouth. He goes on digesting whatsoever comes close by; whatsoever
           comes close, he simply digests it. From the whole body he absorbs it; his whole body is a mouth. He
           becomes more and more, bigger and bigger; then comes a point where he is too big and he cannot
           manage -- then he splits in two. Then there are two amoebas instead of one; then they start doing the
           same thing. The amoeba simply eats and lives, and lives to eat more.
               A few people live at this lowest level. Beware of it -- life has something more to give to you. It is
           not just survival, it is survival for something significant. Survival is necessary but is not the end unto
           itself; it is just a means.
               The second type, a little higher than the food-obsessed, is the power-maniac, the politician. He
           wants to dominate people. For what? He feels very very inferior deep inside: he wants to show to the
           world that "I am somebody; I can dominate, I can put you in your right place. He has not put himself
           in HIS right place and he tries to put the whole world in ITS place. He is the ego-obsessed person.
           He can move in any direction: if he moves into money, he will go on hoarding money -- money
           becomes the power symbol. If he moves into politics, he cannot contain himself until he has reached
           to the very end -- and there is nothing.
               Once I had a cat -- a very foolish cat, almost a politician. She would go and climb on the trees,
           and in that she was perfect. And she would go to the topmost branch of the tree and then she would
           be stuck there and she did not know how to come down. And it was a problem almost every day --
           somebody had to go up the tree to bring her down. She would be stuck there and she would cry and
           make noise in agony. And she never learned. So I used to call that cat "the politician."
               He goes on -- prime minister, president, Adolf Hitler, Richard Nixon -- he goes to the highest top
           and then there is nowhere else to go and he does not know how to climb down. No politician ever
           knows how to climb down. He learns only one art: how to go on climbing up and up. Then there
           comes a moment when there is no more "up".... Then, great frustration.
               It is said that Alexander went to see an astrologer. The astrologer looked at his hand and said,
           "Alexander, everything is okay, you will become the greatest conqueror in the world. But remember,
           there is only one world to be conquered." And it is said, Alexander became very sad. The astrologer
           asked, "Why have you become so sad, so suddenly?" He said, "What else should I do? If there is
           only one world, then once I have conquered it, what am I going to do? It makes me feel very sad."
               The climber.... In animals you can observe the pecking-order. If you see a group of monkeys you
           will find one as the president or the prime minister or whatsoever you call the king of the monkeys,
           and all the monkeys following him. He is the leader, he dominates. If you come across tigers you
           will find one tiger dominating the whole herd. To dominate somebody else, to try to conquer
           somebody else, is a very animal instinct.
               The real man tries to conquer himself, not others. He wants to know himself. He does not want to
           fulfill some inner gap by dominating somebody else. The real man loves freedom for himself and for
           others too.
               Then third is sex -- and I say it is better than food, than politics, because it has a little higher
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           quality: it shares. It has something higher. In food, you simply absorb; you don't share. In
           domination, you destroy; you don't create. Sex is the highest possibility on the lower plane -- you
           share, you share your energy, and you become creative. As far as animal existence is concerned, sex
           is the highest value. And people are stuck somewhere with these three.
                The fourth is ANAHATA chakra. The first three are animal, the last three are divine, and in
           between these two is the fourth, ANAHATA -- the heart chakra, the lotus of the heart, the chakra of
           love. And that is the bridge. Love is the bridge between the animal and the divine. Try to understand
           it as deeply as possible, because that is the whole message of Kabir -- the message of love. Below
           the heart, a man is animal; above the heart, he becomes divine. Only in the heart is a man human.
           That's why a man who can feel, who can love, who can pray, who can cry, who can laugh, who can
           share, who can have compassion, is the really human being. Humanity has dawned in him, the first
           rays of the sun have entered in him.
                Then fifth is VISUDDHI, sixth is AJNA, and seventh is SAHASRAR. With the fifth, love
           becomes more and more meditative, more and more prayerful. With the sixth, love is no more a
           relationship. It is not even a prayer -- it has become a state of being. It is not that you love
           somebody, no. Now it is something like YOU ARE love. It is not a question of loving -- your very
           energy is love. You cannot do otherwise. Now love is the natural flow -- just as you breathe, so you
           love; it is an unconditional state. And with the seventh is samadhi, SAHASRAR: you have arrived
           home.
                In Christian theology you can find the same allegory in the story that God created the world in
           six days and on the seventh day he rested. Those six days are six chakras -- the six centers of being.
           The seventh is rest: one has arrived home, one rests. That allegory has not been understood well.
           Christians, and particularly Christian theologians, never go very deep. Their understanding remains
           superficial -- at the most, logical, theoretical, but never touches the real point. God created the world:
           first he created matter, and last he created man. For five days he was creating everything else in the
           world -- matter, animals, birds -- then on the sixth day he created man. And in the last moment of the
           sixth day he created woman. Now this is very symbolic: woman is the last creation -- even man is
           not the last. And the allegory is still more beautiful because it says he created woman out of man.
           That means woman is a refinement of man, a more purified form.
                First: a woman means intuition, poetry, imagination. Man means will, prose, logic, reason. These
           are symbols: man means an aggressive quality, woman means receptivity. Receptivity is highest.
           Man means logic, reasoning. analysis, philosophy; woman means religion, poetry, imagination --
           more fluid, more flexible. Man is fighting with God. Science is purely a male by-product -- man
           fighting, struggling, trying to conquer. Woman never fights; she simply welcomes, she waits, she
           surrenders.
                And the Christian allegory says God created man first. Man is the highest in the animal kingdom
           -- but as far as humanity is concerned, woman is higher. Christian theologians have interpreted it in
           an absolutely wrong way -- they have interpreted in a male chauvinist way. They think man is more
           important, so God created man first. Then animals must be even more important! The logic is false.
           They think man is the real thing, woman is just an appendix. At the last moment, God felt that
           something was missing so he took one bone out of man and created the woman. Woman is not to be
           thought very significant -- just a helpmate, just so that man feels good, otherwise he will be alone.
           The story is analyzed in such a way that it seems that woman is less important than man -- just a toy
           for man to play with, otherwise he will be alone. God loved man so much that he thought he would
           be sad and lonely.... No, this is not true.
                Imagination comes only when will is surrendered. The same energy that is will becomes
           imagination, and the same energy that becomes aggression becomes reception, and the same energy
           that fights becomes cooperation. The same energy that is anger becomes compassion. Compassion
           comes out of anger; it is a refinement of anger, it is a higher symphony out of anger. Love arises out
           of sex; it is a higher reach, more purified.
                God created woman after he created man, because woman can be created only afterwards. First
           you have to create the crude energy and then you can refine it. Refinement cannot come first. And in
           this allegory there is a message -- that every man has to become feminine before he reaches to the
           seventh. This is at the sixth center. In yoga, the sixth center is called AJNA chakra -- it means the
           center of will. AJNA means `order, commandment'. It is the most powerful center, the sixth, and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many become stuck there. Then they go on playing with spiritual energies and go on doing foolish
           things. At the sixth center, man has to turn into a woman and his whole will has to be used for only
           one thing -- and that is, he has to will surrender. To will surrender is the greatest thing in the world;
           and this can be done only if you have willpower -- not ordinary, EXTRAORDINARY willpower.
                Ordinarily, you think people who surrender are weaklings -- you are wrong. Only very strong
           people can surrender, surrender needs strength, great strength. If you surrender out of weakness,
           your surrender is meaningless, impotent. If you surrender out of strength, then your surrender has
           meaning, significance. At the sixth center, when will comes to its ultimate focusing, surrender is
           possible. Out of will is created surrender: out of man, God created woman.
                At the sixth center... now if you ask the brain surgeons they will also agree with me -- they say
           the brain is divided into two hemispheres: man and woman, the left and the right. The left brain is
           male and the right brain is female. The right brain is connected with the left hand; that's why the left
           hand is not appreciated -- even condemned. The right hand is associated with the left brain -- hence,
           right seems to be right and left seems to be wrong. It is a man-oriented world, male-dominated
           world. Right hand is the symbol of male, left hand is the symbol of female. And your head is divided
           into two hemispheres.
                A poet functions from a different part of his head than a logician. A poet is more feminine. It is
           not just a coincidence that if you look at great poets you will find great femininity, grace, beauty, a
           charm, a tremendous attraction, a charisma, feminine charisma. If you look at painters you will find
           them a little effeminate; their dress, their long hair, their way of walking, is more feminine.
                Have you ever heard of a bodhisattva the Chinese called Kuan-Yin? In India, there was a very
           compassionate bodhisattva or Buddhist saint. But when Buddhism reached China, it seemed strange
           to the Chinese that a man should be so compassionate. So they thought that the saint must be a
           woman! And so they depicted the saint as a woman and worshipped him as a woman, down the
           centuries.
                The story is of tremendous import. Buddha looks more like a woman than like a man -- his face,
           his grace. The sixth center has been surrendered. Logic has been surrendered to love, argument has
           been surrendered to feeling; aggression has become reception. conflict has turned into cooperation.
           Now there is no struggle between the part and the whole; the part is flowing with the whole, the part
           is in a let-go -- the whole has possessed it.
                That is the meaning of the Christian allegory that God created man first, and then woman out of
           man. This is to pay tremendous respect to feminine qualities: they are higher than man, they come
           out of man, they flower out of man. And then, on the seventh day, God rested. What else can you do
           when you have come home? SAHASRAR is the center of rest, absolute rest -- you have arrived; now
           there is nowhere to go.
                The lowest -- MULADHAR -- is the center of unrest, the highest is the center of rest, and
           between these two there are seven divisions. You can call them seven colors -- yes, man is a
           rainbow. Or, you can call them seven notes of music. Eastern music divides sound into seven notes:
           SA, RE, GA, MA, PA, DHA, NI -- these are the seven basic notes. And out of these seven basic
           notes all music is created -- all symphony, all melody, all song, all dance.
           Remember, seven is a very significant number.
                And one thing more, before we enter into the sutras. To be more modern and contemporary, I
           would like to divide these seven centers in this way. The first I call NO-MIND. `No-mind' means
           mind is fast asleep -- MULADHAR. it is there, but so fast asleep that you cannot even detect it. In
           the rock, God is fast asleep. In the man he has become a little alert -- just a LITTLE alert, not very
           much. In the rock he is fast asleep, snoring. If you listen closely you will hear the snoring... God
           snoring. That's why rocks are so beautiful -- so deeply silent, no turmoil, no anxiety, nowhere to go.
           This I call no-mind. I don't mean by `no-mind' that they have NO mind; I simply mean the mind has
           not manifested yet. The mind is waiting in seed, the mind is getting ready to awake, the mind is
           preparing, the mind is resting. Sooner or later there will be the morning and the rock will become a
           bird and will start flying, or will become a tree and will start blossoming.
                The second state I call UNCONSCIOUS MIND. In the trees, the mind is there -- not like the
           rock, God has become a little different from the rock. Not conscious, UNconscious. Trees feel -- they
           cannot feel that they feel, but they feel. Listen to the difference. If you hit a tree she feels it, but she
           cannot feel that she feels it. That much awareness has not happened. Feeling has come in, the tree is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sensitive. And now there are modern experiments proving it, that trees are tremendously sensitive.
               This I call unconscious mind. Mind is there... almost like one is asleep. In the morning one
           remembers that it was a beautiful night and "I slept deeply, the sleep was very profound." But you
           remember in the morning, not when the actual sleep is happening; you remember later on,
           retrospectively. Mind was there in sleep, but was not functioning at that moment; it only functions
           retrospectively, later on. In the morning you remember -- a beautiful night, such a soothing and
           satiny night, such deep silence and such happiness -- but you recognize it in the morning.
               The third state is SUBCONSCIOUS mind. Subconscious mind is in the birds, animals. It is like
           dreaming. In a dream you become a little more conscious than you become conscious in your sleep.
           Let us say the rocks are in a coma; in the morning they will not even be able to remember how
           profound was the sleep -- it is a coma. The trees are in a sleep; when they awake, they will
           remember. The birds and the animals are dreaming -- they are very close to humanity. I call this
           subconscious mind.
               The fourth I call CONSCIOUS MIND. That's where man is. Not very conscious; just a flicker,
           just a small wave of consciousness -- and that too happens only when you are in tremendous danger,
           otherwise not. If somebody suddenly comes and is ready to kill you with a dagger, you will become
           conscious. In that moment there will be tremendous awareness, intelligence, radiance. Thinking will
           stop. You will become a flame. Only in rare moments do you really become conscious; otherwise,
           you move almost like a somnambulist. I have heard...

               In 1959, two drunkards in the French town of Vienne opened what they thought was a door to the
           street. Actually it was the window of a room four storeys up. With a gay song on their lips they
           marched out, arm in arm over the sill to the street below. A beat policeman, hearing the thuds and
           rushing to help, was dumbfounded to watch them careering away, still singing and obviously in
           tip-top condition. "We missed our step," they explained.

               They were not aware at all. Had they been aware, they might have died. They were not aware;
           they simply thought they had missed a step. Four storeys!
               And this is your situation too. Your whole life is almost that of a drunkard. You go on stumbling
           here and there, missing one step here, another step there. Your whole life is nothing but misery upon
           misery, stumbling, bumping into each other. You may call it love, but what it comes to is just
           bumping into each other. It creates misery.
               Only consciousness can give ecstasy. Ecstasy is the shadow of consciousness. This is the fourth
           stage in which ordinarily human beings live and die. This is a sheer wastage. Rocks can be forgiven
           and trees can be forgiven and birds can be forgiven, but not man -- because you have the first
           glimpse: now it is your responsibility to grow it, to make it more solid, to make it stronger. You
           cannot say to a rock: "You missed," but you can say to a man: "You missed."
               Man is the only responsible animal -- he can be asked, he will have to answer: that is the
           meaning of responsibility. One day or other, he will have to answer to God or to the center of this
           existence or to existence itself: "How did you miss? You were given the rudimentary beginning, you
           could have grown it. You were given the seed, you could have blossomed. Why did you miss?"
               That's the anxiety of man, the agony, the trembling, the anguish -- because man is the only
           animal in this world who can become ecstatic, who can achieve to conscious blissfulness, who can
           become SATCHITANAND: who can become truth, consciousness, being, who can become bliss,
           who can come to the ultimate.
               The fifth I call SUBSUPERCONSCIOUS MIND. At the fourth stage -- the conscious mind --
           your consciousness is just a very flickering thing, very momentary, with no stability, comes and
           goes, and is beyond your power; you cannot recall it when it is needed. All religions exist between
           conscious mind and superconscious mind. All techniques of yoga, all techniques as such, are nothing
           but to transform your consciousness into superconsciousness. Gurdjieff calls it self-remembering.
           Kabir calls it SURATI YOGA -- `surati' also means remembering. Jesus says again and again: Be
           aware! Be awake! Watch! Buddha says: Be alert. Krishnamurti goes on talking about awareness; for
           forty years he has been talking about only one thing, and that is awareness. One word is the whole
           message: that word is the bridge between conscious mind and superconscious mind.
               When your consciousness has become a stable factor in you, an integrated factor in you, a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crystallized factor in you, and you can depend on it.... Right now, you cannot depend on it. You are
           going along, very conscious, and somebody hits you -- immediately the consciousness is gone; it is
           not dependable. Somebody says a simple word, somebody says to you, "Are you an idiot?" -- and
           consciousness is gone. Just the word "idiot" and your eyes are bloodshot, and you are ready to be
           killed or to kill.
                Even people who seem to be very very alert and aware may be just alert and aware because they
           have escaped the situations. Their alertness is not real. You can go to the Himalayas, you can sit in a
           cave -- nobody will come to call you an idiot. Who will take such a bother to come to the Himalayan
           cave to call you an idiot? Of course you will not get angry. Your state of awareness in a Himalayan
           cave is not worth much, because there is no test for it, no possibility to destroy it. Hence, Kabir says:
           Be in the world. Don't be of the world, but be in the world, live in the world. Live in the ordinary
           situations where everything provokes you to be unconscious and everybody helps you to be
           conscious.
                If you understand it, the world is a great device of God to make you more conscious. Your
           enemy is your friend, and the curses are blessings, and the misfortunes can be turned into fortunes. It
           depends only on one thing: if you know the key of awareness. Then you can turn everything into
           gold. When somebody insults, that is the moment to keep alert. When your wife looks at somebody
           else and you feel hurt, that is the moment to keep alert. When you are feeling sad, gloomy,
           depressed, when you feel the whole world is against you, that is the moment to be alert. When you
           are surrounded by a dark night, that is the moment to keep your light burning. And all these
           situations will prove helpful -- they are meant for it.
                From conscious mind to superconscious mind is all yoga, meditation, prayer, awareness.
           Subsuperconscious mind is an integrated phenomenon, but you will still lose it sometimes. Not
           ordinarily when you are wakeful, but when you go to sleep you may lose it. Subsuperconscious mind
           will help you while you are wakeful, and sometimes even in dreams you may remember -- but not in
           deep sleep. When Krishna says in the Gita, "The yogi is awake even when the whole world sleeps,"
           he is indicating towards a higher state which I call the sixth -- SUPERCONSCIOUS MIND. Then
           one remains alert even while asleep; deep asleep, but awareness remains there. This is the sixth. And
           out of this sixth, the seventh grows spontaneously -- you have not to do anything for it.
                That seventh I again call NO-MIND, to make the circle complete. The first is the no-mind of a
           rock and the last is the no-mind of a god. To show this unity, we have sculptured gods in stone. To
           show this unity, this circle complete, we have made stone statues of God to show that stone is the
           first and God is the last and both meet somewhere. Again, no-mind -- call it soul, God,
           enlightenment, nirvana, salvation, or whatsoever you choose to call it.
                These are the seven stages. And this is the rainbow a man is. One thing more, then we enter into
           the sutras, and that is: not a single color has to be denied. All the colors have to be absorbed in the
           rainbow, and all the notes of music, all the seven notes of music, have to become part of the melody,
           and all these seven chakras from MULADHAR to SAHASRAR, they have to become a unity. It is
           not that you have to deny some chakras, because that denied chakra will not allow you ever to
           become whole -- and one who is not whole can never be holy. They all have to form a hierarchy, a
           unity; they all have to belong to one center.
                A real man of religion lives the whole rainbow, from the rock to God -- from no-mind on this end
           to the no-mind on the other end. He is the whole spectrum. He lives life totally. Nothing is denied,
           everything is used. Nothing is denied at all; if something feels like a jarring note, that simply means
           you have not yet been able to utilize it. It can be used, the poison can become medicinal -- you have
           to know how to transform it. And sometimes the nectar can be poisonous if you don't know how to
           use it.
                If you know how to use anger, you will see anger gives you a sharpness of being -- just as if
           somebody has sharpened a sword. Anger rightly used gives you a sharpness, a radiance, a
           tremendous vitality. Sex rightly used makes you so full of love that you can go on sharing with all
           and sundry and it is never exhausted. Sex rightly used gives a rebirth to yourself. Ordinarily, it
           reproduces children; extraordinarily, it reproduces your innermost being.
           Everything that you have has to fall into a unity.
                Once a very rich man asked Pablo Picasso to make a portrait of him, and as Picasso was
           well-known he demanded a very fantastic price for it -- millions of dollars. The rich man said,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "That's okay, you just do the portrait."
               The portrait was finished. Came the rich man. He was not satisfied; he said, "For that much
           money... and what have you done? Just an ordinary canvas and a few colors."
               Picasso said, "Just a few colors and an ordinary canvas? Wait." He went into his studio, brought
           a big canvas and many tubes of colors and brushes and gave them to him and said, "You can make
           your portrait yourself. And I will not charge for it at all. You can take these colors, these brushes and
           this canvas as a gift from me."
               Then the rich man understood. It is not the colors, it is the combination. It is not the canvas, it is
           not the brush, it is the artist behind it -- one who has combined all together and has created a new
           unity which never existed before. Those colors were separate, that canvas was just dead. Now it has
           become alive; now it speaks a language, sings a song. It is not just colors -- a greater harmony has
           descended in those colors, a music has arisen out of them.
               Let me tell you that whatsoever you have, all has to be used -- nothing is useless. Never throw
           anything away, otherwise you will repent one day. All has to be used. Just become more insightful,
           more mindful, become more aware, and start looking into things of your inner being and how to
           bring them to a higher harmony -- that's all. Right now you ar a crowd. Right now you are not an
           individual. You are not a rainbow -- all the colors are falling in separate dimensions, moving away
           from each other; they don't have a center. Right now you are a noise, not music -- but remember, in
           the noise all the notes are present. Rearranged, arranged in a better, aesthetic, artistic way, they will
           become beautiful music. All that is needed is a deep aesthetic look into your being.

           Now the sutras.
              MAN NA RANGAYE YOGI RANGAYE KAPADA



              THE YOGI DYES HIS GARMENTS,
              INSTEAD OF DYEING HIS MIND IN THE COLORS OF LOVE...

               Kabir says: O fool, rather than dyeing your mind in the love of God, rather than dyeing your
           being in the radiance of love, you simply go on dyeing your clothes. Religion happens from the
           inside out; it does not happen from the outside in. It arises in the center of your being and spreads
           towards the periphery -- not otherwise, not vice versa. Religion never arises from the periphery. If
           religion arises from the periphery, it will remain peripheral -- it will never touch your soul, and it
           will never bring any transformation to you. That's how it has been happening all over the earth.
               A child is born -- it is accidental whether in a Hindu or a Christian or a Mohammedan house --
           and immediately the society, the parents, jump on him and they start dyeing his clothes. They tach
           him: You are a Christian. He does not know anything about Christ. In fact, he is not even thirsty to
           know; that desire does not even exist. He has not entered life at all, and you start saying to him,
           "You are a Christian," and you go on forcing on his mind that he is a Christian. You take him to the
           church, you force him to read the Bible, you force him to go to the Sunday-school, and you condition
           his mind.
               By and by, continuous repetition changes the periphery. The cloth is dyed. He becomes a
           Christian without ever falling in love with Christ. He becomes a hypocrite, he becomes a pretender.
           You have destroyed his being -- rather than being a help, you have been tremendously harmful. You
           were not his friend. You have destroyed the very possibility: one day he was going to search for
           religion, but the search has to be one's own; nobody can force it from the outside.
               If you are thirsty, I can show you the way. If you are not thirsty, you may stand just on the bank
           of the river and you may not be able to see that the river is flowing just in front of you. Only thirst
           gives you eyes to see the water; when the thirst is not there, it is meaningless. We are all religious
           people -- somebody is Hindu, Mohammedan, Jaina, Buddhist -- and we are all false religious people:
           our clothes have been dyed, conditioned.
               Kabir says: MAN NA RANGAYE YOGI -- better color your consciousness, dye your
           consciousness, rather than going on arranging your periphery. Start from the center, start from being.
           Don't start from behavior, start from being. Don't try to cultivate a character, try to bring awareness.
               Remember these two things: character and consciousness. The society insists that you should
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have a character. Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira, Kabir, they insist you should have a consciousness -- not
           character; character is just peripheral. If you have consciousness, you will be good, naturally good;
           there is no need to bother about character. But if you don't have any consciousness, your character
           will be just a false thing hanging around you. It will not be true, and it will become a bondage to
           you, and you will have to find subtle ways to avoid it -- because it has no intrinsic relationship with
           you. The society says, "This is good," so you do it. You do it half-heartedly, you do it without any
           heart in it, you do it as a duty -- and deep down, you want to do just the opposite. And you will find,
           if you are clever, you will find ways to go on doing the opposite and go on pretending. How to be in
           two worlds; a double-bind -- that's what all your character, all your conditioning, comes to. Man is
           split.
               People say, "This is good; it has to be done, otherwise you will be thought bad" -- out of fear,
           you follow it. Deep down you know that this is not good, deep down you know something else is
           good, but you cannot follow that -- out of fear. Fear cannot give character. Fear only gives
           impotence, makes you weaker.
           Kabir says:
              THE YOGI DYES HIS GARMENTS,
              INSTEAD OF DYEING HIS MIND IN THE COLORS OF LOVE:
              HE SITS WITHIN THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD,
              LEAVING BRAHMA TO WORSHIP A STONE.

               And Kabir says: God is within you, you are within him, and you go on worshipping in a
           ritualistic way. You go on seeking and searching. Somebody is going to Kaaba and somebody is
           going to Kashi and somebody is on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and somebody is going to Giranar.
           What nonsense! Kabir says: He is within you -- where are you going? There is no need to go
           anywhere. In fact, stop all going and close your eyes and look within and he is there: the Lord of
           Lords is always present within you. He is born in you, you are his temple.
              HE SITS WITHIN THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD,
              LEAVING BRAHMA TO WORSHIP A STONE.

               And you leave this Lord, your innermost being, and you go on worshipping things, man-made
           things, man-made gods.
              HE PIERCES HOLES IN HIS EARS, HE HAS A GREAT BEARD
              AND MATTED LOCKS, HE LOOKS LIKE GOAT...

               Right is Kabir. He says: Whatsoever you go on enforcing from the outside, will never make you
           human. You will remain animal. Just look -- I told you that the first three chakras are animal: food,
           domination, sex, pleasure, indulgence -- these are the first three chakras. And now go into the
           scriptures and see what they say about paradise -- all these three things, nothing else. In paradise you
           will have beautiful women, more beautiful than you can ever have here, with golden bodies -- they
           don't perspire. And they don't age; they remain fixed at the age of sixteen -- at least in the Hindu
           paradise they never go beyond sixteen. Eternally young.... This mind, who has conceived this
           paradise, must be hanging around the lower centers.
               In the Hindu paradise they have wish-fulfilling trees -- KALPATARUS. You just sit underneath
           them and all your desires are fulfilled. Not a single moment is lost. You desire; here you have not
           even desired, and it is fulfilled. Great opportunity to indulge -- because here on the earth if you
           desire something it will take years for the fulfillment. If you want a big car you will have to earn
           money, steal money, exploit, so something -- and then too it is not certain. If you are fortunate, after
           a few years of struggle you may have a big car. Not so in the Hindu paradise: the desire arises -- a
           big car -- the image arises, and simultaneously comes the car. Now, this paradise cannot be very
           high. It shows from where it has arisen -- the lower animal centers.
               In the Mohammedan paradise even worse things are possible, because in the Mohammedan
           countries.... This is something: all races and all religions that have come out of Judaism, somehow
           have always been homosexual. In the Mohammedan countries homosexuality was so prevalent that
           that too is provided for in their paradise. Not only beautiful women but beautiful boys will be
           available. This seems ugly; just the very idea seems nauseating. But those three lower chakras --
           whatsoever their desires are, they have been projected.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Kabir says:
              HE PIERCES HOLES IN HIS EARS, HE HAS A GREAT BEARD
              AND MATTED LOCKS, HE LOOKS LIKE A GOAT...

              It is very symbolic. He says: Your whole idea of religion is obsessed so much with the lower
           centers that you are not a man yet. You may be just a goat -- very animalistic.
              HE GOES FORTH INTO THE WILDERNESS, KILLING ALL HIS DESIRES,
              AND TURNS HIMSELF INTO AN EUNUCH.

               And Kabir says: Repression is not BRAHMACHARYA. Repressing your desires and destroying
           your desires is not the way of celibacy, because if you repress your desires you will remain hung-up
           with them. Whatsoever is repressed, you have to repress it again and again and again, and
           whatsoever is repressed, you have to sit on it continuously; otherwise there is fear -- if you move
           somewhere else, it may bubble up again.
               Repression can never bring freedom. Repression makes you a slave. Repress anything, and that
           will become your master. So the so-called celibates in the monasteries -- the BRAHMACHARIS --
           they are continuously obsessed with sex. Their whole obsession is sex, their mind is completely
           sexual -- it has to be so. Or, if you are mad, and you are REALLY against the body and you start
           destroying the body, the only thing that you can succeed in will be that you will become a eunuch.
               Yes, that too has happened. In Russia there has been a Christian sect; for hundreds of years they
           have existed, and their number has been great. They cut their sexual organs -- actually cut. Stupid,
           because just by cutting your sexual organs you don't go beyond sex. You simply become incapable
           of sex -- but to become incapable is not to go beyond. Incapacity is not transcendence.
               Kabir says: Be natural. Let this sexual energy be understood more, in a deeper way; let it be
           transformed, channelled to higher parts in your being: let it move from the third center to the fourth,
           from the fourth to the fifth, and you will see -- the sexual energy is not your enemy; it is a great
           reservoir, a great gift from God. It has tremendous value. Without it there is no possibility of
           spiritual growth.
               Have you ever heard about any impotent person becoming enlightened? I have never come
           across any. Otherwise, impotent people would be the most enlightened people in the world. They
           don't have energy -- they should reach first. But it seems they never reach -- because without energy
           there is no possibility of movement, without energy there is no growth. You have to ride on the
           waves of energy.
               Kabir is in tremendous love with life and all that life is. He says: Use all. Use it for higher
           purposes, go on finding higher goals, go on finding better and better goals, higher harmonies -- but
           never deny anything, never say no to anything. Anything that God has given to you must have a
           purpose behind it: find out the purpose. Don't be on a hurry to cut anything.
              HE SHAVES HIS HEAD AND DYES HIS GARMENTS;
              HE READS THE GITA AND BECOMES A MIGHTY TALKER.
              KABIR SAYS: "YOU ARE GOING TO THE DOORS OF DEATH,
              BOUND HAND AND FOOT."

               And Kabir says: People read the scriptures -- Gita, Koran, Bible -- they become very proficient,
           very logical, argumentative, talkative, but they don't know anything. Knowledge is one thing, and to
           know, another. to know means to come face to face with reality, to have an encounter with God.
           Knowledge means to collect information. You can collect, you can use your mind as a computer, you
           can go on feeding it; it can collect all the knowledge that is available in the world. Do you know? --
           a single mind can contain all the libraries of the world. Given enough time, a single mind is enough
           to contain all the libraries. So much information can be collected. Yet you will remain ignorant;
           behind all those curtains, decorated curtains of information, you will remain ignorant -- because you
           have not tasted, you have not known yourself. Unless you know yourself, all knowledge is futile.
              KABIR SAYS: "YOU ARE GOING TO THE DOORS OF DEATH,
              BOUND HAND AND FOOT."

               Go on talking about the Gita and go on talking about the Koran and go on talking about the Bible
           -- but I can see you are simply going into death and nowhere else, because you have not yet
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           contacted the source of life.
              I HEAR THE MELODY OF HIS FLUTE, AND I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF:
              HAM SE RAHA NA JAY.

              Says Kabir: I cannot contain myself. I have heard his melody, I have heard his flute. It is not
           from the Gita, it is not from the Koran, it is from his lips directly.
              I HEAR THE MELODY OF HIS FLUTE AND I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF:
              THE FLOWER BLOOMS, THOUGH IT IS NOT SPRING;
              AND ALREADY THE BEE HAS RECEIVED ITS INVITATION.

                Just as I told you, when you reach the fifth state -- subsuperconscious mind -- or what in yoga is
           called VISUDDHI chakra, or what in the Christian allegory is Good Friday.... Jesus is crucified on
           Friday, the fifth day of the week. It is very significant, allegorical. Jesus is crucified when he is at the
           fifth, VISUDDHI chakra -- subsuperconscious mind. Your ego dies only at the fifth -- never before.
                At the fourth you are so unaware, you cannot catch hold of your ego. It is very subtle. At the fifth
           your awareness is more bright; you can look deep into the phenomenon of the ego, you can catch
           hold of it. And this is the beauty of it -- once you have caught hold of your ego, it dies on its own
           accord. In fact, the moment you have seen it through and through, it is no more. It is just a shadow. It
           existed because of your unawareness. And when the ego dies -- or, in the Christian terminology,
           when Jesus is crucified -- then the melody is heard.
                Below the fifth, you go on hearing your own mind, your own chattering. It is all nonsense. You
           are almost insane; you go on hearing your own insanity, and you go on chewing it again and again
           and again. Whatsoever you call thinking is nothing but chewing the same things again and again.
           Some day, write it down on a paper. Whatsoever comes in the mind, just go on jotting it down. Don't
           try to improve it, don't fill the gaps, and you will be surprised how the mind jumps from one thing to
           another... meaningless -- just a junkyard, a rubbish heap. And you will not be ready to show that
           paper to anybody, because whomsoever you will show, he will say, "Some madman has done this."
           Try it. That madman is within you.
                Up to the fourth, you are a madman -- and because of this madness and constant noise that you
           mind makes, you cannot hear the flute. God is continuously playing on his flute: HAM SE RAHA
           NA JAY. Kabir is saying: Now it is impossible to resist. I cannot contain... he has called me. I have
           heard his notes, his flute is ringing in my ears.
              I HEAR THE MELODY OF HIS FLUTE, AND I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF...

               This happens at the fifth center -- subsuperconscious mind. The melody comes, surrounds you
           like a fragrance, cleanses you, refreshes you, rejuvenates you, gives you new elan, new zest, new
           enthusiasm. The word `enthusiasm' is beautiful: the root means `God within'. It comes from THEO:
           theo means God. ENTHUSE means `God has entered within'. God within -- that is the meaning of
           enthusiasm. Only at the fifth, one becomes full of enthusiasm -- God has entered, the melody has
           entered. You are surrounded by something unknown, the mysterious has happened. The impossible
           has happened: only at the fifth do you become religious for the first time. And of course this religion
           is neither Christian nor Hindu nor Mohammedan. This is simply religion. You have heard his flute:
           HAM SE RAHA NA JAY.
               And says Kabir: Now there is no way to remain where I am. It is pulling me beyond myself. Now
           I cannot resist. The pilgrimage has started, the odyssey has begun.
              THE FLOWER BLOOMS, THOUGH IT IS NOT SPRING...

               And Kabir says: This is a miracle. The spring has not come and the flower is blooming. In fact,
           in that world beyond the fifth, it is always spring. Below the fifth it is never spring. Below the fifth it
           is always a dark night of the soul. Below the fifth it is always desert. Beyond the fifth it is always
           spring. Kabir says:
              THE FLOWER BLOOMS, THOUGH IT IS NOT SPRING;
              The miracle is happening...
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND ALREADY THE BEE HAS RECEIVED ITS INVITATION.

                At the fifth you receive the invitation -- from the seventh. It comes from far away because there
           is still one barrier, a very thin barrier. You can see through it, it is very transparent. It is not much of
           a barrier, it is not a China Wall; it is pure glass. Unless you come very close you will not know it.
           The sixth is a very thin barrier, a screen. At the fifth, one starts feeling that one has arrived. By and
           by, one becomes aware that the melody is coming from very far away; the home is not yet come...
           THE BEE HAS RECEIVED THE INVITATION.
                Now the God has called forth, the God has provoked and challenged. Now, for the first time,
           God becomes a reality. Up to now it was just a symbol -- a meaningless word, too much used and
           abused, too much used by the priests and the politicians and made dirty because of that use. For the
           first time, now God is not a theological word, it is not a symbol, it is reality -- crystal clear. You can
           feel the impact, you are thrilled... God starts pulsating in your heart: HAM SE RAHA NA JAY.
                And Kabir says: Now it is impossible to stay here, I have to go. Now there is no way. I am being
           pulled, I am helpless. This is the point from where grace starts. Let me tell you: you have heard
           about the principle of gravitation. Up to the fifth, you are pulled downwards -- that is the principle of
           gravitation. Beyond the fifth, you are pulled upwards. That is the principle of grace. Science knows
           only one; religion knows both.
                I have heard about a Sufi mystic who was staying in a house. The people with whom he was
           staying were afraid because he was a madman, as all really religious people always are. And he was
           very unpredictable and he could do anything, so they were worried, and they put him in the basement
           so that he could not escape in the night, could not create any scene -- he might start singing and
           dancing, and the neighborhood would gather, and it would not be good.
                Suddenly in the middle of the night they heard a great laughter, belly laughter, coming from the
           terrace. They rushed. He was laughing there and rolling on the terrace. They asked, "What has
           happened?" He said, "A miracle. I fell upwards."
                The principle of grace -- one starts falling upwards.
                He said, "You had put me in the basement... HAM SE RAHA NA JAY... but I cannot be there. I
           am falling upwards -- how can you hold me there? And I am laughing, because what will you think
           of it? You will not believe me -- that one can fall upwards. That's why I am laughing. But trust me,
           believe me, it has happened. I fell from the bed in the basement, opened my eyes and I was on the
           terrace."
                After the fifth, this miracle happens -- you start falling upwards: the principle of grace.
              ... AND ALREADY THE BEE HAS RECEIVED ITS INVITATION.
              THE SKY ROARS AND THE LIGHTNING FLASHES...

              Now you are entering into the inner sky. You have seen the outer sky and you have seen the
           outer lightning; you don't know anything about your own inner sky which is vaster than the outer,
           which is greater than the outer.
              THE SKY ROARS AND THE LIGHTNING FLASHES,
              THE WAVES ARISE IN MY HEART...

              And I am become oceanic -- waves upon waves are rising in my heart and I am reaching to
           higher peaks every moment.
              THE RAIN FALLS; AND MY HEART LONGS FOR MY LORD.

               And when you are at the fifth, from the sahasrar, the seventh, something starts falling on you like
           rain. Thirsty for millions of years you have been, thirsty and hungry and dying... and suddenly nectar
           starts showering on you.
              THE RAIN FALLS; AND MY HEART LONGS FOR MY LORD.
              WHERE THE RHYTHM OF THE WORLD RISES AND FALLS,
              THITHER MY HEART HAS REACHED...

              And then an upsurge arises in you. Up to the fifth you have to work your way: from the fifth,
           God takes charge of you. Up to the fifth you have to search him; from the fifth he holds your hand.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Up to the fifth you can go astray; beyond the fifth there is no way of going astray.
               The sixth comes spontaneously. By and by, become more and more suffused with the beyond,
           luminous with the beyond, you become more and more ecstatic with the beyond -- the benediction,
           the beatitude. Now it is not work: you start singing and dancing. You start enjoying. Now those days
           of SADHANA are over, now you have nothing to practice. God has taken possession of your heart --
           now he will do; now you can trust and leave it to him. One relaxes totally. This is what leg-go
           means. Not that the journey has ended -- the traveler is gone. Traveling continues now but the
           traveler is gone. Now there is nobody who is journeying. The journey continues... and now there is a
           beauty to his journey, because there is no effort.
              THERE THE HIDDEN BANNERS ARE FLUTTERING IN THE AIR.

              And you can see the hidden banners fluttering in the air -- the faraway goal is not so far away
           now.
              From the fifth you move to the sixth -- sixth is superconscious mind. From the sixth, a sudden
           jump into the seventh. It is sudden, remember; it is not gradual. Up to the fifth, effort is needed.
           From fifth to sixth, no effort is needed. From sixth to seventh there is no gradual progression -- a
           sudden jump, instantaneous, immediate; not even a split-second is needed.
              KABIR SAYS: "MY HEART IS DYING, THOUGH IT LIVES."

              In a way, I am dying. The old is going, the new is born. In a way, I am no more, and in another
           way, I am -- for the first time. This is the crucifixion and the resurrection. At the fifth, Jesus is
           crucified. In his crucifixion he relaxes -- in that relaxation he moves beyond the sixth. In the seventh,
           he is resurrected. Jesus is gone, Christ has come. Buddha is gone -- the old Buddha, Gautam
           Siddhartha, is gone -- now a totally new being, nameless, formless, is born.
              KABIR SAYS: "MY HEART IS DYING, THOUGH IT LIVES."

               In fact, it lives for the first time; it lives utterly, totally. Only when you die, God lives in you.
           Until you die, God cannot live in you. Only when you have vacated, when your inner space is
           absolutely empty, when you have come to a zero experience, he comes, he floods you, he starts
           overflowing. These songs of Kabir are nothing but the overflowing of that melody that he has heard.
           These songs are nothing but the overflowing of the flood that he has received into his innermost
           being. These songs are no more ordinary songs. These songs are not only that of a poet, but that of a
           mystic -- one who knows, knows by living it; one who has tasted of God, who is drunk with God.




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                   Chapter #4
                                 Chapter title: The greatest love affair on earth
           4 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701040
              ShortTitle: MELODY04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HOW CAN I BE MYSELF?


               That should be the easiest thing in the world, but it is not. To be oneself one need not do
           anything; one already is. How can you be otherwise? How can you be anybody else? But I can
           understand the problem. The problem arises because the society corrupts everybody. The society up
           to now has been a great corruption. It corrupts the mind, the being. It enforces things on you and you
           lose contact with yourself. It tries to make something else out of you than that which you were meant
           to be. It puts you off your center. It drags you away from yourself. It teaches you to be like a Christ
           or to be like a Buddha or to be like this and that; it never says to you to be yourself. It never allows
           you freedom to be. It enforces foreign outside images on your mind.
               Then the problem arises. You can pretend at the most, and when you pretend you are never
           satisfied. You always want to be yourself -- that is natural -- and the society does not allow it. It
           wants you to be somebody else. It wants you to be phoney. It does not want you to be real, because
           real people are dangerous people, real people are rebellious people. Real people cannot be controlled
           so easily, real people cannot be regimented. Real people will live their reality in their own way --
           they will do their thing; they won't bother about other things. You cannot sacrifice them. In the name
           of religion, in the name of the state, nation, race, you cannot sacrifice them. It is impossible to
           seduce them for any sacrifice. Real people are always for their own happiness. Their happiness is
           ultimate: they are not ready to sacrifice it for anything else. That's the problem.
               So the society distracts every child: it teaches the child to be somebody else. And by and by the
           child learns the ways of pretension, hypocrisy. And one day -- this is the irony -- the same society
           starts talking to you in this way, starts saying to you: What has happened to you? Why are you not
           happy? Why do you look miserable? Why are you sad? And then come the priests. First they corrupt
           you, the distract you from the path of happiness -- because there is only one happiness possible and
           that is to be yourself -- then they come and say to you: Why are you unhappy? Why are you
           miserable? And then they teach you ways to be happy. First they make you ill and then they sell
           medicines. It is a great conspiracy.
           I have heard...

               A little old Jewish lady sits down on a plane next to a big Norwegian. She keeps staring and
           staring at him. Finally she turns to him and says, "Pardon me, are you Jewish?"
           He replies, "No."
               A few minutes go by, and she looks at him again and asks, "You can tell me -- you are Jewish,
           aren't you?"
           He answers, "Definitely not."
               She keeps studying him and says again, "I can tell you are Jewish."
               In order to get her to stop annoying him the gentleman replies, "Okay, I'm Jewish."
               She looks at him and shakes her head back and forth, and says, "You don't look it."

               That's how things are. You as me, "How can I be myself?" Just drop the pretensions, just drop
           this urge to be somebody else, just drop this desire to look like Christ, Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna,
           to look like your neighbor. Drop competition and drop comparison and you will be yourself.
           Comparison is the poison. You are always thinking in terms of how the other is doing. He has got a
           big house and a big car and you are miserable. He has got a beautiful woman and you are miserable.
           And he is climbing up on the staircase of power and politics and you are miserable. Compare, and
           you will imitate. If you compare yourself with the rich people, you will start running in the same
           direction. If you compare yourself with the learned people, you will start accumulating knowledge. If
           you compare yourself with the so-called saints, you will start accumulating virtue -- and you will be
           imitative. And to be imitative is to miss the whole opportunity to be oneself.
               Drop comparison. You are unique. Nobody else is like you, nobody else has ever been like you,
           and nobody else is ever going to be like you. You are simply unique -- and when I am saying you are
           unique, I am not saying you are better than others, remember. I am simply saying they are also
           unique. To be unique is an ordinary quality of every being. To be unique is not a comparison, to be
           unique is as natural as breathing. Everybody is breathing and everybody is unique. While you are
           alive, you are unique. Only corpses are all alike; alive persons are unique. They are never similar --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they cannot be. Life never follows any repetitive course. God never repeats: he goes on singing a
           new song every day, he paints something new every day.
               Respect your uniqueness, and drop comparison. Comparison is the culprit. Once you compare,
           you are on the track. Don't compare with anybody -- he is not you, you are not he. You are going to
           be yourself, he is going to be himself: let him be, and you relax into your being. Start enjoying
           whatsoever you are. Delight in the moments that are available to you. Comparison brings future,
           comparison brings ambition, and comparison brings violence. You start fighting, struggling, you
           become hostile.
               Life is not something like a commodity. Happiness is not something like a commodity, that if
           others have it, you cannot -- "how can you have it, if others have happiness?" -- happiness is not a
           commodity at all. You can have as much as you want. It simply depends on you. Nobody is
           competitive about it, nobody is a competitor to you. Just as the garden is beautiful -- you can look
           and appreciate, somebody else can look and appreciate. Because somebody else is appreciating the
           garden and saying it is beautiful, you are not hindered; he is not exploiting you. The garden is not
           less because he has appreciated it; because he is enthralled by its beauty the garden is not less. In
           fact, the garden is more so -- because he has appreciated it he has added a new dimension to the
           garden.
               People who are happy are in fact adding some quality to existence -- just by being happy they are
           creating vibes of happiness. You can appreciate this world more and more if more and more people
           are happy. Don't think in terms of competition. It is not that if they are happy how can you be happy?
           -- you have to jump on them and snatch happiness away, you have to compete. Remember, if people
           are unhappy it will be very difficult for you to be happy. Happiness is available to everybody --
           whosoever opens his heart, happiness is always available. This happiness I call God.
               It is not that somebody has achieved; it is not like a political post -- one person has become the
           president of a country, now everybody cannot become the president, true. But one person has
           become enlightened: that does not hinder anybody else from becoming enlightened -- in fact, it
           helps. Because Buddha became enlightened it has become easier for you to become enlightened.
           Because Christ became enlightened it has become easier for you to become enlightened. Somebody
           has walked on the path: footprints are there, he has left subtle hints for you; you can go more easily,
           in deeper confidence, with less hesitation. The whole earth can become enlightened, each single
           being can become enlightened. But everybody cannot become a president. This country has six
           hundred million people -- only one person can become the president. Of course it is a competitive
           thing. But all six hundred million people can become enlightened -- that's not a problem.
               All that is divine is noncompetitive -- and your being is divine. So just sort it out. The society has
           muddled your head; it has taught you the competitive way of life. Religion is a noncompetitive way
           of life. Society is ambition, religion is nonambitious. And when you are nonambitious, only then can
           you be yourself. This is simple.

              THIS MORNING YOU ARE THE RISING SUN IN MY HEART, YOU ARE THE SINGING BIRDS IN
              MY SOUL, YOU ARE THE RUSTLING LEAVES IN MY BLOOD, YOU ARE THE WARM BODIES ALL
              AROUND. YOU ARE THE SILENCE, YOU ARE THE SOUND. YOU ARE, YOU ARE NOT... I AM, I
              AM NOT... WE ARE.
              THANK YOU FOR YOUR BEST SONG YET. WHY CAN I NOT HEAR IT EVERY DAY?


               The song is always the best. The song is always the most perfect. Whatsoever I am saying is
           always the absolute truth. Sometimes you hear it, sometimes you miss it -- that depends on you.
           Sometimes you fall in tune with me, sometimes you stand apart. Sometimes you take courage and
           move with me, and sometimes you hesitate and linger. Sometimes you lag behind me, sometimes
           you accompany me. It depends on you. The song in itself is always the best.
               I have heard: A Zen monk, Rinzai, was passing from a marketplace. He was near the shop of a
           butcher, and a customer was asking the shopkeeper, "Give me the best meat you have." The butcher
           said, "What nonsense! I never sell anything that is not the best. Here everything is the best." And it is
           said, hearing this, Rinzai became enlightened. The moment he heard this -- "Here, everything is the
           best" -- it shattered something in his mind. A breakthrough, a piercing insight -- EVERYTHING is
           the best?... and he realized something. That's how it is, the whole existence: it is never less than the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           best. And he danced. And when he came back to the monastery, his master hugged him and said,
           "So! -- so it has happened. Now tell me the whole story, how it happened." Rinzai said, "It is
           ridiculous. It happened by hearing a butcher say something to his customer." Of all places, in the
           marketplace, and of all persons, through a butcher! -- but something shattered, something simply
           dropped.
               Each moment is the best, and each rose is the best. Yes, I would like to tell you, in the same way
           as the butcher told his customer: Here everything is the best. I don't deal in anything less than that. If
           I say it, it must be the best, otherwise I won't say it. But sometimes you get it and sometimes you
           miss it -- it depends on you. It has to be understood.
               First: listening to me, your mind is not empty. Listening to me, you are not like a mirror.
           Listening to me, you are full of your inner chattering. That is a disturbance. You listen to something
           and I say something else. Sometimes you listen only half-heartedly -- a word here, a word there --
           and then you connect it. It is a hotchpotch, it is a mess; you will be never able to figure it out.
               You have to listen to me so silently that not a single word is missed. I'm not saying listen to me
           in deep concentration, no. I am saying listen to me in awareness. Because concentration can never be
           perfect; there is always a possibility of distraction in concentration. I am saying something to you
           and a bird starts singing -- what will you do? The sound of the bird will start coming to you; it will
           be a distraction. Concentration implies distraction, so I am never in favor of concentration. Listen to
           me in deep awareness.
               Awareness means you listen to me and you listen to the bird also, to the wind passing through the
           trees and all that is happening right now. Don't listen to me with a narrow mind, closed to everything
           else and only open to me. Then you will not be able to listen to me, because what I am saying will be
           less if the sound of the bird is not included in it. What I am saying will not be true if all that is
           happening in this moment is not included in it. Don't listen to me exclusively. Listen to all,
           inclusively: everything is included -- you are simply a silent mirror reflecting everything that is
           happening all around. Nothing is distracting. In those moments, in those crystal-clear moments,
           again and again you will come to hear the best song. Otherwise you hear one thing, you miss
           another, you hear again one thing -- one word here, one word there -- then you connect them. Then
           whatsoever comes out is not what I have said, it is what you have heard.
           It happened...

                The old tramp stood at the back door and the lady of the house appeared.
           "Lady," he said, "I was at the front..."
           "You poor man!" she exclaimed. "One of the war victims. Wait till I get you some food and you can
           tell me your story. You were in the trenches, you say?"
           "Not in the trenches," said the tramp. "I was at the front..."
           "Don't try to talk with your mouth full, take your time. What deed of heroism did you do at the
           front?"
           "I knocked," he said, "but I couldn't get an answer so I came around to the back."

               You don't even listen to the whole sentence. You listen to one word and you start interpreting it.
           "The front..." and immediately you have interpreted -- the ward, the trenches, the war victim.
               What I am saying is not really a doctrine. On the contrary, I am not conveying anything to your
           intellect, but trying to pulsate something in your intuition. It is not a verbal communication. Just by
           the side of the verbal communication something deeper and greater is transpiring between you and
           me: the nonverbal. The said is not the real thing: the UNsaid, the gap, the interval. If you only hear
           my words, then too you will miss the meaning because my meaning is more in the gaps, in the
           silences. So you have not only to hear my words, you have to hear the wordless that is surrounding
           the words. That is possible only in deep trust and love.
               So silence alone won't help. Silence is the first requirement -- that you listen meditatively, that
           you listen in awareness -- but that won't help alone. You have to listen in tremendous trust, in love,
           in sympathy. You have to participate with me. Because what I am saying are not syllogisms, not
           logical statements. Yes, it is a song, not a syllogism. It is not logic, it is love that I am pouring into
           you. Rightly listened to, one word, or even one wordless moment, can swing you into spaceless
           flight.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Rightly listened to, what I am saying to you is not a philosophy, not a dogma, not a doctrine. I
           am not trying to convince you about anything; I am not a teacher at all. My work is totally different,
           qualitatively different. The whole effort here is so that I can make a contact with the essence of your
           being. The words are used as a device, as a bridge. But you should not pay too much attention to the
           words. Look deeper, to the gesture. What I say has to be heard; more important, what is left unsaid
           has to be allowed a vibration in your being. I speak to create waves in your consciousness. These
           words are being used like pebbles thrown in a lake, so the lake starts waveing. Your consciousness is
           fast asleep: I want to create waves in your consciousness so life comes back to you, so you start
           streaming, so a dance of the inner being starts.... And whatsoever I am saying is never complete -- it
           cannot be, by its very nature.
                You must have heard about the Japanese poem, haiku. It is the smallest poetry form in the world
           -- seventeen syllables only -- but one of the most penetrating. The word HAIKU means `the
           beginning'. This is a tremendous significance -- the word haiku means the beginning. The haiku
           poets say: We only begin, we never end. The poet begins, the listener has to complete it. If a poem is
           complete with the poet then nothing is left for the listener. Then the listener will be just a spectator.
           Then the act is not creative -- in fact, it is dangerous. The poet, the REAL poet, never completes. He
           leaves something incomplete. He gives hints and leaves gaps: those gaps have to be fulfilled by you.
           Then the transfer is creative. The poet sings a song, ripples are created in your consciousness, and
           YOU complete the song in your innermost core of being. The poet begins it, you complete it. Then
           you are joined in one creative process: the painter begins it, then the person who looks at the
           painting completes it.
                That is exactly what I am doing here. Whatsoever I am saying is never complete. It is just a hint,
           a push, the finger pointing to the moon. Forget the finger and look at the moon -- there is the
           message. The message is not in the finger. My words are pointers towards wordless silence... and I
           only begin, then I leave you to complete it.
                That's why many people who have become too much accustomed to logic feel a little dizzy with
           me, hanging.... They feel as if I never complete anything, that I lead them on the way, that I never
           come to conclusions, that I start something and always leave in the middle. That is true, because I
           don't want to destroy your creativity. I would like to participate with you, to help you to be creative.
           I cannot do the work of creativity for you -- that won't be friendly, that won't be compassionate. I can
           start, I can sing a song, and then you take it over and you start singing. It will be completed in you.
                The transfer between a master and a disciple is exactly like the transfer between a lover and the
           beloved. The lover initiates, but the beloved becomes the womb. The lover initiates, starts, and the
           beloved completes it. Then the child is born. The child neither belongs to the father alone nor to the
           mother alone: it belongs to both. The father started, the mother completed it. Between the master and
           the disciple something exactly like that is happening. Whatsoever I am saying here, if you just try to
           understand it from the outside, you will miss. It is not for outsiders, it is only for insiders. Hence my
           insistence for sannyas. Sannyas is just a gesture that you have become part of my family, that you are
           married with me, that now we can take the responsibility of a child, that we can father and mother a
           child -- a new being is possible.
                Truth is not something dead that can be transferred to you. It is an impulse, an energy impulse.
           The energy impulse reaches you, then you have to become the womb for it. You have to feed it,
           nourish it, nurture it, and then it will arise in your being. It is an inner transformation.
                You say, "Thank you for your best song yet. Why can I not hear it every day?" You can hear it
           every day, you can hear it every moment, you can hear it even when I am not here. You can hear it
           even when you are thousands of miles away from me. Because the song that I am singing has
           nothing to do with me in particular: it is the song of the divine. And it is being sung in a thousand
           and one ways all around you -- you just need to know how to listen, you just have to become a
           receptive womb, that's all. If you can learn only this much, how to become a receptive womb, you
           will hear it anywhere. Anywhere -- a river rushing by and you will hear it there, and the wind
           passing through the trees and you will hear it there, and the rain falling on the roof and you will hear
           it there, and you will recognize me.
                Unless you start hearing it everywhere, it is not of much worth. Only when you have started
           hearing it everywhere, only when you don't miss it -- awake, asleep, it continues -- when it has
           become a milieu around you that surrounds you, when you cannot escape out of it, it has become
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your climate, your very being, only then you have hard it.
               But, a good beginning: even if you heard it one day, it shows the possibility -- it can be heard
           another day. If you can hear it only once, it shows your potentiality. And right you are. You say,
           "This morning you are the rising sun in my heart, you are the singing birds in my soul, you are the
           rustling leaves in my blood, you are the warm bodies all around. You are the silence, you are the
           sound. You are, you are not... I am, I am not... we are.
               That is the meaning of sannyas: we are. A point where I am no more separate from you, and you
           are no more separate from me; a point where our boundaries are blurred; a point where we become
           nebulous -- like two clouds meeting, penetrating, dissolving into each other; a point where
           definitions become meaningless; a point where separation is not a reality, union is a reality. That is
           the meaning of sannyas, initiation, the master-disciple relationship. It is the greatest love affair on
           the earth. All love affairs are only preparations for it. If they lead you towards it, good. If they hinder
           you, it is evil.

              WHY ARE THE BOYS IN THE MUSLIM HEAVEN SO MUCH MORE NAUSEATING THAN THE
              GOLDEN APSARAS WITHOUT ANY PERSPIRATION, OF THE HINDU PARADISE? YOUR
              CONDEMNATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY, NOT ONLY IN THIS LECTURE, DOESN'T SEEM VERY
              COMPASSIONATE.


               Truth is never compassionate or is always compassionate. It depends on you, how you look at it.
           One thing is certain: truth is truth -- compassionate or not. This has to be understood.
               Homosexuality has grown out of a male-dominated world. Homosexuality is a disease because of
           male domination; it is not a natural phenomenon. And there is every possibility that homosexuality is
           going to grow more and more -- the possibility that even states and governments and religions will
           start preaching homosexuality. Within fifty years, you will see it happening. Just as governments are
           now preaching birth control, abortion, they will preach homosexuality -- because the population is
           impossible, and homosexuality is going to be one of the ways to prevent new people coming to the
           earth. Sooner or later, each government of the world is going to allow homosexual marriages -- men
           marrying men, women marrying women. This is going to happen. Already, many more people are
           moving into homosexuality.
               The disease has come out of male domination. Just as I said the other day, all the cultures that
           have come out of the Judaic tradition are homosexual: Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish. The reason
           is, Judaism is one of the most male-oriented communities -- it had to be. They have suffered so
           much; they have been wanderers, for centuries they had no nation, nowhere to live. Of course, the
           man became more and more powerful -- he had to protect the woman, the children -- and the society
           became more and more centered around the man. Only a relaxed society, when things are going
           beautifully and there is plenty of food and there is no war, becomes heterosexual. Otherwise, when
           there is war, continuous struggle, the society leans towards male domination.
               In the East, homosexuality has never been a problem. In fact, it has existed only in rare cases.
           Particularly in India, homosexuality has not been a problem at all. It has been so exceptional, it has
           not even been discussed. The reason? -- the country has lived in tremendous peace, well-being,
           satisfied. Wars have been there, but India has not fought any war on its own. Somebody came --
           India was always ready to be conquered; it has not bothered much. Those who came were
           homosexuals -- because the army has to be basically male, and all armies become homosexual.
           Armies -- because only men are there -- where are they going to put their love, the energy? They are
           forced to go homosexual. So any country that has been continuously in war becomes homosexual.
           Or, male-oriented communities -- for example, monasteries: Buddhist monasteries, Jaina
           monasteries, Catholic monasteries, all became the breeding grounds of homosexuality because only
           men were allowed. It has not been researched well, but if one goes deep into it, it will be found
           always that whenever men will be alone together, homosexuality is bound to be there.
               Now the same thing is happening in the world of women also, because the women's lib
           movement is the first thing in the world up to now where women are meeting with women and
           basically women oriented groups are being created. Lesbianism is happening. When women are
           together and against men, where are they going to put their love? The man is the enemy: they have to
           love women.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Homosexuality and lesbianism both are growing; these are simple facts. A few things to be
           understood: I am not saying anything against homosexuality -- because I know there are many
           homosexuals around here. If you are not interested in any higher possibilities, homosexuality is as
           good as heterosexuality. There is no problem in it. If it is only a question of sexual release,
           homosexuality is as good as heterosexuality. But if you are interested in higher growth, then you will
           be in trouble.
                Each child born is masturbatory, because the child first learns to love himself. That is the only
           natural way. He knows nobody else, he plays with his own body. each child born is naturally
           masturbatory: that is his first love. The second stage of his growth is, he becomes homosexual --
           naturally so. He has loved himself: if he is a boy, certainly he starts loving other boys -- his love is
           spreading. Girls are very far away, a totally different kind of animal. He loves himself -- it is easier
           for him to love other boys. A girl loves herself -- it is easier for her to love other girls; the boys are a
           world apart. This is the second step, NATURAL step: masturbatory, then homosexuality.
                Then the third thing, the third wave, is when you start loving the other -- the opposite. Man and
           woman are polarities, and when polarities meet, only then is there challenge. Yes, there is conflict --
           and that conflict is the challenge. A homosexual love affair can be more convenient, true, because
           there is not much conflict. Both are alike: they understand each other, they know each other's ways
           and each other's mind. There is no polarity -- and if there is no polarity of course there is no conflict,
           but there is no growth either. With polarity, conflict arises, challenge -- to penetrate and know the
           other, to understand the ways of the other. And it is part of spiritual growth that a man should come
           to know the woman and the woman should come to know the man.
                Why do I say it is part of spiritual growth? Just the other day, I was saying that at the last
           moment, at the sixth chakra -- AJNA chakra -- one has to come to a tremendous meeting of the man
           and the woman. You are also divided inside into two: man and woman. If you cannot meet with the
           outer woman, it will be very difficult for you to make space for the inner woman. If you cannot love
           the other on the outside, it will be impossible for you to create a loving space for the other inside
           you. A man is not only man, he is man-woman together. He is born out of a man and a woman --
           fifty-fifty percent he is, and so is a woman. and the ultimate inner meeting, the union, the inner
           alchemy, is possible only if you have learned the ways in the outside world.
                When a man falls in love with a woman he is learning something. When a man falls in love with
           a man he is not learning anything. When a woman falls in love with a man she is learning something
           -- something of the unknown, something of the opposite, something of the quite other. Man and
           woman in love, means the right hemisphere in love with the left hemisphere.
                So if you are interested in spiritual growth then you have to grow from homosexuality towards
           heterosexuality. If you are not interested in spiritual growth then there is nothing wrong. You can
           remain -- heterosexual or homosexual, it is all the same. I think I have made it clear. If you are not
           interested in spiritual growth, then there is no problem. I am not against homosexuality, I am not
           against anything. It is your life -- you have to decide; who am I? I am simply stating a fact that
           ultimately, inside your being, a meeting is going to happen: be prepared for that meeting. And the
           outer love with the other prepares you.
                The more you understand the woman and the man outside you, the more you will have an
           understanding of the inner polarity. And one day, at the sixth center of your being -- what yoga calls
           AJNA chakra, and yesterday I called "superconsciousness" -- there you will feel that your
           understanding of the woman and the man helps you tremendously. There, intuition and logic meet,
           imagination and will meet, initiative and reception meet. You will find it easy. You have learned the
           ways from the outside world -- now you can use them for your inner alchemy.
                So let me repeat it. There are many homosexuals here, lesbians too, and that's natural because
           there are so many Jews here. And in a way there is some relationship why they are here, why they
           are attracted towards me; there is some reason in it. Homosexuals, lesbians, they are always
           inventive people... in fact, they have invented homosexuality. They are always revolutionary people,
           they are never orthodox. They have discovered a new way in their sexual life. Mm? -- they have
           improved upon nature, they have moved away from nature. They are inventive people, they are not
           traditional. Hence, more and more homosexuals will be coming to me, because whatsoever I am
           saying is so untraditional, only very revolutionary minds can come to me. But then there is going to
           be trouble too. You become attracted towards me because my teachings are so untraditional, so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rebellious; you become attracted. My teachings are rebellious, my teachings are unorthodox, but I
           cannot support any lie. I cannot say to you that your homosexuality is as it should be. I cannot
           support it... and if you are really revolutionary, try to find out a way.
               Go into nature and see. Animals become homosexual only when they are put in a strange
           situation, otherwise not. In a zoo, animals become homosexual, but never in nature -- rarely. In
           nature they always turn to be heterosexual. In a zoo, they can turn homosexual because they cannot
           find the female, or the female cannot find the male. That's an unnatural condition, an artificial
           condition.
               Man also turns homosexual when he is in an unnatural situation. It is not natural -- and that is
           why so many people are turning all over the world, because the whole human situation is very
           unnatural today; it has never been so unnatural. Everything is artificial. We have gone far away from
           nature in every other way, so we are going far away from nature in sexuality also. Everything is
           interlinked and connected. You live in an artificial house, you live with artificial mechanisms, you
           live in an artificial world -- the asphalt roads, technology -- everything is artificial. Naturally, your
           sexual energies will start becoming artificial too.
               Man is living in a zoo; it is not a human society, because it is not natural. Hence, sexuality is
           becoming more and more perverted, finding perverted ways -- and I can understand it. The more
           man has become intelligent, he wants to find new ways: and homosexuality is a new way -- so
           contrary to nature; an invention, a discovery that you can relate man-to-man or woman-to-woman.
               There are people who are even more revolutionary. They are relating to false toys. You can make
           a woman, a plastic woman, and make love to her. That is even more revolutionary -- and more
           convenient too. any moment you can pack her back in your bag, and you can carry her anywhere you
           want. Homosexuality is more convenient than heterosexuality because the language is the same. But
           convenience is not the goal: growth is the goal. Growth always happens through inconvenience.
           Growth always happens through pain, challenge.
               If you are interested in spiritual growth, move towards heterosexuality. If you are not interested
           in that, then there is no problem. If you want to go beyond, if you really want to search your
           innermost being, the inner space, then heterosexuality will be helpful. Just as I said to you: first stage
           is masturbatory, second stage is homosexual, third stage is heterosexual, fourth stage is asexual --
           that is the state of BRAHMACHARYA, celibacy. And only when you have achieved to the fourth
           stage will you be able to penetrate to the uttermost core of your being -- otherwise not.
               A masturbatory person remains childish, a homosexual person remains juvenile, a heterosexual
           person remains animal. These stages have to be passed. Don't get stuck anywhere. And I am not
           condemning, remember always; I have no condemnation for anything. Sometimes homosexuals
           come to me and they say, "But Beloved Master, we feel it is good." I say, "Okay. If you feel good, it
           is your life. Who I am to condemn it, and for what? Why should I condemn it? It is your life; if you
           decide to live it in this way, good. Live it with all my blessings." But I feel sorry, deep down -- sorry
           because their growth will be hindered, sorry because they will not know what great possibilities they
           were carrying within themselves.
               Sex is not an ordinary thing. It is one of the most substantial parts of your being. One should not
           be so unalert about it. It is the foundation of your being: you are born through sex, you live through
           sex; your birth is through sex, your youth is through sex, your love is through sex, and your death is
           going to happen through sex. Your whole life is a sexual affair. One should be very very alert and
           watchful of what one is going to do with one's sex energy.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOUR IDEAS SEEM TO BE CRAZY!


               Thank you for the compliment. They don't SEEM to be crazy, they ARE. But that is the only way
           God expresses himself. God's ways are crazy. If the word `crazy' does not look proper, you can say,
           "God's ways are miraculous" -- but it means the same. Translated rightly, miraculous means crazy.
           God is not a logician -- he may be a singer, a poet. His ways are crazy. They are not like
           superhighways, they are more like footpaths in a forest -- zigzag. On the footpaths you can go astray
           very easily: freedom is intact. On a superhighway you cannot go astray: freedom is not allowed --
           those milestones everywhere, they will hinder you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                God is crazy, truth is crazy, because truth is so vast, it cannot be reduced into a syllogism. You
           can sing about it, but you cannot argue about it -- the moment you argue about it, you have falsified
           it. You can dance it, but you cannot make a dogma out of it. Yes, you are right. My ideas ARE crazy,
           because they are not MY ideas. I simply allow myself to be a hollow bamboo and whatsoever song
           God wants to sing on it, I allow him total freedom. I don't stand in judgment. I don't say: Don't sing
           this sing, this will look crazy. I say: Okay, if you want to sing it, sing it. If it is crazy, it s crazy.
                I have heard a true story, as told by Freeman Dyron...

               A few months ago, Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli believed that they had made an
           essential step forward in the direction of a theory of elementary particles.
               Both the names are world-famous: Heisenberg and Pauli -- two of the greatest scientists of any
           time, and they were thinking that they had come across the basic theory to explain the structure of
           the elements.
               Pauli happened to be passing through New York, and he was prevailed upon to give a lecture
           explaining the new ideas to an audience which included Niels Bohr -- another famous name, another
           great name in science. Pauli spoke for an hour, and then there was a general discussion during which
           he was criticized rather sharply by the younger generation of scientists. Finally, Niels Bohr was
           called on to make a speech summing up the argument. "We are all agreed," he said, "that your theory
           is crazy, Pauli. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being
           correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough."

               And that's how things really are. A very sane theory cannot be right, because a sane theory will
           be human. It will be very limited. Only a crazy theory has any possibility of being right, because
           crazy means that which transcends human limitations. Crazy means that which cannot be reduced to
           human logic, crazy means that which is beyond your understanding. Yes, right is Niels Bohr. Let me
           repeat: "We are all agreed, Pauli," he said, "that your theory is crazy." This much agreement is there.
           "The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My
           own feeling is that it is not crazy enough."
               If you look into the modern world of physics, you will be surprised. Those old days of clear-cut
           theories are all gone; the days of Darwin, Newton, Edison, are gone. Truth has erupted, exploded --
           in Einstein, Heisenberg, Pauli, Niels Bohr, Planck -- and physics looks more and more like
           metaphysics; more and more like poetry and less and less like prose. The deeper scientists have
           penetrated into the world of physics, the more they are surprised to find that our logic is just
           irrelevant. Reality is more than our logic. It's FAR more than our logic. Our logic is just a small
           piece of ground that we have cleared and cleaned, and reality is this great jungle of infinity.
               Yes, you are right: my ideas ARE crazy because they are not MY ideas. If they were mine then
           there was a possibility I would have made them logical -- it is not very difficult. I can deny those
           parts which look illogical, and insist on the logical. I can remain consistent; I can make a very
           clean-cut philosophy. That is not difficult -- in fact, that will be very easy. But I am not interested in
           consistency. I am not interested at all in logic, I am interested in truth. And if truth is crazy, I am
           crazy. If truth is mad, I am mad. And let that point be remembered by you all, because my whole
           effort here is to relax you so you can also become a little crazy; to help you relax, to help you loose
           the grip of the mind so the no-mind can penetrate in you; to put the human aside so the divine can
           have a chance in your being.
               Don't cling to the clear-cut. Truth is not so clear-cut, and cannot be. Truth is so vast, it contains
           contradictions. It is crazy.
               It is said that Aristotle used to say that God is a mathematician. I cannot conceive how God can
           be a mathematician. On the door of his academy it was written: "Those who don't know mathematics
           should not enter here, should not dare to enter here." I cannot conceive what mathematics has to do
           with God, what mathematics has to do with reality. If I have to put a sign on Rajneesh Ashram's
           door, then I will put: "Those who are not crazy enough should not enter here."
               God is mad. If you are ready to be a little mad, only then is there any possibility of any contact
           between you and the infinite. It has to be so. When the whole ocean drops into a drop, the drop is
           going to get crazy. When the infinite descends into the finite, how can the finite remain sane? It has
           to go mad. The old mystics have always called it "the divine madness."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               All meditation is an approach towards divine madness. Stake all human sanity. It is better to be
           mad in a divine way than to be sane in a human way.
           I am crazy.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DO YOU CHANGE SO QUICKLY FROM WHAT YOU ARE WEARING AT THE MORNING
              DISCOURSE INTO YOUR BLONDE WIG AND ORANGE ROBE TO TEACH SUFI DANCING? YOU
              ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DRAG QUEEN I HAVE EVER SEEN, AND I WILL NEVER TELL.


               That's true. Aneeta's surrender is so total that I can function through her. Learn from her, imbibe
           the spirit of surrender from her. She is a new sannyasin, but within a few days she has surrendered so
           deeply.... In fact, the first day she came and I looked in her eyes and saw her total surrender, that
           very day she was no longer new to me -- she became an ancient companion. You may feel many
           times that while she is leading you into the Sufi dances my presence will be felt. If you are
           surrendered, if you are totally surrendered, if your love has no conditions, this will happen to you
           too. This is happening to many other sannyasins too. Many group leaders have started feeling it more
           and more: the more they surrender, the more they feel that I am working through them. Their burden
           is less, their anxiety gone; they can leave it to me, they can trust. And when they trust me, many
           things that they always wanted to happen start happening. Many things that they always had wanted
           to happen and were not happening start happening. You become a vehicle. All of my sannyasins, by
           and by, slowly slowly, are to come to a point where they can allow me to function through them.
               I am not going anywhere. I don't even go outside my room. I will be sending you to the far
           corners of the earth: you will be my ambassadors at large, you will function for me. I will see
           through your eyes, and I will talk through your tongues, and I will touch people through your hands,
           and I will love through your love: be prepared for it.
               The questioner is right. Aneeta has disappeared. She has allowed me total space of her being.

              WHEN I THINK ABOUT BECOMING A SANNYASIN, I GET VERY WORRIED ABOUT MY BEING
              ACCEPTED IN ORANGE CLOTHES AMONGST MY OLD FRIENDS. I AM FRANKLY AFRAID OF
              BECOMING AN OUTSIDER IN MY WORLD, PARTICULARLY SO AS I AM ON MY OWN AND
              WITHOUT A HUSBAND WITH WHOM TO SHARE THIS NEW WAY OF LIFE. DOES THIS MEAN I
              AM NOT YET READY TO BECOME A SANNYASIN AND SURRENDER TO YOU?


               No, it does not mean that you are not ready to become a sannyasin, or not ready to surrender to
           me. You are ready -- hence the question. And the question arises in everybody. It is a dangerous
           step; it is going into the unknown. Fear is natural, anxiety natural. One wavers. The old seems to be
           comfortable -- old friends, old relationships -- one is settled. Now everything will be unsettled again.
           Mind is always afraid of unsettled states; mind is always afraid of the unfamiliar, mind is always
           afraid of the unknown. Mind is always afraid to go out of the familiar, the comfortable, the
           convenient.
               No, you are ready -- hence the question has arisen. And now you cannot escape, because you will
           feel more and more that my friendship is more valuable than all the friendship that you have. And I
           will haunt you, I will not leave you alone. Wherever you are, I will follow you like a shadow. And
           soon the comparison will be there -- either to choose the old or the new. The new is being born
           already. Soon you will see -- now the question is either to leave me, or the old convenient
           comfortable structure. And to leave me will become more and more difficult.
           Let me tell you one anecdote...

               Zsa Zsa Horntoot's husband arrived late at a country club dance and discovered that in emerging
           from his Rolls he had torn one knee of his trousers.
           "Come into the ladies' dressing room with me," suggested his resourceful Zsa Zsa. "There isn't a soul
           there and I'll pin it up for you." It developed, however, that the rip was too large to be pinned. A
           maid furnished needle and thread, and was stationed at the door to keep out all and sundry, while Mr.
           Horntoot removed his trousers.
               Suddenly a bevy of formidable matrons shoved the mad aside and demanded immediate
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           admittance. "Quick!" Zsa Zsa commanded her mortified spouse. "Get into the closet." She pushed
           him in just in time and slammed the door.
               No sooner had she admitted the matrons, however, than Mr. Horntoot began screaming, "Open
           this door IMMEDIATELY!"
           "But the girls are in here now," Zsa Zsa reminded him.
           "To heck with the girls," cried Mr. Horntoot. "I'm out in the main ballroom!"

               Soon you will find that. First fall in love with me, and then choice will not be very difficult. You
           are ready... and the fear is natural. But let me tell you a few things: first, if you really have friends,
           and you call them OLD friends, they will understand you. If they cannot understand you, your
           change, they are not friends, they are not old friends at all. Friendship always allows space for the
           other to be. Otherwise the friendship is just false; it may be acquaintance -- it is not worth bothering
           about.
               You say, "I am afraid of becoming an outsider in my world." Everybody is an outsider;
           howsoever you pretend, you remain an outsider. Unless one enters into God, one remains an outsider
           in this existence. We pretend, we try to create a small oasis of relationship -- friends, relatives,
           children, husband, wife -- and we try to hide behind these things. But death comes and destroys all,
           and suddenly we are naked in our outsiderness. No, in this world you cannot be an insider unless you
           have moved into God. This world belongs to God. Only by belonging to God do you become part of
           this existence -- otherwise not. These trees will remain strangers to you and so will remain the birds
           and the sun and the moon and the sands and the rains. Everything will remain a stranger unless you
           have made a contact with the divine. With that contact the whole quality of life changes.
               My suggestion is, you are an outsider already -- everybody is. By becoming a sannyasin you will
           be taking a few steps to become an insider.
               And you say, "Particularly so as I am on my own and without a husband with whom to share this
           new way of life." Now this is ridiculous, because people come to me and they say... the wife says,
           "Because of the husband -- he will not understand, that's why I cannot take sannyas." The husband
           comes; he says, "I want to take sannyas but... because of the wife; I am not alone." Now, you are
           alone: nobody to hinder you, nobody to understand or misunderstand.
               You say, "Now that I am on my own..." Don't find excuses. Mind is very cunning in finding
           excuses, and mind is a coward.
               Let me tell you one story, a beautiful story: meditate over it...

               Once there was a great king who asked his magician to find him a courageous man for a
           dangerous mission. After a long search, the magician brought four men before his master. The king,
           wishing to choose the most courageous of the four, asked the magician to arrange a test.
               The king, the magician and the four men went to the edge of a large field, on the other side of
           which stood a barn. The magician gave instructions: "Each man shall have his turn. He is to walk to
           the barn and bring forth what is there inside."
               The first man walked across the field. Suddenly a storm came up: lightning flashed, thunder
           rolled, the ground shook. The man hesitated. He was frightened. As the storm increased, he fell
           down in fear.
               The second man walked across the field. The storm grew worse, until it was a tempest. The
           second man passed the first man, but finally he also fell down.
               The third man started with a rush, and passed the other two. But the heavens opened, the ground
           split, and the barn itself waved and cracked. The third man fell down.
               The fourth started slowly. He felt his footing. His face was white with fear. But he was more
           afraid of being thought afraid than of anything else. Slowly he passed the first man, and he said, to
           himself, "I'm alright -- so far." Foot by foot he went on until he had passed the second man, and
           again he said to himself, "So far I'm alright." Little by little he closed the gap between him and the
           third man, while the storm got worse. When he passed the third frightened man he said to himself,
           "So far I'm alright. Nothing has happened to me. I can go a little farther." So little by little, an inch at
           a time now, he went towards the barn. He got there at last, and just before he touched the latch he
           said, "So far I'm alright. I can go a little farther." Then he put his hand on the latch.
               Instantly the storm ceased, the ground was steady, and the sun shone. The man was astonished.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           From inside the barn came a munching sound. For a moment he thought it might be a trick. Then he
           thought, "I'm still alright," and opened the door. Inside he found a white horse eating oats. Nearby
           was a suit of white armour. The man put it on, saddled the horse, rode out to the king and the
           magician, and said, "I am ready, Sire."
           "How do you feel?" asked the king.
           "I'm alright so far," the man said.

               You are ready for sannyas. Believe me or not, you are ready for sannyas. Hence the question,
           hence the fear. In those who are not ready, fear never arises. Those who are ready, they start
           trembling because of the possibility of so many changes. You have hard me: your heart is already
           seduced. Now move inch by inch, slowly -- but move. And you will find that as far as you go, "So
           far, I am alright." You will go on finding -- to the very end, more and more, you will find that you
           are becoming an insider in this tremendous beautiful existence.
               And, I promise you, you will have better friendships, you will have better lovers, you will have
           better relationships -- because a man who is ready to move into the unknown, naturally moves into
           love... because love is the stuff the universe is made of. Sannyas is nothing but learning the ways of
           love. God is another name for love. And sannyas is a readiness to dissolve into a loving universe.
           Fear is there because it is like death. Sannyas is suicide, death: the past is destroyed -- but only then
           the new is born. When YOU cease to be, you allow God to be. There is no other way.




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                  Chapter #5
                              Chapter title: : Your lake reflects the moon of god
           5 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701050
              ShortTitle: MELODY05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 108 mins




              III.9. SIL SANTOSH SADA SAMADRISHTI

              HE WHO IS MEEK AND CONTENTED, HE WHO HAS AN EQUAL VISION,
              WHOSE MIND IS FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS
              OF ACCEPTANCE AND OF REST;
              HE WHO HAS SEEN HIM AND TOUCHED HIM,
              HE IS FREED FROM ALL FEAR AND TROUBLE.
              TO HIM THE PERPETUAL THOUGHT OF GOD
              IS LIKE SANDAL PASTE SMEARED ON THE BODY,
              TO HIM NOTHING ELSE IS DELIGHT:
              HIS WORK AND HIS REST ARE FILLED WITH MUSIC:
              HE SHEDS ABROAD THE RADIANCE OF LOVE.
              KABIR SAYS: "TOUCH HIS FEET, WHO IS ONE AND INDIVISIBLE,
              IMMUTABLE AND PEACEFUL;
              WHO FILLS ALL VESSELS TO THE BRIM WITH JOY,
              AND WHOSE FORM IS LOVE."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              III.13. SADH SANGAT PITAM



              GO THOU TO THE COMPANY OF THE GOOD,
              WHERE THE BELOVED ONE HAS HIS DWELLING PLACE:
              TAKE ALL THY THOUGHTS AND LOVE AND INSTRUCTION FROM THENCE.
              LET THAT ASSEMBLY BE BURNT TO ASHES
              WHERE HIS NAME IS NOT SPOKEN!
              TELL ME, HOW COULDST THOU HOLD A WEDDING FEAST,
              IF THE BRIDEGROOM HIMSELF WERE NOT THERE?
              WAVER NO MORE, THINK ONLY OF THE BELOVED;
              SET NOT THY HEART ON THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS,
              THERE IS NO WORTH IN THE WORSHIP OF OTHER MASTERS.
              KABIR DELIBERATES AND SAYS:
              "THUS THOU SHALT NEVER FIND THE BELOVED!"


                Man is born awake and then he falls asleep. Man is born one and then he becomes many. Man is
           born individual and then he falls asleep and dreams of being a crowd. This is the whole problem, the
           whole task, the whole challenge of life. It has to be understood. This is the search: we are seeking
           that which originally we were. We are seeking that which we really are. We are seeking that which
           we have not lost for a single moment, only forgotten; we have only become oblivious of it. Maybe it
           is so obvious, that's why we have become oblivious.
                Jesus says: Unless you become like children again, you will not enter into my kingdom of God.
           His indication is clear. Unless you regain originality, unless you move to the original source again....
           One night, a seeker asked Jesus, "What should I do to know God?" And Jesus said, "Unless you are
           born again, you will not know him." One has to move to that original space where we were before
           we were born.
                Legend has it that Jesus refused to learn his alphabet, his letters. He would not allow the teachers
           to discuss the beta -- two -- until they could explain to his satisfaction the meaning of alpha -- one.
           and of course they could not explain it. One is the number upon which arithmetic rests; one is the
           number upon which each individual, the whole of the universe, the concept of God, of reality, rests.
           And the child Jesus insisted, "Unless you explain to me what the meaning of one is, I am not going
           to move to another letter of the alphabet. First tell me what alpha is. Then only am I ready to go to
           two -- the beta." And because it could not be explained he refused to go to school.
                This is not recorded in the Christian gospels because much is left unrecorded in Christian
           gospels. But it is one of the oldest Essenes traditions. It has been handed over, this story, from
           master to disciple down the centuries. It is one of the most meaningful stories about Jesus: his
           insistence that the one must be known first, because it is the one which is the base of all.
                When you are awake, you are one. When you fall asleep, you become many. Have you watched
           it? -- in a dream you play so many roles simultaneously. In the morning when you are awake, you
           are one. In the dream you are the dreamer, you are the dreamed; you are the director of the dream,
           you are the actor, you are the story, you are the stage, and you are the audience too. You become
           many, you become split, you become a crowd. In a dream, you are no more one. When you are
           awake, suddenly the director, the actor, the story, the stage, the drama, the audience, the dreamed
           and the dreamer, all disappear into one unity. Hindus call this whole world a dreamland -- MAYA.
           We are fast asleep. So to search the one, or to search awareness, is the same; because by becoming
           aware, you become one -- or, by becoming one, you become aware.
                Now let me explain to you how, in so many ways, in millions of ways, we are searching oneness.
           The child is born. His first functioning in the world is through eating; his first functioning in the
           world is through absorbing matter. The search has started: matter wants to meet matter. Matter wants
           to have an organic unity with other matter: matter is being pulled by matter, attracted by matter. This
           is the first love -- food. Food gives the first orgasm to the child. When you feel satisfied after taking
           food or drinking water, that satisfaction is a feeling of oneness: matter from the outside has been
           absorbed into the inside, the inner and the outer have met. The meeting is not very deep -- it cannot
           be, it is of matter; it is very superficial but still it is there.
                Hindus call this, the first chakra, MULADHAR. There are many people who live at this first
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           chakra. They simply go on eating and defecating. Their whole life is nothing but absorbing matter
           and throwing matter out; their life is very mechanical. It is very very narrow -- a small tunnel.
           MULADHAR is the smallest aperture in your being from where the light enters into you, and you
           enter into the existence. The smallest aperture is MULADHAR -- the first center. It starts
           functioning because the child has to survive; he has to take food first, otherwise he will die. It is a
           survival measure -- but one should not live to eat. If you are just living only to eat, you are not living
           at all. You are simply waiting for death. And you have chosen a very small pleasure, very ordinary
           pleasure -- just titillation, and you will be finished with that small pleasure. And immense
           possibilities surround you....
                Look into your own life. If you are attached too much to food, become a little more aware. It is
           the first search towards oneness. Now even physicists, a few crazy physicists, say that atoms are
           together because they love each other. The word `love' is not good to use, it seems anthropomorphic;
           but now a few physicists are courageous enough to say that it explains something. And it HAS to be
           used, because there seems to be no other explanation. Why are electrons, neutrons and protons
           together? Why this togetherness? There must exist a certain sort of bond, a certain attraction. There
           must be a certain unity, a certain love affair going on -- on the lowest level, but there must be a
           certain love affair -- otherwise why don't they fall apart? You can call it gravitation, you can call it
           magnetism, you can call it electro-field, or whatsoever you choose -- but love seems to be the best
           word because it can explain the whole spectrum from the lowest to the highest.
                Love seems to be the most economical word: the whole spectrum is included in it. When you eat,
           and you become obsessed too much with eating, you are just hanging around the first lesson of love
           -- electrons, protons, neutrons, attracted by each other; your body attracting other body-matter from
           the outside. Of course there is a certain satisfaction, because whenever there is oneness there is
           satisfaction, there is content -- but it is of the very lower, the lowest. One should learn to go beyond
           it. Hence all the religions teach the significance of fasting.
                Fasting does not mean starving, fasting does not mean that you have to kill your body, that you
           have to be destructive, no. Fasting simply means: give only as much a is needed, not more than that,
           so that you can become available on the second plane: you can become available to the second
           center. If you are obsessed too much with food, you will be closed by food; you will become just
           material. One should not get attached too much to food and one should not get attached too much to
           fasting either. Then the balance is achieved. And only through balance is growth.
                The second center is SVADHISTHAN. When the child is healthy, happy, his body is whole, he
           starts dominating. A desire to dominate arises in the child, the child becomes a politician. He starts
           smiling at people because he comes to know that if you smile, people come under your influence. He
           starts crying, screaming, because he comes to know that by crying and screaming you can
           manipulate your mother, your father, your family. Once the child's physical needs are fulfilled, a new
           need arises that is a VITAL need: to dominate. That too is again an effort to bring a unity -- the unity
           between the dominated and the dominator.
                Whenever you dominate somebody you become, in a certain way, one with him. Whenever
           somebody surrenders to you, or you surrender to somebody, you become one in a certain way.
           Hence, all over the world, people try to dominate each other -- wives trying to dominate husbands,
           husbands trying to dominate wives, parents trying to dominate children, children trying to dominate
           parents, in their own ways. The whole world tries to dominate. If you understand rightly, that too is a
           search for unity.
                Whenever you have defeated a person and you have become the possessor, you have absorbed
           the person into your being. His vitality has been absorbed, his vital energy has become one with you.
           This aperture is a little bigger than the first -- more opening. A person who is food-obsessed is more
           closed than the person who is power-obsessed -- at least he moves to others. In his life he will have a
           certain type of relationship -- not very good, because the relationship of domination cannot be very
           good, it is violent to begin with, aggressive, ugly -- but still some sort of relationship.
                The politicians live in this second center. The gluttons live in the first, the politicians live in the
           second, and then there is the third -- MANIPURA: male and female want to meet, to become one. In
           the Bible it is said: God created Adam in his own image. Now one thing has to be understood. Adam
           must have been both, Adam must have been Adam AND Eve -- otherwise Eve could not be taken out
           of Adam. In the original Hebrew, the wording is such that it explains it clearly: God created
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Adam-Eve in one being. The original being created was neither man nor woman: he was both. He
           was neither he nor she, he was both; he was a unity. Only out of that unity could he take the separate
           woman.
                If you ask the scientists, they say that when the child grows in the mother's womb, for a few
           months he is neither male nor female: he is both. By and by, distinctions arise; by and by, he
           becomes either a male or a female. The original cell, amoeba, is both male and female -- it is not yet
           divided. So to say that God created Adam is not good. My own suggestion is: God created
           Adam-Eve. I make one word out of both. God created Adam-Eve, and then later on he divided them
           into two. With that division, a great desire to meet with the other has arisen.
                Each man is seeking a woman, each woman is seeking a man. We are seeking the opposite, the
           polar opposite. Without the other, it seems something is lacking; without the other, life seems to be
           unfulfilled; without the other, it seems you are half, not whole. Hence, so much hankering for love --
           to love and to be loved. This is the third chakra -- MANIPURA: the need for the male and the female
           to meet and become one.
                As far as the lower nature is concerned, this is the highest center. In the lowest three centers, sex
           is the highest center. The gluttons only hoard; they are the ugliest people in the world. They never
           share -- the misers, the rich, the hoarders, the exploiters. Better than them are the politicians -- they
           at least relate. But they are dangerous too, because their relationship is that of domination. Their
           whole language is inhuman. They don't know any human relationship; they know war, they know
           violence, they know aggression. Their whole effort is to become so dominant that everybody is
           absorbed in them. That's what Alexander the Great is doing, that's what Adolf Hitler is doing --
           better than the first, at least they relate. They relate wrongly, but at least they relate.
                The first relates only with things -- money, food, house, car. The second relates with persons. His
           relationship is not yet worthy, but still it is a relationship -- rudimentary, the very beginning, very
           primitive -- but still a relationship. The third is the relationship of sex, of two lovers: poets, artists,
           painters, they exist with the third center -- the aesthetic. The third is the highest in the lower centers
           -- one starts sharing. And if you love a person, you don't want to dominate. Remember it: if you want
           to dominate, your love is contaminated by the second center -- it is not yet love. If you really love,
           you want freedom for yourself and you want freedom for your beloved too. Love frees, gives
           independence -- because the beauty of love is only when it is out of freedom. It is not a domination,
           it is a sharing, a responsible sharing; you are happy in sharing your energies. But this too is not yet
           human; animals can do it, are doing it very well -- better than human beings. But the search is going
           higher.
                When a man and a woman really meet and the orgasm happens, you will have the first glimpse,
           faraway glimpse, of the divine. Hence the attraction of sex, hence the deep desire for sexual orgasm,
           because the one is reflected in it -- only for a moment, maybe not even for a moment, for a split
           second... just a passing glimpse... but God passes by.
                The food addict is very far away -- not even a glimpse. The power addict is very ugly, very
           aggressive, very much in turmoil -- the glimpse is not possible. With a deep sexual love affair, God
           can have the first penetration in you. The first ray of samadhi enters into sexual orgasm. In fact, man
           came to think about samadhi only because of sexual orgasm -- becoming aware of that moment of
           benediction when two persons meet so deeply that they dissolve into each other, that their
           boundaries are no more their boundaries, that somehow in a miraculous way the start throbbing from
           one center, that they are not two hearts, that they are not two breathing bodies, they become one. A
           rhythm arises, they fall in tune with each other. And the rhythm is so tremendous, so powerful, dat
           they both are lost in that rhythm, they both are surrendered into it.
                Remember, with the second center you try to make somebody else surrender to you, and the
           other tries to make you surrender to him. In the third center you both surrender to something that is
           beyond you both. You both surrender to the god of love. You both surrender to the orgasmic unity of
           sex energy: in that surrender, you both are effaced. For a single moment, you are Adam and Eve
           together.
                And the Bible says: God created in his own image. When Adam and Eve REALLY meet, the
           image of God is reflected again in the pool of your consciousness. Your lake of consciousness
           reflects the moon of God... still it is far away, but the first glimpse has entered in you.
                MULADHAR is material, the first center. SVADHISTHAN, the second center, is vital. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           third, MANIPURA, is psychosomatic; it is the highest unity of the lower world -- momentary of
           course, but still of tremendous significance.
                The fourth is ANAHATA: it goes beyond sexuality, becomes pure love. When you see a flower,
           a roseflower, and your heart throbs with it, there is no sexuality. There is no question of man and
           woman, there is no polarity -- you are simply thrilled by the beauty. The beauty has no reference to
           man and woman, the beauty is beyond man and woman. You look into the night, the whole sky full
           of stars, and suddenly you are thrilled to your very core of being. A tremendous joy arises... you start
           meeting with the stars. There is no question of man and woman, there is no yin and yang -- it is not a
           question of polarity at all.
                Love goes beyond polarity, sex remains below polarity. Sex needs the opposite, love does not
           need the opposite. Hence, in sex there is always a subtle conflict, because with the opposite the
           harmony can never be total. For moments maybe... again the conflict comes in. Lovers go on
           fighting. In fact, psychologists say, when two lovers stop fighting, it simply shows love has
           disappeared. Lovers are intimate enemies. They go on quarreling, nagging. Yes, there are moments
           when they completely dissolve into each other but those are rare moments, few and far between.
                With love, polarity disappears. Love is more like friendship. You can love a tree, you can love a
           rock, you can love the stars, you can love the grass, you can love anything. Love has nothing to do
           with the male-female polarity. Love is beyond opposites -- hence, the unity is deeper. This is the
           fourth chakra -- ANAHATA -- the heart chakra. And with this fourth you really become human. Up
           to the third you were part of the animal kingdom, one of the animals -- nothing more, nothing
           special. With the fourth you become special, unique: humanity is born, you have become a human
           being.
                Remember, just to look like human beings does not mean that you are a human being. Only with
           the fourth center starting functioning, you become a human being. Many people die as animals; they
           never rise above sexuality. They never come to know that there is a kind of love which is beyond
           opposites and which is tremendously fulfilling because there is no conflict in it. Love is
           unconditional, sex is conditional. In sex there is a give and take. In love, you simply pour. You don't
           ask, there is no demand. Not that you don't get -- you get a thousandfold -- but that is not asked for.
           That simply comes on its own accord: the whole existence showers back, echoes back.
                At the fourth center there is again a unity: the lower and the higher meet. Remember these
           unities, because by and by we are moving towards becoming one. First plane, matter meets with
           matter. Second plane, vital meets with the vital. Third plane, opposites meet: the male meets the
           female, yin meets yang. Fourth -- ANAHATA -- the lower meets the higher. Three centers are lower
           than the ANAHATA and three centers are higher than the ANAHATA: ANAHATA is the door in
           between -- the bridge.
                At your heart center God meets the world, the unmanifest meets the manifest, the unknown meets
           the known, the host meets the guest, mind meets the no-mind. The heart is the most mysterious
           center in man. And unless your heart starts functioning, you will not know what is the purpose of
           life. With the heart, the first beginning of the higher. Vast spaces open... you are getting out of the
           tunnel.
                ANAHATA is a great window; it makes you available to the sky and makes the sky available to
           you. Or in another way you can say: at ANAHATA, in love, unconscious and superconscious meet.
           Or in still another way you can say: in ANAHATA, in love, sex and prayer meet. Sex is lower than
           love, prayer is higher than love. And love is a great mystery. Something in it is of sex, certainly, and
           something in it is of prayer. Hence, there is no mystery comparable to love. There is something of
           sex: if you go and love a tree, you would like to hug it; you would like to touch it in the same way as
           you would like to touch your beloved's face. If you love a rock, you would like to kiss it in the same
           way as you would like to kiss your beloved's lips -- something of sex, something lingering from the
           past. And still, when you kiss a rock there is reverence, great awe, great wonder. You are full of
           respect, you are prayerful: it is a sort of worship.
                In love, prayer and sex meet. If you are not alert, love can fall down and become sexual. If you
           are aware enough, love can rise high and become prayerful. That has to be remembered. Love is very
           fragile. There is more possibility that love will descend into the lower realm and become sex. When
           for the first time you fall in love with a woman or with a man, there may be nothing of sex. Sooner
           or later, sex enters. When first you look at a beautiful woman, there may be reverence, a great awe --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as if you have seen God's face in her face. When you look into the eyes of a woman, suddenly a door
           opens to the mysterious. You are not thinking in terms of sex and body and the physical; you are not
           concerned at all. Something of the higher has challenged you. But then you fall in love, and by and
           by you forget the higher and you enter into the lower.
                Love almost always falls into the lower because we are not conscious. And that's why, in all the
           languages, whenever a person moves into love we say of him, "He has fallen in love." People fall in
           love; very rarely do people rise in love. Remember, the formulation is very correct. Love starts as
           something very high, romantic, poetic, divine, and then by and by settles on something very
           ordinary, physical, rotten.
                Love starts as a prayer, love's beginning is religious -- but love ends in a nightmare. Remember
           it: if you are alert you can help yourself not to fall, you can help and discipline yourself to rise. Then
           love can become prayer.
                At ANAHATA -- the heart center -- the lower and the higher meet. It is a great experience of
           oneness: very fragile of course, trembling, shaking, not very certain; like a process -- moving
           forward, going backward -- but if you are alert you can use it as a stepping-stone for still higher
           possibilities.
                The fifth chakra is VISUDDHI. It is the chakra of prayer -- the throat chakra: the chakra of
           prayer, chanting, communication with God. At the fifth chakra, the inner and the outer meet.
           Remember, at the fourth, the lower and the higher meet. At the fifth, the inner and the outer meet.
           "God" simply means the whole existence that is outside you, and "you" the existence that is inside
           you: I-thou is the form of prayer. That's what Martin Buber says. I-it is the experience of the world;
           I-thou is the experience of prayer and God and love.
                At the throat chakra, VISUDDHI -- the word `visuddhi' means `the pure, the purest' -- at the fifth,
           love has become purest. It is simply an ecstasy, a joy. The inner and the outer meet. When the
           devotee bows down before his deity, the inner is bowing down towards the outer. When somebody
           goes and sings a song to the sun or to the moon, the inner is singing a song to the outer. And
           remember, you have witnessed only one thing: you have witnessed the devotee singing a song to the
           deity. You have not seen another thing, because that is very subtle: the deity singing a song to the
           devotee -- that too happens, but that is very subtle. That you will come to know only when you have
           experienced prayer.
                Sometimes you pray to God, and sometimes God prays to you. Let me say it, because ordinarily
           it is not said, because it looks sacrilegious to say that God prays to you -- but it happens. Just as the
           mother goes on singing a lullaby to the child... yes, God also sings a lullaby. But you have to earn it.
           When your prayer has been heard, when you have really poured your heart, you have forgotten
           yourself completely, then suddenly prayer is no more and expression on your part. You start
           listening... God starts praying. The inner and the outer meet.
                And then there is the sixth chakra, the chakra of meditation -- the third-eye chakra, AJNA
           chakra. Left and right meet, reason and intuition meet, masculine and feminine meet, yin and yang
           meet. Now, something has to be understood. At the third, man and woman met on a physical plane,
           outside. At the sixth, again the masculine and the feminine meet, but no more on the outside -- in the
           inside. The third is the center of sex, and the sixth is the center of tantra. Inside, you are both. Half of
           your being is feminine and half your being is masculine. And at your third eye, there happens a
           meeting. This third eye is very symbolic -- that means your left and right eyes dissolve into one eye:
           that becomes the third eye. Right now you have two eyes, two beings. Then you will have one eye.
                There is a saying of Jesus of tremendous import. Listen to it, meditate over it. Says Jesus: "If
           therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." He is talking about the third eye:
           If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
                One eye is connected with the left hemisphere, the other is connected with the right hemisphere.
           They both are a division in your being -- you are not yet a symphony. Your left and right are
           asymmetrical. Have you looked at your face? Your face halves, the right and the left, are not
           symmetrical. Look into the mirror again, watch carefully: your left face is different from your right
           face. Your innermost mind is divided into right and left hemispheres, and they function differently.
           The left hemisphere reasons, and the right hemisphere intuits. Poetry is born out of the right
           hemisphere, and logic is born out of the left hemisphere. If a poet's left hemisphere is removed, he
           will not lose anything; he will not even become aware of it. If a mathematician's left hemisphere is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           removed, he will be completely gone; he will not know what to do. His whole expertise will
           disappear.
               Imagination is from the right, reasoning is from the left. The right hemisphere is feminine and the
           left hemisphere is masculine, and these two are bridged by a very small bridge, just linked. At the
           sixth center -- AJNA chakra, the third-eye center -- these two hemispheres meet and become one.
           Then your reason is not against your intuition, and then your imagination is not against your logic.
           Then your logic and your imagination both come together.
               Look: whatsoever I am saying I am always talking logically, but whatsoever I am saying is
           always illogical. The content is illogical, the container is very logical. If I want to argue with you, I
           can argue -- there is no problem about it. But what I am saying to you is something beyond
           argument. If your faith is against logic, then you have not come to the inner unity yet. Your faith
           should be beyond logic, but not against logic. Remember this distinction. Your faith should be
           beyond logic; supported by logic, but not finished by logic -- something going beyond and far away.
           But it can be supported by logic; up to a certain point, logic can go with it. It can be very rational, it
           can be very reasonable. There is no need for faith to be against logic. If the faith IS against logic then
           you are still divided, then that one eye has not happened yet.
               The greatest mystics of the world were always the greatest logicians too. Shankara, Nagarjuna --
           great logicians and yet illogical. They will go as far as possible with logic, and then suddenly they
           take a quantum leap... and they say, "Up to this point, logic helps -- beyond this, logic has no go." If
           you want to argue with Shankara, you will be defeated in argument.
               Shankara traveled all over this country -- a great mystic, and he defeated thousands of scholars.
           His whole life work was this, to go and defeat people -- and still he was very illogical. In the
           morning you would find him arguing so logically that the greatest logicians would look childish. and
           in the evening you would find him praying and dancing in the temple and crying and weeping like a
           child. Unbelievable. He has written one of the most beautiful prayers, and somebody asked, "How
           can you write such beautiful prayers? You are such a logician -- how can you be so emotional that
           you cry and weep and tears fall down?" He said, "My intuition is not against my logic, my intuition
           is beyond my logic. My logic has some function to fulfill: I go with it, I go with it whole-heartedly --
           but then there comes a moment when it cannot go beyond... and I have to go beyond too."
               Remember, this is the greatest unity. And when this happens at the sixth -- that your feminine
           and masculine, your inner yin and yang, have met -- you become one. This oneness has one step
           more. You have become one inside YOU. Now the seventh chakra is SAHASRAR. This is the
           chakra of samadhi -- ultimate ecstasy, total orgasm. Now, part and whole meet, the soul and God
           meet, you and all meet... you disappear into total orgasm.
               You may not have thought of it in this way, but let me tell you: all these seven chakras are seven
           ways of orgasm. There is a subtle orgasm when you feel satisfied with food -- a deep contentment.
           There is a subtle orgasm when you dominate: politicians look very happy and healthy -- while they
           are succeeding. When they are in power, they look very radiant. Their energy seems to be
           overflowing; they look inexhaustible -- never tired, rushing from one place to another, doing one
           thing and a thousand things -- never tired, very radiant. Hitler had that magnetic force, that charisma.
           From where comes this radiance? -- it is power orgasm.
               Have you watched it sometimes? When a politician stands, and millions of people surround him
           and look at him, there is a subtle orgasm happening. He feels very happy: so many people giving
           attention to him, so much vitality overflowing towards him, so much vibration flowing towards him,
           meets his vibe and there is a great orgasm. He becomes radiant. He explodes. When a politician is
           losing, is proving a failure, then all his radiance disappears, all his charisma disappears. When you
           see a politician in failure -- for example, if you go and see Richard Nixon now -- you will be simply
           surprised how this man who was so powerful has become so powerless. All charisma has
           disappeared. Poor Nixon.... And the same man was so powerful -- what has happened? The energy
           that was flowing towards him flows no more. The orgasm is no longer happening. He has lost his
           beloved: the beloved was the crowd, he was making a love affair with the crowd -- that is lost.
           Politicians, when they have failed, look very empty; when they are successful, look so full.
               On these seven planes, seven types of orgasm happen. And what I mean by orgasm is the
           experience of oneness. The ultimate happens at SAHASRAR -- the seventh chakra -- when the
           individual ego is completely dissolved into the cosmic whole. That is the total orgasm, the goal, the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           source.
               Christians have made the cross their symbol. As I look at the cross, I think Christians have
           missed its real meaning. To me, the cross is not a symbol of death, but the arithmetical symbol of
           plus. And I see it in that way, and then it has a totally different significance -- the arithmetical
           symbol of plus. Because Jesus joined together with the whole in that moment on the cross: Jesus
           became plus. Jesus disappeared in God. Jesus no more existed: only one.
               I told you about the legend that he would not learn the second letter -- beta -- because he said,
           "First I have to understand alpha -- one." No teacher could teach him. He had to be withdrawn out of
           the school. But he learned the meaning of alpha on the cross. Only God can teach that: for that only
           God can be the master. What happened on the cross? The cross means plus; before the cross, Jesus
           lived a life of minus -- as everybody lives. Let me tell it in this way: the ego is a minus, because it
           exists not. The ego is that which is not, it is a minus thing. God is plus: God is that which is. On the
           cross, the plus of God met Jesus' minus. The minus dissolved into the plus, Jesus became Christ.
           Jesus himself became one: now he is no more two or many, he has become the alpha. This is the
           source and this is the goal. The source is the goal, because the beginning is the end. The alpha is the
           omega.
               The atomic scientists say that each atom has a plus and minus charge. If we take the plus and
           minus charge apart, there is an explosion -- that's what atomic explosion is. Each small atom,
           invisible atom, has two energies: positive and negative, minus and plus. They are together: joined
           together in deep orgasm, in deep intercourse -- the minus with the plus, the positive with the
           negative. If you pull them apart, if you divorce them, there is a great explosion of energy. That's
           what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- a small atom pulled apart can become so destructive.
               The same happens at SAHASRAR, from the other side. The minus is joined with the plus: not
           pulled apart, put together; not divorced, but marriage happens. This marriage is the union, the yoga.
           Ordinarily we exist as a minus; God is the plus energy, ego is the minus energy. The day you decide
           to drop your minus into the plus, there will be a marriage. That marriage happens at SAHASRAR --
           the seventh chakra.
               These chakras are just allegories, mm? -- just to give you a map so you can understand how,
           from food to God, the search is one. The search is to find the one. We are lost in the many, we are
           lost in a crowd, we are split; and the whole search is how to find one, how to become indivisible,
           how to become individual. And remember this Christian symbol of the cross, not as a death symbol
           but as a meeting -- yoga symbol, marriage symbol: plus.

           Now the sutras:
              HE WHO IS MEEK AND CONTENTED, HE WHO HAS AN EQUAL VISION,
              WHOSE MIND IS FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS
              OF ACCEPTANCE AND OF REST;
              HE WHO HAS SEEN HIM AND TOUCHED HIM,
              HE IS FREED FROM ALL FEAR AND TROUBLE.

               Kabir is describing the person who has come to the plus point, who has become one. How will he
           be? HE WHO IS MEEK AND CONTENTED -- meek he will be. He will not have any ego, he will
           not have any sense of I -- that is the meaning of `meek'. Says Jesus: Blessed are the meek. Why? why
           are the meek blessed? Because they ARE NOT. Miserable are those who ARE, because the more
           you are, the more miserable you will be. The more you are, the more tense; the more you are, the
           more anxiety; the more you are, the more far away from God you are. The more you are... that means
           you are taking your minus, which is nothing, much too seriously. You have made too much fuss
           about nothing, much ado about nothing.
               When you are not, God is. Meekness means "I am not, I efface myself"... and then suddenly there
           is contentment. If you are, you are always discontented. Whatsoever you are, you always feel
           emptiness, because the ego IS empty -- by its very nature it is empty. It is a minus thing -- it is a
           miracle how you believe in it; it is not, it is just a shadow. If you look deeply, it disappears. If you
           don't look at it, it appears. It exists only in ignorance. In light, it is not found; it exists only in
           darkness. It is a phoney thing: it only appears -- it is not.
               So the egoist always finds himself empty, and he wants to fill it -- with money, with power, with
           love, attention, this and that -- and always he finds that everything goes on disappearing, and nothing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fulfills. You go on throwing ANYTHING into your ego -- the whole world will disappear -- and you
           will remain as empty as ever, because a minus cannot be turned into a plus. A minus remains minus:
           it is its nature. Once you have understood it, then you don't try to fill it -- you renounce it. You say,
           "This trip is over. I am no longer interested in my ego." In that very moment contentment arises,
           because when you drop the minus, the plus arises in you -- it is hiding behind the minus. The minus
           is working as a screen; it does not allow you to see the plus.
                God is everywhere, God is hiding in you -- but you are interested too much in the ego; you don't
           look at God at all. And he is very silent, unobtrusive... he does not make any noise... his presence is
           almost like absence. He stands and waits.
              HE WHO IS MEEK AND CONTENTED, HE WHO HAS AN EQUAL VISION...

               This equal vision is a particular concept in Indian mysticism: SIL SANTOSH SADA
           SAMADRISHTI.
           SAMADRISHTI... it is a difficult word to translate. It means: one who has come to see the one in all,
           whose vision has become equal. One who has come to see one in all -- SAMADRISHTI. In the rock
           he sees the God, in the God he sees the rock: his vision is equal. Now he does not see two, he sees
           one. Once the ego is dropped, your vision becomes clear, transparent: you start looking through and
           through. Nothing bars the path.
              ... WHOSE MIND IS FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS
              OF ACCEPTANCE AND OF REST...

               And suddenly, when the ego is not there, the constant trouble-maker is not there, you are full --
           full with the plus-energy of God, full of acceptance and rest.
              HE WHO HAS SEEN HIM AND TOUCHED HIM...

              Kabir says: God can not only be seen, he can be touched -- because he exists in everything.
           When you touch a rock, you have touched him too. When you touch your woman, you have touched
           him too. In fact, Upanishads say: ANAAM BRAHMA -- even food is God; the lowest is also the
           highest. And in the highest also you will find the lowest -- they cannot be separate, they are one
           spectrum.
              HE WHO HAS SEEN HIM AND TOUCHED HIM,
              HE IS FREED FROM ALL FEAR AND TROUBLE.

               And fear will only leave you when you have touched him, when you have touched the deathless.
               Man is mortal: the body is mortal, the mind is mortal. As man we are going to die, so as man we
           can never be free of fear and trouble. Only when we recognize ourselves as gods, fear disappears and
           trouble disappears.
               People come to me every day. One of the basic problems is fear, and they say, "How to get rid of
           fear?" And I say to them: You cannot get rid of fear. You will have to get rid of YOU. You want to
           get rid of fear? -- that is impossible. You will have to get rid of you: when you are not, fear is not. If
           you are there, fear will remain -- you are the source of fear. The very idea that "I am" creates fear,
           because the very idea that "I am" creates the possibility that "I may not be. One day, I may not be"...
           then the fear arises.
               Once you drop this idea that "I am" then how can fear exist? You have dropped the very source
           of it. Then God is. And God always is: you cannot say "God was" -- that will not be a right sentence.
           You cannot say "God will be" -- that will be absurd. God simply is. Only IS is correct about God.
           One day you were not: how can you trust that one day you will not disappear again -- how can you
           trust? You cannot remember yourself before birth -- how can you trust that after death you will be?
           The fear cannot leave.
           Get rid of yourself and fear disappears.
              TO HIM THE PERPETUAL THOUGHT OF GOD
              IS LIKE SANDAL PASTE SMEARED ON THE BODY,
              TO HIM NOTHING ELSE IS DELIGHT...

              And once you have dropped your ego -- the minus, that which is not -- and you have come to see
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that which is, then God surrounds you like a fragrance, twenty-four hours. Breathe in, breathe out...
           and you breathe him in, and you breathe him out. Open your eyes and close your eyes... and you see
           him with open eyes and you see him with closed eyes. God surrounds you as a subtle fragrance...
              LIKE SANDAL PASTE SMEARED ON THE BODY,
              TO HIM NOTHING ELSE IS DELIGHT...

               And to one who has known this delight of being in God, then nothing else is delight. Then all
           pleasures disappear. Then there is only one delight, one joy: the joy of being in God, the joy of being
           part of him, the joy of being a drop in his ocean, a wave in his infinity.
              HIS WORK AND HIS REST ARE FILLED WITH MUSIC...

               And Kabir says: Only such a man is a real musician. all others are just playing. Only such a man
           is a real musician -- he does not create music, his whole being IS music. He does not play on a
           veena, his whole life is a veena. In fact, God plays on him and creates a thousand and one songs.
           God dances in him, God takes possession of him, God plays many many games through him, with
           him, for him.
              HIS WORK AND HIS REST ARE FILLED WITH MUSIC...

               And such a man, whether he works or he rests, it makes no difference... the music continues. You
           can see him working, you can see him resting; you can see him in the marketplace, and you can see
           him in the monastery. Whatsoever the situation, the situation becomes irrelevant: his music is
           eternal. God goes on playing on his flute. Once you have dropped the ego, you have become a
           passage for him, a vehicle.
              HIS WORK AND HIS REST ARE FILLED WITH MUSIC:
              HE SHEDS ABROAD THE RADIANCE OF LOVE.

                And all love before it was just a reflection. You love food -- that is the first reflection. You love
           power -- that is the second reflection. You love a woman or a man -- that is the third reflection. You
           love -- that is the fourth reflection... and so on, so forth.
                At the seventh you don't love: you become love. Now love is no more a relationship with
           anything -- food or God -- no, love is no more a relationship, love is your state of being. You are
           love.
                That's what Jesus means when he says: God is love. Christians have not been able to understand
           it rightly. They think Jesus says God is loving, Jesus is not saying that, that God is loving. He is
           simply stating "God is love." God is another name for love, or love is another name for God. God is
           not loving -- because if you say "God is loving" it means sometimes he may not be loving:
           sometimes he may hate, sometimes he may be angry. But when you equal God and love, when it is
           an equation that God is love, then there is no possibility of his being anything else. At the point of
           SAHASRAR, samadhi, a man becomes love. Then there is no possibility of his being anything else
           -- it is his state of being.
              KABIR SAYS: "TOUCH HIS FEET, WHO IS ONE AND INDIVISIBLE..."

               This is how in the Eat we have become attached so much to the masters. God we cannot see: it is
           far away, just a dream, an idea... may be, may not be -- who knows? But a master we can see. One
           who has attained to SAHASRAR is a master, one who has dropped his minus and has become a
           vehicle for the plus-energy of God is a master:
           "TOUCH HIS FEET, WHO IS ONE AND INDIVISIBLE..."
               Wherever you find somebody who has become one, who has become love, who is no more a
           crowd, touch his feet -- just to show that you also desire, that you also dream, that you also are full
           of thirst for his state of being.
               Touching the feet is symbolic. Touching the feet means: "We cannot reach to your ultimate, it is
           far away... but we can touch your feet." A master is someone whose feet are on the ground, on earth,
           and whose head is in heaven. The head cannot be touched. He is rooted here... but his branches have
           reached into God. Those branches we cannot see: they are far away, they disappeared into the
           clouds. the feet are the visible part. The innermost SAHASRAR is the invisible part -- we cannot see
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it right now... we can trust.
                In the East, touching of the feet became a great symbolic act. In the West it has never arisen,
           because in the West the symbology has not been worked rightly. The West has not been long in
           search of the inner, so for a Westerner, to touch the feet looks a little ugly, looks awkward. But in the
           East, it became one of the most significant symbols. The master is in the world and yet not in the
           world: touching the feet, we touch the part that is still in the world, to show that "We would like to
           make you a bridge to the divine. Become our bridge. We can only touch the visible, but we know the
           invisible is there."
           "TOUCH HIS FEET, WHO IS ONE AND INDIVISIBLE,
           IMMUTABLE AND PEACEFUL..."
                Look into the master and you will find he is one. The hankering for the other is no longer there.
           He is in tremendous rest and union with himself. You can feel it. It is so tangible a thing -- if you
           allow, if you are receptive, if you just sit by the side of a master, you will feel it: you will start
           vibrating into his rhythm. You will feel his peace, his silence -- you will have a taste of it. And you
           will see that he is immutable, that nothing changes in him... because he is joined with the eternal.
           And he is peaceful because there is no becoming left: he has become the being, he has become that
           which is the goal. He has come home.
           "... WHO FILLS ALL VESSELS TO THE BRIM WITH JOY..."
                And this will be his indication. Whenever you will come to a master he will fill you with joy.
           You may come with sadness, you may come with misery, but he will go on pouring joy into you.
           "... WHO FILLS ALL VESSELS TO THE BRIM WITH JOY, AND WHOSE FORM IS LOVE."
                These are the hints to find a master... WHOSE FORM IS LOVE.
           SADH SANGAT PITAM...
                These are tremendously beautiful words, almost untranslatable.
              GO THOU TO THE COMPANY OF THE GOOD...

               No, this is not the translation. No, justice is not possible, cannot be done.
               SADH SANGAT PITAM... a few glimpses will be good. SADH does not mean `the good' -- it is
           one of the meanings, but SADH simply means `the simple, the spontaneous'. When you say `the
           good' the duality arises with `the bad'. No, SADH means: so simple that he does not know what is
           good and what is bad. SADH means: so simple that he has forgotten what is right and what is wrong;
           he does not know what is good and what is evil. SADH means: so simple that he cannot make a
           distinction between the saint and the sinner... SADH SANGAT PITAM... and Kabir says to be in the
           company of such simple people is to be in company with the Beloved.
               SADH SANGAT PITAM: if you can find a simple man, a master, who has forgotten duality,
           who has forgotten the two, and has attained to the alpha; one who knows only the one, who has
           forgotten the language of the many... SADH SANGAT PITAM... if you can find the company of
           such a man, you have found the company of the Beloved: you will find God through him. He will be
           your first approach towards God. Through him you will be anchored in God.

              SADH SANGAT PITAM
              GO THOU TO THE COMPANY OF THE GOOD,
              WHERE THE BELOVED ONE HAS HIS DWELLING PLACE:

               God exists in the masters. He exists EVERYWHERE... but if you cannot see him in the world
           then go and find somebody where he exists so tremendously that even a blind person like you cannot
           avoid; where he exists so powerfully that even a person like you, insensitive, starts feeling the vibe.
           God exists everywhere -- but sometimes, in some people, he exists tremendously. Sometimes,
           somewhere, his presence becomes very very solid. These are the people we call Buddhas, Christs,
           Krishnas -- where he becomes very intense. These people become a concentrating force for God.
               SADH SANGAT PITAM: find, if you can find somewhere, a man who has become a
           tremendous presence of God. Bathe in his presence, drink in his presence: drink his presence....
               Just the other day, I was reading a book of R.D. Laing. He remembers, he is a Scot, he
           remembers that he had one aunt who was a great drunkard. When I was reading, I remembered old
           Paritosh, and I thought maybe she was also an aunt to old Paritosh. She was such a drunkard that
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when she gave birth to a child the child was drunk from the very beginning. And the doctors had to
           take the child away, because it was found that the woman's milk contained fifty percent alcohol.
               A master is so drunk with God... almost ninety-nine percent alcohol. Just being in his presence
           you will start being drunk. You will start swaying... you will start losing the grip of the ego.
               SADH SANGAT PITAM... says Kabir: The Beloved is difficult to find in the world: he is
           everywhere -- but you are not so sensitive. You are not so aware. He is everywhere -- but right now
           you cannot find him everywhere. Find a man where he is pouring -- cats and dogs -- so howsoever
           insensitive you are, you will have to partake of something of it... you WILL become drunk.
               Yes, there are people where God rains: Kabir, Christ, Krishna -- SADH SANGAT PITAM.
           TAKE ALL THY THOUGHTS AND LOVE AND INSTRUCTION FROM THENCE.
               And be in the presence of these people, and start living from their presence. Catch hold of their
           vibe, fall in tune with their wavelength. Find your thoughts, your love, your discipline, your
           instructions, from their presence: let that become your guide. The love of a master, the presence of a
           master -- let that be your scripture. That is the Bible, alive; that is the Koran, still being recited, still
           being sung -- not a dead thing.
               Blessed are those who can find a master, because they have found God: and they have found God
           in such a way where the first experience of the divine can become possible. Once it has happened
           you can look everywhere and you will find him everywhere... but first it has to happen somewhere.
               LET THAT ASSEMBLY BE BURNT TO ASHES
               WHERE HIS NAME IS NOT SPOKEN...

               And avoid that company where God is not remembered. Escape from those people where God
           has become almost absent. Don't be with those people because otherwise you will learn your
           discipline from them, and you will learn your thoughts from them, and you will start by and by
           imbibing their spirit. Avoid those people who are not full of love for God -- who are not singing,
           who are not praying, who are not meditating, who are not dancing, who are not ecstatic: avoid.
               TELL ME, HOW COULDST THOU HOLD A WEDDING FEAST,
               IF THE BRIDEGROOM HIMSELF WERE NOT THERE?

               And if God is not there, it is futile -- the feast is not possible, the ceremony is not going to
           happen, you will not be fulfilled. Avoid: the bridegroom is not there -- how is the feast possible? It is
           said, Jesus says somewhere, that one day he was staying in a house and a woman came and she
           poured very costly perfume on his feet. And Judas criticized it. And you will agree with Judas --
           more possibility is there that you will agree with Judas. And Judas must have been the first
           communist: he said, "This is wrong -- economically wrong. Such a valuable thing, wasted. We could
           have sold it and given the money to the poor -- and you allowed it. You could have stopped the
           woman. This is useless; why waste such valuable perfume?" And Jesus looked at Judas and he said,
           "Soon the bridegroom will be gone, and then you can do whatsoever you want to do... but right now,
           when the bridegroom is here, let there be ceremony and let there be feast."
           Kabir says:
               TELL ME, HOW COULDST THOU HOLD A WEDDING FEAST,
               IF THE BRIDEGROOM HIMSELF WERE NOT THERE?

               Where the master is not, where God is not intensely present in somebody, all your religious
           ceremonies are just impotent. Go to the churches and to the temples, and go to the Vatican or to
           Kashi -- all futile. Go to a master: because wherever the bridegroom is, THERE God is celebrating.
           Find out somebody who has realized; there is no other way. Only an alive flame can make your life
           also aflame.
               WAVER NO MORE, THINK ONLY OF THE BELOVED...

               And when you come to a master, waver no more. The mind will pull you back, the mind will find
           a thousand and one excuses; the mind will not be ready, the ego will create rationalizations...
           WAVER NO MORE -- because it is very rare to come across a person who has achieved. THINK
           ONLY OF THE BELOVED... when you are in the presence of a master, in the presence of God
           himself, where God is burning very intensely and alive, then don't think of other things -- then don't
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           think of the world, then don't think of money, then don't think of power, and then don't think of
           respectability. Then only think of the Beloved, and go mad....
           SADH SANGAT PITAM: find out the company of someone who is so simple that God has chosen
           him to be his vehicle.
              SET NOT THY HEART ON THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS...

               And when you have found a master, then there is no need to worship any other god: you have
           found your god. All other gods are dead. When Jesus is alive, Jesus is God: in the great temple of
           Jerusalem there is nobody -- it is empty. When Buddha is alive, then Buddha is God: then he is the
           temple and he is the TEERTHA -- then the Kashi is empty and the Giranar is just a rocky place.
           Whenever there is a living master, God has chosen to be present there... but our minds cling to the
           old places. Waver not:
              SET NOT THY HEART ON THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS...

               Be courageous enough to recognize: it is very easy to go on worshipping dead gods. Yes, once
           they were alive -- and by the time you come to know them they are gone. And then for thousands of
           years you will worship them. Only very few people went to Jesus. The learned ones never went -- the
           rabbis, no; the professors, no; the scholars, no. Very simple people went to him. Now the scholars go
           to him -- the learned people, the popes, the bishops -- they go to him: now he is a dead god.
               Just a few days before, one woman came and she said, "I love you, Beloved Master, but there is a
           problem. I feel guilty, because I have loved Christ from my very childhood. Now I feel guilty. Am I
           betraying Christ in loving you? I would like to become a sannyasin," she said, "but I cannot. That
           will be a betrayal."
               God is betrayed only when you betray an alive master -- never otherwise. When I am gone, let it
           be finished. Then go and find out living masters. Then don't think you will be betraying Rajneesh:
           when he is gone, he is gone. Then God has chosen some other place to manifest himself -- then don't
           allow me to hinder you, then don't let this idea become a barrier. You will not be betraying me. If
           you cling to me when I am gone, then you will be betraying me.
               Jesus is gone: now you can go on clinging. God has chosen some other place to exhibit himself,
           to manifest himself. Always look at the alive. God is life -- and he always goes on leaving the old
           skin, and into new spaces and finding new expressions... new songs to sing, and new dances to
           dance.
              SET NOT THY HEART ON THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS,
              THERE IS NO WORTH IN THE WORSHIP OF OTHER MASTERS.

               If you have found a master, then forget about all other masters, because that will be a division in
           your head. Then let your devotion be total, otherwise that will create a wavering in your mind. Then
           forget all about others. You have found: now move into it totally, whole-heartedly.
              KABIR DELIBERATES AND SAYS:
              "THIS THOU SHALT NEVER FIND THE BELOVED."

               If you go on worshipping the dead gods, and if you go on wavering between too many masters,
           you will never be able to find God.
           "THUS THOU SHALT NEVER FIND THE BELOVED."
           SADH SANGAT PITAM: if you have found one, that's enough. If you have found one person who is
           throbbing with God, who is radiant with God, who is pulsating with God, drown yourself in his
           pulsations, become part of his being, and forget all... and you will find the Beloved. In fact, you have
           already found -- in finding the master, the Beloved has already been found.
               From the first chakra to the seventh, from the first love to the last, the search is one; the search is
           FOR the one. And unless that one is found there is no rest. Unless that one is found there is no peace
           -- there cannot be; there is no contentment. And that one can be found: you just have to go on
           becoming more and more aware. Don't get entangled at the lower centers. Always remember that
           you have to move higher: from food, move higher; from sex, move higher; from love, move higher;
           from meditation, move higher. Unless you have come to your ultimate flowering, the inner lotus,
           SAHASRAR -- one-thousand-petaled lotus... when it opens, Kabir says: The spring has not come,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and the lotus has bloomed! The spring has not come, and the bee has already received the invitation
           from the Beloved.
               Yes, there, in the innermost being, it is always spring. It is never otherwise. There is only one
           climate: it is always spring. Just go on moving, higher and higher -- don't get too entangled and
           obsessed with the lower. I am not condemning the lower, remember. I am simply saying that the goal
           will not be fulfilled. Good, enjoy food but remember God. Enjoy relationship but remember God.
           Enjoy sex but remember samadhi. Go on moving. Walk on the earth, but keep your eyes on the stars.
           And if you can find a man where the star is burning bright...
               In the Jesus-parable it is said that when he was born three wise men from the East went in search
           because they saw a star in the sky. And they were filled with joy: they were very old -- they were full
           of joy that somewhere God had descended. And they followed the star, and the star moved, and then
           just over the poor small village of Bethlehem it stopped... and they found Jesus in a stable.
               That star you can see: whenever there is a master in the world that star is there. And those who
           are wise, they start feeling it, they start moving. Wherever that master is, a star shines in the sky --
           and those who are a little sensitive, those who have any inner search to seek and find, they
           immediately become aware of the star and they start moving. From thousands and thousands of miles
           away they start moving, and they come to a place where the master is.
           When you have found that place, don't waver.
               SADH SANGAT PITAM... in the master you have found God himself. The master is your
           future: that which you can become he HAS become. The master is nothing but your own unfoldment:
           you are a seed, he is a flower. Let the master become an invitation to you -- the invitation for the
           inner spring, the invitation for the inner flower. The possibility is there, and unless that possibility
           becomes actual you will never be satisfied. Unless a man becomes God there is no benediction, no
           bliss. And each is a potential God, and the whole life is a task to transform the potential into the
           actual.
              SADH SANGAT PITAM




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                     Chapter #6
                                      Chapter title: : You will awake praying
           6 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701060
              ShortTitle: MELODY06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




              IS THERE A SLEEP CHAKRA TOO?


              Each chakra has a sleep part, except the last -- the SAHASRAR. At the seventh chakra,
           awareness is total: it is pure awareness. That's why Krishna says in the Gita: The yogi never sleeps.
           "The yogi" means one who has come to the last center of his being, to the ultimate flowering; one
           who has become a lotus. He never sleeps. His body sleeps, his mind sleeps: he never sleeps. Even
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when a Buddha is sleeping, deep in the innermost core of his being a light goes on burning bright.
               The seventh chakra has no sleep part to it, otherwise all the six chakras have both: yin, yang.
           Sometimes they sleep and sometimes they are awake: day, night -- they have both aspects. When you
           feel hungry, the center for hunger is awake. If you have ever tried fasting, you would be surprised. If
           you try fasting, then for two, three days in the beginning you will feel hunger, and then sometimes
           hunger will disappear completely. It will come again, it will disappear again, it will come again...
           and you are not eating at all, so you cannot say, "The hunger disappears because I have eaten." You
           are fasting: sometimes hunger comes with great power, tries to overpower you -- and if you remain
           undisturbed by it, the hunger goes. The chakra has fallen asleep -- it will awake again in its turn
           when the day will come; it will fall back into sleep again.
               The same happens with the sex center. You feel so hungry for love, then you have made love --
           and then suddenly all desire for love disappears. The chakra has fallen asleep. If you try celibacy,
           without repression, then you will be surprised. If you don't repress your sexual desire, you simply
           watch it.... Try it for three months -- just be watchful. When the desire comes, sit silently, let it be
           there, let it knock on your doors, listen to it, be attentive -- but don't be carried away by it. Let it be
           there: don't repress it, and don't indulge in it. Be a witness -- and you will be surprised again.
           Sometimes the desire comes with such intensity that one feels one may go crazy. And then
           automatically on its own accord it disappears, and sex becomes irrelevant. Again it comes, again it
           disappears. The chakra goes on moving: sometimes it is day, then sex arises; sometimes it is night,
           then sex goes to sleep.
               And so is true about all the six chakras below the seventh. Sleep does not have a separate chakra;
           sleep has a counterpart with each chakra, except SAHASRAR. So one thing more to be understood:
           as you grow higher and higher in your chakras, you will have a better quality of sleep because a
           higher chakra has a deeper quality of relaxation. The man who lives with the first -- MULADHAR --
           will not have a deep sleep. His sleep will be very superficial because he lives with the physical, the
           material.
               I can describe these chakras in this way too. First, the material -- MULADHAR. Second, the
           vital -- SVADHISTHAN. Third, the sexual, the electrical -- MANIPURA. Fourth, the moral,
           aesthetic -- ANAHATA. Fifth, the religious -- VISUDDHI. Sixth, the spiritual -- AJNA. And
           seventh, the divine -- SAHASRAR.
               As you move higher, your sleep will go deeper and will have a new quality to it. The man who is
           food-obsessed and lives only to eat and eat and eat, his sleep will be very disturbed. His sleep will
           not have silence, peace to it; his sleep will not have music in it. His sleep will be nightmarish. the
           man who is a little higher than the food-addict, a man who is more interested in persons that in
           things and wants to absorb people, will have a deeper sleep -- but not very deep. The sexual person
           will have the deepest, in the lower realm. That's why sex is used almost as a tranquillizer. If you
           cannot fall asleep, make love -- and immediately you will be falling asleep. Love relieves you of
           tensions. In the West, doctors go on prescribing sex for those who suffer from sleeplessness. Now
           they even prescribe sex for people who are prone to heart-attacks, because sex relaxes, gives you
           deep sleep.
               On the lowest plane, sex gives you the deepest sleep. Then if you move still higher, with the
           fourth -- ANAHATA -- sleep becomes tremendously tranquil, silent, very purifying and refined.
           When you love somebody, your relaxation is tremendous, immense. Just the idea that somebody
           loves you and you love somebody, relaxes you; all tensions are gone. The world is no longer alien, it
           is a home. With love, the house is transformed into a home and the alien world becomes a
           community, and nothing is far away. Through the person you love, God has come very much closer.
           A loving person knows a deep sleep. Hate, and you will miss your sleep. Be angry, and you will miss
           your sleep -- you will fall lower. Love, have compassion, and you will have a deep sleep.
               With the fifth, sleep becomes almost prayerful. Hence, all the religions of the world have been
           insisting that before you go into sleep, pray. Let prayer be associated with sleep. Never fall into sleep
           without prayer, so the rhythm goes on vibrating in your sleep. The reverberations of the prayer will
           transform your sleep. The fifth is the center of prayer -- and if you can pray, and if you can fall
           asleep praying, you will be surprised in the morning: you will awake, and you will awake praying.
           Your very wakefulness will be a sort of prayer. With the fifth, sleep becomes prayer. It is no longer
           ordinary sleep. You are not only going into sleep, you are going in a subtle way into God.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sleep is a door when you forget your ego; and it is easier to drop into God than while you are
           awake, because when you are awake the ego is very strong. When you fall deep into sleep your
           healing powers function to their total optimum capacity. Hence the physicians say that if a person is
           ill and cannot sleep then there is no possibility for his being healed -- because healing comes from
           within. Healing comes when the ego is absolutely nonexistential: when the ego is not, then the
           healing power flows from the within -- it wells up. The man who has moved to the fifth, the
           VISUDDHI chakra -- to the chakra of prayer -- his life becomes a benediction. You can see: even if
           he walks you will feel the quality of relaxation in his gestures, in his movements.
                The sixth chakra -- AJNA -- is the last, where sleep becomes perfect, beyond which sleep is not
           needed: the work is finished. Up to the sixth, sleep is needed. With the sixth, sleep becomes
           meditative -- not even prayerful but meditative -- because in prayer there is a duality: I and Thou, the
           devotee and the deity. With the sixth, even that duality disappears. Sleep is profound... as profound
           as death. In fact, death is nothing but a great sleep, and sleep is nothing but a small death. With the
           sixth, sleep penetrates to your deepest core... and then the work is finished. When you come out of
           the sixth to the seventh, sleep is no more needed. You have gone beyond duality. Then you are never
           tired, so sleep is not needed.
                This state of the seventh is the state of pure absolute awareness -- call it the state of Christ,
           Buddha, God.

             The same person has asked another question, related to the first: IF SEX CHANGES INTO
           LOVE, DOES THE URGE TO DOMINATE BECOME WILL, OR THE EFFORT TO BE
           CONSCIOUS?

                This too has to be understood. The first three lower centers are deeply related with the second
           part -- the three higher centers. First, MULADHAR, SVADHISTHAN, MANIPURA: these are the
           first three. The second three are: ANAHATA, VISUDDHI, AJNA. These are the two pairs. They are
           joined together deeply, and it has to be understood -- it will be helpful for you, for your journey.
                The first chakra is concerned with food and the fourth chakra is concerned with love. Love and
           food are deeply related, joined together. Hence it happens that whenever somebody loves you, you
           don't eat much. If a woman is loved she remains lean, thin and beautiful. If she is not loved she starts
           becoming fat, ugly, goes on accumulating; she starts eating too much. Or, vice versa too: if a woman
           does not want to be loved, she starts eating too much. That becomes a protection -- then nobody will
           be attracted towards her.
                Have you watched it? If a beloved comes to your home, a friend has come, and you are so happy,
           and so full of love -- that day, appetite disappears. You don't feel like eating -- as if something more
           subtle than food has fulfilled you, something more subtle than food is inside you and the emptiness is
           not there. You are full, you feel full. Miserable people eat too much, happy people don't eat too
           much. The more happy a person, the less he is addicted to food -- because he has a higher food
           available: love. Love is food on a higher plane. If food is food for the body, love is food for the
           spirit.
                Now even scientists are suspecting it. When a child is born, the mother can give just milk, bodily
           food. She may not give love -- then the child will suffer; his body will grow but his spirit will suffer.
           Just bodily nourishment is not enough: spiritual nourishment is needed. If a mother only gives food
           and not love then she is not a mother, she is only a nurse. And the child will suffer for his whole life
           -- something will remain stuck, ungrown, retarded. The child needs food, the child needs love: love
           is needed even more than food.
                Have you watched it? If a child is given love he does not bother about food much. If the mother
           loves the child she is always worried that the child is not drinking as much milk as he should. But if
           the mother is nonloving then the child drinks too much milk. In fact it is difficult to take him away
           from the breast because the child becomes afraid: love is not there, he has to depend only on physical
           food -- the subtle food is missing.
                And this goes on happening in your whole life. Whenever you feel that you are missing love, you
           go on stuffing your body with food -- it becomes a substitute. Whenever people feel empty and they
           don't have that thrill that love brings, that zest that love brings, that energy that love releases, they
           start stuffing their body with food. They have fallen back to their childhood; they are in a regressed
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           state.
               Children who are given enough love are never addicted much to food. Their spirit is so full: the
           higher is available -- who bothers about the lower?
               Remember, all the religions have talked about fasting for a certain reason. Unless you are taken
           out of your food obsession prayer will not happen. Hence, fasting gives a great possibility to pray. I
           am not telling you to become a fast-addict. I am not telling you to start torturing yourself. But if you
           are a food-addict then fasting is the medicine. If you have been eating too much ten bring a balance.
           Eating too much you remain too attached to the physical... and you cannot fly into the sky. You are
           too burdened: a little fasting will be helpful. And in fasting people have observed that their prayer
           becomes very easy, simple; it is no more a problem. Because when you are not burdened too much
           by food and the body, the spirit is weightless, can fly: the spirit has wings....
               The first and the fourth are related. And my experience is this: that if people are helped to be
           more loving they forget about food by and by. The old religions insist for fasting, I insist for love --
           and you can see the connection. The old religions insist for fasting, so that you can be taken away
           from your too-much-food obsession. I insist for love -- my technique is more subtle. Then, without
           even becoming aware, if you are loving you will be taken away from your food obsession. The old
           religions sometimes can be dangerous, because the food-addict can turn into a fast-addict. He can
           become another sort of neurotic person: first he was eating too much, now he may start starving
           himself. In both the cases he remains concerned with food.
               I have watched many Jaina monks: they continuously think about food. They believe in fasting,
           they do fasting, but they are continuously thinking about food -- what to eat, what not to eat, how to
           eat, when to eat -- their whole psychology is based on food. Food becomes too much of a problem.
           Hence, I don't insist on fasting, I insist on love -- and fasting comes as a shadow. If you are
           tremendously in love, one day you will find you don't want to eat today. The love is so much, and
           you don't want to destroy it. You are flowing so high, you don't want to stuff yourself and bring
           yourself low... you don't want to move on earth today. And the fasting comes naturally -- you don't
           think about it, you don't take a vow about it, you don't take a decision about it: suddenly you feel that
           higher food is available and the lower is not needed... and the fasting happens. Then fasting is
           beautiful.
               The second chakra is related to the fifth. The second chakra is political -- domination,
           domination over others -- and the fifth chakra is spiritual power -- domination over oneself. With the
           second chakra you try to overpower people, with the fifth you try to overpower yourself. With the
           second you try to conquer others, with the fifth you try to conquer yourself. With the second you
           become a politician, with the fifth you become a priest. And priests and politicians have always
           remained together: there is a conspiracy between the priest and the politician. The kings and the
           priests, the politicians and the popes -- they are joined together. They may not be aware, but this is
           the basic cause behind it: the politician needs the support of the priest, and the priest feels somehow
           in tune with the politician, because both hanker for power -- one over others, the other over oneself,
           but the goal is power.
               Remember it. I would not like you to become a politician and I would not like you to become a
           priest either. In fact there is no need to dominate others and there is no need to dominate oneself.
           Domination as such should be dropped: one should simply be. The very idea to dominate is egoistic
           -- whether you dominate others or yourself makes no difference. Have you not observed it? -- a
           person who feels that he has great self-control becomes a great egoist. He goes on declaring that he
           has tremendous control over himself. His ego is strengthened -- there is danger.
               Domination as such has to be dropped. You should not become a priest. Become religious --
           don't become a priest. To become religious is one thing, to become a priest is another. The priest by
           and by starts declaring that he not only has power over himself, he has power over God. The priest
           by and by starts declaring that he has power over spiritual forces, psychic forces, occult, esoteric...
           he becomes more and more obsessed with inner powers. But ALL power is an ego-trip.
               Be aware of the second, and be aware of the fifth too: there are pitfalls, there are dangerous
           possibilities. And once a person becomes a priest he stops; his growth is no more going on. Once
           you have become a priest you are no more religious; your whole energy has become stagnant. The
           religious person is always flowing: from first to second, from second to third, from third to fourth, he
           is always flowing. Up to the seventh he knows no stopping -- there is no station on the way. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with the seventh he also does not stop, because with the seventh he disappears... there is nobody to
           stop.
               Up to the sixth you can stop and become stagnant. With each center there is a possibility that you
           may fall and become stagnant. If you become stagnant with the first, you will know only the
           material. If you become stagnant with the third, you will know only the sexual -- and so on and so
           forth. The second and fifth are joined together, and so are the third and sixth. The third is the sex
           center and the sixth is the tantra center.
               Now, one thing to be remembered always: if you are not very alert you may go on believing that
           you are moving into tantra, and you may be simply rationalizing your sexuality -- it may be nothing
           but sex, rationalized in the terminology of tantra. If you move into sex with awareness, it can turn
           into tantra. If you move into tantra with unawareness, it can fall and become ordinary sex. It has
           happened in India -- because only India has tried it.
               All tantra schools in India, sooner or later, were reduced to sex orgies. It is very difficult to keep
           aware... it is almost impossible to keep aware. If from the very beginning the discipline has not gone
           very deep in you, there is every possibility that you will start deceiving yourself. Tantra schools
           arose in India with great energy, with great insight. And they had something -- because that is the
           last center humanly available: the seventh is superhuman, the seventh is divine. The sixth is the
           spiritual center.
               From sex to tantra: a great revolution, a mutation, is possible in man. And in the Eat, people
           became aware that if you become meditative while making love, the quality of sex changes and
           something new enters into it -- it becomes tantric, it becomes prayerful, it becomes meditative... it
           becomes SAMADHI. And a natural flow happens: from the third you can jump to the sixth -- you
           can bypass the fourth and the fifth. It is a great temptation, a great leap -- you can bypass, a shortcut
           -- but dangerous too, because you may be simply deceiving yourself... and man is very clever -- very
           clever in finding rationalizations.
           I have heard...

               From the diary of a globe-trotting young cinema queen:
               MONDAY: The Captain saw me on deck and was kind enough to ask me to sit at his table for
           the rest of the trip.
               TUESDAY: I spent the morning on the bridge with the Captain. He took my picture leaning
           against the "Passengers not allowed on this bridge" sign.
               WEDNESDAY: The Captain made proposals to me, unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
               THURSDAY: The Captain threatened to sink the ship unless I agreed to his proposals.
           FRIDAY: I saved eight hundred lives today.

                You can find rationalizations. The temptation is always there -- you can find good reasons for
           wrong motives.
                Tantra can any moment become just a garbed sexuality; just in the guise of tantra, nothing but
           sexuality. Then it is dangerous, more dangerous than ordinary sex -- ordinary sex is at least honest.
           You don't pretend, you don't claim something higher; you simply say it is ordinary sex. But tantra
           can be dangerous: you start pretending that this is something higher, something superhuman,
           something not of this world. Keep this in mind. The third and the sixth are very deeply related. The
           third can become the sixth, the sixth can fall into the third. A great awareness is needed.
                These first three and the last three are two balancing forces. The seventh is beyond. When the
           first three have been balanced by the second three -- when the lower has been balanced by the
           higher, when the lower has been cancelled by the higher, when the lower and the higher are of the
           same weight -- then the seventh happens. Then suddenly the duality disappears. Then there is
           nothing lower, nothing higher; nothing outer, nothing inner; nothing worldly, nothing otherworldly:
           then only one is. That one is the goal of all search.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF YOU ARE NINETY-NINE PERCENT ALCOHOL, WHAT ABOUT THE ONE PERCENT?


              I said it deliberately -- that the master is ninety-nine percent alcohol -- and I was aware that
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody was going to ask the question: Why not one hundred percent? But I said it deliberately,
           for a certain reason.
                The moment the master becomes one hundred percent alcohol he disappears. He cannot exist
           here; that much purity cannot exist here... he becomes invisible. That one percent impurity is a must
           -- otherwise there will be no difference between the master and God himself. God is one hundred
           percent alcohol, a master is ninety-nine percent alcohol: that one percent is the bridge. That one
           percent makes the master visible; God is invisible. And that is the whole purpose of a master -- that
           he brings you something that you cannot see by your own eyes. He becomes the vehicle, he becomes
           the medium, the passage. Once the master is also one hundred percent alcohol then there is no
           difference between the master and God himself. Then he will become as absent as God is: he will be
           here... but he cannot be a master.
                It is said about Gautam Buddha -- a beautiful parable -- that when he reached the door of the
           ultimate the doors were opened, there was great celebration, great rejoicing: Buddha has come home.
           Rarely somebody comes back. The world is so vast, and people go astray in a thousand and one
           ways... rarely somebody returns back. One soul has returned back. But Buddha stopped at the gate
           and he would not enter. And the gatekeeper said: "Sir, why are you standing there? Come in."
                Buddha said, "I will not come. I have to stand outside. Unless everybody else enters in, I will
           cling outside, I will not come in."
                The gatekeeper said, "You have attained: now disappear into the absolute."
                And Buddha said, "No. I will cling to this bank, outside the absolute, as long as I can, to help
           those who are still stumbling. I can see millions of souls stumbling on the way. If I disappear into the
           absolute, then my contact is broken."
                The parable is beautiful. This is one percent which is not alcohol: one hundred percent... Buddha
           disappears. In the Jaina mythology they say that a person becomes a master if he has one desire still
           left in his being. If all desires disappear then a person disappears. If there is one desire still left then a
           person becomes a master -- and not pure alcohol. Jainas call it "a bondage." This too is a bondage:
           with this bondage the master clings to this shore. If he leaves this desire too he will be gone; he will
           be not of any help to you.
                Millions of people down the ages have attained the truth, but very few of them have become
           masters. All enlightened people don't become masters, remember. Very rarely an enlightened person
           becomes a master -- because to become a master you have to be capable of allowing at least one
           percent impurity in your being. Great compassion is needed. Who bothers? When you have attained,
           who bothers? who wants to cling? One wants to disappear into the other... great compassion is
           needed.
                It is reported in Ramakrishna's life that he was very much attached to food -- too much: his
           attachment was really unbelievable. He would be discussing about God and MOKSHA and
           meditation, he would be doing his SATSANGA... and just in the middle of it he would say, "Wait. I
           am coming." And he would go into the kitchen to see what was being prepared. His wife, Sharada,
           would tell him, "Paramahansa Deva, this doesn't look good. People laugh and they know where you
           are going. Just in the middle of such a great discussion, talking about God, suddenly you remember
           food. This doesn't suit you. People laugh about it, they joke about it."
                But Ramakrishna would laugh and he would not change his habit. One day Vivekananda caught
           hold of him, mm? -- his greatest disciple -- and of course he was feeling very much offended because
           people were asking, "What is this about your guru? Is he mad? Why does he go to the kitchen to
           ask?" And when Sharada his wife would bring his thali, his food, he would simply jump! He would
           uncover the thali and look into it -- "What have you made?" -- and the disciples were there! It was
           unbecoming.
                So Vivekananda closed the door, locked the door, and said, "Now you have to decide
           something." Ramakrishna said, "If you insist, then I will tell you the truth: the day I become
           indifferent to food, I will disappear. This is just an effort to cling to something. And food seems to be
           innocent enough -- one has to cling to something. This is my only way to remain on this shore. But
           you insist, so now you remember: the day I am indifferent to food, remember, Ramakrishna is here
           only for three more days."
                They laughed; they didn't believe him. Who believes the master? They laughed. They said, "He
           must be joking, or he must be finding an explanation to explain it to us -- otherwise, this is not so."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Even Sharada his wife wouldn't believe it. But this happened. One day Sharada brought his food, and
           rather than jumping and looking at the food he turned his face towards the wall. Sharada
           remembered what he had said a few years before... the thali fell from her hands. But Ramakrishna
           said, "Now it is too late. Now no need to make much fuss about it. You all always wanted me to turn
           away from food: I have turned. Now three more days..." And within three days he was gone; on the
           third day he was dead. That was one percent....
               You ask me: "If you are ninety-nine percent alcohol, what about the one percent?" I am clinging
           to that one percent for you. It is possible for me, right this moment, to become one hundred percent
           -- but then I will be beyond your reach. In this world absolute purity cannot exist; it is not the nature
           of things. A little impurity is needed.
               Once something becomes absolutely pure it simply disappears from the world -- from the world
           of things, from the world of visible phenomena, it simply disappears. If beauty is one hundred
           percent pure it will disappear. If truth is one hundred percent pure it will disappear. Purity cannot
           exist. Purity exists only in God. The master remains, at the most, ninety-nine percent... so that you
           can drink out of him.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HEAR YOU HAVE BEEN PUTTING IN YOUR OWN QUESTIONS SOMETIMES.


               That's true. I cheat sometimes. The question is obviously from Arup. She gathers the questions,
           so sometimes she comes to hear me answering a question that she has not put in. There are reasons.
               There are two types of people: one I call the question-type and the other I call the answer-type.
           The question-type is one who goes on asking -- he is not worried whether his question is answered or
           not. He is not concerned what answer is given to his question; his basic concerns it the question.
           When I am answering him, then too he is preparing some other question. He is not interested in the
           answer as such -- he is a question-type. He creates questions, he enjoys creating questions.
           Sometimes he asks absurd questions -- meaningless, irrelevant. Sometimes he asks meaningful
           questions -- that too, accidentally. He goes on asking: sometimes by coincidence it is a meaningful
           question, sometimes it is not.
               The other type is the answer-type -- who never asks anything, who simply waits for the answer.
           For this answer-type, even the questions that the first type asks are meaningful, because he listens to
           the answer. He never asks the question, but he is very attentive to the answer. Now it happens,
           sometimes the question-type has to ask a question which is irrelevant to himself but may be relevant
           to somebody else who is an answer-type. And that too is happening: I continuously watch you, mm?
           -- somebody is sitting there, a question-type, and just by the side an answer-type, and I see a question
           from the answer-type jumping into the head of the question-type.
               The answer-type cannot ask directly; he has to ask through the question-type -- that is the only
           way. And the question-type feels very good; whenever he can manage a question he is very happy.
           He is not worried whether it is his question or not -- it may be somebody else's. It is almost always
           somebody else's; you don't really ask your questions. Many times you ask other people's questions --
           not that they have told you; just sitting by your side they are full of a quest, inquiry: that inquiry
           pulsates in you, creates a question.
               I depend on the question-type for those people who are also answer-types. But sometimes it
           happens... I go on watching: a person has a question and he is not asking, and nobody else is asking
           for him. Then sometimes I have to cheat: I put a question in. I have to take care of all of you, of all
           types.
               For example, if Arup had not asked this question I was going to insert it. She was a little
           impatient -- if she had waited just one week more... because it was hovering on her head. At least for
           two, three weeks she was puzzled by this: to ask or not to ask?
               My whole process is to make available all that is needed for you. It does not matter whether you
           have asked or not -- you ask many questions, I never answer them. I choose -- that too is a cheating.
           Then I never answer the whole question, I choose parts -- that too is a cheating. But I am not a
           teacher. I am not here to answer your questions, I am here to create a situation in which you can
           become more and more aware, alert. I am not to satisfy your questions, I am to satisfy your being --
           and that is a totally different matter. Sometimes I see that a question is needed and nobody is asking:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I insert it.
                You have to ask many questions. Not that just by asking questions you will be able to know the
           answers; but just by asking questions there is a possibility... the door opens. Just by asking a
           question something in your being surfaces: it becomes the most important thing. You make it
           possible for me to tackle that question. It is not an intellectual thing; I am not going to inform you
           more. Just by tackling that question something deep in your being will be changed -- because that
           question is a symptom. That question has arisen because you are in a certain state of being.
                For example, Arup has asked this question. Somewhere deep in her mind a distrust goes on
           lurking -- otherwise she would not have asked, the question would not have arisen. She would have
           said, "Okay, if our Beloved Master feels it right that he has to insert a question, he inserts it." But
           deep down somewhere, a shadow of doubt: "Why did he insert the question? -- it was not asked.
           Why?" Somewhere deep, a shadow.... She may not even be aware of it -- that's why she waited for
           two, three weeks. She could not manage courage; she thought and thought and thought.
                Whatsoever you ask is symptomatic: it shows something, it gives an indication. And I am not
           much concerned about the question; I am much concerned about the real disease about which the
           question is a symptom. I don't deal with symptoms, I don't treat symptoms -- symptoms are only
           indications. Somebody has a fever: fever is a symptom, it is not a disease. The disease must be
           somewhere else. Because of the disease the body is hot: somewhere deep in the body there is a
           turmoil, a fight going on. Because of that fight, friction, the body has become hot and is feeling
           feverish. Fever is not the disease; fever is a symptom of some disease inside.
                Now if you treat fever directly, you can kill the patient. You can put the patient under a cold
           shower to make his body cool: you can kill the patient -- this is not treatment. You have to look deep
           into his body: where is the turmoil? Where is the conflict, the friction? Why has the body become
           hot? Why has it lost its normal temperature? A normal temperature means the body is moving
           without any inner friction. With friction the body becomes hot.
                Questions are symptoms. Ask them. I would like you to come to a state where no question arises
           -- but that cannot come by just not asking. That will come by asking, by asking and dissolving.
           Those people who are not question-types, they too have to make an effort. It is difficult for them
           because they are not articulate. Try it: whatsoever you feel -- maybe it is vague, nebulous -- try to fix
           it into words. Just by bringing it into the conscious mind, becoming articulate about it, you have
           changed something deep in you.
                That's the whole of psychoanalysis -- that the patient goes on talking. The psychoanalyst does not
           do anything in fact, he simply waits and listens. But just by talking the patient becomes more and
           more articulate about his unconscious feelings, and once those feelings have been expressed the
           burden is dissolved -- one is unburdened.
                So don't be shy about asking questions. Try. And don't feel that they are foolish -- all questions
           are foolish. But if one is a fool, one is a fool; and just by hiding it nothing is going to change.
           Express it. When you don't ask a question and I feel it hovering on you, I have to insert it. If you start
           asking there will be no need for me to insert.
                The whole thing to be remembered is: I am here to help you. I am a physician, I am not a
           professor. The whole focus is how to help you mutate. so ask as many questions as you can. One day
           you will find that, by and by, those questions have disappeared. Not that I have answered them -- but
           just that you asked them, became aware of it; I discussed about it, analyzed it. I really don't answer a
           question, rather, I try to destroy it. Once it is destroyed, dismantled, it disappears. Not that you will
           get the answer, but one day you will come to a point where there are no questions in your being. A
           questionless consciousness is the goal: not a consciousness full of answers, but a questionless
           consciousness. When there is nothing to be asked, you have arrived.
           I have heard...

               A young woman went to a fortune-teller. The fortune-teller charged her twenty dollars and said
           she would answer two questions.
               The young woman, after considerable hesitation, finally paid the money and then she said to the
           fortune-teller, "Isn't that a lot of money for only two questions?"
           "Yes, it is," answered the fortune-teller. "Now, what is your second question?"
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Don't be afraid of such a thing with me. You can ask a s many questions as you want. Ask -- and
           don't be shy. And remember, all questions are foolish, so there is no need to feel awkward. And one
           thing more: the people who don't ask have more important questions to ask; and the people who ask
           go on asking for asking's sake -- they don't have many important questions to ask. They ask because
           they can ask; they may not have the right question. And the people who don't ask may have the right
           question -- and I have to answer for those too. So if you don't ask I will have to insert questions for
           you.
                A few more things about questions: one, whenever it arises don't wait for tomorrow, write it
           immediately -- because no question is going to be relevant tomorrow. If you wait for tomorrow you
           may not ever ask it, and something very much needed may be missed. The mind goes on changing
           continuously. the moment you feel the question is there, write it. Don't be worried whether it is
           relevant or not relevant, whether it will be relevant tomorrow -- "Should I wait? Should I see
           whether it remains there or simply disappears?" It WILL disappear -- not because it has become
           irrelevant; it will disappear because you have a mind which is continuously changing. Even a
           question cannot be retained: your mind is a flux. Write the question -- and sometimes it may be that
           it is no more relevant for you, but it may be relevant for somebody else.
                All questions are human questions. Maybe you are not in any way anxious to know about it
           anymore -- somebody else may be. And our thoughts are not individual properties; it is a collective
           mass. Thoughts go on entering into your head and going out -- it is a continuous exchange between
           you and others. No thoughts is yours: it comes for a while, stays there, and is gone... and enters into
           somebody else's head. It is almost like breathing: I breathe in -- it is the same breath that was within
           your chest just a moment before. Now you have breathed it out, I breathe it in. I breathe it out,
           somebody else is going to breathe it in. Exactly the same is true about thoughts. You breathe in,
           breathe out: it is a continuous exchange.
                So don't be worried. Let questions be asked. Just one thing to remember: questions should not be
           asked only for asking's sake. They should be asked because somewhere it is hurting you; somewhere
           in your being, it has some relationship, some relevance, something to do. Something is like a knot in
           your being, and this question will help it to open, to dissolve. The question should not be just
           intellectual, it should be existential.

                An elderly lady and gentleman who were obviously from the upper crust, found themselves
           obliged to travel by train one day, and moreover, had to travel second-class as there were no
           first-class carriages on the train. The compartment was almost full, and the couple sat stiffly in
           silence for a while. But soon the atmosphere improved and they found themselves exchanging
           conversation and pleasantries with the other men in the carriage.
                The stories became more and more risque, and finally one of the men told a real beauty. "How
           dare you!" said the elderly gentleman indignantly. "How dare you tell that story before my wife!"
           "Sorry, guv," apologized the man. "I didn't know she wanted to tell it herself."

               Remember, if you don't ask, somebody else is going to ask; if you don't tell, somebody else is
           going to tell. If it is there, it is going to come. If it is there at all, it is going to erupt from somewhere
           or other. And if nobody is going to tell, then I am going to insert it. You cannot escape it. Any
           existential question that is really significant and meaningful and is going to help you, has to be
           asked. And don't be ashamed of asking.

               YOU HAVE TOLD MANY TIMES WHY YOU CALL YOUR MALE SANNYASINS "SWAMI." CAN YOU
               EXPLAIN WHY THE WOMEN SANNYASINS ARE CALLED "MA"?


               The path of the masculine is that of awareness, and awareness brings you to a point where you
           become master of your own being. That is the meaning of SWAMI. The feminine path is that of
           love, and love brings you to an ultimate point where you can mother the whole existence. And that is
           the meaning of MA.
               A woman in her ultimate flowering becomes a mothering energy... she can mother the whole
           existence. She feels blessed, and she can bless the whole existence. When a man arrives at the
           ultimate point he does not become a father, he does not become a mother, he simply becomes a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           master: master of his own being.
               Love and awareness -- these are two paths. And when I say masculine I don't mean that all males
           are masculine, and when I say feminine I don't mean that all females are feminine. There are women
           who will have to pass through the path of awareness -- I would like to call them swamis too, but that
           would be a little more confusing. As it is, it is already too crazy... so I resist that temptation. But
           sometimes it comes to me that I see a woman taking sannyas and I feel like calling her swami not
           ma. And then sometimes a man comes, very effeminate, and looks more feminine than any woman.
           Sometimes it even happens that Mukta sits by my side and she has to tell me, "Beloved, Master, he is
           a man." She has to remind me, otherwise I may give him a ma name.
               But remember, some women are there -- nothing wrong in it -- and some men are there -- and
           nothing wrong in that either -- who will pass through the opposite path, the contrary path. There was
           a very famous saint in Kashmir: Lallah was her name. She remained naked. She is the only woman,
           enlightened woman, who remained naked. Many enlightened men have remained naked, but she is
           the only woman. It is very easy for a man to remain naked, it is very difficult for a woman to remain
           naked -- the very feminine quality is to hide. The female is not an exhibitionist. But Lallah remained
           naked and she became such a famous saint in Kashmir that Kashmir says, "We know only two
           names: Allah and Lallah. We respect only two names: Allah and Lallah." She was a swami; I cannot
           call her a ma.
               And there is another precedent: in the Jaina tradition, one woman, Mallibai, became a master -- a
           TIRTHANKARA. But Jainas have changed her name from female to male. Instead of calling her
           Mallibai they cal her Mallinath -- the name is changed from a woman's to a man's. And the reason
           seems to be right, because to be a Jaina TIRTHANKARA is impossible for a woman unless the
           woman is a woman only in the body. The path is of will and awareness, it is not of love and
           devotion. The path is of struggle, the path is not of surrender. so I absolutely agree. They have done
           right when they changed the woman's name into a man's name. She must have been a woman only
           for the name's sake: deep down, she had that male energy.
               I call a woman "ma" because if she flowers and comes to the seventh -- SAHASRAR -- she will
           become a mothering force. I call the man-sannyasins "swami" because when they come to their
           ultimate flowering they will simply feel that they have become masters of their own being. Both are
           the same -- but one is a male interpretation of the same experience, another is a female interpretation
           of the same experience.

              WHAT IS PRAYER?


               Prayer is wonder, reverence. Prayer is receptivity for the miracle that surrounds you. Prayer is
           surrender to the beauty, to the grandeur to this fantastic existence. Prayer is non-argumentative
           dialogue with existence. It is not a discussion... it is a love-dialogue. You don't argue... you simply
           whisper sweet nothings.
               When a man falls in love with a woman he whispers sweet nothings into her ear. When a man
           falls into love with existence... the same romance: prayer IS romance. It is fantasy; it is becoming
           available to the miraculous. Many people have lost the capacity to pray, because many people have
           lost the capacity to wonder. They have lost the capacity to be surprised. You go on seeing millions of
           wonders every day but you are not surprised at all. Your eyes are so full of dust and knowledge that
           you don't see anything. A seed is sprouting, and you don't see any wonder. A new leaf coming out of
           the tree, and you don't see any wonder. A bird singing, and nothing happens inside you. A peacock
           dances, and nothing dances inside you. A white cloud floats in the sky, and you remain untouched.
           Then prayer is impossible.
               Prayer needs a poetic heart, a loving heart. Approach reality more poetically -- don't be too much
           of a scientist, don't be too much of a rationalist. don't think that you know; nothing is really known --
           ignorance is absolute, ignorance is ultimate. Once you understand that nothing is known, and
           ignorance is ultimate, you will again be full of those beautiful eyes you had when you were small
           children.
           I have heard...

              The husband was one of those cynical, sour guys whom nothing moved or impressed. To him,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everything was just a big "so what?" He visited a psychiatrist, and after a short examination was
           given this diagnosis: "You are cold and blase. To you, everything means a big nothing. You are
           married, eh? Well, here's what you do. Ringling's circus is in the town: take your wife and see the
           show. Take a look at how red-blooded people live and act. Watch the performers who live
           dangerously; see how they pulsate and glow."
                The schnook took his wife to the circus. Out into the ring came the roaring lions and tigers. The
           wife was thrilled by the excitement, but the husband yawned and replied, "Yeah? So what?" Finally
           there came the grand finale where the daredevil was shot out of a cannon three hundred feet into the
           air, turned several somersaults, and then, pulling out a clarinet, began playing before hitting the net.
           The crowd roared its appreciation for the act, but the husband, after a few minutes of thought, turned
           to his wife and grunted in a bored manner, "A Benny Goodman he's not!"

               Prayer is the capacity to be amazed. prayer is the capacity that you had as children, and you have
           lost. Claim it -- reclaim it -- because with prayer you have lost all. The day your wondering eyes
           closed, God became nonexistential to you. Open your wondering eyes again, and you will find him
           pulsating again. He's very close by... he's all around you... he is within and without.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAY WE ARE ALL: EVERYTHING IS, IN YOUR EYES, HOLY, ENLIGHTENED, ONE. WHY
              NOT THEN, FOR INSTANCE, ONE MORNING OF YOUR BEING INDISPOSED, ALLOW A
              SANNYASIN OR SOMEONE ELSE -- OR PERHAPS A DOG, A FLOWER -- TO SIT IN YOUR
              LECTURING CHAIR, JUST AS A SPICE IN THE PRESENCE OF YOUR SILENCE. IS IT NOT
              CRAZY ENOUGH?


              Far out, Devadas.




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                     Chapter #7
                                      Chapter title: : It is heard without ears
           7 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701070
              ShortTitle: MELODY07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 100 mins




              III.66. NA MAIN DHARMI NAHIN ADHARMI

              I AM NEITHER PIOUS NOR UNGODLY.
              I LIVE NEITHER BY LAW NOR BY SENSE,
              I AM NEITHER A SPEAKER NOR HEARER,
              I AM NEITHER A SERVANT NOR MASTER,
              I AM NEITHER BOND NOR FREE,
              I AM NEITHER DETACHED NOR ATTACHED.
              I AM FAR FROM NONE: I AM NEAR TO NONE.
              I SHALL GO NEITHER TO HELL NOR TO HEAVEN.
              I DO ALL WORDS; YET I AM APART FROM ALL WORKS.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FEW COMPREHEND MY MEANING:
              HE WHO CAN COMPREHEND IT, HE SITS UNMOVED.
              KABIR SEEKS NEITHER TO ESTABLISH NOR TO DESTROY.



              III.84. JHI JHI JANTAN BAJAI



              THE HARP GIVES FORTH MURMUROUS MUSIC;
              AND THE DANCE GOES ON WITHOUT HANDS AND FEET.
              IT IS PLAYED WITHOUT FINGERS, IT IS HEARD WITHOUT HEARS:
              FOR HE IS THE EAR, AND HE IS THE LISTENER.
              THE GATE IS LOCKED, BUT WITHIN THERE IS FRAGRANCE:
              AND THERE THE MEETING IS SEEN OF NONE.
              THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND IT.

              Please meditate on these words of Walt Whitman:


                I think I could turn and live with animals, they ar so placid and self-contained;
           I stand and look at them long and long.
           They do not sweat and whine about their condition.
                They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
                They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.

               If you look at the animals it is natural to be tempted by their silence, by their acceptance, by the
           peace that surrounds their being, by the non-tense, non-neurotic state of their minds. It's very natural
           to be tempted by the animals.
               It seems man has fallen. It seems there has not been an evolution; man has not progressed -- just
           the contrary. For three hundred years the scientists have been telling man that there has been a great
           evolution and the evolution has happened in man: man has come far above the animals. Before these
           three hundred years Christianity was teaching to the world that man has fallen from God, and there is
           no evolution -- rather, a sort of involution: man has not evolved but has fallen into dark dismal
           depths of sin. both attitudes are extremist: the pendulum moved from the Christian attitude to the
           scientific attitude. Science still remains a Christian endeavor, a reaction.
               In the East we have looked at things in a totally different manner. The first thing to be remember
           is: man is higher than animals and still man has fallen. This will look paradoxical. But the East says
           man has fallen because he is higher. Only the high can fall: if you are not high, where are you going
           to fall to? The animals cannot fall -- there is nowhere to fall to.
               When you move on heights you are taking a risk. A man who moves on plain ground cannot fall
           but a man who goes climbing mountains is always in danger of falling. Animals cannot fall because
           they have no consciousness yet. Animals cannot commit sin because to commit sin one needs to be
           aware. To go astray one needs freedom; to do wrong one needs a certain growth capacity, a certain
           power. Only those people who are capable of doing right can do wrong. Only those people who can
           rise can fall. The sinners and the saints are not separate -- the saint is possible because sin is
           possible.
               No animal is a sinner but no animal is a saint either. Have you ever heard of any animal
           becoming a Buddha or a Christ? Yes, they are not Judases, they are not Adolf Hitlers, they are not
           Joseph Stalins -- right -- but nobody is born in the world of animals as a Buddha either. Man is an
           adventure: risky of course, very risky, dangerous. Man is trying to rise higher and higher... and the
           more you rise, the more is the possibility to fall. The higher the peak, the deeper will be the valley
           surrounding it. Around an animal there is no valley; with man there is a valley... and the greater the
           man, the greater the valley, remember.
               And modern man is at the peak of a big mountain, at the peak of the Everest -- hence so much
           trembling, anguish, anxiety. Modern man, if he falls, will fall totally. If something goes wrong with
           modern man, everything will go wrong. That was not so in the past.
               The more you become alert, conscious, capable, the more is the danger. It grows in the same
           proportion.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So I tell you to meditate on these words of Walt Whitman, not to follow Walt Whitman --
           because Walt Whitman is basically wrong. I can understand his temptation, but no man can become
           an animal again; that is not possible. And if you become an animal in the forest -- you will still be a
           man. There is no possibility. You can do bad, you can do good, but you cannot fall back from your
           consciousness: you will remain conscious.
               Consciousness is such a quality that once gained, it cannot be lost; once learned, there is no way
           to unlearn it. It is almost as if you have become a youth and you are tempted to become a child
           again. Yes, you can play with the children, you can go and have fun -- but you will still remain a
           youth. There is no way to really become a child again. Nobody can go backwards: all movement is
           forwards. All movement is forwards and upwards.
               To many people, Walt Whitman's temptation has appealed. It is not new: down the centuries,
           many people have escaped from human society to become animals again. and many have lived life
           almost like animals -- the people who go to the caves, the people who escape to the Himalayas, the
           people who hide themselves in the monasteries. They become almost animal-like, but there is
           nothing of worth in it. They are neither man nor animals, they are simply avoiding the risk -- and the
           man who avoids the risk never grows.
               The path of growth is tremendously risky. One can come home... and one can go astray for ever
           and ever. That's the beauty too: with the risk, with the danger, is the thrill.
               So when I am talking about meditation I am not saying to you, "Become like animals." When I
           am talking about meditation and sannyas I am telling you, "Take more risks." You cannot go back:
           the backward path is completely utterly closed. Man cannot enter into the Garden of Eden through
           the same gate from where Adam was expelled -- that gate is closed. Man will have to enter from
           another gate; he will have to find another gate to enter into the Kingdom of God. Man will have to
           go a long way to find another gate... of consciousness, awareness, love, prayer.
               Yes, a moment comes when a sage becomes almost like animals; but I say "almost like" -- I don't
           say that he becomes an animal. Yes, you can see in the eyes of a sage the same purity as is in the
           eyes of a cow. But a cow is a cow, and a sage is a sage. His innocence is not unconscious, his
           innocence is full of consciousness. He is innocent because he is conscious, the cow is innocent
           because the cow is not conscious. The cow is innocent because she cannot be otherwise, the saint is
           innocent out of his own choice -- TREMENDOUS choice. The saint can be otherwise, and he is not:
           it is a great achievement. The cow is silent, innocent -- she cannot be otherwise. There is no
           achievement in it, the cow is simply ignorant. The saint is wise. His innocence is out of wisdom -- he
           has learned the lesson of life. But remember, to become a cow is very cheap and easy, to become a
           saint is arduous.
               What Kabir is going to say today in these songs is of tremendous import: try to understand it. He
           is not talking about falling back -- though it may look so at times -- he is telling you to go beyond.
           The beyond always looks like the below.
               When an old man becomes really wise, he starts looking like a child; but remember, he is only
           LIKE children -- he is not really a child. He has passed through all the lessons of life -- good and
           bad, sweet and bitter. He has matured, he has seasoned. Again he is a child -- out of his own choice,
           out of his own understanding. The circle is complete.

              NA MAIN DHARMI NAHIN ADHARMI

               says Kabir: I am neither religious nor irreligious. Now, this can mean two things. It can mean
           that you have become an animal -- neither religious nor irreligious; you have fallen back. Or, it can
           mean you have transcended -- you have gone beyond religion and irreligion. They both look alike
           but there is immense difference.
               When Kabir says I AM NEITHER PIOUS NOR UNGODLY he is saying that he has gone
           beyond duality. Let us try to understand. There are people who are irreligious -- they will not go to
           the church, they will not bow down to any god, they don't have any reverence in their heart, they
           never pray. They simply live an ordinary mundane life: eat, drink, and be merry. There is nothing of
           the transcendental in their life. If you ask them: What is the meaning of your life? they can, at the
           most, shrug their shoulders... or they can find some rationalizations. But look deep into them: they
           don't know why they are living, for what they are living. Is there any significance? is there any song?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are they waiting for something to manifest in their hearts? are they growing into some unknown
           dimension somewhere? No, they are just moving in a rut. Of course they are very much frustrated.
                There is no greater frustration than moving in a rut -- the same, again and again... one goes on
           moving mechanically. By and by, all hope disappears. You know you will do the same again
           tomorrow: you will eat, you will go to the office, you will make love, you will go to sleep, you will
           fight, you will nag, you will quarrel... and the same will happen again... and so on, and so forth,
           dragging.... One day, one dies. So this whole life is just a dragging journey towards death -- is that
           all?
                Look into the eyes of people who have not made any contact with deeper realms, with the depths
           of their own inner core: you will find them barren, you will find them desert-like, dry -- no juice
           flowing. No song is born out of their souls. They are being dragged by some unknown force: they are
           accidental. They are simply here -- not knowing why, not knowing where, not knowing from where,
           no knowing who they are. They remain... yes, they remain occupied in a thousand and one things,
           just to avoid this inner emptiness -- so they don't come across it, so they don't have to encounter it.
           Otherwise, it is very shocking: if you encounter your emptiness, your unfulfilled soul, then it will be
           difficult even to drag -- one will start thinking of committing suicide.
                Gabriel Marcel has written that there is only one basic metaphysical problem, and that is suicide.
           It is true, it's really true. If you look into the ordinary life, the only problem is: why do you go on
           living? why not commit suicide? If death is to come then why wait? for what? Why not stop all this
           nonsense? Not a thing is going to happen; there is no hope. No flower is going to bloom, no spring is
           going to come. You will repeat the same thing again and again and again, and one day the
           mechanism will stop -- and there is nothing else to it. If there is no significance in your life, there
           cannot be any soul. Soul exists with significance.
                So, there is this one type -- the irreligious. And when I talk of this first type many so-called
           religious people are included in it -- because they go to the church as part of the rut, and they read
           the bible as part of the rut, and they repeat catechisms like parrots. They are Christians and Hindus
           and Mohammedans and Jainas and Buddhists -- these are again occupations of the mind, to remain
           occupied; they also are not religious.
                Out of a hundred persons ninety-nine are irreligious. Many of them profess to be religious, but
           they are not -- otherwise the world would have a different quality, a different flavor: there would be
           celebration, there would be joy and rejoicing, there would be a totally different kind of humanity.
           These people talk about love and go to war. These people talk about brotherly love and kill each
           other and murder each other. These people are even more dangerous than the so-called plain people
           who say that they are irreligious. These who are hiding behind religions -- these people are more
           dangerous. They deceive themselves, they deceive the whole earth.
                Kabir says, "I am not irreligious." But he says, "Neither am I religious." I say ninety-nine percent
           of people are irreligious, one percent of people are religious -- very few people. How will you know
           if somebody is religious? If you see that in his step there is a dance, know that he is religious. If you
           see that in his eyes there is a flame, know that he is religious. If you feel that he is not just moving in
           the rut, that flowers bloom in his being... that he still has hope left in him, that he still dreams, that he
           is still in a romantic relationship with reality, that all has not become dull and drab, that there is still
           poetry... that he still laughs and laughs totally, that he still loves and gets lost into his love, that he
           still sings, that he still looks at the flowers and the stars... that he still has a kind of innocence,
           wonder, reverence, that he respects life, that he is not suicidal... and -- last but not least -- that
           sometimes you can find him just sitting doing nothing, and full of joy. His source of joy remains
           unknown. Somewhere deep in the recesses of his being he must have found a source from where the
           joy wells up.
                If you can find a person who is capable of remaining unoccupied then he is religious. Let this be
           the criterion: if a person cannot remain unoccupied then he is afraid of his own being. Then he is
           avoiding -- he has to do something; his doing is neurotic. If you leave him alone in the room he will
           read the newspaper, he will open the window or close the window, he will start changing the
           furniture or will listen to the radio or the TV -- but he will do something. And if he cannot find
           anything else he will fall asleep -- but he cannot remain awake and not doing anything.
                If you can find a person who is sitting awake, fully awake like a flame -- still, tranquil,
           unwavering -- not neurotically obsessed by any action; passive -- just enjoying his being, enjoying
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the moment of here and now... and you will feel a different vibe around him, of REVERENCE --
           yes, that is the right word. Albert Schweitzer calls it "reverence for life": that is the quality of a
           religious person. If he takes a rock in his hand, he will take it as if the rock is alive -- to you it looks
           "as if" the rock is alive -- for him it is so: it IS alive. Even if he talks to a small child, he is full of
           respect -- tremendous respect -- because even the child is a presence of God, a pure presence of God.
           Even if he is sitting with a dog, he is sitting with God. For him there is no much difference... maybe
           the dog is just god read in the reverse order -- just a difference of order. You can arrange `god' as
           `dog' -- the same word; you can arrange the same word `dog' as `god' -- a mere question of
           arrangement... but nothing of much difference.
                A religious person need not be in a temple or a church, but wherever he is, he is in a temple. A
           religious person need not be praying in a formal way, in a ritualistic way, but whatsoever he is doing,
           that is his prayer -- doing or not doing. Doing, he is in prayer; not doing, he is in prayer.
                And Kabir says: I am not irreligious -- not difficult to understand -- but he says: Neither am I
           religious. Now an even higher dimension opens: the transcendental -- where a person is neither
           religious nor irreligious. What will this dimension be? Now even reverence or prayer or worship is
           no longer needed, because that too creates a difference, a distinction -- the distinction between the
           subject and the object, the knower and the known, the worshipper and the worshipped.
                This is the transcendental ultimate, when one has become one with the whole. Now one is God
           and there is nothing else than God. This is the ultimate experience: AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am
           God. ANA'L HAQ -- I am truth. That's what Jesus means when he says: My God and I are both one.
           When there is oneness, even reverence will look lacking; something is missing. When there is
           reverence there is a little duality, a subtle duality. Now one has come to the oceanic experience.
                Kabir says: I am neither religious nor irreligious, I am transcendental. And let that be your goal,
           let that be your destiny -- because only then will you come to the unfoldment of your being: you will
           become a thousand-petaled lotus in full bloom... showering your fragrance into existence. You have
           come home.
              I LIVE NEITHER BY LAW NOR BY SENSE...

                All these sutras are to help you to go beyond duality, the dualism, the two. I LIVE NEITHER BY
           LAW NOR BY LICENSE... There are two types of people ordinarily: people who live by license, by
           sensuality, by desire -- people who simply indulge; they don't know anything else. They are lost in
           very ordinary gratifications; their life is very gross. Then there is another type of people who live by
           law, discipline, commandment: the people who follow the ten commandments -- who listen more to
           the tradition, the scripture, the society, the state, than they listen to their own desiring, body, mind.
           They listen to authority, they don't listen to themselves. These are the two ordinary people.
                If you live by license you live a life of indulgence -- and you will be destroyed by it. If you live a
           life of law you will again be destroyed -- not by indulgence, this time by authority -- because nobody
           can give you the commandment, nobody can give you the law. Life is so spontaneous -- how can
           there be a fixed law to follow? And the moment you start following a fixed law you are a dead
           entity, not a living being. Your life is no longer a river, it has become a stagnant pool which will
           simply become more and more dirty, will be more and more stinking, and will disappear into mud.
                Kabir says: I neither live by license nor do I live by law. Then how do you live? Kabir says: I
           live by spontaneity; I live by awareness. Watch it -- this is one of the most important things.
           Indulgence comes from your unconscious mind. Sexuality, or a lust for power, comes from your
           unconsciousness, from the dark parts of your being -- overpowers you, possesses you, drives you
           mad... and one day you simply feel your whole life is finished and you have not gained anything.
           Maybe you have succeeded, but still, in the ultimate analysis, ordinary success proves to be a failure
           -- utter failure. I always say: Nothing fails like success. You may have accumulated much money,
           then one day suddenly you find life is gone. Money is there, but you are gone -- so what is the point
           of this success? You indulge with many women, with many men: energy is wasted, and suddenly
           there you are -- a desert land, a wasteland; nothing has flowered, nothing has grown. That whole
           journey was just very very momentary, very temporal. Yes, you indulged in one thing after another
           -- but all those things have passed like nightmares, and your hands are empty. And those moments
           cannot be reclaimed. The time lost is lost forever; the energies lost are lost for ever... and people who
           indulge go on indulging to the very end -- even when death is knocking on the door, they are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thinking of indulgence.

               I have heard about an old English lord, one of the richest men of England, who married at the age
           of ninety -- and married a girl of eighteen.
               On the first night, his servants helped him to reach the room where he was to see his wife. In
           fact, a servant helped him to climb up to the bed... he was almost dead. And then he looked around
           and the eighteen-year-old girl was there, just facing this corpse, and he asked the girl, "One thing --
           have you asked your mother about the facts of life?"
               The girl said, "No sir, I haven't asked." And the old man said, "That's dashed awkward -- because
           I have forgotten all about it!"

                A ninety-year-old man... he has forgotten all about the facts of life, and now he has got married.
                To the last moment, when death is knocking, people go on thinking of indulging more and more
           -- they don't know any other way to be. This is one of the most penetrating things to understand: that
           almost ninety-nine people when they die are thinking of sex. The priest may be repeating something
           else -- the priest may be reading the Bible or the Gita; people may be pouring the pure water of the
           Ganges into their mouths -- but they themselves are still thinking of sex, or money, or power. This is
           a very stupid way of living life.
                Kabir says: I don't live by sense, and I don't live by law.
                Then there is another way which is also stupid in the same way, but more respectable -- stupid,
           but more respectable: people who live by law, who always follow the authority -- the state, the
           priest, the church. They are people of rules and principles. They go on crushing their own desires.
           Desires come from the unconscious, and this law is superimposed by the society; it is not your
           consciousness. And this law also functions from the unconscious. That's why every religion and
           every society tries to condition the children, newborn children: immediately, they start trying to
           convert them into religion. A new boy is born into a Jewish family, he has to be circumcised
           immediately: now the conditioning has started. Or, a Christian child has to be baptized: the
           conditioning has started. Or, the Hindu child has to pass through the thread ceremony: the
           conditioning has started.
                During the first seven years, every society tries to condition the mind -- and conditioning means
           nothing but hypnosis: forcing authority, law, tradition, religion, scripture, the priest, the church, into
           the innermost unconscious of the child so that from there you can control him. It is an old
           bullock-cart way. In the future, societies will do better. They will not be doing so much work, it is
           unnecessary: they will find some jet-speed methods. Those methods are available: you can insert an
           electrode in the brain of the child and then there is no need to condition him. From that electrode, the
           politician sitting in Delhi or Washington or London or Moscow, can go on ordering... and
           whatsoever order is received, you will feel that it is coming from your own being -- that's how you
           will feel.
                If you are born in a Jaina family, from the very beginning you have been conditioned against
           non-vegetarian foods. Continuous conditioning.... I was born in a Jaina family: from my very
           childhood, I was conditioned that to eat in the night is a sin. I must have been almost eighteen -- up
           to that time I had never eaten anything in the night -- then I went with a few of my friends on a
           picnic. They were all Hindus, and they were not interested in cooking food in the day. Mm? -- the
           day was so beautiful and the mountain was so tremendously thrilling, and I was the only one who
           wanted to eat in the day and they were not interested in it -- so of course I had to concede. The whole
           day climbing the mountain... I was dead tired and was feeling very hungry when they started
           cooking. The temptation was tremendous -- the flavor of the food, and the whole day's tiredness --
           and I could not resist. And I started arguing in my mind..."If all these people are going to hell, okay,
           I will also go. And just one night? -- it is not going to be such a great sin." But my whole being
           revolted, because for eighteen years I had been continuously conditioned that to eat in the night is
           the greatest sin.
                I was wavering... and they were cooking... and the flavor became more and more strong... and
           then they invited me: that was too much. Deep down reluctantly -- but still I ate. You will be
           surprised: the whole night I could not sleep, I had to vomit three times. It was nightmarish. And they
           were all asleep, fast asleep, and I was puzzled: if we all have committed sin, then why are THEY not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           punished? only I am punished. The vomit: unless I had completely thrown out whatsoever I had
           eaten I could not sleep that night.
               And of course, that day it looked as if Jainas are right. I had been punished, immediately
           punished. This is the trick of conditioning -- and it felt as if it was coming from my own heart. It was
           not coming from my own heart, it had nothing to do with my own heart: it was the implanted idea,
           the electrode, that was working and creating trouble.
               This is the way of the authority, the state, the priest: they have been trying to condition the mind.
               Kabir says: A few people move through sensuality, indulgence; a few people move through law,
           authority. Those who move through indulgence are under the bondage of nature; those who move
           through law are under the bondage of society. These people who move by law are very respectable
           citizens: in the church they will sit in the first row, in the temple they will be respected; everywhere
           they will be thought to be very good people -- as people SHOULD be. But they are just mummies --
           dead corpses run by the state. They don't have their own soul.
               I would like to say to you: There is no commandment which may not be broken -- neither those I
           say unto you, not those laid down by the other Buddhas. There is no commandment which may not
           be broken -- because a commandment is a dead thing, and you are an alive being. I am not saying,
           "Go and break them" -- I am simply saying there is no commandment which may not be broken. The
           decisive factor has to be your spontaneous awareness. You have to look into things from your own
           awareness -- neither from the bodily instinct nor from the social intellect -- you have to go into your
           being, alert, fully alert, and see what has to be done, and live through that understanding. That is the
           way of transcendence.
               So the second sutra is the sutra for spontaneity. The first sutra is the sutra for transcendence --
           and spontaneity is the way to transcendence. If one day you really want to go beyond nature and
           beyond society -- and God IS beyond both -- then you will have to follow a tremendously risky path:
           that is, of spontaneity. You will have to listen to your own heart. Society has corrupted it, so you will
           have to sort it out -- the wheat from the chaff. You will have to continuously be on guard, because
           society has been very tricky: it has put things so deep down that sometimes it appears as if it is your
           conscience -- it is not.
               That's why everybody's conscience differs -- if you are a Christian you have a different
           conscience, if you are a Hindu you have another conscience, if you are a Mohammedan, still another.
           How can conscience be different? These consciences are false, CREATED ones. Real conscience
           will be the same: Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian -- it will not make any difference. The real
           morality is one: whether you are born in th East or in the West, whether you are a white or a black, it
           makes no difference.
               If something makes a difference, then remember, it must be the society who has taught you, who
           has put things deep down in your basement of being -- and from there it goes on manipulating you.
           Don't be a slave to instincts and don't be a slave to the society. And then religion -- REAL religion,
           the transcendental religion, which is even beyond religions -- is born. And that brings truth, and that
           brings benediction.
              I AM NEITHER A SPEAKER NOR HEARER...

               You must have heard, you may have sometimes even tried... there is a silence -- when you don't
           speak, it surrounds you. But that is not true silence, that is just absence of speaking. In India, they
           call it MAUNA -- people go into silence, they stop speaking. Once a man was brought to me: for
           twelve months he had been in silence, and he wanted to break his silence in my presence. So he was
           brought to me. I looked at him and I said, "There is no need to break it, because you never started: I
           can still hear you chattering." You can ask Nirgun -- she keeps silent... but inside the chattering
           continues.
               Still, it gives you a quality -- it is half-way. Speaking has stopped on the outside, but not on the
           inside. Speaking can stop on the inside too, but then one more point has to be understood: if you
           have stopped speaking on the inside, and still you become interested in hearing, then it is not yet
           perfect silence. A dog barks, and you hear. Somebody talks, and you hear. In fact, if you are keeping
           silence, you will become more and more interested in hearing what people are saying, what is going
           on all around. That will be a substitute; that's how you will satisfy your curiosity and fill your mind.
               Real silence happens when you are not talking, not listening. Then you have gone really beyond
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the word. Kabir says:
              I AM NEITHER A SPEAKER NOR A HEARER...

              He says: I have become really silent. I have nothing to say, and I have nothing to hear. I am
           absolutely contented. There is no curiosity left.
              I AM NEITHER A SERVANT NOR A MASTER...

                There are two types of people, again, who try to master others -- and feeling frustrated in that
           endeavor, one day start mastering themselves. These are the two types of people: the
           other-conquerors and the self-conquerors. Kabir says: I am neither. I have dropped the whole idea of
           conquering. There is no need to conquer anybody -- neither the other nor oneself.
                The very idea of conquering is violent, foolish, creates conflict and misery. There is no need --
           one should simply be. And remember, when you are neither a slave nor a master a great upsurge of
           freedom happens. One does not allow anybody to become your master, and one does not try to force
           anybody to become your slave. They both are in the same boat -- masters and slaves. Have you
           watched it? If you master somebody, in a deeper subtle way he has mastered you. That's what
           happens. The husband tries to master the wife and thinks that he has mastered his wife, but one day
           finds -- one day comes to a surprise -- that the wife has mastered him. All husbands go on ragging...
           and all husbands are henpecked.
                In India, the wife calls the husband SWAMI -- "my master." And when wives in India write
           letters -- they rarely write -- to their husbands, they sign: Your servant. But nobody is befooled. In
           fact if you master somebody, in a deeper way, in a subtle way, you are being mastered by the other.
           The master becomes a servant of the servants because you start depending -- and dependence is
           really slavery.
                Have you watched it? If you depend on things, things become your master. There are two types
           of ways of creating mastery. One is very gross -- the male way: forcibly, just by muscular power.
           The other is a subtler way -- the feminine way: not by muscles but by crying, weeping, and things of
           a different type. The man cannot understand, but the woman starts crying... or -- have you watched
           it? -- she may not argue, but the way she pours the tea is enough. She may not say anything against
           you, but the way she will pour the tea... and everything is made plain. And you cannot even argue,
           because she has not said anything. Her argument is very subtle.
                Kabir says: If you really want to be free, don't allow anybody to become your master and don't
           allow yourself to become anybody's master -- you have to avoid two things. When you are neither
           anybody's master nor anybody's slave, freedom rises in you: your energy is free of all entanglements.
           It does not mean don't love -- in fact, if you love, how can you be a master? If you love, how can you
           reduce the other to be a slave? Love is freedom: love is rooted in freedom, love flowers in freedom.
           Love's ultimate fragrance is that of freedom.
                Kabir is not saying: Don't love. Kabir is saying: Love so deeply that the mastery and the slavery
           is not created at all. He is not saying: Don't be related. Relate. But slavery and mastery? -- what type
           of relationship is this? This is no way to relate -- in fact this is the way to destroy all relationship,
           and all possibility of relationship. How can you relate with a slave? how can you relate with a
           master? -- impossible. The fear is there -- how will you relate? Relationship is possible when there is
           no fear. Relationship is possible only amongst equals.
                That's why I say to you that, up to now, men and women have not been living in relationship --
           because woman has never been thought equal. And relationship exists only between equal people; it
           cannot happen between unequal people. Unless woman is given total freedom, absolute equality,
           there will be no possibility to relate. Up to now, man has exploited woman, woman has exploited
           man; there has not been real relationship. It cannot be, because the way man has treated woman has
           been basically wrong. Only between two equal persons is there a possibility of relationship, because
           fear is not there -- one can be open, one can be true, one can be honest. Only between two equal
           persons, when there is no fear, is there love. Love arises when fear has left you. When fear is there,
           love cannot enter: they are NEVER together.
              I AM NEITHER BOND NOR FREE...

              And then Kabir says -- he brings in a still higher quality of freedom -- he says:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I AM NEITHER BOND NOR FREE...

               Because even to feel, "I am free" means that somehow, somewhere, you are still not free. Have
           you watched it? When you are really healthy you forget all about health. Unhealthy people talk much
           about health -- in fact, unhealthy people become interested too much in things like naturopathy, and
           they start reading books on nature, health, this and that. They become obsessed.
               A healthy person will not bother. A healthy person is healthy -- and when you are healthy you
           don't think about health. In fact, to think about health is a sort of illness, perversion. When you have
           a headache it's okay, you think about the headache; but when you don't have a headache do you go
           and declare to the world at large: "I have no headache"? Then people will think you are mad.
               A really free person never goes to declare anywhere: "I am a free person." If you declare that you
           are a free person, somewhere deep down the bondage still persists. So Kabir says:
              I AM NEITHER BOND NOR FREE,
              I AM NEITHER DETACHED NOR ATTACHED.

                Both are wrong -- both are extremists. People are attached to money, and then they become
           detached from money. To have any attitude of attachment or detachment means you are still
           obsessed with the money. Somebody says, "I am detached from money" -- but why? What is the
           point of being detached from money? Is there still some fear of attachment lurking in your
           consciousness? -- because the idea of detachment arises only when you are attached. When you are
           not attached it is perfectly okay... money is money!
                There are people who think that money is the only god: these are the people who are attached
           with money -- their only god is money. Then there are people who say that money is dirt; not much
           difference -- the have moved to another polarity: money is dirt. They won't touch money. There are
           such mad people in India -- they are worshiped by people as sages. They are simply perverted
           people; they won't touch money.
                Once it happened: I was staying in a village and a man came and he gave me nearabout five
           thousand rupees. A very rich man -- but very traditional. I told him, "Right now I don't need the
           money, but if I need it sometime, I will ask you." He had come to examine me -- whether I would
           take the money or not. But this statement was puzzling for him because I had not said that I would
           not take it; I said, "When I need, I will ask you." And I had not taken and not accepted because I was
           in no need. So he was very much puzzled. He said, "You have confused me again. I had come here
           with this money because my guru said, "You go, and you will see: take the money to this man -- that
           is the only criterion to know whether somebody has achieved or not. If he has achieved, he will say:
           Keep it away, don't bring it close to me, money is dirt. He will not touch it." You have not taken --
           that's okay -- but you say that if you need, you will take it?" I said, "Yes -- because money is neither
           God nor dirt; money is simply money. And money is a utilitarian thing -- when you need, money is
           valuable; when you don't need, there is no value in it. The value is not in the money; money in itself
           is not valuable. It is just a simple means of exchange -- and a perfectly good means of exchange.
           Nothing is wrong in it."
                He said, "You always puzzle. Why can't you give me a certainty? -- either you take it or you
           refuse it."
                In India there are saints whose whole sainthood depends on this phenomenon -- that they don't
           accept money. If you bring money to them they will be very angry. They will be enraged, they will
           start shouting at you: "What do you think about me? Do you think that I am so low that I will accept
           your money?" And you will come back full of deep respect for them. These are mad people,
           perverted people. They are the same people, now standing on their heads -- first they thought that
           money is God, now they think that money is dirt. But they cannot accept a simple phenomenon --
           that money is money. It is neither God nor dirt; it is not the greatest value nor the lowest -- it is just a
           utilitarian means of exchange.
           Kabir says:
              I AM NEITHER DETACHED NOR ATTACHED.
              I AM FAR FROM NONE: I AM NEAR TO NONE.

              And Kabir says: Nobody is close to me and nobody is far away from me. All are the same: I look
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           at everybody with an equal eye -- SAMADRISHTI. Nobody is mine and nobody is my enemy;
           nobody is my friend and nobody is the enemy. The whole existence is my home.
              I SHALL GO NEITHER TO HELL NOR TO HEAVEN.

                Hell means fear, projected fear. Heaven means greed, projected greed. If you think in terms of
           heaven and hell you are the same, you have not changed at all. A real person of understanding does
           not think in terms of reward and punishment -- he does not think in terms of the future at all. His life
           is herenow. He knows only two things: here and now -- and they are also not two, they are part of
           one phenomenon: herenow. He lives herenow.
                People who live in the future create hell and heaven -- out of greed, heaven; out of fear, hell. Of
           course for yourself you create the heaven, and for the enemies you create the hell. And every religion
           goes on saying: Come and follow us -- otherwise you will fall into hell. If you are not a Christian
           then beware: Christ won't save you in the last moment. You will be thrown into hellfire, and then
           you will suffer. Christ is not going to save you from there, unless you declare that you are a
           Christian. And so are the Hindus, and so are the Mohammedans -- everybody is trying to pull you by
           your greed and fear. They say: Come to us. We promise you a better heaven -- with more facilities,
           modern equipment, modern devices, air-conditioning and all. You come to us, and don't go to the
           others -- because then you will suffer hell.
                I have heard: A man from the remote corners of Bastar.... Bastar is one of the most primitive
           parts of the world -- very poor, very primitive, illiterate people... one man came to me and he said: It
           happened in my village, a Hindu sannyasin was staying there and a Christian missionary came, and
           the Christian missionary was trying to convert the tribal people to Christianity. And he had almost
           succeeded -- because he did one thing. He brought a big bucket of water... because if you have to
           talk to the tribal primitive people you cannot argue, you have to argue in their way... he gathered the
           whole community around the bucket of water and then he produced two statues -- one of Christ and
           one of Rama. And he said: Look. And they were both alike, exactly alike -- of the same size and
           same weight. Then he dropped them into the water. Christ's statue started floating on the water and
           Rama's drowned. So he said: Look! do you understand?
                And of course the primitive people understood exactly -- they were ready. They said: Okay, so
           Christ saves -- because he can save himself. And Rama cannot save himself: look! -- you will go
           with Rama to the very bottom of existence. And they were almost ready to become Christians -- but
           that Hindu sannyasin created trouble. He said: Wait. Arrange for fire. They said: For what? He said:
           Water is no criterion; fire is always the criterion. Put both Christ and Rama into fire and see who is
           saved.
                Of course the statue of Christ was of wood... and Christ got burned, poor Christ! And the
           community was saved.
                And the man was very happy. But I said: There is no difference -- whether you are Hindus or
           Christians, it makes no difference. The argument is foolish, the whole argument is foolish. But this is
           the whole argument all over the world -- not only with primitive people, with very educated people.
           The real thing that is being manipulated is fear and greed: "Christ saves!" You are afraid: you have
           been doing wrong things in life -- everybody has. It is impossible to avoid doing wrong things,
           because all that is natural has been declared wrong -- so it is impossible to avoid. If you love, it is
           wrong. If you eat, it is wrong. If you enjoy, it is wrong. If you are happy, it is wrong. All is wrong --
           in fact, to live is wrong. Commit suicide: that seems to be the only virtue. Even that is not allowed --
           they say, "Don't commit suicide, otherwise THAT will be wrong." So nothing is allowed.
                First, the priests make you feel guilty. They condemn everything -- this is the very rationale, this
           is the trick: first they condemn everything. Once they have made you afraid -- they have condemned
           everything and they have painted hellfire as clearly as possible, in psychedelic colors -- then the
           whole work is done. Then you are ready to fall into their trap, because you have to be saved now --
           you have committed wrong. The hellfire is there, death is coming close, and only Christ can save, or
           Mahavira can save, or Buddha can save. So somewhere or other, you have to belong to somebody so
           you can trust that you will be saved.
                Nobody can save you unless you go beyond greed and fear. No Christian, no Hindu, no
           Mohammedan, nobody can save you -- because greed and fear, they are your real misery.
           Kabir says:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I SHALL GO NEITHER TO HELL NOR TO HEAVEN.

               Because heaven and hell are just mythological; they exist not. They exist only n your fear and
           greed. When fear and greed have dissolved, heaven and hell disappear. And in that state when there
           is no fear inside you and no greed, real paradise arises. Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists, have a better name
           for it: they call it MOKSHA, NIRVANA. In Christianity, Judaism, Islam, that word does not exist.
           Judaism, Christianity, Islam, they talk about heaven and hell -- nothing beyond. In the East, people
           have looked deeper. They say: Heaven and hell are just psychological. Go beyond, go beyond the
           psychological -- only then do you attain the spiritual. That is NIRVANA -- where no fear exists and
           no greed: where simply consciousness exists. And this is possible herenow. Heaven will be after you
           die, hell will be after you die. NIRVANA, MOKSHA, is possible herenow.
              I DO ALL WORKS; YET I AM APART FROM ALL WORKS.

               This is the meaning of becoming conscious, alert, aware. You do -- whatsoever is needed you do
           -- but you remember that you are not the doer, that God is the doer. You are only a vehicle,
           instrumental.
              FEW COMPREHEND MY MEANING...

              Certainly. The meaning is so deep that only a few will comprehend... but those few will
           immediately transcend. The very comprehension of the meaning of the words of Kabir will be a
           great illumination, will be a sort of satori, a glimpse of enlightenment.
              ... HE WHO CAN COMPREHEND IT, HE SITS UNMOVED.

               And Kabir says: If you have heard me and if you have understood me, if you have looked into
           the reality I have been pointing at, you will sit unmoved. What does it mean when he says that you
           will sit unmoved if you have understood?
               There are three types of people, again. First: when you listen to something you agree, you move
           your head in agreement -- you say, "Right." The second: you don't agree, you move your head
           negatively -- you say, "I don't agree." These people who agree and don't agree, cannot understand.
           When you say you agree, what do you mean? You mean, "I know what truth is, and you are also
           saying it, so I agree. You are saying something which goes according to my conviction, so I agree."
           When you shake your head in disagreement, what are you saying? You are saying, "You are talking
           nonsense. I know what is true, and I don't agree with you." The agreeing and the non-agreeing both
           are fools.
               Kabir says: One who comprehends it, HE SITS UNMOVED. Truth is such... how can you agree
           with truth? how can you disagree with truth? Agreement, disagreement, is of the mind: truth is of the
           beyond. When truth is understood one simply remains in a tremendous silence, unmoving. There is
           no agreement, no disagreement. It is not a question of agreeing and not agreeing -- when truth is
           there you don't say yes, you don't say no. In fact, when truth is there you become so silent... all yes
           and no drops. Truth is so vast, you dissolve into it.
              ... HE WHO CAN COMPREHEND IT, HE SITS UNMOVED.
              KABIR SEEKS NEITHER TO ESTABLISH NOR TO DESTROY.

               And Kabir says: I am not here to establish any theory, any philosophy, any dogma. And I am not
           here to destroy any theory, any philosophy, any dogma. Kabir says: I am simply stating my own
           experience.
               Kabir says: Please don't agree and disagree with me. Just listen. Listen attentively, totally. Kabir
           says: Please don't be in a hurry to decide and to conclude. I am not preaching anything here, I am not
           trying to establish any tradition or destroy any tradition. I am simply saying something that has
           happened to me, that has grown in me, that I have experienced. I am simply singing my own song.
               Kabir says: Listen to me as you listen to the murmur of a river... the murmur of the wind passing
           through the trees -- do you agree? do you disagree? AS you listen to the birds in the morning, do you
           agree? do you disagree? There is no question of agreement and disagreement -- it is not intellectual
           at all. You simply allow it... and you become silent. Such a tremendous thing is present: how can you
           be so foolish as to agree or disagree?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              All agreement, disagreement, is foolish, stupid. When truth knocks at your door you will simply
           be suddenly silent, unmoving. THAT is real agreement -- which is not of the intellect, not of the
           mind. That is not from you; that is from such a depth in your being that you can almost say it is from
           God.
              THE HARP GIVES FORTH MURMUROUS MUSIC...
              And says Kabir: So am I like the harp.

              THE HARP GIVES FORTH MURMUROUS MUSIC;
              AND THE DANCE GOES ON WITHOUT HANDS AND FEET.

              And look at me! I am a dancer... though my feet and hands are not moving.
              ... THE DANCE GOES ON WITHOUT HANDS AND FEET.
              IT IS PLAYED WITHOUT FINGERS, IT IS HEARD WITHOUT EARS:
              FOR HE IS THE EAR, AND HE IS THE LISTENER.

                Only God is. When truth is uttered, whenever truth is uttered, the sayer and the listener are one.
           There is nobody to agree, and nobody to agree WITH. And you will feel this here also, many times:
           when you are agreeing you are missing, when you are disagreeing your are missing. People who are
           for me and people who are against me -- both will miss; nobody amongst them is with me. People
           who are simply here in my presence, with no agreement, no disagreement... sometimes truth comes.
           It is suddenly there... it surrounds you... it overwhelms you. It is heard -- but in that moment the
           sayer and the listener are not two.
                Truth joins the master and the disciple. In the moment of truth the master disappears, the disciple
           disappears... only truth spreads all over.
              IT IS PLAYED WITHOUT FINGERS, IT IS HEARD WITHOUT EARS:
              FOR HE IS THE EAR, AND HE IS THE LISTENER.
              THE GATE IS LOCKED...

                And whenever this happens -- this moment of truth, when the master and the disciple disappear...
           because the master is not propounding a doctrine, and the disciple is not trying to collect some
           knowledge... when it happens that truth is so throbbing that in that throb, in the dance of truth, in the
           song of truth, the master and the disciple both dissolve, both fall in tune with that great rhythm that
           truth brings -- THE GATE IS LOCKED.
                In that moment a tremendous privacy happens. So many of you are here... but sometimes it
           happens to one -- and in that moment only that one is with me here, and nobody else. And in that
           moment, I am with that one and with nobody else. THE GATE IS LOCKED... whenever a master
           and a disciple meet, the gate is locked: it is secret. They may be standing in the marketplace, but
           THE GATE IS LOCKED.
           ... BUT WITHIN THERE IS FRAGRANCE:
           AND THERE THE MEETING IS SEEN OF NONE.
           THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND IT.
                Only the wise can understand it. Who are the wise? Those who are not agreeing and not
           disagreeing, those who have not come with any a priori, those who have not already come with a
           conclusion -- those who have not concluded that they are Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, for and
           against, this and that -- those who have come without a conclusion; those who have come open,
           ready for the truth to descend: those are the wise people.
                A wise person has no conclusions. He has truth but no conclusion. And a fool has many
           conclusions and no truth. The fool is always a great philosopher, theoretician, dogmatist,
           propagandist. He believes; and whenever there is conclusion doors are not open for the truth.
                When you come to a master, come without conclusions. Come without your head -- leave your
           head where you leave your shoes. Come without your head, come without any conclusions --
           because we are not trying here to convince you, for or against. Here something of a tremendously
           different dimension and quality is being transferred. Something is transpiring between you and me...
           and that can happen only in rare moments.
                When truth is so real, tangible, that you can touch it... when truth is so strong that you are lost in
           it... when truth comes like a flood and your small ripple is lost in it... when the master and the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disciple in a certain moment of truth become one... THE GATE IS LOCKED. In that privacy of all
           privacies, in that secret space, the meeting happens. That meeting is seen of none: nobody can see it,
           because it is not an objective phenomenon.
               So when you are talking to outsiders, many times you will find it difficult to talk -- because you
           will say something, and they will not understand. And you cannot convey -- because something that
           you have known, something that you have glimpsed, cannot be conveyed to an outsider. For that,
           great sympathy is needed, love is needed, openness is needed. When you go back, you will not be
           able to say what has happened to you. People will think you have gone crazy... and they are right
           too! You will not be able to articulate what has happened to you, because it happens in such
           intimacy, in such deep privacy. It is not an objective experience, it is subjective. It is absolutely
           subjective: only THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND IT.
           "The wise" means one who has not determined any conclusion beforehand. The wise is one who has
           not invested in any conclusion, who is ready to go with truth wherever it leads. And this is the
           meaning of sannyas too -- the freedom from conclusions, the freedom from "isms" and ideologies,
           the freedom to move with truth, the freedom to accept the challenge of truth.
               And let me repeat: it is not a question of agreeing or disagreeing -- hence it is crazy. I am not
           trying here to convince, I am not trying here to convert. Something is available here: if you are
           courageous enough to open your heart you will melt into it, you will disappear into it, and you will
           come out of it totally liberated, totally new.

           A few words from T.S. Eliot...
              THERE IS ONLY THE FIGHT TO RECOVER WHAT HAS BEEN LOST
              AND FOUND AND LOST AGAIN AND AGAIN: AND NOW, UNDER CONDITIONS
              THAT SEEM UNPROPITIOUS. BUT PERHAPS NEITHER GAIN NOR LOSS.
              FOR US, THERE IS ONLY THE TRYING. THE REST IS NOT OUR BUSINESS.

               You just try to be without conclusions. You just try to be silent, without agreeing and
           disagreeing.
              FOR US, THERE IS ONLY THE TRYING. THE REST IS NOT OUR BUSINESS.

              If you succeed in not being in agreement or disagreement, the rest is going to happen. It has
           always happened. It always happens.

           And a few lines from W.H. Auden...
              THEREFORE, SEE WITHOUT LOOKING, HEAR WITHOUT LISTENING, BREATHE, WITHOUT
              ASKING:
              THE INEVITABLE IS WHAT WILL SEEM TO HAPPEN TO YOU PURELY BY CHANCE;
              THE REAL IS WHAT WILL STRIKE YOU AS REALLY ABSURD...
              Unless you are certain you are dreaming, it is...

              CERTAINLY A DREAM OF YOUR OWN;
              UNLESS YOU EXCLAIM -- THERE MUST BE SOME MISTAKE" -- YOU MUST BE MISTAKEN.
              THE INEVITABLE IS WHAT WILL SEEM TO HAPPEN TO YOU PURELY BY CHANCE... the
              inevitable can happen here -- and you have come here only by chance. It is a chance meeting that you
              are here and I am here... it is just accidental, pure chance.

              THE INEVITABLE IS WHAT WILL SEEM TO HAPPEN TO YOU PURELY BY CHANCE;
              THE REAL IS WHAT WILL STRIKE YOU AS REALLY ABSURD...

              Because the real is so vast, it cannot be contained by your categories of reason, irreason; good,
           bad; this, that. The real is so vast that all your categories have to dissolve into it. THE REAL IS
           WHAT WILL STRIKE YOU AS REALLY ABSURD... so what is to be done? THEREFORE, SEE
           WITHOUT LOOKING...
              What is the meaning of seeing without looking? See -- without any conclusions. When you have
           a conclusion you are already looking for something -- you are not seeing, you are looking for
           something. If you have a conclusion then your vision is not pure.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEREFORE, SEE WITHOUT LOOKING, HEAR WITHOUT LISTENING, BREATHE, WITHOUT
              ASKING:
              THE INEVITABLE IS WHAT WILL SEEM TO HAPPEN TO YOU PURELY BY CHANCE;
              THE REAL IS WHAT WILL STRIKE YOU AS REALLY ABSURD...




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                    Chapter #8
                                       Chapter title: : Trust is a touchstone
           8 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701080
              ShortTitle: MELODY08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 102 mins




              I WANT TO BECOME A SANNYASIN BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN THEN?


               Nothing sir, nothing in particular. Exactly nothing: that's the commodity I deal in. Literally, it is
           much ado about nothing. But the nothing is not just nothing; it is the source of all.
               Sannyas means you are tired of being yourself and you are ready to drop that burden. You are
           tired of being and you would like to rest in nonbeing. Sannyas is a state of nonbeing. You drop
           yourself and you enter the realm of nothingness... and suddenly everything is beautiful -- because
           things were ugly because of you. They were not ugly in the first place, not ugly themselves, it was
           your interpretation; you were corrupting them. Now the corrupting agent is no more there, eyes are
           clear and one can see through and through; one's vision is transparent. YOU disappear in sannyas.
           And the moment you disappear, immediately, instantly, God appears. When you are not, God is.
               So sannyas is not a way to decorate your being. Sannyas is utterly destructive. I annihilate you.
           In the old Eastern scriptures it is said, "The master is a death." The master is the greatest death -- but
           only through death, new life becomes possible. The greater the death, the greater the resurrection.
           Let me be your cross. Die in me so that you can be reborn.
               You ask what will happen if you take sannyas. This question arises out of fear, out of greed. You
           would like to be certain, promised, what will happen. If I promise you anything that very promise
           will become the barrier; then sannyas will not happen -- because to whom am I promising? To you:
           to your greed, to your ambition, to your desire -- to all that nonsense I am promising -- and that
           whole nonsense has to go. Not even a bit can be allowed to remain. If even a bit remains, that's
           enough. Ego is like cancer: you have to utterly annihilate it. Even if a small part remains somewhere,
           it will grow again... and cancer grows fast.
               Kamal has sent me a beautiful anecdote; I would like you to meditate over it...

               Once Mulla Nasruddin came home, as usual very drunk. His wife was in a rage, more so because
           he had just promised the other day that he was trying to leave his habit by and by. And the wife said,
           "Now, what about your leaving the habit?" Mulla said he had tried his best to break the habit, but
           when he cut `h' from the word `habit' still `a bit' remained. When he cut `a' still `bit' remained, and
           when he cut `b' still `it' remained.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                Ego is like that. You go on cutting: `a bit' remains... `bit' remains... `it' remains -- but it
           REMAINS. And this desire to be certain what is going to happen, is an effort of the ego to survive
           even sannyas. No, I cannot promise you. You are to go TOTALLY -- then something is going to
           happen. But you cannot even conceive it, what it is.
                It is just like a blind man asking, "What is going to happen when my eyes will be operated on
           and I will be able to see? What is going to happen? Tell me -- otherwise I am not going to take this
           operation. Let me first be certain. Let me feel what is going to happen." What can you say to the
           blind man? Can you say, "You will be able to see colors and the rainbow and the butterflies and the
           flowers"? "you will be able to see light -- light playing on water, sunrays being reflected by
           dewdrops"? He will say, "What you are saying is all nonsense. I don't know what you are talking
           about. Talk sense!" Because to talk to a blind person in the language of those who have eyes is
           nonsense. I cannot say to you what is going to happen, and whatsoever I say you will not be able to
           understand, and whatsoever YOU can understand is not going to happen. Hence trust is needed.
                Sannyas is not a conversion, it is a quantum leap in trust. Sannyas is a gambling, it is not a
           bargain. I can say only one thing: you will not be there. Something will be there -- call it "x". Old
           religions call it God. Buddha calls it nirvana, Jesus calls it the kingdom of God. But all those words
           are meaningless to you. Kingdom of God? -- talking about a rainbow to a blind man? talking about
           Beethoven's symphony to a deaf man? No, it does not carry any meaning. I cannot say what is going
           to happen. The only meaningful word that I can say is: Nothing is going to happen, exactly nothing.
           But remember, nothing does not mean nothing; it means the source of all. That's what Buddha's word
           `nirvana' means: nirvana means `nothing'. Nirvana simply means you will cease to be, you will not
           be there.
                The word `nirvana' means exactly as when you put off a candle. When you blow a candle out, if
           somebody asks where the light has gone what will you say? You will say it has disappeared into
           nothingness; it is no more, it is lost into the whole. To put a candle off, to blow a candle out, is the
           literal meaning of the word `nirvana'. Sannyas is a readiness to be put off: the candle that is burning
           in you, the candle of ego, will not longer be there. Instead of it there will be a tremendous space....
           But that space is not known to you, it is not your experience.
                You can see it in my eyes if you try. You can feel it in my presence if you allow. But to say
           anything about it will not carry meaning. It will become philosophy; it will not be truth. Truth
           uttered becomes false -- not because it is uttered but because those who will hear it are bound to
           misunderstand it. Either they know it -- then they can understand it, but then there is no need to utter
           it; or they know not -- then the need is there to utter it but then they cannot understand it, they can
           only misunderstand.
                If you allow me, totally, unconditionally, something is going to happen -- something of
           tremendous import, immeasurable.... Even the sky is not the limit for it, because it has no limit. It is
           tremendous, huge; it is oceanic. But if you don't allow me, then too, nothing will happen -- nothing
           in the sense that you know the word. If you allow me then nothing will happen in the sense I am
           using the word. If you don't allow me, you can take sannyas, you will be in orange -- but the same
           old ego will now be hiding behind orange. Maybe the ego will even become more strengthened.
           I have heard...

               An organ-grinder appeared beneath Mascagni's window one morning and began to play the
           famous "Intermezzo". He played at such a fast tempo that the composer could not stand it. Rushing
           to the street, Mascagni seized the handle of the instrument and turned it at the proper speed,
           explaining to the bewildered organ-grinder that, since he had composed the piece, he wished it to be
           played correctly.
               The next morning, the organ-grinder appeared outside the composer's house with a huge sign in
           front of his organ, which read: "Pupil of the Celebrated Mascagni."

              So if you don't allow me, this will happen: you will have a huge sign -- "Pupil of so-and-so,
           Disciple of so-and-so" -- but the sign will only be a new injection of vitality to the dying ego. it
           depends, because when you take sannyas two persons are involved: I am involved and you are
           involved. So what will be the outcome depends on us both -- me and you. If you allow me, then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing will happen -- nothing in the sense of the vastness out of which everything arises, in the
           sense of God. If you don't allow me, then too, nothing will happen -- in the sense you know the
           word. Or, something can even go very wrong: you can become a new egoist -- the ego of the
           sannyasin, the ego of the meditator, the ego of the righteous, the ego of the knower.
              So it depends. If you are really going to take sannyas then let it be in my way not in your way,
           because in your way it only appears that it has happened -- it has not happened. It can happen only in
           my way. In fact, you cannot take sannyas, you can only allow me to give it to you.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO I STILL NOT TRUST YOU?


               It is from Arup.
           First, a parable: meditate over it. It will reveal mysteries to you about how the mechanism of mind
           functions.

               There is a story that when the great library of Alexandria was burned, one book was saved. But it
           was not a valuable book, and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers. It
           was not very interesting, yet there was a most interesting thing in it. It was a thin strip of vellum on
           which was written the secret of the "touchstone".
               The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold The writing
           explained that it was on the shores of the Black Sea lying among thousands and thousands of other
           pebbles which looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: the real stone would feel warm, while
           ordinary pebbles are cold. So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped
           on the seashore, and began testing the pebbles.
               This was his plan: he knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again
           because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebbles hundreds of times. So when he felt one
           that was cold he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this, and they were none of them
           the touchstone. Then he spent a week, a month, a year, three years... but he did not find the
           touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way: pick up a pebble, it's cold, throw it into the sea... and so
           on and so on. Just visualize the man doing it for years and years and years -- pick up a pebble, it is
           cold, throw it into the sea... from morning to evening, for years and years.
               But one morning he picked up a pebble and it was WARM -- and he threw it into the sea. He had
           formed the habit of throwing them into the sea, you understand, and habit made him do it when at
           last he found the touchstone, poor fellow.

               That's how mind functions. Trust is a touchstone. Very rarely do you find a man in whom you
           can trust. Very rarely do you find a heart who is warm, loving, in whom you can trust. Ordinarily
           you find pebbles which look like the touchstone, almost alike, but all are cold. year in, year out, from
           the very childhood: you pick up a pebble, you feel it, it is cold, you throw it into the ocean.
               One day -- it is a very rare phenomenon -- you come across a real touchstone. You pick it up, it is
           warm, but still you throw it. Then you cry and weep, then you cannot understand how it happened --
           but it is a simple mechanism. From the very childhood you are brought up to mistrust. You are
           brought up in such a way that you cannot trust. Doubt has been put deep into your being. In fact, it is
           a survival measure: if you don't doubt, you will not be able to survive. You have to look at the world
           with hostile eyes, as if everybody is your enemy. Nobody is warm, nobody is a touchstone. You
           cannot even trust your own parents. And the child by and by comes to know that nobody is there
           who can be trusted. The parents are very contradictory; they say one thing, they do another thing.
           The child feels confused. It is very difficult for the child to figure it out, what the mother really
           wants. In fact, the mother herself does not know. And the child again and again feels that it is
           impossible to trust anybody.
               Just the other day, I was reading a memoir. An old woman relates one incident of her youth when
           her first child was born. The child was very curious, as children are, and one day the child asked,
           "Mummy, what is marriage?" He was looking into a book, a colored book of pictures, in which he
           had come across the word `marriage'. He became very curious; he said, "What is marriage?"
               And the mother said, "Marriage is a tremendous experience of love, intimacy, joy, delight into
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           each other's being; living in love with a person with joy and celebration is marriage."
               The child became very much puzzled. The mother said, "Why are you so puzzled?" So the child
           said, "That means you are rarely married -- once in a while only. Months pass, then rarely there is a
           moment when I see you and Daddy happy, married. Just this morning, you were not married -- you
           were nagging and he was shouting."
               Now, how to convince this child? What the mother has said goes contrary to her own life-pattern.
           She has explained marriage as an experience of love, delight, sharing, and she may not have even
           been aware of what she was saying. And now the child is puzzled. No, even your own mother cannot
           be trusted.
               Your father goes on saying to you: "Be truthful" -- and you find a thousand and one times that he
           is untruthful. He even tells the child to go and tell the beggar who is knocking on the door that
           Daddy is not at home. And the child is puzzled: the father goes on saying, "Be truthful, never lie" --
           and he is lying! How to trust? And the child asks, "Is there God?" and the father says with
           tremendous confidence, "Yes there is. God created the world" -- and one day or other the child
           discovers, "My father has not known. He simply deceived, bluffed. He himself is searching. He has
           not known God; he has not known that God has created the world."
               Mistrust is born. Feeling the cold pebbles again and again, you become accustomed to throw
           them. Then, not only this happens, an even deeper danger arises out of it. Mistrusting everybody
           who is around you.... Your teachers, your parents, your friends, neighborhood, society, the priest, the
           politician -- all are cheating, all are deceiving. Nobody can be trusted in this world: this conclusion,
           sooner or later, dawns on the child's mind. Then an even greater damage has been done: he cannot
           even trust himself. Why? -- because whatsoever he does according to his nature, is never liked by
           anybody. Whatsoever he does according to his feeling is always wrong, found to be wrong.
               He wants to go out and play with the children and the mother says, "Do the homework." If he
           trusts his own feeling he has to go out and play -- but that is dangerous. The mother will be angry,
           and tomorrow in the school the teacher will be angry... and the punishment of it all. He cannot trust
           his own feeling so he forces himself to sit there and do the homework. When he wants to sing, he
           cannot sing. When he wants to play, he cannot play. and whatsoever he wants, everybody seems to
           be against it. There seems to be a conspiracy. by and by, he comes to know that "If I do MY thing I
           am punished. If I don't do my thing I am rewarded." How can one trust oneself then? -- dangerous.
           So first he loses trust in others, then he loses trust in himself.
               That's why, Arup, it is difficult to trust. You are now in a situation which goes against your
           whole life-pattern. When you come to a master you have come to a touchstone, and nothing can
           happen with a master unless you trust. And unless you trust unconditionally, nothing is possible.
               Unconditional trust is a basic condition. Now your whole life is against it. Many times you will
           miss -- that is natural, nothing to be worried about. Many times you will be lost in your doubt --
           remember, come back again; hold the thread of trust again. By and by, as you have learnt mistrust,
           you will have to unlearn it. As you have learnt mistrust, you will have to learn trust too. And to learn
           mistrust is easy because it is very ego-fulfilling. To learn trust is more difficult because it is very
           ego-shattering.
               Trust brings into your life a new breeze, a new opening, a new door. You have not travelled that
           way ever; you have not moved in that direction ever. You are not acquainted, familiar; you are
           moving into the strange -- fear arises. And you cannot trust yourself either -- otherwise there would
           not be so much fear. If you had trusted yourself then you could have a try, then you could have a
           certain confidence in yourself -- even that is not there. Trust as such has simply disappeared from
           your life; that dimension is closed. So your ind will find a thousand and one arguments against trust.
               You cannot trust anybody. How can you trust me? -- I am outside you. I am part of the outer
           world -- as your parents were, the society, the priest, the politician. You cannot trust Christ if you
           come across him, because how to trust him? -- he is outside you. You cannot trust Buddha. And you
           cannot trust yourself -- otherwise you could take a little risk.
           I have heard...

              Mulla Nasruddin limped into the doctor's office with a badly swollen ankle.
           "Goodness, man!" said the doctor, after looking at Nasruddin's ankle. "How long has tit been in this
           condition?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "About three months," said the Mulla.
           "Why, this ankle is broken!" said the doctor. "Why didn't you come to me right away?"
           "Well, I sort of hesitated," said the Mulla, "because every time I say anything is wrong with me my
           wife insists that I stop smoking."

           "Anything wrong with me, and she immediately jumps on me and says: Stop smoking! -- so I
           hesitated." Now, the ankle has nothing to do with smoking, but wives are wives, and husbands are
           husbands, and parents are parents, and the society is society.
               Have you any remembrance of any time in your life when trust was helpful? Do you remember
           any time when trust was beneficial? Always, whenever you trusted, you were deceived. By and by,
           you lost confidence in your own trust, in your own being. In fact, I don't see a problem why you can't
           trust. The miracle is that you have come across a person where the problem has arisen, why you can't
           trust. This is a great indication -- that now you have started thinking about trust, that a desire to trust
           is arising, that the seed is sprouting. I have heard...

               The Irish army platoon got lost on manoeuvres in Kerry. The sergeant called out to a passing
           local, "How much further to Dingle?"
           "Two miles," was the reply.
               They marched on, and after an hour the sergeant asked another man how far they had to go to
           Dingle. "Two miles' came the answer again.
               After another hour they asked again, and the reply this time was still, "Two miles."
               For a moment the sergeant looked depressed. Then, wiping the perspiration from his face, he
           straightened his back. "Come on, men!" he ordered. "At least we're holding our own."

               I am happy, Arup, that at least the question arises. At least you have not lost the inquiry about
           trust. That's enough; now much is possible. If you insist on this query again and again, if you go on
           inquiring into situations where you allow trust.... In the beginning it will be difficult, just because of
           old habits. Once it starts happening, little by little, inch by inch, you will be filled with so much
           warmth that you will be able to risk more and more. Only by experiencing it will you gather courage.
           And one day, one can risk ALL for trust -- because through trust is God, through trust is love,
           through trust is all that is beautiful. Through doubt, nothing but misery; through doubt, nothing but
           darkness; through doubt, nothing but nightmares; through doubt, nothing but hell.
               The choice is yours. The society has one its work, it has corrupted you deeply. Now there is no
           need to go on weeping on the spilled milk, there is no need to cry over it. Whatsoever has happened,
           has happened; but it can be undone -- you have to take a conscious note of it and start working on it.
           That is the greatest thing in life to work for. Trust opens the door for the unknown.
               Trusting me, you will learn to trust yourself. It looks paradoxical: I say "Trusting me you will be
           able to trust yourself" because trusting me, for the first time you will start tasting what trust is, and
           how beautiful, what a benediction.... The master is just a via media. He simply gives you a situation
           where you can taste what trust is, and by and by he will throw you back to yourself.
               I am not here to make you cripples, and I am not here to function as your crutches. I am not
           going to carry you on my shoulders; I am not interested in that type of work at all. Trusting me, I
           simply want to give you a taste of this beautiful nectar. Through it you will be able to walk on your
           own, through it you will be able to trust others, through it you will be able one day to trust life itself.
           That day, you become religious.
               Not trusting in the Koran, not trusting in the bible, not trusting the Gita, you become religious.
           You become religious when you trust life. When your trust is such that you are cheated a thousand
           and one times but still you go on trusting.... Because to be cheated is nothing -- to lose trust is all.
               Once can be deceived: I am not saying that when you trust you will not be deceived -- no, never;
           I am not saying that. You may become more of a victim and many people will deceive you. I am not
           promising that when you trust, nobody is going to deceive you; that is nonsense -- in fact, people
           may deceive you more. But now you know that being deceived is better than losing trust. Because
           trust gives you the eternal; and even if you are not deceived, what are you going to save? A little
           money, a house, this and that -- and death will take them away anyhow, so what is the fear? Just for
           these small things you throw trust? you throw prayer? you throw love? You say, "How can I love
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           when people are so deceiving?" Let them be deceiving. What can they deceive about? What can they
           rob? What have you got that they can rob? They can take away your money, something you used to
           possess, but if trust is left you will have your soul... and that is the kingdom of God.

              SOME DAYS I FEEL LIKE A SWAMI AND OTHERS LIKE A MA. CAN I BE BOTH? OR WILL I GROW
              UP SCHIZY?


               The question is from Mallika.
           Everybody is both, and you have become aware -- that's very good; that's a great insight into your
           being. Everybody is both. The difference between a man and a woman is not much; the difference is
           only of degree, quantity -- not of quality. A woman may be sixty percent woman and forty percent
           man, or may be just fifty-one percent woman and forty-nine percent man. And so is the case with
           men. It is only a question of percentage -- but both exist in you.
               You come from both -- from your father and from your mother; they both have contributed to
           you. Men and women are not just men and women: they are bisexual, they are a meeting-place of
           both the sexes. The polarity is there. So, no woman is just a pure simple woman. If you understand
           this your life will become more clear to you.
               In some moments a woman is more of a man than a woman, and so is the case with a man. In
           some moments he is very feminine; in some moments he is male, in some moments he is female.
           There are soft moments and there are hard moments, there are aggressive moments and there are
           receptive moments.
               But up to now, the society has been conditioned in such a way, we have been taught and brought
           up in such a way, that man is man, woman is woman. This is a very false arrangement, untrue to
           nature. If a man starts crying and weeping, people start telling him, "Don't weep like a woman, don't
           cry like a woman; don't be sissy." This is nonsense -- because a man has as many tear-glands in his
           eye as a woman. If nature had not meant for him to cry and weep then there would have been no
           tear-glands.
               Now this is very repressive. If a girl starts behaving like a man, is ambitious, aggressive -- mm?
           -- people start thinking that something is wrong: something hormonal is wrong. They call her a
           tomboy; she is not a girl. This is nonsense! This division is not natural; this division is political,
           social. Women have been forced to play the role of women twenty-four hours, and men have been
           forced to play the role of men twenty-four hours, which is very unnatural and certainly creates much
           misery in the world.
               There are moments when a man is soft and should be feminine. There are moments when the
           husbands should be the wife and the wife should be the husband, and this should be very natural.
           And there will be more rhythm and more harmony. If a man is not SUPPOSED to be a man
           twenty-four hours, he will be more relaxed. And if a woman is not supposed to be twenty-four hours
           a woman she will be more natural and spontaneous.
               Yes, sometimes in a rage a woman becomes more dangerous than a man, and sometimes in soft
           moments a man is more loving than any woman -- and these moments go on changing. Both these
           climates are yours; so don't think that you are becoming schizophrenic or something. This duality is
           part of nature. This duality exists up to the sixth center, the AJNA chakra. Only beyond the sixth the
           duality disappears -- but the duality disappears in the sense that now it becomes so harmonious, so
           one, that "man" and "woman" carry no sense.
               In India we have depicted God as ARDHANARISHWAR -- half-man, half-woman. That is
           tremendously beautiful. That seems to be the best image ever invented of God: half-man,
           half-woman. That's how it should be. When you reach to the seventh, to the ultimate growth in your
           being, you will neither be a man nor a woman; or, both together -- in such harmony that there will be
           oneness. But before that, the duality continues. Nothing is wrong in it. Don't be afraid of it, because
           if you become afraid you wills tart repressing -- and any part repressed is a hindrance, is a block,
           towards the ultimate growth. No part should be repressed, no part should ever be rejected and
           denied: all has to be made part of the organic unity. Each part of you has to meet and merge into the
           other so that the conflict disappears and you become an orchestra.
               And this is happening at each center. Look: our divisions are all false divisions. On the tree, on
           the apple tree, there is one apple. You say it is outer to you, outside of you; it is not inner, certainly
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not -- it is hanging on the tree. You eat it; you have eaten the outer. You digest it: it becomes your
           blood, your bone, your marrow... it will turn into your dreams, into your poetry, into your painting.
           Now it is no more outer, it has become part of the inner. The outer has dissolved into the inner. Then
           one day you die, and the earth will use your body as a manure, and again in the apple tree one apple
           will be born. Now the inner has become the outer.
                The inner and the outer are continuously meeting and merging into each other. The demarcation
           is only utilitarian; it is not real. Where does the inner end and the outer begin? -- can you tell me?
           can you make an exactly clear line, where? The outer is continuously moving into the inner: you are
           breathing in. And the inner is continuously moving into the outer: you are breathing out. There is no
           demarcation between the outer and the inner, they are one.
                In the same way, there is no demarcation between the lower and the higher. But people have mad
           ideas of demarcations, categories. People even think that the lower body is lower and the upper body
           is higher. Just because the lower body is lower they think it is lower as a value. Nonsense -- because
           your blood continues to flow around the body: the same blood goes to the feet, the same comes to the
           head. Your oxygen goes on being divided all over the body; you eat, and the food is digested by the
           whole body -- not the lower and the higher. The lower and higher are two aspects of the same reality,
           and so it is about man and woman. And if you look deeply then all duality is just a human
           categorization to understand things. Arbitrary is the categorization -- otherwise, everything is part of
           everything else. This whole existence is one.
                Mm? -- that is the meaning of Kabir singing again and again: Wherever you find the one, touch
           the feet. Wherever you find outer and inner meeting, the higher and lower meeting, the material and
           the God meeting, wherever one is present, bow down, surrender to it. You are closer to reality when
           you are closer to the one. That's why I say that the true sage will not be an escapist, because for him
           there can be no "this world and the other world." For him, this shore is the other shore. He will be in
           the world and not of the world. He will be a lotus flower -- in the water, and yet untouched by it. For
           him there is no division. In fact, for him there is no division into good and bad, moral and immoral,
           God and Devil. All divisions are part of one organic existence.
                So Mallika, a good insight has happened to you. Don't lose it, and don't be worried that you are
           going schizophrenic. Up to the sixth, the division remains and becomes more and more clear cut; and
           again and again one will feel the changing, shifting. It is a shift: a few hours you are man, a few
           hours you are woman. If you watch it exactly, you can know exactly how many minutes you are a
           man and how many minutes you are a woman. It is a periodical change. In yoga they have worked
           hard on these inner secrets. If you watch your breath, that will exactly give you the time. When one
           nostril, the left nostril, is breathing you are feminine. When the right nostril is breathing you are
           male. And after nearabout forty-eight minutes they change.
                Continuously -- day, night -- this change happens. When you are breathing by the left nostril
           your right-brain hemisphere functions: the right is the feminine part. When you are breathing from
           the right nostril your left brain functions: that is the male part. And sometimes you can play games
           with it. If you are very angry then do one thing: close your right nostril and start breathing by the
           left, and within seconds you will see the anger has disappeared -- because to be angry you need to be
           in the male part of your being. Try it and you will be surprised. Just by changing the breath from one
           nostril to another, something of tremendous importance changes. If you are feeling very cold towards
           the world then breathe from the left nostril and let your imagination, fantasy, warmth, flow in -- and
           you will suddenly feel full of warmth.
                In tantra they say: Never make love unless you have checked your nostril -- never make love. If
           the man is breathing from the feminine nostril then the woman has to breathe from the male nostril.
           Then there will be real orgasm. Otherwise, love will be just a wastage of energy -- not more than
           sneezing. You will feel relived after a sneeze -- a good sneeze, one feels relieved -- but nothing
           much will happen out of it.
                If the woman is in the feminine nostril, then the man has to be in the male nostril. And according
           to this, Vatsayana -- the first REAL sexologist -- worked hard into deeper mysteries. He says: When
           the woman is in the male climate she should be on top of the man, she should play the role of the
           man. Man need not be always in the missionary posture.... That is called "the missionary posture" in
           the East because in the East it was never known that the man has to be always on the top. Only when
           Christian missionaries came to the East people became aware that this foolishness exists in the West
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- so it is known as the missionary posture.... Sometimes the woman is in a male climate: she should
           be on the top and she should be active; and the man, if he is in the feminine climate, should be
           passive. He should play wife and she should play husband. And then there will be a great meeting.
               And this has to be remembered always, because there are acts which can be done more easily
           when you are in the male climate. When you are doing something hard -- carrying a rock, pushing a
           rock -- check your nostril. If it is not in the male climate it is not good. It may be dangerous for the
           body: you will be very soft. When you are playing with a child, or just sitting with your dog, feel that
           you are in the feminine -- more affinity will arise. When you are writing a poem or painting or
           making music you should be in the feminine... unless you are trying to create a war music! then it is
           okay, you should be in the male climate -- aggressive.
               Watch it, and you will be becoming more and more aware of these two polarities. And this is
           good that these two polarities exist: that's how nature arranges for rest. When the male part becomes
           tired you move to the female part; the male part rests. When the female part is tired you rest; you
           become male. And this is an inner economy -- one goes on changing. But your society has taught
           you wrong things: that a man is a man, and HAS to be a man twenty-four hours -- this is too much of
           a duty. And a woman has to be a woman twenty-four hours -- soft, loving, compassionate: this is too
           much of a duty. Sometimes she also wants to fight, be angry, throw things -- and this is good, if you
           understand the inner play.
               I have heard... A little boy was overheard by his mother. He was sitting all alone in his room,
           bored, and he was muttering: "I wish I were two dogs -- then I could play together."
               These two polarities are a good inner play -- the play of consciousness. This is how God has
           become divided in you, to have a play of hide-and-seek with himself. When the play is over, when
           you have learnt that which is to be learnt from the play, when the lesson has been learnt, then you
           pass beyond the sixth.
               The seventh is neither male nor female: the seventh is neutral. That's why in Indian languages
           BRAHMA, `God', is a neutral word, neither masculine nor feminine. It has no gender: it is the
           merger of both, absolute merger -- and in the merger is transcendence.

              DOES ATTAINMENT TO THE SEVENTH CHAKRA, SAMADHI, TOTAL DISSOLUTION OF THE
              EGO, MEAN THAT ONE NO LONGER IS INTERESTED IN THE PROBLEMS THAT FACE
              MANKIND? -- HUNGER, POVERTY, MISERABLE LIVING CONDITIONS, LITTLE ROOM TO
              DEVELOP ONE'S OWN ABILITIES, TALENTS.


               In fact, before you have dropped your own problems, you cannot have the right perspective to
           understand the world problems. Your own home is in such a mess, your own inner being is in such a
           mess -- how can you have a perspective to understand VAST problems? You have not even
           understood yourself; start from there, because every other start will be a wrong start.
               And people who are in a tremendously confused state of mind start helping others, and start
           proposing solutions. These people have created more troubles in the world than they have solved.
           These are the real mischief-mongers: the politicians, the economists, the so-called public servants,
           missionaries. These are the real mischief-mongers -- they have not solved their own inner
           consciousness yet, and they are ready to bump into everybody else and to solve everybody else's
           problem. In fact, in this way they are avoiding their own reality: they don't want to face it. They want
           to remain engaged somewhere else with somebody else -- this gives them good occupation, good
           distraction.
               Remember: you are the world problem, YOU are the problem, and unless you are solved,
           whatsoever you do is going to make things more complicated. First bring your home in an order --
           create a cosmos there; it is a chaos.
               There is one ancient Indian fable, a very old story but of great importance...

               A great but foolish king complained that the rough ground hurt his feet, so he ordered the whole
           kingdom to be carpeted with cowhide to protect his feet. but the court fool laughed at this -- he was a
           wise man. Said he, "The king's idea is simply ridiculous."
               The king was very angry and said to the fool, "You show me a better alternative, otherwise you
           will be put to death."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              The fool said, "Sire, cut out small pads of cowhide to cover your feet." And this is how shoes
           were born.

                There is no need to cover the whole earth with cowhide; just covering your feet covers the whole
           earth. And this is the beginning of wisdom.
                Yes, there are problems, I agree. There are great problems. Life is so much of a hell. Misery is
           there, poverty is there, violence is there, all kinds of madnesses are afloat, that's true -- but still I
           insist the problem arises in the individual soul. The problem is there because individuals are in a
           chaos. The total chaos is nothing but a combined phenomenon: we have all poured our chaos into it.
                The world is nothing but a relationship; we are related with each other. I am neurotic, you are
           neurotic: then the relationship goes very very neurotic -- multiplied, not only doubled. And
           everybody is neurotic, hence the world is neurotic. Adolf Hitler is not born out of the blue -- we
           create him. Vietnam is not born out of the blue -- we create it. It is our pus that comes out; it is our
           chaos that takes the toll. The beginning has to be with you: you are the world problem. So don't
           avoid the reality of your inner world -- that is the first thing.
                You ask: "Does attainment to the seventh chakra, samadhi, total dissolution of the ego, mean that
           one no longer is interested in the problems that face mankind?"
                No, in fact only then is one really interested. But his interest will be of a totally different kind: he
           will look to the root cause of it. When you are interested you are interested in the symptoms. When a
           Buddha or a Christ is interested he is interested in the root. You may not agree because you cannot
           see the root, you see only the symptom. He is interested -- but now he knows where the root is, and
           he tries hard to change that root.
                Poverty is not the root, greed is the root. Poverty is the outcome. You go on fighting with poverty
           -- nothing will happen. Greed is the root; the greed has to be uprooted. War is not the problem,
           individual aggressiveness is the problem -- war is just the total. You go on doing protest marches,
           and war is not going to be stopped. That doesn't matter -- your protest marches, everything -- you
           can enjoy the fun. There are a few people who enjoy the fun; you can find them in any protest march.
           You can ask Astha -- her mother and her father have both been protesters. Anywhere you will find
           them protesting; all over the world her mother goes on rotting, protesting against everything. It is fun
           -- you may have also enjoyed it.
                In my childhood, I used to enjoy it very much. I was in every procession, and even the elders of
           my town started worrying. They said, "You are everywhere -- whether it is a communist procession
           or a socialist or a congress... anti-communist... you are there." I said, "I enjoy the fun. I'm not
           worried about the political philosophy -- just shouting is so much fun; I enjoy the exercise."
                You can enjoy; it does not make much difference -- war goes on. And if you look at these
           protesters you will see these are very aggressive people -- you will not see peace on their faces. They
           are ready to fight. Peace-protest marches any moment turn into riots. These are aggressive people --
           in the name of peace they are showing their aggression. They are ready to fight: if they have power,
           if they have the atom bomb, they will drop th atom bomb to create peace. That's what all politicians
           say -- they say they are fighting so that peace can prevail.
                The problem is not war, and Bertrand Russells are not going to help. The problem is inner
           aggression in individuals. People are not at ease within themselves, hence war has to exist --
           otherwise these people will go mad.
                Each decade a great war is needed to unburden humanity of neurosis. You may be surprised to
           know that in the first world war, psychologists became aware of a very rare, strange phenomenon.
           When the war continued, suddenly the proportion of people who used to go mad fell almost to nil.
           Suicides were not committed, murders were not done, and people even stopped going mad. That was
           strange -- what has that to do with ar? Maybe murders are not done because murderers have gone to
           the army, but what happened to people who commit suicide? Maybe they have also joined the army,
           but then what happened to people who go mad? -- they have even stopped going mad? And then
           again in the second world war the same thing happened, in a greater proportion; and then the link
           was known, the association.
                Humanity goes on accumulating a certain quantity of neurosis, madness: each decade, it has to
           throw it out. So when there is war -- war means when humanity has gone mad as a whole -- then
           there is no need to go mad privately; what is the point? All are mad -- then there is no point in trying
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to become mad privately. When one nation is murdering another, and there is so much suicide and
           murder, what is the point of doing these things on your own? You can simply look at the TV and
           enjoy, you can read it in the papers and have the thrill.
                The problem is not war, the problem is individual neurosis.
                A man who has become enlightened looks into the deep causes of things. Buddha, Christ,
           Krishna, they have been looking into the root, and they have been trying to tell you: Change the root
           -- a RADICAL transformation is needed; ordinary reformations won't do. But then you may not
           understand -- because I am here, I go on talking about meditation... no, you can't see the relationship,
           how meditation is related with war. I see the relationship, you don't see the relationship.
                My understanding is this: that if even one percent of humanity becomes meditative, wars will
           disappear -- and there is no other way. That much quantity of meditative energy has to be released. If
           one percent of humanity -- that means one in one hundred people -- becomes meditative, things will
           have a totally different arrangement. Greed will be less; naturally, poverty will be less. Poverty is not
           there because things are scarce; poverty is there because people are hoarding, because people are
           greedy. If we live right now, there is enough, the earth has enough to give us. But we plan ahead, we
           hoard -- then trouble arises.
                Just think of birds hoarding... then a few birds will become rich and a few will become poor; then
           American birds will become the richest, and the whole world will suffer. But they don't hoard, so
           there is no poverty. Have you ever seen a bird poor? Animals in the forest -- nobody is poor, nobody
           is rich. In fact you don't even see fat birds and lean and thin birds. All the crows are almost alike;
           you cannot even recognize which is which. Why? They enjoy, they don't hoard.
                Even to become fat means you are hoarding inside the body -- that is a miserly mind. Misers
           become constipated; they cannot even throw out. They hoard: they control even defecation, they go
           on hoarding even rubbish. Hoarding is a habit.
                To live in the moment, to live in the present, to live lovingly, to live in friendship, to care... and
           then the world will be totally different. The individual has to change, because the world is nothing
           but a projected phenomenon of the individual soul.
                No, he will be interested -- only he WILL be interested -- but his interested will be of different
           dimensions. You may not even be able to understand it. People come to me and they say, "What are
           you doing? There is poverty and there is ugliness, and you go on teaching about meditation. Stop
           this. Do something for poverty." But nothing can be done for poverty directly. Only meditative
           energy has to be released so people can enjoy the moment. Then there will be no poverty.
           Communism is not going to destroy poverty; it has not destroyed it anywhere. It has created new
           sorts of poverty -- and greater, and more dangerous: now the Russian is far MORE poor because he
           has lost his soul too. Now he is really not an individual at all -- not even the freedom to pray and to
           meditate.
                This is not going to help, this is destroying. These are the do-gooders -- avoid them.
                And you say: "Will there not be a little room to develop one's own abilities, talents?" In fact there
           will be no need to develop them, they will START developing. When a man meditates he starts
           flowering. If he is a painter, he will become a GREAT painter. If he is a poet, then suddenly
           tremendous poetry will arise out of his soul. If he is a singer, for the first time he will sing a song
           that is close to his heart's desire.
                No, there is no need to make any effort. When you are silent, rooted in your being, centered, your
           talents automatically start functioning. You start functioning the way God always wanted you to
           function. You start functioning the way you were born to function, you start functioning the way
           your destiny wants you to function. You become spontaneous. You start doing your thing -- and now
           you don't bother whether it pays or not, whether it makes you more respectable or not. It makes you
           happy, and that's enough. It makes you tremendously joyful, and that is more than enough.
                Meditation releases your energies -- then there is no other need. And a man who has come to
           samadhi, the seventh chakra -- what more is possible? He functions as a God. He is a full blown-up
           existence. He has come to the ultimate flowering -- now nothing is needed. His every moment is
           creative, his every gesture is creative, his very life is grace.
                But there are people who would like to go very roundabout: they would like to change the whole
           world first, and then they will come to themselves. But let me tell you, you will never be able to
           come to yourself i you go that far.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have heard... An old man was sitting near Delhi and a young man was driving past. He came to
           a halt and asked the old man, "How far is Delhi?" The old man said, "If you go on the way you are
           going, and in the direction you are going, it is very very far. You will have to travel the whole earth
           -- because you have left Delhi behind, just two miles back."
               If you turn, then it is not very far -- just a question of two minutes. If you go to change the whole
           world and THEN you think you will change yourself, you will never be able to; you will never be
           able to come back home. Start where you are. You are part of this ugly world: by changing yourself
           you are changing the world. What are you? -- a part of this ugly world. why try to change the
           neighbor? -- he may not like it, he may not want it, he may not be interested. If you have become
           aware that the world needs a great change, then YOU are the closest world to yourself: start from
           there.
               But there are a few people who are very philosophical. They brood, and they go in roundabout
           ways.

              I have been reading Leo Rosten's beautiful book THE JOYS OF YIDDISH. He tells of a great
           Jewish philosopher, Mr. Sokoloff, who had been dining regularly at a certain restaurant on Second
           Avenue, beginning each meal with a dish of chicken soup. One night, Mr. Sokoloff called out to his
           waiter, "Come back here and taste this soup."
           "After twenty years," demurred the waiter, "you question the perfection of our wonderful chicken
           soup?"
           "Come back and taste it," repeated Mr. Sokoloff.
           "All right, all right," conceded the waiter, "I'll taste it -- but where's the spoon?"
           "Aha!" cried Mr. Sokoloff.

               He simply wants to say, "I don't have a spoon." Now he goes in such a roundabout way -- "Taste
           this soup...."
               Don't go so roundabout, don't be so philosophical. If you don't have the spoon, simply say you
           need a spoon. The spoon will do.
           All that one needs is a spoonful of meditation.

              THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE AT THE ASHRAM WHO ACT AS YOUR INTERMEDIARIES --
              TRANSLATING RESPONSES TO OUR LETTERS, GIVING DARSHANAS, RUNNING KITCHENS,
              GUARDING GATES, RUNNING GROUPS. ARE THEY ALWAYS OPEN PASSAGES FOR YOU?
              HOW TO SURRENDER TO THEM IF THIS IS SO, OR IS RESISTANCE SOMETIMES
              APPROPRIATE?


               They are not always open passages for me, they are sometimes hindrances -- but that's how I
           want them to be. If they were always open passages to me they would not be needed. They are
           needed to create a certain situation: they are needed to bring your resistance out. And if you are
           really surrendered to me you will be surrendered to them -- this is my will. And that will help you
           tremendously. It is very easy to surrender to me; it is very difficult to surrender to Krishna on the
           gate. But Krishna is me. When you surrender to him you will have more understanding of surrender.
               When it is very easy to surrender, it is meaningless. When it is difficult, it is meaningful. All
           these people here around me are doing everything that I want. Sometimes they are rough to you; then
           remember, I want them sometimes to be rough with you. Sometimes they are indifferent to you; then
           remember, I want them sometimes to be indifferent to you. Sometimes they seem to be simply
           hindering you for no reason at all -- right. Remember, I want them to be that way.

               A young girl went to see a big throat specialist. He specialized in big throats! She has a shore
           throat, and when she saw the nurse she told her about it. The nurse said, "Take all your clothes off."
               The girl said, "I beg your pardon, but I've only got a sore throat."
               She said, "Nevertheless, the doctor insists on all patients removing their clothes before he will
           see them."
               So the young girl went into the ante-room to change and there was another girl in there, naked --
           barefoot up to her neck! The young girl said, "This is ridiculous! I've only come here with a sore
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           throat and I've got to remove all my clothes!"
               The other one said, "What are you complaining about? I only came here to pay my bill."

                You may find such situations here: surrender! It may be your throat, but if Krishna says undress,
           undress -- and you will be benefitted.
                It is easy to surrender to me, to my love. It is not difficult at all -- you are all for it. But then I
           have to create a few hindrances. These are devices for you. If you use them you will be tremendously
           benefitted. If you don't use them you will unnecessarily be worried, in conflict, in anger, in anxiety.
           It is for you. It is up to you to choose whatsoever you want.
                Remember one thing: you are here to disappear -- that remembrance will always help. So
           whomsoever, in whatsoever ways, helps you to disappear, feel grateful to him.
                And many times it may not be the gate-guards, it may not be the group-leaders -- it may be just
           YOU who feels that way. It may be just your idea of how you have to be received and welcomed that
           may be creating the trouble.

               A tipsy gent dropped a nickel into the telephone coin-box, dialed a number with great
           deliberation, and cried "Hello!" Hello!"
               A voice at the other end of the wire called back, "Hello! Hello!"
               The inebriated one banged the receiver down, and bellowed to the world at large, "This phone
           has an echo!"

                Remember, it is more possible that you see your own face. I provide mirrors here: don't start
           fighting with the mirror.
                I have heard that in the twenty-first century they invented a mirror to reflect your mind... just as
           the body can be reflected, someday one is going to be discovered so that you can just look in the
           mirror and your mind is reflected.... And everybody was purchasing it and millions of mirrors were
           sold. But within a few days, the mirrors were thrown and broken and the sales simply dropped to
           zero.
                The inventor was very much puzzled, and the company that was producing them, and hoping to
           earn millions of rupees, was simply at a loss -- what has happened? First they were selling so fast....
           Then the inventor looked into the matter and found that nobody likes to see his own mind, so people
           dropped them -- sometimes accidentally... but knowingly, very deliberately; the accident was false.
           Sometimes they destroyed it themselves, sometimes they threw it out, sometimes they forgot it in the
           train... and by and by, they all went to the junkyard.
                Then he invented another mirror which showed you as you would like yourself to be -- and that
           has been selling and selling and selling... and there is no end. Each person has spare mirrors too, in
           case sometimes one is broken. It shows you the ideal one -- as you would like yourself to be, as you
           really think, imagine, yourself to be.
                These people here on the gates, group-leaders, Maneesha smelling you: all these people are the
           first type of mirrors. And I am not in favor of the second type of mirrors.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DID YOU FEEL BEFORE YOU WERE ENLIGHTENED?


              The question is from Chaitanya Hari. Just like you, Chaitanya Hari. Just stupid.

              WOW! I HAVE KISSED A RAJNEESH-FROG. HOW REALLY FAR OUT! HOW COULD WE NOT
              GAIN FROM IT? -- THE WHOLE... TOWARDS WHAT'S BEYOND ONENESS, EVEN...


               You say FAR OUT? -- then you must have kissed somebody else's frog. If you kiss my frog you
           will feel far IN -- not far out, far in.

              YOU GO ON SPEAKING DAILY, ON AND ON, BUT WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO SAY,
              BELOVED MASTER?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              A parable...

           He said: I see.
           And they said: He's crazy -- crucify him.
           He still said: I see.
              And they said: He's an extremist. And they tolerated him.
           And he continued to say: I see.
              And they said: He's eccentric. And they rather liked him, but smiled at him.
           And he stubbornly said again: I see.
              And they said: There is something in what he says. And they gave him half an ear.
              But he said, as if he had never said it before: I see.
              And at last they were awake. And they gathered about him and built a temple in his name.
           And he only said: I see.

               That's what I am saying: I see. I go on saying the same thing again and again -- that I see. The
           day you will hear it in deep awareness, you will also be capable to see. There is nothing else to say. I
           see -- you can also see. And that seeing is the goal.
               In the East, we don't call philosophy "philosophy," we call it DARSHANA. DARSHANA means
           `the capacity to see'. When you come to see me, it is called DARSHANA. It means you have come
           to be with me, to see through me, with me, through my eyes. I am not conveying any message to
           you. I am simply shouting one thing: that I have seen, and I am seeing, and you are blind.
               If you are ready to risk, open your eyes and see... and God is here.




                                                The Divine Melody
                                                    Chapter #9
                                 Chapter title: : The pause between two notes
           9 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701090
              ShortTitle: MELODY09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              I.108. MAIN KA SE BU JHAVN

              TO WHOM SHALL I GO TO LEARN ABOUT MY BELOVED?
              KABIR SAYS: "AS YOU NEVER MAY FIND THE FOREST
              IF YOU IGNORE THE TREE,
              SO HE MAY NEVER BE FOUND IN ABSTRACTIONS."



              I.92. AVADHU BEGAM DES HAMARA
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              O SADHU: MY LAND IS A SORROWLESS LAND.
              I CRY ALOUD TO ALL, TO THE KING AND THE BEGGAR,
              THE EMPEROR AND THE FAKIR --
              WHOSOEVER SEEKS FOR SHELTER IN THE HIGHEST,
              LET ALL COME AND SETTLE IN MY LAND:
              LET THE WEARY COME AND LAY HIS BURDENS HERE:



              SO LIVE HERE, MY BROTHER,
              THAT YOU MAY CROSS WITH EASE TO THAT OTHER SHORE.
              IT IS A LAND WITHOUT EARTH OR SKY,
              WITHOUT MOON OR STARS:
              FOR ONLY THE RADIANCE OF TRUTH
              SHINES IN MY LORD'S DURBAR.
              KABIR SAYS: "O BELOVED BROTHER:
              NAUGHT IS ESSENTIAL SAVE TRUTH."


               Love is the only miracle there is. Love is the ladder from hell to heaven. Love learned well, you
           have learned all. Love missed, you missed your whole life. People who ask about God are not in fact
           asking about God; rather than asking, they are declaring that they have not known what love is. One
           who knows love has known the Beloved: love is the insight into the Beloved. One who asks about
           light, simply says that he is blind. One who asks about God, simply says his heart has not bloomed
           into love.
               Never ask about God. If you cannot see him that simply shows you don't have eyes to see. If you
           cannot hear him that simply shows you are deaf. If you cannot touch him that simply shows you are
           without hands -- that you don't have any sensitivity. God is not the problem, God cannot be the
           problem. God is not far away, God is herenow. All that is, is in God and is God -- so how can God
           be the problem? God is not to be searched: where will you search him? He is everywhere -- you just
           have to learn how to open your eyes of love. Once love has penetrated your heart, God is there. In
           the thrill of love is the Beloved: in the vision of love is the vision of God.
               So God is the only real inner alchemy: it transforms your material life into the divine. It is the
           only alchemy, I say, because it changes the baser metal into gold. Without love, life is a dull affair,
           grey -- with no colors, with no songs, with no celebrations. One can drag and one can hope only for
           death: death will come and relieve you of your dragging long affair. Love brings color: the grey
           suddenly becomes a rainbow, explodes into a thousand and one colors, and the drab and the dull
           become psychedelic. Love changes the whole climate of your inner being -- and with that change the
           whole existence is changed. Nothing is changed on the outside -- but once you are full of love you
           have a totally different existence available to you.
               God and the world are not two things, it is the one existence. There is only one existence: seen
           without love, it looks material; seen without love, God looks like the world -- SANSARA. Seen with
           love, the world is transformed, transfigured... and the very world becomes divine.
               Yes, then in sight there is music. When love has dawned, then miracles happen -- even in sight
           there is music; in sound, a luminous silence. Love is magical. And Kabir's whole teaching is that of
           love: he calls love "the divine melody." The heart, pulsating in love, becomes a flute on the lips of
           God... and a song is born. That song is religion.
               Religion has nothing to do with churches and temples and rituals: religion is born only when
           somebody pulsates with love. Each individual has to give birth to a religion -- and unless you have
           given birth to a religion in you, you are not religious. You cannot join an organization and become
           religious, remember -- religion is not an organization to belong to. To be religious you have to give
           birth to religion in your innermost core, in your very core: when religion is born THERE, only then
           are you religious. Not by becoming a Christian but by becoming a Christ, not by becoming a
           Buddhist but by becoming a Buddha, religion is born.
               When you are born in love, religion is born in you -- and then your whole life is a melody, a
           beautiful song. And then you will be surprised that nothing is wrong: all fits together. Right now,
           nothing fits together. Right now, you are a mess: right now, you are an anarchy. Right now, you are
           just traffic noise -- rushing in all directions, falling apart, disintegrating. Right now, you are nothing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but anguish, agony. Once love is born, you have a center. Once love is born, you are centered -- and
           everything falls in tune with the center. You become an orchestra, a beautiful harmony. It is hidden
           in you: you have brought it into the world, it is yet unmanifest. Kabir says: Manifest it -- let your
           love be manifested. In that manifestation will be your prayer.
                A few things, very basic and fundamental to understand, before we enter these beautiful sutras --
           the last of the series.
                The Talmud has a tremendously beautiful story to tell. A heathen came to Hillel -- a great Jewish
           mystic -- and cynically asked him: "Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Now this
           is impossible; the Torah is a big scripture -- it really takes years to understand it. And this cynic, this
           skeptical person, says to Hillel: "If you have understood the Torah then give me the gist, the
           summary, the essential. While I stand on one foot, you tell me all that is in the Torah."
                And this skeptic had been to other mystics also -- but they must not have been mystics; they were
           great theologians, philosophers, thinkers, pundits, scholars. They all had refused. They said, "This is
           impossible; the Torah needs years of study, a lifelong study. And the Torah cannot be condensed
           into a few sentences -- that will be sacrilege. It is not possible." But Hillel agreed, and answered
           immediately: "Do not unto others as you would not have others do unto you. This is the whole Torah
           -- the rest is commentary."
                Love is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary. And what is love? -- do not do unto others that
           which you would not like to be done to you. This is the criterion of love: do unto others that which
           you would like to be done to you. Whatsoever you ask for yourself, allow that to others too.
           Whatsoever you don't want to happen to you, don't do it to others. Think of yourself as the very
           center of existence. In fact, don't think of the other as the other: only you are. and in the other too, is
           the same life, the same song waiting to be uttered, the same urge to rise to the divine, the same
           seeking, the same inquiry, the same throbbing heart, the same agony, the same ecstasy.
                This love is waiting in you. There is no necessity; it can wait and you can die. Birth is beyond
           you. You are already born -- nobody had asked, your permission was not taken at all, you were not
           even asked where you wanted to be born and what you wanted to become. You always find yourself
           in the middle of life; you are already here. Birth is no choice for you... nor is death. One day
           suddenly death will come, without even giving you any warning. And not for a single moment will
           death wait. Birth happens, death happens -- they are beyond you; you cannot do anything about
           them. Between birth and death there is only one thing you can do something about, and that is love.
                These are the three great things of life: life, love, death. Life has already happened. Death is
           going to happen -- it is a certainty. In a way, it has already happened with birth: you have already
           taken one step into the grave. The day you are born, half the journey is complete; the remaining half
           will take a little time... or a little more. With life, death has also penetrated you: now only one thing
           remains to be done that YOU can do, something that depends on you, and that is love. And because
           it depends on you, there is every possibility that you may miss it.
                That is the agony of love: you can miss it. If you don't do something, if you don't become alert, if
           you don't move towards it consciously, deliberately, you may miss it. There is every possibility that
           you may not be able to unfold it -- hence the fear, the trembling, the anguish, the anxiety: will I be
           able to make it? will I be able to move into love? will I be able to flow into love? But side by side
           with this agony there is an ecstasy -- that one is free.
                It is because of freedom that the fear exists. If love was also predestined, as life and death are,
           then there would have been no fear, but then there would have been no ecstasy either -- because
           ecstasy is possible only when you achieve something, when consciously you choose something,
           when deliberately you arrive somewhere, when it is YOUR journey and you are not being dragged.
           That's the beauty of love and that's the danger too.
           Meditate on these lines from Rilke...

              I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN TWO NOTES
              THAT FALL INTO A REAL ACCORDANCE SCARCE AT ALL
              FOR DEATH'S NOTE TENDS TO DOMINATE.
              BOTH THOUGH ARE RECONCILED
              IN THE DARK INTERVAL TREMBLINGLY
              AND THE SONG REMAINS IMMACULATE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Lines of tremendous significance. I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN TWO NOTES... death and
           birth. These are the two notes played on you by the unknown. And I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN
           THE TWO NOTES -- you are the pause, the interval, the gap, between birth and death. Very subtle.
              I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN TWO NOTES
              THAT FALL INTO A REAL ACCORDANCE SCARCE AT ALL...

               It is very rare. Only in a Buddha or in a Christ, death and life fall into real accord... and the
           melody is born -- in a Kabir, in a Mahavira. SCARCE AT ALL -- very rare is the phenomenon when
           life and death come to an inner harmony: the conflict ceases, the rift is bridged, and both become
           part of one melody -- not in conflict but in cooperation.
              I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN TWO NOTES
              THAT FALL INTO A REAL ACCORDANCE SCARCE AT ALL
              FOR DEATH'S NOTE TENDS TO DOMINATE...

               Life has happened, birth has happened, now death is going to happen. So our life is predominated
           too much by death -- hence everybody is in search of security, safety, insurance: how to avoid death?
           How to prolong life a little longer? How to be here a little more? How not to die? How to escape
           from death? Death predominates -- hence money becomes so important.
               Remember, the importance of money is the importance of death, because money gives you a
           false sense of security -- that you have money, that you have the physicians, that you have the
           medicine, that you have the bank balance, that you have the life insurance, that you have friends, that
           you have a good house, that if there is some trouble you are protected. So a person becomes obsessed
           too much with money: have more and more money, create big China Walls of money around you, so
           death cannot penetrate.
               But nothing can prevent death. Your effort to prevent it simply destroys the opportunity which
           could have been a great experience, which could have flowered into love. There are only two types
           of people in the world: death-oriented and love-oriented. Life has already happened, so there is no
           question about it. Nobody is worried about birth -- that has already happened.
               In India we have three gods -- TRIMURTI, the Indian trinity -- three faces of one god: Brahma,
           Vishnu, Shiva. Brahma is the god who created the world, Vishnu is the god who maintains the
           world, and Shiva is the god who will destroy the world. Now, you will be surprised. There is not a
           single temple dedicated to Brahma, the god who created the world. Who bothers? -- once you have
           already created your work is finished. You will not find a single temple dedicated to Brahma. Yes,
           there is only one temple -- very rare, somewhere in India -- but it is impossible to find. Thousands
           and thousands of temples are there -- in one town you can find hundreds of temples, but not a single
           temple dedicated to Brahma, who has CREATED the world. What type of gratitude is this? But who
           bothers about life? -- it has already happened. Birth is not the question.
               You will find Shiva worshipped everywhere; the most worshipped god is Shiva. Millions of
           temples are dedicated to Shiva: he is the god of death. Number two is Vishnu, who maintains life.
           People worship Vishnu; but even people who worship Vishnu, when they are in danger they
           immediately run to Shiva's temple -- because he is the ultimate god. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva: three
           are the gods. Shiva is called "the great god" -- MAHADEVA; the other two are lesser gods. Death
           predominates.
              I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN THE TWO NOTES
              THAT FALL INTO A REAL ACCORDANCE SCARCE AT ALL
              FOR DEATH'S NOTE TENDS TO DOMINATE.
              BOTH THOUGH ARE RECONCILED
              IN THE DARK INTERVAL TREMBLINGLY...

               And that dark interval is love -- where death and life meet, where death and life embrace each
           other, where life and death have a love affair, where life and death come ton orgasm. Hence, there is
           tremendous attraction in love, because it is life... and fear also, because it is death too. When you
           make love to a woman or a man, you never go totally into it. You go so far, because it is life -- then
           you start hesitating, then you don't go any further, because then death is also there. It is the pause
           between the two notes, and it is dark -- the dark interval between the two.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Why does Rilke call it dark? Love IS dark. It is not just a coincidence that people have chosen
           the night to make love -- it is not just coincidence: there is some affinity between darkness and love.
           Making love in the bright light looks a little rude, vulgar, ugly. Making love in the marketplace
           where others can watch is just insane. One needs privacy -- and darkness gives you absolute privacy,
           because in the darkness you cannot see the beloved, the beloved cannot see you. You are absolutely
           alone; the other is not any interference.
               Love has a quality of darkness in it, because it has depth. Darkness is always deep, light is
           shallow. Remember, howsoever much light is there, light is always shallow. Look: the day is shallow
           -- night is so deep, infinite. Love is like the dark... deep rest... falling into tremendous depth. Death is
           also dark: all over the world, death has been painted as dark. Love is dark, death is also dark -- there
           is an affinity between love and death too.
               Many people come to me and they say, "Why are we so much afraid of love? Why? We hanker
           for it, and yet we are afraid, and when the opportunity arises we are stuck; we cannot let go."
           Because love is half death and half life -- that is the dilemma. It is THE PAUSE BETWEEN TWO
           NOTES...
           BOTH THOUGH ARE RECONCILED
           IN THE DARK INTERVAL TREMBLINGLY...
               You live in love, and you die too. Or -- you die, that's why you live. A crucifixion and a
           resurrection...
              AND THE SONG REMAINS IMMACULATE.

               Unless you have known what love is, you have not known what melody is. It is the meeting,
           orgasmic meeting, of death and life. Unless love is known, you have missed. You were born, you
           lived, and you died -- but you missed. You missed tremendously, you missed utterly, you missed
           absolutely -- you missed the interval in between. That interval is the highest pinnacle, the peak
           experience. Kabir calls it the divine melody.
               To attain it, there are four steps to be remembered. The first step: be herenow -- because love is
           possible only in the herenow. You cannot love in the past. Many people do that, but you cannot
           really love in the past. Many people simply live in the memory -- they loved in the past. And there
           are others who love in the future -- that too cannot be done. These are ways to avoid love: the past
           and the future are the ways to avoid love. So either you love in the past, or you love in the future --
           and love is possible only in the present, because only n this moment death and life are meeting... in
           the dark interval that is within you. That dark interval is always present, always present, always
           present. It is never past and it is never future.
               If you think too much -- and thinking is always of the past or of the future -- your energies will
           be distracted from feeling. Feeling is herenow. If your energies are moving into the pattern of
           thinking then you will not have enough energies to move into feelings -- and love will not be
           possible.
               So the first step is: be herenow. Future and past bring thinking; thinking destroys feeling. And a
           person too much obsessed with thinking, by and by completely forgets that he has a heart too. A man
           who is too much into thinking, by and by starts moving in such a way, starts living in such a way,
           where feeling has no say. Not listening to the feeling, by and by feeling starts falling away from him.
           There are millions of people in this state, who don't know what heart means. They think heart is just
           a pump. Their whole concentration is in the head. Head is an extremity; it is needed, it is a good
           instrument, but it has to be used as a slave. It should not be the master. Once the head becomes the
           master and the heart os left behind, you will live, you will die, but you will not know what God is
           because you will not know what love is.
               The same dark interval, first contacted looks like love... and when you are lost into it totally, it
           becomes God. Love is the beginning of God -- or God, the ultimate peak of love.
               The second step towards love, and towards the divine melody, is: learn to transform your poisons
           into honey. Because many people love, but then their love is very much contaminated by poisons --
           with hate, with jealousy, with anger, with possessiveness... a thousand and one poisons surround
           your love. Love is a delicate thing. Just think of anger, hatred, possession, jealousy: how can love
           survive?
               First, people move into the head and forget the heart -- they are in the majority. Then a minority
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           still lives a little in the heart, but then that minority does another wrong: the small light of love is
           surrounded by jealousy, hatred, anger, a thousand and one poisons. Then the whole journey becomes
           bitter. I told you, love is the ladder between heaven and hell, but the ladder is always a two-way
           thing: you can go up, you can come down. If there are poisons, the ladder will bring you down -- you
           will be entering into hell and not into heaven. And instead of attaining to a melody, your life will
           become a nauseous noise -- conflicting, traffic noise; just a maddening noise -- a crowd of many
           noises with no harmony. You will remain on the verge of madness.
                So the second thing to remember is: learn to transform your poisons into honey. How are they
           transformed? There is a very simple process. In fact, to call it transformation is not right, because
           you don't do anything; you only need patience. This is one of the greatest secrets I am telling you.
           Try it: when anger comes you are not to do anything; just sit silently and watch it. Don't be against it,
           don't be for it. Don't cooperate with it, don't repress it. Just watch it, be patient, just see what
           happens... let it rise.
                Remember one thing: don't do anything in the moment of anger -- wait. Just give it a little time
           and wait... and you will be surprised. And one day you will understand that if you can wait enough,
           anger itself becomes compassion. It is a wheel; it is moving on its own -- YOU are in a hurry. Just as
           night becomes day if you can wait a little, in the same way, anger becomes compassion if you can
           wait a little. The same energy -- just patience has to be added to it, nothing else. You try it.
                Remember one thing: never do anything in the mood when the poison is possessing you; just
           wait. When the poison has started changing into its other.... This is one of the basic laws of life: that
           everything continuously changes into its other. Just as I told you that man changes into woman,
           woman changes into man, there are periodical changes in you -- the good man becomes the bad, the
           bad man becomes the good; the saint has sinner's moments and the sinner has saintly moments... one
           has just to wait.
                Act when the saint is uppermost -- that's all. Don't act when the sinner is uppermost, don't act
           when anger is uppermost, otherwise you will repent and you will create a chain of reactions and you
           will get into karma. That's the whole meaning of getting into karma. Do anything when you are in a
           negative moment and you will be in a chain, and there is no end to it. When you are negative you do
           something, the other becomes negative, the other is ready to do something -- negativity creates more
           negativity. Negativity provokes more negativity, anger brings more anger, hostility brings more
           hostility, and things go on and on and on... and people have been entangled with each other for
           LIVES together. And they continue!
                Wait. When you are angry, this is the moment to meditate. Don't waste this moment anger is
           creating such great energy in you -- it can destroy. But energy is neutral -- the same energy that can
           destroy, can be creative. Wait. The same energy that can shatter, can shower life -- just wait. Waiting
           and not doing anything in a hurry, one day you will be surprised, seeing the inner change. You were
           full of anger, and then anger goes on and on and comes to a climax... and then the wheel turns. And
           you can see the wheel is turning, and the anger is relaxing, and energy is released, and now you are
           in a positive mood -- the creative mood. Now you can do something. Now do. Always wait for the
           positive.
                And what I am saying is not repression. I am not saying to repress the negative, I am saying
           watch the negative. Remember the difference, tremendous difference is there. I am not saying sit on
           top of the negative, forget the negative, do something against it -- no. I am not saying that. I am not
           saying when you are angry, smile -- no; that smile is false, ugly, phoney. Don't smile when you are
           angry. Then close the room, keep a mirror in front of you, see your angry face yourself. There is no
           need to show it to anybody else. It is your business, it is your energy, it is your life, and you have to
           wait for the right moment. Go on looking in the mirror: see the red face, the red eyes, the murderer
           there.
                Have you ever thought that everybody carries a murderer inside? You also carry a murderer
           inside. Don't think that the murderer exists somewhere else -- somebody else is a murderer who
           commits a murder -- no: everybody has the possibility to commit a murder. You carry the suicidal
           instinct in you.
                Just look in the mirror: these are your climates -- you have to be acquainted with them. This is
           part of the growth towards self-knowledge. You have heard so much, from Socrates to today: "Know
           thyself" -- but this is the way to know thyself. "Know thyself" does not mean sit silently and repeat,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I am Brahma, I am Soul., I am God, I am This" -- all nonsense. "Know thyself" means know all thy
           climates, all possibilities -- the murderer, the sinner, the criminal, the saint, the holy man inside you,
           the virtue, the God, the Devil -- know all the climates, the whole range of it, and by knowing it you
           will be discovering secrets, keys.
                You will see that anger cannot be there forever -- or can it be? You have not tried it; you try it --
           it cannot be there forever. If you don't do anything, what is going to happen? Can anger hang there
           forever and forever? Nothing hangs there forever. Happiness comes and goes, unhappiness comes
           and goes. Can't you see a simple law? -- that everything changes, nothing remains permanent. So
           why be in a hurry? Anger has come -- it will be going. You just wait, have a little patience. Just look
           in the mirror and wait. Let anger be there, let your face go ugly and murderous -- but wait, watch.
                Don't repress and don't act according to the anger, and soon you will see that the face is
           becoming softer, eyes are becoming calmer, the energy is changing -- the male turning into female...
           and soon you will be full of radiance. The same redness that was anger, now is a certain radiance -- a
           beauty on your face, in your eyes. Now go out: the time has come to act.
                Act when you are positive. Don't force positivity, wait for the positivity to come on its own. This
           is the secret -- when I say "learn to transform your poisons into honey" this is what I mean.
                And third: share. Whenever it is negative, keep it to yourself. Whenever it is positive, share.
           Ordinarily, people share their negativities; they don't share their positivities. Humanity is simply
           stupid. When they are happy they don't share, they are very miserly. When they are unhappy they are
           very very spendthrift -- then they are very much ready to share. When people smile they smile very
           economically -- just so, so far. But when they are angry they are totally angry. The third step is to
           share the positivity. That will bring your love flowing riverlike, arising from your heart. Your
           dilemma of the heart will start moving when you share.
                I have heard a very strange saying of Jorge Luis Borges. Listen to it...
              GIVE THAT WHICH IS HOLY UNTO THE DOGS
              CAST THY PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
              FOR THE THING THAT MATTERETH IS GIVING.

              You have heard the contrary saying: Don't throw to the dogs, and don't cast pearls before the
           swine, because they will not understand. Says Borges...
              GIVE THAT WHICH IS HOLY UNTO THE DOGS
              CAST THY PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
              FOR THE THING THAT MATTERETH IS GIVING.

                The real thing is not what you are giving -- pearls and holiness and love -- and TO WHOM you
           are giving; that is not the point. The point is that you are giving. When you have, give it.
                Gurdjieff used to say, "All that I hoarded was lost, and all that I gave is mine. All that I gave is
           still with me, and all that I hoarded is lost, gone." True: you have only that which you have shared.
           You have only as much love as you have shared. Love is not a property to be hoarded, it is a
           radiance, a fragrance to be shared. The more you share, the more you have; the less you share, the
           less you have. The more you share, the more will be arising from your innermost core -- it is infinite:
           more will be welling up. Draw water from a well, and more water comes running fresh into the well.
           Don't draw the water, close the well, become a miser, and no more springs will function. By and by,
           spring will become dead, blocked; and the water that is in the well will die, will become stale, dirty.
           The flowing water is fresh... the flowing love is fresh.
                So the third step towards love is: share your positivities, share your life, share all that you have.
           Whatsoever beautiful is with you, never hoard it. Your wisdom, share; your prayer, share; your love,
           your happiness, your delight, share. Yes, if you cannot find anybody, share it with dogs -- but share.
           Share it with rocks -- but share. When you have pearls, throw them -- don't bother whether they are
           swine or saints, just throw them. THE THING THAT MATTERETH IS GIVING.
                Hoarding poisons the heart. All hoarding is poisonous. If you share, your system will be free of
           poisons. And when you give, don't bother whether it is responded to or not. Don't even wait for a
           thank-you. Feel grateful to the person who allowed you to share something with him. Not otherwise
           -- don't wait, saying deep in your heart that he should be thankful because you shared something
           with him. No -- feel thankful yourself that he was ready to listen to you, to share some energy with
           you... that he was ready to listen to your song... that he was ready to see your dance... that when you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           had come to give to him he didn't reject -- he could have rejected.
               Sharing is one of the most spiritual virtues, one of the greatest spiritual virtues.
               And the fourth: be nothing. Once you start thinking that you are somebody, you stop; then love
           does not flow. Love flows only out of somebody who is a nobody. Love abides only in nothingness.
           When you are empty, there is love. When you are full of the ego, love disappears. Love and ego
           cannot exist together. Love can exist with God but cannot exist with the ego, because love and God
           are synonymous. Love and ego are impossible to be together. So be nothing. That is the meaning of
           being humble, meek. Says Jesus: Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

              These four steps -- and now the sutras will be easy to understand. First...
              TO WHOM SHALL I GO TO LEARN ABOUT MY BELOVED?
              "To whom shall I go to learn about my Beloved?' Kabir says: Where should I go to learn about my
              Beloved? Where is my Beloved? Where is his abode? and who can show it to me?

              KABIR SAYS: "AS YOU NEVER MAY FIND THE FOREST
              IF YOU IGNORE THE TREE,
              SO HE MAY NEVER BE FOUND IN ABSTRACTIONS."

               A tremendously significant sutra, of very great value -- like a criterion. Listen: I come across
           people who say, "We love humanity" -- and they have not loved a single human being. Humanity is
           an abstraction. How can you love humanity -- just tell me? Where will you find humanity/ How will
           you hug humanity? How will you kiss humanity/ No, these are tricks of the mind. Wherever you
           come across anyone, you will always come across a human being.
               Humanity is nowhere; there are only human beings and human beings. Humanity is an
           abstraction, an idea; it just exists in the minds of philosophers -- nowhere else. But a very tricky
           idea: you can avoid human beings in the name of humanity -- you can even kill human beings in the
           name of humanity. You can say, "I am serving humanity, and you are coming in the way, so I will
           destroy you." That's what Adolf Hitler says, that's what Joseph Stalin says, that's what Chairman
           Mao says, that's what all the politicians of the world say: "We love humanity. To save humanity, we
           will have to kill human beings." these are very tricky ideas.
              KABIR SAYS: "AS YOU NEVER MAY FIND THE FOREST
              IF YOU IGNORE THE TREE...

               The forest exists not -- `forest' is just a word. That which exists is the tree. Trees and trees and
           trees -- they exist; and if you start looking for the forest and ignoring the trees, you will never find
           the forest. Maybe that's why so many people look for God and never find him -- they look for an
           abstraction. God is like the forest: you will find a tree, a rock, a man, a woman, a dog, a snake, a star
           -- these things you will find; you will not find God anywhere. God is the name of the totality. He
           exists in these particulars; he has nowhere any other existence. He exists in the snake as the snake,
           and he exists in the tree as the tree, and he exists in the rock as the rock, and he exists in the man as
           the man.
               Kabir is indicating something of great importance. People ask; Where is God? Standing in the
           forest, they are asking, "Where is the forest?" If you say, "You are surrounded by forest," they will
           say, "This is an oak tree, this is a pine tree -- but where is the forest? I know there are trees, this is a
           pine tree -- but where is the forest? I know there are trees, but where is the forest? I want to know the
           forest." But this man will go mad and he will never come across the forest. Denying the tree, there is
           no forest. The forest exists in the oak, in the pine, in the cedar. The forest manifests into a thousand
           and one forms. The forest in itself cannot be found -- that is just an abstraction, a universal.
               Find the particular and forget the universal. That is the difference between real religion and false
           religion. False religion is dedicated to abstractions, real religion is dedicated to particulars. Love the
           man, love the woman, love the child, love the animal, love the tree, love the stars.... Don't ask for
           God, and you will find God.
               Loving a woman, loving an animal, loving a tree, by and by you will become aware that the tree
           is not just a tree. The tree far transcends the tree itself; it is transcendental. Loving a woman, you
           will know that she is not just the body, not just the mind; something FAR transcendental is hidden
           behind. The woman becomes a window -- a window into God. Your own child becomes a window
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unto God.
               Love the particular, the concrete, the real, and you can see what mischief people have done in the
           name of abstractions. Christians fighting against Mohammedans, Mohammedans fighting against
           Hindus, and asked, "For what?" -- they say, "God." The Mohammedan god is an abstraction, the
           Christian god is an abstraction, the Hindu god is an abstraction. Only godliness exists. And you kill
           the Hindu, and you kill the Mohammedan, and you kill the Christian: you kill real gods in the name
           of false ideas; you kill real persons in the name of theories.
               Kabir says: This is no way -- so I am not going to ask anybody, "Where is my Beloved?" I am
           going to love, and find my Beloved in loving. I am not going to ask, "Where is God? What is God?"
           and the definition of it. No, I am going to start loving -- and through love the definition is going to
           come into me. The comprehension will come through love -- not through ideation, not through
           thinking. This is the way of the heart -- to start loving. And the way of the mind is to go on thinking.
              AVADHU BEGAM DES HAMARA

              And Kabir says: By loving, I have come to a point where no misery exists.
              O SADHU: MY LAND IS A SORROWLESS LAND.

               Love knows no sorrow. If you still know sorrow, you don't know love. Love knows no sorrow,
           no sadness. How can love know sorrow? It is impossible -- because love is a transcendence if life
           and death, both. It is going beyond life and death, both. It is the pause between two notes. It is higher
           than life, it is higher than death... how can there be sorrow? And it is a pause, silence... how can
           there be sorrow?
              O SADHU: MY LAND IS A SORROWLESS LAND.
              I CRY ALOUD TO ALL, TO THE KING AND THE BEGGAR,
              THE EMPEROR AND THE FAKIR --
              WHOSOEVER SEEKS FOR SHELTER IN THE HIGHEST,
              LET ALL COME AND SETTLE IN MY LAND...

               And Kabir says: Come to the land of love. Don't go on fighting about doctrines, dogmas. Don't
           go on hair-splitting -- don't waste time. I have arrived -- and I declare to all and sundry, to kings and
           to beggars, and to emperors and to fakirs, "Come to my land!"
               AVADHU BEGAM DES HAMARA... and I have arrived in a country where there is no sorrow.
           Why are you wasting your time in abstractions and theories and philosophisations? Come! -- LET
           ALL COME AND SETTLE IN MY LAND...
           LET THE WEARY COME AND LAY HIS BURDENS HERE...
               Only love can become the rest, only love is the shelter. You can find anything, except love, but
           you will only be finding new tensions and nothing else; and new burdens -- and those burdens are
           heavy.
               Jesus says: Come to me all those who are heavily burdened. My burden is light. Come to me, rest
           in me.
              ... LET ALL COME AND SETTLE IN MY LAND:
              LET THE WEARY COME AND LAY HIS BURDENS HERE...

                Only in love, burdens disappear. Because what in fact is the basic burden? The basic burden is
           that of the ego: I am -- that is the basic burden. All other burdens are accumulated on this center.
           This is the very hub -- I am; then you accumulate many burdens. The center has to be destroyed.
           Love makes you a nobody, love takes you off your ground, love destroys your ego utterly. It
           annihilates, it kills you completely, and it gives you a new life -- a life without any ego: a humble
           life, a simple life, a life which God can live through. You become a hollow bamboo... and his music
           starts flowing through you. You don't hinder, because you are not there to hinder him. If you are, you
           are the hindrance.
                People come to me and they ask: How can I go beyond sorrow? I tell them: You cannot go
           beyond sorrow. There IS a transcendence, but YOU cannot go; you will have to drop before it. Yes,
           there is a state of sorrowlessness, but you cannot enter into it; you will have to drop out of it.
           Something within you will enter, but not you. Something within you will go into that land of no
           sorrow, but not you: you are the sorrow.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Have you not watched it? -- the greater your ego, the greater sorrow it creates. It hurts -- it is like
           a wound. The lesser the ego, the less it hurts -- the wound is healed. When there is no ego, it hurts
           not at all. Even if somebody insults you it does not hurt, because you are not -- how can he insult
           you? The insult hits you only when the wound exists -- you are defeated because you wanted to be
           victorious. If the ego is not, what is the difference between victory and defeat? What is the difference
           between success and failure?
               All distinctions are created by the ego. Wherever ego feels fulfilled, it is success, victory. When
           ego feels unfulfilled, it is failure, defeat. All defeats and victories are because of the ego. When there
           is no ego, you simply live without victory, without failure. You simply live without success, without
           failure. You simply live... and that simple life is the religious life.
               That's what Kabir mans by what he calls SADHU. SADHU means the simple, SADHU means
           the noncomplex, SADHU means the humble. That's what I call "sannyasin."
              SO LIVE HERE, MY BROTHER,
              THAT YOU MAY CROSS WITH EASE TO THAT OTHER SHORE.
              "So live here, my brother, that you may cross with ease to that other shore." You can live in two ways:
              you can live in such a way that you become burdened so much with this shore that the journey
              becomes impossible to go to the other. Live lightly... so when the day comes to go to the other shore,
              you can simply jump on your feet and start moving.
              I have heard...

               When Pompei was burning, and the whole town was rushing out, and people were carrying
           whatsoever they could carry -- jewels, gold, silver, valuable things.... And they were all crying and
           weeping because they had much that they could not carry -- somebody has missed his child,
           somebody has missed his wife. It was a mad crowd -- the whole town on fire -- and they were all
           rushing out of the town just to save their lives. It was a chaos.
               Only one man, it is said -- it was three o'clock in the morning -- only one man was coming out of
           the town very quietly, silently, as if nothing had happened. He was a mystic. He had only a
           walking-stick. And many people looked at him and said, "You look undisturbed." He said, "For what
           to get disturbed? I have nothing else -- just this walking-stick; and this is my time to go for a
           morning walk. So, for what?... I have nothing to lose!"
               Live here in such a way that the here does not become too important for you -- don't become
           obsessed. It is good to live in a house, but when the time comes to leave the house one should be
           able to go without looking back. Be with people -- but if your wife dies, one should be able to say
           goodbye... silently, lovingly, with no complaint, with no grudge. Live in such a way that you don't
           become entangled too much.
              SO LIVE HERE, MY BROTHER,
              THAT YOU MAY CROSS WITH EASE TO THAT OTHER SHORE.

                And that other shore is not very far away, the other shore surrounds you everywhere. If you start
           living rightly... and what do I mean by "rightly"? Those four steps: be herenow, learn to transform
           your poisons into honey, share your positivity, and be nothing. That's what I mean by "living
           rightly."
                If you live rightly, in twenty-four hours' time you will cross many times to this shore from that,
           from that to this, from this to that -- many times God will penetrate you, radiate you. Many times you
           will be suddenly on the other shore. Walking on the street... and suddenly he is there. The sun is
           falling on you, the sunrays falling behind the trees... and suddenly the other shore is there. It is not
           somewhere far away near other galaxies; it is always here. It is a quality of your awareness, it is a
           quality of your understanding, it is a quality of your meditation. If you are unburdened here,
           unobsessed with the worldly things....
                Live in the world but don't allow the world to live in you. And then you will be alone even in the
           crowd... and even in the crowd you will see the other shore. The other shore becomes so close that
           you can cross the barrier any moment you want. It is so easy, like breathing -- but the art has to be
           learnt. It is a question of art, skill. Be skillful. Love, but don't allow your love to become lust. Love,
           but don't allow your love to become attachment. Love, but don't allow your love to become a
           dependence, a slavery. And then... then love tremendously. Then there is no fear. And loving, you
           will be able to cross to the other shore without any difficulty.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Use money, but don't become money-minded. I'm not saying escape from money, and I'm not
           saying escape from your wife and children and desert them and go to the Himalayan caves -- I am
           not teaching any sort of foolishness to you. And neither is Kabir in favor of that. Kabir is
           tremendously life-affirmative, he's absolutely for life. In fact, anybody who knows God will be for
           life, because this life is of God. If you escape from life you are escaping from God himself -- from
           the very opportunity where he was available. Don't escape anywhere. Rather than putting effort into
           escaping, put more effort into becoming aware. That will be the REAL escape: without escaping
           anywhere, you will create a cave in your heart... and you will start living there.
                And the other shore is always by the corner. Any moment you want, you can move... and you can
           have as many drinks out of God in the day as you like. Looking at a flower, you can drink him... and
           the other shore opens. It is a vision -- it is not a material thing. Looking at a roseflower, silently,
           lovingly, without any verbalization inside -- total silence... and the silence becomes luminous, and
           the silence becomes a song, and a vision arises. The flower disappears, you disappear... and God is
           there. In the disappearance of the subject and the object, the gap arises. Between the two notes, the
           pause... and suddenly you are on the other shore.
              I AM THE PAUSE BETWEEN TWO NOTES
              THAT FALL INTO A REAL ACCORDANCE SCARCE AT ALL
              FOR DEATH'S NOTE TENDS TO DOMINATE.
              BOTH THOUGH ARE RECONCILED
              IN THE DARK INTERVAL TREMBLINGLY
              AND THE SONG REMAINS IMMACULATE.

               Look at the roseflower. You will tremble and the roseflower will tremble and there will be a
           pulsation between you and both will disappear... and the other shore. And suddenly you are
           transfigured -- transplanted into another world.
               To a real SADHU, to a real sannyasin, to a real devotee, to a real seeker, disciple, this becomes
           very simple -- just like blinking the eyes. Close your eyes and you are on the other shore, open your
           eyes and you are on the other shore. The other shore is not something far away, or after death: the
           other shore is here between life and death. Each moment it is here -- between past and future it is
           here: between past and future the little gap, just a little gap, a split-second, and it is there.
           The present is the presence of God...
              SO LIVE HERE, MY BROTHER,
              THAT YOU MAY CROSS WITH EASE TO THAT OTHER SHORE.
              IT IS A LAND WITHOUT EARTH OR SKY,
              WITHOUT MOON OR STARS;
              FOR ONLY THE RADIANCE OF TRUTH
              SHINES IN MY LORD'S DURBAR.

              There is no earth, there is no sky; it is a nonmaterial dimension. There is nothing -- not even you.
              IT IS A LAND WITHOUT EARTH OR SKY,
              WITHOUT MOON OR STARS;
              FOR ONLY THE RADIANCE OF TRUTH
              SHINES IN the Kingdom of God.
              "Only the radiance of truth..." Only truth IS on the other shore -- neither the seeker nor the sought,
              neither the observer nor the observed, neither matter nor consciousness -- only truth, only the ultimate
              science. And you become one with it, you are not separate from it: you become part of that divine
              melody.

              KABIR SAYS: "O BELOVED BROTHER:
              NAUGHT IS ESSENTIAL SAVE TRUTH."

               Nothing else is essential. Search, seek, try to know what truth is -- and truth is not in
           abstractions, and truth is not in scriptures, and truth is not to be found in the dialogues of the
           theologians. Truth is herenow. Truth IS: you have to become available to it. Truth is in the opening
           of your heart -- love will become the bridge between you and truth.
               Right now you are trying to live with the world, with the ego-bridge. Ego separates, love joins.
           Love is the only yoga -- `yoga' means union. Ego separates, makes you an island -- aloof. And look
           at the irony: first you cultivate the ego, and then you say, "I feel very lonely." Ego makes you feel
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lonely, it makes you lonely. Ego makes you like a small island. Love... again you have become the
           continent. Love is the bridge between you and that which is.
               Kabir sings the song of love. And he says: through love you will attain to that pause between two
           notes... where divine melody continues... where God is playing on his veena. And that is very close
           by. Right now, this very moment, it is surrounding you. It is within your reach, almost within your
           grasp -- just a little more understanding, a little more awareness. Live in awareness. Let these four
           steps become your whole religion, your whole Torah -- all else is just commentary.
               Be herenow... just this moment: you see the beauty of it? This very moment the benediction is
           here, God is here. When you are silent he speaks, when you are listening he sings.
               And learn to transform your poisons into honey, so all barriers are destroyed.
               Then third, start sharing: whatsoever you have, share it. Share your beauty, share your song,
           share your life. In sharing, you will be enriched. Don't hoard. The moment you start hoarding you are
           going against God. The moment you start hoarding you are trying to depend on your own self; you
           have lost trust in life. Give it! As life has given it to you, give it -- more will be coming.
               And fourth, be nothing. Nothing is the source of all, nothing is the source of infinity... nothing is
           God. Nothing means NIRVANA. Be nothing -- and in being nothing, you will have attained to the
           whole. In being something, you will miss; in being nothing, you will arrive home.

               These are the sutras of Kabir. Kabir is one of the greatest mystics of the world. Meditate on
           Kabir -- pay attention to him, to what he says. And he is a very simple man, not learned in any way
           -- all that he says is out of his experience. He is not a scholar, he does not know anything about the
           Veda and the Koran and the Bible. All that he says is out of his own existential experience. He is not
           a theoretician or a philosopher; he is a poet. And not only a poet, he is a mystic poet -- and the
           difference is that the poet sometimes has glimpses of God, and then he falls back again -- rare
           moments of flight.
               In India we have a saying that if you love the poetry of any poet never go to see the poet, because
           then you will be disappointed. You will find a very ordinary man -- even more ordinary than
           ordinary people. Or you may find somebody ugly -- and he has been talking so beautifully. And you
           will find somebody vulgar, immoral, obscene -- and his poetry was so spiritual. The saying is right:
           if you love the poetry forget the poet, never go to see the poet. Because the poet only jumps -- in rare
           moments of insight he flies high, he's turned on, some visions descend in him... then he is closed
           again, turned off; then he is an ordinary man. Only sometimes, like lightning, poetry comes to him.
               That is the difference between a poet and a mystic poet. A mystic poet has arrived. It is not a
           flight of his imagination, it is not just a vision -- now it is his very life. He breathes in God, he lives
           in God, he lives like God, he IS god. So when he says something, it is not just accidental; when he
           says something, it is from his very core.
               Kabir is a mystic poet. Listen to his melody, sing his song... and if you have understood, then
           become a little more aware. And don't look for the forest! There are only trees, there is no forest --
           `forest' is just a collective noun, an abstraction. There is no God high in the heaven; there are gods
           and gods and gods -- the tree god, the rock god, the river god, the man god, the woman god -- there
           are gods and gods and gods... but there is no God.
               This whole existence is divine. Love the trees if you want to know anything about the forest.
           Love people if you want to know anything about God. Each particular manifestation can become a
           window, a door. Don't be obsessed too much by words -- the word `god' is not God, the word `love'
           is not love, and the word `fire' of course is not fire. Drop words, and move more and more towards
           the existential.
               Feel more, rather than thinking. Through feeling, your prayer will arise... and through feeling,
           you will be dissolved one day. And when you are dissolved, God is.




                                                 The Divine Melody
                                                       Chapter #10
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                         Chapter title: : Married for eternity
           10 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7701100
              ShortTitle: MELODY10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 89 mins




              WHY DOES MAN CONTINUE TO LIVE THE WAY HE LIVES -- IN MISERY, IN AGONY, IN
              SUFFERING?


               Man lives under a great hypnosis. Man lives under deep conditionings: the society has
           conditioned you, the state has conditioned you, the priest, the politician, the culture, the religion, the
           church -- all their investments are there in your deep sleep. They don't want you to be awake. Once
           humanity is awake, there can be no politician possible. Once humanity is awake, there can be no
           priest possible. Once humanity is awake, temples, churches, religions, will disappear from the earth.
           This whole exploitation is possible because man lives in sleep. The exploitation is possible because
           man is miserable -- only a miserable humanity can be exploited.
               It is a vicious circle: only a miserable man can be exploited, and when you exploit him he
           becomes more miserable. When he is more miserable you can exploit him even more -- and so on
           and so forth.
               A happy man is a rebellious man. Happiness is tremendous rebellion. No society has yet been
           capable of allowing people to be happy -- it is dangerous, too dangerous. How can you send people
           to war if they are happy? How can you teach them foolish things like Nazism, communism, fascism,
           nationalism? If people are happy they will laugh at your foolishness, at all your ideologies -- they
           will take them as jokes, they won't take them seriously. They will laugh at the very idea that
           somebody can be a Christian, somebody can be a Hindu and somebody can be a Mohammedan, and
           that then they can fight for centuries and kill each other.
               Gurdjieff used to love a parable. It is of tremendous significance. Meditate over the parable.

               There was a rich magician who had a great many sheep. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor
           did he want to erect a fence about the pasture where his sheep were grazing -- he was very miserly
           and very mean. The sheep consequently often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines, and so on;
           and above all, they ran away -- for they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and skins, and this
           they did not like.
               At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep and suggested to them first of all
           that they were immortal, and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned -- that,
           on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant. Secondly, he suggested that the
           magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the
           world for them. And in the third place, he suggested to them that if anything at all was going to
           happen to them, it was not going to happen just then, at any rate not that day, and therefore they had
           no need to think about it. Further, the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all:
           to some of them he suggested that they were lions, to others that they were eagles, to others that they
           were men, and to others that they were magicians.
               And after this, all his cares and worries about the sheep came to an end. They never ran away
           again but quietly awaited the time when the magician would require their flesh and skins.
               This tale is a very good illustration of man's position.

              You have been hypnotized to remain in misery. You have been taught, conditioned, to remain in
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           misery. And the trick is very subtle. For example -- try to understand it -- first, everybody has been
           told that happiness exists in the future. This is absurd, this is nonsense. Happiness exists herenow.
           You need not achieve it, you bring it with yourself -- it is part of your innermost core. But every
           child has been taught -- suggestion and suggestion and suggestion -- that unless you have a big house
           and a double-car garage and so many gadgets and much fame and a certain amount of bank balance
           and success in the market, you will not be happy. As if happiness depends on some commodities! as
           if happiness depends on anything. Happiness does not depend on anything; every child is born
           happy.
               These ambitions create misery. They never make you happy, they create misery. Once the mind
           becomes ambitious the seeds of misery are planted deeply in you. Now you will never be happy,
           because the future never comes, tomorrow never comes -- and your hope hangs in the tomorrow
           which never comes.
               You may have a big house, but you will not be happy because there will always be bigger houses
           than your house, and that will create misery. You may have a beautiful woman, but there are
           thousands, many more beautiful women in the world, and that will not make you happy. You will
           have money, but even that won't make you happy, because more is always possible. This is the trick:
           "more" has been implanted in you like an electrode -- "Have MORE, then you will be happy." Now
           how can you have more? Whatsoever you have, you can always imagine more. You have ten
           thousand rupees, you can imagine twenty thousand. You have twenty thousand, you can imagine
           forty thousand. How are you going to stop that "more"? You cannot have more; whatsoever you
           have will always be less than the more -- and that will create misery.
               You have been taught from the very beginning to compare. Comparison brings misery. Each
           individual is incomparable; nobody else is like you -- how can you compare? Comparison is relevant
           when there are two things alike -- you can compare one Ford car with another Ford car, they are
           alike. But how can you compare two men? Impossible. Each is so individual that all comparison is
           going to bring misery.
               The moment you compare, you are creating hell around you; and from the very childhood you
           have been taught, every child is being told: "Be like that. Look at the neighbor's child, how
           intelligent -- and you are stupid. Look at somebody's daughter, how mature she looks -- and you are
           immature. Look at somebody else, how clean his living is -- and you are dirty." Now these
           comparisons make you feel miserable. You are yourself: there is nobody like you, there has never
           been anybody like you, there is going to be nobody like you ever. God never repeats.
               You are unique. And remember, when I am saying "unique" I am not saying it in a comparative
           sense -- I am not saying you are more unique than others, I am simply saying that each is unique.
           Uniqueness is very ordinary -- everybody is unique. Once you have started comparison you are
           going to be neurotic -- sooner or later you will land up on some psychiatrist's couch.
               Flowers are not mad and not miserable, because they don't compare. Have you ever thought of a
           roseflower comparing with other roses? No comparison, no neurosis... alone, happy, unique, offered
           to God.
               Comparison creates tension, anxiety. And these things have been taught to you: you have been
           taught you are a Christian, a Hindu, a Mohammedan -- now how can consciousness be confined to
           ideologies? Ideologies are just mind-products; consciousness is far beyond, far above. Ideologies are
           just fictions -- nothing to do with the truth. The truth is your consciousness -- but you pay more
           attention to the ideology, and you have forgotten the truth. You fight, you unnecessarily quarrel, you
           argue, you prove, you disprove. You have been taught that somebody is an Indian, somebody is a
           Chinese, somebody is a Japanese; political ideologies -- you are a communist, you are a fascist, this
           and that -- a thousand and one diseases have been implanted in you... and you want to be happy. You
           will have to drop all this.
               And you can drop it, and you can drop it in a single stroke -- there is no need to drop it by and
           by. If you drop it by and by, you will never drop it -- because if you drop it by and by, meanwhile
           you will be carrying it, and you will be watering it, and you will be helping it.
               Drop it in a single stroke of a sword: that stroke is what I call understanding. An intelligent
           person, seeing all this, immediately drops it. IMMEDIATELY, I say. I don't say that he thinks,
           "Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I will drop it" -- otherwise he has moved into misery again.
           Tomorrow? -- misery has entered. Or he says, "How can I drop it right now? Preparation has to be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           made: I will go to a yoga school and do yoga ASANAS and stand on my head -- then I will drop it."
           You are not going to drop it then. If you cannot drop it while your head is in the right place, you are
           not going to drop it when the head will be in the wrong place!
                Standing on the head, you will become more stupid. Standing on the head is dangerous: more
           blood flows towards your brain. And the brain tissues are very subtle -- when too much blood flows
           towards the brain, those subtle tissues are broken. You will never find a yogi who is also intelligent
           -- it is impossible. He will have good health -- that's one thing -- but he will not be intelligent. You
           will find all sorts of stupidities in his being. He will be healthy like an animal. Animals are more
           healthy, certainly, and one of the reasons why they have grown intelligence is that their head is still
           flooded too much with blood -- it is parallel to the earth. Man has evolved consciousness because he
           stood on two feet, and the head went up, and the head went against gravitation. Now because of
           gravitation the head cannot get too much blood, so subtle tissues have grown in the head: those
           subtle tissues are your basic mechanism for intelligence.
                So if you think that tomorrow you will do something, prepare yourself, and then you will drop,
           then you have not understood. It is as if a snake crosses your path and you say, "First I will prepare,
           then I will jump out of the way." The snake is not as foolish as you... and I don't think you will do it
           -- the moment you see the snake, you will jump. The action is instant, immediate; you will jump out
           of the way. That's what I mean -- a single stroke of the sword. If you understand me, then you will
           simply drop your being Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, English, American, Indian -- you will
           simply drop comparison. I say "simply" -- you will not prepare for it; you will simply drop the idea
           of more, because you will see into it. It is bringing misery. You will stop comparing.
                When comparison has stopped, the "more" has been dropped, and foolish ideologies have been
           thrown away, suddenly you sill see a delight arising in your being, a celebration -- it was waiting.
           The hypnosis has been broken.
                The difficulty is not that you cannot drop it right now -- you can. But you don't want to, because
           you have become too familiar with it. You talk -- you SAY that you would like to be happy, but you
           are afraid to be happy. In fact you don't dare to be happy. You have lived with this hypnosis for so
           long, you have become too familiar with it: if you move away from it, you will be moving into the
           unknown, into the strange -- that creates a trembling. You have become accustomed to it. Now it
           does not hurt you really; you have become dull and dead. You can carry it. Man has a tremendous
           capacity to become adjusted to anything -- to any climate, to any situation, to any illness, to any
           misery; man has infinite capacity for adjustment. You have become adjusted to it.
                You are not happy -- that is certain -- but you are not miserable either. The misery has become
           your companion.
           I have heard...

               Into a cross-maker's shop one day came a man who wearily took down his cross from his
           shoulder and set it on e floor.
           "And what can I do for you?" the cross-maker asked him.
           "I want to exchange my burden," said the man. "This one is too heavy for me to carry. I stagger
           under the load."
           "Very well," replied the cross-maker. "Take your pick of all these crosses and see which suits you
           best."
               So the man gladly set about trying them on. The first was very light for a moment or two, but as
           he walked about, testing it, he concluded that it wouldn't do, for soon it became heavier than his old
           one. so he tried another, and another, and another, until at last he found one lighter than all the rest.
           "I can bear this one easily," he told the cross-maker. "May I have it?"
           "Very well," the cross-maker answered. "But that is the one you brought in with you."

               People become accustomed.... If you have been carrying a certain misery load, a certain cross of
           anguish, anxiety, you have become accustomed to it -- it is almost part of your being. Now anything
           new will be more disturbing: with the new, you will have to earn new ways of being. And happiness?
           -- you have forgotten the very language of it. You don't even remember what happiness means; you
           don't remember that you ever experienced it. It seems to be just a dream -- very fragile, not solid
           enough to catch hold of; you cannot hold it in your hand and see it.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                What do you mean by happiness? When was the last time you were happy? Can you remember
           any moment in your life when you were really happy -- REALLY really happy? And you will be
           surprised -- the whole life looks like a desert. You have been hoping... but you have not experienced
           happiness. Now this whole desert-like life is what you mean when you say, "I am." This is your ego
           -- all this pus, all this canceric state, all this disease and illness, all this neurosis -- this is what you
           call "I am." This is your ego.
                And if I say to you, "Drop the ego," you say, "How can I drop the ego? Why should I surrender?
           Why should I surrender to anybody?" This "I" is nothing but your past. Look deep into it, analyze it
           a little -- you will not find anything in it but just miseries and miseries and miseries... hurts insults,
           irritations, nightmares.... But you fight for it. You are not ready to drop it, you are really clinging to
           it.
                Surrender simply means an understanding: Enough of this "I" -- now I drop it. The moment you
           drop "I", you have dropped the whole hypnosis that the society has forced you to go through. The
           moment you drop the ego, you have dropped the state, the religion, the church, the society, the
           parents, the school, the university, the civilization, the culture: you have dropped all conditioning.
           And then suddenly you will see an upsurge of tremendous bliss arising in you. It was there, waiting
           -- just remove the weight, and the spring can flow again.
                Happy you were born -- each child is born in happiness. Each child is born for happiness -- this
           whole life is a great celebration. But there are people who would not allow you to be happy. Have
           you observed it? Whenever you start feeling a little happiness you also feel, side by side, a little guilt
           arising -- as if you are doing something wrong. If you are unhappy, there is no guilt; if you are
           happy, there is guilt. You must be doing something wrong -- you are feeling happy?
                People come to me, and they say that doing meditations, dancing, singing, sometimes happiness
           comes like a breeze... but then guilt. It feels as if the whole world is so miserable..."and I am feeling
           happy? Everybody is so miserable, in this ocean of misery, and I am feeling happy? -- no, this is not
           good. How can I be happy?" People even ask ME: they ask me "How can you be happy when the
           whole world is miserable?" As if, if I am also miserable, the whole world will be less miserable. It
           will be MORE -- one plus! At least one person is happy -- that much burden is removed from the
           world.
                You feel very very afraid to laugh -- as if you are going to commit a sin. When you are
           miserable, you feel very very at ease -- no problem. The whole world is miserable; you are not going
           against anybody, you are just like everybody else. To dance and to sing and to celebrate, you become
           individual; you are no more like everybody else. And people will also feel offended if you are happy.
           You will feel guilty, people will feel offended. Nobody forgives a man who is happy: How can you
           DARE to be happy!
                People only allow mad people to be happy. They say: Okay -- he is mad. If a man laughs loudly
           and dances in the street, they say he is mad. If you are happy they can forgive you only if you allow
           them to call you mad. If they can label you as mad then nobody is worried; then they can smile at
           you -- they know that you are mad. Otherwise, how can a man be happy? -- he must have gone mad.
                People have forgotten the very language... but you can regain it, because it is your natural thing.
           It is nothing to be learnt; you have just to unlearn what the society has put on you. You have to
           regain your childhood, you have to be reborn. That's what Jesus said to Nicodemus: You will have to
           be reborn. You have to die as you are, and you have to be reborn. You have to wash yourself clean of
           society.
                Once the society is dropped, God starts singing a song in you. He is still singing in the birds,
           because they don't have a society and they don't have to go to schools and they don't have to be
           cultured and conditioned. He is still singing in the trees, because the trees have not yet created
           priests and politicians. He is still singing in the waves of the ocean.... Except in man, God is happy
           everywhere. Something has gone wrong with man.
                Gurdjieff used to say -- just a fictitious idea -- that when God created man, man was very happy
           -- so happy that God became afraid. And man was so happy that he wouldn't even listen to God --
           who bothers? And man was so happy, and he was so much involved in his happiness, that he would
           not even worship God -- he would not pray. Then God had to think about it -- this is too much! No
           parent allows children to go so far. Mm? -- you have to be respectful, obedient. That's the Christian
           story also -- that Adam disobeyed: that is the first sin.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Gurdjieff used to say that then God became very much afraid, and he implanted a subtle
           mechanism at the source of the spine: what Hindus call KUNDALINI, he used to laughingly call
           "kundabuffer." God placed a small mechanism just under everybody's spine; a small mechanism --
           kundabuffer. It does not allow your happiness to reach to your consciousness, it is a buffer.
               And maybe he is right -- the story is fictitious, but he is right; there is a certain kundabuffer. God
           has not implanted it, but society has implanted it. In fact, your gods are creations of the society. All
           your gods are nothing but creations of the cunning priests -- they have put in a kundabuffer. Maybe
           that's why all the religions are so much against sex, because being against sex is the way to create the
           kundabuffer.
               Sex energy is just at the source of the spine. If a child is taught from the very beginning to be
           against sex.... Sex is sin, and sex has to be destroyed, or at least controlled -- never allowed to go too
           far, never allowed to be spontaneous; has to be put under many controls, laws, regulations. These
           laws, regulations, suppressions, they become the buffer: the kundabuffer is created. Then sex energy
           remains repressed at the source of the spine and does not rise in the spine.
               That's what they say in the East: Once the sex energy rises in the spine, you start becoming very
           very happy. When the sex energy reaches to the seventh -- SAHASRAR -- you flower into a lotus
           bloom. Your life then is a deep ecstasy.
               This repressed sexual energy is your repressed happiness. By repressing sexual energy,
           happiness has been repressed. By repressing sexual energy, you have been cut from your roots.
               In Japan they have a four-hundred-year-old tree, just six inches high. The tree was planted in a
           saucer four hundred years ago, and the man who planted it continued to cut its roots. The roots were
           never allowed to grow, and the saucer has very little soil in it -- just a little bit. For four hundred
           years, the tree has remained just six inches in height... if it had been allowed, it would have touched
           the clouds.
               That has happened to man -- your roots are being cut. You are not allowed to touch the clouds,
           you are not allowed to dance, not allowed to sing. You are allowed a little bit -- but that is controlled
           so much that it is almost meaningless.
               So many laws and regulations are enforced that by the time something is allowed, it is almost
           insignificant -- just a trickle; it is not a gushing flood. And you can be happy only when your energy
           gushes in a flood -- when you are overwhelmed, when you are lost into it, when the energy is so
           much that you don't know any boundaries. William Blake has said: Energy is delight. And energy
           has been repressed -- society has created the kundabuffer.
               The buffer has to be broken. That's what I am doing here -- trying to break the buffer. That's why
           people are so much against me. i am trying to help them to be happy, but they protect their misery --
           they don't want to be happy. They want to be Hindus, they want to be Mohammedans, they want to
           be Christians -- they don't want to be happy. They want to belong to this organization or that -- they
           don't want to belong to God. And they go on doing something that is basically against themselves.
           Not only others are cutting your roots; you go on pruning your own roots. You have been taught to
           do it -- your hands are almost doing it unconsciously.
               Man exists in deep slumber. Man is hypnotized. That's why you go on living the way you live --
           in misery, in unhappiness, in agony. The same energy can become ecstasy -- release it! Be yourself
           and forget what others have been trying to make of you. Declare your freedom! And be rebellious. I
           am not saying go and fight with society, because that is foolish -- you will be again wasting your
           energy.
               And this is the difference that I make between a rebellious person and a revolutionary: the
           revolutionary is a reactionary -- he reacts against the society, he starts fighting the society. First he
           was miserable because he was burdened by the society, now he becomes miserable because he has to
           fight the society. First he was following the society, now he fights the society -- but he remains
           obsessed with the society. A revolutionary is not a really rebellious person.
               Who is a rebellious person? A rebellious person is one who has understood the whole nonsense
           of the society, and simply slips out of it. He does not fight with it; on the surface he even continues
           to pretend that he belongs with you. He is a clever person -- Gurdjieff used to call him "the sly
           person." He is clever enough -- he is neither orthodox nor revolutionary, he is just rebellious. But his
           rebellion is so intelligent that he knows there is no point -- if the society says "Walk on the left" he
           walks on the left, because there is no point in fighting in this -- it is meaningless.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               On the surface he goes on following the society; deep down he has slipped out of it, deep down
           he starts living his own life. He does not go into the marketplace to exhibit, because if you exhibit
           your happiness in the marketplace they are going to kill you; they will crucify you. They did the
           same to Jesus, they did the same to Socrates, to Mansoor -- they are not going to leave you alone.
               There is no need. When you are sitting with miserable people, keep a miserable face -- even
           more miserable than they have -- because it is just a game you are playing: you are not miserable,
           you can act it better then them -- they are REALLY miserable. Keep a longer face than them. When
           alone, have a good laugh. Don't start fighting with the society otherwise you will be in trouble, and
           happiness will again be far away -- as far away as before. First you were following the society and
           could not be happy. Now you fight the society, so the society throws you in a jail or in chains, or the
           society tries to crush you -- and again you are unhappy.
               A rebellious person is a very very clever person. He slips out in such silent ways that he does not
           create any ripple on the surface... and he starts living his private life in his own way. That's what I
           teach you: I don't teach you to be revolutionaries, I teach you to be rebellious. A religious person is a
           rebellious person.

              BELOVED MASTER,
              SOMETIMES THERE IS SUCH A FEELING OF NOT BELONGING ANYWHERE THAT EVEN MY
              ORANGE AND MY MALA ARE NO CONSOLATION. ARE WE REALLY SO ALONE, OR AM I JUST
              BEING NEGATIVE AND CLOSED WHEN I FEEL THAT?


                The question is from Astha.
           The first thing: you don't belong anywhere -- that is reality. All hankering to belong is deceptive.
           The very idea to belong creates organizations; the very idea to belong creates the church -- because
           you cannot be alone, so you want to drown yourself somewhere in a crowd.
                A sannyasin is one who has accepted his aloneness. It is fundamental; it cannot be drowned. By
           becoming a sannyasin you are not becoming a part of a certain organization -- this is not an
           organization at all. By becoming a sannyasin, you are becoming courageous enough to accept a
           certain fact: that man exists in aloneness. And it is so fundamental, there is no way to escape from it.
           It is as fundamental as death. In fact, death is nothing but bringing you the news that you were alone,
           and now you are alone.
                What is death? For the whole life you were deceiving yourself that you were with somebody --
           you belonged to this family, to this clan, to this society, this culture, to East, to West; you belonged
           to this organization, to this party... to crowds and crowds you were belonging. And you were feeling
           very good -- "I am not alone."
                Then comes death. Shocks you. You start clinging, you start crying, you feel very helpless. A
           sannyasin will not feel helpless when death comes. A sannyasin will feel perfectly happy when death
           comes, because death has nothing to shock him with. The sannyasin knows that he is alone. Death
           cannot take anything away. Death can take away only those deceptions which you have put in your
           life.
                To become a sannyasin means you have negated death. You have said, "Now you can come, and
           you won't find anything to destroy -- I have destroyed all that myself." Sannyas is voluntary death, it
           is spiritual suicide. It is a declaration that "I am alone, and my aloneness is so fundamental that there
           is no way to lose it."
                For moments you can forget -- you can fall in love with a woman or a man and you can create the
           idea, the illusion, that you are together. Both are alone. When two persons fall in love and get
           married and start living in a house, only two alonenesses are living together, that's all. They are not
           together: nobody can be together. Togetherness cannot happen, and it is good that it cannot happen,
           otherwise you would have lost your soul -- then you wouldn't have any center.
                Two persons in love touch each other's being, but their beings remain crystal-clear, separate.
           Yes, their boundaries overlap... but their centers remain far away. They don't lose their soul --
           otherwise love would not be such a beautiful thing. Lovers are not together in the sense that they are
           lost into each other; lovers are together in the sense that two alonenesses are together -- holding each
           other's hand, knowing perfectly well that they are alone; sharing with each other their aloneness,
           their beauty, their silence, their love -- but knowing well that they are alone. The fact is so
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fundamental that it cannot be changed.
              People try to avoid. Just as they try to avoid death, they try to avoid aloneness. A Sufi parable...

                There was a merchant in Baghdad who went his servant to market to buy provisions, and in a
           little while the servant came back white and trembling and said, "Master, just now in the marketplace
           I was jostled by a man in the crowd, and when I turned I saw it was Death. He looked at me and
           made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your horse and I will go to Samarra, and there Death will
           not find me."
                The merchant lent his horse, and the servant mounted and as fast as the horse could gallop he
           went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and saw Death standing in the crowd, and he
           came to Death and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my poor servant when you saw
           him this morning?"
           "That was not a threatening gesture, sir," Death said. "It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished
           to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

                You cannot escape. If you are going to die in Samarra, you will reach there somehow.
                You cannot escape death and you cannot escape aloneness. Try as you will -- try, but all efforts
           fail. Nobody has ever succeeded in avoiding aloneness, because aloneness is your being. When you
           are avoiding aloneness you are avoiding yourself -- how can you avoid yourself? How can you
           escape from yourself? In trying to escape, you miss -- you miss the beauty of being alone. In fact,
           you start thinking of yourself as lonely because you have missed the beauty of aloneness.
                Aloneness is tremendously beautiful, loneliness is ugly. They don't mean the same,
           notwithstanding what the dictionaries say. Aloneness is such a beautiful experience. You ARE --
           pure, uncontaminated by anybody else's presence; no shadow falling on you -- a clarity, unclouded...
           your being pure, virgin -- nobody has ever travelled in that territory. It is virgin territory. It is of
           tremendous beauty, silence, bliss.
                Loneliness is an ugly idea. Loneliness is the idea which comes when you try to escape from
           yourself and cannot escape. Then you fall into loneliness -- you miss the other. You don't see your
           presence, you miss the other's presence -- your whole focus is wrong. You don't look into yourself,
           you look outside. You say, "Some friend should be here... or should I go to the restaurant? or should
           I go to some club or to the movie-house or watch TV? What should I do?" You don't look in, you
           look out. You wait for the other, your eyes are searching for the other... and the other is not.
                When the other is not, you feel lonely. When you ARE, you feel alone. So Astha, this has to be
           understood deeply: you cannot belong anywhere, belonging is not possible. You can love, but you
           cannot belong. You cannot get attached. You can love, but you cannot possess and you cannot be
           possessed. Your freedom is ultimate: nobody can possess you, nobody can make you a slave. You
           cannot become anybody's shadow. That is the meaning when I say "your aloneness is ultimate."
           Once you understand it, you start cleaning the ground -- you start forgetting the idea of loneliness;
           you don't get confused with the idea of loneliness.
                What is meditation, after all? It is going into your aloneness. It is moving into the deepest core of
           your being, where nobody else has ever entered, will ever enter -- where you, and only you, can
           enter. That is your privacy, your subjectivity.
                You ask: "Sometimes there is such a feeling of not belonging anywhere..." Good, that feeling is
           not wrong. That feeling simply brings the reality. You can create a fiction, but the reality goes on
           asserting itself again and again. Your fictions cannot dissolve reality -- they may hide it for a
           moment or two, and then reality asserts itself again and your fictions are broken.
           "Sometimes there is such a feeling of not belonging anywhere..." You don't belong. The WHOLE is
           yours -- you don't belong anywhere... because to belong anywhere will be very limited. All is yours:
           the whole God, the whole sky is yours. You don't belong anywhere -- belonging will be a limitation,
           a finitude: the infinite is yours.
           "... that even my orange and my mala are no consolation." I have never meant them to be
           consolations. I don't give you any consolation, I take all consolations away. I am here to shatter all
           consolations. I am not here to pat your back and sing a lullaby so that you can sleep well and dream
           beautiful dreams. No, I have to shock you into awareness so that you see the reality. Sweet dreams
           won't help. Even if the reality is bitter, it is reality -- and one has to learn the ways of it. If it is bitter,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it simply says you have not learned its ways -- hence it appears bitter. Learn the ways and reality
           becomes sweet.
                But you cannot substitute by sweet dreams. That's what people have been doing down the ages:
           life after life, people are trying to get consolations. Truth has to be sought, not consolation. The
           orange, the mala, the sannyas, are not consolations -- not at all.
           "Are we really so alone?" Yes... more so than you know. You have not yet penetrated it; just the
           periphery... and you become afraid and you start escaping into the other. Gather courage -- take a
           plunge into your being. Let us be acquainted with our own center. Let us ask only one question
           sincerely: Who am I? All else is meaningless. Unless this question is answered, all your love affairs,
           friendships, all are nonsense. Unless this question is answered, nothing is answered.
                Go into your aloneness with only one quest: Who am I? And don't seek consolations -- because
           cheap consolations are available, and the mind is very clever in supplying them. When you ask: Who
           am I? the mind can immediately supply an answer -- mind is very clever. Mind says, "You are God.
           You are a soul, an immortal soul." These are the ideas put by the magician into the heads of poor
           sheep. The magician suggested to a few that they were lions, to a few that they were eagles, to a few
           that they were men, to a few that they were even magicians. The magician hypnotized the sheep and
           told them, "You are immortal souls: nobody can ever harm you. How can you be harmed?" The
           magician suggested to them: "I am for you. I am the best master you can ever find, and I exist for
           you, and I will do whatsoever is needed, and I will always do whatsoever is good for you. Even if I
           kill you, I will be killing you just for your sake."
                You have been given these ideas by the society; your mind is nothing but a projection of the
           society. It is society within you -- the penetration of the society inside you; it is a miniature society.
           You have been told things, and you have believed them -- and when you ask the question "Who am
           I?" if you are a Hindu the Upanishad will speak from the head: the Upanishad will say, "AHAM
           BRAHMASMI -- I am the Brahma himself." This is not your answer; this is the answer taught by the
           magician.
                I am not saying the answer is wrong or right, I am simply saying it is not your answer -- and
           when the answer is not yours it is wrong. I am not saying whether the answer is right or wrong per
           se, I am simply saying it is not yours -- hence it is wrong. It may be that when you really enter into
           your innermost core, there you will find AHAM BRAHMASMI -- but that will be a totally different
           thing. Now it is not from the magician, not from the outside, not from the Upanishad, not from the
           society, not from the priest; now it is arising in your own being.
                Maybe, if you are a Christian and you ask, "Who am I?" the answer comes floating -- a beautiful
           lullaby: "The Kingdom of God is within you"... and you are very happy. Don't be deceived by the
           magician of the Vatican -- these things won't help. Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan is not the
           question. And I am not saying the question is wrong or right; I am simply saying it is not yours,
           hence wrong.
                Only YOUR authentic response will be the true answer. So go deep with only one question; let
           this be your only key, and unlock all the doors inside... and go on penetrating, go on penetrating.
           One day, when there is nobody left -- not a shadow of the outside -- when you are tremendously in
           the inside, when you are just a subjectivity, a pure virgin consciousness -- there is the answer. And it
           is not an answer which comes in a verbalized form it is an existential experience... and you know
           that your aloneness is your soul.
                Mahavira -- one of the great masters of the world -- has named the ultimate state KAIVALYA.
           KAIVALYA means absolute aloneness... his word is of tremendous beauty. He says: When you
           reach to your innermost core you become absolutely free; and that state is of pure aloneness --
           KAIVALYA. and out of that is wisdom, and out of that is light, and out of that is compassion:
           everything is born out of that -- so don't avoid aloneness.
                Yes, Astha, everybody is absolutely alone -- and the sooner you recognize it, and the sooner you
           dare to go in, the better. Because all the days that are wasted in going somewhere else are simply
           wasted. You never go anywhere, you simply deceive.

              DURING A DISCOURSE SEVERAL DAYS AGO, I THOUGHT THAT YOU HAD SKIPPED A
              CERTAIN QUESTION NUMBER. I COULDN'T BE SURE. MAYBE I SIMPLY WAS NOT AWARE
              ENOUGH AND THAT IT WAS I WHO HAD SIMPLY FORGOTTEN IT. BUT THEN AGAIN
              YESTERDAY I NOTICED THAT YOU DID IT AGAIN, AND NOT JUST ONCE BUT TWICE -- YOU
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SKIPPED QUESTIONS THREE AND FIVE. I RECALL THAT ONE QUESTION HAD TWO PARTS SO
              THAT COULD EXPLAIN IT, BUT I AM PRETTY SURE THAT WAS NOT THE CASE FOR THE
              OTHER. ANY SIGNIFICANCE?


               Oh, holy smoke!
               You are constantly in search of some esoteric significance. My arithmetic is simply not good. It
           is as bad as Albert Einstein's -- do you know he failed in mathematics in his matriculation
           examination? I didn't fail in my matriculation examination -- but I must not cheat you, I must make it
           clear that I had not taken arithmetic in my matriculation examination. Otherwise there was no
           possibility of my ever passing!
               Once I was in a car accident and one of my fingers was damaged very badly, and the doctor said
           it would have to be cut off. I said, "Okay, but then I will only be able to count up to nine!" So he
           took pity on me, and they didn't operate.
           Don't try to find esoteric things everywhere....
               When I was small, one day I came running home, very proud, exhibiting a book which I had got
           as a reward. My mother asked me, "However did you do that? How did you get it?" I said to her,
           "The teacher asked how many legs an ostrich had -- I said three."
           "But an ostrich only has two legs," my mother said.
               I said, "Well, all the rest of the class said four."

              WHERE DO INDIVIDUALITY AND EGO SEPARATE?


               Individuality means your uniqueness -- not compared with anybody else. Your incomparable
           uniqueness: that is individuality. Individuality is beautiful; that's how God has made you -- as an
           individual. Ego is comparison. Ego is your invention. God has not given you any ego; he has
           certainly given you an individuality.
               Ego is comparison: you think yourself more intelligent than the other, you think yourself more
           superior than the other -- or inferior. You think yourself more beautiful than the other. Then you are
           bringing ego in: the moment you compare yourself with somebody, the conclusion that comes out of
           the comparison is ego. If you stop comparing then you are there -- tremendously beautiful and
           unique. All superiority or inferiority, all anxiety of where I am, where I stand, who is above me and
           who is below me, are ego problems. The superior person suffers, the inferior suffers; both suffer --
           because even the superiormost cannot have a state where he can be satisfied.
               Abraham Lincoln was not very beautiful, his face was ugly. And that was a torture. In fact, when
           he stood for the presidentship, eh had no beard. In his campaign, a small girl suggested to him, "If
           you grow a beard, you will look a little better." Hence, he grew the beard. But he remained
           constantly aware of his ugliness. He became the president... but whenever he would see a beautiful
           face he would feel hurt.
               Napoleon Bonaparte was not very tall, just five-five -- just exactly my size. He remained
           disturbed for his whole life. Now, nothing is wrong in being five-five. What is wrong in being
           five-five? -- I have never felt any problem in it! And what is going to happen if you are five-seven or
           five-eight? Nothing is going to happen, you will be the same -- five-five or five-seven or five-nine
           makes no difference. But he was tremendously troubled -- he was so conscious of it. One day he was
           trying to fix a picture on the wall and the picture was a little higher than him, and his bodyguard
           said, "Sir, I am higher than you, I will do it." He said, "Stop! Never utter such a word. You are taller,
           not higher."
               He was very conscious about it -- "Higher? Say you are taller; don't say higher!" Now, if even
           Napoleon is not happy, who can be?
               People who compare can never be happy. These trees are happy -- the smaller tree does not
           bother about the higher tree. They never bother about each other: the smaller is smaller and the
           higher is higher. In fact, the higher and the taller and the smaller and the lower are human terms --
           they don't exist in the world of trees. A rosebush is as happy as a big oak tree; there is no problem
           about it. Not even a rosebush, but just a small leaf of grass is as happy as any lotus flower. It makes
           no difference.
               God is showering on everybody -- on the rosebush, on the grassleaf, on the lotus flower... he is
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           showering everywhere. And the whole existence is happy; only man has got into trouble. The ego
           arises with comparison. Individuality you have, unique individuality you have. With comparison
           how many problems arise!
               Just a few days before, one woman was saying to me that she cannot accept her body. But why?
           -- because she is a little fatter. Now, why compare? How can you be fatter if you don't compare?
           Mm? -- you must have some idea of a thinner woman, and you must be comparing. I don't see any
           problem in the woman directly. I looked at her: she is a beautiful woman, a unique woman, an
           individual -- but unnecessarily in anxiety, in deep anguish, suffering. She cannot believe that
           anybody can love her, because she is a little fat.
               And who has given the idea? How do you decide what is standard? Nobody has any idea what is
           standard; all averages are just false. Nobody knows how much fat is needed for a particular body --
           only the body itself knows. Listen to your body, love your body, and don't compare.
               Now this comparison will create such trouble that she may miss her whole life. Because of
           comparison she cannot love. And she will create such trouble that she will not allow anybody to love
           her, because she cannot trust anybody who can love her. That man must be perverted: how can you
           love an ugly woman? -- your idea of beauty must be perverted, or your must be deceiving.
               She cannot trust anybody -- if somebody comes and says to her, "I love you," she will distrust
           them. She cannot love herself -- how can YOU love her? Impossible. You must have some other
           design, you must have some other idea behind it: you may be interested only in sex, or you may be
           interested in something else -- in her money, or something else -- but you cannot love her. Because
           how can you love her? -- she cannot love her own face in the mirror. And even if you persist, she
           will try in every way to destroy your love, so she can prove that she was right and you were wrong.
           Now it is very difficult to find a lover who will take that much trouble to convince you. she will
           remain loveless. And when there will be no love coming, her idea will become more and more
           fixated: I am ugly. And she is not ugly at all.
               In fact, I have never seen an ugly person in my life. How can a person be ugly? Have you ever
           seen any ugly crow? Impossible! Have you ever seen an ugly cow? Impossible. Have you ever seen
           an ugly tree? Impossible. All is beautiful as it is... but with human beings you bring comparison, and
           immediately trouble starts.
               Don't compare, there is no need. Comparison is one of the greatest calamities that has fallen on
           humanity. You are perfect as you are. Love yourself, respect yourself. If you are not going to respect
           yourself, who is going to respect you/ If you are not going to love yourself, who is going to love
           you? People don't respect themselves, and expect everybody else to respect them. They don't love
           themselves, and want the whole world to fall in love with them. Now you are asking impossibles --
           these things cannot happen. Love yourself, respect yourself -- and a person who respects himself
           never compares. Comparison is a disrespect.
               Now, if you summarize all this, it means: to be an egoist is to be very disrespectful towards
           yourself. To be an individual is perfectly good, but to be egoistic is disrespectful.

               BELOVED MASTER...
               I DON'T GET IT!


              So what! You don't get it! Get it?
           One should always be alert: if you get it you get it, if you don't get it you don't get it. Still, you get it.


               SOMETIMES YOU TALK NON-SENSE IN THE LECTURES. HOW CAN YOU TELL US TO GO AND
               LOOK FOR AN ALIVE MASTER IF YOU DIE? YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THAT WE ARE
               MARRIED FOR ETERNITY. IF YOU ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE THIS MARRIAGE, TOO BAD:
               THERE IS NO DIVORCE AVAILABLE FOR GODS! BE CERTAIN THAT WE'LL BE HUNTING YOU
               EVERYWHERE, IN EVERY STONE OR FLOWER, IN EVERY EYE AND STAR....


              Because I am so certain about it, that's why I can play -- that's why I can say, "Look for a living
           master." I am so certain about you. My trust is absolute about you -- that's why I can say, "When I
           am gone, don't be bothered with me: look for a living master.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But if you have loved me, I will live for you forever. In your love I will live. If you ave loved
           me, my body will disappear but I cannot die for you. But I can assert much nonsense because I know
           your love: I trust it.
               When a master says, "Don't go to anybody; cling to me. Even when I am gone, go on
           continuously with me. don't move anywhere" -- that simply means he does not trust you. He is
           afraid, he has doubts -- he knows that once he is gone, you will be gone. In fact, he knows that even
           while he is alive, you will be gone. He protects; he says, "Don't go to anybody else. I am the only
           one." He is very monopolistic. He is so doubtful, that his marriage with his disciples is a sort of
           monogamy. He's afraid. He is afraid because the divorce is possible -- he is afraid of it, and wants to
           protect in every way so that it is not going to happen. He will say, "Never worship anybody, never
           love anybody, never revere anybody, never listen to anybody, never go to anybody -- just look at me,
           and forget the whole world. Exclusively love me."
               I don't say that to you. I know: even if I am gone, I know you will search for me. Yes, I can trust
           you will hunt for me in every stone and flower, in every eye and star....
               And I can promise you one thing: if you hunt for me, you will find me... in every star and in
           every eye... because if you have really loved a master, you have moved into eternity with him. The
           relationship is not of time, it is timeless.
               There is going to be no death. My body will disappear, your body will disappear -- that will not
           make any change. If the disappearance of the body makes any change, that simply shows that love
           had not happened.
               Love is something beyond the body. Bodies come and go, love remains. Love has eternity in it --
           timelessness, deathlessness. That's why, Seeta -- the question is from Seeta -- that's why sometimes I
           can talk nonsense. I know you will find sense even in my nonsense. I know you will understand, you
           will not misunderstand -- that's why.

              WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF YOUR LONG BEARD?


               I have none. Look again!
           You may not know -- in Zen there is a koan. The koan is: Why didn't Bodhidharma have a beard?
           Now, Bodhidharma has a big beard -- the founder of Zen. In fact his bears is so big that you can only
           see his eyes... all beard. And "Why does Bodhidharma have no beard?" -- this is given to the
           disciples to meditate on... and they have to close their eyes and meditate. Now, it is very difficult:
           Bodhidharma has a big beard, and the question is why he has none... and the disciple meditates and
           meditates, and it is very puzzling. And Bodhidharma comes again and again, and laughs... and his
           beard is there!
               And the disciple comes to the master and says, "It is difficult -- he has!" The master says, "You
           go and look again." After months of meditation, one day the recognition happens -- that the beard
           belongs to the body; how can it belong to Bodhidharma? Bodhidharma is not the body. The body is
           just the abode, the temple: Bodhidharma is something beyond that is residing in it.
               The day this dawns on the consciousness of the disciple, he has realized something within
           himself. Then he comes to the master and says, "Yes, you were right. He has no beard."
               You ask: "What is the significance of your long beard?" Never heard about it. I don't have any
           beard. You look again. And Bodhidharma is dead, I am here alive: you can look rightly... I have no
           beard at all.
               If you see the beard, then it must be a projection of yours.




   Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                    Talks given from 25/07/88 pm to 01/08/88 pm
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                  English Discourse series
                                                         8 Chapters
                                                   Year published: 1988




                      Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                  Chapter #1
                            Chapter title: To study the way ... to forget the self ...
           25 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807255
              ShortTitle: DOGEN01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 97 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN WROTE:
              TO STUDY THE WAY IS TO STUDY THE SELF. TO STUDY THE SELF IS TO FORGET THE SELF.
              TO FORGET THE SELF IS TO BE ENLIGHTENED BY ALL THINGS. TO BE ENLIGHTENED BY ALL
              THINGS IS TO REMOVE THE BARRIERS BETWEEN ONE'S SELF AND OTHERS. THEN THERE IS
              NO TRACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT, THOUGH ENLIGHTENMENT ITSELF CONTINUES INTO ONE'S
              DAILY LIFE ENDLESSLY.
              THE FIRST TIME WE SEEK THE LAW, WE ARE FAR AWAY FROM THE BORDER OF IT. BUT
              SOON AFTER THE LAW HAS BEEN CORRECTLY TRANSMITTED TO US, WE ARE
              ENLIGHTENED PERSONS.


               Maneesha, this is the first day of a new series of talks, devoted to the full moons. The moon is an
           ancient symbol of transforming the hot rays of the sun into cool, peaceful, beautiful rays. It has
           nothing of its own. When you see the moon, you are seeing only a mirror which is reflecting the rays
           of the sun. Those reflected rays are just like the ones you can see when the sun is reflected in a river.
               The moon is a mirror but not only a mirror, it is also a transforming agent. It changes the heat
           rays into cool, peaceful rays. That is the reason why the moon has become the most significant
           symbol in the East.
               This series is dedicated to the full moons. In the series itself we are going to discuss one of the
           most unique masters, Dogen.
               Before I enter into the sutras, it will be good for you to know something about Dogen. That
           background will help you to understand his very condensed sutras. Apparently they look
           contradictory. Without the background of Dogen's life pattern they are like trees without roots, they
           cannot bring flowers. So first I will talk about Dogen's life structure.
              DOGEN WAS BORN INTO AN ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY IN KYOTO, EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS
              AGO. HIS FATHER WAS A HIGH-RANKING GOVERNMENT MINISTER AND HE HIMSELF WAS
              AN UNIQUELY INTELLIGENT CHILD. IT IS SAID THAT HE BEGAN TO READ CHINESE POETRY
              AT THE AGE OF FOUR -- another Mozart.

               Chinese is perhaps the most difficult language in the world, because it has no alphabet. It is
           pictorial and to read it means years of hard work to memorize those symbols. To the born Chinese it
           is not so difficult, because from the very birth it becomes ingrained into his mind, but anybody who
           is studying Chinese from the outside world ... I have been told by friends that it takes ten years at
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           least, if one works strenuously; thirty years if one works the way any ordinary student will work.
                At the age of four, to understand Chinese -- and not only Chinese, but Chinese poetry; that makes
           it even more difficult. Because to understand the prose of any language is simple, but the poetry has
           wings, it flies to faraway places. Prose is very marketplace, very earthly; it creeps on the earth.
           Poetry flies. What prose cannot say, poetry can manage to indicate. Prose is connected with your
           mind, poetry is more connected with your heart; it is more like love than like logic.
                At the age of four, Dogen's understanding of Chinese poetry immediately showed that he was not
           going to be an ordinary human being. From that very age his behavior was not that of a mediocre
           child; he behaved like a buddha, so serene, so graceful, not interested in toys. All children are
           interested in toys, teddy-bears ... who cares about poetry?
                But, fortunately or unfortunately, his father died when he was only two years old and his mother
           died when he was seven. Dogen used to say later on to his disciples, when he became a fully-fledged
           master in his own right, that everybody thought it was a misfortune: "What will happen to this
           beautiful, intelligent child?" But in his deepest heart he felt it was an opportunity; now there was no
           barrier.
                Modern psychologists will perhaps understand it: you may be grown up -- fifty, sixty, seventy --
           your father and mother may be dead ... still they dominate you in a very psychological way. If you
           silently listen to the voices within you can work out that, "This voice comes from my father, or from
           my mother, or from my uncle, or from my teacher, or from the priest."
                Dogen used to say, "It was a great opportunity that both the people who could have distracted
           me, who loved me and I loved them ... and that was the danger. They died at the right time. I am
           infinitely grateful to them just because they died at the right time without destroying me."
                It is something very strange for a seven-year-old child to understand this. It has been discovered
           only now by the psychologists that man's greatest barriers are the father, the mother. If you want to
           be a totally free consciousness you have to drop, somewhere on the way, your teddy-bears, your
           toys, the teachings that have been forced upon you. They have all been of good intent, there is no
           question about it, but as it is said in an ancient proverb, "The path to hell is paved with good
           intentions."
                Just good intentions are not enough; what is needed is a conscious intention, which is very rare.
           To find a father and mother with a conscious meditative energy is just hoping for the hopeless.
                When his mother died Dogen was translating the most significant Buddhist scripture,
           abhidharma -- "the essence of religion" -- from Chinese into Japanese. He showed every sign of a
           tremendous future. And at the age of seven, when his father and mother had both died, the first thing
           he did -- which is unbelievable -- was to become a sannyasin. Even the neighbors, relatives, could
           not believe it. And Dogen said, "I will not miss this opportunity. Perhaps if my father and mother
           were alive, I might not have left the world in search of truth." He became a sannyasin and started
           searching for the master.
                There are two kinds of seekers who become interested in truth. One starts looking for scriptures:
           he may become a great intellectual, he may become a giant, but inside there will be darkness. All his
           light is borrowed, and a borrowed light is not going to help in the real crises of life.
                I am reminded of a Christian priest who used to repeat in every sermon Christ's saying, "If
           somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other, too." Everybody liked his sermons, he was
           quoting such great statements. But in one place a man really stood up and slapped the priest on one
           of his cheeks. The priest was shocked, because he had just been quoting Jesus. But anyway, to save
           his face, he gave his other cheek. And that man must have been a real rebellious type; he slapped the
           other one, too. Now this was too much!
                The priest jumped at the man and started beating him. And the man said, "What are you doing?"
                He said, "The scripture stops with the second cheek. Now I am here and you are here: let us
           decide this."
                Borrowed scriptures won't help in actual encounters. In life there are everyday realities to be
           faced. In death the ultimate reality has to be faced. And borrowed knowledge is not going to help at
           all.
                The second type of seeker does not go towards the scriptures, but starts searching for a master.
           These are two different dimensions: one is looking for knowledge, the other is looking for a source
           which is still alive. One is looking for dead scriptures, the other is looking for a living scripture
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whose heart is still beating and dancing, in whose eyes you can still see the depth, in whose presence
           you can see your own potential.
                This second type is authentically the seeker for truth. The first type is only a seeker for
           knowledge.
                You can have tons of knowledge and still you will remain ignorant. The man who has found the
           master may have to drop all his knowledge so that he can become open and vulnerable to the
           master's presence, so that he can dance with the master's heart. In this dance there happens a
           synchronicity, both the hearts slowly settle into the same rhythm. This rhythm is called the
           transmission. Nothing visible is given -- no teaching, no doctrine -- but invisibly two hearts have
           started dancing in the same tune. All that the master knows slowly goes on this invisible track and
           pours into the hearts of the disciples to the point of overflowing.
                Dogen shows his intelligence, certainly, that he never turned to the scriptures. While his mother
           was alive, he was translating abhidharma, one of the most important Buddhist scriptures, from
           Chinese into Japanese. If his parents had lived, he might have become a great scholar. After his
           parents had died, he burned all that he had translated with that scripture, abhidharma.
                It is so unbelievable. A seven-year-old child had the great insight that, "Words won't quench my
           thirst. I have to go in search of a living source, of someone who has known not by words, but by
           actual experience; one who is existentially a buddha."
           The search for the master is the search for the buddha.
                AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN DOGEN WAS FORMALLY INITIATED. It was not easy to be
           initiated, one had to prove one's capacity, potentiality, possibility. One had to prove that one will not
           betray on the path, that one will not waste the time of the master, that one will wait infinitely. So he
           had to wait until the age of thirteen, and then:
              HE WAS FORMALLY INITIATED INTO THE MONKHOOD ON MOUNT HIEI, THE CENTER OF
              TENDAI BUDDHIST LEARNING IN JAPAN. FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS HE STUDIED THE
              SCHOOLS OF Mahayana AND Hinayana, VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
              HIS TEACHER, ABBOT KOEN.
              BY THE TIME HE WAS FOURTEEN DOGEN HAD BECOME TROUBLED BY A DEEP DOUBT
              CONCERNING ONE ASPECT OF THE BUDDHIST TEACHING.

              This is the sutra that made him troubled to the very core of his being.
              IF, AS THE SUTRAS SAY, "ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE ENDOWED WITH THE BUDDHA-NATURE,"
              WHY IS IT THAT ONE MUST TRAIN ONESELF SO STRENUOUSLY TO REALIZE THAT
              BUDDHA-NATURE, TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT?

               A very significant question. If everybody is a buddha, then to recognize it should be the simplest
           thing in the world. If you are potentially a buddha, then the barriers cannot be much; they cannot
           hinder you. Nothing can hinder you. A rose bush brings roses, a lotus seed brings the lotus. If every
           man is a seed buddha, then why so much discipline? He was only fourteen years of age, and just one
           year before he had been initiated, but this sutra disturbed him immensely.
               It is obvious that if to be a buddha is our nature, then it should be the simplest thing ... without
           any discipline, without any effort -- just a natural phenomenon, as you breathe, as your heart beats,
           as your blood runs in the body. There is no need of all the nonsense that has been forced upon people
           to become buddhas, to achieve buddhahood.
               At this point he left his teacher because the teacher could not answer him. The teacher was just a
           teacher. He could teach the sutras, but he could not answer. He could realize the great significance of
           the question. Either buddhahood is not everybody's nature ... it is some faraway mountaintop, that
           you have to travel through all kinds of hardships to reach. But if it is your very nature, then this very
           moment you can realize it -- there is no need even to wait for a single moment. But the teacher could
           not say that, because he himself had not realized buddhahood. He had been teaching Buddhist
           scriptures, and not a single student had ever said, "This sutra is contradictory."
              IN SEARCH OF SOMEONE WHO COULD HELP RID HIM OF HIS DOUBT, DOGEN FOUND
              HIMSELF WITH ANOTHER TEACHER, MYOZEN.

              Teachers are many. Just to graduate into a certain branch of knowledge is not anything unique or
           special. But to find a master is really arduous, in that they both speak the same language -- the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           teacher, the master. And sometimes it may be that the teacher speaks more clearly, because he is not
           worried about his own experience. The master speaks hesitantly, because he knows whatever he is
           saying is not perfectly appropriate, does not express the experience itself ... that it is a little way off.
               The teacher can speak with full confidence because he knows nothing. The master either remains
           silent or, if he speaks, he speaks with a great responsibility, knowing that he is going to make
           statements which appear to be contradictory, but which are not.
               But every teacher wants to be known as a master. For the seeker this creates a problem. Myozen
           also proclaimed himself a master, but time proved that he was not a master.
              IN SPITE OF LONG YEARS OF TRAINING UNDER MYOZEN, DOGEN STILL FELT UNFULFILLED.
              AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE HE DECIDED TO MAKE THE JOURNEY TO CHINA WITH
              MYOZEN, IN ORDER TO STUDY ZEN BUDDHISM FURTHER. LEAVING THE SHIP, DOGEN
              FOUND HIS WAY TO T'IEN-T'UNG MONASTERY, WHERE HE TRAINED UNDER MASTER
              WU-CHI.
              STILL UNSATISFIED, FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS HE VISITED NUMEROUS
              MONASTERIES. JUST AS HE WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP HIS SEARCH AND RETURN TO JAPAN,
              HE HAPPENED TO HEAR THAT THE FORMER ABBOT OF T'IEN-T'UNG HAD DIED, AND THAT
              HIS SUCCESSOR, JU-CHING, WAS SAID TO BE ONE OF CHINA'S FINEST ZEN MASTERS.

                He changed his plan to go back to Japan and went again to the same monastery where he had
           been.
                The old master, who was just a teacher, was dead, and he had been succeeded by Ju-ching -- a
           man who had soared high and touched the peaks of consciousness, who had dived deep and touched
           the depths of his being, who had moved vertically upwards and downwards, who had traveled
           through all his conscious territory. This man Ju-ching proved to be a man who answered doubts,
           settled them, because Dogen was still carrying the same question: that if buddhahood is your nature,
           then why is any discipline needed?
                It was Ju-ching who said, "No discipline is needed. No discipline, nowhere to go, no way to be
           traveled ... just be, silent, settled, at the very center of your being, and you are a buddha. You are
           missing it because you are looking and trying everywhere else except within you. You will never
           find your buddhahood by changing this monastery for another monastery, this master for another
           master. Go in!"
                Ju-ching is known as one of the finest masters, a very fine sword that cuts things immediately.
           His presence, his fragrance, his grace ... Dogen remained with him, never asking a question, just
           drinking the very presence of the master, the very atmosphere, the very climate -- getting drowned.
                And a moment always comes ... An ancient Tibetan proverb says, "If the disciple is ready, the
           master appears." The whole question is of the disciple being ready. But the disciple can be ready
           only if he comes across a man of consciousness -- not a man only of words, but a man of the
           experience -- who has been to the highest peaks, to the lowest depths. And just being close to him
           one can feel the vibe, the coolness.
                He radiates the truth; and if you are ready, suddenly something clicks. All doubts disappear, you
           know you have found the master. Now there is nothing to be asked. Whatever is needed, the master
           will give it. In fact, it is only because of the poverty of language that we say, "The master will give
           it." The truth is, when you are ready it simply showers on you -- the master cannot even prevent it.
           The master is already radiating, just the doors of your being are closed. So those vibrations, and they
           are simply vibrations, return back. If the doors are open, nothing is said and everything is
           understood.
                When Dogen became a master in his own right, when Ju-ching declared to him, "Now, no more
           play the role of being a disciple," at that moment he hit Dogen and said, "You have come to
           understand; now be compassionate on the blind humanity. Now don't go on sitting by my side. You
           are a buddha. Just because you were wandering here and there, you could not understand. Then
           sitting by my side, silently ... I have not given you anything. You have simply become centered, and
           in this centering is the inner revolution."

              DOGEN WROTE:
              TO STUDY THE WAY IS TO STUDY THE SELF.

              Now these are tremendously valuable statements. He is saying, "Don't ask about the way -- there
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is no way." TO STUDY THE WAY IS TO STUDY THE SELF. The way leads away, and the further
           you go in search, the more you are lost. Drop all going and remain at home, just doing nothing. As
           Basho has said:
              ANCIENT POND.
              A FROG JUMPS,
              AND GREAT SILENCE.

               And Basho was just sitting there, so he wrote a small poem, sitting silently, doing nothing:
           A frog jumps in the ancient pond.
           A little sound and then great silence.
               We are little sounds in a great silence. Between us and the universe there is not much more
           difference than between a sound and silence.
               In every temple in the East we have used different kinds of bells. Even today they are used
           without any understanding. The reason is to give you a message -- you ring the bell, a sound is
           created from nowhere. It echoes in the empty temple, it re-echoes, and every echo becomes more
           silent, more silent, and finally it disappears. Our existence is nothing but a sound in an immense
           ocean of silence.
              TO STUDY THE WAY IS TO STUDY THE SELF.

              Don't bother about the way, just study yourself.
              TO STUDY THE SELF IS TO FORGET THE SELF.

               Who is going to study the self? The one who is going to study the self has already dropped the
           self. The one who is studying the self is the witness -- your real self.
              TO STUDY THE SELF IS TO FORGET THE SELF. TO FORGET THE SELF IS TO BE
              ENLIGHTENED BY ALL THINGS.

               Then it does not matter in what situation you are -- any situation will make you enlightened.
           People have become enlightened in every kind of situation you can imagine. The question is, if the
           self is dropped -- then you may be chopping wood or carrying water from the well, it does not
           matter. The moment there is no self -- only a witnessing, a silent watchfulness -- you are enlightened
           by all things.
              TO BE ENLIGHTENED BY ALL THINGS IS TO REMOVE THE BARRIERS BETWEEN ONE'S SELF
              AND OTHERS.

               To be enlightened simply means: neither I exist nor you exist. What exists is something
           transcendental to I and thou, something more, something bigger and higher.
               THEN THERE IS NO TRACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT .... In such a small passage he has
           condensed so much. Each sentence could have become a scripture.
              THEN THERE IS NO TRACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT, THOUGH ENLIGHTENMENT ITSELF
              CONTINUES INTO ONE'S DAILY LIFE ENDLESSLY.

               Once you have become enlightened, it is not that every day you have to remember that you are
           enlightened; that every morning, shaving before the mirror, you have to remember that you are
           enlightened; or going to the market, you have to remember not to behave against enlightenment.
           Once you have become enlightened your every act is automatically of awareness, of consciousness.
           Soon you forget all about enlightenment because it has become your very body, your very bones,
           your very blood, your marrow -- it has become your very being. Now there is no need to remember
           it.
               There have been masters who have forgotten completely that they are enlightened because there
           is no need to remember it. Their masters have hit them on their heads. The Zen stick came into
           existence for very certain purposes. One of the purposes was that somebody who has become
           enlightened and is still sitting silently has to be hit to be made aware, "Now go away! Get on! Pick
           up your rented bicycle! What are you doing here?"
               Enlightenment does not happen twice -- once is enough. The master hits as a reward, to remind
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you, "Now there is no need to be near me."
           There are beautiful stories ...
               Mahakashyapa became enlightened, and he would not even come near Buddha. He used to sit far
           away, under a tree; for years he had been meditating there. He became enlightened ... now he was
           afraid to come close to Buddha because he would recognize. Buddha himself had to walk towards
           Mahakashyapa and say, "Mahakashyapa, don't try to deceive me. Now there is no need to sit under
           this tree. Get on and move! There are millions of people who are still groping in darkness, and you
           are sitting here enlightened. Take this fire of your enlightenment and make as many people aflame as
           possible."
               Mahakashyapa had tears in his eyes. He said, "I have been hiding, who told you? I know that
           now this has happened a difficulty ... I am enlightened, and I cannot go near to you. I want to touch
           your feet, but I touch your feet, make the gesture of touching your feet, just from far away under the
           tree. Because I know, once one is enlightened he will be sent away."
               Another disciple of Gautam Buddha, Sariputta, made it a condition. When he took initiation he
           was already a very famous scholar of his time.
               He made it a condition, "If by chance I become enlightened, please don't send me away. I want to
           remain always by your side. If enlightenment means that I will have to go away, I will not become
           enlightened, so it is up to you."
           Buddha said, "Don't be worried. First become enlightened, then we will see."
               He said, "No, I want it as a promise. Enlightenment is certain by your side. And if you don't give
           me a promise, you will be the barrier to my enlightenment."
               Buddha said, "You are putting me into difficulty. If everybody starts saying, `Don't send us
           away,' how I am going to manage?" -- already ten thousand sannyasins were moving with him from
           one village to another village.
               He said, "Sariputta, you are such a great scholar, you should understand. Because enlightenment
           is not only enlightenment, it is also a great responsibility. You have come to realize the ultimate
           peace, the joy, the blissfulness." Now it is your responsibility to share it, go as far away as possible.
           Now there is no point in sitting by the side of the master.
              THEN THERE IS NO TRACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT, THOUGH ENLIGHTENMENT ITSELF
              CONTINUES INTO ONE'S DAILY LIFE ENDLESSLY.

                THE FIRST TIME WE SEEK THE LAW -- by law is meant the ultimate law of existence -- WE
           ARE FAR AWAY FROM THE BORDER OF IT. BUT SOON AFTER THE LAW HAS BEEN
           CORRECTLY TRANSMITTED TO US ...
                I have explained to you what transmission is: it is not through words, it is through the presence.
           It is through being close, in trust, in love, that something jumps from the master's inner being and
           makes you aflame. It is a quantum leap of consciousness. It is almost like two candles: one is lit,
           another is unlit. If you bring both the candles closer, there will come a moment when the flame of
           the lit candle will take a jump -- you can see the jump -- and the unlit candle also becomes lit. And
           the lit candle does not lose anything. The unlit candle was carrying the possibility, the potentiality; it
           just needed an opportunity.
           The master is the opportunity.
              THE FIRST TIME WE SEEK THE LAW WE ARE FAR AWAY FROM THE BORDER OF IT. BUT
              SOON AFTER THE LAW HAS BEEN CORRECTLY TRANSMITTED TO US, WE ARE
              ENLIGHTENED PERSONS.

               Everybody is a buddha, either awake or asleep. Only this small distinction exists; otherwise there
           is no lower or higher. There is nothing wrong in being a sleeping buddha -- it is your choice. A little
           more sleep is not going to harm anybody -- just don't snore, because that will create a disturbance in
           other people's sleep.

                A Catholic priest was in great difficulty. An old man, the richest man of his congregation, used to
           sit in front of him, and he used to come with his small grandchild. And the old man, as the sermon
           would start, would start snoring. It was such a disturbance to the priest, but the man was rich and he
           was donating so much to the church that he could not be interfered with. But somehow it had to be
           stopped; otherwise sooner or later everybody would be sleeping, snoring, and he would be preaching
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to them. This disease had to be stopped.
               He tried to find a way. He pulled the little child aside when they were leaving and asked him,
           "Can you do something, for God's sake?"
               He said, "I never do anything without money. I don't know God or God's sake -- just money." A
           real businessman's son.
               The Catholic priest said, "Okay. I will give you a quarter dollar if you keep the old man awake.
           Whenever he snores wake him up -- just hit him with your knee."
               He said, "In advance, because I don't do anything without the money in advance. And if the old
           man comes to know, there is going to be trouble. So better give me the advance first, I am taking a
           risky job." The priest had to give him a quarter dollar.
               The next Sunday morning, when the old man started snoring, the little boy hit him again and
           again to wake him up. The old man said, "What has happened to you? You used to sit silently. You
           have been coming with me always."
           He said, "It is a business matter."
           The old man said, "What do you mean?"
           He said, "I am getting a quarter dollar to keep you awake."
               The old man said, "That's simple -- I will give you half a dollar to let me sleep."
           He said, "Okay -- in advance."
               The old man gave him half a dollar and the boy stopped waking him up. The preacher made
           many signs to the boy, "Just do something!" But the boy closed his eyes, as if he was in great
           meditation.
               After the church, the priest caught hold of the boy saying, "You are very cunning. You took the
           money in advance, and for half of the sermon you were doing perfectly well. Then why did you start
           behaving in such a way -- as if you were meditating? For years I have been seeing you; you have
           never closed your eyes."
           He said, "You don't understand: business is business."
           The priest said, "What do you mean?"
               He said, "The old man has given me half a dollar. Naturally, I had to stop. Now, if you are ready
           for one dollar next Sunday ... But it is always a risk; the old man may give me two dollars."
               The priest thought, "This is a difficult thing for a poor priest. The rise of the price will go on,
           because that old man is rich, he can give anything."
               He thought, "It is better to talk to the old man." He said to him, "I don't object to your sleep
           because sleep is not -- according to the holy scriptures -- a sin. You can sleep. But snoring ... that too
           is not sin according to any holy scripture, but it interferes with other sleepers. And to interfere in
           somebody else's life is certainly immoral. There are many others who are sleeping, I know. But who
           comes to the church? People who are utterly tired come to the church to have at least a good morning
           sleep. You are disturbing them. And this boy is going to prove a great businessman. He has already
           managed ... he asked for payment in advance."
               The old man said, "There is no point in getting into competition because, whatever price has to
           be given, I will give. But for God's sake let me sleep -- and I am going to snore. It is my birthright."

               This much is the difference between your essential buddhahood and your snoring buddhahood.
           Just give a good shake ...
               You will be surprised to know that there used to be two groups of Christians: one was called
           "Quakers" and the other was called "Shakers." In their church the Quakers quake just to keep
           themselves awake, and the Shakers shake just to keep themselves awake. I think those two groups,
           which have almost disappeared, represent the most essential part of any religion. Christianity is
           poorer because of the decline of those two groups.
               It is perfectly right if you can help to wake up your buddha by shaking. What is wrong with it?
           What are you doing in the Dynamic Meditation? It is just a mix of shaking and quaking.
               Soon you will be entering into our every evening's meditation and you will see that nobody ever
           has disturbed the sleep so much -- not only their own, but for miles around nobody can sleep. We are
           determined to make everybody a buddha.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              TO FORGET THE SELF -- TO REMEMBER THE SELF:
              ARE THESE TWO DIFFERENT PATHS OR, IN SOME WAY, ARE THEY THE SAME?


               They are the same, just different expressions. One can say something positively; one can say the
           same thing negatively. But they both are saying the same. Remembering the self, the self will
           disappear. The more you remember, the more you will find it is not there.
               Forgetting the self is the same. You are beyond yourself; don't cling to your "I", to your ego, to
           your personality. Just drop clinging to this cage, move out of the cage, and the whole sky is yours.
           Open your wings and fly across the sun like an eagle.
               In the inner sky, in the inner world, freedom is the highest value -- everything else is secondary,
           even blissfulness, ecstasy. There are thousands of flowers, uncountable, but they all become possible
           in the climate of freedom.

              Before we enter into our meditation, I have to wake up all those who have fallen asleep by now.

               Dodoski and Nerdski are sitting in the local jail charged with disturbing the peace and being
           drunk and disorderly.
               That afternoon, Sergeant Crapski takes the boys to a big field to do some civic duty work while
           they serve their time.
               "Okay," says the cop. "Like I told you guys before, you can start digging that trench."
               The officer gives a shovel to each of them, points vaguely out at the ten-acre lot, and then walks
           away.
               Nerdski looks around for a while, then turning to Dodoski says, "Dig what trench? I don't see any
           trench."
               ... Do any of you see?

               Nerdski is out of work so he goes up to Beverly Hills. He goes around from mansion to mansion,
           offering to do odd jobs. Finally, at one huge estate, Nerdski knocks on the door.
           "Got any work you need doing?" he asks.
           "What can you do?" asks the owner.
           "I'm a really good painter," replies Nerdski.
               "Great!" says the man, handing him a can of green paint. "You can go round the back and paint
           the porch green. It is pretty big, so it will probably take you all day."
               But two hours later, Nerdski knocks again at the front door. "I've finished that porch," he tells the
           owner.
           "Wow," says the man. "That was really fast."
           "No problem for me," says Nerdski proudly. "I'm a professional."
           "Okay," says the man. "Here is your money."
               "Thanks," says Nerdski and turns to leave. "By the way," he adds. "That's not a porch, it's a
           Ferrari!"

               Kowalski is on holiday in a small town in the Italian Alps. After a few lonely nights he begins to
           feel the need for a woman. So he asks the local bartender how to find the ladies of the town.
               "We gotta no prostitutes," replies the bartender. "The priest-a would never allow it. But the
           thing-a you want is-a kept out of sight."
           "What have I got to do?" asks Kowalski.
               The bartender explains that up in the mountains there are caves. "Go there after dark-a," he says.
           "And shout-a `Yoo-Hoo!' into the cave. And if the lady calls back, `Yoo-Hoo,' you work out-a the
           price. If she is busy, you get no answer."
               So that night, Kowalski "Yoo-Hoo's" his way from cave to cave, but with no luck. Finally he
           decides to go back to town to get drunk, but at the bottom of the mountain he finds a cave that he has
           not seen before.
           "Yoo-Hoo, Yoo-Hoo!" he shouts.
10/28/07                                                    Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Yoo-Hoo, Yoo-Hoo!" comes back the clear reply.
           So Kowalski rushes into the cave -- and is knocked flat by a train!

               Jimmy is lost in the desert with two friends, Billy and Sammy. They wander around for two days,
           almost dying of thirst, until they come to a nunnery.
           They knock on the door and the Mother Superior answers.
           "Water, water, please give us water!" they groan.
               "Oh, no," says the nun. "We had a man in here before. If you want to come in here for water, you
           have to let us cut off your pricks."
               The three guys run back out into the desert. But two days later they figure that they will die
           anyway, so what the hell. They go back to the nunnery and say that they accept the condition.
               They are brought in and the head nun takes Billy into another room. There is a short scream and
           then the nun comes back for Sammy. She takes him into another room and there is another, longer
           drawn-out, scream. But when she comes back for Jimmy, he is terrified.
           "Just a minute!" he cries. "How did you cut their pricks off?"
               "Simple," says the nun. "We ask them what their profession is. The first guy is a butcher, so we
           cut it off with a knife. The second guy is a carpenter, so we sawed it off."
               At this point, Jimmy starts laughing hysterically with tears rolling down his cheeks.
           "What's so funny?" asks the nun.
               "You're gonna have trouble with me," laughs Jimmy. "I work for Kwality Ice Cream!"

           Now ... everybody is awake.
           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           close your eyes ...
           Feel as if you are frozen.
           Enter in.
           The deeper you can,
           the more you will experience
           your buddha-nature.
           At the deepest point,
           you are the ultimate reality --
           immortal, eternal,
           with all the blessings
           that you can ever conceive of.
           Don't miss the opportunity.
           It is the simplest thing in the world
           to go in ... because it is your own home.
           You need not even knock on the doors.
           In fact there are no doors inside.
           It is an open space, an open sky.
           But to know this open sky
           is to realize
           the deathless principle of your existence.
           Deeper, deeper, and deeper ...
           Drink this life juice to your heart's content.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And remember this peace, this silence,
           this blissfulness.
           Around the day,
           whatever you are doing, don't forget it.
           Like an undercurrent,
           let it remain there. And slowly, slowly
           it will change your whole life structure.

           To make it more clear -- sharply clear,
           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           You relax ...
           let go ...
           as if you have died.
           One day you will.
           This is just a rehearsal.
           Leave the body,
           forget the mind ...
           and move as deep as you can,
           like an arrow ... fast,
           hitting the very center.
           This is the buddha.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Come back.
           But come back as buddhas,
           knowing perfectly your eternal being.
           Just sit down for a few seconds
           to recall the memory
           of the territory that you have traveled,
           of the center that you have touched.
           Let it become your breathing,
           let it become your heartbeat.

           To be a buddha is so simple,
           you don't have to go anywhere.
           You have to just stop going anywhere,
           and just be within yourself.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                      Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                     Chapter #2
                                           Chapter title: Firewood and ash
           26 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807265
              ShortTitle: DOGEN02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 104 mins




               OUR BELOVED MASTER,
               DOGEN CONTINUES:
               WHEN WE LOOK BACK AT THE SHORE FROM OUR BOAT, WE MISTAKENLY FEEL AS IF THE
               SHORE WERE MOVING. BUT WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR BOAT WITH CARE, WE FIND THAT IT IS
               OUR BOAT THAT IS ACTUALLY MOVING. SIMILARLY, WHEN WE SEE ALL THINGS WITH THE
               DELUDED IDEA THAT OUR BODY AND MIND ARE SEPARATE FROM EACH OTHER, WE
               MISTAKENLY THINK INNATE MIND AND NATURE ARE ETERNAL. BUT WHEN WE REALIZE
               THAT OUR BODY AND MIND ARE INSEPARABLE, WE SEE CLEARLY THAT ALL THINGS ARE
               NOT SUBSTANTIAL.
               FIREWOOD, WHEN BURNED, BECOMES ASH; THE ASH NEVER AGAIN REVERTS TO BEING
               FIREWOOD. STILL, WE SHOULD NOT REGARD FIREWOOD AS A BEFORE, AND ASH AS AN
               AFTER. WE MUST REALIZE THAT FIREWOOD IS IN THE POSITION OF FIREWOOD WITH OR
               WITHOUT BEFORE AND AFTER. ASH IS IN THE POSITION OF ASH WITH OR WITHOUT
               BEFORE AND AFTER.
               WE CAN NO MORE COME BACK TO LIFE AFTER OUR DEATH THAN FIREWOOD CAN BECOME
               FIREWOOD AGAIN AFTER HAVING BECOME ASH. IN BUDDHISM, THEREFORE, IT IS SAID
               THAT LIFE NEVER BECOMES DEATH; LIFE IS BEYOND THE CONCEPTION OF LIFE. IT SAYS
               THAT DEATH DOES NOT BECOME LIFE; DEATH IS BEYOND THAT OF DEATH. LIFE AND
               DEATH ARE BOTH ONLY ONE STAGE OF TIME, JUST LIKE WINTER AND SPRING.
               LIKEWISE, WE MUST NOT THINK THAT WINTER BECOMES SPRING, OR SAY THAT SPRING
               BECOMES SUMMER.


               Maneesha, Dogen is basically concerned about the idea of reincarnation. Christianity does not
           accept it, Mohammedanism does not accept it, nor does Judaism accept it; it is only accepted by the
           religions that have been born in India. They may differ on every aspect of life, but on one point they
           are absolutely in agreement. And it is not an agreement of one day -- for thousands of years they
           have agreed on the idea of reincarnation.
               In Christianity or Mohammedanism or Judaism your life span is very short, just between the
           cradle and the grave -- maybe seventy years or eighty years. With death you are finished. But in the
           Eastern experience, with death you only change your form. You are not finished, you continue. Your
           continuity is eternal. You will take many forms ... many experiences, many ways of being.
               This whole universe is conceived of in the East as a teaching period. The trees are learning to be
           trees, the birds are learning to be birds. This whole universe is exactly a great university, an
           opportunity to learn one form and also to learn that behind the form is hidden your formless being.
               Thousands of times you have lived in different forms, experiencing different ways. Certainly to
           be a tree is a totally different experience than to be a bird or to be a lion. But the essential life is one.
           Out of this experience of essential life, the theory of reincarnation arose. And if you go deeper into
           your interiority ... you can move so deeply that you will start touching not only your birth, your nine
           months in the womb, but also the death of the previous form.
               It is a tremendous experience to know that you have been here before, because that gives another
           dimension to your consciousness; if you have been here in the past, you will be here in the future.
           The past and future both are in balance -- the present moment is just the balancing moment. And if
           you can dig deep into the present moment, you can experience not only your past lives; there is a
           possibility -- if your effort is really total -- that you may start having glimpses of your future
           possibilities.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Gautam Buddha is reported to have said that we never begin our journey -- it is eternal. You
           cannot reach to the point, exploring within yourself, where you started the journey. That bus stop
           you cannot find. You have always been moving, traveling. So the beginning cannot be found, it is
           not there. But the end can be found.
               You will be surprised to think about it -- that the ordinary death is not a death because the
           consciousness moves into another form. A bird becomes a tree, a tree becomes an animal, an animal
           becomes a human being. But if your experience of all your past lives suddenly flashes you to the
           idea that you are eternal, that very moment you are disidentified with the body-mind structure. And
           this disidentification is the real death. Now you will not take another form, you will enter into the
           formless. It is called the great death.
               But to have a great death you need to have a great life. Ordinary living is so lukewarm that
           ordinary death cannot change much; it can only change the outer garb, the paper bag in which you
           have been living. To burst forth out of all form -- a tremendous awareness, intensity, totality ... you
           pull all of yourself to a single point -- and suddenly all forms disappear. Just like a breeze, invisible,
           you enter into the formless. This has to be remembered before I talk about Dogen, because that is
           exactly the background of what he is trying to say in the Zen way.

              DOGEN CONTINUES:
              WHEN WE LOOK BACK AT THE SHORE FROM OUR BOAT, WE MISTAKENLY FEEL AS IF THE
              SHORE WERE MOVING. BUT WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR BOAT WITH CARE, WE FIND THAT IT IS
              OUR BOAT THAT IS ACTUALLY MOVING.

               Now very few people have the experience of boats. Dogen was talking to people who were
           traveling in boats continuously, because Japan is not one island; it is many islands together, and
           people are continuously moving in boats from one island to another.
               But in your experience you may have ... sitting in a train, suddenly you see that another train
           which was sitting on the side track has started moving. But your experience is so clear that you are
           moving. Then you look to the other side -- the station is still there. Then certainly, the other train is
           moving. But the station is gone, then the movement of that train was an illusion; your train is
           moving. Movement is relative, just as in geometry two parallel lines never meet.
               Albert Einstein, the man who introduced the idea of relativity into the world of science, says that
           if two rockets are moving in the sky at the same speed, none of the passengers in either of the rockets
           will feel that there is any movement. Because to experience movement you need something
           stationary by the side; it is a relative experience. Both the rockets are moving in a silent, open sky at
           the same speed; naturally, you see there is no movement in the other rocket. And how can there be
           movement in your rocket? If there were, you would have passed the other rocket. None of the
           passengers in either of the rockets will even dream about movement, because there is nothing stable
           around; on both the sides, just pure sky. They can live in the illusion as long as they go on moving at
           the same speed.
               According to Albert Einstein, a very strange conclusion ... of course, it has not yet been tested,
           but it seems possible. If the passengers of both the rockets don't feel any movement, they will
           become very still and very silent. Not only in their minds, but even in their body cells the silence of
           no-movement will penetrate. It will be so enormous, so overwhelming, that when they return -- you
           will be surprised -- all their friends, their old colleagues, will have grown ten years older and they
           will not have aged at all. Those ten years they have missed. They have not moved a single inch,
           either in their body or in their mind, because movement has stopped being their experience.
               Einstein was absolutely certain -- and I agree with him. It seems absurd that a traveler will come
           back and find that his own generation is finished and a new generation has taken over, because he
           has been long away, traveling in the sky. But when there is no movement around you, slowly, slowly
           that non-movement stops everything moving within you: the mind, the body -- everything.
               Even he was shocked when he proposed the theory. It will still take a few years for us to be
           absolutely certain of what he was saying, because even to reach to the nearest star takes four years;
           and the return journey means eight years -- and this is the nearest star. We don't have yet any vehicle
           to move -- without continuous fuel stations on the way -- for four years.
               Secondly, the moment you are out of the grip of gravitation .... You don't feel gravitation because
           you are born in gravitation. Otherwise the earth is pulling you down so forcibly ... most of your
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aging is because of the pull of the earth. The area of gravitation is two hundred miles around the
           earth. Once you are out of the gravitation area, there is nothing to pull you down; you simply remain
           the same. The same gravitation that is killing you also keeps you rooted, because without gravitation
           you will be simply gone -- just saying good-bye to each other and moving into the eternal, never to
           meet again. It is so vast ... and the speed will be such that you will be burned by the speed.
                There are practical problems; that's why Albert Einstein could not persuade anybody to take the
           risk. The speed has to be exactly the speed of light -- that is the ultimate speed. One hundred and
           eighty-six thousand miles per second -- at that speed everything stops. You can go around the
           universe for thousands of years and you will come back to the earth the same, as young as you had
           left. But it is just theoretical and hypothetical; it is difficult, for the simple, pragmatic reason that at
           the speed of light no metal can remain unmelted. The heat is so much that the vehicle in which you
           are moving will melt down, burning you with it.
                You look ... almost three thousand stones fall every day on the earth, all over the earth. You think
           they are stars falling. Stars are very big, but these are just small stones which have been caught in the
           gravitational area of the earth, and the earth has pulled them. But the force of the pull is such that
           even the stones burn up. Most of these three thousand stones never reach to the earth; they are
           burned before reaching it. A few stones have reached the earth and they have become great sacred
           places. For example, the Kaaba -- the holy place of the Mohammedans; the stone there is an asteroid,
           it is not of the earth. Just because people saw that big stone coming from the sky ... the primitive
           mind thought it must be from God. And it was coming, burning bright like a sun, so big that it
           reached to the earth. In many museums you will find those stones, which are called meteorites.
                These stones burn up because of the speed. So if we make a vehicle we have to find something
           which will not burn up at the speed of light. Up to now, there is no indication that we can create a
           vehicle or any material that can move with the speed of light. And unless we move with the speed of
           light we cannot reach the nearest star. With that speed in mind, the nearest star is four light years
           away. It is such a long distance, and our small boats and our airplanes and our rockets are still, in
           terms of the future, just toys.
                But consciousness needs no form to travel, hence it can move with the speed of light. That is the
           Eastern way of looking at things: you have been around on many planets in many different lives, not
           only on this earth. Scientists accept that there are at least five hundred planets with life, but there is
           no communication. All kinds of efforts are being made to have some kind of dialogue or to find
           some way to know exactly who is there. But that is a limitation of the body.
                For a man of consciousness, for a man who is a buddha, there is no limitation. No gravitation
           prevents him, no heat can burn him. He can travel around in different forms, taking birth on different
           planets.
                The idea of reincarnation is a very great challenge. It is not a question of arguing; it is a question
           of experiencing in yourself that which cannot be burned, that which remembers having been in other
           bodies. And if it can move from one body to another body, there is no difficulty for it to move from
           one planet to another planet. And ultimately it has to move from all forms and disperse itself into the
           universal being. That is nirvana.
                Nirvana is one of the most beautiful words; I don't think there is any other word in any language
           which has so much significance and meaning. Ordinarily it simply means blowing out the flame.
           You have a candle, and the flame is dancing, and you blow it out. Can you answer where the flame
           has gone? It must have gone somewhere. Nirvana means: your life is just like a flame -- when it
           becomes difficult to live in one body, one form, it simply moves into another form. The other form is
           determined by its desires, its longings. Be very conscious about your desires and your longings
           because they are creating the seed of a new form already, without your knowing.
                I have experienced, with many people, taking them back to their old forms. And I was surprised
           -- because there is no mention of this fact in any Eastern scripture -- that somebody who is a man,
           when he remembers, he remembers himself as a woman in his past life. If he goes deeper he again
           remembers himself as a man.
                At first I was puzzled, because it is not mentioned anywhere. But then I could see the point that
           every woman is desiring to be a man. She thinks, "I am confined in the home, and the man is
           enjoying everything." And every man thinks, once in a while, "The beauty, the mystery of a woman
           ..." So it is very natural that you are creating your other form already without doing it consciously. If
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are man you will be born as woman. And this is a vicious circle, because when you die, you die
           unconsciously; when you are born you are born unconsciously. So you don't know from where you
           are coming, or what was the reason for your taking this form.
               The whole foundation of meditation is to make you so alert that you can see the forming of seeds
           and desires and drop them. If you can die without a seed ...
               If you die in a half-hearted way, not totally, with something incomplete, with something you
           wanted to do and death has come in between -- then you cannot expect to disappear into the
           universal. Then the flame will take another home, according to your desires, your reincarnations.
               Meditation simply means to drop, slowly slowly, all your desires. And when death comes,
           celebrate it; celebrate it because everything is complete and you are ready. This readiness and
           completeness will give you the ultimate freedom of formlessness. That formlessness is nirvana.
               All these buddhas, like Dogen, are pointing towards that formlessness. First, he is talking about
           relativity:
              WHEN WE LOOK BACK AT THE SHORE FROM OUR BOAT, WE MISTAKENLY FEEL AS IF THE
              SHORE WERE MOVING. BUT WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR BOAT WITH CARE, WE FIND THAT IT IS
              OUR BOAT THAT IS ACTUALLY MOVING. SIMILARLY, WHEN WE SEE ALL THINGS WITH THE
              DELUDED IDEA THAT OUR BODY AND MIND ARE SEPARATE FROM EACH OTHER, WE
              MISTAKENLY THINK INNATE MIND AND NATURE ARE ETERNAL. BUT WHEN WE REALIZE
              THAT OUR BODY AND MIND ARE INSEPARABLE, WE SEE CLEARLY THAT ALL THINGS ARE
              NOT SUBSTANTIAL.

                The body has a substantiality. When someone dies all the elements of the body dissolve into their
           sources: water into water and air into air and earth into earth. Only one invisible bird, weightless ....
           There have been experiments where a man was weighed while he was alive, and weighed again after
           he has died. The weight does not differ; he is the same weight both times. To the objective mind, it
           means that nothing has moved out, because if there is a soul which moves out of the body, then
           certainly it would have weight. Experiments have even been done putting the dying man in a glass
           case, so that they can see if something moves out .... It will have to break the glass somewhere. But
           the glass remains intact as the man dies.
                These things have supported the atheists, who say that there is no such thing as a soul. These
           conclusions are absolutely rational but stupid. There is no contradiction in being both stupid and
           rational. Of course the intellectual person will be more profoundly stupid than ordinary idiots;
           ordinary idiots are simple people. But there are extraordinary idiots, and because of their rationality
           they have turned almost the whole world's mind toward being materialistic.
                Half of the world is communist, which does not believe that there is anything in the body; it is
           just a combination of materials. The remaining half of the world, which thinks it is spiritual, only
           thinks; it never experiments.
           The experiment is not to be done in a scientific lab.
           It has to be done within yourself.
                That's what we are doing here -- to find something immaterial, invisible to the eyes, untouchable
           by the hands, but still the very heart of our being, the very throb of our being. Once you have known
           it all fear of death disappears. And a new courage -- so fresh like a morning rose, still with dewdrops
           shining on it in the sun -- a new courage to rebel against all that is traditionally accepted, that may be
           rationally accepted but is not based on the actual experience of meditation ...
                Other than meditation, there is no way to decide whether you are just matter or there is
           something immaterial. Without that immaterial part you lose all your splendor. Only that immaterial
           part of your being gives you dignity; it makes you not only a man, but makes you capable of
           touching the highest peak of being a buddha.

              FIREWOOD, WHEN BURNED, BECOMES ASH; THE ASH NEVER REVERTS TO BEING
              FIREWOOD. STILL, WE SHOULD NOT REGARD FIREWOOD AS A BEFORE, AND ASH AS AN
              AFTER. WE MUST REALIZE THAT FIREWOOD IS IN THE POSITION OF FIREWOOD WITH OR
              WITHOUT BEFORE AND AFTER. ASH IS IN THE POSITION OF ASH WITH OR WITHOUT
              BEFORE AND AFTER.

               What Dogen is trying to say is that when firewood disappears into a heap of ash you should not
           think that something in existence has changed -- only the form has changed. The ash was present in
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the firewood, unmanifest. The fire has helped the ash to become manifest and visible.
               These are ways of saying some things which are more difficult to say directly. But I can say them
           directly to you; this is not an assembly of kindergarten seekers. What you are, you have been the
           same before, whatever the form, and if you can discover yourself then it does not matter in what
           form you will move. And if you can penetrate your self to its very center -- because your self has a
           circumference and a center .... If you remain at the circumference then you will move into another
           form -- but if your arrow reaches to the very center you have graduated from forms. Now you are
           capable of being one with the universe; now you can sing with the birds, dance with the flowers,
           shine with the stars. From a small dewdrop, you have become the very ocean.
               In America, which has produced very few men who are worth quoting, one man is certainly
           significant, but seems to be almost forgotten. He is William James. He introduced this beautiful word
           `oceanic'. People have forgotten him and his word because very few people reach to that experience.
           But here everybody has to reach to the experience ... from the dewdrop to the ocean. Unless you
           experience `oceanic' yourself, spreading in all ten directions, in absolute freedom, you have not used
           the great opportunity of life.
               Dogen is saying, WE CAN NO MORE COME BACK TO LIFE AFTER OUR DEATH THAN
           FIREWOOD CAN BECOME FIREWOOD AGAIN AFTER HAVING BECOME ASH. IN
           BUDDHISM, THEREFORE, IT IS SAID THAT LIFE NEVER BECOMES DEATH; LIFE IS
           BEYOND THE CONCEPTION OF LIFE. IT SAYS THAT DEATH DOES NOT BECOME LIFE;
           DEATH IS BEYOND THAT OF DEATH. LIFE AND DEATH ARE BOTH ONLY ONE STAGE
           OF TIME, JUST LIKE WINTER AND SPRING. LIKEWISE, WE MUST NOT THINK THAT
           WINTER BECOMES SPRING, OR SAY THAT SPRING BECOMES SUMMER.
               Dogen is saying that forms don't change into other forms. Winter remains winter, summer
           remains summer, but something inner moves on from one climate to another climate ... which is
           beyond birth and beyond death, which is beyond life, which simply is. You can give it any shape,
           any form, but you cannot take away its isness. This isness is the greatest discovery of the East, the
           West has missed it completely.

           A haiku by Hokushi runs:
              THE MOON ON THE PINE;
              I KEEP HANGING IT -- TAKING IT OFF
              AND GAZING EACH TIME.


              I have told you the moon is one of the great symbols in the mystery school of Zen ... you will
           come across the moon many times from different aspects.
              THE MOON ON THE PINE;
              I KEEP HANGING IT ...
              Just try to understand the poetry.
              I KEEP HANGING IT -- TAKING IT OFF
              AND GAZING EACH TIME.

               Certainly you cannot hang the moon and take it off; but what you can do, you can open your eyes
           and you can close your eyes. When you close your eyes you have taken the moon away. When you
           open your eyes you bring the moon again. And gazing at it every time -- it never fulfills the desire,
           the longing for beautitude.

           Another haiku runs,
              ONE FULL MOON;
              STARS NUMBERLESS; THE SKY
              DARK GREEN.


               These are not ordinary poetries, these are expressions of deep meditation. Night, and particularly
           moonlit nights, have been found to be very supportive to meditation. Now even science suspects that
           the moon has a certain effect on the mind; because most of the people who go mad, go mad on a full
           moon night, hence the word `lunatic'. It comes from luna, the moon. Another word is `moonstruck'
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                   Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ....
               More people commit suicide on the full moon than at any other time and more people have
           become enlightened on the full moon than at any other time. Science has its own reasons .... The
           moon is really a part of the earth. Some four billion years ago a great chunk of the earth separated
           from the earth. All our great oceans are because of that chunk; deep valleys were left for rain to fill
           and they became the oceans.
               The moon has one sixth the gravitation of the earth, because it is one sixth the size. That means
           that gazing at the moon, you slowly, slowly become more light, the gravitation is less on your being.
           That is the scientist's explanation. And you can see the effect on the seas, because they are holding
           the place of the moon ... where the moon used to be once. That's why on the full moon there are great
           tides. In the human body there is eighty percent water, ocean water with the same chemicals. Just as
           tides arise in the ocean, something arises in the human being. If he is on the right track perhaps he
           may become enlightened.
               And if he is on the wrong track he can commit suicide or commit a murder or go mad ... there are
           thousands of ways. But there is only one way that reaches to your ultimate sensitivity, the way of
           meditation, the way of closing all outgoing doors and being in.
               And once in a while these Zen meditators have opened their eyes and they have seen the moon or
           a sunset or a lotus, and out of their meditation a certain expression has arisen. Only through
           meditation will you be able to understand it -- it is not poetry, it is not written with the mind, it is a
           heartfelt feeling.
                  ONE FULL MOON;
                  STARS NUMBERLESS; THE SKY
                  DARK GREEN.

              If you are in deep meditation and you see this dark sky with so many stars and one single moon,
           immediately your silence will become immensely deeper.
              These haikus are not meaningful for those who have not experienced anything of meditation.

           A haiku by Shiki:
                  EVENING MOON:
                  PLUM BLOSSOMS START TO FALL
                  UPON THE LUTE.


               These are pictures seen by a deeply meditative consciousness. They don't mean anything, they
           are not supposed to have any meaning, they are pictorial.
               Once Picasso was asked .... A man was watching him painting continuously for hours; finally he
           said, "I cannot resist asking, because I have been watching you paint for hours, but I can't make any
           sense out of what you are painting. What is it? What is the meaning of it?"
               Picasso looked at the man and said, "I don't know. You can ask the picture yourself."
           The man said, "Are you insane or something?"
               Picasso said, "Perhaps, but nobody asks the rose, `Why are you so beautiful? Why are you here
           in the first place?' Nobody asks a sunset, nobody asks a full moon, but everybody goes on harassing
           me, `What is the meaning of your painting?' There is no meaning, it is a statement. I have enjoyed it
           tremendously, just the colors, flowing into each other, creating strange patterns."
               Meaning is no more relevant in the world of beauty. And what to say about the world of
           meditation? -- no meaning, only significance. That's why those who have experienced have remained
           silent, or have spoken only to indicate to you the path to be silent.

                  Maneesha has asked,
                  OUR BELOVED MASTER,
                  WHAT IS OUR INVESTMENT IN REPRESSING OUR MEMORY OF PREVIOUS DEATHS?
                  IS IT NOT TRUE TO SAY THAT IF WE COULD RECALL OUR DEATHS WE MIGHT LOSE OUR
                  FEAR OF DEATH AND THUS BE ABLE TO LIVE A FEARLESS LIFE?


                  Maneesha, this is certainly one of our great investments in forgetting the past, the previous life.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Because if you remember it, you will not be able to be so foolish as to repeat the same game again.
           You have done it so many times; you have fallen in love, you have fallen out of love, so many times
           ... so many romances! Our great investment is that each time we go to see the same film we forget
           that we have seen it before. Otherwise you will not go to see the movie, only once is enough.
                But in life you don't complete the work in one time, in one lifetime. Your real work remains
           postponed and you go on playing games which are simply childish. The great investment is that you
           should not remember your whole past, otherwise you will feel yourself to be so much an idiot that
           enjoying life will become impossible. Only suicide will seem to be the right thing to do. But suicide
           leads nowhere, it simply enters your consciousness into another womb of a lower kind, because you
           could not manage to live on a higher level.
                The investment also includes forgetting that you have ever died. It is always somebody else who
           dies, you never die. Obviously -- you see every day, you hear every day that somebody has died; but
           you never hear that you have died. Except in this Buddha Hall where you hear every day, "Now die
           and don't hold anything back, die completely."
                People from the outside will think, "This is a madhouse. People who are fully alive suddenly die
           and then don't wait much ... as they are called back, immediately they are back, sitting like buddhas!"
                We are making it clear through our meditations that this is how it has been happening, you have
           been dying many times and again coming back. Whether you come after nine months ... an
           unnecessary wastage of time, of a woman's life ... then growing up and again playing the same role
           which you have played before ....
                In the East the world is called sansara. Sansara means the great wheel of life and death. It goes
           on moving, the same wheel, and you are clinging to the wheel and you go on moving with the wheel
           from one death to another, from one life to another. The investment is that unless you learn the
           lesson, you cannot come out of this vicious circle of life and death. But you can come out. Every
           night we try; you jump a little ... it is old habit; when you come back you just try to find out where
           the wheel is. Soon you have forgotten about the center which was beyond life and death -- suddenly
           you remember, "Where is the canteen?"
                One naturally feels hungry after such a strenuous experience of dying and coming back,
           becoming a buddha ... knowing perfectly well that anybody may be a buddha, "But I am not; I have
           my wife, I have my children to look after. Just for a moment is okay, but twenty-four hours a buddha
           will not only be boring, it will be also a torture to others."
                From my very childhood I was interested just to sit and not to do anything. I have never done any
           homework; my teachers were angry, "What do you go on doing at home?"
           I said, "I simply sit and enjoy."
                My family, and whoever would be passing by used to say, "What are you doing?"
           I said, "There is no need to do anything -- to be is enough!"
                And they would look at me and say, "You are crazy! Do something, otherwise you will end up in
           being nothing."
                And they were right, I have ended in being nothing. But I am immensely happy that I started very
           early to see that the greatest joy is inside, nobody can give it to me. I have never participated in any
           game, I have never bothered about any work the family needed. Slowly, slowly my family started
           taking for granted that I was no more -- my being or not being made no difference.
                I have enjoyed the faces of my family when they looked at me as if they were looking at an
           insane person; I still enjoy to remember it. Naturally if you are not doing something people think you
           are wasting your life. The reality is that when you are not doing anything, when you are just being,
           you are finding the path towards your ultimate destiny.
                Before we die and become buddhas ... one time more, because one never knows about tomorrow,
           so better become tonight ....
                Just a few small laughs, because Sardar Gurudayal Singh is waiting very silently. And Avirbhava
           ....

               When Gozo the gorilla dies his female companion, Gertie, gets very horny. After a few months
           she begins to get violent, as her need for sex increases. Finally the zookeepers decide to get a man to
           make love to her.
               They go downtown and pick up Jose, a big Mexican, and offer him twenty dollars to do the job.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They put a muzzle on Gertie's mouth, tie her arms to the bars, and then let the Mexican into the
           cage. When Gertie sees that Jose has an erection, she goes wild. She rips her arms loose from the
           bars and begins crushing him in her embrace.
           "Help!" shouts Jose. "For Christ's sake, help!"
               "Don't worry," shouts the keeper. "We'll get the elephant gun and shoot her!"
               "No! No!" cries Jose. "Don't shoot her! Just get her muzzle off -- I want to kiss her!"

                Dodoski has fallen on hard times, so he turns to crime. He kidnaps the six-year-old son of the
           richest man in Warsaw. Dodoski writes the ransom note, asks for half a million dollars, and signs his
           name.
                But he has forgotten the rich man's address. So he gives the note to the boy, and tells him to take
           it to his dad.
                The boy does, and when he comes back with the money, he is carrying a note from his father.
                It reads: "Here, take the filthy money, you rat. It's guys like you that give us Polacks a bad
           name!"

               After a wild Saturday night of partying, Swami Deva Coconut is hauled off to a Sunday morning
           Mass by his Catholic girlfriend, Beverly. Since he is totally ignorant of the various rituals involved,
           Beverly is constantly coaching him.
               "Bless yourself," she whispers. "Now kneel down -- sit down -- stand up -- sit down again --
           cross yourself ..." -- and so on.
               Perspiring from all this activity, Coconut takes out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his
           face. Then he lays it on his lap to dry.
           Seeing this, Beverly leans over and whispers, "Is your zipper open?"
           "No," replies Coconut hastily, "should it be?"

               Donald Dickstein walks into an optician's office, carrying a cardboard box. He hands it to the
           optician who opens it and exclaims, "Wow! That's the biggest turd I've ever seen!"
           "Isn't it a beauty?" says Donald. "I did it myself."
               The optician is very impressed and says, "It must be at least two feet long."
               "Twenty-five and a half inches, to be exact," boasts Donald. "And three inches in diameter."
           "Incredible," says the optician. "How much does it weigh?"
           "Two and a half pounds," is the proud reply.
               "That is simply amazing!" exclaims the optician, unable to take his eyes off the magnificent
           specimen. "But why bring it to me? I'm an optician."
               "Well, you see," says Donald, "I have this problem. Every time I do one of these monsters, my
           eyes water!"

           Now, Nivedano, do a real good job because skinhead Niskriya is back ....

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ...
           No movement of the body.
           Let your whole consciousness gather inwards.
           Deeper and deeper ...
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are entering into your buddhahood.
           Without any fear go in, it is your own home.

           Except knowing this,
           all knowledge is useless.
           Except experiencing this
           you have wasted your very life
           in mundane things.
           This is the sacred moment,
           drink it as deeply as possible.
           Be soaked through and through.
           Buddhahood is not an achievement,
           it is only a discovery,
           it is only going within your paper bag.
           You are not your bones,
           you are not your head,
           you are not even your heart,
           you are this beyondness, this silence.
           Even if for a single moment you can experience it
           your whole life will have a transformation.

           To make it more clear, Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Relax..let go ... die.
           Die to the world, die to the body,
           die to the mind,
           so that only the eternal remains in you.
           This formless eternal brings you a new birth.
           You have entered as a human being,
           you can come out of this womb of the beyond
           as a buddha.

           This bliss, this silence,
           these roses blossoming within you,
           they are your birthright. One can remain ignorant,
           but one cannot be anything else than a buddha ...
           awakened, enlightened,
           that is our very destiny.

           Nivedano ....

           (Drumbeat)

           Come back
           without forgetting the experience,
           sit down for a while, just for a few moments
           drop the doubt that you cannot be a buddha.
           You are. In spite of yourself, you are.
           If this becomes an undercurrent twenty-four hours,
           waking or sleeping, your life will know
           what this existence is all about.
           You will know the freedom, the ultimate freedom
           which you have been longing for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           for many, many lives.
           Don't miss it this time.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate ten thousand buddhas together?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                      Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                     Chapter #3
                                      Chapter title: The mountainless ocean
           27 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807275
              ShortTitle: DOGEN03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN CONTINUES:
              WHEN WE LOOK AROUND OUR BOAT ON THE MOUNTAINLESS OCEAN, WE SEE NOTHING
              BUT THE CIRCULAR SHAPE OF THE OCEAN. BUT THIS LARGE OCEAN IS NOT CIRCULAR OR
              SQUARE; ITS OTHER SHAPES AND MOVEMENTS ARE INNUMERABLE. TO FISH IT IS LIKE A
              PALACE. TO CELESTIAL BEINGS IT IS LIKE A NECKLACE. ONLY AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN
              REACH, DOES IT TEMPORARILY APPEAR CIRCULAR.
              THIS IS ALSO THE CASE WITH ALL THINGS. ALL THINGS WORLDLY AND UNWORLDLY HAVE
              VARIOUS ASPECTS, BUT WE CAN SEE AND REALIZE THEM ONLY THROUGH PRACTICAL
              UNDERSTANDING ....
              HOWEVER FAR FISH SAIL IN THE WATER, THERE IS NO END TO THE WATER. HOWEVER FAR
              BIRDS FLY IN THE SKY, THERE IS NO END TO THE SKY. BUT NEITHER OF THEM HAS EVER
              LEFT THE WATER OR THE SKY.
              WHEN THEIR NEED IS GREAT, THERE IS GREAT ACTIVITY; WHEN THEIR NEED IS SMALL,
              THERE IS LITTLE ACTIVITY. THUS THEY NEVER FAIL TO EXPRESS THEIR FULL ABILITY IN
              EACH THING, AND EXERT THEIR FREE ACTIVITY IN EACH PLACE.
              BUT AS SOON AS A BIRD LEAVES THE SKY, IT DIES. THIS IS ALSO THE CASE WHEN A FISH
              LEAVES THE WATER. WE CAN REALIZE THAT THE WATER IS LIFE TO THE FISH; THAT THE
              SKY IS LIFE TO THE BIRD; THAT THE BIRD IS LIFE TO THE SKY; THE FISH IS LIFE TO THE
              WATER; THAT LIFE IS A BIRD, OR THAT LIFE IS THE FISH. ABOUT THIS THERE MAY BE MANY
              OTHER EXPRESSIONS.
              IN THE HUMAN WORLD THERE ARE PRACTICE AND ENLIGHTENMENT, OR LONG LIFE AND
              SHORT LIFE. THIS IS ALSO THE REAL STATE OF THINGS. NEVERTHELESS, IF A BIRD OR FISH
              TRIES TO GO THROUGH THE SKY OR THE WATER AFTER KNOWING IT COMPLETELY, IT WILL
              FIND NO WAY TO GO ALONG OR NO PLACE TO ATTAIN.


               Maneesha, Eastern mysticism has accepted layers of reality. Western science knows only one
           reality -- that of matter. It is poor, it lacks variety. The Eastern mysticism, of which Zen is just the
           ultimate peak, accepts the reality of your inner self which you cannot see, cannot understand, but
           which you are. You can be awakened to it or you can remain asleep, it makes no difference to the
           inner quality of your being. That is your ultimate reality.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Then there is the body, which is only an appearance -- an appearance in the sense that it is
           changing constantly. You see a beautiful woman or a beautiful man and they are already becoming
           old. The moment you rejoice in the beauty of a rose, the time for it to disappear back into the earth is
           not far away. This kind of reality has also its place in the Eastern vision. They call it appearance,
           moment to moment changing. There is a time to be born and there is a time to die. The seasons will
           come again, and the flowers will blossom again. It is the round trip of existence in which -- except
           your being, your center -- everything goes on changing. This changing world is a relative reality.
                And then there are other realities -- like dreams. You know they are not, but still you see them.
           Not only do you see them, they affect you. If you have a nightmare and you wake up, you will see
           your heart is beating harder, your breath is changed by the nightmare. You may be even perspiring
           out of fear. You cannot say that the nightmare is not there; otherwise from where has this
           perspiration come, and this changed heartbeat and breathing?
                Eastern mysticism accepts this third layer of reality: the dream, the horizon that you see all
           around, which exists nowhere ... but you can see it from anywhere.
                Before I explain Dogen to you, let this be the introduction, because this is what he is trying to
           say: that everything passes and yet there is something that never passes; that everything is born and
           dies and yet there is something that is never born and never dies. And unless you get centered into
           that eternal source you will not find peace, you will not find serenity, you will not find blissfulness,
           you will not find contentment. You will not feel at home, at ease in the universe. You will remain
           just an accident, you will never become essential.
                And the whole effort of Zen, or any meditative method, is to bring you closer to that which never
           changes, that which is always. It knows no time .... If there is no change, how can there be past,
           future, present? The world that knows past, future and present can only be relatively real -- today it
           is there, tomorrow it is gone. The body you had believed in so much one day dies. The mind you had
           believed in so much does not follow you, it dies with the body. It has been a part of the body
           mechanism.
                That which flies out of the body in death is an invisible bird flying into an invisible sky. But if
           you are aware you will be dancing, because for the first time you will have known what freedom is.
           It is not a political freedom or an economic freedom; it is a more fundamental, existential freedom.
           And anything that grows out of this freedom is beautiful, graceful. Your eyes are the same, but their
           vision has changed. Your love is there but it is no more lust, it is no more possessiveness. It
           transforms itself into compassion. You still share your joy in your songs, in your dances, in your
           poetry, in your music -- but just for their sheer joy.
                It has been a centuries-long debate: What is art for? There have been pragmatic utilitarians who
           say that art should serve some purpose, otherwise it is useless. But these people don't know art. Art
           can only be for its own sake. It is the sheer joy of a solitary cuckoo, of the bamboos standing in
           silence, of a bird flying into the sky. Just the very flight, the very feel of freedom, is enough unto
           itself. It need not serve anything else.
                But that is possible only if you have known your fundamental existence. You are acquainted with
           the mind, which is borrowed, which is nurtured, educated. You are acquainted with your body very
           superficially. You don't know how it functions, although it is your body. You don't know how it
           turns food into blood, how it distributes oxygen to different parts of the body.
                The body has its own wisdom. Nature has not left it to you to remember breathing, because you
           can forget. You are so sleepy, nature cannot take the risk. If you had to remember breathing, I don't
           think you would have been here. You would have been forgotten long before.
                But whether you remember or not, whether you are awake or asleep, the breathing continues on
           its own, the heart goes on working on its own, the stomach goes on digesting on its own. It does not
           ask your advice, nor does it need any medical education, nor does it need any advice. It has simply
           an intrinsic wisdom of its own.
                But it is just your house -- you are not it. This house is going to become, one day, old. One day
           its walls will start dropping away, its doors falling. One day there will not be even a trace of the
           house -- all will be gone. But what happened to the man who used to live in the house?
                You have to understand that principle. You can call it awareness, enlightenment, consciousness,
           buddhahood -- it doesn't matter what name you give to it. But it is the absolute responsibility of
           every human being not to waste time in mundane affairs. First things first! And the first thing is to be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and to know what this being is. Don't go on running after butterflies. Don't go on looking at the
           horizon which only appears to be but is not.
               I am reminded ... Twenty-three centuries ago, Alexander the Great came to India. His teacher
           was a great philosopher, the father of logic, Aristotle. And when he was coming towards India,
           Aristotle asked him, "Can you bring something for me as a gift?"
           Alexander said, "Anything -- just say it."
               Aristotle said, "It is not so easy, but I will wait. Please bring me a sannyasin when you come
           back, a man who has realized himself. Because we don't know what this means ... what it means to
           be a buddha. Get hold of a buddha and bring him with you."
               Alexander was not aware of what he was promising. He said, "Don't be worried. If Alexander
           wants to move the Himalayas, they will have to move. And you are asking only about a human
           being. Just wait -- within a few months I will be back."
               And there was so much to do that he remembered only at the last moment that he had forgotten
           to catch hold of a buddha, of one who knows the innermost reality. He inquired on the borders of
           India as he was returning. People laughed at the very idea. They said, "In the first place, it is very
           difficult to recognize that somebody is a buddha. In the second place, if by chance you are open
           enough to receive the radiance of a buddha, you will fall down at his feet. You will forget all about
           taking him with you. We hope that you don't find a buddha -- just go back home."
               Alexander could not understand .... What kind of human being is a buddha, that he cannot be
           taken away by force? Finally, he said: "Send messengers all over the place, find out if there is
           somebody who proclaims that he has arrived home."
               And people came, and they said, "Yes, one naked sannyasin standing by the side of the river
           says, `Where else can I be? -- I am here. And who else I can be? -- I am the buddha.'"
               Alexander went himself to meet the man. The dialogue was tremendously beautiful, but very
           shocking to Alexander the Great. He had never come across such a man because before he said a
           single word -- he was holding a naked sword in his hand -- the old man, naked, poor, said, "Put your
           sword back into its sheath, it will not be needed here. A man of intelligence carrying a sword? I will
           hit you! Just put the sword back into its sheath."
               Alexander for the first time found somebody who could order him, and he had to follow. In spite
           of himself he had to follow. And he said, "I have come with a prayer: Just come with me, to my land.
           My teacher wants to see a buddha. In the West we don't know anything about what this inner self
           means."
               The old man laughed. He said, "This is hilarious. If your teacher does not know, he is not even a
           teacher. And if he wants to see a buddha, he will have to come to a buddha; a buddha cannot be
           carried to him. Just tell your teacher, `If you are thirsty, come to the well; the well is not going to
           come to you.'"
               "And as for you, Alexander," the old man said, "learn at least to be human. You introduced
           yourself as Alexander the Great. This is the ego that is preventing you from knowing your buddha.
           You are carrying it within yourself, but this `greatness', this desire to conquer the world ... What will
           you do with conquering the world? Soon death will take everything away. You will die naked, you
           will be buried in the earth. Nobody will bother not to tread over you, and you will not be even able to
           object, `Keep away. I am Alexander the Great.' Please drop this idea of greatness. And also
           remember that the word `Alexander' is not your name."
           Alexander said, "My God! It is my name -- how can I convince you?"
               He said, "There is no question of convincing me. Nobody comes into the world with a name. All
           kinds of names are given -- labels stuck, glued -- and you become the label. You forget completely
           that you had come without any name, without any fame. And you will die in the same way.
               "Tell your teacher to come here to face the lion. If he has the capacity to move inwards, only then
           can he know what it means to be a buddha; what it means to be enlightened. By somebody else
           becoming enlightened you cannot understand it -- it is just like when somebody else drinks water it
           cannot quench your thirst."
               Alexander touched the feet of the old man and said, "I am sorry to disturb you. Perhaps we don't
           understand each other's language at all."
               And it is even today true: the Western mind and the Western educated mind -- it may have been
           born in the East -- has forgotten the language which Dogen is going to use. You have to be very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conscious, very alert, that you don't misunderstand. A different world, a different climate which used
           to be here, which had made this world a beautiful searching and seeking pilgrimage .... Now it is
           only a marketplace for purchasing arms, and fighting and killing and wars. Who bothers about
           meditation? It seems to be a very faraway echo. It does not seem to be related with us in any way.
           But unless you are open to this faraway echo, you will not understand what Dogen is saying.
           Dogen says:
              WHEN WE LOOK AROUND OUR BOAT ON THE MOUNTAINLESS OCEAN, WE SEE NOTHING
              BUT THE CIRCULAR SHAPE OF THE OCEAN. BUT THIS LARGE OCEAN IS NOT CIRCULAR OR
              SQUARE; ITS OTHER SHAPES AND MOVEMENTS ARE INNUMERABLE. TO FISH IT IS LIKE A
              PALACE. TO CELESTIAL BEINGS IT IS LIKE A NECKLACE. ONLY AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN
              REACH, DOES IT TEMPORARILY APPEAR CIRCULAR.

               Its circularness is only an appearance. Although when you see it, it is there, you know that it is
           not a reality. If you go towards it you will never reach it; it will go on receding ... it is the horizon.
           But it has a certain reality of its own, although it is not the ultimate reality. Our body is our
           circumference, our horizon. It appears, it lives, it breathes, yet it is not our very self.
              THIS IS ALSO THE CASE WITH ALL THINGS. ALL THINGS WORLDLY AND UNWORLDLY HAVE
              VARIOUS ASPECTS, BUT WE CAN SEE AND REALIZE THEM ONLY THROUGH PRACTICAL
              UNDERSTANDING.

              For a blind man there is no light.

               It happened ... A very learned scholar was blind, in the times of Gautam Buddha. And he was so
           articulate in argumentation that the whole village was tortured by him, because everybody tried,
           "You are blind, that's why light is not within your reach."
               But he said, "Then make it available through other sources. I can hear -- beat it like a drum. "
           You cannot beat light like a drum.
               And the blind man said, "I can touch, at least let me touch light. My hand is open -- where is
           your light? I can smell ..." But all these senses are not capable of sensing the reality of light.
               The whole village was tortured: "What to do with this man? He is so argumentative ... we all
           know what light is, but he denies it. And he has valid reasons -- we cannot offer any proof."
               They heard that Gautam Buddha was coming to their village. They thought, "This is a good
           opportunity to take this blind man to Gautam Buddha. If Gautam Buddha cannot convince him then
           perhaps it is not possible. And either way it will be very crucial; we can see how far Gautam Buddha
           can argue with this man."
               But they were wrong. Gautam Buddha did not argue with the man. He simply said, "Don't harass
           him, it is ugly of you to tell him there is light. If you were compassionate enough you should have
           tried to find some physician to cure his eyes. Light is not an argument; you need eyes to see it and
           then there is no question of any doubt."
               Gautam Buddha had his own personal physician. He told his physician, "You remain in this
           village until this man's eyes are cured. I will be moving with my caravan."
               After six months the physician and the blind man came, but he was no more blind. He came
           dancing! He fell to the feet of Gautam Buddha and he said, "I am so grateful to you that you were
           not philosophical with me, that you did not humiliate me. That rather than making a great
           argumentation, you simply made a simple point: that it is not a question of light, it is a question of
           eyes."

               The same is true about the inner self -- it is not a question of your intelligence, not a question of
           your rationality, not a question of your logic, of your scientific knowledge, of your scriptures. It is a
           question of direct penetration with closed eyes into your own being, hidden behind your bones. Once
           that is known, a tremendous relaxation follows. Life for the first time becomes a dance. Even death
           is no more a disturbance.
              HOWEVER FAR FISH SAIL IN THE WATER, THERE IS NO END TO THE WATER. HOWEVER FAR
              BIRDS FLY IN THE SKY, THERE IS NO END TO THE SKY. BUT NEITHER OF THEM HAS EVER
              LEFT THE WATER OR THE SKY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is an ancient story ... about a very curious young fish inquiring, "I have heard so much about
           the ocean but I don't see where it is."
               An old fish said to the young philosopher, "Don't be an idiot -- we are in the ocean, and we are
           the ocean. We come out of it and we disappear into it. We are nothing but waves in the ocean."
               The same is true about the birds. Do you think they can find the sky? Although they are flying all
           the day -- faraway places -- they cannot find the sky. Because they are born out of the sky and one
           day they will disappear into the sky.
               These are symbolic statements. They are in fact saying that you are part of the universe. You
           arise like a wave in the universe and you disappear one day back into the universe. This universe is
           not something objective, it is something subjective. It is something that is connected with your
           innermost core. If you have found yourself you have found the whole ocean, the whole sky, with all
           its stars, with all its flowers, with all its birds. To find oneself is to find everything. And to miss
           oneself ... you may have palaces and empires and great riches -- all is futile.
              WHEN THEIR NEED IS GREAT, THERE IS GREAT ACTIVITY; WHEN THEIR NEED IS SMALL,
              THERE IS LITTLE ACTIVITY.

               The fish and the birds are spontaneous beings. Except man, in this whole universe nobody has
           gone insane. You go on working even though there is no need to work -- keep busy, without any
           business, otherwise somebody will point out to you, "What are you doing?" And you don't have the
           courage to say, "I am just being."
               People will laugh and they will suggest, "Do something, just being will not help. Get a job! Earn
           money." But a fish will not work more than is absolutely needed.
               Henry Ford, before his death, was asked, "You have long before passed the line, broken all
           records of richness. Now there is no competitor against you. Why do you go on working
           continuously?"
               And you will be surprised to know that he used to come to his office at seven o'clock every
           morning. The peons used to come at ten o'clock, the clerks at eleven, the manager at twelve. The
           manager would be gone by four, the clerks would be gone by five, the peons would be gone by six,
           but Henry Ford was still working. And he was the richest man of his times.
               The questioner was right to ask him, "Why do you go on and on and on? It is unnecessary
           activity. You have earned so much, you could do anything you wanted."
               And his answer is that of a wise man; unenlightened, but certainly life had made him wise. He
           said, "It just became a habit. I could not stop myself becoming more and more rich. I knew it was not
           needed any more, but it is very difficult to drop an old habit, a whole-life-long habit."
               Except man ... no trees have any habits, nor birds, nor fish. The whole nature is spontaneous. It
           simply functions when it is needed, it stops functioning and remains simply silent when it is not
           needed. In fact, according to me this is sanity: to do only that much as is needed. Even to go a single
           inch further and you have moved beyond sanity, you have become insane. And there is no end to
           insanity.
               WHEN THEIR NEED IS GREAT, THERE IS GREAT ACTIVITY. This can be understood
           from many aspects. Except man, no animal is interested in sex all the year round. There is a season, a
           mating season; once that season is gone ... for the remainder of the year nobody bothers about sex.
           You will not find sex maniacs amongst birds, nor will you find celibates. You will not find, even in
           their mating season, that they are greatly happy.
               I have been watching birds, animals, and I am amazed that their sexual activity seems to be a
           thing forced on them. They don't look happy. Just look at a dog making love. He is doing it under
           some compulsion, some biological compulsion, otherwise he is not interested. And once the season
           is gone there is no interest at all. That's why marriage has not appeared in the animal world. What
           will you do with a marriage? Once the mating season ends -- good-bye to each other!
               But with man it is a habit. He has turned even a biological necessity into a habit. You will be
           surprised to know that, according to psychologists and their surveys, every man is thinking about
           women at least once every four minutes, and every woman is thinking of men at least once every
           seven minutes. This disparity is the cause of tremendous misery.
               That's why every night, when the husband comes home ... the wife was perfectly okay, and
           suddenly she starts having a British face, she is suffering from a headache. Brilliant husbands bring
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           super-strong Greek aspirins home with them. But there are very rarely brilliant husbands, because if
           you are brilliant you will never be a husband. That kind of thing is for the retarded, the brilliant
           remain absolutely free.
               If you watch humanity, you will not believe that it is not a madhouse. Somebody is smoking a
           cigarette ... even though on the packet it is written it is dangerous to your life.
               And just the other day, my ear was having a little ache. Anando was there. I asked her, "Can you
           bring a cotton-tip?"
           She said, "No."
               Now even on cotton-tips the same statement has been written, "It is dangerous to your health.
           Don't use them."
               And Anando said to me, "Poor Hasya was saying that this was her only enjoyment, now even
           that is gone." Sitting silently and enjoying ... It was not any harm to anybody.
               There are people who are chewing gum. One cannot think of a more idiotic thing. Chewing gum?
           Gum is made for chewing?
               People are doing all kinds of things that, if they watch and note them down, they will find ....
           "My God, these things I am doing, and people still think me sane." But everybody is keeping a mask
           and trying to hide every insanity behind it. You will see soon, when we meditate ... because in
           meditation you have to put your mask away and let all the insanity of centuries come out. Don't hold
           it back, because it is a tremendous cleansing. And once you are a clean, clear consciousness your
           realization of buddhahood is not far away -- perhaps just one step more.
           Dogen goes on:
              THUS THEY NEVER FAIL TO EXPRESS THEIR FULL ABILITY IN EACH THING, AND EXERT
              THEIR FREE ACTIVITY IN EACH PLACE.
              BUT AS SOON AS A BIRD LEAVES THE SKY, IT DIES. THIS IS ALSO THE CASE WHEN A FISH
              LEAVES THE WATER.

                What about man? He has left his ocean long before. His oceanic relationship with existence is
           completely broken, there is no bridge left. And this is what is making him do all kinds of stupid
           things. In three thousand years, five thousand wars. One cannot believe that we are here just to kill
           each other. Isn't there anything more important than nuclear weapons?
                Seventy percent of the whole humanity's income goes into war efforts. Even the poor countries,
           where they cannot afford food twice a day for their people, where they are living under the poverty
           line, still they are wasting seventy percent of their income in creating bombs, in purchasing weapons.
           Do you think anything can be more insane than war?
                A country like Germany, one of the most cultured, fell into the hands of a madman, Adolf Hitler.
           Nobody thinks about why it happened. Even a man like Martin Heidegger, perhaps the greatest
           philosopher in Germany, was a follower of Adolf Hitler. And Adolf Hitler was absolutely insane. He
           needed to be hospitalized.
                But there must be something in every man to which he appealed. The whole Germany -- with all
           its intelligence -- became a victim. And you can see the stupidity. He said, "It is because of the Jews
           that Germany is not rising as a world power, otherwise it is our birthright to rule over the world. It is
           because of the Jews."
                I have heard a small anecdote. The head rabbi of Berlin, on a morning walk, came across Adolf
           Hitler. It was a strange meeting, accidental; both had gone for a morning walk. Adolf Hitler
           recognized the head rabbi and he said, "Do you agree with me or not? What do you think is the cause
           that the German Nordic Aryans are not ruling all over the world?"
                The rabbi said, "It is the bicycles. Destroy all bicycles and you will rule all over the world."
           Adolf Hitler said, "Are you sane?"
                He said, "As sane as you are. You have killed six million Jews on a pretext, without any reason."
                Why did people become convinced that he was right about such a stupid thing, that the Jews
           were preventing Germany from becoming a great power? The Jews contributed wealth, intelligence,
           everything to Germany. You will be surprised to know that forty percent of Nobel Prizes go to the
           Jews.
                But why did all the remaining Germans become convinced? It was out of jealousy. The Jews
           were rich, the Jews were intelligent, the Jews were always on top in everything.
                It is very dangerous to be successful in an insane world because everybody wants to kill you --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           on any grounds; right or wrong, it does not matter. The whole of Germany became convinced, not
           because there was any argument or reason in Adolf Hitler's statements; but because every German
           was jealous of the Jewish intelligence, their success, their wealth, their lifestyle. Because of this
           jealousy, Adolf Hitler managed for even the most intelligent Germans to act like animals.
               Adolf Hitler alone killed thirty million people. And now the weapons Adolf Hitler used are just
           toys for children. Within these last forty years war technology has grown so much ... and it is still in
           the hands of people like Ronald Reagan. It is in the hands of all kinds of politicians, and politicians
           are people who are psychologically sick. Just the very desire for power is sickness.
               A healthy man wants to love -- not to possess, not to dominate. A healthy man rejoices in life --
           does not go begging for votes. It is the people who are suffering from deep inferiority who want to
           have some power, to prove to themselves and to others that they are superior. The really superior
           person does not care a thing about power. He knows his superiority, he lives his superiority. In his
           songs, in his dances, in his poetry, in his paintings, in his music he lives his superiority. Only the
           inferior ones are left for politics.
               What Dogen is saying is, "Don't leave your sky, don't leave your water, don't leave your nature.
           Don't leave the existential. Because once you leave it you are just corpses moving around."
              IN THE HUMAN WORLD THERE ARE PRACTICE AND ENLIGHTENMENT, OR LONG LIFE AND
              SHORT LIFE. THIS IS ALSO THE REAL STATE OF THINGS.

               Don't be worried that you are not enlightened.
           Dogen is a very unique genius. He is saying, "You may be aware of your buddhahood or not aware
           of your buddhahood -- don't be worried. When the right time and the right season come you will
           blossom into a buddha." Just wait ... wait intelligently, wait without desire; enjoy waiting, make
           waiting itself a blissful silence, and whatever is your birthright is bound to flower. Nobody can
           prevent a bird from flying, nobody can prevent a cuckoo from singing, nobody can prevent a rose
           from blossoming. Who is preventing you from becoming buddhas? Except you, nobody is
           responsible for it.
              NEVERTHELESS, IF A BIRD OR FISH TRIES TO GO THROUGH THE SKY OR THE WATER
              AFTER KNOWING IT COMPLETELY, IT WILL FIND NO WAY TO GO ALONG OR NO PLACE TO
              ATTAIN.

               If you go into your inner world and into your inner sky you will not find any way or any end.
           You will find an eternal eternity, a pilgrimage without any beginning and without any end ... an
           immortality, a deathlessness which suddenly transforms you totally without any effort, without any
           austerity, without torturing yourself. You are already what you want to be, just a small thing is
           missing -- very small. Wake up! In your waking you are a buddha. In your sleep you remain a
           buddha, but you are not aware of it.
               When one person becomes a buddha he knows that everybody else is a buddha. Somebody is
           sleeping, somebody is snoring, somebody is running after a woman, somebody is doing some other
           kind of stupidity -- but buddhas are buddhas. Even if you are smoking a cigarette, it does not mean
           that you have lost your essentiality; it only shows your sleep and nothing else.
           A poet has written:
              TAKING HOLD, ONE IS ASTRAY IN
              NOTHINGNESS;
              LETTING GO, THE ORIGIN IS REGAINED.


              Letting go, relaxing, settling into yourself, the origin is regained.

              SINCE THE MUSIC STOPPED, NO
              SHADOW'S TOUCHED
              MY DOOR: AGAIN THE VILLAGE MOON
              IS ABOVE THE RIVER.


              Even if you become enlightened, only your vision changes, otherwise everything remains the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same. Of course, the rose is more beautiful than it used to be. Just because all the dust from your
           mirror is missing, the world becomes a paradise.     ... MY DOOR: AGAIN THE VILLAGE MOON
           IS ABOVE THE RIVER ... reflecting in the river.
               The more you become clean of your thoughts which are just dust, the more you become
           reflective. And the day you can reflect the whole existence in its purity you have arrived home.
           Another poem:
              SCOOP UP THE WATER, AND THE
              MOON IS IN YOUR HANDS;
              HOLD THE FLOWERS, AND YOUR
              CLOTHES ARE SCENTED WITH THEM.


               This is something tremendously beautiful. Zen speaks the language of poetry. What the poet is
           trying to say is that if you come across a buddha -- you may know it or not -- some fragrance of the
           buddha and his presence will be caught by your being.
               It was a usual practice in Zen that seekers continued moving from one master to another master
           until the moment they found a man whose very presence fulfilled them; in whose presence all their
           masks and defenses fell down; in whose presence they became suddenly naked, just-born, innocent.
           Then this was the sign that you had found your master.
           Basho wrote:
              SKYLARK
              SING ALL DAY,
              AND DAY NOT LONG ENOUGH.


               He is saying that you work the whole day, your whole life, never knowing the splendor of your
           being because your work -- your so-called mundane activities -- takes all your time. Life is so short,
           seventy years pass so quickly ... You don't know even when your childhood becomes your youth,
           you don't know when your youth disappears and you become old, you don't know that you are
           moving continuously towards the grave. Whatever you do, the grave is coming closer.
               Remember, life is short, but it has become too short because of your unnecessary activity. I am
           surprised at people who are playing cards or chess, or going to the movie. And if you ask them,
           "What are you doing?" they say they are killing time. As if too much time, superfluous, has been
           given to them and they are killing it by playing cards. Just look at people leaning on the chess board
           as if it is their life, standing in a line before a movie house ...
               I used to know a man ... he was the father of one of my friends. In my village there was only one
           movie hall. I saw that old man going every day, at exactly the same time, to the movie hall. And a
           film was shown at least for five or seven days, or more than that. It was not a big place. But he
           would see it every day for seven days.
               Finally, I had to interrupt him. I said, "This is too much. Are you mad? You go on seeing the
           same film every day."
               He said, "How to kill time? I am retired, just waiting for death. I think it does not matter, one day
           more ... just go to see the movie. What else is one supposed to do when one is retired?"
               "And anyway," he said, "everybody is doing the same thing again and again and again, so don't
           think that I am crazy."
               I said, "No, you are not crazy, you are just a specimen of this whole humanity."
               I have heard about one man in California -- Avirbhava, take note -- who married ten times.
           Because in California human craziness has come to its peak. All the surveys show that everything in
           California lasts, at the most, three years. Everything is fashion: marriage, job, city, house, car --
           everything. Within three years one is bored, wants to change to something else.
               And this man married ten times. The tenth time, after two days, he realized, "This woman seems
           to be one that I have married before."
               In fact all women are just different brands of cars -- just the bonnet differs. Somebody has a
           longer nose, somebody has a shorter nose ... But the strange thing is, people go on exploring the
           same territory again and again and again. And still people think they are sane.
           Another Zen poem:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WIND SUBSIDING,
              THE FLOWERS STILL FALL;
              BIRDS CRYING, THE MOUNTAIN
              SILENCE
              DEEPENS.


              These are actual experiences of meditations, which have become condensed in haikus.
              WIND SUBSIDING,
              THE FLOWERS STILL FALL;
              BIRDS CRYING, THE MOUNTAIN
              SILENCE
              DEEPENS.

              This must be a man of meditation ... sitting silently by the side of the mountain, watching
           whatever is happening. Meditation is, in essence, becoming a watcher on the hills.

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO FEEL TOTALLY CONTENT IN YOUR PRESENCE AND ENJOY YOUR
              ENLIGHTENMENT; IT'S ALSO EASY ENOUGH TO WORK ONESELF UP INTO A STATE OF PANIC
              ABOUT WHAT WE MUST DO TO REALIZE OUR OWN ENLIGHTENMENT.
              ISN'T THE ART OF BEING WITH A MASTER HAVING THE CONTENTMENT AND THIRST
              RUNNING LIKE AN UNDERCURRENT THROUGHOUT ONE SIMULTANEOUSLY?


                Maneesha, a single experience is enough, it lasts for eternity. I am not referring to intellectual
           experiences. You can intellectually feel that you have relaxed. When I take you inwards, certainly
           you close your eyes. But when I say to you, "Be silent," your mind still goes on and on, weaving a
           thousand and one things. You feel a certain silence ... but it will be lost. And when I say to you, "Let
           go," you try, but you try very carefully. You look on both sides, on whom you are falling, whether it
           is worth falling. You take every care that no fracture happens. But in this very care you miss the
           point of let-go.
                Enlightenment is worth multiple fractures. When you let go, let go. When you laugh, then
           become laughter. When you are silent, be silent. When I say, "Go in" -- search inwards. Forget the
           body and forget the world.
                I even tell you to die. You make every effort, but for dying no effort is needed. You just lie down
           there waiting for Nivedano's beat so that you can wake up again. Not a single one remains dead just
           a little while more, everybody immediately ... it is all intellectual. If it was not intellectual, every day
           we would have to call an ambulance because this place would become a graveyard. But nobody dies.
           In the whole world people are dying, except in this Buddha Hall where we are trying to die every
           day. On the contrary, you come back healthier, more robust.
                Maneesha, what you feel is still intellectual. You are intelligent enough to feel it, but intellect is
           not going to give you the right experience; it blocks. You need not try to use the mind, in any way.
           Let it happen spontaneously. You simply risk yourself totally. Then even if you die, what does it
           matter? One day you are going to die, and this day is perfectly good. There are only seven days. You
           will have to die on Monday, on Tuesday, on Saturday, on Sunday ... What does it matter?
                But if you die really, leaving the mind and body aside, you will come to know your immortality;
           you will see the fiction of death. Death has never happened, you have only changed your form. And
           those few who have realized it have not even moved into another form, they have moved into the
           eternal ocean, into the very existence itself, losing themselves completely. That is the ultimate
           ecstasy.
                Before somebody dies ... particularly Sardar Gurudayal Singh is getting ready. He has been
           missing every day, perhaps today he is going to die. We promise him we will celebrate ... don't be
           worried.

              Gorgeous Gloria is very excited as she plans her coming wedding, with her friend, Sherry
           Cherry.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Have you heard about the secret aphrodisiac from India?" asks Sherry.
           "Why, no," says Gloria. "What is it?"
              "It is called `Burnt bindhi,'" says Sherry. "And if you want an unforgettable wedding night, get
           him to eat a dozen burnt bindhis after the ceremony."
           A week later, Gloria meets Sherry in the supermarket.
           "How did the wedding night go?" asks Sherry.
              "Oh, okay I guess," says Gloria. "But only eight of the bindhis worked!"

               In a little town in the Wild West of America, Polly Peekin, the pretty young tourist, is intrigued
           by a big macho-looking Indian. She is watching him and has noticed that he says, "Chance!" to every
           passing female.
               Finally, Polly's curiosity gets the better of her and she walks up to him and says, "Hello."
           To which he answers, "Chance!"
           "That's interesting," says Polly. "I thought all Indians said, `How!'"
           "I know how," he replies. "Just want chance!"

               Swami Deva Coconut arrives in Bombay airport with his pet parrot on his shoulder. He is
           intercepted by an Indian customs official who says, "Hey, stop! You have got to pay import duty on
           that parrot!"
           "How much?" asks Coconut.
               "Let me see," says the official, paging through his imports book. "Here we are," he continues.
           "Five hundred rupees for an alive parrot, one hundred rupees for a stuffed one."
           "Hey, Coconut," screams the parrot. "Don't get any crazy ideas!"

              Swami Bharti Barfi, one of Shree Rajneesh's Indian disciples, is sitting on an Air India plane
           with the Shankaracharya of Puri and some of his aides. They are cruising at thirty-five thousand feet
           over the Indian sub-continent, when the shankaracharya suddenly feels very generous.
              "If I throw this hundred-rupee note out the window," he says, "I will make one harijan very
           happy."
              One of his aides adds, "But if you throw out two fifty-rupee notes, you will make two people
           happy."
              And the other aide says, "Well, why not throw out one hundred one-rupee notes, and make one
           hundred people happy?"
              At this point Swami Bharti Barfi stands up and says, "Why don't you make nine hundred million
           people happy and throw yourself out the window?"

           Okay Nivedano ... give the first beat, and everybody goes crazy.

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           close your eyes ...
           no movement of the body -- feel frozen.
           Go inwards, deeper ... and deeper,
           just like an arrow.
           Penetrate all the layers
           and hit the center of your existence.
           This silence ...
           this peace ...
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Start discovering the buddha within you.
           You are just a rock ...
           non-essential parts have to be taken away,
           and the buddha statue will reveal itself.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Relax ... let go ... die!
           In this moment,
           at the very center of your being,
           you are the immortal buddha.
           You don't have to pray.
           You don't have to worship.
           You don't have to go to any temple.
           Because you are the temple of the buddha.
           Realize it
           and express it in every action --
           the grace of it, the beauty of it,
           the blissfulness of it,
           the ecstasy of it.
           And your whole life becomes a dancing flame
           of immortal joy.
           This is the dimension
           the whole East has devoted itself to
           for millions of years:
           to discover the point which is unmovable,
           which is the very center of the cyclone.
           Rejoice in it,
           and remember the path,
           how you have reached to it,
           so that whenever you want,
           you close your eyes
           and immediately the buddha is there.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Come back from your death ...
           to life eternal.
           Sit down for a few moments
           just like a buddha,
           in all his glory and splendor.
           These few moments make this place the most
           precious in the whole world.
           Ten thousand buddhas
           melting and merging into each other,
           just like waves of the ocean.
           The world has forgotten this language ...
           it has to be reminded.
           Everyone has to become a message,
           not a missionary.
           Revealing your own buddhahood
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is enough to wake up people around you.
           Your joy,
           your blissfulness,
           your benediction has to be shared.
           The more you share it,
           the more you have it.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the gathering
           of ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                     Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                     Chapter #4
                                            Chapter title: Dive a little deep
           28 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807285
              ShortTitle: DOGEN04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 132 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN SAID:
              IN THE PRACTICE OF THE HIGHEST SUPREME WISDOM, IT IS MOST DIFFICULT TO MEET
              PROMINENT MASTERS. WHETHER MEN OR WOMEN, THEY MUST BE THOSE WHO HAVE
              REALIZED SOMETHING INDESCRIBABLE .... THIS IS THE REALIZATION OF THE ESSENCE OF
              THE WAY. THEREFORE, THEY LEAD AND BENEFIT OTHERS, SETTING ASIDE NO CAUSALITY
              OR MAKING NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SELF AND OTHERS.
              ONCE WE HAVE MET A MASTER, WE MUST PRACTICE THE WAY, ALOOF FROM WORLDLY
              RELATIONS AND GRUDGING A SPARE TIME, EVEN IN THINKING, NON-THINKING AND
              NEUTRAL THINKING. THEREFORE, WE SHOULD TRAIN OURSELVES AS SINGLEHEARTEDLY
              AS IF WE WERE SAVING OUR HEAD FROM A BURNING FIRE. A ZEN MASTER WHO HAS
              DROPPED AWAY HIS BODY AND MIND IS NONE OTHER THAN OURSELVES.
              IT IS INEVITABLY BY SINCERITY AND PIETY THAT WE REALIZE AND RECEIVE THE ESSENCE
              OF OUR MASTER'S LAW. THESE QUALITIES NEITHER COME FROM OUTSIDE NOR RISE FROM
              INSIDE, BUT FROM ATTACHING MORE IMPORTANCE TO THE LAW THAN TO OUR BODY, OR
              FROM RENOUNCING THE WORLD AND ENTERING THE WAY. IF WE ATTACH A LITTLE MORE
              IMPORTANCE TO OUR BODY THAN TO THE LAW, WE SHALL BE UNABLE TO REALIZE AND
              RECEIVE THE WAY.      .... WHEN SOMEONE HAS REALIZED THE GREAT LAW AND THE
              ESSENCE OF THE BUDDHAS AND PATRIARCHS, WE SERVE HIM, REVERENTLY
              PROSTRATING OURSELVES ....
              SAKYAMUNI-BUDDHA SAID: "WHEN YOU MEET A MASTER WHO EXPOUNDS THE SUPREME
              WISDOM, DO NOT CONSIDER HIS BIRTH, LOOK AT HIS APPEARANCE, NOR DISLIKE HIS
              FAULTS OR WORRY ABOUT HIS BEHAVIOR. RATHER, OUT OF RESPECT FOR HIS GREAT
              WISDOM, TREAT HIM WITH A LARGE SUM OF MONEY OR CELESTIAL MEALS AND FLOWERS,
              OR REVERENTLY PROSTRATE YOURSELF BEFORE HIM THREE TIMES A DAY, GIVING HIM NO
              CAUSE FOR WORRY; AND YOU WILL SURELY FIND THE SUPREME BODHI-WISDOM."
              DOGEN CONTINUED, ... BOTH MEN AND WOMEN CAN REALIZE THE WAY. IN ANY CASE, THE
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              REALIZATION OF THE WAY SHOULD BE RESPECTED, REGARDLESS OF SEX. THIS IS AN
              EXTREMELY EXCELLENT RULE IN THE WAY .... EVEN A LITTLE GIRL OF SEVEN CAN BECOME
              THE TEACHER OF THE FOUR CLASSES OF BUDDHISTS ... IF SHE PRACTICES AND REALIZES
              THE LAW ... WE SHOULD MAKE A VENERATIVE OFFERING TO HER AS IF TO THE BUDDHAS.
              THIS IS A TRADITIONAL MANNER IN BUDDHISM. I FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE
              NEVER KNOWN OR RECEIVED IT PERSONALLY.


               Maneesha, it is one of the most ancient problems -- how to recognize the master? Because
           without the master there is almost no way. I say almost, because perhaps one person in a million may
           reach to the truth without the master. But it is just accidental, it cannot be made a rule, it is just an
           exception that simply proves the rule.
               And the great concern of masters has been to explain to people the ways of recognizing the
           master, because the master is the Way. Unless you have seen someone self-realized, you will not
           trust yourself that you can be realized. Once you have seen a buddha, an enlightened one, a
           tremendous flame suddenly starts blossoming in you, "If this beauty, this grace, this wisdom, this
           blissfulness can happen to any man, then why can it not happen to me?"
               As far as human beings are concerned, we have the same seeds and the same potentiality. But a
           seed can remain a seed and may never become a flower, although there was every possibility
           available. But rather than disappearing in the soil, the seed can remain safe, hiding in a stone cave,
           thinking that it is too rainy outside, worrying that it is too sunny outside, fearing the unknown. It
           feels cozy in the closed silence of the cave, but there it cannot grow, there it will simply get rotten.
           There it will simply remain something ... it could have been a beautiful manifestation, it simply
           remains unmanifested, a song unsung, a poetry unwritten, a life unlived.
               It is very essential to find a man who can provoke in you the challenge to attain to your heights.
           The master is nothing but a challenge -- if it has happened to me, it can happen to you. And the
           authentic master -- there are so many teachers propounding doctrines, beliefs, philosophies -- the
           authentic master is not concerned with words; is not concerned with beliefs, atheism or theism; is not
           concerned even with God, or heaven and hell. The authentic master is concerned only with one
           single thing -- to provoke you to see your potentiality, to see inwards. His presence makes you silent,
           his words deepen your silence, his very being slowly starts melting your falseness, your mask, your
           personality.
               What is the problem of the seed? It is the problem of you, too. The problem of the seed is that the
           cover is protective. In losing the cover it becomes vulnerable. The seed is perfectly happy covered,
           but it does not know that there are more skies beyond skies to be discovered, that unless it goes to
           the beyond it has not lived; because it has not known the world of stars, and it has not lived as a
           flower dancing in the rain and in the sun and in the wind, it has not heard the music of existence. It
           remained closed in its safety and security.
               And exactly the same is the problem with man. Every man is a bodhisattva. The word
           `bodhisattva' means, in essence a buddha. The distance between a bodhisattva and a buddha is the
           distance between the seed and the flower. It is not much, it just takes a little courage to bridge the
           distance.
               But hidden in the darkness of a cave, who is going to give you the encouragement? Who is going
           to pull you out from your security? The master's function is to give you a taste of insecurity, to give
           you a taste of openness. And once you know that openness, insecurity .... They are basic ingredients
           of freedom, without them you cannot open your wings and fly in the sky of infinity.
               It is absolutely essential to avoid the teachers, they are fake masters. It is very difficult, because
           they speak the same language. So you have not to listen to the words, you have to listen to the heart;
           you have not to listen to their doctrines, their logic and arguments, you have to listen to their grace,
           their beauty, their eyes; you have to listen to and feel the aura that surrounds a master. Just like a
           cool breeze it touches you. Once you have found your master, you have found the key to open the
           treasure of your potentialities.
           Dogen is talking about this ancient and eternal problem. Dogen says:
              IN THE PRACTICE OF THE HIGHEST SUPREME WISDOM, IT IS MOST DIFFICULT TO MEET
              PROMINENT MASTERS.

              It is difficult, and if it was difficult in Dogen's time it has become more difficult nowadays. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world has become more worldly, education has become irreligious, science predominates -- and
           science does not believe in the insight of your being. Our whole culture for the first time in history is
           absolutely materialistic. It does not matter whether you are in the East or in the West, the same
           educational pattern has spread all over the globe.
               Although you may go traditionally, formally -- just as a social conformity -- to the temple, to the
           mosque, deep down you don't have any trust, deep down there is only doubt. Deep down you are
           going into the temple not because of any realization, not because you have to show your gratitude to
           God. You are going there out of fear of the society in which you live -- you don't want to be an
           outcast. It is simply a social conformity.
               It became very clear when in 1917 the Soviet Union went through a revolution. Before the
           revolution Russia was one of the most orthodox countries in the world. All kinds of superstitions
           were believed, there were many saints, a great hierarchy in the church. It was absolutely independent
           from the Vatican, it had its own church. But after the revolution, just within five years, all those
           beliefs, cultivated for centuries, disappeared. Nobody bothered any more about God.
               That does not mean that everybody had understood that there is no God. That simply means the
           society had changed and you have to change with society -- another social conformity. I don't belive
           in Russian atheists, just as I don't believe in any theists, Hindu, Christian or Mohammedan; for the
           simple reason that their religion is not their own experience, is not their own love affair, it is just a
           conformity to remain respectable in the crowd.
           What is your religion except conformity?
               By conformity nobody has found religion. Today it has become almost a universal conformity,
           because science overrules the mind, logic prevails on our thinking, logic denies anything irrational,
           science denies anything eternal. Obviously it has become more and more difficult to find an
           authentic master. Even to find a teacher is difficult because that too has become out of date. A
           teacher will be talking about the UPANISHADS, will be talking about the BIBLE, will be talking
           about the TORAH, will be talking about the KORAN -- all are out of date.
               Do you think a newspaper twenty centuries afterwards will have any significance? Just within
           one day its significance is finished. In the morning you were waiting so curiously for the newspaper,
           by the evening it is thrown out. It has served its purpose: a curiosity to know what is happening
           around, just a new and more technical way of gossiping.
               Now it is no more possible to continue the old type of gossiping because people are living so far
           away from each other. Newspapers, radio and television are the new forms of gossiping. They spread
           all kind of nonsense and stupidity to people. This used to be the work of the priest, of the teacher.
               Even in the past, as Dogen says, it was very difficult to meet prominent masters. But they have
           never ceased to be. Even today it is possible, although it has become more difficult to find a master.
           Because the whole world and its climate, its mind, has turned away from the inner search. One who
           goes into the inner search today goes alone, without any support from the society. In fact the society
           creates all kinds of problems for the man who is going in search of himself.
               People simply laugh, "Don't be foolish, go in search of money, go in search of a beautiful
           woman, go in search of becoming the richest man in the world, go in search of being the prime
           minister of a country. Where are you going and what will you do even if you find yourself? You will
           be simply stuck. Once you have found yourself then what are you going to do? You cannot eat it. It
           is just useless." The whole endeavor of the centuries has suddenly become completely useless,
           because so very few people have dared to cross the line, the boundary that the society creates around
           you.
               These few people have found the very source of life, they have found that we are not born with
           our birth, and we are not going to die with our death. Neither birth nor death ... our essence is
           eternal, beginningless, endless. Births and deaths have happened a thousand-and-one times, they are
           just episodes, very small things compared to our eternity.
               Whenever anybody finds this eternity, it starts transforming him. He becomes a new man in the
           sense that his vision is clear. He does not belong to any crowd, he cannot be a Christian or a Hindu
           or a Mohammedan; because he knows in his innermost core that we are all part of one existence. All
           divisions are stupid. How can a man who has realized himself belong to a crowd, be a member of a
           crowd? He becomes a peak of consciousness, standing alone like the Everest. He is enough unto
           himself, and to find him is certainly difficult, but not impossible. You can make it impossible if you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go on your search with certain prejudices, with certain criteria already decided by your mind.
               For example, a Jaina, even if he comes across a buddha, will not be able to see him. His eyes are
           covered with his so-called Jainism. He can respect only a man like Mahavira, that is his criterion.
           And the trouble is, every realized soul is so unique you cannot make criteria. You will have to be
           more subtle, more intelligent. The Jaina cannot accept Buddha as self-realized because he still wears
           clothes. His idea of self-realization is that one renounces everything, even clothes; one stands naked.
               But please remember, even an actor can stand naked, don't make it a criterion. Mahavira is
           unique -- he loves to be naked, in the open air, under the sky and the stars. It is beautiful but it is not
           a criterion. Gautam Buddha eats once a day. Now that is not a criterion, that if somebody eats twice
           a day he cannot be understood as a buddha. But even our so-called intelligent and our so-called
           religious people like Mahatma Gandhi make such stupid criteria.
               According to him a man of realization cannot drink tea. All the Buddhist masters have been
           drinking tea, it has been their discovery. It was Bodhidharma who discovered tea. The name `tea'
           comes from the mountain Tha in China, where Bodhidharma was meditating. And the name has
           remained the same in different languages ... just slight changes. In Hindi it is chai, in Marathi it is
           cha, in Chinese it is tha, in English it has become tea. But a thousand masters have never denied tea
           as something unspiritual.
               On the contrary, Zen has in its monasteries a special teahouse, and when they go for tea it is
           called a tea ceremony. They have transformed the simple act of drinking tea into a beautiful
           meditation. You have to leave your shoes outside as if you are entering into a temple. And there is a
           master who is going to lead the ceremony. Then everybody sits down in the silence of the monastery,
           the tea is prepared on the samovar and everybody listens to the music of the samovar boiling the tea.
           It becomes a meditation. Watchfulness is meditation, what you watch does not matter.
               Then the master with great grace brings the tea to everybody; pours the tea with immense
           awareness, consciousness, carefulness, respectfulness, and everybody receives the tea as if
           something divine is being received. In that silence sipping the tea ... and this very ordinary thing has
           become a spiritual experience. Nobody can speak in the teahouse, silence is the rule. When you put
           down your cups and saucers you also bow down with gratitude to existence. The tea was only a
           symbol.
               But in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram you could not drink tea, you could not fall in love with a
           woman. Every day you had to eat with your meal neem leaves, which are the bitterest leaves in the
           world, just to destroy your taste; because scriptures say that tastelessness is a criterion of spirituality.
           It can be a criterion of stupidity, it cannot be a criterion of spirituality; otherwise all buffalos will be
           spiritual.
               Have you watched buffalos? They always chew the same grass, showing in no way whether they
           are happy or unhappy, remaining so content and aloof. And the whole day it continues, chewing and
           chewing. It cannot be very delicious. You can try, once in a while it is good to try what other species
           around the world are doing. But I will not say that tastelessness has anything to do with religion. On
           the contrary, the more you become meditative, the more your taste becomes deeper. Every sense
           becomes more sensitive, you hear more, you see better, your touch starts becoming warmer.
               Just touch a few people's hands and you will see the difference. Some people's hands are warm.
           The warm hands show that they are ready to give, to share; the warmth is their energy moving
           towards you, it is really a love symbol. But holding some people's hands will be just like holding a
           dead branch of a tree, nothing moves in their hands. But these people in the past have been called
           spiritual. The more dead you are the more spiritual. Don't eat for the taste's sake!
               You cannot believe that Buddhist scriptures have thirty-three thousand rules for a person to be
           spiritual. At least I cannot become spiritual, just because I cannot count that many rules. I cannot
           remember that much -- thirty-three thousand rules! Whenever I count, I count on my fingers and
           after the third finger I always get lost. But that does not mean that I cannot be spiritual, arithmetic
           has nothing to do with spirituality. And what are those rules?
               One instance I will give to you. A young monk is going to spread Buddha's word to the masses.
           Before taking his leave he touches Buddha's feet and asks him if he has something to say to him,
           because he will not be able to see him again until the second monsoon comes.
               Buddha said, "Yes, I have a few instructions for you. One thing is, never look more than four feet
           ahead of you."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The man said, "But why?"
                Buddha said, "It is to avoid women. At the most you can see their feet. Then just move on, don't
           look at their face. Keep your eyes glued to the ground."
                Now such a man cannot see the stars, such a man cannot see the sunset or the sunrise, such a man
           is utterly cut off from existence, his sensitivity has been killed. He has eyes but he is almost blind --
           eyes that can see only four feet ahead. His tremendous capacity for seeing is reduced to only four
           feet.
                The young monk asked, "If once in a while I forget, or if there is some special situation in which
           I have to see a woman, what should I do?"
                Buddha said, "Close your eyes. I am especially concerned, because once you have seen a
           beautiful woman you can close your eyes but you cannot forget the face." In fact with closed eyes
           she becomes more beautiful.
                If I were in the place of Gautam Buddha I would give everybody a magnifying glass! Carry it!
           Whenever you come across a beautiful woman, just look and then her eyes will look like monsters;
           her nose will become so big that no Jew could defeat it. But this is not spirituality, carrying a
           magnifying glass ...
                His restriction is nothing but repression, and a repressed person can never enter into his own
           being. Those repressed feelings and thoughts become a hard shell dividing him from himself, from
           his own origin. Only an unrepressed, thoughtless, silent being can break away the barrier and reach
           to his living source. And the moment you reach your living source ... you don't have to do anything,
           it does miracles. It starts changing your attitudes, your approaches, it starts changing everything that
           you have known about yourself. It brings to you a new beinghood.
                To find a master is easy if you are available not only to words, but to silences too; not only to
           words because the truth never comes through words, but between the words, between the lines, in the
           silent spaces. If you are searching for a master don't carry any criterion, any prejudice. Be absolutely
           available, so that when you come across a master you can feel his energy. He carries a whole world
           of energy around him. His own experience radiates all around him. If you are open and not afraid of
           experiencing a new thing, of tasting something original, it is not very difficult to find a master. What
           difficulty there is, is on your side.
                But Dogen's statement is right:          ... IT IS MOST DIFFICULT TO MEET PROMINENT
           MASTERS. WHETHER MEN OR WOMEN, THEY MUST BE THOSE WHO HAVE REALIZED
           SOMETHING INDESCRIBABLE.
                That's what makes them masters: if they know something which cannot be described, if they have
           some experience which cannot be explained. The master is a mystery. He knows it but he cannot say
           it. He can share it if you are ready. He can invite you into his own very being. If you are unafraid and
           fearless, courageous enough to explore the most unknown part of existence, you can become a guest
           in the master's home. But remember, the moment you enter into the master's home the master enters
           into you. Two consciousnesses cannot remain separate. Once two consciousnesses come close they
           become one.
                And this is the only thing that has to be remembered: if with someone you feel a deep affinity, a
           deep synchronicity, as if one soul is in two bodies, then don't miss this man. He is going to lead you
           to the same incredible, indescribable, inexpressible experience.
              THIS IS THE REALIZATION OF THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY.

              Finding the master is finding the Way.
              THEREFORE, THEY LEAD AND BENEFIT OTHERS, SETTING ASIDE NO CAUSALITY OR
              MAKING NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SELF AND OTHERS.

                A very famous Sufi mystic used to come to a place where I lived for twenty years, and his
           disciples always wanted me to meet their master. I said, "The only way is: next time your master can
           stay with me."
                So the next time the Sufi master came he stayed with me, and I asked him first thing, "Are you
           still Mohammedan?"
           He looked surprised and shocked. He said, "Of course."
                I said, "Then you don't know the indescribable. These divisions between Mohammedans and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hindus and Jainas and Buddhists are divisions of the mediocre and retarded."
           But he said, "I realized God. I see him."
           I said, "It is all nonsense."
                Anando has just brought to me ... There is in America a new species of priests, television priests,
           that has never existed before. A very famous television priest has become more famous since he has
           declared that he sees God every night. God is nine hundred feet long! I told Anando, "Write a letter
           to him from me, `Please tell me, do you carry a ladder and something to measure with? or is it just
           guess work?'" Nine hundred feet, exactly!
                We think we live in the twentieth century. Even in America people are not living in the twentieth
           century, to say nothing of countries like India. Millions worship that man and nobody even bothers
           that this is so stupid.
                Seeing this, another missionary started declaring that he also sees God and he has a long white
           beard. So I have sent him my picture, "You don't be deceived, it is me who visits you in your
           dreams! In the first place, if God is eternal he cannot have white hair. He will always be young. It is
           man who becomes old."
                He has even published his picture, which is similar to mine, so I have told him, "Just look at my
           picture. Just not to be recognized by everybody else I'm wearing the glasses. But it's me you have
           been seeing in your dreams. Don't exploit people by saying that you are seeing God."
                God is not an object. You cannot see God. God is your very consciousness. It is the seer, not the
           seen. It is you, not some object somewhere. It is your innermost center, which is the only eternal
           point, unchangeable, immortal, divine in its beautitude, in its blessings.
                When you come close to a master just remember one thing: withdraw all defenses. Be as empty
           as possible, so that the master's energy can penetrate you, can penetrate your being, can touch your
           heart. And it is an immediate realization. Just as when you fall in love, you don't think about love,
           you don't consult librarians about love, you don't ask your elders how to fall in love. There is no
           school that teaches how to fall in love. But people fall in love, it suddenly happens.
                Just as love suddenly happens on the lower level, on the physical and biological level ... finding
           the master is a form of the highest love. The moment you come into the area of his influence --
           which is called the buddhafield, the field of the master -- you suddenly start throbbing with a new
           energy, you suddenly feel a new freshness, a new breeze passing through you, a new song which
           makes no sound. All that is left for you is to relax in deep gratitude. Don't even utter the word `thank
           you', because that is separating. This is not the time to utter a word ... just a gesture of gratitude.
                ONCE WE HAVE MET A MASTER, WE MUST PRACTICE THE WAY. If the master himself
           is the Way, how do you practice? You simply watch how the master moves, what gestures he makes,
           how he responds to situations. Because he is every moment an absolute awareness. His every action
           is an indication of his innermost being. Watch him! Watch him when he is sleeping, watch him when
           he is waking, watch him when he is talking, watch him when he is sitting silently, doing nothing.
                Watching the master with deep gratitude and love, absorbing his energy silently .... It is almost
           like drinking water when you are thirsty, a deep feeling of contentment comes to you.            ... ALOOF
           FROM WORLDLY RELATIONS AND GRUDGING A SPARE TIME, EVEN IN THINKING,
           NON-THINKING AND NEUTRAL THINKING. THEREFORE, WE SHOULD TRAIN
           OURSELVES AS SINGLEHEARTEDLY AS IF WE WERE SAVING OUR HEAD FROM A
           BURNING FIRE. A ZEN MASTER WHO HAS DROPPED AWAY HIS BODY AND MIND IS
           NONE OTHER THAN OURSELVES.
                The buddha and you in your deepest consciousness are one. The UPANISHADS declare: aham
           brahmasmi -- I am God. It is not out of any egoistic attitude -- those people who wrote the
           Upanishads have not even signed it. We don't know who wrote those Upanishads. Their statements
           are so clear -- it is impossible to have an ego and make such clear-cut statements about the truth.
           And when they declared, "Aham brahmasmi," they were not declaring it for themselves only; they
           were declaring for everybody, "You are the God." Don't search for him anywhere else. You will not
           find him in any holy place. If you cannot find him within yourself, you cannot find him anywhere
           else. The moment you find him in you, he is everywhere. Then you will see him in the song of a
           cuckoo or the chirping of the birds or in a thunderbolt or in this silence. Then he is everywhere.
                Once you know him within you, you know him all over. The whole existence becomes one
           continent. The ego makes you small islands. And remember, no man is an island, because even the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           small island deep down is joined with the continent. Just one has to go a little deep, dive a little deep.
              IT IS INEVITABLY BY SINCERITY AND PIETY THAT WE REALIZE AND RECEIVE THE ESSENCE
              OF OUR MASTER'S LAW.

               This word `Law' is a very difficult translation of the word dhamma. It gives a distorted view; the
           moment you hear the word `law' you remember your courts and constitution, your legal authorities;
           you don't remember the word `dhamma'.
               Dhamma is a Pali translation of the Sanskrit dharma. And `dharma' means: fire is hot -- hot is the
           dhamma of fire; ice is cold, it is the dhamma of ice. And you are a buddha, it is the dhamma of you.
           Better translated, law should not be used as a translation for dhamma, but rather `nature'. It is your
           nature to be a buddha. It does not matter that sometimes you forget. You can remain in forgetfulness
           for your whole life or many lives. Still, as an undercurrent the same dhamma, the same buddha, the
           same consciousness continues.
               Once it happened ... George Bernard Shaw was traveling to some place from London. The ticket
           checker came and George Bernard Shaw looked into everything, searched his whole suitcase,
           perspiring. The ticket was not found, although he knew perfectly well that he had purchased a ticket.
           The ticket checker said, "Don't be worried. I know you, everybody knows you. You must have put it
           somewhere. Don't be worried. I will take care that nobody harasses you."
               Bernard Shaw said, "That is not the problem, my boy. The ticket is not the problem. The problem
           is how to know where I am going. Do you think I am searching for the ticket for you?"
               You can forget. Forgetfulness is part of our nature, just as remembrance is. Sometimes you all
           must have come to a point where you were trying to remember some old acquaintance's name. You
           say it is just on the tip of the tongue. What do you mean? If it is on the tip of the tongue, spit it out!
           You know perfectly well that you know, but it is not coming to expression. The harder you try the
           more difficult it will become, because the harder you try, the more narrow the passage becomes.
           Mind becomes tense and old memories cannot get through that tenseness. Finally you give up and
           just start smoking, and while smoking suddenly it comes. You cannot believe, you had been trying
           so hard, you knew it was just on the tip of the tongue, and still you could not express it. I say to you
           the buddha is just on the tip of your tongue. It is only a question of smoking a little. A little
           relaxation, that's what the smoking gives.
               People smoke cigarettes and cigars not knowing that psychologically it is simply their mother's
           breast. That's why it gives them so much relaxation. From the nipple of the mother's breast lukewarm
           milk comes to the child; from the cigarette lukewarm smoke comes in -- and you have forgotten
           everything, you have become again a child, innocent, relaxed. No government can stop people from
           smoking, because smoking is not really the question. It has a deep psychology behind it.
               You can see the psychology without much erudition. Poets sing about the women's breast more
           than anything else. Painters paint the woman's breast more than anything else. There are a few
           painters who only paint women's breasts and nothing else. They go on improving ...
               Why this obsession? Why this fixation? The reality is that more and more mothers are not willing
           to breast feed the child, because to feed the child this way is to misshape the breast. The child goes
           on pulling, it makes the breast longer, and every woman wants the breast to be shapely, round, a full
           moon, and these young monsters won't allow it. They are interested in their work, because a round
           breast, a sculptor's idea of a woman's breast, will kill the child. If the breast is round the child cannot
           have his nourishment, his nose will be closed. Either he can breathe or he can drink; both together he
           cannot do. So all those Khajuraho paintings and statues, all those great painters, don't understand that
           the poor child's life is at stake!
               Every woman becomes interested, and now it is even being discussed in parliaments around the
           world, "Should women be forced to feed the child, or should they be given the freedom to choose
           themselves?" No woman wants to distort her breasts. Unless they find some technological device ...
           and it can be done. Just join the breast and the baby's mouth with a small pipe. And the child is
           almost on a cigar from the very beginning!
               I always see simple solutions to very great problems! Just a small plastic pipe ... the child will
           enjoy it and he can continue to enjoy it later on also because he is going to be in companionship with
           women.
               Nobody can prevent by law something which has a psychological root. And nobody can prevent
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you from becoming a buddha, because it is your very nature. It is another matter that you get
           involved in the small things of the world -- power, prestige, respectability -- and you forget to give
           some time to yourself. Just a little time to yourself, forgetting the whole world ... there is no need to
           renounce it. I am against renouncing anything.
               All the religions of the world have been religions of renunciation. They wanted people to
           meditate, to renounce the world, to go to the mountains, to the forests, to the deserts where nobody
           comes along. But that did not work, it does not work. Even if you go to the mountain a crowd will
           follow you there -- in your mind, not outside. Outside you will not see anybody, but with your eyes
           closed you will think about so many things: your wife, your children, your old parents, your friends
           and all kinds of stupid things -- Lions Club and Rotary Club. Things that you have never thought of
           before will start coming to your mind, because having nothing else to chew ... even chewing gum is
           not available, you have to chew something. People start thinking of strange things.
               But this is not realizing oneself. I am against renouncing the world, I want you to be in the world
           as totally as possible. So just once in a while be on a holiday. Just in the early morning for a few
           moments renounce everything, forget everything, and just be yourself. In the dark night when
           everybody is asleep sit on your bed and just be yourself.
               This is far more successful. The old renunciation was almost violent. Nobody has pointed it out
           because nobody wants to be condemned, but I am so much condemned now that I don't care. All the
           religions are responsible for millions of women who became widows even while their husbands were
           alive; children who became orphans although their fathers were alive; old parents who became
           beggars because their young son on whom they were dependent had renounced the world. Nobody
           has counted how much harm the very idea of renunciation has done, and what is the gain? Just
           measure both, there seems to be no gain. All those who have renounced are simply dreaming about
           the same things, clinging in the same way, jealous in the same way.
               I was in the Himalayas and I was just going to sit under a tree, when from another tree a monk, a
           Hindu monk, shouted, "Don't sit there. That belongs to my master."
               I said, "My God, even here in this forest .... You have renounced the whole world, but you have
           not yet renounced the tree. And the tree belongs to nobody."
           He said, "I am warning you, he is a dangerous man."
               I said, "He has to be dangerous, because renunciation of the world can be done only by violent
           people."
               How can you leave the world? This is your very sea, in which you are the fish. Leaving it you
           will die. How can a bird leave the sky? It is his very world. If he leaves the sky he will die. You
           cannot leave the world, but just on the margin you can take a few holidays, a few moments for
           yourself ... and nobody will even know about it.
               These small moments in which you drop the whole world as if it is a dream -- and your own
           being remains the only reality -- are the greatest moments of joy, peace, silence, blissfulness. These
           moments are divine. In these moments you are no more the ordinary human being, you have
           suddenly transcended humanness, you have transcended all form, you have entered into the formless
           existence. Your heart becomes the heartbeat of the whole existence.
               This is the only practice possible, everything else is non-essential and dangerous. Be ordinary in
           every way, just keep a few small spaces here and there. The world goes on, you don't interfere in it,
           neither do you escape from it. You participate in it, and with participation you go on growing inside
           in these few moments. Remaining in the world and becoming a buddha, that is my message.
              WHEN SOMEONE HAS REALIZED THE GREAT LAW AND THE ESSENCE OF THE BUDDHAS
              AND PATRIARCHS, WE SERVE HIM, REVERENTLY PROSTRATING OURSELVES.

               What can we do when somebody radiates consciousness, radiates the dance of existence? What
           do we have to offer? In the West people have always been concerned why people in the East touched
           the feet of their masters. They don't know it has become a traditional thing. Unfortunately everything
           becomes traditional; but basically, essentially, it has a great beauty. It is not a question of feet. It is
           simply a question of a gratitude which cannot be said, but only expressed by touching the feet of the
           master
              SAKYAMUNI-BUDDHA SAID: "WHEN YOU MEET A MASTER WHO EXPOUNDS THE SUPREME
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WISDOM, DO NOT CONSIDER HIS BIRTH."

               Don't ask what caste he belongs to, don't ask about his appearance. He may not look beautiful
           according to your ideas, he may not come from a high caste, from the Brahmins; he may be a sudra
           like Kabir or Dadu. He may not have renounced a kingdom like Buddha and Mahavira.
               But everybody does not have a kingdom to renounce. I used to know a postmaster, a very poor
           man. He lived just nearby my house, so we used to talk once in a while. When his wife died -- he had
           no children -- he renounced the world. The same people who had never paid any attention to the poor
           man started touching his feet, and soon he became very famous. After twenty years I met him again
           through one of his disciples who said, "You should see him."
           I said, "I know him."
               But they said, "He has changed, he is a transformed man. He has renounced millions."
               I said, "I know that in his post office account he had kept thirty-six rupees only. From where did
           he get millions?" But rumors ... and he was enjoying those rumors. I said, "I am coming to put him in
           his right senses."
               I asked him, "Please tell to your disciples how many rupees you had left in your post office
           account."
               He looked so sadly at me. He said, "It will be better if we meet separately, alone, not with all
           these people."
               I said, "I have to meet here in front of everybody, because these people think you have renounced
           millions. Now say clearly how many rupees!"
           He said, "Thirty-six."
           The disciples said, "Thirty-six? And you never told us before?"
               He said, "I enjoyed the idea that I had renounced millions. And I never said anything ... I simply
           did not deny it. So you cannot blame me."
           And I said, "Tell these people the real thing."
           He said, "What real thing?"
               The real thing was that before he decided to renounce he asked me to write three speeches for
           him, one for ten minutes, one for twenty minutes, one for thirty minutes. He said, "I will memorize
           them completely and for a ten minute occasion I will use one; if twenty minutes are available I will
           use that one. I don't think more than thirty minutes will be available to me at conferences."
               I said, "I am asking about those three speeches. Are you using them still or not?"
               He said, "My God, you have come here to kill me completely! These people think I am a realized
           man!"
           I said, "Tell these people that those three speeches were written by me."
               He said, "I have to admit it." But he lost all his fame. Suddenly his disciples disappeared,
           everybody started laughing about the whole thing. But for twenty years continuously he had
           maintained his great learnedness with those three speeches.
               I brought him back to my home. I said, "I need a gardener. You just do the garden and meditate
           with the plants, with the roses." And India has so many beautiful flowers, incomparable, because of
           the climate. The Indian rose has a fragrance that is not possible in a cold country; the fragrance is not
           released, it needs the sun. India has so many beautiful flowers, unknown to the world. I had a
           beautiful garden, so I put him to work.
               He said, "I was enjoying being an enlightened one, and unfortunately somebody brought you
           there. In this old age now I have to become a gardener again."
               I said, "This is far more authentic. Just be a gardener. It is a simple job. You can meditate and
           you can shower the water on the plants. The showering of water on the plants does not disturb your
           meditation. The flowers are not disturbing, the trees are very loving and very peaceful. I am giving
           you a really alive temple."
               Dogen is saying that when you meet a master don't think about his birth, don't bother about his
           appearance. All that is needed is a recognition that this is a man who has realized himself; everything
           else is non-essential. All that is needed now is a deep gratitude. It is a miracle to find such a man,
           and you have found him.
               Your gratefulness will bring a spring to your being. The master's experience will start flowing
           towards you just as rivers flow down from the mountains towards the ocean. Your gratefulness
           becomes just like an ocean: vast, available. And the master's heights are like the mountains, from
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           where the Ganges and thousands of other rivers come running, rushing, jumping from rock to rock,
           from valley to valley, reaching towards the ocean. If you are with a master all that you need is a
           humbleness, a gratitude. And the master is bound to pour himself into you.
              DOGEN CONTINUED, ... BOTH MEN AND WOMEN CAN REALIZE THE WAY. IN ANY CASE, THE
              REALIZATION OF THE WAY SHOULD BE RESPECTED, REGARDLESS OF SEX. THIS IS AN
              EXTREMELY EXCELLENT RULE IN THE WAY. EVEN A LITTLE GIRL OF SEVEN CAN BECOME
              THE TEACHER OF THE FOUR CLASSES OF BUDDHISTS ... IF SHE PRACTICES AND REALIZES
              THE DHAMMA ... WE SHOULD MAKE A VENERATIVE OFFERING TO HER AS IF TO THE
              BUDDHAS.

               Neither age matters nor birth matters, nor country nor race. What matters is your awareness, and
           awareness is neither Hindu nor Christian nor Mohammedan. It is just a fire, an eternal fire, invisible
           to the outside eye but visible when you close your eyes and go inward.
           A haiku:
              MOUNTAINS OF GREEN
              MOUNTAINS OF BLUE ARISE:
              MY GRATITUDE WELLS UP
              AND FILLS MY EYES.


              Ryokan wrote:
              THE THIEF
              LEFT IT BEHIND --
              THE MOON AT THE WINDOW.


               This is just what Ryokan wrote after the thief had gone. The whole story is beautiful. One night a
           thief entered into Ryokan's small hut. Ryokan had only one blanket which he used day and night to
           cover his body. That was his only possession. He was lying down but he was not asleep, so he
           opened his eyes and saw the thief entering. He felt great compassion for him because he knew there
           was nothing in the house. "If the poor fellow had informed me before, I could have begged
           something from the neighbors and kept it here for him to steal. But now what can I do?"
               Seeing that there was nothing, that he had entered into a monk's hut, the thief started to go out.
           Ryokan could not resist. He gave his blanket to the thief. The thief said, "What are you doing? You
           are standing naked. It is a very cold night!"
               He said, "Don't be worried about me. But don't go empty-handed. I have enjoyed this moment,
           you have made me feel like a rich man. Thieves usually enter the palaces of emperors. By your
           entering here my hut has also become a palace, I have also become an emperor. In my joy this is just
           a gift."
               Even the thief felt sorry for him and he said, "No, I cannot receive this gift because you don't
           have anything. How you are going to pass the night? It is so cold, and it is getting colder!"
               Ryokan said with tears in his eyes, "You remind me again and again of my poverty. If it was in
           my power I would have taken hold of the full moon and given it to you."
           When the thief left he wrote in his diary:
              THE THIEF
              LEFT IT BEHIND --
              THE MOON AT THE WINDOW.

              These haikus are not ordinary poems. These are statements of deep meditativeness.

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF OUR MASTER'S LAW?


               Maneesha, here I am not -- just an empty space, a hollow bamboo. If you want to join with me,
           nothing else is needed. Just be utterly empty and silent. This is your master's dhamma. And in fact,
           this is all the masters' dhamma. Become a hollow bamboo so that you can be turned into a flute and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           songs of immense beauty can pass through you. They will not be your songs, they will be songs of
           existence.
               Before we enter into today's meditation ... the bamboos are very silent and waiting for your
           laughter. My gardeners have informed me that they have never seen bamboos growing so fast.
           Particularly as the evening arrives they all start jumping up. They are participants, they meditate
           with you. They cannot say anything, but saying does not matter. They understand your laughter
           certainly.

               Bruno Meatball, a truck driver, is trying to change a flat tire by the side of the road. He is
           hammering away with all his might, cursing and swearing with each unsuccessful blow.
               The village priest is passing by and decides to help him. He sits down by Bruno's side and says to
           him, "I will pray to God; all miracles are possible." He then gives Bruno a little lecture about
           offering a prayer instead of curses when confronted with trouble.
               Finally "The Meatball" says that he is willing to try anything, just to get the tire off the wheel. So
           they both kneel beside the truck and pray.
               When Bruno goes back to work he gives the tire one blow, and it almost jumps off by itself.
           The priest looks on in amazement, and cries, "Well, I'll be fucked!"

               Mr. and Mrs. Polite live in a nice big house in Propertown, U.S.A. And they are really polite.
           When Mrs. Polite brings Mr. Polite his dinner, he says, "Thank you so much, darling."
               And Mrs. Polite says, "Oh you are so welcome, sweetheart. Actually, I should thank you for
           being such a lovely husband to serve."
               Then Mr. Polite says, "No, I should doubly thank you for being such a lovely wife ...." And so
           on.
               Anyway, they are all so polite that one evening Mr. Polite sees a lonely middle-aged fellow
           standing in the rain. Politely, he invites the stranger into the house for a nice, hearty meal. Two hours
           later, Mr. Polite stumbles across the stranger making love in the hallway to their lovely daughter,
           Pussy Polite.
               Upon seeing this, Mr. Polite says, very politely, "Pussy, dear, where are your manners? Arch
           your back and help the gentleman to get his balls off this cold marble floor!"

               After many attempts, Gilbert Goldditch finally manages to get Gorgeous Gloria to go to his
           apartment with him. After a few drinks, Gilbert puts on some soft music, and they settle down on the
           sofa.
               A few minutes later Gloria says, "You know, Gilbert, you are the first man I have met whose
           kisses make me sit up and open my eyes."
           "Really?" says Gilbert, happily.
           "Yes," replies Gloria. "Usually they have the opposite effect!"

               Mikhail Gorbachev gets up in the morning and goes out onto his balcony to get some fresh air.
           The sun is rising. "Good morning, red sun!" he exclaims.
           "Long live Mikhail Gorbachev!" the sun replies.
               Very happy with this, Gorbachev goes about his business. After a busy morning he goes out onto
           his balcony again, and sees the sun at its height.
           "Good afternoon, sun!" he shouts out.
               "Long live Comrade Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet
           Union!" replies the sun.
           Very pleased, Gorbachev returns to his work.
               That evening, after a hard day, he comes out once again onto his favorite balcony. He sees the
           sun setting, and with a smile cries out, "Good evening, my little sun!"
           "I am in the West now," replies the sun, "so fuck you!"
           Now, Nivedano, give the beat ...

           (Drumbeat)
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent.
           Close your eyes.
           Feel your body to be frozen,
           and just go in ... deeper and deeper.
           At the deepest is your immortal self.
           Don't be afraid of the unknown,
           rush towards the center like an arrow.
           Just don't stop on the periphery,
           because only at the center,
           where nothing moves,
           you are a buddha.
           To make it more clear, Nivedano

           (Drumbeat)

           Relax,
           let go, forget the body,
           forget the mind,
           just remember that you are
           pure consciousness, just an awareness.
           And without going a single step anywhere
           you have arrived home.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Come back,
           but come back as buddhas
           and sit down for a few moments ...
           remembering, rejoicing, making a contact ...
           that in your every activity
           this consciousness
           will always be like an undercurrent.
           Once this experience of buddhahood
           becomes a solid experience,
           it expresses in all your activities --
           in your words, in your silences,
           in your days, in your nights.
           It becomes your constant companion.
           Ultimately
           you deserve the final disappearance
           and only the buddha remains.
           A pure awareness
           is the most beautiful lotus
           that has ever blossomed.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                      Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                  Chapter #5
                               Chapter title: The moon never breaks the water
           29 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807295
              ShortTitle: DOGEN05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 88 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN WROTE:
              WHEN WE ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT, IT IS JUST LIKE THE MOON REFLECTING ITSELF ON
              THE WATER. THE MOON WILL NOT GET WET, NOR IS THE WATER BROKEN. THE
              MOONLIGHT, HOWEVER VAST, REFLECTS ITSELF ON A SMALL QUANTITY OF WATER. THE
              WHOLE MOON AND THE WHOLE SKY BOTH REFLECT THEMSELVES EVEN IN A DEWDROP
              ON THE GRASS, OR IN A DROP OF WATER.
              AS THE MOON NEVER BREAKS THE WATER, SO ENLIGHTENMENT NEVER DESTROYS THE
              MAN. AS THE DEWDROP NEVER OBSTRUCTS THE REFLECTION OF THE MOON, SO A MAN
              NEVER OBSTRUCTS THE COMING OF ENLIGHTENMENT. THE DEEPER THE MOON REFLECTS
              ITSELF IN THE WATER, THE HIGHER THE MOON IS. WE SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE LONG
              AND SHORT OF TIME ARE QUITE ONE WITH THE LARGE AND SMALL OF WATER, AND THE
              BROAD AND NARROW OF THE MOON.


                Maneesha, Dogen is making a very specific point. It deserves absolute attention and concern,
           because he is saying nobody obstructs your enlightenment. Then why are you not enlightened?
           Nobody in the whole existence is interested in becoming an obstacle to you. It is something of major
           significance that has to be understood.
                As we go along in the sutra, I would like to make it clear to you what it is that is obstructing.
           Certainly you are not obstructing it. And existence loves it, rejoices in it. The whole universe dances
           in every man's enlightenment. One part of it, which had been groping in the dark, has come back
           home in its full glory. The whole existence receives him with a showering of flowers. So there is no
           question of any obstruction from existence. And there is no question about yourself. Then who is
           obstructing? There certainly are obstructions; otherwise there would be no need to become
           enlightened -- you would be enlightened. There would be no need for any master to tell you. It is a
           little bit complicated, but not so complicated that you cannot understand and overcome it. Dogen
           says:
              WHEN WE ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT, IT IS JUST LIKE THE MOON REFLECTING ITSELF ON
              THE WATER ...

               So peaceful, so silent. The moon reflects on the surface of the water. In fact, nothing is
           happening. The moon is in its own place, it has not moved even a little inch towards the water; nor is
           the water disturbed even a little bit.
               But in a silent lake the moon's reflection becomes even more beautiful than the moon itself,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because the lake also adds some beauty to it. It makes it more alive and more fragile.
               ENLIGHTENMENT -- according to Dogen, and I agree with him absolutely -- IS JUST LIKE
           THE MOON REFLECTING ITSELF ON THE WATER. There is no effort on the part of the water,
           that the moon has to be reflected. There is no commandment that has to be followed, no doctrines
           that have to be practiced, no yoga postures ... so that the moon can reflect itself in the water. There is
           not even a desire, not even a longing ... not even a faint longing. And the same is the situation on the
           part of the moon -- the moon has no desire to be reflected. Both are desireless, but the reflection
           happens on its own accord. So does enlightenment. Just in a silent, peaceful consciousness it
           suddenly reflects your buddhahood.
               But the lake has to be silent. If there are too many ripples or too many waves on the lake the
           reflection will be broken. The reflection may be broken in many parts and you will not be able to see
           the moon, but only a silver line spread all over the lake. It will not be a true reflection; it will not be
           representative of the moon. The lake, when silent and still, doing nothing ... not even any waves ...
           and the moon reflects.
               Your consciousness has its own way of making waves, ripples. What are your thoughts except
           ripples on a lake? What are your emotions, your moods, your sentiments? What is your whole mind?
           -- just a turmoil. And because of this turmoil you cannot see your own nature. You go on missing
           yourself. You meet everybody in the world and you never meet yourself.
              THE MOON WILL NOT GET WET ...

                Obviously, there is no question of the moon getting wet because it is reflected in the lake.   ...
           NOR IS THE WATER BROKEN -- by the moon.
                The moon is not like a stone that has been thrown in the water, it is just a reflection. When you
           stand before a mirror you don't disturb the mirror. You come and go; the mirror remains exactly in
           its position, undisturbed.
              THE MOONLIGHT, HOWEVER VAST, REFLECTS ITSELF ON A SMALL QUANTITY OF WATER.
              THE WHOLE MOON AND THE WHOLE SKY BOTH REFLECT THEMSELVES EVEN IN A
              DEWDROP, ON THE GRASS, OR IN A DROP OF WATER.
              AS THE MOON NEVER BREAKS THE WATER, SO ENLIGHTENMENT NEVER DESTROYS THE
              MAN.

               This is a very great statement. It does not destroy the man but it destroys the shadow of the man,
           with which you are identified. It takes away all that is false and leaves behind only the real, the
           authentic, the honest.
              AS THE DEWDROP NEVER OBSTRUCTS THE REFLECTION OF THE MOON, SO A MAN NEVER
              OBSTRUCTS THE COMING OF ENLIGHTENMENT. THE DEEPER THE MOON REFLECTS ITSELF
              IN THE WATER, THE HIGHER THE MOON IS. WE SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE LONG AND
              SHORT OF TIME ARE QUITE ONE WITH THE LARGE AND SMALL OF WATER, AND THE BROAD
              AND NARROW OF THE MOON.

               What is your shadow that is obstructing your reality? Your shadow has to be understood
           perfectly well: it is your personality. It is what you have been proposed to be, it is what you have
           been brought up to be. It is all those voices of your mothers and fathers, your teachers. They make
           your personality; they create a pseudo-ness around you. Your knowledge ... nobody ever asked
           whether it is yours.
               I have been expelled from many colleges. The principals would call me in and tell me, "You
           cannot harass my professor."
               I said, "Your professor has made some statements, and I have simply asked him, `Is it your own
           experience?' Do you call that harassing? Do you want to expel me, or should you expel a man who is
           teaching something which is not his own experience?"
               I would tell the principals, "Call that teacher who has reported against me. He has to confront
           me. I don't care about any examination or any degree, and I don't care about your college. But things
           have to be put right."
               Even the principals would say to me, "You are right, but you don't understand our problem. We
           are all carrying borrowed knowledge. We don't know exactly what the truth is, but we are talking
           about it. You are a nuisance. Nobody else is asking such questions. Now this professor -- who has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even threatened to resign if you are not expelled immediately from the college -- is an old, very
           senior man. He is almost near his retirement, and he has never been violent or angry. There has been
           nothing against him during his twenty years' service in the college. And suddenly you have made
           him almost insane. He has not come for three days, he has closed his doors, he does not want to
           speak to anybody from the college, he does not answer the phone. He has simply written a note,
           `Unless you expel that student, I am not going to come to the college.'"
                I said, "There is no problem. You can expel your whole college, you need not be worried about
           that. But I will follow that man -- college or no college. I know his home. I may not be a student in
           your college, that does not mean ... Where is he going to live? I will knock on his doors. Either he
           has to recognize the fact that his knowledge is borrowed or he has to speak honestly from his
           experience. I simply want to provoke him."
                I was surprised to know that great professors ... because I have been in many colleges, it was a
           great opportunity. Usually, one ends up with just one college. I was being expelled from one college
           to another, and later from one university to another. The second university accepted me with the
           condition that I would not trouble the professors.
                I said, "What kind of poverty is this? If you don't know the answer you can simply say, `I don't
           know.' But that hurts your ego."
                They asked me to write down that they are accepting me on the condition that I will not attend
           any classes. Strange! I don't think this has happened to anybody else in the whole world. "If I am not
           to attend the classes, then why are you admitting me? And how am I going to manage my percentage
           of attendance so I can appear for the examination?"
                The vice-chancellor said, "I will take care of your percentage. You are present -- one hundred
           percent! That is my promise to you. But please, don't go to any class, because I have heard about you
           so much from other professors, principals. The other vice-chancellor who has expelled you phoned
           me, `Beware of this boy.' I am accepting you because I can see the point that you are not wrong; just
           our whole system is wrong. Your only fault is that you are pointing to our wound. I can understand
           you; that's why I am giving you admission.
                "But the professors will not be able to understand. You are so accurate in hitting at the weakest
           point that these ordinary professors ... after all they are just working for money; there is no question
           of truth or good or beauty. They are not concerned about these things; they are concerned with their
           salaries, they are concerned with their position. It is politics: the lecturer wants to be the reader, the
           reader wants to be the professor, the professor wants to be the head of the department, the head of
           the department wants to be the dean of the faculty, the dean wants to be the vice-chancellor --
           nobody is interested in what you are asking. So your presence has created a fear."
                I had to accept this, but as I signed the agreement and he signed my admittance, I told him, "I can
           at least meet the professors on the road, I can knock on their doors. The promise is only for the
           classes. I can go to the library -- these things are not included."
           He said, "This is difficult."
                And I used to do that -- knock on professors' doors. And they would say, "Just leave us at peace.
           We are tired. The questions that you ask are unanswerable. We don't know, we are not seekers; we
           are just educators. We have learned from others who have learned from others. We don't know what
           we are teaching, whether it is true or whether we are simply repeating superstitions." I would catch
           hold of them in the library.
                And the vice-chancellor told me, "Look, you stop professors on the road when they are coming
           to their classes, and you ask them, `Please answer this question before you enter the class, because I
           cannot enter the classroom.' It is not part of our agreement, so I cannot insist on it, but don't harass."
                I said, "But I can stand outside the classroom and from the window I will shout the question. So
           it is better if we settle it here. I will never enter the classroom, but the rest is not part of the
           agreement." The vice-chancellor had forgotten that every classroom had a window. "I can stand
           outside in the fresh air rather than in the rotten inside air and I can ask anything that I want.
                "And you should understand it clearly, that if I ask a question and the professor doesn't answer it,
           then the whole class will ask the same question. What you request is not part of the agreement."
                I used to distribute my question to all the class, "If he does not answer me, one by one you stand
           up and ask the question ... until he is finished!"
                But who is preventing all these people who are knowledgeable from seeing that their very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge is the barrier?
                Dogen is right that enlightenment is your natural being, as natural as the moon reflecting on the
           silent lake. No effort on any side, no desire on any side ... it is a happening. But you have not been
           left a clean, silent lake. So much rubbish -- in the name of religion, in the name of politics, in the
           name of society -- has been imposed on you: that is what is making the barrier. And the poor moon
           cannot reflect on you. You have to destroy this whole wall that is preventing you from looking at
           things as they are -- not as you have been told. You have to get rid of all ideology that has been
           implanted in you, all your conditioning.
                Even very intelligent people I have seen behave so superstitiously -- you cannot believe. There
           are countries where the number thirteen is thought to be a dangerous number. Perhaps somebody
           died or committed suicide on the thirteenth some time back; perhaps somebody jumped from the
           thirteenth floor of a hotel, and now people have become certain it is bad luck. There are hotels which
           don't have a room number thirteen; after twelve it jumps to fourteen. They don't have a thirteenth
           floor; after the twelfth just comes the fourteenth. It is the thirteenth, but the hotel does not recognize
           it as the thirteenth.
                People don't get married on the thirteenth, out of fear that life will be a misery; and they don't
           look around to see that whether you marry on the thirteenth or the fourteenth or the fifteenth,
           marriage is going to be a misery. Don't blame the dates, and don't blame the days. Marriage itself is a
           desire to be miserable, a deep down desire ... a partnership in misery. "You look so beautiful" means,
           "You look so miserable. I am also very miserable ... let's be together" -- as if by being together the
           misery will disappear. But it will not disappear, it will not only be doubled, it will be increased by
           much more than double.
                The whole world knows it, but we go on with our conditioning. If you are unmarried every
           married person you know is very sorry for you, "Poor fellow, he has remained a bachelor; he does
           not know the happiness of misery."
                When I came back from the university, naturally my parents were concerned that I should get
           married. But they were afraid to even ask me because they knew that once I say no, then it is forever.
           Then there is no way to drag me into saying yes. They knew me perfectly well, that it was absolutely
           improbable that I would say yes. So how to ask? That was their problem.
                I told them, "It seems everybody wants to ask me something, and I am ready. So why you don't
           ask it? You whisper with each other."
                Finally my father found a friend, a supreme court advocate, a very successful man in his
           profession. He asked him, "We are not in a position even to ask. Now you have to do something."
                He said, "Don't be worried. The whole country knows that when I take a case in my hand ..."
                My father said, "This is not the supreme court, and this is no ordinary case. I warn you -- if any
           trouble arises for you, I will not be responsible."
                He said, "What trouble? I am coming this weekend and I will talk to your son, and I will take
           care of it. It is a question of argumentation."
           My father said, "You don't know him, but come. We will all enjoy it."
                So everybody was ready. He came. I touched his feet because he was my father's friend, and I
           was as respectful as always. I said to him, "Before the debate starts ..."
           He said, "What debate?"
                I said, "You know it, I know it, and everybody else present here knows it. But before it starts, I
           want you honestly to answer one question: Are you satisfied in your marriage? I have informed your
           wife, and if you say anything wrong ... she is just sitting in the other room."
                He said, "What? She is here? My God, I don't want to be entangled in this affair."
           I said, "It has not even started."
           He said, "I don't want to take the case."
                I said, "This is not the court. You have come with such a wide chest, and now you have suddenly
           become a rat. I will have to wash my hands ... I touched your feet."
                It was only a fiction, I had not asked his wife. But I knew that she used to beat him.
           He said, "Your father asked me."
                I said, "I am perfectly ready. If you can convince me that marriage is the right way of living, I
           will get married. But if you fail in convincing me you will have to divorce."
                He said, "My God, your father was right that this would be a difficult case. I simply withdraw! I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           don't want to say a single word. Let me think. Next week I will come."
               He never came. But every week I would go to his home and his wife would ask me, "What is the
           matter? Whenever you come he hides himself in the bathroom. I knock on the bathroom door and he
           says, `No, I cannot come out right now. Tell him to leave me alone. I have become so afraid of him I
           cannot go to the market, because -- who knows? -- he may stop me in the street and start the debate.
           And I cannot afford ...'"
           So the wife said to me, "But what is the matter? Why is he so afraid?"
               I shouted to the lawyer, "Either you come out, or I am going to tell your wife."
               He immediately came out. He said, "Just forgive me. For God's sake, just drop the matter. I will
           never mention the subject to you or anybody ..."
               The wife said, "But what is the matter that you are so much afraid? You perspire and it is air
           conditioned. You hide and you tell me to lie that you are not at home. And he is such a stubborn
           person, he keeps on coming."
               I said, "This is the problem, you have to be the judge. This man, your husband, wants me to get
           married. What is your opinion?"
               She said, "Married? If you want to be miserable, get married. Just look at this man. I have been
           reforming him since the day we married. I have almost finished him. He fights in the supreme court
           like a lion, and in the house he is just a stray dog. Even the children understand it. Even the children
           blackmail him, `You give us five rupees, otherwise we will tell mother.' And he cannot even ask
           what it is that they will tell; but it's enough that he has been talking to the neighbor's wife so
           sweetly." Because then the wife would be really dangerous, she would beat him. Now the poor
           fellow is dead.
               I told my parents and my family, "Don't bring others unnecessarily, because I am fundamentally
           against marriage. There is no question of my marrying, it is something fundamental to me that
           marriage is a wrong conception."
               Two persons can be in love and live together and the moment their love disappears -- as
           everything disappears in this world -- they should depart with gratitude to each other, with
           friendship, with pleasant memories of the past days. Marriage is absolutely unnatural. That's why
           you don't see any animals in the psychiatric hospitals. You don't see them lying on the
           psychoanalyst's couch, they don't go mad.
               Man has had so many layers imposed on him about everything; he thinks all these thoughts are
           his own. As a seeker you have to discriminate very carefully between what is yours and what has
           been given to you. And the moment you start sorting it out, you will be amazed to know that you
           don't have anything of your own. You are just a silent lake. And in that silent lake your buddhahood
           arises. Your nature is, in its purity, in its splendor, in its blissfulness.
               And nobody is trying to prevent you from becoming enlightened. Those people -- those teachers,
           those parents -- they were not aware; they were as unconscious .... They were also victims of their
           parents, of their teachers, of their rabbis and their pundits and their shankaracharyas and their popes.
           They were victims, and they have given to you as your heritage all their suffering and all their
           misery. Now you have to put all that load aside. Buddhahood is your natural self. Just put aside
           everything that is not arising within you, flowering within you.
               In a way, in the beginning you will feel poor. All your knowledge is gone, all your superstitions
           are gone, your religions are gone, your political ideologies are gone -- you will feel very poor. But
           this poverty is of tremendous value, because only in this poverty arises your natural richness, your
           natural flowers, your natural ecstasies. The natural man is not destroyed by enlightenment. But you
           are not natural, you are polluted.
               And everybody is harming everybody else by creating these conditions. In a better society
           children will not be taught any religion, any politics. They will be taught how to think, how to doubt;
           not how to believe. They will be taught to be more intelligent, to be more reflective. And the whole
           world will be full of enlightened people.
               Enlightenment is just your naturalness. This is the great contribution of Zen. All other religions
           are belief systems, Zen is not. All other religions will ask you to believe in God, in heaven, in hell.
           All other religions will have a thousand and one beliefs. Zen has no belief system. Its whole effort is
           to discover your natural self, which is covered with the dust of all kinds of good intentions, of
           beautiful thoughts, of great beliefs. All that dust has to be cleaned off. And then you are left alone in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your naturalness.
           A haiku of Hoitsu:
              BUDDHA:
              CHERRY FLOWERS
              IN MOONLIGHT.


              Just so simple. Just so beautiful.
              BUDDHA:
              CHERRY FLOWERS
              IN MOONLIGHT.


              Ryota wrote:
              SO BRILLIANT A MOONSHINE:
              IF EVER I AM BORN AGAIN --
              A HILLTOP PINE!


              He is asking that if he is going to be born again, he would like to be a hilltop pine. Such a
           beautiful moon, hanging over the hilltop pine ...
              These people are not ordinary poets. They are expressing an authentic longing to be natural,
           peaceful, silent ... A HILLTOP PINE! ... because man seems to be so insane.
           Another Zen poet:
              SEARCHING FOR HIM
              TOOK MY STRENGTH
              ONE NIGHT I BENT
              MY POINTING FINGER --
              NEVER SUCH A MOON!


               These people are natural poets. They have dropped all ideologies. They have started having
           relationships with pine trees and the clouds and the lightning; with the hills, with the rivers, with the
           ocean. They have dropped out of the human world which is absolutely false and they have regained
           again their roots in nature.
               This is, in my vision, the only religion in the world worth calling religion. All other religions are
           just exploitations of man and his search for himself. They are deviations, distractions. They lead you
           away from yourself, they don't bring you home.

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN SEEMS TO BE SAYING THAT THE MORE PROFOUNDLY ENLIGHTENMENT TOUCHES
              ONE'S BEING, THE MORE POTENT IS THE ENLIGHTENMENT. IS IT TRUE THAT THERE ARE NO
              GRADES OF ENLIGHTENMENT -- THAT ONE IS EITHER ENLIGHTENED OR NOT -- BUT THAT
              ENLIGHTENMENT, LIKE WINE, BECOMES MORE AND MORE MATURE?


               Maneesha, your understanding is right. There are no grades of enlightenment -- either you are
           enlightened or not enlightened. But certainly, as enlightenment deepens, matures, reaches to your
           very roots ... It is just the right symbol: like wine, the older it is the better.
               There are wine collectors ... You can find fifty-year-old wine, one-hundred-year-old wine -- they
           are all wines. Fresh wine just produced from the garden is also wine. But a hundred-year-old wine
           has attained a certain quality of intensity, a density, which is lacking in the new arrivals. There are
           experts in the world who can tell exactly, just by taking a sip, how old is the wine.

               It happened in a pub that a man said to the bartender, "Here is one hundred dollars. If you are
           ready to gamble with me, I will taste any wine you want me to taste and I will tell you its exact
           year." It was unbelievable, because wine testing is a very fine art. The offer was accepted. Each time
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he tells the right year when the wine was made, the bartender will pay him one hundred dollars.
               He went on tasting and telling the exact year. It was so amazing, all the drinkers and drunkards
           who were there sitting on different benches gathered around; even those who were completely drunk
           became awake, "What is happening?" And the man was amazing.
               Then suddenly a man from the back said, "I also want to join in the contest because I have got a
           wine. If you can tell me ..."
               So he brought a full cup. The man tasted it, spat it out, and he said, "You idiot. This is human
           urine!"
               But the man said, "Whose? I know it is human urine -- but whose? Unless you can tell me whose,
           you are not a great taster."

               Enlightenment certainly has no grades, but as time passes it deepens, sharpens, matures, becomes
           more and more rich.
               Before we enter into our daily meditation ... The bamboos are so silent, just waiting for your
           laughter. And remember one thing, when you laugh, don't just laugh for conformity.
               Secondly, when you laugh, laugh totally, without any considerations. Don't hold anything back.
           Learn to laugh from Sardar Gurudayal Singh, who is a laugh unto himself -- a real joke. He is the
           only man in the whole world I have come across who laughs before the joke. There are people who
           laugh in the middle of the joke because they suddenly realize what is going to happen. But from the
           very beginning, when I have not even started ... that is the real and authentic man of laughter. And I
           know ... he has his disciples. He is a very respected, old sannyasin. People sit around him just to
           have a good laugh.
               Joe Speak-Easy, the successful lawyer, is married to a woman who nags him constantly. She
           nags him about his appearance, about how much he drinks, about how little he loves her -- about
           almost everything. So Joe starts staying later at his office to avoid her.
               One day, after weeks of defending a client called William Wright who is on trial for murder, Joe
           comes home very depressed. He has lost the case, and Wright is to be executed that night unless the
           governor pardons him.
               As Joe enters the house, his wife begins, "Where have you been? It's after ten o'clock."
           "Ah, nag, nag, nag," he says in disgust, and goes to pour himself a drink.
               "The minute you come home," snaps his wife, "you start drinking. Not even a hello for me!"
               "Ah, nag, nag, nag," sighs Joe. Then he goes upstairs for a bath, telling his wife that he is
           expecting a phone call from the governor.
               While he is in the bath, the call comes -- Wright has been pardoned. Joe's wife decides to tell him
           the good news herself. As she enters the bathroom Joe is standing naked, bending over the tub.
           "Hey, Joe," says his wife. "They are not hanging Wright tonight."
           Joe snaps back, "Ah, nag, nag, nag!"

                Old Zeb, the back-woods Virginia farmer, has been screwing one of his favorite pigs for years.
           Suddenly, Zeb is hit by pangs of guilt and conscience that torture him so much he decides to go and
           tell the priest about it in confession. Father Fungus is shocked and he really does not know how to
           handle this one.
           "Well," says the priest to old Zeb, "tell me, is the pig male or female?"
                "She's female, of course," snorts Zeb. "What do you think I am -- some kind of a pervert?"

              Pope the Polack is sitting on the train next to Ronald Reagan on their way back to Washington
           from Killjews, Alabama. The pope strikes up a conversation with two big black guys, Rufus and
           Leroy, in the compartment.
           "Hello, gentleman," says the pope. "Where are you going?"
           "D.C." says Rufus.
           "What did he say?" asks the slightly deaf president.
              "He says they are going to Washington, D.C. -- just like us," says the pope. "Tell me," the Polack
           continues, "what brings you all the way up to Washington?"
           "We know a real far-out chick up there," smiles Leroy.
           "What did he say?" asks the hard-of-hearing Ronnie.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "He says they have a girlfriend up there," shouts back the pope to the president. Then turning to
           the black guys, Pope the Polack says, "She must be quite a girl for you to go all this way to see her."
           "Man, I'll say," smiles Rufus.
               "Sure," says Leroy. "She's a real cool bitch. She wears black boots with spurs, carries a whip and
           indulges in every delight known to man!"
           "What did he say?" shouts the deaf president.
           Pope the Polack turns to Ronnie and screams, "He says they know Nancy!"

           Now ... Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent ... close your eyes ...
           no movement of the body.
           Gather your consciousness inwards.
           Deeper ... and deeper ...
           just like an arrow
           cutting all the layers of garbage.
           Enter into your center.
           In this moment of silence,
           in this moment of innocence,
           you are no more your shadow.
           You are yourself.
           This being yourself is called
           "the arising of the moon,"
           or "arising of the buddha."
           Each one in his nature is the buddha ...
           the enlightened one, the awakened one.
           Every man is just a seed ...
           he only needs to find the right soil
           in which to disappear, disperse his personality,
           his knowledge, his mind ...
           And suddenly the moon
           is reflected in the lake.
           And suddenly the pine on the hilltop
           touching the moon.
           And suddenly out of nowhere
           arises your buddhahood.
           Remember this -- twenty-four hours --
           not as a thought,
           but as a heartache,
           so that it becomes an undercurrent.
           Whatever you are doing
           becomes different because you are different.
           Your touch has a grace now;
           your smile has a sincerity;
           your eyes become just silent lakes.
           Your action reflects your heart,
           your being, your joy, your dance.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           There is no other god.
           There is no other temple.
           Except you -- awakened to your full glory,
           to your full splendor --
           there is no religion.

           To make this point more clear, Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Relax ... let go ...
           just die ...
           to the body, to the mind,
           to everything of this world.
           What remains is just a pure sky,
           utterly blissful, immensely ecstatic.
           This is your forgotten language.
           Only this kind of silence,
           a deepening into yourself,
           can connect you with existence.
           And being connected with the existence,
           the whole life becomes a festival,
           a ceremony.
           Not only life,
           but death also, because there is no death.
           There is only life
           and life and life,
           and higher peaks and deeper valleys.
           From beginningless to endless existence,
           you are spread.
           Everything is somehow within you.
           The sun rises within you
           and the moon hangs within you,
           and the stars are part of your inner sky.
           Remember that the inner sky
           is vaster than the outer.
           Blessed are those
           who have tasted this inner juice
           of pure existence.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Come back ...
           but don't leave the experience behind.
           Sit down and collect the experience --
           the joy of it, the benediction of it.
           And remember not to forget.
           It has to become a constant breathing,
           a heartbeat.
           Only then you will feel fulfilled.
           Only then you will feel you are not meaningless.
           Only then your life is a grandeur.
           This grandeur is already there,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just you have to discover it.
           Just a few layers of dust --
           remove them.
           We meditate every evening
           simply so that you go on deepening
           more and more,
           so that the wine becomes older and older.
           So that your buddhahood
           becomes an absolute certainty.
           It is not an argument,
           it is an experience.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas and their gathering here?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                     Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                 Chapter #6
                            Chapter title: The sky is not scratched by the cloud
           30 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807305
              ShortTitle: DOGEN06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 123 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN SAID,
              THE BUDDHA SAID, IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUE MEANING OF THE
              BUDDHA-NATURE, YOU SHOULD CORRECTLY UNDERSTAND ITS MOMENTARY
              MANIFESTATIONS.
              WHEN THE RIGHT TIME COMES, THE BUDDHA-NATURE WILL MANIFEST ITSELF.
              DOGEN CONTINUED:
              MANY MONKS, BOTH PAST AND PRESENT, HAVE BELIEVED THAT THE PHRASE, "WHEN THE
              RIGHT TIME COMES," MEANS TO WAIT FOR THE BUDDHA-NATURE TO MANIFEST ITSELF IN
              THE FUTURE. THEY THINK THAT IF THEY CONTINUE TRAINING IN THE WAY, THE
              BUDDHA-NATURE WILL NATURALLY MANIFEST ITSELF AT THE RIGHT TIME. UNTIL THAT
              TIME COMES, THEY MISTAKENLY CONCLUDE THAT THE BUDDHA-NATURE WILL NOT
              MANIFEST ITSELF, EVEN SHOULD THEY VISIT A MASTER IN SEARCH OF THE DHARMA OR
              TRAIN DILIGENTLY.
              BASED ON THIS FALSE CONCLUSION, THEY MEANINGLESSLY RETURN TO THE ORDINARY
              WORLD AND VAINLY WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO COME.
              THE WORDS, "WHEN THE RIGHT TIME COMES," MEANS THAT THE RIGHT TIME HAS
              ALREADY COME. THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS. EVEN SHOULD DOUBTS ARISE,
              THEY ARE NOTHING BUT THE MANIFESTATION OF THE BUDDHA-NATURE IN OURSELVES.
              "THE RIGHT TIME" MEANS THAT WE SHOULD MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY DAY.
              IF THE RIGHT TIME WERE SOMETHING WHICH CAME, THE BUDDHA-NATURE WOULD NOT
              COME.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THIS IS BECAUSE THE RIGHT TIME HAS ALREADY COME; THE BUDDHA-NATURE HAS
              ALREADY MANIFESTED ITSELF. THIS FACT IS QUITE CLEAR, FOR THERE HAS NEVER BEEN
              A RIGHT TIME THAT HAS NOT COME, NOR A BUDDHA-NATURE WHICH HAS NOT
              MANIFESTED ITSELF.


               Maneesha, man is by birth a buddha -- every man, good or bad, right or wrong, sinner or saint, it
           does not matter. As far as one's buddhahood is concerned, it remains untouched by what you do, by
           what is your behavior. Because this is the case, the problem arises that if everybody is a buddha then
           why this effort and endeavor, this seeking and searching for buddhahood?
               This question was asked not only to Dogen, it was also asked to Gautam Buddha himself, who is
           only one buddha in the long line of buddhas who have passed before him and after him; but perhaps
           the most prominent, perhaps the most recognized. To satisfy the ordinary questioner Buddha said, "It
           will come in its own time," just as flowers come in their own time and clouds come in their own time
           and the sun rises in its own time.
               In existence there is a continuity of timing. It is not that today the moon will be a little late or the
           sun will continue a little longer. There is absolute certainty that everything happens in nature when
           the right time comes, so the right time simply means the right opportunity, the right climate, the right
           readiness, receptivity. And then you need not be worried about buddhahood, because as far as
           buddhahood is concerned you already have it. What is missing is a recognition. You have forgotten
           your name, that is all that is missing. Perhaps a certain situation is needed in which you can be
           reminded about your name.

                Before I talk about Dogen's sutra I would love to share with you an incident in Edison's life. He
           was such a prominent scientist, such a great teacher, that nobody ever referred to him by name. His
           parents died early and he was so involved in his work that he had no friends. All that he had were
           scientists who were studying under him. Obviously they could not call him by his name, Edison.
           They all called him `Professor'.
                Slowly slowly he himself forgot what his name was. If for fifty years nobody uses your name and
           then suddenly somebody calls you by your name, it is possible you will get a shock. You will feel
           that somehow you remember this fellow ... a memory, a faraway echo in the mountains. But
           ordinarily this does not happen because every day you are reminded of your name.
                It was a special case with Edison. His parents died early, and he was a genius from his very
           childhood. He alone was capable of inventing one thousand things which had never existed in the
           world. You will not be able to find anything around you on which there is not Edison's signature.
                In the first world war the ration card was for the first time introduced, and everybody had to go
           to the office to register. Obviously every office where names were registered was crowded, people
           were standing in queues. Edison also stood in a queue. When the man standing ahead of him gave all
           the information and got his ration card and went away, the clerk looking at the list called the name
           loudly, "Will Mr. Edison come up now?" And Edison looked here and there. He could not remember
           ... there was a certain memory that he used to know a fellow of the name Edison, but not for fifty
           years had anybody called him by his name.
                A man in the queue recognized that the fellow standing in front was the famous Edison, and he
           was looking here and there. The man said, "The one you are looking for, you are. Have you
           forgotten your name, Professor?"
                He said, "My God, it is good that you reminded me, otherwise I would have lost my ration card. I
           was trying hard to remember; the name seems to be familiar, but I could not connect it with myself.
           For fifty years people have been calling me `Professor', `Doctor', but nobody has ... because I don't
           have any friends, I don't have my parents."
                Buddhahood is nothing but another name of your basic nature, your essential nature. And nobody
           has ever pointed it out to you. On the contrary, everybody has been sticking names, degrees ...
           creating a personality around you, and slowly slowly you start accepting it. If everybody is saying
           that you are intelligent, very intelligent, you start believing it.
                We are all victims of a crowd. One of my professors, S.S. Roy, did not agree with me. He said,
           "It is impossible to forget one's own name. This story of Edison must be your creation."
           I said, "Please give me some time to prove it."
           He said, "What can you prove?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I said, "You just wait." And after two, three days, when things were forgotten, I went to his
           house, told his wife ... Rajendra Anuragi here knows professor S.S. Roy -- he was also a student in
           the same university at that time. I told his wife, "When Professor Roy wakes up in the morning you
           just do a little kindness for me."
           She said, "Whatever you want ... what do you want?"
                I said, "It is very small. You just ask him, `Why are you looking so pale? Have you been
           suffering from fever? Could you not sleep well? Is something bothering you? Are you having a
           headache?' And whatever he says, just note it down exactly in his own words, and I will collect that
           note later on."
           She said, "I don't understand what you are doing."
                I said, "It is just an experiment. Later on I will explain to you, but right now don't ask more than
           that."
                Then I told his gardener, "When he comes out, you ask him, `What happened to you? You are
           looking so sick, and where are you going? Just go in and rest, and I will call the doctor.'"
                And the gardener said, "But what is the purpose of all this? He is perfectly healthy!"
                I said, "That is not the point. I will explain the whole thing to you later. Whatever he says, keep
           this card with you, write it down exactly in his own words."
                And this I did from his house up to the philosophy department. The postmaster used to live in
           between, and another professor -- I told them, "Just be kind enough to participate in an experiment."
           And the final person was the peon of the philosophy department. I told him, "You don't bother, you
           just ..." -- he was a strong and big man -- "you just take hold of Professor Roy as he enters, and
           whether he struggles or not, you lie him down on the sofa."
           He said, "What are you saying? I will be kicked out from my service!"
           I said, "Nobody can kick you out. I make the guarantee."
                But he said, "This is a strange kind of experiment. Is it an experiment on me or on Professor
           Roy? I have children and a wife and old parents, and I am a poor man. Don't disturb my job."
           I said, "It is nothing to do with you. You simply do it."
                He said, "Okay, if you say so." He knew that I was so much loved by Professor Roy. He said, "If
           you are saying, I will do it, just because of you."
                And I said, "Take this card. Whatever he says, write it down, and I will collect it just within a
           few minutes."
                I followed Roy from his house. As he was moving onwards I started collecting the notes. To the
           wife he said, "What? I am perfectly healthy. I have slept well. Who said to you that my face is
           looking pale?"
                She said, "There is no need for anybody to say, I can see you are looking pale."
           He said, "All nonsense. Just female rubbish!"
                But a doubt arose in him. As he was getting ready to go to the university the gardener took his
           hand and told him, "What are you doing? You cannot even walk rightly, you are wobbly! Just go in
           and rest. I will go and call the doctor."
                And to him he said, "Yes, I think I need some rest. The whole night it seems I have not rested,
           and a little fever also seems to be there, but it is not too much. At least I can go up to the university,
           tell the head of the department and come back."
                And the postmaster who was his great friend, he looked so much afraid, and said, "No, I will not
           let you go alone. I'm coming with you."
                He said, "I'm really sick. I am feeling very weak. It is very kind of you to offer."
           The postmaster said, "You can take my car."
                He said, "No, there is no need to take your car, I will manage. But if I need your car I will phone
           from the office. But I am feeling a kind of trembling, strange. In my whole life I have never felt such
           a trembling."
                All these notes I was collecting. And the peon did a great job. He jumped over professor S.S.
           Roy and he was struggling and saying, "What are you doing? You idiot!" And he put him down on
           the sofa, pressed him down, and he said, "You need to be in bed. You are so sick. Do you want to
           commit suicide?"
                Professor S.S. Roy's statement on the peon's note was, "Yes, it was wrong for me to come out.
           You just phone the postmaster to bring his car to take me back home, and inform the medical officer
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to come and check me. There seems to be something very wrong. Everybody is able to recognize it."
               And then I entered the office where he was resting on the sofa, almost ready to die. I said,
           "Wait!" And I told the peon on the way, "Don't call anybody, for the car or for the doctor. There is
           no need. I will take care."
               I said, "There is no need to die right now. One day you will have to die, but just take a few
           minutes' time. You just look at these notes ... what you said to your wife."
               He said, "You are a strange student, you would have killed me. Just another two persons more ...
           And if they had said, `You have died,' I would have believed it."
           I said, "This is just in answer to our controversy."

                If people go on saying something to you again and again you start believing it in spite of
           yourself. You may doubt the first time, but when it goes on being said continuously a belief arises in
           you, and you forget the doubt.
                You have been told that you are sinners. You have been told that you are born in sin, and strange
           arguments have been provided to you why you are born in sin: because Adam and Eve disobeyed
           God. Now the Christian theologians say that although six thousand years have passed since Adam
           and Eve were removed by God from their place in the Garden of Eden, because they had disobeyed
           ... He had told them not to eat from two trees: one tree was the Tree of Knowledge, and the other was
           the Tree of Eternal Life.
                I think Adam and Eve did exactly what anybody with any intelligence would do. These are the
           two things: wisdom and eternal life -- what else do you want? And God is providing you with
           everything else, that means just chew like the buffalos, sit under trees. And the tree he had prohibited
           was an apple tree.
                In the very fact of God's prohibiting, God dies as love, God dies as compassion. Otherwise, if
           God were the Father, he would have told the children, "These are the two trees that you should not
           forget: wisdom and eternal life." But this was reminded to Eve by the devil. The devil seems to be
           the first revolutionary in the world. He persuaded Eve.
                I looked at this story from many angles. Why did he not persuade Adam? Because even if Adam
           is persuaded he will be obstructed. If Eve insists on not eating it, poor Adam is after all only the poor
           husband. Rather than persuading the husband he persuaded the wife. And since that time every
           advertisement is for the wife. Every church functions because of the support of the woman.
                But his argument was right, and he had chosen the right person to persuade. He said, "God has
           prohibited you. Do you know the reason why? If you eat these two fruits, wisdom will make you
           enlightened, and eternal life .... And you will be just as powerful and as potent as God himself. And
           God is jealous of that; he does not want you to become gods. He wants you to remain worshippers --
           saints, sinners, but never gods. But these two fruits can make you real gods."
                Strangely enough the religions which do not believe in God, their ultimate goal is freedom. And
           the religions that believe in God, their ultimate goal is salvation. A savior will come, you yourself
           are absolutely helpless. A messiah will come who will save you. They have been waiting for six
           thousand years, and he does not come. And once in a while if somebody gets insane enough and
           proclaims, "I am the one you are waiting for," they kill him.
                It is a strange humanity. You are waiting for the person and if somebody tries .... It was not only
           Jesus. Jesus has become more prominent because a great religion arose behind him. There were other
           people: John the Baptist was killed because he proclaimed not even, "I am the prophet," but simply,
           "I am creating the right atmosphere for the prophet to come." He was beheaded. He proclaimed Jesus
           as the prophet for whom he had been making the way. And Jesus was crucified. The same has been
           the behavior all around the world.
                Religions don't want you to be intelligent. The fruit of intelligence has been abandoned. If you
           become wise it is going against God. That's why all religions which believe in order and obedience
           don't preach meditation. These are very intricate matters. Why does Christianity not preach
           meditation? Why is there no place in Mohammedanism for meditation? For the simple reason that
           meditation is really both those trees together. It will bring you enlightenment and it will bring you an
           absolute, indubitable certainty that you are God, that everything is divine. In your godliness even the
           smallest grass leaf becomes divine, just as the biggest star. The whole universe becomes just a
           vibration of divine dance. But you have to feel it first in your heart, and all your so-called religions
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are driving you away from it: Pray to God!
                I have heard about Michelangelo .... He was painting the ceiling of a famous cathedral. It was
           getting a little dark, and an old woman was praying to God, not knowing at all that above her on the
           ceiling Michelangelo was doing some painting. And he was getting tired lying on the long ladder. He
           listened to what this old woman was saying. She was asking God, "A little money won't be bad. I
           need it, because I don't have anybody to support me. You have taken everybody away." She was
           praying particularly to Mary, Jesus Christ's mother, because being a woman she will understand the
           troubles of an old woman.
                Michelangelo, tired of his work, just wanted to enjoy the moment. He said, "I am listening to
           you. I am Jesus Christ."
                The woman must have been a great woman. She said, "Shut up! I am talking to your mother
           directly!"
                Michelangelo has written, "I could not believe it. I had offered, but she simply refused. She said,
           `Shut up!' In the darkness she could not even see."
                All these religions are trying to humiliate humanity. Their whole business and exploitation and
           oppression depend on you, your fear, your greed, your death, your disease. If you start feeling
           yourself divine and can enjoy not only life but death too, with the same dance, what will be the
           purpose of the priests? And there are millions of them all over the world, just living like parasites.
           They may be Hindu, they may be Mohammedan, they may be Christian, they may belong to any
           religion, but priesthood is the ancientmost profession of parasites.
                If you enter into yourself and find the truth, you will be surprised to see that what was within you
           was ignored with every effort, so that the exploitation could continue.
                Buddha's attitude is that you are a buddha, it is not a question of achieving buddhahood. You are
           a buddha, all that you need is a mirror to see your face, your original face -- a recognition, a
           remembrance. You have forgotten who you are.
                This ignorance is being exploited by the churches, by the temples, by the priests, by the rabbis,
           by the pundits, by all kinds of theologians. They are creating barriers which are arbitrary, which if
           you want you can throw off in a single moment. But they have made you so much afraid -- not
           believing in God means you will fall into hell.
                I have come upon stories that in the Middle Ages priests used to be so emphatic about the
           tortures of hell, that you will be burned in an eternal fire; and yet you will not die -- that solace they
           cannot give. You will be pulled out and put in the oven again, this side burned and that side burned
           ... there are cases on record that many women used to faint just listening to these preachers. The
           whole idea was so ferocious, that you will never die and always in and out of the oven, a little rest
           and then back ...

               I have heard a story that Morarji Desai died. In a way it would be good. Since the Supreme Court
           has made him homeless, that would be one way to find a home. And thinking himself a great
           mahatma, he was convinced that he would reach to heaven, but what he saw was that he was being
           dragged into hell. He shouted, he tried hard to convince them, "I am the ex-prime minister of India, a
           great follower of Mahatma Gandhi. The whole day I have been spinning on the wheel. What do you
           mean? Hell is for sinners, not for mahatmas."
               But the devils wouldn't listen. They said, "Be silent. You will be given a choice because you
           have been a prime minister. This much favor we can do. There are three layers of hell, you can
           choose the one you want."
               Seeing no possibility of escaping, Morarji agreed. They took him to the first section, and what he
           saw he could not believe: people were being beaten, blood was flowing. Death is impossible in hell,
           remember. That point you have always to remember: death is impossible, only torture. You cannot
           commit suicide. In hell that is not possible. You cannot escape, there is no exit.
               Seeing that bloody place, people being tortured, beaten, he said, "I would rather like to see the
           other two before I choose."
               In the second place, the Christian oven ... People are being pulled in and out and cooked, and
           they are still alive! He said, "This is not possible for me. I am a vegetarian. I cannot even look at
           such a scene."
               He was taken to the third. It looked a little better, not very much, but compared to the other two
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           .... People were standing up to their neck in all kinds of shit, and drinking coffee and tea and
           Coca-Cola.
                Everybody had to choose, whichever he wanted. He said, "This is not good, but what else to do?
           Those other two ..." And he was a confirmed urine drinker for sixty years, so it was not very bad. It
           was good that he was accustomed and had rehearsed well. He had done his homework. He said, "I
           will choose this."
                But he was not aware that it was only a coffee break. Just as he finished his coffee a bell rang and
           a devil shouted, "Now everybody stand on your head!"
                All kinds of fear ... if you don't believe in God. People think it is better to believe rather than to
           get into trouble. Sardar is thinking to himself about which of the three he would choose.
           Unfortunately there is no fourth, you have to choose between the three. And they were all nasty.
                Man has been told by all religions that he is not what he should be. So try hard to be virtuous, try
           hard to be austere, try hard and pray continuously -- a Mohammedan prays five times a day. And do
           all kinds of distortions of the body in the name of yoga, which is already a section of hell. The
           difference is just that here you are doing it on your own, in hell the devils do it for you -- distort you,
           somebody is pulling your leg, somebody is giving you a neck stretch ...
                And I know perfectly well what it means because my neck has been stretched. You have to say
           that it is absolutely okay, just to get them to stop. Otherwise if they go on stretching, soon your head
           will be off the body! You are suffering and you have to say that you are cured. They have put my
           body in traction. Traction was used for the first time by Christian missionaries and Christian
           churches in the Middle Ages for poor women who were declared to be witches. And finally that
           strategy of traction .... By chance it happened that somebody was suffering from a bad back when
           her body was stretched. For thirty years she had suffered from a bad back, suddenly her back settled
           down and there was no pain, and she could not believe it. From the church the traction machine has
           moved to the hospitals.
                Here one of my very loving doctors, Dr. Hardikar -- his name in English means Dr. Hard --
           worked on me. He is nice, but the things that he does .... The whole body is pulled, legs are pulled to
           one side, the head is pulled to the other side. Soon you start feeling that you are going to break up
           somewhere in between. That's why I say it is absolutely certain that in hell they have very primitive
           traction mechanisms -- you don't die there. And my feeling is that the people who say they are cured
           are not really cured. It is my own experience. You have to say it, otherwise they are ready to give
           you more traction. Either you die or you say that you are cured -- you don't have any other
           alternative.
                Religion has been living on fear. And it has been creating disciplines like fasting -- torture
           yourself in every possible way. The more you torture, the more God is happy with you. It is a strange
           argument, why does my being tortured make God happy? Is he a sadist? Is he mad, or what? My
           fasting makes him happy. I am suffering, I am hungry, my whole body is asking for food, and God is
           feeling very happy. I don't see any relationship between this and the idea that God is love -- what
           kind of love? -- that God is compassion. What kind of compassion? To achieve to him you have to
           go through all kinds of torture unnecessarily.
                And once you have been convinced that God is a difficult goal to achieve ... millions have
           tortured themselves that way, and not a single one of them has ever reached to any realization of
           bliss. Those who have reached are a different kind of people. They don't say God is a goal -- God is
           your nature! Just be natural; and silently, without even making the noise of footsteps, the buddha
           within you awakens.
           Dogen says, quoting Buddha,
              IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUE MEANING OF THE BUDDHA-NATURE, YOU
              SHOULD CORRECTLY UNDERSTAND ITS MOMENTARY MANIFESTATIONS.

              You are all its momentary manifestation. Everything in the world is its momentary manifestation.
           Somewhere nature has blossomed into a rose, somewhere it has become a bird flying in the sky,
           somewhere it is a pine tree reaching to the stars, and somewhere it is a human being. These are all
           momentary manifestations of the same nature.
              The word `buddha' comes from the Sanskrit root buddh. `Buddh' means awareness. In any form
           you can become aware. But the human form is the easiest one from which to become aware. If you
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           miss this opportunity you are missing something that you may find only after millions of years of
           search. Being a pine tree or a mountain rock -- these are all manifestations. But no mountain has
           become a buddha, and no pine tree in its tremendous beauty has ever become enlightened. No
           animal, no bird, no tree, no sun, no moon, in all their beauty ... they are manifestations of the same
           nature, but only man is capable of becoming aware of this self-nature. This double awareness --
           awareness of awareness -- is man's grandeur. It is his treasure.
               In the whole existence only man is capable, and if you miss this you don't know what you have
           missed. You have missed the greatest blissfulness that is possible, the greatest peace and silence and
           understanding, the greatest fearlessness and freedom.
               Buddha's statement is that everything correctly understood is only a momentary manifestation of
           the same nature. A buddha is a recognition of this innermost life that throbs in everything -- in the
           grass, in the water, in the clouds, in human beings. Wherever there is life, it is God in some form.
           This is a great declaration.
           Buddha says,
              WHEN THE RIGHT TIME COMES, THE BUDDHA-NATURE WILL MANIFEST ITSELF.

               It has been a long tradition and controversy amongst the followers of Buddha -- "What does he
           mean by the right time?" It can be misunderstood, as Dogen says. It can be misunderstood, that if it
           is going to happen at the right time then just enjoy your rented bicycle, why waste your time
           unnecessarily? Find a girlfriend or a boyfriend or any kind of friend, or just go to the movie. Do
           anything stupid, because at the right time buddhahood will appear -- it does not matter, meanwhile,
           what you are doing.
               People have used this statement to do anything they want -- gambling, accumulating possessions,
           being rich, being powerful -- because there is no need for them to make any special effort. At the
           right time the buddha-nature will manifest itself. This is one kind of misunderstanding.
               By `right time' Buddha does not mean that you have to postpone this moment, that when the right
           time comes .... It never comes. It is always the same time. And it is not something from outside that
           happens to you, it is something that blossoms within you.
               So what is the meaning of `the right time'? One misunderstanding is that you just go on doing the
           mundane activities. The other misunderstanding is to bring the right time close by austerities, by
           fasting, by prayer, by going to the church or to the temple, by standing on your head, by doing all
           kinds of contortions, by torturing yourself unnecessarily -- to bring the right time close. That is
           another distortion, another misconception of Buddha's statement.
           What is the right time? Dogen says,
              MANY MONKS, BOTH PAST AND PRESENT, HAVE BELIEVED THAT THE PHRASE, "WHEN THE
              RIGHT TIME COMES," MEANS TO WAIT FOR THE BUDDHA-NATURE TO MANIFEST ITSELF IN
              THE FUTURE. THEY THINK THAT IF THEY CONTINUE TRAINING IN THE WAY, THE
              BUDDHA-NATURE WILL NATURALLY MANIFEST ITSELF AT THE RIGHT TIME. UNTIL THAT
              TIME COMES, THEY MISTAKENLY CONCLUDE THAT THE BUDDHA-NATURE WILL NOT
              MANIFEST ITSELF, EVEN SHOULD THEY VISIT A MASTER IN SEARCH OF THE DHARMA OR
              TRAIN DILIGENTLY.

               There is no need, according to this misconception, to go to a master. But the whole
           misunderstanding is about the right time, what is the right time. Every moment is the right time. Just
           you need a little courage to risk your knowledgeability, to risk your ego, to put at stake everything
           that you think is valuable. Search within yourself for the only thing that you can neither borrow from
           anybody, nor give to anybody. That is your nature. And that nature is always in the present. Hence
           the present is the right time. Neither yesterday nor tomorrow -- today! This very moment you can
           become a buddha.
              BASED ON THIS FALSE CONCLUSION, THEY MEANINGLESSLY RETURN TO THE ORDINARY
              WORLD AND VAINLY WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO COME.

              The right time is not to come. It has always been here. Dogen says,
              THE WORDS, "WHEN THE RIGHT TIME COMES," MEANS THAT THE RIGHT TIME HAS
              ALREADY COME.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In fact it never comes, never goes. It is always here. The ocean remains, the fish is born and one
           day disappears. Just like a wave -- a little more solid, but just like a wave. The sky remains; once in a
           while it is clouded, but those clouds come and go, leaving the sky unscratched.
               Talking about our buddha-nature is talking about our inner, interiormost being, our very sky. Our
           thoughts are just clouds, they come and go. Our emotions are just smoke ... momentary. Everything
           is momentary. Our childhood goes, our youth goes, our old age goes, our life itself goes. In all this
           only one thing remains the same, and that is the present awareness. On this account Dogen is saying
           that the right time has already been here. You don't have to wait for it.
              THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS. EVEN SHOULD DOUBTS ARISE, THEY ARE NOTHING
              BUT THE MANIFESTATION OF THE BUDDHA-NATURE IN OURSELVES.

               These are the beautiful contributions to the world of those who are seekers of the mysteries. Even
           doubts are our nature, so they are nothing to be condemned. If a doubt arises it is a cloud that has
           come into the sky, but the sky is not going to be scratched by the cloud. The cloud will disappear; as
           it has arisen it will be gone.
               And anyway, whatever happens in the world is part of the universe. It is immensely significant to
           understand that even doubts are our buddha-nature.
              IF THE RIGHT TIME WERE SOMETHING WHICH CAME, THE BUDDHA-NATURE WOULD NOT
              COME.

               Because if it is a question of coming and going, like seasons ... the rain comes and goes, the
           winter comes and goes, the spring comes and goes. If buddha-nature is dependent on time, then as it
           will come it will go. It cannot be dependent on any causality, it cannot be dependent on any time.
           The fact is it is already there, only you have to be awake enough to recognize it. The right time is
           this time, this moment! Zen's insistence on this moment is immense. It does not allow any
           postponement.
              THIS IS BECAUSE THE RIGHT TIME HAS ALREADY COME; THE BUDDHA-NATURE HAS
              ALREADY MANIFESTED ITSELF. THIS FACT IS QUITE CLEAR, FOR THERE HAS NEVER BEEN
              A RIGHT TIME THAT HAS NOT COME, NOR A BUDDHA-NATURE WHICH HAS NOT
              MANIFESTED ITSELF.

               It is really saying .... An ancient Zen story: A man was known as a master thief, because he had
           never been caught in his life, and he had stolen from every palace, from every rich house. In fact the
           situation had come to such a point that people bragged about it -- that the master thief has entered in
           their house.
               This master thief met Rinzai, who looked into his eyes and said, "Don't be worried. Whatever
           you are doing, do it totally, and you are expressing buddha-nature."
           But the man said, "You don't know what I am doing."
               He said, "Don't bother. Whatever you are doing ... I know you -- you are a master thief. I am
           really jealous of you. I am not such a great master as far as meditation is concerned. You are a
           greater master as far as stealing is concerned. Just do it totally, and you will find your buddhahood in
           your totality."
               There have been butchers who have become masters, and their masters did not prevent them
           from the profession of butchery because they were so perfect, they were so total in whatever they
           were doing. This is the only religion in the whole world which allows you everything. Do it totally,
           with absolute awareness, and all your activities become buddha-activities. There is no need to
           change what you are doing. If you are painting, then be a painter so deeply that you disappear and
           only the painting remains. If you are a musician, drown yourself in your music, so that the music
           remains but you are not. And your buddhahood will manifest in thousands of ways.
               This is the only religious approach in the whole world and the whole of man's history that
           accepts all man's activities without rejecting anything. You can make everything a prayer, everything
           a meditation, everything your offering to the universe.
           A Zen poet:
              THE RAGING WIND'S COMPANION:
              IN THE SKY,
              THE SINGLE MOON.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               These are pictorial haikus. Sitting silently, a meditator opens his eyes and sees the raging wind's
           companion in the sky: the single moon. But the moon does not move, does not waver because of the
           raging wind. If you can find yourself the center of the cyclone you have found the moon -- no raging
           wind, no thought, no emotion, nothing can disturb it. It is undisturbable.
           A haiku by Issa:
              LOST IN BAMBOO,
              BUT WHEN MOON LIGHTS --
              MY HOUSE.


               Just fragments of experience. Nobody will call them great poetry; they are not of the same
           category. They have their own category. What he is saying is,
               "In silent meditation, I saw ... LOST IN BAMBOO, BUT WHEN MOON LIGHTS -- MY
           HOUSE."
               Just a picture ... and one becomes a mirror. This haiku is just a mirror of a house, hidden in the
           thick grove of bamboos; and the moon comes, and suddenly the house that was hidden in the
           darkness becomes light.
           A haiku by Basho:
              A CLOUD,
              TRYING TO ENWRAP THE MOONBEAMS,
              A MONSOON SHOWER.


              Enjoying everything -- the moon, the cloud, the monsoon shower -- because everything to the
           meditator becomes so divine that it is an expression and manifestation of the same original source.

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              IT DOES NOT SEEM SO DIFFICULT TO DROP THE NOTIONS OF RIGHT AND WRONG AS FAR
              AS SOME SOCIETY'S MORALITY IS CONCERNED. MORE TRICKY IS TO DROP THE FEELING
              THAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS "RIGHT," AND THAT UNTIL I REALIZE IT, I AM SOMEHOW "WRONG."
              BELOVED MASTER, COULD YOU PUT ME RIGHT?


               Maneesha, you are right. Nobody can put you wrong! As you are, you are the buddha. It does not
           matter that you are sitting in a different posture. It does not matter that you are a woman and not a
           man. It does not matter that you don't walk like Buddha, you don't talk like Buddha. Whatever you
           do, you cannot do anything that is not a manifestation of buddhahood.
               To understand this point is to reach a great height of consciousness. The thief is fulfilling his
           part, he just has to do it perfectly. And if you are not a buddha -- that is just an idea, a cloud that has
           covered the moon; it will pass away. Clouds don't remain forever.
               And I can understand, Maneesha. It will remain difficult until you become enlightened. But
           every night you become enlightened, and again you forget. What to do with your impossibility, your
           stubbornness, your insistence that "No, I am not a buddha"? It is up to you. If you insist, that too is a
           manifestation of buddhahood. That is what Zen is all about -- to tell you that whatever you do, just
           do with full awareness. You are a buddha, you cannot be otherwise. It is impossible not to be a
           buddha. You can doubt it, you can deny it, but the doubt and the denial are all potentialities of your
           buddhahood.
               No tree denies, no bird denies, no animal doubts. It is only man who has doubts, who cannot
           accept, "Such a poor creature like me, and a buddha?" He is perfectly ready to worship a buddha. He
           is perfectly ready to pray before man-made stone statues. But this seems to be too much, to accept
           the fact that, "I am a buddha."
               And I say unto you that it is simply a question of getting tired of not being a buddha -- that's how
           it happened to me. I tried and tried and tried, and then finally I said, "It is better to be a buddha
           without effort." And since then I have been a buddha. Not for a single moment have I been
           otherwise. Not for a single moment has any doubt arisen.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It just takes a little courage. Traditionally you have been discouraged, you have been humiliated.
           All that is needed is to revolt against all humiliation, to revolt against all false ideas imposed upon
           you, to express your dignity with joy. And to be a buddha is not a comparison, so there is no
           question of ego. It is not that if Maneesha becomes a buddha, then Chitten will become an ordinary
           human being sitting by the side of Maneesha, a buddha. Chitten is a buddha from the very beginning.
           He is a senior buddha! If you become a buddha today, there will be many who have become a
           buddha days ago. Yesterday a few became, the day before yesterday a few became. There is still
           time to give recognition to yourself, and express your dignity, and reject all ideas of humiliation and
           all ideas of destroying your dignity.
                My whole effort here is not to train you for being buddhas, but just to give you courage so that
           you can accept your buddhahood without any fear.
                And as the fear disappears, the clouds disappear, and the full moon in the night ....
                Maneesha, I will try again today. Let us see whether I can put you right or not. I have been trying
           for thirty years continuously. I put people right and the moment I am gone they fall apart. In my
           presence they recognize that they are buddhas. In my absence a doubt arises. Maneesha sitting in her
           room, "My God, I, a poor girl, and a buddha? I have not renounced a kingdom, I have not done great
           austerities, I have not tortured myself, I have not disciplined myself."
                Just today Shunyo told me that Zareen wanted her to wear a sari. Now the sari fits perfectly well
           with the Indian woman's curvature. It is very rare for a Western woman to look graceful in a sari --
           she looks a little weird. I cannot help it, it does not mean that I am denying, just the buddha has gone
           a little weird. And I had told Shunyo long ago, because once before she had tried a sari, and I had
           told her, "This is not for you. You are too long for it, and too straight!" On Zareen it fits. In fact,
           Zareen cannot use a robe. In the commune she had come to see me in a robe, and she looked like a
           balloon! I could not believe it -- what has happened to her?
                No Indian woman will look right in a robe, particularly a Zareen-type woman. The sari is a very
           inventive art on the part of Zareen-type women. It hides all unnecessary growth and keeps them tied
           together, otherwise they may fall and spread all over the place! And out of love she insisted -- she
           told Shunyo, "It will take only five minutes." And Shunyo was telling me, "It took one hour to put
           the sari on me." And Zareen afterwards said to me, "She is exaggerating, it takes only five minutes!"
                You are a buddha. It takes only five minutes! But you go on insisting every day, again and again
           asking, "Do you think I am also a buddha?" Or, "Do you think I am still a buddha?" You were a
           buddha yesterday, you are a buddha today, you will be a buddha tomorrow. Whatever you do, it does
           not matter. Your buddhahood is your very life.
                You can change your clothes, you can change your accents, you can change your behavior, it
           does not matter. So many manifestations of buddhahood -- it is a beautiful variety. If all looked like
           Buddha, just sitting under every tree, think of the boredom. Wherever you go you meet the same
           Buddha; wherever you look, under every tree, Buddha is sitting! You would commit suicide -- that it
           is better to die than to live in a city where everybody is behaving like Buddha.
                But still I insist that you are a buddha. I am not saying to you that you have to behave like
           Buddha; you have to be spontaneously yourself. And honestly and totally being yourself is what
           buddha-nature means.

               Before we again enter into our buddha-nature, a little laughter will be alright. Before risking, it is
           always good to laugh, because you may die when I say die. If you are really total, you will die. Then
           Nivedano can go on hitting his drum ... you will not come back. But you come back so quickly that I
           suspect you don't die. You try hard, that I know, and everybody is managing to get in the right
           comfortable position. That is not allowed. When you are dying, die! That does not mean, "Now what
           comfortable position ..." Others will take care when you are finished. But you know perfectly well
           that it is only a rehearsal, the real drama has not started yet, and there is no hurry. Anyway you can
           die tomorrow.

               Zabriski takes Gorgeous Gloria out on a date. They are sitting in a quiet corner of the bar,
           sipping martinis, when Zabriski leans over and whispers in Gloria's ear, "What would you say if I
           asked you to marry me?"
           "Nothing," replies Gloria. "I can't talk and laugh at the same time!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               It is monsoon in Poona, and Swami Deva Coconut meets Swami Veet Herschel on M.G. Road.
               "Hi, Coconut!" says Herschel. "I have been meaning to ask you, can I have back the umbrella
           that you borrowed from me?"
           "Oh, sorry," says Coconut. "I lent it to a friend of mine. Did you want it?"
               "Not for myself," replies Herschel. "But the swami I borrowed it from says the owner wants it
           back!"

               A Polack is badly injured in a car crash and he has to have a brain transplant. A team of surgeons
           put him to sleep, remove his brain, and go into the next room to get a new one. But when they return
           to the operating room, the Polack is gone.
               The police search everywhere for him but without success -- he has vanished. The doctors
           contact the international police and they check throughout the world for a brainless Pole.
               Finally, five years later, they find him. He is wearing silly robes and a big hat and is living in the
           Vatican!

               General Brahmachapatti has been in Ruby Hall Clinic for a couple of weeks for a minor
           operation. The nurses are fed up with him. He is always complaining about the food and the service,
           waking up the nurses in the middle of the night, demanding cups of hot chocolate, and so on.
               One morning a nurse comes into his room and says, "Good morning, general. Please take down
           your pyjamas and turn over -- I need to take your temperature."
               "But nurse," protests the general, "I always have the thermometer in my mouth, not my ass. Why
           this change?"
               "This morning," explains the nurse, "we need a really accurate temperature, so that the lab can
           make an analysis."
               The general grumpily agrees, takes down his pyjamas, turns over, and raises his bum in the air.
               "Now, general," says the nurse, making the insertion, "this is a special thermometer and it needs
           to be left quite a long time to get an accurate result. So don't move until I come back."
               In the next few hours many people come into the general's room, but all of them just gasp and
           leave quickly in embarrassment. Finally, the general's wife comes to visit him.
           She walks in and stares at him in amazement, not knowing what to say.
               "What is the matter with you, woman?" thunders the general. "Haven't you ever seen someone
           having their temperature taken before?"
           "Yes, darling, I have," stammers his wife, "but not with a banana!"
           Now, Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent ...
           Close your eyes ...
           Feel the body frozen, no movement.
           Collect your consciousness inward,
           close to the very center.
           The deeper you go,
           the more you will find the realization,
           the recognition of a buddha.
           In this silent moment
           there are only ten thousand buddhas
           sitting here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Make this experience as deep as possible.
           And keep it alive in your ordinary activities
           twenty-four hours. Every action
           should be a reminder that you are a buddha ...
           and your action is a manifestation of your nature.
           Don't act unnaturally,
           don't act artificially, don't be a hypocrite.
           Just be natural and you are a buddha.
           So gather your consciousness
           more deeply,
           to crystallize it.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Rest ...
           relax ...
           really die.
           Don't be worried what happens afterwards.
           The world will continue ... you don't be worried,
           just die.
           As the body is lying dead,
           you can enter into yourself more easily.
           Unidentified with the body
           you can see the open sky inside.
           This is your eternity.
           This is your reality.
           This is it.
           All else is commentary.
           This experience is the only truth.
           Such a beautiful silence ...
           Such a blissful evening ...
           You are the most fortunate beings
           on the earth this moment.
           Realize the dignity of it
           and the honor of it.
           Here my work is not for you to search
           for the buddha,
           so stop searching ...
           and just look within.
           He is sitting there inside you.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Come back,
           but not in a hurry.
           Somebody may have died.
           Just don't disturb the dead.
           Those who are still alive,
           come back. And sit silently for a few minutes
           to remind yourself of the experience
           you have passed through.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           You are a rare assembly.
           It used to be in the past ...
           those days were golden,
           when there were hundreds of assemblies
           like this ...
           recognizing their nature
           and remembering it
           in their actions and manifestations.
           That golden world has disappeared.
           But at least for you
           this moment opens up the whole glory of being.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           I have put you right?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Now can we celebrate this great gathering of buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                     Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                   Chapter #7
                                   Chapter title: Live one day as a buddha
           31 July 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8807315
              ShortTitle: DOGEN07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 110 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN WROTE:
              PRACTICE IS IDENTICAL WITH EXPRESSION, AND VICE VERSA. TO EXPRESS THE WAY ALL
              DAY IS TO PRACTICE THE WAY ALL DAY. IN OTHER WORDS, WE PRACTICE SOMETHING
              IMPRACTICABLE AND EXPRESS SOMETHING INEXPRESSIBLE ....
              EACH DAY'S LIFE SHOULD BE ESTEEMED; THE BODY SHOULD BE RESPECTED. SO IF WE
              CAN REALLY GET THE BUDDHIST FUNCTION EVEN IN A DAY, SUCH A SINGLE DAY CAN BE
              SAID TO BE MORE VALUABLE THAN COUNTLESS IDLE LIVES.
              THEREFORE, BEFORE WE HAVE REALIZED THE WAY, WE MUST NOT IDLE AWAY EVEN A
              SINGLE DAY. SUCH A SINGLE DAY IS TOO PRECIOUS A TREASURE TO BE COMPARED WITH
              A FINE JEWEL. ANCIENT WISE PERSONS HELD IT DEARER THAN THEIR BODY AND LIFE.
              WE MUST THINK QUIETLY THAT A FINE JEWEL AND A RARE GEM, THOUGH LOST, MAY BE
              ACQUIRED AGAIN, BUT THAT A SINGLE DAY IN A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIFE, ONCE LOST,
              NEVER RETURNS. NO MATTER HOW SKILLFUL WE MAY BE, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BRING
              BACK EVEN A SINGLE DAY OF THE PAST. NO HISTORY BOOK SAYS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE ....
              WHY DOES TIME DEPRIVE US OF OUR TRAINING, DAILY AND LIFELONG? WHY HAS TIME A
              GRUDGE AGAINST US? IT IS, UNFORTUNATELY, BECAUSE WE HAVE EVER NEGLECTED OUR
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PRACTICE ....
              WITHOUT LOOKING FORWARD TO TOMORROW EVERY MOMENT, YOU MUST THINK ONLY OF
              THIS DAY AND THIS HOUR. BECAUSE TOMORROW IS DIFFICULT AND UNFIXED, AND
              DIFFICULT TO KNOW, YOU MUST THINK OF FOLLOWING THE WAY WHILE YOU LIVE TODAY
              .... YOU MUST CONCENTRATE ON ZEN PRACTICE WITHOUT WASTING TIME, THINKING THAT
              THERE IS ONLY THIS DAY AND THIS HOUR. AFTER THAT, IT BECOMES TRULY EASY. YOU
              MUST FORGET ABOUT THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF YOUR NATURE, THE STRENGTH OR
              WEAKNESS OF YOUR POWER.


                Maneesha, before I start talking about Dogen I have to make a few statements. One is about Zen
           master Niskriya. He had fallen so low in the West that yesterday I called him Skinhead, rather than
           Stonehead. And he had come perfectly dressed, like a Zen master. Today he is not wearing his robe.
           It does not matter even if you become a skinhead, back here you are again Sekito -- the Zen Master
           Stonehead. So cut your hair and put on your Zen master's dress, with your staff -- it may be needed
           any time. I have been missing you for so long, there was nobody here to hit people. And you should
           not do such a thing -- growing hair on a stonehead. Be ashamed of yourself.
                In Germany nobody may have noticed it, but here everybody will notice, "What happened to Zen
           Master Sekito?" He got lost. Everybody gets lost, particularly back in Germany where real idiots,
           very authentic idiots, live. He fell from the heights of being a Zen master into a skinhead.
                Just shave your head and be your own self with your Zen stick and Zen master's robe. You are
           still a buddha. It does not matter that you traveled to Germany, your buddha-nature is intact. That
           has been our whole discussion on Dogen's sutras. You can even go to Germany, even become a
           member of the German parliament -- you cannot fall more than that -- still you will be a buddha.
                And second, to Zareen. She has been moving around the ashram the whole day in her robe to
           prove the fact that, yes, she does look like a balloon. I was hoping that she would have courage
           enough to come here like that, but she has come again here with a sari.
                A balloon is beautiful. Just all you need is to make a few windows here and there to see who is
           inside. She is a great woman, and that's why she was not afraid. The whole day everybody was
           talking about the balloon. I was sitting in my room, listening to all kinds of gossip about her coming
           in a balloon. And here I see she is sitting in her usual dress, looking so beautiful.
                The sari has a magic. The people who discovered the sari must have been very aesthetic. They
           wanted their women to look like Khajuraho statues -- round, full.
                The idea arose in the West, with women's liberation, that the woman has to look like a man; she
           has to wear pants. It proves a strange psychological fact. Because of her dress, she started losing the
           curves that she always had in the past, even in the West. She started becoming a straight line, flat.
           Looking at a Western woman with pants and a shirt, with a cigarette in her hand, you have to think
           for a moment whether she is a woman or a man. That kind of confusion never arises in the East. A
           woman is a woman, a man is a man. And the woman has not to imitate man; otherwise she will
           destroy herself. She has to be herself. She is not inferior, she is simply different.
                The liberation movement emphasizes the wrong point. There is no question of equality. You
           don't ask for equality between two different things. A woman has her own uniqueness, she has not to
           imitate man. And by imitation, remember, you will not even be a woman, you will be only a
           second-rate man.
                The sari gives a certain freedom to the Indian woman to grow curves. She is more explorable. In
           the Western woman, what are you going to explore? She is just as she looks with clothes. But the
           Indian woman is totally different. You are going to be surprised ... She has something interesting
           hidden behind the sari. It is a great invention.
                But don't imitate because then you look very weird. Just think of Zareen in pants and a shirt; she
           would become the most weird animal around. Right now she is so beautiful.
                But there is always a desire to be in other people's dresses, in other people's lifestyles. And one
           does not know that this is the way that one becomes lost and forgets the way home. Never, for a
           single moment, be imitative. Just be yourself. And not only be yourself; Dogen says, "Respect
           yourself. Respect your body."
                These are the beautiful things that Zen has brought into the history of mankind, particularly in
           the history of consciousness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              DOGEN WROTE:
              PRACTICE IS IDENTICAL WITH EXPRESSION, AND VICE VERSA.

                He is talking about an authentic man; what in Zen language is called the original man. His
           practice is identical with his expression. There are not two persons in him, there is only a single
           individuality. Silent, it is the same. In expression, in manifestation -- in any possible way -- it is the
           still the same. Raising my hand, I am as much a buddha as without raising it.
                PRACTICE IS IDENTICAL WITH EXPRESSION, AND VICE VERSA. But this is not true
           about the man that has come to exist in this contemporary world. He says something, he thinks
           something, he desires something; he really wants something else. He is simply a confusion. The
           modern man is a confused buddha. He does not know that to be one he has to drop many masks. All
           those masks are to deceive people, to create a certain respectability, a reputation.
                But deep down you are dishonest. There is nothing wrong in being dishonest, but then express it,
           and be clear: "But I am not an honest man, don't rely on me." And you will feel a certain freedom
           that you have never known. When your expression and your being are one, you have the whole sky
           as your freedom. Otherwise, one is tied down to his lies.

               It is said about George Gurdjieff ... To explain to his disciples, he developed a certain technique.
           He could laugh with half of his face, and at the same time he could be sad with the other half. It is
           very difficult, I don't know how he managed it. But he had lived with very ancient tribes in
           Turkestan, in the Soviet Union's very backward parts where people are still as primitive as you can
           conceive. His father died early so he had to live with first one tribe, then another tribe. He was only
           nine years old but he started learning -- because those tribes steal, play music, do magic, heal people.
           They are moving people; they don't have houses, stability. They enjoy traveling, they are vagabonds.
               But he turned this into a great opportunity to learn all their tricks. One of their tricks was that
           they could manage to divide their face in two. And while teaching his students, once in a while he
           would do that trick. Somebody is sitting by his right side and somebody on his left side; and on one
           side he will look very angry, and on the other side very loving and peaceful. And they both report to
           each other what is going on. One says that he is very loving and very peaceful. The other says,
           "Peaceful? He looks very dangerous, violent, murderous. He looked at me with an eye that I am not
           going to forget for months."
               When it was reported to him, Gurdjieff would say, "This is what I want you to understand:
           modern man has many faces."

                You should watch. When you meet your wife and you say, "Darling," do you really mean it?
           "My sweetheart" -- do you really mean it? When you are saying those words, are you remembering
           some other woman? Unfortunately, you have to say these words to the woman whom you want to
           kill. But you are not that courageous either. When you see your servant, have you the same face as
           when you see your boss? Just watch the changes in your face. You are not a single unity, integrated.
                Whether clouds come and go, whether clouds are white or black, does not matter. The moon
           remains shining the same. The clouds come and go, they don't leave any scratches on the moon. But
           every cloud -- that means every mask that you wear -- leaves its marks on you.
                So I have seen people laughing, but I see that they are almost at the point of weeping. They are
           hiding their tears behind a fake smile. And people are doing the opposite also.

               I used to live with one of my relatives. A faraway relative of my relative had come for treatment
           of his wife. The wife died, and naturally my relatives had to show all kinds of mourning. They were
           really not at all concerned with it. In fact they were happy that she was gone because, with her, the
           whole family was suffering unnecessarily. The moment she died her husband went back to his city,
           but people used to come to the house. It was just a conformity, a social pattern, to show your
           sympathy. So the woman of the house was in a trouble, because when you don't have any tears ... it
           is very difficult. And each day it might happen ten times.
           I used to stay out in the garden. She told me, "Keep a bell here with you."
           I said, "For what?"
               She said, "Whenever somebody comes, you just ring the bell. Then I will pull down my
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ghoonghat and start crying. It will be false, but what else to do?"
               The sari has that great quality also. You can pull down your ghoonghat ... inside you may not be
           crying but you can pretend to be in immense sadness and misery.
           I said, "This is a great strategy. But beware of me."
           She said, "What do you mean?"
           I said, "I can ring the bell at the wrong person."
               She said, "No, you should not do that. I have been harassed, tortured, for months taking care of
           that woman, who was only a faraway relative." But in India, faraway relatives are still relatives.
           Sometimes one does not know in what way a person is a relative, but you have to take care of them if
           they proclaim they are. Some cousin of your cousins ...
           I said, "Don't be worried."
               She used to remain inside the house. Whenever somebody came, I simply gave her the bell, and
           she would immediately pull down her ghoonghat. There is no word for ghoonghat in English -- it is
           part of the sari. But you all understand what it is. It means pulling your tent down a little so that your
           face is hidden, so nobody can see what actually is happening on your face. And you can pretend
           anything.
               So for a few days I managed it. One day her husband came and I rang the bell. That was so
           hilarious that even today I cannot forget it. She pulled her tent down and started weeping as if
           somebody had died. The husband said, "Has somebody died again?"
               She looked through the ghoonghat, and seeing that it was her husband, she said, "No, it is ... I
           knew that sometime he was going to deceive me, but I never thought that he would shock you.
           Where is he?"
               They both came out and she said, "This is not good. My husband is not coming in the house to
           sympathize or to mourn."
               I said, "He looked so sad that I thought that somebody must have died. And it is better to make
           you aware that your husband is looking very sad. This is not the moment to desire a loving word;
           this is a moment to weep and cry with him."
           The husband said, "What do you mean, I was looking sad?"
               I said, "Now, don't provoke me. By nature, your face is such that it seems somebody has died. I
           don't usually say it, because what is the point? You are not responsible. This is the face you have
           got."
           He said, "Really, I look so sad?"
               I said, "You can ask anybody. I can bring a few witnesses from the neighborhood. Everybody
           knows that you are very sad and very serious and worried."
               He said, "No need to bring the neighbors" -- because he knew I would convince a few people. "I
           will try to make my face better. I will try once in a while to laugh, smile."
               I said to him, "It is not a question of trying. In the first place, you shave your moustache. You
           have a strange moustache that makes you look like a clown."
               He said, "You live in my house and you always create trouble. Now, I love my moustache, I
           cannot shave it."
               I said, "It is up to you. But this is what makes your face look so sad. Get some false moustache.
           Glue it on whenever you want a moustache, but this moustache won't do." He certainly had a
           moustache, drooping all over the face.

               But everybody is having different kinds of faces, and it has become almost an autonomous
           process; they don't have to change. Just you see a man walking with his wife and you know with
           whom he is walking. You don't have to inquire, "Are you married?" And look at him with his
           girlfriend and again you don't have to inquire. Just their faces, with so much freedom, joy --
           momentary, but even a momentary phenomenon makes them happy, changes their faces.
               A seeker, according to Dogen, has to remember his integrity. In every situation, his practice and
           his expression should be identical.
              TO EXPRESS THE WAY ALL DAY IS TO PRACTICE THE WAY ALL DAY.

              TO EXPRESS THE WAY ALL DAY .... I have told you you are all buddhas. Reluctantly, you
           accept it. Deep down, you know who you are. Somebody is a doctor, somebody is an attorney,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody is a rickshaw walla. "A buddha pulling a rickshaw? My God, this has never happened."
               But because I am saying it, and you love me, and you trust me, you say, "Okay." Right now, at
           least inside Buddha Hall anyway, you will not be allowed to bring your rickshaw or your rented
           bicycle. What is the harm in being a buddha? But once out of the hall you start having second
           thoughts, "Where am I going? I am a buddha? Then what am I doing smoking a cigarette?" Now just
           think -- a buddha smoking a cigarette? Inconceivable.
               If you want to know your essential self you have to express it all the way, all the day, in every
           smallest expression. It does not matter -- even if you are pulling a rickshaw, you can pull the
           rickshaw with deep compassion, with love, with respect for the passenger, with care about other
           people in the traffic.
               I am making buddhahood simple and at the same time very complicated. It is very easy to sit
           under a bodhi tree in the lotus posture and declare to the world, "I am a buddha." The real thing is
           when you are sitting by the side of your wife, constantly afraid, "One never knows when she will
           start nagging."
               When I was telling you the story yesterday about "Nag, nag, nag," Miyah Farookh was pulling
           Zareen's sari, with each nag reminding her, "Just know what you have been doing all your life."
               He is a very unique child. It is unfortunate that he is missing these two days otherwise he would
           have enjoyed. When, in a story, the sun said to Mikhail Gorbachev, "Now I'm in the West -- fuck
           you!" he rolled down on the ground. He understood that this is great. And when I was telling a story
           about an advocate -- that he is a lion in the court -- even before I could say it, I heard him saying
           silently, "In the home he is a rat." But every husband is in the same situation.
               We need a world ... a new man, a new woman, a new child, who has intelligence. Not to imitate,
           not to deceive, but to stand on his own with power and integrity. Even if it means that he will be
           condemned by the whole world, it does not matter. What ultimately matters is that you have your
           own face.
              IN OTHER WORDS, WE PRACTICE SOMETHING IMPRACTICABLE AND EXPRESS SOMETHING
              INEXPRESSIBLE.

               Remember it. When you are watering the rose bush, remember that its beauty, its flowers, its
           greenness is so profound, but it is inexpressible. Never forget that this experience of beauty is as
           inexpressible as the experience of your own self. If you just watch, you will find in your life, in each
           moment, things which are inexpressible. You have just become accustomed. Your becoming
           accustomed is just a forgetfulness.
               Socrates remembered at the last moment of his life, "I don't know anything. Let it be remembered
           by the coming generations that I didn't know."
               He was proclaimed by the Oracle of Delphi as the wisest man in the whole world. The people
           who had heard the oracle went to Socrates with great joy to tell him what the oracle had said.
           Socrates said, "Just please go and tell the oracle that this time the oracle has been wrong. As far as I
           know, I know nothing."
               The people were sad. They went back to Delphi and told the oracle what Socrates had said. "He
           says, `I don't know anything at all,' and you call him the wisest man in the world."
               The oracle laughed and said, "Exactly because of this I call him the wisest man of the world --
           because he has come to the point where he knows that he knows nothing."
               Only in this space your potentiality blossoms to its totality. It is not knowledge -- it is so deep
           that you can call it a heartbeat, or, perhaps more deeply, you can call it the heartbeat of the universe
           itself. But you cannot call it knowledge. And there is no way to express it.
               If you can remember this in your everyday affairs ... Do you think you know your child? Have
           you ever thought about it; that your child has come through you but he is a mystery coming from the
           beyond? You cannot possess him. You can take care of this mysterious expression of life, you can
           love him. But you should not condition him, you should not take him to the church or to the
           synagogue or to the temple to start the conditioning process which destroys his innocence and takes
           away his authenticity.
               I have heard about a rabbi and a bishop. They lived next to each other and both were very
           competitive. They had to be, to convince their congregations: "Who is greater?" One day the rabbi
           looked over the fence, and could not believe what he saw. The bishop was pouring water on a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Cadillac.
           He said, "What are you doing?"
               The bishop said, "I am giving the Christian ceremony to my new Cadillac -- baptism. You don't
           know about these things."
               The rabbi was very humiliated. The next day he found a Rolls Royce. It was a question, not only
           of himself but of his religion. When the bishop was in his garden he came out with some garden
           shears and started cutting the exhaust pipe. The bishop was shocked. He said, "What are you doing?
           A new Rolls Royce and you are destroying it."
               The rabbi said, "You don't understand these things. This is called circumcision. From now on this
           Rolls Royce is Jewish."

               That's what we are doing even to human beings. We don't allow a child to be himself. And that is
           causing all the misery in the world: that nobody is himself. Everybody is imitating somebody else,
           everybody has become a carbon copy of somebody else, everybody is almost like a broken record
           that has been used for centuries. Nobody has newness, freshness -- one's own originality. Remember,
           when you see a child, that he is as inexpressible as you. When you see a pine tree, don't forget it.
               This is what Dogen means ... practicing real religion; remembering in every action, thought,
           silence, always, that it is inexpressible, it is mysterious; that we are living in a miracle world. All our
           explanations are just consolations. Nothing is explained, either by science or by religion. For
           thousands of years religion has tried to befool people by giving them explanations about the creation
           of the world, about God -- how he created the world in six days, how he has taken away the paradise
           of man and woman. Unless you are very torturous towards yourself you will never be allowed back
           into the garden. And people believed it, people have lived according to it.
               Different religions have been propagating different superstitions. Now slowly slowly science has
           come to take the place of religion. But do you know that every scientific explanation is momentary?
           What it says today it may not say tomorrow. Every research goes on deeper, and old explanations
           become out of date. Old medicines which were thought to be helping people are found to have been
           harming people. But as long as the superstitions continued everybody believed, even the doctors
           believed.
               This is true about what they believe even today, because tomorrow it may not be the same. Now
           we are full of scientific superstitions. Science has not changed man's being. Just as religion has
           failed, science has failed to remind him that everything is an immense mystery. The very effort to
           find an explanation is wrong -- just love it, live it, dance it. Don't waste your time in finding
           explanations. This is the Zen attitude.
               EACH DAY'S LIFE SHOULD BE ESTEEMED; Do you ever esteem your life? ... THE BODY
           SHOULD BE RESPECTED. Do you respect your body? It serves you for seventy years without any
           salary, without going on a strike, without taking a morcha -- a protest march -- against you. But you
           have not even thought that some respect is due, that your body needs to be valued.
              SO IF WE CAN REALLY GET THE BUDDHIST FUNCTION EVEN IN A DAY, SUCH A SINGLE DAY
              CAN BE SAID TO BE MORE VALUABLE THAN COUNTLESS IDLE LIVES.

                That's why I say, every night, these few moments are the most valuable moments in your life.
           And every evening, when so many living buddhas gather here, this place becomes the most
           important in the whole world -- the spiritual capital of the world. Because nowhere are so many
           people meditating together. Nowhere are so many people digging so deep that they can find the very
           life source, the eternity, the deathlessness.
                Dogen is right. Even if we can live one day, just twenty-four hours, as a buddha -- reminding
           ourselves continuously that each of our actions should reflect a buddha -- that single day becomes
           more precious than thousands of lives. And if you can do it for one day, who is preventing you from
           doing it every day? If you can be a buddha here, why can you not be a buddha anywhere else? It is
           simply a question of being alert, respectful of existence, loving; of being utterly contented with the
           flowers, with the birds, with the trees, with the stars. Such a tremendous universe is given to you and
           you never pay any attention to it. You never give any gratitude. The whole beauty of existence is
           available to you, and you are reading a third-rate yellow newspaper that you have been reading since
           the morning. And not having anything else to do, you start reading it again.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               It happened that a man used to live next to my house who was retired, senile, and everybody
           thought him mad except me. He was very friendly towards me. His only love affair was the
           newspaper, and because many newspapers used to come to me, he would come every morning --
           sometimes when I was not even awake he would knock. And I would give him anything --
           ten-year-old magazines -- and he would say, "Thank you."
               I was amazed. I said to him, "You know perfectly well that this magazine is ten years old."
               He said, "What does it matter? To me it is new, I have not read it before. People think me mad.
           Do you think I'm mad?"
               I said, "Certainly not, your argument is absolutely right. For you it is not ten years old, it is fresh,
           because you have not read it."
               But he reminded me that his whole concern was newspapers. In a day he would come two, three
           times to ask me, "Has anything new come? The evening newspaper?"
           I asked him, "Is the newspaper the whole world?"
               He said, "What else to do? I am retired from my work. People think I am mad, so I don't have
           any social life. People avoid me. You are the only person who will talk with me, who respects me,
           who accepts me as a human being. And what else is there? I am only waiting for death."
               The day he said to me, "I am only waiting for death," I started to think about everyone -- What
           are you doing? Somebody is running a business, somebody is accumulating money, somebody is
           becoming more powerful in politics.

               But do you understand that you are moving towards death? Each moment death is coming closer
           and closer. And have you gathered anything that you will be able to take with you when you die?
           Except meditation, you cannot take any of your possessions with you. All that is outside of you will
           be left behind. Only the inner flame ... if you have found it, if you have become conscious of it, then
           there is no death for you. But if you are not conscious of it you will think also, as others are thinking,
           that you are dead.
               It is simply a question of thinking. If you know yourself exactly, you are never dead. But you
           never go inwards. You have simply forgotten that there is an immense space waiting for you, and
           that is your real home. All our efforts here in this Buddha Hall are efforts to make you acquainted
           again with your real home, which will not be burned on a funeral pyre, which will remain until
           eternity, in different forms or in formlessness. That is your buddhahood.
               But to make it a constant remembrance you have to work out a certain discipline. The discipline
           is simple: remember always that everything is a miracle, everything is inexpressible. This whole
           world is so mysterious that you don't have to read detective novels and you don't have to go to see
           movies. If you can understand this silence, you will love to find spaces where you can be silent again
           and again. If you can touch the waters of life within you, you would love ... in your whole day,
           whenever you can find just a moment, sipping the tea ... you would love to look in, to see whether
           those waters of life are still flowing. One becomes accustomed, slowly slowly, to the eternity of
           oneself. But whether you know it or not, it is there.
              SUCH A SINGLE DAY IS TOO PRECIOUS A TREASURE TO BE COMPARED WITH A FINE
              JEWEL. ANCIENT WISE PERSONS HELD IT DEARER THAN THEIR BODY AND LIFE.
              WE MUST THINK QUIETLY THAT A FINE JEWEL AND A RARE GEM, THOUGH LOST, MAY BE
              ACQUIRED AGAIN, BUT THAT A SINGLE DAY IN A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIFE, ONCE LOST,
              NEVER RETURNS.

              Remember that not a single moment will come back again into your hands. That which is gone is
           gone forever.
              Take out the whole juice of every moment. The moment will be gone; but the juice, the
           experience, the mystery, the fragrance of it will surround you. And every day it will become deeper
           and deeper, thicker and thicker. A day will come when you will not be afraid to declare that you are
           a buddha. It will come on its own, spontaneously; a sudden lightning and you will say, "My God --
           what have I been doing up to now? I am a buddha and this whole universe is my home. As much as I
           need it, it needs me too."
           We are part of one tremendous mystery.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              NO MATTER HOW SKILLFUL WE MAY BE, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BRING BACK EVEN A SINGLE
              DAY OF THE PAST. NO HISTORY BOOK SAYS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE.
              WHY DOES TIME DEPRIVE US OF OUR TRAINING, DAILY AND LIFELONG? WHY HAS TIME A
              GRUDGE AGAINST US? IT IS, UNFORTUNATELY, BECAUSE WE HAVE EVER NEGLECTED OUR
              PRACTICE.
              WITHOUT LOOKING FORWARD TO TOMORROW EVERY MOMENT, YOU MUST THINK ONLY OF
              THIS DAY AND THIS HOUR. BECAUSE TOMORROW IS DIFFICULT AND UNFIXED, AND
              DIFFICULT TO KNOW, YOU MUST THINK OF FOLLOWING THE WAY WHILE YOU LIVE TODAY.

               In fact, the tomorrow is not certain: it may come, it may not come. Those who know have even
           said that tomorrow never comes. What comes is always today. So do whatever you want to do this
           moment. Catch hold of your life source because tomorrow it may be too late. It is already late.
              YOU MUST CONCENTRATE ON ZEN PRACTICE WITHOUT WASTING TIME, THINKING THAT
              THERE IS ONLY THIS DAY AND THIS HOUR. AFTER THAT, IT BECOMES TRULY EASY. YOU
              MUST FORGET ABOUT THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF YOUR NATURE, THE STRENGTH OR
              WEAKNESS OF YOUR POWER.

               Just accept as you are, and enjoy and relish and sing and dance as you are. Acceptance is a
           gratitude towards existence. Anything that you don't accept means you are blaming existence. In all
           your prayers, and in all your prayer houses, what are you doing? You are asking God, just like a
           beggar, "Give me this, give me that." You don't trust existence, you demand. Demanding is not a
           quality of religious consciousness. Hence the real religion has no way of praying. It only lives, and
           lives in such a way that the very life becomes a gratitude.
           A haiku by Choshu:
              THE MOON IN THE WATER;
              BROKEN AND BROKEN AGAIN,
              STILL IT IS THERE.


               It is almost unbelievable how Zen poets have said things. No other language has been able to rise
           to such heights. What Choshu is saying:
              THE MOON IN THE WATER;

               BROKEN AND BROKEN AGAIN ... because each time wind comes, a wave comes, the moon
           is broken in a thousand pieces. But again the lake becomes silent and all the broken pieces all over
           the lake start gathering again. Because it is a reflection the moon is never broken, it is only the
           reflection that is broken. And because the moon is never broken, it does not matter that its reflection
           is broken a thousand times.
               All our bodies, all our minds, all our lives are nothing but reflections of the real moon ... broken
           a thousand times. Still, in the innermost core of your being, the moon is as full and as perfect as ever.
           Issa wrote:
              THE YOUNGEST NIGHTINGALE THAT
              CAN REJOICE
              CALLS TO ITS PARENTS IN A YELLOW
              VOICE.


               Now, you are not to be worried about what is said; these words are very indicative. Issa must
           have been in deep meditation and he heard the nightingale rejoicing and calling to its parents in a
           yellow voice. He is not saying anything about the nightingale, he is saying something about his
           silence. When you are in silence and a cuckoo from the bamboos starts singing, it deepens your
           silence.
           And another poet:
              WHATEVER WE WEAR,
              WE LOOK BEAUTIFUL,
              WHEN MOON-VIEWING.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The moon certainly makes everything beautiful. On a full-moon night you see beauty spread all
           around, even to ordinary plants. Ordinary flowers are shining with joy. Small puddles of water are
           reflecting the full moon with as much depth as the greatest ocean.
               So it does not matter which body you have; whether man or woman, bird or animal; whether you
           are poor or rich. In a silent space, just watching the moon and you are filled with tremendous beauty.
           That beauty arises in your innermost world. The moon simply triggers it.

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              OFTEN IMAGES ARISE OF THEIR OWN ACCORD DURING DISCOURSE AND THE DEATH
              PHASE OF THE MEDITATION, AND MAKE WHATEVER IS HAPPENING STRONGER AND MORE
              VIVID. CAN VISUALIZATION HELP, OR BECAUSE IT IS MERELY IMAGINATION, IS IT USELESS?


               Maneesha, it is absolutely useless. No ripple has to be allowed. The silence has to be absolutely
           pure. Any visualization will be a disturbance, any thought will distract you from your being. So I am
           saying categorically: everything is useless while you are meditating. Meditation is taking you in a
           different direction, not of utility but of existence. And all your visualization will be of the world that
           you know, you cannot visualize something that you don't know. And you don't know your own self,
           your don't know the inner sky, so you cannot visualize it. And once you know it, there is no need to
           visualize, it is in your hands. You are no longer poor, you have become the richest person in the
           world -- having nothing.
               Meditation, perhaps, is the only alchemy that can transform a beggar into an emperor.

                Before you become emperors, before you become buddhas again tonight, you must be
           remembering a little bit of yesterday. You know the path. Every day you have to go a little further, a
           little deeper.
           A few laughs to make you light, to make you nonserious ....
                I am being blamed all over the world, in articles, that I am a nonserious man. They think they are
           condemning me -- it is a compliment. They don't understand that, to me, seriousness is sickness. And
           to be nonserious, to be playful, to take everything as fun is, according to me, the only authentic
           religiousness.

                Millicent Money-Butt is an extremely rich and an extremely frustrated woman. She is especially
           irritable today because it has been weeks since her husband or her chauffeur or her stable boy or
           anybody has made love to her. Deciding that she needs to move her energy, she calls her butler,
           James, upstairs to draw her a hot bath.
                James knocks quietly and then enters her room. Millie turns to him slowly, and says, "James,
           please take my dress off."
           "Yes, madam," says the butler, looking a bit shy.
           "Now, James," says Millie, "please take my bra off."
           "Er, yes, madam," says the shocked butler.
                "And now, James," she says with fire in her eyes, "please take my panties off."
                Then stepping up close to him, she orders, "James, next time I catch you wearing my clothes you
           will be fired!"

               Jablonski gets married, but does not know what to do with his bride on the wedding night. So the
           next day he goes to ask advice from Doctor Gas-Bag.
               "It is easy," says Gas-Bag, and takes Jablonski to the window. He points to two dogs screwing
           out in the street and says, "You do it just like that."
               A week later, Jablonski comes back. "Well," asks the doctor, "how did it go?"
               "Great, Doc," says Jablonski, proudly. "It was simple, no big deal at all. The only problem was
           getting my wife out into the street!"

              Olga and Kowalski are living in an L.A. apartment, when a young couple moves in upstairs.
           Soon, every night, the Polacks hear the noise, "She-BOOM! She-BOOM!" coming from the floor
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           above.
           Olga is intrigued by the noise, and one day asks the young woman what it is.
               "Oh, that," replies the woman. "We have had a slide installed in our bedroom. I lie at the bottom
           of it with my legs apart, and my husband slides down ... She-BOOM!"
               A few days pass and the young woman does not see the Kowalskis around. She finds out that
           Olga is in the hospital, so she goes to visit her.
           "What happened to you?" she asks.
               "It is a sad story," replies Olga. "My husband and I also had a slide installed in our bedroom, but
           we only got to try it once. Now I have had three operations, and they still can't find Kowalski."

               Kronski is going to join the army, so he goes to visit his girlfriend, Dilda, to say goodbye.
           "Oh, darling," cries Dilda. "I don't have a picture of you!"
               So Kronski looks in his pockets, and all he has is a photo of himself standing naked. He cuts the
           picture in two, and gives her the top half.
           Next he goes to visit his old grandmother to say goodbye.
               "Oh, dear boy," says his granny. "You can't leave without giving me a picture of you."
               Kronski does not know what to do, but remembering that his granny is half-blind, he gives her
           the bottom half of the picture. She looks at it with delight and says, "Just like your grandfather, God
           rest his soul. A nice bushy beard, and his necktie always hanging to one side."

           Now ... Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent,
           close your eyes,
           feel as if your body is frozen,
           and gather all your consciousness inwards,
           deeper and deeper.
           At the deepest point you are the buddha.
           And this buddha
           has to become your whole life.
           All expressions, actions,
           have to arise from this center.
           This center is the center of transformation.
           Every seeker has been searching for it
           down the ages.
           This is the ancient path.
           On this path
           thousands have become awakened.
           There is no barrier except fear --
           the fear of the unknown.
           Drop it.
           Just rush towards it without any fear --
           it is your own being.
           You are not going to meet anybody else
           on the way ...
           there is no question of fear.
           This moment, this evening,
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is blessed by ten thousand buddhas
           who have returned home.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Relax ... let go ...
           die to the body,
           to the mind,
           so only a throbbing consciousness
           is left behind.
           That is you.
           That is me.
           That is the very essence of existence.
           Just a small taste of this silence,
           a little experience of this beauty,
           of this truth,
           and slowly slowly your whole life
           will be transformed
           without your even knowing.
           Your actions
           will start expressing your buddhahood,
           your compassion,
           your love, your beauty.

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Call all the buddhas back to life.
           Sit down for a few moments ...
           collecting the immense experience,
           making yourself sure of it,
           that you have got it.
           Because you have to live it.
           I am not a philosopher.
           And I am not a priest.
           I am a man in tremendous love
           with life and existence.
           All that I want to share with you
           is just to make you aware
           that if I can become a buddha,
           there is no reason why you cannot.
           We have only different bodies
           but we all have the same soul.
           If my soul has become aflame,
           that has given me the authority to say to you
           that you can also become aflame.
           And this fire is eternal.
           Remember it in every action,
           in every expression.
           Remember not to behave in any way
           which will be disgraceful to a buddha.
           This small discipline will bring you
10/28/07                                           Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to the best qualities of your being,
           to their flowering.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate ten thousand buddhas
           and their evening?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                      Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
                                                    Chapter #8
                                    Chapter title: Secretly, a jewel in his robe
           1 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

           Archive code: 8808015
              ShortTitle: DOGEN08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 88 mins




              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              DOGEN SAID:
              WHEN HSUAN-SHA BECAME ENLIGHTENED HE SAID TO OTHER MONKS, "THE WHOLE
              UNIVERSE IS A BRILLIANT JEWEL OF THE BUDDHA-MIND ...."
              DOGEN CONTINUED: THIS BRILLIANT JEWEL IS ORIGINALLY NAMELESS, BUT
              PROVISIONALLY WE GAVE IT SUCH A NAME. THIS JEWEL IS ETERNALLY UNCHANGEABLE.
              REALLY, OUR BODY AND MIND, GRASS AND TREES HERE AND THERE, OR MOUNTAINS AND
              RIVERS BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH -- ALL THIS IS NOTHING BUT A BRILLIANT JEWEL ....
              IT IS BOUNDLESS FROM BEGINNING TO END. AFTER ALL, THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS ONE
              BRILLIANT JEWEL, NOT TWO OR THREE. THE WHOLE JEWEL IS THE BUDDHA'S EYE, TRUTH
              ITSELF, ONE PHRASE OF TRUTH, THE LIGHT OF ENLIGHTENMENT. AT THIS TIME IT NEVER
              HINDERS THE WHOLE ONE, AND IT IS ROUND AND ROLLS ABOUT. THE FUNCTION OF THIS
              BRILLIANT JEWEL IS SO CLEAR THAT THE SENTIENT BEINGS ARE SAVED BY PRESENT-DAY
              avalokitesvara OR MAITREYA, JUST BY SEEING THEIR LOOK OR HEARING THEIR VOICE; AND
              ALSO THE BUDDHAS, ANCIENT AND MODERN, EXPOUND THE DHARMA WITH THEIR BODY.
              A SUTRA SAYS THAT SOMEONE WAS LYING DRUNK, WHEN HIS GREAT FRIEND SEWED A
              JEWEL IN HIS ROBE, SECRETLY. WE MUST NEVER FAIL TO GIVE THIS JEWEL TO OUR
              INTIMATE FRIEND.
              WE ARE NEVER DRUNK WITHOUT BEING GIVEN SUCH A JEWEL. SUCH A BRILLIANT JEWEL
              IS IDENTICAL WITH THE WHOLE UNIVERSE.
              THEREFORE, A BRILLIANT JEWEL IS A BRILLIANT JEWEL ITSELF WHETHER IT ROLLS OR
              NOT. OUR REALIZATION THAT SUCH IS A JEWEL IS ALSO A JEWEL ITSELF; SO AUDIBLE AND
              VISIBLE IS IT. THEREFORE, IT IS NO USE WONDERING IF WE are A BRILLIANT JEWEL.
              WHETHER WE DOUBT OR DISCERN IT, IT IS ONLY A SMALL, PROVISIONAL VIEWPOINT. TO
              SAY MORE PRECISELY: A BRILLIANT JEWEL ONLY PRETENDS A SMALL VIEWPOINT.
              WE CANNOT HELP SETTING A GREAT VALUE ON THIS JEWEL -- SO BRILLIANT IS THE COLOR
              AND LIGHT OF IT. WHO COULD SNATCH IT? WHO COULD CAST IT AWAY IN A MARKET,
              REGARDING IT AS A TILE?
              WE MUST NOT WORRY ABOUT WHETHER WE TRANSMIGRATE IN THE SIX REALMS OF
              EXISTENCE ON THE LAW OF CAUSALITY. A BRILLIANT JEWEL NEVER SETS ASIDE THE LAW
              OF CAUSALITY FROM BEGINNING TO END. THIS IS THE FACE OF A BRILLIANT JEWEL.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                Maneesha, there is only one experience, but there can be a thousand and one expressions. Still no
           expression expresses it. That is its beauty, that is its immense richness, that is its infinity, eternity.
           No word can catch hold of it. But a man who comes home, who finds it, is also compelled by its
           finding to share the joy, the song, the haiku -- to say something about that which cannot be said. It is
           an absolute compulsion. You have to do something to make the whole world aware of what you have
           found. Because what you have found everybody else can find, just they have forgotten the way. And
           it is so close that just as you close your eyes ... one more step inwards and you have arrived.
                All these Zen anecdotes and dialogues say the same thing again and again. But they say it very
           beautifully. From different standpoints, from different attitudes, they point to the same moon ...
           hoping that perhaps, if last night you did not see it, today it may be possible from some other aspect.
                The master is nothing but a great hope for the disciple, simply waiting for you to understand a
           simple thing which he cannot deliver to you as matter because it is immaterial. But its pricelessness
           is such that he cannot ignore it either, he has to do something in order to provoke you and challenge
           you to search inwards. All these anecdotes are nothing but provocations, challenges. These
           statements have arisen out of deep love and compassion, not out of mind.
                This has to be remembered about every anecdote, every dialogue, every small Zen haiku: that the
           master is trying in some way the impossible. And the impossible does happen once in a while. So it
           cannot be denied, and it cannot be said that the whole thing is futile ... no need to bother about
           others. Enlightenment brings with itself a tremendous love for all those who are in darkness. Just
           because they are standing with closed eyes and they think they are blind, somebody has to nag them
           to open their eyes. Perhaps their eyes have been closed for so many lives. They have forgotten
           completely that they have eyes, so much dust has gathered.
                The whole work of the master is to remove the dust and give you a challenging call so that your
           innermost being wakes up. And once it is awakened, you will see that all the efforts of the master
           were faulty; just his compassion was immense. His efforts were faulty because there is no direct way
           to express the inexpressible. But he still tried, knowing perfectly well that he is on an impossible
           journey.
                When somebody awakes he can see all the faults of the master, but they don't matter. The only
           thing that matters is a deep gratitude to this incredible man who went on saying again and again, day
           after day, the same thing; hitting as hard as possible, perfectly aware that it is very rare that a man
           recognizes his buddhahood. But because it is only a recognition, the possibility is that everybody one
           day will recognize. Why not today? There is no need to postpone it.
                In a way it was easier in the past. Because there were so many buddhas around, it seemed
           conceivable that you could also be a buddha. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. For the
           contemporary man, the word `buddha' is just a word. It is very rare that you will come across a
           buddha in your whole life. And even if you come across him, you will not be able to recognize him
           because you have forgotten completely the language. You have learned the ways of matter so much
           and so deeply, and they are standing as a block to your spiritual flight to the moon, to the immense
           sky that is your right.
                Whatever the masters say, always remember: you are not to analyze the words. These are not
           treatises for Ph.D.'s and D. Litt.'s. These are not words spoken to spectators. Just a single spectator in
           this buddhafield and I can recognize immediately a hole of energy.
                The day you had a poets' gathering I felt so much wounded, because I could see that you rise to
           your heights every day, but that day you could not rise. Just those few poets were dragging down the
           whole energy of the field; they were like a drainage. I was trying hard but it was impossible.
                Those people will never understand that they have missed a tremendous experience because they
           remained spectators. They looked here, they looked there, they could not believe ... They whispered
           to each other, "What is happening?" They could not take a jump and participate, and because of
           those few people the whole energy field was torn, broken.
                I told Neelam that this should never happen again. I don't want a single spectator here in this
           field. While I am speaking, you have to be a participant, otherwise this is not the place for you. You
           can have your poets' gatherings and other social entertainments after I have left. But don't allow
           those people. It is not their fault, just they don't know what is happening here. They are curious, and
           their curiosity does not allow them to participate. And because they are not participating, the chain
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of energy that joins you all together into one whole consciousness is broken. You could not reach
           that day the place ... the height that is becoming more and more.
               Those poets tried to act as if they were participating, but it was only `as if'. They did the
           gibberish, but I could see that it was just a very shallow thing for them. They were doing it because
           everybody else was doing it, and not to do it would look a little awkward. They sat in silence, but
           there was no silence. They were preparing for their poetries, thinking about what they were going to
           recite.
               When I said to relax they looked relaxed like everybody else, but there was a qualitative
           difference. When you relax you know the purpose, the meaning, the significance. They were relaxing
           just because everybody else was relaxing. But even relaxing, they would open their eyes and look
           around: What kind of relaxation ...?
               The whole effort is to forget the whole world. That's why I even say, "Leave the body, leave the
           mind," so that you can discriminate clearly what is consciousness. And this consciousness is the
           buddha. While you are in that consciousness you are at the highest peak of life. Just the very freedom
           on those heights makes one dance, sing like the birds, blossom like flowers. With no effort it
           happens -- spontaneously. That's why after the meditation I want you always to sit for a few minutes
           to gather the experience, the heights, the fragrance of those depths; so that you can go on slowly
           remaining a buddha all the year round.
               And remember, once a buddha you are always a buddha. Nobody has fallen from that point. It is
           just against nature.

              DOGEN SAID:
              WHEN HSUAN-SHA BECAME ENLIGHTENED HE SAID TO OTHER MONKS, "THE WHOLE
              UNIVERSE IS A BRILLIANT JEWEL OF THE BUDDHA-MIND."

                What he is saying -- what is being said by every buddha -- is that the moment one becomes
           enlightened, he cannot see anything that is not enlightened. He sees trees standing silently in
           enlightenment, and the moon, brilliant in enlightenment. Your enlightenment makes you a universal
           consciousness -- you are no more separate. It is not that you have become enlightened; for you the
           universe has become enlightened. And naturally, with an enlightened universe you cannot
           misbehave. You can only be grateful to all that exists.
                Even the darkest nights don't create a complaint in you, but just a deep peace and a waiting,
           because soon there will be morning. The darker the night, the closer the sun. But night itself is a joy.
           The day has its own joys. Every moment has its own flavor. For the enlightened person, remember, it
           is not that he is enlightened. On the contrary, for him the whole existence has become enlightened ...
           all light and all consciousness, all truth and all beauty.
           Hsuan-Sha's statement after his enlightenment ...
              THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS A BRILLIANT JEWEL OF THE BUDDHA-MIND.

              Nothing is other than Buddha.
              DOGEN CONTINUED: THIS BRILLIANT JEWEL IS ORIGINALLY NAMELESS, BUT
              PROVISIONALLY WE GAVE IT SUCH A NAME.

               Anything that we say about the ultimate experience is only provisional, arbitrary. So don't argue
           about words and don't depend on words. No word is absolutely accurate. Language simply falls far
           below. Those heights and those depths are beyond; words cannot reflect them. Only the great
           compassion of the master and his brilliance express something of the inexpressible. But that is so
           subtle that unless you are silent, utterly silent, you will not be able to catch hold of it.
              THIS JEWEL IS ETERNALLY UNCHANGEABLE. REALLY, OUR BODY AND MIND, GRASS AND
              TREES HERE AND THERE, OR MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH --
              ALL THIS IS NOTHING BUT A BRILLIANT JEWEL.

              Everything is nothing but an expression of universal spirit. That universal spirit we call `the
           buddha'. It is only a provisional name.
              IT IS BOUNDLESS FROM BEGINNING TO END. AFTER ALL, THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS ONE
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               BRILLIANT JEWEL, NOT TWO OR THREE. THE WHOLE JEWEL IS THE BUDDHA'S EYE, TRUTH
               ITSELF, ONE PHRASE OF TRUTH, THE LIGHT OF ENLIGHTENMENT.

               The light that radiates from the buddha is only one phase. The experience is multidimensional; it
           has beauty in it, it has music in it, it has truth in it -- it has everything that is valuable, imperishable.
           Light has been chosen provisionally to express it; it is only one aspect. When we say "the
           enlightened one" we are just taking out one part, one aspect of the whole experience, to represent it.
               AT THIS TIME IT NEVER HINDERS THE WHOLE ONE, AND IT IS ROUND AND ROLLS
           ABOUT. THE FUNCTION OF THIS BRILLIANT JEWEL IS SO CLEAR THAT THE SENTIENT
           BEINGS ARE SAVED BY PRESENT-DAY avalokitesvara OR MAITREYA, JUST BY SEEING
           THEIR LOOK OR HEARING THEIR VOICE; AND ALSO THE BUDDHAS, ANCIENT AND
           MODERN, EXPOUND THE Dharma WITH THEIR BODY.
               Gautam Buddha himself has said, "This very body the buddha, and this very earth the lotus
           paradise." Once you are enlightened your vision is so clear, and in that clarity everything shows its
           spirit, its life, its source. And that source is one; it is not two, it is not three.
               A SUTRA SAYS THAT SOMEONE WAS LYING DRUNK, WHEN HIS GREAT FRIEND SEWED A
               JEWEL IN HIS ROBE, SECRETLY. WE MUST NEVER FAIL TO GIVE THIS JEWEL TO OUR
               INTIMATE FRIEND.

               He is just saying that this experience is impossible to give even to an intimate friend. You can
           provoke it but you cannot give it; it is not something in your hands. It is lying down in your intimate
           friend's very heart. You can make devices ... just as tickling brings laughter, although there is no
           reasonable connection, why tickling should bring laughter.
               I have known one person who does not need to be tickled. Just from far away you make the
           gesture, and that is enough. Here there is also one person, everybody knows her. She is sitting so
           buddha-like, but just if I do this right now ...

           (THE MASTER JIGGLES HIS FINGERS IN A TICKLING GESTURE TOWARDS
           AVIRBHAVA. EACH TIME HE "TICKLES," EVERYONE ROARS WITH LAUGHTER, AND
           THE MASTER HIMSELF IS CHUCKLING BEHIND HIS SUNGLASSES. HE ALTERNATES
           HIS TICKLING GESTURES WITH A SERIES OF HAND MOVEMENTS TO CALM US DOWN
           ... UNTIL THE NEXT OUTBREAK OF LAUGHTER.)

              And where is Anando?
           (THE MASTER, SPOTTING ANANDO, BEGINS TO JIGGLE HIS HAND IN HER DIRECTION
           AND IS LAUGHING HIMSELF. MORE WAVES OF LAUGHTER.)

              That is Anando, I could see.
              This is the only way buddhahood arises: the master has to tickle. Now do you see the effect? I
           have not even tickled Avirbhava, neither have I tickled Anando, and you are all laughing!
           (MORE "TICKLES" AND MORE LAUGHTER ENSUE.)

              This tickling is called, in the sutras, THE GREAT TRANSMISSION. I have not even touched ...
           (HE "TICKLES" SEVERAL PEOPLE, LAUGHING, AND EVERYONE IS CARRIED ALONG
           WITH HIM AGAIN.)

               The master can only create a device. The device has no logical connection. Now do you see why
           you are laughing? Of course Avirbhava, at least, is tickled from far away -- remote control. But why
           are you laughing? I have a remote control ...

           (THE MASTER DEMONSTRATES HIS REMOTE CONTROL ON AVIRBHAVA, AND WE ALL
           LAUGH SOME MORE. HE LAUGHS, AND THEN MOTIONS TO HER TO BE STILL.)

              Calm down. Just sit like a buddha ... close your eyes (HE GIGGLES) ... look inside. (ANOTHER
           BURST OF LAUGHTER.)
           A Zen poet has written:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SEE HIS FACE
              BUT ONCE,
              REMEMBER HIS NAME
              A THOUSAND YEARS.


               He is talking about his master. Once you have seen the face of the master, you cannot forget it
           for thousands of years, because in that small moment you have seen yourself. A master is, at the
           most, a mirror. He can show you your face if you come closer. And all disciplehood is nothing but
           coming closer and closer and closer, so that you can see into the eyes of your master, into his
           gestures, your own buddhahood.
              SEE HIS FACE
              BUT ONCE,
              REMEMBER HIS NAME
              A THOUSAND YEARS.


              Another Zen poet:
              ONE CALL INVITES
              ONE HUNDRED COMRADES;
              ONE SMILE BECKONS
              TEN THOUSAND ADMIRERS.


               You have just seen it. Do you want to see it again?
               (THE MASTER BEGINS TO "TICKLE" AGAIN PROVOKING WAVES OF LAUGHTER,
           WITH A FEW CHUCKLES FROM HIM.) I have two remote controls -- one for Avirbhava and the
           other for Anando. Wherever they are in the universe ... just tickle and they will laugh. And with
           them, others will laugh for no reason at all.
               I want you to understand: enlightenment is so light, so loving, so peaceful -- just like a laughter.
           The theologians have made it so heavy, so burdensome, that people ignore it. Enlightenment should
           also be entertainment at the same time.
               It reminds me of J. Krishnamurti's last sentence before he died, just a few months ago. He was a
           very serious person, and that was his only fault. He was enlightened, but he took enlightenment as a
           serious matter. He saw that he was enlightened and nobody else was enlightened. And he was trying
           hard to make people enlightened ... obviously.
               For seventy years -- he died at the age of ninety -- for seventy years, from the age of twenty, he
           had been working on people, and not a single person had become enlightened. You can understand
           his sense of deep failure and his sadness ... becoming more and more serious, almost a sickness.
               And the reason is clear from his last statement, "People don't take enlightenment seriously, they
           think it is entertainment." And that is where I differ. Enlightenment cannot be anything else other
           than entertainment ... universal entertainment, a laughter that knows no bounds, no limits. You
           laugh, and the trees laugh, and the cuckoos laugh, and the clouds laugh, and the stars laugh, and the
           laughter goes on spreading because everybody is triggering everybody else. You need not actually
           trigger, just your laughter will be enough for somebody else to start laughing.
               I love J. Krishnamurti, and I love his hard effort of seventy years continuously, but I am
           absolutely against his attitude. He was making it a serious affair. That was the fault of all the old
           prophets. That's why you will not find a statue of Mahavira laughing. What a miserable world, you
           don't allow even Mahavira to laugh. You will not find a statue of Gautam Buddha laughing. Even if
           Gautam Buddha laughed, people would not believe their eyes or ears: "What is happening? Such a
           serious man ..."
               But you don't understand that when the mind is gone you are just like a small child. Laughter will
           arise without any effort on your part. At least I am a break from the whole past, and in the future I
           want my people to be laughing buddhas. Serious ones we have seen enough of, they have not been
           able to transform humanity. Let us try another direction -- of nonseriousness.
               ONE CALL INVITES ONE HUNDRED COMRADES .... One buddha -- just his presence --
           magnetically pulls a thousand buddhas, ten thousand buddhas. It is a question of how great your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enlightenment is, how great your compassion and love is, and how nonseriously you have taken it.
           Nobody likes a serious person.
               Have you ever thought about it, that all the saints are serious? It is perfectly good to go and touch
           their feet ... and be finished. Nobody wants their company. These people will be going to heaven --
           remember it. Heaven is overcrowded with saints. If you want the right kind of people go to the other
           place, where you will find poets, and you will find painters, and you will find dancers and musicians.
               I am going particularly to the other place. So remember, whoever is with me will have a great
           journey and a meeting with great people. No saint has been of any value -- no creativity, no poetry,
           no painting. All these people who were creators, who have made this world a little beautiful, a little
           more livable, are gathered in the other place.
               Friedrich Nietzsche said God is dead, but he did not say why he is dead. He has to be dead,
           surrounded by all these idiots, eternally stinking ... because most of them don't take a bath, don't
           wash their mouths. Laughter is absolutely unknown in paradise, poor God could not survive.
               So I warn you, beware! If by chance you reach to the gates of heaven -- refuse. Don't enter in.
           Ask for the way to the other place. I will be waiting there for you. Ask for me and that will do.

              CRY
              AFTER CRY
              AFTER CRY OF JOY --
              NOT MINDING
              THE HAIR
              TURNING WHITE


              This Zen poet is saying that even crying is so beautiful, so lightening, so unburdening.
              CRY
              AFTER CRY
              AFTER CRY OF JOY --
              NOT MINDING
              THE HAIR
              TURNING WHITE

               Don't be worried about time ... space ... age. Just learn to laugh and cry totally, because these are
           the simplest ways to reach your innermost being.

              Maneesha has asked:
              OUR BELOVED MASTER,
              OUR MOST BRILLIANT AND PRECIOUS JEWEL,
              WHENEVER I HAVE ASKED ABOUT YOUR BEAUTY, YOU HAVE INSISTED THAT IT IS THE
              EYES OF LOVE THAT PROJECT BEAUTY ON YOU. BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE OUR EXPERIENCE
              OF SITTING IN FRONT OF YOU, FOLLOWING -- AS WE DO -- YOUR EVERY MOVEMENT,
              TRACING EVERY BELOVED CURVE AND LINE AND VALLEY IN YOUR FACE.
              I KNOW OF NO ONE ELSE -- HOWEVER MUCH I LOVE THEM -- THAT I COULD GAZE ON FOR
              YEARS, NEVER FEELING BORED, NEVER FEELING I HAVE FATHOMED THEIR BEAUTY.


               Maneesha, in that case I accept that I am unfortunate. You are blessed to have a master who is
           not a burden on you. You are blessed to have a master who is not a masochist, a sadist.
               I was not so blessed. I had never come across a single man whom I could have called my master.
           I had to work my way alone, on my own, going this way and that; falling and getting up again,
           nobody to guide me, nobody to give me any instruction, nobody even to indicate a finger to the
           moon. But it seems, just by chance, I happened to stumble upon the right place.
               I am a master who had no master. So I cannot see and cannot say what you see in my eyes, in my
           face. But whatever you are seeing is really a pure reflection of your love and your trust. This body
           will wither away, but I have another body, of light. Before this body withers away, you have to
           become acquainted with my light body, with my inner center. And your center and my inner center
           are not two. In that area there is always one -- neither two nor three.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now, before we enter into our daily meditation ... just to drop all burdens, all the worries of the
           world, and have a few good laughs. I have not found anything better to create a right space to enter
           into yourself, because your mind cannot understand laughter. Laughter is very illogical. A logical
           person cannot laugh, a logical person is confined to a very small area.
               I have not heard that Kant ever laughed. He could not, he was too serious a person. Just now I
           was talking to you about J. Krishnamurti .... He used to come to India at least once or twice a year.
           He went to only three places: Varanasi, New Delhi and Bombay. I had instructed all my sannyasins,
           "Wherever he is, either in India or outside India, just sit in the front line wherever he is speaking.
           And don't forget the orange and the mala."
               And that was enough. Then he would not speak on any other subject. That was enough to make
           him so angry, "I have been telling my whole life ...!" And my people enjoyed it, they loved it. Even a
           few people who were not sannyasins used to go in orange, borrowing a mala from a friend.
               Just a single sannyasin was enough. Then he would forget everything that he was going to say.
           Then he just had to condemn me, condemn sannyas, condemn everything -- not understanding a
           simple thing, that he was being easily distracted. What does it matter? Somebody is wearing orange
           and having a mala ... it is none of his business.
               But he was a serious man. He would hit his own head. He would become so angry ... particularly
           in Bombay, because I was in Bombay. So hundreds of sannyasins would be sitting in the front, and
           he would hit his head. I am so lazy that I cannot even hit my own head, let alone anybody else's. I am
           keeping for that purpose Zen Master Sekito -- Stonehead.
           (THE MASTER ADDRESSES NISKRIYA.) Where is your staff?

           (NISKRIYA PICKS UP HIS STAFF AND SHOWS IT TO THE MASTER)

               Yes, that's good, because any moment it may be needed. And I have chosen a German Zen
           master ... because Japanese Zen masters will hit, but their hit will be just like a peacock feather. A
           real hit only a German knows.
               And just look at his stonehead. Have you shaved your hairs or not? Shave them completely.
           (NISKRIYA RAISES HIS EYEBROWS IN A QUESTION, POINTING TO HIS NEW BEARD --
           THIS TOO?) Yes, let it go.
               Proper Sagar has arrived. Many of you may not know him -- he is a very ancient sannyasin -- but
           most of the old sannyasins will remember Proper Sagar. He is so proper in everything.

               Proper Sagar goes to visit Doctor Azima. He hangs up his umbrella and his hat. Then he takes off
           his jacket, his shirt and tie, and his trousers -- folding them up very neatly and putting them on the
           chair. Then he takes off his shoes and puts them under the chair, straight. Then he takes off his
           underwear, folds them nicely, and also puts them on the chair.
               Standing stiffly in front of Azima, Sagar calmly says, "As you can see, Doctor, my left testicle
           hangs lower than my right one."
               "Oh," smiles Azima, "but that-a is perfectly normal. You have-a nothing to worry about."
               "I am not worrying," replies Proper Sagar. "But don't you think it is a bit untidy?"

               Pope the Polack is on a pilgrimage in Calcutta where he makes an official visit to Mother
           Teresa's orphanage.
               Mother Teresa is showing him around, and the Polack is bending and kissing everything in sight.
           Suddenly, as he bends over to kiss Mother Teresa's pride and joy, the new church organ, the pope
           recoils in terror. There, stretched out across the top of the organ, is a big black condom.
           Purple with rage, Pope the Polack demands an explanation from Mother Teresa.
               "Well," says Mother Teresa, "one of my orphans found it in a package on the street, and when I
           read the label it said: `Place on organ and feel secure.'"

               Harold, Bill and Gabby, three tired and hungry cowboys, are sitting around a campfire about to
           eat dinner. Jose, the cook, a grimy, stubble-faced huge Mexican guy, throws down the pot and holds
           up his gun.
               "The first one of you jerks who makes a fuss about your supper gets trouble from me!" says Jose.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              There is careful silence as the purple and green slop is served up, and the eating begins.
              "God!" shrieks Harold, gagging and turning blue. "This stuff tastes like shit."
              Then, immediately eyeing the big Mexican, Harold adds enthusiastically, "But good shit, real
           good shit."

               Doctor Feelgood is visiting the insane asylum to see the latest condition of some of his patients.
           He is led into the first room, opens the door, and meets Charlie Rosenkrantz. At that moment Mr.
           Rosenkrantz is swinging an imaginary golf club in the air.
           "Well, Charlie," says Feelgood. "When do you think you will be getting out?"
               "No problem," replies Charlie, swinging away. "Just as soon as I hit a hole-in-one."
               Feelgood shakes his head and goes on to the next room. There he finds Chester Cheese swinging
           an imaginary baseball bat.
               "Hello, Chester," says Feelgood. "And when do you think you will be getting out?"
           "Oh, soon," replies Chester. "Just as soon as I hit this home-run."
               Feelgood shakes his head again, and is led to the next room. He walks in and finds Donald
           Dickstein rubbing a bag of peanuts up against his open zipper.
               "Hello, Donald," says Feelgood. "And when do you think you will be getting out?"
           "Out? Are you kidding?" says Donald excitedly. "I'm fucking nuts!"

           Now, Nivedano ... give the beat.

           (Drumbeat)

           (Gibberish)

           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Be silent ... close your eyes ...
           feel frozen. Collect your life energy,
           your consciousness, within.
           This is the place
           where you have roots in the universe.
           This is the place
           which makes one a buddha.
           Go deeper, without any fear.
           It is unknown, unfamiliar,
           but don't be worried --
           it is your own self.

           Remember these heights ...
           remember these depths ...
           remember you are part of this universe.
           Drop all separation.
           Just slip like a dewdrop
           from the lotus leaf into the ocean.
           To disappear in this ocean
           is to become the ocean.

           To make it more clear, Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Relax ... let go ...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The body is there, lying ...
           it is not you.
           The mind is there,
           maybe a few clouds still hovering around ...
           but it is not you.
           You are the watcher on the hills.
           This silent night,
           and ten thousand buddhas
           watching silently.
           There cannot be anything greater,
           or more significant.
           The clouds have also joined,
           the bamboos are making commentaries.

           I hope there will be a day
           when the whole humanity
           will understand this buddhahood.
           Spread this experience
           to all those who are groping in darkness.

           But never be a missionary;
           just be a message ...
           loving, compassionate.
           Let your whole body, your actions,
           make them aware
           that something immensely valuable
           has happened within you;
           that you are carrying a flame,
           that you are carrying a fragrance,
           that your eyes have become as blue
           and as vast
           and as deep
           as the sky itself.

           This I call "to be a message."
           Except becoming a buddha,
           there is no way
           to convey what you are experiencing.
           And remember:
           once a buddha,
           forever a buddha.
           Nivedano ...

           (Drumbeat)

           Call all the buddhas back.
           Slowly and silently ...
           sit for a few moments ...
           just reflecting ...
           collecting ...
           remembering what has happened to you ...
           where you have been.
           Remember the route so you can go,
           anytime you want,
           into the temple.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You are the temple,
           and deep inside you is the buddha.

           Okay, Maneesha?
           Yes, Beloved Master.

           Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?
           Yes, Beloved Master.




                        Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                     Talks on Kabir
                                      Talks given from 11/12/76 am to 20/12/76 am
                                                English Discourse series
                                                      10 Chapters
                                                  Year published: 1976




                                     Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                       Chapter #1
                                                Chapter title: Now or never
           11 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612110
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins



I. 13. mo ko kahan dhunro bande


              O FRIEND, WHERE DOST THOU SEEK ME?
              LO! I AM BESIDE THEE.
              I AM NEITHER IN TEMPLE NOR IN MOSQUE: I AM NEITHER IN KAABA NOR IN KAILASH:
              NEITHER AM I IN RITES AND CEREMONIES, NOR IN YOGA AND RENUNCIATION.
              IF THOU ART A TRUE SEEKER, THOU SHALT AT ONCE SEE ME: THOU SHALT MEET ME IN A
              MOMENT OF TIME.
              KABIR SAYS: "O FRIEND! GOD IS THE BREATH OF ALL BREATH."

              I. 57. sadho bhai, jivat hi karo asa



              O FRIEND! HOPE FOR HIM WHILST YOU LIVE, KNOW WHILST YOU LIVE, UNDERSTAND
              WHILST YOU LIVE: FOR IN LIFE DELIVERANCE ABIDES.
              IF YOUR BONDS BE NOT BROKEN WHILST LIVING, WHAT HOPE OF DELIVERANCE IN DEATH?
              IT IS BUT AN EMPTY DREAM, THAT THE SOUL SHALL HAVE UNION WITH HIM BECAUSE IT
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HAS PASSED FROM THE BODY.
              IF HE IS FOUND NOW, HE IS FOUND THEN,
              IF NOT, WE DO BUT GO TO DWELL IN THE CITY OF DEATH.
              IF YOU HAVE UNION NOW, YOU SHALL HAVE IT HEREAFTER.
              BATHE IN THE TRUTH, KNOW THE TRUE GURU, HAVE FAITH IN THE TRUE NAME!
              KABIR SAYS: "IT IS THE SPIRIT OF THE QUEST WHICH HELPS I AM THE SLAVE OF THIS
              SPIRIT OF THE QUEST."


                HERE I GO AGAIN -- I will sing the same old song. But yet it is not the same old song; it
           cannot be. Manu says there is nothing new under the sun. And he is right. And Heraclitus says you
           cannot step in the same river twice. And he is right too. Existence is old and new, both together, and
           my song is that of existence itself. I am just a vehicle to sing it to you, to spread it to you. But I am
           not the singer; I am just a passage. Remember it: it may look the same, but yet it is not the same.
           Words may be the same, the appearance may be the same, but something vital goes on continuously
           changing. Have you ever come across the same morning again? Have you ever seen the same sky
           again? And yet the sky is the same and the sun is the same.
                Manu and Heraclitus both are true together; taken separately they both are false. Life is a
           contradiction. Life is paradoxical. That's why it is so charming and so beautiful. It exists through the
           opposites. It is vast; it contains contradictions. It is new and old both. It is life and death both,
           together. So I say to you I will sing the same old song and yet it is not going to be the same. Listen
           attentively.
                Before we enter into the words of mystic poet Kabir, it will be good to know something about
           Kabir. Much is not known -- fortunately -- because when you know too much about the person, it
           creates more complexities in understanding him. When you don't know anything about the person
           himself, then there is less complexity. That's why in the East it has been one of the most cherished
           old traditions not to say much about the mystics, so that it never hinders people. We don't know
           much about Krishna and we don't know much about Buddha; or all that we know about them is more
           mythological than historical, not true, fictitious. But about Kabir, even fiction does not exist. And he
           is not very ancient, yet he lived in such a way that he has effaced himself completely. He has not left
           any marks.
                Only politicians leave marks on time -- only politicians are that foolish. The mystics live in the
           timeless. They don't leave any marks in time, they don't leave any signatures on time. They don't
           believe in signing on the sand of time. They know it will be effaced, so there is no point in it.
                Kabir has not said much about himself, nothing much is known about him. Not even this much is
           known -- whether he was a Hindu or a Mohammedan. The story goes that he was born a
           Mohammedan but was brought up by a Hindu. And this is beautiful; this is how it should be. Hence
           his richness. He has the heritage of two rich traditions: Hindu and Mohammedan. If you are just a
           Hindu, of course, you are poor. If you are just a Mohammedan you are poor.
                Look at my richness. I am a Hindu and a Mohammedan and a Christian and a Sikh and a Parsi.
           Not only that, I am a theist and I am an atheist too. I claim the whole heritage of humanity. I claim
           all; I don't reject anything. From Charvakas to Buddhas, I claim all. The whole humanity is yours,
           the whole evolution of human consciousness is yours, but you are so miserly. Somebody has become
           a Hindu; he claims only a corner -- and lives in that corner, crippled and paralyzed. In fact, the
           corner is so narrow you cannot move. It is not spacious enough. A religious person will claim all --
           Buddha, Mahavir, Christ, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Nanak, Kabir, etc., etc. He will claim ALL. They are
           all part of me; they are all part of you. Whatsoever has happened to human consciousness, you carry
           the seeds of it in you.
                This is the one thing to be understood about Kabir: that he was born as a Mohammedan and
           brought up by a Hindu. And it never became conclusive to whom he had really belonged. Even at the
           time when he was dying it was a dispute among his disciples. The Hindus were claiming his body,
           the Mohammedans were claiming his body, and there is a beautiful parable about it. Kabir had left a
           message about his death. He knew it was going to happen -- people are foolish, they will claim the
           body and there is going to be conflict -- so he had left a message: "If there is any conflict, just cover
           my body with a sheet and wait, and the decision will come." And the story says that the body was
           covered and the Hindus started praying and the Mohammedans started praying and then the cover
           was removed, and Kabir had disappeared -- only a few flowers were there. Those flowers were
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           divided.
           Even disciples are stupid.
               This parable is beautiful. I call it a parable, I don't say it really happened, but it shows something.
           A man like Kabir has already disappeared. He is not in his body. He is in his inner flowering. His
           SAHASRAR, his one-thousand-petaled lotus, has flowered. You are in the body only to a certain
           extent. The body has a certain function to fulfill; the function is that of consciousness flowering.
           Once the consciousness has flowered, the body is nonexistential. It does not matter whether it exists
           or not. It is simply irrelevant.
               The parable is beautiful. When they removed the cover there were only a few flowers left. Kabir
           is a flowering. Only a few flowers were left. And the stupid disciples even then wouldn't understand.
           They divided the flowers.
               Remember one thing: all ideologies are dangerous. They divide people. You become a Hindu,
           you become a Mohammedan, you become a Jaina, a Christian: you are divided. All ideologies create
           conflict. All ideologies are violent. A real man of understanding has no ideology; then he is
           undivided, then he is one with the whole of humanity. Not only that, he is one with the whole of
           existence. A real man of understanding is a flowering. This flowering we will be discussing.
               These songs of Kabir are tremendously beautiful. He is a poet; he is not a philosopher. He has
           not created a system. He is not a theoretician or a theologian. He is not interested in doctrines, in
           scriptures. His whole interest is in how to flower and become a god. His whole effort is how to make
           you more loving, more alert.
               It is not a question of learning much. On the contrary, it is a question of unlearning much. In that
           way he is very rare. Buddha, Mahavir, Krishna, Ram, they are very special people. They were all
           kings, and they were well-educated, well-cultured. Kabir is a nobody, a man of the masses, very
           poor, very ordinary, with no education at all, with no culture. And that is his rarity. Why do I call it
           his rarity? Because to be ordinary in the world is the most extraordinary thing. He was very ordinary
           -- and he remained ordinary.
               The natural desire of the human mind is to become special -- to become special in the ways of
           the world, to have many degrees, to have much political power, to have money, wealth -- to be
           special. The mind is always ready to go on some ego trip. And if you are fed up with the world, then
           again the ego starts finding new ways and new means to enhance itself -- it becomes spiritual. You
           become a great mahatma, a great sage, a great scholar, a man of knowledge, a man of renunciation;
           again you are special.
               Unless the desire to be special disappears, you will never be special. Unless you relax into your
           ordinariness, you will never relax.
               The really spiritual person is one who is absolutely ordinary. Kabir is very normal. You would
           not have been able to find him in a crowd. His speciality is not outward. You cannot just find him by
           looking at his face. It is difficult. Buddha was special, a very beautiful man, a charismatic
           personality. Jesus is very special, throbbing with revolution, rebellion. But Kabir? Kabir is
           absolutely ordinary, a normal person.
               Remember, when I say normal, I don't mean the average. The average is not the normal. The
           average is only "normally" abnormal; he is "as mad" as all others are. In fact, in the world, normal
           persons don't exist.
           I have heard:

               A famous psychiatrist conducting a university course in psychopathology was asked by a
           student, "Doctor, you have told us about the abnormal person and his behavior, but what about the
           normal person?"
               The doctor was a little puzzled, and then he said, "In my whole life I have never come across a
           normal person. But if we ever find him, we will cure him!"

              Kabir is really that normal person that you never come across in life, with no desire to be special.
           When he became enlightened, then too he remained in his ordinary life. He was a weaver; he
           continued to weave.
              His disciples started growing in numbers -- hundreds, and then thousands, and then many more
           thousands were coming to him. And they will always ask him to stop weaving clothes -- "There is no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           need. We will take care of you." But he will laugh and he will say, "It is better to continue as God
           has willed me. I have no desire to be anything else. Let me be whatsoever I am, whatsoever God
           wants me to be. If he wants me to be a weaver, that's why I am a weaver. I was born a weaver, and I
           will die as a weaver."
                He continued in his ordinary way. He will go to the marketplace to sell his goods. He will carry
           water from the well. He lived very, very ordinarily. That is one of the most significant things to be
           understood. He never claimed that he is a man of knowledge -- because no man of knowledge ever
           claims it. To know is to know that to know is not to know and that not to know is to know. A real
           man of understanding knows that he does not know at all. His ignorance is profound. And out of this
           ignorance arises innocence. When you know, you become cunning. When you know, you become
           clever. When you know, you lose that innocence of childhood.
                Kabir says he is ignorant, he does not know anything. And this has to be understood, because this
           will make the background in your mind for his poetry. From where is this poetry coming? It is
           coming out of his innocence, flowering out of his innocence. He says he does not know.
                Have you ever observed the fact that in life we go on claiming that we know, but we don't know?
           What do you know? Have you known anything, ever? If I ask why the trees are green, will you be
           able to answer it? Yes, the best answer that I have heard is from D.H. Lawrence. A small child was
           walking with him in a garden and the child asked -- as children are prone to ask -- "Why are the trees
           green?" D.H. Lawrence looked at the trees, looked into the eyes of the child, and said, "They are
           green because they are green." That's the truest answer ever given. What else can you say?
           Whatsoever else you say will be foolish; it will not make any sense. You can say trees are green
           because of chlorophyll, but why is chlorophyll green? The question remains the same. I ask you one
           question, you give me an answer, but the question is not really answered.
                You have lived with a woman for thirty years, and you call her your wife, or with a man, for fifty
           years; do you know the man or the woman? A child is born to you; do you know him? Have you
           looked into his eyes? Can you claim that you know him? What do you know? Do you know a piece
           of rock? Yes, scientists will give many explanations, but they don't become knowledge. They will
           say electrons and protons and neutrons. But what is an electron? And they shrug their shoulders;
           they say, "We don't know." They say, "We don't know YET," in the hope that someday they will be
           able to know. No, they will never be able to know, because first they said, "The rock is made of
           atoms," and when it was asked what is an atom, they said, "We don't know yet." Then they said,
           "The atom consists of electrons." Now we ask what is an electron; they say, "We don't know yet."
           Someday they will say the electron consists of this and that, X, Y, Z; but that doesn't make any
           difference. The ultimate remains irreducible to knowledge. The ultimate remains a mystery.
                If the ultimate is a mystery, then life becomes a life of wonder. If the ultimate is not known, then
           poetry arises. If the ultimate is known -- or you THINK that it is known -- then philosophy arises.
           That is the difference between philosophy and poetry.
                And Kabir's approach is that of a poet, of a lover, of one who is absolutely wondering what it is
           all about. Not knowing it, he sings a song. Not knowing it, he becomes prayerful. Not knowing it, he
           bows down. The poet's approach is not that of explanation. It is that of exclamation. He says, "Aha,
           Aha! So here is the mystery."
                And wherever you find mystery there is God. The more you know, the less you will be aware of
           God; the less you know, the closer God will be to you. If you don't know anything, if you can say
           with absolute confidence, "I don't know," if this "I don't know" comes from the deepest core of your
           being, then God will be in your very core, in the very beat of your heart. And then poetry arises...
           then one falls in love with this tremendous mystery that surrounds you.
                That love is religion. Religion is not after any explanations. Religion is not a quest for the
           explanation. Rather, it is an exploration of love, a nonending journey into love.
                I invite you to come with me into the innermost realm of this madman Kabir. Yes, he was a
           madman -- all religious people are. Mad, because they don't trust reason. Mad, because they love
           life. Mad, because they can dance and they can sing. Mad, because to them life is not a question, not
           a problem to be solved but a mystery into which one has to dissolve oneself.
                One thing more about Kabir's approach. He is life-affirmative. That too is an indication of a real
           man of understanding. There are two types of people in the world: the people who indulge and the
           people who renounce. They Look opposite to each other but they are not. They are two aspects of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same coin. The people who indulge are continuously frustrated because no indulgence brings you to
           joy. You can indulge -- you can waste your life, you can waste your opportunity, your energy -- but
           no enjoyment ever comes out of indulgence. If indulgence could have given joy, then nobody would
           ever have renounced. People renounce because indulgence fails -- but then they are moving to the
           other extreme. Thinking that indulgence has not helped, they move to the opposite. They become
           against life, they become antilife, they become life-negative. They start destroying their being; they
           become suicidal. These are the two types of people you will find. In the market you will find the
           people who indulge, and in the monasteries you will find the people who renounce.
               Kabir belongs to neither. A real man of understanding is a great synthesis. He knows that it is not
           a question of indulgence or renunciation; it is a question of awareness. Be in the world, but be with
           awareness. Don't go anywhere, don't have antagonistic attitudes towards life. Kabir is tremendously
           life-affirmative. He loved, he had a wife, he had two children, and he lived the life of a
           householder... and yet was one of the greatest seers of the world. He lived in the world and remained
           untouched. That's his beauty. He is a lotus flower.
               If you go to your so-called mahatmas, they create antagonism towards life; they make you
           life-negative. They teach you that life is the enemy, it is evil. They make you feel as if God and life
           are contraries, you can't have both. Kabir says you can have both, because life and God are not
           enemies. Life is God manifest; God is life unmanifest. God and life are one force, one energy, one
           movement. When God is not visible he is God;when he becomes visible he is Life. And this goes on
           continuously -- he becomes visible, he becomes invisible. It is like breathing: you breathe out, you
           breathe in.
               The old Indian scriptures say that existence is when God breathes out, and when God breathes in
           there is nonexistence. The whole of existence disappears when he breathes in; when he breathes out,
           the whole of existence appears. It is one breath going in and out. When God breathes out, you are
           born; when he breathes in, you disappear in death.
               But you never leave God. The outgoing breath is as much his as the ingoing breath. And one has
           to understand this dynamism, this dialectics. Kabir is neither for the world nor for renunciation.
               And his assertions are very simple, down to earth. He is not dramatic. He is not a preacher. And
           he is not worried whether you are impressed by him or not. He simply relates whatsoever he has
           experienced. He never exaggerates. He never proves his assertions through any logic. He simply
           asserts; they are pure statements.

               I have heard a beautiful story concerning a young pastor who had dabbled with the theater before
           entering divinity school, and wanted to give his first sermon in a new church a dramatic send-off.
           Noticing that there was a scuttle in the roof above the pulpit, he deliberately chose as his text "The
           Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove," then arranged to have the sexton open the scuttle at
           just the right moment, releasing a white dove which the pastor had trained to light on his shoulder.
               On the evening of the service, he led carefully up to his climax, intoning, "And the Holy Ghost
           descended in the form of a dove" -- but nothing happened. Louder -- and angrily -- he repeated his
           text -- with which the scuttle door opened slightly and the voice of the sexton was heard by the
           whole congregation, wheezing, "Your Reverence, the cat ate up the Holy Ghost. Shall I let down the
           cat?"

               Kabir is not dramatic at all. His assertions are simple. His assertions are just from his heart. He is
           not scholarly either. His poetry is pure, uncontaminated by scripture. His poetry can be understood
           by anyone who is innocent enough.
               So in the beginning of the journey I would like to say to you, be innocent; only then will you be
           able to understand Kabir. Don't bring your mind in, don't start arguing with him, because he is not a
           logician. When you go to see a painting you don't argue with the painting. You enjoy it. When you
           go to listen to a musician playing on his guitar you don't argue. When you go to a poet you don't
           argue. You listen to the poetry; there is no argument in your head.
               But about religion, there is difficulty. When you come to listen to a religious person you argue.
           And the responsibility lies with the so-called religious people themselves because they have been
           arguing. There have been foolish people who have even tried to prove God through argument. As if
           God depends on your argument. As if, if you cannot argue, he will not be able to be there; he will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become nonexistential. As if God is a syllogism.
               Kabir is not going to give you any argument. His assertions are just like the Upanishads' or
           Mohammed's assertions in the Koran or Jesus' assertions in the Bible -- just statements. He feels... he
           sings about his feeling. Please feel him. There is no question of your head. Put your heads aside.
               There are people for whom it is very difficult to put their head aside. They have completely
           forgotten how to put it aside. It is always on top of them -- chattering, arguing, choosing, rejecting,
           accepting, valuing, judging, condemning -- "Yes, this is according to me, and this is not according to
           me."
               There is no need for God to be according to you. He is not obliged to be according to you. If you
           want to understand, you will have to silence your mind. Listen to Kabir as one listens to poetry; he is
           a poet.

               I have heard about a lad who was such a mathematical wizard that at the age of twelve he could
           do calculations in his head that had stumped Albert Einstein when he was forty. Unfortunately, this
           prodigy was so involved in equations that he had no time for anything else. He was getting, by and
           by, crazy. The family was very much concerned. In an attempt to divert him, his parents took him to
           an all-star revival of PETER PAN -- and were delighted to note that he was utterly engrossed
           throughout the first act.
               At the intermission, his father said cheerfully, "Well, son, I see you are enjoying the play."
           "Do you know," answered the son, "there were 71,832 words in that act?"

           Now this is no way to enjoy.
               So don't listen to the words. Listen to the silence that surrounds the words. Don't listen to the
           words. Listen to the poetry that surrounds the words, listen to the rhythm, the song. Listen to Kabir's
           celebration. He is not here to preach anything to you. He is like a cherry tree. In the fullmoon night
           the cherry tree has blossomed. Flowers have no arguments; they are simply there. This is an
           explosion. Kabir has burst into songs.
               And these are the two possibilities: whenever enlightenment happens, either a person becomes
           absolutely silent or he bursts into song. These are the two possibilities. When Meher Baba attained
           he became silent. Then his whole life he remained silent. When Meera attained she started dancing
           and singing. These are the two possibilities: either one becomes absolutely silent or one's whole life
           becomes a song. Kabir's life is that of song.
               But remember, in his song there is silence. And always remember also, in Meher Baba or people
           like that there is song in their silence. If you listen attentively to Meher Baba's silence, you will be
           full of a song, you will feel it showering on you. And if you listen to Kabir silently, you will see that
           his song is nothing but a message for silence.

              O FRIEND, WHERE DOST THOU SEEK ME?
              LO! I AM BESIDE THEE.


               Kabir says don't seek God somewhere else; he is just beside you. Don't look for him far away.
           That will be the way -- sure way -- to miss him. He is very close by. In fact to say he is close is not
           right, because "closeness" also shows distance. He is just within you -- he is YOU! You have never
           departed from him, you cannot depart from him; he is your nature. Right this moment he is inside
           you. Looking at me, HE is looking at me. Listening to me, HE is listening to me.
               Once you relax you will know. Tense, you become an ego; relaxed, the ego disappears. Tense,
           you become cut off; relaxed again, you are no longer frozen -- melting, you dissolve into the ocean.
               Right now, these are the two possibilities: either you can be an iceberg, frozen, floating in the
           ocean, feeling that you are separate; or you can melt and become one with the ocean. That's all.
           When you think you ARE, you become frozen, blocked, your energy stops moving -- you demark
           yourself, you create a definition for yourself. That very definition becomes your barrier.

           O Friend, where dost thou seek Me?
           Lo! I am beside thee.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I AM NEITHER IN TEMPLE NOR IN MOSQUE:
              I AM NEITHER IN KAABA NOR IN KAILASH.


               So don't go away for long pilgrimages. God has already happened. You are carrying him from
           the very beginning; you have never lost track of him. You may have forgotten, you may have
           become completely oblivious, you may not be able to remember who you are, but still you are God.

           I am neither in temple nor in mosque:
           I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash:

              NEITHER AM I IN RITES AND CEREMONIES,
              NOR IN YOGA AND RENUNCIATION.


               Neither in rites and ceremonies.... Religion deteriorates into rituals. When a religion is dead, it
           becomes ritualistic. When a religion is alive, it remains spontaneous. If you want to pray, let it be
           spontaneous. Don't repeat rituals; otherwise it is futile, it is meaningless, you are wasting time. If you
           get up every day -- a particular time, a particular prayer, a particular way to do it, and you repeat it in
           a mechanical way, you will never come to know what prayer is.
               Prayer has not really to be done. It has only to be allowed. Sitting silently, looking at the trees,
           suddenly it is there. Sometimes it comes; sometimes it does not come. It is not within your power to
           drag it. A prayer dragged is no longer prayer. Prayer is like love: sometimes it is there and
           sometimes it is not there. And you are helpless, you cannot do anything about it when it is not there.
           Or can you do something? You can pretend. You can show that you are very loving and you know
           deep down there is no love. You will be false, you will not be authentic. And if you get accustomed
           to this, by and by you will forget what real love is. You will become accustomed to the pseudo, to
           the pretended, to the false.
               If you watch you will see sometimes like a breeze it comes. Right now there is no breeze and the
           trees are silent. What can they do? They wait. When the breeze comes they will dance. They don't
           have a ritual. They don't say, "Now it is morning and it is time to dance, and where is the breeze?"
           and if it is not coming, "Then we will try on our own -- we will do some yoga posture, we will
           perform some ritual, we will do some exercises and somehow sway." No, they don't bother. They
           wait. Look, they are waiting. When the breeze comes they will dance. Prayer is like that: it comes. It
           comes without ever giving you any indication that it is coming.
               So remain available. Sometimes sitting in your bed in the night, suddenly it is there -- the whole
           room becomes full of some unknown presence. Not that you can do anything about it. It is there.
           You can enjoy, you can be joyful, you can delight in it. You can dance; the breeze has come. You
           can sway, you can sing a song.
               And let that song also be of the heart, of this moment. There is no need to repeat anything from
           somebody else. There is no need to cram anything. There is no need to repeat the Christian or the
           Hindu prayer. They are all false. The real prayer simply arises. Sometimes it may be silent. You may
           not say anything, not even a thank you. And sometimes you may like to talk to God. You may even
           sometimes like to fight with him. Sometimes one is angry; then what to do? And sometimes one is
           very, very worshipful, and one bows down. And sometimes one says to God, "Okay, you are here,
           but I am not in a mood to talk to you. So as I wait for you, you will have to wait for me." The ways
           of love are very mysterious -- and God will understand.
               Let your prayer be very spontaneous, very real. If anger is there, what else can you offer to him?
           Offer anger. If love is there, offer love. But whatsoever is there, offer, and never pretend something
           which is not there -- and God will understand. God is nothing but a tremendous understanding that
           existence shows towards you. But if you are false, then you are trying to deceive, and you cannot
           deceive existence. That is not possible. You can deceive only yourself. And you will go on piling up
           deceptions upon deceptions around you, and you will be choked, suffocated in your own deceptions
           -- you will die under the burden of your own deceptions.
           "I AM NEITHER IN TEMPLE NOR IN MOSQUE: 1AM NEITHER IN KAABA NOR IN
           KAILASH. NEITHER AM I IN RITES AND CEREMONIES, NOR IN YOGA AND
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           RENUNCIATION." SO don't go anywhere. Just be wherever you are, and be true and be authentic
           and be spontaneous.

              IF THOU ART A TRUE SEEKER, THOU SHALT AT ONCE SEE ME:

              "IF THOU ART A TRUE SEEKER...." If the passion is there, if the intensity is there, if the urgency is
              there, then there is no problem. Try to understand this.

               The emphasis of Kabir is on the urgency, on the tremendous desire. It is not a question of rituals.
           You can be a perfect ritualist, but you will miss. It is a question of intensity, passion. If passionately
           you cry for him, immediately you will know he is there. If your passion is fiery, you will never miss
           him. If you miss him then know only one thing: your passion is not yet enough. You are calling him
           halfheartedly.
               People come to me and they say, "Where is God? We cannot see him." I look at them and I
           inquire, "Do you really want to seek him, REALLY? Close your eyes," I say to them, "and look into
           your heart. Are you really in passionate love with God? You really want to see him?" And they say,
           "Not really." Then how do you suppose to know him?
               God -- I have seen so many people's hearts -- is the last item on their list. There are other things
           to do first. When all is done, then comes God. He is always the last in the queue. And, of course, the
           queue is never going to end. God will never be the first this way, because in the world nothing ever
           is completed. You do one thing; a thousand and one things arise out of it and you go on getting more
           and more entangled in the world and the queue becomes bigger and bigger and God is forced farther
           back, farther back. And then you want to see him. No, it is not possible.
               Only the eyes of tremendous intensity can see him. The third eye is not really a third eye. It is
           just a passionate desire -- so passionate that you are ready to sacrifice your life. If God says, "I can
           be seen if you sacrifice yourself," you will not think even for a single moment. You will drop dead.
           You will say, "Okay, I am ready to die, but I am not ready to lose you." This urgency is what makes
           a religious person.
           "IF THOU ART A TRUE SEEKER, THOU SHALT AT ONCE SEE ME." At once. Immediately. In
           a split second.

              ... THOU SHALT MEET ME IN A MOMENT OF TIME.



              KABIR SAYS: "O FRIEND! GOD IS THE BREATH OF ALL BREATH."


               God is life itself. God is not some faraway goal. God is like the ocean and we are like the fish.
           And Kabir has said in another reference, "I laugh when I see the fish thirsty in the ocean. I laugh. I
           cannot believe, I cannot trust how it is possible. The fish is in the ocean, and thirsty? And asking
           where is the ocean!" We live in the ocean of God. God is life energy. He surrounds you, he
           surrounds everything. Everything exists in him -- exists LIKE him. There is no other way of existing.
               But there have been many people who have talked about God without knowing anything about
           him. They have created many problems. They have created unnecessary anxieties. There are people
           who talk about God as an inference, not as an experience. They have not known him; they infer.
           They think about it, they feel that God is needed; it is a necessary hypothesis. Without it they find it
           difficult to explain existence, so they accept it.
               But God is not a hypothesis. Please, it is good to be an atheist, not to believe in God, but never
           believe in the hypothesis of God, because an atheist someday may turn into a theist, but a man who
           believes in the necessity of God, as a hypothesis, will never become religious. From the very
           beginning he has taken a wrong step. An atheist who says there is no God at least is interested in
           God -- and cannot rest, because nobody can rest in a no. Nobody can rest in a negative. That's why
           an atheist continuously thinks, continuously thinks....
               I came across an old man, he is an atheist, and he said, "I am eighty years old, and at least for
           sixty years consciously I have been an atheist and I have been denying that there is God." I said,
           "This is foolish -- to waste sixty years in denying God. If he is not, he is not. Be finished." Sixty
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years of wasting. And he is a very militant atheist. He goes around the country telling people that
           there is no God. I said, "Are you mad? If he is not, why are you so worried? Be finished with him.
           Sixty years continuously, your whole life.... Now you are eighty years old, any day death will come
           -- you wasted your whole life for something which is not."
               He became a little worried about it. He said, "Yes, but nobody told me. You make me very
           afraid. Yes, that's true -- sixty years." I told him, "Even six minutes of so much intensity would have
           been enough to know whether God really is or not. Eighty years you have tried. And you are very
           argumentative, and I am not going to argue with you, there is no point in it. I would like to say only
           one thing -- one thing is certain about you -- that deep in the unconscious you are still seeking and
           you are not satisfied with your no. If you were satisfied you would have enjoyed, you would have
           lived your life. Why bother about a nonentity? But you are not satisfied, because nobody can be
           satisfied with a no."
               This has to be understood: satisfaction comes only out of yes. Satisfaction comes only out of
           tremendous positivity. God is nothing but a deep yes towards existence.
               But there are people who have logically concluded either God is or God is not. Both are useless.
           They don't have any experience.

               I have heard about a lecturer who built up a great reputation as an expert on child education,
           though he never had married himself. The title of his lectures was "Ten Commandments for Parents."
           Then he met the girl of his dreams, married her, and became a father. Shortly thereafter he changed
           the title of his talk to "Ten Hints for Parents." He was blessed with a second offspring -- and his talk
           was relabeled "A Few Tentative Suggestions for Parents."
               When his third child arrived, he quit lecturing altogether.

                Only experience can be decisive. It is very easy to talk to others about how to be a good parent. It
           is very difficult to become a good parent. It is very easy to counsel other people how they should
           manage their marriage....
                One day a man came to me from America -- he is a marriage counselor -- and he said, "I am a
           marriage counselor, and I have come here because there are many problems in my married life." I
           said, "You are a marriage counselor?" He said, "Yes, I am. That's why I have come here, because in
           America I am very well-known and I cannot go to any other marriage counselor."
                You will find many psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, amongst my sannyasins. They
           have been helping other people -- not knowing what is what. They have helped too many people.
           And when I look into them I see they are in tremendous need of help. Then I become worried about
           the people they have been helping!
           Remember, only experience can be decisive.
                Have you heard the famous anecdote about Jalaluddin Rumi, a Sufi mystic? A woman came with
           a child, and the woman said, "Maulana, Master, I have tried every way and this child won't listen. He
           eats too much sugar. And I know now only one way is possible: if you say something to him, he will
           listen, because he respects you. He does not understand what you are and who you are, but he
           respects you. And when I told him, 'Come with me to Maulana,' he said, 'Okay, if he says, I will
           stop.'"
                Maulana looked at the child, at his trust. He said, "Wait, come after three weeks." The woman
           was puzzled. Such a simple thing. And Maulana is known all over the world. People come from
           faraway countries to ask him great problems, and he solves them immediately -- and such a silly
           thing. He could have said, "Yes, don't eat," and the thing would have been closed. Three weeks?
           After three weeks the mother came with the child, and Maulana said, "Wait three weeks more." The
           mother said, "What is the matter?" He said, "Wait, come after three weeks."
                When they came back, he said to the child, "Okay, listen. Stop eating sugar." The child said,
           "Okay, I will stop."
                The mother said, "Now one question arises in my heart -- and I will not be at rest. Why did you
           take six weeks for this?"
                Maulana said, "I like sugar myself. So how can I advise this child? That would have been untrue.
           So for three weeks I tried -- and I failed! Then for three weeks I tried again, and now I have
           succeeded. Now I can say, 'Please, you can also stop. Look, I am an old man -- even I can stop. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are a child, a young child; you can do anything.'"
           "Now I can say...." This is the way of the mystics; this has always been their way. They believe in
           experience. Whatsoever Kabir says is based, rooted, in his experience.
               There are people who go on arguing, debating whether God is or not, whether the soul exists
           after death or not, whether there is heaven or hell or not. These are foolish things, stupid, a wastage
           of time. Kabir is not interested in such concepts.
               I have heard a beautiful story; Cleveland Amory tells it:

               He tells about the time when Newport, Rhode Island, was the summer mecca of high society. An
           elegant gentleman and his wife were lounging on the beach when an unfortunate who had ventured
           too far out in the surf suddenly began to shout "Sauvez-moi! Sauvez-moi!" "That fellow,"
           pronounced the elegant gentleman, "is either a Frenchman or a snob." While the two of them debated
           the proposition, the shouts ceased, for the swimmer obligingly drowned.

                Now the two, the couple, debated whether he is a snob or a Frenchman, because only two
           persons speak French -- the French or the snob -- and rather than simply saying "Save me!" he says
           "Sauvez-moi!" So who is he? Nobody is bothered about saving him, though who he is can be
           decided later on.
                Buddha used to say to his disciples, "I have heard about a man who was shot with an arrow and
           was dying, but he was a philosopher. A physician came, and the physician wanted to pull out the
           arrow, but the philosopher said, 'Wait. First things first. Who has tried to kill me? I must know
           whether he is a friend or an enemy, whether the arrow has been deliberately used against me or just
           by accident, whether the arrow is poisoned or not poisoned.' The physician said, 'I know you are a
           great philosopher, but please keep your philosophy away from you right now. Let me pull out the
           arrow first; otherwise you are creating such problems, they will not be decided, and the arrow will
           kill you.' The philosopher said, 'Do you believe in the soul? Does the soul survive after the man dies?
           First things first!' The physician said, 'You are a fool! These are not first things! Now the first thing
           is how to pull out this arrow. These things you can decide later on.'"
                Kabir is not interested in doctrines, philosophies. He says this life is divine -- don't bother about
           heaven and hell. Don't think about faraway subjects; be realistic; be existential.

              O FRIEND! HOPE FOR HIM WHILST YOU LIVE; KNOW WHILST YOU LIVE, UNDERSTAND
              WHILST YOU LIVE: FOR IN LIFE DELIVERANCE ABIDES.


               Don't talk about what happens after death and don't think about a god who sits somewhere in a
           high throne in the skies: "... FOR IN LIFE DELIVERANCE ABIDES" -- in life there is liberation.
           Life itself is a liberating experience. If you live totally, it liberates.

              IF YOUR BONDS BE NOT BROKEN WHILST LIVING, WHAT HOPE OF DELIVERANCE IN DEATH?

              So be here-now! Do something right now!



              IT IS BUT AN EMPTY DREAM, THAT THE SOUL SHALL HAVE UNION
              WITH HIM BECAUSE IT HAS PASSED FROM THE BODY:
              IF HE IS FOUND NOW, HE IS FOUND THEN,
              IF NOT, WE DO BUT GO TO DWELL IN THE CITY OF DEATH.

              "IF HE IS FOUND NOW, HE IS FOUND THEN.... " Now or never. Let this message get roots into your
              hearts: now or never. God is now-here. Your clever mind tries to postpone. You say, "We will see;
              when death comes and when we go and encounter God, we will see. Right now there is no problem."
              No, the problem is right now.

              Are you living God right now or not? That is the problem. If you are not living him right now,
           you will never be able to live him, because he is here. He is always in the present -- never in the past,
           never in the future. This moment is his abode. Enjoy him, delight in him this moment. So whatsoever
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are doing, let it be worship; whatsoever you are doing, let it be prayerful; whatsoever you are
           doing, do it lovingly.

              IF YOU HAVE UNION NOW, YOU SHALL HAVE IT HEREAFTER.


                So Kabir believes in life, not in God. Life is God. And let me say: life with a small "l" not a
           capital "L." Life is God, with a lowercase "l" -- the very ordinary life -- sleeping, aking, eating,
           walking, loving, serving people. This ordinary life, with a lowercase "l" is God. If you cannot find
           him in this ordinary life you will never find him anywhere else.
                Love, and love so deeply that you can find God in your lover. Be a friend, and be so friendly that
           you can find him in your friend. Wherever you can be totally, he will be there. Your being totally in
           something is the door.
                But the mind is ambitious; it lives in the future. The mind is egoistic; it does not relax in the
           present; it has great plans for the future. The mind always thinks of how to become somebody, and
           the problem is that you are already that which can satisfy you. You need not become it; you are it.
           God is your being. It is not a question of becoming. But the mind is political and is interested only in
           becoming -- become this, become that.
                I have heard, once Adolf Hitler went to a very wise old rabbi, and he said to the rabbi, "I have
           heard that you are a great mystic. I don't believe in such nonsense, and I am going to kill you --
           unless you can help me to have a revelation from God. If you are really a mystic, then do the
           miracle. Can you help me to have a revelation from God?" The rabbi said, "Done and done! This
           very moment it can be done. You just go outside, stand on the street." Hitler said, "But it is raining."
           The rabbi said, "Don't be worried. You stand in the rain for fifteen minutes and look at the sky, and
           there will be a revelation."
                Unwillingly... but Adolf Hitler thought, "What is dangerous in this? Let us try. At the most, I
           may get a cold, that's all; but let us try." And Hitler said, "Remember, if no revelation happens I am
           going to kill you." The rabbi said, "You go. It always happens; it has never failed me." Hitler did as
           bidden, and came back soaked through to the skin.
           "Look at me," he wailed. "I didn't get any revelation. I only felt like a blithering idiot."
           "Not bad," chuckled the old rabbi. "Don't you think that was quite a revelation for a first try?"
                The mind is stupid because the mind is a politician. All politics is stupid because the whole of
           politics consists of one thing: to become somebody. And the revelation of religion is that you need
           not become anybody; you are already that -- you are the suprememost. You are God himself. What
           more can you have? What more is possible? You cannot be improved upon.
                Just the other night a woman was saying to me, "If somebody falls in life, what has to be done?"
           I told her, "Nobody can fall." She could not understand it; she thought I had not understood her
           problem. She said, "If somebody falls in life and has committed some sin, then how can he be
           helped?" I said, "Nobody can commit a sin." Sin is not possible. To fall is impossible. Deep down
           you remain the suprememost. Only on the periphery is there sin and virtue, good and bad, moral and
           immoral.
                Mystics like Kabir don't come to teach you morality. They teach you religion. And the
           difference: morality again is politics. You try to improve yourself -- in moral ways. Your whole
           society is immoral, and in an immoral society you follow the society. Whatsoever the society says is
           moral you try; the immoral society teaches you what morality is. In fact to fit in an immoral society
           is the greatest immorality possible. A really moral person will be a misfit; it will be very difficult for
           him to fit in the society. So if you see your so-called moral people, respectable people, fitting in with
           the society, know well, they are in deep immorality. They are tricky, pretenders, hypocrites.
                But one thing: moral or immoral, they are all on the surface. Deep down you remain always in
           your suprememost state. You are gods and goddesses. To recognize this fact and to start living it is
           what religion is.
                I am not saying to you become immoral. I am saying if you become religious, morality follows
           like a shadow. And that will be true morality; it will not be just a morality imposed by the immoral
           society on you. It will be true morality, that flows out of your innermost core. It will not be a
           character; it will be an overflowing of your being. It will not be a dead structure around you. You
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be flowing, you will live moment to moment with awareness, spontaneity. You will be
           response-able.
               Ordinarily, whatsoever you call moral is just repression and nothing else.

                I have heard about a lady who was a paragon of virtue on earth, but upon her death was dismayed
           to find herself in hell. She phoned St. Peter, who begged her to be patient, because heaven was
           temporarily so overbooked he could not make room for her.
                Two weeks later she buzzed St. Peter again, warning him that they were teaching her to drink
           and smoke -- "These people here are very dangerous and the temptation is great and I am afraid."
           Patience and fortitude, counseled St. Peter; he would soon be able to accommodate her -- but not just
           yet.
                A fortnight later, the paragon of virtue made a final call: "Hi there, Pete? Forget all about it! And
           if you really want to enjoy, come here. This is the place."

               The people you think are moral are just repressed people, egoistic, carrying all sorts of repressed
           desires in them. Once an opportunity is given to them, they will explode. Out of fear and out of greed
           they have repressed themselves. They are not really moral. Only a religious person is moral.
               Ordinarily you have been told, "Become moral if you want to become religious." I tell you just
           the contrary: "Be religious, and you will be moral." If you try to be moral you may become moral,
           but you will never be religious -- and your morality will be just pseudo. From where will you learn
           the morality? From the immoral society. From where will it come to you? From the same rotten
           structure. No, it cannot be moral. First become religious.
               Says Jesus, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and then all else will be added unto you." The
           same I say to you, and the same is the teaching of Kabir. Live here-now as totally as possible, as
           fully alert as possible, and as lovingly as possible; and all else will be added unto you.

           If He is found now, He is found then,
           If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.
           If you have union now, you shall have it hereafter.

              BATHE IN THE TRUTH....

              Now. Bathe in the truth now. It is showering.


               A handsome but bashful young man from the Bible Belt was recently hired by a firm of certified
           accountants. Shortly thereafter, he reported to the office manager, "I must tell you that some of the
           young ladies in your employ are tempting me sorely." "Stand firm, young man," the startled manager
           told him, resisting a smile, "and you will get your reward in heaven."
               A week later the young man came back. "It is that beautiful redhead, sir. She is pursuing me
           relentlessly. I don't think I can resist her -- but if I do, what do you think my reward will be in
           heaven?" The office manager informed him, "A bale of hay, you jackass!"

               Don't avoid life. Otherwise in heaven suddenly you will be surprised when you find a bale of hay
           as your reward. The reward is here. The reward is love. The reward is in totality. The reward is being
           one with life. Each moment is so precious, and each moment brings such precious rewards, you just
           enjoy it. Get lost in it. Be drunk with life, and there is reward. Bathe in the truth -- now.

              ... KNOW THE TRUE GURU,


              What does he mean by the true guru? Kabir means life itself is the guru, existence itself is the
           guru. When life calls you, don't remain frozen. Listen to the call, be adventurous, and go on the
           unknown, uncharted ways of life.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               ... HAVE FAITH IN THE TRUE NAME!


               What is the true name of God? Nobody knows. The true name cannot be known -- and all the
           names that are known are coined by man. If you really want to understand, then this whole existence
           that surrounds you is his true name, his true address. He is spread all over.
               Listen to life, listen to its call, listen to its great temptation, listen to its invocation, listen to its
           challenge and be courageous, and each moment God will be revealed to you. In intense passion, in
           intense love, in intense awareness, he is always revealed.

               KABIR SAYS. "LT IS THE SPIRIT OF THE QUEST WHICH HELPS.... "


               Nothing else -- neither the mosque nor the temple nor the Koran nor the Bible nor the Veda. It is
           the spirit of the quest which helps. If you are really searching, you will find him. If you are not
           finding him, don't blame him. Just look within yourself: you don't want to seek him. You are playing
           with the name of God. You are afraid, you are a coward.
               Unless a man is religious he remains a coward. Only a religious man is courageous, because he
           goes on the most uncharted journey -- without any maps and without any paths -- and nobody to lead
           you! Nobody is there in front of you to lead you! -- only life... and life never shouts, it only whispers.
           Unless you are very attentive, tuned in, and turned on, you will not be able to understand the little,
           small, still voice. It is the guru, it is the Master.
               If you find a man and you feel that you have found your Master, that simply shows that in his
           voice, in his being, there is a reflection of that still, small voice of God. The guru outside you is but a
           mirror. He reflects you, reflects God. And the real Master will throw you back to yourself. The real
           guru will not bind you to himself, because the real guru is life itself, the real guru is God himself.

           "... I AM THE SLAVE OF THIS SPIRIT OF THE QUEST."

               And Kabir says, "I worship the man who has this spirit of quest, who is intensely in love with
           truth and who is ready to sacrifice everything for it."

           A little story about a Zen Master:

              A disciple asked the Master, "What is Buddha's truth?"
              The Master said, "Why not ask about your own mind or self instead of somebody else's?"
           "What then is my self, O Master?" asked the disciple.
           "You have to see what is known as 'the secret act.'"
           "What is 'the secret act'? Tell me, Master," asked the disciple.
           The Master opened his eyes and closed them.

               This is the secret act. Open your eyes and see him, and close your eyes and see him. He is within
           and without. Don't make a distinction between the inner and the outer, because in him there are no
           distinctions. He is the inner and he is the outer. The Master opened his eyes -- very indicative, very
           Zenlike; Kabir would have liked the story himself. The Master opened his eyes, looked at the world
           -- he said "life"; and closed his eyes -- and said "look within." The innermost and the outer.
               If you can love the inner and the outer, if you can be aware of the outer and the inner, you have
           arrived. And this arrival can happen only now. Don't postpone it. Don't say tomorrow, because the
           tomorrow never comes.




                                    Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                   Chapter #2
                                  Chapter title: Sannyas: the radical revolution
           12 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612120
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              WHAT I MEAN BY SANNYAS IS A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE SO THAT ONE BECOMES A
              RELIGIOUS PERSON, BUT IT IS NOT HAPPENING TO ME. WHAT TO DO?


               MY SANNYAS IS NOT A DISCIPLINE. My sannyas is freedom, freedom from all control --
           even from self-control. A controlled man is a dead man. Whether you are controlled by others or by
           yourself does not make much difference.
               My sannyas is spontaneity, living moment to moment without any prefabricated discipline, living
           with the unknown, not exactly knowing where you are going. Because if you know already where
           you are going you are dead. Then life runs in a mechanical way. A life should be a flow from the
           known towards the unknown. One should be dying each moment to the known so the unknown can
           penetrate you. And only the unknown liberates.
               Discipline can never be of the unknown. Discipline has to be of the mind. The mind is your past.
           All that you have learned, all that you have been conditioned for, all that you have experienced, all
           that you have thought about -- this is your mind. Out of this mind comes a planning for the future.
           That planning for the future will be nothing but a repetition of the past. It comes out of the past; it
           cannot be anything else. Maybe a little modified here and there, decorated here and there, but there
           will be no radical revolution in it.
               My sannyas is a radical revolution. By giving you sannyas, I give you freedom. I give you
           courage to live without any planning, to live without mind, to live without past. Of course it is
           dangerous, but life is dangerous. Only when you are dead, then there is no danger. Then you are safe
           -- safe in your grave. Safety never exists before that. If you want to be safe and secure and perfectly
           protected, insured against all dangers, then don't enter into sannyas. Enter into your grave. Then
           don't breathe, because breathing is dangerous. One day breathing is going to bring death to you.
           Breathing iS dangerous.
               Life exists in danger, pulsates in danger. Life exists in the ocean of death. It has to be dangerous;
           it cannot be safe and secure. You are not a rock. You are a flower, you are fragile -- in the morning,
           laughing with the sun; by the evening, you are gone. How can life be secure? In its frailty, in its
           fragileness, how can you even conceive of insurance? No, there is no insurance, there cannot be.
               And one should not live by the philosophy the insurance companies go on propagating. One
           should live with the danger, with death hand in hand. Then tremendous dimensions open before you.
           Then God is revealed.
               God is very dangerous. There exists no other dangerous word comparable to God. God means to
           live a life of spontaneity, of nature. Don't try to corrupt your future. Let it be. Don't try to corrupt it,
           don't try to manage it. Don't give it a mold and a form and a pattern.
               Of course, if you live the way I teach, many things will disappear from your life. The first thing
           will be the security -- and it is a false thing. Only the false disappears with sannyas, not the real. The
           real starts appearing. The security will disappear. The marriage will disappear. Love will remain;
           love is real.
               Let it be more clear: love can exist with sannyas, but not marriage, because marriage is an effort
           to give a pattern to love, to give a discipline to love, to give it a legal, social form. But what are you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doing? How can you manage that which has not come yet? You can love a woman or a man, and you
           can feel in this moment that you will love her always and always, but this is just a feeling of this
           moment. How can you promise? An authentic man will never promise. How can you promise for the
           future? How can you say really you will be able to love tomorrow too? If love disappears what will
           you do? And it appeared on its own accord, you have not brought it in, so when it disappears what
           will-you do? It comes and goes; it happens and disappears. It is not within your power; it is bigger
           than you. So when you say, "I will love you tomorrow too," what are you going to do? If love
           disappears you will pretend, you will substitute. That's what happens in a marriage. Then two dead
           persons living in a dead relationship go on quarreling, fighting, nagging each other, trying to
           dominate, manipulate, exploit, destroy. Marriage is an ugly thing. Love is tremendously beautiful.
               My sannyas is like love. The older sannyas was. more like marriage. My sannyas is simply a
           courage to face whatsoever is going to happen, without any rehearsal for it.
               How can you prepare? The tomorrow is not known at all. Whatsoever you prepare is going to
           hinder; it will become a screen on your eyes and you will not be able to see what is. All preparation
           is dangerous. Remain unprepared. Then you will be excited, then each moment will be a joy and a
           wonder, and each moment will bring something new to you which has never happened, and you will
           never be bored.
               The life of marriage, the life of all discipline, is the life of boredom -- monotonous. Monogamy is
           monotony. You have to repeat the same. You are not free to explore new ways of being. You are not
           free to see new things. You are not free to experience new beauty, new truth. If you are disciplined,
           what does it mean? It simply means now you have a particular standpoint, your eyes are no longer
           open. You are a Christian; then you have a discipline. You are a Hindu; then you have a discipline --
           and a dogma, and your eyes are completely full of that dogma. Then you cannot see that which is.
               I would like you to be totally uncontrolled. I would like you to be absolutely a chaos, with no
           order whatsoever.
               And please don't misunderstand me. There is every possibility, because when I say something I
           have to use words, and words are very much corrupted -- corrupted by you, corrupted by usage, for
           centuries. When I say "chaos," you become afraid. But you don't know the beauty of chaos, and you
           don't know the spontaneous order of a chaos. You don't know the order that comes out of freedom.
           Not enforced by your mind, not by your past, but just by your being aware, alert, free, responsive, an
           order arises. I don't call it order, because it goes on changing every moment. I don't call it a
           discipline, because it has nothing to do with you. In the chaos you are no more, the ego has
           disappeared.
               Who is going to discipline? The ego. The ego says become a better man, improve yourself: you
           are a sinner, become a saint; you are violent, become nonviolent; you are angry, become more
           loving. But who is going to do it, and who is this who is hankering for improvement? The ego wants
           a few more decorations, wants to become more respectable, wants to become more certain, wants to
           have a better grounding in the world, wants to feel more solid, wants to become somebody in
           particular, wants to become special.
               No, my sannyas is not going to give you anything of this sort. I don't deal in dead things, that is
           not my business. My whole effort here is to give you a taste of freedom. Once you have known the
           taste, you will never settle for anything else. If it is a question of settling somewhere, you are wrong.
           My sannyas is a wandering; it is not a settlement. In my sannyas you can rest, but in the morning you
           have to go. It is a constant flow, river-like -- unless the ocean is achieved. But the ocean comes out
           of the flowing river, naturally. There is no planning for the ocean; the river does not know. I he maps
           don't exist for a river, of where the ocean is.
               And the river has no discipline. Sometimes it goes to the south, and sometimes it starts moving to
           the north, and sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another direction. Have you ever seen
           the zigzag path of a river? It is not straight. It is not economical. It is not mathematical. It is not the
           shortcut at all -- very zigzag, just goes on, not knowing where it is going, just goes on because the
           energy is there.to go. And one day the river reaches. If the river is planning, then it will find the
           shortest route, then it will move in a straight line, then it will never deviate, then it will be very
           consistent. But then it will not be a river. Maybe a canal, a man-made canal, but it will not be a river.
           It won't have any freedom.
               I don't want you to be canals. Canals are ugly. I want you to be rivers. And life is a hilly track.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Move in freedom, move in total freedom, and each moment remember to drop the past. It
           accumulates like dust. Each moment you have experienced something, and then it goes on
           accumulating. Don't accumulate it. Just go on ceasing as far as the past is concerned, dying as far as
           the past is concerned, so you are totally alive, throbbing, pulsating, streaming, and, whatsoever
           comes, you face it with awareness.
           You must have a wrong notion about my sannyas.
                You say, "What I mean by sannyas is a spiritual discipline...." Then your meaning is different
           from my meaning. No, it has nothing to do with discipline -- and it has nothing to do with
           spirituality.
                When Bodhidharma reached China and the emperor received him, the emperor asked one thing:
           "I have done many meritorious acts. I have made many Buddhist monasteries, thousands of Buddhist
           monks are fed from my treasure, millions of Chinese have been converted to Buddhism, thousands of
           temples have been raised for Buddha. What is going to be my merit for all this doing?" Bodhidharma
           was very ferocious and he looked into the emperor's eyes and said, "Your Majesty, there is no merit
           in it."
                The emperor was very much shocked, because many Buddhists had come before -- monks and
           missionaries -- and they all said to him, "This will be your merit: you will reach to the seventh
           paradise. Do more virtuous acts, donate more, make more monasteries, temples, Buddha statues,
           convert the whole country to Buddhism. Your merit is going to be great, Your Majesty." And now
           here comes this Bodhidharma and he says no merit at all?
                But the emperor was a very cultured man. He changed the subject; he dropped the subject before
           so many people. And this man looked dangerous. He said, "Then tell me something about the holy
           truth of Buddha." And Bodhidharma said, "Nothing can be said about it because it is vast, and,
           remember, there is nothing holy in it. Holy, unholy, is part of a dual mind. There is nothing holy,
           nothing unholy; it simply is."
                Now this was too much. The emperor was very much offended. He is denying even Buddha's
           truth and saying nothing is holy in it. He became angry. He forgot for a moment all his courteous
           manner, courtly manner and politeness, and he said, "Then who is this fellow who is standing before
           me?" And Bodhidharma bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know."
                My sannyas is not spiritual, because I don't divide the world into the material and the spiritual. It
           is nothing holy, because I don't divide the world into the unholy and the holy. By becoming a
           sannyasin you have not become a saint, because I don't divide people into sinners and saints. People
           are people. All are beautiful -- sinners and saints and all.
                In fact, if there are only saints in the world and no sinners, the world would not be worth living
           in. Just think of a world which consists only of holy saints. Can you conceive of any worse world
           than that? No, it cannot be of much value. The sinner and the saint, they are the warp and woof, they
           are together, they are one -- the dark and the light. Death and life are meeting every moment.
                So I don't call it spiritual, because I have no condemnation for matter. In the very word
           "spiritual" you have denied something, you have condemned something, you have judged; you have
           already declared that "The material is wrong and I want to be spiritual."
                Can't you see a simple fact that you exist in the body as the body? Have you ever seen any soul
           without a body, unembodied? Or have you seen any body alive without a soul? The bifurcation is
           stupid. The soul is nothing but the dynamism of your body and the body is nothing but the
           materialization of your soul. The body is your visible soul and the soul is your invisible body.
                And I would like you to be as much a materialist as a spiritualist. I don't make the division. I
           don't want to create any split in you. You are already split. Your so-called religions have already
           done much damage to you. They have created a schizophrenic world in which everybody is split.
           And of course then there is tension, anxiety, anguish, because you become two. By just calling
           yourself a spiritual being, you are condemning your body and you are creating a rift between the
           body and the soul, between God and the world.
                You say God created the world? You state it in a very wrong way. I say God IS the world. God
           has not created it, because he has never been able to become separate from it. It is not like a painter,
           that he paints something and then he is free of the painting and the painting becomes separate -- the
           painter can die but the painting will live. No, God is not like that. God is more like a dancer. Hence
           my very great love for dance. God is more like a dancer. You cannot separate the dancer from the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dance. He is Nataraj: the dancer of all the dancers, the master of all the dancers. He is dancing in the
           leaf, in the flower, in the raindrops, in the river, in the peacock. All over is his dance.
               He has not created the world; he IS the world. The world is his dance, and the separation does
           not exist. If the world is not there, he will not be a dancer at all. If the dancer is not there, the world
           cannot exist. They are not separate; they are inseparably together. In fact to say "together" is not
           right, because they are not two; how can they be together? They are one.
               And I would like you to remember this unity always and always because you are prone to forget
           it. Your minds have been conditioned by dualists -- matter and mind, body and soul, God and the
           world, SAMSAR and nirvana.
               My sannyasin is the unity, is the bridge between all duality. That's why I have not told you to
           renounce the world, because it is God's dance. Where are you going to renounce it? Have you gone
           mad? It is his market, it is his world. The noise is his. Once you recognize it, the noise turns into a
           beautiful music. In all these relationships only he is there. In your wife he is, in you he is, in your
           children too. In your friends he is, in your enemies too. Only he is.
               So don't go anywhere, don't renounce. Live it as totally as possible -- and live it as an integrated
           being. My emphasis is for an integrated being. You are not in the body: you ARE the body. Drop
           that nonsense of "I am in the body." Hmm? from the very beginning that nonsense makes a
           distinction, and then you are very far away from the body and a conflict arises. You start
           manipulating your body, you start controlling your body, you start doing things to your body. You
           become destructive, you become violent.
               Your so-called saints are all violent. Howsoever much they talk about nonviolence, howsoever
           much, it makes no difference. They are violent people.
               There are two types of violent people. The first type is violent with others; the other type is
           violent with himself. There are sadists and masochists. The sadists torture others; they become Adolf
           Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao. Then there are masochists, they torture themselves; they become
           Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, Lanza del Vasto, and so on, so forth. But both are violent people.
           One tortures himself; another tortures others.
           My sannyasin has to drop torturing.
               So it is not a discipline and it has nothing to do with spirituality. Yes, Your Majesty, there is
           nothing holy in it.
               And don't get angry with me and don't ask who is this fellow sitting here and talking with you. I
           don't know.
               You say, "What I mean by sannyas is a spiritual discipline, and through this discipline one
           becomes a religious man." If you become a religious man by discipline, you will be a bogus religious
           man. What does discipline have to do with religion? If you practice religion you will be false.
           Ordinarily it has been told to you, whatsoever you preach, practice it. And I say to you, if you
           practice it, you will become false, because practice means you are creating a character armor around
           you. Now you will be living according to a certain ideology, and that ideology will function as a
           barrier. It will become your prejudice. And a religious man is absolutely unprejudiced. He has no
           outlook, he has no philosophy, he has no ideology. He is very, very natural. He is more like animals,
           more like small babies, more like trees and rocks... and yet, very, very different from them. But the
           difference comes from his awareness.
               You say if we practice a certain discipline we will become religious. As if religiousness is
           something like a goal in the future: you have to practice today so tomorrow you become religious.
           No, religiousness is your nature. You are already that. No practice is needed for it.
               The Indian term for religion is very, very beautiful; the Indian term is DHARMA. DHARMA
           means your intrinsic nature. Whatsoever you want to become, in fact, you are already; it is already
           the case. It is not a question that you have to practice something and then as a result, as a reward,
           you become religious. No, you become religious if you just become aware. This very moment you
           become religious.
               Sometimes even without knowing it you become religious. Whenever you are alert, silent,
           peaceful, you are religious. Whenever you are unalert, tense, worried, you are irreligious. Religion
           and irreligion continuously change. Sometimes sitting with your friends, listening to music, and you
           are so quiet and so happy -- for no reason at all, just feeling joyful -- you are religious. You are in
           tune with your nature. You may not even be conscious of the fact that in this moment you are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religious.
                You have gone for a morning walk, the sun is rising, and it is beautiful all around and the air is
           cool and fragrant and the birds have started singing and there are a few white clouds floating in the
           sky, and suddenly you are no longer the ordinary, miserable person. You feel good. Suddenly you
           feel turned on. The vast sky and the clouds and the birds and the morning breeze and the sun rising
           slowly: something rises in you too, something becomes alert. You have a dance to your feet and a
           song arises. You would like to sit under a tree and sing a song. You are religious.
                When you are in love you are religious. Holding the hand of your friend or your woman or your
           man, not doing anything, just sitting silently, looking at the stars, you are religious.
                Religion is not a result of something that you practice. Religion enters in you any moment you
           relax. Religion is a flowering of relaxation, not a result of practicing. Remember the difference
           because when you practice you become more tense.
                You can see the people who practice. They are very tense because every moment they are
           fighting. How can they relax? Have you seen a saint relaxing? Impossible. A saint cannot relax,
           because if he relaxes he is afraid of becoming a sinner. He has to be constantly on guard. He sits
           upright -- because deep inside he is uptight. You can go and see these saints in India. They are on
           exhibition everywhere. Upright they sit, with their backbone straight, in a dead yoga posture. Like
           statues. They can't relax.
                Saints cannot laugh, because if they laugh there is danger. If you laugh you become ordinary, just
           an ordinary human being. They have to remain serious! And they have to be continuously on guard.
           You don't understand their misery. They are imprisoned, and their imprisonment is such that they are
           the prisoner and they are the jailer too. So a prisoner can escape from the prison, there is a
           possibility, because the jailer is a different person; you can deceive. But a saint cannot, because he
           himself is the jailer. He goes on whipping himself, torturing, starving. He is very nasty with his
           body. But you say, "He is a great ascetic" -- these nasty people. Horrible and hideous. Then, also,
           they are waiting: in some future there is going to be a result.
                No, I don't teach you the result-oriented life at all. I teach you the relaxed way of life. Here and
           now you can be religious. You are, this moment, if you are relaxing with me.
                Those who have come to feel me, understand me, those who have come to have a taste of my
           presence, they relax. They are not here for any gain, they are not here for any greed, they are not
           here to attain something in future life. They are just here to be with me -- to laugh a little with me, to
           have a little fun, to joke a little. And then you are religious. In that moment, if you allow a little
           relaxation, you are religious. Because religion is your innermost nature. Whenever you are not tense,
           it is there. When you become tense, you lose contact with it.
                And now you ask, "... but it is not happening to me. What to do?' If it had happened it would
           have surprised me. That's what I am saying: it cannot happen that way. If you want to become a
           pseudo-religious person, then it is okay, that's your choice. But never blame me. That is your
           responsibility. If you want to be a pseudo-religious person, you can become one -- you can practice.
                Truth cannot be practiced. You have to dissolve yourself into it. Truth can never become
           something that you can hold in your hand. It is vast. How can you hold it in your hand? It can never
           become your property. You have to relax into it, dissolve into it.
                When you dissolve into it, it is there, and it takes and possesses your whole being. And then it
           lives through you. And that is what I call a religious life: when truth starts living through you, when
           God starts dancing through you and you don't create any barrier for him and you don't say no. You
           become a yea-sayer and you say yes, and your yes is total and your yes is unconditional; then God is
           very happy in you. And when God is happy in you, suddenly you will find he is happy all around
           you. Then you are blessed... and then you can bless the whole of existence.


              SOMETIMES LISTENING TO YOU, AN OVERWHELMING FEELING COMES OVER ME OF HOW
              ABSURD AND RIDICULOUS WE ALL ARE AND YET AT THE SAME TIME HOW INCREDIBLY
              BEAUTIFUL LIFE IS. IF EEL THERE IS SO MUCH I WANT TO SAY TO YOU, BUT IT CAN'T BE PUT
              INTO WORDS, AND I WOULD LIKE TO JUST RUN UP AND HUG YOU.


              Good idea -- but don't do it. Because even then you will not be able to say what you want to say,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           even with a hug. You will be able to show your helplessness, but nothing will be said.
               When something overwhelming is happening, it cannot be expressed. It is inexpressible by its
           very nature. It is intrinsically inexpressible, ineffable. So whenever it happens a very deep
           helplessness arises. Words seem to be futile, meaningless, trivial, and then one would like to say it in
           some other way -- one would like to hug or kiss or hold the hand -- but even then nothing is said.
           Only your helplessness is shown. One would like to cry or weep, but then too nothing is said. Only
           your helplessness is expressed.
               Rather than trying to express it, my suggestion is, when this happens, remain with it. Don't make
           any effort to express or not to express. Because if you become occupied with expression, you will
           miss it. You are already diverted, distracted. That's why I say the idea is good but don't try to do it.
               If you feel the benediction around you, the greater, the vaster surrounding you, the infinite just
           around you, rather than trying to express it, get lost in it. Because now the ego is trying another way:
           now the ego wants to express it. And if you become too interested in expressing it.... You may
           become a painter, because the painter is trying to express the inexpressible through colors on the
           canvas, but who has been able to express it? Or you may become a poet. The poet is trying to
           express the inexpressible in words, but who has ever been able to express it?
               This is the difference between art and religion. When the vast surrounds you, the artist starts
           making efforts to express it, and the mystic simply gets lost in it. And the mystic comes to know it.
           The artist misses at the very last moment.
               It will be happening to more and more people around here. This is a very crazy place to be. It is
           really far out. To more and more people it is going to happen, so keep it as a deep remembrance that
           whenever you feel that something unknown has knocked on your doors, don't be worried about
           expression, don't start thinking how to say it or how to write it. Let it be. Go into it. Be drowned in it.
           Be drunk with it. Don't make any effort.
               These are the two efforts. First, people try to find how to achieve it; they miss. I don't teach you
           any "how." Then when it happens they start thinking how to express it; again the "how" comes from
           the back door. Again I would like to remind you, don't bring the "how." It is good as it is.
           Unexpressed, what is wrong in it? Let it be so. Amen, let it be so.
           "Sometimes listening to you, an overwhelming feeling comes over me of how absurd and ridiculous
           we all are and yet at the same time how incredibly beautiful life is." There is no contradiction in the
           absurd and the beautiful. In fact the absurd is the beautiful and the beautiful is always absurd. Don't
           see any contradiction.
               The mind is always tempted very much to see contradictions because the mind has been trained
           in a certain logic which does not allow contradictions to be together. The mind has been trained by
           Aristotelean philosophy, all over the world. Aristotle says A is A and never not A. This is the whole
           logic of the mind: A is A and never not A; A is A and never B. How can A be B? But in reality A is
           B and C and D -- and the whole alphabet. In reality things have multidimensional qualities.
               You see a man is loving. When the man is loving you think, "Yes, how beautiful a man." But the
           next moment he is angry; then there is a contradiction. You say, "This man deceived. This man has
           not heard of Aristotle yet? A is A and never B! You are a loving man! Don't be angry!" But man is
           man. He is angry and loving and jealous and possessive, and sometimes so sharing, and sometimes
           so mean. Have you not watched it? Sometimes your friend is so sharing and sometimes so mean.
           This is how reality is. Reality contains all contradictions.
               You say, "... how absurd and ridiculous we all are AND YET how incredibly beautiful life is."
           Nothing is contradictory in it. If you were all very, very consistent, life would not be so rich. It
           would be stale and gray. Life is rich because it is a rainbow, it is psychedelic. It has so many colors
           and so many changing colors. And it is so unpredictable -- that's why it is absurd.
               Why do you call it absurd? Because you cannot contain it in your logic. Your logic falls short; it
           is bigger than your logic. It destroys your logic. Somehow you make a small part of your mind clear,
           and life comes and destroys everything.
               Have you not seen somebody who for forty years has been absolutely logical and has never
           allowed anything in his life which is illogical, has said God does not exist because he is not visible,
           has said prayer is foolish and love is not possible, then one day he comes across a beautiful woman
           and falls in love? Forty years' training and logic -- and all gone to the dogs! within a single moment.
           Life is absurd.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But by "absurd" you simply say one thing: that it is not logical. But why should it be logical? It
           has no obligation to be logical. It has never pretended to be logical. It is man's mediocre mind that
           has been trying to fix it somehow so you can be secure about it. No, it cannot be fixed. It is a
           constant flux.
                And it is ridiculous, yes, because it is not serious. It is ridiculous because it is a play. In India we
           call it LEELA; it is a play.
                God loves children. Can't you see it? Every day old people are taken away, and he goes on
           sending babies. How absurd. A person has been trained his whole life, for seventy years. He has
           become a great philosopher, a professor, a scholar -- so many PhD's and DLits and the DD -- and
           now suddenly this mad God takes him away. What type of economics is this? And instead sends a
           baby, crying and howling. Again train him. Send him to the school and the college and the
           university. And by the time he is ready and looks of any use, here comes God and takes him away! It
           is absurd.
                God loves the absurdity. God is not a utilitarian. He does not believe in utility; he believes in
           play. At the moment you become too serious, he says, "Now it is time. You please come back home.
           I will dismantle you and send you again. Now you need a mind wash: you have become too trained,
           too disciplined, too much of a commodity. You are no longer a freedom." That's why old people are
           taken away. He destroys them, again creates small babies, and sends them; and again they are there
           with all the nonsense. And again we are after them to teach them.
                Neither we learn anything nor God learns anything. It goes on.
                It is ridiculous, but that's why it is so beautiful. If God was a mathematician -- as Vinoba Bhave
           says.... He says that God is a mathematician. Now this seems to be the most sacrilegious statement
           ever made. God a mathematician? No, he is not, not at all. The mathematician is an ugly thing. The
           mathematician is a computer. The mathematician is clever and cunning, but mechanical.
           Mathematics has no poetry in it. Mathematics is the only absolutely fictitious science created by
           man. In the room you say there are six chairs. There are chairs -- but not "six." "Six" is man's
           concept. If you go out of the room, chairs will be there, but "six" has disappeared. Mathematical
           concepts are human creations. God is not a mathematician. Otherwise such beautiful play will
           become impossible.
                Don't you see sometimes there are many things man is destroying, thinking that by destroying
           them the world will be better? God has never destroyed them. The trees have existed. Sometimes you
           think what is the point of a tree. Make furniture, cut it; make doors and furniture and then it is useful.
           Hills are there, the Himalayas are there, and the virgin snow on their tops, nobody has walked on it.
           For what? What is the point of it? Why are the Himalayas needed? Make it a plain so people can live
           there and townships can grow. That's how man has destroyed the whole of nature.
                God is very playful. Many absurd things are there. So many stars, for what? They go on moving.
           It is not a mathematical arrangement. God is very luxurious. He does not believe in necessity. He is a
           spendthrift; he is not a miser. He goes on throwing his energy. It is playful energy it is just like a
           child splashing in water. Don't ask why. He will not be able to answer. But he is enjoying it. It has no
           economical value, but life is not economics, nor is it politics. It is a poetry, and the poetry is by its
           very nature, by its very definition, illogical. The poetry is beautiful because there are sudden leaps
           and jumps. The prose is not so beautiful, because there are no sudden jumps and leaps. The prose
           moves on plain ground, in a logical sequence.
                Sooner or later, when you are ready, I am going to drop talking in a sequential way. Sooner or
           later, when my sannyasins are ready, my talks will be more like a collage. You will have to find out
           what he means. You will have to find out your own meaning. I will say a few things, but I will go on
           jumping and I will not connect as I connect right now. Once you are ready -- more attentive, more
           aware, more alert -- I will not connect with logic, I will drop the logic. The unity will be there, but
           not on the surface. The unity will be there because they will all be my statements -- the unity will
           consist in ME. And the unity will be there because they are to be understood by your awareness --
           the unity will come in your awareness. But taken directly, if a visitor comes, he will think this man is
           mad. Right now I connect. I connect because I know you will not be able to understand the absurd
           yet. I am waiting for the day you are ready, so I can be as absurd as God is.
                Have you seen anywhere any symmetry in nature? It is not there. Man makes things in a
           symmetrical way. If he makes a house he makes it symmetrical. But in nature there is no symmetry.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           A great pine tree, and just by the side a small rosebush. And you cannot ask what is the connection
           between the rosebush and the pine tree. God will laugh; he will say, "Who said that there is any need
           for any connection? The rosebush is a rosebush and the pine is a pine -- and both are happy. There is
           no need to bridge them."
               Sooner or later I am going to become just like God. I will say something and then I will forget
           about it and I will tell a joke which is completely unrelated. Then it is for you to work it out. Then it
           will be more beautiful, certainly more beautiful, because it will be more playful. That is the meaning
           of a collage, so many fragments from so many dimensions together. On the surface, no unity; but if
           you look deep there is an organic unity. That unity exists in the painter, not in the painting.
               If you really want to know the meaning of the poetry, you will have to go deep into the heart of
           the poet. For prose you need not go into the heart. Prose is plain, prose is worldly, prose is of the
           marketplace, prose is human. Poetry is divine. That's why all the great scriptures of the world are in
           poetry -- the Upanishads, the Vedas, the Koran, DHAMMA PADA. They are all poetry, beautiful
           poetry, outpourings of a singing heart. Logic, there is none; love, there iS much.


              WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SURRENDER? HOW IS SURRENDER?


                There are a few things, you have to do them if you want to know them. There is no way to tell
           anything about them. And surrender is one of those things. It is a dimension of love, let-go.
                If you ask me what is surrender and what is the meaning of surrender, yes, something can be told
           to you, but that won't carry any meaning. You have to taste it. It is a taste. If you taste it you know it.
           If you don't taste it, I can talk about it, but you will not know it. Without your own experience,
           whatsoever I say will be a tautology. You ask what is surrender. I say surrender is a let-go. But what
           am I saying? You will ask what is a let-go. It is a tautology; I have not answered you. I say a let-go is
           falling in love. It is a tautology again; I am not saying anything. You will say,'What is falling in love
           then?" The question remains the same, and all answers will go round and round and round.

               I have heard about a prudish, tight-lipped old maid who would not even allow her pet cat out of
           the house after dark. Headed for New York on one of her infrequent outings, she paused to remind
           the maid about locking up that cat each evening.
               This time in New York, however, the old maid encountered a handsome old rogue who swept her
           off her feet. After four nights of blissful romancing she wired her maid, "Having the time of my life.
           Let the cat out too!"

                Let the cat out. When you know what love is, only then you know. There is no other way to
           know it.
                I am here creating a situation for you to surrender. Don't ask for the meaning. Do it. Be
           courageous. Let it be an experience. Accept my invitation. My doors are open; enter and be my
           guest. Surrender.
                By "surrender," in the West, a very wrong idea arises -- as if you will be dominated by somebody
           -- because surrender has a very wrong association. It has become almost a political word in the West.
           The Nazis surrendered; that's how it has become associated with politics. A surrendered one is the
           one who is defeated. In the East we have a totally different meaning for the term. It has nothing to do
           with war and nothing to do with defeat. Have you not heard the proverb that in love defeat is the
           only victory? If you are defeated in love you have become victorious. Yes, that's how it is in
           surrender. It has nothing to do with defeat. It is not that you are being dominated by somebody. It is
           not that now somebody else is going to oppress you, exploit you, that you are becoming a slave. No,
           it is nothing of the sort. The surrender in the East is used as a technique.
                And the surrender has to be made only to a person who is no more, so he cannot dominate you.
           So this has to be remembered: don't surrender to a person who is still there; otherwise he will
           dominate you and he will give you a discipline and he will start forcing you to do this and not to do
           that and he will create a prison around you.
                That's why I don't give you any discipline. Even if you ask, I don't give. You ask continuously
           because you want to depend, because you want to be a slave, because you don't want to take your
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           own responsibility. You want to throw the responsibility on somebody else. You are in search of a
           father figure; you want somebody to lead you. But I am not going to give you any discipline and I
           am not going to give you any clear-cut direction to do this and don't do that. All that I am going to do
           is to share my awareness with you so you can become a little more aware, to share my love with you
           so you can become a little more loving. It has nothing to do with any discipline.
                Coming closer to me, you will be able to imbibe my spirit. That is the meaning of surrender: that
           you are ready to come close to me, that you are not afraid, that you will not protect yourself against
           me, that you will not be defensive, that simply you are ready to come closer to me, that you are
           attracted, that you have heard my call, that something has clicked in your heart and you will try to
           know who this man really is, what manner of man. You would like to enter into my emptiness and be
           surrounded by my emptiness.
                Sannyas is the visible effort of surrender. Many people come to me and they say, "We don't take
           sannyas. Can't you help us?" I say, "I will try my best, but it won't be of much help because you will
           continuously protect yourself. You will be defensive." Sannyas is just a gesture that "Now drop my
           defenses and I am ready to go with you."
                Of course, it is risky. You don't know me yet. How can you know? If you surrender you will
           know; you cannot know beforehand. So it is only for very courageous people. The daredevils -- it is
           only for them. And I exist for daredevils, those who are ready to risk their life and to go into the
           unknown and to see if something happens.
                If you are ready to go, it is going to happen; and then you will know the meaning. Then too you
           will not be able to tell somebody else what the meaning is! The meaning is in the taste, in the
           experience.
                And you ask, "How is surrender?" Apparently, sannyas is the "how," obviously. The deeper
           "how" will open its doors when you have entered the porch. Sannyas is the porch; once you enter the
           porch -- you have accepted me and I have accepted you -- then there is a deep agreement, that you
           trust me. Now I can invite you to deeper realms of my being. You become an initiate.
                The second thing happens someday. Sometimes it happens with the sannyas itself. If you are
           totally surrendered, then in the first moment of contact with me it happens -- you become an initiate.
           Sometimes it takes time. The outward sannyas happens first; then you wait, then you watch, then you
           see things, then slowly, slowly you relax, inch by inch you drop your ego, and more and more I
           penetrate in you. Then one day, without any warning, suddenly it has happened -- you suddenly
           become aware it has happened: now my light exists in you and my heart beats in you. Sometimes it
           takes years, sometimes days, sometimes minutes, sometimes not a single minute. It depends on you,
           how much courage you have.
                And of course, Westerners are gaining much more from me than the Easterners, because the East
           has become very cowardly. So by and by you will see more and more Western people around here.
           The East is very cowardly. They have become almost corpses. They don't have the spirit -- the spirit
           that Kabir calls the spirit for the quest of truth -- they don't have it. Either they believe they already
           know what truth is or they think there is enough time and there is no hurry -- if not in this life, then
           in the next life.
                And for them, to be religious has become more a way of being respectable, and of course my
           sannyas will not appeal to them because if they are respectable, by becoming my sannyasin they will
           lose all respect. They will not become respectable through my sannyas. Through my sannyas they
           will become rebellious; they will start falling out of the society. People will start avoiding them.
           People will start feeling they are dangerous and infectious, and people will think that they have gone
           mad or something.
                But in the West something new is happening -- a new courage, a new spirit of inquiry. It always
           comes whenever a country becomes materially rich. It always happens. When a country becomes
           materially poor, it loses spirit. Not only outwardly poor, it becomes inwardly poor. It loses
           confidence, it loses courage, it loses potentiality. It starts dragging. In the West people have become
           materially rich; they are well-fed, science has come to a certain point from where religion can be
           contacted, and people have seen material affluence. Now they would like to see something beyond it.
           It is not enough.
                So if you are ready, don't ask "how is surrender?" Surrender.
                Once it happened, Jesus was staying with his friends in a house, and the friends said, "Tell us
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how to pray." Jesus said, "But how to say how to pray? I will pray, and if you are ready you can
           participate." And Jesus started praying. Now the others were standing there and they couldn't see
           what to do. He started moving into some unknown realm. They watched and he prayed; and when he
           came back from the world of his prayer, they said again, "But tell us how to pray." He said, "I
           SHOWED you how to pray, and you ask how to pray."
               Remember, maybe the question arises out of your cowardliness. Maybe you want to be certain
           about everything, what it is, whether it is worth it or not.
               I am here surrendered. I am here in prayer. I am here in God. Come closer to me.
               And I have made it easier than it has ever been, because I am not putting any conditions on you. I
           accept you as you are. It has never been done before. I accept you as you are. I have no
           condemnation, no evaluation, no judgment. If you are a drunkard, good. If you are a gambler, good,
           exactly right. Because this is a sort of gamble and this is a way of becoming drunk. Whatsoever you
           are, you are accepted.
           Come closer.
               Sannyas will be a visible thing for you to do, and the next thing, leave it to me. I will do it. You
           do one thing; I will do the other. There is a saying in Arabian countries, "If you walk one foot
           towards God, he walks one thousand one feet towards you." You walk towards me one foot; I will
           walk one thousand and one feet towards you. You do the first; the second I will do.
               But you come and ask, "But sannyas... just by changing the clothes.... It is too outward. Tell us
           something inward."You are not even ready to do the outward and you ask for the inward. And you
           are an outwardly-oriented man. That's why I am talking about the outward sannyas -- that's where
           you are. That's from where the journey has to start. You arc yet outside yourself; from there the
           journey has to start. The inward can happen only later on, not right now.


              IS IT POSSIBLE FOR TWO PEOPLE IN A RELATIONSHIP TO BE BAD FOR EACH OTHER? DOES
              IT HAPPEN THAT TWO PEOPLES ENERGY JUST DOES NOT MIX? HOW TO KNOW THE
              DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE THORNS OF A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP AND AN UNHEALTHY
              RELATIONSHIP?


               but I have come across couples thousands and thousands of couples who are bad. In fact I have
           never come across a couple who is not bad. Persons are beautiful and couples are ugly. Something
           goes wrong somewhere. It should not be so but it is so.
               The way love has been understood has been wrong. What you call love is not love; it is
           something else. Sometimes you are alone and you cannot tolerate your loneliness, and just to fill the
           gap, the inner hole, you find somebody. It is not love. And of course things are going to be bad.
           From the very beginning the very base is wrong. Love is a sharing of two individuals. And I call a
           person "individual" when he is happy with his aloneness; otherwise he is not an individual, if he
           cannot be happy alone. Just think. If you cannot be happy alone, how can you be happy together?
           Two persons are unhappy separately, and you think there is going to be a miracle? -- two unhappy
           persons come together and suddenly happiness arises? Unhappiness is doubled -- not only doubled,
           multiplied.
               Out of your unhappiness you seek the other; then the relationship is going to be wrong. Seek the
           other out of happiness, and then the relationship will never be wrong. Seek out of happiness.
               First meditate, first feel your own being, first pray. First grow into love; otherwise what are you
           going to do when you have found the lover? Then you don't know what to do.
           An anecdote:

               His friend was a shy one, but after being told that if he went to the dance all he would have to do
           would be stand in the corner, he went. The friend shoved him immediately into the arms of a pretty
           girl on the dance floor.
               For an hour or so he lost track of his shy friend, but then spotted him standing happily next to the
           girl he had been "shoved" upon. What is more, he had his arm around her waist and she was looking
           up at him with adoring eyes.
           "We are engaged," the shy one told his friend.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Good heavens!" said the friend. "How did that happen?"
           "Well," said the shy one, "I danced with her six times and I just could not think of anything else to
           ask her."

                Your love affairs are so stupid. And then you are waiting for something great to happen out of
           them. In the first place you don't have any love in your heart. That's why everybody wants to be
           loved. You want to be loved; your woman also wants to be loved. Naturally there is conflict: both
           are ready to take and nobody is ready to give. And how to give? You don't have it in the first place.
           Only a loving person -- one who is already loving -- can find the right partner.
                This is my observation: if you are unhappy you will find somebody who is unhappy. Unhappy
           people are attracted towards unhappy people. And it is good, it is natural. It is good that the unhappy
           people are not attracted towards happy people; otherwise they will destroy their happiness. It is
           perfectly okay. Only happy people are attracted towards happy people. The same attracts the same.
           Intelligent people are attracted towards intelligent people; stupid people are attracted towards stupid
           people.
                You will see it. In Poona there are thousands of people, but only a few people will be attracted
           towards me -- only those who are really concerned with knowing who they are. Others won't be
           attracted. Even my neighbors, just the next-door neighbors -- they have not come to listen. In fact
           they are very much worried.
                It happened, in one town I lived for ten years, and a person used to live just above me, but he
           never came TO see me. Thousands of people would come and go, but he never came. He was simply
           puzzled as TO why people came TO me. Then he was transferred -- he was a principal in a college --
           he was transferred to another town. I visited the other town. I was invited to his college to speak to
           the students; then he heard me for the first time. He had to because he was the principal! Then he
           became more puzzled; he said, "Ten years I lived just on top of you, and I missed. I never came. And
           I never knew that you had something to share, that you had something to give to us." He started
           crying.
                I said, "Don't be worried. Just tell me, during these two years you have not been in that town,
           what has happened?" He said, "My wife died and I became very miserable. Then I started
           meditating, thinking maybe it helps. Then really something started happening in me and I started
           feeling very happy. I was worried I would not be able to be alone without my wife, but now I am so
           happy that I don't want to get entangled with anybody." I told him, "Maybe that's why you could
           understand me. The meditation that you tried, the happiness that you are feeling -- then there is a
           possibility to have contact with me. There you were on a different plane."
                You meet people of the same plane. So the first thing to remember is: a relationship is bound to
           be bitter if it has grown out of unhappiness. First be happy, be joyful, be celebrating, and then you
           will find some other soul celebrating and there will be a meeting of two dancing souls and a great
           dance will arise out of it.
                Don't ask for a relationship out of loneliness, no. Then you are moving in a wrong direction.
           Then the other will be used as a means and the other will use you as a means. And nobody wants to
           be used as a means! Every single individual is an end unto himself. It is immoral to use anybody as a
           means. First learn how to be alone. Meditation is a way of being alone.
                And if you can be happy when you are alone, you have learned the secret of being happy. Now
           you can be happy together. If you are happy, then you have something to share, to give. And when
           you give you get; it is not the other way. Then a need arises to love somebody. Ordinarily the need is
           to be loved by somebody. It is a wrong need. It is a childish need; you are not mature. It is a child's
           attitude.
                A child is born. Of course, the child cannot love the mother; he does not know what love is and
           he does not know who is the mother and who is the father. He is totally helpless. His being is still to
           be integrated; he is not one piece; he is not together yet. He is just a possibility. The mother has to
           love, the father has to love, the family has to shower love on the child. Now he learns one thing: that
           everybody has to love him. And he never learns that he has to love. Now the child will grow, and if
           he remains stuck with this attitude that everybody has to love him, he will suffer his whole life -- his
           body has grown, but his mind has remained immature.
                A mature person is one who comes to know the other need: that now I have to love somebody.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The need to be loved is childish, immature. The need to love is mature. And when you are ready to
           love somebody, a beautiful relationship will arise; otherwise not.
           "Is it possible for two people in a relationship to be bad for each other?" Yes, that's what is
           happening all over the world. To be good is very difficult. You are not good even to yourself. How
           can you be good to somebody else? You don't even love yourself! How can you love somebody else?
           Love yourself, be good to yourself.
               And your so-called religious saints have been teaching you never to love yourself, never to be
           good to yourself. Be hard on yourself! They have been teaching you be soft towards others and hard
           towards yourself. This is absurd.
               I teach you that the first and foremost thing is to be loving towards yourself. Don't be hard; be
           soft. Care about yourself. Learn how to forgive yourself -- again and again and again -- seven times,
           seventy-seven times, seven hundred seventy-seven times. Learn how to forgive yourself. Don't be
           hard; don't be antagonistic towards yourself. Then you will flower.
               And in that flowering you will attract some other flower. It is natural. Stones attract stones;
           flowers attract flowers. And then there is a relationship which has grace, which has beauty, which
           has a benediction in it. And if you can find such a relationship, your relationship will grow into
           prayer... your love will become an ecstasy... and through love you will know what God is.




                                   Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                   Chapter #3
                                   Chapter title: Natural, spontaneous, aware
           13 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612130
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins



I. 63. avadhu, maya, taji na jay


              TELL ME, BROTHER, HOW CAN I RENOUNCE MAYA?
              WHEN I GAVE UP THE TYING OF RIBBONS, STILL I TIED MY GARMENT ABOUT ME.
              WHEN I GAVE UP TYING MY GARMENT, STILL I COVERED MY BODY IN ITS FOLDS.
              SO, WHEN I GIVE UP PASSION, L SEE THAT ANGER REMAINS
              AND WHEN I RENOUNCE ANGER, GREED IS WITH ME STILL;
              AND WHEN GREED IS VANQUISHED, PRIDE AND VAINGLORY REMAIN;
              WHEN THE MIND IS DETACHED AND CASTS MAYA AWAY, STILL IT CLINGS TO THE LETTER.
              KABIR SAYS. "LISTEN TO ME, DEAR FRIEND! THE TRUE PATH IS RARELY FOUND."

              I. 83. canda jhalkai yahi ghat mahin



              THE MOON SHINES IN MY BODY, BUT MY BLIND EYES CANNOT SEE IT.
              THE MOON IS WITHIN ME, AND SO IS THE SUN.
              THE UNSTRUCK DRUM OF ETERNITY IS SOUNDED WITHIN ME; BUT MY DEAF EARS CANNOT
              HEAR IT.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                LIFE IS DIALECTICAL. It is more Hegelian than Aristotelean because it consists of the
           opposites. Without the opposites existence is impossible -- day and night, life and death, summer and
           winter. Life is so vast it can contain contradictions, and yet life in itself is not contradictory. There is
           harmony in the contradictions; the contradictions are complementary.
                This is one of the most fundamental things to be understood. If you miss it you will miss the
           whole message of Kabir -- and you will miss the whole message of religion. And it is very difficult
           to understand it because our minds have been trained in a simple logic, nondialectical logic. We have
           been told, we have been taught that the opposites never meet. We have been taught and told that the
           opposites are REALLY opposites. That is not true. Can you think of love existing without hate? And
           can you think there is any possibility for life without death? It is not even conceivable that good can
           exist without bad. God needs the devil. Without the devil God cannot be.
                The opposites only appear to be opposites because our understanding is not very deep yet. You
           inhale and exhale, and there is a rhythm and a harmony. Your inhalation.is not against exhalation,
           neither is your exhalation against your inhalation. They are both part of one process. The pendulum
           swings from inhalation to exhalation. And you exist just between the two -- in the balance, in the
           harmony.
                A rich life is the life of harmony. A rich life is the life of a subtle synthesis.
                There are two types of poor people in the world. People who know only indulgence are poor
           because they have not known renunciation. And people who know only renunciation, they are poor;
           they have not known indulgence. If there is a subtle balance between indulgence and renunciation, in
           that very balance there is a transcendence; you go beyond the dual.
                That's why I say life is more Hegelian. Hegel's understanding is truer, closer to life than
           Aristotle's. Hegel says life moves from thesis to antithesis to synthesis; then the synthesis becomes a
           thesis again. Once the thesis is there, antithesis is created; again they start creating a new balance; a
           higher synthesis arrives. That's how life moves. In each single detail, life moves through
           contradictions, just as the bird has two wings and you have two legs and in your head there are two
           brains -- contradicting each other and complementing each other -- the left brain and the right brain,
           reason and intuition, the feminine and the masculine. And there is a possibility of a synthesis. This
           synthesis is the goal of all religion, of all mysticism, of all yoga. Yoga means meeting, meeting of
           the opposites; it is a union.
                We call the world the universe; we don't call it the MULTIverse. We call it the universe because
           it is one. Still the oneness has multiplicity in it, variety, distinctions, differences. The oneness is not a
           monotonous oneness. The oneness is not dead; it is alive. And the oneness is not static; it is dynamic.
                Today's sayings of Kabir have to be understood with this background. They are of tremendous
           import.

               TELL ME, BROTHER, YOU CAN I RENOUNCE MAYA?


               He asks one of the most significant question: How can I renounce the world? How can I
           renounce? The question is very significant because every seeker, one day or other, comes across it.
           You have lived in the world -- you have known the misery of it, the agony of it, the frustration of it,
           the anxiety, the anguish. You are torn apart by it, you are fragmented by it, you are no longer a
           whole, you have lost all your peace; naturally, renunciation becomes very, very attractive. Renounce
           the world; there is misery, conflict, agony.
               But Kabir asks, "How is it possible to renounce? Who will renounce it?" The renouncer will
           remain there -- and the renouncer is the world because the ego is the world. You can go away, but
           you will still be there and you will create your world again and again. You are the world. You can
           move from the marketplace to the monastery: and in the monastery the same politics will enter, and
           in the monastery the same hierarchy, and in the monastery the same conflict and the same ambition;
           and you will create the marketplace again.
               It is natural, because you can renounce the world, but how can you renounce yourself? You will
           carry all the seeds of your mind within you. All your ambition, competition, comparison, all your
           ego trips you will carry with yourself. You were trying to become richer in the world, you wanted to
           show to the world "I am the topmost rich man"; or you were trying to achieve a political post and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you wanted to prove to the world "I am something."
               All inferior people go on trying to prove that they are something. All ambition arises out of an
           inferiority complex. It is very rare to come across a politician who is intelligent. It is very rare to
           come across a rich person who is intelligent, very, very difficult. Because an intelligent person, by
           his very intelligence, becomes noncompetitive. Intelligence is noncompetitive. Intelligence can see
           the whole absurdity of it. Intelligence can see "I am myself and there is no need to compare myself
           with anybody else. I am neither higher nor lower. Not that I am just like the others -- I am different --
           but there is no higher and lower."
               We are all different and unique human beings, but nobody is lower and nobody is higher -- and
           the whole effort to become higher is stupid.
               But a man can go to the monastery. Now, he cannot earn money there, but he can earn virtue. He
           can become more and more religious -- he can meditate more than others, he can become the greatest
           meditator. He can repress himself more than the others and can become the greatest saint. Now again
           an attitude is bound to arise: the attitude of "holier than thou." It is the same politics, the same
           competition, the same ego. Nothing has changed; only the object of competition has changed, but the
           subject remains the same. Now there will be politics again.
               You can see it: from the lowest priest to the pope, a continuous hierarchy. And the lowest priest
           is trying to reach the higher post. Every bishop is trying to become the archbishop, and they are
           moving in a hierarchy, the same world. One day they were trying to rise in political power; now they
           are trying to rise in religious power. But the whole effort is the same.
               Kabir says, " TELL ME, BROTHER, HOW CAN I RENOUNCE MAYA?" -- how can I
           renounce this illusion? -- because I am the base, the root cause of all illusion. This "I" is my world,
           so wherever I will go, whatsoever I will do, this "I" will come again from the back door.
               The world cannot be renounced. Renunciation is a desperate effort of a person who has indulged
           too much, but it is not very wise. Indulgence is foolish, renunciation too. The wise man finds the
           harmony. He neither indulges nor renounces. He simply becomes aware of the whole situation. He
           does not bother to escape from the world; he starts becoming aware of his ego which projects the
           world. And just by becoming aware of all the hidden desires of the ego, those desires disappear. The
           more light enters in your being, the more aware you become, the less and less competition. Not that
           you renounce, not that you make any effort to renounce. Just the very understanding becomes a
           subtle light in your being and you start laughing at all the foolish competitions, comparisons,
           evaluations that you have been doing -- and you have been suffering for.
               Remember, renunciation is of the same stupid mind. Nothing has changed. One day you were
           just seeking more and more indulgence -- more and more money, more and more women and men.
           Now you have become afraid and you start escaping, running away from the world, but your
           stupidity has not changed. Your inner being remains the same. You are trying to do the impossible.
               Unless your innermost core changes, is transformed becomes luminous with a new light and new
           awareness, it is impossible. The change cannot happen. The change does not happen from the
           outside; the change has to happen somewhere in the inside. Then the glow spreads all over.

              I have heard about a despondent fellow who sought the advice of the city's most fashionable --
           and expensive -- analyst. "You have acute melancholia," the analyst informed him. "The circus is in
           town this week. Go to it. It may give you some laughs."
           "Your advice is worthless," mourned the despondent one. "I am the top clown there."

               Now, you can even make others laugh, and you may be crying within yourself. You can be the
           topmost clown in the circus, and yet you can be absolutely depressed.
               You can look like something which you are not; it is very easy. You can pretend to be a saint and
           you can remain the same miserable self inside. You can even pretend that you are very happy -- in
           fact that's what everybody is doing. You can go on pretending. Others may be befooled, but how can
           you befool yourself?
               Changing outward things won't be of much help, and by and by you will become more and more
           pseudo and you will lose contact with your real feelings. For example, an angry man can repress his
           anger; he can even pretend to become passionate. A man who has no love in his being can show and
           act and exhibit that he is a very loving person. Maybe somebody else is deceived for a time -- not for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           long -- but how can you deceive yourself? You will know all the time, all the while, that there is
           anger, there is fire in you and poison. And that poison will go on destroying your peace, destroying
           your being. That poison will go on killing you.
               Your smiles which are painted on the surface are of no help -- unless a laughter arises from your
           heart.
               Kabir says renunciation will be of the outside. How can you change the inside through a change
           of the outside? It is not so easy. You will become a false holy man.
           I have heard:

                An actress who had received a magnificent diamond necklace as a gift from her admirer -- one of
           those Greek shipping magnates -- hit upon what she thought was a foolproof device for safeguarding
           it. She simply left it conspicuously open on her dressing table when she went out, with a note nearby
           reading,"This is just an imitation, dear burglar. The original is stashed carefully away in my
           safe-deposit box."
                One night, however, she returned to find the necklace gone. In its place was this penciled
           message: "Thanks, lady -- the substitute is just what I wanted. I am a substitute myself. The burglar
           who usually cases this hotel is away on vacation."

               The people you see in the marketplace are substitutes, and the people you see in your
           monasteries and ashramas and temples, they are also substitutes. Nobody seems to be real and
           authentic. It is very difficult to come across a real man. The world has become so false. And why has
           it become so false? Because we are trying to do something which is not possible. What we are trying
           to do is: we are trying to be happy by pretending happiness, we are trying to be loving by pretending
           lovingness, we are trying to be holy by pretending holiness. We are trying to paint our faces and
           wear masks -- to know our original face. This is impossible. This is more impossible than this story I
           have heard:

                A very ugly girl was sitting at the beach, when the waves washed a bottle at her feet. She opened
           it -- and out blew a huge genie in a billow of smoke. "I have been a prisoner in this bottle for five
           thousand years," cried the genie, "and now you have freed me. As a reward, I will fulfill any wish
           you make." Ecstatic, the ugly girl announced, "I want a figure like Sophia Loren, a face like
           Elizabeth Taylor, and legs like Ginger Rogers." The genie looked her over carefully, then sighed,
           "Baby, just put me back in the bottle."

               But I say to you, this may be impossible, but humanity has been trying to do the even more
           impossible. The most impossible thing is to come to the real through the false, to come to the
           authentic through the pseudo. It is impossible. It cannot be done. And down through the centuries
           humanity has tried to do it. And your so-called religions have been helping people to become more
           and more false. The whole world is full of false people.
               Hence you are missing the ecstasy that life can give to you, that life is meant to give to you. You
           are missing all that is beautiful, true, all that is good, and all that is constantly showering on you.
               You don't have your own face on. It is somebody else's face. And not only one false face, you
           have many false faces -- on top of one, the other, and on top of that, another. And you are completely
           lost; you don't know who you are.
               The Zen people say, "Look for your original face; find it out." When somebody asked Bokuju,
           "What do you mean by 'the original face'?" he said, "The face that you had before you were born --
           and the face that you will have again when you have died." Find out that original face. That is truth,
           or call it God.
               Kabir says this is not possible -- this whole effort to renounce has not helped.

              WHEN I GAVE UP THE TYING OF RIBBONS, STILL I TIED MY GARMENT ABOUT ME:


              In some other way -- if not valuable ribbons, then valueless, cheap ropes -- but one has to tie.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHEN I GAVE UP TYING MY GARMENT, STILL I COVERED MY BODY IN ITS FOLDS.

              One has to find some way or other.



              SO, WHEN I GIVE UP PASSION, I SEE THAT ANGER REMAINS:


               You try to give up passion, and you will become angry. And Kabir's insight is tremendous. That's
           what the whole of modern psychology says: if you give up passion, you will become angry. Hence
           your saints are so angry. Their anger simply shows that all the energy that was being released
           through sexuality, passion, is no longer finding any outlet. It is getting stuck inside, and they become
           angrier and angrier. It is very difficult to find a saint who is not angry, because where will the energy
           go? You have stopped one outlet; now it is natural for it to find another outlet.
               Have you watched it, whenever you are sexually fulfilled you feel less angry, whenever you are
           sexually unfulfilled you feel more angry? It is the same energy. Unless you have found a new way in
           your being to absorb this energy, just taking a vow of BRAHMACHARYA, of celibacy, is not going
           to help. Just deciding "Now -- from now on -- I am going to renounce sex" is not going to help. First
           create a new passage for the energy to move into.
               Renunciation is not going to help. It will make you more angry. And if there is a choice between
           anger and sex, sex is better. At least you will feel more calm and quiet.
               Down through the centuries two types of people have not been allowed sex. One is the saint,
           another is the soldier. The soldier is not allowed sex because the politicians came to know that if he
           is allowed sex he loses the urge to fight, he becomes less angry. It is difficult to fight when you are
           sexually satisfied. So many wars are possible because people are sexually very much unsatisfied.
           And politicians are very much afraid; they are afraid of what is going to happen to their politics if
           people become sexually satisfied. The whole of their politics depends on war. If war disappears,
           politics disappears. Then the government will be just an organization like the post office and the
           railway. It has some utility, but no power. War gives power, and the politician cannot allow war to
           disappear. The politician goes on talking about peace and goes on preparing for the war -- talks
           about peace, prepares for the war. And sometimes things move to absurd extremes: he prepares for
           war so that there should be peace in the world. For peace -- to protect peace -- he prepares for war.
               Politicians cannot allow you to be satisfied in your love. Once you are satisfied in your love you
           are useless as a soldier. You have to be kept unsatisfied so anger remains burning in you and you are
           ready to fight -- for any excuse -- foolish things. People can fight for a piece of cloth they call their
           national flag. Have you watched this? These national flags seem to be more a symbol of death than
           of life. When somebody dies they lower it down. And millions of people have died because of
           national flags. In a better world they should be completely burned and they should disappear. They
           are ugly.
               You have been taught that you belong to this country and you have to die for this country.
           Nobody belongs to any country. The whole earth is ours -- and the earth is undivided. It is divided
           only on the political maps. The earth is undivided. Where do you suppose India ends and Pakistan
           begins? Where do you suppose India ends and China begins? The earth is one.
               But politics will not allow you to have that feeling of oneness. Otherwise politics disappears.
           Politics is needed, the politician is needed, only because there is war. Now this is a vicious circle.
           And if war is to continue, people have to be starved; they should not become sexually satisfied. They
           should remain angry, boiling within, ready to burst any moment. Watch people. They are ready to
           fight. Just anything will do -- politics, religion. Any nonsense will do and they are ready to kill each
           other.
           Politics is in the service of death.
               And your so-called religions are also in the service of death.
               Kabir wants you to love life. All the great mystics want you to love life.
           "SO, WHEN I GIVE UP PASSION, I SEE THAT ANGER REMAINS..."so nothing has changed.
           The energy has moved from one corner to another corner. You remain the same. The total result is
           the same. In fact it is worse.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND WHEN I RENOUNCE ANGER, GREED IS WITH ME STILL;


               If you renounce anger you will become very, very greedy. In India this has happened. Mahavir
           taught nonviolence, nonanger; and his followers became very greedy. This is something to be
           understood, why it happened. Jainas are the richest people in India, and Mahavir taught no anger, no
           violence, no fight. Why did his followers turn out to be so greedy? Kabir seems to be right. If you
           drop anger, then what will you do? Then the energy that was moving in anger will start moving into
           greed.
               You will not find miserly people very angry, no. They are using their anger, their energy, for
           greed. Miserly people are not very angry; they are very humble. Even if you hit them they will not
           hit back. They say, "We believe in peace." They say, "We believe in Jesus' saying. If somebody slaps
           us on one side of the face, we give him the other." Greedy people are less angry.
               Rich people are less angry. Watch it. As a person becomes richer, he becomes less and less
           angry. Anger remains in the poor people. Hence all the revolutionaries depend on the poor people;
           they cannot depend on the rich. Marx declared, predicted, that the richest country will become
           communist first. But it didn't happen. He was wrong. He may have been right about his economic
           analysis, but he did not know the human mind. A rich person is never angry and cannot become a
           revolutionary. Only a poor person can be angry, because he has no way to be greedy, he has nothing
           to be greedy about.
               America should have become communist if Marx's prediction was right, but there is no
           possibility of any revolution in America. People have enough; they are greedy. Russia became
           communist, a very poor country. Then China became communist, a very poor country. And now
           there is every possibility of India becoming communist; it is on the way.
               A poor country is very angry. When you have something to be greedy about, your anger takes the
           form of greed; then you are not angry. Then you are not interested in fighting, because in fighting
           you may lose. A poor person has nothing to lose -- that's exactly what Marx says in his
           COMMUNIST MANIFESTO: proletariat of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your
           chains. He is right. When you don't have anything to lose, why not fight? Either you gain something
           or you don't lose anything. In every way you are going to be the gainer.
               Down throughout history you can watch it happening, that same drama again and again. Poor
           countries are ready to fight. Rich countries become afraid of fighting -- anger disappears, becomes
           greed. Rich countries are not ready to fight. It has happened again and again in world history that
           poor countries have defeated rich countries. What happened in Vietnam? There seems to be no
           possibility logically why Americans should not win there. They have everything to win with -- better
           technology, better scientific instruments for killing. They have everything good, and still they could
           not defeat Vietnam, a very poor country. No, it is very difficult to defeat a poor country.
               When India was very rich, it was defeated again and again. For two thousand years India was
           defeated again and again. A rich country. And those people who were coming as invaders were just
           starving, barbarians -- very poor. Mohammedans, Moguls, Turks, they were all poor people --
           desperately in need of fighting. And India was rich -- and desperately in need of being greedy about
           something it had. It was afraid to fight.
               I have heard one story that once a donkey challenged a lion, "Stop saying of yourself that you are
           the king of the forest. I am the king. And if you don't believe it, we can have a fight and prove it." It
           is said the lion simply disappeared into the forest. A fox was watching; she could not believe what
           happened. She went to the lion and asked, "What is the matter?" He said, "Have you gone crazy? If I
           fight with the donkey, and if the donkey is defeated, he loses nothing. But donkeys are donkeys --
           one cannot say anything. If I am defeated I have something to lose. He has nothing to lose; he can
           challenge."
               A poor person is always angry and ready to fight. The richer you get, the milder you become,
           softer you become. Your energy starts moving into greed.
           Kabir's analysis is perfect.

              So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;
           And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              AND WHEN GREED IS VANQUISHED, PRIDE AND VAINGLORY REMAIN;


               And if greed is vanquished if you renounce your riches, your palaces, your kingdoms -- then
           vainglory, ego, that remains. But nothing changes radically. You simply go on changing the paint of
           your house, the color. Everything remains the same; only the color changes from one to another.

              WHEN THE MIND IS DETACHED AND CASTS MAYA AWAY, STILL IT CLINGS TO THE LETTER.


               And finally, even if you drop everything, then you start clinging to the Vedas, to the Koran, to
           the Bible -- I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, I am a Mohammedan. You start clinging to the temple, to
           the mosque, to the GURUDWARA. Now there is nothing visible to cling to; now you create
           something invisible. You create gods, theologies, scriptures, and you cling to these verbal things.
               The word "God" is not God, but people have been fighting about it. All that you say about God
           has nothing to do with God because those who have known, they all have said nothing can be said
           about God. Says Lao Tzu, "If you say something about truth, it becomes untrue." The moment you
           assert, you falsify; truth cannot be said. But people go on discussing, arguing, "My God is right and
           your God is wrong."
               One of my friends renounced the world and he became a Jaina monk. After many years I came
           across him and I asked, "You have really renounced the world?" He said, "I have renounced
           everything. Can't you see? I am sitting naked. I have renounced the society, I have renounced the
           world, I have renounced everything." I asked him, "But you still think you are a Jaina?" He said,
           "Certainly I am a Jaina." Now it is very subtle.
               The society has taught you that you are a Jaina. You were born in a certain society -- Jaina,
           Mohammedan, Christian -- and the society has taught you that you are a Jaina. It conditioned your
           mind. You have left everything, but you cling to the conditioning. You have not left anything at all;
           you are the same person.
               Real renunciation means unconditioning the mind. Real renunciation means you don't belong to
           any society, you don't belong to any religion, you don't belong to any country -- you don't
           BELONG, you are alone. You belong to the whole in your aloneness. But that is possible only by
           tremendous understanding, intelligence, awareness, not by playing this game of renunciation --
           renouncing one thing, creating another, then renouncing that, still creating another.
               And remember, when you renounce one thing and something else is created, the second is more
           subtle than the first and will be more difficult to conquer. Passion you renounce; anger remains.
           Anger is more subtle than sex. Anger you renounce; greed remains. Greed is more subtle than anger.
           And greed you renounce; then vainglory, ego, remains. Ego is very, very subtle now. And you even
           try to drop that, but now the theories, the philosophies, the doctrines, they remain. Something or
           other remains. You go on changing your prison, but you never become a free man.
           I have heard:

               From the giant redwoods sector of California comes the yarn of a truck farmer who decided to
           buy a power saw. A logging foreman sold him one that he guaranteed would cut down fifteen trees
           in a single day. A week later a very unhappy farmer came back to report that the power saw must be
           a faulty one -- it averaged only three trees a day. The foreman grabbed the power saw and plugged it
           into the nearest outlet. The saw promptly went "BZZZZZZ."
           "Hey," demanded the startled farmer, "what is that noise?"

               He was using the power saw without connecting it to any electricity. Then of course a power saw
           is not a power saw; then it is an ordinary thing.
               You can renounce, you can go on renouncing, and you can do so without plugging into your
           innermost core, into the powerhouse -- into your inner power of understanding. If it is not plugged in
           there, then you will be tired and nothing much is going to happen out of it. It is understanding that
           makes the difference, all the difference. Rather than renouncing, Kabir would like you to understand
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how the radical change happens.

              KABIR SAYS: "LISTEN TO ME, DEAR FRIEND! THE TRUE PATH IS RARELY FOUND."


               What is the true path? If renunciation is not the true path, then what is the true path?
               Awareness is the true path. Neither indulge nor renounce, but be aware. Do whatsoever you are
           doing -- do it with full awareness. If you move into passion, move with awareness; and passion
           becomes prayer, and passion has a totally different quality to it. In the East we have called that
           quality tantra. The same sex is no longer sex -- it is no longer sexual at all. Once you move into your
           passion with awareness, you have changed the very quality of it. It is no longer just physical, it is no
           longer just a physical release; it is a very deep experience of life. It is a tremendous experience of
           no-mind. It is a door towards the greatest space possible.
               In deep orgasm, if you are aware, you will know for the first time what ecstasy is. Otherwise you
           have only heard the word; you have not known its meaning. Only in deep orgasm, if you are aware,
           if your flame of awareness is burning bright, will you be able to know that sex is not just sex. Sex is
           the outermost layer; deep inside is love; and even deeper is prayer; and deepest is God himself. Sex
           can become a cosmic experience; then it is tantra. Sex plus awareness... and something tremendous
           starts changing.
               And the change comes on its own accord. You are not to force it. If you are angry, be alert, and
           you will be surprised that with alertness anger disappears, it is not possible. And the same energy
           that was going to be thrown into anger spreads all over your being like a radiance. It becomes your
           aura, it becomes a light around you -- the same energy. It is no longer heat now; it has become light.
               Can't you see it? Heat and light are not two things. Heat becomes light; light can become heat.
           Anger is heat. Bring awareness to it and it becomes light. And you will be happy that you could
           become aware, and you will wait for the next opportunity. When anger arises you can again use the
           opportunity to create more light around you. Once you have known it you will never be angry,
           because now you know how to use the energy in a far more creative way. And this is how it happens:
           with greed, with ego, just one formula, awareness, has to be added to it.
               Nothing else is needed to change the outside; only an inner awareness brought to every situation.
           This is the rarely found truth, the rarely found way.

              THE MOON SHINES IN MY BODY, BUT MY BLIND EYES CANNOT SEE IT.

              God is within you, but you are not aware.
              " THE MOON SHINES IN MY BODY.... " Your body is the temple. "... BUT MY BLIND EYES CANNOT
              SEE IT:" Don't escape anywhere. Just open your eyes, become more aware, start seeing, have more
              clarity of vision.



              THE MOON IS WITHIN ME, AND SO IS THE SUN.
              THE UNSTRUCK DRUM OF ETERNITY IS SOUNDED WITHIN ME;
              BUT MY DEAF EARS CANNOT HEAR IT.


               This has to be understood very carefully. This is the inner chemistry. The moon and the sun are
           symbols of the inner alchemy. The moon means the feminine inside you, and the sun means the
           masculine inside you. Moon is intuition; sun is reason. Moon is yin; sun is yang. This is the Indian
           terminology for yin and yang. Moon is peace, silence; sun is energy, vitality. Moon is death, sleep,
           dream, imagination;.sun is awakening, life, logic.
               When moon and sun meet within you, there is a great experience. That experience is of unity of
           oneness -- UNIO MYSTICA. That is the goal of all the mystics -- when the sun and the moon meet
           within you. This is the real meeting of man and woman.
               And once this meeting has happened, then there is BRAHMACHARYA, then there is celibacy,
           not before it. If your inner woman has not met with your inner man, you will need some outer
           woman, or outer man. That's just a substitute. Hence it is never totally satisfying, something always
           seems missing. You can find the most beautiful woman of the world, or the most beautiful man of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the world, and still you will feel something does not fit, something goes on missing. Nothing is
           wrong with the man or the woman, nothing is wrong. That feeling that something is missing is
           coming from somewhere else, and you have not been able to understand from where.
               When you fall in love with a woman, what actually happens is that you have an inner woman,
           and the outer woman somehow reflects the inner woman. That's what falling in love means. For no
           reason at all. You shrug your shoulders. If somebody asks, "Why have you fallen in love with this
           woman?" you find rationalizations, that her nose is such, or her hair, or the way she walks -- all
           foolish things. Hmm? what does a nose have to do with love, or the color of the hair or the way she
           walks? No, these are nothing. But something fits with your inner woman, with your inner moon. She
           somehow reflects your inner moon, in some way. It can never be a hundred percent, it cannot be.
           Because your inner woman is your INNER woman, it cannot be found in the outside. Only
           reflections can be found in the outside.
               When you fall in love with a woman or with a man, you have fallen in love with a mirror. Sooner
           or later you will be frustrated.
               You must have heard the story of Narcissus. He looked in a silent pool and he saw his own
           reflection, and he fell in love with it -- and he became so mad. Whenever he would enter the pool,
           the reflection would disappear. He would search and search and he would not find anybody. He
           would come to the bank, sit silently, ripples would disappear and the pool would become silent
           again; and there again would be the object of his love, infatuation. Again he would jump. He went
           mad, and he died on the bank. In his memory we have the plant narcissus. It grows just by the side of
           a pond and goes on looking in; you must find the narcissus plant always leaning and looking in the
           pond. We call it narcissus in memory of that old story; still the plant goes on looking into its own
           reflection.
               Of course, when you see a beautiful woman from far away, the reflection is perfect. Closer you
           come -- you jump into the pool -- and everything is disturbed and you don't find anything. And you
           are worried, very much worried. Everything was going so well. What happened? Now you have
           disturbed the placid surface of the pool. And the same has happened to the woman. She had fallen in
           love with you because her own inner man somehow coincided. Only a few aspects can coincide.
               And it is good that no outer woman can fulfill you totally; otherwise you will never go
           withinwards. It is good and a blessing that no outer man can ever satisfy you totally. It can only give
           glimpses of satisfaction, a taste -- but you become hungrier and hungrier. This is good. That may be
           the whole purpose of it, so one day you are thrown back into your own self and one day you start
           looking.
               If you ask the brain surgeons, they say there are two brains in your head -- the left and the right.
           The right-side brain is feminine; the left-side brain is masculine. That's why the left hand has become
           condemned, because the world, this world at least, up to now, has been dominated by men. The left
           hand is joined to the right-side brain, the right-side brain is feminine, so the left hand has become the
           symbol of woman. The right-side hand is joined to the left-side brain, the left-side brain is male, so
           the right-side hand has become the symbol of man. They say the right is right and, of course, the left
           is wrong.
               One part of your mind functions as reason, intellect, logic, philosophy, science -- the left-side
           brain. The right-side brain functions as intuition, poetry, imagination, reverie, religion. And both are
           separate, just bridged by a very small bridge. Sometimes it happens that the bridge can be broken by
           some accident; then the person becomes split; then he is two persons.
               In the UNIO MYSTICA, the bridge becomes broader and broader and broader, and a moment
           comes when the right is no longer right and the left is no longer left; they have come into a deep
           embrace; they have become one. This is the inner intercourse the tantricas talk about: the inner
           woman has fallen in love with the inner man. And then there is tremendous grace. Such a man is no
           longer a man, such a woman is no longer a woman. The transcendence has happened. This man
           becomes mysterious, this woman becomes mysterious, who has come to the inner meeting, to the
           inner union.
               Human history can be divided into two trends: the moon trend and the sun trend. The politicians,
           the soldiers, the warriors, they all belong to the sun; and the poets and the mystics and the
           "lotus-eaters," they all belong to the moon.
               In Sanskrit "moon" is called SOMA. It is your moon side which is psychedelic. And Aldous
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Huxley was right; he has named the ultimate drug SOMA. In the Vedas they talk much about
           SOMA. Nobody has yet been able to find what exactly it is. Many people have tried -- somebody
           tries to prove something is SOMA, somebody tries to prove something else IS SOMA. Many
           mushrooms have been tried in the past, but in fact SOMA IS not a mushroom, it is not marijuana, it
           is not hash. It is some inner psychedelic. It has nothing to do with the outer chemistry; it is inner
           alchemy. And the Vedas talk about SOMA as God.
                Something outside, something injected from the outside or swallowed from the outside, may
           create an illusion, but that is an illusion. The same thing: the outer woman can only reflect the inner
           woman; the outer drug -- LSD or psilocybin -- can only reflect the inner drug. The inner drug is the
           real thing. And what Allen Ginsberg is doing is absolutely wrong. He is trying to prove that the outer
           drug is the inner drug. It is not so.
                Just a few days before, a young man asked me, "What do you think, Osho, about hash?" I said,
           "First thing, don't be so disrespectful about hash. Show a little respect. To rhyme with 'Maharishi
           Mahesh Yogi' you can call it 'Maharishi HASHISH Yogi,' but be respectful! And if you are not a
           follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, then to rhyme with 'Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh' you can call it
           'Bhagwan Shree HASHISH' -- but be respectful!"
                In the Vedas they call SOMA God, but they are talking about the inner hash. I am also talking
           about the inner hash. That which is manufactured outside in a factory may have some reflections of
           it, but it is not the true thing. The outer is a substitute. When you start moving inside and when the
           meeting of the sun and moon happens, SOMA is released. Then a very great change happens in your
           being. You become absolutely calm and quiet... and of course you become tremendously sensitive.
           Then for the first time your become able to hear and your eyes become able to see and your hands
           become able to touch. For the first time you become capable of feeling.

           The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes
           cannot see it:
           The moon is within me, and so is the sun.
           The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me;
           but my deaf ears cannot hear it.

               We are deaf, blind. That is the real problem, the very crux. It is not a question of renouncing
           anything or escaping from anything. It is a question of becoming more sensitive, more aware, more
           full of understanding, more of a witness. And then your witnessing starts flowing into your eyes and
           into your ears, into your body. So what is needed according to Kabir -- and according to me also -- is
           only one thing, and that is stop being sleepy. Don't live in a slumber-like state. Shake yourself and
           bring yourself to a little more awareness. Otherwise you are continuously sleepy -- sometimes with
           open eyes, sometimes with closed eyes -- but you are sleepy.
               And you go on finding rationalizations for your sleep.
           I have heard:

              Young Rabbi Shmool finally summoned courage to complain to the richest member of his
           congregation: "I hesitate to bring this up, but do you always fall asleep while I am preaching?"
           "Look," was the consoling reply, "would I sleep if I did not trust you?"

              There are many people around here also who trust me so much that they sleep. They trust: Osho
           must be saying the right thing, so why bother? He always says the right thing, so we can sleep.
              You are moving like a somnambulist. Just because your eyes are blinking, don't think you are
           aware. Awareness is an intensity. Sometimes you can feel it. Sometimes in a great danger you
           become aware. Sometimes if you are driving a car and suddenly you feel an accident is going to
           happen, you become aware. Then you know intensity. In that moment all thinking stops. You are
           simply alert. You are no longer functioning as a mind; you function as a consciousness.
              One Sufi mystic, Bayazid, used to talk to his disciples about awareness, and they would ask, "But
           what is awareness? You go on talking about it." One day he took them to the river. On this side there
           was a small hill, and on the other side there was a small hill. He said, "We are going to put up a long
           wooden bridge -- just one foot wide -- from this end to the other, and you will have to walk on it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And then you will know what awareness is." They said, "But we have been walking our whole life,
           and we have never come to know." He said, "Wait," and he did the experiment. Many of them started
           feeling very afraid, and they said, "We cannot walk. Just one foot wide?" "But how much do you
           need to walk on? When you are walking on the earth, you can walk on a one-foot-wide strip easily.
           Why, why can't you walk on a one-foot-wide strip hanging between two hills? Why can't you walk
           on it?"
               A few people tried. Just two, three feet they went, and they came back, and they said, "It is
           dangerous." Then Bayazid walked and a few followed, and when they reached the other shore, those
           few who had followed, they fell at his feet and they said, "Master, now we know what awareness is.
           The danger was so much that we could not afford to walk in slumber. We had to be alert. Any
           moment and we would have been gone forever, so we had to keep alert."
               In some rare, dangerous moments you become aware; otherwise not. Awareness means an
           intensity, such an intensity of wakefulness that no thought interferes. You are simply conscious
           without any thought. Try it. You can try it anywhere. Walking on the road, walk as if each moment
           there is danger. And there is danger! because any moment you can die, any moment death is there. If
           you become a little more understanding you will understand. It is impossible not to be aware if you
           see that death is possible any moment. Then you cannot live like drunkards.

              An exhausted businessman gratefully climbed into his bed in a Washington hotel at midnight,
           looking forward to a solid nine-hour sleep. At 2 a.m., however, a loud banging on his door awakened
           him. It was a semi-coherent drunk, angrily declaring, "This is my room. Get out!" It took the
           executive twenty minutes to get back to sleep. Once more he was awakened by the same drunk an
           hour later, who still claimed the room was his.
              When the drunk woke him up a third time, the executive literally blew his top -- but this time the
           drunk got in the first words. "So it is you again!" he screamed. "Damn it, are you occupying EVERY
           room in this hotel?"

               People are moving drunk, not knowing where they are going, for what they are going -- not
           knowing even whether they are going.
           I have heard:

               One philosopher was met by a friend at the door of a psychiatrist's office. The friend asked, "Are
           you coming or going?" The philosopher answered, "If I knew that, I would not be here. Why should
           I be here at a psychiatrist's office? What would I be doing here if I knew whether I am coming or
           going?"

           Nobody knows really. We are so fast asleep.
               Kabir says become more alert. Walking, walk with awareness. Eating, eat with awareness.
           Talking, talk with awareness. Listening, listen with awareness. Be more and more attentive. The
           more attentive you are, the more intensely attentive you are, the more your life will start changing.
           And this will be a change that you are not bringing to it. It will happen on its own accord; it will be a
           natural growth, spontaneous.
               Kabir's path is called SAHAJ SAMADHI YOGA -- the path of spontaneous ecstasy. SAHAJ
           means "spontaneity." Kabir is not in favor of any cultivated life pattern. Become aware, and out of
           that awareness, whatsoever form your life takes, let it take it. You just be aware. Then you have
           changed the very roots.
               And by changing the very roots you have changed the whole tree. It is futile to go on changing a
           single leaf each time, and changing branches -- sometimes anger, sometimes sex, sometimes greed,
           and then there are a thousand and one leaves. Why not change the roots? The root problem is that
           you are living an unconscious life, and the root change will be that you start living a conscious life.
               Kabir is not in favor of any repression. Renunciation will be repressive.
           I have heard:

              The demonstration turned into a riot. One priest staggered out of the crowd carrying the limp
           form of a girl. "Here," said a cop, "hand her to me, Father -- I will get her out of this." "The hell with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you," said the priest. "Go and get one of your own."

               The priest, the celibate, the BRAHMACHARI, deep down they are in a mess. You are far better.
           At least you are natural; they are perverted. Repression will bring perversion; it will not bring
           transformation. And renunciation cannot mean anything else other than repression.
               No, Kabir is not in favor of any repression. Kabir says live a natural life. Just one thing: make it
           more alert. And changes will happen -- millions of changes will happen -- and you will not have to
           do them; they will happen. And when change happens on its own accord, it has a beauty to it, it has
           grace, elegance. When you force it upon yourself it is ugly -- it cripples, it paralyzes.
               And you can change one thing; sooner or later something else will be there. Only the name of the
           problem will be changed.

               Once I was wandering through a toy department of a big store during the holiday rush when the
           loudspeaker announced: Mrs. Arthur Jones reports that her seven-year-old son, Spike, has been lost.
           Will Spike Jones please come immediately to the manager's office?" A small boy inspecting an
           electric train display alongside me was visibly depressed by this announcement.
           "Damn it," he grumbled, "I am lost again!"

               You can repress one thing. You will be lost again in something else. You can repress that; you
           will be lost again in something else. This is no way to come home. The only way to come home is
           that of awareness.

               Natural, spontaneous, aware. Let these three words become key words, and you will be
           surrounded with a great revolution -- and you will be a witness to it.
               Kabir is not giving you any program to improve yourself. All improvement is silly in a way
           because you remain the same. Modified a little here and there, decorated here or there, but you
           remain the same. Clothes change, ornaments change; you remain the same. Kabir is not giving you
           any program to improve yourself. Kabir is giving you a radical approach -- how to be transformed,
           transfigured -- how to die to the old and be born again -- totally new, absolutely new, fresh and
           virgin.
               Be natural, be spontaneous, be aware. Let these three words become your very key. And this is a
           master key; it can unlock all the doors, all the locks.
               Once you have become natural, spontaneous, and aware, the unstruck drum of eternity will be
           heard. The unstruck drum of eternity, that's what in Zen they call the sound of one hand clapping. In
           India they call it the ANAHAT NAD -- the unstruck drum. It is sounding from the very beginning,
           endlessly sounding; it is eternally there. The world is full of music, melody, harmony, ecstasy. Just if
           you become natural you will fall in tune with it. If you become spontaneous you will become
           sensitive and responsive to it. If you become aware you will be able to hear it.
               God is all around; it is only that you are not sensitive enough to feel him. God is within and
           without; you just have to shake yourself and come to your senses. You are in your head too much.
           Come down to your senses, become more sensitive. When you become more sensitive you are
           bridged with reality, you start dancing with reality, you start singing with reality... a great
           benediction arises in you. And only then can you say a thank you to God, never before it. Only then
           do you feel how grateful you are, how much has been given to you and has not even been
           appreciated by you.
               This existence is fantastic, it is marvelous, it is incredibly beautiful.




                                   Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                    Chapter #4
                                         Chapter title: The way of religion
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           14 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612140
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




               WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CRYSTALLIZED SELF AND A BIG, STRONG EGO?


                THEY LOOK ALIKE, but they are as different as two things can be. Not only different, they are
           diametrically opposite. The crystallized self is not a self at all. It is called a crystallized "self," but it
           is not a self at all. And the big, strong ego is neither big nor strong. It is very hollow; how can it be
           strong? It is very empty; how can it be strong? And how can it be big? It is neither big nor strong,
           but it has the selfhood in it, the "I-amness," the feeling that "I am."
                The ego is the self. The real self is not a self at all. We develop the ego just to hide the fact that
           we don't know who we are. It is very hard to see that we are so ignorant about ourselves, that we
           don't know. To hide this ignorance, we create the ego. Ego is a deception. It is a deception that you
           are giving to yourself. It is really difficult to live without self-knowing, so we create a false ego. It
           gives a little consolation. One starts feeling that one knows who one is.
                It simply hides ignorance; that's why all the religions insist on dropping the ego. When you drop
           the ego and you face your inner being, the vastness of it is such that you cannot define it as "I am."
           The vastness is so much that it cannot be contained within any concept. You cannot call it "I." It is
           all; how can you call it "I"? The real self, the real inner being, is God himself; it is all.
                But one has to face it. In the beginning, when you face it, it looks as if it is nothing. That is the
           fear. The all looks like nothing in the first encounter. If you get in tune with it, by and by the
           negativity disappears and you start feeling the positive existence of it. Then it becomes your soul call
           it "God," "being," or any word that you want to choose -- call it "enlightenment," "awareness." But
           one thing is certain: you are not there. Something is there -- tremendously vital, infinite -- but you
           are not there.
                This will look like a paradox: when you come to know yourself you are not there; when you
           don't know yourself you are there. You exist only in your ignorance. When knowledge has happened
           -- when KNOWING has happened -- you disappear. You disappear like darkness -- just as when the
           sun rises the darkness disappears. You disappear like darkness when awareness arises. The
           awareness does not belong to you; it has nothing to do with you. In fact you are the barrier for it. It is
           because of you that it is not arising.
                People come to me and they say, "Osho, I would like to become enlightened." I say to them, "It
           is very difficult, it is impossible. I cannot help you." They say, "Why? Why can't you help?" I say,
           "From the very beginning you are putting such a condition: you say, 'I want to become enlightened.'
           This 'I' is the barrier. This 'I' is not allowing you to know your enlightenment -- which is already
           there. The 'I' never becomes enlightened; the 'I' is the unenlightened state. The 'I' is the darkness."
                Enlightenment is possible, but it will be possible only when you are ready to lose yourself. That
           is the meaning of Jesus' saying when he says, "If you lose, you will gain. If you don't lose, you will
           lose." In losing is the gain. In forgetting is the remembrance. In dissolving, you become crystallized.
                The crystallized self is a no-self, it is all; and the big, strong ego is very tiny, not big at all. The
           tiniest thing in the world is the ego, and the hollowest thing in the world is the ego, and the weakest
           thing in the world is the ego; because it is the falsest thing possible. It exists not; it is a pretension.


               PLEASE WILL YOU EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT "THE WAY OF RELIGION" MEANS? I HAVE ALWAYS
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BEEN SO STRONGLY AGAINST RELIGION THAT I CANNOT IMAGINE WHAT IT MEANS. BUT,
              ANYHOW, I SUPPOSE IT IS THE WAY OF TOTAL ALONENESS. AND THIS MAKES ME A LITTLE
              UNEASY.
              SINCE YOU GAVE ME SANNYAS, I FEEL LIKE I AM IN AN ABYSS. OTHER PEOPLE ARE NOT
              REACHABLE FOR ME; I AM ONLY FIXED UP TO THE FIRE OF YOUR EYES -- A TREMENDOUS
              POONA FICTION STORY.


               Right, I am creating a fiction here: the fiction of the Master and the disciple, the fiction of the
           god and the devotee. It is really a myth, but very alive. And there is no way to come to the truth
           unless you pass through a great mythology. Man is lost in lies. From lies there is no direct way to
           truth. Myth is a bridge between the lie and the truth. A myth partakes of something of the lie and
           something of the truth; it is a bridge.
               Yes, you are right. This is a tremendous Poona fiction story. Whatsoever is happening here is
           very fictitious -- these people in orange, and so many crazy things going on, and I am supporting you
           and leading you towards nowhere and promising you things which cannot be promised.
               Man lives in lies, God lives in the truth; but how to bridge both? Man is a lie, God is a truth; how
           to bridge both? It is very impossible. Myth is the way -- fiction, yes, a spiritual fiction. All the
           religions are fictitious, all the mythologies are fictitious, but they are of tremendous help. A
           mythology has something of the truth in it -- maybe just a reflection -- and something of the lie in it.
           You can move through the myth towards truth.
               And if an alive myth is available, don't miss it, because a dead myth loses all contact with truth.
           It becomes a lie. That's why religion has to be born again and again. When Jesus is alive, the
           Christian myth is alive. Then people traveled through that myth and reached to truth. Jesus gone: the
           myth is there but the truth is gone. When myth is there and Jesus is no longer there, the other shore is
           missing; then it is again just a lie, just a fiction -- with no grounding in the truth.
           Christianity is a lie; Jesus is a myth.
           Krishna is a myth; Hinduism is a lie.
               That's why down through the centuries it has always been emphasized that if you can find an
           alive Master, don't miss the opportunity. An alive Master is a myth -- something of the untrue and
           something of the true, both. Something of the untrue means something of the human, and something
           of the true means something of the divine. That's why the Gospel says Jesus is the son of man AND
           the son of God. This is a myth. Being the son of man and the son of God is an impossibility, but
           that's what a myth is: God and man meeting, son of God and son of man -- something of the lie and
           something of the truth.
               But Jesus gone, then only lies remain. The Pope is not a myth, neither is the Shankaracharya of
           Puri -- dead. They don't speak from their own experience; they speak from tradition.
               A myth is a very fragile flower, like a rose flower. In the morning it is there in all its glory --
           even Solomon will feel jealous -- and by the evening it is gone. How fragile, and how strong. In the
           morning breeze, how strong it was and how beautiful. Even the vast sky must have felt jealous, and
           even the sun himself must have felt jealous. A rose flower is a rose flower -- so small, and yet so
           beautiful; so fragile, and so vital and so alive, so fragrant. By the evening, the petals have fallen into
           the earth and the flower is gone.
           A Jesus is also fragile, a Buddha also.
               While I am here, it is a myth -- an alive myth with a heart, beating. Use this opportunity. When I
           am gone, it will be a lie.
               And this is the misery: that by the time people come to know, the flower is gone. When the
           flower is gone, they will worship for centuries and centuries. They will worship the past, the dead,
           the grave. When the flower is alive, they will deny, they will escape, they will protect and defend
           themselves against it. They may even destroy the flower because the very existence of the flower
           makes them feel very sad. The very existence of the flower makes them aware of their smallness,
           their ugliness. The flower creates a contrast.
               Hence they crucify Jesus and poison Socrates and kill Mansur. And then they worship. The same
           people who kill Jesus will worship him. They will even worship the cross, because Jesus died on the
           cross. And these are the same people. The murderers and the worshipers are not different. The
           enemies and the believers are not different. These are the same people -- the same human mind and
           the same human stupidity.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yes, it is a fiction that I am creating here, but it is alive. That is the difference. While I am here,
           the myth is an alive bridge; you can pass through it towards the unknown.

               The questioner has asked: "What do you mean by 'the way of religion'? I have always been so
           strongly against religion that I cannot imagine what it means." True. If you are against religion, how
           can you understand it? If you are FOR religion, then too you cannot understand it. The people who
           are for and against can never understand because they have decided a priori -- without experiencing
           they have decided. They are prejudiced.

                If you have decided God exists, you will never be able to know him. If you have decided God
           does not exist, how can you know him?
                Be more vulnerable. Don't be so prejudiced, don't decide. Experience, and let experience be
           decisive. Never decide before the experience -- never, never. Otherwise you will always be
           surrounded by your prejudice and your prejudice will become a screen. And that won't allow you to
           see that which is.
           "The way of religion" is the way of truth, the way of nature. The word "religion" comes from a root
           which means "to tie you together" -- RELIGARE. Ordinarily you have fallen apart from existence.
           You have forgotten that you are not in rhythm with existence. You have started moving on your
           own. You have lost contact with the real. Yon have started living in your imagination. That is what I
           call the lie. You have started living a private life; you are no longer living an existential life. You
           have become "idiots." The word "idiot" is beautiful; it comes from a root which means "one who
           lives a private life." One who has his own idiom of life, that is the idiot. The world is going one way
           and you are going another: then you are an idiot. The whole existence moving in one way and you
           have your own private goal!
                A man who is after money is an idiot, because the sun is not after money, the moon is not after
           money, trees are not after money, animals are not after money -- rivers, mountains, they are not so
           idiotic. The whole existence lives without money and a man is mad after money. He suffers from
           idiocy, the greatest disease there is: he has a private goal. If someday he comes to face God and God
           asks him, "What were you seeking?" and he says, "Money," God will not be able to understand what
           he means by "money." He may not ever have heard the word "money." It will be very difficult to
           explain to him. Some great economist maybe -- Adam Smith or Ricardo or Galbraith or somebody --
           may be able to explain, but I'm suspicious. God will not be able to understand what money is. The
           whole existence lives without money. Man has created an idiocy.
                Or you say, "I was after political power." God will not be able to understand. It will be very
           difficult to explain it to him, that you wanted to become a minister or a prime minister or a president.
           He will ask, "For what? Why in the first place should one ever be mad after power? And I have
           given you all the power that you need. And I have given you all the possibilities to be blissful that
           you need. For what were you wasting these opportunities, life?... and sacrificing everything for some
           foolish, stupid thing -- that you would like to sit on a throne?" Just think of your great emperors.
           How stupid and foolish. But man has created his idiocies.
           "The way of religion" means not to be idiotic -- don't have any private goal. The universal goal is
           enough. Be in tune with it, be together with it. Don't fight it; flow with it. Wherever the whole is
           going, move with it, and you will not have any worry and you will not have any anguish and you will
           not be split and will not be torn apart. Religion means that which puts you together. You are not torn
           apart, you are not falling in fragments; you become integrated.
                Religion is the science of how to find the forgotten language of ecstasy. Whenever you are in
           tune with existence, there is ecstasy, there is bliss, there is benediction.
                It happens to you too. You may not be aware. Sometimes, looking at the trees, and the greenery
           fills you: suddenly you are in tune with the trees. You are no longer the observer and the trees are no
           longer the observed; you are not separate. Something bridges you; suddenly there is a contact, a
           connectedness, a link. Your mind stops chattering, you are as silent as the tree. You start feeling.
           Your heart throbs with a new vitality and a new vibe... and there is bliss. And you are so fulfilled and
           so contented.
                The tree has not given you anything. The tree is very poor in that way. What can a tree give to a
           human being? It cannot give you money, it cannot give you power. It cannot give anything that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           would like to have, but suddenly, just sitting by the side of the tree, leaning against it, feeling it,
           feeling its shape arising in it, the fragrance that subtly surrounds it; and you were lost, you were
           ecstatic. You were in tune. By being in tune with the tree, you became in tune with the universe.
               Sometime sitting by the side of the river and watching it... and everything becomes quiet and
           calm. Not that you do something to become quiet and calm. Not that you do something to become
           quiet and calm. Nobody can do anything. And if you do, it is absurd. You can sit still like a Buddha
           statue; that is not going to help.
               A disciple came to Bokuju, and to impress him, he sat like Buddha. Bokuju came and the disciple
           was absolutely still, with closed eyes. Bokuju laughed loudly and hit him hard on the head, and he
           said, "Get up, you fool! We already have too many Buddhas in this temple! Get out from here! Can't
           you see?" Bokuju used to live in a temple which had one thousand Buddha statues; he said, "Can't
           you see? One thousand Buddhas are here, and you also want to become a Buddha?"
               The disciple was very much worried. He wanted to impress the Master; that "I am a great
           meditator." And Bokuju said, "Drop all this rubbish. Be alive. Don't pretend, and don't enforce." Yes,
           one day one sits like Buddha, but that is nothing of your doing. It comes, it happens; it is not a doing
           at all.
               Listening to the sound of water or looking at the floating clouds in the sky, suddenly it is there. It
           envelops you. You have fallen in tune with existence.
               These rare moments by and by make you aware of why you are miserable. You are miserable
           because you are not with the existence. Somehow you are struggling against it. You are miserable
           because you are not surrendered to the whole. The part is trying to conquer the whole. See the
           foolishness of it.
               Even a man like Bertrand Russell has written a book, "Conquest of Nature." "Conquest"? You
           are trying to conquer nature? Who are you? It is as if one of my fingers tries to conquer me. We are
           part of nature. We ARE nature, expressions of the same nature, of the same vastness. How can we
           conquer it? How can the part conquer the whole? The part will only be unhappy if it tries to conquer
           the whole, because defeat is certain -- absolutely certain. Frustration is certain -- absolutely certain.
           The part will be miserable. You are miserable, in anguish, in anxiety, in tension, getting almost
           neurotic because you are trying to conquer nature.
               The East has a totally different message. Religion is the Eastern message. All the great religions
           were born in the East. The West has not given birth to a single religion; it has given birth to great
           science, great scientific endeavor, but not to religion. Science is a human, idiotic effort to conquer
           nature. Religion is to fall in tune with nature. Call it religion, call it TAO, call it DHARMA; it means
           the same: to fall in tune with nature.
               But it will be difficult if you have certain ideas implanted in you for or against. A Christian
           cannot be a religious man, neither can a Hindu be, nor a communist. A theist cannot be religious, an
           atheist cannot be religious; they are already full of ideas. They have already decided, without
           experiencing anything.
               Here I am not trying to convince you about any ideology. I am trying to help you to drop all
           ideology so you become empty, pure, virgin, your eyes become unclouded and you attain to a clarity.
           In that clarity you will understand what religion is. Not through books, not through Bibles and the
           Koran and the Vedas, no, but through clarity. When the part looks at the whole and understands "I
           am part of this whole" and feels happy -- "This vastness is my vastness; I am not separate from it; I
           am one with it" -- and starts dancing in that oneness, religion is born. Religion is not an ideology; it
           is an experience.
           "But, anyhow, I suppose it is the way of total aloneness." Please, don't start supposing. Religion is
           not a supposition. It is not "if," "but," no. Either you know it or you don't know it. Please, don't
           suppose. How can you suppose? "But, anyhow I suppose.... " Why? How can you suppose? If you
           don't know, you don't know. Supposition gives you a notion of false knowledge -- AS IF you know.
               Stop supposing. Just know that you don't know, and remain in that pure ignorance. If you can
           stay in your ignorance -- which needs great courage.... Knowledge is cheap. To remain in ignorance
           is a very courageous act. There are very rare people who can remain ignorant, without supposing
           anything, because the mind hankers to cling to something, suppose something. It supposes "There is
           God" -- okay. If it supposes "There is not God," then it insists that there is no God -- then you cling
           to the "no God." Even a negative concept will do, but no concept? Then you feel empty, so you fill
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           up, you stuff yourself with suppositions.
                No, then you will never know what truth is. Truth is not a supposition. When you don't suppose
           anything, truth arises.
                Whatsoever you suppose will be your supposition. It will reflect your mind -- and you don't
           know. Can't you see the simple fact of it that your supposition will become a China wall? How can
           you suppose? Just see the fact that "I don't know."
                Be an agnostic, and that is the sure step towards religion. Agnosticism is the base of all religion.
           A religious person is always agnostic. He says, "I don't know, this way or that, and I am not so stupid
           as to suppose anything. I will remain in my ignorance and I will look around. If I come across an
           experience, I should like to remain open, vulnerable, so nothing is distorted."
           "But, anyhow, I suppose it is the way of total aloneness." Whatsoever you suppose will be wrong.
           Even the word "aloneness" will be wrong because in fact you mean LONELINESS. You don't mean
           aloneness, you cannot. Aloneness is a totally different thing from loneliness. Loneliness is when you
           miss the other; aloneness is when you enjoy yourself. These are totally different things.
                Loneliness is a misery; aloneness is ecstatic. When you are so happy with yourself, when you are
           in love with yourself, when your own aloneness fills you tremendously like a presence, then... then it
           is aloneness. When you are empty, blank, dark, and you are missing the other and you want
           somehow to stuff yourself with something.... When people are left alone, they will go to the fridge
           and start eating something, or they will put on the tv or the radio, or they will start reading the same
           newspaper that they have read three times since the morning -- again they will start looking at it. Or
           they will start thinking where to go -- to go to see a movie, a concert, or just go shopping; but DO
           something.
                Loneliness is intolerable -- it is a suffering, it is a hell. Aloneness is a beauty. It is such a pristine
           moment of tremendous happiness that nothing is comparable to it. In this whole life, there is nothing
           comparable to the beauty and blessedness of aloneness.
                When you are alone you are a god. When you are lonely you are just nothing, just empty, hollow,
           a black hole.
                That's why you say, "But, anyhow, I suppose it is the way of total aloneness." You don't know
           what aloneness is, and you don't know what totality is. Because if you know totality, you have
           known God. Totality is what God is all about. The sum total of existence is what God is. We can
           drop the word "God." Call it "totality," that will do -- and will do even better than the word "God"
           because "God" has been used so much by wrong people. Politicians, priests, they all talk about
           "God."
           "God" has passed through so many wrong lips, it is almost a dirty word. "Totality" is better -- the
           total. But you don't know what "total" is. You know only yourself -- the ego. The ego is against the
           total, afraid of the total. Surrender brings you to totality, to an experience.
                And remember -- "And this makes me a little uneasy"that's why I say you cannot suppose
           aloneness, because aloneness never makes anybody uneasy. It makes one so ecstatically happy that
           you cannot imagine, you have not even dreamed about it. A Buddha is alone, a Mahavir is alone, a
           Kabir is alone -- and they are alone even when they are in the crowd. You cannot destroy their
           aloneness. Their aloneness is a crystallized phenomenon.
                Try to understand this. You are born alone; you die alone. These two are the greatest moments in
           life: birth and death. You are born alone; you die alone. The greatest moments of life -- the
           beginning and the end -- are in aloneness. When you meditate you again become alone. That's why
           meditation is both -- a death and a birth. You die to the past and you are born to the new, to the
           unknown.
                Even in love, when you think you are together, you are not together. There are two alonenesses.
           In real love nothing is lost. When two lovers are sitting -- if they are really lovers and they don't try
           to possess each other and they don't try to dominate each other, because that is not love; that is the
           way of hatred, the way of violence -- if they love and if the love is coming out of their aloneness,
           you will see two beautiful alonenesses together. They are like two Himalayan peaks, high in the sky,
           but separate. They don't interfere. In fact deep love only reveals your pure aloneness to you.
                All that is true and all that is real will always bring you to aloneness. But you are afraid and you
           say it makes you a little uneasy.
                There are a few things which can only be done alone. Love, prayer, life, death, aesthetic
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           experiences, blissful moments -- they all come when you are alone. When you are in love you think
           you are with somebody. Maybe the somebody is just reflecting your aloneness, the somebody is just
           a mirror in which your aloneness is reflected But the deeper you move in love, the deeper you know
           that even your lover cannot penetrate there. Your aloneness is absolute -- and it is good that it is so;
           otherwise you will be a public thing. Then you will not have any innermost core where you can be
           alone. Then you can be violated. But your aloneness is absolute; nobody can violate it.
               You can kill me, but you cannot destroy my aloneness. That is my freedom. You can put me in a
           bondage, but you cannot put my aloneness in a bondage. Even in your jail I will be alone.
           Aloneness.is my intrinsic nature. It cannot be destroyed; nobody can take it away.
               Let me tell you one anecdote so that it doesn't become too serious.

               Sue met her friend Alice on the street one afternoon and noticed that Alice was well along the
           road of pregnancy.
           "You know," Sue said, "I would have given anything to have a baby, but I guess it is hopeless."
           "I know just how you feel," Alice said. "My husband was that way too. But everything is fine now;
           in fact I am eight months pregnant."
           "What did you do?"
           "I went to a faith healer."
           "Oh, we tried that," Sue said. "My husband and I went there for six months."
           "Don't be silly," Alice told her. "Go alone."

              There are a few things for which one should go alone. Meditation is one of those things, God is
           one of those things, death is one of those things; one should go alone.
              But the questioner is uneasy because it is only a supposition. A supposition is a supposition; it
           doesn't help to understand. It hinders.

           "Since you gave me sannyas, I feel like I am in an abyss." Exactly right. That's what sannyas is.
           Sannyas is nothing but throwing you into your inner abyss, taking away everything that you cling to,
           taking away all that you possess, taking away your very possessiveness. Sannyas is a VIA
           NEGATIVA. I go on taking things away from you -- your thinking, your ideology, your religion,
           your church, your Bible, your Koran. I go on taking away. By and by I will leave you alone;
           everything is taken away from you. Now you will feel as if you are in an abyss, but this abyss is just
           a transitory period.
                You feel like you are in an abyss because now you cannot cling to anything. Relax, rest in this
           abyss... and suddenly the whole gestalt changes. Then you know that this abyss is your nature and
           there is no need to cling to anything. This is how you are. This inner silence is your nature. This
           inner thoughtlessness is your nature. This aloneness is nothing to be afraid of; this aloneness has to
           be tasted, chewed well, digested. And you will see, out of this aloneness bliss arises, bliss flowers.
                But there will be a transitory period when you will not be able to cling and you will not be able
           to know what is going to happen and you will be just in between. Christian mystics have named
           those days rightly; they call them "the dark night of the soul." The old light has disappeared and the
           new has not arisen yet. It is almost like you come from the outside -- it is hot, burning sun and your
           eyes are dazzled -- you come into your room and you cannot see anything; it seems almost dark. You
           sit and you rest for a while; and by and by it is no longer dark. Your eyes become settled. Your focus
           changes and you can see now; you are no longer dazzled by the hot sun.
                For lives together you have been outside in the hot sun. You have lived a miserable life -- again
           and again the same miserable life. You have become attuned to it. When you come to your inner
           being, you see only darkness, abyss, emptiness. You don't see anything. You become afraid.
                Rest a little while, let your eyes be settled, and you will be able to see a light arising -- a light
           with no heat, a flame without heat, a light which is cool. When you have started feeling it, then you
           know that sannyas throws you into an abyss just to bring you to an enlightened state of being. That
           abyss is the price we pay.


              IN YOUR LECTURES YOU TALK ABOUT GURDJIEFF, RAMAN, RAMAKRISHNA, BASHO, AND
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OTHERS WHO ARE PHYSICALLY NOT ALIVE, BUT WHY DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT THE
              ENLIGHTENED PERSONS WHO ARE PHYSICALLY ALIVE TODAY?


              The question is from Swami Yoga Chinmaya. He has the knack of asking foolish questions.
              Now, if there is some enlightened person alive, he can talk for himself. Why should I talk for
           him? So I talk about the dead people because they cannot talk themselves. This is so simple.


              THERE WAS A LITTLE POLAR BEAR WHO ASKED HIS MOTHER, " WAS MY DADDY ALSO A
              POLAR BEAR?"     "OF COURSE YOUR DADDY WAS A POLAR BEAR."
              "BUT," GOES ON THE LITTLE ONE AFTER A WHILE, "MOMMY, JUST TELL ME, WAS MY
              GRANDFATHER ALSO A POLAR BEAR?"
              " YES, HE WAS ALSO A POLAR BEAR."
              TIME GOES BY AND THE LITTLE ONE KEEPS ASKING HIS MOTHER, "BUT WHAT ABOUT MY
              GREAT-GRANDFATHER? WAS HE A POLAR BEAR AS WELL?"
              " YES, HE WAS. BUT WHY ARE YOU ASKING?"
              "BECAUSE I AM FREEZING."

              I WAS TOLD MY FATHER WAS A POLAR BEAR, I WAS TOLD MY GRANDFATHER WAS A POLAR
              BEAR, I WAS TOLD MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS A POLAR BEAR; BUT I AM FREEZING.
              HOW CAN I CHANGE THIS, OSHO?


               I happen to know your father, and I happen to know your grandfather, and I happen to know your
           great-grandfather too; and they were also freezing. And their mothers were telling the same story to
           them! -- that your father was a polar bear and your grandfather was a polar bear and your
           great-grandfather was a polar bear.
               If you are freezing, you are freezing. These stories won't help. This simply proves that even polar
           bears freeze. Look at the reality and don't move into traditions and don't go into the past. If you are
           freezing, you are freezing. And this is not a consolation at all -- that you are a polar bear.
               These consolations have been given to humanity. When you are dying, you are dying; somebody
           comes and says, "Don't be afraid; the soul is immortal." Now, you are dying.
               I have heard about a Jew who fell on a road and was dying; it was a heart attack. A crowd
           gathered, and they looked for some religious people, some religious person, some priest, because the
           man was dying. A Catholic priest came out, not knowing who the person was. He went close to the
           dying man and said, "Do you believe? Do you declare that you believe in the Trinity -- God the
           Father and the Holy Ghost and the Son Jesus Christ?"
               The dying Jew opened his eyes and he said, "I am dying, and he is talking in riddles. Now what
           am I to do with this trinity? I am dying. What nonsense are you talking about?"
               A man is dying and you console him that the soul is immortal. These consolations are of no help.
           Somebody is in misery and you tell him, "Don't be miserable. It is just psychological." How does it
           help? You make him even more miserable These theories are not of much help. They have been
           invented to console, to dieceive.
               If you are freezing, you are freezing. Rather than asking whether your father was a polar bear, do
           some exercise. Jump, jog, or do Dynamic Meditation; and you won't freeze, I promise you. Forget all
           about your father and grandfather and great-grandfather. Just listen to your reality. If you are
           freezing, then do something. And something can always be done. But this is no way; you are on a
           wrong track. You can go on asking and asking, and of course the poor mother goes on consoling
           you.
               The question is beautiful, very meaningful, has tremendous import. This is how humanity is
           suffering. Listen to suffering. Look into the problem and don't try to find any solutions outside the
           problem. Look directly into the problem and you will always find the solution there. Look into the
           question; don't ask for the answer.
               For example, you can go on asking, "Who am I?" You can go to the Christian and he will say,
           "You are a son of God, and God loves you very much." And you will be puzzled, because how can
           God love you?
               A priest told Mulla Nasrudin, "God loves you very much."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "How can he love me? He does not even know me."
               And the priest said, "That's why he can love you. We know you. We cannot love you -- it is too
           difficult."
               Or you go to the Hindus and ask, and they say, "You are God himself." Not the son of God; you
           are God himself. But still you have your headache and your migraine and you are very much puzzled
           at how the God can have a migraine... and it doesn't solve the problem.
               If you want to ask, "Who am I?" don't go to anybody. Sit silently and ask deeper into your own
           being. Let the question resound. Not verbally. Existentially, let the question be there like an arrow
           piercing your heart: "Who am I?" And go with the question.
               And don't be in a hurry to answer it, because if you answer it, that answer must have come from
           somebody else -- some priest, some politician, some tradition. Don't answer from your memory,
           because your memory is all borrowed. Your memory is just like a computer, very dead. Your
           memory has nothing to do with knowing. It has been fed into you. So when you ask, "Who am I?"
           and your memory says, "You are a great soul," watch out. Don't fall into the trap. You just discard all
           this rubbish; it is all rot. Just go on asking, "Who am I?... Who am I?... Who am I?..." and one day
           you will see, the question too has disappeared. There is only a thirst left -- "Who am I?" Not the
           question, really, but a thirst -- your whole being throbbing with the thirst -- "Who am I?"
               And one day you will see, not even you are there: there is only thirst. And in that intense,
           passionate state of your being, suddenly you will realize something has exploded. Suddenly you
           have come face to face with yourself and you know who you are.
               There is no way to ask your father, "Who am I?" He does not know himself who he is. There is
           no way to ask your grandfather or great-grandfather. Don't ask! Don't ask the mother, don't ask the
           society, don't ask the culture, don't ask the civilization. Ask your own innermost core. If you really
           want to come to know the answer, go inwards; and from that inward experience, change happens.
               You ask, "How can I change this?" You cannot change it. First you have to face your reality, and
           that very encounter will change you.

               A reporter was trying to get a human-interest story out of an old, old man at a state-supported
           home for the aged.
           "Pop," asked the brash reporter, "how would you feel if you suddenly got a letter telling you that a
           forgotten relative had left you five million dollars?"
           "Son," came the answer slowly, "I would still be ninety-four years old."

               Do you get it? The old man is saying, "I am ninety-four years old. Even if I get five million
           dollars, what am I supposed to do with it? I will still be ninety-four years old."
               What Buddha says, what Mahavir says, what Christ says, iS of no help to you. You are freezing
           -- you are still ninety-four years old. Even if the whole knowledge of the world is poured into your
           head, it is not going to help: you are still freezing -- you are still ninety-four years old. Unless some
           experience arises in you, some vital experience that transforms your being and you become young
           again, alive again, nothing is of any value.
               So don't ask others. That is the first lesson to be learned. Ask yourself. And then too remember --
           because others have put answers there already, so those answers will be coming -- avoid those
           answers. The question is yours, so nobody else's answer can be of any help. The question is yours;
           the answer has to be yours too.
               Buddha has drunk and he is satisfied. Jesus has drunk and he is ecstatic. I have drunk, but how is
           that going to help YOUR thirst? You will have to drink yourself.
               It happened, a great Sufi mystic was asked by an emperor to come to his court and pray for them.
           The mystic came, but he refused to pray. He said, "It is impossible. How can I pray for you?" Said
           the mystic, "There are a few things one has to do oneself. For example, if you want to make love to a
           woman, you have to make it yourself. I cannot do it for you on your behalf. Or if you have to blow
           your nose, you have to blow it yourself. I cannot blow my nose on your behalf; that won't be of any
           help. And so is prayer. How can I pray for you? You pray. I can pray for myself." And he closed his
           eyes and moved into great prayer.
               That's what I can do. For me the problem has disappeared, but it has not disappeared by anybody
           else's answer. I have not asked anybody. In fact the whole effort has been to drop all the answers that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           others have given -- very generously.
                People go on giving you advice. They are very generous in their advice. They may not be
           generous in anything else, but in advice they are very generous, great people. Whether you ask or not
           they go on giving advice. Advice is the only thing that is given so much and that is never taken.
           Nobody takes it.
                I have heard about two bums sitting under a tree, and one was saying, "I landed into this state
           because I never listened to anybody's advice."
                And the other said, "Brother,I landed here because I followed everybody's advice."
           The journey has to be your own.
                You are freezing, I know. You are miserable, I know. Life is hard, I know. And I have no
           consolation for you. And I don't believe in consoling you, because all consolation becomes a
           postponement. The mother says to the child bear, "Yes, your father was a polar bear," and for a little
           while he tries not to freeze because polar bears are not supposed to freeze. But it doesn't help. Again
           he asks, "Mother, was my grandfather also a polar bear?" He is trying to know, "Was there
           something in my heritage that had gone wrong; that's why I am freezing?" And the mother says,
           "Yes, your grandfather was also a polar bear." Again he tries to postpone freezing, but you cannot
           postpone it. You can delay a little; again it is there.
                Reality cannot be avoided. Theorizations are of no help at all. Forget theories and listen to the
           fact. You are miserable? Then misery has to be looked into. You are angry? That anger has to be
           looked into. You feel sexual? Then forget what others say about it; just look into it yourself. It is
           your life, and you have to live it. Don't borrow. Never be secondhand. God loves people who are
           firsthand. He has never been known to love carbon copies. You just be firsthand, be original, be
           unique, be individual, be yourself, and look into your problems.
                And there is only one thing I can say to you: that in your problem, there is hidden the solution.
           The problem is just a seed. If you go into it deeply, the solution will sprout out of it. Your ignorance
           is the seed. If you go deeply into it, knowledge will flower out of it. Your shivering, your freezing, is
           the problem. Go into it, and warmth will arise out of it.
                In fact all is given to you -- question and answer both, the problem and the solution both,
           ignorance and knowledge both. You just have to look inwards.


              I HAVE HEARD, A MAN IN AN ORANGE ROBE ENTERED THE VRINDAVAN JUICE BAR, BARGED
              UP TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE, AND DEMANDED TEA AND CAKE. HE PAID WITH A
              HUNDRED-RUPEE NOTE AND COMPLAINED ABOUT THE COST AND THE LONG LINEUP.
              AFTER CHOOSING THE BIGGEST PIECE OF CAKE AND THE BIGGEST CUP, HE TOOK OVER
              AN OLD LADY'S SEAT AND PROCEEDED TO GOBBLE THE FOOD. A BYSTANDER, PUZZLED BY
              HIS BEHAVIOR, ASKED THE MEANING OF IT.
              "WHY," HE EXPLAINED, "OSHO SAID THAT ONLY A CRYSTALLIZED EGO CAN BE DROPPED."


               There is more possibility to misunderstand me than to understand me. And in misunderstanding,
           you will find much solace, much consolation.
               Just the other day, Mulla Nasrudin came to me, and he said, "Enough is enough -- I cannot trust
           you anymore."
               I said, "What happened, Nasrudin? You have been such a long-obedient disciple to me."
               He said, "Now it is too much. Just the other day I was at the racetrack. Somebody's change had
           fallen, so I was picking it up, and there comes a blind, or mad or drunk guy, and he saddles me as if I
           am a horse."
           So I said, "Why didn't you stand up?"
               He said, "But you have said accept everything, so I said Osho says accept totally. So I accept it
           and I try to see now what happens -- and the madman jumps on me."
               I was also intrigued; I said, "Then what did you do?"
               He said, "What can I do? I have to run -- and I come third in the race! Now this is too much! I
           cannot trust you anymore!"
               There is every possibility to misunderstand me and there is every possibility to find
           rationalizations. This is how the mind goes on being foolish, the mind goes on playing around,
           fooling around. It always finds ways to protect itself. If I say drop the ego, you say okay, and you try
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to drop it; and then the ego becomes your humbleness and you start moving around with your nose
           up, looking at everybody as if everybody is condemned to hell. And you have that look of "holier
           than thou" and "I am the most humble man around here." If I say the ego has to become big, only
           then it bursts, then you say, "Okay. That's what we have been always trying. Now you are also
           supporting it -- so far so good."
               When are you going to understand me? When you listen to me, always remember, your mind is
           there to corrupt it. Unless you are very, very watchful, your mind will pollute it. And mind is so
           cunning, it can always find a way out. And it is so clever, it can always make rationalizations look
           like reasons.


              DEAR OSHO, THERE ARE MORE AND MORE NON-MOMENTS, PERIODS OF NO TIME,
              ESPECIALLY WHEN TALKING WITH OTHERS, WHEN SUDDENLY I AM NOT TALKING
              ANYMORE, TALKING IS JUST HAPPENING: THERE IS A FLOW, A SENSE OF POWER AND
              WHOLENESS, HANDS MOVE IN PERFECT SYNCHRONIZATION WITH THOUGHT FEELINGS,
              SPACE EXPANDS, AND THERE IS OPENNESS WITH NO SENSE OF SEPARATION -- AND NO "I"
              THAT IS SEPARATE.
              THE FRONT OF THE BODY SEEMS TO BE NONEXISTENT AND I AM TALKING WITH MYSELF.
              ARE THESE THE HERE-AND-NOW-I MOMENTS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, OR IS THERE
              MORE, OR IS IT A MATTER OF MORE MORE,FREQUENTLY?

              The question is from Amit Prem.

               These are the moments I am talking about, but Amit Prem is not yet certain about them; hence
           the question. There is still a little doubt, and because of that doubt, those moments are not
           penetrating deep enough to reach to his very core of being. He is still suspicious, still thinking
           whether they are or not. That too is natural. The whole conditioning of the mind will stand like a
           barrier. Even at the last moment it will try to create suspicion, to make you ambiguous, to make you
           unclear, confused. The mind follows you to the very last moment, and it goes on dragging you
           backwards. It is its old habit; it is what the mind has been trained for. I am not condemning it; I am
           just stating a fact.
           It happened:

              An inveterate pickpocket finally breathed his last and prostrated himself before St. Peter, craving
           admission through the Pearly Gates.
              St. Peter heard him through courteously, but then decreed, "It is hell for you, my boy. And
           meanwhile, kindly give me back my watch."

               Now, a pickpocket is a pickpocket. Even at the gates of heaven, while Peter is talking, why not
           snatch away his watch?
               Mind is a habit because mind is a mechanism. So when these moments of here-now start
           penetrating your being, the mind stands on guard and it says, "Watch, you may be in a delusion. Or
           you may be hallucinating. Or maybe this guy Osho has hypnotized you" -- or something. Suspicion.
               Now Amit Prem has to drop this doubting. Nothing else is needed.
               He asks, "Are these the here-and-now moments?" Yes, they are.
               And that's what a Master exists for: to help you in those moments when you become suspicious.
           when you lose clarity, to give you support.
               I say to you, yes, these are the moments; but if you become entangled with your suspicion, you
           will lose them. They are just happening; it is just the beginning. If suspicion comes in that will be the
           end of the beginning; then they will die. They are very fragile right now. You should water them
           with trust. Not with doubt -- doubt will prove to be a poison.
               So don't listen to the mind. That is what sannyas is all about. Why do I insist so much for
           sannyas? So that when these moments start happening, you can trust me. You have always trusted
           your mind. It is not worth it, but you have trusted it. The Master is a device, so there is an
           alternative: when there is any problem with the mind, you can choose the Master or the mind. These
           are the moments when the Master has to be listened to.
               Yes, I repeat it again: these are the right moments. But if you get suspicious, if you think about
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them, you will miss them.
               You are saying: "Are these the here-and-now moments... or is there more!" That again is the
           mind. The whole trick of the mind is the technique of more." The mind always says, "There must be
           more."If you have money, the mind says, "Have more money." If you have power, the mind says,
           "Have more power." If you are getting moments of meditation, the mind says, "There must be more."
           "More" is the technique of the mind to confuse you, to never allow you a moment of happiness. The
           "more" brings misery: "So there is more? So I am not getting enough." And misery enters. You have
           compared.
               Forget all about the "more." "More" is the trick of the mind; "more" is the agent of the mind.
               These are the moments. Don't think about the future; don't think about the past. If you think
           about the past, the mind will create doubt. If you think about the future, the mind will create
           ambition. These are the two tricks of the mind. Look at the past, it creates doubt. It says, "There have
           been other moments like this also, but where are they now? Once you had fallen in love with a
           woman, and how beautiful it was -- and then? Then all disappeared. Maybe these moments are also
           like that. You have fallen in love with this man and something is happening. It is the honeymoon,
           Amit Prem. The honeymoon cannot be permanent; the honeymoon will disappear."
               Amit Prem is a new sannyasin; not yet settled in sannyas, yet escaping and cannot escape, yet
           trying hard to figure out what is what and not able to figure it out. It is very difficult.
               You cannot figure out what I am doing here. My ways are so contradictory, it is impossible to
           figure it out. My ways are paradoxical. So I say one thing one moment and I contradict it
           immediately.
               He's still not settled. He has taken sannyas, but hypothetically: "Let us see what happens. Maybe
           there is something; maybe there is not. If there is not, then who can prevent you? You can move
           back." That's why this suspicion and unclarity and confusion.
               If you settle with me, then the past is dropped. It is difficult and hard to drop the past, but unless
           you drop the past, the mind will never allow you freedom. The mind is your past; the whole
           accumulated past is your mind. Drop the past, and these moments will penetrate to the very core.
           And you will not think about "more," because you think about more only when these moments have
           not penetrated to the core. When they have penetrated to the core, there is nothing more. And when
           there is nothing more, there is bliss and benediction.


               WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               I will not, because I cannot. And I cannot because nobody can. You have come a little late. Had
           you asked me the same question before I became enlightened, I had many answers. Now I have
           none. Now I am absolutely dumb about it.
               I can show you the path, how to become enlightened, but I cannot say what it is. I can hold your
           hand to the very door and push you in, but I don't know what is in.
               If you are courageous, come, follow me. If you are not courageous, escape as soon as possible,
           because if you hang around a little longer, it is dangerous. And I am telling you beforehand, so you
           can never make me responsible for it. Either escape as fast as possible and as far away as possible to
           be here is dangerous -- or take courage and hold my hand: I can take you in that state of
           enlightenment.
               But nothing can be said about it. It is indefinable, it is ineffable. It IS -- in fact only it is, nothing
           else exists -- but it is so vast, it cannot be confined to any explanation.




                                    Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                          Chapter #5
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                        Chapter title: There are no words to tell
           15 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612150
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins



I. 104. aisa lo nahin tai sa, lo


              O HOW MAY I EVER EXPRESS THAT SECRET WORD?
              O HOW CAN I SAY HE IS NOT LIKE THIS, AND HE IS LIKE THAT?
              IF I SAY THAT HE IS WITHIN ME, THE UNIVERSE IS ASHAMED.
              IF I SAY THAT HE IS WITHOUT ME, IT IS FALSEHOOD.
              HE MAKES THE INNER AND THE OUTER WORLDS TO BE INDIVISIBLY ONE;
              THE CONSCIOUS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS, BOTH ARE HIS FOOTSTOOLS.
              HE IS NEITHER MANIFEST NOR HIDDEN, HE IS NEITHER REVEALED NOR UNREVEALED:
              THERE ARE NO WORDS TO TELL THAT WHICH HE IS.

              II. 56. dariya ki lahar dariyao hai ji



              THE RIVER AND ITS WAVES ARE ONE SURF: WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
              RIVER AND ITS WAVES?
              WHEN THE WAVE RISES, IT IS THE WATER; AND WHEN IT FALLS, IT IS THE SAME WATER
              AGAIN. TELL ME, SIR, WHERE IS THE DISTINCTION?
              BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN NAMED AS WAVE, SHALL IT NO LONGER BE CONSIDERED AS
              WATER?



              WITHIN THE ABSOLUTE, THE WORLDS ARE BEING TOLD LIKE BEADS.
              LOOK UPON THAT ROSARY WITH THE EYES OF WISDOM.


               THE TRUTH IS KNOWN AND YET NOT KNOWN -- known in a sense and not known in
           another -- known because we are part of it, but not known because we are not separate from it. To
           know something, the knower has to be separate; and yet again, to know something really, how can
           you know it if you are separate? This is the basic problem that faces the seeker of truth. We are one
           with it, there is no space between us and the truth, so we cannot become the knower. We cannot
           separate the known from the knower -- there is no way to separate -- and knowledge exists only
           when the knower and known are separate.
               Knowledge is a bridge between the object and the subject. If they are not separate, the bridge
           cannot exist. So the first thing to be remembered: truth is not known in the ordinary sense, cannot be
           known in the ordinary sense.
               Yet there is a knowing of sorts -- a totally different type of knowing, of a totally different quality.
           The knowing is more like love than knowledge. You know a woman or a man when you are deep in
           love. When your boundaries meet and mingle and merge, when you are no longer separate, when you
           cannot say where you end and where your woman starts, when there are no fences and no defenses,
           when simply you are overlapping, overflowing into each other -- the division has disappeared and
           you have become indivisible -- there is a sort of knowing: you know. Before it, all that you used to
           think of as knowledge was just illusory.
               But can you say now that you know? Now there is no one separate who can claim to be the
           knower. This is the problem. Truth is known, but in such a way that you cannot claim knowledge.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Truth is known in such a way that by knowing it the mystery does not disappear; in fact it becomes
           very, very deep, infinitely deep, ultimately deep. By knowing the truth, nothing is solved. In fact for
           the first time you are facing the insoluble. This is the paradox, the dilemma.
               If you understand this dilemma, then you will be able to follow what Kabir is trying to say.
               Let us go into it a little more. All knowledge is illusory; we only think that we know. What do
           we mean when we say we know? When you say, "I know what this tree is," what do you mean? It is
           a pine tree or an old oak or something else. What do you know? You know a label: it is a "pine" or
           an "oak" or an "ashoka." You know a name. All that your knowledge consists of is that you know the
           label. Forget the label and the unknown is there. All knowledge consists of only names. Drop the
           label and suddenly the unknown is there.
               But we live by naming things; it gives us a false sense of security. Otherwise everybody is a
           stranger, and it will be too difficult to live with strangers. It will be so difficult to trust strangers.
           Mind immediately jumps upon anything that comes, labels it, and feels good. Finished. This man is a
           "good" man, and this man is a "sinner" -- you have labeled.
               But can't you observe a simple reality that the saint can become the sinner the next moment, and
           the sinner can become the saint? So what do you know? The murderer can become a mahatma and
           the mahatma can become a murderer. So when you say this man is "good," what are you saying? Do
           you know this man, because this good man can prove bad any moment? And you say another man is
           "bad," and he can prove the holiest of men any moment. So what do you know? By labeling, by
           naming, you have not known anything. The reality remains unexplained, mysterious.
               You say, "This woman is my wife," or "This man is my husband." What do you know? Just
           labeling a person "my husband," have you known something? You are just in a deception. You have
           created an illusion of knowledge.
               But the mind wants this illusion very much. It feels at ease. With this illusory knowledge
           surrounding you, you feel at home. Mind lives in lies -- old or new, but mind lives in lies.
           I have heard:

                When Herbert Wise, the chess champion, returned to the freshwater college he had attended in
           his youth, the prexy suggested that he have a look at the dormitory room he had occupied as a
           student. The lad who was living there at the time unfortunately had chosen this evening to smuggle
           in a beautiful young coed to help him with his history -- a gross infraction of rules. When he heard
           the president and Mr. Wise in the hall, he hid the girl hastily in the clothes closet.
                Wise looked at the familiar old room, sighed, and remarked, "Same old desk, same old chairs."
           Then he opened the closet door, saw the flustered coed, and added softly, "And the same old girl."
           "It is my sister, sir," stammered the young man.
           "And the same old lie!" chortled Wise.

               It continues that way -- the same old lies. Mind lives through lies, mind feeds on lies. Mind
           cannot encounter truth. All knowledge is of the mind, so all knowledge is bound to be illusory. All
           knowledge is maya, it is not real. It is a pseudo coin invented by the mind to fill the gap; otherwise
           you will feel very, very ignorant and stupid, otherwise you will feel you don't know anything. It will
           be difficult for you to stand, struggle in life. Mind says, "Forget all about ignorance. Knowledge is
           possible. It is simple: you just cram in a few facts -- labels, names -- get acquainted with more
           information, accumulate information, go to the library, and become knowledgeable.
               Knowledgeableness is not knowledge, and all your knowledge is nothing but knowledgeableness.
           You have gathered information from without -- from tradition, from the university, from the society,
           civilization. Somebody is a Mohammedan, you say, and somebody is a Christian, you say; and then
           you have figured out who he is. Just by calling a man "Christian" or calling him a "communist," have
           you known him? Have you known anything about him? But you have a feeling that you know now --
           this man is a "communist," dangerous; and this man is a "Christian," very good.
               This stupid effort to drown your ignorance by a false knowledge is the only barrier between you
           and the reality, between you and the truth. And if you go on with these lies, believing in them, you
           will never come across truth -- these lies won't allow you. These lies will function as barriers.
           I have heard:
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Once Mulla Nasrudin lived next to a lunatic asylum. One of his regular afternoon naps on the
           lawn was rudely interrupted when a beautiful young lady, completely without clothes, came bursting
           through the hedge, hotly pursued by three interns dressed in white. The old Mulla was just
           recovering from his astonishment when a fourth intern dashed into view carrying in each hand a
           heavy pailful of sand. The Mulla noticed that a considerable gallery was watching from the other
           side of the hedge, so he called out, "What is the idea of the fourth intern with the pails of sand?"
           "That is his handicap," was the explanation. "He caught her the last time."

               And even when I look at you, I see you with pails of lies -- searching truth. You are never going
           to catch it; your handicap is going to be too much. It is impossible. You have to drop all handicaps.
           Your mind is the root cause of all your handicaps. Your mind is a deceiver. It creates a magical
           world, a false world of knowledge.
               That is the meaning of the biblical story. Adam is turned out of the garden of Eden because he
           has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. It is a very significant parable. Because of knowledge
           Adam is turned out of heaven, Loses all his blessedness, loses all his innocence, happiness, loses
           immortality, becomes a mortal, becomes miserable. This is the original sin: knowledge is the original
           sin. Meditate on this parable as much as possible, again and again, from different angles. There is no
           other parable so significant in the whole history of religion.
               Adam's sin is knowledge. Then what is Jesus' virtue? It must be ignorance. Christians don't talk
           about it. It must be ignorance. That's what Jesus says when he says, "Unless you are like children
           you will not enter into the kingdom of my God." "Unless you are like children"? It means unless you
           are innocent, ignorant like children, unless you drop all your knowledge, you will not enter back,
           you will not be received back. Knowledge is the sin and ignorance is the virtue.
               To be ignorant and to know that all knowledge is false, is a radical revolution. Then you remain
           virgin. Then knowledge never corrupts you. Yes, knowledge is a corruption, it is a poison.
               All meditative techniques developed anywhere in the world are nothing but efforts to make you
           free of your knowledge, efforts to make you free of your mind. Meditation means to create a state of
           no-mind. A state of no-mind will be a state of no-knowledge. A state of no-mind will be a state of
           tremendous ignorance -- primal ignorance. And ignorance is beautiful.
               When you don't know, you are not. When you know, you are. Knowledge begins to function as
           the ego. No-knowledge, and the ego cannot exist; it has no props, no support. It falls, collapses,
           disappears. And in that state of no-mind, no-ego -- no-YOU -- something happens, which is more
           like love. You flow into existence and the existence starts flowing into you. You are no longer
           separate from the existence. The drop has fallen into the ocean, and the ocean has fallen into the
           drop.
               This is what is called wisdom. Knowledge is not wisdom. To know "I don't know anything" is
           wisdom.
               That is the meaning of the oracle of Delphi's declaration. Somebody asked, "Who is the greatest
           wise man of the world?" and the oracle said, "Socrates." The person went to Socrates and told him,
           "Have you heard it or not? The oracle of the temple has said that you are the wisest man in the
           world."
               Socrates is reported to have laughed and said, "You go back. There must have been some
           mistake because just today, this morning, it has happened to me that I don't know anything. How can
           it be? If you had come yesterday I would have believed you, because I used to think that I know, but
           not now. This morning -- this very morning -- something tremendous has happened to me: all
           knowledge has appeared as futile. I am awakened. The sleep of knowledge is no longer there; I am
           no longer dreaming. And now I know only one thing for certain: that I don't know anything.
           "You go back and tell the oracle that something must have gone wrong. The oracle has always been
           right and true, I know, but this time the oracle has committed an error. You go and put things right.
           And it is me, Socrates himself, saying that I am the most ignorant man of the world. How can the
           oracle say I am the most wise? No, it is not possible."
               The man was puzzled, he could not believe it, but he went to the oracle and said, "There must
           have been some mistake, sir, because Socrates denies it. He says, 'I know only one thing: that I don't
           know anything.'"
               And the oracle said, "That's why we have declared that he is the greatest wise man of the world.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           That's why! Precisely that's why we have declared it! Go and tell him. If you had asked yesterday,
           we would not have said so. He was as foolish as anybody else. Now he is not a fool at all -- he is not
           fooled by knowledge. He has awakened."
               Knowing that you don't know, you really become a knower. That is wisdom. Wisdom is not
           knowledge. Wisdom is awareness.

              O HOW MAY I EVER EXPRESS THAT SECRET WORD?


                And when you have known in this way, not the way of knowledge but the way of wisdom, the
           way of love -- not as a spectator, not as an observer from the outside but as a participant of existence
           -- you have danced with God hand in hand, step by step, and you have come to FEEL something....
                Yes, it is better to use the word "feeling" than "knowing".; it is closer to reality. Knowing is
           cerebral, feeling is total. When you feel, you don't feel only from the head, you don't feel only from
           your heart, you don't feel only from your guts; you feel from every fibre of your being. Feeling is
           total, feeling is orgasmic, feeling is organic.
                In a moment of feeling, you function as a totality. When you think, you function only as the
           head. When you are sentimental, you function only as the heart. Remember, sentimentality is not
           feeling, emotionalism is not feeling. Thinking, you are a head -- just a part pretending to be the
           whole. Of course it is false. This perspective is false. Emotional, sentimental, you are the heart --
           again another part pretending to be the whole, another servant pretending to be the master. Again it
           is false.
                Feeling is of the total -- of the body, of the mind, of the soul. Feeling knows no divisions; feeling
           is indivisible. When you feel, you function as a totality. When you function as a totality you function
           in tune with the totality. Let me repeat it: when you function as a totality you function in tune with
           the totality. When you function as a part you have fallen apart; you are no longer in tune with the
           total. When you are no longer in tune with the total, whatsoever you think you know is false,
           illusory. When you are in tune with the total, you know that you don't know anything. But even this
           "not knowing" is a knowing -- it is a feeling, it is a love affair with the whole.
           "O HOW MAY I EVER EXPRESS THAT SECRET WORD? " And when you come to know in this
           way, it is a secret knowing -- secret because it cannot be expressed, secret because language is
           inadequate for it, secret because it cannot be taught.
                Let me tell you one thing. In the East we have been making a distinction between a teacher and a
           Master. The teacher is one who teaches, of course; and the Master is one who does not teach. Then
           what does a Master do? A teacher teaches; he believes in teaching -- he believes that truth can be
           taught. Of course this is basically wrong. Truth cannot be reduced to language, truth cannot be
           reduced to concepts, so how can it be taught? Truth cannot be expressed, nobody has ever been able
           to express it, so how can it be taught? The teacher himself has not known yet. The teacher is as
           unaware as the taught. With the teacher, you become a student, so whatsoever he has accumulated,
           he goes on transferring it to you. It is a transference of information.
                A Master never teaches, but you can catch something from the Master. Truth cannot be taught
           but can be caught. The Master.... His very being, his very presence. His every gesture -- the way he
           looks at you, the way he walks. The WAY he talks -- not what he says, not the content -- but the way
           he talks. The way he keeps quiet, the way sometimes he falls silent. Something between the words
           and something between the lines.
                The teacher exists in the words; the Master exists between the words -- the gaps, the intervals.
           The teacher has something to teach you; the Master has something which if YOU want you can take
           but he cannot teach. If you are ready you can partake of it. If you are thirsty you can quench your
           thirst. It is not a communication. It is a communion. Between a teacher and a student there is
           communication; between a Master and the disciple there is a communion, a transference of energy.
           Something mysterious passes, and the disciple becomes pregnant with the unknown.
           "O HOW MAY I EVER EXPRESS THAT SECRET WORD?" Kabir is a Master, and he says, "How
           can I express, how can I ever express, that secret word? That which has happened in the innermost
           recesses of my being, how can I bring it to the surface? That which has happened in the silence of
           my soul, how can I reduce it and convert it and translate it into language?" Language is very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inadequate. Truth is vast, and language is very, very narrow. Truth is like the sky, and language is
           like a closed fist.
           Let me tell you:

               An elephant was frolicking happily in a swimming pool one day, when a mouse came along and
           implored him to come out of the water. The elephant ignored the mouse for a while, but it became so
           insistent that the elephant finally lumbered out of the pool to demand, "What on earth do you want?"
               The mouse squeaked, "I just wanted to see if you were wearing my bathing suit."

               Yes, to bring truth into words is as impossible -- more so. Words are very small, trivial,
           mundane, material, worldly. Words are invented by man. Truth is discovered -- never invented. It is
           already there. And truth is discovered when somebody becomes courageous enough to lose himself,
           to relax into a nonbeing, into a no-mind. Then truth is known. It is known only when you are so
           utterly silent that not even a ripple of thought arises in you.
               So how to reduce it into language, into words, into thoughts? It happens only when the thought is
           not present. The thought cannot convey it, and whatsoever the thought conveys is a distortion. That's
           why those who have known have always been in great inner difficulty. How to express it? How to
           say it? When Buddha became enlightened, for seven days he remained silent. He would not utter a
           single word. It was so difficult. It is so easy to talk when you don't know; it is so difficult to talk
           when you know. It is so easy to talk when you don't know, because you can say anything. When you
           know, it is almost impossible to talk. You can go around and around.
               That's what I go on doing. I go around and around, just in the hope that someday, by chance, by
           accident, you may become aware that whatsoever I want to convey to you cannot be conveyed in
           words. Listening to my words, you may fall silent. Listening to my music, you may become so
           attentive, so alert, that in that alertness truth may be able to penetrate you.
               But I don't believe that through my words you are going to know anything. It is not possible.
               That's why trust has been emphasized so much. If you listen to my words you will be listening to
           my logic, and truth cannot be put into words, so it cannot be made a logical proposition. No, it is not
           a syllogism. If you are in deep love with me, then there is a possibility. Then you will not be looking
           for the logic. Then you will be looking for something else. Then you will be looking sideways. Then
           you will be looking and waiting for silences.
               Truth is available here in my presence, but not in my words. If you listen only to my words, you
           have not listened to me at all. You have been deaf. If you have listened to my silence....
               Maybe my words can be helpful as a contrast to my silence. When you write on a blackboard
           with a white chalk it comes out clear and loud. Hmm? because the blackboard gives the contrast. If
           you write on a white wall with white chalk it will not be clear and loud. It will be lost. I can keep
           quiet here, I can sit silently here, but then you will not be able to understand my silence at all. It will
           be a writing with white chalk on a white wall.
               I talk to you -- I create a blackboard of words, of language, concept, logic, philosophy, religion --
           and then I leave just a few small gaps, silent gaps, intervals. Those gaps come very loudly. Against
           the black background of language, silence comes very clearly.
               Hence I speak. Hence Kabir speaks. Hence Buddha has to concede to speak after seven days.

               There was a Zen student under a Master to whom he was very much devoted. Each time he
           approached the Master, the latter waved his hand, saying, "Not yet, not yet." Some time passed. One
           evening he became desperate: "How can this be? I have no word of instruction which will lead me to
           the realization. The Master simply chases me, saying, 'Not yet, not yet.' What can I do? What do I
           have to think about it all?"
               He went on like this -- thinking, brooding, meditating -- in utter desperation, but tenaciously
           clinging to his object of inquiry and pondering it from every possible point of view, when all of a
           sudden something flashed on his mind and he realized at once what the Master wanted him to
           discover. The following morning he visited the Master, wishing to let him know what happened to
           him. But the Master seeing him come burst out, "You have it now, you have it now!"

              What happened? For years he was saying, "Not yet, not yet." Then one day the disciple comes,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and he has not even said a single word to the Master, and the Master says, "You have it now, you
           have it now."
                The day you will understand my silence and not my words, there will be no need for you to tell
           me that you have attained it. I will know it immediately; even before you have known it, I will know
           it. There is a very subtle relationship between the Master and the disciple. It is almost like a spiritual
           umbilical cord. The Master knows, and goes on saying, "Not yet, not yet. Don't say a single word. It
           is all foolish, whatsoever you have brought. It is all mind stuff, whatsoever you have brought. It has
           nothing to do with truth; it is still knowledge. Wait, not yet, don't say anything."
                In Zen the disciple meditates on a koan, on a Zen puzzle, and comes to the Master, brings a
           reply, what he has come to understand. The "Not yet, not yet" is for that, that you have not yet
           understood -- "Go back, meditate again." For example, the Zen Master will say, "Go and listen to the
           sound of one hand clapping. Listen to the sound of one hand clapping," and the disciple listens, and
           tries, and finds out, figures out what to answer, how to find the answer for this puzzle; and then he
           brings an answer. But the way you come, the quality of consciousness that you bring, the mind full
           of ideas and conclusions that you bring, is enough. Your presence is enough for the Master to feel,
           and he says, "Not yet, not yet." One day, suddenly, it has happened. It happens out of the blue, all of
           a sudden.
                In fact spiritual explosion is exactly an explosion. It is not a gradual process. You don't grow
           inch by inch. Either you are there or you are not there. Either you have known or you have not
           known. There is no in between, it is a sudden flash. One meditates and meditates and meditates and
           one goes on penetrating into one's own mind, looking into one's own nature. By this very looking,
           one day, the look is so penetrating that the mind simply stops; awareness is so total that the mind is
           no longer created; attention is so perfect that the mind dissolves; and there is a lightning and
           suddenly you know. You know that nothing can be known, you know that ignorance is primordial,
           you know that life is a mystery and is going to remain a mystery, you know that truth is not only
           unknown but unknowable. You are freed from the illusion of knowledge.
                Rushed the disciple towards the Master to tell him what had happened. Because when something
           of such a tremendous import happens, you would like to share it. And with whom to share? Who will
           understand you? Only the Master can understand. You would like to share it. And when the disciple
           reached the Master, the Master said, "You have it now, you have it now." He never allowed him to
           say a single word before, and he is not even allowing him now. First he was saying, "Not yet, not
           yet. Keep quiet. Go back." Now he says, "No need to come. You have known. Keep quiet."
                When truth is known, you cannot say it. That's why the Master says, "I have known that you have
           known it. Now keep quiet. Now sit silently in front of me. Now let us be together -- really together.
           Now let me overflow into you and you overflow into me. Now let there be a communion, let the soul
           meet with the soul." Now there is no need for the mind to communicate with the other mind.
                You hold the hand of your friend. That's a communication on the physical level. You say
           something to your friend. That is a communication on the mental level. Then you just remain in the
           presence of your friend -- saying nothing, gesturing nothing, having nothing to say, just pure
           presences -- then it is a spiritual communication. That communication is called communion.
                I am trying to create a community here, a community of sannyasins. Community means people
           who are waiting or trying to have communion. Community means people who are being together to
           dissolve into each other. So whosoever is here with some egoist idea is not here at all. He will miss
           me, and he will miss this community that exists here.
                Some people come to me and they say, "In this ashram, people don't seem to be much interested
           in others. They don't take much interest." This person is on some ego trip. He wants people to take
           interest in him. Why should they take interest in him? Here we are creating a situation in which
           nobody is going to help your ego, nobody is going to give you importance. If you are seeking
           importance, then there is the big world.
                In my small world, if you come, don't seek importance, don't seek attention. Rather become
           attentive, rather become aware, and try to dissolve into the community that is getting ready here.
           And it is easier for you to dissolve into it right now because it is in the beginning process. Once it
           has gone deep, it will be more difficult for you to take the jump because there will be a great gap.
           Right now there is not much gap, a very small gap. You can take the jump very easily.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           O how may I ever express that secret word?

              O HOW CAN I SAY HE IS NOT LIKE THIS, AND HE IS LIKE THAT?


               How to say God is like this or God is like that? There are many problems. First, the language is
           not adequate. Second, the listener is not ready. You appear to be listening, but you don't listen,
           because listening needs a tremendous sensitivity. Your whole being should become your hearing.
           You should hear from every cell of your body, from every hair of your body. You should hear from
           the eyes and from the hands and from the soles of your feet. You should hear with your totality. You
           should just become ears.
           I have heard:

               An attendant at the London Zoo was intrigued by two Beatle-haired youths strumming guitars
           earnestly outside the lions' cage. "My brother is the cool one," announced one of the boys modestly.
           "You put him in that empty cage over there and let one lion at a time into it and you will see how
           even the wild beasts fall for his music."
               So the zoo attendant led the brother into the empty cage, then shoved the first lion in with him.
           Almost at once the lion seemed to smile and began dancing daintily to the music. A second lion was
           produced and proceeded to execute a cross between the twist and a gavotte.
               Then a third lion entered the cage. In less time than it takes to tell he had pounced upon the poor
           guitarist and eaten him up. The zoo attendant patted the surviving brother sympathetically on the
           back. "I was afraid that would happen," he said sadly, "when I let that deaf lion in there."

               You are deaf. You appear to be hearing and you appear to be seeing, but you are blind. You
           appear to be alive, but you are dead. Your aliveness depends on your sensitivity. If you are sensitive,
           only then can truth be in some indirect way hinted at. Only hints are possible, and hints are so
           indirect that if you listen very attentively, only then will you catch them.

              O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?

              IF I SAY THAT HE IS WITHIN ME, THE UNIVERSE IS ASHAMED.


               How to say God is within, because then who is without? He is without too.
           "IF I SAY HE IS WITHIN ME, THE UNIVERSE IS ASHAMED." There have been a few mystics
           who have decided to say he is within. Mahavir decided that he is within. It is a partial statement of
           truth; it is not total. Or, Mohammed decided the other way; he said he is without. That too is a partial
           truth, not the total truth. Kabir is trying to move in a deeper realm. Mohammed says, "He is
           without"; hence Mohammedans killed Mansur because Mansur declared, "He is within me. I am God
           -- ANAL HAQ -- I am the truth! " Mohammedans could not tolerate it because they always say,
           "God is there above in the heaven. How can you, a mortal, declare that he is within you or you are
           him? This is sacrilege. "
               Mahavir decided just the opposite. He said, "He is within you, so don't worship him anywhere
           else. Don't go to worship him in the river or in the sun or in the tree or in the moon or in the stars.
           Don't go to worship him anywhere. He is not in the temples; he is within you." This too is a partial
           truth because he is within and without.
           Kabir says:

              If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:

              IF L SAY THAT HE IS WITHOUT ME, IT IS FALSEHOOD.



              HE MAKES THE INNER AND THE OUTER WORLDS TO BE INDIVISIBLY ONE;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The inner and the outer is the division of the mind. The inner and outer do not exist in reality.
           What is inner? Have you pondered over it, ever? What is inner and what is outer? You say, "This is
           the inside of my house." And there is a door and you pass through the door and you say, "This is the
           outside of my house." But the same sky exists outside and the same sky exists inside. The inside and
           the outside are not two. You inhale and you exhale. When you exhale, the breath goes out; when you
           inhale, the breath goes in. The within is joined with the without -- the inhalation is part of exhalation;
           the exhalation is part of inhalation. The breath that was mine just a moment before is no longer mine;
           it has become yours. And the breath that was yours is no longer yours; it has become mine. So you
           are not so without and I am not so within. We are joined together.
               There is an apple on the tree; it is outside. You eat it, you digest it; within a few hours it becomes
           part of you. It is in your bloodstream. After a few months a part of it will have moved to your bones
           and a part of it will have become your consciousness, your mind, your awareness, your thinking. A
           part of the apple will become your meditation. And then one day you will die and your body will be
           buried under the earth, and the apple tree will take food from it. Again.... Your body will feed the
           apple tree and again you will circulate in the sap of the tree, and you will become the leaf of the tree
           and the fruit of the tree, and so on, so forth.
               Nothing is within, nothing is without. We are joined together. The universe is one. Yes, that's
           why we don't call it a MULTIverse, we call it a UNIverse, because it is one. It is UNI, it is a unity.

              THE CONSCIOUS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS, BOTH ARE HIS FOOTSTOOLS.
              HE IS NEITHER MANIFEST NOR HIDDEN, HE IS NEITHER REVEALED NOR UNREVEALED:
              THERE ARE NO WORDS TO TELL THAT WHICH HE IS.


               Then how to tell? If we say "within," it is half; if we say "without," it is half. If we say, "He is
           within and without," it is confusing; then OUR distinctions, OUR categories, dissolve. Then it
           becomes very difficult to know who is who. It becomes very difficult to live. If you are me and I am
           you, then it will become very, very difficult to live. If you put your hand into my pocket, I cannot
           say, "What are you doing? Are you a thief or a kleptomaniac or something?" I cannot say anything,
           because you are me and I am you. That's why, you see, I don't have any pockets. It will be difficult to
           decide.
               Ordinary life will become very, very complicated. I don't know my name, you don't know your
           name; it will become very difficult.
           I have heard:

               The wealthy and aged society leader stepped out in the garden of his home during a party he was
           giving and discovered his young wife in the arms of another man. "What is the meaning of this?"
           shouted the outraged millionaire. "Who is this man?"
               After a moment's embarrassing silence the young wife spoke up and said, "I believe my husband
           is perfectly within his rights. What is your name?"

               It is happening more and more. In a way nothing is wrong in it: nobody has any name. And what
           is the point of knowing the name of the other person, because all names are false? All names are
           arbitrary, they don't say anything, but they are needed. The ordinary life, the practical life, will
           become impossible.
               So Kabir says if we say he is within, that is half, and the world is ashamed, and the whole is
           ashamed. If we say he is without, that is not true, because he is within too. And if we say he is both
           and indivisibly one, then all distinctions drop and it becomes very impractical. So how to say it?
           "THERE ARE NO WORDS TO TELL THAT WHICH HE IS." He can be felt only in silence, and
           he can be showed only in silence. Yes, nothing can be said about him, but he can be showed to you.
           And that is the meaning of the relationship between a Master and a disciple. The Master leads you
           somewhere, to some vision that has become part of his being. He takes you to his inner world so that
           you can see a little through his eyes, so that you can hear a little through his ears, so that you can
           touch reality a little through his hands. Once the glimpse is there, then things will become very easy.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And there is no need to disturb the practical world. Let it continue as it is. That's why I don't say
           renounce the world. I say be part of it. It is good. Just know that it is all arbitrary, that all the
           distinctions are only useful, not true. They have a utility but no truth in them. Use the distinctions,
           but never be lost in them.

               Once when a government dignitary called O Wang was late in coming to Bokuju, a Zen Master,
           Bokuju Bokuju asked the officer why he was delayed. He said that he had attended a polo playing.
           The Master asked, "Who strikes the ball, the rider or the horse?" The officer replied, "The rider."
           "Was he tired?" "Yes, he was tired." "Was the horse tired?" "It too was tired." Bokuju then asked,
           "Was the goalpost tired?" The officer was at a loss how to answer such a question. The goalpost?
               After returning home, he spent his evening thinking of the Master's strange question. In the
           middle of the night the solution dawned on him unexpectedly. The officer called on the Master next
           day and reported that he understood the Master's question. Bokuju asked, "Was the post tired?" "Yes,
           tired!" said the officer. Bokuju laughed and he said, "You are right."

               Now this is a tremendous experience. Because the universe is one. The rider is tired, the horse is
           tired, what about the goalpost? The ordinary mind will say, "What nonsense. A goalpost is dead."
           But if the universe is one -- and indivisibly one, nothing can be dead -- or nothing can be alive.
           Either everything is alive or everything is dead. If the universe is one, how can anything be dead? If
           God is life then nothing can be dead. And that is what dawned upon the officer, that when the Master
           says everything is one, then of course the goalpost must be tired.
               Now scientists say that trees feel tired. Just within twenty years the fact has become known that
           trees feel tired, that trees feel happy, that trees feel sad, that trees feel angry, that trees feel loving.
           Someday it is possible some scientist will stumble upon this fact too: that the goalpost is tired -- feels
           tired, happy, sad, angry. If the universe is one, this is how it has to be.
               When you come home tired, have you ever thought your shoes must be tired? It will be very
           confusing and you will get very worried; hence we don't allow such disturbing truths into our
           consciousness. Scientists say we allow only two percent of all facts to enter into our consciousness;
           ninety-eight percent is denied entry. Otherwise life will become very, very difficult.
               Unless you become very, very aware, life will become very, very difficult. If you become aware
           you can tackle more facts, you can allow more facts into your consciousness. When your awareness
           is perfect, you can allow a hundred percent of life to enter into you and it will not be confusing.
           When you have grown into consciousness, you can take the totality in. Then you will see the saint is
           the sinner and the sinner is the saint. Then you will see God is the devil and the devil is God. Then
           you will see matter is mind and mind is material.
               That totality can be realized only when you have become so tremendously aware that your
           awareness is not disturbed by it. Ordinarily we need distinctions to keep things clear-cut: this man is
           bad, avoid him; this man is good, follow him; this man is good, imitate him; this man is bad, don't
           come in contact with him, don't become friendly to him, there is danger. This is poison and this is
           nectar; drink the nectar and avoid the poison.
               I have heard a very beautiful story. Listen to it attentively.

                Once there were two men who ate exactly the same food, but one had two bowls while the other
           had only one. The man with two bowls divided his food into bitter and sweet, and put only the bitter
           in one bowl and only the sweet in the other. The man with one bowl naturally mixed the bitter and
           the sweet together. As time passed, the first man grew thinner and thinner, and gradually wasted
           away, while the second, who ate just the same food, grew healthier and healthier daily. At last, the
           first saw his approaching death, and in desperation asked the second the secret of his vitality and
           vigor.
           "You, having two bowls," the second replied, "divided the bitter from the sweet, and so believed in
           the importance of taste that you did not allow the food you took to sustain you with its own inner
           life. But I had only one bowl and so mixing the bitter and the sweet together, have not been fooled
           by the matter of taste, for whatever I have been given to eat I have taken simply as food, and it has
           yielded its nourishment to me, praise God."
                The first man rose from his deathbed and with a great effort picked up one of his bowls and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dashed it to pieces; and in the one bowl that remained he ate gratefully of the food his friend offered
           him and was whole again.

                This is a beautiful story, a Sufi story. If you divide, you will be divided within too. If you divide
           existence into good and bad, God and devil, consciousness, unconsciousness, heaven and hell, this
           division is bound to create a division in you. You will be split in two; you will become a
           schizophrenic. You will lose your togetherness; you will start falling into parts; you will no longer
           be integrated. Your perception, your vision, is divided; how can you be undivided! Your vision is
           your being. If you drop dividing and you start looking for the one, you will become one too --
           because whatsoever you see you become. Once you start eating in one bowl, the sweet and bitter
           both, you are nourished, because the contradictions are not contradictory. They are complementary.
                Alan Watts has written about George Gurdjieff that he was a "rascal saint." That's perfectly true.
           A real saint is bound to be a rascal saint because he will be bitter and sweet both. If he is just a saint
           -- just sweet and sweet and sweet -- avoid him; otherwise you will get diabetes. A sweet saint is very
           dangerous. Just sweet? It will nauseate you. You will feel sick. The bitter is also needed.
                When you feed on totality -- indivisible totality -- you are nourished. This is the meaning of this
           story: don't divide.
                But language divides; that's why truth cannot be expressed. If you say, "God is good," it has
           become a false statement, because then who will be bad? If you say, "God is light," then who will be
           darkness?
                To many sannyasins I have given names which mean darkness, night, or things like that, and I
           have always been watching whenever I give this name. To one sannyasin I gave the name NISHA,
           night. Immediately, within two, three days, she wrote a letter, "Osho, this name disturbs me very
           much." Just two, three days ago, to another sannyasin I gave the name YAMINI; that means night.
           Her letter has come. She must be here. Her letter has come, "Osho, can't you change my name?
           Yamini, night? I love light."
                We have a very dualistic ideology. God is light; then who is darkness? Then there must be two
           Gods -- the god of the darkness also. Then not only are you schizophrenic, your whole existence is
           schizophrenic. Not only are you divided, you have divided existence itself.
                No, day is beautiful, so is night. Day is godly, divine, so is night. You may be surprised to know
           the word "day" comes the from the same root as "divine." They both come from the same root. So
           day is divine, and night? -- nobody says night is divine. Night too is divine. And it will be better if
           you eat of both, day and night. It will be good if you have one bowl.
                I give to my sannyasins one bowl. Eat sweet and bitter, good and bad, consciousness,
           unconsciousness. Enjoy both and you will be nourished, and you will become very, very strong. And
           your strength will not be the opposite of softness, no. The stronger you will be, the more fragile too.
           And this is beauty, when a strong man is fragile like a flower. Strong like a sword and fragile like a
           flower -- then you are total. Then you are undivided, then you are indivisible, then you are really an
           individual. "Individual" means that which cannot be divided. You have come home, you have
           become one; now you can relax and rest.
                But language by its very nature divides. If I say to you, "You are my friend," I have divided.
           Then I have said in my eyes somebody is my enemy; you are my friend. I say, "I love you"; that
           means I hate somebody. I say, "I am happy"; that means unhappiness is not welcome. Language
           divides. Language is based in schizophrenia, based in a deep split.

              THERE ARE NO WORDS TO TELL THAT WHICH HE IS.



              THE RIVER AND ITS WAVES ARE ONE SURF: WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
              RIVER AND ITS WAVES?
              WHEN THE WAVE RISES, IT IS THE WATER; AND WHEN IT FALLS, IT IS THE SAME WATER
              AGAIN. TELL ME, SIR, WHERE IS THE DISTINCTION?


              Attain to a perception which has no distinctions -- of the lower and the higher, of the material
           and the spiritual. Attain to a perception which is transcendental, because the wave is the ocean and
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the ocean is the wave. They are together. Have you ever seen the ocean without the waves, and have
           you ever seen a wave without the ocean? They are together. They are two polarities of one. Oneness
           exists between the two. There are so many colors, seven colors, but they are all part of one light. The
           whole spectrum belongs to one ray of light. From the darkest black to the whitest white, the whole
           spectrum belongs to one, to the light.

           ... Tell me, Sir, where is the distinction?

               BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN NAMED AS WAVE, SHALL IT NO LONGER BE CONSIDERED AS
               WATER?


               These are just names -- utilitarian, good, but never be deceived by the utility. Remember the
           truth. Utility is practical; truth is real. Utility is needed but is not the nature of things. When you are
           not there to name and the ocean is left alone, which is the wave and which is the ocean? There is
           nobody to make the distinction. The ocean is the wave and the wave is the ocean. When you have
           gone home and the ocean is left alone, there are no waves and no ocean; it is all oneness. You come
           and you bring your distinction. Nothing is wrong in it if your remember that just by naming a wave
           as wave you have not created any distinction, but we become very, very deceived by our names.

              An embarrassing moment ensued on upper Broadway the day the Queen of Greece came up to
           Barnard College to receive an honorary degree. One of the guests at the ceremony was a crusty old
           psychiatrist from Columbia University across the avenue.
           "Come over and meet the Queen of Greece," smiled the dean of Barnard. The old psychiatrist shook
           hands graciously, then cackled to the dean -- loud enough for Her Majesty to overhear, "She seems
           harmless enough. How long has she thought she is the Queen?"

                Now a psychiatrist always lives with people among whom somebody thinks he is a king, and
           somebody is a queen, somebody is Adolf Hitler, and somebody is Napoleon -- wwith mad people.
           He says, "She seems harmless enough. How long has she thought she is the Queen?" But in fact
           whether you only think you are a queen or a king or you really are, what is the difference?
                It happened in a madhouse in India that when Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister,
           he went to see the madhouse. A man was being released on that day and the superintendent thought
           it would be good if the prime minister released him by his own hand. So the man was brought out.
           Jawaharlal asked him, "How long have you been here?" He said, "I have been here for three years,
           and these people are very good. They have cured me absolutely." Then suddenly he asked, "But who
           are you, sir?" So Jawaharlal said, "You don't know me? I am Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, prime
           minister of India." The man said, "Don't be worried. These people will cure you within three years.
           That's what I used to think when I came here! I suffered from the same trouble."
                But really is there any difference? If you ask the mystics they say there is none. A madman in his
           madness thinks he is the prime minister, and somebody else is the prime minister and becomes mad.
           It is not very much of a difference. They may have traveled different routes. One is mad, that's why
           he thinks he is the prime minister; another is the prime minister, that's why he is mad. Maybe
           practically there is a distinction; but in reality none.

               Because it has been named as wave, shall it no longer be considered as water?

               WITHIN THE ABSOLUTE, THE WORLDS ARE BEING TOLD LIKE BEADS:
               LOOK UPON THAT ROSARY WITH THE EYES OF WISDOM.


              What are the eyes of wisdom? Knowledge dropped, you attain to the eyes of wisdom. Ignorance
           covered, you become knowledgeable. Knowledge dropped, ignorance accepted as ultimate, you
           become wise.
              So these are the three types of people in the world: the ignorant who is trying to become
           knowledgeable, the knowledgeable who has forgotten his ignorance, and the wise who has dropped
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knowledge and has come to accept his ignorance as ultimate and is no longer making any effort to
           know anything whatsoever. He has come to know that nothing can be known, that knowledge is
           impossible, that ignorance is the very nature of existence because it is a mystery. In his ignorance he
           has become relaxed. He rests in his ignorance. He has become innocent like a child. Then one
           becomes wise -- not by knowing, but by knowing that nothing can be known, by knowing that all
           knowledge is illusion, by knowing that the very effort is doomed to fail, by knowing that existence is
           mysterious and it is not available for those people who are ready to analyze, dissect.
               It is available for those people who are ready to fall in love with it, for those people who can sing
           a song with it, dance a dance with it. God is available to singers and dancers and people who are
           innocent.




                                   Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                    Chapter #6
                                          Chapter title: Trust your nature
           16 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612160
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              LIKE ALL OTHER INDIAN SAINTS, WHY DO YOU NOT LIKE TO BE THE SAINT OF THE MASSES?


               I AM NOT AN INDIAN -- nor am I an American or a Chinese. I don't believe in countries and I
           don't believe in any political divisions. Because of political divisions, humanity has suffered enough.
           No more of that nonsense. I have to live somewhere, so I live here, but I don't belong to India. I am
           not a nationalist, because all nationalism is in some way or other a form of fascism.
               If you think you are an Indian or a German or a Japanese, you are a fascist -- and you are a
           danger to humanity, to peace, to love, to progress. You are not a religious person. A nationalist is
           never a religious person, cannot be. And a nationalist is a neurotic. The whole of human history is
           enough proof for it.
               I am not an Indian, the first thing. And the second thing: I am not a saint, either.
               You ask me: "Like all other Indian saints, why do you not like to be the saint of the masses?"
           First, I am not an Indian; and second, I am not a saint. The very claim that one is a saint is a
           condemnation of everybody else. In the very claim, others are condemned. If I am a saint then you
           are a sinner -- you have to be sinners. Otherwise how can I exist? To create one saint, you will need
           millions of sinners. It is very costly and uneconomical.
               I would like a world where the sinners and the saints have disappeared. They are two aspects of
           the same coin. Lao Tzu says in his TAO TE CHING, "When the world was really natural and
           religious, there was not a saint and not a sinner." When the saints entered in the world, sin entered.
           When you say somebody is a saint, you have started divisions: the good and the bad, that which has
           to be done and that which has to be avoided. You don't accept life in its totality; you become a
           chooser.
               And I teach choiceless awareness. I don't teach any choosing on your part, because whatsoever
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you choose is going to be a wrong choice -- because you will be there as a chooser. Accept the total
           and don't go on labeling things -- this is good and that is bad.
               The division between the sinner and the saint is again an egoistic division. It is very oppressive.
           It condemns. It is very hateful. A saint looks at you with the eyes of "holier than thou" -- "I am the
           chosen one, and I am going to heaven and you all are going to hell." No, that is not my outlook at all.
           I declare you are also holy, divine. There exists not a single being who is not holy. To me the word
           "holy" means WHOLE. We belong to one whole; we are all holy. We are parts of one universal
           consciousness. We are ripples of one ocean. That's what Kabir was saying yesterday: the wave is not
           different from the ocean. Even the dirty wave is not different from the ocean. Even the dirty wave is
           as much part of the ocean as is the clean wave.
               And what do you call dirty and what do you call clean? All are human conceptions. A person can
           be a saint in one country and may not be thought of as a saint in another. A person can be a saint in
           one century and may not be thought of as a saint in another. Just think: Mohammed with a sword in
           his hand. Can any Jaina or Buddhist call him a saint? It is impossible. A sword in the hand?
           Mohammed cannot be called a saint according to the Jainas and the Buddhists. Can Mohammedans
           call Mahavir or Buddha a saint, when people are suffering and being tortured and you are just sitting
           under your bodhi trees doing nothing? What type of sainthood is this? These are escapists, not saints.
               You may be surprised to know that Jainas don't call Krishna a saint. They call him the greatest
           sinner ever because he persuaded Arjuna for the war. Arjuna was going to become a Jaina monk; he
           was saying, "I don't want all this war, all this violence. I want to renounce this world. This is not
           worth it," and Krishna persuaded him, "Do your duty. If God has willed so, let it be so. You simply
           say 'amen,' and go into it. You just become a vehicle, instrumental." Arjuna argued and argued, but
           finally Krishna persuaded him. So Jainas say the whole responsibility of the Mahabharat War, the
           great Indian war, goes to Krishna. He is responsible for the whole violence.
               What have they done to Krishna, do you know? They have thrown him into the seventh hell. Of
           course, you are free to do so because you write your stories. In the Jaina PURANAS, Krishna is in
           the seventh hell, the worst hell, and he will have to be there up to the very end of this world.
               Now who is a saint? How do you define a saint? And who is going to define and who has the
           criterion? Different philosophies will define differently.
               I am not a saint, because I don't allow myself to be defined by anybody else. I am just myself.
           Call me sinner, call me saint -- that is your attitude -- but I am simply myself. And I leave myself
           undefined because, to me, reality is indefinable and I am part of reality, as you are part of reality.
               When you want to renounce something, renounce definitions, renounce categories. Don't allow
           anybody to pigeonhole you.
               And the moment you know your indefinable quality, you have transcended the world and you
           have attained to nirvana, you have become enlightened. An enlightened person is not a saint nor a
           sinner, cannot be. These are the categories of the unenlightened people. People who have not yet
           become aware, they think in terms of good and bad. One who has become aware knows nothing as
           bad, nothing as good. He is simply a witness to all.
           So I am neither an Indian nor a saint.
           "Like all other Indian saints, why do you not like to be the saint of the masses?" And who are these
           masses? These neurotic people all around, this insane world all around -- this is the mass? Who are
           these masses? These people who are blind, these are the masses? This vast darkness all around the
           earth...?
               I don't belong to the masses; I cannot. I belong to the whole but not to the masses. To the masses
           belong the politicians. Because they have to exploit the masses and they have to lead the masses, of
           course they have to follow the masses too. If you want to become the leader of the masses, then you
           have to show that you follow the masses. That is the bribery you have to pay. If you want to exploit
           the masses, you become the saint of the masses.
               I am not interested in any sort of exploitation. I am myself. If somebody wants to partake of the
           truth that I am, he can come. He can participate in my being.
               And remember, I don't allow an easy approach, because I want everybody to know well that truth
           has to be paid for. You have to sacrifice much. It is not cheap. And I don't want to make it cheap. I
           don't allow you an easy approach towards me. I will create all sorts of hindrances between you and
           me. Only those who are REALLY seekers and have an intense fire in them will be able to approach
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                 Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           me.
               I am not interested in the masses at all. I am not a politician, and I am not interested in becoming
           a leader of the masses, nor the servant of the masses, because those are just diplomatic games,
           political games.
               I am here, available. If you have the intense desire and thirst, you can approach me. And again I
           repeat, the approach is not easy; I will hinder you in many ways; I will test you in many ways. Only
           when I feel that you are really ready to surrender, to sacrifice yourself -- only when I see that truth is
           even more valuable to you than your life -- then you belong to me. Otherwise not.
               This question has come from some Indian who has fallen in the wrong company here. He should
           not be here really. He has asked at least fifteen questions, all foolish. But he seems to be thinking
           that he knows much. Friend, you are in the wrong company. Escape from here. These are mad
           people. These are not scholars here, and I am not interested in scholars and I am not interested in
           pundits and people who think they know. If they know, they know. Why should they come here?
           What are you doing? Such a wise guy, what are you doing here? You should not be here in the first
           place. You know already? Very good. I am happy that you know. Then go to the masses and help the
           masses and become a saint of the masses. What are you doing here? Why are you wasting time here?
               If you don't know, only then come to me. And if you don't know, then don't ask questions as if
           you know. Then ask questions out of your ignorance.
               These questions are parrotlike things; you simply go on repeating words.
           I have heard:

                Once upon a time there was a parrot who could say only three little words: "Who is it?" One day
           when the parrot was alone in the house there was a loud knock on the door.
           "Who is it?" screeched the parrot.
           "It is the plumber," the visitor responded.
           "Who is it?" repeated the parrot.
           "It is the plumber, I tell you," was the reply from the outside. "You called me to tell me your cellar
           was flooded."
           Again the parrot called, "Who is it?"
                By this time the plumber became so angry that he fainted. A neighbor rushed over to see the
           cause of the commotion and, gazing at the unfamiliar face of the prostrate plumber, he asked, "Who
           is it?"
           The parrot answered, "It is the plumber."

               The pundit is a parrot, and a very foolish parrot at that, because parrots can be forgiven, but
           human beings cannot be forgiven so easily.
               If you know, there is no need to be here. If you don't know, then please never ask questions from
           your knowledge, from your so-called knowledge. The first lesson here is to know that you don't
           know.
               And I am not saying that you don't know. If you know, it is very good; but I am not interested in
           "knowers." You can go and teach the masses and help the poor people. It is because of you and
           people like you they are still poor, and it is because of you and people like you that they are still
           living in hell. And they will live in hell unless leaders like you stop serving them. Unless do-gooders
           like you stop doing good, they will remain in their misery.
               But my interest is only in those people who have come to know that they don't know, that they
           are ignorant. In India it is very difficult. Knowledge has become part of the Indian blood. For
           centuries they have been like parrots, repeating SHASTRAS, scriptures -- memorizing -- not
           knowing anything but feeling very egoistic that they know. Whenever such a person comes here, I
           am simply surprised why he should come here. Out of all the places, this place is not for you, people
           like you -- not at all. Come here only if you can throw your knowledge outside the gate. Where you
           leave your shoes, leave your knowledge too, your head too. Only then can you understand what is
           happening here. If it is not possible for you, there is no need to come.
               And I am not interested in the masses, because if you are interested in the masses you have to be
           manipulated by the masses. I am not in any way a mass man, because I am very individual. I have
           my own way, my own life, my own style, and I don't allow anybody to interfere with it. If you want
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to become a man of the masses, the whole mass interferes with you. They teach you how you should
           sit and how you should stand and what you should say and what you should not say and what you
           should eat and what you should not eat and when you should go to bed and when you should get up.
           They teach you everything. This is very ironical that the people who think they are leaders of the
           masses and gurus of the masses in fact are the slaves of the masses. The masses teach them how to
           be. They don't have any freedom. And the masses go on looking from everywhere: "Are you really
           following what the mass wants to be followed? Are you really following the idea of the mass, what a
           saint should be like?" Or if you are not following, then you become a fallen saint; then you are a
           sinner.
                I don't allow anybody to dictate my life. I don't allow anybody's life to be dictated by me. That's
           why I don't give any discipline to my people. I simply confer freedom on them and a responsibility
           to be free. Never interfere with anybody's life, and don't allow anybody to interfere with your life. Be
           individualistic. I am not a socialist, I am not a communist. I believe in the individual. I am absolutely
           an unashamed individualist.
                I was moving around the country, I was moving among the masses for many years, but I was
           surprised to see the fact that the masses try to manipulate you. Rather than learning anything from
           you, rather than taking anything from you, they try to manipulate you.
                Let me tell you one story I was just reading the other day:

               Farmer Jones, of Clinton, New Jersey, made history at the State Fair one day when he bought a
           prize rooster for the highest price ever paid in the history of the poultry trade. When he got it home,
           however, he found he simply could not control the rooster's romantic tendencies. Not only the hens,
           but the ducks, geese, and swans, not to mention a few stray nanny goats and sows, fled before the
           rooster's tireless onslaughts.
               Farmer Jones finally collared his gay bird and grumbled, "I did not pay a record price for you to
           waste your energies on every form of animal life in New Jersey. You are henceforth to confine your
           activities exclusively to the hens. Keep on the way you are going, and you will die of exhaustion."
               The rooster made light of his owner's fears, but sure enough, Farmer Jones found him a few
           mornings later flat on his back, his eyes glazed, his legs straight up in the air, with a couple of
           buzzards ominously circling closer and closer above him.
           "What did I tell you, you durn fool?" roared the farmer. "I knew the life you were leading would get
           you sooner or later!"
               But then, to his amazement, the supposedly expired rooster opened one eye and whispered
           hoarsely, "Pipe down, will you? When you are trying to romance a buzzard, you have got to play it
           their way!"

               If you want to become a saint of the masses, you can become one only in THEIR way. I am not
           interested in anybody else's way. I have found my way and my goal. I only allow people here who
           are ready to understand me and who are no longer obsessed with wanting to control me or are
           obsessed with wanting to be controlled by me. I am a free man, and I confer freedom on you. My
           sannyas is a declaration of freedom. It is not a discipline; it is a freedom.

           The second question, from the same gentleman:


              IS IT NOT HARMFUL TO AN INDIVIDUAL AND ALSO TO SOCIETY TO LIVE WITHOUT THE
              BARRIERS OF NORMS? IF SO, THEN WHY DO YOU PREACH THAT YOUR SANNYASINS
              SHOULD LIVE AS THEY LIKE? MIND ALWAYS GOES THE WRONG WAY IF NOT RESTRICTED.


               And who is going to restrict the mind? The mind of the society? Who is going to restrict the
           mind? The mind of the dead people, the dead moralists, the dead priests? Who is going to restrict the
           mind? You? Who are you except the mind?
               The first thing to be understood: up to now humanity has lived under a curse, and the curse is
           that we have never been allowed to trust our nature. We have always been told, "Trust your nature
           and you will go wrong." Mistrust, restrict, control. Don't go according to your feel. We have been
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           told that human nature is somehow basically evil. This is stupid, this is foolish and poisonous.
           Human nature is not evil. Human nature is divine. And if the evil has arisen, it has arisen because of
           restrictions. Now let me explain it to you.
                You never see animals going to war. Of course there are fights sometimes, but they are
           individual fights -- not world wars with all the crows of the east fighting with all the crows of the
           west or all the dogs of India fighting all the dogs of Pakistan. It is not. Dogs are not so foolish,
           neither are crows. Yes, sometimes they fight, and there is nothing wrong in it. If their freedom is
           violated, they fight, but the fight is individual. It is not a world war.
                Now what have you done? You have repressed humanity and you have not allowed individuals
           to be angry sometimes -- which is natural. The ultimate total result is that everybody goes on
           gathering his anger, goes on repressing the anger; then one day everybody is so full of poison that it
           explodes in a world war. Every ten years a world war is needed. And who is responsible for these
           wars? Your so-called saints and moralists, do-gooders, the people who have never allowed you to be
           natural.
                Have you ever seen any dog killing another dog? Yes, they fight sometimes -- but just fight.
           Never has a dog killed another dog. Man is the only animal who kills another man. No crow has ever
           killed any other crow. No lion has ever killed another lion. Man is the only species of animal that
           kills its own kind. What has happened to man? Has he fallen lower than the animals? Then who is
           responsible? Only one thing is missing from the animals: they don't have saints and moralists. Priests
           -- Christian and Hindu and Mohammedan and Jaina -- they don't have. They don't have temples,
           mosques, Bibles and Vedas, that's all. That is the only difference.
                Still there are a few primitive societies where, down through the ages, murder has never
           happened, because nobody has poisoned their mind for morality, nobody has trained them to be
           moral. They are natural people. When you are natural you function harmoniously. Sometimes you
           become angry, but that is natural -- and it is momentary.
                A person who never becomes angry and goes on controlling his anger is very dangerous. Beware
           of him; he can kill you. If your husband never becomes angry, report him to the police. A husband
           who sometimes becomes angry is just a natural human being, there is no fear about it. A husband
           who never becomes angry will one day suddenly jump and suffocate you. And he will do it as if he is
           possessed by something. Murderers have been telling the courts down through the ages, "We
           committed the crime, but we were possessed." Who possessed them? Their own unconscious,
           repressed unconscious, exploded.
                Have you watched a simple fact? If you have a picture of a beautiful bitch and bring it to a dog,
           he will not be interested at all. Dogs are not playboys. Not that they don't love bitches, they love
           tremendously, but in a picture, in pornography, they will not be interested. Because to create
           pornography you need saints. First repress the sexual instinct, the natural instinct, and tell people that
           it is wrong and evil. When they repress their sexual instinct, the repressed instinct finds outlets. Now
           it is difficult to go and watch a beautiful woman passing by the road. Then what to do? Lock your
           room and look at the PLAYBOY magazine. That is safer; nobody comes to know. You can hide your
           PLAYBOY magazine in the Bible and you can pretend you are reading the Bible. Only man is
           pornographic. No other animal is pornographic. These are simple facts.
                Who has made man pornographic? Primitives are not -- still are not. Women are naked and move
           naked -- and without any fear. And what type of civilization do you say you are living in? A woman
           cannot pass through the roads without being pinched on the bottom, without being treated
           inhumanly. A woman cannot walk in the night alone. And this is civilization. And people are just
           obsessed with sex twenty-four hours a day. Who has given this obsession to man? Animals are
           sexual but not obsessed; they are natural. When sex becomes an obsession, it takes perverted forms;
           and these perverted forms are rooted in the moralizers and their teachings.
                The so-called religious people-have never trusted human nature. They talk about trust, but they
           have never trusted God. They trust rules, laws; they never trust love. They talk about God, but the
           talk is just empty taLk. They trust in the police, in the court. They trust in hell fire. They trust in
           creating fear and in creating greed. If you are saintly and good and moral, you will have heaven and
           all the pleasures of paradise, FIRDAUS. Or, if you are not moral, then you will suffer hell fire -- and
           eternally, remember -- forever and forever.
                These are fear and greed. They have been manipulating the human mind through fear and greed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They want you to become free of fear and greed -- and their whole teaching is rooted in it. They
           don't trust.
                I trust you and I trust your nature. I trust animal nature. If nature is allowed its own course, yes,
           there will be a little anger sometimes and there will be a little flaring too, but nothing is wrong in it.
           It is human and it is beautiful. But there will be no war.
                Psychologists say all your weapons are phallic. Because you could not penetrate a woman's
           body, you penetrate somebody's body with a sword. The sword is a phallic symbol. It is beautiful to
           love a woman, but to penetrate somebody's body with a sword is ugly. But this is how things have
           been.
                You ask me: "Is it not harmful to an individual and also to society to live without the barriers of
           norms?" You have lived with barriers and with norms. What has happened? Look at the state of
           humanity today. It is a neurotic earth, a great madhouse. This is what has happened out of your
           norms, idealism, perfectionism, moralism. Out of all your commandments this has happened. The
           whole earth has turned into a neurotic camp, a big madhouse. And still you are afraid and still you go
           on. This is a vicious circle.
                It is as if you make a person fast and when he fasts he becomes of course hungry and he starts
           looking obsessively for food. Then, thinking and seeing that he has become obsessed with food, you
           put him in chains, because otherwise he will break into somebody's kitchen. Now you put him in
           chains because you say that if he is not put in chains, he is dangerous -- he can break into
           somebody's kitchen. He cannot be relied upon. Then you put him in chains and you continue forcing
           him to fast. And then you become more and more afraid because he is getting mad. This is a vicious
           circle. In the first place, why has he become so obsessed with food? Your disciplining too much for
           fasting has created this illness. Fasting is not natural.
                Yes, sometimes it happens in animals, but they don't BELIEVE in fasting, they don't have a
           philosophy of fasting. Sometimes it happens. One day the dog feels sick and he will not eat. This is
           natural. He simply does not eat because he does not FEEL like eating. He moves with his feeling; it
           is not a rule. Nobody has taught him to fast. In fact he will go and eat grass and vomit; the grass
           functions and helps him to vomit; he will vomit. Nobody has taught him. And he will not eat unless
           the desire to eat arises again. He moves with nature. When he feels like eating, he eats; when he does
           not feel like eating, he does not eat. This is what I would call the real life.
                Sometimes when you feel like NOT eating, don't eat. I am not against fasting. I am against the
           philosophy of fasting. Don't make a rule that every Sunday you have to fast. That is foolish because
           how can you decide that every Sunday you will not feel like eating? Sometimes it may be Friday
           when you don't feel like eating. Then what will you do? You will force yourself to eat because it is
           Friday. When you feel like eating, eat. When you don't feel like eating, don't eat. Move with your
           feeling, and by and by you will be in tune with your nature.
                To be in tune with nature is to be religious, to me. My definition of religion is: to be in tune with
           nature. And that is the meaning of the Indian word DHARMA; it means "nature," intrinsic nature.
           Trust nature and don't violate it.
                But you have been taught to violate, so people who have lived starved lives, when they come
           here in this ashram -- which is a totally different phenomenon; they have never seen any ashram like
           this; no ashram like this has ever existed -- they are very much surprised. They come here to see sad
           people, dead people, dragging somehow, chanting mantras, reading books; and when they see people
           dancing -- men and women dancing together, holding hands, people hugging each other, people so
           full of love and joy -- they say, "What type of religion is this?" Religion has to be of the cemetery; it
           cannot be of life. Religion has to be negative. Men and women holding hands? This is dangerous.
           We cannot trust man, we cannot trust woman. This is dangerous; this is playing with fire. Create
           restrictions, make China walls....
                No, I trust nature. I don't trust your laws. Your laws have corrupted the whole of humanity.
           Enough is enough! The time has come when all the old, rotten religions have to be burned
           completely and a totally new concept of religion has to arise -- life-affirmative, a religion of love and
           not of law, a religion of nature and not of discipline, a religion of totality and not of perfection, a
           religion of feeling and not of thinking. The heart should become the master, and then things settle on
           their own.
                If you can trust nature, by and by you become quiet, silent, happy, joyful, celebrating -- because
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nature is celebrating. Nature is a celebration. Look all around. Can you see any flower which looks
           like your saints? Can you see any rainbow which looks like your saints? Or any cloud, bird singing,
           and the light reflecting in the river, and the stars? The world is celebrating. The world is not sad. The
           world is a song, an utterly beautiful song, and the dance continues. Become part of this dance and
           trust your nature.
               If you trust your nature, by and by you will come closer to the cosmic nature. That is the only
           way. You are part of the cosmic. When you trust yourself, you have trusted the cosmic in you.
           Through that goes the way. From that small thread, you can reach to the very goal. Trusting yourself,
           you have trusted God who has made you. Not trusting yourself, you have distrusted God who has
           made you.
               Who has given you sex? Of course God has given you sex. And who has taught you
           BRAHMACHARYA and celibacy? Your so-called saints. Your saints are against God. Who has
           given you hunger? God. And who has taught you fasting? Your saints.
               I am for God and against your saints because your saints are against God. I teach you to be
           natural, to be spontaneous. And I don't teach you repression, restriction. I teach you freedom. If you
           restrict yourself too much and repress yourself too much, you will die before your death, and then
           you will live a stale life.
           Let me tell you one beautiful story:

               They tell about a wise old rabbi in the heart of Russia whose advice was slavishly followed by
           the members of his synagogue. One morning he was cornered by a troubled follower who explained,
           "I invested all my savings in two hundred chickens. When I went out to the coop this morning, a
           hundred of them had died. What should I do?"
           "It is the voice of the Lord," quoth the rabbi. "Say a prayer. Then double the sales price of the
           chickens you have left and you will not have lost a single kopek."
               But the next morning the villager was back to report, "Another fifty of my chickens perished last
           night."
           "The ways of the Lord are sometimes mysterious," said the rabbi. "The fifty chickens that have
           survived are obviously the finest and the most valuable of the flock. Say another prayer of thanks
           and again double the sales price and you will not have lost a single kopek."
               Alas! The next morning the last fifty chickens had bitten the dust. "Now what should I do?"
           wailed the villager.
           "My son," quoth the rabbi, "I have lots more invaluable advice I could give you, but what use would
           that be to you? You have no more chickens."

                When I look at your so-called religious people, I see they have no more life. No advice can be of
           any help to them. They are dead people. They should really be in their graves. They are walking
           illegally. They are ghosts; they are living a posthumous existence. They have committed suicide and
           are still walking and moving. I feel sorry for them, but these people are dangerous too because they
           go on doing the same to others that has been done to them by others. They go on teaching the same
           nonsense to other people. They go on crippling small children, paralyzing new life springs,
           poisoning new wells. That's what they can do. That's all that they know. They have been unable to
           live; they make others unable to live.
                Watch. Never get into the trap of a man who is dead. It is better to be irreligious. It is better not
           lo believe in God and not to go to the church and the mosque and the temple -- but be alive, because
           life is the real church of God. Forget all about God and nothing is lost, but start destroying life and
           everything is lost -- because life is God.
                I teach you life, love, because that's how I see God is.
                And these bondages that have been created by religion are just in your idea. If you become
           aware, you can drop them immediately, instantly.

           "How come," the hostess of a kid's birthday party asked a little girl in attendance, "that your younger
           brother is so shy? He has not moved from that corner all afternoon."
           "He is not shy at all," answered the little girl. "He has never had on a necktie before -- and he thinks
           he is tied to something."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               All your religions are just neckties. You are not tied to anything. It is just your idea that you are
           tied.
               Drop all discipline and all ties and start moving and let God live through you -- and let God live
           through you in freedom. Trust freedom and trust God, and' you will never be a loser.
               I am not saying there will always be flowers and flowers in your life. No, there are thorns, but
           they too are good. And I am not saying that your life will always be sweet. It will many times be
           very, very bitter, but that's how life grows -- through dialectics. I am not saying you will always be
           good. Sometimes you will be very bad, but one thing will be certain about you: when you are bad
           you will be authentically bad, when you are good you will be authentically good. One can trust, one
           can rely upon you. When you are angry, one can rely on it that your anger is not false, not cold; it is
           hot and alive. And when you love, one can rely upon you that it is hot and warm.
               Remember, a person who cannot be angry cannot be loving. The roses grow only with the thorns.
           If you cannot be hotly angry in some moment, you cannot be hotly in love -- because you cannot be
           hot, you cannot be warm, you remain frozen. And if you have repressed anger too much, you are
           always afraid to move in love, because who knows?
               A man came to me and he said he could not move into deep orgasm while making love. A
           perfectly healthy young man. What has gone wrong with him? He cannot move into orgasm; or at
           the most the orgasm remains only local, it does not spread all over his body. And a local orgasm is
           not of much significance. When the orgasm is in the total and every fibre of your being throbs with
           new life -- you are refreshed, rejuvenated -- for one moment you become part of God, part of the
           tremendous creativity that surrounds you. You lose yourself. You are no longer an ego, you melt.
           You don't have any boundaries then.
               I inquired about his anger. He said, "But why are you asking about anger, because my question is
           about love? I cannot love deeply." I said, "Forget about love because first we have to think about
           anger. Because if you cannot love deeply, that means you cannot be angry deeply." He was
           surprised, but that's how it turned out to be. From his very childhood, he had been brought up in a
           very religious family and he had always been told not to be angry, to control anger. He has learned to
           control. He has become so efficient that he does not know that he controls. He has really become a
           controller. Now the control has become unconscious. He is a very controlled person. Everybody
           respects him -- in the society he will succeed everywhere. He IS a success. But in his inner life he is
           a failure. He cannot even love.
               I told him, "You start by being angry, because my understanding is that when you come to a peak
           in your orgasm, you cannot allow it because, if you allow it, you are afraid maybe with it the anger,
           the repressed anger, may also be allowed." He said, "What are you saying? I always dream that I
           have killed my woman. And I always dream that 1 kill her, suffocate her, while making love to her.
           And I am afraid that if I lose control I will not be able to resist the temptation to suffocate and kill
           her."
               Now the anger has become a great force inside him. He is so afraid to decontrol, how can he
           love? It is impossible. And if you miss love, you will miss prayer and you will miss God too.
               This repressive society, this repressive civilization has failed utterly. Yet you are not aware.
           I have heard a beautiful story:

               In the days when Khrushchev (and, somehow, we miss him) was Mr. Big in the Soviet Union, he
           often admitted that Stalin treated him occasionally like a court jester or clown and ordered him,
           "Dance the gopak." "And", Khrushchev would add, "I danced."
               Somebody in the crowd would always cry out, "Why did you let him make a fool of you? And
           Khrushchev would demand sternly, "Who asked that question? Stand up!" Inevitably, nobody
           answered, and after the appropriate pause, Khrushchev would conclude, "That, comrades, is why I
           danced too."

           Just out of fear, Stalin can kill.
               Stalin is death, and your priests have been death, representatives of death not of God.
               I represent life. Your priests have been in conspiracy with death and they have crippled life.
           Your priests talk about God, but it seems they are partners with the devil. A great conspiracy....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And they have destroyed the whole human mind. They have uprooted you from your feeling part;
           they have made you hang in your head. Now you don't know how you feel; that's why you cannot
           trust your feeling and you have always to look to somebody to tell you what to do. In the childhood
           the parents go on telling you do this and don't do that. Then in the school, the teacher; then in the
           university, the professor; then in the society, the boss, the politician, the leader. Everywhere you are
           being told what to do and what not to do. And you are always seeking somebody to dominate you so
           that you can become dependent. Because you don't know how to get commandments from your own
           heart, from your own being, you always depend on some authority outside.
               This is ugly, this is miserable, this should not be.
               I am not an authority here. At the most a midwife, but not an authority. I can help you to be
           reborn, but I cannot dominate you, I cannot dictate things to you. You hanker for it. People come to
           me and they say, "Osho, tell us exactly what we have to do." But why can't you listen to your own
           heart? You have life bubbling inside you. The spring is there, the source is there. Go in. I can tell
           you how to go in, I can teach you the devices for how to go in, but take your commandments from
           there. There is the Bible inside you -- the REAL book, the Veda, the real knowledge.
               Get your instructions from there, and once you start getting your instructions from your
           innermost core, you will be a free man and a happy man. A free man is happy; an unfree man is
           never happy. You are not meant to be slaves. You are meant to be masters. That's why I call my
           sannyasins "swami"; swami means a master, one who has taken his reins in his own hands.


              BELOVED OSHO, WHILE I WAS ROAMING AROUND NEAR BOMBAY, I STOPPED AT
              MUKTANANDA'S ASHRAM FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. UNEXPECTEDLY, WHILE I WAS THERE
              HE POURED ON ME MUCH GRACE AND VERY SPECIAL ATTENTION, EVEN THOUGH THE
              FIRST THING I SAID WAS I AM A DISCIPLE OF BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH. I FELT
              HONORED BY HIM YET WAS A BIT UNCOMFORTABLE. MAINLY, I FELT GUILT TOWARD YOU. I
              AM BACK NOW TO YOU BUT VERY CONFUSED. PLEASE HELP ME.


               First thing, whatsoever you do, never feel guilty -- whatsoever you do. To go to Muktananda's
           ashram is not a sin. It may be your karma, but it is not a sin. You have not violated any rule, because
           I don't have any rules. How can you violate? I don't give you rules, because you are such neurotic
           people that out of the rules you will create guilt. Never associate guilt with me, around me, in
           association with me. I don't want you to create any guilt, to ever feel guilty. Whatsoever you do, do it
           totally.
               Now, you have been to Muktanand's ashram: you should have been there totally. You must have
           been thinking about me there, and you must have been feeling guilty. You have been taught wrong
           things.
               To be with me is not a monogamy. It is not a husband-wife relationship, that the wife cannot look
           at another man or the husband cannot look at another woman. I make you absolutely free. How many
           times do I have to repeat it? You can go to Muktananda or anywhere -- to hell even, you can go. And
           if you wander around Bombay too much, suddenly one day you will find yourself in hell, remember.
           Because a direct route goes from Bombay to hell.
               And this is surprising how you managed to reach Muktananda's ashram by wandering around
           Bombay. It is far away from Bombay. But it may be the same guilt: you cannot even take the
           responsibility that "I WENT." You cannot even say that? How poor. You cannot even take your
           responsibility that "I went to Muktananda's ashram." You say, "... while I was roaming around near
           Bombay, I stopped at Muktananda's ashram -- FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS"! Just look at the
           absurdity.
               Be responsible. If you have been there, you have been there, and nothing is wrong in it.
           Muktananda is also God; maybe a mediocre god but still a god. You are allowed to go to mediocre
           gods too. And don't feel guilty; because you are already punished. Muktananda is a punishment.
           What more punishment do you need?
               Remember responsibility always. Whatsoever you do, do consciously; don't wander. The
           questioner is trying to say that it was not conscious, deliberate -- "by chance." But nothing is by
           chance; everything is your responsibility. Don't be accidental. This is one of the ways how we try to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           throw responsibility onto others' shoulders. Your act is your act. Next time, please, if you go, there is
           no need to wander so much. You can go directly.
               And then "a couple of days" -- just by wandering. A couple of minutes may have been okay, but
           a couple of days means you wanted to be there. But nothing is wrong in it. What I am insisting on is:
           accept it, that you wanted to be there.
               And it is good. I know how you feel. You are shopping for a guru, and it is a supermarket. There
           are many gurus in the world, and how can you just decide that this man is the right one? You will
           have to go here and there; sometimes to Muktananda, sometimes to Sai Baba, sometimes to
           somebody else. Nothing is wrong in it.
               If something of me has penetrated your heart, you will come back. If not, then it is good that you
           don't come back. If something beneficial happens to you there, then allow it to happen, with all my
           blessings, because that is what we are trying to do. If it happens in Muktananda's ashram, good. It
           should happen, that is the point. I am not in any obsession with Poona, that it should happen in
           Poona. If your enlightenment happens in Muktananda's ashram, very, very good. I will be happy,
           tremendously happy it happened. Poona is not the point. This small piece of land... how many people
           can become enlightened here? The whole world is yours; become enlightened anywhere you want,
           choose any place.
               And it is natural for the mind to go here and there. One wavers a little and then by and by one
           settles. And it is good that one should waver a little. So don't force yourself to be here if the idea
           arises, which is natural, to go and visit some other ashrams and see what is happening there. You
           may be just deceived here. Who knows? I may be just a fake, a fraud. So who knows? Just go and
           see what is happening there. Maybe something is really happening there and you are benefited.
           Good. If not, I am available here; you can come back. But don't create any guilt.
           "Unexpectedly, while I was there he poured on me much grace and very special attention, even
           though the first thing I said was I am a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh." That's why! It is so
           simple and so political; there is nothing much in it, not a mystery. Next time go without wearing
           orange, without a MALA, shave your head so he cannot recognize you; and then see.
               Mulla Nasrudin died. He went to heaven, but of course, as you are concerned with going to some
           other ashram, he lived in heaven a few days and then he said to God, "I have never seen hell. And
           who knows, maybe things are better there. And rumors have come that they have air-conditioned it
           and much dancing and drinking goes on there and all the beautiful people of the world are there.
           Here there are only sad saints, holy people, sitting dusty and dirty under the trees. No song -- not
           even a newspaper! No radio, no tv. And rumors are that all the politicians are there and all the
           scientists are there and they have created a beautiful place."
               God said, "You can go and see and have a visit." And a two-days' visa was given to him.
               He went and he was received with great celebration. And it was really beautiful; he had never
           even dreamt of such a beautiful place. He thought, "What nonsense! Even God would enjoy to be
           here. Nobody knows that hell has changed completely, and we go on believing in old books where
           heaven was praised and hell was condemned. Now things are totally different; things are the other
           way! "
               For two days he enjoyed. He gambled and drank and danced, and all the beautiful women from
           Cleopatra to Marilyn Monroe -- all were there. It was tremendously beautiful, and two days just
           passed like two seconds. He was very sorry.
               He went back and said to God, "I don't want to be in heaven. Please give me a permanent visa; I
           want to go there."
               God said, "But remember, once you have a permanent change of address, you will not be allowed
           to come back."
               He said, "Who wants to come back? Don't waste time! And I don't want to go through the red
           tape. Give me an order immediately that I want to go to hell. I don't want to stay here a single
           moment."
               And of course, it was arranged. He reached hell, and suddenly almost a dozen devils jumped on
           him and started beating him. He said, "What are you doing?" And he looked around; that beautiful
           scene was not there -- all was fire and flames. And he said, "This looks like the old hell. Have I
           missed something? Have I reached a wrong place?"
           They said, "No, you are in the right place."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "But," he said, "just the other day I was here for two days and it was so beautiful."
               They laughed and said, "That was not the real hell. It was just a showpiece for the visitors. Now
           you have come as a permanent resident here; now you will know the real thing."
               So next time, don't talk about me. If you talk about me, certainly, it is simple and diplomatic that
           much grace and love and attention should be given to you.
               And it worked too: "I felt honored by him...." Special attention; who will not feel honored? Here
           I never give any special attention to anybody. Even if you want to see me you will have to wait for
           days. The appointment is not so easy. And I don't pay any special attention to anybody, because here
           I really mean to work, I mean business.
               Special attention is given to you just to buttress your ego... and that's how things go on. The guru
           buttresses the ego of the disciple and the disciple buttresses the ego of the guru; and a mutual
           understanding happens and things go well and everything runs smoothly. They go on lubricating
           each other. Here, nothing of that sort.,I am very businesslike; I don't give any special attention to
           you. Because the very desire to get special attention is wrong. What are you going to do with the
           special attention you get? You will feed your ego. Everybody wants to be specially attended to.
           Why? Because everybody wants to be somebody special.
               So of course, there is nothing mysterious in it: "I felt honored by him...." The special attention
           worked on your ego.
               If you want to be here with me, remember, I am not playing any game of the ego with you.
           Things are straight, direct. You are here to dissolve yourself, and I am here to help you die. It is
           going to be arduous, but all growth is painful.
               But if you want children's toys, then you can go anywhere you want to. Maybe you need them
           right now. Maybe you are still childish, juvenile, not a mature person. Then you will need something
           like that.
               But never feel guilty. I don't want you to feel guilty for anything, whatsoever it is.
           Unconditionally, I want to say to you that I don't want to create guilt in you.


              IT IS FOUND THAT REMEMBRANCE OF "BELOVED' OR "DARLING" IS MORE SPONTANEOUS
              AND EASY THAN THE REMEMBRANCE OF "GOD" OR "SUPREME SELF." WHY IS IT SO?


                It is so simple. Why should it not be so? Your beloved is real; your God is just a bogus concept,
           empty, immaterial, just a word. If you go deep in it, there is nothing in it. Your God is just a word;
           your beloved is a reality. My God is a reality; your God is not a reality. Your God is just a word
           heard unconsciously; it goes on reverberating, vibrating in you, but it is just a word. What does it
           mean? It has no meaning. Your beloved, of course, is significant.
                That's why I say forget about God the concept, the word, the theological idea; rather, love -- love
           your beloved -- and love her so deeply, or him so deeply, that a moment comes when you can feel
           the beloved not as the body but as the soul. That will be the door of the temple of God. Love totally,
           and through total love, prayer becomes, by and by, a natural phenomenon. Love is transformed into
           prayer. Each beloved, each lover, becomes a window to God.
                So I don't teach you: go against love. I teach you: go through love. That is the whole difference
           between my teaching and the teaching of the traditional, so-called saints. I teach you go through
           love; that is natural. But go so totally, so utterly lost in it that by and by it is not just a superficial
           thing; you can start feeling the soul of the other. In that moment, you will be able to see the whole of
           existence filled with soul.
                If you have looked into the eyes of your beloved and seen something of the ineffable, the
           indefinable, then look at the tree and you will see the same thing there too. Then look at the rose and
           you will find the same eyes there too. Then run around and you will see he is everywhere. But the
           first glimpse will be in your beloved; and that is natural.
           Love is the natural way to God.

               Two very small boys were playing marbles together when a very, very pretty little girl walked
           by. One of the boys exclaimed fervently to his pal, "Brother, when I stop hating girls, she is the one I
           am going to stop hating first!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               From the very childhood, from the very beginning, love takes hold of you. Maybe you are not yet
           able to define it, maybe you can still think only in terms of "hate," that you will "not hate" this
           person. It is a negative definition of love, still love is negative -- but by and by it will become
           positive. By and by even the positivity will disappear; it will become existential. Then it is prayer.
               If you can go on diving deep into love, one day you will find that you have arrived at God.

               Mistress Mulla Nasrudin complained to the school principal that her thirteen-year-old son
           seemed to be spending most of his time staring at the girls in their summer miniskirts. "Don't worry,"
           were the principal's reassuring words. "He is just going through a stage that won't last more than the
           rest of his life."

               Love is something that lasts your whole life. You begin in love; you should end in love. Then the
           circle is complete. You are born out of love; you should die in love. Then the circle is complete.
               But your God is bogus, your God is out of fear; or your God is just a concept given by others to
           you.

               A little girl -- 1974 model -- had been on dozens of jet planes in her time, but this was her first
           overnight journey in an upper berth of a Pullman car. Somewhat frightened, she called out at regular
           intervals to her mother below, "Mommy, are you there?"
               After many hours of this a gentleman across the aisle piped up, "Yes, mommy is here. And I am
           here too. We are all trying to get a little sleep. So for heaven's sake, stop that confounded noise."
               There was a moment of silence, and then a quavering little voice called out, "Mommy, was that
           God?"

                That's your concept of God: fear. Your God means your father, magnified; your headmaster,
           magnified; or the head constable. What do you mean by your God? You don't have any experience.
                Rather than thinking of God as your father, it is better to think of God as your beloved; because a
           father is an authoritative figure, unnatural, social, formal. Once it never existed; sometime it may
           disappear again. It is better to think of God as your beloved; and it is better to move through the
           beloved towards the ultimate beloved. You will be moving naturally, spontaneously, and there will
           be no repression, and there will be no unnecessary harshness in your lifestyle -- you will not become
           a masochist.
                And if you can go to God laughing, why go weeping? If you can go to God dancing, then why
           not go dancing? I don't teach you a God who is against life and love. I teach you a God who is the
           very depth, the very ground of life and love.
                You can drop the word "God" if it creates trouble for you. Replace it with "love," and let "love"
           to be with a lowercase l, not with a capital L. Don't make much fuss about it. A lowercase l, ordinary
           love -- the love that happens between two friends, that happens between a husband and wife, that
           happens between a child and a mother, that happens, always happens, in relationship.
                Become more and more loving and you will be closer to God, closer and closer. The day your
           whole being is a state of love, you have arrived: God is revealed to you. Yes, Jesus is right when he
           says, "God is love." But my insistence is even more than Jesus'; I say, "Love is God." Jesus says God
           is love; I say love is God. And the word "God" has become very dirty because it has been used and
           misused by politicians and priests for so long. It is a dirty word now; you can drop it. "Love" is
           fresher, more virgin, more existential, truer.
                Love, and whomsoever you love, you will find he has become a God. Love, and you will always
           find God in the end.




                                   Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                       Chapter #7
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                       Chapter title: Enter into your own body
           17 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612170
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins



Il. 22. man tu par utar kanh jaiho


              TO WHAT SHORE WOULD YOU CROSS, O MY HEART? THERE IS NO TRAVELER BEFORE
              YOU, THERE IS NO ROAD.
              WHERE IS THE MOVEMENT, WHERE IS THE REST, ON THAT SHORE?
              THERE IS NO WATER; NO BOAT, NO BOATMAN IS THERE;
              THERE IS NOT SO MUCH AS A ROPE TO TOW THE BOAT, NOR A MAN TO DRAW IT.
              NO EARTH, NO SKY, NO TIME, NO THING, IS THERE: NO SHORE, NO FORD!
              THERE, THERE IS NEITHER BODY NOR MIND. AND WHERE IS THE PLACE THAT SHALL STILL
              THE THIRST OF THE SOUL? YOU SHALL FIND NAUGHT IN THAT EMPTINESS.
              BE STRONG, AND ENTER INTO YOUR OWN BODY: FOR THERE YOUR FOOTHOLD IS FIRM.
              CONSIDER IT WELL, O MY HEART! GO NOT ELSEWHERE.
              KABIR SAYS: "PUT ALL IMAGINATION AWAY, AND STAND FAST IN THAT WHICH YOU ARE."

              II. 81. satgur soi daya kar dinha



              IT IS THE MERCY OF MY TRUE GURU THAT HAS MADE ME TO KNOW THE UNKNOWN;
              I HAVE LEARNED FROM HIM HOW TO WALK WITHOUT FEET, TO SEE WITHOUT EYES, TO
              HEAR WITHOUT EARS, TO DRINK WITHOUT MOUTH, TO FLY WITHOUT WINGS;
              I HAVE BROUGHT MY LOVE AND MY MEDITATION INTO THE LAND WHERE THERE IS NO SUN
              AND MOON, NOR DAY AND NIGHT.
              WITHOUT EATING, I HAVE TASTED OF THE SWEETNESS OF NECTAR, AND WITHOUT WATER,
              I HAVE QUENCHED MY THIRST.
              WHERE THERE IS THE RESPONSE OF DELIGHT, THERE IS THE
              FULLNESS OF JOY. BEFORE WHOM CAN THAT JOY BE UTTERED?
              KABIR SAYS: "THE GURU IS GREAT BEYOND WORDS, AND GREAT IS THE GOOD FORTUNE
              OF THE DISCIPLE."


               GOD IS WITHIN AND WITHOUT, because only God is. In fact to say "God is" is a repetition
           because God is never "is not." God is the very isness of existence. We can say "the house is" because
           once the house was not and once again the house will not be. To call the house "is" is okay because
           the "is not" is possible. We can say "the man is" but we cannot say "God is," because only he is,
           always has been, always will be. God is the very isness, God is existence itself.
               Then why say the word "God" at all? Why use it? We use it very symbolically, to indicate
           something. When we say "God is" we mean existence is not without a soul. We mean that existence
           is not dead. We mean that existence is alive, throbbing with love, compassion, consciousness,
           conscience; that existence is intimate; that there is a possibility of addressing existence and there is a
           possibility of getting the response. When we say "God is" we mean that existence allows the
           possibility of a dialogue. You can have a dialogue with it; you can call it "thou" and it will not be
           meaningless; and you can be in such a state that prayer becomes possible, that communion becomes
           possible.
               That's all the word "God" carries. Existence is not like a dead rock; it is an alive flower. It will
           respond to you. If you love it, love will flow towards you. If you move towards it, it will move
           towards you. If you seek it, it will seek you. Existence is not care-less. If you are in love with
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existence, existence is in love with you. That's all that we mean when we call existence divine or
           when we say God is. Remember it. It is a poetic way of saying a truth. It is not a fact. It is poetry, it
           is romance. And religion is romance with existence.
                Yes, it is more like falling in love rather than arguing towards a conclusion.
                That's why Kabir says God is within and without, but the journey has to start from the within.
           Unless you have known God withinwards, you will not be able to comprehend him in the outside.
           Unless you have seen him within yourself, you will not be able to see him in the trees, in the birds, in
           the stars. How can you see him in the tree, in the rock, if you have not been able to feel him within
           yourself? Your center of being is the closest door to God. If you have not been able to enter from
           there, you cannot enter from anywhere else.
                God is within and without, both, because only he is; still, the journey starts from your innermost
           core. First you have to look withinwards. If from the very beginning you start looking for God in the
           outside, your God will be nothing but an imagination, a falsity.
                This point has to be understood very deeply. The whole approach of Kabir -- the whole approach
           of all the mystics of the world -- depends on this. If you see God outside and you have not seen him
           within, it is going to be just a dream, a projection, a wish fulfillment; so don't start the journey that
           way. The journey starts by closing the eyes; the journey ends by opening the eyes. First, one closes
           the eyes in meditation, goes deep into oneself. When one has realized, touched the very core, has
           known who is there; one opens the eyes -- and finds him all over, spread everywhere.
                But you cannot begin from the outside. That's where organized religion misses the whole point.
           The Christian goes to the church, the Hindu goes to the temple, the Mohammedan goes to the
           mosque. The Mohammedan travels thousands of miles to go to Mecca, the Hindu goes to Kailash;
           and Kabir says he is neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash. He is within you. Not that he is not in Kaaba
           and Kailash! Once you have found him within yourself you will find him everywhere -- but then
           there will be no point of going to Kaaba and Kailash because wherever you are, wherever you look,
           you will find Kaaba, you will find Kailash.
                There is a very beautiful story in the life of Nanak, another great mystic of the same calibre as
           Kabir. Nanak went to Mecca; he traveled with some Mohammedan travelers who were on a
           pilgrimage. They reached Mecca, the holy stone of Kaaba. It was evening and the sun was setting,
           and they were very tired; and Nanak immediately fell asleep. The travelers, the companions, were
           very much surprised. They used to think of Nanak as a very holy man, but he was doing something
           stupid: his legs were towards the Kaaba when he lay down and fell asleep. They became very much
           afraid; this is a sacrilege. And by the time they could do something about it, the chief priest came,
           and he said, "Who is this man? Is he an atheist, he does not believe in God? He does not seem to be a
           Muslim. Throw him out of here!"
                All this noise and talk, and Nanak opened his eyes, and he said, "What is the matter?" They said,
           "This cannot be allowed. Your legs are towards Kaaba, and this is a sin." Nanak laughed
           uproariously, and he said, "You can put my legs anywhere you like, but, one thing before you do it,
           tell me if this is not so: wherever my legs are, they will always point towards God -- because he is
           everywhere."
                Up to this point, the story seems to be absolutely realistic; then it becomes a parable. The priest
           was very angry; he took hold of the feet of Nanak and turned his feet away from Kaaba. And the
           parable says Kaaba turned towards Nanak's feet. And he moved him in every direction, and Kaaba
           turned to that direction.
                Now, it is a parable; I don't say now it is realistic. Half the story seems to be exactly right. The
           other part seems to be very poetic -- true, but not factual. It is very significant though. God is
           everywhere.
                Once you have found him within, you will find him everywhere. Then you cannot find a place
           where he is not. But don't start the journey from the outward. Don't start going to Kaaba and Kailash,
           to the temple and the mosque; otherwise you have taken a wrong step. And one wrong step leads to
           another. You start imagining.
                Once a Sufi stayed with me. He had many disciples, thousands of disciples, and his disciples
           used to come to me and say their Master is great, he sees God everywhere -- in the trees, in the
           rocks, in the birds, animals, even in the dog -- everywhere he sees God. When he came to stay with
           me, the first night we sat together, I looked at him. He was a very beautiful man -- but I could see
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that his God is a projection; he is living in his imagination, in a reverie, in a dream. The dream is
           beautiful, because when you dream about God everywhere, even the dream changes your life -- even
           the idea that God is everywhere brings tremendous changes -- but it is not radical. It is mental; it is a
           mind game. It is a sort of auto-hypnosis.
               I asked him, "Please, tell me how you started to see God everywhere." And he was very reverent
           -- to everything. He would go and bow down before a rock, any rock, and he would go down and
           touch the tree; and he was really very reverent and he had a very peaceful quality all around him. He
           was a poet, but not a mystic. I asked him, "Tell me how you started to see God."
               He said, "How I started? I started to think, continuously, 'God is everywhere,' and whatsoever I
           would touch, I would think, 'Here is God.' I would look into the eyes of a man, and I would say,
           'Here is God.' And I would repeat it and repeat it, and by repeating it continuously for three years,
           one day it suddenly dawned over me. he was everywhere."
               I told him, "You do one thing. It took three years? You do one thing. You will be here with me
           for seven days; for three days you stop thinking about God."
               He said, "What do you mean? I cannot do it. For thirty years I have been continuously thinking
           about God, and it has given me tremendous peace and I have been very, very blissful -- and why
           should I stop for three days?"
               I said, "Just to see whether, if you stop for three days, you can still see God or not. If you cannot
           see, then these thirty years you have lived in a beautiful dream -- sweet, but a dream all the same."
               He became intrigued. He was afraid to try it, but then he became more and more interested too.
           Whenever you become afraid of something, you become infatuated too. First he denied, but I could
           see that he would not be able to resist the temptation. Next morning he said, "Okay, I will try. I trust
           God, and I know he is everywhere. Just by not thinking do you think I will not be able to see him?"
               I said, "I don't say anything. There is no need to conclude right now. Let the experiment be done.
           For three days you stop thinking, you stop imagining -- you stop altogether. You just move
           backwards, thirty years back. Become that man who has never thought about God and who has not
           projected God everywhere."
               By the third day, the man became ordinary. The aura disappeared, his eyes became empty. That
           peace was no longer there. He started crying, and he said, "You have disturbed me very much. My
           whole experience is lost."
               I said, "I have not disturbed you. You can start imagining again. I have simply showed you one
           truth, that even if you go on imagining for thirty lives, it will remain your imagination. You have
           started wrongly -- and it is time you should change, because this is of no use. Thirty years of
           constant auto-hypnotizing, and gone within three days? It is of no worth."
               Start from the within. First, rather than projecting God.... It is going to be a projection -- you
           don't know whether God is or is not. You know only the word, you know the tradition, you know the
           priest, you know the image that has been put into your mind. If you are a Christian, you can project
           Christ very easily and you can see Christ very easily. It will be a hallucination; it will be a sort of
           neurosis. f you are a Hindu, you can see Krishna very easily, you can project. If you are a Buddhist,
           you can see Buddha.
               Mind can create the illusion so beautifully and so realistically that even reality, itself pales down
           before it, becomes faint, looks unreal. And you have been doing it every night n your dreams. You
           know, your mind has a faculty -- a faculty to create images. Not only to create images but to make
           them appear so real that again and again you forget.,very night you dream, every morning you come
           to know.hat it was a dream and not a reality; and again when you dream the next night, again you
           become a victim, again you forget that it is a dream, again it looks real, absolutely real.
               Even absurdities look real -- that which cannot be imagined -- be, even that. You are talking to
           your wife and suddenly -lour wife turns into a horse. And even then the doubt does not arise. In a
           dream the doubt never arises. You trust even this. You cannot say, "What nonsense. How can it be?"
           So, everything is possible in a dream, and your trust is tremendous. In the morning when you are
           awake, all is one, and you laugh. And this has been going on for years... again you will fall a victim.
               This is the dream faculty of the mind. A part of the mind unctions as a projector -- just exactly
           like the projector in he movie house. The projector is hidden behind -- you never look at the
           projector, you don't even think about the projector. You look at the screen. The screen is empty; the
           projector goes on. Just a game of light and shadow... and you become o absorbed, you become so
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lost. You are real and the screen, absolutely false, but you forget yourself, and whatsoever going on
           the screen takes a reality of its own. And you NOW it is not real, but you go on forgetting again and
           again.
               Sometime try it in a movie house; it is a good meditation: just try to remember that it is unreal,
           that it is unreal.... Go on remembering that it is unreal and the screen is empty, and you will be
           surprised: for a few seconds you can remember; again you have forgotten, again it has become the
           reality. Whenever you forget yourself, the dream becomes real. Whenever you remember yourself --
           that "I am real," you shake yourself -- the screen becomes unreal and all that is going on becomes
           unreal.
               Let me put it in this way: The world looks real in the same proportion in which you are
           unconscious, asleep; the more aware you become, the world becomes more and more unreal.
               Even this so-called world becomes unreal, so what to say about your ideas? You project God,
           you project this and that -- heaven and hell -- they are all projections. You give them reality by
           becoming unconscious.
               So a man who thinks of God as his surrounding, as being everywhere, has started a wrong
           journey. What will he do? He can only auto-hypnotize himself. This is not going to lead to
           knowledge, to realization. This is getting into the unreality even deeper than before. This is getting
           into a sort of neurosis.
               That's why Freud is right when he says that the so-called religions are nothing but collective
           neuroses. The so-called religions are! Buddha may not have been a neurotic, Jesus may not h-ave
           been a neurotic; but Christians are, Buddhists are. The difference is Buddha starts from his
           withinwards, from his inwards, and the Buddhist starts from the idea. Jesus looks into his being, and
           the Christian looks at Jesus, looks outside. There is the whole difference.

           Kabir says:

              TO WHAT SHORE WOULD YOU CROSS, O MY HEART? THERE IS
              NO TRAVELER BEFORE YOU, THERE IS NO ROAD.


              If you go outside of your being you will be lost, Kabir says. "... THERE IS NO TRAVELER
           BEFORE YOU" -- whom will you follow, my heart? "... THERE IS NO ROAD :" -- how will you
           seek God? Where will you go to seek him?

              WHERE IS THE MOVEMENT, WHERE IS THE REST, ON THAT SHORE?
              THERE IS NO WATER, NO BOAT, NO BOATMAN IS THERE,
              THERE IS NOT SO MUCH AS A ROPE TO TOW THE BOAT, NOR A MAN TO DRAW IT.


               But you can fill your screen of the mind with your own imagination. You can imagine a road,
           you can imagine a Master leading you, you can imagine the goal; you can create a dream.
               In reality, there is no road. In reality, there is no other shore. This is the only shore there is. This
           is the only reality there is. There is no other reality; there is no separate reality. The reality is one.
           You can approach it in two ways: either with eyes full of dream or eyes without any dream.

              NO EARTH, NO SKY, NO TIME, NO THING, IS THERE: NO SHORE, NO FORD!


                If you go into the without, you will be moving into nothingness, emptiness. Of course, you can
           fill this emptiness with your own images and with your own ideas, but you are creating a neurosis --
           a religious neurosis, but it is a neurosis. When you go to the temple and you pray to a god who is
           outside you, what are you doing? Have you ever thought about it? Go to the madhouse, to the lunatic
           asylum, and see there. Somebody is sitting there and talking to his wife, and there is nobody around.
           He is sitting alone and talking to his wife. And you know that he is mad; the wife is not there and he
           is talking, he is imagining. He not only talks from his side, he answers from his wife's side too. This
           is a madman, you say. And then you go to the mosque, temple, church, and somebody is bowing
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down to some god nobody can see. Is it in any way different? It is again madness.
                To whom are you praying? Who is there outside you? Your prayer is a sort of a dream which you
           are creating. Yes, Sigmund Freud is right -- as he is right in many things. He has a tremendous grip
           on truth. Religion seems to be a collective neurosis -- but the religion of the Christians, the Hindus,
           and the Mohammedans; not the religion of Buddha, Jesus, Nanak, Kabir; not the religion I am
           talking about.
                The real religion consists of going inwards. And when you want to go inwards you have to drop
           all thinking, you have to drop all images. You have to become completely empty; only then can you
           go inwards. To go inwards, this is a basic need: that all thinking stops completely. Then you cannot
           hypnotize yourself. Without thinking, hypnosis cannot exist. All imagery stops. Only in that state of
           no-imagination, no-thought, no-mind, one comes to feel the reality that is there at the innermost core
           of your being.
                Once you have felt it there, then open your eyes and you will see it everywhere. Now it is totally
           different; the quality is no longer the same. Before, it was an imagination; now it is a reality. It is not
           that you are creating it; now it is there. It is a revelation.
                But ordinarily, we are accustomed to looking outside. Our eyes open outwards. When you close
           your eyes you see only darkness and nothing, or at the most, you see reflections of the outside
           passing. You close your eyes and you see the outside world reflected: a friend's face; somebody has
           insulted you, and the episode; or you have gone to the market to purchase something and you are
           haggling with the shopkeeper. Things like that -- just reflections of the outside. Either you look
           outside or you look into the reflections of the outside.
                But the eyes cannot see withinwards and the ears cannot hear withinwards, the hands cannot
           touch withinwards. All the senses open towards the outside; they are meant for it. The senses are
           bridges; they are meant to open outside. They reveal the surface of reality not its depth. If you want
           to know the depth, you will have to go beyond the senses into your own being. There you see
           without eyes. There you hear without ears. There you touch without your hands.
                But our habit is very, very powerful, so when a person becomes fed up with the world, feels
           frustrated with the world, sees that there is nothing there, and starts thinking about religion, again the
           old habit works: he again starts looking for God outside. He was looking for money; now he looks
           for God. First he was looking for political power; now he looks for religious power. But he looks
           outside. His old habit remains the same; he has not changed at all.

              I have heard about a closemouthed politician who shot his girl friend and was convicted of
           murder in the first degree. Just before he was hanged, he was asked, "Have you anything you wish to
           say?" His answer was, "Not at this time."

               Just the old habit. Now there is going to be no time anymore, he is going to be hanged, but that
           was his old habit. A politician always tries to avoid answering anything. Even if he answers, he
           never answers; he goes roundabout. You cannot figure out whether he says yes or no. It is very
           difficult to decide what he is saying. Or simply he refuses to answer. And this man is going to die the
           next moment, and he says, "Not at this time" -- and there is going to be no time any longer. Just the
           old habit.
               The mind is trained to look outside, so when you start looking for God, also, you start looking for
           him outside. You go into the scripture -- the Bible, the Veda, the Koran, the Geeta -- or you go to a
           priest or you go to the temple or you go to somebody for advice -- but you never go inwards. And the
           only place to go is to go in.
               The only place to be is to be in! From there the door opens. From there you knock at the doors of
           reality. From there comes the realization of that which is.
               And you have been gone so far in the outside world -- after money, after power, after sex, after
           this and that -- that it takes very long to come back. And you come back very reluctantly.
           I have heard:

               A moonshiner in the Georgia hills was caught redhanded by a posse of revenue agents. The
           moonshiner, despite his seventy years and long gray beard, tore himself loose from the sheriffs
           grasp, and headed crosscountry with the speed of a gazelle. The sheriff, a kindly -- and lazy -- soul,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           marveled at the old boy's agility, and said, "Let's let him go."
               Five days passed, however, and the moonshiner failed to return. Just as his relatives and
           neighbors were concluding that his unusual exertions had been the death of him, he stumbled home
           in a state of complete disrepair "Where you been, Beauregard?" asked his partner. The moonshiner
           answered simply, "I been coming back."

               He had gone so far away -- five days it took for him to come back.
               And you have been gone so far away for so many lives.
               But don't start calculating how long it will take for you to come back, because wherever you are,
           you can close your eyes and you are in. It is not a question of really coming back. Wherever you are,
           you close your eyes and you are in.
               It is almost as if somebody is running away from the sun, his back towards the sun as he is
           rushing farther away and farther away, and then one day he realizes this is foolish -- the sun is the
           source of life. What is he 40 do? WilL he have to travel the same distance that he has traveled away
           from the sun? No. He just turns his back and the sun is there. The sun has always been there.
               This is what is known as conversion. Conversion means a turning of one hundred and eighty
           degrees -- a sudden turn. This is what I call sannyas: a sudden turn. It is not a question that you will
           have to come the same distance again that you have traveled away. You cannot travel away from
           God! How can you travel away from yourself? Wherever you go you remain yourself. You can go to
           hell, and you will remain yourself. You can go to the moon or to some faraway star; you will remain
           yourself. And wherever you are ready to close your eyes -- turn your face inwards -- the inner reality
           starts revealing.
               So it is not a question of calculating how many lives we have been gone away. It is a moment -- a
           sudden moment of illumination.
               You may have been reading Zen stories. And all the Zen stories have one very absurd thing: the
           satori, the Zen enlightenment, happens very suddenly. You cannot figure it out, how it happened.
           The Master hits the disciple on the head, and the story simply says: "And he became enlightened."
           Now this seems to be absolutely absurd. A sinner -- a man who has been doing so many wrong
           things in his life and just a single moment before was unenlightened, ignorant -- has become
           enlightened within a single moment? Yes, this is how it happens.
               Time is not needed. Time is needed to travel outwards. To come in, time is not needed, time is
           not the factor. Space is needed to go outside. Space is not needed to come inside; space is not the
           factor.
               Yes, it is how it happens. Sometimes just a hit from the Master, or sometimes just a look from
           the Master, and it can happen. And not only that, sometimes it can happen without the Master.
               It is said about Lao Tzu that he was sitting under a tree when he became enlightened, but he was
           not doing anything. Buddha was meditating; Lao Tzu was not doing anything, not even meditation.
           He was just sitting, and an old leaf fell from the tree, started falling, slowly, lazily, like a feather, and
           he watched it falling, and it settled on the ground... and he became enlightened. Now, there was no
           Master, and he was not even meditating. What happened? Just watching the leaf falling? In that very
           moment, he must have become so tremendously aware, so absorbingly aware, that the mind stopped,
           there was no thought. He simply watched the leaf falling. The leaf settled on the ground; something
           settled in himself too. He was no longer the same person. The old is dead, the new is born. It is a
           rebirth.
               And this is what I teach you too. So don't be very calculative and arithmetical; they are not
           needed for the inner journey. Just be quiet, silent, more and more relaxing, more and more in tune
           with nature; and more and more, sit with closed eyes, just doing nothing -- not even meditating --
           just doing nothing. If nothing happens don't be worried. If you can accept that nothing is happening,
           that too is okay; then some day something is going to happen which will transform you.
               One day, for no visible cause at all, one settles. Or something absolutely irrelevant may become
           instrumental. You are sitting with closed eyes -- a child starts laughing loudly, and the very laughter
           becomes the old leaf. Or your wife has dropped something in the kitchen, and the very noise, and
           suddenly something is broken inside you, a breakthrough.
               It can happen any moment, it can happen in any situation, because it is your innermost nature. It
           is already there; it has not to be produced and it has not to be created. You have brought this treasure
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with you.
              But you go on looking outside and you remain a beggar. Come in and become emperors.

              THERE, THERE IS NEITHER BODY NOR MIND: AND WHERE IS THE PLACE THAT SHALL STILL
              THE THIRST OF THE SOUL?
              YOU SHALL FIND NAUGHT IN THAT EMPTINESS.
              BE STRONG, AND ENTER INTO YOUR OWN BODY.

              Don't go outside.

                Kabir is a great lover of the body -- and all the great mystics have been lovers of the body --
           because the body is the real temple of God. And if you find somebody condemning the body, know
           from the very beginning that he knows nothing. If somebody is against the body, he has not known
           anything at all. He does not even know the ABCD of spirituality. He has not even begun. If he
           condemns the body he is still afraid of the body. If he condemns the body he is a dualist: he thinks
           himself separate from the body. If he condemns the body he still has great lust and greed in him. If
           he condemns the body, it means the body still tempts him too much and he shivers and trembles
           before the body. He is antagonistic to the body because he has not yet been able to understand what
           this beautiful phenomenon is that we call the body. The body is the temple of God. God is enshrined
           in it; God is embodied in it. It is God's body.
           "BE STRONG, AND ENTER INTO YOUR OWN BODY:" If you don't enter into your own body,
           you will be chasing shadows and nothing will be the outcome. You can go on rushing and speeding,
           and you will never reach anywhere because the place to reach is within you. The goal to reach is in
           the seeker; the seeker is the sought.
           "BE STRONG...." And what does Kabir mean when he says, "Be strong"? He means, then don't be
           weak; these people who are against the body are all weaklings. They have become afraid of their
           own body. When you are afraid of somebody, you are thought to be a coward, but think of the
           Person who is afraid of his own body. He is the worst coward. You cannot find a weaker person than
           him.
                There are so-called saints who will not allow their body to rest. They are afraid because if you
           give the body rest, then the body demands more. They will not give right food to the body. They will
           fast because they are afraid, because if you give food to the body, the body creates energy. Energy
           wants to delight, energy wants to love, energy wants to dance; so don't give food to the body. Fast,
           starve the body. They slowly kill the body, by and by.
                I have heard Mulla Nasrudin was going for a long trip to London; he had to go.

               He persuaded his brother to take care of his Siamese cat while he was away. Nasrudin dearly
           loved that Siamese cat, but the brother definitely did not. The very moment Nasrudin set foot back at
           the airport, therefore, he phoned his brother to check on his cat's health. The brother announced
           curtly, "Your cat died," and hung up.
               For days, Nasrudin was inconsolable. Finally, however, he phoned his brother again to point out,
           "It was needlessly cruel and sadistic of you to tell me that bluntly that my poor, poor cat had passed
           away." "What did you expect me to do?" demanded the brother. "You could have broken the bad
           news gradually," grumbled Nasrudin. "First, you could have said the cat was playing on the roof.
           Later you could have called to say he fell off. The next morning you could have reported he had
           broken his leg. Then, when I came to get him, you could have told me he had passed away during the
           night. Well -- you did not have it in you to be that civilized. Now tell me -- how is Mama?"
               The brother pondered momentarily, then announced, "She is playing on the roof."

               And your so-called saints are always playing on the roof -- just killing themselves, gradually.
           They are suicidal people, your saints are suicidal people. Of course, not courageous enough to do it
           in one stroke. They do it slowly -- starving, torturing the body, destroying the body by and by, in
           steps. Other suicidal people are more courageous; they do it in a single moment. And these people go
           on lingering, playing on the roof.
               Kabir is not against the body. He cannot be. He knows that the body is the temple of God. When
           you starve the body, you starve God himself. When you don't allow rest to the body, you don't allow
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rest to the God embodied there.
                Be worshipful, be respectful towards your body. God has chosen it to be his residence.
                And the body is a miracle; it is tremendously beautiful, tremendously complex. There is no other
           thing so complex, so subtle as the body. You don't know anything about it. You have only looked at
           it in the mirror. You have never looked at it from the within; otherwise it is a universe in itself.
           That's what the mystics have always been saying: that the body is a miniature universe. If you see it
           from the inside, it is so vast -- millions and millions of cells, and each cell alive with its own life, and
           each cell functioning in such an intelligent manner that it seems almost incredible, impossible,
           unbelievable.
                You eat food, and.the body transforms it into blood, bones, marrow. You eat food, and the body
           transforms it into consciousness, thought. A miracle is happening every moment. And each cell
           functions so systematically, in such an orderly way, in such an inner discipline, that it seems almost
           not possible -- millions of cells. Seventy million cells are there in your single body -- seventy million
           souls. Each cell has its own soul. And how they function! And how they function in such a
           coherence, in such a rhythm and harmony. And the same cells become the eyes and the same cells
           become the skin and the same cells become your liver and your heart and your marrow and your
           mind and your brain. The same cells specialize -- then they become specialized cells -- but they are
           the same cells. And how they move, and how subtly and silently they work.
                There is a possibility that cancer is nothing but some cell going insane inside you, who has lost
           track, who is no longer functioning intelligently and has gone berserk. There is a possibility that
           cancer is nothing but a cell gone out of tune. Otherwise millions and millions of cells are working in
           such a sane way that even your human society is nothing compared to it. Your society is almost
           insane -- as if everybody is a cancer cell.
                In your body, God is manifested. You have to go withinwards. You have not yet acquainted
           yourself with this temple.
           "BE STRONG..." -- don't be a weakling and don't be a coward and don't try to escape from the fact
           of your body. Rather, penetrate into it, go deep into it, go into the mystery of it.
           "BE STRONG, AND ENTER INTO YOUR OWN BODY:" Don't look for God in the sky; look for
           God within your own body. Kabir is very realistic, very scientific.

           ... and enter into your own body:

              FOR THERE YOUR FOOTHOLD IS FIRM.


               Because there you are rooted. The body is your earth; you are rooted in the body. Your
           consciousness is like a tree in the body. Your thoughts are like fruits. Your meditations are like
           flowers. But you are rooted in the body; the body supports it. The body supports everything that you
           are doing. You love; the body supports. You hate; the body supports. You want to kill somebody; the
           body supports. You want to protect somebody; the body supports. In compassion, in love, in anger,
           in hate -- in every way -- the body supports you. You are rooted in the body; you are nourished by
           the body. Even when you start realizing who you are, the body supports you.
               Don't kill the body. Don't be a masochist, don't torture it. It is your friend; it is not your enemy.
           Listen to its language, decode its language, and by and by, as you enter into the book of the body and
           you turn its pages, you will become aware of the whole mystery of life. Condensed, it is in your
           body. Magnified a millionfold, it is all over the world. But condensed in a small formula, it is there
           present in your body. Decode it there first. And there is no other way to decode it anywhere else.

              Be strong, and enter into your own body: for there your foothold is firm.

              ... CONSIDER IT WELL, O MY HEART! GO NOT ELSEWHERE.
              KABIR SAYS. "PUT ALL IMAGINATION AWAY, AND STAND FAST IN THAT WHICH YOU ARE."


             Listen to these beautiful and tremendously significant words: "O MY HEART! GO NOT
           ELSEWHERE." There is no need to go anywhere. All is already given to you. You are a fool going
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anywhere and begging for it. God has made you from the very beginning as an emperor. He never
           creates beggars. If you have taken the role of a beggar, it is simply your responsibility and your
           stupidity.
           "KABIR SAYS: 'PUT ALL IMAGINATION AWAY....'" This idea that you are a beggar is also your
           imagination. And the next idea, when you get fed up with your begging, desires, ambitions, and you
           start reading the scriptures and you come across great sayings -- "Aham Brahmasmi" -- "I am
           God"and then you start imagining "I am God"; that too is imagination.
               Rather than imagining, drop all imagination, move into a state of no-imagination. That's what he
           means: "GO NOT ELSEWHERE." Imagination is the way to go somewhere else. Listen to it:
           whenever you imagine, you go away from yourself. You fall asleep in the night -- you fall asleep in
           the night here in Poona, and then in a dream you dream you are in New York, Timbuktu, Peking. It
           is imagination. In the morning you find yourself in Poona -- you had never left Poona; the whole
           night you were here -- but in your imagination you had gone to so many places.
               Exactly the same is the case: you have never left your divinehood, your godhood. You have
           never left that, there you are rooted, but in imagination sometimes you became an animal and
           sometimes you became a tree and sometimes you became a man and sometimes you become angry
           and sometimes you become very kind, sometimes you are a gentleman and sometimes you are a
           robber. You go on imagining. Sometimes you think you.are a child and sometimes you think you are
           young and sometimes you think you are old, sometimes you think you are a man and sometimes you
           think you are a woman, but these are all imaginations.
               Deep down, you are only God and nothing else. These are all roles that you choose yourself. You
           create, you project, and then you enter into your own projections.
           Go not elsewhere, O my heart! Consider it well.
           "KABIR SAYS: 'PUT ALL IMAGINATION AWAY....'" That's what meditation is all about: putting
           imagination away. But there are foolish people who bring their imagination to their meditation too.
           In meditation also they start imagining; they start imagining a thousand and one things. Somebody
           imagines he has seen Krishna, somebody imagines his KUNDALINI is rising, somebody imagines
           his SAHASRAR is opening, somebody imagines something else, and people have different
           imaginations. These are all imaginations.
               When you feel your KUNDALINI is rising, don't get involved in it -- let it rise. Remain aloof and
           detached, and say, "Okay, this must be some imagination." You have heard so much about
           KUNDALINI rising. You must be reading the books of Gopi Krishna -- KUNDALINI rising -- and
           so many yogis are talking about it. It is in the air, so you become infected with the idea. Then you
           are waiting for it to rise. Not even simply waiting, but in a subtle way, trying to help it to rise. You
           are ready to support it. Just a slight thing -- an ant crawling upon your spine -- and it is there and
           suddenly you are full of energy. And you have imagined it and you have created. Now it becomes
           yet another ego trip.
               You have read in books that the third eye will open, so you are waiting for it, and when you close
           your eyes -- consciously, unconsciously -- you look for the third eye, and you start imagining. One
           day, you can see the light there -- imagination is tremendously powerful. It can create whatsoever
           you want to create.
               Now look: in India, Jainas have existed as long as the Hindus -- one of the oldest religions of the
           world is Jainism -- but Mahavir never talked about KUNDALINI, and the Jainas' twenty-four
           TEERTHANKARAS never talked about KUNDALINI. Down through the ages, down through the
           centuries, Jainas ave not talked about kundalini, so it never rises in a Jaina saint -- never -- because
           they never read about it. So it never arises in a Jaina saint. Buddhists don't believe in it, so it never
           rises. Christians, Mohammedans, never heard about t, so it never rises.
               Something else happens to Buddhists: CHAKRAS open. And, you will be surprised, when
           Hindus think about CHAKRAS, seven CHAKRAS open; when Buddhists, five -- only five -- two
           imply disappear; because Buddhists talk about five CHAKRAS, and Hindus talk about seven. And
           there are tantricas who talk about nine!
               And, you will be surprised, once a man came to me and he said, "Nine CHAKRAS have
           opened." I said, "Wait. There are thirteen in all." He said, "What? I have never heard about.
           Buddhists talk about five, Hindus talk about seven, and tantricas talk about nine. Thirteen?" I said, "I
           have discovered more." And after three months he came and he said, "Right you were! Now the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thirteenth has also opened!"
                Just an idea I had put in his mind -- "thirteen." And how can it be that he would not experience
           them all when he has arrived so far, at the ninth? He created four more. It is not so difficult.
                Forget all about your imaginations; otherwise you will be trapped by your mind. If you see
           something, remember, it is imagination. If you feel something, remember, it is imagination. If you
           experience something, remember, it is imagination. When the experiencer is left alone without any
           experience, then there is no imagination. When the knower is left and there is nothing to know, then
           there is no imagination. When there is pure awareness without any content, then there is truth. And
           Kabir insists: "Put all imagination away.... "
                God is not an experience, God is not an object. God is the very experiencer within you. You
           cannot see God. God is the one who is seeing through you. You cannot see God; you cannot reduce
           him to an object. You cannot put him in front of you; otherwise God will be separate from you. No,
           God cannot be experienced. And those who claim that they have experienced God are imagining
           things deluded. You cannot experience God! You can be God, but you cannot experience God.
           Because you are God, how can you experience God? God is not separate from you.
                So God is when all imagination is brushed aside and only experiencing remains, just the light --
           not falling on anything -- without any content -- you just are, just isness, being.
           "... AND STAND FAST IN THAT WHICH YOU ARE." Don't go anywhere in imagination. Stand
           fast in that which you are, and you will know what God is. Knowing yourself, you will know God.
           Knowing the knower, you will know God. God never comes as an object of knowledge. He is your
           consciousness, he is your very being.

              IT IS THE MERCY OF MY TRUE GURU THAT HAS MADE ME TO KNOW THE UNKNOWN;
              I HAVE LEARNED FROM HIM HOW TO WALK WITHOUT FEET,
              TO SEE WITHOUT EYES, TO HEAR WITHOUT EARS, TO DRINK WITHOUT MOUTH, TO FLY
              WITHOUT WINGS;
              I HAVE BROUGHT MY LOVE AND MY MEDITATION INTO THE LAND WHERE THERE IS NO SUN
              AND MOON, NOR DAY AND NIGHT.

              "IT IS THE MERCY OF MY TRUE GURU.... " Kabir says it is not y your effort that you attain to God. It
              is by the mercy of the true guru, it is by the mercy of the Master. Kabir believes tremendously in the
              mercy of the Master. Let us :ry to understand it.

               First, the word "guru." Guru means one who has gravitation, around whom you suddenly feel as
           if you are being pulled. The guru is a tremendous magnet, with only one' difference. There is a man
           who has charisma -- you are pulled, ut you are pulled towards him. That is the man of charisma. He
           may become a great leader, a great politician. Adolf Hitler has that charisma; millions of people are
           pulled towards him. Then what is the difference between a charismatic leader and a guru? The
           difference is tremendous. The difference is: when you are pulled towards a guru you suddenly feel
           that you are being pulled inwards, not outwards.
               When you are pulled towards Kabir, Nanak, Buddha, you have a strange feeling. The feeling is
           that you are being pulled towards them and at the same time you are being pulled inwards -- a very
           strange paradoxical phenomenon
               at the closer you come to your guru, the closer you come yourself. The more you become
           attracted towards the guru, the more you become independent. The more you become surrendered to
           the guru, the more you feel that you ave freedom you never had before.
               So it is a very subtle difference. Remember it. If you are Pulled towards a man and that pull
           creates a slavery, that an is not the guru. That man may have charisma, may have magnetic power --
           maybe his great intelligence, his physical beauty, or his sheer vitality pulls you -- but you will be
           going away from yourself. It will be an infatuation. You will be obsessed with this man, and you will
           be off your center. Avoid such people; these are the greatest mischief-mongers in the world. Adolf
           Hitler, Napoleon, Alexander -- these are the people who have created great havoc, because people
           feel tremendously attracted and people feel like surrendering.
               Remember, if your surrendering gives you freedom, then the man is a guru, a Master. If your
           surrendering makes you a slave, makes you a robot -- as all the followers of Adolf Hitler were turned
           into mechanical robots.... They lost their souls; he simply exploited their souls. They lost all their
           awareness. This happens in the spiritual world also, because these charismatic people are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everywhere. So make it a criterion inside: if by the presence of your guru, of your Master, you are
           becoming freer and freer, more and more independent; by surrendering, the paradox is happening --
           that by surrendering you are gaining more willpower, by surrendering you are becoming powerful
           not impotent -- then you are near the guru.
               The guru is one who pulls you towards himself just to throw you back into your own being. He
           functions as a mediator; via the guru, you arrive at your own self. Because you cannot go directly, he
           helps you via him. But his whole effort is to make you yourself.
               A true guru will never impose himself upon you. He will never impose his life-style on you. He
           will never give you any rigid discipline. He will not enforce anything on you, regiment you. He will
           not try to create soldiers of you. No, he will help you to become yourself. He will help you to be
           yourself, whatsoever that is. He will help to give you more and more understanding about yourself.
           You will become more and more centered, rooted, near him. More and more you will feel he has
           given you back to yourself -- that which was lost or forgotten, he has made you aware of it.
               That's what I say to my sannyasins: that I have nothing else to give to you; I give you back to
           yourself. You surrender to me, and I give it back to you.
               It is difficult for you to know yourself right now because you have lived in forgetfulness for so
           long. You need a shock; I give that shock to you. But I don't give you any discipline. And I don't
           force my life-style on you, because each person has to find his own life-style and each person is so
           unique that each person has to live in his own way. Nobody else's life-style is going to help you. You
           will become second-rate, secondhand; and God loves only firsthand people. Never be a carbon copy.
           If somewhere you are forced to become a carbon copy, avoid that place like the plague, escape from
           there.
           "IT IS THE MERCY OF MY TRUE GURU THAT HAS MADE ME TO KNOW THE
           UNKNOWN;/I HAVE LEARNED FROM HIM HOW TO WALK WITHOUT FEET, TO SEE
           WITHOUT EYES, TO HEAR WITHOUT EARS, TO DRINK WITHOUT MOUTH, TO FLY
           WITHOUT WINGS;" Because the inner world is without any senses. Eyes are not there, ears are not
           there, mouth is not there, wings are not there. And this is the miracle of a Master: that he helps you
           to see without the eyes. And it is simply a PRASAD, a gift; it is only out of his compassion that it
           happens. No effort is needed on your part, and no effort is needed on the Master's part. When the
           disciple is surrendered and the Master is REALLY a Master, it simply happens on its own accord.
               When the disciple is surrendered and the Master is ready, there is a communion, and something
           jumps from the soul of the Master to the disciple -- an exchange of energy, a shock, an electroshock
           -- and suddenly you become aware of your own reality.
           "I HAVE BROUGHT MY LOVE AND MY MEDITATION INTO THE LAND WHERE THERE
           IS NO SUN AND MOON, NOR DAY AND NIGHT." And now Kabir says, "By the mercy of my
           Master I have come to a point where I am neither a man nor a woman, nor a sun nor a moon, where
           all duality is lost night and day are lost, summer and winter no longer exist, God and devil are gone.
           I have come to where only one exists: the nondual, the ADVAITA, the one. I have come to unison."
           This is the meaning of the word "yoga": to come to unison. I have fallen into the unity with the
           whole.

              WITHOUT EATING, I HAVE TASTED OF THE SWEETNESS OF NECTAR, AND WITHOUT WATER,
              I HAVE QUENCHED MY THIRST.
              WHERE THERE IS THE RESPONSE OF DELIGHT, THERE IS THE FULLNESS OF JOY.


               This is of great significance. If you are delighted, joy will descend on you. Delight is human; joy
           is divine. When you are delighted, you will feel great joy descending on you.
               That's why I go on insisting sing, dance, delight, celebrate. That's what YOU can do. Joy is not
           within your hands. You can delight in small things -- a flower, a bird singing, a beautiful child, a
           beautiful woman. You can delight in small things -- in food, in sleep, in the morning breeze, the
           sunset, in the stars. You can delight in small things.
               If you can delight in small things, suddenly you will see great joy is descending in you. Joy
           comes from the whole. Delight creates the capacity to receive it. To remain delighted is enough to
           become a religious person. If you can celebrate continuously, that's enough; then God is going to
           descend in you. You are creating the receptivity; the response of delight creates the heart, makes it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ready, makes it receptive, opens your doors.
                There is a great saying of Jesus, incomparable. Jesus says, "Those who have, to them more will
           be given; and those who have not, even that which they have will be taken away from them." A very
           absurd-looking saying: those who have, more will be given to them. Does not look very democratic,
           does not look very communistic, socialistic. Looks very anti-communist. Those who have will be
           given more? This is unjust. And those who have not, even that which they have will be taken away.
           But the saying is of tremendous significance, one of the most secret sayings. Yet I also repeat it; and
           all the mystics have said that in different ways; that's what Kabir is saying.
                If you are delighted, joy will be given to you. If you have a little delight, more joy will descend
           on you. If you are silent, more silence will come to you. If you have, more will be given to you; if
           you don't have, even that which you have will be taken away.

              .. BEFORE WHOM CAN THAT JOY BE UTTERED?


              And that joy is such that when it descends it is inexpressible. Delight can be expressed; you can
           dance, you can sing, you can hug, you can hold hands. Delight is human and can be expressed. Joy is
           superhuman and impossible to express.

              KABIR SAYS: "THE GURU IS GREAT BEYOND WORDS, AND GREAT IS THE GOOD FORTUNE
              OF THE DISCIPLE."


                Yes, to become a disciple is to be fortunate. To find a Master is the greatest blessing that can
           happen to a man on the earth. It is very rare to find a Master and it is very rare, when you have found
           one, to surrender to him. But if it happens at all, the greatest thing has happened. More than that is
           not possible in life. Let me explain it to you, what the Master exactly means.
                God is far away -- just a word, we have never experienced him. The Master, or guru, functions as
           a midway station. God is superhuman, far away, difficult to conceive of. The guru is human, and yet
           divine. The guru is like us, and yet not like us. He is a bridge between man and God; he is just at the
           middle point. Exactly, the guru balances existence. The disciple is man; the God is not man; the guru
           is both. On one side, he belongs to humanity; on another side, he belongs to God. One of his hands is
           with the humanity; his other hand is in the hands of God. He becomes the bridge. That's why we call
           the guru a god-man or a man-god. That's why Jesus goes on saying, again and again, "I am the son of
           God, and I am the son of man." He is a guru, he is a Master.
                It is very difficult for Christians to explain why he says, again and again, "I am the son of man."
           It would have been more logical if he had said only one thing: "I am the son of God." But why does
           he say, "I am the son of man"? If he is the son of God, then he is no longer part of humanity; then he
           is as far away as God himself. Then what is the point of his coming to the world? It is meaningless.
           He had to become the son of man; only then does he relate to us. Then he is a relative, then he is a
           brother, then he is part of our family.
                That is the mystery of the guru. The guru is more mysterious than God. God is simple. Man is
           simple. The guru is very mysterious -- because paradoxes meet in him, contradictions meet in him.
           The guru is a meeting place of man and God, a crossroads, a SANGAMA, a meeting of the two
           rivers, of two different dimensions.
                The seeker is ignorance; God is knowing, wisdom. The seeker is darkness; God is light. The guru
           is a twilight.
                In India we pray at the time of twilight. The Sanskrit word for twilight is SANDHYA, and by
           and by it became synonymous with prayer. Twilight is prayer, the moment to pray. Twilight is
           representative of the guru. In India the sayings of the saints are called SANDHYA BHASHA, "the
           language of the twilight." They speak in metaphors which belong to two worlds: to the human and to
           the divine.
                There is a story about Kabir that when he arrived home and faced God, he was very much
           puzzled because the guru was standing there with God. He was very much puzzled about whom he
           should bow down to first, the priority -- to God, or to the guru? And then he touched the feet of the
           guru and said, "Because without you, I would have never known God. So you come first. Through
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you I have known; so you come first. God can wait, because without you there was no God for me. It
           is only through you he has become a reality. I bow down to you."
           "KABIR SAYS: 'THE GURU IS GREAT BEYOND WORDS, AND GREAT IS THE GOOD
           FORTUNE OF THE DISCIPLE."' There are millions of people; very few become seekers. There are
           thousands of seekers; very few become disciples. To become a disciple is a rare privilege because
           only by becoming a disciple does one become connected, linked, with a Master. Then your destiny is
           not alone; then your destiny is linked with a Master.
               People come to me and they say, "We don't want to take sannyas. Won't you help us?" I say, "I
           will help you, but you will not be able to receive it. My help will not be of much use, because you
           will not be there to receive it." By becoming a sannyasin, you become "response-able."
               And the word "responsible" I use in the literal sense: "response-ability." By becoming a
           sannyasin, you become response-able towards me, you become receptive towards me, your heart
           opens, you can trust me, and you become vulnerable. And then, only then, I can shower on you and I
           can lead you to the unknown -- the land where there is no moon and no sun and no day and no night,
           and the land where there is no space and no time, and the land where you will be flying without
           wings and you will be seeing without eyes, and the land where nectar is flowing but no mouth is
           needed to drink of it.
               That is possible only if you have taken the jump of disciplehood. Yes, blessed is the man who is
           courageous enough to become a disciple.
               It needs courage, it needs guts, it needs tremendous willpower, to surrender. Never think for a
           single moment that it is weaklings who surrender. Never. Weaklings cannot surrender. Cowards
           cannot surrender. It is only very, very strong people who can surrender. Surrender is possible only if
           you are very much grounded, centered: you know that you can surrender and yet you will not
           disappear into the surrender. You know that you can surrender and yet surrender is going to bring
           freedom to you.




                                   Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                    Chapter #8
                                      Chapter title: The irrational rationalist
           18 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612180
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




             THE Current OF 18TH DECEMBER HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. ABRAHAM T.
           KOVOOR, EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD RATIONALIST AND ATHEIST, OF CEYLON, IN WHICH HE
           REFERS TO AND CRITICIZES YOU. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT?

               R. ABRAHAM T. KOVOOR seems to be a nice old man, but a little senile. Senile, I call him,
           because a person cannot be both together -- a rationalist and an atheist. It is impossible. Either you
           can be a rationalist or you can be an atheist. A rationalist cannot believe in anything. A rationalist
           cannot have any belief -- in God or in no God. A rationalist suspends all belief. A rationalist can only
           be an agnostic; he can only say, "I do not know."
               The moment you say "I know," you are no longer a rationalist. The moment you say "I know that
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           God does not exist," you are as irrational as the person who says God exists. You have lost track.
                How can you say God is not? The whole existence has not yet been measured. There are depths
           upon depths, there is much still unknown. A little is known. Far more remains unknown and
           unknowable. How can you say dogmatically that God is not?
                A rationalist will avoid all temptation of dogmatism. He will say, "I do not know." Socrates was
           a rationalist, Buddha was a rationalist, Nagarjuna was a rationalist, but they were not atheists.
           Atheism means you are against theism; you have chosen a belief. To believe in God is a belief; to
           believe in no God is a belief again. You remain a believer.
                To be a rationalist is very difficult, arduous, because man wants to cling to some belief.
                Now this T. Kovoor is eighty years old. For eighty years continuously he has been traveling
           around, arguing, saying to people that God does not exist. This seems to be absurd. If God does not
           exist, he does not exist. Why bother? And why waste your precious life for something which does
           not exist? It is absurd, it is irrational, but if you look deep into it, he is clinging to this no-belief. This
           disbelief has become his practice, his religion. Now he cannot simply rest; he has to argue -- argue
           against God, argue against religion, try to prove that God does not exist. For what? What is the
           point?
                Your precious life is wasted. And he believes that he has only one life; after death there will be
           no life. Then this is foolhardy, then this is simply stupid -- to waste your life in the service of
           something which does not exist. And you don't have a soul, he says, and there is going to be no more
           life, this is the only life there is. And he has devoted his whole life to nonsense. How can he be a
           rationalist?
                A rationalist will say that life is mysterious. We are trying to know, we have come to know a
           little, but much more is still left; so the conclusion cannot be decided right now. We will have to wait
           till the very end. When everything is known, only then can we conclude.
                A rationalist has to live without a conclusion. A rationalist has to live without a philosophy,
           without a religion.
                T. Kovoor has made a religion out of his atheism. He is not a rationalist, because rationalism and
           atheism cannot go together. That's why I say he must be suffering from senile dementia.
                The second thing I would like to say is that he is senile and yet juvenile, too, because atheism is a
           phase of adolescence. Every intelligent person becomes atheistic at a certain age. Near about the
           fourteenth year, everybody becomes atheistic. That's a natural part of growth because the child needs
           to say no. It is a psychological need. Up to the age of fourteen, the child has lived protected by the
           mother, the father, the family; now he wants to be himself. And he wants to say no because only by
           saying no can he feel free, can he have a sense of freedom. He starts saying no to everything. If the
           father says, "Don't smoke!" he will smoke, because that is the only way -- to deny the father is the
           only way to grow. If the mother says, "Don't do this!" he has to do it; it is a must. If he does not do it
           he will never have any backbone. He will be impotent. He will not have any power. He will be
           unable to define himself, who he is. He has to say no.
                And when you say no to your father, you say no to the ultimate father, naturally. It is a corollary.
           The child has to deny everything to get free. He has to kick everything that his parents believed, that
           the society believed. This is natural, and good.
                If you have never been an atheist you will never really become a theist, because one who has not
           said no, how can he say yes? His yes will be impotent. Your yes is meaningful only when you have
           said no.
                But it is a phase and, naturally, people grow out of it. Atheism is a phase. After atheism comes
           theism. Theism is also a phase. First you say no to feel yourself, then you become a hard ego. Then it
           hurts. Then you have to say yes to relax. First you say no to become an ego, strong enough to be on
           your own, then one day you feel it is now hurting, it has become too hard. You have to drop it; you
           have to say yes. You become a theist.
                But, to me, religion starts only when you have dropped both -- no and yes, both. Then you come
           to silence, you don't say anything. A really religious person is not a theist. He has simply become
           silent. The no is gone, the yes is gone.
                I myself was an atheist -- and I was stubbornly an atheist. I was thrown out of one college just
           because of that, expelled, because the professor said it was impossible to teach this boy. Because my
           no was so much that for ordinary, small things I would not say yes. If the teacher would ask me,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Can't you see these walls?" I would say, "I can see them, but I don't know whether they ARE or
           they are NOT, because in dreams I see walls and they are not." And he would ask, "Can't you see I
           am standing here?" I would say, "I see you, but I cannot trust whether you are there or not because
           one day I saw you in my dream and in the morning I found you were not."
                He got very much puzzled and confused, and I confused him so much that after eight months of
           his effort he simply resigned from the college. He said, "I cannot come. This boy is going to drive
           me crazy. Either he has to be expelled or I have to be relieved of my duties." Of course I was
           expelled from the college. I had not done anything wrong, but I enjoyed no-saying tremendously. I
           loved it.
                Then of course, naturally, I grew out of it, because the purpose was fulfilled. Then I became a
           theist, but one day I found even the purpose of yes-saying was fulfilled. I am now neither; I am
           neither an atheist nor a theist. I am simply here, without any yes, without any no. I am tremendously
           silent. I don't divide into this and that, into yes and no, into for and against.
                That why I say Dr. Kovoor must be suffering from senility and still he is a juvenile. He has
           become stuck at the age of fourteen. His physical age must be eighty, but his psychological age
           cannot be more than fourteen.
                And I say it from my own experience. I have passed through these phases. His psychological age
           cannot be more than fourteen. And that's how things are: many people never grow beyond the
           fourteenth year. They remain adolescent, juvenile. Somehow it happens that by the time you become
           sexually mature, whatsoever is in your mind becomes fixed, becomes imprinted deeply. Fourteen is
           the age when you become sexually mature. Then ordinarily it happens you become stuck.
           Whatsoever your ideology, you become stuck with it; then you don't change. If you are a Hindu, you
           become a Hindu and you remain a Hindu. It is good to be born as a Hindu, but to die as a Hindu is
           ugly. It is good to be born as a Christian, but to die as a Christian? That means your whole life has
           been a wastage.
                One should grow out of all confinements -- theistic, atheistic. He is not a rationalist; otherwise he
           would have grown. Irrationalism has two alternatives: theism, atheism. A rationalist can only be an
           agnostic -- like Nagarjuna, Buddha, Socrates. They don't say anything about God; they keep quiet. If
           you ask Buddha, "Does God exist?" he keeps quiet, he does not answer, because to say yes is wrong,
           to say no is wrong. The question is so vast it cannot be contained in either yes or no.
                God means the whole existence. How can you deny and how can you affirm?
                Dr. Kovoor must be having a very childish concept of God -- a great king, emperor of the world,
           sitting somewhere in heaven on a high golden throne, ruling from there. This is stupid, the very idea
           is stupid, and he has been fighting against this stupid idea. When the idea itself is stupid, your fight
           is meaningless. And he has been fighting with dummies, and by fighting with dummies he has
           become well-known and is thought to be a great rationalist. He is not, nothing of the sort, not at all a
           rationalist.
                He has been fighting with very ordinary minds. For example, Satya Sai Baba; he is the opponent
           of Satya Sai Baba. Now Satya Sai Baba is neither a mystic nor a philosopher, just an ordinary
           magician. You can demolish him. And Kovoor goes on challenging him and he never answers. It is
           very simple to fight with Satya Sai Baba. Kovoor has never fought against a really rationalist mind.
                A rationalist mind is sharp like a sword. A rationalist mind means: I cannot believe in anything
           unless I have experienced it, and I cannot disbelieve in anything unless I have experienced it. Has he
           experienced God? Has he ever meditated? Has he ever gone into the inner lab? Has he ever known a
           single moment of no-thought? Then all his assertions are just meaningless.
                Have you tried to know God? You are fighting with ordinary people, whose belief is just mumbo
           jumbo. You can fight with them and you can prove to them that their argument is not right, that their
           belief is not right. An ordinary man has no foundation; it is very easy to demolish his arguments. In
           fact he has no arguments.
                But if you are really a rationalist, then you have to go into the experimentation of it. He should
           move into yoga, he should move into meditation, he should go deep into ecstasy, and from there he
           should assert whether God is or not.
                This is one of the most precious experiences of history, that whosoever has gone withinwards has
           become a mystic. Nobody has gone in and remained a non-mystic. Without any exception, whenever
           a person has meditated, he has felt the very heart, the very core of existence.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               God is not a person. God is just a symbol to show a certain quality in existence. For example, if
           there is no God it simply means life is meaningless. If there is no God it simply means this cosmos is
           not a cosmos, it is a chaos. If there is no God it simply means that life is accidental, there is no
           reason for it to be there at all. God is a symbol. To say "God is" is just another way of saying that life
           is meaningful. To say "God is" is another way of saying that life has poetry in it, music in it,
           coherence, harmony. To say that God is is to say that existence cares about you, it is responsive
           towards you, you are not uncared for, the universe is not indifferent towards you. The universe loves
           you, the universe feels you, the universe is a mother, is a father. These are symbolic ways of saying
           the same thing: that God is.
               The word "God" is not metaphysical. The word "God" is just poetic. And there is no need to
           argue against poetry. Poetry can only be understood. Poetry is not an argument, it is not a syllogism.
           You cannot prove or disprove it.
               To say "God is" simply means that we are not in a strange world, that we are not strangers here,
           that we are at home, that we can relax and rest, that there is beauty, that there is love, that there is a
           possibility to grow. The moment you say there is no God, what are you saying? You are saying now
           there is no possibility to grow. You are stuck; there is nowhere to go.
               If you are really a rationalist you will have to commit suicide. A real rationalist person cannot
           live. Why? For what? I would like to ask Dr. Kovoor why he is living at all. There is no God, there is
           no soul, there is no meaning, there is no love, there is no poetry; why do you go on dragging
           yourself? For what? Why are you burdening the earth?
               In the same interview, to which I am coming, the reporter asks, "Dr. Kovoor, you are against the
           godmen and you are against religion. Your life must be in danger. Have you ever been threatened?"
           And he says, "No, I have never been threatened, but I always take precautions." For what? If you die
           nothing dies. because in the first place there was no soul. If you die nothing is lost. You were just a
           coincidence, an accident. If Dr. Kovoor dies, nothing dies.
               With God disappear all values, all beauty, all ecstasy, all love, all significance.
           Why are you taking precautions, for what?
               He says, "I don't believe in any existence after death." Have you known death? Have you
           experienced death? Without experiencing death, how can you say that there is no existence beyond
           death? This is not very rational. This is very childish. This is very mediocre, not even intelligent.
           Unless you have passed through death, how can you assert that there is no life beyond death? You
           can only say, "I don't know." You cannot say, "I KNOW there is no life."
               And if there is no life after death, how can life be before death? If there is no life after death, then
           there was no life before birth. There is no life before birth, there is no life after death; just suddenly
           between birth and death life exists? -- out of nothing, out of the blue? This is not very rational. For
           something to exist, there has to be a continuity.
               The Poona River exists. You cannot say, "Before it enters Poona it is not; after it leaves Poona it
           is not. It just exists in Poona, suddenly." You will be thought to be a madman. If the river enters
           Poona, it must have existed before Poona; otherwise from where will it enter Poona? If it leaves
           Poona, it must go somewhere.
               The existential remains existential. There is no existence coming out of nonexistence, and
           existence cannot go into nonexistence. You can ask the physicists. They have not yet been able to
           destroy a single atom. You cannot destroy anything -- and you cannot create anything either. You
           cannot destroy a grain of sand. Science has progressed so far, so much, but we are incapable of
           creating a single grain of sand or of destroying a single grain of sand. You can grind it, you can
           change the form, but it will remain in another form. Only the form changes; life goes on.
               And he says, "I believe there is going to be no life after death." And who is this who is saying all
           this nonsense? Who is this? Matter cannot talk. And who is taking precautions? Life must be
           interested in protecting itself. Life must have an intrinsic mechanism to protect itself. For what? The
           seed protects itself; the hard crust that exists around the seed is a protection. It protects itself so that
           it can grow into a tree. You protect yourself to grow. If there is no growth, then why protect? Why
           not go and jump into the sea? And in Ceylon the sea is very close and beautiful. Why not jump into
           the sea and.finish it? For what are you protecting and taking precautions?
               Even in an atheist like Kovoor, life wants to live -- a tremendous desire to live. For what? If the
           desire exists there must be a meaning to it. And the meaning is that life in itself is not the end. Life is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just a passage. Life in itself is just the journey, not the goal. Life in itself is just a process of reaching
           somewhere.
                A rationalist, if he is really a rationalist, has to commit suicide. He has nothing else to do here.
           But Kovoor is not a rationalist. He is atheistic, that's true.
                And atheism is the lowest form of religion. Why do I call it the lowest form of religion? Because
           it is the least productive, least creative. Have you watched? Down through the centuries, the theistic
           religion has been so productive, so creative -- Khajuraho, Ajanta, Ellora, Michaelangelo, Mozart,
           Leonardo da Vinci, the great churches and cathedrals, the great temples of the East, the great statues
           of Buddha. All painting, all sculpture, all music, all drama, all poetry, has come out of the theistic
           religion. Atheists have not created anything. That's why I call it the lowest form of philosophy. They
           have not created anything; they have been the most unfertile, impotent people. They have not created
           any book compared to the Geeta or the Bible or the Koran. They have not created anything
           whatsoever. Their whole effort has been this: that there is no God. Is it enough just to go on
           declaring there is no God? They have not challenged the intelligence of man.
                From Charvak to Dr. Kovoor, their whole history is the history of impotence. All that is beautiful
           has come out of the religious people, the theistic people.
                There are three hundred religions in the world -- so much variety, so many possibilities. Atheism
           is just monotonous. It does not even have another variety. You cannot choose; you don't have
           anything to choose from. Atheism is just atheism.
                And Dr. Kovoor has not said a single thing that is original. Eighty years of sheer wastage.
           Whatsoever Charvak said three thousand years before, the atheists have just been repeating it. They
           are parrots. In religion there is tremendous variety. Mahavir says something, Buddha says something
           else, Jesus still something else, Mohammedan brings another dimension, Moses opens another door,
           and Zarathustra is calling you to see from his eyes. Tremendous variety, so many dimensions, so
           many possibilities challenge humanity, bring forth the best in you.
                Atheism is just uncreative. In fact it has to be so because there can be no creation out of a
           negative attitude. The negative attitude is more like death than like life. "No" is death; "yes" is life.
           When you say yes, doors open; when you say no, all doors close. Religion has been very, very
           productive; and still goes on producing, still is creative, still is not exhausted and spent. And
           atheism? -- has never been alive, a dead philosophy, repetitive.
                And the beauty or the irony of it is that if atheists disappear, theism can survive because it does
           not depend on atheists. Just look at it. If there is no atheist, there is no problem for one who believes
           in God, but if there is no believer in God, atheism will disappear. It is dependent; it has no
           independence. If all the world drops religious attitudes and everybody says, "Yes, we don't believe in
           God," what will happen to atheism? It is a negative attitude; it depends on the theist. The theist said
           "God is" and the atheist said "God is not.'j His whole energy comes from the theist. If theists
           disappear, atheism disappears, simply, without leaving a trace.
                The no cannot exist without the yes, but the yes can exist without the no. That's why I say yes is
           powerful. It has its own life; the no has no life of its own.
                And it is only stupid people who become entangled with the no so much -- people who cannot
           create. And it is very easy to say no, remember, because nothing is involved in saying no. To say yes
           is dangerous because then you will have to commit. If you say no, there is no commitment, there is
           no exploration, you don't go on any adventure. If you say yes, then the journey starts and you move
           in dangers. It is arduous. A yes-sayer has to go to explore the unmeasured. The no-sayer has stopped
           himself; he is not going anywhere, he is stuck, he becomes stale and stagnant. He stinks.
           Now, the interview proper.
                The CURRENT asked where he will be after death. Kovoor said, "I will not be anywhere.... I do
           not believe that I have a soul."
                I remember, once Mulla Nasrudin invited his friends to his house. In some moment of excitement
           in the coffeehouse he was bragging about his generosity, and then somebody said, "Mulla Nasrudin,
           if you are so generous, why don't you invite us someday?"
                He said, "Come right now, all of you." Thirty, forty people followed him. As he reached closer to
           his home, he became afraid of the wife. He said, "Now there is going to be trouble." He asked his
           friends, "You wait. You know how things go between a husband and a wife. First let me go in and
           persuade her and let me release the news by and by. Forty people, suddenly -- she may drop dead.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You wait." So they waited.
               He went in and told his wife, "A few people are waiting outside. Simply go and tell them that
           Mulla Nasrudin is not at home."
               She said, "What are you saying? And you have just come with them! I have seen you coming!"
               He said, "Forget about that; now this seems to be the only way out of it. Go and just tell them
           that he is not at home."
               So she went and she said, "What are you doing here? For whom are you waiting? Mulla is not at
           home."
               They said, "Are you kidding? He came with us, and he just went in, and we are watching the
           door and he has not gone out. He must be in!"
               Now the wife and the friends started arguing, and Mulla forgot. He came out and he said, "What
           do you mean! He may have gone out from the back door!"
               Dr. Kovoor says, "I believe that I have no soul." Who is this declaring "I am not"? Even to
           declare "I am not," you have to be there. To believe or not to believe is not the point. To declare
           belief or unbelief, you have to be there.
               If there is no soul, then go and ask the same question to a rock. Ask the rock, "Is there a soul or
           not?" and the rock is not going to say, "I don't believe in any soul." The rock will not say anything;
           there is nobody to deny or affirm. In fact, you cannot deny yourself. It is not possible. You cannot
           say "I am not." It is self-contradictory.
               He says, "I will not be anywhere." It is impossible not to be anywhere. You will be somewhere.
           You ARE somewhere, Dr. Kovoor. Your body may dissolve into matter, your mind may dissolve
           into atmosphere -- but everything that is in you will be there. Nothing will be lost.
               And this concept of soul is just a symbol. It simply shows that you are a unity -- body, mind, and
           something beyond it because you can watch your own thoughts. Who is the watcher? You cannot be
           totally identified with your mind. You can see a thought entering in the mind and moving. Who is
           this seer?
               He has never tried meditation, it seems. A simple technique would be of tremendous help to him.
           Although he is eighty, it is never too late. A little technique of just sitting silently and watching will
           make him aware that the body is there as the outer shell, then thoughts are there as the inner shell,
           and there is at the very hub just a witnessing, just awareness. That awareness is soul. That awareness
           will be somewhere, because it is somewhere right now. It cannot disappear; nothing ever disappears.
           Forms change; the reality remains. But he says, "I do not believe...."
               That's what I mean when I say he is not a rationalist. A rationalist will never talk in terms of
           belief or no-belief. He will talk in terms of experience. He can only say, "I have not experienced yet,
           so how can I say without experiencing whether there is a soul or not? And I am not dead yet, so how
           can I say?"
               Socrates was dying, and somebody asked, "Are you not afraid, Socrates?" He said, "Why should
           I be afraid, because I don't know what is going to happen? First thing, maybe atheists are right."
           Listen. He says, "Maybe, perhaps, atheists are right and I will simply disappear. Then there is
           nobody left, so why fear? For whom to fear? There cannot be any anguish for me, because I will not
           be there. If atheists are right, then I will not be, and when I am not, fear cannot exist. I will not be
           tortured. Or maybe theists are right and I may continue, and if I continue, then why fear? I will be
           there. So I will see what happens, but I have not died yet. Wait, let me die. Only then will I know
           whether I survive or not."
               This is pure rationalism. A rationalist cannot assert such things, that "I don't believe in a soul."
               Then, the CURRENT asked him, "Does Bhagwan Rajneesh have a soul?" It amused me very
           much. How can you ask somebody else about my soul? And he could not even gather courage to say,
           "How can I know about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh? He may have, may not have." What he answered
           is sheer nonsense. He said, "I do not know much about Rajneesh." As if by knowing much he will
           know whether I have a soul or not. Even if you live with me for a hundred years and you know much
           about me, you will not know me. Knowing much "about" will not help. Because there is no way to
           enter into me, you can only watch my behavior. You cannot see ME; you cannot enter into my
           interiority, into my innerness -- and that innerness is what soul is.
               Matter has only an outside; matter has no inside. Listen to it attentively: matter has no inside.
           You can break matter and you will find the same matter inside that you found on the outside. It has
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no inside; matter only has an outside.
                But a man has an inside. I say "I love you." You can cut me and try to find out where love is, and
           you will not find it. Of course Dr. Kovoor talks, says things, asserts, makes statements, but if we cut
           him we will not find any thinking inside, no thoughts, not even this thought that "I don't believe in
           the soul." When you cut a man, the inside disappears. When the man was there in his organic unity,
           the inside was there. The inside is what we mean by "soul."
                How can you know my inside? Only I can know it. He does not even know his own inside; he
           has never been there. He is an extrovert; he has never entered his own temple. He has never come to
           his own innermost shrine. He has not encountered himself.
                And he says, "I do not know much about Rajneesh" that's why he cannot say whether Rajneesh
           has a soul or not. Knowing "about" won't help. Unless you know yourself, it is not going to help. I
           can say that Dr. Kovoor has a soul because I have come to know my own soul. In that very
           recognition I have recognized the soul of everybody. Notwithstanding what he says, I say he has a
           soul, because I have come to know my soul. I don't know much about him either, I have only seen
           his photographs, but I can say he has a soul, because his eyes show fire, sincerity. He is a sincere
           man -- more sincere than your Satya Sai Babas. That much I have to concede: he is a sincere man.
                Sincerity shows his soul. He is an honest man. He has not deceived anybody. He may be
           deceived himself; that is another matter. He is deluded; that is another matter. But he has never
           deceived anybody. He has a soul, a very sincere, religious soul.
                But I can say that, not because I know much about him. Because I know myself, that's why I say
           it. He cannot say anything about me because he does not even know himself.
                It is not a question of knowing about me. If you ask me about somebody in China whose name I
           have never heard -- if you say, "A certain man, Ching-chang, has he a soul?" I will say, "Yes, if he
           exists, he has a soul." I have not even heard his name and I don't know whether "Ching-chang" can
           be a Chinese name or not -- looks Chinese -- but if Ching-chang exists, he must have a soul. That
           much is absolutely certain. It is not certain because I know anything about Ching-chang. I have not
           even seen his photograph; I have never heard about him; I have just invented the name here, now.
           But I can say he has a soul, if he exists at all, because I know -- I know myself. Knowing myself, I
           have known all human beings. Knowing myself, I have known the whole of life. Not only do I say
           that you have a soul and that Dr. Kovoor has a soul, I say trees have a soul, and animals and birds.
                And I say to you the whole of existence is full of soul. That's what we mean when we say "God
           is": existence is full of soul. Existence has an interiority; it is not just the surface. It has a depth, it
           has meaning. It is not a chaos; it is a cosmos. It has a destiny, a direction. It is going towards a
           certain fulfillment. It is moving towards an orgasm, ecstasy.
                And then he goes on saying -- which was not asked, hence I call him senile: "But the cult spread
           through him shows the mental derangement of his devotees. It is as bad as the Hare Krishna." Now
           the question was about me, not about my devotees. A rationalist will stick to the question. There is
           no need to go to my devotees. He has not known much about me, and I think he has not known
           anything about my devotees, about my disciples. He may have heard some rumor, but that is not the
           way of a rationalist. He should come here; he should see my devotees. And seeing from the outside
           won't help much. He should dance with them. It will be a beautiful scene -- eighty-year-old Dr.
           Kovoor dancing, doing Kundalini Meditation.
                And he says that "the cult spread through him shows the mental derangement of his devotees." It
           shows many things. First, he believes that the mind can be in a derangement. That means he believes
           there is a certain arrangement of the mind. Arrangement brings soul back; arrangement brings God
           back. If you say the mind is deranged you accent some criterion, you say that there is a certain way
           when the mind is arranged rightly; otherwise you cannot say this is deranged. You have a certain
           concept of how the mind should be. If you have some concept of how the mind should be, you have
           brought a value in from the back door. This cannot be allowed to a rationalist.
                How should the mind be? Harmonious? Loving? Compassionate? Intelligent? How should the
           mind be? And if there is a "should," then existence is not accidental. Then you have a value. And if
           you have a "should" about the human mind, why should you not have a "should" about the whole?
                He is not a rationalist at all, poor fellow. He does not know anything about rationalism. He has
           not done his homework. He may have collected a little bit from here and there, but he does not know
           the intensity of a rationalist's intelligence.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A rationalist is more like Sartre; he will say everything is meaningless. A rationalist will be more
           like Samuel Beckett -- absurd. Samuel Beckett's plays go on, move in absurdity, because the whole
           of life is absurd. There is no possibility of any coherence, meaning. All is mad. So somebody asks
           you about A and you talk about B; that too is okay because there is no way to know what is okay.
           There is no way to judge what is what. It is a chaos.
               Samuel Beckett's famous play, you may have heard of it or read it, is called WAITING FOR
           GODOT. Two vagabonds wait under a tree; they wait for Godot. Nobody knows who this Godot is.
           It is "Chang-ching." The word looks like "God" -- "Godot" -- but it is just appearance; nobody
           knows exactly. They also don't know, but they wait -- and every day they wait. Again in the morning
           one says to the other, "What do you think? Will he be coming today?" And he says, "I hope so. He
           should be coming by now; we have waited enough." By the evening they become tired and one says,
           "It is too much now -- enough is enough. Why should we continue waiting!" And the other says,
           "Yes, why should we continue waiting?" One says, "Now we should stop waiting; we should go,"
           and the other says, "Okay, we should go," but they never go. And nobody raises any question that
           "We decide to go but we never go." It is an absurd world.
               Somebody asked Samuel Beckett, "Who is this Godot?" He said, "If I had known, I would have
           written it in the play myself."
               And this way it continues; Godot never comes. Abruptly the play starts, abruptly it ends. And
           those two persons go on waiting. For whom are they waiting?
               All waiting is hopeless. If you are really a rationalist, then you cannot hope. If you hope, you
           bring God in. God is the hope, soul is the hope, the possibility of growth is the hope.
               Now, he says my disciples are mentally deranged. Then he must have some criterion. What
           criterion is there? Is Dr. Kovoor the criterion? If people are like him, then they are rightly arranged?
           Then he seems to be the ultimate value. Then Mahavir was deranged because he walked naked;
           Kovoor has never walked naked. Then Buddha was deranged because he left his kingdom and
           beautiful woman and the child and all the pleasures -- abnormal, deranged. Then Jesus was deranged
           because he was saying that he is the son of God. What nonsense. God does not exist, so how can the
           son exist? He must be hallucinating.
               One of the very famous thinkers of the West, Albert Schweitzer, wrote a book on Jesus to protect
           him against the psychoanalysts' attack, because Schweitzer was afraid that sooner or later the
           psychoanalysts were going to say that Jesus is deranged, is mad. In 1914 he wrote a book to protect
           Jesus. He tried hard, but he could not come to a positive conclusion. The conclusion that he arrived
           at was this: that there are not enough facts to prove that Jesus was mad. This was the conclusion -- of
           a follower! Not enough proof to prove that Jesus was mad. Very negative. He says we cannot prove
           that he was insane, but we also cannot prove that he was sane. This is even worse. At least if you call
           a man insane, something is settled. Now this is putting him in a limbo, hanging in between -- sane or
           insane? And who is the criterion and how do you create the criterion?
               My disciples are the sanest people possible on the earth because they are not accumulating
           insanity. That is the whole secret of catharsis. He must have heard that my disciples scream and
           shriek and shout and dance and go mad, but he should come.
               Madness is when it is beyond your control. Have you watched my disciples meditating,
           shrieking, shouting, going crazy? Then suddenly Chaitanya orders them, "Stop!" And they stop. Go
           to a madhouse and say loudly, "Stop!" Nobody will stop. That's how you judge madness. This is a
           willed madness; they are in control. They are DOING it; it is not happening to them. They are going
           into it. They are releasing the pent-up energy.
               People go mad because they don't release. Then the energy goes on accumulating and it becomes
           too much. One day it explodes. Then Chaitanya will go on saying, "Stop! Stop!" and you will not
           stop, because you cannot stop; now it is beyond you.
               If Kovoor goes mad he will not listen to "Stop!" If my disciples go mad, if somebody comes and
           says, "Stop!" they will immediately stop. It is within their power. It is catharsis; it is not madness.
               And it seems he has not heard anything about modern trends in psychotherapy. He does not
           know anything about Arthur Janov's Primal Therapy. He does not know anything about Encounters,
           Growth Groups, Humanistic trends. He does not know anything about Psychodrama. He has not
           heard anything. He is a very, very ancient, dead man. He is not contemporary at all. It seems he has
           not read anything other than Charvak and Epicurus and Karl Marx. He is out of date.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Dr. Kovoor, you are dead. You don't know anything about what is happening in the world; you
           are not a contemporary.
               These people here around me are going to be the sanest people in the world because they are not
           accumulating. They have come to know a secret: how to release and how to drop everything that
           goes on accumulating inside, and always remain virgin, fresh, young -- sane. Sanity does not have
           anything to do with control. Sanity is a natural state. If you control anger, one day suddenly you will
           find it has overpowered you. Release it.
               I believe in release, in catharsis, because I believe that is the only way to remain sane. To remain
           sane in an insane world is a difficult thing because people all around are stuffed with all sorts of
           illnesses -- anger, sex, jealousy, possessiveness, hatred. They have been taught to control from the
           very childhood. They have become just like volcanoes; they are sitting on the volcano. People are
           not sane; people are insane.
               Animals are saner, trees are more sane; and I am teaching you to be natural. And to be natural is
           to be in tune with God. To be natural, to be spontaneous, is to be religious.
               And he says, "It is as bad as the Hare Krishna." No, then too he is not right. It is WORSE than
           Hare Krishna. The Hare Krishna people are very simple, almost simpletons. They don't know
           anything about life. Prabhupad has attracted the lowest, the stupidest people of the world, foolish
           people. No, sir, this is worse than that. These are very intelligent people around me. These are not
           simpletons; these are very intelligent people.
               And Hare Krishna is not going to bring any revolution in the world. It is traditional. What I am
           doing is worse, Dr. Kovoor. It is going to bring a tremendous revolution in the world. It is going to
           shatter your old world completely. I am creating atomic explosions; sooner or later they will explode
           all over the world. They will shatter your whole society, your whole so-called civilization. They will
           shatter the whole past. These are totally new beings.
               I am helping a new world to be reborn, a fresh consciousness, a new consciousness.
               Hare Krishna people are nothing. Maybe a sort of entertainment, amusing, eccentric, but they
           have no future. They have a past. My people have no past; they have a future.
               And the future is always dangerous -- because if the future is allowed, the past has to be dropped.
           Only by dying to the past does one become available to the future.
               I would like Dr. Kovoor to come here, taste some of the energy of my people. Although it is very
           late, better late than never. If before you die you can have a taste of something beyond, it will be
           good. Sooner or later, Dr. Kovoor, you will be dying. It is better to have some preparation. It is better
           to be ready for an after-death life. It is possible.
               And when I say it is possible, I am not talking theoretically. I am.a very practical man, down to
           earth. I am a Jew! I mean business. If you come here and allow me to dismantle you a little, to
           destroy you a little, I can create you again. This is a promise.


              YOU SAY IT CAN'T BE SAID. AND SOMEWHERE IT IS WRITTEN: WHAT CAN'T BE SAID CAN'T
              BE WHISTLED EITHER.


               Wrong, because I am whistling it every day. It can't be said, but it can be whistled. And you
           know it too, that when you can't say something, you find ways to whistle it. You want to say to some
           woman, "I love you," and you can't say it; then what do you do? You hug her. It is a way of
           whistling. You hold her hands, you look into her eyes, helpless, knowing well that you can't say it,
           but still you impart, you commune. I am doing it every day.
               Yes, that is right -- truth cannot be said -- nobody has ever said it -- nobody is ever going to say
           it. By its very definition it iS ineffable, inexpressible; but it can be whistled. Buddha whistled,
           Mahavir whistled, Jesus, Zarathustra, Mohammed. I am whistling it every day.
               Of course I have to whistle it again and again because you don't listen. And I have to whistle it
           again and again because every day I find I missed again. It is so difficult to say it, it is so impossible
           to say it. I try and then I say, "Let us see tomorrow. Let us improve it a little more. Maybe there is
           some other way and it can be whistled a little better."
               It cannot be said, that's true; but it can be whistled. I am a proof of it -- every day.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           From Swami Yoga Chinmaya:


               BELOVED OSHO, YOU OFTEN SAY THAT LIFE IS FUN. STILL, SOMETIMES YOU SEEM TO BE
               TAKING THINGS VERY, VERY SERIOUSLY.

               That, too, is fun.




               I LOVE THE WAY YOU WALK. WHY DO YOU WALK HOW YOU WALK?

               Thank you!

                I am a drunkard, and I cannot do better. There is no art to it; it is just my drunkenness.
                And if you also want to walk like that, you will have to become like me. Don't try to imitate it;
           because you can imitate a drunkard, but by that you will not become drunk. You can imitate a
           drunkard perfectly -- even better than the drunkard himself -- but you will not become drunk.
           Become drunk.
                I am drunk with the divine. It is a miracle how I am here. When I stand on my feet, I say, "So,
           old boy, you are doing it again?" It is a miracle how I stand. It has become very, very difficult for me
           to be here on the earth. The wings have grown and the sky is waiting and my boat has arrived long
           ago. I should have left this shore, but I am in deep love with you mad people, so I go on lingering a
           little more. I say, "A little more." I go on postponing. I go on persuading the powers that would like
           me to leave now. I say, "Wait a little more. I can drive a few more people crazy."


               YOU SAY, "SURRENDER TO ME." DOES THIS NOT SHOW THAT YOU ARE FULL OF EGO?


                Sure! I am the greatest egoist you can ever find. My ego is so vast that you all are included in it.
           It is so vast that trees and animals and rocks are included in it. It is so vast that stars and the moon
           and sun are included in it. It is so vast that the past, present, and future are included in it. Hence I say
           to you, "Surrender to me."
                Krishna says to Arjuna in the Geeta: "SARVA DHARMAN PARITYAJYA MAMEKAM
           SHARANAM VRAJ" -- "Leave all your religions and come to my feet." He is also the same type of
           egoist as I am. Buddha says, "Come to me, and I will deliver you." He is also the same type of
           egoist. And Jesus says, "I have come into the world to deliver everybody." What pure egos!
                Yes, you are right, sir. I am a great egoist. But remember, my ego is inclusive of all; hence it is
           not an ego at all. It is so inclusive that it is empty. It is so all-inclusive that there is no sense of "I" in
           it.




                                    Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                      Chapter #9
                                          Chapter title: Dance today with joy
           19 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612190
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Length: 0 mins



Il. 103. naco re mero man, matta hoy


               DANCE, MY HEART! DANCE TODAY WITH JOY.
               THE STRAINS OF LOVE FILL THE DAYS AND THE NIGHTS WITH MUSIC, AND THE WORLD IS
               LISTENING TO ITS MELODIES.
               MAD WITH JOY, LIFE AND DEATH DANCE TO THE RHYTHM OF THIS MUSIC. THE HILLS AND
               THE SEA AND THE EARTH DANCE. THE WORLD OF MAN DANCES IN LAUGHTER AND TEARS.
               WHY PUT ON THE ROBE OF THE MONK, AND LIVE ALOOF FROM THE WORLD IN LONELY
               PRIDE?
               BEHOLD! MY HEART DANCES IN THE DELIGHT OF A HUNDRED ARTS; AND THE CREATOR IS
               WELL PLEASED.

               I. 105. man mast hua tab kyon bole



               WHERE IS THE NEED OF WORDS, WHEN LOVE HAS MADE DRUNKEN THE HEART?
               I HAVE WRAPPED THE DIAMOND IN MY CLOAK; WHY OPEN IT AGAIN AND AGAIN?
               WHEN ITS LOAD WAS LIGHT, THE PAN OF THE BALANCE WENT UP: NOW IT IS FULL, WHERE
               IS THE NEED FOR WEIGHING?
               THE SWAN HAS TAKEN ITS FLIGHT TO THE LAKE BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS; WHY SHOULD IT
               SEARCH FOR THE POOLS AND DITCHES ANYMORE?
               YOUR LORD DWELLS WITHIN YOU: WHY NEED YOUR OUTWARD EYES BE OPENED?
               KABIR SAYS: "LISTEN, MY BROTHER! MY LORD, WHO RAVISHES MY EYES, HAS UNITED
               HIMSELF WITH ME."


                ECSTASY IS A LANGUAGE that man has completely forgotten. He has been forced to forget
           it; he has been compelled to forget it. The society is against it, the civilization is against it. The
           society has a tremendous investment in misery. It depends on misery, it feeds on misery, it survives
           on misery. The society is not for human beings. The society is using human beings as a means for
           itself. The society has become more important than humanity. The culture, the civilization, the
           church, they all have become more important. They were meant to be for man, but now they are not
           for man. They have almost reversed the whole process; now man exists for them.
                Every child is born ecstatic. Ecstasy is natural. It is not something that happens only to great
           sages. It is something that everybody brings with him into the world; everybody comes with it. It is
           life's innermost core. It is part of being alive. Life is ecstasy. Every child brings it into the world, but
           then the society jumps on the child, starts destroying the possibility of ecstasy, starts making the
           child miserable, starts conditioning the child.
                The society is neurotic, and it cannot allow ecstatic people to be here. They are dangerous for it.
           Try to understand.the mechanism; then things will be easier.
                You cannot control an ecstatic man; it is impossible. You can only control a miserable man. An
           ecstatic man is bound to be free. Ecstasy is freedom. He cannot be reduced to being a slave. You
           cannot destroy him so easily; you cannot persuade him to live in a prison. He would like to dance
           under the stars and he would like to walk with the wind and he would like to talk with the sun and
           the moon. He will need the vast, the infinite, the huge, the enormous. He cannot be seduced into
           living in a dark cell. You cannot make a slave out of him. He will live his own life and he will do his
           thing. This is very difficult for the society. If there are many ecstatic people, the society will feel it is
           falling apart, its structure will not hold anymore.
                Those ecstatic people will be the rebels. Remember, I don't call an ecstatic person
           "revolutionary"; I call him a "rebel." A revolutionary is one who wants to change the society, but he
           wants to replace it with another society. A rebel is one who wants to live as an individual and would
           like there to exist no rigid social structure in the world. A rebel is one who does not want to replace
           this society with another society -- because all the societies have proved the same The capitalist and
           the communist and the fascist and the socialist, they are all cousin-brothers; it doesn't make much
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           difference. The society is society. All the churches have proved the same -- the Hindu, the Christian,
           the Mohammedan.
               Once a structure becomes powerful, it does not want anybody to be ecstatic, because ecstasy is
           against structure. Listen to it and meditate over it: ecstasy is against structure Ecstasy is rebellious. It
           is not revolutionary.
               A revolutionary is a political man; a rebel is a religious man. A revolutionary wants another
           structure, of his own desire, of his own utopia, but a structure all the same. He wants to be in power.
           He wants to be the oppressor and not the oppressed; he wants to be the exploiter and not the
           exploited
               he wants to rule and not be ruled. A rebel is one who neither wants to be ruled nor wants to rule.
           A rebel is one who wants no rule in the world. A rebel is anarchic. A rebel is one who trusts nature,
           not man-made structures, who trusts that if nature is left alone, everything will be beautiful. It is!
               Such a vast universe goes on without any government. Animals, birds, trees, everything goes on
           without any government. Why does man need government? Something must have gone wrong. Why
           is man so neurotic that he cannot live without rulers?
               Now there is a vicious circle. Man can live without rulers, but he has never been given any
           opportunity -- the rulers won't give you any opportunity. Once you know you can live without the
           rulers, who would like them to be there? Who will support them? Right now you are supporting your
           own enemies. You go on voting for your own enemies. Two enemies stand in a presidential contest;
           and you choose. Both are the same. It is as if you are given freedom to choose the prison, which
           prison you want to go in. And you vote happily -- that I would like to go to prison A or B, that I
           believe in the Republican prison, I believe in the Democratic prison. But both are prisons. And once
           you support a prison, the prison has its own investment. Then it will not allow you to have a taste of
           freedom.
               So from the very childhood the child is not allowed to taste freedom, because once he knows
           what freedom is, then he will not concede, he will not compromise -- then he will not be ready to live
           in any dark cell. He would like to die, but he will not allow anybody to reduce him to being a slave.
           He will be assertive. Of course he will not be interested in becoming powerful over other people.
           These are neurotic trends, when you are too interested in becoming powerful over people. That
           simply shows that deep down you are powerless and you are afraid that if you don't become
           powerful others are going to overpower you.
               Machiavelli says that the best way of defense is to attack. The best way to protect yourself is to
           attack first. These so-called politicians all over the world -- in the East, in the West -- are all deep
           down very weak people, suffering from inferiority, afraid that if they don't become powerful
           politically then somebody is going to exploit them, so why not exploit rather than be exploited? The
           exploited and the exploiter, both are sailing in the same boat -- and both are helping the boat,
           protecting the boat.
               Once the child knows the taste of freedom, he will never become part of any society, any church,
           any club, any political party. He will remain an individual, he will remain free and he will create
           pulsations of freedom around him. His very being will become a door to freedom.
               The child is not allowed to taste freedom. If the child asks the mother, "Mom, can I go outside?
           The sun is beautiful and the air is very crisp and I would like to run around the block," immediately
           -- obsessively, compulsively -- the mother says, "No!" The child has not asked much. He just wanted
           to go out into the morning sun, into the brisk air, he wanted to enjoy the sunlight and the air and the
           company of the trees -- he has not asked for anything! -- but compulsively, out of some deep
           compulsion, the mother says no. It is very difficult to hear a mother saying yes, very difficult to hear
           a father saying yes. Even if they say yes, they say so very reluctantly. Even if they say yes, they
           make the child feel that he is guilty, that he is forcing them, that he is doing something wrong.
               Whenever the child feels happy, doing whatsoever, somebody or other is bound to come and stop
           him -- "Don't do this!" By and by the child understands, "Whatsoever
               feel happy in is wrong." And of course he never feels happy doing whatsoever others tell him to
           do, because it is not a spontaneous urge in him. So he comes to know that to be miserable is right, to
           be happy is wrong. That becomes the deep association.
               If he wants to open the clock and see inside, the whole family jumps on him -- "Stop! You will
           destroy the clock. This is not good." He was just looking into the clock; it was a scientific curiosity.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He wanted to see what makes it tick. It was perfectly okay. And the clock is not so valuable as his
           curiosity, as his inquiring mind. The clock is worthless -- even if it is destroyed nothing is destroyed
           -- but once the inquiring mind is destroyed much is destroyed; then he will never inquire for truth.
                Or it is a beautiful night and the sky is full of stars and the child wants to sit outside, but it is time
           to go to sleep. He is not feeling sleepy at all; he is wide awake, very, very much awake. The child is
           puzzled. In the morning when he feels sleepy, everybody is after him -- "Get up!" When he was
           enjoying, when it was so beautiful to be in the bed, when he wanted to take another turn and have a
           little more sleep and dream a little more, then everybody was against him"Get up! It is time to get
           up." Now he is wide awake and he wants to enjoy the stars. It is very poetic, this moment, very
           romantic. He feels thrilled. How can he go to sleep in such a thrill? He is so excited, he wants to sing
           and dance, and they are forcing him to go to sleep -- "It is nine o'clock. It is time to go to sleep."
                Now, he was happy being awake but he is forced to go to sleep. When he is playing he is forced
           to come to the dining table. He is not hungry. When he is hungry, the mother says, "This is not the
           time." This way we go on destroying all possibility of being ecstatic, all possibility of being happy,
           joyful, delighted. Whatsoever the child feels spontaneously happy with seems to be wrong, and
           whatsoever he does not feel at all seems to be right.
                In the school a bird suddenly starts singing outside the classroom, and the child is all attention
           towards the bird, of course -- not towards the mathematics teacher who is standing at the board with
           his ugly chalk. But the teacher is more powerful, politically more powerful than the bird. Certainly,
           the bird has no power, but it has beauty. The bird attracts the child without hammering on his head,
           "Be attentive! Concentrate towards me!" No, simply, spontaneously, naturally, the consciousness of
           the child starts flowing out of the window. It goes to the bird. His heart is there, but he has to look at
           the blackboard. There is nothing to look at, but he has to pretend.
                Happiness is wrong. Wherever there is happiness the child starts becoming afraid something is
           going to be wrong.
                If the child is playing with his own body, it is wrong. If the child is playing with his own sexual
           organs, it is wrong. And that is one of the most ecstatic moments in the life of a child. He enjoys his
           body; it is thrilling. But all thrill has to be cut, all joy has to be destroyed. It is neurotic, but the
           society is neurotic.
                The same was done to the parents by their parents; the same they are doing to their children. This
           way one generation goes on destroying another. This way we transfer our neurosis from one
           generation to another. The whole earth has become a madhouse. Nobody seems to know what
           ecstasy is. It is lost. Barriers upon barriers have been created.
                It is a daily observation here that when people start meditating and they start feeling the upsurge
           of energy and when they start feeling happy, they immediately come to me and say, "A very strange
           thing is happening. I am feeling happy, and I am also feeling guilty, for no reason at all." Guilty?
           They are also puzzled. Why should one feel guilty? They know that there is nothing -- they have not
           done anything wrong. From where does this guilt arise? It is coming from that deep-rooted
           conditioning: that joy is wrong. To be sad is okay, but to be happy is not allowed.
                Once I used to live in a town. The police commissioner was my friend; we were friends from the
           university student days. He used to come to me, and he would say, "I am so miserable. Help me to
           come out of it." I would say, "You talk about coming out of it, but I don't see that you really want to
           come out of it. In the first place, why have you chosen to work in this police department? You must
           be miserable, and you want others also to be miserable."
                One day I asked three of my disciples to go around the town and dance in different parts of the
           town and be happy. They said, "For what?" I said, "You simply go." Within one hour, of course, they
           were caught by the police. I called the police commissioner; I said, "Why have you caught these
           people of mine?" He said, "These people seem to be mad." I asked him, "Have they done anything
           wrong? Have they harmed anybody?" He said, "No, nothing. Really, they have not done anything
           wrong." "Then why have you caught them?" He said, "But they were dancing on the streets! And
           they were laughing." "But if they have not done anything harmful to anybody, why should you
           interfere? Why should you come in? They have not attacked anybody, they have not entered
           anybody's territory. They were just dancing. Innocent people, laughing." He said, "You are right, but
           it is dangerous." "Why is it dangerous? To be happy is dangerous? To be ecstatic is dangerous?" He
           got the point; he immediately released them. He came running to me; he said, "You may be right. I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot allow myself to be happy -- and I cannot allow anybody else to be happy."
                These are your politicians, these are your police commissioners, these are your magistrates. the
           juries, your leaders, your so-called saints, your priests, your popes -- these are the people. They all
           have a great investment in your misery. They depend on your misery. If you are miserable they are
           happy.
                Only a miserable person will go to the temple to pray. A happy person will go to a temple? For
           what? A happy person is so happy that he feels God everywhere! That's what happiness is all about.
           He's so ecstatically in love with existence that wherever he looks he finds God. Everywhere is his
           temple. And wherever he bows down, suddenly he finds God's feet, nothing else. His awe, his
           reverence, need not be so narrow that he has to go to a Hindu temple or a Christian church. That is
           silly; that is meaningless. Only miserable people who cannot see God, who cannot see God in a
           blooming flower, who cannot see God in a singing bird, who cannot see God in a psychedelic
           rainbow, who cannot see God in the floating clouds, who cannot see God in the rivers and in the
           ocean, who cannot see God in the beautiful eyes of a child, they go to the church, they go to the
           mosque, they go to the temple, they go to the priest, and they ask, "Where is God? Please show us."
                Only miserable people become available to religions. Yes, Bertrand Russell was almost right
           when he said that if someday the world becomes happy, religion will disappear. I say ALMOST
           right, ninety-nine percent right. I cannot say a hundred percent right because I know of another type
           of religion which Bertrand Russell is not aware of. Yes, these religions will disappear -- he is right
           about these religions: the Hindu, the Christian, the Mohammedan, the Jain, the Buddhist, these will
           disappear -- certainly they will disappear. If the world becomes happy, they are bound to disappear,
           because who will bother? But he is only ninety-nine percent right; he is one percent wrong. And that
           one percent is more important than the ninety-nine percent because another type of religion, REAL
           religion, ecstatic religion, religion which has no name, religion which has no code, no Bible, no
           Koran, no Vedas, a religion which has no scripture, no adjective to it, just a religion of dance, a
           religion of love, a religion of reverence, a religion of benediction, PURE religion, will arise in the
           world when people are happy.
                In fact these religions that exist, they are not religions. They are just sedatives, tranquilizers.
           Marx is also right of course, only ninety-nine percent -- that religion is the opium of the masses. He
           is right. These religions help you to tolerate your misery. They help you, they console you, they give
           you hope that "Yes, today you are miserable; tomorrow you will be happy." And that tomorrow
           never comes. They say, "In this life you are miserable, but in the next life.... Be good, be moral,
           follow the rules of the society -- be a slave, be obedient -- and in the next life you will be happy."
           And nobody knows about the next life. Nobody ever comes and says anything about it. Or if they
           don't believe in the next life, they say, "When you have gone to the other shore, to heaven, there is
           your reward." But be obedient to the priest and the politician.
                There is a conspiracy between the priest and the politician. They are two sides of the same coin.
           They help each other. And they all are interested in you remaining miserable -- so the priest can have
           a congregation and the priest can exploit you; and the politician can force you to go to wars in the
           name of the nation, in the name of the state, in the name of this and that -- and it is all nonsense, but
           he can send you to war. Only miserable people can be enlisted for war; only deeply miserable people
           can be ready to fight, can be ready to kill and to be killed. They are so miserable that even death
           seems to be better than their life.
                I have heard Adolf Hitler was talking to a British diplomat. They were standing on the thirtieth
           floor of a skyscraper, and to impress him, he ordered one German soldier to jump off. And the
           soldier simply jumped without even hesitating, and of course died. The British diplomat could not
           believe it; it was unbelievable. He was very much shocked. This wastage? For no reason at all. And
           to impress him more, Hitler ordered another soldier, "Jump!" and the other jumped. And to impress
           him even more, he ordered a third soldier.
                By this time, the diplomat had come to his senses. He rushed and stopped the soldier and said,
           "What are you doing, destroying your life for no reason at all?" He said, "Who wants to live, sir, in
           this country and under this madman? Who wants to live with this Adolf Hitler? It is better to die! It
           is freedom."
                When people are miserable, death seems to be freedom. And when people are miserable, they are
           so full of rage, anger, that they want to kill -- even if the risk is that they may be killed. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           politician exists because you are miserable. So Vietnam can continue, Bangladesh, the Arab
           countries. War continues. Somewhere or other, war continues.
                This state of affairs has to be understood -- why it exists and how you can drop out of it. Unless
           you drop out of it, unless you understand the whole mechanism, the conditioning -- the hypnosis in
           which you are living -- unless you take hold of it, watch it, and drop it, you will never become
           ecstatic, and you will never be able to sing the song that you have come to sing. Then you will die
           without singing your song. Then you will die without dancing your dance. Then you will die without
           having ever lived.
                Your life is just a hope; it is not a reality. It can be a reality.
                This neurosis that you call society, civilization, culture, education, this neurosis has a subtle
           structure. The structure is this: it gives you symbolic ideas so that reality by and by is clouded,
           becomes clouded, you can't see the real, and you start becoming attached to the unreal. For example,
           the society tells you to be ambitious; it helps you to become ambitious. Ambition means living in
           hope, living in the tomorrow. Ambition means today has to be sacrificed for tomorrow.
                Today is all that is there; now is the only time you are, you ever will be. If you want to live, it is
           now or never.
                Society makes you ambitious. From the very childhood when you go to school and ambition is
           put into you, you are poisoned: grow rich, become powerful, become somebody. Nobody tells you
           that you already have the capacity to be happy. Everybody says that you can have the capacity to be
           happy only if you fulfill certain conditions -- that you have enough money, a big house, a big car,
           and this and that -- only then can you be happy.
                Happiness has nothing to do with these things. Happiness is not an achievement. It is your
           nature. Animals are happy without any money. They are not Rockefellers. And no Rockefeller is as
           happy as a deer or a dog. Animals have no political power -- they are not prime ministers and
           presidents -- but they are happy. The trees are happy; otherwise they would have stopped blooming.
           They still bloom; the spring still comes. They still dance, they still sing, they still pour their being
           into the feet of the divine. Their prayer is continuous, their worship is always happening. And they
           don't go to any church; there is no need. God comes to them. In the wind, in the rain, in the sun, God
           comes to them.
                Only man is not happy, because man lives in ambition and not in reality. Ambition is a trick. It is
           a trick to distract your mind. Symbolic life has been substituted for real life.
                Watch it in life. The mother cannot love the child as much as the child wants the mother to love
           him, because the mother is hung up in her head. Her life has not been one of fulfillment. Her love
           life has been a disaster. She has not been able to flower. She has lived in ambition. She has tried to
           control her man, possess him. She has been jealous. She has not been a loving woman. If she has not
           been a loving woman, how can she suddenly be loving to the child?
                I was just reading a book of R.D. Laing. He sent me his new book just two, three days ago, THE
           FACTS OF LIFE. In the book he refers to an experiment in which a psychoanalyst asked many
           mothers, "When your child was going to be born, were you really in a welcome mood, were you
           ready to accept the child?" He had made a questionnaire. First question: "Was the child accidental,
           or did you desire the child?" Ninety percent of the women said, "It was accidental; we did not desire
           it." Then, "When the pregnancy happened, were you hesitant? Did you want the child, or did you
           want an abortion? Were you clear about it?" Many of them said that they hesistated for months
           whether to have an abortion or have the child. Then the child was born -- they could not decide.
           Maybe other considerations -- maybe the religious consideration: it may create sin for them, it may
           create hell for them. They may have been Catholics or Hindus or Jainas, and the idea of violence,
           that abortion is violence, prevented them from getting an abortion. Or social considerations. Or the
           husband wanted it. Or they would like to have a child as a continuity of their ego. But the child was
           not liked. Rarely was there a mother who said, "Yes, the child was welcome. I was waiting for him
           and I was happy." And even of those who said this, the psychiatrist writes, "We were not certain
           whether they were being honest. They may have been just saying so."
                Now a child is born who is unwelcome. From the very beginning the mother has been hesitating
           whether to have it or not to have it. There must be repercussions. The child must feel these tensions.
           When the mother would think to abort the child, the child must have felt hurt. The child is part of the
           mother's body; every vibe will reach the child. Or when the mother thinks and hesitates and is just in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a limbo of what to do or what not to do, the child will also feel a trembling, shaking -- he is hanging
           between death and life. And then somehow the child is born and the mother thinks it is just
           accidental -- they had tried birth control, they had tried this and that, and everything failed and the
           child is there -- so one has to tolerate. That tolerance is not love.
                The child misses love from the very beginning. And the mother also feels guilty because she is
           not giving as much love as there would have been naturally. So she starts substituting. She forces the
           child to eat too much. She cannot fill the child's soul with love; she tries to stuff his body with food.
           It is a substitute. You can go and see. Mothers are so obsessive. The child says, "I am not hungry,"
           and the mothers go on forcing. They have nothing to do with the child, they don't listen to the child.
           They are substituting: they cannot give love, so they give food. Then the child grows: they cannot
           love; they give money. Money becomes a substitute for love.
                And the child also learns that money is more important than love. If you don't have love, nothing
           to be worried about, but you must have money. In life he will become greedy. He will go after
           money like a maniac. He will not bother about love. He will say, "First things first. I should first
           have a big balance in the bank. I must have this much money; only then can I afford love."
                Now, love needs no money; you can love as you are. And if you think love needs money and you
           go after money, one day you may have money, and then suddenly you will feel empty because all the
           years were wasted in accumulating money. And they are not only wasted! All those years were years
           of no love, so you have practiced no love. Now the money is there, but you don't know how to love.
           You have forgotten the very language of feeling, the language Or love, the language of ecstasy.
                Yes, you can purchase a beautiful woman, but that is not love. You can purchase the most
           beautiful woman of the world, but that is not love. And she will be coming to you not because she
           loves you; she will be coming to you because of your bank balance.
                Mulla Nasrudin was in love with a woman -- very homely and ordinary, but she had much money
           and she was the only child of her father, and the father was old and dying. Mulla was deeply in love
           with the woman, and one day he went to her very excitedly because the father was approaching death
           very fast -- and he said, "I am dying." Mulla said to the woman, "I am dying; I cannot live without
           you a single moment." She said, "That's okay, but I have bad news for you. My father has made a
           will, and he has given all his money to a trust and I am not going to get any money. Mulla, do you
           love me still?" Mulla said, "I love you, and I will always love you -- though I will never see you
           again. But I will always love you and I will always remember you!"
                All love disappears. This is symbolic; money is a symbol. Power, political power, is a symbol.
           Respectability is a symbol. These are not realities; these are human projections. These are not
           objectives; they have no objectivity. They are not there. They are just dreams projected by a
           miserable mind. If you want to be ecstatic you will have to drop out of the symbolic. To be freed of
           the symbolic is to be freed of the society. To be freed of the symbolic is to become a sannyasin. To
           be freed of the symbolic you have taken courage to enter into the real. And only the real is real. The
           symbolic is not real.
                The third thing before we enter into these beautiful sutras of Kabir: What is ecstasy? Something
           to be achieved? No. Something that you have to earn? No. Something that you have to become? No.
           Ecstasy is being; and becoming is misery. If you want to become something you will be miserable.
           Becoming is the very root cause of misery. If you want to be ecstatic -- then it is just now, here-now,
           this very moment. Look at me. This very moment -- nobody is barring the path -- you can be happy.
           Happiness is so obvious and so easy. Its your nature. You are already carrying it. Just give it a
           chance to flower, to bloom.
                Ecstasy is not of the head, remember. Ecstasy is of the heart. Ecstasy is not of thought; it is of
           feeling. And you have been deprived of feeling. You have been cut away from feeling. You don't
           know what feeling is. Even when you say "I feel," you only think you feel. When you say, "I am
           feeling happy," watch, analyze, and you will find you THINK you are feeling happy. Even feeling
           has to pass through thinking. It has to pass through the censor of thinking; only when thinking
           approves of it is it allowed. If thinking does not approve of it, it is thrown into the unconscious, into
           the basement of your being, and forgotten.
                Become more of the heart, less of the head. Head is just a part; heart is your whole being. Heart
           is your totality. So whenever you are total in anything, you function from feeling. Whenever you are
           partial in anything, you function from the head.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Watch a painter painting -- and that is the difference between a real artist and a technician. If the
           painter is just a technician who knows the technique of how to paint, who knows the know-how, who
           knows all about colors and the brushes and the canvas and who has gone through the training, he will
           function through the head. He will be a technician. He will paint, but he will not be totally in it. Then
           watch a real artist who is not a technician. He will be absorbed in it, drunk. He will not only paint
           with his hand, and he will not only paint from his head. He will paint with his whole being; his guts
           will be involved in it -- his feet as much, his blood and bones as much, his marrow. Everything will
           be involved in it. You can watch it, you can see, you can feel he is totally in it, lost. Nothing else
           exists. He is drunk. In that moment, he is no more. He is not a doer. The head is a doer. In that
           moment of total absorption, he is not a doer; he is just a passage, as if God is painting through him.
               When you come across a dancer -- a REAL dancer, not one who is a performer -- then you will
           see that he is not dancing, no Something of the beyond is dancing in him. He is totally in It.
               It is said about the great dancer Nijinsky that there were moments when he would take such a
           leap that it was physically impossible -- gravitation does not allow that big a leap. He was asked
           again and again, "How do you do it?" and he would say, "I am surprised as much as you are
           surprised. And I cannot MANAGE to do it. When I try to do it it never happens, I fall very short, but
           when I am in the dance and I am completely lost -- when I am not! -- it happens, as if gravitation
           suddenly is no more. I become weightless, I don't feel any weight -- as if something starts pulling me
           upwards rather than downwards."
               This pull upwards is known in yoga as levitation. Yes, it happens in meditation too. Nijinsky was
           unknowingly moving into deep meditation. The dance was so total that he became a meditator and
           levitation happened.
               Whenever you are totally into something, you are ecstatic. When you are partially into
           something, you will remain miserable, because a part will be moving separately from the whole.
           There will be a division -- a split, a tension, anxiety.
               If you love from the head, your love is not going to give any ecstatic experience. If you meditate
           from your head....
               Just the other night, one woman from the West was saying to me that she has come here because
           she has seen many people coming here, becoming sannyasins, whose lives have been transformed
           and who have become so happy. That's why she has also come here -- to become happy. She is
           meditating, but nothing is happening. She is trying hard, but nothing is happening. I told
           her,''Nothing is going to happen. You start from a very wrong place. Your motivation is the barrier:
           you have come from the head. Those people who have become sannyasins, they had not come with a
           motive, with greed. You have come with a motive, with greed. Your mind is already poisoned; you
           have come with an idea, and you are watching for when it is going to happen. It will never happen,
           because you will never allow yourself to be totally in it. A watcher will stand by the side and will
           see, has it happened yet or not?"
               I used to go to a river to swim, and I loved it. Whenever I would come back, one of my neighbors
           always used to watch me, and he would see that I was very ecstatic. One day he asked, "What is
           happening? I always see you going to the river, and for hours you swim in the river and you remain
           in the river. I am also coming, because you look so happy." I said, "Please don't come. You will
           miss, and the river will be very sad. No, don't come, because your very motivation will be a barrier.
           You can swim, but you will be watching for when that happiness is going to happen. It will never
           happen -- because it happens only when you are not."
               Swimming can become a meditation, running can become a meditation -- anything can become a
           meditation -- if you are not. Ecstasy is of the heart, is of the total.

              DANCE, MY HEART! DANCE TODAY WITH JOY.


              Says Kabir, "DANCE MY HEART!" -- by "heart" is meant your total organic unity -- "DANCE
           TODAY WITH JOY." And dance today, not tomorrow. Let the dance be here and now, and let it
           come from your totality. You abandon yourself; you become a drunkard.

              THE STRAINS OF LOVE FILL THE DAYS AND THE NIGHTS WITH MUSIC, AND THE WORLD IS
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              LISTENING TO ITS MELODIES:
              MAD WITH JOY, LIFE AND DEATH DANCE TO THE RHYTHM OF THIS MUSIC.


                Yes, joy is mad. And only mad people can afford it. The ordinary sane person is so clever, so
           cunning, calculating, he cannot afford joy, because you cannot control joy. Just as I said a joyful man
           cannot be controlled by the society, let me say this also to you: that you cannot control your joy, you
           cannot control your ecstasy. If you want to remain in control, you will never be joyful; then you can
           only be miserable. Only misery can be controlled -- by the society or even by you!
                Many people come to me, and they say they would like to get out of their miseries, but they are
           not ready to move into a state of uncontrol. They want to control joy too. They always want to
           remain in control. They always want to remain the master, the boss. That is not possible. The boss
           has to go. The joy can erupt into your being only when all control has been removed. Joy knows no
           control. It is wild.
                And I say to you God is wild, and joy is the first step towards God. Ecstasy is wild. You cannot
           control it. You have to lose all control. You have to drop into it, into the very abyss of it -- and it is a
           bottomless abyss. You go on dropping and dropping and dropping and you never arrive to the
           bottom because there is no end to joy. It is a nonending process, it is eternal. And it so huge, how can
           you control it? The very idea is stupid.
           "MAD WITH JOY, LIFE AND DEATH DANCE TO THE RHYTHM OF THIS MUSIC." And
           when you are madly dancing, madly singing, when you are joyful without any control, without your
           presence, when the joy is so full, overflowing -- you are flooded with it and all control is abandoned
           -- then you will see a miracle: death and life dancing together. Because then all duality disappears. If
           you are dual, duality appears. If you are nondual, duality disappears. When you are split, the whole
           world is split. It is your own split that is projected onto the screen of the universe. When you are in a
           nonsplit state, integrated, one, organic, orgasmic, then all duality disappears.
                Then life and death are not two, not opposites, but complementaries dancing with each other
           hand in hand. Then bad and good are not two -- they are dancing with each other hand in hand. Then
           matter and consciousness are not two. This is what is happening inside you: the soul is dancing with
           the body; the body is dancing with the soul. They are not two. They are one, they are absolutely one,
           manifestations of one. The body is nothing but visible soul, and the soul is nothing but invisible
           body.
                And God is not somewhere above in the heavens. He is here-now in the trees, in the rocks, in
           you, in me, in everything. God is the soul of existence, the invisible the innermost core. And the
           inner is dancing with the outer. And the sublime is dancing with the profane. And the holy is dancing
           with the unholy. And the sinner is dancing with the saint
                Once you have become one, suddenly all duality disappears. That's why I say a really wise man
           is also a fool, has to be, because foolishness and wisdom dance together. And a really sage person, a
           saint, is also a rascal, has to be, it cannot be avoided. God and devil are not two. Have you ever
           thought about the word "devil"? It comes from the same root as "divine"; they belong to the same
           root. They both come from a Sanskrit root, DIVA; from it comes DEVA, from it comes "divine,"
           from it comes "devil."
                Deep down, the tree is one. Branches are many, moving in different dimensions, directions;
           leaves are millions; but the deeper you go, you come to one, one tree.

              Mad with joy, life and death dance to the rhythm of this music.

              ... THE HILLS AND THE SEA AND THE EARTH DANCE.


               When you are in a dance, everything dances with you. Yes, the old saying is true: when you
           weep, you weep alone; when you laugh, the whole world laughs with you. When you are miserable,
           you are separate.
               Now look at this. Misery separates you; separation makes you miserable. They are together, they
           are one package. Whenever you are miserable you suddenly become separate. That's why the ego
           cannot afford to be happy, because if you become happy the ego cannot exist -- you are no longer
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           separate. The egoist cannot afford to be ecstatic. How can he afford to be ecstatic, because in ecstasy
           the ego will not be there? That is too much. He would like to remain miserable. He will create a
           thousand and one miseries around him just to help the ego to be there.
               Have you watched it? When you are really happy, your ego disappears. When you are really
           happy, suddenly you feel a deep atonement with the whole. When you are miserable you want to be
           alone; when you are happy you want to share.
               When Buddha was miserable he went to the forest, escaped from the world. What happened after
           six years? When he became ecstatic he came back, back to the marketplace. When Mahavir was
           unhappy, miserable, he escaped from the world, he renounced the world. When he became happy he
           came back to the world.
               Now, Jainas don't talk about Mahavir coming back to the world; they only talk about the
           renunciation. Their scriptures only say that he renounced the world. That is only half the story -- and
           not the peak, just the beginning of the story. Yes, for twelve years he lived alone in the forest, not
           uttering a single word. He was so miserable, he separated himself from the whole world. He
           remained Lonely. Then one day came the spring, and the flowers started blooming, and he was full
           of ecstasy; he came back to the world. The Jaina scriptures don't talk about it -- and that is the real
           part of the story, the more significant part that he comes back to the world that he moves amidst
           people, that then again he starts talking, then again he starts singing, then again he conveys, shares.
           Whatsoever he has attained has to be shared.
               In misery you are like a seed. In ecstasy you become a flower, and your fragrance, of course, has
           to be released to the winds.
               You can watch it in your life also, in a small way of course. When you are unhappy you close
           your doors, you don't want to see your friends, you don't want to go anywhere, you don't want to
           participate in anything. You say,' Leave me alone. Please leave me alone." When somebody becomes
           very, very unhappy, he commits suicide. What is the meaning of it? What is suicide? Suicide is just
           an effort to go so far away from the world that one cannot come back. It is moving into loneliness
           ABSOLUTELY, irrevocably, so that you cannot come back. That's what suicide is.
               Have you ever heard about any man committing suicide when he was happy, when he was
           ecstatic, when he was dancing? No, when the dance arises, you burst forth, you throw your doors
           open, you call your friends, you call your neighbors, and you say,''Come. I am going to give a feast
           and let us dance and let us have a little fun. I have much to share and I would like to give it to you."
           And whosoever comes to your door, you greet him, you welcome him. Anybody is welcome in the
           moment when you are happy. When you are unhappy, even those who have always been welcome
           are no longer welcome.
           "THE HILLS AND THE SEA AND THE EARTH DANCE." With you that happens. If you dance
           the whole existence becomes a dance. It is already a dance. Hindus say it is a RAS-LEELA, God is
           dancing, and around God the stars and the moon and the sun and the earths and the whole existence.
           The whole existence is dancing around God. God is Krishna and the whole existence is his GOPIS,
           his girlfriends. This is the RAS that is continuously going on, but you will know it only when you
           learn the ways of dance, the language of ecstasy.

              ... THE WORLD OF MAN DANCES IN LAUGHTER AND TEARS.


               Beautiful is Kabir. His sayings are of tremendous significance.
           "THE WORLD OF MAN DANCES IN LAUGHTER AND TEARS." When you dance sometimes
           you will laugh and sometimes you will weep too, but now your tears will have a totally different
           quality to them. They will not be of sadness. They will come out of your depth, out of your
           overflowing heart. They will be of joy and cheer, they will show your rejoicing.
               You have known only one sort of tears, and those are that of sadness and sorrow, because you
           have known only one thing that overfills you sometimes, and that is sadness, depression, sorrow, and
           that flows through your tears. You have not known the other quality -- the rich tears. These are the
           poor tears, ill, neurotic. You don't know the healthy tears, the tears of well-being -- when you are full
           of love and you don't know how to express, when you are full of joy and you don't know how to
           express and you are so overflooded that tears start flowing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Tears are just an overflow, and Kabir says, "THE WORLD OF MAN DANCES IN LAUGHTER
           AND TEARS."
               You may have seen it happening sometimes to a madman; a madman sometimes laughs and
           weeps together. Sometimes it happens to my sannyasins, and they come to me very much scared and
           they say, What is happening? Laughter is okay, tears are okay, but both together? That simply shows
           I am going crazy.'' You are not going crazy. You are becoming one, your duality is disappearing.
           Your tears and laughter are becoming joined together. Hand in hand they are going to dance
           together. Your schizophrenia is over. Your division has fallen away. Now you are becoming
           undivided. Now you are becoming a unison, a UNIO MYSTIEA is happening. So everything is
           joining together; the polar opposites are coming closer and becoming one -- tears and laughter
           together.

              WHY PUT ON THE ROBE OF THE MONK, AND LIVE ALOOF FROM THE WORLD IN LONELY
              PRIDE?


                Yes, Kabir is right. Up to now this has been so. The monk has lived in a lonely pride. He has
           separated himself from the world: he has put on the robe of the monk; he has shaved his head; he has
           declared to the world,''I don't belong to you and you don't belong to me; I am no longer a part. I am
           going away," and has become very egoistic. That is one of the ways to feel pride, to become proud.
                The psychology of pride has to be understood. A man becomes rich. The richer he becomes, the
           more aloof and distant he becomes. He is not easily approachable; it is impossible. Even to his
           intimates he is not available. And in America it is happening that even his wife, his children, are not
           very close now. He is so far away, aloof. His richness has become a pyramid, and he is sitting on the
           top, very, very far away. A man who achieves political power, like Adolf Hitler, becomes very aloof.
           He had not a single friend. It was said about Hitler,' Either you are a follower or you are an enemy
           but he has no friend." There was not a single person who could have put his hand on his shoulder and
           talked with him intimately. Impossible. He would never allow anybody that intimacy, that closeness.
                With richness, with power, with knowledge, with asceticism, the same thing happens again and
           again. And the monk is also another way of living in a lonely pride. Kabir is right.
                That's why I have changed the total concept of sannyas. I tell my people to live in the world, to
           be in the world, to be in the crowd, to live the ordinary life -- in a very extraordinary consciousness.
           Join them together: the world of the householder and the world of the monk -- bring them close. Let
           the marketplace become your monastery; let your monastery become a marketplace. No more
           dualism -- no more of the pride of the monk.
                My sannyasins feel very much puzzled -- particularly the Indian sannyasins, because they have
           lived in a lonely pride for thousands of years. They come and they say to me, "This doesn't look
           good. I am still a householder; I live with my wife and with my children. How to wear orange? It is
           very difficult."
                Women have come to me crying and weeping, and they say, "What have you done? You have
           given sannyas to my husband; now what will.happen to me and my children?" I say, "Don't be
           worried. Nothing is going to happen. Your husband will be with you." They say, "We cannot accept
           that." One woman came to me and she said, "What have you done? You have made my husband a
           sannyasin; now I cannot make love to him." How to make love to a sannyasin? This is simply
           absurd; never has been heard of before. No, that is not possible.
                The world of the monk and the world of the householder have existed up to now, hitherto, as
           enemies, separate. I have tried to bring them together. If Kabir comes back, he will not write this line
           again. He will not say, "Why put on the robe of the monk?" He will say, "If you belong to this guy
           Rajneesh, okay."
           "... AND LIVE ALOOF FROM THE WORLD IN LONELY PRIDE?" No, my sannyasins are not
           living in lonely pride, Kabir. I can assure you!

              BEHOLD! MY HEART DANCES IN THE DELIGHT OF A HUNDRED ARTS; AND THE CREATOR IS
              WELL PLEASED.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is a beautiful sutra. Try to understand it. God is the creator: all the religions of the world
           have been talking about it, but nobody seems to have understood rightly what it means, what is its
           implication.
               God is the creator. If it is true, then only through creation can you arrive close to him; there is no
           other way. If God is the creator, then become creative, and creativeness will be your prayer. Paint,
           sing, dance, compose poetry, make a statue -- anything -- but become creative. Plant a garden.
           Anything -- small, big, whatsoever. The proportion is not the question -- anything, but be creative.
               If you are cooking in the kitchen, then cook creatively; then make it more and more artful. Then
           don't just go on doing it in a routine way. Let it be your poetry, your sculpture, let it be your song.
           Whatsoever you are doing, be creative, bring the new in. Go on exploring the unknown. Innovate,
           invent, discover, create something -- because if God is the creator then whenever you become
           creative, you come close to him. Whenever you are creative, God is the creator in you.
               But up to now the religious people have lived very uncreatively; they don't create. They simply
           remove themselves from the world. They don't compose poems, they don't paint pictures, they don't
           carve statues. They simply become aloof; they become uncreative. To become uncreative is to go
           against God.
              BEHOLD! MY HEART DANCES IN THE DELIGHT OF A HUNDRED ARTS; AND THE CREATOR IS
              WELL PLEASED."



              WHERE IS THE NEED OF WORDS, WHEN LOVE HAS MADE DRUNKEN THE HEART?


               Kabir says, "Now there is nothing to say. I can only dance. I can sing, and my song will also be
           wild and mad, because I don't know logic anymore, I don't believe in words anymore. The language,
           the ordinary language, is not enough to hold what I am to express."
           "WHERE IS THE NEED OF WORDS" -- now words are not needed; even silence will do -- will do
           better -- "WHEN LOVE HAS MADE DRUNKEN THE HEART?"

              I HAVE WRAPPED THE DIAMOND IN MY CLOAK; WHY OPEN IT AGAIN AND AGAIN?


               Now God has become a part of my heart, and I cannot go on exhibiting him again and again.
           Those who want to see him, let them come close, let them inquire, but I am not going to convince
           anybody and I am not going to talk about my God to anybody. If somebody wants, he should come
           to me, he should inquire -- he should surrender, he should open his heart.

              WHEN ITS LOAD WAS LIGHT, THE PAN OF THE BALANCE WENT UP: NOW IT IS FULL, WHERE
              IS THE NEED FOR WEIGHING?


               And I don't argue anymore and I don't judge anymore and I don't philosophize anymore. I don't
           theorize anymore there is no question of weighing. God has already happened; truth is known. There
           is no longer any groping.

              THE SWAN HAS TAKEN ITS FLIGHT TO THE LAKE BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS; WHY SHOULD IT
              SEARCH FOR THE POOLS AND DITCHES ANYMORE?


               Listen to this. It is not that you have to drop the world. It is that you have to know what God is.
           Then all that is ugly drops on its own accord. I am not teaching you to drop anything, to renounce
           anything. I am saying realize something that is already within you, that is your innermost core. Once
           realized, many things will disappear.
           "THE SWAN HAS TAKEN ITS FLIGHT TO THE LAKE BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS, WHY
           SHOULD IT SEARCH FOR THE POOLS AND DITCHES ANYMORE?" You go on looking for
           ecstasy in sex, you go on looking in money, in power, only because you don't know real ecstasy. If
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have known once, you will stop. All these dirty places are of no meaning to you. Not that you
           renounce them! Simply they become irrelevant.

              YOUR LORD DWELLS WITHIN YOU. WHY NEED YOUR OUTWARD EYES BE OPENED?
              KABIR SAYS: "LISTEN, MY BROTHER! MY LORD, WHO RAVISHES MY EYES, HAS UNITED
              HIMSELF WITH ME."


               That meeting place is within you. There happens the ultimate union, the ultimate marriage, where
           you and the whole meet and dissolve into each other, and disappear into each other. That
           disappearance of the two into one is what ecstasy is.

               I have heard about a soldier in the Second World War who would drop his rifle on the battlefield
           and run to pick up any little scrap of paper, would examine it eagerly, then sorrowfully shake his
           head as the paper fluttered to the ground. Hospitalized, he remained mute, his compulsion obscure
           and intractable. He wandered forlornly about the psychiatric ward, picking up scraps of paper, each
           time with discernable hope followed by inevitable dejection. Pronounced unfit for service he
           received one day his discharge from the army, whereupon, receiving the discharge form, he found
           his voice. "This is it!" he cried in ecstasy. "This it!"

               Ecstasy is the ultimate freedom, and then one simply shouts in joy, "This is it! This is it! Eureka!
           I have found it."
               And the irony is that you need not go anywhere to find it. It is already there. It is your very core,
           your very being. If you decide to find it, you can find it this very moment. It does not need a single
           moment's postponement. An intense thirst can open the door. A great urgency can right now make
           you free.




                                   Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language
                                                    Chapter #10
                                         Chapter title: The choice is yours
           20 December 1976 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7612200
              ShortTitle: ECSTAS10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 0 mins




              ARE YOU THE ONLY ENLIGHTENED PERSON IN THIS ASHRAM? IF YES, IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO
              ENLIGHTEN OR TO BE ENLIGHTENED NEAR AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON?


               SINCE I BECAME ENLIGHTENED I have never come across a person who is not enlightened.
           You see only that which you are. Before I became enlightened, the same was the case with me -- the
           whole world used to appear tremendously asleep, in darkness, in death, unenlightened, because you
           are reflected continuously everywhere. Every other person is just a mirror; you see yourself. So don't
           be worried about others; think about yourself. That should be your problem.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Others are not your problems. Whether they are enlightened or not, how does it concern you?
           Why should you be worried about it? If somebody wants to remain unenlightened, it is absolutely his
           business to decide about it. If they want to play the game of being unenlightened, it's perfectly okay.
           If you have become fed up with the world, if you are fed up with your anguish and anxiety and you
           have realized that now it is time to awake, then there is no difficulty. Nobody can prevent you.
           Nobody is preventing you. It is only your own decision to play the game as an unenlightened being
           or to play the game as an enlightened being. It is only a question of inner decision.
                In a single moment, in one stroke, you can become enlightened. It is not a gradual process,
           because enlightenment is not something that you have to invent. It is something that you have to
           discover. It is already there. It is not something that you have to manufacture. If you have to
           manufacture it, of course, it will take time; but it is already there. Close your eyes and see it there.
           Be silent and have a taste of it. Your very nature is what I call enlightenment. Enlightenment is not
           something alien, outside you. It is not somewhere else in time and space. It is you, your very core.
                I was staying at Mulla Nasrudin's. One morning when we were sipping tea, the wife of Mulla
           Nasrudin told him, "Mulla, you swore terribly at me in your sleep last night." Mulla Nasrudin
           laughed and said, "Who was asleep?"
                You are not asleep. Whatsoever you are doing, you have chosen to do it; it is your choice. And I
           insist that it is your choice, because if it is your choice, then it can be dropped immediately, the
           moment you are ready to change your choice. You have chosen your life to be this way -- the way of
           agony, anguish.
                Certainly you will ask, "Why should one want to choose a life of agony, anguish, anxiety, pain,
           suffering? Why? Why should one choose a life of sorrow?" There are reasons, great reasons behind
           it: because only in sorrow can you BE. In ecstasy you disappear. Only in pain can you exist as an
           entity. In bliss you are lost as a drop is lost in the ocean. You are afraid to lose yourself; hence you
           have chosen the ways of agony. They create the ego; the more you suffer, the more you feel you are.
           Suffering gives you a definition. It makes you feel solid; it gives you a feeling that you are separate
           from the whole. That's why you have chosen it. Nobody has chosen sorrow and suffering directly.
           Indirectly, you have chosen to be an egoist. Hence you have to choose suffering: without suffering
           you cannot be an egoist. The ego cannot exist without a sea of suffering around it. The ego is like an
           island in a sea of suffering.
                You are enjoying your ego. You are continuously strengthening it, decorating it, making it more
           and more valuable. This is your choice.
                Once you see that the ego is deeply connected with suffering and without suffering it cannot
           exist, then if you don't want to suffer, you drop the ego, you forget all about the language of the ego.
           The language of the ego is the language of agony. And then things are very simple.
           I have heard:

               A little boy worrying through his very first day at school, raised his hand for permission to go to
           the wash-room, then returned to the class a few moments later to report that he could not find it.
           Dispatched a second time with explicit directions, he still could not find it. So this time the teacher
           asked a slightly older boy to act as guide. Success crowned his efforts. "We finally found it," he told
           the teacher. "He had his pants on backwards."

                This is the situation. You are enlightened beings, just your pants are backwards. You need a
           slightly older boy to guide you, that's all. That's what a Master is meant to be.
                Nothing is missing; nothing can be missing. You are born enlightened. Then you have chosen a
           life of suffering and agony. You can live enlightened, you can die enlightened. It depends on you. It
           is a question of sheer choice.
           "Are you the only enlightened person in this ashram?" In this ashram you will not even find trees
           unenlightened.
           "If yes, is it impossible to enlighten or to be enlightened near an enlightened person?" It is not a
           question of being near an enlightened person. If you don't choose, you can be here forever and you
           will not choose. If you choose to be enlightened, you can be enlightened anywhere.
                I am needed, a Master is needed, because your desire to be enlightened is not very strong, not
           very intense. You don't feel the urgency, you don't feel thirsty enough for it. It is not your first
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           priority. Maybe it is somewhere on your shopping list -- just at the end. If any money is left, if time
           is left, and the market remains open, you will see. But it is not first. First comes the world, and then
           comes God. Of course, you never come to God, because the world is vast -- one thing leads to
           another, and it goes on and on. God has to be your first priority. I am needed only to help you to put
           God on your list as the first priority, that's all. If you can put it there yourself, then you can become
           enlightened anywhere.
                I became enlightened without any Master, so there cannot be any problem for you. If it can
           happen to me, it can happen to you. The Master is not a must. It has become a must because you are
           so lethargic, because you are so unwilling to move towards ecstasy, because you are so attached to
           the ways of sorrow and anguish.
                You have become so attached to the prison, you don't want to get out of it. Even if the door is left
           open, you don't escape. You go on deceiving yourself; you don't even look at the door. You go on
           deceiving yourself that the door is closed and the guard is there. And there is nobody! The door is
           open and the guard is not there. But you want to remain in the prison; you have become too attached.
           You have invested too much in the prison. In fact you have started looking at the prison as your
           home. The outside world looks strange and wild, and you feel afraid.
                People are afraid of freedom, and people are afraid of knowing life too deeply. People are afraid
           to love, people are afraid to BE. They have lived long in the dark; now they are afraid of light --
           afraid they will not be able to open their eyes, afraid they will be dazzled, their eyes may be
           destroyed, afraid because their life in the darkness has become a settled routine. It is secure. Why
           take any chance? Why go into the unknown and the uncharted?
                The darkness has become too familiar; otherwise you can become enlightened anywhere. It is
           your treasure. You can claim it any moment. It is a surprise why you have not claimed it up to now.
                And remember, nobody else can enlighten you AGAINST yourself. If you have decided to
           remain the way you are, then there is no possibility. All the Buddhas and all the Christs and all the
           Krishnas all put together, they cannot do anything -- and you will remain the same as you are. And
           it is good in a way that it should be so. If you can be enlightened by somebody else, against you,
           then that enlightenment cannot be very valuable. It cannot be a freedom. If you can be forced to be
           enlightened, then that too is going to be a slavery, a bondage -- a new bondage.
                No, it is absolutely your choice! Choose it or leave it, but remember always, it is your
           responsibility.
                There are many people who come to a Master and surrender just so that they stop feeling
           responsible. That is a wrong type of surrender. Surrender means "I am ready to cooperate," that's all.
           It does not mean "Now you are responsible, and if I don't become enlightened then you will be
           responsible for it." Then even through surrender nothing is going to happen, because the surrender in
           the first place happened through wrong reasons.
                When you come to me to be initiated, this is the whole meaning of initiation: that you tell me that
           "I am ready," that "I will not hinder your efforts," that "If you help me, I will welcome it," that "If
           you knock at my door, you will find me ready to receive you," that "I am ready to become a host to
           you," that "I will cooperate," that "My yes is total." That is the meaning of sannyas, the meaning of
           surrender: that "I will not say no," that "I will not resist," that "I will not fight you." It is not
           throwing away responsibility; it is simply dropping resistance. Not dropping responsibility, but only
           resistance. And once resistance is dropped, things start happening on their own accord. I am just an
           excuse.
                Exactly, a Master is what the scientists call a catalytic agent. It does not "work"; its presence is
           enough. It simply helps by being present. A Master cannot do anything to you in reality, but his
           presence.... You feel more trust. You cannot trust yourself; that's why you need to trust me. If you
           can trust yourself, there is no need. If you feel enough unto yourself, there is no need. If you don't
           feel enough, you don't feel confident enough, you don't feel that you will choose the right thing, you
           don't feel that you will move into the right direction, then surrender is helpful. You trust somebody
           you feel has known, somebody you feel loves you, will not harm you, somebody you feel has more
           than you. You trust him. You hold his hand.
                And all that happens always happens within you -- and it happens without the doing of the
           Master. Enlightenment is not something that can be "done" by anybody. You just relax in trust, and it
           starts arising in you. It was waiting there for the moment when you can say yes. If you can say yes to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the whole, good, there is no need for a Master.
               If you cannot say yes to the whole sky -- it may seem too huge -- then say yes to a window. The
           Master is a window; it opens towards the sky. It brings you towards the sky. The Master is just a
           passage. Pass through the Master in trust, in love, in surrender, and things will start happening.


              WHEN I CAME HERE I WAS TENSE. PEOPLE LOOKED UNFRIENDLY, NOT OPEN. NOW ALL
              THAT HAS CHANGED; EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL. I HAVE HAD SIMILAR EXPERIENCES
              BEFORE, BUT THEY HAVE ALWAYS FADED AWAY. I HOPE IT IS NOW WISDOM AND WILL NOT
              FADE, BUT IF EAR IT MAY BE KNOWLEDGE AND I WILL LOSE IT.


                Look at a rose flower. If it is real it will fade by the evening; if it is a plastic flower it will not
           fade. Knowledge is more permanent than wisdom, because wisdom is real and knowledge is just
           artificial. You are thinking in wrong terms.
                You tell me that it has happened before, also -- these moments, these openings -- but then they
           fade, they disappear, they become part of your memory. Now you want something permanent. This
           very idea is full of greed. If you want something permanent, you will have to choose something
           false, because only the false is permanent. The real is momentary -- the real is always momentary. It
           exists for a moment and then it is gone. It is strong, and fragile. It is tremendously strong: when it is
           there it is there in totality. When it is gone it is gone. Only the false is permanent, but out of greed
           we seek permanence.
                Love is fragile like a rose flower. Marriage is a plastic flower; it stays. It is artificial, legal,
           social. Love is unreliable. It is there, and when it is there it is tremendously beautiful. You fly in the
           high skies; you are turned on; everything looks full of delight, joy. The whole existence becomes a
           feast, a celebration, a dance. From every nook and corner God starts looking at you... and then
           suddenly it is gone -- as suddenly as it had come one day, it is gone. The magic disappears, the
           charm is no more, the poetry fades; only ashes are left, dead, stale.
                Afraid of this fragile reality, man has created his permanent reality against it -- to be secure, to be
           certain. You cannot rely on a girlfriend, you cannot rely on a boyfriend. You can rely on a husband
           or a wife. A wife and a husband are plastic. A girlfriend is a wind; nobody knows whether she will
           be lingering around you the next moment or will be gone and will have chosen another part of the
           world or another tree to have the affair with. Nobody knows. Out of nowhere, one moment it is and
           another moment it is gone. It may not go, it may go, but nothing is certain about it. Afraid of this
           uncertainty -- out of greed, out of fear -- man has created marriage. Marriage is an ugly thing. Love
           is beautiful.
                Can't you see the ugliness of a plastic flower? And why is a plastic flower ugly? In the first
           place, to be permanent it has to be dead because life implies death. Only dead things never die. If
           you are alive you are prone to dying. The more alive you are, the more prone to death. The more
           vibrant with life, the closer is death. In every dance of life you will find death present, deeply
           present.
                That's why it happens when you are deeply in love with somebody, suddenly you start thinking
           about death. Have you watched it? Lovers start thinking about death. Money changers never think of
           death. A poet in a deep moment of communion with nature starts thinking of death. A dancer at the
           peak, when everything is exploding, becomes afraid: death is there. When you are at a crescendo of
           any experience, you will always find death present. Why? Because whenever life is there death is
           there.
                People have decided not to live at the maximum, never to go to the optimum. Live at the
           minimum -- at the minimum you can avoid death. Because at the minimum you are almost dead. The
           contrast is not there. When you are very, very alive, death comes very close by; the contrast becomes
           very clear. People are afraid of death; that's why they live at the minimum. People are afraid of
           change; they start loving things which don't change. A house is more unchanging. A country, a
           creed, a temple, a god of the theologians, seems to be more permanent. They avoid looking at the
           momentary -- and reality is momentary, it is flux, it is a process. Everything is moving dynamically;
           it is riverlike.
                You tell me, " When I came here I was tense. People looked unfriendly, not open. Now all that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has changed...." Nothing has changed; only you have changed. The people are the same -- you can
           ask them. They were tense because you were tense. They were unfriendly because you were not
           friendly. Nothing has changed. People have not changed; they have not suddenly become friendly.
           You have changed. You have opened, you have relaxed. You are no longer asking that they should
           be friendly; rather, you have started to be friendly yourself. And suddenly you see they are friendly.
               Whatsoever you are you will always find. And whatsoever you find, remember, it is you. It is
           nobody else.
               This happens to everybody who comes here. In the beginning he comes with great expectations,
           as if the whole ashram will dance because he has come, and they will celebrate and there will be a
           great festival. These expectations lurk in the mind. And then one comes here and Sant won't even
           allow you easily in from the gate! And he looks very unfriendly. He is directed to be that way there.
           And suddenly your hopes and expectations disappear.
               I help it. They should be destroyed, because with those expectations and hopes you will continue
           to be an egoist. With those hopes and expectations you will remain the old. They have to be dropped.
               This is a situation, this ashram is a device. Here we try in every way to put you off. If you persist,
           then great is the payoff. If you escape, it is good for you and it is good for me too, because as it is I
           have enough responsibility for enough people. Unless you are really ready to go into deeper things
           and you have not come here as a curious person, you have not come here with some ambition still
           lurking in your mind, with some politics in your mind -- only if you have come here as a real
           authentic seeker -- only then will you stay. Then you will stay whatsoever happens around. You will
           not bother about it. You will say, "It is okay. There must be some reason in it."
               If you persist, persevere, you will start feeling that people are friendly. You have dropped your
           expectations; that's why they start looking friendly. They are the same people: neither friendly nor
           unfriendly. This ashram is very neutral. We are not interested in converts, in new converts. We are
           not interested at all; we don't take much interest. We are neutral. If you come it is your responsibility
           to come. If you choose you choose. We don't persuade you in any way. You cannot blame us later
           on, that "You persuaded us"; that much is certain, you cannot blame us. If you stayed, you stayed
           because you had chosen to stay. From the very beginning things are clear.
               Now you say, "... everyone is beautiful. I have had similar experiences before, but they have
           always faded away." Good that they faded away. If they had remained, you would have been stuck.
           Then you would not have grown. Everything should come and go. It prepares you for a greater
           experience. It has to go away. If you are stuck with one experience, then there will be no growth in
           your life. Feel happy, feel grateful that they have faded away; otherwise you would not have been
           here. You are here because your past faded away.
               But you are here, it seems, still with a wrong desire: that now you will find something
           permanent. No, I don't deal in the permanent at all. I deal in the momentary and the eternal -- and
           they are both the same. The permanent is a false thing. The momentary and the eternal are the real
           things. But let me explain it to you.
               Ordinarily, in your dictionaries you will find "permanent" as if it is a synonym for "eternal." It is
           not. The eternal is always momentary. Look at the rose flower again. In the morning it is there; by
           the evening it is gone. It was momentary. But it will come again -- tomorrow in the morning another
           flower is there. It has always been coming. The eternal peeks through the momentary, the eternal
           looks through the momentary. One rose flower goes, another rose flower comes, that goes, another is
           coming; in fact the one goes just to make place for the other. The beauty is eternal. The "roseness" is
           eternal. Rose flowers come and go; the roseness is eternal.
               Live in the momentary. And live in the momentary without any desire for the permanent;
           otherwise you will miss the eternal. Live in the moment so tremendously and totally that you forget
           the permanent. The permanent is a projection in the future; the permanent is your desire. It has
           nothing to do with reality. The eternal is the depth of the momentary -- the eternal is in the moment.
           The permanent is horizontal, linear. The eternal is vertical.
               Somebody is swimming on the surface of a deep river; that's how the permanent is. And
           somebody dives deep in the river; that's how the eternal is. Dive deep in the moment and you will
           touch the eternal. Look in the rose flower. Yes, this rose flower is momentary, but look deep, dive
           deep, and suddenly you will see hidden behind this rose flower is roseness. Hidden behind this
           momentary rose flower is beauty eternal, divine. Flowers will come and go; flowering remains.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Roses come and go; roseness remains. Lovers come and go; love remains. Your woman may die,
           your man may disappear may escape. These are all roses. Love remains.
                My teaching is trust love. Don't betray love. Love is something that will happen again and again
           -- with another woman with another man, with another friend. It will happen again and again; it will
           flower again and again. Don't get stuck. Your wife has died. Of course you feel sad and you cry, and
           it is good, but don't get stuck. Now don't decide to remain a widower for ever and ever. This is
           foolish, this is stupid. And don't think that falling in love again will be a betrayal to your wife, no.
           You had fallen in love with your wife in the first place because of love. Another love will arise,
           another love will arise.... Don't betray love. Persons come and go.
                Don't hanker for the permanent; otherwise you will destroy the reality of the person. If you
           hanker for the permanent, then you don't look into the real; then you start trying to fix it so that the
           wife remains forever your wife. You start becoming possessive. Thinking that this rose flower may
           fade away, you take it away from the plant, because on the plant you have seen flowers disappear --
           in the evening the petals start falling and the flower is gone. Before it is gone, you cut it from the
           plant. You can put it in a safe-deposit box, you can lock it up, but by cutting it from the plant you
           have made it already dead; now it will simply rot in your safe-deposit box. You have not even
           allowed it a beautiful death.
                Don't be so cruel, don't be so unkind. The flower was beautiful on the plant, on the bush; it was
           alive there; its life belonged to the life of the bush. Let it die there. That death was beautiful; now
           you have taken it away. I have seen people putting rose flowers in their bibles; then they become dry
           and dead. You didn't allow a beautiful death to the flower.
           And your bibles are also like dead flowers.
                Remember, when you start possessing the woman or the man, you are killing -- you are putting
           the flower in the safe-deposit box. And you rush to the court to get married; you are making it a legal
           thing. Love dies when law comes in. Love cannot exist with law. Love is lawlessness. Love is so
           spontaneous, how can it exist with law? It is impossible. Love has disappeared from the earth
           because there is too much law. Unless law disappears from the earth, there is no possibility for love
           to appear again. And without love there is no possibility of prayer. And without love there is no
           possibility for God.
                Religion does not consist of laws. It consists only of one thing, and that is love.
           "I have had similar experiences before, but they have always faded away." Good. This is how it
           should be. Don't look back; look forward. More is to come. Don't close your eyes, and don't cling to
           the past. More is to come; you are growing. Better and deeper experiences are waiting for you.
           "I hope it is now wisdom and will not fade...." Wisdom always fades out. Only knowledge remains.
           "... but I fear it may be knowledge and I will lose it." If this is your notion, you will be in trouble.
           Wisdom always fades. Wisdom need not remain there as a wound. It comes and goes like a breeze.
           Of course each moment of wisdom makes you wiser and wiser, but this is how wisdom makes you
           wise: you become aware that reality fades, that reality is momentary, that reality comes and goes,
           that nothing is permanent. Everything is eternal! but nothing is permanent. The permanent is the
           human desire; the eternal is God's nature.
                Everything comes again -- never the same, yet comes again. Spring has gone, will come again.
           Summer has gone, will come again. It will be there again -- yet never the same. Your childhood is
           gone, but many other children will be born. Your youth is gone, somebody else will be becoming a
           youth. Your old age is disappearing, somebody else is becoming old. You are dying, somebody else
           is getting ready to die. Death continues, life continues, love continues, and we are just vehicles of
           these eternal forces.
                So drop the idea of the permanent. Live in the moment, and you will know the eternal.


              OH, THE RELIGION! THE ADORATION OF THE PAST! THE BEAUTY AND SENTIMENTALITY AF
              THE PAST!
              SINCE I WAS A LITTLE CHILD, I HAVE ALWAYS FELT LIKE THINKING ABOUT THE PAST AND
              GETTING A FEELING OF SWEET PAIN, THAT THE PAST IS GONE, AND CRYING SWEET AND
              WARM TEARS AND REALLY ENJOYING THE WHOLE THING VERY MUCH -- THIS WHOLE
              THING CALLED NOSTALGIA. SOMETIMES I REALLY LOVE MY PAST. HAVING A PAST TO PLAY
              WITH, I FEEL BLESSED. AM I A FOOL?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               SO I HEAR YOU AND AGREE WITH YOU, INTELLECTUAL, THAT THE PAST IS
               NONEXISTENTIAL AND UNREAL, BUT I SEEM TO FEEL DIFFERENT ABOUT IT. WHAT IS GOING
               ON?
               IF NOSTALGIA IS JUST A TRICK OF THE EGO, WHICH IT MUST BE, THEN WHY DOES IT
               COMES AS A GOOD WARM FEELING?
               HOW CAN THE DEVIL BE SWEET?
               OR HOW CAN MY FEELINGS BE UNREAL?
               OR IF MY FEELINGS ARE UNREAL, WHAT IS LEFT?


               The one question is not one question; it is seven questions. So we will have to be surgical.
           Excuse me. We will have to cut this question into seven parts.
               First: "Oh, the religion! The adoration of the past!'' Religion is not the adoration of the past. It
           has nothing to do with the past. Religion is possibility, not past. Religion is potentiality for the
           future, not past. Religion is not looking backwards; it is looking forwards. Religion is not memory,
           but hope. But you have been trained to look at the past because you have been trained not by
           religious people but by Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans. These are not religious people. You have
           been conditioned by the priests and the popes and the SHANKARACHARYAS. These are not
           religious people.
               If you come to a religious person, he will give you hope for the future -- he will give you a fire
           for the future. He will not talk about the dead past. To look at the dead past is dangerous. For one
           thing, it cannot be repeated. Second, one who goes on looking back cannot live the future. It is as if
           you are driving your car looking only in the rearview mirror. You are doomed! The rearview mirror
           is not for that. When you reverse your car, it's okay, use it; or sometimes somebody is honking his
           horn from behind, look. But don't get obsessed with the rearview mirror. It may be a beautiful
           mirror, but please, look ahead. You are driving in the future. Looking backwards and driving in the
           future is dangerous; then the accident is almost predictable. It is not an accident; it is a certainty; it is
           going to happen.
               Remember, all movement is towards the future; you cannot move towards the past. Movement is
           only towards the future, but you can look towards the past. And if you go on looking towards the
           past, still you are moving towards the future, and if your life becomes accidental, prone to accidents,
           and you collide and bump and this and that and your whole life becomes a misery, it is natural. Look
           where you are going. Don't look to the past where you have been.
               No, you must have been taught by Christians. Hindus, Mohammedans; that's why you think,''Oh,
           the religion! The adoration of the past!" Religion has nothing to do with the past, because religion
           has nothing to do with the dead. It is a concern with life, a commitment to life.
           "The beauty and sentimentality of the past!" There is nothing beautiful in it. How can the dead be
           beautiful? You don't know what beauty is then. Beauty is always in the alive. Beauty is always of the
           present. But if you have become blind to the present, then of course you know only one beauty, and
           that is of the past. And that is not beauty at all. Beauty is throbbing, pulsating with life. Beauty is
           always here-now; it is not in the past.
               But to be here-now needs great courage. To be here-now needs great awareness. To be here-now
           needs great intelligence. So people have chosen not to bother with the herenow; they look back, they
           look at the past. Now no intelligence is needed to look at the past -- any stupid person can do that.
           Anybody can look at that which has happened. To look at that which is happening needs subtle,
           tremendous awareness. And that is the way the future is going to happen.
               The future is constantly turning into the present; the present is constantly turning into the past.
           The past is out of your hands; you cannot do anything-with it. Then don't get stuck with it, because
           nothing can be done about it. You cannot undo it. You cannot change it. It is impossible. It is futile
           to waste time with it. But there are people -- millions of people, they are the majority -- who go on
           thinking about the past, who go on decorating it in their memory. They are missing the real. They
           have become involved with the unreal, with the gone. These people are dead people.
               There is nothing beautiful in a grave. There is nothing beautiful in a skeleton. It simply stinks. A
           dead body simply stinks. There is nothing beautiful in it.
               Beauty needs life, because beauty needs heartbeat, beauty needs pulsation, streaming, energy,
           vitality. The past is just a memory. You are just playing a tape when you start looking at the past;
           you are just looking at a movie. It is no longer anywhere; it is just in your head. And it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mechanical. Now scientists say that it is absolutely mechanical. They have found that if electrodes
           are touched at certain centers of the mind, certain memories start unfolding. You think you are free?
           You are wrong.
                If your skull is opened and a certain spot is touched with an electrode, some electricity is given to
           that spot, a certain memory will start. You will see you are a child. Suddenly! You were not thinking
           about it. You will see you are a child, running in the garden in the morning sun trying to catch a
           butterfly; and you have fallen and you have broken your leg. And if the electrode is taken away, the
           memory stops. Again if the electrode is touched to the same spot, the same memory repeats in the
           same way again: you are a child in the garden running in the morning sun trying to catch a butterfly;
           you have fallen; you have broken your leg. Put the electrode off; the memory disappears. Put the
           electrode on again; the memory again starts the same way: you are a child....
                This is a mechanical thing. And you cannot stop it! Remember, when the electrode is there, do
           whatsoever you want to do -- shake your head and want to get rid of it -- you cannot. The tape is
           running, the film is moving, the film is on the projector. Your mind simply functions as a screen.
           Nothing is beautiful in it; it is a mechanical thing.
                To be here-now you have to be aware, not mechanical. To be in the past any machine will do;
           you are not needed.
                Sooner or later, when a person dies, a person like Albert Einstein, they will take his tape out.
           Right now it is difficult, but sooner or later they will find the way to take the brain out and keep it
           alive as a machine, and then they can play it; it can be projected on a screen. Einstein will not be
           there, but his memories will be there and they will be played on a screen, and he will again and again
           discover the theory of relativity -- and he is not there.
                Mind, when functioning as the past, is a mechanism. When mind thinks about the future, again, it
           is the past projecting into the future. When you start thinking about tomorrow, what is your
           tomorrow? Just a modified form -- a little decorated, retouched here and there -- just your yesterday
           projected again. Maybe there are a few things you don't want. Your woman nagged you too much
           yesterday. You don't want her to nag you again, you don't want her to do that again tomorrow.
           Maybe you drop that. You were eating in a Chinese restaurant and it was tremendously delicious and
           you would like to eat there tomorrow again -- and a little more. This is how your tomorrow comes,
           from the gone yesterday -- a little retouched here and there, decorated, polished, modified, refined,
           but it is the gone yesterday projected again.
                Only the present is not mechanical. Only the present is real. Only this moment is real. And only
           this moment is beautiful.
           "... I have always felt like thinking about the past and getting a feeling of sweet pain, that the past-is
           gone, and crying sweet and warm tears and really enjoying the whole thing very much...." People do
           that, they go on enjoying the past very much, because they don't have any future and they don't have
           any present. These people are dead people, corpses walking on the streets.
                Stop getting into the past too much. Detach yourself: Get out of your past. Yes, sometimes it can
           be very sweet. because you are completely free to choose. People choose good things from the past
           and go on dumping the bad things in their basement. That's why everybody thinks their childhood
           was paradise. It is not so. Ask the psychologists. They say it is a chosen part; you have chosen a few
           pages. Whatsoever you feel beautiful, you have chosen and you go on looking at it. And not only
           that, you go on magnifying its beauty, its sweetness, its goodness.
                And this only shows one thing -- this obsession with the past shows only one thing: your present
           is ugly. This shows only one thing: that you are impotent as far as the present is concerned. A really
           potent man or woman, a really vital person who lives in the present, will not have time to go into the
           past. The present is so absorbing, the present is so enchanting, the present is so tremendously alive,
           why should one go to the past? You go to the past only because you have not yet learned how to be
           in the present.
                And to be in the present is to be religious. because to be in the present needs awareness. And
           awareness is the very key of all religion.
           "Sometimes I really love my past. Having a past to play with, I feel blessed. Am I a fool?" Certainly,
           absolutely -- and a perfect fool at that. Get out of this, and the sooner you do, the better. Be a little
           wiser with your life.
           "So I hear you and agree with you, intellectually...." There is never any agreement intellectually.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           This is a way of saying that you don't agree with me. "Intellectual" agreement? It is not an agreement
           at all. It is as if somebody comes and says,''I love you very much -- intellectually. What do you
           mean? Intellectually? How can love happen intellectually? How can you agree with me
           intellectually'? Maybe you cannot argue, maybe you feel yourself a little at a loss as to how to argue
           with me -- you feel silenced -- but it is not agreement. To agree intellectually is not to agree at all.
           Unless you agree totally, you agree not.
           "So I hear you and agree with you, intellectually, that the past is nonexistential and unreal....'' I am
           not giving you any theory or philosophy. I am simply stating facts. There is no question of
           agreement or disagreement. When I say the trees are green, do you agree with me intellectually, or
           do you disagree with me? You simply look at the trees and you say, "Right. Trees are green." When I
           say the past is gone, am I saying some philosophy to you, am I preaching some philosophy to you?
           "The past is gone" is as much a fact as "the trees are green." You know it, I know it, everybody
           knows it: the past is gone. The past MEANS that which is gone. The past is the past. Do you have to
           agree with me about this too? Then either I am mad or you are mad!
               If I say the sun has risen and you say, "Yes. I think I will agree with you".... About facts one
           need not agree or disagree. Just look at the fact. Either it is a fact or it is not a fact. How can you
           hesitate between agreement and disagreement? Either I am stating some fictitious thing or I am
           stating a fact. Just look into the fact.
               The past is gone -- you are no longer a child, or you are no longer a young man. The past is gone.
           Let the gone be gone. That's what Jesus says when he says, "Let the dead bury their dead." Let the
           gone be gone, and look at that which is.
               And now one thing to be remembered. A person who is so obsessed with the past, his past is not
           reliable either. Because, for example, today, right now, I am talking to you. This is the present.
           Tomorrow it will have become the past and then you will think about it -- Osho talking to you and
           how beautiful it was. Look at the foolishness of it. One doctor used to come here, and he would
           continuously take notes. I asked him, "What dp you go on doing?" He said, "I take notes because you
           say such beautiful things, I would like to remember them later on." "But when I am talking right
           now, then you are taking notes. Your notes are not reliable, because you don't hear me: you are
           concerned with the notes too much. Your concern with the notes simply says you are too concerned
           with changing the present into the past, and then you will enjoy."
               Yes, there are people.... There is a certain category of people called the "tourists." It is a sort of
           neurosis. They go to the Himalayas. They don't look at the Himalayas -- they are continuously
           clicking their cameras and looking at the guidebook and listening to the guide. The Himalayas are
           not a concern at all. And if you ask them they will say, "Yes, back at home, resting in our armchairs,
           we will look at the album."
               Don't be a tourist. "Tourist" is a certain sort of neurosis. When you are facing the Himalayas, tell
           the guide to keep quiet, because whatsoever he says is meaningless. The Himalayas are there, you
           are facing Gourishankar; let everybody keep quiet. Look at it, face it, encounter it. It is tremendously
           beautiful. Don't bring your camera in; the camera will falsify it. And the camera can give only one
           aspect; just a small window will open. The whole of the Himalayas was available in its totality, and
           you missed that. And you will look back home -- with nostalgia -- at how beautiful were the
           Himalayas. And you were never there! You were with your camera and you were listening to the
           guide and you were looking at the guidebook and the map -- and you were never there. Maybe when
           you were in the Himalayas you were thinking about your home -- with nostalgia!
               I cannot trust you that you had a real past. Your past is gone, and even that past cannot be very
           real. Because you don't know how to live in the present, how can your past be real? Not even as a
           memory is it worth trusting. First live in the present -- let the present have its total impact on you --
           then your past will have something, a true memory. Otherwise your memory is not reliable. You may
           be imagining it; you may be dreaming about it.
               While I am talking to you, be here with me. When you are in Poona, be in Poona. Otherwise
           there are people: when they are in Poona they think of Philadelphia, and when they are in
           Philadelphia they will think of Poona. They go on falsifying everything.
           "If nostalgia is just a trick of the ego, which it must be, then why does it come as a good warm
           feeling?" Because you don't know how to be warm here-now. Because you don't know how to be
           loving here-now. You are cold and frozen here-now, so you seek warmth in memories. You are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendously poor. I feel sorry for you.
           "How can the devil be sweet?" The devil is always sweet. God is sometimes bitter too, but the devil
           is always sweet. He has to be sweet; otherwise how will he deceive you? He cannot afford to be
           bitter. He has to always buttress you.
           "How can my feelings be unreal?" I am not saying that your feelings are unreal. I am saying feelings
           exist in the present. In fact the word "feel" has no past tense. I don't know about language and the
           grammarians, but I say to you, the word "feel" has no past tense -- cannot have. "Feel" means "feel
           here-now." Thinking is always past; thinking has no present tense. You cannot think here-now. The
           moment you think, you are lost, you have lost track of the present. Feeling is always of the present;
           thinking, always of the past.
               You try it. And I am stating a fact. You try it. If you think, you always think of that which is
           gone or that which has not come yet; both nonexistential. Thinking is nonexistential. Feeling is
           existential. If you love a person, and you feel the love, you feel here-now. How can you have the
           feeling of yesterday? You will THINK that you felt yesterday; you cannot FEEL it. And to think that
           you felt is not feeling; it is thinking. It is a deception.
               And, "If my feelings are unreal, what is left?" I am not saying your feelings are unreal. I am
           saying you are unreal. And when you are not left, God is. God knows only the present; God has no
           past and no future. God always is. You cannot make a sentence "God WAS"; it will be meaningless.
           You cannot say "God WILL BE"; that too will be meaningless. God is always is; God is isness, the
           absolute present.
               When you are not there.... And you are nothing but your past. What are you? Just a collection of
           the past. Drop your past, and you are not. The ego is nothing but a collective name for your whole
           past; and when you don't live in the past, you start living egolessly. Then moment to moment you go
           on dying to the past, you go on renouncing the past, and each moment you are fresh, young, virgin.
           And in that virginity is God.

               The soldier returned home unexpectedly on a fast leave. A few minutes later he was in bed with
           his wife when the janitor knocked on the door. "My God," he screamed, jumping out of bed, "it is
           your husband!"
           "Don't be silly," said his wife. "My husband is in Germany."

               Get it? They both forgot the present. The soldier has come on a fast leave and immediately gets
           into bed with the wife, and the janitor knocks on the door. Of course he must have become afraid, as
           he must have been becoming afraid in other people's houses with other people's wives, and he
           suddenly jumps off the bed, and he says, "My God, it is your husband!" And he is the husband!
           "Don't be silly," says his wife. "My husband is in Germany." She must be sleeping with others. And
           both are in the past. People are so unaware of the present. People are not in the present at all. That's
           how they are missing God. God is the present, and you are not in the present. To be present -- in the
           present -- is to be in meditation. That's all meditation is about. To be present is to be prayerful.


              ONCE IN A WHILE, MY MIND LOOKS AT YOUR CLOSE DISCIPLES, LIKE THE TALL ENGLISH
              GUY WITH THE SAD FACE. ONE HEARS HIS SAD VOICE AS HE READS THE SUTRA. THE GUY
              NEVER SMILES, NEVER LETS GO. DO PEOPLE BECOME VERY SERIOUS IF THEY ARE SO
              NEAR YOU?


               I am not serious, and a certain balance is needed. Teertha balances me. He has to be serious on
           purpose. When the Master is not serious, disciples have to be serious.
               You can ask Narendra, one of our sannyasins. His father is a beautiful man -- a little crazy. For
           thirty, forty years he has been crazy. Small children will watch him -- his own children will watch
           him -- because he can steal. He can take things from the money box and disappear. Hmm? the father.
           So small kids, they will just sit there in the shop and watch. When the father can steal, then the
           children have to watch. Otherwise ordinarily it happens the other way: the father watches, and the
           kids steal.
               This is how it is happening here. The Master is nonserious: the kids have to be serious. It
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certainly balances. Teertha is not serious; he has to be on purpose.
               But you need not be worried about others. That is not mannerly, and that is not good at all. It is
           impolite, inhuman. You should not be concerned with others. Why should you be worried? And who
           are you to decide what others should do? The very idea that you have to decide that "others should
           do like this" is a deep political ambition to become powerful, to manage, to suppress.
               Now, you say, "Once in a while, my mind looks at your close disciples...." Don't waste time.
           Look at yourself. In fact there is not much time; you cannot afford it. Life is short and much has to
           be done. Don't waste your time, because God will not ask you why Teertha was serious. He will not
           ask you; it is not anything to be asked to you. If he wants to ask, he will ask Teertha. He will ask you
           about you, and then you cannot say, "I cannot answer because I was too busy looking at other people
           and what they were doing and my whole life was wasted in that."
           "The guy never smiles, never lets go." But it is possible that if somebody lets go, the smile may
           disappear. If the smile is forced, pretentious, then let-go will help the smile go. It is not necessary
           that when you relax you will smile. It depends. Somebody may start crying when he relaxes -- and he
           may have been laughing before. Now he relaxes and he starts crying. Somebody may have been
           very, very sweet and smiling, and when he relaxes, suddenly he becomes serious. There is no
           necessity about it. If his smile was false, then when he relaxes he cannot smile. If his sweetness was
           false, when he relaxes he cannot be sweet. If his softness, politeness, was just hypocrisy and he
           relaxes, then he cannot be polite. It depends.
               So there is no necessity that in a let-go everybody has to smile. These ideas of how everybody
           should be are wrong. When I say let go, I am simply saying be natural. If to somebody it happens
           that he feels natural when he is serious, then it is perfectly good. Then don't impose on him that he
           has to laugh. Why? Who are you? You never seem to allow people freedom. Sometimes you say they
           have to be serious -- don't laugh. And sometimes, if you turn to the other extreme, you start saying,
           "Now nobody is allowed to be serious -- laugh!" Both are wrong.
               Allow the other his being. If serious is natural, good. The whole world cannot laugh. In the world
           there exists a certain balance. Just as half are women and half are men and half are introverts and
           half are extroverts and half are people with will and half are people with a tremendous quality of
           surrender, in exactly the same way, half the people when they are relaxed will laugh and half the
           people when they are relaxed will become serious. That's a balance. The world is a great balance.
               But I have the feeling that the person who has asked must himself have suffered from
           seriousness. Otherwise why should he be worried? You can laugh. Teertha's seriousness is not a
           hindrance to you. He is not going to prevent you. But if you feel that somebody is serious and you
           feel a certain hindrance for yourself to laugh, that means deep down in your unconscious you have
           been a serious person. In fact you are finding ways and means to be serious here; you are finding a
           rationalization. So now if you think, and if I can say to you, that people who are very close to me
           become serious, then you would also like to become serious and come close to me. You are trying to
           find a rationalization. It is your outlook, and your outlook always shows something about you.

               I have heard an anecdote of the night Houdini, the great magician, first introduced the trick of
           putting a a dozen needles and a piece of thread into his mouth, and then producing them all neatly
           threaded. "I want a gentleman in the audience," he announced, "to examine the needles and thread,
           and then look into my mouth to make sure nothing is concealed there." An elderly little man climbed
           up to the stage, and peered intently into Houdini's bridgework. "Well," said Houdini finally, "don't
           just stand there. Tell the audience what you see."
           The little man said, "Pyorrhea."

                He was a doctor. When you say something about somebody, you say something about yourself.
                Never be concerned about others. My whole effort here is to give you all freedom, total freedom,
           to be whatsoever you can be. Seriousness is also beautiful if it is natural. Then it is a flowering. The
           whole world laughing and nobody serious will not be a very deep world. It will be very superfluous.
           Laughter has a beauty of its own, a flowering, but seriousness.... When I say don't be serious, I mean
           don't be UNNATURALLY serious. When I say laugh, I don't mean laugh anywhere for no reason at
           all. When I say laugh, I mean ALLOW laughter; if it comes don't repress it. And the same I say
           about seriousness. If it is natural to you, if it is a natural climate to you and you feel good and happy
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in it, then perfectly good. There is no need to be worried about it.
                Remember, the unnatural has to be dropped and the natural has to be allowed flowering,
           expression. If you are here in this world to sing a serious song, sing it. That's your destiny. If you are
           here to dance and laugh, dance and laugh. That's your destiny.
                And each person is unique; and each person has to go towards God in his own way. Never
           impose your style on anybody else. That is violence.




                                             The Empty Boat
                                          Talks on the Stories of Chuang Tzu
                                     Talks given from 10/07/74 am to 20/07/74 am
                                               English Discourse series
                                                     11 Chapters
                                                 Year published: 1976




                                                  The Empty Boat
                                                     Chapter #1
                                         Chapter title: The Toast Is Burned
           10 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407100
              ShortTitle: BOAT01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 116 mins




              HE WHO RULES MEN, LIVES IN CONFUSION;
              HE WHO IS RULED BY MEN LIVES IN SORROW.
              TAO THEREFORE DESIRED
              NEITHER TO INFLUENCE OTHERS
              NOR BE INFLUENCED BY THEM.
              THE WAY TO GET CLEAR OF CONFUSION AND FREE OF SORROW
              IS TO LIVE WITH TAO IN THE LAND OF THE VOID.



              IF A MAN IS CROSSING A RIVER
              AND AN EMPTY BOAT COLLIDES WITH HIS OWN SKIFF,
              EVEN THOUGH HE BE A BAD-TEMPERED MAN
              HE WILL NOT BECOME VERY ANGRY.
              BUT IF HE SEES A MAN IN THE BOAT,
              HE WILL SHOUT TO HIM TO STEER CLEAR.
              AND IF THE SHOUT IS NOT HEARD HE WILL SHOUT
              AGAIN AND YET AGAIN, AND BEGIN CURSING --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND ALL BECAUSE THERE IS SOMEBODY IN THAT BOAT.
              YET IF THE BOAT WERE EMPTY,  HE WOULD NOT BE SHOUTING,
              AND HE WOULD NOT BE ANGRY.



              IF YOU CAN EMPTY YOUR OWN BOAT
              CROSSING THE RIVER OF THE WORLD,
              NO ONE WILL OPPOSE YOU,
              NO ONE WILL SEEK TO HARM YOU.



              THE STRAIGHT TREE IS THE FIRST TO BE CUT DOWN,
              THE SPRING OF CLEAR WATER IS THE FIRST TO BE DRAINED DRY.
              IF YOU WISH TO IMPROVE YOUR WISDOM
              AND SHAME THE IGNORANT,
              TO CULTIVATE YOUR CHARACTER AND OUTSHINE OTHERS,
              A LIGHT WILL SHINE AROUND YOU
              AS IF YOU HAD SWALLOWED THE SUN AND THE MOON --
              AND YOU WILL NOT AVOID CALAMITY.



              A WISE MAN HAS SAID:
              "HE WHO IS CONTENT WITH HIMSELF
              HAS DONE WORTHLESS WORK.
              ACHIEVEMENT IS THE BEGINNING OF FAILURE,
              FAME IS THE BEGINNING OF DISGRACE."
              WHO CAN FREE HIMSELF OF ACHIEVEMENT AND FAME
              THEN DESCEND AND BE LOST
              AMID THE MASSES OF MEN?
              HE WILL FLOW LIKE TAO, UNSEEN,
              HE WILL GO ABOUT LIKE LIFE ITSELF
              WITH NO NAME AND NO HOME.
              SIMPLE IS HE, WITHOUT DISTINCTION.
              TO ALL APPEARANCES HE IS A FOOL.
              HIS STEPS LEAVE NO TRACE. HE HAS NO POWER.
              HE ACHIEVES NOTHING, HE HAS NO REPUTATION.
              SINCE HE JUDGES NO ONE,
              NO ONE JUDGES HIM.
              SUCH IS THE PERFECT MAN --
              HIS BOAT IS EMPTY.


               You have come to me. You have taken a dangerous step. It is a risk because near me you can be
           lost forever. To come closer will mean death and cannot mean anything else. I am just like an abyss.
           Come closer to me and you will fall into me. For this, the invitation has been given to you. You have
           heard it and you have come.
               Be aware that through me you are not going to gain anything. Through me you can only lose all
           -- because unless you are lost, the divine cannot happen; unless you disappear totally, the real cannot
           arise. You are the barrier.
               And you are so much, so stubbornly much, you are so filled with yourself that nothing can
           penetrate you. Your doors are closed. When you disappear, when you are not, the doors open. Then
           you become just like the vast, infinite sky.
           And that is your nature. That is Tao.
               Before I enter into Chuang Tzu's beautiful parable of The Empty Boat, I would like to tell you
           one other story, because that will set the trend for this meditation camp which you are entering.
               I have heard that it happened once, in some ancient time, in some unknown country, that a prince
           suddenly went mad. The king was desperate -- the prince was the only son, the only heir to the
           kingdom. All the magicians were called, miracle makers, medical men were summoned, every effort
           was made, but in vain. Nobody could help the young prince, he remained mad.
               The day he went crazy he threw off his clothes, became naked, and started to live under a big
           table. He thought that he had become a rooster. Ultimately the king had to accept the fact that the
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           prince could not be reclaimed. He had gone insane permanently; all the experts had failed.
               But one day again hope dawned. A sage -- a Sufi, a mystic -- knocked on the palace door, and
           said, "Give me one opportunity to cure the prince."
               But the king felt suspicious, because this man looked crazy himself, more crazy than the prince.
           But the mystic said, "Only I can cure him. To cure a madman a greater madman is needed. And your
           somebodies, your miracle makers, your medical experts, all have failed because they don't know the
           abc of madness. They have never traveled the path."
               It seemed logical, and the king thought, "There is no harm in it, why not try?" So the opportunity
           was given to him.
               The moment the king said, "Okay, you try," this mystic threw off his clothes, jumped under the
           table and crowed like a rooster.
               The prince became suspicious, and he said, "Who are you? And what do you think you are
           doing?"
               The old man said, "I am a rooster, more experienced than you. You are nothing, you are just a
           newcomer, at the most an apprentice."
               The prince said, "Then it is okay if you are also a rooster, but you look like a human being."
               The old man said, "Don't go on appearances, look at my spirit, at my soul. I am a rooster like
           you."
               They became friends. They promised each other that they would always live together and that
           this whole world was against them.
               A few days passed. One day the old man suddenly started dressing. He put on his shirt. The
           prince said, "What are you doing, have you gone crazy, a rooster trying to put on human dress?"
               The old man said, "I am just trying to deceive these fools, these human beings. And remember
           that even if I am dressed, nothing is changed. My roosterness remains, nobody can change it. Just by
           dressing like a human being do you think I am changed?" The prince had to concede.
               A few days afterwards the old man persuaded the prince to dress because winter was
           approaching and it was becoming so cold.
               Then one day suddenly he ordered food from the palace. The prince became very alert and said,
           "Wretch, what are you doing? Are you going to eat like those human beings, like them? We are
           roosters and we have to eat like roosters."
               The old man said, "Nothing makes any difference as far as this roos-ter is concerned. You can eat
           anything and you can enjoy everything. You can live like a human being and remain true to your
           roosterness."
               By and by the old man persuaded the prince to come back to the world of humanity. He became
           absolutely normal.

               The same is the case with you and me. And remember you are just initiates, beginners. You may
           think that you are a rooster but you are just learning the alphabet. I am an old hand, and only I can
           help you. All the experts have failed, that's why you are here. You have knocked on many doors, for
           many lives you have been in search -- nothing has been of help to you.
               But I say I can help you because I am not an expert, I am not an outsider. I have traveled the
           same path, the same insanity, the same madness. I have passed through the same -- the same misery,
           the anguish, the same nightmares. And whatsoever I do is nothing but to persuade -- to persuade you
           to come out of your madness.
               To think oneself a rooster is crazy; to think oneself a body is also crazy, even crazier. To think
           oneself a rooster is madness; to think oneself a human being is a greater madness, because you don't
           belong to any form. Whether the form is that of a rooster or of a human being is irrelevant -- you
           belong to the formless, you belong to the total, the whole. So whatsoever form you think you are,
           you are mad. You are formless. You don't belong to any body, you don't belong to any caste,
           religion, creed; you don't belong to any name. And unless you become formless, nameless, you will
           never be sane.
               Sanity means coming to that which is natural, coming to that which is ultimate in you, coming to
           that which is hidden behind you. Much effort is needed because to cut form, to drop, eliminate form,
           is very difficult. You have become so attached and identified with it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This Samadhi Sadhana Shibir, this meditation camp, is nothing but to persuade you towards the
           formless -- how not to be in the form. Every form means the ego: even a rooster has its ego, and man
           has his own. Every form is centered in the ego. The formless means egolessness; then you are not
           centered in the ego, then your center is everywhere or nowhere. This is possible, this which looks
           almost impossible is possible, because this has happened to me. And when I speak, I speak through
           experience.
               Wherever you are, I was, and wherever I am, you can be. Look at me as deeply as possible and
           feel me as deeply as possible, because I am your future, I am your possibility.
               Whenever I say surrender to me, I mean surrender to this possibility. You can be cured, because
           your illness is just a thought. The prince went mad because he became identified with the thought
           that he was a rooster. Everybody is mad unless he comes to understand that he is not identified with
           any form -- only then, sanity.
               So a sane person will not be anybody in particular. He cannot be. Only an insane person can be
           somebody in particular -- whether a rooster or a man, a prime minister or a president, or anybody
           whatsoever. A sane person comes to feel the nobodiness. This is the danger....
               You have come to me as somebody, and if you allow me, if you give me the opportunity, this
           somebodiness can disappear and you can become a nobody. This is the whole effort -- to make you a
           nobody. But why? Why this effort to become a nobody? Because unless you become nobody you
           cannot be blissful; unless you become nobody you cannot be ecstatic; unless you become nobody the
           benediction is not for you -- you go on missing life.
               Really you are not alive, you simply drag, you simply carry yourself like a burden. Much anguish
           happens, much despair, much sorrow, but not a single ray of bliss -- it cannot. If you are somebody,
           you are like a solid block of stone, nothing can penetrate you. When you are nobody you start to
           become porous. When you are nobody, really you are an emptiness, transparent, everything can pass
           through you. There is no hindrance, there is no barrier, no resistance. You become a passivity, a
           door.
               Right now you are like a wall; a wall means somebody. When you become a door you become
           nobody. A door is just an emptiness, anybody can pass, there is no resistance, no barrier.
           Somebody...you are mad; nobody...you will become sane for the first time.
               But the whole society, education, civilization, culture, all cultivate you and help you to become
           somebodies. That is why I say: religion is against civilization, religion is against education, religion
           is against culture -- because religion is for nature, for Tao.
               All civilizations are against nature, because they want to make you somebody in particular. And
           the more you are crystallized as somebody, the less and less the divine can penetrate into you.
               You go to the temples, to the churches, to the priests, but there too you are searching for a way to
           become somebody in the other world, for a way to attain something, for a way to succeed. The
           achieving mind follows you like a shadow. Wherever you go, you go with the idea of profit,
           achievement, success, attainment. If somebody has come here with this idea he should leave as soon
           as possible, run as fast as possible from me, because I cannot help you to become somebody.
               I am not your enemy. I can only help you to be nobody. I can only push you into the
           abyss...bottomless. You will never reach anywhere; you will simply dissolve. You will fall and fall
           and fall and dissolve, and the moment you dissolve the whole existence feels ecstatic. The whole
           existence celebrates this happening.
               Buddha attained this. Because of language I say attained; otherwise the word is ugly, there is no
           attainment -- but you will understand. Buddha attained this emptiness, this nothingness. For two
           weeks, for fourteen days continuously, he sat in silence, not moving, not saying, not doing anything.
               It is said that the deities in heaven became disturbed -- rarely it happens that someone becomes
           such total emptiness. The whole of existence felt a celebration, so deities came. They bowed down
           before Buddha and they said, "You must say something, you must say what you have attained.
           Buddha is reported to have laughed and said, "I have not attained anything; rather, because of this
           mind, which always wants to attain something, I was missing everything. I have not achieved
           anything, this is not an achievement; rather, on the contrary, the achiever has disappeared. I am no
           more, and, see the beauty of it -- when I was, I was miserable, and when I am no more, everything is
           blissful, the bliss is showering and showering continuously on me, everywhere. Now there is no
           misery."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddha had said before: Life is misery, birth is misery, death is misery -- everything is
           miserable. It was miserable because the ego was there. The boat had not been empty. Now the boat
           was empty; now there was no misery, no sorrow, no sadness. Existence had become a celebration
           and it would remain a celebration to eternity, for ever and forever.
               That's why I say that it is dangerous that you have come to me.You have taken a risky step. If
           you are courageous, then be ready for the jump.
               The whole effort is how to kill you, the whole effort is how to destroy you. Once you are
           destroyed, the indestructible will come up -- it is there, hidden. Once all that which is nonessential is
           eliminated, the essential will be like a flame -- aliveness, total glory.
               This parable of Chuang Tzu is beautiful. He says that a wise man is like an empty boat.

              SUCH IS THE PERFECT MAN --
              HIS BOAT IS EMPTY.
              There is nobody inside.

               If you meet a Chuang Tzu, or a Lao Tzu, or me, the boat is there, but it is empty, nobody is in it.
           If you simply look at the surface, then somebody is there, because the boat is there. But if you
           penetrate deeper, if you really become intimate with me, if you forget the body, the boat, then you
           come to encounter a nothingness.
               Chuang Tzu is a rare flowering, because to become nobody is the most difficult, almost
           impossible, most extraordinary thing in the world.
               The ordinary mind hankers to be extraordinary, that is part of ordinariness; the ordinary mind
           desires to be somebody in particular, that is part of ordinariness. You may become an Alexander, but
           you remain ordinary -- then who is the extraordinary one? The extraordinariness starts only when
           you don't hanker after extraordinariness. Then the journey has started, then a new seed has sprouted.
               This is what Chuang Tzu means when he says: A perfect man is like an empty boat. Many things
           are implied in it. First, an empty boat is not going anywhere because there is nobody to direct it,
           nobody to manipulate it, nobody to drive it somewhere. An empty boat is just there, it is not going
           anywhere. Even if it is moving it is not going anywhere.
               When the mind is not there life will remain a movement, but it will not be directed. You will
           move, you will change, you will be a riverlike flow, but not going anywhere, with no goal in view. A
           perfect man lives without any purpose; a perfect man moves but without any motive. If you ask a
           perfect man, "What are you doing?" he will say, "I don't know, but this is what is happening." If you
           ask me why I am talking to you, I will say, "Ask the flower why the flower is flowering." This is
           happening, this is not manipulated. There is no one to manipulate it, the boat is empty. When there is
           purpose you will always be in misery. Why?
               Once a man asked a miser, a great miser, "How did you succeed in accumulating so much
           wealth?"
               The miser said, "This is my motto: whatsoever is to be done tomorrow should be done today, and
           whatsoever is to be enjoyed today should be enjoyed tomorrow. This has been my motto." He
           succeeded in accumulating wealth -- and this is how people succeed in accumulating nonsense also!
               That miser was also miserable. On one hand he had succeeded in accumulating wealth, on the
           other hand he had succeeded in accumulating misery. And the motto is the same for accumulating
           money as it is for accumulating misery: whatsoever is to be done tomorrow do it today, right now,
           don't postpone it. And whatsoever can be enjoyed right now, never enjoy it right now, postpone it for
           tomorrow.
               This is the way to enter hell. It always succeeds, it has never been a failure. Try it and you will
           succeed -- or, you may have already succeeded. You may have been trying it without knowing.
           Postpone all that which can be enjoyed, just think of the tomorrow.
               Jesus was crucified by the Jews for this reason, not for any other reason. Not that they were
           against Jesus -- Jesus was a perfect man, a beautiful man, why should the Jews have been against
           him? Rather, on the contrary, they had been waiting for this man. For centuries they had been hoping
           and waiting: When will the messiah come?
               And then suddenly this Jesus declared, "I am the messiah for whom you have been waiting, and I
           have come now. Now look at me."
               They were disturbed -- because the mind can wait, it always enjoys waiting, but the mind cannot
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           face the fact, the mind cannot encounter this moment. It can always postpone, it was easy to
           postpone: The messiah is to come, soon he will be coming.... For centuries the Jews had been
           thinking and postponing and then suddenly this man destroyed all hope, because he said, "I am
           here." The mind was disturbed. They had to kill this man, otherwise they would not have been able
           to live with the hope of the tomorrow.
                And not only Jesus, many others have declared since then, "I am here, I am the messiah!" And
           Jews always deny, because if they don't deny, then how will they be able to hope and how will they
           be able to postpone? They have lived with this hope with such fervor, with such deep intensity, you
           can hardly believe it. There have been Jews who would go to bed at night hoping that this would be
           the last night, that in the morning the messiah would be there....
                I have heard about one rabbi who used to say to his wife, "If he comes in the night, don't waste a
           single minute, wake me up immediately." The messiah is coming and coming, he may come at any
           moment.
                I have heard of another rabbi whose son was going to be married, so he sent invitations to the
           marriage to friends and he wrote on the invitation, "My son is going to be married in Jerusalem on
           such-and-such a date, but if the messiah hasn't come by then, my son will be married in this village
           of Korz." Who knows, by the time the day of the marriage comes, the messiah may have come. Then
           I will not be here, I will be in Jerusalem, celebrating. So if he has not come by the date of the
           marriage, only then will it be held here in this village; otherwise, it will be in Jerusalem.
                They have been waiting and waiting, dreaming. The whole Jewish mind has been obsessed with
           the coming messiah. But whenever the messiah comes, they immediately deny him. This has to be
           understood. This is how the mind functions: you wait for the bliss, for the ecstasy, and whenever it
           comes you deny it, you just turn your back towards it.
                Mind can live in the future, but cannot live in the present. In the present you can simply hope and
           desire. And that's how you create misery. If you start living this very moment, here and now, misery
           disappears.
                But how is it related to the ego? Ego is the past accumulated. Whatsoever you have known,
           experienced, read, whatsoever has happened to you in the past, the whole is accumulated there. That
           whole past is the ego, it is you.
                The past can project into the future -- the future is nothing but the past extended -- but the past
           cannot face the present. The present is totally different, it has a quality of being here and now. The
           past is always dead, the present is life, the very source of all aliveness. The past cannot face the
           present so it moves into the future -- but both are dead, both are nonexistential. The present is life;
           the future cannot encounter the present, nor can the past encounter the present. And your ego, your
           somebodiness, is your past. Unless you are empty you cannot be here, and unless you are here you
           cannot be alive.
                How can you know the bliss of life? Every moment it is showering on you and you are bypassing
           it.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              SUCH IS THE PERFECT MAN --
              HIS BOAT IS EMPTY.


              Empty of what? Empty of the I, empty of the ego, empty of somebody there inside.

              HE WHO RULES MEN, LIVES IN CONFUSION;
              HE WHO IS RULED BY MEN LIVES IN SORROW.


               HE WHO RULES MEN, LIVES IN CONFUSION. Why? The desire to rule comes from the ego;
           the desire to possess, to be powerful, the desire to dominate, comes from the ego. The greater the
           kingdom you can dominate, the greater the ego you can achieve. With your possessions your inner
           somebody goes on becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. Sometimes the boat becomes very small
           because the ego becomes so big....
               This is what is happening to politicians, to people obsessed with wealth, prestige, power. Their
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           egos become so big that their boats cannot contain them. Every moment they are on the point of
           drowning, on the verge, afraid, scared to death. And the more afraid you are the more possessive you
           become, because you think that through possessions somehow security is achieved. The more afraid
           you are, the more you think that if your kingdom could be a little greater, you would be more secure.

              HE WHO RULES MEN, LIVES IN CONFUSION....


               Really, the desire to rule comes out of your confusion; the desire to be leaders of men comes out
           of your confusion. When you start leading others you forget your confusion -- this is a sort of escape,
           a trick. You are ill, but if somebody is ill and you become interested in curing that man, you forget
           your illness.

               I have heard that once George Bernard Shaw phoned his doctor and said, "I am in much trouble
           and I feel that my heart is going to fail. Come immediately!"
               The doctor came running. He had to run up three staircases and was perspiring heavily. He came
           in and without saying anything, just fell down on a chair and closed his eyes. Bernard Shaw jumped
           out of his bed and asked, "What is happening?"
               The doctor said, "Don't say anything. It seems I am dying. It is a heart attack."
               Bernard Shaw started helping him; he brought a cup of tea, some aspirin, he did whatsoever he
           could. Within half an hour the doctor had recovered. And then he said, "Now I must leave, give me
           my fee."
               George Bernard Shaw said, "This is really something. You should pay me! I have been running
           around for half an hour doing things for you and you haven't even asked anything about me."
               But the doctor said, "I have cured you. This is a treatment and you have to pay me the fee."

               When you become interested in somebody else's illness you forget your own, hence so many
           leaders, so many gurus, so many masters. It gives you an occupation. If you are concerned with other
           people, if you are a servant of people, a social worker, helping others, you will forget your own
           confusion, your inner turmoil, because you are so occupied.
               Psychiatrists never go mad -- not because they are immune to it, but they are so much concerned
           with other people's madness, curing, helping, that they forget completely that they also can go mad.
               I have come to know many social workers, leaders, politicians, gurus, and they stay healthy just
           because they are concerned with others.
               But if you lead others, dominate others, out of your confusion you will create confusion in their
           lives. It may be a treatment for yourself, it may be a good escape for you, but it is spreading the
           disease.
              HE WHO RULES MEN, LIVES IN CONFUSION....


               And not only does he live in confusion, he also goes on spreading confusion in others. Out of
           confusion only confusion is born.
               So if you are confused, please remember -- don't help anybody, because your help is going to be
           poisonous. If you are confused don't be occupied with others, because you are simply creating
           trouble, your disease will become infectious. Don't give advice to anyone, and if you have a little
           clarity of thought, don't take advice from someone who is confused. Remain alert, because confused
           people always like to give advice. And they give it free of charge, they give it very generously!
               Remain alert! Out of confusion only confusion is born.

              ...HE WHO IS RULED BY MEN LIVES IN SORROW.


               If you dominate men, you live in confusion; if you allow others to dominate you, you will live in
           sorrow, because a slave cannot be blissful.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              TAO THEREFORE DESIRED
              NEITHER TO INFLUENCE OTHERS
              NOR BE INFLUENCED BY THEM.


               You should not try to influence anybody, and you should be alert that you are not influenced by
           others. The ego can do both but it cannot remain in the middle. The ego can try to influence, then it
           feels good, dominating, but remember that the ego also feels good being dominated. The masters feel
           good because so many slaves are dominated, and the slaves also feel good being dominated.
               There are two types of mind in the world: the mind of those who dominate -- the male mind, and
           the mind of those who like to be dominated -- the female mind. By female I don't mean women, or
           by male, men. There are women who have masculine minds and there are men who have feminine
           minds. They are not always the same.
               These are the two types of mind: one which likes to dominate and one which likes to be
           dominated. In both ways ego is fulfilled because whether you dominate or are dominated YOU are
           important. If someone dominates you, then too you are important, because his domination depends
           on you. Without you, where will he be? Without you, where will his kingdom be, his domination, his
           possession? Without you, he will be nobody.
               Ego is fulfilled at both the extremes, only in the middle does ego die. Don't be dominated and
           don't try to dominate.
               Just think what will happen to you. You are not important in any way, not significant in any way,
           neither as a master nor as a slave. Masters cannot live without slaves and slaves cannot live without
           masters -- they need each other, they are complementary. Just like men and women, they are
           complementary. The other is required for their fulfillment.
               Don't be either. Then who are you? Suddenly you disappear because then you are not significant
           at all, nobody depends on you, you are not needed.
               There is a great need to be needed. Remember, you feel good whenever you are needed.
           Sometimes, even if it brings misery to you, even then you love to be needed.
               A crippled child is confined to bed and its mother is constantly worried about what to do: I have
           to serve this child and my whole life is being wasted. But still, if this child dies, the mother will feel
           lost, because at least this child needs her so totally that she has become important.
               If there is nobody who needs you, who are you? You create the need to be needed. Even slaves
           are needed.

              TAO THEREFORE DESIRED
              NEITHER TO INFLUENCE OTHERS
              NOR BE INFLUENCED BY THEM.
              THE WAY TO GET CLEAR OF CONFUSION
              AND FREE OF SORROW
              IS TO LIVE WITH TAO
              IN THE LAND OF THE VOID.


               This middle point is the land of the void, or the door to the land of the void -- as if you are not, as
           if nobody needs you, and you don't need anybody. You exist as if you are not. If you are not
           significant the ego cannot persist. That is why you go on trying to become significant in some way or
           other. Whenever you feel that you are needed, you feel good. But this is your misery and confusion,
           and this is the base of your hell.
               How can you be free? Look at these two extremes. Buddha called his religion the middle path,
           MAJJHIM NIKAYA. He called it the middle path because he said that mind lives in extremes. Once
           you remain in the middle the mind disappears. In the middle there is no mind.
               Have you seen a tightrope walker? Next time you see one, observe. Whenever the tightrope
           walker leans towards the left, he immediately has to move towards the right to balance; and
           whenever he feels he is leaning too much to the right, he has to lean towards the left.
               You have to go to the opposite to create balance. So it happens that masters become slaves,
           slaves become masters; possessors become possessed, the possessed becomes the possessor. It goes
           on, it is a continuous balance.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Have you observed it in your relationships? If you are a husband, are you really a husband for
           twenty-four hours? You have not observed. In twenty-four hours the change happens at least
           twenty-four times -- sometimes the wife is the husband and the husband is the wife, sometimes the
           husband is again the husband and the wife is again the wife.
               And this goes on changing from left to right. It is a tightrope walk. You have to balance. You
           cannot dominate for twenty-four hours, because then the balance will be lost and the relationship
           will be destroyed.
               Whenever the tightrope walker comes to the middle, neither leaning to the right nor leaning to
           the left, it is difficult for you to observe unless you yourself are the tightrope walker. Tightrope
           walking has been used in Tibet as a meditation, because in the middle the mind disappears. The mind
           comes into existence again when you lean towards the right, then the mind comes again into being
           and says: "Balance it, lean towards the left."
               When a problem arises, the mind arises. When there is no problem, how can the mind arise?
           When you are just in the middle, balanced totally, there is no mind. The equilibrium means no mind.

               One mother, I have heard, was very worried about her son. He was ten years old and he had not
           yet spoken a single word. Every effort was made to find the cause but the doctors said, "Nothing is
           wrong, the brain is absolutely okay. The body is fit, the child is healthy, and nothing can be done. If
           something had been wrong, then something could have been done."
               But still he would not speak. Then suddenly, one day in the morning, the son spoke and he said,
           "This toast is too burned."
               The mother couldn't believe it. She looked, she got scared and said, "What! You have spoken?
           And spoken so well! Then why were you always silent? We persuaded and tried and you never
           spoke."
               The child said, "There was never anything wrong. For the first time the toast is burned."

           If there is nothing wrong why should you speak?
                People come to me and they say, "You go on speaking every day...." I say, "Yes, because so
           many wrong people go on coming here and listening. There is so much wrong that I have to speak. If
           nothing is wrong then there is no need to speak. I speak because of you, because the toast is burned."
                Whenever it is in the middle, between any extreme or polarity, the mind disappears. Try it. Rope
           walking is a beautiful exercise, and one of the very subtle methods of meditation. Nothing else is
           needed. You can observe the rope walker yourself, how it happens.
                And remember, on a rope thinking stops because you are in such danger. You cannot think. The
           moment you think, you will fall. A rope walker cannot think, he has to be alert every moment. The
           balance has to be maintained continuously. He cannot feel safe, he is not safe: he cannot feel secure,
           he is not secure. The danger is always there -- any moment, a slight change of balance and he will
           fall.... And death awaits.
                If you walk on a tightrope you will come to feel two things: thinking stops because there is
           danger, and whenever you really come to the middle, neither left nor right, just the mid-point, a great
           silence descends on you such as you have not known before. And this happens in every way. The
           whole of life is a tightrope walk.
                Tao therefore desired to remain in the middle -- neither be dominated nor be dominating, neither
           be a husband nor be a wife, neither be a master nor be a slave.

              THE WAY TO GET CLEAR OF CONFUSION
              AND FREE OF SORROW
              IS TO LIVE WITH TAO
              IN THE LAND OF THE VOID.


               In the middle the door opens -- the land of the void. When you are not, the whole world
           disappears, because the world hangs on you. The whole world that you have created around you
           hangs on you. If you are not there the whole world disappears.
               Not that existence goes into nonexistence, no. But the world disappears and existence appears.
           The world is a mind-creation; existence is the truth. This house will be there, but then this house will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not be yours. The flower will be there but the flower will become nameless. It will be neither
           beautiful nor ugly. It will be there, but no concept will arise in your mind. All conceptual framework
           disappears. Existence, bare, naked, innocent, remains there in its pure, mirrorlike beingness. And all
           the concepts, all the imaginations, all the dreams, disappear in the land of the void.

              IF A MAN IS CROSSING A RIVER
              AND AN EMPTY BOAT COLLIDES WITH HIS OWN SKIFF,
              EVEN THOUGH HE BE A BAD-TEMPERED MAN
              HE WILL NOT BECOME VERY ANGRY.
              BUT IF HE SEES A MAN IN THE BOAT,
              HE WILL SHOUT TO HIM TO STEER CLEAR.
              AND IF THE SHOUT IS NOT HEARD HE WILL SHOUT
              AGAIN, AND YET AGAIN, AND BEGIN CURSING --
              AND ALL BECAUSE THERE IS SOMEBODY IN THAT BOAT.
              YET IF THE BOAT WERE EMPTY,
              HE WOULD NOT BE SHOUTING, AND HE WOULD NOT BE ANGRY.


               If people go on colliding with you and if people go on being angry with you, remember, they are
           not at fault. Your boat is not empty. They are angry because you are there. If the boat is empty they
           will look foolish, if they are angry they will look foolish.
               Those who are very intimate with me sometimes get angry with me and they look very foolish! If
           the boat is empty you can even enjoy the anger of others, because there is nobody to be angry with,
           they have not looked at you. So remember, if people go on colliding with you, you are too much of a
           solid wall. Be a door, become empty, let them pass.
               Even then sometimes people will be angry -- they are even angry with a buddha. Because there
           are foolish people who, if their boat collides with an empty boat, they will not look to see whether
           someone is in it or not. They will start shouting; they will get so messed up within themselves that
           they will not be able to see whether someone is in it or not.
               But even then the empty boat can enjoy it because then the anger never hits you; you are not
           there, so whom can it hit?
               This symbol of the empty boat is really beautiful. People are angry because you are too much
           there, because you are too heavy there -- so solid they cannot pass. And life is intertwined with
           everybody. If you are too much, then everywhere there will be collision, anger, depression,
           aggression, violence -- the conflict continues.
               Whenever you feel that someone is angry or someone has collided with you, you always think
           that he is responsible. This is how ignorance concludes, interprets. Ignorance always says, "The
           other is responsible." Wisdom always says, "If somebody is responsible, then I am responsible, and
           the only way not to collide is not to be."
           "I am responsible" doesn't mean, "I am doing something, that is why they are angry." That is not the
           question. You may not be doing anything, but just your being there is enough for people to get
           angry. The question is not whether you are doing good or bad. The question is that you are there.
               This is the difference between Tao and other religions. Other religions say: Be good, behave in
           such a way that no one gets angry with you. Tao says: Don't be.
               It is not a question of whether you behave or misbehave. This is not the question. Even a good
           man, even a very saintly man, creates anger, because he is there. Sometimes a good man creates
           more anger than a bad man, because a good man means a very subtle egoist. A bad man feels guilty
           -- his boat may be filled, but he feels guilty. He is not really so spread out on the boat, his guilt helps
           him to shrink. A good man feels himself to be so good that he fills the boat completely, overfills it.
               So whenever you come near a good man, you will always feel tortured -- not that he is torturing
           you, it is just his presence. With so-called good men you will always feel sad, and you would like to
           avoid them. So-called good men are really very heavy. Whenever you come into contact with them
           they make you sad, they depress you, and you would like to leave them as soon as possible.
               The moralists, the puritans, the virtuous, they are all heavy, and they carry a burden around with
           them, and dark shadows. Nobody likes them. They cannot be good companions, they cannot be good
           friends. Friendship is impossible with a good man -- almost impossible, because his eyes are always
           condemning. The moment you come near him, he is good and you are bad. Not that he is doing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           anything in particular -- just his very being creates something, and you will feel angry.
               Tao is totally different. Tao has a different quality, and to me Tao is the deepest religion that has
           existed on this earth. There is no comparison to it. There have been glimpses, there are glimpses in
           the sayings of Jesus, in Buddha, in Krishna -- but only glimpses.
               Lao Tzu or Chuang Tzu's message is the purest -- it is absolutely pure, nothing has contaminated
           it. And this is the message: it is all because there is somebody in the boat. This whole hell is all
           because there is somebody in the boat.

              YET IF THE BOAT WERE EMPTY,
              HE WOULD NOT BE SHOUTING, AND HE WOULD NOT BE ANGRY.



              IF YOU CAN EMPTY YOUR OWN BOAT
              CROSSING THE RIVER OF THE WORLD,
              NO ONE WILL OPPOSE YOU,
              NO ONE WILL SEEK TO HARM YOU.



              THE STRAIGHT TREE IS THE FIRST TO BE CUT DOWN,
              THE SPRING OF CLEAR WATER IS THE FIRST TO BE DRAINED DRY.
              IF YOU WISH TO IMPROVE YOUR WISDOM
              AND SHAME THE IGNORANT,
              TO CULTIVATE YOUR CHARACTER AND OUTSHINE OTHERS,
              A LIGHT WILL SHINE AROUND YOU
              AS IF YOU HAD SWALLOWED THE SUN AND THE MOON --
              AND YOU WILL NOT AVOID CALAMITY.


                This is unique. Chuang Tzu is saying that the halo of saintliness around you shows that you are
           still there. The halo that you are good is sure to create calamity for you, and calamity for others also.
           Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu -- master and disciple -- have never been painted in pictures with halos,
           auras, around them. Unlike Jesus, Zarathustra, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, they have never been
           painted with an aura around their head, "because," they say, "if you are really good no aura appears
           around your head; rather on the contrary, the head disappears." Where to draw the aura? The head
           disappears.
                All auras are somehow related to the ego. It is not Krishna who has made a self-portrait, it is the
           disciples. They cannot think of him without drawing an aura around his head -- then he looks
           extraordinary. And Chuang Tzu says: To be ordinary is to be the sage. Nobody recognizes you,
           nobody feels that you are somebody extraordinary. Chuang Tzu says: You go in the crowd and you
           mix, but no one knows that a buddha has entered the crowd. No one comes to feel that somebody is
           different, because if someone feels it then there is bound to be anger and calamity. Whenever
           someone feels that you are somebody, his own anger, his own ego is hurt. He starts reacting, he
           starts attacking you.
                So Chuang Tzu says: Character is not to be cultivated because that too is a sort of wealth. And
           so-called religious people go on teaching: Cultivate character, cultivate morality, be virtuous.
                But why? Why be virtuous? Why be against the sinners? But your mind is a doer, you are still
           ambitious. And if you reach paradise and there you see sinners sitting around God, you will feel very
           hurt -- your whole life has been wasted. You cultivated virtue, you cultivated character, while these
           people were enjoying themselves and doing all sorts of things which are condemned, and here they
           are sitting around God. If you see saints and sinners together in paradise you will be very hurt, you
           will become very sad and miserable -- because your virtue is also part of your ego. You cultivate
           saintliness to be superior, but the mind stays the same. How to be superior in some way or other,
           how to make others inferior, is the motive.
                If you can gather much wealth, then they are poor and you are rich. If you can become an
           Alexander, then you have a great kingdom and they are beggars. If you can become a great scholar,
           then you are knowledgeable and they are ignorant, illiterate. If you can become virtuous, religious,
           respectable, moral, then they are condemned, they are sinners. But the duality continues. You are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fighting against others and you are trying to be superior.
               Chuang Tzu says: If you cultivate your character and outshine others, you will not avoid
           calamity. Don't try to outshine others, and don't try to cultivate character for this egoistic purpose.
               So for Chuang Tzu there is only one character worth mentioning, and that is egolessness. All else
           follows it. Without it, nothing has worth. You may become godlike in your character, but if the ego
           is there inside, all your godliness is in the service of the devil; all your virtue is nothing but a face
           and the sinner is hidden behind. And the sinner cannot be transformed through virtue or through any
           type of cultivation. It is only when you are not there that it disappears.

              A WISE MAN HAS SAID:
              "HE WHO IS CONTENT WITH HIMSELF
              HAS DONE WORTHLESS WORK.
              ACHIEVEMENT IS THE BEGINNING OF FAILURE,
              FAME IS THE BEGINNING OF DISGRACE."


              These are very paradoxical sayings, and you will have to be very alert to understand them;
           otherwise they can be misunderstood.

              A WISE MAN HAS SAID:
              "HE WHO IS CONTENT WITH HIMSELF
              HAS DONE WORTHLESS WORK."


                Religious people go on teaching: Be content with yourself. But yourself remains there to be
           content with. Chuang Tzu says: Don't be there, then there is no question of contentment or
           discontentment. This is real contentment, when you are not there. But if you feel that you are
           content, it is false -- because you are there, and it is just an ego fulfillment. You feel that you have
           achieved, you feel that you have reached.
                Tao says that one who feels that he has achieved has missed already. One who feels that he has
           reached has lost, because success is the beginning of failure. Success and failure are two parts of one
           circle, of one wheel. Whenever success reaches its climax the failure has already started, the wheel is
           already turning downwards. Whenever the moon has become full there is no further progress. Now
           there is no further movement. Then next day the downward journey starts and now every day the
           moon will be less and less and less.
                Life moves in circles. The moment you feel that you have achieved, the wheel has moved, you
           are already losing. It may take time for you to recognize this, because mind is dull. Much
           intelligence is needed, clarity is needed, to see things when they happen. Things happen to you and
           you take many days to recognize it, sometimes many months or years. Sometimes you even take
           many lives to recognize what has happened.
                But just think about your past. Whenever you had a feeling that you had succeeded, immediately
           things changed, you started falling -- because the ego is part of the wheel. It succeeds because it can
           fail: if it cannot fail then there is no possibility of success. Success and failure are two aspects of the
           same coin.
           Chuang Tzu says:

              A WISE MAN HAS SAID:
              "HE WHO IS CONTENT WITH HIMSELF
              HAS DONE WORTHLESS WORK."


              ...Because he is still there, the empty boat has not come into being yet, the boat is still filled. The
           ego is sitting there, the ego is still enthroned.

           "ACHIEVEMENT IS THE BEGINNING OF FAILURE,
           FAME IS THE BEGINNING OF DISGRACE."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              He has nothing to lose. Hence, Buddha's beggars -- nameless, homeless, nothing to protect,
           nothing to preserve. They could move anywhere, just like clouds in the sky, homeless, with no roots
           anywhere, floating, with no goal, no purpose, no ego.

              HE WILL FLOW LIKE TAO, UNSEEN,
              HE WILL GO ABOUT LIKE LIFE ITSELF
              WITH NO NAME AND NO HOME.


               This is what a sannyasin means to me. When I initiate you into sannyas, I initiate you into this
           death of namelessness, of homelessness. I am not giving you any secret key of success, I am not
           giving you any secret formula of how to succeed.
               If I am giving you anything, it is a key of how not to succeed, of how to be a failure and
           unworried, how to move nameless, homeless, without any goal, how to be a beggar -- what Jesus
           calls poor in spirit. A man who is poor in spirit is egoless -- he is the empty boat.

              SIMPLE IS HE, WITHOUT DISTINCTION.


               Whom do you call simple? Can you cultivate simplicity?
               You see a man who eats only once a day, who wears only a few clothes or remains naked, who
           doesn't live in a palace, who lives under a tree -- and you say this man is simple. Is this simplicity?
           You can live under a tree and your living may be just a cultivation. You have cultivated it to be
           simple, you have calculated it to be simple. You may eat once a day, but you have calculated it, this
           is mind-manipulated. You may remain naked, but that cannot make you simple. Simplicity can only
           happen.

              SIMPLE IS HE, WITHOUT DISTINCTION.


               But you feel that you are a saint because you live under a tree, and you eat once a day, and you
           are a vegetarian, and you live naked, you don't possess any money -- you are a saint.
               And then when a man passes who possesses money, condemnation arises in you, and you think,
           "What will happen to this sinner? He will be condemned to hell. And you feel compassion for this
           sinner. Then you are not simple. Because distinctions have entered, you are distinct.
               It makes no difference how the distinction has been created. A king lives in a palace -- he is
           distinct from those who live in huts. A king wears clothes which you cannot wear -- they are so
           valuable that he is distinct. A man lives naked on the street and you cannot live naked in the street --
           so he is distinct. Wherever distinction is, ego exists. When there is no distinction, ego disappears;
           and non-ego is simplicity.
              SIMPLE IS HE, WITHOUT DISTINCTION.
              TO ALL APPEARANCES HE IS A FOOL.


               This is the deepest saying that Chuang Tzu has uttered. It is difficult to understand because we
           always think that an enlightened person, a perfect man, is a man of wisdom. And he says: TO ALL
           APPEARANCES HE IS A FOOL....
               But this is how it should be. Amongst so many fools, how can a wise man be otherwise? To all
           appearances he will be a fool and that is the only way. How can he change this foolish world and so
           many fools, to sanity? He will have to be naked, and go under the table and crow like a rooster. Only
           then can he change you. He must become crazy like you, he must be a fool, he must allow you to
           laugh at him. Then you will not feel jealous, then you will not feel hurt, then you will not be angry
           with him, then you can tolerate him, then you can forget him and forgive him, then you can leave
           him alone to himself.
               Many great mystics have behaved like fools and their contemporaries were at a loss about what
           to make out of their lives -- and the greatest wisdom existed in them. To be wise amongst you is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           really foolish. It won't do; you will create much trouble. Socrates was poisoned because he didn't
           know Chuang Tzu. Had he known Chuang Tzu, there would have been no need for him to be
           poisoned. He tried to behave like a wise man; amongst fools he tried to be wise.
                Chuang Tzu says: To all appearances the wise man will be like a fool.
                Chuang Tzu himself lived like a fool, laughing, singing and dancing, talking in jokes and
           anecdotes. Nobody thought him to be serious. And you could not find a more sincere or serious man
           than Chuang Tzu. But nobody thought him to be serious. People enjoyed him, people loved him, and
           through this love he was sowing seeds of his wisdom. He changed many, he transformed many.
                But to change a madman you have to learn his language, you have to use his language. You have
           to be like him, you have to come down. If you go on standing on your pedestal then there can be no
           communion.
                This is what happened to Socrates, and it had to happen there because the Greek mind is the most
           rational mind in the world, and a rational mind always tries not to be foolish. Socrates angered
           everybody. People had to kill him really, because he would ask awkward questions and he would
           make everybody feel foolish. He put everybody in a corner -- because one cannot answer even
           ordinary questions if somebody insists.
                If you believe in God, Socrates will ask something about God; you cannot answer, you have not
           yet seen. What is the proof? God is a far off thing. You cannot prove even ordinary things. You have
           left your wife at home -- how can you prove, really, that you have left your wife at home, or that you
           have even got a wife? It may be just in your memory. You may have seen a dream, and when you go
           back there is neither house nor wife.
                Socrates asked questions, penetrating, analyzing everything, and everyone in Athens became
           angry. This man was trying to prove that they were all fools. They killed him. Had he met Chuang
           Tzu -- and at that time Chuang Tzu was alive in China, they were contemporaries -- then Chuang
           Tzu would have told him the secret: Don't try to prove that anybody is foolish because fools don't
           like it. Don't try to prove to a madman that he is mad, because no madman likes it. He will get angry,
           arrogant, aggressive. He will kill you if you prove too much. If you come to the point where it can be
           proved, he will take revenge.
                Chuang Tzu would have said: It is better to be foolish yourself, then people enjoy you, and then
           by a very subtle methodology you can help them change. Then they are not against you.
                That is why in the East, particularly in India, in China and in Japan, such an ugly phenomenon
           never happened as happened in Greece where Socrates was poisoned and killed. It happened in
           Jerusalem -- Jesus was killed, crucified. It happened in Iran, in Egypt, in other countries -- many
           wise men were killed, murdered. It never happened in India, in China, in Japan, because in these
           three countries people came to realize that to behave as a wise man is to invite calamity.
                Behave like a fool, like a madman, just be mad. That is the first step of the wise man -- to make
           you at ease so you are not afraid of him.
                This is why I told you that story. The prince became friendly with the man. He was afraid of
           other doctors, learned experts, because they were trying to change him, cure him, and he was not
           mad. He did not think that he was mad, no madman ever thinks that he is mad. If a madman ever
           comes to realize that he is mad, madness has disappeared. He is mad no more.
                So all those wise men who were trying to cure the prince were foolish, and only this old sage was
           wise. He behaved foolishly. The court laughed, the king laughed, the queen laughed and said,
           "What? How is this man going to change the prince? He himself is crazy and seems to be deeper in
           madness than the prince.
                Even the prince was shocked. He said, "What are you doing? What do you mean?" But this man
           must have been an enlightened sage.
                Chuang Tzu is talking about this type of phenomenon, this phenomenal man.

              TO ALL APPEARENCES HE IS A FOOL.
              HIS STEPS LEAVE NO TRACE.


               You cannot follow him. You cannot follow an enlightened man -- no, never -- because he leaves
           no trace, there are no footprints. He is like a bird in the sky: he moves and no trace is left.
               Why does a wise man not leave traces? So that you should not be able to follow. No wise man
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           likes you to follow him because when you follow you become imitators. He is always moving in
           such a zig-zag way that you cannot follow. If you try to follow him, you will miss. Can you follow
           me? It is impossible, because you don't know what I am going to be tomorrow. You cannot predict.
           If you can predict, you can plan. Then you know where I am going, then you know the direction,
           then you know my steps. You know my past, you can infer my future. But I am illogical.
               If I am logical you can conclude what I am going to say tomorrow. Just by looking at what I have
           said in my yesterdays you can conclude logically what I am going to say tomorrow. But that is not
           possible. I may contradict myself completely. My every tomorrow will contradict my every
           yesterday, so how are you going to follow me? You will go crazy if you try to follow.
               Sooner or later you will have to realize that you have to be yourself, you cannot imitate.

              HIS STEPS LEAVE NO TRACE.


              He is not consistent. He is not logical. He is illogical. He is like a madman.

              HE HAS NO POWER.


               This will be very difficult to follow because we think that the sage has power, that he is the most
           powerful of men. He will touch your blind eyes and they will open and you will be able to see; you
           are dead and he will touch you and you will be resurrected. To us a sage is a miracle-worker.
               But Chuang Tzu says: He has no power, because to use power is always part of the ego. The ego
           wants to be powerful. You cannot persuade a wise man to use his power, it is impossible. If you can,
           it means some ego was left to be persuaded. He will never use his power because there is no one to
           use and manipulate it. The ego, the manipulator, is there no more, the boat is empty. Who will direct
           this boat? There is nobody.
               A sage is power, but he has no power; a sage is powerful, but he has no power -- because the
           controller is there no more. He is energy -- overflowing, unaddressed, undirected -- but there is no
           one who can direct it. You may be cured in his presence, your eyes may open, but he has not opened
           them, he has not touched them, he has not cured you. If he thinks that he has cured you, he himself
           has become ill. This 'I' feeling -- I have cured -- is a greater illness, it is a greater blindness.
              HE HAS NO POWER.
              HE ACHIEVES NOTHING, HE HAS NO REPUTATION.
              AND SINCE HE JUDGES NO ONE,
              NO ONE JUDGES HIM.
              SUCH IS THE PERFECT MAN --
              HIS BOAT IS EMPTY.


               And this is going to be your path. Empty your boat. Go on throwing out whatever you find in the
           boat until everything is thrown out and nothing is left, even YOU are thrown out, nothing is left,
           your being has become just empty.
               The last thing and the first thing is to be empty: once you are empty you will be filled. The all
           will descend on you when you are empty -- only emptiness can receive the all, nothing less will do,
           because to receive all you have to be empty, boundlessly empty. Only then can the all be received.
           Your minds are so small they cannot receive the divine. Your rooms are so small you cannot invite
           the divine. Destroy this house completely because only the sky, space, total space, can receive.
               Emptiness is going to be the path, the goal, everything. From tomorrow morning try to empty
           yourself of all that you find within: your misery, your anger, your ego, jealousies, sufferings, your
           pain, your pleasures -- whatever you find, just throw it out. Without any distinction, without any
           choice, empty yourself. And the moment you are totally empty, suddenly you will see that you are
           the whole, the all. Through voidness, the whole is achieved.
               Meditation is nothing but emptying, becoming nobody.
               In this camp move as a nobody. And if you create anger in somebody and you collide, remember,
           you must be there in the boat, that's why it is happening. Soon, when your boat is empty, you will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not collide, there will be no conflict, no anger, no violence -- nothing.
               And this nothing is the benediction, this nothing is the blessing. For this nothing you have been
           searching and searching.
           Enough for today.




                                                  The Empty Boat
                                                     Chapter #2
                                            Chapter title: The Man of Tao
           11 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407110
              ShortTitle: BOAT02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 129 mins




              THE MAN OF TAO ACTS WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT,
              HARMS NO OTHER BEING BY HIS ACTIONS,
              YET HE DOES NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO BE KIND AND GENTLE.



              HE DOES NOT STRUGGLE TO MAKE MONEY,
              AND HE DOES NOT MAKE A VIRTUE OF POVERTY.



              HE GOES HIS WAY WITHOUT RELYING ON OTHERS,
              AND DOES NOT PRIDE HIMSELF ON WALKING ALONE.



              THE MAN OF TAO REMAINS UNKNOWN.
              PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING.
              NO SELF IS TRUE SELF.
              AND THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY.


               The most difficult thing, the almost impossible thing for the mind, is to remain in the middle, is
           to remain balanced. And to move from one thing to its opposite is the easiest. To move from one
           polarity to the opposite polarity is the nature of the mind. This has to be understood very deeply,
           because unless you understand this, nothing can lead you to meditation.
               Mind's nature is to move from one extreme to another. It depends on imbalance. If you are
           balanced, mind disappears. Mind is like a disease: when you are imbalanced it is there, when you are
           balanced, it is not there.
               That is why it is easy for a person who overeats to go on a fast. It looks illogical, because we
           think that a person who is obsessed with food cannot go on a fast. But you are wrong. Only a person
           who is obsessed with food can fast, because fasting is the same obsession in the opposite direction. It
           is not really changing yourself. You are still obsessed with food. Before you were overeating; now
           you are hungry -- but the mind remains focused on food from the opposite extreme.
               A man who has been overindulging in sex can become a celibate very easily. There is no
           problem. But it is difficult for the mind to come to the right diet, difficult for the mind to stay in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           middle.
               Why is it difficult to stay in the middle? It is just like the pendulum of a clock. The pendulum
           goes to the right, then it moves to the left, then again to the right, then again to the left; the whole
           clock depends on this movement. If the pendulum stays in the middle, the clock stops. And when the
           pendulum moves to the right, you think it is only going to the right, but at the same time it is
           gathering momentum to go to the left. The more it moves to the right, the more energy it gathers to
           move to the left, to the opposite. When it is moving to the left it is again gathering momentum to
           move to the right.
               Whenever you overeat, you are gathering momentum to go on a fast. Whenever you overindulge
           in sex, sooner or later, BRAHMACHARYA, celibacy, will appeal to you.
               And the same is happening from the opposite pole. Go and ask your so-called SADHUS, your
           BHIKKUS, sannyasins. They have made it a point to remain celibate, now their minds are gathering
           momentum to move into sex. They have made a point of being hungry and starving, and their minds
           are constantly thinking about food. When you are thinking about food too much it shows that you are
           gathering momentum for it. Thinking means momentum. The mind starts arranging for the opposite.
               One thing: whenever you move, you are also moving to the opposite. The opposite is hidden, it is
           not apparent.
               When you love a person you are gathering momentum to hate him. That's why only friends can
           become enemies. You cannot suddenly become an enemy unless you have first become a friend.
           Lovers quarrel, fight. Only lovers can quarrel and fight, because unless you love, how can you hate?
           Unless you have moved far to the extreme left, how can you move to the right? Modern research
           says that so-called love is a relationship of intimate enmity. Your wife is your intimate enemy, your
           husband is your intimate enemy -- both intimate and inimical. They appear opposites, illogical,
           because we wonder how one who is intimate can be the enemy; one who is a friend, how can he also
           be the foe?
               Logic is superficial, life goes deeper, and in life all opposites are joined together, they exist
           together. Remember this, because then meditation becomes balancing.
               Buddha taught eight disciplines, and with each discipline he used the word right. He said: Right
           effort, because it is very easy to move from action to inaction, from waking to sleep, but to remain in
           the middle is difficult. When Buddha used the word right he was saying: Don't move to the opposite,
           just stay in the middle. Right food -- he never said to fast. Don't indulge in too much eating and don't
           indulge in fasting. He said: Right food. Right food means standing in the middle.
               When you are standing in the middle you are not gathering any momentum. And this is the
           beauty of it -- a man who is not gathering any momentum to move anywhere, can be at ease with
           himself, can be at home.
               You can never be at home, because whatsoever you do you will immediately have to do the
           opposite to balance. And the opposite never balances, it simply gives you the impression that you are
           becoming balanced, but you will have to move to the opposite again.
               A buddha is neither a friend to anyone nor an enemy. He has simply stopped in the middle -- the
           clock is not functioning.
               It is said about one Hassid mystic, Muzheed, that when he attained enlightenment suddenly the
           clock on his wall stopped. It may or may not have happened, because it is possible, but the
           symbolism is clear: when your mind stops, time stops; when the pendulum stops, the clock stops.
           From then on the clock never moved, from then on it always showed the same time.
               Time is created by the movement of the mind, just like the movement of the pendulum. Mind
           moves, you feel time. When mind is nonmoving, how can you feel time? When there is no
           movement, time cannot be felt. Scientists and mystics agree on this point: that movement creates the
           phenomenon of time. If you are not moving, if you are still, time disappears, eternity comes into
           existence.
               Your clock is moving fast, and its mechanism is movement from one extreme to another.
               The second thing to be understood about mind is that the mind always longs for the distant, never
           for the near. The near gives you boredom, you are fed up with it; the distant gives you dreams,
           hopes, possibility of pleasure. So the mind always thinks of the distant. It is always somebody else's
           wife who is attractive, beautiful; it is always somebody else's house which obsesses you; it is always
           somebody else's car which fascinates you. It is always the distant. You are blind to the near. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind cannot see that which is very near. It can only see that which is very far.
               And what is the furthest, the most distant? The opposite is the most distant. You love a person --
           now hatred is the most distant phenomenon; you are overeating -- now fasting is the most distant
           phenomenon; you are celibate -- now sex is the most distant phenomenon; you are a king -- now to
           be a monk is the most distant phenomenon.
               The most distant is the most dreamy. It attracts, it obsesses, it goes on calling, inviting you, and
           then when you have reached the other pole, this place from where you have traveled will become
           beautiful again. Divorce your wife, and after a few years the wife has again gained beauty.
               A film actress came to me. She had divorced her husband fifteen years ago. Now she is old, less
           beautiful than she was when she and her husband were separated. Their son was married last year, so
           at the marriage she met her husband again, and they had to travel together. The husband fell in love
           with her again, so she came to me and asked, "What should I do? Now he is proposing again, he
           wants to get married to me again."
               She was also fascinated. She was just waiting for me to say yes. I said, "But you lived together,
           there was always conflict and nothing else. I know the whole story -- how you were fighting,
           quarreling, how you created hell and misery for each other. Now again...?"
               For the mind the opposite is magnetic, and unless through understanding you transcend this, the
           mind will go on moving from left to right, from right to left, and the clock will continue.
               It has continued for many lives, and this is how you have been deceiving yourself -- because you
           don't understand the mechanism. Again the distant becomes appealing, again you start traveling. The
           moment you reach your goal that which you used to know is now distant, now has appeal, now
           becomes a star, something worthwhile.
               I was reading about a pilot who was flying over California with a friend. He told the friend,
           "Look down at that beautiful lake. I was born near it, that is my village."
               He pointed to a small village just perched in the hills near the lake, and he said, "I was born
           there. When I was a child I used to sit near the lake and fish; fishing was my hobby. But at that time,
           when I was a child fishing near the lake, always airplanes used to fly in the sky, passing overhead,
           and I would dream of the day when I would become a pilot myself, I would be piloting an airplane.
           That was my only dream. Now it is fulfilled, and what misery! Now I am continuously looking down
           at the lake and thinking about when I will retire and go fishing again. That lake is so beautiful...."
               This is how things are happening. This is how things are happening to you. In childhood, you
           long to grow up fast because older people are more powerful. A child longs to grow up immediately.
           Old people are wise, and the child feels that whatsoever he does, it is always wrong. And then ask
           the old man -- he always thinks that when childhood was lost, everything was lost; paradise was
           there in childhood. And all the old men die thinking of childhood, the innocence, the beauty, the
           dreamland.
               Whatsoever you have looks useless, whatsoever you don't have looks useful. Remember this,
           otherwise meditation cannot happen, because meditation means this understanding of the mind, the
           working of the mind, the very process of the mind.
               The mind is dialectical, it makes you move again and again towards the opposite. And this is an
           infinite process, it never ends unless you suddenly drop out of it, unless you suddenly become aware
           of the game, unless you suddenly become aware of the trick of the mind, and you stop in the middle.
           Stopping in the middle is meditation.
               Thirdly, because mind consists of polarities, you are never whole. The mind cannot be whole; it
           is always half. When you love someone have you observed that you are suppressing your hatred?
           The love is not total, it is not whole; just behind it all the dark forces are hidden and they may erupt
           any moment. You are sitting on a volcano.
               When you love someone, you simply forget that you have anger, you have hate, you have
           jealousy. You simply drop them as if they never existed. But how can you drop them? You can
           simply hide them in the unconscious. Just on the surface you can become loving, deep down the
           turmoil is hidden. Sooner or later you will be fed up, the beloved will become familiar.
               They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but it is not that familiarity breeds contempt --
           familiarity makes you bored, contempt has always been there, hidden. It comes up, it was waiting for
           the right moment; the seed was there.
               The mind always has the opposite within it, and that opposite goes into the unconscious and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           waits for its moment to come up. If you observe minutely, you will feel it every moment. When you
           say to someone, I love you, close your eyes, be meditative, and feel -- is there any hatred hidden?
           You will feel it. But because you want to deceive yourself, because the truth is so ugly -- the truth
           that you hate a person that you love -- you don't want to face it. You want to escape from real-ity, so
           you hide it. But hiding won't help, because it is not deceiving somebody else, it is deceiving yourself.
               So whenever you feel something, just close the eyes and go into yourself to find the opposite
           somewhere. It is there. And if you can see the opposite, that will give you a balance, then you will
           not say, "I love you." If you are truthful you will say, "My relationship with you is of love and hate."
               All relationships are love/hate relationships. No relationship is of pure love, and no relationship
           is of pure hate. It is both love and hate. If you are truthful you will be in difficulty. If you say to a
           girl, "My relationship with you is of both love and hate. I love you as I have never loved anybody
           and I hate you as I have never hated anybody," it will be difficult for you to get married unless you
           find a meditative girl who can understand the reality; unless you can find a friend who can
           understand the complexity of the mind.
               Mind is not a simple mechanism, it is very complex, and through mind you can never become
           simple because mind goes on creating deceptions. To be meditative means to be aware of the fact
           that mind is hiding something from you, you are closing your eyes to some facts which are
           disturbing. Sooner or later those disturbing facts will erupt, overpower you, and you will move to the
           opposite. And the opposite is not there in a distant faraway place, in some star; the opposite is hidden
           behind you, in you, in your mind, in the very functioning of the mind. If you can understand this, you
           will stop in the middle.
               If you can see I love and I hate, suddenly both will disappear, because both cannot exist together
           in the consciousness. You have to create a barrier: one has to exist in the unconscious and one in the
           conscious. Both cannot exist in the conscious, they will negate each other. The love will destroy
           hate, the hate will destroy love; they will balance each other, and they will simply disappear. The
           same amount of hate and the same amount of love will negate each other. Suddenly they will
           evaporate -- you will be there, but no love and no hate. Then you are balanced.
               When you are balanced, mind is not there -- then you are whole. When you are whole, you are
           holy, but mind is not there. So meditation is a state of no-mind. Through mind it is not achieved.
           Through mind, whatever you do, it can never be achieved. Then what are you doing when you are
           meditating?
               Because you have created so much tension in your life, you are now meditating. But this is the
           opposite of tension, not real meditation. You are so tense that meditation has become attractive. That
           is why in the West meditation appeals more than in the East, because more tension exists there than
           in the East. The East is still relaxed, people are not so tense, they don't go mad so easily, they don't
           commit suicide so easily. They are not so violent, not so aggressive, not so scared, not so fearful --
           no, they are not so tense. They are not living at such a mad speed where nothing but tension is
           accumulated.
               So if Mahesh Yogi comes to India, nobody listens. But in America, people are mad about him.
           When there is much tension, meditation will appeal. But this appeal is again falling into the same
           trap. This is not real meditation, this is again a trick. You meditate for a few days, you become
           relaxed; when you become relaxed, again the need for activity arises, and the mind starts thinking of
           doing something, of moving. You get bored with it.
               People come to me and say, "We meditated for a few years, then it became boring, then there
           was no more fun."
               Just the other day a girl came to me and said, "Now meditation is not fun anymore, what should I
           do?"
               Now the mind is seeking something else, now it has had enough of meditation. Now that she is at
           ease, the mind is asking for more tensions -- something to get disturbed about. When she says that
           now meditation is no more fun, she means that now the tension is not there, so how can the
           meditation be fun? She will have to move into tension again, then meditation will again become
           something worthwhile.
               Look at the absurdity of the mind: you have to go away to come near, you have to become tense
           to be meditative. But then this is not meditation, then again this is a trick of the same mind; on a new
           level the same game continues.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When I say meditation, I mean going beyond the game of the polar opposites; dropping out of the
           whole game, looking at the absurdity of it and transcending it. The very understanding becomes
           transcendence.
                The mind will force you to move to the opposite -- don't move to the opposite. Stop in the middle
           and see that this has always been the trick of the mind. This is how mind has dominated you --
           through the opposite. Have you felt it?
                After making love to a woman you suddenly start thinking of brahmacharya, and brahmacharya
           has such an alluring fascination at that moment that you feel as if there is nothing else to achieve.
           You feel frustrated, deceived, you feel that there was nothing in this sex, only brahmacharya has the
           bliss. But after twenty-four hours, sex again becomes important, significant, and again you have to
           move into it.
                What is the mind doing? After the sex act it started thinking about the opposite, which again
           creates the taste for sex.
                A violent man starts thinking about nonviolence, then he can be violent again easily. A man who
           gets angry again and again always thinks of non-anger, always decides not to be angry again. This
           decision helps him to be angry again.
                If you really want not to be angry again don't decide against anger. Just look into the anger and
           just look at the shadow of the anger which you think is non-anger. Look into sex, and at the shadow
           of sex, which you think is brahmacharya, celibacy. It is just negativity, absence. Look at overeating,
           and the shadow of it -- fasting. Fasting always follows overeating; overindulgence is always
           followed by vows of celibacy; tension is always followed by some techniques of meditation. Look at
           them together, feel how they are related; they are part of one process.
                If you can understand this, meditation will happen to you. Really, it is not something to be done,
           it is a point of understanding. It is not an effort, it is nothing to be cultivated. It is something to be
           deeply understood.
                Understanding gives freedom. Knowledge of the whole mechanism of the mind is
           transformation. Then suddenly the clock stops, time disappears: and with the stopping of the clock,
           there is no mind. With the stopping of time, where are you? The boat is empty.
           Now we will enter this sutra of Chuang Tzu:

              THE MAN OF TAO ACTS WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT,
              HARMS NO OTHER BEING BY HIS ACTIONS,
              YET HE DOES NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO BE KIND AND GENTLE.


               THE MAN OF TAO ACTS WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT.... You act always with impediment, the
           opposite is always there creating the impediment; you are not a flow.
               If you love, the hate is always there as an impediment. If you move, something is holding you
           back; you never move totally, something is always left, the movement is not total. You move with
           one leg but the other leg is not moving. How can you move? The impediment is there.
               And this impediment, this continuous moving of the half and nonmoving of the other half, is
           your anguish, your anxiety. Why are you in so much anguish? What creates so much anxiety in you?
           Whatsoever you do, why is bliss not happening through it? Bliss can happen only to the whole, never
           to the part.
               When the whole moves without any impediment the very movement is bliss. Bliss is not
           something that comes from outside -- it is the feeling that comes when your whole being moves, the
           very movement of the whole is bliss. It is not something happening to you, it arises out of you, it is a
           harmony in your being.
               If you are divided -- and you are always divided: half-moving, half-withholding, half saying yes,
           half saying no, half in love, half in hate, you are a divided kingdom -- there is constant conflict in
           you. You say something but you never mean it, because the opposite is there impeding, creating a
           hindrance.
               Baal Shem's disciples used to write down whatsoever he said, and Baal Shem used to say: I know
           that whatsoever you are writing is not what has been said by me. You have heard one thing, I have
           said something else, and you are writing still something else. And if you look at the meaning, the
           meaning is something else again. You will never do what you have written, you will do something
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           else -- fragments, not an integrated being.
           Why are these fragments there?

                Have you heard the story about the centipede? A centipede was walking along on his one
           hundred legs -- that is why he is called a centipede. It is a miracle to walk with a hundred feet, even
           to manage two is so difficult! To manage one hundred legs is really almost impossible. But the
           centipede has been managing to do it!
                A fox became curious -- and foxes are always curious. The fox is the symbol in folklore of the
           mind, of the intellect, of logic. Foxes are great logicians.The fox looked, she observed, she analyzed,
           she couldn't believe it. She said, "Wait! I have a question. How do you manage, and how do you
           know which foot has to follow which? One hundred legs! You walk so smoothly. How does this
           harmony happen?"
                The centipede said, "I have been walking all my life but I have never thought about it. Give me a
           little time."
                So he closed his eyes and for the first time he became divided: the mind as observer, and himself
           as the observed. For the first time the centipede became two. He had always been living and walking,
           and his life was one whole; there was no observer standing looking at himself, he was never divided,
           he had been an integrated being. Now, for the first time, division arose. He was looking at his own
           self, thinking. He had become subject and object, he had become two, and then he started walking. It
           was difficult, almost impossible. He fell down -- because how do you manage one hundred legs?
                The fox laughed and he said, "I knew it must be difficult, I knew it beforehand."
                The centipede started crying and weeping. With tears in his eyes he said, "It has never been
           difficult before, but you have created the problem. Now I will never be able to walk again."

               The mind has come into being; it comes into being when you are divided. The mind feeds on
           division. That is why Krishnamurti keeps saying that when the observer has become the observed
           you are in meditation.
               The opposite happened to the centipede. The wholeness was lost, he became two: the observer
           and the observed, divided; the subject and the object, the thinker and the thought. Then everything
           was disturbed, then bliss was lost and the flow stopped. Then he got frozen.
               Whenever the mind comes in, it comes as a controlling force, a manager. It is not the master, it is
           the manager. And you cannot get to the master unless this manager is put aside.The manager won't
           allow you to reach the master, the manager will always be standing in the doorway managing. And
           all managers only mismanage -- mind has done such a great job of mismanaging.
               Poor centipede. He had always been happy. He had no problems at all. He lived, moved, loved,
           everything, no problems at all, because there was no mind. Mind came in with the problem, with the
           question, with the inquiry. And there are many foxes around you. Beware of them -- philosophers,
           theologians, logicians, professors all around you -- foxes. They ask you questions and they create a
           disturbance.
               Chuang Tzu's master, Lao Tzu, said: When there was not a single philosopher, everything was
           solved, there were no questions, and all answers were available. When philosophers arose, questions
           came and answers disappeared. Whenever there is a question the answer is very far away. Whenever
           you ask, you will never get the answer, but when you stop asking, you will find that the answer has
           always been there.
               I do not know what happened to this centipede. If he was as foolish as human beings, he would
           be somewhere in a hospital, crippled, paralyzed forever. But I don't think that centipedes are so
           foolish. He must have thrown the question out. He must have told the fox, "Keep your questions to
           yourself, and let me walk." He must have come to know that division wouldn't allow him to live,
           because division creates death. Undivided you are life, divided you become dead -- the more
           divided, the more dead.
               What is bliss? Bliss is the feeling that comes to you when the obser-ver has become the
           observed. Bliss is the feeling that comes to you when you are in harmony, not fragmented; one, not
           disintegrated, not divided. Feeling is not something that happens from the outside. It is the melody
           that arises out of your inner harmoniousness.
           Says Chuang Tzu:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              THE MAN OF TAO ACTS WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT....


               He is not divided so who is there to impede? What is there to function as an impediment? He is
           alone, he moves with his wholeness. This movement in wholeness is the greatest beauty that can
           happen, that is possible. Sometimes you have glimpses of it. Sometimes when you are suddenly
           whole, when the mind is not functioning, it happens.
               The sun is rising...suddenly you look, and the observer is not there. The sun is not there and you
           are not there, there is no observer and no observed. Simply the sun is rising and your mind is not
           there to manage. You don't see it and say, "The sun is beautiful." The moment you say it the bliss is
           lost. Then there is no bliss, it has already become the past, it is already gone.
               Suddenly you see the sun rising, and the seer is not there; the seer has not yet come into being, it
           has not become a thought. You have not looked, you have not analyzed, you have not observed. The
           sun is rising and there is no one, the boat is empty; there is bliss, a glimpse. But the mind
           immediately comes in, and says, "The sun is beautiful, this sunrise is so beautiful." The comparison
           has come in and the beauty is lost.
               Those who know say that whenever you say "I love you" to a person, the love is lost. The love
           has already gone because the lover has come in. How can love exist when the division, the manager,
           has come in? It is the mind which says "I love you," because, really, in love there is no I and no thou.
           In love there are no individuals. Love is a melting, a merging, they are not two.
               Love exists, not the lovers. In love, love exists not the lovers, but the mind comes in and says, "I
           am in love, I love you." When 'I' comes, doubt enters; division comes in and love is there no more.
               You will come many times to such glimpses in your meditation. Remember, whenever you feel
           such a glimpse, don't say, "How beautiful!" don't say, "How lovely!" because this is how you will
           lose it. Whenever the glimpse comes, let the glimpse be there. Don't do what the centipede did --
           don't raise any question, don't make any observation, don't analyze, don't allow the mind to come in.
           Walk with a hundred legs, but don't think about how you are walking.
               When in meditation you have the glimpse of some ecstasy, let it happen, let it go deep. Don't
           divide yourself. Don't make any statement, otherwise the contact is lost.
               Sometimes you have glimpses, but you have become so efficient at losing your contact with
           those glimpses that you cannot understand how they come and how you lose them again. They come
           when you are not, you lose them when you come again. When you are, they are not. When the boat
           is empty, bliss is always happening. It is not an accident, it is the very nature of existence. It doesn't
           depend on anything -- it is a showering, it is the very breath of life.
               It is really a miracle how you have managed to be so miserable, so thirsty, when it is raining
           everywhere. You have really done the impossible! Light is everywhere and you live in darkness;
           death is nowhere and you are constantly dying; life is a benediction and you are in hell.
               How have you managed it? Through division, through thinking.... Thinking depends on division,
           analysis; meditation is when there is no analysis, no division, when everything has become
           synthesized, when everything has become one.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              THE MAN OF TAO ACTS WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT,
              HARMS NO OTHER BEING BY HIS ACTIONS.


               How can he do harm? You can harm others only when you have already harmed yourself.
           Remember this; this is the secret. If you harm yourself, you will harm others. And you will harm
           even when you think you are doing good to others. Nothing can happen through you but harm,
           because one who lives with wounds, one who lives in anguish and misery, whatsoever he does he
           will create more misery and anguish for others. You can give only that which you have got.

              I have heard that once a beggar came to a synagogue and he told the rabbi, "I am a great
           musician, and I have heard that the musician who belonged to this synagogue is dead, and you are
           looking for another. So I offer myself."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The rabbi and the congregation were happy because they were really missing their music. Then
           the man played -- it was horrible! It was more musical without his music. He created a hell. It was
           impossible to feel any silence in that synagogue that morning. He had to be stopped, because most of
           the congregation started to leave. People escaped as fast as they could because his music was just
           anarchic, it was like madness, and it started to affect people.
               When the rabbi heard that everybody was leaving, he went to the man and stopped him. The man
           said, "If you don't want me, you can pay for this morning and then I will go."
               The rabbi said, "It is impossible to pay you, we have never experienced such a horrible thing."
               Then the musician said, "Okay, then keep it as a contribution from me."
               The rabbi said, "But how can you contribute what you don't possess? You don't have any music
           at all -- how can you contribute? You can contribute something only when you have got it. This is no
           music; rather, on the contrary, it is something like antimusic. So please take it away with you, don't
           contribute it to us or it will go on haunting us."

               You give only that which you have. You always give your being. If you are dead within, you
           cannot help life; wherever you go you will kill. Knowingly, unknowingly, that is not the point -- you
           may think that you are helping others to live, but still you will kill.
               A great psychoanalyst, Wilhelm Reich, who was studying children and their problems, was asked
           once, "What is the most basic problem with children? What do you find at the root of all their
           miseries, problems, abnormalities?"
           He said, "The mothers."
               No mother can agree with this, because every mother feels that she is just helping her children
           without any selfishness on her part. She is living and dying for the child. And psychoanalysts say
           mothers are the problem. Unknowingly they are killing, crippling; knowingly they think they are
           loving.
               If you are crippled within, you will cripple your children. You cannot do anything else, you can't
           help it, because you give out of your being -- there is no other way to give.
               Says Chuang Tzu: THE MAN OF TAO...HARMS NO OTHER BEING BY HIS ACTIONS. Not
           that he cultivates nonviolence, not that he cultivates compassion, not that he lives a good life, not
           that he behaves in a saintly way -- no. He cannot harm because he has stopped harming himself. He
           has no wounds. He is so blissful that from his actions or inactions only bliss flows. Even though it
           may appear sometimes that he is doing something wrong, he cannot.
               It is just the opposite with you. Sometimes it appears that you are doing something good. You
           cannot. The man of Tao cannot do harm, it is impossible. There is no way to do it, it is inconceivable
           -- because he is without divisions, fragments. He is not a crowd, he is not polypsychic. He is a
           universe now and nothing other than melody is happening inside. Only this music goes on spreading.
               The man of Tao is not one of much action -- he is not a man of action, the least possible action
           happens through him. He is really a man of inaction, he is not much occupied with activity.
               But you are occupied with activity just to escape from yourself. You cannot tolerate yourself,
           you cannot tolerate the company of yourself. You keep looking for somebody as an escape, some
           occupation in which you can forget yourself, in which you can get involved. You are so bored with
           yourself.
               A man of Tao, a man who has attained the inner nature, a man who is really religious, is not a
           man of much activity. Only the necessary will happen. The unnecessary is cut out completely,
           because he can be at ease without activity, he can be at home without doing anything, he can relax,
           he can be company for himself, he can be with his self.
               You cannot be with yourself, hence the constant urge to seek company. Go to a club, go to a
           meeting, go to a party, move into the crowd, where you are not alone. You are so afraid of yourself
           that if you are left alone you will go mad. In just three weeks if you are left absolutely alone without
           any activity, you will go mad. And this is not something said by religious people, now psychologists
           agree to it. For only three weeks, if all activity, if all company, is taken from you, if you are left
           alone in a room, within three weeks you will be mad -- because all your activity is just to throw out
           your madness, it is a catharsis.
               What will you do when you are alone? For the first three or four days you will dream and talk
           within, an inner chattering. Then this will become boring. After the first week you will start talking
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           aloud because at least you will hear the sound of your own voice. When you walk along a dark street
           at night you start whistling. Why? How is this whistling going to give you courage? How is this
           whistling going to help you? Just listening to it you feel that you are not alone, somebody is
           whistling. The illusion of two is created!
               After the first week you will start talking aloud because then you can also listen. You are not
           alone, you are talking and you are listening as if somebody else is talking to you. After the second
           week you will start answering yourself. You will not only talk, you will answer -- you are divided.
           Now you are two; one who questions, one who answers. Now there is a dialogue -- you have gone
           completely crazy.
               A man asked his psychiatrist, "I am very worried, I talk to myself. What should I do? Can you
           help me?"
               The psychiatrist said, "This is nothing to be worried about. Everybody talks to himself, this is not
           a big problem. Only when you start answering, then come to me, then I can be of help."
               But the difference is only of degree; it is not of kind, it is only of quantity. If you start talking to
           yourself, sooner or later you will start answering also, because how can one go on simply talking?
           The answer is needed, otherwise you will feel foolish. By the third week you start answering -- you
           have gone crazy.
               This world, the world of activity, business and occupation, saves you from the madhouse. If you
           are occupied, energy moves out; then you need not care about the inward, the inner world, you can
           forget it.
               A man of Tao is not a man of much activity -- only the essential activity. It is said of Chuang Tzu
           that if he could stand, he would not walk, if he could sit, he would not stand, if he could fall asleep,
           he would not sit. The essential, the most essential, only the must would he do, because there is no
           madness in it.
               You do the nonessential, you keep on doing the nonessential. Look at your activities: ninety-nine
           percent are nonessential. You can drop them, you can save much energy, you can save much time.
           But you cannot drop them because you are afraid, you are scared of yourself. If there is no radio, no
           television, no newspaper, nobody to talk to, what will you do?

                I have heard about a priest who died. Of course, he expected to go to paradise, to heaven. He
           arrived there and everything was beautiful. The house he entered was one of the most wonderful ever
           dreamed of, palatial. And the moment a desire came, immediately a servant appeared. If he was
           hungry, a servant was there with the food, the most delicious he had ever tasted. If he was thirsty,
           even before the desire had become a thought, while it was just the feeling, a man would appear with
           drinks.
                So it continued and he was very happy for two or three days, and then he began to feel uneasy
           because a man has to do something, you cannot just sit in a chair. Only a man of Tao can just sit in a
           chair and go on sitting and sitting and sitting. You cannot.
                The priest became uneasy. For two or three days it is okay as a holiday, as a rest. He had been so
           active -- so much public service, mission, church, delivering sermons; he had been so involved with
           society and the community, so he rested. But how much can you rest? Unless your being is at rest,
           sooner or later the holiday ends, and you have to come back to the world. Uneasiness arose; he
           started feeling discomfort.
                Suddenly the servant appeared and asked, "What do you want? This feeling of yours is not a
           want, you are neither thirsty nor hungry, just uneasy. So what should I do?"
                The priest said, "I cannot sit here forever and forever, for eternity, I want some activity."
                The servant said, "That is impossible. All your desires will be fulfilled here by us, so what need
           is there for activity? There is no need, that is why it is not provided here."
                The priest became very uneasy and he said, "What type of heaven is this?"
                The servant replied, "Who said this is heaven? This is hell. Who told you this is heaven?"
                And this really was hell. Now he understood: without activity, this was hell. He must have gone
           mad sooner or later. No communication or talk, no social service to be done, no pagans to be
           converted to Christianity, no foolish people to be made wise -- what could he do?

              Only a man of Tao could have changed that hell into a heaven. A man of Tao, wherever he is, is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           at peace, at ease. Only the essential is done, and if you can do the essential for him, he is happy. The
           nonessential is dropped.
               You cannot drop the nonessential. Really, ninety-nine percent of your energy is wasted on the
           nonessential. The essential is not enough, and the mind always hankers for the nonessential, because
           the essential is so little, so small, it can be fulfilled easily. Then what will you do?
               People are not very interested in having good food. They are more interested in having a big car
           because good food can be attained very easily. Then what? People are not interested in having good
           healthy bodies. That can be attained very easily. They are interested in something which cannot be
           attained so easily, something impossible, and the nonessential is always the impossible. There are
           always bigger houses, bigger cars, they go on getting bigger and bigger and you are never allowed to
           rest.
               The whole world is trying to fulfill the nonessential. Ninety percent of industry is involved with
           the nonessential. Fifty percent of human labor is wasted on that which is not useful in any way. Fifty
           percent of industry is devoted to the feminine mind, rather, feminine body: designing new dresses
           every three months, designing new houses, clothes, powders, soaps, creams; fifty percent of industry
           is devoted to such nonsense. And humanity is starving, people are dying without food, and half of
           humanity is interested in the absolutely nonessential.
               To reach the moon is absolutely nonessential. If we were a little wiser we would not even think
           about it. It is absolutely foolish wasting as much money as could feed the whole earth. Wars are
           nonessential, but humanity is mad, and it needs wars more than food. It needs to go to the moon
           more than food, more than clothes, more than the essential, because the essential is not enough.
               And now science has created the greatest horror, and that horror is that now the essential can be
           fulfilled very easily. Within ten years, all humanity's needs can be fulfilled, this whole earth can be
           satisfied as far as the necessities are concerned. Then what? Then what will you do? You will feel in
           the same position as the priest. He thought that he was in heaven, and then he found that it was hell.
           Within ten years the whole earth can become a hell.
               The nonessential is needed for your madness to remain engaged. So moons are not enough, we
           will have to go further, we will have to go on creating the useless. It is needed. People need it to be
           occupied.
               A man of Tao is not a man of much activity. His actions are the most essential -- those which
           cannot be avoided. That which can be avoided, he avoids. He is so happy with himself there is no
           need to move in actions. His activity is like inactivity; he does without there being anybody doing.
               He is an empty boat, moving on the sea, not going anywhere.

              YET HE DOES NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO BE KIND AND GENTLE.


               Allow this point to penetrate deep into your heart. YET HE DOES NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO
           BE KIND AND GENTLE -- because if you know, you have missed the point; if you know that you
           are a simple man, you are not. This knowledge makes it complex. If you know that you are a man of
           religion, you are not, because this cunning mind which knows is still there.
               When you are gentle, and you don't know, when you are simple, and you are not aware of it, it
           has become your nature. When something is really natural you are not aware of it, but when
           something is imposed, you are aware of it. When somebody becomes rich, newly rich, he is aware of
           his house, of his swimming pool, of his riches, and you can see that he is not an aristocrat, because
           he is so concerned with show.
               A newly rich man ordered three swimming pools for his garden. They were made and he was
           showing them to a friend. The friend was a little puzzled. He said, "Three swimming pools? For
           what? One will do."
               The newly rich man said, "No, how can one do? One for hot baths, one for cold baths."
           His friend asked, "And the third?"
               He answered, "For those who cannot swim. So the third swimming pool is going to stay empty."

              You can see if a man has newly acquired wealth -- he will be showing it. A real aristocrat is one
           who has forgotten that he is rich. A man of Tao is the aristocrat of the inner world.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If a person shows his religion he is not yet really religious. The religion is still like a thorn, it is
           not natural, it hurts, he is eager to show it. If you want to show your simplicity what type of
           simplicity is this? If you exhibit your gentleness, then it is simply cunning, nothing gentle exists in it.
               A man of Tao is an aristocrat of the inner world. He is so attuned to it, there is no exhibition --
           not only to you, he himself is not aware of it. He does not know that he is wise, he does not know
           that he is innocent -- how can you know if you are innocent? Your knowledge will disturb the
           innocence.

               A follower of Hazrat Mohammed went with him to the mosque for early morning prayer. It was
           summer, and on the way back they saw many people still asleep in their houses or just on the street.
           It was early morning, a summer morning, and many people were still asleep. The man very
           arrogantly said to Hazrat Mohammed, "What will happen to these sinners? They have not been to the
           morning prayer."
               Today was the first time he himself had gone to prayer. Yesterday he was also asleep like these
           sinners. The newly rich man wanted to exhi-bit, to show off to Mohammed: "Mohammed Hazrat,
           what will happen to these sinners? They have not been to the morning prayer, they are still lazy and
           asleep."
               Mohammed stopped and said, "You go home, I will have to go back to the mosque again."
           The man said, "Why?"
               He replied, "My morning prayer is wasted because of you; keeping company with you has
           destroyed everything. I will have to do my prayer again. And as for you, remember please never to
           come again. It was better for you to be asleep like the others; at least they were not sinners then.
           Your prayer has done only one thing -- it has given you the key to condemn others."

               The so-called religious person is religious only to look at you with a condemning eye so he can
           say that you are sinners. Go to your saints, so-called saints, and look into their eyes. You will not
           find the innocence that should be there. You will find a calculating mind looking at you and thinking
           about hell: You will be thrown in hell and I will be in heaven, because I have been praying so much,
           five times a day, and I have been fasting so much. As if you can purchase heaven...! These are the
           coins -- fasting, prayer -- these are the coins one is trying to bargain with.
               If you see condemnation in the eyes of a saint, know well that he is a newly rich man; he is not
           yet an aristocrat of the inner world, he has not yet become one with it. He may know it -- but you
           know something only when it is separate from you.
               One thing has to be remembered here: because of this, self-knowledge is impossible. You cannot
           know the self, because whenever you know it, it is not the self, it is something else, something
           separate from you. The self is always the knower, never the known, so how can you know it? You
           cannot reduce it to an object.
               I can see you. How can I see myself? Then who will be the seer and who will be the seen? No,
           the self cannot be known in the same way that other things are known.
               Self-knowledge is not possible in the ordinary sense, because the knower always transcends,
           always goes beyond. Whatsoever it knows, it is not that. The Upanishads say: NETI NETI -- not this,
           not that. Whatsoever you know, you are not this; whatsoever you don't know, you are not that either.
           You are the one who knows, and this knower cannot be reduced to a known object.
               Self-knowledge is not possible. If your innocence comes out of your inner source you cannot
           know it. If you have imposed it from the outside you can know it; if it is just like a dress you have
           put on you know it, but it is not the very breath of your life. That innocence is cultivated, and a
           cultivated innocence is an ugly thing.
               A man of Tao does not know himself to be kind and gentle. He IS gentle, but he doesn't know; he
           is kind, but he doesn't know; he is love, but he doesn't know -- because the lover and the knower are
           not two, the gentleness, the kindness, the compassion and the knower, are not two. No, they cannot
           be divided into the known and the knower. This is the inner aristocracy: when you have become so
           rich you are not aware of it. When you are that rich, there is no need to exhibit it.
           I have heard:

              It happened once that Henry Ford came to England. At the airport inquiry office he asked for the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cheapest hotel in town. The clerk in the office looked -- the face was famous. Henry Ford was known
           all over the world. Just the day before there were big pictures of him in the newspapers saying that
           he was coming. And here he was, asking for the cheapest hotel, wearing a coat that looked as old as
           he himself.
               So the clerk said, "If I am not mistaken, you are Mr. Henry Ford. I remember well, I have seen
           your picture."
           The man said, "Yes."
               This puzzled the clerk very much, and he said, "You are asking for the cheapest hotel, wearing a
           coat that looks as old as you yourself. I have also seen your son coming here, and he always inquires
           about the best hotel, and he comes in the best of clothes."
               Henry Ford is reported to have said, "Yes, my son's behavior is exhibitionist, he is not yet
           attuned. There is no need for me to stay in a costly hotel; wherever I stay I am Henry Ford. Even in
           the cheapest hotel I am Henry Ford, it makes no difference. My son is still new, afraid of what
           people will think if he stays in a cheap hotel. And this coat, yes, this belonged to my father -- but it
           makes no difference, I don't need new clothes. I am Henry Ford, whatsoever the dress; even if I am
           standing naked, I am Henry Ford. It makes no difference at all."

               When you are really attuned, really rich in the inner world, you are not concerned with
           exhibition. When you first go to a temple, your prayer is a little louder than others. It has to be. You
           want to show off.
               The showmanship is part of the ego, what you show is not the problem. You show, you exhibit.
           Then the ego is there, the boat is not empty -- and a man of Tao is an empty boat. He is gentle, not
           aware; he is innocent, not knowing; he is wise, that's why he can move as a fool, not worried.
           Whatsoever he does makes no difference, his wisdom is intact, he can afford to be foolish. You
           cannot.
               You are always afraid that somebody may think you a fool. You are afraid that if others think
           you to be a fool, you will start suspecting it. If so many people think you a fool your self-confidence
           will be lost. And if everybody goes on repeating that you are a fool, sooner or later you will come to
           believe it.
               Only a wise man cannot be deceived, he can appear as a fool.

               I have heard about one wise man who was known as The Madman. Nobody knew anything else
           about him, his name or anything, he was just known as The Madman. He was a Jew, and Jews have
           created a few really wise men, they have something of the inner source. That is why Jesus could be
           born amongst them.
               This madman behaved in such a foolish way that the whole community became disturbed
           because nobody knew what he was going to do next. On the religious days, Yom Kippur or other
           festivals, the whole community was afraid, because it could not be predicted what this rabbi would
           do, how he would appear there, how he would behave. His prayers were also mad.
               Once he called the court, the Jewish court, all the ten judges of the court. The court came,
           because the rabbi called, and he said, "I have a case against God, so decide how to punish this fellow
           God. I will present all the arguments to prove that God is unjust and a criminal."
               The judges became very much afraid but they had to listen because he was the rabbi, the head of
           the temple. And he made out his case like a lawyer in court.
               He said, "God, you created the world, and now you send messengers telling us how to renounce
           it. What foolishness! You gave us desires and now all your teachers keep coming and saying: Be
           desireless. So what do you think you are doing? And if we have committed any sins it is really YOU
           who are the culprit, because why did you create desire?"
               What should the court decide? He was right, but the court decided that this man had gone
           completely mad and should be expelled from the temple.
               But this man is really telling the truth. He loves God so much that it is an I/thou relationship, so
           intimate. He asks, "What are you doing? Enough, now stop, no more fooling." He must have loved
           the divine so much that he could behave in that way.
               And it is said that God immediately stopped when he called. He had to listen to this man.
               And the angels asked, "Suddenly you stopped, what happened?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He said, "That madman is praying. I have to listen, because whatsoever he says is true, and he
           loves me so much that there is no need for formality...." In love, in hate, everything is permitted,
           everything is allowed.
                This madman was passing and a woman came to him. She asked, "I have been longing and
           longing for a child for forty years now. And if within three or four years a child does not come, then
           it will not be possible. So help me."
                The madman said, "I can help, because my mother had the same trouble. She waited and waited
           for forty years and no child came. Then she went to Baal Shem, a mystic; she told him, and he
           intervened. My mother gave him a beautiful cap. Baal Shem put the cap on his head, looked up and
           said to God, 'What are you doing? This is unjust. There is nothing wrong in the demand of this
           woman, so give her a child.' And after nine months, I was born."
                So the woman said, beaming and happy, "I will go home and I will bring you a more beautiful
           cap than you have ever seen. Then will the child be born to me?"
                Said the madman, "You have missed the point. My mother never knew the story. Your cap won't
           do, you have missed. You cannot imitate religion, you cannot imitate prayer. Once you imitate you
           have missed." So whenever people came to this madman, he would say, "Don't imitate, throw away
           all the scriptures."
                When this madman died he had all the books that had been written about him burned. And the
           last thing he did was to say to his disciples, "Go around the house and search, and tell me that
           nothing is left, so that I can die at ease. Not even a single letter written by me should be left;
           otherwise after I die people will start following, and when you follow, you miss." So everything was
           gathered and burned. Then he said, "Now I can die easily, I am not leaving any traces behind."

               This type of wise man is not afraid. How can a wise man be afraid of anybody? He can to all
           appearances be a fool, he need not exhibit his wisdom.
               Have you observed yourself? You are always trying to exhibit your wisdom, always in search of
           a victim to whom you can show your knowledge, just searching, hunting for somebody weaker than
           you -- then you will jump in and you will show your wisdom.
               A wise man need not be an exhibitionist. Whatsoever is, is. He is not aware of it, he is not in any
           hurry to show it. If you want to find it, you will have to make efforts. If you have to know whether
           he is gentle or not, that is going to be your discovery.

              HE DOES NOT STRUGGLE TO MAKE MONEY,
              AND HE DOES NOT MAKE A VIRTUE OUT OF POVERTY.


                Remember this. It is very easy to make money and it is also very easy to make a virtue of
           poverty. But these two types are not different. A man keeps on making money, and then suddenly he
           gets frustrated. He has achieved, and nothing is gained -- so he renounces. Then poverty becomes the
           virtue, then he lives the life of a poor man and then he says: This is the only real life, this is religious
           life. This man is the same, nothing has changed. The pendulum moved to the left but now has gone
           to the other extreme.

              HE DOES NOT STRUGGLE TO MAKE MONEY....


              This you will understand; the other part is more difficult.

              ...HE DOES NOT MAKE A VIRTUE OUT OF POVERTY.


               He is neither poor nor rich. He is not making any effort to make money, he is not making any
           effort to be poor -- whatever happens he allows it to happen. If a palace happens, he will be in the
           palace; if the palace disappears, he will not look for it. Whatever is happening, he will be with it, his
           bliss cannot be disturbed. He is not struggling for money, he is not struggling for poverty.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HE GOES HIS WAY WITHOUT RELYING ON OTHERS....

              This you can understand easily.



              HE GOES HIS WAY WITHOUT RELYING ON OTHERS,
              AND DOES NOT PRIDE HIMSELF ON WALKING ALONE.


               You depend on others, your wife, your children, your father, mother, friends, society; then
           suddenly you drop everything and escape to the Himalayas. Then you start priding yourself: I live
           alone, I don't need anybody, I am free of that world.
               Even then you are still not alone because your aloneness still depends on the world. How could
           you be alone if there was not a world to leave? How could you be alone if there was not a society to
           renounce? How could you be alone if there was not wife, children, family to leave behind? Your
           aloneness depends on them. How could you be poor if there was no money to be left? Your poverty
           depends on your riches.
               No, a perfect man, a man who is really a sage, the man of Tao, goes his way without relying on
           others. If you rely on others you will suffer, if you rely on others, you will always be in bondage,
           you will become dependent and weak. But that doesn't mean that you should pride yourself that you
           walk alone. Walk alone, but don't take pride in it. Then you can move in the world without being a
           part of it. Then you can be a husband without being a husband. Then you can possess without being
           possessed by your possessions. Then the world is there outside, but not within. Then you are there,
           but not corrupted by it.
               This is true loneliness -- moving in the world without being touched by it. But if you are proud,
           you have missed. If you think, "I have become somebody," the boat is not empty, and again you have
           fallen victim of the ego.

              THE MAN OF TAO REMAINS UNKNOWN.
              PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING.
              NO SELF IS TRUE SELF. AND THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY.


               Listen.... The man of Tao remains unknown. Not that nobody will know him, but it is up to you
           to discover him. He is not making any effort to be known. Effort to be known comes from the ego,
           because ego cannot exist when you are unknown, it exists only when you are known. It exists, feeds,
           when people look at you, when they pay attention to you, when you are somebody important,
           significant.
               But how can you be significant if nobody knows you? When the whole world knows you, then
           you are significant. That is why people are after fame so much, and if fame cannot be achieved then
           they will settle for being notorious -- but not for being unknown! If people cannot praise you then
           you will settle for being condemned, but you cannot bear that they should be indifferent to you.
               I have heard about a politician who once had a great following. Many people appreciated him --
           until he became powerful....
               When you are not in power you look very innocent, because when there is no power what can
           you do, how can you hide? So your real nature comes to be known only when you get power.
               Look at the Gandhians in India before Independence -- so saintly. And now everything has gone
           to the opposite extreme. Now they are the most corrupt. What happened? A simple law: when they
           were not in power they were like doves, innocent; when power came they became like serpents,
           cunning, corrupted, exploiting.
               Your real nature is known only when you have power. When you CAN harm, then it is known
           whether you will harm or not.
               Lord Acton said: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No, that is not right.
           Power never corrupts, it only brings corruption out. How can power corrupt? You were already
           corrupt but there was no outlet for it. You were already ugly but you were standing in darkness. Now
           you are standing in light, so will you say that light makes you ugly? No, light only reveals.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               ...This politician was very much appreciated and loved, he had a charismatic personality. Then he
           came to power and everybody was against him. He was thrown out, his name became notorious, he
           was condemned everywhere, so he had to leave his town because the people would not allow him to
           live there, he had done such harm.
               So with his wife he was looking for a new residence in a new town. He traveled to many towns
           just to look and feel where to stay. And then in one town people started throwing stones at him. He
           said, "This will be the right place, we should choose this town."
               The wife said, "Are you mad? Have you gone crazy? The people are throwing stones."
               The politician said, "At least they are not indifferent."

                Indifference hurts you most because the ego cannot exist in indifference. With either for me or
           against me the ego can exist, but don't be indifferent to me because then how can I exist, how can the
           ego exist? The man of Tao remains unknown. That means that he is not seeking people to know him.
           If they want to know, they should seek him.

              PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING.

              This is one of the basics of Taoist life.

               Perfect virtue produces nothing, because when you are perfectly virtuous nothing is needed.
           When you are perfectly virtuous there is no desire, there is no motivation. You are perfect. How can
           perfection move? Only imperfection moves. Only imperfection desires to produce something. So a
           perfect artist never paints a picture, and a perfect musician throws away his sitar. A perfect archer
           breaks his bow and throws it away, and a perfect man like Buddha is absolutely useless. What has
           Buddha produced -- poetry, a sculpture, a painting, a society? He seems to be absolutely
           unproductive, he has done nothing.
               PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING, because it needs nothing. Production comes out of
           desire, production comes because you are imperfect. You create something as a substitute because
           you feel unfulfilled. When you are absolutely fulfilled, why should you create, how can you create?
           Then you yourself have become the glory of creation, then the inner being itself is so perfect,
           nothing is needed.
               PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING. If the world is virtuous, all utilitarian goals will
           be lost. If the world is really virtuous there will be play and no production. Then the whole thing will
           just become a game. You enjoy it, but you don't need it. A perfect sage is absolutely useless.

              NO SELF IS TRUE SELF.


              When you feel that you are not, for the first time you are, because the self is nothing but a
           synonym for the ego. That is why Buddha, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, they all say there is no self, no
           ATMAN. Not that there is not -- they say there is no atman, there is no self, because your ego is so
           cunning it can hide behind it. You can say, AHAM BRAHMASMI, I am Brahman...ANA'L HAQ, I
           am God, and the ego can hide behind it.
              Buddha says there is nobody to claim, there is no self within you. Buddha says you are like the
           onion: you peel, you go on peeling the layers, and finally nothing remains. Your mind is like an
           onion, go on peeling. This is what meditation is -- go on peeling, go on peeling, and a moment
           comes when nothing is left. That nothingness is your true self. NO SELF IS TRUE SELF. When the
           boat is empty then only for the first time you are in the boat.

              AND THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY.


              It happened that Buddha renounced the kingdom. Then he went searching from one forest to
           another, from one ashram to another, from one master to another, walking. He had never walked
           before without shoes but now he was just a beggar. He was passing along the bank of a river,
           walking on the sand, and his footprints were left.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               While resting in the shade of a tree an astrologer saw him. The astrologer was returning from
           Kashi, from the seat of learning. He had become proficient in astrology, had become perfect, and
           now that he had become a great doctor of astrology he was coming back to his home town to
           practice. He looked at the footprint on the wet sand and he became disturbed: These footprints could
           not belong to an ordinary man walking on the sand without shoes during such a hot summer, at
           noontime! These feet belong to a great emperor, a CHAKRAVARTIN. A chakravartin is the
           emperor who rules the whole world. All the symbols were there showing that this man was a
           chakravartin, an emperor of the whole world of the six continents. And why should a chakravartin
           walk barefoot on the sand on such a hot summer afternoon? It was impossible!
               The astrologer was carrying his most valuable books. He thought, "If this is possible I should
           throw these books in the river and forget astrology forever, because this is absurd. It is very, very
           difficult to find a man who has the feet of a chakravartin. Once in millions of years a man becomes a
           chakravartin, and what is this chakravartin doing here?"
               So he followed the footprints to their source and he looked at Buddha who was sitting resting
           under a tree with closed eyes, and he became more disturbed. This astrologer became absolutely
           disturbed because the face was also the face of a chakravartin. But the man looked like a beggar,
           with his begging bowl just there by his side, with torn clothes. But the face looked like that of a
           chakravartin, so what should he do?
               He said, "I am very disturbed, put me at ease. There is only one question I have to ask. I have
           seen and studied your footprints. They should belong to a chakravartin, to a great emperor who rules
           over all the world, the whole earth is his kingdom -- and you are a beggar. So what should I do?
           Should I throw away all my astrology books? My twelve years of effort in Kashi have been wasted
           and those people there are fools. I have wasted the most important part of my life, so put me at ease.
           Tell me, what should I do?"
               Buddha said, "You need not worry. This will not happen again. You take your books, go to the
           town, start your practice and don't bother about me. I was born to be a chakravartin. These footprints
           carry my past."
               All footprints carry your past -- the lines on your hand, your palm, carry your past. That is why
           astrology, palmistry, is always true about the past, never so true about the future, and absolutely
           untrue about a buddha, because one who throws off his whole past moves into the unknown -- you
           cannot predict his future.
               Buddha said, "You will not come to such a troublesome man again. Don't you worry, this will
           not happen again, take it as an exception."
               But the astrologer said, "A few more questions. I would like to know who you are: am I really
           seeing a dream? A chakravartin sitting like a beggar? Who are you? Are you an emperor in
           disguise?"
           Buddha said, "No."
               Then the astrologer asked, "But your face looks so beautiful, so calm, so filled with inner silence.
           Who are you? Are you an angel from paradise?"
           Buddha said, "No."
               The astrologer asked one more question, saying, "It seems impolite to ask, but you have created
           the desire and the urge. Are you a human being? If you are not an emperor, a chakravartin, if you are
           not a DEVA from paradise, are you a human being?"
               And Buddha said, "No, I am nobody. I don't belong to any form, to any name."
               The astrologer said, "You have disturbed me even more now. What do you mean?"
           This is what Buddha meant:

              AND THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY.


               You can be somebody, but you cannot be the greatest. There is always someone greater
           somewhere in the world. And who is somebody? You are the measure. You say that this man is great
           -- but who is the measure? You.
               The spoon is the measure of the ocean. You say, "This man is great." You say, and many like you
           say, "This man is great" -- and he becomes great because of you!
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               No. In this world, whoever is somebody cannot be the greatest, because the ocean cannot be
           measured by spoons. And you are all teaspoons measuring the ocean. No, it is not possible.
               So the really greatest will be nobody amongst you. What does it mean when Chuang Tzu says,
           "The greatest will be nobody"? It means: it will be immeasurable. You cannot measure, you cannot
           label, you cannot categorize, you cannot say, "Who is this?" He simply escapes measurement. He
           simply goes beyond and beyond and beyond and the teaspoon falls to the ground.
           Enough for today.




                                               The Empty Boat
                                                  Chapter #3
                                   Chapter title: The Owl and the Phoenix
           12 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407120
              ShortTitle: BOAT03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 85 mins




              HUI TZU WAS PRIME MINISTER OF LIANG.
              HE HAD WHAT HE BELIEVED TO BE INSIDE INFORMATION
              THAT CHUANG TZU COVETED HIS POST,
              AND WAS PLOTTING TO SUPPLANT HIM.



              WHEN CHUANG TZU CAME TO VISIT LIANG
              THE PRIME MINISTER SENT OUT POLICE TO ARREST HIM,
              BUT ALTHOUGH THEY SEARCHED FOR THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS
              THEY COULD NOT FIND HIM.
              MEANWHILE, CHUANG TZU PRESENTED HIMSELF TO HUI TZU
              OF HIS OWN ACCORD, AND SAID:
              "HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE BIRD
              THAT LIVES IN THE SOUTH --
              THE PHOENIX THAT NEVER GROWS OLD?

              "THIS UNDYING PHOENIX RISES OUT OF THE SOUTH SEA
              AND FLIES TO THE SEA OF THE NORTH,
              NEVER ALIGHTING EXCEPT ON CERTAIN SACRED TREES.
              HE WILL TOUCH NO FOOD
              BUT THE MOST EXQUISITE RARE FRUIT,
              AND HE DRINKS ONLY FROM THE CLEAREST SPRINGS.

              "ONCE AN OWL
              CHEWING AN ALREADY HALF-DECAYED DEAD RAT
              SAW THE PHOENIX FLY OVER. "LOOKING UP HE SCREECHED WITH ALARM
              AND CLUTCHED THE DEAD RAT TO HIMSELF
              IN FEAR AND DISMAY.

              "PRIME MINISTER,
              WHY ARE YOU SO FRANTIC,
              CLINGING TO YOUR MINISTRY
              AND SCREECHING AT ME IN DISMAY?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The religious mind is basically nonambitious. If there is any sort of ambition, then to be religious
           is impossible, because only a superior man can become religious. Ambition implies inferiority. Try
           to understand this because it is one of the basic laws. Without under-standing it you can go to
           temples, you can go to the Himalayas, you can pray and you can meditate, but everything will be in
           vain. You will be simply wasting your life if you have not understood whether the nature of your
           mind is ambitious or nonambitious. Your whole search will be futile, because ambition can never
           lead to the divine. Only non-ambition can become the door.
               Modern psychology also agrees with Chuang Tzu, with Lao Tzu, with Buddha, with all those
           who have known, that inferiority creates ambition. Hence politicians come from the worst stuff in
           humanity. All politicians are SUDRAS, untouchables. It cannot be otherwise, because whenever the
           mind feels the inferiority complex it tries to become superior -- the opposite is born. When you feel
           ugly, you try to be beautiful. If you are beautiful, then it is no effort.
               So look at ugly women and you will come to know the nature of the politician. An ugly woman
           always tries to hide the ugliness, always tries to be beautiful. At least the face, the painted face, the
           clothes, the ornaments, all belong to the ugly. The ugliness has somehow to be overcome and you
           have to create the opposite to hide it, to escape from it. A really beautiful woman will not worry, she
           will not even be conscious of her beauty. And only an unconscious beauty is beautiful. When you
           become conscious, the ugliness has entered.
               When you feel that you are inferior, when you compare yourself with others and see that they are
           superior to you, what will you do? The ego feels hurt -- you are inferior. You just cannot accept it, so
           you have to deceive yourself and others.
               How do you deceive? There are two ways. One is to go mad. Then you can declare that you are
           Alexander, Hitler, Nixon. Then it comes easily because then you are not bothered by what others
           say. Go to the madhouses all over the world and there you will find all the great characters of
           history, still living!
               While Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was alive, at least one dozen people in India believed that they
           were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Once he went to a madhouse to inaugurate a new department. And
           the madhouse authorities had arranged for a few people to be released by him, because now they had
           become healthy and normal. The first person was brought to him and introduced, so Nehru
           introduced himself to the madman who had become more normal and said, "I am Pandit Jawaharlal
           Nehru, prime minister of India. "
               The madman laughed and said, "Don't worry. Be here for three years and you will become as
           normal as I have become. Three years ago when I first came to this madhouse that is who I believed
           I was -- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India. But they have cured me completely, so
           don't worry."
               This has happened in many ways. Lloyd George was prime minister of England. In the war days,
           at six o'clock in the evening there used to be a blackout and nobody could leave their homes. All
           traffic stopped, lights were not allowed, and everyone had to be in a shelter of some kind. Lloyd
           George was taking his usual evening walk, and he forgot.
               Suddenly the siren went off. It was six o'clock and his house was at least a mile's walk away. So
           he knocked on the nearest door and said to the man who opened it, "Let me rest here for the night;
           otherwise the police will catch me. I am Lloyd George, the prime minister. "
               The man suddenly grabbed him and said, "Come in. This is the right place for you. We have
           three Lloyd Georges already!" It was a madhouse.
               Lloyd George tried to convince the man that he was the real one. But the man said, "They all
           argue, so don't bother to try, just come in or I will beat you."
               So Lloyd George had to keep quiet all night or he really would have been beaten. How could he
           convince them? There were already three Lloyd Georges and they had all tried to prove it.
               One way is to go mad -- you suddenly declare that you are superior, the most superior. Another
           way is to go politician. Either go mad or go politician. Through politics you cannot suddenly declare
           -- you have to prove that you really are the prime minister or the president. So it is the long way
           around. Madness is a shortcut to importance; politics is the long way. But they reach the same goal.
               And if the world is to become a sane, normal world, then two types of persons have to be cured:
           madmen and politicians. Both are ill. One has gone the long route round, one has taken the shortcut.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And remember well that the madman is less harmful than the politician, because he simply declares
           his superiority, he doesn't bother to prove it; the politician bothers to prove it -- and the proof is very
           costly.
               What was Hitler trying to prove? That he was the most superior, the suprememost Aryan. It
           would have been better for the world if he had gone mad, used the shortcut; then there would have
           been no second world war.
               Politicians are more dangerous because they are madmen with proofs. They are madmen
           working, reaching, achieving a goal, just to hide the inferiority in them. Whenever somebody feels
           inferior, he has to prove or simply hypnotize himself into believing that he is not inferior. You
           cannot be religious if you are mad. Not mad in the way a Saint Francis is mad -- that madness comes
           through ecstasy, this madness comes through inferiority. The madness of a Saint Francis or a Chuang
           Tzu comes out of superiority, comes out of the heart, comes out of the original source. This other
           madness comes out of the ego. The soul is always superior and the ego is always inferior.
               So an egotist has to become a politician somehow or other -- whichever profession he chooses,
           through it he will be a politician.
               What do I mean when I say politics? I mean the conflict between egos, the struggle to survive.
           When your ego and my ego are in conflict then we are politicians. When I am not in conflict with
           anybody's ego, I am a religious man. When I don't try to be superior, I am superior. But this
           superiority is not in opposition to inferiority, it is absence of the feeling of inferiority.
               This distinction has to be remembered. There are two types of superiority. In one you have just
           hidden the inferiority, covered it, you are using a mask -- behind the mask the inferiority is there.
           Your superiority is just superficial, deep down you remain inferior, and because you go on feeling it
           you have to carry this mask of superiority, of beauty. Because you are aware that you are ugly you
           have to contrive to be beautiful, you have to exhibit, you have to show a false face. This is one type
           of superiority; it is not real.
               There is another type of superiority, and that superiority is the absence of inferiority, not the
           opposite to it. You simply don't compare. When you don't compare, how can you be inferior? Look:
           if you are the only one on earth and there is nobody else, will you be inferior? With whom will you
           compare yourself? Relative to what? If you are alone what will you be, inferior or superior? You will
           be neither. You cannot be inferior because no one is above you; you cannot declare yourself superior
           because there is no one beneath you. You will be neither superior nor inferior -- and I say to you that
           this is the superiority of the soul. It never compares. Compare, and the inferiority arises. Don't
           compare, and you simply are -- unique.
               A religious man is superior in the sense that the inferiority has disappeared. A politician is
           superior in the sense that he has overcome his inferiority. It is hidden there, it is still inside. He is
           just using the garb, the face, the mask of a superior man.
               When you compare, you miss; then you will always be looking at others. And no two persons are
           the same, they cannot be. Every individual is unique and every individual is superior, but this
           superiority is not comparable. You are superior because you cannot be anything else. Superiority is
           just your nature. That tree is superior, that rock is also superior. The whole of existence is divine, so
           how can anything here be inferior? It is God, overflowing in millions of ways. Somewhere God has
           become a tree, somewhere God has become a rock, somewhere God has become a bird, somewhere
           God has become you. And only God exists, so there can be no comparison. God is superior, but not
           to anything -- because only God is, and there cannot be any inferiority.
               A religious man comes to experience his uniqueness, comes to experience his divineness, and
           through his experience of divineness comes to realize the divineness of all. This is nonpolitical
           because now there is no ambition, you have nothing to prove, you are already proved; you have
           nothing to declare, you are already declared. Your very being is the proof. You are...it is enough.
           Nothing else is needed.
               Hence, remember this as the basic law. If in religion also you go on comparing, you are in
           politics, not in religion. That is why all religions have become political. They use religious
           terminology, but hidden behind is politics. What is Islam? What is Hinduism? What is Christian-ity?
           They are all political groups, political organizations, doing politics in the name of religion.
               When you go to the temple to pray, do you simply pray or do you compare? If someone else is
           praying there, does comparison arise in your mind? Do you wonder if he is doing better than you, or
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           if you are doing better than him? Then the temple is there no more. The temple has disappeared, it
           has become politics.
               In religion comparison is not possible; you simply pray, and prayer becomes your inner being. It
           is not something outward to be compared. This incomparable prayer, incomparable meditation, will
           lead you to the intrinsic superiority of all existence.
               Buddha says: Don't be ambitious, because through ambition you will remain inferior always. Be
           nonambitious and attain to your intrinsic superiority. It is intrinsic. It doesn't have to be proved, or
           achieved, you already have it, you have got it. It is already there -- it has always been with you and it
           will always remain with you. Your very being is sup-erior but you don't know what being is there.
           You don't know who you are. Hence so much effort in seeking your identity, in searching, in proving
           that you are superior to others. You don't know who you are.
               Once you know, then there is no problem. You are already superior. And it is not only you that is
           superior -- everything is superior. The whole of existence is superior without anything being inferior,
           because God is one, existence is one. Neither the inferior nor the superior can exist. The
           nonambitious mind comes to realize this.
               Now let us take Chuang Tzu's sentences. This beautiful incident really happened. Chuang Tzu
           was on his way to the capital and the prime minister became afraid. He must have heard the news
           that Chuang Tzu was coming through the secret police, the cid. And politicians are always afraid,
           because everybody is their enemy, even friends are enemies, and one has to protect oneself from
           friends because they too are trying to pull you down.
               Remember, nobody is a friend. In politics, everybody is an enemy. Friendship is just a facade. In
           religion there is no one who is an enemy. In religion there cannot be any enemy; in politics there
           cannot be any friend.
               The prime minister became afraid because Chuang Tzu was coming. Chuang Tzu's superiority
           was such that the prime minister thought that he might try to become prime minister. It was an
           uneasy situation. And of course Chuang Tzu WAS superior; not superior in comparison to anybody
           else, he was simply superior. It was intrinsic.
               When a man like Chuang Tzu moves, he is king; whether he is living like a beggar or not, it
           makes no difference. He is a king wherever he moves. Kingship is not something external to him, it
           is something internal.
               A begging monk from India went to America at the beginning of this century; his name was
           Ramateertha. He used to call himself The Emperor. The president of America came to see him, and
           looked astonished. He was just a beggar! The president asked, "I cannot understand: why do you call
           yourself The Emperor? You look like a beggar. You have even written a book called Six Orders of
           Emperor Ram. Why?"
               Ramateertha laughed and said, "Look within me, my kingdom belongs to the inner world. Look
           in me. I AM an emperor. My kingdom is not of this world."
               Because of this, Jesus was crucified. He was always saying, "I am the king." He was
           misunderstood. The man who was the king, Herod, became alert. The viceroy, Pontius Pilate,
           thought that Jesus was dangerous, because he talked about the kingdom and the king, and he had
           declared, "I am the king of the Jews." He was misunderstood. He was talking of a different type of
           kingdom which is not of this world.
               When he was being crucified the soldiers poked fun at him, threw stones and shoes at him, and
           just to mock him, put a crown of thorns on his head with the words: king of the Jews. And when they
           were throwing stones and shoes at him they were saying, "Now, tell us something about the
           kingdom, say something, you king of the Jews!"
               He was talking of some other kingdom, not of this world; that kingdom is not without, that
           kingdom is within. But whenever a man like Jesus walks, he is the emperor. He cannot help it. He is
           not in competition with anybody, he is not hankering for any crown of this world, but wherever he
           goes ambitious people become afraid, politicians become afraid. This man is dangerous, because the
           very face, the eyes, the way he walks, show that he is an emperor. He need not prove it, he is the
           proof. He need not utter it, need not say it.
               So when the prime minister heard through the secret police that Chuang Tzu was coming, he
           thought he must be coming to the capital to supplant him; otherwise, why come? People only came
           to the capital for that. One never goes to Delhi for anything else. People come to the capitals because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of ambition, in search of ego, identity. Why should he come -- a fakir, a beggar? What is the need for
           him to come to the capital? He must be coming to take my seat, my chair. He must be coming to the
           king to say, "I am the right man. Make me prime minister and I will put every wrong right. I will
           solve all your problems."
               And the man had a glory around him, a charisma. The prime minister became afraid. Prime
           ministers are always inferior. Deep down the inferiority complex is there, like a disease, like a worm
           eating the heart, always afraid of the superior.

              HUI TZU WAS PRIME MINISTER OF LIANG.
              HE HAD WHAT HE BELIEVED TO BE INSIDE INFORMATION
              THAT CHUANG TZU COVETED HIS POST,
              AND WAS PLOTTING TO SUPPLANT HIM.


               Politicians cannot think otherwise. The first thing to be understood is that what you are is what
           you think of others. Your desires, your own ambitions give you the pattern. If you are after money
           you think that everyone is after money. If you are a thief you keep checking your pocket: that is how
           you show that you are a thief. Your inner desire is the language of your understanding. Politicians
           always think in terms of plots, conspiracies: Somebody is going to supplant me, somebody wants to
           get rid of me.... Because that is what they have done, that is what they have been doing all their lives,
           plotting. Politicians are conspirators. That is their language. And you look at others through your
           mind, you project onto others things which are hidden deep within you. Hui Tzu thought, "This
           Chuang Tzu is plotting to supplant me. "
               When Chuang Tzu came to visit him, the prime minister sent out police to arrest him. But
           although they searched for three days and nights, they could not find him. This is beautiful!
               The police can only find thieves -- they understand each other. The mind of the policeman and
           the mind of a thief are not different -- thieves in the service of the government are the police. Their
           mind, their way of thinking is the same, only their masters are different. A thief is in his own service,
           a policeman is in the service of the state -- but both are thieves. That is why policemen can catch
           thieves. If you send a sadhu to find a thief, he won't find him, because he will look at others through
           his mind.

               A rabbi was walking past a young man during a religious festival. The young man was smoking,
           and smoking was forbidden on that day. So the rabbi stopped and asked him, "Don't you know,
           young man, that this is a religious day, and you should not be smoking?"
               The young man said, "Yes, I know that this is a religious day." Still he continued smoking -- not
           only that, he blew smoke into the rabbi's face.
               The rabbi asked, "And don't you know that smoking is forbidden?"
               The young man said arrogantly, "Yes, I know it is forbidden." And he continued.
               The rabbi looked at the sky and said, "Father, this young man is beautiful. He may be breaking
           the law, but nobody can force him to lie. He is a truthful man. He says: Yes, I know this is a religious
           day, and yes, I know it is forbidden. Remember on the day of judgment, that this young man could
           not be forced to lie."
               This is a beautiful rabbi. This is the mind of a sadhu. He cannot see wrong, he always sees right.

               The police could not find Chuang Tzu, it was impossible. They could have found him if he had
           been an ambitious man, if he had been plotting, if he were thinking in terms of politics -- then he
           could have been caught. The police must have looked in places where he was not, and their paths
           must have crossed many times. But he was a beggar, a nonambitious man. He was not plotting. He
           had no mind for plots, he was like the breeze. The police searched and searched for many days and
           couldn't find him.
               You can find only that which you are. You always find yourself in others, because others are just
           mirrors. To catch Chuang Tzu, a Lao Tzu was needed. Nobody else could catch him, for who could
           understand him? A Buddha was needed; Buddha would have guessed where he was. But a
           policeman? -- impossible! Only if he were a thief would it be possible. Look at the policeman, the
           way he is, the way he talks, the dirty language he uses; it is even more vulgar than thieves' language.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The policeman has to be more vulgar than the thief, otherwise thieves would win.

               Once a man was caught by the police and the magistrate asked, "Tell me, when you were caught,
           what did the policeman say to you?"
               The man said, "Can I repeat the same vulgar language that he used here in court? Will you not
           feel offended? It might shock you."
               The magistrate said, "Leave out the vulgar language but tell us what he said."
               The man thought and said, "Then...the policeman said nothing."

               The police came back to Hui Tzu and reported that they couldn't find Chuang Tzu. There was no
           such man.
               They must have had a picture, some way of identifying him, some idea of how to find him, catch
           him, his type. But Chuang Tzu has no identity, he has no face. Moment to moment he is a flow, a
           liquidity. Moment to moment he reflects, responds to existence. He has no fixed abode, he is
           homeless, faceless. He has no name. He is not a past, he is always a present, and all photographs
           belong to the past.
               It is beautiful and meaningful. Although it looks absurd, it is said that you cannot photograph a
           man like Buddha. Not that you cannot photograph him -- but the moment the photograph is there,
           Buddha has moved. So a photograph is always of the past and never of the present. You cannot catch
           Buddha's present face. The moment you catch it, it has passed. The moment you understand, it is
           already gone.
               One of the names of Buddha is Tathagata. This word is really wonderful; it means, just like the
           wind he came and he is gone. Thus came like the wind and thus gone. You cannot photograph a
           wind, a breeze. Before you have caught it, it has already gone, it is there no longer.
               Chuang Tzu could not be found because the police were searching for his past and he lived in the
           present. He was a being, not a mind. Mind can be caught but being cannot be caught. There are no
           nets. Mind can be caught very easily, and you are all caught in some way or other. Because you have
           a mind, a wife, a husband will catch you; a shop, a treasure, a post, anything will catch you. There
           are nets, millions of nets. And you cannot be free unless you are free of the mind. You will be caught
           again and again. If you leave this wife, another woman will catch you immediately. You cannot
           escape. You can escape this woman, but you cannot escape women. You can escape this man but
           where will you go? No sooner have you left one than another has come into your life. You can leave
           this town, but where will you go? Another town will catch you. You can leave this desire but another
           will become the bondage. Mind is always in bondage, it is already caught. When you drop the mind
           then the police cannot catch you.
               This Chuang Tzu was without mind. He was a mindless beggar, or an emperor. It means the
           same. He could not be caught.

              WHEN CHUANG TZU CAME TO VISIT LIANG
              THE PRIME MINISTER SENT THE POLICE OUT TO ARREST HIM,
              BUT ALTHOUGH THEY SEARCHED FOR THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS,
              THEY COULD NOT FIND HIM.


               Meanwhile, on the third or fourth day Chuang Tzu of his own accord appeared before Hui Tzu
           and said, "The type of man that I, Chuang Tzu, am, cannot be caught. He always appears of his own
           accord. It is his freedom. You cannot catch him, you can only invite him. It is his freedom to appear
           or not."
               When there is mind, you are always caught. The mind forces you, you are its prisoner. When
           there is no-mind you are free: you can appear, you can disappear of your own accord. It is your own
           freedom.
               If I am speaking to you it is not because you have asked a question, it is of my own accord. If I
           am working with you it is not because of you, but of my own accord. When there is no-mind there is
           freedom. Mind is the basis of all slavery.
               Chuang Tzu appeared of his own accord and told a beautiful parable. Listen from the very
           deepest core of your heart.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE BIRD
           THAT LIVES IN THE SOUTH --
           THE PHOENIX -- a mythical bird --
              THAT NEVER GROWS OLD?"


               A Chinese myth, it is beautiful and carries much meaning. Myth is not truth, but it is truer than
           any truth. Myth is a parable, it indicates something which cannot be indicated otherwise. Only
           through a par-able, through poetry, can it be said. Myth is poetry, it is not a description. It indicates
           the truth, not an event in the outer world; it belongs to the inner.

           "HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE BIRD
           THAT LIVES IN THE SOUTH?"

                To China, India is the south, and that bird lives here. It is said that when Lao Tzu disappeared, he
           disappeared into the south. They don't know when he died...he never died. Such people never die,
           they simply go to the south -- they disappear into India.
                It is said that Bodhidharma came from the south. He left India, and searched for the disciple to
           whom he was to transmit the treasure of Buddha. After nine years waiting, he was able to transmit it
           and it is said that then he disappeared again into the south. India is the south for China. Really, India
           is the source of all myth; not a single myth exists in the whole world which has not arisen here.
                Science arose out of the Greek mind, myth out of the Indian mind. And there are only two ways
           of looking at the world: one is science, the other is religion. If you look at the world through science,
           it is looking through analysis, mathematics, logic.
                Athens, the Greek mind, gave science to the world, the Socratic method of analysis, logic and
           doubt. Religion is a totally different pattern of looking at the world. It looks at the world through
           poetry, through myth, through love. Of course, it is romantic. It cannot give you facts, it will only
           give you fictions. But I say fictions are more factual than any fact, because they give you the
           innermost core, they are not concerned with the outer event. Hence, India has no history. It has only
           myth, Puranas, no Itihas, no history.
                Rama is not an historical person. He may or may not have been, it cannot be proved. Krishna is a
           myth, not an historical fact. Maybe he was, maybe he was not. But India is not bothered whether
           Krishna and Rama are historical. They are meaningful, they are great epic poems. And history is
           meaningless for India because history contains only bare facts, it never reveals the innermost core.
           We are concerned with the innermost core, the center of the wheel. The wheel keeps on moving, that
           is history, but the center of the wheel, which never moves, is the myth.
           Said Chuang Tzu:

           "HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE BIRD
           THAT LIVES IN THE SOUTH --
           THE PHOENIX THAT NEVER GROWS OLD?"

               All that is born grows old. History cannot believe in this bird, because history means the
           beginning and the end, history means the span between birth and death. And the span between the
           birthless and the deathless is myth.
               Rama is never born and never dies. Krishna is never born and never dies. They are always there.
           Myth is not concerned with time, it is concerned with eternity. History changes with the times, myth
           is always relevant. No, myth can never be out of date. Newspaper is history, and yesterday's
           newspaper is already out of date. Rama is not part of the newspaper, he is not news, and he will
           never be out of date. He is always in the present, always meaningful, relevant. History keeps
           changing; Rama remains in the center of the wheel, unmoving.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

           "...THAT LIVES IN THE SOUTH --
           THE PHOENIX THAT NEVER GROWS OLD?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Have you ever seen a picture of Rama or Krishna which belongs to their old age? They are
           always young, without even a beard or mustache. Have you ever seen a picture of Rama bearded?
           Unless he had some hormonal defect it must have grown; if he was really a man -- and he was -- then
           the beard must have grown. If Rama was historical, then the beard would have been there; but we
           have pictured him beardless, because the moment the beard grows you have started becoming old.
           Sooner or later it will turn white. Death is coming near and we cannot bear to think of Rama dead, so
           we have washed his face completely clean of any sign of death. And this is not only so with Rama;
           the twenty-four TIRTHANKARAS of the Jainas are all beardless, no mustaches. Buddha and all the
           AVATARS of the Hindus had no beards, no mustaches. It is just to indicate their eternal youth, the
           eternity, the timelessness, the far-awayness.

           "...THE PHOENIX THAT NEVER GROWS OLD."

               There is time -- in time everything changes -- and there is eternity. In eternity nothing changes.
           History belongs to time, myth belongs to eternity. Science belongs to time, religion belongs to the
           nontemporal, the eternal.
               In you also, both exist -- time and eternity. On your surface the wheel, time: you were born, you
           will die, but this is only on the surface. You are young, you will become old. You are healthy, you
           will be ill. Now you are full of life, sooner or later everything will ebb, death will penetrate you. But
           this is only on the surface, the wheel of history. Deep down right now in you the eternity exists, the
           timeless exists. There nothing grows old -- the phoenix, the south, the India, the eternal. Nothing
           grows old, nothing changes, everything is unmoving. That south is within you.
               That is why I keep saying that India is not part of geography, it is not part of history, it is part of
           an inner map. It doesn't exist in Delhi, it never existed there. Politicians don't belong to it; it doesn't
           belong to politics. It is the inner. It exists everywhere.
               Wherever a man comes deep down into himself he reaches India. That is the reason for the
           eternal attraction, the magnetism, of India. Whenever a person becomes uneasy with his life, he
           moves towards India. This is just symbolic. Through physical movement you will not find India. A
           different movement is needed, where you start moving from the outer to the inner, to the south, to
           the land of myth, and the deathless, ageless phoenix -- THE PHOENIX THAT NEVER GROWS
           OLD.

           "THIS UNDYING PHOENIX RISES OUT OF THE SOUTH SEA
           AND FLIES TO THE SEAS OF THE NORTH,
           NEVER ALIGHTING EXCEPT ON CERTAIN SACRED TREES.
           HE WILL TOUCH NO FOOD
           BUT THE MOST EXQUISITE RARE FRUIT,
           AND HE DRINKS ONLY FROM THE CLEAREST SPRINGS."

              This soul, this innermost core of your being, never alighting except on certain sacred trees, this
           inner bird, this is your being. It alights only on certain sacred trees.

           "HE WILL TOUCH NO FOOD
           BUT THE MOST EXQUISITE RARE FRUIT,
           AND HE DRINKS ONLY FROM THE CLEAREST SPRINGS.

           "ONCE AN OWL
           CHEWING AN ALREADY HALF-DECAYED DEAD RAT
           SAW THE PHOENIX FLY OVER.
           LOOKING UP HE SCREECHED WITH ALARM
           AND CLUTCHED THE DEAD RAT TO HIMSELF
           IN FEAR AND DISMAY."

              Chuang Tzu is saying: I am the phoenix, and you are just an owl with an already dead rat,
           chewing it. And you are alarmed that I am coming to supplant you. Your position, your power is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing to me but a dead rat. This is no food for me. Ambition is not a way for life, it is only for
           those who are already dead. I have looked into ambition, and I have found it useless.

               Once a woman came wailing and weeping to a rabbi, but the rabbi was at prayer. So she said to
           the secretary, "Go in, and even if his prayer has to be interrupted, interrupt. My husband has left me.
           I want the rabbi to pray for my husband to come back."
               The secretary went in and interrupted the prayer. The rabbi said, "Tell her, don't worry, her
           husband will be back soon."
               The secretary went back to the woman and said, "Don't worry, don't be sad. The rabbi says that
           your husband will come back soon. Go home and be at ease."
               Happy, the woman left, saying, "God will reward your rabbi a million times over, he is so kind."
               But once the woman had left, the secretary became sad, and told someone who was standing
           there that this was not going to help. Her husband cannot come back, poor woman, and she left here
           so happy.
               The bystander said, "But why? Don't you believe in your rabbi and his prayer?"
               The secretary said, "Of course I believe in my rabbi and I believe in his prayer. But he has only
           seen the woman's petition, I have seen her face. Her husband cannot EVER come back."

               One who has seen the face of ambition, one who has seen the face of desire, one who has seen
           the face of lust, will never come back to them. It is impossible, the face is so ugly.
               Chuang Tzu has seen the face of ambition. That is why he says: Your power, your position, your
           prime-ministership, is just a dead rat to me. Don't screech, and don't get dismayed.

           "THIS UNDYING PHOENIX ARISES OUT OF THE SOUTH SEA
           AND FLIES TO THE SEAS OF THE NORTH,
           NEVER ALIGHTING EXCEPT ON CERTAIN SACRED TREES.
           HE WILL TOUCH NO FOOD
           BUT THE MOST EXQUISITE RARE FRUIT,
           AND HE DRINKS ONLY FROM THE CLEAREST SPRINGS.

           "ONCE AN OWL
           CHEWING AN ALREADY HALF-DECAYED DEAD RAT
           SAW THE PHOENIX FLY OVER.
           LOOKING UP HE SCREECHED WITH ALARM
           AND CLUTCHED THE DEAD RAT TO HIMSELF
           IN FEAR AND DISMAY.

           "PRIME MINISTER,
           WHY ARE YOU SO FRANTIC,
           CLINGING TO YOUR MINISTRY
           AND SCREECHING AT ME IN DISMAY?"

               This is the fact, but only once you know it...only then can you understand. Listening to a Buddha,
           or to a Jesus, or to a Zarathustra, you have always been told: Drop desiring and bliss will be yours.
           But you cannot drop it, you cannot understand how bliss can happen when you drop desire, because
           you have tasted only desire. It may be poisonous, but it has been your only food. You have been
           drinking from poisoned sources, and when someone says, "Drop it," you are afraid that you will die
           thirsty. You don't know that there are pure, clear springs and you don't know that there are trees with
           rare fruit. You look only through your desire, so you cannot see those fruits and those trees.
               When your eyes are filled with desire they only see the dead rats. Ramakrishna used to say:
           There are people who cannot see anything else than the objects of their lust. This owl can sit at the
           top of a tall tree, but he is only looking for dead rats. Whenever a dead rat is seen on the street the
           owl becomes excited. He won't get excited, he won't even see if you throw him a beautiful fruit. He
           will not become aware of it. The information never reaches him because the desires work as a
           screen. All the time, continuously, only that enters you which your desires allow. Your desires are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just like a watchman standing at the door of your being. They allow in only that which appeals to
           them.
                Change this watchman; otherwise you will live always on dead rats. You will remain an owl, and
           that is the misery, because deep within you the phoenix is hidden and you are behaving like an owl.
           That is the discontent. That is why you can never feel at ease, that is why you can never feel blissful.
           How can a phoenix feel blissful with a dead rat? He is always a stranger, and this is not the right
           food for him.
                And this you have felt many times. Making love to a woman or to a man, you have felt many
           times that this is not for you. The phoenix asserts itself but the owl is much more noisy. The phoenix
           cannot be heard, its voice is very subtle and silent, not aggressive. In moments of peace and
           meditation the phoenix says, "What are you doing? This is not for you. What are you eating? This is
           not for you. What are you drinking? This is not for you. "
                But the owl is very noisy and you have believed in the owl for so long that you go on following it
           just like a habit. It has become a dead habit. You simply follow it, because it is the line of least
           resistance. The rut is there. You don't have to do anything. You simply run on the track, you go on
           running in a circle -- the same desires, the same lusts, the same ambitions. No wonder you live in
           anguish, you live in a nightmare.
                Let the inner Chuang Tzu assert himself, let the inner phoenix assert itself. Listen to it, it is a
           still, small voice. You will have to calm down, you will have to put this owl to sleep; only then will
           you be able to listen. This owl is the ego, the mind, the phoenix is the soul. It is born in the south, out
           of the sea, it is not a part of the land. Not out of the mud, out of the vast sea it is born. It never grows
           old, it never dies. It alights only on rare, holy, sacred trees, eats only exquisite rare fruit, drinks only
           from the clearest of springs. Those springs are there, those holy trees are there. You have been
           missing them because of the owl, and the owl has become the leader.
                All meditation is nothing but an effort to silence this owl so that the still small voice can be
           heard. Then you will see what you have been doing -- chewing a dead rat.
                Chuang Tzu is right. The prime minister was unnecessarily dismayed. When you, your inner
           phoenix, comes to live its life, the owl, the prime minister, will in the beginning be very much
           dismayed. Your mind will create every type of objection to meditation because the mind is afraid,
           the prime minister is afraid -- this Chuang Tzu, this meditativeness, is coming to supplant him.
                Your mind will catch hold of the dead rat, and will scream, scared, as if somebody is going to
           take that food away from it. In the beginning it will happen -- and you have to be alert and aware of
           it. Only your awareness will help by and by.
                Whenever one starts meditating, the mind becomes rebellious. It starts up all types of arguments:
           What are you doing, why are you wasting time? Use this time! You can achieve so much in the time.
           That desire has been waiting for so long unfulfilled, and now you are wasting time meditating.
           Forget it. Those who say that meditation is possible are deceiving you. These Buddhas, these
           Chuang Tzus, don't believe them. Believe in the mind, mind says. It creates all kinds of doubts about
           everybody, but it never creates any doubt about itself.

              I have heard: A man was talking to his small child. The child had written a letter as part of his
           homework and was showing it to his father. There were as many spelling mistakes in it as there were
           words, even more. So the father said, "Your spelling is awful. Why don't you look in the dictionary?
           When you feel in doubt, look in the dictionary."
           The child said, "But, Dad, I never feel in doubt."

               This is what your mind does. It says to Buddha, "But Dad, I never feel in doubt."
               Mind never doubts itself, that is the problem. It doubts everybody -- it will doubt even a Buddha.
           Even if Krishna knocks at your door it will doubt; if Jesus comes it will doubt. It has always been so,
           you have been doing it continuously.
               You doubt me but you never doubt yourself, because once the mind starts doubting itself it is
           already going out of existence. Once self-doubt arises the base is broken, the mind has lost its
           confidence. Once you start doubting the mind, sooner or later you will fall into the abyss of
           meditation.
               Baal Shem, a mystic, was dying. His son, whose name was Hertz, was a very sleepy,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           unconscious person. Before he died, Baal Shem told him that this night would be his last.
               But Hertz said, "Nobody can know when death will come." He doubted. Baal Shem was his
           father, and thousands believed that he was the messiah, the man who would lead millions to
           salvation. But the son doubted, and that night he fell asleep. He was awakened at midnight. His
           father was dead. Then he started crying, weeping. He had missed a great opportunity, and now there
           would be no possibility of seeing his father alive again. But he never doubted his mind, he doubted
           Baal Shem.
               In his dismay and despair, he started crying. He closed his eyes and for the first time in his life,
           now that his father was dead, he started talking to him. His father used to call him many times:
           "Hertz, come to me." And he would say, "Yes, I will come, but first I have other more important
           things to do."
               This is what your mind is saying. I go on calling you: "Come to me." You say, "There are other
           more important things right now. I will come later on; wait."
               But death had broken the bridge. So Hertz cried and started talking to his father, and he said,
           "What should I do now? I am lost. I am in darkness. Now how can I drop this mind which has
           deceived me? I never doubted it, and I doubted you. Now it makes me very sad."
               Baal Shem appeared inside Hertz and said, "Look at me. Do the same as I do." Hertz saw, as in a
           dream, a vision, that Baal Shem went to the top of a hill and dropped himself into the abyss. And he
           said, "Do the same."
               Said Hertz, "I cannot understand." Really, doubt arose again: What is this man saying? This will
           be suicide.
               Baal Shem laughed, and said, "You are still doubting me, not doubting yourself. Then do this."
           In his vision Hertz saw a big mountain, all aflame, like a volcano, fire all over, rocks splitting, and
           the whole mountain breaking into fragments. Said Baal Shem, "Or do this. Let the mind be thrown
           into an abyss, let the mind be burnt up completely."
               And the story goes that Hertz said, "I will think it over."
               Whenever you say, "I will think it over," you have started doubting. Doubt thinks, not you. And
           when there is no doubt, faith acts, not you. Doubt thinks, faith acts. Through doubt you can become a
           great philosopher; through faith you will become a Chuang Tzu, a phoenix which never grows old,
           which is undying. Through doubt you can penetrate the mysteries of time; through faith you will
           enter the door of eternity.

               I have heard about two men who were once lost in a forest on a very dark night. It was a very
           dangerous forest, full of wild animals, very dense, with darkness all around. One man was a
           philosopher and the other was a mystic -- one a man of doubt, the other a man of faith. Suddenly,
           there was a storm, a crashing of the clouds, and great lightning.
               The philosopher looked at the sky, the mystic looked at the path. In that moment of lightning, the
           path was before him, illuminated. The philosopher looked at the lightning, and started wondering,
           "What is happening?" and missed the path.

               You are lost in a forest denser than that of the story. The night is more dark. Sometimes a flash of
           lightning comes. Look at the path.
               A Chuang Tzu is lightning, a Buddha is lightning, I am lightning. Don't look at me, look at the
           path. If you look at me, you have already missed, because lightning will not continue. It lasts only
           for a moment, and the moment is rare when eternity penetrates time; it is just like lightning.
               If you look at the lightning, if you look at a buddha -- and a buddha is beautiful, the face
           fascinates, the eyes are magnetic -- if you look at the buddha, you have missed the path.
               Look at the path, forget the buddha. Look at the path. But that look happens only when there is
           no doubt, when there is faith; no thinking, no mind.
               Chuang Tzu has not to be thought about. Don't think about him. Just let this story penetrate you
           and forget it. Through this story the path is illuminated. Look at the path, and do something. Follow
           the path, act. Thinking will not lead you, only action, because thinking goes on in the head. It can
           never become total; only when you act, it is total.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                  The Empty Boat
                                                     Chapter #4
                                                Chapter title: Apologies
           13 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407130
              ShortTitle: BOAT04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              IF A MAN STEPS ON A STRANGER'S FOOT
              IN THE MARKETPLACE,
              HE MAKES A POLITE APOLOGY
              AND OFFERS AN EXPLANATION:
              "THIS PLACE IS SO CROWDED."



              IF AN ELDER BROTHER
              STEPS ON HIS YOUNGER BROTHER'S FOOT
              HE SAYS, "SORRY,"
              AND THAT IS THAT.



              IF A PARENT
              TREADS ON HIS CHILD'S FOOT
              NOTHING IS SAID AT ALL.



              THE GREATEST POLITENESS
              IS FREE OF ALL FORMALITY.
              PERFECT CONDUCT IS FREE OF CONCERN.
              PERFECT WISDOM IS UNPLANNED.
              PERFECT LOVE IS WITHOUT DEMONSTRATIONS.
              PERFECT SINCERITY OFFERS NO GUARANTEE.


               All that is great, all that is beautiful, all that is true and real, is always spontaneous. You cannot
           plan it. The moment you plan it, everything goes wrong. The moment planning enters, everything
           becomes unreal.
               But this has happened to humanity. Your love, your sincerity, your truth, everything, has gone
           wrong because you have planned it, be-cause you have been taught not to be spontaneous. You have
           been taught to manipulate yourself, to control, to manage, and not to be a natural flow. You have
           become rigid, frozen, dead.
               Life knows no planning. It is itself enough. Do the trees plan how to grow, how to mature, how
           to come to flower? They simply grow without even being conscious of the growth. There is no
           self-consciousness, there is no separation.
               Whenever you start planning you have divided yourself, you have become two; the one who is
           controlling and the one who is controlled. A conflict has arisen, now you will never be at peace. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may succeed in controlling but there will be no peace; you may not succeed in controlling, then too
           there will be no peace. Whether you succeed or fail, ultimately you will come to realize that you
           have failed. Your failure will be a failure, your success will also be a failure. Whatsoever you do,
           your life will be miserable.
                This division creates ugliness, you are not one, and beauty belongs to oneness, beauty belongs to
           a harmonious whole. All culture, all civilization, all societies, make you ugly. All morality makes
           you ugly because it is based on division, on control.
                I have heard that once Baal Shem was traveling in a beautiful coach with three horses. But he
           was wondering continuously, because for three days he had been traveling and not even once had
           any of the horses neighed. What had happened to the horses? Then suddenly on the fourth day, a
           passing peasant shouted at him to relax control of the reins. He relaxed control and suddenly all the
           three horses started neighing, they came alive. For three days continuously they were dead, dying.
                This has happened to you all, to the whole of humanity. You cannot neigh, and unless a horse
           neighs, the horse is dead, because neighing means he is enjoying, there is an overflowing. But you
           cannot neigh, you are dead. Your life has not in any way an overflowing song, a dance that happens
           when the energy is too much.
                Flowering is always a luxury, it is not a necessity. No tree needs flowers as a necessity, roots are
           enough. Flowering is always luxurious. Flowers come only when the tree has too much, it needs to
           give, it needs to share.
                Whenever you have too much, life becomes a dance, a celebration. But society doesn't allow you
           to dance, to celebrate, so society has to see that you never have more energy than necessary. You are
           only allowed to live at starvation level. You are not allowed to be too much, because once you are
           too much you cannot be controlled, and society wants to control you. It is a domination, very subtle.
                Every child is born overflowing. Then we have to cut the energy source, we have to prune the
           child from here and there so that he becomes controllable. And the basis of all control is to divide the
           child in two. Then you need not bother, he himself will do the controlling. Then you need not bother,
           he himself will be the enemy of his own self.
                So they tell the child: This is wrong. Don't do this. Suddenly the child is divided, now he knows
           what is wrong, now he knows what part of his being is wrong, and his head becomes the controller.
                Through division intellect has become the controller, the master. If you are undivided, you will
           not have any head. Not that the head will disappear or the head will fall off, but you will not be
           head-oriented -- your total being will be you.
                Right now you are only the head, the rest of the body is just to sustain the head. The head has
           become the exploiter, the dictator. And this has come through conflict, the creation of conflict in
           you. You have been taught that this is good and that is bad. The intellect learns it and then the
           intellect keeps on condemning you.
                Remember, if you condemn yourself you will condemn everybody -- you will condemn the
           whole. And a person who condemns himself cannot love. A person who condemns himself cannot
           pray. A person who condemns himself, for him there is no God, there cannot be. A condemning
           mind can never enter the divine temple. Only when you dance, only when you are ecstatic, not
           condemning, only when you are overflowing with nobody sitting in control, nobody managing, does
           life become a let-go; it is not formal, it is natural. Then you enter, then everywhere is the door. Then
           you can reach the temple from anywhere.
                But right now, as you are, you are schizophrenic. You are not only schizophrenic when a
           psychoanalyst says that you are. There is no need for any psychoanalyst to analyze you. Society
           creates schizophrenics; division is schizophrenia. You are not one. You are born one but
           immediately society starts working on you, major surgery is to be done, you are continuously
           operated upon to be divided. Then society is at ease because you are fighting with yourself, your
           energy is dissipated in the inner fight, it is never an overflowing. Then you are not dangerous.
                Overflowing energy becomes rebellion. Overflowing energy is always rebellious, overflowing
           energy is always in revolution. It is just like a river in flood -- it doesn't believe in the banks, in the
           rules, in the laws, it simply goes on overflowing towards the sea. It knows only one goal -- how to
           become the sea, how to become the infinite.
                Overflowing energy is always moving towards God. God is missing in our world, not because of
           science, not because of atheists, but because of the so-called religious. They have divided you so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           much that the river keeps fighting with itself. Nothing is left to move, no energy is left; you are so
           tired fighting with yourself, how can you move towards the sea?
                One of the basic laws of Tao, of Lao Tzu, of Chuang Tzu, is that if you are spontaneous it is the
           highest prayer; you cannot miss God, whatsoever you do you will reach him. So Chuang Tzu never
           talks about God; talk is irrelevant, it isn't needed. He talks only of how to bring out the wholeness in
           you. The holy is irrelevant. When you become whole, you become holy. When your fragments
           dissolve into one, your life has become a prayer. They never talk about prayer, it is not needed.
                Spontaneity, living as a whole.... If you want to live as a whole, you cannot plan. Who will plan?
           You cannot decide for tomorrow, you can live only here and now. Who will decide? If you decide,
           division has entered, then you will have to manipulate. Who will plan? The future is unknown, and
           how can you plan for the unknown? If you plan for the unknown the planning will come from the
           past. That means that the dead will control the living. The past is dead, and the past goes on
           controlling the future, hence you are so bored. It is natural, it has to happen. Boredom comes from
           the past, because the past is dead and the past is trying to control the future.
                The future is always an adventure, but you don't allow it to be an adventure. You plan it. Once
           planned, your life is running on a track. It is not a river.
                When you run on a track you know where you are going, what is happening. Everything is just a
           repetition. Who will plan? If mind plans, mind is always of the past. Life cannot be planned, because
           through planning you are committing suicide.
                Life can only be unplanned, moving moment to moment into the unknown. But what is your
           fear? You will be there to respond; whatsoever the situation you will be there to respond. What is
           your fear? Why plan it?
                The fear comes because you are not certain of whether you will be there or not. You are so
           unconscious, that is the uncertainty. You are not alert.
                You are going to have an interview for a job, so you keep planning in your mind what to answer,
           how to answer, how to enter the office, how to stand, how to sit. But why? You will be there, you
           can respond.
                But you are not certain about yourself, you are so unalert, you are so unconscious, you don't
           know -- if you don't plan, something may go wrong. If you are alert, then there is no problem. You
           will be there, so whatever the situation demands, you will respond.
                And remember, this planning is not going to help, because if you cannot be conscious, cannot be
           aware in a situation when you are planning, then that planning is also being done in sleep. But you
           can repeat it so many times it becomes mechanical, then when the question is asked you can answer.
           The answer is readymade, you are not needed. It is a fixed pattern, you simply repeat it; you become
           a mechanical device, you need not be there at all. The answer can be given, it comes from the
           memory; if you have repeated it many times you know you can rely on it.
                Through planning life becomes more and more unconscious, and the more unconscious you are,
           the more you need planning. Before really dying, you are dead. Alive means responding, sensitive.
           Alive means: whatsoever comes, I will be there to respond, and the response will come from me, not
           from the memory. I will not prepare it.
                See the difference when a Christian missionary or a Christian minister, a priest, prepares his
           sermon.
                I once visited a theological college. There they prepare their ministers, their priests -- five years'
           training. So I asked them where Jesus was prepared and trained, who taught him how to speak.
                Of course these Christian priests are dead, everything about them is planned. When you say this,
           a certain gesture is to be made; even the gesture is not allowed to be spontaneous. When you say
           that, you have to have a certain look; even the eyes are not allowed to be spontaneous. How you
           have to stand, when you have to shout, and when you have to whisper, when you have to hammer the
           table and when not -- everything is planned.
                I asked them where Jesus was trained. He was not a minister at all, he was not a priest. He never
           went to any theological college, he was the son of a carpenter.
                For two thousand years Christian priests have been trained but they have not produced a single
           Jesus, and they will never produce one again because Jesus cannot be produced. You cannot produce
           Jesus in a factory. And these are factories, these theological colleges. There you produce priests, and
           if these priests are just boring, dead, a burden, it is obvious that it is going to be so.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There are two types of religion. One is of the mind -- it is dead. That religion is known as
           theology. Then there is the other type of religion, the real, the spontaneous. It is not theological, it is
           mystical. And remember, Hindus have one theology, Mohammedans another, Christ-ians again
           another, but religion, the mystic religion, is the same; it cannot be different.
               Buddha and Jesus and Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu, they are the same because they are not
           theologians. They are not talking from the head, they are simply pouring from their heart. They are
           not logicians, they are poets. They are not saying something from the scriptures, they are not trained
           for it, they are simply responding to a necessity in you. Their words are not readymade, their
           manners not fixed, their behavior not planned.
           Now we will enter Chuang Tzu's sutra.

              IF A MAN STEPS ON A STRANGER'S FOOT
              IN THE MARKETPLACE,
              HE MAKES A POLITE APOLOGY
              AND OFFERS AN EXPLANATION:
              "THIS PLACE IS SO CROWDED."

               Apology is needed because there is no relationship, the other is a stranger. Explanation is needed
           because there is no love. If there is love then there is no need for an explanation, the other will
           understand. If there is love, there is no need for apology, the other will understand -- love always
           understands.
               So there is no higher morality than love, there cannot be. Love is the highest law, but if it is not
           there then substitutes are needed. Stepping on a stranger's foot in the marketplace an apology is
           needed, and an explanation also:

           "THIS PLACE IS SO CROWDED."

                With reference to this, one thing has to be understood. In the West even a husband will offer an
           apology, a wife will offer an explanation. It means that love has disappeared. It means that
           everybody has become a stranger, that there is no home, that every place has become a marketplace.
           In the East it is impossible to conceive of this, but Westerners think that Easterners are rude. A
           husband will never give an explanation -- no need, because we are not strangers and the other can
           understand. When the other cannot understand, only then apology is needed. And if love cannot
           understand, what good is apology going to do?
                If the world becomes a home, all apologies will disappear, all ex-planations will disappear. You
           give explanations because you are not certain about the other. Explanation is a trick to avoid conflict,
           apology is a device to avoid conflict. But the conflict is there, and you are afraid of it.
                This is a civilized way to get out of the conflict! You have stepped on a stranger's foot, you see
           the violence in his eyes -- he has become aggressive, he will hit you. Apology is needed, apology
           will calm his anger -- it is a trick. You need not be authentic in your apology, it is just a social
           device, it works as a lubricant. You give an explanation just to say: I am not responsible, the place is
           so crowded, it is a marketplace, nothing can be done, it had to happen. Explanation says: I am not
           responsible.
                Love is always responsible, whether the place is crowded or not, because love is always aware
           and alert. You cannot shift the responsibility to the situation, YOU are responsible.
                Look at the phenomenon.... Apology is a device, just like a lubricant, to avoid conflict; and
           explanation is shifting the responsibility onto something else. You don't say, "I was unconscious,
           unaware, that is why I stepped on your foot." You say, "The place is so crowded!"
                A religious person cannot do this, and if you go on doing this you will never become religious,
           because religion means taking all the responsibility that is there, not avoiding, not escaping. The
           more responsible you are, the more awareness will arise out of it; the less you feel responsible, the
           more and more unconscious you will become. Whenever you feel that you are not responsible you
           will go to sleep. And this has happened -- not only in individual relationships but on all levels of
           society.
                Marxism says that society is responsible for everything. If a man is poor, society is responsible,
           if a man is a thief, society is responsible. You are not responsible, no individual is responsible. That
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is why communism is anti-religious -- not because it denies God, not because it says there is no soul,
           but because of this: it shifts the whole responsibility onto society, you are not responsible.
               Look at the religious attitude which is totally different, qualitatively different. A religious man
           thinks himself responsible: If someone is begging, I am responsible. The beggar may be at the other
           end of the earth, I may not know him, I may not come across his path, but if there is a beggar, I am
           responsible. If a war goes on anywhere, in Israel, in Vietnam, anywhere, I am not participating in it
           in any visible way, but I am responsible. I am here. I cannot shift the responsibility onto society. And
           what do you mean when you say society? Where is this society? This is one of the greatest evasions.
           Only individuals exist -- you will never come across society. You will never be able to pinpoint it:
           This is society. Everywhere the individual is in existence, and society is just a word.
               Where is society? Ancient civilizations played a trick. They said: God is responsible, fate is
           responsible. Now communism plays the same game saying that society is responsible. But where is
           society? God may be somewhere, society is nowhere; there are only individuals. Religion says: You
           are...rather, I am, responsible. No explanation is needed to avoid this.
               And remember one thing more: whenever you feel that you are responsible for all the ugliness,
           for all the mess, anarchy, war, violence, aggression, suddenly you become alert. Responsibility
           penetrates your heart and makes you aware. When you say, "This place is much too crowded," you
           can go on walking sleepily. Really, you step on the stranger's foot not because the place is crowded,
           but because you are unconscious. You are walking like a somnambulist, a man walking in his sleep.
           When you step on his foot, you suddenly become aware, because now the situation is dangerous.
           You make the apology, you fall asleep, and again you say, "The place is crowded!" You resume your
           walk, then you start moving again.

               I have heard of a simple villager who had come to the city for the first time. On the platform at
           the station someone stepped on his foot and said, "Sorry." Then he went into a hotel, someone again
           clashed with him and said, "Sorry!" Then he went into a theater and someone almost knocked him
           down, and he said, "Sorry."
               Then the villager said, "This is beautiful, we never knew this trick. Do whatever you want to do
           to anybody and say sorry!" So he punched a man who was passing and said, "Sorry!"

               What are you really doing when you say sorry? Your sleep is broken, you were walking in a
           dream -- you must have been dreaming, imagining, something was on your mind -- and then you
           stepped on someone. Not that the place was crowded -- you would have stumbled even if no one had
           been there, even then you would have stepped on someone.
               It is you, your unconsciousness, your unconscious behavior. A buddha cannot stumble even if it
           is a marketplace, because he moves with full consciousness. Whatsoever he does, he does
           knowingly. And if he steps on your foot it means he has stepped knowingly; there must be some
           reason for it. It may be just to help you awake, he may have stepped on your foot just to wake you
           up, but he will not say that the place is crowded, he will not give any explanation.
               Explanations are always deceptive. They look logical, but they are false. You give explanations
           only when you have to hide something. You can watch and observe this in your own life. This is not
           a theory, this is a simple fact of everybody's experience -- you give explanations only when you want
           to hide something.
               Truth needs no explanation. The more you lie, the more explanations are needed. There are so
           many scriptures because man has lied so much, then explanations are needed to hide the lie. You
           have to give an explanation, then this explanation will need further explanation, and it goes on and
           on. It is an infinite regression. And even with the last explanation nothing is explained, the basic lie
           remains a lie -- you cannot convert a lie into a truth just by explaining it. Nothing is explained by
           explanations. You may think so, but it is not the case.

                Once it happened that Mulla Nasruddin went on his first air trip, and he was afraid but he didn't
           want anybody to know. It happens to everybody on their first flight: nobody wants this to be their
           first. He wanted to behave nonchalantly so he walked very bravely. That bravery was an explanation:
           I always travel by air. Then he sat down in his seat and he wanted to say something just to put
           himself at ease, because whenever you start talking, you become brave; through talk, you feel less
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fear.
               So Nasruddin spoke to the passenger next to him. He looked out of the window and said, "Look,
           what terrific height! People look like ants."
               The other man said, "Sir, we have not taken off yet. Those ARE ants."

               Explanations cannot hide anything. Rather, on the contrary, they reveal. If you can look, if you
           have eyes, every explanation is transparent. It would have been better if he had kept quiet. But don't
           try silence as an explanation. As an explanation it is of no use. Your silence will be revealing, and
           your words will reveal -- it is better not to be a liar! Then you need not give any explanations. It is
           better to be truthful -- the easiest thing is to be true and authentic. If you are afraid, it is better to say,
           "I am afraid," and accepting the fact your fear will disappear.
               Acceptance is such a miracle. When you accept that you are afraid and say, "This is my first
           trip," suddenly you will feel a change coming over you. The basic fear is not fear, the basic fear is
           the fear of the fear: I don't want anyone to know that I am afraid, I don't want anyone to know that I
           am a coward. But everybody is a coward in a new situation, and in a new situation to be brave is
           foolish. To be cowardly only means that the situation is so new that your mind cannot supply any
           answers, the past cannot give the answers, so you are trembling. But this is good! Why try to supply
           an answer from the mind? Tremble, and let the answer come from your present consciousness. You
           are sensitive, that is all; don't kill this sensitivity through explanation.
               Next time you try to give an explanation, be aware of what you are doing. Are you trying to hide
           something, trying to explain away something? Nothing like this will be of any help.

              A man who had become newly rich went to a beach, the most expensive, the most exclusive, and
           he spent madly just to influence the people around him. The next day, while swimming, his wife
           drowned. She was carried to the shore and a crowd gathered, so he asked, "What are you doing
           now?"
              A man said, "We are going to give your wife artificial respiration."
              The rich man said, "Artificial respiration? Nothing doing, give her the real thing. I'll pay for it."

               Whatsoever you do, whatsoever you don't do, whatsoever you say, whatsoever you don't say,
           reveals you. Everywhere mirrors are all around you. Every other person is a mirror, every situation is
           a mirror -- and whom do you think you are deceiving? If deception becomes a habit, ultimately you
           will have deceived yourself and no one else. It is your life you are wasting in deceptions.
               Chuang Tzu says: Explanations show that you are not true, you are not authentic.

               IF AN ELDER BROTHER
               STEPS ON HIS YOUNGER BROTHER'S FOOT
               HE SAYS, "SORRY,"
               AND THAT IS THAT.


               Two brothers...when the relationship is more intimate, when you are close, the other is not a
           stranger. Then no explanation is needed, the brother simply says sorry. He accepts the blame. He
           says, "I have been unconscious." He is not shifting the responsibility onto somebody else, he accepts
           it and that is that. The relationship is closer.

               IF A PARENT
               TREADS ON HIS CHILD'S FOOT
               NOTHING IS SAID AT ALL.


               There is no need, the relationship is even more intimate, closer. There is love, and that love will
           do. No substitute is needed, no explanation, no apology.

               THE GREATEST POLITENESS
               IS FREE OF ALL FORMALITY.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PERFECT CONDUCT IS FREE OF CONCERN.
              PERFECT WISDOM IS UNPLANNED.
              PERFECT LOVE IS WITHOUT DEMONSTRATIONS.
              PERFECT SINCERITY OFFERS NO GUARANTEE.


               But all these perfections need one thing -- and that is spontaneous awareness; otherwise you will
           always have false coins, you will always have false faces. You can be sincere, but if you have to
           make any effort then that sincerity is just formal.
               You can be loving, but if your love needs effort, if your love is of that type which Dale Carnegie
           talks about in How to Win Friends and Influence People, if that type of love is there, it cannot be
           real. You have been manipulating it. Then even friendship is a business.
               Beware of Dale Carnegies; these are dangerous people, they destroy all that is real and authentic.
           They show you how to win friends, they teach you tricks, techniques, they make you efficient, they
           give you the knowhow.
               But love has no knowhow, it cannot. Love needs no training, and friendship is not something
           which you have to learn. A learned friendship will not be a friendship, it will just be an exploitation
           -- you are exploiting the other and deceiving him. You are not true, this is a business relationship.
               But in America everything has become business, both friendship and love. Dale Carnegie's books
           have sold millions of copies, hundreds of editions, next in popularity only to The Bible.
               Now nobody knows how to be a friend, it has to be learned. Sooner or later there will be colleges
           for love, training courses, even by post, lessons you can learn and apply. And the problem is that if
           you succeed then you are lost forever, because the real will never happen to you, the door is
           completely closed. Once you become efficient in a certain thing, the mind resists. The mind says:
           This is the short cut, and you know it well, so why choose another path?
               Mind is always for the line of least resistance. That is why clever people are never able to love.
           They are so clever they start manipulating. They will not say what is in their heart, they will say
           what will appeal. They will look at the other person and see what he wants to be said. They will not
           say their heart, they will just create a situation in which the other is deceived.
               Husbands deceiving wives, wives deceiving husbands, friends deceiving friends.... The whole
           world has become just a crowd of enemies. There are only two types of enemies: those you have not
           been able to deceive and those you have been able to deceive. This is the only difference. Then how
           can ecstasy be in your life?
               So this is not a learning process. Authenticity cannot come through schooling, authenticity comes
           through awareness -- if you are aware, if you live in a conscious way. Look at the difference: to live
           consciously means to live openly, not to hide, not to play games. To be alert means to be vulnerable,
           and whatever happens, happens. You accept it, but you never compromise, you never purchase
           anything by giving up your consciousness. Even if it means that you are left totally alone, you will
           accept being alone, but you will be consciously alert, aware. Only with this alertness does real
           religion start happening.

               I will tell you a story. It happened once, in ancient times, that there was a king who was also an
           astrologer. He had a very deep interest in studying the stars. Suddenly he felt panic in his heart
           because he became aware that it was going to be dangerous to eat the coming year's harvest.
           Whoever ate it would go mad. So he called his prime minister, his adviser and counsellor, and told
           him that this was certain to happen. The stars are clear, and because of the combination of cosmic
           rays, this year's harvest would be poisonous. It happens rarely, once in thousands of years, but it was
           going to happen this year, and anyone who ate of this year's harvest would go mad. So he asked his
           adviser, "What should we do?"
               The prime minister said, "It is impossible to provide for everybody from last year's harvest, but
           one thing can be done. You and I can both live on last year's harvest. The remainder of last year's
           harvest can be gathered, requisitioned. There is no problem, it will be enough for you and I."
               The king said, "This doesn't appeal to me. If all my devoted people go mad, women, saints and
           sages, devoted servants, all my subjects, even children, it doesn't appeal to me to be an outsider. It
           would not be worth saving myself and you; that won't do. I would rather be mad with everybody
           else. But I have another suggestion. I will mark your head with the seal of madness and you will
           mark my head with the seal of madness."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The prime minister asked, "How is this going to help anybody?"
               The king said, "I have heard that it is one of the ancient keys of wisdom, so let us try it. After
           everyone has gone mad, after we have gone mad, whenever I look at your forehead I will remember
           that I am mad. And whenever you look at my forehead, remember that you are mad."
               The prime minister was still puzzled; he said, "But what will it do?"
               The king said, "I have heard from wise men that if you can remember that you are mad, you are
           mad no more."
               A madman cannot remember that he is mad. An ignorant man cannot remember that he is
           ignorant. A man who is in a dream cannot remember that he is dreaming. If, in your dream, you
           become alert and know that you are dreaming, the dream has stopped, you are fully awake. If you
           can understand that you are ignorant, ignorance drops. Ignorant people always believe that they are
           wise, and mad people think that they are the only really sane ones. When someone becomes really
           wise, he becomes so by recognizing his ignorance. So the king said, "This we are going to do."

               I don't know what happened, the story ends here, but the story is meaningful.
               Only alertness can help when the whole world is mad, nothing else. Keeping yourself outside,
           going to the Himalayas, will not be of much help. When everyone is mad, you are going to be mad,
           because you are part and parcel of everybody; it is a totality, an organic totality.
               How can you separate yourself? How can you go to the Himalayas? Deep down you still remain
           part of the whole. Even living in the Himalayas you will remember your friends. They will knock in
           your dreams, you will think of them, you will wonder what they are thinking of you -- you go on
           being linked.
               You cannot go outside the world. There is nowhere outside the world, the world is one continent.
           Nobody can be an island -- islands are joined deep down with the continent. You can just think
           superficially that you are separate, but nobody can be separate.
               The king was really wise. He said, "It is not going to help. I am not going to be an outsider, I will
           be an insider, and this is what I will do. I will try to remember that I am mad, because when you
           forget that you are mad, then you are really mad. This is what is to be done."
               Wherever you are, remember yourself, that you are; this consciousness that you are should
           become a continuity. Not your name, your caste, your nationality, those are futile things, absolutely
           useless. Just remember that: I am. This must not be forgotten. This is what Hindus call
           self-remembrance, what the Buddha called right-mindfulness, what Gurdjieff used to call
           self-remembering, what Krishnamurti calls awareness.
               This is the most substantial part of meditation, to remember that: I am. Walking, sitting, eating,
           talking, remember that: I am. Never forget this. It will be difficult, very arduous. In the beginning
           you will keep forgetting; there will be only single moments when you will feel illuminated, then it is
           lost. But don't get miserable; even single moments are much. Go on, whenever you can remember
           again, again catch hold of the thread. When you forget, don't worry -- remember again, again catch
           hold of the thread, and by and by the gaps will lessen, the intervals will start dropping, a continuity
           will arise.
               And whenever your consciousness becomes continuous, you need not use the mind. Then there is
           no planning, then you act out of your consciousness, not out of your mind. Then there is no need for
           any apology, no need to give any explanation. Then you are whatsoever you are, there is nothing to
           hide. Whatsoever you are, you are. You cannot do anything else. You can only be in a state of
           continuous remembrance. Through this remembrance, this mindfulness, comes the authentic religion,
           comes the authentic morality.

              THE GREATEST POLITENESS
              IS FREE OF ALL FORMALITY.


                If you are not formal, then nobody is a stranger. Whether you move in the marketplace or in a
           crowded street, nobody is a stranger, everybody is a friend. Not only a friend, really, everybody is
           just an extension of you. Then formality is not needed. If I step on my own foot -- which is difficult
           -- I will not say sorry, and I will not say to myself, "The place is very crowded!" When I step on your
           foot, I am stepping on my foot.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                A mind which is fully alert knows that consciousness is one, life is one, being is one, existence is
           one, it is not fragmented. The tree flowering there is me in a different form, the rock lying there on
           the ground is me in a different form. The whole of existence becomes an organic unity -- organic,
           life flowing through it, not mechanical. A mechanical unity is a different thing -- it is dead.
                A car is a mechanical unity, there is no life in it, and that is why you can replace one part by
           another. Every part is replaceable. But can you replace a man? Impossible. When a man dies, a
           unique phenomenon disappears; disappears completely, you cannot replace it. When your wife or
           your husband dies, now how can you replace them? You may get another wife, but this will be
           another wife, not a replacement. And the shadow of the first will always be there; the first cannot be
           forgotten, it will always be there. It may become a shadow, but even shadows of love are very
           substantial.
                You cannot replace a person, there is no way. If it is a mechanical unity then wives are
           replaceable parts, you can even have spare wives. You can keep them in your storeroom and
           whenever your wife dies, you replace her!
                This is what is happening in the West. They have started to think in terms of mechanism. So now
           they say nothing is a problem -- if one wife dies you get another, if one husband is no more you get
           another.... So marriage in the West is a mechanical unity, which is why divorce is possible. The East
           denies divorce because marriage is an organic unity. How can you replace a live person? It will
           never happen again, that person has simply disappeared into the ultimate mystery.
                Life is an organic unity. You cannot replace a plant because every plant is unique, you cannot
           find another, the same cannot be found. Life has a quality of uniqueness. Even a small rock is unique
           -- you can go all over the world to find a similar rock and you will not be able to. How can you
           replace it? This is the difference between organic unity and mechanical unity. Mechanical unity
           depends on the parts; the parts are replaceable, they are not unique. Organic unity depends on the
           whole, not on the parts. Parts are not really parts, they are not separate from the whole -- they are
           one, they cannot be replaced.
                When you become alert to the inner flame of your inner being, suddenly you become alert that
           you are not an island, it is a vast continent, an infinite continent. There are no boundaries separating
           you from it. All boundaries are false, make-believe. All boundaries are in the mind; in existence
           there are no boundaries.
                Then who can be a stranger? When you step on somebody, it is you; you have stepped on your
           own foot. No apology is needed, no explanation is needed. There is no one else, there is only one.
           Then your life becomes real, authentic, spontaneous; then it is not formal, then you do not follow any
           rules. You have come to know the ultimate law. Now no rules are needed. You have become the law
           -- there is no need to remember the rules now.

              THE GREATEST POLITENESS
              IS FREE OF ALL FORMALITY.


               Have you looked at people who are polite? You will not find more egoistic people than them.
           Look at a polite person, the very way he stands, the way he talks, the way he looks, walks; he has
           managed to make everything look polite, but inside the ego is manipulating.
               Look at the so-called humble people. They say they are nobodies, but when they say it, look into
           their eyes, at the ego asserting. This is a very cunning ego, because if you say, "I am somebody,"
           everybody will be against you, and everybody will try to put you in your place. If you say, "I am
           nobody," everybody is for you, nobody is against you.
               Polite people are very cunning, clever. They know what to say, what to do, so that they can
           exploit you. If they say, "I am somebody," everybody is against them. Then conflict arises because
           everybody thinks that he is an egoist. It will be difficult then to exploit people because everybody is
           closed against you. If you say, "I am nobody, I am just dust on your feet," then the doors are open
           and you can exploit. All etiquette, culture, is a type of sophisticated cunningness, and you are
           exploiting.

              THE GREATEST POLITENESS
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IS FREE OF ALL FORMALITY.


               It happened that Confucius came to see Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu's master. And Confucius was the
           image of formal politeness. He was the greatest formalist in the world, the world has never known
           such a great formalist. He was simply manners, formality, culture and etiquette. He came to see Lao
           Tzu, the polar opposite.
               Confucius was very old, Lao Tzu was not so old. The formality was that when Confucius came
           in, Lao Tzu should stand up to receive him. But he remained sitting. It was impossible for Confucius
           to believe that such a great master, known all over the country for his humbleness, should be so
           impolite. He had to mention it.
               Immediately he said, "This is not good. I am older than you."
               Lao Tzu laughed loudly and said, "Nobody is older than me. I existed before everything came
           into existence. Confucius, we are of the same age, everything is of the same age. From eternity we
           have been in existence, so don't carry this burden of old age, sit down."
               Confucius had come to ask some questions. He said, "How should a religious man behave?"
               Lao Tzu said, "When the how comes, there is no religion. How is not a question for a religious
           man. The how shows that you are not religious but that you want to behave like a religious man --
           that is why you ask how.
           "Does a lover ask how one should love? He loves! Really, it is only later on that one becomes aware
           that he has been in love. It may be that only when love has gone does he become aware that he has
           been in love. He simply loves. It happens. It is a happening, not a doing."
               Whatsoever Confucius asked, Lao Tzu replied in such a way that Confucius became very much
           disturbed: "This man is dangerous!"
               When he returned, his disciples asked, "What happened, what manner of man is this Lao Tzu?"
               Confucius said, "Don't go near him. You may have seen dangerous snakes, but nothing can
           compare with this man. You may have heard about ferocious lions, they are nothing before this man.
           This man is like a dragon which walks on the earth, can swim in the sea, can go to the very end of
           the sky -- very dangerous. He is not for us little people, we are too small. He is dangerous, vast like
           an abyss. Don't go near him, otherwise you will feel dizzy and you may fall. Even I felt dizzy. And I
           couldn't understand what he said, he is beyond understanding."
               Lao Tzu is bound to be beyond understanding if you try to understand him through formality;
           otherwise he is simple. But for Confucius he is difficult, almost impossible to understand, because he
           sees through forms and Lao Tzu has no form and no formality. Nameless, without any form, he lives
           in the infinite.

              THE GREATEST POLITENESS
              IS FREE OF ALL FORMALITY.


               Lao Tzu is sitting, Confucius is waiting for him to stand up. Who was really polite? Confucius
           waiting for Lao Tzu to stand up and welcome him and receive him because he is older, is just
           egotistical. Now the ego has taken the form of age, seniority.
               But Confucius could not look directly into the eyes of Lao Tzu, because Lao Tzu was right. He
           was saying: We are of the same age. Really, we are the same. The same life flows in you that flows
           in me. You are not superior to me, I am not superior to you. There is no question of superiority and
           inferiority, and there is no question of seniority and juniority. There is no question, we are one.
               If Confucius could have looked into the eyes of Lao Tzu he would have seen that those eyes were
           divine. But a man whose own eyes are filled with laws, rules, regulations, formalities, is almost
           blind, he cannot see.

              PERFECT CONDUCT IS FREE OF CONCERN.

              You conduct yourself well because you are concerned. You behave well because you are
           concerned.
              Just the other day a man came to me. He said, "I would like to take the jump, I would like to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a sannyasin, but I have my family, my children are studying at college and I have a great
           responsibility to them."
               He is concerned. He has a duty to fulfill, but no love. Duty is concern; it thinks in terms of
           something that has to be done because it is expected, because "What will people say if I leave?" Who
           thinks about what people will say? The ego. So: "What will people say? First let me fulfill my
           duties."
               I never tell anybody to leave, I never tell anybody to renounce, but I insist that one should not be
           in some relationship because of duty -- because then the whole relationship is ugly. One should be in
           a relationship because of love. Then this man would not say, "I have a duty to fulfill." He would say,
           "I cannot come right now. My children are growing, and I love them, and I am happy working for
           them."
               Then this will be a happiness. Now it is not a happiness, it is a burden. When you carry a burden,
           when you even turn your love into a burden, you cannot be happy. And if you have turned your love
           into a burden, your prayer will also become a burden, your meditation will also become a burden.
           Then you will say, "Because of this guru, this master, I am caught, and now I have to do this." It will
           not come out of you, your totality; it will not be overflowing.
               Why be worried? If there is love, wherever you are, there is no burden. And if you love your
           children, even if you leave them, they will understand. And if you don't love your children, and you
           go on serving them, they will understand, and they will know that these are just false things.
               This is happening. People come to see me and they say, "I have worked my whole life and
           nobody even feels thankful towards me." How can anybody feel thankful towards you? You were
           carrying them like a burden. Even small children understand well when love is there, and they
           understand well when you are just doing your duty. Duty is ugly, duty is violent; it shows your
           concern but doesn't show your spontaneity.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              PERFECT CONDUCT IS FREE OF CONCERN.


               Whatsoever is done, is done out of love -- then you are not honest because honesty pays, you are
           honest because honesty is lovely.
               Businessmen are honest if honesty pays. They say: Honesty is the best policy. How can you
           destroy a beautiful thing like honesty and turn it into a best policy? Policy is politics, honesty is
           religion.
               An old man was on his deathbed. He called his son and said, "Now I must tell you the secret,
           now I am dying. Always remember two things -- this is how I succeeded. First, whenever you give a
           promise, fulfill it. Whatsoever the cost, be honest and fulfill it. This has been my basis, this is why I
           succeeded. And the second thing, never make any promises."
               For a businessman even religion is a policy, for a politician even religion is a policy -- everything
           is a policy, even love is a policy. Kings, queens, never marry ordinary, common people. Why? It is
           part of politics. Kings marry other princesses, queens, and the concern is about which relationship
           will be the most profitable for the kingdom. Two kingdoms will become related so that they will
           become friends and will not be antagonistic. So with whom should the marriage be made?
               In India, in the olden days, a king would marry many women, hundreds, even thousands. It was
           part of politics: he would marry the daughter of anyone who had some power, so that he could create
           a network of power relationships. Thus the person whose daughter you have married will become
           your friend, he will help you.
               In Buddha's time India had two thousand kingdoms, so the most successful king was the one who
           had two thousand wives, one wife from every kingdom. Then he could live in peace because now he
           had no enemies. Now the whole country became like a family. But how can love exist in such a
           concern? Love never thinks of consequences, never hankers for results. It is sufficient unto itself.

              PERFECT CONDUCT IS FREE OF CONCERN.
              PERFECT WISDOM IS UNPLANNED.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A wise man lives moment to moment, never planning. Only ignorant people plan, and when
           ignorant people plan, what can they plan? They plan out of their ignorance. Unplanned they would
           have been better, because out of ignorance only ignorance arises; out of confusion, only greater
           confusion is born.
               A wise man lives moment to moment, he has no planning. His life is just free like a cloud
           floating in the sky, not going to some goal, not determined. He has no map for the future, he lives
           without a map, he moves without a map; because the real thing is not the goal, the real thing is the
           beauty of the movement. The real thing is not reaching, the real thing is the journey. Remember, the
           real thing is the journey, the very traveling. It is so beautiful, why bother about the goal? And if you
           are too bothered about the goal, you will miss the journey, and the journey is life -- the goal can only
           be death.
               The journey is life and it is an infinite journey. You have been on the move from the very
           beginning -- if there was any beginning. Those who know say there was no beginning, so from no
           beginning you have been on the move, to the no end you will be on the move -- and if you are
           goal-oriented, you will miss. The whole is the journey, the path, the endless path, never beginning,
           never ending. There is really no goal -- goal is created by the cunning mind. Where is this whole
           existence moving? Where? It is not going anywhere. It is simply going, and the going is so beautiful,
           that is why existence is unburdened. There is no plan, no goal, no purpose. It is not a business, it is a
           play, a LEELA. Every moment is the goal.

              PERFECT WISDOM IS UNPLANNED.
              PERFECT LOVE IS WITHOUT DEMONSTRATIONS.

               Demonstration is needed because love is not there. And the less love there is, the more you
           demonstrate -- when it is there, you don't demonstrate. Whenever a husband comes home with a
           present for his wife she will know that something is wrong. He must have stepped out of line, he
           must have met another woman. Now this is the explanation, this is a substitute; otherwise love is
           such a present that no other present is needed. Not that love will not give presents, but love itself is
           such a present. What else can you give? What else is possible?
               But whenever the husband feels that something is wrong, he has to put it right. Everything has to
           be rearranged, balanced. And this is the problem -- women are so intuitive that they know
           immediately, your present cannot deceive them. It is impossible, because women still live with their
           intuition, with their illogical mind. They immediately jump. And they will understand that something
           has gone wrong, otherwise why this present?
               Whenever you demonstrate, you demonstrate your inner poverty. If your sannyas becomes a
           demonstration you are not a sannyasin. If your meditation becomes a demonstration you are not
           meditative, because whenever the real exists, it is such a light that there is no need to demonstrate it.
           When your house is lighted, when there is a flame, you need not go to the neighbors and tell them,
           "Look, our house has got a lamp." It is there. But when your house is in darkness you try to convince
           your neighbors that light is there. Convincing them, you try to convince yourself. This is the reason
           why you want to demonstrate. If the other is convinced, his conviction, her conviction, will help you
           to be convinced.

               I have heard that once Mulla Nasruddin had a beautiful house, but he got bored, as everybody
           gets bored. Whether it was beautiful or not made no difference; living in the same house every day,
           he got bored. The house was beautiful, with a big garden, acres of green land, swimming pool,
           everything. But he got bored, so he called a real estate agent and told him, "I want to sell it. I am fed
           up, this house has become a hell."
               The next day an advertisement appeared in the morning papers; the real estate agent had inserted
           a beautiful advertisement. Mulla Nasruddin read it again and again and he was so convinced that he
           phoned the agent: "Wait, I don't want to sell it. Your advertisement has convinced me so deeply that
           now I know that for my whole life I have been wanting this house, looking for this very house."

              When you can convince others of your love, you yourself become convinced. But if you have
           love, there is no need, you know!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              When you have wisdom, there is no need to demonstrate it. But when you have only knowledge,
           you demonstrate, you convince others, and when they are convinced, you are convinced that you are
           a man of knowledge. When you have wisdom, there is no need. Even if not one person is convinced,
           you are still certain that you alone are enough proof.

              PERFECT SINCERITY OFFERS NO GUARANTEE.


               All guarantees are because of insincerity. You guarantee, you promise, you say: This is the
           guarantee, I will do this. While you are giving the guarantee, at that very moment the insincerity is
           there.
               Perfect sincerity offers no guarantee because perfect sincerity is so aware, aware of many things.
           First, the future is unknown. How can you make a guarantee? Life changes every moment, how can
           you promise? All guarantee, all promising, can be only for this moment, not for the next. For the
           next moment nothing can be done. You will have to wait.
               If you are really sincere and love a woman you cannot say, "I will love you for my whole life." If
           you say this, you are a liar. This guarantee is false. But if you love, this moment is enough. The
           woman will not ask for your whole life. This moment, if love is there, it is so fulfilling that one
           moment is enough for many lives. A single moment of love is eternity; she will not ask. But now she
           is asking because this moment there is no love. So she asks, "What is the guarantee? Will you love
           me always?"
               This moment there is no love and she is asking for a guarantee. This moment there is no love and
           you guarantee for the future -- because only through that guarantee can you deceive at this moment.
           You can create a beautiful picture of the future and you can hide the ugly picture of the present. You
           say, "Yes, I will love you forever and forever. Even death will not part us." What nonsense! What
           insincerity! How can you do this?
               You can do this and you do it so easily because you are not aware of what you are saying. The
           next moment is unknown; where it will lead, no one knows, what will happen, no one knows, no one
           can know it.
               Unknowability is part of the future game. How can you guarantee? At the most you can say, "I
           love you this moment and this moment I feel -- this is a feeling of this moment -- that even death
           cannot part us. But this is a feeling of this moment. This is not a guarantee. This moment I feel like
           saying that I will always and always love you, but this is a feeling of this moment, this is no
           guarantee. What will happen in the future nobody knows. We never knew about this moment so how
           can we know about other moments? We will have to wait. We will have to be prayerful that it
           happens, that I love you for ever and ever, but this is not a guarantee."
               Perfect sincerity cannot give any guarantee. Perfect sincerity is so sincere that it cannot promise:
           it gives whatsoever it can give here and now. Perfect sincerity lives in the present, it has no idea of
           the future.
               Mind moves in the future, being lives here and now. And perfect sincerity belongs to the being,
           not to the mind. Love, truth, meditation, sincerity, simplicity, innocence, all belong to the being. The
           opposites belong to the mind and to hide the opposites the mind creates false coins: false sincerity,
           which guarantees, promises; false love, which is just a name for duty; false beauty, which is just a
           face for inner ugliness. Mind creates false coins, and nobody is deceived, remember, except yourself.
           Enough for today.




                                                  The Empty Boat
                                                    Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: Three in the Morning
           14 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 7407140
              ShortTitle: BOAT05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              WHAT IS THIS THREE IN THE MORNING?



              IT IS ABOUT A MONKEY TRAINER
              WHO WENT TO HIS MONKEYS AND TOLD THEM:
              "AS REGARDS YOUR CHESTNUTS,
              YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE THREE MEASURES IN THE MORNING,
              AND FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON."



              ON HEARING THIS ALL THE MONKEYS BECAME ANGRY.
              SO THE KEEPER SAID:
              "ALL RIGHT THEN,
              I WILL CHANGE IT
              TO FOUR MEASURES IN THE MORNING,
              AND THREE IN THE AFTERNOON."
              THE ANIMALS WERE SATISFIED WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT.



              THE TWO ARRANGEMENTS WERE THE SAME --
              THE NUMBER OF CHESTNUTS DID NOT CHANGE,
              BUT IN ONE CASE THE MONKEYS WERE DISPLEASED,
              AND IN THE OTHER CASE THEY WERE SATISFIED.



              THE KEEPER WAS WILLING
              TO CHANGE HIS PERSONAL ARRANGEMENT
              IN ORDER TO MEET OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS.
              HE LOST NOTHING BY IT.



              THE TRULY WISE MAN,
              CONSIDERING BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION
              WITHOUT PARTIALITY,
              SEES THEM BOTH IN THE LIGHT OF TAO.
              THIS IS CALLED FOLLOWING TWO COURSES AT ONCE.


               The law of the three in the morning. Chuang Tzu loved this story very much. He often repeated
           it. It is beautiful, with many layers of meaning. Obviously very simple but still very deeply
           indicative of the human mind.
               The first thing to be understood is that the human mind is monkeyish. It was not Darwin who
           discovered that man comes from monkeys. It has been a long-standing observation that the human
           mind behaves in the same patterns as the mind of the monkey. Only rarely does it happen that you
           transcend your monkeyishness. When mind becomes still, when mind becomes silent, when there is
           really no mind at all, you transcend the monkeyish pattern.
               What is the monkeyish pattern? For one thing, the mind is never still. And unless you are still,
           you cannot see the truth. You are wavering, trembling so much that nothing can be seen. Clear
           perception is impossible. While meditating what are you doing? You are putting the monkey in a
           position of stillness, hence all the difficulties of meditation. The more you try to make the mind still,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the more it revolts, the more it starts getting into turmoil, the more restless it becomes.
               Have you ever seen a monkey sitting silently and still? Impossible! The monkey is always eating
           something, doing something, swinging, chattering. This is what you are doing. Man has invented
           many things. If there is nothing to do he will chew gum; if there is nothing to do he will smoke!
           These are just foolish occupations, monkeyish occupations. Something has to be done continuously
           so that you remain occupied.
               You are so restless that your restlessness needs to be busy somehow or other. That is why,
           whatsoever is said against smoking, it cannot be stopped. Only in a meditative world can smoking
           stop -- otherwise not. Even if there is danger of death, of cancer, of tuberculosis, it cannot be
           stopped, because it is not a question of just smoking, it is a question of how to release the
           restlessness.
               People who chant mantras can stop smoking because they have found a substitute. You can keep
           chanting Ram, Ram, Ram, and this becomes a sort of smoking. Your lips are working, your mouth is
           moving, your restlessness is being released. So JAPA can become a sort of smoking, a better sort,
           with less harm to the health.
               But basically it is the same thing -- your mind cannot be left at rest. Your mind has to do
           something, not only while you are awake but even when you are asleep. One day watch your wife or
           your husband sleeping, just sit for two or three hours silently and watch the face. You will see the
           monkey not the man. Even in sleep much goes on. The person is occupied. This sleep cannot be
           deep, it cannot be really relaxing, because work is going on. The day is continued, there is no
           discontinuity; the mind keeps functioning in the same way. There is constant inner chatter, an inner
           monologue, and it is no wonder you get bored. You are boring yourself. Everybody looks bored.

                Mulla Nasruddin was telling a story to his disciples, and suddenly the rain started -- it must have
           been a day like this. So a passer-by, just to protect himself, came under the shelter of the shed where
           Nasruddin was talking to his disciples. He was just waiting for the rain to stop but he couldn't help
           listening.
                Nasruddin was telling tall stories. Many times the man found it almost impossible to resist
           interrupting, because he was saying such absurd things. But he thought again and again and said to
           himself, "It is none of my business. I am only here because of the rain, as soon as it stops I will go. I
           need not interfere." But at a point the man couldn't help it, he couldn't contain himself any longer. He
           interrupted saying, "Enough is enough. Excuse me, this is none of my business, but now you have
           overdone it!"
                I must first tell you the story and the point where the man could not contain himself....
                Nasruddin was saying, "Once in my young days I was traveling in the forests of Africa, the dark
           continent. Suddenly one day a lion jumped out just fifteen feet away from me. I was without any
           arms or protection, alone in the forest. The lion stared at me and started walking towards me."
                The disciples became very excited. Nasruddin stopped for a moment and looked at their faces.
           One disciple said, "Don't keep us waiting, what happened?"
                Nasruddin said, "The lion came nearer and nearer until it was just five feet away."
                Another disciple said, "No more waiting. Tell us what happened."
                Nasruddin said, "It is so simple, so logical, work it out for yourself. The lion jumped, killed me
           and ate me!"
                At this point it was too much for the stranger! He said, "Are you saying that the lion killed and
           ate you, and you are sitting here alive?"
                Nasruddin looked straight at the man and said, "Ha ha, do you call this being alive?"

              Look at people's faces and you will understand what he meant. Do you call this being alive? So
           bored to death, dragging?

               Once a man said to Nasruddin,"I am very poor. Survival is impossible now, should we commit
           suicide? I have six children and a wife, my widowed sister and old father and mother. And it is
           getting more and more difficult. Can you suggest something?"
               Nasruddin said, "You can do two things and both will be helpful. One, start baking bread,
           because people have to live and they have to eat, you will always have business."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The man asked, "And the other?"
               Nasruddin said, "Start making shrouds for the dead, because when people are alive, they will die.
           And this is also a good business. These two businesses are good -- bread, and shrouds for the dead."
               After a month the man came back. He looked even more desperate, very sad, and he said,
           "Nothing seems to work. I have put everything I have got into the business, as you suggested, but
           everything seems to be against me."
               Nasruddin said, "How can that happen? People have to eat bread while they are alive, and when
           they die their relatives have to buy shrouds."
               The man said, "But you don't understand. In this village no one is alive and no one ever dies.
           They are simply dragging along."

                People are just dragging. You don't need to look at others' faces, just look in the mirror and you
           will find out what dragging means -- neither alive nor dead. Life is so beautiful, death is also
           beautiful -- dragging is ugly.
                But why do you look so burdened? The constant chattering of the mind dissipates energy.
           Constant chattering of the mind is a constant leakage in your being. Energy is dissipated. You never
           have enough energy to make you feel alive, young, fresh, and if you are not young and fresh and
           alive your death is also going to be a very dull affair.
                One who lives intensely, dies intensely, and when death is intense, it has a beauty of its own.
           One who lives totally, dies totally, and wherever totality is there is beauty. Death is ugly, not
           because of death but because you have never lived rightly. If you have never been alive, you have
           not earned a beautiful death. It has to be earned. One has to live in such a way, so total and so whole,
           that he can die totally, not in fragments. You live in fragments, so you die in fragments. One part
           dies, then another, then another, and you take many years to die. Then the whole thing becomes ugly.
           Death would be beautiful if people were alive. This inner monkey doesn't allow you to be alive, and
           this inner monkey will not allow you to die beautifully either. This constant chattering has to be
           stopped.
                And what is the chattering, what is the subject matter? The subject matter is the three in the
           morning that goes on in the mind. What are you doing inside the mind? Continuously making
           arrangements: to do this, not to do that, to build this house, to destroy that house; to move from this
           business to another because there will be more profit; to change this wife, this husband. What are
           you doing? Just changing arrangements.
                Chuang Tzu says that finally, ultimately, if you can look at the total, the total is always the same.
           It is seven. Whether you are given three measures of chestnuts in the morning and four measures in
           the evening, or the other way around -- four measures in the morning and three measures in the
           evening -- the total is seven. This is one of the most secret laws -- the total is always the same.
                You may not be able to comprehend it, but when a beggar or an emperor dies, their total is the
           same. The beggar lived on the streets, the emperor lived in the palaces, but the total is the same. A
           rich man, a poor man, a successful man and a failure, the total is the same. If you can look at the total
           of life, then you will come to know what Chuang Tzu means by the three in the morning.
                What happens? Life is not impartial, life is not partial, life is absolutely indifferent to your
           arrangements -- it doesn't bother about the arrangements you make. Life is a gift. If you change the
           arrangement, the total is not changed.
                A rich man has found better food, but the hunger is lost; he cannot really feel the intensity of
           being hungry. The proportion is always the same. He has found a beautiful bed, but with the bed
           comes insomnia. He has made better arrangements for sleeping. He should be falling asleep into
           SUSHUPTI -- what Hindus call unconscious samadhi -- but that is not happening. He cannot fall
           asleep. He has just changed the arrangement.
                A beggar is asleep just outside there in the street. Traffic is passing and the beggar is asleep. He
           has no bed. The place where he is sleeping is uneven, hard and uncomfortable, but he is asleep. The
           beggar cannot get good food, it is impossible, because he has to beg. But he has a good appetite. The
           total result is the same. The total result is seven.
                A successful man is not only successful, for with success comes all sorts of calamities. A failure
           is not just a failure, for with failure comes many sorts of blessings. The total is always the same, but
           the total has to be penetrated and looked at, a clear perspective is needed. Eyes are needed to look at
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the total because mind can look only at the fragment. If the mind looks at the morning, it cannot look
           at the evening; if it looks at the evening, the morning is forgotten. Mind cannot look at the total day,
           mind is fragmentary.
                Only a meditative consciousness can look at the whole, from birth to death -- and then the total is
           always seven. That is why wise men never try to change the arrangement. That is why in the East no
           revolution has ever happened -- because revolution means changing the arrangement.
                Look what happened in Soviet Russia. In 1917 the greatest revolution happened on earth. The
           arrangement was changed. I don't think Lenin, Stalin or Trotsky ever heard the story of three in the
           morning. They could have learned much from Chuang Tzu. But then there would have been no
           revolution. What happened? The capitalists disappeared, now nobody was rich, nobody was poor.
           The old classes were no more. But only names changed. New classes came into being. Before, it was
           the rich man and the poor man, the capitalist and the proletariat -- now it was the manager and the
           managed. But the distinction, the gap, remains the same. Nothing has changed. Only now you call
           the capitalist the manager!
                Those who have studied the Russian revolution say that this is not a socialist revolution, it is a
           managerial revolution. The same gap, the same distance, remains between the two classes, and a
           classless society has not come into being.
                Chuang Tzu would have laughed. He would have told this story. What have you done? The
           manager has become powerful, the managed have remained powerless.
                Hindus say that some people will always be managers and some people will always be managed.
           There are SUDRAS and KSHATRIYAS; and these are not just labels, these are types of people.
           Hindus have divided society into four classes and they say that society can never be classless. It is
           not a question of social arrangement -- four types of people exist. Unless you change the type, no
           revolution is of much help.
                They say there is a type which is a laborer, sudra, who will always be managed. If nobody
           manages him, he will be at a loss, he will not be happy. He needs somebody to order him, he needs
           somebody whom he can obey, he needs somebody who can take all the responsibility. He is not
           ready to take the responsibility on his own. That is a type. If the manager is around only then will
           that type of person work. If the manager is not there, he will simply sit.
                The manager can be a subtle phenomenon, even invisible. For example, in a capitalist society the
           profit motive manages. A sudra works not because he loves working, not because work is his hobby,
           not because he is creative, but because he has to feed himself and his family. If he does not work,
           who will feed him? It is the profit motive, hunger, body, the stomach, that manages.
                In a communist country this motive is not the manager. There they have to put visible managers.
           It is said that in Stalin's Russia there was one policeman for each citizen; otherwise it is difficult to
           manage because the profit motive is not there any longer. One has to force, one has to order, one has
           to nag constantly, only then will the sudra work.
                There is always a businessman type who enjoys money, wealth, accumulation. He will do that --
           it makes no difference how he does it. If money is available, he will collect money; if money is not
           available, then he will collect postage stamps. But he will do it, he will collect. If postage stamps are
           not available he will collect followers -- but he will collect! He has to do something with numbers.
           He will have ten thousand, twenty thousand followers, one million followers. That is just the same as
           saying that he has got one million rupees!
                Go to your sadhus -- the greater the number of followers, the greater they are. So followers are
           just nothing but bank balances. If nobody follows you, you are nobody -- then you are a poor guru. If
           many people follow you then you are a rich guru. Whatsoever happens, the businessman will collect.
           He will count. The material is immaterial.
                There is a warrior who will fight -- any excuse will do. He will fight, fighting is in his blood, in
           his bones. Because of his type the world cannot live in peace. It is impossible. Once every ten years
           there is bound to be a big war. And if you want to avoid big wars, then have many small wars, but
           the total will remain the same. Because of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, now a great war has
           become almost impossible. That is why there are so many small wars all over the world: in Vietnam,
           Kashmir, Bangladesh, Israel, many small wars, but the total will be the same. In five thousand years
           man has fought fifteen thousand wars, three wars per year.
                A type exists who has to fight. You can change this type, but the change will be superficial. If
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this warrior is not allowed to fight in war, he will fight in other ways. He will fight an election, or he
           may be-come a sportsman -- he may fight in cricket or football. But he will fight, he will compete, he
           needs somebody to challenge. Somewhere or other fighting has to be done to satisfy him. That is
           why, as civilization develops, people have to be supplied with more and more games. If games are
           not given to the warrior type, what will he do?
               Go and watch when a cricket, football, or hockey match is on -- people go mad, as if something
           very serious is going on, as if a real war is happening! The players are serious, and the fans around
           them go mad. Fights break out, riots happen. The playing field is always dangerous, because the type
           that gathers there is the warrior type. Any moment anything can go wrong.
               There is a brahmin type, who always lives in words, in scriptures. In the West there is no such
           type as the brahmin; the name is not important, but the brahmin exists everywhere. Your scientists,
           your professors, the universities are filled with them. They keep on working with words, symbols,
           creating theories, defending, arguing. They keep on doing it sometimes in the name of science,
           sometimes in the name of religion, sometimes in the name of literature. The names change, but the
           brahmin goes on.
               There are these four types. You cannot create a classless society. These four will persist and the
           total arrangement will be the same. Fragments can change. In the morning you can do one thing, in
           the evening something different, but the total day will remain the same.

               I have heard about a young scientist whose father was against his scientific research. The father
           always thought it useless. He told his son, "Don't waste your time. It is better to become a doctor,
           that will be more practical and helpful to people. Just theories, abstract theories of physics, are of no
           help." Finally he persuaded his son and he became a doctor.
               The first man who came to him was suffering from severe pneumonia. The doctor consulted his
           books -- because he was an abstract thinker, a brahmin. He tried and tried. The patient became more
           impatient, he said, "How long do I have to wait?"
               The scientist who was now a doctor said, "I don't think that there is any hope. You will have to
           die. There is no treatment for this illness, it has gone beyond cure." The patient was a tailor, he went
           home.
               Two weeks later the doctor was passing and he saw the tailor working, healthy and full of
           energy. So he said, "What, are you still alive? You should have been dead long ago. I have consulted
           the books and this is impossible. How do you manage to be alive?"
               The tailor said, "You told me that within a week I would have to die, so I thought: Then why not
           live? Just a week left.... And potato pancakes are my weakness, so I left your surgery, went straight
           to the cafe, ate thirty-two potato pancakes and immediately I felt a great surge of energy. And now I
           am absolutely okay!"
               Right away the doctor noted down in his diary that thirty-two potato pancakes is a sure cure for
           severe cases of pneumonia.
               The next patient by chance also had pneumonia. He was a shoemaker. The doctor said, "Don't
           worry. Now the cure has been discovered. Immediately go and eat thirty-two potato pancakes, not
           less than thirty-two, and you will be okay; otherwise, you will die within a week."
               After a week, the doctor knocked at the shoemaker's door. It was locked. The neighbor said, "He
           is dead. Your potato pancakes killed him." Immediately he noted in his diary: Thirty-two potato
           pancakes help tailors, kill shoemakers.
               This is the abstract mind. He cannot be practical, the brahmin.

               You can change surfaces, you can paint faces, but the inner type remains the same. Hence the
           East has not troubled itself with revolutions. The East is waiting; and those in the East who are wise,
           they look at the West, and they know that you are playing with toys. All your revolutions are toys.
           Sooner or later you will come to realize the law of three in the morning.
               What is this three in the morning? A disciple must have asked Chuang Tzu, because whenever
           somebody mentioned revolution or change, Chuang Tzu would laugh and say, "The law of the three
           in the morning." So a disciple must have asked, "What is this three in the morning you are always
           talking about?"
           Said Chuang Tzu:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              IT IS ABOUT A MONKEY TRAINER
              WHO WENT TO HIS MONKEYS AND TOLD THEM:
              "AS REGARDS YOUR CHESTNUTS,
              YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE THREE MEASURES IN THE MORNING,
              AND FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON."
              ON HEARING THIS ALL THE MONKEYS BECAME ANGRY...."


               Because in the past they had been getting four measures in the morning and three in the evening.
           Obviously they got angry! "What do you mean? We always used to get four measures of chestnuts in
           the morning and now you say three. We cannot tolerate this."
              SO THE KEEPER SAID:
              "ALL RIGHT THEN,
              I WILL CHANGE IT
              TO FOUR MEASURES IN THE MORNING,
              AND THREE IN THE AFTERNOON."
              THE ANIMALS WERE SATISFIED WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT.


                The total remained the same...but monkeys cannot look at the total. It was morning, so they could
           only see the morning. Every morning it was routine to get four measures and they expected four
           measures, and now this man says, "Three measures in the morning." He is cutting down by one
           measure. It cannot be tolerated. They became angry, they revolted.
                But this monkey trainer must have been a wise man. If you are not, it is difficult to become a
           monkey trainer. I know it from my own experience. I am a monkey trainer.
                The monkey trainer said, "Okay, then don't get disturbed. I will follow the old pattern. You will
           get four measures in the morning and three in the evening." The monkeys were happy. Poor
           monkeys! -- they can be happy or unhappy without any reason for either. But this man had a bigger
           perspective. He could see, he could add four plus three. It was still the same -- seven measures were
           to be given to them. How they had it and in what arrangement didn't matter. The two arrangements
           were the same, the number of chestnuts didn't change, but in one case the monkeys were displeased
           and in the other case they were satisfied.
                This is how your mind works: you just keep changing the arrangement. With one arrangement
           you feel satisfied, with another you feel dissatisfied -- and the total remains the same. But you never
           look at the total. The mind cannot see the total. Only meditation can see the total. Mind looks at the
           fragment, it is near-sighted, very near-sighted. That is why whenever you feel pleasure, you
           immediately jump into it, you never look at the evening. Whenever there is pleasure there is pain
           hidden in it. This has been your experience but you have not become aware of it. The pain will come
           in the evening but the pleasure is here in the morning.
                You never look into that which is hidden, into that which is invisible, into that which is latent.
           You just look at the surface and you go mad. You do this all your life. A fragment catches you.
           Many people come to me and say, "In the beginning when I married this woman, everything was
           very beautiful. But within days everything was lost. Now it has all become ugly, now it is misery."
                Once there was a car accident. The car overturned in a ditch by the side of the road. The man was
           lying on the ground completely crippled, almost unconscious. A policeman came along and started to
           fill in his notebook. He asked the man, "Are you married?"
                The man said, "I am not married. This is the biggest mess I have ever been in."
                It is said that those who know will never marry. But how can you know what happens in
           marriage without getting married? You look at a person, at the fragment, and sometimes the
           fragment will look very foolish when you think about it in the end.
                The color of the eyes -- what foolishness! How can your life depend on the color of your or
           somebody else's eyes? How can your life be beautiful just because of the color of the eyes? -- a small
           pigment, three or four pennies' worth. But you get romantic: Oh, the eyes, the color of the eyes. Then
           you go mad and you think, "If I am not married to this woman life is lost, I will commit suicide."
                But you don't see what you are doing. One cannot live by the color of the eyes forever. Within
           two days you will become acquainted with those eyes and you will forget them. Then there is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole of life in front of you, the totality of it. Then starts misery. Before the honeymoon is finished,
           misery begins; the total person was never taken into account -- the mind cannot see the total. It just
           looks at the surface, at the figure, the face, the hair, the color of the eyes, the way the woman walks,
           the way she talks, the sound of her voice. These are the parts, but where is the total person?
                The mind cannot see the total. The mind looks at fragments, and with fragments it gets hooked.
           Once it is hooked, the total comes in -- the total is not far away. Eyes don't exist as separate
           phenomena, they are part of a whole person. If you are hooked by the eyes, you are hooked with the
           whole person. And when this whole emerges, everything becomes ugly.
                So who is responsible? You should have taken account of the whole. But when it is morning the
           mind looks at the morning and forgets the evening completely. Remember well -- in every morning
           the evening is hidden. The morning is constantly turning into evening and nothing can be done about
           it, you cannot stop it.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              THE TWO ARRANGEMENTS WERE THE SAME --
              THE NUMBER OF CHESTNUTS DID NOT CHANGE,
              BUT IN ONE CASE THE MONKEYS WERE DISPLEASED,
              AND IN THE OTHER CASE THEY WERE SATISFIED.


              Monkeys are your minds; they cannot penetrate the whole. This is the misery. You always miss,
           you always miss because of the fragment. If you can see the whole and then act, your life will never
           be a hell. And then you will not be bothered about superficial arrangements, about morning and
           evening, because then you can count -- and it is always seven. Whether you get four or three in the
           morning makes no difference -- the total is seven.

               I have heard that a small boy came home from school very puzzled. His mother asked, "Why do
           you look so puzzled?"
               The boy said, "I am in a muddle. I think my teacher has gone crazy. Yesterday she said that four
           plus one make five and today she told me three plus two make five. She must have gone mad,
           because when four plus one is already five, how can three plus two be five?"

               The child cannot see that five can come out of many arrangements -- there is not only one
           arrangement which will total five. There can be millions of arrangements in which the total will be
           five.
               Howsoever you arrange your life the religious man will always look to the total and the worldly
           man will always look to the fragment. That is the difference. The worldly will look to whatever is
           near, and not see the far hidden there. The distant is not really very far away, it will become the near,
           it will happen soon. The evening is coming.
               Can you have a perspective in which the total life is seen? It is believed, and I think it is true
           also, that if a man is drowning, suddenly his whole life, the total, is remembered. You are dying,
           drowning in a river, with no time left, and suddenly in your mind's eye your whole life is revealed
           from beginning to end. It is as if the whole film passes across the screen of the mind. But what use is
           it now that you are dying?
               A religious man looks at the total every moment. The whole of life is there, and then he acts out
           of that perspective of the whole. He will never regret as you always do. It is inevitable that
           whatsoever you do, you will regret it.

               One day the king went to visit a madhouse. The superintendent of the madhouse escorted him to
           every cell. The king was very interested in the phenomenon of madness, he was studying it.
           Everybody should be interested because it is everybody's problem. And you need not go to a
           madhouse: go anywhere and study people's faces. You are studying in a madhouse!
               One man was weeping and crying, hitting his head against the bars. His anguish was so deep, his
           suffering so penetrating, that the king asked to be told the whole story of how this man went mad.
           The superintendent said, "This man loved a woman and couldn't get her, so he went mad."
               Then they passed to another cell. In it there was a man spitting on a picture of a woman. The king
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           asked, "And what is the story of this man? He also seems to be involved with a woman."
               The superintendent said, "It is the same woman. This man fell in love with her too, and he got
           her. That is why he went mad."
               If you get what you want you go mad; if you don't get what you want you go mad. The total
           remains the same. Whatsoever you do, you will regret it. A fragment can never be fulfilling. The
           whole is so big and the fragment is so small that you cannot deduce the whole from the fragment.
           And if you depend on the fragment and decide your life accordingly, you will always miss. Your
           whole life will be wasted.
               So what should we do? What does Chuang Tzu want us to do? He wants us not to be fragmentary
           -- he wants us to be total. But remember, you can look at the total only when YOU are total, because
           only the similar can know the similar. If you are fragmentary, you cannot know the total. How can
           you know the total if you are fragmentary? If you are divided in parts the total cannot be reflected in
           you. When I speak of meditation I mean a mind which is no longer divided, in which all fragments
           have disappeared. The mind is undivided, whole, one.
               This one mind looks deeply to the very end. It looks from death to birth, it looks from birth to
           death. Both the polarities are before it. And out of this look, out of this penetrating vision, the action
           is born. If you ask me what sin is, I will say: Action out of the fragmentary mind is sin. If you ask me
           what virtue is, I will tell you: Action out of the total mind is virtue. That is why a sinner always has
           to repent.
               Remember your own life, observe it. Whatsoever you do, whatsoever you choose, this or that,
           everything goes wrong. Whether you get the woman or lose her, in either case you go mad.
           Whatsoever you choose, you choose misery. Hence Krishnamurti constantly insists on
           choicelessness.
               Try to understand this. You are here listening to me. This is a choice, because you must have left
           some job undone, some work incomplete. You have to go to the office, to the shop, to the family, to
           the market and you are here listening to me. This morning you must have decided what to do.
           Whether to go and listen to this man or go to your work, to the office, to the market. Then you made
           the choice to come here.
               You made the choice to come here. You will regret your choice... because even while here, you
           cannot be totally here: half of the mind is there, and you are simply waiting until I finish so you can
           go. But do you think that if you had chosen otherwise, gone to the shop or to the office, would you
           have been totally there? No, because that again was a choice. So you will be there and your mind
           will be here. And you will regret: What am I missing? Who knows what is being done there, what is
           being talked about? Who knows what secret key is to be transferred this morning?
               So whatsoever you choose, whether you come or whether you decide not to come, if it is a choice
           it means half of the heart, or a little more, has chosen. It is a democratic decision, parliamentary.
           With the majority of the mind you have decided, but the minority is still there. And no minority is a
           fixed thing, no majority is a fixed thing. Nobody knows its size, party members keep changing sides.
               When you came here you decided. Fifty-one percent of your mind wanted to come and forty-nine
           wanted to go to the office. But by the time you arrive here the arrangement has changed. The very
           decision to come and listen creates a disturbance.
               The minority may have become the majority by the time you arrive here. If it has not yet become
           a majority, by the time you leave it will have, and you will think, "Two hours wasted? Now, how
           will I make them up? It would have been better not to come -- spiritual things can be postponed, but
           this world cannot be postponed. Life is long enough, we can meditate later on."
               In India people say that meditation is only for the old. Once they are on the verge of death then
           they can meditate, it is not for young people. Meditation is the last thing on the list; do it when you
           have done everything else. But remember that the time never comes when you have done everything,
           when you are too old to do anything else, when all your energy has been wasted, when it is time to
           meditate.
               When you are incapable of doing anything how can you meditate? Meditation needs energy, the
           purest, most vital -- meditation needs energy overflowing. A child can meditate but how can an old
           man meditate? A child is easily meditative, an old man -- no, he is wasted. There is no movement of
           energy in him, his river cannot flow, he is frozen. Many parts of his life are already dead.
               If you choose to come to the temple, you suffer, you regret. If you go to the office or the market,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you suffer and regret.

               It happened once that a monk died. He was a very famous monk, known all over the country.
           Many people worshipped him and thought he was enlightened. And on the same day a prostitute
           died. She lived just in front of the monk's temple. She was also a very famous prostitute, as famous
           as the monk. They were two polarities living next to each other and they died on the same day.
               The angel of death came and took the monk to heaven; other angels of death came and took the
           prostitute to hell. When the angels reached heaven the doors were closed and the man in charge said,
           "You have confused them. This monk has to go to hell and the prostitute has to come to heaven."
               The angels said, "What do you mean? This man was a very famous ascetic, continuously
           meditating and praying. That is why we never inquired, we simply went and fetched him. And the
           prostitute must already be in hell because the other group of angels took her there. We never thought
           of asking, it seemed so obvious."
               Said the man who was in charge at the gate: "You are confused because you have looked only at
           the surface. This monk used to meditate for the benefit of others, but for himself he was always
           thinking, 'I am missing life. What a beautiful woman that prostitute is, and available. Any moment I
           cross the street, she is available. What I am doing is a lot of nonsense -- praying, sitting in a buddha
           posture and attaining nothing.' But because of his reputation he didn't dare do it."
               Many people are virtuous because they are cowards like him. He was virtuous because he was a
           coward -- he could not cross the street. So many people knew him, how could he go to the prostitute?
           What would people say?
               Cowards are always afraid of the opinion of others. So he remained an ascetic, fasting, but his
           mind was always with the prostitute. When there was singing and dancing, he would listen. He sat
           before the statue of Buddha, but Buddha was not there. He was not worshipping; he would dream he
           was listening to the sounds of festivities, and in his fantasy he would make love to the prostitute.
               And what about the prostitute? She was always repenting, repenting and repenting, She knew she
           had wasted her life, she had wasted a golden opportunity. And for what? Just for money, selling her
           body and soul. She always used to look towards the monk's temple, so jealous of the silent life there.
           What meditative phenomenon was happening there?
               She longed for God to give her one chance to go inside the temple. But she thought, "I am a
           prostitute, unholy, and I should not enter the temple." So she used to walk around the temple from
           the outside, just to look at it from the street. What beauty, what silence, what blessing inside! And
           when there was KIRTAN and BHAJAN, singing and dancing, she used to wail and cry and scream,
           imagining what she was missing.
               So the man in charge of the gates said, "Bring the prostitute to heaven and take this monk to hell.
           Their outer life was different and their inner life was different, but like everybody else they both had
           regrets."

                We in India have invented a word which does not exist in any other language in the world.
           Heaven and hell are found everywhere; all languages everywhere have words for heaven and hell.
           We have a different word: it is MOKSHA or nirvana or KAIVALYA -- the absolute freedom which
           is neither hell nor heaven.
                If your outer life is hell and you repent of it, you will reach heaven, like the prostitute who
           constantly desired the world of meditation and prayer. And if your outer life is heaven and your
           inner life is hell, like the monk who desired the prostitute, you will go to hell. But if you make no
           choice, have no regrets, if you are choiceless, then you will reach moksha.
                Choiceless awareness is moksha, absolute freedom. Hell is a bondage, heaven is also a bondage.
           Heaven may be a beautiful prison, hell may be an ugly prison -- but both are prisons. Neither
           Christians nor Mohammedans can follow this point, because to them heaven is the ultimate. If you
           ask them where Jesus is, their answer is wrong. They say: In heaven with God. This is absolutely
           wrong. If Jesus is in heaven, then he is not enlightened. Heaven may be golden, but it is still a prison.
           It may be good, it may be pleasant, but it is still a choice, the choice against hell. The virtue which
           has been chosen against sin is a decision of the majority, but the minority is just behind waiting for
           its chance to decide.
                Jesus is in moksha, that is what I say. He is not in heaven, he is not in hell. He is totally free of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all imprisonments: good/bad, sin/virtue, morality/immorality. He did not choose. He lived a
           choiceless life. And that is what I keep on telling you: Live a choiceless life.
               But how is a choiceless life possible? It is possible only if you can see the total, the seven;
           otherwise, you will choose. You will say this should happen in the morning, that in the evening, and
           you think that just by changing the arrangement you are changing the total. The total cannot be
           changed. The total remains the same -- everybody's total remains the same.
               Hence I say there is no difference between a beggar and an emperor. In the morning you are an
           emperor, in the evening you will be a beggar; in the morning you are a beggar, in the evening you
           will be an emperor. And the total remains the same. Look at the total, BE total, and then all choice
           drops.
               That monkey trainer simply looked at the total and said, "Okay, you foolish monkeys, if you are
           happy with it, let this arrangement be as it is." But if he had also been a monkey, like the others, then
           there would have been a fight. Then he would have insisted, "This is going to be the arrangement.
           Who gives the orders, who makes the decisions? Who do you think is the master? You or me?"
               Ego always chooses, decides and forces. The monkeys were rebelling, and if this man had also
           been a monkey they would have driven him mad. He would have had to put them in their place, back
           where they belonged. He would have insisted, "No more four in the morning. I decide."

               It was the sixtieth birthday of a man. He came home that night after a long married life of almost
           forty years, full of quarrels and conflict. But he was surprised when he came home to find his wife
           waiting for him with two beautiful ties as a present. He never expected it from his wife. It was
           almost impossible that she would wait for him with two ties as a present. He felt so happy, he said,
           "Don't cook the dinner, I will get ready in a couple of minutes and we will go to the best restaurant in
           town."
               He had a bath, got ready, and put on one of the ties she had given him. His wife stared and said,
           "What? Do you mean you don't like the other tie? So isn't the other tie good enough?" A man can
           only wear one tie at one time but whichever tie he had chosen, the same would have happened: "So
           what do you mean? The other one isn't good enough?"
               It is the old habit of quarreling, fighting. It was said about the same woman that every day she
           would find something to fight about. And she would always succeed, because when you search, you
           will find. Remember this: whatsoever you are looking for you will find. The world is so vast, and
           existence is so rich, that if you are really keen to find something, you will find it.
               Sometimes she found hair on her husband's coat, and then she would fight about him going with
           some other woman. But once it happened that for seven days she could not find anything wrong. She
           tried and tried and there was no excuse to pick a fight. So on the seventh day, when her husband
           came home, she started screaming and beating her chest. He said, "Now what are you doing? What is
           the matter, what happened?"
               So she said, "You rascal, you have finished with other women and now you are going around
           with bald women!"

                The mind is always looking for trouble. And don't laugh, because this is about YOUR mind. By
           laughing you may be simply deceiving yourself. You may think it is about somebody else -- it is
           about you. And whatsoever I say, it is always about you.
                Mind chooses and always chooses trouble, because with choice comes trouble. You cannot
           choose God. If you choose, there will be trouble. You cannot choose sannyas. If you choose, there
           will be trouble. You cannot choose freedom. If you choose, it will not be freedom.
                Then how does it happen? How does God happen, sannyas happen, freedom happen, moksha
           happen? It happens when you understand the foolishness of choice. It is not a new choice, it is
           simply the dropping of all choosing. Just looking at the whole thing you start laughing. There is
           nothing to choose. The total remains the same. In the end, by the evening, the total will be the same.
           Then you won't be bothered whether in the morning you are an emperor or a beggar. You are happy,
           because by evening everything has come to the same, everything has been leveled.
                Death equalizes. In death nobody is an emperor and nobody is a beggar. Death reveals the total;
           it is always seven.
                The two arrangements were the same. Remember, the amount of chestnuts didn't change. But in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one case the monkeys were displeased and in the other case they were satisfied.

              THE KEEPER WAS WILLING
              TO CHANGE HIS PERSONAL ARRANGEMENT
              IN ORDER TO MEET OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS.
              HE LOST NOTHING BY IT.


               A man of understanding always looks at objective conditions, never at his subjective feelings.
           When the monkeys said no, if you had been the monkey trainer you would have felt offended. These
           monkeys were trying to rebel, they were being disobedient, this could not be toler-ated. It would
           have hurt you inside.
               You get angry even at dead things. If you are trying to open the door and it resists, you get mad.
           If you are trying to write a letter and the pen is not functioning well, smoothly, you get angry. You
           feel hurt, as if the pen is doing it knowingly, as if there is someone in the boat. You even feel
           somebody is there in the pen trying to disturb you.
               And this is not only the logic of small children, this is your logic also. If a child bumps into a
           table, he will hit it just to right the wrong, and he will always be an enemy of that table. But you are
           the same -- with dead things, with objects, you also get angry, you get mad!
               This is subjective, and a wise man is never subjective. A wise man always looks at the objective
           conditions. He will look at the door, and if it is not open, then he will try to open it. But he cannot
           get angry with it because the boat is empty. There is nobody there trying to shut the door, resisting
           your efforts.
               In order to meet objective conditions the trainer changed his personal arrangement. He looked at
           the monkeys and their minds, he didn't feel offended -- he was a monkey trainer, not a monkey. He
           looked and he must have laughed within, because he knew the total. And he yielded. Only a wise
           man yields. A foolish man always resists. Foolish people say it is better to die than to bend, better to
           break than to bend.
               Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu always say: When there is a strong wind the foolish egoistic trees resist
           and die, and the wise grass bends. The storm goes by and again the grass stands straight, laughing
           and enjoying. The grass is objective, the big tree is subjective. The big tree thinks so much of
           himself: "I am somebody, who can bend me? Who can force me to yield?" The big tree will fight
           with a storm. It is foolish to fight with the storm, because the storm has not come for you. It is
           nothing special, the storm is simply passing and you are there, it is coincidental.
               Monkeys are animals and think themselves very superior animals! They are not offending the
           monkey trainer. Monkeys are just monkeys. That is the way they are. They cannot look at the total,
           they cannot add up. They can look only at the near, not at the far -- the far is too far for them. It is
           impossible for them to conceive of the evening, they only know about the morning.
               So monkeys are monkeys, storms are storms. Why get offended? They are not fighting you. They
           are only following their own ways, their own habits. So the monkey trainer was not offended. He
           was a wise man, he yielded, he was just like the grass. Remember this when-ever you start feeling
           subjective. If somebody says something, immediately you feel hurt, as if it has been said to you. You
           are in the boat too much. It may not have been said to you at all. The other may be expressing his or
           her subjectivity.
               When somebody says, "You have insulted me," what is really meant is something else. If he had
           been a little more intelligent he would have said it the other way around. He would be saying, "I feel
           insulted. You may not have insulted me, but whatsoever you have said, I feel insul-ted." This is a
           subjective feeling.
               But nobody realizes their subjectivity and everyone goes on projecting subjectivity onto
           objective conditions. The other always says, "You have insulted me." And when you hear it you are
           also subjective. Both boats are filled, much too crowded. There is bound to be a clash, enmity,
           violence.
               If you are wise, when the other says, "You have insulted me," you will look at the matter
           objectively and you will think, "Why is the other feeling insulted?" You will try to understand the
           other's feelings, and if you can put things right you will yield. Monkeys are monkeys. Why get
           angry, why feel offended?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               It is said of Mulla Nasruddin that when he was old he was made an honorary magistrate. The first
           case to come before him was a man who had been robbed. Nasruddin heard his story and said, "Yes,
           you are in the right." But he hadn't yet heard the other story!
               The clerk of the court whispered in his ear, "You are new, Nasruddin. You don't know what you
           are doing. You have to listen to the other side before you give judgment."
           So Nasruddin said, "Okay."
               The other man, the robber, told his story. Nasruddin listened and said, "You are right."
               The clerk of the court felt confused: "This new magistrate is not only inexperienced, he is crazy."
           Again he whispered in his ear, "What are you doing? Both cannot be right."
           Nasruddin said, "Yes, you are right."

               This is the wise man who looks at the objective conditions. He will yield. He is always yielding,
           he is always saying yes -- because if you say no, then your boat is not empty. No always comes from
           the ego. So if a wise man has to say no, he will still use the terminology of yes. He will not say no
           outright, he will use the terminology of yes. If a foolish man wants to say yes, he will feel the
           difficulty of not saying no. He will use the terminology of no, and if he has to yield, he will yield
           grudgingly. He will yield offended, resisting. The monkey trainer yielded.

              THE KEEPER WAS WILLING
              TO CHANGE HIS PERSONAL ARRANGEMENTS
              IN ORDER TO MEET OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS.
              HE LOST NOTHING BY IT.


                No wise man has ever lost anything by saying yes to foolish people. No wise man can ever lose
           anything by yielding. He gains everything. There is no ego, so there cannot be any loss. The loss is
           always felt by the ego: I am losing. Why do you feel you are losing? -- because you never wanted to
           lose. Why do you feel you are a failure? -- because you always wanted to be a success. Why do you
           feel you are a beggar? -- because you always desired to be an emperor.
                A wise man simply takes whatever is. He accepts the total. He knows -- beggar in the morning,
           emperor in the evening; and emperor in the morning, beggar in the evening. Which is the better
           arrangement?
                If a wise man is forced to arrange he would like to be beggar in the morning and emperor in the
           evening. A wise man never chooses, but if you insist, he will say that it is better to be beggar in the
           morning and emperor in the evening. Why? -- because to be emperor first, in the morning, then to be
           beggar in the evening, will be very difficult. But this is the choice.
                A wise man will choose pain in the beginning and pleasure in the end, because pain in the
           beginning will give you the background, and against it the pleasure will be more pleasing than ever.
           Pleasure in the beginning will give you a soft background and then the pain will be too much,
           unbearable.
                East and West have made different arrangements. In the East, for the first twenty-five years of
           life every child had to go through hardship. That was the principle followed for thousands of years
           until the West came and began dominating the East.
                A child had to go to the master's house in the jungle, he had to live through every possible
           hardship. Like a beggar he would sleep on a mat on the floor -- there were no comforts. He would eat
           like a beggar; he would have to go to town and beg for the master, chop wood, take the animals to
           the river to drink, to the forest to feed.
                For twenty-five years he led the most simple, austere life whether he was born a king or a beggar
           -- there was no difference. Even the emperor's son had to follow the same routine, there was no
           distinction. And then when he came to know life in the world, life was so blissful.
                If the East was so content, this was the trick, the arrangement, because whatsoever life gives it is
           always more than you started with. The child comes to live in a hut. To him it is a palace compared
           with lying on the ground without any shelter, crowded. He has an ordinary bed, and it is heavenly.
           Ordinary food, bread, butter and salt is paradise enough, because there was no butter at the master's
           house. He is happy with whatsoever life gives.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now, the Western pattern is the opposite. When you are a student every comfort is given to you.
           Hostels, beautiful universities, beautiful rooms, classrooms, teachers -- every arrangement is made
           for your medical facilities, food, hygiene, everything is taken care of. And after twenty-five years of
           this you are thrown into the struggle of life. You have become a hot-house plant! -- you don't know
           what struggle is. Then you become a clerk in an office, a master in a primary school: life is hell.
           Then all your life you will be grunting, your whole life will be a long grump, complaining,
           complaining, everything is wrong. It is going to be so.
                The monkey trainer said, "Three helpings in the morning and four in the evening."
                But the monkeys insisted: "Four in the morning and three in the evening."
                Four in the morning and three in the evening...then the evening is going to be cloudy. You will
           compare it with the past, with the morning. Emperor in the morning and a beggar in the
           evening...then the evening is going to be miserable. The evening should be the climax, not miserable.
                The monkeys are not choosing a wise arrangement. In the first place a wise man never chooses,
           he lives choicelessly because he knows that whatever happens the total is going to be the same. In
           the second place, if he has to choose because of objective conditions, he will choose three courses in
           the morning and four in the evening. But the monkeys said, "No. We will choose. We will have four
           in the morning." That trainer, the keeper, was willing to comply in order to meet objective
           conditions. He lost nothing by it. But what happened to the monkeys? They lost something.
                So whenever you are near a wise man let him make the arrangements, don't insist on your own.
           To choose in the first place is wrong, and in the second place, whatsoever choice you monkeys
           make, it will be wrong. The monkey mind only looks for immediate, instant happiness. The monkey
           is not worried about what happens later on. He doesn't know, he has no perspective of the whole. So
           let the wise man choose.
                But the whole arrangement has changed. In the East the wise men decided. In the West there is
           democracy: the monkeys vote and choose. And now they have converted the whole East to
           democracy -- democracy means that the monkeys vote and choose.
                Aristocracy means that the wise men will choose the arrangement and the monkeys will yield
           and follow. Nothing can work like aristocracy if aristocracy is run properly. Democracy is bound to
           be a chaos. The monkeys feel very happy because they are choosing the arrangement, but the world
           was happier when the choice was with wise men.
                Remember, kings always used to go to ask the wise men to make the final decision on important
           matters. The wise men were not kings because they couldn't be bothered with it, they were beggars,
           living in their huts in the forest. Whenever there was a problem the king did not run to the
           constituency to ask the people, "What is to be done?" He ran to the forest to ask those who had
           renounced all -- because they have a perspective of the whole, no attachment, no obsessions,
           nothing, by their own choice. They are choiceless; they see the whole and decide.

              THE TRULY WISE MAN,
              CONSIDERING BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION
              WITHOUT PARTIALITY,
              SEES THEM BOTH IN THE LIGHT OF TAO.
              THIS IS CALLED FOLLOWING TWO COURSES AT ONCE.


               To look at the total means to follow two courses at once. Then it is not a question of four in the
           morning, three in the evening. It is a question of seven in the whole life.
               Arrangement is immaterial. Arrangements can be made according to objective conditions, but
           there will be seven in all, two courses together. The wise man looks at the whole of everything. Sex
           gives you pleasure, but he looks also at the pain that comes out of it. Wealth gives you pleasure, but
           he looks at the nightmare that comes with it. Success makes you happy, but he knows the abyss that
           follows the peak, the failure that will become intense, unbearable pain.
               The wise man looks at the whole. And when you look at the whole you have no choice. Then you
           are having two courses at the same time. Morning and evening are together now -- four plus three are
           together now. Now nothing is in fragments, everything has become a whole. And to follow this
           whole is Tao. To follow this whole is to be religious. To follow this whole is Yoga.
           Enough for today.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                   The Empty Boat
                                                     Chapter #6
                                           Chapter title: The Need to Win
           15 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407150
              ShortTitle: BOAT06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              WHEN AN ARCHER IS SHOOTING FOR FUN
              HE HAS ALL HIS SKILL.
              IF HE SHOOTS FOR A BRASS BUCKLE
              HE IS ALREADY NERVOUS.
              IF HE SHOOTS FOR A PRIZE OF GOLD
              HE GOES BLIND
              OR SEES TWO TARGETS --
              HE IS OUT OF HIS MIND.



              HIS SKILL HAS NOT CHANGED,
              BUT THE PRIZE DIVIDES HIM.
              HE CARES.
              HE THINKS MORE OF WINNING
              THAN OF SHOOTING --
              AND THE NEED TO WIN
              DRAINS HIM OF POWER.


                 If the mind is filled with dreams you cannot see rightly. If the heart is filled with desires you
           cannot feel rightly. Desires, dreams and hopes -- the future disturbs you and divides you. But
           whatsoever is, is in the present. Desire leads you into the future, and life is here and now. Reality is
           here and now, and desire leads you into the future. Then you are not here. You see, but still you don't
           see; you hear, but still you miss; you feel, but the feeling is dim, it cannot go deep, it cannot be
           penetrating. That is how truth is missed.
                 People keep on asking: Where is the divine, where is the truth? It is not a question of finding the
           divine or the truth. It is always here, it has never been anywhere else, it cannot be. It is there where
           you are, but you are not there, your mind is somewhere else. Your eyes are filled with dreams, your
           heart is filled with desires. You move into the future, and what is the future but illusion? Or, you
           move into the past, and the past is already dead. The past is no more and the future has yet to be.
           Between these two is the present moment. That moment is very short, it is atomic, you cannot divide
           it, it is indivisible. That moment passes in the flicker of an eye. If a desire enters, you have missed it;
           if a dream is there, you are missing it.
                 The whole of religion consists of not leading you somewhere, but bringing you to the here and
           now, bringing you back to the whole, back where you have always been. But the head has gone
           away, very far away. This head has to be brought back. So God is not to be sought somewhere --
           because you are searching somewhere, that is why you are missing him. He has been here all the
           time waiting for you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Once it happened that Mulla Nasruddin came staggering home totally drunk, and knocked many
           times at his own door. It was already half past midnight. The wife answered and he asked her, "Can
           you tell me, madam, where Mulla Nasruddin lives?"
              The wife said, "This is too much. You are Mulla Nasruddin."
              He said, "That's right, that I know, but it doesn't answer my question. Where does he live?"

               This is the situation. Drunk with desires, staggering along, you knock at your own door and ask
           where your home is. Really, you ask who you are. This is home, and you have never left it, it is
           impossible to leave it. It is not something outside you which you can go away and leave; it is your
           within, it is your very being.
               Asking where God is, is foolish, because you cannot lose God. It is your within, your innermost
           being, your very core. It is your existence: you breathe in him, you live in him, and it cannot be
           otherwise. What has happened is that you have become so drunk that you cannot recognize your own
           face. And unless you come back and get sober you will go on searching and seeking and you will go
           on missing.
               Tao, Zen, Yoga, Sufism, Hassidism, these are all methods for bringing you back, to make you
           sober again, to destroy your drunkenness. Why are you so drunk? What makes you so drunk? Why
           are your eyes so sleepy? Why aren't you alert? What is the root cause of it all? The root cause is that
           you desire.
           Try to understand the nature of desire.
               Desire is alcoholic, desire is the greatest drug possible. Marijuana is nothing, lsd is nothing.
           Desire is the greatest lsd possible -- the ultimate in drugs.
               What is the nature of desire? When you desire, what happens? When you desire, you are creating
           an illusion in the mind; when you desire, you have already moved from here. Now you are not here,
           you are absent from here, because the mind is creating a dream. This absentness is your drunkenness.
           Be present!
               This very moment the doors of heaven are open. There is no need even to knock because you are
           not outside heaven, you are already inside. Just be alert and look around without eyes filled with
           desire, and you will have a belly laugh. You will laugh at the whole joke, at what has been
           happening. It is just like a man dreaming at night.

               It happened once that a man was very much disturbed -- his nights were simply prolonged
           nightmares. His whole night was a struggle. It was so painful that he was always scared to go to
           sleep and he was always happy to get up. And the nature of the dreams was that the moment he fell
           asleep, under his bed he would start seeing millions of lions, dragons, tigers, crocodiles, all sitting
           under his small bed. So he dreamed that he couldn't sleep -- at any moment they would attack.
               His whole night was just a long disturbance, a torture, a hell. He was treated medically, but
           nothing would help. Everything failed. He was analyzed by psychologists, psychiatrists, but nothing
           worked. Then one day he walked out of his house laughing.
               Nobody had seen him laughing for many years. His face had become hellish, always sad, afraid,
           scared. So the neighbors asked, "What is the matter? You are laughing? We have not seen you laugh
           for such a long time, we have completely forgotten that you ever used to laugh. What happened to
           your nightmares?"
               The man said, "I told my brother-in-law, and he cured me."
               The neighbors asked, "Is your brother-in-law some great psycho-analyst? How did he cure you?"
               The man said, "He is a carpenter, and he simply sawed off the legs of my bed. Now there's no
           more space underneath, so I slept for the first time!"

               You create a space -- and desire is the way to create the space. The greater the desire, the more
           space is created. A desire may be fulfilled in one year, then you have one year's space. You can
           move in it, and you will have to encounter many reptiles, many dragons. This space which is created
           by desire, you call time. If there is no desire, there is no need for time.
               A single moment exists -- not even two moments, because the second is needed only by desire, it
           is not needed by your existence. Existence is completely fulfilled, total, in one moment.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you think that time is something outside you, remember that you are mistaken. Time is not
           something outside you.
                If man disappears from the earth will there be time? Trees will grow, rivers will flow, clouds will
           still float in the sky, but I ask, will there be time? There will not. There will be moments, rather,
           there will be one moment -- and when one moment disappears another comes into existence, and so
           on. But there is no time as such. Only the atomic moment exists.
                Trees don't desire anything, They don't desire to flower, flowers will come automatically. It is
           part of the nature of the tree that flowers will come. But the tree is not dreaming, the tree is not
           moving, it is not thinking, it is not desiring.
                There will be no time, only eternal moments, if man is not there. You create time by desire. The
           greater the desire, the more time is needed.
                But for materialistic desires much time is not needed. That is why in the West they say that there
           is only one life. In the East, we have desired moksha. That is the greatest desire possible -- no other
           desire can be greater than that. How can you get moksha in one life? One life is not enough. You
           may get a palace, you may organize a kingdom, you may become very rich and powerful, a Hitler, a
           Ford, you may become something of this world, but moksha is such a great desire that one life is not
           enough.
                So in the East we believe in many lives, in rebirth, because more time, many lives, will be
           needed to fulfill the desire for moksha. Only then is there hope that the desire will be fulfilled. The
           point is not whether there are many lives, or only one, but that in the East people believe in many
           lives because they desire moksha.
                If you have only one life then how can you attain moksha? Only material things can be attained
           in one lifetime, spiritual transformation as well is not possible. The desire is so huge that millions of
           lifetimes are needed. That is why in the East people live so lazily. There is no hurry because there is
           no shortage of time. You will be born again and again and again so why be in a hurry? You have got
           infinite time.
                So if the East is lazy and seems so absolutely unaware of time, if things move with such a slow
           flow, it is because of the concept of many lives. If the West is so time-conscious, it is because there
           is only one life, and everything has to be attained in it. If you miss, you miss forever -- no second
           opportunity is possible! Because of this shortage of time, the West has become very tense. So many
           things to do and so little time left in which to do them. There is never enough time and there are so
           many desires.
                People are always in a hurry, running fast. Nobody moves around slowly. Everyone is running,
           and more speed is needed. So the West keeps inventing faster vehicles and there is never any
           satisfaction with them. The West goes on lengthening human life just to give you a little more time
           to fulfill your desires.
                But why is time needed? Can't you be here and now without time? Is it not enough, this moment,
           just sitting near me, no past, no future -- this moment in-between, which is atomic, which is really as
           if nonexistential? It is so small that you cannot catch hold of it. If you catch it, it is already past. If
           you think, it is in the future. You can be IN it, but you cannot catch hold of it. When you catch hold
           of it, it is gone; when you think about it, it is not there.
                When it is there, only one thing can be done -- you can live it, that is all. It is so small that you
           can only live in it, but it is so vital that it gives life to you.
                Remember, it is just like the atom, so small it cannot be seen. Nobody, not even the scientists,
           have seen it yet. You can only see the consequences. They have been able to explode it: Hiroshima
           and Nagasaki were the consequences. We have seen Hiroshima burning, over one hundred thousand
           people dead -- this is the consequence. But no one has seen what happened in the atomic explosion.
           Nobody has seen the atom with their own eyes. There are no instruments yet which can see it.
                Time is atomic, this moment is also atomic. Nobody can see it, because the moment you see it, it
           has already gone. In the time that is taken in seeing, it has gone -- the river has flowed on, the arrow
           has moved, and nobody has ever seen time. You go on using the word time, but if someone insists on
           a definition you will be at a loss.
                Somebody asked Saint Augustine, "Define God. What do you mean when you use the word
           god?"
                And Augustine said, "It is just like time. I can talk about it, but if you insist on the definition, I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           am at a loss."
                You keep asking people, "What is the time?" And they will look at their watches and reply. But
           if you really ask, "What is time?" If you ask for the definition, then watches won't help.
                Can you define time? Nobody has ever seen it, there is no way of seeing it. If you look, it is
           gone; if you think, it is not there. When you don't think, when you don't look, when you simply are,
           it is there. You live it. And Saint Augustine is right: God can be lived, but cannot be seen. Time also
           can be lived, but cannot be seen. Time is not a philosophical problem, it is existential. God is also
           not philosophical, he is existential. People have lived him, but if you insist on a definition they will
           remain silent, they cannot answer. And if you can be in this moment, the doors of all the mysteries
           are open.
                So throw off all desires, remove all the dust from your eyes, be at ease within, not longing for
           something, not even for God. Every longing is the same, whether for a big car, or God, or a big
           house, makes no difference. Longing is the same. Don't long -- just be. Don't even look -- just be!
           Don't think! Let this moment be there, and you in it, and suddenly you have everything -- because
           life is there. Suddenly everything starts showering on you, and then this moment becomes eternal
           and then there is no time. It is always the now. It never ends, never begins. But then you are in it, not
           an outsider. You have entered the whole, you have recognized who you are.
                Now try to understand Chuang Tzu's sutra about the need to win. From where does this need
           arise -- the need to win? Everybody is seeking victory, seeking to win, but why does this need to win
           arise?
                You are not in any way aware that you are already victorious, that life has happened to you. You
           are already a winner and nothing more is possible, all that could happen has happened to you. You
           are already an emperor, and there is no other kingdom to be won. But you have not recognized it,
           you have not known the beauty of the life that has already happened to you. You have not known the
           silence, the peace, the bliss that is already there.
                And because you are not aware of the inner kingdom, you always feel that something more is
           needed, some victory, to prove that you are not a beggar.

               Once, Alexander the Great came to India -- to win, of course. If you don't need to win you will
           not go anywhere. Why bother? Athens was so beautiful, there was no need to bother to go on such a
           long journey.
               On the way he heard that on a river bank lived a mystic, Diogenes. He had heard many stories
           about him. In those days, in Athens particularly, only two names were spoken about -- one was
           Alexander, the other was Diogenes. They were two opposites, two polarities. Alexander was an
           emperor, trying to create a kingdom which stretched from one end of the earth to the other. He
           wanted to possess the whole world; he was the conqueror, the man in search of victory.
               And Diogenes was exactly the opposite. He lived naked, not a single thing did he possess. In the
           beginning he had a begging bowl for drinking water, or sometimes to beg food. Then one day he saw
           a dog drinking water from the river and immediately he threw away his bowl. He said, "If dogs do
           without, why not I? Dogs are so intelligent that they can do without a bowl. I must be very stupid to
           carry this bowl with me, it is a burden."
               He took that dog for his master, and invited the dog to be with him because he was so intelligent.
           The dog had shown him that his bowl was an unnecessary burden -- he was not aware. And from
           then on that dog remained with him. They used to sleep together, to take their food together. The dog
           was his only companion.
               Someone asked Diogenes, "Why do you keep company with a dog?"
               He said, "He is more intelligent than so-called human beings. I was not so intelligent before I met
           him. Looking at him, watching him, has made me more alert. He lives in the here and now, not
           bothered by anything, not possessing anything. And he is so happy that having nothing he has
           everything. I am not yet so content, some uneasiness remains inside me. When I have become just
           like him, then I will have reached the goal."
               Alexander had heard about Diogenes, his ecstatic bliss, his silent, mirrorlike eyes, just like the
           blue sky without any clouds. And this man lived naked, he did not even need clothes. Then
           somebody said, "He lives nearby on the river bank, and we are passing, we are not very far away...."
           Alexander wanted to see him, so he went.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                It was morning, a winter morning, and Diogenes was taking his sunbath, lying on the sand naked,
           enjoying the morning, the sun showering on him, everything so beautiful, silent, the river flowing
           by....
                Alexander wondered what to say. A man like Alexander cannot think except about things and
           possessions. So he looked at Diogenes, and said, "I am Alexander the Great. If you need something,
           tell me. I can be of much help and I would like to help you."
                Diogenes laughed, and said, "I don't need anything. Just stand a little to the side, you are
           blocking my sun. That's all you can do for me. Remember, don't block anybody's sun, that is all you
           can do. Don't stand in my way, and you need do nothing else."
                Alexander looked at this man. He must have felt like a beggar before him: He needs nothing, and
           I need the whole world, and even then I will not be satisfied, even this world is not enough. Said
           Alexander, "It makes me happy to see you, I have never seen such a contented man."
                Diogenes said, "There is no problem! If you want to be as contented as I, come and lie down by
           my side, have a sunbath. Forget the future, and drop the past. Nobody is hindering you."
                Alexander laughed, a superficial laugh of course, and said, "You are right -- but the time is not
           yet ripe. One day I would like to relax like you."
                Diogenes replied, "Then that one day will never come. What else do you need to relax? If I, a
           beggar, can relax, what else is needed? Why this struggle, this effort, these wars, this conquering,
           why this need to win?"
                Said Alexander, "When I have become victorious, when I have conquered the whole world, I will
           come and learn from you and sit by your side here on this bank."
                Diogenes said, "But if I can lie here and relax right now, why wait for the future? And why go
           around the whole world creating misery for yourself and others? Why wait until the end of your life
           to come to me and relax here? I am already relaxing."
                What is the need to win? You have to prove yourself. You feel so inferior within, you feel so
           vacant and empty, you feel such a nobodiness inside, that the need to prove arises. You have to
           prove that you are somebody, and unless you have proved it, how can you be at ease?
                There are two ways, and try to understand that these are the only ways. One way is to go out and
           prove that you are somebody; the other way is to go in and realize that you are nobody. If you go
           outwards you will never be able to prove that you are somebody. The need will remain; rather, it
           may increase. The more you prove, the more of a beggar you will feel, like Alexander standing
           before Diogenes. Proving to others that you are somebody does not make you become somebody.
           Deep down the nobodiness remains. It bites at the heart, and there you know that you are nobody.
                Kingdoms won't help, because kingdoms will not go in and fill the gap inside you. Nothing can
           go in. The without will remain without; the within will remain within. There is no meeting. You may
           have all the wealth in the world but how can you bring it in and fill the emptiness? No, even when
           you have all the wealth you will still feel empty -- more empty, because now the contrast will be
           there. That is why a Buddha leaves his palace: seeing all the wealth yet feeling the inner emptiness,
           he feels that all is useless.
                Another way is to go within -- not to try to get rid of this nobodiness, but to realize it. This is
           what Chuang Tzu is saying: Become an empty boat, just go in and realize that you are nobody. The
           moment you realize that you are nobody you explode into a new dimension, because when one
           person realizes he is nobody he is also realizing that he is all.
                You are not somebody, because you are all. How can the all be somebody? Somebody is always
           a part. God cannot be somebody because he is all, he cannot possess anything because he is the
           whole. Only beggars possess, because possessions have limitations, they cannot become unlimited.
           Somebodiness has a boundary, somebodiness cannot be without boundaries, it cannot be infinite.
           Nobodiness is infinite, just like allness.
                Really, both ways are the same. If you are moving without you will feel your inner being as
           nobody. If you are moving within you will feel the same nobodiness as all. That is why Buddha says
           that SHUNYA, the absolute void, is Brahman. To be nobody is to realize that you are all. To realize
           that you are somebody is to realize that you are not all. And nothing less will do.
                So the other way is to move within, not to fight with this nobodiness, not to try to fill this
           emptiness, but to realize it and become one with it. Be the empty boat and then all the seas are yours.
           Then you can move into the uncharted, then there is no hindrance for this boat, nobody can block its
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           path. No maps are needed. This boat will move into the infinite and now everywhere is the goal. But
           one has to move within.
                The need to win is to prove that you are somebody, and the only way we know how to prove is to
           prove in the eyes of others, because their eyes become reflections.
                Looking in others' eyes Alexander could see that he was somebody; standing near Diogenes, he
           felt he was nobody. Diogenes would not recognize external greatness. Before him, Alexander must
           have felt foolish. It is said that he told Diogenes that if God would grant him another birth he would
           like to be Diogenes rather than Alexander -- next time!
                The mind always moves to the future! This very time he could become Diogenes, there was no
           barrier, nobody was preventing him. There will be millions of barriers to becoming Alexander the
           Great because everybody will try to prevent you. When you want to prove that you are somebody
           you hurt everyone's ego, and they will all try to prove that you are nothing. What, who, do you think
           you are? You have to prove it, and it is a very hard way, very violent, very destructive.
                There is no barrier to being a Diogenes. Alexander felt the beauty, the grace of this man. He said,
           "If God gives me another birth I would like to be Diogenes -- but next time."
                Diogenes laughed and said, "If I am asked, only one thing is certain: I would not like ever to be
           Alexander the Great!"
                In the eye of Diogenes, Alexander could have seen no recognition of his victories. Suddenly he
           must have felt the sinking sensation, the deathlike sensation that he was nobody. He must have
           escaped, run from Diogenes as soon as possible. He was a dangerous man.
                It is said that Diogenes haunted Alexander his whole life. Wherever he went, Diogenes was with
           him like a shadow. At night, in dreams, Diogenes was there laughing. And a beautiful story tells that
           they died on the same day.
                They died on the same day, but Diogenes must have waited a little so that he could follow
           Alexander. While crossing the river which divides this world from that, Alexander met Diogenes
           again, and this second encounter was more dangerous than before. Alexander was in front because
           he had died a few minutes earlier -- Diogenes had been waiting to follow him. Alexander, hearing
           the sound of someone behind him in the river, looked back and saw Diogenes there laughing. He
           must have become quite dumbstruck, because this time things were absolutely different. He was also
           naked like Diogenes, because you cannot take your clothes to the other world. This time he was
           absolutely nobody, no emperor.
                But Diogenes was the same. All that death can take away he had already renounced, so death
           couldn't take anything from him. He was just the same as on that river bank; here he was in this
           river, just the same as before.
                So to be nonchalant, to give himself courage and confidence, Alexander also laughed and said,
           "Great, wonderful! Again the meeting of the greatest emperor and the greatest beggar."
                Diogenes replied, "You are absolutely right, only you are a little confused about who is the
           emperor and who is the beggar. This is a meeting of the greatest emperor and the greatest beggar, but
           the emperor is behind and the beggar is in front. And I tell you, Alexander, it was the same at our
           first meeting. You were the beggar, but you thought I was. Now look at yourself! What have you
           gained by winning the whole world?"

               What is the need to win? What do you want to prove? In your own eyes you know that you are a
           nonentity, you are nothing, and this nothingness becomes a pain in the heart. You suffer because you
           are nothing -- so you have to prove yourself in the eyes of others. You have to create an opinion in
           others' minds that you are somebody, that you are not a nothing. And looking in their eyes you will
           gather opinions, public opinion, and through public opinion you will create an image. This image is
           the ego, it is not your real self. It is a reflected glory, not your own -- it is collected from others' eyes.
               A man like Alexander will always be afraid of others because they can take back whatsoever
           they have given. A politician is always afraid of the public because they can take back whatsoever
           they have given. His self is just a borrowed self. If you are afraid of others, you are a slave, you are
           not a master.
               A Diogenes is not afraid of others. You cannot take anything from him because he has not
           borrowed anything. He has the self, you have only the ego. This is the difference between the self
           and the ego -- the ego is a borrowed self.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Ego depends on others, on public opinion; self is your authentic being. It is not borrowed, it is
           yours. Nobody can take it back.
           Look, Chuang Tzu has beautiful lines to say:

               WHEN AN ARCHER IS SHOOTING FOR FUN
               HE HAS ALL HIS SKILL -- FOR FUN!



               WHEN AN ARCHER IS SHOOTING FOR FUN
               HE HAS ALL HIS SKILL.


                When you are playing, you are not trying to prove that you are somebody. You are at ease, at
           home. While playing, just for fun, you are not worried what others think about you.
                Have you seen a father in a mock fight with his child? He will be defeated. He will lie down and
           the child will sit on his chest and laugh, and say, "I am the winner!" -- and the father will be happy.
           It is just fun. In fun you can be defeated and be happy. Fun isn't serious, it is not related to the ego.
           Ego is always serious.
                So remember, if you are serious, you will always be in turmoil, inner turmoil. A saint is always
           in play, as if shooting for the fun of it. He is not interested in shooting at a particular target, he is just
           enjoying himself.

                A German philosopher, Eugene Herrigel, went to Japan to learn meditation. And in Japan they
           use all types of excuses to teach meditation -- archery is one of them. Herrigel was a perfect archer;
           he was one hundred percent accurate, he never missed the mark. So he went to a master to learn
           meditation through archery, because he was already skilled in it.
                Three years of study passed and Herrigel started feeling that it was a waste of time. The master
           went on insisting that HE should not shoot. He told Herrigel, "Let the arrow leave by itself. You
           should not be there when you aim, let the arrow aim itself."
                This was absurd. For a Western man particularly, it was absolutely absurd: What do you mean,
           let the arrow shoot itself? How can the arrow shoot itself? I have to do something. And he continued
           shooting, never missing the target.
                But the master said, "The target is not the target at all. YOU are the target. I am not looking at
           whether you hit the target or not. That is a mechanical skill. I am looking at you, to see whether you
           are there or not. Shoot for fun! Enjoy it, don't try to prove that you never miss the target. Don't try to
           prove the ego. It is already there, you are there, there is no need to prove it. Be at ease and allow the
           arrow to shoot itself."
                Herrigel could not understand. He tried and tried and said again and again, "If my aim is a
           hundred percent accurate, why don't you give me the certificate?"
                The Western mind is always interested in the end result and the East is always interested in the
           beginning, not in the end. To the Eastern mind the end is useless; the importance is in the beginning,
           in the archer, not in the target. So the master said, "No!"
                Then, completely disappointed, Herrigel asked permission to leave. He said, "Then I will have to
           go. Three years is so long and nothing has been gained. You go on saying no...that I am still the
           same."
                The day he was to leave he went to say goodbye to the master and found him teaching other
           disciples. This morning Herrigel was not interested; he was leaving, he had dropped the whole
           project. So he was just waiting there for the master to finish so that he could say his goodbye and
           leave.
                Sitting on a bench he looked at the master for the first time. For the first time in three years he
           looked at the master. Really, he was not doing anything; it was as if the arrow was shooting itself.
           The master was not serious, he was playing, he was in fun. There was nobody who was interested in
           hitting the target.
                Ego is always target-oriented. Fun has no target to reach, fun is in the beginning when the arrow
           leaves the bow. If it shoots that is accidental, if it reaches the target that is not relevant; whether it
           reaches or misses is not the point. But when the arrow leaves the bow, the archer should be in fun,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enjoying, not serious. When you are serious you are tense, when you are not serious you are relaxed,
           and when you are relaxed you are. When you are tense, the ego is; YOU are clouded.
               For the first time Herrigel looked...because now he was not interested. It was none of his
           business now, he had dropped the whole thing. He was leaving so there was no question of
           seriousness. He had accepted his failure, there was nothing to be proved. He looked, and for the first
           time his eyes were not obsessed with the target.
               He looked at the master and it was as if the arrow was shooting itself from the bow. The master
           was only giving it energy, he was not shooting. He was not doing anything, the whole thing was
           effortless. Herrigel looked, and for the first time he understood.
               As if enchanted he approached the master, took the bow in his hand and drew back the arrow.
           The master said, "You have reached. This is what I have been telling you to do for three years." The
           arrow had not yet left the bow and the master said, "Finished. The target is attained." Now he was
           having fun, he was not serious, he was not goaloriented.
               This is the difference. Fun is not goal-oriented; it has no goal. Fun itself is the goal, the intrinsic
           value, nothing exists outside it. You enjoy it, that is all. There is no purpose to it, you play with it,
           that is all.

              WHEN AN ARCHER IS SHOOTING FOR FUN
              HE HAS ALL HIS SKILL.


               When you are shooting for fun, you are not in conflict. There are not two, there is no tension;
           your mind is not going anywhere. Your mind is not going at all -- so you are whole. Then the skill is
           there.

               A story is told about a Zen master, a painter, who was designing a new temple, a pagoda. It was
           his habit to have his chief disciple by his side. He used to draw the design, look at the disciple and
           ask, "What do you think?"
               And the disciple would say, "Not worthy of you." So he would discard it.
               This happened ninety-nine times. Three months passed and the king kept asking when the design
           would be completed so the building could start. And then one day it happened that while the master
           was drawing the design the ink ran dry, so he told the disciple to go out and prepare more ink.
               The disciple went out, and when he returned he looked and said, "What? You have done it! But
           why couldn't you do it in these three months?"
               The master said, "It is because of you. You were sitting by my side and I was divided. You were
           looking at me and I was target-oriented, it was not fun. When you were not there, I relaxed. I felt that
           nobody was looking and I became whole. This design I have not done, it has come by itself. For
           three months it would not come because I was the doer."

              WHEN AN ARCHER IS SHOOTING FOR FUN
              HE HAS ALL HIS SKILL.


               ...Because his whole being is available. And when the whole being is available, you have a
           beauty, a grace, a totally different quality of being. When you are divided, serious, tense, you are
           ugly. You may succeed, but your success will be ugly. You may prove that you are somebody but
           you are not proving anything, you are simply creating a false image. But when you are total, relaxed,
           whole, nobody may know about you, but you are.
               And this wholeness is the benediction, the beatitude, the blessing, that happens to a meditative
           mind, that happens in meditation.
           Meditation means wholeness.
               So remember, meditation should be fun, it should not be like work. You should not do it like a
           religious man, you should do it like a gambler. Play, do it for fun, like a sportsman not a
           businessman! It should be fun, and then all the skill will be available, then it will flower by itself.
           You will not be needed. No effort is needed. Simply your whole being has to be available, your
           whole energy has to be available. Then the flower comes by itself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IF HE SHOOTS FOR A BRASS BUCKLE
              HE IS ALREADY NERVOUS.


               If he is in a competition just for a brass buckle, if something is to be achieved, some result, he is
           already nervous, afraid. Fear comes in: "Will I succeed or not?" He is divided. One part of the mind
           says, "Maybe you will succeed"; another part says, "Maybe you will fail." Now the whole of his skill
           is not available, now he is half and half. And whenever you are divided your whole being becomes
           ugly and ill. You are diseased.

              IF HE SHOOTS FOR A PRIZE OF GOLD
              HE GOES BLIND
              OR SEES TWO TARGETS --
              HE IS OUT OF HIS MIND.


               Go to the market and see people who are after gold. They are blind. Gold blinds men as nothing
           else does, gold covers the eyes completely. When you are too anxious for success, too anxious for
           the result, too ambitious, when you are too anxious for the gold medal, then you are blind and you
           start seeing two targets. You are so drunk you start seeing double.

              Nasruddin was talking to his son in a bar. He said, "Always remember when to stop drinking.
           Alcohol is good, but one needs to know when to stop. And I'm telling you through my experience.
           Look over at that corner -- when those four people sitting at the table start looking like eight, stop."
              The boy said, "But father, I see only two people sitting there."

               When the mind is drunken, vision becomes double. And gold makes you unconscious, drunk.
           Now there are two targets and you are in such a hurry to reach them that you are nervous, trembling
           inside.
           This is the state Chuang Tzu means when he says:
              ...HE IS OUT OF HIS MIND.


               Everybody is out of his mind. It is not only mad people who are out of their minds, you are also
           out of your mind. The difference is only of degree, not of quality, a little more and any moment you
           can cross the boundary. It is as if you are at ninety-nine degrees. One hundred degrees and you boil,
           you have crossed over. The difference between those who are in madhouses and those who are
           outside is only of quantity, not of quality. Everyone is out of his mind, because everyone is after
           results, goals, purposes. Something has to be achieved. Then comes nervousness, inner trembling,
           then you cannot be still within. And when you tremble inside, the target becomes two, or even four
           or eight -- and then it is impossible to become an archer.
               A perfect archer is always the archer who is having fun.
           A perfect man lives life as fun, as play.
               Look at Krishna's life. Had Chuang Tzu known about him, it would have been beautiful.
           Krishna's life is fun. Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus, somehow or other look a little serious, as if
           something has to be achieved -- the moksha, the nirvana, the desirelessness. But Krishna is
           absolutely purposeless: the flute player just living for fun, dancing with girls and enjoying, singing.
           For him there is nowhere to go. Everything is here, so why bother about the result? Everything is
           available right now, why not enjoy it?
               Krishna is the perfect man if fun is the sign of a perfect man. In India we never call Krishna's life
           CHARITRA, his character, we call it Krishna's LEELA, his play. It is not a character, it is not
           purposeful; it is absolutely purposeless.
               It is just like a small child. You cannot ask, "What are you doing?" You cannot ask, "What is the
           meaning of it?" He is enjoying himself just running after butterflies. What will he achieve just
           jumping in the sun? Where will this effort lead him? Nowhere! He is not going anywhere. We call
           him childish and we think ourselves mature, but I tell you that when you are really mature, you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           again become childlike. Then your life will again become fun. You will enjoy it, every bit of it, you
           will not be serious. A deep laughter will spread all over your life. It will be more like a dance and
           less like a business; it will be more like singing, humming in the bathroom, less like calculating in
           the office. It will not be mathematics, it will just be enjoyment.

              HIS SKILL HAS NOT CHANGED,
              BUT THE PRIZE DIVIDES HIM.
              HE CARES.
              HE THINKS MORE OF WINNING
              THAN OF SHOOTING --
              AND THE NEED TO WIN
              DRAINS HIM OF POWER.


               If you feel so impotent, so powerless, helpless, it is because of YOU. Nobody else is draining
           you of your power. You have infinite sources of power, never ending, but you look drained, as if any
           moment you are going to fall with no energy left.
               Where is all the energy going? You are creating a conflict within yourself although your skill is
           the same.

              HIS SKILL HAS NOT CHANGED,
              BUT THE PRIZE DIVIDES HIM.
              HE CARES.


               I have heard a story. It happened in a village that a poor boy, the son of a beggar, was young and
           healthy. He was so young and so healthy that when the king's elephant passed through the village, he
           would just catch hold of the elephant's tail and it would not be able to move!
               Sometimes it became very embarrassing to the king because he would be sitting on the elephant
           and the whole market would gather and people would laugh. And all because of the son of a beggar!
               The king called his prime minister, "Something has to be done. This is insulting. I have become
           afraid to go through that village, and the boy sometimes comes to other villages also! Anywhere,
           anytime, he can catch hold of the elephant's tail and it will not move. That boy is powerful, so do
           something to drain his energy."
               The prime minister said, "I will have to go and consult a wise man because I don't know how to
           drain his energy. He is just a beggar. If he had a shop, that would drain his energy. If he was working
           as a clerk in an office, that would drain his energy. If he was a master in a primary school, then his
           energy could be drained. But he has nothing to do. He lives for fun, and people love him and feed
           him so he is never short of food. He is happy, he eats and sleeps. So it is difficult, but I will go."
               So he went to a wise old man. The wise old man said, "Do one thing. Go and tell the boy that you
           will give him one golden rupee every day if he will do a small job -- and the job is really small. He
           has to go to the village temple and put the lamp on. He has just to light the lamp at dusk, that is all.
           And you will give him one golden rupee every day."
               The prime minister said, "But how will this help? This may make him even more energetic. He
           will get one rupee and he will eat more. He will not even bother to beg."
               The wise man said, "Don't worry, simply do as I say."
               This was done, and the next week, when again the king passed, the boy tried to stop the elephant
           but he failed. He was dragged along by it.

               What happened? Care entered, anxiety entered. He had to remember, for twenty-four hours a day
           he had to remember that he had to go to the temple every evening and put the light on. That became
           an anxiety that divided his whole being. Even in his sleep he started to dream that it was evening:
           What are you doing? Go and switch on the light and get your one rupee. And then he started to
           collect those golden rupees. He had seven, now eight, and then he started to calculate that within so
           much time he would have one hundred golden rupees -- and then they would grow to two hundred.
           Mathematics came in and the fun was lost. And it was only a small thing that he had to do, to put the
           light on. Just the work of a single minute, not even that, just a momentary thing. But it became a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           worry. It drained him of all his energy.
               And if you are drained it is no wonder your life is not fun. You have so many temples and so
           many lamps to put on and off, so many calculations to make in your life, it cannot be a fun.
               The archer's skill has not changed, the skill is the same, but the archer, when he is shooting for
           fun, has all his skill available. Now although his skill has not changed, the prize divides him. He
           cares, anxiety enters, nervousness comes in. He thinks more of winning, now he is not concerned
           with shooting. Now the question is how to win, not how to shoot. He has moved from the beginning
           to the end. Now the means is not important, the end is important, and whenever the end is important
           your energy is divided, because all that can be done is to be done with the means, not the end. Ends
           are not in your hands.
               Says Krishna in the Gita to Arjuna: "Don't be concerned with the end, with the result. Simply do
           whatsoever is to be done here and now and leave the result to me, to God. Don't ask what will
           happen, nobody knows. Be concerned with the means and don't think of the end. Don't be
           result-oriented."
               This situation is beautiful and worth linking with Chuang Tzu's sentences, because Arjuna was
           an archer, the greatest India has produced. He was the perfect archer.
               But the end entered his mind. He had never worried, it had never happened before. His archery
           was perfect, his skill was total, absolute, but looking at the battlefield of Kurukshetra, at the two
           armies confronting each other, he became worried. What was his worry? It was that he had friends
           on both sides. It was a family affair, a war between cousins, so everybody was interlinked, on both
           sides were relatives. All the families were divided -- it was a rare war, a family war.
               Krishna and Arjuna were on one side and Krishna's army was fighting on the other side. Krishna
           had said, "You both love me so you will have to divide half and half. One side can have me, and the
           other side can have my armies."
               Duryodhana, the leader of the other side, was foolish. He thought, "What will I do with Krishna
           on his own? But he has a big army...." And he chose Krishna's army.
               So Krishna was with Arjuna and Arjuna was happy, because one Krishna is more than all the
           world. What can armies do -- unconscious, sleepy people? One awakened man is worth all.
               Krishna became the real help when Arjuna was confused and his mind divided. In the Gita it is
           said that looking at these two armies he became puzzled. And these are the words he used to
           Krishna: "My energy is drained. I feel nervous, I feel impotent, my power has left me." And he was a
           man of perfect skill, a perfect archer.
               His bow was called a GANDIVA. He said, "The gandiva feels too heavy for me. I have become
           so powerless, my body is numb, and I cannot think and cannot see. Everything has become confused,
           because these are all relatives and I will have to kill them. What will be the result? Murder, so many
           people killed, what will I gain out of it? A worthless kingdom? So I am not interested in fighting, it
           seems too high a price to pay. I would like to escape and become a sannyasin, to go to the forest and
           meditate. This is not for me. My energy is drained."
               Krishna told him, "Don't think of the result. It is not in your hands. And don't think of yourself as
           the doer, because if you are the doer then the end is in your hands. The doer is always the divine, and
           you are just an instrument. Be concerned with the here and now, the means, and leave the end to me.
           I tell you, Arjuna, that these people are already dead, they are fated to die. You are not going to
           murder them. You are just the instrument which will reveal to them the fact that they have already
           been murdered. As far as I can see, I see them dead. They have reached the point where death
           happens -- you are just an instrument."
               Sanskrit has a beautiful word, there is no equivalent to it in English: it is NIMITTA. Nimitta
           means you are not the doer, you are not the cause, not even one of the causes, you are just the
           nimitta. It means the cause is in the hands of the divine. The divine is the doer, you are just a vehicle
           of it. You are just like a postman -- the postman is the nimitta. He comes and delivers a letter to you.
           If the letter insults you, you don't get angry with him. You don't say, "Why did you bring me this
           letter?" The postman is not concerned, he is the nimitta. He has not written the letter, he has not
           caused it, he is not concerned at all. He has just fulfilled his duty. You will not be angry with him.
           You will not say, "Why did you bring this letter to me?"
               Krishna said to Arjuna, "You are just like a postman, you have to deliver death to them. You are
           not the killer; death is from the divine. They have earned it already, so don't you worry. If you do not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           kill them then somebody else will deliver the letter. If this postman will not do it then someone else
           will. If you are away or on holiday or are ill it doesn't mean that the letter will not be delivered. A
           substitute postman will do. But the letter has to be delivered. So don't you be bothered, don't get
           worried unnecessarily; you are just a nimitta, neither the cause of it nor the doer of it, just an
           instrument. Be concerned with the means, don't think about the ends, because once you think about
           the ends your skill is lost.
           "You are divided and that is why you are feeling drained, Arjuna. Your energy has not gone
           anywhere, it has become a conflict -- within, you are divided. You are fighting with yourself. One
           part says go ahead, another part says this is not good. Your wholeness is lost. And whenever the
           wholeness is lost, one feels impotent."
                Such a powerful man as Arjuna can say, "I cannot carry this gandiva, this bow is too heavy for
           me. I have become nervous. I feel a deep fear, an anxiety arising in me. I cannot fight."
                The skill is the same, nothing has changed, but the mind is divided. Whenever you are divided
           you are powerless; when you are undivided you are powerful. Desires divide you, meditation
           undivides you: desires lead you to the future, meditation brings you to the present.
                Remember this as a conclusion: don't move to the future. Whenever you feel your mind moving
           to the future jump back to the present immediately. Don't try to complete it. Immediately, the
           moment you think, the moment you become aware that the mind has moved into the future, into the
           desire, jump back to the present. Be at home.
                You will lose the present. Again and again you will miss it because it has become a long habit;
           but sooner or later, more and more, you can be at home. Then life is fun, it is a play. And then you
           are so full of energy that you overflow, a flood of vitality. And that flood is bliss.
                Impotent, drained, you cannot be ecstatic. How can you dance? For dancing you will need
           infinite energy. Drained, how can you sing? Singing is always an overflowing. Dead as you are, how
           can you pray? Only when you are totally alive, a thankfulness arises from the heart, a gratitude. That
           gratitude is prayer.
           Enough for today.




                                                 The Empty Boat
                                                   Chapter #7
                                            Chapter title: Three Friends
           16 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407160
              ShortTitle: BOAT07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 88 mins




              THERE WERE THREE FRIENDS DISCUSSING LIFE.
              ONE SAID:
              "CAN MEN LIVE TOGETHER AND KNOW NOTHING OF IT,
              WORK TOGETHER AND PRODUCE NOTHING?
              CAN THEY FLY AROUND IN SPACE
              AND FORGET TO EXIST, WORLD WITHOUT END?"



              THE THREE FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               AND BURST OUT LAUGHING.
               THEY HAD NO EXPLANATION,
               THUS THEY WERE BETTER FRIENDS THAN BEFORE. THEN ONE FRIEND DIED.
               CONFUCIUS SENT A DISCIPLE
               TO HELP THE OTHER TWO CHANT HIS OBSEQUIES.



               THE DISCIPLE FOUND
               THAT ONE FRIEND HAD COMPOSED A SONG
               WHILE THE OTHER PLAYED THE LUTE.



               THEY SANG:
               "HEY, SUNG HU, WHERE'D YOU GO?
               HEY, SUNG HU, WHERE'D YOU GO?
               YOU HAVE GONE WHERE YOU REALLY WERE,
               AND WE ARE HERE -- DAMN IT, WE ARE HERE!"
               THEN THE DISCIPLE OF CONFUCIUS
               BURST IN ON THEM AND EXCLAIMED:
               "MAY I INQUIRE WHERE YOU FOUND THIS
               IN THE RUBRICS FOR OBSEQUIES,
               THIS FRIVOLOUS CAROLING
               IN THE PRESENCE OF THE DEPARTED?"



               THE TWO FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER
               AND LAUGHED:
               "POOR FELLOW,
               HE DOESN'T KNOW THE NEW LITURGY!"


                The first thing about life is that it has no explanation. It is there in its absolute glory, but it has no
           explanation. It is there as a mystery and if you try to explain it you will miss it. It will not be
           explained, but you will become blind through your explanations.
                Philosophy is the enemy of life. The most inimical thing that can happen to a man is to get fixed
           and obsessed with explanations. The moment you think you have the explanation life has left you,
           you are already dead.
                This seems to be a paradox. Death may be explained, but life cannot be explained -- because
           death is something finished, complete, and life is always an ongoing affair; life is always on the
           journey, death has arrived already. When something has reached and is finished, you can explain it,
           you can define it. When something is still ongoing, it means that the unknown is still to be traveled.
                You can know the past but you cannot know the future. You can put the past into a theory, but
           how can you put the future into a theory? The future is always an opening, an infinite opening, and it
           goes on opening and opening. So when you explain, the explanation always indicates that which is
           dead.
                Philosophy has explanations so it cannot be very alive, and you cannot find people who are more
           dead than philosophers. Life has ebbed out, life has oozed out of them. They are shrunken heads, like
           dead stones. They make much noise but there is no music of life. They have many explanations, but
           they have completely forgotten that they have only explanations in their hands,
                Explanation is like a closed fist. Life is like an open hand. They are totally different. And when
           the fist is completely closed there is no sky in it, no air in it, no space to breathe. You cannot grab the
           sky in your closed fist. The fist will miss it. The sky is there, the hand is open, it is available.
           Explanation is grabbing, closing, defining -- life oozes out.
                Even a laugh is greater than any philosophy, and when someone laughs about life he understands
           it. So all those who have really known have laughed. And their laughter can be heard even after
           centuries. Seeing Buddha holding a flower in his hand, Mahakashyapa laughed. His laughter can be
           heard even now. Those who have ears to hear, they will hear his laughter, just like a river flowing
           down through the centuries continuously.
                In Zen monasteries in Japan, disciples still ask the master, "Tell us, Master, why did
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mahakashyapa laugh?" And those who are more alert say, "Tell us, Master, why is Mahakashyapa
           still laughing?" They use the present, not the past tense. And it is said that the master will reply only
           when he feels that you can hear the laughter of Mahakashyapa. If you cannot hear it, nothing can be
           said to you about it.
                Buddhas have always been laughing. You may not have heard them because your doors are
           closed. You may have looked at a buddha and you may have felt that he is serious, but this
           seriousness is projected. It is your own seriousness -- you have used the buddha as a screen. Hence,
           Christians say Jesus never laughed. This seems absolutely foolish. Jesus must have laughed and he
           must have laughed so totally that his whole being must have become laughter -- but the disciples
           couldn't hear it, that is true. They must have remained closed, their own seriousness projected.
                They could see Jesus on the cross because you all live in such suffering that you can only see
           suffering. If they had heard Jesus laughing, they would have omitted it. It is so contradictory to their
           life, it doesn't fit in. A Jesus laughing doesn't fit in with you, he becomes a stranger.
                But in the East it has been different, and in Zen, in Tao, the laughter reached its peak. It became
           the polar opposite of philosophy.
                A philosopher is serious because he thinks life is a riddle and a solution can be found. He works
           on life with his mind, and he gets more and more serious. The more he misses life, the more he gets
           serious and dead.
                Taoists, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, say that if you can laugh, if you can feel belly laughter that
           comes from the very core of your being, that is not just painted on the surface, if you can feel
           laughter that comes from the deepest center of your being, spreads all over you, overflows to the
           universe, that laughter will give you the first glimpse of what life is. It is a mystery.
                In Chuang Tzu such laughter is prayerful, because now you accept life, you don't hanker for the
           explanation. How can one find the explanation? We are part of it. How can the part find the
           explanation for the whole? How can the part look at the whole? How can the part dissect, divide the
           whole? How can the part go before the whole?
                Explanation means that you must transcend that which you are trying to explain -- you must be
           there before it existed, you must be there when it has ceased to exist. You must move around it so
           you can define it, and you must dissect so you can reach the heart. A surgeon can find the
           explanation, not for life, but for a dead body. All medical definitions of life are foolish because the
           surgeon dissects, and when he makes a conclusion life is there no longer, it is only a corpse. All
           explanations are postmortems, life is not there.
                Now even scientists have become aware of the phenomenon that when you examine human
           blood, the blood cannot be the same as it was when it was moving in the veins of the living person.
           Then it was alive, it had a different quality; now when it is in the test tube, it is dead. It is not the
           same blood, because the basic quality -- life -- is no longer in it. All explanations are of that type.
                A flower on the tree is different because life, the shape of life, is flowing in it. When you cut it
           from the tree, take it to the lab, examine it, it is a different flower. Don't be deceived by the
           appearance of it. Now life is no longer flowing in it. You may come to know the chemical
           composition of the flower, but that is not the explanation.
                A poet has a different approach, not through dissection, but through love, not through uprooting
           the flower from the tree but rather through merging with the flower, being with it in deep love, in a
           participation mystique. He participates with it, then he comes to know something, and that is not an
           explanation. Poetry cannot be an explanation, but it has a glimpse of the truth. It is truer than any
           science.
                Watch: when you are in love with someone your heart beats differently. Your lover, your
           beloved, will listen to your heart: it beats differently. Your lover will take your hand...the warmth is
           different. The blood moves in a different dance, it pulsates differently.
                When the doctor takes your hand in his hand, the pulsation is not the same. He can hear the heart
           beating but this beat is different. When the heart was beating for a lover it had a song of its own, but
           only a lover can know the beat, only the lover can know the pulsation, the blood, the warmth of life.
           The doctor cannot know.
                What has changed? The doctor has become the observer and you are the observed -- you are not
           one. The doctor treats you like an object. He looks at you as if he is looking at a thing -- that makes
           the difference. A lover doesn't look at you as an object -- he becomes one with you, he merges and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           melts. He comes to know the deeper core of your being, but he has no explanation. He feels it, but
           feeling is different. He cannot think about it.
               Anything that can be thought will not be alive. Thought deals with death, it always deals with
           dead objects; that is why in science there is no place for feeling. Feeling gives a different dimension
           to existence, the dimension of the alive.
               This beautiful story has many things to say to you. Move step by step into it, and if you reach a
           conclusion, then understand that you have missed it. If you reach laughter, then you have
           understood.
              THERE WERE THREE FRIENDS DISCUSSING LIFE.


              Chuang Tzu is very telegraphic. As always, those who know will not utter a single word
           unnecessarily. They live with the essential.

              THERE WERE THREE FRIENDS DISCUSSING LIFE.


                The first thing to be understood is that only friends can discuss life. Whenever a discussion
           becomes antagonistic, whenever a discussion becomes a debate, the dialogue is broken. Life cannot
           be discussed that way. Only friends can discuss, because then discussion is not a debate, it is a
           dialogue.
                And what is the difference between a debate and a dialogue? In debate you are not ready to listen
           to the other; even if you are listening, your listening is false. You are not really listening, you are
           simply preparing your argument. While the other is speaking you are getting ready to contradict.
           While the other is talking, you are simply waiting for your opportunity to argue back. You have a
           prejudice already there in you, you have a theory. You are not in search, you are not ignorant, you
           are not innocent; you are already filled, your boat is not empty. You carry certain theories with you
           and you are trying to prove them true.
                A seeker of truth carries no theories with him. He is always open, vulnerable. He can listen. A
           Hindu cannot listen, a Mohammedan cannot listen. How can a Hindu listen? He already knows the
           truth, there is no need to listen. You try to make him listen but he cannot; his mind is already so
           filled that nothing can penetrate. A Christian cannot listen, he already knows the truth. He has closed
           his doors to new breezes, he has closed his eyes for the new sun to rise, he has reached, he has
           arrived.
                All those who feel that they have arrived can debate, but they cannot move in a dialogue. They
           can only clash. Then conflict arises and they oppose each other. In such a discussion you may prove
           something, but nothing is proved. You may silence the other, but the other is never converted. You
           cannot convince, because this is a sort of war, a civilized war -- you are not fighting with weapons,
           you are fighting with words.
                Chuang Tzu says: Three friends were discussing life -- that is why they could reach laughter;
           otherwise there would have been a conclusion. One theory might have defeated other theories, one
           philosophy might have silenced other philosophies, then there would have been a conclusion -- and
           conclusion is dead.
                Life has no conclusion. Life has no foolish thought to it. It goes on and on endlessly; it is always,
           eternally, an onward affair. How can you conclude anything about it? The moment you conclude you
           have stepped out of it. Life goes on and you have stepped out of the way. You may cling to your
           conclusion but life will not wait for you.
                Friends can discuss. Why? You can love a person, you cannot love a philosophy. Philosophers
           cannot be friends. You can be either their disciple or their enemy but you cannot be their friend.
           Either you are convinced by them or not convinced, either you follow them or don't follow them, but
           you cannot be friends. A friendship is possible only between two empty boats. Then you are open to
           the other, inviting to the other, then you are constantly an invitation, come to me, enter me, be with
           me.
                You can throw away theories and philosophies but you cannot throw away friendship. And when
           you are in friendship a dialogue becomes possible. In dialogue you listen, and if you have to speak,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you speak not to contradict the other, you speak just to seek, to inquire. You speak, not with a
           conclusion already reached, but with an inquiry, an ongoing inquiry. You are not trying to prove
           something: you speak from innocence, not from philosophy. Philosophy is never innocent, it is
           always cunning, it is a device of the mind.
                Three friends were discussing life -- because between friends a dialogue is possible. So in the
           East it has been the tradition that unless you find friendship, love, reverence, trust, no inquiry is
           possible. If you go to a master and your boat is filled with your ideas, there can be no contact, there
           can be no dialogue. First you have to be empty so that friendship becomes possible, so that you can
           look without any ideas floating across your eyes, so that you can look without conclusions. And
           whenever you can look without conclusions, your perspective is vast, it is not confined.
                A Hindu can read The Bible, but he never understands it. Really, he never reads it, he cannot
           listen to it. A Christian can read the Gita, but he remains the outsider. He never penetrates its
           innermost being, he never reaches the inner realm, he moves round and round it. He already knows
           that only Christ is true, he already knows that only through Christ is salvation; he already knows that
           only Christ is the son of God. How can he listen to Krishna? Only Christ is truth. Krishna is bound to
           be untrue, at the most, a beautiful untruth, but never true. Or if he concedes much, then he will say,
           approximately true.
                But what do you mean when you say approximately true? It is untrue! Truth is either there or not.
           Nothing can be approximately true. Truth is, or truth is not. It is always total. You cannot divide it.
           You cannot say it is true to some degree. No, truth knows no degree. Either it is or it is not.
                So when the mind contains the conclusion that Christ is the only truth, then it is impossible to
           listen to Krishna. Even if you come across him on the path you will not be able to listen to him. Even
           if you meet Buddha you will not meet him.
                And the whole world is filled with conclusions. Someone is a Chris-tian, someone is a Hindu,
           someone is a Jaina, someone is a Buddhist -- that is why truth is missing! A religious person cannot
           be a Christian, a Hindu, or a Buddhist, a religious person can only be a sincere inquirer. He inquires
           and he remains open without any conclusions. His boat is empty.
                Three friends discussing life.... Only friends can discuss because then it becomes a dialogue, then
           the relationship is of I and thou. When you are debating, the relationship is of I and it. The other is a
           thing to be converted, convinced, the other is not a thou; the other has no significance, the other is
           just a number.
                In friendship the other is significant, the other has intrinsic value, the other is an end in himself,
           you are not trying to convert him. How can you convert a person? What foolishness! The very effort
           to convert a person is foolish. A person is not a thing. A person is so big and so vast that no theory
           can be more important than a person. No Bible is more important than a person, no Gita is more
           important than a person. A person means the very glory of life. You can love a person but you can
           never convert a person. If you try to convert, you are trying to manipulate. Then the person has
           become a means and you are exploiting.
                Dialogue is possible when your I says thou, when the other is loved, when there is no ideology
           behind it. The other is simply loved, and whether he is a Christian or Hindu doesn't matter. This is
           what friendship means -- and friends can discuss life because dialogue is possible.

              ONE SAID:
              "CAN MEN LIVE TOGETHER AND KNOW NOTHING OF IT,
              WORK TOGETHER AND PRODUCE NOTHING?
              CAN THEY FLY AROUND IN SPACE
              AND FORGET TO EXIST, WORLD WITHOUT END?"


               He is not proposing a theory, he is simply raising a question. And remember, you can raise a
           question in two ways. Sometimes you raise a question only because you have to supply an answer
           and the answer is already there -- you raise the question just to answer it. Then the question is not
           real, it is false. The answer is already there. The question is just a trick, rhetorical; it is not real,
           authentic.
               The question is authentic when there is no answer in you, when you question but you don't
           question from an answer, when you question simply to look; the question leaves you empty, just
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           open, inviting, inquiring.

              ONE SAID:
              "CAN MEN LIVE TOGETHER AND KNOW NOTHING OF IT...?"


               We live together and we never know anything of what togetherness is. You can live together for
           years without knowing what togetherness is. Look all over the world -- people are living together,
           nobody lives alone: husbands with wives, wives with husbands, children with parents, parents with
           friends; everybody is living together. Life exists in togetherness, but do you know what togetherness
           is?
               Living with a wife for forty years, you may not have lived with her for a single moment. Even
           while making love to her you may have been thinking of other things. Then you were not there, the
           lovemaking was just mechanical.

               I have heard that once Mulla Nasruddin went to a film with his wife. They had been married for
           at least twenty years. The film was one of those torrid foreign films! As they were leaving the
           cinema his wife said, "Nasruddin, you never love me like those actors were doing in the film. Why?"
               Nasruddin said, "Are you crazy? Do you know how much they are paid for doing such things?"

               People go on living with each other without any love because you love only when it pays. And
           how can you love if you love only when it pays? Then love has also become a commodity in the
           market: then it is not a relationship, it is not a togetherness, it is not a celebration. You are not happy
           being with the other, at the most you just tolerate the other.

               Mulla Nasruddin's wife was on her deathbed and the doctor said, "Nasruddin, I must be frank
           with you; in such moments it is better to be truthful. Your wife cannot be saved. The disease has
           gone beyond us, and you must prepare yourself. Don't allow yourself to suffer, accept it, it is your
           fate. Your wife is going to die."
               Nasruddin said, "Don't worry. If I could suffer with her for so many years, I can suffer for a few
           hours more!"

                At the most we tolerate. And whenever you think in terms of toleration, you are suffering, your
           togetherness is suffering. That is why Jean-Paul Sartre says, "The other is hell"...because with the
           other you simply suffer, the other becomes the bondage, the other becomes the domination. The
           other starts creating trouble, and your freedom is lost, your happiness is lost. Then it becomes a
           routine, a tolerance. If you are tolerating the other how can you know the beauty of togetherness?
           Really, it has never happened.
                Marriage almost always never happens, because marriage means the celebration of togetherness.
           It is not a license. No registry office can give you marriage; no priest can give it to you as a gift. It is
           a tremendous revolution in the being, it is a great transformation in your very style of life, and it can
           happen only when you celebrate togetherness, when the other is no longer felt as the other, when you
           no longer feel yourself as I. When the two are not really two, a bridge has happened, they have
           become one in a certain sense. Physically they remain two, but as far as the innermost being is
           concerned, they have become one. They may be two poles of one existence but they are not two. A
           bridge exists. That bridge gives you glimpses of togetherness.
                It is one of the rarest things to come across a marriage. People live together because they cannot
           live alone. Remember this: because they cannot live alone, that is why they live together. To live
           alone is uncomfortable, to live alone is uneconomical, to live alone is difficult, that is why they live
           together. The reasons are negative.

              A man was going to get married and somebody asked him, "You have always been against
           marriage, why have you suddenly changed your mind?"
              He said, "Winter is coming on and people say that it is going to be very cold. Central heating is
           beyond me and a wife is cheaper!"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This is the logic. You live with someone because it is comfortable, convenient, economical,
           cheaper. To live alone is really difficult: a wife is so many things, the housekeeper, the cook, the
           servant, the nurse -- so many things. She is the cheapest labor in the world, doing so many things
           without being paid at all. It is an exploitation.
                Marriage exists as an institution of exploitation, it is not togetherness. That is why no happiness
           comes out of it as a flowering. It cannot. Out of the roots of exploitation how can ecstasy be born?
                There are your so-called saints who keep saying that you are miserable because you live in a
           family, because you live in the world. They say, "Leave everything, renounce!" And their logic
           appears to be right, not because it IS right, but because you have missed togetherness. Otherwise, all
           those saints would seem absolutely wrong. One who has known togetherness has known the divine;
           one who is really married has known the divine, because love is the greatest door.
                But togetherness is not there and you live together without knowing what togetherness is; you
           live that way for seventy, eighty years without knowing what life is. You drift without any roots in
           life. You just move from one moment to another without tasting what life gives you. And it is not
           given to you at birth. It is not hereditary to know life.
                Life comes through birth but the wisdom, the experience, the ecs-tasy, has to be learnt. Hence the
           meaning of meditation. You have to earn it, you have to grow towards it, you have to attain a certain
           maturity; only then will you be able to know it.
                Life can open to you only in a certain moment of maturity. But people live and die childishly.
           They never really grow, they never attain to maturity.
                What is maturity? Just becoming sexually mature does not mean you are mature. Ask the
           psychologists: they say that the average adult mental age remains nearabout thirteen or fourteen.
           Your physical body goes on growing but your mind stops at about the age of thirteen. It is no wonder
           you behave so foolishly, why your life becomes a continuous foolishness! A mind which has not
           grown up is bound to do something wrong every moment.
                And the immature mind always throws responsibility onto the other. You feel unhappy and think
           that it is because everybody else is creating hell for you. "The other is hell." I say this assertion of
           Sartre is very immature. If you are mature, the other can also become heaven. The other is
           whatsoever you are because the other is just a mirror, he reflects you.
                When I say maturity, I mean an inner integrity. And this inner integrity comes only when you
           stop making others responsible, when you stop saying that the other is creating your suffering, when
           you start realizing that you are the creator of your suffering. This is the first step towards maturity: I
           am responsible. Whatsoever is happening, it is my doing.
                You feel sad. Is this your doing? You will feel very much disturbed, but if you can remain with
           this feeling, sooner or later you will be able to stop doing many things. This is what the theory of
           karma is all about. You are responsible. Don't say society is responsible, don't say that parents are
           responsible, don't say the economic conditions are responsible, don't throw the responsibility onto
           anybody. YOU are responsible.
                In the beginning, this will look like a burden because now you cannot throw the responsibility on
           anyone else. But take it....

               Someone asked Mulla Nasruddin, "Why do you look so sad?"
               He said, "My wife has insisted that I stop gambling, smoking, drinking, playing cards. I have
           stopped all of them."
               So the man said, "Your wife must be very happy now."
               Nasruddin said, "That is the problem. Now she cannot find anything to complain about, so she is
           very unhappy. She starts talking, but she cannot find anything to complain about. Now she cannot
           make me responsible for anything and I have never seen her so unhappy. I thought that when I gave
           up all these things she would cheer up, but she has become more unhappy than ever."

               If you go on throwing responsibility onto others and they all do whatsoever you tell them to do,
           you will end up committing suicide. Eventually there will be nowhere left to throw your
           responsibilities.
               So it is good to have a few faults; it helps others to be happy. If there is a really perfect husband,
           the wife will leave him. How can you dominate a perfect man? So even if you don't want to, go on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doing something wrong so the wife can dominate you and feel happy!
               Where there is a perfect husband there is bound to be divorce. Find a perfect man and you will all
           be against him, because you cannot condemn, you cannot say anything wrong about him. Our minds
           love to throw responsibility onto somebody else. Our minds want to com-plain. It makes us feel
           good, because then we are not responsible, we are unburdened. But this unburdening is very costly.
           You are not really unburdened, you are getting more and more burdened. Only you are not alert.
               People have lived for seventy years, and for many many lives, without knowing what life is.
           They were not mature, they were not integrated, they were not centered. They lived on the periphery.
               If your periphery meets the other's periphery a clash happens, and if you go on being concerned
           that the other person is wrong, you remain on the periphery. Once you realize, "I am responsible for
           my being; whatsoever has happened, I am the cause, I have done it," suddenly your consciousness
           shifts from the periphery to the center. Now you become, for the first time, the center of your world.
               Now much can be done...because whatsoever you don't like, you can drop; whatsoever you like,
           you can adopt; whatsoever you feel is true, you can follow, and whatsoever you feel is untrue, you
           need not follow, because you are now centered and rooted in yourself.
           One friend asked:

           "CAN MEN LIVE TOGETHER AND KNOW NOTHING OF IT,
           WORK TOGETHER AND PRODUCE NOTHING?
           CAN THEY FLY AROUND IN SPACE
           AND FORGET TO EXIST, WORLD WITHOUT END?"

              THE THREE FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER....


              Only friends look at each other. When there is someone to whom you feel antagonistic, you
           never look at him. You avoid his eyes. Even if you have to look at him, your look is vacant, you
           don't allow your eyes to absorb him; he is something foreign, rejected.
              The eyes are the doors. You need only look towards a person and you can absorb him, let him
           melt in you.

              THE THREE FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER....


              One friend made the inquiry, the other two were not in any hurry to answer. They waited, they
           were patient. If there had been any conclusion in their mind, they would have spoken immediately.
           But they looked at each other. They felt the situation, the inquiry, the heart of the inquiry, the
           meaning of the question, the depth of the question. Remember, if you can feel the depth of a
           question, the answer is almost found. But nobody has the patience, nobody is ready to go deep into a
           question. You ask, but you never really go into the inquiry. You ask for the answer immediately.

              THE THREE FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER
              AND BURST OUT LAUGHING.


               The fact, the question, the penetration of it, the depth, the reality, the fact of it, showed plainly
           that no answer was needed. Any answer would have been foolish, any answer would have been
           superficial.
               It is said about Buddha that millions of times people used to ask him questions and he would not
           answer. If the question demanded a superficial answer, he would not answer; if somebody asked, "Is
           there a God?" he remained silent. And people are foolish. They began to think that he didn't believe
           in God, otherwise he would say yes; or they thought he was ignorant, he didn't know, otherwise he
           would say either yes or no!
               When you ask a question such as, "Does God exist?" you don't know what you are asking. Do
           you think this is a question to be answered? Then you are stupid. Can such vital questions be
           answered? Then you don't know the depth of it; then this is curiosity, not inquiry.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If the man who was asking Buddha was an authentic seeker, then he would have remained with
           Buddha's silence -- because the silence was the answer. In that silence he would have felt the
           question, in that silence the question would have asserted itself strongly. Against the background of
           the silence it would have become clearer. A clarity would have come to him.
               Whenever you ask a deep question, no answer is required. All that is required is to remain with
           the question. Don't move here and there, remain with the question and wait. The very question will
           become the answer. The question, if you go deep into it, will lead to the very source from where the
           answer also flows. It is in you.
               Buddha has not answered any real question -- and remember that about me also. I go on
           answering your questions, but I also cannot answer your real questions -- and you have not asked
           yet. Whenever you ask the real question, I am not going to answer, because no real question can be
           answered, it is not an intellectual thing. Only from heart to heart the transmission happens, not from
           head to head.

               THE THREE FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER....


               What happened in that look? They were not heads in that look, they became hearts. They looked
           at each other, they felt, they tasted the question -- and it was so real that there was no answer to it.
               Yes, we live without knowing what life is. Yes, we live together without knowing what
           togetherness is. Yes, we live, forgetting completely that we exist. We have been flying round and
           round in the sky without knowing where we are going or why.
               The question was so real that if any answer had been given, that answer would be foolish. Only a
           fool would answer such a question. They looked at each other, they really looked into each other,
           and burst out laughing. Why burst out laughing? The whole situation is so absurd. Really, we live
           without knowing what life is; we exist without becoming aware of existence, we journey and journey
           without knowing from where or to what or why.
               Life is a mystery. Whenever you confront a mystery laughter will arise, for how can you answer
           a mystery?
               What is the most mysterious thing in you? Laughter is the most mysterious thing in you. No
           animal can laugh, only man. It is the suprememost glory of man. No animal laughs, no trees laugh --
           only man laughs. Laughter is the most mysterious element in man.
               Aristotle defined man as the rational being. It is not a good definition because reason exists in
           other animals also. The difference is only of degree, and it is not much. Man can only be defined as
           the laughing and weeping animal, no other definition will do, because no other animal can weep, no
           other animal can laugh. This polarity exists only in humanity. This is something mysterious, most
           mysterious, in man.
               Anger exists all over, it is nothing. Sex exists all over, it is nothing, it is not so mysterious. If you
           want to understand sex, you can understand animal sex, and all that is applicable to animal sex will
           be applicable to man. In that way man is nothing more.
               Anger, violence, aggression, possessiveness, jealousy, everything exists and exists more purely
           and simply in animals than in you. Everything is confused in you. That is why psychologists have to
           study rats just to study man. They are simple, clear, less confused, and whatsoever they conclude
           about rats is also true of you. All the psychology laboratories are filled with rats. It has become the
           most important animal for psychologists because it is like the human in so many ways.
               The rat is the only animal which follows humanity wherever it goes. It is universal. If you find a
           man in Siberia, there will be a rat somewhere nearby. Wherever he goes, the rat follows -- I suspect
           that rats have already reached the moon. No other animal can exist everywhere like the rat. And its
           behavior is absolutely human. Understand the behavior of the rat and you have understood humanity.
               But the rat cannot laugh, the rat cannot weep. Laughter and weeping are two aspects of
           something which exists only in man. If you want to understand laughter and weeping you have to
           study humanity; there is no other way it can be studied. That is why I call it the most distinctive
           quality of the human mind.
               Whenever you feel mystery you have two alternatives: either you weep or you laugh. It depends
           on your personality, your type. It is possible, if they had been different types of personality, that the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           three friends would have wept. When such a mystery surrounds you, when you encounter such an
           unknowable mystery that no explanation is possible, what can you do? How can you respond?
               But laughter is better than weeping because weeping comes when the mystery of death surrounds
           you. Then you weep. And the question was about life so it was relevant to laugh. Whenever you
           encounter the mystery of death you weep, you feel the relevance whenever death is there.
               The question was about life, not about death. So it seems relevant that they should look into each
           other, into the life that was in each -- the life pulsating, the life dancing all around and with no
           explanation, with no secret book to reveal the keys; life in its total mystery, in its total
           unknowability.
               What was there to do? They were not philosophers, they were truthful men, mystics. They
           laughed, they had no explanation.

              THUS THEY WERE BETTER FRIENDS THAN BEFORE.


               This is beautiful! Whenever there is an explanation enmity arises, whenever you believe in
           something you are divided. Belief creates conflict. The whole world is divided because of belief.
           You are a Hindu and someone is a Mohammedan, and you are enemies. Why are you enemies? --
           because of your belief. Belief creates the conflict; foolish explanations, ideologies, create conflict,
           war.
               Look at this: if there is no explanation, who is a Hindu and who is a Mohammedan? And how
           can you fight? For what? Men have always been fighting over philosophies, shedding blood,
           murdering each other, just for foolish beliefs. And if you DO look into beliefs, you can see the
           foolishness -- not of your beliefs, but of others' beliefs! Your belief is something sacred, but
           everyone else's belief looks foolish!
               All beliefs are foolish. You cannot see your own because it is so near. Really, explanations are
           foolish, stupid.

               I have heard that a flock of birds was flying south for the winter. One bird at the rear asked
           another, "How come we always follow this idiot leader?"
               The other said, "In the first place, all leaders are idiots..." otherwise who wants to lead? Only the
           foolish are always ready to lead. A wise man hesitates. Life is so mysterious -- it is not a readymade
           path. How can you lead? A wise man hesitates and an idiot is always ready to lead.
           "...And in the second place, he has got the map, so every year we have to follow him."

               Life has no map and there is no possibility of making a map. It is a pathless path. Without
           explanations how can you be divided? If there is no explanation, the world will be one. But there are
           millions of explanations, millions of fragments.
           Chuang Tzu says a really very penetrating thing:

              THEY HAD NO EXPLANATION,
              THUS THEY WERE BETTER FRIENDS THAN BEFORE.


               Now there was nothing to be enemies about, nothing to fight over. They laughed, and the
           laughter made them one. They laughed, and the laughter led them into a togetherness. Explain and
           you are divided, become philosophical and you are separated from others, become a Hindu, a
           Mohammedan, a Buddhist, then all others are enemies.
               Look at the mystery and laugh, and humanity is one. And then there is no need to say that
           Christians are brothers of Hindus, Hindus are brothers of Mohammedans. First divide them, make
           them ill with be-liefs, and then supply this medicine: you are all brothers. And have you seen
           brothers? They fight more than enemies! So what is the use of making them brothers?
               Man fights for his explanations. All fights are foolish. Man fights for his flags, and look at the
           flags! What type of foolishness, what type of madness exists in the world? For flags, for symbols, for
           beliefs, for ideologies?
               Says Chuang Tzu: THEY HAD NO EXPLANATION...they laughed. In that mysterious moment
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they became one, better friends than before.
               If you really want to be a friend, have no explanations and no conclusions, don't believe in
           anything. And then you are not divided, then humanity is one, then there is no barrier.
               And love exists not through mind, it exists through feeling.
               They laughed. Laughter comes from the heart, laughter comes from the belly, laughter comes
           from the total being. When three people laugh, they become friends. When three people weep, they
           become friends. When three people debate, they become enemies.

              THEN ONE FRIEND DIED.
              CONFUCIUS SENT A DISCIPLE
              TO HELP THE OTHER TWO CHANT HIS OBSEQUIES.


               Confucius is the man of manners par excellence. Nobody can transcend him. So he is always the
           butt of Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu. They bring Confucius into their stories just to laugh at his
           foolishness.
               What was his foolishness? He lived by a system, he lived by a form-ula, by theories and beliefs.
           He was the perfectly civilized man, the most perfect gentleman the world has ever known. He
           moves, and he moves according to the rule. He looks, and he looks according to the rule. He laughs,
           and he laughs according to the rule. He never moves beyond the boundary, he lives in a constant
           bondage of his own making. So he is the butt of their laughter, and Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu very
           much enjoy bringing him into their stories.

              THEN ONE FRIEND DIED.
              CONFUCIUS SENT A DISCIPLE
              TO HELP THE OTHER TWO CHANT HIS OBSEQUIES.


               Neither life nor death is a mystery to him. It is something with a place in a system, and some
           formality had to be followed. So he sent his disciples to see whether the dead man had been disposed
           of according to the rules, with the right prayer, the right chanting -- as written in the books. The dead
           should be respected.
               This is the difference. A man who lives through manners is always thinking of respect, never of
           love. And what is respect in comparison to love? Love is something alive; respect is absolutely dead.

              THE DISCIPLE FOUND
              THAT ONE FRIEND HAD COMPOSED A SONG
              WHILE THE OTHER PLAYED THE LUTE.


               This was unbelievable! This was disrespectful to a person who is dead! The dead body was lying
           there, and one friend had composed a song. They loved the other man, and when you love a man you
           want to give him the last farewell through your love, not through books, not through a readymade
           song which so many have chanted, so many have used, something already rotten and rubbish. They
           made up a song of their own, fresh, young. Of course, it was homemade, not produced in a factory,
           not mass-produced. Just homemade, not very polished of course, because they were not poets, they
           were friends, and they didn't know how poetry was created. The meter may have been wrong and the
           grammar incorrect, but love doesn't care about grammar, love doesn't care about meter, love doesn't
           care about rhythm, because love has such a vital rhythm of its own, it need not care. When there is
           no love, everything has to be taken care of because you have to substitute care for love.
               One was playing the lute -- and I know that he was not a lute player either. But how do you say
           goodbye to a friend? It must come from your heart, it must be spontaneous, it cannot be readymade.
           That is the point.

              THEY SANG:
              "HEY SUNG HU, WHERE'D YOU GO?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               The mystery! They did not say, "You are going to heaven." They don't know. Otherwise, when
           someone dies you say, "He has gone to heaven." Then who will go to hell? No one seems to go to
           hell.
               In India, the word for a dead person is SWARGIYA. It means, one who has gone to heaven.
           Then who is going to hell? They didn't know, so what was the point of uttering a falsehood? Who
           knows where this man had gone, this Sung Hu -- to hell or heaven? Who knows whether hell and
           heaven exist? Nobody knows; it is a mystery, and one should not defile a mystery, one should not
           make it profane, one should not assert falsehoods. It is such a sacred thing, one should not say
           anything which is not known directly.

           "HEY, SUNG HU, WHERE'D YOU GO?"
              -- it was a question mark.

           "HEY, SUNG HU, WHERE'D YOU GO?
           YOU HAVE GONE WHERE YOU REALLY WERE,
           AND WE ARE HERE -- DAMN IT, WE ARE HERE!"

               They say, "You have gone to the place from where you came." This is a secret law: the ultimate
           can only be the beginning. The circle goes round and becomes perfect, complete, and it reaches the
           same point it started from. The end cannot be anything else but the beginning, the death cannot be
           anything else but the birth. The final should be the source, the original. One is born out of
           nothingness and then one dies and moves into nothingness. The boat was empty when you were born
           and when you die the boat will be empty again. Just a flash of lightning. For a few moments you are
           in the body and then you disappear. Nobody knows from where you came and where you go.
               They don't claim any knowledge. They say, "This much we feel: Sung Hu, you have gone to the
           place from where you came, and damn it, we are still here." So they are not sorry for Hu, they are
           sorry for themselves, that they are hanging in the middle and his circle is perfect.
               Whenever somebody dies, have you felt this? Are you sorry for the person who is dead or sorry
           for yourself? Really, when someone dies, are you sad for him or her, or for yourself? Everybody is
           sorry for himself because every death brings the news that you are going to die. But a person who
           can laugh at the mystery of life knows what it is, because only knowledge, real wisdom, can laugh.
           Where you really were you have gone...

           "AND WE ARE HERE -- DAMN IT, WE ARE HERE!"

               And we are still in the middle. Our journey is incomplete, but your circle has become perfect. So
           they are sorry for themselves, and if they weep, they are weeping for themselves. For the friend who
           has departed they have nothing but a song, nothing but a celebration of the heart. If they are sorry,
           they are sorry for themselves.
               This is something to be understood very deeply. If you understand life, if you can laugh at it,
           then death is the completion, then it is not the end. Remember, death is not the end of life, it is the
           completion, it is the climax, the crescendo, the peak from where the wave returns to the original
           source.
               They are sorry for themselves, that their wave is hanging in the middle. They have not reached
           the crescendo, the peak, and their friend has reached where he was before. He has reached home.
           Those who understand life, only they can understand death, because life and death are not two.
           Death is the peak, the ultimate, the final flowering, the fragrance of life.
               Death looks ugly to you because you have never known life, and death creates fear in you
           because you are afraid of life. Remember, whatsoever your attitude towards life, your attitude
           towards death will be the same. If you are scared of death you are scared of life; if you love life, you
           will love death, because death is nothing but the highest peak, the completion. The song reaches its
           end, the river falls into the ocean. The river came from the ocean in the first place. Now the circle is
           complete, the river has arrived at the whole.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THEN THE DISCIPLE OF CONFUCIUS
              BURST IN ON THEM AND EXCLAIMED:
              "MAY I INQUIRE WHERE YOU FOUND THIS
              IN THE RUBRICS FOR OBSEQUIES,
              THIS FRIVOLOUS CAROLING
              IN THE PRESENCE OF THE DEPARTED?"


               The disciple of Confucius cannot understand them. To him they look frivolous, disrespectful.
           What type of song is this? Where did you get it? It is not authorized, it is not from the Vedas. MAY I
           INQUIRE WHERE YOU FOUND THIS...?
               Everything should be done according to the books, according to The Bible, to the Vedas. But life
           cannot be according to the books -- life always transcends books, it always goes beyond; life always
           throws books aside, moves ahead.
               Where have you found this, this frivolous caroling in the presence of the departed? You should
           be respectful. Someone has departed, someone is dead and what are you doing? This is profane!

              THE TWO FRIENDS LOOKED AT EACH OTHER
              AND LAUGHED:
              "POOR FELLOW, HE DOESN'T KNOW THE NEW LITURGY!"


               He doesn't know the new scripture, he doesn't know the new religion. And that is what is
           happening here every day -- the new liturgy.
               A man was here just a few days ago, a professor of history, and he asked me, "To what tradition
           do you belong?"
           I said, "To no tradition."
               He had come here from America to make a film of the meditation techniques, of the camp, of
           what I say, of what is happening here. The moment he heard that I don't belong to any tradition, he
           simply disappeared. Then I don't belong to history, it is obvious.
           Poor fellow, he does not know the new liturgy!
           Enough for today.




                                                 The Empty Boat
                                                   Chapter #8
                                             Chapter title: The Useless
           17 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407170
              ShortTitle: BOAT08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




              HUI TZU SAID TO CHUANG TZU:
              "ALL YOUR TEACHING IS CENTERED ON WHAT HAS NO USE."



              CHUANG TZU REPLIED:
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "IF YOU HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR WHAT HAS NO USE
               YOU CANNOT BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT WHAT CAN BE USED.
               THE EARTH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS BROAD AND VAST,
               BUT OF ALL THIS EXPANSE A MAN USES ONLY A FEW INCHES
               UPON WHICH HE HAPPENS TO BE STANDING AT THE TIME.

               "NOW SUPPOSE YOU SUDDENLY TAKE AWAY
               ALL THAT HE IS NOT ACTUALLY USING,
               SO THAT ALL AROUND HIS FEET A GULF YAWNS,
               AND HE STANDS IN THE VOID
               WITH NOWHERE SOLID EXCEPT UNDER EACH FOOT,
               HOW LONG WILL HE BE ABLE TO USE WHAT HE IS USING?"



               HUI TZU SAID:
               "IT WOULD CEASE TO SERVE ANY PURPOSE."
               CHUANG TZU CONCLUDED:
               "THIS SHOWS THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY
               OF WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE NO USE."


                Life is dialectical, that is why it is not logical. Logic means that the opposite is really opposite,
           and life always implies the opposite in itself. In life the opposite is not really the opposite, it is the
           complementary. Without it nothing is possible.
                For example, life exists because of death. If there is no death there cannot be any life. Death is
           not the end and death is not the enemy -- rather, on the contrary, because of death life becomes
           possible. So death is not somewhere in the end, it is involved here and now. Each moment has its life
           and its death; otherwise existence is impossible.
                There is light, there is darkness. For logic they are opposites, and logic will say: If it is light,
           there cannot be any darkness, if it is dark, then there cannot be any light. But life says quite the
           contrary. Life says: If there is darkness it is because of light; if there is light it is because of darkness.
           We may not be able to see the other when it is hidden just around the corner.
                There is silence because of sound. If there is no sound at all, can you be silent? How can you be
           silent? The opposite is needed as a background. Those who follow logic always go wrong because
           their life becomes lopsided. They think of light, then they start denying darkness; they think of life,
           then they start fighting death.
                That is why there exists no tradition in the world which says that God is both light and darkness.
           There is one tradition which says that God is light, he is not darkness. There is no darkness in God
           for the people who believe God is light. There is another tradition that says that God is darkness --
           but for them there is no light. Both are wrong, because both are logical, they deny the opposite. And
           life is so vast, it carries the opposite in itself. It is not denied, it is embraced.
                Once somebody said to Walt Whitman, one of the greatest poets ever born, "Whitman, you go on
           contradicting yourself. One day you say one thing, another day you say just the opposite."
                Walt Whitman laughed and said, "I am vast. I contain all the contradictions."
                Only small minds are consistent, and the narrower the mind, the more consistent. When the mind
           is vast, everything is involved: light is there, darkness is there, God is there and the devil too, in his
           total glory.
                If you understand this mysterious process of life which moves through the opposites, which is
           dialectical, where the opposite helps, gives balance, gives tone, makes the background, then only can
           you understand Chuang Tzu -- because the whole Taoist vision is based on the complementariness of
           the opposites.
                They use two words, yin and yang. They are opposites, male and female. Just think of a world
           which is totally male or a world which is totally female. It will be dead. The moment it is born it will
           be dead. There cannot be any life in it. If it is a female world -- women, women and women, and no
           men -- women will commit suicide. The opposite is needed because the opposite is attractive. The
           opposite becomes the magnet, it pulls you; the opposite brings you out of yourself, the opposite
           breaks your prison, the opposite makes you vast. Whenever the opposite is denied there will be
           trouble. And that is what we have been doing, hence so much trouble in the world.
                Man has tried to create a society which is basically male, that is why there is so much trouble --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the woman has been denied, she has been thrown out. In past centuries the woman was never to be
           seen anywhere. She was hidden in the back chambers of the house, and she was not even allowed in
           the drawing room. You couldn't meet her on the streets, you couldn't see her in the shops. She was
           not part of life. The world went ugly, because how can you deny the opposite? The world became
           lopsided, all balance was lost. The world went mad.
               The woman is still not allowed to move in life; she is really not yet a part, a vital part of life.
           Men move in men-oriented groups -- the exclusively male club where boys meet, the market,
           politics, the scientific group. Everywhere it is lopsided. Man dominates, that is why there is so much
           misery. And when one of the polar opposites dominates, there will be misery, because the other feels
           hurt and takes revenge.
               So every woman takes her revenge in the house. Of course, she cannot go out and move in the
           world and take revenge on humanity, on mankind. She takes revenge on her husband. There is
           constant conflict.

              I have heard that Mulla Nasruddin was saying to his son, "It is none of your business, don't ask
           such things. Who are you to ask me how I met your mother? But I will tell you one thing: she sure
           cured me of whistling."
              Then he said, "And this is the moral of the story: if you don't want to be unhappy like me, never
           whistle at a girl!"

               Why is the wife always in conflict? It is not the person, it is not a personal thing. It is the revenge
           of the woman, of the female, of the denied opposite. And this man in the house, the husband, is the
           representative of the whole male world, the male-oriented world. She is fighting.
               Family life is so miserable because we have not heard what Chuang Tzu says. There are so many
           wars because we have not heard that the opposite has to be merged. By negating it you invite
           trouble, and on every path, on every level, in every dimension, it is the same thing.
               Chuang Tzu says that if you deny the useless, then there will be no use in the world. If you deny
           the useless, the playful, the fun, there cannot be any work, any duty. This is very difficult because
           our whole emphasis is on the useful.
               If somebody asks you what a house consists of, you will say, walls. And Chuang Tzu would say,
           just like his master Lao Tzu, that a house consists not of walls but of doors and windows. Their
           emphasis is on the other part. They say that walls are useful, but their use depends on the useless
           space behind.
               A room is space, not walls. Of course, space is free but walls have to be purchased. When you
           purchase a house, what do you purchase? The walls, the material, the visible. But can you live in the
           material? Can you live in the walls? You have to live in the room, in the vacant space. You purchase
           the boat, but you have to live in the emptiness.
               So really, what is a house? Emptiness surrounded by walls. And what is a door? There is
           nothing. 'Door' means there is nothing, no wall, emptiness. But you cannot enter the house if there is
           no door; if there is no window then no sun will enter, no breeze will blow. You will be dead, and
           your house will become a tomb.
               Chuang Tzu says: Remember that the house consists of two things: the walls, the material -- the
           marketable, the utilitarian -- and the emp-tiness surrounded by the walls, the non-utilitarian which
           cannot be purchased, which cannot be sold, which has no economic value.
               How can you sell emptiness? But you have to live in the emptiness -- if a man lives only in the
           walls he will go mad. It is impossible to do that -- but we try to do the impossible. In life, we have
           chosen the utilitarian.
               For example, if a child is playing you say, "Stop! What are you doing? This is useless. Do
           something useful. Learn, read, at least do your homework, something useful. Don't wander around,
           don't be a vaga-bond." And if you go on insisting on this to a child, by and by you will kill the
           useless. Then the child will become just useful, and when a person is simply useful, he is dead. You
           can use him, he is a mechanical thing now, a means, not an end unto himself.
               You are really yourself when you are doing something useless -- painting, not to sell, just
           enjoying; gardening, just to enjoy; lying down on the beach, not doing anything, just to enjoy,
           useless, fun; sitting silently at the side of a friend.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Much could be done in these moments. You could go to the shop, to the market, you could earn
           something. You could change time into money. You could get a bigger bank balance because these
           moments will not come back. And foolish people say that time is money. They know only one use
           for time: how to convert it into more money and more money and more money. In the end you die
           with a big bank balance but inside totally poor, because the inner richness arises only when you can
           enjoy the useless.
                What is meditation? People come to me and say, "What is the use of it? What will we gain out of
           it? What is the benefit of it?"
                Meditation...and you ask about the benefit? You cannot understand it because meditation is just
           useless. The moment I say useless, you feel uncomfortable because the whole mind has become so
           utilitarian, so commodity-oriented that you ask for a result. You cannot concede that something can
           be a pleasure unto itself.
                Useless means you enjoy it, but there is no benefit from it; you are deeply merged in it and it
           gives you bliss. But when you are deeply in it, you cannot accumulate that bliss, you cannot make a
           treasure out of it.
                In the world two types of people have existed: the utilitarians -- they become scientists,
           engineers, doctors; and the other branch, the complementary -- poets, the vagabonds, the sannyasins
           -- useless, not doing anything useful. But they give the balance, they give grace to the world. Think
           of a world full of scientists and not a single poet -- it would be absolutely ugly, not worth living in.
           Think of a world with everyone in the shops, in the offices, not a single vagabond. It would be hell.
           The vagabond gives beauty.

                Two vagabonds were arrested once.... Magistrates and police are the custodians of the
           utilitarians. They protect, because this useless part is dangerous -- it can spread! So nowhere are
           vagabonds, useless people, allowed. If you are just standing on the street and somebody asks you
           what you are doing, and you reply, "Nothing," the police will immediately take you to court --
           because nothing is not allowed! You must do something. Why are you standing there? If you say
           simply, "I am standing and enjoying it," you are a dangerous man, a hippy. You may be arrested.
                So the two vagabonds were arrested. The magistrate asked the first one, "Where do you live?"
                The man said, "The whole world is my home, the sky is my shelter; I go everywhere, there is no
           barrier. I am a free man."
           Then he asked the other, "And where do you live?"
           He said, "Next door to him."

                These people give beauty to the world, they are a perfume. A Buddha is a vagabond, a Mahavira
           is a vagabond. This man, this vagabond, answered that the sky was his only shelter. That is what is
           meant by the word DIGAMBER. Mahavira, the last TIRTHANKARA of the Jainas, is known as
           digamber. Digamber means naked, only the sky for clothing, nothing else. The sky is the shelter, the
           home.
                Whenever the world becomes too utilitarian you create many things, you possess many things,
           you become obsessed with things -- but the inner is lost, because the inner can flower only when
           there are no outer tensions, when you are not going anywhere, just resting. Then the inner flowers.
                Religion is absolutely useless. What use is the temple? What use is the mosque? What use is the
           church? In Russia they have converted all the temples, mosques, churches into hospitals and into
           schools, something useful. Why is this temple standing without any use? Communists are
           utilitarians. That is why they are against religion. They have to be, because religion gives way to the
           useless, to that which cannot be in any way exploited, to that which cannot be made a means to
           anything else. You can have it, you can be blissful in it, you can feel the highest ecstasy possible, but
           you cannot manipulate it. It is a happening. When you are not doing anything, it happens. And the
           greatest has always happened when you are not doing anything. Only the trivial happens when you
           are doing something.
                Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher, has written something very penetrating. He said,
           "When I started praying, I would go to the church and talk to God...." That is what Christians are
           doing all over the world. They talk to God in a loud voice as if God is dead. And as if God is just a
           foolish entity they advise him what to do and what not to do. Or, as if God is just a foolish monarch
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they persuade him, bribe him, to fulfill the desires that are in them.
                But Kierkegaard said, "I started talking, then suddenly I realized that this was useless. How can
           you talk before God? One has to be silent. What is there to be said? And what can I say which will
           help God to know more? He is omnipotent, he is omniscient, knows all, so what is the purpose of my
           telling him?"
                And Kierkegaard said, "I talked to him for many years, then suddenly I realized that this was
           foolish. So I stopped talking, I became silent. Then after many years I realized that even silence
           wouldn't do. Then the third step was taken, and that was listening. First I was talking, then I was not
           talking, and then I was listening."
                Listening is different to just being silent, because just being silent is a negative thing -- listening
           is a positive thing. Just being silent is passive, listening is an alert passiveness, waiting for
           something, not saying anything, but waiting with the whole being. It has an intensity. And
           Kierkegaard said, "When this listening happened, then for the first time prayer happened."
                But it seems listening is absolutely useless, especially listening to the unknown; you don't know
           where he is. Silence is useless, talking seems to be useful. Something can be done through talking;
           with it you do many things in the world. So you think that if you want to become religious you will
           also have to do something.
                But Chuang Tzu said: Religion begins only when you have understood the futility of all doing,
           and you have moved to the polar opposite of nondoing, inactivity, of becoming passive, becoming
           useless.
           Now we shall enter the sutra, The Useless.
              HUI TZU SAID TO CHUANG TZU:
              "ALL YOUR TEACHING IS CENTERED ON WHAT HAS NO USE."


               This teaching doesn't seem to be worth much, but Chuang Tzu and his master were always
           talking about the useless, they even praised men who were useless.
               Chuang Tzu talks about a man, a hunchback. All the young people of the town were forcibly
           entered into the military, into the army, because they were useful. Only one man, a hunchback, who
           was useless, was left behind. Chuang Tzu said: Be like the hunchback, so useless that you are not
           slaughtered in the war.
               They go on praising the useless because they say that the useful will always be in difficulty. The
           world will use you, everybody is ready to use you, to manipulate you, to control you. If you are
           useless nobody will look at you, people will forget you, they will leave you in silence, they will not
           bother about you. They will simply become unaware that you are.
               It happened to me. I am a useless man. In my childhood days I would be sitting down just next to
           my mother. She would look around her and say, "I would like to send someone to fetch vegetables
           from the market, but I cannot see anyone to send" -- and I would be sitting there just next to her! She
           would say, "I can't see anyone here!" And I would laugh inside myself -- she couldn't send me to the
           market, I was so useless that she was not aware that I was there.
               Once, my aunt came to stay, and she was not aware of my uselessness. My mother was saying,
           "Nobody is in to go to the market. All the children have gone out and the servant is ill, so what can I
           do? Some-one has to be sent."
               So my aunt said, "Why not send Raja? He is sitting there, not doing anything."
               So I was sent. I asked the market vendor there, "Give me the best vegetables you have got, the
           best bananas, the best mangoes." Looking at me and the way I was talking he must have thought I
           was a fool, because nobody ever asks for the best. So he charged me double and gave me all the
           rotten things he had, and I came home very happy.
               My mother threw them away and said, "Look! This is why I say nobody is here."
               Chuang Tzu insists very much: Be alert and don't be very useful; otherwise people will exploit
           you. Then they will start managing you and then you will be in trouble. And if you can produce
           things, they will force you to produce all your life. If you can do a certain thing, if you are skillful,
           then you cannot be wasted.
               He says that uselessness has its own intrinsic utility. If you can be useful for others, then you
           have to live for others. Useless, nobody looks at you, nobody pays any attention to you, nobody is
           bothered by your being. You are left alone. In the marketplace you live as if you are living in the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Himalayas. In that solitude you grow. Your whole energy moves inwards.

              HUI TZU SAID TO CHUANG TZU:
              "ALL YOUR TEACHING IS CENTERED ON WHAT HAS NO USE."



              CHUANG TZU REPLIED:
              "IF YOU HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR WHAT HAS NO USE
              YOU CANNOT BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT WHAT CAN BE USED."


                He said that the useless is the other aspect of the useful. You can talk about the useful only
           because of the useless. It is a vital part. If you drop it completely, then nothing will be useful. Things
           are useful because there are things which are useless.
                But this has happened to the world. We have cut out all playful activities thinking that then the
           whole of our energy will move towards work. But now work has become a bore. One has to move to
           the opposite pole -- only then one is rejuvenated.
                The whole day you are awake, at night you fall asleep. What is the use of sleep? It is wasting
           time -- and no little time. If you live to ninety, for thirty years of your life you will be asleep,
           one-third, eight hours every day. What is the use of it?
                Scientists in Russia have been thinking that this is a wastage of labor, of energy. This is very
           uneconomical, so something must be done about it: some chemical changes or some hormonal
           changes are nee-ded. Or, even if something has to be changed in the very genes, the very cell, it must
           be done. We have to make a man who is aware, alert, awake for twenty-four hours.
                Just think...if they succeed, they will kill! Then they will make you an automaton, just a
           mechanical device, which goes on working and working, no day, no night, no rest, no work. There is
           no opposite to which you can move and forget!
                And they have started many things. They have started sleep teaching for small children. Now
           thousands of children in Soviet Russia sleep with tape recorders plugged to their ears. While they are
           sleeping, the tape recorder is teaching them. Throughout the whole night the tape recorder is
           repeating something or other. They go on listening to it and it becomes part of their memory -- sleep
           teaching, hypno-pedia. And they say that sooner or later all that we do in schools can be done while
           the child is asleep, and then the day can be used in some other way.
                Even sleep has to be exploited. You cannot be allowed to be yourself even in your sleep. You
           cannot even be allowed the freedom to dream. Then what are you? Then you become a cog in the
           wheel. Then you are just an efficient part of the wheel, of the mechanism. If you are efficient it is
           okay; otherwise you can be discarded, thrown to the junkyard, and somebody else who is more
           efficient will replace you.
                What happens after the whole day's work? You fall asleep. What happens? You move from the
           useful to the useless. And that is why in the morning you feel so fresh, so alive, so unburdened. Your
           legs have a dancing quality, your mind can sing, your heart can again feel -- all the dust of work is
           thrown off, the mirror is again clear. You have a clarity in the morning. How does it come? It comes
           through the useless.
                That is why meditation can give you the greatest glimpses, because it is the most useless thing in
           the world. You simply don't do anything, you simply move into silence. It is greater than sleep
           because in sleep you are unconscious; whatsoever happens, happens unconsciously. You may be in
           paradise, but you don't know it.
                In meditation you move knowingly. Then you become aware of the path: how to move from the
           useful world of the without to the useless world within. And once you know the path, any moment
           you can simply move inwards. Sitting in a bus you are not needed to do anything, you are simply
           sitting; traveling in a car or train or an airplane, you are not doing anything, everything is being done
           by others; you can close your eyes and move into the useless, the inner. And suddenly everything
           becomes silent, and suddenly everything is cool, and suddenly you are at the source of all life.
                But it has no value on the market. You cannot go and sell it, you cannot say, "I have great
           meditation. Is anybody ready to buy it?" Nobody will be ready to buy it. It is not a commodity, it is
           useless.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              CHUANG TZU REPLIED:
              "IF YOU HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR WHAT HAS NO USE
              YOU CANNOT BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT WHAT CAN BE USED.
              THE EARTH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS BROAD AND VAST,
              BUT OF ALL THIS EXPANSE A MAN USES ONLY A FEW INCHES
              UPON WHICH HE HAPPENS TO BE STANDING AT THE TIME.

              "NOW SUPPOSE YOU SUDDENLY TAKE AWAY
              ALL THAT HE IS NOT ACTUALLY USING,
              SO THAT ALL AROUND HIS FEET A GULF YAWNS,
              AND HE STANDS IN THE VOID
              WITH NOWHERE SOLID EXCEPT UNDER EACH FOOT,
              HOW LONG WILL HE BE ABLE TO USE WHAT HE IS USING?"


                This is a beautiful simile. He has got the point. You are sitting here, and you are using only a
           small space, two by two. You are not using the whole earth, the whole earth is useless; you are using
           only a small portion, two by two. Says Chuang Tzu: Suppose the whole earth is taken away, only
           two by two is left for you; you are standing with each foot using a few inches of earth. Suppose only
           that is left and the whole earth is taken away -- how long will you be able to use this small part that
           you are using?
                A gulf, an infinite abyss, yawns around you -- you will get dizzy immediately, you will fall into
           the abyss. The useless earth supports the useful, and the useless is vast, the useful is very small. And
           this is true on all levels of being: the useless is vast, the useful is very small. If you try to save the
           useful and forget the useless, sooner or later you will get dizzy. And this has happened, you are
           already dizzy and falling into the abyss.
                All over the world thinking people have a problem: life has no meaning, life seems to be
           meaningless. Ask Sartre, Marcel, Jaspers, Heidegger -- they say life is meaningless. Why has life
           become so meaningless? It never used to be so. Buddha never said it; Krishna could dance, sing,
           enjoy himself; Mohammed could pray and thank God for the blessing that he showered upon him as
           life. Chuang Tzu is happy, as happy as possible, as happy as a man can be. They never said that life
           is meaningless. What has happened to the modern mind? Why does life seem so meaningless?
                The whole earth has been taken away and you are left only on the part on which you are sitting
           or standing. You are getting dizzy. All around you see the abyss and the danger; and you cannot use
           the earth on which you are standing now, because you can use it only when the useless is joined with
           it. The useless must be there. What does it mean? Your life has become only work and no play. The
           play is the useless, the vast; the work is the useful, the trivial, the small. You have made your life
           completely filled with work. Whenever you start doing something the first thing that comes to the
           mind is, what is the use of it? If there is some use, you do it.
                Sartre sets one of his stories in the coming century, the twenty-first. A very rich man says, "Love
           is not for me, it is only for poor people. As far as I am concerned my servants can do it."
                Of course, why should a Ford go and waste time loving a woman? A cheap servant can do that.
           Ford's time is more valuable. He should put it to some greater use.
                It is possible! Looking at the human mind as it is, it is possible that in the future only servants
           will make love. When you can depute a servant, why bother yourself? When everything is thought of
           in terms of economics, when a Ford, a Rockefeller can make so much better use of their time, why
           should they go and waste their time with a woman? They can send a servant, that will be less trouble.
                It looks absurd to us hearing this but it has already happened in many dimensions of life. You
           never play, your servants do that. You are never an active participant in any fun, others do it for you.
           You go to see a football match: others are doing it and you are just watching -- you are a passive
           spectator, not involved. You go to a movie to see a film, and others are making love, creating war,
           violence -- everything; you are just a spectator in the seat. It is so useless you need not bother to do
           it. Anyone else can do it, you can just watch. Work YOU do, fun others do for you. Then why not
           love? Using the same logic, somebody else will do it.
                Life seems meaningless because the meaning consists of a balance between the useful and the
           useless. You have denied the useless completely. You have closed the door. Now only the useful is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there and you are burdened too much by it.
               It is a sign of success that if by the age of forty you get ulcers, it shows that you are successful. If
           you have passed forty and are now fifty and still the ulcers have not appeared, you are a failure.
           What have you been doing all your life? You must have been wasting time.
               By fifty you really ought to have your first heart attack. Now scientists have calculated that by
           forty a successful man must have ulcers, by fifty the first heart attack. By sixty he is gone -- and he
           never lived. There was no time to live. He had so many more important things to do, there was no
           time to live.
               Look all around you, look at successful people; politicians, rich men, big industrialists -- what is
           happening to them? Don't look at the things they possess, look at them directly, because if you look
           at the things you will be deceived. Things don't have ulcers, cars don't have heart attacks, houses are
           not hospitalized. Don't look at things, otherwise you will be deceived. Look at the person bereft of
           all his possessions, look directly at him and then you will feel the poverty. Then even a beggar may
           be a rich man. Then even a poor man may be richer as far as life is concerned.
               Success fails, and nothing fails like success, because the man who succeeds is losing his grip on
           life -- on everything. The man who succeeds is really bargaining, throwing away the real for the
           unreal, throwing away inner diamonds for colored pebbles on the shore; collecting the pebbles,
           losing the diamonds.
               A rich man is a loser, a successful man is a failure. But because you look with the eyes of
           ambition you look at the possessions. You never look at the politician, you look at the post, the
           prime ministership. You look at the power. You never look at the person who is sitting there
           absolutely powerless, missing everything, not even having a glimpse of what bliss is. He has
           purchased power, but in purchasing it he has lost himself. And it is all a bargain.

              I have heard that once, after a mass rally, a political leader was screaming at his manager. The
           manager couldn't understand it. The leader said, "I have been cheated!"
              The manager said, "I don't understand, the rally was so successful. Many thousands of people
           came, and look at your garlands. They have covered you with flowers, count them."
              The leader said, "There are only eleven and I paid for twelve."

               In the end, every successful man will feel that he has been cheated. That has to happen, it is
           bound to happen, it is inevitable, because what are you giving, and what are you receiving? The
           inner self is being lost for futile possessions. You can deceive others, but how will you be able to
           deceive yourself? In the end you will look at your life and you will see that you have missed it
           because of the useful.
               The useless must be there. The useful is like a garden, neat, clean; the useless is like a vast forest,
           natural, it cannot be so neat and clean. Nature has its own beauty and when everything is neat and
           clean, it is already dead. A garden cannot be very alive, because you go on pruning it, cutting it,
           managing it. A vast forest has a vitality, a very powerful soul. Go into a forest and you will feel the
           impact; get lost in a forest and then you will see the power of it. In a garden you cannot feel the
           power; it is not there, it is manmade. You can look at it, it is beautiful, but it is cultivated, it is
           managed, manipulated.
               Really, a garden is a false thing -- the real thing is the forest. The useless is like a vast forest and
           the useful is just like a garden you have created around your house. Don't go on cutting into the
           forest. It is okay, your garden is okay, but let it be a part of the vast forest that is not your garden, but
           God's garden.
               And can you think of anything more useless than God? Can you use him in any way? That is the
           trouble; that is why we cannot find any meaning in God. And those who are very meaning-oriented
           become atheists. They say there is no God, there cannot be. How can there be a God when God
           seems so useless?
               It is better to leave him out, then the world is left for us to manage and control. Then we can
           make the whole world a market, we can change temples into hospitals, into primary schools. But the
           uselessness of God is the very basis of all the utility that goes on. If you can play, your work will
           become pleasure. If you can enjoy simple fun, if you can become like children playing, your work
           will not be a burden to you. But it is difficult. Your mind keeps thinking in terms of money.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               I have heard that once Mulla Nasruddin came home and he found his wife in bed with his best
           friend. The friend was very embarrassed and scared. He said, "Listen, I cannot do anything about it. I
           am in love with your wife and she is in love with me. And you being a rational man, we should come
           to some arrangement. It is no use fighting about it."
               So Nasruddin said, "What arrangement do you suggest?"
               His friend said, "We should play a game of cards, and let the wife be the stake. If I win, you
           simply leave; if you win, I will never see your wife again."
               Nasruddin said, "All right, it's settled." But then he said, "Let's have some cash stakes, one rupee
           for each point, otherwise the whole thing is useless. Just for a wife the whole thing is useless. Don't
           waste my time, have some money stakes too."

                Then the thing becomes useful. Money seems to be the only useful thing. All those who are
           utilitarians will be money-mad, because money can purchase. Money is the essence of all utility. So
           if Buddha and people like Buddha renounced, it was not because they were against money, it was
           because they were against utility, against the useful. So they said: Keep all your money. I am moving
           into the forest. This garden is no more for me. I will move in the vast, in the uncharted, where one
           can be lost. This neat, clean pebbled path, everything known, mapped out, is not for me.
                When you move into the vastness of uselessness your soul becomes vast. When you go into the
           sea with no map you become like the ocean. Then the very challenge of the unknown creates your
           soul.
                When you are secure, when there is no problem, when everything is mathematically planned,
           settled, your soul shrinks. There is no challenge for it. The useless gives the challenge.

           "NOW SUPPOSE YOU SUDDENLY TAKE AWAY
           ALL THAT HE IS NOT ACTUALLY USING,
           SO THAT ALL AROUND HIS FEET A GULF YAWNS,
           AND HE STANDS IN THE VOID
           WITH NOWHERE SOLID EXCEPT UNDER EACH FOOT,
           HOW LONG WILL HE BE ABLE TO USE WHAT HE IS USING?"

               Without God the world cannot continue any more. Nietzsche declared just a hundred years ago
           that God was dead. He did not realize it, but at the same time he was declaring that we also cannot
           live any more. He never thought about that, he thought just the contrary. He said: God is dead and
           man is now free to live. But I say to you: If God is dead, man is dead already. The news may not
           have reached him yet, but he is dead -- because God is the vast uselessness.
               Man's world is the utilitarian world, the useful; without the useless the useful cannot exist. God is
           the play and man is the work; without God, work will become meaningless, a burden to be carried
           somehow. God is the fun, man is serious; without the fun the seriousness will be too much, it will be
           like a disease. Don't destroy the temples, don't destroy the mosques, don't transform them into
           hospitals; you can build other hospitals, you can create other buildings for schools, but let the useless
           remain there at the very center of life. That is why the temple has been placed in the very
           marketplace, in the very center of the town, just to show that the useless must remain at the very
           center, otherwise all utility is lost. The opposite must be taken into account, and the opposite is
           greater.
               What is the purpose of life? People keep coming and asking me this. There is no purpose. There
           cannot be any. It is purposeless, fun. You have to enjoy it, you can only enjoy it, you cannot do
           anything else about it. It is not marketable. And if you miss a moment you have missed; you cannot
           go back.
               Religion is just a symbol. One man came to me and said, "In India there are five hundred
           thousand sannyasins. This is very uneconomical. And what are these people doing? They live on
           others' labor. They should not be allowed to exist."
               In Russia they are not allowed to exist, not a single sannyasin. The whole land has become like a
           prison. You are not allowed to be useless. In China they are killing Buddhist monks and BHIKKUS,
           they have killed thousands of them, and they are destroying all the monasteries. They are turning the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole country into a factory, as if man is just the stomach, as if man can live by bread alone.
               But man has a heart, and man has a being which is not in any way purpose-oriented. Man wants
           to enjoy without cause and without reason. Man wants to be blissful just for nothing.
               That man asked, "When are you going to stop these sannyasins in India?" And he was very much
           against me. He said, "You are increasing the number of them. Stop it. What use are these
           sannyasins?"
               And his question seems relevant. If he had gone somewhere else, if he had asked some other
           religious head, he would have been given the answer that they have a use. But he was very disturbed
           when I said that they have no use at all.
               But life itself is without use. What is the purpose of it? Where are you going? What is the result?
           No purpose, no result, no goal. Life is a constant ecstasy, moment to moment you can enjoy it but if
           you start thinking of results you miss enjoying it, your roots are uprooted, you are no longer in it,
           you have become an outsider. And then you will ask for the meaning, for the purpose.
               Have you observed that when you are happy you never ask, "What is the purpose of happiness?"
           When you are in love, have you ever asked, "What is the purpose of all this?" When in the morning
           you see the sun rising and a flock of birds like an arrow in the sky, have you asked, "What is the
           purpose of it?" A flower blooms alone in the night, filling the whole night with its fragrance; have
           you asked, "What is the purpose of it?"
               There is no purpose. Purpose is part of the mind, and life exists mindlessly; hence the insistence
           on the useless. If you are looking too hard for use, you cannot drop the mind. How can you drop the
           mind if you are looking for some use, some result? You can drop the mind only when you have come
           to realize that there is no purpose and mind is not needed. You can put it aside. It is an unnecessary
           thing. Of course, when you go to the market, take it with you. When you sit in the shop, use it: it is a
           mechanical device, just like a computer.
               Now scientists say that sooner or later we will supply each child with a computer which he can
           carry in his pocket. He need not carry much mathematics in his mind, he can just push the button and
           the computer will do it. Your mind is a natural computer. Why be burdened constantly by it? When it
           is not needed, put it aside. But you think it is needed because you have to do something useful. Who
           will tell you what is useful and what is useless? The mind is constantly sorting out: This is useful, do
           this; and that is useless, don't do it. Mind is your manager. The mind represents use. Meditation
           represents the useless.
               Move from the useful to the useless, and make this movement so spontaneous and natural that
           there is no struggle, no conflict. Make it as natural as moving in and out of your house. When the
           mind is needed, use it as a mechanical device; when it is not in use, put it aside and forget it. Then be
           useless and do something useless and your life will be enriched, your life will become a balance
           between use and no use. And that balance transcends both. That is transcendental -- neither use nor
           non-use.

           "HOW LONG WILL HE BE ABLE TO USE THAT WHICH HE IS USING?"

              HUI TZU SAID:
              "IT WOULD CEASE TO SERVE ANY PURPOSE."
              CHUANG TZU CONCLUDED:
              "THIS SHOWS THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY
              OF WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE NO USE."


                Even the useful cannot exist without the useless. The useless is the base. I say to you, your mind
           cannot exist without meditation, and if you try to do the impossible you will go mad. That is what is
           happening to many people. They go mad. What is madness? Madness is an effort to do without
           meditation, to live only with the mind, without any meditation. Meditation is the base, even the mind
           cannot exist without it. And if you try, then the mind goes mad, goes crazy. It is too much. It is
           unbearable. A madman is a man who is a perfect utilitarian. He has tried the impossible, he has tried
           to live without meditation, and that is why he goes mad.
                Psychologists say that if you are not allowed to sleep for three weeks you will go mad. Why?
           Sleep is useless. Why will you go mad if you are not allowed to sleep for three weeks? A man can
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           live without food for three months but a man cannot live without sleep for three weeks. And three
           weeks is the ultimate limit. It is not for you -- you will go mad within three days if you are not
           allowed to sleep. If the useless is thrown out, you will go mad.
               Madness is growing every day because meditation is not thought to be valuable. Do you think
           that whatsoever can be priced, only that is valuable? whatsoever can be purchased and sold, only that
           is valuable? whatsoever is a market commodity, only that is valuable? Then you are wrong. That
           which has no price is also valuable. That which cannot be sold and purchased is far more valuable
           than all that can be purchased and sold.
               Love is the basis of sex. If you deprive people of love completely, sex becomes perverted.
           Meditation is the basis of mind. If you deny meditation, the mind goes mad. Fun, play, is the basis of
           work. If you deny fun and play, work becomes a burden, a dead weight.
               Look at the useless sky. Your house may be useful but it exists in this vast sky of uselessness. If
           you can feel both, and if you become able to move from one to the other without any trouble, then
           for the first time the perfect human being is born in you.
               The perfect human being does not know what is inside and what is out -- both are his. The
           perfect human being does not bother about what is useful and what is useless -- both are his wings.
           The perfect human being flies in the sky with both the wings of mind and meditation, of matter and
           consciousness, of this world and that, of God, of no God. He is a higher harmony of the opposites.
               Chuang Tzu emphasized no-use so much, uselessness so much, because you have emphasized the
           useful too much. Otherwise that emphasis is not needed. It is just to give you balance. You have
           gone too much to the left, you have to be pulled to the right.
               But remember, because of this over-emphasis you can again move to the other extreme. And that
           happened to many followers of Chuang Tzu. They became addicted to the useless, they became mad
           with the useless. They moved too much towards the useless and that was not the point -- they missed
           it.
               Chuang Tzu emphasized this only because you have become so extremely addicted to use. That
           is why he emphasized the useless. But I must remind you -- because mind can move to the opposite
           and remain the same -- that the real thing is transcendence. You have to come to a point where you
           can use the useful and the non-useful, the purposeful and the purposeless. Then you are beyond both,
           they both serve you.
               There are persons who cannot get rid of their mind and there are persons who cannot get rid of
           their meditation. And remember, it is the same disease: you cannot get rid of something. First you
           were unable to get rid of the mind, then somehow you managed it; now you cannot get rid of the
           meditation. Again you move from one prison to another.
               A real, a perfect man, a man of Tao, has no addictions. He can move easily from one extreme to
           another because he remains in the middle. He uses both wings.
               Chuang Tzu should not be misunderstood, that is why I say this. He can be misunderstood.
           People like Chuang Tzu are dangerous because you can misunderstand them. And there is more
           possibility for misunderstanding than understanding. The mind says, "Okay, so enough of this shop,
           enough of this family; now I will become a vagabond." That is misunderstanding. You will carry the
           same mind, you will become addicted to your vagabondness. Then you will not be able to come back
           to the shop, to the market, to the family. Then you will be afraid of it.
               In the same way, medicine can become a new disease if you get addicted to it. So the doctor has
           to see that you get rid of the disease but don't become addicted to the medicine -- otherwise he is not
           a good doctor. First you have to get rid of the disease, and immediately after you have to get rid of
           the medicine; otherwise the medicine will take the place of the disease and you will cling to it
           always.

               Mulla Nasruddin was teaching his small son, who was seven years old, how to approach a girl,
           how to ask her to dance, what to say and what not to say, how to persuade her.
               The boy went away and half an hour later came back and said, "Now teach me how to get rid of
           her!"

              That has to be learned too, and that is the difficult part. To invite is very easy but to get rid of is
           very difficult. And you know well through your own experience: to invite a girl is always easy, to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           persuade a girl is always easy, but how to get rid of her? Then it becomes a problem. Then you don't
           go out anywhere, then you forget whistling completely.
                Remember, the useless has its own attraction. If you are so very troubled by the useful, you may
           move to the other extreme too much. You may lose your balance.
                To me, a sannyasin is a deep balance, standing in the middle, free from all the opposites. He can
           use the useful and he can use the non-useful, he can use the purposeful and the nonpurposeful, and
           still remain beyond both. He is not used by them. He has become the master.
           Enough for today.




                                                  The Empty Boat
                                                     Chapter #9
                                           Chapter title: Means and Ends
           18 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407180
              ShortTitle: BOAT09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              THE PURPOSE OF A FISH TRAP
              IS TO CATCH FISH,
              AND WHEN THE FISH ARE CAUGHT
              THE TRAP IS FORGOTTEN.



              THE PURPOSE OF WORDS
              IS TO CONVEY IDEAS.
              WHEN THE IDEAS ARE GRASPED
              THE WORDS ARE FORGOTTEN.



              WHERE CAN I FIND A MAN
              WHO HAS FORGOTTEN WORDS?
              HE IS THE ONE
              I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO.


               It is difficult to forget words. They cling to the mind. It is difficult to throw away the net because
           not only are fish caught in it, the fisher is also caught. This is one of the greatest problems. Working
           with words is playing with fire, because words become so important that the meaning loses meaning.
           The symbol becomes so heavy that the content is completely lost; the surface hypnotizes you and
           you forget the center.
               This has happened all over the world. Christ is the content, Christianity is just a word; Buddha is
           the content, DHAMMAPADA is just a word; Krishna is the content, the Gita is nothing but a trap.
           But the Gita is remembered and Krishna is forgotten -- or if you remember Krishna, you remember
           him only because of the Gita. If you talk about Christ it is because of the churches, the theology, The
           Bible, the words. People carry the net for many lives without realizing that it is just a net, a trap.
           Buddha used to tell a story:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               A few men were crossing a river. The river was dangerous, in flood -- it must have been the rainy
           season -- and the boat saved their lives. They must have been very, very intelligent because they
           thought, "This boat saved us, how can we leave it now? This is our savior and it will be ungrateful to
           leave it!" So they carried the boat on their heads into the town.
               Somebody asked them, "What are you doing? We have never seen anybody carrying a boat."
               They said, "Now we will have to carry this boat for the rest of our lives, because this boat saved
           us and we cannot be ungrateful."

               Those intelligent-looking people must have been stupid. Thank the boat but leave it there. Don't
           carry it. You have been carrying many types of boats in your head -- maybe not on your head, but in
           your head. Look within. Ladders, boats, paths, words -- this is the content of your head, of your
           mind.
               The container becomes much too important, the vehicle becomes much too important, the body
           becomes much too important -- and then you become a blind man. The vehicle was just to give you
           the message -- receive the message and forget the vehicle. The messenger was just to give you the
           message -- receive the message and forget the messenger. Thank him, but don't carry him in your
           head.
               Mohammed insisted again and again, almost every day of his life, "I am just a messenger, a
           PAIGAMBER. Don't worship me, I have only carried a message from the divine. Don't look at me,
           look at the divine who has sent the message to you." But Mohammedans have forgotten the source.
           Mohammed has become important, the vehicle.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              WHERE CAN I FIND A MAN
              WHO HAS FORGOTTEN WORDS?
              HE IS THE ONE
              I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO.


                A man who has forgotten words, he is worth talking to, because he has the innermost reality, the
           center of being within him. He has the message. His silence is pregnant. Your talking is impotent.
           What are you doing when you talk? You are not saying anything in particular. You have got no
           message, nothing is to be delivered. Your words are empty, they don't contain anything, they don't
           carry anything. They are just symbols. And when you are talking you are simply throwing out your
           rubbish. It may be a good catharsis for you, but it can be dangerous for the other. And how can you
           talk with a person who is filled with words? Impossible. The words don't leave room. The words
           don't give a door, an opening. The words are too much, you cannot penetrate.
                To talk with a man who is filled with words is almost impossible. He cannot listen, because for
           listening one should be silent, for listening one should be receptive. Words don't allow that -- words
           are aggressive, they are never receptive. You can talk but you cannot listen, and if you cannot listen,
           your talk is the talk of a madman. You are talking not knowing why, you are talking not knowing
           what. You go on talking because it gives you a sort of release.
                You feel good after having a good chitchat. You feel good because you are relieved: your talking
           is part of your tensions. It is not coming from you, it is just a disturbance; it is not a song, it has no
           beauty of its own. That is why whenever you talk you simply bore the other. But why is he listening?
           He is not listening, he is just waiting to bore you, just waiting for the right moment when he can take
           the reins in his hands.

               I have heard, it happened once that a great politician, a leader, was speaking, and he spoke and
           spoke and it was getting near midnight. By and by the audience left until only one person was left in
           the hall. The leader thanked him and said, "You seem to be the only lover of truth, the only authentic
           follower. I feel grateful. When everyone else has left, you are still here."
               The man said, "Don't be deceived, I am the next speaker."

              When you listen, you are listening because you are the next speaker. You can tolerate the man --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this is a bargain. If you want to bore others you have to allow them to bore you. Really, when you
           say that a certain person is a bore, you mean that the person will not give you any opportunity to be
           the next speaker. He goes on and on and you cannot find a gap from where you can enter to start
           boring. That person looks like a bore to you, but every mind filled with words is a bore.
               When will you realize this? Why is a person bored? -- because there are only words, no fish in
           them, only traps...useless, meaningless, there is no content. It is like a rattling of something, a noise;
           no meaning is carried. Whenever there is meaning it is beautiful; whenever there is meaning you
           grow through it; whenever there is meaning, when you encounter a man who has meaning, it gives
           you a new upsurge of energy. It is not a wastage, it is a learning, it is an experience. Rare and
           difficult it is to find a man who is silent.
               If you can find a man who is silent and persuade him to talk to you, you will gain much --
           because when the mind is not filled with words, the heart speaks to the heart. When everything
           comes out of silence, when a word is born out of silence, it is beautiful, it is alive, it shares
           something with you. When a word comes only out of the crowd of words, it is mad, it can madden
           you.

              A small boy of five was asked by his teacher, "Has your younger sister learned to talk yet?"
              The boy said, "Yes, she has learned to talk -- and now we are teaching her to be quiet."

               This is the misery. You have to teach words, it is part of life, and then you have to learn how to
           be silent, and how to be wordless. Universities, parents, teachers, they teach you words, and then you
           have to find a master who can teach you how to keep quiet.
               A German scholar came to Ramana Maharshi and said, "I have come from very far away to learn
           something from you."
               Ramana laughed and said, "Then you have come to the wrong place. Go to some university,
           some scholar, some great pundit; there you will be able to learn. If you come to me then be aware
           that learning is not possible here, we teach only unlearning. I can teach you how to unlearn, how to
           throw words away, to create space within you. And that space is divine, that space is God."
               Where are you seeking? In words, in scriptures? Then one day or other you will become an
           atheist. A pundit, a scholar, cannot remain a theist for long. Remember, howsoever he knows,
           whatsoever he knows about The Bible and the Gita and the Koran, a scholar is bound to become an
           atheist one day because that is the logical consequence of gathering words. Sooner or later he will
           ask: Where is God? No Bible can reply, no Gita can supply the answer. Rather, Bibles and Gitas and
           Korans, when they are too much on your mind, will make you miss the divine because the whole of
           your mind space is filled...there is too much furniture in you. God cannot move. God may not be able
           to make any contact with you if the mind is too wordy. Then it is impossible to listen, and if you
           cannot listen, how can you pray? It is impossible to wait, words are too impatient, they are knocking
           from within to get out.
           I have heard:

               Once it happened that at three o'clock one morning Mulla Nasruddin phoned the bartender and
           said, "What time is the bar going to open?"
               The bartender said, "This is no time to inquire such a thing. You are a regular customer,
           Nasruddin, and you know that we don't open before nine in the morning. Go back to sleep and wait
           until nine."
               But ten minutes later he phoned again and said, "This is urgent. Tell me when the bar is going to
           open."
               Now the bartender felt annoyed. He said, "What do you think you are doing? I told you not a
           single minute before nine. And don't keep phoning me."
               But ten minutes later he phoned again. The bartender said, "Have you gone mad? You will have
           to wait until nine.
               Nasruddin said, "You don't understand. I am locked in the saloon and I want to get out!"

              If your mind is too burdened with words, theories, scriptures, they will keep knocking: Give way,
           we want to get out! And when the mind wants to get out, God cannot enter in you. When the mind
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wants to get out, it is not open for anything that is incoming. It is closed, it is a one-way traffic --
           double traffic is not possible.
               When you are aggressive through words going out, nothing can penetrate you, neither love, nor
           meditation, nor God. And all that is beautiful happens as an ingoing process. When you are silent, no
           words knocking within to get out, when you are waiting -- in that moment of waiting beauty
           happens, love happens, prayer happens, God happens. But if a man is too addicted to words, he will
           miss it all. In the end he will have a long collection of words and theories, logic, everything -- but
           nothing is worthwhile because the content is missing.
               You have the net, the trap, but no fish are there. If you had really caught the fish you would have
           thrown away the net immediately. Who bothers? If you have really used the ladder, you forget it.
           Who thinks about it? You have transcended it, it has been used.
               So whenever a man really comes to know, knowledge is forgotten. That is what we call wisdom.
           A wise man is one who has been able to unlearn the knowledge. He simply drops all that is
           nonessential.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              WHERE CAN I FIND A MAN
              WHO HAS FORGOTTEN WORDS?
              HE IS THE ONE I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO.


               He is worth talking to. It may not be so easy to persuade him to talk, but just to be near him, just
           to sit by his side will be a communion, will be a communication, the deepest that is possible. Two
           hearts will melt into each other.
               But why this addiction to words? -- because the symbol appears to be the real. And if it is
           repeated again and again, through repetition you become autohypnotized. Repeat anything, and by
           and by you will forget that you don't know. The repetition will give you the feeling that you know.
               If you go to the temple for the first time, you go in ignorance. It is hypothetical whether this
           temple really contains anything, whether God is there or not. But go every day, again and again, and
           go on repeating the ritual, the prayers; and whatsoever the priest says, go on doing it day after day,
           year after year. You will forget the hypothetical state of mind that was there in the beginning. With
           continuous repetitions the thing goes into the mind and you start feeling that this is the temple, God
           lives here, this is the abode of God. Now you have moved into the world of appearance.
               That is why every religion insists on teaching children as young as possible, because once you
           miss childhood it is very difficult to convert people to foolish things, very difficult. Psychologists
           say that everybody should be caught before the age of seven. The child can be conditioned to be a
           Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian or anything, a communist, theist or atheist, it doesn't make any
           difference -- but grab the child before seven. Up to the age of seven the child learns almost fifty
           percent of all he will ever learn in his whole life.
               And this fifty percent is very meaningful because it becomes the base. He will learn many things,
           he will create a great structure of knowledge, but all that structure will be based on the knowledge
           that he received when he was a child. And at this time, before the age of seven, the child has got no
           logic, no argumentativeness. He is trusting, exploring; he is believing. He cannot disbelieve, because
           he does not know what belief, what disbelief, is.
               When the child is born, he has no mind to argue. He does not know what argument is.
           Whatsoever you say appears true to him, and if you repeat it the child is hypnotized. That is how all
           the religions have exploited humanity. The child has to be forced to conform to a pattern, and once
           the pattern is deeply rooted, nothing can be done. Even if later on the child changes his religion,
           nothing much will change. On the contrary, his Christianity will be just like Hinduism, because of
           the base.

               It happened, there was once a tribe of cannibals near the Amazon. By and by, they killed most of
           their own members until only two hundred or so remained. They had killed and eaten each other. A
           missionary went there to work. The chief of the tribe spoke to him in perfect English. The
           missionary was surprised and said, "What! You speak such perfect English, and with a perfect
           Oxford accent, but you are still a cannibal?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man said, "Yes, I have been to Oxford, and I have learned much. Yes, we are still cannibals,
           but now I use a knife and fork. I have learned that at Oxford."

               This much change happens -- nothing much. Convert a Hindu to Christianity and his Christianity
           will be just like Hinduism. Convert a Christian to Hinduism; he will remain a Christian deep down,
           because you cannot change the base. You cannot make him a child again, you cannot make him
           innocent. That moment is lost.
               If this earth is ever going to be really religious then we will not teach Christianity, Hinduism,
           Mohammedanism, Buddhism: that is one of the greatest crimes committed. We will teach prayer, we
           will teach meditation, but not sects. We will not teach words and beliefs, we will teach a way of life,
           we will teach happiness, we will teach ecstasy. We will teach how to look at the trees, how to dance
           with the trees, how to be more sensitive, how to be more alive and how to enjoy the blessings that
           God has given...but not words, not beliefs, not philosophies, not theologies. No, we will not lead
           them to a church or to a temple or to a mosque, because these places are the sources of corruption.
           They have corrupted the mind. We will leave the children to nature; that is the temple, the real
           church.
               We will teach children to look at the floating clouds, at the rising sun, at the moon at night. We
           will teach them how to love, and we will teach them not to create barriers against love, meditation,
           prayer; we will teach them to be open and vulnerable, we will not close their minds. And we will of
           course teach words but simultaneously we will teach silence, because once words get into the base,
           silence becomes difficult.
               You come to me, your problem is this: at the base there are words and now you are trying to
           meditate and be silent -- and the base is always there. Whenever you are silent the base starts
           functioning. So you become aware of too much thinking when you meditate -- even more than you
           feel ordinarily. Why? What is happening? When you are silent you go inwards and you become
           more sensitive to the inner nonsense that goes on and on. When you are not in meditation you are
           outward-going, extrovert; you are involved with the world and you cannot listen to the inner noise
           that goes on. Your mind is not there.
               The noise is continuously there but you cannot hear it, you are occupied. But whenever you close
           your eyes and look within, the madhouse opens. You can see and feel and hear, and then you become
           afraid and scared. What is happening? And you thought that through meditation you would become
           more silent! And this is happening -- just the opposite!
               In the beginning it is bound to happen because a wrong base has been given to you. The whole
           society, your parents, your teachers, your universities, your culture, have given you a wrong base.
           You have already been corrupted, your source is poisoned. That is the problem -- how to depoison
           you. It takes time, and one of the most difficult things is to get rid of all that you have known, to
           unlearn.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

              WHERE CAN I FIND A MAN
              WHO HAS FORGOTTEN WORDS?
              HE IS THE ONE
              I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO.


               Only a sage is worth talking to. Only a sage is worth listening to. Only a sage is worth living
           with.
               What is a sage? An empty boat -- no words inside, the empty sky without the clouds. No sound,
           no noise, nobody mad, no chaos within, a continuous harmony, equilibrium, balance. He lives as if
           he is not. He is as if he is absent. He moves, but nothing moves within him. He talks, but the inner
           silence is there. It is never disturbed; he uses words, but those words are only vehicles -- through
           those words he is sending you something which is beyond words. And if you catch and grab the
           words, you will miss.
               When you listen to a sage, don't listen to his words; they are secondary, they are superficial, they
           are only peripheral. Listen to him, don't listen to his words. When the words reach you, just put them
           aside, as the traveler will do who has crossed the sea -- he leaves the boat there and goes on. Leave
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the boat there and go on. If you carry the boat, you are mad. Then your whole life will become a
           burden, you are burdened by the boat. A boat is not to be carried on the head. Feel grateful, that is
           okay, but carrying the boat on your head is too much.
               How many boats are you carrying on your head? Your whole life has become static because of
           the weight. You cannot fly, you cannot float, because you are carrying such a dead burden, not only
           from one life, this life, but from many lives. You go on collecting all that is useless, futile. Why does
           this happen? There must be some deep reason, otherwise everybody would not be doing it.
               Why does it happen? In the first place, you think the word is the reality -- the word god is God,
           the word love is love -- the word is real. The word is NOT the real. You have to make a distinction, a
           clear-cut distinction, that the word is not the real. The word only symbolizes, indicates; it is not the
           real. Once you are trapped into believing that the word is the real, then when someone says, "I love
           you," you will be frustrated. Because he says he loves you, you believe he loves you -- for you the
           word is the real.
               If you cannot see the wordless reality you will be frustrated in all your paths in life, everywhere
           you will be frustrated because you will take the word for reality.
               Many people come to me and say, "This girl loved me, she said it herself." "This man loved me
           and now the love has disappeared." They were both deceived by words.
               Dale Carnegie suggests that even if you have been married for twenty years, don't forget to keep
           using the same words you used when you were courting your wife -- continue. Every morning say
           the same as you did when you were courting. Don't drop those words. Every day say, "Nobody exists
           like you. You are the most beautiful person in the world, and I will die without you." Dale Carnegie
           says that even if you don't feel it, go on saying it, because words are realities. And the wife will be
           deceived and the husband will be deceived, because we live by words alone.
               You don't know anything else, you don't know anything real. How can you be in contact with
           reality? When someone says, "I love you" -- finished! When someone says, "I hate you" -- finished!
           Put aside the words and look at the person. When someone says, "I love you," don't get entangled
           with the words, put them aside. Look at the person, at his or her totality. Then nobody can deceive
           you. Love is such a fire you will be able to see it, you will be able to touch it, you will be able to
           know whether it is there or not.
               Love cannot be hidden. If it is there, really, words are not needed. When somebody really loves
           you, he will not say, "I love you." It is not needed. Love is enough unto itself -- it needs no
           salesmanship. It doesn't need anybody to persuade, to convince; it is enough, it is a fire. Nothing is
           more fiery than love, it is a flame. And when there is a flame in the dark you need not say anything
           about it. It is there. No advertisement is needed, no propaganda is needed.
               Try to separate words from reality. In your day-to-day life when someone says, "I hate you,"
           don't believe the word. This may be just a momentary thing, it may be just a phase. Don't go for the
           word, otherwise you will make an enemy for life. As you have made friends because of words so you
           have made enemies because of words. Don't go for the words, look into the person, look into the
           eyes, feel the whole -- it may be just a momentary reaction. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred it
           will be just a momentary thing. He feels hurt by something, he reacts and says, "I hate you." Wait,
           don't decide, don't say, "This is an enemy." If you say that, you are not only deceived by others'
           words, you are also deceived by your own. If you say, "This is an enemy," now this word will cling.
           And even if he changes tomorrow, you will not be so ready or so willing to change, you will carry it
           within you. And then through your insistence you will create an enemy. Your enemies are false, your
           friends are false, because words are not reality.
               Words can do only one thing: if you go on repeating them they give you the appearance of
           reality. Says Adolf Hitler in his autobiography, Mein Kampf: I know only one difference between
           the truth and the lie -- that is, a lie repeated many times becomes true. And he knows by experience,
           he says that he did it -- he continuously repeated lies, and went on and on repeating them.
               In the beginning they looked foolish. He started saying that it was because of the Jews that
           Germany was defeated in the first world war. It was absolutely absurd.
               Once he was speaking at a meeting and he asked, "Who is responsible for the defeat of
           Germany?"
           One man stood up and said, "The bicycle riders."
           Hitler was surprised. He said, "What? Why?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The man said, "Then why the Jews?" He was a Jew. Why Jews?
               Even when Hitler was dying and again Germany had been defeated and completely destroyed, he
           didn't believe that it was because of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt. He didn't believe that he was
           defeated because his enemies were superior, more powerful than him. His last verdict was still the
           same: that it was a Jewish conspiracy, that the Jews were in the background working and because of
           them the Germans had been defeated. And the whole of Germany believed him -- one of the most
           intelligent peoples on the earth!
               But intelligent people can be stupid because intelligent people always believe in words. That is
           the problem. The Germans, highly intelligent, highly scholarly people, have produced the greatest
           professors, philosophers; the whole country is intelligent. How could such a stupid man as Adolf
           Hitler persuade them that his arguments were logical?
               But this COULD happen there because a land of professors, intelligentsia, so-called intellectuals,
           is always word-addicted. If you go on repeating a word again and again and again, hammering and
           hammering, people listening again and again start feeling that this is true. Truth can be created out of
           lies if you go on repeating them. Repeti-tion is the method to convert a lie into a truth. But can you
           convert a lie into a truth? Just in appearance you can. Try it. Go on repeating something and you will
           start believing it. It may be that you are not as miserable as you look. Because you have been
           repeating, "I am in misery, I am in misery, I am in misery," and you have repeated it so often, now
           you look miserable.
               Just look into your misery. Are you really miserable? Are you really in such hell as you show by
           your face? Have a second thought. Immed-iately you will not feel so miserable because nobody can
           be as miserable as you look. It is impossible. God doesn't allow it! It is repetition, it is autohypnosis.

               A French psychologist, Emile Coue, used to treat people. His method was simply repetition,
           suggestion, autohypnosis. You could go to him and say, "I have a headache, a constant headache,
           and no medicine helps. I have tried all the 'pathies,' even naturopathy, and nothing helps."
               He would say that there was no need of treatment because there was no headache. You have
           simply believed in it. And in going to this doctor and that, all have helped you to believe that yes, a
           headache is there -- because if they don't believe in your headache they cannot live. Doctors cannot
           say that you don't have a headache. When you go to a doctor, even if you have nothing wrong he will
           find something. A doctor exists by it.
               Talking with Coue would help you immediately, almost fifty percent of the headache would
           disappear just by talking to him -- without any medicine. And he would feel the relaxation coming
           over your face and then he would know that the trick had worked. Then he would give you a formula
           that you had to repeat continuously day and night, whenever you remembered -- that there was no
           headache. Every morning when you got up you had to repeat: "I am getting better and better every
           day." And within two or three weeks the headache would disappear.
               A real headache cannot disappear that way. In the first place the headache was created by words;
           in the first place, you hypnotized yourself that you had a headache, and then you dehypnotized
           yourself. A real illness cannot disappear. But your illnesses -- ninety percent of them -- are unreal.
           Through words you have created them. Coue helped thousands, Mesmer helped thousands, just by
           creating the feeling that you are not ill. It doesn't show that autohypnosis cures illness; it only shows
           that you are such great autohypnotists already that you CREATE illnesses! You believe in them.
               And doctors cannot say that your diseases are mental. You don't feel good if someone says that
           your disease is mental, you feel very bad, and you immediately change your doctor. Whenever a
           doctor says that you have a very great disease, very serious, you feel very good -- because a man like
           you, so great, a somebody, he MUST have a big disease! Small diseases are for small people,
           ordinary diseases for ordinary people. When you have cancer, tb, or something dangerous, you feel
           superior, you are somebody. At least as far as illness is concerned you are not ordinary.

               A doctor who had just graduated from college, returned to his home. His father was also a doctor
           -- very tired from working and working, so he went on a holiday. He said, "I need at least three
           weeks' rest and I am going to the hills, so you can take over my work."
               When the father came back three weeks later the son said, "I have a surprise for you. The lady
           you have been treating for years and couldn't cure, I cured her in three days."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The father beat him on the head and said, "You fool, that lady was paying for your education and
           I was hoping that through her all my children would get through college. Her stomachache was not
           real. And I was worried when I was in the hills because I forgot to tell you not to touch her. She is
           rich and she needs a stomachache, and I have been helping her. For years she has been the source of
           our income."

               Ninety percent of all diseases are psychological. They can be cured by mantra, they can be cured
           by suggestion, they can be cured by Satya Sai Baba, because in the first place you have already
           performed the real miracle in creating them. Now anyone can cure them.
               Continuously repeating a word creates the reality, but this reality is hallucinatory. It is illusion,
           and you cannot come to reality until all words have disappeared from the mind. Even a single word
           may create illusion. Words are great forces. If even a single word is in the mind, your mind is not
           empty. Whatsoever you are seeing, feeling, is through the word, and that word will change the
           reality.
               You have to be completely wordless, thoughtless. You have to be just consciousness.
               When you are just consciousness then the boat is empty and reality is revealed to you. Because
           you are not repeating anything or you are not imagining anything, you are not autohypnotizing
           yourself. Only then the real appears, revealed.
           Chuang Tzu is right. He says:

              WHERE CAN I FIND THE MAN
              WHO HAS FORGOTTEN WORDS?
              HE IS THE ONE
              I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO.



              THE PURPOSE OF A FISH TRAP
              IS TO CATCH FISH....


               You have forgotten the purpose completely. You have gathered so many fish traps and are so
           constantly worried about them -- that somebody might steal them, that they might get broken or go
           rotten -- that you have completely forgotten the fish!

              THE PURPOSE OF A FISH TRAP
              IS TO CATCH FISH,
              AND WHEN THE FISH ARE CAUGHT
              THE TRAP IS FORGOTTEN.

               If you cannot forget the trap it means that the fish is not yet caught. Remember, if you are
           continuously obsessed with the trap, it shows that the fishes are not yet caught. You have forgotten
           completely about them and become so entangled with the fish traps that you have fallen in love with
           them!
               Once I had a neighbor, a professor, a man of words. He purchased a car. Every morning he
           worked on cleaning it. It always stayed in showroom condition, and he never took it on the road. For
           years I watched. Every morning he would take much trouble, cleaning, polishing it.
               Once we were traveling in the same railway compartment, so I asked, "Is something wrong with
           the car? You never bring it out. It is always in your drive."
               He said, "No, I have fallen in love with it. I love it so much that I am always afraid that if I take it
           out something may go wrong -- an accident, a scratch, anything can go wrong. And it is unbearable
           even to think of it."
               A car, a word, a trap, they are means not ends. You can fall in love with them and then you never
           use them.
               I used to stay in a house. The lady of the house had three hundred sarees but she always used two
           -- she was preserving the others for some special occasion. When will that special occasion come?
           As far as I know, and I have known her for fifteen years, that special occasion has not come yet. It is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not going to come, because she is growing older every day; sooner or later she will die and those
           three hundred sarees will live on.
                What happened? Fallen in love with sarees? You CAN fall in love with things. It is difficult to
           fall in love with persons, it is very easy to fall in love with things because things are dead, you can
           manipulate them. Sarees will never say, "Wear us! We would like to go out and have a look around."
           The car will never say, "Drive me, I am getting bored."
                With persons it is difficult. They will demand, they will ask, they would like to go out, they have
           their own desires to be fulfilled. When you fall in love with a person there is always conflict, so
           those who are clever never fall in love with persons, they always fall in love with things: a house, a
           car, clothes. They are always easy, manageable, and you always remain the master and the other
           never creates trouble. Or, if you fall in love with a person, you immediately try to convert him into a
           thing, a dead thing. A wife is a dead thing, a husband is a dead thing, and they torture each other.
           Why do they torture each other? What is the point of it? Through torture they make the other dead so
           the other becomes a thing, manipulatable. Then they are not worried.

               Two matrons were looking at a bookshop window. One said to the other, "Look, there is a book
           entitled How to Torture Your Husband."
               But the other was not interested. She didn't even look at the book -- she said, "I don't need it, I
           have a system of my own."

               Everybody has his own system of torturing the other, because only through torture and
           destruction can a person be changed into a thing.

              It happened once that Mulla Nasruddin walked into the coffee house looking very angry, very
           aggressive and dangerous, and he said, "I hear that someone has called my wife an ugly old hag.
           Who is this guy?"
              A man stood up, a very tall, strong, giantlike man. He said, "I said that about your wife, and what
           about it?"
              Looking at the person, Nasruddin immediately calmed down; he was dangerous. He went up to
           him and said, "Thank you, this is my feeling too, but I couldn't gather the courage to say so. You
           have done it, you are a brave man."

               What happens in a relationship? Why does it always turn ugly? Why is it so impossible to love?
           Why does everything become poisoned? ...Because the mind is always happy to manipulate things,
           because things never rebel: they are always obedient, they never disobey. A person is alive, you
           cannot predict what he is going to do. And you cannot manipulate...the other's freedom becomes the
           problem.
               Love is such a problem because you cannot allow the other the freedom to be. And remember
           this: if you really love, real love is possible only when you allow the other total freedom to be
           himself or herself. But then you cannot possess, then you cannot predict, then you cannot be secure,
           then everything has to move moment to moment. And mind wants to plan, to be secure and safe.
               Mind wants life to run along a track because mind is the most dead thing in you. It is as if you
           are a river and a part of the river is an iceberg. Your mind is just like the iceberg, it is the frozen part
           of you, and it wants to make you completely frozen so that then there will be no fear. Whenever
           there is the new, there is fear -- with the old there is no fear. Mind is always happy with the old.
               That is why mind is always orthodox, never revolutionary. There has never been a mind which
           can be called revolutionary. Mind cannot be revolutionary. Buddha is revolutionary, Chuang Tzu is
           revolutionary -- because they have no minds. Lenin is not revolutionary, Stalin absolutely not. They
           cannot be. With minds, how can you be revolutionary? Mind is always orthodox, mind is always
           conforming, because mind is the dead part in you. This has to be understood.
               There are many dead parts in you for the body to throw out. Your hair is dead, that is why you
           can cut it easily and there is no pain. Your nails are dead, that is why you can cut them easily and
           there is no pain, no hurt. The body goes on throwing them off. Consciousness also has to throw off
           many things, otherwise they will accumulate. Mind is the dead part like the hair. And this is
           symbolic. Buddha told his disciples to shave their heads just as a symbol: as you shave your hair
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           completely, so you shave the inner consciousness also, you shave it completely of the mind.
               Both hair and mind are dead, don't carry them. It is beautiful! Don't allow the dead part to
           accumulate. What is mind? Your past experiences, your learning, all that has been. Mind is never
           present -- how can it be? Here and now, mind cannot be.
               If you simply look at me, where is the mind? If you simply sit here and listen to me, where is the
           mind? If you start arguing, the mind comes in; if you start judging, the mind comes in. But how do
           you judge? You bring the past to the present, the past becomes the judge of the present. How do you
           argue? You bring up the past as an argument, and when you bring up the past, the mind comes in.
               Mind is the dead part of you, it is the excreta. And just as there are constipated people who suffer
           very much, so there is mind constipation, accumulated excreta. You never throw it out. In your mind,
           things only go in; you never throw out.
               Meditation is throwing the mind out, unburdening yourself. The excreta must not be carried,
           otherwise you will become duller and duller. That is why a child has a fresh mind -- because it has
           no accumulation. So sometimes children can say things that your philosophers cannot say.
           Sometimes they look and penetrate into realities that your man of knowledge misses. Children are
           very, very penetrating. They have a clarity, their look is fresh, their eyes are not filled. A sage is
           again a child. He has emptied his boat, he has emptied himself of all the cargo. The excreta has been
           thrown out, he is not constipated. His consciousness is a flow, it has no frozen parts.

              THE PURPOSE OF A FISH TRAP
              IS TO CATCH FISH,
              AND WHEN THE FISH ARE CAUGHT
              THE TRAP IS FORGOTTEN.



              THE PURPOSE OF WORDS
              IS TO CONVEY IDEAS.
              WHEN THE IDEAS ARE GRASPED
              THE WORDS ARE FORGOTTEN.


                If you really understand me, you will not be able to remember what I said. You will catch the
           fish but you will drop the trap. You will be what I said but you will not remember what I said. You
           will be transformed through it but you will not become a more learned man through it. You will be
           more empty through it, less filled; you will go away from me refreshed, not burdened.
                Don't try to gather what I say because whatsoever you gather will be wrong. Gathering is wrong:
           don't accumulate, don't fill your treasure chest from my words. Words are excreta, they are not worth
           anything. Throw them out, then the meaning will be there, and meaning does not have to be
           remembered; it never becomes part of the memory, it becomes part of your wholeness. You have to
           remember a thing only when it is part of the memory, just of the intellect. You never need to
           remember a real thing that has happened to you. If it happens to you, it is there -- what is the need to
           remember? Don't repeat, because repetition will give you a false notion.
                Listen, but not to the words -- just by the side of the words the wordless is being given to you.
           Don't be too focused on the words, just look a little sideways also because the real thing is being
           given there. Don't listen to what I say, listen to me! I am also here, not only the words. And once you
           listen to me, then all words will be forgotten.
                Buddha died, and the bhikkhus, the disciples, were very disturbed because none of his sayings
           had been collected while he was alive. They completely forgot to record his words and did not think
           that he would die so soon, so suddenly. Disciples never think of that -- that the master may disappear
           suddenly.
                Then suddenly one day Buddha said, "I am going." There was no time left and he had been
           speaking for forty years. When he was dead, how could his words be collected? A treasure would be
           lost, but what was there to do?
                And it is beautiful that Mahakashyapa could not repeat Buddha's words. He said, "I heard him,
           but I don't remember what he said. I was so much in it, it never became part of my memory, I don't
           know." And he had become enlightened!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Sariputta, Moggalyan, all these who had become enlightened, shrugged their shoulders and said,
           "It is difficult, he has said so much, but we do not remember it." And these were the disciples who
           had reached.
                Then Ananda was approached. He had not become enlightened while Buddha was alive; when
           Buddha died, then he became enlightened. He had remembered everything. He dictated word by
           word the contents of the forty years he was with Buddha. He dictated word by word -- a man who
           was not enlightened! It looks like a paradox. Those who had reached should have remembered, not
           this man who had not yet reached the other shore. But when the other shore is reached, this shore is
           forgotten, and when one has oneself become a buddha, who cares to remember what Buddha said?

              THE PURPOSE OF A FISH TRAP
              IS TO CATCH FISH,
              AND WHEN THE FISH ARE CAUGHT
              THE TRAP IS FORGOTTEN.


               The words of the Buddha were traps, Mahakashyapa caught the fish. Who bothers about the trap
           now? Where the boat has gone, who bothers? He has crossed the stream. Mahakashyapa said, "I
           don't know what this fellow said. And you cannot rely on me, because with me it is difficult to
           separate what he said and what I say."
               Of course it will be so. When Mahakashyapa has become a buddha himself, how can they be
           separate? The two are not two. But Ananda said, "I will relate his words," and very authentically he
           related. Humanity is in great debt to this fellow Ananda who was still ignorant. He had not caught
           the fish so he remembered the trap. He was still thinking about catching the fish so he had to carry
           the trap.

              THE PURPOSE OF WORDS
              IS TO CONVEY IDEAS.
              WHEN THE IDEAS ARE GRASPED
              THE WORDS ARE FORGOTTEN.


               Remember this as a basic law of life -- that the useless, the meaningless, the peripheral, looks so
           significant because you are not aware of the center. This world looks so significant because you are
           not aware of God. When the God is known, the world is forgotten. And it is never otherwise.
               People have tried to forget the world so that they can know God -- it has never happened and it
           will never happen. You can go on trying and trying to forget the world, but you cannot. Your every
           effort to forget will become a continuous remembering. Only when God is known is the world
           forgotten. You can go on struggling to drop thinking, but you cannot drop thinking unless
           consciousness is achieved. Thinking is a substitute. How can you drop the trap when the fish is not
           yet caught? The mind will say, "Don't be foolish. Where is the fish?"
               How can you drop the words when you have not realized the meaning? Don't fight with the
           words, try to reach to the meaning. Don't try to fight with thoughts. That is why I insist again and
           again that if thoughts disturb you, don't create any struggle with them, don't wrestle with them. If
           they come, let them come. If they go, let them go. Don't do anything, just be indifferent, just be a
           watcher, an onlooker, not concerned. That is all that you can do right now -- not be concerned.
               Don't say, "Don't come." Don't invite, don't reject, don't condemn and don't appreciate. Simply
           remain indifferent. Look at them, they come as clouds float in the sky -- then they go, as clouds
           disappear. Let them come and go, don't come in their way, don't pay attention to them. If you are
           against them then you start paying them attention, and then immediately you are disturbed: "My
           meditation is lost." Nothing is lost. Meditation is your intrinsic nature. Nothing is lost. Is the sky lost
           when clouds come? Nothing is lost.
               Be indifferent, don't be bothered by thoughts, this way or that. And sooner or later you will feel
           and you will realize that their coming and going has become slower. Sooner or later you will come to
           see that now they come, but not so much; sometimes the traffic stops, the road is vacant. One
           thought has passed, another has not come yet; there is an interval. In that interval you will know your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inner sky in its absolute glory. But if a thought enters, let it enter; don't get disturbed.
               You can do this much, and only this much can be done; nothing else is possible. Be inattentive,
           indifferent, not caring. Just remain a witness, watching, not interfering, and the mind will go,
           because nothing can be retained inside if you are indifferent.
               Indifference is cutting the roots, the very roots. Don't feel antagonistic because that is again
           feeding. If you have to remember friends, you have to remember enemies even more so. Friends you
           can forget, how can you forget enemies? You have to constantly remember them because you are
           afraid.
               People are disturbed by thoughts, ordinary people. Religious people are disturbed more because
           they are constantly fighting. But through fighting you pay attention -- and attention is food.
           Everything grows if you pay attention, grows fast, becomes more vital. You just be indifferent.
               Buddha used the word UPEKSHA; it means absolute indifference, neither this nor that -- just in
           the middle -- neither friendly nor inimical, neither for nor against, just in the middle, looking as if
           you are not concerned, as if these thoughts don't belong to you, as if they are part of the great world.
           Let them be there. Then one day suddenly, when the indifference is total, the consciousness shifts
           from the periphery to the center.
               But it cannot be predicted and cannot be planned: one has to go on working and waiting.
           Whenever it happens, you can laugh: those thoughts were there because you wanted them to be
           there, those thoughts were there because you were feeding them continuously, and those thoughts
           were there because the fish was not yet caught. How could you throw away the trap? You had to
           carry it.

               I remember that once it happened in Mulla Nasruddin's country that the king was in search of a
           wise man. His old wise man had died saying, "When you replace me, find the man who is the most
           humble in the kingdom, because ego is anti-wisdom. Humility is wisdom, so find the most humble
           man."
               Secret agents were sent all over the kingdom to spy out the most humble man. Finally they
           reached Nasruddin's village. He had heard the news that the wise man was dead, so he thought hard
           about what might be the indication of a wise man. He had read, and he knew the ancient lore that the
           humblest is the most wise. So he logically inferred, concluded, that the old man must have said to
           find the humblest man.
               Then came the king's men in search. Mulla Nasruddin was very rich, but when they saw him, the
           richest man in the town, he was carrying a fishing net, coming from the river. Fishing was the
           humblest job in the town. So they thought, "This man seems to be very humble," and they asked
           Nasruddin, "Why do you carry this fishing net? You are so rich, you need not go on fishing."
               Nasruddin said, "I became this rich through fishing. I started my life as a fisherman. I have
           become rich, but just to pay respect to the original profession that gave me so much, I always carry
           this net on my shoulder."
               A really humble man. Generally, if a poor man becomes rich he starts wiping his whole past
           clean so that nobody knows that he was ever a poor man. He drops all contacts which show that once
           he was a poor man. He doesn't want to see his relatives, he doesn't want to be reminded of the past.
           He simply drops the past completely. He creates a new past as if he is a born aristocrat. But this man
           was humble. So the messengers informed the king that Mulla Nasruddin was the humblest man they
           had ever seen and he was appointed the wise man.
               The day he was appointed, he threw away the net. The men who had recommended him asked,
           "Nasruddin, where is your net now?"
               He said, "When the fish is caught, the net is thrown away."

               But you cannot throw it away before -- it is impossible, you have to carry it. But carry it
           indifferently. Don't get attached, don't fall in love with it, because one day it has to be thrown away.
           If you fall in love with it then you may never catch the fish, you will be just afraid that if you catch
           the fish you will have to throw away the net.
               Don't fall in love with the mind. It has to be used and it is there because you don't know the
           no-mind yet, you don't know the innermost core of your being. The periphery is there and you have
           to carry it but carry it indifferently. Don't become a victim of it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           One story more:

                There was a man who used to go to the race course every year on his birthday. The whole year he
           accumulated the money just for one stake on his birthday. And he lost and lost for many years. But
           hope always revives again and again! Each time he went he decided never to go again...but one year
           is such a long time! For a few days he would remember and then again hope returned. He thought,
           "Who knows, this year I may become rich so why not one more try?"
                By the time his birthday came round he was again ready to go to the race course. And it was his
           fiftieth birthday, so he thought, "I should try wholeheartedly."
                So he sold all his possessions, gathered a small fortune, all that he had earned in his whole life,
           all that he had, and he said, "Now I have to decide this way or that. Either I am to become a beggar
           or an emperor; no more in the middle, enough!"
                He went there, to the windows, and looked at the names of the horses and saw a horse named
           Adolf Hitler. He thought, "It will do well. Such a great man, such a victorious man, he threatened the
           whole world. This horse must be ferocious and strong." So he staked all, and he lost -- as all those
           who stake on Hitlers will lose. Now he had nowhere to go, even his house was lost. So there was
           nothing left to do but commit suicide.
                So he went to a cliff, just to jump and finish it all. When he was about to jump he suddenly heard
           a voice, and he couldn't tell whether it came from the outside or from the inside. It said, "Stop! Next
           time I will give you the name of the winner -- one more try. Don't kill yourself."
                Hope revived, he came back. He worked hard that year, because it was going to be the victory for
           which he had been waiting all his life. The dream had to be fulfilled. He worked hard day and night,
           he earned much. Then with a trembling heart he reached the window and waited. The voice said,
           "Okay, choose this horse Churchill." Without any argument, without thinking about it, without his
           mind coming in, he staked all and won. Churchill came first.
                He went back to the window, and waited. The voice said, "Now back Stalin." He staked all.
           Stalin came in first. Now he had a big treasure.
                The third time he waited, and the voice said, "No more."
                But he said, "Keep quiet, I am winning, my stars are high and nobody can defeat me now." So he
           chose Nixon and Nixon came last.
                All his treasure lost, he was again a beggar. Standing there, he muttered to himself, "Now what
           shall I do?"
                Said the inner voice, "Now you can go to the cliff and jump!"

               In moments when you are going to die, the mind stops because there is nothing for it to work on.
           The mind is part of life, it is not part of death. When there is no more life ahead, mind stops; there is
           no work, it is unemployed immediately. And when mind stops, the inner voice comes in. It is always
           there, but the mind is creating so much noise that a still small voice cannot be heard.
               The voice had not come from beyond, there is nobody beyond, everything is within. The God is
           not in the skies, it is in you. He was going to die -- the last decision taken by the mind. But when the
           mind retired, because there was now no more work, suddenly he heard the voice. This voice came
           from his innermost core, and the voice that comes from the innermost core is always right.
               Then what happened? Twice the voice worked, but then the mind entered again and the mind
           said, "Don't listen to such nonsense, the stars are high and we are winning."
               Remember this: whenever you win, you win because of the inner voice. But the mind always
           comes in and takes charge. Whenever you feel happiness it is always from the inner. Then mind
           immediately jumps in and takes control and says, "It is because of me." When you are in love, love
           becomes like death, you feel blissful. Then immediately mind comes in and says, "Okay, this is me,
           this is because of me."
               Whenever you meditate, there are glimpses. Then the mind comes in and says, "Be happy! Look,
           I have done it." And immediately the contact is lost.
               Remember this: with mind you will always be a loser. Even if you are victorious, your victories
           will be just defeats. With mind there is no victory; with no-mind there is no defeat.
               You have to shift your whole consciousness from mind to no-mind. Once no-mind is there,
           everything is victorious. Once the no-mind is there, nothing goes wrong, nothing CAN go wrong.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           With no-mind everything is absolutely as it should be. One is content, not a single fragment of
           discontent remains, one is absolutely at home. You are an outsider because of the mind.
                This shift is possible only if you become indifferent; otherwise this shift will never be possible.
           Even if you have glimpses, those glimpses will be lost. You have had glimpses before -- it is not
           only in prayer and meditation that glimpses happen. Glimpses happen in ordinary life too. Making
           love to a woman, the mind stops. That is why sex is so appealing: it is a natural ecstasy. For a single
           moment suddenly mind is not there, you feel blissful and content -- but only for a single moment.
           Immediately the mind comes in and starts working on how to get more, how to stay longer. Planning,
           controlling, manipulating comes in, and you have missed.
                Sometimes, without any reason or rhyme, you are walking down the street under the trees and
           suddenly a sunray comes and falls on you, a breeze touches your face. Suddenly it is as if the whole
           world has changed and for a single moment you are ecstatic. What was happening? You were
           walking, unworried, not going somewhere, just having a walk, a morning or evening walk. In that
           relaxed moment, suddenly, without your knowing, consciousness shifted from the mind to the
           no-mind. Immediately there is beatitude. But the mind comes in and says, "I must get more and more
           moments like this." Then you can stand there for years, for lives, but it will never happen again. It
           never happened because of the mind.
                In ordinary day-to-day life, not only in temples, in shops and offices also, the moments come --
           the consciousness shifts from the periphery to the center. But the mind controls again immediately.
           Mind is the great controller. You may be the master but he is the manager, and the manager has
           absorbed so much control and power that the manager thinks he is the master. And the master is
           completely forgotten.
                Be indifferent to mind. Whenever moments come which are wordless, silent, if the mind comes
           in, don't help and don't cooperate with it. Just look. Let it say whatsoever it says, don't pay much
           attention. It will withdraw.
                In meditation, moments happen every day to you. Many come to me and say, "It happened on the
           first day but since then it has not been happening."
                Why did it happen on the first day? You are more prepared now, on the first day you were not so
           prepared. Why did it happen on the first day? It happened on the first day because the manager was
           unaware of what was going to happen. He couldn't plan. The next day the manager knows well what
           is to be done: breathing fast, then crying, screaming, then Hoo, Hoo. Now the manager knows, and
           the manager does it. Then the moment will not happen, the manager has taken charge.
                Remember this: whenever a blissful moment happens, don't ask for it again. Don't ask for it to be
           repeated, because all repetition is of mind. Don't ask for it again. If you ask, then the mind will say,
           "I know the trick. I will do it for you."
                When it happens, feel happy and grateful and forget. The fish is caught, forget the trap. The
           meaning is caught, forget the word.
                And the last thing: whenever meditation is complete, you will forget meditation. And only then,
           when you forget meditation, will it have come to a fulfillment, will the climax have been reached.
           Now you are meditative for twenty-four hours a day. It is nothing to be done; it is there, it is you, it
           is your being.
                If you can do this, then meditation becomes a continuous flow, not an effort on your part --
           because all effort is of the mind.
                If meditation becomes your natural life, your spontaneous life, your Tao, then I tell you, some
           day Chuang Tzu will catch hold of you. Because he asks:

              WHERE CAN I FIND A MAN
              WHO HAS FORGOTTEN WORDS?
              HE IS THE ONE
              I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO.

               He is searching. I have seen him here many times wandering around you, just waiting, waiting. If
           you forget the words he will talk to you. And not only Chuang Tzu -- Krishna, Christ, Lao Tzu,
           Buddha, they are all in search of you; all the enlightened people are in search of the ignorant. But
           they cannot talk because they know a language which is of silence, and you know a language which
           is of madness. They cannot lead anywhere. They are in search. All the buddhas that have ever
10/28/07                                             Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existed are in search. Whenever you are silent you will feel that they have always been all around
           you.
               It is said that whenever the disciple is ready the master appears. Whenever you are ready the
           truth will be delivered to you. There is not even a single moment's gap. Whenever you are ready, it
           happens immediately. There is no time gap.
               Remember Chuang Tzu. Any moment he may start talking to you, but before he starts talking,
           your talking must go.
           Enough for today.




                                                The Empty Boat
                                                 Chapter #10
                                            Chapter title: Wholeness
           19 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407190
              ShortTitle: BOAT10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 94 mins




              HOW DOES THE TRUE MAN OF TAO
              WALK THROUGH WALLS WITHOUT OBSTRUCTION
              AND STAND IN FIRE WITHOUT BEING BURNT?



              NOT BECAUSE OF CUNNING OR DARING,
              NOT BECAUSE HE HAS LEARNED --
              BUT BECAUSE HE HAS UNLEARNED.



              HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT IN THE ONE.
              HIS VITALITY, HIS POWER,
              HIDE IN SECRET TAO.



              WHEN HE IS ALL ONE,
              THERE IS NO FLAW IN HIM
              BY WHICH A WEDGE CAN ENTER.



              SO A DRUNKEN MAN WHO FALLS OUT OF A WAGON
              IS BRUISED, BUT NOT DESTROYED.
              HIS BONES ARE LIKE THE BONES OF OTHER MEN,
              BUT HIS FALL IS DIFFERENT.
              HIS SPIRIT IS ENTIRE.
              HE IS NOT AWARE OF GETTING INTO A WAGON,
              OR FALLING OUT OF ONE.
              LIFE AND DEATH ARE NOTHING TO HIM.
              HE KNOWS NO ALARM,
              HE MEETS OBSTACLES WITHOUT THOUGHT, WITHOUT CARE,
              AND TAKES THEM WITHOUT KNOWING THEY ARE THERE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              IF THERE IS SUCH SECURITY IN WINE,
              HOW MUCH MORE IN TAO?
              THE WISE MAN IS HIDDEN IN TAO,
              NOTHING CAN TOUCH HIM.



              HOW DOES THE TRUE MAN OF TAO -- WALK THROUGH WALLS WITHOUT OBSTRUCTION --
              AND STAND IN FIRE WITHOUT BEING BURNT?


               This is one of the most basic and secret teachings. Ordinarily we live through cunningness,
           cleverness and strategy; we don't live like small children, innocent. We plan, we protect, we make all
           the safeguards possible -- but what is the result? Ultimately, what happens? All the safeguards are
           broken, all cunningness proves foolishness -- ultimately death takes us away.
               Tao says that your cunningness will not help you, because what is it but a fight against the
           whole? With whom are you cunning -- with nature, with Tao, with God? Whom do you think you are
           deceiving -- the source from where you are born and the source to which you will finally go? Is the
           wave trying to deceive the ocean, is the leaf trying to deceive the tree, is a cloud trying to deceive the
           sky? Whom do you think you are trying to deceive? With whom are you playing?
               Once it is understood, a man becomes innocent, drops his cunningness, all strategies, and simply
           accepts. There is no other way than to accept nature as it is and to flow with it. Then there is no
           resistance, then he is just like a child who is going with his father, in deep trust.

               Once, Mulla Nasruddin's son came home and said that he had trusted a friend and had given him
           his toy to play with, but now the friend refused to return it. "What should I do?" he asked.
               Mulla Nasruddin looked at him and said, "Go up this ladder." The boy did so, he trusted his
           father. When he was ten feet high, Nasruddin said, "Now jump into my arms."
               The boy hesitated a little, and said, "If I fall, I will get hurt."
               Nasruddin said, "When I am here, you need not worry. Take a jump." The boy jumped, and
           Nasruddin stood aside. The boy fell down, and started crying and weeping.
               Then Nasruddin said, "Now you know. Never believe anybody, not even what your father says:
           don't even believe your father."

                Don't believe in anybody, otherwise you will be deceived all your life. This is what every father,
           every parent, every school, every teacher, teaches you. This is your learning. Don't believe in
           anybody, don't trust, otherwise you will be deceived. You become cunning. In the name of
           cleverness you become cunning, untrusting. And once a man is untrusting he has lost contact with
           the source.
                Trust is the only bridge, otherwise your whole life is wasted; you fight an impossible fight in
           which defeat is bound to happen, it is absolutely certain. It is better to realize it now, because at the
           moment of death everybody realizes that it has been a defeat. But then nothing can be done.
                Real intelligence is not cunningness, it is totally different. Real intelligence is to look into
           things.... And whenever you look into things deeply, you will come to know that you are just a wave,
           that this whole is the ocean and there is no need to worry. The whole has produced you, it will take
           care of you. You have come out of the whole, it is no enemy to you. You need not worry, you need
           not plan. And when you are not worried, not planning, for the first time life starts. For the first time
           you feel free of worries, and life happens to you.
                This intelligence is religion. This intelligence gives you more trust, and finally, total trust. This
           intelligence leads you to the ultimate nature, acceptance -- what Buddha called TATHATA. Buddha
           said: What-soever happens, happens. Nothing else can happen, nothing else is possible. Don't ask for
           it to be otherwise; be in a letgo, and allow the whole to function. And when you allow the whole to
           function and you are not a barrier, a resistance, then you cannot be defeated.
                In Japan, through Buddha, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, a particular art has been developed called
           ZENDO. Zendo means the Zen of the sword, the art of the warrior -- and nobody knows it like they
           do. The way they have developed it is supreme. It takes years, even a whole lifetime, to learn zendo
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because the learning consists in acceptance. You cannot accept in ordinary life -- how can you accept
           when a warrior is standing before you, waiting to kill you? How can you accept when the sword is
           raised against you and every moment, any moment, death is near?
               The art of zendo says that if you can accept the sword, the enemy, the one who is going to kill
           you, and there is no distrust; if even the enemy is the friend, and you are not afraid, not trembling,
           then you become a pillar of energy, unbreakable. The sword will break on you, but you cannot be
           broken. There will not even be any possibility that you could be destroyed.

               Once there was a great zendo master. He was eighty, and tradition-ally, the disciple who could
           defeat him would succeed him. So all the disciples hoped that someday he would accept their
           challenge, because now he was getting old.
               There was one disciple who was the cleverest, the best strategist, very powerful, but not a master
           of zendo, just skilled in the art. Although he was a good warrior and he knew everything about
           swordsmanship, he was not yet a pillar of energy, he was still afraid while fighting. The tathata had
           not yet happened to him.
               He went to the master again and again saying, "Now the time has come, and you are getting old.
           Soon you will be too old to challenge at all. I challenge you now. Accept my challenge, Master, and
           give me a chance to show what I have learned from you." The master laughed and avoided him.
               The disciple started thinking that the master had become so weak and old that he was afraid, just
           trying to evade the challenge. So one night he insisted and insisted and got angry and said, "I will not
           leave until you accept my challenge. Tomorrow morning you have to accept. You are getting old and
           soon there will be no chance for me to show what I have learned from you. This has been a tradition
           always."
               The master said, "If you insist, your very insistence shows that you are not ready or prepared.
           There is too much excitement in you, your ego wants to challenge, you have not yet become capable;
           but if you insist, okay. Do one thing. Go to the nearby monastery where there is a monk who was my
           disciple ten years ago. He became so efficient in zendo that he threw away his sword and became a
           sannyasin. He was my rightful successor. He never challenged me, and he was the only one who
           could have challenged and even defeated me. So first go and challenge that monk. If you can defeat
           him, then come to me. If you cannot defeat him, then just drop the idea."
               The disciple immediately started out for the monastery. By morning he was there. He challenged
           the monk. He couldn't believe that this monk could be a zendo master -- lean and thin, continuously
           meditating, eating only once a day. The monk listened and laughed, and he said, "You have come to
           give me a challenge? Even your master cannot challenge me, even he is afraid."
               Listening to this, the disciple got completely mad! He said, "Stand up immediately! Here is a
           sword I have brought for you knowing well that you are a monk and might not have one. Come out
           in the garden. This is insulting, and I will not listen."
               The monk looked absolutely undisturbed. He said, "You are just a child, you are not a warrior.
           You will be killed immediately. Why are you asking for death unnecessarily?"
               That made him still more angry so they both went out. The monk said, "I will not need the
           sword, because a real master never needs it. I am not going to attack you, I am only going to give
           you a chance to attack me so your sword is broken. You are not a match for me. You are a child, and
           people will laugh at me if I take up the sword against you."
               It was too much! The young man jumped up -- but then he saw that the monk was standing. Up
           until now the monk had been sitting; now he stood up, closed his eyes, and started swaying from side
           to side -- and suddenly the young man saw that the monk had disappeared. There was only a pillar of
           energy -- no face, just a solid pillar of energy, swaying. He became afraid and started retreating, and
           the pillar of energy started moving towards him, swaying. He threw away his sword and screamed at
           the top of his voice, "Save me!"
               The monk sat down again and started laughing. His face came back, the energy disappeared, and
           he said, "I told you before: even your master is no match for me. Go and tell him."
               Perspiring, trembling, nervous, the disciple went back to his master and said, "How grateful I am
           for your compassion towards me. I am no match for you. Even that monk destroyed me completely.
           But one thing I couldn't tolerate, that is why I got involved in it. He said, 'Even your master is not a
           match for me.' "
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The master started laughing and he said, "So that rascal played the trick on you too? You got
           angry? Then he could see through you, because anger is a hole in the being. And that has become his
           basic trick. Whenever I send somebody to him, he starts talking against me, and my disciples of
           course become angry. When they are angry, he finds out that they have loopholes, and when you
           have holes you cannot fight."

                Whenever you are angry, your being has leakages. Whenever you desire, your being has holes in
           it. Whenever you are jealous, filled with hatred, sexuality, you are not a pillar of energy. Hence
           buddhas have been teaching us to be desireless, because whenever you are desireless energy does not
           move outwards, energy moves within. It becomes an inner circle, it becomes an electric field, a
           bioelectric field. When that field is there, without any leakage, you are a pillar; you cannot be
           defeated. But you are not thinking of victory, remember, because if you are thinking of victory you
           cannot be a pillar of energy. Then that desire becomes a leakage.
                You are weak, not because others are strong, you are weak because you are filled with so many
           desires. You are defeated, not because others are more cunning and clever -- you are defeated
           because you have so many leakages.
                Tathata -- acceptance, total acceptance, means no desire. Desire arises out of nonacceptance. You
           cannot accept a certain situation, so desire arises. You live in a hut and you cannot accept it; this is
           too much for the ego, you want a palace -- then you are a poor man, but not because you live in a
           hut, no. In huts, emperors have lived. Buddha has lived under a tree, and he was not a poor man. You
           cannot find a richer man anywhere.
                No, your hut doesn't make you poor. The moment you desire the palace you are a poor man. And
           you are not poor because others are living in palaces, you are poor because the desire to live in the
           palace creates a comparison with the hut. You become envious. You are poor.
                Whenever there is discontent, there is poverty; whenever there is no discontent, you are rich.
           And you have such riches that no thief can steal them; you have such riches, no government can take
           them by taxation; you have riches which cannot be taken away from you in any way. You have a fort
           for your being, unbreakable, impenetrable.
                Once a desire moves and your energy starts falling you become weak through desire, you
           become weak through longing. Whenever you are not longing and are content, whenever nothing is
           moving, when your whole being is still, then, says Chuang Tzu, you are an impenetrable fort. Fire
           cannot burn you, death is impossible. That is the meaning of: Fire cannot burn you; death is
           impossible, you cannot die. You have got the secret key of eternal life.
                And sometimes this happens in ordinary circumstances too. A house is on fire -- everybody dies
           but a small child survives. There is an accident -- the old people die and the small children survive.
           People say that this is a miracle, God's grace. No, it is nothing of the sort, it is because the child
           accepted that situation too. Those who were cunning started running and trying to save themselves;
           they got themselves into trouble. The child rested. He was not even aware that anything was
           happening, that he was going to die. The child is saved through his innocence.
                It happens every day. Go and observe at night near a bar, a wine shop, drunkards falling down in
           the street, lying in the gutter, absolutely happy. In the morning they will get up. They may be bruised
           a little but no harm has happened to their bodies. Their bones are intact. They have got no fractures.
                You try to fall like a drunkard on the street -- immediately you will have fractures. And he falls
           like this every day, every night, many times, but nothing happens to him. What is the matter, what is
           the secret? When he is drunk there is no desire. He is absolutely at ease, here and now. When he is
           drunk he is not afraid, there is no fear, and when there is no fear, there is no cunningness.
                Cunningness comes out of fear. So the more fearful a person, the more cunningness you will find
           in him. A brave man is not cunning, he can depend on his bravery; but a man who is afraid, who is a
           coward, can depend only on cunningness. The more inferior a person, the more cunning. The more
           superior a person, the more innocent. Cunningness is a substitute. When one is drunk, absolutely
           drunk, future disappears and past disappears.

              I have heard: Once it happened that Mulla Nasruddin was walking along with his wife,
           absolutely drunk. She had found him lying in the street and was bringing him home. Of course, as
           usual, she was arguing, and winning all the arguments, because she was alone. Mulla Nasrud-din
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was not there; he was simply coming along with her.
               Then suddenly she saw a mad bull approaching. There was no time to warn Nasruddin, so she
           jumped into a bush. The bull came up and spun Nasruddin almost fifty feet in the air. He fell into a
           ditch, and as he crawled out of it he looked at his wife and said, "If you do this to me again, I shall
           really lose my temper. This is too much!"

               Ordinary wine gives so much power when one is drunk, what about Tao, the absolute
           drunkenness? What about Krishna or Buddha, the greatest drunkards -- so drunk with the divine that
           not even a trace of the ego is left? You cannot hurt them because they are not there, you cannot insult
           them because there is no one who will resist the insult and create a wound. Your insult will pass
           through them, as if passing through an empty house. Their boats are empty. A breeze comes in and
           passes with no barrier. When the breeze has gone the house is not even aware that the breeze has
           been there.
               The appeal of wine is really because you are so egoistic. You are too burdened by it and
           sometimes you want to forget it. So the world will have to follow alcohol or Tao -- these are the
           alternatives. Only a religious man, a really religious man, can be beyond alcohol, marijuana, lsd --
           any type of drug. Only a religious man can be beyond them; otherwise how can you be beyond
           them? The ego is too much, the burden is too much, it is constantly on your head. You HAVE to
           forget yourselves.
               But if wine can do so much, you cannot conceive of what the divine wine can do. What is the
           wine doing? For certain moments, through chemical changes in the brain, in the body, you forget
           yourself. But this is momentary. Deep down you are there, and after a few hours the chemical effect
           is gone, your body has thrown the wine out and the ego asserts itself again.
               But there is a wine, I tell you -- God is that wine, Tao, or whatsoever name you like to call it.
           Once you taste it, the ego is gone forever. Nobody ever comes back from that drunkenness.
               That is why Sufis always talk of wine, Sufis always talk of women. Their woman is not the
           woman you know -- God is the woman. And their wine is not the wine that you know -- God is the
           wine. Omar Khayyam has been misunderstood, tremendously misunderstood; because of Fitzgerald
           he has been misunderstood all over the world. Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat appears to be written in
           praise of wine and women, but it is not at all. Omar Khayyam is a Sufi, a mystic. He talks of the
           wine which comes through Tao; he talks of the wine in which you are lost forever and forever. This
           intoxicant, this divine intoxicant, is not temporary, it is nontemporal, not momentary -- it is eternal.
               And Sufis talk of God as the woman. That embrace is eternal, it is ultimate; then there is no
           separation. If you can understand this then you are intelligent, but not through your strategies,
           cunningness, arithmetic, your logic.
               If you can, look deep into existence. From where have you come? Where are you going? With
           whom are you fighting, and why? These same moments that you are losing in fighting can become
           ecstatic. Now look at the sutra: Wholeness.
               You think of yourself as the individual. You are wrong. Only the whole exists. This is false --
           this appearance that: I think I am. This is the most false thing in the world. And because of this "I
           am," fight arises. If I am, then this whole seems inimical; then everything seems to be against me.
               It is not that anything is against you -- it cannot be! These trees have helped you, this sky has
           helped you, this water has helped you, this earth created you. Then nature is your mother. How can
           the mother be against you? You have come out of her. But you think I am as an individual, and then
           the fight arises. It is one-sided. You start the fight, and nature goes on laughing, God goes on
           enjoying. Even in a small child, the moment he starts feeling I, the fight arises.

               In a supermarket, a small child was insisting on a toy. The mother said positively, "No, I am not
           going to buy it. You have got enough."
               The child got angry and said, "Mum, I have never seen a meaner girl than you, you are the
           meanest."
               The mother looked at the child, at his face, the anger on it, and she said, "Just wait, you will
           certainly meet a really mean girl. Just wait!"

              In one house, the mother was insisting that the child do his homework. He was not listening and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           went on playing with his toys, so she said, "Are you listening to me or not?"
              The child looked up and said, "Who do you think I am -- Daddy?"

                Only a small child, and the fighting starts -- the ego has arisen. He knows Daddy can be silenced,
           but not him. The moment the child feels he is separate the natural unity is broken, and then his whole
           life becomes a struggle and fight.
                Western psychology insists that the ego should be strengthened. That is the difference between
           the Eastern attitude and the Western. Western psychology insists that the ego should be
           strengthened; the child must have a strong ego, he must fight, struggle, only then will he be mature.
                The child is in the mother's womb, one with the mother, not even aware that he is -- he is,
           without any consciousness. In a deep sense all consciousness is illness. Not that he is unconscious --
           he IS aware. His being is there, but without any self-consciousness. The am is there, but the I has not
           been born yet. The child feels, lives, is fully alive, but never feels that he is separate. The mother and
           the child are one.
                Then the child is born. The first separation happens, and the first cry. Now he is moving, the
           wave is moving away from the ocean. Western psychologists say: We will train the child to be
           independent, to be individual. Jung's psychology is known as the way of individu-ation. He must
           become an individual, absolutely separate. He must fight. That is why, in the West, there is so much
           rebellion in the younger generation. This rebellion was not created by the younger generation, this
           rebellion was created by Freud, Jung, Adler and company. They have given the basis.
                Fight will give you a stronger ego. It will shape you. So fight the mother, fight the father, fight
           the teacher, fight the society. Life is struggle. And Darwin started the whole trend when he said only
           the fittest survive; life means survival of the fittest. So the stronger you are in your ego, the more
           chance you will have of surviving.
                The West lives through politics, the East has a totally different attitude...and Tao is the core, the
           very essence of the Eastern consciousness. It says: No individuality, no ego, no fight; become one
           with the mother; there is no enemy, the question is not of conquering.
                Even a man, a very knowledgeable man, a very penetrating, logical man like Bertrand Russell,
           thinks in terms of conquest -- conquering nature, the conquest of nature. Science seems to be a
           struggle, a fight with nature: how to break the lock, how to open the secrets, how to grab the secrets
           from nature.
                Eastern consciousness is totally different. Eastern consciousness says: Ego is the problem, don't
           make it stronger, don't create any fight. And not the fittest but the humblest survive.
                That is why I insist again and again that Jesus is from the East; that is why he could not be
           understood in the West. The West has misunderstood him. The East could have understood him
           because the East knows Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Buddha, and Jesus belongs to them. He says: Those
           who are last will be the first in my kingdom of God. The humblest, the meekest, will possess the
           kingdom of God. The poor in spirit is the goal. Who is poor in spirit? The empty boat, he who is not
           at all -- no claim on anything, no possession of anything, no self. He lives as an absence.
                Nature gives her secrets. There is no need to grab, there is no need to kill, there is no need to
           break the lock. Love nature, and nature gives you her secrets. Love is the key. Conquering is absurd.
                So what has happened in the West? This conquering has destroyed the whole of nature. So now
           there is a cry for ecology, how to restore the balance. We have destroyed nature completely, because
           we have broken all the locks and we have destroyed the whole balance. And now through that
           imbalance humanity will die sooner or later.
                Chuang Tzu can be understood now, because he says: Don't fight with nature. Be in such deep
           love, become so one that through love, from heart to heart, the secret is given. And the secret is that
           you are not the individual, you are the whole. And why be satisfied with just being a part? Why not
           be the whole? Why not possess the whole universe? Why possess small things?
                Ramateertha used to say, "When I close my eyes I see stars moving within me, sun rising within
           me, moon rising within me. I see oceans and skies. I am the vast, I am the whole universe."
                When for the first time he went to the West and started saying these things, people thought he
           had gone crazy. Somebody asked him, "Who created the world?"
           He said, "I, it is within me."
                This I is not the ego, not the individual; this I is the universe, God. He looks crazy. This claim
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           looks too much. But look in his eyes: there is no ego. He is not asserting anything, he is simply
           stating a fact.
               You are the world! Why be a part, a tiny part, and why unnecessarily create trouble when you
           can be the whole?
               This sutra is concerned with wholeness. Don't be the individual, be the whole. Don't be the ego.
           When you can become the divine, why be satisfied with such a small, tiny, ugly thing?

              HOW DOES THE TRUE MAN OF TAO
              WALK THROUGH WALLS WITHOUT OBSTRUCTION
              AND STAND IN FIRE WITHOUT BEING BURNT?


               Someone asked Chuang Tzu, "We have heard that a man of Tao can walk through walls without
           obstruction. Why?" If you don't have any obstruction within you, no obstruction can obstruct you.
           This is the rule. If you have no resistance within you, in your heart, the whole world is open for you.
           There is no resistance. The world is just a reflection, it is a big mirror; if you have resistance, then
           the whole world has resistance.

               It happened once that a king built a great palace, a palace of millions of mirrors -- all the walls
           were covered with mirrors. A dog entered the palace and he saw millions of dogs all around him. So,
           being a very intelligent dog, he started barking to protect himself from the millions of dogs all
           around him. His life was in danger. He must have become tense, he started barking. And when he
           started barking, those millions of dogs started barking too.
               In the morning the dog was found dead. And he was there alone, there were only mirrors.
           Nobody was fighting with him, nobody was there to fight, but he looked at himself in the mirror and
           became afraid. And when he started fighting, the mirror reflection also started fighting. He was
           alone, with millions and millions of dogs around him. Can you imagine the hell he lived through that
           night?

               You are living in that hell right now; millions and millions of dogs are barking around you. In
           every mirror, in every relationship, you see the enemy. A man of Tao can walk through the walls
           because he has no wall in his heart. A man of Tao finds nowhere the enemy because he is not the
           enemy inside. A man of Tao finds all mirrors vacant, all boats empty, because his own boat is empty.
           He is mirrored, he has no face of his own, so how can you mirror, how can you reflect a man of Tao?
           All mirrors keep silent. A man of Tao passes -- no footprints are left behind, no trace. All mirrors
           remain silent. Nothing reflects him, because he is not there, he is absent.
               When the ego disappears you are absent, and then you are whole. When the ego is there you are
           present, and you are just a tiny part, a very tiny part, and very ugly at that. The part will always be
           ugly. That is why we have to try to make it beautiful in so many ways. But a man with ego cannot be
           beautiful. Beauty happens only to those who are without egos. Then the beauty has something of the
           unknown in it, something immeasurable.
               Remember this: ugliness can be measured. It has limits. Beauty, the so-called beauty, can be
           measured. It has limits. But the real beauty cannot be measured -- it has no limits. It is mysterious --
           it goes on and on and on. You cannot be finished with a buddha. You can enter him, and you will
           never come out. Endless! His beauty is never finished.
               But the ego goes on trying to be beautiful. Somehow you remember the beauty of the whole;
           somehow you remember the silence of the womb; somehow deep down you know the bliss of being
           one, the union, the unity with existence. Because of that, many desires arise. You know the beauty of
           being a god and you have to live like a beggar. So what do you do? You create faces, you paint
           yourself. But deep down the ugliness remains, because all paints are just paints.

               It happened once that a woman was walking on the seashore. She found a bottle, opened it, and a
           genie came out. And, like all true genies, this genie said, "You have broken my prison, you have set
           me free. So now you can ask anything, and I will fulfill your fondest desire or wish."
               Genies are not found every day, on every shore, in every bottle. It rarely happens, and only in
           stories. But the woman didn't think even for a single moment. She said, "I want to become a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           beautiful person -- hair like Elizabeth Taylor, eyes like Brigitte Bardot, body like Sophia Loren."
              The genie looked again, and said, "Honey, put me back in the bottle!"

               And this is what you are all asking for -- everybody is asking for this -- this is why genies have
           disappeared from the world. They are so afraid of you, you are asking the impossible. It cannot
           happen because the part can never be beautiful.
               Just think: my hand can be cut off -- can that hand be beautiful? It will grow more and more
           ugly, it will deteriorate, it will start smelling. How can my hand be beautiful, separate from me? The
           separation brings death; unison brings life. In the whole you are alive; alone, separate, you are
           already dead or dying.
               My eyes, take them out, then what are they? Even stones, colored stones, will be more beautiful
           than they because they are still with the whole. Pluck a flower; then it is not beautiful, the glory is
           gone. It was beautiful just a moment ago when it was joined with the roots, with the earth. Uprooted,
           you float like egos. You are ill, and you will remain ill, and nothing can be of any help. All your
           efforts, however clever, are going to fail.
           Only in the whole are you beautiful.
           Only in the whole are you lovely.
           Only in the whole is grace possible.
               It is not because of cunningness that the man of Tao walks through walls without obstruction,
           and stands in fire without being burnt. It is:
              NOT BECAUSE OF CUNNING OR DARING,
              AND NOT BECAUSE HE HAS LEARNED --
              BUT BECAUSE HE HAS UNLEARNED.


               Learning goes into the ego; learning strengthens the ego. That is why pundits, brahmins,
           scholars, have the subtlest egos. Learning gives them scope, learning gives them space. They become
           tumors, egos. Their whole being is then exploited by the ego.
               The more learned a man, the more difficult he is to live with, the more difficult he is to relate to,
           the more difficult it is for him to reach the temple. It is almost impossible for him to know God
           because he himself now lives like a tumor, and the tumor has its own life -- now it is the ego tumor.
           And it exploits. The more you know, the less possibility there is for prayer to happen.
               So, says Chuang Tzu, it is not because of cunningness; he is not calculating, he is not cunning or
           daring, because daring, cunning, calculating, are all part of the ego. A man of Tao is neither a
           coward nor a brave man. He does not know what bravery is, what cowardice is. He lives. He is not
           self-conscious, not because he has learned but because he has unlearned. The whole of religion is a
           process of unlearning. Learning is the process of the ego, unlearning is the process of the non-ego.
           Learned, your boat is full, filled with yourself.

              It happened that Mulla Nasruddin used to have a ferryboat, and when times were not good he
           would carry passengers from one bank to the other.
              One day a great scholar, a grammarian, a pundit, was crossing in his ferryboat to the other shore.
           The pundit asked Nasruddin, "Do you know the Koran? Have you learned the scriptures?"
           Nasruddin said, "No, no time."
           The scholar said, "Half your life has been wasted."
              Then suddenly there arose a storm and the small boat was far from the shore. At any moment it
           would sink. Asked Nasruddin, "Schoolmaster, do you know how to swim?"
           The man was very afraid, perspiring. He said, "No."
              Said Nasruddin, "Then your WHOLE life has been wasted. I am going!"

               Now, this boat cannot go to the other shore. But people think learning can become a boat, or
           learning can become a substitute for swimming. No! Can scriptures become boats? No, they are too
           heavy. You can drown with them but you cannot cross the river. Unlearning will make you
           weightless; unlearning will make you innocent again.
               When you don't know, in that not knowing what happens? The most beautiful phenomenon....
           The greatest ecstasy happens when you don't know -- there is a silence when you don't know.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Someone asks a question and you don't know. Life is a riddle, and you don't know. Everywhere is
           mystery and you are standing there not knowing, wondering. When you don't know there is wonder,
           and wonder is the most religious quality. The deepest religious quality is wonder. Only a child can
           wonder. A man who knows cannot wonder, and without wonder no one has ever reached the divine.
           It is the wondering heart to which everything is a mystery...a butterfly is a mystery, a seed sprouting
           is a mystery.
                And remember, nothing has been solved: all your science has done nothing. The seed sprouting
           is still a mystery and it is going to remain a mystery. Even if science can create the seed, the
           sprouting will remain a mystery. A child is born; it is a mystery that is born. Even if the child can be
           produced in a test-tube, it makes no difference. The mystery remains the same.
                You are here. It is such a mystery. You have not earned it, you cannot say to the universe, "I am
           here because I have earned it." It is a sheer gift, you are here for no reason at all. If you were not
           here, what difference would it make? If you were not here, to what court could you appeal?
                This sheer existence, this breathing that goes in and out, this moment that you are here, listening
           to me, to the breeze, to the birds, this moment that you are alive, is such a mystery. If you can face it
           without any knowledge you will enter into it. If you face it with knowledge and you say, "I know, I
           know the answer," the doors are closed -- not because of the mystery, the doors are closed because of
           your knowledge, your theories, your philosophy, your theology, your Christianity, your Hin-duism --
           they close the door.
                A man who thinks he knows does not know. The Upanishads go on saying that a man who thinks
           that he does not know, knows. Says Socrates: When a man really knows, he knows only one thing,
           that he does not know. Chuang Tzu says: It is because he has unlearned. Whatsoever the world
           taught him, whatsoever society taught him, whatsoever parents and the utilitarians taught him, he has
           dropped. He has again become a child, a small child. His eyes are again filled with wonder. He looks
           all around and everywhere is mystery.
                Ego kills the mystery. Whether it is the ego of a scientist or whether it is the ego of a scholar or
           of a philosopher, makes no difference. The ego says, "I know." And the ego says, "If I don't know
           now, then sooner or later I will come to know." The ego says that there is nothing un-knowable.
                There are two categories for the ego: the known and the unknown. The known is that part which
           the ego has already traveled, and the unknown is that part which the ego will travel: the ego feels
           that it is possible to travel, but there is nothing unknowable.
                The ego leaves no mystery in the world. And when there is no mystery around you, there cannot
           be any mystery within. When mystery disappears, all songs disappear; when mystery disappears,
           poetry is dead; when mystery disappears, God is not in the temple, there is nothing but a dead statue;
           when mystery disappears there is no possibility of love, because only two mysteries fall in love with
           each other. If you know, then there is no possibility of love -- knowledge is against love. And love is
           always for unlearning. But because he has unlearned:

              HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT IN THE ONE.
              HIS VITALITY, HIS POWER,
              HIDE IN SECRET TAO.


                HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT.... The ego exists in the head, remember, and you carry
           your head very high. The root is just at the other pole of your being.
                Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu used to say: Concentrate on the toe. Close your eyes and move into the
           toe and remain there. That will give you a balance. The head has given you much imbalance. The
           toe...? It looks as if they are joking. They mean it, they are not joking. They are right. Move from the
           head because the head is not the root, and we are in the head too much.
                HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT, to the very source. The wave goes deeper into the ocean,
           into the one. And remember, the source is one. The waves may be many, millions, but the ocean is
           one. You are separate there, I am separate here, but just look a little deeper at the roots and we are
           one; we are like branches of the same tree. Look at the bran-ches and they are separate, but deep
           down they are one.
                The deeper you go, you will find less and less multiplicity, more and more unity. At the deepest
           it is one. That is why Hindus talk of the nondual, the one, ADVAIT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              HIS VITALITY, HIS POWER,
              HIDE IN SECRET TAO.


              And whatsoever vitality comes to the man of Tao is not manipulated, is not created by him, it is
           given by the roots. He is vital because he is rooted; he is vital because he has rejoined the ocean, the
           one. He is back at the source, he has come to the mother.

              WHEN HE IS ALL ONE,
              THERE IS NO FLAW IN HIM
              BY WHICH A WEDGE CAN ENTER.


               And whenever one is rooted in the deepest core of his being, which is one, then there is no flaw.
           You cannot penetrate such a man. Swords cannot go into him, fire cannot burn him. How can you
           destroy the ultimate? You can destroy the momentary, how can you destroy the ultimate? You can
           destroy the wave, how can you destroy the ocean? You can destroy the individual, but you cannot
           destroy the soul. The form can be killed, but the formless...? How will you kill the formless? Where
           will you find the sword that can kill the formless?
               Krishna said in the Gita, "NAINAM CHHEDANTI SASHTRANI -- no sword can kill it, no fire
           can burn it." Not that if you go and kill Chuang Tzu you will not be able to kill him. You will be able
           to kill the form, but the form is not Chuang Tzu -- and he will laugh.

               It happened that Alexander was returning from India when suddenly he remembered Aristotle,
           his teacher, one of the greatest logicians.
               Aristotle is the original source of all Western stupidity, he is the father. He created the logical
           mind. He created analysis, he created the method of dissection, he created the ego and the individual,
           and he was the teacher of Alexander.
               He had told Alexander to bring a Hindu mystic, a sannyasin, when he came back, because polar
           opposites are always interesting. He must have been deeply interested to know what this Hindu
           mystic is. What type of man can he be who lives beyond logic, who says there is only one not two,
           who joins all the contradictions and paradoxes, whose whole attitude is of synthesis, not of analysis?
           A man who never believes in the part, who always believes in the whole, what type of man can he
           be?
               So he told Alexander, "When you come back, bring with you a Hindu mystic, a sannyasin. I
           would like to see one. A man who lives beyond mind and says that there is something beyond mind,
           is a rare phenomenon." And Aristotle never believed that there could be anything beyond mind; for
           him mind was all.
               When Alexander was returning, he suddenly remembered. So he asked his soldiers to go and find
           a great Hindu mystic, a great sannyasin, a saint, a sage. They inquired in the town and were told,
           "Yes. On the bank of the river a naked man stands. For years he has been standing there, and we
           think he is a mystic. We cannot be certain be-cause he never speaks much, and we cannot be certain
           because we don't understand him much. What he says seems to be very illogical. Maybe it is true,
           maybe it is not true."
               Alexander said, "This is the right man. My master, who has created logic, would like to see this
           illogical man. Go and tell him that Alex-ander invites him."
               The soldiers went and they told this naked man that Alexander the Great invites him; he would
           be a royal guest, every comfort and convenience would be given to him, so he shouldn't worry.
               The man started laughing and said, "The man who calls himself The Great, is a fool. Go and tell
           him I don't keep company with fools. That is why I have been standing here alone for many years. If
           I want to keep company with fools, do you think that India has less than his country? The town is
           full of them."
               They were very disturbed, those soldiers, but they had to report back. Alexander asked what the
           man had said -- Dandami was the name of this man. Alexander in his reports has used the name
           Dandamas. When he heard Alexander felt annoyed, but this was the last village on the border and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           soon he would be out of India, so he said, "It is best that I go and see what type of man this is."
               He may have remembered Diogenes -- maybe this man was the same type, standing naked near a
           river. The same thing happened with Diogenes. He also laughed and thought Alexander a fool.
               So Alexander approached Dandami with a naked sword and said, "Follow me, or I will cut your
           head off immediately. I don't believe in discussion, I believe in orders."
               The man laughed and said, "Cut it off -- don't wait! The head that you will be cutting off, I have
           cut it off long ago. This is nothing new, I am already headless. Cut it off, and I tell you, that when
           the head falls down onto the earth you will see it fall and I will also see it fall, because I am not the
           head.

               The man of Tao can be burnt, but still the man of Tao cannot be burnt. The form is always on
           fire. It is burning already. But the formless...the formless is never touched by any fire. From where
           comes the power, from where comes this vitality? They hide in secret Tao. Tao means the great
           nature, Tao means the great ocean, Tao means the great source.

              SO A DRUNKEN MAN WHO FALLS OUT OF A WAGON
              IS BRUISED, BUT NOT DESTROYED.
              HIS BONES ARE LIKE THE BONES OF OTHER MEN,
              BUT HIS FALL IS DIFFERENT.

              The ego is not there....



              HIS SPIRIT IS ENTIRE.
              HE IS NOT AWARE OF GETTING INTO A WAGON,
              OR FALLING OUT OF ONE.
              LIFE AND DEATH ARE NOTHING TO HIM.
              HE KNOWS NO ALARM,
              HE MEETS OBSTACLES WITHOUT THOUGHT, WITHOUT CARE
              AND TAKES THEM WITHOUT KNOWING THEY ARE THERE.



              IF THERE IS SUCH SECURITY IN WINE,
              HOW MUCH MORE IN TAO?
              THE WISE MAN IS HIDDEN IN TAO,
              NOTHING CAN TOUCH HIM.


               Watch a drunkard, because the man of Tao is in many ways similar to him. He walks, but there is
           no walker; that is why he looks unbalanced, wobbling. He walks, but there is no direction, he is not
           going anywhere. He walks, but the boat is empty, only momentarily, but it is empty.
               Watch a drunkard. Follow him and see what is happening to him. If somebody hits him he is not
           annoyed. If he falls down he accepts the falling, he doesn't resist, he falls down as if dead. If people
           laugh and joke about him he is not worried. He may even joke with them, he may start laughing with
           them, he may start laughing at himself. What has happened? Momentarily, through chemicals, his
           ego is not there.
               The ego is a construction: you can drop it through chemicals too. It is just a construction; it is not
           a reality, it is not substantial in you. It is through society that you have learned it. Alcohol simply
           drops you out of society. That is why society is always against alcohol, the government is always
           against alcohol, the university is always against alcohol, all the moralists are always against alcohol
           -- because alcohol is dangerous, it gives you a glimpse of the outside of society. That is why there is
           so much propaganda in America and in the West against drugs.
               The governments, the politicians, the church, the pope, they have all become scared because the
           new generation is too involved in drugs. They are very dangerous for society, because once you have
           glimpses beyond society you can never become a really adjusted part of it. You will always remain
           an outsider. Once you have a glimpse of the non-ego then society cannot dominate you easily. And if
           one goes too deep into drugs then it is possible for the ego to be shattered completely. Then you will
           become as if mad.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Once or twice a drug will give you a glimpse; it is just as if a window opens and closes. If you
           persist and you become addicted to it, the ego may suddenly drop. But this is the problem: the ego
           will drop, but the non-ego will not arise. You will go mad, schizophrenic, split.
               Religion works from the other corner, from the other end: it tries to bring up the non-ego first.
           And the more the non-ego comes up, the more the whole asserts, the more the ego will drop
           automatically, by and by. Before the ego drops, the whole has taken possession. You will not go
           mad, you will not become abnormal, you will simply be natural. You will fall outside society into
           nature.
               Through drugs you can also fall out of society, but into madness. That is why religions are also
           against drugs. Society has given you a working arrangement for the ego: through it you manage
           somehow, you steer your life somehow. But if the whole takes possession then there is no problem --
           you become a man of Tao. Then there is no need for this ego, you can throw it to the dogs.
               But you can do otherwise also. You can simply destroy this ego through chemicals. This can be
           done. Then there WILL be a problem because you will simply become abnormal. You will feel a
           certain power, but that power will be false, because the whole has not taken possession of you.
               Many cases of this have been reported. One girl in New York, under lsd, just jumped out of a
           window on the thirtieth floor because she thought she could fly. And when you are under a drug, if
           the thought comes that you can fly, there is no doubt. You believe in it totally, because the doubter,
           the ego, is not there. Who is there to doubt? You believe it. But the whole has not asserted itself.
               Chuang Tzu might have flown. Chuang Tzu might have gone out of the window like a bird on
           wings, but under lsd you cannot. The ego is not there so you cannot doubt, but the whole has not
           taken possession so you are not powerful. The power is not there, only the illusion of power. That
           creates trouble.
           Under alcohol you can do certain things....

               A circus was traveling in a special train from one town to another and a cage was damaged and
           the lion escaped. So the manager gathered all his strong men and said, "Before you go into the night,
           into the jungle to find the lion, I will give you some wine. It will give you courage."
               All twenty of them took big shots. The night was cold and dangerous and courage was needed --
           but Mulla Nasruddin refused. He said, "I will only have soda."
           The manager protested, "But you will need courage!"
               Nasruddin replied, "In such moments I don't need courage. These moments are dangerous --
           night time and the lion, and courage can be dangerous. I would rather be a coward and alert."

               When you don't have power and a drug can give you courage, it is dangerous. You can move
           madly on a certain path -- this is the danger of drugs.
               But society is not afraid because of this. Society is afraid that if you have a glimpse beyond
           society then you will never be adjusted to it. And society is such a madhouse -- to be adjusted to it
           you must not be allowed any glimpse outside.
               Religions are also against drugs and alcohol, but for a different reason. They say: Be a drunkard,
           a drunkard of the divine wine, because then you are rooted, centered. Then you are powerful.

              IF THERE IS SUCH SECURITY IN WINE,
              HOW MUCH MORE IN TAO?
              THE WISE MAN IS HIDDEN IN TAO,
              NOTHING CAN TOUCH HIM.


                Absolutely nothing can touch him. Why? If you follow me rightly, only the ego can be touched.
           It is very touchy. If somebody just looks at you in a certain way, it is touched. He has not done
           anything. If somebody smiles a little, it is touched; if somebody just turns his head and does not look
           at you, it is touched. It is very touchy. It is like a wound, always open, green. You touch it and the
           pain arises. A single word, a single gesture -- the other may not even be aware of what he has done
           to you, but he has touched it.
                And you always think the other is responsible, that he has wounded you. No, you carry your
           wound. With the ego your whole being is a wound. And you carry it around. Nobody is interested in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hurting you, nobody is positively waiting to hurt you; everybody is engaged in safeguarding his own
           wound. Who has got the energy? But still it happens, because you are so ready to be wounded, so
           ready, just waiting on the brink for anything.
                You cannot touch a man of Tao. Why? -- because there is no one to be touched. There is no
           wound. He is healthy, healed, whole. This word whole is beautiful. The word heal comes from the
           whole, and the word holy also comes from the whole. He is whole, healed, holy.
                Be aware of your wound. Don't help it to grow, let it be healed; and it will be healed only when
           you move to the roots. The less the head, the more the wound will heal -- with no head there is no
           wound. Live a headless life. Move as a total being, and accept things. Just for twenty-four hours, try
           it -- total acceptance, whatsoever happens. Someone insults you, accept it, don't react, and see what
           happens. Suddenly you will feel an energy flowing in you that you have not felt before. Somebody
           insults you: you feel weak, you feel disturbed, you start thinking of how to get your revenge. That
           man has hooked you, and now you will move round and round. For days, nights, months, even years,
           you will not be able to sleep, you will have bad dreams. People can waste their whole life over a
           small thing, just because someone insulted them.
                Just look back into your past and you will remember a few things. You were a small child and
           the teacher in the class called you an idiot, and you still remember it and you feel resentment. Your
           father said something. Your parents have forgotten, and even if you remind them, they will not be
           able to remember it. Your mother looked at you in a certain way and since then the wound has been
           there. And it is still open, fresh; if anybody touches it, you will explode. Don't help this wound to
           grow. Don't make this wound your soul. Go to the roots, be with the whole. For twenty-four hours,
           just twenty-four hours, try not to react, not to reject, whatsoever happens.
                If someone pushes you and you fall to the ground -- fall! Then get up and go home. Don't do
           anything about it. If somebody hits you, bow down your head, accept it with gratitude. Go home,
           don't do anything, just for twenty-four hours, and you will know a new upsurge of energy that you
           have never known before, a new vitality arising from the roots. And once you know it, once you
           have tasted it, your life will be different. Then you will laugh at all the foolish things you have been
           doing, at all the resentments, reactions, revenges, with which you have been destroying yourself.
                Nobody else can destroy you except you; nobody else can save you except you. You are the
           Judas and you are the Jesus.
           Enough for today.




                                                  The Empty Boat
                                                    Chapter #11
                                       Chapter title: Chuang Tzu's Funeral
           20 July 1974 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7407200
              ShortTitle: BOAT11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 81 mins




              WHEN CHUANG TZU WAS ABOUT TO DIE,
              HIS DISCIPLES BEGAN PLANNING A GRAND FUNERAL.



              BUT CHUANG TZU SAID:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "I SHALL HAVE HEAVEN AND EARTH FOR MY COFFIN;
              THE SUN AND MOON WILL BE JADE SYMBOLS
              HANGING BY MY SIDE;
              PLANETS AND CONSTELLATIONS
              WILL SHINE AS JEWELS ALL AROUND ME,
              AND ALL BEINGS WILL BE PRESENT
              AS MOURNERS AT THE WAKE.
              WHAT MORE IS NEEDED?
              EVERYTHING IS AMPLY TAKEN CARE OF."



              BUT THE DISCIPLES SAID:
              "WE FEAR THAT THE CROWS AND KITES
              WILL EAT OUR MASTER."



              CHUANG TZU REPLIED:
              "WELL, ABOVE GROUND I SHALL BE EATEN
              BY CROWS AND KITES,
              AND BELOW GROUND BY ANTS AND WORMS.
              IN EITHER CASE I SHALL BE EATEN --
              SO WHY ARE YOU FAVORING THE BIRDS?"


               Mind makes everything a problem; otherwise life is simple, death is simple, there is not a
           problem at all. But mind gives the deception that every moment is a problem and has to be solved.
           Once you take the first step of believing that everything is a problem, then nothing can be solved
           because the first step is absolutely wrong.
               Mind cannot give you any solution, it is the mechanism which gives you problems. Even if you
           think you have solved a problem, thousands of new problems will arise out of the solution. This is
           what philosophy has always been doing. Philosophy is the business of the mind. The moment mind
           looks at anything it looks with a question mark, it looks with the eyes of doubt.
               Very simple is life, and very simple is death -- but only if you can see without the mind. Once
           you bring the mind in, then everything is complex, then everything is confusion. And mind tries to
           solve the confusion when really it is the source of all confusions, so more confusion is created. It is
           as if a small stream is flowing in the hills. Some carts have passed through it and the stream is
           muddy, and you jump into the stream to clean it. You will only make it more muddy. It is better to
           wait on the bank. It is better to let the stream become tranquil again, calm down by itself, so that
           dead leaves go and the mud settles and the stream is again crystal clear. Your help is not needed.
           You will only confuse it more.
               So if you feel that there is a problem, please don't poke your nose in it. Sit by the side. Don't
           allow the mind to get involved, tell the mind to wait. And it is very difficult for the mind to wait -- it
           is impatience incarnate.
               If you tell the mind to wait, meditation happens. If you can persuade the mind to wait, you will
           be in prayer -- because waiting means no thinking, it means just sitting on the bank not doing
           anything with the stream. What can you do? Whatsoever you do will make it more muddy; your very
           entering into the stream will create more problems. So wait.
               All meditation is waiting. All prayer is infinite patience. The whole of religion consists in not
           allowing the mind to create more problems for you. So many things, simple things which even
           animals enjoy, which even trees enjoy, man cannot enjoy -- because immediately they become
           problems, and how can you enjoy a problem?
               You fall in love, and the mind immediately says: What is love? Is this love or sex? Is this true or
           false? Where am I going? Can love be eternal or is it just momentary?
               The mind wants first to decide everything, then to take the step. And with the mind there is never
           any decision, it remains indecisive; indecision is its inherent nature. It says, "Don't take the jump."
           And when mind tells you these things, it seems very clever, it seems very intelligent, because it
           seems that you may go wrong. So don't take the jump, don't move, remain static.
               But life is movement and life is trust. Love happens -- one has to move into it. Where it leads is
           not the point. The goal is not the point. The very movement of your consciousness in love is a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           revelation. The other is not the point, the beloved or the lover is not the point. The point is that you
           can love, that it could happen to you; your being opened in trust, without any doubt, without any
           questioning. This very opening is a fulfillment.
                But the mind will say, "Wait, let me think and decide; one should not take any step in haste."
           Then you can wait and wait. That is how you have been missing life.
                Every moment life knocks at your door, but you are thinking. You say to life, "Wait, I will open
           the door, but let me first decide." It never happens. The whole of life will come and go, and you will
           be simply dragging, neither alive nor dead. Both life and death are good because death has a life of
           its own.
                So remember, the first thing is not to allow the mind to interfere. Then you can be like trees, even
           greener. Then you can be like birds on the wing, and no bird can reach to heights which you can
           touch. Then you can be like fishes which go to the very bottom of the sea -- you can go to the very
           bottom of the ocean. Nothing is comparable to you. Human consciousness is the most evolved
           phenomenon, but you are missing. Even less evolved states are enjoying more. A bird is a bird, a
           very much less evolved being than you; a tree is almost not evolved at all, but enjoying more,
           flowering more. More fulfillment is happening all around it. Why are you missing?
                Your mind has become a burden. You have not been using it; rather, on the contrary, you are
           being used by it. Don't allow the mind to interfere with your life, then there will be a flow. Then you
           are unobstructed, then you are transparent, then each moment is a bliss because you are not worried
           about it.

              A man was advised by his psychoanalyst to go to the hills. He was always complaining and
           complaining about this and that, and always asking questions. He was never at ease with anything,
           never at home. He was advised to go for a rest.
              The next day a telegram arrived for the psychoanalyst. In it the man said, "I am feeling very
           happy here. Why?"

                You cannot even accept happiness without asking why. It is impossible for the mind to accept
           anything -- the why is immediately there, and the why destroys everything. Hence so much
           insistence in all religions on faith. This is the meaning of faith: not allowing the mind to ask the why.
                Faith is not belief, it is not believing in a certain theory -- faith is believing in life itself. Faith is
           not believing in The Bible or the Koran or the Gita. Faith is not belief -- faith is a trust, a
           non-doubting trust. And only those who are faithful, those who are capable of trust, will be able to
           know what life is and what death is.
                For us life is a problem, so death is bound to be a problem. We are constantly trying to solve it,
           and wasting time and energy in solving it. It is already solved. It has never been a problem. It is you
           who are creating the problem. Look at the stars, there is no problem; look at the trees, there is no
           problem. Look all around.... If man were not there everything would be already solved. Where is the
           problem? The trees never ask who created the world -- they simply enjoy it. What foolishness to ask
           who created the world. And what difference does it make who created the world: a, b, c or d, what
           difference does it make? And whether it was created or it is uncreated, what difference does it make?
           How will it affect you if a created the world, or b created the world, or nobody created the world?
           You will remain the same, life will remain the same. So why ask an unnecessary, irrelevant question
           and get en-tangled in it?
                The rivers go on flowing never asking where they are going. They reach the sea. If they start
           asking, they might not; their energy might be lost on the way. They might become so anxious about
           where they are going -- where is the goal, what is the purpose -- so obsessed with the problem that
           they might go mad. But they go on flowing, unworried about where they are going, and they always
           reach the sea.
                When trees and rivers can do this miracle, why can't you do it? This is the whole of Chuang
           Tzu's philosophy, his whole way of life: When everything is happening, why are you worried? Allow
           it to happen. When rivers can reach, man will reach. When trees reach, man will reach. When this
           whole existence is moving, you are part of it. Don't become a whirlpool of thinking, otherwise you
           go round and round, round and round, and the flow is lost. Then there is no oceanic experience in the
           end.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Life is a riddle to you because you look through the mind; if you look through the no-mind, life
           is a mystery. Life is already dead if you look through the mind; and life never dies if you look
           through the no-mind. Mind cannot feel the alive. Mind can only touch the dead, the material. Life is
           so subtle and mind is so crude -- the instrument is not as subtle as life. And when you touch with that
           instrument it cannot catch the throbs of life. It misses. The throbbing is very subtle -- you are the
           throbbing.
               Chuang Tzu is on his deathbed, and when a man like Chuang Tzu is on his deathbed the disciples
           should be absolutely silent. This moment is not to be missed, because death is the peak. When
           Chuang Tzu dies, he dies at the peak. It happens rarely that consciousness reaches its absolute
           fulfillment. The disciples should be silent; they should watch what is happening; they should look
           deep into Chuang Tzu and should not allow the mind to interfere, nor start asking foolish questions.
               But the mind always starts asking. They are worried about the funeral and Chuang Tzu is still
           alive. But the mind is not alive, it is never alive; the mind is always thinking in terms of death. For
           the disciples the master is already dead. They are thinking about the funeral -- what to do, what not
           to do. They are creating a problem which doesn't exist at all because Chuang Tzu is still alive.

               I have heard that three old men were sitting in a park, discussing the inevitable, death. One old
           man of seventy-three said, "When I die I would like to be buried with Abraham Lincoln, the greatest
           man, loved by all."
               Another said, "I would like to be buried with Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist, humanitarian,
           philosopher, lover of peace."
               Then they both looked at the third, who was ninety-three. He said, "I would like to be buried
           with Sophia Loren."
               They both felt annoyed, angry and they said, "But she is still alive."
           That old man said, "So am I!"

               This old man must have been something rare. Ninety-three, and he said, "So am I!" Why should
           life be worried about death? Why should life think about death? When you are alive, where is the
           problem? But the mind creates the problem. Then you get puzzled.
               Socrates was dying, and the same thing happened as happened with Chuang Tzu. The disciples
           were worried about the funeral. They asked him, "What should we do?"
               Socrates is reported to have said, "My enemies are giving poison to kill me and you are making
           plans to bury me -- so who is my friend and who is my enemy? You are both concerned with my
           death, nobody seems to be concerned with my life."
               Mind is somehow death-obsessed. The disciples of Chuang Tzu were thinking what they should
           do -- and the master was dying, a great phenomenon was happening right then.
               There, a buddha, Chuang Tzu, was reaching the ultimate peak. It happens rarely, once or twice in
           millions of years. The flame was burning. His life had come to a point of absolute purity where it is
           divine, not human, where it is total, not partial, where the beginning and the end meet, where all the
           secrets are open and all the doors are open, where everything is unlocked. The whole mystery was
           there.... And the disciples were thinking of the funeral -- blind, absolutely blind, not seeing what was
           happening. Their eyes were closed.
               But why does it happen? These disciples, do you think that they knew Chuang Tzu? How could
           they have? If they missed Chuang Tzu in his supreme glory, how can we believe that they didn't miss
           him when he was working with them, working on them, moving with them, digging a hole in the
           garden, planting a seed, talking to them, just being present with them?
               How can we feel that they knew who this Chuang Tzu was? When his total glory was missed, it
           is impossible not to think that they had missed him always. They must have missed. When he was
           talking, then they must have been thinking: What is he talking about? What does he mean?
               When an enlightened person speaks, meaning is not to be discovered by you; it is there, you have
           simply to listen to it. It is not to be discovered, it is not hidden, it is nothing to be interpreted. He is
           not talking in theories, he is giving you simple facts. If your eyes are open, you will see them; if your
           ears can hear, you will hear them. Nothing more is needed.
               That is why Jesus keeps on saying: If you can hear, hear me. If you can see, see. Nothing more is
           expected -- just open eyes, open ears.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Buddha, Chuang Tzu or Jesus are not philosophers like Hegel, Kant. If you read Hegel the
           meaning has to be discovered. It is very arduous, as if Hegel is making every effort to make it as
           difficult for you as possible, weaving words around words, making everything riddle-like. So when
           you first encounter Hegel he will look superb, a very high peak, but the more you penetrate and the
           more you understand, the less he becomes. The day you understand him, he is just useless.
                The whole trick is that you cannot understand him, that is why you feel he is great. Because you
           cannot understand, your mind is baffled, because you cannot understand, your mind cannot
           comprehend, the thing seems to be very mysterious, incomprehensible. It is not, it is only verbal. He
           is trying to hide, he is not saying anything. Rather, he is using words without any substance.
                So persons like Hegel are immediately appreciated, but as time passes appreciation of them
           disappears. Persons like Buddha are not immedi-ately appreciated, but as time passes you appreciate
           them more. They are always before their time. Centuries pass, and then -- then their greatness starts
           emerging, then their greatness starts appearing. Then you can feel them, because their truth is so
           simple; there is no garbage, no rubbish around it. It is so factual that you can miss it if you think
           about it.
                When you are listening to a Chuang Tzu, just listen. Nothing else is needed on your part but a
           passive receptivity, a welcome. Everything is clear, but you can make it a mess, and then you can get
           confused by your own creation. These disciples must have missed Chuang Tzu -- they are missing
           him again. They are worried about what is going to be done.
                And this point has to be understood: a man of wisdom is always concerned with the being, and a
           man of ignorance is always concerned with questions of doing, what is to be done. Being is not a
           question to him.
                Chuang Tzu is concerned with being; the disciples are concerned with doing. If death is coming
           then what is to be done? What should we do? The master is going to die, so what about the funeral?
           We must plan it.
                We are mad about planning. We plan life, we plan death, and through planning the spontaneity is
           destroyed, the beauty is destroyed, the whole ecstasy is destroyed.

               I have heard that an atheist was dying. He didn't believe in heaven or hell but still he thought that
           it would be best to be properly dressed before dying. He didn't know where he was going because he
           didn't believe in anything, but still he was going somewhere, so before going somewhere one must
           get properly dressed.
               He was a man of manners, etiquette, so he put on his dress suit, tie and all, and then he died. The
           rabbi was called to bless him. The rabbi said, "This man never believed, but look how he has
           planned! He did not believe, he had nowhere to go, and how beautifully dressed and ready!"

               Even if you feel that you are not going anywhere, you plan it, because the mind always wants to
           play with the future. It is very happy planning for the future, it is very unhappy living in the present.
           But planning for the future seems beautiful. Whenever you have time you start planning for the
           future, whether of this world or of that, but the future. And the mind enjoys planning. Planning is
           just fantasy, dreaming, daydreaming.
               Persons like Chuang Tzu are concerned with being, not becoming. They are not concerned with
           doing, they are not concerned with the future. No planning is needed. Existence takes care of itself.
               Jesus said to his disciples: Look at these flowers, these lilies, so beautiful in their glory that even
           Solomon was not so beautiful. And they don't plan, and they don't think for the future, and they are
           not worried about the next moment.
               Why are the lilies so beautiful? In what does their beauty consist? Where is it hidden? The lilies
           exist here and now. Why is the human face so sad and ugly? -- because it is never here and now, it is
           always in the future. It is a ghostlike thing. How can you be real if you are not here and now? You
           can only be a ghost, either visiting the past or moving into the future.
               Chuang Tzu is dying. At the moment of Chuang Tzu's death the disciples should have been
           silent. That would have been the most respectful thing to do, the most loving thing to do. The master
           was dying. They never listened to his life, at least they could have listened to his death. They could
           not be silent while he was talking to them throughout his life; now he was going to give his last
           sermon through his death.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One should be watchful when a wise man dies because he dies in a different way. An ignorant
           man cannot die that way. You have your life and you have your death. If you have been foolish in
           your life, how can you be wise in your death? Death is the outcome, the total outcome, the
           conclusion. In death your whole life is there in essence -- so a foolish man dies in a foolish way.
               Life is unique, death is also unique. Nobody else can live your life and nobody else can die your
           death, only you. It is unique, it never happens again. Styles differ, not only in life but also in death.
           When Chuang Tzu dies, one has to be absolutely silent so that one does not miss it -- because you
           CAN miss.
               Life is a long affair, seventy, eighty, a hundred years. Death is in one moment. It is an atomic
           phenomenon, concentrated. It is more vital than life because life is spread out. Life can never be as
           intense as death can be, and life can never be as beautiful as death can be, because it is a spread-out
           thing. It is always lukewarm.
               At the moment of death the whole of life has come to a boiling point. Everything evaporates
           from this world to the other, from the body to the bodiless. It is the greatest transformation that
           happens. One should be silent, one should be respectful, one should not be wavering, because it will
           happen in a single moment and you may miss it.
               And the foolish disciples were talking about the funeral and thinking of making a grand thing out
           of it! And the grandest thing was happening, the greatest thing was happening, but they were
           thinking of the show. The mind always thinks of the exhibition -- it is exhibitionistic.

              Mulla Nasruddin died. Somebody informed his wife who was taking her afternoon tea -- half the
           cup was finished. The man said, "Your husband is dead, he fell under a bus." But Mulla Nasruddin's
           wife continued sipping her tea.
              The man said, "What! You have not even stopped drinking! Do you hear me? Your husband is
           dead, and you have not even said a single thing!"
              The wife said, "Let me first finish my tea, and then -- boy, will I give a scream! Just wait a little
           while."

              The mind is exhibitionistic. She will scream, just give her a little time to arrange, to plan it!

              I have heard about an actor whose wife died. He was crying his heart out, he was screaming,
           many tears were rolling down his cheeks.
              A friend said, "I never thought that you loved your wife so much."
              The actor looked at his friend and said, "This is nothing. You should have seen me when my first
           wife died."

               Even when you show your anguish you are looking at others and wondering what they think
           about it. Why think of a grand funeral? Why grand? You make an exhibition out of death also. Is this
           really respectful? Or is death also something on the market, a commodity?
               Our master has died, so there is a competition, and we must prove that he had the greatest funeral
           -- no other master ever had one like it and no other will ever have one like it again. Even in death
           you are thinking of the ego. But disciples are like that, they follow. But they never really follow,
           because if they had followed Chuang Tzu they couldn't have raised the question of a grand funeral.
           They would have been humble in that moment. But the ego is assertive.
               Whenever you say that your master is very great, just look within. You are saying, "I am very
           great, that is why I follow this great man, I am a great follower." Every follower claims that his
           master is the greatest -- but not because of the master! How can you be a great follower if the master
           is not great? And if someone says that this is not so, you get annoyed, irritated, you start arguing and
           fighting. It is a question of the survival of the ego.
               Everywhere the ego asserts. It is cunning and very subtle. Even in death it will not leave you;
           even in death it will be there. The master is dying, and the disciples are thinking of the funeral. They
           have not followed the master at all -- a master like Chuang Tzu whose whole teaching consists in
           being spontaneous.

              WHEN CHUANG TZU WAS ABOUT TO DIE,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              HIS DISCIPLES BEGAN PLANNING A GRAND FUNERAL.


              He is not yet dead and they have started planning -- because the question is not Chuang Tzu, the
           question is the egos of the disciples. They must give him a grand send-off, and everybody must be
           made to realize that never ever before has such a thing happened.
              But you cannot deceive Chuang Tzu. Even when he is dying he will not leave you alone; even
           when he is dying he cannot be deceived; even when he is leaving, he will give you his heart, his
           wisdom; even at the last moment he will share whatsoever he has known and realized. Even his last
           moment is going to be a sharing.
           But Chuang Tzu said:

           "I SHALL HAVE HEAVEN AND EARTH FOR MY COFFIN;
           THE SUN AND MOON WILL BE JADE SYMBOLS
           HANGING BY MY SIDE;
           PLANETS AND CONSTELLATIONS WILL SHINE
           AS JEWELS ALL AROUND ME,
           AND ALL BEINGS WILL BE PRESENT
           AS MOURNERS AT THE WAKE."

               What more is needed? Everything is simple: simply, amply taken care of. What more is needed?
           What more can you do? What more can you do for a Chuang Tzu, for a buddha? Whatsoever you do
           will be nothing, whatsoever you plan is going to be trivial. It cannot be grand because the whole
           universe is ready to receive him. What more can YOU do?
               Chuang Tzu said: The sun and the moon and all the beings on earth and heaven are ready to
           receive me. And all beings, the whole existence, will be the mourners. So you need not worry, you
           need not engage mourners.
               You can engage mourners -- now they are available on the market. There are people who you
           pay, and they mourn. What type of humanity is coming into being? If a wife dies, a mother dies,
           nobody is there to mourn, so you have to engage professional mourners. They are available in
           Bombay, Calcutta; in big cities they are available, and they do such a good job you cannot compete
           with them. Of course they are more efficient, they get daily practice, but what ugliness it is when you
           have to pay for it. The whole thing has become false.
               Life is false, death is false, happiness is false. Even mourning is false. And this has to be; it has a
           logical meaning to it. If you have never been really happy with a person, how can you be really
           mournful when he dies? It is impossible. If you have not been happy with your wife, if you have
           never known any blissful moments with her, when she dies how can authentic tears come to your
           eyes? Deep down you will be happy, deep down you feel a freedom: Now I am independent, now I
           can move according to my desire. The wife was like an imprisonment.

               I have heard that a man was dying and his wife was consoling him, saying, "Don't worry, sooner
           or later I will join you."
               The man said, "But don't be unfaithful to me." He must have been afraid. Why this fear at the last
           moment? This fear must have always been there.
               The wife promised, "I will NEVER be unfaithful to you."
               So the man said, "If you commit even a single act of unfaithfulness towards me I will turn in my
           grave. It will be very painful for me."
               Ten years later the wife died. At the gate of heaven, Saint Peter asked her, "Who would you like
           to see first?"
           She said, "My husband, of course."
           Saint Peter asked, "What is his name?"
           So she said, "Abraham."
               But Saint Peter replied, "It is going to be difficult to find him because we have millions of
           Abrahams, so give me a clue about him."
               The wife thought and said, "With his dying breath he said that if I committed any act of
           unfaithfulness towards him he would turn in his grave."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Saint Peter said, "Say no more. You must mean twirling Abraham, the one who is constantly
           twirling in his grave! For ten years he has not had a single moment of rest. And everybody knows
           about him. There is no problem, we will call him immediately."

               No faith, no trust, no love, no happiness, has ever happened out of your relationships. When
           death comes, how can you mourn? Your mourning will be false. If your life is false, your death is
           going to be false. And don't think that you are the only false one -- all around, those who are related
           to you are false. And we live in such a false world, it is simply amazing how we can continue.

               A politician was out of work. He was an ex-minister. He was looking for a job, because
           politicians are always in difficulty when they are not in office. They cannot do anything other than
           politics, they don't know anything else but politics. And they don't have any qualifications either.
           Even a puny job requires certain qualifications -- but for a minister none are needed. A chief minister
           or a prime minister does not need any qualifications at all.
               So this minister was in trouble. He met the manager of a circus, because he thought that as
           politics is a great circus, he must have learned a little something which he could use in the circus. So
           he said, "Can you find me a job? I am out of work, and in much trouble."
               The manager said, "You have come at the right time. One of the bears has died, so we will give
           you a bear's costume. You don't have to do anything, just sit doing nothing all day and nobody will
           know the difference. Just sit from morning to evening so the people will know that the bear is there."
               The job looked good, so the politician accepted. He entered the cage, put on his costume, and sat
           down. He was sitting there, when just fifteen minutes later another bear was shoved in. He panicked
           and ran to the bars, started shaking them and cried out, "Help, let me out of here!"
               Then he heard a voice. The other bear was speaking. He said, "Do you think you are the only
           politician out of work? I am an ex-minister too. Don't be so afraid."

               The whole of life has become false, root and all, and how you exist in it is a sheer miracle.
           Talking with a false face, talking to a false face, happiness false, misery false. And then you hope to
           find the truth! With false faces the truth can never be found. One has to realize his own true face and
           drop all the false masks.
           Said Chuang Tzu:

           "I SHALL HAVE HEAVEN AND EARTH FOR MY COFFIN..."

               So why are you worried? And how can you manage a greater coffin than that? Let heaven and
           earth be my coffin -- they will be.

           "...THE SUN AND MOON WILL BE JADE SYMBOLS
           HANGING BY MY SIDE..."
                So you need not burn candles around me; they will be momentary, and sooner or later they will
           not be there. Let sun and moon be the symbols of life around me. And they are.

           "...PLANETS AND CONSTELLATIONS
           WILL SHINE AS JEWELS ALL AROUND ME,
           AND ALL BEINGS WILL BE PRESENT...."

                This is something to be understood: all beings will be present. It is also said of Buddha and
           Mahavira, but nobody believes it because it is impossible to believe. Jainas read it, but even they
           don't believe it; Buddhists read it, but doubt enters their mind.
                It is said that when Mahavira died all the beings were present there. Not only human beings --
           animals, the souls of the trees, angels, deities, all the beings from all the dimensions of existence
           were present there. And this should be so because a Mahavira is not only revealed to you; the glory
           is such, the height is such that all the dimensions of existence become acquainted with him. It is said
           that when Mahavira used to speak, angels, deities, animals, ghosts, all types of beings were there to
           listen to him, not only human beings. It looks like a story, a parable, but I tell you that this is a truth
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- because the higher you reach, the higher your being grows, and other dimensions of existence
           become available to you.
               When one reaches the highest point -- the point of ARIHANTA, Jainas call it, the point of
           ARHAT, Buddhists call it, the point of the perfect Tao, the man of Tao, Chuang Tzu calls it -- then
           the whole existence listens.
           Says Chuang Tzu:

           "...AND ALL BEINGS WILL BE PRESENT
           AS MOURNERS AT THE WAKE."

              What more is needed, and what more can you do? What more can you add to it? You need not do
           anything, and you need not worry.
           "EVERYTHING IS AMPLY TAKEN CARE OF."

           This is the feeling of one who becomes silent:

           "EVERYTHING IS AMPLY TAKEN CARE OF."

               Life and death, everything, you need not do anything -- everything is already happening without
           you. You unnecessarily come into it and you create confusion, you create chaos. Without you
           everything is perfect -- as it is, it is perfect. This is the attitude of a religious man: as it is, everything
           is perfect. Nothing more can be done to it.
               In the West, Leibnitz is reported to have said that this is the most perfect of all possible worlds.
           He has been criticized, because in the West you cannot assert such things. How is this world the
           most perfect world? This seems to be the most imperfect, the most ugly, ill; there is inequality,
           suffering, poverty, illness, death, hatred, everything -- and this Leibnitz says that this is the most
           perfect of all possible worlds!
               Leibnitz has been criticized severely, but Chuang Tzu would have understood what he means. I
           understand what he means. When Leibnitz said, "This is the most perfect world possible," he was not
           making any comment on the political or economic situation. He was not making any comment on
           equality, inequality, socialism, communism, wars. The comment is not objective, the comment is not
           concerned with the without; the comment is concerned with the inner feeling -- it comes from the
           very being.
               That everything is perfect means there is no need to worry.

           "EVERYTHING IS AMPLY TAKEN CARE OF."

               And you cannot make it better, you just cannot make it better. If you try you may make it worse,
           but you cannot make it better. It is very difficult for the scientific mind to understand that you cannot
           make it better, because the scientific mind depends on this idea -- that things can get better. But what
           have you done?
               For two thousand years since Aristotle, we have been trying in the West to make the world a
           better place. Has it become better in any way? Is man even a little bit happier? Is man even a little
           more blissful? Not at all. Things have become worse. The more we treat the patient, the nearer he
           comes to death. Nothing has been helpful. Man is not happier at all.
               We may have more things to be happy with, but the heart which can be happy is lost. You may
           have palaces, but the man who can be an emperor is here no longer, so palaces become graves. Your
           cities are more beautiful, more rich, but they are just like graveyards, no living person lives there.
           We have made a mistake in trying to make the world better. It is not better. It may be worse.
               Look back...man was totally different, poorer but richer. It looks paradoxical; he was poorer, not
           enough food, not enough clothing, there was not enough shelter, but life was richer. He could dance,
           he could sing.
               Your song is lost, your throat is choked by things; no song can come out of the heart. You cannot
           dance. At the most you can make some movements, but those movements are not dance, because
           dancing is not just a movement. When a movement becomes ecstatic then it is dance. When the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           movement is so total that there is no ego, then it is a dance.
               And you should know that dancing came into the world as a technique of meditation. The
           beginning of dancing was not for dance, it was to achieve an ecstasy where the dancer was lost, only
           the dance remained -- no ego, nobody manipulating, the body flowing spontaneously.
               You can dance, but only in dead movements. You can manipulate the body: it may be good
           exercise, but it is not ecstasy. You still embrace each other, you still kiss, you still make all the
           movements of lovemaking, but love is is not there, only movements. You make them and you feel
           frustrated. You make them and you know nothing is happening. You do everything, and still a
           constant feeling of frustration follows you like a shadow.
               When Leibnitz says that this is the most perfect of all possible worlds, he is saying what Chuang
           Tzu is saying:

           "EVERYTHING IS AMPLY TAKEN CARE OF."

               You need not worry about life, you need not worry about death -- the same source which takes
           care of life will take care of death. You need not think about a grand funeral. The same source which
           has given me birth will absorb me, and the same source is enough, we need not add anything to it.
               The disciples listened but couldn't understand, otherwise there would have been no need to say
           anything any more. But the disciples still said:

           "WE FEAR THAT THE CROWS AND KITES
           WILL EAT OUR MASTER."

              If we don't make any preparation, if we don't plan, then crows and kites will eat our master.

              CHUANG TZU REPLIED:
              "WELL, ABOVE GROUND I SHALL BE EATEN
              BY CROWS AND KITES,
              AND BELOW GROUND BY ANTS AND WORMS.
              IN EITHER CASE I SHALL BE EATEN --
              SO WHY ARE YOU FAVORING THE BIRDS?"


               So why make any choice? I have to be taken anyhow, so why make a choice? Chuang Tzu says:
           Live choicelessly and die choicelessly. Why make a choice?
               You try to manipulate life and then you try to manipulate death also. So people make wills, legal
           documents, so that when they are not, they will manipulate. Dead, but they will still manipulate.
           Manipulation seems to be so enchanting that after death people go on manipulating also. A father
           dies, and makes conditions in his will that the son will receive his inheritance only if he fulfills this
           condition, else the money will go to a charity fund. But these conditions have to be fulfilled...the
           dead man dominating still.
               The founder and president of the trust for a hospital in London made his will. It read: When I die
           my body is not to be destroyed. It has to be maintained and I will continue to sit in the chairman's
           seat. And he still sits there. Whenever the trust meets, his dead body is sitting in the chairman's
           place. He is sitting at the head of the table, still dominating.
               Your life is a manipulation of others, you would like your death also to be a manipulation.
           Chuang Tzu says: There is no choice. If you leave my body on the ground, well, it will be eaten; if
           you bury it deep down it will be eaten. So why favor the birds or the worms? Let it be as it is going
           to happen. Let the source decide.
               Decision gives you ego: I will decide. So let the source decide, let the ultimate decide how it
           wants to dispose of this body. I was never asked how the source had to construct this body, why
           should I decide how it has to be disposed of? And why fear that it should be eaten? It is good.
               We are afraid of being eaten -- why? This is something to be understood. Why are we so afraid
           of being eaten? All our lives we are eating, and we are destroying life through eating. Whatsoever
           you eat, you kill. You have to kill, because life can eat only life. There is no other way. So nobody
           can really be a vegetarian -- nobody. Everybody is a nonvegetarian, because whatever you eat is life.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You eat fruit, it is life; you eat vegetables, the vegetable has life; you eat wheat, rice, they are seeds
           for more life to sprout. Whatsoever you depend on has life.
               Life eats life, and everything is a food for somebody else; so why do you protect yourself and try
           to ensure that you will not be eaten? Simple foolishness! You have been eating all your life, now
           give it a chance to eat you, allow life to eat you.
               That is why I say that the Parsees have the most scientific method of disposing of a dead body.
           Hindus burn it. This is bad, because you are burning food. If every tree burns its fruit, and every
           animal dies and other animals burn it, what will happen? They will all be Hindu but there will be
           nobody here. Why burn? You have been eating, now allow it, give life a chance to eat you. And be
           happy about it because food means you are being absorbed. There is nothing wrong. It means the
           existence has taken back, the river has fallen back into the ocean.
               And this is the best way to be absorbed -- to be eaten, so that whatsoever is useful in you is alive
           somewhere in somebody. Some tree, some bird, some animal, will be alive through your life. Be
           happy, your life has been distributed. Why feel that something is wrong with it? Mohammedans and
           Christians bury their dead in the ground in caskets, in coffins, to protect them. This is bad, this is just
           foolishness, because we cannot protect life, so how can we protect death? We cannot protect
           anything, nothing can be protected.
               Life IS vulnerable, and you try even to make death invulnerable. You want to protect, to save.
               The Parsees have the best method -- they simply leave the body on the walls, then vultures and
           other birds come and eat it. Everyone is against the Parsees, even Parsees, because the whole thing
           looks so ugly. It is not ugly. When you are eating, is it ugly? Then why, when a vulture is eating, is
           he ugly? When you eat, then it is a dinner, and when a vulture is eating you then it is also a dinner.
           You have been eating others, let others eat you; be absorbed.
               So Chuang Tzu says: There is no choice, why favor this or that? Let life do whatsoever it
           chooses to do, I am not going to decide. Really, Chuang Tzu lived a choiceless life so he is ready to
           die a choiceless death. And when you are choiceless, only then you are. When you have a choice, the
           mind is. The mind is the chooser; the being is always choiceless. The mind wants to do something;
           the being simply allows things to happen. Being is a letgo. How can you be miserable if you don't
           choose? How can you be miserable if you don't ask for a particular result? How can you be
           miserable if you are not moving to a particular goal? Nothing can make you miserable. Your mind
           asks for goals, for choices, for decisions -- then misery comes in.
               If you live choicelessly and allow life to happen, then you simply become a field: life happens in
           you, but you are not the manager. You don't manage it, you don't control it. When you are not the
           controller all tensions dissolve; only then there is relaxation, then you are totally relaxed. That
           relaxation is the ultimate point, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Whether it is life
           or it is death, you should not take any standpoint.
               That is the meaning of this story: you should not take any standpoint. You should not say: This is
           right and that is wrong. You should not divide. Let life be an undivided whole.
               Chuang Tzu said: If you divide, with even one inch's division, heaven and hell are set apart, and
           then they cannot be bridged.
               I knew a young man once. He used to come to me and he was always worried about one thing.
           He wanted to get married, but whatever girl he brought home, his mother disapproved of her. It had
           become almost impossible. So I told him, "Try to find a girl who is almost like your mother: face,
           figure, the way she walks, her clothes. Just find a mirror image, a reflection of your mother."
               He searched and searched and finally found a girl. He came to me and said, "You were right, my
           mother instantly liked her. She is just like my mother; not only does she dress like my mother, she
           walks, talks, she even cooks like my mother."
           So I asked him, "Then what happened?"
           He said, "Nothing, because my father hates her."
               The polarity -- if one part of your mind loves one thing, you can immediately find another part of
           the mind hating it. If you choose one thing, just look behind: the other part which hates is hiding
           there. Whenever you choose, it is not only the world which is divided, YOU are also divided through
           your choice. You are not whole. And when you are not whole, you cannot allow life to happen. And
           all benediction comes in life as grace, as a gift; it is not achieved through effort.
               So don't choose religion against the world, don't choose goodness against badness, don't choose
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           grace against sin, don't try to be a good man against the bad man, don't make any distinction between
           the devil and God, this is what Chuang Tzu says. He says: Don't choose between life and death.
           Don't choose between this type of death and that type of death. Choose not, remain whole, and
           whenever you are whole, there is a meeting with the whole, because only like meets like.
                It has been said by mystics for centuries: As above, so below. I would like to add one thing more
           to it: As within, so without. If you are whole within, the whole without happens to you immediately.
           If you are divided within, the whole without is divided.
                It is you who becomes the whole universe, you become projected, it is you -- and whenever you
           choose you will be divided. Choice means division, choice means conflict, for this, against that.
                Don't choose. Remain a choiceless witness and then nothing is lacking. Then this existence is the
           most perfect existence possible. Nothing can be more beautiful, nothing can be more blissful. It is
           there, all around you, waiting for you. Whenever you become aware it will be revealed to you. But if
           your mind goes on working inside, dividing, choosing, creating conflicts, it will never happen to
           you.
                You have been missing it for lives. Don't miss it any more.
           Enough for today.




                                         The First Principle
                                                    Talks on Zen
                                    Talks given from 11/04/77 am to 20/04/77 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    10 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1979




                                               The First Principle
                                                   Chapter #1
                                   Chapter title: Catching the First Principle
           11 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704110
              ShortTitle: PRINCI01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 91 mins




              ONCE A TYRO ASKED A ZEN MASTER, "MASTER, WHAT IS THE FIRST PRINCIPLE?"
              WITHOUT HESITATION THE MASTER REPLIED,"IF I WERE TO TELL YOU, IT WOULD BECOME
              THE SECOND PRINCIPLE "


              YES. THE FIRST PRINCIPLE CANNOT BE SAID. The most important thing cannot be said,
           and that which can be said will not be the first principle. The moment truth is uttered it becomes a
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lie; the very utterance is a falsification. So the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran, they contain the
           second principle, not the first principle. They contain lies, not the truth, because the truth cannot be
           contained by any word whatsoever. The truth can only be experienced -- the truth can be lived -- but
           there is no way to say it.
                The word is a far, faraway echo of the real experience; and it is so far away from the real that it is
           even worse than the unreal because it can give you a false confidence. It can give you a false
           promise. You can believe it, and that is the problem. If you start believing in some dogma, you will
           go on missing the truth. Truth has to be known by experience. No belief can help you on the way; all
           beliefs are barriers. All religions are against religion -- it has to be so by the very nature of things.
           All churches are against God. Churches exist because they fulfill a certain need. The need is: man
           does not want to make any efforts; he wants easy shortcuts. Belief is an easy shortcut.
                The way to truth is hard; it is an uphill task. One has to go through total death -- one has to
           destroy oneself utterly-only then is the new born. The resurrection is only after the crucifixion.
                To avoid the crucifixion we have created beliefs. Beliefs are very cheap. You can believe and
           you remain the same. You can go on believing, and it doesn't require any basic change in your life
           pattern. It does not require any change in your consciousness, and unless your consciousness
           changes, the belief is just a toy. You can play with it, you can deceive yourself with it, but it is not
           going to nourish you.
                Visualize that a child is playing in the garden of his house, playing with imaginary lions, and
           then suddenly he has to face a real lion who has escaped from the zoo. Now he does not know what
           to do. He is simply scared out of his wits. He is paralyzed; he cannot even run. He was perfectly at
           ease with the imaginary, but with the real he does not know what to do.
                That is the situation of all those people who go on playing with beliefs, concepts, philosophies,
           theologies. They ask questions just to ask questions. The answer is the last thing they are interested
           in. They don't want the answer. They go on playing with questions, and each answer helps them to
           create more questions. Each answer is nothing but a jumping board for more questions.
                The truth is not a question. It is a quest! It is not intellectual; it is existential. The inquiry is a
           gamble, a gamble with your life. It needs tremendous courage. Belief needs no courage. Belief is the
           way of the coward. If you are a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan you are a coward. You are
           avoiding the real lion, you are escaping from the real lion. If you want to face the real, then there is
           no need to go to any church, there is no need to go to any priest, because the real surrounds you
           within and without. You can face it -- it is already there.
           I have heard:

              A Zen Master, Shou-shan, was asked by a disciple, "According to the scriptures, all beings
           possess the Buddha-nature; why is it that they do not know it?"
           Shou-shan replied, "They know!"

               This is a rare answer, very rare, a great answer. Shou-shan said, "They know! But they are
           avoiding it." It is not a question of how to know the truth. The truth is here, you are part of it. The
           truth is now, there is no need to go anywhere. And it has been there since the beginning, if there was
           any beginning, and it will be there until the end, if there is going to be any end. And you have been
           avoiding it. You find ways to avoid it. When somebody asks, "What is the way to truth?" in fact he is
           asking, "What is the way to avoid the truth?" He is asking, "How can I escape?"
           You may not have heard:

               Says that old rascal Bodhidharma: "All know the way, few walk it, and the ones who don't walk
           cry regularly,'Show me the way! Where is the way? Give me a map! Which way is it?' "

                Those who don't walk, they go on regularly crying and shouting, "Where is the way?" And all
           know the way because life is the way, experience is the way. To be alive is the way, to be conscious
           is the way. You are alive, you are conscious. This is the first principle.
           But it cannot be said, and I am not saying it!
           And you are not hearing it.
                The truth, by its very nature, is a dumb experience. All experiences are dumb because they
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           happen only in deep silence. If you love a woman the love happens in deep silence. If you create
           poetry it descends in you in deep silence. If you paint a picture you disappear. The painter is NOT,
           when the painting is born, there is not even a witness to it. It happens in utter silence and utter
           aloneness. If you are there then the painting cannot be of any value. If the poet is there then the
           poetry will be nothing but a technical thing. It will have all the rules fulfilled, it will follow the
           grammar, the rules of melody, but there will be no poetry. It will be a dead corpse. It will not be a
           real woman; it will be a nun.
           I have heard:

              At an isolated part of the beach of Cannes a beautiful French girl threw herself into the sea. A
           young man off at a distance noticed it and dashed into the water to save her, but it was too late. He
           dragged the seminude body ashore and left it on the sand while he went in search of some official.
           When he returned he was horrified to see a man making love to the corpse.
           "Monsieur!" he exclaimed, "that woman is dead!"
           "Sacre bleu!" muttered the man, jumping up. "I thought she was a nun."

                To be a monk or to be a nun is to be dead. And there are millions of ways of how to die and not
           live.
                Truth surrounds you. It is in the air, it is in the fragrance of the flowers, it is in the flow of the
           river, it is in the green leaves, it is in the stars, it is in the dust, it is in you. Only truth is! But you go
           on avoiding it and you go on asking questions -- How to attain to truth? Where is the map? Which
           way is it? And even if the map is given to you, the map does not help you in any way. In the first
           place the map cannot be given, because the truth goes on changing. It is not a stagnant phenomenon;
           it is continuously changing. It is alive, it is breathing. It is never the same; it is never the same for
           two consecutive moments.
                Says old Heraclitus, "You cannot step in the same river twice." In fact, you cannot even step
           once; the river is flowing, the river is flowing so fast. And not only is the river flowing, you are
           flowing. You cannot step in the same river twice: the river changes. You cannot step in the same
           river twice: because YOU change.
                Truth is dynamic. Truth is not something dead. That's why it cannot be contained in words. The
           moment you utter it, it has passed, it has gone beyond, it is no more the same. The moment you say it
           is so, it is no more so. Words lag behind.
                To be with truth there is only one possibility: drop words. Language lags behind. Language is
           lame. Only silence can go with truth, hand in hand. Only silence can move with truth. Only silence
           can be so fast, because silence has no weight to carry. Words are loaded; they carry weight. So when
           you are carrying words, great theologies in your head, great abstractions, then you cannot walk with
           truth. To walk with truth one has to be weightless. Silence is weightless; it has nothing to carry.
           Silence has wings. So only in silence is the truth known, and only in silence is the truth transferred,
           transmitted.
           The tyro asked the Master:

               "MASTER, WHAT IS THE FIRST PRINCIPLE?"


               He must have been a tyro, a beginner; otherwise the question is foolish, the question is stupid.
           Either a stupid person can ask it or a philosopher. The question is meaningless because "first" means
           the most fundamental. The mind cannot contain it, because it contains the mind! The "first" means
           the basic; it was before the mind, so how can the mind comprehend it? Mind came out of it, mind is
           a by-product of it. The child cannot know the father; the father can know child. The reality can know
           you, but you cannot know the reality. The part cannot know the whole; the whole can know the part.
           And the part cannot contain the whole. Now the mind is a very tiny part. It cannot contain the
           vastness of reality. Yes, the person who asked must have been a beginner.
           "What is the first principle, Master?"
           And the Master said:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              "IF I WERE TO TELL YOU, IT WOULD BECOME THE SECOND PRINCIPLE. "


                Then it will be an echo, it will be a reflection, it will be a mirror image.
                Do you know who you are? You don't know, but you know a mirror image. You know your
           name, you know your address, you know the name of your family, the country, the religion, the
           political party you belong to. You know your face reflected in the mirror. You don't know your real
           face. You have not encountered your orginal face yet. The Zen Masters continuously persist, they go
           on hammering on the heads of their disciples, "Look into your original face -- the face that you had
           before even your father was born, the face that you will have when you are dead, the face that is
           yours, originally yours." All that we know about our face is not really about our face. It is the mask
           of the body, the mask of the mind. We don't know who lives in the body. We know truth as
           secondhand, borrowed.
                Whenever something is borrowed it becomes ugly. Only the firsthand experience is beautiful,
           because it liberates. The secondhand thing is ugly because it becomes a bondage. If you become
           religious you will be liberated. If you become a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan you will be
           in a bondage. Mohammed was liberated because for him Islam was a firsthand experience. So was
           Jesus liberated because for him his experience was HIS experience -- authentically his. Buddha was
           liberated; he came upon the experience. It was not handed to him by somebody else -- it was not
           borrowed, it was not thought out, it was not a logical syllogism, it was not an inference. It was an
           experience!
                Beware of inference. You have been taught inference to avoid experience. There are people who
           say, "God exists because if God is not there, who will create the world? God must exist because the
           world exists."
                Just the other day I was reading a story about a rabbi. Must have been utterly unenlightened.
           Rabbis are like that -- priests. A man came to the rabbi. The man was an atheist, and he said, "I don't
           believe in God, and you talk about God. What is the proof?" And the rabbi said, "You come after
           seven days, and come wearing a new suit." The man said, "But what does that have to do with my
           question?" The rabbi said, "It has something to do with it. You just go to the tailor, prepare a new
           suit, and come after seven days."
                The man came, reluctantly, because he could not see any relationship between his question and
           the answer that had been given. But he still came; he was wearing a new suit. The rabbi said, "Who
           has made this suit?" And the man said, "Have you gone mad? What type of a question are you
           asking? Of course the tailor." The rabbi said, "The suit is here; it proves that the tailor exists.
           Without the tailor the suit would not be here. And so is the case with the world. The world is here:
           there must be a tailor to it, a creator."
           This is inference.
                Change the scene. In a small Indian village a mystic is sitting with his disciples. Silently they are
           sitting; there is tremendous silence. It is a SATSANG -- the disciples are drinking the presence of the
           Master. And there comes an atheist, a scholar, a well-known logician, and he says, "I have come to
           ask one question. What is the proof of God?" The mystic opens his eyes, and he says, "If you want
           the proof of God, look into the eyes of the devotees. There is no other proof."
                God exists in the eyes of the devotees. God exists in the vision of the lovers. It is an experience
           of the deepest core of your being, the heart. There is no other proof. God is not a concept. God is a
           reality, an experience, a deep subjective experience, the deepest there is. All else is peripheral. God
           is the experience of your innermost center. When you are centered you know.
                But you have been taught to believe in the God of the philosophers. That is a way to avoid the
           real God! The real God is very wild! The real God is very crazy! The real God is very unknown and
           unknowable. And the real God cannot be controlled. The real God can possess you; you cannot
           possess the real. That is the fear: the mind is always afraid of anything that can possess it. The mind
           goes on playing games with words, ideas, philosophies. It can remain the master there. With the
           false, the mind is the master; with the real, the mind becomes a slave, and the mind does not want to
           become a slave. So the mind is completely contented with the secondhand.
                Your God is secondhand. Your love too is secondhand. Your poetry is secondhand. Your dance
           is secondhand. Your singing is secondhand. And of course all these secondhand things make YOU
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           secondhand; then you lose all originality.
               Religion has nothing to do with logic. Religion has something to do with the first principle.
           Logic deals with the secondhand. Logic deals with the junkyard, the used -- used by many people.
           Logic deals with inference. And remember, it is good as far as the human world of intellectual
           garbage is concerned; the moment you go beyond that boundary logic fails utterly, it falls flat on the
           ground.
           I have heard a very beautiful anecdote:

               The safari had struck camp in dangerous territory and to protect themselves from wild animals
           they built a high fence around the camp. To be really sure, they dug a deep ditch around the fence.
           One evening a member of the group, who was a professor of philosophy and a world-known
           logician, carelessly went out for an evening stroll without his gun and got attacked by a lion. He ran
           back to the camp with the lion after him and fell down into the ditch. His friends inside heard a
           terrible yelling and screaming from outside, and when they ran out to look they saw the poor man --
           the poor philosopher -- running round and round in the ditch closely followed by the lion. "Watch
           out, he is right behind you," they yelled down to him.
           "That's all right," the philosopher yelled back. "I am one round ahead of him."

               Logic is meaningless as far as life is concerned. Life is not logical at all; life is illogical. Logic is
           man-made, manufactured by the human mind. Life is absurd.
               So if you go through inference you will reach the secondhand. If you go through experience you
           will reach the firsthand.
               And religion is radical. Churches are not radical. The word"radical" means "belonging to the
           roots". Religious is radical, religion is rebellion. And churches are not rebellious; they are orthodox.
           Hence, I will repeat again, all churches are against religion. All so-called religious people are against
           religion. They deal in a false entity; they deal in pseudo coins, counterfeit coins. That's why so many
           people look religious and there is not even a trace of religion on the earth. So many people talk about
           God, but it remains an empty talk.
               Have you ever felt God? You have heard the word again and again and again. You are bored
           with the word. It has almost become a dirty word. From the very childhood people have been
           conditioning you for the word. Have you ever had any glimpse of God?
               This is something very strange. How can we miss him? If he is the totality, if he is all over the
           place, how can we miss him? How did it ever become possible for us to miss him? We must have
           been doing great work to miss him. We must be doing much work to miss him. We must be really
           avoiding him. We must be creating many barriers and hindrances and obstacles so that he cannot
           reach us.
               And then these empty words: God, love, peace, prayer. All beautiful words have become empty.
           All ugly things are very real. War is very real; love is very unreal. Madness is very real; meditation
           is very unreal. Beauty is not there at all; ugliness, everywhere. You can come across the ugly any
           moment. And God is beauty, God is truth, God is love.
               So what has happened? We have been trained for empty words, and we have become contented
           with these empty words.
               Drop this contentment! If you really want to know what is, become discontented with all that you
           have been taught, become discontented with all that you have been educated for! Become
           discontented with your education, with your society, with the power structures around you, the
           churches, the priests. Become discontented! Become discontented with your own mind. Only in that
           discontent comes a moment when you become capable of dropping all this mind and all this
           nonsense with it... and suddenly God is there, the first principle is there.

                A naive young man who had lived a sheltered life finally decided he could not take any more. He
           arranged an appointment with his doctor and poured out the whole story.
           "It is this girl I have been going with," he said. "I suspected she was fast, but I never dreamed she
           was a sex maniac. Every night now for weeks and weeks on end, I keep trying to break off the
           romance, but I haven't got the will power. What can I do? My health just can't stand the pace."
           "I see," said the doctor grimly. "Tell me just what happens; you can trust me."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Well, every night I take her driving in my car. We park in some secluded street. Then she asks me
           to put my arms around her. And then, every night, she reaches over and holds my hand."
           "And then?"
           "What do you mean 'and then'?" gasped the youth. "Is there more?"

               That's what has happened to religion. The moment the word "religion" is uttered you remember
           the serious long faces in the churches, the very sad-looking priests, the very serious theologians,
           trying to split hairs, chopping abstract words, nobody knows why, for what. Religion is broke. The
           religion of the philosophers is bankrupt. The religion of the intellectuals is relevant no more; it has
           lost all relevance.
               The old religion is dead! And it is good that it is dead. The old God is dead! And it is good that it
           is dead because now the door opens and we can search for a new God, a God more real, not
           conceptual, more existential, not philosophical, a God who can be seen, loved, lived, a God who can
           transform your life, a God who is really life and nothing else.
               A totally different kind of religion is needed in the world, a gut-level religion, a religion which
           has blood, life, a religion whose heart still beats. The old religion is simply dead, and people are
           worshiping the corpse. And people carrying the corpse, by and by, become just like the corpse they
           are carrying.
               The first principle means a gut-level religion, a religion that you can experience in your
           innermost core, in the interiority of your being. You are the shrine for the first principle. No Bible,
           no Koran, no Veda. You are the shrine for the first principle. So the only way to reach to the real is
           to go within, is to go in. Turn in.
               That's what meditation is all about. That's why Zen is not interested in any dogmas. It is
           interested in helping you to contract your own being.

               When the fifth patriarch of Zen, Hung-jen, was asked why he had chosen Hui-neng as his
           successor out of the five hundred monks in his monastery, he replied: "Four hundred and ninety-nine
           of my disciples understood Buddhism very well, and only Hui-neng had no understanding of it
           whatsoever. He is not a man to be measured by any ordinary standard. Hence, the robe of authentic
           transmission was given to him."

               Because he has "no understanding of it whatsoever". An intellectual understanding is not an
           understanding. It is a deception, it is an illusion, it is a dream, it is a substitute. Because you are
           missing the real and because you are not courageous enough to accept the fact that you are missing
           the real, you substitute it. It is a plastic flower. You substitute it with a false thing and then you feel
           very good. You start thinking that you have it. And you don't have it! Your hands are empty.
               Those four hundred ninety-nine disciples of Hung-jen were all scholars. For years they had
           studied, they had studied all the scriptures. They had all the scriptures on their tongue. And he had
           chosen a man who has no understanding whatsoever. The man he had chosen, Hui-neng, was not
           known at all in the monastery. Nobody even was aware that he existed there.
               When Hui-neng had come to the Master, the Master had asked him one thing: "Do you really
           want to know? Do you? Do you want to know about truth, or do you want to know truth itself?" And
           Hui-neng said, "What will I do by knowing ABOUT the truth? Give me the real thing." And the
           Master said, "Then go to the kitchen and clean the rice for the mess -- and never come again to me.
           Whenever the right moment has come I will call you."
               Twelve years passed, and Hui-neng was simply working in the kitchen, at the back. People did
           not even know about him. Nobody knew his name. Who bothers to think about a man who simply
           goes on working in the kitchen from the morning till late in the night? The monastery was not aware.
           There were great scholars, famous people; all over China their names were known -- there were
           celebrities in the ashram. Who bothered about Hui-neng?
               Twelve years passed, and then one day the Master declared, "My time has come and I will be
           leaving this world, so I have to choose a disciple as my successor. Anybody who thinks himself
           ready, capable of becoming my successor, should write four lines in front of my door to show his
           understanding. The greatest scholar went there in the night and wrote four lines, beautiful lines,
           really beautiful the very essence of the SECOND principle. You cannot reach higher through the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind than that. He wrote: "The mind is like a mirror. Dust gathers on it. Clean the dust, and you
           know what is." Perfectly true, absolutely okay. What more can there be?
               The whole monastery was agog. People were discussing, debating whether the Master would
           choose this man as the successor or not. And everybody was trying to improve upon it, but nobody
           could find anything wrong in it. There was nothing wrong....
               That is one of the most difficult things about the intellect. What is wrong in a plastic flower?
           Nothing is wrong. In a way -- in many ways -- it may be better than a real flower. A real flower is
           born in the morning and by the evening it is gone. A plastic flower is more stable, more permanent --
           gives the idea of the eternal! The real flower is momentary. The real flower is born and dies, and the
           plastic flower knows no death. It is the closest that you come to the eternal. And what is wrong in it?
           It can have as much color as the real -- can have more color because it is in your hands to make it so.
           And you can make it perfumed too; there is no problem about it. But something basic is missing; it is
           dead.
               Nobody could find anything wrong. And people were trying to improve it, but they were all
           intellectuals. You cannot improve more than that; this is the last point the mind can reach. And it
           seems logical: "The mind is like a mirror. Dust gathers on the mirror, and then it cannot reflect" --
           that's what has happened to the mind.
               Then two, four monks were discussing it, and they passed Hui-neng, who was doing his work in
           the kitchen. He heard it -- they were talking about these beautiful lines, the essential of all the
           scriptures -- and he laughed. For twelve years nobody had even seen him laughing. He laughed.
           Those monks looked at him, and they said, "What? Why are you laughing?" And he said, "It is all
           nonsense. It is not true." They could not believe their ears. This man, the rice cleaner, for twelve
           years just cleaning rice.... Nobody had ever seen him even meditating.
           How can you see Deeksha meditating? Impossible.
               And one never knows.... This man, has he become enlightened or something? But they could not
           believe it. And they were scholars, so they laughed at the absurdity of it, and they said, "All the great
           scholars are there, and you, a rice cleaner, for twelve years nobody has seen you reading scripture,
           studying -- nobody has ever seen you sitting by the side of the Master, inquiring about anything --
           can you improve upon it?" He said, "I can, but there is one problem. I cannot write. I knew twelve
           years ago, I used to write a little bit, but I have forgotten."
               This happens, this unlearning happens. Unlearning is the process of becoming enlightened.
           Because you have learned wrong ways, and those wrong ways are the barriers, they have to be
           unlearned. You are born enlightened, and then you are forced into unenlightenment. Then you are
           conditioned for an insane society. Then you are forced to adjust to an insane society. If you remain
           miserable there is no wonder in it. You will remain miserable because this is not your real nature.
           This is not the flowering of your being.
               So he said, "I cannot write. I have completely forgotten. If you can write, I can say something;
           you go and write it." And he didn't go there; he simply said, "The mind is not a mirror at all. Where
           can the dust gather? One who knows it knows it."
               The mind is not a mirror. Where can the dust gather? One who comes to know this has known,
           has become enlightened, has looked into the deepest core of his being.
               And when these words were written on the door of the Master, the Master became very angry.
           Listen carefully. The Master became very angry. He said, "Bring this Hui-neng immediately, and I
           am going to beat him." And the scholars were very happy; they said, "That's how it should be. Bring
           that fellow."
               The guy was brought, and the Master took him inside and told him, "So you have got it! Now
           you escape from this monastery. This is my robe, you are my successor. But if I tell it to people, they
           will kill you. It will be too much against their egos to accept a rice cleaner as the head of the
           monastery. You simply escape. That's why I was angry, excuse me. I had to be. You simply escape
           from this monastery as far away as possible. You are my successor, but these people will kill you."
               Scholars are very, very ambitious and political. You can go to any university and you can see.
           You can go to any academy and you can see. You will never see men anywhere else backbiting so
           much as in a university. Each professor against all, and each trying to pull everybody else down, and
           each thinks he is the only one capable of being the vice-chancellor or the chancellor. And all are
           fools.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This Hui-neng escaped. Within two, three days people got the idea that something has happened.
           Hui-neng is missing, and the Master's robe is missing. They started searching for him. The greatest
           scholar, who had written the first lines, went in search. Hui-neng was caught in a forest, and
           Hui-neng when caught said, "You can take this robe. I am not interested in this robe at all; this is
           absolutely unnecessary. I was happy cleaning rice. Now I am trying to escape and hide for no reason.
           You take this robe."
                He dropped the robe on the ground, and the scholar tried to pick it up, but it was to heavy. He
           could not pick it up. He fell on the ground perspiring, and he said to Hui-neng, "Excuse me. I had
           come for the robe, but even the robe is not ready to go with me. I am incapable. And I know it that I
           am incapable because all that I know are words and words and words. Excuse me... and teach me
           something."
                And Hui-neng said, "Teaching is your problem; you have taught yourself too much. Now
           unteach, unlearn. Now drop all that you know. Knowledge is your barrier in knowing."
                That's why the Master says "... and only Hui-neng had no understanding of it whatsoever." When
           you don't have any intellectual understanding there arises a great understanding which is not of the
           mind, which is of your total being. That understanding gives you the first principle, the first taste of
           tao.
           I have heard:

               A wealthy horse-owner died and left a large fortune to a university. A provision in the will,
           however, was that the school must confer a degree of Doctor of Divinity upon his favorite horse.
           Since the university was anxious to receive the money -- it was a really big sum -- the Dean set a
           date for the animal to receive a degree of D.D.
               This unusual occasion was attended by the press, and one of the reporters asked the Dean, "What
           is your reaction to this strange arrangement?"
           "Well," replied the Dean, "in my experience I have awarded many degrees. However, I must admit
           that this is the first time I have awarded a degree to a WHOLE horse."

           All others were donkeys, not whole horses.
               The mind cannot have any contact with reality. To live in the mind is to live like an idiot. To live
           with the mind, in the mind, as the mind, is to live a stupid life. The moment you become a little
           loosened from the mind: celebration. The moment you become a little loosened from the mind: joy.
           A little you become loosened from the mind: and God. And suddenly the doors are open. They have
           never been closed; only your mind was blocking the way.
               The mind can give you the second principle. The first principle is possible only through no-mind.
           Meditation means a state of no-mind. Meditation does not mean "to think about". Meditation means
           not to think at all. It does not mean, of course, to fall asleep. It means to fall AWAKE. It means
           thoughts should disappear and only pure consciousness should be there, a presence, a luminous
           presence: you see; there is clarity, transparency.
               Thoughts don't allow you to see. Or, even if they allow, they distort. Or they interpret. They
           never allow the reality to come to you raw. They decorate it, they change it, they color it. They make
           it digestible to you. They make it according to you. And you are false, you are a mask, so when
           reality is cut according to you it becomes unreal.
               That's why the Master said, "If I tell you the first Principle it will become the second principle.
           You are asking the question from the head." The disciple was asking the question from the head. It
           was an intellectual question: "What is the first principle? " If the Master answers it, the head will
           take the answer -- and the head will spin philosophy around it and it will become the second
           principle.
               The real, the true cannot be conveyed through words. It can be conveyed -- yes, it can be
           conveyed -- but the way to convey it is totally different. It is like measles: you catch them. Nobody
           can give them to you, but you can catch them. Truth cannot be taught but can be caught.
               Look at me. I have the measles. Now, if you don't resist, you will catch it, so lower your
           resistance. If you resist, you may not catch it. If you are really stubborn and hard and you close your
           being utterly, totally, if you are not vulnerable at all, you will not catch it. But I cannot give it to you.
           You can catch it, or you can not catch it, but I cannot give it to you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It cannot be given, but it can be taken, and that is the whole art of being with a Master: to learn
           how to take. Because he will not give. He cannot give. He makes it available. A Master is a catalytic
           agent, he is a presence. Something is possible around him. You have to be vulnerable, you have to be
           in an attitude of surrender, you have to be in an attitude of receptivity: you have to be feminine.

              Hui-k'o, another Zen Master, made his way northward to H'sin-yeh, where he began teaching,
           and among those who came to hear him was Tao-ho, a noted teacher, a very well-known author, a
           famous scholar on Buddhist philosophy.
              But Hui-k'o's teaching was not like that of any other Buddhist school's, and Tao-ho was very
           much disturbed....

               The teaching was absurd, almost sacrilegious, because Huik'o used to say, "Kill your parents." A
           beautiful saying -- but don't take it literally. The parents are within you. You can ask the T.A. people
           -- Transactional Analysis people. The parents are within you. The mother, the father -- their
           conditioning is within you. They go on controlling you from within you. So when Hui-k'o said, "Kill
           your parents; only then come to me," he was uttering a great insight.
               That's what Jesus says. Christians have not yet been able to explain it. He says, "Unless you hate
           your mother, unless you hate your father, you cannot come to me." Hate? And the utterance is
           coming from the man who says, "God is love"?
               And Hui-k'o used to say, "If you meet the Buddha on the way, kill him immediately!" Because
           when you start meditating you will meet your parents, you will meet all the people who have been
           related to you. You will have to kill them, you will have to disassociate yourself from them; you will
           have to learn aloneness. And finally you will meet the Buddha, your Master, and you have to kill the
           Master too.
               But these are dangerous things to say. And the way he used to say them. This scholar Tao-ho
           became very angry. He said, "This man will destroy all religion." That's what people say about me.

               ... He determined to destroy this unholy doctrine and to that end dispatched several of his best
           students to dispute with Hui k'o....

               Hui-k'o is the successor of Bodhidharma, and of course he was a worthy successor, of a great
           Master. He was a great disciple. Hui-k'o was attacked by this man Tao-ho in many ways, and he used
           to send his disciples to dispute with and to defeat this man.

              ... Tao-ho awaited their return with high expectations of hearing that they had won a notable
           viCtory over the hated interloper, but they did not come back....

              Not a single person ever came back. Whosoever went to Huik'o simply disappeared. These
           people are dangerous people. One should avoid them if one really wants to avoid them. Sometimes
           you may go as an antagonist, and you may fall in love with them. And these people are like dragons;
           once you are close to them they will suck you in.

               ... He sent out other emissaries, and still others, but none came back to report the expected
           victory. It was only after some time had passed that he met some of his messengers and said to them:
           "I had opened your eyes to the Tao; why were you such faithless emissaries?"
               One of them spoke up for the rest: "The original eye is perfect in itself, but your teaching has
           rendered us half blind."

           "The original eye is perfect in itself." Each child is born with that original eye -- it is perfect -- that
           innocent eye. It is perfect! It needs no improvement! And the whole effort of all the Masters down
           through the ages has been one; whatsoever the society has done, they have to undo. Whatsoever the
           society has put into your mind, they have to take it away. They have to dehypnotize you, they have
           to uncondition you. They have to make your childhood again available to you.
               But remember, religion is not a teaching, is not a learning. You can catch it. Yes, it is like
           measles. And you have to be in a mood to catch it. That mood is what is meant by being a disciple. A
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disciple simply shows a gesture, a great gesture, a MAHAMUDRA, that "I am ready, Master," that
           "I am open," that "I will not resist. If you are going to kill me, I am ready. Whatsoever you are going
           to do to me, I am available -- my availability is total." That's all a disciple has to do. And the Master
           has to do nothing; he has just to be there.
               The Master there -- the one who has become enlightened, the one who has come to know his real
           nature -- his presence, and the availability of the disciple, and something catches fire, something
           simply happens. And that is the first principle. It cannot be asked, it cannot be answered. That which
           can be asked and that which can be answered will be the second principle; it will be a carbon copy,
           an echo.
               Of course, the priests won't like such a rebellious meaning to be given to religion. They will not
           like people to become awake. Neither will the politicians like it. The politician and the priest is the
           very, very ancient conspiracy against the innocence of man. They corrupt. Their whole business
           depends on this: that man remains unconscious, that man does not become aware. Because the
           moment a man is aware, he is freedom -- freedom from all politics and freedom from all religions.
           He is religious, but free from all religions. You cannot say that he is a Mohammedan, you cannot say
           that he is a Hindu.
               To call Zen people Buddhist is wrong. It is as wrong as to call Sufis Mohammedans. It is as
           wrong as to call Hassidim Jews. The real people are simply real people. Zen, Sufi, or Hassid, there is
           neither Buddhist nor Mohammedan nor Jew.
               But the priest will not like it. It will be destroying his whole business. It will be dismantling his
           whole shop, his whole market.

               Two waiters were standing at a table over which a loaded customer had fallen asleep. Said one,
           "I have already awakened him twice. Now I am going to awaken him for the third time."
           "Why don't you chuck him out?" asked the other waiter.
           "The devil I will," said the first waiter. "I got a good thing going for me. Every time I wake him up
           he pays his bill."

                If humanity remains asleep, if humanity remains unconscious and hypnotized, then the politician
           can remain in power and the priest can go on exploiting you. If humanity becomes awake, then there
           will be no need for these priests and politicians. There will not be any need for any country, state,
           and there will not be any need for any church, any Vatican, any pope. The need will disappear. There
           will be a totally different quality to human consciousness.
                That quality needs to be born. We have come to that point in the evolution of human
           consciousness where this new consciousness is tremendously needed, desperately needed -- this new
           consciousness which makes man free from politics and free from religion.
                And let me remind you again and again, that will be the only religious world: free from religions,
           but not free from religion; free from churches, dogmas, but not free from the first principle; free from
           all the second principles.

               A girl told her friend she had just become engaged to a traveling salesman.
           "Is he good looking?" asked the friend.
           "Look, he would never stand out in a crowd."
           "Does he have money?" continued the friend.
           "If he does, he won't spend it."
           "What about his bad habits. Does he have any?"
           "Well, he drinks an awful lot," said the future bride.
           "I don't understand you," said the friend. "If you can't say anything nice about him, then why are you
           marrying him? "
           "He is on the road all the time," she replied, "and I will never see him."

               That's the only good thing about it -- and that is the good thing about the god of the priests: you
           will never see him. That's why you go on following the priest. To avoid God you follow the priest.
           To avoid God you read the Bible. To avoid God you chant Vedas. To avoid God you become
           scholars, thinkers. To avoid God you are doing everything that is possible
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But why do you want to avoid God? Why in the first place do you want to avoid God? There are
           reasons. The very idea of God creates tremendous fear because God will mean death to your ego.
           You will not exist if God is there.
               The great Indian mystic Kabir has said, "Look at the irony of it. When I was, God was not; now
           God is, I am not. Anyway the meeting has not happened." Because for the meeting, two are needed.
           "When I was, God was not; now God is, I am not."
               The fear is that you will have to lose yourself. You are afraid of death; that's why you are afraid
           of God. And that's why you are afraid of love, and that's why you are afraid of all that is great
               . You are too attached to this false ego -- which never gives anything but misery, but pain, but at
           least gives you a feeling that you are. Just watch. Meditate over it.
               If you want to be, then you will always fall into the trap of the priest. In fact you are not. The
           whole idea is a false notion. How can you be? The waves exist, but not separate from the ocean. So
           exist we: not separate from the ocean of consciousness. That's what God is. The leaves exist, but not
           separate from the tree. Everything exists, but nothing exists separately. No man is an island, and no
           part can exist independently. We exist in deep interdependence. We are members of one another, of
           each other. We penetrate each other. This whole existence is a great penetration. Trees penetrate
           you; you penetrate the trees. Stars penetrate you; you penetrate the stars. You penetrate the earth; the
           earth penetrates you. Everything is penetrated.
               God is this totality. You cannot exist separately. If you want to exist separately, then you are a
           politician. All politics is nothing but the shadow of the ego. Then you will live in misery and in
           madness.
               But if you look, if you watch deeply, you will be surprised. You are not! Not that you have to
           dissolve! Simply you are not. It is just a false notion that you have been carrying, the notion that you
           are. Any moment of silence and you will suddenly see there is emptiness within you, nothingness
           within you. Buddha has called this nothingness ANATTA, nonbeing, SHUNYA, nothingness. If you
           look within, you will not find yourself. That's why people don't look within; they are afraid.
               Once it happened I was travelling with Mulla Nasrudin in a train. Came the ticket collector and
           Nasrudin became very hectic. He looked in his suitcase, he turned over all the things, he looked in
           the bed, turned over everything, he looked in his many pockets, and he started perspiring and he
           could not find the ticket. I saw that he had not looked in one pocket, so I told him, "Nasrudin, you
           have not looked in that pocket." He said, "Don't mention that." I said, "But why? The ticket may be
           there." He said, "Don't mention it at all. If I look in it and the ticket is not found, I will fall dead. I
           will drop dead! I cannot look in that! If the ticket is not there, then finished. There is a hope that it
           may be there."
               That's why people don't look inside: a hope one may be there. The day you look in, you are not.
           The day you look in, suddenly there is vast emptiness... and it is tremendously blissful, beautiful,
           peaceful. You are not there; then there is no noise.
               That's what Hui-neng means when he says, "There is no mirror of the mind. Where can the dust
           gather? To know this is to know all."
               Look within. People think "We are bad" but you are not, so how can badness gather? People
           think "We are good," but how is it possible? You are not there; how can you be good? People think
           "We are moral and immoral and this and that," but everything hangs on the idea of "I". To be good
           the "I" is needed first, to be virtuous the "I" is needed first. To be a sinner or to be a saint the "I" is
           needed first. Without the "I" you will not have anything to hang anything upon. Where will you hang
           your goodness, your sin or your saintliness?
               That's why Zen goes on insisting there is nobody who is a sinner and there is nobody who is a
           saint, nothing is good and nothing is bad. All distinctions are ego created. Distinctions are created so
           that the ego can exist through the distinctions. When you look within there is neither saint nor sinner,
           neither good nor bad -- neither life nor death. All distinctions disappear.
               In that nothingness one becomes one with God. One IS one with God -- one has been from the
           very beginning.
               So the fear is that if you want to know God you will have to disappear; so you don't look into
           your own being. The fear is that if you look within yourself you may become happy...
               People go on saying that they want to become happy, but I rarely come across a person who
           really wants to be happy. People cling to their misery. Again the same game. With the misery you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have something to do. With the misery, some occupation. With the misery you can avoid yourself,
           you are engaged. With joy there is nothing with which to be engaged, there is nowhere to go. In joy
           you again disperse and disappear. In misery you are there -- you are very much there. Misery gives
           you a very solid experience that you are. When you are happy, you start disappearing. When you are
           really happy, you are not, again you are not. In a state of bliss, again you disappear.
                You talk about heaven, but you go on creating hell because only in hell can you exist. You
           cannot exist in heaven. George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said, "If I am not going to be the
           first in heaven, then I would not like to go to heaven. I would like to be in hell, but I would like to be
           first; I don't want to be second." Hell is okay, but the ego says, "Be first, be a leader." Hell is okay if
           the ego remains; heaven is not okay if the ego has to be dropped.
                You would like to be in heaven with your ego. You are asking the impossible. That cannot
           happen.
                The religion that exists on the earth is false, it is a makebelieve, it is just for the name's sake, but
           it fulfills your demand. It fulfills a certain demand, that you want to pretend that you are religious.
           You don't want to become religious but you want to pretend. And you want to pretend in such a way
           that not even you yourself can catch yourself pretending. You want to pretend in such a way that you
           don't ever come across your pretensions, so a great structure is created. And that great structure is the
           church. Avoid that structure if you really want to become religious. And unless you are religious you
           are not!
                Now let me tell you this paradox; You are only when you are not, because you are only when the
           ego has disappeared and you are God. That is the first principle. I am not telling it to you, and you
           are not hearing it from me.
           It happened:

               The car suddenly broke down in the middle of nowhere. He crawled underneath to see what the
           trouble was. She crawled underneath to hold the torch for him. It was quite cozy under there and,
           after a while, they forgot about car repairs. Suddenly a voice said, "And just what do you two think
           you are doing?"
           Looking up they saw the local village constable.
           "Why we are -- er -- repairing the back axle," the young man stammered.
           "Well, while you are down there, you had better look at the brakes as well," replied the law. "Your
           car has been at the bottom of the hill for the past half hour."

               That's what has happened to churches. Jesus is not there, the Buddha is not there. People are
           doing something else in the name of Jesus, in the name of Buddha, and they are thinking Buddha is
           there. Church is the last place where you can meet Jesus, and the temple, the Buddhist temple, is the
           last place where you can meet a Buddha. But you go to the church, you go to the temple... and you
           think you are going to Buddha and to Jesus.
               You are great pretenders. You want to pretend. You want to be respectable. You want to show to
           everybody that "We are religious people." So we have created a Sunday religion; every Sunday you
           go. Six days for the world; one day -- not the whole day -- one or two hours -- for God. Just in case
           something goes wrong or maybe really God is or maybe one survives death. These are all perhapses.
           And a perhaps never changes anybody's life; only a certainty changes somebody's life.
               Hence my insistence, if you cannot find an alive Master, go on searching and searching. There
           are always alive Masters somewhere or other; the earth is never empty of them. But never go to the
           places where conventionally you expect them. There they are not. Jesus was not in the synagogue.
           Buddha was not in any Hindu temple; he was born a Hindu, but he was not in any Hindu temple.
           Jesus was a Jew, but he was not in the synagogue. And so has been the case always. Don't go on
           worshiping ideas. Find a living reality.
               And the moment you find a living reality, become vulnerable, become open. And you will have
           the first principle, which cannot be said, but you can get it.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                  The First Principle
                                                   Chapter #2
                                Chapter title: Greed behind greed behind greed
           12 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704120
              ShortTitle: PRINCI02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 103 mins




               IS GOD REALLY DEAD?


               IF NOT DEAD, then seriously ill, on his deathbed. Which is far worse.
           I have heard:

               There was a small synagogue somewhere in some obscure village in central Poland. One night
           when making his rounds, the rabbi entered and saw God sitting in a dark corner. He fell upon his
           face and cried out, "Lord God, what art thou doing here?"
               God answered him with a small voice, "I am tired, Rabbi. I am tired to death."

               God is tired of man's inhumanity to man. God is tired of man's immense stupidity. God is tired of
           man's unawareness. Only man seems somehow to be a misfit. The whole existence goes on
           harmoniously; the whole existence is a dance. Man is out of step. And the reason is that only man is
           free to be out of step. The glory of man is that he is free? totally free. Nobody else has that freedom.
           Because of the freedom, man can choose. He can choose either to be with God or he can choose to
           be against -- and man has chosen to be against. There is a reason for it.
               Each child has to choose to be against his parents. That is the only way for the child to attain his
           ego. If the child goes on saying yes to the father, yes to the mother, and says always yes and never
           says no, then the child will not have any backbone. Then the child will not have any soul. Then the
           child will be just an extension of the parent. That hurts, that humiliates. And it is not just accidental
           that we have called God the father. It is the same drama played on a more cosmic scale.
               Man is still childish. To be, he still needs to say no. A man is mature when he can be and can say
           yes too. Try to understand it. A child has to say no to the parents, a thousand and one times he has to
           say no, because that is the only way he can feel "I am." Sometimes he has to say no against his own
           welfare; sometimes he has to say no in spite of himself. Sometimes he wants to say yes, but he
           cannot say it, because to say yes means not to be. And each moment the struggle: to be or not to be.
           The moment he says yes, he is not; parents are. The moment he says no, he is. So the child has to say
           no. He has to rebel, he has to go against, he has to go astray to be.
               But one need not be a child forever. Adam was a child; Jesus was a mature man: Adam went out
           of paradise. In fact, he was not expelled, he expelled himself. That was the only way to have
           individuality. That is the childish way to have individuality. Now, Jesus was so certain about his
           integrity he could say yes and yet remain himself.
               Do you follow it? When you can say yes and yet remain individual, you are mature. Then there is
           no necessity of saying no, because if you say no and then you become individual, your individuality
           has a negative taste to it. It is not real individuality; it is not yet positive. It is just a no deep down, a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           wound, a hole. And through the no you can become an individual, but your individuality will never
           be satisfying. There will be no contentment in it, there will be no bliss, because bliss flows only out
           of yes. When you can say yes to existence, you start flowing blissfully. No cripples, paralyzes. No
           makes you an enemy of the existence; no gives resistance. Yes makes you nonresistant; yes makes
           you vulnerable.
               God is dead or dying because man has not yet grown. There have been millions of Adams and
           Eves, and only very rarely Christs -- a Buddha here, a Christ there, a Lao Tzu -- only few and far
           between. The people who have really said yes, they give life to God. By saying no, you give life to
           yourself. By saying yes, you give life to the total, to the whole; you pour your life into the whole. So
           if you really want God to be alive, you have to say yes.
               Man has killed God -- almost killed him -- by saying no, continuously saying no.
               I love this story. The rabbi asked, "Lord God, what art thou doing here?" God answered him with
           a small voice, "I am tired, Rabbi. I am tired to death." Yes. God is tired. In fact, God cannot die. God
           can die in YOUR life. There are millions of people in whose lives God is dead, in whose lives God
           has disappeared. That is the meaning when I say God is dead. Look into people's eyes and you will
           not find God alive there. And where else can God be alive? Millions and millions of hearts are
           completely empty of God. That's what I mean when I say God is dead.
               God lives in a Jesus, in a Buddha, in a Krishna. Is God living in you? The question is not
           basically about God, whether God is dead or alive. The question is whether God is alive in YOU! If
           he is not alive in you, then what difference does it make if he is alive somewhere in heaven? It does
           not make any difference. For you it is practically the same: God is dead.
               Nietzsche is right about modern humanity when he says God is dead. Not that God is dead! How
           can God be dead? God means the eternal element, the first principle. God cannot be dead. But you
           can be so against God, you can be so empty of God, that for you he is dead.
               You have to pour your life into him, you have to make God alive in you, so he can beat through
           your heart, he can pulsate in you, he can love through you, he can BE through you. That's what
           sannyas is all about: an effort to allow God to live in you, an effort to become a shrine of the divine.
               Look into your own being and search there. You will be fortunate if you can find in a dark corner
           of your being somewhere God sitting, tired -- tired to death. You will have to revive him. You will
           have to breathe for him, live for him. You will have to surrender your life for the whole. A religious
           person is one in whom God has come alive again.


              HOW CAN I BE NOTHING AND UNIQUE?


               You can be unique only when you are nothing. If you are something, you are comparable. If you
           are somebody you can be compared with others, and that which can be compared cannot be unique.
           Unique means incomparable. Unique means you are alone, there is nobody like you. So if you are
           somebody.... If you are a man there are millions of men; you are comparable. If you are rich, then
           there are millions of rich people; you are comparable. If you are good you are comparable. If you are
           bad you are comparable. If you are a painter you are comparable. If you are a singer you are
           comparable. If you are somebody you are comparable, and by being comparable you cease to be
           unique.
               The moment you attain to a nothingness, when the "I" disappears.... The "I" is comparable; the
           "no-I" is incomparable. That's why I say if you become nothing you become unique. If you become
           nothing you become uncorruptible; the nothing cannot be corrupted.
               You have heard Lord Acton's saying, "Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
           Why does power corrupt? Because power makes you somebody. It gives you a definition. It says
           who you are -- you are a prime minister of a country or a president of a country. Power gives you a
           definition; it demarks who you are. If you have money, it demarks you. If you don't have money, it
           demarks you. If you are a musician or a poet or a singer, it shows who you are. The moment you
           know who you are, you are limited, you are finite -- and you are comparable.
               But if you are nobody -- just a pure nothingness, pure sky with not even a particle of dust -- then
           how can you be compared.?
               God is unique because God is nothing. You cannot find God anywhere. Either you can find him
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everywhere or nowhere, but you cannot find him somewhere. Either he is the whole or he is nothing.
               When you are nothing you also become the whole. When you are nothing you also become
           divine. By being somebody you remain human. By being nobody you attain to divinity, you become
           divine. Hence I have said that the moment nothingness arises in you, you have become unique.
               Buddha is unique not because he is the great saint, because there are millions of saints. Jesus is
           unique not because he is the most virtuous man. That's all nonsense. He is unique because he is
           nothing. He is unique because he is ready to crucify his ego. And the moment his ego is crucified, he
           resurrects -- he resurrects as the whole. He dies as the part and resurrects as the whole. He dies in
           time and is resurrected in eternity.


              I BELONG TO THE INTELLIGENTSIA; I BELIEVE IN INTELLECT AND REASON. IS THERE A WAY
              OUT FOR ME?


               It is going to be difficult. The intellect has no why out; the intellect is a cul-de-sac. The intellect
           moves in a vicious circle. It creates its own world of concepts, words, theories, and lives there. There
           is no way out from the head. The way out is from the heart, because the heart opens -- so the way out
           is possible. Intellect lives in a closed way. Intellect has no doors to go out from; it is a closed
           existence, encapsuled.
               It is very difficult to communicate with an intellectual, almost impossible. You say something; he
           hears something else. You show something; he sees something else. His intellect is a constant
           interference. It is very difficult to communicate; there is no bridge. Communication is possible only
           between two hearts, not between two heads. Two heads simply collide with each other, conflict --
           confusion, but no meeting, no communion. Only hearts meet.
               But the intellect has been praised down the centuries because intellect is very useful. The
           intellect is capable of exploitation. The intellect is capable of domination. The intellect is capable of
           cheating nature, of oppression. The intellect is very, very useful as far as the world of things is
           concerned. So man has cultivated his intellect and has denied his heart, because the heart is
           dangerous. You cannot exploit if you are a heart man. You cannot use somebody's life as a means if
           you are heart-oriented. The other becomes an end unto himself. You cannot become a politician and
           you cannot become a scientist. The politician exploits other human beings, and the scientist exploits
           nature. Both are destructive. The politician has destroyed humanity, and the scientist has destroyed
           nature.
               Now the whole of existence on this earth is collapsing -- because of the politician and the
           scientist. And they both are together. The atom bomb became possible because Albert Einstein and
           Roosevelt joined together. It would not have been possible if Roosevelt had wanted it alone. It would
           not have been possible if Albert Einstein had wanted it alone. It becomes possible only when politics
           and science meet. Then there is a Hiroshima and a Nagasaki, and then there is destruction. And the
           politician and the scientist have been in cooperation down the ages. They have been helping each
           other.
               The heart-oriented man can become a poet, but of what use is a poet? Of what use is poetry? A
           heart-oriented man can become a musician, but of what use is music? A heart-oriented person can
           become a lover, but the world does not need lovers. It needs soldiers; it needs people to kill and to be
           killed. It needs butchers. It needs mad people. It does not need sane people, who love, who live --
           who live peacefully and who help others to live peacefully. The world does not believe in rose
           flowers. It believes in swords, in rifles in atom bombs.
               Intellect has been very destructive. I am not saying that intellect has to be dropped completely.
           That will be foolish. Intellect has to be used -- but not as a master, rather as a slave. The mind is very
           beautiful as a slave, but it is a very lousy master. Never make the intellect your master. Use it. It is a
           beautiful instrument, a biocomputer. No computer yet made by man is so delicate, so evolved as the
           human mind. The human mind is such a beautiful, delicate mechanism. It can be of much use, but it
           should be in the service of love.
               The head should be in the service of the heart; then you are really intelligent. Remember the
           difference. I don't call an intellectual an intelligent person. An intelligent person is one whose
           intellect is in the service of the heart, whose logic is in the service of love, whose reason is in the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           service of life, which is more than reason. Otherwise your so-called intellectuals are just stupid
           people.

           One story:

              Five men are on a military plane crossing the North Atlantic -- President Jimmy Carter, former
           President Ford, Kissinger, a Catholic priest, and a hippie....

           Maybe the hippie was my sannyasin.

               ... The plane is suddenly buffeted by a thunderstorm and the pilot rushes into the passenger
           section. "We have just been hit by a lightning bolt. The co-pilot is dead. Our power is gone. Here are
           four parachutes. Decide among yourselves who will use them."...

           There are five persons and four parachutes.

           ... With that, the pilot bails out.
                President Carter speaks first: "I have the burden of the whole free world on my shoulder. I am
           sure you will agree I must carry on." He dons a parachute and bails out.
                Ford speaks up: "I have never done any harm to anyone. Besides, I have a golf date." And he
           bails out.
                Henry Kissinger declares: "I am sure you will agree that I am the smartest man in the world.
           Obviously I must be spared." And he jumps.
                The priest turns to the hippie, "I have led a full life. I am not afraid to meet my maker. Go ahead,
           my son, and take the last parachute."
           "But Father," says the hippie, "there are two parachutes left. The 'smartest man in the world' just
           bailed out wearing my knapsack."

               Please don't be the smartest man in the world. Intellectuals are not very intelligent people.


               WHAT IS THE REASON THAT I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO ENFORCE RULES? PART OF ME GETS
               ANGRY AND INSISTS THAT SANNYASINS FOLLOW SIMPLE RULES LIKE NO SMOKING OR
               EATING IN THE GARDENS. TEERTHA HAS CALLED ME "THE COMMANDANT OF THE
               GARDEN," BUT DEEP DOWN I HATE THE WHOLE AUTHORITY TRIP; IT IS THE ONLY PART OF
               MY WORK THAT IS NOT ENJOYABLE. HOW CAN ONE BE A NOBODY WHEN PUT IN A
               POSITION OF HAVING TO ENFORCE RULES?
               COULD CHUANG TZU LAY DOWN HIS FISHING POLE AND COME TO POONA TO PLAY LAXMI'S
               ROLE?


               The question is asked by Nirgun.
           Who do you think is playing Laxmi's role? It is Chuang Tzu.
               A few things to be understood about the question. It's certainly difficult to play an authoritative
           role, but the difficulty arises not because of the role but because of the unconscious desire to
           dominate. You can repress the desire, you can avoid any authoritative role; the desire will remain
           there. Whenever the authoritative role is given to you, the desire hidden in the unconscious, the
           repressed desire, becomes alive, jumps on the role.
               It is beautiful to watch it and get rid of it; rather than getting rid of the role, rather than trying to
           avoid the role itself, it is better to get rid of the desire to be authoritative. So Nirgun, it is good that
           you are placed in a role where again and again you will have to say to people, "Don't do this."
               But this can be said in a very nonauthoritative way. There is no need to be authoritative about it.
           Don't make it a trip. And then the situation will be a great opportunity to grow. I have put many
           people in authoritative roles. That is the only way to get rid of any repressed desire. When the
           situation is there and the opportunity is there, the desire comes up, surfaces.
               And Nirgun has that desire deep down; hence the fear. She would like to escape from the
           situation. She would like some work where there is no need to say to anybody, "Don't do this." But
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           how will you get rid of the desire? It is easy to avoid children, but it is very difficult to get rid of the
           parent role. It is very easy never to be in a position where you have to say to people, "Do this. Don't
           do this." Very easy. But how will you get rid of the subtle aggressive energy in you?
               I would like you to use these situations. And this ashram has to be a constantly ongoing group.
           Every situation has to be used in such a way that it helps your spiritual growth.
               She refers to Chuang Tzu, the famous story that Chuang Tzu was asked by the Emperor to come
           to the palace and to become his prime minister. I have commented on the story. I love Chuang Tzu.
               Two messengers came from the Emperor. Chuang Tzu was fishing, and they came and they said,
           "The Emperor wants you to become the prime minister of the country." Chuang Tzu said, "Do you
           see that turtle there, wagging its tail in the mud?" They said, "Yes, we see." "And do you see how
           happy he is?" They said, "Certainly. He looks tremendously happy."
               And then Chuang Tzu said, "I have heard that in the king's palace there is a turtle, three thousand
           years old, dead, encaged in gold, decorated with diamonds, and he is worshiped. If you ask this turtle
           who is wagging his tail in the mud to change his role, to become that turtle in the palace -- dead, but
           encaged in gold, decorated with diamonds, and worshiped by the emperor himself -- will this turtle
           be ready to accept that?"
               The messengers said, "Certainly not. This turtle will not be ready."
               So Chuang Tzu said, "Why should I be ready? Then be gone! I am happy in my mud, wagging
           my tail, and I don't want to come to the emperor's palace."
               Now, this is a beautiful story, but if I meet Chuang Tzu I will say that he is still afraid, he still
           has a certain fear. If I had been in Chuang Tzu's place, I would have gone to the palace. You can wag
           your tail in the palace too, and it will be fun. But Chuang Tzu must have been a little afraid, a little
           fear that maybe he will become imprisoned there, maybe he will have to lose his freedom, life,
           aliveness, maybe he will start going on a power trip, ego trip. But that fear simply shows that
           something in the unconscious is still lingering on.
               A man should be so free that if the situation demands him to be in a power role, he can be in a
           power role -- without being powerful. If the situation demands it of him, he can easily accommodate
           himself to the new situation without any trouble. A man should not have a fixed role in life. He
           should be fluid. And the question is not of roles; the question is of consciousness.
               So Nirgun, be more conscious, be more loving. Don't allow that urge to dominate to become an
           unconscious trip, that's all. Become conscious of it. Through consciousness, it will be dropped.
               Because of this fear, millions of people down the ages became monks and nuns. What was their
           fear? Why were they afraid of the world? They were afraid not of the world, they were afraid of their
           unconscious desires. They knew well that if opportunity is given to them they will fall from their
           pedestals. But what type of awareness is this? If you can be happy only in the forest and cannot be
           happy in the marketplace, your happiness is not worth much. If you can be celibate only when there
           is no woman available, your celibacy is not of any worth, not worth much. If you can be
           nonpossessive when there is nothing to possess, then what is the point of your being nonpossessive?
           When you have the whole world to possess and you remain non-possessive, this is attainment, this I
           call SIDDHI, this I call real achievement.
               So my sannyasins are not to become escapists. They have to live in the world, and they have to
           live above the world -- in the world and yet above it, in and yet not in it. My sannyasin has to face
           more than Mahavir's sannyasin or Buddha's sannyasin. My sannyasin has to remain liquid, flowing --
           and yet uncontaminated.


              I AM NO POLITICIAN, NO DIPLOMAT, AND I FEEL LIKE A CLOWN. I WANT TO DANCE ON THE
              DESK AND SING ON THE PHONE "HELLO-LUJAH " RATHER THAN "HELLO." MAY I SIGN UP
              FOR THE ASHRAM FOOL?


               The question is from Vani.
           Vani, it is too early. To be really a fool one needs to be very wise. To be a fool one needs to be
           TRULY wise. That's why all wise people have something of foolishness in them. Jesus was known
           as a fool, so was Buddha, so was Francis of Assisi. They were known as fools.
               There is a certain quality of foolishness in a real wise man. Why? Because a real wise man
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           contains the opposite. He is both together. He is more comprehensive. A wise man who has no
           foolishness in him will be dry, dead. His juice will not be flowing. He will not be green. He will not
           be able to laugh; he will be serious; he will be a long face. A wise man who is just wise and in whose
           being the fool has not been integrated will be very heavy. It will be difficult to live with such a wise
           man. He will be very boring. He will be boring to you and he will be boring to himself. He will not
           have any fun; his life will not know any joy. He will be completely unacquainted with laughter. And
           when laughter is missed, much is missed.
                And one can never know God without laughter. One can never know God without joy. One can
           never know reality just by being wise.
                The fool has something to contribute too -- the laughter, the joy, the nonseriousness, the quality
           of fun, delight. The fool can dance, and the fool can dance for any reason whatsoever -- any excuse
           will do. The fool can laugh. And the fool can laugh not only at others, he can laugh at himself.
                When the wise man and the fool meet together in a consciousness, then something of tremendous
           value happens. There are foolish people and there are wise people. The fool is shallow; the wise man
           is serious. The fool does not know what truth is, and the wise man does not know what joy is. And a
           truth without joy is worse than a lie. And a joy without truth is not reliable. A joy without truth is
           momentary, cannot be of the eternal.
                My approach is that of great balance. You have to be very, very balanced. Delicate is the
           balance, difficult to achieve, but once achieved you will know that there is a quality of consciousness
           which can absorb wisdom and foolishness together, and there is no contradiction. They both become
           two aspects of your energy.
                Then you are sincere, but not serious. Then you are truthful, but not joyless. Then you have joy,
           but the joy is not of the momentary, it is of the eternal. It is not within time; it is beyond time.
                So Vani, it is too early. To really become the ashram fool, you will have to become almost
           enlightened. Don't think that it is easy to become a fool.
                I am not talking about the common variety of fools. Gurdjieff used to talk about eighteen
           varieties of idiots; they come in all sizes and all shapes. But I am talking about the ultimate.
           Gurdjieff used to say God is the ultimate idiot. Looks very profane. The ultimate idiot, God? And
           Gurdjieff used to say if he was not an idiot, why should he have created you all? Some idiocy, some
           trait of foolishness must exist in him; otherwise why man? And not only you. Men like Adolf Hitler,
           Genghis Khan, Nadir Shah; men like Joseph Stalin, Mao Tsetung. Why in the first place? God must
           have some trait of foolishness. He must be fooling around; he must be trying trial and error. Yes,
           sometimes he turns up with a Buddha too, that's okay -- but rarely, very rarely.
                God must be a fool. Otherwise there cannot be so much joy in existence. Just think: a mahatma
           ruling the world. All joy will be simply prohibited. Can you laugh in a Christian heaven.? Have you
           asked this question to your ministers, priests? Can you laugh in a Christian heaven.? Can you have a
           belly laugh, standing in front of God? No, that doesn't seem proper.
                But I tell you, you can have. And if you don't have, God will have, looking at your seriousness.
                Look at trees, the birds, the animals, the stars. There seems to be tremendous joy. Life is not
           serious. Life is very, very playful.
                So when I say become a fool and wise together, I mean don't think of life as a duty, but as a play.
           Always remember, if your prayer is without laughter, you are missing something. If your laughter is
           without prayer, you are again missing something. A prayer without laughter is dead, and a laughter
           without prayer has no depth. Can you pray and laugh together? Can you be prayerful and dance too?
           Can you meditate and love together?
                That is the synthesis I am trying. That is the highest possibility a man can arrive at, the greatest
           symphony, when you can love and meditate together. There have been meditators, but they were
           against love, and there have been lovers who were against meditation. There have been people who
           say eat, drink, be merry, but they are against God. The Charvakas, the Epicureans -- they say eat,
           drink, be merry, there is no God. They help you to be joyful, but that joy cannot be very deep.
           Without God your joy cannot go very deep.
                Your joy -- on your own -- cannot be real joy. It will be very shallow and superficial. It will not
           have the quality of the ultimate in it. It will not throb with eternity. And you will get fed up with it
           sooner or later.
                That's what is happening in the West. The West has followed the Epicurean tradition -- eat,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           drink, be merry. Now people are fed up, really fed up; nothing seems to satisfy. The superficial
           cannot satisfy long. One day or other it is exposed; you come to know that it is not much and it is a
           repetition. The West is fed up with the Epicurean ideology, the ideology that says, "Just enjoy. There
           is no need to seek and search."
               And the East is fed up with the opposite ideology, the other polarity that says, "Don't enjoy," that
           says, "'Eat, drink, be merry' is the ideology of the sinners. Wear long faces, be ascetics, mahatmas.
           Do yoga. Fast. Destroy the body and the senses. And be seriously after God: the only thing that is
           worth achieving is God-realization; everything else has to be sacrificed."
               The East is fed up, tired. The West is fed up and tired. It is natural because both have chosen one
           aspect. God is all the aspects together. God means totality.
               My approach towards God is Epicurus plus Buddha. Be as Epicurean as possible, and be a
           meditator, a seeker, as authentic as possible. And I don't see that there is any conflict. There is no
           conflict in meditation and love. In fact, the more you meditate, the more you become capable of
           love; the more you love, the more you become capable of meditation.
               And there is no conflict between being a fool and being wise. If you can have both, that is the
           best. And don't settle for one; otherwise one day you will repent. The missing one will take its
           revenge, and with vengeance.
               But to Vani I would like to say it is too early. Get a little ready.
           I have heard:

               Once there was a fellow who was too forward. He would meet a girl and within two seconds say,
           "Honey, let us make love." His buddy took him aside and explained that he should act suave and
           carry on a friendly conversation for a while before he suggested such things. On his next date he
           remembered the words of wisdom. He started the conversation by saying, "Honey, have you ever
           been to Africa?" just to create a conversation.
               She said, "No." So he said, "Well, let us make love."

              Vani, it is too early. Wait a little more. The hello has to become hello-lujah, but wait a little
           more.


              ONE BEAUTIFUL DAY WHEN LOVE WAS HUMMING IN THE AIR, EVEN WINNIE THE POOH
              FORGOT HIS CONSTANT FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR A POT OF BONEY AND JUST SAT DOWN.
              WHEN HIS EYES OPENED HE WAS BOWLED OVER TO SEE ALL AROUND HIM HUGE POTS
              OVERFLOWING WITH MORE HONEY THAN HE COULD EVER EAT.
              WHEN HE ROLLED INTO EEYORE'S LATER THAT NIGHT, ALL STICKY AND CONTENT AND
              FULL OF HIS DISCOVERY, EEYORE LOOKED WISE AND SAID, "HONEY IS ALWAYS THERE --
              BUT YOU CAN ONLY FIND IT WHEN YOU ARE NOT LOOKING. "
              POOH BEAR THOUGHT HE UNDERSTOOD, BUT FOR DAYS AFTER WHEN HE MADE SUDDEN
              SURREPTITIOUS GLANCES OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE -- NO HONEY! HE EVEN TRIED
              SITTING DOWN AGAIN AND SAYING VERY LOUDLY,'I AM NOT LOOKING FOR HONEY!" BUT
              WHEN HE OPENED HIS EYES, THE HONEY STILL WAS NOT THERE.
              DEAR EEYORE, HOW CAN I DROP MY GREED AND MY EXPECTATIONS, AND JUST BE?


               The question is from Deva Anando.
           Yes, it is one of the most fundamental questions. When you are not looking, the honey is
           everywhere. When you start looking for it, suddenly it disappears. This is a great truth. The moment
           you start looking for it, you become tense. The moment you start looking for it, you become very,
           very concentrated, you become closed and narrow. And the honey is possible only when you are
           open, not closed, not narrow. The honey overflows all around you when you are also overflowing, in
           every direction.
               To look means to be directed in one direction. Not to look, not to seek, then you are available to
           all directions -- you are available to every direction possible, you are available to the whole
           existence.
               But the difficulty is that if I tell you not to look you say, "Okay, we will not try," but an
           unconscious effort goes on. You even try not to look, but that too becomes just an effort to look.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The question is very fundamental. Buddha says, "If you are desireless, all desires will be
           fulfilled." Now, one monk asked one day, "Since you have said that all desires will be fulfilled if you
           become desireless, I have got only one desire: to be desireless. Now what to do about it?" But the
           desire to be desireless is still a desire; it is on the same plane. Whether you desire money or you
           desire power, prestige, or you desire desirelessness, it makes no difference at all: only the object of
           desire changes; the desire remains the same. And the desire is the problem, not the object.
               If you desire money, people will call you very worldly, materialistic. If you desire God, people
           will call you spiritual, other worldly, religious. But those who know, for them, there is no difference
           at all: you are still worldly. It is not that a few desires are worldly and a few desires are
           otherworldly! Desire, as such, is worldly. There can be no otherworldly desire.
               So God cannot be desired. If you desire, you miss. If you seek, you will not find. The more you
           seek, the more miserable you will become. Don't seek, and find. Just be -- in an attitude of
           nonseeking. Not that deep down you still go on thinking "Now he must be coming because I am not
           seeking"; then you are in the same trap again.
               The question is what should be done: "How can I drop my greed...?" But why do you want to
           drop you greed? Why in the first place do you want to drop your greed? There must be some greed
           behind it -- to attain to God, to nirvana, to enlightenment, to this and that, all sorts of rubbish things,
           all nonsense.
               Enlightenment HAPPENS. You cannot desire it. When one day suddenly you find all desires
           have disappeared, enlightenment is there. It has always been there; just because of desires you could
           not see it. The desire becomes a curtain on your eyes. You lose clarity, you cannot see what is. How
           can you see what is when you want something to be there? When you expect something, the
           expectation does not allow you to see that which is. With the expectation you have already moved
           into the future.
               You want a beautiful woman, and you have a fantasy. Because of that fantasy, you will miss your
           woman, who is just in front of you, but because of the fantasy you cannot see her. The fantasy goes
           on driving you away.
               You ask, "How can I drop my greed?" I would like to ask why in the first place you want to drop
           greed. And suddenly you will find some greed hidden behind. Greed behind greed behind greed.
           This is not going to help.
               So I will not tell you how to drop it. I will tell you how to understand it. In understanding, it
           drops on its own accord. Not that you drop it. You cannot. You are greed; how can you drop greed?
           You are desire; how can you drop desire? You are the search; how can you drop seeking and
           searching? This YOU is the center of all your madnesses. You ask how to drop greed. Who is
           asking? The "I". Now the"I" wants even God to be possessed. The "I" wants enlightenment to be
           possessed. The "I" does not only want the world, it wants the other world too. The "I" is getting more
           insane.
               Just understand. There is no need to drop anything. Man cannot drop anything. Just try to
           understand. Try to understand the ways of greed. Try to understand how greed functions. Try to
           understand how greed brings more and more misery, more and more frustration, how greed goes on
           creating new hells for you, ahead of you, goes on creating new hells so when you are there, they are
           ready. Just look into the very phenomenon of greed -- with no idea of dropping it, because if you
           want to drop it, a part of greed will remain unobserved. The part that wants to drop greed will remain
           unobserved, will remain in the dark.
               There is no need to think in these terms. Simply try to understand. That is what Socrates means
           when he ways, "Know thyself." It does not mean that you sit silently and repeat "I am soul,'? "I am
           God"; it doesn't mean that. "Know thyself" means whatsoever is the case, go into it deeply, layer by
           layer. Expose it to your understanding. Go to the very bottom of it, to the very root of it. Look
           through and through.
               And the day you have looked through all the layers.... The layers are just like an onion. You go
           on peeling an onion. So peel your being like an onion, go on peeling. Fresher layers you will find; go
           on peeling, go on peeling.... One day suddenly you have peeled through and through and nothing but
           emptiness is left in your hand. In that emptiness greed has disappeared, and in that emptiness
           enlightenment has happened. In that emptiness God is. That emptiness is God.
               So rather than asking how to drop greed, ask how to understand greed. The whole thing hangs on
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one thing: understanding. When the understanding of anything is perfect, it liberates. That's what
           Jesus means when he says, "Truth liberates." When you know the truth of greed you are liberated.
           When you know the truth of sexuality you are liberated. When you know the truth of anything
           whatsoever you are liberated from it. To know is to be free; not to know is to be in bondage.
                So don't ask how to drop. There is no hurry. In fact, go deep into it, watch it deeply before it
           drops; otherwise you will always miss that understanding. If it drops before understanding,
           something will remain missing. That's why it never drops, it clings to you. It clings up to the last
           moment, when you understand it, when you have looked into it so deeply that nothing is unrevealed,
           you have seen the ways of greed, the subtle ways of greed.
                Now, this question is a subtle way of greed: how to drop it? That was the problem of Pooh; he
           thought he understood: "... but for days after when he made sudden surreptitious glances out of the
           corner of his eye -- no honey!" You will also make surreptitious glances from the corner -- unless
           you understand greed totally.
           "He even tried sitting down again and saying very loudly,'I am not looking for honey!"' And you will
           say the same too. You have said it already many times, that "I am not looking for God and I am not
           looking for enlightenment. Osho says nirvana is the last nightmare. I am not looking for it" -- and
           then surreptitiously, from the corner of the eye, you are looking for it. You are waiting and you say,
           "What is the matter? And Osho has said,'When you drop all desire it happens,' and it has not
           happened yet." You have not dropped the desire yet.
                But you CANNOT drop the desire! I insist on it! My emphasis is absolute on it. There have been
           other teachers who say, "Drop it!" I don't say drop it, because I know you cannot drop it. Nobody has
           ever dropped it. Not even a Buddha was able to drop it. It dropped on its own accord one day --
           when Buddha understood it.
                If you drop something, the ego now feels very enhanced"I have dropped it" -- and the ego is the
           root cause. It will create a new greed; it will find new ways. It is very inventive. Because of this
           inventive ego, you cannot discover that which is. Because of too much inventiveness, the reality is
           being missed. It will find some other way; from the back door it will come back. So don't ask how to
           drop it. I am not here to help you to drop it. I am here to help you to understand it. If it is still there,
           it simply shows one thing: that you have not understood it. You have not done your homework yet.
           Do the homework. Don't be in a hurry to drop it. Just look, watch.
                Watch in small things of life. You are walking on the road; a car passes by. Just look into
           yourself: some greed has arisen. The moment you say the car is beautiful, a subtle greed has arisen to
           possess it. A beautiful woman passes by, or a man, and suddenly a desire to possess.
           I have heard:

               A woman sat in her doctor's waiting room alongside of a mother and her child of five. The child
           sat very quietly while the woman and his mother exchanged pleasantries. The woman was very much
           impressed by the child's good behavior....

              He was really graceful, sitting silently like a small Buddha.

             ... "I wish," she said, "I had a little boy like you."
           "Well," countered the child -- the little Buddha, "why don't you get pregnant?"

               The moment you see something -- a beautiful child -- and a deep desire arises: you should have a
           child like this. And the child is saying, "Why don't you get pregnant?" And he is right. In fact, if you
           look deeply in your desire, you will find that the desire to become pregnant has arisen in you. On the
           deepest layer it is there. On the surface you simply say, "How beautiful a child. I wish I had a little
           boy like this." On the surface it is very simple, as if you have simply complimented the child, but
           deep down many things have happened.
               In small things of life.... You are eating, you know your appetite is gone, and you continue to eat.
           Watch. Greed is there. Now you are not eating out of hunger; you are eating out of greed. One day in
           meditation something beautiful happens -- a breeze comes into your being, suddenly there is light,
           suddenly there is fragrance, and you sway with that fragrance -- and then it is gone. Now you want
           every day in every meditation that that has to happen now. Now you are frustrated; and the more you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are frustrated, the less is the possibility. Now that window will never open again. And when it
           doesn't open, you hanker for it too much; then you become very miserable -- "Why is it not
           happening?"
               I have been observing so many meditators, thousands. When for the first time meditation really
           goes deep, immediately, for months, that glimpse disappears. And then they come to me, saying,
           "What is happening? I had seen something, and it was tremendously beautiful. Why has it
           disappeared? What wrong have I done?" You have not done anything wrong: you became greedy.
           When it happened for the first time, you were not greedy, because you had not ever known it. How
           could you have been greedy about it? It was unknown; it came from out of the blue. It simply came;
           you were caught unaware. Now watch. It came when you were not asking for it -- you had not
           known it, so you could not have asked for it. It came on its own. Now you are asking for it. Now you
           are asking for something which had come without your asking. You are creating the whole trouble --
           the greed has entered.
               Sometimes it has happened that a man has come very close to satori, very close, and then he went
           astray because of the greed.
               So watch. Eating, watch. In the morning, you know that the sleep is over, but you still want to
           turn over and have a little nap. Now it is greed. If your body is fresh and you are feeling good and
           the tiredness is gone, then watch. It is everywhere. Eating, sleeping, meditating -- it is everywhere.
               One day you make love to your woman or to your man, and it is ecstatic. Now you hanker, now
           you start repeating, but that ecstasy never happens again. You are miserable. You don't know what
           has happened, what has gone wrong"Why am I not attaining that peak.?" You will never attain it
           again, because you are looking for it. The first time it happened, you were not looking for it.
               This is a fundamental law. Things happen and they happen on their own accord; you cannot
           manage them to happen. Great things cannot be managed by you; they are beyond you. You can, at
           the most, allow them to happen. At the most, you can keep your doors open so that they can happen,
           but you cannot force them to happen.
               If you force, then nothing happens. Then you can go on making love to the woman and nothing
           will happen; in fact, you will start feeling nauseous about the whole thing. You will start hating the
           woman, you will start hating the man; you will think that the other is cheating you. And you will
           start looking for another woman, for another man, somewhere else to go -- "It is not happening here
           anymore." And you will become suspicious as to whether it had ever happened or you had imagined.
           How can it happen with this woman? It is not happening now. So you will become doubtful even
           about the experience that had happened.
               People come to me and they say, "Now for months nothing is happening in the meditation," and
           they say they have become doubtful. Had they imagined the first time? They had not imagined; it
           had happened. Now they want it to happen and they are imagining and they are creating an idea
           around themselves.
               So what is to be done? You have to watch all the ways of the mind. Greed, desire, ambition,
           jealousy, possessiveness, domination -- you have to watch everything. And they are all
           interconnected, remember. If greed disappears, then anger will disappear. If anger disappears,
           jealousy will disappear. If jealousy disappears, violence will disappear. If violence disappears,
           possessiveness will disappear. They are all intertwined. In fact, they are spokes of the same wheel,
           and the hub that supports them all is the ego. So watch the ways of the ego.
               Watching, watching, watching... one day suddenly it is not there. Only the watcher is left. That
           moment of pure watching is the moment of transformation.


              MY PARENTS DECEIVED ME WITH FATHER CHRISTMAS. ARE YOU REAL, OR WILL I BE
              DISILLUSIONED AGAIN?


               The question is from Anand Nitya. Why she has asked has to be understood.
               Since she has been here in this ashram, she has not been able to become part of the family. She
           has been resisting in many ways. I tolerate these things for a time, but I cannot tolerate them forever;
           otherwise I will not be able to help you at all. A day is bound to come when I will start hammering.
           The day I start hammering, you start feeling negative, you start feeling against me. If I go according
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to you, then everything is beautiful, then Osho is beautiful. The moment I start going in some other
           direction when it is not easy for you to go with me, then negativity arises.
                And I have to go against all of you! Because I love you. I have to go against all of you; otherwise
           I will not be of any help to you. If I simply go on consoling you and simply go on patting your heads
           and simply go on saying, "You are good, everything is good"....
                I say that for a time. In the beginning I say that. If you are not yet a sannyasin, I will continue
           saying, "Very good!" The moment you are a sannyasin things change. Then I have to be more
           truthful to you, even if it hurts. It hurts, truth hurts, because you have become so untrue.
                So the day I started hammering on Nitya, she must have started thinking, "Where have I come
           to? Is this man really a Osho or not?"
                Hence the question: "My parents deceived me with Father Christmas. Are you real, or will I be
           disillusioned again?"
                First thing: Father Christmas is far more real than I. I am absolutely unreal, because I don't exist
           as an ego. I am not solid at all. If you go through me, you can pass through me without coming
           across anybody. I am empty.
                The second thing: Because of this emptiness, I can function as a screen for any sort of projection.
           You can project anything on me. There are people who think I am a saint, and there are people who
           think I am a rascal. There are people who think I am the greatest sinner there is, and there are people
           who think I am the greatest Master there is. And both are right and both are wrong, because I am
           neither. You project. There are some people who come and they say, "Osho, you have such beautiful
           eyes." And just the other day I was reading an article by Rahul Singh in THE ILLUSTRATED
           WEEKLY OF INDIA, and he says, "This man has hypnotic and sinister eyes." Good!
                It is difficult for you not to project, that I know. But I have to help to destroy all your projections.
           Once your projections are destroyed, you will be freed.
                Father Christmas is far more real. If you look into him, you will find a real person there. If you
           look into me, there is no person. In the East we call God the imperson. There is no personality. I am
           just a window; you can look through me. There is not even a glass; there is nothing. But you can
           project. So it is very easy for you to project because, whatsoever you project, there is nobody to deny
           it. There is nobody to say, "No, your projection is wrong." You are playing the game alone.
                You will know my reality only when you have stopped all projections, when you have become
           empty, when you have attained to meditative energy. The meditative energy is a nonprojective
           energy. It does not project anything; it simply looks at things as they are.
                If a meditator comes across a flower, he will not even say it is a rose flower, because the word
           "rose" becomes a projection. With the word "rose" all the roses that you have known before come
           between you and this rose. With the word "rose" all that you have heard about roses, all the poetry
           that you have read about roses -- all that arises between you and the reality. A real meditator will
           simply look at the rose without even saying the word "rose" inside his being; there will be no
           language. There will be no idea what it is. He will simply see that which is, the nameless. And that is
           the only way to see the real rose.
                If you want to see me, my reality -- I am not a person, but if you want to see my nothingness --
           you will have to come to me without any ideas. And that's how, if you come closer and closer, more
           and more projections will fall.
           "Are you real, or will I be disillusioned again?" You will be disillusioned, and this time disillusioned
           forever. That's my hope. If you cooperate with me, you will be disillusioned forever. Then you will
           never project again. And that's all a Master can do: to help you not to project again.
           I have heard:

               Two Martians were walking along Piccadilly. One of them nudged the other and pointing to a
           traffic light said, "How would you like her for a girlfriend?"...

              A traffic light! But you can think about Martians -- they can project...."Wow!" said his friend.
           "What a beauty! I think I will go over and chat her up."
              After about ten minutes he rejoined his companion, who asked, "Well, how did you get on?"
           "Not bad," replied the second Martian. "She did not actually say anything, but she keeps winking at
           me."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           A traffic light, but you can project.
               All your projections are yours, Nitya, and they have to disappear. You have to be disillusioned.
           Only in that moment of disillusionment does reality explode.


              THE ZEN MASTERS SAY, "KILL YOUR PARENTS, " AND EVEN, "IF YOU MEET THE BUDDHA ON
              THE WAY, KILL HIM IMMEDIATELY. "IS IT NOT SHOCKING?IS IT NOT IRREVERENT?


                It is shocking, but precisely, that is the purpose. A Master has to shock you to awake you. A
           Master is not a lullaby. A Master is not a tranquilizer. A Master has to be like a sharp knife in your
           heart. To be with a Master is painful. And the Master has to destroy all possibilities of projections.
                First the child learns to project on the mother and the father. Then for the whole life one goes on
           projecting. Have you watched it in your own being? Whenever you are attracted by a woman, you
           may be again looking for your mother. Whenever you are attracted by a man, just watch. Are you
           again looking for your father? Because the first man the child has known was the father and the first
           woman was the mother. The child is imprinted with the first form of the woman and the first form of
           the man. That imprint is very deep.
                You all know that suddenly one day you see a woman and something clicks. What clicks? The
           mother in you. When you see a woman and something reminds you deeply of your mother.... It may
           not be conscious, you may not be aware of it, you may not be able to figure out what it is, you may
           not be able to put your finger on it, but if you go deep into your unconscious you will find that the
           way the woman walks, the long nose of the woman, or the black eyes of the woman or the style of
           her hair, or her voice, or something, suddenly has clicked your unconscious and the unconscious
           knows, "This is the woman." People fall in love so suddenly, without knowing the woman, who she
           is -- love at first sight. How is it possible? What psychological mechanism is functioning there? Your
           mother. And so it is true about the father.
                When Zen Masters say, "Kill your parents," they are saying, "Destroy the imprint of your mother
           and father from your unconscious." Once that imprint is destroyed you will be free.
                Christianity, Islam, or Judaism or Hinduism are not as perfect religions as Zen, because they still
           talk of the Father God or the Mother Goddess. The imprint continues. Not only in this world, it goes
           on being projected in the sky too -- God the Father or Kali the Mother. You are still looking for your
           parents. Now, even in the ultimate reality you are looking for your parents. When will you become
           adult? When will you become mature? Zen is a process of maturity: so kill the parents.
                There is a saying among Zen people that a man becomes really mature when his father and
           mother are dead. Have you not watched? If your father and mother have died, you are shocked. You
           have never thought that they would ever die. Although many times you have wished that they should
           die -- an unconscious wish -- because they are heavy on you, because their very presence is a
           restriction.
                Have you watched, whenever you go to talk to your father you start stuttering, perspiring, you
           become nervous? Because he reminds you again that you are helpless, a small child, and he is a
           powerful man. Have you watched, when you go to your mother it is so difficult to communicate? It
           is so difficult to say anything. It becomes so difficult to talk to a mother, to sit and chitchat is almost
           impossible. What to say? She is puzzled and you are also puzzled. Both are embarrassed.
                So deep down sometimes you have thought, "They should die, so I should be free of them." And
           when the father and mother die, suddenly you feel you are a child no more.
                But when Zen people say it, they mean something else. They are not talking about the father and
           mother on the outside. They are talking about the inside. When the father and mother in the inside
           die, you become mature, you become free.
                And remember, if you are free from your father and mother in the unconscious, you will be
           capable of communing with your father and mother for the first time, because then there will be no
           barrier. In fact, you will be able to love them for the first time. You will be able to forgive them for
           the first time. You will be able to feel compassion for them, how much they have done for you.
           When you are mature, when you are free of them, when their presence is no more a heavy weight on
           your heart, you can feel them for the first time. You can be with them in a loving space.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So it is shocking, but it is not irreverent, one thing.
                The second thing: they say, "If you meet the Buddha on the way, kill him immediately." And
           these people who have said these things, they were worshiping Buddha every day in the temple.
           They may have said it sitting at the feet of the statue of Buddha.
                The man who said this was a priest in a temple. He lived in the temple, worshiped in the
           morning, evening, would bring flowers and incense, and he said one day to his disciples, "If you
           meet the Buddha on the way, kill him immediately!" One disciple asked, naturally, "What do you
           mean? And you have been worshiping Buddha." And the man said, "Yes, I have been worshiping
           him because he has helped me. Even to kill him he has been helpful! It is he who has helped me to
           kill him. It is he who has helped me to be free of him." The ultimate work of the Master is to make
           you free of himself.
                Zarathustra is leaving his disciples and they ask him, "What is your last message?" And he says,
           "Beware of Zarathustra." Without any comment he escaped into the forest. "Beware of Zarathustra"
           -- the last message. Beautiful. Tremendously Zen. "Beware of me; otherwise you may become a
           slave to me" -- that's what he means.
                The same I say to you. Forget about Buddha. because you can kill Buddha very easily. Kill me.
           That will be far more difficult. With Buddha you have no relationship at all, so you can take it,
           "Okay, if he comes on the way, we can kill him." But I say to you, kill me when I come on your way.
           And I will come.
                At the last moment, when everything has been cut off, the Master remains, because that is the
           deepest relationship. You can cut your relationship even with your mother because that is only
           biological, physical. You can cut your relationship even with your beloved because that is
           psychological. But to cut your relationship with the Master is the most difficult thing. You will need
           a really sharp sword, a really, really sharp sword, and you will need great courage, because the
           disciple-and-Master relationship is a spiritual relationship. It goes deepest in your being. You will
           start trembling.
                When I will stand on your way.... And that is going to be the last barrier: the Master is the
           passage to God and the last barrier too. You will have to leave the Master also. And these things are
           of the inward journey, remember again and again. At the last moment when you are disappearing
           into emptiness, the last hand that you will have to leave will be the Master's hand.
                So it is not irreverent. It is with great respect that it has been said.
                One thing more. The Zen people are totally different from Christians. You cannot think of a
           Christian saying to another Christian, "Kill Jesus when he comes on your way. Kill him
           immediately!'? That will look very sacrilegious because Christians have not yet been able to be
           nonserious about their religion. Their religion is very serious. Hence it misses much. Zen has the
           quality of laughter, it can laugh. And Zen has the quality of rebelliousness, nonauthoritativeness.
           And Zen goes on keeping a balance: surrender to the Master, and yet remain independent. Very
           difficult, almost impossible. But when you do the impossible, only then does the ultimate happen to
           you. Surrender to the Master, and yet remain independent. Be sincere in your search, but don't lose
           your laughter. Become wise, but let foolishness also flower. And Zen people are very, very absurd in
           that way. They can say things which will shock you.
                A Zen Master is weighing flax, and a man comes, a seeker, and he asks, "What is Buddha? What
           is Buddhahood? What is Buddha-nature?" The Master is weighing the flax, and he says, "Three
           pounds of flax. That is what Buddha is."
                Three pounds of flax! -- and he is talking about Buddha? Looks very sacrilegious.
                A Zen Master, on a cold night, burned a Buddha statue, a wooden statue, because he was feeling
           cold. No Christian can do that. No Hindu can do that. No Mohammedan can do that. Hence they lag
           behind. In the night he burned the Buddha statue because it was too cold, and in the morning he was
           worshiping again.
                This playfulness, this nonseriousness, is of tremendous value. With me also, remember that: you
           have to surrender and yet you have to remain independent. In fact, your surrender is needed so that I
           can make you independent. Paradoxical of course, but this is how one grows.
                I have heard one beautiful story -- very shocking, but tremendously beautiful. The story is from
           Sheldon Kopp:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               One Sunday afternoon after church, God and St. Peter went to play golf. God teed up on the first
           hole, swung his driver mightily, and sliced the ball off into the rough beside the fairway. Just as the
           ball hit the ground, a rabbit came running out from beneath a bush, picked up God's golf ball in his
           mouth, and ran with it out onto the fairway. Down from the sky swooped a hawk and pounced on the
           rabbit. The hawk picked up the rabbit in its claws and flew with it over the green. A hunter spotted
           the hawk, took aim with his rifle, and shot the bird in midflight. The hawk dropped the rabbit onto
           the green. The golf ball fell from the rabbit's mouth and rolled into the cup for a hole in one.
               St. Peter turned to God with exasperation, saying, "Come on now! Do you want to play golf, or
           do you want to fuck around?"

           This is perfect Zen.




                                                 The First Principle
                                                     Chapter #3
                                  Chapter title:The Only One Who Has Not Talked
           13 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704130
              ShortTitle: PRINCI03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 98 mins




              THE PUPILS OF THE TENDAI SCHOOL USED TO STUDY MEDITATION BEFORE ZEN ENTERED
              JAPAN. FOUR OF THEM, WHO WERE INTIMATE FRIENDS, PROMISED ONE ANOTHER TO
              OBSERVE SEVEN DAYS OF SILENCE.
              ON THE FIRST DAY ALL WERE SILENT, BUT WHEN THE NIGHT CAME AND THE OIL LAMPS
              WERE GROWING DIM, ONE OF THE PUPILS COULD NOT HELP EXCLAIMING TO A SERVANT:
              "FIX THOSE LAMPS. "
              THE SECOND PUPIL WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR THE FIRST ONE TALK. "WE ARE NOT
              SUPPOSED TO SAY A WORD, " HE REMARKED.
              "YOU TWO ARE STUPID. WHY DID YOU TALK?" ASKED THE THIRD.
              "I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS NOT TALKED -- THANK GOD!" CONCLUDED THE FOURTH.

               IN THE SEARCH FOR THE FIRST PRINCIPLE silence is the door -- the only door. And
           except it there is no way to approach the first principle. The first principle can be known only when
           you move to the primordial state of your being. Thinking is secondary. Existence precedes thinking,
           existence comes first. First you are, and then you start thinking. Thinking is secondary. Thinking is a
           shadow activity; it follows you. It cannot exist without you, but you can exist without it. Through
           thinking you can know secondary things, not the primary things. The most fundamental is not
           available to thinking; the most fundamental is available to silence.
               Silence means a state of consciousness where no thought interferes.
               The first principle is not far away, it is not distant. Never think for a single moment that you are
           missing it because it is very far away. No, not at all. It is the closest thing to you. It is the obvious
           thing. It surrounds you. It surrounds you just like the ocean surrounds a fish. You are in it. You are
           born in it and born out of it. You live in it, you breathe in it, and one day you disappear in it. It is not
           far away, not that you have to travel to it. It is there. It is already there around you, within and
           without. It is your very existence, that first principle.
               Zen people call it the first principle; other religions call it God. There is no difference. The Zen
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           approach is far better because with the word "God," trouble starts. The first principle becomes
           personified; then you can create an image. You cannot make an image of the first principle, but that's
           what all the religions do. They say, "God is the first cause, the uncaused cause, the most
           fundamental, the substantial, the substratum." Zen people call it the first principle. It is beautiful to
           call it the first principle because nothing preceded it. Everything has followed it.
                So if you want to have a communion with the first principle, you will have to seek and search for
           a reality within yourself which is original, which has not been preceded by anything else.
                Silence is primordial. Sound exists in silence. Sound comes and goes, silence remains. Sound is
           like light, and silence is like darkness. Darkness remains; light comes and goes. Light needs some
           cause to be. Darkness needs no cause. No fuel is needed for darkness; it simply exists without any
           fuel. It exists as primordial existence. Darkness is eternal; light is momentary. In the morning the sun
           rises and there is light. By the evening the sun is gone, the light is gone. Don't think that the darkness
           comes. Darkness never comes; it is always there. Light comes and goes. You burn a lamp and there
           is light. You blow out the lamp and light is gone. Not that darkness comes; darkness is there. Light is
           accidental; darkness is existential.
                Silence is there. You can create sound; you cannot create silence. The moment sound is no more
           created there is silence. Thinking is sound; meditation is silence. So all the religions of the world
           have been searching for and seeking in one way or another that silence which has not been preceded
           by anything else, which is the first.
                Now a few things before we analyze this state of silence.
                First thing. Man is missing this first principle not because he is not a skilled thinker but because
           he is, not because he is not a trained logician but because he is. Thinking creates a screen around
           you, a screen of smoke, and because of that smoke the obvious is lost. To see the obvious, you need
           clarity, not thinking, not logic. You simply need clarity, you need transparency. Your eyes should be
           completely empty, naked -- naked of all clothes, naked of all concepts, empty, empty of all thoughts.
           When the eyes are just empty, you can see the first principle, and not only can you see it as an object
           outside you, you see it as your own interiority, as your own subjectivity.
                In fact, it is thinking that creates the distinction between the subject and the object. It is thinking
           that creates division. It is thinking that creates a split. It is thinking that makes things separate. Once
           thinking is dropped, existence is one, it is one unity, it is one orgasmic experience where duality is
           totally lost. All boundaries lose themselves into each other, merge into each other. Everything is
           joined to everything else. The smallest leaf of grass is joined to the greatest star. And then there is
           nothing high, nothing low, nothing good, nothing bad, because all is joined together. The greatest
           saint is joined to the greatest sinner; they are not separate.
                Nothing is separate. With the disappearance of thinking, schizophrenia disappears, this
           existential schizophrenia of dividing everything: this is man, this is woman, this is good, this is bad,
           this is beautiful, this is ugly, this is mine, this is thine. All distinctions create neuroses. Man is mad
           because he thinks too much, and he goes on missing the obvious.
           God is very obvious.
           I have heard about a great philosopher:

               He married a beautiful girl many years his junior. After a while he began to be torn by doubts as
           to her faithfulness...

               Natural for a philosopher to be torn by doubts. A philosopher lives in doubts; doubt is his trade.
           He doubts, and he goes on doubting. Through doubt he creates questions and then answers, and
           through doubt he makes more questions out of the answers. His whole life is a procession of doubts.
           Naturally, "he began to be torn by doubts as to her faithfulness."

                ... so he hired a private detective to watch her while he left on a trip. On his return he called the
           detective.
           "Out with it, out with it!" shouted the philosopher. "I can take it. It is the element of doubt that is
           driving me crazy."
           "It looks bad," said the detective. "As soon as you left the house a handsome fellow called for your
           wife. I followed them to a night dub. They had four or five drinks and then danced -- and very close.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then they went back to their table and held hands. Finally they took a cab back to your house. The
           lights were on, and I saw them walk into the bedroom and embrace. Then the light went out and I
           could not see any more."
           "What did I tell you?" shouted the philosopher. "That damned element of doubt!"

               Now, even the obvious -- "That damned element of doubt! " Even the obvious is not obvious to a
           philosopher. The greater the philosopher, the more doubts he has. He has doubts about everything.
           He doubts even his own existence -- which in fact cannot be doubted. How can you doubt your own
           existence? Even to doubt, you are needed to be there. The doubt cannot exist in the air. The doubt
           cannot exist without you. The doubt can exist only if YOU are there, but philosophers have been
           doubting even their own existence: Who knows whether we are or we are not?
               Doubt is the only outcome of thinking. Nonthinking gives you trust, nonthinking gives you faith,
           nonthinking brings you closer to reality, face to face with reality. So the first thing to be understood:
           thinking is not a way to the first principle. Not through philosophizing will you arrive at the first
           principle, because philosophy is secondary. You can know secondary things through the secondary.
           To know the primary, you will have to achieve the primary within yourself. You can know only that
           which you are.
               If you live in thinking, you will be able to know only secondary things. You will be able to know
           the shadow world, what Hindus call the world of maya. Through the mind you can know only the
           world of maya, the shadow world, the world of illusions. You will be surprised. In Sanskrit we have
           two terms. One is VIDYA; VIDYA means "knowledge". Another IS AVIDYA; AVIDYA means
           "nonknowledge". And you will be surprised, in Sanskrit "science" is called AVIDYA -- '
           nonknowledge". Science is called AVIDYA. Why? Science knows more than anything else, but in
           Sanskrit they call science AVIDYA. Why? Because science knows only the shadow world -- knows
           the secondary, the nonessential; knows the object, misses the subject; knows the body, misses the
           soul; knows the world, misses God; knows the secondary.
               To know the primary, you will have to become primary. You will have to fall into that
           wavelength where the primary pulsates, that silence. That is the state of no-mind. No-mind preceded
           your mind.
               A child is born. He comes without any mind whatsoever; he simply exists. His existence is pure,
           unhampered by any thought, unhindered by any cloud. Look into the eyes of a child. They are so
           innocent, they are so transparent, so crystal clear. From where comes this clarity? This clarity comes
           from no-thought. The child still has not learned how to think, how to accumulate thoughts. He looks,
           but he cannot classify. If he looks at the trees he cannot say they are trees, he cannot say they are
           green, he cannot say they are beautiful. He sees the trees, but no classification, no category. He has
           no language yet to be clouded with. He simply sees. Color is there, but he cannot say is color; green
           is there, but he cannot say it is green. Everything is purely clear, but he cannot label it. Hence the
           innocence of the eyes.
               A man of understanding again attains the same eyes. He again becomes a child, as far as the
           clarity is concerned. Jesus is right when he says, "Become like small children; only then will you be
           able to enter into my kingdom of God." He is not saying become foolish like children; he is not
           saying become childish; he is not saying learn tantrum again; he is not saying that a child is the last
           stage. No, he is saying simply one thing. He is not saying become a child; he is saying become like a
           child. How can you become a child again? But you can become like a child. If you can drop
           thinking, if this cloak of thinking is dropped and you become nude, again you will have the same
           clarity.
               It happens sometimes through drugs. Not a very good way to attain it -- very dangerous, very
           costly, and illusory -- but it happens. Hence the appeal of the drugs down the ages. Drugs are not
           new in the world; even in the Vedas they talk about SOMA. SOMA seems to be one of the most
           powerful drugs ever discovered by man. It must be something like LSD. Aldous Huxley has said that
           in the future, when the ultimate drug will be known, we will call it SOMA. From the Vedas, the
           ancientmost book in the world, to Timothy Leary, man has always been attracted by drugs -- alcohol,
           marijuana, opium. Why this attraction? And all the moralists have been against it, and all the
           puritans have been against it, and all the governments have tried to curb and control, but it seems
           beyond any government to control it. What has been the cause of it? It gives something... it gives a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           glimpse into the innocent mind of the child again.
                Through chemical impact, the mind becomes loosened for a few moments or a few hours. Under
           the impact of the drug your thinking slips. You start looking into reality without thinking; again the
           world is colorful, as it is for the child; again in a small pebble you can see the greatest diamond;
           ordinary grass looks so extraordinary; an ordinary flower looks so tremendously beautiful; an
           ordinary human face looks so divine. Not that anything has changed. The whole world is the same.
           Something has changed in you -- and that too only temporarily. Through the forceful drug your mind
           has slipped down. You don't have the mask; you can see into things with clarity. That is the appeal of
           the drugs down the ages.
                And unless meditation becomes available to millions of people, drugs cannot be prevented.
                Drugs are dangerous because they can destroy your body's equilibrium, they can destroy your
           nature, they can destroy your inner chemistry. You have a very delicate chemistry. Those strong
           drugs can destroy your rhythm. And more and more drugs will be needed and you will become
           addicted -- and less and less will be the experience. By and by, the mind will learn how to cope with
           the drugs, and then, even under the drug, you will not attain to the state of innocence. Then you will
           need even stronger drugs.
           So this is not a way.
                The mind can be put aside very easily. There is no need to depend on anything chemical, on
           anything artificial. There is a natural possibility to get out of the mind, because we were born
           without minds. Deep down we are still no-minds. The mind is only on the periphery. That's why I
           say it is just a cloak, a dress that you are wearing. You can slip out of it.
                And one moment of slipping out of it will reveal to you a totally different world: the world of the
           first principle.
                So the real fight in the future is going to be between meditation and drugs. In fact, that has
           always been the case: the real fight is between drugs and meditation, either drugs or meditation.
                So it is not coincidental that when you start meditating by and by the pull of the drug becomes
           less and less. If it is not becoming less and less, then know well you are not meditating yet, because
           when you know the higher, the lower is dropped automatically.
                But one thing has to be understood. Drugs do something; they UNDO something in you. They
           help you to get out of the mind. They give you courage to look into reality without thinking. For a
           moment the curtain slips, and suddenly you are aware that the world has a splendor. It had never had
           it before. You had passed through the same street and you had looked through the same trees and at
           the same stars and the same people, and today now everything suddenly is so luminous and
           everybody is so beautiful and everybody is afire with life, with love. A saint -- one who has attained
           -- lives in that state continuously, without any effort.
                You were born as a no-mind. Let this sink into your heart as deeply as possible because through
           that a door opens. If you were born as a no-mind, then the mind is just a social product. It is nothing
           natural; it is cultivated. It has been put together on top of you. Deep down you are still free; you can
           get out of it. One can never get out of nature, but one can get out of the artificial any moment one
           decides to.
                Existence precedes thinking. So existence is not a state of mind; it is a state beyond. To be is the
           way to know the fundamental, not to think. Science means thinking, philosophy means thinking,
           theology means thinking. Religion does not mean thinking. The religious approach is a nonthinking
           approach. It is more intimate, it brings you closer to reality. It drops all that hinders, it unblocks you;
           you start flowing into life. You don't think that you are separate, looking. You don't think that you
           are a watcher, aloof, distant. You meet, mingle, and merge into reality.
                And there is a different kind of knowing. It cannot be called "knowledge". It is more like love,
           less like knowledge. It is so intimate that the word "knowledge" is not sufficient to express it. The
           word "love" is more adequate, more expressive.
                In the history of human consciousness, the first thing that evolved was magic. Magic was a
           combination of science and religion. Magic had something of the mind and something of the
           no-mind. Then out of magic grew philosophy. Then out of philosophy grew science. Magic was both
           no-mind and mind; philosophy was only mind; and then mind plus experimentation became science.
           Religion is a state of no-mind.
                Religion and science are the two approaches to reality. Science approaches through the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           secondary; religion goes direct. Science is an indirect approach; religion is an immediate approach.
           Science goes round and round; religion simply penetrates to the heart of reality.
                A few more things. Thinking can only think about the known -- it can chew the already chewed.
           Thinking can never be original. How can you think about the unknown? Whatsoever you CAN
           manage to think will belong to the known. You can think only because you know. At the most,
           thinking can create new combinations. You can think about a horse who flies in the sky, who is made
           of gold; but nothing is new. You know birds who fly in the sky, you know gold, you know horses;
           you combine the three together. At the most, thinking can imagine new things, but it cannot know
           the unknown. The unknown remains beyond it. So thinking goes in a circle, goes on knowing the
           known again and again and again. It goes on chewing the chewed one. Thinking is never original.
                And the first principle means to come upon reality originally, radically, to come upon reality
           without any mediator, to come upon reality as if you are the first person to exist and you come upon
           reality. That is liberating. That very newness of it liberates.
                And when you come to know reality directly, it is never reduced to the known; the mystery
           remains. In fact, it becomes a deeper mystery than ever. The more you know, the more you feel that
           you don't know. The more you know, the less you feel you know. The more you know, the more vast
           is the mystery of it. Religion is mysticism, religion is magic, because religion is a no-mind approach.
                Thinking can think only about the known; it is repetitive. Philosophy is repetitive. You can go
           into the books of philosophy, into the history of philosophy, and you will see the same thing being
           repeated again and again -- new phraseology, new words; new terms, new definitions, but nothing
           fundamentally different. From Thales to Bertrand Russell you can go on, but you will find the same
           thing being repeated again and again. The wheel moving: the same spokes come to the top again and
           again.
                Science can experiment only with the objective; experimentation is possible only with the
           objective. You cannot experiment with the experimenter himself; there is no way. The subjective
           reality remains outside science. Einstein may know much about matter, but he does not know
           anything about himself. Newton may know much about gravitation, but he does not know who he is.
           One goes on accumulating knowledge about the objective world, and one remains in deep darkness
           within one's own self. One's own light is not yet there, and one goes on groping, experimenting.
                Science can experiment only with the objective, philosophy can think only about the known, and
           the reality is beyond both. The reality is unknown -- not only unknown, but unknowable -- and the
           reality contains the subjective element. So the very methodology of philosophy and science prohibits
           coming to the fundamental, to the first principle. To come to the fundamental, you will have to find
           another door, a door other than science and philosophy. That door is religion.
                And religion can be reduced to one word, and that word is "meditation," or call it silence -- to be
           in such a silence that you are almost not, there is no noise within you, the stillness is absolute. Only
           in that stillness something stirs, only in that stillness do you start hearing the still, small voice of the
           first principle -- call it God or call it soul. Only then life calls forth life. Only then the source calls
           forth the source. Only then are you close to reality, hand in hand with the fundamental. And that is
           the search, that is what we are seeking; and without knowing it, without realizing it, there is going to
           be no fulfillment.
                The last thing; then we enter into this small parable. When thinking disappears you are left with
           the first principle. It has always been there; you were not there just because of your thinking. Now
           you are also there: two presences meet. Ordinarily you are absent, you are somewhere else. In your
           thoughts you are lost. When there is no thought you are herenow; then there is no way to go from
           herenow. Thought functions as a bridge to go away from yourself. The moment a thought has come
           in, you are already far away from yourself. When there is no thought, where can you go, how can
           you go? When there is no thought you have to be in the present. Thought can take you to the past,
           thought can take you to the future; no-thought brings you to the present. And only the present is.
           This moment is all there is.
                When you are herenow, absolutely herenow, how can you miss the real, how can you miss God?
           When thinking disappears you are left with the first principle.
                But when I say "when thinking disappears," I am not saying "when you fall asleep," because in
           deep sleep thinking does disappear. In the East we have divided human consciousness into four
           phases. The first phase we call "waking," JAGRAT. Waking means "consciousness plus thinking";
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you are conscious, but your mind is crowded with thoughts. The second state we have called
           "dreaming," SWAPNA. The second state means "unconsciousness plus thinking"; you fall asleep,
           but the thinking continues so there is dreaming. Dreaming is a way of thinking in sleep, and thinking
           is a way of dreaming while awake. Thinking and dreaming are not two separate things. Dreaming is
           only thinking in a very primitive language -- the language of images. Then the third state we call
           SUSHUPTI: sleep, deep sleep, dreamless deep sleep. The third state is "unconsciousness minus
           thinking"; you are unconscious -- you don't know where you are, who you are, all consciousness has
           disappeared, you are at rest -- and with the consciousness has disappeared thinking too, dreaming
           too.
                These three are ordinary states: waking, dreaming, sleeping. We all know these three. The fourth
           is the state of meditation. The fourth is called SAMADHI, TURIYA. It means "consciousness minus
           thinking".
                So four stages: consciousness plus thinking is waking, consciousness minus thinking is
           SAMADHI, unconsciousness plus thinking is dreaming, unconsciousness minus thinking is sleep.
                So SAMADHI has something similar to waking and something similar to sleep; hence Patanjali
           has defined SAMADHI as "waking sleep" -- sleep and yet not sleep. Sleep in the sense that there are
           no thoughts now, no dreams. And not sleep in the sense that you are perfectly aware, that the light of
           your awareness is there, that you are conscious, that you know that there is no knowledge now, that
           you are aware that all thinking has disappeared, that you are aware that now there is no dream
           lurking in your field of consciousness, that you are absolutely zero, SHUNYAM.
                This is the state that the East has been trying to achieve. The West has been too involved with
           science; hence it has missed religion. The East's involvement is with SAMADHI: hence it has
           missed science.
                These four states can be thought of in some other ways also. Consciousness plus thinking means
           waking. Science is a waking activity, so is philosophy, so is theology. Second, dreaming:
           unconsciousness plus thinking. That is what art is, poetry, painting, music. It is a dream activity, so it
           is not just accidental that we call the poets dreamers, that we call the artists dreamers, that we don't
           trust them much -- they are not reliable, they cannot be the guides to reality. We enjoy them, it is
           fun, but we cannot accept them as guides to reality -- they are not. They live in fantasy. They dream
           while awake. Their eyes are full of dreams. So waking is science, philosophy, theology, logic; and
           art, all kinds of art, is dream activity.
                Unconsciousness minus thinking means sleep. Of course all activity ceases in sleep, so nothing is
           born out of sleep -- no science, no art.
                Consciousness minus thinking is SAMADHI. SAMADHI gives birth to religion. When Jesus
           attained to SAMADHI Christianity was born. When Nanak attained to SAMADHI Sikhism was
           born. When Buddha attained to SAMADHI Buddhism was born. Religion is born out of SAMADHI,
           the fourth state. What is SAMADHI? If you can stop your thinking and yet remain alert and don't fall
           asleep. Difficult, arduous, one of the most difficult things, almost impossible. It is easy to be awake
           and thinking, it is easy not to think and fall asleep, but to remain awake and not think is the most
           difficult thing, because it is not part of evolution. It is a revolution. It is not given by nature
           automatically. You have to attain it.
                That is the task man has to solve. That is the challenge given to man, and very few have accepted
           that challenge. And those who have accepted it, only they are man; others are man only for the
           name's sake. We exist as potential man, not as actual man. It is our potentiality. We can become a
           Buddha or a Christ, but it has not happened yet. We are just seeds. That's our misery because a seed
           can never be satisfied unless it becomes a tree and blooms. A seed will remain miserable because
           there is a feeling deep down that "I am not yet that which I am meant to be; my destiny is not
           fulfilled."
                Have you not observed this in you? If you had not observed it, you would not be here. You are
           here only because you feel something is missing. You are here only because you continuously feel
           that something has to happen and it is not happening, that something is just there by the corner and
           yet you cannot grasp it, seems to be not very far away, yet seems to be beyond reach. The tree is not
           very far away from the seed. If the seed finds the right soil, falls into the soil, relaxes, surrenders to
           the soil, dissolves into the soil, dies into the soil, then the tree is not very far away. In the right
           season the seed will sprout, a tender plant will be born, and the seed will be able to see the light.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Only when the seed has become a plant will it be able to feel the wind and the ecstasy that the
           wind is and be able to feel the sunrays and the ecstasy that the sun brings and be able to live and be
           able to accept the challenges and start growing. Come storm, come wind, come rains, and the small,
           tender plant will become stronger and stronger. Every challenge will give it strength and integration;
           and one day there will be a great tree whispering to the skies, it will bloom, and the fragrance will be
           released to the winds in all directions. Then there will be jubilation.
                When Jesus says again and again to his children, to his disciples, "Rejoice!" what he is saying is
           true because he has become a tree and he has bloomed. But his disciples must have looked here and
           there, they must have thought, "What does he mean? Why does he go on saying again and
           again,'Rejoice'?" They are seeds; how can they rejoice?
                When I say to you, "Celebrate!" you start thinking, "For what? Why? What have we got to
           celebrate?" You cannot celebrate because celebration is possible only when you bloom. I know it!
           But I go on saying, "Celebrate!" And Jesus knows it and he goes on saying, "Rejoice!" In fact, he
           wants to create such a thirst in you to know what this rejoicing is that out of that thirst you start
           seeking and searching for the right soil.
                To find a right Master is to find a right soil because only through the Master will you be able to
           dissolve, only through the Master will you be able to surrender. A seed needs to surrender. A seed
           has to die; only then is there a new life born out of it. Death makes it possible. Death is tremendously
           beautiful: it makes it possible that a man can be new, a man can be reborn.
                SAMADHI is celebration, SAMADHI is rejoicing. SAMADHI is your gratitude towards God,
           your thanksgiving.
                How can you thank God right now? You have nothing to thank him for. You can complain, you
           cannot thank him; so your prayers are more of complaints, less of thanks. You cannot say, "Thank
           you." How can you? For what? In fact, you are very angry with God. Why has he given birth to you?
           Why has he created so much misery? Why has he put you in such anguish and turmoil? Why in the
           first place? What wrong have you done? If suddenly you come across God you will jump upon him.
           That's why he goes on hiding. You will kill him. You will say, "What have you been doing? For
           what are we suffering? What wrong have we done? Why did you make us in the first place? Not to
           be would have been better -- no anxiety, no anguish. Not to be would have been more peaceful. Why
           did you create us?"
                The whole existence seems to be mischievous. It seems as if somebody, a sadistic God, is sitting
           there, torturing people, creating a thousand and one ways to torture them.
                Right now you cannot thank him because right now you are not. When you are, you will be able
           to thank him. And the way to be goes through death, through surrender. And the way goes through
           silence. But it is not easy to be silent; it is the most arduous thing to be silent.
           Now this small story:

              THE PUPILS OF THE TENDAI SCHOOL USED TO STUDY MEDITATION BEFORE ZEN ENTERED
              JAPAN. FOUR OF THEM, WHO WERE INTIMATE FRIENDS, PROMISED ONE ANOTHER TO
              OBSERVE SEVEN DAYS OF SILENCE.
              ON THE FIRST DAY ALL WERE SILENT, BUT WHEN THE NIGHT CAME AND THE OIL LAMPS
              WERE GROWING DIM, ONE OF THE PUPILS COULD NOT HELP EXCLAIMING TO A SERVANT:
              "FIX THOSE LAMPS. "
              THE SECOND PUPIL WAS SURPRISED TO BEAR THE FIRST ONE TALK. "WE
              ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY A WORD, " HE REMARKED.
              YOU TWO ARE STUPID. WHY DID YOU TALK?" ASKED THE THIRD.
              I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS NOT TALKED -- THANK GOD!" CONCLUDED THE FOURTH.


               What happened? The Tendai school is a school of meditation. Before Zen entered Japan, Tendai
           was very much prevalent. But that too was a school of meditation. In fact, because of Tendai and its
           roots in Japan, Zen could enter Japan. These things don't happen suddenly; you need a climate. A
           country does not become suddenly interested in meditation. It needs a climate. The climate is born
           out of long tradition.
               In the Tendai school a seven-day silence was ordinarily prescribed to every disciple. Why a
           seven-day silence? It is very symbolic; the number is symbolic. Man has seven centers, and each
           center has to attain silence. You may not have looked at it in that way. When the sex center becomes
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           silence it is BRAHMACHARYA, it is celibacy. When the heart center becomes silence it is
           compassion. If the heart center is in turmoil there is anger. If the sex center is in turmoil, shouting,
           there is sexuality. All the seven centers of man have to become silent. When all of them are chained
           in silence, then this whole being of man falls silent. In that silence one knows the first principle --
           one IS the first principle.
                So these disciples must have been told by some Master to be silent for seven days. But man
           functions in a mechanical way. If you sit silently that doesn't mean you will Become silent. In fact,
           just the reverse will happen: if you sit silently you will find a rush of thoughts coming to you. You
           will be more crowded by thoughts than ever. All sorts of thoughts -- relevant, irrelevant, meaningful,
           meaningless -- they all will jumble together. It will be rush-hour traffic. And they will all claim your
           attention. Your attention will become fragmentary; you will almost feel like going mad. You will be
           torn apart. You will feel you are being pulled and pushed in so many directions... you will start
           feeling crazy.
                Just to sit does not help. One has to be very aware. These four disciples were not aware at all, so
           when the one said, "Fix those lamps" to a servant who was passing by, he must have done it in a very
           unconscious way; otherwise he was to keep silent. It was none of his business whether the lamps
           were getting dim or not. He had to remember that he was in silence, but he forgot.
                The story is not humorous; it is tragic. That's how things are with you, with everybody.
                It happened after twenty-four hours. Try it. Just take your wristwatch today and sit silently, put
           your wristwatch in front of you, look at the second hand. The second hand moves one complete
           circle in one minute. Just watch the second hand and remember that "I am to remember the second
           hand moving; I am not to forget it." And it will be difficult for you even to remember for fifteen
           seconds; you will forget. After two, three seconds you will start thinking something else; then again
           you will remember; then again you will forget. In one minute you will forget at least four, five times.
           You will not be able to remember for one continuous minute that you are to remember the second
           hand moving, that you are not to go anywhere else.
                So please don't laugh at this story. The first reaction is laughter, but it is very tragic. It is how we
           are.
                For twenty-four hours they are sitting silently; then suddenly one servant is passing and one of
           the pupils says, "Fix those lamps." Not that he is interested in the lamps. Anything would have
           provoked him; anything would have become the excuse. He wanted to say something! He must have
           been getting crazy. That's why the second cannot tolerate it; he says, "What? We are not supposed to
           say a word!" And the third says, "You two are stupid! Why did you talk?" And the fourth says, "I am
           the only one, thank God, who has not talked yet." They all wanted to say something, to release, to
           get a little relief. It must have been getting too heavy on them.
                So one thing, when you sit silently, all doors for your thoughts to be released through are closed,
           so they hammer within you, they start gathering within you. They become a mob. Their presence
           becomes heavy; then you will find any excuse and you will say something.
                In many traditions a mantra is given, chanting is given. The Master gives you a mantra. That is
           just to help you so you don't go mad, nothing else. It is just a help for the beginners. A mantra is
           given -- go on repeating, "Ram, Ram, Ram...." That will help; this will remain a release. Other
           thoughts will not bother you too much; at least one passage is open so something can flow. You can
           go on repeating, "Ram, Ram, Ram..." and this will help you in the beginning, but this is not real
           meditation. It is just a preparation for meditation. What Maharishi Mahesh Yogi calls
           "transcendental meditation" is neither meditation nor transcendental. It is just a cleaning; a beginner
           prepares himself for meditation.
                Meditation starts with silence, not with a mantra; but a mantra can be helpful if you are very
           alert. Otherwise even the mantra can become dangerous; you may get too addicted to it. Then you
           remain outside the temple. The mantra is a help if you know that it is just to make you ready by and
           by to become silent.
                Many thoughts are there; then one thought is allowed to you -- "Ram, Ram, Ram...." Ninety-nine
           thoughts are not allowed, one is allowed. If you can attain this, then one day that one has to be
           dropped too. But if this one becomes very strong -- and there is every possibility it will become
           strong because your whole attachment that was divided in a hundred thoughts will now fall on one
           thought -- it will become a very deep attachment. It will become your very soul. If somebody will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say, "Drop it," you will be angry. "This is my mantra," you will say. "How can I drop it?" Even a
           man like Ramakrishna found it very difficult to drop his Mother Kali, at the last moment.
                Difficult. You have cultivated it so much; you have put so much into it. All your desires, all your
           projections, all your thoughts, you have poured into it. It becomes one of the strongest thoughts in
           your being. It will be very difficult. So unless you are alert from the very beginning, a mantra can
           poison you rather than help you.
                In the Tendai school there is no mantra, so these four disciples must have been getting very
           volcanic. They must have been sitting on a volcano; they must have been ready to explode. The
           passing of the servant and the oil lamps growing dim was just an excuse.
                The mind is so habituated to thinking, so habituated to expressing itself that it is almost
           impossible to get out of it -- unless you put your total energy in getting out of it, unless you make it a
           life-and-death problem. If you are just trying so-so, it will not help. If you are just making a
           lukewarm effort, it will not help. Unless it really becomes a life-and-death problem it is not going to
           help.
                A man came to Sheikh Farid and said, "I would like to know God. Can you give me some
           method?" Farid said, "I am going to river to take my bath; you come with me. And if I get a chance I
           will give you the method." They went to the river. The man was very Curious as to what he was
           going to give him at the river. At the river Farid said, "Now you also unrobe and get down into the
           river with me. Let us first take a bath." So the man got down into the river, and when he came close
           to Farid, Farid jumped on top of him, pushed him down into the river. Farid was a very strong man.
           The seeker could not understand what was happening. He had come to ask how to attain God, and
           this man was trying to kill him!
                But when it is a question of life and death, even the seeker, who was not a very strong man, also
           tried hard. He threw Farid away, and when he came out of the water he said, "What nonsense! I had
           always thought that you are a pious man. You have fame as a mystic, and what were you doing? Are
           you a murderer? And I have not done anything to you; I have just asked a question, how to attain to
           God." And Farid said, "That's what I was doing -- giving you a method. Just now tell me one thing
           first, in case you forget. What happened when I was pushing you down into the river? How many
           thoughts were there in your mind?"
                He said, "Thoughts? There was only one thought -- how to get rid of you. And by the end even
           that disappeared. Then there was only an effort, not a thought -- no thought. My whole life was at
           stake. It was just an effort to get out of the river somehow. And I had lo put all my energies --
           known, unknown, conscious, unconscious, whatsoever -- because this seemed to be the last
           moment."
                Farid said, "That is the method. When God become a life-and-death problem -- not a question,
           not a curiosity, but a life-and-death problem -- when your life and death hang on the very question,
           on the very quest, only then will you be able to know."
                Now these four seekers are sitting there. Lukewarm they must be. They don't know what they are
           doing. Somebody has told them to sit silently; they are sitting. Mind functions mechanically. To get
           out of it you will have to use all your energy. The possibility is there; you can get out of it.
                Gurdjieff used to say that man is a machine. Then somebody asked, "Then what is the difference
           between a real machine and man?" And Gurdjieff said, "The difference is if man wants, he can go
           beyond the machine too. The machine cannot." Otherwise there is no difference. As man exists he is
           a machine. The only difference is in the future, in the possibility, potentiality. If man wants to get out
           of the mechanical world he can, but great effort will be needed.

               A city fellow bought a place in the country recently and was going to raise livestock, but when
           he arrived at his farm, all he found was a large, ancient sow. "Hell of a note," he muttered and
           stamped off to the general store. The storekeeper was sympathetic and volunteered that he should
           breed his sow with Farmer Jones' boar, and soon he would be in the livestock business. "Great idea,"
           said the slicker.
               So he loaded his son in a wheelbarrow and took her to Farmer Jones'. The next morning he
           rushed out of bed and looked into the pigpen, but no piglets. Disgusted, he went back to the store,
           and the storekeeper tolerantly recommended Farmer Smith's boar now.
               Once again the sow was loaded in the wheelbarrow and taken down the road, and once again the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           next morning the slicker found no piglets. This routine went on for a week, and finally on the eighth
           day, the slicker refused to get out of his warm bed in the early morning. Rolling over to his wife, he
           said, "Look out the window and see if there are any piglets in the pen."
               His wife looked. "There aren't any piglets in the pen," she said, "but the sow is back in the
           wheelbarrow."

               That's how the mind functions -- mechanically. It goes on doing things which it has been doing.
           It goes on repeating.
               If you really want to become a man, get out of your repetitions. There are no bad habits and no
           good habits. because all habits are bad. To live through habits is to live a mechanical life. Get
           beyond, become aware.
               Now, all these four men just said things out of habit, not knowing what they were saying.
               And it is very easy for you to see others committing mistakes, errors, because you can look at
           others objectively. It is very difficult to look at yourself. The moment you start looking at yourself,
           you are becoming nonmechanical. To become aware of your habits is the beginning of a
           nonmechanical life, is the beginning of life itself. To exist as a machine is not to exist at all.
               Three small stories of how man is. Because of mechanical habits he lives unconsciously. You do
           a thousand and one things, but you simply go on doing them because you have been doing them.
           First scene:

               One of the two drunks standing beside a lamp post asked his companion, "Say, you gotta
           match?"
           "I think so," said his companion. "Let me see." He reached in his pocket, withdrew a stick match and
           rubbed the unsulphured end on the lamp post several times. No good," he said finally, and threw it
           away. He pulled out another and tried again to strike the unsulphured end. "No good," he said again,
           and threw it away. He reached into his pocket, found another match, and fortunately tried to light the
           proper end. It blazed up, but immediately he blew it out and thrust it into his pocket. "Ah," he
           beamed. "That's a good one. Gotta save it."

           The second scene:

               A cop approached three drunks on a park bench. The one in the middle was snoring peacefully,
           apparently passed out, but the two on either side were going through the motions of fishing, casting
           out their lines, jerking them, and reeling them in swiftly. The cop watched for a while and then
           shook the middle man awake.
           "Are these nuts friends of yours, buddy?"
           The drunk nodded.
           "Well, get them out of here and make it snappy."
           The drunk agreed, saluted, and began rowing vigorously.

           The third scene:

               Mort and Leo wandered into one of those new fangled bars and sat down in a booth. The sign on
           the wall of their booth said, "Push button to call the waiter." Mort pushed the button, and sure
           enough the waiter appeared. "Two beers," ordered Mort and the waiter brought them their beers.
           This kept up for a good four hours, and it was hard to say which pleased them more, drinking beer or
           pushing the button for the waiter. Finally, full of fun and good cheer the two parted and went home.
           The next morning Leo's wife had him on the carpet. "What the hell did you think you were doing last
           night?" she demanded. Leo was puzzled. "I don't know. What was I supposed to have done?"
           "All night long," remonstrated his wife, "you kept poking your finger into my navel and calling for
           two beers."

               A mechanical mind is an unconscious mind. You go on doing things, but not knowing what you
           are doing and why you are doing them. And while doing them there is no awareness. Walking, you
           walk, but there is no awareness. Eating, you eat, but there is no awareness. Talking, you talk, but
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no awareness.
                The story is significant. It says the first did it unconsciously -- and the second could see the error
           -- but the second did something unconsciously himself. The third could see the error of them both,
           but himself committed the same error! And the fourth could see the error of all three and thanked
           God that "I am the only one who has not yet broken silence." It is very easy to see the error of
           somebody else because that is not YOUR mechanical thing. You can be aware of it. When it comes
           to your own mechanical things you become completely unaware.
                Can't you see? Somebody is eating too much and you can say very easily, "Don't eat too much."
           Somebody is angry and you can say, "What are you doing? Going mad?" Somebody is in love and
           doing foolish things and you can say, "Are you going mad? What are you doing?" But the question
           is, "Can the man who has fallen in love see it?"
                Just the other night, one beautiful sannyasin told me that she has fallen in love with a man and
           things are going really fantastically; the relationship is beautiful. I told her, "Every beginning of a
           relationship is beautiful. That is not something to brag about. The question is,'Can the beautiful
           relationship remain beautiful?' All relationships start in beauty, in sweetness, in harmony. All
           relationships start as they should be, but sooner or later things start falling. Sooner or later the
           negative asserts, sooner or later the ugly comes up -- then is the question." But the woman said, "It
           will not come." All that she said, summarized, will mean that she is an exception; it is not going to
           happen. And that is the foolishness of all lovers. That's how all lovers think, that it is not going to
           happen to them.
                And when it has happened, then it is too late. Then you cannot put things right again. When
           things start going wrong, there is no way to put them right again. Even if you put them right, they
           will never be the same. It is as if a cup has broken. You can put it right; you can glue it together. But
           it will never be the same again. It is better to handle it carefully from the beginning. And the first
           thing to know is that every relationship starts good and every relationship ends bad. Yours included,
           mind you! It is very easy to see that others are just unaware. "But we two who have fallen in love,
           we are different," -- that is the idea of everybody.
                Now, the woman was very confident -- and in that very confidence is the problem. In that very
           confidence she will miss because when you are so confident you don't take any precautions. When
           you are so confident you don't try to be aware of what is happening. Then you move unaware, and all
           that is in you, by and by, will come up -- is bound to come up.
                In the beginning when two lovers meet, they show their beautiful faces. Their gracefulness is
           infinite. Their care about each other is absolute. It has to be so because both are showing their
           beautiful parts. But when they will be together for twenty-four hours, then it will be impossible. It
           will be too heavy to keep the ugly parts always hidden; by and by the ugly parts will take revenge.
           They will start coming up.
                When you fall in love, why do we call it "fall"? It is called "fall" because it helps you to be
           unconscious. It is a fall. You become unconscious. We say somebody has "fallen" asleep, somebody
           has "fallen" in love. "Fall" means now you are no more conscious; you are behaving very
           mechanically. Love in itself is mechanical. Then, when the hate starts coming, you will be a victim
           of that too.
                If you really want to change your life, start immediately. If you have fallen in love, make it an
           awareness. Do things with full awareness. See that you are showing the positive aspects of you and
           you are hiding the negative. See well that this cannot last long, so something has to be done. If the
           relationship has to become really intimate, if it is to go long, then something has to be done. And that
           something has to be done in you, not in the other! Otherwise the woman thinks the husband has
           betrayed, the husband thinks the woman has betrayed. That's what these four people thought: the
           other is doing the wrong.
                Whenever you throw the responsibility on the other, you are avoiding awareness. Let this be a
           very fundamental law. Whenever you throw responsibility on the other, you are saying, "I am doing
           perfectly well; the other is doing wrong." A man who is trying to be aware will always see that "I am
           responsible; I am doing something wrong." It is not a question of whether the other is doing wrong
           or not. That is HIS problem. That is not your problem. Your problem is whether you are doing
           something unconsciously. If you are doing something unconsciously, then things cannot go on being
           beautiful forever. Then all that is there is going to be temporary; it cannot have the quality of the
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           eternal; it cannot have the timeless beauty and divinity in it.
                So always remember, when you see somebody doing something wrong, somebody committing an
           error, rather than jumping on him, look into yourself -- what you are doing. If you can watch
           everybody's error and everybody's error becomes a remembrance of your own errors, your life will
           be transformed. Then everybody will become a teacher to you. Then the whole of life becomes your
           Master. Everywhere you will find arrows pointing to you. The whole of life will be arrowed towards
           you, saying, "This is unconscious... this is irresponsible."
                We have found a very easy trick: we turn the arrows towards others. Others go on throwing the
           arrows towards us; we go on throwing the arrows towards others. In this game, life is lost. Don't
           continue playing this game.
                Your world is created by your consciousness or your unconsciousness. It has nothing to do with
           your wife, your husband, your children, your friends, your society. Your world is YOU. Bring light
           to your world. Bring more awareness to your world. And start existing less like a machine, more like
           a man. Otherwise one has been going from one life to another, repeating the same.
                You have repeated enough! Are you not yet bored? Are you not yet fed up with it? Start
           changing a few fundamental things. One, stop looking at others' errors, and each time you see
           somebody else committing an error, a mistake, start finding out immediately somewhere some
           mistake in yourself. In fact, to look at the mistake of the other is a way of avoiding your own
           mistake. One feels very good: "Somebody else is committing the mistake and I am perfectly okay."
           Start analyzing, observing. Become more critical about your habits, about your ways, about your
           style of life.
                I have heard about one man who married eight times. Each time he thought, "I have found the
           wrong woman." And he was not wrong. After each marriage there was misery. He divorced the first
           woman, tried to find another, and again after a few months the same misery. And he was surprised at
           how he managed to find the same type of woman again and again! Eight times he married, and all
           the times he married the same type of woman. And each time he was trying to be more alert not to
           fall in the trap again, but he fell -- because when you choose a woman the chooser is the same. How
           can you change the woman!
                If the chooser is the same, the choice is going to be the same. Again the same thing will appeal to
           you. Maybe the face is a little different, the hairstyle is a little different, the color of the hair is a little
           different -- that is not the point. These are irrelevant things. A marriage does not depend on the color
           of the hair, a marriage does not depend on the color of the eyes, and a marriage does not depend on
           the length of the nose. These are superficial things. After two days, who looks at the size of the
           nose? Or who bothers about the color of the hair? In fact, if your wife suddenly goes and changes the
           color of her hair, the husband will be the last one to note it. Who bothers?
                But more essential is why you choose a certain woman, why you choose a certain man. Why?
           What fits with your mind? Again you will choose the same type of woman -- for the same reasons.
           Those reasons are unconscious. So you can go on changing women and you will not find the woman
           you are searching for. You can go on changing your job and you will not find the job you are
           searching for. And you can go on searching among the Masters -- from one to another you can go on
           moving -- and you will not find the Master you are searching for, unless you become more alert
           about your mechanical habits.
                Once you become aware of your mechanical habits things start changing. Then the first ray of
           light has entered. Then you will choose a different kind of woman, because you have become
           different. Then you will choose a different kind of Master, because you have become different. Then
           you will choose EVERYTHING in a different way, because you are different. And if a person
           chooses out of awareness, he chooses rightly.
                People come to me and they ask, "What is right and what is wrong?" I say, "Awareness is right;
           unawareness is wrong." I don't label actions as wrong and right. I don't say violence is wrong.
           Sometimes violence can be right. I don't say love is right. Sometimes love can be wrong. Love can
           be for a wrong person, love can be for a wrong purpose. Somebody loves his country. Now, this is
           wrong because nationalism is a curse. Somebody loves his religion. He can kill, he can murder, he
           can burn others' temples. Neither is love always right nor is anger always wrong.
                Then what is right and what is wrong? To me, awareness is right. If you are angry with full
           awareness, even anger is right. And if you are loving with unawareness, even love is not right.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So let the quality of awareness be there in every act that you do, in every thought that you think,
           in every dream that you dream. Let the quality of awareness enter into your being more and more.
           Become suffused with the quality of awareness. Then whatsoever you do is virtue. Then whatsoever
           you do is good. Then whatsoever you do is a blessing to you and to the world in which you live.

                Ponder over this small story. It is a story of four unconscious people who are trying to be silent.
           But they have not understood the laws of thought, they have not understood the law of being
           unconscious. They don't know that man is a machine. They don't know that to look at the other is a
           way of avoiding oneself. They are not yet conscious of what they are doing. Even though they are
           sitting in meditation and trying to be silent, they are not aware of the science of silence, of the yoga
           of meditation. Hence this foolish anecdote became possible.
                You will be repeating the same thing. All, the whole of humanity, are repeating. Don't think that
           you are an exception! Don't think that if you were one of these four people you would not have
           committed this. Know well you would have committed it! This story is about you. It has nothing to
           do with the Tendai school. These four can be Rajneesh sannyasins.
                Watch each step that you take -- in action or in thought. The only goal is awareness... and then
           your whole life is transformed. Then your whole life attains to a new quality, to a new dimension.
           And that dimension leads to the first principle.
           YOU are the first principle!




                                                The First Principle
                                                    Chapter #4
                                           Chapter title:Go with the River
           14 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704140
              ShortTitle: PRINCI04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 104 mins




              BELOVED OSHO, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING


               THAT'S FAR OUT, VIDYA. If it is really true, then it is great. If you don't understand anything,
           then the door is open, then there is nothing to hinder your way, to hinder your vision. It is knowledge
           that is obstructing. Ignorance is an opening. Ignorance is very blissful. k is knowledge that creates
           noise. k is knowledge that does not allow you to see. If your eyes are completely rid of knowledge,
           then what is there to hinder you from seeing the truth? The truth is obvious. You just need a clarity
           to see it. Ignorance gives that clarity.
               To be consciously ignorant is to be in satori. A child is ignorant, but not conscious of his
           ignorance. A saint is ignorant, but is conscious of his ignorance. He knows that he knows not. That's
           the only difference. The child also knows not, but he does not know it. The saint knows that he
           knows not. His whole knowledge consists of one single thing: that there is nothing to be known and
           there is no possibility to know, that the whole effort towards knowledge is futile, that existence is
           such a mystery that it can never be reduced to knowledge.
               All that we know is superficial, arbitrary. All that we know has nothing to do with reality. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reality remains untouched by our knowledge. The reality remains mysterious.
               If it is really true that you have become aware of your ignorance, then there is nothing else to be
           sought, nothing else to attain. Relax in this ignorance. Accept this ignorance. And feel blissful.
               But it may not be true. That's why I say IF it is true. It may again be just a hankering to know.
           Then you have not understood, then you are not at ease with your nonknowing. The question seems
           to be because you are worried; otherwise why a question? You are worried. Something is gnawing at
           your heart. You are worried that "I don't understand anything, and I have to understand." In fact,
           when Vidya had come, she must have thought that she knows. Now by and by I have been
           hammering on her, and her knowledge has disappeared. Now she is worried.
               When you come to me you come full of knowledge. You come with much luggage, and that
           luggage has to be destroyed, burned utterly, so that you cannot find it again. When you lose your
           luggage you start feeling as if you are missing something. Naturally so. You have been carrying the
           load so long; now suddenly it is gone; you feel you are missing something. The question has arisen
           because of your feeling that something is being missed: "I don't know anything?" The knowledge has
           disappeared and ignorance has not yet been accepted.
               If you don't accept ignorance, sooner or later you will attain to knowledge again, you will start
           gathering and hoarding. And this time you will hoard in a more subtle way so that it cannot be easily
           taken away from you.
               Beware. These are the moments when you need a Master to say to you, "Accept and relax into
           this ignorance." I am not here to impart knowledge to you. I am here to take it away from you.
               In one of the most ancient books in India, SHIVASUTRA, there is a tremendously significant
           sutra: "GYANAM BUNDHAM ""Knowledge is bondage." When there is no knowledge, a man is
           free. It is such a radical statement: all knowledge is bondage. The moment you know that you don't
           know, the bondage falls, but if you have lived in the bondage for long, you start accepting it as part
           of you.
               If a man has lived in prison for many years with chains on his hands and on his feet and then you
           suddenly take away the chains -- he will not even be able to sleep in the night. He has become
           accustomed to them; he needs that weight, that noise. When he used to turn in the night, those chains
           used to make noise; now suddenly the noise will not be there. He will become awake again and again
           in the night: something is missing. Walking, he will feel as if he is naked: something is missing. He
           has become accustomed to that weight, and that's how everybody has become accustomed to the
           weight of knowledge. Knowledge is a bondage.
               The question arises only because the acceptance has not arisen yet. You can miss this great
           opportunity of being ignorant.
               Relax, love it, embrace it, feel one with it, and there will arise a new sort of innocence. You were
           innocent when you were a child. This will be a new birth and a new sort of innocence. Again you
           will become a child, and yet your childlike quality will not be childish; it will have a maturity in it.
               Sometimes reading, sometimes listening, and particularly listening to Zen, you may start feeling,
           "I don't know anything." Because the Zen people are very much against knowledge, you may start
           clinging to the idea of not knowing. But that idea is not going to help. That idea is again part of
           knowledge. Listening to the Zen Masters, you may start getting attached to the very idea of not
           knowing. Then this idea of not knowing becomes your knowledge.
               To be really in deep ignorance means you don't even have the idea of nonknowledge. You are
           simply innocent. The knowledge has disappeared, and nothing has appeared in its place.
           Let me tell you this famous anecdote:

              Traditionally Zen monasteries will only admit wandering Zen monks if they can show proof of
           having solved a koan..

               And you can solve a koan only when you have fallen into deep ignorance, not before it, because
           a koan is not a puzzle. Or if it is a puzzle, then it is not an ordinary puzzle. An ordinary puzzle can
           be solved by the mind; if you put your mind to it you can find a way to solve it; it has a solution. A
           koan is such a puzzle that it has no mind solution possible; you cannot solve it. It is not a question of
           what you do, it is insoluble. Mind cannot give any answer to it.
               For example, Zen Masters say, "Listen to the sound of one hand clapping." Now, one hand
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot clap, and unless it claps there will not be any sound, so to what are you going to listen? The
           mind will work out many solutions, and all will be meaningless, and the Master will send you back
           again and again. Again listen. Meditate. The solution will happen one day when the mind disappears.
           When you work hard with the mind and the mind finds no way to reach any solution, out of sheer
           tiredness the mind falls flat on the ground. Suddenly you are in a state of no-mind, and you hear the
           sound of one hand clapping.
                The mind hears only the sound of two hands clapping be cause the mind lives in duality. The
           mind can hear only a created sound. When the mind disappears, you hear the soundless sound, what
           the Hindus call ANAHAT NAD. The word ANAHAT means exactly the same as what Zen people
           call the sound of one hand clapping. If you clash two things there is a sound that is called AHAT
           NAD, a sound that comes out of conflict. And there is a sound permeating existence itself -- which is
           not created, uncreated. When you become so silent that the mind has disappeared, disappeared with
           all its noise, suddenly that soundless sound is heard, that AUMKAR, that ANAHAT NAD is heard.
           But that happens only when the mind has gone.

               Traditionally Zen monasteries will only admit wandering Zen monks if they can show proof of
           having solved a koan.
               It seems that a monk once knocked on a monastery gate. The monk who opened the gate did not
           say "Hello" or "Good morning" but "Show me your original face, the face you had before your father
           and mother were born."...

              This is a koan. And the host is asking the guest to show some sign that he can solve a koan;
           otherwise he is not worthy of being allowed to stay in the monastery; then he will have to go away.

               ... The monk who wanted a room for the night smiled, pulled a sandal off his foot and hit his
           questioner in the face with it. The other monk stepped back, bowed respectfully, and bade the visitor
           welcome. After dinner, host and guest started a conversation, and the host complimented his guest on
           his splendid answer.
           "Do you yourself know the answer to the koan you gave me?" the guest asked.
           "No," answered the host, "but I knew that your answer was right. You did not hesitate for a moment.
           It came out quite spontaneously. It agreed exactly with everything I have heard or read about Zen."
           The guest did not say anything, and sipped his tea. Suddenly the host became suspicious. There was
           something in the face of his guest which he did not like.
           "You DO know the answer, don't you?" he asked.
           The guest began to laugh and finally rolled over the mat with mirth.
           "No, reverend brother," he said, "but I too have read a lot and heard a lot about Zen."

               Hearing me, there are many things you will start imagining, many things you will start believing.
           Beware, because those things won't help. Hearing Zen, reading Zen is not going to give you Zen.
           Zen is a quality that you have to attain to. It is a new vision of life and reality. It is a new penetration
           into the mystery of existence. It is not intellectual; it is existential. You have to throb with it, your
           heart has to beat with it, you have to breathe it in and out. It is not going to be just an intellectual
           understanding.
               Listening to me, the understanding will come to you intellectually very easily because
           whatsoever I am saying is simple. There is nothing difficult about it. It is not very complex. I am not
           spinning any philosophical theories here. I am simply stating simple facts.
               Now, this fact is simple that a child has an innocent clarity. And one day if you also attain
           consciously to that childhood -- what Jesus calls. "When you are reborn," that is rebirth -- then you
           will be able to see what is. But listening to me, you may start thinking, "Yes, that's right. I also don't
           know anything." But is it your understanding, or just a reflection of my understanding? Is it your
           experience, or just an imitation?
               It happens -- in the presence of every Master it happens -- because man is naturally imitative.
           Darwin is right. Man comes from the monkeys, and is very imitative. He can imitate anything.
           I have heard there was a great Master:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The Master would sit for hours alone in his cave meditating, his only companion being a favorite
           cat which he tied to a post in his cave during his periods of meditation. As years went by his fame
           spread and he soon had a number of pupils who came came to learn from him and who made him
           their guru or their Master. He instructed his pupils to meditate as he did. Soon each pupil could be
           observed meditating with a cat tied to a post by his side.

                The Master died, so what did the pupils do? They had known always of one cat being tied to a
           post by the side of the Master. Naturally they thought the cat must have something to do with
           meditation. And cats are very esoteric people. The cat must have something to do with meditative
           energy. Somehow the cat must have been a help; otherwise why? The Master used to do it
           continuously. For years they had seen it. Whenever he was meditating, the cat was there tied to the
           post.
                He had to tie the cat; otherwise the cat would disturb his meditation! The cat may jump into his
           lap, might like to play with him. Cats don't bother whether you are meditating or not, so the cat has
           to be tied to the post. But what about the disciples? They watched. And you can see only the
           outward; the inner remains invisible. Naturally they also tried to imitate it.
                It happens. Beware of that too. Don't be imitative. Just because I am saying something, you need
           not repeat it. If you repeat it, it will not be helpful for your own growing understanding. Don't repeat
           it. Let it sink into your being. Experience it.
                If I say something, there is no need to believe in it. There is no need to disbelieve either. Remain
           open. If I say something, then try it. Then look at the trees without any ideas whatever. Look at the
           birds and the sky with no knowledge. Drop language and see whether what I am saying gives you
           clarity. If you can drop the word "rose" and then see the rose flower, what happens? You will
           immediately feel a new kind of relationship arising between you and the flower. Don't even call it a
           flower; there is no need. Your language is not needed to support it; it exists without language. Why
           bring language in? Put language aside. Put aside your continuous gibberish that goes on inside the
           mind. Just look.
                In the beginning it is difficult -- the language will come up again and again, just out of old habit
           -- but sooner or later it comes easily: you can remain at least for a few moments without language.
           Listening to the song of the birds or the murmur of the wind passing through the trees, or the river,
           you can remain without language for a few seconds. And in those seconds will be the proof of what I
           have been saying to you. Suddenly you will see as if a great darkness has disappeared and
           everywhere is light. You can see as if the doors of perception have been cleansed.
                Ordinarily we are looking through dark curtains. The glass we are looking through is too dusty.
           Only fragments of reality appear, not the totality.
                Experience what I am saying, don't imitate, and then this is going to happen to you: one day you
           will suddenly see you don't know anything. But this will be a vision, a realization. Then it is great. If
           it is truly happening, it is great.


              MEHER BABA HAS TALKED ABOUT GOD DESCENDING IN MAN (AVATAR, RASOOL, CHRIST)
              AND MAN RISING TO BE GOD (THE PERFECT MASTER, SADGURU, QUTUB, TEERTHANKARA).
              WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK TO US ABOUT THE SAME?


               God is. He neither ascends nor descends. Where can he ascend to and where can he descend to?
           God is all. There is nothing in to which God can ascend or descend. There is nobody else other than
           God. All that is is divine. So the first thing: there is no ascendence, no descendence.
               But when Meher Baba says it, there must be some meaning in it. The meaning is something quite
           different. Let me explain it to you.
               God is, remember. God is a pure isness, pure existence, and there is nowhere for God to go or
           come. The whole is full of him. He fills his existence, one thing. Second thing: but Meher Baba must
           be true. Then there must be some other meaning to it -- not God descending and ascending. What can
           be the meaning? The meaning is there are two ways of man approaching God.
               What do I mean by "man" when God is the only reality? Man is the God who has forgotten that
           he is God; man is a God who has forgotten himself.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Man can remember his godliness in two ways. One way is that of surrender, devotion, love,
           prayer; another way is that of will, effort, meditation, yoga. If a man tries to work his way through
           will, then he will feel he is ascending towards God or he is reaching towards God through his will.
           Hence Jainas call the man who attains to godliness a TEERTHANKARA. TEERTHANKARA
           means consciousness has reached the peak; man has arrived by ascending, as if there has been a
           ladder, the ladder of the will, the ladder of effort and yoga. So is the concept of the Buddhas; that too
           is the path of will. Avatar means God descending; that is another approach, when a man surrenders.
           He cannot ascend. He simply opens his heart and waits, prays and waits, and suddenly he starts
           feeling a stirring in his heart. Certainly he will see "God has descended in me." Avatar means
           descendence, God coming down.
           Mahavir went up. For Meera, God came down.
                But God never comes down, never goes up. God is where he is. But your experience will be
           different. If you try hard to achieve God, you will go higher and higher and higher; naturally you
           will feel the God hidden inside you is arising, rising up, reaching to the zenith. But if you surrender,
           nothing is arising in you. You are where you are, you simply wait in deep prayer, in deep love, in
           deep trust, and one day you find God is descending in you, coming from above. These are the
           experiences of two types of seekers. It has nothing to do with God. It has something to do with the
           seeker and his way: will or surrender, effort or prayer, yoga or BHAKTI.
                So the religions which believe in BHAKTI, in devotion.... Christianity says Christ comes from
           God. That is the meaning of saying that he is God's son -- he comes from above, he has been sent.
           And that is the meaning of Mohammed -- he is a prophet, a messenger, PAIGAMBAR.
           PAIGAMBAR means a messenger who comes from above, brings the message. He does not belong
           to this world; he comes like a ray of light into the darkness. And so is the concept of the Hindus'
           avatar -- Krishna, Ram -- they come, they come into the world.
                The Buddhist, the Jaina concept is just the reverse. They say there is no God to come, and God is
           not a father and he cannot have a son. These are all very childish concepts for them. And if you look
           through their eyes they are; these concepts are childish, very anthropomorphic, man-centered. You
           create God in your own image, as if God also has a family. He has a family -- the Trinity: God the
           Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost must be a woman; otherwise the family
           will not be exactly as it should be.
                But why don't Christians call the Holy Ghost a woman? Male chauvinism. They cannot make a
           woman also part of the Trinity; it is difficult for them, very difficult for them. So to what have they
           reduced their God? It seems to be a homosexual family. All men, not a single woman there. It looks
           ugly. But my feeling is that the Holy Ghost must be a woman.
           We create God in our own image.
                Jainas and Buddhists say that there is no God and there is no God's family and nobody comes
           from there. Then what has one to do? One has to arise. God is in you like a seed, as a tree arises from
           the earth and goes higher and higher. God is not like rain falling, but a tree arising. Man has the seed.
           Man is potentially God. So when you work hard, you start growing.
                These are the two concepts. That's why Meher Baba says, "... God descending in man (Avatar,
           Rasool, Christ) and man rising to be God (the Perfect Master, Sadguru, Qutub, Teerthankara)." But it
           has nothing to do with God.


              WHEN I WAS A CHILD I WAS INOCULATED AGAINST THE MEASLES. CAN I STILL CATCH THEM
              NOW?


               Yes, every child has been inoculated. Every child has been destroyed. Every child has been
           conditioned in such a way that he cannot get the measles I am talking about.
               You have been brought up as a Christian or a Hindu. That very upbringing closes your doors.
           Even if Christ comes' to you, you will not be able to see him. The idea that Christianity has given to
           you about Christ is so false, it is so foolish. it is so inhuman, that if Christ comes to you, you will not
           be able to recognize him. You will not be able to get the measles even from Christ! And Buddhists
           have created the idea of Buddha so abstractly and they have so conditioned their children with that
           abstract idea, with that inoculation, that even if Buddha comes across you, you will not be able to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           recognize him. So it is not only that a Christian will not be able to recognize Buddha, Mahavir,
           Patanjali, he will not even be able to recognize Christ.
                There is a beautiful story in one of Dostoevsky's novels, THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV.
           After eighteen hundred years Christ thinks, "Now almost half the world is Christian. If I go again I
           will be welcomed." The last time, they had treated him very badly, and it was natural because there
           was not a single Christian, there were only Jews; they tortured Jesus badly and they killed him. He
           must have still been thinking about the torture that he had met, but now he thinks, "Half of the world
           is Christian. Half of the world belongs to me; if I go now then people will simply fall at my feet.
           They will recognize a Christ has come back and he has fulfilled his promise."
                So he comes, he comes to the small town of Bethlehem. Must be some old attachment with the
           town, some nostalgia of those days, where he had played and worked and had been a carpenter, must
           have loved women, played with friends. And he was a man who knew how to celebrate. He was a
           man who knew how to give parties, how to dance and sing and how to love people. And he was a
           man who knew how to drink. He had loved the small joys of life. He was a real human being.
                And he used to call himself son of man more than he used to call himself son of God.
                So he comes to Bethlehem. Naturally he descends in front of the church. He stands there under a
           tree. Naturally he has chosen Sunday -- all the Christians are together and it will be easier for them
           to recognize him, because Christians believe in the Sunday religion. Six days they don't bother at all.
           Six days who will look at him? But Sunday they will be free and they will be able to look at him, so
           he stands under a tree. People come out of the church. They see a young man, looks like a hippie --
           long hair. They come around; seems to be a stranger in the town. The closer they come, the more
           they are surprised -- looks like Jesus Christ. Pretending well. Seems to be an actor. And they laugh
           and they say, "You did well, but escape before the priest comes out. Otherwise you are bound to get
           into trouble."
                But Jesus says, "What do you mean, did well? I am Jesus Christ."
                And they laugh and they say, "It is okay, but you just escape. You seem to be crazy. Jesus Christ,
           and you? Yes, he has promised to come, but he will come sitting on the clouds, angels dancing and
           singing around. Where are the angels and where is the cloud? And what proof have you got?" Proof
           -- a passport, a visa. "Have you got any certificate from your father?"
                Jesus had not thought about these practical things. He looks a little uneasy and nervous. And
           before he can escape, the high priest comes. People very, very respectfully give way to the high
           priest. The high priest comes, looks at this young man, and tells him to come down. He was standing
           under the tree on a platform. "Come down, you fool. What are you doing here?"
           Jesus says, "Even you cannot recognize me!"
                The priest says, "I recognize you very well." And he tells a few people, church attendants, "Take
           this man into the church. Seems to be dangerous, this man. Pretending that he is a Jesus Christ.? This
           is sacrilege. This cannot be tolerated. This man has to be punished! You cannot take Jesus so
           nonseriously."
                Jesus cannot believe it. He says, "But I am the real one."
           The Priest says, "You keep quiet."
                Jesus is chained, put into a dark cell in the church. He starts thinking and brooding "There seems
           to be no difference at all. This is the same way the Jews had acted. But they could have been
           forgiven because they did not know me. But my people, Christians, they sing to me every day, they
           think of me every day, they wait for me every day, and I have come, and they can't even recognize
           me. They think I am a pretender?"
                Now he feels even sorrier than he had felt on the cross, because those were alien people. If they
           had killed him it was understandable, but are these people going to kill him again?
                In the middle of the night he cannot sleep. In the middle of the night comes the priest with a
           candle, opens the door, locks it again, comes close to Jesus, falls at the feet of Jesus. And Jesus feels
           relieved, "So, nothing to be worried about. A little late, but he has recognized me."
                The priest says, "I know who you are, but I cannot recognize you in the marketplace. And mind
           you, you are not needed at all. We are doing perfectly well. And you are the old disturber. If you
           come you will destroy everything that we have done in eighteen hundred years. It has been a long
           struggle to establish Christianity -- and you have always been against establishment. You are not
           establishment. We will pray to you, we will sing your name, we will praise you like anything, but
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           please don't come. And if you insist on being recognized in the marketplace, then be ready:
           tomorrow morning you will be crucified. We cannot tolerate such things."
               Now Jesus is even more puzzled. This man recognizes him; he says, "I know that you arc the true
           one, but I cannot recognize you."
               The old priest says, "Listen to me. I am old, older than you, I am more experienced. I know how
           people live, I know how people behave. Don't try to be foolish again. Simply escape before the
           morning -- and never come back again."
           This is a beautiful parable.
               Yes, I know you are inoculated. That's why it is so difficult to catch the measles. I am carrying
           here. It is so difficult to drop your resistance. You find a thousand and one rationalizations how not
           to surrender. Surrender does not mean anything else: it simply means a state of no resistance, a state
           of vulnerability, a state of opening. And let me repeat: God cannot be taught, it can only be caught.
           God is like measles.
               You say, "When I was a child I was inoculated against the measles." Everybody has been
           inoculated. The society takes every care to make you closed. That's why the work of a Master is so
           hard. To attain to God is not hard, but because of this inoculation.... First the inoculation has to be
           undone, and that is the really hard thing. The poison that has been put into you in the name of
           inoculation has to be driven out of your system. That's why so many techniques are needed,
           meditations are needed, so that the poison oozes out of your system. The day your system is free of
           inoculation, suddenly you find the measles have started happening. And blessed are those who can
           get these measles.


              I WOULD LIKE TO BE A WORLD TEACHER, THE SECOND TEERTHANKARA OF THE
              "TRADITION OF THE MOON " IS IT POSSIBLE TO EXPOSE THIS DESIRE TO THE PUBLIC?


               First, if you really want to be a teacher, become a disciple. Unless you are a really deep disciple,
           you will not be able to become a teacher. If your disciplehood is perfect, one day suddenly you will
           find the Perfect Master has arisen in you. It comes only out of disciplehood. But disciplehood is
           difficult because the ego has to be dropped. Everybody would like to become a world teacher. It
           seems so beautiful, it seems such a beautiful ego trip. Who will not enjoy being in such a position
           where he can teach, where he can guide?
               But to where are you going to guide people? You are in the ditch. Resist the temptation.
           Otherwise it happens that the blind people start leading the blind people, and they all fall into the
           dark ditch.
               Yes, people are in need of guidance, so if you start exposing your desire to the public, you are
           bound to find disciples. There is no lack of disciples. If you expose yourself, that you are the world
           teacher, you will find suddenly that disciples have started to come. And their coming will help you to
           feel that maybe it seems you are really the world's teacher. Otherwise why are people coming? How
           can people be so foolish? By and by, looking into their eyes, feeling their confidence in you, you will
           start feeling confident about yourself.
               I have heard about a man, of course a Jew, who opened the first bank in the world, and he
           became very rich and the business was beautiful. When he became very old somebody asked him,
           "How in the first place did you start a bank? Nobody I wrote the name'Bank' and put the sign on my
           door. I had no trust in it that it would work, but I had nothing to do. I was unemployed, so I thought
           why not try. And within a few hours a man came and deposited his money. I was surprised. I looked
           at the man; I thought this seems to be the greatest fool in the town. I may escape with his money.
           Then came another and another, and by the evening I had deposits of a lot of money. And looking
           into these people's eyes, I became so confident that I deposited my own money in the bank!"
               That's how it works. If you just declare that you are a world teacher, you are bound to find
           disciples. And when the disciples come, certainly, you have to be truly a world teacher.
               And sometimes it will happen that not only will disciples come, but something will start
           happening to the disciples. Then you will be really surprised. Somebody's KUNDALINI arising.
           Somebody seeing visions. Just by touching your feet, somebody feeling great silence.
               It happened.... Ramkrishna loved this story very much.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


                There was a Master, his name was Tapobana, and Tapobana had a disciple who served him with
           irreproachable diligence. It was solely because of this diligence and the services he rendered that
           Tapobana kept him, for he found the disciple rather stupid.
                One day, the rumor spread throughout the whole region that Tapobana's disciple had walked on
           water -- that he had been seen crossing the river as one crosses the street.
                Tapobana called his disciple and questioned him: "Is what people are saying about you possible?
           Is it really true that you crossed the river walking on the water?"
           "What could be more natural?" answered his follower. "It is thanks to you, Blessed One, that I
           walked on water. At every step I repeated your saintly name, and that is what upheld me."
                And Tapobana thought to himself, "If the disciple can walk on water, what can the Master not
           do? If it is in my name that the miracle takes place, I must possess power I did not suspect and
           holiness of which I have not been sufficiently aware. After all, I have never tried to cross the river as
           if I were crossing the street."
                And without more ado, he ran to the river bank. Without hesitation, he set his foot on the water,
           and with unshakable faith repeated, "Me, me, me...." And sank.

           So you are carrying a very dangerous desire.
               The question is from Premprabhu. I know you. The first thing that you have to do is to learn the
           secrets of disciplehood; then one day the Ma.ster will be born. It is on the way, but don't be in a
           hurry; otherwise you will miss being a Master. If you try to become a Master, you will miss being a
           Master. The Mastership arises only when you learn slowly, slowly to dissolve into existence. The
           day you are not, you will be the Master, not before it. If you are, then still some work has to be done.
           You cannot be the Master. Only when you are absent does the Master become present in you.
               Right now it will be good if you take a bath. To explain this to you, let me tell you this anecdote:

               A sweet old lady visited a doctor and surprised him by saying, "Doctor, I think I am pregnant,
           and want you to verify it."
           It was obvious to the doctor, because of her advanced age, that she was imagining things. But he
           spoke to her kindly, "What makes you think you are pregnant?"
           "I know. I know it because I feel life," she said as she patted her stomach.
           To humor her along, the doctor asked her to disrobe. After a brief examination, he advised her to go
           home and take a bath and forget about the pregnancy.
           "But doctor," she insisted, "I tell you I feel life, and you tell me to go home and take a bath? And I
           am feeling life!" And she again patted her stomach.
           "Yes, yes," said the doctor gently, "you have got a bug in your navel."

           So go and take a bath.


              WHY AM I THE WAY I AM? I FEEL LIKE THE LOTUS WHO WANTS TO BE THE ROSE.


                So what is the trouble? So you are the lotus who wants to be the rose -- and be it.
                Whatever you are, you are. And it is to be accepted in absolute humility. Even if you are feeling
           that you are a lotus and you want to be the rose, so you are the lotus who wants to be the rose. What
           is is, and what ain't ain't! Relax into it, accept it, welcome it, and suddenly you will see a great peace
           surrounding you and a great silence arising in you and a great joy overflowing in you. We are
           missing joy because we are always trying to be something else.
                Now, I can understand your question. I have been telling you, "Don't try to be something else,"
           and I had told you, "A lotus is a lotus and a rose is a rose, and the lotus should not try to be a rose
           and the rose should not try to be a lotus; otherwise they will go neurotic." That's why you have asked
           the question.
                You say, "I feel like the lotus who wants to be the rose." So you are thinking you have asked a
           very relevant question, and I can understand why you feel that way, but listen to my answer: so you
           are the lotus who wants to be the rose -- so be it. That's what I mean: don't try to be anything else. If
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this is you, then this is you. Now, you would like to try to remain the lotus and not to be the rose. But
           if that is coming naturally to you, you will create a tension in yourself. Whatsoever comes naturally
           is good, whatsoever comes of its own accord is good.
                The question is from Shanti Sagar, and I can see the possibility of his deep acceptance of the
           fact. Accept it. If this is the way God wants you to be, then be this way. Then this is your destiny.
                Once you start accepting things, tensions disappear, anxieties fall, anguish is felt no more. And to
           be in a state of no anguish, no anxiety, no tension is to be religious.


              NO EFFORT IS REQUIRED TO BE BORN.
              NO EFFORT IS REQUIRED TO DIE.
              NO EFFORT IS REQUIRED TO FALL IN LOVE
              WHY IS SUCH EFFORT REQUIRED TO KNOW GOD (THROUGH MEDITATION)
              WHEN THIS SEEMS TO BE THE MOST NATURAL THING?
              IS GOD TRYING TO TEST US IN SOME WAY?


               First thing: no effort is required in meditation either. Meditation also comes on its own accord.
           Through effort it never comes. To whom has meditation happened through effort? It will be almost
           like making an effort to love somebody. How can you make any effort to love somebody? The more
           effort you make, the more the love will be false, pseudo, just a pretension. Love has to arise
           naturally. So arises meditation.
               But all meditators are not spontaneously in it -- and neither are all lovers spontaneously in it. In
           fact, psychologists say -- a tremendous discovery -- that if love is not talked about, ninety-nine
           percent of people will never know anything about it. If love is not talked about, if poets don't go on
           praising it, and if traditional literature is not available about love, ninety-nine percent of people will
           never be aware that anything like love exists. They will know about sex, but not about love. But
           because of the poets and because of the novelists and because of the films and the TV, love is talked
           so much about that everybody starts thinking that he is in love. That love is also false.
               And the same is the case with meditation. Ninety-nine percent of people start meditating because
           meditation is talked about. There are times when it becomes fashionable. America is passing through
           such a phase. Meditation is talked about; everybody is doing meditation. If you are not doing it you
           must be missing something. You don't feel any need for it, it has not arisen in your being, you have
           not come to that point of evolution where meditation happens on its own accord; but everybody is
           doing it and everybody is going to the Masters and everybody is sitting silently. Somebody is doing
           zazen and somebody is doing TM and somebody is doing Dynamic. You must be missing something.
           So greed arises; out of greed you start making effort.
               That effort is not for meditation. That effort is to gain something which you think will be gained
           out of meditation.
               These phases come and go. These cults arise and disappear. These are just like fashions. The real
           meditator has not come to meditate because others are meditating, but a deep need has arisen in him,
           has become a knocking in his heart, a continuous knocking. The whole world seems to be
           meaningless; he wants to go in. He wants to know who he is. Not because others have known! If
           there is nobody propagating meditation and no books are available and all books are destroyed and
           all Masters go and hide in the caves in the Himalayas, then too there will be a few people who will
           meditate, who will find out how to meditate on their own accord. Those will be the real meditators.
           And for them meditation will be just as easy as anything. It will be just like breathing.
               When such a man comes, then any technique functions for him. I observe it every day. If
           somebody whose time has come to meditate....
               It is just like sexual maturity. A boy of three years has no idea about sex, and even if the boy of
           three years comes to see a man making love to a woman, he will not understand what is happening.
           At the most, he will think the man is trying to kill the woman; they are fighting or something. He
           will not have any idea what is happening. By the age of fourteen, suddenly something explodes in
           his biology. He is not aware of what it is, but something is happening. He is the same no more.
               And then follows a time, a period, of very much embarrassment because the boy does not know
           what exactly is happening. But something is happening, something very much unknown, something
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           which is creating trouble, something which is hovering around; and he does not know what it is and
           how to tackle it and how to figure it out. It is a natural phenomenon; now sex has become mature;
           the sex gland is secreting.
                If life goes naturally, beautifully, if there are no lifenegative teachers, if there are no politicians
           and priests to distract you -- then near about the age of forty-two, exactly as sex maturity comes,
           comes meditation maturity, Near about the age of forty-two, one starts feeling to fall withinwards.
           Near the age of fourteen, one starts falling towards the other, becomes extrovert. Love is
           extroversion; relationship is to think of the other. Meditation is introversion; meditation is to think of
           one's own self, of one's own center.
                Between the age of fourteen and the age of forty-two there comes a change. By and by one lives
           life, knows what love is, knows its fulfillment and its frustration, knows its joy and its sadness,
           knows its beauty and its ugliness, knows that there are moments of great ecstasy and then great
           valleys of darkness. Then one starts by and by moving towards his own self, because to depend on
           the other can never be really ecstatic. If your joy depends on the other, that joy can never have the
           quality of freedom in it. And a joy which does not have the quality of freedom is not much joy. If
           you are dependent on the other, then there is a limitation.
                And the joy that comes through love is momentary. You can meet with the other only for
           moments, and then again you are separate and you fall apart. Just in the middle of it you fall apart.
           Just for a moment you become joined together. Then one starts thinking, "Is there a way to become
           one with existence and never to fall apart again?" That's what meditation is. Love is joining with
           existence through another person for only moments. Meditation is getting joined together with
           existence eternally. "Yoga" means "to join together".
                This has to happen somewhere in the deepest core. And then there is joy and then there is
           freedom. And then there is bliss and there is no dark valley following it. Then happiness is eternal,
           then celebration is eternal. But that moment comes. That too comes, remember.
                So you say, "No effort is required to be born. No effort is required to die. No effort is required to
           fall in love." I would like to tell you, "No effort is required to fall into meditation either."
                But if there are hindrances.... For example, in a primitive community, when the child is born
           there is no effort -- neither on the side of the child nor on the side of the mother. But that is not the
           case in a civilized society; effort is needed, the doctor's help is needed. Much effort is needed to help
           the child to be born, and the mother feels so much pain. And you don't know how much pain the
           child feels. If you want to know you can ask the Primal therapists how much trauma he passes
           through. That small tube, the small passage, from the mother's womb to the world is very painful.
           And the child wants to get out of it, and he thrusts hard to get out of it. And the mother feels pain
           because the passage is small and the child is big. And she wants to hold back, unconsciously. She
           cannot hold back -- in the nature of things the child has to come out -- but there is a struggle. The
           mother-and-the-child conflict has started. The child wants to get out and the mother is afraid and she
           is holding, she is controlling.
                This is true about the civilized person, not true about the uncivilized. The uncivilized mother
           simply goes with it. And the uncivilized person has no need for Primal therapy, because he never
           passes through any trauma; the mother is helpful. The child simply floats and comes out. In fact, you
           will be surprised to know that primitive women know such pleasure and ecstasy in childbirth that the
           ecstasy that comes through sexual orgasm is nothing compared to it.
                What is the ecstasy in sexual orgasm? A man is thrusting into the woman and her sexual energies
           start becoming vibrated, start becoming stirred. That is her sexual orgasm. That pulsation spreads all
           over the body. But it cannot be compared with the child thrusting and starting to come out. It is the
           same passage. And the child is far bigger than any male organ. Naturally the whole being pulsates
           and the body goes through a great orgasm.
                But only a primitive woman knows that, that it is great ecstasy to give birth to a child; it is not
           painful at all, it is joy. But when it is natural, then it is joy.
                You say no effort is required to be born...? Not for the civilized. The civilized person needs much
           effort to be born. Maybe the mother has been given tranquilizers, sedatives, she has been put into
           unconsciousness so she does not pass through great pain, or even the birth may be a Caesarian, the
           mother may have to be operated on. The doctor is needed, the nurse is needed, the midwife is
           needed. Why? To undo the wrong that the society has done.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You say no effort is required to die? You are wrong again. You can go and look in the American
           hospitals. Many old people are ready to die, and they want to die; they are not allowed to die. The
           question of euthanasia has become one of the most important questions for the future because
           medical science has really evolved and it can help a person to live for two hundred years or even
           more. He may not have much of a life, but he can hang on; he can hang on in a hospital. He will not
           be able to move or to talk or to love, but he can be just there vegetating. It will be tremendous misery
           and hell.
                Now, if he wants to die, no society allows him to die. They say, "It is illegal; you cannot commit
           suicide." A person who has become one hundred thirty or one hundred forty years of age wants to
           die because his existence is simply torture. The society seems to be very sadistic... they say, "You
           are not allowed to die; you will have to live." And the doctors will continue to help you to live
           because they have much compassion for you. Because of the compassion, you will have to live.
           Now, his wife is dead, his children are dead, his relations are dead, his friends are gone, and he is
           hanging on, for no purpose. He does not know what is going to happen tomorrow. Just hanging on
           and hanging on and hanging on.... Can you think of the misery that he will feel...? Then there will be
           the need to commit suicide. He will have to find ways and means. Maybe he will have to bribe the
           doctor to cut the connection from the oxygen tank, or not to give him any more medicines. He may
           have to bribe someone; effort will be needed.
                Natural death is natural, but man is not natural anymore! So nothing is natural -- not even death.
           If you die naturally, that will be a totally different thing. But you don't live naturally; how can you
           die naturally? Death has to be the culmination of whatsoever you have done in your life. If you have
           lived unnaturally, you will die unnaturally. A natural death is possible only if the life has been
           natural.
                So the questioner says, "No effort is required to die." You are true. In a very primitive society no
           effort is required, but because of the compassion of the missionaries, primitives have disappeared.
           They have all become educated people now. Now effort is needed to die.
                Why do so many people commit suicide? And the suicide rate goes on growing every year.
           Why? Isn't natural death enough...? Suicide means death with effort.
                And the suicide rate will go higher and higher if the governments are too adamant to relax and
           they don't allow people to die and they force them into nursing homes and into hospitals and force
           them to live against their wishes. Then more and more suicides will be there.
           Man has disturbed all that is natural.
                And you say no effort is required to fall in love? That too is not true. That too is not true.
           Looking at the TV continuously, looking at and watching films, reading poetry and novels, they all
           help you to fall in love. They give you the ideas; they nourish your so-called love. It is not natural.
                The natural has disappeared. All that is nature has disappeared; everything is false and plastic.
           Hence meditation also has to be false and plastic. But real meditation never happens through effort.
                Then what does one have to do? You have to do some effort in the beginning; otherwise you will
           never come close to any meditation technique, close to any meditation school. You will have to go
           through effort because you have become unnatural beings. Making effort will help you to understand
           what meditation is. It will not lead you into meditation; it will simply help you to understand what
           meditation is. It will help you to understand whether you can fall into that space called meditation
           easily or not.
                If you feel that it comes very easily to you, that you can fall in that space and you can reach that
           space, effort will disappear by itself. There will be no need. You can simply sit with closed eyes and
           it is there. It is so natural. But only once it happens, then it is very natural. And unless it has
           happened you will not be able to know whether you are a natural meditator or not; so effort will be
           needed.
                Man has been made so artificial that everything will have to be made through effort. But by
           making effort you will come to feel and see whether you can easily float into it or not.
                And you ask, "Why is such effort required to know God when this seems to be the most natural
           thing?" If it is the most natural thing, then it must have happened to the questioner. k has not
           happened; otherwise you would not be here. What is a God-realized man doing here...? There is no
           point. Your seeking has stopped if you have known. Yes, once you know, it is very simple and easy,
           but until you know it, effort will be needed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And remember, effort is not needed for meditation. Effort is needed to undo what the society has
           done to you. A dehypnosis is needed. The society has hypnotized you. The society has conditioned
           you; an unconditioning is needed. The society has made you dirty; a cleansing is needed. A good
           shower -- that's what your effort is. Once you have started feeling that meditation is your innermost
           quality, you can go into it anytime. It is so easy, as breathing. Then all effort disappears.
                And you ask, "Is God trying to test us in some way?" No. There is no God in the first place to
           test you. And even if there is a God, he is not in any way interested in testing and examining you.
           What is the point? And he is not a sadist to torture you.
                Teachers are sadists; examiners are sadists. You can ask the psychologists. They say people who
           want to torture others, they become teachers. Some tendency to torture. And you cannot find more
           beautiful opportunities than small children. Torture them, test them, examine them -- and for their
           own good! And nobody can prevent you, because you are doing it for their own good.
                God is not in any way interested in testing you. The problem is not arising because of God. The
           problem is arising because of your society, your politics, your priesthood. They have made you in
           such a way that you cannot meditate. They have made such simple things impossible.
                It is just like in the ancient days in China they used to put small shoes, iron shoes, on women's
           feet because that was the sign -- a smaller foot was the sign that the woman comes from a royal
           family. If the woman cannot walk rightly, she is royal! So no rich women were able to walk; they
           had small feet. And if you encase the feet in iron shoes, what are you doing? Great pain was suffered
           just to have small feet. Those feet cannot be beautiful. Those feet are ugly because the growth has
           not happened. How can something retarded be beautiful? But that was thought of for thousands of
           years as beautiful, and women suffered it -- and they enjoyed it, that they had small feet.
                Now that has disappeared. Now, if a royal woman, a rich woman in ancient China was to learn
           running, jogging, it would have been very difficult. Much effort would have been needed because
           she did not have the feet for it. Not that God is testing her -- just because the society is foolish and
           the society has conditioned her feet in such a way that she cannot run.
                And the same is true about a thousand and one things. Your society conditions you in a certain
           way; then you cannot do certain things. When you want to do them, much effort is needed to undo
           what the society has done.
                The society has taught you to think, and to think continuously, and to think skillfully and
           cleverly. It has not allowed you to know that there are spaces of no-thought, because the society is
           afraid. Those spaces of no-thought are very dangerous. Those spaces of no-thought are very crazy.
           Those spaces of no-thought will give you great joy, but will make you so rebellious. Those great
           spaces will make you very, very happy, but a happy person becomes free. He cannot be easily forced
           to do foolish things.
                You cannot send him to the army. He will say, "Nonsense. I am so happy, why should I go and
           kill others and be killed?" You cannot send him to the military; he will simply say no. You cannot
           force him to do foolish things for his whole life like a machine, He will say, "Why? I will do things
           that I like and that I love." An ecstatic person is a rebellion in the world. You cannot tell him to just
           be a clerk in an office and go on filing things, putting files upon files his whole life. He will say, "I
           will go and become a farmer because I love trees. If I am not going to be rich, it is okay. My richness
           will be of the inner." "I am going to become a fisherman. I will be on the open sea. I don't want to
           become a clerk."
                But then things will be difficult for the society. Society needs clerks, society needs soldiers.
           Society needs very repressed people whose energies are boiling inside and have no way to go
           anywhere -- so that they can be put into any work. Society arranges things in such a way that you can
           become slaves.
                The society is not here to make you free people, because with freedom politics will disappear,
           states will disappear. In a free world there will be no nation and there will be no need for nations and
           there will be no need for armies. Millions of people just wasting their life -- doing parade. Left turn!
           Right turn! Turn about! Millions of people -- doing it very happily and thinking they are doing great
           things, great service to humanity.
                Who would like it? Free people would like to become singers or dancers. Good if you dance. But
           "turn about," "left turn," "right turn"? Have you ever seen any bird doing right turn, left turn? Have
           you seen any animal? They dance, yes, they dance, but dance is a totally different thing. People will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dance and people will sing and people will go into the forest and chop wood, and they will go to the
           sea and fish and they will go to the mountains, they will do farming, gardening, they will be
           carpenters, weavers, spinners. But people will do something that they like to do.
               Right now you are doing something that the government wants you to do. And subtle is the trick.
           The university, the school, the college -- subtle is the trick to force you into something which you
           never wanted to do. Then of course if you remain miserable it is just understandable. How can you
           be happy?
               It is very rare that you come across a celebrating being because it is very difficult to escape from
           the prisons the society has created around you. In a natural world things will be just the reverse. It
           will be very difficult to find a miserable man. Why? There seems to be no need to be miserable.
           Buddhas will be just common. Rarely will you find a man who is not a Buddha, if things go
           naturally. But things are not natural.
               That's why you even have to learn how to meditate, and you have to learn how to love, and you
           have to learn how to be happy, and you have to learn how to know God.


              WHY ARE ALL THE RELIGIONS AGAINST SEX? AND WHY ARE YOU NOT AGAINST SEX?


                All the religions are against sex because that is the only way to make you miserable. That is the
           only way to make you feel guilty. That is the only way to reduce you to being sinners.
                Sex is one of the most fundamental truths of life, so fundamental that if somebody says it is
           wrong, he is putting you in trouble. You cannot get rid of it. Unless you become really enlightened
           you cannot get rid of it. And to become enlightened there is no need to get rid of it. In fact, if you go
           deeper into it, enlightenment will be easier because a man who has gone deep in love will be capable
           of going deep in meditation -- because in the deepest moments of love there are a few glimpses of
           meditation.
                That's how meditation has been discovered. That's how SAMADHI, satori have been discovered.
           Because in a deep love affair, sometimes, suddenly, your mind disappears. There are no thoughts, no
           time, no space. You become one with the whole. People have carried those glimpses in their
           memories and they want to attain to those glimpses more naturally, more in their aloneness, because
           to depend on the other is not very good, and then it happens only for a moment. How to attain to that
           glimpse permanently, so it remains there, it becomes your nature?
                Religions are against sex because down the centuries they have come to know that sex is the
           most enjoyable thing for man. So poison his joy. Once you poison his joy and you put this idea in his
           mind that something is wrong in sex -- it is sin -- then he will never be able to enjoy it, and if he
           cannot enjoy it, then his energies will start moving in other directions. He will become more
           ambitious.
                A really sexual person will not be ambitious. Why? He will not hanker to become the prime
           minister or the president. Why? The energy that becomes ambition is repressed sex. A sexually free
           person will not try to become anybody. Whatsoever he is, he is beautifully happy. Why should he
           bother to hoard money...? When you cannot love, you hoard money; money is a substitute. You will
           never find a money hoarder a loving person, and you will never find a loving person a money
           hoarder. It is very difficult. Money is a substitute; it is a pseudo love affair. You are afraid to make
           love to a woman or a man, so you make love to dollars, rupees, pounds.
                Have you not seen when a miser comes across money? Have you seen the light that comes to his
           eyes, and how the face becomes luminous, as if he is looking at a beautiful woman or a beautiful
           man...? Just give him a hundred-dollar note, a greenback, and see how he touches it, how he feels it.
           Saliva starts flowing. It is a love affair. Just look when he opens his money box and looks into it. He
           is facing God. Money is his God, his beloved.
                And when an ambitious person is trying to become the prime minister or the president....
           Ambition is sex energy diverted, and the society diverts you. You say, "Why are all the religions
           against sex?" They are against sex because that is the only way to make you unhappy, guilty, afraid.
           Once you are afraid, you can be manipulated. Remember this fundamental rule: make a person afraid
           if you want to dominate him. First make him afraid. If he is afraid, you can dominate him. If he is not
           afraid, why and how can you dominate him? How will he allow you to be the dominator? He will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say, "Be gone. Who are you to dominate me?" First make him afraid.
               And there are two things which make people very much afraid. One is death, so religions have
           exploited that. That you are going to die, that you are going to die, that you are going to die -- they
           persist, so they, they create a trembling. So you say, "What, what am I to do now? How should I
           behave? How should I live?" And then they say there is hell and there is heaven. Greed and profit,
           punishment and reward.
               So one is death. But death is not yet, so you can postpone it. It is not much of a problem; you say,
           "Okay, when we will die we will see. And I am not going to die right now. I am going to live fifty
           years more, at least, so why bother?" And man does not have a very distant -- seeing vision; he does
           not have radar. He cannot see fifty years ahead. Yes, if you say to him, "Tomorrow you are going to
           die," he may become afraid, but fifty years? He will say, "Wait, there is no hurry. Let me do my
           things first." He may even start doing them faster because "Only fifty years are left? So let me do
           whatsoever I want to do. Eat, drink, be merry."
               So the second thing, which is more fear-creating, is sex. Sex is already the problem. Death WILL
           be the problem; it is in the future. Sex has the problem in the present; it is already there. Religions
           contaminate your sex energy. They start making you afraid that it is wrong, it is ugly, it is sin, it will
           drag you to hell. They want to dominate you; that's why they are against sex.
               I have no idea to dominate you I am here to make you absolutely free. And there are only two
           things needed to make you free. One is that sex is not a sin. k is a God-given gift, it is a grace. And
           second, there is no death. You will be forever, because whatsoever is remains. Nothing ever
           disappears. Forms change, names change, but the reality continues.
               So I take away all fear. I don't want to make you in any way feel guilty, afraid. I want to take all
           fears from you so that you can live naturally, without any domination, so that you can live according
           to your own spontaneity. And that spontaneity will bring enlightenment. Then sex disappears, and
           then death disappears.
               It has disappeared to me, so I know it will disappear to you also. So why be worried...? And it
           disappears more easily if you have known it rightly. knowledge of anything takes you beyond; you
           are finished with it. If you have not lived rightly, you will be as other religious people who have not
           lived rightly: they hanker, they desire, they dream, but they repress, so they remain clinging to their
           repressions -- they are never free of sex.
           A beautiful story. Meditate over it:

               The time is the not too distant future. We have finally destroyed ourselves by means of a nuclear
           holocaust. Everyone is waiting restlessly in a seemingly endless line leading up to the gates of
           heaven. At the head of the line, Peter is deciding which souls shall enter and which shall be turned
           away.
               Some distance from the gates, an American stands in line wringing his hands in apprehension.
           Suddenly he hears a murmur beginning at the front of the line, and growing into a joyful rush of
           sound as it builds in volume moving down the line toward his place. He can make out sounds of
           celebration in many languages. He hears shouts of "Bravo," "Bravissimo," "Bis," "Encore," and
           "Hip, Hip, Hooray."
           "What is it? What is it all about?" he implores of those up ahead of him in the line. At last someone
           closer to the gates shouts back to him, "Peter just told us:'Screwing don't count!'..."

               Get it? Sex has nothing to do with your enlightenment. Love has nothing to do with your
           enlightenment. It is in fact going to help you because it will make you more natural. Be natural and
           don't cultivate any abnormalities, and you will be closer to God.
               Hence I am not against sex, I am not against anything. I am only against unnatural attitudes,
           perverted attitudes. Be natural and normal, and allow God to flow though you. He will take you. His
           river is already moving towards the sea. Don't try to swim upstream, don't try to push the river. Go
           with the river. That's what surrender is, and that's what sannyas is.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                The First Principle
                                                   Chapter #5
                                   Chapter title:Beyond the Prism of the Mind
           15 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704150
              ShortTitle: PRINCI05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 105 mins




              HAKUJU SERVED AS A DISTINGUISHED LECTURER AT THE TENDAI-SECT COLLEGE. AS HE
              WAS LECTURING WITH HIS CUSTOMARY ZEAL ON THE CHINESE CLASSICS ONE HOT
              SUMMER'S AFTERNOON, HE NOTICED THAT A FEW OF THE STUDENTS WERE DOZING OFF.
              HE STOPPED HIS LECTURING IN MIDSENTENCE AND SAID, "IT IS A HOT AFTERNOON, ISN'T
              IT? CAN'T BLAME YOU FOR GOING TO SLEEP. MIND IF I JOIN YOU?"
              WITH THIS, HAKUJU SHUT HIS TEXTBOOK, AND LEANING WELL BACK IN HIS CHAIR, FELL
              ASLEEP.
              THE CLASS WAS DUMBFOUNDED, AND THOSE WHO HAD BEEN DOZING WERE AWAKENED
              BY HIS SNORES. ALL SAT UP IN THEIR SEATS AND WAITED FOR THE MASTER TO AWAKEN.


               THE FIRST PRINCIPLE, the principle that cannot be said -- but we can still try. The first
           principle is that samsara is nirvana, that the ordinary is the extraordinary, that this world is the other
           world, that matter is mind, that there is no distinction between the holy and the unholy, that the
           profane is the sacred. This is the first principle. Yes, it cannot be said, and I am not saying it, but it
           can be indicated.
               The indivisible is the first principle. The moment we divide reality, it becomes the second
           principle. The second is a shadow; the first is the original.
               This is one of the greatest contributions of Zen to the world. Zen says the world is God, there is
           no other God. The creation is the creator, there is no other creator. The very creativity is divine. It is
           not like a painter who is different from his painting. It is like a dancer who is one with his dance.
           God is one with his existence. God is his existence. In fact, to say "God is" is tautological, it is a
           repetition, because "God" means the same thing that "is" means. God is isness. All that is divine.
               It is very difficult for the so-called religious to understand it because his whole trip depends on
           the distinction: this is good, this is bad, this has to be done and this has to be avoided. The
           marketplace has to be condemned, and one has to move into the Himalayas or into the monasteries.
               The ordinary religious mind depends on condemnation, it is an ego trip, so when you become
           ordinarily religious, you start having the feeling of "holier than thou". Because you live in a certain
           way -- you eat certain things and you don't eat certain things, and you have a certain style to your life
           -- you start feeling you are holier than others. A Catholic monk or a Jaina monk thinks he is very
           holy because he is doing certain things and he is avoiding certain things. His holiness consists of
           doing.
               The insistence of Zen is that doing is not important at all, what is important is being. You are not
           what you do. You are what you are. And by doing, you never change, but if your being changes,
           certainly your doing changes. It becomes totally different; it becomes suffused with a new light. A
           new quality, a new dimension opens to it. You can do the same thing without your being having
           gone through any transformation, and then it will be second, secondhand, then it will not be real.
               For example, Mahavir became naked. His nudeness comes out of the first principle; it is a flow
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           from his innermost core. It is an innocence that has come to his life. You can become nude -- there
           are thousands of Jaina monks down the centuries who have become nude -- but it is an action. For
           Mahavir it was not an action; basically it was a change in his being. He became so childlike that
           there was no need for any clothes. There was nothing to hide. He became so open, so simple. From
           the interiormost flowed this nudeness. Then it had a different quality: the quality of innocence, of
           childlike simplicity. But those who followed him, and became naked as followers, were cunning
           people, clever people. It was a mathematical conclusion, a logical conclusion. They pondered over it.
           They thought Mahavir became Mahavir by becoming nude; "If we become nude, we will become
           Mahavir." Action is first for them.
               Mahavir became nonviolent. He became so careful about every kind of life, even the life of the
           trees. He would not walk on grass; it may hurt the grass. He became so loving, so compassionate,
           because his being changed. Then his followers have been trying the same, from the other extreme,
           from the other end: they have been trying it as a cultivated behavior. They try not to kill, they try to
           avoid any violence, but it is just an action.
               Action cannot change your being. The periphery cannot change your center. Only when the
           center changes, the periphery changes. Let this be one of the most fundamental rules.
               The Zen people say THIS samsara, THIS world, is the other world too. There is no other world,
           so don't look for the hereafter; there is none. This moment is all! If you start looking for some other
           world, you have divided existence in two -- and existence is indivisible. It is not that there comes a
           boundary to the world and then comes the boundary of God. God is not a neighbor! God is in the
           world. He is not transcendental; he is immanent. He is one with existence. So don't divide. The
           moment you divide, you are falling into the shadowy world of the secondhand.
               If you can look with an undivided eye you come across the first principle.
               You must have heard about the third eye. You have two eyes: two eyes means duality. And all
           those who have looked inwards, they say there comes a moment when the third eye opens. The third
           eye is one, single. There is no third eye physiologically in your body; it is a metaphor. When two
           eyes disappear\ and become one, when you don't look into existence with a dividing mind, you look
           into existence with absolute, undivided consciousness, then you are one.
               Jesus says to his disciples, "If you become of one eye, then you will know my kingdom of God.
           If you attain to one eye, then all bliss will be yours and all benediction." He is talking about the third
           eye, and the third eye gives you the glimpse into the first principle.
               The first principle is that samsara is nirvana, that the ordinary is the extraordinary. So please,
           don't think that something is spiritual and something is nonspiritual. You can do everything in a
           spiritual way and you can do everything in an unspiritual way. If you divide, you are unspiritual. If a
           man says this is good and that is bad, he is unspiritual. If a man says, "This has to be desired and this
           has to be not desired," he is spiritual no more.
               Spirituality has no shoulds, no should-nots. Spirituality has a deep acceptance of whatsoever is --
           that which is. Buddhists call it TATHATA, suchness -- such is the case. Whatsoever is the case is the
           case: one has to accept and relax into it. In that relaxation is the dimension of the spiritual. If you can
           do ordinary actions in a relaxed way, with no tension in the mind, with no hankering in the mind to
           be successful or to be winners, then you are doing a spiritual thing. Then it can be anything.
               Zen people sip tea, and they call it a tea ceremony. Sipping tea can become spiritual. How does it
           become spiritual? To those people who have not looked into reality in any way it looks simply
           absurd. Sipping tea? How can it become religious? Yes, if you are chanting God's name, maybe it is
           religious. If you are praying, fasting, maybe it is spiritual, but sipping tea? How can it be religious or
           spiritual? The Zen people say if you can sip tea with an absolutely undivided mind, so that the tea
           and the sipper of the tea are no more divided, it becomes one energy, there is so much silence, one is
           relaxed -- and if you cannot be relaxed while sipping tea, where else can you be relaxed? -- a cup of
           tea can become a cup of prayer.
               Then anything can become spiritual. Digging in the garden, looking after the trees can become
           spiritual. Anything whatsoever can have the spiritual quality because the whole existence is God.
           You just have to become aware of it. A relaxed awareness makes everything spiritual.
               So this dictum that samsara is nirvana, is one of the greatest dictums ever uttered by any man on
           this earth. The founder of Zen, Bodhidharma, uttered it. It is a thunderbolt. It is one of the most
           revolutionary sayings. It destroys all distinction, and it brings to light that all other so-called
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religions are just philosophies, not really religions, because they go on dividing -- the devil and God,
           hell and heaven, and they go on dividing. Division is their work, and division is of the mind.
                Mind functions like a prism. A ray of light enters into a prism and is divided into seven colors.
           Entering, it was of one color, it was pure white, it was undivided. Getting out of the prism, it is no
           more one; it is seven, seven colors, the whole rainbow. The world is divided because of the prism of
           the mind. That which enters in the mind is one; that which comes out of the mind is seven.
                If you want to know the first principle you will have to get beyond the prism. You will have to
           come to that point where the ray is one.
                Now, there are two ways to seek the truth. One is the goal-oriented way, and the second is the
           source-oriented way. The first is wrong and the second is right. When I say the first is wrong, I am
           not condemning it. I am not saying it is bad. What I am saying by "wrong" is not a condemnation; it
           is just an indication that it leads nowhere, that it leads into a cul-de-sac, that you can go into it, but
           you will never arrive. You can go on going and going, but you will never arrive. It is a false way. It
           appears like a way, but it is not a way. It has the appearance, but only the appearance.
                Let us first understand the false way because if you can understand the false as the false, half the
           journey is over. Then it is very simple to understand the true as the true. To know the false as the
           false, you have already come to an understanding of what is or what can be the true. So always start
           by understanding the false first. False eliminated, the true remains. So first the false way.
                Everybody is prone to getting into the trap of the false because it is very alluring; it functions
           almost like a magnet. The mind feels very much attracted to it. The mind has a tendency to be
           attracted to the false. Why? Because the mind itself is the false. It feeds on the false. So wherever
           your mind feels attracted, beware: something false, something illusory, something of the world of
           dreams is attracting you. Mind lives in dreams; it is made of dream stuff. In the day you call those
           dreams thoughts, in the night you call those thoughts dreams, but it is all the same, the same flow,
           the same energy. The mind goes on spinning dreams, sometimes verbally, sometimes through
           images, but the whole production of the mind is dream.
                The mind feels very much attracted to the goal-oriented way because the mind is always attracted
           to the future. The mind is afraid of the present; it does not want to be in the present.
                Have you ever observed a very, very significant fact that the mind cannot be in the present? --
           cannot be in the present at all? When you are in the present, the mind is not. The present is so small
           that there is no space for thoughts to move. It is so small that thoughts cannot exist. They need a
           little space to play around, to jog around. The present moment cannot contain any thoughts, so mind
           cannot exist in the present; it exists in the future or in the past. It is an expert about the past and an
           expert about the future -- and both are not: the past is no more, and the future has not yet happened.
           So mind lives in the false: either that which is no more or that which is not yet. Both are false, both
           are unreal. So mind either runs backwards or forwards, but the mind is never now, never here.
                And the whole art of meditation is to be herenow. To be herenow means you have slipped out of
           the mind. And even to slip out for a single moment is of tremendous beauty and tremendous
           significance because then you see what reality is. Then you see that which is. Then you see God, or
           truth. Then you see existence in its authentic color, quality, sound.
                The moment mind starts working, the future has entered, or the past. Either you are imagining or
           you are remembering. So the mind feels very happy with the goal-oriented way. It gives enough
           space for the mind to fool around, to go on thinking thoughts, dreaming dreams. There is enough
           space. Future is an opening for the mind.
                But the moment mind starts working, you are closed to the present -- and the present is all that is
           true. The present means the eternal. The future and past are part of time; the present is part of
           eternity. Through the present you slip..
                into God: you slip out of the mind and into God. You slip out of the ego, and into your innermost
           core, which is also the innermost core of the whole existence.
                Your center is not your center alone. It is my center too. It is the center of the trees too. It is the
           center of the stars too. We are different on the periphery; we are one at the center. On the periphery
           you are separate from me. At the center there is no I, there is no you; there is only we. And the "we"
           includes trees and rocks and stars and everything; it includes all. The "I" is a mind product. The "we"
           is a totally different direction, totally different dimension.
                The goal-oriented seeker thinks, "What is the ultimate and of existence? To what meaning is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existence moving? Where are we going?" The goal-oriented seeker thinks, "What are we going to
           become? What HAVE we to become?" He never looks into being; he looks into becoming: "What
           am I to become? A saint? What am I going to become? What is my destiny in the future? What is the
           goal my life is striving to attain?" He looks into the future. The future is not. It is very dark there,
           very silent there, so you can easily imagine whatsoever you like. And the future cannot say you are
           wrong, because the future is not, so whatsoever you imagine never struggles, collides with reality.
           There is no reality; it is simply your projection. You can go on imagining, and there is nobody who
           will say you are wrong. You are always right, in the future.
               In the present the reality is too much, and the reality will destroy the dream, but in the future
           there is no reality. You are alone. The world of the future gives you a freedom, gives you a freedom
           from reality -- a bondage to dreams and freedom from reality.
               The goal-oriented person starts thinking. "How should I be so that the goal can be attained?" He
           starts changing his behaviour, his character, his style, his actions. He becomes a perfectionist. The
           goal-oriented person is always a perfectionist. He has some idea of perfection -- how man should be
           -- and he starts managing his own being according to that idea. Christians have one idea, Hindus
           have another, Jainas have another, but all have ideas how man should be. Christians may think man
           should be like Jesus; then that is the idea, and everybody has to fit with the idea. If you don't fit you
           are wrong; if you fit you are right.
               Now the misery is: if you fit you are false. If you don't fit you are wrong, you may be real. So
           reality starts becoming wrong and unreality becomes right. Let me explain it to you.
               Nobody else can fit with Jesus exactly, because God never creates anybody the same way again.
           God does not have an assembly line; he is not making men as cars are manufactured. You can have
           as many cars similar to each other as you want. There is a mold, and the car is produced according to
           the mold, so you can have one Ford, another Ford, another Ford, millions of Fords, exactly similar.
           But God has no mold. God has no factory. He does not create according to molds. God is creativity;
           he never repeats. He is very innovative. Never again is the same person repeated, each is unique, so
           there is only one Jesus; there is never again. So the problem is if you try to fit with the idea of Jesus:
           how Jesus is, you should be, because that is the idea of the Christian; or the goal of the Buddhist --
           Buddha -- one should fit with Buddha; or the goal of the Jaina -- one should fit with Mahavir. Now,
           these are all false ways to approach reality.
               If you fit with Jesus you will be false because you have not been made to fit with Jesus. You can
           be only yourself, nobody else, never anybody else. The only real way for you is to be yourself,
           whatsoever you are. And you cannot find any similar being in the past, and you cannot find any
           similar being in the present or in the future. You are alone, and this aloneness is beautiful. This is the
           way God respects you, by making you absolutely anew, unique, and alone.
               If you fit with Jesus you are false, but Christians will say you are right. Now see how false
           becomes right! If you don't fit with Jesus you may be right, but then you are wrong. If you don't fit
           with Jesus you may be real, authentically yourself, but then you don't fit, so no Christian will
           appreciate you: you are wrong. Real becomes wrong, the false becomes right.
               Whenever you have any idea, fixed idea, fixed ideology, you are creating neurosis in man. And
           there is great anxiety, naturally. If you cannot fit with the idea and you have been brought up as a
           Christian or a Hindu, you cannot fit with the idea, great anxiety arises: you are going wrong. Your
           life is the life of sin. You start feeling guilty. You feel nervous, you lose confidence, you lose
           courage, you become very much afraid. You become a coward, because whatsoever you do seems to
           be wrong. k is not fitting with Jesus or Buddha or Mahavir or Krishna, so you must be wrong. How
           can Buddha be wrong? And when you start feeling, "I am wrong," naturally, you tremble with fear.
               Soren Kierkegaard has said that man is a trembling, but I would like to say man is not a
           trembling, man has been FORCED to become a trembling -- forced by the so-called religions, who
           give you ideologies. "How you should be" -- once you start thinking in that way, you are bound to be
           trapped into some trouble, misery, neurosis.
               The first thing to become authentically yours, authentically yourself, is to get rid of any idea
           whatsoever that you are carrying.
               Zen has no idea how you should be. That's why Zen people say if you meet Buddha on the way,
           kill him immediately. That is just a way of saying don't allow any idea to settle into your
           consciousness. Kill that idea immediately. Don't be an ideologist. Don't have any ideals, and don't be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a perfectionist.
               A perfectionist is a person who goes on trying to make himself according to the idea. One day
           you can succeed. That possibility is there -- that dangerous possibility is there -- you can succeed,
           but then you become pseudo. That's what hypocrisy is all about. You become a hypocrite. If you
           really become the idea that you have been carrying, you become a hypocrite. Go and look into your
           mahatmas, into your saints, and you will find them hypocrites, untrue to themselves. True to some
           idea, but untrue to themselves. And if you are untrue to yourself, you are untrue to God.
               Then, the perfectionist has so many shoulds and should-nots. The whole life is without joy. He
           cannot enjoy, he cannot celebrate, he cannot be happy, he cannot delight. He cannot lose himself in
           any moment, he cannot abandon himself in any moment, because those shoulds and should-nots are
           continuously haunting him: "You should not do this, you should do this, you should not be like that,
           you should be like that...." He cannot relax. How can he relax?
               Now, people come to me, and they want to relax, and they say, "We cannot relax." How can you
           relax by being a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan? It is impossible to relax; they won't allow
           you to relax. They want you to be tense; they create your tensions.
               Relaxation means you don't have any shoulds. You are simply living moment to moment, not
           according to some future idea of yourself, but according to your reality that is herenow. To live with
           the reality, moment to moment, is to be sane. To live with the idea is to be insane. The whole earth
           has become almost a madhouse because of these perfectionists. Perfectionism is a sort of madness;
           only mad people try to be perfectionists. Sane people never try to be perfectionists.
               Sane people are humble people. They know their limitations, they don't try the impossible, so
           they enjoy the possible. If you try the impossible you cannot enjoy the possible, and in trying the
           impossible you miss the possible too. And from the other end, sane people enjoy the possible and
           they don't hanker for the impossible, and enjoying the possible, one day suddenly they stumble upon
           the impossible too.
               Their joy becomes so much by and by, moment to moment, they go on being blissful. In ordinary
           things they are blissful. They don't ask for great things, they don't ask for paradise, to be blissful,
           they don't ask for God, they don't ask for nirvana. Small things. Playing with your own child, loving
           your wife, eating your food, taking a shower, or going for a morning walk, is more than enough. Just
           running on the beach is more than enough. What more do you want to be happy? The touch of the
           cool sand, and the warm rays of the sun showering on you, and the wild roar of the sea playing
           around you... what more do you need to be happy? Playing with a child, the laughter of the child...
           what more do you need to be happy?
               But there are neurotic people. They will say, "What is there? Unless we achieve God we cannot
           be happy." And let me tell you, these people will not be happy even if they can achieve God. They
           cannot be. They will find faults; they are fault finders. Even God will not be able to fit in their idea
           of perfection. They will find faults with God. They will not be able to see any limitations, they will
           not allow any frailty. These are impossible people. And these impossible people destroy their own
           lives and destroy many others'. These people are the very source of madness on this earth.
               The goal-oriented way is an ego trip: the ego always wants to be perfect. And the search cannot
           be fulfilled, because it is almost a blind man's search, a blind man groping in the dark, a blind man
           groping in the dark night with no light for a black cat which is not there.
               The future is not yet. There is no goal in existence. Let this sink into your heart. There is no goal
           in existence, the existence is not moving towards any purpose. There is not any purpose; it is sheer
           joy. It is not a business; it is a play. Of course, I understand you cannot even play without the
           business mind.
               Just a few days before, a young man came to me, and he was very tense, and I asked him --
           because I could see from his face too much goal orientation -- I asked him one thing, "Do you play
           anything?" He said, "Yes, I am interested in games. I play many games. I play chess." And I asked
           him, "What happens when you don't win?" He said, "I feel very much frustrated; I cannot sleep. I
           feel good only when I am the winner." Even in play, you know it is a game, just a makebelieve --
           even in play, if you are not the winner, you become tense. You have to be the winner, even in play.
               Such a type of person, if you tell him, "I went to the cricket match," he will ask, "Who was the
           winner?" He will not ask whether the players enjoyed, whether it was a beautiful game, no; he will
           ask, "Who was the winner?" This is a wrong person.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If you meet a person who really knows how to enjoy, he will ask, "Did the players enjoy it?"
               If you are playing chess and you enjoy it, it does not matter who wins and who is defeated,
           because that is secondary, that is not the purpose of the game. The purpose is to enjoy. The goal is
           not the purpose; the purpose is the way. If you can enjoy the way, the trees and the birds singing on
           the way, who bothers about the goal? In fact, the existence has no goal. It is just a way.
               That is the beauty of the Chinese word TAO; it means the "way". They don't talk about God,
           because the moment you talk about God, it appears as if God is the goal. They say, "There is no God.
           There is TAO, the way."
               You must have heard about one Japanese religion Shinto. The original was not Shinto; the
           original was SHINTAO. That is very beautiful; it means "the way of the gods". SHIN means gods,
           and TAO means the way. Shintao: the way of the gods. Everything is a god, and existence is the
           way. Gods moving on the way. You are not going to become gods. You are.
               The goal-oriented idea is driving you mad. Drop that idea, and suddenly you will see sanity
           explodes into your being. You start laughing again. You start dancing again. You start singing again.
           You start playing again. And you have become religious. That is the idea of real religion, that you
           start dancing again, that you start loving again, that your life energy starts flowing, that your juice is
           stuck no more, is not stale, again flows, that you start sharing.
               We are not going anywhere! We are here! And we have been here for the whole of eternity and
           we are going to be here for the whole of eternity. Now it is up to you to enjoy or not to enjoy. We are
           here and we are going to be here. There is no way to escape. Now it is for you to choose whether to
           enjoy or just to cry and weep for the goal.
               The goal is not; there is no goal. The world is not moving towards some goal so that once
           achieved, it is finished. Then what will you do? Have you ever thought about it? Once the goal is
           achieved, what will you do? You will have to commit suicide. What will you do? If the whole
           existence achieves the goal, then? Then there is nowhere to go, nowhere to move; the goal has been
           achieved. Then the whole existence will dry up, will become dead, the juice will flow no more, the
           love will not be there, and the laughter will not be there, and trees will not bloom and birds will not
           sing and rivers will not flow. All has stopped. No, the world has no goal.
               If the world has any goal, it would have achieved it by now. How long it has existed! The very
           fact that it has not achieved it yet is proof enough that it has no goal to achieve. It simply goes on; it
           is an ongoing affair. It is not a film that comes to an end, it is not a novel that comes to an end. We
           are always in the middle, never in the beginning and never at the end. We are always in the middle.
           And that is the way things are.
               So the goal-oriented person misses all that is beautiful in life. The goal he cannot achieve
           because there is no goal, and on the way he misses all things. Have you watched? Sometimes you are
           rushing towards the market, to your shop or to your office, you pass through the same street where
           you go for a morning walk, or sometimes in the moonlit night you go for a stroll -- the same road,
           the same trees -- but when you are going to the office you have a goal in mind; then you don't see the
           greenery and then you don't listen to the birds. You are not interested in the way; you are interested
           in the goal. You want to finish it any way. The faster you can go, the better. You will not like to
           walk to the office. You go in a car or in a bus.
               And if someday science manages to materialize and dematerialize man, you will simply stand in
           a machine in your house and dematerialize there and materialize in the office -- so no need for the
           way. One day it is going to happen. There is no need to go. Immediately, from one place to another
           place you can have a quantum leap, a quantum jump. In the middle you will not be. Speed. Because
           you are not interested in the way.
               But, the same way, in the morning when you go for a walk, has a totally different quality. You
           enjoy it. Each breeze passing through the trees and each bird flying around. You enjoy it because
           you are not going anywhere in particular. You are just going for a morning walk. It is playful. You
           can turn back from any point. There is no goal in your mind. You are nontense, you are relaxed.
           There is joy, there is poetry. You start singing a song.
               You can treat yourself on the way of life in these two ways. If you are goal-oriented -- God,
           heaven, MOKSHA, nirvana, whatsoever you call it -- then you cannot enjoy, you cannot celebrate on
           the way. Zen says the way is the goal. That is the meaning when they say the samsara is nirvana. The
           way is the goal, so don't miss anything. Enjoy. Each moment has to be tasted; each moment is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           delicious. Each moment brings something to you, a blessing, a benediction. Don't miss it.
               This is the first way, the false way, that is very attractive to the mind.
               On this false way masochists feel very good, masochists become mahatmas. A masochist is a
           person who likes to torture himself. The greater the se]f-torture, the greater the mahatma. If
           somebody fasts for months, the crowd of worshipers will become bigger and bigger. And who are
           these worshipers? These are sadists. They enjoy. This foolish man torturing himself, and they enjoy
           -- and they bring flowers in respect. What are they saying? They are saying, "We would like to
           torture you, but we cannot do so because of the law and a thousand and one things, and you are so
           kind that you save us the trouble and you are doing it on your own, and we are really happy."
           Masochists become mahatmas and sadists become followers, worshipers. They say, "Look at our
           mahatma. For three months he has not eaten anything," or "For years he has lived only on fruit
           juice," or "For years he has not slept," or "He is sleeping on a bed of thorns. Look at our mahatma.
           He has lived a life of celibacy; he has never enjoyed any relationship with anybody. He has never
           loved a woman. He has never tasted love; he has denied himself all the beauty that love can give."
               These deniers, these life-negative people are worshiped tremendously. Who are these
           worshipers? And why should they worship these people?
               I went to one town, and a few people came to me, and they said, "In our town there is a great
           mahatma. For ten years he has been standing, and people come from faraway places for his
           DARSHAN. " SO I said, "But what else has he done?" They said, "What else? He is just standing." I
           insisted, "But still something?" They were puzzled; they said, "Why do you insist? He has done such
           a great thing. What else is needed? He is just standing for ten years."
               I went to see the man because I wanted to see -- that man must be mad. And he was mad! He was
           standing... his feet, his legs had become so thick. His whole body's blood had gone into the legs. Ten
           years of just standing, he had become just legs. The whole body had shrunk. He had elephant legs.
           Now even if he wanted to sit he could not. The flexibility of the body is there no more; the elasticity
           is lost. And I looked into his eyes; I have never seen such an idiotic person. Such dull eyes. And
           bound to be, doing such an idiotic thing, just standing. He was holding himself on crutches, he was
           holding ropes with his hands; and the whole night disciples would do KIRTAN and singing so he
           kept awake. Or if sometimes he would fall asleep standing, then a few people would support him so
           he didn't fall. These are sadists. Hmm? They should have helped him to go to sleep, but they were
           helping him not to fall. Now, these people have killed this man's whole life.
               And why is he standing? He is enjoying in a way. Thousands of people come to see him. He has
           nothing. His ego is feeling very much fulfilled; he thinks he is a great mahatma. Money is being
           poured at his feet. Flowers and respect.
               But nothing of the creative. He has not written a poem. If you respect a man who has written a
           beautiful poem, it seems meaningful. He has made the world a little more beautiful. If somebody has
           painted a picture or somebody has danced a beautiful dance, he has made the world a little more
           beautiful. He has to be appreciated. But nobody will appreciate him.
               A man standing just doing nothing -- dying. It is a long, slow suicide. And the man must be
           really interested in selftorture. This is great torture, but people call it TAPASCHARYA, they call it
           austerity, asceticism. Asceticism is part of the goal-oriented mind.
               And the world is divided between masochists and sadists. Masochists become leaders, mahatmas.
           And sadists become followers; they say, "We cannot do it; we want to do these things to people, but
           we cannot do them." But there are a few people who are doing it on their own, so they appreciate.
           Avoid this false way. Know it is false.
               And on this false way many illusions exist. Now, a man standing for ten years will become
           hallucinatory, he will have hallucinations. Whenever he will close his eyes he will have dreams. And
           those dreams will become very, very real because he has deprived himself of sleep. You just try it for
           a few days. Don't eat, don't sleep. Within three weeks your hallucination will be perfect. You may
           start talking to God, you may start seeing God. Deprive yourself of your ordinary necessities, and the
           mind starts becoming hallucinatory. The mind goes berserk, and you can start seeing things which
           are
               not
           I have heard, a real story:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Fred P. Shields, 73, spotted a nest of copperheads one day in the eighty-foot well on his farm in
           Cheshire, Ohio, so he enlisted his forty-two-year-old son Fred D. and his eighteen-year-old grandson
           James to help kill them....

              Now the son and the grandson didn't bother about whether those snakes were there or not.

                ... They attached a hose to the exhaust pipe of their pickup truck, stuck the hose into the well, and
           filled it with carbon monoxide. After a while, Shields lowered himself into the well to see if the
           snakes were really dead. When he failed to come out again, his son went in after him. When the
           second man failed to come out, the grandson went in. Rescuers from the sheriff's office retrieved the
           three men, all dead, apparently of carbon monoxide poisoning, but they found no sign of any snakes
           in the well.

                You can see things which are not. Always remember that the mind is capable of seeing things
           which are not. And by seeing things which are not, you will miss seeing things which are. So the
           hallucinatory effort has to be avoided. Don't deprive -- don't deprive your body either of food or of
           sleep or of rest. Don't deprive your body of anything. Let your body function as healthily as possible,
           as normally as possible. Don't torture the body, because your mind is part of the body. If you torture
           the body, the mind goes berserk and starts seeing things.
                And once you start seeing things you are trapped. Then you want to avoid them or kill them, or,
           if they are beautiful things, you want to attain more of them.
                That which is needs no deprivation. You need not lie down on a thorn bed and you need not go
           on a fast and you need not torture your body by not sleeping. In fact, the more healthy and normal
           you are, the more is the possibility for the truth to be seen.
                The people who are goal-oriented, they don't look into life. They look in books, because they can
           find the goal only in books. In life there is no goal. If you look around there is no goal. Life is there,
           every part of existence is full of joy, celebrating, the children are turning and dancing, and the birds
           are dancing, and the peacocks are dancing, and the stars are turning and dancing. The whole
           existence is turning in a dance. If you look into life there is dance, but there is no God. Where to find
           the God? Where to find the perfection? You have to look in the books. It exists only in the books, in
           the imaginations of those people who have written books.
           I have heard:

               A Japanese academic who wished to understand Zen more fully went to a monastery to submit
           himself to the koans. He was asked, "What is mu?" -- to define, that is, a word which has no meaning
           in Japanese....

               It is just like "hoo". "Hoo" is a Sufi word; it means nothing; it is just a sound. Exactly is the word
           "mu"; it means nothing; it is just a sound. In English there is one word coined by a new logician; that
           word is "po". Yes means yes, no means no. Po is just between the two; it neither means yes nor
           means no. Learn this word; it is a very significant word. If somebody asks, "Is there a God?" say
           "Po", because if you say yes, it is wrong -- you don't know; if you say no, it is wrong, because you
           don't know. So po. Po does not make you committed to any ideology. It makes no sense; it is simply
           a nonsense sound. So is mu. If you ask a Zen Master, "Has a dog Buddhanature?" he will say, "Mu".
           It means neither no nor yes. If you ask, "Do Buddhas exist after they have left the body?" he will
           say, "Mu". Or my disciples can use the word "hoo". This word "mu" has no meaning.

               ... As a good scholar, he proceeded to look up the syllable in Japanese and other Oriental
           dictionaries to determine a potential root meaning and habitual usage....

               When the Master gave him mu to meditate on, he went to the dictionary. Naturally, a scholar
           goes that way. He must have gone to the library. The Master has said, "Meditate on mu": the Master
           has said, "Meditate on something nonsensical, so that you can get out of your mind." The mind can
           manage the sensible, the mind can manage the rational, but the mind cannot manage the nonsensical.
           The nonsensical takes you out of the mind.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So if you meditate on mu, what will happen? Nothing can happen, because mu means nothing. If
           I say, "Meditate on'dog'." much will happen. You may start thinking about a dog you had in your
           childhood, you may start thinking about dogs that you were always afraid of, the neighbors' dogs, or
           you may start thinking of a dog your girlfriend had, and then about the girlfriend and then all the
           girlfriends that you had, and so on and so forth. You can move from "dog" and the mind can
           function, the law of association. And infinite are the possibilities. You may think about "dog", you
           may read it in the reverse order; it becomes "god", and you may start thinking about theologies and
           religions....
               The word "mu" means nothing; you cannot go anywhere with it. You have to remain stuck: mu.
           Now where to go? It does not remind you of anything; it makes no sense, so there is no association
           with it. If you go on meditating on mu, there will come a point of frustration, boredom. Exhausted,
           your mind will start rebelling. Your mind will say, "Drop this. Enough of it! And I cannot think
           anything about it." The mind is ready to think, but what to think about mu? There is no door opening
           anywhere, it leads nowhere, so one time comes, one moment comes, when the mind simply, fed up
           with the whole thing, drops itself, disappears. And in that moment there is a vision of reality.
               That is the way of a koan. A koan is a nonsensical thing, you cannot figure it out; but the scholar
           went to the library.

               ... he proceeded to look up the syllable in Japanese and other oriental dictionaries to determine a
           potential root meaning and habitual usage. He presented his findings to the Master, who repulsed
           him and immediately sent him away. Our scholar next thought the question to be more subtle and
           tried to analyze the tonal component of the syllable in every language of the Chinese group. He
           again presented his findings and research to the Master, who now thought it was time to convince
           this poor scholar of the seriousness of his situation, that it was not a question of another academic
           excursion. "I will give you one more chance," he said, "and if you do not solve the riddle, I will cut
           off your leg."

              Now, even in the most extreme arguments or thesis examinations of the academic world, things
           usually don't become this tough and this rough....

              The scholar could not believe what type of Master he is. "He will cut off my leg! At the most you
           can fail, you can say that'You have failed,' but cutting off the leg? This is too much, this is too rude."

              ... But the threat did frighten the scholar out of his wits, so to speak. He completely concentrated
           upon the syllable itself, NOW....

               Because it was dangerous. This man can do something, and he looked dangerous. Zen Masters
           look dangerous.
               I have heard about one Zen seeker who was working and working upon his koan and was not
           able to solve it and was becoming very much afraid to go to his Master because the Master would
           beat him, throw him, jump upon him, and would do anything, whatsoever happened in that moment.
           So he was becoming so afraid, so much afraid that he was avoiding going to him. And that night he
           received a message that "Tomorrow morning you have to come," so he was very much afraid. He
           tried hard on his koan so that some answer would come that appealed to him, to this madman, "...
           otherwise he will beat me again." He could not sleep. He meditated, meditated, and he was feeling
           very tired and exhausted.
               So, sitting in meditation, just for a moment he fell asleep, and in sleep, it is said, he saw in a
           dream Bodhidharma, the archpriest, the patriarch, the original patriarch, the Master of all Zen
           Masters. And Bodhidharma is really dangerous looking; his eyes are so big. And Bodhidharma
           looked into the face of this young seeker, and he became so afraid of Bodhidharma's eyes that, the
           story says, he awoke out of fear -- and not only out of the ordinary sleep, but from the sleep of lives
           together. He awoke. Out of fear he became enlightened. The face of Bodhidharma and his eyes!
               So this scholar was very much frightened; out of his wits he was.

              ... He completely concentrated upon the syllable itself, trying to puzzle out the meaning, and in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the process of concentration itself achieved the result. The question had a nonanalytic effect, and a
           nonverbal result as well.
               Those who are not privy to the extreme concentration brought about by the Zen Master's
           exercise, or the scholar's reply, might not realize that many of the most important and compelling
           questions that face us cannot be looked up in an encyclopedia or dictionary. There is no place where
           the meaning of one's life is written up.

               There is no book, no scripture, no bible which has the answer for your life. There is nobody who
           can give you the answer. In fact there is no answer; there is only an understanding. By
           understanding, the question disappears. There is no answer.
               And the goal-oriented man seeks the answer, so he will come upon many answers and will hang
           around one answer for a few days, few months, few years, sometimes a few lives, and then will get
           fed up and will move to another answer. But that is a long procession; one can go on ad infinitum,
           from one answer to another answer.
               The real path is not of finding an answer, but of finding an understanding. In the light of
           understanding, the question disappears. And suddenly YOU are the answer! Suddenly life itself is
           the answer! The way is the goal, the samsara is nirvana.
               I have heard a very beautiful anecdote. You may have heard it. It has many versions, but this
           version I don't think you will have heard before:

               Six blind medical students sat by the gate of a great city as an elephant was led slowly past.
           Inspired by scientific curiosity of the highest degree, the six blind students rushed forward to palpate
           the great beast and to determine the nature of his being. The first man's hands fell upon the elephant's
           tusks. "Ah," said he, "this creature is a thing of bones; they even protrude through his skin." Later
           on, years having past, this man became an orthopedist.
               At the same time the second blind medical student seized the elephant's trunk and identified its
           function. "What a nose!" he exclaimed. "Surely this is the most important part of the animal."
           Accordingly, he became a rhinologist.
               The third man chanced upon the elephant's great flapping ear and came to a similar conclusion:
           for him the ear was everything, so he, in time, became an otologist.
               The fourth rested his hands on the huge chest and abdomen of the elephant. "The contents of this
           barrel must be enormous," he thought, "and the pathological derangements infinite in number and
           variety." Nothing would do but that he would become an internist.
               One of the blind men caught hold of the elephant's tail. "This," he said, "would appear to be a
           useless appendage. It might even be a source of trouble. Better take it off." The blind man became a
           surgeon.
               But the last of the six did not depend upon the sense of touch. Instead he only listened. He had
           heard the elephant approaching, the rattle of the chains, and the shouts of the keepers. It may be that
           he heard the elephant heaving a great sigh as he trudged along. "Where is the creature going?" he
           asked. No one answered. "Where did he come from?" he asked. No one knew. Then this man fell
           into a deep reverie. What was in the elephant's mind, he wondered, in having left wherever he was
           and having come to this great city? Why does he submit to the indignities of our curiosity and the
           slavery of chains? And while he was wondering how to find out the answers to these questions the
           elephant was gone.
           This man became a psychiatrist.
               The other students were disgusted at this impracticality. They turned their backs upon their
           visionary companion. What difference does it make, said they, what the elephant's purpose may be?
           And his chains -- they constitute a legal not a medical problem. The important thing is to recognize
           the animal's structure.
               Then they fell to quarreling among themselves as to whether the elephant's structure was
           primarily that of a nose or that of an ear or that of a tail. And although they all differed flatly from
           one another on these points, they all agreed that the psychiatrist was a fool.

               People look into books, find out fragments, make philosophies out of fragments. That's how all
           the religions have evolved, and all the theologies and all the philosophies. They are all fragmentary.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The whole vision cannot be contained in any book, and the whole vision cannot be contained in
           any creed. Then where to find the whole vision? The whole vision can be found only when you drop
           the mind and look into the reality of things without thinking about them. It is not a question of
           contemplation, not a question of thinking, not a question of logical thinking. It is not a question of
           any syllogism. You have to just look silently, innocently, into that which is already herenow. That is
           revelation.
                And not that you come upon a truth. Suddenly you find the seeker is the sought and the observer
           is the observed, that the objective and the subjective are not two, that they were looking like two
           because the mind was standing in between and was making a boundary. Now the mind has
           disappeared, the boundary has disappeared; there is only oneness, one whole.
                Now the second way. The second way is the way I call source-oriented. The source is already
           here, the goal is not. The source is within you, the goal is without. The goal will be somewhere in the
           future, the source is already nourishing you. It is hidden in you; otherwise you would not be alive. It
           is flowing in you. The source is present, the goal is absent. To look for the absent is to look in a
           wrong way. To look into the present and for the present is to look in the right way.
                The source-oriented person is never a perfectionist, cannot be. The source-oriented person is a
           holist, a totalist. He has no idea of perfection. He simply lives moment to moment in its totality. He
           lives a very unpredictable life. He lives a life of wonder and surprise. You cannot predict him. Even
           he himself cannot predict what he is going to do the next moment. Who knows? The next moment
           will come and we will see. The next moment will bring its own reality, and the next moment will
           create its own response. He lives responsively, responding. He is always alert to respond to every
           situation, whatsoever, but he has no prefixed idea how to react, how to respond, what to do. He is
           alert. The situation arises; he responds. He responds out of his alertness, but he never responds out of
           any answers that he has gathered in the past. His each moment is total.
                Remember, I am not saying "perfect". His each moment is TOTAL. What is the difference? A
           perfect man, maybe, will never be angry. That is the idea of a perfect man: he will never be angry.
           But a total man can be angry. You can only be promised one thing, that he will be totally angry. It
           cannot be said he will not be angry. Only one thing can be said, that he will be totally angry; if ever
           he is angry he will be totally angry.
                It happened a scholar came to Raman Maharshi, and he was arguing and arguing and arguing;
           and nobody had seen Raman Maharshi ever being angry. Raman was saying again and again, "I am
           not a philosopher, and I don't believe in proofs and arguments, and I don't know any logic. I say'God
           is' because I have experienced it so." But the scholar wouldn't listen. Then suddenly the disciples
           saw something they could not believe. Raman Maharshi jumped, with his staff in his hand, and
           rushed after that scholar. And the scholar ran away; he also could not believe that this man would do
           such a thing. He chased him out, came back laughing, sat on his couch, and forgot all about it.
                Now, this is a whole man. He is not perfect according to your idea of perfection, but he is whole.
           Yes, sometimes anger may be needed: that may be the right response. So one never knows. Even he
           himself would have been surprised by it. When he came back after chasing the man out he must have
           been laughing at himself too. "So this is possible," he must have laughed. He must have enjoyed the
           whole thing; he must have chuckled.
                A whole man lives moment to moment, not knowing what is going to happen. His life has no
           script. His life is not a drama; he has no script. Nothing is decided beforehand. Each moment opens a
           door, and he responds accordingly. He responds with the totality of his being. I can see Raman
           TOTALLY angry in that moment. And that is the beauty of it, that is the innocence of it.
                The whole man is spontaneous, natural. He is not a hypocrite, he is not pretending anything. He
           is open, vulnerable, available. He is childlike, simple, and tremendously beautiful.
                This is the way of Zen. It is the most unique phenomenon in the whole world of religions. Zen is
           the highest peak that religion has attained yet. It is the sanest religion.

              Now this beautiful anecdote. It is simple, but now you will be able to understand.

              HAKUJU SERVED AS A DISTINGUISHED LECTURER AT THE TENDAI-SECT COLLEGE.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Hakuju was a great Zen Master, but a Zen Master continues to live his ordinary life. Somebody
           once asked Bokuju, another great Zen Master, "What did you use to do before you became
           enlightened?" He said, "I used to cut wood for my Master, and carry water from the well." Now he
           himself had become the Master. And the inquirer asked, "And now? Now what do you do?" He said,
           "I chop wood, and carry water for myself." And the man asked, "Then what is the difference? Before
           also you used to chop wood and carry water, and now also you do the same, so what is the
           difference?" Bokuju said, "Before, I used to do it unconsciously. Now I do it consciously." The
           quality of being has changed; action remains the same.
               HAKUJU SERVED AS A DISTINGUISHED LECTURER AT THE TENDAI-SECT
           COLLEGE. And remember that Bokuju was in a simple situation. To chop wood is easy, even after
           enlightenment it is easy, but to lecture in a college is more difficult. It is more difficult than
           chopping wood. But Hakuju continued; he became enlightened, but he continued the way he was
           doing. He became famous all over the country, but he continued, he remained a lecturer.
               Zen believes that the ordinary life has not to be renounced. The ordinary life has to be
           transformed by your inner understanding.
               Another great Zen saying. Another great Zen Master has said, "Before I came to my Master,
           rivers were rivers and mountains were mountains. Then my Master confused me utterly; then rivers
           were no more rivers and mountains were no more mountains. Then living in the presence of my
           Master, by and by the confusion disappeared, the smoke disappeared, and one day again rivers were
           rivers and mountains were mountains."
               Now, what is the difference, because rivers were rivers before and mountains were mountains
           before? Now they are mountains and they are rivers again, so what is the difference? The difference
           is not in the outside. The difference is in the inside. Before, they were just ordinary mountains,
           rivers; now they have an extraordinary quality. That quality YOU give to them, you pour into them.
           Your luminosity makes your whole existence luminous.
               A man is not what he does; a man is what he is. So the emphasis of Zen is never to change your
           actions; just transform your understanding, transform your consciousness. Bring a new
           consciousness into existence.

              AS BE WAS LECTURING WITH HIS CUSTOMARY ZEAL ON THE CHINESE CLASSICS ONE HOT
              SUMMERS AFTERNOON, BE NOTICED THAT A FEW OF THE STUDENTS WERE DOZING OFF
              HE STOPPED LECTURING IN MIDSENTENCE AND SAID, "IT IS A HOT AFTERNOON, ISN'T IT?
              CAN'T BLAME YOU FOR GOING TO SLEEP. MIND IF I JOIN YOU?"


                Now, a perfectionist will not be able to do it at all. How can a perfectionist fall asleep before his
           students? Howsoever hot the summer is, and he may be feeling sleepy, because the body is the
           body.... Whether it belongs to an enlightened person or to an unenlightened person doesn't make any
           difference: the body follows its own laws. He must have been feeling sleepy; it was really hot. But a
           perfectionist will try to pretend. A holist, a totalist will not pretend. The moment he felt sleep was
           coming to him he stopped in midsentence. He would not complete even the sentence; he lives
           moment to moment. Even to wait to complete the sentence is false. Why wait? He stopped in
           midsentence and asked the students, "IT IS A HOT AFTERNOON, ISN'T IT? CAN'T BLAME
           YOU FOR GOING TO SLEEP. "
                And see the point. A perfectionist will always be blaming everybody, that "You are wrong," that
           "You are not doing this," that "This should be done this way." A perfectionist is continuously
           condemning everybody; that is his joy. He is trying to put everything right in the world.
                It is said a man, must have been a perfectionist, came to a Zen Master, Rinzai, and the man, who
           was a Christian, said to Rinzai, "In our scripture it is written that God created the world in six days,
           and then on the seventh day he rested. But what sort of world? I have been asking my Christian
           missionaries, but they can't answer, so I have come to you, Master. What sort of world? Such an ugly
           world, so full of pain and misery. Full of imperfections! What a world God created. And he took six
           days!" Rinzai looked at the man, and he said, "Do you think you can improve upon it?" The man was
           a little puzzled, but still he said, "Yes, I think I can." So Rinzai shouted, "Then what are you doing
           here? Why are you waiting and wasting time? Improve! How many days will you take?"
                The perfectionist will find fault even with God. "Why did he create this world? Why did he
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           create tuberculosis and cancer? And why did he create poverty and richness, and why did he create
           this and that? Why?" A perfectionist continuously condemns; that is his joy.
               If this Master Hakuju was a perfectionist, he would have shouted at the students, "What are you
           doing? For what have you come here? You are falling asleep? This is not the way of a seeker, not the
           way of a disciple, not the way of a student." But rather than saying this, he says, "IT IS A HOT
           AFTERNOON, ISN'T IT? CAN'T BLAME YOU FOR GOING TO SLEEP. " He understands. The
           total man understands. He understands his limitations; he understands everybody else's limitations.
           He never asks the impossible.
           "MIND IF I JOIN YOU?" Really beautiful. Just superb, a master stroke. "MIND IF I JOIN YOU?"
           He is asking their permission, because a few of them may be perfectionists! And they were.

               WITH THIS, HAKUJU SHUT HIS TEXTBOOK, AND LEANING WELL BACK IN HIS CHAIR, FELL
               ASLEEP.


               And not only that, when a really total man falls asleep, he snores too:

               THE CLASS WAS DUMBFOUNDED, AND THOSE WHO BAD BEEN DOZING WERE AWAKENED
               BY HIS SNORES.


              Must have been a man of childlike qualities. It is very difficult to fall asleep so easily, and to
           snore. And to snore before one's own students? Must have been a very egoless person.

               THE CLASS WAS DUMBFOUNDED.... They could not believe it, because the man was known
           as an enlightened Master, all over the country. Even the emperor used to come to see him. And this
           enlightened man has fallen asleep, cannot keep himself awake, is as ordinary as any ordinary person?
           They were dumbfounded.
               And when they heard him snoring, it was unbelievable. Who has ever heard of a Buddha
           snoring? But a real Buddha will not be worried. If he wants to snore, he will snore. If he feels like
           snoring, he will snore. He will not bother what you say about him.

               ... AND THOSE WHO BAD BEEN DOZING WERE AWAKENED BY HIS SNORES. ALL SAT UP IN
               THEIR SEATS....

               Now their sleep disappeared.



               ... AND WAITED FOR THE MASTER TO AWAKEN.


               This you can find only in the Zen literature, this possibility of being so human, of being so
           imperfect and yet unworried about it. A tremendous acceptance of all that is, of sleep, of snoring. No
           effort to hide yourself behind any facade.

               Once there was a famous Buddhist layman named Busol. He was a deeply enlightened man; his
           wife too was enlightened, and so were his son and daughter. A man came up to Busol one day and
           asked, "Is Zen difficult or not?" Busol said, "Oh, it is very difficult. It is like taking a stick and trying
           to hit the moon."
               The man was puzzled and began to think. "If Zen is so difficult, how did Busol's wife attain
           enlightenment?" So he went and asked her the same question. She said, "It is the easiest thing in the
           world. It is just like touching your nose when you wash your face in the morning."
               By now the man was thoroughly confused. "I don't understand. Is Zen easy? Is it difficult? Who
           is right?" So he asked their son. The son said, "Zen is not difficult and not easy. On the tips of a
           hundred blades of grass is the Buddha's meaning."
           "Not difficult? Not easy? What is it then?" So the man went to the daughter and asked her. "Your
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           father, your mother, and your brother all gave me different answers. Who is right?" She said, "If you
           make it difficult, it is difficult. If you make it easy, it is easy. But if you don't think, the truth is just
           as it is."

               If you make it difficult, it is difficult. If you make it easy, it is easy. But if you don't think, the
           truth is just as it is. THE TRUTH IS JUST AS IT is. This suchness, this total acceptance, this total
           surrender to truth -- no pretensions, no hypocrisies, no effort to hide yourself behind screens, no
           effort to show yourself as more than the life-size -- this authenticity is Zen. And this authenticity is
           the door to the first principle.
               Be spontaneous, be natural, and you have already arrived.
           I was reading a few lines of Ogden Nash:

              The centipede was happy quite, Until a toad in fun Said: "Pray, which leg goes after which?"
           This worked his mind to such a pitch, He lay distracted in a ditch, Considering how to run.

               If you ask a centipede.... A centipede has a hundred legs.

              The centipede was happy quite, Until a toad in fun Said: Pray, which leg goes after which?" This
           worked his mind to such a pitch, He lay distracted in a ditch, Considering how to run.

               Now it becomes impossible. The moment you think, things become impossible. If you don't
           think, the truth is as it is.
           The last parable:

               The Buddha sprang from the right side of his mother and took seven steps in each of the four
           directions. He then looked once each way, pointed one finger to the sky, and touched the ground
           with his other hand. He said, "In the sky above and the sky below, only I am holy."

               This is a very beautiful story. When Buddha was born, the mother was standing under a tree. He
           was born while the mother was standing, and he was born in a very miraculous way. He suddenly
           sprang from his mother's side, stood on the ground, walked seven feet, put one hand towards the sky
           and touched the earth with the other hand, and said, "In the sky above and the sky below, only I am
           holy."
               Zen people have laughed about this story very much. If they were Christian they would have
           tried to prove it, that it has to be real, historical. But they don't take things seriously.

           One Zen Master, Un-mun, said....

               Somebody asked Un-mun, "What do you say about this nonsense story?" He said, "On the
           Buddha's birthday, I was there, present." Un-mun present? The inquirer was
           surprised.

               Un-mun said, "As he sprang from the side of his mother, I hit him and killed him, and fed him to
           a hungry dog. The whole world was at peace."

               The inquirer was very much puzzled, so he went to another Master, saying, "What do you say?
           The story is nonsense, and Un-mun's answer is even more nonsense; he says,'I was present. Not only
           present, I killed Buddha then and there, and fed him to a hungry dog, and the whole world has been
           at peace since then.'"
               Otherwise Buddha would have created trouble for people. Zen Masters say, "Buddha, why were
           you born? You created so much trouble for people, because everybody is trying to meditate since
           you came. Had you not come, the world would have been at peace. Nobody would have been
           meditating, nobody would have been into this trip of nirvana. Why did you come?" That is the
           meaning of Un-mun when he says, "I killed him and fed him to a hungry dog, and since then the
           world has been at peace."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The inquirer went to another Master, Lin-chi.

           "What the Buddha said on his birthday is wrong," said Lin-chi, "so I will hit him thirty times. And
           what Zen Master Un-mun said is also wrong, so I will hit him thirty times. And what I just said is
           wrong, so I will hit myself thirty times."

               In fact, the moment you say something about the first principle, you go wrong. Nothing can be
           said about the first principle. Yes, it can be experienced. Drop the mind, and experience it.




                                                The First Principle
                                                    Chapter #6
                                      Chapter title:The Irrational Rationalist
           16 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704160
              ShortTitle: PRINCI06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 101 mins




              OSHO, DR. ABRAHAM KOVOOR HAS ATTACKED YOU IN AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE
              WEEKLY Current. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT?


               I ENJOYED IT. It was sheer delight. It was delicious. It was simply far out. I enjoyed it because
           nobody else has complimented me so highly as he has done. I could not believe that somebody
           would praise me so highly. Listen to his compliments.
               First compliment: he says Rajneesh is crazy. True, sir. I agree absolutely. In fact, there is no way
           to God unless you are utterly crazy. Only those who are courageous enough to go beyond the
           boundaries of so-called sanity attain. Only those who are ready to put their minds aside, only those
           who are ready to cut their heads off completely, they attain. I am crazy. So was Buddha, so was
           Jesus.
               There are books written against Jesus in which people have tried to prove that he was mad. And
           of course when Mahavir was walking on the streets, naked, ecstatic, people must have thought him
           mad. He was driven out of towns, cities; shelter was not given to him. Down the centuries the man of
           God has always been thought of as mad. The reason is simple: if he is sane then you are all insane,
           then the majority is insane. The majority cannot accept the fact. It is easier, more comfortable to call
           him insane.
               But remember something George Bernard Shaw once said. Somebody was saying, "Millions of
           people believe this. How can they be wrong?" And George Bernard Shaw said, "If millions of people
           believe it, how can they be right?" Millions of people and being in the right? -- impossible. The
           greater the crowd, the less is the possibility of truth.
               Truth has been available to only a few individuals. Why? Because only a few dare to enter into
           that madness. Only a few dare to put their reasoning, cunningness, argument aside. Life is not logic;
           it goes beyond it.
               And not only the mystics say so; now even the physicists -- who are not mystics at all -- what
           they are saying is incredible. Let me quote a few things. The physicists are now saying the same old
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nonsense as the mystics used to in the ancient days. The so-called rationalists have always called
           those mystics mad. Certainly whatsoever they say does not follow ordinary reason; it is something
           beyond. Now listen to what physicists are saying; they speak of a universe which is finite but
           unconfined. They say the universe is expanding, but expanding into nothing. They also tell us that
           electrons are capable of passing through space without make use of the term "quark" to describe a
           particle of which taking any time to do it. They are now even proposing to the essential property is
           that when three of them combine, their collective weight is less than that of any of them by itself,
           although nothing has been lost by their conjunction.
               It is absurd. It cannot be so according to ordinary logic. But if you ask the physicist he says,
           "What can we do? We are helpless. It is so. We cannot change the reality. Just to adjust to your
           logic, we cannot change the reality. And the reality does not believe in your Aristotles. It does not
           suffer from Aristotle-itis. It does not bother about what your logic says; it goes on its own way." So
           the physicists say, "What can we do? Change your logic. If it looks mad, maybe the universe is
           mad."
               It looks mad, but the mystics have always said so. In the Upanishads it is said, "Take the whole
           out of the whole, and the whole remains behind." Now, Dr. Abraham Kovoor will call this man mad.
           If you take the whole out of the whole, nothing remains behind! This is ordinary mathematics and
           logic. But the Upanishads say, "You take the whole out of the whole, and the whole still remains
           behind. You go on taking as many wholes as you want, and still the whole remains behind." The
           mystics have also stumbled upon the illogicalness of reality.
               Now, what do you say about this "quark"? It fits absolutely with the Upanishadic idea. It does
           not fit with Aristotle. Bad for poor Aristotle! And bad for poor Dr. Abraham Kovoor!
               I am crazy. I have seen the reality which does not fit with the mind. In fact, the mind is the only
           barrier to reality. It does not allow you to see the reality. The more you are confined in the mind, the
           less is the possibility of knowing. And if you insist that you will know only through the mind, then
           you will never know.
               The mind is very ordinary. It is good for day-to-day use, but to penetrate the infinite, to penetrate
           the eternal, to penetrate that which is -- the ultimate mystery -- the mind is just as futile as if you are
           trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. It is just irrelevant.
               The reality is irrational, the reality is nonsensical, the reality is absurd.
               Now, Abraham Kovoor can be against the mystics, but what will he do against the physicist?
           And why have they both come to the same conclusion? Science has penetrated into reality from a
           different door, but the reality is the same. So have done the mystics: they have entered from a
           different door, but they have entered into the same space.
               Now scientists say the universe is expanding. Into what? Because when we say "the universe,"
           we include everything that is. When we say "universe" we mean the whole, the total. Now you say
           the universe is expanding. Into what? There cannot be anything outside the universe. We have
           included, by the very definition of the word "universe," that all is in it. So nothing is outside it. Into
           what is the universe expanding? Even if you say "into nothingness," then the nothingness is outside
           the universe. Then the nothingness is very real into which the universe can expand. Then the
           nothingness is not just nothingness. Then you have not decided rightly what the universe is.
               This concept of an expanding universe is crazy, but that is what mystics have been saying down
           the ages. Hindus have chosen the word "Brahman"; Brahman means "that which goes on
           expanding".
               Now, Abraham Kovoor says that he believes only in something which is proved objectively. God
           is not proved objectively. What is proved objectively? The electron is proved? The neutron is
           proved? The proton is proved? What is proved objectively? Nobody has yet seen electrons, nobody
           has yet seen neutrons, nobody has yet seen protons, but the scientists say they are. If nobody has
           seen them, nobody has looked at them, nobody has observed them as objects, then why do you say
           they are? Scientists say, "Because we can see the effect. We cannot see them, but we can see their
           effect." The same say the mystics: "God is not observed objectively, but we can see the effect."
               Can't you see the universe running so intelligently? Can't you see tremendous intelligence
           permeating the whole?
               And it is not only the mystics who say the universe is full of intelligence. Just the other day I was
           reading and I came across one of Albert Einstein's quotes. He says, "The scientist's religious feeling
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of the natural law which reveals an
           intelligence of such superiority that compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of
           human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."
           "Intelligence of such superiority"! And this is not Jakob Bohme, Ramkrishna, or Rajneesh. This is
           Albert Einstein saying so. Intelligence of such superiority that human intelligence is reduced to
           utterly insignificant status! The world is running in such a deep harmony; that harmony shows that
           there is a unity in it, that it is not a dead universe, that it is not a"stupid" universe, that it is
           intelligent.
                Physics has become metaphysics again. Physicists even talk about atoms having free will. Albert
           Einstein has said that no event can be postulated without the presence of a witnessing observer. And
           Eddington says: "Religion first became possible for a reasonable scientific man about the year
           1927." But Dr. Kovoor seems to have not lived since then! Eddington also says: "We begin to
           suspect that the stuff of the world is mind-stuff. The universe looks more like a thought than like a
           thing." And that is what I mean when I say that there is intelligence, great intelligence in existence or
           God. Recently a new branch of science, molecular biology, has conclusively proved that the "matter"
           of organic life, our very flesh, really is mind-stuff. Eddington, Jeans, Einstein, Schrodinger all agree
           in this. But the problem with the learned Dr. Kovoor is that he goes on fighting against out-of-date
           religion with the aid of his out-of-date, so-called science!
                You can ask what is the purpose of this intelligent universe. The scientist David Foster says: "To
           become more intelligent." I love this answer. This is what the mystics have always been
           propounding. From unawareness to awareness... from unintelligence to intelligence... there is the
           way and there is the goal. The Upanishads say: "TAMSOMA JYOTINGAMAY" -- "O Master of the
           Universe, take me from darkness to light."
                What do we mean when we say "God is"? We only mean that the world is intelligent, nothing
           else.
                Now, Dr. Kovoor has a very childish idea of God, and he goes on demolishing that idea -- and
           without ever bothering about the fact that that is not MY idea. It seems he has not read anything of
           whatsoever I have been saying. Through his article I could not gather that he has read anything.
           What type of rationalist is he? He is ready to condemn me and criticize me, and without ever having
           read anything. At the most, it seems that he has read a few reports of journalists in the newspapers --
           and that too it seems was many years ago because for years I have not been conducting meditation
           sessions and he says I conduct meditation sessions and I hypnotize people! He is not aware of what I
           am doing here. This is not a rationalistic approach.
                And he says he believes only that which is proved objectively. In the article, he mentions that
           fifty years ago, his wife conceived a son from him, and now that son is still alive and still healthy
           and "still growing and proliferating independently as Dr. Aries Kovoor". Now, he says he believes
           only in the objective truth. The mother knows; the father only believes. The son is never an objective
           fact for the father. Dr. Kovoor's wife may know to whom the son belongs, but not Dr. Kovoor. Dr.
           Kovoor, you may be misguided by your wife! And women are very strange creatures. What objective
           proof have you that this is your son? There is no possibility of any objective proof. You trust, you
           believe.
                God cannot be proved objectively, that's true. Nobody is trying to prove him objectively. In fact,
           if God is proved objectively, he will be no longer God. Then he will become a thing. Then you can
           dissect God in your lab, you can dissect God in the scientist's laboratory. You can analyze; then it
           will not be God at all.
                We are not saying that God exists as a person; at least, I have never said so.
                Now, he goes on saying that "Rajneesh holds the foolish view that through meditation man
           can'feel the very core of existence'." If this is the foolish view, then Buddha is a fool and so is
           Krishna and so is Christ, so is Lao Tzu, so is Chuang Tzu, so is Zarathustra, and so is Mohammed,
           because they all hold the view that through meditation you can come to the very core of existence --
           because through meditation you come to your innermost core of intelligence. Through meditation
           you become so silent that your own intelligence is revealed to you. In that very revelation, God is
           revealed.
                If I am intelligent in my innermost core, then the existence cannot be unintelligent, because I am
           born out of this existence. I am a by-product of this existence. If I am intelligent, then the universe
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has to be intelligent; otherwise from where will my intelligence come? Dr Kovoor is an intelligent
           man. And that is enough proof that there is God. Otherwise from where comes this intelligence?
                He goes on saying that life is nothing but chemicals; life is "sustained by the oxidatory chemical
           action (oxidization).... This chemical action is maintained by my breathing and blood circulation. It
           is not in any way different from the production of heat and light energies during the combustion of
           the hydrocarbon in a burning candle." But a burning candle has no intelligence. He says there is no
           difference in any way between a man's life and a burning candle. The burning candle is not
           intelligent.
                I tried because I thought "maybe" -- so I criticized a burning candle last night. But I could not
           provoke her. I succeeded with Dr. Kovoor. I "pushed his button"; he is very angry. Can you push the
           button of a burning candle, and will the burning candle criticize you? There seems to be a little
           difference, Dr. Kovoor. It can't be just a burning candle. You got hurt; you jumped to defend
           yourself. You have been arguing against me; you have been calling me names -- all the names that
           can be called. He says Rajneesh is an "ignoramus," Rajneesh is a "fool," Rajneesh is "crazy,"
           Rajneesh is "mad," Rajneesh is "absurd," Rajneesh -- so on, so forth. He has exhausted the whole
           vocabulary.
                Now, I tried hard with a burning candle. Nothing happened. The burning candle continued to
           burn. There is some difference. The difference is that of intelligence.
                And if you say that life is born out of chemicals, then too you will have to accept that somehow
           the chemicals are carrying a latent intelligence. Otherwise from where will this intelligence come in?
           Out of the blue? From where?
                He says life is nothing but oxidization, breath -- breathing in, breathing out. But can't you
           become a witness to your breath? Can't you sit silently? The Buddhists have been doing so down the
           ages. Can't you see the breath coming in, going out? You breathe in; you can watch. You breathe
           out; you can watch. Between the two there is a gap; you can watch that gap too. Certainly somebody
           else is there hidden behind the breathing process: a witnessing intelligence.
                That's what meditation is all about: to know the witness, to know the SAKSHIN, to know the
           observer.
                Even if life comes out of chemicals, out of oxidization, even if life is prolonged by oxidization,
           one thing is certain: that life is far superior to these things. There is intelligence, there is awareness.
           This awareness cannot be objectively proved, because I cannot put this awareness on the table for
           your examination. This awareness is subjectivity. When a scientist is trying to analyze something,
           there are two things: the thing that he is analyzing and the person who is hidden behind and is
           analyzing it. The analyzed is not the analyzer; and the analyzer is not the analyzed. The observer, the
           subjectivity, is there standing behind.
                The object confronts you. That's why we call it "object"that which confronts you. How can I
           confront myself? I will always remain the subjective. Things can confront me; I will always be the
           one who confronts things. I cannot be a thing. Man cannot be reduced to being an object.
                And if man's consciousness cannot be reduced to being an object, what to say about the total
           consciousness of existence? That's what God is.
                He says, "I am an atheist because I do not believe in Gods, and I do not believe in Gods because
           it is not rational to believe something for which there is no objective evidence." There is no objective
           evidence for the subjectivity. That's why we call it "subjectivity." By the very nature of it there is no
           objective evidence, but inference is possible. A candle is a candle. A candle is not Kovoor. And there
           IS a difference! And it is not a slight difference. The difference is great because the difference is that
           of subjectivity. The candle has no subjectivity; it has no interiority. The candle has no intention. It is
           burning there; it has no innermost core. If Kovoor is standing there, he has an intention, an
           interiority. That interiority, that intention, that subjectivity cannot be objectified, and if we cannot
           objectify a single man's consciousness, how can we objectify the consciousness of the total? But the
           total is full of intelligence.
                Watch the trees, the birds, the life growing, evolving. Watch the stars moving.... In such absolute
           harmony, with such rhythm -- it cannot be just accidental.
                There are only two possibilities. Either the existence is just accidental or it has something
           running in it which joins it together. We call that thread God which runs into everything and joins
           and keeps the whole existence together. God is not a person, is not a thing. God is just the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           intelligence of the existence.
                He says, "Unlike Rajneesh, I am not a fool to believe in a creator of the cosmos that was not
           created. Universe is matter and energy in space and time. Matter, energy, space, and time have
           neither beginning nor end." Now, I have never said that God created the universe. That's why I say
           he has never read anything I have said. He goes on projecting his own ideas and arguing against
           them! I have never said that God has created the universe. I have again and again said that the
           creation is the creator, that the world is God, that there is no separation, that it is not like a painter
           and the painting -- that it is like a dancer and the dance. God IS existence. There is no separation.
           Not that God has created it; God has become it. You cannot find God anywhere else other than in his
           existence, and you cannot separate them.
                Can you find the dance when the dancer has gone? Or can you call a person a "dancer" when he
           is not dancing? They are always together; the dance and the dancer are together. They are two
           aspects of one energy. Creation and creator are together.
                In fact, my own choice is that I don't like calling God a "creator". I call God "creativity". k is an
           ongoing process. Not that one day God created the world. The creation continues. It is moment to
           moment, moving, it is a process, it is dynamic, it is riverlike. And God is not separate.
                But then he will say, "Then why bring God in? Why can we not simply say that'existence' is
           enough?" There is a reason. If you don't like the word "God," there is no problem with me. You can
           drop the word "God". I bring the word "God" in only to indicate that existence is not just material, it
           has intelligence; that the existence is not just the outer periphery, it has an interiority; that there is a
           great intention moving, that it is not without a soul.
                If you want some other word you can use one, Dr. Kovoor. I am not a fanatic about words; any
           word will do. You can call it "X energy". If you are so obsessed with the idea of being anti-God,
           drop that word; that doesn't matter. Buddha never used it, Mahavir never used it. There is no need; it
           can be dropped. If you accept that the existence is intelligent, drop the word "God". We are not
           worried about it. But if you accept intelligence in existence, you have accepted God. That's all we
           mean by "God". It is a way of saying that things have not just happened accidentally.
                What do I mean when I say there is "intention"? If I give you a wristwatch and you open it, you
           will immediately say, "Somebody has done a beautiful job." If I say to you, "Nobody has done this.
           It is just out of existence, out of millions of years of existence, just accidents. Things got together;
           somehow it turned out to be a watch," you will laugh at me. You have already laughed! You will not
           even believe a small wristwatch can turn out without anybody making it, without any intelligence
           functioning behind it. That will be a great miracle. You cannot believe even a small wristwatch can
           come out of accidents, and you can believe that the whole existence -- so delicate, so subtle, so
           complex that we have not yet been able to know its mystery -- has come just out of accidents?
                It is as if you give a typewriter to a monkey and he goes on typing at random, and one day
           suddenly a great book like the Bible happens. Out of accidents. The monkey goes on typing, goes on
           typing. Something will happen. And you see the Sermon on the Mount is being typed! Just
           accidentally? It is not probable. It is impossible. No possibility of it ever happening.
                That's what I mean when I say "intelligence", "intention". The existence is functioning so
           together, so beautifully, and the evolution is moving to higher peaks. All this shows that existence is
           full of intelligence.
                To remain confined to your intelligence is to remain confined in an imprisonment. To get out of
           this limitation and to look into the intelligence of the universal, of the universal intelligence, to have
           a feel for it, that's what religion is. But one needs to go crazy over it.
                Dr. Kovoor says, "Life must have originated on different planets at different times by chemical
           evolution first and then by biological evolution...." But it makes no difference. If it started on some
           other planet, how did it start? Whether it started here on the earth or on some other planet, how did it
           start? The atheist, the materialist has to agree with one thing: that it started suddenly for no reason at
           all; it was not there and it started. It was not hidden, it was not latent, it was not in a seed form. If
           you say it was hidden, it was latent, it was in a seed form, that's what religions say. They say, "God
           is hidden and is getting more and more expressed."
                Man is yet the highest expression of that intelligence. The tree is a lower expression; the rock a
           still lower expression. But all are expressions of the same intelligence. Man, as far as we know on
           this earth, is the highest expression of that intelligence. There are higher possibilities, because man is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not the end. And the highest possibility that we have seen is what we call "enlightenment". A man
           comes to such a peak that all thoughts disappear and only pure awareness remains -- no clouds, only
           pure sky of being; no smoke of thoughts, only the flame burning bright, of pure life and awareness,
           of pure energy.
                We have seen in Buddha the ultimate expression of that intelligence. That's why we call Buddha
           "Bhagwan," because he comes closest to the ultimate intelligence. Maybe there are higher
           possibilities. One can never be closed to the possibility; maybe there are higher possibilities. It is
           impossible to conceive of, but maybe. It is impossible to conceive of it because when all thoughts
           have been dropped there is no longer anything contaminating consciousness, so what more can be
           possible? That's why we have called Buddha "Bhagwan". "Bhagwan" simply means that he has
           become the vehicle of the intelligence, and now the vehicle does not interfere at all.
                When I say "God is" I do not mean God is the creator. I mean God is the hidden energy of
           existence. Matter is visible God, and soul is invisible God.
                He does not believe in God, but he believes in four gods instead. Those four gods are matter,
           energy, space, and time. Now, he seems to be completely unaware. Since he left school -- he is
           eighty, so he must have left school somewhere sixty years back -- it seems since he left school he has
           not been in touch with what has been happening in science, in the world of science. Dr. Kovoor,
           much water has flowed down the Ganges. Now matter exists not! And you talk about maKer.
           Friedrich Nietzsche declared, "God is dead," and God is not dead. He is still alive and kicking. But
           matter, on the contrary, is dead. Matter has been found not to exist.
                When the physicists went deeper into the constituents of matter, they found there is no matter at
           all; there is only energy. Then what is the "matter" we see in a rock? It is just condensed energy.
           Matter is appearance. It only appears. There is no solidity. Solidity is just an appearance. Hindus
           have the right word for it; they call it "maya". Maya means that which only appears and is not.
           Matter has been proved maya! And that's what Shankara has been saying in India and Buddha has
           been saying and Nagarjuna has been saying: that matter is illusory. Science has absolutely proved it,
           that matter is illusory.
                When you go deeper into matter and when you come to the electrons, matter is not. Those are
           nonmaterial energy phenomena. But the energy moves so fast that it creates the illusion of stability,
           solidity. It is as if you run an electric fan very fast, so fast that you cannot see the blades separately
           and you cannot see the gaps between two blades. Now scientists say if the fan runs with the same
           speed as electrons run, you can sit on the fan and you will not feel the blades moving. They will be
           moving so fast. Sunrays move, in one second, 186,000 miles -- in one second -- and that is the speed
           of electric energy. That is the speed of electrons. Now, in a small space the electron is moving with
           such great speed that you cannot see the gaps. That's why the wall seems to be solid and you cannot
           pass through it. In fact, it is not solid. In fact, the wall can be reduced to such a small size that it will
           become invisible -- it has much space in it.
                The scientists say the whole earth can be reduced to the size of one orange. It is very porous. The
           whole of existence -- all the matter that exists in the whole of existence -- can be reduced to such a
           small size that you can carry it in your suitcase. All is porous; much space exists.
                And those small elements that go on running are not material either. They are just "electrons" --
           electric energy. Now, Kovoor goes on talking about matter. Matter exists not, Doctor. You'd better
           start looking into modern science again.
                And the second thing. He goes on talking about space and time, and Albert Einstein has proved
           that they are not two. Time also does not exist separately from space; it is a dimension of space. So
           Einstein uses "spaciotime"; he never says "space and time".
                Now matter has disappeared. Time has disappeared as a separate entity; it has become a
           dimension of space. So there are two things: energy and space.
                Now, Albert Einstein also says to keep this energy and space together, intelligence is needed.
           Great intelligence is needed; otherwise they will fall apart. Who will keep them together? How will
           they be kept together? That intelligence is God.
                So three things: space, intelligence, energy. Three things.
                That is the Christian trinity, the very idea of the three: God the Father, Christ the Son, and the
           Holy Ghost. And that is the idea of the Hindu Trimurti: Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. Three faces of one
           reality. These are metaphors, because mystics are not talking about mathematics. Mystics are talking
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in poetry; the same truth is being expressed in poetry. This is the whole idea of the three GUNAS of
           the Sankhyas: SATTVA, RAJAS, TAMAS, Three GUNAS, three attributes, are there, but they are
           faces of one reality. That reality is God.
               You can call it X, Y, Z, whatsoever name you like. It doesn't matter. A rose is a rose is a rose. By
           what name you call it makes no difference.
               But he goes on talking as if matter, energy, space, and time are four things. He is not aware of
           modern science.
               David Foster, the cybernetic scientist, says: "Nothing whatsoever is known about the following
           rather basic phenomena: mass, electricity, magnetism, spaciotime, et cetera, et cetera.... Existence
           remains a mystery, it is not available to knowledge... essentially it is unknowable." I call this
           unknowable element God.
               What is matter? Physics says there is no matter as such. What we know as matter is made of
           waves or quanta. The quantum is a mysterious phenomenon. It is a point and a line simultaneously!
           Absurd. Illogical. Bizarre. And if you ask what sort of waves are these, the answer is: "waves of
           probability". Not even waves of "anything"! The modern understanding of science is mystery and
           magic.
               If we think deeply into anything, we are bound to stumble upon God because God is the depth of
           existence. If you go deep into the rock you will come upon God. If you go deep into yourself you
           will come upon God. God is the depth. If we think hard enough in any single direction we always
           arrive at the unthinkable. If we ask enough questions along a given line of inquiry, we come in the
           end to an unanswerable question. That unanswerable question is "Who am I?" That unanswerable
           question is the koan of the Zen people. That unanswerable question is what meditation is all about.
               Second compliment: he says Rajneesh is an ignoramus. Perfectly true, sir. I don't claim any
           knowledge. I only claim ignorance, utter ignorance... but that's what the Upanishads have been
           saying: those who say that they know, know not. That's what Socrates has been saying: "I know only
           one thing: that I know nothing." These are all ignoramuses, and I am happy with this company -- the
           Upanishads, the Taoists, the Zen people, the Sufis. I am tremendously happy with this company.
               In fact, to know reality, to know yourself, you have to unlearn. Knowledge is good, but good
           only for the practical world, good only for the objective world. It is not good for knowing yourself.
           You need not know anything to know yourself. What you need is to go within. You can enter into
           your being. There is no need to know anything beforehand. Knowledge has to be dropped.
               A German philosopher came to Raman Maharshi and said to him, "Master, I have come to learn
           from you, and I have traveled long and I have been desiring and desiring to come, and now I am
           happy that I have come." And Raman said, "Please, the first Principle is that you will have to
           unlearn. I am not here to help you to learn! You already know too much! If you want more learning,
           go somewhere else. Here the whole work is of unlearning, unconditioning. I am ignorant, and I help
           people to become ignorant again, so that they can become innocent, childlike."
               And yes, Jesus is right. Only those who are childlike will be able to enter into the kingdom of
           God. That quality of innocence has to be attained.
               Third compliment: Rajneesh is a fool. Good. True. It I was not a fool, why should I be seeking
           and searching for God? Only fools do that. Clever people seek money, power, prestige. Cunning
           people seek something of the world. Only fools try to seek the ultimate.
               In Hindi we have the same word for "fool" as for the "enlightened one". We call a fool
           BUDDHU; it is derived from "Buddha". People must have thought Buddha a fool. He looks foolish.
           He had everything that one can desire -- the palace, the beautiful woman, the kingdom -- all comforts
           -- and suddenly he renounced. The masses must have called him BUDDHU, a fool. These are the
           things one desires, and he is renouncing them. And what is he going to seek and search for? What
           more is there than this? St. Francis was thought to be a fool.
               Dr. Kovoor has put me in the great company of the greatest people who have walked on the
           earth. I am thankful.
               Fourth compliment: Rajneesh is dangerous. I am. Those who come to me are going to be
           destroyed by me, because that is the only way to give them rebirth. If you come to me, I am going to
           destroy you because only through that destruction is resurrection. A Master has to be a death to the
           disciple. You will never be the same again. The danger is there. I will take all that you have away.
           All the illusions have to be taken away. I will leave you naked and nude, empty. But in that
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           emptiness happens that which is real, happens that which is eternal. I am dangerous.
                And the fifth compliment: Rajneesh is a voyeur. Beautiful. Psychologists say that there are two
           types of people: voyeurs and exhibitionists. Man is a voyeur, woman is an exhibitionist. And out of
           the voyeurism of man, all that has happened has happened. It is voyeurism to inquire into truth. It is
           voyeurism to penetrate into reality, into the mystery of reality. It is voyeurism to go to Everest and to
           see what is there. It is voyeurism to go to the moon. Women have not been very creative in that way
           because they are not voyeurs; they are exhibitionists. They are satisfied to exhibit themselves.
           Finished. Their work is finished. Man is a voyeur.
                And the mystics are the voyeurs par excellence. They penetrate to the very mystery of God.
                You can ask Sigmund Freud. He says that the male energy starts seeking the female energy. That
           is natural. That's why the woman waits and the man takes the initiative. Even small children will
           play the game of doctor. And the woman will be the patient and the boy will be the doctor -- the
           voyeur! He wants to see how this girl clicks, what makes her click, what is inside her. Now the
           scientist is born -- and the mystic too.
                Out of this sexual curiosity, all curiosity is born. All curiosity basically is sexual. But nothing is
           wrong. I love to see a beautiful woman as much as I love to see a beautiful rose. I love to see a
           beautiful face as much as I like to see a beautiful sunrise. I love to see a beautiful body as much as I
           love to see a beautiful bird on the wing. I love beauty. I am a voyeur. And I love beauty so much that
           I want to find out how this whole existence clicks. In that very search, one stumbles upon God.
                And I want to know how I click, what is this intelligence in me. And only because of that search
           does one come to one's own being.
                Nothing is wrong in being a voyeur. And I would have thought that Dr. Kovoor was a voyeur.
           His name fits with the sound of "voyeur" -- "Kovoor". It must be accidental, because he believes in
           accidents. But it rhymes well. But according to himself, it seems that he is an exhibitionist. That's not
           very good. You are in bad shape, Dr. Voyeur. I had always thought you were a man! Now you have
           created suspicion in me.
                The quality of voyeurism is the quality of inquiry. Nothing is wrong in it. Everybody should be a
           voyeur. And I would like even women to become voyeurs; only then will they be able to become
           more creative; only then will they be able to penetrate into the mysteries of life. We should try to
           know what it is! The very curiosity helps you to grow towards higher peaks of intelligence.
                The sixth compliment: Rajneesh is a sexual pervert. That is wonderful. To go beyond sex is
           certainly a perversion. It is not natural. So it is a perversion! It is not part of unconscious evolution.
           It is conscious revolution. It happens only through transforming the unconscious into the conscious.
           When not even a trace of unconsciousness remains one is free from all desire. This is real
           BRAHMACHARYA. But to have eyes in the valley of the blind is certainly a perversion. Dr.
           Kovoor, who is not a voyeur, simply shows his obsession with sex. Just a nice old dirty man!
                And the last compliment: Rajneesh is absurd. I am really at a loss how to thank Dr. Voyeur.
           These are the words I love! I am the genius of the absurd, and that is the highest that one can attain.
           Tertullian, a mystic, a Christian mystic, is reported to have said, "I believe in God because God is
           absurd." I also believe in God because God is absurd. I believe in existence because this existence is
           really absurd. It is incredible. It is so beautiful. It is so wonderful. It is so fantastic. It is so
           psychedelic. And it comprehends all contradictions. It is so tremendously in harmony that even
           contradictions don't contradict! The night and the day, and the summer and the winter, and life and
           death -- what more contradictions can you find and what more absurdities? But somehow everything
           fits together. The absurdity makes life more fun.
                If God was just an Aristotelian, life would have been without fun. It would have been too serious
           -- and dull and boring. God is not dull, not boring. Life is full of joy and delight. There is love and
           there is song and there is celebration.
           I am absurd.
                You will think that Dr. Kovoor uses all these terms in a very condemnatory sense. That is his
           business -- that is his problem. I am a religious man. If I can find a rose flower, I don't bother about
           the thorns. If I can see that the black cloud has a white, silver lining, I dance for the silver lining; and
           I feel thankful for the black cloud also because without it the silver lining cannot exist. I look
           through religious eyes. Even the negative turns positive. So maybe he has tried to condemn me, but
           that is HIS problem. Why should I take it as a condemnation? I take it as praise; he has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           complimented me. And these are my words that I like, that I enjoy.
               Now, a few things that I am sorry to say that I cannot agree on with Dr. Kovoor.
               The first thing: he says that man has no soul. That means man has no interiority, no intention.
           That means man has no meaning.
               He goes on throwing theories upon me which I have never propounded, and then he condemns
           them. He is fighting with ghosts -- and he himself has created them. I have never said that man has
           an individual soul. We have individual bodies, but our soul is universal. On the periphery we are
           different; at the center we are one.
               Now, he goes on condemning and criticizing, "How is it possible? When the body dies, where
           can the soul go? Nobody has ever seen the soul going." I have never said that the soul goes
           anywhere. There is nowhere to go! In fact, the body is nothing but the visible aspect of the soul, and
           the soul is nothing but the invisible aspect of the body. Man is an ensouled body and an embodied
           soul. These are two aspects of some energy: X or God. One aspect is the body, another aspect is the
           soul. When a man dies it is not that the soul goes somewhere. When the man dies the soul moves
           into the unmanifested.
               Now, he says one man, a certain Peter, has been revived seven times. He dies of a heart attack;
           through artificial techniques he is revived again. Again after a few days or a few hours he dies; again
           he is revived. In all, seven times. So Dr. Kovoor asks what I say about it. Does the soul go and come
           back again, go and come back again? No. There is nowhere to go. The soul becomes unmanifest
           when the situations to manifest it are no more there. When the situations are there again, it becomes
           manifest.
               It is just like the seed. Where has the tree gone? You cannot find it in the seed. It has disappeared
           in the seed. It has become unmanifest in the seed. Put the seed in the soil, and again the tree is there.
           And again the tree will die one day and will leave many seeds.
               The manifest becomes the unmanifest, the unmanifest becomes the manifest. These are the two
           wings of reality. Nobody goes anywhere. There is nobody to go and nowhere to go.
               I don't believe in individual souls. I believe in the universal ocean of consciousness. A wave
           arises; then the wave disappears. Where has it gone? It has gone to the same source from where it
           had arisen in the first place. It had risen out of the ocean; now it has gone back to the ocean.
               There is a beautiful story about Junaid, a Sufi mystic. He was passing through a small village. It
           was evening, and a small boy was carrying a small candle. He was going to the mosque to put the
           candle there. The mosque was dark and it was a dark night, and the night was descending. Junaid just
           laughingly, jokingly asked the small child, "Have you yourself lighted this candle?" And the boy
           said, "Yes, sir." And Junaid said, "Then tell me one thing. From where has this flame come? From
           where? And you say you yourself have lighted the candle, so you must have seen from where this
           flame has come." The boy must have been a genius. He laughed and blew the candle out, and he
           said, "Right now it has gone. Where? You have seen it! Where has it gone? "
               The coming and going is not from somewhere to somewhere. We arise out of the cosmic
           consciousness; we fall back into the cosmic consciousness. We arise again; we fall back again.
               My concept of the soul is exactly the same as that of Gautam the Buddha. There is no individual
           soul, there is no ego. That's why I insist so much: drop the ego. Then you will start living a life -- a
           cosmic life, a divine life. Then you will live like God -- because God will live through you. You will
           not be there.
               Second thing: he calls me a fraud. I would have loved it if I could have agreed with him. I could
           not. I am sorry. He calls me a fraud because he says I claim miraculous powers. I was simply
           amazed. I have never claimed any. With whom is he fighting? With Satya Sai Baba? I have never
           claimed any miraculous powers, and he says I claim miraculous powers. That's why I am a fraud,
           because there are no miraculous powers. My whole emphasis is that the whole existence is
           miraculous! There are no miraculous powers, but the whole of life is miraculous. And I don't claim
           any power. I am the most ordinary man. I don't claim anything. I have no claim.
               When I say that I am the most ordinary, I mean it exactly. I am not special; I am not "holier than
           thou". Then what am I doing here with people? I am just helping them to come back to their reality,
           to their ordinariness, to their first principle. If you start living and enjoying your ordinariness you are
           divine, because the ordinary is the divine.
               He projects something, then he demolishes it, and he thinks he has demolished me.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And the third thing. Because I say that without God there will be no meaning and I had asked Dr.
           Kovoor, "What meaning will your life have if there is no God?" he has answered that his life has an
           aim, and that aim is to impart whatsoever he has learned to other human beings. But that seems to be
           very irrelevant. One candle imparting to other candles! What is the meaning of it? There is no
           difference. And why do you say "human beings"? And what is the point? Even if you make a candle
           very much informed -- you talk and talk and talk -- what is the point? A candle is a candle -- there is
           no difference, sir. And this is your whole aim of life! Whatsoever you have learned in life, you have
           to teach others. This does not seem to be much of an aim. It seems more like a duty -- and a
           mechanical one at that.
                And why help these candles -- these chemicals, oxidization processes -- why help? If they remain
           ignorant, if the candles are ignorant, what is lost? And he says, "My aim in life is to help people so
           that they become aware and nobody can exploit them." But what is the point if one candle exploits
           another candle? A little wax goes from here to there -- what is the point? It does not seem very
           meaningful.
                And then, finally, he says, "Except for creating mental derangements and hallucinations... there is
           absolutely no beneficial value in meditation... meditation is a... technique of inducing self-hypnosis."
           Now, he says meditation only creates "mental derangement," "hallucination," and only "religious
           maniacs" do meditation, and people who are "mentally sick". That means all the Vedas were written
           by mentally sick people. And the Bible and the Koran and the Dhammapada and the Tao Te Ching
           and the Zend-Avestaall were written by mentally ill people. Then all that has been of any value on
           this earth was illness! Then Buddha has no health; then Buddha has no well-being. Then who else
           can have well-being? Then Nagarjuna and Shankara and Vasubandhu and Bodhidharma and Bokuju
           and Lin Chi, all are "religious maniacs". Then Jalaluddin and Bahauddin and Junaid and Mansur are
           all mentally ill people.
                If these are ill people, then who is healthy? Adolf Hitler? Mao Tse-Tung? Genghis Khan?
           Tamurlane? Nadir Shah? Who is healthy?
                He says meditation only creates derangement. He does not know even the ABCD of meditation.
           He has not even read about it. Experience is not the question at all; he has not even read about it. Or
           whatsoever he has read must have come from some people who are just like him. Maybe he has been
           reading Karl Marx on meditation! Or Betrand Russell on meditation.
                If you want to know about meditation, ask the meditators. If you want to know about meditation,
           the real, rational way is to go into meditation and see what happens because the proof of the pudding
           is in its tasting.
                He has no idea what meditation is. He calls it a technique of hypnosis. It is just the opposite, let
           me tell you. Hypnosis means sleep, induced sleep. The word HYPNOS means "sleep". Hypnosis
           means "suggesting to you to fall asleep". Meditation means AWARENESS. Meditation means
           helping you to become more aware. Meditation is not hypnosis. Meditation is a process of
           DEhypnosis; it is a dehypnotization. You are hypnotized already by the society, by the schools, by
           the priests and the politicians. Meditation is a way to dehypnotize you, to uncondition you, so that
           you can attain to your childhood innocence again. And the difference is so vital and so clear and so
           distinct that unless one is absolutely closed to understanding there is no way to miss it.
                Hypnosis is sleep; when you hypnotize a person he falls asleep, he loses consciousness. When a
           person meditates he becomes conscious -- he attains consciousness. He becomes MORE conscious.
           In fact a meditator by and by starts feeling that he needs less sleep than before; and with less sleep he
           feels more vital. If he was sleeping for eight or ten hours before, now he feels five or six or even four
           or three hours are enough; that gives him enough rest. And a meditator by and by comes to know that
           even in sleep something remains aware in him.
                But these are experiences, Dr. Kovoor. I cannot invite you into my sleep. I am helpless.
           Otherwise I would have invited you into my sleep to see what is happening. The only way to know is
           to meditate.
                And I am not saying something for the first time. Down the ages thousands of mystics have said
           the same thing. Krishna says in Geeta, "When everybody is fast asleep, the yogi is awake." Buddha's
           disciple Ananda asked Buddha, "I have a feeling that in your sleep you remain alert." Buddha said,
           "You are right. Body goes to sleep, mind goes to sleep; I remain aware." In fact modern psychology
           says that a layer of your consciousness is there which is always alert, always awake.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Have you not watched? A mother is sleeping. There are thundering clouds in the sky, or
           airplanes are passing by, and her sleep will not be disturbed. But her small child -- just a small
           movement or the child starts crying -- and she is fully awake. What happenend? She was not
           disturbed by the airplane passing, she was not disturbed by the thundering in the clouds. What
           happened? Just a small noise from the child, and she is fully alert. A part of her being is aware and
           keeps caring for the child. She closes herself against the thundering clouds, but she cannot close her
           awareness from the child. She is alert.
                If you fall asleep here and I come and I suddenly call a name, "Is Ram here?" nobody will listen,
           but the man whose name is Ram will say, "Who is disturbing my sleep? Yes, I am here what do you
           want?" Everybody heard it, but nobody responded; only Ram responded. A part of his mind -- even
           in sleep -- knows this is the name, somebody has called him.
                Even in sleep you go on chasing the mosquitoes. If an insect crawls on you, you throw it away,
           and sleep is not disturbed. Something keeps alert, surrounds you.
                This is in ordinary life. When you become a meditator, this awareness becomes deeper, more
           crystallized. A point comes when you can sleep and yet remain awake.
                I would like to invite Kovoor into my sleep, but my sleep is subjective. I know it, but I cannot
           put it in front of you, Dr. Kovoor, so that you can examine it objectively.
                But there is a way: you can learn meditation. You can meditate, and you can see what the
           difference between hypnosis and meditation is. They are diametrically opposite!
                And he says "There is absolutely no beneficial value in meditation." Now, this going too far. So
           many universities are experimenting, and there is now solid proof from medical colleges, medical
           research, psychiatric research that meditation is of tremendous benefit. He seems to be completely
           unaware of what is happening in the world.
                I invite you, Dr. Kovoor. You should come here. We have thousands of books here -- the latest
           ones. It seems you have not seen books for sixty years.
                And whatsoever he says in his article is just elementary biology, high-school biology. When I
           was reading I thought, "My God, what knowledge!"
                Now there is absolute proof that a meditator is less prone to ulcers, less prone to heart attacks,
           less prone to high blood pressure. A meditator is less prone to many illnesses that happen ordinarily
           to everybody. A meditator is less prone to madness, to insanity, to neurosis, psychosis. And a
           meditator is certainly more quiet, calm, and collected. A meditator is more responsible. A meditator
           is more loving. And there is definite proof that a meditator lives longer than a nonmeditator. A
           meditator has a higher I.Q., more intelligence, than a nonmeditator, more vitality, more creativity.
                Meditation is therapeutic. In fact, "meditation" and "medicine" come from the same root.
           Meditation is a healing force, because it relaxes you and allows nature to heal you. But that is not the
           primary benefit of meditation. It is just a side effect. The basic benefit is the entry into the divine.
           Self-realization. God-realization. Oh! the ecstasy of it, the blessing and the benediction.
                And these are not assertions of mystics. Now scientific labs are producing papers, research work,
           theses, dissertations. Through scientific equipment, measurement, ways and means, now it is almost
           a certain fact that mind can exist in many wavelengths and meditation changes the wavelength.
           Meditation creates more "alpha" waves -- and alpha waves release joy, happiness, bliss, benediction.
           Forget what the mystics say, but you can listen to the scientists.
                In the end, I pray for the old man. Please, you also pray for him. His days cannot be many and I
           would not like him to die believing that he is nothing but a chemical process and oxidization! Poor
           thing!
                And finally Dr. Kovoor requests the government to prevent my work. This is great! What type of
           argument is this? This is nerve failure, Dr. Kovoor! Can you not argue yourself, so now you need the
           support of the state?
                And he thinks he is a rational man and he has a scientific outlook. I don't see rationality or
           scientific outlook. I simply see a dogmatic, closed attitude, as if he has decided once and for all what
           is truth and is adamant not to listen to anything which can disturb his dogmatic ideas, ideologies.

           Now, a few nonserious questions.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OSHO, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, BUT I AM UNHAPPY. YOU ARE GIVING MUCH LOVE, BUT I CANNOT
              TAKE IT. WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE, BUT I CANNOT FOLLOW IT. I WANT TO BE TRANSFORMED,
              BUT WHAT IS PREVENTING ME?

              I will just tell you one anecdote:


              After passing a group of women talking near his church, the minister decided to preach a sermon
           on gossip.
           "Members of the congregation," he began, "as I entered the church the other day prior to one of your
           Ladies' Aid meetings, in one group someone was saying,'Mrs. Wilson is a wonderful woman, but....'
           At another group I heard,'Miss Brown is really a nice woman, but....' At still another group someone
           was saying,'The Arnolds seem to be a lovely couple, but....' And I am telling you right now, that if
           you are not careful, you are going to slide right into hell on your BUTS!"

              Question

              OSHO, I AM ALWAYS AFRAID OF WASTING TIME. TIME IS VALUABLE, AND I WANT TO USE IT
              RIGHTLY. CAN YOU GUIDE ME AS TO WHAT I SHOULD DO SO THAT NO MISTAKE IS
              COMMITTED?


               First, time is not valuable. There have been people who have been saying "time is money." They
           are neurotic people. They have created much neurosis in the world. Time is not valuable, because
           eternity is available. There is no end to time and there is no beginning to time. So don't be worried
           about it. The more you worry, the more you waste. Only an unworried person knows how to live
           joyously, moment to moment. Time consciousness is a great disease... and the whole West is
           suffering from it. And the disease is spreading to the East too. It has even spread to the animals. I
           was reading one anecdote....

              An old lady kept a parrot which was always swearing. Every Sunday she kept a lid over the cage,
           removing it on Monday morning, thus preventing the bird from swearing on the Sabbath. On a
           Monday she saw the minister coming towards the house; so she again placed the cover on the cage.
           As the priest was about to step into the parlor, the parrot remarked, "This has been a damned short
           week!"

               You have enough time. And don't be so afraid of committing mistakes! That is the only mistake
           one has to avoid -- the only mistake, I say, that a man can commit in life -- and that is: becoming
           afraid of committing mistakes. Then you never grow, then you never go anywhere, then you never
           do anything. Then by and by you will slip into dullness and deadness. You will become stuck,
           stagnant. Commit mistakes. What is wrong in committing mistakes?
               Just remember one thing: don't commit the same mistake again. Commit new mistakes every day.
           Be inventive. Innovate. A man only learns when he commits many, many mistakes. Go astray as far
           as you can go. God is everywhere. Where can you go? And the further astray you go, the deeper is
           your understanding of coming home; and when you come home, you understand what you were
           missing.
               Nothing is wrong. You are too afraid and too cowardly. Drop this fear and drop this
           cowardliness.


              OSHO, PLEASE HELP ME.


              I cannot do that. I am not your enemy. I am not a dogooder. I don't "help," because the help, the
           very desire to be helped, is a desire to continue as you are. You want some props, some supports.
           You want consolation, comfort. No, I am the last person to give you any consolation. I am going to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           withdraw all props, so you fall flat on the ground. From there starts a new life, a new beginning.

              Henry Thoreau once observed that if he knew for certain that a man was on his way to see him
           with the single purpose of trying to help him, he would run for his life.

                That should be the attitude towards helpers. If somebody is coming to help you, escape! Your life
           is in danger. Avoid the do-gooders, the so-called saints and mahatmas.
                I am not here to console you, to comfort you, to make you secure. I am here to destroy you
           utterly, because only then is the new born -- the new man, the new consciousness. If I help, the old
           will continue. All help goes to help the old. All help keeps the old surviving; it nourishes it. No, I am
           not going to help in any way.
                I know you want help. You don't want resurrection. You want help. You don't want death, you
           don't want a new life. But if you are around me long enough, by and by I will withdraw all your
           supports. I will even take the earth beneath your feet away, so you fall into the bottomless abyss of
           existence. You disappear into that abyss... and in that very disappearance, God appears to you. When
           you are utterly helpless, God's help becomes available.
                I am not going to help you. I am going to make you utterly helpless so that in your helplessness a
           prayer arises, so that in your helplessness, surrender becomes possible, and then comes God's help.
           Only God can help. And all other help is a barrier to God's help.
                One beautiful story that I always love.... Krishna has just sat down to take his lunch and in the
           middle of the lunch he rushes towards the door, and his wife, Rukamani, says, "Where are you
           going?" But he is in such a hurry that he doesn't answer. At the door he suddenly stops, then comes
           back slowly, a little sad, sits back, starts eating. Rukamani asks, "What is the matter? What
           happened? Where were you going so suddenly, as if there was some emergency? And now suddenly
           you turn back from the door and you are sad. What happened?"
                Krishna says, "One of my lovers, one of my devotees, is passing through a capital and people are
           throwing stones at him and blood is flowing from his head and he has wounds, but he remains utterly
           helpless -- not a condemnatory word on his lips, not even in his mind. His surrender is total. I had to
           rush to help him. He was so helpless!"
                Then Rukamani is even more surprised. "Then why did you come back?"
                Krishna says, "By the time I reached the door, he had taken a stone in his own hand. Now he is
           ready to answer himself. Now I am not needed. Now he is no more helpless."
                Remember, all human help becomes a barrier to divine help. My purpose here is to make you
           REALLY helpless, utterly helpless, so God rushes towards you and fills your emptiness. That will be
           the day of real rejoicing, ecstasy.
                Don't ask for my help. Ask that I destroy all that you have arranged around yourself as help,
           comfort, consolation. Ask that I kill you. Ask that I behead you. The moment your head has rolled
           down on the earth, you will grow a new head, and that head will be the divine. That will be God's
           head.




                                                The First Principle
                                                  Chapter #7
                                 Chapter title:The Song of Sound and Silence
           17 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704170
              ShortTitle: PRINCI07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 93 mins
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




               A PUZZLED MONK ONCE SAID TO FUKETSU, "YOU SAY TRUTH CAN BE EXPRESSED
               WITHOUT SPEAKING, AND WITHOUT KEEPING SILENT. HOW CAN THIS BE?" FUKETSU
               ANSWERED, "IN SOUTHERN CHINA, IN THE SPRING, WHEN I WAS ONLY A LAD, AH!. HOW
               THE BIRDS SANG AMONG THE BLOSSOMS."

                 GOD IS. TRUTH IS. LOVE IS. There is no way to say it, and there is no way to hide it. There is
           no word which can express it, and there is no methodology of how to keep it unexpressed. That is the
           dilemma of the mystic. He has to say it, and it cannot be said. He cannot keep quiet about it, he
           cannot keep silent. It overfloods him; it starts overflowing; it is beyond him to keep silent. He has to
           say it, and nobody has ever been able to say it.
                 God is not a word, neither is truth a word, nor is love a word. And they are not just silences
           either, because their isness is a singing isness; they are songs. It is not just dull and dead there. It is
           full of joy, it is overflowing joy. It is celebration, it is ecstasy, it is orgasm, because it is a meeting of
           the opposites, because it is a meeting of the polarities, because it is a marriage, a marriage of yin and
           yang, day and night, summer and winter, life and death, sound and silence
                 . So when it happens, you cannot say it, but you have to sing it, and that is the beauty of the song.
           It has something of the word and something of silence in it. That is the beauty of poetry, the beauty
           of dance. Something is visible, something is invisible; the manifest and the unmanifest meet there,
           embrace each other, are fulfilled in each other.
                 If you simply say and use words and there is no silence in those words, your words will be like
           dead stones. They can hit somebody's head, you can argue with them, but you cannot convert. They
           don't have that quality of silence which becomes conversion. When a word has a silence at its
           innermost core, when a word is luminous with silence, it brings conversion. Then it is a gospel, then
           it is good news. Then somebody, who is saying something with silence in it, is not throwing a dead
           rock at you, but is throwing a flower. It will also hit you, but it will also caress you, and it will go
           deeper because you can be vulnerable to it and it will reach to your very heart. Because how can you
           protect yourself against it? You will be nondefensive.
                 So remember, all the mystics have been singing and dancing, celebrating. They go on saying,
           "We cannot say it," and they go on saying all the same.
                 There is a difference in saying and saying. When you say without knowing it, without realizing
           it, it is just gibberish, just words and words and words, without any soul in them; it is a corpse; there
           is no aliveness in it. Those words stink -- they stink of death. There is no heartbeat of life. When you
           know, when you have experienced, when you have fallen into that abyss called God, when you are
           transformed by that surrender, when you are totally immersed in it, when your every cell is bathed in
           it, then you say; but your words are not mere words. They carry silence. They are vehicles of silence;
           they are gestures of silence. We have a special name for it in the East: MAHAMUDRA -- the great
           gesture
                 . Look at my hand. If it is empty, if there is nobody behind it who has experienced, then it is an
           ordinary gesture. But if there is somebody behind it who has known, who has lived, who has
           experienced, then raising this hand is a great gesture, MAHAMUDRA. Then the ordinary hand
           becomes extraordinary. Then ordinary words are no more ordinary words. You cannot go to the
           dictionary to find their meaning. When a word is full of silence, you will have to go within yourself
           to find its meaning, not to a dictionary, not to a library. You will have to go within yourself. The
           meaning will be found in your experience.
                 The word of a man who knows is loaded, loaded with great fragrance. You will have to decode it
           in your innermost core of being, into the innermost shrine of your being.
                 Truth is a transcendence, transcendence of all duality. So those who say truth cannot be said,
           only say a half-truth; and those who say that truth can be said only in silence, they also say a
           half-truth.
                 Zen brings the whole truth to the world. Zen is a great blessing to the world; it brings the whole
           truth.
                 The whole truth is: Truth cannot be said, and yet can be said. If not said, then showed, indicated.
           The ordinary duality is transcended. We are always moving from one pole of the duality to the other.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Sometimes we say, "Yes, it can be said"; this is one pole. Then we become aware, "How can it be
           said?" -- the other pole. Then we keep silent, but then again we become aware that there is
           something left: "Yes, it can be said." This way it goes on moving, it swings.
                Zen says truth is a transcendence, transcendence of all duality. The duality between the word and
           the silence is also to be transcended.
                The Bible says in the beginning there was the word. The Vedas say in the beginning there was
           silence, eternal silence, and the silence brooded over the sea, and it was dark. And the Bible says
           there was the word. The first thing that happened in existence was the word. God said let there be
           light, and there was light. Both are half-truths.
                If you ask the Zen people... They have not written any Bible or any Veda yet, and they will never
           try, because they don't believe in scriptures. They say it is beyond the scriptures; it is a transmission
           beyond the scriptures. But if they ever write a Bible, or if they are forced to, like Lao Tzu was once
           forced to write the Tao Te Ching because the king wouldn't allow him to leave the country unless he
           wrote his experiences....
                Lao Tzu wanted to go to the Himalayas, to die there; certainly there cannot be any more beautiful
           a place to die. Those eternal peaks, those snow -- covered virgin peaks, where can you find a better
           place to disappear in God? What better moment? He wanted to go -- he was very old and he wanted
           to go to the Himalayas to rest and disappear there, nobody ever knowing about him. He wanted to
           disappear absolutely alone. He wanted his death to be private.
                And death is a private thing. Nobody else can be with you when you die; it is absolutely internal.
           So he wanted to escape and go away from the crowds. He was afraid too many people will surround
           him and his death will become a public affair.
                But the king insisted, "First you write whatsoever you have known." And he ordered the guards
           on the boundary saying that "This man is not to be allowed to go out." So he was caught at a guard
           post, and for three days he sat in the guards' room and wrote down the Tao Te Ching.
                If somebody, forces a Zen Master to write down a Bible, a Veda, then they will say there was
           song in the beginning. Neither word nor silence, but song. There was song in the beginning, and God
           sang and danced. Not "Let there be light": God sang and danced. And that dance became the
           beginning of creation.
                That dance continues. That dance is what existence is.
                The song has a mystery about it because it is a meeting, a marriage of opposites. In the song
           there is sound and silence. The song says something, but says in such a way that you cannot grasp it.
           Not that it doesn't say anything. It makes much available, but you cannot grasp it, you cannot just
           possess it. If you try to possess, you will kill it. You cannot have a song in your fist; otherwise the
           song will be killed. It is too delicate; you cannot be that rough with it. A song has to be preserved in
           the heart, not in the fist. About a song you have to be receptive, not aggressive. You can keep an
           argument in the fist; it is hard, rocklike, it will not die. You can keep and possess an argument, you
           can become the possessor of an argument. That's why the ego enjoys very much to have arguments,
           proofs, logic, philosophies. The ego feels very much fulfilled: "I know so much."
                The song cannot be possessed that way; the ego cannot be its possessor. The song can penetrate
           your being, but the ego has to give way. If the ego comes in between, the song will be shattered. You
           may get fragments of it, and you may start interpreting those fragments, but you will miss the unity
           of it. And it was in the unity.
                A song has not to be thought about. If you start thinking, about a song, you are already missing
           it. When you listen to music, how do you listen? Do you bring your mind in? If you bring your mind
           in, where is the music? Music and the mind both cannot exist together. That is the mystery of music:
           you have to put your mind aside. You cannot argue with music; you cannot nod your head in
           agreement or disagreement. You cannot say, "Yes, I agree," or "No, I don't agree." There is no
           question of agreement or no agreement. With music you simply become one. If you want to feel it
           you have to put your head aside. The heart has to open towards it. It goes directly to the heart, it
           showers on the heart. It helps the flower of the heart to open and bloom. It is a nourishment for the
           inner lotus.
                The Zen people will say, "There was song in the beginning, and then God sang and God danced,
           and that's what he has been doing since then." Each moment it is a dance. Look around. Can't you
           hear these birds? These are not birds; don't be deceived by them. These are not birds. It is God
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           singing, the God of the beginnings -- because it is always a beginning. Each moment is a beginning.
           Never think that the beginning was somewhere in the past. This is the beginning, and it is always the
           beginning and there is no end. It is God singing.
                Can't you hear the silence of the trees? It is God, silent.
                In the birds he is singing, in the trees he is silent. Birds cannot exist without the trees, and, let me
           tell you, the trees cannot exist without the birds either. The birds sing for the trees, and the trees are
           silent for the birds, and there is a marriage. They are tied together. If trees disappear, birds will
           disappear. Kill all the birds of the world, and you will one day see the trees are disappearing.
           Everything is intertwined, everything is interlinked. This is what we mean by the word "ecology" --
           everything is together.
           It is God singing, it is God silent.
                Once you understand that God is both, then this highest possibility opens for you. This is the first
           principle, that you need not divide, all division is false, that you need not create any duality, because
           existence is nondual, because existence is one.
                And all our misery is because we are divided. Why do you feel so thrilled when you are in love?
           What happens? Is the thrill just chemical, hormonal? No, it is not. The thrill is existential. When you
           are in love, at least with one person you feel to be one, at least with one person you have dropped
           duality, at least with one person you are no more separate, at least with one person the boundaries
           are not there. You have removed the boundaries. Two spaces have come so close, they overlap. You
           feel so thrilled with love, so blissful with love, because it is an experience of God, a very limited
           experience of course.
                And if it is so beautiful to be one with one person, how much more beautiful will it be to be one
           with the whole, to be one with all the persons, men and women, trees and birds and animals and the
           clouds and the mountains and the stars? How will it be? How much more beautiful? The beauty
           cannot be imagined, because the difference will not be only of quantity, it will be of quality. It will
           be utterly different.
                Love can at the most be only a glimpse of a ray, not the ray itself, but only a glimpse in the lake.
           A ray of the sun playing on the lake, and you see the glimpse. That glimpse is love. When you find
           out the real ray, it becomes prayer. When you start moving through that ray, upwards, you start
           climbing on that ray and you start reaching towards the source of all light, then you are growing in
           spirituality. One day you are dissolved into that light. You yourself have become that light. That is
           the orgasm I talk about. That's ecstasy.
                And Zen people say that when you know, you have to say, knowing well that it cannot be said.
           You have to sing it.
                Zen Masters have been very creative. Either they were singers, dancers, or painters, or in some
           sort of art, calligraphy, pottery. Whatsoever they could do they did. That became the gesture of their
           expression. They were not inactive people. Deep down they were not doers, and on the surface they
           were not inactive at all. Deep down they were just instrumental to the divine. No doer, no idea of
           doing anything -- just being, but on the surface very creative. The world would have been far richer
           if every religion had developed such a school as Zen.
                For example, Hindu monks have lived a very uncreative life. Jaina monks have lived a very
           uncreative life. Except Zen, even Buddhists have lived a very uncreative life. So has been the case
           with the Catholics.
                Zen brings creativity. And remember, if you want to be one with the creator, you will have to
           learn some ways of creativity. The only way to be one with the creator is to be in some moment of
           creativity, when you are lost. The potter is lost in making his pottery; the potter is lost while working
           on the wheel. The painter is lost while painting. The dancer is lost; there is no dancer, only the dance
           remains. Those are the peak moments, where you touch God, where God touches you.
                Now, the scholar, the so-called scholar, becomes wordy. He goes on learning more words, more
           words, more information, more scriptures. He has no silence. That is a very lopsided phenomenon.
           Then against the scholar there are a few saints, who keep quiet; they don't even say a single word.
           That too is moving to the other extreme. They become uncreative. Of course, they are silent, better
           than the scholar -- at least they will not throw their rubbish into other people's heads, at least they are
           not committing any crime -- but in a higher sense they are also criminals because they are not
           benefiting existence. They are parasites. They are not making existence richer by their being here.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They are not helping God in his dance, in his song.
                Zen brings the highest synthesis. Don't be afraid of speaking, but don't go on speaking if you
           don't know. Don't be silent. Just being silent will not help.
                It has to be understood because too many times this comes to your mind too: Why go on
           speaking? Why not keep quiet? But your silence will be YOUR silence. The words will go on
           moving, revolving inside you. You will become a madhouse inside. You may look silent from the
           outside; you will not be silent inside. How can you simply drop those words, those old habits of
           many lives? The mind will go on chattering, the mind will go on saying things, repeating things. The
           mind is like an automaton; even if you don't want to talk the mind goes on. If you don't talk to others
           it goes on talking to itself. It creates both the parties: it talks from one side and answers from another
           side; it goes on playing the game. From the outside one can be easily silent, but from the inside?
                And if you are silent from the inside, you will be surprised that your silence becomes so loaded
           with ecstasy that you have to sing. There is no other way. That you have to dance, that you have to
           share. When you have you have to share. If you have it at all you will have to share. If you don't
           have it you can keep quiet, but what is the point of keeping quiet if you don't have it?
                There are two types of people: one who goes on talking without having it, and one who goes on
           keeping silent without having it. Both are in the same boat.
                There is a third type of person, who has come to know it, who has really become silent and in the
           silence he has heard the soundless sound, in the silence God has delivered his message to him. God
           has spoken to him. He has had a dialogue with God himself. The silence has filled his heart with so
           much juice, with so much life, with life abundant, that he is bursting. He has to say it. There is no
           way to get rid of it.
                And his saying will have a totally different significance because words will not be mere words. If
           such a person sits silently, even his silence will be a sharing. If such a person keeps completely
           silent, you will see his silence is singing all around him. You will feel the vibe. His silence is saying
           something. He is indicating from his silence too. If he speaks he speaks. If he is silent, then too he
           speaks.
                If you don't sing it, remember, you don't have it. If it does not overflow in a thousand and one
           gestures, then it is not there. You cannot hold it if it is there. And you cannot possess it if it is there;
           it is not your property. You cannot become the owner of it. You cannot hoard it, you cannot be
           miserly about it. If it is there at all, it drowns you utterly. It possesses you. You cannot possess it; it
           possesses you. And then it leads you into a thousand and one gestures. In a thousand and one streams
           you start flowing, and whatsoever you do becomes an expression.
                I have heard a very beautiful legend. The legend is, there was a great Master in India, the
           twenty-seventh successor of Gautam the Buddha; his name was Hanyatara. A king in south India
           requested him to come to his court. The king himself came, bowed down to Hanyatara, touched his
           feet, and said, "Please, come to my court, to bless us. And this has been my desire, to listen to some
           sutras of Gautam the Buddha by a man who is a Buddha himself, so I have been avoiding scholars,
           pundits, professors. I have been avoiding, I have been waiting, because those sutras that Buddha
           uttered are so pregnant that only a man who has attained to that consciousness will be able to give
           expression to them."
                Hanyatara came to the court with an attendant. The king was thrilled; it was his dream for his
           whole life one day to have a Buddha in his court, in his palace. The whole palace was decorated, the
           whole town was decorated; the whole capital was celebrating. It was a great day of celebration. But
           the king was puzzled, a little bewildered: Hanyatara sat silently, not saying a single word, and the
           attendant recited the sutra. Now, this was not the purpose at all. The king could have found better
           people to recite the sutra than the attendant. He was just an attendant who looked after Hanyatara,
           just used to do small errands, a very ordinary man, not even a great scholar. His grammar was faulty,
           his pronunciation was not exactly as it should be. He was an ordinary man.
                Just out of respect, the king kept silent. When the sutra was finished, he touched the feet of
           Hanyatara and said, "Sir, enlighten me about this; otherwise I will remain puzzled. Why did not
           YOU recite the sutra?"
                And Hanyatara said, "What, I did not recite the sutra? Then what else was I doing the whole time
           here? You fool!"
                The king was even more puzzled, because he had kept quiet, he had not said a single word. The
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           king said, "Please, explain it to me. I don't understand. I am an ordinary, ignorant person. I may not
           know the ways of the Buddhas."
               And Hanyatara said, "I sat silently, breathing in, breathing out. That was my sutra. What else is
           there in life? Breathe in, breathe out. Be alert, aware. When I breathed in, I was aware; when I
           breathed out, I was aware. It was all awareness! What else is a sutra? Awareness. If you had listened
           to the rhythm of my breathing you would have understood. I have recited it! Words are one way to
           recite it. Breathing silently, but with full awareness, is another way to recite it -- and far better a way.
           I have been very expressive today, as I have never been before. Thinking that you have been waiting
           for so long, I thought,'Why not give the real thing?' "
               The king was thrilled, seeing the compassion. Now he felt there was a certain rhythm in his
           silence. Now he became aware, retrospectively of course, that this man was not silent in the ordinary
           way. He had seen silent people; sometimes he himself had sat in silence. This was a different silence.
           There was a song, certainly there was a song. There was a fragrance around this man. There was a
           vibe of a different quality; he was vibrating. Strange it was, but now he remembered, yes, it was
           there. And the way he was breathing was no ordinary way. Not that he was doing anything special in
           the breathing: his breathing was pure, natural, like a small baby.
               When you breathe, your breathing is never natural. If you are a little angry, your anger changes
           your breathing. If you are full of passion, lust, your lust changes your breathing. If you are greedy,
           your greed is reflected in your breathing. Continuously your mind mood infiltrates breathing and
           changes it. You can watch it. When you are angry, try not to disturb the breathing, and you will be
           completely unable to be angry. Just try not to change the breathing. Let the breathing remain as it
           was before you became angry, and then try to be angry. It will be impossible. The breathing has to
           change first. Through the breathing the body changes; the mind first affects the breathing. When you
           are in a moment of lust, watch, keep the breathing natural, and you will suddenly find the lust has
           disappeared, the moment came and passed.
               By and by you will be able to see each mood is reflected in your breathing, so your breathing is
           never natural, because there is some mood or other. The natural breathing means there is no mood:
           that means there is no mind -- neither anger nor greed nor lust nor jealousy nor love nor hate. No --
           mood means no-mind. In that state of no-mind the breathing is natural. Then there is a song to it,
           then there is a totally different quality to it. Then it is pure life. Then the flame is without smoke.
               Yes, the king remembered, there was something strange, something was happening. He had
           missed it. He started crying. He said, "I have missed it. Why didn't you tell me before? Now I know
           there was something, and I had even felt it, but my consciousness is not so developed, so I could not
           understand what was happening.
           "And I was too concerned about that foolish sutra. I was continuously thinking about why you were
           not reciting the sutra and why this attendant was reciting the sutra. I was so much concerned about
           the sutra that I missed.
           "But I am grateful that you showed such compassion, that you showed your being so naked, so true,
           so authentic."
               He presented a great diamond, the most valuable he had, to Hanyatara, and then he said to
           Hanyatara, "I have three sons. Sir, be kind enough. I will call them. Bless them."
               Thinking that young people are young people, and the youngest was only seven, they may
           disturb the sutra reciting, he had not called them to participate before.
           The three young princes came in.
               Rather than blessing them, Hanyatara showed the diamond that the king had presented to him to
           the first prince, the eldest. He must have been somewhere near fifteen. The prince looked at the
           diamond and said, "A great diamond, of the finest water, purest water. Where could you get it? It is
           rare. It is no ordinary diamond."
               Yes, his understanding about the diamond was perfectly true. It was a rare diamond, of the most
           perfect water. Even Hanyatara had never seen such a thing.
               Then he called the second prince, who must have been near about ten, and the second prince
           looked at the diamond, and he said, "Not only the finest, not only the best, it is certain that it belongs
           to my father because in this kingdom nobody can have such a diamond. It is rare. Sir, it does not
           belong to you, it cannot. To protect this diamond you will need a great army, otherwise you cannot
           have it. Just this attendant won't do."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Yes, his understanding was also very correct.
               And then the third son was called. He was only seven. He looked at the diamond, looked at
           Hanyatara, and laughed and said, "What? Do you want to befool me?" He was only seven, and he
           said, "Do you want to befool me? You cannot! Because the real diamonds are never of the outside.
           And what are you trying to show me? You have the real diamond within YOU. I can see it! This is
           just a stone that you have in your hand. Throw it, sir!"
               And it is said that Hanyatara hugged this small boy.
               This boy's name was Bodhitara, and Hanyatara changed his name to Bodhidharma. He became
           the twenty-eighth successor of Buddha; he was the first patriarch of Zen in China, this small boy
           Bodhitara, whose name Hanyatara changed to Bodhidharma.
               Hanyatara said, "This boy has looked into the deepest reality anybody can look into. DHARMA
           means'the ultimate reality'. He has penetrated to the ultimate reality." He said to the king, "Even you
           could not see who I am. That's why you missed my sermon, my silent sermon. That's why you
           missed my silent song. I was singing here but you missed. But this boy, yes, I cannot befool him.
           This boy is going to be my successor."
               And then he said to the king, "Sir, forgive me. I have not come for you and I have not come
           because you requested me to. I had to come because of this boy. I have been in search of this boy!
           This has been a promise from the past life, and this has been a decided gesture: in the past life I told
           this boy,'I will seek you and find you and I will show you a diamond, and that will be the moment of
           your examination. If you can see my inner diamond and you are not befooled, you will be my
           successor.'"
               The legend is of tremendous value. First, the silent sermon. Yes, sometimes a mystic can be
           silent -- but he is not silent! His silence is a very telling silence. He may not do anything, he may not
           even move his eyes, he may not move any of his limbs, but still his presence goes on doing a
           thousand and one things. Just to be in his presence, just to breathe with him in the same rhythm, and
           something is transferred: his song, his silence, his dance. You will never be the same again.
               Truth is not hidden, from the very beginning. Truth is unhidden; only your eyes are closed. Truth
           is being preached from every tree and from every bird and from every rock and from every star; just
           your eyes, your ears, your sensitivity is not there. You are deaf. Truth is not dumb; you are deaf. And
           truth is not hiding anywhere.
               A man came to a Zen Master and asked, "Sir, where should I go to find the truth?" And the Zen
           Master said, "You just keep looking in front of your nose and go on, and you will find it.
               It is just in front of your nose! Truth is just in front of you. In fact, wherever you look it is truth,
           you just need to know how to look for it. But you are looking for other things; that's why you go on
           missing.
               That great king missed Hanyatara's sermon. It was a Zen sermon, the same as Buddha preached
           to the first Zen Master, Mahakashyap, sitting silently, holding a flower in his hand. This second
           sermon, of Hanyatara to the king, was even more subtle. He was not even holding a flower in his
           hand. He was just breathing in and out, a natural breathing, an ordinary breathing, unaffected by the
           mind. And truth was there and the sutras were recited there through his breathing, but the king
           missed.
               You may have come across a Buddha in your life -- or you may have come across many Buddhas
           in your past lives -- but you have missed because you were not sensitive enough to feel that vibe.
           That vibe is subtle. You were not aware enough to move to that height, to feel the presence.
               Be a little more alert. The sermon is preached constantly. From everywhere God is speaking to
           you. Even when everything is silent he is speaking through silence. His song is eternal.
               Zen says, "Truth is not hidden, from the very beginning, so you are not to uncover truth, you are
           only to uncover your eyes." You just have a curtain on your eyes. Just pull your earplugs out. Your
           ears are plugged; hence you cannot hear.
               How to unplug the ears? How to open the eyes? How to drop barriers that don't allow you to
           become sensitive enough? What is the way? The way is IMMEDIACY. Be immediate, be in the
           moment.
               Otherwise Buddhas can go on shouting from the housetops, and you will not hear -- or you will
           hear something which has not been said at all.
           A few scenes. First scene:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Warden: "Can't you see the sign'NO FISHING HERE'?"
              Angler: "Yes, and I don't agree. There is good fishing here! Just look at this lot I have landed
           today. Whoever put that sign up must be crazy."

           The second scene:

              The Dean of Women was lecturing to a class on the subject of sex morality. "In moments of
           temptation, ask yourself just one question: Is an hour of pleasure worth a lifetime of shame?"
              One of the girls raised her hand naively and asked, "How do you make it last one hour?"

           The third scene:

               Ethel was shapely out shy, and visited a doctor for the first time. He ushered her into his private
           office and said, "Now, my dear, please get completely undressed."
               Ethel blushed and replied, "Okay, Doctor, but you first."

           Fourth scene:

               The following ad appeared in the Personal column of a London paper: "My husband and I have
           four sons. Has anyone any suggestions as to how we may have a daughter?" Letters poured in from
           all over the world. An American wrote, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again." A
           Buddhist from Thailand suggested that they should seek the help of Buddha. A South African
           recommended a special diet. An Indian proposed yoga.
           A Frenchman merely wrote, "May I be of service?"

           And the last and the fifth scene:

               A lion tamer had quit without notice, and the circus manager needed someone to replace him for
           the next night's show. He put an ad in the local paper, and the next morning two applicants showed
           up outside his office. One was a rather ordinary looking young man, and the other a ravishing
           redheaded beauty. Neither one of them looked very much like a lion trainer, but the manager was
           desperate. "All right," he said. "Here is a whip, a chair, and a gun. Let us see what you can do with
           the big Leo over there. We will let you have the first try, miss, but be careful. He is a mean one."
               The ravishing redhead strode past the whip, the chair, and the gun, and emptyhanded, fearlessly
           entered the cage. Big Leo rose, snarling, then came charging across the cage towards her with a
           ferocious roar. When the lion was almost upon her the girl threw open her coat. Underneath, she was
           stark naked. Leo skidded to a stop and crawled the rest of the way on his belly. He nuzzled the girl's
           feet with his nose, purred, and licked her trim ankles.
               The astonished circus manager grinned happily and turned to the pop-eyed young man. "Well,
           young fella," he asked, "think you can top that?"
           "Yeah," panted the applicant. "Just get that stupid lion out of there."

               Truth is all around, but your interpretations are YOUR interpretations. God is speaking all the
           time, but you hear not, or even if you hear, you hear something else. You hear according to you, your
           mind comes in, and hence you go on missing.
               Unless the mind is dropped you will not be able to know what truth is. Truth cannot be
           discovered by mind; mind is the barrier. It is because of the mind that you have not been able to
           discover it. It is not a question of how to train the mind to know the truth. The more the mind is
           trained and becomes capable, the less is the possibility to know the truth. The more skilled a mind,
           the farther away you are from the truth.
           Mind is the barrier. No-mind is the door.
               How to attain to no-mind? The only way -- the ONLY way -- is to be in the present. The only
           way is not to think of the past, not to think of the future. And you cannot think of the present. That is
           the whole secret: you cannot think of the present; there is not space enough for thought to move.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Thought needs room to move. Can you think anything right now? If you think it, either it will be of
           the past or of the future.
               This moment of silence. If you think, "Yes, this is a moment of silence," it is already past. Or you
           say, "How beautiful!" It is already past. Utter a word "beautiful," and it is already past. You cannot
           think. Thinking stops when you are in the present. So that is the only key, and it is a master key; it
           unlocks all the doors of being. Immediacy, that is the whole insistance of Zen.
               If you go to a Zen Master and you ask something, it is unpredictable what he will do to you. He
           may hit you. Or he may not hit you; he may hit himself! Or he may say something absurd, totally
           irrelevant to what you have asked. Somebody asks, "How to attain Buddhahood?" and the Master
           says, "The cypress tree in the courtyard." Now what? How are they related? They are not, but the
           Master is indicating, "Please, drop all this nonsense. Look at this -- THIS -- cypress tree in the
           courtyard. What nonsense are you talking about? -- Buddha, and how to become a Buddha. You are
           talking about the past and the future. You have heard about Buddha in the past, so you have a greed,
           a desire. Now you want to become a Buddha in the future, so you have come to me. All nonsense."
           He simply gives something immediate; he says, "Look! The cypress tree in the courtyard." It is not
           relevant if you think in terms of the mind. If you think in terms of no-mind it is the only thing
           relevant.
               A man comes to a Zen Master and asks, "What is the way?" And the Master says, "Listen," and
           everything becomes silent, and just by the side of the Master's hut flows a fountain, and the water is
           making the sound, the murmur. The sound of the water, the sound of the running water. For a
           moment everything is silent, the seeker, the questioner, is also. The Master says, "Listen. Hear. This
           is the way." The sound of the running water? That's all he has heard. And the Master says, "Hear!
           This is the way to become a Buddha, to attain to enlightenment." He is bringing the mind to an
           immediacy, to a state of immediacy.
               What is he saying? He is not saying anything about the sound of the running water. In that
           moment, when suddenly the Master shocked the inquirer -- because he was asking about the way to
           attain to nirvana, and the Master says, "Listen"it is so out of context, it is so unrelated to his
           question, that for a moment, out of the shock of it, the sheer shock of it, everything becomes silent.
           And when the Master says, "Hear. This is the way," he is not saying anything about the running
           water or its sound. He is indicating the silent moment that has penetrated into the consciousness of
           the inquirer. He says, "Hear. This is the way."
               If you become immediate you attain. If you live moment to moment you attain.

           Once a Western psychiatrist went to see a Zen
              Master in Japan. "How do you deal with neurotics?" he asked.
           The Master replied, simply, "I trap them."

               Trap them? The psychiatrist could not understand what he means by trapping them. How can you
           trap a neurotic? The neurotic will trap you!

           "But how?" pressed the psychiatrist.
              The Master replied, "I get them to where they cannot ask any more questions."

               Then they are trapped, if they cannot ask any more questions.
               If the mind is allowed to ask questions, then the mind goes on and on, so the Zen Master brings
           you down to the immediate facticity of life. Sometimes he may hit you. By hitting, suddenly you are
           herenow. It is great compassion.
               You ask, "Has God created the world?" and the Master hits you, sharply. For a moment you are
           puzzled, shocked. For a moment all thinking stops. The very shock of it, the unpredictableness of it.
           For a moment, certainly, certainly for a moment, everything stops. And the Master says,"This, this is
           how God created the world." This is how God goes on creating the world. This moment of pure
           silence, this moment of no-mind, is the door to all solutions, to salvation, to liberation.
               This is unique; sometimes a Master will do something which you had not expected at all. And the
           Master can do that only if he is not following certain rules. He is not following any. If he simply
           repeats from old Masters, then disciples become acquainted with it. No, sometimes he will do
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something you cannot believe.
               There was a Zen Master who used to talk about God or Buddha, but whenever he would talk
           about God or Buddha or the ultimate reality he would raise his hand: one finger pointing towards the
           sky. This became a joke among his disciples. Whenever they would talk about such great things they
           would raise their fingers and point to God. A small young boy was the attendant of the Master; he
           used to bring his tea and things like that. He became a perfect master in showing his finger, and he
           was always there and the Master was always doing it to everybody, so he became very perfect; he
           could imitate it perfectly.
               And the Master was aware of it. Sometimes he would be standing by the side at the back and the
           Master would raise his finger and he would also raise his finger and everybody would laugh -- and
           the Master was aware of what was happening.
               One day the boy did that, and the Master called him in front of him, took a sharp knife, and cut
           off his finger. The boy's finger was cut off. The pain was sharp; the boy shrieked. And the Master
           said, "Stop! Now do it. Now do it! Whatsoever you have been doing for so long -- now do it without
           the finger!"
               And when the Master shouted, "Stop!" all pain disappeared in that moment, there was silence.
           And the small young boy showed the finger which was not there anymore, blood was flowing. But it
           is said in that moment he became enlightened.
           Now, it is possible. That very sharpness of it.
               Another story. In a Zen Master's ashram there were five hundred monks, and there were two
           wings. Just in the middle was the Master's hut; on one side was one wing, on the other side the other
           wing. There was a beautiful cat, and there was a great debate between these two sides as to whom it
           belonged. It almost became a quarrel, and things went to such a state that both the wings were ready
           to kill each other for the cat. To whom does it belong? The left wing was saying, "It belongs to us";
           and the right wing was saying. "It belongs to us." It was a really beautiful cat.
               The Master heard it. He called the whole ashram, and the cat was brought, and he said, "Now,
           give me a true answer, any one of you, and the cat will belong to him. Stand up and show your
           understanding of reality, any one of you. And if you don't show within seconds, I will cut the cat in
           two, and one part will go to the left side and one part will go to the right side."
               They were shocked. They could not find out how to respond to the Master's demand. What to do
           so that the cat can be saved? What to do? They started thinking. In their very thinking they missed
           the moment because when you think, you cannot be immediate and you cannot show your
           understanding of reality. You cannot show the understanding of immediacy. Not a single monk out
           of those five hundred could show.
               For seconds the Master waited, then took a sword, cut the cat in two; half the cat was given to
           each wing, and he disposed of it. He said, "Now go." They were all sorry.
               By the evening, one monk, who had gone outside, came back. When he came in to see the
           Master, he was just taking his shoes off, and the Master said, "Where have you been? Were you not
           there when I cut the cat in two? I had told the other monks that if they can show some understanding
           of reality the cat can be saved. Where have you been?"
               The young man, who had taken off one shoe and was going to take off the other shoe, took that
           shoe, put it on his head, walked back.
               And the Master called him, "Come, my son. Had you been here the cat would be alive still. The
           cat could have been saved if you were here."
               That immediacy. Not that this is the answer, but the immediacy. That was the moment. He
           allowed it to happen. It was not done with the mind, with thinking. It was done without any thinking,
           it was done without any mind. He simply said that it is as foolish as me having my shoe on my head
           to cut the cat. It is as foolish. But it was not an answer from the mind. It was an immediate response.
           And the Master said, "My boy, if you had been here, the cat would have been alive. But those fools
           could not show any understanding."

           Now this small, beautiful anecdote:

              A PUZZLED MONK ONCE SAID TO FUKETSU, "YOU SAY TRUTH CAN BE EXPRESSED
              WITHOUT SPEAKING, AND WITHOUT KEEPING SILENT. HOW CAN THIS BE?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FUKETSU ANSWERED, "IN SOUTHERN CHINA, IN THE SPRING, WHEN I WAS ONLY A LAD, AH!
              HOW THE BIRDS SANG AMONG THE BLOSSOMS. "


              A very simple anecdote, but with great significance. Meditate over it.

              A PUZZLED MONK ONCE SAID TO FUKETSU....


               From where do you become puzzled? From the mind. The mind is always dividing things, and
           then cannot figure it out. Once you divide, there is conflict and confusion. How can it be? Once you
           divide -- this is good, this is bad -- then the question arises: "Why has God created a world where so
           much evil exists?" You divide, that this is good and this is bad, and once you divide, then the
           problem arises: "Why has God created such a world where so much evil exists, so much bad?"
               Now, you call God "God" because you think he is good. God is both and neither. Division is
           yours. It is your problem; it is not God's problem. You say, "Why do so many people die? Why has
           God created a world where death happens?" You don't understand at all. First you divide life in two
           parts, life and death. It is undivided. For God death is as beautiful as birth; they are both parts of the
           same phenomenon. For the whole there is no distinction between birth and death. Birth is a death,
           and death is a birth. They both are the same: two polarities, two which can exist only in togetherness.
           Life cannot exist without death, and neither can death exist without life.
               Have you ever observed the fact? All that you love in life is possible only because of death. You
           love a woman because today she is beautiful, tomorrow she may not be. Old age. Today she is here,
           tomorrow she may not be there. Death is possible. You love the woman. If you knew that the beauty
           is eternal, that always and always the woman will be beautiful and that nobody is going to die, will
           there be joy in life? It will be sheer boredom. And if it was impossible even to commit suicide, you
           cannot conceive of a more miserable life -- just people living and living and doing the same thing
           again and again and again and nothing ever changes and everything is eternal, nobody ever dies. Just
           think if all the people that have lived on the earth were living now -- there will not be any space
           even to stand -- and everybody was eternal.... Life will lose all beauty. The beauty is in its
           momentariness.
               That's why I go on insisting: Celebrate the temporal. By celebrating it you will know that this is
           the way the eternal functions. The temporal is a function of the eternal.
               Celebrate the temporal. Celebrate the momentary. In the momentary is the eternal, hiding. Don't
           throw it away. If you throw the momentary you are throwing the baby with the bathwater. The
           eternal is hidden there. The eternal comes in the momentary, penetrates the moment.

              A PUZZLED MONK ONCE SAID TO FUKETSU...


               What was his bewilderment? What was his confusion? Why was he so puzzled? The puzzle was
           there because he says the Master has said... "YOU SAY TRUTH CAN BE EXPRESSED WITHOUT
           SPEAKING, AND WITHOUT KEEPING SILENT. "
               Now, this is impossible; this is very contradictory. If you say, "Truth can be expressed by
           words," okay. If you say, "Truth cannot be expressed by words," then it naturally means, "Truth can
           be expressed by silence." But the Master says, "Truth cannot be expressed by words, and truth
           cannot be expressed by silence." And the Master says, "Truth can be expressed by words too, and it
           can be expressed by silence too." Now, it is confusing. Now, it is illogical, it is absurd.
               How can this be that truth can be expressed without speaking and without keeping silent? One
           can do only one; either one can speak it or one can keep silent. You deny both? Then what is the
           possibility?

              FUKETSU ANSWERED, "IN SOUTHERN CHINA, IN THE SPRING, WHEN I WAS ONLY A LAD, AH!
              HOW THE BIRDS SANG AMONG THE BLOSSOMS. "
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now, this is very irrelevant. What the disciple is asking and what the Master is saying is not
           related at all, but it is related in a nonmind way. Meditate over it, how it is related in a nonmind way.
                He has said many things. First, he says "IN THE SPRING'.' First, he says, "When the spring
           came, HOW THE BIRDS SANG AMONG THE BLOSSOMS." They were expressing truth, but
           they were silent when the spring was not there; and when the spring came they sang, they burst forth
           into celebration. So the first thing is "when the spring is there". What does he mean? He means when
           you have the spring in your heart, when the light has dawned upon you, when the right maturity has
           happened, when the right climate has happened, when your fruit is ripe, when the spring has come --
           that is what satori is, the spring of the inner heart -- when the SAMADHI has come, then you need
           not bother: the birds don't go to schools to learn how to sing. The spring has come. They don't seek
           teachers. They don't go in to anybody, they don't ask the elders, "How to sing? The spring has
           come." When the spring comes the spring starts singing in them.
                What the Master means is that when SAMADHI is there, you will know. How to say it without
           saying it and without keeping silent -- you will know it. It is not a question.
                Many people go on asking foolish questions. The question was foolish. People come to me, they
           say, "If we become enlightened, what will happen to our family?" You please first become
           enlightened. "If we become enlightened what will become of our business?" You first become
           enlightened. Right now you are asking it as if it will create some problem. It has never created any
           problem. Whenever somebody becomes enlightened, he knows what to do. If an enlightened person
           does not know what to do, then who will know?
                If you come to me and you ask me, "When truth has happened, how are we going to express
           it?"... When it happens when the spring comes -- the birds know how to sing. In fact, there is no
           "how" to it. The very presence of the spring, and the birds are thrilled. Something goes berserk in
           their hearts. Something simply starts pulsating their being, something simply starts singing in their
           being. It is not that they sing. It is spring that sings in them. It is satori, it is SAMADHI, that is
           expressed by you. It is not a question of YOU expressing it.
                That's why the Master says, "It cannot be expressed through words, and it cannot be expressed
           through silence." The very question that can be expressed through words is foolish, the very question
           that can be expressed through silence is foolish, because nobody knows -- when the spring comes the
           cuckoo will sing in its own way, and the parrots will fly in their own way, and there will be a
           thousand and one songs, different, unique.
                The cuckoo cannot screech the way parrots do, and the parrots cannot imitate the cuckoos. And
           there is no need. The cuckoo is beautiful, so is the parrot.
                When satori has happened, nobody knows. Meera dances; Buddha never danced. The cuckoo and
           the parrot...
           Listen....
                Chaitanya sang, took his drum and danced all over Bengal. Mahavir remained in silence, never
           spoke a single word. Now, you will be puzzled. Then how do the Jaina sutras exist? How? It is a
           beautiful story.
                Jainas say Mahavir never spoke, but those who were able to hear him, they heard, and they have
           collected the sayings. Listen again; you may have missed: Jainas say Mahavir never spoke, but those
           who could hear, they heard. In his silent presence they heard what he was saying, and they collected
           the sayings. The Jaina sutras start always, "We have heard." They don't start, "Mahavir said," no.
           The disciples say, "We have heard. That's true, on our part, we have heard. We don't know whether
           he has said it or not, but in a certain moment we heard it. A voiceless voice, a soundless sound."
                Yes, a cuckoo is a cuckoo, a parrot is a parrot, and both are needed. If the world is only for
           cuckoos it will be ugly. Too many cuckoos, it will not be good. Existence needs variety, and
           existence is rich because of variety. Yes, it is good sometimes a Mahavir keeps silent, and it is good
           sometimes a Meera goes mad, dancing. It is good to have a Christ and a Krishna. It is good to have a
           Zarathustra and a Mohammed and a Lao Tzu. All are so different and so unique, and yet the message
           is the same.
                Those who have eyes to see, they will see the same truth being expressed in millions of forms.
           And those who have ears to hear, they will hear the same song, sung in so many different languages.
                k is the same rose; whether you call it "rose" or GULAB does not make any difference. In India
           we call it GULAB, IN the West you call it "rose". Sometimes we can even quarrel and argue "What
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is it -- GULAB or rose?"
                Zen Masters say, "Don't quarrel, please. Bring a GULAB or a rose, whatsoever you call it. Bring
           it here. Make it immediate, and then look." And then the quarrel ceases because when somebody
           brings a rose you will see -- and he call it GULAB -- you will understand; you will say, "Okay, that's
           okay. Call it whatsoever you want to call it. It is the same thing I have been calling rose and you call
           GULAB, and we have been quarreling."
                Scholars quarrel, argue. Masters look at the thing called rose or GULAB, or there can be a
           thousand names -- there are so many languages, each language has a different name for it
                Each person who attains to SAMADHI gives expression in his own way. But the question is: Has
           the spring come?
                So the Master says, "IN SOUTHERN CHINA, IN THE SPRING, WHEN I WAS ONLY A
           LAD, AH! HOW THE BIRDS SANG AMONG THE BLOSSOMS." The second thing he says,
           "When I was only a boy when my eyes were innocent, when I was young and fresh and virgin, when
           I was not corrupted by the society, when I was uncorrupted, when my freshness had not gathered any
           dust of knowledge, experience -- THEN. "
           "... IN THE SPRING, WHEN I WAS ONLY A LAD, AH! HOW THE BIRDS SANG AMONG
           THE BLOSSOMS." There were a great many flowers and a great many birds, and singing, the same
           song, the same spring, the same youth, the same life juice. What he is saying is, "Please, let the
           spring come first, and don't be worried about how it can be said neither in words nor in silence."
                It can be said both in words and in silence. In fact, whenever it is said, there is word and silence
           together. But the word is not a mere word; that's why they say it cannot be said through words. And
           the silence is not a dead silence, it is not the silence of the cemetery; that's why the Master says it
           cannot be said through silence, either. The word is not of the pundit, and the silence is not of the
           dead man; but there is a great marriage between word and silence. The word speaks through silence,
           the silence speaks through the word; and when silence and word meet there is song. Then there is
           celebration.
                When the spring has come there is celebration. When the SAMADHI has happened there is
           celebration. In that celebration it is expressed, and it is expressed abundantly. In that celebration, in
           that blossoming, it is expressed. But it is expressed only for those who can understand, who can see,
           who can feel, who can love.




                                                The First Principle
                                                   Chapter #8
                                   Chapter title:The Profound and the Trivial
           18 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704180
              ShortTitle: PRINCI08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 103 mins




              MY EXPERIENCE OF ME IS THE MOST PROFOUND EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. IT IS ALSO THE
              MOST TRIVIAL. PLEASE CLARIFY.


              THE QUESTION IS FROM DHRUVA, and the question is really significant. The question has
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           arisen out of an insight, almost a mini-satori.
               That's how life is, profound and trivial at the same time, simultaneously. There is no
           contradiction, Dhruva, in the profundity of life and its trivialness. You have been taught that the
           sacred is far away and it is never the profane. You have been taught a distinction between the
           profane and the sacred, between the profound and the trivial. In fact, there is no distinction. The
           trivial is the profound, the ordinary is the extraordinary, and the temporal is the eternal.
               So this is a great insight. Don't lose sight of it. More possibility is there that you will lose it,
           because it will go against the grain. Your whole training has been such that you are always dividing:
           into good and bad, into the pure and the impure, the perfect and the imperfect, into virtue and sin, the
           holy and the unholy. You have always been making these distinctions, and because of distinctions
           you have missed the reality of that which is.
               This cuckoo singing there and Christ speaking to you are not different. A leaf falling from the
           tree and a word falling from the lips of Buddha are not different. The very dust is divine. The
           distinction is man-made, it is a mind trick.
               And because of these distinctions, these categories, we are never together, we cannot be together.
           How can you be together if you make such an unbridgeable gap between the profound and tHe
           trivial? Then you will find your whole life is trivial. Eating, drinking, sleeping, walking, going to the
           office or to the farm -- all is trivia.
               Then where will you find the profound? In the church, in the temple, sometimes praying and
           meditating, sometimes listening to me? Then the profound will not be much in your life, and the
           profound will be, in a way, false. It will not permeate your whole life. It will not be there always
           with you. It will not surround you like a climate. Sometimes you will have to make an effort to have
           that quality of profundity, and again and again you will lose it. And you will become divided,
           schizophrenic; you will become two, split, and you will start condemning yourself.
               Whenever you will see something trivial you will condemn yourself, that "I am just trivial,
           ordinary." And whenever you will see something profound you will start feeling holier than thou;
           you will start feeling very egoistic. Both are dangerous.
               To feel that you are trivial is a condemnation. It creates an inferiority complex. It pulls you down
           into sadness. It forces you to remain depressed. And, naturally, you cannot love yourself: you are so
           trivial. You are so ordinary, how can you love yourself? You fall too short from the ideal of
           perfection. So a great condemnation arises in your being, and the moment you condemn yourself you
           are in hell. Then nobody can take you out of it. Even if somebody comes and says you are beautiful,
           you will not trust him. You will think he is trying to cheat you, bribe you. He is trying to exploit you.
           How can you be beautiful? You know yourself better than he knows you. You are not beautiful; you
           are ugly. You are the ugliest person in the world.
               Because of this condemnation, love will not happen. How can you love anybody if you are
           feeling so condemned in yourself? And how can you allow somebody to love you if you are feeling
           so condemned? Love is impossible. When you live in self-condemnation you live in hell. Hell is not
           somewhere else: it is in your attitude; it is a condemning attitude.
               When you accept yourself and you enjoy yourself, you are in heaven. Heaven is also an attitude.
               And you can move from heaven and hell any moment you decide! And you go on moving; you
           swing between heaven and hell. Just understand that it is your creation.
               So if you feel condemned because of your trivia, you will be in hell. And then sometimes you
           will start feeling very holy because you have done something great. You have saved a life --
           somebody was drowning in the ocean and you saved him, and a child was caught in a house on fire
           and you jumped in and you risked your life, you have done something great -- then you will feel very
           egoistic. Ego is again hell.
               To feel superior is to be in hell, to feel inferior is to be in hell. To drop all superiority, inferiority,
           and just to be is to be in heaven.
               The idea of condemnation is also ego-oriented. People have impossible ideals. Just the other
           night Vishnu came; he writes again and again that "I am not perfect. What should I do?" that "I am
           imperfect," that "Whatsoever I do is imperfect." He is torturing himself because he is imperfect. But
           who is not imperfect? The very idea that "I should be perfect," is very egoistic. The very effort is
           egoistic. Nobody is perfect.
               In fact, perfection cannot exist, by its very nature. To be perfect means to be dead. Then there
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be no evolution, when you are perfect. Then how can you survive? For what? If God is perfect
           then God is dead. If God is imperfect only then is he alive and can be alive.
                I preach the imperfect God, and I preach the imperfect existence, and I preach the beauty of
           imperfection and the life of imperfection. The very idea that "I have to be perfect," that "No flaw
           should be there in my life" is egoistic. And certainly you will find a thousand and one flaws.
                So on one hand you are on an ego trip, which creates trouble, makes you miserable, because you
           are not perfect; and on the other hand the same trip creates condemnation. You want to be superior
           and you know that you are inferior: both are two aspects of the same coin. You remain in hell.
           Enjoy your imperfection. Enjoy the way you are.
                And drop all distinctions between the holy and the unholy, sin and virtue, good and bad, God and
           devil. Destroy all those distinctions. Those are the traps you are caught in. Those are the traps which
           don't allow you to live, don't allow you freedom. You cannot dance: one foot is encaged in
           inferiority, another foot is encaged in superiority. You are chained. How can you dance? Drop all
           these chains.
                That's what Zen people say: "A hair's distinction, and heaven and hell are set apart." That's what
           Tilopa says. A little distinction, a hair's distinction, and hell and heaven are set apart, and you are
           caught in the duality. No distinction, and you are free. No distinction, is freedom.
                The profundity of the trivial and the trivialness of the profound, that's what I teach.
                Eating is trivial if you look from the outside. If you look from the inside it is profound, it is a
           miracle -- that you can eat bread and the bread is turned into blood, that it becomes your flesh, that it
           becomes your bones, that it even becomes your marrow. You eat bread, and the bread becomes your
           thoughts, dreams. It is a miracle. It is the profoundest thing that is happening. When you are eating,
           it is no ordinary thing. God is at work. It is creative. While chewing bread you are creating life,
           unknowingly, unconsciously. You are making a thousand and one things possible. Tomorrow you
           may paint: and that bread that you had eaten has become painting. Tomorrow you may sing, or right
           now you may do something which would not be possible if the bread was not there.
                The Christian prayer is beautiful; it says, "God, give us our daily bread." Looks very trivial!
           What does Jesus mean when he says, "Pray every day,'Give us our daily bread"'? Couldn't he think
           of anything more profound? Bread? You just change the word "bread" and say every day in your
           prayer, "Lord, give us our daily tea," and you will see how foolish it looks. But the bread or tea or
           coffee -- or Coca-Cola!... yes, Coca-Cola too is divine.
                Everything is divine -- because how can it be otherwise?
                The prayer says, "Give us our daily bread." It is raising the trivial to the profound. It is a great
           statement. The Hindus have always been saying, "ANNAM BRAHMA" -- "Food is God." Raising
           the trivial to the profound. Looking into the trivial so deeply that it changes into the profound.
                You are taking a shower. It is trivia, everyday business, but it can become profound. Just look
           deep into it. Just standing under the shower, and the water goes on flowing, and the body feels fresh
           and young and alive, and the water is a blessing. Because we are made out of water. A man is almost
           eighty percent water, and the first glimpse of life happened in the sea. The first thing that existed was
           the fish, and even now, in the mother's womb, the child floats in seawater, with almost the same
           ingredients, the same saltiness. That's why when a woman is pregnant she starts eating more salt; she
           needs more salt because the child needs seawater around him. The child is still a fish in the
           beginning, primary stage. Water is life, and when you are taking a shower life is showering on you --
           eighty percent of life is showering on you, the most necessary element for life. No life is possible
           without water. These trees will not be there if the water is not, and these birds won't sing, and these
           animals won't be there and these men will not be there. All life will disappear if water disappears.
                There is a profound experience when you are touched by water. You can make it so profound! It
           depends on you, how you go into it. It can become a meditation, a prayer. You can feel grateful, that
           God is great, that water is still available.
                To breathe is so trivial, who bothers about it? But breath is your life. All languages have words
           for "life" which really mean "breath". Sanskrit has PRANA for "life"; it means "breath". The word
           "soul" means "breath"; the word "psyche" means "breath".
                And the Bible says God made man and breathed life into him. Life started by breathing into man;
           otherwise man was just dust. "Adam" means "dust," "earth". God made Adam out of mud. "Adam" is
           the Hebrew word for "earth". Then he breathed life into him. And that's how life happens always. A
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           child is born and the first thing we wait expectantly for is that he should cry. Why? Because only
           through crying will he start breathing. For two, three seconds even the doctor cannot breathe, the
           nurse cannot breathe. Whether the child is going to breathe or not, who knows? He may not breathe.
           If he is not going to breathe then there will be no life. If he breathes there will be life. Still the same
           happens as it happens with Adam: God breathes in the child, in each child.
                God is the invisible force, the life energy that surrounds you. It enters through breath in you, and
           the day you die you will die through exhalation. You start life with inhalation, you stop life with
           exhalation; then you will not breathe anymore. Again Adam is adam, again dust is dust, dust unto
           dust.
                Breath is life, but have you looked into it? Standing under the sun in the morning, breathe. It is
           God you breathe in. And then it becomes profound. It is your attitude.
                The trivial and the profound are not two separate things. They are one, they are together, they are
           two aspects of one energy. Your life is trivia if you don't look deep. If you start looking deep your
           life is profound.
                So Dhruva, it is a great insight. You say, "My experience of me is the most profound experience
           of my life. It is also the most trivial. Please clarify." Don't get confused. There is nothing to clarify. It
           is how life is: the trivial is the profound.
                The question has arisen because Dhruva must have been thinking these are contradictions, the
           trivial and the profound. No, they are not contradictory; they are complementary. The trivial hides
           the profound. The trivial functions like a cover, like a crust; it protects the profound. It is almost like
           a seed. The seed is protecting the possibility of the tree. That possibility is very soft; the seed is hard.
           The hard seed, the hard crust of the seed, is protecting the softest possibility, of flowers, of a big tree.
           And the seed will protect it till the seed finds the right soil. Then the seed disappears, then the sheath
           disappears, then the hard crust dissolves into the earth and the soft life arises.
                The profound is hidden in the trivial, so look deep. Wherever there is the trivial there is the
           profound. Don't escape from the trivial; otherwise you will be escaping from the profound. And don't
           seek the profound AGAINST the trivial; otherwise you will never find it.


               A PLAY QUESTION: IF YOU WERE TO COME HERE NOW TO THIS ASHRAM AS A YOUNG
               UNENLIGHTENED MAN, HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND? WOULD YOU BECOME PART OF THE
               ASHRAM? WHAT WORK WOULD YOU DO? WHERE WOULD YOU SIT?


               The question is from Somendra. A beautiful question.
               First, he asks, "If you were to come here now to this ashram as a young unenlightened man, how
           would you respond?
               Even if I was unenlightened I would not be so unenlightened to come to this ashram. That much
           is certain.

               Mulla Nasrudin's wife was dying, and of course he was consoling her in every way, and the wife
           opened her eyes and said, "It seems almost certain that this night will be my last. I will not be able to
           see the sunrise again. Mulla, how will you react to my death?"
               The Mulla said, "How will I react to your death? I will go mad!"
               Even in that serious moment the wife started laughing: she said, "You cunning fellow. You will
           not go mad. I know within a week you will be remarried."
               And Mulla said, "No. I will go mad -- but I will not go THAT mad."

               So even if I was unenlightened I would not be THAT unenlightened.
               Second thing, you say, "Would you become part of the ashram?"
               Even now I am not part of the ashram. I cannot be part of any institution or any organization,
           even my own. And if I had come as an unenlightened man, naturally, the ashram will not be mine,
           will be somebody else's. I cannot be a part even of my own organization, so how can I be a part of
           anybody else's organization? Impossible.
           And then you ask, "What work would you do?"
               I have never done any work. I am the laziest man in the world you can find.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And the last, you ask, "Where would you sit?"
               I would escape immediately! I would see some organization, some ashram and I would run! You
           are asking, "Where will you sit?" I will not sit at all.


              USUALLY I AN "THIS WAY" OR "THAT WAY'.' BUT FOR SOME TIME I HAVE EXPERIENCED ALL
              KINDS OF CONTRADICTIONS, SIMULTANEOUSLY. I SEE WOMEN AS OBJECTS OF WORSHIP,
              AND AT THE SAME TIME I LUST AFTER THEM. I AM CONTENT TO LET LIFE FLOW, AND I AM
              AFRAID OF THE FUTURE. I CRAVE TO BE ALONE, AND I CRAVE TO BE ALWAYS WITH
              PEOPLE. I FEEL BIZARRE BECAUSE THESE CONTRADICTIONS ALL SEEM EQUALLY REAL
              AND TRUE. IS THERE ANYTHING TO BE UNDERSTOOD OR DONE ABOUT THIS?


                Whenever you come across a contradiction, watch very carefully. There is bound to be
           something of great significance. Never avoid contradictions, because life is contradictory. Life exists
           through the tension of contradiction. So whenever you come across a contradiction you are very
           close to the source of life. Let that be always remembered.
                The ordinary reaction is whenever you come across a contradiction you start trying to solve it,
           start finding explanations for it, or start dropping it into the unconscious so you need not worry about
           it. You start doing something about it immediately the moment you feel some contradiction because
           you have been taught to live noncontradictorily. You have been taught a very dangerous thing.
           Nobody can live noncontradictorily. If you want to live you have to live through contradiction, AS
           contradiction.
                You have been taught to be consistent; that's why you have become false. This is the whole trick.
           How does such great hypocrisy exist in the world? Why? Why has the whole world turned out to be
           hypocritical? There is a trick to it, a great trick; a great technology is behind it. The technology is:
           teach people to be consistent, and they will become hypocrites. Because life exists through
           contradiction.
                Life is inconsistent. One moment this, another moment that; life is that way. One moment you
           are feeling loving, another moment you hate the same person; life is like that. Now, you have been
           taught if you love, then love always. What happens? You cannot love always, so only one thing is
           possible: when hate comes you hide the hate, you repress the hate, and you go on pretending love.
           This is what hypocrisy is. When you don't love you pretend.
                You are full of hate for your wife, but you come home and you hug her and you kiss her and you
           inquire, "How are you, honey?" and all that. And deep down you are hating her and you want to kill
           her. In fact, the whole day you have been fantasizing how to kill this woman. But you have been
           taught to be consistent. So, once, you had fallen in love, and you have said things in those love
           moments and you have promised that "I will love you forever and ever" -- now you have to be
           consistent.
                What will you do with your hate that is bound to arise? Each love object is bound to be the hate
           object too. If you want not to hate, then you will have to stop loving. If you really want not to hate
           anybody, then you will have to stop loving, but you cannot love consistently. The inconsistency will
           come up again and again.
                It is as if somebody has told you, "If you see the day, don't see the night. That is inconsistent." So
           what will you do? In the day you keep your eyes open, in the night you keep your eyes closed and
           believe that it is day. But the night comes; it doesn't follow your ideas. It has to come. The night
           follows the day; the day follows the night.
                You have been taught, "Be consistent." Your so-called character is nothing but an effort to be
           consistent.
                A real man cannot have any character. A real man is bound to be characterless because to have a
           character means to have consistency. To be characterless means to be free.
                I said something yesterday. Now, if I have a character, I will try to be consistent with my past;
           whatsoever I said yesterday, I have to say the same thing today. But then I have to repeat my past. I
           cannot live in the moment and I cannot live in the present.
                In fact, a consistent man is one who goes on changing his past into his future, who goes on
           putting his past as his future, ahead of himself. That is the man of character, consistent man. An
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           inconsistent man is one who never allows the past to become his future, who remains free for the
           future, who has no promises to keep, who has no commitment with the past. Whenever it was, he
           lived it totally; gone, it is gone.
                A real man will love you and will hate you too. And sometimes he will say, "I will love you
           always"; and sometimes he will say, "I cannot love you again. Impossible." Sometimes he will be in
           a deep honeymoon with you and sometimes in a deep divorce, and both things will go like day and
           night. A real marriage is a continuous honeymoon and divorce, and honeymoon and divorce. Mini
           honeymoons, mini divorces; big honeymoons, big divorces. It continues like day and night.
                So whenever you come across a contradiction, be watchful, be very alert. You are very close to
           life. And when you are consistent you are just false, a plastic thing, you are not real.
                I don't teach consistency. I teach the freedom of being inconsistent. I teach the freedom of being
           contradictory. That's my whole approach towards life.
                Of course, you are afraid of being contradictory because then you will not know who you are.
           With character there is something, something very secure: you know who you are. You have a label:
           a good man, a bad man, a saint, a sinner. You can believe in your identity when you are consistent --
           that you are a good husband, a good Christian, a churchgoer, and this and that. With the
           inconsistency your identity disappears; you don't know who you are. You become an opening, you
           are no more closed, you have an open future. You don't know what you are going to do the next
           moment; only the next moment will tell. To live in that insecurity needs courage.
                Sannyas is what I propose. Sannyas means to remain in insecurity; sannyas means not to allow
           your past to influence your future, not to allow your past to project itself into the future. Let the dead
           bury the dead. The past is gone, gone. Don't cling to it, and don't help it to cling to you.
                The moment something has passed it has passed. Be completely clean of it and be free and fresh
           again; then you will be real, authentically real, and there will be joy, and there will be celebration
           and song. I am not saying you will not ever be sad, no. You will be sad. The false man is never sad --
           because he is never happy. The false man just remains in the middle, never happy, never sad. He is
           simply so-so, lukewarm; he is never too cold and never too hot. He is just "okay". He somehow
           manages. He has a comfortable life, but no real life.
                I am not saying that the real man will always be happy. I am saying the real man will always be
           real. When he is sad he will be really sad. He will sing a song -- of sadness. He will accept his
           sadness as part of life, as part of growth. He will not reject it. If he feels like crying he will cry; he
           will not say, "What am I doing? This is not good. Only women cry, and I am a man." He will not say
           that. He will say, "If my eyes want to cry and the tears are rolling down, good. I have to be real. I am
           only whatsoever I am." He will cry. His tears will be true.
                Your smiles are false, your tears are false. You manage to smile, and you manage to cry too. So
           you live an empty life. The real man's life will be full, sometimes full of joy and sometimes full of
           sadness.
                And the real man one day becomes enlightened. The unreal man never becomes enlightened.
           When the real man becomes enlightened, then there is no joy and no sadness. Then his being is just a
           witness. Joy comes: he watches it. Sadness comes: he watches it.
                Now, these are the three stages. The false man: his joy is just a show, a mask, his sadness too; he
           pretends. The real man, the second stage: he is natural, spontaneous; his joy is true, his sadness is
           true. You can trust him. When he is crying, his whole heart is crying; and when he smiles, his whole
           heart is smiling. And the second stage is a must to attain to the third, the enlightened man. The
           enlightened man is neither sad nor happy. He has attained to the witnessing soul; he simply watches.
           He knows the sadness has come, the happiness has come, but these are like climates that come and
           go and change, and he remains centered.
                The false man cannot jump to the enlightened state; hence I teach the real man, but the real man
           is not the goal.
                That's why my work goes beyond the Encounter ideology, Gestalt ideology. The Gestalt ideology
           or the Encounter ideology stops at the real man. Good. Better than the unreal. But not enough.
           Something has yet to happen. I use Encounter groups, Gestalt groups, and all the therapies that have
           become available in the West. They are perfectly beautiful; they bring you from the first, false state
           to the authentic, real state. But my work goes beyond them. But I can go beyond only if you have
           gone through the second stage. From the first there is no way, from the false there is no way, to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enlightenment; only from the real is there a way.
                You will have to go through the ecstasy of the real and the agony of the real. When you have
           lived deeply all the realities of life, the witness will arise. It arises naturally, out of being real.
                So you say, "Usually I am'this way' or'that way'." That is not a good way. You get fixed with one
           thing, this way or that. Become more fluid, remain more fluid, because life is not solid; it is fluid, it
           is flow. And that's what is happening and is confusing you.
           "But for some time I have experienced all kinds of contradictions, simultaneously." Good. You are
           blessed. This confusion is the beginning of a great journey, a great pilgrimage. If you become afraid
           you will go back to the false.
                The false is secure. Let me remind you again and again: the false is comfortable. A good way to
           die is the false, but not a good way to live. Even your death will be false, because how can the death
           be real? When you have not lived really, how can you die really?
                So many people die, but rarely does a real death happen. When a Buddha dies it is a real death,
           or when Lin Chi dies it is a real death. There are very few deaths which are real, because there are
           very few lives which are real. You only pretend to live, and then one day you pretend to die.
                I have heard, a man met an old friend on the road, and the old friend was a very, very fanatical
           Christian Scientist. The old friend asked this man, "How is your father now?" and the man said, "He
           is very ill." The Christian Scientist, of course, to be consistent with his philosophy, said, "He is not
           ill. He only thinks he is ill."
                That is the Christian Scientists' ideology, that you only think that you are ill, that's why you are
           ill. You are not really ill. He said, "He only thinks he is ill. He is not really ill."
                After eight days, these two men met again, and the Christian Scientist asked again, "How is your
           father now?"
                And the young man hesitated a little, and then he said, "Now he thinks he is dead." -- to be
           consistent with this old man's ideology.
           The father has died, but this is a reality.
                You go on living in a fantasy world. Your life is nothing but your thinking, a pseudo thing; and
           so is your death. Your illness, your health, your happiness, your sadness are all so bogus that how
           can you die a real death? A real death has to be earned. One has to become worthy of real death. And
           one becomes worthy only by living truly.
                Now you are very close to a great source of light. That's why you are feeling all sorts of
           contradictions simultaneously. That means your solidity is melting. Your hate and love are not
           categorized as two anymore. They are not put into boxes separately anymore; they are merging with
           each other. The profound and the trivial are coming together, and you are confused because now you
           cannot label what is what.
           "I have experienced all kinds of contradictions, simultaneously. I see women as objects of worship,
           and at the same time I lust after them." That's what has happened down the ages. There are two
           things man has done with woman: either he has worshiped woman as a goddess or he has condemned
           woman as a witch. Either he has exploited the woman for his lust or he has touched her feet and said,
           "You are divine. Divine mother." Either the woman has been a prostitute or a divine mother. Man
           has not accepted woman just as human.
                And woman is human, as human as you are. She is neither a divine mother nor is she a prostitute,
           but that's how the mind goes on. The mind makes things different, separate, puts them in categories.
           You have killed the real woman, because the real woman is both, the prostitute and the divine
           mother, together, simultaneously. If you fall in love with a prostitute you will find a divine mother.
           Even a prostitute will turn into a divine mother if you are in love with her; you will not find the
           prostitute. And fall in love with a divine mother and you will find the prostitute too.
                What I am saying is that life is not so small as to be put into boxes -- that this is a prostitute and
           this is a divine mother. Life is vast, so big. It contains contradictions. And that is the beauty of life
           and that is the richness of life.
                Man has been changing between these polarities. Sometimes he calls the woman the divine
           mother. That too is inhuman, because then you put the woman on a pedestal and you don't allow her
           to be human. Watch. When you force a woman to be a divine mother, what are you doing? You are
           not allowing her to be human. And she will pretend that she is a divine mother, so if you want to
           make love to her she will be reluctantly ready. She will say no, and she will mean yes. She has to say
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no; she is the divine mother.
               A good woman has to be a dead woman. Even while you are making love, she will lie down there
           like a corpse. A slight movement, and you will become afraid: so are you wrong, she is not so good,
           not so virtuous? If she starts enjoying your lovemaking, you will think that she is a bad woman. Only
           bad women enjoy lovemaking, not good women. Good women? They don't think of sex at all.
               Look at the trick. You put the woman so high; then you don't allow her to be human. You have
           made her "superhuman". That is a way to make her INhuman. Or you force her to be a prostitute;
           that is again a way, to put her below the human, to make her again INhuman. Then you go to the
           prostitute, you give her the money, you make love to her -- with no responsibility, with no love. It is
           simple, pure lust, but you know that that woman is a bad woman. How can you love her? You feel
           good, there is no problem. You can lust after this woman and you can uSe her as a thing. She is just a
           prostitute, not a human being; you don't relate to her. You just go and do things to her, pay the price,
           and you are finished. Next day in the marketplace, you will not even recognize her.
               In both these ways you have turned the woman into inhuman beings. Both are ugly.
               The woman is both: the divine mother and the prostitute. Just as you are both: God and animal.
               Let me repeat: the profane is the sacred, the samsara is the nirvana.
               Through these categories.... The reality is so complex and so deep it cannot be categorized, it
           cannot be demarked into definitions. No woman is just a prostitute and no woman is just a divine
           mother. And that is true about man, the same way. Once you see this, you are freed from categories,
           logical boxes, pigeonholes, and you can see reality as it is.
               A woman is a human being, as you are a human being. Yes sometimes she is a witch; just as
           sometimes you are mean, ugly, horrible, she is too. And sometimes she is ecstasy, pure ecstasy.
           Sometimes she is the most beautiful phenomenon on the earth, just as you are.
               In India we have the right representation, the symbol of Kali. You must have seen the pictures of
           Kali or the statues of Kali. That is really a great understanding about women. Kali is painted as
           black, as black as the devil -- "kali" means "black" -- and yet she is the divine mother. And she is
           most beautiful. She is black, as black as the devil, but her form is that of the divine. She has a
           beautiful face, a beautiful body, absolutely in proportion; but she is black. And then, she is dancing
           on the chest of her husband, almost killing him. Shiva is her husband, and she is dancing on his chest
           and almost killing him. And she loves him too. She loves and kills together. All contradictions put
           together.
               The mother gives you birth, the woman gives you birth, and by and by the woman kills you too.
           She brings your death closer; hence the attraction and the fear. You are attracted with the divine, and
           you are afraid with the devilish.
               So you say, "I see women as objects of worship, and at the same time I lust after them." Both are
           complementaries. Accept them. That's how reality is. The woman is both, and you are both. And if
           you accept this contradictory reality, one day you will go beyond it, you will transcend it.
               There is a transcendental element too, but that transcendental element can be understood only
           when you pass through contradictions. If you avoid contradictions you will never attain the
           transcendental. Go through the contradictory, and by and by you will become just a witness to them
           both.
               How does it work? It works in a simple way. If you think you are good, you are identified with
           good. If you think you are bad, you are identified with the bad. But if you allow both good and bad
           together, you cannot get identified with either. You remain unidentified, and that is the fundamental,
           the radical change. You remain unidentified. You cannot figure out who you are, good or bad, day or
           night, life or death, beautiful or ugly. You cannot identify with anything, so you remain unidentified.
               Good comes and passes, and you know you cannot be good, because the bad is coming. And the
           bad comes and passes, and you know you cannot be the bad. either, because the good is coming. So
           you cannot be good and you cannot be bad; then who are you? You are a witness. a witness who
           watches everything come and go, a watcher on the hills.
           "I am content to let life flow, and I am afraid of the future." The same. The same contradiction on so
           many levels.
           "I crave to be alone, and I crave to be always with people." The same.
           "I feel bizarre because these contradictions all seem equally real and true." They are. And when for
           the first time you recognize that they are true and real, one feels bizarre. That's what the Zen people
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say: first the rivers are rivers and the mountain are mountains, then the rivers are no more rivers and
           the mountains are no more mountains -- bizarre, confusion, clouds, everything topsy-turvy, all
           disturbed -- and then one day mountains are again mountains and rivers are again rivers, everything
           settled again, on a higher plane of course, on the transcendental plane of course.
               You will have to go through this bizarreness. To be sane one has to pass through many insanities.
           "Is there anything to be understood or done about this?" Just understood, nothing to be done about it.
           I don't teach doing. Nothing has to be done. You just watch. Watch more and more carefully, watch
           in detail. Watch the subtlest nuance of any change in you. Watch all -- which no prejudice, with no
           judgement. And that watching will integrate you, will make you more and more aware.
               And that is the whole purpose of life: to create more intelligence, to create more awareness.


              IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN GIVE YOU BACK?


                Nothing, because that is what I give to you. I give you nothing, and only nothing can you give
           me back.
                In fact, don't start thinking of giving me anything back, because I am not giving you anything. I
           am simply making you aware of things that you already have. You don't owe anything to me, not
           even a thank-you. If you thank me, that is simply generous of you, you are just being polite and
           gentlemanly; otherwise there is nothing. You don't owe anything to me. I have not given anything to
           you and I am not going to give anything to you, and nothing can be given, in the very nature of
           things.
                In fact, if you are not angry at me, I will be happy enough. Because I take away many things. I
           don't give anything to you. I take away your ego, and I don't give anything instead. I take away a
           thousand and one things. And when those thousand and one things have been taken away, suddenly
           you become aware of that which has always been there from the very beginning.
                So let me say it in this way: I give you that which you already have, and I take away things
           which you don't have but you think you have. I take away that which is not there but you believe is
           there. I take away your illusions.
                But I cannot give reality. Reality is that which cannot be given; it is already there. I eliminate the
           illusion, and the reality is there. I simply give you back to yourself.
                There is no need to be worried -- "Is there anything I can give you back.?" Just if you are not
           angry, that will be enough. If you can forgive me, that will be enough.
                I know it is very difficult to forgive me. That is the greatest danger a Master takes on his
           shoulders. It is very difficult for the disciples to forgive him, and they are always watching from the
           corner of their eyes to find some fault. They are always waiting to find some loophole so they can
           jump upon it and they can say, "So, I have found the reality. This man is nothing," and they can go
           and condemn. It is a very dangerous game.
                The disciples are continuously watchful. They are like spies, spying on the Master, if they can
           find something.
                Just the other Question-Answer day, when I talked about Dr. Kovoor, two, three persons got
           almost mad about me. They have written letters that "Why did you do this? It is cheap!" And I go on
           telling you the cheap is the costly! And the trivial is the profound! And the world, the samsara, is
           nirvana! Do you hear me, or not? And they have demanded, almost it is a demand, that "You have to
           answer it, why you attacked him." I have not attacked him; I have attacked these three people who
           have written to me. What have I to do with Kovoor? He is not going to come here, I am not going to
           go there. We are not going to meet anyway. I have attacked these three persons, and I have got them,
           trapped them, they are trapped. I have attacked their idea of me.
                One has written, "It is inconceivable that a man of your height should come so low." But who in
           the first place has told you that I am a man of height? You yourself project, and if your projections
           are destroyed, you are angry at me?
                I go on repeating, just to be safe, that I am a very ordinary man. Otherwise you will hang me in
           the sky. You will say, "You are so high."
                If you find me eating or if you find me taking a bath.... Do you know? In heaven there is no
           provision for God's bathroom. No provision. I have gone through all the scriptures.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Can you believe God farts? Impossible. So high, and farting? Belching? These things are good
           for human beings, not for gods.
           Who has told you I am so high? But you project.
                And I am not so foolish as to accept your projections. If you want to project such things, you will
           have to find some other people. You are not allowed to project anything on me. I will go on throwing
           it. I am not here to fulfill any of your expectations. That is the very trouble you have to tolerate with
           me. You would like me to be dead and sitting on a golden throne, and then you can worship me
           easily. But I am alive.
                And I go on doing things that I like. I don't care what you think. If you are disturbed it is your
           problem; it is none of my business. Then you have to look into yourself and find ways not to be
           disturbed.
                These things come again and again in your mind, and you don't see that they are YOUR
           problems.
                Somebody else has asked, "Why do we have to pay money here?""I have no money," he says,
           "and I want to be here." But then who is going to pay for you? You will need money, you will need
           food, you will need a shelter, you will need clothes, sometimes you will be ill, you will need the
           hospital: who is going to pay for you? Now, he thinks that this ashram is money obsessed. If people
           who don't have money are allowed, then Laxmi will have to go even more money obsessed because
           for them also she will have to arrange. Just to avoid money obsession, money has to be arranged.
           There are many people who would like to be here, but then who is going to arrange for them? And if
           somebody else arranges for them, he will demand something in return.
                The person says, "Even Christians don't ask for money; even they are not that bold." I know they
           are not that bold. They need not be; they have enough money. The Vatican has enough money; that
           is the richest party in the world. But then you have to pay -- not in money, money is there -- you
           have to pay with other things: you have to pay with your freedom.
                Here I want you to be free. I don't want to hinder your freedom.
                If you want to stay here without money, then I will have to ask some people who have money to
           give money to the ashram. But then they have their conditions. Then their conditions have to be
           fulfilled. Otherwise why should they give their money? They give money in return for something.
           Then you will not be free here. And I will not be free here. I will not be able to say what I want to
           say. Then they will dictate to me that this has to be said and this has not to be said.
                Nobody is money obsessed. But the questioner is money obsessed: he has no money and he
           wants to be here. But what is money? Money is just that you have to pay for everything. You eat:
           you have to pay for it. You live: you have to pay for it. You need clothes: you have to pay for it.
                And why should you not pay? Then somebody else will have to pay for you. Why exploit
           somebody else?
                If you don't have money, then go and earn money and come back. YOU are money obsessed! But
           you think that Bhagwan is demanding money. It is your problem.
                Somebody has said, "I can't see the point why I have to pay when I come to the lecture. When I
           have to pay ten rupees for the lecture, then I cannot think of you as God." So the price of thinking of
           me as God is ten rupees! If he does not have to pay, he will think of me as God. What do you think?
           You are trying to bribe me? Pay twenty rupees and think of me as the devil, perfectly okay!
                Why should you not pay? Why should you like to exploit?
                And this is my understanding, that you hear only when you pay; otherwise you don't hear. When
           you have nothing to pay, there is no need to hear. The more you pay, the more alert you are --
           because those ten rupees are gone. If you don't listen it is your business; you remain a little alert. J
           know you are money-minded; those ten rupees will keep you awake.
                And my godhood is not in danger, because I don't care what you think about me. That is not the
           point at all. It is not that you have made me a god. This is my declaration; it is not your recognition.
           If nobody believes in me, then too I am a god. If only I believe in me, that's enough. I don't need a
           single witness. This is MY understanding.
                Then again, the moment you think that this man is Bhagwan, then he should behave in such a
           way and in such a way. Then he should be on a high pedestal. He should not behave like a human
           being.
                Then you don't understand my concept of Bhagwan. My concept of Bhagwan is not that a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bhagwan is a special being, that a Bhagwan is a perfect being, that a Bhagwan is not of this world.
           My concept of Bhagwan is that God is a normal quality of existence. Just by being, you are God.
                You are not a painter by just being. For painting, you will have to learn some skill, you will have
           to go to an art school. And then too your being a painter will depend on so many recognitions --
           people will recognize, may not recognize; the critics will appreciate, may not appreciate; a thousand
           and one things. If you want to be a musician, just by being, you are not a musician. You will have to
           learn; this is something which has to be learned.
                When I say God, I mean you ARE God, just by being. It is not a specialization.
                Then what is the difference between me and you? The only difference is that I recognize my
           godhood and you don't recognize yours. Otherwise there is no distinction. I am as imperfect as you
           are! Then what is the difference between me and you? The difference is that I enjoy my imperfection
           and you don't enjoy yours, that I am perfectly happy with all my imperfections and you are not
           happy with yours. You have a notion of perfection and I have none. I am perfect in my
           imperfections. I have accepted them totally, in toto. I am not trying to improve myself; I am simply
           the way I am. And I am happy the way I am.
                The day you are also happy the way you are, the day you are also happy with all your
           imperfections, you are God. You are still God, whether you recognize it or you don't recognize it, but
           you have your ideas about God, and then you project those ideas. And if, sometimes, they are
           shattered -- and they will be shattered again and again because I cannot keep to your expectations....
                I am a free man. I live the way I live. And see the whole point: I am not expecting anything from
           you; still you go on expecting things from me. My whole effort here is to help you to be yourself,
           and your whole effort here is to make me something that you want me to be. Drop all this nonsense.
                That's why I say even if you can forgive me, that will be enough. You need not even say a
           thank-you.
                It is very difficult to be safe amongst disciples; hence I need bodyguards. Because a disciple has
           "surrendered," now he will take revenge. And of course, if he surrenders to me, he will take revenge
           on me. Where else will he go to take the revenge?
           Watch all these tendencies in you.
                It was not Kovoor, it was not my criticism of Kovoor, that has hurt you. It is your idea of me, it is
           your expectation of me, that is feeling hurt. So drop the expectations; otherwise you will feel hurt
           again and again -- I will find other Kovoors. Sometimes, even if they are not there, I can invent! But
           I am going to destroy all your expectations of me because if you cannot drop expectations about me,
           how can you drop expectations about yourself? It will be impossible.
                And my whole work consists in a simple thing: to live a life without expectations, without hope,
           to live a life moment to moment, with no ideals.

                Two men were chatting when the name of a mutual friend was mentioned. "Are you a friend of
           Harry's?" the first asked.
           "Are we friends?" the man said. "Twenty years we are friends. There is nothing I would not do for
           Harry and there is nothing he would not do for me. In fact, for twenty years we have gone through
           life together, doing absolutely nothing for each other."

               I am doing nothing to you. You, please, do nothing to me. Even if this can happen, there will
           arise a great friendship. You need not feel obliged; you don't owe anything to me.


              MEHER BABA REMAINED SILENT FOR THE LAST FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF HIS LIFE. PLEASE
              COMMENT ON ITS IMPLICATIONS.


              There is nothing much in it. He just got fed up with the questions of his disciples.
           And sometimes the idea arises in me too. So watch.


              OSHO, THERE ARE A FEW WORDS YOU ALWAYS PRONOUNCE WRONGLY. WHY?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                So that you can say to people that at least in one thing Osho is consistent.
                My English is not that of the Englishman; my English is not that of the American; it is not even
           of the Indian. My English is just MINE. So you have to tolerate it. And I am very reluctant to
           improve about anything.
                And my English has been of a great help to me. I used to live in Jabalpur, for many years. The
           first day I was driving to the university, a woman, who lived next to me, an American woman, she
           wanted a lift. Now, this was going to be dangerous. This was the first day -- and every day then I
           will have to carry her and tolerate her chattering for almost half an hour, going to the university and
           coming.
                I had heard the American expression "Can I drop you off somewhere?" but I managed it into my
           English and I asked her, "Can I throw you down someplace?" And finished! She never asked again.
                Once, another, an Englishwoman, got interested in me. I don't know what she saw in me, but she
           was almost in a fantasy. She was a lecturer in the same university, in the English department. She
           was after me. I was simply surprised as to what she saw in me because I don't see anything in
           myself; it is just emptiness there. But my English helped.
                You know the expression...? I had read somewhere, in a novel, that a young man gazes into the
           eyes of his woman and says to her that "Your face, your beauty, your joy, your presence make time
           stand still." So I did the same to this woman.
                I told her, "You have such a face that it would stop a clock." And finished! My English helped
           me.
                Sometimes you will find it difficult too, because my structure of the sentences is mine, and
           sometimes the meaning I put into words is mine, the pronunciations are mine; sometimes you can't
           even get what I am saying. That helps you to keep awake. You have to listen attentively; you can
           miss. You cannot take me for granted.
                One man was discussing with me about a politician, and I told the man, "That politician is a
           spherical S.O.B."
                The man was puzzled; he said, "I have come across many S.O.B.'s in my life. But what do you
           mean by'spherical'?"
           "I mean," I said to him, "he is an S.O.B. any way you look at him."
           "Spherical," that is my own word.
                And my English has a certain reputation, and I am not going to destroy it.

               A little lady from Fresno, visiting San Franscisco, got quite a thrill out of attending a daring party
           in the Bohemia known as Telegraph Hill.
               A friend who was showing her the sights pointed out a familiar-looking young couple and
           whispered, "Don't look now, but those two artists there are living in sin."
           "Sin, my foot!" exclaimed the Fresno lady. "I know them. It is just Lois and Maurice, and they were
           married in the Fresno Baptist Church five years ago."
               The young couple overheard and quickly drew the Fresno lady aside. "For God's sake don't tell
           anybody we are married," said the young man in a tense undertone. "It would ruin our artistic
           reputation."

              I have a certain reputation of my English, hmm? And I am not going to change it in any way.


              WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY, AND WHY DOES IT HAVE SO MUCH APPEAL?


               Pornography is a by-product of religious repression. The whole credit goes to the priests.
           Pornography has nothing to do with pornographers. The pornography is created, managed by the
           Church, by the religious people.
               In a primitive, natural state, man is not pornographic. When human beings are naked and nude
           and man knows the woman's body and woman knows the man's body, you cannot sell PLAYBOY. It
           is impossible. Who will purchase PLAYBOY? And who will look into all that crap?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           . They have repressed so much that man's mindfession of pornography. The whole credit goes to
           them. They have repressed so much that man's mind is boiling. The man wants to see the woman's
           body. Nothing wrong in it, a simple desire, a human desire. And the woman wants to know the man's
           body. A simple desire, nothing wrong about it.
                Just think of a world where trees are covered with clothes. There are people.... I have heard about
           some English ladies who cover their dogs and cats with clothes. Just think, cows and horses and dogs
           dressed. Then you will find new pornography arising. Somebody will publish a NUDE picture of a
           tree -- and you will hide it in a Bible and look at it!
                This whole foolishness is out of religious repression.
                Make man free, allow people to be nude. I am not saying they should continuously be nude, but
           nudity should be accepted. On the beach, at the swimming pool, in the home... nudity should be
           accepted. The children should take a bath with the mother, with the father, in the bathroom. There is
           no need for the father to lock the bathroom when he goes in. The children can come and have a talk
           and chitchat and go out. Pornography will disappear.
                Each child wants to know. "How does my daddy look?" Each child wants to know, "How does
           my mother look?" And this is simply intelligence, curiosity. And the child cannot know what the
           mother looks like, and the child cannot know what the father looks like; now you are creating illness
           in the child's mind. It is YOU, that YOU are ill, and the illness will be reflected in the child's mind.
                I am not saying sit nude in the office or in the factory. If it is hot, it is okay, but there is no need
           to be naked, it should not be an obsession; but this continuous obsession of hiding your body is just
           ugly.
                And one thing more. Because of the clothes, bodies HAVE become ugly, because then you don't
           care. You care only about the face. If your belly goes on becoming bigger and bigger, who bothers?
           You can hide it. Your body has become ugly because it is not exposed; otherwise you will think a
           little: the belly is getting too big. Just let one hundred people stand nude, and they all will be
           ashamed, and they will squirm and they will start hiding themselves. Something is wrong. Why is it
           so? They know only about their face. The face they take care of; the whole body is neglected.
                This is bad. This is not good. It is not in favor of the body, either.
                Any country where people are allowed a little freedom to be nude becomes more beautiful;
           people have more beautiful bodies. If American women are getting more beautiful and have more
           beautiful bodies there is no wonder in it. Indian woman will have to wait long; they can hide their
           ugly bodies in the saries very carefully. The sari is a great help.
                Nudity should be natural, should be as natural as animals, as trees, as everything else is nude.
           Then pornography will disappear.
                Pornography is there as a sort of mental masturbation; it is mind masturbation. You are not
           allowed to love women, you are not allowed to love men, you are not allowed to make as many
           contacts as possible; the mind is boiling and starts a sort of inner masturbation. Pornography helps
           you; it gives you visions of beautiful women and beautiful men, to dream about, and it gives you a
           thrill.
                Your alive wife does not give you any thrill. With your alive wife you suddenly go dead. There
           are people, even while making love to their wife, they are imagining some other woman; they are
           imagining some PLAYBOY picture. They can make love to their woman only when in their
           imagination there is some other woman, some fantasy. Then they get thrilled. They are not making
           love to their woman, and the woman is not making love to them. She may be thinking of some actor
           or some hero or somebody. There are four people in each bed! Of course, it is too crowded, and you
           never contact the real person; those imaginary ones are standing in between.
                You should know that masturbation -- mental or physicalis a perversion. It does not exist in
           nature. Homosexuality does not exist in nature, but in zoos it comes into existence. In zoos animals
           start masturbating. In zoos animals even start becoming homosexually interested. Wherever the
           situation is unnatural, unnatural perversions enter. In the military, in the army, people become
           homosexual, because it is an "all-boys" club, no woman available. Their pent-up energies start
           making them insane; they think they will go mad if they don't allow some outlet. In the boys' hostels,
           in the girls' hostels, where no boy can come, no girl can come, the other sex is not allowed, naturally
           pornography will be greatly enjoyed. It will help masturbation.
                But these things have not been talked of directly. Now many will be offended -- why am I talking
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           about these things? I am here to make everything clear to you so that you can become more and
           more natural. The appeal for pornography simply says that your mind is in an abnormal state. It is
           perfectly good to be interested in a beautiful woman, nothing wrong, but to have a picture of a nude
           woman and to get excited about it is just stupid. That's what people are doing with pornography.
               I have heard a beautiful joke. Listen attentively, don't miss it.

               A husband was suspicious of his wife, so he hired a private detective to find out whether she had
           a lover or not. The detective, a Chinese immigrant, came back to report after only two days. His arm
           and nose were broken and his head was tied up in bandages.
           "What happened?" the husband inquired eagerly. "Any proof yet?"
           "Well," the detective answered, "I hid outside your house when you left in the morning. After half an
           hour a man came and let himself in with a key. I climbed a tree to see into the bedroom, and there
           was he holding she and she kissing he. So he play with she and she play with he; I play with me and
           I fall down from the tree."

           That's what pornography is.
               Beware of all sorts of perversions. To love is good; to dream about it is ugly. Why? When the
           real is available, why go for the unreal? Even the real never satisfies! So how can the unreal satisfy?
           Even the real, in the final analysis, proves to be illusory, so what to say about the illusory?
               Let me repeat: Even the real, one day, proves to be just unreal, so what to say about the unreal?
               Go into the real love, and you will become so aware one day that even the real love, the so-called
           real love, will disappear. And when a man is completely beyond sexuality.... Not that I am saying
           "TRY to go beyond," no, not at all, God forbid. What I mean when I say when a man "goes beyond"
           is that when a man has gone deeper into sex, into love, and has known and has found that there is
           nothing, that very finding takes him above. He starts floating above the earth, he grows wings. That
           transcendence is BRAHMACHARYA, that transcendence is celibacy. It has nothing to do with your
           effort; it has nothing to do with repression.
               A repressed person can never attain BRAHMACHARYA; he will become pornographic. And
           there are a thousand and one ways of being pornographic. In the old Indian scriptures there are
           descriptions of great RISHIS sitting in meditation and beautiful women trying to seduce them,
           dancing around them, naked. And the stories say they are sent by the God of heaven to corrupt them
           because the God in heaven is afraid if they attain to their SAMADHI they will become competitors.
           The God of heaven is afraid of their competition, so when they are attaining closer and closer,
           coming closer to SAMADHI, he sends beautiful women to seduce them.
               Now, there is no God, and no beautiful women come from heaven; this is mind pornography.
           These RISHIS, these so-called seers, have repressed sex so much that at the last moment, when they
           are really getting closer to their innermost center, that repressed sex bursts forth, explodes. And in
           that explosion their own images, mind images.... It is a mind panorama, it is very colorful, and it is
           so colorful and looks so real that even they are deceived; they think really women are there.
               Just go in a cave for three months and be celibate and force celibacy. After three months you will
           be a great seer -- and you will start seeing things. That is what a great seer is. You will start seeing
           damsels and beautiful APSARAS from heaven coming and dancing around you seducing you. They
           are just your mind picture. When you are deprived of reality, your dreams start almost looking like
           reality. That's what we call hallucination.
               In those old days PLAYBOY magazine was not available, so the RISHIMUNIS had to depend
           on their own. Now you can have some support from the outside.
               But beware: even the real is proved, finally, to be unreal. So don't move into the realms of the
           unreal. Go into the real, let it be a great experience. I am not against it, I am all for it, go into it,
           because only by going into it, one day, BRAHMACHARYA, one day, you simply get out of it.
               Not that love will disappear. In fact, for the first time love will appear, but a totally different kind
           of love. Buddha calls it compassion -- a cool love, with no sexual heat in it. Your being will become
           a benediction. Your very presence will make people feel your love. Your love will fall and shower
           on them. In your very presence, people will start moving into the unknown.
               Yes, great compassion will arise in you. It is the same sexual energy, released from the sexual
           objects. Not repressed. Released. Not forcibly repressed, but understandably released. The same
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sexual energy becomes love, compassion.
               And when love, compassion, arises you are fulfilled. Buddha has said two things are the goals:
           awareness and compassion. And both come out of the sex energy; both are born out of it. Those two
           are the flowers, ultimate flowers, of sex energy.
               That lotus is waiting in you to flower. Don't waste your energies. Use your energies to
           understand them, go into them deeply, meditatively, so that one day that lotus opens.




                                               The First Principle
                                                  Chapter #9
                                  Chapter title:You: the Greatest Lie There Is
           19 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704190
              ShortTitle: PRINCI09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 99 mins




              THE OFFICIAL, RIKO, ONCE ASKED NANSEN TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THE OLD PROBLEM OF THE
              GOOSE IN THE BOTTLE.
              "IF A MAN PUTS A GOSLING INTO A BOTTLE," SAID RIKO, "AND FEEDS HIM UNTIL HE IS FULL
              GROWN, HOW CAN THE MAN GET THE GOOSE OUT WITHOUT KILLING IT OR BREAKING THE
              BOTTLE?"
              NANSEN GAVE A GREAT CLAP WITH HIS HANDS AND SHOUTED, "RIKO!"
              "YES, MASTER," SAID THE OFFICIAL WITH A START.
              "SEE," SAID NANSEN, "THE GOOSE IS OUT!"

               I DO NOT SEEK, I FIND, says Pablo Picasso. And I say to you: You need not seek, because if
           you seek, you will I ever find it. And you need not find it, also, because if YOU find it, it will not
           have been found at all.
               Seeking means the truth is not and you have to seek it. Seeking means the truth is hidden and you
           have to seek it. Seeking means the truth is far away, distant, and you have to journey to it. And truth
           is herenow. No pilgrimage is needed; one has not to go anywhere. Truth is not THERE and truth is
           not THEN. Truth is here and now, so all seeking is going astray.
               Seek, and you will not find, because in the very seeking you have missed the point, you have
           missed the first principle. In the very effort, you have gone away from the truth.
               Seeking is a desire. With the desire comes in the mind -- mind is nothing but desire. Seeking is in
           the future, and the future is not. Truth is always present, always present. Truth is always now; there
           is no other way for truth to be. You cannot say about truth, "Truth was," and you cannot say about
           truth, "Truth will be." That will be absolutely wrong. Truth IS -- and it is always so, and it will be
           always so, and it has always been so. Truth IS.
               How can you seek that which is? One seeks that which is not yet. Seeking is in the future.
           Seeking assumes it, that it is not here. You seek money, you seek power, you seek prestige, you seek
           heaven; but how can you seek truth? That's why, let me repeat. seeking, you go astray. Seeking, you
           become a victim of desire. Seeking, the mind becomes predominant. Seeking, the secondary
           becomes primary and the primary is lost track of.
               And I say if YOU find it you have not found it at all. Because if YOU remain to find it, then it
           cannot be truth. Truth is found only when you are not. When truth is, you are not. You both cannot
           be present together. You are the greatest lie there is. If you are still there, then you will go on
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           missing the truth. The very presence of you functions as a barrier. "I" cannot find; when the "I" is not
           there it is found.
                That's why I say Picasso's statement is a half-truth. Half of it is true: "I do not seek." But that half
           is untrue when he says, "I find." It looks almost Zenlike, but it is not. A half-truth is more dangerous
           than a plain lie because you can see the lie as the lie sooner or later, but the half-truth can go on
           pretending to be the whole truth; at least it appears like the truth. Many have been deceived by
           Picasso's statement. It is almost Zen: "I do not seek, I find."
                If he had said, "I do not seek, and it is found," it would have been Zen. If the "I" remains, then
           truth will remain clouded. The "I" functions as a cloud, and the sun goes behind. The "I" functions as
           a darkness, as a vale of darkness. The "I" is very noisy, and the voice of truth is very small, still. If
           the "I" is there beating its drums, then it is almost impossible to hear the whispering of truth.
                Yes, truth is a whisper. You feel it only when you are absolutely not. In your absence it is
           present.
                So this is the whole thing: if you are present, truth is absent; if you are absent, truth is present. To
           be absent is all that meditation is. To be absent is all that is involved in meditation.
                How to become absent? How not to be? Yes, "To be or not to be" is the question. And ordinarily
           we decide to be. The moment we decide to be, the samsara. The moment we decide not to be, the
           nirvana. Yes, that is the basic question that encounters every human being: to be or not to be. A
           Buddha decides not to be.
                And the paradox is that those who decide not to be, they become true, and those who decide to
           be, they become a lie. The lie can persist; you can go on feeding it.
                Truth is, just is, only is. Seeking, you miss it. Seeking, you have started looking somewhere else.
           Seeking, you don't look HERE. Seeking, your eyes are turned upwards towards the sky. That's why
           whenever we think of God we look upwards towards the sky. It is very significant: God is far away,
           sitting in the seventh heaven, up. It is a long journey; only very rare people can do it -- saints,
           mahatmas, ascetics. All nonsense.
                God is where you are right now! Not in the seventh heaven, but within you.
                But about those seven heavens, the metaphor of "seven" is beautiful. God is not in the seventh
           heaven somewhere, but is hidden behind seven layers of lies. There is a very strange incident in
           Bodhidharma's life, the founder of Zen. It is said that Bodhidharma collapsed seven times and arose
           eight times, when he realized enlightenment. Collapsed seven times and arose eight times. Very
           significant. Those are the seven layers of the ego, the seven layers of the "I". Each "I" will help you
           to collapse, and if you cannot rise eight times, that means if you cannot rise at least one time without
           the ego, you will not attain.
                So the whole question is not that the truth is very far. It is very close, very, very close. It is in
           you, it is you, it is your intrinsic nature, it is your DHARMA. That is the first principle, but
           somehow, seeking, you have missed it.
                Seeking, you have been for many lives. A seeker you have been. Nonseeking will reveal it.
                That's why I say seeking, you go astray. Seeking, you go in dreams. How can you seek God?
           You have not known. How can you seek the unknown? You have never seen. How can you seek the
           unseen? Even if God comes across you, you will not be able to recognize him, because recognition is
           possible only if you have experienced him before. And you have not experienced him. He may have
           come across you many times in your life, and you will go on missing because how will you
           recognize him?
                It is impossible to seek the unknown. Then what do you do? First you create a dream about the
           unknown and you start seeking the dream. The Hindu has one dream of God, the Mohammedan has
           another dream, the Christian has still another -- but those are all dreams. The Christian will attain to
           his dream. That is the misery, because if you persist too much, your dream will start becoming
           almost a reality. If you pour your energy into your dream too much, then your dream will start
           becoming a reality; you will convert it into a reality. But it is not reality; it is still a dream.
                The fight between Hindus, Mohammedans, and Christians is not the fight about reality. The fight
           is about their different dreams. Hindus have a certain idea of God, so have others, and they fight.
           They say, "Our dream is true." When a Christian meditates deeply, he comes to see Jesus. A Jaina
           never comes to see Jesus, never. A Buddhist never comes to see Jesus; Jesus never crosses his path.
           For a Buddhist, Buddha comes on the path. For a Jaina, Mahavir crosses his path. They are their
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dreams; they are dreams and projections and desires. And if you persist too much, the mind has the
           faculty to impart reality to the dream.
               You do it every day, so it is not something very strange. Every day in the night when you fall
           asleep you dream, and in the dream you never recognize the fact that it is a dream. In the dream it
           looks true. In the dream it looks real -- howsoever absurd. In the dream you see a dog is walking, and
           suddenly the dog becomes a cat, and you don't even doubt that it is possible. In the dream you accept
           even that. Your acceptance, your capacity to believe, is tremendous.
               Even the people who think they are skeptical, people who think they are great doubters,
           logicians, rationalists, even in their dreams all their rationalism is gone and all their doubt
           disappears. In their dreams they believe absurd things. In the morning, when they are awake, they
           will be amazed, but then it is too late.
               Just think of a person who is in a coma.... Once a woman was brought to me who had been in a
           coma for nine months. Now think, if she is dreaming for nine months, she must be thinking they are
           realities. A man can be in a coma for nine years, or ninety years -- or for nine lives. Then? The
           dream will look real. In fact, if this woman is awakened out of her coma for one minute and she
           looks around and falls into her dream again, which will be more real, her dream that has lasted for
           nine months, or the reality that she saw for one single minute? What will be her conclusion if she can
           conclude? She will conclude that she had fallen for one minute into sleep and she saw a dream and
           again the dream is gone, so she is awake and her reality continues.
               The greatest possibility of the mind and the greatest capacity of the mind is imagination. It lives
           through imagination. The moment you start seeking truth you are moving in the direction of
           imagination. What are you seeking?
               Zen says there is nothing to seek, because you don't know what is there. So if you seek, you will
           miss. Now, this is a very much higher standpoint. Jesus says, "Seek, and you will find." A very much
           lower statement, nothing to be compared with Zen. Meaningful, meaningful for those who are
           starting on the journey, but if you follow Jesus, one day or other, you will understand that by
           seeking, you cannot reach. Jesus was talking to people who were not highly evolved, people who had
           not even started seeking. He had to teach them: "Seek and you will find, knock and the door shall be
           opened unto you, ask and it shall be given to you." If you go to a Zen Master he will smile; he will
           say, "Start," because his statement is a higher statement. When you have sought and you have not
           found, when you have struggled hard and nothing comes in your hands except dreams, then the Zen
           Master's approach will become possible, you will be able to understand it. Then he will say, "Seek,
           and you will not find. Now, please, drop seeking. Drop seeking and find it herenow!"
               But I am not saying that Jesus is wrong. I am saying it is a beginners' class. And unless you
           follow Jesus for a time you will not understand Zen. So Jesus will prepare you, Jesus will help you.
               Jesus was talking to the Jews, who have been one of the most earthy races in the world. To talk
           Zen would have been impossible -- they would have killed him even earlier. They didn't allow him
           much life, only three years of ministry. At the age of thirty he started his work; by thirty-three he
           was gone. They could not tolerate even a very primary statement about religion. It was not very
           rebellious, it was not very absurd. It was in tune with the Jewish thinking, but still they could not
           tolerate it. It was "otherworldly". He was talking about the world that he calls the Kingdom of God.
           Jews have been very worldly; that is their success. They are very down to earth, and this man was
           distracting them. They were seeking money and they were seeking power and prestige, and this man
           was talking about God. Jesus was trying to change their seeking towards religion. It is religion of the
           kindergarten class.
               Zen people are talking about the highest statement. India's highest consciousness was
           transplanted into China, and China's highest consciousness, Taoism, met with Buddhism. These are
           two of the greatest flowerings of human consciousness. Never again has humanity reached such a
           peak as Buddhism, as it reached in Buddha; and never again has it reached anything like Lao Tzu.
           And just think: Zen is a crossbreeding of Taoism and Buddhism. It is a meeting of Buddha and Lao
           Tzu. It is a meeting of two of the highest peaks. Naturally Zen goes still higher. Zen goes higher than
           Buddhism and higher than Taoism because it contains all that was beautiful in these two cultures, the
           ancientmost cultures, the longest seekers in the world, who have staked all that they had for their
           seeking. Zen is the purest flower.
               In fact, Zen is not a flower. It is essence, it is fragrance. Even a flower has something gross in it,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something of the earth. So remember it, when Zen is saying something, it is to be understood at the
           highest level; otherwise there will be no understanding about it. You will misunderstand it.
                Seeking, you go astray; seeking, you go in dreams; seeking, you go somewhere else; and truth is
           here. Seeking, you go then; and truth is NOW. Seeking, you are, and seeking, you are too much. The
           more you seek, the more you feel you are. The harder and more arduous the seeking becomes, the
           stronger the ego becomes.
                Seeking, you are, and seeking, you are too much; and there is no space for the truth to be. You
           fill the whole space of your being. Seeking, you are closed.
                Have you not seen this happening in ordinary life too? A man is suddenly told that his house is
           on fire. He rushes towards his house from the office or from his shop: now he cannot see what is
           happening in the market, on the road. Somebody says, "Hello"; he cannot hear. Somebody comes
           and collides with him, but he cannot see who he is, and he will not remember that somebody
           collided. His whole mind is narrow now -- his house is on fire. His mind is concentrated.
                Seeking means concentration, and truth is never achieved by concentration. Truth is achieved by
           meditation. And the difference is vital, and the difference is great. And you have to understand the
           difference because ordinarily people who don't know anything about meditation, they go on writing
           books in which they write that meditation is concentration. Meditation is not concentration!
           Meditation is just the opposite state of concentration.
                When you concentrate your mind is narrowed down; when you meditate, you mind is widened.
           When you concentrate, there is an object on which you concentrate; when you meditate, there is no
           object.
                People come to me and they ask, "On what to meditate?" Then they are not asking about
           meditation. They are asking about concentration when they come and they say to me, "I cannot
           concentrate. Osho, can you help me?" Concentration means you want your mind to cling to
           something, you want your mind to remain with something. Concentration is a sort of attachment, so
           whenever your attachment is there you are concentrated.
                Your wife is dying, and if you are attached to her, you will forget the whole world. Now nothing
           exists except your dying wife. You will be sitting by her side and you will be concentrated; your
           mind will not go here and there.
                Or if you are driving a car and suddenly you see an imminent accident is going to happen -- some
           madman is coming, driving his car madly, and on the turn you see now it is too late, it is going to
           happen -- suddenly you will be concentrated, because you are too attached to life. There will be no
           thoughts any more. Just a moment before, you were thinking to see your girl friend, a moment
           before, you were thinking to go to the movie tonight, or do this or that; suddenly all has disappeared;
           there is no thought in the mind, no object. You are too attached to life. Because of this attachment,
           all other objects have disappeared. You are concentrated now only on your life; only one thing has
           remained: your life.
                Dostoevsky has written a memoir. He was young and he was a revolutionary, and he was caught
           by the czar with twenty other people, and they all were sentenced to death. The day came, ditches
           were dug, and they were standing in front of the ditches and the man was getting ready with the
           machine gun. Everything was ready.
                Just close by on a church tower there is a clock, and each moment is passing fast, and the life is
           disappearing. At exactly six o'clock, they will be shot dead. It is ten minutes to six.
                You can imagine how concentrated they must have become. Dostoevsky writes, "Never again
           have I been so concentrated in my life. All else disappeared. I could hear my heart throbbing, I could
           see my breathing for the first time, I felt my body for the first time. I had never felt my body, never
           heard my heartbeat, never seen my breath. Everything became simply concentrated -- and we could
           hear the clock moving.
                Five minutes, four minutes, three minutes... and the concentration is becoming more and more
           and more. One minute... and everything else has disappeared.
           When life is at stake, only life is in the mind.
                And then comes a horseman, running, and the czar has pardoned them; their death sentence has
           been converted into a life sentence.
                One man, at exactly six o'clock, fell in the ditch, Died! without being shot. Must have become so
           concentrated with the idea of death. Died! Nobody could believe it. The officers ran. He was taken
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           out of the ditch, but he was dead. He believed it; he must have become hypnotized with the idea of
           death. Death is coming, death is coming, fifteen minutes, death is coming... It was coming for two,
           three months; now it was closer and closer and closer, and the mind became concentrated. The man
           fell and died.
                Another man shouted, "I am dead!" He became mad. For his whole life he remained shouting, "I
           am dead. I have died, don't you know?" He will meet people and say, "Don't you know? I died on
           that day. Six o'clock they killed me. I am a ghost! "
                Dostoevsky himself could not believe it, because it was unimaginable, that the czar was going to
           forgive them. But he writes in his memoirs that "Never again was I concentrated; that was the peak
           of concentration."
                It is not meditation. If it was meditation, then Dostoevsky would have become enlightened. That
           peak of concentration?
                It happens to you. When you are studying for an examination, as the examinations come closer,
           you become more and more concentrated. Just the night before, your mind functions so
           concentratedly. Once the examination is gone, the mind relaxes again.
                Concentration is a mind thing; meditation is a no-mind thing. Concentration means pouring your
           whole energy onto one object. Meditation means not pouring your energy onto any object, but just
           overflowing in all directions.
                For example, if you are listening to me you can listen in two ways. You can listen in the wrong
           way: the wrong way is the way of concentration; you can just remain tense, strained. Or you can
           listen in a relaxed, let-go way; you can remain relaxed. E you listen in a tense way -- that is the
           meaning of the word "attention": "with tension, concentration" -- then you will not listen to the birds
           singing in the trees. Then you will listen only to me, and everything else will be blocked out,
           bracketed out. That means only this small voice that is here is in your concentration and the whole
           existence has been blocked out.
                Meditation is just the opposite: nothing is blocked out, you are open in all directions. You are
           listening to me; you are listening to the birds also. If the wind blows in the trees and the trees start a
           murmur, you will listen to that too. And there will be no distraction, remember. You are so open, you
           listen to me and the bird and the wind, and they all become one. And when you can listen in that
           way, you have listened to God.
                When you listen meditatively, you listen to God -- whatsoever you listen to, it is God, it is God's
           message. He has reached you through the tree, through the wind, through the bird, through me. He is
           coming from everywhere, because he is everywhere. He surrounds you. So when you are open to
           everything that is happening, to all that is happening, you are herenow, you are in meditation. And
           this state is a state of nonseeking.
                Concentration is part of seeking; when you seek something you become concentrated. When you
           don't seek anything you become relaxed. When you seek something and you are concentrated, you
           are going away from yourself. Your object will be the goal, you forget yourself. Your arrow of
           consciousness goes only to the object. When you are not going anywhere, where will you be? When
           you are not going anywhere you will be where you are, you will be whoever you are. You will be
           simply relaxing anc resting into yourself.
                Ashtavakra says, "Rest in yourself, and you will attain all." Because resting in yourself you will
           know who you are.
                So it is not a question of seeking. Seeking, you are too much. Seeking, you are so arrowed
           towards something that you don't see anything else, your eyes don't allow all to enter into your
           being, and then there is no space for the truth to be. Seeking, you become a cloud and the sun goes
           behind. Hence, seeking, there is night and darkness and death.
                When you are not seeking there is life, eternal life, and light and God, or you can choose any
           name which you prefer. Buddha calls it nirvana, nonseeking: you have arrived. In fact, you had never
           gone anywhere else; you were only imagining.

           "Tell us, Master," a monk asked Daito....

           Daito was a great Zen Master.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Tell us, Master, when Shakyamuni Buddha saw the morning star, what did he see?"...

               In Zen this is the legend, that Buddha was seeking and seeking for six years, then he got tired and
           fed up with seeking, and one day he dropped seeking too. As one day he had dropped his kingdom,
           his family, his THIS world, one day he dropped his OTHER world too. As one day he had become
           disinterested in the material, a day came when he became disinterested in the spiritual too. And that
           was the night when he rested in himself -- because there was nothing to seek. So he slept under a
           tree, the Bodhi tree; that became the most famous tree in the world. He rested under the Bodhi tree,
           slept well. There was no seeking, so there was no dreaming either. The whole night was just a
           peaceful rhythm, not even a thought, because the material world was gone, the spiritual world was
           gone. It was an absolute rest into oneself.
               By the morning, the Zen legend says, his eyes opened. Not that he opened his eyes, because there
           was nothing to do now: he will not even open his eyes. The Zen legend says the eyes opened because
           the rest was complete. See the difference. You can open your eyes; then there is strain. You can
           close your eyes; then there is strain. When the eyes are closed by themselves there is rest; when the
           eyes open by themselves, then there is rest.
               When a life is not a life of doing, but happening, then there is rest.
               The eyes opened and he saw the last morning star setting, it was just disappearing, the last
           glimpse of it, in a moment it was gone, and he became enlightened. The last trace disappeared with
           the disappearing morning star, and he was utterly empty. He was utterly nobody. He became a
           nothingness, a pure nothingness, a content-less consciousness.
               What is the significance of this last star disappearing? When the eyes opened and he saw the last
           star, there was a little concentration, a slight concentration, must be the old habit, thousands of lives
           of old habit. He must have become a little strained; a little concentration must have arisen. Looking
           at the last star, he must have become focused, his consciousness must have become narrow -- just out
           of old habit. There was nothing to look at now. But then the star disappeared -- it was the last star
           and the sun was going to rise soon, so the star disappeared -- the star disappeared, and the last object
           of concentration disappeared.
               Suddenly he was released from all concentration, suddenly there was freedom, there was no
           content. The last star disappearing took away the last trace of concentration. He was there -- and he
           was not there. He was there for the first time authentically -- and he was not there for the first time as
           an "I", as an ego.

           Some seeker asked Master Daito...

           "Tell us, Master, when Shakyamuni Buddha saw the morning star, what did he see?"...

               Why did he become enlightened by seeing the last star?
               Many people have copied it -- people are foolish, people are monkeys. Many Buddhists sit, they
           even go to Bodhgaya -- they come from China, from Korea, from Japan, from Ceylon -- they go to
           Bodhgaya, they sit under the Bodhi tree, they try to rest the whole night, and they watch, many times
           it must be, in the night they must be looking: whether the last star is there or gone. And they must be
           closing their eyes again -- it is still night and there are so many stars -- and they must be afraid and
           tense: will they be able to see the last star, or will they miss? And they have to see the last star
           disappearing.
               Once a Japanese man came and stayed with me. I said, "Why have you come from Japan?" He
           said, "To see the last star disappearing." I told him, "Can't you see a last star disappearing in Japan?
           Don't the stars behave the same way there? Don't they disappear in the morning? For what have you
           come here?" And he said, "I have come to sit under the Bodhi tree." But any tree will do. Buddha
           was not sitting under that tree specifically. It was just a coincidence, it was accidental. He had not
           searched for that tree. That tree was in no way special; it was as ordinary a tree as any tree.
               You can sit under any tree and under any sky and in any country, but the question is not of
           country, not of the sky, not of the stars, not of the tree. The question is, "Has your attachment to
           things -- and attachment to other-wordly things -- disappeared, or is it still there?"
               Now, in fact, you have come to sit under the Bodhi tree because you want to become
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enlightened. The desire. The seeking. You have come as a seeker, and Buddha did attain because he
           was not a seeker that night.
               This is how things go on and man goes on imitating and becoming foolish.

           "Tell us, Master, when Shakyamuni Buddha saw the morning star, what did he see?"
           "Clean blank nothing," Daito replied at once. And then added, "But if a person has only so much as
           just one speck of dust in his eyes, he may look at a blank and see all sorts of imaginary things."

                Just a speck of dust will do, just a small speck of desire will do, and then you will start seeing
           imaginary things. If you really want to see that which is, then the eyes have to be utterly clean,
           blank. With those blank eyes you are a Buddha -- with those empty eyes.
                Seeking, one never finds. Let it be a fundamental remembrance. So Pablo Picasso is true, but
           only half true.
                And half-truths are really dangerous. They can pretend, they can masquerade as truths, as whole
           truths. That's what happens. Whenever a man like Buddha moves, walks on the earth, that's what
           happens -- his truths become half-truths in our minds. A half-truth is a reflection of truth. A halftruth
           is a shadow of truth. In our monkey minds, in our imitative minds, we start imitating half-truths. And
           there is something which has to be understood. A half-truth deceives better.
                But Pablo Picasso could not have done better, because art itself cannot go beyond the half-truth.
           That's the difference between art and religion. Art is the world of the shadows, the world of the
           reflections, the world of imagination, the world of dreams, the world of desires, the world of
           projections. Art cannot give you the whole truth, but the best art is always giving you half of it -- that
           too the best art. I am not talking about the third-rate art. A third-rate art is simply a lie, a fantasy, a
           fiction. But Pablo Picasso is one of the greatest artists the world has ever produced. The best art
           always give you half; more is not possible through art.
                The artist has glimpses of truth, reflected in the world of his dreams, in the world of his
           imagination. The artist is a pool of imagination, a lake of imagination. In that lake is reflected the
           full moon. And sometimes the moon in the lake looks far more beautiful than the real moon. On the
           glossy, silent surface of the lake, on the placid, silent surface of the lake, the moon looks even more
           innocent. But that is not a real moon -- although the reflection belongs to the real.
                That is the difference between the mystic and the artist. The best artist comes closer to the mystic
           than anybody else, but the artist is not a mystic. He is a shadow, a shadow mystic. William Blake or
           Pablo Picasso or Emerson or Rabindranath, they give beautiful reflections of the truth. And even the
           reflection is so enchanting, what to say about the original?
                But if you jump into the lake to find the moon, even the reflection will disappear. You are not
           supposed to jump into the lake. And where the reflection is, you are not to go in that direction. You
           have to move exactly in the opposite direction, then you will find the real.
                The artist has some quality of the mystic; he is on the way to becoming a mystic in some life.
           The mystic has all the qualities of the artist, plus.
                Sometimes mystics have been artists, particularly Zen mystics. They have painted. They have
           written poems, haiku. They have carved wood, they have sculpted. They were great artists. In fact,
           all Zen Masters have been creative people.
                That should also be remembered. When you have attained to a state of consciousness, your
           consciousness has to create something, something visible. You have to materialize something of
           your consciousness into the world so that this world also becomes beautiful. And people who cannot
           understand religion at least can understand art. You may not be able to understand the meaning of
           the Upanishads, but the very poetry of it appeals, and if the poetry appeals, then the truth is making a
           way towards your heart. You may not be able to meditate, but if somebody is dancing with deep
           meditation, that dance may appeal, and through the dance, lingering by the side, something of the
           meditation will enter into your being.
                Gurdjieff had prepared a group of dancers, and he took the dancers to many great cities of the
           world. It was a rare opportunity made available. When in New York those meditators danced, people
           were suddenly amazed, they could not believe what was happening. The dancers created such
           meditative energy, such a great wave of energy, that those who had come just to see the dance
           suddenly forgot the dance completely. Something else was there by the side, a door opened through
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                 Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it.
                And Gurdjieff used to do the "stop" exercise. The dancers are dancing, a group of twenty, thirty
           dancers, and they are going wild in their dance, and suddenly he will shout by the side, "Stop!" And
           they will all become just marble statues, as they were. If the hand was raised, it will remain raised. If
           one leg was up, it will remain up.
                At one moment when he said, "Stop!" they were in such a position that they all fell -- fell from
           the stage, in front of the audience in the hall. But not a single person moved; they fell as if dead. And
           one man who was watching, something inside him also fell. The very shocking incident, these people
           fallen as if dead, and something changed in his mind. He became one of the great followers of
           Gurdjieff and attained to greater heights of consciousness.
                Looking at a Zen painting you will be surprised because the painting brings to you something of
           the man who has painted it. If you look at modern painting, that too brings something to you. If you
           look at a modern painting long enough, you will start feeling a little crazy. If you put too many
           modern paintings in your bedroom, beware, you will have nightmares. Those paintings will start
           entering into your dreams. You cannot look at a modern painting for long; you have to move. You
           start feeling weird, something is wrong, something is bizarre.
                The modern painter is insane. He is painting out of his insanity. If you look at a Zen painting, a
           silence oozes out of it, suddenly something beautiful surrounds you. You are transported to another
           consciousness. The painting carries something of the touch of the Master. The painting has been
           done in deep meditation; the painting has been done by one who has arrived.
                Gurdjieff used to call such art "objective art". When somebody who has attained to
           consciousness does something, that something becomes objective art. Looking at that thing, you will
           have some glimpse of the Master. The Master may have been dead for three thousand years, that
           doesn't matter. The painting, the statue, the carving will represent him, and through it you can again
           become connected to him. If you know how to meditate with a painting, it will be easier.
                Within these twenty years a rare thing has come to light because of too much use of drugs. The
           underground world of drugs has stumbled upon a very significant fact; they call it "contact high". It
           is exactly the meaning of SATSANG. Let me explain it to you.
                A "contact high" is a state. Somebody has taken LSD and is turned on, and you love the man,
           you really love the man, or the woman, you really relate to him -- the man or the woman is
           somebody who turns you on by her presence or his presence. The person has taken LSD. You simply
           sit by the side, and you love the person, and the person's presence turns you on, and by and by you
           will start feeling that the LSD is affecting you too, that somehow his consciousness is infiltrating
           your consciousness, that your space is being overpowered. And you will start feeling high. This is
           contact high.
                This is the meaning of SATSANG too, on a different plane. If somebody has attained, just being
           with him in deep love. in deep gratitude, in deep relatedness, and you will start feeling that
           something, through him, reaches your heart, stirs your being, and you are put on a totally different
           plane, where you cannot go by yourself. You are transported, carried to it. Yes, it too is a contact
           high.
                That's why in the East we have praised SATSANG so much, to be in the presence of a Master, to
           attain contact high. And once you have started attaining through somebody, by and by you can find
           your own way.
                This contact high is possible even after thousands of years, through objective art. Read some
           haiku of Basho, small haiku. Read one haiku, repeat it, sing it, chew it, swallow it deeply, and then
           sit silently, waiting for the meaning to be revealed. Don't think about it; thinking, you will go astray.
           Don't analyze it; analyzing, you will go far away. Meditate, just be with it, let it be with you, and
           suddenly you will find something is changing in your consciousness. You are moving upwards, or
           you are moving deeper.
                The very small haiku can turn you on. It can almost become an LSD trip because the haiku
           carries Basho's consciousness, condensed. It is no ordinary poetry. It is not written by a poet, not by
           an artist. It is done by a Master.
                And the Master has put it almost like a mantra. If you simply allow it to spread its meaning on
           your being, its fragrance on your being, you will be in the state of contact high.
                That's why I say Picasso's statement is a half-truth. "I do not seek" is the half-truth, and "I find"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is the half-untruth, because it is never the "I" that finds it. "I" is the barrier, the cloud, the hindrance,
           the obstacle. Truth is found, but not by "I". Truth is found only when there is no "I", when there is
           nobody to find it. Truth is found only when there is nobody to seek it and nobody to find it.
                Now, the "I" has seven layers, those seven times when Bodhidharma fell and again rose. You
           will also fall seven times before you can attain to enlightenment. The first layer consists of the past:
           "I" is memory. Go with me into it as deeply as possible because this will lead you to the first
           principle. The first principle cannot be said, but can be showed, how you can attain it.
                The first layer of "I" consists of memory, the past. If you want to get rid of the "I" you will have
           to get rid of the past. Many people come to me and they say, "We would like to drop this ego." But
           they think that the ego is a noncomplex thing, a simple thing. It is not. It is very complex, the most
           complex. In fact, the one who wants to drop it may be the ego itself. That is so subtle, it is so tricky.
           Layer upon layer. The first layer is the memory.
                If you really want to drop the ego -- and that is the only way to find the truth; all religion consists
           only of dropping these seven layers -- don't live in the memory. By and by, the moment you catch
           hold of yourself, that you are moving in the memory, immediately slip out of it. Immediately. Don't
           waste a single moment. I am not saying repent about it, I am not saying feel guilty about it, no,
           because that too will be the past. I am simply saying the moment you find you were moving into a
           dream about the past, a nostalgia, the moment you find it so, just slip out of it. There is no need to
           fight with it. If you fight, you will be defeated. There is no need to feel angry about it. If you feel
           angry you will be defeated. You need not value it in any way, good or bad. You simply do one thing:
           the moment you find out, slip out of it.
                And the one who finds it red-handed is your awareness. Eckhart says the one who finds is God,
           God within you.
                Just try. Whenever you find your memory is hovering around you too much, the one who finds
           this sudden recognition that "Yes, I am again in the memory," that one, that awareness, is God within
           you. Slip out of the memory.
                And I say slip out of it because there is no need to fight. Fighting, you will cling to it. Fighting,
           you will have to be there. If you have to fight with somebody you have to be there. Don't fight.
                And you are capable of slipping out, just as a snake slips out of the old skin. Go on slipping out
           of the memory. Memory is an old skin. In fact, you have already slipped out of it; it is just in the
           mind, it is nowhere else.
                The second layer consists of unawareness. We live almost in a drunken state. We live with the
           minimum of consciousness. You go on doing things, you go on moving, this and that, but you are not
           conscious. Have you ever had any moments of consciousness so that you can see, you can compare?
                For example.... Just now! See what is there. Gather yourself together. Just be herenow and see
           what is there, and you will find your consciousness is more, you have come out of a fog. Soon you
           will again disappear into the fog. This fog surrounds you. Sometimes you come out of it. Sometimes
           something penetrates your fog, brings you out. But ordinarily, life is so monotonous, there is no
           surprise, nothing brings you out.
                Whenever you are a little more aware, many things happen. If you watch you will understand. A
           beautiful woman passes by; suddenly you become more aware. A bird on the wing, you were
           watching an empty sky and a bird passes by....
                Ramkrishna attained to his first SAMADHI, to his first satori, by seeing a row of cranes against
           the black clouds. He was very young, must have been thirteen. He was sitting by the lake of his
           town, it was cloudy, dark clouds were gathering, the beginning of the rain, and suddenly a row, many
           white cranes against the black clouds. Almost like lighting they were there and they were gone, and
           he attained to his first SAMADHI. For days he was drunk with the unknown, he danced, sang. His
           town's people, his family thought he had gone mad. But he was so happy.
                That sudden experience. Something penetrated like a sword. Something was cut.
                Sometimes it happens to you too. You don't take account of these moments, because you are
           afraid. You try to forget them. And they are so extraordinary and they are so exceptional and so rare
           that even to talk about them, nobody will believe it. So you don't take account of them; you think,
           "Must be a fantasy, an imagination." But one day in the morning suddenly the world is beautiful --
           for no reason at all. The reason IS there: the reason is you are more aware. Maybe you rested well in
           the night, it was a good sleep, the dreams were not too many, your stomach was not too full of food
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           or hungry. Things somehow went well, and in the morning you felt on the top of the world. It is
           nothing but awareness.
                With a friend you have not seen for many years, suddenly you become more aware. Anything
           that makes you more aware, watch it, take account of it, remember it, so that you can go more and
           more into it. Don't put it aside. Don't neglect it. It has to be fed and watered, taken care of.
                The third layer of "I" is ambition, comparison with the others, where I am, higher or lower,
           inferior or superior, ahead or lagging behind -- who I am. Watch it: never compare. You are you.
           An(l there is nobody like you, so comparison is not possible. And everybody is so unique and so
           different, how can you compare? Drop comparison. Whether you find yourself caught in
           comparison, immediately drop it, then and there. It is not good to carry these things in the mind
           longer; otherwise they leave traces, they make grooves in the mind. Never compare. Somebody is
           more intelligent, somebody is more beautiful, somebody is more healthy.... Don't compare. You are
           you.
                And this is the way God wanted you to be. Feel fulfilled the way you are and accept yourself.
           Don't condemn yourself.
                The fourth layer of "I" consists of future, always thinking ahead, what to do tomorrow or the day
           after tomorrow. Or people are so mad, they are thinking of what to do in the next life: where to go, to
           hell or heaven?
                People come to me and they ask, "Osho, what do you say about life after death?" I say, "You are
           not alive even now, and you are talking about life after death? I don't even see life before death."
                Man is not! Man only thinks that he is. Man has not happened yet. Rarely it happens. Once in a
           while, in a Buddha or a Bodhidharma a man is there; otherwise you are just a belief. And you are
           thinking about life after death? Think of life after birth! Think of life before death. Think of life now.
           Don't go into the future too much.
                I am not saying that if you want to go to Bombay don't book a ticket -- I am not saying that.
           Otherwise there are fools of that type too. One day I talked in the morning, "Don't think of the
           future," and by the evening I received a letter. One friend threw his passport into the river. "Why
           bother?'Don't think of the future,' Osho has said." I am not saying that. There is a practical world, but
           that is not a problem at all. To carry a passport is not a problem.
                To carry fantasies about the future is a problem. A passport is not such a burden. To think about
           tomorrow and to go and book a ticket is not a problem. These are factual things, ordinary, practical
           things. But to think that tomorrow you will be happy, not today, that tomorrow you will love, not
           today, that tomorrow you will sing, not today, is dangerous -- because tomorrow never comes. Again
           when it comes, it will be today, and your old habit will say, "Tomorrow I will be happy." Tomorrow
           again and again, you will be happy, and you will never be happy.
                What I am saying is psychological future has to be dropped. The ordinary future is okay, it is not
           a problem at all.
                The fifth layer consists of conditionings. You have been conditioned -- Hindu, Mohammedan,
           Jaina, Buddhist, English, German, Indian -- these layers are there. Start dropping them.
           Again, please, don't throw your passport!
                These ideas from the mind -- that I am a German or a Japanese or a Chinese -- are just foolish.
           You were born just as pure consciousness and you will die as pure consciousness, and all these are
           just dresses, formalities, forms, what Hindus call NAM-RUP, name and form. But you are not
           confined to them, you are not contained in them; you are beyond them.
                The sixth layer consists of arrogance, of nonhumbleness. One has to learn humbleness because
           that is reality. We are interdependent, so how can we be arrogant? You cannot live without the air,
           you cannot live without fire, you cannot live without the sun, you cannot live without the trees, you
           cannot live without the woman, woman without the man -- you cannot live at all independently. So
           all arrogance is just ignorance. We are interdependent, we interpenetrate each other, and everything
           is required.
                If the sun sets tonight and never rises again we will die. Within ten minutes we will die. If all the
           forests disappear and the trees disappear we will die, we will not be able to live. We breathe through
           the trees, they are continuously working for us and we are working for them. Don't think that they
           are slaves and we are masters. Nobody is a slave here and nobody is a master; everybody is a master
           here and everybody is a slave here. This is humility. They go on releasing oxygen for you; they serve
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you. And you go on releasing carbon dioxide for them, they live on carbon dioxide; so you serve
           them. They serve you, you serve them.
                We are servants of each other or masters of each other, but we are all in the same boat. The
           animals, the trees, the birds, the rocks, we are all in the same boat. We exist in a togetherness; that's
           the meaning of humbleness.
                I am not saying become humble and start being arrogant about your humbleness and start saying
           that "I am the most humble man in the world." That will be arrogance again. Humbleness is an
           understanding, not a cultivation.
                And the last layer of "I" consists of imitations. We learn to imitate -- that's what I mean when I
           say we are monkeys. Somebody is doing something: we start doing that. Somebody is making
           something: we start making that. We learn through imitation. Good for the children because
           otherwise children will never learn, but when will you become mature, when will you start not
           imitating, and being true to yourself?
                If these seven layers are dropped, you will simply become aware of who you are. You are God,
           as everybody else is God.
           These seven layers are the "bottle".
                Now let me tell you this beautiful anecdote. It is one of the most beautiful anecdotes in the Zen
           literature, and Zen has many beautiful anecdotes. This is one of the topmost. Listen to it.

              THE OFFICIAL, RIKO, ONCE ASKED NANSEN....


               Nansen was a great Master. You must have heard another story, I must have told you sometime.
           A great professor comes to see Nansen. The professor was the head of the department of philosophy
           in a university. He comes, and immediately he asks, "Do you believe in God? Is there any life after
           death? Has man a soul?"
               Nansen says, "Wait. Let me prepare tea for you. You are tired and you are perspiring. And there
           is no hurry; these problems can wait a little. Let me prepare tea for you." And he prepares the tea.
           This is the humbleness of a Zen Master.
               He brings tea. He goes on pouring the tea in the cup. The cup is full and the tea starts
           overflowing into the saucer, and then the saucer is full, and the professor shouts, "What are you
           doing? Are you mad? Now there is not any space, not even for a single drop, and you go on pouring
           and you go on pouring. It will start dropping on your floor!"
               And Nansen laughs and he says, "So you understand. Now do you have any questions, still?"
               The professor says, "Why, what do you mean? How does this explain my questions?"
               And Nansen says, "Have you any space in your head? I can give you the answer, but there is no
           space. I don't see any space in your head. And you are alert, very alert; you can see that when the cup
           is full, no more tea should be poured in. Go, please, and clean your skull. Empty your skull and come
           back! Because these questions are such that they can only be answered to an empty skull."
           Nansen is a rare man.

              THE OFFICIAL, RIKO, ONCE ASKED NANSEN TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THE OLD PROBLEM OF THE
              GOOSE IN THE BOTTLE.


               The problem is very ancient. It is a koan; it is given to a disciple, that he has to meditate on it. It
           is absurd; you cannot "solve" it. A koan is something which cannot be solved. Remember, it is not a
           puzzle. A puzzle has a clue; a koan has no clue. A koan is a puzzle without any clue. Not that more
           intelligence will solve it. No, no intelligence will ever solve it. Even if it is given to God, it will not
           be solved. It is made in such a way that it cannot be solved. This is a koan.

              "IF A MAN PUTS A GOSLING INTO A BOTTLE," SAID RIKO, "AND FEEDS HIM UNTIL HE IS FULL
              GROWN, HOW CAN THE MAN GET THE GOOSE OUT WITHOUT KILLING IT OR BREAKING THE
              BOTTLE?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Don't break the bottle -- and the goose has to be taken out -- and don't kill the goose. Now, these
           are the two conditions to be fulfilled. The koan becomes impossible. The bottle has a small neck; the
           goose cannot come out from it. Either you have to break the bottle or you have to kill the goose. You
           can kill the goose, and piece by piece you can take the goose out, or you can break the bottle, and the
           goose can come out alive, whole. But the condition is the bottle has not to be broken and the goose
           has not to be killed. The goose has to come out whole and the bottle has to remain whole. Nothing
           has to be destroyed; no destruction allowed.
               Now, how are you going to solve it? But meditating on it, meditating on it... one day it happens
           that you see the point. Not that you solve the problem, suddenly the problem is no more there.

              NANSEN GAVE A GREAT CLAP WITH HIS HANDS AND SHOUTED,
              "RIKO!"
              "YES, MASTER, "SAID THE OFFICIAL WITH A START.
              "SEE, "SAID NANSEN, "THE GOOSE IS OUT!"


               Now, it is tremendously beautiful. What he is saying is that the goose has never been in, the
           goose has always been out. What is he saying, the moment he said, "Riko!"? What happened? Those
           seven layers of ego disappeared and Riko became aware. The shout was so sudden, the sound was so
           unexpected. He was expecting a philosophical answer.
               That's why sometimes the Zen Master will hit you on your head or throw you out of the window
           or jump upon you or threaten you that he will kill you: he will do something so that those seven
           layers of ego are immediately transcended and your awareness, which is the center of all, is alert.
           You are made alert.
               Now, shouting "Riko!" so suddenly, for no reason at all -- and he has brought a small puzzle to
           be solved and this Master suddenly shouts "Riko!" -- he cannot see the connection. And that is the
           whole clue to it. He cannot see the connection, the shout startles him, and he says, "Yes, Master."
           "See," said Nansen, "the goose is out!"
           Those seven layers of the bottle are crossed.
           "Yes, Master" -- in that moment Riko was pure consciousness, without any layer. In that moment,
           Riko was not the body. In that moment, Riko was not the mind. In that moment, Riko was just
           awareness. In that moment, Riko was not the memory of the past. In that moment, Riko was not the
           future, the desire. In that moment, he was not in any comparison with anybody. In that moment, he
           was not a Buddhist or a Mohammedan or a Hindu. In that moment, he was not a Japanese or an
           Indian.
               In that moment, when the Master shouted "Riko!" he was simply awareness, without any content,
           without any conditioning. In that moment, he was not young, old. In that moment, he was not
           beautiful, ugly. In that moment, he was not stupid, intelligent. All layers disappeared. In that
           moment, he was just a flame of awareness.
               That is the meaning when the Master says, "See, the goose is out -- and I have not broken the
           bottle, I have not even touched the bottle." The bottle means the ego, those seven layers. "I have not
           broken the bottle, it is there, and I have not killed the goose. And the goose is out."
               Now, there are three types of religions in the world. One which will destroy the bottle. Then you
           become very vulnerable, then you become very insecure, then great trembling arises in you, and then
           there is every possibility you may go mad. That sort of thing happens many times in India. There are
           methods which can destroy the bottle, easier methods. They destroy the bottle, and the goose is out;
           but then the goose has no house to abide in, no shelter; then there is every possibility the man may
           go mad. And many people in India, seeking, searching, working towards the unknown become mad.
           When the unknown comes into them, they have no protection.
               Remember, you need protection even against God because God can be too much too suddenly.
           Those protections have not to be destroyed; practically, they have to remain there. Just think of a
           person who has no ego. Now, the house is on fire: he will not run out. For what? "I am not. The fire
           cannot burn me, because I am not." Just think of a man who has no ego, and he is standing in the
           middle of the road, and there comes a bus and the driver honks and honks, and he does not bother.
           He is the immortal soul, he is not the ego. This state can be dangerous. It happens if you destroy the
           bottle.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Zen says don't destroy the bottle. Use it when it is needed. Whenever you feel to have protection,
           the goose simply goes inside the bottle. Sometimes one needs rest, and sometimes the bottle is also
           useful. It can be put to a thousand and one uses. The ego can be used if you know that you are not
           the ego. Then the ego cannot use you, you can use it.
               And there are methods which will save the bottle and kill the goose -- self-destructive methods
           are there -- so one becomes more and more unaware. That is what I mean when I say kill the goose:
           one becomes more and more unaware. Drugs can do that. Drugs have been used in India for
           thousands of years. They can kill the goose. The bottle remains protected, but the goose is killed. If
           you take some foreign chemicals inside your being and your nature is not ready to absorb them, by
           and by you will kill the goose, your consciousness will be gone, you may fall in a coma.
               The first possibility, if the bottle is broken and thrown; you may go mad. The second possibility,
           if the goose is killed, or almost killed: you will become so unconscious that you will become a
           zombie. You can find zombies. In many monasteries there are zombies, whose goose is killed, or at
           least drugged. And there are mad people, maniacs.
               Zen says avoid both. The bottle has to remain and the goose has to come out. This is a great
           synthesis.

              "YES, MASTER," SAID THE OFFICIAL WITH A START.
              "SEE, "SAID NANSEN, "THE GOOSE IS OUT!"


               It must have been a moment of great discovery to Riko. He must have seen it, "Yes, it is out." He
           is fully aware. The trick worked, the device worked, the shouting and clapping worked. In fact, Riko
           must have been almost on the verge; otherwise shouting would not do. You can go on shouting.
           Clapping won't do. But the man must have been just on the verge of it. Just a small push, and he has
           jumped the barrier.
               Meditate over it. This is the way to attain the first principle: to know that the goose can be out
           without destroying the bottle, that you can be God without destroying your humanity, that you can
           be God without destroying your ordinariness.
               A disciple of His Divine Grace Prabhupad came to see me. Prabhupad is the founder of the
           Krishna Consciousness movement. Naturally, to be respectful to me, he also called me His Divine
           Grace. I said, "Don't call me that; just call me'his Divine Ordinariness'."
               The ordinaly is the extraordinary. The ordinary has not to be destroyed. Once the ordinary is in
           the service of the extraordinary it is beautiful, it is tremendously beautiful.
               Let me repeat: the trivial is the profound, samsara is nirvana. Whatsoever you are, there is
           nothing wrong with it. Just something is missing. Nothing wrong with it! Something is simply
           missing. Just that missing link has to be provided, that plus, and everything that you have becomes
           divine.
               Love has not to be destroyed; only awareness has to be added to it. Relationship has not to be
           destroyed; only meditation has to be added to it. You need not go from the marketplace, you need
           not go to any cave and in the Himalayas; only God has to be called there in the marketplace.
               The bottle is beautiful, nothing is wrong in it. You just have to learn that you can come out of it
           whenever you want and you can go into it whenever you want, that it is your pleasure. It is almost
           like the house. When you feel too cool or cold in the house, freezing cold, you get out under the sky,
           under the sun, to warm yourself. Then it becomes too warm and you start perspiring; you go into the
           house. You are free. The same door takes you out, the same door takes you in, and the house is not
           the enemy.
               But if you cannot get out of the house, then something is wrong. There is no need to leave the
           house, there is no need to drop being a householder. There is only one thing needed: in the house
           become a sannyasin, in the world remain in such a way that the world is not in you.
               See, the goose is out. In fact, the goose has always been out, just a recognition is needed.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                                  The First Principle
                                                     Chapter #10
                                       Chapter title:All Going Is Going Astray
           20 April 1977 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7704200
              ShortTitle: PRINCI10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:    No
                 Length: 86 mins




               THERE ARE MOMENTS WHEN I FEEL NO HOPE, WITHOUT FEELING DESPERATE, WHEN
               THERE IS RECOGNITION THAT THE "I" HAS FOUGHT ENOUGH AND CANNOT HELP ANYMORE.
               YET UNDER THESE MOMENTARY COVERS LINGERS THE ONE AND ONLY LONGING: TO
               BECOME MY REAL NATURE, TO EXPERIENCE TRUTH AND TO LIVE IT IN THE WORLD. MY
               MIND PLEASES ITSELF TO CALL THIS LONGING AN AUTHENTIC, GENUINE THIRST.
               HOWEVER, THE SUSPICION IS THERE THAT IT IS JUST A WAY TO HIDE MY PLAIN GREED.


               THE QUESTION IS FROM GUNAKAR. Yes, Gunakar, it is a way to hide the greed. And not
           only that, it is a way to avoid the real. It is not a thirst for the real; it is a way to escape from the real.
           All greed, all desire, is an escape from the real. The desire is for that which is not. That which is
           already there; you need not be greedy about it, you need not desire it. Whether you desire or not does
           not make any difference. It is there. By desiring, you will miss, because you will create a cloud
           around yourself.
               This is how the mind goes on playing games. It can play the game in the name of reality too, in
           the name of God, in the name of enlightenment, nirvana.
               One thing has to be remembered always, that you are not to become real, you are real. That
           which you are is the reality. Gunakar has said: Only one longing lingers, to become my real nature.
           But then who are you? You are your real nature. What else can you be? How else can you be? There
           is no way to go away from your reality. There is no way to go against it. There is no way to be
           anything else other than it.
               But you can forget about it. You can start looking in some other direction. All that is possible is
           to be forgetful. You cannot lose contact with reality; you can only forget it. You can start looking in
           some other direction. You can put it at the back. You can avoid your eyes. You can pretend that you
           are not the real.
               The first thing: you are the real. Whatsoever you are is your reality. It has not to be attained; it is
           already there. It has happened. Nirvana is not somewhere in the future. Either it is now or never. To
           seek it is to miss it. If you want to find it, don't seek it. Just be herenow. And when I say just be
           herenow, don't make a desire out of it. Don't start asking how to be here and now. Don't start
           planning that "I have to work hard to be here and now." You have moved away; that "how" takes
           you away.
               You are your real nature. This is the great declaration of Zen. Other religions say you have to
           find God. Zen says you are. Other religions say long is the journey. Zen says there is no question of
           any journey whatsoever. You are already there! Maybe fast asleep, snoring, but you are there. The
           goal is where you are. You are the goal, you are the target.
               You want "to experience truth and to live it in the world". That's what you are already doing.
           Drinking tea you are living the truth. Talking to a friend you are living the truth. Going for a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           morning walk you are living the truth. Even being angry you are living the truth. How can it be
           otherwise?
                The ordinary is the extraordinary, and the trivial is the profound. The samsara is nirvana.
           It is just a question of remembering.
           "... to become my real nature, to experience truth and to live it in the world". That's what you are
           doing, Gunakar. Just the mind goes on playing a game. The mind says things can be better. The mind
           says life can be improved upon. The mind says there must be something more, you must be missing
           something -- seek, search, do something. This is greed, and the greed is so subtle that it can hide in
           millions of ways. It can even start trying not to be greedy. Now, listening to me, your mind will say,
           "Right. Now I am not to be greedy at all because it is greed that is destroying my life. So I have to
           get rid of greed." Again the greed has come, from the back door_

              "It was deep in the woods back yonder," began old Herman, the guide. "I was plodding along
           minding my own business when suddenly a huge bear sneaked up behind me. He pinned my arms to
           my sides and started to squeeze the breath out of me. My gun fell out of my hands. First thing you
           know, the bear had stooped down, picked up the gun, and was pressing it against my back."
           "What did you do?" gasped the tenderfoot.
           Old Herman sighed. "What could I do? I married his daughter."

                But the bear or the daughter, it makes no difference. It is the same.
                Just be aware of the ways of the greed. Don't try to get rid of it. Don't try to do anything. Just be
           aware of how greed takes a thousand and one forms. Watch it. There is no hurry.
                And you are not losing anything. You are living the truth. You cannot lose, in the very nature of
           things. We are all winners. Here nobody can be a loser. God has managed the world in such a way.
           That's why mystics say this i3 the most perfect world. God has managed it in such a way that
           everybody is a winner, nobody is a loser. Everybody is a victor, nobody is ever defeated. Even in
           your defeat there is victory, and even when you think you are lost you are not lost. It is all dream.
           The day you become awake you will find you have never been outside your home, you have always
           been there.
                The only thing is to become more and more alert. Just watch. You see greed arising in one way,
           watch it. Don't try to stop it; otherwise it will arise in another way. It may choose just the opposite so
           it can deceive you. Don't do anything to it; otherwise it will find another way. No need to fight with
           it. Just watch it, let it be there. Watch it. See it naked, through and through.
                Awareness functions like an X-ray. It sees things through and through, and in that very seeing
           there is freedom. If you have seen the greed totally, in that very seeing greed disappears. Not that
           you make it disappear. It disappears. In that vision it is not found. In that light that darkness is no
           more there. Suddenly you are free of greed.
                And when you are free of greed you know you have never left the home, you have always been
           there. You have never left God. Adam has never been expelled from the garden of Eden. He still
           lives there; he just dreams that he has been expelled. This is the Zen interpretation of the biblical
           story.
                I must have given you a thousand interpretations about the story. The story is so beautiful. Zen
           says Adam is still living in the garden of Eden. The snake has not tricked him into sin. The snake has
           only tricked him into a dream. And God has not expelled him. How can God expel you? And to
           where can he expel you? It is all his garden. Where will you be? Wherever you will be it will be his
           garden, so to where can he expel you? And how can God expel? Expelling Adam, God will be
           expelling himself, a part of himself. He will fall into parts. No, it is not possible.
                Then what has happened? Adam has fallen asleep. Eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge,
           Adam has fallen asleep and is dreaming that God is very angry. It is his own dream. It is his own
           idea. It is his own guilt. It is his own mind, that "I have broken the rule," that "I had promised, and I
           have broken my promise." Now he is trembling and feeling guilty, and in the sleep the guilt is
           creating a dream that God is very angry. He is projecting his guilt on God. His guilt is becoming
           God's anger, in his mind. Naturally God must be very angry, and he is expelling him, and he has
           expelled him. The gates are closed, and Adam is thrown into the world.
                But it is just a dream. The moment Adam becomes awake, he will laugh. He will have an
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           uproarious laugh. He will roll down on the ground. His belly will start bursting with the laughter
           because he will see the whole absurdity of it: he had never been out.
                Have you not dreamed dreams like this? In a dream you are being killed, and in that moment
           when you are being murdered, can you doubt it? It is so real. You shriek, you scream, and because of
           the shriek and the scream you become alert, you become aware. The dream is broken. Even after the
           dream your heart is beating louder, your breath is not in rhythm, your hands are shaking. You know
           now it was a dream, a nightmare, you are sitting in your bed and there is nobody, just your poor wife
           sleeping by your side -- no murderer -- the doors are closed, everything is silent, there has been
           nobody in the room, nobody was murdering you; but still you are trembling. The fear has been so
           deeply there, the idea of murder has penetrated so deeply in you, that even when you are awake, a
           little smoke of it continues to be there. But now you know you have never been out of the room and
           nobody is trying to murder you, there is nobody.
                This is what I say to you. You are still in the garden of Eden. God has not expelled you. You
           have fallen asleep.
                And the work of the Master is to bring you back. Back, not from anywhere, but only from sleep.
           Back to awareness.


              WHY DO YOU TALK ONLY TO YOUR DISCIPLES? WHY NOT TO THE MASSES?


               There is a beautiful Zen saying. Let that be the answer.
           "I sing my songs to him who understands them. I drink my wine with the friend who knows me
           well."


              IT ALL SOUNDS SO GREAT, AS PERFECT AS CAN BE ARTICULATED. BUT WHAT THE HELL DO
              YOU DO IN THE MEANTIME?


               You have missed. You have not understood what has been said to you. You have not heard.
           Again the greed has become a barrier. Listening to me you are listening through the greed.
               When you listen to me, if I am talking about enlightenment and the joy of it, you become greedy.
           You start thinking, "When am I going to become enlightened?" So you say it is great -- it all sounds
           great, "as perfect as can be articulated". Now, this greed creates a problem. You put whatsoever I am
           saying as a goal. Of course, the goal is far away. There is a distance between you and the goal, and
           the distance has to be traveled, so the second question arises: "What the hell do you do in the
           meantime?"
               But there is no meantime. I am not talking about the goal; I am talking about the way. And I am
           not saying anything about the future or afterlife; I am saying something about THIS moment, this
           very moment! This is it! You think in terms of tomorrow. I am talking about today.
               Jesus says to his disciples, "Look in the field. Look at the beautiful lilies. They don't think of the
           morrow, they toil not, they labor not. Look at these beautiful flowers. They are just herenow. Even
           Solomon attired in all his costly clothes was not so beautiful. Look at these lilies in the field."
               I am talking about THIS moment. What do you mean by "meantime"? There is no meantime.
           This is it! These birds, this cuckoo, these trees, you and me: this moment. This is the moment of
           nirvana.
               But you start thinking in terms of desire. You say, "It sounds great." In fact, a thing that could
           have released your celebration becomes a desire, and through desire you start feeling sad because the
           goal is far away.
               The cuckoo is singing right now. And the trees have flowered right now. It is all beautiful this
           moment. It will never be more beautiful. It has never been less beautiful. Each moment is perfect.
           But you start thinking about the tomorrow. Then the whole glory is there, somewhere away from
           you, and here you are a miserable creature, crying and weeping for the goal.
               You create the meantime. I am not talking about the meantime. I am not talking about time at all,
           so what to say about meantime? I am talking about the eternal moment, about eternity. You bring
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           time in. The mind always brings time in. Time is a mind faculty.
               The mind cannot be herenow. The mind says, "Right. Hoard this, whatsoever Osho is saying.
           Hoard it. Someday we are going to practice it, and one day we are going to attain to this
           Buddhahood. It sounds great." Then the misery, then the sadness. Then you will remain miserable
           your whole life. This Buddhahood will never happen, because you missed it in the first place.
               You have become so miserable that you cannot trust me that the celebration is possible right
           now. You say, "First one has to prepare. First one has to become this and that. First one has to
           meditate. First one has to become a great saint. First one has to become virtuous." This is something
           which from the very childhood has been deeply conditioned on your mind.
               The parents, the teachers, the schools, the universities, the priest, the politician, they all have
           been teaching you, "Get ready. Get ready; something is going to happen." And then you go on
           getting ready -- and one day you simply die, just getting ready. It never happens. When you were a
           child they were saying, "Wait, grow up, first be educated. Go to the university, come back home."
           Thrilled, you go to the university and you suffer all sorts of tortures there, in the hope that it is not
           going to last forever, in the hope that now you are getting ready. You don't know what for, what you
           are getting ready for.
               To listen to this cuckoo singing? To watch a bird on the wing? To see a full moon in the night?
           To hold a friend's hand? To love? For what? Because all this is available right now.
               You go to the university, you go through a thousand and one imprisonments; by the time you
           come back home you are destroyed. It is very rare; very fortunate people come back from the
           university without being destroyed by the education system.
               Then they come home. Then the father says, "Now find a job -- and get ready. Get married, and
           get ready. Then everything is going to be beautiful." And you read the novels and you go to the
           movie and you see the film, and once the marriage happens, the story says, "Ever afterwards they
           lived in happiness." Have you ever seen anybody living after marriage and happy? But these stories
           circulate, they condition the mind: Get ready.
               So one day you find a job. Another humiliation. One day you get married. Another distraction
           from the moment. And so on, so forth. Then you go on missing, it is not happening, so somebody
           says, "How can you have it unless you have a child?" Right. So get ready, have a child. And so on,
           so forth.
               Finally you recognize the fact that the whole life has been a wastage.
               I am not saying don't go to the university, and I am not saying don't get married, I am not saying
           don't get a job. Please, don't misunderstand me. What I am saying is: For happiness don't get ready, it
           is already here. Go to the university. Enjoy. Have a job, but enjoy it. It is not going to lead to
           happiness. Each moment is an end unto itself; it is not to be converted into a means towards
           something else. Love, and enjoy love. Don't think that you will be happy while you are married. Get
           married, and BE happy. Don't think that when you will have a child and you will become a mother or
           a father then you will be happy. Have you not seen your mother and your father? So what are you
           hoping for? And don't wait and don't go on postponing.
               The greatest calamity that has happened to humanity is postponement -- always postponing.
           There are people who are always looking at the timetable and thinking about where to go on the
           holidays, what trains to catch and what planes to go by, this place or that, to the Himalayas or to the
           Alps, to Kashmir or to Switzerland. And they are always preparing and preparing, and they never go.
           What will you say about these people? You will think they are mad. They have all the guidebooks
           and all the maps of the world and all the literature that government information services go on
           publishing. They have a whole library, and they go on looking into it and they go on preparing, but
           they always prepare and they never go. What will you think about them? Will you not call them
           neurotic?
               This is what the situation is with everybody. You always talk about God, you always talk about
           MOKSHA, nirvana, heaven, paradise, you always talk about it, but it is always tomorrow. So you
           have to prepare. "Meantime" you prepare.
               I am saying there is no meantime. God is available right now, just for the asking.
               Start enjoying. Don't ask how to dance! Start dancing. Can't you move your body? It may not be
           very graceful. So who bothers? It may not be a trained, disciplined thing. So who bothers? Start
           dancing. Don't go on consulting manuals about love. Start loving. Don't go on and on in the mind.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Start moving into existence, be existential. That is the message of Zen.


              OSHO, ARE YOU REALLY CRAZY?


              How can I be crazy? I have no mind out of which to go.


              AS SIN CAN BE DEFINED AS "MISSING THE MARK, " COULD ONE DEFINE ZEN AS "HITTING
              THE MARK "?


                The question is from Yoga Anando.
           No. Sin means missing the mark. Zen means there is no mark to miss. There is nothing, no target.
           There is no destiny. It is all beautiful purposelessness. It is all beautiful meaninglessness. It is a song.
           It has no meaning. It has a rhythm, but no meaning. It has tremendous beauty in it, but no logic. And
           it is not a syllogism; there is no conclusion. It is an unconcluded existence, and it remains always
           unconcluded.
                We are always in the middle. There has been no source, and there is no goal.
                Sin exactly means missing the mark. That's why Zen people don't talk about sin. Christians talk
           about sin, because they think God has to be achieved, heaven has to be achieved, there is some goal.
           If you miss that goal, that is what is called sin; sin means missing the goal. Zen people don't talk
           about sin. The word "sin" exists not for them, because there is no goal to miss. You are already at it!
           The arrow has reached, the arrow has always been there, not for a single moment has it been
           otherwise. Zen is so profound. It gives you utter freedom to be. It does not yoke you to some
           ideology and doesn't yoke you into some guilt.
                The moment you talk about sin, guilt arises. The moment you start thinking you are missing the
           mark, tension arises, anxiety arises, anguish arises: "So how not to miss?" Then there is great
           trembling, and then the fear you may go on missing. Who knows? -- for so long you have been
           missing. So who knows, you may go on missing. You may go astray.
                Christianity talks in terms of duality. You are separate from God, so you can miss him, you can
           move in a wrong direction, you can go astray. Zen is nondual. It says you are in God, you cannot go
           astray. See the beauty of it. See the great declaration. See the declaration of freedom -- utter
           freedom.
                Freedom from the goal is utter freedom because the goal keeps you tied together in a direction.
           Zen has no direction. When you have a direction to move in, you will have to choose where to go.
           And the fear will always remain, whether you are going in the right direction or not. Who knows? --
           even your leader may be wrong. The one who is leading you may himself be misguided or may be a
           cheat. Who knows? And if you come close to your priest and your leader, you will become more
           suspicious.
                Gurdjieff used to say that if you want to get rid of religion, live near the priests. Then you will
           get rid of religion because you will see they are trembling as much as you are trembling. Their public
           faces are different, their private faces are different. Live close to a priest, and you will be surprised.
           He is as much in the dark as anybody else. He just pretends. He is as blind as anybody else, but he
           goes to the masses and pretends to the blind people that "I have eyes."
                And all religions depend on priests. Why don't the priests say the truth? They cannot, because
           their whole trade depends on one secret, that they have to go on pretending that they have eyes. That
           pretension is very basic to the trade of the priest.
                And one priest may fight against another priest -- the Hindu priest may say something against
           Christianity and the Christian priest may say something about Hinduism -- but they never say
           anything against priesthood. Never.

              I have heard a beautiful anecdote. Meditate over it.

              The little island in the South Pacific was in an uproar when the American missionary visited the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           chief of the tribe. "What is the commotion?" demanded the missionary.
           "There is a white baby born in the village," replied the savage, "and you know we don't like no man
           messing around with our women. Since you is the only white man on the island they is fixing to fry
           you alive."
               The missionary was in a state of nervous collapse when he spied a flock of sheep on the hillside
           behind the village. Turning to the chief he cried, "Look there on the hillside, chief, you see that flock
           of white sheep?"
           "I sure do," replied the chief.
           "Well," said the missionary. "Do you see the black sheep in the middle of the flock?"
           "I see it," responded the chief.
           "There is no other black sheep and there never has been, has there?"
           "Well?"
           "Well."
               The chief beckoned the missionary aside and whispered in his ear, "You not tell, me not tell."

                This is how it goes on. They have to protect each other. They may fight about dogmas, they may
           fight about principles, philosophies, that is all okay. But they never say anything against the
           priesthood. The Shankaracharya of Puri will be as much in favour of the priesthood as the Vatican
           Pope. There will be no problem about that, no conflict about that. If priesthood is at stake, they will
           all fight for it.
                When Buddha declared these ultimate truths in India, there were many religions in India. They
           all went against him. Not only Hindus, Jainas were against him. Not only Jainas, Ajeevekas were
           against him. And so many others. Why? Whenever a real man is there, all priests will be against him
           because the real man will bring the message to you that you are being led by blind people: they don't
           know; you don't know. The blind are leading the blind.
                Zen says there is no need to be led by anybody, because there is nowhere to go. This is Cutting
           the very root of priesthood. Look at it. This is destroying priesthood totally. Zen does not say that
           one priest is right and another is wrong. If it is said that way, then priesthood is still protected. Zen
           says there is nowhere to go.
                A man came to Nansen and asked, "What do you say? Is Zen the right way to achieve God?"
           Nansen said, "Zen is not a way at all, it is not a path, because a path leads somewhere. We don't lead.
           A path reaches somewhere. We don't lead you anywhere. We simply throw you to where you are.
           We simply throw you back to yourself."
                If it is a path, then leaders will be there. If something has to be done, then you will find people
           mediating between you and God, between you and reality. Nothing has to be done, so nobody has to
           show and guide you. You alone are enough.
                Zen is not "hitting the mark". Zen is knowing that there is no mark and nowhere to hit, that you
           are the target, and the arrow has always been in the target.
                You must have heard the great Tibetan mantra "AUM MANE PADME HUM. " It has many
           meanings. One meaning is "Look! The arrow is already in the target." AUM is just a shout, so that
           you can look; it is almost "See!" "Look!" -- "Aum! mane padme hum." Literally it means "jewel in
           the lotus""mane padme hum". Jewel in the lotus. Literally it means "Look! The jewel is already in
           the lotus." Metaphorically it means "Look! The arrow has already reached the target."
                You are at home already, so it is not "hitting the mark," because "hitting the mark" will again be
           the same thing. Then you will ask, "How to hit it?" Then one has to learn archery, then one has to go
           through discipline, and then the whole priesthood comes in from the back door.
           I have heard:

               One summer's day when a man in a rowing boat caught a cramp and fell into the water -- it was
           an ornamental lake -- arms and legs wildly flailing, he screamed, "Help, Help! I can't swim!" Finally
           a bystander shouted back, "Stand up, you bloody fool!" The drowning man did so -- and found that
           the water just came up to his waist.

              But he was thinking he was drowning. The water just came up to his waist.
           You are not drowning. Just stand up!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have heard another story. A traveler lost his track one night in the hills. It was a dark night, and
           he was very much afraid. The hills were very tricky and dangerous and the track was very narrow,
           and he was afraid he could miss a step and could disappear forever in the valley. He could fall into
           any abyss; they were all around. So he was just creeping on his hands. Still he fell, he slipped. He
           caught hold in time of the roots of a tree. Now, he was very much afraid. He tried hard somehow to
           get out of that hole he was hanging in, but he could not. And it was getting colder and colder and his
           hands started becoming frozen, and now he was certain that it was a question of minutes. Once the
           hands are too cold, he would not be able to hold onto the roots, and he would die. That became
           certain. Now there was no way to escape.
                He started crying and weeping, and he started praying, and he had never been a theist, but in such
           moments nobody bothers about principles. He started saying to God, "Save me," this and that, and "I
           will not do this sin or that sin, and I will be straight now; I will not drink and I will not smoke," and
           all sorts of things he was promising. But no help came, and by and by his hands started slipping, and
           a moment came when he thought, "Now it is finished." And he fell.
                And to his surprise, he was standing on his feet. There was no abyss there; it was just plain
           ground. For hours he was hanging between life and death.
                Once you stop planning, you will suddenly be on plain ground. Once you stop thinking about the
           target and how to hit it, you will be at home. Zen says drop all ways, because all ways lead astray,
           because to God there is no need of any way. He is there in your heart. It is he who is listening to me,
           it is he who is talking to you. It is he who is breathing in you, it is he who is beating in your heart.
           God is not far away. God is not even outside. God is the innermost core of you.
                So drop this sin-oriented idea of hitting or missing. Both are in the same category; both will
           create anxiety.
                My whole effort here is to make you free of anxiety, free of guilt. Free of guilt, free of anxiety,
           you are a saint, because you are innocent then, you are a child again. You are born again.


              YOU CONFUSED ME VERY MUCH BY SAYING THAT THE SAMSARA IS THE NIRVANA. NOW,
              FROM WHERE TO BEGIN?


               There is no need to begin. I am not sending you on a journey. Not even the first step is needed.
           Take the step, and you have moved in the wrong direction. It is not that any direction is wrong; all
           directions are wrong. Movement is wrong. It is not that a few people go astray and a few don't, no.
           All going iS going astray.
           Let this sink in your heart as deeply as possible.
               When I say the world is samsara, I mean don't divide into the profane and the profound. Live the
           profound in a profound way, live the profane in a profound way. Don't divide into the material and
           the spiritual. Live the material in a spiritual way; bring the quality of the spirit to matter.
               What do I mean when I say live in the ordinary world? I mean live the profane life in a new way,
           with a new being, with a new style, with a new flavor, the flavor of meditation.
           I am not telling you to go away anywhere.
               I am for God, but I am not against anything. And God, my God, is so vast, he includes all.
               Yes, you can sip your tea in such a meditative way that it becomes prayer. Try it. You can love
           your woman in such a meditative way that love becomes ecstasy, that when you are lost with your
           woman or with your man, suddenly you are lost in God. Those moments become of tremendous
           value. Those moments become the first glimpses of divinity.
               Start living your ordinary life in an extraordinary way. What is the extraordinary way? To bring
           awareness. Whatsoever you do, let it be soaked in awareness, let it be showered with awareness.


              WHAT IS MATURITY? HOW CAN I BE MATURE?


              You will have to understand first what immaturity is. That will give you the idea of what
           maturity is. Immaturity has a few ingredients in it. One, immaturity is a sort of dependence. A child
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           depends on the parents; he is immature. If you are still depending, you are immature. You may
           depend on God or you may depend on me, but it is immaturity. You are still seeking your parents.
           Maybe your parents are gone and lost; now you are projecting your parents.
               There are many people who come to me and I can see immediately in their eyes they are
           searching for their father. It is not accidental that the pope is called the pope. "Pope" means "papa".
           People are looking for a divine daddy, continuously. This is immaturity.
               When are you going to stand on your own feet? How long are you going to remain a dependent
           on the mother, on the father, on this and that?
               These dependent people are very dangerous people because they can be exploited easily.
           Anybody who pretends to be their father, they will become victims to him. They will follow Adolf
           Hitler; the fuhrer will become their father. The Germans used to call their country the "fatherland,"
           others call their countries the "motherland," but it is all the same nonsense. We go on projecting. The
           country becomes the mother, the country becomes the father, or God the Father, or Kali the Mother.
           You go on projecting.
               You want to remain a child; you don't want to grow. Growth is responsibility, and you don't want
           to take any responsibility.
               People come to me and they say, "Osho, we surrender to you. Now you are responsible." How
           can I be responsible for you? Surrender can only mean that you have come to me to learn
           responsibility. Now you want to avoid responsibility. Surrendering to me can only be a way, a
           means, to learn to be responsible. But if you want surrender as a substitute for responsibility, your
           surrender is wrong, ill. It is not healthy, it is dangerous. And then you will start getting angry at me.
           If nothing is happening you will get angry. Because nothing is happening, you will think I am not
           doing anything.
               Only you can do something. I can indicate, but the real thing is going to happen within you.
           Nobody else can do it. If I can do it, then I can undo it also. That will not be much of a gain. If
           Buddha can deliver you from your ignorance, then one day if he gets angry with you he will release
           all your ignorance again, back to you. That will not be of much use. Freedom is possible only when
           you learn responsibility, when you start standing on your own feet.
               Of course, one feels very helpless. So what? It is how life is. That helplessness is not bad. It
           teaches you that ego is wrong, that you have to be humble, helpless. And yet there is no other way to
           stand: you can stand only on your own feet. Nobody can take you on his shoulders to God. You will
           have to enter into divinity on your own.
               So maturity has to be understood through understanding immaturity. First thing: we are taught to
           be dependent on the parents, on the leaders, on the priests. Nobody wants you to be free, because
           people are afraid, the society is afraid, of free people. Free people will be rebellious. Free people will
           start doing THEIR thing, and the society is very much afraid of such people. The society wants you
           to do things that the society wants. The society wants you to follow a certain pattern. The society has
           its own goals; they have to be fulfilled. The society does not want you to become a Buddha or a
           Christ, because they have always been dangerous people. The society wants just zombies. And an
           immature person can easily become a zombie because he is an imitator.
               Have you watched small children imitating, and by imitation they think they are becoming
           grown-ups? Small children start smoking. Not that they feel very good about smoking, not that it is
           great or anything. When a child starts smoking he cannot even believe why people smoke, because
           his eyes start getting red, his throat feels irritated, and he starts coughing, tears come down his
           cheeks. It is really painful, but he will tolerate the pain because the cigarette gives a certain feeling
           that he is a grown-up. Only grown-ups are allowed to smoke, so the smoking becomes a symbol of
           grown-upness.
           I have heard:

              A man walking down the street noticed a small boy about ten years old sitting on the front
           doorstep of a house, smoking a cigarette. "Aren't you a little young to be smoking?" he asked.
           "Of course I ain't," replied the lad. "I got a girlfriend and all."
           "A girlfriend!" said the man.
           "Yeah, Picked her up last night, I did. Smashing it was."
           "Good Lord! How old was she?"
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I dunno. I was too drunk to ask her."

               There are symbols of grown-upness. You need to have a girlfriend, you have to smoke, you have
           to drink, and even small children start learning these tricks. And then they never grow up, They only
           imitate, They imitate other, false grownups. And their children will imitate them, and so on it goes.
               This world is a world of imitators, monkeys all. And it does not make much difference -- you can
           be a chairman of the board of monkeys, that doesn't make much difference; or you can be a president
           of a monkey country, that doesn't make any difference -- all the same you remain the monkey.
           Maybe you are more monkeyish than others.
               A grown-up person is one who does not imitate, who starts feeling his own way, who starts being
           in his own way, who starts looking into his nature: "Who am I? And what REALLY do I feel?"
               One woman came home, driving, she got out of her car, and fell down flat on the ground. The
           husband rushed, asked, "What is the matter? What happened? Why did you faint?"
           She said, "It was too hot."
               The husband looked at the car and he said, "But why didn't you open the windows?"
               She said, "What! Open the windows, and let the neighbours know that our car is not air
           conditioned?"
               One can die but cannot allow the neighbours to know that the car is not air conditioned. She had
           to keep the windows closed. She was fainting, but that is okay, but to keep the windows open hurts
           much more.
               Listen to your being. It is continuously giving you hints; it is a still, small voice. It does not shout
           at you, that is true. And if you are a little silent you will start feeling your way. Be the person you
           are. Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the responsibility of
           being oneself, whatsoever the cost. Risking all to be oneself, that's what maturity is all about.
               If you imitate you will again and again fall into a ditch because whatsoever you imitate never fits
           reality. Reality is continuously changing, it is a flux, nothing is ever the same. It is a river; it goes on
           flowing.
               If you imitate your father.... Just see, your father lived many years before. Your father was a
           child maybe thirty years before or forty years before. He learned things in a different world. For
           example, your father, when he was a child, was not sitting five hours glued to the chair before the
           TV. Now, you don't know how much the TV has done to the small children. The father does not
           know. His childhood was not at all influenced by the TV. Five hours sitting before a TV is no
           ordinary phenomenon.
               In fact, before TV happened, down the centuries, people had never looked into a source of light
           for five hours continuously. Now the scientists say that the whole nervous system changes because
           of those five hours of looking directly into the source of light. The TV goes on throwing strong rays
           on your eyes. It has never happened before. Five hours is too much. Scientists may if you sit near a
           color TV, four feet away, you will get cancer, you will suffer from many diseases which your parents
           had not known, ever. The eyes are eighty percent of your life. Five hours of just strong light rays
           reaching into your head -- your sleep will be disturbed. If America suffers from insomnia, it is
           natural. The TV is one of the basic causes.
               Ordinarily man has lived with light, natural light. In a primitive society, the sun rises, people
           rise, and the sun sets and people set, people go to sleep. A natural rhythm with light. Now we are
           living too much with the light; the eyes are not made for that much light. The inner nervous system is
           disturbed; it becomes too loaded.
               And a thousand and one things will happen. In America a new phenomenon is happening. Many
           places it has happened, and people have become really worried about it, what to do? In one place a
           woman was murdered, and twenty persons were standing there, almost paralyzed, not doing
           anything. A psychological investigation was done. What is the matter? Twenty young, healthy
           people standing there, and a woman was killed just in front of them and they didn't do anything --
           they didn't even shout, they didn't call the police. What happened? And you will be surprised. The
           finding is that it is because these twenty people have lived on TV for too long.
               On the TV screen murder happens so many times. What do you do? You don't do anything; you
           remain glued to your chair. They have become accustomed to it. It was another TV scene. They have
           lost track of reality. The TV has become more real. For five hours you are not with anything else --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and a continuous bombardment of light, and strong light, and things are moving in your head. You
           become a watcher. They were standing there juSt glued to their spots, paralyzed -- just watching.
           They could not do anything, because they are no more doers.
               Now, your father, who had a different kind of childhood, will not be able to understand it. You
           are living in a different world, in a world which is more of TV watchers than of participants.
           Whatsoever he says will not be fit for your world; hence the generation gap. The father speaks a
           different language, you speak a different language. You live in a different world, he lived in a
           different world. Now, those two worlds never coincide.
               If you are an imitator you will always be taking false moves. You have to learn to live in YOUR
           world; you have to respond to the reality that surrounds you. Things have changed dramatically.
           They have always been changing, but the change has been too fast in this century. And it will be
           faster and faster.
               You have to become aware of the situation and respond accordingly.

               An experienced plumber was giving instructions to his apprentice.
           "Working in other people's homes," he said, "can sometimes lead to embarrassing situations, but you
           can always get out of them by using tact. For example, the other day, I walked into a bathroom and
           found a lady taking a bath. I backed out saying,'Excuse me, sir.' In that way, the lady thought I had
           not gotten a good look at her and it was all right."
               The following afternoon, the apprentice staggered into the office in a beat-up condition.
           "What happened to you?" asked the boss.
           "You and your tact," cried the apprentice. "I went to the bridal suite of the Etter Plaza Hotel to fix a
           faucet. I was half-way through the bedroom before I realized there was a couple making love in the
           bed. The husband cussed at me, but I remember what you had said, so I tipped my hat and
           said,'Excuse me, gentlemen!"'
               If you simply follow and you don't understand, you are immature. Never follow. Try to
           understand. Let understanding be your basic law of life. Let things come out of your understanding,
           not out of your memory.
               The immature person functions through memory. Whenever there is a situation he looks into his
           memory, into his past, and finds a clue. The mature person looks into the situation, puts his past
           aside, because the past is irrelevant. He brings his total attention to the present situation and
           functions out of that totality. His action is in the present. The immature person is always living
           through his past; the immature person is always turning his future into his past. He is repetitive, he is
           parrotlike, he is a shadow, a reflection. He is not real.

                When a party of tourists climbed to the top of a famous echoing mountain, they saw an old man,
           sitting on a rock, an enormous telescope in his hands. Every few moments he let out a series of
           shouts.
                The puzzled tourists watched him for some time. Then one of them went up to the old man and
           asked, "Why do you keep looking through that thing and then calling out as if you were in pain?"
                The old man-answered impatiently, "Don't talk to me. You will distract my attention and I will
           lose my job. I am the echo for this hill."

               Many people have become just echoes. Watch yourself when something happens and you react.
           Are you reacting the same way as your father used to react in such a situation? Are you saying the
           same thing as your mother would have said if she were in this situation? Are your gestures the same
           as your teacher's in the school you loved so much? Just watch -- your gestures, your words, your
           actions -- and you will be surprised. Ninety-nine percent they are just echoes, they are not true.
           How can you be fulfilled with such echoes?
               Your father is living through you, not you. Your parents are living through you, not you. Your
           parents' parents are living through you, not you. The whole of humanity and its past is living through
           you, but not you. This is immaturity.
               Maturity means you discontinue with your past. With one stroke of the sword you become
           discontinuous with your past and your heritage and the tradition, and you start living independently.
           The gesture is yours; then it is meaningful, then it is full of significance, then it is not an empty
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gesture. The words are yours, not borrowed, not somebody else's; then your life becomes more and
           more authentic and real.
               To live in immaturity is to live in a kind of dream. It is a shadow world. Your eyes are so full of
           fog, you don't have clarity.

           A frustrated young man went to see his doctor.
           "Doc," he explained, "every night I have the strangest dreams. Beautiful blondes, brunettes, and
           redheads appear, and one by one they try to kiss me and put their arms around me."
           "So?" answered the doctor.
           "So nothing, Doc. I keep pushing them away -- every one of them."
           "What would you like me to do?"
           "Doc, please," pleaded the patient, "break my arms."

                People are living in their dreams. They are ready to break their real arms for their unreal dreams.
                Watch! You will find many times the same happening in your life. You are ready to kill your
           reality for some unreal ideal, some utopia, some ideology, some scripture. Somebody insults the
           Bible. Are you ready to fight? Then you are a fool. Somebody says something against Ram, and you
           are Hindu and you are ready to be killed or kill. Then you are a fool. Then you are living in shadows
           and you have become too attached to shadows.
                In fact, a really alert man will not feel offended even if somebody insults him personally. Even if
           somebody says something against his name, he will not feel offended, because he will know, "I am
           not my name. The name is just an appendage, a label -- useful, but not real, just a make-believe. Any
           other name would be the same." He will not feel offended.
                A really alert man, even if you hit his body, will not feel offended, because he will know he is
           not the body. He will know he is not his mind. He will know that he is something transcendental, and
           he will remain in that transcendentalness. In that transcendence is his being.
                Then life will have a totally new quality and it will become a new experience. That experience is
           divine. Maturity is the door to divinity. Immature, you remain asleep. Mature, you become awake.
                The question is from Prem Anam. He has many things which are immature in him. His question
           is relevant, relevant to his being, and it is good that he has asked.
                Now, Anam, watch, become more careful. Drop your childishness more and more.
                I say again and again, I quote again and again, Jesus' saying that "Unless you are like a child, you
           will not enter into my kingdom of God." But remember, he does not mean childishness. Childishness
           is just the opposite of being LIKE a child. A childish person is never like a child. He pretends to be a
           grown-up; he is a pretender. A childlike person is one who has become so mature, so alive, so aware,
           that he drops all pretensions. He is nude and naked, he is true, he is innocent.
                Drop childishness, and become a child; and you will be mature. And you will be ready, ready to
           take the jump into yourself.


              I SEEM TO BE MORE INTERESTED IN HELPING OTHERS REACH ENLIGHTENMENT THAN
              REACHING IT MYSELF; HAVING GRASPED IT INTELLECTUALLY. I LOSE NO OPPORTUNITY OF
              TALKING ABOUT IT. THE EASE, THE JOY, THE PEACE, AND THE ENERGY THAT I FEEL MAKE
              ME BELIEVE THAT I AM ON THE RIGHT TRACK. BUT AM I? OR SHOULD I BETTER BE SILENT
              TILL...?


               The question is from Ajit Saraswati.
           For Ajit Saraswati it is perfectly right. He can continue. But remember, I am saying so only to him,
           not to anybody else. It is a very personal question.
               He has nothing of the ego. He can go on. In fact, this too is part of his humbleness, that he has
           asked.
               It is good to help others, because there is nobody really who is other. Helping others, you are
           helping yourself because we are parts of each other, members of one another. We are joined
           together. If I help you to be happy, I become happy. If I help you to be miserable, I become
           miserable. Our life is together here; it is a togetherness; we are not separate. On the periphery we
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           may be separate; at the center we are one.
               Nothing to be worried about. If you have the feeling that you enjoy sharing whatsoever you have
           understood, howsoever little it is, if you have the feeling that you enjoy, you feel blissful, you feel
           joyful -- and no ego arises out of it.... Let that be the criterion: if ego arises out of it, then you are not
           helping others, and you are destroying yourself meanwhile. If no ego arises -- you simply feel
           peaceful and silent and happy that you shared something with somebody, a grace descends on you --
           then you are perfectly right. Then go on the housetops and shout. When you have, share it.
               And there is no need to wait, that when you have the whole of it, then you will share it. Then you
           will not have the whole, ever. Share it, and you will get more. Give it, and you will get more.
               But remember only one thing: the ego should not enter in. The moment you see ego arising, the
           moment you see you are feeling great, superior to others, holier than others, then something is going
           wrong. Then it is better to wait. You are not to wait for the whole of God to happen to you, but you
           are to wait for the whole of the ego to go.
               With Ajit Saraswati, it is already the case. The ego is not there. Slowly, slowly that rock has
           disappeared. I have been falling on him like a waterfall. Yes, the ego was there one day. And the
           water is very soft, so the rock never feels worried, but the water goes on falling, goes on falling, goes
           on falling, and by and by, unaware what is happening, the rock slowly, slowly disappears, becomes
           sand, and is taken far away.
               The rock was there, but is is no there. So enjoy it, delight in it, rejoice, share.


               OSHO, CAN YOU GIVE ME TWO VERY FUNDAMENTAL RULES FOR THE SEEKERS?


               Here are two ancient rules, very ancient:
           First, that you must be like a man who has been bitten by a snake and knows he has not a moment to
           lose.
           And second, that you must be like a man who has awakened to find that his horse has been stolen
           and it is too late to lock the door and there is no hurry.


               OSHO, WHAT IS THE FIRST PRINCIPLE?


               If I were to tell you, it would become the second principle.




                          The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                     Talks on Kabir
                                      Talks given from 11/04/79 am to 25/04/79 am
                                                English Discourse series
                                                      15 Chapters
                                                  Year published: 1980




                                     The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                   Chapter #1
                                              Chapter title: But Man Is
           11 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904110
              ShortTitle: FISH01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 106 mins




              I LAUGH WHEN I HEAR THAT THE FISH IN THE WATER
              IS THIRSTY.



              YOU DON'T GRASP THE FACT THAT WHAT IS MOST
              ALIVE OF ALL IS INSIDE YOUR OWN HOUSE;
              AND SO YOU WALK FROM ONE HOLY CITY TO THE NEXT
              WITH A CONFUSED LOOK!



              KABIR WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH: GO WHEREVER YOU
              LIKE, TO CALCUTTA OR TIBET;
              IF YOU CAN'T FIND WHERE YOUR SOUL IS HIDDEN,
              FOR YOU THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE REAL!



              I DON'T KNOW WHAT SORT OF A GOD WE HAVE BEEN
              TALKING ABOUT.



              THE CALLER CALLS IN A LOUD VOICE TO THE HOLY ONE
              AT DUSK.
              WHY? SURELY THE HOLY ONE IS NOT DEAF.
              HE HEARS THE DELICATE ANKLETS THAT RING ON THE
              FEET OF AN INSECT AS IT WALKS.



              GO OVER AND OVER YOUR BEADS, PAINT WEIRD DESIGNS
              ON YOUR FOREHEAD,
              WEAR YOUR HAIR MATTED, LONG, AND OSTENTATIOUS,
              BUT WHEN DEEP INSIDE YOU THERE IS A LOADED GUN,
              HOW CAN YOU HAVE GOD?


               The fish in the sea is not thirsty -- but man is. Man lives in God, and is absolutely unaware of it.
           Man is born in God, breathes in God, and one day will dissolve in God. MAN IS GOD, made of the
           stuff called God, and yet completely oblivious of the fact.
               The fish is not thirsty in the sea, but man is. God is the sea -- God surrounds you, within and
           without. All that is is divine. God is not a person: God is the presence that is overflowing
           everywhere in all directions. The radiance, the beauty of existence, the splendour, the majestic, the
           miraculous, the mysterious -- the whole magic of life is God.
               God has not to be worshipped: God has to be lived. And to live God you need not go anywhere --
           you are already in him. To live God you need not cultivate any character. God is already the case. He
           is your consciousness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                To live God you need not become a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian -- you are already in
           it, he is already in you. It is not a question of the future. THIS very moment God is showering on
           you. But you are closed. He comes, but you don't receive him. He knocks on your doors, but you
           don't listen to him. And he has been knocking for ages.
                The old biblical story is: when Adam disobeyed God, he was frightened, obviously. God came in
           search of him. Afraid, he went behind a bush just to hide from God. he was not courageous enough
           to face him, to encounter him. And the story says God called in the Garden of Eden, "Adam, where
           are you?"
           Adam heard it, yet did not respond.
                This is not just a story, this is not something that happened in the past: this is what is happening
           with EACH of you. God calls you -- either you don't hear, or, even if sometimes you hear, you don't
           respond. You are hiding! You are hiding from the truth of your own being; you are hiding from
           yourself. You don't want to see your original face: God IS your original face. and unless you see
           your original face, you will live in misery.
                Misery is nothing but remaining ignorant of one's own being. To be alert, to be conscious, of all
           that has been given to you, to be conscious of all that has been bestowed upon you, to be conscious
           of the treasures that are hidden in your being, is to be blissful.
                Man is very strange, the strangest animal on the earth. no other animal lives in such anguish --
           even trees are far more blissful, even rocks have more of the heart than man. They are in tune with
           God, or in tune with totality. man has lost the connection. Man has broken the bridge.
                Why has it happened? It has to be understood. And it has happened to almost all. Only once in a
           while does there happen a person who reconnects himself with God -- a Jesus, a Buddha, a Kabir --
           but only once in a while. and these people are so few that they cannot be believed.
                People go on talking about Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira, Zarathustra, Mohammed, but deep down
           they doubt their very existence. They HAVE to doubt! Nothing like that has happened to you. You
           have not tasted any of the nectar that they talk about. your life is just bitter, your life is nauseous,
           your life is sick -- and they talk of wholeness and of health, and of great bliss and of eternal peace...
           and you know nothing of these things!
                Your only experience is that of a very poisoned life, a very poisoned spirit. Your experience is so
           much opposed to what these few people say -- how can you believe in them? And you are the
           majority. Millions and millions will support your experience that life is hell.
                And Krishna sings songs celestial on his flute, songs of the beyond. And Kabir sings songs
           unbelievable! You may listen out of courtesy; you may not say anything out of formality; or maybe
           just the presence of a Jesus, of a Kabir, of a Bayazid, is so enchanting, so charming, it has such a
           charisma that it overpowers you, that you become dumb, that you cannot say no. But your not saying
           no does not mean that you are saying yes. They are two totally different things.
                Not to say no is one thing, and to say yes is a totally different phenomenon. Not to say no is not
           going to change you. The no will remain in you -- silent, unspoken. The no will surround your being
           like a transparent capsule. You may not be able to see it, you may be able to see through it, but it will
           not allow you to meet and merge with existence -- unless your are capable of saying YES! That
           single word, 'yes', contains all the religions; all the Vedas and the Bibles and the Korans are
           contained in the single word 'yes'.
                That is the meaning of the word Christians, Jews and Mohammedans have been using to
           complete their prayers -- AMEN. AMEN means, "yes, God, yes -- I say to total yes to you."
                You may not argue with Kabir -- it is difficult to argue with a man like Kabir. His presence has
           such weight; his eyes, his fragrance, are hypnotic. Even in you want to argue you would not like to
           argue. But the argument remains. And once Kabir is gone, Jesus is gone, the argument surfaces, the
           no comes to the surface, and the formal silence is found to be impotent.
                People go to the churches and to the temples and to the mosques, and it is all formality. It is
           nothing but Sunday religion. It is a social phenomenon; they are not individually committed, they are
           not involved. They are not going to the church or the temple to be transformed. It has a social utility;
           it is a kind of club -- you can call it a religious club, where people can meet and gossip and talk. It is
           a meeting-place, but not a meeting-place between you and God. That's what it is supposed to be, but
           it is not.
                You go to the temple empty-handed, you come back from the temple empty-handed. Nothing has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been happening there. It cannot happen this way. God needs commitment, involvement; God asks for
           your totality, your surrender, your yes.
                And when you say yes, with no strings attached to it, with no conditions, when the yes is
           unconditional, and has not been said out of coercion but has welled up spontaneously within you, it
           has a tremendous beauty to it, and tremendous power too. Its very fire transforms you from the base
           metal into gold, from an ordinary human being into an extraordinary divine existence.
                But, remember, your yes should not come out of any sort of coercion, physical or psychological.
           Somebody is a Christian because he has been coerced from his very childhood to be a Christian, and
           somebody is a Jew because he has been coerced from the very beginning to be a Jew. A great
           psychological conditioning is going on. Children are being exploited; children are being forced to be
           Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists. The parents are not even aware of what they are doing to their children:
           they are preventing their children from ever becoming religious. Yes, that's what they are doing to
           their children. In the name of religion they are poisoning their innocent souls. They think, they may
           even believe, that they are helping their children towards God. The truth is just the contrary: they are
           creating great barriers.
                Once a man has said yes under coercion, once a man has yielded because he was forced to yield,
           you have destroyed his capacity to say yes spontaneously for ever. He will say yes only when he is
           coerced.
                Children are helpless. They depend on you, they cannot survive without you -- you can exploit
           their vulnerability, you can exploit their helplessness. And that's what has been done on the earth for
           centuries and centuries. Hence, so much talk of God, and you cannot see God anywhere; so much
           talk of religion, so much of theology, but nothing of the existential.
                Everybody is religious in a way -- somebody is Hindu, somebody is Mohammedan, somebody is
           Christian -- and nobody is religious in reality. We have created a fiction of being religious, and the
           fiction is so cheap, is so easily available, who is going then on the adventure to seek and search for
           God? That is arduous. One has to risk -- one has to risk one's ego, and that is the MOST arduous
           thing in life.

               UNLESS ONE IS READY TO DISSOLVE ONE'S EGO, the fish is going to remain thirsty.
           Dissolve the ego and all thirst disappears, because the moment you dissolve the ego, the wall
           between you and the ocean disappears; then you are part of the ocean. How can you be thirsty then?
               And man is certainly thirsty! hungry, in deep anguish. Man lives a very phony life, inauthentic.
           He only pretends to live; he does not really live. He goes through all the empty gestures of living, but
           look at people, look at yourself, look at others -- you will not see the dance. People are dragging; life
           seems to be a burden, a great burden, somehow to be tolerated. Life is not a celebration, and that's
           what it should be.
               Your steps don't have the quality of dance. Your heart is not throbbing with ecstasy. You are not
           pulsating and vibrating with joy, with love. You are not overflowing with energy.What kind of life is
           this? Just going round and round in circles, dead, dull, stupid routines. Just hoping that tomorrow
           something will happen... and the tomorrow never comes, and nothing ever happens. Waiting for
           Godot, and Godot never comes. You go on waiting and waiting and waiting and all that ever comes
           is death.
               But life is so miserable that even death feels like a relief. Life is so empty that it is very rare to
           find a human being who has not contemplated, some time or other, committing suicide. Life is so
           empty that we go on keeping ourselves occupied -- with any rubbish, just to remain occupied so that
           we don't see the emptiness, so we don't see the inner vacuum, the inner darkness.
               Just watch and you will see that man is living in great anguish, anxiety. Man is already in hell.
           When somebody asks me, "Osho, do you believe there is a hell?" I always say, "There is no question
           of believing -- you are living in it." Hell cannot be doubted; heaven can be doubted but not hell. Hell
           is such a day-to-day reality! But why? -- why should it be so? Why did it happen in the first place?
           We will have to understand something special about human beings.
               Man is the only animal on the earth, in fact in the whole of existence, who is dual. Other animals
           are not dual: they are what they are, hence there is no problem. A tiger is a tiger, and a peacock is a
           peacock, and a dog is a dog. With man there is something special. That is the glory of man, if we
           understand it. If we don't understand it, this becomes the agony.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Man is not what he is: he can be more. Man is not finished: man is a growth. Man is the only
           growing being in existence, the only evolving being in existence. Man is a potential and much has to
           become actual in him. And unless you start transforming your potential into the actual, your life will
           remain empty. The seed is empty. If the seed remains a seed it will remain in anguish; it will not feel
           the joy of fulfillment, the contentment that comes when the seed has become the tree and the tree has
           bloomed.
               Man is a seed -- the seed of God. When man blooms, God becomes manifest. That's why we have
           called Buddha 'Bhagwan'; Mahavira, Krishna, 'Bhagwan'. It simply means that their seed is no more
           a seed; the seed has disappeared in the soil of existence, and they have come to their ultimate
           blossoming. Godliness has bloomed in them. The fragrance of divineness has been released. They
           are fulfilled, utterly fulfilled. Joyous they are because they have come home. Now there is nowhere
           to go.
               Man is the only animal who is an unfinished product. Nature HAS brought man to a certain
           point, and from that point man has been made responsible. Now you are responsible for your growth.
           Nature cannot do any more; whatsoever was possible through nature has already happened -- it has
           brought you to the threshold. You have to take the further journey now; you have to become a
           pilgrim.
               If you don't become a pilgrim, if your life does not take the quality of adventure, of search, of
           enquiry, you will remain empty -- and you will remain thirsty, and you will remain hungry. You will
           remain spiritually starved. Don't take yourself for granted -- that is the problem, exactly that is the
           very crux of the problem: we take ourselves for granted, we think as if we are what we are supposed
           to be.
               Man is a paradox. Man is not what he thinks he is -- man is far more. Man's capacities are
           immense. In fact, there are no limits to man's growth. One can go on and on and on... It is an infinite
           journey. There is no goal! There is a beginning of the pilgrimage but no end.
               To know God is to know that life is an eternal pilgrimage. What is the meaning when we say
           God is infinite. You can go ON attaining, but you can never say that now the dead end has come.
               This is the beauty of existence -- it goes on giving you more and more opportunities. When you
           have climbed one peak, another peak starts giving you challenges.
               The misery of man is that he thinks he is what he is supposed to be. He thinks that he is already
           that which he can be. Man remains satisfied with the superficial; then there will remain a deep
           discontent in your soul. That's what Kabir is trying to say
               Kabir is one of the greatest revolutionaries who has ever walked on the earth. His insight is of
           tremendous value. If you can fall en rapport with his vision you will be enriched -- you will be
           enriched beyond all your expectations.

              I LAUGH, says Kabir, WHEN I HEAR THAT THE FISH IN THE WATER IS THIRSTY.

               HE IS TALKING ABOUT YOU, not about the fish -- you are the fish. Kabir says "I laugh..."
           The Buddhas have always been laughing.
               It is said of Hotei, a Japanese Buddha -- he is known as the laughing Buddha -- that the day he
           became enlightened he started laughing and then he never stopped laughing. Many years he lived; he
           would move from one town to another, laughing, from one marketplace to another, laughing. He
           would stand in the marketplace and his laughter was catching, infectious, and people would gather
           and people would start laughing. And the laughter would go on spreading... and soon the whole
           village would be involved in it.

              People used to ask Hotei, "What is your message?" He said, "Laughter is my message."
           People used to ask him, "Why do you laugh so much?"
              He said, "What else can I do? Man is so ridiculous, man is so absurd!"

           That's exactly what Kabir is saying:

              I LAUGH WHEN I HEAR THAT THE FISH IN THE WATER IS THIRSTY.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               Life surrounds you with all its joys, with immense possibilities, opportunities. And you go on
           crying and weeping! Your anguish goes on deepening as you grow older. Children can laugh, but the
           older you become, the more the laughter disappears. And whenever you laugh, it is phony; it is just a
           painted laughter. It has no roots in your heart.
               Why have people become so serious? They know they are missing something. They know that
           life is slipping out of their hands. They know that this should not be so, but it is so -- they are
           miserable. And when someone attains, like Kabir, he is bound to laugh.
               If a fish comes to you and says, "I am thirsty," what will you do? Will you feel any sympathy for
           the fish? Will you feel any kind of empathy for the fish? You will simply laugh, and you will say, "If
           you are thirsty then you are simply stupid. There is no need to be thirsty! You are in the sea already.
           Why should you be thirsty?"
               Man is in anguish, great anguish. We go on hiding it, because what is the point of bringing it to
           others? Nobody can help. We go on carrying dark nights in our beings, great turmoil, great pain,
           great wounds. We go on hiding! It is pointless to tell anybody; nobody can help. It is better not to
           talk about the wounds that you are carrying in your soul; it is better to forget about all those wounds.
               That's why intoxicants have been so important down the ages. There has never been a time when
           something or other was not used by man to forget the inner wounds, to forget this whole nonsense
           that we have made out of life. People go on talking against alcohol, against drugs, but they don't
           understand the psychology behind it.Just talking against them is not going to prevent people. You
           can legalize, you can prohibit, but still intoxicants will be used.
               Unless man becomes blissful, they cannot be prevented. If man lives in misery, he will need
           something or other to forget the misery. Otherwise, it will be too much! In fact, my own insight is
           this: if all the drugs and all the intoxicants could be simply removed from the world, man would
           immediately go mad. The whole world would be a madhouse.
               People are somehow keeping themselves together. They can drink alcohol, and for a few hours
           they can forget the world and the misery that the world brings to them; they can forget their own
           selves. They can be lost into oblivion. They know perfectly well it is not going to change anything.
           But then nothing seems to change anything. At least for a few hours one can forget all about it.
               Intoxicants will disappear from the world only when meditation has become a world-wide
           phenomenon, when each single individual has created some meditativeness in his being; when each
           single individual has become aware, "There is no need to be miserable. Misery is created by me. Life
           is not misery: life's nature is bliss. It is my stupidity that I am creating misery out of it."
               Misery needs great efforts, bliss is natural -- you cannot create bliss, you can only create misery.
           And if you don't create misery, bliss comes of its own accord. Bliss comes effortlessly -- you cannot
           practise it. But for misery you have to make great efforts -- and you ARE making great efforts to
           remain miserable. You have invested much in your misery.
               Kabir is right; he says, "I laugh..." It looks a little hard, looks a little cruel, that a man like Kabir
           should say:

               I LAUGH WHEN I HEAR THAT THE.FISH IN THE WATER IS THIRSTY.


               It is not cruel, it is not hard. It's simply how it should be. All the Buddhas have been laughing;
           they may have said so, they may not have said so. Hotei laughed publicly; Gautam Buddha must
           have laughed privately, but laughter is bound to be there.
               I am saying it because this is my own experience too. When you come with all your miseries to
           me, I listen very sympathetically -- I don't laugh. But deep down there is laughter. I listen, very
           patiently and very attentively... I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to be impolite to you. But if you
           want to know the truth, then the reality is that you are simply showing how ridiculous you are, how
           stupid you are.
               And God is not responsible for your stupidity. It is your own work. God creates every human
           being with great intelligence. You can see in children's eyes: all children are intelligent. It is very
           difficult to find a stupid child. If you can find a stupid child, that simply means he is already old.
               Children are so overflowing with intelligence. Where does all this intelligence disappear to?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           What happens to this intelligence? The society is against intelligence; the society does not want
           intelligent people to be around. Intelligent people seem to he dangerous to the society.
               The society wants stupid people because stupid people are easy to manage, easy to dominate,
           easy to manipulate, easy to order. Stupid people are obedient -- even where obedience is sin they are
           obedient. Stupid people can be forced to become machines, and the society needs machines, not
           men. The society is not interested in you; it is interested in your efficiency. And machines certainly
           are more efficient than men. The machine is the model, and man has to follow the model. Make man
           more and more stupid and he will come closer and closer to the machine. He will be a good clerk, a
           good station master, a good teacher in a school, a good collector... but unintelligent.
               If he is intelligent, he may not be a clerk at all; he may not waste his life in writing stupid
           documents, collecting garbage in files. He may be more respectful towards his own being. He may
           choose some other way to live. He will not be just a deputy collector. How can you ask an intelligent
           man to be just a policeman? Impossible! And where will you find the thousands and thousands for
           your armies? Intelligent people are not cattle; intelligent people cannot be told to do stupid things.
           They will say, "No!"
               Just think: the man who dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima, if he had been intelligent he
           would have simply said "No!" Even at the risk of his own life he would have said no. He would have
           said, "If you want to kill me, kill me, but I am not going to kill one hundred thousand people. They
           have not committed any sin. They are innocent civilians -- small children, old people.... They have
           no responsibility for the war! They have not caused it. Why should I drop the atom bomb? It is better
           to die than to kill one hundred thousand people."
               If the man had been intelligent, he would have immediately said no. But he must have been
           utterly stupid: he dropped the atom bomb, and had a good night's sleep. His sleep was not disturbed.
               In the morning when he was asked, "Could you sleep in the night?" he said, "Certainly, I slept
           well! I did my duty, I finished my job, and then I had a good night's sleep. Whenever I do my duty
           perfectly well, I always sleep well."
               One hundred thousand people burnt within five seconds, and not even a nightmare came to this
           man? Just think: we must have destroyed his intelligence totally; we must have reduced him to a
           machine. Machines don't have any conscience, machines don't have any consciousness, machines
           don't have any heart. And the society needs machines, more and more efficient machines. Hence the
           universities go on reducing people to stupid people. If you are a BA it means you have a certificate
           that you have lost much of your intelligence. If you are an MA, even more; if you are a PhD,
           finished! No hope for you.

               It is said that when Henry Thoreau came back from the university, an old man of his village
           came to see him and was very much surprised. Seeing the old man very much puzzled and surprised,
           Thoreau asked him, "Why do you look so puzzled? Why are you so much surprised?"
               He said, "I am surprised because you have really done a great job: you have saved your
           intelligence, although you have been to the university. You still look intelligent! This very rarely
           happens: to escape from the university and still remain intelligent -- because the whole machinery of
           education is to make you mechanical."

               A new education is needed in the world, which will make you more conscious, not more
           knowledgeable, which will make you more loving, not more logical. Logic is good -- if love remains
           the master, then logic is a good servant; but logic should not be the master, and love should not be
           the servant.
               Knowledge is good if consciousness remains in control. But if knowledge is in control, if the
           head is in control, then the heart is killed, destroyed.
               The society does not need intelligent people, hence it has created conditionings -- social,
           religious, political, educational -- great psychological strategies have been invented down the ages to
           reduce you to a thing, to reduce you to something pseudo, to reduce you so that you can become a
           commodity in the marketplace.
               You have to be aware, because you exist in a society which is against your intelligence.
               My sannyasins are trying to do... what the society has destroyed in them, they are trying to
           revive. What the society has done, they are trying to undo it. That's the whole work of sannyas -- and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that has ALWAYS been the work of a real true religion.

              I LAUGH, says Kabir, WHEN I HEAR THAT THE FISH IN THE WATER IS THIRSTY.

              YOU DON'T GRASP THE FACT THAT WHAT IS MOST
              ALIVE OF ALL IS INSIDE YOUR OWN HOUSE;
              AND SO YOU WALK FROM ONE HOLY CITY TO THE NEXT
              WITH A CONFUSED LOOK!
              YOU DON'T GRASP THE FACT THAT WHAT IS MOST
              ALIVE OF ALL IS INSIDE YOUR OWN HOUSE...


               YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD. The secret has been hidden from you. Nobody has told you to
           go in; nobody has given you any chance to be in. Parents are not telling their children, "Sometimes
           just be. Don't do anything. Just sit silently under a tree, search in, ask 'Who am I?"' No school, no
           college, no university, is telling you to meditate. In fact, they think meditation has nothing to do with
           education.
               The government of India has written a letter. They don't recognize this commune as educational.
           Why? "Because what does meditation have to do with education?" And I say to them, "If meditation
           has nothing to do with education, then what else can become the foundation of a true education?
           What else?"
               But I know: some stupid fool in some office must have written that. He is not aware of what
           meditation is. Meditation simply means to be with yourself in your absolute aloneness, so that you
           can have a taste of your own being. To be with yourself is meditation.
               In my philosophy of life, only two things are valuable: one is meditation, the other is love. And
           both are complementary. Meditation means the joy of being alone, and love means the joy of being
           together with somebody. These are the two wings of a true education. Meditation means
           independence, freedom -- freedom from all, even from the beloved, because even the presence of the
           beloved encroaches on your space. It is good for the time being, it is good to overlap your space with
           somebody, it is good to meet and merge, but ultimately, AND fundamentally, you are alone. And
           you have to learn how to be alone, and not only how to be alone, but joyously alone, ecstatically
           alone.
               Meditation means sitting silently, doing nothing... just being! The world is too full of doing. The
           society teaches you to do this, to do that -- why? Because if you do this, you will have that; if you
           don't do this, you will not have that. Doing is a way of having more, and we are conditioned to have
           more and more and more -- as if by having more we will really be satisfied, contented; as if by
           having more we will really become rich.
               The truth is just the opposite: the more you have, the more you feel your inner poverty -- in
           contrast. The richer you become in the outside world, the emptier you feel inside, and no outer
           richness can fill the inner gap. Nothing from the outside can be taken in. You can have as much
           wealth as possible, but it will go on piling up outside you; and the bigger the heap, the more you will
           see your inner emptiness, nothingness, hollowness -- the more miserable you will become.
               Hence, the richer a society gets, the more and more it becomes interested in religion. Poor
           societies cannot be religious; it is almost impossible. I am not saying a poor person cannot be
           religious -- a poor person CAN be -- but a poor society cannot be. A poor person may be an
           exception: Kabir was a poor man -- and attained to the highest peak possible, became a Buddha. But
           the poor society as such cannot be religious.
               The poor society remains interested in having more and more, and if you want to have more you
           will have to do more. You will have to put your whole energy into doing -- and meditation is just the
           opposite of doing. Meditation is a state of non-doing, it is a state of utter passiveness. It is a state of
           being: one simply IS... and ENJOYING that simple isness. And then something starts happening
           inside -- without any doing on your part.

           SITTING SILENTLY,
           DOING NOTHING,
           THE SPRING COMES,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           AND THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF....

           Something starts growing in you.
                One thing, the most important thing in life, is meditation. No education can be called real
           education. Even the word 'education' simply means to draw out that which is within you. This
           commune is educational, because our effort is to draw out whatsoever is in you. And your so-called
           universities are NOT educational; they don't fulfill the requirement of being educational. They stuff
           people from the outside; they don't draw out, they force in. Even literally they are not educational.
                The whole effort in the so-called educational institutions is to stuff people with more and more
           knowledge, because knowledge will help them to do more and do more efficiently, and if they can
           do things more efficiently, they will have more things. This is what you call education? This is not
           real education.
                Real education will teach a person the most fundamental truth: "I am alone. I come alone, I will
           go alone. And between coming and going, I can deceive myself that I am not alone, but that is only a
           deception. Intrinsically I remain alone. Aloneness is my intrinsic nature, so I have to fall in tune with
           it, I have to dive deep into it. I have to know exactly what it is -- what is this aloneness?"
                And it is tremendously beautiful, it is incredibly beautiful, unbelievably beautiful. When you
           enter into your aloneness, you start becoming aware of God, you start becoming aware of your
           treasures hidden within you. You start becoming aware of the kingdom of God that is within you.
           Kabir says:

              YOU DON'T GRASP THE FACT THAT WHAT IS MOST
              ALIVE OF ALL IS INSIDE YOUR OWN HOUSE...


                But nobody teaches you. The whole teaching is: "Go out! Search for money, for power, for
           prestige" -- and they are not found within. Peace is found within, silence is found within, stillness is
           found within, godliness is found within. But those are not the goals that you have been taught to
           fulfill; those are not your targets.
           It is said of a great Sufi mystic, Bayazid:

               One day, some people came to Sheikh Bayazid's door and knocked. He opened his upstairs
           window and looked out saying, "What do you want?"
           "Oh," they said, "we are looking for Bayazid."
               He said, "Well, I have been looking for Bayazid for ten years now, and I have not found him
           yet!" and closed the window.

               This is what meditation is all about: trying to find oneself.
               And the other most important thing is love. Love means trying to find oneself reflected in the
           other. Love is a mirror. Meditation is a search without a mirror; love is nothing but seeing yourself in
           the eyes of the other you love, reflected in his being, and a way of enjoying the togetherness.
               We ARE alone, but we are not alone in the sense that we exist alone. We are alone, but there are
           other people around us -- who are ALSO alone! We exist with many people who are alone. Bridges
           have to be made. Love is the meeting of two alonenesses. One aloneness is immensely beautiful --
           what to say about when two alonenesses meet and merge? A great flowering happens, life becomes
           more mysterious, more joyous.
               And then one learns the rhythm: sometimes be alone, enjoy yourself; sometimes be together,
           enjoy love, friendship. When tired of togetherness, escape into yom innermost being; when tired of
           your aloneness, escape into the being of the other.
               It is like walking on a tightrope: sometimes you lean towards the left, and then you know that if
           you lean any more you will fall, so you start leaning towards the right. Then again a point comes
           when you know that if you lean more towards the right you will fall, and you start leaning towards
           the left. That balance, the balance of the tightrope-walker, is the balance that gives richness to man.
           Walk between love and meditation, balancing each other. Become rich with meditation and love.
               But, remember, the first thing is meditation. If you don't know who you are, you will not be able
           to love either. If you don't know inner blissfulness you will not be able to share it with anybody else
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           either.
               But people don't go in; they are running hither and thither -- they are running everywhere except
           inwards. And all this running is nothing but dreaming, desiring. Just watch your mind! What does
           your mind go on doing? In the night it dreams, in the day it dreams... it goes on running and running.
           It moves in circles, but those circles are all dreams.
               The truth is yom consciousness, not your mind. Your mind is created by the society: your
           consciousness comes from God. Move to the consciousness; change the gestalt. Your emphasis has
           to be changed -- that's what it means to be religious. That's what conversion is: changing your
           attention from the mind to consciousness.
               Mind is a social by-product -- the Hindu mind, the Christian mind, the communist mind, the
           Catholic mind -- these are social by-products. The society has put ideas in yom head: that is your
           mind. Shift your consciousness, your attention, to that which is God-created; otherwise you will live
           in dreams. And dreams cannot fulfill. Dreams are dreams -- they are not really there....

               Two friends meet on the street after several years of not seeing each other. The usual salutation
           of "How are you?" provokes the answer from Saul that he feels awful -- is suffering terribly from a
           strong dream. It seems that every night, the moment he goes to sleep, he dreams he is getting on the
           train from Tel Aviv to Haifa. The train reaches Haifa, but he does not get off. He returns to Tel Aviv,
           and upon arriving, he wakes up to find the new day and he is hot and tired from the trip.
               Morris exclaims that he too is in a similar shape for basically the same reason. It seems that
           every night he dreams that the door on the left side of his bedroom opens and in walks Sophia Loren.
           She strips stark naked and walks into the room and climbs into his bed. At the moment he turns on
           his left side, the door on the right side of the bedroom opens, and in comes Raquel Welch -- equally
           as naked -- she climbs into the other side of the bed. He turns to be with Raquel and Sophia taps his
           shoulder. He turns to her and there is Raquel touching him. All night long he is turning from one side
           to the other. He is a wreck when he wakes up.
               Saul immediately says, "For Christ's sake, why didn't you phone me? That's what friends are for.
           I would gladly come over and help you any night."
               Morris answers, "I did phone you several times -- but each time I called I was told you had just
           caught the train for Haifa."

               The mind goes on dreaming.... The mind keeps you un-aware of who you are, so many dreams
           that the truth is lost. In the rubbish of your dreams the diamond of your being is covered.
           Kabir says:

              YOU DON'T GRASP THE FACT THAT WHAT IS MOST ALIVE OF ALL IS INSIDE YOUR OWN
              HOUSE; AND SO YOU WALK FROM ONE HOLY CITY TO THE NEXT WITH A CONFUSED LOOK!


                YOU CAN SEE -- all faces look confused. It is very rare to find a face which does not look
           confused, which has a transparency to it, a clarity. And whenever a face has clarity, transparency, the
           face has beauty -- a beauty that is not of the physical body only, a beauty that is something from the
           beyond, a beauty that wells up from within.
                But look at people's faces -- just confused, split, schizophrenic. That's what their being is: their
           faces are only reflecting their being. Faces are mirrors. One part of yom being wants to go to the
           north, another part wants to go to the south, and another part to the east and another still to the
           west... and you are torn apart. Your faces show that -- a confused look.
                You don't know who you are, where you are, why you are. Everything seems to be just
           accidental. You feel like a driftwood with no direction, with no sense of direction even. Where are
           you going? Why are you? For what? The question mark is there on every face, and the reason? Kabir
           is right -- the reason is you have not looked at the deepest core of your being, where there is a space,
           a center of the cyclone, a space which is indivisible. In fact, that space known makes you an
           individual. 'Individual' means indivisible -- one who is not falling in parts, one who is one piece.
                And that center is there in everybody's being, but you never go there. And even if sometimes the
           desire to search within arises, you again start searching outside. Somebody goes to Kaaba, because a
           great desire has arisen in him to know who he is. Why are you going to Kaaba? Somebody goes to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Kashi, somebody to Mathura, somebody to Tibet... and people go on. But still the search remains
           somewhere outside.
                Even if the right question arises, you move in wrong directions. If you really want to know who
           you are, you need not ask anybody else. Nobody can answer it.
                And even if somebody answers, that answer will not become your answer. That will become at
           the most information, but not knowing; and information is futile because you will interpret the
           information according to your own mind. You will read the Gita, you will read the Koran, you will
           listen to great teachers, but you will understand according to your own mind. You will translate
           everything according to yourself, according to your level of being. And then all gets lost.
                Not only will the information be of no help to you, it will create more confusion in you. The
           more learned a person is, the more confused he is. If you read the Vedas and the Koran and the Bible
           and the Dhammapada, you will become more and more confused, because each Buddha says, in his
           own way, the same truth, but it is said in millions of ways. But you will not be able to understand the
           truth, because you don't know what the truth is.
                The real process is first to know within and then go into the Vedas and the Gita and the Koran,
           and they will all become witnesses to your experience, they will authenticate your experience. They
           will witness that you are right, and you will witness that they are right. Otherwise, all reading,
           studying, is going to create more and more confusion, because who is going to interpret it?

           "Listen," the man said to his friend Albert, "I have got this female gorilla that I bought a while back.
           It cost me a lot of money. The problem is that I can't find any male gorilla to mate with it. I was
           wondering if you would mate with my gorilla for a hundred dollars."
           "Hmmm, let me think this over," replied Albert.
               The next day Albert went over to his friend's house and said, "I will do it, only under three
           conditions."
           "What are the conditions?" asked the friend.
           "One is that there is no hugging and kissing, and no foreplay. Two is that all the children are to be
           raised Catholic. Three is that you give me at least two weeks to come up with the hundred dollars."

               Who is going to interpret? You cannot understand more than you know; you can understand only
           that much which you know on your own. Hence, the real Master does not impart information: he
           imparts being. He does not make you more knowledgeable: he makes you more meditative, he makes
           you more silent. He does not give you theories, hypo-theses, philosophies: he throws you upon
           yourself again and again and again. And he has to do it in spite of you, even against you, because
           you want clearcut answers, you want some philosophy to cling to, some idea to believe in. And the
           real Master will never give you any idea, any theology. In fact he will take all ideas away from you,
           and all theologies -- Catholic and Protestant and Hindu and Mohammedan. And slowly slowly he
           will leave you utterly naked, so that you can see yourself as you are -- not according to some idea,
           but actually as you are. That is revelation.
               That can happen within you. You need not go anywhere.

              KABIR WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH: GO WHEREVER YOU
              LIKE, TO CALCUTTA OR TIBET;
              IF YOU CAN'T FIND WHERE YOUR SOUL IS HIDDEN,
              FOR YOU THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE REAL!


               If you live in dreams, your world will remain nothing but dreams, your world will remain unreal.
               In the East, the Buddhas have always called the world MAYA -- illusion, a magic show; nothing
           real, nothing substantial in it. They don't mean that these trees around the Buddha Hall are unreal;
           they don't mean that you can pass through the wall because the wall is unreal; they don't mean that
           whether you eat stones or bread, it doesn't matter because both are unreal.
               What they mean is totally different. They don't mean that this world is unreal -- they simply
           mean that unless you drop all your dreams you will be creating a world of your own, you will be
           projecting a world of your own. The real world will function only as a screen and you will project
           your dreams on it. You will never see the real world. The real world is God, but you will go on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           projecting your own dreams, and you will live in maya, in illusion.
               Mind is illusion, not the world. Let me emphasize it, because it has become a great
           misunderstanding around the world that the East teaches that the world is illusory -- that is a
           misunderstanding. The East teaches that the MIND IS illusory, and the world created by the mind is
           bound to be illusory -- because only an illusion can come out of another illusion.
               The true world -- that which is -- is not illusory. But you have not known it yet; you have no
           inkling of it. You can know it only when you drop all dreaming.

               It is said that when Rabbi Kotzker drove out of town with Rabbi Hirsh of Tomashov, they came
           to a bridge where several women began to throw stones at them.
           "Have no fear," said Kotzker. "They are not real women, nor are their stones real. They are mere
           phantoms."
               Rabbi Hirsh was silent for a moment, then asked, "Might we not be phantoms too?"
           "No," came Kotzker's answer, "as long as we have at some time had a genuine urge to repent."

               The word 'repent' has to be understood; it has been mis-understood down the ages. 'Repent' is
           repeated again and again by Jesus; he says again and again, "Repent! Repent! because the end of the
           world is close by." From the Greek, when Jesus statements were translated into English, a great
           misfortune happened -- to many words. This word 'repent' is one that has suffered the most. It is a
           translation of a Greek word 'metanoia'; 'metanoia' means turning in, 'metanoia' means meditation.
           'Repent' also means return -- return to the source. It has nothing to do with the idea of repentance that
           you have been taught in your churches, that your priests have been telling you. 'Repent' has nothing
           to do with repentance. 'Repent' means: Turn in! Return back! Come to the source of your being!
           Come to the very core of your being!
               And Rabbi Kotzker's answer is immensely beautiful, of great value. He says, "No -- as long as
           we have at some time had a genuine urge to repent." If we have even a genuine urge to meditate, for
           metanoia, for turning back in, then we are real. But we are real only IN meditation; otherwise we are
           also unreal. Because in meditation dreaming stops -- that's what meditation is all about: stopping of
           the dreaming mind. No dreams, no thoughts -- a total silence. Nothing stirs. Absolute stillness. Not
           even a ripple. No content. Pure consciousness. Just the mirror... in that mirroring, you are real and
           whatso-ever you see is real. In fact, the seer and the seen are no more two: in that tremendous
           moment, the observer is the observed, the seer is the seen, the knower is the known. The distinction
           between the subject and the object disappears. That's what is called 'God-realization'.

              KABIR WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH: GO WHEREVER YOU
              LIKE, TO CALCUTTA OR TIBET;
              IF YOU CAN'T FIND WHERE YOUR SOUL IS HIDDEN,
              FOR YOU THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE REAL!


              Go in! Turn in! Find out who you are! And you have started moving towards God. Moving
           towards one's own being moving towards God.

              I DON'T KNOW WHAT SORT OF A GOD WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT.


              KABIR SAYS: "People go on talking about God, but I DON'T KNOW WHAT SORT OF A
           GOD WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT" -- because if you have not known yourself, all talk
           about God is just rot, meaningless. It is nonsense.

              THE CALLER CALLS IN A LOUD VOICE TO THE HOLY ONE AT DUSK.

              In the Mohammedan mosque:



              THE CALLER CALLS IN A LOUD VOICE TO THE HOLY ONE AT DUSK. WHY? SURELY THE
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               HOLY ONE IS NOT DEAD.


               We have created our own gods -- rather than looking at the reality we have imagined our own
           gods, we have dreamed our own gods. And we have made our own rituals. Now, calling loudly to the
           God simply means your God is deaf. In fact, no word is needed between you and your God -- loud or
           not loud -- no word is needed between you and your God, because God understands only one
           language. It is not German, it is not English, it is not Hindi, it is not Sanskrit, it is not Arabic, it is not
           Greek. God understands only one language: the language of silence.

               WHY? SURELY THE HOLY ONE IS NOT DEAF.
               HE HEARS THE DELICATE ANKLETS THAT RING ON THE
               FEET OF AN INSECT AS IT WALKS.


               There is no need to shout. In fact, real prayer is not saying something to God, but, on the
           contrary, listening to God, listening silently..."Does he have something to say to me?" All the
           prayers that you go on doing are pointless. Learn to listen whether God has something to say to you,
           learn to listen to the still small voice within you. Stop talking. Stop the inner talk, the inner
           chattering. In that silence, prayer arises on its own.
           Prayer is a silent heart full of gratitude.

               GO OVER AND OVER YOUR BEADS, PAINT WEIRD DESIGNS
               ON YOUR FOREHEAD,
               WEAR YOUR HAIR MATTED, LONG, AND OSTENTATIOUS,
               BUT WHEN DEEP INSIDE YOU THERE IS A LOADED GUN,
               HOW CAN YOU HAVE GOD?


               You can go on doing rituals, but if your heart is full of violence. if you have a loaded gun in the
           heart... and that's what the case is. Mohammedans have been fighting with Hindus. Hindus have been
           fighting with Mohammedans; Christians have been killing Mohammedans, Mohammedans have
           been killing Christians. Religions have been a calamity to the world, not a blessing, a curse, not a
           benediction. More people have been killed, butchered, murdered, raped, in the name of religion than
           in any other name.
               This is very strange! Prayer is on the lips, and a loaded gun in the heart. Unless your inner
           violence disappears, you cannot be prayerful.
               And why is there inner violence? Because there is competition: everybody is trying to outdo
           others; everybody is trying to go ahead of others. That's what you have been taught: to be ambitious.
           Ambition is the root cause of all violence, and ALL your education is that of ambition: "Be the first!
           Attain to the gold medal!" And then your whole life you are trying to be the first, to become the
           prime minister or the president.
               We teach people ambition, competition. And when you are ambitious, how can you be prayerful?
           And when you are ambitious, how can you turn in? Ambition has to be fulfilled there, outside -- in
           New Delhi, in Washington, in Moscow -- somewhere there.... These are the new holy places.
               The ambitious person cannot turn in; it is impossible. The competitive person cannot turn in; he
           is always looking at the other, he is always at war. How can he be loving? How can he be
           meditative?
               Kabir is right. He says, "You go on talking about God, great theology is created, great
           philosophical argument continues -- and in the heart a loaded gun?" The real question is a
           transformation in the heart. But up to now that has not happened.

              A very proper old lady bought a parakeet which was guaranteed to be able to speak, but all she
           could say was, "I am a whore, I am a whore!" very enthusiastically, while flapping her wings. The
           very proper woman complained to her minister, who told her of a couple in his congregation who
           owned two male parakeets who behaved very properly and could perhaps influence the woman's
           parakeet.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The minister borrowed the couple's male parakeets and lent them to the woman. She put them in
           the cage and they settled together on a perch opposite that of the woman's parakeet. Very soon they
           lowered their heads and engaged in a beautiful, low-voiced prayer. The female parakeet flapped her
           wings and sang, "I am a whore, I am a whore!"
               Whereupon one male parakeet nudged the other with his wing and said, "Our prayers have been
           heard!"




                                   The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                    Chapter #2
                                    Chapter title: Feel, Love and Feel Alone
           12 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904120
              ShortTitle: FISH02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 104 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, WOULD YOU PLEASE SPEAK A LITTLE ON WITNESSING AND THE HEART. CAN THEY
              BE EXPERIENCED SIMULTANEOUSLY?

              Deva Darshan,


               WITNESSING AND THE HEART ARE ONE AND THE same thing. Witnessing is not of the
           mind; mind can never be a witness. When you start witnessing, mind becomes the witnessed not the
           witness, it is the observed not the observer. You see your thoughts moving, your desires, your
           fantasies, your memories, your dreams -- just as you see things moving on the screen of a film. But
           you are not identified with them.
               That non-identification is what is meant by witnessing. Then who is the witness? Mind is being
           seen, then who is the seer? It is the heart.
               So the heart and witnessing are not two things. If you witness, you will be centered in the heart;
           or if you are centered in the heart, you will become a witness. These are two processes to reach the
           same goal. The lover, the devotee, never thinks of witnessing; he simply tries to reach the heart, the
           source of his being. Once he has reached the heart, witnessing comes of its own accord.
               The meditator never thinks of love and the heart; he starts by witnessing. But once witnessing is
           there, the heart opens, because there is no other place from where to witness: The path of the
           meditator and the path of the devotee are different, but they culminate in one experience. At the
           ultimate point they reach the same peak.
               You can choose the path, but you cannot choose the goal -- because there are not two goals, there
           is only one goal. Of course, if you have followed the path of a devotee, you will not talk of
           witnessing when you have arrived -- you will talk of love. If you have followed the path of
           meditation you will not talk of love when you have arrived -- you will talk of witnessing. The
           difference is only of words, language, expression -- but that which is expressed is one and the same
           reality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           The second question:

              OSHO, HOW TO SEE WHAT IS?


              Akam,

               THERE IS NO HOW TO SEE WHAT IS, because if you are carrying a how you will distort it.
           That which is needs no method, technique, to see it -- just silence, a transparent stillness, no thought
           in the mind, not even the thought of a certain method. No strategy, because all strategies are bound
           to distort.
               In fact, no mind is needed to see that which is. Mind means thoughts. And if there is a traffic of
           thoughts, you will never be able to see what is, you will see something else. You will see what your
           thoughts allow you to see. Your thoughts prevent much reaching you.
               You will be surprised to know what modern psychological researchers have come to know:
           ninety-eight percent of the reality is not allowed to enter in your being; the mind only allows two
           percent. So whatsoever you see is only two percent of the reality. And because the mind allows only
           two percent of the reality in and then gives you the feeling that this is the whole, you live in a false
           world. You think the part is the whole. And you live accordingly -- your whole life becomes a
           falsification.
               The mind is a judge; it allows only that which suits it, which fits with it, which nourishes it,
           strengthens it. It does not allow anything that goes against it. For example, you are listening to me:
           your mind will allow only that which helps to strengthen your opinions, your ideologies. If you are a
           Christian, you will hear one thing; and if you are a Buddhist, you will hear something totally
           different. If you have come here with a prejudice, for or against, you will hear different things. I am
           saying the same thing, but a Christian will interpret it in his own way and the Buddhist in his own
           way and the communist in his own way.
               One who has come with a determined idea that I am wrong will find all the arguments that help
           his prejudice. Each prejudice tries to get support for itself So if you think any methodology is needed
           to see that which is, then you are starting from the very beginning in a wrong way.
               That which is is already there -- you be silent, without any prejudice, without any ideology,
           atheist, theist, without any concept, without any a priori. You simply remain available, open, like a
           child who knows nothing. Function from the state of not knowing and you will be able to see what
           is.
               Let me repeat: function from the state of not knowing. If you know you will distort -- knowledge
           is mind. The state of not knowing means you have put the mind aside; now your eyes are without
           dust, your mirror is clean. It will reflect! It will reflect that which is.
               This is the way one comes to encounter reality -- and the encounter is going to be shattering. It is
           not going to help your ideas about it. It will destroy all that you have been always thinking is right. It
           is going to surprise you. It is going to show you that you have lived up to now in a dream, that you
           have lived up to now in your own projections, that you have not allowed reality to penetrate you --
           on the contrary, you have created a world of your own ideas around yourself You have lived in a
           capsule, without any windows. That's how people are living.
               A Christian cannot know reality, a Hindu cannot know reality, a Mohammedan cannot know
           reality. Only a man who is courageous enough to drop all this garbage, who can simply be, who can
           simply be innocent.... Jesus says to his disciples, "Unless you are like small children you will not
           enter into my kingdom of God." He is saying: Function from the state of not knowing.
               The Upanishads say: Those who claim to know, beware -- they know nothing. Those who say
           they know not, surrender to them -- because there is a possibility of some transformation happening
           around them, with them, in communion with them.
               Socrates at his ultimate peak of wisdom said, "I know only one thing, that I know nothing."
               Function from the state of not knowing, and it will bring you immense, ecstatic experiences,
           because the person who is without knowledge is capable of wondering. The person who is without
           knowledge is capable of awe. He can dance seeing a rose flower, he can sing because the sky is full
           of stars. He can be in tune with existence. Seeing a sunset, he can go into wild ecstasy -- because he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           knows nothing. Life is a mystery to him. Knowledge demystifies life. Because he knows nothing,
           everything, the most ordinary too, becomes absolutely extraordinary, luminous, because everything
           is mysterious.
               Everything Is mysterious! Your knowledge simply hides your ignorance and destroys your
           capacity to be mystified. Knowledge is destructive of mysticism. Hence all the mystics of all the
           ages have been saying one single thing: Drop knowledge -- all knowledge is rubbish. Be in a state of
           not knowing; function from that state. Look at trees like a child, look at the moon like a poet, look at
           the sky like a madman!
               Akam, don't ask HOW to see what is, because that question 'how?' simply means you want some
           methodology, some knowledge, some information, so that you can interpret reality. But reality is
           uninterpretable. You want something so that you can explain to yourself what it is all about -- but
           reality is unexplainable. You would like to define reality, but it is indefinable.
           Be ready to be surprised. I have heard:

               Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He was getting tired of lying on his
           back and in rolling over noticed that an Italian woman was praying down in the chapel. The great
           artist decided to play a little prank.
               He sat at the edge of the scaffold and shouted, "I am Jesus Christ! I am Jesus Christ! Listen to me
           and I will perform miracles!"
               The Italian lady looked up, clasping her rosary and answered back, "Shut upa your mouth! I'ma
           talka to your mother!"

                Just think of Michelangelo.... Life is like that. It brings surprises each moment. You go on
           missing -- you go on missing because you can't see those surprises. You are so full of expectations,
           you are so full of ready-made answers, you go on interpreting it according to your own mind. You
           pass through a miraculous world, dull, dead, dragging. This world is nothing but miracles and
           miracles, and each moment they are happening. And not in a miserly way is the existence miraculous
           -- it is overflowing with miracles! But you have to be again a little child, you have to be again
           innocent.
                It is not a question of method, not a question of how. It is more a question of understanding the
           very process of how the mind functions. And when you have understood how the mind functions,
           you will put it aside. Then there is no barrier between you and reality. And when there is no barrier,
           there is no separation either -- because it is the barrier that separates. When there is no barrier, you
           are one with reality. In that oneness, the reality reveals its secrets to you.

           The third question:

              OSHO, DO I HAVE TO FORGET MYSELF TO LOSE MY EGO?


              Eva,

                IT IS NOT A QUESTION OF FORGETTING YOURSELF -- on the contrary, it is a question of
           remembering yourself.What is the ego? Ego exists because you have forgotten yourself, because you
           don't remember who you are. And it is very difficult to live without SOME idea of who you are. Not
           knowing the reality of your being, you have to create a false substitute.
                What is the ego? Ego is the false substitute that you have created for the self. It is not your self,
           but it is very difficult to live without a self -- it will be almost impossible to live without a self some
           kind of self is needed, is a must; otherwise, how will you keep yourself together? You will start
           falling apart.
                Even if the center is false, it helps you. Even a false center keeps you at least somehow together.
           You have forgotten yourself -- hence you need the ego.
                If you remember yourself, there will be no need for the ego.

              You ask, Eva: DO I HAVE TO FORGET MYSELF TO LOSE MY EGO?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ego is not anything real that you have to lose or you can lose -- you don't have it in the first
           place. It is just an idea, a shadow; it is non-existential. It is like your name: when you were born, you
           did not come with a name. Then somebody -- your mother, your father, your family -- started calling
           you 'Eva'. Some name is needed to call you by; it is utilitarian.
               Your name is the first name that was ever given.When Haavva was created because man was
           alone, Adam was alone, and was very much depressed because of the loneliness... the whole
           existence and Adam was lonely. He asked God to give him a companion, and God created a woman.
           God asked Adam,''What are you going to call her?What name would you like to give her?" And he
           was so ecstatic that now at least there was somebody with whom he could be friendly, with whom he
           could be loving, with whom he could talk, communicate, with whom there was a possibility of
           relating. He was no more alone! -- he was so ecstatic that he said he would call this creature 'Eve',
           'Eva', 'Haavva'.
           "Why?" God asked.
               And Adam said, "Because Eve, Eva or Haavva means life -- she is my life. Without her I was
           almost dead."
               But when Eve was created, there was no name. A name was given to her because Adam would
           need it. Sometimes he would have to call her: "Where are you?" Sometimes the name would be
           needed -- but a name is a false thing, it is just a label. We give names to people just to make it
           helpful to commune, to relate, to call, to address. But names are not real! You need not drop them,
           and even if you drop them nothing will be dropped.
               You can drop this name 'Eva' -- nothing will be dropped. Simply an idea! And you are no more
           attached to it. In exactly the same way: the name is for others to call you by, but you need something
           to call yourself by too -- that's what the ego is: I.
               If you want to say something about yourself, you need some word -- that word is 'I'. Names are
           for others to call you by; the ego is for you to call yourself by, to address yourself. It is also false, it
           does not exist. You need not lose it. All that is needed is to understand it -- why this 'I' has become
           so important, why it has become so significant, so central, so substantial. A shadow has become so
           substantial -- why? Because you don't know yom real self
               When Jesus says 'I', he does not mean the same 'I'.When he says, "I am the gate, I am the truth, I
           am the way," his 'I' does not connote any ego. When Krishna says to Arjuna, "Come to my feet,
           surrender to me," his 'me' is not the same as your 'me'.
               Buddha used to say to his disciples, "Be a light unto yoursel." A great King, Prasenjit, had come
           to see him. And he saw many sannyasins coming and bowing to Bud&a, and saying: "BUDDHAM
           SHARNAM GACHCHHAMI -- I go to the feet of the Buddha. SANGHAM SHARNAM
           GACHCHHAMI -- I go to the feet of the community of the Buddhas. DHAMMAM SHARNAM
           GACHCHHAMI -- I go to the feet of the ultimate law, the ultimate law that supports existence, that
           runs like a thread and makes the existence a garland."
               Prasenjit was a man of logic, well-educated, sophisticated. He was a little bit puzzled. He asked
           Bud&a, "Excuse me, Sir, but you say to people, 'Be a light unto yourself,' and then they surrender to
           you, and they touch your feet -- you don't prevent them. This is illogical, this is contradictory. If you
           say 'Be a light unto yourself,' then there is no need to surrender to anybody else. Then why should
           they touch your feet?"
               And Buddha laughed and he said, "They are not my feet, and they are not surrendering to ME --
           because there is nobody inside me as the ego who can claim. I am just an excuse -- they are
           surrendering. It is not a surrender to me; it is simply a surrender -- I am just an excuse. Because they
           are not yet capable of surrendering without any excuse, I allow them to use me as an excuse. But
           there is nobody to whom they are surrendering."
               That's exactly the meaning of a Buddha: one who is not; in the sense of an ego, one who is not.
           But as hr as the supreme self is concerned, the ultimate self is concerned, he is and you are not. The
           ego is a false idea, and it is needed because the real self is unknown.
               Eva, you need not forget yourself to lose the ego -- in fact, that's how you have gained it. You
           need to remember yourself, not to forget but to remember. You have to become more aware and
           alert, you have to wake up. You have to see who you are, not what has been told to you -- that you
           are a woman, that you are a man, that you are a Hindu, a Christian, a white or a black -- not what has
           been told to you.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You will have to go inside your being to the very innermost core and see who you are. In that
           very seeing, in that very remembering, the ego disappears.When the light comes, the darkness
           disappears; when the real self is remembered, the unreal is no more needed. And it is not that you
           have to drop it: it is simply not found.
                But we live in the ego, and in every possible way we go on finding new props for it. In every act
           we go on nourishing it -- even in those actions of which you are not the doer you go on claiming that
           you are doing it. People say, "I am breathing." Just look at the absurdity of it. If you are breathing
           then you will never die; death will come and stand in front of you and you will go on breathing. You
           may not oblige death; you may say, "I am not going to stop breathing."
                You are not breathing; breathing is not your activity, it is not your doing -- it IS happening. You
           cannot breathe. If it stops, it stops. If the next breath is not going to come back, you will not be able
           to do anything. Breathing is a happening, but man has made it, or at least believes it to be, a doing.
                You say, "I love." Even the expression 'love-making' is utter nonsense. You cannot love; you
           cannot not love. Love is a happening, not a doing.What can you do about love? Either it happens or
           it doesn't happen. If you try, then it will be something false, then it will not be love at all -- then it
           will only be acting.
                If you are ordered to love a woman or a man, what are you going to do? You will go through
           empty gestures: you will hug and you will kiss and you will go through all the movements, and with
           no love at all. The whole thing will be mechanical! And that's what is going on, what goes on around
           the world. The wife has to love the husband, the husband has to love the wife -- it is a kind of duty to
           be fulfilled. It becomes a performance, acting. It is not real, hence it is not satisfying, it brings no
           contentment, no fulfillment.
                The ego is very cunning in that way: it goes on finding supports, props, new pastures to feed
           itself on. If you fail, you blame circumstances. If you succeed, it is you who have succeeded. If you
           fail it is fate, kismet; if you fail it is the society, the ugly society. If you fail, it is the cunning people,
           the cunning competitors. But if you succeed, you succeed.
           A great Sufi story:

               Mulla Nasruddin took his disciples to an exhibition. Many things were going on at the
           exhibition. At one place people were staking much money and trying to shoot arrows to reach a
           certain target. Mulla gathered his disciples and he said, "Come, and I will show you something."
           That is the Sufi way of teaching the disciples. He took the bow and the arrow -- a great crowd
           gathered: "A Sufi Master with his disciples -- something is going on!" People were very silently
           watching. With great show, Mulla shot the arrow... it fell very short, it never reached the target. The
           crowd started laughing. Mulla said, "Stop! Don't be foolish." He turned to his disciples and said,
           "Look, this is what happens when you live with an inferiority complex. This is how the person who
           suffers from an inferiority complex will act -- he will never reach the target; he will fall short. His
           whole heart is not in it."
               The crowd became silent: "Yes, there is a lesson in it."
               Next arrow... and it simply went far ahead, it left the target behind. That was also a failure; the
           crowd started laughing again. And Mulla said, "Be silent! You don't understand these secrets." He
           turned to his disciples and said, "Look, this is how a man who thinks himself very superior behaves.
           He will never reach the target. He runs so fast that he will bypass the goal, and he will not stop at the
           goal. He is too confident. He is also unbalanced."
               The crowd again became silent: "Yes, there is a lesson."
               And Mulla tried the third time... and the arrow went directly into the target. Now the crowd was
           silent and waiting for what Mulla was going to teach to his disciples.
               He went to the owner and demanded the money. The owner said, "Why?"
               He said, "This is me! The first was the arrow of a man who suffers from an inferiority complex;
           the second the arrow of the man who suffers from a superiority complex -- and this is Mulla
           Nasruddin's arrow. Where is the money?"

               This is what we go on doing. In each situation, watch.When you fail, it is God, it is fate, it is
           society, circumstances... a thousand and one names. But the simple phenomenon is that you don't
           want to take the responsibility because it hurts the ego. But when you succeed, it is always you -- it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is never God, never fate, never circumstances, never your cunning strategies, no. It is simply you,
           your talents, your genius, your intelligence. It is always you when you succeed.
               Watch the ego, and don't feed it. It dies if you don't feed it. If you stop feeding it, it starves to
           death.

               Mrs. Cochrane was standing beside the coffin of her dead husband. Their son stood at her elbow.
           The mourners, one by one, passed in review.
           "He is feeling no pain now," said Mrs. Croy. "What did he die of?"
           "Poor fella," said Mrs. Cochrane. "He died of the gonorrhoea."
               Another woman gazed at the corpse. "He is well out of it now," she said. "He has got a smile of
           serenity on his face. What did he die from?"
           "He died of the gonorrhoea!" said the widow.
               Suddenly, the son pulled his mother aside. "Mom," he said, "that's a terrible thing to say about
           Pop. He did not die of gonorrhoea -- he died of diarrhoea!"
           "I know that," said Mrs. Cochrane, "but I would rather have them thinking he died like a sport --
           instead of the shit that he was!"

               The ego is constantly there, in every situation -- it will not miss any situation to feed itself, to
           strengthen itself. Stop feeding the ego -- that is the first thing to do.
               And the second thing is: become more aware. Walking, walk with awareness; listening, listen
           with total awareness -- not in a kind of sleep, not so-so, not lukewarm. Talking, talk with
           awareness.Whatsoever you are doing, let your whole life be coloured by awareness. And slowly
           slowly that awareness will bring you a vision of your real self.
               So this is a double attack on the ego. First, don't feed it; second, become more aware -- so the ego
           disappears by starvation and the self appears by being aware. And once the clouds of ego are no
           more there, the self rises like a sun. And that self has nothing to do with your 'I'. Still the word will
           be used. I use it, Jesus uses it, Buddha uses it -- it has to be used, but now it has a totally different
           meaning. On the lips of a Buddha or a Krishna or a Christ it has a totally different connotation.
               When the being is transformed, everything is transformed -- even the language that is uttered by
           a Buddha has a totally different meaning. His words can't have the same meaning. It is impossible!
           because now a new light has happened, and in that new light everything becomes new.
               You live in darkness, you stumble in darkness, you grope in darkness. The man of awareness
           lives in light. He never stumbles, he never gropes. He moves with grace, he has a totally different
           quality of being, life, love.
               Do two things, Eva: first, don't feed the ego any more -- enough is enough -- and second, become
           more aware. This is a double attack, from two sides. It always succeeds; it has never failed.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, NEVER BEFORE HAVE I FELT SO MUCH LOVE AND NEVER BEFORE SO ALONE.
              THANK YOU, OSHO...

              Prem Turiya,


               IT IS SOMETHING VERY DEEP TO BE UNDERSTOOD, something of great significance.
           Love always brings aloneness. Aloneness always brings love. They are never separate.
               People think just the opposite. People think, "When you are in love, how can you be alone?"
           They don't make any distinction between two words: loneliness and aloneness. Hence the confusion.
               When you are in love, you cannot be lonely; that is true. But when you are in love, you are bound
           to be alone -- that is even far truer. Loneliness is a negative state. Loneliness means you are
           hankering for the other. Loneliness means you are dark, dismal, in despair. Loneliness means you are
           frightened. Loneliness means you are feeling left behind. Loneliness means nobody needs you. It
           hurts. Loneliness is like a wound.
               Aloneness is like a flower. I know your dictionaries will say that loneliness and aloneness are
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           synonyms -- they are not. They are totally different phenomena. Loneliness is a wound and can turn
           into a cancer. Many more people die of loneliness than of any other disease. The world is full of
           lonely people, and because of their loneliness they go on doing all kinds of stupid things to somehow
           stuff that wound, that hollowness, that emptiness, that negativity.
                The lonely person starts eating too much, just to feel full. The lonely person starts gathering fat.
           The lonely person starts taking alcohol or other drugs, from soma to LSD -- because he wants to
           forget himself The loneliness is so ugly, so scary, so deathlike that one wants to escape from it. The
           lonely person sits before his TV glued to the chair for four, five, even six hours. The average
           American sits for six hours before the TV -- just burning his eyes. But what else to do? Where to go?
           With whom to commune?
                Communication has stopped. People are not talking to each other; at the most they talk at the
           other, but not to the other. People have forgotten how to reach the other; people have become
           parallel lines, running very close but meeting nowhere. Even husbands and wives, even friends, even
           so-called lovers, are parallel lines never meeting anywhere. Running very close, hoping that
           tomorrow the meeting will happen, but that is just a hope, that is just an illusion. That keeps people
           somehow going on.
                It is like if you go to the rail-track and you see the rails running parallel -- far away in the
           distance they appear to be meeting, but they never meet. You can go to that place and you will not
           find them meeting. As you move closer, the meeting-point will move farther away. The distance
           between you and the so-called meeting-point will remain the same.
                The world is very lonely; hence people go into drugs or into sex, or into any kind of
           entertainment that keeps them, at least for the time being, forgetful of the loneliness. The wound is
           oozing with pus. We hide it in many ways -- with great possessions, with a big palace, with much
           money, with new gadgets -- but the wound continues, gadgets won't hide it. You can have the
           biggest house in the world and still you will be as lonely in it as you were in your small cottage. It is
           not going to make any difference -- possessions cannot change your inner loneliness.
                And then people go on relating with others, but because they are both lonely relationship is not
           possible; relationship cannot grow out of need. Relationship grows only out of overflowing energies,
           never out of needs. If one person is needy and the other is also needy, then both will try to exploit the
           other. The relationship will be that of exploitation, not of love, not of compassion. It will not be of
           friendship. It will be a kind of enmity -- very bitter, but sugar-coated. And sooner or later, the sugar
           wears out; by the time the honeymoon is over the sugar is gone and all is bitter. And now they are
           caught. First they used to be lonely separately, now they are lonely together -- which hurts even
           more. Just see a husband and a wife sitting in the room, both lonely. On the surface together, deep
           down lonely. The husband lost in his own loneliness, the wife lost in her own loneliness. The saddest
           thing in the world is to see two lovers, a couple, and both lonely -- the saddest thing in the world!
                Aloneness is totally different. Aloneness is a flower, a lotus blooming in your heart. Aloneness is
           positive, aloneness is health. It is the joy of being yourself. It is the joy of having your own space.
                Yes, when you are in love, Turiya, you feel aloneness. Aloneness is beautiful, aloneness is a
           blessing. But only lovers can feel it, because only love gives you the courage to be alone, only love
           creates the context to be alone. Only love fulfills you so deeply that you are no more in need of the
           other -- you can be alone. Love makes you so integrated that you can be alone and ecstatic. Love
           becomes the contrast: love and aloneness are two polarities of one energy.
                And it is good to understand it, because sometimes it happens that lovers don't allow each other
           space enough to be alone. If lovers don't allow each other space to be alone, then love will be
           destroyed, because it is out of aloneness that love gets fresh energy, fresh juices. When you are
           alone, you accumulate energy to a point from where it starts overflowing.
                That overflowing becomes love -- then you can go and share with your friend, with your woman,
           with anybody you love. You have enough to share now; in fact, too much -- you have to share. And
           it is not that you are obliging the other; in fact, you are being obliged by the other. When the cloud is
           heavy it has to rain, and it is grateful to the earth that it allowed it to rain, that it absorbed it, that it
           received it like a guest, that it welcomed it. When the flower opens, it has to release its fragrance. It
           is thankful to the winds that they have taken its fragrance in all directions.
                When alone, one gathers energy. Energy is life and energy is delight, and energy is love and
           energy is dance and energy is celebration. Then everything is possible if energy is there. Then it will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become a song, then it will become a dance, then it will become love. And when energy is too much
           there, only then can it become orgasmic.
               Many people make love but have no idea of what orgasm is, because they are already dissipated.
           When they are making love, they are empty; when they are making love there is no energy to be
           shared. When they are making love, they cannot overflow. Their orgasm is at the most genital. Their
           orgasm is a very small, mediocre thing; nothing of any spiritual value. It is like a sneeze. Yes, after a
           sneeze you feel a little better. Or like scratching your back -- it feels good. You are relieved.
               Orgasm is not a relief: orgasm is a celebration. And orgasm is a meeting of you, through the
           other, with the whole. Orgasm is always divine -- the other becomes the door and you enter into the
           divine. Orgasm is always spiritual, it is never sexual. Those who think that orgasm is sexual have not
           understood anything at all; they don't know anything about sex and they don't know anything about
           orgasmic experiences. Orgasm is always samadhi, ecstasy. But people don't know because they meet
           out of need, not out of overflowing energies.
               So when you are in love, a great need arises to be alone -- ONLY IN love, remember, a great
           need arises to be alone. And real lovers are those who give freedom to the other to be alone. They
           will be full of energy soon and they will come together and shower their energy on each other. When
           alone, the great desire to share will arise. See the rhythm: when in love, you would like to be alone;
           when alone, soon you would like to be in love. Lovers come close and go away, come close and go
           away -- there is a rhythm. Going away is not anti-love; going away is just getting your aloneness
           again, and the beauty of it and the joy of it. But whenever you are full of joy, an intrinsic, inevitable
           necessity arises to share it. Nobody can contain joy -- and the joy that can be contained by you is not
           of much worth. The joy is bigger than you, it cannot be contained by you. It is a flood! You cannot
           contain it; you have to seek and search for people to share it with.
               What happens in your love affairs happens on a higher plane to all the Buddhas. When Buddha
           became enlightened, he became so full of energy, so full of joy, that he had to share it. For forty-two
           years he went from one village to another, constantly sharing his joy.
               That's what I am doing with you. I am not a teacher. I have nothing to teach, no teaching to
           impart, no information ... but I am here to share my being. I am too full, the cloud is too heavy. And
           if you can receive me, I will be grateful to you.
               It is out of too much that sharing arises. And enlightenment, Buddhahood, Christ-consciousness,
           bridge you with the God. Infinite sources of energy become available to you. Inexhaustible sources
           are yours. You can go on sharing, and the more you share, the more goes on coming to you.
               Aloneness has reached its ultimate peak. The Master is the most alone person in the world, and
           hence the Master is the greatest lover in the world. You cannot find a greater lover than a Buddha or
           a Christ. But now the love is so qualitatively different that it has the quality of friendship,
           compassion, empathy. The passion has disappeared.
               Passion is tiny, small; compassion is immense, huge, enormous, infinite. When passion becomes
           infinite it is compassion.
               Turiya, your experience is beautiful, and you have understood its beauty; hence, you have felt
           like thanking me.

              You say: NEVER BEFORE HAVE I FELT SO MUCH LOVE AND NEVER BEFORE SO
           ALONE.
           Those are two aspects of the same coin.
           And you say: THANK YOU, OSHO.

               YOU HAVE UNDERSTOOD IT. I am happy that you have been able to see the connection
           between love and aloneness. Enjoy both. Never choose one out of the two, because if you choose one
           both will die. Allow both to happen. When aloneness happens, move into it; when love happens,
           move into it. Aloneness means moving in, love means moving out.
               Aloneness is the breath going in, love is the breath going out. And if you stop one, you will die.
           You cannot hold the breath in; you cannot hold the breath out. Breathing is a total process, and in the
           total process the in-coming breath is as much essential as the out-going breath. Love is the out-going
           breath, aloneness is the in-coming breath. And that's how your soul lives; that's how you become
           soulful. .
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Allow both. Never choose! Choicelessly allow both. And go with wherever the breath is going.
           Aloneness is interiority, love is exteriority.
               Carl Gustav Jung has made these words very famous. He divided people basically into two types:
           the introverts and the extroverts. That is a wrong division. People cannot be categorized that way.
           People cannot be pigeon-holed this way. I have never come across anyone who is just introvert -- he
           will die immediately, because he will have only the in-breath. I have never come across a person
           who is just extrovert -- he will die too. People are both.
               It is possible that one is more of an extrovert than an introvert, and vice versa. And that's what
           brings imbalance to your personality. One should be both simultaneously. One should be balanced.
               My sannyasins have to be extrovert introverts, introvert extroverts -- both together. This is one of
           the most important things to be understood, because in the past the monks have tried to be just
           introverts. They were called the other-worldly people, the people who renounce the world and move
           into the monasteries and the mountains and the deserts. They decided that only to be an introvert is
           the right way to connect with God -- as if God is not without, but only within.
               And the other, the worldly person, has remained extrovert. He thinks he has nothing to do with
           introversion, meditation, prayer. His interest is in money, power, prestige, people, crowds -- the
           world. He never looks in. This is a very schizophrenic arrangement.
               I would like my sannyasins not to be schizophrenic but whole. Be in the world and yet be not of
           it. Move between the outside and the inside, and let the movement become as smooth as possible, as
           simple as possible. Just as you come out of your house into the garden: it is too cold inside, you
           come out. It is too sunny outside; soon you start feeling hot, soon you start perspiring, and you move
           in -- into the house, into the coolness and the shade of the house. Just as you move inside the house
           and outside the house, go on moving in and out -- both are yours.
               The old sannyasins, the old monks, claimed only the inner, they denied the outer. My message is:
           Nothing has to be denied -- the whole belongs to you. I give you the whole universe, the inner and
           the outer both. And I would not like you to become introverts, because those who are introverts
           against extroversion become ill, pathological, dormant, stagnant, closed, disconnected, uprooted.
           They start living a windowless existence. They start living in unnecessary misery. They never come
           to know what aloneness is, because aloneness cannot be known without love -- they only know
           loneliness. And loneliness is not health; loneliness is illness.
               And the people who live only in the outside world and never think of the inner, they are on the
           other extreme. They know something of love, but their love is never more than lust -- because love
           cannot happen unless aloneness has also happened in you. Their love is a beautiful name for lust.
           They need the other, they exploit the other, they possess the other. And when you possess the other,
           the other possesses you. People become slaves, and people are reduced to things. People are no more
           people.
               The person who lives only on the outside, without knowing his inside, is poor, very poor --
           unaware of his inner treasures. And the person who lives only in the inside is also poor, because he
           never becomes aware of the beauty of existence, of the stars, of the sands and the sun, of the trees
           and the birds.
               The inner and the outer are not two. The inner is the inner of the outer, and the outer is the outer
           of the inner. My sannyasin has to be both together. I would like to create a new man whom Carl
           Gustav Jung cannot categorize, whom he cannot call extrovert or introvert, for whom he will have to
           find a new word -- because he will be whole, he will be both. He will be as much in his body as in
           his soul; he will be a materialist as much as a spiritualist. He will be of this world as much as of that,
           and he will have no division in his mind, and no choice.
               Turiya, something beautiful has happened to you go on moving in the same direction. Don't go
           astray, because it is very easy to go astray. Our old habits, our old concepts, go on dragging us back
           to the old patterns. Your mind will say, "This is not aloneness, this is loneliness." Your mind will try
           to destroy it by calling it loneliness. Beware! Beware of your own mind! because there is no greater
           enemy than your own mind.
               And by 'mind' I mean your past. Go on dying to the past and go on learning new things. You
           have stumbled upon something tremendously valuable, utterly new and fresh. Love brings aloneness:
           aloneness brings love. That too will happen.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

             Now you have said: NEVER BEFORE HAVE I FELT SO MUCH LOVE AND NEVER
           BEFORE SO ALONE.

               I would like each of my sannyasins to feel like Turiya -- feel alone and feel love. And never
           create any conflict between the two. Create a symphony out of the two, and you will have a richness
           which is very rare.

           The fifth question

              OSHO, IF I EVER GET ENLIGHTENED, AM I GOING TO BE AS CRAZY AS YOU ARE?

              Govind,

               CRAZY YOU WILL BE, but you will be crazy in your own way. You cannot be crazy as I am.
           Your craziness will have an individuality of its own.
               Krishna is crazy in his own way, but it happened only once; it was never repeated. Just think of
           Krishna playing on his flute -- you cannot conceive Christ playing on the flute. He is crazy in his
           own way: he carries his cross. Now what connection can you find between the flute and the cross?
           Just put a flute by the side of the cross and it will look like a very absurd arrangement -- a surrealist
           arrangement. Absurd, utterly absurd.
               Meera became enlightened, and danced and danced. Her whole life she danced from one village
           to another, singing songs of God, of love. And Buddha became enlightened and became utterly
           silent, quiet, still. It is not an accident that the first marble statues made were of Buddha -- he looked
           like a marble statue, he sat like a marble statue. Now, you cannot make a marble statue of Meera; it
           is impossible. She is so volatile. She is more like a river than like a marble rock. You cannot make a
           statue of Meera -- it will be a falsification because the statue will not be able to dance. And without
           dance, there is no Meera. Meera's statues can only be made by fountains, not by marble rocks. Yes,
           in a fountain it is possible to make a statue of Meera, but it has to be dynamic, it has to be a dance.
               Meera is crazy in her own way. And these people are never repeated. Alt enlightened people are
           simply unique. Just the other day I was telling you about the laughing Buddha of Japan -- he laughed
           his whole life. Laughter became his message.
               Govind, God never repeats. He always comes in new forms, new expressions, new revelations.
           And never use the word 'if' -- you ARE going to become enlightened! Don't be so afraid. Why 'if'?
           This is not a question of ifs and buts: you are going to become enlightened -- because enlightenment
           is not something like an achievement, it is your very nature. Any day, turn in, and you are
           enlightened -- any day. Monday will do, Tuesday will do, any day! And there are only seven days....
           Any moment you turn in!
               Enlightenment is not something like a faraway goal; it is very close by, the closest. Even to say
           that it is close is not right -- it is YOU! There is no distinction, no distance between you and
           enlightenment. Know yourself and you are enlightened -- and you are already there! Nothing has to
           be added to your being. All that is needed is a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn... and you will be
           crazy.
               Yes, it is better to call enlightened people crazy, because the so-called sane in the world are
           really insane. If the so-called sane are sane, then Buddha is crazy, Christ is crazy, I am crazy, and
           sooner or later, Govind, you are going to be crazy! And I hope it will be sooner.
               But one thing is certain: you will not be like me -- and you need not be. And it is good that you
           cannot be like me, otherwise there will be imitations, otherwise there will be actors, otherwise there
           will be pseudo people. And many have tried; that's how religions are born. Millions have tried to be
           like Christ; not a single one has become a Christ. Millions have tried and instead of becoming
           Christs they have become Christians -- and to be a Christian is ugly, is stupid, unintelligent.
               To be a Christ is really something, but when you want to be a Christ you cannot imitate Christ.
           Learn from him, imbibe his being, but remember: God will manifest in you in a totally different way.
           And it is unpredictable; no prophecy can be made. I cannot say how he will manifest in you, because
           God is the craziest person in the world -- unpredictable, absolutely unpredictable. He will find a way,
           he will find something new. And it is good that he always finds something new, because through that
           new the world becomes more and more enriched. Just think: Buddha is like Christ, Krishna is also
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           like Christ; Mahavira, Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, all are like Christ... the world would look
           very sad, boring. Wherever you go, you meet Christ. You will get tired. It is good that once in a
           while the cross disappears and the flute appears, and it is good that once in a while God comes
           dancing, and it is good that once in a while he is silent, AND it is also good that once in a while he
           comes with a cross. All shades, all nuances, all dimensions....
               And, Govind, you are a unique person, as everybody else is. No two persons are alike. How can
           two Buddhas be alike? Not even two persons are alike, not even two pebbles on the seashore are
           alike. Your fingerprints are your fingerprints -- what to say about the prints of your inner being?
           They are going to be separate, unique, incomparable.

           The last question


              OSHO, MY CHRISTIAN PARENTS USED TO TALK ABOUT GOD'S PROMISE TO MAN AND THAT
              WHEN JESUS LEFT THIS EARTH HE PROMISED HIS DISCIPLES HE WOULD RETURN TO TAKE
              THEM TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. ARE YOU THIS PROMISE COME TRUE? ARE YOU JESUS
              CHRIST?

              Svarga,

               WHY SHOULD I BE JESUS CHRIST? One is enough! I am myself. I am just my being. I am
           neither Jesus Christ, nor Gautam Buddha, nor Vardhaman Mahavira. Why should I be? How can I
           be? I am not a carbon copy of anybody else; have my original face.
               But such questions arise. You love Jesus Christ and now you have fallen in love with me -- it is
           YOUR PROBLEM! Now you would like to bridge your two loves somehow; there must be a
           conflict inside: what to do now? Now you are in love with me and you have loved Jesus Christ; deep
           down the mind will say, "Are you betraying Jesus? Falling in love with this man?" And you don't
           want to betray Jesus -- and now you cannot betray me either! So the conflict. You would like an
           assurance that I am Jesus Christ so your problem is solved.
               I am the same truth, but not the same expression. I am the same experience, but not the same
           expression. What Jesus knew, I know; what he experienced, I have experienced. But Jesus is Jesus, I
           am me, and that's how it should be.

               A section of Manhattan called the Bowery, home to winos and derelicts, has become the most
           famous Skid Row in the world. Here's one of the reasons why:
               At four o'clock in the morning a drunk staggered into a Bowery flophouse shouting, "I am Jesus
           Christ! I am Jesus Christ!"
               The sleeping men were all awakened. "l am Jesus Christ! I am Jesus Christ!" blurted the wino.
           "Ah, shut up!" howled the hotel inhabitants. "Be quiet!" "I am Jesus Christ!" slobbered the inebriate.
           "I am Jesus Christ!"
           "Will you let us get some sleep!"
           "If you don't believe me, come on downstairs and I will prove it to you!"
               A few of the men got up and followed him outside where he walked up to a darkened saloon and
           began bellowing and banging on the door.
               The proprietor who lived upstairs heard the noise, came down, and opened the front door. He
           looked at the drunk and shouted, "Jesus Christ, are you here again?"
           "You see, I told you!" said the drunk turning to his followers.

               Jesus is beautiful, but there is no need for him to come again -- and I don't think he will dare. Just
           think of what you did with him! He may have promised, "I will come again," but I promise you he
           will never come -- because what you did with him you will do again. It is only new persons who
           become enlightened, not knowing what is going to happen to them...!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                    Chapter #3
                                   Chapter title: The Prints of Your Inner Being
           13 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904130
              ShortTitle: FISH03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 97 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, I HAVE HEARD THAT ENLIGHTENMENT, OR THE NATURAL STATE OF MAN, IS
              SOMETHING ACAUSAL -- IT JUST HAPPENS. AND ALL OUR ENDEAVOURS TO BRING ABOUT
              AWARENESS, TO BE AWARE, ARE ACTUALLY TAKING US AWAY FROM THIS STATE SINCE
              THEY ARE ALL MIND GAMES, AND THESE ACTIVITIES FOR SELF-AWARENESS ARE JUST A
              "HOLY BUSINESS". I CANNOT IMAGINE WHAT MY LIFE WOULD BE IF I GAVE UP THE SEARCH
              SINCE IT HAS PERMEATED MY LIFE AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. IF THERE IS NO WAY TO
              INTEGRATE, NOTHING ONE CAN DO, WHY ALL THIS ACTIVITY? WHY BOTHER? YET WHAT
              ELSE IS THERE TO DO? PLEASE COMMENT.

              Deva Samadhi,


                IT IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS TO BE asked. We will have to go
           deep into it. It is true, absolutely true, that enlightenment is acausal: it cannot be caused by our
           efforts. But that does not mean that you have to cease making efforts, because then too it will not
           happen.
                This mystery, this paradox, has to be understood deeply. The tendency of the logical mind is
           either to decide that enlightenment is causal so that one can make efforts to achieve it, or it is
           acausal, it happens only when it happens of its own accord, then there is no need to make any efforts.
                In both ways you will miss. If you think it is causal, and make efforts, you will miss, because it is
           not causal. If you think it is not causal, that hence there is no need to make any efforts -- why bother?
           -- you will miss again.
                The reality is: you have to make all possible efforts, yet it is not going to happen through your
           efforts, but you will be prepared through your efforts to receive it when it happens.
                It IS acausal. It will happen. It is not a doing on your part. But when it happens, will you be
           ready to see it? That is the point, the very crux of the matter. When it happens, will you be ready to
           recognize it? When it happens, will you be ready to welcome it, to open your heart to it, to receive it
           into your being? Will you be ready to become a host to the guest when it knocks on your doors?
                Your efforts are NOT going to create enlightenment: your efforts are simply going to make you
           more and more available to it, open to it, vulnerable to it. Your efforts are going to make a womb out
           of your being so you can be pregnant with it. It is going to happen from the beyond. And it is not that
           it is going to happen somewhere in the future -- it is ALREADY happening. You are just not ready.
                When it happened to Buddha, it could have happened to the whole earth, to the whole of
           humanity. But Buddha was ready to receive it and others were not ready to receive it. The sun rises:
           it will rise only for those who have eyes, it will not rise for those who are blind.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              If you go to the physician, he can help -- he can help you to get rid of your blindness. His
           medicines are not going to create the sunrise; his medicines are of no use as far as the sunrise is
           concerned. It happens on its own -- it is already happening, happening every day -- but it never
           happens to the blind person or to the person who is not blind yet keeps his eyes closed.
              Samadhi, your efforts will only open your eyes. And this is part of the opening of your eyes -- to
           understand that enlightenment is acausal. But this is not yet your understanding, remember.

               You say: I HAVE HEARD THAT ENLIGHTENMENT OR THE NATURAL STATE OF MAN
           IS SOMETHING ACAUSAL...

                You have heard it. It is not going to help you -- unless you start feeling that it is acausal. And
           how are you going to feel that it is acausal? By making all possible efforts and failing again and
           again and again, one day suddenly the realization happens that efforts can't make it. In that
           realization you don't start thinking, "Why bother?" You don't start thinking of stopping efforts.
           Efforts simply STOP in that understanding. In that understanding efforts evaporate.
                That's how it happened to Gautam the Buddha. For six years he made all possible human efforts
           to achieve it, but because it is not an achievement he could not achieve it. And the more efforts he
           made, the more frustrated he became -- obviously. If you don't make any efforts for it you will not be
           frustrated, and when you make efforts with your total heart, it hurts to fail each time. He staked his
           whole life for it, and yet it was not happening. He was not holding anything back. If he had been
           holding anything back, then this understanding that happened to him would not have been possible --
           that all efforts are futile.
                It happens only to those who are not holding anything back, when you have put all that you have
           at stake, when nothing is left behind, when you are utterly empty, you have emptied yourself totally,
           and it is not happening, then the understanding arises, "My efforts are futile. My efforts are ego
           efforts -- the ego is futile. My efforts are my own mind games. The mind itself is the barrier."
                But this has to become your own experience, Samadhi. It is not going to help if you have heard
           it. You can hear great truths, but unless they arise in your own being they are not true. A heard truth
           is a lie: only an experienced truth is a truth. And only the experienced truth liberates. How will you
           experience it? You would like to have it without any efforts. You would like it to happen as it
           happened to Buddha -- minus those six years that preceded it.
                Those six years of tremendous effort are a must. Then one day suddenly, one evening when the
           sun was setting, the revelation happened to him: "My efforts cannot take me beyond myself." This is
           so natural! It is like pulling yourself up by your own shoestrings -- it is utterly futile. But how is one
           going to know it?
                Those six long years... and they must have looked like sixty years to him, because they were
           really painful. All kinds of ascetic practices, long fasts, torturing the body, doing all kinds of yoga
           exercises, many of which are just stupid: standing on your head, distorting your body, utterly
           ridiculous postures -- he did all! Whatsoever was said to him, he followed it literally, word for word.
           He went to all kinds of teachers; they must have all been pseudo. Not even a single one of them was
           a Buddha, was yet enlightened. They gave him many strategies to work out.
                If he had not been doing them perfectly well, they would have been safe. They would have told
           him, "Because you are not doing totally, hence you are missing." But this was impossible: the man
           was so authentic, so sincere, so innocently total, that even those pseudo teachers had to tell him,
           "Excuse us, forgive us -- this is all we know. And you have done it all, and we cannot expect more
           from you. Now you have to go somewhere else. This is all we know, and now you know that this is
           not going to give you enlightenment -- it has not given enlightenment to us either. But it is very rare
           to find a person like you. People come and they do it very partially. With them we can always say,
           'Because you are not total, hence you are missing,' but we cannot say this to you! Your innocence
           forbids it. Your totality... we are ashamed. In fact, we ourselves have not done these practices so
           totally. Forgive us, and find another teacher. And if you ever find enlightenment, don't forget us. If
           you ever find truth, please remember us -- we are also seeking and searching. We are also blind,"
           those teachers confessed to Buddha.
                After six years of wandering, one evening, sitting silently underneath a tree, by the side of the
           River Niranjana, this revelation welled up within his being: that human effort cannot help you to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           transcend humanity. It can only happen: it cannot be caused. But now these six years of austerity had
           purified him; this fire had made him gold. These six years had helped him to see the utter uselessness
           of the mind. Now he was ready to be silent, effortless, passive.
                That night he slept with no search, not even for truth, because search creates desires, desires can
           be fulfilled only through effort -- the search disappeared! The desires disappeared. The efforts
           disappeared. For the first time he slept totally relaxed -- neither worldly desires tortured him nor
           other-worldly desires. He had no dreams that night, that was the first night without dreams, because
           dreams are a by-product of your desires. The worldly people dream of worldly things, the
           other-worldly people dream of other-worldly things. And the worldly people are not so much
           deceived, because if in the night you see a dream that you have come upon a great treasure of
           diamonds -- in the morning you know that it was only a dream. But the other-worldly people are
           very much deceived by their dreams.
                Somebody sees Krishna playing on his flute; somebody sees Jesus Christ, somebody sees Rama,
           and so on and so forth. And they cannot say that these are dreams, they are so valuable to them. They
           start thinking that these are experiences. These are dreams! as much as other dreams.
                And the other-worldly person starts hallucinating in the day too, even with open eyes -- because
           the worldly man is in the world, and in the world you cannot hallucinate because others will think
           you are mad. In the world you live with objects, and you have to prove to others that what you are
           seeing is a reality. The treasures of your dreams, nobody is going to believe in them. There are so
           many non-believers around you; they will ask for proofs and proofs you cannot supply. So you can
           dream only in the night. But the other-worldly, those who have escaped from the world, a person
           who lives in isolation in a Himalayan cave, has no need to prove; there is nobody to prove to and
           nobody asks him. He has dropped the objective world; now he lives in his subjectivity -- he can
           dream in the day, he can dream with open eyes.
                It is now a well-known, well-established psychological fact that if people go on a long fast in
           isolation, after the first week they start hallucinating, and after the third week they lose ALL
           distinction between what is real and what is unreal. After the third week of fasting, the reality and
           the dream start getting mixed up.
                It is like small children: small children don't know what is real and what is unreal. So sometimes
           a child who was dreaming about a beautiful toy wakes up and starts crying for it. And the mother
           goes on trying to convince him that it was only a dream, but he says, "It was here -- how can it be a
           dream? I had it! Where has my toy gone? Bring it back to me!"
                The same thing happens in deep isolation. If it is a prolonged thing, a three weeks' fast in an
           isolated cave in the Himalayas, slowly slowly you will start hallucinating. Then you see Krishna
           playing on the flute -- not only that: he starts talking to you. Not only that -- he starts playing with
           you And because it is thought to be spiritual.... It is simple madness! But because it is thought to be
           spiritual you feel very very gratified, your ego feels very fulfilled. You brag about it, that Krishna
           has appeared, that you have talked with Krishna, that you have played with him, that he was playing
           on the flute and you danced around him.
                And there are other fools also who will believe it. The whole world is full of superstitious people.
                Buddha lived those six long years through all kinds of things like this. It is only by experiencing
           these things that one day one can conclude that this is all nonsense. And when it is your own
           realization that it is all nonsense, you need not drop it: it simply disappears.
                That night he slept without dreams. And in the early morning when he opened his eyes and the
           last star was disappearing, something in him disappeared -- the ego. He became enlightened .
                THIS enlightenment is not something that has come from the outside -- it is your intrinsic nature.
           It has come from within. But the within and the beyond are synonymous: the within is the beyond. It
           is through the within that the beyond penetrates.
                Then Buddha said, "Enlightenment is not an achievement -- it is a gift from existence." But those
           six years had prepared him to receive it.
                Samadhi, prepare yourself to receive it. It is acausal, but that does not mean that you have to stop
           all efforts. If you stop, you will miss. If they stop on their own, because your understanding has
           penetrated so deeply that it is impossible to make any effort any more, even if you want to you
           cannot, in that state of effortless passivity you become the host and God becomes the guest.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The second question


              OSHO, I FEEL NEGATIVE ABOUT MYSELF: HOW DO YOU SEE ME?

              Swami Prem Asutosh,


               IT IS NOT ONLY YOUR PROBLEM -- it is the problem of almost everybody. All the cultures
           and all the religions have been conditioning you to feel negative about yourself. Nobody is loved,
           appreciated, for just being himself or herself. You are asked to prove whether you are of any worth:
           "Bring gold medals from the university! Achieve success, money, power, prestige, respectability!
           Prove!" Your worth is not intrinsic; that's what has been taught to you. Your worth has to be proved.
               Hence a deep antagonism towards oneself arises, a deep feeling that I am worthless as I am --
           unless proved otherwise." And very few people can succeed in this competitive world. Millions and
           millions of people are competing. How many people can succeed? How many people can become
           presidents and prime ministers? In a country of millions, only one person will become the president;
           and deep down everybody is hankering for it. Millions will feel that they are unworthy.
               How many people can become great poets? A Shakespeare. a Milton, a Shelley, a Rabindranath
           -- how many people can become great poets? And everybody has something of the poetic in his
           being; everybody has some poetry to give to the world. But when it becomes an ambition... ambition
           in itself is anti-poetic. How many people can become great painters like Picasso or Dali? And
           everybody has something to create.
               The idea of success is torturing you. It is the greatest calamity that has happened to humanity, the
           idea of success, that you have to succeed. And success means you have to compete, you have to
           fight, by fair or foul means -- it doesn't matter. Once you succeed everything is okay. The question is
           of success. even if by foul means you succeed, once you are successful whatsoever you have done is
           okay. Success changes the quality of all your acts. Success changes evil means into good means. So
           the only question is: How to succeed? How to reach to the top? And naturally, very few people can
           reach to the top. If everybody is trying to reach Everest. how many people can stand there? There is
           not much space there; only one person can stand there at ease. Then the millions who were also
           striving will feel failure, a great despair will settle in their souls. They will start feeling negative.
               This is a wrong kind of education. It is utterly poisonous, this so-called education that has been
           given to you. Your schools, colleges, your universities, are poisoning you. They are creating misery
           for you; they are the factories where hells are manufactured -- but in such a beautiful way that you
           never become aware of what is going on. The whole world has become a hell because of a wrong
           education. Any education that is based on the idea of ambition is going to create hell on the earth -- it
           has succeeded.
               Everybody is suffering and feeling inferior. This is really a strange situation. NOBODY IS
           inferior, and nobody is superior, because each individual is unique -- no comparison is possible. You
           are you, and you are SIMPLY YOU, and you cannot be anybody else, and there is no need either.
           And you need not become famous, you need not be a success in the eyes of the world. Those are all
           foolish ideas.
               All that you need is to be creative, loving, aware, meditative... if you feel poetry arising in you,
           write it for yourself, for your woman, for your children, for your friends -- and forget all about it!
           Sing it, and if nobody listens, sing it alone and enjoy it! Go to the trees and they will applaud and
           appreciate it. Or talk to the birds and the animals, and they will understand far more than the stupid
           human beings who have been poisoned for centuries and centuries with wrong concepts of life.
           The ambitious person is pathological.

           You say: I FEEL NEGATIVE ABOUT MYSELF.
              Everybody is feeling negative about himself, because that's how he has been made to feel. Your
           parents have done it to you -- this is a heritage, a great heritage. Your teachers have done it to you,
           your priests have done it to you, your political leaders have done it to you -- and so many people are
           doing it that, naturally, you have become impressed by the very idea that you are worthless, that you
           don't have any intrinsic meaning or value, that you don't have any significance of your own.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Each parent is saying to the child, to each child, "Prove that you have some worth!" Being, just
           being, is not enough -- some doing is needed.
               My whole approach is that being is intrinsically valuable. Just that you are is such a gift from
           God, what more can you ask for? Just to breathe in this beautiful existence is certificate enough that
           God loves you, that existence needs you; otherwise you would not be here. YOU ARE! Existence
           has given birth to you. There must have been an immense need -- you have filled a gap. Without you
           existence would be less. And when I say this, I am saying it not only to you: I am saying it to the
           trees, to the birds, to the animals, to the pebbles on the shore. A single pebble less on the immense
           seashore and the seashore would not be the same. A single flower less and the universe would miss
           it.
               You have to learn that you are valuable as you are. And I am not teaching you any ego -- just the
           contrary. In the feeling that you are valuable as you are you will also feel others are valuable as they
           are. Accept people as they are; drop shoulds, oughts -- those are the enemies.
               And you are carrying so many shoulds: "Do this and don't do that!" You are carrying so many
           dos and don'ts that you cannot dance; the burden is too heavy. And you have been given so many
           ideals and goals -- ideals of perfection -- that you always feel you are falling short. And the ideals
           are utterly impossible. You cannot fulfill them; there is no possibility of fulfilling them. So you will
           ALWAYS fall short.
               To be a perfectionist is to be ready for the psychiatrist's couch; to be a perfectionist is to be a
           neurotic. And you have all been told to be perfect.
               Life is beautiful in all its imperfections. Nothing is perfect. Let me say to you: even God is not
           perfect -- because if God is perfect then Friedrich Nietzsche is right that God is dead. Perfection
           means death! Perfection means now there is no possibility of growth. Perfection means now
           everything is finished. Imperfection means there is a possibility to grow. Imperfection means the
           excitement of new pastures, ecstasy, adventure. Imperfection means that you are alive, that life is
           going to be there.
               And life is eternal, hence I say life is eternally imperfect. And there is nothing wrong in being
           imperfect. Accept your imperfection. And then the idea of being negative towards yourself will
           disappear. Accept your present state and don't compare it with some future perfection, future ideal.
           Don't think in terms of how you should be! That is the root of all pathology -- drop that. You are as
           you are today, and tomorrow you may be different, but you cannot predict it today, and there is no
           need to plan for it either.
               Live this day in all its beauty, in all its joy, in all its pain, agony, ecstasy. Live it in its totality --
           in its darkness, in its light. Live the hate and live the love. Live the anger and live the compassion.
           Live whatsoever is available in this moment. My approach is not that of perfection but that of
           totality. Live the moment that is available to you totally, and the next moment will be born out of it.
           If this moment has been lived totally, the next is going to reach a higher pitch of totality. a higher
           peak of totality -- because from where is the next moment going to come? It is going to be born out
           of this moment. Forget all about the future -- the present is enough.
               Jesus says: "Think not of the morrow, and look at the lilies in the field! how beautiful they are.
           Even Solomon was not so beautiful attired in all his grandeur."
               And what is the secret of the beautiful lilies, the poor lilies? The secret is simple: they think not
           of the morrow, they don't know anything of the future. Tomorrow exists not. This day is enough unto
           itself, this moment is enough unto itself.
               And, Asutosh, your feeling of negativity about yourself will disappear. Remember, if you feel
           negative about yourself, you will automatically feel negative about others. That is a necessary
           corollary. It has to be understood.

               THE PERSON WHO IS NEGATIVE ABOUT HIMSELF cannot be positive about anybody else
           either, because the faults that he finds in himself he will find in others -- in fact he will magnify them
           in others. He will take revenge. Your parents have made you negative about yourself, you will take
           revenge on your children you will make them even more negative.
               Hence, negativity goes on growing with each generation. Each generation becomes more and
           more pathological. If the modern man is suffering psychologically so much it has nothing to do with
           the modern man himself: it simply shows that the whole past has been wrong. It is all accumulation
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of the whole past. The modern man is suffering from the past; the modern man is not suffering from
           his own sins as the so-called religious preachers go on saying to you. You are suffering from the sins
           of centuries... but now things have come to a peak. Man is falling apart. Up to now somehow we
           have managed to keep ourselves together, but now things have come to such a point that either man
           has to change totally and has to change his vision of life, or man has to commit suicide.
               If you follow the past, then you are on the verge of committing a global suicide. And that's what
           your political leaders are trying to do: preparing atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, super hydrogen
           bombs -- piling up bombs upon bombs. They already have too many! In fact, just ten years ago they
           were already capable of killing each person seven times. Ten years ago they were ready to destroy
           this earth seven times, although a person dies only once -- you need not kill him twice, that will be
           unnecessary. But in case somebody survives, politicians have to take care -- they plan perfectly. But
           that is how things were ten years ago.
               Now, you will be surprised: they can destroy this earth seven hundred times -- each single person
           can be killed seven hundred times! Now this is too much, and absolutely unnecessary. Seven is okay
           -- there are a few cunning people who may not die. But seven hundred times!? And still the race
           continues. Even poor countries are joining the race hankering to join it -- starving, but they want
           atom bombs. Starving! but they want more power to kill and destroy.
               Just a bird's eye view and you can see the earth is preparing for a global suicide, a total
           destruction, a total war. And remember again, this has nothing to do with the modern man as such.
           The modern man is only a victim of the whole past. And the priests go on saying that something is
           wrong with the modern man, and they go on praising the past.
               The modern man is a by-product of the whole past! Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, Buddhist --
           all kinds of cultures have contributed to this situation. They are responsible. Unless they all
           disappear, unless we drop this whole pathological past and start anew, living in the present, with no
           idea of perfection, with no ideals, with no shoulds, with no commandments, man is doomed.
               Everybody is feeling negative. One may say it, one may not say it. And when one feels negative
           about oneself, one feels negative about everything else. One's attitude becomes negative, that of a
           NO. And if the negative person is taken to the rosebush he will count the thorns, he will not look at
           the rose flower -- he cannot. He is not capable of that. He will simply ignore the roseflower, he will
           count the thorns.

               A woman was very unhappy. Her husband was seriously ill in hospital, and her son had just been
           arrested on a drug charge. So she went to the park to sit in the sun and refresh herself. She sat on a
           bench. As she watched, a little bird flew from a tree on one side of the bench towards a tree on the
           other side. When it passed over the woman, it let loose a little birdshit which hit her on the forehead.
           The woman's eyes lifted towards heaven, her hands came up, and she said, "You see how it is, God --
           for other people they sing!"

               If you are feeling negative, then the whole life becomes a dark night. Then there are no more
           dawns, then the mornings are never there. Then the sun only sets and never rises. Then your dark
           nights are not even full of stars. What to say about stars? You don't even have a small candle.
               The negative person lives in darkness, lives a kind of death. He slowly dies. That's what he
           thinks life is. He goes on poisoning himself in many ways; he is self-destructive. And, naturally,
           whosoever comes in contact with him, he destroys him too. A negative mother will destroy the child.
           The negative husband will destroy the wife; the negative wife will destroy the husband. The negative
           parents will destroy their children; the negative teacher will destroy his students. The negative
           priest... and all priests are negative. It is very rarely that you come across a man like Buddha or
           Christ or Mohammed, who is not negative -- but they are not priests: they are prophets. They bring
           new visions to life.
               Priests exploit the prophets' vision; they distort it. They interpret it in such ways that it becomes a
           strategy to dominate people. Christ is not a Christian, remember; Christ was never a Christian.
           Christianity is created by the priests; Christianity is the creation of Saint Paul. He is the real founder
           of Christianity -- not Jesus Christ.
               It is not Buddha who is the founder of Buddhism, but the priests who followed.... And it is so
           with every religion. Whenever a truth has entered into somebody's being, whenever somebody has
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           received God, priests gather together around him. They never miss the opportunity -- they are the
           most cunning people. They start exploiting the situation. And once the enlightened person is gone,
           then the priests become the masters, the owners.
                The past has been created by the priests. It is a negative past -- life-denying, anti-life, anti-love,
           anti-joy, anti-celebration. It has created only two kinds of people in the world those who are sincere
           -- just like you, Asutosh -- those who are sincere, they are suffering from negativity, anguish,
           despair; and those who are not sincere, they have become hypocrites. They go on talking about the
           anti-life religious teachings, and from the backdoor they live a totally different life. On the surface
           they are spiritualists, deep down they are materialists.
                And, remember, I am not against materialism: I am against hypocrisy. I would like everybody to
           be a materialist and a spiritualist, because you are both body and soul, because God is both God and
           the universe. The universe is his manifestation. Your body is the manifestation of your soul.
                In the past, because the religions talked in terms of anti-materialism they created two kinds of
           people: sincere people who had to declare that they were materialists -- and that is not good; because
           of that declaration they became closed to the spiritual dimension -- and then there were insincere,
           cunning people who talked about spiritualism and remained materialists.
                You can see it in this country. My own experience is -- and I have known all kinds of people;
           here with me there are all kinds of people from almost every country of the world -- my own
           experience is that Indians are the most materialistic. They talk about spiritualism, they brag about
           spiritualism, but all that bragging and all that talking is just to hide, to cover their reality. They are
           hypocrites.
                The more religious a country pretends to be, the more hypocritical it is. And then man is split.
           Either the spiritual dimension becomes closed, or you become a split person. And both alternatives
           are wrong.
                A new man is needed who will affirm life, who will love life, who will love love, who will love
           this existence AS it is, who will not make demands that first it has to be perfect, who will celebrate
           life with all its limitations. And that new man is my sannyasin.
                My sannyasin heralds the new man, a new beginning, a disconnection from the past, a
           discontinuity from the past. I don't want you to be hypocrites: I want you to be real, authentic human
           beings. Love your body, live your body to its totality. Love your instincts, your desires, and live
           them in their totality.
                And you will be surprised: if you love your life, life starts opening its doors to you. If you love,
           mysteries are revealed to you, secrets are handed over to you. If you love your body, sooner or later
           you will become aware of the soul that resides in it. If you love the trees and the mountains and the
           rivers, sooner or later you will see the invisible hands of God behind everything. His signature is on
           every leaf. You just need eyes to see -- and only positive eyes can see; negative eyes cannot see.
           Negative eyes are blind! Negative eyes only see the wrong.

              You ask me, Asutosh: I FEEL NEGATIVE ABOUT MYSELF: HOW DO YOU SEE ME?

               I SEE YOU AS A BEING A BEAUTIFUL PERSON. I see you as of great worth, significance. If
           God has given birth to you, that is proof enough! -- no other proof is needed -- that you are fulfilling
           some immense need of the universe. Start loving yourself, because that is the only way to love
           others, that is the only way to love God. If you cannot love yourself, how can you love your creator?
           If you hate yourself, you will hate your creator too -- because finally HE is responsible. He has
           created an unworthy person like you. He has made you ugly. He has given you wrong, evil desires.
           He is the culprit! Condemning your own instincts, your own desires, yom own life, you are
           condemning, vicariously, God himself
               Accept yourself, otherwise you will become a hypocrite. Don't repress -- nothing is negative in
           you. Existence is utterly positive. Express... manifest your hiddenmost core. Sing your song, and
           don't be worried what it is. Don't expect anybody to applaud it -- there is no need. Singing in itself
           should be the reward.
               I would not like you to become a hypocrite. And who is a hypocrite? The person who says
           something, believes something, and lives just the contrary.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Father Flanagan is walking through the village when he is hailed by Mrs. O'Rourke. "Would ye
           be joining us, father?" she calls out. "It is a bit of a party we are having."
           "I wish I could," replies the good father, "but I have to go and say mass."
           "What a pity," says the woman, "a fine party it is, and we are playing some lovely games. We
           blindfolded the women, the men took off their trousers, and the women have been guessing who is
           who. And would you believe it, father, your name has been called out five times already!"

                Beware! One cannot live in the negative. One can think negatively but one has to live positively.
           You cannot live in the no, because the no has no nourishment in it, and the no has no space in it. No
           is a death! One can die in a no, but one cannot live in a no.
                If you want to really live, you will need a deep yes in your heart. It is only yes that allows you to
           live. It gives you nourishment, it gives you space to move. Just watch the word! Even repeating the
           word 'yes'... and something starts opening up in you. Say no and something shrinks. Say no, repeat
           no, and you are killing yourself Say yes and you will feel overflowing. Say yes and you are ready to
           love, to live, to be.
                Asutosh, to me, each individual is superb, is unique. I don't compare any individual; comparison
           is not my way, because comparison is always ugly and violent. I will not say you are superior to
           others, I will not say you are inferior to anybody -- you are just yourself And you are needed as you
           are. And you are incomparable -- as everybody else is.

           The third question


              OSHO, YOU SAY, "DO NOT IMITATE CHRIST, BUDDHA OR YOU," BUT CANNOT ONE LEARN BY
              IMITATION? CANNOT ONE LEARN BY FOLLOWING? CANNOT ONE BECOME ONE'S TRUE SELF
              BY THE LIGHT OF CHRIST, BUDDHA OR YOU?

              Anand,


                TO IMITATE IS TO GO AGAINST YOURSELF. To imitate simply means you are denying
           yourself and you are imposing somebody else upon you. Love Christ if you can find him, but don't
           imitate him. Understand the Buddha if by chance you meet him, but don't follow him. You are here
           with me: BE with me in deep love, in deep trust; allow me to have a communion with your heart --
           let our hearts meet, merge, mingle with each other. But please don't imitate me, don't follow me.
                You have to go on your own. You have to be a light unto yourself. You have to BE YOURSELF!
           If you imitate Christ you will be a Christian but never a Christ -- and to be a Christian is ugly, and to
           be a Christ is one of the most beautiful happenings. The most precious happening in the world is to
           be a Christ.
                To be a Buddha means to be awakened to your inner light. How can you be awakened by
           following somebody? My sannyasins are not my followers, they are my friends, they are my lovers.
           They are not my followers! I am not giving you any instructions about how to live; I am not giving
           you any commandments about how to behave. I am not giving you any character to cultivate. I am
           simply sharing my insight -- I am simply sharing with you what has happened to me. I am simply
           telling my story to you. And I am grateful that you are listening to it.
                Just listen to it as totally as possible, and then something will start happening in you. It will not
           be a following, it will not be an imitation. It will not be caused by me: it will be a synchronicity. It
           will be acausal.
                The law of synchronicity has to be understood. This is one of the greatest contributions of Carl
           Gustav Jung to modern humanity: the law of synchronicity.
                Science is based on the law of causality. The law of causality is mechanical. You heat water to a
           hundred degrees -- it evaporates. Where you heat it is irrelevant -- in the temple, in the church, in the
           mosque, it doesn't matter; in India, in Tibet, it doesn't matter. If you heat water to a hundred degrees,
           it evaporates; the water has no say in it. The water cannot say, "Today I am not feeling like it." Or,
           "Today is Sunday and I am on a holiday, and I am not interested in becoming vapour." Or, "Today I
           am not in the mood, and you can go on heating and heating and I will not evaporate." Or, "Today I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           am suddenly feeling very generous towards you so I will evaporate at fifty degrees. I will favour
           you." No, the water has no choice. The law is mechanical, it is causal. If you create the cause, the
           effect HAS to follow. And it is without any exception.
                Because of this law of causality, science cannot believe in the existence of soul, in the existence
           of consciousness, in the existence of God -- because they are non-mechanical phenomena. The very
           methodology of science prevents it from accepting them; they cannot be absorbed in the scientific
           world. They will disturb it, they will destroy its whole edifice. They have to be kept out -- God, soul,
           consciousness, love -- they have all to be kept outside the temple of science. They cannot be allowed
           in. They are dangerous: they will sabotage its whole structure. They are acausal. But they must be
           following some other law.
                The credit goes to Carl Gustav Jung. The law has been known down the ages, but nobody had
           named it exactly. He called it 'the law of synchronicity'. It suddenly happened to a scientist. A
           scientist a hundred years ago was staying in an old house. In that old house there were two old
           clocks on the same wall. He was surprised to see that they always kept exactly the same time, second
           to second: "Old clocks, and so perfect? Not even a single second's difference?"
                Being a scientist he became curious. He put one clock five minutes back, and after twenty-four
           hours in the morning when he looked again, they were again keeping the same time. Now it was a
           great puzzle. He enquired... nobody had changed, nobody had touched anything. He tried again and
           again, and again and again they would come to the same rhythm. Then he tried to find out: "What is
           happening? -- something strange. They are disconnected!"
                Then he observed more minutely and he came to conclude: "The vibration of the one clock,
           which is more powerful, the bigger clock, goes through the wall -- just the vibration -- and keeps the
           other clock in tune. It is a subtle rhythm. Nothing is visible."
                That was the beginning of a new phenomenon... then many many more things happened. And by
           the time Carl Gustav Jung started working on how things happen in consciousness, he came to
           conclude that the vibe of one heart, if it is powerful enough, can change the rhythm of another heart
           -- just like the bigger clock was changing the smaller clock.
                The vibe is invisible. There is not yet any way to measure it, but it is there. It is not tangible, but
           it functions. It is not causal.
                That's what happens in SATSANG -- in communion with a Master. If you are with a Christ, he is
           a tremendous power -- he is God! He is a window to God. God is flowing through him. If you come
           close to him -- and that's what disciplehood is all about: to come close to a Master, to come close to a
           window from whom God is flowing -- his power, his vibe, will set the rhythm of your heart. It is
           acausal, one of those mysterious intangibles, but it has been happening down the ages.
                Have you watched it? Two lovers, if they are really lovers, and deep in intimacy, slowly slowly
           start looking alike -- that is synchronicity. You can see it: real lovers, slowly slowly start looking
           like brother and sister. Something in them starts becoming synchronized, they start having the same
           rhythm.
                The mother and the child have the same rhythm; hence, now it is a known fact, and even
           scientifically proved, that if a child is killed thousands of miles away from the mother, something in
           the heart of the mother feels the pain. She may not be able to understand it, what is happening; she
           may not be able to explain it. She may not know anything about what is happening to her child, but if
           something is happening to the child and the child is thousands of miles away -- that doesn't make any
           difference -- the mother's heart immediately starts feeling it. Something is broken in her heart too.
                Just the other day a sannyasin wrote to me that his mother died a few days ago -- just now he has
           received the telegram. And he is puzzled, because the day she died he was in such agony, with no
           physical problem, with no psychological problem, with no visible came, but in such agony, such
           terrible agony, as he has never been before.
                This is synchronicity. The mother and the child have lived together for nine months, the child
           lives in the mother's womb; his heart beats in rhythm with the mother's heart, his blood pulsates in
           rhythm with the mother's blood -- he is not separate at all! He is one with the mother. And that
           oneness persists.
                When two lovers become really intimate, when they don't have any secrets from each other,
           when they are really open to each other, when they are not afraid of each other and not hiding
           anything from each other... that is intimacy. When they can say each and everything without any fear
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that the other will be offended or hurt.... If the lover thinks the other will be offended, then the
           intimacy is not yet enough. Then it is a kind of arrangement which can be broken by anything. But
           when two lovers start feeling that there is nothing to hide and everything can be said, and the trust
           has come to such a depth, where even if you don't say it the other is going to know, then they start
           becoming one. Then they start becoming more like brother and sister.
               Many people become puzzled... just a few nights ago, a couple came to me and the husband was
           very much puzzled. He said, "What is happening to us? We are no more husband and wife -- all sex
           has disappeared, but still we feel a deep intimacy." And I told them, "Something immensely valuable
           is happening. You are becoming brother and sister. Your love is taking on a new dimension, a higher
           one -- that of non-sexuality. It is becoming purer."
               Hearing it, immediately everything became clear to them. They hugged each other, tears started
           flowing from their eyes. It was a beautiful scene to see -- they understood it. Yes, it clicked. Yes,
           that's what is happening. They were worried because they came from the West -- the East has always
           known it: that if love deepens it transforms the relationship; husbands and wives become brothers
           and sisters. And ultimately a moment comes when not even brothers and sisters... a kind of oneness
           arises, they become one.

               THIS IS SYNCHRONICITY! And this is what happens between the Master and the disciple --
           on a far deeper level than any other love, on a far higher plane than any other intimacy. You need not
           imitate Buddha, you need not imitate me, you need not follow Christ or Krishna or Mohammed. If
           you are fortunate enough to be with an alive Master, just become vulnerable to him. Let intimacy
           happen, come closer and closer. Drop your defences and armours. And the powerful dynamo of the
           Master, his magnetic field, his Buddhafield, will transform you. And he will not even give you any
           commandment. And his transformation will not be something imposed on you but something stirred
           within you that will bring your own being alive.
               Real life is not acting. Imitation is acting. Imitation is superficial. Real life is not a game, and if
           you are playing games you will never be real and you will not know what real life is.

               An actor who had not worked for some time was offered a one line replacement in a show. He
           practised the line all the way to the theater: "Hark, I hear the cannon's roar. Hark, I hear the cannon's
           roar."
               Having gone through all the possibilities, he decided on the best one. When he arrived at the
           theater they told him his line was just about to come up and asked him if he was ready. He said he
           was. They pushed him out on to the stage to an enormous sound of cannons roaring. The actor
           jumped with fright and said, "Christ, what the hell was that?"

                Life is a constant surprise. If you are a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan you are going to
           miss it. You cannot depend on rehearsals, and you cannot depend on playing superficial games. And
           that's what is happening: people in the churches are just playing the game of being Christians. In
           their real life they have nothing to do with Christ. Has any Christian anything to do with Christ?
                Just watch. Christ says: "Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom of God." But look at
           Christians: they have become the most powerful religion in the world. The Pope is not meek; he has
           the greatest empire in the world -- all the Rockefellers and all the Morgans and all the Fords have
           nothing.... In fact, I am always puzzled how the Jews missed such a big opportunity, and the poor
           Italians befooled them! Such a business!
                And you will become ugly if you imitate, you will become distorted -- because trying to become
           like Christ you will have to cut many things here and there.
                Do you know that in the ancient scriptures Christ is described as a hunchback? And do you know
           his height? -- four feet five inches. And the ancient scriptures say he was one of the most ugly of
           men. Now, try to be Jesus Christ -- become a hunchback, cut your legs or your head, and distort your
           face and become the ugliest of men.

               A man went into a tailor's shop. He tried on a sports jacket; the tailor took a tuck. The man's
           shoulder went up three inches. The tailor said, "That's fine -- I will fix it." He made another
           adjustment; the man's arm twisted into an awkward position. And an hour later he walked out in his
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           newly fitted jacket.
               Two elderly women noticed him. The first one watching him from across the street said, "Isn't
           that a shame -- such a handsome young man and so hopelessly crippled!"
               Her friend nodded, "Yes, but doesn't that jacket fit him beautifully?"

           Avoid such jackets and avoid all rehearsals.

               Giant Polish dockworker, Kraczewski, was considered by most of the longshoremen to be a great
           lover. They claimed he could make love to twenty girls in an hour. When some disbelieving seamen
           showed up, bets were made and the next night twenty girls were lined up in one of the warehouses.
               The big Polack went to work. He had made love to the first dozen when suddenly he fell to the
           floor in a state of exhaustion. His pals rushed up to him screaming, "What happened?"
           "I dunno," answered Kraczewaski. "I did okay this afternoon at the rehearsal!"




                                   The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                   Chapter #4
                                       Chapter title: Wake Up! Wake Up!
           14 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904140
              ShortTitle: FISH04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 104 mins




              FRIEND, WAKE UP! WHY DO YOU GO ON SLEEPING? THE NIGHT IS OVER -- DO YOU WANT
              TO LOSE THE DAY THE SAME WAY? OTHER WOMEN WHO MANAGED TO GET UP EARLY
              HAVE ALREADY FOUND AN ELEPHANT OR A JEWEL.... SO MUCH WAS LOST ALREADY WHILE
              YOU SLEPT... AND THAT WAS SO UNNECESSARY!



              THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU UNDERSTOOD BUT YOU DID NOT. YOU FORGOT TO MAKE A
              PLACE IN YOUR BED NEXT TO YOU. INSTEAD YOU SPENT YOUR LIFE PLAYING. IN YOUR
              TWENTIES YOU DID NOT GROW BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW WHO YOUR LORD WAS.
              WAKE UP! WAKE UP! THERE'S NO ONE IN YOUR BED -- HE LEFT YOU DURING THE LONG
              NIGHT.



              Kabir says: THE ONLY WOMAN AWAKE IS THE WOMAN WHO HAS HEARD THE FLUTE!



              I PLAYED FOR TEN YEARS WITH THE GIRLS MY OWN AGE BUT NOW I AM SUDDENLY IN
              FEAR. I AM ON THE WAY UP SOME STAIRS -- THEY ARE HIGH. YET I HAVE TO GIVE UP MY
              FEARS IF I WANT TO TAKE PART IN THIS LOVE.



              I HAVE TO LET GO THE PROTECTIVE CLOTHES AND MEET HIM WITH THE WHOLE LENGTH
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OF MY BODY. MY EYES WILL HAVE TO BE THE LOVE-CANDLES THIS TIME.

              Kabir says: MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WILL UNDERSTAND THIS POEM. IF WHAT YOU FEEL
              FOR THE HOLY ONE IS NOT DESIRE THEN WHAT'S THE USE OF DRESSING WITH SUCH
              CARE AND SPENDING SO MUCH TIME MAKING YOUR EYELIDS DARK?



              FRIEND WAKE UP! WAKE UP!


               THIS HAS BEEN THE CALL OF ALL THE BUDDHAS down the centuries. They have been
           shouting from the housetops. Everybody hears it, but nobody listens. Everybody knows it, but
           nobody understands. And knowledge is futile -- it is only understanding that liberates. And hearing is
           of no use -- unless you listen.
               Anybody who is not deaf is capable of hearing, but listening is a totally different matter,
           qualitatively different. It has nothing to do with your ears: it has something to do with your heart.
           When your ears and your heart are joined together, listening happens. If the heart is not in the ears,
           you hear, but hearing is not going to help. It will make you more knowledgeable. But to become
           more knowledgeable is to create more hindrances between you and the Beloved.
               Knowledge can never become a bridge, it is always a wall. It divides you from the ultimate, from
           the immediate, from the whole. It cannot connect you -- only love connects. But love is of the heart;
           it has nothing to do with the head. Knowledge gathers in the head; memory accumulates it. The ego
           enjoys it.
               Love wells up in the heart. And love is another name for understanding. It is only the eyes of
           love which can see, and the ears of love which can hear.
               Existence is not a problem that can be solved by the head. It is not a riddle to be figured out: it is
           a poem to be sung, it is a dance to be danced. It is a love affair! Existence is a mystery -- with no
           solution, because it is not a problem in the first place. It cannot be solved: it has to be lived.
               And when the Buddhas call "Wake up! Wake up!" what do they mean? They mean that your
           heart is asleep. Your head is very awake, but the awakening of the head is in reality a metaphysical
           sleep. Unless the heart wakes up, you are only dreaming -- dreams and dreams, even dreams that you
           are awake, dreams of wakefulness, dreams of becoming religious, dreams of becoming saints, holy,
           but they are all dreams.
               People even think about God! It is such an absurdity. People even try to prove God through
           arguments. God cannot be proved, because anything that can be proved can also be disproved. If
           God depends on logic, then logic is God, then logic is higher than God. No, God does not depend on
           logic. In fact, if you are too logical, you will not be able at all to sense the presence of God in
           existence. And the loss is going to be yours, because not to feel the presence of God in existence is
           to miss the whole point of life.
               And man lives in thoughts, arguments, theories, philosophies. And the danger is that if you talk
           too much about God and you read too much about God and you discuss too much about God, you
           may be able to deceive yourself Millions have deceived themselves in this way.

               A seminarian, ordained during his last semester, dressed in his black suit, his gleaming white
           collar, his well-polished shoes, contemplated himself in the mirror. Pleased with what he saw, he
           decided to deprive the world of his services no longer and went forth to do God's bidding on Ninth
           Avenue in New York City.
               As he stood on the kerb, hands in pockets, wondering what TO do, he was observed by a drunk
           who seemed unimpressed. Their eyes met and the drunk said, "Sonny, what the hell do you know
           about God?"
               The young man made no reply, went to his room, removed his clerical garb, and wondered what
           the hell he did know about God.

               You can study, you can go to the universities, to theological colleges; you can have degrees in
           religious philosophy -- and yet you will never know God. That is not the way -- that is the barrier.
               God is known through the heart! Let it sink deep into your being: God is only known through the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heart. So when the Buddhas say "Wake up!" they mean let your heart be awake. And what is the
           meaning of the heart being awake? When the head is awake, it thinks, it spins, weaves, beautiful
           systems of thought. And when the heart is awake, it sings songs of love. It celebrates -- just the sheer
           joy of being is enough to celebrate. It loves -- the love is unaddressed; the love is not flowing
           towards a particular object. When the heart is awake, it starts flowing in all directions. It loves the
           whole, it simply loves -- it is love.
               That's what Kabir is going to say to you today. HIS sutras are of immense beauty. Each single
           word has to be meditated upon. Remember I am not saying 'think upon', I am saying 'meditate'. I am
           saying: Be silent and still and let his song sink in your heart. Let it stir your heart, let it awaken your
           sleeping energies of love, joy, bliss.
               Religion is a celebration. You cannot be indoctrinated in religion, because religion is not a
           doctrine at all. It is a very mad love affair.

              FRIEND WAKE UP! WHY DO YOU GO ON SLEEPING?

               Man is deep asleep. What does his sleep consist of? He is asleep because he has forgotten the
           route to his heart. He is alert as far as mathematics is concerned; he is fully alert as far as calculation
           is concerned, he is awake as far as the world is concerned and worldly concerns are concerned -- for
           money, for power, for prestige, respectability, he is fully awake! He is awake only for the mundane.
           He is awake only for the meaningless. He collects garbage with great alertness. But he is asleep for
           the precious, for the sacred. He sees the trees, but he cannot see the green life flowing in them. He
           sees the mountains, but he cannot feel the beauty and the virgin silence. He sees people, but people
           look like machines. He cannot feel their souls -- he has not even felt his own soul, how can he feel
           anybody else's soul? He has not even become aware of who he is.

              FRIEND WAKE UP! WHY DO YOU GO ON SLEEPING?

               And in this sleep, when the heart is in darkness and the whole light has become focussed on the
           head, even if you are told the ultimate truths you will misunderstand them. Even if a Buddha tries to
           wake you up, you will be angry at him. Naturally, obviously! because you will think he is disturbing
           you. He is disturbing your dreams, not you, but you have invested too much in your dreams. He will
           say one thing, you will understand another. Either you will go on listening according to your
           prejudices, choosing -- choosing only those things which can support you -- or you will become very
           angry, you will crucify, you will poison, you will destroy such a person who comes and
           unnecessarily disturbs your sleep.
               Your sleep is deep. It has been long, long there. You have become accustomed to it -- so much so
           that the heart goes on sleeping and still you can manage your life. YOU are a sleep-walker, a
           somnambulist. There are people who walk in their sleep; they can go to the fridge, they can eat
           something, they can come back to their beds -- and they will not stumble anywhere. And if you wake
           them up in the middle, they will be very much surprised; they will not be able to figure it out, where
           they are and what they are doing. They will be shocked.
               They move with open eyes, remember; somnambulists move with open eyes. But those open
           eyes are not really open; they simply manage a few steps. And because they have become
           accustomed to those few steps, they can be done mechanically; no consciousness is needed. Just
           watch your life: you are doing a thousand and one things, but all those things are mechanical. You
           go on doing them like a robot.
               And when you talk to robots, it is really very difficult to reach them. They misunderstand.

              It seems there were two brothers by the name of Jones. John Jones was married and Jim was the
           owner of an old dilapidated rowboat. It just so happened that John's wife died on the same day that
           Jim's boat filled with water and sank. A few days later, a kindly old lady saw Jim on the street, and
           mistaking him for John said, "Oh, Mr. Jones. I heard about your terrible catastrophe. You must feel
           heartbroken."
              Replied Jim, "Why, I am not a bit sorry. She was a rotten old thing from the start. Her bottom
           was all chewed up and she smelled like old dead fish. She had a bad crack in back and a pretty bad
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hole in the front and every time I used her she started leaking all over the place. Oh, I could handle
           her all right, but when anybody else used her, she would go to pieces. Well, here is what finished
           her. Four guys came across town looking for a good time and asked me to rent out. I warned them
           she was not so hot, but they said they wanted to take a crack anyway. Well, the damn fools, all four
           of them tried to get inside at once and she split right up the middle."
           The old woman fainted before he could finish.

                That's how it goes on: one thing is said, something else is understood. Communication is very
           very difficult. Even ordinary communication is difficult, and when a man like Kabir talks it becomes
           almost impossible -- because he is talking from the sunlit Himalayan tops and you are listening from
           your dark holes in the valley. By the time it reaches you its colour has changed, its flavour has
           changed, its meaning is no more the same.
                And, obviously, you interpret it according to your own conditionings, your own past. Hence, you
           hear but you don't listen. You will have to learn how to listen. Listening means being utterly silent,
           not interpreting, not judging, not evaluating -- neither for nor against -- just being present.
                Listen to these words of Kabir, just as a silent presence. Don't be in a hurry to decide whether he
           is right or wrong. The beauty of listening is that if he is right, you will simply know that he is right.
           If he is true, truth is self-evident; you will know it as sure as you know when you have a headache --
           nobody needs to prove it to you.

              All the elephants in Greece were ordered to evacuate the country. Behind the last one was a
           small mouse. The elephant turned, "Why are you running, my friend?"
           "Haven't you heard the decree?" replied the mouse. "Yes, but you are a mouse," the elephant said.
           "Ah yes," the mouse sighed, "but if they say I am an elephant, then how will I prove that I am not?"

                It is difficult to prove, but there are things which need not be proved -- a mouse knows that he is
           a mouse. Proof may be difficult. When you listen to the truth, it may be difficult for you to prove that
           it is true, but YOU WILL KNOW. It will be an inner feeling that it is true, and that feeling is
           enough, because that feeling simply transports you into another world. It is not a question of your
           deciding whether it is true or untrue. If you decide, you will miss the whole point, because how are
           you going to decide? You will decide by your past. And you don't know what truth is! If you had
           known there would have been no need to listen to the Buddhas -- you would be a Buddha yourself
           You don't know, so your past has no idea of what truth is. How can your past decide what is what?
           Put the past aside. Just listen.
                And I am not saying believe -- just listening is not synonymous with believing. It has nothing to
           do with belief or disbelief -- just listening is just listening. You are neither in favour nor disfavour;
           you are simply open. You allow it inside you.
                And let me repeat: the beauty of truth is that when it reaches you, your heart simply jumps in joy.
           It knows! Truth synchronizes with your heart. It has the same rhythm. Suddenly the heart starts
           dancing, and that dance is the proof. And if it is not true, the heart will not dance, and then you will
           know that it is not true. But it is not a question of logical decision, of logical evaluation.
           Listen to these words very meditatively:

              FRIEND, WAKE UP!

               Kabir calls you 'friend' -- that's how all the Buddhas have always felt. The disciple thinks,
           "Buddha, Krishna, Christ or Kabir, they are Masters and we are disciples." From the disciples' side
           this is so, but how is it from the Master's side?
               The Master knows there is no Master and no disciple. The Master knows that it is a company of
           friends. The Master is not holier-than-thou; the Master has no superiority complex. The Master is a
           nobody; the Master is just ordinary, but his ordinariness is luminous. The whole existence is either
           ordinary or extraordinary -- but the whole. It is not that a few things are ordinary and a few things
           are extraordinary. For the Master, everything is unique. His reverence for life is infinite.
               When a disciple comes and bows down to the Master, deep down the Master is also bowing
           down to the disciple. His bowing down may not be visible, because he is not visible; his gestures are
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           invisible. The disciple slowly slowly becomes capable of deciphering, slowly slowly capable of
           decoding -- slowly slowly he understands that the Master loves him, that the Master thinks of him as
           a friend, as a beloved.

              FRIEND WAKE UP! WHY DO YOU GO ON SLEEPING? THE NIGHT IS OVER -- DO YOU WANT TO
              LOSE THE DAY THE SAME WAY?


               THIS IS A VERY STRANGE STATEMENT. To those who know, life is night and death is the
           day. In life people remain asleep; it is death that wakes them up. In ordinary thinking, life is life and
           death is the end of life. To the Buddhas, to the awakened ones, death is far more valuable than life,
           far superior, far more precious, far more significant.Why? Because it is the crescendo of life, the
           ultimate flowering. If life is the night, then death is the morn.
               Kabir says: THE NIGHT IS OVER... you are getting old, time is slipping by. Death is coming
           closer and closer every moment.

              THE NIGHT IS OVER -- DO YOU WANT TO LOSE
              THE DAY THE SAME WAY?

               You have lost the night; you could not wake up in the night. But it can be forgiven: it was night
           and you slept. But you cannot be forgiven when death is coming closer -- now it is time to wake up!
           And if even death cannot wake you up, then what is going to wake you up? And if a person wakes up
           in death, then for him there is no more any birth, no more any death.
               But a person can wake up in death only if he has tried hard to wake up in life, if his whole life
           has been a consistent effort to find a center in his being, a persistent effort to know "Who am I? Only
           then is it possible that when death comes... and death is a great shock! It shatters all that you have
           made. It takes away all that you have been clinging to; it dispossesses you of all your possessions. It
           simply leaves you utterly naked and alone. If death cannot wake you up, then you are not simply
           asleep -- you are in a coma. And that's how people are.
               Every day millions of people die. They lived in darkness. they die in darkness. They lived
           dreaming, they die dreaming. They lived in a stupid way, they die in a stupid way. They miss all
           opportunities.
               And three are the great opportunities in life. The first is birth. Only once in a while is a man so
           intelligent that he uses that opportunity -- only very rarely. Maybe a Lao Tzu -- hence the story.
               It is said Lao Tzu lived in his mother's womb for eighty-two years. Now this is nonsense, but it
           has some truth in it. It is not factual, but it has some truth in it. And that is the difference between the
           Western way of thinking and the Eastern. If you tell such a story to the Western mind, he simply
           says, "This cannot be. How can a person live for eighty-two years in the mother's womb? And what
           will happen to the mother? Eighty-two years? This is not believable; this cannot be historical."
               The Western mind immediately asks about the facticity of the phenomenon -- but it is a parable!
           It has nothing to do with facts; it certainly has something to do with truth. And truth can only be
           expressed through parables; there is no other way to express truth. Truth can only be expressed
           through metaphors, through poetry, not through history. It is poetry, pure poetry, and of tremendous
           power.
               It means that when Lao Tm was born he was already so mature, so ripe, that he used his first
           opportunity to wake up. Ordinarily it takes eighty-two years for a person to wake up, and even then,
           how many people wake up? People wake up at the time of death, but how many? -- that too is very
           rare.
               Lao Tzu must have been of immense intelligence, must have carried the intelligence from his
           past lives -- maybe just a little bit was missing, just the last straw on the camel. He used the
           opportunity. The first opportunity is birth. It is as important as death. It is a death in a way, because
           the child in the mother's womb lives in one way, one kind of life, and then is simply thrown out,
           expelled. He wants to cling to his home where he has lived for nine months, and so peacefully, so
           silently, without any worry, without any responsibility, in such warmth.... He clings to the womb, he
           does not want to go out. He feels it as a death, and it is natural -- because what does he know about
           what is going to happen? One thing is certain: his home is being shattered; he is being thrown out of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           all his comfort and security. He knows he is dying! Hence the birth trauma -- because the birth enters
           into the child's consciousness as death. He dies and is reborn.
               Lao Tzu used his first opportunity. And the same is the case with Zarathustra, another beautiful
           story.
               It is said that Zarathustra is the only child in the whole history of man who laughed when he was
           born. Children cry, they don't laugh -- and Zarathustra laughed -- must have shocked his mother
           and... a real belly-laughter. He must have used the first opportunity.
               These two names are known TO have used the first opportunity. The first shock, and they
           became awakened.
               The second opportunity in life is love. A few people have become awakened through love. And
           the second opportunity is available to more people than the first or the third -- because birth is almost
           unconscious and so is death, but love can bring a little consciousness to your heart.
               Hence my insistence on love -- and Kabir's insistence is also on love, because this is the
           opportunity many many people can use and become awake. If you love, you will have to drop your
           ego -- and that will be the death, the death of the ego. If you love you will have to learn how to melt,
           merge, disappear. If you love you will have to know that there is much more to life than logic,
           calculation... there is much more to life than having money, more possessions, power.
               If you love, you will have a glimpse of the divine. And if you go deep in love, you will start
           entering into the temple of God -- that is the second opportunity. The society has destroyed it.
               The first opportunity is very rare, but the second opportunity could have been available to almost
           everybody -- that has been destroyed by the society. Your love has been contaminated. You have
           been brought up in fear, not in love. You have been brought up to fight, not to love. You have been
           brought up as if the whole existence is your enemy, not your friend -- how can you love? Love has
           been made impossible by the society.
               The only possibility of people turning to religion, the only possibility of revolution in people's
           lives, has been destroyed by the society. Society is so much afraid of love that it is not afraid of
           anything else like it is of love. Love is the most potential and dangerous thing for your so-called
           society, because love will wake up people, love will stir people's hearts. And they will start living
           through the heart, and they won't listen to the head. And if they don't listen to the head then the
           society will be at a loss; it will be impossible to dominate people who live through the heart. Only
           the head can be dominated only heads can be reduced to slaves. The heart is always the king, the
           master.
               And the third opportunity is death -- the last. If you have missed birth, if you have missed love,
           don't miss death. At least the last chance should not be missed. Kabir says:

              THE NIGHT IS OVER -- DO YOU WANT TO LOSE THE DAY THE SAME WAY? OTHER WOMEN
              WHO MANAGED TO GET UP EARLY HAVE ALREADY FIND AN ELEPHANT OR A JEWEL.... SO
              MUCH WAS LOST ALREADY WHILE YOU SLEPT... AND THAT WAS SO UNNECESSARY!


                ONE THING OF TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE TO BE remembered, because Kabir will
           repeat it again and again: he calls the seeker 'the woman' -- and that has been my effort too. I go on
           telling my sannyasins "Be feminine!" because to be feminine means to be receptive, to be open, to be
           loving. To be feminine means to be non-aggressive -- and you cannot conquer God! Aggression
           won't help. You cannot attack the citadel of God. All that can be done is that you can be a feminine
           welcome. You can invite, you cannot attack. You can absorb: you cannot possess. You can allow
           God to enter in you. YOU can be pregnant with God -- that's the only way.
                Kabir says: OTHER WOMEN... You will be surprised -- why is he talking about women?

               OTHER WOMEN WHO MANAGED TO GET UP EARLY HAVE ALREADY FOUND AN
           ELEPHANT OR A JEWEL.... He says: The impossible has happened -- they have found something
           which makes life meaningful, something which gives life the colour of a rainbow and the dance of a
           peacock and the song of a cuckoo. OTHER WOMEN WHO HAVE MANAGED TO GET UP
           EARLY... Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammed. Mahavira -- these are the other women. Don't
           be offended by it!
               Friedrich Nietzsche condemned Buddha and Christ as feminine. His insight was right, but he was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           using it as a condemnation, as a criticism, because his idea of beauty was that of masculine power,
           muscular power. His idea of beauty was not that of feminine roundness, softness. His idea of the
           right person was that of a brave soldier, ready to attack.
               He said, "The most beautiful experience of my life was when I saw an army moving and the sun
           shining and the sound of their boots, the music, the melody of their boots, and their guns shining in
           the sun. That was the most beautiful experienCe of my life.
               He did not talk about a sunrise or a sunset, or the starry night, or a roseflower, or a beautiful
           woman -- no. Soldiers walking in step, and the sound of their boots and their guns shining in the sun.
           Of course, he created the philosophic background for Adolf Hitler to follow. Just as Karl Marx
           created communism, Friedrich Nietzsche, knowingly or unknowingly, created fascism; he was the
           father of the fascist mind. Of course he was against Buddha, against Christ, because Christ says:
           Love is God. And Christ says: If somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other too. And
           Christ says: Love your enemies as yourself And Buddha says continuously: Be rooted in the heart,
           forget the head. Move to the center of your being; the head is just the periphery. And if you see a
           statue of Buddha, it looks feminine, it has a feminine beauty.
               I tell each of my sannyasins -- man or woman, it doesn't matter -- one has to be spiritually
           feminine, only then can God be received. You have to be a host, only then can the guest come to
           you.
               But the problem is that down the ages the crowd has been telling you just the opposite. It makes
           you aggressive, violent, competitive. It takes away all that is soft in you. And now the women's
           liberation movement is there, which is even destroying the softness of women too. The women's
           liberation movement is not really a liberation movement. It is in fact just the opposite: it is trying to
           imitate man, to become as hard as men are, to do whatsoever men are doing.
               And remember one thing: if women try to imitate men they will always be carbon copies; they
           will not attain to their fulfillment, they will not attain the full potential. And they will always remain
           lagging behind. And they will become ugly too! The real liberation movement has not started yet.
           The real liberation movement will insist that the woman has to be more and more feminine, that she
           has to be rooted in HER nature, that she is not to follow men in retaliation, in reaction, in rebellion --
           that is stupid. No reaction ever helps.
               The woman has to be herself. And not only that: the woman has to be herself and she has to help
           man to become a little more feminine. Not only does the woman have to be liberated from men, the
           man has also to be liberated from men. There is a great need for a men's liberation movement -- not
           liberation from women, but liberation from all the nonsense that has been taught to him down the
           ages: Be hard! Be steel! Don't bend! Break but don't bend! Man has been taught to be hard like a
           rock -- man has missed much.
               And now women are following in the same tracks. It is a dangerous situation. If the woman also
           follows the man, she will be a second-rate citizen, she will never be equal to man.
               And not only that: if she follows man and becomes hard, as lib women ARE becoming -- their
           faces are becoming hard, their bodies are losing roundness, softness, vulnerability, they are
           becoming more and more angry and less and less loving -- the danger is that that will be the end of
           the whole of humanity, if it happens.
               The only hope for humanity is in the quality of feminineness -- the only hope. The hope is not
           with Friedrich Nietzsche, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini: the hope is with Buddha, Chaitanya,
           Meera -- with a totally different kind of people. And we have to turn men and women BOTH into a
           kind of feminine lovingness.
               That's what Kabir means, but you have been taught something else -- and we have learnt the
           lesson. And when it is told by everybody, the whole crowd goes on teaching you the same thing
           again and again, the whole crowd goes on singing a chorus... and down the ages. And you want to
           satisfy everybody -- your father, your friends, your priests, your politicians -- you are trying to
           satisfy everybody, and in satisfying everybody you are destroying your own soul.
           I have heard:

              Even in biblical times they knew that too much good advice can produce bad results.
              Remember the ancient story of the old, old man in the Holy Land trudging barefoot down a
           dusty, rocky path? The rocks were sharp and they made his feet bleed, and by his side trudged a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           small boy with torn sandals, and the sharp rocks cut into his feet too and made them bleed. And
           behind them ambled a strong, healthy donkey.
               They came to a group of travellers resting beside the road. "Look at that," said the travellers,
           "that poor old man with his bleeding feet while that fat, indolent donkey carries no one on his back."
               So the old man shrugged and climbed up on the donkey to continue his journey. In a mile or so,
           another group of travellers resting by the roadside looked up and said, "For shame, that grown man
           riding on the donkey while the poor little boy has his feet cut and bleeding by the sharp stones of the
           road."
               Once again, the old man shrugged, got off the donkey and put the young boy up in his place.
               A third group of travellers had still more advice to give. "Look at that fat healthy donkey with
           that small boy his only burden. He should carry both the boy and the man."
               Again the old man followed advice and climbed on the donkey behind the boy. Within a few
           miles they came to a rickety bridge over a fast-flowing river, and with both man and boy on the
           donkey's tired back, they started over the bridge.
               In the very middle, the bridge gave way to the combined weight -- and man and boy and donkey
           plunged into the raging current.
               Thanks to their ride, the man and the boy were rested and managed to swim to shore. But the
           tired, weary, overburdened donkey was drowned. And it only proves one thing: if you take advice
           from everyone... you will only end up losing your ass.
               If you object to any of the language in that story, don't blame me... that is the way they talked in
           biblical times.

               You have been listening to good advice from every nook and corner. Everybody is giving you
           ROTTEN traditional ideas. Everybody is conditioning you, hypnotizing you. And because the crowd
           is big and you are alone, unless you bring your energies together you will not be able to get rid of
           this prison -- the prison of the crowd. Unless you sharpen your intelligence a little more, unless you
           start meditating a little more, you will not be able to break the chains that the society goes on putting
           on you.
               And they go on telling you it is just for your welfare. They are destroying you, but they go on
           saying, "We are serving you." And the strangest thing is that you also think that they are
           well-wishers -- they think they are well-wishers, you think they are well-wishers, and just look at
           humanity! So dull, so dead, so ugly... something has to be done urgently, something has to be done
           very urgently.
               And the most important thing will be to bring a little more femininity, a more soft heart to human
           beings -- men and women both. A little more liquidity. You need not be like rocks: please be like
           water. Lao Tzu says that his path is that of the watercourse way -- liquid, fragile, feminine,
           non-resisting, flowing, dynamic

              OTHER WOMEN WHO MANAGED TO GET UP EARLY HAVE ALREADY FOUND AN ELEPHANT
              OR A JEWEL.... SO MUCH WAS LOST ALREADY WHILE YOU SLEPT... AND THAT WAS SO
              UNNECESSARY!



              THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU UNDERSTOOD, BUT YOU DID NOT.


               EXISTENCE IS ALWAYS COMPASSIONATE towards you -- it is bound to be so. It has
           created you. The painter loves his painting, the poet loves his poetry -- existence loves you.
           Existence goes on creating people. Unless there is great love in the very center of existence, life will
           disappear. Who will sustain you? Who goes on breathing in you? It is a mystery! Who goes on
           circulating in your blood? -- it is a mystery. Who beats in your heart? -- it is a mystery. Who is alert
           and aware in you? -- it is a mystery.
               But one thing is certain, absolutely certain, call it God or call it existence -- the whole loves you.
           And the whole goes on showering with grace and gifts, and each moment it is pouring on you. If you
           remain a beggar, only you are responsible, nobody else. Existence would like you to be an emperor.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU UNDERSTOOD, BUT YOU DID NOT.

               Existence understands you, but you don't understand existence. And sometimes when you come
           to a man who has understood existence -- that's what enlightenment is all about -- he also loves you,
           but you will not understand him either. You have lost the capacity to trust, because trust comes only
           as a shadow of love. If love is missing, trust will be missed.
               You live in thoughts, and thoughts create doubt. Thoughts are based in doubt -- the greater the
           thinker, the more and more he has to enter into doubt.
               Here, being with mc, you are not to be great thinkers, because the thinkers miss all. They only
           live in their thoughts, and thoughts are castles in the air. Nothing about those thoughts is existential;
           they can spin and weave beautiful systems, but they are all useless -- you cannot live in them. And
           they dissipate your energy.
               Be lovers, not thinkers! If you truly want to be religious, be lovers not thinkers. And the heart has
           its own reasons that reason knows not. Once you have started moving into the world of love, you
           will be surprised that a new phenomenon starts arising in you: the phenomenon of trust --
           SHRADDHA. And that is the greatest experience in life: to trust -- because the man who trusts
           transforms not himself, but transforms his whole world. He starts living in a totally different world.
               Doubt, and you are expelled from the Garden of Eden. Trust, and you are received back,
           welcomed back -- you are home again.

               The man fell over a cliff and in the last moment was able to get hold of a branch that was
           sticking out of the wall. He heard voices above and shouted for help, "God, help me! Is there anyone
           up there?"
               The answer came, in a deep voice, "My son, relax, let go of the branch."
               The man could hardly believe what he had heard and yelled, Is there anyone else up there?"

               Even if God responds to you, you will not understand. You cannot relax because you cannot
           trust. The modern man suffers from great anxiety; it has never been so -- man has never suffered so
           much from anxiety. Why is there so much anxiety? Amidst so much scientific, technological growth,
           amidst so much affluence, why does man suffer, why is man in so much anxiety? One thing has
           disappeared from his heart: trust is no more there, only doubt... doubt and doubt. You are surrounded
           by doubts, a thousand and one doubts. They are like ghosts torturing you. Your life has become a
           nightmare.
               But remember again: nobody is responsible except you. You can be surrounded by trust, by the
           milieu of trust, by a climate of trust. And when the climate of trust is there, the spring has come --
           you start blossoming, for the first time you start releasing your fragrance. Flowers burst forth, life
           becomes a celebration.

               THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU UNDERSTOOD, BUT YOU DID NOT. YOU FORGOT TO
           MAKE A PLACE IN YOUR BED NEXT TO YOU. Listen to the words of Kabir: he is talking in
           the language of love. God has not to be worshipped but loved -- prepare a place for him in your bed.

              YOU FORGOT TO MAKE A PLACE IN YOUR BED NEXT TO YOU. INSTEAD YOU SPENT YOUR
              LIFE PLAYING.

              Playing with toys -- money, power, prestige -- ALL toys. And all is vain, because death will take
           everything away. And you KNOW it! And still you go on clinging, because the idea in your head is:
           anything is better than nothing. You will have to change it -- you will have to change it
           diametrically. You will have to learn: nothing is better than anything -- because it is in nothing, in
           nothingness, in emptiness, in silence, that you become a womb so that God can descend in you.

              IN YOUR TWENTIES YOU DID NOT GROW BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW WHO YOUR LORD
              WAS.

              YOU HAVE LOST YOUR YOUTH, which was the MOST precious time. Birth is missed, but it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can be forgiven; love missed cannot be forgiven. You wasted your youth on playthings -- you did not
           really love. Your love never became prayer; your love never attained the glories that it contains in it
           -- your love remained lust, your love remained a very mundane passion. Your love remained sexual:
           it never became spiritual.
               And love has two aspects: one is sexual, the other is spiritual. And unless love becomes spiritual,
           it keeps you in the mud; you cannot fly in the sky, you cannot have wings.
               And remember: sexual love does not contain spiritual love, but spiritual love CAN contain sexual
           love -- but then it changes the quality of the sexual love too. This is one of the fundamental laws: the
           higher contains the lower, but the lower does not contain the higher. So don't be worried and afraid
           that if you rise higher in your love the joys of your sex will disappear -- no -- they will become
           intenser, more orgasmic. They will become more deep, more satisfying, more penetrating, and they
           will have a quality which is not of this world. Your orgasms will not be simply sexual -- they will
           have the quality of meditativeness in them. Time will disappear and ego will disappear, and for a few
           moments you will be in God. Your beloved will disappear, you will disappear... the twoness will
           disappear and there will be oneness, and you will feel an orgasmic oneness with the whole.
           Kabir says:

              IN YOUR TWENTIES YOU DID NOT GROW...

               Very few people grow up. People simply grow old, but they never grow up. And growing old is
           not growing up.

              ... BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW WHO YOUR LORD WAS.

               When you fall in love with a woman do you think you are falling in love with a woman? If you
           ask Kabir or if you ask me I will tell you you are not falling in love with a woman -- nobody has ever
           fallen in love with a woman or with a man: you have had a glimpse of the God in the woman... you
           have fallen in love with that glimpse.
               One ALWAYS falls in love with God. When the rose flower opens up its petals in the morning,
           fresh with the morning dew, dancing in the morning wind, just joyous with the sun, and you fall in
           love, do you think you are falling in love with the chemistry of the rose? -- no -- but with the soul.
           You don't fall in love with the chemistry of a man or a woman, you don't fall in love with the biology
           -- you fall in love with something invisible, intangible. You may not know it! -- and that is your
           misery. If you knew it then each love would be prayer, then each love would bring you closer and
           closer to God, then your gestalt would be different, then your love would not be so much rooted in
           the earth -- it would have wings, it would have the capacity to fly.
           Kabir says, You missed, you could not grow:

              ... BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW WHO YOUR LORD WAS.
              WAKE UP! WAKE UP! THERE IS NO ONE IN YOUR BED --
              HE LEFT YOU DURING THE LONG NIGHT.

               And this happens again and again: you fall in love with a man or a woman and soon everything
           disappears, the Lord is gone -- because you never paid any attention to the Lord. You became too
           much focussed on the physical, hence the spiritual disappears. Almost always by the time the
           honeymoon is over, love is finished -- by that time the Lord is gone. Then only two physical bodies...
               Two physical bodies can have a few sexual contacts, but no sexual contact can ever be satisfying,
           fulfilling. It brings more and more frustration. All sexual experiences end in frustration; in the wake
           comes great frustration, a kind of hopelessness. And the reason is that you paid attention to the
           wrong side, you became too much interested in the physical and you did not pay enough respect to
           the spiritual.
               If you focus on the spiritual, by and by the physical becomes secondary. And then the
           honeymoon is the beginning of a great love affair. It doesn't end with the honeymoon; in fact, it only
           starts after the honeymoon is over. Then it is a totally different phenomenon. Intimacy goes on
           growing and growing. Sexuality becomes less and less; intimacy becomes more and more, deeper
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and deeper.
               And soon you find the beloved is not just the woman: the beloved is the ultimate Beloved. And
           then there is great reverence for the other. And then love gives freedom, and then love does not
           possess; then love has no violence in it. Then love is sacred, holy.

              WAKE UP! WAKE UP! THERE IS NO ONE IN YOUR BED -- HE LEFT YOU DURING THE LONG
              NIGHT.

               But you go on making love, and the lover is gone! You are making love to a corpse when the
           love is gone. When the Lord has disappeared, when you no longer see in the eyes of your woman or
           man the presence of God, you are making love to a corpse. How can it give you contentment? And
           how can it help you to soar high.
               Yes, in some moments you imagine, in some moments the nostalgia of the past... those beautiful
           days which are just like dreams now; in fact it is unbelievable that they ever happened. But people
           are living in imagination, not in reality. If you live in reality, God is everywhere. If you live in
           imagination, then you are living in a loneliness, there is no God -- the world is empty, then the world
           has no meaning, then the world is just a nightmare.

               The priest, the parson and the rabbi were walking down the street together in New York when
           they came upon a grubby urchin sitting on the kerb, playing with himself.
               The priest was outraged and went over to the kid and asked, "How can a child of decent Catholic
           parents behave in such an unspeakable fashion?"
               Without missing a stroke, the youngster retorted, "Push off! I am not Catholic, and anyway I am
           not doing what YOU think I am doing."
               Speechless, the priest retreated to his companions. The parson took it upon himself to
           remonstrate with the boy. How can you behave so sinfully after everything you have been taught in
           chapel?"
           "Push off!" said the kid. "I am not Protestant, and anyway I am not doing what you think I am
           doing." With his tail between his legs, the parson rejoined the other two clergymen.
           "This is outrageous," said the rabbi. Striding over to the urchin, he thundered, "Little boy, little boy,
           you have been raised in accordance with the law of your forefathers and of their forefathers before
           them. How dare you behave in such an unspeakably vile manner?"
           "Aw, push off and leave me alone," the boy responded. "I am not Jewish and anyway I am not doing
           what you think I am doing."
           "In that case," demanded the rabbi, WHO do you think you are and what do you think you are
           doing?"
           "Well, if you must know," said the child, "I am a Christian Scientist and I am making love with my
           girlfriend in Poona."

                From New York... Christian Scientists can do such things, because they think the whole world is
           nothing but thought. The world is not thought, and if you live in thoughts you will miss the reality of
           the world. Come out of your thoughts -- that's what Kabir means when he says: Wake up! Wake up!
                Move from the head to the heart. A heart wakefulness is needed. Don't live in imagination. Don't
           live in thoughts! Live in silence -- and only the heart knows how to be still, because in the heart
           there are no thoughts. Thoughts cannot penetrate into that innermost shrine. No noise ever penetrates
           there; it is absolute silence, it is virgin silence.
                Move into the heart, and suddenly you will see yourself waking up in a totally different kind of
           waking that you have not known ever before. Your whole life will become full of light and full of
           life and full of love, and full of energy. And wherever energy is there is delight. Overflowing energy
           is delight.

              Kabir says: THE ONLY WOMAN AWAKE IS THE WOMAN WHO HAS HEARD THE FLUTE!

              AND ONLY IN THE HEART, in the deepest recesses of your heart, will you hear the flute of
           Krishna. This is just a metaphor: you will hear the music, the celestial music of existence, what Zen
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people call the sound of one hand clapping, what other mystics have called the soundless sound,
           what in India the Upanishadic seers have called Omkar -- the sound of Aum. Kabir calls it 'the flute'
           -- the flute of Krishna.

              THE ONLY WOMAN... Remember, again he uses the word 'woman'.

               THE ONLY WOMAN AWAKE IS THE WOMAN WHO HAS HEARD THE FLUTE! And
           unless you have heard the flute, don't rest. Go on searching and seeking inwards. A moment comes
           when you hear the flute, when suddenly a celestial music bursts forth in you. You will be bathed in a
           totally new experience -- the experience of deathlessness, the experience of timelessness; not the
           experience that God is present, but the experience that "I am part of God, God is part of me -- I am
           God -- AHAM BRAHMASMI! ANA'L HAQ! -- I am truth!"
               Jesus says: "I am truth! I am the door, I am the way." About whom is he talking? Is he talking
           about the son of Joseph the carpenter? No. He is talking about the innermost core of your being
           which is immortal -- he is talking about the flute that he has heard, he is talking about the one hand
           clapping, creating sound. He is talking about the cosmic sound, the cosmic melody.

              THE ONLY WOMAN AWAKE IS THE WOMAN WHO HAS HEARD THE FLUTE!

              Remember, till you have heard the flute you are asleep, till you have started feeling God
           everywhere you are asleep. The only criterion to judge whether you are awake or asleep is this: Do
           you see the world as matter? -- then you are asleep. Do you see the world as divine? I am not saying:
           Do you believe? I am saying: Do you see, experience the world as divine? -- then you are awake.

              I PLAYED TOR TEN YEARS WITH THE GIRLS MY OWN AGE BUT NOW I AM SUDDENLY IN
              FEAR.

              Kabir says: I have been playing with the same kind of seekers.

              I PLAYED TOR TEN YEARS WITH THE GIRLS MY OWN AGE...

               Remember, again he use the word 'girls'. He was moving with seekers, searchers, he was sitting
           in satsang, singing songs of God, dancing, meditating.

              I PLAYED FOR TEN YEARS WITH THE GIRLS MY OWN AGE BUT NOW I AM SUDDENLY IN
              FEAR.


               But when you really start approaching closer to the heart, a great fear grips you. Hence,
           whenever a sannyasin comes to me and says, "I am very much afraid of you," I always say this is a
           good sign. It simply means the head is losing its grip on you and the heart is coming closer. The fear
           arises because the head says, "Now, you are falling in danger. Who will protect you? I was
           protecting you. Who will guard you? I was guarding you. Who will keep you on the right track?
           Now you are moving into the madness of the heart, you are going beyond me -- I will not be of any
           help. And you have depended on me up to now. I have been your security, your safety."
           Hence, the fear arises.

              I AM ON THE WAY UP SOME STAIRS...

              Kabir says: Now, some doors are opening -- some stairs I can see going upwards.

              ... THEY ARE HIGH.

               And they are high -- higher than me. I will have to surpass myself, hence the fear. I will have to
           transcend myself, I will have to drop the ego and go without the ego, and I will have to drop the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole baggage of the mind and go unburdened -- hence the fear.

               YET I HAVE TO GIVE UP MY FEARS IF I WANT TO TAKE PART IN THIS LOVE. One
           has to give up one's fears if one wants to live in love, because it is the SAME energy that becomes
           fear and that becomes love. If you live in fear, your energy will remain involved, occupied, vested in
           fear. Drop the fears. Risk... and suddenly the same energy that was contained in the fear is released
           and becomes a flower of love.

              YET I HAVE TO GIVE UP MY F EARS IF I WANT TO TAKE PART IN THIS LOVE.



              I HAVE TO LET GO THE PROTECTIVE CLOTHES...

               ... all the defence measures, all the armours that you are carrying around yourself. One has to be
           in utter trust. One has to be ready to die -- even if existence kills, it is okay. Only then will you be
           able to drop your armour. And everybody is carrying a great armour around himself. We are carrying
           our prisons around ourselves; they are transparent prisons, but you know they are there.
               If you want to reach somebody, suddenly there is a glass wall and you cannot reach. People come
           close, but not really close, because those two walls won't allow. Only walls clash. Hence, all lovers
           are in conflict -- it should not be so. Lovers should be in deep harmony, but they are in conflict
           because those walls don't allow you to be in harmony. Each is living in his fear and pretending to be
           loving -- that love is false, it is a mask.

              I HAVE TO LET GO THE PROTECTIVE CLOTHES AND MEET HIM WITH THE WHOLE LENGTH
              OF MY BODY.

              You have to face love utterly naked, absolutely vulnerable.

              MY EYES WILL HAVE TO BE THE LOVE-CANDLES THIS TIME.

              Enough time is wasted, so many lives wasted. Let your eyes be love-candles this time.

              Kabir says: MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WILL UNDERSTAND THIS POEM.

              This poem will not be understood by the scholars, by the pundits, by the so-called learned
           people. This poem can be understood only by a loving heart. This poem will be understood by you,
           my people, because my basic message is love. Love and love and nothing else... because love is
           enough unto itself.

              Kabir says: MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WILL UNDERSTAND THIS POEM.

              Nobody else will understand it.

              IF WHAT YOU FEEL FOR THE HOLY ONE IS NOT DESIRE THEN WHAT IS THE USE OF
              DRESSING WITH SUCH CARE AND SPENDING SO MUCH TIME MAKING YOUR EYELIDS
              DARK?
              PEOPLE GO TO THE TEMPLES, and the mosques, and the Churches and the gurudwaras -- for
              what? And you are not in love with God! It is so stupid. You need not waste your time in the temples
              and the churches if you are not in love. Then why go on...



              ... DRESSING WITH SUCH CARE AND SPENDING SO MUCH TIME MAKING YOUR EYELIDS
              DARK?

              If you are NOT in love, then why go on doing these empty rituals? Do something else! Do
           something else that you love. Don't waste your time in the name of religion, because religion is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible only if you are in love. In a deep, intense love, only then is your prayer true. And then
           whatsoever you say has a sacred quality to it. You need not go to the temples then -- wherever you
           sit will be the temple. You need not do rituals: worshipping God with flowers and candles and this
           and that -- whatsoever you do will be your prayer.
               Kabir says in another poem: I don't go to the temple, because wherever I sit I find him present all
           around me. He cannot be in the temples more -- he is not more and less and where: he is exactly the
           same everywhere.
               Kabir says: I don't go with special food to offer to God -- when I eat, that is my offering to God.
           See the beauty of his statement. He says: When I eat, that is my offering to him -- because HE is
           inside me. Why should I go to a stone statue which cannot eat at all. If I have more food, I invite
           friends And when they eat, I know he has accepted my offerings.
               Religion is not ritual, religion has nothing to do with formalities -- with Christianity, Hinduism,
           Islam. Religion is an individual love affair. Be in love with people, be in love with the world, be in
           love with trees and birds and animals and stars -- BE IN LOVE! And slowly slowly, your love will
           bun candles in your eyes and you will be able to see him.
               He is present, but you are blind. He is playing on his flute, but you are deaf.

              FRIEND, WAKE UP!




                                   The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                    Chapter #5
                                        Chapter title: An Alive Buddhafield
           15 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904150
              ShortTitle: FISH05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 99 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, I AM HERE ONLY FOR A VERY SHORT VISIT. I HAVE COME TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND
              WHAT YOU HAVE HERE THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES NOT. CAN YOU HELP ME?

              Mrs. Ward,


               I HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER TO YOU -- only nothing. But that is the greatest thing that can
           be given as a gift. My only advice to my people is to be nothing, to be nobodies, to be utterly nude of
           all the clothes that the society has given to you -- of thought, of religion, of philosophy -- utterly
           empty of all the conditionings that have been forced on you by others, utterly devoid of all the
           inhibitions and taboos that time has gathered around you like dust.
               If you can be an empty mirror, then God is. In that empty mirror, God reflects -- and there is no
           other way.
               I have nothing substantial to give to you, because all that is substantial is mundane. I have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something intangible to give you, non-substantial, something that you cannot grasp with your hand,
           something that cannot be measured or weighed. It is called nothing, it is called meditation, it is
           called a state of consciousness without content.
               But I can only point the way. I cannot give it to you. because it is untransferable. It is not a thing
           -- how can it be transferred? You cannot purchase it, you cannot steal it -- you can only allow it to
           happen. I am just a certain space, a certain context, in which this immensely potential nothing can
           happen. But all depends on you, not on me. All depends on you: if you allow it to happen, it will
           open doors into the divine, it will reveal to you the mysteries of life. It is not going to answer your
           questions, because life is not a question/answer thing, it is not a problem. It will dissolve your
           questions, certainly, although it will not solve them -- but you will be transformed. It is not
           knowledge that you will gain but knowing, eyes, insight.
           But, Mrs. Ward, you say:

           I AM ONLY HERE ON A VERY SHORT VISIT...
              In such a hurry it is not possible. In such a hurry, you will not be able to relax, to imbibe. An
           ancient Zen story says:

               A young man came to a Zen Master to learn about meditation. The Zen Master said, "Are you
           capable of waiting?"
           The young man, of course, asked, "How long?"
               The Zen Master said, "That is enough for me to reject you. To ask 'how long?' means you are not
           ready to wait. If you can simply wait without asking 'how long?' then you are capable of waiting."
               The young man understood the point. He bowed down, remained with the Master.
               One year passed, and not a single word was said to the disciple. And two years passed... and
           three years passed..."Now it is too much! Nothing has even been started, not a single lesson. How
           long can one wait?" Again the question became very prominent in his consciousness: "How long?"
               He went to the Master and asked, "I have waited three years." The Master said, "So you have
           been counting? That simply shows you don't know how to wait. Counting? Counting days with the
           Master?
           "In one sense, each moment is an eternity; in another sense, eternity is just a moment. You are
           unworthy! You will have to wait. You will have to learn how to wait. Be alert -- from tomorrow the
           lessons will start."
               And the lesson was very strange: the young man was sweeping the floor; the Master came from
           the back and hit him hard with his staff on his back. Shocked, the young man said, "Is this the
           beginning of meditation? after three years of waiting?" The Master said, "Yes -- now be alert. I will
           hit you any moment, any time -- be watchful, be alert, be on your guard." And it continued for
           months. His whole body would ache in the night, because in the day many times it would happen:
           the Master would suddenly jump from somewhere... he was very old but he was really a cat.
               But, slowly slowly, a strange awareness started arising in the young man. Just when the Master
           would be on the verge of hitting him, he would dodge -- even from the back; although he was
           occupied in his work a subtle awareness remained there. It was bound to be so; he was suffering so
           much. Pain is a must for growth, suffering is absolutely necessary for growth. Unless you suffer you
           cannot be aware. Suffering brings awareness, and voluntary suffering brings tremendous awareness.
           Willingly he was suffering! He could have escaped; nobody was preventing him -- it was his own
           choice. HE had chosen the Master.
               And now he started to understand why: "This is his teaching. This is how he is teaching
           meditation!" Now it dawned in his consciousness. He was immensely grateful.
               The day the Master came from the back and, just before he was going to hit him, the young man
           jumped, dodged, and the stick of the Master fell on the ground, the young man was immensely
           happy. Something new had happened in his being. And the Master blessed him.
               But from that day, things became even more difficult... the Master started hitting him while he
           was asleep. Now, this was too much. In the night, any time...! And the Master was very old;
           naturally, he could not sleep much, so whenever he felt awake he would go and hit the young man.
           But now the young man knew: "I may not understand the process of it, but the Master's hitting in the
           day has been of such immense benediction, has been such a transformation, that I accept this too --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           without any question." He didn't ask, "This is absurd, this is ridiculous. It is okay that you hit me in
           the day -- I can at least protect myself, run away, escape, dodge -- but what can I do when I am
           asleep?" He didn't say it.
               And the Master said, "This is a good sign. For the first time you are learning trust -- you have not
           asked the question."
               And after two, three months of being hit in the night, the whole day the body would ache. In the
           day he was able now to protect himself... but one day in the night it happened!
               The Master entered the room and he opened his eyes. He said, "Wait! I am awake."

               And it happened more and more. It became impossible to hit him. Immediately the Master
           entered into the room he would open his eyes -- as if he was not asleep at all. That was not so: he
           was fast asleep, but a part of his being was released from the metaphysical sleep, the tip of the
           iceberg, just a small part, but it went on like a lit candle inside -- watching, waiting.
               The Master was very happy. The next day in the morning, the Master was sitting underneath a
           tree reading some old sutras, some old scripture. Suddenly -- the young man was sweeping the
           garden -- an idea arose in him: "This old man has been hitting me for almost one year, day in, day
           out -- how will it be if I try once to hit him? It will be worth seeing how HE reacts."
               And the Master closed his sutras and said, "You stupid! I am an old man! Don't have such ideas."

               Yes, the ultimate state of awareness where even the footprints, the step sounds of the thoughts
           are heard.
               Mrs. Ward, you are in such a hurry you cannot relax. Meditation is not a hit or miss affair. It
           needs tremendous waiting; it needs love, trust. It needs a very unhurried approach. In fact, it needs a
           mind which is not goal-oriented at all. But if you are in a hurry, it will be impossible.

           You ask me: I HAVE COME TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND...

                UNDERSTANDING IS NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN TRY, it is not an effort. It is not
           something that you can concentrate upon, contemplate upon. Understanding is not of the mind:
           understanding is of the heart. You will have to fall in love.
                That's what sannyas is all about. Falling in love with a Master, for NO reason at all just for the
           sheer joy of falling in love with someone who has disappeared, who is no more, who has become a
           great nothing. Who has become a silence... of course, that silence is full of songs, and that silence is
           music, celestial music. That silence is not negatively empty. It is empty of noise but full of melodies.
           It is empty of thoughts but full of awareness. It is empty of darkness and death but full of light and
           life.
                Unless one falls in love, the process of understanding cannot be triggered. You CAN be here,
           you can listen to me -- only words will reach you. Those words will become part of your memory;
           they will make you more knowledgeable. But to be knowledgeable is utterly futile; it doesn't help.
           To know about God is not to know God, because the word 'God' is not God. To know about love is
           not to know love, because the word 'love' is not love.
                You will have to move into an experiential space. For that, waiting is needed, a relaxed,
           non-goal-oriented attitude is needed -- otherwise you will not understand a thing. You will only
           MISunderstand. The head only knows how to misunderstand. It is only the heart which knows how
           to understand. Love is the only way to know. Logic is a pretend: it only pretends that it knows; it
           befools you, it deceives you. It is only love that opens the eyes of knowing.
                But see: the head goes on condemning love. The head says, "Love is blind." Only love has eyes!
           Without love, everything is blind. But the head condemns the heart, and the head is really very
           skillful in creating counterfeit phenomena. Instead of understanding, it spins and weaves
           knowledgeability. And knowledgeability is a false coin -- it is not understanding. Understanding
           means you have tasted, lived, loved, been, in a totally different space; you have visited the innermost
           core of your being.
                Knowledge simply means you have heard somebody talk about it. Knowledge only goes on
           adding to your memory but not to your being. Understanding helps your being to grow, to mature.
                If you are here to understand, then forget about going so quickly. Just see: so many people here
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           had come only for a few days... then a few years have passed! And I am happy about my people --
           they don't even count, and they don't go on asking me "How long is it going to take?" Now they
           know that it is not a question of 'how long?' It can happen any moment... it is only a question of your
           own openness, your own intensity, your own passionate desire to know, your own love.
               It is unpredictable. It is not a commodity. Had it been a thing, Mrs. Ward, I would have given it
           to you very joyously. I am helpless -- I cannot give it to you. I am creating the space in which it can
           happen, but it happens indirectly. Understanding is not direct; it is very indirect. If you approach
           understanding directly, it is very shy, it escapes, it is very elusive.
               You have to be very very alert, watchful, when you start moving towards understanding -- in
           indirect ways. ALL that is great in life happens only indirectly -- it may be understanding, or
           happiness, poetry, painting, sculpture; it may be art, it may even be a discovery of science -- all that
           is great happens indirectly.
               Now it is a well-known fact that scientists go on struggling to understand something, and they
           fail again and again and again, and one day suddenly, when they are not struggling at all -- maybe
           smoking a cigar, or just resting in their bathtub. or digging in the garden -- suddenly it pops up! And
           they have been struggling so long and it was not coming.
           There is a certain secret in it.
               When you are too intent, too direct, you are aggressive, and life reveals its secrets only to people
           who are non-aggressive. When you are too intent, too aggressive, too violent, and you are trying to
           conquer some secret of life, you become very narrow. Your consciousness closes; you are no longer
           wide, open. And truth is so big that it cannot enter into a narrow consciousness.
               When you are relaxed, the narrowness disappears, you are open from all sides -- maybe just
           playing with soap-bubbles in your bathtub.... That's exactly what Albert Einstein used to do: all his
           great discoveries happened while he was playing with soap-bubbles in his bathtub. You will be
           surprised to know that for hours together he would remain in his bathtub playing with soap-bubbles.
           His wife was very embarrassed to tell it to other people.
               One of my friends went to see him and he had to wait for six hours -- because he wouldn't come
           out of the bathroom. And finally the wife had to tell him the truth: "He cannot be disturbed -- never
           when he is in the bathroom. He can be disturbed when he is in his lab, but not when he is in his
           bathroom -- because he becomes so utterly relaxed that all the great insights happen to him there. So
           nothing can be done. He may be playing with soap-bubbles, but playing with soap-bubbles he has
           come to know about stars, faraway, faraway stars." Playing with soap-bubbles, even stars, which are
           so far away that their light has not reached yet since the earth came into existence...! For millions of
           years the earth has been in existence; their light has not reached the earth yet. And light travels with
           terrific speed; greater speed is inconceivable.
               Light travels one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second.... When the earth came into
           existence, since that day the light has been travelling from those stars; it has not reached yet.
           Einstein became aware of THOSE stars. Playing with soap-bubbles?! Became aware of the greatest
           discovery of this age, the theory of relativity, in his bath-tub.
               This is simply to say that life is ready to reveal itself when you are non-aggressive, when you are
           like a child playing with reality. All that is great happens in fun, in playfulness.
           Mrs. Ward, you are too much intent. You say:

           I AM ONLY HERE ON A VERY SHORT VISIT. I HAVE COME TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND
           WHAT YOU HAVE HERE THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES NOT.
           WHAT I HAVE HERE IS EVERYWHERE, but maybe you cannot see it somewhere else. You need
           a certain space in which you can relax -- that space is nowhere else. Religion is very serious all over
           the world; religion here with me is a non-serious phenomenon. Elsewhere life is taken as a great
           problem, a theological problem. HERE it is thought to be a beautiful joke! Prayer is thought to be
           very sacred in other places. Here, just to be celebrating, ANYTHING... the whole question is just to
           be celebrating. If you are eating your food with celebration, it is prayer; if you are taking your bath
           with celebration, it is prayer. If you have joy in the heart, it is prayer. Prayer is not a ritual here; you
           need not repeat certain words, you need not move through certain gestures. Prayer is a quality here,
           not an activity -- a flavour, a subtle dance of your inner energy.
               Listening to the birds... and it is prayer! Seeing the trees, all their green and all their red and all
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           their gold, is prayer. A bird on the wing, and you simply watching with great joy, with a certain
           relatedness to the bird, a certain affinity, empathy -- as if you are on the wing -- it is prayer.
                Prayer is not something special here: it is the day-to-day ordinary life, with a new quality -- the
           quality of joy added to it, the quality of surrender and offering added to it. Any act offered to God is
           sacred. And if you can offer all your acts to God, everything is sacred.
                There are thousands of churches and temples in the world; there are thousands of teachers, great
           teachers, very learned teachers.... I am not a learned man and I am not a teacher, because I have no
           teaching to impart. I am just a silent stillness; I am just love in my heart, a playfulness. If you can be
           here, without any idea of when you are leaving, if you can just be here, and you can imbibe the spirit
           of this Buddhafield, this energy-field, something is possible -- something impossible is possible,
           which may not be possible anywhere else. Because as far as I know, there exists no Buddhafield in
           the world right now except this.
                Christians are there and Hindus are there and Mohammedans are there and Jainas and Buddhists
           -- there are three hundred religious on the earth, but all are hangovers of the past. Their Masters are
           long dead; they are traditions not religions, conventions not religions, conformities not revolutions.
                Here it is not a tradition that I am making available to you. It has nothing to do with the past. It is
           a new beginning, and it is very fortunate to be at the beginning of something, to be at the very source
           of something.
                The people who walked with Jesus were immensely fortunate -- they were at the very source, at
           the purest source. The people who walked with Buddha and lived with Buddha were immensely
           blessed, but now to be Buddhist is just meaningless. Twenty-five centuries have passed, and in these
           twenty-five centuries Buddhism has been corrupted so much that now it is almost impossible to sort
           out what Buddha said and what has been added to it and what has been deleted from it. It is almost
           impossible to say what has come from Buddha and what these twenty-five centuries have gathered
           around it.
                It is like a snow-ball rolling: more and more snow goes on collecting around it; the original face
           is lost. You will even be surprised that the Buddhist statues have nothing to do with the real face of
           Buddha. The Buddhist statues have something more to do with the face of Alexander the Great --
           because with Alexander the Great Indians became aware for the first time of the Greek beauty, and
           particularly of the Greek male beauty.
                Greeks were not interested in female beauty at all, remember, their whole idea was of male
           beauty. If you look at ancient statues that the Greek culture left, you will not find statues of women
           -- you will find statues of men, statues of nude men. They were tremendously in love with male
           beauty, the male body. The female body was not thought to be beautiful in Greece.
                They created beautiful statues of nude male bodies. Those statues and those Greeks who came to
           India with Alexander the Great, they gave the idea of how the Buddha's face should be made.
           Buddha's statues are not in ANY correspondence with his real face -- they are Greek in origin. And
           everything like that has been changed.
                The day Buddha died, the monks started quarrelling -- about each and everything. Thirty-six
           schools immediately arose, thirty-six sects. One man they all have loved, one man they all have
           heard -- but they have heard according to their minds. And when a man like Buddha is there, he
           releases great power; and there are power-hungry people who immediately jump on it, exploit it.
           These power-hungry people are really politicians.
                St. Paul who created Christianity is a politician. Christianity has nothing to do with Christ, and
           Buddhism has nothing to do with Buddha. Buddhism was created by King Ashoka, the great
           Emperor. He spread Buddhism all over Asia. It was he... and I don't think that he was a man of any
           great understanding or enlightenment; politicians never are. It became a new power trip. Somebody
           can spread his worldly riches more and more and more, somebody can spread his empire of political
           domination, somebody else can spread his religious empire -- but it is all the same! The desire is to
           dominate more and more people. Politicians are not very intelligent people.
                Those thirty-six people who started quarrelling must have been politicians.
                And this is something that is always going to happen; it is something in the nature of things -- it
           cannot be avoided. Those who were really in tune with Buddha remained silent. The shock was such
           -- Buddha's leaving the body -- that they were shattered, they were crying and weeping. They were
           missing their Master; their hearts were no more in their right places. They were not interested at all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in creating schisms, sects, divisions, politics. But there were idiots, and they are always around --
           seek one and you will find a thousand and one; they are always around. And when one idiot goes,
           another idiot takes his place, immediately.
                Just now... the other day I was reading: in Uganda, Idi Amin is gone; he was known as 'Idiot
           Amin'. Now do you know who has succeeded him? -- a man called Lulu. One idiot goes, another lulu
           comes! It is a very strange world. You cannot get rid of idiots and lulus.
                Once the Master is gone, the politicians are there immediately ready to grab the power. And
           politics remains as long as ego remains; politics is the shadow of the ego.
                So you can go to a Christian church or a Hindu temple, and you will go empty-handed and you
           will come back empty-handed. Unless you can find an alive Buddhafield, pulsating, streaming with
           life... and this is what is happening here.
                Something is possible. I cannot promise you that I can give it to you; I can only say that the
           space is here, and the space is becoming richer and richer every day, more and more dimensional
           every day. If you are ready to dive deep into the world that we are creating here -- it is an invisible
           world -- something of great value is possible.

           You ask me: CAN YOU HELP ME?
               That's what I am here for. That is not the real question.... Can you take my help? -- that is the real
           question. Are you ready to take my help? Will you ALLOW me to help you? Won't you resist? Will
           you open your heart for me to come in? And my coming in your heart is a great surgery. It is pain in
           the beginning, agony on the way, ecstasy only in the end.

           The second question


              OSHO, WHY DO ALL THE BUDDHAS SAY THE SAME THING?

              Vinod,

               TRUTH IS ONE. Even if it is said differently, it is the same truth. Languages may differ,
           metaphors may differ parables may differ, but if you really look a little deep, then al parables, all
           languages, all metaphors, culminate in one truth. TRUTH is one -- what can Buddhas do? Although
           each Buddha speaks in his own way, and his expression has HIS signature on it. His expression is
           just his and nobody else's. But still those who can see will always find that it is the same diamond --
           maybe we have been shown only one aspect of it by Krishna, another aspect by Christ, still another
           by Mohammed, but those are aspects of the same diamond.
               The diamond is one, this universe is one -- and all the Buddhas have been saying the same thing,
           in different languages, in different ways. Those differences come from their individualities, not from
           their experience. The moment of experience is wordless, the moment of experience is thoughtless.
           So when Buddha experienced it, it was the same purity of consciousness as when Jesus experienced
           it.
               Two purities cannot be different; two impurities can be different. Two healths cannot be
           different; two diseases can be different. Two silences cannot be different; two noises can be
           different. The truth is known in silence, but you cannot utter It in silence -- you have to use words,
           language, noise. And immediately... when Buddha speaks, he speaks in Pali; that is the language that
           he knows, that is his mother tongue.
               And Jesus speaks in Aramaic; that is his mother tongue. If Jesus and Buddha had met, they
           would not have understood each other's language at all, but they would have looked into each other's
           eyes and would have understood each other TOTALLY!
           A Sufi story:

               Mulla Nasruddin is sitting in the village square one evening plucking the strings of a sitar. Little
           by little, an expectant circle of villagers gathers around him. He keeps on playing just one note.
           Finally, one villager enquires, "That's a very nice note you are playing, Mulla, but most musicians
           use all the notes. Why don't you?"
           "Those donkeys," retorts the Mulla, "they are searching for the note, but I have found it!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Truth is one -- when you have found it you can go on repeating it, you can find different ways to
           repeat it, unique ways to express it, you can devise your own methods. And there are many methods
           devised -- because of the compassion of the enlightened ones. Strange methods, very contradictory
           to each other.
               If you go to a Sufi saint, he will be very polite to you, he may even touch your feet -- because the
           Sufis respect God in all forms. That is their device. When a Sufi Master touches your feet... just
           think of that moment, contemplate over the moment -- a Bahauddin, or a Jalaluddin, or a Farid --
           great Masters! diamonds of the purest water. A Bahauddin touching your feet, it is a device. In that
           moment when Bahauddin touches your feet, you are BOUND to fall silent, howsoever noisy your
           mind. Bahauddin touching your feet!? A great silence will descend on you. Bahauddin is giving you
           a taste of his meditation in this way; this is his device.
               And a Zen Master is just the opposite: you go to him, you have to bow down seven times. And
           you ask some innocent question... and he jumps on you, hits you on the head -- so unexpectedly. A
           very different device, but just think: a Bodhidharma, a Rinzai, a Bokoju, jumping on you, hitting on
           your head! For a moment all thinking stops... so unexpected. And you had asked a simple question:
           "Is there a God?" and he became furious. And you cannot figure it out -- why? And he gives you no
           time to figure it out; he gives you no time to escape either.

              It happened once that when Bokoju met his Master and asked something about Buddha, the
           Master took him physically and threw him out of the window... from a three-storey building. The
           poor fellow fell down on a rock, smashed, and the Master was looking from the window and he
           asked, "Do you understand now?" And the whole ridiculousness of it! And the silence of the garden.
           And the silence of the accident. The shock. And the Master's smiling face, and those compassionate
           eyes, and his asking, "Now do you understand?"
              And in that moment, Bokoju became enlightened. He said, "Yes, yes, Master. Can I come in and
           touch your feet in gratitude?"
           "You are welcome," the Master said, "to have a cup of tea with me."
           And they are sipping tea together.

               Something immensely valuable has happened. In that moment, in that dangerous moment, when
           you are falling, it is almost as if you are going to die -- you are finished. How can you think? In
           dangerous moments thinking stops. When you come across a snake, suddenly thinking stops. You
           don't decide to jump out of the way, remember -- you jump FIRST and then you decide, then you
           think it over, then you can afford to think it over. But you jump first!
               Gurdjieff used to say that mind is very slow in action, and he is right. The body is far quicker.
           Mind is very lethargic; it goes on round and round in circles. So whenever there is some urgency,
           then your existence does not allow your mind to go round and round through logical processes to
           come to a conclusion, because then it will be too late. By the time you have decided.... For example,
           if a snake is passing by and you give it to the mind, then there is trouble. First the mind will say,
           "Ninety-seven percent of snakes are non-poisonous, so there are only three chances out of a hundred
           that this snake is poisonous. A hundred persons who are bitten by snakes, they don't all die; only five
           percent die, ninety-five percent are saved. And those five persons who die, maybe they were going to
           die anyway. So what is the hurry? Why bother? And one has to die one day."
               And great philosophical ideas about death and the immortality of the soul.... And snakes don't
           care about these things! They are absolutely non-philosophical; they won't give you that much time.
           The snake may strike you before you have come to any conclusion.
               Gurdjieff is right: he says whenever there is any urgency, the body immediately takes over from
           the mind; it does not give mind any chance to do -- it does it on its own. The body has its own
           wisdom: it jumps out of the way. It is almost an in-built response, so no thinking is needed.
               That's what Zen people have been doing with their disciples.

              One Zen Master had this habit that whenever he would talk of God, of Buddha, of the higher
           dimensions of life, he would raise one of his fingers towards the sky. It became so characteristic of
           him that one of his small sannyasins, a young boy -- must have been of the age of Siddhartha --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           became very much interested in this one finger pointing upwards. And he was always in attendance
           just to do something for the Master -- if he needs some tea, to run and bring the tea, or just to be by
           his side and to help him to get rid of the mosquitoes.
               He learnt the trick, and playfully, whenever the Master was not looking at him, he would show
           one finger to the audience. The Master knew -- people would laugh, or smile and he would know
           who was doing the whole trick.
               One day -- and this can be done only by a Zen Master -- he simply caught hold of the child when
           he was making the gesture of one finger pointing to heaven, and cut the finger with a sharp knife.
           Now, just think of doing such a thing to poor Siddhartha....
               The child cried, screamed, and the Master said, "Stop! And put the finger up!" And his shout was
           such, it was such a thunderlike shout, that the child forgot all about his finger, that it had been cut
           and blood was oozing, and he showed the finger which was NO more there, because the Master had
           ordered.
               And in that moment when he was showing a finger which was no more there, he became aware
           of the invisible; the Master was not pointing to something visible, but something invisible. And the
           child started laughing, and the Master took him into his embrace and said, "You have understood."

               And it is said that small child had his first satori. Later on became a famous enlightened Master.
               Different approaches... but the truth is one. The truth is silence -- the single note of silence. Be
           silent and know, and you will also know the same thing that Buddhas have always known and will
           always know: truth is eternal. It has nothing to do with time, it never changes.

           Third question


              OSHO, IS IT NOT GOOD TO TEACH THE CHILDREN SOMETHING OF RELIGION? WILL IT NOT
              BENEFIT THEM FO HELP THEM KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT JESUS CHRIST?

              Maria,


                RELIGION CANNOT BE TAUGHT to children or to grown-ups. It cannot even be taught to
           grown-ups, so how can it be taught to children? Religion as such cannot be taught: religion can only
           be caught. Maria, if you live a religious life... and by 'religious life' I don't mean the life of a
           Christian or a Hindu; by 'religious life' I mean a life full of love, prayer, celebration, joy,
           cheerfulness, gratitude. If you live a religious life, the children are bound to catch it. Teaching is
           needed because you don't live a religious life, so you tell them theories. Those theories are not going
           to help at all. When a child is thirsty, don't talk about H2O -- give him water. He needs water! Don't
           tell him, "H20 is the formula which contains water, which contains all the oceans -- don t be worried.
           Just remember H20 is equivalent to water."
           But the child will say, "How can I drink H20?"
                And then the ridiculous thing happens: the child will think if you repeat H20, H20, H20, H20,
           then maybe someday, by repeating it constantly, intensely, chanting it again and again, using it as a
           mantra, the miracle will happen....
                People are chanting "Rama, Rama, Rama," "Ave Maria," "Jesus," "Allah" -- a thousand and one
           formulas. You can go on chanting... they are all H20, H20, H20. You are simply wasting your time --
           not only wasting your time, you are destroying your intelligence too.
                The man who gets into such a repetitive routine becomes stupid. He loses the sharpness of his
           intelligence. What are you going to teach to the children? What is religion after all? Is there some
           way to teach it? Yes, you can teach Christianity, because Christianity is a doctrine; and you can
           teach Buddhism because Buddhism is a doctrine. A doctrine can be taught, but religion has nothing
           to do with doctrine -- religion is not a doctrine: it is an experience.
                Maria, you cannot teach it, but you can create the context, you can live in such a way that the
           child slowly slowly imbibes the spirit. And children are very vulnerable, very flexible, and very
           attentive too! And they are always ready to learn. If something of immense beauty is felt by them,
           they Learn it, they drink it, they digest it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But you teach them stupid doctrines. For example, that Christ was born of a virgin mother -- now
           the child will laugh at you, because now children know much more than you think.

               A small boy gave the following summary of his Sunday school lesson:
           "There were these Jews who had broken out of a prison camp in Egypt. They ran and ran until they
           came to a wide lake. The prison guards were closing in so the Jews jumped into the water and swam
           out to some boats that were waiting for them. The guards got in submarines and tried to torpedo the
           boats, but the Jews set off depth charges and blew up all the submarines and made it safe to the other
           side. Everybody called the Admiral by his first name, Moses."
               The boy's father asked, "Son are you certain that is what your teacher told you?"
           "Dad," responded the boy, "if you can't believe my story, you would never believe the one the
           teacher told."

                Now, telling children stupid stories you are not helping the to become religious; on the contrary,
           you are helping them to become anti-religious. When they grow up they will know that all those
           religious doctrines were fairy-tales.
                Your God. your Jesus Christ, all will turn into Santa Claus later on in the child's mind --
           deceptions, fables, to keep children occupied. And once the children know that what you have been
           telling them as absolute truth is just lies and nothing else, you have destroyed something very
           valuable in their being. They will never become interested in religion at all.
                My own observation is that the world is becoming more and more irreligious because of religious
           teaching. No child should be taught any religious doctrine.
                Yes, when you are praying, let the child be present there. When you are dancing, let the child be
           present there. And the child will soon join you -- how can the child resist joining a dance? Let the
           child know that life has grace in it; let the child know that life is not only suffering but much ecstasy
           too. Let the child know that laughter is good, divine, that love is good, godly.
                And these things are not to be taught: they have to be imbibed by the child. You have to create
           the vibe. And then sooner or later the child will start becoming aware of many more things which
           cannot be seen just by the physical eyes. Because you will have given him more sensitivity.
           Otherwise you can go on teaching him, and nobody even remembers. How much do you remember
           that was taught to you? Nobody even remembers; everything is thrown in the garbage.

               Three Italians were driving fast on the expressway when their car collided with a truck and they
           were instantly killed. Finding themselves at heaven's door, they knocked and God answered. "What
           do you want?" God asked.
           "We want to come in," they replied.
               God said, "Before you can enter you must answer a question." He pointed to one Italian and said,
           "You, Vito, tell me, what is Easter about?"
               Vito paused, then with an Italian accent answered, "Thatsa when there are lotsa parades alla over
           America! Fireworks are shot at night and the people go ona picnics. Itsa celebrated in July."
           "Sorry, Vito," God said, "but you must go to hell."
               Pointing at Pietro, God said, "You, Pietro, tell me what Easter is about?"
               Pietro smiled and replied, "I know, God, thatsa when some time ina November the family gathers
           together and eatsa turkey, pumpkin pie, potatoes...."
           "Sorry, Pietro," God said, "you must go to hell."
               Looking at Giuseppe, God said, "You, Giuseppe, you have been an altar boy for ten years. You
           go to church every Sunday. You tell me what Easter is about."
               Giuseppe replied, "Thatsa when the people who did not like your poor son and what he said hung
           him upa on a cross. For three hours your son he hang there before he died. Thena his mother and
           friends, they take him down from the cross, wrap his body up and put the body in a cave and they
           roll a huge stone in front of the cave. For three days your son was in the cave and on the third day he
           wakes up from the dead, rolls back the stone, goes out of the cave. Hea no seea his shadow, so he
           goes back in for sixa more months."

              You can go on teaching... nobody is listening. Children are helpless; they have to go to the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Sunday school, so they go. They have to listen, so they listen -- but they are not there. And later on
           they say and they know that all that was just nonsense. They may not say, but they know certainly
           that that was all nonsense.
               Maria, this is not the way to help the world become more religious. This is the way we have tried
           for centuries -- and we have failed. Instead of the earth becoming more religious, it has become more
           and more irreligious every day. As the teaching has spread, as there have been more and more
           missionaries and more and more teachers and more and more people indoctrinating others, the world
           has turned more and more irreligious -- not only irreligious but anti-religious too.
               It is time to understand that something IS basically wrong. This is not the way to teach religion;
           religion can only be caught and not taught. Yes, it happens with a Jesus, because Jesus creates the
           space where it can happen.

           A disciple once asked Jesus, "What is prayer?"
               Do you know what he did? He simply fell on his knees and started praying; tears started rolling
           down his cheeks. This is creating a space. Now he is creating PRAYER itself! What is the need to
           say anything?
               Seeing it, the disciple fell on his knees -- for the first time he felt the tremendous beauty of
           surrender, and a great joy in feeling grateful to God. Tears started flowing down his cheeks too.
           They were both crying -- in joy, in gratitude.
               Finally, Jesus asked him, "Now do you know what prayer is."
               And he nodded; he said, "Yes, Master. Now I know what prayer is."

               This is the way to teach. Not giving theoretical answers, not giving absurd, outdated,
           metaphysical doctrines, which may have looked relevant one day, but now they look simply stupid.
           Now say to a child that God created the world just four thousand and four years before Jesus Christ,
           and the child will smile at you. And the child knows that "Either you are befooling me, or you are in
           utter ignorance."

               THE WORLD HAS EXISTED for millions of years. In fact. there has never been a beginning.
           God is not the creator in reality but the creativity. To say to a child that God finished the world in six
           days and then rested on the seventh day because he was tired -- now, that means that since then he
           has not bothered about us at all.

               A man went to his tailor and asked him, "How long is it going to take for my suit to be ready?
           You have been promising it already for six weeks, and you say again and again, 'Come again, come
           again...' And do you know? -- God created the world in only six days? And in six weeks you have
           not been able to even create my suit."
               And do you know what the tailor said? The tailor said, "Yes, I know -- and look at the world,
           then look at my suit, and you will see the difference. The world is in a mess. This is what happens
           when you create something in six days."

               God is still creating. In fact, to think of God as a separate person from existence is not
           experiential. Those who have experienced, they say God is the very creativity of existence -- he is
           not a creator. Existence creates itself; it is a self-creating process. And it is unending and eternal.
               And how are you going to describe God? -- a very very old man with a long white beard, sitting
           on a throne up in the heaven. And do you know what ideas come to children's minds? You will be
           surprised.

               Carl Gustav Jung in his memoirs writes... he was the son of a clergyman, so he used to listen to
           the sermons about God sitting on the throne and watching everybody from there. And Jung says,
           "The idea that always came to my mind was: if he starts urinating, then what will happen? Sitting on
           top... and sometimes he must feel like pissing, then what?"
               Children are children! When you talk to children, be very alert. They have their own ideas... and
           he would start giggling at the whole idea, because the father knew nothing about it.
               One day, the father asked, "Why do you giggle whenever talk about God sitting on the throne?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           So he told the father. The father said, "Shut up! Never think such things!"
               And Jung said, "This is nothing -- I think even worse things." And Jung relates that that idea
           persisted, persisted.... Even when he became older, once in a while whenever he would see in a
           church a picture of God up there, immediately the idea would come.

               Your teachings cannot be of any help -- only your life. Live! If you really love your children, live
           in such a way that they start feeling that there ARE things which are not visible but still they are.
           You need not convince them. They don't ask for proofs, they don't understand proofs. They are not
           asking for arguments -- they are asking for existential experiences.
               And they are always ready to go on any adventure -- more ready than you. You may be afraid for
           safety, security, and a thousand and one things -- children are never afraid. Children are more
           fearless than you. They can have a more immediate contact with God than you can ever have.
               But we give them so many rotten theories, and in the name of religion, too, we go on teaching
           them a kind of ambitiousness, competitiveness: "Be better than others! Be more religious than
           others! Be holier than others! Be purer than others, more virtuous, more righteous! Then God will
           reward you. And if you are not, you will be punished in hell."
               This is psychological conditioning, making them afraid and making them greedy -- and you call
           this religion? To make a person fearful is religion? Religion is when a person becomes fearless. To
           make a person greedy for rewards in the other life is religion? Religion is when there is no greed.
               And you make them competitive: "Compete with others! Be more virtuous, more saintly. Look at
           other boys, how well-behaved they are and how religious they are!" You are creating in their mind a
           subtle ego, a pious ego, so when the boy goes to the church he feels holier than everybody else. He
           looks all around -- he knows he is higher. He has risen on the ladder; soon the paradise will be his.
               This is poisoning your children with competitiveness. This competitiveness is there in the
           marketplace, it is in the monastery too. In the marketplace it can be forgiven, but not in the
           monastery. When people are rushing for money, it's okay, understandable, that they will be
           competitive. But for virtue too, the same rush?
               And once the goal becomes too important, then means lose all importance. When the end
           becomes all-important, then any means will do, fair or foul, but one has to attain to the end.
               This is not creating religiousness. A religious mind is non-competitive, utterly unambitious. He
           has nowhere to go -- no hell to fear, no heaven to attain. He is RIGHT now in God, in THIS very
           moment. His this moment is all and all. And he never compares himself with anybody else. Your
           saints go on comparing: Who is higher? Who is a bigger saint? And all these so-called saints are just
           stupid children, still thinking in terms of what they have learnt in their schools, still not out of their
           teens. I have heard:

               There was a deaf and dumb couple who had just got married and were on their honeymoon. They
           took off their clothes to have some fun when the wife signalled in sign language, "Did you bring the
           safes?"
           "Oh no," replied the man in sign language, "I forgot."
               And she said, using her fingers, "You will have to get dressed and get some because I am not
           going to do it without safes."
           "But I am deaf and dumb," cried the man. "How am I gonna get the man at the drugstore to
           understand what I want?"
           "Oh, that's easy," replied the wife. "You just go to the counter, lay down a ten dollar bill, take your
           prick out and lay it on the counter and the man will know what you want." The man went out and
           came back a half an hour later looking very sheepish.
           "Well, did you get them, did you get the safes?" asked the expectant wife.
           The man just hung his head and said no.
           "Well, did you do what I said?" asked the now frustrated wife.
           "Yes," he replied.
           "So, what happened?"
           "Well, I went to the counter and put down the ten dollars. Then I pulled out my prick and put it on
           the counter. Then the man behind the counter put ten dollars on the counter and pulled out his prick
           and put it on the counter."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "So, what happened?" asked the curious wife.
           "Well," replied the husband, "his was bigger so he took all the money!"

               Competition, competition, competition... everywhere competition. And this story is not just a
           story: if you ask Sigmund Freud he will say exactly this that that is from where Competition arises.
           Small boys become very much worried about their genital organs: "Who has the bigger one?"
               All competition is rooted there, originates there! And then it spreads all over your life. It is
           sexual basically. Then it takes many forms, many masks and facades: Who has the biggest car? It is
           nothing but the same story: Whose prick is bigger? Who has the biggest house? It is the same story
           again. These are different symbols for the same sexual competition.
               And who is the greatest saint? -- the story is not different...




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                    Chapter #6
                                     Chapter title: Untimely Sannyasination
           16 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904160
              ShortTitle: FISH06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 107 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, HOW CAN REBELLION BE RECEPTIVE, FEMININE, YES-SAYING? IT FEELS SO MUCH
              LIKE A NO TO ALL THESE OLD THINGS. IS IT JUST AWARENESS AND LOVE THAT IS IT?

              Prem Mariam,

               REVOLUTION IS NO, REBELLION IS YES. Revolution is negative, rebellion is positive.
           Revolution says no to all that is wrong and should not be. Rebellion says yes to all that is beautiful,
           good. Revolution is past-oriented, rebellion is present-oriented. They are not synonymous.
               Revolution is destructive, rebellion is creative. Revolution can never be feminine, receptive,
           yes-saying. That is impossible. But rebellion is always feminine, always receptive, always
           yes-saying.
               I am talking about rebellion, I am not talking about revolution. Revolution is political, rebellion
           is spiritual. Revolution is of the crowd, rebellion is individual. You can be a rebel and you don't need
           anybody else to be with you -- you alone can be a rebel. But you alone cannot be a revolutionary;
           you will need a great organization, you will need a great army behind you.
               And the problem is -- one of the most significant things to be understood -- that when you fight
           with somebody, slowly slowly, you become like your enemy. It's bound to be so; it follows a certain
           natural course. If you have to fight with somebody, you have to be like him; otherwise you will not
           be able to fight with him. Choose your enemy very carefully. Friends can be chosen without much
           care -- they don't affect you so much -- but enemies are very decisive.
               All revolutions fail because of the enemy. The enemy decides the whole thing. The czars of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Russia decided the structure of the communist party; the czars decided how Joseph Stalin was going
           to be. And he proved a bigger czar than any other czar, and he proved even more terrible than Ivan
           the Terrible.
                Fighting with the czar, fighting with the imperialist structure of the czar, they learnt the whole
           strategy, all the tactics. By the time they came in power, they were perfectly groomed by the czar, by
           the enemy. By the time they came in power, they started behaving in the same way against their
           enemies as the czar had been behaving with them.
                This you can see all over the world again and again. Right now this is happening in Iran. The
           Emperor is gone, and a far worse regime has taken his place. Khomeini is proving at least ten times
           more violent than the Emperor himself. Khomeini has learnt the whole strategy from the Emperor;
           his whole life he has suffered, struggled. That has been his school. Now, with a vengeance, he is
           proving himself to be a bigger emperor than the Emperor himself Now, every day, hundreds of
           people are being executed, killed.
                This has happened always: revolutions fail because they are reactions. Never be a revolutionary:
           be a rebel. A rebel is not AGAINST the past; the past is not even worth that. To be against it m.ans
           to be focussed on it; to be against it means you are paying too much attention to it. To be against it
           means you are hypnotized by it.
                A few are for it -- they are hypnotized. And a few are against it -- they are hypnotized. The rebel
           is one who simply sees the whole futility of it, and without fighting drops it. If you fight, it will cling
           to you; if you fight, you have to cling to it. It will become your definition. Don't let the past define
           you; simply slip out of it, just like a snake slips out of the old skin -- and never even looks back. That
           is the way of the rebel.
                I teach the way of the rebel. That is the way of religion -- religion is rebellion, not revolution.
           And it gives immense respect to the individual. Each one can be a rebel in his own way: just simply
           slip out of the past. There is no need to struggle with it -- it is no MORE there. And if you go on
           fighting... you don't have that long a life. The past has been very long -- millions of years -- how are
           you going to fight with it in a life that consists at the most of seventy or eighty years? In this small
           life span, how are you going to fight with the past which is so huge, immense?
                The only wise way is to slip out of it; there is no need to fight with it. And this has to be
           understood on many levels.
                Politically, people fight with the past -- the Hindu past, the Christian past, the Mohammedan past
           -- and they become like the past they are fighting with. Psychologically, since Sigmund Freud,
           people are fighting with their own individual pasts -- the childhood traumas. That too is big, and if
           you have to sort it out and fight with everything and put everything right, your whole present and
           future will be wasted in it. The past is already wasted, the present will be wasted in psychoanalysis,
           and the whole future you will be fighting, and fighting with the past. And to fight with the past is to
           fight with a shadow -- you can never win. How can you win against a shadow? It does not exist in
           the first place. You have only to see that it is a shadow! and that is that.
                That is the basic difference between the psychological approach towards life and the religious
           approach. Religion simply says: "Be more meditative, be more aware. Be right now here!" In that
           very awareness, in that crystal-clear consciousness, you see that the past is an unnecessary burden --
           you need not carry it. Nobody can force you to carry it; you are carrying it on your own, it is your
           decision.
                Your parents are not there to enforce it... it is already gone! Just shadows are lingering. See that
           they are shadows, and you are free. In that very seeing is freedom. In that very understanding is
           liberation. And then all your energies are available to be herenow. Then you can bloom! Then you
           can blossom. Then your life can have some fulfillment, some joy, some celebration.
                Revolution is against the past and for the future -- both are non-existential. The past is no more
           and the future is not yet. And revolution consists only of past and future: against the past and for
           some future utopia. The word 'utopia' is very beautiful; literally it means 'that which never comes'.
                Rebellion consists of the present and only the present. It has no concern with the past, it has no
           concern with the future. It loves, lives, dances, sings, but its space is here, and its time is now. And
           then you can be feminine, and then you can be receptive, and then you can be yea-saying.

           The second question
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              OSHO, I ONCE READ SOMEWHERE THAT WHEN BUDDHA WAS ASKED BY A DISCIPLE TO
              DESCRIBE LIFE BRIEFLY, THE BUDDHA REPLIED 'MISERY'. IS THIS TRUE?

              Zareen,


               IT IS TRUE. But if a Buddha had asked Buddha, "What is life? -- describe briefly," he would
           have said, "Bliss." The answer has nothing to do with the question; the answer has something to do
           with the questioner. The answer depends on the questioner. A man like Gautam Buddha does not
           answer questions, he answers questioners. He is not saying anything about life, mind you -- he is not
           saying anything about life. He is saying something about the life of the man who had asked the
           question.
               Buddha is not saying about his own life that it is a misery; certainly it is not. Nobody has seen
           such grandeur, such bliss; nobody has walked on this earth with such grace, such utter celebration.
           Nobody does humanity remember who has been more beautiful. How can Buddha say that life is
           misery? You should remember: he is not talking about life as such; he is talking about the life of the
           man who had asked the question.
               And then it becomes a problem, because for forty-two years Buddha continued answering
           people, and different people required different answers, and sometimes contradictory answers. A
           Buddha has to contradict himself almost every day.
           Once it happened:

               In the morning a man asked Buddha, Is there a God?" and Buddha said, "No." And in the
           afternoon another person asked, "Is there a God?" and Buddha said, "Yes." And by the evening a
           third person asked, "Is there a God?" and Buddha kept quiet, didn't answer, remained silent.
               Ananda, who was Buddha's chief disciple, was present on all three occasions. He was
           continuously behind Buddha like a shadow -- serving him, taking care of his body, looking after his
           needs. He was very much puzzled: "In a single day Buddha has said there is no God, Buddha has
           said there is a God, and Buddha has kept silent too, he has not answered this way or that. These are
           the only three possibilities -- all the possibilities exhausted, in a single day? All the answers given."
               He could not sleep; he tossed and turned, and Buddha asked, "What is the matter with you
           tonight? Are you not tired or something?"
               He said, "I don't want to disturb you, but unless you answer me this question I don't think I will
           be able to sleep. In the morning you said no, in the afternoon you said yes, and by the evening you
           remained silent, you didn't answer -- and the question was exactly the same!"
               Buddha laughed and he said, "The person who had come early in the morning and had asked 'Is
           there a God?' was a theist, was a believer. He wanted me to say yes so that his belief could become
           more strengthened -- and I don't strengthen people's beliefs, because a believing mind is never a
           seeing mind. To believe is to remain in darkness. I wanted to shatter his belief. My answer had
           nothing to do with God; my answer had something to do with that man. He was there just to
           accumulate a little more evidence for his belief, so he could say to people that 'Not only do I believe
           that there is a God, but even Buddha says there is a God!'
           "He had not come to understand. He simply wanted me to be a witness to HIS belief And his belief is
           just out of fear, a conditioning taught by others. His belief is nothing but a cover-up for his
           ignorance. I cannot be in any way a help to it. I had to shatter it. I had to shout no, emphatically. And
           it helped. 'Buddha says no?' Enquiry started in his being. Now he cannot be at rest with his belief He
           will have to come -- you will see."
               And one day he came again, and he said to Buddha, "You did it: since that time my worship has
           become empty. Since that time I go to the temple, but the temple no longer has any deity in it. Since
           that time I know it is only a belief. If you say God is not, then who am I to say God is? You are so
           godly, you must be true. I have come to enquire. Now I come to you without any belief. Now I come
           to you open -- to seek, to search. Now my question is not rooted in my knowledge." And Buddha
           said to Ananda, "The second person was an atheist -- he believed that there is no God. He had come
           in the same way as the first one: to have my support." His belief was as stupid as the first one's,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because to believe without knowing is to be stupid. Believe only when you have known, but then it
           is not a belief at all; it is a totally different experience. It is trust. It is not based on somebody else's
           experience; it is your OWN experience. You are reborn in it. It is not Hindu, Christian,
           Mohammedan -- it is simply your experience. And even if the whole world says it is not so, you
           cannot deny it, your trust cannot be shaken.
           "The other person," Buddha said, "was an atheist, hence I had to say YES, and emphatically I had to
           say yes."
           Ananda said, "And what about the third?"
               Buddha said, "He was neither a theist, nor an atheist, so neither was yes needed nor was no
           needed. He was really an innocent soul, a very pure heart. His question was not out of his a priori
           knowledge; his question was really innocent. His question was a quest, an enquiry. I had to remain
           silent -- because that was my answer to him. And he understood it.
           "Did you not watch: when I remained silent and closed my eyes, he also closed his eyes, and a great
           silence descended on him. And did you not observe? -- when he went his eyes were shining, his eyes
           were like lit candles. And did you not observe? -- when he left, he touched my feet, bowed down,
           thanked me, saying 'You answered rightly,' although I had not answered him at all. That man tasted
           something of my silence, imbibed something of my being. That man was the true seeker."

               A true seeker does not need a verbal answer: a true seeker needs something existential -- a
           penetration of the heart into the heart, a penetration of the soul into the soul. The real seeker wants
           the Master to overlap him. The real seeker wants the Master to go into his innermost core and stir the
           sleeping soul.
           Zareen, your question is significant. You say:

           I ONCE READ SOMEWHERE THAT WHEN BUDDHA WAS ASKED BY A DISCIPLE TO
           DESCRIBE LIFE BRIEFLY, THE BUDDHA REPLIED 'MISERY.'
                It is true. Many times he said to many people that life is misery; and many times he said to many
           people that life is bliss -- SATCHITANANDA -- it is truth, it is consciousness, it is bliss.
                But people have gathered more the answer that life is misery, because it fits with their own
           experience. When the Buddha says, "Life is joy," it doesn't fit with your experience. It falls on flat
           ears. You hear it, but you cannot understand it. It does not ring any bells in your heart.
                So the answers that he gave to those who had come to know something of bliss, something of
           joy, something of song, have not become so important. And it was only rarely that he would say that,
           because it is only a rare person who will require that answer. Millions and millions need to be told,
           "Your life is misery." It IS so.
                But why does Buddha say your life is misery, why? He says it so that you can come out of it.
           You can have another kind of life -- this is not the only kind! This is only one of the ways, and the
           worst way possible. You have created a hell out of your life; and if it can be a hell, it can also be a
           heaven; if it can be misery, it can be bliss. It is the same energy used wrongly that becomes misery,
           AND used rightly becomes bliss.
                What is misery? Misery is feeling separate from existence, feeling isolated from existence,
           feeling alienated from existence -- that is misery. And what is bliss? Feeling one with existence,
           orgasmically one with existence, organically one with existence. Having an ego is misery, and
           becoming egolessness is bliss. Both alternatives are open. The choice is yours.
                Zareen, listening to Buddha's answer that life is misery, don't settle there. His answer is to
           unsettle you. His answer is to shock you. His answer is to wake you up to the fact that your life is
           misery. But people are really cunning, very cunning; they listen only to that which they want to
           listen to. People are so cunning that listening to the statement that life is misery, they say, ''Then
           nothing can be done. If life is misery, then I have to live a miserable life, then this is all there is -- so
           live it! Live it anyhow."
                Rather than creating a desire to transform themselves, they completely drown themselves in their
           misery -- as if Buddha has given them a certificate that this is what life is all about. People are so
           cunning, they simply listen only to that which they want to listen to.

           "This is all a mistake, Your Honour," said the first harlot. "I was walking along and this guy.... "
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Just a minute, young lady," said the judge. "Now, you have been here a dozen times -- one hundred
           dollars fine. Next!"
           "I am just a poor private secretary," said the second girl, "and I was not doing anything..."
           "I recognize you too, miss," said the magistrate. "Two hundred dollars or ten days in jail. Next case!"
           "Judge," said the third girl, "I am a prostitute. I am not proud of it, but it is the only way I can
           support my three kids. I am guilty."
           "Young woman," said the judge, "I like your honesty, and because of it I am going to give you a
           break. Your case is dismissed and, sergeant, give this girl fifty dollars out of the policemen's fund."
               Now comes poor old Liebowitz, arrested for selling ties without a license. "Your Honour," he
           pleaded. "I'm not gonna lie to you -- I am a prostitute too.... "

               Beware of your mind -- it is always trying ways and means, strategies, tactics, to remain as it is.
           It can wear masks, it can become religious, it can go to the church, it can read the Bibles and the
           Vedas... and still it will find only ways and means to remain itself.
               Zareen, Buddha's statement has been taken by people as if he has said, "Life cannot be bliss." It
           is impossible. "Life is misery and it is going to remain misery -- to be miserable is life's intrinsic
           quality," people have taken it that way. That is not true. I know it is not true.
               I say to you: your life is misery, but it need not be so. It is misery because you have not tried to
           transform it; you have not worked on it. It is misery because you are still unborn. It is misery
           because the opportunity is being wasted, and you are not being creative. It is misery because you are
           not behaving intelligently.
               Be intelligent. And I don't mean by 'intelligence' be intellectual -- intellectuals are not necessarily
           intelligent people, and intelligent people are not necessarily intellectuals. Almost always the case is
           that the intellectual is only a pretend, he is pseudo; by being intellectual he is trying to convince
           himself and others that he is intelligent.
               What is the criterion of being an intelligent person? Only one criterion: if you can create bliss in
           your life you are intelligent -- otherwise there is no other way to prove it. If you can create a paradise
           around yourself, if you can remain in a constant cheerfulness, cheerfulness becomes just your very
           milieu, then you are intelligent.
               Be intelligent and life is bliss; be stupid and life is misery. It all depends on you.

           The third question

           Osho,

              AND THE MIND GOES BANANAS...
              "SURRENDER, DO YOUR OWN THING."
              "TRUST, LIVE YOUR LIFE..."
              SLOWLY IT SEEMS TO ME THAT I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING AND SOMETIMES IT FEELS VERY
              GOOD. BUT STILL I WANT TO KNOW.

              Varidhi,


               THE MIND NEVER GOES BANANAS -- it is bananas. You say: SURRENDER, DO YOUR
           OWN THING. I will suggest you put just two words between these two: SURRENDER and then DO
           YOUR OWN THING. Because once you have surrendered, you are not there, God is. Then doing
           your own thing is doing God's thing: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
               First dissolve yourself, then God is your you, then God is your self You have just missed those
           two simple words 'and then'.
           Surrender AND THEN do your own thing.
           Trust AND THEN live your own life.
               Surrender and trust are not two things; it is the same phenomenon. You can surrender only if you
           trust, and you can trust only if you surrender. They go hand in band. They are inseparable. If one
           happens, the other is bound to have already happened. Just those two words that are missing are
           creating trouble for you: and then.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A man came to St. Augustine and asked him, "I am illiterate, very old, not much life is left. I
           cannot go into great austerities; the energy is ebbing. I am just on the verge of death. I have walked
           many miles just to see you and ask you something very simple. I have not come to listen to great
           philosophy -- just something very simple, a single word will do. You just simply tell me a single
           word that I can keep in my heart and I can follow it for whatsoever of my life is left."
               It is said St. Augustine closed his eyes... his disciples were very much puzzled. It had never
           happened before. Great theologians had come, great philosophers had visited; they had asked very
           complicated, very difficult questions, and Augustine was never known to meditate over those
           questions. His answers were immediate. "What is he doing? This old villager's question -- and he is
           meditating?"
               For half an hour he meditated, and then he opened his eyes and he said, "Then I can say only one
           thing: love and then whatsoever you do is right."

               Remember love. Love is the quintessence of the whole of religion, the very perfume of all the
           flowers that have bloomed in the name of religion -- Buddha, Krishna, Christ, Mohammed,
           Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Kabir, Farid, Nanak, Meera -- all the flowers in all the ages that have ever
           bloomed, they have the same fragrance and that fragrance is love.
               If you can love, then everything is allowed -- because a loving man cannot do anything wrong.
           Love is the only commandment. If love is not there, then even those ten commandments are not
           going to help at all. Ten commandments are not needed; they are needed only because you are not
           ready to fulfill the first and the only commandment. Those ten commandments are just poor
           substitutes for the single commandment: love.
               And remember, love AND THEN whatsoever you do is good, is virtuous.
               That's what I go on saying in different ways: surrender and then do your own thing. Listening to
           me you can misunderstand, because doing your own thing has become the very flavour of the new
           generation. I am not saying the same thing. When I say do your own thing, I am not repeating a
           hippie slogan. When I am saying do your own thing, there is a condition preceding it: surrender,
           trust, AND THEN.... Otherwise, what are you going to do? Without surrender whatsoever you do
           will come out of your ego, will come out of your unconsciousness, will come out of your past. It
           CAN'T come from God, and it can't come from a conscious, alert being.
               And whatsoever comes from the unconscious is going to create more and more misery for you
           and for others. There is enough misery; there is no need for you to contribute more to it. There is
           more than enough. If you want to contribute something to it, please, first fulfill the basic requirement
           of surrender and trust.
               Just meditate for a moment... if the ego is not there, then who is doing? Then God is doing
           through you, then you are just a hollow bamboo. On his lips you become a flute -- the song is his.
           And then you will not feel so puzzled, Varidhi.

               You say: SLOWLY IT SEEMS TO ME THAT I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING AND
           SOMETIMES IT FEELS VERY GOOD.
               You are going really mighty slow. You say: SLOWLY IT SEEMS TO ME... How can it seem
           slowly? Either you see it instantly, or you don't see it -- what do you mean by 'slowly'? These things
           are not gradual. These things are breakthroughs, sudden, like lightning in the dark night.
               When I say something, if you are available in that moment, if you are in tune with me in that
           moment, there will be a lightning experience. A tremendous yes will arise in your heart... a flood of a
           new vision, of a new clarity, of a new transparency. You will see what is what, and in that very
           seeing, that which is wrong drops out of your hands -- and only the wrong has to be dropped; the
           right is always there. It cannot be dropped; it is only covered by the wrong. The wrong is a foreign
           element, the right is your natural being.

                You say: SLOWLY IT SEEMS TO ME THAT I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING...
                No, it cannot happen slowly. It never happens slowly. If you listen to me you are bound to
           experience it, that you don't know anything at all. What do you know? I am not talking about
           engineering and medicine and geography and history; I am not talking about all that nonsense --
           utilitarian nonsense. But what do you know of reality, of truth, of God, of love, of meditation? What
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do you know about this mysterious existence that surrounds you? What do you know about yourself?
           -- with whom you have lived from eternity and you are going to live for eternity. What do you know
           about the person who you are?

               When a great mathematician, P. D. Ouspensky, went to see a very strange mystic, George
           Gurdjieff, Ouspensky was already world-famous, and Gurdjieff was not known at all; nobody had
           heard about him. Ouspensky had already written one of the greatest books in the world, TERTIUM
           ORGANUM. It is said that there are only three great books in the world: the first was written by
           Aristotle, Organum, and the second was written by Bacon, NOVUM ORGANUM, and the third was
           written by P. D. Ouspensky, TERTIUM ORGANUM. First principle, second principle, third
           principle -- third canon of thought, that is the meaning of Tertium Organum
               Ouspensky declared in the beginning of the book that the third existed even before the first ever
           existed. And it is NOT just pride, it is not just ego -- it is true. He had discovered something of
           immense value; he had contributed to the world of mathematics, logic, metaphysics, something
           really valuable. He was known all over the world; the book was being translated into many many
           languages.
               And Gurdjieff was not known at all -- just a small group of people knew about him. And it was
           not easy to approach him either; he was not available publicly. Ouspensky had great difficulties and
           had to wait three months to see him, and had to try many people because only those who belonged to
           the inner circle of Gurdjieff were allowed to bring some new guest.
               And the day he was ushered into the presence of Gurdjieff, twelve people were sitting there.
           Gurdjieff in the middle and all the twelve surrounding him, and there was absolute silence. And the
           man who had brought Ouspensky, he also sat there and closed his eyes. Now, Ouspensky started
           feeling very restless; he was not even introduced. He started feeling a little embarrassed too: "What
           is he doing here? And what are these people doing here, just sitting silently?"
               Half an hour passed... and now it was almost one hour passing. Ouspensky started thinking,
           "What am I sitting here for?" But he could not even leave, because it looked so impolite to disturb
           the silence. The silence was so tangible, like a cloud the silence was sitting there.
               And then Gurdjieff looked at Ouspensky, and he said, "You are feeling very restless. It is natural
           -- you come from a restless world, you don't know the ways of silence. Why did you want to see me?
           Why have you been haunting me for three months?"
               And Ouspensky said, "I wanted to ask you a few questions." Gurdjieff gave him a blank sheet of
           paper and told him, "Go into the other room and on the one side write whatsoever you know, and on
           the other side whatsoever you don't know. And then come back -- because I will answer only that
           which you don't know. If you already know it, why bother about it?"
               It was a cold Moscow night, the snow was falling, and Ouspensky remembers, "Going into the
           other room, I started perspiring. For the first time, with such emphasis, I was made aware that I know
           nothing. I wanted to write something, just to save my prestige, that I know this, that. I thought it
           over, round and round, but basically I knew nothing. I thought: Do I know anything about love? I
           have heard much, I have read much -- but any experience? because that man is not going to let it
           pass easily. He will ask, 'Any experience?' " And he had seen those eyes which can go to the very
           core of your being: "You cannot deceive that man.
           "Do I know anything about meditation? Do I know anything about God? Do I know anything of any
           real significance?''
               He waited and waited and he could not find anything. And finally he came out and gave the
           paper back -- as blank as before -- and said, "Excuse me, I don't know anything. I know nothing. I
           have been a fool up to now. I had always believed that I knew this and I knew that. You have
           shattered me in a single blow."
               Gurdjieff looked at Ouspensky, and his eyes were those of benediction. He said, "Then you are
           accepted -- because only those who know that they know not can be accepted in my circle, because
           only they are capable of learning."

               Varidhi, know that you know nothing -- and don't go slowly. It is not a question of gradual
           discovery: it is a sudden lightning experience. EACH morning I am trying to show it to you,
           shouting at you that you don't know anything -- anything that is of any relevance, anything that is of
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           any value, anything that is really going to transform you, anything that you will be able to carry
           beyond death to the other shore.

                But Varidhi says: SLOWLY IT SEEMS TO ME THAT I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING AND
           SOMETIMES IT FEELS VERY GOOD.
                Even that -- a little glimpse, a gradual thing, just a little... as if a window opens and closes, but a
           little breeze comes in, or a ray of the sun -- still THAT feels good! If it feels good, go deeper into it,
           go deeper into ignorance, go deeper into not knowing, go deeper and deeper into a state where
           knowledgeability is just garbage. And great will be your experience -- of great joy and freedom,
           because knowledge is a bondage, borrowed knowledge is a bondage. One's own experience is not
           knowledge: it is wisdom, it is freedom.

           And finally you say: BUT STILL I WANT TO KNOW.
               That's good! Start from the state of not knowing and you will become capable of knowing. Start
           from the clean slate and let God write something on it. Efface all that you know. Before God, be just
           nude, innocent, ignorant, a child. And YOU WILL know. We are here to know, but that knowing
           does not come through scriptures, that knowing comes through silence. And the knowledgeable mind
           cannot be silent. It is so full of knowledge, so full of thoughts, it cannot empty itself.
               Empty yourself, Varidhi. Empty yourself of all knowledge, dreams and desires. Throw all this
           rotten furniture out of yourself. Create a pure space, and in that pure space you become capable of
           attracting the ultimate towards you; you become a magnetic force. You become the host, and God
           comes as a guest.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, FEELING A RAPIDLY GROWING UNEASINESS ABOUT MY STATE AS A
              NON-SANNYASIN. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU: WHAT IS YOUR ART? HOW COULD YOU FIND
              THE LOOPHOLES IN MY MIND SO EASILY AND IN WHAT WAY DID YOU BYPASS MY
              WELL-DEVELOPED EGO? WHEN I ARRIVED TEN DAYS AGO I FELT RATHER BALANCED,
              GRATEFUL, YES, FOR WHAT YOU HAD SHOWN ME ALREADY, BUT NEVERTHELESS FULL OF
              COURAGE TO FACE AND RESIST ANY UNTIMELY ATTEMPT THAT WOULD SANNYASIN ME.
              BUT LOOK AT ME NOW: WANDERING AROUND IN THE ASHRAM OFF-BALANCE, EYES FULL
              OF AWE, CRYING TIME AND AGAIN AT COMPLETELY UNPREDICTABLE MOMENTS AND
              SHOWING ALL THE SIGNS OF ONE WHO IS IN LOVE. OSHO, I LOVE YOU, SO WHAT CAN I DO?
              AND HOW DID YOU MANAGE?

              Hein Kray,


              I WILL TELL YOU ONE STORY -- that's how I manage, that's my art.

               Haggarty ran a red light and ploughed headlong into a car driven by Father Cogan. The auto
           turned over three times and the priest thrown from the vehicle lay stunned beside the road.
               Haggarty rushed over and said, "I am terribly sorry, Father!"
           "Saints above!" said the shaken priest. "You almost killed me!"
           "Here," said Haggarty, "I have got a little sacramental Jack Daniels. Take some and you will feel a
           lot better!"
               Father Cogan took a couple of large swigs and continued his tirade. "What were you thinking
           about, man? You nearly launched me into eternity!"
           "I am sorry, Father," said Haggarty. "Take a few more sips, it will ease your nerves."
               After the priest had almost finished the entire bottle, he said, "Why don't you have a drink?"
           "No thanks, your reverence," said Haggarty, "I will just sit here and wait for the police!"

               So I am just waiting till the day, which is coming closer and closer... it is the nineteenth of April
           that you are going to be assassinated.
               Something really beautiful is happening to you. All that ego that seems so strong is not so strong;
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is just your belief that keeps it alive. Once you start understanding, it starts dying. It is all kinds of
           inhibitions that keep your tears repressed. You have been told again and again that you are not a
           woman, you are a man -- be a boy, don't be a girl. Crying and weeping is for girls, not for you.
                Nature has not made any distinction: there are as many tear glands in male eyes as there are in
           female eyes. Tears are needed; tears do miracles. But repressing the tears is a subtle strategy to
           repress emotions. Tears are deep down connected with the heart. Heads don't cry, only hearts.
           Repressing the tears is a subtle trick to repress the heart.
                You have lived in the head, high and proud, thinking your ego very strong. Now you have fallen
           in a wrong company... these are mad people here. Anybody can start crying any moment! Crying is
           thought to be sacred here, because tears come directly from the heart. There is no other prayer which
           is more beautiful than tears.
                And it is not that tears come only when you are in suffering, pain and sadness. That too is a
           wrong idea that has been given to you -- that tears come only when you are in pain. No. Tears come
           whenever anything is overflowing -- it may be pain, it may be pleasure, it may be agony, it may be
           ecstasy -- anything overflowing. Tears are symbols of something overflowing.
                And, Kray, something wants to overflow, something wants to burst forth. You have repressed a
           long long time all that is beautiful. Now, being in my Buddhafield, it is impossible to remain in your
           senses; it is impossible NOT to fall in love. You don't have a heart of stone; you have a heart which
           is beating with God, full of love -- repressed, but ready to burst forth any moment, waiting for its
           opportunity. And that opportunity has come.
                Sannyas is a new way of life, a new style, a new philosophy -- to live totally: with tears, with
           smiles, with love, with laughter, with anger, with hate, with compassion -- to live in all the
           dimensions of the mind, being, and to live totally. And the miracle is that if you live totally, slowly
           slowly, all that is negative starts disappearing of its own accord. And finally, ultimately, only that
           which has always been called virtue remains; the evil evaporates.
                No repression is recommended, no suppression is supported. I teach you to be natural, and that's
           why you have fallen in love with me. It is really an indirect way of falling in love with your own
           nature -- I am just an excuse. Just go on sipping a little more, only three days are left. Empty the
           bottle, so the day you take sannyas, or as you say...

               I WAS FULL OF COURAGE TO FACE AND RESIST ANY UNTIMELY ATTEMPT THAT
           WOULD SANNYASIN ME. You can call it 'sannyasinate', and that will be far better, because it is
           an assassination. Drink as much as you can so the death is not painful. Drink of me as much as you
           can before your sannyas happens, so that it REALLY happens. And it is going to happen really,
           because you had not come to be a sannyasin. You had come with all kinds of resistances; you were
           afraid that it might happen untimely. You wanted to take it by your own decision, in your own time.
               Whenever one becomes a sannyasin by his own decision, in his own time, he misses the whole
           point. Let it be a happening, not a doing on your part. Surrender cannot be done: it can only be
           gratefully accepted. And that's what is happening. You are fortunate, you are blessed.

           The fifth question


               WHY AM I SO MUCH AFRAID OF HELL?

               Dhara,


               THERE IS NO NEED TO BE AFRAID OF HELL, because there are many hells -- and there is
           an Indian hell too. And everybody is asked at the gate, "Which hell do you want to choose?" Choose
           the Indian, and you will be happy ever afterwards.

               Fellow dies and is met by Saint Peter at the Gate. "Before you can get in you must spend six
           months in hell. You have a choice: either the regular hell or the Indian hell."
           "What is the difference?" asked the fellow.
           "In the regular hell," explained Saint Peter, "they tie you to a stake, pour gasoline over you, strike the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           match, and you burn for twelve hours and then you rest for twelve hours."
           "And the Indian hell?"
           "They tie you to a stake, pour gasoline over you, set you on fire and you burn for twelve hours and
           then rest for twelve hours."
           "But I don't see the difference," said the man.
           "If I were you," advised Saint Peter, "I would take the Indian hell -- somebody usually forgets the
           matches or the gasoline..."

               So you need not be so much afraid -- wise people always choose the Indian hell. But, Dhara, I
           can understand why you are afraid. Fear is a natural instinct in man, and it has been exploited by the
           priests down the ages. Fear and greed are two sides of the same coin, and they have exploited both.
               It is out of fear that they have created hell, just to exploit your fear instinct. If you can be made
           really afraid then you will be in the hands of the priests. Or if you can be made really very greedy for
           heaven, then too you will be in the hands of the priests. The priests have been telling you that "We
           will protect you from hell and we will help you to enter into heaven. All that you need is just to
           remain obedient to us.
               And because of fear and greed, man has remained obedient to the priests. Parents have used...
           that's how everybody is brought up, in fear and greed. If you do one thing, you are punished; if you
           do something else, you are rewarded. It is the SAME story -- in the school, college, university, the
           same story repeated, again and again: punished for something, rewarded for something else. It is
           greed and fear which are being enforced again and again.
               By the time you come from the university, you have been conditioned, totally conditioned. Your
           whole life is going to remain the same if you don't become alert, if you don't become aware of the
           whole situation, if you don't gather courage to get out of the prison that has been made by the society
           for you. That prison consists of greed and fear.
               There is no hell! regular or Indian. And there is no heaven either. Hell and heaven are
           psychological states, not geographical situations. Forget all about that childish nonsense. You can be
           in hell right now, or in heaven right now. And the only way to be in heaven is to be without mind,
           and the only way to be in hell is to be only the mind and nothing else.
               The constant traffic of thoughts is your misery. If this traffic disappears and you are left silent,
           alone, with no thought surrounding you, in that moment of peace and silence and stillness YOU ARE
           in heaven -- you are heaven! That's what meditation is all about.
               Dhara, you need not be worried, need not be afraid of any heaven or hell. You just meditate,
           become more and more silent, become more and more detached from the mind, become more and
           more disidentified from your thought process. Just be a witness! Go on witnessing whatsoever passes
           in the mind, and the very process of witnessing has the whole secret in it. Slowly slowly, you will
           see less and less thoughts are coming to you, because you are no more welcoming them, and because
           you don't care, and because you don't cling, and because you don't choose this against that, and
           because you are no more judgemental. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, all are alike. Great thoughts,
           small thoughts, all are alike. You remain aloof, distant, a watcher on the hill.
               Slowly slowly, less and less traffic... and one day suddenly intervals start happening. An interval
           for a few seconds, and you will have a taste of the unknown. And once you have tasted something of
           no-mind, your real life begins. Then all is joy, then all is benediction.
               But to be meditative, great intelligence is needed. You can't go on being the way you are, you
           can't go on being stupid. You have to be very alert!

                Towards the end of World War II, when the Italians were fighting the Germans, the Nazi soldiers
           came up with a scheme to kill many of Mussolini's men. They simply yelled, "Hey, Luigi!" When an
           Italian infantryman stuck his head up and answered, "Si?" boom! He was dead.
           That's all the Krauts did: "Luigi?" "Si?" Boom!
                After thousands of Italians had been wiped out, they decided to retaliate. They figured that every
           German's name was Hans. So an Italian captain shouted, "Hey, Hans!"
           Silence.
           "Hey, Hans!" he repeated. "Is that you, Luigi?"
           "Si!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              Boom!

           The sixth question


              WHY IS THE MODERN MAN FEELING SO LONELY?

              Dhammo,


                MAN HAS ALWAYS FELT LONELY, because man basically IS alone. We are born alone, and
           we will die alone. And in the middle we can only pretend to be together. Aloneness remains
           unaffected. It becomes an undercurrent, it goes underground.
                Man has always been alone, but modern man is feeling it more for a certain reason -- because
           modern man for the first time has time enough to think about his own self. In the past, the struggle
           for bread and butter was so much that it kept people occupied from the early morning to the late
           night, and then too they were not able to feed themselves and their children enough.
                And that's exactly the case in the East even today. Modern man in an Indian village is not feeling
           lonely. He has no time to feel anything at all! He feels hungry, not lonely; he needs a shelter, a
           house. These things -- feelings of loneliness -- he cannot afford. These feelings start surfacing only
           when a society becomes a little affluent.
                When people are well-fed, well-clothed, well-sheltered, well-employed -- when the ordinary
           necessities of life are fulfilled, then the real problems of life arise. Then one suddenly becomes
           aware that "I am lonely, even in the crowd I am lonely." This is a higher need. There is a hierarchy
           of needs.
                First physical needs come. If physical needs are not fulfilled, you will not have psychological
           needs. Once physical needs are fulfilled, then psychological needs arise -- those are higher. One
           thinks of music, poetry, painting; one thinks of art, aesthetics -- those are higher needs. One thinks of
           Shakespeare, Milton, Kali Das, Rabindranath, Kahlil Gibran; one thinks of Wagner, Beethoven,
           Leonardo, Van Gogh, Picasso.... These are higher needs.
                A hungry man cannot understand Beethoven. Howsoever great the music is, it cannot fill his
           stomach. And he is so hungry that he would like to kill the musician rather than listen to the music.
           He will not bother about great works of art; rather, he will be interested in Karl Marx and his
           Communist Manifesto. Once physical needs are fulfilled, psychological needs arise.
                You will be surprised to know: I receive many letters from Soviet Russia. They cannot even
           write to me directly, because then those letters will never come. First the Russian government and
           then the Indian government.... If there were only the Indian government there would be a chance.
           But the Russian government... and they are very methodical. So those letters are given to visitors,
           tourists, to Switzerland, and then those letters are dropped in London or in Berlin or in Paris, then
           they come to me.
                Many people write that they would like to come here, but it is impossible. My books are being
           read, but in an underground way. They are circulating from one person to another... but officially
           you cannot carry my books in a communist country.
                Russia is coming closer and closer to that point where physical needs are fulfilled, and
           psychological needs will arise, and spiritual needs are the highest in the hierarchy. Once
           psychological needs are fulfilled -- you have heard great music, you have seen great paintings, you
           have read great poetry -- then what? Sooner or later, those things also prove to be games, beautiful
           games, but games all the same.
                Then the ultimate starts knocking on your doors, and when the ultimate knocks on your doors
           you feel REALLY LONELY, lonely in this whole universe. And that is the beginning of meditation.
           If you feel lonely and if your feeling of loneliness has some penetration, intensity, passion in it, then
           you start meditating.
                Meditation is a way to come to terms with one's loneliness, to have an encounter with one's own
           loneliness rather than escaping from it, diving deep into it and seeing what exactly it is. And then
           you are in for a surprise. If you go into your loneliness you will be surprised: at the very center of it
           it is not lonely at all -- there resides aloneness which is a totally different phenomenon.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The circumference consists of loneliness and the center consists of aloneness. The circumference
           consists of solitariness and the center of solitude. And once you have known your beautiful
           aloneness, you will be a totally different person -- you will never feel lonely. Even in the mountains
           or in the deserts where you will be absolutely alone, you will not feel lonely -- because in your
           aloneness you will know God is with you, in your aloneness you are so deeply rooted in God that
           who cares whether there is somebody else outside or not? You are so full inside, so rich inside....
               Right now, even in the crowd you are lonely. And I am saying: if you know your aloneness, even
           in your loneliness you will not be lonely.
           But modern man IS suffering...

               Ira quit college, got himself a backpack and began hitchhiking around the United States. After he
           had been gone more than a year, he telephoned home. "Hello, Ma. How are you?"
           "Just fine, son. When are you coming home? I will fix you some chopped liver and chicken soup and
           a beautiful pot roast.
           "I am still pretty far away."
           "Oh, son," cried the desperate woman, "just come home and I will fix your favourite oatmeal
           cookies."
           "I don't like oatmeal cookies!" said the boy.
           "You don't?" asked the woman.
           "Say," said Ira, "is this Century 57682?"
           "No!"
           "Then I must have the wrong number."
           "Does that mean you are not coming?" asked the woman.

               People are really lonely. The woman asked, "Does that mean you are not coming?" Man has
           never been so lonely because man has never been able to fulfill the lower desires, needs before. For
           the first time in the West, man has been able to fulfill all lower desires; now the higher desires are
           asserting themselves. This is a good sign. It looks like a curse -- it is not -- it is a blessing in disguise.
               The days of the West turning East have come. The misery is that the East is turning West. Man
           seems to be so foolish. By the time the West turns East, you will find the East has become West. And
           this way the sorry-go-round continues....
               You can see it here. Why don't you see so many Indians here? This is not their need. What I am
           sharing here has nothing to do with them. The desire for it has not yet arisen. Even when sometimes
           they come, they don't ask about meditation, they don't ask about sannyas, they don't ask about love --
           no, not at all.
               Just the other day I received a letter saying, "Why don't you open a few hospitals, a few
           schools...? Why don't you teach your sannyasins to serve the poor?" The poor have been served
           down the ages and they are still poor. Poverty cannot be destroyed by serving the poor -- that much
           is absolutely certain. Poverty can be destroyed only if a new vision of life is given to them. They are
           poor because their philosophy makes them poor; they are poor because their very attitude towards
           life keeps them poor. They are poor BECAUSE of themselves! They don't need compassion: they
           need education. They don't need service: they need to be shaken into awareness. But nobody wants
           to be shaken out of their own dreams and sleep. Hence they are angry at me.
               Hospitals are there; a few more can be added. Schools are there; a few more can be added. But
           that is NOT going to help. That is like throwing colour with teaspoons into the ocean: it is not going
           to colour the ocean.
               We have to change the whole fundamental. Why has India remained so poor for so many
           centuries? The reason must be very deep. The reason is that the Indian mind is life-negative. The
           reason is that the Indian mind lives in a division: this world and that. The reason is that the Indian
           mind is against materialism. If you are against materialism you will remain poor, and that is your
           own decision; then it is your own fate decided by you yourself.
               A real spirituality has to be based on scientific materialism. Matter and consciousness are not
           two things, just as body and consciousness are not two things -- aspects of one phenomenon. This
           world has to be loved, Then this world yields, gives its secrets to you.
               The West has committed one mistake, that there is no spiritualism, only materialism is enough.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           So their basic needs are fulfilled, but the higher needs are torturing them, making them commit
           suicide or go mad. And the East has committed the other mistake: that spiritualism can exist without
           materialism, so the East has become like a ghost, a soul without a body. The West is a body without
           a soul, a corpse: and the East is a ghost, a soul without a body.
               My effort here is to somehow bring East and West closer and closer, so everybody can have a
           body and everybody can have a soul. Materialism and spiritualism should be two aspects of one life
           vision. Then the poverty will disappear. The earth is rich enough, and man's intelligence is there --
           we can make it even richer.
               But you don't see Indians here, not many, very few. Those few are those who are intelligent
           enough to see that even if lower desires are fulfilled, nothing will be fulfilled. Those few are born in
           the East, but they are really contemporary, they are modern. They have seen what has happened in
           the West. And even if India becomes rich, this is going to happen: the West is not happy; even if
           India becomes rich it is not going to be happy either. So happiness has to be searched for in some
           other dimension.
               That dimension is: entering your loneliness till you come upon aloneness. The first glimpse of
           aloneness is satori. The second glimpse, the second satori: you become established in your
           aloneness, rooted. And the third, the ultimate satori, what we call samadhi in India, is the state when
           you are no more separate from your aloneness -- you ARE your aloneness.
               And then one starts overflowing like a fountain. Out of that aloneness arises the fragrance of
           love, and out of that aloneness arises creativity -- because oUt of that aloneness God starts flowing.
           You become a hollow bamboo... he starts singing. But the song is always his.




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                     Chapter #7
                                  Chapter title: It is Morning Swan, Wake Up!
           17 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904170
              ShortTitle: FISH07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 99 mins




              SWAN, I'D LIKE YOU TO TELL ME YOUR WHOLE STORY!
              WHERE YOU FIRST APPEARED, AND WHAT DARK SAND
              YOU ARE GOING TOWARD,
              AND WHERE YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT, AND WHAT YOU ARE
              LOOKING FOR....



              IT'S MORNING, SWAN, WAKE UP, CLIMB IN THE AIR,
              FOLLOW ME!
              I KNOW OF A COUNTRY THAT SPIRITUAL FLATNESS
              DOES NOT CONTROL, NOR CONSTANT DEPRESSION,
              AND THOSE ALIVE ARE NOT AFRAID TO DIE.
              THERE WILD FLOWERS COME UP THROUGH THE LEAFY FLOOR,
              AMD THE FRAGRANCE OF 'I AM HE' FLOATS ON THE WIND.
              THERE THE BEE OF THE HEART STAYS DEEP INSIDE THE FLOWER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              AND CARES FOR NO OTHER THING.



              DON'T GO OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE TO SEE FLOWERS.
              MY FRIEND, DON'T BOTHER WITH THAT EXCURSION.
              INSIDE YOUR BODY THERE ARE FLOWERS.
              ONE FLOWER HAS A THOUSAND PETALS.
              THAT WILL DO FOR A PLACE TO SIT.
              SITTING THERE YOU WILL HAVE A GLIMPSE OF BEAUTY
              INSIDE THE BODY AND OUT OF IT,
              BEFORE GARDENS AND AFTER GARDENS.


                MAN IS AWAKE AND YET NOT AWAKE. His wakefulness is very thin, his wakefulness is
           almost of no use. He is not asleep, that is true, but he is not awake either -- he is in limbo, in the
           middle. He has awakened from the world of animals, but he is fast asleep to the world of gods.
                Man is a transitory period. Man is not a being but a becoming -- on the way. The past is left
           behind and the future is not attained yet. Hence the agony, the anguish: man is torn apart. The past
           pulls him back. To be an animal again seems to be pleasant, and it is, because it has not the agony of
           man and the anguish and the anxiety of man.
                If you watch the animals you will feel jealous. Walt Whitman has written it exactly in his diaries
           that: "Whenever I see animals, I feel jealous. We have missed something."
                We have not missed really, but the peace, the calm, the collectedness of the animal is lost. The
           animal is happy because he is unaware -- unaware of death, unaware of the problems of life. The
           animal is happy because there is no consciousness. Consciousness first brings pain, because
           suddenly you become aware of a thousand and one problems facing you. You have to encounter
           them, you have to solve them or dissolve them. All peace disappears.
                But human consciousness is still worthwhile. And I don't agree with Walt Whitman, I agree with
           Socrates who say.: "I would like to be a discontented Socrates rather than a contented pig." The
           statement of Socrates is of immense value. It has to be understood by every seeker, because the goal
           is ahead; there is no going back. The pig may look contented -- because he is not aware, not really
           because he is contented. But to know discontent one needs consciousness.
                There is something ahead; something more has to happen. Something HAS happened, but only
           partially. Look back and you find the pig contented; look ahead, and you see Buddhas contented.
           You can become a Buddha! A Buddha means one who is conscious and contented. The pig is one
           who is unconscious and contented. And the man is just between the two: a little bit conscious, just a
           little bit. Conscious enough to be aware of the pain of life and the misery and the suffering, but not
           conscious enough to be aware of the ecstasies that life makes available.
                Just a little consciousness is enough to be aware of pain. But much more awareness is needed,
           much more consciousness is needed, to be aware of the deeper realms of your inner kingdom.
                Man is in a kind of drunkenness: awake and yet not awake. Man sees a little bit, and yet
           everything seems to be dark, just shadows moving in the dark are felt. But nothing is absolutely
           clear; there is no clarity, no transparency, no light.
                This is the state of man. And we cannot go back because there is no possibility of going back.
           Man tries hard to go back -- through sex, through food, through alcohol, through drugs -- man tries
           somehow to drown this little bit of consciousness that has arisen in him. But it comes back again and
           again, because whatsoever has been Learnt has been learnt for ever -- it cannot be unlearnt.
                It has happened in your being. Now there is no way to discard it. You have to live with it. The
           only possibility is to move ahead, to grow more into awareness: if it has brought pain, then go deep
           into pain, but become more and more aware. Use pain as an object of awareness, as an object of
           meditation.
                You are sad -- be aware. Let sadness become your meditation. You are angry -- be aware. You
           are in love -- be aware. Use all possibilities, all opportunities to be more and more aware. Slowly
           slowly, the momentum gathers, and one day something explodes in you. That explosion is known in
           the East as the flowering of the one-thousand-petalled lotus -- Kabir will talk about this lotus in these
           sutras. And Kabir is talking about you; first a few metaphors have to be understood.
                The swan is one of the metaphors most used by the Eastern mystics. The swan lives beyond the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Himalayas, his home is beyond the Himalayas, in the Lake Mansarovar. The Lake Mansarovar is the
           purest lake in the world -- very rarely does a human being reach there -- uncontaminated, unpolluted,
           surrounded by the Himalayan beauty, virgin peaks.
               The swan is born there, lives there, but when it becomes TOO cold the swan has to come to this
           side of the Himalayas, to the plains. And sometimes it happens: a swan forgets the way to go back.
           And sometimes it happens: a swan simply forgets that he has a home somewhere, starts living by the
           side of dirty rivers, dirty ponds, muddy places.
               Hence, the swan became a tremendously potent metaphor for man. Man comes from God but has
           forgotten from where he comes, who he is. Man comes from God, from the holiest of the holies, and
           goes on living by the side of dirty rivers, muddy pools of water. Of course, he cannot be contented
           here, but he knows no other place to go. He is lost. This world seems to be the only world.
               The Eastern mystics use the metaphor of the swan for man. Kabir says:

               HANSA KARO PURATAN BAT.
           Swan, it would be good if we remember
           the primordial days,
           the days when you had not left the home yet.
           It would be good if we remember the home.

              SWAN, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL ME YOUR WHOLE STORY!

               Tell me your whole story! But if somebody asks you what story you have to tell, birth seems to
           be the beginning -- which it is not -- and death seems to be the end -- which it is not. Birth and death,
           both are episodes in your long life, and they have happened millions of times.
               The true story can begin only when you remember your real home, from where you come. And
           the real story can never end, because the real story is not only your story -- it is the story of
           consciousness, of evolving consciousness, of evolution. It is not only your story -- it is God's story.
           There is no beginning and there is no end.
               Once you become full of this nostalgia for the origins, then you will be surprised that you have
           become aware of the goal too -- because the origin is the goal, the source is the goal. We have to go
           to the same space from where we come, then the circle is perfect. And in that perfection is beauty, in
           that perfection is blessing, that perfection is benediction.

              SWAN, I'D LIKE YOU TO TELL ME YOUR WHOLE STORY!


                ONLY A BUDDHA CAN TELL HIS WHOLE STORY, only one who has become totally
           awakened. You can talk about your dreams, but that is not your story. You are dreaming, desiring,
           thinking, but you know nothing. And the less you know, the more you believe in your dreams --
           because one has to keep oneself occupied. The less you know, the more you desire -- just to avoid
           your inner ignorance and emptiness. You rush in all directions; you go on rushing, you don't give
           yourself a little rest, because the lest seems to be explosive, dangerous.
                And rest is meditation. Finding at least one or two hours out of the hustle and bustle of life,
           sitting silently doing nothing, you may start moving inwards, you may start remembering something,
           the origins -- because deep down the memory of where you come from is still there. You may have
           forgotten it but it is there, maybe covered with rubbish, all kinds of rubbish, but that rubbish can be
           removed.
                That's what meditation is all about: removing the rubbish -- of thoughts, memories, dreams,
           desires, imaginations. And if you can remove all this rubbish that your head has gathered, your heart
           will start remembering. And once the source is remembered, the goal is known -- because, let me
           repeat, the source is the goal. We have to reach the same place from where we come.

              SWAN, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL ME YOUR WHOLE STORY!
              The original has some beauty in it:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               HANSA KARO PURATAN BAT --
           Let us talk of the old days, swan.
           Let us remember the old days, the ancient days.
           Let us remember the beginnings.
           Let us talk again about the source.

              And Kabir is talking to his disciples, remember. He is calling his disciples swans -- HANSA.

              WHERE YOU FIRST APPEARED, AND WHAT DARK SAND
              YOU ARE GOING TOWARD...

               "From where do you come, and to where are you going? Let us be very particular about it." That
           is the work of a Master: to remind the disciple from where he comes and to where he is going.
           Otherwise, people go on moving with the crowd... wherever others are going. People remain
           imitators; people remain just followers, followers of the blind -- the blind following the blind.
               Your parents were following their parents, you are follow-ing your parents, your children will
           follow you -- and nobody knows from where you come and where you are going. And everybody is
           trying... not at all aware of what really your need is, what is going to fulfill you. More money? More
           houses? More power? Are these things going to help? Have they helped others?
               Just be a little more observant. There is an ancient story:

                The last initiation was going to be given to the disciple. The Master said, "Your last initiation
           will be given in a very indirect way." The disciple had passed all the hurdles that the Master had put
           in his way; he had proved his mettle. Now the last initiation... and once he has passed the last
           initiation, he will be declared enlightened The disciple touched the feet of the Master and said, "I am
           ready. Just order me and I will do whatsoever needs to be done."
                The Master said, "You will have to go to the King, and go early in the morning; be the first
           visitor to the King. Because the King has a habit: whosoever comes to him first, whatsoever he asks,
           the King gives. But the country is so rich that it is very rare that anybody goes. Years pass and
           nobody goes to ask for anything. But don't take any chances -- be there very early. The King comes
           in the morning into his garden, as the sun rises the King enters the garden -- be there. And he will
           ask you, 'What do you want?' And whatsoever you want, ask him."
                The disciple could not understand what kind of initiation this last one was. But the order had to
           be followed. He went. He didn't take any chance: three o'clock early in the morning he was waiting
           for the King.
                As the sun was rising, the King entered. The young man bowed down to the King; the King said,
           "Have you come to ask for something? You can ask for anything! Whatsoever you ask, I will give it
           to you."
                A great desire possessed the young man. He was a poor man, had come from a very poor family,
           "And the King says whatsoever...?" To be certain, he asked again, "What do you mean by
           'whatsoever'?"
                The King said, "Exactly that I mean -- whatsoever. Even if you demand my kingdom I will give
           it to you. You can ask for as much money as you want..."
                The poor young man could not think much. He thought, "Maybe ten thousand rupees will do."
           But a desire came that "Why ten thousand? You may never get such a chance again -- why not one
           hundred thousand?"
                And then another desire, and desires upon desires... because mind constantly asks for more. So
           whatsoever he decided, the mind was still asking for more.
                The King said, "It seems you are not yet ready to ask. I will go for my morning walk, meanwhile
           you decide. And when I return, whatsoever you ask will be given to you."
                That half an hour was a torture. He went on and on, "I can ask for this and that, and a golden
           chariot, and so many millions of rupees, and so much land -- I will create a small kingdom of my
           own."
                Desires and dreams... and the King came; that half hour had passed so fast. The King was
           standing there and he said, "Young man, have you not decided yet?"
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And then suddenly the young man thought, "Whatsoever I ask will be less than the King has, so
           why not ask for all? Be finished with the figures!"
               So he said, "Sir, if you are so willing to give, I ask for every-thing! -- all that you have. Your
           whole kingdom, all your riches, your palaces -- everything. You simply get out of the palace! And
           you cannot go back in. You may take something. You simply get out -- forget all about it. I can
           allow you only these clothes that you are wearing."
               Even that he did reluctantly; even that much he would have less.
               The King fell on his knees, started praying to God, tears rolling down from his eyes -- of great
           joy, ecstasy! And he was thanking God saying "I have been waiting for such a man. How long I
           waited! But finally you heard my prayer, and now he has come and I am free of all this nonsense.
           Thank you! You heard my prayer, although it has been so long and I had to wait so long, but still you
           heard it. I am grateful."
               When he was saying these things to God, the young man was standing there and he started
           thinking, "What is the matter? If this man is feeling so happy renouncing the kingdom, what am I
           getting into? If this man has been praying for thirty years, as he is saying, 'Send a man who can take
           my whole kingdom, who can ask for my whole kingdom!' -- if for thirty years he has been praying,
           then it is not worthwhile at all. I am getting into unnecessary trouble."
               He also fell on his knees, touched the King's feet and said, "Sir, I am a young man -- I am a
           young fool. Please excuse me. I don't want anything. Your prayer to God, your thankfulness to God
           has finished my whole mind. I am going back to the forest to my Master."
               The King tried to persuade him, "Don't go. Just have a look. Come into the palace! I will not only
           give you my palace, my kingdom, my riches, but my beautiful daughter also. Come and just have a
           look!"
               But the young man said, "I cannot stay here, not even a single moment -- because the mind can
           betray me. An insight has happened, and I am thankful to you just as you are thankful to God. I am
           finished!"
               And when the young man reached back to his Master and told the whole story, the Master said,
           "Your last initiation is over. Now nothing will ever make a slave of you. Now you are alert,
           conscious, free. You have passed -- I am happy. I was watching from here, and when you had asked
           for the whole kingdom, my heart was crying. I was thinking, 'So, fifteen years' work on this fool, and
           all finished.' You can't imagine my happiness," said the Master, "that you are back, that you could
           see the point, that you were observant."

               Be observant, just watch.... People HAVE money, people have great palaces, people have all that
           you can desire -- just watch, just see: are they happy? are they contented? They may be more happy
           than you are and more discontented than you are -- then don't follow them. They are blind! They
           have followed other blind people. Don't follow them, don't imitate the crowd.
               The really religious person is one who gets out of the entanglement of the mass psychology, of
           the mass hypnosis. The mass conditions you: rebel against it; go out of this mass conditioning,
           become an individual. Then only can you re-member from where you come, because only then will
           you know who you are.
               Right now you know you are a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian. You are not all these
           things: you are neither white nor black, you are neither man nor woman -- you are just a pure
           consciousness with no adjectives attached to it. There is no frame to this consciousness; this
           consciousness is infinite. If you drop the mass conditionings you will be coming closer home.

               HANSA KARO PURATAN BAT --
           Let us talk of those ancient times
           when we were at the source.

              SWAN, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL ME YOUR WHOLE STORY!
              WHERE YOU FIRST APPEARED, AND WHAT DARK SAND
              YOU ARE GOING TOWARD...

              YOU ARE COMING FROM LIGHT, SO wherever you are going you must be going towards
           darkness. And that's what happens.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               A child has more light in his being; as he grows he becomes darker and darker and darker. By the
           time he is old he is just a dark night of the soul and nothing else. A child is more luminous, is more
           intelligent, more alert. And as time passes and dust gathers on him, layers and layers of dust, and all
           his intelligence disappears, he becomes mediocre. He starts behaving in stupid ways, because he falls
           a victim to the stupid crowd that surrounds him. He is helpless -- he has to listen to the parents, to the
           teachers, to the politicians. They are the great leaders, they are the great priests -- they know, and
           they all say, "We love you. Listen to us otherwise you will go astray. Obey us, otherwise you will go
           astray."
               Obedience has been one of the greatest calamities that has befallen humanity. One should be
           capable of disobeying. I am not saying to make disobeying your religion; I am simply saying one
           should be capable of disobeying. In fact, the person who is capable of disobeying is also capable of
           obeying. The person who is only capable of obeying, his obedience carries no value. The person who
           cannot say no, his yes is always impotent. Only the person who can say no, his yes has power,
           meaning, significance. He says yes only when he means it.
               And one should be alert enough to say no to all that takes you deeper and deeper into the mire of
           darkness, of blindness, of superstitiousness. And one should be capable of saying yes to anything
           that takes you towards the light, towards love, towards life. And it is up to you! If you say yes to
           darkness you will be saying no to light. If you move towards darkness you will have to keep your
           back towards the light. And it is only a question of a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn -- a
           hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and you are in front of the light that you have been searching and
           seeking. But your ways, your methods, your habits, your patterns of thinking, were all taking you
           towards darker and darker realms of life.

              WHERE YOU FIRST APPEARED, AND WHAT DARK SAND
              YOU ARE GOING TOWARD,
              AND WHERE YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT...

               This is a night in which you are living, and the life that you call life is nothing but a sleep -- full
           of dreams. Sometimes you even dream that you are awake; that too is a dream.
           Just the other night I was reading a story:

               A man came to the lake and told the fisherman, "I am Jesus Christ!"
               The fisherman looked at him and laughed, and he said, "Jesus has been dead for two thousand
           years -- are you mad or something?"
               The man said, But I am Jesus Christ. Have you not heard that after he was crucified he was
           resurrected -- and since then I have not died? Have you ever heard when Jesus died after
           resurrection?"
               The fisherman thought, "Either he is very drunk or gone nuts." He said, "Then you will have to
           prove it: Jesus did miracles...
               And the man was very happy; he said, "Yes, what miracle do you want me to do?"
           The fisherman said, "Then walk on the lake."
               And the madman walked... and drowned. The fisherman jumped in, somehow pulled him out;
           asked him, "What happened?"
               He said, "That time my shoes did not have any holes. Two thousand years of wandering on the
           earth, and the shoes are full of holes -- that's what happened."

              Mad people have their own logic. Blind people have their own logic. People who are fast asleep
           have their own logic -- logic that supports their sleep.

               One man suddenly became certain that he was dead. There was no way to prove that he was not,
           so he was taken to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist tried hard to convince him in every possible way,
           all kinds of arguments -- but how can you prove to a man...? He said, "But I am dead -- with whom
           are you talking? I am not, I am no more. This is not a dialogue, this is a monologue -- you are talking
           with yourself, you have gone mad."
               Suddenly an idea struck the psychiatrist. He said, "Okay, you come close to the mirror." And
           then he brought a needle, pushed the needle into the madman's hand -- before pushing the needle in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he asked, "Do you think dead men bleed?"
           He said, "No. How can a dead man bleed?"
               He pushed the needle in, blood started oozing out. The psychiatrist was very happy and he said,
           "Now look!"
               Do you know what the madman said? He said, "What is there to look at? That simply proves that
           dead men do bleed."

              You can go on supporting your illusions -- very logically. You can go on thinking you are awake
           and you can remain asleep. Kabir says:

              ... AND WHERE YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT, AND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR....

             Ask these questions deep down in your own heart: What are you looking for? Where are you?
           Where are you asleep? In what space are you asleep?

               Rothstein owed a hundred dollars to Weiner. The debt was past due and Rothstein was broke, so
           he borrowed the hundred dollars from Spivak and paid Weiner.
               A week later, Rothstein borrowed back the hundred dollars from Weiner and paid Spivak.
           Another week went by and Rothstein borrowed back the hundred dollars from Spivak to pay Weiner.
               He repeated this transaction several times, until finally he called them up and said, "Fellas, this is
           a lotta bother. Why don't you two exchange the hundred dollars every week and keep me out of it!"

               This is what is happening here, everywhere in the world. You can learn how to keep yourself out
           of it, and that is the secret of awareness. This transaction will continue; the world will remain a
           marketplace -- it was so before, it will remain so afterwards too. But you can be out of this
           transaction -- you can be a witness to it. You can slip out of your identity. It is your identity where
           you are asleep. It is your ego where you are asleep.
               The ego means simply that the self is asleep. The moment the self awakes, the ego disappears, is
           not found any more.

               Andrews, a white Georgia farmer, hired Monroe, a black, to chop some wood. Monroe took the
           axe and began hacking away. But in a little while the farmer noticed Monroe sitting in the shade,
           watching another negro do the work.
           "Why you sittin' there doing nothing when I am paying you to cut the wood?" asked Andrews. "How
           come you got somebody else doing it?"
           "I hired him to do it for me," said Monroe.
           "Is that a fact," said the white man. "How much are you paying him?"
           "I am paying him a dollar and a quarter," answered Monroe. "Why would you want to do that?"
           snorted the white man. "I am paying you only a dollar!"
           "I know," said the black, "but it is worth a quarter to be boss for once."

               The ego is constantly in search of being a boss -- whatsoever the cost, at any cost. You are losing
           your whole opportunity of life just to fulfill a shadowy, non-substantial notion -- the notion of ego: "I
           am somebody." Nobody is nobody. We are all one; we are not separate.
               At the source we are one, at the goal we will be one again. Just in this dark night when we have
           fallen asleep we are having private dreams. Remember, the real is universal, the unreal is private.
           You cannot even invite your girlfriend into your dream -- hence it is false. It is so private you cannot
           share it. Anything that is so private is bound to be false, and there is nothing more private than the
           ego -- and that is the center of all your dreaming mind, sleeping mind.
               And people go on wasting their whole lives, not even knowing what they are looking for. Do you
           know exactly what you are looking for? Do you have some idea? Do you have some sense of
           direction?

              IT IS MORNING, SWAN, SAYS Kabir, wake up, CLIMB IN THE AIR, FOLLOW ME!
           The original has something more:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              AB HI HANSA CHET SABERA --
              Now is the morning, swan...

              NOW has to be remembered. The translation has missed something:

              IT IS MORNING, SWAN, WAKE UP...

               The original says: It is ALWAYS morning -- NOW wake up, because now is the morning. The
           present is always light, the present is always sunrise. Being in the past or being in the future, you go
           on missing the light, the door from where light penetrates you.

              AB HI HANSA CHET SABERA -- This is the door, now is the time -- now or never!

              IT IS MORNING, SWAN, WAKE UP, CLIMB IN THE AIR, FOLLOW ME!



              AND ONE CAN WAKE UP ONLY IF ONE STARTS CLIMBING IN THE AIR.

               This is a metaphor, a mystic metaphor. It means: you start moving into the world of quality, not
           into the world of quantity. People live in the world of quantity: more money, more power, more
           prestige, more respectability. These are all quantities.
               You have so much -- you can double it, treble it, you can have it thousandfold, but it is all
           quantity. There is a different dimension: the dimension of quality. For example, you can have one
           sex experience, you can have two, you can have three, you can have four; then it is quantity. But if
           your sex experience starts becoming more a love experience, and your love experience starts
           becoming more a prayer experience, then it is quality.
               Quantity is horizontal, quality is vertical. Once you start changing qualitatively, you start soaring
           high, you move in the vertical world. Matter is horizontal, spirit is vertical. That is basically the
           meaning of the symbol of the cross. The cross is not a Christian symbol, remember; the cross is older
           than Christ; it is a very ancient symbol. The cross simply means that life has two dimensions: one
           horizontal, one vertical. If you live on the horizontal you will live asleep -- that's why when you have
           to go to sleep you have to be in a horizontal position; lying down in the bed, you become horizontal.
           When you wake up, you stand up, you become vertical.
               Now, even scientists will agree with it, that all that has happened to man, all evolution, has
           happened because man some day in the past decided not to walk on four but to stand on two feet.
           Man became vertical -- that was the moment when evolution started. Man was no more animal.
           Animals are horizontal: man became vertical.
               Just the physical verticality, and so much has happened to man. Think of spiritual verticality,
           think of the spiritual verti-cal dimension, and you cannot even imagine what is possible, you cannot
           even dream about it. You have no idea at all! You need not be beggars then -- the whole kingdom,
           the whole universe, with all its beauty and joy, is yours.

              IT IS MORNING, SWAN, WAKE UP, CLIMB IN THE AIR...!
              I KNOW OF A COUNTRY THAT SPIRITUAL FLATNESS
              DOES NOT CONTROL, NOR CONSTANT DEPRESSION,
              AND THOSE ALIVE ARE NOT AFRAID TO DIE.

               Kabir says: I KNOW OF A COUNTRY... I know of a space -- if you come with me, if you dare
           to come with me, it needs daring, if you are courageous enough to soar with me, if you are ready to
           leave the muddy pools where you have made your abodes, to go to the Himalayas, beyond the
           Himalayas, to the purest lake, Mansarovar.... The word MANSAROVAR IS also beautiful -- it
           means the lake of consciousness.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I KNOW OF A COUNTRY THAT SPIRITUAL FLATNESS DOES NOT CONTROL...

               Here, in the name of spirituality, something pseudo, something false is being sold. The temples
           and the mosques and the churches and the gurudwaras, they are selling you something which has
           nothing to do with spirituality. Nanak had something to give, but Nanak is no more. And
           Mohammed had something to give, but he is no more. Now there are only dead traditions. You will
           have to find an alive Master who KNOWS OF A COUNTRY WHERE SPIRITUAL FLATNESS
           DOES NOT CONTROL.
               In this world. very spiritually flat people are thought to be saints. In fact, the more spiritually flat
           you are, the more spiritually stupid you are, the more you will be respected by the masses -- because
           the more you will oblige the masses by being according to their ideas of what a saint should be. Only
           mediocre, stupid people can follow the masses, can fulfill their expectations.
               A man who has any courage, a man who has any guts, is bound to be a rebel. He will not be
           worshipped as a saint in his life -- he will be worshipped as a saint only when he is gone. People
           worship dead saints: either you have to be dead while alive -- they will worship you -- or they will
           wait: when you really die and nothing of you is left, and the whole fragrance has evaporated, then
           they will worship you.
               Jesus they crucified, and crucified Jesus they worship. Socrates they killed, poisoned, and now
           for centuries they have honoured him as one of the greatest human beings who has ever walked on
           the earth. Mansoor they murdered, butchered, and now Sufis go on claiming that he is one of the
           greatest Sufis. When he was being killed, even these Sufis were standing in the crowd and watching.
           And nobody even protested -- not even a very famous Sufi, Junaid, who was present in the crowd
           and who knew perfectly well that Mansoor was innocent, that Mansoor's declaration "I am God!"
           was not against God.
               Mansoor's declaration that "I am God!" was not a sin. In fact, Mansoor was no more there -- God
           had declared himself through him. Junaid knew it, but still was afraid of the crowd, kept quiet. And
           when people were throwing stones and mud to humiliate and to insult the dying man, he also threw a
           roseflower -- for two reasons. Must have been a very diplomatic mind: so people knew that he was
           also throwing something, that he was not in favour of Mansoor, and Mansoor would know that he
           had not thrown a stone or mud -- he had thrown a roseflower. But the story is tremendously
           beautiful...
               When he was being hit by stones and his whole body was oozing blood, he was laughing, he was
           in a state of celebration, because he was being sacrificed in the name of God. It was a moment to
           celebrate! But when he was hit by the roseflower, he wept -- the story says Mansoor wept.
               Somebody standing nearby asked him, "What is the matter with you? Stones are being thrown at
           you; all over the body you have been wounded, blood is flowing from everywhere, and you kept
           laughing and smiling. And a roseflower hit you, and you wept?"
               Mansoor said, "Yes, because the man who has thrown the roseflower knows that I am innocent.
           Still he is not courageous enough to say so. The others who are throwing stones at me are ignorant --
           I am praying for them, I am praying to God, 'Forgive them because they know not what they are
           doing.' But I cannot pray for this man who has thrown the rose, that's why I am crying and weeping.
           What should I do now? I cannot say to God, 'Forgive this man because he knows not what he is
           doing' -- he knows perfectly well what he is doing, and he knows perfectly well that I am absolutely
           innocent."
               When he said these words, Junaid disappeared into the crowd, became very much afraid: people
           might catch hold of him.
               Now, Sufis go on claiming that Mansoor was one of the greatest enlightened people of the world,
           now they worship him.
               The ways of man are very strange. This world is really very flat as far as spirituality is
           concerned. And the so-called spirituality is very boring too. And the so-called spirituality is more or
           less rubbish -- rubbish that has gathered down the ages: theories, thoughts, systems, but not a single
           iota of experience.
           Hence Kabir says:

              I KNOW OF A COUNTRY THAT SPIRITUAL FLATNESS DOES NOT CONTROL... Come
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with me! I can take you to a space where all these fools are no more pretending to be spiritual, where
           all these dull, stupid fellows are no more thought to be saints.

               A priest dies. At the Pearly Gates he is given a warm welcome by Saint Peter, who presents him
           the keys of a small, old, rotten car and a small one-bedroom apartment. When he gets there, there is
           another pleasant surprise for him, for his next door neighbour turns out to be a parson who had been
           a good friend of his Down Below.
               They decide to stroll down to the Pearly Gates to check out the action, and they are horrified
           when they spot a certain rabbi strolling through the Pearly Gates as though he own the place. For
           they knew this particular rabbi only too well, and he had been the scandal of their community.
           Sodomy, usury -- name any vice, he had committed it. The two reverends were even more horrified
           when Saint Peter bowed low to the rabbi, told him what an honour it was to have him in Heaven, and
           presented him with keys to a Rolls Royce, a town house and a country house.
           "This is outrageous!" priest and parson storm at Saint Peter. "We lead pious, godfearing lives and all
           we get are small cars and small apartments. But this schmuck of a rabbi, he does everything vile, yet
           you give him a Rolls Royce, a town house, and a country house. How come?"
           "Well, I am sorry, gentlemen," Saint Peter apologizes, "but he is a relative of the management."

               Kabir is not talking about a country like this. He is not talking about the heaven of your
           imagination. Your heaven will be an exact replica of this world; maybe a little bit decorated here and
           there, modified, a little better -- a better standard of living, but not real life.
           Kabir is talking of an inner space:

              I KNOW OF A COUNTRY THAT SPIRITUAL FLATNESS
              DOES NOT CONTROL, NOR CONSTANT DEPRESSION.

               In this world you will find two types of people: one who is just boringly religious, flat; another
           who is just worldly, but depressed. The pseudo religious at least hopes that something great is going
           to happen after death, but the worldly man does not even have that hope -- he is very depressed. You
           can see this...
               In India you will feel the difference from the West. India is a flat spiritual country, but people are
           in a way hopeful. Life is short, and soon it will be gone, and then the paradise and all the joys; and
           the more you suffered in life, the more you will be rewarded. So carry on, be patient.
               In the West, people are not flatly spiritual, and they have no hope, no future, no life after death.
           Then there is great depression, then they are very heavy, as if they are carrying mountains of
           worries, anxieties.
           Both states are wrong.
           Kabir says:

              ... AND THOSE ALIVE ARE NOT AFRAID TO DIE.
              I KNOW OF A COUNTRY...

              ... where people know death is a lie, where people know that life is eternal. I know a space where
           you will also be able to see and feel and experience that life never begins, never ends -- that death is
           only a change of garments.

              THERE WILD FLOWERS COME UP THROUGH THE LEAFY FLOOR,
              AND THE FRAGRANCE OF 'I AM HE' FLOATS ON THE WIND.
              THERE THE BEE OF THE HEART STAYS DEEP INSIDE
              THE,FLOWER.
              AND CARES FOR NO OTHER THING.

              He is talking about the inner space, the inner silence, the contentless consciousness, samadhi.

              THERE WILD FLOWERS COME UP...
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Wild because they are spontaneous, wild because no gardener has tended to them, wild because
           they are SO full of life -- they are not civilized, cultured, pale -- so full of blood and so full of juice.
           Wild because you have not seen them yet, not even in your imagination do they cast any shadows.

              THERE WILD FLOWERS COME UP THROUGH THE LEAFY FLOOR,
              AND THE FRAGRANCE OF 'I AM HE' FLOATS ON THE WIND.
              NOW THIS IS SOMETHING UNTRANSLATABLE. The Sanskrit word that Kabir uses is SOHAM.
              Literally it means 'I am he' -- 'I am that.' But that is not the point. SOHAM is not a word but a sound. If
              you become utterly silent, you will hear this sound arising from the deepest core of your being:
              SOHAM. It is not a word; it is a sound, pure sound. It is a kind of inner music which is heard when all
              the noise of the mind has left you. Because it is heard only when the mind has left you, when there are
              no longer any thoughts to disturb, no interference, the whole world forgotten, and you are in absolute
              aloneness, and everything has stopped, time has stopped, space has disappeared, when there is only
              pure consciousness vibrating -- that's what Zen people call the sound of one hand CLAPPING:
              SOHAM -- because this sound is heard only when you have reached the very center of your being,
              and because with this sound, once heard, you become absolutely certain, not convinced, not that you
              start believing, you become absolutely certain through knowing that 'I am he' -- hence the sound has
              gathered a meaning around it, but basically it is a sound.

               And the mystics say that the whole existence is full of this sound, SOHAM. Whenever you are
           silent, you will hear it. This is the voice of God, and this voice reveals to you who you are.

              ... AND THE FRAGRANCE OF 'I AM HE' -- SOHAM -- FLOATS ON THE WIND.
              THERE THE BEE OF THE HEART STAYS DEEP INSIDE THE FLOWER...

              Then who wants to go out? The sound of SOHAM showers on you as nectar. Then who wants to
           go out? for what? All that you have been desiring is suddenly fulfilled; all that you have asked is
           given. The door is open.

              THERE THE BEE OF THE HEART STAYS DEEP INSIDE THE FLOWER, AND CARES FOR NO
              OTHER THING.



              DON'T GO OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE TO SEE FLOWERS.
              MY FRIEND, DON'T BOTHER WITH THAT EXCURSION.
              INSIDE YOUR BODY THERE ARE FLOWERS.


               HE IS INDICATING TOWARDS THE SEVEN CENTERS -- the seven chakras. Those seven
           chakras are called seven flowers. We become aware only of the first, and that too in a very dim and
           dismal way -- a sound heard from far away, or just an echo. We become aware of the first center
           only, the sex center, and that too only once in a while.
               All your sexual experiences don't bring you to the awareness of the flower. Only when you have
           a deep orgasm, only when you have a total orgasm, when your whole body pulsates with joy, when
           each fiber of your body dances with joy, when each cell of your body goes mad, wild with joy -- then
           only do you become aware of the first flower.
               Even that is very rare; not more than one percent of people become aware of it. Ninety-nine
           percent know sex only as a relief; they don't know its orgasmic quality. Even if they think they are
           having an orgasm, it is not orgasm -- it is just genital relief.
               Orgasm has nothing to do with genitals as such. Genitals are involved in it, but orgasm is total --
           from the head to the toes, it is all over you. Nothing is being held behind. A total involvement in the
           moment, a total merger -- then you become aware of the first flower.
               And there are six higher flowers, and as you move higher, deeper orgasmic experiences are
           waiting for you. The seventh, the last, is called SAHASRAR -- the one-thousand-petalled lotus. And
           when the seventh, that is in the head, opens up, you have transcended humanity, you are no more a
           human being. You may be in the human body, but you are a God.
               The Western mind finds it very difficult; they cannot understand why we call Buddha a God,
           why we call Mahavira a God, why we call Krishna a God. They don't even call Jesus a God; they
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only call him 'the son of God'. Their idea of God is: one who created the world.
               But in the East we have gone far deeper than that. Nobody has ever created the world; in the
           Christian sense there is no God at all. God is not a creator but the creativity, the energy that has
           become manifest in existence. God is in the tree, in the rock, in the river, in you, in me. But then why
           do we call Buddha a God if God is everywhere? Buddha has awakened to his godliness, others are
           fast asleep.
               By calling Buddha a God we don't mean that he created the world, we don't mean that he controls
           the world -- we simply mean that he has attained to the seventh orgasm, that he has come to the
           seventh flowering, that the ultimate has opened in him, that he is no more an individual, that he has
           become universal.
               Your head has an opening.... Just try to understand: your sex center has an opening; that opening
           joins you with nature, that opening takes you downwards. Exactly like the sex center, on the opposite
           pole, is SAHASRAR -- that opens upwards. Just as sex takes you downwards, SAHASRAR takes
           you upwards.
               Sex is under the law of gravitation and SAHASRAR IS beyond the law of gravitation. It
           functions under a totally different law -- you can call it levitation, or you can call it 'grace'. The law
           that pulls you down is gravitation, and the law that pulls you up is grace.
               Science is not yet aware of the other law; that is unfor-tunate. But religion is basically the art of
           helping you enter into the realm of the second law, the law of grace. And once your SAHASRAR,
           the one-thousand-petalled lotus, has opened, you disappear as an ego: God appears in you. Your
           form will remain human, but in the form of the human the superhuman starts descending.
               Hindus call this state AVATARA. The word AVATARA means descendence: when a person is
           open towards the sky, the sky descends in him, he becomes an AVATARA.
           DON'T GO OUTSIDE, says Kabir, YOUR HOUSE... has all that you are searching and seeking
           outside.

              DON'T GO OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE TO SEE FLOWERS.
              MY FRIEND, DON'T BOTHER WITH THAT EXCURSION.
              INSIDE YOUR BODY THERE ARE FLOWERS.
              ONE FLOWER HAS A THOUSAND PETALS.

               Six are lower. Up to the sixth you remain a human being -- you become a very superior human
           being, but you remain a human being. Up to the sixth you remain a sage. Entering into the seventh
           you become a God.

              ONE FLOWER HAS A THOUSAND PETALS.
              THAT WILL DO FOR A PLACE TO SIT.

               And once you have arrived at the seventh, you have come home. Now you can sit at rest, now
           you can relax. Now there is nowhere to go. Now all is completed, fulfilled.
               This was the search... and you ran in all directions. In all the ten directions you were running,
           hither and thither for thousands of lives, and not even a glimpse was found. But once you have
           reached the seventh, all is fulfilled. Suddenly now you can rest. Now there is nowhere to go, no goal
           to attains no object for your dec;ire -- hence desirelessness happens naturally.

              SITTING THERE YOU WILL HAVE A GLIMPSE OF BEAUTY...

               And this is what WE call beauty in the East. Unless the seventh flower has opened in you, you
           know nothing of beauty. You only say that the rose is beautiful, the sky is beautiful, the river is
           beautiful. You are using the word 'beautiful', but you don't know exactly what beauty is.
               If somebody persists, insists, "Define what beauty is," you will be at a loss. You will not be able
           to define it -- in fact, you have not known, you have simply heard. Others say the rose is beautiful, so
           you say the rose is beautiful. You are simply repeating others' opinions.
               Just fifty years ago, nobody had heard that the cactus is beautiful -- now the cactus is on the
           throne, the rose is dethroned. Now to talk about the rose and its beauty seems very outdated; now
           people have not rose plants in their houses but cactuses. The more sophisticated a person is, the more
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he will appreciate the beauty of the cactus.
               The fashion has changed. Fashions change! The rose has lost its face. After a few days, the rose
           will come back, because people get tired -- cactus and cactus and cactus -- and then one day they
           decide enough is enough. Again, suddenly, they have to change. Watch people's dresses: each year
           they go on changing, and after ten, twelve years the old dress comes back, because from where are
           you going to get new ideas? You can ask Padma -- just the SAME ideas go on moving in a circle.
               You don't know what beauty is. You use the word, certainly, but your word is empty. Beauty is
           known only by one who has known the inner beauty, one who has known the inner flower opening.
           Then whenever a flower is seen, it reminds you of your inner beauty.
               Yes, Kabir seeing a roseflower will start dancing, will start singing, because the rose flower on
           the outside will simply trigger his inner experience of his own flower. Seeing the starry night, he will
           start singing or playing on his flute, because suddenly the starry night will remind him of his own
           inner sky -- which is far more beautiful.

              SITTING THERE YOU WILL HAVE A GLIMPSE OF BEAUTY
              INSIDE THE BODY AND OUT OF IT,
              BEFORE GARDENS AND AFTER GARDENS.

              Once you have seen the inner beauty, then you will be able to see the outer also as beautiful.
           Once you have seen God within, you will be able to see him without too. The original is very
           beautiful:

               BAGO NA JA RE NA JA,
           TERI KAYA MEN GULJAR.
           Don't go to the gardens!
           The garden is within you.
           Don't go, don't go, don't go to the gardens.
               BAGO NA JA RE NA JA,
           TERI KAYA MEN GULJAR.
           Within your own body is the garden of gardens.
               SAHAS-KANVAL PAR BAITH KE
           TU DEKHE RUP APAR.
               Find out where this one-thousand-petalled lotus is within you,
           and then sit upon it,
           and then see the beauty of the formless,
           then see the beauty of the invisible,
           then see the beauty of the intangible,
           then see the beauty of the unknowable.

                Those who have only known the known have known nothing. Those who have only seen the
           seeable have not seen anything. Unless you become capable of seeing the unseen and hearing the
           unheard, you have not come yet to your full potential.
                God gives you a great gift of potential. The only way to return the gift in gratitude and
           thankfulness is to make the potential actual. Be what your seed is carrying within you. Become it! Be
           it!
                This small body is not small: it contains a universe. And this body is not just a body: it is the
           temple of God. Love it, respect it, explore it. And don't get stuck at the first center. You have to
           move from sex to samadhi. Unless your sexual energies are transformed into samadhi you are not
           fulfilling your destiny, you are not fulfilling your nature. You are missing the great opportunity that
           life is.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                    Chapter #8
                                     Chapter title: Time to be Getting Home
           18 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904180
              ShortTitle: FISH08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 110 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, YOU SAY THAT IT IS ENOUGH FOR US TO JUST BE, THAT WE DON'T NEED TO DO
              ANYTHING TO BE IN GOD. I HAVE THIS GUT-FEELING THAT I NEED TO DO TO BE WORTHY,
              TO CONTRIBUTE, TO GIVE SOMETHING. AND YOU SAY THAT GOD IS WITHIN ME. I REALIZE I
              AM LOOKING INSIDE FOR SOME CONCEPT I GOT FROM THE OUTSIDE. IT IS LIKE LOOKING
              DOWN INTO A WELL IN THE NIGHT. I SEE REFLECTIONS AND I THINK IT IS THE BOTTOM, BUT
              IT IS ONLY THE SURFACE. EVEN WHEN I KNOW NEED ONLY LET AND WAIT RATHER THAN
              LOOK FOR ANYTHING, I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY OWN CONCEPTS OF WHAT SHOULD
              HAPPEN. PLEASE COMMENT.

              Prem Garima,

                THE FIRST THING -- THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL -- TO BE understood is that you are
           already in God. It is not a question of being in God: you are already there. Just as the fish is in the
           ocean, you are in God. God simply means the existence, that which exists.
                In the ancient Hebrew, the word 'God' stands for that which is. 'G' stands for that, 'O' for which,
           and 'D' for is -- that which is. The word 'God' is tremendously significant. It does not indicate a
           person; it simply indicates a presence. And the presence is everywhere! Life is synonymous with
           God, universe is synonymous with God. To be is to be in God -- there is no other way. To breathe is
           to breathe in God -- there is no other way. To sleep is to sleep in God and to wake up is to wake up
           in God -- there is no other way. You can choose to sleep, still you are in God. You can choose to
           forget God, still you are in God. You can choose to deny God, still you are in God. Not to be in God
           is the only impossible thing -- the only impossible thing I say.
                So it is not a question of becoming worthy. But I am not saying don't become worthy. I am not
           saying be lazy, lousy. I am not saying become an escapist. I am not saying don't contribute to
           existence. But your contribution to existence should not be a means to reach God -- that's what I am
           saying. Your contribution to existence should be in gratefulness that you are in God. It should not be
           a means to reach -- because you are already there. It should be an overflowing of joy because you are
           already there. Be very clear about the distinction.
                Share your joy, your love, your ecstasy. Make life as beautiful as possible. Just out of
           thankfulness that God has chosen you to be, that you are allowed to be, that you are given life. What
           else can you do? If you can sing a song, sing it with your totality! If you can paint, paint, and put
           your whole heart in it. If you can dance, dance to abandon so you disappear completely in the dance
           and there is no more any dancer but only the dance remains.
                But these are not means, let me remind you, to reach God -- these are just our poor thanks, our
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           heartfelt gratitude.
               Prayer is true when it comes out of gratitude. Prayer is false when it is just a means to persuade
           God, to seduce God, to ask for something from him -- even if you are asking God himself, then too
           your prayer is full of desire. And when prayer is full of desire, it is too heavy, it can't have wings. It
           can only grope in the darkness of the earth; it cannot soar high in the sunlit sky.
               When prayer is without desire it has wings, it can reach the ultimate. And when prayer is without
           weight, when it is out of thankfulness, not desiring anything but just to show your gratitude for all
           that God has already done for you....

                Garima, you say: IS IT ENOUGH FOR US TO JUST BE? BUT MY GUT-FEELING IS THAT I
           NEED TO DO SOMETHING TO BE WORTHY, TO CONTRIBUTE, TO GIVE...
                It is not a gut-feeling: it is just what has been conditioned in you by the society. The society has
           been telling you continuously, persistently, day in, day out, from your very childhood -- in the
           school, in the college, in the university, in the church, the priest, the politician, the parent, the
           professor, they are all joined together in one single conspiracy: to give you the idea that as you are
           you are unworthy. You have to do something, you have to prove yourself, then only will you be
           worthy.
                This is the strategy of the society to exploit you; this is the society's ugly way to make slaves of
           you, not creators but slaves. But in beautiful, sophisticated ways you have been conditioned.
           Beautiful words covering very ugly realities. The ugly reality is that the society wants to use you as a
           slave, the society wants to manipulate you, the society wants to control you. It manages it in two
           ways.
                On the outside is the state, the policeman, the magistrate; they enforce laws, but laws can never
           be absolute and man can always find ways to defy laws. Then the society creates another safeguard:
           it creates a conscience in you; it goes on hypnotizing you, saying again and again that you have to be
           worthy.
                And the helpless child has no other way than to oblige, than to surrender. His whole life is at
           stake; he cannot survive on his own. He has to depend on the parents. He has to watch continuously
           what THEY want, what THEY appreciate, what is rewarded by them. If it is rewarded by them, then
           he is worthy, he feels good; if he is punished by them, he feels unworthy, he feels bad about himself
                Slowly slowly the idea settles, sinks deep in your heart, becomes almost your second nature, that
           just to be is not enough. Trees are enough, animals are enough, birds are enough -- only man has this
           stupid idea that just to be is not enough. It is a very cunning tactics to destroy the freedom of the
           individual, to destroy the self-respect of the individual, to create in the individual a deep guilt
           feeling. It has gone deep, certainly -- so deep, Garima, that you misunderstand it as a gut-feeling. It
           is not a gut-feeling at all.
                But I am not against being creative, remember. I am all for it. I want my sannyasins to be
           creative -- but for a totally different reason, with a totally different intention, with a totally new
           motive. I want you all to be creative; I don't want you to escape to the monasteries -- I want you to
           live in the world and live fully, and live the whole spectrum of life. Bring your total potential to
           expression! Bloom in as many ways as possible! Because only then will you feel fulfilled.
                But this has not to be as a means to attain something. This has to be just an expression of your
           joy, of your celebration. And then the quality changes. When you use something as a means, you are
           not really interested in it.
                For example, if you are painting just to be appreciated, your focus is on appreciation, not on the
           painting; your heart is not there. You are already imagining, dreaming, how you will be appreciated.
           And because your constant worry is how to be appreciated, you will paint something which will not
           come out of you spontaneously -- you will paint something which others are bound to like. You will
           paint it according to them. You will become a very poor painter. You will not allow your genius to
           come out, because the genius is not easily appreciated, remember it. The more talented you are, the
           more genuine your intelligence is, the less is the possibility of being easily appreciated. The greater
           possibility is that you will be condemned. Why? Because a genius brings something new into the
           world, so new that old criterions don't fit with it. And the old criterions are deep-rooted in the human
           mind; they cannot easily go away.
                The genius has to create not only his poetry, his painting, his dance, his music, he also has to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           create new criterions by which to judge them.
                Vincent van Gogh was not appreciated in his time -- one of the greatest painters the world has
           ever known. He lived in utter poverty; his brother supported him. But his brother was not much in
           favour of his painting either, because it was not paying -- so what is the point of doing something
           which does not pay? On the contrary, because of his paintings people used to think that he was mad.
           He was painting in such a new way -- as it had never been done before. He had his own vision. He
           was a genius! In his paintings, trees are so high that they reach to the stars; stars are very small and
           trees are very big. Now who is going to appreciate this painting?
                Any schoolchild can say, "This is nonsense! Stars are not so small, and trees -- who has seen
           such big trees? reaching above the stars?" But Vincent van Gogh used to say, "Whenever I see a tree,
           this is my feeling: that the earth is trying to reach the stars, to transcend the stars, through the trees.
           These are the hands of the earth reaching for the unknown, for the transcendental. And I love my
           earth, hence my stars are small and my trees are big. I am PART of this earth, I am also a hand of my
           earth. To me stars are small."
                This is not a question of astronomy, physics, mathematics: it is a totally different vision. Trees
           are seen as ambitions of the earth, love affairs of the earth with the sky. But who is going to
           appreciate him?
                In one of his paintings the sun is painted black. Now who has ever seen a black sun? But he used
           to say that the sun that shines outside IS black compared to the sun that is inside. It is a comparison.
           Kabir will agree; Kabir says, "When I saw the inner sun, then I knew that the outer sun is just a black
           hole. When I saw my inner life, then I knew that the outer life is nothing but another name for
           death."
                The moment the inner is known, suddenly the outer starts fading away. Now, van Gogh is talking
           in d mystic way -- he is a mystic -- but who will understand? It will take years for people to
           understand. Van Gogh lived and died unappreciated, unknown. He remained absolutely unknown.
                You will be surprised to know: now each of his paintings is so valuable that no other painting
           can compete. Even Picasso's paintings are not so valuable -- millions of dollars for a single painting.
           In his own day, in his whole life, he could not sell a single painting. He had to distribute his
           paintings to friends or to the man who used to give him a cup of tea in the morning free of charge.
           Those same paintings now cost millions of dollars. People had discarded them; people accepted them
           out of politeness, because as far as they were concerned it was all junk -- so why collect it?
                Vincent van Gogh committed suicide when he was only thirty-three. It was impossible to live; he
           could not earn a single pie. His brother used to give him enough money, just enough, to exist, to
           survive. But he needed money to paint -- for the canvas and the colours and the brushes. So this was
           his arrangement: out of seven days... he used to get money every Sunday for one week. Every week,
           for three days he would eat and for four days he would fast, so that money could be saved to
           purchase canvases, colours, and other things that he needed.
                To me, van Gogh's fasting is far more significant than all the fasts that have been done by your
           so-called saints. THIS fasting has something beautiful in it, something spiritual in it. When your
           so-called saints go on a fast, it is a means; they are fasting so that they can reach heaven and enjoy
           all the heavenly joys. But van Gogh's fasting has a totally different quality to it: his love to create.
                And why did he commit suicide? He committed suicide... that too has a tremendous significance.
           It is no ordinary suicide. In fact, a man like van Gogh cannot do anything in an ordinary way. He
           committed suicide because he said, "Whatsoever I wanted to paint, I have painted. Now, just to exist
           is pointless. I have given that which I came to give; now I can go back to the original source. There
           is no need to live in the body any more. I have contributed."
                Years and years passed, then slowly slowly he was appreciated. Now he is thought to be one of
           the greatest painters in the world.
                And this has been so with all the geniuses: in their own time they are condemned -- condemned
           by the masses, condemned by the crowd, condemned by the priests, condemned by the politicians.
           They are appreciated by only very few people -- sensitive, receptive, intelligent -- only by very few
           people who have the capacity to see something that is new, unknown, that has never happened
           before; only by very few people who can put their minds aside and look.
                I would like you to be creative, but don't be bothered about appreciation, don't be bothered that
           you will be gaining fame, name through it. Whenever the motive is to gain something out of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           creativity, you are no more interested in it. You become a technician; you are no more an artist. You
           may do the painting, and you may do it perfectly, technically perfectly, but it will not have the soul,
           it will not be alive, because you will not be there. You will be looking all around for the appreciators
           to come. And you will always paint accordingly, so that they can appreciate.
               There are people who say only that which people want to hear. These people will be very
           famous, known, appreciated, respected, but they are mediocre people. The genius speaks that which
           arises in his heart; he does not care a bit whether anybody is going to like it or not. He says it
           straight, he says it direct -- he never thinks of the results and the consequences.
               Be creative in that sense and your creativity will become an offering to God. God has given you
           so many gifts, Garima; something HAS to be done just in deep thankfulness. But remember: with no
           motive, not as a means but as an end unto itself. Art for art's sake, and creation for creation's sake,
           and love for love's sake, and prayer for prayer's sake.
               And that's how one, slowly slowly, becomes religious. The religious person lives in the moment;
           he has no worry about the future, not even about the next moment. When it comes, it will come. He
           does not prepare for it. He lives this moment, and out of this moment the next will be born. And if
           this moment has been beautiful, if this moment has been a benediction, the next is going to be, of
           course, a deeper benediction, a greater blessing.

               Garima, you say: I HAVE THIS FEELING THAT I NEED TO DO TO BE WORTHY...
           THE NEED TO DO CAN BE A GUT-FEELING, because we have too much energy and the energy
           wants to dance, the energy wants to paint, the energy wants to sing, the energy wants to DO
           something. But this can't be a gut-feeling: I NEED TO DO TO BE WORTHY. That is a feeling that
           has been put inside you -- like scientists put electrodes in the brain and then a person can be
           manipulated.
               Just like that the society has been going on down the ages -- it creates a conscience in you: "Do
           this, this is right, approved, respected. Don't do that; that is unworthy of you. You will be
           condemned if you do it." And a kind of division is created within you between right and wrong,
           between the 'should' and the 'should-not'.
               And the problem is that no 'should' can ever be a fixed phenomenon; it changes with life. No
           right is always right, and no wrong is always wrong, so to decide beforehand is dangerous. I don't
           teach you conscience; conscience means right and wrong are like things, decided: this is a rose and
           that is a lotus, and this is a stone and that is a diamond -- decided. Decided for ever! Right and wrong
           are not things. They change. Life is a riverlike phenomenon. What is right today may not be right
           tomorrow.

           One Zen Master asked his disciple, "What is God?"
                The disciple bowed down, remained silent. The Master blessed him and said, "This is good. I am
           happy."
                Next day, again, the Master asked the disciple, "What is God?"
                And of course now he had learnt, so he bowed down, an even deeper bow, remained quiet, even
           closed his eyes, and the Master hit him hard on the head and said, "You stupid!" The disciple was
           puzzled. He said, "But what has happened? Yesterday you were so happy, and the answer is the
           same -- even better than yesterday!"
                And the Master said, "That is where you went wrong: yesterday was yesterday, today is today.
           Now you are simply repeating a ready-made formula. Now you are not being true, not being
           spontaneous, not being responsible. Now you have learnt a trick. How can the same answer be right
           today? Twenty-four hours have passed, so much water has gone down the Ganges!"
                Existence is dynamic, it is not static -- it is not a stagnant pool. It is a constant continuum, flow.
           No answer can ever be fixed -- and that's where the society deceives you: it gives you fixed answers.
           with fixed answers one thing is good -- that's why we cling to them -- they give you a sort of
           certainty, security, safety. You can remain certain that you are right.
                But life goes on changing, And your 'right' remains fixed. And then your whole life becomes a
           misery, because your answers never fit the questions. Then your whole life is an effort to put square
           plugs into round holes -- your whole life you go on trying. And it is very frustrating. And the reason
           is: you never see that life is changing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And the really conscious person changes with life. The really conscious person cannot afford to
           be consistent. Consistency is part of a mediocre mind. I am not saying be deliberately inconsistent; I
           am simply stating a fact, that to be consistent means to be stupid, to be consistent means to remain
           with the past, blind to the present. If you look at the present you have to change with life.
               Hence you will find a thousand and one contradictions in Jesus' statements, and so is the case
           with Gautam Buddha. And that has always been the case with the enlightened people, because they
           don't have any ready-made answer. You hanker for the ready-made answer so you can jump upon it,
           you can hold it tight in your hand and you can be certain.
               You suffer from uncertainty -- and uncertainty is the nature of life. Certainty is part of death. Be
           certain and you will be dead. Remain flowing, remain uncertain, remain available to the changing
           circumstances, and you will remain more and more alive.
               To be totally alive means to live in the moment with no past interfering at all -- then you respond
           to the moment and the response comes from your consciousness not from your conscience.
           Conscience is a deception; conscience is a social trick. The society has created the conscience. And
           the function of the Master is to destroy your conscience so that your consciousness can be freed.
               Your gut-feeling is not a gut-feeling. You have been deceived. There is no need to do anything to
           be worthy -- you are already worthy. If you were not worthy, you would not be here at all. God has
           given you birth, has created you -- must have seen some worth in you. If you are unworthy, then God
           is not a very original creator, then he is not much of a creator either. How can he create an unworthy
           person?
               Society makes you unworthy, because that is the only way to exploit you -- to make you feel
           unworthy. Then you will try hard to become worthy because that is the only way to gain self-respect.
           And to become worthy you will follow the dictates of the society.
               Society creates fear in you -- fear of being unworthy, fear of being condemned, fear of being left
           alone, fear of being nobody, fear of being anonymous. And then you are ready to yield, to bow
           down, to any kind of nonsense.

               Simon's parents were in despair when he flunked out of school. They tried sending him to every
           school in the city -- private, public, progressive, military academy -- but he took no interest. Finally
           they tried a Catholic school. When Simon came home with his first report card, his parents were
           surprised to see a straight A report.
           "What happened?" they asked him.
           "Well," he replied. "When I saw that poor guy nailed to the cross everywhere I looked, I knew they
           meant business!"

                Create fear... create as much fear as you can. That has been the policy of the society. Hells have
           been created just to catch hold of you; heavens have been created just to reward those who will
           follow the dictates. All are imaginary: there is no hell, no heaven. But these rewards and
           punishments are subtle strategies, and they have worked up to now, and they have destroyed all
           human dignity.
                This is not a gut-feeling in you. Your gut-feeling and the conscience created by the society have
           got mixed up. The gut-feeling is to DO something -- yes, that is a gut-feeling. When energy is there,
           one wants to do something; that is natural. Energy wants to be expressed. But WITH the motive to
           be worthy, that is a conscience part which is getting mixed with your gut-feeling. Be clear about it!
                You have been messed around by the society in every possible way. You have been confused so
           much that you have to depend on somebody. Either you go to the priest -- in the old days you used to
           go to the priest. In India they still go to the priest. In the West the new priest has arisen: the
           psychotherapist, the psychiatrist, the psychologist -- go to him.
                And the miracle is that the priest is just like you, maybe even more in a mess than you are, but
           still you go to him to find good advice. Yes, he repeats good advice like a parrot. Your
           psychotherapist, your psychiatrist, your psychoanalyst, may be in deeper anxiety, in more tensions
           than you are.
                Just the other night one of my sannyasins was asking me, "Osho, you had told me last time when
           I came here, 'Look for the lighter side of life, count the roses, ignore the thorns. They are there, take
           note of them, but don't pay too much attention to them.' But my psychoanalyst has said, 'This is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dangerous, this is going to repress your emotions.' So I am puzzled -- what to do?"
               I told him, "You just wait a few days, your psychoanalyst will be here...!" But I was not aware
           that this sannyasin himself is a psychoanalyst. Just later on Vivek told me that he himself is a
           psychoanalyst. Now, one psychoanalyst going to another psychoanalyst -- for what? And that one
           may be going to somebody else.

               THE FOUNDER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Sigmund Freud, was one of the most pathological
           persons you can imagine -- very superstitious. You will laugh if you go into his biography about how
           such a man could become the founder of psychoanalysis, and how such a man could be trusted, that
           what he was saying was true.
               One of his friends gave him the idea that just as each woman has a twenty-eight-day period when
           her menstruation comes, exactly like that each man has a twenty-three-day period. There is some
           truth in it -- not twenty-three days, exactly twenty-eight days. Now much more research has been
           done on it.
               Those four, five days when a woman goes through the period are sad, depressive, dull, negative
           -- exactly like that man also goes into a negative state each month for four, five days. Of course, his
           period is not very visible, but it is there; it is a psychological fact. It should be there, because men
           and women are not very different.
               So the friend's idea was on the right track. Sigmund Freud suddenly got one idea -- lying down in
           his bed, he was thinking about twenty-eight and twenty-three -- suddenly an idea flashed in his mind:
           twenty-eight plus twenty-three means fifty-one, and he could not sleep the whole night. He became
           certain by the morning that he was going to live fifty-one years -- a very great gut-feeling. And he
           started talking about it twenty-eight plus twenty-three -- fifty-one years and he will die.
               And the fifty-first year came and passed... and he did not die. Then something else had to be
           found. The day he was expecting to die, his phone number was changed and the end of the phone
           number was sixty-two. So he said, "Look, another indication: so now I am going to die at sixty-two."
           But that day also came and was passing.
               But the people like Sigmund Freud are not easy... they will find something or other. He was
           staying in a hotel and the number of the room was eighty-two, so he said, "Look, another indication
           from above -- at eighty-two I am going to die -- that is absolutely certain."
               And that day also passed. He died when he was eighty-three.
               Such superstitious people... he was so afraid of death, that's why he was so much concerned
           about it. He was so afraid of death that five times in his life he fainted publicly because somebody
           started talking about death. He used to faint flat on the ground. Just the IDEA of death! And such a
           pathological, neurotic person became the founder of psychoanalysis.
               And he used to project himself: whatsoever was true for him he thought was true for every
           human being. That is the very limit of nonsense. All that he has said about man is not about man -- it
           is about Sigmund Freud. And Sigmund Freud is a single individual; he does not represent man.
           Nobody represents man! Nobody can ever represent man.
               So maybe a few people are helped by psychoanalysis, very few people -- rarely have I seen a
           person who has been helped by psychoanalysis -- but those are the people who are of the same type
           as Sigmund Freud.
               And now much research has happened and it has been found that even those people who are
           helped are not helped by psychoanalysis but by something else. In one experiment, twenty-five
           persons were given psychoanalysis for six months, and twenty-five persons were just kept waiting
           and were told, "Soon your psychoanalysis will start." They were all suffering from the same kind of
           illness, and the result was very surprising.
               The twenty-five who were given psychoanalysis were helped a little bit, but the twenty-five who
           were kept waiting were helped far more. Just waiting helped them far more. In fact, this secret has
           been known in the East, it has been practised for centuries. If you take a mental case into a Zen
           monastery, they put him in isolation for three weeks; nobody talks to him -- just the opposite of
           psychoanalysis -- nobody talks to him, nobody listens to him. They just keep him isolated; somebody
           goes, absolutely silently, and puts the food there, comes back. He has to live with himself for three
           weeks... and miracles have been happening down the ages.
               Just putting him there for three weeks in isolation, slowly slowly he cools down -- no
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           psychoanalysis, no therapy, just isolation. In fact, he was suffering too much from people -- the
           stress of being in a crowd continuously.
               Psychoanalysis may not be the real cause of help, but the length of time -- two years, three years,
           four years, the psychoanalysis continues. It continues as long as you can afford it; it depends on you.
           If you have enough money, it can continue your whole life. In fact, psychoanalysis never comes to a
           termination. It cannot come, because the mind is very inventive. It goes on inventing more and more
           rubbish. It starts enjoying, slowly slowly, because the more rubbish it brings up, the more happy the
           psychotherapist feels. Seeing him happy, it obliges more.
               Whatsoever the expectations of the psychotherapist are, the patient fulfills them. Patients are
           really patient people, very obliging, courteous. Good people they are! That's why they are suffering;
           they are not hard people -- not hardware but software. Because they are soft they are suffering. The
           hard guys are not suffering; the hard guys make others suffer. The soft guys become victims. Three,
           four years Lying down on the couch, talking nonsense, waiting, waiting, waiting -- it helps one to
           unwind, one becomes a little more relaxed. And somebody is listening to you very attentively, at
           least pretending that he is listening very attentively.
               My own observation is that the attention of the psychotherapist is of immense value. This is a
           world where nobody gives you any attention. If the husband wants to talk to the wife she says,
           "There is so much work to be done in the kitchen -- and the dishes have to be washed and I have no
           time." If the wife wants to talk to the husband, he is tired from the whole day at the office and the
           work and the traffic, and he wants to watch the TV.
               A survey says that the average husband/wife communication in America is only thirty-three
           minutes per day -- and that is the average. And in that thirty-three minutes you can count fighting,
           nagging, pillow-throwing, and every kind of thing. Thirty-three minutes only between husband and
           wife -- out of twenty-four hours?
               A great need has arisen that somebody should listen to you. Hence the psychotherapist helps --
           he is a professional listener. That is the only quality that he has, the only qualification really. You
           can start the business -- no other qualification is needed -- if you know only one thing: how to be
           attentively sitting there by the side and listening. Just listening attentively will help. The person
           starts feeling, "I have some worth. Somebody..." And the more he has paid, the more it helps because
           the person who is listening is no ordinary psychotherapist, not run-of-the-mill."... Somebody special,
           very famous, world-known -- and listening so attentively to me?" The very idea gives worth, "Then I
           must be saying something immensely beautiful."
               Gibberish he may be bringing up. That's what in psycho-babble is called 'free association' --
           anything that comes to your mind, bring it up. If such gibberish is being listened to so attentively, a
           great need is fulfilled -- he feels worthy, he feels important, he feels somebody.
               Remember, this society has messed you up so much that man as such is almost on the verge of
           going insane. All love has disappeared, all communication has disappeared, all friendship has
           disappeared, all aesthetic sensitivity has disappeared. People have become like zombies. They talk to
           each other yet they don't talk, they don't meet.
               This society is an ill society, and when I say 'this society' I mean all the societies that exist in the
           world, more or less, in this way or that, they are ill -- because in the past, for centuries, we have been
           creating a model of man which is wrong. We are giving people ideals and saying "Unless you fulfill
           THESE ideals you will never be worthy." And those ideals are impossible. We are giving people
           ideas of being perfect. and once the idea of being perfect enters in one's being, it turns one into a
           neurotic.
               Accept your limitations, accept your imperfections. That's what it means to be a human being!
           And accept yourself as you are -- with joy, not in helplessness. Because GOD accepts you -- this is
           my basic teaching -- God accepts you, accept yourself; love yourself. Let there be a great upsurge of
           self-love. And out of that love you will start becoming creative; a person who loves himself is bound
           to become creative. I am not saying he will become famous; I am not saying that he will be a Picasso
           or an Ezra Pound or a Pablo Neruda, no -- he may be, he may not be. But that is irrelevant! The real
           thing is to enjoy creativity. Whatsoever you do, do it with joy, bring your total intelligence to it, be
           meditative in it.

              Garima, you say: AND YOU SAY THAT GOD IS WITHIN ME. I REALIZE I AM LOOKING
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           INSIDE FOR SOME CONCEPT I GOT FROM THE OUTSIDE.
           THAT KIND OF GOD YOU WILL NEVER FIND WITHIN YOU. You will have to drop all the
           concepts that have been given to you from the outside, because God is not a person. No picture of
           God exists, no statue is possible. God is an experience! If you have the idea of a God which your
           parents and your society have given to you, you will go inside with that idea and that idea will be the
           hindrance -- it will not allow you to see that which is. And God IS that which is. It needs no concepts
           to see; concepts blind you. Drop all concepts.
                If you really want to go in, go as an agnostic. This word is beautiful. You must have heard the
           word 'gnostic'; 'gnostic' means one who knows -- gnosis means knowledge. 'Agnostic' means one
           who knows not; 'agnostic' means one who knows only one thing, that he knows not. Be an agnostic
           -- that is the beginning of real religion.
                Don't believe, don't disbelieve. Don't be a Hindu, and don't be a Jaina and don't be a Christian,
           otherwise you will go on groping in darkness for ever and for ever. Unless you drop all ideologies,
           all philosophies, all religions, all systems of thought, and go inside empty, with nothing in your
           hand, with no idea.... How can you have an idea of God? You have not known him. Just go... with a
           great desire to know, but with no idea of knowledge with intensity to know, with a passionate love to
           know what is there, but don't carry any ideas given to you by others. Drop them outside. That is the
           greatest barrier for the seeker on the path of truth.
                God is there but you cannot see because your eyes are blinded by the concepts given to you. God
           is not a Jew, so if you have a Jewish idea of God you will not find him. I have heard a beautiful story
           about a Sufi mystic, Farid:

               One night he dreams that by the grace of Allah, he has reached Paradise. And the whole of
           Paradise is decorated, millions of lights.and flowers everywhere -- some celebration is going on --
           and great music. He enquires, "What is going on?"
               And they say, "This is God's birthday -- we are celebrating it. You have come at the right time."
               So he stands underneath a tree to see what is happening, because a great procession starts moving
           on the road. A man is sitting on a horse; he enquires, "Who is this man?" and they say, "Don't you
           know him? He is Hajrat Mohammed."
               And then millions and millions of people behind him, and he asks, "Who are these people?" and
           he is replied to. "They are Mohammedans, followers of Mohammed."
               And then comes Jesus, and millions are following him. And then comes Krishna on his golden
           chariot, and millions again are following him. And so on and so forth... the procession continues,
           continues, continues.
               And then finally, in the end, on an old donkey an old man is coming. And nobody is behind him;
           he is just alone. Farid starts laughing looking at this man -- it is hilarious: nobody following him.
           And why should he be going on his donkey? He asks, "Who are you, sir? I have seen Mohammed,
           Christ, Krishna, Mahavira, Buddha -- who are you? You look like a kind of joke! And nobody
           following you."
               And the old man is very sad and he says, "Yes, I am God. This is my birthday. But some people
           have become Mohammedans, some have become Christians, some have become Jews, some have
           become Hindus -- nobody is left to be with me."
               Just out of shock, Farid woke up. He told his disciples the next day, "Now I am no more a
           Mohammedan. The dream has been a great revelation. Now I am no more part of any organized
           religion -- I am simply myself. I would like to be with God, at least one person following him."

               If you have a certain idea of God, you will not be able to see him. Your very idea will become a
           barrier. Drop all ideas that you have gathered from without; only then can you go within.

               You say: IT IS LIKE LOOKING DOWN INTO A WELL IN THE NIGHT. I SEE
           REFLECTIONS AND I THINK IT IS THE BOTTOM, BUT IT IS ONLY THE SURFACE. EVEN
           WHEN I KNOW I NEED ONLY LET AND WAIT RATHER THAN LOOK FOR ANYTHING...
           TRUE, GARIMA, STICK WITH THAT INSIGHT. If you are looking for something you will not be
           able to see, because the very idea of looking for something means that you have an idea of what you
           are looking for. To look for something is a kind of blindness.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Seeing happens only when you are not looking for anything in particular; you are just there,
           open, available. So whatsoever is is revealed. Don't look for God if you want to see him. Just wait --
           let and wait. God is a happening! If you are silent, open, loving towards your own being, conscious,
           it is going to happen. Any moment, when you are in the right tuning with existence, it will happen.
                God is there: you are there: just right tuning. And that's what I am teaching to you: right tuning.
           Dropping all ideologies helps you to be rightly tuned. And once you are in tune with existence, that
           is bliss. You have come home....

           Second question:

              OSHO, IS IT TIME THAT I SHOULD BECOME A SANNYASIN?


               IT IS ALREADY LATE! Naresh, you have already waited too long. I have known you for years,
           you have known me for years. For what are you waiting? The meeting should happen now. Still you
           are asking:

           IS IT TIME THAT I SHOULD BECOME A SANNYASIN?
               Are you dead? If you have any life in you, then this is the time. NOW is the time! Remember
           Kabir -- just the other day Kabir was saying: Now, wake up -- wake up in the now, wake up here!
           Don't postpone.

                Branigan was driving down the road. By the way the car weaved in and out of traffic, you could
           tell that Branigan was pickled to the gills.
           "Where do you think you are going?" asked the motorcycle cop who finally stopped him.
           "I am coming home -- hic -- from a New Year's Eve party!"
           "Are you kidding?" asked the cop. "New Year's was three weeks ago!"
           "I know," said Branigan. "That's why I figured I better be getting home now."

               Is it not time, Naresh, to be getting home now? You have waited already too long, too many
           lives. Sannyas is nothing but a passionate jump into the enquiry for the truth, a passionate search
           from where we come and to where we are going and who we are. That's what sannyas is all about.
               But you seem to be almost in a kind of sleep, and that's how everybody else is. The worldly
           dreams still seem to be important to you, hence the question. The world still seems to intoxicate you;
           money, power, prestige, are still haunting you. And you cannot be a sannyasin unless you are utterly
           frustrated with the world. And remember, I am not teaching escapism from the world: I teach
           transcendence, not escape. Be in the world, but don't be of it.
               A sannyasin is a person who lives in the world but lives meditatively, and meditation creates a
           distance. Then you can go on doing all kinds of things but you don't become intoxicated, you don't
           become identified with them. To live in awareness, without any intoxication with money, power,
           prestige, is the way of the sannyasin.

               Hallihan and Flannigan were having a few at a new tavern in town. After an hour of heavy
           imbibing, Hallihan asked the bartender for the washroom.
           "Go to the door, left of the elevator," said the barkeeper, "then walk down two steps and there you
           are."
               Hallihan forgot to turn left. He opened the elevator door, took ONE step and fell down the shaft.
               Ten minutes later, Flannigan followed Hallihan and saw him lying at the bottom of the shaft.
           "Look out for the SECOND step," shouted up Hallihan. "It's a son of a bitch!"

               And you have taken many second steps, many many times. You have fallen many many times.
           Are you not yet frustrated, Naresh? Are you not yet finished with the world? Are you still carrying
           some hope deep down in your heart? Are you still expecting that the world is going to deliver
           something to you? It has never happened -- to no one has it happened. And it is not going to happen
           to you.
               The world only promises, it never delivers the goods. That's its illusoriness; that's why in the East
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           we call it maya. 'Maya' does not mean that it is not there -- it is very much there, but it only
           promises. It never gives anything.
           I have heard a story:

                A man worshipped for many many years -- he must have tortured God as much as possible.
           Morning, afternoon, evening, he was praying and praying and crying and weeping. And, finally, God
           has to appear, and he said, "What do you want? Be finished! Just take it and forgive me and forget
           all about me.
                And the man said, "I want something, a power, so that whatsoever I need is immediately
           fulfilled."
                So God gave him a box, a golden box -- exactly like the magic box that I give to you -- and told
           him, "Whenever you are in need you can ask. Whatsoever you ask, the box will immediately give it
           to you."
                The man forgot all about God, he even forgot to thank him. God waited a little... but the man was
           no more interested in him. He was looking at the box and he started asking, "Give me ten thousand
           rupees!" Suddenly ten thousand rupees appeared, and he was very happy.
                And it continued: whatsoever he wanted used to come out of the box. Then one day, one
           SADHU -- one wandering monk -- stayed with the man. The sadhu, the wandering monk, also had a
           box -- bigger than the man's -- exactly the same shape. The man became interested. He said, "What is
           this?"
                The sadhu said, "This is a magic box. You ask anything. it gives you double."
           "Double!" The man asked, "If I ask ten thousand rupees, He said, "It gives twenty thousand."
                He fell at the feet of the monk and said, "You are a monk, you have renounced the world -- can't
           you exchange? I have a small box: it gives only whatsoever you ask."
                So they changed the boxes. It was late at night, so the man thought, "In the morning I will try out
           this new box." And in the morning he tried; he asked for ten thousand rupees... and the box said,
           "Why not twenty thousand?" And the man said, "Okay, twenty thousand." And the box said, "Why
           not forty thousand?" And the man said, "Okay, forty thousand." And the box said, "Why not eighty
           thousand?"
                Then he became afraid, because nothing was coming out! He rushed to see the monk, but he had
           left; he had disappeared in the night.

               In the East, we have called the world 'maya', illusory -- it is like that box of the monk. You ask
           anything and it says, "Okay, you can have double." But it never delivers any goods; it only promises.
           The world is almost like the politicians -- they promise but they never fulfill
               Naresh, are you not yet finished? Have you not seen it happening many times? Each time you are
           living an illusion, hoping, dreaming, sooner or later disillusion comes in, frustration comes in. But
           rather than seeing the reality of this world, you immediately jump on another illusion -- you
           immediately start dreaming again.
               Sannyas is seeing the reality of the world, that it never fulfills, that it cannot fulfill, that it is
           beyond its capacity to fulfill... one turns in. One has been a beggar begging from this door and that
           door; when one turns in, begging disappears -- one becomes an emperor. Then all is yours.
               And you need not even ask for it -- it is simply yours. This whole existence is yours, its whole
           beauty, its whole splendour, its starry nights, its sunsets and sunrises, its flowers and birds -- all is
           yours. Not in the sense that you possess it, but in the sense that you can enjoy it.
               A sannyasin learns how to enjoy, and the worldly mall learns only how to possess. Remember
           these two things; they are basic. The worldly man only thinks of how to possess more -- he never
           enjoys because he is concerned with pos-sessing more and more and more. The sannyasin enjoys,
           whatsoever he has he enjoys -- and he enjoys the whole existence -- which need not be possessed.
               Do you think first you have to possess the starry night, then you will enjoy it? Do you think first
           you have to possess all the birds, then you will enjoy their songs? This existence need not be
           possessed! And you can still enjoy. It is YOURS if you want to enjoy -- it is not yours if you want to
           possess. To possess it is aggressive; it is aggression on God. To enjoy it is prayerful.

           The last question:
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              OSHO, WILL YOU RECOGNIZE ME AT THE FINAL JUDGEMENT DAY?

              Suresh,


               IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU: remember to be in orange and with the mala, because it is going
           to be difficult to recognize you. Just think of all the men and all the women that have existed... they
           will all be there. There is going to be much difficulty in recognizing people, so just you remember
           that thing.

               A timid, conservative, unmarried shopkeeper suddenly came into a small fortune. Overnight, this
           mild-mannered, mincing little man had all the money he could possibly use.
               Bravely he snapped his fingers, clicked his heels, and decided to become a swinger. He bought
           expensive, mod clothes, had his hair styled, rented a lavish beach villa in Florida, and got a dark,
           virile tan.
               Driving home from the Rolls Royce dealer in his new car, wearing his flashiest sports clothes
           and swingiest sunglasses, he was suddenly struck dead by a lightning bolt. Right there in the Florida
           sun -- a fatal lightning bolt.
               Up at the Pearly Gates, the shopkeeper angrily faced Saint Peter. "Why would you pick on me
           like that? I have been a good man all my life. The Lord has always watched over me."
           "He was trying to watch over you," explained Saint Peter. "He just didn't recognize you."

                So, Suresh, please remember it, don't forget: be in orange and with the mala so that I can
           recognize you.
                But why are you worried about the Last Judgement Day? I teach you about the immediate and
           you ask about the Last Judgement Day! I teach you the immediate is the ultimate and you ask about
           the Last Judgement Day. In reality there can be no day which can be the last. The world never
           begins, never ends -- it is a continuum.
                Secondly, the very word 'judgement' is ugly. God is not a judge, God is a lover -- and the lover
           cannot be a judge. Jesus said to his disciples: Judge ye not! Why? Because the moment you judge
           you start destroying the other. Who are you to judge? The moment you judge you start comparing,
           and who are you to compare?
                Each individual is unique, and each individual brings variety to existence. The world will not be
           better if there are only saints and saints and saints. It will be one of the most boring worlds if there
           are only saints and saints and saints. The sinners also contribute something: they make it a little
           salty, they bring a little taste to life.
                God is not a Judge, god is a lover, and how can love judge? Be assured that in the eyes of God
           there is no sinner, no saint -- in the eyes of God all are alike. And when his sun rises, it rises for the
           sinners too, as much as for the saints. And when his roses bloom, they give fragrance to the saints as
           much as to the sinners. No distinction is ever made. Just simple observation will show to you that
           existence makes no distinctions. All right and wrong, all good and bad, are human creations, are
           man-made concepts and ideas.
                And each society has created its own ideas of good and bad, and they go on changing. They are
           utilitarian, remember. One thing can be a sin in one society and may not be a sin in another society.
           The same thing can be a great virtue in One society, and may be thought just the opposite in another
           society.
                If a person beats his own body so that blood oozes out, what will you call him? Will you call him
           a saint or a sinner? It depends... because there has been a Christian sect that believes in beating your
           body so that blood comes out, and the more blood you can bring out of your body, the greater a saint
           you are.
                In Russia, before Communism, there was a sect, a great sect of Christians, who used to cut their
           genital organs. Women used to cut their breasts -- and they were thought to be great saints. What do
           you think about them? You will think them pathological, mentally ill, deranged.
                There are ideas and ideas, but all ideas are human. Don't be worried. There are people who are
           worried about small things -- they have been MADE to worry. Somebody smokes and he is afraid
           that he is going to be thrown into hell. If you have smoked tao much, one thing is certain, that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will not be sent to hell because there is too much smoke there, and you have already done it to
           yourself.
               Smoking may be bad for your health but is not a sin; you cannot be thrown into hell for smoking.
           But there are people who think even drinking tea... in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram drinking tea was a
           sin. If you were caught drinking tea, there was a great fuss about it. Mahatma Gandhi might have
           gone for a three-day fast to purify his soul and his disciples' souls because people are drinking tea.
               And Buddhist monks down the ages have been drinking tea. Tea is part of their meditation -- and
           there seems to be something in it, because tea has some chemicals which can keep you awake more
           easily. It can be a help in meditation. If you are trying to be alert, tea can be a help.
               In fact, tea was discovered by Buddhist monks; it is their discovery, because it was discovered in
           a monastery in China called Ta, that's why it is called tea. That 'ta' can be pronounced also as 'cha';
           that's why in Marathi it is called 'cha' and in Hindi it is called 'chai'. But it is from the monastery of
           Ta.
               And the man who is reputed to have grown the first tea plants was nobody else but Bodhidharma,
           the great Bodhidharma. The story is beautiful:

                He was meditating, and such a meditator happens only once in a while. For nine years he sat
           facing the wall -- just the wall and for nine years looking at the wall and doing nothing else. And
           sometimes he used to fall asleep -- naturally, if you look at the wall that long, what else is there to
           do? And he did not want to go to sleep.
                So he tore out his eyelids and his eyelashes and threw them so that now there was no way to
           close his eyes. And the story is that out of those eyelids, those pieces of skin, and the eye-lashes, the
           first teaplant grew.

                This is a beautiful story: it simply says one thing, that tea can keep you awake. It will not allow
           you and your eyes to close.
                Buddhists drink tea with religious ritual. In Japan, they have tea ceremonies. Tea is not an
           ordinary thing for them, because it keeps you awake, it gives you energy to remain
                more alert. They have made a very prayerful, graceful ritual out of it: the tea ceremony. In each
           Zen monastery there is a separate tea temple, the most beautiful place -- maybe surrounded by a lake,
           rocks, sand, trees. And when you go into the temple, you have to go in a certain manner, in a certain
           posture you have to sit there, and it takes hours.
                The tea will be prepared, the samovar will start humming, and all will be sitting in silence
           listening to the humming of the samovar. And slowly the flavour of the tea will reach your nostrils,
           and you have to drink that too. And then the tea is served -- with great grace, with great beauty, art.
           And the tea is served in beautiful cups, hand-made with great love and care. And then everybody
           starts sipping the tea. And it is done very prayerfully and everybody remains silent, no gossiping, no
           chattering -- as if there is nobody. Then they bow down to each other with great respect, and disperse
           without saying a word.
                In one country, tea is so religious, so spiritual, and in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram it was a sin. It
           depends. These are all human ideas. You should not be worried about these things.
                My message is simple: live alert, and live spontaneously, and live totally -- and forget all about
           the Last Judgement Day. I recognize you today, and that's enough. Today is enough unto itself.




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                     Chapter #9
                                    Chapter title: In Search of the Miraculous
           19 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904190
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              ShortTitle: FISH09
                 Audio: Yes
                 Video:      No
                Length: 99 mins




              The first question

              OSHO, I AM A SCIENTIST WORKING ON THE QUESTION OF HOW LIFE ORIGINATED FROM
              NON-LIVING MATTER. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THIS STUDY OF HOW NON-LIFE IS
              TRANSFORMED INTO LIVING MATTER IS VITAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP OF
              SCIENCE TO RELIGION. THE REASON IS THAT THE STUDY IS A CLUE TO HOW OUR
              EMOTIONS AND SPIRITUALITY DEVELOPED IN THE FIRST PLACE. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

              Adolph Smith,

               RELIGION AND SCIENCE ARE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE, and because they are
           diametrically opposite they are complementaries. Religion cannot support science, science cannot
           support religion. They are bound to oppose each other -- in their very opposition is their
           complementariness. Hence, anything that science is going to discover is of no value to religion. In
           fact, EACH scientific discovery makes the existence of religion more and more difficult.
               Science tries to demystify existence, hence the question 'how?' -- how did life arise out of
           matter? Religion is basically a different approach: it does not want to demystify existence; its whole
           approach is to reveal the mystery of it. It is not a search for the answer: it is diving deep in the
           question itself k does not ask any questions; it takes life for granted. The question is not how life
           arose: the question is how life should be lived, the question is how life should be celebrated.
               The scientific question will be: What is love? How docs love arise? What is the causality? And
           the religious question will be: How to drown yourself in love? How to be in love? How to be love
           itself?
               Science will come to certain clues; those clues look stupid in the eyes of a mystic. If you ask
           about love, science will answer with something which is nothing but chemistry: hormones,
           chemicals. And the grandeur and the splendour of love are reduced -- reduced to a very mundane
           world. What does love have to do with chemistry? Love certainly has something to do with alchemy,
           but nothing to do with chemistry. It is a transforming force, but it cannot be reduced to hormones.
               Life cannot be reduced to any answer. Once life is reduced to a certain answer life becomes
           meaningless, it is no more worth living. It is like coming across a lotus flower. The poet will enjoy
           the beauty of it; he will not be bothered where it comes from. He will simply enjoy the fragrance, the
           colour, the sun shining over it, the dewdrops on the lotus petals. And the mystic will dance around it,
           because he is not seeing only the lotus flower but he is seeing something of the transcendental in it.
           Hidden behind the lotus, its beauty, its splendour, its majesty, its magic, are the hands of God. The
           mystic not only feels the roseflower or the lotus flower, he also feels the mysterious presence of the
           unknown force called God surrounding it, protecting it, caring for it, caressing it.
               The poet simply sees the lotus flower, the mystic goes beyond, he goes higher -- he takes the
           roseflower or the lotus flower to the ultimate peak. And the scientist? -- he will think about where it
           comes from. It comes from the mud. The scientist will start moving deeper and deeper into the mud;
           he will start enquiring about the mud and the elements that are in the mud.
               Just look at these three approaches: the scientist goes lower than the lotus, the mystic goes higher
           than the lotus, the poet remains with the lotus. In the ultimate analysis the scientist will think that the
           lotus is nothing but mud -- a form of mud -- and the mystic will think the lotus is nothing but a
           manifestation of God. And for the poet, a lotus is simply a lotus. Now, how can these three
           approaches meet?
               The mystic cannot agree with the scientist -- in fact, the mystic will think that the scientist is
           destroying something tremendously important. By all his logical answers, objective answers, he is
           destroying the subjectivity of the lotus. The mystic may agree a little bit with the poet, but only a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           little bit, not the whole way. He will nod to the poet: he will say, "You are on the right track, you
           have taken the first step. but don't get stuck there -- go on. The lotus is not enough: you have to find
           the face of God in the lotus. And if you cannot find the face of God in the lotus, where else are you
           going to find it?"
                Adolph Smith, your question is important -- but don't remain in this confusion that if you can
           find some clue as to now matter becomes life you will be bringing some understanding between
           religion and science... you will be talking about mud! And the poet will not be convinced by you,
           because he knows the lotus. And what to say about the mystic? He will simply feel pity for you.
                Everything can either be reduced to its beginnings -- that's what science goes on doing -- or it can
           be raised to the ultimate peak; that's what the work of religion is. And poetry is just the bridge
           between the two. The poetic approach is in a way closer to both science and religion. If you really
           want to understand religion, you have taken a wrong route.
                Religion does not think that life needs any answers. Life needs to be lived in its totality, life
           needs to be celebrated. Life needs to be penetrated -- that is the only way to know it. Not in the lab,
           not going deep into life cells, not by analysing the elements; those are constituents of life, but life is
           more than the sum total of its parts.
                Somebody is playing on a guitar, beautiful music. The scientist will become interested in the
           guitar, not in the music. He will think, "From where is it coming?" He may become interested in the
           fingers of the musician and in the instrument. He will analyse the instrument and he will find some
           wood some strings, this and that -- but that is NOT music! And if he analyses the fingers of the
           musician he will find some blood, some bones, skin -- and that is not music! Music is something
           more. The hands of the musician and the guitar are simply an opportunity for the beyond to descend
           to the earth.
                The poet will listen to the music; he will not be worried about the musician and the musical
           instrument. He will be drunk with the music. But the mystic will dance with abandon, because in
           music he will hear the ultimate music. The poet will forget about the musician and the instrument,
           and the mystic will even forget about the music, because it reminds him of something deep in his
           own being. It reminds him of what Kabir calls the music of SOHAM -- I am that. He will forget all
           that is happening outside; it has triggered a process in his being. He is transported into another
           world.

               ADOLPH SMITH, if you really have any interest in religion then you will have to meditate --
           analysis won't help, scientific investigation won't help. And remember, I am not against scientific
           investigation -- if you are interested in it, DO it! But know perfectly well: it is not going to bridge
           science and religion -- they cannot be bridged. There is no need to bridge them either. They have
           different functions to fulfill; there is no need to create a synthesis between them -- because the
           synthesis will impoverish both, it will not enrich.
               Existence remains alive through the tension of the polar opposites: the negative and the positive,
           man and woman, birth and death, darkness and light, love and hate -- religion and science. These are
           the polar opposites. Life needs them. Without them life will become a stagnant pool, it will not be a
           dialectical process any more. Life is dialectics; it moves through the thesis and the antithesis, and
           again the synthesis becomes a thesis and creates antithesis. That's how life goes on progressing.
               Religion and science don't need to be synthesized -- they need to be purified. Science should be
           pure science, utterly scientific; and religion should be pure religion, utterly mystic.
               I would like you to be reminded of a great statement of a Christian mystic, Tertullian. Somebody
           asked him, "Why do you believe in God?" And he said, CREDO QUIA ABSURDUM -- I believe in
           God because he is absurd."
               Now, what kind of answer is this? But this is the answer of a mystic, not the answer of a
           scientist. The scientist will try to prove, will answer WHY he believes; he will argue. But Tertullian
           simply says, "Because God is absurd, hence I believe. I believe in the mysterious, in the miraculous,
           in the unanswerable, in the unknowable."
               If you have any interest in religion... and you can be both! I am not saying that a man who is a
           scientist cannot be religious -- a man who is a scientist can be religious -- but then he will have to
           create a dialectics in his own being. He will have to be very conscious. When he is working in the
           lab he has to forget all about religion; religion should not interfere in his scientific work. And when
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he leaves the lab and sits in his meditation chamber he should forget all about analysis,
           experimentation, observation -- there he should be a lover, in prayer, in meditation.
                A scientist can be both. And my approach is this, that I would like many many people to be both
           scientists and religious. And if some person can be all three, that is my vision of a real, true
           sannyasin: a scientist, a poet, a mystic. In him humanity will have blossomed to its ultimate
           possibilities. The potential in him will have been transformed into actuality. He will have bloomed in
           all possible ways. He will be a multi-dimensional man.
                And to be a scientist does not mean that you have to be a physicist or a chemist or this and that --
           to be a scientist means having a scientific approach. There are problems which can be tackled only
           by science. When somebody comes with an illness to me, I tell him to go to Navanit, to Darshan, to
           Amrit, to Hamid -- go to the doctors! Your illness needs a scientific approach.
                In India it happens that ill people go to the saints for their blessings, and the East has remained
           ill, poor, because of this nonsense. If you are poor, don't go to the saints; go to the technologists, go
           to the scientists, go to the economists, enquire "Why are we poor?" But you go to the saints and
           enquire "Why are we poor?" You are foolish and so are your saints. And they answer you, why you
           are poor; they tell you, they have to, because when you question them they cannot show their
           ignorance. They tell you because in your past lives you have been committing so many sins, that's
           why you are suffering. You ask a foolish question and you will get a foolish answer.
                Go to the scientist when it is a question about the material world. And if you have fallen in love,
           then don't go to a scientist -- avoid him! Even if he meets you on the way, escape, because he will
           destroy your whole love. He will say, "It is all nonsense. It is just the attraction between female and
           male hormones -- don't be befooled. Those hormones are deceiving you." Don't go to the scientist; if
           you want to kiss your woman, don't go to the scientist. He will say, "This is dangerous. All kinds of
           infections are possible. And millions of germs are transferred in a single kiss." He will make you so
           afraid that even if you kiss, you will not be totally there in it. And you will start carrying Dettol and
           things like that with you -- so kiss and then immediately wash, or before you kiss, wash.
                Don't go to the scientist when you are in love -- go to the poet. He knows about love.
                And when you want to know the ultimate mystery, the poet cannot be of much help either; he
           remains on the surface. When you want to know the ultimate mystery, go to a mystic, become a
           disciple to a Master, because those secrets can only be imbibed in deep trust, surrender, love.

           The second question


              OSHO TODAY YOU SAID TO BE CONSTANT IS TO BE STUPID. THE TRUTH CANNOT CHANGE
              IT REMAINS FOR EVER CONSTANT. NOW WHAT?


               I HAVE NOT SAID that to be constant is to be stupid -- I had certainly said to be consistent is
           the way of the mediocre mind, the stupid mind. But don't you see the difference between being
           constant and being consistent?
               Consistency is a logical phenomenon. When I say: Don't be consistent, I mean you need not
           remain confined to your past -- that's what consistency is. You have done something today;
           tomorrow life will change, and you have to repeat the same thing to be consistent. Tomorrow will
           not be today; today is not your yesterday. The answers that were adequate yesterday are no more
           adequate today. Consistency means that it is always yesterday that has to dominate, it is always the
           past that has to dominate the present. That's what I mean by 'consistency'. Then you will never grow,
           because your youth has to be consistent with your childhood, and your old age has to be consistent
           with your youth -- that means you will remain childish your whole life.
               And that's how people are. The average mental age of human beings is only twelve years. This is
           what happens if you enforce consistency. In childhood, a few answers were given to you; they were
           good for the time being, but only for the time being. More than that you would not have understood.
           But as you grow, those answers become out of date, those answers become confinements,
           imprisonments, those answers become chains. You have to constantly throw them so that you can
           remain fresh, so that you can respond to the reality as it is.
               But this is how, Zareen, it goes on happening: I say one thing, you understand something else. I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say one thing, you hear something totally different. Your minds are so full of your own thoughts that
           I say, "Don't be consistent," and you hear, "Don't be constant."

               Pasquel was being examined for naturalization as a U.S. citizen. "Who is the President of the
           United States?" The foreigner answered correctly. "And the Vice President?" Again he gave the right
           answer. "Could you be President?"
           "No, no!"
           "Why not?"
           "I am-a too busy. I work-a in the barbershop all-a day now."

               Now, his own occupation... he says, "No, no! I am-a too busy. I work-a in the barbershop all-a
           day now."
               Zareen, you have heard something which I have not said. Your question has come out of your
           own idea. You know, at Least you believe you know, that the truth cannot change. Who told you?
           And how do you know? Do you know truth? You have heard it being told to you that truth never
           changes; it remains for ever constant. Is it your experience? Have you known anything in life which
           remains always constant? Anything, I say, have you known in life which remains constant?
               Everything is changing if you look at life. If you watch life, then Heraclitus is right: you cannot
           step in the same river twice, because the river is constantly flowing, changing. Old Heraclitus says:
           The ONLY thing that never changes is change. Only change is constant, otherwise everything is
           changing.
               In fact, life is not a noun but a verb. If one day we want to be really scientific about our
           language, we will have to drop all nouns. A really scientific language will consist only of verbs. You
           see these trees all around and you think, "Beautiful trees!" But to call a tree 'a tree' is not true,
           because a tree is not something static -- it is a movement. By the time you utter the word 'tree' it has
           changed. It is no more the same tree about which you were talking One dead leaf has fallen, a new
           leaf is just growing, a bud is opening. The tree is growing higher -- each moment! Otherwise how is
           it going to grow?
               To be exactly true about it, it is better to call it 'treeing' rather than 'a tree'. But we even call a
           river 'a river' -- a river is a rivering. It is a CONSTANT change! Life is not really life but only living
           -- there is no life as such but only living. Our languages give us a very wrong notion of the world.
           There is nothing like love, but loving.
               Always remember... we have to use nouns because otherwise it will be very difficult to explain
           things to each other. For centuries we have used nouns. But whenever you use the word 'love',
           remember it is 'loving' -- it is a process. It is not a thing, constant.
               If you have loved, Zareen, you will know: morning it has one colour, afternoon it has another
           colour, by the evening it is a totally different phenomenon. Sometimes the river is very deep and
           sometimes it is very shallow. And sometimes it makes much noise, and sometimes it is very silent.
           So is love. Sometimes it is sad, and sometimes it is a rejoicing. It changes its moods constantly. So
           the only constant thing is change. But you say:

           THE TRUTH cannot change...
               WHO HAS ORDAINED IT, THAT TRUTH CANNOT CHANGE? What do you mean by it?
           Have you known anything in life that never changes? The child becomes the young man, the young
           man becomes the old man, and the old man is gone one day -- dust unto dust. You go on seeing that
           everything is constant change, but there seems to be a fear deep down in the human heart: the fear is
           death. If change is there, then death is bound to happen. Change brings death in.
               So we want to believe in something permanent, absolutely permanent. It may be truth, it may be
           God, it may be soul, but something is needed for the fearful heart to cling to so that death can be
           defied. At least one can believe, "There is something permanent in which I can have a shelter, which
           can become my security."
               Do you know truth? Do you know God? Do you know the soul? No, you know only death --
           which happens every moment, all around. But we go on defying death; we don't want to look at it,
           because it reminds us that we are going to die. We would like something that remains for ever and
           for ever. And we would like to be part of it so that we can also remain for ever and for ever.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But what is permanent in you? Your body changes -- you can ask medical science: your body
           changes constantly. Just ten years ago they used to think that the body changes totally in seven years'
           time, becomes completely new, not even a single cell remains of the old; but now further research
           has shown that the body changes totally in one year. The body is continuously renewing itself.
                That's why when you cut your hair and your nails it does not hurt -- why? The hair is part of your
           body and the nails too, and you are cutting them and it doesn't hurt? The reason is that your hair is
           not alive. These are the dead cells of the body that are being thrown out of the body. So are the nails
           -- just dead cells being thrown out of the body to make place for the new ones to happen. That's why
           it doesn't hurt if you cut them.
           In a single year, your body is no more the same.
                Buddha used to say again and again that life is like a flame. You burn a candle, you light a
           candle in the evening; the whole night it burns. In the morning you are just going to put it out -- a
           question can be asked of you: "Is it the same flame you started in the evening that you are putting
           out?" In a sense it is the same flame, because it continued the whole night; but in truth it is not the
           same flame, because the flame has been constantly changing, becoming smoke, and a new flame is
           replacing it. And the replacement is so quick that the old going into smoke and the new coming into
           existence is so fast that there is no gap between the two -- hence you cannot see it, hence you cannot
           see that it is not the same flame. Then Buddha had to invent a new idea.
                The scientists now call it 'continuum', 'continuity' -- it is neither the same nor not the same, it is a
           continuity, a continuum. Buddha calls it SANTATI -- the first flame gives birth to another and that
           gives birth to another, and so on and so forth, one flame goes on giving birth to another. The whole
           night the birth process continued. So it comes into the same line, but it is not the same. You cannot
           say that it is different, you cannot say it is the same. In a sense it is different, in a sense it is the same.
                Have you known, Zareen, anything in life which is really permanent? -- anything? Your body
           changes, your mind changes continuously, your emotions go on changing. About WHAT truth are
           you talking?
                Yes, there is one truth which never changes, but that has to be experienced. Don't take it as a
           belief. And that truth is not something outside you; that truth is hidden in you -- that truth is your
           capacity to witness. Only the witness never changes, everything else goes on changing. There is a
           consciousness inside you that goes on watching and watching all the changes -- the childhood comes
           and goes, the youth comes and goes, the old age comes and goes, and there is a witness inside who is
           simply watching.
                All meditation is nothing but an effort to know this witness. There is no God outside you who is
           permanent, never changing; there is no truth outside you which is for ever. Yes, there is a certain
           reality inside you, at the deepest core of your being... but to find it, Zareen, you will have to go deep
           in meditation. When all thoughts disappear, and all desires are gone, and when there is nothing to
           witness, then you become aware of the witness. Then witnessing turns upon itself. Having nothing
           else to see, it starts seeing itself If something remains there as an object, it remains focussed on the
           object. Meditation is a process of taking all objects away from you; all contents of the mind are to be
           taken away. Slowly slowly, one day... the interval, the gap. Sudden emptiness. When there is nothing
           to see, no content to focus on, then the miracle happens. The witnessing energy, finding nothing else
           to obstruct it, turns in a circle back upon itself. This is what Jesus calls 'metanoia', which has been
           wrongly translated as 'repent'. It should be translated as 'return', not 'repent'; it should be translated as
           'revolution', a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn -- and then suddenly you see yourself. And this
           witness has no name. It is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan; it is neither man nor woman: it is just
           pure consciousness.
                Yes, this pure consciousness is absolutely the same. Except this, everything else changes. And
           when I was talking to you about consistency I was not talking about the witness, I was talking about
           your ideologies, about your knowledge, about your experiences. They have all to be dropped every
           day: die every day to the past so you can remain fresh, so that you can respond to the reality as it is
           in the moment, not according to the past.
                And listening to me, be alert, be very alert about each single word; otherwise, I will say one thing
           and you will understand something else. And you will go on thinking that I have said it.

               These cats are having themselves a little jam session. They are really wailing. Pretty soon they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hear a knock on the door; one of them opens up and the owner of the building is standing there. "I
           am sorry to burst in on you like this," said the landlord, "but do you know there is a sick old lady
           moaning upstairs?
           "No," said the cat, "but if you give us the first few bars we can pick up on it."

           The third question

              OSHO, WHAT IS IMPORTANT?

              Sambodh,


               IT DEPENDS ON YOU. If you ask me, to me it is all the same. You can say that everything is
           important, or you can say nothing is important. Both mean the same.
               Everything is ordinary, or everything is extraordinary. Whatsoever you want to choose,
           whichever word appeals to you -- everything is important, everything, not excluding anything at all;
           or nothing is important. Both mean the same, because the moment everything is important, or
           everything is not important, the very word 'important' loses meaning. The meaning remains only if
           there are some things which are important and some things which are not important, a few things
           ordinary and a few things extraordinary. Then the word carries meaning. But if everything is exactly
           either important or unimportant, then the word loses meaning.
               My own suggestion is you can choose either, because the ultimate result will be the same.
               If you have a negative mind, then the Buddhist answer will be perfectly right. Buddha says:
           "Nothing is important." Then there is nothing to make any fuss about. When hungry, eat; when
           thirsty, drink; when sleepy, sleep -- nothing is important. And this will give you a kind of
           relaxedness, a calmness -- nothing is important, so whether you succeed or fail it is all the same,
           whether you become famous or notorious, it is all the same, whether anybody knows you or nobody
           knows you doesn't matter. It will give you a very relaxed, still, tranquil state of being -- and that is
           the purpose!
               Or you can choose Shankara's answer. He says: "Everything is important, because all is God,
           even the dust is divine." That too is perfectly right; you can choose that. Then, too, when hungry, eat,
           because it is important; and when thirsty, drink, because it is important; and when sleepy, sleep,
           because God is feeling sleepy -- the God within you.
               These are the two answers, the basic answers: positive and negative. Just watch your own mind...
           whichever appeals to you. There are people who are basically attracted towards the positive, or
           towards the negative. Feel your own attraction, what attracts you more. And whichever attracts you
           more, that can become your path: NO can become your path, res can become your path.
               Kabir's path is that of YES. Buddha's path is that of NO. But, really, YES and no are not
           significant. What is significant is totality. If you say yes with your total being it is totality that
           liberates. If you say no with totality, it is totality that liberates. But it all depends on you.
               There are not some things labelled as important and other things labelled as unimportant. A
           roseflower may be important to a poet and may be utterly unimportant to somebody who is only
           interested in money. For him, a note, a hundred-rupee note, is more important. He will ask, "What is
           the use of the roseflower?" In fact, he will be very much worried why people go on singing songs of
           rose flowers -- "Why don't they sing songs of hundred-rupee notes?"

              When I was at university I had a colleague who was really a money-maniac; his whole interest
           was money. Even somebody else's hundred-rupee note, and he would take it in his hand and he
           would touch it with such love that you may not have even touched your woman with that love -- with
           such care, with such tender hands, as if the note was alive. And his eyes would shine, candles would
           burn in his eyes when he saw a note -- even if it was somebody else's note. A note is a note! And his
           whole thinking was money: how to have more money?

               And then there is the one about the shipwrecked Englishman: as he gets out of the water onto the
           beach of a remote island, he is greeted by another man standing in the shade of a palm tree. "Pleased
           to meet you," says he, and then enquires, "Eton?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Yes," responds the new arrival.
           "Oxford?"
           "Yes."
           "Guards?"
           "Yes."
           "Homosexual?"
           "No."
           "Pity!"

              It depends on you what is important. How can I say what is important? To me, nothing is and
           everything is.

           The fourth question


              OSHO WHAT TO DO WITH THE FEELING OF HELPLESSNESS AT THE FRUSTRATION IN
              FINDING THAT NOTHING IS ULTIMATELY SATISFYING -- ALL IS NOT ENOUGH?

              Deva Alla,


               IF THIS IS YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE, then the question won't arise -- then how can you ask
           the question? The question arises out of some lingering hope somewhere in the unconscious: "Maybe
           there is a way to make it still. Maybe I have not tried enough, maybe I have not put my energy
           totally in it. Hence it is not satisfying. But if you yourself have felt that nothing is ultimately
           satisfying, if this is your experience, how can the question arise? It is so.
               In that very experiencing, in that very understanding, you will be relaxed. Why ask that anything
           should be ultimately satisfying? Why not be satisfied with whatsoever life gives you? -- even if it is
           only for the moment. Why be greedy? Alla, you seem to be very greedy. You seem to be of that old,
           rotten type of spiritual person -- greedy. He wants everything for ever, for ever. If he falls in love
           with a woman, he wants her to remain of the same age for ever, for ever. He himself will be growing
           old -- that is another thing. But the woman has to remain young.
               It is these greedy people who have created the ideas of paradise, FIRDAUS. In their paradise,
           women never grow old. All women in paradise are stuck at the age of sixteen. Must be getting tired...
           for millions and millions of years stuck at sixteen. But it says nothing about the men -- it may be
           because the scriptures are written by men. If women were writing scriptures then they would write
           something else: men will be stuck somewhere at eighteen.
               And the same people who go on condemning all kinds of things here go on promising the same
           things a thousandfold, for eternity, in paradise. What kind of logic is this? Alcohol is prohibited here
           by the Mohammedans, but in their firdaus, in their paradise, rivers of alcohol flow -- rivers! You
           need not go to a pub; you need not only drink, you can swim, you can dive.
               This is strange! -- but not really. The greedy mind is there. The greedy mind is ready to sacrifice
           the momentary joy of being in a pub, of drinking a little bit, for the ultimate joy of drinking and
           drinking forever.
               These same religious people who go on condemning the feminine body -- all the religions have
           committed that crime -- that shows simply only one thing, that the people who were writing those
           scriptures were deeply sexually repressed people. It shows nothing else. It says nothing about the
           women, it simply shows something about the scripture writers, that they were deeply repressed
           people -- they were afraid of women.
               But here they are afraid, and here they go on telling everybody: "Beware! Woman is the door to
           hell!" And the same people provide you with beautiful women in heaven -- the most beautiful. Do
           you know? -- in paradise women don't perspire, they don't need deodorants. Their bodies have a
           perfume of flowers -- a natural perfume, not created by some artificially manufactured perfume. Just
           naturally like flowers -- roses. Their bodies are made of gold. What greed! And what are you going
           to do with a woman whose body is made of gold? You will be stuck! But the greed, the greedy mind
           fantasizing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              All these scriptures are pornographic. This is real spiritual pornography: women with bodies of
           gold, studded with diamonds, no perspiration, natural perfume, and always young, and all beautiful.

               One great saint died, and by coincidence his great disciple also died after a few hours. The great
           disciple was very much excited about seeing his master again. And he was thinking on the way -- it
           is a long journey from the earth to paradise -- he was thinking, "My master must have been received
           by angels playing on their harps and beautiful women dancing, and he must have been given the
           most beautiful women because he was such a great saint, such an ascetic. When he was on the earth
           he had never touched any woman. What to say about touching? He had never allowed any woman to
           enter into his house. He had never seen any woman face to face; if he had to talk to a woman he
           would always look downwards or would keep his eyes closed.What great austerities he went
           through! Now he must be being rewarded."
               And he reached and he saw his master -- and, really, he was rewarded. He was sitting under a
           tree, a beautiful tree, a golden tree; leaves of emerald and flowers of diamonds -- and Marilyn
           Monroe, utterly naked! hugging him. The disciple fell at the feet of the master and said, "My great
           master, I was waiting for this. This was due! You have been rewarded well."
               And the master said, "You stupid fool! Keep your big mouth shut -- you have not grown at all.
           You don't understand anything. She is not my reward -- I am her punishment!"

           But these greedy people....
                Deva Alla, if you know from your own experience that all is frustrating ultimately, everything
           only brings joy for the moment, then why not be happy with the moment? Why ask that it should be
           there for ever?
                I teach you the joy of the moment. Live in the moment, and whatsoever the moment makes
           available, enjoy it, celebrate it. While it lasts, dance! And when it has gone, be grateful that it had
           come. Why ask that... NOTHING IS ULTIMATELY SATISFYING -- ALL IS NOT ENOUGH?
           Nothing can be done about it! This is so. This is how the reality is, and the reality is not going to
           change its ultimate law for you. Nobody can be all exception.
                But if this experience has not yet become your own, then you will have to suffer a little more.
           You will have to hope a little more. When understanding arises, hope disappears. That does not
           mean that one becomes hopeless: that simply means that one accepts the life as it is, and whatsoever
           it gives one accepts with gratitude and has no complaint.

                In order to get a job with the railroad, Angelo had to pass a test. "Suppose two trains were
           heading for each other at a hundred miles per hour on the same track," asked the personnel manager,
           "what would you do?"
           "I take-a the red flag and wave-a them to e-stop," Angelo answered.
           "But you don't have a red flag," pointed out the man.
           "Then I am-a take-a the switch iron and change-a the tracks." "You don't have a switch iron either."
           "Well, in that case," decided the Italian, "I'm gonna call up-a my wife, Maria."
           "What has your wife got to do with two trains coming at each other at a hundred miles an hour?"
           exclaimed the man in charge of hiring.
           "I tell-a her to come down 'cos she has-a gone see the biggest-a mess-a in the whole world!"

               YOU can do whatsoever you can do, and when nothing can be done it is better to call the wife
           and see -- and enjoy it! Learn to enjoy not only the pleasures of life but the pains too, not only the
           ecstasies but the agonies too. And the person who can enjoy the agonies is liberated.

           The fifth question


              OSHO, DURING THE TWO MONTHS THAT I HAVE BEEN HERE, I OFTEN FEEL THE THREAT OF
              A NEW KIND OF TOTALITARIANISM. IT IS CONTINUALLY PRESENTED AS THE SOLUTION: BE
              TOTAL IN THIS AND THAT EVEN IN NOT BEING TOTAL. BEING TOTAL, WITHOUT
              FRAGMENTATION ANY MORE, IS NOT THAT A FINAL STATE, THE LAST STAGE ON THE WAY?
              SO IS NOT THIS ADAGE CREATING A NEW IDEAL WITH ALL ITS FRUSTRATIONS AND
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               NEUROSIS TO FOLLOW? ANYWAY, FOR ME, NOT BEING A SUPERMAN, IT IS VERY RARE
               THAT I AM ABLE TO DO, TO EXIST, TO FEEL MYSELF TOTAL IN ANYTHING, AND I HAVE NO
               REASON TO HOPE THAT IT WILL EVER HAPPEN AS A CONTINUOUS STATE. SINCE IT SEEMS
               TO BE THE CONDITION FOR THE THINGS THAT ARE PROMISED HERE IS THERE STILL ANY
               HOPE FOR ME?

               Eduard Povel,

                TOTALITY IS NOT A GOAL. Totality is not perfectionism. Totality is simply a vision of
           seeing the life in a different light. For example, you are angry. You can be half-heartedly angry, then
           the remaining part that has not been expressed will remain in you as a poison.
                And if again and again this has been done, you go on accumulating poison in yourself. Then a
           moment comes when you may not be angry in particular, but you are still in anger for no reason at
           all. That's how people are -- they are just angry, illogically angry, because right now there is no
           reason to be angry, but all the anger that they have repressed in the past has accumulated, has gone
           deep into their bloodstream, has poisoned them, has become toxic. It has created a certain
           musculature, a wrong kind of musculature in their bodies. And that is going to destroy many many
           beautiful things in their lives.
                If such a man is going to see a sunset, he will not see any beauty in it. He is in such a rage! If
           such a man goes to listen to music, he will not be able to listen to it, because to be able to listen to
           great music you need a relaxed state. He cannot relax. He is carrying so many tensions, the whole
           life's accumulated tensions....
                When I say be total I simply mean... I am not giving you a superhuman ideal. I am simply giving
           you a very human vision that when you are angry, then BE angry! Then don't repress it. If it is too
           risky to be angry with somebody, then go into your room and be angry alone, but express it. Beat the
           pillow, shout at the walls, make a picture of your wife and beat it! But do something -- do what you
           really wanted to do with the wife.
                It is really a good idea to have an effigy of your wife, or if you are a wife then an effigy of your
           husband, so whenever the need arises you can go and be as nasty as you feel like being -- and with
           no danger of retaliation. And you will be surprised: after beating your wife, in her absence, after
           shouting nasty things, using four-letter words, then when you see your wife you will be surprised --
           you will feel compassion for her. You may even feel ready to apologize. You may be able to see her
           in a different way, because you are no longer carrying that subtle layer of anger -- it has been
           released. You may be able to see her face again after years.
                When I say be total I simply mean don't repress things, because the repressed things are bound to
           rebound on you, those repressed things are going to take revenge, they are going to explode with
           vengeance one day. Those repressed feelings are creating all kinds of neurotic, psychotic people in
           the world. To be total is not a goal! To be total is only a way of life.

               And you say: BEING TOTAL WITHOUT 'FRAGMENTATION ANY MORE, IS NOT THAT
           A FINAL STATE...?
               Yes, it is a final state too -- but the first step is the last step, and the beginning is the end. It is a
           means and an end too. You have to begin. I know you cannot be total right now. Slowly slowly, you
           will be able to become total, because the society has not allowed you to be total in anything; it has
           allowed you only so far. It has made you very lukewarm; it has taken away all passionate energy
           from your being. Hence, you don't really love madly, you don't really go into anger madly, you don't
           share totally, you cannot commune -- everything is just so-so. And, hence, so much dust has gathered
           on your face.
               Totality has to be started; it is the beginning and the end too. In the beginning it is going to be
           difficult because you will be going against the current of the society, but that's what sannyas is:
           taking courage to be oneself And I don't expect you to become total right now, But the decision will
           help. If you decide to be total, slowly slowly you will be more and more total, degrees and degrees,
           by degrees one day you will attain to the hundred-degree point.
               And the miracle is: when one can go into one's emotions a hundred percent, all that is wrong
           starts disappearing. That is the miracle! And all that is right starts growing. A really total person will
           not be able to be angry. In the beginning when you start you will be more and more angry, but soon
           the point comes when you are totally angry and you have seen the naked futility of anger, the utter
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           absurdity of anger, the insanity of anger -- When YOU have seen it -- not because Buddha has said
           so or I have said so -- when you have seen it, it will drop. The seeing is enough. You need not drop
           it: it drops of its own accord.
                A total person will be able to love and will be unable to hate. A total person will be able to be
           compassionate and will be unable to be angry. But that is the end. I am not telling you to be a
           Buddha right now. But one has to begin somewhere; one has to start moving in the direction of being
           a Buddha.
                You are right: it is the final state, the last stage on the way. But the w ay is also part of the last
           stage. The way and the goal are not separate. The goal is just the other end of the way. And the
           beginning is THIS end and the goal is THAT end, and the way joins both, is the bridge.
                Eduard, I am not teaching you any kind of perfectionism, I am not saying you any ideals. Totality
           is certainly not all ideal -- it sounds as if it is. It is just a different style of life. Right now you are
           living a life-style which can be called partial -- only parts of your being are allowed to surface, only
           the tip of the iceberg. You are living in fragments, you are living split. This is a kind of
           schizophrenic life.
                Misery is bound to be the outcome of it -- misery and only misery. Bliss is the consequence of
           being one, integrated. That's exactly the meaning of the word 'yoga': union, integration, oneness.

             YOU say: I HAVE NO REASON TO HOPE THAT IT WILL EVER HAPPEN AS A
           CONTINUOUS STATE.

                Who is telling you to make it a continuous state? Why do we always think of the future? Why do
           we make things unnecessarily difficult? For a certain reason -- there is a motive. First you make
           something very difficult, then you can say, "This is not possible. I cannot do it," and it is finished.
           There is no need for it to be total, there is no need for it to be continuous.
                That's why it looks contradictory, paradoxical, but I say to you that when sometimes you are not
           total then be total in it -- then don't be total! Then accept it -- that "This is the moment when I am not
           total." Then don't hide it, then don't fight it. If it is not possible, it is not possible. Don't feel guilty for
           it; you are not committing a sin. It is your life: if you want to be total sometimes, good; if sometimes
           you enjoy not being total, for a change, perfectly good!

           The sixth question


               OSHO, THE RAJKOT NEWSPAPER, JAI HIND, RECENTLY QUOTED THE PRIME MINISTER,
               MORARJI DESAI, AS SAYING, WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABOUT WESTERNERS COMING TO THIS
               ASHRAM, THAT THEY WERE THE RUBBISH OF THE WEST THOSE THROWN OUT FROM THEIR
               SOCIETIES. AND WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABOUT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RAJNEESH
               INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HE SAID THAT ALL SUCH UNIVERSITIES WHEREVER THEY
               EXIST, SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN. HE SAID HE DID NOT WANT ANY SUCH UNIVERSITY TO
               COME INTO BEING, AND THAT YOU ONLY TALKED OF SEX THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
               HE ALSO EXPRESSED HIS GREAT RESENTMENT OF SUCH OBSCENE INSTITUTIONS, AND
               SAID HE WOULD LIKE THEM CLOSED DOWN ALL OVER THE WORLD AND THAT THEY WERE
               NOT AT ALL NECESSARY. DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT?

               Krishna Prem, IT IS JUST BULLSHIT!

               The last question




               OSHO WHY DO YOU USE SUCH DIRECT LANGUAGE AGAINST THE POLITICIANS? CAN'T YOU
               BE A LITTLE INDIRECT AND DIPLOMATIC?

               Girish,


               I DON'T EXPECT THE POLITICIANS to understand even the direct language. If I am indirect
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no hope that they will ever understand. They do not understand even my absolutely direct,
           frank, blunt language. I don't mince words. I simply say it as it is. That too they cannot understand.
               In fact, only the third-rate minds become interested in politics. Anyone who has some kind of
           intelligence will do something else. He may become a scientist, he may become a poet, a dancer, a
           musician. He may become a mystic. Why in the world would he like to become a politician? That is
           only for those who have no other possibility of expressing themselves, who have no other
           intelligence.
               The politician needs no other qualification, no talent. In fact, the more unintelligent he is, the
           greater is the possibility of his being successful.

              A tourist was visiting New Delhi. Walking on a side street late one evening, the visitor was held
           up by a bandit. "Give me your money!" he threatened, "or I will blow out your brains."
           "Blow away..." said the tourist.

               In New Delhi you can live without brains but not without money. I have to be direct. And I am
           not a politician, so why should I be diplomatic? Truth is never diplomatic -- it is straight.
               And the politicians cannot understand what I am doing here, and I don't expect them to
           understand. It will be great if they simply ignore us. That's enough. If they forget all about us. that is
           more than can be expected.

                A German philosopher pleaded with Adolf Hitler not to mistreat the Jews if for no other reason,
           he said, than just because they are so smart.
           "What makes you think the Jews are so smart?" asked the dictator.
           "Come, and I will show you. '
                He took the Nazi leader to Gutman's Gift Shop and said, "Ask him for a lefthanded teapot."
                The Fuhrer did. Gutman went to the back of the store, picked up a teapot, turned it around, and
           returned. "You are in luck," said Gutman, handing the teapot to Hitler, "I just happen to have one
           left."
                Back out on the street the philosopher said, "You see, that's what I mean about the Jews being so
           smart."
           "What is so smart about that?" exclaimed Hitler. "He just happened to have one left."

               You can't expect politicians to understand much. They are bound to misunderstand even my
           direct statements. And if I start making indirect statements they will create more complexities. Then
           there will be more chances of misunderstandinng.

               Levi closed his shop Friday night and headed for temple services not realizing his fly was
           unzipped. At the entrance he met Mrs. Weiss, the president of the Ladies' Auxiliary. "I don't like to
           say nothing," she said shyly, "but your business is open."
           "You are mistaken lady, ' said Levi.
           "Believe me," said Mrs. Weiss, blushing, "your business is open."
           "You are crazy!" shouted Levi rushing inside. "I close the store every Friday to come here."
               Later at home, Levi saw that his fly was open and realized that Mrs. Weiss had only been trying
           to tell him so in a delicate way. He telephoned her immediately. "I want to apologize." he said, also
           trying to be tactful, "but tell me somethin' -- when my business was open, was my salesman in or
           out?"




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                 Chapter #10
                                Chapter title: Music That No Fingers Enter Into
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           20 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904200
              ShortTitle: FISH10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 107 mins




               HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC THAT NO FINGERS
               ENTER INTO?
               FAR INSIDE THE HOUSE
               ENTANGLED MUSIC --
               WHAT IS THE SENSE OF LEAVING YOUR HOUSE?



               SUPPOSE YOU SCRUB YOUR ETHICAL SKIN
               UNTIL IT SHINES,
               BUT INSIDE THERE IS NO MUSIC,
               THEN WHAT?



               MOHAMMED'S SON PORES OVER WORDS,
               AND POINTS OUT THIS
               AND THAT,
               BUT IF HIS CHEST IS NOT SOAKED DARK WITH LOVE,
               THEN WHAT?



               THE YOGI COMES ALONG IN HIS FAMOUS ORANGE.
               BUT IF INSIDE HE IS COLOURLESS, THEN WHAT?

               Kabir says: EVERY INSTANT THAT THE SUN IS RISEN,
               IF I STAND IN THE TEMPLE, OR ON A BALCONY,
               IN THE HOT FIELDS, OR IN A WALLED GARDEN,
               MY OWN LORD IS MAKING LOVE WITH ME.


               WHAT IS GOD? THE MOMENT THE QUESTION IS ASKED, the idea of a person arises in
           the mind -- and God is not a person. Those who think of God as a person start, from the very
           beginning, moving in a wrong direction. They will never arrive. They will go round and round in
           circles, they will travel much, but they will never reach anywhere.
               If the first step is wrong then all else goes wrong. The first step has to be absolutely right,
           because the first step is half the journey already. In fact, as fact, as you are concerned, the first step is
           the whole of the journey -- because the other step is to be taken towards you by God.
               You take one step, he takes the other step... and the meeting. And the distance between you and
           God is only two steps. The initiative has to be from your side.
               God is not a person, but that's what you have been told down the ages. God is a presence. God is
           not substance but significance. Once God is understood as significance, your life starts changing.
           Then you don't argue about God, whether he exists or not; then you are no more interested in
           theology. The whole of theology becomes rubbish. Then you start moving in a totally different way,
           in an altogether different dimension.
               If God is significance, then you have to create a certain meaning in your life, because only
           meaning can meet the meaning. You have to create significance in your life, because only
           significance can meet the significance. You have to become more aware, more loving, more
           aesthetic, more sensitive.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If God were a person it would have been a totally different approach. God is not a person but
           only a fragrance. You will need great sensitivity to comprehend that significance, that fragrance, that
           music.
                In these sutras today, Kabir is talking about something very fundamental. Listen to his words --
           don't only hear: listen. And don't only listen: meditate with him, go with him. He is not a
           philosopher, he is not propounding a system of thought -- he is a poet. He is singing his own
           experience. He is not concerned with concepts. He is pouring his heart into his songs, he is pouring
           himself into his words.
                You have to be very sensitive to understand this great poetic expression of mysticism, this great
           poetic expression of religion. And religion can only be expressed through poetry, through music,
           through dance. Any other way of expressing religion falls short, is inadequate. The mysterious has to
           be indicated only by something mysterious. God cannot be approached through the mind of
           calculation, mathematics. It is not possible to approach God through prose. The door opens only
           when you approach him through poetry.
                Poetry is more liquid, more vague, not so solid as prose. Prose says something clearly, poetry
           only hints. Prose shouts, poetry only whispers. Prose is for the mundane world, poetry is for the
           sacred.
                So whenever it happens that a person becomes a Buddha, his expression, without any effort,
           becomes that of poetry. He may not compose poetry literally, but whatsoever he says, whatsoever he
           is, is poetry.
                Kabir was absolutely illiterate, never went to any school, was not able to read or write; still,
           when it happened, he exploded in great poetry.When the experience arose in his being, when the
           doors opened and mysteries were revealed, he bloomed in thousands of flowers. No other poet can
           be compared with Kabir. There have been greater poets than Kabir, but they were mere poets --
           talented, with great art, but Kabir has a personal experience of the divine which is missing in other
           poets. They may be talking about God, but it is mere talk. With Kabir it is not just talking: it is his
           heartfelt experience -- it is existential.

              HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC THAT NO FINGERS
              ENTER INTO?
              The original is:

              SUNTA NAHIN DHUN KI KHABAR,
              ANAKAD KA BAJA BAJTA?
              SUNTA NAHIN DHUN KI KHABAR...

               Why are you not listening to the inner music which is constantly arising? You are made of it! It
           is not something foreign to you. It does not come from the outside. It is the music of your very
           existence, of your being; it is the music of your inner harmony, it is the music of your inner rhythm.

              SUNTA NAHIN DHUN KI KHABAR...

               Why don't you listen to the inner rhythm of your being?
               Where do you go on rushing to? And you are searching for this inner rhythm -- sometimes in
           money, sometimes in power, sometimes in prestige, sometimes in so many kinds of relationships.
           You go on begging. You want to know something of the transcendental, you are thirsty for the
           transcendental.
               And once in a while, even in ordinary life, it happens. You how those few moments when
           suddenly one day you wake up in the morning and everything seems to fit perfectly. The birds are
           singing, the air is fragrant, the sun is rising, and suddenly you feel that all is quiet. You are no longer
           separate for a moment... you feel a great joy arising in you for no reason at all. You suddenly feel
           vibrant, utterly rejuvenated, at home. Maybe the night's deep sleep and rest, maybe the beautiful
           morning, the song of the birds, the fresh air, the dewdrops on the grass leaves shining in the early
           sun -- all this created the context. Not by your effort, but just by accident. you fell in harmony with
           yourself and with existence. And remember, it happens always together: whenever you fall in
           harmony with yourself, you fall in harmony with existence too.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Harmony has two sides: the individual and the universal. If the individual is in harmony, then
           there is no reason why he should not be in harmony with the whole. If inside you all conflict has
           disappeared, even for a single moment, in that moment you are part of the whole, you are no more an
           island, you are no more separate. All walls have suddenly disappeared; you are no more imprisoned.
               In that moment you know the glory, the splendour, that life is. That splendour is God, that feel is
           God. That experience of harmony is God. God is not a person but the presence that is felt when you
           are in harmony and you are also in harmony with existence -- that accord. That accord is called
           DHUN.

               SUNTA NAHIN DHUN KI KHABAR...

              Listen to that accord! which is available every moment of your life. It happens only accidentally,
           because you have not prepared yourself for it, to receive it consciously. So it happens only once in a
           while.

               Once Leo Tolstoy was asked, "How many experiences did you have of divine ecstasy in your
           life?"
               He started crying, great tears started rolling down from his eyes. He said, Not more than seven in
           my life of seventy years, but I am grateful for those seven moments. I am miserable also, because in
           those moments it was so self-evident that is could be the flavour of my whole life. In those moments
           I was so certain that this could be my experience day in, day out, year in, year out -- this could
           spread over my whole life, this could become my flavour. But it didn't happen. Those moments came
           on their own and they went on their own. But I am still grateful to God that even without any
           conscious effort on my part, once in a while he has been knocking at my doors."

               THIS HAPPENS TO EVERYBODY -- it happens in spite of you. If you look back you can
           remember a few moments.... and those will be the moments when you were relaxed, those will be the
           moments when there was no particular desire in your mind, when you were not worried, when you
           were not tense, when somehow you simply were.
               Watch these sudden accidental moments minutely, because there is the secret key. That's how the
           fundamentals of religion have been discovered: watching these sudden moments which come and go,
           and one never knows why they come and why they go, watching the context, the space in which they
           happen, people started trying to create that context.
               If it happens in a relaxed state, when you are very loose, non-tense, then you can create the
           context! You can relax. If it happens to you while swimming, then you can swim and create the
           context. If it happens to you while running... and it happens to different people in different ways.
           Many runners know it, that beyond a certain limit if you go on running, go on running, go on
           running, suddenly it happens -- because man's energies have three layers.
               The first layer is only for day-to-day activities; it is a very thin layer. It is enough for your office,
           wife, children -- the ordinary life. The second layer is for emergencies: your house is on fire; you
           may have been feeling very tired after the whole day's work and you were coming home and hoping
           to have a good rest, and suddenly when you come home your house is on fire. Immediately, all
           fatigue disappears -- you are no more tired. You have forgotten all about rest, and the whole night
           you try to put the fire out. And even after the whole night's work, you are not tired. It was not the
           ordinary level of energy that worked -- that was exhausted -- the emergency layer started working.
               And the third layer is deeper than that. If you go on and on.... For example, if for one day, two
           days, three days, you go on working, then the emergency level will also be finished -- and then you
           come in contact with the cosmic layer. And that is the source of life, and that is inexhaustible. And
           whenever you are in contact with it, tremendous joy starts overflowing you.
               It happens to joggers, to runners, to swimmers sometimes. First layer finished, then the second
           layer, and if you go on running the second is also finished -- and the moment you are in contact with
           the third, tremendous ecstasy happens for no reason at all.
               It may happen to you while making love. It may happen to you while listening to music. It may
           happen to you while simply lying in your bed doing nothing. It may happen to you while painting,
           absorbed, utterly absorbed in it. Or it may happen in a thousand and one ways. But watch: whenever
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it happens, whenever that tremendous blissful moment comes to you, when God knocks on your
           door, watch in what context it is happening. Be alert! Look around -- in what space it is happening.
           And then you have the key. Whenever you will be able to create that context, that space, the moment
           will come again.
               You cannot make it happen, but you can make yourself available for it to happen. You cannot
           force it to happen, but you can create all that is necessary for it to happen. It is not a doing on your
           part: it is a happening. But, still, you can play a great role. That's how all techniques of meditation
           have been developed. That's how Yoga came into existence.

              SUNTA NAHIN DHUN KI KHABAR...

               That accord is present in you, because without it you cannot be alive. That music is already there,
           flowing underground in you, because that music is your connection with the whole. Once it is cut
           you will be dead. You are alive -- that is enough proof that the music is happening. The only thing is
           to go deep inside your own being and to find WHERE it is happening.

              HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC THAT NO FINGERS
              ENTER INTO?


                And this is a music that is not created by fingers on any musical instrument. There is no musical
           instrument within you, and there is nobody playing on the instrument. It is pure music.
                The Indian mystics use a special word for it: ANAHAD KA BAJA BAJITA -- ANAHAD -- it is
           boundless, and it is uncreated. It is the sound of one hand clapping. But the Indian mystics go a little
           deeper; they say there is not even one hand clapping -- there is neither hand nor instrument, but pure
           music, just music.
                The experience of the mystics is that life consists of the stuff called music. Just as physics says
           life consists of electrons, electricity, mystics say life consists of music. And in a way they are both
           right, because music is nothing but a certain vibration of electricity, and it may be true vice versa
           also: electricity may be nothing but a certain density of music, of sound.

              HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC THAT NO FINGERS
              ENTER INTO?
              KABIR IS TALKING TO HIS DISCIPLES who have come to seek God. Somebody must have asked
              him about God, and he is talking about music. To talk about God is almost useless, but to talk about
              music is certainly of great significance. If you can hear your inner music, you will know God is.



              FAR INSIDE THE HOUSE ENTANGLED MUSIC --
              WHAT IS THE SENSE OF LEAVING YOUR HOUSE?

                And Kabir says: Where are you going to find God? People go to Kashi and to Kaaba, and people
           go to Jerusalem and to Tibet, and people go to all kinds of places in search of some significance.
           They are feeling that their life is meaningless, they are feeling that their life is empty, they are
           feeling that their life is nothing but a long long tale told by an idiot. They know that their life is just
           noise, meaningless, gibberish. They know that deep down there is nothing but a kind of hollowness.
           And they search: there must be some source somewhere which can quench their thirst. There must be
           some place somewhere where they can encounter God, where they can attain to some significance,
           where their life can have some meaning. But this search is futile. They will be frustrated again and
           again -- because the truth they are searching for is already within their being. What they are seeking
           is in the seeker himself; the sought is in the seeker. You need not go anywhere. You simply have to
           learn how not to go anywhere.
                The greatest art is just to be, without going anywhere. Not going to the past, not going to the
           future, not going into desires, into psychological spaces, into psychic travels -- not to go anywhere,
           just to be. And right now! if you are just here... immediately something is felt, something which is
           intangible. You cannot show it to anybody else; you cannot share your experience with somebody
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           who has not known it. But your whole being starts feeling a kind of intoxicatedness, a drunkenness.
           You become full of juice, you become full of aliveness, and a very indirect, subtle, delicate
           experience of the presence of something bigger than you -- that's what God is all about.

              FAR INSIDE THE HOUSE...
              The original is:

              RAS MAND MANDIR BAJTA
              BAHAR SUNE TO KYA HUA?


                Kabir says: That music is already happening inside your own temple. Kabir calls you 'the temple'
           -- except for your body there is no other temple in the world. Your bodies are temples, sacred places,
           because the holiest of the holy resides in you. And look at what the priests have been telling you,
           what your so-called saints have been telling you. They have been teaching you life-negative
           attitudes, body-negative attitudes. They have been telling you that the body is the culprit, that the
           body is the source of sin. They have been telling you to torture the body, to destroy the body. They
           have been teaching you that unless you destroy your body totally you will not be able to know God.
                The truth is just the contrary: unless you love your body immensely, respect your body
           immensely, you will not be able to know God at all -- because the body is his outer expression. If the
           body is the temple, then God is the deity inside it.

              RAS MAND MANDIR BAJTA...

               Within the temple of your body the music is already happening -- just go in. And the word RAS
           has to be understood. RAS literally means juice. And you will be surprised to know that the mystics
           of this country have called God the ultimate juice: RASAO VAI SAHA -- he is the ultimate juice.
           But if you go to your so-called saints, you will find them very dry, with no juice at all. You will find
           them almost dead, with no life flowing in them. And they have destroyed their bodies; they are living
           a kind of death. But this is thought to be very respectable. What has really happened? What has gone
           wrong? Why have these pathological people, mentally deranged people, psychologically ill people,
           become so dominant? Why have they possessed religion?
               The neurotic people have one quality in them: the quality of being fanatics. Only neurotics can
           be fanatics, and it is very difficult to fight with fanatics. Wherever a fanatic is, sooner or later he is
           going to become a leader. He is so troublesome, he is such a trouble-maker, that you have to make
           him a leader; that is just to pacify him. He will only be at rest when he is at the top, when he is the
           boss.
               Neurotics have a tendency to become leaders. Adolf Hitler was a neurotic, and became one of the
           greatest leaders of human history. He was a madman, but madmen have a few qualities in them
           which no sane man can ever have: they compete, and they compete with their total energy, and they
           compete madly. Because they are so mad, they don't think, they act. While the sane person thinks,
           the mad person acts. The sane person goes on thinking and the mad person has already reached and
           acted and done. The sane person thinks of consequences, the mad person thinks nothing -- he simply
           rushes in.
               Adolf Hitlers become leaders in politics, and the same kind of people become leaders in religion
           too. And the pathological people also have a tendency to become organized. The sane person wants
           to be left alone because he enjoys his aloneness; he wants his own space, he wants freedom --
           freedom from the crowd. And the mad person wants the crowd. Left alone he becomes disturbed; in
           his aloneness he starts seeing his madness. He goes always into the crowd; he wants to live with the
           crowd twenty-four hours a day -- he is a lover of the crowd.
               The sane person moves in solitude and the insane person searches for the crowd. And your
           religions are nothing but crowds. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism -- different crowds. When
           Mohammed became enlightened, he was alone, meditating in the mountains. When Buddha became
           enlightened he was alone, meditating by the side of the River Niranjana, under a tree -- alone. When
           Mahavira became enlightened he was absolutely alone in the forest, standing underneath a tree,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           naked in the sun.
               Enlightenment has happened to people when they were utterly alone. But leadership does not
           come that way. Leadership comes when you move into the crowd. Not only that: when you fulfill the
           expectations of the crowd -- stupid expectations, superstitious expectations, but you have to fulfill
           the expectations of the crowd -- then you become the leader religious or political. Mad people have a
           great organizing capacity. Because they fulfill the expectations of the crowd, the crowd looks up to
           them, the crowd respects them, and the crowd is afraid -- everybody is afraid -- and the crowd wants
           to be organized because in organization there seems to be power.

               An NAACP official telephoned the Library of Congress and told the chief librarian that the
           library had eighteen thousand books with the word 'nigger' in them and that all the books had to be
           removed in a week.
           "But," protested the librarian, "we have fifty thousand volumes with the word 'bastard' in them."
           "I know," said the official, "but those bastards are not organized."

               In this world, organization is power, and mad people have a great magnetic force to organize.
           They cannot be alone, they seek others; and others who cannot be alone, they are also seeking. It
           becomes a mutual arrangement.
               Religions, at the source, are born out of a meditative aloneness, but the moment it becomes
           known that a Buddha has happened, the mad people start organizing, the mad people start gathering
           a crowd. And that crowd finally crystallizes into Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Christianity. All their
           notions are based not in the enlightenment of their founders, real founders, no, but in the pseudo
           founders, the priests.
               And these priests have been telling you that life is irreligious, that the body has to be denied, it is
           not a temple, it is not a place to be worshipped in.
               Kabir is saying a totally different thing, and that's what my emphasis is: the body is sacred --
           because ALL IS sacred!

              HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC THAT NO FINGERS
              ENTER INTO?
              FAR INSIDE THE HOUSE
              ENTANGLED MUSIC --
              WHAT IS THE SENSE OF LEAVING YOUR HOUSE?

               Where are you going? You need not leave the body, you need not leave anything, you need not
           renounce anything! Remember -- Kabir never renounced anything. He lived a very ordinary life just
           as everybody else lives -- the life of a householder. He was a father, a husband, and his whole life he
           continued to work. He was a weaver -- he continued to weave clothes. Even when he had thousands
           of disciples. And many times his disciples would come to him and say, You need not work at all. We
           are ready to provide everything for you, and your needs are not many. Why do you go on working?
               And Kabir would laugh and say, "You don't understand. I work for God, I weave clothes for God
           -- because the customers who come to purchase clothes from me are divine. How can I stop my
           work?"
               This quality is true religiousness. And this quality is possible only if you are in love with life,
           and to be in love with life creates RAS -- juice. Then you don't become dry, then you don't become a
           desert, then you become an oasis
               The so-called religious people of this country are against me because I am teaching you the way
           of RAS -- the way of life, love, juice, music -- because I am teaching you to become an oasis, not a
           desert; because I would like you to be in a constant rejoicing; because I am not teaching you
           renunciation but rejoicing, all the people who have been carrying this nonsense idea of renouncing
           the world are bound to be against me. That is natural. It is expected. This has been happening
           always, and it seems, unfortunately, that man has not learnt anything at all down the ages. It is
           exactly the same today as it was in the days of Buddha, as it was in the days of Jesus, as it was in the
           days of Kabir.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              SUPPOSE YOU SCRUB YOUR ETHICAL SKIN
              UNTIL IT SHINES,
              BUT INSIDE THERE IS NO MUSIC,
              THEN WHAT?
              MORALITY IS NOT RELIGION, although a religious person is always moral -- but not vice versa: a
              moral person need not be religious. A religious person is necessarily moral, because religion means
              experience of the divine -- one who has experienced the presence of God, how can he be immoral? In
              fact, he is the criterion, the decisive factor as to what is moral.

                Whatsoever an enlightened person does is moral; there is no other way to decide. It is not that he
           is thing to do that which is moral -- whatsoever he does is moral. He cannot do any harm to anybody;
           he is a blessing to existence. When God has blessed him, what else is left for him, except to be a
           blessing to the existence? What God has given to him, he goes on giving to everybody else. His heart
           is full of bliss, and the bliss starts overflowing. That overflowing bliss is real morality.
                Morality means compassion, morality means love, morality means creativity; morality means
           making the world a little more beautiful than you found it, leaving it a little more beautiful, giving it
           a new plane, a new level, a new dimension of existence.
                The immoral person is destructive; because he is miserable he can only share his misery with
           others. Remember, you can give to others only that which you have. If you are miserable,
           whatsoever you say is immaterial, you will make others miserable. If you are blissful, you need not
           say anything -- you will make others blissful. Your very presence will trigger some blissfulness in
           their being. Your very presence will create a synchronicity in others. Your music, your juice, will
           create ripples of joy -- whoever is close to you will become infected with your joy, with your
           ecstasy, will become drunk -- and that's what morality is.
           Kabir says:

              SUPPOSE YOU SCRUB YOUR ETHICAL SKIN
              UNTIL IT SHINES,
              BUT INSIDE THERE IS NO MUSIC,
              THEN WHAT?

               Then what is the use of it? Yes, that can be done, that is being done. There are people who go on
           cultivating character, who go on cultivating morality. And they become great moralists. puritans,
           very righteous. They do only that which is right but it is a forced doing, it is not spontaneous -- it is
           not out of their being, it is just a forced phenomenon. It is a facade. They have created a beautiful
           curtain around themselves, behind it is the corpse, the stinking corpse, but on the surface they have
           decorated themselves with flowers. And the crowd can be deceived by them, but deep down they are
           the same people, even worse, because all that they are showing on the surface is pseudo. They are
           just the opposite inside. They are hypocrites. They say one thing, they are just the opposite of it; they
           do one thing, but their being has no correspondence with it. They are split, they are schizophrenic.
               Because of this cultivated morality, we have put the whole of humanity in a state of
           schizophrenia. Everybody is more or less made into a hypocrite. The society forces you to do it. If
           you don't do it, you cannot live, you cannot survive. It has become almost a necessity that you don't
           show your reality. You show only that which people want you to show, and you keep everything else
           hidden inside. But then your inner being goes on accumulating poisons and poisons and poisons, and
           you live a hell within, decorated with beautiful flowers. And those flowers are also plastic, because
           they cannot be true flowers. True flowers need roots in your being.
               A really religious person has no morality imposed upon himself. His morality arises out of his
           consciousness. He is not trying to do the right, he is not trying to avoid the wrong -- -he simply
           remains conscious and acts out of his consciousness, and whatsoever he does is right. In fact, it is
           impossible to do anything wrong consciously.
               A beautiful story is told about a great mystic, Nagarjuna:

              He was a naked fakir, but he was loved by all real seekers. A queen was also deeply in love with
           Nagarjuna. She asked him one day to come to the palace, to be a guest in the palace. Nagarjuna
           went. The queen asked him a favour. Nagarjuna said, "What do you want?" The queen said, "I want
           your begging bowl."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nagarjuna gave it -- that was the only thing he had -- his begging bowl. And the queen brought a
           golden begging bowl, studded with diamonds and gave it to Nagarjuna. She said, "Now you keep
           this. I will worship the begging bowl that you have carried for years -- it has some of your vibe. It
           will become my temple. And a man like you should not carry an ordinary wooden begging bowl --
           keep this golden one. I have had it made specially for you."
               It was really precious. If Nagarjuna had been an ordinary mystic he would have said, "I cannot
           touch it. I have renounced the world." But for him it was all the same, so he took the bowl.
               When he left the palace, a thief saw him. He could not believe his eyes: "A naked man with such
           a precious thing! How long can he protect it?" So the thief followed....
               Nagarjuna was staying outside the town in a ruined ancient temple -- no doors, no windows. It
           was just a ruin. The thief was very happy: "Soon Nagarjuna will have to go to sleep and there will be
           no difficulty -- I will get the bowl."
               The thief was hiding behind a wall just outside the door -- Nagarjuna threw the bowl outside the
           door. The thief could not believe what had happened. Nagarjuna threw it because he had watched the
           thief coming behind him, and he knew perfectly well that he was not coming for him -- he was
           coming for the bowl, "So why unnecessarily let him wait? Be finished with it so he can go, and I can
           also rest."
           "Such a precious thing! And Nagarjuna has thrown it so easily." The thief could not go without
           thanking him. He knew perfectly well that it had been thrown for him. He peeked in and he said,
           "Sir, accept my thanks. But you are a rare being -- I cannot believe my eyes. And a great desire has
           arisen in me. I am wasting my life by being a thief -- and there are people like you too? Can I come
           in and touch your feet?"
               Nagarjuna laughed and he said, "Yes, that's why I threw the bowl outside -- so that you could
           come inside."
               The thief was trapped. The thief came in, touched the feet... and at that moment the thief was
           very open because he had seen that this man was no ordinary man. He was very vulnerable, open,
           receptive, grateful, mystified, stunned. When he touched the feet, for the first time in his life he felt
           the presence of the divine.
               He asked Nagarjuna, "How many lives will it take for me to become like you?"
               Nagarjuna said, "How many lives? -- it can happen today, it can happen now!"

               The thief said, "You must be kidding. How can it happen now? I am a thief, a well-known thief
           The whole town knows me, although they have not yet been able to catch hold of me. Even the king
           is afraid of me, because thrice I have entered and stolen from the treasury. They know it, but they
           have no proof. I am a master thief -- you may not know about me because you are a stranger in these
           parts. How can I be transformed right now?"
               And Nagarjuna said, "If in an old house for centuries there has been darkness and you bring a
           candle, can the darkness say, 'For centuries and centuries I have been here -- I cannot go out just
           because you have brought a candle in. I have lived so long'? Can the darkness give resistance? Will
           it make any difference whether the darkness is one day old or millions of years old.
               The thief could see the point: darkness cannot resist light; when light comes, darkness
           disappears. Nagarjuna said, You may have been in darkness for millions of lives -- that doesn't
           matter -- but I can give you a secret, you can light a candle in your being."
               And the thief said, "What about my profession? Have I to leave it?"
               Nagarjuna said, "That is for you to decide. I am not concerned with you and your profession I
           can only give you the secret of how to kindle a light within your being, and then it is up to you."
               The thief said, "But whenever I have gone to any saints, they always say, 'First stop stealing --
           then only can you be initiated.'" It is said that Nagarjuna laughed and said, "You must have gone to
           thieves, not to saints. They know nothing. You just watch your breath -- the ancient method of
           Buddha -- just watch your breath coming in, going out. Whenever you remember, watch your breath.
           Even when you go to steal, when you enter into somebody's house in the night, go on watching your
           breath. When you have opened the treasure and the diamonds are there, go on watching your breath,
           and do whatsoever you want to do -- but don't forget watching the breath."
               The thief said, "This seems to be simple. No morality? No character needed? No other
           requirement?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Nagarjuna said, "Absolutely none -- just watch your breath."
                And after fifteen days the thief was back, but he was a totally different man. He fell at the feet of
           Nagarjuna and he said, "You trapped me, and you trapped me so beautifully that I was not even able
           to suspect. I tried for these fifteen days -- it is impossible. If I watch my breath, I cannot steal. If I
           steal, I cannot watch my breath. Watching the breath, I become so silent, so alert, so aware, so
           conscious, that even diamonds look like pebbles. You have created a difficulty for me, a dilemma.
           Now what am I supposed to do?"
                Nagarjuna said, "Get lost! -- whatsoever you want to do. If you want that silence, that peace, that
           bliss, that arises in you when you watch your breath, then choose that. If you think all those
           diamonds and gold and silver is more valuable, then choose that. That is for you to choose! Who am
           I to interfere in your life?"
                The man said, "I cannot choose to be unconscious again. I have never known such moments.
           Accept me as one of your disciples, initiate me."
           Nagarjuna said, "I have initiated you already."
                Religion is based not in morality but in meditation. Religion is rooted not in character but in
           consciousness. A really religious person has no character at all -- he is characterless. But let me
           define what I mean by 'characterless': I don't mean the ordinary meaning that you will find in the
           dictionary -- because in the dictionary, the man of bad character is called characterless. That is
           wrong, because he has a character -- maybe it is bad, but he is not characterless. Somebody has good
           character, somebody has bad character -- both have characters. The sinner and the saint, both have
           characters, but the really religious man is characterless. He is neither good nor bad -- he is beyond.
           He has no character because he does not function out of his past: he acts moment-to-moment, he acts
           spontaneously; he has no ready-made formula, he has no routine. He does not act out of habits -- and
           that's what character is: creating good habits is good character, creating bad habits is bad character.
           Creating consciousness, not habits, is religiousness.

              SUPPOSE YOU SCRUB YOUR ETHICAL SKIN
              UNTIL IT SHINES,
              BUT INSIDE THERE IS NO MUSIC,
              THEN WHAT?

              You can go on scrubbing your ethical skin, you can go on polishing your morality, you can
           become a really polished man, but if inside there is no music, if meditation has not happened, if you
           have not heard the unheard, if you have not seen the unseen, if you have not penetrated into the
           unknowable, if that soundless sound is not heard, it is all futile. You are simply wasting your time.
           A Zen story:

               A disciple is meditating and he has been meditating for at least twenty years. He has been doing
           all kinds of things: yoga postures, meditative techniques. One day the Master appears, and the
           disciple is sitting like a Buddha, absolutely silent -- at least on the outside -- unmoving like a marble
           statue. And the Master starts rubbing a brick on a stone just in front of him. The Master creates so
           much noise by rubbing the brick on the stone that the disciple has to open his eyes a little bit and see
           who is creating the nuisance.
               Seeing that the Master himself is doing this, he cannot believe it. A Master is not supposed to
           disturb the disciple while he is meditating. What kind of Master is he? But a Master is a Master, so
           you cannot be rude to him. He waits, but how long can you wait? Constant rubbing of the brick on
           the stone -- his teeth are getting on edge. Finally he says, "Stop it! What are you doing?"
               And the Master says, "And what have you been doing for twenty years? Scrubbing, scrubbing...
           trying to polish your mind? That you call meditation? Your postures, your techniques -- they are all
           mind-based. I am trying to make a mirror of this brick!"
               The disciple says, "That is impossible. You can go on rubbing, but the brick will never become a
           mirror."
               And the Master says, "That's what I have come to say to you. Twenty years you have been
           rubbing, scrubbing, polishing, and the mind has not become meditation and the mind has not become
           a mirror. Drop the mind! Don't cultivate it."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               By dropping the mind it becomes a mirror. Mind itself never becomes a mirror. Mind is the
           barrier. Hidden behind the mind is your consciousness. And once you enter behind the mind you
           hear the music. That music transforms you into a new being -- it is a rebirth.

              MOHAMMED'S SON PORES OVER WORDS,
              AND POINTS OUT THIS
              AND THAT,
              BUT IF HIS CHEST IS NOT SOAKED DARK WITH LOVE,
              THEN WHAT?


               KABIR SAYS THIS IS SO WITH EVERYBODY -- the Hindu pundit goes on speculating upon
           words, playing upon words. The Mohammedan scholar, Mohammed's son, PORES OVER
           WORDS.... Words have become so important that we have forgotten that we have to enter into a
           wordless state of consciousness. Go on repeating the Koran, or the Bible, or the Vedas, and it is of
           no use at all, because you will only be gathering more and more knowledge -- all borrowed. And a
           truth borrowed becomes a lie. A truth expressed in words immediately loses its truthfulness. Words
           are too small; they cannot contain the great sky of the truth within themselves. They crush the truth,
           they destroy it. And when words reach you, you will give a meaning to them which is yours.
               Krishna speaks, Jesus speaks, I am speaking to you... if here there are two thousand people, do
           you think everybody is hearing the same thing? There are two thousand meanings. The speaker is
           one, my meaning is one, but immediately I assert it it becomes two thousand -- two thousand
           meanings.

               A shaggy tale used by New Testament scholars to poke a little fun at their more skeptical
           associates begins when several archaeologists working near Jerusalem unearth some human skeletal
           remains. Upon examination they prove to be the bones of Jesus. Overwhelmed by the burden of such
           unsettling knowledge, the archaeologists decide to inform the Pope. The Pope, of course, is shocked.
           What does this mean for the future of the Christian faith?

               If those bones are really those of Jesus, that means he was never resurrected, that means the
           resurrection was false, that the whole story was invented. And with the resurrection disappearing the
           whole ground underneath Christianity will disappear.

               Before releasing this information to the press and allowing it to be sensationally exposed to the
           stunned eyes of the faithful, the Holy Father determines to call a council of the world's great
           theologians to see if they can help him understand and interpret this calamitous event. What is more,
           because the implications of the news obviously affect all Christians, it seems wise to make this an
           ecumenical council, one to which theologians of all denominations will be invited. Slowly and
           painfully, his Holiness works his way down the list of theologians, making telephone calls to each of
           them. All are heard to make the appropriate gasps of dismay, after which they promise to hasten to
           Rome for the conference.
               The last name on the Pope s list is that of a German New Testament scholar with a reputation for
           being highly skeptical with respect to all manner of historical information about Jesus. The Holy
           Father debates with himself whether this gentleman should be informed, but finally, in the interests
           of ecumenism and because in this case such an already formed attitude of skepticism might actually
           be of some use, he makes the telephone call. The German critic, instead of being overwhelmed by
           the news that Jesus' bones had not been resurrected, registers his surprise in a fashion which takes
           the Pope's own breath away.
           "Ach so," the scholar responds, "then he did live!"

               One is worried about resurrection -- the same news -- but the other's response is totally different.
           His worry is, "Ach so, then he did live!" If the bones are genuine, then Jesus becomes a historical
           figure.
               Whenever you hear something it is always from your background that you hear it; it is your
           background that interprets it. The meaning is given by you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           "Young man said the judge, looking sternly at the defendant, "it is alcohol and alcohol alone that is
           responsible for your present sorry state!"
           "I am glad to hear you say that," replied Mooney with a sigh of relief, "Everybody else says it is all
           my fault!"

                It is natural that words will be interpreted by each person according to his own past. That's why it
           is so much insisted on again and again by me to please listen to me without bringing in your past,
           listen to me without any background; listen to me not as Christians, Hindus and Mohammedans,
           otherwise you will miss it. Not only will you miss it: you will misunderstand it.
                Listen to me as you listen to music or the sound of running water or the wind passing through the
           pine trees, and then there is a possibility of some communion happening, a possibility that some
           meaning that I am trying to convey reaches you. But it is really difficult. It is one of the most
           difficult things in the world to be a disciple.
                To be a disciple means listening without any background, just listening without interpreting, just
           listening without for or against, without believing, without disbelieving -- a pure kind of listening.
           And the beauty of truth is that if you can listen silently with no judgement, if it is true it will ring
           bells in your heart. But the bells will be rung in the heart, not in the head. If it is untrue, no bells will
           be rung in the heart. You will know whether it is true or untrue -- not by thinking about it, but just by
           listening in total silence.

               MOHAMMED'S SON PORES OVER WORDS,
               AND POINTS OUT THIS
               AND THAT,
               BUT IF HIS CHEST IS NOT SOAKED DARK WITH LOVE,
               THEN WHAT?

                Unless your heart responds, the head cannot become a bridge to God. Your heart needs to be
           soaked with love. But you don't know anything about the heart. The society has not allowed you to
           go through the heart; it has tried in every way to bypass the heart. The whole effort of the society is
           to pull you to the head directly without moving through the heart, because the ways of the heart are
           mysterious, uncontrollable.
                The ways of the head are controllable, manipulatable. Hence the society is interested in your
           head, not in your heart. The society wants you to understand that there is no heart but only the head.
           The heart is nothing but a blood-pumping system; that's what the society wants you to believe This is
           one of the greatest untruths ever told.
                By 'heart' is not meant the physical part. The physical part is simply a blood circulation system,
           but hidden behind the physical, just corresponding to it, very close to it, behind it, is the real heart.
           Just as hidden behind the brain is mind, so hidden behind the lungs is the heart, hidden behind the
           body is the soul.
                Don't be finished with the physical. Always remember: corresponding to each physical
           phenomenon in you there is a spiritual phenomenon. Unless your heart starts functioning, IS
           SOAKED DARK WITH LOVE... and why dark? Because love has the depth of darkness, the density
           of darkness. Love grows in mysterious ways not in the light, because light makes everything
           demystified. Love is more dark than anything else. It is a dark, dense, mysterious world.
                And if you are afraid of the dark, you will be afraid of love too. If you are afraid of the night, you
           will be afraid of love too. If you are afraid of the dark, the night, death, love, then you are afraid of
           all that is mysterious -- then you have to exist only on the surface, then you will never be able to
           penetrate to the center of being.
           The original is:

               IK PREM-RAS CHAKHA NAHIN,
               AMLI HUA TO KYA HUA?

              You have not tasted the juice of love -- and you have become a great saint? and you have great
           character and great morality? And you have not even tasted the juice of love? Then all your
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           saintliness and all your morality is holy cow-dung. You are carrying an unnecessary weight. The
           sooner you drop it the better.

              THE YOGI COMES ALONG IN HIS FAMOUS ORANGE.
              BUT IF INSIDE HE IS COLOURLESS THEN WHAT?

                The real question is of getting coloured inside. The outer colour is only symbolic. It is a gesture;
           it is not the end -- it is the beginning. It is simply your saying that I am ready." But don't think that if
           you are wearing orange then sannyas has happened. Your gesture has happened, you have moved on
           the way.
                There are two initiations. One is the formal: the day you become a sannyasin, you change to
           orange -- that is formal. But without the formal, the informal is difficult. If you cannot even change
           your clothes, how will you change your being? But just changing your clothes is not synonymous
           with changing your being.
           Kabir says:

              THE YOGI COMES ALONG IN HIS FAMOUS ORANGE.
              BUT IF INSIDE HE IS COLOURLESS, THEN WHAT?
              VAKIF NAHIN US RANG SE
              KAPARE RANGE SE KYA HUA?

                You have not known the colour of God, you have not know the colour of love, you have not
           known the colour of life. Orange is the colour of blood, life; orange is the colour of fire, love; orange
           is the colour of the sunrise, the transforma-tion -- the declaration that the night has ended.
                But the being has to be coloured. Your soul has to become red with love, with joy, with
           celebration. In India, orange is the colour of spring -- a springtime has to come into your inner being
           so that flowers that have waited and waited for centuries can bloom, so that buds can open.
           Kabir says:

              EVERY INSTANT THAT THE SUN IS RISEN,
              IF I STAND IN THE TEMPLE, OR ON A BALCONY,
              IN THE HOT FIELDS, OR IN A WALLED GARDEN,
              MY OWN LORD IS MAKING LOVE WITH ME.

              Meditate over this tremendously important statement:

              ... MY OWN LORD IS MAKING LOVE WITH ME.
              THE MAN OF ABSOLUTE CONSCIOUSNESS remains in a constant orgasmic state. Just as two
              lovers reach an orgasmic climax only for a moment and then it is gone, and a sadness comes in the
              wake, so the man of total awareness, the Buddha, the enlightened person, remains for twenty-four
              hours a day in an orgasmic state:



              ... MY OWN LORD IS MAKING LOVE WITH ME.

               And wherever I am, Kabir says, it makes no difference -- in the temple or in the mosque or in the
           fields or in a walled garden -- it doesn't matter where I am. Wherever I am, my Lord, my Beloved, is
           making love with me.
               Love is the quintessence of religion. And to be orgasmic is to be a sannyasin -- and to become so
           orgasmic that it continues day in, day out; even when you are asleep, the meeting continues. You go
           on melting and merging into God, and God goes on melting and merging into you.
               The wall between you and the whole has been removed, there is no separation. That state of
           non-separation, that state of UNIO MYSTICA -- the mystic union -- is the ultimate expression of
           love. The lowest is the man/woman relationship and the ultimate, the highest, is the meeting of the
           meditator with the whole.
               Hence I say the journey is from sex to superconsciousness. Sex is the beginning of the journey --
           don't reject it. If you reject the beginning, you will never reach the end. But remember that it is only
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the beginning; don't get stuck there. You have to go farther and farther ahead; you have to transcend
           it. And as you go higher in meditation, the less and less sexual you are bound to become.
                This is happening every day to my sannyasins. The whole country thinks that here nothing but
           sex is happening, but the reality is just the opposite. This may be the only place where thousands of
           people are totally losing interest in sex -- because going through it is going beyond it. To go beyond
           one has to go through, because without knowing it there is no way to transcend it.
                The sexual orgasm reveals two secrets to you: one is that in the climax, at the peak, the ego
           disappears; and the second, time disappears. And these are the two secrets of meditation. One day
           meditating you will come to know that sex is not needed at all because the ego and time can
           disappear without going into sex at all.
                Sex is a natural way of meditation; it is a gift of nature, to keep reminding you that this is
           possible. Mind, time, ego, all can disappear; if they can disappear for a single moment, then why not
           for ever? Sex is a natural window into God, but only a window. You need not remain confined
           behind it. You can jump out of the window and you can come into the open, in the sun, under the
           sky. But the window made it possible for you.
                Because sex helps you to know a few moments of egolessness, timelessness, mindlessness, it
           makes it possible that you can long for, desire a permanent state, an eternal state of orgasmic joy --
           satchitanand.
                Kabir is absolutely right. Nobody else has said it so clearly: My own Lord is making love with
           me, and every moment of the day, irrespective of where I am, of what I am doing. This has to
           become the experience of each of my sannyasins.
                This is my message to you. You have to actualize this potential in you. One day you have to be
           able to declare to the world: "The Lord is making love with me twenty-four hours a day. I am in an
           orgasmic state. Not only am I in an orgasmic state, but I am the orgasmic state."
                That's what enlightenment is all about. Once it is achieved, nobody can fall from it. Once it is
           achieved, all is achieved.




                                   The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                   Chapter #11
                                     Chapter title: The Paradox that Life is.
           21 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904210
              ShortTitle: FISH11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 110 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, PLEASE COMMENT ON THE ART OF BALANCED LIVING. MR LIFE IS OFTEN AN
              EXPERIENCE OF EXTREMES, WITH THE MIDDLE ROAD DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN FOR ANY
              LENGTH OF TIME.

              Gregg Johnson,

              LIFE CONSISTS OF EXTREMES. Life is a tension between the opposites. To be exactly in the
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           middle for ever means to be dead. The middle is only a theoretical possibility; only once in a while
           are you in the middle, as a passing phase. It is like walking on a tightrope: you can never be exactly
           in the middle for any length of time. If you try, you will fall.
                To be in the middle is not a static state, it is a dynamic phenomenon. Balance is not a noun, it is a
           verb; it is BALANCING. The tightrope-walker continuously moves from the left to the right, from
           the right to the left. When he feels now he has moved too much to the left and there is fear of falling,
           he immediately balances himself by moving to the opposite, to the right. Passing from the left to the
           right, yes, there is a moment when he is in the middle. And again when he has moved too much to
           the right, there is fear of falling, he is losing balance, he starts moving towards the left. Passing from
           the right to the left, again he moves through the middle for a moment.
                This is what I mean when I say balance is not a noun but a verb -- it is balancing, it is a dynamic
           process. You cannot be in the middle. You can go on moving from left to right and right to left; this
           is the only way to remain in the middle.
                Don't avoid extremes, and don't choose any one extreme. Remain available to both the polarities
           -- that is the art, the secret of balancing. Yes, sometimes be utterly happy, and sometimes be utterly
           sad -- both have their own beauties.
                Our mind is a chooser; that's why the problem arises. Remain choiceless. And whatsoever
           happens and wherever you are, right or left, in the middle or not in the middle, enjoy the moment in
           its totality. While happy, dance, sing, play music -- be happy! And when sadness comes, which is
           bound to come, which is coming, which has to come, which is inevitable, you cannot avoid it... if
           you try to avoid it you will have to destroy the very possibility of happiness. The day cannot be
           without the night, and the summer cannot be without the winter, and life cannot be without death.
                Let this polarity sink deep in your being -- there is no way to avoid it. The only way is to become
           more and more dead. Only the dead person can be in a static middle. The alive person will be
           constantly moving -- from anger to compassion, from compassion to anger. And he accepts both!
           And he is not identified with either. He remains aloof and yet involved. He remains distant yet
           committed. He enjoys and yet he remains like a lotus flower in water -- in water, and yet the water
           cannot touch it.
                Gregg Johnson, your very effort to be in the middle, and to be in the middle for ever and always,
           is creating an unnecessary anxiety for you. In fact, to desire to be in the middle for ever is another
           extreme, the worst kind of extreme, because it is the impossible kind. It cannot be fulfilled.
                Just think of an old clock: if you hold the pendulum exactly in the middle, the clock will stop.
           The clock continues only because the pendulum goes on moving from the left to the right, from the
           right to the left. Yes, each time it passes through the middle, and there is a moment of that
           middleness, but only a moment. And it is beautiful! When you pass from happiness to sadness, and
           from sadness to happiness, there is a moment of utter silence exactly in the middle -- enjoy that too.
                Life has to be lived in all its dimensions, only then is life rich. The leftist is poor, the rightist is
           poor, and the middlist is dead! The alive person is neither rightist nor leftist nor middlist -- he is a
           constant movement, he is a flow.
                Why do we want to be in the middle in the first place? We are afraid of the dark side of life; we
           don't want to be sad, we don't want to be in a state of agony. But that is possible only if you are also
           ready to drop the possibility of being in ecstasy. There are a few who have chosen it -- that is the
           way of the monk. For centuries that has been the way of the monk. He is ready to sacrifice all
           possibilities of ecstasy just to avoid agony. He is ready to destroy all roseflowers just to avoid the
           thorns. But then his life is just flat... a long long boredom, stale, stagnant. He does not really live. He
           is afraid to live!
                Life contains both: it brings great pain, it also brings great pleasure. Pain and pleasure are two
           sides of the same coin. If you leave one, you have to leave the other too. This has been one of the
           most fundamental misunderstandings down the ages, that you can leave pain and save pleasure, that
           you can avoid hell and have heaven, that you can avoid the negative and can have only the positive.
           This is a great fallacy. It is not possible in the very nature of things. The positive and negative ARE
           together, inevitably together, indivisibly together. They are two aspects of the same energy.
                My sannyasins, or those who understand me, have to accept both. I am giving you a totally new
           insight: Be all! And when you are on the left, don't miss anything -- enjoy! Being on the left has its
           own beauty; you will not find it when you are on the right. It will be a different scene. And, yes, to
10/28/07                                                   Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be in the middle has its own silence, peace, and you will not find it on any extreme. So enjoy all! Go
           on enriching your life.
                Can't you see any beauty in sadness? Meditate over it. Next time when you are sad don't fight
           with it, don't waste time in fighting. Accept it, welcome it -- let it be a welcome guest. And see deep
           into it, with love, care. Be a real host! And you will be surprised -- you will be surprised beyond
           your comprehension -- that sadness has a few beauties which happiness can never have. Sadness has
           depth, and happiness is always shallow. Sadness has tears, and tears go deeper than any laughter can
           ever go. And sadness has a silence of its own, a melody, which happiness can never have. It will
           have its own song, more noisy, but not so silent.
                I am not saying choose sadness: I am just saying enjoy it too. And when you are happy, enjoy
           happiness. Swim on the surface too, and sometimes dive deep into the river. It is the same river! On
           the surface the play of ripples and waves, and the sunrays and the wind -- it has its own beauty. And
           diving deep into the water has its own quality, its own adventure, its own danger.
                And don't become attached to anything. There are people who have become attached to sadness
           too -- psychology knows about them. They are called masochists: they go on creating situations in
           which they can remain miserable for ever. Misery is the only thing that they enjoy, they are afraid of
           happiness. In misery they are at home.
                Many masochists become religious, because religion provides a great protection for the
           masochist mind. Religion gives a beautiful rationalization for being a masochist. Just being a
           masochist without being religious, you will feel condemned and you will feel ill -- ill-at-ease -- and
           you will know that you are abnormal, and you will feel guilty about what you are doing to your life.
           You will hide the fact.
                But if a masochist becomes religious he can exhibit his masochism with great pride, because now
           it is no more masochism -- it is asceticism, it is austerity -- tapascharya -- it is self-discipline, not
           torture. Just the labels have been changed! Now nobody can call him abnormal -- he is a saint.
           Nobody can call him pathological -- he is pious, holy.
                Masochists have always moved towards religion. Religion has a great attraction for masochists.
           In fact, so many masochists down the ages have moved towards religion -- it was very natural, that
           movement -- that religion became dominated by the masochists. That's why religion goes on
           insisting on being life-negative, life-destructive. It is not for life, it is not for love, it is not for joy. It
           goes on insisting that life is misery. By calling life misery, it rationalizes its own clinging to misery.
                I have heard a beautiful story -- I don't know how far it is correct, I cannot vouch for it:

               In paradise, one afternoon, in the most famous cafe, Lao Tzu, Confucius and Buddha are sitting,
           and talking sweet nothings.
               The bearer comes and in a tray brings three glasses of the juice called life and offers them.
           Buddha immediately closes his eyes and he says, "Life is misery."
               Confucius closes his eyes half-way -- the middlist, he used to preach the golden mean -- and asks
           the bearer to give him the glass because he would like to have a sip, just a sip, because without
           tasting how can one say whether life is misery or not? He had a scientific mind. Confucius was not
           very mystic; he was a very pragmatic, earthbound mind. He was the first behaviourist the world has
           known, very logical.
               And it looks perfectly right: he says, "First I will have a sip and then I will say."
               He takes a sip and he says, "Buddha is right -- life is misery." Lao Tzu takes all the three glasses
           and he says, "Unless one drinks totally how can one say anything?"
               He drinks all the three glasses and starts dancing! Buddha and Confucius ask him, "Are you not
           going to say anything?" He says, "This is what I am saying -- my dance, my song."

               Unless you taste totally, you cannot say. And when you taste totally, you cannot say because
           what you know is so much that no word is adequate.
               Buddha is on one extreme, Confucius is in the middle, Lao Tzu has drunk all the three glasses.
           The one that was brought for Buddha he has drunk, and the one that was brought for Confucius he
           has drunk, and the one that was brought for him he has drunk -- he has lived life in its
           three-dimensionality.
           My own approach is that of Lao Tzu.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Gregg Johnson, live life in all possible ways; don't choose one thing against the other, and don't
           try to be in the middle. And don't try to balance yourself -- balance is not something that can be
           cultivated by you. Balance is something that comes out of the experience of all the dimensions of
           life. Balance is something that HAPPENS; it is not something that can be BROUGHT. If you bring it
           it will be false, forced; and if you bring it you will remain tense, you will not be relaxed, because
           how can a man who is trying to remain balanced, in the middle, be relaxed? He will always be
           afraid: if he relaxes he may start moving towards the left or towards the right -- he is bound to
           remain uptight. And to be uptight is to miss the whole opportunity, the whole God-given gift.
                Don't be uptight. Don't live life according to principles. Live life in its totality, drink life in its
           totality! Yes, sometimes it tastes bitter -- so what? That taste of bitterness will make you capable of
           tasting its sweetness. You will be able to appreciate the sweetness only if you have tasted its
           bitterness. The man who knows not how to cry will not know how to laugh either. And the man who
           cannot have a deep laughter, a belly-laughter, his tears will be crocodile tears -- they cannot be true,
           they cannot be authentic.
                I don't teach you the middle way: I teach you the total way. And then a balance comes of its own
           accord. And then that balance has tremendous beauty and grace -- you have not forced it, it has
           Come. By moVing gracefully to the left, to the right, in the middle, slowly slowly, a balance
           COMES to you, because you remain so unidentified. When sadness comes you know it will pass,
           and when happiness comes you know it will pass too. Nothing remains. Everything passes by.
                The only thing that always abides is your witnessing. That witnessing brings balance. That
           witnessing is balance.

           The second question


              OSHO, HOW CAN ONE DEVELOP A CONSCIENCE -- SOMETHING WITHIN THAT WILL GUIDE
              ONE IN ONE'S EVERYDAY LIFE TOWARDS WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR ONE'S DEVELOPMENT?
              TO DO WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR THE UNFOLDING OF ONE'S INNER LIFE? IT SEEMS AS IF I
              AM ALWAYS TORN AND YET THERE DOES EXIST SOMETHING WITHIN AT TIMES WHICH I
              HOPE COULD BE HELPED TO GROW AND BECOME A LIGHT FOR ME. CARL ONE LEARN TO
              INTENSIFY ONE'S FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS IN ORDER TO BRING ONE CLOSER TO A PLACE
              OF REAL BEING?

              Steven,

               THERE IS NO NEED TO DEVELOP a conscience at all. What is needed is consciousness, not
           conscience. Conscience is a pseudo thing. Conscience is created in you by the society. It is a subtle
           method of slavery. The society teaches you what is right and what is wrong. And it starts teaching
           the child before the child is aware, before the child can decide on his own what is right and what is
           wrong, before the child is even conscious of what is happening to him, before the child is even
           awake. In a kind of sleep, in a kind of dream, the child lives in the beginning.
               In the mother's womb the child sleeps for twenty-four hours. Then after the birth he sleeps for
           twenty-three hours, twenty-two hours, twenty-one hours, twenty hours... slowly slowly. But he
           remains in a kind of limbo, neither awake nor asleep. The child cannot make any distinction between
           what is real and what is unreal. And we start teaching the child what is right, what is wrong -- we are
           conditioning him. We are conditioning him according to our ideas. All these ideas -- from parents,
           from priests, teachers, politicians, saints -- -all these ideas jumble together inside him. They become
           his conscience.
               And because of this conscience he will never be able to grow consciousness -- because
           conscience is a pseudo consciousness. And if you are satisfied with the pseudo you will never even
           think of the real. It is very deceptive; the way we have been bringing up children is very deceptive. It
           is ugly, it is violent, it is against humanity.
               That's why millions of people live without any consciousness. Before they could have grown into
           consciousness, we gave them pseudo toys to play with. And their whole lives they think this is all
           that is needed to live a good life. And their whole lives they will be rewarded if they follow the
           conscience, and they will be punished if they don't follow the conscience.
               From the outside they will be punished and rewarded, and from the inside also. Whenever you do
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           something that your conscience says is wrong, you feel guilty, you suffer, you feel inner pain. You
           are afraid, you are trembling... it creates anxiety. And the fear about heaven, that you may lose
           heaven, and the fear of hell, that you may fall into hell... and with great inventiveness your saints
           have painted the joys of heaven and the miseries of hell.
               This is conscience. Conscience is artificial, arbitrary. Conscience is needed because the society
           does not want you to be intelligent. Hence, rather than making you intelligent it gives you fixed rules
           of behaviour: Do this, don't do that.
               The day humanity drops this whole nonsense of conscience and starts helping children to grow
           their consciousness will be the greatest day, will be the real birth of humanity, a new human being
           and a new earth. Then we will help the child to become more intelligent, so whenever a problem
           arises the child has enough intelligence to encounter it, to face it, to respond to it. Why should one
           need any conscience? Intelligence is enough, consciousness is enough.
               Consciousness will make you capable of responding to the present immediately, and your
           response will be true. Conscience is old, and the situation is always new -- and your conscience is
           ALWAYS old. There is no meeting-ground. You go on responding according to the conscience
           cultivated in you by the society, forced into you by the society, conditioned in you by the society --
           and the situation is totally different!

                One of my friends went to Tibet. He is a very religious brahmin, very orthodox. He went there to
           study Buddhist scriptures, but he could not stay in Tibet -- he had to come back as quickly as
           possible. The journey was simply a sheer wastage, an unnecessary trouble, because to go into Tibet
           is not easy.
                And the problem was that from his very childhood he had been taught to take a cold bath before
           the sun rises. Now. to take a cold bath in Tibet before the sun rises... he was telling me that it was
           impossible. And if he did not take the cold bath before sunrise, the whole day he would feel guilty.
           He had been told that without taking a cold bath in the morning you cannot pray, your prayer is
           useless. And without prayer you cannot eat anything. So he was taking a cold bath in the morning,
           and that was dangerous to life. In Tibetan scriptures it is said that once a year it is a must that one
           should take a bath!
                Once a few Tibetan lamas came to stay with me, and those were the days when Maneesha was
           not there and Radha was not there to smell these people -- and I suffered so much...
                For those few, seven, eight days that they stayed in my house, I was almost out of the house. Any
           excuse and I would escape from the house -- the whole house was stinking, because they would not
           take a bath. And a hot summer in India... and they would not take any bath! They were following
           their conscience.
                It has been such a difficult thing for me to talk to Jaina monks. They used to come to see me; it
           was so difficult to talk with them -- because they don't cleanse their mouths, rinse their mouths, they
           don't clean their teeth. That is not allowed. That is thought to be a part of beautifying the body --
           -and how can a Jaina monk beautify the body? He is so dead set against it.
                Just to talk to them is so difficult -- they have such bad breath. It is bound to be so. And the Jaina
           monks are not allowed to take a bath either, because why should you be so careful about your body?
           -- the anti-body attitude. Their bodies stink, their mouths stink.
                One Jaina nun became so much impressed by me and be-came so much interested in me that I
           told her, "You can at least take a sponge bath -- nobody will know. Just a wet towel, you can... and
           nobody will ever know that you have taken the bath."
                The idea appealed to her. She took one sponge bath, felt very good and very bad too. She told
           me, "It feels very good and I feel fresh, but it hurts inside that I have committed a sin.
                Do you ever think when you take a bath that you have committed a sin? And she had not even
           taken a full bath -- just a sponge bath, just a wet towel rubbed all over the body. But she felt so guilty
           that she had to fast for three days as repentance.

              This is conscience. Conscience goes on making you a fool. Situations change, but the conscience
           cannot change, it cannot grow -- conscience remains static. You go on living with ideas that were
           given to you in your childhood, by your ignorant parents, ignorant teachers. And you will live
           according to them, and you will suffer much. And your response will never be true because it will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           never fit with the situation. You will always be lagging behind.
               Responsibility simply means the capacity to respond to the reality as it is -- and it changes, the
           reality changes, and the conscience remains fixed. That's the difference between conscience and
           consciousness.
               Consciousness is a mirror. Conscience is a photoplate. Once a photoplate is exposed, it is
           finished; it catches the picture and then that picture remains for ever, fixed. It cannot grow,
           remember.

              One woman was showing her child the family album, and they came across a picture of a
           beautiful man with black hair, very fresh, young. And the child asked, "Who is this, Mom?" And the
           mother said, "Don't you recognize him? He is your father!" And the child said, "He is my father?
           Then who is that bald-headed man who lives with us?"

               In reality, things change. Beautiful black hair disappears -- one becomes bald-headed. But in
           pictures things are fixed.
               Conscience is a photoplate and consciousness is a mirror. It also reflects, but it never clings to
           any reflection. It remains empty, and hence it remains capable of reflecting new situations. If it is
           morning, it reflects the morning. If it is evening, it reflects the evening. The photoplate is fixed; if
           you exposed it in the morning then it will always remain morning in the photo, it will never become
           evening, night.
               There is no need, Steven, to develop a conscience. The need is to drop the conscience and
           develop consciousness. Drop all that you have been taught by others, and start living on your own
           and searching and seeking.... Yes, in the beginning it will be difficult because you won't have any
           map. The map is contained by the conscience. You will have to move without the map, you will have
           to move into the uncharted, with no guidelines. Cowards cannot move without guidelines; cowards
           cannot move without maps. And when you move with maps and guidelines, you are not really
           entering into new territory, into new realms -- you are going in circles. You go on moving into the
           known; you never take a jump into the unknown. It is only courage that can drop conscience.
               Conscience means all the knowledge that you have. And consciousness means being empty,
           being utterly empty, and moving into life with that emptiness, seeing through that emptiness and
           acting out of that emptiness -- then action has tremendous grace. And then whatsoever you do is
           right. It is not a question of what is right and what is wrong, because something that is right today
           may be wrong tomorrow. And borrowed knowledge never helps.

               Homer and Jethro were digging a ditch in the blazing Mississippi sun. Seeing the boss sitting
           coolly in the shade above them, Homer put down his shovel and said, "How come he is up there and
           we are down here?"
           "I dunno," said Jethro.
               Homer went up to the boss and asked him, "How come you boss up here and we work down
           there?"
           The boss answered, "Because I am smart."
           "What is smart?" asked Homer.
           "Here," said the boss putting his hand on a tree, "I will show you. Try to hit my hand."
               Homer wound up a mighty swing and let fly. Just as he swung, the boss moved his hand away,
           and Homer crashed into the tree.
           "Owwww!!!" he screamed.
           The boss said coolly, "Now you are smart too."
               Homer went back to the ditch. Jethro asked what happened and Homer said, "Now I am smart."
           Jethro said, "What is smart?"
           Homer said, "I will show you."
               He looked around for a tree, and not seeing one, he put his hand over his own face. "Here," he
           said, "try to hit my hand...."

              That's what goes on with your so-called knowledge, conscience -- situations change, trees are no
           more found... but you have a fixed routine and you cannot do anything else, you go on repeating
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your routine. And life has no obligation to fit with your routine. You have to fit with life.

               A VERY STRANGE, mysterious thing happened just twenty years ago in the world of modern
           physics. It destroyed the whole Aristotelian logic; it destroyed all ancient certainties. Physicists came
           to know that electrons move in a very strange way: they behave simultaneously as if they are
           particles and also as if they are waves. This is impossible! Either something can be a particle or it
           can be a wave. In the language of geometry, either something can be a point, a dot, or a line. but one
           thing cannot be both together: a point, a dot, and a line together. That is impossible. But that's what
           was happening.
               They observed and observed, and the behaviour was such that the electrons were behaving in a
           very illogical way. They tried hard to figure it out, to somehow manage the old Aristotelian logic,
           that A is A and A is never not A. That was the two-thousand-year-old thought, deep-rooted, that A
           can never not be A. And that's what was happening: the particle was behaving like a wave -- A was
           behaving not like A. Now what to do?
               It was difficult to discard Aristotle, very difficult -- a two thousand years' long love affair. But
           electrons have no obligation, they don't bother at all about Aristotle. They were saying "Get lost!"
           And finally the physicists had to agree with the electrons. And when they were asked again and
           again "How is it possible?" they said, "What can we do? It is not a question of possible or not
           possible -- it is happening! It is so! We understand that it is illogical, that it should not be so, but
           what can we do? We are helpless! The electrons don't believe in Aristotle."
               Aristotle has been discarded -- the two-thousand-year-old tradition of logic has become simply
           irrelevant.
               Another phenomenon happened after a few years: they came to know that when the electron
           moves from point A to B, in the middle it disappears. Moving from point A to B, you find it on the
           point A, then suddenly you find it on point B, but in the middle you don't find it at all.
               Now this is even more impossible. Somebody coming from Bombay to Poona; you find him in
           Bombay, and then you find him in Poona, and on the way nowhere is he found! This is strange,
           unbelievable, but what to do? That's how it is. So another great ancient idea simply had to be
           dropped. The old idea was that nothing can come out of nothing. Now that is happening: in the
           middle it is nothing, in the beginning it is something, in the end it is again something. So out of
           something nothing comes, and out of nothing something comes again.
               But this has been the experience of the mystics always. This is new for modern physics, but this
           is not new for metaphysics -- this is very ancient. Mystics have never believed in Aristotle; they have
           always been anti-Aristotle -- they have always been illogical, because they don't know what the way
           of the electron is but they know their own inner consciousness. And there too they have observed
           these miracles: that the ego is something, comes out of nothing, and then disappears into nothing
           again. The ego arises out of nothing, becomes very solid, and then one day in meditation you simply
           find it has evaporated again.
               This has been one of the most ancient experiences about the ego: that one moment it is there,
           another moment it is not there, and again it is there. And this has been the experience about time too,
           that when you are in deep meditation time simply disappears and when you come out of meditation
           time is again there.
               The mystics have known it, that life follows no logic, that life is basically supra-logical, that life
           follows no reason, that fundamentally it is irrational. Conscience is very arbitrary, artificial. It gives
           you a fixed pattern, a fixed gestalt, and life goes on changing, and life is very uncertain, it id very
           zig-zag. Unless you are conscious you will not be able to live your life truly; your life will be only a
           pretension, a pseudo-phenomenon. You will always be missing the train.
               And always missing the train is what creates anguish in man. Just think of yourself always
           missing the train: rushing to the station, and whenever you reach the train is leaving the platform.
           That's what happens to the person who lives according to the conscience: he never catches the train.
           He cannot! He has a fixed gestalt, and life is a fluid phenomenon. He has a rocklike thing inside him
           and life is more like water.
               Be conscious. Don't ask how to grow, how to develop a conscience. Here we are trying to do just
           the opposite: destroying conscience -- the Christian conscience, the Hindu conscience, the
           Mohammedan conscience, the Jaina conscience -- we are destroying all kinds of conscience. And
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           consciences come in all shapes and all sizes.
              Consciousness is neither Christian nor Hindu nor Mohammedan -- it is simply consciousness.
           Conscience divides people, consciousness unites.
           Steven, forget all about conscience. You ask:

           HOW CAN ONE DEVELOP A CONSCIENCE -- SOMETHING WITHIN THAT WILL GUIDE
           ONE IN ONE'S EVERYDAY LIFE...?
               What is the need of carrying a guide with you? Consciousness is enough! Whenever a certain
           need arises, your consciousness will respond. You have a mirror, you will reflect it. And the answer
           will be spontaneous.

               When I was a student at university, my professors were very much worried about me. They were
           worried -- they loved me -- they were worried because I never prepared for the examinations. They
           were even worried that I might answer in such a way that the examiner may not even be able to see
           the point.
               My old professor, Dr. S. K. Saxena, he used to come just early in the morning to wake me up so
           that I could study a little bit. And he would sit in my room saying, "You do a little preparation." And
           he would leave me in the examination hall, then he would go home, because he was even worried
           that I may not go.
               And when it came to the final oral examination, he was very very worried, because I might say
           something that could offend the examiner. He was also present; he was the head of the department so
           he was present and the examiner was present. And he had told me, warned me again and again,
           "Simply stick to the question! Whatsoever he asks, you simply answer that. Don't go into any depth
           about it -- just a plain answer, the answer that is given in the books will do. And I will be there and if
           I see that you are going astray, I will just give you a push with my foot underneath the table -- so
           then come back again and just stick to the question."
               The first question and the problem arose. The professor who had come to examine asked, "What
           is the difference between Indian philosophy and Western philosophy?" And my professor became
           afraid, because he knew that the words 'Indian' and 'Western' were enough for me... and that was so. I
           said, "What do you mean by Indian? Can philosophy be Indian and Western also? Then philosophy
           can be Bengali and Maharashtran. If science is not Indian and Western, then why should philosophy
           be?"

               And my professor started hitting me, and I told my professor, "Don't hit me! You just keep
           yourself away. This is between me and him. You are not supposed to give me any hints.
               Now the old examiner was at a loss: what to do? Whatsoever he asked, I answered him by
           another question. He was at a loss because he was just carrying ready-made answers. I told him,
           "You look at a loss because you can't respond. Now, it is such a simple thing that philosophy is
           philosophy -- what has it to do with East and West? Say yes or no...!"

               But the fixed gestalt: Indian philosophy -- everything has to be Indian, everything has to be
           Western, everything has to be this and that... adjectives and adjectives. We can't think of this earth as
           one. We can't think of humanity as one. Now, what is Indian about Buddha? and what is Jewish
           about Jesus? Nothing at all. I have tasted both and the taste is the same. But borrowed knowledge
           always remains in you as a fixed thing, and whenever you respond out of your fixed ideas. your
           response falls short. It is not a true answer to the reality.
               So, Steven, there is no need to develop a conscience to guide you -- there is no need to have any
           guide! All that is needed is intelligence, awareness, consciousness, so that you can respond
           whatsoever the case is. Life brings challenges, you bring consciousness to those challenges. And
           meditation is a way of dropping conscience and moving into consciousness.
               The miracle is: if you can drop conscience, consciousness arises on its own -- because
           consciousness is a natural phenomenon. You are born with it; just the conscience has become a hard
           crust around it and is not allowing its flow. Conscience has become the rock and the small spring of
           consciousness is blocked by the rock. Remove the rock and the spring starts flowing. And with that
           spring your life starts moving in a totally different way that you have not even imagined before, you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           could not have even dreamt. And everything starts to fall in harmony with existence. And to be in
           harmony with existence is to be right -- not to be in harmony with existence is wrong.
              So conscience as such is the root cause of ALL wrong, because it doesn't allow you to fall in
           harmony with existence. And consciousness is always right just as conscience is always wrong.

                And you ask: CAN ONE LEARN TO INTENSIFY ONE'S FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS IN
           ORDER TO BRING ONE CLOSER TO A PLACE OF REAL BEING?
                Neither thoughts will help to bring you closer to your being nor feelings -- but feelings are better
           than thoughts, closer, but not yet the real thing. First one has to drop thoughts, then one has to drop
           feelings, so that the inner world becomes totally empty. In that emptiness your consciousness turns
           upon yourself and the reality is known.
                Truth is neither a thought nor a feeling nor an emotion. Truth is the experience of consciousness
           of itself. Soren Kierkegaard is right when he says: "Truth is subjectivity." Meditate and go on
           dropping... there are layers and layers and layers. Man is like an onion -- go on peeling. Meditation
           is the art of peeling the onion. And of course, when you peel the onion, tears come to the eyes -- that
           has to be accepted. It is painful. Go on peeling the onion till nothing is left in your hand -- that
           nothing is reality.
                You can call it God, you can call it nirvana, enlightenment, or whatsoever you want to call it.
           Names don't matter. But the real thing happens only when NOTHING has happened.

           The third question


              OSHO, I ALWAYS DREAM OF SEX AND SEX AND SEX -- WHY?

              Ram Das,

                ARE YOU A FOLLOWER of Morarji Desai? Something is basically wrong with you. Your
           dreams simply show that you are living a repressed life. Your dreams reflect how you are living your
           life. Your dreams are not just dreams -- they are reflections.
                In the waking time you must be repressing sex; then, naturally, it is bound to assert itself in your
           dreams. Dreams only indicate that you are doing something wrong with your life. When your life is
           really harmonious, lived consciously, dreams disappear -- all kinds of dreams disappear. Your whole
           sleep becomes dreamless. That is the indication that the transformation is happening -- that happens
           to every meditator. As meditation goes deeper, dreams start disappearing.
                But dreams show something about you. And you have to rethink, you have to rearrange your life.
           If you are dreaming only of sex, that simply shows you are sex-obsessed. And who is sex-obsessed?
           Whoever represses is bound to be obsessed by it. Your dreams cannot just be rejected as dreams -- as
           people do. They think they are just dreams, nothing to be worried about. Your dreams are symbolic.
           Your unconscious is trying to convey a certain message to you, that you are doing something wrong.
                Ram Das, sex is part of life. You cannot deny it -- you can transcend it, but you cannot deny it. If
           you deny it, you will create unnecessary complexities -- it will become an obsession. And it will
           create perversions in your life.
                Morarji Desai drinks his own urine -- not for no reason. It is a perversion. It is rooted in sexual
           repression. Sexual repression can take many kinds of perverted forms.

               Trying to fall asleep, a Greek shepherd is counting sheep: "One, two, three, four, five, hello
           darling...."

           Antonio: "Last night I had a night-a mare
           Angelo: "What-a happened?"
           Antonio: "I dreamt-a I was eating a-spaghetti
           Angelo: "Why is that so bad?"
              Antonio: "I woke up and a-the string on a-my pyjamas was a-gone."

              Now Italians go on and on with spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti. Dreams will reflect, dreams are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reflections. If sex is reflected in your dreams, reconsider your life. Drop all the old nonsense. You
           must be a typical Indian, Ram Das. That's what goes on in the Indian mind continuously. Even your
           saints are full of obsessive sex, because all ways to transcend sex have been denied them.
               You will be surprised to know that all kinds of sexual perversions were invented by monks and
           nuns. And these are the people who condemn. But psychologists say that homosexuality was
           invented by the monks and the nuns -- homosexuality is a religious phenomenon. And so are other
           things...
               If you repress something, nature is going to take revenge on you And remember, you cannot fight
           with nature. You can Will nature, not by fighting with it but by being with it. You can persuade
           nature to be with you and help you. And nature is very compassionate. But once you start fighting,
           you are bound to lose. Nature is vast and you are very tiny. It is like a wave fighting with the ocean,
           a small leaf fighting with the whole tree -- it is stupid! The wave can win, but not against the ocean
           -- with the ocean.
           And that's my basic teaching.
               Sex can be transcended and should be transcended, but transcendence has to be not against
           nature but with nature, Through nature. Accept your sexuality -- it is part of you! and a tremendously
           important part. You are born out of sex. Each cell of your body is a sex cell. Sex energy is your life
           energy! -- respect it, it is a gift from God. Understand it. Be more and more meditative about it. But
           drop all prejudices, drop all condemnations. because when you carry a condemnation you cannot
           understand a thing. Drop all judgements. Sex is sex -- it is a pure natural energy. With great
           acceptance, love, respect, meditate over it. Go deeper and deeper into it to see what exactly it is. And
           in that very seeing you will be going beyond it.
               The day one has known what sex energy really is, one has transcended. Sex disappears, but it
           disappears not by denying. But by understanding. And the disappearance is not really the destruction
           of the energy but a transformation. In existence nothing is ever destroyed, things are only
           transformed.
               It is sex when it is transformed that becomes love. And it is love when it is transformed that
           becomes prayer. And it is prayer in its ultimate transformation that becomes God.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, I DON'T ACCEPT YOUR CRITICISM OF SIGMUND FREUD. DO YOU ACCEPT A
              SANNYASIN WHO SOMETIMES SAYS NO TO WHAT YOU SAY? I AM NOT LESS NEUROTIC
              THAN FREUD, BUT I THINK THAT I CAN BECOME CREATIVE ONLY IF I LEARN TO ACCEPT THE
              NEUROTIC PART OF MYSELF. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THIS?

              Wolfgang,

               WHO HAS CRITICIZED SIGMUND FREUD? I was simply stating a few facts! To state a fact
           is not a criticism. If I call a blind man a blind man, I may be rude but I am not criticizing. I may be
           blunt, I may not be polite, but I am not criticizing.
               Freud was neurotic, and there are a thousand and one facts supporting this. Just look into Freud's
           biographies and you will come across those facts yourself. He was a homosexual. He wrote such
           stupid homosexual letters to a man that later on he asked the man again and again to destroy those
           letters, because when he became famous he was afraid that some day or other those letters would
           come to public notice.
               The major part of those letters was destroyed, but a few somehow survived. His whole life he
           was condemning homosexuality, and he had deep homosexual tendencies.
               It happens almost always that whatsoever you condemn in others is really your inner problem.
           The other is just a scapegoat.

             You say: I AM NOT LESS NEUROTIC THAN FREUD, BUT I THINK THAT I CAN
           BECOME CREATIVE ONLY IF I LEARN TO ACCEPT THE NEUROTIC PART OF MYSELF.

              That is true. That's what I teach here: accept it! Freud never accepted his neurotic part. He not
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only never accepted it: he tried to deny it, he tried to cover it up.

               Once Freud and Jung were travelling in a train, and they started talking about psychoanalysis.
           Suddenly Jung had a great idea -- he said, "You have psychoanalysed so many people, but you
           yourself are not psychoanalysed. It will be good if you also go through psychoanalysis. Somebody
           whom you have psychoanalysed and whose psychoanalysis is complete can psychoanalyse you!"
               And Freud became so afraid -- even just the idea -- that he started trembling and he fainted.
           When he came back he said, "I cannot allow that -- I cannot allow myself to be psychoanalysed. That
           will expose me."
           And Jung said, "Then you are already exposed."

               Freud never accepted that he had any psychological problems. He tried to deny them, because the
           fear was that if you have psychological problems, how can you be the founder of psychoanalysis? He
           tried to prove that he was superhuman -- and he was not a Buddha, he was not an enlightened person.
           He suffered from the same jealousies, paranoia, as everybody -- in fact more than the ordinary,
           average person.
               All his old colleagues left him by and by, and the reason was: he was so jealous -- anybody who
           was reaching closer to him, becoming famous, known, he would feel so jealous, so afraid, that a
           competitor was born, that he would start attacking him. He did that to Adler, to Jung, and to many
           others. ANYBODY, his OWN disciples -- he was afraid of his own disciples, that they would
           become competitors or they may prove themselves more important than he was. He could not
           conceive anybody being more important in the world of psychoanalysis.
               This is a very poor kind of mind, a very ordinary, mediocre mind. And he was so political that
           the whole movement of psychoanalysis was continuously in a turmoil. Conspiracies were going on
           for and against -- for this, against that. He was making his followers fight with each other, because
           that is the only way: divide and rule. He was putting one follower against another. He was running
           psychoanalysis as a political thing.
               I am not criticizing him. I have a great respect for the man -- in spite of all his faults he made a
           great breakthrough. In spite of all his human limitations he started a new dimension in human
           consciousness. He IS the founder of psychoanalysis, and Jung, Adler and others, nobody comes close
           to him; he was unnecessarily afraid. He was simply suffering from paranoia: nobody comes close to
           him! He was a giant among pygmies. But the giant was afraid of the pygmies. He was not aware of
           his own strength -- he was not aware at all; that is the problem.
           Wolfgang, I am not against Freud. And you ask me:

           DO YOU ACCEPT A SANNYASIN WHO SOMETIMES SAYS NO TO WHAT YOU SAY?
               Yes, that's what I teach. When your consciousness says no, say no. When your consciousness
           says yes, say yes. I don't create a conscience in you. I am not creating followers here -- no, not at all
           -- but friends. Your no is as much respected as your yes. That's the only way to show respect towards
           you You may not respect yourself, you may have a self-condemnatory attitude, but for me you are all
           potential Buddhas. How can I disrespect a Buddha? -- even though the Buddha is potential, even
           though you are in the seed. But I can see the flower!
               In Kirlian photography they have discovered one thing which is very significant: with very
           sensitive photoplates pictures can be taken of a bud, but the picture will show not the bud but the
           flower that is going to happen -- because before the bud opens, the energy field around the bud
           opens. Just a few hours before the bud really opens, its energy field opens. and Kirlian photography
           takes the photograph of the energy field. The bud has not opened yet, the bud is still a bud, but
           Kirlian photography can give you a picture of the future. It is not future for the sensitive plate -- for
           the sensitive plate it is already present.
               Through Kirlian photography, illnesses can be caught before they happen to you. To be precise: a
           few illnesses have been caught six months before they happened -- there was no possibility to even
           suspect that the man was going to fall ill after six months from a certain illness -- there is no way to
           know about it. Nothing has happened yet in the body, but something has happened in the energy
           field that surrounds the body. And Kirlian photography can take the photograph of the energy field
           and can infer through the photograph that this man is going to have cancer after six months. Now
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Kirlian photography is going to become a tremendously powerful instrument in the hands of the
           future medicine. If we can know six months before, then much can be done -- then nobody need fall
           ill. The illness can be prevented even before it has happened.
                And that's how I see you. Before my eyes you are not buds but flowers, before my eyes you are
           not seeds but fully grown trees -- great foliage, flowers, fruits. Before me you are Buddhas! Hence I
           call you 'friends'. Kabir calls his disciples: Friends, wake up!
                You are accepted, Wolfgang, with all your nos, with all your yeses -- you are accepted as you
           are. I don't make any condition. If you are ready to become a sannyasin, who am I to prevent you?
           The chance has to be given to you to grow, to be.

           The last question


              OSHO, WHY IS THE NEW GENERATION SUCH A PROBLEM TO THE PARENTS?

              Narayana,


               BECAUSE THE NEW GENERATION IS MORE INTELLIGENT. Intelligence brings
           problems. And it is natural that the new generation should be more intelligent. That's how evolution
           happens. Each new generation is going to be more intelligent than the preceding one. Your children
           will be more intelligent than you, and your children's children will be more intelligent than your
           children.
               It is a momentum, a gathering momentum. You are standing on the shoulders of the Buddhas --
           the whole part is yours. For example, in my being Buddha is a part,Jesus is a part, Abraham is a part,
           Krishna is a part, Mohammed is a part... in that way Buddha was poorer than me, Jesus was poorer
           than me. And some future enlightened person will be richer than me, because I will be part of his
           being but he cannot be part of my being. Evolution goes on gathering momentum.
               Each child should be more intelligent than the parents -- but that brings trouble, because that is
           what offends the parents. Parents would like to pretend that they are all-knowing. In the past it was
           easy to pretend because there was no other way to impart knowledge to the children than by the oral
           communication from the parents.
               For example, a carpenter's son would learn all that he would ever learn through the father. The
           father would not only be the father but the teacher also. And the son would always be in awe and
           respect of him, because the father knew so much -- he knew everything about all kinds of trees and
           wood and this and that, and the son knew nothing. He would have tremendous respect.
               Age used to be respected: the older a man was in the ancient days, the more wise, of course,
           because of his experiences. But now we have invented better means of communication. The father is
           no more the teacher; now the teaching profession is a totally different profession. The child goes to
           the school. The father had gone to the school thirty or forty years before. In these thirty, forty years
           there has happened a knowledge explosion. The child will learn something which the father is not
           aware of, and when the child comes home, how can he feel any awe? -- because he knows more than
           the father, he is more up to date than the father. The father seems to be out-moded.
               This is the problem, and this is going to be so more and more, because our expectations are old
           and we still want the child to respect the parents as he used to respect them in the past -- but the
           whole situation has changed. You will have to learn something new now: start respecting the child.
           Now, the new has to be respected more than the old. Start learning from the child because he knows
           better than you. When your son comes from the university, he certainly knows better than you.
               That has been my experience at university. One of my philosophy professors used to talk such
           nonsense, and the reason was that he had been to university thirty years before. In those days, when
           he was a student, Hegel and Bradley, they were the most important figures in the world of
           philosophy. Now nobody cares about Hegel and Bradley. Now Wittgenstein and G. E. Moore have
           taken their place.
               This professor had no idea of Wittgenstein, no idea of G.E. Moore. He was so outmoded that I
           had to tell him. "You are so old, so useless, that either you start reading what is happening now in
           philosophy or you stop teaching!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Naturally, he was angry -- I was expelled from the university. He wrote a letter to the vice
           chancellor and said, "Either I am going to teach or this student is to remain in the university. but we
           cannot both remain together -- he is trouble."
               He was not ready to read Wittgenstein. In fact, I can understand his problem: even if he had read
           he would not have understood. Wittgenstein is a totally different world from Hegel. And he used to
           talk about Hume and Berkeley... which are rotten names, no more of any significance -- part of
           history, part of footnotes.
           This is the problem. You ask me, Narayana:

           WHY IS THE NEW GENERATION SUCH A PROBLEM TO THE PARENTS?

               They are not really a problem: your expectation that they should respect you, that they should
           respect you as children have always respected their parents -- it is impossible. You start respecting
           them. You start respecting the new. Age in itself cannot now be any reason for respect. Intelligence,
           consciousness, they should be respected. And if you respect your children, they will respect you. But
           only if you respect your children will they respect you. The old way was that you go on humiliating
           the children, you go on insulting them in every possible way, and they have to respect you -- now
           this cannot be so any more.

               The preacher's wife, while shopping, noticed a sign in the butcher's shop: "Dam Ham on Sale."
           Slightly taken aback by such a name, she confronted the butcher about the use of profanity, but was
           reassured when he explained that this was a new breed of hogs being raised up by Hoover Dam,
           hence the name 'Dam Ham'. She decided to take some home and fix it for her family that evening.
               When her husband arrived home, she was cooking and he asked, "What's for dinner? '
           "Dam ham," she replied.
               The minister, who had never heard such language in his house, began to reproach her, but after
           she explained he felt a little embarrassed for doubting his wife.
               That evening as they sat down to dinner with their six-year-old son, the minister said grace and
           then asked, "Pass the dam ham, please."
               The little kid looked up, his eyes got big, and he said, "Now you are talking, Dad. Pass the
           fucking potatoes too!"




                                   The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                   Chapter #12
                                              Chapter title: Who Am I?
           22 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904220
              ShortTitle: FISH12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 102 mins




              The first question


              HOW TO SACRIFICE THE EGO?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


              Deva Ahuti,


                IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. THE EGO CANNOT BE SACRIFICED because the ego exists not. The
           ego is just all idea: it has no substance in it. It is not something -- it is just pure nothing. You give it
           reality by believing in it. You can withdraw belief and the reality disappears, evaporates.
                The ego is a kind of absence. Because you don't know yourself, hence the ego. The moment you
           know yourself, no ego is found. The ego is like darkness; darkness has no positive existence of its
           own; it ii simply the absence of light. You cannot fight with darkness, or can you? You cannot throw
           darkness out of the room; you cannot take it out, you cannot take it in. You cannot do anything with
           darkness directly. If you want to do anything with darkness, you will have to do something with
           light. If you put the light on, there is no darkness; if you put the light off, there is darkness.
                Darkness is only the absence of light -- so is ego: absence of self-knowledge. You cannot
           sacrifice it.
                It has been told to you again and again: "Sacrifice your ego" -- and the statement is patently
           absurd, because something that does not exist cannot be sacrificed. And if you try to sacrifice it,
           something which is not there in the first place at all, you will be creating a new ego -- the ego of the
           humble, the ego of the egoless, the ego of the person who thinks he has sacrificed his ego. It will be
           a new kind of darkness again.
                No, I don't say to you: Sacrifice the ego. On the contrary, I say: Try to see where the ego is. Look
           DEEP into it; try to locate it, where it exists, whether it exists at all or not. Before one can sacrifice
           anything one must be certain about its existence.
                But don't be against it from the very beginning. If you are against it, you cannot look deep into it.
           There is no need to be against anything. The ego is your experience -- maybe it is just apparent, but
           it is still your experience. Your whole life moves around the phenomenon of the ego. It may be a
           dream.
           But to you it is so true.
                There is no need to be against it. Dive deep into it, go into it. Going into it means bringing
           awareness into your house, bringing light into darkness. Be alert, watchful. Watch the ways of the
           ego, how it functions, how it manages at all. And you will be surprised: the deeper you go into it, the
           less it is found. And when you have penetrated to the very core of your being, you will find
           something totally different which is not ego, which is egolessness. It is self, supreme self -- it is God.
           You have disappeared as a separate entity; you are no more an island, now you are part of the whole.
                In that experience of being one with the whole, the ego IS sacrificed, but that is only a way of
           speaking, a metaphor. Don't take it literally.
                Try to understand the ego. Analyse it, dissect it, watch it, observe it, from as many angles as
           possible. And don't be in a hurry to sacrifice it, otherwise the greatest egoist is born: the person who
           thinks he is humble, the person who thinks that he has no ego.
                That is again the same story played on a more subtle level. That's what the religious people have
           been doing down the ages: pious egoists they have been. They have made their ego even more
           decorated; it has taken the colour of religion and holiness. Your ego is better than the ego of a saint;
           your ego is better, far better -- because your ego is very gross, and the gross ego can be understood
           and dropped more easily than the subtle. The subtle ego goes on playing such games that it is very
           difficult. One will need absolute awareness to watch it.
                The ego of the sinner is more easily dropped than the ego of the saint. And the saint can always
           manage to pretend. And his ego is so polished, so decorated, so holy, so sanctified by tradition, by
           convention, by the crowd, that he may almost forget about it.
                The real search is not to make your ego humble; that is ego standing upside-down, ego doing
           SHIRSHASAN -- headstand. Avoid it. Rather, follow a totally different path: meditate on the
           phenomenon of ego, enquire what it is. And as the enquiry deepens, the ego disappears. Enquiring
           into the ego you will come to the self.
                And remember: the self has nothing to do with the ego, because the self has nothing to do with
           you at all. The self is always the supreme self: AHAM BRAHMASMI! -- I am God! At that point,
           you are not, only God is: Tat-tvam-asi -- thou art that. At that point, there is no distinction between
           thou and that. The dewdrop has disappeared into the ocean and has become the ocean itself.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              But no sacrifice -- the non-substantial cannot be sacrificed, it can only be understood. And in the
           very understanding is the disappearing. And this disappearance is beautiful, because it does not leave
           any traces behind, no scars, no wounds.

           The second question


              OSHO, WHAT IS RATIONALIZATION? I AM ASKING THIS QUESTION BECAUSE MY HUSBAND IS
              A PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND WHATSOEVER I SAY HE ALMOST ALWAYS SAYS IT IS
              NOTHING BUT A RATIONALIZATION.

              Malti,

               RATIONALIZATION IS A TRICK OF THE MIND to deceive not only others but yourself too.
           Your husband may be practising rationalization himself. Whenever he says to you, "This is a
           rationalization," it may be nothing but a rationalization on his part. He wants to avoid, he wants to
           escape; he does not want to answer directly. He condemns you.
               And of course he uses a big, very big word: rationalization. And naturally the wife is cowed
           down -- there must be something wrong. And the husband knows, and he is a professor of
           philosophy, so he is bound to know. He is practising rationalization himself.
               Rationalization is not true reasoning; it is a strategy, a pretension. It pretends to be rational but it
           is not.

           "Why do you drink?" asked Hogan.
           "Booze killed me mother," answered Kehoe, "and booze killed me father -- I am drinking for
           revenge!"

              This is a rationalization. If you want to drink, drink! But this is a very subtle way of deceiving
           yourself and others.

               From a diary of an Italian girl on a Caribbean cruise:
               Monday -- was invited to dine at the Captain's table.
           Tuesday -- spent the day with the Captain.
               Wednesday -- Captain made ungentlemanly proposals to me.
               Thursday -- Captain said he would sink the ship if I did not agree to his proposals.
           Friday -- saved five hundred lives.

               This is rationalization. Man is very cunning; man's cunningness is unlimited. And people go on
           doing things in the name of reason.
               Today Acharya Vinoba Bhave is going to start his fast unto death -- because he wants a total ban
           on cow slaughter. He calls it his religious duty. How can this be a religious duty? This is blackmail;
           this is threatening the country. And from where has he got the idea? He says that his mother
           appeared in his dream and told him, "This is the work that you have to do."
               Now, for his dream, and a mother of the dream, he is threatening the country: "I will commit
           suicide if you don't listen to me." But rather than saying it directly, "I will commit suicide," he says
           he will fast unto death.
               And these people are thought to be saintly, and these people are thought to be great preachers of
           non-violence. That's exactly what his master, Mahatma Gandhi, did his whole life; now he is
           perpetuating the rotten tradition. For these thirty years at least, India has suffered from these people
           -- and there seems to be no end to it.
               This is called non-violence. If I threaten somebody that "I will kill you if you don't listen to me,"
           I will be caught by the police. I will be a criminal against the law. But if I threaten that "I will kill
           myself if you don't listen to me," this is thought to be some holy act.
               This is strange that nobody says, "These people should immediately be caught and brought into
           the court -- because they are threatening suicide, and it is a crime against the law." Any attempt to
           commit suicide is a crime against the law. But Vinoba Bhave is a saint.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Morarji Desai went to see him to persuade him: "Don't do it!" because he himself has been doing
           it, the same thing. That's how he bas come in power: by threatening to commit suicide.
                These are subtle ways of coercion, violence. Who is one single person to decide for the whole
           country? Then somebody can say, "I will fast unto death unless everybody stops smoking -- because
           my mother appeared in the dream and she said, 'Son, this great work you have to do.'"
                Coercion becomes non-violence. A threat to commit suicide becomes a beautiful thing when you
           call it 'fast unto death'! And rather than being caught by the police and brought before the court, the
           prime minister runs, the ministers are running and everybody is trying to persuade him: "Don't go on
           your fast unto death." And nobody is saying that this is a crime!
                These are rationalizations. One can do anything if one has a cunning and clever mind to
           rationalize it.
                Malti, sometimes you may be rationalizing -- watch it. But my own experience of women is that
           they are not great rationalizers -- men are bigger rationalizers, because women live more intuitively,
           more instinctively, and man lives more through the head, through reason.
                Women don't bother much about logic. Their behaviour is more or less illogical -- instinctive,
           spontaneous. They don't try to masquerade it in a logical way; they simply jump from one point to
           another without bothering about the Aristotelian process of logic. They simply jump! Their leaps are
           quantum, from one point to another. You cannot see what the bridge is, how they manage to get from
           one point to another. Their ways are totally different from men's.
                Malti, more possibility is that your husband is rationalizing, that this is his way of putting you
           down. He uses philosophical jargon: rationalization. And, of course, you become afraid -- you have
           done something wrong. I can't think, Malti, that you can do much of a rationalization; women don't
           indulge in it. But it is better to understand, because to be with a husband who is a professor of
           philosophy it is better to understand what rationalization is. And now, next time, whatsoever your
           husband says, you simply say, "This is a rationalization,' and watch what happens.

                Just the other day I was reading about a psychiatrist who was mending his car, and his boy was
           playing with a little girl from the neighbourhood on the balcony on the first story. And down below
           he was tinkering with his car.
                Suddenly the boy pushed the girl from the balcony and she fell down on the ground. The father
           was, of course, angry. He looked up and before he could say anything, the boy asked, "Dad, can you
           tell me why I did it? You are supposed to be the psychoanalyst, psychiatrist -- tell me why I did it."

               Next time your husband says anything, don't be worried about it -- just say, "This is a
           rationalization." He is using a big word; a few people are obsessed with big words. But
           rationalization is a subtle process; people indulge in it -- men more. I have rarely come across a
           woman who indulges in rationalization; except the lib women nobody indulges in rationalization.
           They are following all the way the footsteps of men.
               But it is good to understand what it is, and if you indulge in it, it is better not to indulge in it. It is
           a camouflage. It is better to be authentic, true, rather than hiding yourself behind smoke screens.
               Now, it will be good if Vinoba Bhave simply says, "I want to impose my will on this country,"
           that will be simple. "I am ready to die if my will is not accepted." But that he will not say, "I want to
           impose my will on this country," because then he will be exposed: "Who are you to impose your
           will? This is a democracy. You cannot impose your will. You have a single vote -- a single vote
           equal to everybody else's vote. Nobody's vote is more valuable, so who are you?"
           But this is how this goes on....
               Morarji Desai wants to impose prohibition on the country. Who are you to impose such things?
           Then where is freedom and where is democracy? Yes, if you are against alcohol, teach, express
           yourself, argue, persuade... that's what democracy means. Persuade people! If you are against cow
           slaughter, go around and persuade people not to eat cow meat. But threatening that you will commit
           suicide is very totalitarian dictatorial, undemocratic. It is a crime against the people, against the law,
           against democracy.
               But you can hide the fact in religious terminology, you can go on doing something with a mask.
           And people wear masks: rationalization is one of the ways of wearing masks.
               Be true. Be authentic. There is no need to be untrue, because the more untrue you become, the
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           farther and farther you will be from God.
               I am not worried about your husband -- I am worried about your being farther and farther away
           from God. If you indulge in strategies like rationalization, you will never come closer to your own
           inner self where God resides. Drop all false faces so that you can find your original face. And to find
           the original face is the greatest blessing and the greatest benediction in life.

           The third question


               OSHO, WHEN THIS QUESTION ARISES -- WHO AM I? -- I GET VERY AFRAID. IS THERE
               SOMETHING TO BE SAID ABOUT IT?

               Prem Dada,

               THIS QUESTION MAKES EVERYBODY AFRAID. It is nothing exceptional; it is absolutely
           the case with everybody. Whoever wants to go deep into the question, into the quest, of "Who am I?"
           is bound to feel fear at a certain point. Why? Because there comes a point where you cross the
           boundary of the ego and enter into the world of egolessness. That point is the point of great fear --
           because it looks like death. And, in fact, it is a kind of death: the ego disappears.
               And up to now that has been your identity. Up to now that's what you have been thinking you
           are. And suddenly it starts evaporating. A great fear grips the heart: "I am dying!" because your
           identity is dying. You are not really dying; in fact, you are being born. It is a rebirth, it is a true birth.
               It is like the seed dying into the soil. The seed must be feeling afraid, nervous, trembling. How
           can the seed trust that once he is gone there will be a great tree and great flowering? The seed will
           not be there to witness it; no seed has ever witnessed it, so how can this seed believe and trust?
               And the same happens with the ego: the ego cannot trust that there is anything more than itself
           And the ego is dying, and the ego starts breathing its last, and you become afraid. Many people turn
           back from that point, rush back out.
               This is going to happen to every meditator. Hence, Dada, your question is significant, very
           significant. Every meditator has to encounter this situation, this challenge. ManY times people come
           to the point from where they would have entered into God, but they could not risk, they could not
           gather courage. They became afraid, scared; they rushed out.
               You have to take the risk. And I tell you, from my own experience, it is not death. Yes, it is a
           death to the ego, but the death of the ego is the birth of the soul. You will die as a drop, but you will
           be born as the ocean. It is worth it. You will be dying only as a limited being, as a defined being, and
           you will be born as undefined, undefinable.
               Yes, you will disappear, with all your neurosis, psychosis. with all your tensions, anxieties,
           anguishes: you will disappear with all your problems, worries; you will disappear as you have
           known yourself up to now. But your disappearance is only a change of garments, and you will be
           getting closer to your reality, deeper into your reality. You will get more rooted into being.
           That's the whole search!

               You ask me: WHEN THIS QUESTION ARISES -- WHO AM I? -- I GET VERY AFRAID.

                It is natural. It is a good sign that you are coming closer to the boundary. You may be standing
           exactly on the boundary; that's why whenever the question arises, immediately you become afraid.
           Feel blessed that you are so close to the boundary from where a totally new world and a totally new
           life can have a start. Just one single step... and you will be a new man, and you will be an original
           man. Just a single step, and all the garbage that the society has dumped on you will have dropped,
           and you will be just a pure consciousness. You will have wings! Now you are just crawling on the
           earth... and then you will be able to soar high towards the sun.
                To be with a Master simply means to learn trust, to learn the art of risking, to learn the ways of
           adventuring into the unknown. Yes, the sea is uncharted, and it is dangerous to leave the shore, but it
           is only the people who leave the shore who taste something of immortality. It is only the people who
           take the risk of going into danger who really live; others only pass through life, but they really don't
           live. Others only vegetate; others only move through empty gestures.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So now this is a very decisive moment for you. You can go back, you can cling to your identity,
           or you can go ahead, not looking hack at all. Be courageous! I can only say this much: that the same
           has happened to me, the same fear -- it is human. I had also gone back and forth. To cross this line is
           really difficult. But sooner or later, one decides -- because going and coming back does not help.
           And once you have come so close to the line, you cannot be satisfied with your ordinary life any
           more. So you can go out, but there you will find everything has become meaningless. Now you will
           be in a dilemma.
               And this is the work of a Master: to create the dilemma. The without becomes meaningless, and
           the within seems to be dangerous. To live the ordinary life again becomes impossible, and to take the
           jump into the new also seems impossible. But sooner or later, one decides to take the jump --
           because what is the point of clinging to something that has become meaningless, which has lost all
           significance! How long can you cling to it?
               The Master waits, the Master remains patient. He allows you to go back and forth, he goes on
           watching that you are shunting in and out. But he knows one thing: that every day the outer will go
           on losing its significance more and more. One day it will be utterly useless, absurd, to be there. And
           as the outer loses significance, the inner will become more and more magnetic -- simultaneously the
           process happens.
               And one day it becomes irresistible -- one has to cross the line. And that day is the greatest day in
           a human being's life, when you drop your old identity and enter into the unknown -- you have
           encountered God, you have come home.

           The fourth question


              OSHO, I ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT AN AMERICAN, A CHINESE, AN AFRICAN, A SWEDE, AN
              INDIAN, COULD BE HAPPY AND CONTENT AND COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER
              DESPITE THEIR VARYING COLOURS, HABITS, BELIEFS, ETCETERA, JUST AS LONG AS THEY
              WERE NATURAL AND HONEST WITH THEMSELVES AND EACH OTHER. WHY IS MANKIND
              MAKING THIS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MANKIND?

              Darius M. Mody,

                IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE BELIEFS and still live in peace. The belief is the root cause of
           all conflict. Only a world of agnostic seekers can be one. Believers cannot allow the world to be one.
                For example, the Christian believes that it is only through Christ that salvation is possible -- now,
           how is a Mohammedan going to tolerate it? The very idea is a danger for him. He believes that only
           through Mohammed is true salvation possible. And how can this be tolerated by the Buddhist who
           thinks that except for Buddha there has never been another enlightened person? Buddha and
           Mahavira lived together, they were contemporaries, but Buddhists don't think that Mahavira is
           enlightened; neither do Jainas, the followers of Mahavira, think that Buddha is enlightened. Now,
           how is a Jaina going to believe that Jesus is enlightened? -- because he is not a vegetarian, he is a
           non-vegetarian. How can a non-vegetarian become enlightened? The belief of the Jaina is that one
           who becomes enlightened is bound to be vegetarian. How can he kill? His belief is going to become
           a barrier.
                And ask the Christian -- he cannot believe in Mahavira because he never helped the poor. Just
           standing under a tree naked, meditating with closed eyes, looks very selfish to the Christian.
           Mahavira should have opened at least a few hospitals, schools; he never did anything. He did not do
           any miracles either -- giving eyes to the blind, raising dead people back to life. What kind of
           enlightened person is he? No miracle, no service to humanity -- only talks about non-violence, but
           no compassion in his acts, in deed. The Christian cannot believe that Buddha is enlightened. What
           service has he done for humanity...?
                Now, these differing beliefs divide people. Belief is the way of division. Humanity can be one
           only when people drop beliefs. And that's what I am trying to do here. Be an enquirer, don't be a
           believer. Enquire into truth, but don't start with a prejudice -- don't start as a Christian or a
           Mohammedan or a Hindu.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Darius, you say: I ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT AN AMERICAN, A CHINESE, AN
           AFRICAN, A SWEDE, AN ITALIAN, ALL COULD BE HAPPY AND CONTENT AND
           COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER DESPITE THEIR VARYING COLOURS, HABITS,
           BELIEFS, ETCETERA, JUST AS LONG AS THEY WERE NATURAL AND HONEST WITH
           THEMSELVES AND EACH OTHER.
                The American believes in the American way of life, and the Indian believes in the Indian way of
           life -- the conflict is there. And the Indian believes that India is the only holy country in the world,
           the only religious country in the world. American. The very word smells of materialism. To the
           Indian mind, the word 'American' means something absolutely irreligious, unholy. The American
           represents to him the man of indulgence.
                And to the American the Indian symbolizes snobbery, hypocrisy, egoism. How can these people
           meet? The American has to drop his being American, and the Indian has to drop his being Indian.
           We have to start thinking in terms of the whole earth. Religious beliefs, political beliefs, beliefs of
           all kinds, divide people. And, hence, all beliefs are dangerous, poisonous.
                You can see here, Darius, people of all races, all countries, all religions, meeting -- with NO
           problem. And never is it being told to them: "Be tolerant of others" -- because the very idea of being
           tolerant carries intolerance in it. Why should it be told to somebody: "Be tolerant of others"? It
           simply means that there is intolerance and one has to learn to tolerate.
                It is never told here to anybody that Hinduism and Christianity and Islam all mean the same
           thing; to say so means that you are suspicious. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that the Koran and the
           Gita and the Dhammapada, they all mean the same thing. And with great effort he used to try to find
           similarities -- why bother? The very effort shows that there is suspicion. And the effort cannot
           succeed, because they are not similar. The Koran has its own beauty and the Gita has its own beauty,
           and they are not similar, not at all.
                Trying to impose similarity on such unique, original scriptures is really sickening. How can
           Mahavira and Krishna have the same message? It is not. Just think if Arjuna had told Mahavira, "I
           want to renounce the world and the war and I want to go to the forest" -- Mahavira would have
           immediately initiated him into renunciation. He would have said, "That's what you should have done.
           It is already late; but, still, good. War is violence, and it is good that an insight is born in you --
           renounce the world and go to the forest."
                But Krishna persuaded him not to go to the forest: "Fight the war because this is your duty. And
           your very being is such that you can only be a warrior; your type is such. Renunciation won't suit
           you, it won't fit you. You will be a misfit, and even in the forest you will start hunting; you will not
           be able to meditate, you will hunt. I know you well, I know you from your very childhood. And all
           this nonsense that you are talking about is nothing but a rationalization. You are not against war!"
           And he was not -- Krishna was right, his insight was deep -- he was not against war. He was really
           against killing his own people.
                The war was a family war between brothers, and on both the sides were relatives. Because the
           fight was between cousin-brothers, all the relatives had to divide -- a few had gone to this side, a few
           to that side. One brother was on this side, another brother was on that side. Even Krishna himself had
           divided; his army was fighting on the other side and he himself was fighting with Arjuna, because
           both were his friends and both had asked his help. So he had said, "You can choose: one can take my
           army and one can take me."
                Arjuna's own teacher from whom he had learnt all that he knew about war, who had made him a
           perfect warrior, Drona, he was on the other side -- his own master, from whom he had learnt archery,
           he was fighting on the other side. It was really a family war. And Arjuna was not against war: he was
           against killing one's own people. Seeing the whole war-field full of his own people -- a few on this
           side, a few on that side -- and both would be killed and many would be killed -- he started thinking,
           "What is the point of it all? Killing my own family! It is better I should renounce."
                He was not against violence. If his own people had not been involved, he would have enjoyed the
           war like anything. Krishna persuaded him to see the fact that he was rationalizing; all this nonsense
           talk about non-violence, no war, peace, renunciation, was just a rationalization. He forced him to see
           the trick of his mind.
                Now, how can you say Mahavira and Krishna are saying the same thing? They are not saying the
           same thing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               My own experience is this, that all those who have become enlightened in the world -- and
           Moses is enlightened, and Zarathustra is enlightened, and Lao Tzu is enlightened and Mohammed
           and Jesus and Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Kabir, and many many more -- what they have
           experienced is the same. But still their personalities are so different, their individuality is so unique,
           that their expressions are utterly different and you cannot force by ally strategy to make it appear that
           they are saying the same thing -- they are not.
               Their experience is the same, their ultimate experience is the same, but their choice of how life
           should be lived, how that ultimate experience should be approached, is totally different. Their paths
           are different, their goal may be the same -- but the goal will be known only when you have arrived,
           not before that. Before the goal you will have to follow the path.

               MAHATMA GANDHI WAS TRYING somehow to prove that the Mohammedan and the Hindu
           and the Jaina are all saying the same thing. It was a forgery, because he was choosing from the
           Koran only sentences which are harmonious with the Gita, and not choosing sentences which are
           disharmonious with the Gita. The Gita is his criterion. He calls the Gita his mother, but he does not
           call the Koran his father. The Gita is his mother; he remains a Hindu, basically a Hindu. And
           according to the Gita he goes on finding... wherever anything can be found which is similar, he
           chooses it, picks it up; but anything that is not similar to the Gita, he simply drops it, he forgets all
           about it.
               This is not a right approach. And still he could not convince anybody. In fact, the very effort was
           futile, an exercise in futility -- he could not convince the Mohammedans, he could not convince the
           Hindus. Mohammedans remained Unconvinced; they continued demanding a separate country, and
           they succeeded in having a separate country. And he could not convince the Hindus -- in fact, one
           Hindu murdered him, one fanatic Hindu murdered him. He could not convince anybody.
               And I cannot believe that he convinced himself either. His whole life he was singing in his
           ashram: "ALLAH-ISHWAR TERI nam -- Allah and Ishwar, both are thy names!" But when he was
           shot dead, Allah didn't come to his heart. When the bullet passed into his heart, he cried, "Ram!" not
           Allah -- "Hey Ram!" That is very decisive. At that moment all philo-sophizing was forgotten, the
           real Hindu surfaced. He could not remember Allah at that moment, could not remember Buddha,
           could not remember Mahavira. The person he remembered was Ram -- the Hindu ideal, the Hindu
           incarnation of God. That shows that he could not even convince himself -- what to say of others?
               In this place I am not trying to convince anybody, and still things are happening. I am not trying
           to bring a synthesis of all religions, because I know it is utterly futile. They ARE different, they are
           unique. And I respect their uniqueness. In fact, the world is richer because there is a Koran and there
           is a Gita and there is a Dhammapada. The world is richer because Zarathustra happened, Lao Tzu
           happened, Buddha happened; the world is richer because there is Nanak and Kabir and Farid. So
           many different flowers! The world is a beautiful garden.
               And the rose is not the lotus, and the lotus is not the rose -- both are flowers, both have bloomed,
           that is true. Buddha has bloomed and Jesus has bloomed -- both are flowers -- but a rose is a rose and
           a lotus is a lotus. And it is good that not all are roses, that not all are lotuses.
               But something very mysterious is happening here, Darius, you can see: all kinds of people are
           here, from almost every country, from every religion, and nobody teaches them to be tolerant and
           nobody teaches them to be respectful of the other's religion. These things are simply not talked
           about, and still nobody is intolerant. In fact, nobody thinks in terms that the other is other. This is a
           totally different vision.
               My approach is that you have to drop -- not to imbibe tolerance, not to imbibe a certain
           synthesis, manipulated, man-made -- you have to drop this whole nonsense of the American way of
           life and the Indian way of life and the Chinese way of life. You have to drop this whole nonsense
           that "I am a Hindu, Mohammedan, Parsi, Sikh." You are just a human being! Maybe your colour is
           different -- so what? It is good that there are people of different colours, different flowers. Your hair
           is different -- good! It makes life more worth living, more interesting. The variety gives richness.
               Your idea, Darius, that people can live in harmony even though they have different beliefs is
           wrong. Those different beliefs are the problem. In fact, to believe is to go wrong: knowing is good,
           believing is wrong. Enquiring is good, gathering prejudice is wrong. Be a seeker and be an agnostic.
               By 'agnostic' is meant: say clearly to others and to yourself that "I don't know -- so how can I
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cling to any belief? I was born in a Hindu family, so I have been taught the Hindu religion by my
           parents, but I don't know what is right and what is wrong -- it is just incidental. Had I been brought
           up by a Christian, I would have believed in the Christian religion in the same way. Or, if I had been
           born in Soviet Russia then I would have been a communist; then I would not have believed in the
           trinity of God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Ghost. I would have believed in a totally
           different trinity: Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the Kremlin would have been my Kaaba, and DAS
           KAPITAL would have been my Bhagavad Gita."
                Just see -- it is simple! Nobody is born a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian -- these things
           are imposed on you. This is ugly that these things are imposed on you. In a really free world no
           religion will be imposed on anybody. All religions will be available to everybody! One should be
           free to shop around. One can go to the temple, to the mosque, to the gurudwara, and one can move
           around, do a little religious shopping; one can look into the Koran and the Bible and the Vedas, and
           decide on one's own.
                Parents should not decide the religion of their children. It should be a crime against humanity to
           force any child into any religion. Yes, parents should teach the child to enquire and how to enquire.
           They should make available to him all alternatives, so if the child wants one day to become a
           Mohammedan, you may be a Hindu but if your child wants to become a Mohammedan, it is perfectly
           good. You should be happy your child has chosen a religion. It is good that he is becoming religious.
           How does it matter where he will pray? -- in the temple or in the mosque. The only thing that matters
           is that he will pray.
                But now, right now, that is not the case. Nobody is interested in prayer: everybody is interested --
           where? Nobody is interested in making you really religious; everybody is interested in making you a
           Christian, Catholic, Protestant, this and that. This is an ugly situation -- and that divides people.
                We have to fight for a world where children will not be forced into any religion. And every child
           should be given all opportunities to choose. Who knows what is going to fit him? My own
           observation is that it happens that a man is born in a Jaina family, but he is not that type -- he is not
           the type of Mahavira. Then his whole life he will be doing something for which he is not meant. He
           will follow Mahavira, but his heart will not be in it. His heart can go far more deeply with Meera,
           with Krishna -- but that is not possible, he is a Jaina. And vice versa: a man may be born into a
           family which worships Krishna but seeing Krishna no bells ring in his heart. Then what is he
           supposed to do? Pretend? Be a hypocrite? Go on believing because his parents are Hindus so he has
           to remain a Hindu? Seeing the statue of Mahavira naked, silent, his heart may be stirred, he may feel
           a new fluttering in his being, a new energy, a new flash of lightning. It may click! Then that is his
           religion.
                Religion has to be found by your own heart. All religions are good. All religions are different.
           All religions are ways: They reach the same goal. But nobody can follow all the ways. If you follow
           all the ways you will go crazy. You have to follow one way, knowing perfectly well that all the ways
           are leading to the same peak of the mountain. Still one has to follow one way.
                But if the beginning is not a belief but enquiry, the world will be totally different. Darius, with
           beliefs it is not possible. Habits are okay; habits are going to be different.
                In the Indian atmosphere there will be different habits. But habits are not a big problem; you can
           understand that in a cold country there will be different habits than in a hot country. That is very
           natural. But beliefs have nothing to do with cold or hot, beliefs have nothing to do with climate.
           Beliefs have nothing to do with nature: beliefs are man-made. Beliefs are all basically political,
           tactics, strategy, to manipulate the crowds, to control the crowds.

               You ask: WHY IS MANKIND MAKING THIS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MANKIND?
           BECAUSE MAN IS NOT YET BORN: mankind exists only in theory. Once a man said to George
           Bernard Shaw. "What do you think of civilization?" He said, "It is a good idea, but somebody has to
           try it."
               Mankind is also a good idea -- but somebody has to try it. It has not yet happened.
               Humanity has not yet arrived. Hindus are there, Mohammedans are there, Christians are there,
           Indians and Germans and Italians are there, but humanity has not yet arrived. It is a simple word, but
           empty, with no substance.
               If somebody asks you, "Darius, who are you?" it is almost impossible to conceive that you will
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say, "A human being." You will say, "A Christian, a Hindu, a Parsi, a Mohammedan...." You may
           say, "A doctor, an engineer, a professor, a scientist..." so on and so forth, ad nauseam, but almost
           impossible to comprehend, even to imagine that you will say, "A human being."
               And if you say it, the other person who is asking will feel that you are a little crazy or something.
           "Yes, of course, you are a human being! But I am asking: who are you?"
               Humanity has yet to happen, and we have to prepare the ground for humanity to happen. It can
           happen only by dropping ALL kinds of beliefs. It can happen only by creating a great upsurge of
           enquiry, creating an atmosphere, a space, in which belief simply means that you are ignorant -- you
           don't know, still you are trying to pretend that you know. Belief is not knowing but a deception.
               A real man does not believe. Either he knows or he does not know. If somebody asks you, "Does
           God exist?" if you are honest, sincere, you cannot say, "I believe in God, I believe that he exists."
           And you cannot say, "I don't believe in God, and I say that he does not exist." No. If you are a
           sincere man, if you have any respect for truth, you will say, "I don't know. I am searching, seeking. I
           am neither a believer nor a non-believer. I am a seeker, a searcher."
               And the day you know, do you think you will believe then? Then there will be no need to
           believe. You don't believe in the sun! You don't see people fighting that the sun exists, that the sun
           does not exist, that the sun rises in the east or the sun rises in the west, south, north -- you don't see
           people fighting. Everybody knows the sun rises in the east, and everybody knows that the sun IS --
           there IS no question of belief.
               If you ask me, "Do you believe in God?" I will say, "No, because I know God is. I need not
           believe." Knowing is the real thing; belief is just a camouflage, a cover-up.
               Help people to drop beliefs. Help people to become enquirers. Help people to start functioning
           from not knowing. And that is the state of meditation: to function from a state of not knowing is to
           function meditatively. To function from the state of knowledge is to miss the whole point.
           Knowledge is always old and life is never old. Knowledge and life never meet.
               Hence I am using the word 'knowing' deliberately, instead of 'knowledge'. 'Knowledge' is a noun,
           'knowing' is a verb. Knowing is a flow, knowledge is static. Knowledge has a full point, knowing has
           no full point -- it is simply an ongoing process. One never knows God in the sense of knowledge;
           one only knows God in the sense of knowing. Yes, there is a beginning, but then there is no end. One
           goes on knowing more and more and more, and the more one knows, the more one feels there is
           more to knower.

               You say, Darius: I ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT JUST AS LONG AS THEY WERE
           NATURAL AND HONEST WITH THEMSELVES AND EACH OTHER, THEY COULD ALL BE
           HAPPY AND CONTENT AND COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER DESPITE THEIR
           VARYING COLOURS, HABITS, BELIEFS, ETCETERA.
               But how can people be natural and honest when they are carrying so many beliefs? To be natural
           means to be without any belief Children are natural, but you are not natural. Animals are natural, but
           you are not natural. Trees are natural, but you are not natural. And what has made you unnatural and
           artificial? Your belief system.
               But it is very difficult to drop the belief system. And how can you be honest if you believe? It is
           a contradiction in terms, to be honest and to believe. If somebody says, "I believe in God," he is
           saying, "I don't know -- I have heard, I have been taught, I have been told. I believe in God; I don't
           know myself " How can he be honest? This is the beginning of dishonesty. Not knowing himself,
           and still believing, what more dishonesty can there be?
               Parents teach their children, "Believe in God and be honest." This is such a contradiction in
           terms: "Believe in God and be honest!" Only one is possible: either you can believe in God, then you
           cannot be honest; or you can be honest, then you have to say clearly and loudly, "I cannot believe in
           God, because I don't know."
               But this is a double bind that is being created in every person. You are taught contradictory
           things -- hence your schizophrenic state. You are taught such contradictory things that you remain
           split. And you have been taught so long that you don't see the contradiction either. The so-called
           religious person -- Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu -- he cannot be honest. If he is honest, he cannot
           be Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan. How can you be honest and still believe that Christ was born
           of a virgin mother? Just tell me -- how can you be honest and still believe it? How can you be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           honest? Deep down you know it is not possible. Children are not born of virgin mothers.
                How can you be honest and still believe that when a snake attacked Mahavira, instead of blood,
           milk flowed from his foot? How can you believe it -- and still be honest? There is only one
           possibility, that in Mahavira's body instead of blood milk was circulating. But to keep milk
           circulating for so long -- he must have been nearabout fifty when this snake attacked him -- milk
           would have turned into curd long before.
                And curd cannot flow. Mahavira would have been dead long before. How can you be honest and
           still believe in this? If you are honest, questions will arise. And if you believe, you have to be
           dishonest -- you have to repress your questions.
                Man can be natural and honest, but then beliefs have to be dropped -- all kinds of beliefs have to
           be dropped. And dropping the beliefs, your energy is freed, and that same energy becomes enquiry,
           and that same energy can take you to the ultimate truth.
                People are so religious, so fanatically religious, that I have heard:

           "Is your grandfather a religious man?" asked the young coed of her date.
           "He is so Orthodox," replied the boy, " when he plays chess, he doesn't use bishops -- he uses
           rabbis."

           The last question


              OSHO, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STATEMENT THAT LIFE IS STRANGER THAN
              FICTION?

              Nandan,


               IT CAN'T BE OTHERWISE, because fiction is only a reflection of life, only an echo, a faraway
           echo. How can fiction be more strange than life? It is just a shadow of life, footprints of life. Life is
           really unbelievable, incredible. It should not be, and it is. It is utterly mysterious.
               But you become aware of the strangeness of a fictitious story and you never become aware of the
           strangeness of life, because you take it for granted. You take it for granted as the fish takes the ocean
           for granted -- and it never becomes aware of it. How can the fish be aware of the ocean? It was born
           in the ocean, it has lived in the ocean; from the very beginning the ocean was there. Just as you are
           not aware of the air and the weight of the air, you are not aware of the gravitation and the pull of the
           gravitation, in the same way, the fish is not aware of the ocean, and in the same way you are not
           aware of the incredible life that surrounds you within and without -- you take it for granted, and
           that's what makes you miserable.
               Stop taking life for granted, and immediately you are constantly in awe. Each moment becomes a
           surprise, each moment becomes such a revelation of mystery, and life takes a totally different colour
           and flavour. You grow wings. Then you are no more bored, then you are no more dull. Then life is
           excitement, exhilaration, ecstasy.
               And that's what, basically, true religion is: to make you aware of the life, to make you alert to all
           that is happening around you -- the sun, the moon, the stars, the rivers, the mountains, the people...
           this silence this moment... your being here, my being here... what more mystery can there be than
           this communion? Your hearts beating with my heart, your life energy in rhythm with my life
           energy... for this single moment, three thousand people in harmony, in such an utter silence, as if
           there exists nobody... this melting, this merging... what more mystery can there be? What more
           miracles?
               Just to be is a miracle! Just to be able to breathe is a miracle! Just to be able to see the light and
           the rainbow and the starry night -- what more can you ask for? What more can you imagine?

               You ask me: OSHO, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STATEMENT THAT LIFE IS
           STRANGER THAN FICTION?
               I don't think! -- it is. There is no need to think -- I know -- it is, it is so. Thinking is a lower
           activity, seeing is a higher activity. I see it is so -- it is not a logical conclusion for me, it is my
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           existential experience. I am constantly surprised -- each moment, every breath is a surprise. And this
           is not a statement, this is the truth! Just become a little more alert, a little more aware, a little more
           observant. Snap your fingers and slap your face and be awake! And then look around... and the
           silence, and the beauty and the benediction.
               It is said that Hotei became enlightened and started laughing, and then he never stopped
           laughing. For many years he lived, he laughed. He laughed all the way to God, all the way to death.
           And people would ask, "Hotei, why do you laugh?" because he became famous in Japan as the
           laughing Buddha. And he would say, "Because life is incredible, so ridiculous, so absurd." It should
           not be, but it is! For no reason at all flowers go on blooming and birds go on singing, and every
           morning the sun is back. For NO reason! If it doesn't turn up one day, what can we do? For no reason
           at all!
               And all exists in such harmony, accord, in such rhythm, that if you touch a grass leaf, you have
           touched the whole universe -- because the small grass leaf contains the whole of the universe. It will
           not be there without the sun, it will not be there without the earth, it will not be there without the
           planets and the stars. It will not be there if this universe is not exactly the way it is. And if that grass
           leaf is gone, the universe will be a little less, a little minus; it will miss it. Such an infinity, and it
           goes on with such rhythmic flow, with such organic oneness, with such orgasmic joy.
               Just watch life... and you will be able to laugh. It IS absurd, it IS ridiculous, it IS strange, it is
           miraculous. No dream can be more dreamlike than life, and no poetry can be more poetic than life --
           and no joke can create more laughter than life.

               A couple of hillbillies from the backwoods country came into town to get married and brought
           their best man, Zeke, along. When they applied for a license, the clerk informed them that state law
           required blood tests before they could get a license, and told them there was a doctor around the
           corner who would make the tests.
               As the M.D. took blood samples from the prospective bride and groom, Zeke watched with great
           interest. "What are you doing, Doc?" he asked.
           "We check for venereal disease," said the physician. "If we find any, the wedding can't take place
           until it is cured."
           "Well then," said the best man, "ain't you gonna test my blood?"
           "What for?" asked the doctor. "You are not getting married are you?"
           "Oh, no," said Zeke, as he pointed to the couple, "but I am gonna board with them!"

           ... You missed it...! You will need another.

              Payne and Butler were washing their hands in a Pittsburgh men's room when three burly blacks
           came in and headed for the urinals.
           "Wow!" whispered Payne, "those mothers are laa-arge!"
           "Yeah," said Butler, "and look how they are built. They must have the longest dicks in the state of
           Pennsylvania. I gotta get closer and see their size!"
              He came back in a minute. "Wowee! They are built big," said Payne, "not only that, the cat in the
           middle has one that is white!"
           "Oh, man, whoever heard of a black man with a white wang! I'm gonna go look myself."
              He returned immediately. "Brother, those cats ain't black!" exclaimed Butler. "They are Polish
           coal miners! And the guy in the middle is on his honeymoon!"




                                     The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                    Chapter #13
                                       Chapter title: Very Few Find the Path
           23 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 7904230
              ShortTitle: FISH13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 108 mins




              FRIEND, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO ABOUT
              THIS WORLD
              I HOLD TO AND KEEP SPINNING OUT!



              I GAVE UP SEWN CLOTHES AND WORE A ROBE,
              BUT I NOTICED ONE DAY THE CLOTH WAS WELL WOVEN.



              SO I BOUGHT SOME BURLAP, BUT I STILL
              THROW IT ELEGANTLY OVER MY LEFT SHOULDER.



              I PULLED BACK MY SEXUAL LONGINGS,
              AND NOW I DISCOVER THAT I'M ANGRY A LOT.



              I GAVE UP RAGE AND NOW I NOTICE
              THAT I AM GREEDY ALL DAY.



              I WORKED HARD AT DISSOLVING THE GREED,
              AND NOW I AM PROUD OF MYSELF.



              WHEN THE MIND WANTS TO BREAK ITS LINK
              WITH THE WORLD
              IT STILL HOLDS ON TO ONE THING.

              Kabir says: LISTEN MY FRIEND,
              THERE ARE VERY FEW THAT FIND THE PATH!


               MAN IS A DILEMMA, BECAUSE MAN IS A DUALITY. Man is not one single being: man is
           the past and the future. The past means the animal, and the future means the divine. And between the
           two is the present moment, between the two is man's existence -- divided, torn apart, pulled in
           diametrically opposite directions.
               If man looks backwards he is an animal. That's why science cannot believe that man is anything
           more -- just another animal -- because science only searches into the past. Charles Darwin and
           others, they are right that man is born of the animals. It is true about the past, but it is not true about
           man's totality.
               Religion looks into the possible, into that which can happen and has not yet happened. Science
           dissects the seed and cannot find any flowers there. Religion is visionary, it dreams -- and is capable
           of seeing that which has not happened yet: the flower. Of course, it cannot be found, that flower
           cannot be found, by dissecting the seed. It needs great insight, not capacity to analyse, but some
           intuitive flight, some vision, some poetic approach. It needs a real dreamer who can see that which
           has not happened yet.
               Religion looks into the possible and finds man is not an animal, but divine: man is God -- both
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are true. The conflict is baseless. The conflict between science and religion is futile. Their directions,
           their methods of work, their fields, are totally different.
                Science always reduces everything to the source, and religion always takes a flight to the goal.
           Man is both, hence man is a dilemma, a constant anxiety: to be or not to be, to be this or to be that?
                Man can find peace only in two ways: either he becomes an animal again -- then he will be one,
           then there will be no division, then again there will be peace, silence, harmony.... And that's why
           millions of people try to be animals in different ways.
                War gives a chance for man to become animal; hence war has great attraction. In three thousand
           years' history man has fought five thousand wars -- continuously, somewhere or other, the war
           continues. Not even a single day passes when man is not killing other men. Why such tremendous
           joy in destruction, in killing? The reason is deep down in the psychology of man.
                The moment you kill, suddenly you are one; you become the animal again, the duality
           disappears. Hence, in murder, in suicide, there is a tremendous magnetic force. Man cannot be
           persuaded yet to be non-violent. Violence erupts. Names change, slogans change, but the violence
           remains the same. It may be in the name of religion, in the name of political ideology, or any absurd
           thing -- a football match is enough for people to get violent, a cricket match is enough.
                People are so much interested in violence that if they cannot do it themselves -- because it is
           risky and they think of the consequences -- they find vicarious ways to be violent. In a movie, or on
           the TV, violence is a must; without violence, nobody is going to see the film. Seeing violence and
           blood, suddenly you are reminded of your animal past; you forget your present, you completely
           forget your future -- you become your past. You become identified; what is happening on the screen
           somehow becomes your own life. You are no more a spectator -- in those moments you become a
           participant, you fall en rapport.
                Violence has great attraction. Sexuality has great attraction, because it is only in sexual moments
           that you can become one; otherwise you remain two, divided, and the anxiety and the anguish
           persist. Violence, sex, drugs, they all help you, at Least for the time being, temporarily, to fall back,
           to become all animal. But this cannot become a permanent state of affairs.
                One fundamental law has to be understood: nothing can go backwards. At the most you can
           pretend, at the most you can deceive, but nothing can go backwards because time docs not move
           backwards. Time always goes ahead. You cannot reduce a young man to a child, and you cannot
           reduce an old man to a young man -- it is impossible. The tree cannot be reduced back to the original
           seed -- it is impossible.
                Evolution goes on and on and there is no way to prevent it or to force it backwards. Hence all
           efforts of men to become animals and find peace are doomed to fail. You can be drunk through
           alcohol or through other drugs -- marijuana, LSD -- you can be completely drowned. For the moment
           all the worries disappear, for the moment you are no more part of a problematic existence, for the
           moment you move in a totally different dimension -- but for the moment only.
                Tomorrow morning you will be back, and when you are back the world is going to be more ugly
           than it ever was before, and life is going to be more of a problem than it ever was before. Because
           while you were intoxicated, unconscious, asleep in the drug, the problems were growing. The
           problems were becoming more and more complicated. While you were thinking that you had gone
           beyond the problems, the problems were taking root more in your being, in your unconscious.
                Tomorrow again you will be back in the same world -- it will look more ugly compared to the
           peace that you had attained by reduction, by intoxication, by forgetfulness. Compared to that peace,
           the world will look even more dangerous, more complex, more scary. And then the only way is: go
           on increasing the doses of your drug. But that too does not help for long. And this is no way to get
           out of the dilemma. The dilemma remains, persists.
                The only way is to grow towards the divine, the only way is forwards. The only way is to
           become that which is your potential -- the only way is to transform the potential into the actual.

               MAN IS POTENTIAL GOD, and unless he becomes actual God there is no possibility of
           contentment. People have tried that too: How to become divine? And becoming divine, what to do
           with the animal? The simplest solution that has appeared again and again down the ages is: repress
           the animal. It is the same solution; either repress the divine -- through violence, through sex, through
           drugs -- forget about the divine. That is one solution -- which never succeeds, cannot succeed; in the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           very nature of things it is bound to fail. Then the second suggestion that comes to the mind is:
           repress the animal, forget the animal; keep the animal at the back, don't look at it. Throw it deep
           down in the basement of your unconscious so you don't come across it in your daily life, so you don't
           see it.
                Man thinks almost in the same way as the ostrich. The ostrich thinks if he cannot see the enemy,
           the enemy does not exist. Hence, when the ostrich encounters the enemy he simply closes his eyes.
           By closing his eyes he thinks now there is no enemy because he cannot see him.
                That's what has been done down the ages by ninety-nine percent of religious people. In that one
           percent I leave Buddhas, Krishnas, Kabirs. Ninety-nine percent of religious people have just been
           doing nothing but an ostrich exercise -- an exercise of utter futility. Repress the animal! But you
           cannot repress the animal because the animal has great energy. It has been your whole past; it is
           millions and millions of years old. It has deep roots in you; you cannot so easily get rid of it, just by
           closing your eyes. You are simply being stupid.
                And the animal is your base, it is your very foundation. You are born as an animal; you are not
           different from any other animal. You CAN be different but you are not -- just by being born you
           don't become different. Yes, you have a different kind of body, but not very much different. You
           have a different kind of intelligence, but not very much different. The difference is only of quantity,
           not of quality.
                Now modern research into plants says that even plants are intelligent, sensitive, alert, aware --
           what to say about animals? A few researchers say that even metals have a kind of intelligence of
           their own. So the difference between man and the elephant. between man and the dolphin, between
           man and the monkeys, is not of quality, it is only of quantity, only of degrees. We have a little bit
           more intelligence, that's all.
                It is not much of a difference, at least not a difference that makes any difference. The qualitative
           change happens only when a man becomes fully awakened, when a man becomes a Buddha -- then
           the real difference happens. Then he is no more an animal. Then he is simply divine -- but how to
           attain it?
                That ninety-nine percent of religious people has been doing something utterly wrong -- just the
           same logic. The same logic that is being followed by the violent people, the sexual people, the
           alcoholics. The same kind of logic: forget the animal. Many techniques have been developed to
           forget the animal: chant mantras so that you can forget the animal, become occupied in chanting; go
           on repeating "Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama." Repeat it so fast that your whole mind be-comes full of
           the vibe of this single word 'Rama'. This is simply a way to avoid the animal -- and the animal is
           there.
                You can go on chanting Rama for centuries... the animal is not going to be changed by such a
           simple trick. You cannot deceive the animal. It will remain only a very superficial religiousness.
           Scratch any religious man and you will find the animal inside; just scratch a little. It is not even
           skin-deep, the so-called religiousness. It only pretends, it is only a formality, a social ritual.
                You go to the church, you read the Bible, you read the Gita, you do chanting, you do prayer, but
           it is all formal. Your heart is not in it. And your animal inside goes on laughing at you, he ridicules
           you. He knows you perfectly well, who you are, where you are. And he knows how to manipulate
           you. You can go on chanting for hours, and then a beautiful woman passes by and suddenly all
           chanting disappears and you have forgotten all about God. Just the smell from the bakery... and all is
           gone; Hare Krishna Rama, all is gone.
                Just any small thing is enough! Somebody insults you and there is anger, and the animal is ready
           to take revenge, you are in a rage. In fact, religious people become more angry than anybody else --
           because others don't repress. And religious people are more sexually perverted than anybody else,
           because others don't repress. The religious person's dreams have to be watched, because in the day
           he can go on repressing, but what about the night when he is asleep?
                Mahatma Gandhi wrote that even at the age of seventy he was having sexual dreams. At the age
           of seventy, why sexual dreams? He said, "In the day I have become disciplined -- the whole day not
           even a single thought of sex comes to me. But in the night I am incapable, I am unconscious, so the
           hole discipline and control disappears."
                Sigmund Freud's insight is very valuable, that to know about a man you have to know his
           dreams, not his waking life. His waking life is pseudo. His real life asserts itself in his dreams,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because his dreams are more natural -- no repression, no discipline, no control. Hence,
           psychoanalysis does not bother about your waking life. Just see the point: your waking life is so
           pseudo that psychoanalysis docs not believe in it at all. It is worthless. Psychoanalysis penetrates
           into your dreams because dreams are far truer than your so-called waking life.
               This is ironical that the waking life, which we think is real life is not thought by psychoanalysis
           to be real; it is thought to be more unreal than your dreams. Your dreams are far more real, because
           you are not there to distort, you are fast asleep; the conscious mind is asleep and the unconscious is
           free to have its say. And the unconscious is your true mind, because the conscious is only one tenth
           of your total mind. Nine tenths is the unconscious -- nine times more powerful, nine times bigger
           than your conscious mind.
               And what will you do when you are fighting with your sexuality, anger, greed? You will go on
           throwing them into the unconscious, into the darkness of the basement, thinking that by not seeing
           them you are getting rid of them. You are not getting rid of them. Not even a man like Mahatma
           Gandhi... what to say about small mahatmas like Morarji Desai etc.
               A man like Mahatma Gandhi continued to have sexual dreams. That simply shows that his whole
           effort in the waking life was futile, that whatsoever he was trying to do in the waking life was of no
           use. And he recognized it -- at the very end of his life he recognized the whole futility of his
           discipline. His whole life had been a wastage; he recognized it. And in the end, just before he died,
           for two years he was experimenting with the science of Tantra. It is not talked about, not at least by
           the Gandhians -- they are very much afraid of those two years. He was advised by his followers,
           "Please, don't do such experiments."
               You will be surprised: even Morarji Desai had advised him, "Don't do such experiments!" Why?
           They were afraid about the prestige of the Mahatma. They were afraid about themselves too. But he
           was a man of courage; howsoever wrong, he was a sincere man. He had the courage to accept that
           his effort of disciplining according to the traditional way had failed. In the last two years he was
           sleeping with naked women -- just for the first time not repressing but expressing, being loving,
           open, for the first time not on guard.
               My own understanding is that those two years of his life which are not talked about are the most
           important -- not only were they not talked about: the followers deny, hide those facts. And those two
           years are the most important in his life. In those two years, for the first time he became aware that
           sexual energy need not be repressed: it can be transformed.
               His life was cut short because a fanatic from this very city, Poona, killed him. Otherwise it would
           have been a totally different story. If he had lived ten more years, then all these so-called Gandhians
           would have left him. Many had already left when he started experimenting with Tantra. If he had
           lived ten more years it would have been a great boon to humanity, because he would have been able
           to say, "My whole life's effort of repression failed while Tantra succeeded."
               Ninety-nine percent of religious people go on repressing, and whenever you repress something it
           goes deeper in you, it becomes more a part of your being. And it starts affecting you in such subtle
           ways that you may not even be aware of it. It takes very devious routes: it cannot come in direct
           ways because if it comes directly, you Repress it. Then it comes in such subtle ways, such devious
           ways, such deceptive ways, with masks, that you cannot even recognize that it is sexuality.
               It can even use masks of prayer, of love, of religious ritual. But if you go deep down, if you
           allow yourself to be exposed to somebody who can observe and who understands the inner
           functioning of your mind, you will be surprised that it is the same energy moving through different
           channels. It has to move through different channels, because no energy can ever be repressed.
               Let it be understood once and for all: no energy can ever be repressed. Energy can be
           transformed, but never repressed. The real religion consists of alchemy, of transforming techniques,
           methods. The real religion consists not of repressing the animal but of purifying the animal, of
           raising the animal to the divine, using the animal, riding on the animal to go to the divine. It can
           become a tremendously powerful vehicle, because it is power.
               Sex can be used as a great energy -- you call ride on it to the very door of God. But if you repress
           it you will become more and more entangled. This is a very modern approach, but the sutras of Kabir
           will say to you that what Sigmund Freud discovered is not a discovery -- it is only a discovery in the
           West. As far as the East is concerned, it is an ancient truth. The sages have always known about it.
               These sutras are very beautiful, very scientific. Meditate over each sutra:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              FRIEND PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO ABOUT
              THIS WORLD
              I HOLD TO AND KEEP SPINNING OUT!
              The original is:


               AVADHU, MAYA TAJI NA JAI.
           AVADHU LITERALLY MEANS A FRIEND, but it has a special meaning, not just a friend. In
           English there is no word to give the real meaning of AVADHU, but it can be explained. AVADHU
           means a friend, a companion, a comrade, on the way towards the divine -- a special kind of
           friendship. The friendship of two seekers, the friendship of those who are in search of the unknown
           and the unknowable, the friendship of those who are ready for the ultimate venture, who are ready to
           go into the uncharted sea. AVADHU means friends in the search for truth. It is risky; such a
           friendship needs guts. It is no ordinary friendship -- it is utterly extraordinary, it is not of this world.
               This friendship means SATSANG: when many seekers gather together around a man who has
           known, because such a friendship is possible only around a man who has known, such a gathering is
           possible only around a Buddha, around one who has awakened -- because he will function as the
           center of the commune. Without the center, the commune will not have any significance; it will be
           an ordinary crowd.
               Without Christ, Christians are just a crowd, an ordinary crowd. With Christ, it is a communion, it
           is satsang -- it is the ultimate friendship. Christ can call his disciples AVADHU -- friends, comrades,
           companions, soulmates -- that's exactly the meaning of AVADHU. The friendship is not worldly, has
           no motive. The friendship is not that of dependence. The friendship has no relationship which can be
           explained in any worldly way -- but two souls in a deep rhythm, two soulmates.
               It is difficult to search alone -- the path is arduous, hazardous. dangerous; there is every
           possibility of getting lost. It is easier it people move with friends. It is like Gurdjieff used to say...
           when he was travelling in Sufi countries, a Sufi Master gave him a technique. The technique was that
           twenty friends of Gurdjieff had to go deep into the desert, but at least one person had to remain
           awake. Including Gurdjieff, there were twenty-one persons. Twenty persons could go to sleep, but
           one had to be awake constantly, twenty-four hours a day. When he WAS tired he had to wake
           somebody else; he could go to sleep, then the other had to remain awake. But one had to be awake!
               If you are alone you will have to fall asleep once in a while, but if you are moving with friends at
           least one can always be awake. And in a desert, or in a forest, in a jungle, it is needed that at least
           one should be awake.
               And when you go on the journey, the ultimate pilgrimage to God, it is good to have a few friends
           with you, because at least one can always be awake. And the person who is awake will become your
           protection, and the person who is awake will help you not to go astray, and the person who is awake
           will keep you together, and the person who is awake will become a kind of glue which will integrate
           your energies.
               But if you can find a man who is awake, twenty-four hours awake -- that's the meaning of being a
           Buddha -- then naturally a commune of friends gathers around him. His light, his under-standing,
           slowly slowly permeates their being too.
               Kabir is not talking to the public -- he is talking to a few friends. Hence he says:

              AVADHU, FRIENDS, MAYA TAJI NA JAI.

               It is very difficult to drop this mind -- it is very difficult to drop this mind because who is going
           to drop it? Even the idea of dropping is part of the mind. It is very difficult to drop the mind, because
           even if you drop it the one who drops it will remain -- that will become your mind. It is a very
           vicious circle. How to come out of it?
               This mind is illusory, hence he calls it 'maya -- all illusion. It is NOT really there; it has no
           substance, but still it persists continuously -- day in, day out, your mind continues. Thoughts,
           dreams, desires, imagination, memory... the traffic goes on and on. All is non-substantial! If you
           wake up, suddenly you will find all the dreams, all the desires, all the thoughts, have disappeared.
           But how to drop this mind? Who is going to drop it? If you try to drop it, you are the mind.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You can escape to the Himalayan caves but the mind will go with you, because really the mind
           will be going to the Himalayan caves -- who else? You can renounce the family, but who will
           renounce? You can stand on your head, but it will be the same mind -- you are simply being stupid.
           It has to be understood.
                Nothing has to be done on your part, because anything done is done always by the mind. Doing
           is the very function of the mind. So nothing can be done with the mind to drop it.

              AVADHU, MAYA TAJI NA JAI.

               So Kabir says: It is very difficult, friends, to drop this mind and its illusions. In the first place
           they are so non-substantial -- if they had been substantial it would have been easy. You can Leave
           the house, you can renounce your wife, your children, you can go away from the world -- it is very
           substantial! But how will you leave your mind? It will be with you.

               When Bayazid, a Sufi saint, went to see his Master, he re-nounced his family, his friends, and he
           went to the Master. The Master used to live in the ruins of an old mosque. When Bayazid entered he
           said, "Now I have come, I have renounced all -- please accept me."
               The Master looked at Bayazid and looked around and said, "And why have you brought this
           crowd with you?"
               Bayazid was surprised. He looked back -- there was nobody else. Has this man gone mad? He
           said, "What crowd are you talking about?"
               And the Master said, "Don't look back -- look in. All those people that you have left behind are
           there."
               And Bayazid closed his eyes... and the Master was right, he was not crazy. The wife was still
           crying, the children were telling him, "Daddy, don't go." The friends were holding his hands to the
           very last. When he said goodbye to them, they all followed him as far as possible; he had to persuade
           them again and again, "Please go back. I have decided, and my decision is absolute." And when he
           closed his eyes they were all there.
               And the Master said, "Bayazid, it is easy to renounce the world, but how are you going to
           renounce the mind? Because the mind is the real world! They are all there. You will sit meditating,
           and you will remember your wife; you may not have ever remembered her when you were with her
           -- that's how mind functions. That which is, it takes it for granted; that which is not it hankers for.
           Now you will be more and more involved with your wife, your children. More and more memories
           will come: 'What is happening to my children? What is happening to my wife? Has she betrayed me?
           Has she gone with somebody else? Can she do that?' Jealousy, possessiveness, and all kinds of
           things are bound to arise."
           There is a beautiful story in Jaina scriptures:

               A great king, Bimbisar, went to see Mahavira, the last Jaina teerthankara -- the last Jaina prophet.
           On the way, he met one of his old friends. They had studied in the same school; he was also a son of
           a king, but he had renounced and he had become a Jaina monk -- he was standing naked underneath
           a tree.
               Bimbisar was overwhelmed with tremendous respect for this man and started feeling a little
           guilty also about himself: "I am still involved in the world -- money, power, prestige, war. And look
           at my friend: he was also a king, he would also have been a king like me, but he has renounced -- a
           man of courage." He bowed down, he touched the feet of his old friend. Then he went to see
           Mahavira.
               Just a few yards further away was Mahavira, sitting underneath a tree. Bimbisar asked him, "One
           question arose in my mind -- when I saw my old friend Prasannachandra, who has become a monk, a
           disciple of yours, a question arose in my mind: if he dies right now, where will he be born?"
               Jainas say there are seven hells and seven heavens -- "Into what heaven will he be born?"
           Bimbisar asked. "Of course, there is no question of his being born in hell -- he has renounced such a
           great kingdom and all -- in what heaven?"
               And Mahavira said, "He would have gone to the seventh hell -- if he had died the time you
           touched his feet."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Bimbisar was shocked. He said, "Into the seventh hell? Then what about me? There are no other
           hells below the seventh. My friend, who has renounced all and looks so pious and so silent and so
           serene, he is going to be born into the seventh hell?"
                Mahavira said, "Don't be worried: if he dies now, he will be born into the seventh heaven." And
           just a few minutes had passed.
                Bimbisar said, "You puzzle me very much. Now you have confused me even more. What has
           happened within these few minutes that he will be born into the seventh heaven?" Mahavira said,
           "You don't know the whole story. Just before you, your prime minister had passed. He had come to
           accompany you just to see that everything is safe. Your prime minister, your generals and your
           guards, they passed just a few minutes before you. And your prime minister said, 'Look at this fool,
           this Prasannachandra! He would have been a great king and he has become hypnotized by this
           Mahavira. And now standing naked in this heat, wasting his life.... He used to be a beautiful man --
           now look at his body. And he is an utter fool, because he has trusted his prime minister and has
           given the whole kingdom to him till his children are grown up enough to take possession of it -- and
           the prime minister is a cheat. And by the time the children are grown up, there will be nothing left in
           the treasury.'
           "Hearing this, Prasannachandra forgot completely that he has become a monk -- completely! He was
           so shocked and be-came so angry, and he said inside his heart, 'I am still alive.' And his hand, just
           out of old habit went to his sword -- which was not there. He pulled the sword out of the sheath and
           said, 'I will go and kill this man immediately.' And in his imagination he cut the head of the prime
           minister.
           "When you touched his feet," Mahavira said, "he had just killed the prime minister. Hence, I told you
           that in that moment if he had died he would have gone to the seventh hell -- he was in a murderous
           attitude. Now, things have changed. When he put his sword back into the sheath, he recognized,
           'What am I doing? Where is the sword, and where is the sheath? And what have I done? Killed my
           prime minister in imagination! It is as much a crime as actually killing a person.
           " 'Mahavira says, "Whether you think of killing or you kill, it makes no difference -- it is the same,
           psychologically it is the same." What have I done? When I have renounced, have renounced! Who
           am I to interfere now? If he cheats that is HIS business; if he breaks the trust, HE will suffer for it.
           But who am I to punish him? I am finished with all this. And who are my children, and what is my
           kingdom?'
           "And a great understanding came to him. He became quiet, silent, serene, detached. Right now if he
           dies, he is in such a beautiful space that he will be born in the seventh heaven."
                The question is of the mind, not of the world. You can go to the Himalayan caves, but what are
           you going to think about? You will think of the world. That's why Kabir says:

              AVADHU MAYA TAJI NA JAI.
              It is very difficult to drop this mind.



              FRIEND, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO ABOUT
              THIS WORLD...
              the world of the mind

              ... I HOLD TO, AND KEEP SPINNING OUT!



              I GAVE UP SEWN CLOTHES AND WORE A ROBE,
              BUT I NOTICED ONE DAY THE CLOTH WAS WELL WOVEN.


               HE SAYS: I RENOUNCED BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES and wore a robe, but then one day I saw,
           "Even this robe is well woven -- my mind has played a trick. I am still as much concerned about my
           clothes as before. I still want to look beautiful, I still want to look special, I still want to look
           somebody. The mind has played a trick with me. I am the same man.
               I have dropped those beautiful clothes and now I am wearing a single robe, but it doesn't matter
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- the mind can project in the same way." The screen makes no difference: the film continues the
           same. You can use the wall as the screen, and you can project the same film. You need not have a
           perfect screen. The film is the same, even projected on the wall; the wall may be rough, may be a
           poor man's house wall, but it makes no difference -- the film is the same.
               Kabir says: I recognized it, "Mind is still functioning in the same way. I still walk in such a way
           that people should recognize me, that I am no ordinary man. I used to walk in my beautiful clothes --
           why do people use beautiful clothes? So that they look special. Now I am wearing a robe, but still,
           deep down, the same desire persists."
           The original is:

              GIRAH TAJ KE BASTAR BANDHA,
              BASTAR TAJ KE FERI.

               I have left the house, I have moved to the cave, with only a small bag, but then one day I
           recognize that the cave has become the home, the cave has become the house. And the small
           possession that I brought with me can function perfectly well for my possessiveness. My
           possessiveness remains the same! Now if somebody enters into the cave, I am going to say, "Get out!
           This is my cave."
               You can go and see this. Go to the Himalayas, enter into some cave and some yogi will be sitting
           there, and he will say, "Get out! What are you doing here? This is my cave. I have lived here for
           thirty years. If you want to live in a cave, find your own."
               Now what is the difference? -- 'my house' or 'my cave'. The question is of 'my' and 'mine'. So
           Kabir says: I left the house with a small bag, went to the cave, but I found it was the same -- because
           I am the same. So I left the cave and I left that small possession and became a wanderer, but nothing
           changes. Now I feel great that I am a wanderer, that I am no ordinary monk who lives in the shelter
           and safety of a cave. I live in insecurity -- look! This is how one should live. I am a wanderer with
           no security, no safety. Now this wandering has become a prop to my ego.

              GIRAH TAJ KE BASTAR BANDHA,
              BASTAR TAJ KE FERI.

              Now I have become a vagabond, but great pride has arisen in me.

              SO I BOUGHT SOME BURLAP, BUT I STILL
              THROW IT ELEGANTLY OVER MY LEFT SHOULDER.

              Seeing that the robe was well woven, I purchased coarse canvas and made a shawl out of it --
           BUT STILL I THROW IT ELEGANTLY OVER my LEFT SHOULDER. The same mind.
              You can stand naked in the sun -- it doesn't matter: it will be the same mind. How is one going to
           drop the mind? It comes from the backdoor; it finds new ways to enter back into you.

              I PULLED BACK MY SEXUAL LONGINGS,
              AND NOW I DISCOVER THAT I'M ANGRY A LOT.
              THIS IS OF TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE TO UNDERSTAND. Kabir has looked deep into the
              human mind and its workings, its subtle cunning ways. And he has found exactly the whole process of
              inner alchemy. If you repress, this is how things happen.



              I PULLED BACK MY SEXUAL LONGINGS,
              AND NOW I DISCOVER THAT I'M ANGRY A LOT.

               If you repress sex you will become angry; the whole energy that was becoming sex will become
           anger. And it is better to be sexual than to be angry. In sex at least there is something of love; in
           anger there is only pure violence and nothing else. If sex is repressed, the person becomes violent --
           either to others he will be violent, or to himself These are the two possibilities: either he will become
           a sadist and will torture others, or he will become a masochist and will torture himself. But torture he
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will.
               Do you know, down the ages, the soldiers have not been allowed to have sexual relationships?
           Why? Because if soldiers are allowed to have sexual relationships they don't gather enough anger in
           them, enough violence in them. Their sex becomes a release, they become soft, and a soft person
           cannot fight. Starve the soldier of sex and he is bound to fight better. In fact, his violence will be a
           substitute for his sexuality.
               And Sigmund Freud is again right when he says that all our weapons are nothing but phallic
           symbols: the sword, the knife, the bayonet -- they are nothing but phallic symbols. The soldier has
           not been allowed to enter into somebody's body. into some woman's body. Now he is going crazy to
           enter; now he can do anything. A great perverted desire has entered into his being now. Repressed
           sex -- he would like to enter into somebody's body through a bayonet, through a sword...
               Down the ages, the soldier was forced to repress his sexual desires.
               In this century we have seen one thing happening. American soldiers are the most well-equipped
           soldiers in the world -- scientifically, technologically, they are the most well-equipped soldiers, but
           they proved weaker than any other soldier. In Vietnam, a poor country, for years on end they tried
           and had to accept defeat. Why? For the first time in history the American soldier is sexually satisfied
           -- that is the problem. The first soldier in history who is sexually satisfied, who is not starved
           sexually. He cannot win. A poor country like Vietnam, a small country like Vietnam -- it is a
           miracle; if you don't understand the psychology, it is a miracle. With all the technology, with all the
           modern science, with all the power... and the American soldier could not do anything.
               But this is not new; this is an ancient truth. The whole history of India proves it. India is a big
           country, one of the biggest, next only to China, the second biggest country in the world, and it was
           conquered many times by small countries. Turks, Mongols, Greeks -- anybody came and this big
           country was immediately defeated, conquered. What was the reason? And those people who had
           come to conquer were poor people, starving.
               My own analysis of Indian history is that in the past India w as not sexually repressed. Those
           were the days when temples like Khajuraho, Konarak, Puri, were built -- India was not sexually
           repressed. In spite of the few so-called mahatmas, the greater part of the country was sexually
           satisfied; there was a softness, a loving quality, a grace. It was difficult for India to fight. For what?
           Just think of yourself: if you want to fight, you will have to starve yourself sexually for a few days.
           You can ask Mohammed Ali and other boxers: before they fight, for a few days they have to become
           celibates. That's a must! You can ask the Olympic competitors: before they participate in Olympic
           competitions, for a few days they have to starve themselves sexually. It gives a thrust, it gives great
           violence -- it makes you capable of fighting. You run faster, you attack faster, because the energy is
           boiling within. Hence the soldier has been repressed.
               Just allow all the armies of the world to be sexually satisfied and there will be peace. Just allow
           people sexual satisfaction, and there will be less Hindu/Mohammedan riots, less Christian and
           Mohammedan crusades -- all that nonsense will disappear. If love spreads, war will disappear -- both
           cannot exist together.
           Kabir is exactly right. He says:

              I PULLED BACK MY SEXUAL LONGINGS,
              AND NOW I DISCOVER THAT I'M ANGRY A LOT.


               A great observer he is, a very minute observer. This is what awareness is. He is watching: he
           represses his sexual desire and watches -- "Now what is happening inside?" Soon he finds that he
           becomes more angry -- for no reason at all, just angry, irritated, ready to fight with anybody, any
           excuse will do.
               And remember, sex can be transformed because it is a natural energy; anger is not so natural, one
           step removed from nature. Now it will be difficult to change anger. First anger will have to be
           changed into sex, only then can anything be done -- that's what my work here is. And that's what I
           am being condemned for all over the world.
               I am trying to change your anger into sex -- first that has to be done. That is the way of inner
           change. First all your perversions have to disappear, and you have to become a natural human being.
           You have to become a natural animal, to be exact. And then only can you become divine. The animal
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can be transformed into the divine, but your animal is also very perverted, your animal is not sane --
           your animal has become insane. First the insanity has to be transformed, changed. Change anger!
               That's why I send people first to encounter groups and then to Tantra. First they have to go into
           some encounter group type phenomenon; some process where their anger can be expressed, relaxed.
           Then only can they move into some process of Tantra, into some inner alchemy that can use sexual
           energy as a vehicle.
               But people who are angry will not understand it. Anger does not allow understanding. Now if
           you want to become a politician, you have to repress your sex -- otherwise you will not be able to
           compete, you will not be able to reach New Delhi -- impossible. It is not an accident that Morarji
           Desai has reached there -- fifty years of sexual repression is bound to help him become the prime
           minister of the country. So much rage! It is difficult to compete with such people; they go madly into
           competition. They don't look sideways, they simply go ahead; they don't care what happens. By fair
           or foul means, but they have to reach the top.
               Politicians can succeed only if they are sexually repressed people. Adolf Hitler was sexually
           repressed, very repressed. Had he been in deep love with a single woman there would have been no
           Second World War. Had he loved a single human being deeply, the whole history of humanity would
           have been different. But he was very sexually suppressed.
               He was as big a mahatma as Morarji Desai -- in fact a little bigger. He was a vegetarian, you will
           be surprised to know. To find a vegetarian in Germany is difficult! but he was a vegetarian. He was
           not a smoker; he was against drinking any kind of intoxicating beverages. He used to go early to bed
           and would get up early in the morning. He avoided all kinds of loving relationships -- what to say
           about love? -- he had not even a single friend. There was not a single man vv-ho could call him
           friend. He never allowed that much closeness. He was afraid, continuously afraid of his sexuality.
               This man became the cause of the greatest war the world has known. My own feeling is that had
           he smoked a little bit, had he become drunk once in a while, had he fallen in love with a woman, the
           whole history of humanity would have been different. Then he would have been soft, then he would
           have been more human, more accepting of his own limita-tions, and hence more accepting of others'
           limitations. He would have been more humane.
           Says Kabir:

              I PULLED BACK MY SEXUAL LONGINGS,
              AND NOW I DISCOVER THAT I'M ANGRY A LOT.



              I GAVE UP RAGE, AND NOW I NOTICE
              THAT I AM GREEDY ALL DAY.
              SO HE REPRESSED HIS ANGER -- hm? -- that s what one will logically do. You repress sex, anger
              bubbles up; you repress anger. But he is a close observer, a very minute observer. He says: The
              moment I repressed my anger I became greedy.

               This too is proved: if you watch human history you will find a thousand and one proofs for it. For
           example, in India Mahavira taught non-violence, and the result has been that all the followers of
           Mahavira became the most greedy people in the world -- they are the Jews of India. The Jainas are
           the Jews of India. Why did they become so greedy?
               Mahavira taught them to be non-violent. Obviously, they started repressing anger; that is the only
           way that seems possible to the stupid mind: Repress anger! Don't be violent. And they tried really
           hard; in every possible way they tried not to be violent. They even stopped agriculture because it is a
           kind of violence: you will have to pull the plants and cut the crop, and that is violence because plants
           have life. So Jainas stopped agriculture completely.
               Now, they cannot go to the army, they cannot be KSHATRIYAS -- they cannot become warriors
           -- because of their ideology of non-violence, and they cannot even be agriculturalists, gardeners; that
           is impossible. They would not like to become SUDRAS -- the untouchables -- who clean the roads,
           the sweepers and the cobblers, because that is too humiliating. And brahmins won't allow them to
           function as brahmins -- brahmins are very jealous about that. They have been in power for centuries
           and they don't allow anybody: nobody can become a brahmin; one has to be a brahmin only by birth.
           You may become a great, learned man -- that doesn't matter -- but you can't be a brahmin. There is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no way of becoming a brahmin; you have to be born one only. You have to be very careful when you
           choose your parents; that is the only opportunity to become a brahmin.
               So Jainas could not be brahmins, would not like to become SUDRAS were not able to become
           warriors -- then what was left for them? Only business -- they became business people. And all their
           repressed anger became their greed. They became great money-maniacs. Their number is very small;
           in India their number is so small, not more than thirty LAKHS. In a country of sixty CRORES thirty
           LAKHS IS nothing. But they possess more money than anybody else. You will not find a Jaina
           beggar anywhere; they are all rich people.
               Mahavira wanted them to be non-violent, and what really happened was totally different: they
           became greedy. Repress your anger and you will be greedy.

              I GAVE UP RAGE AND NOW I NOTICE
              THAT I AM GREEDY ALL DAY.



              I WORKED HARD AT DISSOLVING THE GREED,
              AND NOW I AM PROUD OF MYSELF.

               So he repressed his greed and the ultimate result is: he has become a great egoist; he finds
           himself being very proud. "Look! I have repressed sex, repressed anger, repressed greed -- I have
           done this, I have done that. I have done impossible things!" Now a great 'I' arises, the ego becomes
           strengthened.
               That's wh you will find the most crystallized egos in the monks and the nuns. You will not find
           such crystallized egos anywhere else. The more a person renounces, the more he represses, the more
           egoistic he becomes. Indians are very egoistic and the reason? -- they have all tried in some way or
           other to be religious. And the only way seems to be repression -- and repression brings ego.
               A non-repressed person becomes a non-egoist; he cannot carry the ego. There is no prop to
           support it. He becomes humble, he becomes simple, he becomes ordinary, he has no claim -- he
           knows he is nothing. This whole process that Kabir is describing is beautiful.
               Repression is not the way: transformation is the way. Don't repress anything. If sexuality is there,
           don't repress it otherwise you will create a new complexity -- which will be more difficult to tackle.
           And if you repress anger, greed is even more difficult then, and if you repress greed, arises ego,
           pride, which is the MOST difficult thing to drop.
               Move back: from pride to greed, from greed to anger, from anger to sex. And if you can come to
           the natural, spontaneous sexuality, things will be very simple. Things will be so simple that you
           cannot imagine. Then you energy is natural, and natural energy creates no hindrance in
           transformation. Hence I say: from sex to superconsciousness. Not from anger, not from greed, not
           from ego, but from sex to superconsciousness.
               The transformation can happen only if first you accept your natural being. Whatsoever is natural
           is good. Yes, more is possible, but the more will be possible only if you accept your nature with
           totality -- if you welcome it, if you have no guilt about it. To be guilty, to feel guilty, is to be
           irreligious. In the past you have been told just the opposite: Feel guilty and you are religious. I say to
           you: Feel guilty and you will never be religious. Drop all guilt!
               You are whatsoever God has made you. You are whatso-ever existence has made you. Sex is not
           your creation: it is God's gift. Something tremendously valuable is hidden in it -- it is just a shell of
           your samadhi. If the seed is broken, the shell is broken, the flower will bloom -- but not by
           repression. You will have to learn inner gardening, you will have to become a gardener, you will
           have to learn how to use dirty fertilizers, manure, and transform manure into roses.
           Religion is the most delicate art.

              WHEN THE MIND WANTS TO BREAK ITS LINK WITH
              THE WORLD, says Kabir,

              IT STILL HOLDS ON TO ONE THING.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               AND THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM IS: you call leave one thing, but you cling to another. You
           leave that and you cling to another. You go on changing things, but the clinging remains. The
           clinging has to disappear. How can the clinging disappear? Only by understanding, awareness,
           meditation; not by doing anything about it. If you do, you will create a new clinging.
           An ancient story:

               A man was very much afraid of ghosts, and the problem was more troublesome because he had
           to pass through a cemetery every day while going to work and coming back from work. And
           sometimes, if he had to come in the night -- overtime work or something and he was delayed -- then
           it was really a problem to pass through the cemetery. It was only a three, four minute walk, but it
           was almost a death to him.
               He went to a fakir and he said, "Do something. I have heard you do miracles. And I don't ask
           much -- I ask only a simple thing: give me somehow some protection so that I can pass through the
           cemetery without fear."
               He said, "This is so simple, there is no problem in it. Take this locket and keep it always with
           you -- it will protect you from ghosts. No ghost can ever trouble you."
               He tried and, really, no ghost troubled him. In fact, there are no ghosts; it was only his fear. With
           the locket in hand, he went through the cemetery, from this side to that, from that side to this. He
           tried at different times, even in the middle of the night -- and it worked. And he said, "It is really
           powerful. this locket! This man is a miracle man."
               The whole miracle was this: that there were no ghosts -- there are no ghosts anywhere. But now
           this idea that he had a protection helped him.
               But then a new problem arose: he started becoming afraid that somebody might steal it, or some
           day he might forget it somewhere, or he might have put it outside and be taking a bath and ghosts
           might come there.... So he had to carry it everywhere -- it became an obsession. The wife would say,
           "It looks embarrassing. People ask me, 'Why does your husband go on carrying this locket in his
           hand, this stupid locket? What is the matter with him? He never leaves it.'" Even in the night when
           he went to sleep he would keep it in his hand. Even once or twice in the night he would wake up to
           see whether the locket was in his hand or not, because it might have fallen in his sleep, and ghosts
           might jump on his chest: "And they must be waiting to take revenge!"
               Now one problem is solved, another problem has arisen -- and far more complicated, because the
           ghosts used to torture him only once in a while when he was late or he had to pass through the
           cemetery. In twenty-four hours, just for one or two minutes the problem was there. Now it was a
           twenty-four-hour problem -- the locket: "If it is lost, if somebody takes it away, if I forget it
           somewhere.... " Even in sleep it was difficult to sleep totally. He had to keep a little alert. He started
           becoming ill because the sleep was not good, and he was so constantly afraid.
               He went to another fakir who said, "I will give you another thing. Keep this box; this locket is
           creating trouble -- this box is far more powerful. You can even keep it six feet away from you and its
           power works."
               He said, "This is far better. At least I can go into my bathroom leaving it outside."
               But now the new problem arose. The locket he was always keeping in his hand; now he was
           taking the bath inside and the box was outside..."If children, just in playing, take it away or
           something happens?!" Now it was even more difficult: that six foot distance.

               The story is significant: this is not the way to drop the ghosts! You will have to cling to
           something or other. The ghosts are not to be dropped; your eyes have to be opened so that you can
           see that there are no ghosts at all. The problem disappears. The problem is not solved but dissolved.

              WHEN THE MIND WANTS TO BREAK ITS LINK
              WITH THE WORLD
              IT STILL HOLDS ON TO ONE THING.

               And unless you drop ALL clinging -- ALL clinging, I say -- unless you are ready to be nothing,
           empty, nobody, with no protection, with no security, no safety, unless you are ready to be in that
           kind of space... which will look like death in the beginning. And it is a kind of death: the old dies,
           but then the new arises. And the new can arise only when the old is gone. The old has to cease for
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the new to be. Only when all clinging disappears -- you are not clinging even to the name of God,
           you are not clinging even to the Master, you are not clinging to the scripture, you are simply in a
           state of nonclinging -- then suddenly from your own inner source a great light wells up, a great bliss
           wells up. You are transformed.
               Mind is not dropped -- it is a ghost. And if you try methods to drop it, you will cling to the
           methods. Then those methods will torture you. But you will remain always in bondage.

              KABIR SAYS: LISTEN MY FRIEND,
              THERE ARE VERY FEW THAT FIND THE PATH!
              A FEW PEOPLE REMAIN INDULGENT, remain animals; a few people start repressing the animal,
              become obsessed with repressions, perversions. Only rarely does it happen that a person is neither
              indulgent, nor repressive -- only when a person is neither does he find the secret key to the door of the
              divine.
              The original is:



              MAN BAIRAGI MAYA TYAGI,
              SHABD MEN SURAT SAMAI.

              Kabir says: I have become a sannyasin, a renunciate, I have dropped the world, but that doesn't
           matter. Now I cling to God, now God has become my world.

              MAN BAIRAGI MAYA TYAGI,
              SHABD MEN SURAT SAMAI.

              Now the name of God -- SHABD -- has become my treasure, now I cling to it. Now the idea of
           God has become the center of my clinging.

              KAHAIN KABIR SUNO BHAI SADHO,
              YAH GAM BIRLE PAI.

               Very few people there are who have found the secret path. Out of a hundred, ninety remain
           indulgent in the animal; they never move beyond the animal. Out of the remaining ten, nine become
           repressive and pathological. Only one out of a hundred finds the true way. What is the true way?
               The true way is that of understanding your mind, not of dropping it. The true way is: sitting
           silently and watching your mind -- all its cunning ways, subtle ways, all its strategies -- just watch,
           just be a witness to your mind. And, slowly slowly, by witnessing it you will understand what games
           it has been playing with you. You stop it from one door, it comes from another door; you stop it from
           that door, it makes a third door -- and it goes on and on, ad nauseam.
               Watch.... Don't renounce the world, and don't try to drop the mind. Just become more alert. In
           that alertness, suddenly mind disappears, and with the mind disappears the whole world. And when
           there is no mind and no world, God is.




                                     The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                     Chapter #14
                                           Chapter title: Life is a Lovesong
           24 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904240
              ShortTitle: FISH14
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                   Video:    No
                  Length: 102 mins




              The first question

              OSHO, I KEEP THINKING OF MY LIFE IN TERMS OF GOAL OR DESTINATION, WAITING TO
              WAKE UP SOME DAY AND FIND MYSELF ENLIGHTENED, AND I WORRY THAT OTHERS WILL
              REACH BEFORE ME. TODAY IS A TENSION. WHY IS ETERNITY SO DIFFICULT TO FEEL AND
              REMEMBER? YOU KEEP REMINDING ME BUT I KEEP FORGETTING AND LOSE PATIENCE.
              WHY AM I SUCH A FOOD? AND THEN I THINK 'SO WHAT?' AND THEN I WANT TO SCREAM 'NO
              MORE!' BUT GO ON.

              Tao Sudas,


                MAN HAS BEEN CONDITIONED DOWN THE CENTURIES FOR GOALS, destinations,
           purposes, meanings -- that's how man has lived hitherto, with the goal-oriented ideology. Hindu,
           Christian, Mohammedan, communist, it doesn't matter -- all ideologies are goal-oriented. It is always
           tomorrow that you have to look to, or the next life. It is always somewhere else: the goal, the
           meaning, the bliss, the paradise -- it is never now here.
                Because of these ideologies you cannot allow yourself to relax in the moment. They go on
           goading you... you have to attain something, you have to achieve something. Your whole education
           system is a strategy of poisoning your consciousness; it is a strategy of driving you crazy after goals,
           it is a strategy of creating ambition in you. And ambition is neurosis. But this has been done for so
           long that it has become part and parcel of the human mind.
                That's why you go on thinking in terms of goal or destination. It is not you: it is the society that
           goes on thinking in you, through you; it is your parents, it is your priests, it is your politicians, it is
           your pedagogues, who go on thinking through you, and you are identified with them. You don't
           know that you are separate.
                The first thing that you will have to learn is to be a witness to all that goes on in the mind,
           because the mind is a social phenomenon -- it is not a God-given gift. It is social exploitation; it is
           society that makes a mind in you, and through that mind controls you, keeps you imprisoned,
           chained, reduces you to a slave. And you are not the mind! You are the witness who can see the
           mind very easily. You can see the thoughts moving in your consciousness -- those thoughts are the
           content of the consciousness but they are not consciousness itself.
                And this is what meditation is all about: creating a distance between you and your mind. Once
           the distance is there, you will be surprised that the whole mind structure is your imprisonment -- you
           are free from it because you are separate from it. Once you start enjoying the freedom from the mind
           all goals will disappear, all destinations will disappear.
                Mind can only live in goals, because mind can only exist in the future. Mind cannot exist
           herenow -- try to be herenow and try for the mind to continue. You will find it impossible. Either the
           mind continues, then you are not herenow; or, you are herenow and the mind is no more there. Mind
           has no present tense at all; either it is past or it is future -- it is always in the non-existential. And
           God is that which exists. God is not a goal, nirvana is not a goal, enlightenment is not a goal, it is not
           an achievement -- just the contrary. When you have forgotten ALL goals, when you have dropped
           the whole achieving mind, enlightenment is -- enlightenment is a state of no-mind.
                And enlightenment is nothing special. It is the most ordinary, natural phenomenon. It looks
           special because you make a goal out of it. Buddha is the most ordinary human being -- ordinary in
           the sense that he has no mind, he exists in the sheer present. He has no ego, how can he be special?
           He cannot compare himself with anybody else, he cannot be inferior or superior.
                In the present moment, he is not -- but a totally different kind of presence happens, which does
           not belong to the person; it is only a presence, not a person at all. And how can he be special? --
           because in the present moment he finds that there is no purpose in life. The whole purpose is
           mind-imposed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The trees are there for no purpose at all, and the stars are there for no purpose at all. Purpose is a
           man-created concept. Rivers are not flowing for any purpose, and the oceans are there not for any
           purpose. Except for man there is nothing like purpose anywhere else. Life simply is. Existence
           utterly is -- it is not a means to some end; it is an end unto itself That's what I mean when I say there
           is no purpose.
                I am not saying that it is purposeless, because to use the word 'purposeless' brings the purpose in.
           It is simply transcendental -- neither purpose nor no purpose, neither meaning nor no meaning. It is
           not going anywhere. There is no goal to life, and if you have a goal then you are going against life,
           and you will suffer -- because you will be trying to go upstream. You will have to struggle, and all
           struggle is dissipation of energy, and all struggle is stupid, because all struggle is destructive. It
           simply destroys you. You cannot win against the whole. Relax... there is no goal to be achieved.
           Simply, there is no goal!
                I am not telling you, "Don't try to achieve goals" -- I am telling you there is no goal whether you
           try or not. If you try you will be simply wasting your time and energy. If you don't try you will start
           feeling ecstatic, because the whole energy that is wasted in struggle becomes available to you. And
           energy is delight. Just to have it is enough to be full of joy. When there is energy, overflowing
           energy, you are a dance, you are a celebration.
                There is no meaning in life. Life is utterly beyond meaning. So don't bother about the meaning.
           Don't ask the question, "What is the meaning of a roseflower?" -- there is none. "And what is the
           meaning of the sunrise?" -- there is none. There is beauty, but no meaning. There is immense beauty,
           but no meaning at all.
                Life is not a logical process. It is poetry, it is a lovesong -- without any meaning, yet it is utterly
           beautiful. In fact, when something has a meaning, it can't be beautiful -- it is utilitarian. The rose is
           beautiful because it has no utility at all. Its sheer being is enough; it need not have any other
           significance. But a hundred-rupee note has no beauty; it has utility, it has meaning, it has purpose, it
           is a means to some end.
                Live a life which has no idea of purpose, which has no search for meaning. Live a life of sheer
           joy and ecstasy -- that is the only way to live. Every other way is only to commit a slow suicide.
                That's what happens when you are too much interested in goals: today goes by without being
           lived, and tomorrow remains important -- and tomorrow never comes. Whenever it comes it is today.
           And you learn a wrong habit of losing that which is and of thinking of something which is not. Every
           day it will happen: each tomorrow will come as today, and you will not be interested in it and you
           will be interested in the tomorrow, and the tomorrow is never going to come.
                This is how people are simply wasting away. Their lives could have become great oases, but they
           remain deserts. And the basic reason for people's dryness is goal-orientation.

                You say, Sudas: I KEEP THINKING OF MY LIFE IN TERMS OF A GOAL OR
           DESTINATION, WAITING TO WAKE UP SOME DAY AND FIND MYSELF ENLIGHTENED.
           WHY 'SOME DAY'? Why not now? Why postpone it? Is it not a trick of the mind to avoid it?
           Postponing is a way of avoiding. Don't you want to be enlightened right now, Sudas? If you look
           deep down, if you watch, you will see the point -- you don't want to become enlightened right now.
                If I say to you I can make you enlightened right now... you will say, "Just give me a little time to
           think. I will come tomorrow, because I have to do many more things before I become enlightened.
           My girl may be waiting, my children, my shop has to be opened.... So many investments -- let me
           finish things first! Yes, I want to be enlightened, but not right now."
                In fact you don't want to become enlightened. It is a very diplomatic way of avoiding, so that you
           can go on deceiving yourself that you are interested in becoming enlightened, that you want to be
           enlightened, but not today. It is only a question of time. Not that you are not interested in
           enlightenment... tomorrow, when all other things have been finished, completed, when nothing else
           is left.
                But do you think a day will come when all your invest-ments and all your worries and all your
           acts are complete? Will there ever come a day when you are finished with the activities of your
           so-called life, and you can come and say, "Right now I am ready"? It will never come, because life is
           such a complexity. It never begins, it never ends. You are always in the middle.
                It is like reading a novel from the middle. The beginning part is missing and the end part is
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           missing -- you know only the middle. That is the mystery of life! Try some time reading a novel
           from the middle and you will find that even an ordinary novel becomes very mysterious. Intrigued
           you will be, and many times you will be tempted to look back: "What is the beginning?" But resist
           the temptation, go on reading in the middle.
                That's how it is: we are always in the middle of life. Life has been there before you ever entered
           into the stream, and life will be there when you are gone. You will know only a few glimpses in the
           middle. You come suddenly into the film-house, you see a few scenes on the screen; the film was
           going on before you entered, you will be gone and the film will continue. You will never know the
           beginning and you will never know the end because there are none. There is no beginning, no end.
           Life is an eternal continuum. Hence you cannot ever complete things, but you want to avoid.
                You are afraid of enlightenment, Sudas, just as everybody else is afraid. But nobody wants to
           accept that "I am a coward." Nobody wants to accept the fact that "I would like to sleep a little
           longer because I am seeing beautiful dreams, colourful dreams." Nobody wants to accept that "I am
           so stupid that I don't long for enlightenment." So everybody goes on saying, "Yes, I would like to
           become enlightened -- but tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in my old age."
                How to postpone? The best way is to become goal-oriented. That is the most beautiful deception
           that you can give to yourself Hence you say, "Some day I hope to find myself enlightened." Why
           'some day'? The river is flowing now... you can drink.
                You are thirsty and you say, "Some day I will drink." If you are thirsty, drink right now. Nothing
           else is more important. And because there is no goal, all goals are private dreams, life will not
           support you in your goal-orientation. Life will try in every way to destroy all your goals.
                You will have to learn ways of relaxing in the present. Enlightenment is not an effort to achieve
           something. It is a state of effortlessness. It is a state of no-action. It is a state of tremendous passivity,
           receptivity. You are not doing anything, you are not thinking anything, you are not planning for
           anything, you are not doing yoga exercises, and you are not doing any technique, any method -- you
           are simply existing, just existing. And in that very moment... the sudden realization that all is as it
           should be. That's what enlightenment is! Enlightenment is not an experience in which you will see
           great light and kundalini rising up and God standing in front of you telling you, "You can ask any
           three wishes and I will fulfill them." Don't be foolish.
                Enlightenment is not an experience at all. It is not that you will be able to walk on water, that you
           will be able to raise the dead back to life, that you will be able to cure the blind and the deaf and the
           dumb, that you will be able to do miracles. Enlightenment has nothing to do with any such thing.
                Enlightenment is a simple realization that everything is as it should be. That is the definition of
           enlightenment: everything is as it should be, everything is utterly perfect as it is. That feeling... and
           you are suddenly at home. Nothing is being missed. You are part, an organic part of this tremendous,
           beautiful whole. You are relaxed in it, surrendered in it. You don't exist separately -- all separation
           has disappeared.
                A great rejoicing happens, because with the ego disappearing there is no worry left, with the ego
           disappearing there is no anguish left, with the ego disappearing there is no possibility of death any
           more. This is what enlightenment is. It is the understanding that all is good, that all is beautiful -- and
           t is beautiful as it is. Everything is in tremendous harmony, in accord.
                The stars are in accord with the grass leaves, the earth is in accord with the sky, the rivers are in
           accord with the mountains. Everything is in such accord that existence is an orchestra. Everything is
           rhythmic, in tune. Existence is music. That experience is enlightenment. And you are not separate
           from it like an observer, like a spectator. The observer and the observed are one, the seer and the
           seen are one -- you are it!
                It is a great participation. You have fallen into she whole and the whole has fallen into you. The
           drop has dropped into the ocean and the ocean has dropped into the drop. It is impossible to say
           anything more about it. It is impossible to say, in fact, anything about it. It can only be experienced.
                But, please, Sudas, don't go on postponing it, because it is available now. Now or never,
           remember.
                I know you have been taught continuously -- this is a kind of hypnosis in which you are living;
           you have been hypnotized by the society -- you have been made goal-oriented, you have been forced
           to become ambitious, you have been taught to be competitive, so you are afraid. You are afraid:
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I WORRY THAT OTHERS WILL REACH BEFORE ME.
                You are not much concerned with your own enlightenment; you are much more concerned that
           "Nobody else should reach before me." Now, in the world of enlightenment such a competitive mind
           cannot even enter, will remain thousands and thousands of miles away. It needs a non-competitive
           spirit. It needs that you drop all comparisons, because when you become enlightened you will be
           totally alone, nobody else will be there -- not even your beloved, not even your friend. Nobody can
           be there; you will be utterly alone.
                And it is not a question of who attains 'before', because enlightenment has no before or after.
           Those are time pheno-mena. Enlightenment is always now -- why think of before and after? THIS
           very moment... let it sink in you. And all that is needed on your part is total receptivity. Fling all
           doors open, let the sun come in, aud the wind and the rain.
                Enlightenment is not like money, is not like political power. It is not like anything that you know
           in life -- it is absolutely unlike anything that you have known or will ever know. It is unique in the
           sense that nothing like it exists in existence. It is just itself; it cannot be compared with anything. It is
           its own comparison.
                But the problem is: how to drop this hypnosis? how to drop this conditioning? Watch it. See how
           it is torturing you, how it is making you more and more miserable every day, and how it is creating
           barriers between you and that which is. Just go on seeing it!
                No other positive method is needed -- just an insight that your whole mind is a misery-creating
           factory, that it manufactures misery and nothing else. Once you have seen it through and through,
           that very seeing becomes a transformation. You simply turn in. You drop the mind, or it drops of its
           own accord because you have seen the futility of it. And even if for a single moment the mind is not
           there, enlightenment is there.
                In the beginning it will come only in moments, but those moments are of eternity. Then, slowly
           slowly, more and more moments will be coming, because you will become more and more a host.
           And one day the guest and the host disappear into each other -- then it never leaves you. And on the
           outside you remain just the same old person: doing your work, chopping wood and carrying water
           from the well.... You remain just the same, and yet nothing is the same any more.
                I teach you this relaxation. I teach you the way of non-action. I don't teach you arduous efforts,
           because they are all ego-gratifying. No effort can help you to become enlightened; it will be a
           distraction. Only an effortless silence -- JUST SITTING, DOING NOTHING, AND THE SPRING
           COMES, AND THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF.

           The second question


               OSHO, PLEASE, I WANT TO COME HOME.

               Gyan Bhakti,


               YOU HAVE COME. I AM YOUR HOME. Yes, it takes time to recognize it. It takes years
           sometimes to recognize that you have come home. First, because you don't know what your home is
           -- so how to recognize it? Second, it is so against your ingrained habits of the mind that the mind
           wants to ignore it rather than take note of it. The mind wants to ignore it because if it takes note of it,
           that taking note is very disturbing. It disturbs its whole edifice.
               To recognize that you have come home means now no more effort is needed, means now there is
           nowhere to go, means that your old kind of life and all its activities are finished! Suddenly you will
           feel empty. Suddenly you will feel nobody, a nothingness -- that frightens. Hence one goes on
           repeating:

           OSHO, I WANT TO COME HOME.
              You HAVE come, Gyan Bhakti! To be here with me is TO be at home, because my whole
           approach is not that of improving you but just of shaking you, shocking you into awareness that you
           have never left the home in the first place.
              The biblical story says Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. I would like to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tell you: they have never been expelled. You have heard a wrong rumour. They have only fallen
           asleep -- they ARE in the Garden of Eden, because there is no other place to be. The whole existence
           is God's, the whole existence is his garden. To where can he expel anyone?
                Once a Christian missionary was talking to me and I asked him, "Where can he expel Adam and
           Eve to? Where?" And he was at a loss to answer -- because this whole kingdom is his. Yes, an
           ordinary king can expel his son, because his kingdom has a limitation. There are other kingdoms too;
           the son can be thrown out of the kingdom, out of the boundaries.
                You can be expelled from India, from Germany, from Japan -- that is possible because there are
           other places available. But to where is God going to expel you? There is no other place. The Garden
           of Eden has no limits -- the whole existence is his garden.
                Then the Christian missionary asked me, "Then what happened? How do you interpret the
           story?"
                I said, "They have fallen asleep. By eating the fruit of knowledge they have fallen asleep, they
           have become minds -- and when one becomes the mind, one falls asleep as far as consciousness is
           concerned. By eating the fruit of knowledge, by becoming knowledgeable, they have become minds!
           The story is so simple and so significant. God told them not to eat from the tree of knowledge; that
           was the only order that was given to Adam and Eve: not to become minds, to remain innocent, not to
           become knowledgeable. But they could not resist the temptation. They became knowledgeable.
           "Once you become knowledgeable, your consciousness goes through a shift: it moves from the heart
           to the head. The heart falls asleep and the head becomes awake. The head cannot know the mystery
           of God; the head is incapable of understanding that you are already in God, that you cannot be
           anywhere else."
                Just descend from the head, come back to the heart, and you are back in the Garden of Eden.
           Hence my insistence on renouncing knowledge. Don't renounce the world -- the world is beautiful.
           Don't renounce your wife -- she is your life. That's exactly the meaning of the name 'Eve'.
           The story is:

               Adam was alone and felt very lonely, and God created Eve -- out of his ribs. That too is
           beautiful, that man and woman are only separate from the outside; deep down they are one. And then
           God asked Adam, "What are you going to call this woman? This new creature?"
               And Adam said, "I will call her 'Haavvah', 'Eva', 'Eve'" -- these are all different names in
           different languages, but they all mean life.
           And God asked, "Why?"
               Adam said "Why? Because she is my life. Without her I was dead."

               You need not renounce your wife -- she is your life. You need not renounce your husband, you
           need not renounce your children. But one thing you need to renounce -- that is knowedgeability. One
           thing you need to renounce -- that is your mind. And see the irony: people renounce the world, but
           they don't renounce their minds.
               A Jaina renounces the world, becomes a naked monk, but still remains a Jaina. I have asked
           many Jaina monks, "This is ridiculous! You renounce the society, but you have not renounced the
           knowledge that the society has given to you. How can you still call yourself a Jaina?"
               The Christian Catholic renounces the world, moves to the monastery, but remains a Christian
           Catholic. He carries the society with him in his mind and all that the society has put there. What kind
           of renunciation is this?
               I tell you: Renounce being a Christian, renounce being a Hindu, because this is renunciation of
           the mind. And don't renounce the world -- the world belongs to God. The world is beautiful, and it is
           tremendously beautiful if you can see it without the mind interfering.
               Gyan Bhakti, you have come home, but you are still not able to wake up, you are still fast asleep
           -- you are still in the mind. Descend into the heart. You don't know how fortunate you are. You don't
           know how blessed you are. It is rare to find a home, because it is rare to be with an alive Master.

              Yarkoni and Danberg, two Israeli soldiers, were bemoaning the years of hardship and fighting
           against the Egyptians.
           "What we should do," suggested Yarkoni, "is declare war against the United States. They will beat
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           us, and like they always do with all the countries they defeat, right away they will give us billions of
           dollars, plenty of food, houses, cars and factories."
           "That's no good," sighed Danberg. "With our luck, we would win!"

               You don't know how lucky you are. You have already won -- but it takes time to recognize the
           fact, it takes time for the news to reach from the heart to the head. And the distance is vast.
           Physiologically it is not much, but spiritually the distance is very immense. Maybe these two points
           are at the greatest distance in existence -- the heart and the head. Spiritually, not physiologically.
           Physiologically just one foot, two feet, but spiritually the distance is almost infinite. It takes time for
           the news to travel.

               Your heart knows, Gyan Bhakti, that it has happened, but your head has not heard about it yet.
           And you live in the head. When I look into your heart, I can see that the heart has recognized.
               This is what my experience is every day when I touch you, when you come close to me, when
           you allow my energy to melt into your energy -- this is my experience! that I see your heart has
           understood, but your head is still unaware. Your head is still resisting, your head is still fighting,
           your head is still persisting in its old routine, and your heart has already been transformed -- the
           flower has bloomed there.
               Gyan Bhakti, start learning the language of feeling and forget the language of thinking. Start
           being more and more silent, because the chattering mind will not allow you to know that you have
           come home. The inner talk has to stop. In those gaps, in those intervals, the still small voice of the
           heart will be heard.

                BUT FROM MY SIDE, I KNOW, I know absolutely: you have come. Whether you know it or
           not does not matter; sooner or later you will know. It is only a question of time. And there are many
           people like you, Gyan Bhakti, who have arrived and are not aware -- you are not alone, and they are
           still struggling in their heads, fighting, trying to escape, creating all kinds of barriers between me and
           themselves -- because the head will try in every possible way. It is very cunning: the head is very
           cunning. It cannot allow you easily to enter into the heart again; it cannot leave its domination over
           you.
           I have heard:

               A man and a little boy entered a barbershop together. After the man received the full treatment --
           shave, shampoo, manicure, haircut, etc. -- he placed the boy in the chair.
           "I am going to buy a green tie to wear for the parade," he said. "I will be back in a few minutes."
               When the boy's haircut was completed and the man still had not returned, the barber said, "Looks
           like your daddy has forgotten all about you."
           "That was not my daddy," said the boy. "He just walked up, took me by the hand, and said, 'Come
           on, son, we are gonna get a free haircut!'"

               The mind's whole function is to be cunning. It is a strategy developed by you to compete with
           others, to deceive others, to be clever with others. And by and by, you become so skillful in
           deceiving others that you start deceiving yourself too -- and that's what the mind goes on doing: it
           deceives others, it deceives you.
               Now, Gyan Bhakti, your mind is creating this problem. Your mind is saying, "Search for the
           home, seek God. Make efforts to become enlightened." Now the mind is creating new goals for you.
           Once the goal grips you, you are in the hands of the mind. If you can say to the mind, "I have arrived
           -- get lost! Now there is no more to go, nowhere to go. This is home. This is enlightenment," first the
           mind will look a little confused, because this is not the way you have ever behaved with it. It will
           look a little shocked. But if you go on saying the same thing again and again -- whenever the mind
           wants to create a desire to achieve something, you simply say, "Shut up!" -- slowly slowly it will
           understand that now you are beyond its power. Only then does it start stopping It will make all kinds
           of efforts. You have to be alert not to be caught in those efforts.
               And that's my function of being with you, and the function of this Buddhafield, to remind you
           continuously that you have arrived, that God is available right now to you, this very moment
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           showering on you. God is in the air and in the sun and in the flowers and in the song of the birds.
           God is in this silence between me and you, in these words between me and you, in this communion.
           This silence, this presence, this love that goes on flowing between me and you, is God! This love is
           the home.
                But beware of the mind. In fact, in all the traditions, mind has been given different names. One
           tradition calls it 'the Devil', another tradition calls it 'Satan', but it is in fact nothing but a metaphor
           for the mind.
                Jesus goes to the mountains, meditates, and then encounters the Devil. Do you know, who that
           Devil is? It is not somebody outside you, with two horns popping out of his head and with a long tail
           and hooves -- these are just stories written for children, for grown-up children of course, but all
           stories. You have to decode them.
                Who is this Devil who tempts Jesus in the mountains? It is the mind. The Devil is an ancient
           metaphor for the mind. It goes on watching you, what you are doing. If you are nourishing to it, then
           it is okay; if you are going away from it, it starts creating trouble for you. If one strategy does not
           work, it immediately changes its strategy. And it is really very clever.
                Just the other day you heard Kabir's sutras. He said: I repressed sex and it became anger; I
           repressed anger, it became greed; I repressed greed, it became pride. It is the same mind! If you start
           fighting with it, it goes on changing its colours -- just to deceive you. And, yes, it deceives.
                When repressed sex becomes anger, you are at a loss to understand that this is sex and nothing
           else -- now pretending as anger. Anger looks so different from sex, in fact it looks like the polar
           opposite. Sex is love: anger is hate -- how can they be the same? The mind has taken just the polar
           opposite to hide itself You will need great intelligence to decipher, otherwise you will be deceived.
           And then anger will torture you.
                And if you repress anger, it becomes greed. Now who can ever think logically that anger can
           become greed? They don't seem to be connected at all. Unless you are a real observer of your inner
           happenings you will not be able to see the connection. Mind jumps to such new faces, takes such
           new masks! And then you repress greed and it becomes pride, and you go on ad infinitum....

               Mrs. Fleishman and Mrs. Rutkin were rocking on the porch of their Catskill Mountain Hotel.
           "Oh, my God! exclaimed Mrs. Fleishman. "Look at that boy. Did you ever see such a big nose? Such
           a crooked mouth? And look -- he is cockeyed too!"
           "That," said Mrs. Rutkin, "happens to be my son."
           "Well," said Mrs. Fleishman, "on him, it is very becoming!"

               Mind is a diplomat, it is a politician -- it is a devil. Unless you are really alert and watchful, it can
           go on deceiving you for lives -- it has been doing that for lives; it can go on doing it for lives still.
           But a little intelligence, just a little intelligence, a little candle of light inside you of watching, of
           silently watching and seeing what the mind is doing, and slowly slowly your intelligence will
           become stronger. And mind becomes impotent as intelligence grows.
               Intelligence is not intellect; intellect is part of mind, intelligence is part of the heart. Intelligence
           is always part of the heart, it is not intellectuality. I don't mean by 'intelligence' your so-called
           intelligentsia -- it has nothing to do with intelligence. Your intelligentsia is knowledgeable. They
           may have big university degrees, much knowledge, but they know nothing. All their knowledge is
           borrowed, all their knowledge is parrotlike, it is mechanical. They go on talking about it, but it does
           not affect their life. It has no relationship with their own source of being; it does not well up within
           their own heart. When I talk about intelligence I always mean the heart -- something happening in
           you, not coming from the outside. If it comes from the outside, it creates intellect; if it comes from
           within, it is intelligence. Help your intelligence to grow.
               And I am creating this context, this opportunity, this space, and I am giving you all kinds of
           challenges. And as the commune grows the challenges will grow. Those challenges are meant for a
           certain purpose, they are deliberate -- they are meant to provoke your intelligence into activity, to
           bring your intelligence above your intellect. Only new situations which your intellect cannot cope
           with, only such spaces which your knowledge has not heard about, can help to bring your
           intelligence to the surface.
               All that is needed is intelligence, understanding, awareness -- and, Gyan Bhakti, you will know
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have come home. And great gratitude will arise in your being, and great thankfulness. That
           gratitude, that thankfulness, is prayer.

           The third question


              OSHO, WHY HAVE I ALWAYS BEEN IN SUCH A HURRY? TODAY I SAW SO CLEARLY THAT IT
              WAS MY WAY OF KEEPING THE DIVINE AT A DISTANCE, AND I FELT INCREDIBLY SAD, AND
              SAW THE ABSURDITY OF THIS PATTERN.

              Prem Neera,


               MAN HAS BEEN TOLD AGAIN AND AGAIN to be in a hurry, because life is short and much
           has to be done, many desires have to be fulfilled, many pleasures have to be attained, many goals
           achieved. And life is certainly short, and you have so many desires, and so much to do, and in fact
           there is not much time to do it.
               If you live sixty years, twenty years will be gone in sleep, one third, so only forty years are left.
           Then another twenty years will be gone in earning your bread and butter, just the routine of going to
           the office, to the factory, rushing in the morning towards the factory or the office, and rushing in the
           evening back to the home -- twenty years will be gone in that.
               Only twenty years are left. And in these twenty years, almost fifteen years will be lost in such
           stupid activities: watching the television, going to the movie, playing cards, gossiping with the
           neighbours -- fifteen years! So only five years are left. And in those five years, you have to manage
           many kinds of illnesses, and you have to go to friends' marriages and social functions, and you have
           to talk to your wife and to your children -- just out of the sense of duty -- and you have to quarrel
           with your wife, and you have to throw pillows... and a thousand and one things. You can just go on
           making the list.
               Those who have made such lists, they say in the whole sixty years' life not more than a few
           months are left for you -- and in those few months, all the desires, millions of desires, are to be
           fulfilled. Naturally, great hurry arises -- and in the West more so, because in the East we have a
           beautiful concept that there are many lives, so there is no hurry. If you die this time, nothing to be
           worried about -- next time you will be born again, and again and again and again.
               In the West, all the three religions that are born outside of India -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam --
           they believe in one life. They have all come from the same root, Judaism. In fact, there are only two
           religions in the world: Judaism and Hinduism. A few religions are offshoots of Judaism and a few
           religions -- Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism -- they are offshoots of Hinduism. Hinduism believes in
           many many lives. Hence you find the Indian utterly lazy. His problem is not hurry: his problem is
           laziness. His problem is that he has no motive to do anything.
               That's why India is poor -nobody is willing to do anything, everybody goes on postponing:
           tomorrow or the next life, and why be worried? There is enough time, infinite time available. This
           idea of infinite time has helped in one way: it has not created the Western hurry, it has not created
           the Western speed -- it has not created the Western anxiety and tension, that constant state of
           remaining tense. It has created another problem, just the opposite, that nobody wants to do anything,
           that everybody is lazy and lousy.
               The reason, Neera, for your hurry, is that you come from the West, from the Judaic-Christian
           tradition: only one life and so many things to do. Naturally, one has to be in a hurry; always running.
           People are not even resting in their sleep; in their sleep also they are on the go, in their sleep also
           they are travelling, to faraway lands. Even in their sleep they are not in their rooms, they are not
           where they are -- they are always somewhere else.

           You ask me: WHY HAVE I ALWAYS BEEN IN SUCH A HURRY?
               You are brought up in the Judaic tradition: Do! Doing is respected very much. Be active! And do
           it quick and fast.

              The Devil had been away from Hades for a couple of months' terrestrial duty. He had been in
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           England and was looking forward to putting his feet up by the fire and having a nice drop of
           brimstone, followed by a variety of unmentionable after-dinner pursuits.
               At last he got home. You can imagine his surprise when he flung the Gates of Hell open to be
           confronted by a landscape dotted with cool mango groves and fields of nodding corn.
           "Those goddammed Jews and their irrigation schemes!" he howled.

                Wherever Jews reach, they will bring their planning -- even in hell they will not leave the Devil
           in rest. That is the Judaic tradition: one life, a short life, and much has to be done, all has to be done.
                Neera, you have to drop that Judaic tradition, you have to come out of it. And I am not saying
           become an Indian either, because that is moving from one wrong to another wrong. Just come out of
           all traditions. To Hindus I say come out of your Hindu tradition of laziness and lousiness, and to
           Jews, Christians and Mohammedans I say come out of your tradition of remaining in a constant
           hurry and tension.
                Enjoy life. Act, but act in a relaxed way. The greatest art in life is to learn how to act in a relaxed
           way. Action is a must -- you cannot live without action -- but action can be almost inaction. That's
           what Lao Tzu means when he uses the word WU-WEI. That is very fundamental to Lao Tzu and that
           is very fundamental to me too: I would like you to learn WU-WEI. WU-WEI means action without
           action -- doing a thing in such a way that you are not tense in doing it, doing a thing in such a way
           that you are playful about it, doing a thing in such a way that you are not worried about it, doing it
           and yet remaining detached, doing it and yet remaining a witness.
                Lao Tzu seems to be the way out for Jews and Hindus. And this is strange that no tradition arose
           out of Lao Tzu, no religion. Jews have created three great religions, Hindus have created three great
           religions -- all the six great religions belong to these two peoples. Lao Tzu remained an individual.
           Yes, a few people followed him; down the centuries, a few individuals have moved into the world of
           Lao Tzu, but only individuals -- no religion came out of it, because the whole Taoist approach is
           such that it cannot create fanatics. And unless you can create fanatics, you cannot create a religion.
           The whole of Lao Tzu's philosophy is such that it gives you such balance, such tranquillity, such
           serenity, that you cannot become a fanatic -- Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan. It is impossible. These
           things happen only to neurotic people.
                Hindus create one kind of neurosis, and Jews create another kind of neurosis, and both have
           created great religions in the world. And I absolutely agree with Sigmund Freud that these so-called
           religions are nothing but collective obsessions. A Buddha, a Jesus, a Lao Tzu, a Zarathustra, they are
           not religious people in the sense Christians, Mohammedans and Buddhists are. They are very
           balanced, they are so whole, they are so tranquil, they cannot become parts of crowds, they cannot
           fall that low.
                People join together in churches just because alone they feel so afraid of their inner neurosis --
           they would like to join with people of the same kind so they can feel at ease, that they are not alone
           in the difficulty. And when there are many people just like you, you forget all about your neurosis.
                Humanity lives such a neurotic life that either it moves to one extreme and remains stuck there,
           or it moves to the other extreme and remains stuck there.
                The really healthy person is not stuck anywhere, he is not stagnant, he is dynamic. He can be in
           great action and yet he can remain inactive -- he knows the way of WU-WEI, he knows the way of
           action through inaction. You will have to learn that.
                Neera, hurry is something very symbolic of the Western mind. And because of the hurry the
           West has created more and more speedy vehicles. The East has remained contented with the bullock
           cart. There have been great scientists in the East, but they never worked. They never worked hard
           enough to create better roads, better vehicles, aeroplanes, spaceships -- they were not interested in
           hurry. What is the point? Why rush?
                The West is continuously creating more and more speedy vehicles. They have broken the sound
           barrier; now man is travelling faster than sound. And the whole Western technology is bent upon
           breaking the light barrier -- man wants to travel faster than light. And nobody asks, "Where do you
           want to go? And even if you reach there, what are you going to do there?" You can reach the moon,
           you can reach some day some star, but what will you do? You will do the same thing that you are
           doing in California, because you will be the same person. You will create the same kind of nonsense
           and nuisance there: you will pollute the poor star, you will destroy its rivers, you will destroy its
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           oceans, you will pile up your junk everywhere. What are you going to do there? And you will create
           the same ideological wars, both cold and hot. You cannot remain peaceful there either; you will
           immediately divide: somebody will become communist and somebody will become democratic and
           the fight starts. And you will create atom bombs and hydrogen bombs, or you will carry them from
           here.
               The West is too much interested in speed, too much in action. And the action is futile, because it
           is simply the occupation of a neurotic mind. And the East is not interested in action at all; that is
           again another kind of neurosis, the opposite kind -- people are lazy. They philosophize very much
           about their laziness. They talk about renouncing the world; they say, "What is the point of earning,
           of working? one day one has to go, one day one has to die, so why bother? rest as much as you can
           before you die." But then what will you do when you die? You can rest when you die.

               MAN NEEDS A BALANCE, and that balance is possible only if you learn the art of being active
           and yet remaining inactive inside. And that's what we are trying to do here, and in the bigger
           commune you will have more facilities to be active and inactive together.
               People who come to the ashram are a little puzzled. Many have written to me, "Everybody is
           working but nobody seems to be tense." In the office so many people are working, in the workshops,
           in the press office... so many people are working. Nearabout three hundred people are constantly
           working, and with no holiday -- the Sunday never comes. But nobody is tense.
               Work is beautiful if it can be done without any tension, if it can be done playfully, if it can be
           done without any hurry and yet without relapsing into laziness. It is a very subtle and delicate art.
           Then you are neither Eastern nor Western -- that's what I call the new man. He will not be Eastern,
           he will not be Western, or he will be both together. It has never happened before: my sannyasin has
           to prove it. Lao Tzu talked about it and a few people have tried it, but I am making an effort to create
           such a big space that millions of people can try it. It is such a blessing to know how to act without
           acting that everybody should have a little taste of it.
               When you are working, remember it; if you have gone for a walk, remember it -- there is no need
           to be in a hurry. A walk has to be enjoyed. Go slow. There is no goal! Enjoy the trees surrounding
           the way, and the birds and the sun and the sky and the clouds, and the people that are passing and the
           smell of the earth -- enjoy everything! Be alert.
               A lazy person becomes unalert. The very speedy person is so much in speed that he cannot be
           watchful of what is happening around him; he is rushing with such force that he cannot see anywhere
           else, he is focussed, obsessed with some goal. And the lazy person is so lazy, so unalert, so
           unconscious, that he cannot see. Both are blind.
               You have to find a synthesis. Be alert as the active person is, and be relaxed as the lazy person is.
           And once both these two are there together, you are balanced, and your life will have a new flavour,
           a new joy, a new ecstasy, which knows no bounds.

              Silverstein, the inveterate joiner, came rushing home, proudly holding a membership card to his
           newest organization.
           "Look," said Silverstein to his son, "I just joined the Prostitute Club!"
           "What?" said the boy. "Let me see that card."
              After reading it, he announced, "Pa, that's the Parachute Club!"
           "All I know is," said Silverstein, "they guaranteed me three hundred and sixty-five jumps a year."

               There are these people who are constantly joining this club and that, and this organization and
           that. They are simply afraid of being themselves, simply afraid of being left alone. There are people
           who are constantly rushing -- don't ask where, they themselves don't know. But in the rush they are
           occupied, and the occupation keeps them away from themselves, away from looking into their own
           inner hollowness.
               This constant hurry is nothing but an escape from your inner self. And there is a truth in it of
           great significance: if you go on hurrying, if you go on speeding, if you go on running away from
           yourself, if you keep yourself occupied constantly, you will become more and more afraid of looking
           at yourself, because not knowing what beauties emptiness contains you will become more and more
           afraid. You would not like to come across your inner emptiness.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In fact, the inner emptiness is the greatest experience of life -- that is enlightenment: knowing
           that there is nobody, knowing that there is utter silence, not even a word, knowing that there is
           nothing at all, no person, no ego, no identity, is the greatest experience, the ultimate joy. But if you
           don't look into it then you are simply suspicious of a certain hollowness, of a certain emptiness
           inside. And remaining suspicious, you go on occupying yourself People keep themselves occupied
           the whole day, and then they fall asleep and become occupied in their dreams -- twenty-four hours a
           day it is constant occupation.
               Meditation means giving a few minutes to non-occupation. Neera, start giving at least one hour
           to non-occupation. Just sit doing nothing. In the beginning it will be very difficult -- the MOST
           difficult thing in the world in the beginning, in the end the most easy. It is so easy, that's why it is so
           difficult. If you tell somebody to just sit and not to do anything, he becomes fidgety; he starts feeling
           that ants are crawling on the leg or something is happening in the body. He becomes so restless,
           because he has always remained occupied. He is like a car with the ignition on and the engine
           humming although the car is not going anywhere, but the engine is humming and becoming hotter
           and hotter. You have forgotten how to put the ignition off. That's what meditation is: the art of
           putting the ignition of.
               For a few minutes, a few hours, as much time as is possible, just sit silently. In the beginning it is
           difficult. It will take at least three months to six months to be able to sit silently doing nothing -- not
           even chanting is needed because that is again an occupation. People sit, then they start chanting
           "Rama, Rama, Rama" -- that is again occupation, another kind of occupation, a religious kind of
           occupation. No, not even chanting, no mantra is needed.
               The word 'mind' and 'mantra' both come from the same root. They both come from MAN --
           MAN is Sanskrit for mind. And that which keeps mind running is called 'mantra', that which keeps
           nourishing mind is called 'mantra'. So somebody's mantra is money -- he thinks of money, that is his
           mantra. Somebody's mantra is politics -- he thinks of politics, that is his mantra. And somebody
           simply repeats "Rama, Rama, Rama" -- that is his mantra. But every mantra feeds the mind, and
           mind is the problem, and we have to get out of the mind.
               Sit silently, Neera, for three to six months; then remind me again -- if you are left by that time. If
           you are finished, so far, so good. If you really sit silently for one hour a day for six months, you will
           not remind me -- because you will have experienced something so tremendous, so beautiful: just
           your pure being, just the heart pulsating, the breath coming and going... and the music of your inner
           existence is exhilarating. It becomes overflowing. It is not only that you will be con-tinuously
           radiant, bubbling with joy -- whosoever comes in contact with you will also be infected by it, your
           joy will become contagious. And there will be no hurry. There will be a grace, an elegance a peace
           will surround you.
               When joy is inside the heart, when silence is inside, peace surrounds you, grace surrounds you,
           God surrounds you....

           The last question


              OSHO, PLEASE, ONE DAY IN THIS SERIES CAN YOU FINISH THE LECTURE ON A SERIOUS
              NOTE SO THAT I CAN SEE YOU LEAVE? EVERY DAY WHEN YOU END WITH A JOKE, I LAUGH
              SO MUCH THAT TEARS FILL MY EYES AND YOU BECOME JUST A WHITE BLOB DRIFTING
              THROUGH A SEA OF GREENERY.

              Deva Tulika,


               IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME because today I have chosen really a very juicy joke. But I
           will resist the temptation....
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                    The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
                                                Chapter #15
                           Chapter title: Disappearing you will feel such Freedom
           25 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

           Archive code: 7904250
              ShortTitle: FISH15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video:     No
                 Length: 101 mins




              The first question


              OSHO, I AM AFRAID OF DEATH, YET AT THE SAME TIME IT HAS AN INCREDIBLE ATTRACTION
              FOR ME. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

              Prem Shreyas,


               DEATH IS THE GREATEST MYSTERY OF LIFE. Life has many mysteries, but there is
           nothing comparable to death. Death is the climax, the crescendo. One is afraid of it because one will
           be lost, one will dissolve in it. One is afraid of it because of the ego -- the ego cannot survive death.
           It will be left on this shore when you start moving towards the other; it cannot go with you.
               And the ego is all that you know about yourself, hence the fear, great fear: "I will not exist in
           death." But there is great attraction too. The ego will be lost, but not your reality. In fact, death will
           reveal to you your true identity; death will take away all your masks and will reveal your original
           face.
               Death will for the first time make it possible for you to encounter your innermost, interiormost
           subjectivity as it is, without any camouflage, without any pretense, without any pseudo personality.
               Hence, everybody is afraid of death and everybody is attracted. This attraction was
           misunderstood by Sigmund Freud and he thought that there is a death-wish in man -- he called it
           THANATOS. He said, "Man has two basic, fundamental instincts: one is EROS -- a deep desire to
           live, to be alive for ever, a desire for immortality -- and the other is THANATOS, the desire to die,
           to be finished with it all." He misunderstood the whole point because he was not a mystic; He knew
           only one face of death -- that it ends life -- he knew only one thing: that death is an end. He was not
           aware that death is also a beginning. Each end is always a beginning, because nothing ever ends
           totally, nothing can ever end. Everything continues, only forms change.
               Your form will die, but you have something formless in you too. Your body will not be there, but
           you have something in you, within your body, which is not part of your body. Your earthly part will
           drop into the earth, dust unto dust, but you have something of the sky in you, something of the
           beyond, which will take a new journey, a new pilgrimage.
               Death creates fear if you think of the ego, and death appeals to you, attracts you, if you think of
           your true self So vaguely one remains attracted towards death; if you become clearly aware of it, it
           can become a transforming understanding, it can become a mutant force.
               Shreyas, try to understand both the fear and the attraction. And don't think that they are opposites
           -- they don't overlap, they are not opposites either; they don't interfere with each other. The fear is
           directed in one direction: the ego; and the attraction is directed into a totally different dimension: the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           egoless self And the attraction is far more important than the fear.
               The meditator has to overcome fear. The meditator has to fall in love with death, the meditator
           has to invite death -- the meditator has not to wait for it, he has to call it because death is a friend to
           the meditator. And the meditator dies before the death of the body. And that is one of the most
           beautiful experiences of life: the body goes on living, on the outside you go on moving the same as
           you were before, but inside the ego is no more, the ego has died.
               Now you are alive and dead together. You have become a meeting-point of life and death; you
           contain now the polar opposites and the richness is great when polar opposites are contained. And
           these are the greater polar opposites, death and life. If you can contain both, you will become
           capable of containing God because God is both. His one face is life, his other face is death.
               Shreyas, this is something beautiful -- don't make a problem out of it. Meditate over it, make it a
           meditation, and you will be benefitted immensely.

           The second question


              OSHO TODAY IN THE SAMADHI TANK I COULD HAVE SWORN I FELT YOUR PRESENCE FOR A
              FEW MOMENTS. I BECAME QUITE FRIGHTENED. OTHER PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN OF FEELING
              YOUR PRESENCE EVEN AS FAR AWAY AS ENGLAND. WHAT IS THIS? IS IT IMAGINATION? OR
              PROJECTION? OR SOMETHING ELSE?

              Frank,


               IT CAN BE A PROJECTION, it can be imagination, but it can also be something else... it
           depends on you. And only you can decide what it is. For example, were you thinking about me
           before it happened? Were you desiring that it should happen? Was there imagination functioning
           somewhere inside you? Were you fantasizing? Then it is imagination, then it is projection.
               But if it was out of nowhere, you were not thinking about me at all, you were taken by surprise,
           you were shocked, you could not believe it, then it is something else. And that's what has happened
           to you.

           You say: I BECAME QUITE FRIGHTENED.
              If it had been your own imagination, you would not have become frightened at all -- you would
           have known that it was your imagination. If it was just a projection of your mind, you would have
           known. You became frightened only because it had nothing to do with your mind at all.

               You say: I COULD HAVE SWORN I FELT YOUR PRESENCE FOR A FEW MOMENTS.
               Such experiences happen, and it can happen more easily in isolation. It happens to many people
           when they are alone in the mountains. It happens to many people when they are in a certain strange
           space in which they have never been before; the very strangeness of the space makes them aware of
           certain things to which they have remained always asleep.
               It happens to runners. If you run for a few miles, a moment comes when suddenly the runner
           disappears and only running remains. At that moment you become aware of many things you have
           never been aware of: subtle fragrances in the air -- your senses are very alert, very alive -- certain
           presences around you, even certain presences so tangible that you can touch or you can be touched
           by them.
               It happens to people in many situations, but those situations have to be something extraordinary
           -- because we have become so accustomed to the ordinary situation that things go on happening
           around us and we remain unaware. The samadhi tank gives you a very special space: darkness,
           isolation, no sound, and you are floating in water. You are back in the mother's womb; the samadhi
           tank is just a scientific way to have the experience of the mother's womb again.
               The foetus in the mother's womb floats in liquid. In the samadhi tank you float in the same kind
           of liquid, with the same chemicals. Hence, you cannot drown in it. And the darkness of the womb,
           and it is so out of the ordinary -- no sound, no light -- you are thrown into such a new space that your
           sensitivity, your awareness, your intuitiveness, all start functioning. You become as intuitive as the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           small child in the womb, you become as innocent as the small child in the womb. and in that
           innocence something can happen which is not part of ordinary time and space.
               Space and time, both can disappear. Yes it is possible you can feel my presence -- in fact I am
           surrounding each of my sannyasins. You may feel it, you may not feel it. In a certain moment of
           attunement you will feel it. Then it doesn't matter whether you are in England or in Japan -- it does
           not matter: space, distance, make no difference.
               By giving you sannyas I am making you entitled to feel me wherever you are. Now all depends
           on you. My presence will be with you, surrounding you; in life, in death, I will be with you just by
           your side. But you may see, you may not see. You may remain unconscious.
               Frank, something beautiful has happened. Remain available to strange experiences in life, and
           don't try to deny the strange experience, because that's how many people go on denying tremendous
           opportunities.
               For example, one day in the night you are suddenly awake, alone in your room, all is silent and
           dark. And you become aware of a certain presence... maybe a dead friend, maybe one of your
           ancestors, maybe your dead mother. But you become so frightened -- in that fear you lose that
           perceptivity, that perception. The presence remains there, but you are dis-connected. You put the
           light on, you become occupied in doing something, you start reading a book, or you turn the radio
           on,Just to disconnect yourself from the strange experience that was happening.
               Don't be afraid! This existence is yours. This existence is very friendly and there are immense
           mysteries waiting for you -- to be known, to be experienced.
               This was a beautiful moment for you. Now that it has happened, you can make it happen again
           and again -- and there is no necessity to go into the samadhi tank. It can happen in your room in the
           night when you are alone. It can happen anywhere if you ALLOW it to happen.
               One of the greatest calamities that has befallen the modern man is that he has become very very
           mundane. He takes only that which is explainable, he accepts only that which is definable, he accepts
           and recognizes only that which can be scientifically and objectively proved. But then you remain on
           the lowest rung of existence, because the higher the rung is, the more indefinable it becomes, the
           more unexplainable, the more and more elusive -- you cannot catch hold of it, you cannot have it in
           your fist, and you cannot show it to somebody else. It becomes more and more intimate, less and less
           public, more and more private.
               Many people experience such things but they don't tell others, because others will think they are
           crazy. That's my own observation: many people have told me their experiences and they have said
           that they have never told anybody else before, because they have always been afraid that they may
           be thought crazy, or people will think that they hallucinated, or people will think that something is
           wrong -- their nuts and bolts are a little loose. And not only will others think this -- they themselves
           think, "Something is wrong with me, because this is not ordinarily experienced by others, then why
           me? Some-thing is wrong with me -- deny this experience, forget about it!"
               If you ask people sympathetically, lovingly, many people will reveal mysteries to you. The
           mystic experience is not as rare as people think, and the mystic experienCe has nothing to do with
           religion as such. It happens in many spaces which are not thought to be religious at all.
               It happens to mountaineers, many times, because climbing in the mountains, alone, in a
           dangerous situation, suddenly the mountaineer becomes aware of a presence by his side -- not only
           that but mountaineers have talked and the presence has helped and the presence has said, "I am a
           friend, don't be worried. I am protecting you. There is no danger -- go on climbing."
               Sometimes a man is lost in the jungle and after one or two days, or three days -- no food, no
           possibility seems to be available to get out of the jungle, tired, exhausted -- suddenly he becomes
           aware of a presence, a very protective presence, which says, "Don't be afraid! You are on the right
           track, you will get out -- don't be worried."
               But these people never say these things to others. In sports many times mystic experiences
           happen; runners and joggers particularly have known many experiences. In the new commune there
           are going to be facilities for runners and joggers. I would like hundreds of sannyasins to run for
           miles every morning -- just completely abandoned into running.
               After half an hour or one hour, even if you are tired, tiredness disappears. It is strange, very
           strange, very illogical. You wanted to go to sleep, you were so tired, but you went for a six-mile run.
           After the second or third mile, suddenly all tiredness has disappeared and you are so full of energy --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           as you have never been. You are so weightless, air-borne. And you start feeling that it is not you who
           are running now -- some other energy has taken possession of you.
               And the experience of unity with existence, and the experience of a deep, warm, orgasmic energy
           surrounding you.... It happens to surfers, it happens in many sports, even in wrestling. That's why in
           Japan particularly, many martial arts were developed by meditators. It looks strange: why should
           meditators develop martial arts -- judo, aikido, karate, and so many others? They were developed for
           a certain reason.
               If you really go deep into them, the ego disappears and you enter into a new space -- unknown to
           you, unexplored by you. And suddenly you are not functioning on your own but as if possessed by
           God.
               One thing I would like to emphasize: whenever such things happen, accept, don't deny them;
           don't start calling them imagination, projection, hallucination, deception. These are tricks of the
           mind. And I am not saying that there are not hallucinations -- there are -- and I am not saying there
           are not people who suffer from neurotic illusions -- there are -- but just because of them, just because
           there are false coins, don't deny the real coins. In fact, false coins only prove that the real coins exist.
               Remain available to the dimension of the strange, the mysterious, and that will help you
           tremendously. If you remain available, more and more experiences of this kind will start happening.

               A man went into a bar and ordered a beer. After he had been served, he reached into his breast
           pocket and lifted out a perfectly formed little figure four inches tall. Then he produced a thimble. "A
           beer for my friend Paul, here, too," he requested, "and go easy on the head."
           Is he for real?" asked the bartender.
           "He is," said the man.
           "Can he talk?" persisted the barkeep.
           "He can," replied the man. "Paul," he went on, "tell this guy about the time we were on that
           expedition and you called the witch doctor a black son-of-a-bitch."

               Don't think that life ends with arithmetic -- there is magic too. And by 'magic' I simply mean that
           the strange also happens. 'Magic' is now a condemned word, because we have forgotten the magical
           dimension of life. The word 'magic' comes from a very great mystic; his name was Magi. Before
           Christianity, Magi's religion was the greatest religion spread all over Europe. That religion was
           called 'Magic'. Christianity destroyed much that was valuable. And one of the most valuable things
           that Christianity destroyed was the tradition of the Magians -- the tradition of Magic.
           I would like you to be magicians again.
               Arithmetic is good as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. Logic is good as far as it goes,
           but it does not go far enough -- and there is much more to life than logic. Don't be satisfied with
           Aristotle. The modern mind is much too satisfied with Aristotle, and because of it there is so much
           boredom. People look very dull, because the sense of the mysterious is no more there which goes on
           keeping you fresh, young, which goes on keeping you wondering.
               And if a man is capable of wonder he is capable of knowing God; if a man is capable of awe, he
           is capable of knowing God.

           The third question


              OSHO, I HAVE TRIED TO THINK OF A QUESTION I COULD ASK YOU THAT WOULD SHOW
              SWAMI PREM CHINMAYA THAT I UNDERSTAND MORE FULLY THE LOVE HE SHARES HERE
              AT THE ASHRAM.
              SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT AFTER DARSHAN?
              The question is from Bea, Chinmaya's mother.


              Bea,

               FOR MANY MANY YEARS I HAVE NOT DONE A SINGLE THING -- before darshan or
           after darshan. For many years I have ceased to exist, I have died. I no more function as a person.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Things happen, certainly, but they are not doings -- I am not a doer. Hence I am not even concerned
           about the consequences -- why should I be concerned about the consequences? I am not the doer in
           the first place. I am not concerned with the results. I am simply a vehicle, a hollow bamboo, offered
           to God. Now he can sing any song he wants to sing. And if he does not want to sing any song, it is
           for him to decide. I am perfectly happy with song or without song. Sometimes he sings, sometimes
           he is silent, and I don't interfere. I am simply relaxed with existence as it is.
               And that's my teaching here -- that's what I am teaching to your son, Chinmaya. And I am happy
           to tell you that he is progressing, and progressing in a very different, more difficult situation than
           others. But he has evolved greatly.
               He is suffering from cancer. He knows death can come any day, but I am happy to say to you that
           it makes no difference any more to him. Life or death -- he will remain a witness. That much
           integrity has happened to him, that much centering has happened to him. He was very much afraid in
           the beginning when he had come here -- very much afraid of death. Naturally -- anybody would be.
           It was expected. But, slowly slowly, being here with me, with my people, in this Buddhafield, he has
           learnt one thing: that we are not doers. Sometimes life happens, sometimes death happens -- we have
           to be witnesses of both. And we have to be thankful for both.
               So I know now: whenever he has to leave life, he will leave with tremendous gratefulness, with a
           prayer on his lips, with a deep thank you in his heart. And that is the right way to die, and that is the
           right way to live too. In fact, because he has become so accepting of death he is alive, otherwise he
           would have been dead long before. Even the doctors are a little puzzled about him -- they can't see
           why and how he is still alive, and very much alive.
               The body has all the symptoms that he should be here no more, that he should be dead by now.
           But something deep in-side him has become so relaxed that that relaxation has gone deeper than the
           cancer itself, and that's what is keeping him alive. He may live long -- one never knows. Miracles
           happen. If he remains relaxed he may live long.
               Doctors are ready to give him a death certificate any day, but if he remains relaxed, meditative,
           happy, contented... and he is. It is difficult in his situation to be contented, but he is. Even breathing
           is difficult, but he has accepted everything.
               Bea, if your son lives he will be growing -- growing towards more spiritual maturity; if he dies
           he will be growing in his death too. He has found the path, and the path is of non-action, or action
           through non-action -- WU-WEI.

           The fourth question


              OSHO TODAY I OVERHEARD SOMEONE SAY THAT YOU HAD PROBLEMS -- DO YOU?

              Deva Layo,

              NOT ONE BUT MANY -- you are my problems, one hundred thousand problems! And as
           sannyasins will be coming more and more, the problems will go on growing. Each sannyasin brings
           many problems. And I am here: you can surrender your problems to me. I can take all of your
           problems because I have none of my own. And because I have none of my own, you can drop your
           problems into me and they disappear. They have no place to cling to. They simply disappear into the
           abyss that I have become.

           The fifth question


              I COME FROM CALIFORNIA AND I DID NOT LIKE THE WAY YOU USED THE WORD CALIFORNIA
              YESTERDAY.

              Navino,


              I HAD SIMPLY SAID THAT EVEN IF YOU ARE ON THE MOON or on some star, you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           start doing all the things that you are doing in California. I have used the most mild term possible.
           Moksha has suggested a far more suitable word for it; his suggestion is: "Rather than saying, 'You
           will be doing the things that you are doing in California,' you should say, 'Wherever you are you will
           californicate"' -- what else will you do? This is the right word. California simply means where
           people are 'californicating'.

           The sixth question


              OSHO, SOMETHING IS HAPPENING THAT I CANNOT EXPLAIN. IT IS NOT EVEN SOMETHING I
              KNOW, ONLY SOMETHING I SENSE.

              Yoga Nirmal,


               THAT'S WHAT I AM HERE FOR -- to help you to be aware of things which cannot be
           explained but yet experienced, which cannot be expressed but yet felt. No word is adequate to
           indicate them, but they can be sensed.
               Man can know much more than he can say, and man can sense much more than he can know, and
           man can be much more than he can sense. And you have to be aware of all these layers.
               That which can be said is the most superficial; much more can be known. That which is known
           and cannot be said i, deeper, but much more can be sensed. That which is sensed and cannot be
           known is even deeper, but one can be much more than one can sense -- and that is the deepest layer.
               The effort is to help you to go into your interiormost core so that the gestalt change, from
           knowing to the knower, from the seen to the seer, from the object of consciousness to consciousness
           itself.
               Man can live a life either of doing or of having or of being. Doing is the most superficial; better
           than doing is having. The poor person lives in the world of doing, the rich person lives in the world
           of having. But the best is the world of being. The poor person can also reach the world of being
           without passing through having, but it will be very difficult -- very very difficult, because you can
           renounce only that which you have. If you don't have it, it is very very difficult to renounce it. Only a
           rare man like Kabir can do that miracle: he can renounce that which he does not have. He can
           understand even that which he does not possess.
               Great intelligence is needed to move from the world of doing to the world of being. If somebody
           moves from poverty into spirituality, he has great intelligence. And if someone remains in richness
           and still does not move towards spirituality, he is just stupid and nothing else. Being rich and not
           being aware of spirituality is stupidity. Being poor and not being aware of spirituality can be
           forgiven, but the rich person cannot be forgiven -- because he HAS -- can't he see that he has
           everything and yet he has nothing? Death will be coming and it will take all that he possesses.
               Doing is a means to having. When doing succeeds, you have. But when you have, everything
           starts failing, everything starts looking futile, everything starts looking childish. And to know that
           everything in this world is futile is the beginning of turning in, of conversion.
           Yoga Nirmal, something beautiful is very close by.

              You say: SOMETHING IS HAPPENING THAT I CANNOT EXPLAIN.

               You are fortunate. There are poor people who can explain whatsoever is happening to them --
           that means nothing special is happening to them. All that is happening is so superficial that language
           is adequate to express it. The deeper the happening, the more dumb you will feel.
               Lao Tzu says: "People can say whatsoever they want to say -- except me. Compared to them I
           look a little muddle-headed. People are very clear, but I am vague." People are clear because they
           don't have any experience of the mysterious.
               Lao Tzu is joking. Lao Tzu is saying: "You are poor because you can say everything that you
           know and you are so clear about your life -- how can you be so clear about the mysterious?" The
           mysterious remains in the mist. One only feels it, but one cannot grab it. It is very mercurial. If you
           try to grab it, you distort it; it falls into pieces, it disappears.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               Nirmal, you say: SOMETHING IS HAPPENING THAT I CANNOT EXPLAIN.
               There is no need, and don't try to explain it otherwise it will stop happening -- because
           explanation is done by the head and the happening happens in the heart. And the head is very clever
           in interfering; don't allow the head to interfere. Accept the unexplained as unexplained -- there is no
           need to explain it. Live it! Experience it! Taste it! Be drowned in it! There is no need to express it.

               You say: IT IS NOT EVEN SOMETHING I KNOW ONLY SOMETHING I SENSE.
               Yes, that's exactly how it happens. Knowing means clarity; and if you know, you can explain.
           Knowing means you have already explained it to yourself -- if you can explain it to yourself, why
           not to others? Sensing means that you are not even able to explain it to yourself; it is just a feeling.
           And if you try to grab it, it disappears.
               The greater truths have to be approached indirectly, you should not attack them directly; you
           should be very delicate, very indirect.
               Have you seen in the night? -- if you look at the small stars directly, they disappear. Try tonight:
           if you look directly, if you focus on the small star, it disappears. It is not available to the direct gaze.
           Then what is the way to see the small star? Look sideways, look just around -- not exactly on the
           spot. Look at other stars and suddenly the small star starts appearing. It is available only to an
           indirect gaze, not a direct gaze.
               So is the situation with inner experiences: don't look directly -- the inner experiences are very
           shy. If you look directly they start hiding. And there is no need to know; sensing is enough. Why this
           obsession with knowing? And when you are obsessed with knowing, you will also be obsessed with
           explaining. You don't owe explanations to anybody.
               Buddha used to declare wherever he would go... his disciples would precede him and they would
           declare to the town, "These eleven questions are not to be asked of the Buddha -- you can ask
           everything else except these eleven questions.
               Those eleven questions were known as AVYAKHYA -- unex-plainable. But if you observe those
           eleven questions minutely, you will be surprised: nothing is left out of them. All that is important is
           included in them, all that is of any significance. Why was Buddha so insistent -- "Don't ask"?
           Because he cannot explain, and your very asking puts you on the wrong track.
               you can ask something, you start expecting an answer. Remember, just by formulating a
           question, there is no necessity that the answer will be coming from existence. Existence has no
           obligation to fulfill your questions.
               And absurd questions can be formulated -- they look very good, very logical, very grammatical.
           Language-wise they are perfect, but in existence they are just absurd. For example, somebody can
           ask, "What is the colour of sound?" As a question it is perfect, nobody can find any fault with it --
           linguistically: "What is the colour of sound?" But sound and colour are not related at all.
               Somebody can ask, "What is the taste of the colour green?" The question is right as A question,
           but no answer will be possible. And such are your questions. When somebody asks, "Who created
           the world?" it looks very significant, it looks very philosophical. It is simply absurd, because the
           world was never created -- so the whole question is nonsense. It has always been there.
               God is not the creator: God is the world. He has become the trees, he has become the rocks, he
           has become the river, he has become you and me. There is no other God except this existence. God is
           not separate from existence; he is not like a painter who paints on the canvas, and then there is a
           picture and the painter. God is like a dancer who dances, and the dancer and the dance are always the
           same -- they cannot be separated. You cannot have the dance separate from the dancer, and you
           cannot have the dancer separate from the dance, because when he is not dancing he is no more a
           dancer.
               God is the dancer, and the world is his dance -- and you are part of his dancing gestures. But you
           can ask the question, "Who created the world?" And then there are foolish people who will try to
           answer you.
               The question is absurd in the beginning, in the first place, and then there are foolish people who
           are ready to answer. Because the question is there, it has to be answered -- so "God created the
           world." Just ask them, "Who created God?" and then you are falling into an infinite regress and there
           will be no end -- because the question will always remain the same. A created B, B created C, C
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           created D... but the question remains the same, "Then who created D?" And the question will never
           be answered.
                There are people, even great philosophers have asked, "Who is first -- the egg or the hen?" The
           question looks perfectly right -- one must be first! But can't you think that things can be standing in a
           circle. If you think that everybody is standing in a queue, in a line, then somebody is first and
           somebody is last. But if people are standing in a circle, then who is the first and who is the last?
                The mystics say the world moves in circles and they really seem to be hinting at a deep truth.
           Stars move in a circle, the earth moves in a circle, the sun moves in a circle, the seasons move in a
           circle, life moves in a circle -- everything moves in a circular way. The straight line is man's
           creation. In fact, Euclid's whole geometry is wrong!
                And now, in the world of higher mathematics, Euclid is no more valid. Something totally
           different has come into force: non-Euclidean geometry. Euclid believes in a straight line, but
           non-Euclidean geometry says you cannot draw a straight line -- how can you draw a straight line? If
           you draw a straight line on the floor, it is not straight because the earth is round. It only looks
           straight because it is part of such a big circle -- it is an are, not a straight line. If the earth is round
           and you are sitting on the earth and drawing a straight line, go on extending it from both ends... one
           day it will become a circle. So it was part of a circle.
                Everything is part of a circle. Who is first -- the hen or the egg? Now the question is so patently
           foolish that only philosophers can ask it. And they argue, and there are people who say the hen is the
           first.
                I used to know an Indian philosopher, a Buddhist philosopher, Rahul Sankrityayana. He believed
           that the egg came first. He has written many articles to prove that the egg is the first. But how can
           the egg be the first? Some hen will be needed; and how can the hen be the first? Some egg will be
           needed. Those who know, they say something else. They say the hen and the egg are not two things
           -- the hen is the egg's way of producing more eggs; or vice versa: the egg is the hen's way of
           producing more hens. They are not two but one process: the egg becomes the hen -- so how can one
           be first and the other second? The hen becomes the egg....
                But these questions have persisted down the ages, and people think they are doing great work
           when they are thinking about such stupid questions. Buddha was right: "Don't ask such questions. Be
           practical."
                Each Buddha is pragmatic. If you asked a question of Buddha, he would ask, "First answer a few
           things: if I say yes or no, is it going to change your life? You ask, 'Who created the world?' If I say,
           'God,' how is it going to change your life? If I say, 'No one,' then is it going to change your life?"
                In fact, if you look at the atheist and the theist you will not see any difference in their lives. Both
           go to the same movie, both see the same TV programme, both eat the same food, both are members
           of the Rotary Club... you will not see any difference, atheist or theist. Can you tell about somebody,
           just by seeing his behaviour, whether he is an atheist or a theist? You cannot see any difference.
           They remain the same person.
                So Buddha used to say, "If it is not going to make any real difference in your life, forget about
           the question -- it is meaningless. Ask me something which will help you to go deeper into
           meditation; ask me something which will bring enlightenment to you -- ask me something which will
           make you free from all imprisonments. Ask me something which will take you beyond all misery
           and death. Ask me something which will take you beyond all time and space, and will make you part
           of eternity."

               There is no need, Nirmal, to know what is happening -- let it happen, don't interfere. And there is
           no need to explain it -- be quiet. Keep it inside you as a secret. Remember, great things need secrecy.
           Just as the seed goes into the earth and remains there, then the great tree is born; just as the child has
           to grow in the mother's womb.... These are great secrets. When they start happening to you, keep
           them deep down in your heart, let them grow there.
               Yes, one day when they have become a great tree, with great foliage, and flowers and fruit,
           people will become aware of them, and many people will be benefitted, many people will rest in
           your shadow and many people will quench their thirst and their hunger, and many people will be
           made aflame by your flowers, and many people will start moving towards God -- just by seeing you,
           just by feeling you, just by being close to you.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              But nothing has to be said, nothing has to be explained. And even if you try, it is not possible.
           And trying to explain and trying to know may disturb the whole process -- something that is going to
           happen may be stopped.

           The seventh question


               OSHO, ARE THE POLITICIANS REALLY AS STUPID AS YOU SAY THEY ARE?


                Govind, THEY ARE MORE STUPID THAN I SAY. In fact, unless a person is stupid he cannot
           be a politician. It is not that the politicians are stupid -- in fact, only stupid people are attracted
           towards politics.
                What is politics basically? The desire to dominate others -- and that is the most stupid thing in
           life. The intelligent person tries to be a master of himself, and the stupid person tries to be master of
           others. And how can you be a master of others if you are not a master of yourself?
                If you are not a master of yourself, then trying to be a master of others is just a substitute to
           befool yourself, to deceive yourself, and that is what the stupidity consists of.

              Two politicians were sitting on a park bench in New Delhi. "I will tell you the truth," said one. "I
           am afraid to fly. Those airplanes ain't too safe!"
           "Don't be a baby," said the other. "Didn't you read last week there was a big train crash and three
           hundred people were killed?"
           "Three hundred killed on a train -- what happened?"
           "An airplane fell on it!"

               Overheard in the market by Deeksha: I am in favour of putting a statue of Morarji Desai in the
           middle of the square."
           "For what?"
           "It will give us shade in the summertime, shelter in the winter-time, and the birds a chance to speak
           for us all."

           The eighth question


               OSHO, A FEW DAYS AGO IN LECTURE I REALIZED THAT WHEN I AM RELAXED THE BODY
               GOES INTO A MOST COMFORTABLE POSTURE OF ITS OWN ACCORD. IT MUST BE JUST THE
               SAME WITH LIFE. IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF TRUST?


                YES, MUKTI GANDHA, this is the beginning of trust, the beginning of yea-saying, the
           beginning of a great understanding that all that is going to happen is going to happen, and you are
           not to do it. You have to be alert and passive, you have to be watchful and receptive. This is the
           whole secret of life.
                Small things need to be done -- if you want more money, the money is not going to come on its
           own; you will have to run after it. If you want political power, it is not going to come to you on its
           own -- you will have to fight for it, you will have to struggle for it. Small things are those which
           never HAPPEN, which never come from God. Man has to struggle and do them. And great things
           are those which if you try to do them you will miss. Great things happen only when you are in a total
           relaxation.
                That's what must be happening. This is happening to many people who are here. You are not here
           just to listen to me: you are here just to BE with me. Talking and listening is just an excuse to be
           here. It will be difficult for you to sit still, silently for one and a half hours if I am not talking to you.
           If I am talking to you, your mind remains engaged and your whole being becomes relaxed.
                This is a meditation! This is not a discourse. I am not preaching, I am not a preacher; and I am
           not teaching, I am not a teacher either. I have no philosophy to impart, no knowledge to transfer. It is
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a device; talking to you is simply a device.
               This is another kind of meditation. I go on talking, your mind remains occupied with my words,
           and your whole being relaxes with me -- the real thing is that relaxation.

               You say: A FEW DAYS AGO IN LECTURE, I REALIZED THAT WHEN I AM RELAXED
           THE BODY GOES INTO A MOST COMFORTABLE POSTURE OF ITS OWN ACCORD.
               The body has great wisdom -- allow it. Allow it more and more to follow its own wisdom. And
           whenever you have time, just relax. Let the breathing go on on its own, don't interfere. Our habit to
           interfere has become so ingrained that you cannot even breathe without interfering. If you watch
           breathing, you will immediately see you have started interfering: you start taking deep breaths, or
           you start exhaling more. No need to interfere at all. Just let the breath be as it is; the body knows
           exactly what it needs. If it needs more oxygen it will breathe more; if it needs less oxygen it will
           breathe less.
               Just leave it to the body! Become absolutely non-interfering. And wherever you feel any tension,
           relax that part. And slowly slowly... first begin while you are sitting, resting and then while you are
           doing things. You are cleaning the floor or working in the kitchen or in the once -- keep that
           relaxedness. Action need not be an interference in your relaxed state. And then there is a beauty, a
           great beauty, to your activity. Your activity will have the flavour of meditativeness.
               Yes, Mukti Gandha, it is exactly so with your whole life -- this is the secret. But people go on
           making unnecessary efforts. Sometimes their efforts are their barriers; their efforts are the problems
           that they are creating.

               There was a lot of confusion downtown during the big snow-storm. Mulla Nasruddin went over
           to help a fat lady get into a taxi cab. After rushing and shoving and slipping on the ice, he told her he
           did not think he could get her in.
           She said, "In? I am trying to get out!"

               Just watch.... There are things where if you push, you will miss. Don't push the river at all, and
           don't try to go upstream. The river is flowing towards the ocean of its own accord -- just be part of it,
           be part of its journey. It will take you to the ultimate. Go relaxed, dancing, singing, to God.
               There is no need to make any effort. Why? Because God is our intrinsic nature. We ARE Gods
           already. If we relax, we will know; if we don't relax, we will not know. Relaxation becomes the door
           to that great knowing -- enlightenment.

           The ninth question


               WHY DO I MISUNDERSTAND YOU, OSHO, CONTINUOUSLY?

               Dharma Das,

               THAT IS NATURAL. Understanding will be a surprise -- misunderstanding is not a surprise.
           You are bound to misunderstand me because you ARE. You will understand me only when you are
           not. That 'I' is the cause of all misunderstanding. [t remains between me and you. It do- i not allow
           me to say what I am saying -- it interprets, it colours it, it distorts, it chooses, it adds, it deletes -- it
           docs a thousand and one things, and only then does it allow it to go in. And by the time it reaches
           you it is something totally different. It is not what was said to you: it is something that your mind has
           made out of it.
               You will have to disappear if you want to understand me. Less than that won't do.

              Lorenzo was extolling the virtues of his newly adopted homeland. "This is-a great-a country." he
           declared. "Look-a at Sinatra -- where else could a piece of spaghetti wind up-a with a-so much-a
           gravy!

              Everybody is carrying his idea, his conditioning, his knowledge, his past with himself. That's
           what your 'I' consists of.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


               The Ozark farmer's wife had a baby each year for the past twelve years in a row. He finally went
           to a doctor for some advice. "Here's a gross of rubbers,' said the doctor. "Just read the instructions on
           the label."
               A year later, the hillbilly brought his wife in, pregnant again. "Did you follow the instructions on
           the box?"
           "Yep, Doc! Sure I did! The only thing was I didn't have no organ so I put them on the piano."

               Your understanding is going to be your understanding. How can it be my understanding? If you
           disappear, if you put yourself aside, then there is no barrier, then there is no censor between me and
           you, then the communication is immediate. Then it is not even a question of words: it is a question of
           energy.
               If your mind is put aside, my vibe will start stirring your heart, my being will touch your being,
           will trigger something that is fast asleep in you -- will awaken it.
               And the more I see that my sannyasins are dropping their egos, the more and more my work will
           change -- it will become less and less concerned with words and will become more and more
           concentrated on energy. That's exactly what is slowly slowly happening.
               I will be speaking less and less to you. If you are not there then I can just enter in your being, can
           just call you: Friend, wake up!

               One night Mrs. Mantoni got into a taxi. After riding a while, she realized she had forgotten her
           pocketbook and had no money to pay the fare. The meter now read $7.50.
           "Mista driver," she cried. "You betta stop. I no canna pay you!"
           "Oh, that's all right," said the cabbie. "I'll just pull down a dark street, get in the back seat with you,
           take off your panties...."
           "Mista, you gonna get gypped," said the Italian lady. "My panties only cost-a forty-nine cents!"

               Please, Dharma Das, disappear, don't come in between me and you. Let the contact be
           immediate, direct, heart-to-heart, not mind-to-mind. Yes, it is good in the beginning -- it is good in
           the beginning because there is no other way. I have to talk to your mind, I have to seduce your mind,
           but once the mind is seduced, once you have become a sannyasin, then the second step is: put the
           mind aside -- now let me have a direct contact with your heart.
               And finally even the heart has to be put aside. Then you will not find any difference between me
           and you; then my understanding will simply be your understanding, without any transfer, without
           any communication, because then we will meet at the center. And your center and my center are not
           different. Your body is different from my body; your mind is less different from my mind than my
           body and your body. Your heart is even less different than my heart. But your being and my being
           are the same; they are not different at all.
               If the disciple is ready to drop mind, heart, everything. then immediately he becomes the Master,
           he has arrived. Then there is no more to learn, no more to know, no more to ex-perience. And life
           continues as it was before, but now there is nobody inside to suffer, to dream, to be anxious, nobody
           there to live or to die. Then one exists in God and God exists in one.

           The last question


              OSHO, I KNOW THAT SEX REPRESSION IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ALL NEUROSIS, BUT THEN
              WHY DO I GO ON REPRESSING IT?

              Narayana,

               YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT to do it from the very beginning. It has become part of you, your
           conscience. Listening to me now you understand that sex repression is the root cause of all neurosis,
           but this understanding is very new. And 'sex is dirty', and 'sex is sin', is very old, it may be fifty years
           old. And this understanding is very new. The weight of the old is too much.
               So you understand intellectually that sex repression is the root cause of all neurosis, but deep
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           down, even in your body, even in your chemistry, the idea has penetrated, from the very moment you
           were given milk, you have been poisoned about sex, that it is sin. It is such a long long hypnosis that
           it will take time for you to be awake.
               It is a good beginning that an intellectual understanding Is happening, but it is only intellectual --
           it has to become existential.

              Mother is explaining the facts of life to Cynthia the day before the wedding.
           "Now, my dear," she tells her, "I am afraid Bertie will often want to be beastly to you after you are
           married."
              Cynthia, shocked, is quite unable to believe that her beloved Bertie would ever do such a thing.
           "Yes, it is so," mother insists, "and I want you to remember: whenever he wants to be beastly, grit
           your teeth. clench your fists, and think of England!"

                These things have been given to everybody, and everybody is carrying a big load of all kinds of
           nonsense. Sex is a natural phenomenon -- it has to be accepted, lovingly; it has to be respected. It is
           life's source. Not to respect it is to disrespect Life; not to respect it is to condemn God. Respect it,
           love it, be prayerful with it, and one day you will transcend. But transcendence is not against sex:
           transcendence is through sex. Sex has to be used as a stepping-stone. And when you have used it as a
           stepping-stone, be grateful to it.
                If you really want to understand me, or Kabir, this has to be the very foundation: that life has to
           be loved because it is divine, life has to be affirmed with your total being because God is hidden in
           it. God is another name for life, another name for love. Life is to become your God -- then
           whatsoever LIFE implies becomes divine.
                But it will take time. Slowly slowly, chunks of your old conditioning have to be dropped. If you
           can remain here. Narayana, for a few months, the miracle is possible. It is happening to others.
           Thousands of my sannyasins have started accepting life -- not accepting out of any helplessness but
           out of great joy, with a rejoicing heart.
                I am all for rejoicing. am I am all against, deadly against renouncing. I am all for transformation
           and absolutely against repression. If you repress, remember Kabir: repress sex, it becomes anger;
           repress anger, it becomes agreed; repress greed, it becomes pride... and so on and so forth. It goes on
           and on. And the farther you are away from nature, the more complex is the journey, the more
           difficult it is to come back home.
                Come closer. Lose your pride, let it become greed; lose your greed, let it become anger; lose
           your anger, let it become sex. Sex is the original energy. And from sex there is a possibility of
           transformation, because sex gives you the first glimpses of samadhi. Sex lived totally, sex loved
           totally, will make you aware for the first time of the peak moments, of the climaxes.
                And on those sunlit peaks, great silence prevails; the ego has been dropped far behind in the
           valleys, time has disappeared somewhere on the way. You are no more separate; you are not a
           person but just a pulsation, a presence. Sex gives you moments of that experience when you are
           simply pulsating in rhythm with the whole. That pulsation is what orgasm is all about, and orgasm is
           the window to samadhi.
                Narayana, what is happening intellectually now, allow it to happen existentially too. Only then
           the long long tradition of centuries can be dropped. It is an arduous effort, it is difficult, but it is
           worth it.
                And once chunks of your conditioning start disappearing you will feel such freedom, such
           buoyancy, you will feel so weightless, you will start feeling wings are growing in you. You will start
           feeling that you can do anything; you will start feeling that you are entitled to do miracles.
                And, yes, that's how it is: man is entitled to do miracles. But the beginning has to be a deep love
           for all that you are, a deep acceptance of what you are -- no denying, no rejection, no repression.
           Transformation has to be the key.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



                                From Bondage to Freedom
                                        Answers to the Seekers on the Path
                                    Talks given from 15/09/85 am to 27/10/85 am
                                              English Discourse series
                                                    43 Chapters
                                                Year published: 1985
           Original title "The Rajneesh Bible Volume 8". The last 17 discourses were originally titled
           "The Rajneesh Bible Volume 9".




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                               Chapter #1
               Chapter title: To be ordinary is the most extraordinary thing in the world
           15 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509150
              ShortTitle: BONDAG01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 114 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE SPEAK ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEDIOCRITY AND ORDINARINESS.


                Mediocrity is the general state of humanity as it is. It is a retardedness of intelligence. Nobody
           wants you to be intelligent, because the more intelligent you are, the more it is difficult to exploit
           you, to enslave you.
                Every vested interest wants you to be mediocre. A mediocre person is just like a tree whose roots
           have been continuously cut so it cannot grow. The mediocre person never comes to know fruition,
           flowering, fragrance. He lives just like a vegetable. But this is the common state. And to keep the
           mediocre, mediocre, a strange thing has to be put in his mind: that he is extraordinary.
           George Gurdjieff used to tell a story....
                There was a shepherd who was a magician, and he had many sheep. To take care of them, not to
           let them wander into the forest and be eaten by wild animals, he managed a strategy. He hypnotized
           all the sheep and told them, "You are not sheep, you are lions." Since that day, the sheep started
           behaving like lions.
                The mediocre person will rebel against mediocrity because it is ugly to be mediocre. But the
           society in many ways gives him the feeling of being extraordinary. Hence, it is very difficult to find
           a man who does not, deep down, believe that he is special -- the only begotten son of God.
                He may not say so, because he knows what happens if you say that you are the only begotten son
           of God. Then crucifixion is certain, and resurrection... nobody knows whether it happened or not. So
           he keeps it inside. This helps him to remain mediocre.
                If he understands he is mediocre, that very understanding will destroy his mediocrity. To
           understand you are mediocre is a great jump into intelligence.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The ordinary person I talk about is the natural person. Nature does not produce special people. It
           produces unique people, but not special. Everybody is unique in his own way.
               The big pine tree and the small rosebush -- who is higher? Neither the pine tree ever boasts that
           she is higher, nor the rosebush ever boasts that "You may be higher, but where are the roses? The
           real height is in the roses and the fragrance, in the flowering. Height itself is not enough to be
           higher."
               But the rosebush and the pine remain together without any quarrel, competition, for the simple
           reason that both understand they are part of the same nature.
               When I say ordinariness, I am saying drop the idea of being extraordinary, which is keeping you
           mediocre.
               To be ordinary is the most extraordinary thing in the world. Just watch yourself. It hurts very
           much, it is painful to accept that you are not extraordinary. Watch when you accept the idea that you
           are ordinary. A great burden is relieved. Suddenly you are in the open space, natural, just the way
           you are.
               The ordinary person has a uniqueness and a simplicity, humbleness. Out of his simplicity,
           humbleness, uniqueness, he has really become extraordinary, but he has no idea of it.
               So it is a paradox: the people who think they are extraordinary are simply retarded, mediocre.
           And the people who are humble and just accept that they are ordinary people like everybody else --
           you will see a light in their eyes. You will see a grace in their actions. You will not see them
           competing, you will not see them cheating. You will not see them betraying. They will not have
           double minds. They will not be hypocrites.
               What is the need for an ordinary person to be a hypocrite? He can show his heart openly to
           anybody, because he is not pretending anything.
               You become secretive when you start pretending. You start feeling very great. You may say it or
           not, but by hypocrisy, masks, your head goes on becoming more and more swollen. It is a state of
           sickness.
               And who is the person who believes himself extraordinary? The person who suffers immensely
           from an inferiority complex. To cover it up, he projects just the opposite idea. But he is only
           deceiving himself, nobody else is deceived by him.
               The ordinary person has no need to be a hypocrite, no need to be a pretender. He is just open; he
           need not be secretive. And there is beauty in openness, simpleness.
               So it is a rare paradox that the person who feels himself ordinary becomes extraordinary, and the
           person who goes on feeling himself extraordinary, remains very retarded, a mediocrity.
               Everybody has to look within himself. But people are such deceivers that, deceiving others,
           slowly slowly they start deceiving themselves. They become so articulate about deceiving. It is
           dangerous to be a hypocrite, because sooner or later you will start thinking this is your real face.
               In my thirty-five years' work with people I have come across thousands of people, intimately,
           and I was puzzled that these people have deceived themselves. To deceive others can be understood,
           but they have deceived themselves.
               And you cannot take them out of that deception, because that is their only treasure. They know
           behind it there is just darkness, hollowness, an inferiority complex. So they cling to it.
               Even in this commune -- which hurts me, because at least here people should not be like that.
           Otherwise, what the hell are you doing here?
               I just saw Venu at the gate.... Sheela had asked which people were coming with her, and Venu
           had said that her place is with Sheela. I was surprised. What is she doing here standing at the gate?
           Her place is not here! She should go with Sheela. Not a single moment she should be here. People
           should be honest!
               Sheela asked me again and again during these four years, "Beloved Master, help me, so that I
           never deceive you, never betray you."
               I told her, "Sheela, asking it again and again means there is a tendency, of which you are aware,
           that you can betray, you can deceive. Otherwise, what is the point of asking it?"
               And finally she did. And the reason why she did is worth understanding for everybody.
               When I was silent for three and a half years, she was the spokesman. I knew that this is going to
           be a difficult task the day I start speaking directly, because then she will see she is no more a
           celebrity; no interviews on the television, radio, newspapers, magazines.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But I had to speak. Just for one person I cannot hold back from one million sannyasins, and for
           the sannyasins who will be coming later on, my heartfelt feelings, truths, experiences. And there is
           too much to say.
               As you get prepared only then I can say it. Those three and a half years prepared you, and now
           you can see the difference between the way I am speaking now and the way I was speaking three and
           a half years before. As you mature, as you graduate, I can tell you more naked truths, trusting that
           you will be able to understand them.
               So the problem was, I knew that if I start speaking, then Sheela's swollen head will start
           shrinking, and that will be difficult. I was perfectly aware the day I started speaking, she started
           becoming sad; and slowly slowly she started being away from Rajneeshpuram, finding excuses that
           she is needed in Australia, she is needed in Europe. She was never needed before.
               And this time when she came, she wrote a letter to me, "Beloved Master, I do not feel the same
           excitement here. I feel happier in Europe, in Australia, anywhere else." But she did not look why.
               I sent a message to her that, "See the point. Where has the excitement gone? The excitement was
           not being with me, with the commune, creating a new way of life, hoping for a new man to arrive.
           That was not your real excitement. Your real excitement was becoming a celebrity -- on the
           television, on the radio, in the magazines, in the newspapers. You enjoyed your name, your
           photograph; now this will not be possible. I am speaking myself. I am speaking to the whole world
           press. And certainly you cannot represent me."
               I had to teach her everything for three and a half years, two hours every day -- what she has to
           say, what she has not to say. And she was repeating like a parrot, because it is not her experience.
           But she did well; as a parrot she was perfect.
               But now, when I started speaking, she started feeling sad, gloomy. I sent the message, "You
           should look at the cause of it. The cause is your ego.
               "Three and a half years is a long enough time to get a swollen head, and I am now bringing it
           back to its real position. It is sick. This swelling is more dangerous than any cancer, because the
           cancer can kill the body, but this swelling kills the mind and the very soul of man.
               "And why are you feeling happy in Europe? If you want to check it, I can come to Europe, and
           immediately you will know it is not because you are in Europe that you are feeling happy. You will
           feel even more unhappy than here."
               But man is so stupid.... She did not even respond to my message. On the contrary, she collected
           the bunch of people that she has placed in important places. Now the sadness was turning into
           revengefulness. The idea was that all these people will go with her, and the commune will be in a
           chaos.
               Now, the commune is always in a chaos! Nobody can disturb it. What more chaos can be there?
               And it is a simple law that people who are in power... and I had given her all the powers, simply
           because I was not interested in getting involved in small things. It was impossible to be silent and get
           involved in small things.
               She removed all the people who were in some way more intelligent, stronger, and a danger to her
           position; any day they can be the competitors. So she removed those people, and she chose people
           who were even more mediocre than her. They will never be a challenge.
               Now, this Venu was saying, "My place is with Sheela." Certainly her place is with Sheela,
           because she is more mediocre than Sheela. But I was surprised to see her standing here. What is she
           doing here? She should have left with Sheela.
               It is a good change. Be happy about it. It was bound to happen. Now you can have a better and
           stronger group of people to run the commune -- because I am not afraid of anybody being more
           ordinary than me. You cannot find on the whole earth a competitor for me. So this gives me
           immense freedom.
               That's why Arup can ask the question. While Sheela was here, Arup was pushed back in every
           way. And I was watching, sadly. She is far more intelligent, far stronger.
               Now all the people who had been thrown out of the commune by Sheela can come back. So
           inform all your friends who have left that Sheela is gone and gone forever. And not alone -- with the
           whole bunch, the whole gang. So inform the people who have left just because of her, because those
           people were intelligent, and she could not tolerate any intelligent person.
               This is a problem with all mediocre people. They cannot tolerate anybody who is better than
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them because that destroys their illusion of being extraordinary. But nobody can take your
           ordinariness. It is something which is not a projection, but a reality.
               The rosebush is ordinary, the pine is ordinary, the deer is ordinary. Why should any man try to be
           extraordinary?
               Only man seems to be sick. The whole existence lives in absolute ordinariness and is so joyful,
           such a blessing; but man is sick. His sickness is that he cannot accept himself as he is. He wants to
           be somebody great: Alexander the Great. Less than that won't do.
               But he forgets what Alexander gained. He lived only thirty-three years, spent his whole life
           fighting, invading, killing. He had no chance to live, no time to live.
               He had met a great philosopher, sage, wise man, Diogenes, before he was going to invade India.
           He asked Diogenes if he had any message for him.
               Diogenes said, "Only one: rather than wasting time, live it. You are not living yourself, and you
           are not allowing others to live. You are committing immense crimes against life -- for what? Just to
           be called Alexander the Great?
               "Everybody thinks like that. Just inside, you can call yourself Alexander the Great; nobody is
           preventing you. If you want, you can even put a signboard on your chest: 'Alexander the Great' -- but
           live! You will look like a buffoon, but that is far better than to be a buffoon; at least you will have
           time to live, love, sing, dance."
               Alexander understood the message. He said, "I can see the point. When I come back, I will try to
           follow it."
               Diogenes said, "Remember, nobody comes back from such an ego trip, because this ego trip
           never ends, it goes on and on. You will end, not your ego trip."
               And that's what happened: he never came back home. On the way, he died. And when he was
           dying, he remembered Diogenes' statement that nobody comes back. Ego drives you, and there is no
           end for the ego. It creates more goals, new goals, higher goals.
               In deep respect for Diogenes, he told the people who were going to carry his body to the grave,
           "Let my hands hang out of the casket."
               His prime minister asked, "But this is not the tradition. Hands have to be inside the casket.
           Hanging them out will look really odd."
               But he said, "I want them to hang out, because I want people to know that empty-handed I had
           come into the world, empty-handed I lived in the world, and empty-handed I am going from the
           world."
               These empty hands of Alexander the Great represent almost everybody's hands.
               If you want to live authentically and sincerely, then just be ordinary. Then nobody can compete
           with you. You are out of the race of competition, which is destructive.
               Suddenly you are free to live. You have time to live. You have time to do what you want to do.
           You can laugh, you can sing, you can dance. You are an ordinary man. Even if the whole world
           laughs at it, so what? I am an ordinary man. They are all extraordinary people. They have the right to
           laugh; I have the right to dance. Their laughter is phony; your dance is real.
               Sheela could not tolerate it. I even sent her the message, "If it gives you pleasure that I should
           not speak, I can go into silence again. Of course, millions of sannyasins today and tomorrow and in
           the future will be at a loss, because there is much which I have yet to say. But to make you happy, I
           can do that.
               "But remember, if my silence makes you happy, then my absence may make you happier.
           Perhaps, deep down, my death will be the right thing for you. Then you can become the head.
           Nobody will be there to prevent you."
               If you try to look into things deeper, you will be surprised what revealing factors come up.
               Now, Sheela was very much concerned about my death -- almost paranoid. She had arranged so
           many guards and security. But she will never understand why this paranoia.
               Something deep inside herself was longing for my death. And to avoid seeing it, she was
           projecting that somebody is going to assassinate me.
               Mind is very complex. It projects things which are inside onto others.
               And she was promising me continuously, "I am yours forever."
               I said, "Sheela, don't say such things, because forever is a long time. Just today is enough.
           Tomorrow, nobody knows."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But she said, "I love you so much that I can say that I will always love you."
               I said, "If you want to say these things, you can go on saying, but you don't see that I am a
           mirror. I can see all the layers within you. Why this insistence that 'I will never betray you. Even if
           you tell me to resign from the presidentship of the commune, foundation, or any post that I am
           holding, I will do it immediately'?"
           I said to her, "Just wait."
               Now she has resigned on her own, and she has taken those idiots she has put in powerful
           positions.
               Vidya is gone with her. She was one of the thickest heads here.
               And they all have written letters to me, "Beloved Master...." Still they don't see the point, that
           now it is better to address them "Mr. Rajneesh." Why "Beloved Master"?
               "We love you, and we will always love you, but we are leaving." No reason why they are
           leaving. And still no sensibility that words like "Beloved Master" do not suit in the context they are,
           perhaps unconsciously, using them.
               And none of them -- neither Sheela nor Vidya -- has given any reason why, because they know if
           they give the reason why.... They cannot give the real reason, which will be very humiliating. And
           they cannot give any wrong reason, because I can see what is right and what is wrong. So they
           decided not to give any reason.
               But to see the words "Beloved Master" from these people makes me sick. What they are doing is
           just the opposite.
               These are the mediocre people. Remaining here with me for years, they have not understood
           what it means to be ordinary, simple human beings. They wanted a hierarchy, they wanted to be on
           the top, they wanted to have power. It was their political game.
               I told Sheela again and again, that the people who have come to the commune have not come just
           to work; they have come here to meditate, to grow, to come to a realization of their self. But she was
           not interested in that at all. Her interest was only one: that she should remain on the top.
               But it is good that on her own she has taken all the stupid people. A few are still here who have
           promised her they will leave. I hope they leave soon, because I have better people here, I have better
           people around the world who can be called.
               And the commune does not become just a factory where people are only working, no time for
           them even to love. This was heavy on my heart for all these years. I cannot see my people just
           working, and tired and going to sleep.
           You are not for the work. Work is for you.
               We will work, we will do things, but that does not mean that you don't have any time to dance
           and sing and compose music and love your woman -- or somebody else's woman.
               If you don't have much time left for yourself, you can at the most love your own woman. To love
           somebody else's woman takes a longer time -- to persuade her, talk all kinds of nonsense. But it is
           perfectly good just for a change -- good for you, good for the other man's woman. Good for the other
           man, because he will also be having a chance with somebody else....
               Because I was silent I had to keep this heavy load on my heart.
               You will not believe it, that many nights I had tears in my eyes for the simple reason that I don't
           want to reduce my people to living in a slave camp -- at least while I am alive.
               I want my people to rejoice in life. Work is part of it, but not the whole of it. We will make
           houses, and we will make roads, and we will make everything, but for what? Just for the sake of
           making them?
               So necessarily, I had to start speaking. And you will be surprised that all the people who were in
           power -- Sheela, Vidya, Savita, Krishna Deva, your mayor -- they are all leaving with Sheela. Thank
           God! -- who does not exist, but in such moments you can use the name.
               Now we can put more intelligent, more loving, stronger people, who will be more human and
           who will understand the needs of the sannyasins.
               A commune has to be a place of love, song, dance. Yes, work is needed, because you need food,
           you need shelter. And to reach the other man's woman you need roads, so we will make them!
               But that is not all. You need sometimes to just sit silently in the hills, by the side of the lake.
               So I am immensely happy that Sheela has gone with her gang. Now I can give you better people
           who will take care of more essential things than the nonessentials.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But mediocre people function in that way. They were not ordinary. If they had accepted the
           ordinariness that I have been continuously talking about, they would not have been in such a trouble.
           And I know, wherever they are they will be in trouble.
                They may be thinking that in Europe they will not be in trouble. They are wrong. I just have to
           send a message to all the communes that these people should not be listened to anymore.
                If they cannot be happy here, then they cannot be happy in any other commune. And those who
           have left with them will repent.
                The remaining ones... for example, Krishna Deva, I think, is still here.
                And sometimes I wonder.... Krishna Deva has been guarding me with a gun. Sometimes I think
           these people who can leave because Sheela is leaving, they were not here for me. Their hands and
           their guns were dangerous. They may not have known it, but now they can understand that they were
           not for me. And it is more possible for a guard to shoot me than for anybody else.
                But the mediocre mind has no capacity for understanding. It is absolutely retarded. It is stuck
           somewhere near thirteen years of mental age, or even below it. He may be forty, he may be fifty,
           seventy -- that does not matter, that is his physical age. He has been growing old, but he has not been
           growing up. You should keep the distinction. Growing old, every animal does it. Growing up, only a
           few human beings manage.
                And the first step is just to accept your simpleness, humbleness. And how can you be an egoist in
           such a beautiful, immense, vast, infinite universe? What ego can you have?
                Your ego may be just a soap bubble. Maybe for a few seconds it will remain, rising higher in the
           air. Perhaps for a few seconds it may have a rainbow, but it is only for a few seconds. In this infinite
           and eternal existence your egos go on bursting every moment. It is better not to have any attachment
           with soap bubbles.
                You can play with them while you are in your bathtub. You can go on bursting those soap
           bubbles, telling yourself, "This is my ego that I myself am destroying." So when you come out of
           your bathtub, you are an ordinary man, fresh, humble, clean.
                The desire to rule over others, the will to power, is one of the greatest crimes that man has
           committed. My sannyasins have to be aware of it. Hence, my insistence for being just ordinary. And
           it is so beautiful, because I am saying it out of my experience.
                No egoist in the whole history of humanity has said that ego is beautiful, that it has given him
           great ecstasies. All the egoists have died in frustration, despair, because the ego knows no limits. So
           you are always frustrated.
                I can tell you from my experience of being just an ordinary human being that it is the ultimate
           ecstasy. It merges you with existence. There is no barrier. It merges you with the stars, and with the
           sky, and with the earth. You are no more separate.
           Ego separates you.
                And the feeling of oneness with this exquisite existence is religion to me.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT SINGLE-POINTEDNESS, BEING TOTAL, SPACING OUT,
              WORK, AND WORSHIP?


               There has always been a confusion in people's minds about singlemindedness -- in other words,
           concentration -- and meditation. They think both are the same.
               The reality is just the opposite. When you are single-minded, you are one dimensional. Your
           mind becomes narrower and narrower and narrower, and remains focused on one point. This is
           concentration.
               If you are learning shooting, the art of archery, and things like that, it will be helpful.
               There is a story in ancient Indian scriptures. The great master archer, Dronacharya, asked his
           disciples to shoot their arrows at a bird sitting on a tree. They were all ready with their bows and
           arrows, and he said, "Before you shoot, I want to ask a question, and each one has to answer."
               He asked the first one. The question was, "What are you seeing?"
               He said, "I am seeing everything: the tree, the sky, other trees, the birds flying."
               He went on asking the same question to the other disciples. One disciple said, "I can see only the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tree on which the bird is sitting."
               He was far better, but the other one was even closer. He said, "I can only see the bird."
               The master has said that you have to make the target the bird's right eye.
           The other said, "I can see both the bird's eyes."
               Arjuna was the only one who said, "I don't see anything except the right eye."
           This is one-pointedness.
               Arjuna became his master's most important disciple, a great archer.
               So one-pointedness is needed in many things, but it is not meditation. It is putting your mind
           together in one narrow dimension -- linear, just in a line.
           In science it is useful, but it is not meditation.
           Meditation is a state of no-mind.
               Meditation means the mind has stopped. Just you are, pure consciousness, simple awareness; all
           the dimensions are available to you. So it is just the opposite of concentration.
               You are asking what it means to space out. You all know it.
               When you are doing something and you are not there, that is spacing out. It is against
           concentration. It is against meditation. It is just a wandering mind.
               If you are chopping wood and thinking of a film star, you are spaced out. And it is dangerous:
           you may chop one of your legs. You are not where you are supposed to be.
               Even in such sacred moments when you are making love to your beloved, you are not there. The
           woman is there, but her mind is also far away. So two bodies are going through a gymnastics. Of
           course it is not productive of any contentment. You both come out of it frustrated, cheated.
           Something went wrong.
               The man immediately turns to the other side, pulls over the blanket, and goes to sleep. The
           woman cries, weeps, because such a moment... and nothing comes out of it. The whole day she has
           been waiting, that her lover will be coming; but when he was making love, she was thinking of
           Muhammad Ali the Great.
               So whenever two persons are making love, there is at least a crowd. The man is thinking of
           Marilyn Monroe, the woman is thinking of Muhammad Ali, and these pictures in the mind go on
           changing. And on the margin they are trying to make love.
               Why unnecessarily harass each other? If this is the situation in love, what will be the situation in
           other things?
               Spacing out is unhealthy. If you want to think of Muhammad Ali, you can sit silently and think
           of Muhammad Ali. At least it will be one-pointedness. But people are doing many things at a time,
           and they think that this is some achievement.
               Just in front of my house in India, was one woman I used to see every day. She had a small child.
           So the child was put in a rocking chair, and she would be sitting in front of the child, and she would
           go on pushing the rocking chair with her leg, because the child cannot manage that. So the chair
           would go on rocking, and the child would remain silent.
               And she was continuously making something for the child, because the winter was coming: a
           sweater, socks, a hat. So with her hands she was engaged with the sweater, and with her eyes she
           was always reading the newspaper. A multipurpose woman!
               And I don't think this was all; this was outside so you could see. What was going on in her head
           nobody knows, because when she can manage three things simultaneously outside, in the mind she
           can manage three hundred things.
               These people go on missing the moment -- its purity, its life, its joy -- because they are not there.
           And they will never be anywhere if this becomes their habit -- which has become the habit of the
           whole humanity.
           And you ask me what is work and worship.
               Work is when you space out. You do the work, but you are not totally there. If you are totally
           there, it is worship.
               Then the work is not only work; then the work takes a new flavor: of silence, of meditativeness,
           of joy -- just the wind passing by, the sunrays falling on you, you chopping wood, and the
           perspiration coming to your forehead. And all is in utter silence; you are simply chopping wood.
           You are not going anywhere; you are here.
               One of the emperors of Japan had gone to see a great Zen master, Nan Yin. He asked Nan Yin,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "What have you learned that makes you a great master, known all over the country?"
                Nan Yin said, "Very simple: when I chop wood, I simply chop wood; and when I carry the water
           from the well, I simply carry the water from the well."
                The emperor said, "I had come to listen to something spiritual. What nonsense are you talking?
           Chopping wood, you simply chop wood? Everybody does it; what is special in it? Carrying water
           from the well, you carry the water from the well? I have come a long distance, and I am your
           country's emperor. You should at least give me some spiritual advice."
                Nan Yin said, "That was my spiritual advice, and I want to make it clear to you that everybody is
           not doing that. It took me years to chop wood without any thoughts: to just be there, chopping.
                "And it is tremendously beautiful: the sound in the valley, the chips of the wood flying all over,
           the wind blowing through the trees, their song, their music. And I am utterly silent, just chopping
           wood. Carrying water from the well is the same.
                "My whole day is the same. I have given you, in short, my basic approach of life. Be where you
           are. Don't let mind go away."
                Work immediately becomes worship -- if you have understood Nan Yin's statement.
                Things are not complex, things are very simple. You just have to be a little alert and watch what
           is happening within you: whether it is singlemindedness, whether it is spacing out, whether it is
           work, whether it is worship. Just watch.
                And your goal should be that everything becomes worship: walking, or sitting, or even doing
           nothing. If you are there, absolutely there -- nothing is moving in your mind, all movement has
           stopped -- then your whole life is worship.
           Then your whole life is meditation.
                Christians go to the church on Sunday. Their religion is Sunday religion. One hour there,
           listening to the same boring sermon -- but they have to listen to it, because they are afraid of falling
           in hell. This boring sermon is okay; for a few years you listen to it, and you will go to heaven.
                But they don't know that in heaven you will have all the saints for eternity giving you the same
           sermon. They will bore you so much, because the time is so long. And Sunday is not Sunday there; it
           is every day, the whole day, and for eternity.
                And suicide is not possible in paradise -- at least I have not come across any incident that any
           saint has been able to commit suicide -- although everybody who is there must be thinking of it. But
           it does not happen in heaven. They will be wanting to come back to the earth. It is not allowed.
                They may be thinking that it would have been better to be in hell, because in hell there are all the
           colorful people: all poets, painters, singers, dancers, actors, actresses. All the colorful people, juicy
           people, are in hell.
                And people who are just dry bones are in heaven. They are not allowed to visit hell even for the
           long weekend. Once you enter heaven there is no exit.
                Other religions are in the morning -- ten minutes, twenty minutes -- chanting mantras, and
           thinking that this is all.
                I have consideredly given you red clothes, a mala with a locket of a madman, to remind you --
           even in sleep -- that your whole life has to become religious; it is not a question of a few minutes, a
           few hours.
                And for me, there is no other paradise. You have to create it here and now. You have to learn
           how to create paradise.
           Meditation is the technology.
           Changing work into worship is the secret.
                So wherever you are, it doesn't matter. If after death there is heaven and hell, then of course you
           will all be in hell with me, because hell needs my people immensely.
                And there are so many intelligent people; in fact, all intelligent people are there. We can create a
           really big commune.
                And the people who are in hell have been misfits in the world. But we are a commune of misfits,
           so nobody can be a misfit with us. We are all misfits, and nobody takes note of it. In fact, we respect
           the misfit person because he has some individuality. The person who simply fits like a cog in the
           wheel is not worth.... Let him go to heaven. Perhaps he may serve as a cog in some wheel.
                If there is any heaven and hell, if we end up by chance in heaven -- accidents happen -- we are
           going to do the same. We are going to initiate those poor saints into sannyas, and teach them
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Dynamic Meditation. And they will rejoice immensely, because for centuries they have been sitting
           there, simply playing on the harp, "Alleluia, alleluia!"
               I have heard about a porter in Munich, a German guy, addicted to beer. By mistake -- that's why I
           say accidents happen -- by mistake, somebody else was to die but the angels of death took the poor
           porter, because he was lying in the other man's house who was going to die, completely drunk. It was
           just a mistake. In such a state he could not find his house, so wherever it happened, he fell down
           there. The man of the house was not at home, so the angels took that man.
               When he opened his eyes he could not believe where he was. He was handed a harp.
               He said, "What are you doing? I am a porter, I don't play the harp."
               They said, "Here you will have to play the harp for eternity and sing, 'Alleluia!' You sit on one of
           the clouds. Just look at what the other saints are doing."
               But the man said, "I am not a saint! I am just a porter in the Munich station. And what about my
           beer?"
               The angels said, "Don't mention such things here. These things are not available. All that you
           have to do is rejoice and play."
               For a few minutes he tried. He said, "What nonsense! I was living such a beautiful life in
           Munich, earning well as a porter in the station. And then every evening going to the pub, meeting the
           friends, drinking -- it was such a joy. And where have I landed? I am not a saint at all; I never even
           went to the church."
               He was very angry after a few hours. "This is too much. Just in a few hours I am getting so
           angry, and it is a question of eternity. Something has to be done!"
               He became angry. And a porter is, after all a porter, he is not a professor. His language is not of
           the cultured, high society. So he would sing, "Alleluia, alleluia," and in between he would say, "Fuck
           you all!" -- and start again, "Alleluia, alleluia."
               The other saints saw that this man was doing really badly. Between "Alleluia, alleluia," he says
           something which is not mentionable.
               They went to God and said, "This man is saying things which have never been said."
               God said, "I know. The trouble is you have brought a wrong man. He is not the saint I have sent
           you to bring. He is a porter in Munich, and naturally he is getting angry. And when he gets angry he
           will say things like that. You take him back and leave him in Munich so that he can enjoy his life. He
           is not meant for heaven."
               The man was brought down. He was immensely happy. Immediately he went to the pub and he
           said, "Alleluia! Now bring as much beer as you can." He said, "My God! I had entered into such a
           bad space. Perhaps I was too drunk and dreamt....
               "Only one thing helped me. And everybody condemned me -- 'Don't use that word' -- but only
           that word helped me. Alleluia did not do anything! Playing on the harp I got tired, but the moment I
           said to the saints, 'Fuck you all!' they all disappeared from their clouds."
               So if by chance we end up in heaven, remember the word. Don't forget it! And when so many
           people on the harps sing that beautiful word... we are going to change heaven into real heaven.
               You just have to know the secret -- and I have told you the secret.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #2
                                      Chapter title: The work of the serpent
           16 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509160
              ShortTitle: BONDAG02
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 85 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I'M AMAZED TO SEE HOW MUCH FEAR AND HOW MANY WOUNDS FROM MY HEART
              EVAPORATED, LISTENING TO YOU TALKING ABOUT SHEELA AND HER GANG LEAVING THE
              COMMUNE. NOW NOBODY WILL THROW ME OUT, AWAY FROM YOU.
              BELOVED MASTER, I'M SO HAPPY THAT I'M LAUGHING AND CRYING TOGETHER.
              PLEASE, JUST TELL ME ONE THING: WHY DID THIS SHEELA-VIDYA GANG HATE YOUR INDIAN
              SANNYASINS SO MUCH?


                I can see you all are immensely happy. I came to know just a little late that you were dancing in
           the streets; otherwise, I would have joined you. I myself am feeling for the first time at home.
           First the question, then a few more things.
                I feel sad and sorry for Sheela and her gang. She has a certain hatred for Indians. The reason is
           she was raped when she was fifteen or sixteen years old by a man who was a friend of her father, and
           she had always thought of him as her uncle. Then she became pregnant.
                And in India, in those days, pregnancy was a great problem. Abortion was not legal, so illegally,
           somehow, some physician managed the abortion.
                That pain, that distrust, that ugly experience, and the trauma has remained as a wound in her.
           That is the root cause of her hatred for Indians.
                Perhaps I am the only person from India whom she did not hate. The reason is clear, that I may
           have been born in India, but I am not an Indian. I don't belong to any tradition, any religion, any
           race, any color. The moment she saw me, heard me, she felt tremendous joy, that at least in the
           whole of India, of eight hundred million people, she can love one Indian.
                The same phenomenon has caused in her mind a deep hatred for men too. Because of that old
           man she has been taking revenge on all men.
                You may have observed that around her there were only homosexuals. Homosexuals are not
           men, homosexuals are not women. You cannot categorize them as men or women.
                First I was thinking, why does she continue to be surrounded by homosexuals? Then I saw the
           point, that instead of men she would like homosexuals to be around her. They have dropped out of
           manhood. They are no longer polar opposites to the woman.
                In India, she was consistently, for nine years, persuading me to come to America. I would have
           never come to America, but my physical health was bad. And her persuasion was right, that perhaps
           in the clean air, in a dry and cool place, my health will recover.
                But in her own mind, the basic reason for me to leave India was the rape that had happened there.
           She hated the whole country. Her excuse to bring me out of India was perfectly right, but behind the
           excuse was her psychology. She did not want to live in India herself. She did not want me to live in
           India. She did not want my people to live in India.
                She still carried the same antagonism, and she found excuses to throw away Indians. Many
           Indians had come to the commune, and had gone back to India with tears in their eyes.
                India is a poor country. To make arrangements to come to America, and then to be refused by the
           commune, is simply inhuman. These people had come by selling their houses, their lands, all their
           belongings -- and they were not accepted.
                But because I was in silence, I never came to know what was going on. She had sent away many
           Indian sannyasins in a very ugly way.
                Now everybody can come, because nobody has raped me, nor have I raped anybody. I don't have
           any antagonism for anybody in the whole world. In fact, it was because of Sheela that Oregon
           became so hostile to the commune. I was silent. For five years I did not read any newspapers, did not
           listen to the radio, did not read any books.
                It is all finished. I am keeping my eyes open only for you, just to see you and let you see in my
           eyes is enough. Whatever I had to achieve, I have achieved. I have loved enormously. I have been
           loved by millions of men and women. There is not any experience which was worth having that I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have not passed through.
                If death comes in this moment I will be going rejoicing, because it is not taking anything away
           from me. My life has been a complete contentment and fulfillment.
                If I am still breathing, I am breathing for you, because before I leave I would like you to be in the
           same space in which I have lived.
                So now nobody will be thrown out of the commune, and anybody who knocks on our doors has
           to be accepted.
                Now there is no need for Oregonians to be hostile to us. Our hands will be always waiting for
           their hands, and our hearts will be always waiting for their hearts.
                Sheela created this ugly situation because her life has been misery, anger, hatred. She created an
           unnecessary hostility.
                But now I am speaking again. That hostility will disappear just like a dewdrop on a lotus leaf
           disappears in the early morning sun.
                We are Oregonians. Now it is for Oregonians to become red! Why should those poor people
           choose to be dead rather than be red? We will change the whole situation. The whole world is ours --
           Oregon included. They are simple human beings reacting in simple human ways. There was no need
           to create what Sheela did.
           It is past history and we have to erase it.
                Just the other day I came to know that Sheela, and the whole gang that has escaped from here,
           were trying to kill three people who are very close to me: Devaraj, my physician; Devageet, who was
           my dentist in India; and Vivek, who has taken care of me for all these fifteen years as lovingly as no
           other woman is capable of. Twenty-four hours a day she has been just like a shadow to me, thinking
           of such small things -- about my dress, about my bath, about my food.
                You will not have seen any kitchen where a doctor is sitting and weighing calories of everything.
           They are very miserly; they don't allow me more than three thousand calories per day. And I have to
           speak five hours, just on three thousand calories!
                But they love me, and they don't want me to leave my body before my people are ready.
                I may have died without Vivek, Devaraj, Devageet, anytime. They have taken every care to keep
           me alive as long as possible.
                Now Sheela is gone and the whole gang is gone. Things were repressed out of fear. People who
           knew could not say, because saying meant they would be thrown out of the commune, and they did
           not want to leave me. Just to be with me they had to carry wounds in their hearts.
                One sannyasin came immensely happy and told Vivek that there was a meeting a few months
           before.... Vivek, Devaraj and Devageet -- all three should be killed by slow poisoning. And she
           could not understand, so she left the meeting. So she does not know what decision they came to.
                But they must have decided to, because Vivek got one dose of slow poison and her heartbeat
           went absolutely berserk. It took three hours for doctors, medicine, to bring her heartbeat back to
           normal. This has never happened before. She had taken only one cup of tea at Jesus Grove, and
           immediately this happened.
                In the meeting here, in the last ceremony, Devaraj was injected with poison. He is a doctor, has
           the highest qualifications from Britain. He immediately understood what had been done. He felt the
           prick. It happened when Shanti B. was by the side of him, telling him something, one hand on his
           shoulder, another hand near his body on the floor.
                He immediately started saying that he had been poisoned, he had been injected. Nobody could
           believe it, but his situation was... he became pale as if he was dying. He had to be sent to Bend
           Hospital.
                Hasya was there to take care of him. The doctors who were looking after him told Hasya that
           there seemed to be no reason for his sudden sickness, except that some poisoning had been done.
           They also said that the same case had happened with the attorney of Jefferson County last year, and
           they suspect it was exactly the same case of poisoning.
                Now this gang was making it instead of a meditation camp, a concentration camp. And why did
           these three people have to be removed, to be killed? Just because they were close to me.
                Sheela never wanted anybody to be close to me, for a simple reason: so I am never able to know
           what she is doing outside, what she is saying outside, in my name.
                And you will be surprised and shocked, that even my room, my sitting room, my bedroom -- they
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           were all bugged. On the surface they were all saying that they love me and they are ready to die for
           me. What could be the reason to bug my room? And Vivek suspected it, because her room was also
           bugged. Hasya's house was bugged, and every telephone call was taped. Now, my people are not
           talking politics on telephones -- perhaps with a friend, with a lover.
               And when I suspected this, I asked her. She said, "No. We are simply tapping the phones of
           people whom we suspect are planted by the government."
               I said, "In four years, how much information have you got? You show me."
               They had not a single piece of information. So I said, "What is the point? For four years those
           thirty people were not phoning at all?"
               And this is simply an excuse to listen to other people's conversations. And it is ugly, inhuman,
           undemocratic. It is a crime. It is interference in people's privacy.
               I was not aware that they were even bugging my room. It will be difficult for you to believe --
           yesterday we discovered and disconnected a bugging device.
               She was continuously insisting that my room should have a buzzer, an emergency buzzer, so that
           the guards know immediately if anything is wrong.
               I said, "From inside what can be wrong? Guards are outside. If anything wrong is going to
           happen to me, it will come from outside. They should have a buzzer to inform me. I am living
           isolated. Nobody can even see me from the outside, and I cannot see anybody outside. The buzzer is
           pointless."
               What she insisted was: in some emergency it may be needed. I said, "Okay, if you are so intent, it
           does me no harm." But the point was -- just yesterday we came to know -- when the buzzer was
           removed, there was a microphone. It was a bugging device.
               I was seeing a few people once in a while. She never wanted for me to see anybody. But I said,
           "This is not possible. I have a certain message for somebody, certain instruction for somebody. And I
           don't think you are capable of doing it. So the person has to be called."
               So that was the reason for bugging my room -- what am I saying to people whom I have called?
               She had created almost a fascist state. It was ugly. It was criminal. And the whole bunch has
           escaped. Knowing that once Sheela and the main people are gone, the others will be in trouble
           because soon these things will be discovered....
               But we are not going to leave these criminals in the world. They will destroy other communes,
           other people. I am going to inform the government; I am going to inform the international police
           force; I am going to inform all the communes; I am going to inform the press media. These people
           should be treated as criminals.
               One of our old sannyasins, Shunyo, has donated three hundred thousand dollars, after an attack
           on my life was made, to purchase a bulletproof car. Those three hundred thousand dollars were
           simply swallowed up by Sheela and her brother, Bipin. They went on saying, "The money will be
           returned, it will be returned within a month." Now almost eight years have passed, and not a single
           dollar has been returned to the commune. And I heard yesterday that, although Sheela and her whole
           gang has left, Bipin is still in Jesus house.
               Geeta has proved a jewel. She was the secretary of Sheela. Sheela wanted her also to go with
           them; Geeta refused. She has seen the working of Sheela closely, and she did not want to be part of
           that criminal gang. She informed me that this Bipin is in the house. I told her, "Tell him to leave
           immediately -- he has nothing to do here -- because he may do more mischief."
               These people could do all this harm, and much more about which we are not aware. But rumors
           are coming and soon people will start finding what else they have done.
               It is just a rumor that they tried to poison the whole of The Dalles city by poisoning their water
           system. It is just a rumor right now. They did not succeed, but they made the attempt.
               I am trying to make you absolutely apolitical, with no desire for power; and these people were
           using you and your strength for their own ambitions.
               I have heard that some government office in The Dalles was burned, and it was the work of this
           group. These people could have done anything.
               They could have killed me. Perhaps, after killing those three people who are taking care of my
           health, they would have started slowly poisoning me, so they become absolute dictators in the
           commune.
               So it really feels fresh. The air seems to be totally different, and we are fortunate that they left by
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           themselves. Perhaps they suspected that the time has come when they may be exposed.
               Perhaps they have taken away money from the commune... because they have left the commune
           with a fifty-five-million-dollar debt. And strangely enough, three days before they left I asked Savita
           -- because she was looking after the finances -- "How much debt do you have?"
           She said, "Nearabout two and a half million."
               Just three days before, two and a half million. They became experts in lying. The night she was
           leaving, I asked her, "You tell me exactly how much debt, because anybody who is going to run the
           commune will have to take care of the debt."
               She said, "It must be thirty to thirty-five million."
               I said, "Strange. Just within two days, from two and a half million, to thirty to thirty-five million?
           What happened in these two days?"
               She said, "I was not aware of the whole thing. Because you asked me, I looked into it."
               I said, "But I have heard that you are leaving a fifty-five-million-dollar debt. And you are still
           saying thirty-five. Be true!"
               Hearing the figure fifty-five million dollars, she said, "Perhaps it is fifty-five million dollars."
           Suddenly from thirty-five it becomes fifty-five -- just there within two minutes. These people were
           lying to me. These people were lying to you.
               Your letters were not reaching exactly -- only those letters they wanted were coming. My
           answers were not reaching to you exactly as I had dictated them. They were edited. They managed
           the answers according to their ideas.
               One thing has to be remembered, that such a thing should never happen again in this commune.
           For that reason, I am not going to be in silence again. Even if I die, just because of old habit I will go
           on speaking. Habits die hard; man dies very easily. But I am not going into silence. I have to keep
           completely acquainted with what is happening, so never again such a fascist thing happens to my
           people.
               I love you so much. I could not conceive that anybody would do such criminal acts against you.
           And you have shown a great quality of trust, even in that group which was not trustworthy. I
           appreciate your trust. I condemn their acts, but I appreciate your trust.
               But it is not going to happen again. And you all have to be aware that it should not happen again.
           And if you see anything like it happen -- even the beginning of it -- now I will be available to you
           directly.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              SINCE YOU STARTED SPEAKING AGAIN LAST YEAR, I HEARD YOU SEVERAL TIMES QUOTING
              THE STORY OF ADAM AND EVE LONGING FOR THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, ALWAYS IN THE
              SENSE THAT THEY DID A GREAT JOB FOR MANKIND. BUT, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, IT
              WAS NOT JUST THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, BUT THE TREE OF DETERMINATION OF GOOD
              AND BAD. WASN'T IT THIS DESIRE OF THE MIND FOR JUDGMENT AND SPLITTING INTO
              DUALITIES THAT CAUSED MAN'S LOSS OF INNOCENCE AND PARADISE THAT IS DESCRIBED
              IN THIS SYMBOLIC STORY?


               For the moment, just for argument's sake, I will accept what you are saying -- the story is about
           the tree of knowledge -- but if you call it the tree of the determination of good and bad, it comes to
           mean the same thing.
               What is it that determines, discriminates the good from the bad? It is awareness. It is your
           consciousness. So what name you give to the tree will not make much difference.
               And don't try to befool yourself by saying that when man fell into a state of sin, he lost his
           innocence.
               Let me ask you a question: Does your God knows what is good and what is bad? If your God
           does not know what is good and what is bad, then he must be a buffalo. And if God knows what is
           good and bad, then to know good and bad is a divine quality.
               Do you mean to say -- you must have a very fanatic Christian upbringing -- do you want to say
           that your God has fallen into sin, because he knows what is good and what is bad?
               Both the ways are open to you. Either you have to accept that he is just a buffalo chewing grass,
           not knowing what is good, what is bad.... That, of course, you cannot accept, because on the day of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           judgment how will he discriminate who is good and who is bad? How will he send his saints to
           heaven and the sinners to hell? He must have the discriminating power. He must be able to see what
           is white and what is black.
               And if God is not committing sin, then what is the fear -- why prevent Adam and Eve from
           knowing good from bad, discriminating? Because that is the only way to follow the good.
               And what you call innocence... think twice. You are calling ignorance innocence. Ignorance
           looks like innocence; it is not innocence.
               For example, it is said that the man who is awakened again becomes just like a child -- innocent.
           Mind the words, just like a child -- not a child, because the child is not innocent, he is simply
           ignorant.
               That's why the child can be exploited by you, by your society, by your priests, by your
           politicians, by everybody. He is ignorant. He knows nothing of what is right and what is wrong. So
           in every society, every religion, he is given ideas.
               For example, Christians don't think alcohol is wrong. In fact, on their holy days they drink
           alcohol -- and from the same glass. Just think of AIDS. AIDS has disturbed all your Christian
           ceremonies.
               Mohammedans eat off one plate; that is a sign of friendship, love. But what about AIDS? Now it
           is not friendship to eat from the same plate. Nothing can be more inimical.
           What is good and what is bad?
               In ignorant children you can enforce any idea that "This is good." For example, in Jainism, the
           Jaina monk cannot use a simple thing like a razor blade, because that is using technology -- high
           technology. He has to pull out his hair. And every year thousands of people come to see the monk
           pull out his hair. It is painful, stupid, but those people... you should see the crowd; they are crying
           with respect: "Now this man is doing something great. This is what a saint should be." They have
           conditioned their children that this is what it means to be a saint.
               Unfortunately, I was born in this religion -- Jainism. But it was going to be "unfortunately"
           anywhere I was to be born, because to be a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu or a Mohammedan does
           not matter.
               In this matter, a child cannot yet find parents who will not condition him. A child cannot say, "I
           am born, fortunately, to parents who have not conditioned me, who have given me freedom, who
           have given me as sharp an intellect as possible, who have taught me how to doubt, how to be
           skeptical, how to be an agnostic, how to inquire and never believe unless I come to know myself."
               In my childhood I have seen many Jaina monks pulling out their hair, and I used to say to my
           father, "I don't see anything good in it. It is not doing any good to humanity, it is not something
           creative. It is not making life more beautiful. In fact, that man is a masochist."
               And my father would say, "You keep quiet. If you cannot keep quiet, go home, but don't say such
           things. A masochist?"
               I said, "I cannot be quiet, and I cannot go away from here. I have to see the whole show of this
           masochism."
               It is a known fact that mad people in madhouses pluck their hair. And you may know women --
           because they cannot do any other harm to the man they love, they start pulling out their own hair.
               So this Jaina monk is doing something feminine too; he is not really a male. Pulling out your
           hair... I don't see any beauty, any grace in it. Look at his face: it is distorted with pain. But he is
           doing it because thousands of people are applauding. His ego is fulfilled. For his ego he is ready to
           suffer. In Jainism it is thought to be great, a good quality. What do you think? Is it great, a good
           quality?
               This is what you have done to ignorant children. Their ignorance looks like innocence, but
           remember, ignorance is negative. It simply means they don't know. Innocence is positive. It has
           known everything and dropped it -- it was not worth knowing.
               You cannot corrupt an innocent person. Innocence is the highest peak of growth. The child
           cannot be innocent, that's why it is said "just like a child." The saint does not become a child -- just
           like a child. It is only an example, to make you understand.
               God wanted Adam and Eve to remain always ignorant? not to know what is good and what is
           bad? And when you don't know what is good and what is bad, there is every possibility you may be
           bad, a fifty-fifty chance. And you may not feel that you are doing anything bad. You may murder
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody and you will not feel that you are doing anything bad.
                No, whatever you call the tree, this God will not change me. You can call the tree anything.
                It is just an idiotic story, because there is no forbidden fruit. It is supposed to be the apple -- it
           was an apple tree. And just because it was an apple tree, I used to eat as many apples in the day as
           possible so that I would not remain ignorant. But I found that apples have no quality, no chemicals to
           make you more alert, more aware. What fruit can make you more aware, more discriminating, more
           knowing what is good and what is bad?
                So you can play and change the name of the tree, but whatever name you put on it, I will hit on it
           without any difficulty. It does not matter. To me, what really matters is that God has not punished
           man for eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, or from the tree of determining what is good and
           bad. He punished them because they disobeyed. Disobedience is sin.
                Not always. If all the Germans had disobeyed Adolf Hitler, would you call it sin? Ten million
           people would not have died if Germans had eaten from the tree of discrimination of what is good and
           what is bad. It seems in Germany the tree does not grow. They obeyed a madman. And according to
           this obedience they followed whatever was said to them.
                Do you think obedience is always a virtue and disobedience always a sin? No, there are moments
           when disobedience is a virtue, and obedience is a sin. In fact, in the sick society in which you are
           living, you will find more occasions for disobedience -- if you want to be pure, innocent -- than you
           will find moments for obedience.
                And you seem to be offended because I am saying that it was something great, a great blessing
           for humanity. I repeat it again: it was the greatest blessing for humanity that Adam and Eve
           disobeyed your phony God. Otherwise, remember, you would have still been in the Garden of Eden
           chewing grass, not knowing what is right and what is wrong.
           God wanted you to remain animals.
                It is by the great revolutionary serpent -- he is the first revolutionary in the world; whoever he
           was, he was the beginning of humanity -- animals were transformed into human beings.
                But you go on falling back into obedience, so I have to do the work of the serpent: to teach you
           doubt, to teach you disobedience, to teach you inquiry and to never be satisfied unless you know.
           And eat as many fruits from the apple tree -- they are good.
                It is said, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Such a good fruit that keeps the doctor away
           -- just one fruit.
                The story is symbolic. All stories are symbolic, they are not historical facts, but they indicate
           something tremendously beautiful: the God who imposed obedience was just a fascist. He wanted
           them to be always just animals under his rule. But if man became aware of what is good and what is
           bad, what was the problem for God? Was man wrong?
                The devil, they say, came in the form of the serpent. Strange. One who is bad would like people
           not to be able to discriminate between good and bad. One who is good would like people to
           discriminate between good and bad, so they can always do good.
                If you look at the story without your Christian eyes, you will be surprised. The devil seems to be
           good and God seems to be bad, because the devil is for awareness, knowledge, discrimination, and
           God is not for freedom or disobedience. This God must be a fascist.
                Humanity owes much to the serpent. Whatever we have attained, whatever has been our
           civilization, culture, art, literature, music, our creativity, science... you have to be in immense debt
           which cannot be paid -- to the serpent, or to the devil.
                If there was no devil, there would have been no humanity, no Shakespeare, no Goethe, no
           Michelangelo, no Albert Einstein, no Moses, no Jesus, no Buddha. There would have been nothing,
           just animals moving around looking for grass or water.
           Have you thought of the alternative?
                Every credit goes to the devil. If you want to worship somebody, worship the devil. He is your
           real creator.
                God has made you just out of mud, that's why you are called human. The word "human" comes
           from humus. Humus means mud.
                Not a very good job, not very respectful to human beings. God could have made you with
           something better -- with gold, with diamonds, with emeralds, with rubies -- nothing is impossible for
           God. Why make you out of humus?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And I always think that the humus was taken from the Big Muddy Ranch; otherwise, how could
           you create such a Big Muddy Ranch?
               You were not really created, man and woman, by God. He created only animals. The
           transformation came through the devil. And you have to know that the word "devil" is not bad. It
           comes from the same Sanskrit root as divine. Devil means divine. Nobody knows what God means.
               I was reading the book, WAITING FOR GODOT, and I thought "Godot" looks like "God" -- but
           in what language is God called Godot? So I inquired of Haridas, because I suspected it must be
           German. And Haridas said, "No. In German we call God, 'Gott!'"
               Strange, nobody has got him, and Germans call him Gott! He has never been found anywhere.
           But Germans are strange people. They may have "gott" him. That's why nobody else can get him.
           And if ever they got him, they must have put him with the Jews in the gas chamber, because God is a
           Jew! The biblical God is bound to be a Jew.
               So now I know. He is no more there, just holy smoke.
           Okay?




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                     Chapter #3
                                     Chapter title: Learn from this experience
           17 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509170
              ShortTitle: BONDAG03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 114 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I LOOKED AROUND ME TODAY AT THE PEOPLE IN THIS COMMUNITY I SAW ONLY
              INNOCENCE AND LOVELINESS. BUT IF THE UGLINESS YOU SPOKE OF FLOURISHED IN THE
              HEART OF THIS COMMUNITY, THEN WHAT STRENGTH IS THERE IN INNOCENCE AND
              LOVINGNESS?


               It is one of the most significant questions about life. The roseflower is beautiful, full of
           fragrance. The rock is almost just the opposite, but the rock can kill the roseflower very easily.
               So one thing has to be understood: the higher you go into silence, love, beauty, the more delicate
           you become, more fragile. The lower you go -- violent, murderous, criminal -- the harder you
           become.
               Your heart has both the possibilities: to become the rock or to become a roseflower.
               The second thing to be understood is: the rock has a certain kind of strength, but that strength is
           of death. It is not in the service of life; it is in the service of destruction and death. The roseflower
           also has a certain strength, but it is in the service of life, love and beauty. These are different kinds of
           strength.
               Certainly, you cannot make bullets from roseflowers. That does not mean bullets become more
           important. You cannot kill somebody with a roseflower. That does not mean the arrow -- a poisonous
           arrow -- is more powerful than a rose. But it appears so.
               The arrow is dead; hence you cannot kill it anymore. Do you think that is strength? Then all the
           people who are in the grave are stronger than you; they will never die again. You will be dying.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Would you like to change places with the people in the graves? They are, in a way, stronger than
           you, because death cannot happen to them. But they are dead. What is the point of their strength?
               Life is fragile. The higher you go, the more fragile. The tree is not so fragile as the flower. The
           fragrance is even more fragile than the flower -- just a small breeze can take it away.
               This is true, that you see innocence and lovingness all over the place in this commune. Naturally,
           the question has arisen in your mind that why did something like a fascist calamity happen to you?
               Innocence can be taken advantage of. Lovingness can be exploited.
               But no harm has been done to you! Fragrance may be fragile; it may exist only for a moment, but
           that moment is eternity. The rock may exist for eternity, but that eternity is not even equal to a single
           moment of fragrance.
               The people who tried to exploit your innocence and love, your trust, have not destroyed you;
           they have destroyed themselves.
               This is the beauty of the power of love, the power of trust, the power of innocence.
               What harm has been done to you? No harm can be done to you. Even if you are killed, your
           loving being and your trusting being and your inner innocence are eternal. And you have seen the
           whole drama, that the people who were powerful but in the service of destructiveness had to escape
           finally.
           Love is victorious.
               And wherever they will go, a deep feeling of guilt, of inhumanity, of having taken advantage of
           trusting people, will follow them. They will not have a single night of peaceful sleep.
               This is a fundamental law of life: your every action is followed by its result automatically.
               The flower releases fragrance. These people have released poison, but the poison has not affected
           you at all. It has poisoned their own beings, their own growth. They have missed a great opportunity,
           and perhaps they will have to wait for lives to find it again.
               I hope they come to understand what they have done. They have done such ugly things that you
           cannot believe.
               Just this morning, more information came from a sannyasin. When the Share-a-Home people had
           come here, a certain drug was purchased in a big quantity by this fascist gang of Sheela's. They were
           injecting that drug into the Share-a-Home people so they remained calm and quiet. Otherwise, they
           were street people; they have lived in a totally different way -- rowdy, ever ready to fight and kill.
               But they overdosed one man and he died. I have been informed that they took the man and threw
           him out of Rancho Rajneesh.
               To treat a man like that is disgusting. It simply proves only one thing: that this group of Sheela's
           had no heart at all. I would not have believed it, but seeing all the other information that is coming...
           and people are ready to witness for it in the courts.
               The pharmacist of the commune was puzzled. He was very much against bringing in that much
           poison. "What is the reason?" They managed to bring the poison in, in some other roundabout way.
               First to invite people here to share your home, and then you share death? If you cannot be loving
           to people, why have you called them here?
               I was in silence. I was told it was "because there is more money from the festival than we need,
           and this will be good, humanitarian work." I said, "If it is something humanitarian you must do it."
           But it was not humanitarian. Now people are reporting to me that they were certainly brought here
           for voting.
               For my whole life I have been teaching my sannyasins to be apolitical. Politics is for inferior
           minds. It is for those who are suffering from an inferiority complex. It is the inferiority complex that
           forces them to prove to themselves that they are not inferior -- they are governors, they are prime
           ministers, they are presidents.
               But even if you are a president it does not change your inferiority, it does not make you superior.
           That's why people like Nixon, becoming president, behave like criminals. In fact, your whole history
           is full of people who came to power and behaved like great criminals.
               Your history is the history of criminology. It is worth burning completely, so your children never
           hear the names Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte,
           Ivan the Terrible, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini. It will be better if your children
           never hear these names. These names are contaminated. Don't poison poor children.
               All these people were not violent before they came into power. Neither were Sheela and her
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           group. They were simply as human as you are, as beautiful as you are, as loving as you are. Then
           what happens when people come into power? Power certainly makes a great change. Whatever these
           people have been carrying in their unconscious, now they have the opportunity to materialize it.
                So from this experience, you have to learn one thing: somewhere deep down you may be also
           carrying Sheela, Puja, Vidya, and the whole gang. Your lovingness, your friendliness, may be just
           superficial. The only way to know whether it is really there, is to give you power. And that's what I
           am going to do now.
                I have chosen Hasya. She is the beginning of my experiment. So be aware.
                Everybody has to go through the power-trip. We have to make power just like a rotary club. For
           a few months somebody is the president, then somebody else, then somebody else -- give everybody
           a chance to look into his unconscious.
                Power is of immense importance. It is a revolution. Something hidden and dormant becomes
           active, and something that was active goes to sleep. And each of you has to remember that power is
           not going to corrupt you.
                Lord Acton's famous quotation I have used many times: "Power corrupts, and absolute power
           corrupts absolutely." But I don't agree with him. It is not the power that corrupts. Corruption is in
           you. Power simply gives you an opportunity to show your real face. So power is not your enemy; it
           is a mirror.
                You don't know. You may be carrying a Genghis Khan within you, a Tamerlane within you, a
           Nadirshah within you. Power gives you the insight to become aware of it all.
                I am not against power. All that is needed is that you should remain aware, more aware than
           before. Powerless you can afford to be unaware, but when you have power you cannot afford to be
           unaware. And then power can be of immense help -- to help you to destroy the Nadirshah within
           you, the Adolf Hitler within you. And if you can come out of power unscratched, then you will have
           an abundance of love, compassion, beauty, truth.
                They have their own strength, but it is of a totally different dimension.
                So I am not disappointed. Whatever happened, we are going to turn it into a golden opportunity.
           That's what I teach to you -- to turn everything into a golden opportunity.
                Sheela and her gang have done a great service to you. They have destroyed themselves, but they
           have given you an insight. Now keep awake. Don't fall asleep.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU HAVE OFTEN REFERRED TO THE QUOTE, "POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER
              CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." HOW CAN THIS BE PREVENTED FROM HAPPENING AGAIN? IS
              THE HORIZONTAL HIERARCHY REALLY POSSIBLE? ALLELUIA FOR THIS NEW DAY! ALLELUIA!


              But I have answered your question before you have asked it.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I DON'T KNOW WHAT MAGIC HAPPENS DURING DARSHAN, BUT FALLING INTO THE DEEP,
              DEEP SILENCE THAT YOUR PRESENCE CREATES, I FIND IT HARD TO IMAGINE HOW IT IS
              POSSIBLE TO RECREATE THIS BEAUTIFUL SPACE IN YOUR ABSENCE. AND STRANGELY, A
              PART OF ME DOES NOT WANT TO BELIEVE IT IS POSSIBLE.
              WHY IS THIS?


              First, it is such a big event, such a great ecstasy, that you cannot believe it is really happening.
           You have been brought up by parents, teachers, society, schools, colleges, universities, religions. On
           one single point they all agree, that you are unworthy, and you have to deserve to be worthy. You
           have to prove that you are worthy.
              And how do you have to prove it? By becoming someone else.
              A Christian is trying to become Christ. A Buddhist is trying to become a Buddha.
              Now there is a great problem: nature never repeats itself -- that's its beauty and its creativity.
           Human beings are not produced on an assembly line like Ford cars, where every minute one car
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           comes out just the same. The predecessor was the same, the successor is going to be the same.
           Machines can be the same; man cannot be.
               My opposition to communism is based on the fact that equality of human beings is a
           psychological impossibility. It is just like if somebody is tall and somebody is short, and you start
           creating people of equal size. So somebody's head is cut off, and somebody is put on a traction
           machine to pull his legs. What you will create will be a crippled world, not equal. I am against
           communism because it is psychologically absurd.
               Every man is unique, and there is no way for anybody to become Christ again. Two thousand
           years are enough proof. Hundreds of popes but not a single Christ. Thousands of monks but not a
           single Christ. Twenty-five centuries are proof enough: millions of Buddhist monks all over Asia and
           not a single Gautam Buddha is born.
               But a calamity happened instead. The person who tries to become Gautam Buddha or Jesus
           Christ, cannot become Jesus Christ and cannot become Gautam Buddha. The natural law does not
           allow any carbon copies. It believes in the original.
               So they could not become Buddhas and Christs, but by trying to become Buddha and Christ they
           also missed what they could have become. And this is the frustration of the whole humanity.
               You never ask, Who was Jesus trying to become? Who was Gautam Buddha trying to become? If
           you are really understanding, one thing is clear: Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus Christ, or Moses,
           or Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu -- they were not trying to become anybody else. That is the basic reason
           why they could become what was their own potential.
               If you have to learn something from their lives, this is the most fundamental thing: never try to
           become somebody else. But from your very childhood you are being conditioned that you are
           unworthy as you are; prove yourself by becoming somebody else.
               In my childhood I was never an obedient child, and I have remained the same. Just now nobody
           is giving me orders, so my disobedience has no way to express itself.
               Once in a while my mother comes while I am taking my lunch, and she forgets, and she starts
           saying, "Mix this with that. With this vegetable, curd would have been good."
               And I say, "You have known me for my whole life. If you say so, I am not going to do it. Still
           you go on doing the same thing."
               She even tries to corrupt the minds of my kitchen people. I have told them, "Listen to her
           respectfully, but don't follow what she says."
               I want to eat my food my way. Nobody is going to instruct me. Tastes differ, likes differ,
           individualities differ.
               In my childhood there was a boy living just by the side of my house, my neighbor's son, and my
           father used to say, "Look at that boy." He was not my class fellow, he was two years ahead of me.
           "He always comes first. Why don't you try?"
               I said, "Until you stop telling me, I am not going to try. In a way, I am also first -- from
           backwards. If there are thirty boys, I am the thirtieth. It is only a question from where you start
           counting. I can be first also, but I am not going to follow that idiot."
               My father said, "He always comes first, and you call him an idiot."
               I said, "Yes, I call him an idiot. He comes first because all the people in his class are just
           third-rate. Once in a while I have talked with him. He is just stupid. He can't answer a single
           question; he can't argue. The moment he sees me he tries to escape, afraid that I will catch hold of
           him and put him in a confusion."
               Finally my father stopped saying these things. The year he stopped, I came first in the class.
               He said, "You are something! What have you been doing to come thirtieth in the class?"
               I said, "I have been giving wrong answers knowingly. If you had said to me, 'You have to pass,' I
           would have failed. It was good of you that you were only trying to bring me first. Remember, I am
           not going to be anybody's copy, and nobody is a model. I am just going to be myself; first or last
           does not matter."
               And since that time I went on being first every year, in every class, until my master's degree. I
           topped the whole university.
               My father could not believe it. "You are simply crazy. You yourself were writing wrong
           answers."
               I said, "I had to, to stop you trying to model me according to somebody else. This much is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           certain: I am going to be myself, so don't impose any ideas on me. Leave me alone, so that I can find
           my own self-nature."
                You feel doubt because here there are five thousand people sitting by my side, so silently, so
           peacefully, as if there is no one. You feel immense peace, silence, joy, but you cannot believe it
           because you are a miserable person. Suffering is your fate. You are a sinner, born in sin -- a
           Christian. You have committed so many sins in millions of lives -- a Hindu. How can this be
           possible for you?
                It may be possible for anybody else, but not for you. Your parents have never respected you,
           your teachers have never respected you. Everybody was advising, everybody was telling you to
           change. You were always wrong; they were always right. Naturally, you have accepted their ideas.
           You have been very obedient. And to be obedient is self-destructive.
                I am not saying be disobedient to everything. Try to use your intelligence. If it is worth obeying,
           if it is according to your intelligence, your feelings, your heart, then you are not obeying anybody
           else; you are doing your thing.
                If it is against your reason, your intelligence, your being, then whatever the cost, disobey it.
                Obeying others, you have started thinking of yourself as just a miserable creature. You are not a
           Jesus Christ, you are not a Gautam Buddha, you are not a Chuang Tzu. What are you? Just nothing?
                When I entered the university, first I went to see the vice-chancellor. I knocked on the door,
           asked him, "May I come in?" He said, "Yes." I went in, I remained standing.
           He said, "Why don't you sit?"
                I said, "It is better to stand in a place where even the vice-chancellor does not know how to
           respect a human being. Unless you stand up and receive me, I am going to stand here. And
           remember, unless you respect me, don't expect any respect from me. It is a mutual thing."
                The man looked at me. He was simply shocked. He could not believe that a student would do
           that.
           I said, "You can take your time and you can think."
                A few moments passed in silence, and then he decided to stand up.
                I said, "Now, this looks more human. Now if you come into my room in the hostel, I will stand
           up and receive you with love and respect. And it is not only for me that I am saying so. Do it with
           everybody. Continuously in your speeches you are saying that students are not respectful to the
           teachers -- and this is the reason why students are not respectful to the teachers. They should not be!"
                Teachers or students makes no difference. Both have a human soul, unique, and they should be
           respectful. If the teachers are respectful to the students, I don't think any student can be disrespectful
           to the teachers. But you go on receiving their humiliation, and slowly slowly you get accustomed to
           being humiliated.
                That's why you find it unbelievable even though it is happening; you experience it. What a
           tragedy! You experience it every day, and later on you start suspecting: perhaps you were imagining
           or dreaming, or perhaps it was some kind of hypnosis. "What happened? I was feeling so ecstatic and
           so silent and so peaceful and so loving."
                A window just opens, and the moment you leave me, the window closes. You close it, because it
           goes against your whole past, which is heavy.
                Secondly, I have nothing to do with what is happening here.
           You love me. It is your doing.
           You trust me. It is your doing.
                Whenever you love, whenever you trust, you will feel doors opening into the unknown, new
           dimensions opening. You are afraid, perhaps in my absence it will not happen. Don't be afraid. I am
           already absent. I died the day I became enlightened. There is only silence and peace, there is no "I." I
           have to use that ugly word, for the simple reason that in language you have to follow the language
           and its grammar -- howsoever absurd.
                One of the Hindus' masters, Swami Ramateertha, who had come to America, tried to change this
           language. He never used the word "I"; instead he used his name. He would say, "Rama is feeling
           thirsty," not, "I am feeling thirsty." It looked very odd, "Rama is feeling thirsty," "Rama wants to go
           for a walk."
                In India his followers used to understand it, but in America people started asking, "What kind of
           language are you using? Why use 'Rama' again and again when you can simply say 'I want to go for
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a walk'?"
                He said, "There is no 'I' in me, so I am using Rama just the way you use a name; it's arbitrary."
                But it will make language ugly, and there is no point because Ramateertha's own life proved it.
           He was highly respected in America and Europe, so coming back to India, naturally he thought that
           first he should go to Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus -- perhaps the most ancient city in the
           world. And if he has been honored so much around the world, certainly Varanasi and its council of
           Hindu scholars will receive him.
                He was invited by the council, but before the proceedings began, one Hindu priest stood up and
           said, "I want to ask a few things. First, do you know Sanskrit?"
                Ramateertha was born in Punjab, so he was educated in Persian and Urdu. He had read Hindu
           scriptures in Persian and Urdu, not in Sanskrit. Naturally, he had to say, "I don't know Sanskrit, but I
           have read Sanskrit scriptures in Persian and Urdu."
                The whole council of scholars laughed. They said, "If you don't know Sanskrit, you know
           nothing. First start to learn Sanskrit. Even your orange clothes do not suit you. A man who does not
           know Sanskrit, the holy language of the Hindus, has no right to pretend to be a Hindu saint."
                And you will be surprised: Ramateertha went to the Himalayas, changed his clothes and started
           learning Sanskrit.
           Now, who is being hurt?
                If I was in his place, I would have laughed. I would have said, "Who bothers to be a Hindu saint?
           To know oneself, one does not need to know Sanskrit or Urdu or Persian. Knowing oneself needs
           silence, meditation."
                And no language is holy, because Mohammedans say Arabic is holy, Jews say Hebrew is holy,
           Buddhists say Pali is holy, Jainas say Prakrit is holy -- and there is no criterion to decide who is
           right. There are three hundred languages in the world, and to the people who speak them they are
           holy.
                I would have simply told that conference of Hindu scholars, "You are idiots and nothing else.
           You don't know that to know oneself you need no language. In fact, you need to drop all language,
           all words, the whole mind itself."
                So that was only a gimmick, using Rama instead of "I." The "I" was there, very much there.
                His disciple, Sardar Purnasingh, has written in his autobiography that one day Ramateertha's wife
           came to see him, poor woman, because he left her, renounced, became a Hindu monk, and the poor
           woman was somehow managing, working, cleaning, just to get food, shelter, clothes.
                Knowing that Ramateertha has come back, she came just to see him, just to touch his feet -- he
           was a holy saint. There was no idea in her mind that he is her husband. But when Ramateertha
           looked from the window and saw his wife coming, he told Purnasingh, "Close the doors and tell that
           woman that I don't want to see her."
                Purnasingh was a very sensitive man, a man of poetic and aesthetic abilities. He has produced
           tremendously beautiful literature. He could not believe it. He said, "You have been seeing women all
           over the world. Why particularly are you refusing this woman?"
           Ramateertha said, "You don't know. She is my wife."
                Purnasingh said, "Still? After renouncing that woman for twenty years, leaving her in utter
           poverty, you are still afraid of her? You still think of her as your wife? You have not renounced
           anything, and all your saintliness is just hocus-pocus. If you don't see her, I am going to leave you."
                Just by changing language, nothing changes. By changing clothes, nothing changes.
                Remember, that whatever is happening here to you, I am just a catalytic agent. You love me, you
           trust me, that's why you become silent.
                Just try it, sitting by the side of a tree with the same love for the tree, with the same trust for the
           tree, with the same joy with the tree. And you will be surprised: the same serenity, the same silence
           will come over you.
                Looking at a sunset, feel it. It is our existence; we are part of it. Watching a sunset or sunrise, or
           listening to the sound of a waterfall with the same attitude as you have towards me -- you will find it
           anywhere.
                Just a bird on the wing, and the whole sky and the freedom -- watch it. Feel the joy of the bird.
           Feel the freedom of its wings, and you will find the same ecstasy there.
                And once you start finding it in different situations, then there is no need for situations at all. Just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           close your eyes and be loving, be trusting to the whole existence. And you will find that there is only
           breathing, and everything else has stopped. The mind is no more functioning.
           This is what ecstasy is.
                I don't want you to be dependent on me. That will be a crime. I don't want to commit any crime.
           All the religious prophets and messiahs have committed that crime.
                Jesus says to you, "I am your savior." I do not say so. You are your own savior.
                I can show you the way I saved myself. You need not follow it in detail, but just the idea that a
           human being just like you, with all the frailties, with all the weaknesses that human beings are prone
           to....
                I am not a messiah, I am not a prophet, I am not an incarnation of God. All that nonsense is just
           to make you dependent. I feel really sick when Jesus says, "I am the shepherd and you are my
           sheep." I cannot believe that people did not object to it. This is humiliating.
                No, I am not anybody's shepherd, and nobody is a sheep.
                You have to learn to be utterly independent, and that will be my joy and my reward. If I can
           make you utterly free, independent -- a savior unto yourself -- then my blessings will know no
           bounds.
                You can make me immensely rejoicing and dancing. Any human being becoming independent
           from conditionings, from religions, scriptures, prophets, messiahs, has arrived home. He has found
           the treasure which was hidden in his own being.
                So this is just to give you a glimpse. Now you have to experiment on your own in different
           situations whether the glimpse happens or not. It happens! If it can happen to me, why not to you?
           I am not special.
                All these people were trying to prove they are special. Jesus is special; he is the only begotten
           son of God, and who are you? Everybody is a bastard. The only begotten son of God is Jesus Christ.
           And very strange... God did not do anything when the only begotten son of God was being crucified.
                It is said about Buddha that he was born when his mother was standing. Now, this is really
           unique. He was born standing -- and not only that, he walked seven steps and declared that "I am the
           suprememost awakened person in the whole universe." And there have been idiots who have been
           believing it.
                Jesus' virgin birth -- and there are idiots who are believing it.
                It was impossible, because the Pill was not invented yet. And what about poor Joseph? Nobody
           thinks about the father of Jesus, that this is such an insult to poor Joseph. Nobody bothers about the
           man. On the contrary, the Holy Ghost made Mary pregnant and he is still the Holy Ghost. This was a
           rape. At least now he should be called Unholy Ghost. But something special....
                Jainas say that Mahavira never perspired. Impossible, unless instead of skin he was covered with
           plastic. And plastic was not discovered at that time.
                And perspiration is a very natural and useful process for the body. Every pore of your body
           breathes, and behind every pore there is a small gland which contains water, for a special reason: to
           keep your body temperature constant. You may go under the hot sun and it will start perspiring. The
           perspiration is the strategy of the body to befool the sun. The sun and its heat become involved with
           the perspiration and evaporate it. The heat does not enter within you and raise your temperature.
                If you don't perspire, then.... Your life range is not very big -- from ninety-eight degrees to only
           one hundred and ten degrees, a twelve degrees' span. If you don't perspire you will burst with heat.
                And Mahavira used to live naked. I think he must have perspired more than anybody else in the
           whole world.
                This much I can say, that I don't perspire because I never go under the sun. I don't like heat. From
           one air-conditioned place to another air-conditioned place, in an air-conditioned limousine. Just for
           seconds I am not in an air-conditioned space. That much does not make any difference. I don't
           perspire.
                But Mahavira? I cannot believe it. And you will be surprised: to make him special they say he
           does not urinate, because that looks bad. For a prophet to urinate -- a pissing prophet, mm? -- does
           not look right.
                He does not defecate. But where does the food and water that he takes disappear? Neither does
           he perspire, nor does he urinate, nor does he defecate. Then where do the food and the water that he
           drinks disappear to? And he was one of the healthiest men.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               If all the food goes on accumulating inside him, I don't see what will happen to him. He lived for
           eighty-two years. Just a little arithmetic and you will say that he will be almost as big as our
           commune's whole property -- one hundred and twenty-six square miles!
               But they were trying to make these people special, so that you can be humiliated, made
           dependent, converted to Hinduism, to Jainism, to Buddhism, to Christianity.
               I am not converting you. Or perhaps, if you understand the basic meaning of the word "convert,"
           I am really converting you -- not to Christianity, not to Mohammedanism, not to Hinduism, but to
           yourself. And that is true conversion.
               These meetings with me are simply small glimpses, that a human being exactly like you, with no
           speciality, with no claim, is capable of reaching, so why can't you reach?
               My being here is a challenge to you. So whatsoever is happening to you in silent moments with
           me, allow it. It will happen when I am not there.
               First, move slowly. A beautiful tree... just sit touching the tree, feeling the tree. It is alive and full
           of juice -- and it is not Christian, and it is not Hindu. It is just a beautiful tree with no denomination.
           Feel its beauty, its life, its greenery, its flowers. Just be there as if there is nothing else to do in the
           world, and suddenly you will see the same things happening.
               Use anything, and then stop using things. Just close your eyes and in your total aloneness
           experience the same things. That will be a day of great joy for you. It is your inheritance; something
           you had forgotten is remembered.


               BELOVED MASTER,
               IS MATURATION AN ONGOING PROCESS?
               HOW IS MATURATION RELATED TO AWARENESS?
               PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               Yes. Maturation is an ongoing process. There is no full stop, not even a semicolon anywhere... it
           goes on and on. The universe is infinite. So is the possibility of your maturing.
               You can become so huge.... Your consciousness is not confined to your body. It can spread all
           over existence and all the stars can be within you. And there is no place where you will find a plate
           that says, "Here ends the universe." It is just not possible. It never begins; it never ends.
               And you are part of it. You have been here always and you will be here always. Only forms
           change, and forms don't matter. What matters is the content. So remember that particularly in
           America, containers matter more than the content. Who cares about the content? The container has to
           be beautiful.
               Remember, the container is not you. You are the content. Forms change, your being remains the
           same. And it goes on growing, maturing, goes on becoming more enriched.
               And you ask, "What is the relationship between awareness and maturity?"
               Awareness is the method; maturation is the result. Become more aware and you will have more
           maturity; hence, I teach you awareness and don't talk about maturity. It is going to happen if you are
           aware.
           There are three steps of awareness.
               First, become aware of your body -- walking, chopping wood or carrying water from the well. Be
           watchful, be alert, aware, conscious. Don't go on doing things like a zombie, like a somnambulist, a
           sleepwalker.
               When you have become aware of your body and its actions, then move deeper -- to your mind
           and its activity, thoughts, imagination, projections. When you have become deeply aware of the
           mind, you will be surprised.
               When you become aware of your bodily processes, you will be surprised there too. I can move
           my hand mechanically, I can move it with full awareness. When I move it with full awareness, there
           is grace, there is beauty.
               I can speak without awareness. There are orators, speakers.... I don't know any oratory; I have
           never learned the art of speaking, because to me it looks foolish. If I have something to say, that is
           enough. But I am speaking to you with full awareness, each word, each pause... I am not an orator,
           not a speaker.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But when you are aware of speaking, it starts becoming art. It takes on the nuances of poetry and
           music.
               One man, a Western journalist, wrote a book, THE NEW MYSTICS. His name is Aubrey
           Menen. He introduced me to the West. He has covered other mystics, but I was on his front cover.
           And the things he said, I could not believe myself.
               He said that he has listened to Adolf Hitler, who was a tremendous orator. He has listened to
           Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, who could hold millions of people while he was
           speaking. He mentioned Kennedy -- President Kennedy, who was a great speaker.
               But I was surprised: he said that listening to me, he felt a tremendous difference. "Certainly this
           man is not trained in oratory or speaking, but whatever he is saying is reaching directly to people's
           hearts. It was not the case with Adolf Hitler, Jawaharlal Nehru or President Kennedy; they were just
           repeating words like parrots."
               This is bound to happen if you speak with awareness. Then every gesture, every word has a
           beauty of its own. There is grace.
               When you become aware of the mind, you are in for a greater surprise. The more you become
           aware, the less thoughts move on the track. If you have one hundred percent thoughts, there is no
           awareness. If you have one percent awareness, there are only ninety-nine percent thoughts -- in exact
           proportion. When you have ninety-nine percent awareness, there is only one percent thought,
           because it is the same energy.
               As you become more aware there is no energy available for thoughts; they die out. When you are
           one hundred percent aware, the mind becomes absolutely silent. That is the time to move still deeper.
               The third step: to become aware of feelings, moods, emotions. In other words, first the body -- its
           action; second, the mind -- its activity; third, the heart and its functions.
               When you move to the heart and bring your awareness there, again a new surprise. All that is
           good grows, and all that is bad starts disappearing. Love grows, hate disappears. Compassion grows,
           anger disappears. Sharing grows, greed disappears.
               When your awareness of the heart is complete, the last surprise, and the greatest surprise: you
           don't have to take any step. A quantum leap happens on its own accord. From the heart, you
           suddenly find yourself in your being, at the very center.
               There you are aware only of awareness, conscious only of consciousness. There is nothing else to
           be aware of, or to be conscious of. And this is the ultimate purity. This is what I call enlightenment.
               And this is your birthright! If you miss, only you are responsible. You cannot dump the
           responsibility on anybody else.
               And it is so simple and natural, that you just have to begin.
               Only the first step is difficult. The whole journey is simple. There is a saying that the first step is
           almost the whole journey.
           Okay?




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #4
                                    Chapter title: Where do we go from here?
           18 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509180
              ShortTitle: BONDAG04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              FOR THE FIRST FEW DAYS AFTER SHEELA AND HER GANG ESCAPED, EVERYONE FELT
              GREATLY RELIEVED. NOW, AS THE HORROR STORIES UNFOLD, PEOPLE ARE REACTING BY
              NOT COMING TO WORK/WORSHIP, OR WORKING WITHOUT BEING THERE.
              THERE IS SUSPICION, ANGER, RESENTMENT, AND MISTRUST OF THOSE WHO WERE
              ASSOCIATED WITH SHEELA AND WHO HAVE REMAINED.
              WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?


                Nowhere! We are going to be here. It is a significant question. It represents many sannyasins'
           minds.
                Basically, this is how mind functions. When you get rid of something which was binding you,
           enslaving you, which was a fascist thing, you feel relieved, ecstatic. The moment you heard that
           Sheela and her gang had left, you danced throughout the city's streets.
                But I knew that the second part would be coming soon -- because for three and a half years
           Sheela and her gang were taking every responsibility, were taking every care, and you were, in a
           way, unburdened.
                Now that you are free, a question of responsibility arises, and that shakes you. You have been
           dependent, and now you are independent. It will take a little time for you to change yourself from
           dependence to independence. You will have to pass through this trauma.
           This is simply a trauma.
                You are worried because many of the people who were part of Sheela's group are still here. You
           should not be worried. They are here because they have revolted against Sheela and her group. They
           have done more than you have done. You should be respectful to them.
                Sheela had asked all of them to go with her. They refused. They wanted to be here with me and
           with you and the commune. They had not come here for Sheela; they had come here for me. One of
           the sannyasins, Ava, even went with Sheela, but came back -- not even reaching the goal -- the Black
           Forest in Germany, where they are hiding like criminals.
                They are no more wearing sannyasin dress, so they cannot be recognized. And they are hiding in
           a small village, afraid -- because they are going to be caught. Whatever they have done, they have to
           be rewarded for it.
                Ava returned from the middle of the journey because, even being with them a few hours, she
           started feeling sick. The whole group was pathetic. She phoned here, and I told her it is her home,
           she can come back. These people were corrupted, led into things by Sheela, Puja, Shanti Bhadra, and
           they were as innocent as you are. They did whatever was told to them. Won't you give them a chance
           to change? Don't you have any love for your own people?
                Even if Sheela, Puja, Savita, Shanti Bhadra -- who have all committed crimes of the first degree
           -- if they ask to come back, I will welcome them, because their very asking to come back means they
           have understood, and they won't be the same again. And whatever they did, good or bad, their
           intention was never bad. They were doing it for you. Their end was never bad, their means may have
           been.
                And a commune of loving people should be forgiving too. Love knows no resentment. Love only
           knows how to give opportunities for transformation.
                So please drop any ideas of the people who belonged to the group and have remained here. To be
           suspicious of them, or to keep away from them, is ugly on your part. They need more love to regain
           their dignity. They need more love to be transformed.
                And always remember one thing very fundamental to my way of life: anything a person does is
           just a mere act. It does not qualify and color his whole being. Being is vast.
                I will not punish even a murderer, because the murder happened in the past. Nobody has the right
           to destroy this man's future, because in the future he may turn into a poet, a painter, a scientist, a
           musician, a dancer. One thing is certain: he has energy. He misused it. All that you have to do is treat
           him psychologically, to make it clear to him that something is wrong in his mind, to make him aware
           of how to drop it and how to change the direction of his energies. What is destructive can become
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           creative.
               I am against all punishment, particularly the death sentence. It is inhuman, resentful, revengeful,
           and without any consideration of the person -- in his situation even you would have done the same.
           And past is past. Why distort the future of a person? Any individual is worthy of respect. Your
           respect will help him to change. Your trust will help him to change.
               So the people who have remained here need more love, more respect, need to be more sheltered,
           protected, so they can drop their fear. And now we have a totally new regime. They will be working
           under it, and they can be of immense help, because they have worked for four years. We need a few
           experienced people. So anybody who is here, and anybody who wants to come back, is welcome.
               This is not an ordinary society. You have to prove that it is extraordinary, that you are capable of
           trusting even those people who deceived you. That will make them feel ashamed, and that is the only
           way for their transformation.
               And, whatever they did, once you accept them we will not need to find out and discover and
           investigate -- they themselves will reveal all.
               Trust creates such a space, and love gives such courage.
               If a person can see, can say to the court, yes, he has murdered, and he is sorry for it, and he wants
           to be changed.... He does not know why he murdered. There must be something in his psychology
           which is wrong, which is destructive. But in the ordinary world outside he will be sentenced to
           death, or to remain in jail for his whole life, which is worse.
               Naturally, the murderer cannot be changed by your courts, by your laws. And for thousands of
           years your laws have gone on growing, your courts go on becoming bigger, and you have more
           judges. But do you know, your murders are not less. They are increasing far more rapidly than your
           judges. Strange -- there is something basically wrong.
               Anything that is done should not be taken in the spirit of revenge, punishment; but the outside
           society lives only with greed and fear. Give respectability to a person who is obedient to the rotten
           society, and give punishment to anybody who does anything against the society. This society is not
           for transformation.
               But my people should behave differently. You are to prepare the ground for the new man and for
           a new human existence. And these are the chances, opportunities.
               Sheela has given you a great opportunity to learn the power of love and forgiveness, and to see
           that there is no alchemy which can transform a man other than love.
               So if these people come back -- and also those who have remained here -- they should be
           specially treated, with love and great joy and dance and rejoicing that they have come home. And I
           promise you, your love will change them. There is no other way to change a person.
               So don't unnecessarily get worried, seeing the same people still holding power posts. I know
           about it, but I know that they have revolted in favor of you, against Sheela -- and now you are
           misbehaving with them. They should be rewarded. And they are the people who will bring out
           everything that has been done; they are the authentic witnesses.
               But if you are behaving badly with them, you will not be able to win their hearts. And five
           thousand people, trusting, loving, cannot win the hearts of a dozen people? Then love is useless;
           trust is useless.
               You are just functioning with your old, conditioned mind that you have carried from the outside
           world.
               And you are feeling another thing which you have to be reminded of, because if you are not
           reminded, you will create another fascist regime.
           Freedom does not mean license.
               In Magdalena restaurant, people are not ready to prepare food. They are free. They want to
           meditate. Then what is going to happen to five thousand people?
               People are not working the way they were working under Sheela. That means you need Sheela.
           You should be working more -- to prove that Sheela's fascism was unnecessary. People are not
           coming to their work, and even if they come they don't work. Do you see the implication of it?
               Five thousand people have to live self-sufficiently. You have to produce your food, your houses,
           your vegetables, your milk products -- everything. And if you are not working, because you think
           that's what freedom means, then you are behaving stupidly.
               You should do just the opposite. You should work more, not as a slave, but out of your freedom
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and love for the whole commune, and you will prove that Sheela was wrong. And that will be the
           guarantee that nobody ever again takes any fascist steps. But if you act this way, then perhaps
           another Sheela will be needed; otherwise you cannot survive. It is simple arithmetic.
                In Soviet Russia, when the country became independent from the czarist rule in 1917, in the
           Moscow main street a woman was found walking in the middle of the road. And when she was told
           by the policeman, "Walking in the middle of the road is not allowed"....
                There are two possibilities: if the country decides, then keep to the left or keep to the right. But
           no country in the whole world has the idea to keep in the middle. Traffic will become impossible.
           Accidents will increase a thousandfold. Just think, traffic in the middle! from both sides cars and
           buses and people walking! It will be a tragedy.
                But the woman said, "Then what is the meaning of freedom, if I still have to keep the old rule?"
                Don't be so idiotic, like that woman. Nobody should impose any rule over you. If you are
           responsible, intelligent, you will create a life of discipline on your own.
                So remember, you can choose. If you want Sheela back, I can call her and her whole gang, and
           give the commune to her. If you don't want anybody to be dictatorial to you, then take responsibility.
           Then work, and work more sincerely, honestly. The need simply disappears.
                And you are a group of very intelligent people, but this is the trouble with intelligent people.
           They always try to misuse freedom.
                I would like to remind you that Germany is one of the most intellectual countries in the world. It
           has given to the world people like Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Martin
           Heidegger -- great philosophers, great psychologists. And still a third-class crackpot, Adolf Hitler,
           managed to get all the intelligentsia of the country to follow him.
                And I don't think humanity has learned anything out of it. If you don't learn, then history repeats.
           If you learn, then you can stop history repeating again.
                Martin Heidegger was perhaps one of the most significant philosophers of the century, and he
           was a contemporary of Adolf Hitler. He supported Adolf Hitler -- inconceivable! The whole youth,
           which is the cream of the society, its intelligence, all the universities' vice-chancellors, professors --
           they all supported Adolf Hitler, a man who was uneducated, a man who was refused from the school
           of art, who was refused from the school of architecture, because he had no intelligence.
                This man became the leader of the most intelligent country in the world, and he created the
           greatest fascist regime. He killed almost ten million people, and still people were supporting him. It
           has to be psychoanalyzed.
                What was the reason? The reason was, Germany was defeated in the first world war. And the
           intellectuals tend to fight among themselves. They argue, rationalize, philosophize; they are not
           physically active people. And they are egoists. They think they have found the secret of life, every
           one of them.
                After its defeat in the first world war, Germany was in a chaos. The chaos created Adolf Hitler,
           because he promised, and he fulfilled the promise, "I can make this country again united, again
           strong, so strong that it can rule over the whole world."
                It was something that was immensely needed. People were not working, people were not being
           creative. Somebody was needed to make the country again creative, disciplined. And Adolf Hitler
           filled the gap. Within ten years Germany was again a world power.
                Strange -- if you give people freedom, they become lazy, they don't want to work. But if you give
           them a fascist order, they work to their very potential; they create, they are united, they become
           strong.
                Germany went on winning for five years. That proved that the people of Germany had chosen the
           right person -- the whole world on one side, and he alone was enough.
                He gave the intelligentsia their ego as nobody had given them before. He said to them that the
           Nordic German race is the purest Aryan race, and it is its destiny to rule over the world, because all
           others are subhuman. It was tremendously gratifying. The intellectual ego was very much fulfilled,
           and even a man like Martin Heidegger fell into the trap.
                Only after Hitler was defeated and Germany was almost destroyed, then people started looking
           back at what they had done, what kind of man they were supporting: a monster, a murderer who has
           killed millions of people -- perhaps the greatest murderer in the whole history.
                So remember one thing: freedom is not license. Freedom is responsibility. And if you cannot take
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your responsibility yourself, then somebody is going to take the responsibility on your behalf. And
           then you are enslaved.
               People have been asking me how it happened that five thousand people, almost all university
           graduates, having the best qualifications from the best universities of the world, could not see for
           four years.
               The reason is, Sheela was not only doing something ugly and fascist, she was also creating the
           commune. She was also making the desert into an oasis. She was making the commune comfortable
           in every way. Every coin has two sides.
               So you looked at the light side. And you were surrounded -- which Sheela and her group created
           -- with hostility in Oregon. That is a simple political strategy.
               Adolf Hitler, in his autobiography MY STRUGGLE, says that if you want a nation to be strong,
           create enemies all around it; otherwise, people relax. Keep them continuously in paranoia, fearing
           that there is danger all around.
               And Sheela created that. She created the hostility of the Oregon government. She created the
           hostility of Americans in general. That made you come close to each other, become strong: "Be
           ready so that nobody can harm you."
               So if you don't take the responsibility, something like that is bound to happen again. History
           certainly repeats, because man does not learn.
               Now I want no hostility with anybody. We have been here for four years. Others may have been
           for four generations -- that makes no difference. If in four years you cannot be Americans, you
           cannot be Americans in four hundred years either. Years don't count.
               We love this land, and we are pouring our perspiration into this desert to make it an oasis. We
           have fallen in love with this desert.
               And to me, America is perhaps the only hope for humanity, because the American Constitution is
           the only constitution which is authentically democratic. That is creating a trouble for American
           politicians, because those politicians are not democratic. So they go on continuously against their
           own Constitution.
               We will fight for the Constitution of America against those Americans who are prostituting it.
           But there is no question of hostility. We are part of this country, and we are going to be part of this
           country forever.
               And we are withdrawing everything that Sheela and her group created -- fear, paranoia. I would
           like the City of Rajneesh to change its name back to Antelope. There was no need to change the
           name -- Antelope is so beautiful a name -- and why hurt people?
               And I would like that the people of Antelope who have sold their properties to us should take
           them back. We have improved on their properties, we have renovated their dilapidated houses, and
           anyway, prices in four years have gone high. But I don't want -- because it is not a question of
           profit.... I would give them back at the same price as we had purchased them. And if they can take all
           the properties back.... We have such a big land here, why should our people live anywhere else?
               We have three times more land than New York. We can create three New Yorks here. We have
           one hundred and twenty-six square miles. But we are not going to make those ugly structures,
           skyscrapers, against nature, against aesthetics. We will make small cottages which mix with nature,
           and we will make this place lush green. We need greenery, because the red becomes very great when
           there is greenery all around. Even trees understand it. Green trees and red flowers.... These are two
           basic colors.
               And we want the government of Oregon to understand that we are Oregonians.
               Governor Atiyeh has come from Lebanon. His father may have come, that does not matter. If he
           can be an Oregonian, why cannot you be an Oregonian? In fact, everybody in America is a foreigner
           except the Red Indians. Others have invaded the country. They have entered the country without any
           visa. They have exploited the poor people of the country. Their forefathers had no green cards.
               We have not invaded. We have given more money for this land than anybody else was ready to
           give. This land was for sale for fifty years, and nobody came to purchase it. The greatest offer was
           three and a half million. We have given six million dollars for the land.
               You should compare it. The forefathers of Americans who had come here purchased New York
           for thirty dollars. Just a little arithmetic: thirty dollars for the whole of New York? -- then we should
           pay only ninety dollars for this whole land. Why six million dollars? But we want to be just and fair.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                These people who have come, without a visa, with no green card, no American passport, are
           asking us.... They should feel a little ashamed.
                We have come into the country legally, and I have chosen the place because I am in tremendous
           love with the American Constitution. It is far more holy than THE HOLY BIBLE, because it gives
           you all the democratic values of life: individuality, individual property, freedom of speech, freedom
           of information. It gives you everything that individual growth needs.
                We are for the Constitution, but the politicians are just corrupting it, in every way. You will be
           surprised to know that half of Oregon is owned by the federal government. This is not right; this is
           not according to the Constitution.
                Government should not nationalize anything. This is underground communism. The property
           should belong to individuals -- what does the government have to do with it?
                And they had ideas to own the whole of Oregon. That's why they are against us -- because now
           they know they can never have the whole of Oregon. Rajneeshpuram is here and cannot be
           purchased. So they have been doing everything illegal, persecuting. But there is no fear. We have the
           Constitution in our favor, and we will win in every court, so there is no question of fear.
                And as far as the general masses of Oregon and America are concerned, we love them for one
           reason: that this is the only place which does not have a very loaded past.
                For example, India has at least ten thousand years of conditioning. To change the Indian mind is
           an Himalayan task. But to change the American mind, to transform the American is simple. America
           does not have any past -- three hundred years only. Compared to countries like India or Europe, it
           has no past; it has only future. Its past is so small, it can be deprogrammed very easily.
           My whole religion consists in deprogramming.
                I don't have any program to give to you; and I don't want to give any program to you, because
           that is against humanity. I simply want to deprogram you -- clean, fresh, unburdened, just a bird on
           the wing in the sky. And you have to find yourself out of your freedom.
                But freedom brings great responsibility. And I am trying to make you free, not only from fascist
           types of structures. I am trying to free you from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism,
           Mohammedanism, all religions. They are all fascist, because their basic idea is belief.
                They destroy your reason, they destroy your inquiry, they destroy your intelligence. They give
           you borrowed, centuries-old rubbish and call it knowledge. You call the BIBLE holy and every day
           you worship it, with great respect, without knowing that this is the most pornographic book in the
           whole world. If the Supreme Court of America is really fair, the BIBLE should be X-rated. But the
           same is the situation of other religious scriptures. All are pornography.
                I want you to be free from any ideology so that you can be yourself and you can search and you
           can go into the unknown. That inquiry into the unknown is such an ecstasy, such a great excitement
           -- the only pilgrimage. There is no need to go to Israel, no need to go to the Kremlin, no need to go
           to Varanasi. These are not real pilgrimages.
                The only pilgrimage is the move from the known into the unknown, and from the unknown into
           the unknowable.
                I am not even giving you a God, because the whole idea of God is again fascist. God created you,
           so what are you? -- just puppets. And he could not find anything better, he created you with mud.
           Humus means mud; that's why you are called human beings -- from the Big Muddy Ranch.
                And he was even more unfair to women, as if all the mud was exhausted in creating one Adam.
           But just to create inferiority -- this God is a male chauvinist -- he created the woman out of a rib of
           man.
                He was not a qualified surgeon, still he did surgery -- a criminal act. And I have heard a story
           that because he created Eve from one of Adam's ribs, each night when Adam goes to sleep, Eve will
           count his ribs. She has been counting since then.
                But to accept a God is to accept a bigger Adolf Hitler, supreme-most, omnipotent, omniscient,
           omnipresent. He can do anything. You are just puppets in his hands. He created you; he can
           de-create you any moment.
                And the guy seems to be whimsical. According to Christianity he created you four thousand and
           four years before Jesus Christ, and I am always puzzled, what has he been doing for the whole
           eternity? Six thousand years old, and what was the fellow doing all along? He has a company: a holy
           ghost, a son. The company is gay -- and AIDS is the result.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 At least one woman would not have been bad. There would have been a little excitement, a little
           gossiping, love affairs, fights -- some story. But these three queens, what were they doing for the
           whole eternity? I have asked Christian theologians, "You have to answer me: What were they
           doing?"
                 I have rejected this unholy trinity completely. Existence has always been here. Nobody has
           created it.
                 And Friedrich Nietzsche is right at least on this point: that God is dead and man is free. Those
           two things together -- God is dead and man is free -- are very significant.
                 If God is alive, man cannot be free. He is always there, and he is everywhere.
                 I have heard about a nun who would not take her clothes off even while taking a bath in a closed
           bathroom. Other nuns said, "This seems to be a little crazy. Why don't you take your clothes off?"
                 She said, "How can I? God is everywhere. And he is all powerful and he can do anything, any
           stupid thing -- he can send the Holy Ghost to rape a virgin girl, Mary."
                 No, with God, man's freedom is not possible. God is a dictatorial idea. Communists may accept
           it.... Although they don't accept it, it would fit perfectly with them, with their ideology. But any
           democratic mind cannot accept God.
                 So my whole work here is to deprogram you -- from God, from hell and heaven, from all
           religions, from all political ideologies, which are nothing but exploitations of you.
                 Why has man been so much interested in heaven and hell? Poor man needs a promise; otherwise
           living will be impossible. Hope is his opium. He knows here there is nothing possible, only after
           death. That's why all the religions go on giving hope to the poor -- after death you will be rewarded.
           "Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God."
                 I don't see any point in poverty, any virtue in poverty -- that they should inherit the kingdom of
           God. If being poor is virtue, then where is your pope, who is the richest man in the whole world,
           going to end up? All your popes will be found in hell. They are not poor people.
                 But it is a consolation, and it is also preventive of any revolution against the rich. The BIBLE
           says that a camel can pass through the eye of a needle, but the rich man cannot enter into the gates of
           heaven. At least rich people should throw out this BIBLE; this is not for them. But they go on
           worshipping, they go on making more churches, more cathedrals.
                 They go on donating, making trusts, because they know that this is simply a consolation for the
           poor. They are going to inherit the kingdom of God. They are already enjoying something of
           paradise -- and experience counts. The poor man will not be able to enjoy paradise. He will be so
           unacquainted with any comfort, with any luxury. He is accustomed to poverty. Hell will suit him
           better.
                 The rich man knows perfectly well that he is going to be in paradise. For the rich man the
           paradise is his greed: more and more and more. For the poor man it is a consolation: to live with less
           and less and less.
                 I want you to be freed completely from heaven and hell.
           Hell is your fear projected.
           Heaven is your greed projected.
                 And when we can create paradise here, why bother with something which nobody knows exists
           or not, because nobody has ever come after death to inform us.
                 Strange -- the story is that Lazarus died. He was a poor man, so he must have got into paradise.
           Jesus revived him, but in the BIBLE there is no reference at all -- because he has been for four days
           in paradise -- Lazarus does not give any information. The only man who has come back does not
           give any information about paradise.
                 The reality is he was a friend of Jesus, and this whole thing was fake. Many people must have
           died in Jesus' time. If the man was capable of reviving people then why only Lazarus? This seems
           unkind. Other people are dying. You can revive them just by touching them or by calling them,
           "Come back." Such a small effort on your part and you give them life back. He never did that.
                 My own understanding is that Lazarus played the part; it was a trick. He was not dead. He was
           placed in a cave, and his two sisters, who were also followers of Jesus, waited for him. Messengers
           were sent. He came and he simply called from outside the cave, "Lazarus, get up!" And he got up.
           He was not even asleep. And he says nothing about paradise, or anything about what happened in
           those four days.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I want you to be freed from all this nonsense. Try to live here, now, as totally as possible.
               And the paradise is now here. If there is a paradise after death, certainly you will inherit it,
           because you will have already practiced for it.
               And don't be worried even if you are thrown into hell -- because you have been with me. I will be
           with you there, and we can create a great commune in hell.
               And in hell there are all the colorful people. In heaven there are only sad, long faces, saints, dry
           bones, no juice, nothing. In paradise there is not even a single newspaper, no movie, no film actors,
           no poets, no painters. All the geniuses are in hell. So if we end up in hell, we are going to have a
           great time.
               If we end up in paradise, we are still going to have a great time, teasing those idiotic saints,
           teaching them how to dance, how to sing.... Because for eternity, what are you going to do? Teach
           them how to make love, because all those monks must have been homosexuals.
               All the monasteries are full of homosexuals. All the nunneries are full of lesbians. That's why I
           call AIDS a religious disease. It is the greatest contribution of all your religions to humanity.
               It is death and nothing else. It is not a disease, because it has no cure. There is only one thing that
           has no cure, and that is death.
               We are trying to live a different kind of life than in the outside world. So there are only two
           ways: either the way of Sheela or my way. I had chosen Sheela to be my secretary to give you a little
           taste of what fascism means. Now, live my way. Be responsible, so that there is no need for anybody
           to dictate to you.
               Every individual should contribute to the commune. It is not an ordinary society. There are no
           families, it is an organic whole. Contribute... because I have been hearing that since Sheela has left,
           many people are saying, "I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that," and they were doing it for
           four years.
               You can change your job if you feel like changing, you can do something else. But just because
           nobody is going to force you, don't let the commune become crippled. It has to become more
           healthy. It has to prove the truth of independence.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU HAVE SAID THAT SOME OF SHEELA'S SECURITY MEASURES CAME OUT OF PARANOIA.
              I FEEL VERY UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT THE GUNS WE HAVE IN RAJNEESH MANDIR RIGHT
              NOW, AND ELSEWHERE ON THE RANCH.
              BELOVED MASTER, THESE GUNS FREEZE MY HEART. PLEASE, CAN WE GET RID OF THE
              GUNS? DO WE NEED THEM?


               We will get rid of the guns, but you are a mouse, not a man.
               How did you get initiated into sannyas? Those guns have done no harm to anybody, and those
           guns are not to do harm to anybody. Those guns are here so that no harm is done to you.
               The whole world is full of guns, nuclear weapons, atomic bombs. It is perfectly right to have
           your own defense system.
           It has nothing to do with Sheela's paranoia.
               Just a simple understanding.... If you don't have guns, and tomorrow the fanatic religious groups
           which are there, they come on their motorbikes and start destroying your things, what are you going
           to do?
               I am a nonviolent man, but that does not mean that I will allow anybody to practice violence on
           me. We will never do any harm to anybody, but those guns are perfectly right.
               Even big countries like America cannot drown their nuclear weapons in the ocean, for the simple
           reason that if they stop creating more nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union invades, they will be
           helpless. The same is the situation in the Soviet Union. They cannot stop.
               But one thing is certain, and tremendously good, good news: America and the Soviet Union are
           so full of nuclear weapons that a third world war is impossible. Both the countries have enough
           nuclear energy to destroy humanity seven hundred times, and there is no Jesus Christ around to make
           the dead alive seven hundred times.
               Jesus had promised to come, but one time was enough. The way you treated him, that ugly cross,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and he was thirsty and he was asking for water.... A man of miracles could not manage a small cloud
           to shower on him. He was asking for water; he died thirsty. That experience was enough. He had
           promised his disciples he would be coming soon, but to stretch "soon" for two thousand years is too
           much. Even I cannot do that.
                Both the countries are aware that now a third world war is not going to happen, for the simple
           reason that both have so much power that they will destroy the whole planet, all living things on the
           planet. So what is the point? War has meaning if you can be victorious, if you can defeat somebody.
           But there will be no victory, no one victorious, no one defeated, simply all dead.
                So it is good that nuclear weapons have come to a point where war is impossible. It is not
           impossible because of the politicians; it is impossible because of the nuclear weapons.
                A few security guards are here. There is no question of any paranoia; I have been poisoned twice.
           Many attempts have been made on my life. The last one was made before I came here, and it is
           something that has to be understood -- in what a dirty political world we are living.
                Ten thousand sannyasins were listening to a morning discourse, as you are listening. Suddenly
           twenty police officers, topmost police officers, came running in and informed me that they have been
           anonymously phoned by somebody saying that "A fanatic Hindu group -- the same group that
           assassinated Mahatma Gandhi -- wants to assassinate you this morning."
                So we told them to sit and listen to the discourse, and certainly one man stood up and threw a
           knife, trying to kill me. The most amazing part of the story is that with ten thousand eye witnesses --
           it is very rare to find ten thousand witnesses for any attempted murder -- twenty topmost police
           officers, the knife, and the man caught red-handed, still he was released as if he had not done
           anything.
                We did not bother. I told my people, "It is a police case; let them try it -- because the police were
           present, they have caught the person, they have taken the knife; now let them try the case. It is a
           police case. If they want our witnesses, then ten thousand sannyasins are here."
                They did not accept their own police officers, they did not accept any witnesses. Simply the case
           was dismissed, as if the knife was never thrown at me, as if the man was innocent.
                Do you want such a thing to happen here? And it is more possible in America than anywhere
           else, because in India to carry a weapon is not easy; in America you can purchase any weapon.
                If you are willing to see me assassinated, it will be a great experience. Those guards can be
           removed.
                I would like you to raise your hands. Do you want the guards to be here? Then raise both of your
           hands.
           And where is the mouse?
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                     Chapter #5
                                          Chapter title: The future is open
           19 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509190
              ShortTitle: BONDAG05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 116 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAID BEFORE THAT MEDITATIVE PEOPLE CANNOT BE CORRUPTED BY POWER, BUT
              HOW COME SHEELA AND HER GANG WERE CORRUPTED BY POWER?
              PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MEDITATIVE PEOPLE.


               Meditative people cannot be corrupted -- ever. If somebody is corrupted, that only means he was
           not meditative. And about Sheela, I can tell you certainly: she had no interest in meditation, in my
           way of life, my philosophy. Her interests were totally different.
               She had come first to me because her husband was suffering from cancer, and the doctors in
           America had said that he cannot live more than two years. She was desperately in search of someone
           who could help.
               Her husband, Chinmaya, was a beautiful man. He remained with me, and it almost always
           happens, when you are facing death meditation is easy. You cannot postpone it, because tomorrow
           you may not be here to meditate.
               So Chinmaya tried hard to meditate, and that helped him to live. All the medical experts were
           agreed. They could not believe what had happened to him, because two years was the maximum
           limit for his disease.
               But he lived almost ten years, and lived happily in spite of cancer, and died happily. Just a few
           years more and he would have been enlightened. But he reached to the point that in the next life the
           remaining small part can be done. His next life will be the last life.
               Sheela had to remain with him, so it was just accidental, her coming to me, her remaining with
           me. And when Chinmaya started going beyond the two-year limit, she started behaving in an ugly
           way towards him.
               Naturally, he was sick, had cancer... he was not so much interested in sexuality. All that he
           needed was womanly warmth.
               So Sheela started having lovers. That was a great wound in Chinmaya. And my feeling is, he
           would have lived a little longer, but these wounds were becoming more and more. And Sheela was
           constantly fighting with him.
               Before he died, Sheela had divided the room in two parts, and she was living with her new
           boyfriend and Chinmaya was left alone.
               Cancer.... And he had passed eight years beyond medical speculation. When he came to be
           examined by the doctors they could not believe it. They said, "This is nothing but a miracle."
               I do not do any miracles, and I do not believe in any miracles. But he meditated. There was
           nothing left for him -- only cancer and death.
               But this wound, that at these last moments of his life Sheela would divide the room -- and he
           could hear her laughter, joy with her new boyfriend -- perhaps that was too much. Perhaps the will to
           live disappeared.
           In a way, he was killed by Sheela.
               Sheela never meditated. Not only that, you must have observed, she never even listened. While I
           was speaking she was sleeping. All the years in India, the time of my discourse was the time for her
           to sleep. Perhaps she was saving that time for the night with the boyfriend.
               As far as I am concerned, I accept all types of people. I don't make conditions. Whoever comes
           to me, he is welcome.
               Even if Sheela comes back -- as a person, as an individual -- she will have my trust and love just
           the same. I will not support her actions, her illegal and criminal actions. For that she will have to go
           to the court, go to the police.
               And my suggestion will be that it will be better to come and confess everything before the court,
           and say to the court, "These are my acts and I am ready for the consequences. And don't be soft
           towards me. Be as hard as I have been with these poor people." That will give her dignity, respect.
           You will start feeling proud of her.
               Rather than hiding in the Black Forest like a criminal -- and how long can she hide? My
           sannyasins are all over the world. They have already reached the place where she is hiding. They
           have informed us that the people who are with her are almost in a sick state -- guilty. They have
           committed a crime against those who had loved them.
               Their guilt will kill them. At least, it will keep them unhealthy psychologically. They may go
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mad.
               My suggestion is they should come back. Our love is unconditional.
               And I would like to make one point clear: that a person can act in a wrong way; that does not
           mean that the person becomes wrong. Action is a small thing. A person is a tremendous reality. And
           the action is already past, and the person has a pure future in front of him.
               If he hides the action he destroys his own future, because that action will go on and on in his
           mind as guilt. If he confesses it and is willing to take whatever punishment is needed for it, he will
           clean himself completely. His future will become pure.
               Confessing to the court, she will get the most lenient punishment. And I would like to tell to the
           court that no criminal needs punishment; all criminals need treatment.
               For centuries criminals have been punished and you have not been able to change anything.
           Criminals go on growing; then you grow more courts, more advocates. It is an unnecessary burden.
               And the criminals -- even if you imprison them, you are doing an absolutely irrational act,
           because living five years or ten years in jail means living in the university of criminology, where all
           the real masters of crime are. You will learn more, and you will learn one thing from all great
           criminals: that to commit a crime is not illegal, but to be caught is illegal.
               So all that you have to do is not to be caught; you have to be more clever, more cunning. Crime
           is not the problem. The problem is being caught.
               So anybody who is sent to a prison comes out a bigger criminal. When he went into the prison,
           perhaps he was just an amateur -- that's why he was so easily caught. When he comes out, he comes
           out as a professional, expert. Now it will be difficult to catch him.
               So my suggestion to the courts of the whole world is that up to now what you have been doing
           with the criminals is not right. A criminal has something wrong in his psychology. He needs
           psychiatric treatment.
               Instead of making prisons, make places where he can be given psychiatric treatment, where he
           can meditate, study, become more intelligent. And give him all the respect that is due to a human
           being. His acts do not count; what counts is his being.
               I had chosen Sheela to be my secretary, not because she was meditative, not because she
           understood my approach towards problems. My reason for choosing her was totally different.
               She had a very practical mind, very pragmatic. She was intelligent. And thirdly, because she had
           no idea of my total vision; just necessary instructions she could repeat like a parrot. And I needed a
           parrot.
               I was in silence. I had no need of a very articulate man, because the articulate man will hear me
           but his mind will constantly be changing it, making it more sophisticated, more polished. He will
           edit, he will add. It will not be pure. I needed a parrot who knows nothing of philosophy, knows
           nothing of religion, knows nothing of the ultimate problems of life. Sheela was perfect. She could
           only repeat what I was saying to her.
               These were the basic reasons in the beginning that I had chosen my secretary.
               Another point to be understood, which is significant.... Many questions have come that, "You are
           an enlightened being. How could you choose wrong people?"
               Those questions are out of a misunderstanding. An enlightened person can see you in the
           moment in your totality, but your future is unpredictable. And there are only two possibilities: if
           your future is freedom, it has to be unpredictable. If your future is not freedom, then it can be
           predicted.
               Almost all the religions have chosen a predictable future, but the implication is that man
           becomes a machine. Only machines are predictable.
               If Mahavira, Buddha and others can see the whole future of humanity, that means everything is
           already determined. So what you are doing is simply being a robot. The idea of freedom becomes an
           illusion.
               But to me, freedom is the highest value. To save freedom, I am ready to kill God. If God is there,
           no freedom is possible, because God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, he knows all, he is
           present everywhere, and he is all powerful.
               Under such a despot -- Adolf Hitler millions of times magnified is your God -- how can small
           human beings have the taste of freedom? It is impossible.
               I would like to repeat the sentence of Friedrich Nietzsche, who once in a while used to have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tremendous insights. He said, "God is dead and man is now free."
               Putting these two together is a tremendous insight. God is dead -- that has been said by many
           atheists in different ways, that is not new. What is new is the other part: and from now on man is
           free.
               God's death becomes the freedom of man. God's life becomes the death of man. The choice is
           very clear. If you choose God, then you have chosen to be a robot, a machine who is destined to do
           something and there is no way to change.
           The murderer will be a murderer.
           The thief will be a thief.
           The sinner will be a sinner.
           The saint will be a saint.
               And I am amazed that all over the world, our magistrates, judges, all the courts -- from the
           smallest court to the Supreme Court of any nation -- are filled with religious people. They all believe
           in God, and still they punish the sinners. Can you see the contradiction?
               If God determines everybody's life -- before you are born your life is written already, what you
           are going to be, what is going to be your whole flavor of character -- if this is true, then no sinner
           should be punished. That is against religion. He was simply fulfilling a destiny that God has given
           him.
           If you want to punish, punish God!
               Then no saint should be praised, because whatever he is doing, he is in the same boat as the
           sinner. There is no difference. He is not holier than the sinner. Both are mechanical robots. One is
           manufactured to be a saint, another is manufactured to be a sinner. Neither the sinner is to be
           condemned, nor the saint is to be praised.
               But strange things go on happening. People go on believing in God, and yet they go on insisting
           that whatever you do, you are responsible for it.
               But responsibility needs freedom. Without freedom it is not possible for me to be responsible for
           my acts.
               A puppet is not responsible for the dance, because the strings are in the hands of the puppeteer
           who is hiding behind the curtain. He is responsible. He can make the puppet dance, he can make the
           puppet fight, he can make the puppet sit cross-legged in meditation. But the puppet is not responsible
           for good or bad. If there is God, then there is no good, no bad.
           These are simple implications.
           God creates man, and God creates his destiny.
               Nietzsche is a madman, but once in a while mad people have tremendous insights. Your sane
           people have no insight at all. This is something of supreme value when he says God is dead and,
           from now on, man is free. But freedom means responsibility.
               So don't unnecessarily waste your time writing letters to me. I can see your present moment.
               You can stand before a mirror. The mirror can see you the way you are in the present moment.
           The mirror cannot see that tomorrow you will be a murderer.
               The tomorrow is open. All the dimensions are open. You can choose anything, and there are
           instances where murderers have changed and become great saints. This proves the freedom of man.
               So when I had chosen Sheela to be my secretary, my reasons were: the secretary has to be
           pragmatic, practical in worldly affairs, because she will be taking care of the commune. And she will
           have to manage the commune amidst a world... she has to be alert and aware about worldly ways.
               She was not very educated, she had no university degree -- she has been a waitress in a hotel in
           America -- but I did not want a very intellectual person to be my secretary, because the intellectual
           person will destroy my messages by his intellect. And I wanted just a parrot -- and she was good at
           doing it.
           But the future is open.
               I went into silence. The direct communication between me and you stopped; she became the only
           communication. She saw the opportunity, the great opportunity that you love me so much and you
           trust me so much that whatever message she brings from me you believe it.
               That gave her a clue that you can be exploited, that she can bring any message to you which I
           have not given. She can change the message and you will trust totally and do it accordingly. That's
           why for three and a half years you simply remained unaware of what she was doing. And power has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a strange quality. It brings all your hidden desires to the surface. That's why power corrupts.
               It is not power that really corrupts, it only brings all the corrupted ideas in you to the surface,
           because power gives you an opportunity to give those ideas a reality. Those dreams can be
           transformed and materialized.
               And everybody is full of so many unconscious desires, of which he himself is not aware. Only
           power will show. And it has been happening all through history.
               When Indira Gandhi came to power in India she was innocent, intelligent, not political at all. She
           had not come from the lowest political levels, fighting, struggling and reaching to the top. That way
           one becomes very cunning, clever, experienced. She had just got the power because she was the
           daughter of the first prime minister of India. So she never moved through the power struggle. She
           had never dreamed about it, she had never thought about it. Her father had never mentioned it.
               But the committee, who was to decide, was in a very difficult position. There was Morarji Desai
           -- who was strong, adamant, stubborn and a perfect idiot. Once he gets into power, he is not going
           even to listen to the committee who appoints him. And he will do all kinds of stupidities, and there
           will be no way to prevent him.
               And there were others, but they were all provincial leaders. Only Morarji's and Indira's names
           were national names -- Indira's because she was the daughter of Jawaharlal, and had followed
           Jawaharlal his whole life, taken care of her father because her mother died very early. And she
           sacrificed everything for the father. She sacrificed her own husband, abandoned her own husband,
           because she could not serve these two masters.
               So it was thought that Indira will be good. She is innocent, not political, has never shown any
           political lust, has never tried to take advantage of her father's position. It will be good to put her
           against Morarji Desai, because her father had so much respect and love that certainly she will be
           chosen.
               And she was chosen. But once she got into power, things started changing. She became almost a
           dictator at one point.
               She imposed an emergency on the whole country. She forced all the political people into jail. She
           did whatever she wanted. She dissolved the parliament. She went on postponing the elections. And
           this was the natural result of all her dictatorial methods -- that she has been assassinated by her
           bodyguards.
               But nobody had any idea that a woman could turn into an Adolf Hitler.
               The same happened in this small commune. You were engaged in creating an oasis in the desert,
           I was living in isolation and silence -- and she had the gap between the two. You were engaged in the
           work so much, and I was out of contact with you.
               I have never been in any power position in my whole life, and I will never be, because I know
           something bigger than power. I know something more powerful than power.
           I know love.
           I know trust.
               And I love unconditionally, and I trust unconditionally. And I love and trust even those who are
           strangers, even those who have done things against me.
               Just the other day Deeksha phoned. Knowing that now Sheela is gone, she wants to come back.
           And I told her that she is welcome. She has been giving to the INS and their agents all kinds of false
           stories. She has been giving them absolute lies about me. But that does not matter. Perhaps she was
           angry, and in anger a person can do anything.
               But my doors can never be closed. So I have informed her, "You can come."
               Hundreds of people are informing that they want to come; they were rejected by Sheela.
               A few of them were intimate friends of Sheela in India, and they were rejected for the simple fact
           that here she never wanted anybody to be so close as to be a friend.
               Politicians don't want friends. They keep a gap. For example, no man was able to put his hand on
           the shoulders of Adolf Hitler in a friendly way, or hug him.
               You don't hug gods. You don't put your hand on the shoulder of God. The people who are
           thinking they have become great powers will not allow you that much intimacy and friendship,
           because you become dangerous. Being so close, you can do anything.
               Champa was one of Sheela's close friends in India, but she never came here. A great intelligent
           step, knowing that here Sheela will not like to treat her in the same way, the same friendly way --
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gossiping, sitting playing cards. Here she will be the fascist leader and you have to be just the
           followers.
               Just a few days before Sheela left -- I have heard the story yesterday from a person who was
           present in the meeting -- she told a few people who were in some way part of her criminal strategies,
           "You have to surrender to me totally. Whatever I say you have to do."
               Two persons, Siddha, the vice-chancellor of the meditation university here, and Prabodhi, one of
           the close workers in Sheela's group, simply disappeared.
               We have been searching for them, they both were useful. Siddha was certainly one of the best
           psychiatrists you can find, had all the highest qualifications, has been for twelve years the head of an
           army psychiatric hospital. Prabodhi was very accurate in her work.
               Both simply disappeared. And I inquired of Sheela what happened to them, Why? If they had to
           go, nobody is prevented, they could go -- but why so suddenly and without giving any reason, and
           without giving any address? And now we have been phoning their families. They have not heard
           anything about them.
               These two persons remained silent when Sheela said, "You have to give your total surrender to
           me. Whatever I say you have to say yes. The word no does not exist anymore for you."
               Amitabh, the chancellor of the meditation university, did not come back here. He had gone for
           three days just to relax in Hawaii, and from there he informed that "I am not coming back." Now, he
           has been associated with me for a long time, and he was the only certified psychoanalyst, perfectly
           insured, and he had the qualifications for being a chancellor of the university.
               He had been coming to India every year for six, nine months; only in hot summer he could not
           tolerate it there, so he had to come back.
               But without any reason -- just so that they should not come back -- it seems Sheela had created
           fear in these people, that coming back can be dangerous. And they were in powerful positions, they
           must be knowing many secrets. If they were not totally surrendered to Sheela, then they could be
           dangerous.
               Power has the capacity to bring out the worst in you. It has never been known in the whole
           history that power has brought out the best in you.
               Your question is significant, that meditation cannot be corrupted.
               Yes, it cannot be corrupted. On the contrary, if a person is meditative, loving, power can bring
           the best out of him. And I would like that experiment to happen here.
               The worst has always come out of power. But meditation can change the whole situation, the
           whole alchemy. And now I am suggesting people for power who are meditative, intelligent, loving.
           And I hope that we will be able to manage something new.
           Use power to bring the best out of man.
               And anyway, nothing like Sheela is going to happen, because now I am not going to stop
           speaking and being in direct contact with you.
               I don't have any power, but I have love, which is far more powerful than any power. I cannot
           dictate to you -- but I need not dictate. Just a gesture of love is enough. Just my fingers pointing to
           the moon, and your eyes will turn towards the moon without any order, commandment.
               So don't feel afraid at all, but remember your responsibility, which has become bigger, because
           Sheela was forcing you to do the work. Now you will have to do it out of your own spontaneous joy.
               Your responsibility has become far greater. For example, last night it happened that the
           journalists who were here for a press conference also wanted to go to the funeral of the beautiful
           sannyasin Lazarus.
               They were feeling hungry, and Isabel became very disturbed because all the restaurants were
           closed by eighty thirty, and all the people from the restaurants, disco, everywhere, had gone to the
           funeral procession.
               Now, this is not being responsible. It had never happened in Sheela's time. So do you need a
           Sheela to keep you on the right track?
               The journalists were hungry and they wanted to attend the funeral, but before attending the
           funeral they wanted to eat something. Somehow Anuradha arranged some food for them.
               But this is not right. When nobody is dictating to you, that does not mean that you become lazy.
           Your output should be better than it was in Sheela's time. That will prove that the fascism that she
           was imposing on you was absolutely meaningless. But if your output falls down, then you know you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are supporting Sheela. Then you are saying that without Sheela you cannot work, you need a whip.
               I don't want anybody to whip you. There is no need. You can see the point that a skeleton crew
           should have been there in every place. That has always been the case; any gathering of the whole
           commune, there was always a skeleton crew available for essential things. Now, by closing
           restaurants completely you showed your love towards Lazarus, but you did not show responsibility.
           And you forgot that these are the things which help fascists to revive, because that seems to be the
           only way that works, otherwise things start falling apart.
               I am giving you total responsibility and an opportunity. You have to prove that you don't need
           any dictatorial regime to run the commune. You will remain alert, and you will remain aware of your
           responsibility.
               Freedom and responsibility go together. More freedom, more responsibility. Total freedom, total
           responsibility. I hope nothing like this will happen again.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND LIMITS OF A LEADER? AND WHAT ARE THE
              RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF THOSE WHO ARE RULED?


               You must be crazy. I am not a leader. A lover can never be a leader. All the leaders are loveless;
           their whole being is directed to one goal -- to be on the top, and whatever means are needed they will
           use to reach the end. They don't care about good means, they only care about their end.
               A leader is a political phenomenon, and all politicians -- without any exception -- suffer from an
           inferiority complex. And the people who suffer from an inferiority complex are bound to get into
           politics, into leadership, so that they can prove to themselves and to the world that they are not
           inferior, they are superior.
               But whatever power you can attain, it cannot destroy your inferiority. It has nothing to do with
           your inferiority; it is a projection to cover it up.
               Inferiority disappears only in deep meditative silence. Then you know such a uniqueness that you
           don't want to be anybody else other than who you are. Just to be yourself is such a bliss. Who wants
           to be a leader?
               You are asking, "What are the responsibilities of a leader?"
               Ask the leaders. I am not a leader, so of course I don't have any experience of the responsibilities
           of a leader.
           I know love, and I know the response of love.
               And you are not the ruled. Here in this commune nobody is a ruler and nobody is ruled. That's
           the whole point of creating this commune and other communes around the world, where people can
           live as individuals without being divided into classes of the rulers and the ruled.
               This is not the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union they were trying to create a classless society,
           but they were not aware of a simple fact, that to force the society to become classless, they will have
           to create new classes -- the ruler and the ruled.
               Yes, the capitalist and the poor have disappeared, but the ruler and the ruled have appeared. And
           a strange thing came about.
               When I say the capitalists and the poor have disappeared, I mean the capitalists have disappeared
           and poverty has been distributed equally, so now nobody feels poorer than anybody else. The Soviet
           Union is still a poor country -- even the middle class people in America are far richer -- just the
           names have changed. The bourgeois and the proletariat are no more there.
               But an even more dangerous thing has happened, because a capitalist can go bankrupt and
           become poor. A poor man -- if he is intelligent -- can become the richest man. There is mobility,
           movement in a capitalist society. People are continuously changing: from middle class to super-rich,
           from super-rich to middle class, from middle class to lower class, from lower class to middle class --
           everywhere the change goes on.
               But in Russia this is not possible; there is no mobility. The rulers are rulers and the ruled are
           ruled. For sixty years the same gang has been ruling, and the whole country is in the same position of
           being ruled, dictated.
               Remember, here there is no leader, no led, no ruler, no ruled.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Even the people who are presidents of the foundation, commune, investment corporation and
           other corporate bodies, are not different from you. They don't have any more special powers than
           you have.
               And they are not rulers. They are servants of the commune. They have put themselves in a
           humbler position -- because they have the capacity, generosity, love for the commune -- that they are
           ready to be servants of the commune.
           To serve out of love is beautiful.
               To rule is ugly, and I want my people to be the most beautiful people about everything.
               Beauty has many dimensions. I want my people to be beautiful in all dimensions: graceful,
           humble, humane, loving, trusting, responsible individuals, intelligent, meditative. But not rulers and
           ruled.
               So I don't know, because I have never been a ruler and I have never been one who is ruled.
               I have never accepted anybody above me -- not even God -- and I have never accepted anybody
           below me, not even the devil.
           To me, both are friends.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IF YOU ARE NOT THE REAL MASTER? WOULD IT STILL BE GOOD FOR ME TO BE WITH
              YOU?


               You are asking about a real master. I am not even a master, so the question of being real or
           unreal does not arise. This is the same game in different ways -- the rulers, the ruled, the exploiters,
           the exploited; and in the spiritual world, the masters and the disciples, the saints and the sinners. But
           the division goes on and on.
               Can't you live without division? Is there any necessity to divide? I am not a master, and I have
           never been a disciple either.
               I have matured and centered and meditated, searched and found myself on my own accord. I
           have never followed anybody, and I don't want you to follow anybody -- me included.
               I am just a man who has awakened, and you are still asleep. The difference is not much. You can
           be shocked, shaken and awakened -- just a little cold water on your eyes and you will be awakened.
               I don't do such drastic things, because I don't want to interfere in your beautiful dreams. Even to
           interfere in anybody's dreams, to me, is violence. You can be pulled out of the bed and given a good
           slap on the face and you will be awake.
               But I don't want to do such drastic things. It is transgressing, trespassing in your individual
           world. If you want to decide to sleep a little more, what is the harm? I have never heard that anybody
           has done any harm while he is asleep.
               In fact, there is a story about Nadirshah, one of the most ugly monsters who has happened on this
           earth. He was really and absolutely inhuman.
               Once, while he was invading India, a very beautiful prostitute was brought in the night to give
           him some entertainment, and while she was going back, she said she was afraid: "It is dark, and I
           have to go seven miles."
               Nadirshah said, "You don't understand that you have been a guest of Nadirshah. You will not go
           in the darkness; you will go in light."
               The woman said, "But how can I go in light? It is the middle of the night."
               Nadirshah told his soldiers, "Put fire to all the villages on the way, all the forests on the way, so
           the prostitute can go in light to her place."
               Many villages were put on fire, the forests were put on fire. The prostitute could not believe that
           this can be a way to go in light.
               This man, Nadirshah, heard about a great wise man in India, and he asked him to come. The wise
           man said, "To come to you will be enough proof that I am not wise, so the thing will be useless. You
           will have to come to the well."
               Nadirshah felt intrigued and excited too. He had never seen anybody disobey him. This man
           must have some guts. He went to the man and he felt some strange aura and energy around him.
               He said, "I have come. I want to ask you: it is said in the scriptures that to sleep too much is bad,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but I love to sleep. In fact, I drink too much, and then to get up becomes difficult. The hangover...
           and then it is better to have more to drink and go to sleep again. What is your suggestion? Should I
           stop it?"
                The old man said, "No. Whatever the scriptures say means nothing. They were not written for
           you. They had no idea that a man like you will take instructions from the books. I would suggest you
           should sleep twenty-four hours, you should sleep forever. There is no need to wake up."
                Nadirshah said, "This is strange advice. Twenty-four hours? Forever?"
                The old man said, "Yes. Although it is against all the scriptures, but I say on my own authority
           that people like you need twenty-four hours of sleep, because whenever you are awake you will do
           some mischief. Asleep, much violence, much war, much trouble to the world will be stopped."
                So there is not much wrong. And I never trespass, I just persuade from the outside of your
           bedroom. I don't even get in your bedroom, because to get in your bedroom without your permission
           is not right. And how to ask a sleeping man, "May I come in, sir?" So my whole work takes place
           outside your bedroom.
                I create devices outside your bedroom. For example, I may scream suddenly that the house is on
           fire. I have not done anything to you. And hearing that the house is on fire -- even in sleep people
           hear that.
                It is strange. They will not hear great advice in sleep, but if you say, "The house is on fire!" they
           will immediately hear it, and they will run out of the house.
                That is up to you. It is not my responsibility. One thing I know: when you come out and you see
           the sunrise and the birds singing and the beautiful sky so colorful, and the flowers, you will be
           grateful to me -- although the house is not on fire.
                But I can lie. I don't think this lie harms anybody.
                And all enlightened people have to lie, because truth cannot be said to you. You won't
           understand it; you are fast asleep, snoring. Secondly, truth cannot be said in language. The moment
           you put the experience of truth in language, it becomes untrue.
                So, rather than distorting the truth and making it untrue, it is far better to create a device -- which
           is a lie. But it works!
                I have brought many people out of their bedroom, asking "Where is the fire?"
                And I say, "I don't know. Just once in a while I get this urge to call 'The house is on fire!'"
                I don't know the responsibility of the leader; I don't know the responsibility of the led.
                I know the responsibility of love. I know the responsibility of the beloved. When love calls you,
           listen to it. That's the only responsibility. When love says something to you, let it enter into the
           deepest core of your being.
           When love knocks on your door, open the door.
                The real beloved, in fact, does not close the door at all, but waits at the door for the lover to
           come, so that he need not even knock.
                Sannyas is a love affair. It has nothing to do with ruled and the rulers, leaders and the led. It has
           certainly to do with love and lovers.
                And the beauty of love is: it does not create hierarchy.
                I may be enlightened, you may not be enlightened, but because I love you, I am not holier than
           you. Because I love you, I declare that you have every capacity, ability, potentiality to be
           enlightened. It is just a question of your decision.
                But I cannot impose the decision on you. At the most, love persuades. And love has many ways
           to persuade. It is only hate that imposes.
                Just looking into your eyes is a persuasion, is a message.
           Just the gesture of my hand is to touch your heart.
                The silence that I love -- and I speak only to give you these few small pauses of silence. Just look
           at this silence, and we all have become one. All divisions are lost and there is an immense peace, a
           tremendous feeling of joy arising in you.
                I want to give you the taste of enlightenment in as many ways as possible, so one day finally you
           say, "Okay. I am going to wake up now."


              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              IS IT TRUE THAT POWER-ORIENTED PEOPLE WERE NEEDED TO CREATE THIS COMMUNE?
              IS IT ALSO TRUE THAT MEDITATIVE AND LOVING PEOPLE CANNOT CREATE SUCH
              BEAUTIFUL AND RICH COMMUNES?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Power-oriented people can create much, but their creation is basically criminal. And sooner or
           later, it is going to fall apart.
               Meditative people, loving people, can create higher things, better things. And whatever they
           create is never in the service of death and destruction. Whatever they create is basically godliness.
           Whatever they create remains forever; it is eternal.
               Adolf Hitler used to say that the regime that he is creating is going to last for one thousand years.
               I want you to know, what we are creating is going to last forever.
               Love is immortal. Love knows no death. Meditation leads you within yourself to eternity.
               So don't think that I had put Sheela and her group to create the commune. They turned out to be
           power-oriented. Perhaps any one of you would have turned out to be the same. You all carry the
           same desire to be somebody special.
               What has happened was bound to happen. It is a tremendously good experience that it happened
           so soon, just in four years. And now we have learned a lesson and we will not allow it to happen
           again.
               The whole fault was mine, that I was silent. I had my reasons to be silent. I wanted to be silent
           forever, because words don't convey... it is not real communion that happens through words. I
           wanted to communicate through silence.
               So my reason was there to be silent, but I cannot say that it was not my fault. I knew that
           something like that is possible, but I also knew that I can start speaking any moment when I see that
           things have come to a peak and they have to be stopped.
               And no harm has happened to you. In fact, you have become more mature through the
           experience. It will make you more responsible, less dependent on authorities, more responsible on
           your own towards the whole commune.
               We will turn this fascist nightmare we have passed through, into something beautiful. It is always
           in our hands to change things.
               I have started changing the same nightmare into a beautiful experience that will help you along
           the way, and you will not fall in the same hole again.
               Sheela has done a great service to you, and you should feel gratitude to her and her gang.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW CAN TRUST AND DOUBT GO TOGETHER?


               There is no difficulty.
           Just trust in doubt.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #6
                                   Chapter title: The meaning of responsibility
           20 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509200
              ShortTitle: BONDAG06
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 111 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DID WE WHO LOVE YOU LET THIS UGLINESS HAPPEN TO YOUR VISION AND TO
              OURSELVES? I SAW THINGS I THOUGHT WERE UGLY. I'D TELL MYSELF, "THE MASTER MUST
              WANT IT THIS WAY. I DON'T SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE. I DON'T WANT TO BE NEGATIVE."
              WHAT IS THE BLINDNESS IN US?


               First, you should all forgive me for being twenty minutes late. This has happened because of you.
           You do not understand the meaning of the word "responsibility."
               And if you do not understand the meaning of that word, you are going to create another Sheela,
           another fascist regime again. And this time I will not be against it.
               People are not turning up to their worship. They are not doing their work as well as they were
           doing before. They leave their work earlier -- as if they needed some dictatorship to do the necessary
           work.
               Responsibility means that you do your best, so that there is no need for anybody to dictate to
           you.
               Everybody wants to decide what should be done and what should not be done. If five thousand
           people decide that way, do you think anything can be done?
               Poor Hasya is continuously pestered by many of you, that the work should be done this way, or it
           should be done that way. To whom is she going to listen?
               People are approaching her, that about everything votes should be taken. Do you want the whole
           time -- day in, day out -- for each and every thing, voting? Is it a voting club?
               Don't be stupid, otherwise.... You created Sheela before, and you will create Sheela again.
               Last time I interfered and destroyed the whole fascist structure. Next time, perhaps I will not do
           that. What is the point, if you are going to create it again and again? Then the old is gold -- more
           efficient.
               You have not looked at this side. Sheela was only one side of the coin; you are the other side.
           Without you, she could not have been, and done ugly, criminal things.
               And now you are starting to be the tower of Babel. Everybody is arguing, discussing, giving his
           opinion, and that opinion should be followed. Now there are five thousand people -- and what
           opinion can you give? You are blind, you are in darkness, you live in unconsciousness. If I had not
           told you what Sheela was doing, you would have completely lived under Sheela without any
           problem.
               You have to recognize it, that your opinion carries no value. Unless you are enlightened, your
           vote is just stupidity.
               It is your votes that make Adolf Hitlers, Joseph Stalins, Benito Mussolinis. It is your votes that
           create Nixon. Your votes don't mean anything.
               And your opinions? What opinions do you have? Are you here to express your opinions? Or to
           come to a point of silence, meditativeness, where all opinions disappear -- just a clarity, a vision to
           see. Opinion belongs to the blind. It is mere opinion; it has no solidity in it. The man of clarity has
           no opinions. He has the truth. And in my commune only truth has the right to decide. If you want to
           be decisive, become enlightened first; otherwise, you will simply create a suicide for the commune.
               From the morning till twelve o'clock in the night, I am engaged in unnecessary things. That's
           why I am twenty minutes late. You are responsible for it. I have never been twenty minutes late,
           ever.
               But if you don't allow me to sleep, you don't give me a chance to rest, then it is going to happen.
           So before I start answering the question, the question of questions is: From today, can you start
           working on your own, as fully, as totally, as intensively as possible?
               You have to prove to Sheela and all those who think in fascist terms, that a loving commune can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be more creative, can be more productive, can be a more joyous phenomenon.
               If you cannot prove that, then Sheela is right. Perhaps you drove her into being a dictator.
               Samya was there last night, tired. I have never seen her so tired before -- she is always laughing,
           joyous -- because the whole day you have been torturing her. One sannyasin will not leave her
           office, because he wants to see all the books -- what has happened, what is going to happen. He
           wants to give his opinion on every matter.
               Do you think this man is behaving in any other way than dictatorial? He has been persuaded
           three times to leave, and he will come back again -- he will not leave unless all his answers are being
           accepted, and all his questions are being answered.
               Is this the way of love? Is this the way that you can prove dictatorship is not the right way? This
           is proving that dictatorship is the right way. This man never tortured Sheela. Where has he been for
           these four years, with all his opinions? For four years he was a mouse, and now suddenly he has
           become a lion.
           And five thousand lions cannot live together.
               Then the only way is to reduce the lions back to mice, and they will be happy. Only I will be
           unhappy that my people are not capable enough to be lions.
               So from today, everybody has to do better than he was doing before. Everybody has to reach to
           his worship. These excuses won't do -- that "I did not feel like it; I wanted to sleep a little longer."
           But what about the last four years? -- four years you always did feel to go, and now suddenly a great
           transformation has happened to you. If Sheela wanted you to work fourteen hours a day, you
           worked.
               Samya and Hasya are trying in every possible way to reduce your work hours, but not the quality
           of the work, not the outcome of the work.
               You were listening to me only on alternate days, and you were happy. Hasya immediately
           changed that, and you are listening to me every day. You have not thanked her.
               Your complaint has been that your letters were not reaching to me -- that's true -- that you were
           not certain whether my answers were my answers or Sheela's own inventions. That is also true.
               She has done every criminal act. You will be surprised: even in my videotapes -- in the originals
           she has changed everything that will go against her. There was no way for me to know what they
           were doing. The editors would get the edited version of my lecture. The videotapes around the world
           were reaching, not as I had delivered them; they have taken out sentences, passages. And you were
           perfectly happy with Sheela.
               Now I have made an arrangement that all the heads of the corporations, whenever they want, can
           come to me when Hasya comes to see me. So it is not only Hasya who listens to what I say, other
           people will also be present there. They will be witnesses to whether Hasya has brought all your
           letters or not.
               But remember, your letters are ninety-nine percent bullshit, and I don't want to be drowned in
           bullshit. So write only that which you feel is absolutely meaningful, essential, and write it in as small
           a way as possible, because I don't want to hear your opinions for five hours a day, every day. I am
           already crazy; what do you want? So you have to be careful. Your letters will reach, your response
           will be given to you; but you also have to learn something.
               I receive files of letters which are not possible for me to go through. Don't make it impossible.
           Then naturally I have to leave it to Hasya to look through those letters, and mark only the important
           passages, and bring only the important letters.
               So just your writing is not enough that it should reach to me. You have to make it significant
           enough, carrying some meaning, for it to reach to me.
               But everything will reach, so you need not be afraid and worried. And whatever people are now
           in place of the old fascist regime, they have been chosen by different councils on my advice. They
           will take care that no democratic value is destroyed. Finally they are just servants of the commune.
               And you have to learn to behave in a democratic way too. Democracy cannot exist only because
           a few people are in power who are democratic. If you are accustomed to being dictated to, ordered,
           then the whole commune will fall apart.
               You have to learn that if they advise you to do something, do it. Do it to your best. And now I am
           available, and I am going to speak to my very last breath. But don't become a burden. You have to
           make the people who are managing unburdened, light, joyous, so they can feel happy with you. Don't
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           torture them.
                There have been sannyasins at my house, and they were forcing their way against the guards.
           Now, if five thousand people come to see me every day, I will have to escape from this place. I am
           accustomed to living in isolation and silence. I don't want you to disturb me. Everything that is a
           problem to you should come through the proper people. I don't hold any post. I cannot do anything
           right away, immediately. I have no power.
                Even if you reach me with a demand, the demand has to go to Hasya, Anuradha, John -- the
           people who will be running the commune. So why bother me? Why should you not take your
           demand directly to them? And your demand has to be rational, legitimate.
                I had said that the people who are suffering from AIDS -- we have isolated them -- should be
           given whatever we can give to them: respect, love. They should not be treated as criminals or
           condemned people. They are victims. And you listened and you followed it.
                But they started becoming dictators. They started asking for Havana cigars, Mexican cigars,
           champagne. They thought that I have allowed them -- as if by bringing AIDS here, they have
           brought a great contribution to the commune. I was trying to respect their humanity, but they were
           not only AIDS patients, they were idiots too.
                By the way, Sheela and her group's crimes go on growing every day more and more. Two of
           those people who were found with AIDS have been checked again; their results were negative, they
           were forced there. But Puja was culturing all kinds of viruses, and she managed to make their results
           come out positive. This is so ugly -- and from a woman! And what was the reason for all this?
                Those people had refused to participate in certain crimes that the group wanted. This was a
           punishment. Neither of them is an AIDS patient. But what a punishment! Man can be so inhuman to
           other men that it is almost inconceivable. This was one reason.
                The second reason was that they wanted -- they had already created a housing complex in the
           City of Rajneesh for five hundred people, with separate attached bathrooms -- they wanted to make
           an AIDS home. They never said that to me.
                To me they said they wanted to make it for people who are recovering, people who are old and
           their families don't want them, people who are suffering from diseases and need treatment, and our
           medical corporation can take charge of those people. I said, "That's perfectly good."
                But finally, when they wanted to open the AIDS home, at the last moment they wanted me to be
           in the press conference to declare it. I said, "But this was never told to me."
                I immediately canceled the press conference, because to bring AIDS people, five hundred people,
           is endangering not only our commune; it is endangering all the people around the City of Rajneesh,
           in fact, endangering the whole of Oregon.
                That was their way to take revenge on the Oregonians -- clever, but ugly, inhuman, disgusting.
           They have spent almost two million dollars on the housing complex, and now it is lying empty.
                No sannyasin wants to go and live there. In fact, the people they had forced to live in Antelope
           don't want to go there. Remember it: for four years you were going there without any complaint. Just
           a little longer, on your own responsibility... because the harm that you have done to Antelope, the
           wounds that you have given to the people of Antelope, you have to heal them.
                So just for a few days more continue to live there. Before you leave Antelope completely --
           because we don't need it, we have enough land, enough houses -- before you leave Antelope, first
           change its name from City of Rajneesh back to Antelope. We have our city; why force a name on
           people who will detest it? Don't you understand simple psychology? You want my name to be
           unnecessarily condemned?
                So before you leave Antelope you have to change the name. Before you leave Antelope we have
           to sell all the properties of Antelope. If the people of Antelope want their city back, they have to take
           their houses back, they have to purchase them.
                We have given them enough money for it. We will not ask for payment for all the developments
           that we have done in their dilapidated houses. In four years prices have gone much higher. We will
           ask only the same amount that we have paid to them, and we are giving them renovated, better
           houses.
                They have to take all those houses, and then you can move. But it will take a few days -- and I
           have heard that you have been saying that you don't want to go there at all.
                If you had this much courage, then why for four years were you going there, living there? Now,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           out of sheer responsibility for the commune, because the commune has invested money there, which
           has to be taken out.... The people of Antelope will be very happy that you simply leave their houses,
           and they move in their houses free, without giving any money for them. That will be harming the
           commune.
                Sheela has left the commune fifty-five million dollars in debt. We will make it; there is not much
           problem. But if you start behaving this way, you will be creating more debt.
                So first change the name back to Antelope. And the Oregonians who are so much in sympathy
           with Antelope, they should help them. The government of Oregon should help them, give them
           loans, purchase the properties. Right now we have almost two-thirds of the properties of Antelope.
                So whatever you have been doing under dictatorship, now you have to do on your own
           responsibility. You have to understand the implications of everything.
                Sheela and her group have created a hostility between the commune and Oregonians. We have to
           destroy that hostility.
                The first step will be for Antelope to be given back to the people who have lived there for
           hundreds of years. We don't have any political aspirations.
                The second step will be, anybody who has committed crimes against the law, we will help the
           state to find the person, to hold him responsible for the crime.
                Now a totally new situation has arisen. The state government of Oregon and the commune here
           have a common enemy: the fascist group that Sheela was leading. The enemy of the enemy is a
           friend. This can become a great bridge, and we should make as much use of it as possible.
                Except the poor Red Indians, everybody in America is a foreigner. It does not matter whether
           you came a hundred years ago, or three hundred years ago. And we came only four years ago: the
           other foreigners should not treat us as if they are native Americans. That's what they are doing.
                And what they have done, we are not doing to America. They have invaded the country. We have
           not come here invading the country.
                Most of the sannyasins here are Americans. There may be a few Italians, a few Germans, a few
           Dutch, but these same people have come before as invaders. They are now the owners of the whole
           continent, and there is no possibility that the Red Indians will again be able to have their land back.
           For the Red Indians there seems to be no possibility to attain freedom.
                America has the most beautiful Constitution. If it really follows its own Constitution, America
           should be ruled by the Red Indians, not by Ronald Reagan.
                But Red Indians are put in reservation camps, in forests, in isolated places. "Reservation" is
           simply the American translation for the German word "concentration camp" -- without wires around
           it, because America is more sophisticated.
                They don't put barbed wire around the camps; they have found a better method. They give
           pensions to all the Red Indians so they need not work. When somebody gets money and has no work,
           what is he going to do? Drink alcohol, gamble, go to prostitutes -- he has to do something; he has
           money and no work -- and remain continuously drugged.
                The Red Indians never think of freedom, cannot think, they are so drugged. The barbed wire
           around the concentration camps in Germany was nothing. The American politicians have placed
           barbed wire inside the human psychology of the Red Indians. They have almost lost everything.
                These people, who have the best Constitution in the world, behave most unconstitutionally, for
           the simple reason that the Constitution is so full of great ideals that the third-rate dirty politicians
           cannot rise to that height. There is such a gap that they have to do things against the Constitution.
           They are doing things against the Constitution to us.
                The Constitution wants human dignity, respect for individuality, all other democratic values, but
           the Constitution does not seem to apply to us.
                We have done no harm. We have really contributed something, created an oasis out of a desert,
           and if the government was helpful, fair, we would have changed this whole land into a luscious,
           green land full of many lakes, the best holiday resort in the whole country.
                And we could have created great economic help to Oregon -- which needs it, because it is
           millions of dollars in debt to the federal government. We could have created a place for the tourists
           from all over the world. Already, thousands of sannyasins are coming. If it becomes a beautiful
           resort place, nonsannyasins will also be coming.
                We can help the economy of Oregon. What are the Oregon politicians doing? Half of the land of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Oregon they have given to the federal government. They still have to pay perhaps two hundred
           million dollars in debt. All that they can do is give the rest of Oregon also to the federal government.
           This is really underground communism.
               The basic principle of freedom is that property should belong to the individuals, that the state
           should not own anything. Nationalization is against democracy, but that is going on underground
           everywhere.
               Why are they so much against us? They know now that these one hundred and twenty-six square
           miles can never become the property of the government. And why have they wanted the whole of
           Oregon to become federal property? This is a good desert to experiment with nuclear weapons. Now
           we are in the middle of it. Our presence is dangerous for them. We are going to be here, and we will
           not allow this beautiful land to become a factory for death.
               That's why I said it is a strange situation. We have nothing against anybody, and I have
           tremendous respect for the American Constitution. That is the only Constitution in the whole world
           which has some possibility for the future of humanity. It should be saved at any cost.
               And I want it to be known all over America that we will fight for the American Constitution
           against the Americans who are trying to prostitute it. They have to be told it is a Constitution, it is
           not prostitution.
           Now your question:

               "Beloved Master, how did we who love you, let this ugliness happen to your vision and to
           ourselves? I saw things I thought were ugly. I'd tell myself, 'The master must want it this way. I don't
           see the whole picture. I don't want to be negative.'
           "What is the blindness in us?"

                The blindness is in every person who has been brought up to be dependent on a father figure --
           God is doing everything. You are not responsible for anything. If you are poor, God must be wanting
           it this way. If you are sick, God must be wanting it this way.
                The whole of humanity has been reduced to a helpless child, dependent on a father figure who
           does not exist anywhere.
                So you go on changing your father figures. Nothing changes by that. The Christian becomes
           Hindu; he changes his gods, but his psychology is the same. The Hindu becomes Christian; he
           changes his God, but the psychology is the same. There are three hundred religions in the world, but
           the psychology of all the religions is exactly the same. And the psychology is: keep man dependent,
           irresponsible, always hoping, praying to someone who does not exist. This has created the whole
           tragedy.
                Whatever was done here, your reason was saying to you, "This is not right." But you thought,
           "The master must be wanting it this way."
                When have I told you to think on these lines? I have been teaching reasoning, doubt, skepticism,
           inquiry, independence, and you are doing just the opposite. That's why Sheela never wanted me to
           speak again. That's why they have tampered with my tapes -- the original tapes. Now there is no way
           to find out what they have changed.
                But they don't know.... I am still alive, and what I had said ten years ago -- I will say something
           more outrageous today, because ten years' experience will be added to it.
                They never wanted me to speak to you. Sheela was persuading me that my health will suffer if I
           start speaking. I said, "But what will I do with my health? Just remaining healthy and waiting for
           death?" I started speaking against her will.
                Just the other day I have been informed that my milk was poisoned, slow poisoning, so that I
           become sick -- if not dead, at least not able to talk to you, so she remains the representative.
                Or perhaps the poison was just to make my tongue dead so I cannot speak. They have been
           experimenting with it. I have come to know about one doctor who took a cup of tea and she found
           that for the whole day she could not speak. Her tongue was almost paralyzed.
                Sheela was telling you that total surrender was needed.
           I am telling you total responsibility is needed.
                And you have to prove that what total surrender can do, total responsibility can do a hundred
           times better!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I was teaching you doubt; she was teaching you to believe. Because I insisted on speaking, her
           gang and their activities became exposed. If I had remained silent you would have continued to
           think, "Perhaps the master wants it this way."
                It means you have never listened to me. You have not tried to understand me at all. I never want
           you to do anything against your reason, against your own dignity.
                I want to give you back your pride of being the highest expression of evolution.
                So from now on, remember, even if I go on speaking for my whole life, one day I will have to
           leave the body. Somebody cunning, clever, political, can again make you into a fascist group. Don't
           let this happen.
                But that does not mean that you become a nuisance in the commune. You have to learn a
           balance. You know only two things: either you will be a slave or a nuisance. Can't you find a middle
           course? -- where you are sensible, not nuisance, just sense, and where you are not a slave but pure
           freedom.
                Act out of your sensitivity, your freedom, your love -- and I don't think there is any problem: you
           can manage it.
                I love you so much, I trust you so much. I have such high evaluation of your intelligence, that I
           can say you can make the impossible possible.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YESTERDAY I WAS SAD WHEN YOU SAID, "I TAKE THE BLAME FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS
              HAPPENED."
              WHY SHOULD YOU BE BLAMED? EVERY MOMENT YOU ARE TRYING TO MAKE US LOVING,
              MEDITATIVE AND CELEBRATIVE. IF THERE IS ANY BLAME, WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE. WE
              ARE NOT LOVING, MEDITATIVE AND ALERT, AND THAT IS WHY SHEELA AND HER GANG
              COULD DARE TO DO SUCH EVIL ACTIONS.
              PLEASE TELL US HOW TO BECOME MORE MEDITATIVE, LOVING AND RESPONSIBLE.


               That's why I have said that I am responsible for whatever happened -- because you are fast
           asleep. You are not alert, aware; you live like a somnambulist, walking in your sleep. How can you
           say that you are responsible for it all?
               Neither can I say Sheela and her group are responsible. They belong to the same category as you.
           They just had power and in their sleep they did whatever sleep allows you to do. You had no power,
           you followed them, because what can a sleeper do?
               So the whole responsibility is basically mine. I should not have gone into silence and isolation.
               But it has been a great experiment, and a great experience that a man like me should not leave
           you alone in the hands of people who are just like you.
               The law, perhaps, may not allow it, but this is my deepest longing: that Sheela and her group
           should be forgiven, and if any punishment is needed they should give it to me.
               Only I am responsible, because I went into silence. I had never thought that silence can lead to
           such calamity.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              NOW THE TIME OF THE "MOMS AND KIDS" IS GONE. THE WORSHIP IS HAPPENING WITH FAR
              MORE RESPONSIBILITY. I CAN SEE THAT WE ALL FEEL FREE TO EXPRESS OUR THOUGHTS,
              IDEAS AND FEELINGS. BUT IT HURTS TO SEE THAT THIS INCLUDES PEOPLE'S NEGATIVITY
              AND NEED TO ACT OUT THEIR OWN FEELINGS -- ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE NEVER HAD AN
              OPPORTUNITY BEFORE.
              HOW DOES THE COORDINATOR GET INVOLVED IN THIS? HOW DO WE ALL TAKE CARE OF
              THIS?
              WHAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A COORDINATOR?


              One thing you all have to understand. For four years you have repressed your ideas, your
           opinions, so you must be carrying a great load and you all would like to throw that load on poor
           Hasya.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You should at least be this much alert: that Hasya has not forced you, repressed you. The people
           who had repressed you have gone.
                But you can go into the mountains and express yourself as loudly as you can -- just to unburden.
           It helps, it helps immensely. It is a psychological treatment, so just try. Go in the mountains, find a
           good place, and say everything that you always wanted to say. But don't bring your opinions and
           expressions into the commune, because that will just create a wastage of energy.
                The coordinator is just to look after so many people: that their work does not conflict with each
           other, that the people are not doing the same work -- unnecessarily duplicating. The coordinator is
           just to watch that everybody is in his position, not sleepy, and not doing unnecessary work.
                And he is a link between you and the president of your corporation, so any problems that you
           have, he can take them to the corporation. He is responsible to you that no harm happens to you, that
           in no way are you placed where you don't want to be, that you are not mistreated. The coordinator
           has to be aware of all these things.
                He is not under the service of the federation, corporation, foundation, or any other body. He is in
           the service of the people of whom he is the coordinator. His responsibility is that his people should
           remain healthy, happy, rejoicing, and they should not suffer on any account through bureaucracy.
                Your responsibility to the coordinator is to listen to him, to do what is needed by the commune.
           The coordinator is a link. His work is double. He takes your needs to the president and he brings the
           president's messages of what is needed to be done, what the commune needs right now. He is just a
           messenger.
                I have heard that many people are very much disturbed with a few coordinators who have been in
           with Sheela and her gang. Certainly you feel resentful, but that is not right. These people have not
           left. They revolted against Sheela and the criminal group -- you should think of it -- and you resent
           them.
                Sheela and the people with her will hate them, and you resent them. They don't have any shelter
           anywhere. They understand that they belonged to a wrong group, but they were as innocent as you
           are. They also thought, "This is what the master wants us to do."
                And the proof is that they revolted. Even the secretary of Sheela revolted against her, which was
           really courageous. She proved to be a real jewel. Sheela was very much afraid of her because she
           knew everything; she was Sheela's secretary, so every paper had passed through her. She knows all
           that they have done. Sheela wanted to take her with her. She even tried to poison the poor girl. If she
           cannot take her, then it is better to kill her. It seems killing people became to them just a very simple
           thing.
                But Geeta has remained, and she will be of immense help. She is, because most of the stories that
           have come to exposure are because of Geeta, because she knows the right person who will tell the
           story. If you feel resentful towards Geeta that will not be in any way nice. That will not show your
           love, your heart. That will simply show a very stupid reaction.
                Hasya was asking me, "Should we remove all these people? -- Geeta, Padma, Ava, and others?"
                I said, "No. They have revolted against Sheela. They should be rewarded, not punished. And they
           will be of immense help to you, because this thing is going to become a bigger Watergate than Nixon
           could manage."
                Don't feel resentful. I can understand your mind. Seeing the same faces in the same places, you
           feel angry. But you should be a little more understanding. I want them to be in the same places,
           because in the same places they can be of help to you.
                The case is going to be one of a serious kind. It is going to be international news. Already what
           has happened is being talked about around the earth.
                Now Sheela is in London and the whole group has disappeared -- perhaps separately into
           different places. They are hiding like criminals, but they all will be caught. The earth is small, and
           my sannyasins are all the way around the earth. They may deceive Interpol, but they cannot deceive
           my sannyasins. And all of my sannyasins have suffered -- not only you. Sannyasins in other
           communes have also suffered.
                They cannot deceive this army of one million sannyasins. We will get hold of them. And Ava,
           Padma, Patipada, Geeta -- these will be the people, key people who will be of immense help.
                For example, Geeta just informed me that before Sheela left, she has taken twenty-five
           letterheads of each corporation. That means she is still thinking of doing more crime. We have to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           report it to the police, that she has taken blank forms from each corporation. Now she can write
           anything on those blank forms, make the whole corporation responsible, and in that way disrupt the
           whole commune.
               So please, just do me a favor. These people are not your enemies; they were as much deceived as
           you were deceived. And I cannot tolerate it that they should be punished in any way, removed from
           their places.
               Yes, I would like them to change their behavior and attitude. For four years they have been
           trained in a wrong discipline. They should drop that completely and start from the very scratch. And
           they have to deliver everything that they know, whatever the cost, to help the commune.
               So you drop any antagonism. Your antagonism will keep them closed. They will not be able to
           expose everything that they know. You don't know what more must have been happening.
               Sheela has asked.... This is information from Geeta. Geeta was typing so she knows that this is
           absolutely correct; otherwise it would be difficult for me to get this information. Now we can find
           the person and verify it. The person is here, one of our great scientists. She asked him, "Can a
           machine be made with death rays?"
               That is being experimented with by the American government, by the Russian government. All
           over the world scientists are thinking of death rays. And you will be surprised, our sannyasin is
           capable of making it.
               The moment he became aware that this was going to be used, he asked, "I can make it. There are
           certain sounds -- you will not hear those sounds, but the machine will create those sounds, and they
           will kill you. I am capable of making it, but if it is going to kill humans I will not."
               Now, without Geeta it would have been impossible to know about this. Now we can ask the
           scientist and the scientist can give his testimony to the court that he was asked for this and he had
           refused.
               Be kind to these people -- a little more kind than you are to others. And kindness costs nothing.
           Be loving to these people, so they can feel at home, so they can feel that they are not suspected, that
           they are not doubted, that everybody is not watching them as enemies. Otherwise, it will be difficult
           for them to open their mouths, and they may be carrying immensely important information.
               So I will not change them from their positions. I would rather like you to change your attitude.
           Your attitude is wrong. If you are antagonistic to them, you are forcing them to go with Sheela's
           group. If these four people, five people who are here.... Ava had gone with Sheela, but returned from
           Seattle, feeling that she was going with a criminal group. Now you should appreciate her courage.
               These four, five people will be able to encourage others who are hiding as criminals that there is
           no need to be afraid in the commune. "Even if we have done something wrong, the commune has a
           large heart that can forgive and forget, and allow us to live a new way of life." These people will be
           the proof for others that they can also come and they will be welcomed.
               I know that there was Sheela, Puja, Shanti Bhadra -- the most criminal out of the whole group,
           they were the main criminals. Others simply followed, perhaps in the same way as you followed. If
           all those people return to the commune, you will be strengthened in the court, before the law, in
           every way. You will have actual witnesses, and that is what is needed.
               So these people should receive your respect and love. Even go out of the way to show your
           respect and love to them, and tell them, "You have come home. The past is past and the future is
           free. You can change, and you can help the commune."


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ALL THIS IS REALLY REMINDING ME WHY I'M HERE. OUR CIRCUS/CAMP/COMMUNE IS THE
              PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO FIND OUT WHO WE ARE. WITNESSING THROUGH ACTIONS THE
              TRUTH COMES OUT AND OUR HEARTS CAN SING WITH JOY AND LOVE.


              That is not a question.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              OUT OF THIS MUD, THE LOTUS PARADISE.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



               That's certainly true.
               Lotuses grow only out of mud, and Sheela and her group have done the basic work: they have
           created mud. Now you do the second part!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                     Chapter #7
                                        Chapter title: Love is not surrender
           21 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509210
              ShortTitle: BONDAG07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 111 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              LAST MONTH I WAS FACED WITH A RECOGNITION THAT WHERE THERE IS LIGHT THERE IS
              ALSO A SHADOW SIDE OF DARKNESS. YET UNTIL THE LAST FEW DAYS I STILL CLUNG TO
              THE ILLUSION OF SOME SEPARATION BETWEEN THEM, IN PARTICULAR THAT HERE ON THE
              RANCH WITH YOU THERE WAS LIGHT, AND OUTSIDE THERE WAS DARKNESS.
              NOW I'M EXPERIENCING THE INSEPARABILITY OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS, BOTH WITHIN
              MYSELF AND WITHIN THE COMMUNE. ARE LIGHT AND DARKNESS ALSO INSEPARABLE
              WITHIN YOU? IS THIS A REALITY WE HAVE TO FACE TO LET OUR LOVE GROW DEEPER?


                The existence consists not of contradictions, but of complementaries. Light and darkness are
           neither separable nor inseparable; they are one.
           Darkness simply means less light.
           Light means less darkness.
           The difference is only of degrees.
                There are animals, birds, who see only in darkness. Your day is their night. Their night is your
           day. And what you see is a very small fraction of the immense phenomenon of lightdarkness. I am
           using it as a single word, not even with a hyphen between the two.
                You don't see X-rays. Your vision has a limited capacity. Below it there is infinity, above it there
           is infinity. So you have to drop the Aristotelian logic from your mind.
                Aristotle has dominated the human mind, particularly the Western mind, for almost two thousand
           years. But now it is possible to get rid of the old man.
                Aristotle's basic strategy was to divide things into contradictions: right and wrong, good and bad,
           life and death, man and woman. Within these past fifty years, all have proved to be only
           complementaries, not contradictions at all. Nobody has proved so wrong as Aristotle. I myself call
           him not Aristotle, but Aristotle-itis, a very dangerous disease, undetected for two thousand years. It
           has crippled your thinking, your comprehension of the wholeness of life.
                And he himself did not have a scientific mind in any sense. He says in his books that women
           have less teeth than men. Obviously man is superior, and the woman is inferior in every way; how
           can she have the same number of teeth?
                But very strange.... Aristotle had two wives; he could have counted their teeth before he wrote
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his book -- this is simple, very simple scientific methodology -- and he would have found the truth,
           that man or woman, it does not matter, they all have the same number of teeth.
               And you will be surprised: before Aristotle it was believed; Aristotle believed in it, and after
           Aristotle for almost fifteen hundred years it was believed. Doctors believed it. No dentist had the
           courage to say, "This is all rubbish," because to speak against Aristotle was not possible. He was the
           father of Western logic. You've got a very funny father for Western logic!
               Your mind is still dominated by Aristotle. For you, it seems, Albert Einstein has not happened
           yet. The greatest contribution of Albert Einstein is that in existence everything is relative, and the
           differences are only of degrees. There are no absolute contradictions.
               You are, perhaps, not even aware of Carl Gustav Jung's contribution, because he discovered -- it
           will be better to say REdiscovered, because in the East it has been known for five thousand years --
           that man is half man and half woman, and that woman is half woman and half man.
               It seems to be very simple. Because a child is born by the meeting of man and woman, both
           contribute to the child's life. Naturally, the child will have something of man and something of
           woman. It is only two sides of one coin. On one side is the figure of a woman, on the other side the
           figure of a man. If somebody is man, that means his side which has the figure of man is in his
           conscious, and his woman is in his unconscious.
               You get surprised when you hear that some man wants to become a woman. Now, through
           plastic surgery, it is possible.
               We have here one of the best plastic surgeons who changes sexes, Leeladhar. He hates the work,
           but I told him, "It is immensely beneficial. You should not hate it. If a man can have both the
           experiences in life -- for thirty years he remains a man, and then becomes a woman -- he will be
           more enriched in his experience."
               At least he will not say, like the poets have been saying for centuries, that the woman is a
           mystery. He will know nothing is a mystery, it is only a question of hormones, and a very simple
           difference.
               The woman's genitalia are like your pockets. If you have to search for something, you have to put
           your hand inside. And the function of the surgeon is to pull the pocket out so the pocket hangs out.
           That is man's genitalia. You don't have to search anything, it is already hanging out like Jesus Christ
           on the cross.
               That's why even an old woman can keep her charm, beauty, attraction. In fact, after her
           menopause she becomes more interested in sex than she has ever been. That is nearabout the age
           forty-eight, and that is the time when man becomes tired, finished, spent. That is a good time for a
           sex change.
               And Leeladhar is doing a great service to humanity. In the future, I don't think there will be
           anybody who has not experienced both the sides. And then you will not say that men and women are
           opposites. They are not; they are one -- just complementaries.
               The same is true about darkness and light, and about every contradiction that you can conceive
           of. There are no contradictions anywhere in the world.
               Just the other night one very intelligent journalist from Germany was asking me, "Can you tell
           me which of these two statements is from Sheela?"
           One statement was: "I love Bhagwan totally."
               The second statement was: "Bhagwan is the most corrupted man."
               The journalist was thinking that these are contradictory, so I will have to choose one. I could see
           his face and his eyes in a shock and daze when I said both the statements are from Sheela. I don't
           know where she made those statements, but one thing is certain: I can be absolutely certain both
           came from Sheela -- because your love is always carrying behind it, hate. Your hate is always
           carrying behind it, love.
               Unless you become enlightened and you know the oneness of love and hate, you transcend to a
           new vision of existence where things are one, your ordinary love disappears, your ordinary hate
           disappears.... Gautam Buddha has called that state compassion.
               And his second question was for me: "I ask you, do you still love Sheela?"
               I said, "There is no problem. My love is not of the category of love and hate, my love is of the
           category of compassion."
               Compassion does not depend on the person, the object. Compassion is unconditional. Love is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           not. Love is so conditional that it is bound to turn into hate sooner or later, because nobody can
           fulfill anybody else's conditions. That is an impossibility.
               Each individual is so unique.... How can you fulfill all the conditions that your husband is
           imposing on you, or your wife is imposing on you? Soon the honeymoon is over, and you are
           standing like enemies -- of course, intimate enemies living together in a kind of coexistence; once in
           a while making love, once in a while throwing pillows and things at each other.... And this game of
           love and hate goes on all around the earth, twenty-four hours. Millions of couples go on doing it.
               Have you observed it? Whenever you fight with your wife and she screams and throws pillows,
           and you scream and the whole drama... strangely enough, it ends in making love. There must be a
           deep relationship between both. They are not separate things.
               My compassion does not depend on you. That's why I don't impose anything on you.
               I don't convert anybody. The word "missionary" to me is a four-letter word. It is something
           disgusting. It is interfering into the other person's being.
               The sannyasins who have come to me, have come out of their own freedom, and their freedom
           has not been tampered with in any way by me. And they are free at any moment to love. They are
           free to fall in love; they are free to fall in hate. My compassion remains in its place. Whether you
           love me or you hate me does not make any difference.
               He asked me, "If Sheela and her gang come back would you accept them?"
           I said, "Certainly, I will welcome them."
               He was puzzled. A German mind is easily puzzled. A German mind is not flexible, it is made
           more of steel than of human fibers.
           He said, "You will welcome her?"
           I said, "Certainly."
               He said, "But she has committed crimes! What are you going to do with her crimes?"
               I said, "I will send her to my therapists. And we have all kinds of therapies possible. So she will
           have to move through all those therapies, which will cleanse her mind, make it clearer, more
           perceptive, so that she recognizes that what she did was something in the unconscious of her own
           mind. And once you recognize something as your own unconscious -- this is a law of nature -- it
           loses control over you."
               Not only to Sheela, this is my approach to all crime. For five thousand years we have been
           punishing criminals, and the whole story is simply hilarious.
               A man tries to commit suicide but is caught red-handed, so he could not commit it. Now, the
           court in many countries gives him death as punishment.
           Strange world. Strange laws made by great men.
               You support the man. He was committing suicide -- that was a crime. You caught him, and now
           you kill him and that is punishment. In fact, you are fulfilling his desire which he has not been able
           to fulfill.
               Somebody commits a murder -- certainly the greatest crime. But the question is: the murder is
           committed in the past, the man has a long future ahead; who gives you the authority to hang this man
           and destroy his future? For one thing, killing him will not bring life to the man who is murdered.
               Killing him is not justice but only revenge. You are doing the same that the man had done. But
           he is a criminal because he is powerless, alone, and you have the power of the government, the
           power of the law, the power of the army, so naturally you can justify your crime as law. But murder
           in any way is unlawful.
               Can any court give life to any man? If the courts cannot give life to any man, then no court has
           the authority to destroy any man's life. And, in fact, it is not needed at all. That the man committed
           murder simply means something is wrong with his psychology. It is not a crime; it is a disease. It has
           to be treated, not punished.
               And for a single act you condemn the whole man. That too, is not justified. You can condemn the
           act, but you cannot condemn the individual. The individual has to be respected, just as he was
           respected before. All that can be done is, he should be sent respectfully into a psychiatric nursing
           home, treated, helped, so the wound in his psychology which created the crime disappears.
               Your jails are nothing but universities for criminology. A man goes into your jail for two years'
           confinement. He was just an amateur, obviously; otherwise it would not have been so easy to catch
           hold of him. But in the jail he finds great thieves, master thieves, experts of crime who have come
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many times to the jail and treat the jail as their home. They are called jailbirds.
               Outside, they don't like it very much. You leave them and soon they will commit a crime and will
           be back again. And all the criminals in the jail know one thing: that they have been punished not
           because they committed the crime; they have been punished because they were CAUGHT... because
           they know people who have committed the same crime on a far greater scale and are respectable
           citizens, are receiving Nobel Prizes. They have not been caught.
               So the real crime is to be caught. Crime itself is not crime. And once this enters into the mind of
           a person, you have spoiled his psychology forever.
               This is the history of five thousand years. Courts go on growing, criminals go on growing on a
           greater scale, bigger scale. Your courts, your laws, your jails have not prevented the criminals. After
           five thousand years it is time to have a look: What is the achievement?
               So not only with Sheela.... She has committed crimes of all sorts.
               Just the other day we received information from California, from one of the sannyasins who used
           to be Sheela's secretary in India. She informs us that Sheela had a bank account in Switzerland. The
           bank account is in the name of Sheela and Savita -- and the account is not small, it is forty-three
           million dollars. They have been siphoning money from the European communes into this bank
           account.
               The information came once before also, when I was silent. Sheela simply mentioned that some
           woman had informed the government that "Savita and I have a bank balance, but we are having that
           bank balance for you. In case you have to leave America we will need it to create a commune in
           Switzerland."
               I said, "The bank account is for me and I am not aware of it? You never told me. At least let me
           know how much money is in the account."
           They never told me. She said, "I will find out."
               I asked Savita just two days before she left. She said, "I will find out."
           You don't forget forty-three million dollars!
               And now the account will be used by all this criminal gang. The money belongs to European
           communes; it was meant to come here for the construction of the commune.
               I said in the press conference that we are left by Sheela and her gang with a fifty-five million
           dollar debt. About forty-three million of the mystery is solved. Now it is only a question of a twelve
           million dollar debt, and that too will be solved! It will just take time to figure out their books -- here,
           and all over the world.
               Perhaps this forty-three million was from the time this sannyasin was Sheela's secretary. But that
           was four years ago. In these four years she may have accumulated more money. And the excuse she
           must have been giving to people is that it is needed for the master.
           I was not even aware that I am so rich.
               I am the poorest man on the earth -- nothing belongs to me. From my shoes up to my hat,
           everything belongs to the commune. If I have to leave the commune, I have to leave naked! There is
           no other way. And I wonder how I am going to get a ticket back to India. I don't have a single dollar.
           For twenty years I have not seen money. My people have loved me so much, they have taken care of
           me. There was no need for me.... I have not yet seen, in four years, what the dollar bill looks like.
           And anyway I will not touch it; it may be carrying AIDS!
               Now, if the government is sensitive and has any feeling for people's lives, all dollars which move
           from hand to hand should be stopped. People should be given credit cards. And this is now possible
           with computers. In the commune it is possible. We don't have any currency, we don't use any dollars;
           we use only a credit card which remains your personal possession, it does not move in other people's
           hands.
               Sheela has committed every kind of crime conceivable. Every day information is coming from
           different sources, from the sannyasins who have been afraid to tell it while she was here.
               One sannyasin has informed us that they were looking at the possibility of putting poison on
           postal stamps, because people have the habit when they put the postal stamps on the envelope, to use
           their tongue and their saliva. And if the postal stamp is already poisoned, it can kill them and nobody
           can be caught.
               They were inquiring about these things from people -- "Is this possible? Is that possible?" They
           had all kinds of literature on poison -- how to poison; how big a dose is needed if you want to kill the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           person immediately, or if you want to kill the person slowly within six months, eight months, so you
           are not caught.
               The two persons they had forced to live in Desiderata, telling them that they have been found
           with AIDS, have been checked again. Neither of them has AIDS. The two persons are back in the
           commune.
               Sheela's accomplice in all the medical crimes was Puja, who was culturing all kinds of viruses.
           They had made a clandestine lab in their house, where they had all kinds of poisons, viruses. Perhaps
           they mixed AIDS virus in the samples of the blood of these two persons, so the results came positive.
               Now, this is so ugly, inconceivable. But there must be some reason why these two persons were
           forced to live there. Perhaps they had refused to do some crime. Perhaps Sheela and Puja wanted
           them to kill somebody, or destroy a Wasco County building, and they refused and this was the
           punishment.
               And if they had not gone, they may have injected them with the virus, just as they polluted their
           blood samples which went out for examination, for testing. They may have injected those people
           under any excuse and killed them.
               Still I say I will accept them, because everybody in his deep unconscious carries the criminal.
           The difference is only that they got the opportunity for their criminal to surface. And they have given
           you a good insight -- that when power is in your hands, be very mindful that your unconscious will
           try to exploit and take advantage of the situation. Beware of yourself, because you are so
           unconscious and so asleep.
               Your question is that you have been thinking up to now that in the commune there is all light,
           and outside the commune there is all darkness. This is not something new. This is as ancient as
           humanity.
               In Adolf Hitler's time, Germans thought only Germany has the light and the whole world is full
           of darkness.
               In England, mothers used to create fear in their children, "Don't go out! Adolf Hitler is coming!"
           And that was enough, not only to frighten the children, it was enough to frighten anybody. He was
           the devil. England, America, and their allies, were divine powers.
               But you don't see the situation. America was a divine power because it was fighting against the
           darkness and the devil. And the same America destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima without any
           reason or excuse.
               The war was going to end anyway. Germany had already accepted defeat. Japan could not go on
           fighting on its own strength. The forces against Japan were moving deeper into Japan and destroying
           their whole strength. In at the most one or two weeks Japan would have been on its knees just with
           ordinary weapons. The atom bombs were not needed at all.
               But the president of America, whose name you have to change.... His name was Harry Truman,
           and he is nothing but Harry unTruman. I will use the new name, not the old. Harry unTruman,
           president of America, killed innocent civilians in two cities in Japan, who had done nothing wrong
           against anybody -- for the simple reason that they wanted to experiment whether the atom bomb is
           really reliable or not.
               In Hiroshima, one hundred and twenty thousand people died -- just for an experiment, just to be
           convinced that their scientists have succeeded.
               But history will never call Harry unTruman a criminal. He has become a hero. Your whole
           history is full of criminals whom you have been told and taught are heroes.
               In India, the ancient story of the Hindu religion is that Rama, their incarnation of God, was
           fighting against Ravana, who ruled over Sri Lanka, Ceylon, and was nothing but the devil incarnate.
           And this is absolutely false. He was one of the most learned men the world has known. And if he
           was against Rama, he had valid reasons for it.
               In India, it was a custom, when a princess was going to be married, then all the kings who
           wanted to marry her would be invited, and they would be given some task to do. The princess would
           accept the one who could do the task and garland him as her husband.
               One beautiful princess, Sita, was going to be married. All the kings were invited; Rama was
           invited, Ravana was invited, and it was absolutely certain that the task was such that perhaps only
           Ravana would be able to fulfill it.
               There was a very big bow of Shiva, so heavy that you could not move it even, and the task was to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           take it up and break it into two pieces just with your bare hands. It was as solid as steel.
               Many kings tried; they could not even lift it up. The question of breaking it would not arise.
           There were a few who could not even move it on the ground.
               Ravana was a very mighty king -- physically a King Kong -- so there was every fear... and Rama
           was just a boy. So the only way was somehow to take Ravana out of the competition.
               So a conspiracy was done by Rama. A messenger, a false messenger, was sent who informed
           Ravana, just as he was standing up, "Lord, your capital in Sri Lanka is on fire." And he had made his
           capital perhaps the most beautiful capital of those days. It it said his capital was made completely out
           of gold.
               Naturally, he rushed. And you will be surprised, because from Ayodhya, India, Ceylon is
           thousands of miles away. But Indian scriptures have every description, detailed descriptions of
           airplanes -- he went in his airplane immediately, but found that it was a false report. And in the
           meantime, Rama broke the bow, married Sita, and this was the reason why finally Ravana stole Sita
           from Rama's hands. So Hindus think that Ravana was a devil, and the kingdom of Ceylon was the
           kingdom of devils.
               It is always easy to keep yourself divine, full of light, and to describe anybody who is hostile to
           you as devils, as darkness. But even the idea, to describe others as devils, darkness, and think of
           yourself as light, is ugly.
           And you are asking me, "What is the case with you?"
               I am neither light nor darkness. I have transcended the duality in all the dimensions. I look at life
           as an organic whole. So either you can say I am both light and darkness, or you can say I am neither.
               But you have to understand the fact that both are possible as plausible descriptions of me,
           because I am only a witness.
           Light comes: I see. Darkness comes: I see.
           A saint comes: I see. A sinner comes: I see.
               I am just a mirror, so whatever is in front of me is reflected. But the mirror is not a film plate; the
           moment you have moved, the mirror is empty again.
               In my room I am sitting empty. Most of my day is just a mirror, mirroring nothing. Only when I
           come to you, or to some interview, to the press, the media, then my mirror reflects. Whatever I say is
           not prepared. I don't know myself what my mirror is going to reflect, because it depends on you,
           your question.
               I am transcendental, and that's what I want you to be. Meditation takes you beyond the opposites,
           the contradictions, and makes you a pure witness. And to be a pure witness is the ultimate goal of
           consciousness. There is nothing beyond it, because whatever will be happening, you will remain the
           witness. Even if God comes in front of you, you will be only a witness.
               Witnessing is the highest point of the evolution of consciousness. That's why I have dropped
           God, paradise, hell, heaven. What is the point of all this paraphernalia?
               Stick to the basic essential, and that is: be a witness.
           Right now, you are!
           Are you not witnessing this silence?
               Try to keep this flavor as long as you can. Slowly slowly it becomes your very existence. It is --
           you just have to discover it.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE STORY YOU TELL OF BODHIDHARMA HANDING OVER HIS KEY TO A DISCIPLE, THIS
              DISCIPLE CUTS OFF HIS HAND AS A WAY OF DEMONSTRATING HIS SURRENDER, HIS
              READINESS TO DO WHATSOEVER THE MASTER WISHES HIM TO DO.
              IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS AVAILABILITY TO A MASTER AND BEING THE
              PERFECT PARROT AS YOU HAVE RECENTLY DESCRIBED SHEELA?


               You are also a parrot. You have not understood the story that I have told. You have not even
           heard it. In your sleep you have managed to convince yourself that you have heard the story, that you
           have understood the story.
           First, let me repeat the story.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           It was not a question of surrender.
                Bodhidharma is one of the greatest enlightened men who has ever existed, and one of the most
           unique amongst all the enlightened men. In many ways he surpasses his own master, Gautam
           Buddha.
                Gautam Buddha was a man of manners, son of a king, well educated in etiquette, in language,
           literature, music, archery -- in whatsoever was available there in those days, he was educated.
                Bodhidharma was an uneducated person. So there are bound to be differences. But he was a very
           straightforward man, no sophistication, no way of being nice. He was just a sword, really sharp to
           cut off any head.
                He went to China. His fame had reached before him. The emperor of China, Wu, who ruled over
           all China -- which is one-fourth of the world -- was one of the greatest emperors. He came to receive
           Bodhidharma, because he had heard so many strange stories about him. And he had already become
           converted to Buddhism by other Buddhist monks who had reached before Bodhidharma.
                Emperor Wu asked Bodhidharma, "I have made thousands of statues of Buddha, thousands of
           temples in China. I am financially supporting hundreds of monasteries where thousands of Buddhist
           monks are living. What is going to be my reward? I am doing everything which is virtuous."
                That's what the other monks were telling him. That's what the other priests of other religions
           have been telling rich people: donate to the church, donate to the religion, and you will be rewarded
           immensely in paradise.
                I also say to you, Donate if you want to go to hell with me, because I don't like heaven at all. All
           those idiotic saints who do not even drink tea, who have never sung a song, who have never danced,
           who have never loved a woman -- just dry bones. Heaven must be a graveyard, a long graveyard
           filled with skeletons moving all around, carrying their harps and playing on the harp, "Alleluia." I
           cannot tolerate that kind of nonsense. Once in a while it is okay, but for eternity?
                And you are not going to meet any beautiful people in heaven, people with juice, people with
           color -- poets, painters, dancers, film actors and actresses, philosophers, atheists, scientists -- all the
           people who had genius of some kind, talented people.
                You will not find Michelangelo there, or Leonardo da Vinci, or Kant, or Socrates. No, that is
           impossible. All these people are in hell, and I would love to take you all to hell, because hell must be
           a tremendously beautiful place where all these geniuses have gathered. And once we reach there, we
           are going to make it a really great oasis. It is not Oregon. You will not have to face idiotic hostility.
           You will be received with great joy.
                But all other religions have been telling you, "Donate; that is the greatest virtue." The money
           goes to the priest. The money goes to the bishop, to the cardinal, and finally it reaches to the Vatican.
                Now, my suggestion is that the Vatican should be turned into an AIDS home, because they are
           responsible for homosexuality. They should be forced to accept their criminal act. To teach people
           celibacy, to teach that monks cannot have any love relationship with a woman, and nuns cannot have
           any contact with men, you are preparing the ground for homosexuality. And AIDS is the ultimate
           outcome of this homosexuality. That's why I call AIDS a very virtuous disease, immensely religious.
                There used to be a saying that "All roads lead to Rome." I would like to say to you: all roads still
           lead to Rome, but not for everybody -- only for people who are suffering from AIDS. People
           suffering from AIDS from all over the world should start moving towards the Vatican.
                The pope is the richest man in the world. He controls more riches than any Rockefeller, he has
           more power than any king or queen. In fact, there is only one queen in the whole world, and that is in
           England. Four other queens are in playing cards, but all five have the same power.
                The pope has the grip over six hundred million Catholics, and money goes on pouring into the
           Vatican.
                So the Emperor Wu asks the first question to Bodhidharma, "I have donated so much. What is
           going to be my reward?"
                He was not aware that Bodhidharma was a very straightforward man. He said, "Nothing. Instead,
           you should be punished."
                The emperor could not believe it. He said, "But all the monks have been telling me, 'Donate.
           Make temples. Make caravanserais. Make hospitals, schools. Give in charity to the monasteries.'
           And you are making just the opposite statement."
                Bodhidharma said, "In the first place, from where did you get all this money? For that you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           be punished. Secondly, these people have been exploiting you, and you are a just an idiot. No virtue
           in it, only stupidity."
                To talk to the emperor of such a big empire in this way you need real guts. And Bodhidharma is
           the strongest man in the whole of history. The emperor wanted to change the subject. Bodhidharma
           said, "Nothing doing. I am not entering your capital. I am not interested in being your guest. I am
           going to the hills in the Himalayas. I have found a cave while I was coming here. It is really
           beautiful." There the story happened that you are mentioning.
                Bodhidharma sat in that cave facing the wall. That too, only Bodhidharma can do. A few people
           came -- impressed because he has put the emperor into his right place. That man was exploiting the
           whole country. The whole country was suffering in poverty because of him, and nobody had the
           courage to say it. And this man did it in a single sentence, and refused to be a guest of a criminal.
                So a few people came there, but he would not turn towards them. He said, "I will turn only when
           I see that somebody who has guts has come; otherwise, whether to face towards the wall or towards
           your faces makes no difference."
                Finally this young man came, who said to Bodhidharma, "You have to turn now! I, for whom
           you have been waiting, have come. Do you want some proof?"
                And before Bodhidharma could say anything, with his sword the man cut off his hand and placed
           it at Bodhidharma's feet. And he said, "If you want me to cut off my head, I can do that too;
           otherwise, turn towards me!"
                It was not a question of surrender. How have you managed to hear surrender? This man has not
           cut off the hand to show his surrender. He has really shown his unique individuality, not surrender.
           Just the opposite!
                He is not surrendering to Bodhidharma; he is forcing Bodhidharma, "Now you cannot go against
           your promise; otherwise, I am going to cut off my head too."
                And Bodhidharma turned immediately. He had to. He said, "This is too much. There was no need
           to cut off the hand."
                The man said, "The hand does not matter, neither does the head. I have lived with this hand and
           with this head for fifty years, and there is no ecstasy, no blissfulness. The whole life has been just a
           long story of misery, suffering, pain. It has been just a tragedy. Seeing you, a man of steel, I thought
           perhaps here is the man who knows the secret.
                "So if I have to live, I have to live with you. And you have to teach me; otherwise, there is no
           point in living."
                It was not a question of surrender. In fact, he forced Bodhidharma to accept him as his disciple,
           and he proved worthy.
           Such people have disappeared from the world.
                And you think you surrendered to Sheela? Don't hide your cowardliness -- because I have not
           been teaching you to surrender. I have been teaching you to be individual, and to take responsibility,
           to do everything that you can do for yourself and the commune. But do it out of love, not out of fear.
           Surrender is fear.
                Love is not surrender. Love does not ask you to surrender. Love does not ask for anything. Love
           simply gives. And the miracle is, that when you give out of love the whole existence returns it a
           thousandfold, as if, from all over around you, roses start showering on you. You cannot imagine,
           cannot conceive of it, unless you experience it. But give it a try. You will not be losing anything.
                Love is not something like a commodity, that if you give it you will have less of it. It is not
           money, that you had ten dollars and five you have given; now you have only five dollars left.
                Love is not a commodity. It is not a quantity; it is a quality.
                Give it, and you will be surprised that from unknown sources, from everywhere, love is flowing
           towards you.
                Give it unconditionally, and once you have known the taste and the joy of giving
           unconditionally, you will also know that the existence is very generous.
                But it gives only to the givers, and you are always begging. That's why I am against prayer,
           because all prayer is begging. "Give me this. Lord, give me today's bread." What nonsense! You
           cannot even create today's bread?
                And Jesus is thought to do miracles -- turning stones into bread, walking on water, making dead
           people alive. And he also goes on asking, "Lord, give us our bread for today."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               What about small, simple human beings, who cannot walk on water, and cannot make bread out
           of stones, and cannot revive dead people? Naturally, they will be simply beggars.
               All the religions of the world have turned humanity into beggars, and they have all praised
           poverty to make you really beggars.
               I am against poverty, and I am against begging. You have intelligence, you have physical
           strength; you can create. And if you cannot even create enough bread for yourself, then what is the
           point of going on living, dragging?
               I believe in creativity, and I want every human being to be a creator. And we can create as much
           wealth as is needed. There is no need to be like the Soviet Union -- to distribute poverty. We can
           create so much wealth that nobody needs to hoard it. There is no need, because it is available, and
           you are capable of creating it.
               Love will give you the secret key, the golden key, the master key.
               Love unconditionally, and flowers will be showering on you from all the directions. And once
           you have known the generosity of existence you will never feel miserable.
               You are part of such an opulent, luxurious abundance. Can't you see existence is luxurious?
               To create one child, the male releases millions of sperms. This I call luxury! Existence is not
           miserly. Only one out of millions will become a child, and that too, once in a while.
               And that too, only if you are still listening to the idiots -- Ayatollah Khomeiniac, Pope the
           Polack, Shankaracharya the Idiot -- if you are listening to these people, only then. Otherwise, the Pill
           will prevent even that invading army, one million people -- just a small pill.
               This is a real miracle, not making one dead man alive. This is a miracle: a small pill preventing
           millions of people.
               But as far as existence is concerned, it is really opulent in every way. It goes on flowering. How
           many flowers? And how many species of flowers? How many animals? And how many species of
           animals? How many birds? And how many species of birds?
               In everything, existence creates luxuriously. It is not miserly.
               Giving love unconditionally you will understand, and that understanding will be a transformation
           of you. It will make you a new man.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #8
                                       Chapter title: Intelligence is a luxury
           22 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509220
              ShortTitle: BONDAG08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 118 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS CHRISTIANITY THE ONLY RELIGION THAT HAS CAUSED SEX PERVERSION?
              WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT HINDUISM?


              Christianity is certainly one of the most perverted of all religions, but it is nothing compared with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hinduism. Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world, and it has caused in its own way many
           perversions. All those perversions that Christianity has created, Hinduism has been doing long
           before Christianity was born. In fact, there are many Hindu scholars who believe that Christ never
           existed; he is only another name for Krishna, the Hindu perfect incarnation of God.
                Krishna in Bengali is called Christo. Then you can see it is not very difficult that the name
           Krishna can become Christ. If it can become Christo, then Christ is not very far. And whatever
           teachings are there in the name of Christ are all borrowed from Hinduism. Perhaps that is the reason
           why Jews never accepted Christianity: it was a foreign teaching.
                For example, Jews have never believed in celibacy. Even their rabbis are married. Jesus
           advocated celibacy -- which is basically a Hindu concept. And from Hinduism it has reached to
           Jainism, to Buddhism, and perhaps to Christianity too.
                The Hindu monk, for ten thousand years at least, has been insistently trying to prove that
           celibacy is spiritual power, that it connects you with divine power, with God. This is simply absurd.
           Celibacy has nothing to do with holiness.
                And celibacy gives no power; on the contrary, it creates a conflict within you because you are
           trying to fight with your own energy. It weakens you. Your own power becomes divided; and a
           house divided against itself cannot be powerful. And it was because of celibacy that tantra was born
           in India -- which is just a revolution, a rebellion against Hinduism.
                Hinduism says celibacy is spiritual, and tantra made sex spiritual -- and tantra is closer to
           biology, physiology, science, humanity. Tantra has never created any perversion; but tantra never
           became a religion, it remained an independent philosophical approach. Anybody can follow it. There
           is no question that you have to believe in God, that you have to believe in heaven and hell or
           anything.
                Tantra is a tremendous meditation because sexual orgasm is your natural potentiality to feel, just
           for a moment, something of the beyond. Tantra uses orgasm and joins it with meditation, and what is
           only for a single moment can become your twenty-four hour state. And it makes it a scientific thing;
           that orgasm has nothing to do with the other person.
                While you are making love you come to a peak of tension, and because that tension relaxes, you
           feel a tremendous silence descending on you, a great relaxation -- for a few moments no thought, no
           time. Everything has disappeared; there is only pure isness.
                Tantra says this is your natural gift, and it has been given to you so that you can find the way that
           it is possible for you to be without thoughts, relaxed, and the same orgasmic experience will follow.
           It has nothing to do with the other. And once you know how to relax, how to drop the thoughts, how
           to stop time, how to stop mind, you discover your pure isness.
                To me tantra seems to be the only contribution that seekers after truth have given to the world. It
           has no perversion of any kind. It uses nature to experience something which is very simple, and then
           makes you aware that this simple experience can be experienced in your aloneness. And that very
           moment you transcend the dependence on the other, because certainly the other is always a trouble, a
           pain in the neck.
                Jean-Paul Sartre says, "The other is hell." It does not matter whether the other is man or woman
           -- "The other is hell" because you have to depend for your only meaningful experience in life on the
           other.
                Tantra gives you tremendous freedom from the other, and a great gratitude for the other; it is
           because of the other that you have become able to attain freedom from all dependence.
                Tantra arose in India as a rebellion against Hinduism -- because Hinduism was doing the same,
           on a greater scale, with more sophistication and philosophy, as Christianity did later on in a very
           crude and primitive way. Hinduism was teaching celibacy, and celibacy is bound to lead to
           perversions, particularly homosexuality. And homosexuality has brought the ultimate flowering in
           AIDS.
                But one thing should be remembered: just like the Christian trinity, Hindus also have a trinity --
           Brahma, the creator god; Vishnu, the god who maintains the world; and Shiva, who will destroy the
           world. This is a cycle. Then Brahma creates the world again, and for millions of years Vishnu
           maintains it; then one day Shiva destroys it. So you will be surprised to know that in the whole of
           India there is only one temple devoted to Brahma. Who cares for him? His work is finished -- he
           created the world.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                All the temples are of Vishnu, or incarnations of Vishnu. All the incarnations of Hindu gods --
           Rama, Krishna, they are all incarnations of Vishnu. Naturally, it is simple business that Vishnu
           maintains the world and he is in power.
                And there are temples of Shiva too, but not so many as the temples of Krishna and Rama and
           other manifestations of Vishnu.
                Shiva is worshipped out of fear because he is going to destroy the world. If you worship him he
           can be a little favorable to you. He may destroy you in some sophisticated way -- an electric chair,
           not a crude, ugly cross like the one on which Jesus was crucified; or giving you a disease, AIDS,
           which is far cruder a cross than the one Jesus was carrying and dying on.
                Vishnu has a wife; he is not celibate. Shiva has a wife; he is not celibate. But gods have to be
           given some privilege which is not allowed to the Hindu monk. Gods are a different category. But it is
           very strange that nobody in ten thousand years has asked that when Vishnu and Shiva can have
           wives, then what is the reason that the Hindu monk should renounce the wife, the children, leave
           them in poverty, misery, disease, and gain spiritual power by it?
                In fact, he is committing a crime. And he will turn into a homosexual. I know hundreds of Hindu
           monks who are homosexual, because women will not be allowed in with them, alone; otherwise their
           whole purity, spirituality, will be immediately condemned. But men can remain with them. As far as
           I have known no Hindu monk is celibate, and there is no wonder in it because celibacy is an
           impossibility; and particularly for a Hindu monk.
                It may be possible for a Jaina monk to be celibate because he eats only one time a day. He eats in
           his hands, making a cup of his hands, and whatever his two hands can have at one time, that's all that
           he has to eat. It cannot be much. He lives starving, hungry. There is no possibility for two things:
           one, he will not have any intelligence, because intelligence comes to you only when you have an
           overflow of physical energy. Intelligence is a luxury. All the animals are living without it; it is a
           human luxury. But luxury can exist only when you have more energy than is needed for your
           physical survival.
                And secondly, he can be celibate because he has not enough energy to create male sperms. If you
           see a Jaina monk you will feel pity: he is just bones. His eyes don't show any intelligence. Whatever
           he says seems to be simply ordinary. But his celibacy is killing him -- he is on a suicidal path. He
           may not be perverted in the ordinary sense of being a homosexual or a sodomist, but I call this too a
           perversion. He is destroying himself every day, he is dying! No Jaina monk needs AIDS: he creates
           it himself.
                But Hindus and their monks are a different matter. You will find the Hindu monk eating very
           nourishing food, and eating too much; all the Hindu monks you will find overweight.
                One of the great Hindu monks, Nityananda, the master of Swami Muktananda -- Muktananda
           was very well known in America. Nityananda had only one unique quality: his belly. I don't think in
           the whole history of man anybody had such a big belly! When he lies down you can see a strange
           shape.
                When I saw him I told him, "You don't have a belly, your belly has a head and legs, because that
           is your major part!" But he is worshipped, he is thought to be enlightened. And his belly is proof
           enough. And now this man cannot be celibate: he is eating so much that he will create sexual energy.
           What is he going to do with that energy? Anything that he will do will be a perversion; and the
           easiest way is always homosexuality, because if he is found with a woman, all his respectability and
           great sainthood will disappear. He has to be with a man, and then nobody suspects.
                And these people have never asked about their god Vishnu, who has a beautiful lady, Laxmi,
           with him. Their god Shiva has an even more beautiful woman, Parvati. Let me drift a little....
                Shiva was so infatuated with Parvati that, when she died, he would not let her body be burned, as
           is the Hindu custom; on the contrary, he took the dead body of Parvati on his shoulder, and moved
           all over the country: perhaps somewhere, some physician might revive her again. He could not live
           without Parvati.
                It took twelve years for him to go around the country, to visit all the great physicians. And he
           was so deadly blind in his infatuation that he did not even notice that in twelve years the legs of the
           woman fell, the hands of the woman fell, the head of the woman fell -- and he is still seeking a
           physician!
                There are twelve most holy places in India where Parvati's limbs had fallen. But strange, this
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man is mad! And to make those places holy, and on the other hand to insist that celibacy is needed
           for man.... For gods there are different rules, for man there are different rules.
               I talked only about two gods. One more incident will show you what kind of gods Hindus have.
           In fact all religions have pornography in their literature, but nobody can surpass Hindus.
               It is said, one day Brahma and Vishnu argued about something and could not come to a
           settlement, so they said, "We should go to Shiva; perhaps he can help us come to a conclusion."
               Shiva's son was sitting at the door, watching. He was told that nobody was to be allowed, but he
           had never thought that Vishnu, Brahma, were included, and he was at a loss: how to prevent these
           gods? That will be insulting. So he allowed them. Shiva was making love to Parvati. These two
           gentlemen came and stood there for six hours, and the love went on, and Shiva and Parvati did not
           take any note of the two gentlemen standing there.
               Frustrated and angry they left and cursed Shiva, "You have insulted us badly, and we curse you
           that you will be remembered by your sex organs." That's why Shiva's statue is just a phallic symbol
           resting in Parvati's vagina. And all over India that statue is worshipped, and nobody bothers what
           they are worshipping! And they are great spiritual people worshipping genitalia, and that too, in a
           state of making love!
               It is ugly. But religious people are blind, everywhere. No Hindu ever thinks, "What is this
           shivalinga?" Even the name, shivalinga, means the genitalia of Shiva. They go on calling it
           shivalinga without understanding even the meaning of the word. There are no statues of Shiva, only
           these phallic symbols -- because of the curse.
               Only Brahma is without a wife -- obviously, because he is the creator god. From where will he
           find a wife? But what he did is even worse. He created a woman and became so infatuated that he
           started running after the woman to catch hold of her and rape her! His own daughter! But gods are
           allowed every crime. And the woman, afraid that he would rape her, became a cow.
               Brahma became a bull; you cannot deceive Brahma, the god, the creator -- and that's how the
           whole creation has come into being. That's why there are so many species of animals, man, insects.
           The reason is: the woman goes on changing and Brahma goes on following, changing himself into
           the male. It is still continuing.
               It is not just a short affair like the Christian God, who made the whole world in six days, and was
           so tired on the seventh that he rested; and since then he has been resting. Nothing has been heard
           about him. Monday never came again; he has never been back on the job. Just in six days he got
           spent, finished!
               Brahma is still continuing, chasing the woman. He has not yet caught her because she goes on
           changing her form, he has to change his form; by the time he reaches closer she changes her form.
           And the creation goes on and on in different species. This idea looks closer to evolution; otherwise,
           why so many species? What is the need? So many mosquitoes -- what is the need? So many bedbugs
           -- what is the need?
               The Christian God cannot answer that he created bedbugs to suck the blood of Christians; and
           created mosquitoes, created snakes and scorpions -- for poor Christians! But what can Brahma do?
           The woman is certainly a mystery: she goes on becoming things which even Brahma may think is
           not right, but what can he do? -- he is infatuated.
               She becomes a scorpion so he has to become a scorpion. She becomes a bedbug; feeling that now
           Brahma will stop. But he is not going to stop -- he becomes a bigger bedbug. And the story
           continues; the creation is continuous. But the reason for this continuity is that the father is trying to
           rape his own daughter.
               What do you call it? -- perversion or spirituality?
               Hinduism has all the perversion that Christianity has, and much more.
               One of the incarnations of God is Krishna. Hindus believe that there are going to be twenty-four
           incarnations of God. Twenty-three have happened; for the twenty-fourth they are waiting.
               That, too, is a subtle psychology in every religion: some hope has to be left. Jesus Christ is
           coming back; the twenty-fourth incarnation of God is going to happen.... And they have been
           thinking this for thousands of years. It never happens, and it is not going to happen ever. It is just a
           hope, an opium, to keep people thinking of the future so they can forget their misery in the present.
           The twenty-fourth God will come and release you from your bondage, suffering, misery, pain --
           everything. He will open the door of paradise for you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Krishna had sixteen thousand wives. These were not married to him; he had married only one
           woman, Rukmani -- one out of sixteen thousand. These were other people's wives whom he had
           taken forcibly. Their children, their husbands were deprived. And what are you going to do with
           sixteen thousand wives?
                Even one wife is enough to finish you. Sixteen thousand wives! Perhaps the strategy is that
           sixteen thousand wives will quarrel among themselves, and Krishna will be saved; nobody will
           bother about him. He may not even know their names, he may not know their faces; he may not have
           made love to many of those women.
                He has done a great crime! Those women belong to somebody else -- what is that man going to
           do? What are the children of those women going to do? They have lost their mother unnecessarily.
           But no Hindu objects that such a thing is simply the worst crime you can commit. And of course
           Rukmani behaved just like any woman will behave: became very jealous that this man goes on
           bringing women.
                I had a meditation camp in Gujarat, in India, in a very beautiful place, Tulsishyam. In the valley
           -- it was a mountainous place -- in the valley there is a temple of Krishna with one of his beloveds,
           Tulsi, who is not his wife. And on top of the hill there is a temple of Rukmani, but made in such a
           way that Krishna cannot see the temple, but Rukmani can go on watching from there what is
           happening there in Krishna's temple with Tulsi. I loved the idea! -- the whole human psychology.
                Rukmani is alone and angry. You can see her face: the despair, anger, hate, jealousy. And the
           temple is facing towards the valley. I have been in the temple and stood by the side of Rukmani's
           statue. You can see Krishna and Tulsi. They are nothing more than statues, but you can see from
           there both the fellows. Standing in Krishna's temple you cannot see Rukmani, nor her temple. It is
           hidden in bushes, high in the mountain. But whoever was the architect has made it plain that
           Rukmani must have been very jealous -- just like any woman.
                And Krishna was nothing but a playboy, and that too, not a nice one. I have no objection: if some
           woman loves him and he loves her, to me there is no problem, that is perfectly good. But he has
           forced those sixteen thousand women from their homes, and imprisoned them in his own palace.
           This is not love! This is not even human. But he is considered to be the perfect incarnation of God.
           The other twenty-three will be partial incarnations of God. What a perfection!
                You ask me about Hinduism and its sexual perversion.... All the religions have their sexual
           perversion. They have created sex maniacs, they have created rapists, they have created
           homosexuals, they have created lesbians; and now the ultimate outcome of it all is AIDS. AIDS is
           the great contribution of all the religions together.
                And idiotic politicians are making homosexuality illegal. They should make all these religions
           illegal, because they are the cause of all sexual perversions, and unless they are removed from the
           psychology of man, man can never be really natural. And that is one of the fundamentals for his
           growth.
           You can only grow by being natural.
                And nature has provided you everything, even a glimpse of meditation which will lead you to the
           ultimate goal of enlightenment.
                But making homosexuality illegal is making the symptom illegal, not the cause. And nobody is
           taking care what is the cause, who are the people who have forced man to be sexually perverted?
           Your saints, your founders of religions are the greatest criminals humanity has known. They have
           perverted you in every possible way. Their whole teaching is against nature.
                Mohammedanism allows every Mohammedan four wives. Nature produces equal numbers of
           men and women. Now, if a man marries four wives then what are the other three men going to do?
           You are forcing them into some perversion. Either they will become homosexuals, or they will
           follow the path of sodomy and make love to animals.
                And if homosexuality has brought AIDS, no one knows what will happen if sodomy spreads,
           because if you make homosexuality illegal, a crime, you are driving people towards sodomy.
           Sodomy is not a crime, so people will start making love to dogs, to cows, to deer. And if a man
           making love to another man has created this disease, you can conceive something even worse will
           happen out of sodomy.
                The simple thing is: make celibacy a crime, anybody who remains celibate will be sent into jail
           for five years. Make all the monks marry the nuns. Of course the Polack pope will be in difficulty:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           no nun will like to be married to the Polack. Then Mother Teresa will be good.
              But something has to be done to uproot the cause, the very cause; otherwise humanity cannot be
           saved.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GERMAN SANNYASINS WHO COME HERE YEAR BY YEAR FOR A
              COUPLE OF MONTHS AND TOTALLY REFUSE TO GO INTO ONE OF THE EUROPEAN
              COMMUNES?
              WHY IS THE ATMOSPHERE IN GERMANY SO HOSTILE THAT WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GO
              INTO THE STREETS ALONE, EVEN IN DAYTIME?
              HOW CAN WE LIVE WITH THIS HOSTILITY?
              HERE I HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING ALONE.
              I LOVE THE SPACE HERE, AND NATURE SURROUNDING ME. GERMANY IS TIGHT AND THE
              COMMUNES ARE IN THE CITIES.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Germany is still being followed by the shadow of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler has contaminated the
           German mind to such depths that even the new generation, which has not known Adolf Hitler and
           what he did in Germany, in some way carries the impact.
               Adolf Hitler has the unique distinction in the whole history of man of killing ten million people.
           There have been Alexander the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan,
           Tamerlane, Nadirshah -- but they have all proved pygmies in comparison to this madman, Adolf
           Hitler.
               Adolf Hitler is in the air. The German mind is still the by-product of this man, so when German
           sannyasins come here, they find a totally different atmosphere. They feel respected, loved; they feel
           their dignity, and they start deep down relaxing. So when the question comes of them going back,
           they don't want to. They have tasted something better than Germany.
               Just the other night one very beautiful and intelligent German journalist was asking me if I ever
           leave America where will I go. I said, "In the first place I am not going to leave America until I get
           my green card. Alive, I cannot leave America without the green card. I will fight up to the Supreme
           Court."
               They have only six categories for obtaining the green card, and I have applied on five categories.
           And if they want me to apply on the sixth I can do that too. The sixth is marriage, and I can marry as
           many women as they want, because the more women you marry, the more you become capable of
           obtaining the green card. I can defeat Krishna very easily. I can break all the records!
               And on each category I am going to fight separately. Each category will take twenty years to be
           decided by the Supreme Court, by the time it reaches to the Supreme Court. If I get the green card,
           good; if I don't get, I will start the case in the second category. Five categories means one hundred
           years! All the Supreme Court judges will be dead, at least twenty presidents will be dead; all the INS
           officers and their two, three generations will be dead. I will be dead -- but the fight will continue!
               My people will be here, my grave will be here, and my grave will ask for the green card. And
           this is strange: living you won't allow me to be here, but if I die, you will allow my grave to be here.
           What kind of logic is there? Just be dead, and you get the green card. Is America a worshipper of
           death?
               And for four years they have not been able to find a single argument against my applications. A
           whole department is continuously working, but I will tell them, "You will never find anything
           against me." Who can prove that I am not a religious man? And if I am not a religious man, then on
           what grounds are Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, religious people? Who can prove that I am
           not a religious leader?
               You all can stand as a witness. How many people do they want to witness? I have one million
           sannyasins around the world.
               Jainism is a religion which has only three hundred thousand people, and you accept it, and you
           have accepted Jainas and given them green cards. In fact, you will have to tell me which number
           makes a man a religious leader? And what is the criterion? Even five people accepting me as their
           leader are enough. Even a single person accepting me as his leader.... You cannot destroy a single
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           individual's right.
               For four years they have been working. So I told the German journalist that if they give me the
           green card tomorrow, I will immediately move to Germany. He was shocked. He said, "Why
           Germany?"
               I said, "Because Germany needs me. After Adolf Hitler somebody is needed to destroy the
           conditioning that he has left behind. And I would love to have a little taste of German politicians too.
           I have seen the American politicians and their stupidity; I would like to see the German politicians,
           how they behave with me."
               But I can understand the sannyasins who come here and don't want to go. They should find a way
           not to go. There are always ways. If you don't want to go -- this whole earth belongs to us. All
           political boundaries are false. And nobody ever asks, "When Columbus landed in America, did he
           have any visa, any green card?
               I am going to fight the case, and anybody who does not want to go is welcome. Fight! -- because
           we want to destroy all these visas and green cards and passports. There is no need; the whole earth is
           ours, and movement is man's birthright.
               If you want to live in Germany or in India, why should you be stopped? And every day
           foreigners are getting to your country and you don't think about it. When a child is born he is a
           foreigner, coming from outer space, and he is okay. And Germany is not that far away. And you
           don't ask the child, "Where is the visa?" and "Apply for the green card!"
               And he is absolutely a foreigner. He is not coming from anywhere on the earth. He is coming
           from somewhere, from some other planet, and who knows...? He should show his passport. America
           should decide that each child born should bring his green card with him. Just make a law; otherwise
           the child is illegal.
           This whole thing is so idiotically nonsensical.
               Man is simply man -- neither American nor German nor Indian nor African.
               And each man should be respected just as a human being. His color does not matter, where he
           was born does not matter.
               He was born on this earth, and the earth has no lines on it dividing it into nations.
               The first man who walked on the moon, when he came back and was asked what was his first
           idea when he walked on the moon and looked at the earth, he said, "My first idea was, 'My beautiful
           earth!'" It looked so beautiful from there, because from there it is as lighted as the moon. But the way
           he said, "My beautiful earth!"... The Soviet Union was not excluded.
               The earth is one whole, and sooner or later humanity has to accept it as one whole.
               As my communes around the world become more consolidated, stronger, then Rajneeshpuram is
           going to be the capital of the whole world. And we are going to give you international visas,
           international passports. You need not have an American passport or Indian passport. It is so
           humiliating, insulting. You will have an international passport. We are going to issue international
           passports, and we will tell the whole world that those passports should be respected; otherwise our
           communes around the world will revolt. They will burn all their passports, and all their visas, and all
           their green cards.
               And we would like to see one million people imprisoned for the single reason that they have
           committed the crime that they wanted the whole earth to be one. If you are imprisoned for such a
           cause it is something sacred.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE PAST FEW DAYS YOU HAVE REPEATEDLY DISCUSSED THE NEED TO SUPPORT THE
              FORMER "MOMS." YOU KEEP ON REMINDING THE REST OF US THAT WE ARE RESPONSIBLE
              FOR SHEELA, WE ALLOWED HER TO DO WHAT SHE DID.
              THESE MOMS ARE THE SAME ONES WHO THREATENED ME FOR THREE YEARS TO EITHER
              DO WHAT THEY TOLD ME TO -- SURRENDER TO YOU, THEY TOLD ME -- OR LEAVE.
              I, AND MANY OF US, WITHOUT KNOWING ALL THE FACTS, STAYED ON TO BE WITH YOU AND
              HELP CREATE WHAT WE WERE TOLD WAS YOUR VISION.
              NOW YOU CONDEMN US FOR STAYING HERE, THAT WE MUST KEEP THESE VERY SAME
              PEOPLE IN THEIR POWER POSITIONS. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY WE CANNOT LOVE
              THESE MOMS AND STILL THEY COULD NOT BECOME MORE ASSIMILATED AND LIVE WITH
              THE REST OF US; AND NEW, FRESH PEOPLE DO WHAT THESE MOMS HAD BEEN DOING.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PLEASE EXPLAIN.


                First, the days of the moms are over. Nobody is a mom anymore. I was not even aware that there
           were moms! It must have been Sheela's idea. She was married to a Jew: "mom" is a Jewish word,
           and Jewish moms are the most dangerous in the world. For your own sake they will kill you!
                But I am keeping the same people in their positions for the simple reason that they should not
           feel that remaining behind, revolting against Sheela's group, they have been punished. They should
           be rewarded, not punished. They are the people who are going to expose the whole series of crimes
           of Sheela and her group. To remove them from their positions is insulting to them. They will
           certainly take it as a punishment.
                You should love them and respect them more than ever, because before you were respecting
           them out of fear; now respect them out of love because they decided to remain with you and not to
           go with Sheela, who was threatening them in every possible way. And they knew perfectly well that
           she has been trying to kill people; she has already killed one person. She was trying to poison my
           milk!
                So these people of course are no longer moms, of course they don't have any fascist authority, so
           why unnecessarily be disrespectful to those who have remained with you? They have chosen you
           rather than Sheela.
                And as far as those persons are concerned, I would like to say to them, "Forget that fascist
           nightmare, and behave with everybody just as a sannyasin." There is no hierarchy. While I am here
           there is no possibility of any hierarchy.
                Hasya is just a sannyasin, no more than you. You may be working in the kitchen, she is working
           in the office. You may be a doctor, she is the president of the foundation. These are functions, so
           while she is in the office she is president; when she is out of the office she is just the same as you
           are.
                The plumber and the professor are not different when they are dancing in the disco. You cannot
           say to anybody, "You are a plumber -- I cannot dance with you, I am the vice-chancellor of the
           university."
                There is no hierarchy, but functions have to be different. Everybody is needed. Sometimes we
           can do without the professor, but we cannot do without the plumber. Sometimes we can do without
           the president, but we cannot do without the kitchen people.
                All functions which are needed by the commune to survive, and not only to survive but live
           abundantly, are equal; functions are equal. But when somebody is doing his function, you should
           behave with the person according to his function.
                For example, if you go to the president.... I have given the prefix to all women sannyasins, "ma"
           -- "Ma Prem Hasya." The men have been given names with "swami." So when somebody is
           functioning in an office, you have to be respectful, even though he may be your friend. You should
           address Hasya as "Ma," not "mom." You should address John as "Swami." But when they are out of
           their office you can address them as Hasya, as John; they are your friends.
                Just a little alertness, awareness on everybody's part, and there is no difficulty in it. If we can
           leave our position, power, work, in the office, it will help you to be more human, more loving, more
           loved, more respected. And while I am here there is no problem.
                This nightmare happened only because I was silent for three and a half years. When I said this to
           a journalist, he immediately responded, "That means you are responsible for it."
                I said, "Certainly. I am responsible for Adolf Hitler, because why was I not born in Germany at
           that time? I am responsible for every criminal in the world because why was I not there to prevent
           him? I was not silent to give an opportunity to Sheela to create a fascist regime. My reason to be
           silent was my own. But certainly it gave her an opportunity, and she forgot completely that she was
           only there to represent me."
                She must have been thinking that I am going to be silent forever. The moment I started feeling
           that something was going wrong, I came back.
                But this experience was immensely good. In my whole life I have never felt that anything bad
           happens. You have just to use it in a right way. And we will use it in a right way, we are using it in a
           right way. The commune is more clean, unburdened, fresh, more joyous, more aware.
                And these three and a half years' silence were needed for me to get disconnected with all that I
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have said before. Now I am speaking on my own authority, on my own experience. That
           discontinuity was absolutely needed. And you will see the difference.
               I have spoken on Jesus before; I am speaking on Jesus now too, but now I am saying exactly
           what I see, feel, experience. Then I was choosing from Jesus' sayings because I was trying to find my
           own people.
               When you open a new shop you need customers! When I opened my shop I saw all my
           customers were accustomed to going to other shops. They were all divided: somebody was Hindu,
           somebody was Mohammedan, somebody was Christian. There was not a single person who was
           freely available to me. Then naturally I started speaking on Jesus, Krishna, Mahavira, Buddha, Sufis,
           Zen mystics -- Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Milarepa, Marpa.... I covered the whole range, and got hold of
           many customers from other shops.
               It was necessary. Now I have got my own customers, and I can say to you the truth. And you are
           able to hear it and to understand it. Before you would not have been able to understand it.
               So it has been a good experience in every way and we will make much use of it. It was a great
           cleansing. And you are far stronger, because all those people had committed crimes: if they had
           remained here, the whole commune would have been condemned sooner or later as criminal.
               You don't see the point: their leaving makes them criminals; otherwise, why have they left so
           suddenly? And the situation has changed completely. Now we will be supporting law, the courts, the
           government, against the criminals. Your whole commune is saved; otherwise your whole commune
           was going to be against the government because of those people.
               It is really something to rejoice in that our commune has nothing to do with crime, the criminals
           have left; and we will support the government and the law against those criminals in every way.
               This will bridge the gap that they had created between you and Oregon, between you and
           America. By their going away, the gap has disappeared. Now we are Oregonians, authentic
           Oregonians, the latest Oregonians -- fresh and new. Now we are Americans, and we will try in every
           way to save the Constitution of America against any crime that destroys the democratic values.
               It has been tremendously important, beautiful. You will understand it only later on, looking
           backwards: they have done a great service to you, unknowing.
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #9
                                      Chapter title: Intelligence is a luxury
           23 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509230
              ShortTitle: BONDAG09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 125 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.
              IN SPITE OF WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY THE OTHER DAY, I CAN'T EVEN GO TO
              WORSHIP.
              PLEASE COMMENT.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is something basic to be understood. Your love is not love. It is full of hate, anger, jealousy,
           everything that goes against the qualities of love.
               It is very dangerous to allow you to love me, because I am allowing you all other things also.
           Your love can turn into hate any moment. It is so superficial. It is just a mind game.
               You don't know what love is. Please don't call me "Beloved Master." Those words on your lips
           become poisonous.
               What anger are you feeling against me? I have given you my vision, my insight, my compassion,
           my friendship, everything that I have. And the reward is your anger.
               You should be angry towards yourself, but it is very easy to project ugly things upon others.
               Whatever happened in these three and a half years while I was silent -- almost absent -- you
           cannot make me responsible for it. You are responsible. You behaved like idiots.
               Five thousand intelligent people could not see that they were being ordered to do things which
           were inhuman. They were being ordered to kill people, to poison people; and you could not even
           think -- can I be behind it?
               I love life, love, laughter. How many times have I said to you that these three L's are my basic
           philosophy?
               When you were given orders by a fascist group who was dominating you to poison the water
           system of a whole city, to kill my physician, my caretaker, my dentist....
               And just the other night we have discovered suddenly five hundred beautiful fish died in
           Patanjali Lake. That means that before leaving, that group has dumped poison into Patanjali Lake. It
           is fortunate that we are not taking Patanjali Lake's water for your use. It is being used for irrigation;
           otherwise you would be, many of you, with those dead fish.
           And you are angry at me.
               You must be retarded. Can't you see a simple point? A man who has never been life-negative,
           who has been changing your lifelong habits of nonvegetarian food into vegetarian food, who is not
           willing even to kill any animal.... Don't you have even a small, logical understanding? A man who is
           teaching you to be a vegetarian will help you to destroy a whole innocent city, The Dalles, by
           poisoning its water system? The thing was so stupid!
               And you were doing everything. And if I had not started speaking, you would have been doing
           all those things even now. Now you don't feel like worshipping. What has happened to your
           courage? For three and a half years why were you worshipping? -- for the simple reason that you
           need somebody on top of you to force you, to enslave you, to order you and command you; then you
           are ready to do anything. Then even killing people becomes worship.
               But you cannot go to worship on your own accord. Should you be angry at me or at yourself -- at
           your stupidity, retardedness? You need a fascist type of structure. And you were all perfectly fine
           doing everything that was illegal!
               And I am telling you, "Be responsible, never do anything against the law, never do anything
           against human values, against the ideals of democracy, freedom."
               Now you don't even feel to go to worship. You need somebody with a gun behind you; then only
           can you worship.
               Hasya has removed the bodyguards, and she was thinking slowly to remove the guns from the
           commune. They don't fit with our approach to life. We don't want to harm anybody. We want to
           create a loving atmosphere.
               But just one day after she had removed the bodyguards, one idiot immediately jumped up. Now
           she has to put the bodyguards back again. And now the security will be more strict.
               And if you are feeling angry with me, what the hell are you doing here? Get lost!
               This is not a place for anger and not a place for people who cannot take responsibility, because
           these are the people who create fascist structures. We don't want these people at all. So simply pack
           your luggage and go to hell. The county road goes directly to hell.
               I have been loving to you, and I started speaking only because of you, because I was being
           informed that things are going wrong. I was available to my physician, to my dentist, to my
           caretaker, and when they all felt that now things are going beyond the limits.... Even my room was
           bugged. Even my milk was being poisoned. That was too much for them, and they said, "Now
           something has to be done. These people have taken too much advantage."
               That's why I started speaking; otherwise I was going to remain silent for my whole life. I have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           spoken for thirty years -- nearabout four hundred books, each book containing at least five hundred
           pages. I don't think there is anybody else in the whole history who has four hundred books of that
           size and that penetration.
               There was no need for me.... I have spoken enough. Just for you I am speaking, so that this
           fascist order can be dissolved and you can live freely as human beings in a democratic way. But it
           seems you are not capable of living in a democratic way. You always need Adolf Hitlers, Joseph
           Stalins, Benito Mussolinis. Without your need, these people cannot come to power.
               Yesterday I had told you, when anybody is in the office, on a post -- for example, the president of
           the commune or the president of the foundation or the presidents of other corporations -- you have to
           address them either as Ma or as Swami. I withdraw it. You can address people just by their name,
           anywhere.
               I wanted to make it the simplest possible society, where there is no hierarchy. But perhaps you
           are angry because you cannot function in a democratic world. But this commune is going to become
           one of the best democracies in the world -- a direct democracy. So it is better, those who cannot feel
           good in a democratic atmosphere, they should leave. They can go to the Soviet Union. This is not
           their place.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY HAVE YOU ALLOWED ALL THIS TO HAPPEN TO US?
              I FEEL THAT YOU HAVE KNOWN ALL ALONG WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE COMMUNE, AND
              I'M ANGRY AT YOU.
              WAS IT A LESSON WE HAD TO LEARN?


               I have told you a thousand and one times that I am not a god. I am not a messiah, or a prophet.
           God is omniscient. He knows everything, what is happening anywhere -- past, present, future.
               The people who have made God omniscient were all fascists, and they created a fascist God --
           because if God knows about the future, that means the future is determined. Then where is the
           possibility of freedom? Freedom can exist only if the future is open. But about an open future there
           is no possibility of prediction. The man who was so beautiful may commit a murder tomorrow.
           Tomorrow is open.
           The saint can become a murderer.
           The murderer can become a saint.
               The idea in all the religions of an omniscient God is a fascist idea. It means everything is
           determined. Whether you are taking coffee or tea tomorrow morning, is already determined for
           millennia. And you cannot choose; you will have to take what is your destiny.
               Even the religions like Buddhism, Jainism, which do not accept a God, could not resist the
           temptation of making their religious leaders omniscient. God is not there, but Mahavira is
           omniscient, Buddha is omniscient; so what is the difference? As far as humanity is concerned, life
           remains mechanical, robotlike. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen; you cannot do
           anything about it.
               I am not a god, and I am not a prophet, and I am not a messiah. I am a simple human being.
               When I had chosen Sheela she was a beautiful woman, immensely capable of doing things, very
           practical, courageous. I had given the commune into the hands of Sheela, Vidya, Savita, who had
           never shown any fascist tendency.
               And they worked hard. They created this commune. They changed this desert into an oasis under
           tremendous pressure by the politicians, by the attorney general. And these people were all illegally
           trying to destroy the commune -- they were fighting with them, they were protecting the commune.
               Naturally, if you start fighting with politicians you start learning politics; otherwise you cannot
           fight. If you start opposing dirty cunning minds, by and by, unknowingly, unconsciously, you fall in
           the same trap. You have to follow the same rules. In fact, if you are opposed to a dirty politician, you
           have to be dirtier; otherwise, you cannot win.
           This gave them the taste of power.
               I was in silence and this was my instruction: I don't want to know what is happening in the
           world. Sheela, my physician, my dentist, my caretaker, they were all told that nothing has to be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           brought to my notice unless it is absolutely necessary. I wanted to live in isolation. This is my
           birthright. Who are you to be angry about it?
               And these people, when I had given them the opportunity, were totally different. Perhaps
           anybody of you, in such circumstances, would have turned out the same, because everybody, deep in
           the unconscious, carries a lust for power. But it remains unconscious because there is no opportunity
           for it to become a reality. These people saw that unconscious will to power surfacing because the
           opportunity was there.There was nobody to prevent them, and they were able to use my name in
           everything.
           And I am not omniscient.
               I never knew what they were saying to you. I never knew when they bugged my room. So you
           can see that I am not omniscient. At least I would have known that my room was being bugged,
           under the excuse that they were putting a switch so that I could alarm the guards if there was any
           emergency.
               I had never touched that switch, because there was never any emergency. Inside the switch they
           had put a microphone. And if I cannot see just by the side of my chair that there is a microphone,
           what do you expect of me?
               I am just like you. I don't have any pretensions to be holier than you, higher than you. Just a little
           difference -- that I am awake and you are asleep. But I was also asleep....
               In fact, because you are asleep, it makes it clear that any moment you can be awake. Sleep is
           possible only for a person who can be awake. Rocks don't sleep. Only living beings sleep. They can
           be awakened. But I don't see that by being awakened you become omniscient, or omnipresent, or
           omnipotent. These are just egoistic, megalomaniac ideas.
               I don't have any ego or any megalomania, I am simply awake. That means I know who I am.
           That does not include the bugging device. So I was not aware at all what was happening, and
           whatever Sheela was bringing to me was always the good news, that things are going perfectly well.
               But you can see the opportunity. First she had to fight with the dirty politicians, so she had to
           learn the same tactics, the same strategy. She had to fight in courts against illegal charges, so she had
           to understand law. And she was continuously creating a commune here, so she had in her hands the
           immense power of money.
               We have put more than two hundred million dollars in the commune. From all over the world,
           sannyasins have poured whatsoever they could. Just an opportunity.... Who does not want to be rich?
           There is nothing wrong in being rich, but one should not try to be rich through wrong means. Create
           wealth, and be rich! This was simply theft. The money was coming for the commune, and she was
           slowly taking a few parts and accumulating it.
               And this woman who has informed was her secretary five years before. They were intimate
           friends, so whatever she says seems to be meaningful. She is dying of cancer, and it always happens
           when you are dying, you want to unburden yourself of any lie that you have been hiding. That's why
           she has written the letter saying that "I am dying, but I want to relate that Sheela has stolen
           forty-three million dollars and she has it in a bank account in Switzerland."
               So money -- it is everybody's desire, and there is no harm in it, but be creative. Stealing, and that
           too stealing from a commune who loves you, is criminal. She has no money of her own. She was just
           a waitress in a hotel before she came to me. Waitresses in hotels don't have forty-three million
           dollars in accounts.
               She had the opportunity -- that you love me, you trust me. For thirty years thousands of
           sannyasins have loved me, trusted me, and nobody has been cheated, nobody has been exploited, no
           fascism has come out of it. But I was in silence, and I was completely in isolation: not talking to
           anybody, not meeting anybody. This gave her another opportunity: that, in my name, she can
           manipulate you.
               She started slowly, but things have a way of growing. Everything grows. The more she became
           powerful, the more the lust for power to control. She dropped all those sannyasins who were
           intelligent enough to see the difference between what she was saying and what I have been teaching
           -- not only different, but just the contrary.
               I have been teaching to you: Don't believe -- inquire, doubt, search. Unless you know, it is better
           to remain ignorant. At least you are honest. Belief is self-deception. You don't know, but the belief
           covers your ignorance.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Ask anybody outside the commune, "Is there a God?" and he will say "Yes," as if he knows. He
           does not know himself, and he knows God! And just try to argue with him, and soon you will come
           to know that it is his belief, that from the very beginning he has been conditioned that there is a God.
               It will look very strange to you that all the religions have prevented people from discovering the
           truth of life -- because before you discover, inquire, question, they fill your mind with all kinds of
           beliefs. Those beliefs give you a deceptive feeling as if you know.
               But there is much difference in "as if" to know, and "to know." Knowing transforms you. "As if"
           to know, you remain the same.
               You go to the church, you go to the synagogue, you go to the temple, you read holy scriptures,
           but no transformation happens.
               I have been teaching to you not belief but doubt. Doubt is clean, fresh, young.
               Every child is born with doubt, not with a belief. Every child asks thousands of questions. Those
           questions show that he has doubts, that he is skeptical. He is continuously asking, "Why?"
               If you go to the Soviet Union and you ask a child is there a God, he will say no. That, too, is a
           belief. He has not inquired. Just in the Soviet Union he has been conditioned that there is no God.
           What is the difference between a theist and an atheist? between a Catholic and a communist? Both
           are doing the same thing: destroying your quest, giving you ready-made answers.
               Ready-made answers don't help. Unless you discover the answer yourself, unless the truth is your
           own experience, you are not going to have a transformation.
               Information is not transformation. You can become very knowledgeable through information, but
           your ignorance remains the same. The greatest knowledgeable person is ignorant, is just like any
           ignorant person who knows nothing.
               Perhaps the ignorant person is in a better position than the so-called knowledgeable scholar,
           professor, theologian, because the ignorant person at least is honest. He says, "I do not know." From
           that honest beginning he can start a journey of knowing, because nobody can remain satisfied with
           ignorance.
               So either he will become knowledgeable -- which is cheap. All the schools, colleges, universities,
           churches -- they are doing that cheap thing. They give you knowledgeability and you forget that you
           are ignorant. It is opium. All knowledgeability is a kind of drug so that you can forget your original
           ignorance. But it remains there.
               My teaching is radically different. I want you to drop all knowledgeability.
               I am reminded about P.D. Ouspensky. He was one of the greatest mathematicians of this century,
           and he has written one of the greatest books, TERTIUM ORGANUM.
               I have never come across any other book which has such crystal-clear statements. It can deceive
           anybody. It seems as if the man knows!
               In the beginning of the book he writes, "Aristotle wrote one book, ORGANUM. Organum means
           the first principle of knowledge. Bacon wrote NOVUM ORGANUM, New Principle of Knowledge.
           Both are very significant steps in the world of knowledge."
               And Ouspensky says, "Now I am revealing to the world TERTIUM ORGANUM, the Third
           Canon of Knowledge. And I want to say that the third existed even before the first -- I am simply
           revealing it. Otherwise, it is the ancientmost: even before the first, it was in existence."
               And reading -- I have read all the three -- certainly he surpasses Aristotle and Bacon both. They
           look like pygmies; he is a giant. And the way of his writing is certainly unique. He does not write in
           paragraphs, because each sentence is so important that he writes only maxims, very logical.
               He was world-famous before the Russian revolution. But he was also a very sincere and honest
           man. He knew that whatever he has written, it is just knowledgeability. He knows nothing. He has
           not experienced anything.
               He wanted to meet someone who has experienced, who has been face to face with reality. And
           then he heard the name of Gurdjieff.
               He went around the world in search of somebody who really knows. He was in India for a long
           time, searching for some wise man, but could not find. Frustrated, after years when he came back to
           Moscow.... It is very symbolic that he met George Gurdjieff in the same restaurant where he always
           used to go. He had seen Gurdjieff before, too, because they were both visitors to the same restaurant.
           But he had never thought much of it. Gurdjieff did not look like a wise man.
               Gurdjieff was a totally different kind of person than you understand a wise man should be -- nice,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           polite, beautiful like Gautam Buddha. He was a Caucasian, very strong. He could kill any man just
           with his hands.
                And Ouspensky could not believe, when he was told by one of his friends, that "This is the man
           you have been searching for. He knows, but it is difficult to approach him. I will manage, I belong to
           his inner circle. And very rarely he accepts anybody, but perhaps you may be accepted."
                So one night he took Ouspensky to Gurdjieff's place. A dozen people were sitting there around
           Gurdjieff. These two also sat down. Half an hour passed, nobody spoke. Ouspensky was getting
           troubled. What is happening? Even the friend who had come was sitting with closed eyes. He nudged
           him and said, "Do something. This way I will never be introduced."
                So the friend told Gurdjieff, "I have brought a new person. He wants to become part of our circle.
           It is up to you to accept him or not."
                Gurdjieff called Ouspensky to come close so he could see into his eyes. And Ouspensky said, "I
           have never seen such eyes, and I have never felt so nervous -- almost on the point of breakdown.
           And that man's eyes were penetrating to the very deepest core of my being, like swords."
                A few minutes passed. It was a cold night; snow was falling, and Ouspensky was perspiring.
                Gurdjieff pulled out a piece of paper, gave it to Ouspensky, and he said, "I know about you. I
           have seen your book, TERTIUM ORGANUM. You know nothing, but still you have written a very
           great book. But you cannot deceive anybody who knows.
                "You go into the other room and, on this paper, on one side you write what you know, and on the
           other side you write what you don't know -- because whatever you know, we are never going to
           discuss it. That is finished; you know it. Whatever you don't know, I will teach you."
                Ouspensky, for the first time, was faced with the question, "What do you know?" A writer of
           many books, world-famous, and he could not write a single thing that he knows.
                He came back, gave the blank paper back, and he said, "I don't know anything. Forgive me,
           perhaps I am not qualified to be part of your inner circle."
                Gurdjieff laughed. He said, "This is not disqualification; this is qualification. You are honest, you
           are sincere. Being so famous, writing so many books, still you are capable of accepting the truth that
           you don't know anything. You are accepted in the group. Your training begins from this point: I do
           not know. Now there is a clean inquiry possible."
                This has been my teaching to you. You are not to surrender. You are not to believe.
                But that's what you did. And you are feeling angry at me.
                If I had taught you to believe and surrender the way Jesus has done, the way Mohammed has
           done, the way Moses has done, the way Krishna has done, then of course your anger was right.
                If you want to be angry, be angry against Jesus Christ. Be angry against all the founders of
           religions.
           They all say, "Believe and you will be saved."
           And I say to you, "Believe and you are drowned."
                I say to you, "Doubt, because that is something that you have come with. Nature has provided
           you a method for inquiry. Doubt is a method of inquiry."
                In ten thousand years of religious history, religions have not contributed anything -- except
           AIDS, homosexuality, lesbianism, sadism, masochism, wars, discrimination -- all kinds of crimes:
           killing millions of people, burning living people.
           They are all based on belief.
                Science -- which is based on doubt -- has contributed within three hundred years everything from
           the smallest safety pin to the rocket that reaches to the moon.
                If you count the blessings that science has showered on you you will be surprised. Your clothes,
           your glasses, your watches, your health, your medicine, your food -- everything science has
           improved. Science has only been unsuccessful in improving you, because all the religions are sitting
           on your neck.
                I want you to get rid of all the religions and become a scientific seeker.
           How can you feel anger against me?
                I had no idea what was happening. The moment I came to know what was happening, I
           immediately stopped it. It did not take much time for me to stop it. What Sheela and her gang had
           managed in three and a half years, I finished within three days. And they were not even able to face
           me; they all escaped like criminals, cowards.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Criminals cannot be brave.
               At least I had expected that Sheela would have to come to say goodbye to me. But no. In fact,
           she deceived. She informed me that she had a cold, so in two or three days, when her cold was gone,
           she would see me. But she did not stay here for two or three days, the next day she was gone.
               I am getting information every day about where they are, what they are doing. And they are in a
           tremendous fear, because they have committed every kind of crime. They should be brought back.
           They will have to face the courts, and they will have to reap the crop that they have sown. It is
           poison.
               But you are feeling angry at me because I must have known all this all the time. You impose
           your ideas on me, and you want me to behave accordingly.
               I am not a person to accept anybody's projection, even though it is very ego-fulfilling. I don't
           have any ego, so there is no question. I can say to you I had no knowledge, I was absolutely ignorant
           of what was happening.
               So drop this stupid anger. Go into the hills, shout, scream, freak out till you become calm and
           quiet. Then take a good bath and be purified and new. And now start living in the commune with
           your own responsibility.
           I am not responsible for you.
           You are not responsible for me.
               Everybody has to be responsible for himself. That's the only way to be an individual, the only
           way to have freedom, integrity.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              A FEW PEOPLE ARE FEELING NOT TO WEAR THEIR MALAS OR RED CLOTHES, BUT THEY
              CONSIDER THEMSELVES RAJNEESHEES AND WANT TO LIVE HERE.
              HOW DOES THIS FIT YOUR VISION?


               There are no Rajneeshees, and there is no Rajneeshism. That was also part of this fascist regime.
               You cannot be Rajneeshees because there exists nothing like that. Even I am not a Rajneeshee,
           so how can you be? So, first thing, forget that you are a Rajneeshee.
               Second thing, the mala and red clothes are symbolic of the commune. If you don't want to wear
           the mala and red clothes, then pack your luggage and get lost. This is not your place, and we don't
           want you to be here.
               This only shows how the mind moves to extremes. Either you will be a slave or you will be
           licentious, but you cannot be a free individual.
               Your red clothes are your identification that you have dropped all old conditionings, that you are
           the sunrise of the new man and of the new humanity.
               The mala has one hundred and eight beads. It represents the one hundred and eight methods of
           meditation. Any method will do. It is just to remind you continuously that one hundred and eight
           doors are open to bring you into light, and you are unnecessarily groping in darkness. Choose any
           method. I have spoken extensively on all the methods of meditation.
               Dropping the mala simply means forgetting the symbolic meaning of the mala. Dropping the
           mala means that you don't want to meditate. If you don't want to meditate, then what the hell are you
           doing here? It is a meditation commune.
               And why were you not walking around without the mala and without red clothes before?
           Cowards!
               When everything was being done against humanity and against you and against the law, that was
           the time to revolt. That time you were just docile. And now, because nobody is forcing you, you are
           walking around without the mala and without red clothes. You can walk, but that means walk out.
           And we don't want anything to do with such people, because these are the people who will again
           force the same structure.
               My picture, and the locket in the mala, is simply symbolic. It is not something sacred. It is
           symbolic of your freedom from all religions the way I am free! It is symbolic that you are my fellow
           travelers. It is symbolic of your love.
               It is difficult, of course, for me to hang around my neck one million lockets to show my love. It
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is easier for you.
               On the one hand you address me, "Beloved Master" -- and you cannot have the mala and the
           locket. I know the reason. In the outside world, everywhere you will go you will be condemned, you
           will not be accepted. You will be misfits. And I want you to face the world, rather than get lost into
           the crowd. My picture is enough. You will not be accepted anywhere. So you can decide. If you
           don't have the courage to be rejected everywhere -- in your family, in your friends, in your society --
           you are free. Nobody has told you to become sannyasins. You have become sannyasins on your own
           accord.
               Naturally, if you don't want to remain sannyasins, you are perfectly welcome. But not on the
           streets of Rajneeshpuram.


               BELOVED MASTER,
               THE OTHER DAY YOU SAID ALL MASTERS HAVE HAD TO LIE. I DON'T SEE THE NECESSITY
               FOR LIES. ISN'T IT RATHER THAT THE TRUTH, NO MATTER WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES, IS
               THE ONLY MEANS OF LIBERATING OURSELVES?
               BESIDES, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOSE?


               First, you seem to be understanding more than I understand. In fact, you should be here and I
           should be sitting there. Come on! I am ready to vacate this place and I will be sitting there, and you
           do the job. Stand up! Now, don't chicken out!
               All kinds of idiots have entered. Do you understand that there is no way to express truth in
           words?
               Not a single enlightened person in the whole history has said that truth can be said. So whatever
           can be said will be a lie.
               Lao Tzu, one of the greatest masters, never wrote any book. He continuously avoided his
           disciples persuading him, asking him, "Soon you will be gone; you are too old, and you have not
           given us anything written that we can remember, understand." And one day Lao Tzu left.
               Even the emperor of China was a disciple of Lao Tzu. When he heard that Lao Tzu had left
           towards the Himalayas -- that was his long, long dream, to die in the peace, the eternal peace of the
           Himalayas -- he immediately sent messengers to all checkposts on the roads which lead to the
           Himalayas to say that, wherever Lao Tzu is found, he should be prevented from leaving. Unless he
           writes his experience he cannot leave China.
               And he was caught at one of the posts on the border. The man on the post also happened to be a
           lover of Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu was a man worth loving.
               He said, "It is difficult for me to prevent you, but these are orders from the emperor. And my
           own feeling also is that you should write the essential experience of your truth -- just a small treatise
           and you will be allowed to go. So rest in my cottage and start writing, because otherwise you cannot
           go to the Himalayas."
               Under such circumstances, Lao Tzu wrote his only book, TAO TE CHING. The first sentence he
           wrote is, "The truth cannot be said, cannot be written. Please remember it while you are reading this
           book.
               "This is a reminder that everything that I am going to say is bound to be untrue, for the simple
           reason that truth is experienced in a state of your mind where no thoughts, no language exists, when
           there is only space and utter silence."
               Now, how to bring that experience of wordlessness into words? The moment you try to bring it
           into words, something changes.
               It is exactly like when you have a staff that is perfectly straight. But put it in water, just halfway,
           and you will be surprised. It is no longer straight. Pull it out, it is straight. Put it back in water, it is
           no more straight.
               Is water doing something to the straightness of your staff? No. It is still straight, but sun rays
           reflect differently from water, and that creates the illusion of crookedness.
               I am saying the truth, I will be saying the truth, but words have their own associations, their own
           meanings, their own history.
               So, first, when I put my experience into words, something becomes different. Second, then you
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hear it, and you can hear only according to your conditionings. Then, things become farther away
           from my experience.
               Gautam Buddha was asked one day, "Why do all enlightened people insist that truth cannot be
           said? If it can be experienced, then what is the trouble? Why can it not be explained?"
               And you all know -- you can experience love, but can you explain it, what it is?
               You all experience beauty -- but can you explain what beauty is?
               And these are nothing compared to truth, which is the deepest experience. If even beauty cannot
           be explained, love cannot be explained -- and everybody is experiencing it -- truth is absolutely
           unexplainable. Once in a while a person experiences truth, and nobody who is hearing about it has
           any idea what is being talked about.
               Buddha said, "When I became enlightened, for seven days I did not speak a single word. I had
           decided not to speak my whole life because I did not want to destroy the truth of my experience. I
           was being persuaded, and one thing made me start speaking.
               "The people who were persuading me, they said, 'You are right. There are people who will not
           understand; there are people who will misunderstand. But there is a third category also -- it may be a
           very small minority, one in a million -- who are just on the borderline. A little push, a little
           encouragement, and he will enter into the world of light, life, eternity. Won't you speak for that one
           man?'"
               And Buddha agreed. He said, "There is no harm. Those who cannot understand me do not matter.
           Anyway they don't understand anything. Those who are going to misunderstand me will
           misunderstand everything in their life.
               "I will speak for the one person in one million. Perhaps I can help one person; that is a great
           reward." And he spoke for forty-two years.
           But whatever he spoke is not truth.
               Truth basically cannot be expressed. It is approximately true, but there are no approximately true
           experiences: either it is true, or it is false. Howsoever close it is to truth, it remains a lie.
               So remember, please, when I said enlightened people -- all enlightened people -- have lied, they
           have lied for your sake, for that one man in one million.
           And that's what I am doing.
               If you want to change places, I am ready. You can think it over.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              OUR PRESENT SITUATION WAS CAUSED NOT ONLY BY SHEELA'S SUCCUMBING TO THE
              TEMPTATION OF POWER, BUT ALSO BY THE EXPLOITATION OF OUR WILLINGNESS TO SAY
              YES TO WHATEVER WAS ASKED, AS A GESTURE OF LOVE AND SURRENDER TO YOU.
              IT SEEMS WE MUST FIRST FREE OURSELVES FROM THE EXPLOITATIVE DEPENDENCE OF
              MASTER AND DISCIPLE BY MAKING THIS COMMUNE OUR COMMUNE, NOT YOURS. SO THAT
              YOU ARE OUR DEAREST FRIEND WITH WHOM WE ARE SHARING OUR HOME, RATHER THAN
              US SHARING YOUR VISION.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               Why my vision? Share your vision! It is your commune. What has it to do with my vision? I am
           not a member of your commune. I live outside the commune and any day, if you want, I can leave
           this place.
               Share your vision and do whatsoever you want to do. How ego works! How it finds ways!
               Behind the curtain of this fascist order, you would like to dissolve the relationship between
           master and disciple. But I have always been saying I am not your master. So you are responsible if
           you think you are my disciple. I have already dropped the idea of being anybody's master. I am fed
           up with such people!
               And now you are wanting that this commune should not be called my commune, but your
           commune. Agreed. It is your commune. Just one correction.... Why should your commune share my
           vision? What right do you have to share my vision? And if you share my vision, it becomes my
           commune. So you can choose. Either you share your vision -- and you are all blind, there is no
           vision, so the blind can lead the blind. And you will fall into some ditch, some creek.
               But if you are sharing my vision, then this is my commune.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              PEOPLE ARE ASKING TO BUILD LOG CABINS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DO THEIR OWN
              THING. THEY FEEL IF THEY ARE WILLING TO PAY THEIR OWN EXPENSES, THEN IT IS ONLY
              BULLSHIT BUREAUCRACY WHICH STANDS IN THEIR WAY. CAN THIS APPROACH WORK?


               Nobody is standing in your way, but you will be breaking the law. You will have to ask the state
           government. You have to ask LCDC, LUBA, and if they allow you, you can make cabins anywhere
           you like. This city cannot give you any permission, because this city is illegal.
               And we don't have any bureaucracy here. For bureaucracy you have to go to the capital, Salem.
           Or, if you want even bigger bureaucracy, you have to go to Washington -- the White House, where
           every black thing is happening. But we cannot give you permission.
               The land is ours, it is constitutionally our property, but the government is not functioning
           according to the Constitution. A strange fate -- that we have to fight for the Constitution against
           Americans! It is their Constitution, and they are prostituting it.
               You cannot make cabins; otherwise you will be arrested. So just wait a little. We have no
           objection. In fact, we want all these hills to be turned lush green, with beautiful cabins in tune and
           harmony with nature, so this place can become one of the best resort places.
               But you will be surprised, they have declared the city illegal. The city was legal for two years;
           they had incorporated the city. For two years it was getting support from the state and the federal
           government, as every city gets. Now a sudden pressure -- perhaps from Christians -- and they change
           their mind. A legal city, legally incorporated by themselves, becomes illegal.
               In a way, it is good that we are a unique city in the whole world. There is no other illegal city in
           the world. Either there is a city, or there is no city. An illegal city is a new phenomenon.
               We are fighting, but the state government -- particularly the attorney general -- does not want the
           case to be decided by federal courts. This is strange. This means the attorney general and the state of
           Oregon do not believe in the American Constitution and the nation's higher courts. They think those
           higher courts will not be fair to them. They want it to be decided by a state court, which is simply
           illogical to anybody.
               If the state itself is involved in the case, is a party -- one party is the illegal city of
           Rajneeshpuram, the other party is the state.... Now to decide the case in a state court means the state
           can pressure those judges. They are their servants. Their promotion depends on them.
               This is so simple. And we are saying that because the state itself is involved, then a federal court
           should decide it. And we are not afraid about it, because whatever is, we are absolutely legal,
           constitutional. They are afraid that in the federal court they are going to lose the case. But they are in
           contempt of the federal courts.
               They have to remember that we are not going to leave this thing. It will go up to the Supreme
           Court. And fortunately the Supreme Court of America is still the most fair court in the whole world.
           And we are absolutely certain to win. There is no reason why five thousand people living two years,
           remaining legal... then without any reason suddenly they are declared illegal.
               In fact, the attorney general should be responsible. If this city is illegal, then why did you
           incorporate it in the first place? You should have explored, inquired. You did not do your homework.
           Secondly, the attorney general seems to be retarded. It took him two years to find out that the city is
           illegal.
               We are going to fight, because we are absolutely certain that the Constitution of America values
           truth, values freedom, values the individual, respects individual property.
               So we are ready to go to the federal court, but they are trying to fight hard that the case should be
           decided by a state court. A state court is under the state, under the attorney general. That will be
           something illegal. If it happens, we are not going to participate in the case. We will boycott it. It is
           illegal. A party in the case is also the judge in the case. This is simply absurd.
               But we cannot help you to make cabins. You will have to wait. Let the city be legal, then the city
           can give you the permission to make cabins. There is no problem.
               We will be making them ourselves, so you don't have to put in your expenses. We have enough
           money.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE NO MORE QUESTIONS WITH ME.


              That's great!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #10
                                    Chapter title: Struggling for the new man
           24 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509240
              ShortTitle: BONDAG10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              JUDAS SOLD JESUS FOR THIRTY SILVER COINS, AND AFTER TWO THOUSAND YEARS WE
              SANNYASINS ARE STILL BEHAVING THE SAME WAY WITH YOU. IS THIS THE LAST EFFORT
              OF THE POLITICAL MIND ON ITS DEATHBED?


               Man has not evolved as far as consciousness is concerned. Thousands of years have passed;
           man's stupidity remains the same.
               Jesus has promised to come back, but I assure you he will not come. One experience with you
           was enough. Who wants to be tortured and crucified again? Who wants to be sold by the same
           people he loved? -- the same people for whom he was working his whole life, and he sacrificed
           himself. And that, too, for thirty pieces of silver.
               There is some flaw in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. I am not a supporter of it. He thinks
           apes became men in a long process of evolution. But we have known apes for ten thousand years --
           not a single one has tried to become man again. And if apes can become men, then men certainly can
           become supermen, but there seems to be no sign at all. On the contrary, man is continuously
           degrading himself.
               America is one of the most cultured, and the latest country in the world, with a small history of
           three hundred years. But in three hundred years, twenty percent of America's presidents have been
           assassinated. Just that fact shows that America is barbarious. And strange to say that the twenty
           percent who have been assassinated include the best presidents America had -- Abraham Lincoln and
           Kennedy. They do not assassinate phony characters like Jimmy Carter, and they will not assassinate
           Ronald Reagan. They fit with them. They are as much retarded as the common masses are. Abraham
           Lincoln does not fit. He is far above the retarded people.
               The average mental age of humanity is only thirteen years. This you call evolution? A man is
           ninety years old, and he has the mind of a thirteen year old. It is because of this retardedness that he
           believes all kinds of idiotic beliefs, dogmas, religions. He never questions, never inquires, never
           explores. He does not have consciousness enough to go on a quest for truth.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And of course the politicians don't want him to evolve. The priests don't want him to evolve,
           because man's evolution is their death. An evolved man, a conscious man, has no need of political
           leaders to tell him what is right and what is wrong. He does not require any pope, any Mother
           Teresa, any Ayatollah Khomeini, any Shankaracharya. In fact, these people will seem to him
           retarded.
                So all the religions and all the political parties of the world are conspiring against humanity. To
           keep man enslaved, the best way is that he remains a helpless child, always in search of a father
           figure.
           In politics he finds father figures.
           In religion he finds father figures.
                It is not a coincidence that Christian priests are called fathers.
                I have heard: two small boys were playing, a Christian and a Jew. The Jewish boy asked --
           because a Christian minister had passed and the Christian boy had saluted and asked the blessings of
           the father.... The Jewish boy said, "It is very strange, your religion; your father has no wife, has no
           children. How does he become a father?"
                How do women, nuns, become mother superiors? They are not married; they don't have children.
           The reason is psychological: people need father figures.
                Even Jesus behaves in a retarded way when he calls God the father. Many things are implied in
           it. Calling God the father means he cannot remain independent, on his own. He needs a great
           omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient father.
                Jesus died on the cross in immense frustration, because all his hopes were crushed. He shouted at
           the sky, "Father, have you forsaken me?" But nobody bothers to think that the father has never
           promised anything. It was all your imagination. You create a father, far above in the sky, then you
           start praying to the father. And naturally your prayers are mostly not fulfilled. You know -- because
           you are a sinner -- your prayer is not authentic. Deep down you doubt, you are skeptical, and prayer
           is fulfilled only when there is total surrender. And that is impossible.
                Doubt is something essential, something you are born with. You can repress it, but you cannot
           eliminate it. It is repressed, but it is within you and will not allow your surrender and belief to be
           total. And naturally all the religions are telling you that you are born in sin, and you are committing
           sin in everything -- by getting married, by having children, by eating this, by drinking that.
                If you follow exactly what religions want you to do, suicide is the only virtue. You cannot live,
           you cannot laugh, you cannot love. Naturally, you know your prayers are not heard, not answered,
           because you are not worthy.
                But you never look at the problem: is there anyone to listen to your prayers, or is it only your
           projection? Out of helplessness and fear, you create the father. And then out of misery and suffering,
           you pray.
                Once in a while a prayer is fulfilled. That is simply coincidence. That does not prove the reality
           of God or the reality of prayer.
                It happened, once a man used to meet me when I used to go for a morning walk. He was the only
           other man up that early in the morning. We became sort of friends. He told me, "I am a great believer
           in the monkey god Hanuman."
                Indians have strange gods. It is good that Darwin never came to India; otherwise he would have
           used this monkey god as one of the proofs that man has come from the monkeys. Man is still
           worshipping his forefathers -- and it looks logical.
                But Indians worship trees; Indians worship rivers. Indians worship phallic symbols -- absolutely
           pornographic. India is really a museum of all the bizarre and berserk. It is one of the oldest countries;
           it has collected really antique stupidities, and continues.
                The man said to me, "I am a worshipper of Hanuman, the monkey god. Hanuman is a true god."
                I said, "You are the first man.... Just tell me a little more. How did you manage to find out that he
           is a true god?"
                He said, "My son was out of service, without employment. I prayed to Hanuman and gave him an
           ultimatum, 'If within a month my son does not get employment, I will stop worshipping you.' And
           my son got the employment within the month. I have absolute proof that Hanuman is a real god."
                I said, "You keep your proof and remain happy, but never try it again. Coincidences do not
           happen every day."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "What do you mean?"
                I said, "Your wife is sick, suffering from cancer. Give it a try again. Threaten your monkey god,
           'If within one month the cancer does not disappear, I am going to stop worshipping you.'"
                He said, "That is a good idea, because I never thought about it." But rather than the cancer
           disappearing, his wife died. He was very angry at Hanuman.
                I said, "It is all you. There is no monkey god; it is your projection. Sometimes as a coincidence
           your prayer is fulfilled. Sometimes, most of the times, it is not fulfilled."
                But he said, "This is too much. I had asked him to remove the cancer, and he has removed my
           wife!" Still he is thinking that the monkey god exists.
                People need some protection from above, particularly retarded people. They have created God.
           They have created mediators -- the popes, shankaracharyas, Khomeinis. There are millions of these
           mediators around the world. They are parasites, and their whole business depends on one thing: that
           God should continue to exist. And I say to you, there is no God.
                You are here. If you want to live a life enriched with love, music, poetry -- if you want your life
           not to be something like a burden that you carry from the cradle to the grave, but a dance -- then you
           have to evolve your intelligence, your awareness, your consciousness. Nobody is going to help you,
           and nobody is going to save you. All saviors are false -- exploiters. All prophets are taking advantage
           of your stupidity.
                The new man will not have any messiahs, prophets, saviors, god-men. There is no need. These
           are the needs of those who have remained stuck in their mental growth.
                I want to emphasize the point that if a man can have ninety years of physical age and thirteen
           years of mental age, the vice versa is also possible, and should be made possible.
                A thirteen-year-old boy can have the mind and mental age of a ninety-year-old man. And that
           will be the day of rejoicing, when your mental age is ahead of your physical age. That is the
           beginning of a superman, the beginning of the new man, a new humanity.
                Then no cowboy film actors can become your presidents. Then millions of idiots cannot gather to
           see a football match. Then there will be a totally different perceptivity about things.
                A California university has been surveying for one year and has come to the conclusion that
           every time there is a boxing match, violence in California increases immediately -- thirteen percent
           more than the normal. The people who enjoy seeing boxing are really satisfying their own violence,
           getting excited.
                Why does the violence rate all over the state increase? And they have been studying only
           violence. They should study rape and other crimes too, and they will find an increase in every crime.
           Knowing this, why is boxing not made a crime?
                It is a crime -- a thirteen percent increase in the rate of violence for the following whole week.
           How many murders will happen? And who is responsible for it? And what do your politicians go on
           doing?
                It is a simple understanding, that boxing should be banned. Can't you find something, some
           entertainment that helps to make you more human, rather than making you more animal?
                Boxing is dragging you backwards; but Muhammad Ali, and people like that, are your heroes. If
           Muhammad Ali and people like him remain your heroes, you are going to crucify Jesus. It does not
           matter whether two thousand years have passed or not.
                Evolution needs a certain structure. It needs a certain education. It needs a certain sensitivity.
                Entertainments should be a raising of your consciousness.
                Mikhail Naimy's book, THE BOOK OF MIRDAD, should be filmed, should be shown to people.
           Just seeing that film you will feel a great upliftment. The book should be made available to every
           library, to every university, but most of the people have not even heard the name of Mikhail Naimy.
           His book -- one of the greatest masterpieces of art, beauty, meditation, consciousness -- remains
           unknown to the major part of humanity.
                What do the universities go on doing? They are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.
           They are not creating the universal consciousness in man.
                Even universities go on teaching you, "You are American, you are Russian, you are Indian." At
           least universities should stop this nonsense. Universities should teach you that you are human. Color
           makes no difference, and there are no boundaries on the earth. The whole earth is ours.
                If all the universities of the world start teaching you to be human -- not Christian, not
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Mohammedan, not Hindu, not Buddhist -- there will be a possibility of evolution. But, on the
           contrary, there are Catholic universities. How is it possible? It is a contradiction in terms. A
           university has to be universal; it cannot be Catholic. There are Hindu universities, there are
           Mohammedan universities. Even education is contaminated, polluted.
                Ronald Reagan was proposing that, in every educational institution, prayer should become
           compulsory. In the first place, prayer can never be compulsory. Anything compulsory is hated.
           Secondly, which prayer are you going to make -- Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu?
           Who is going to decide?
                The proposal was absolutely absurd. And it is good that the Supreme Court of America refused
           it. It is a pressuring of educational systems by the government.
                But I would like the Supreme Court to consider again -- not prayer, but meditation.
                Meditation does not belong to any religion. In fact, meditation makes you capable of dropping
           your Christianity, your Judaism, your Hinduism, because now you know the real truth of your being,
           which is not in your holy scriptures, which cannot be in anything given to you from outside. It has to
           be discovered by yourself. It is your freedom to discover it or not.
                Meditation is not religious. Meditation is a scientific method. Atheists can practice this; no God
           is needed. Prayer needs a God. For meditation no belief is needed, no requisite. Meditation is simply
           a method to enter into your innermost being and to become more conscious.
                Right now, man's consciousness is very superficial. One-tenth of your being is conscious. Your
           unconscious is nine times more than your consciousness. It is as if just on your porch you have a
           little candle, and the whole house which has many rooms is in utter darkness. Your whole house has
           to be lighted. In that light is transformation.
                If a man becomes fully conscious there is no corner of darkness in his being which is
           unconscious. He cannot commit a crime. He cannot do anything wrong -- not because you have told
           him, not because the BIBLE says so, not because the ten commandments are there, no. Now he has
           his own insight.
                Now he can see himself what is right and what is wrong. And seeing, nobody falls in a well. In
           darkness it is possible to fall in a well. Seeing, nobody can do anything wrong. But seeing is possible
           only when there is no darkness within you.
                A fully conscious human being is the new man. We are struggling for the new man.
                That's why I go on destroying your conditionings. My whole effort is to deprogram you and
           make you clean -- as clean, as pure, as innocent as you were when you were born.
                You were not born a Christian, you were not born Jewish; you were born just an innocent
           potentiality of growth which has been stopped by the vested interests. And those vested interests are
           still in power. They are doing their best to destroy any possibility for human evolution.
                My people have to fight for their own sake and for the sake of humanity. First, become
           enlightened, and then spread your light to anybody who is interested.
                Everybody is interested. Who would not like to become more conscious, more alive, more
           loving, more compassionate? Just models are needed. People are needed who can create a
           tremendous urge in others that they can also have the same joy, the same dance, the same song and
           the same fragrance.
                The politicians and the priests are still not on their deathbed. We will have to put them on their
           deathbed. They will resist, but what to do? Either they have to become part of an evolutionary
           process or they have to disappear from the earth.
                No more crucifixion can be allowed. We have done enough crime against the potential growth of
           humanity. It is time that it should be stopped. But the only way to stop is: begin with yourself. You
           should become an example -- that you are neither Hindu, nor Mohammedan, nor Christian, that you
           don't believe in God, heaven and hell; that you don't believe that you are American, Russian, Indian,
           that you claim the whole earth to be yours, that you claim the universe to be yours.
                It is our home. There is no need to divide it. Division brings war, bloodshed. Politicians want it
           to remain divided.
                In an undivided humanity, politicians will be out of employment. An undivided humanity -- then
           what does the Polack pope have to do? Go to Poland and become really what he is, just a Polack.
                Humanity is the greatest flowering of existence. And existence has given you a responsibility; it
           has trusted you that now you will carry evolution further. But for ten thousand years or more there
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has not been any change at all.
           It is very shameful. It is ugly, disgusting.
                My people have to free themselves from all conditions. Meditate deeply. Move beyond your
           thoughts, emotions, and search for the center of the cyclone. There is a center in each of you -- the
           very source of your life. It has to be found.
                It should be the goal of your life to find it. Once you are there, everything will go through a
           revolution.
                All the revolutions that have happened before -- French revolution, Russian revolution, Chinese
           revolution -- are not revolutions, just changes of power gangs, changes from one mafia to another
           mafia.
                The real revolution is only one, and that happens within you, within each individual. And it has
           to be done really fast, because the idiotic politicians of the world are preparing for a global suicide
           by nuclear weapons.
                Now there are two dangers for the destruction of humanity. One comes from politicians -- the
           nuclear weapons. The other comes from religions -- the disease called AIDS.
                Religions have contributed nothing except this great thing, AIDS. AIDS is born out of
           homosexuality. Religions -- all the religions of the world -- have been teaching celibacy, which is
           unnatural, unscientific. And I am amazed, not a single scientist, not a single medical expert will say
           the truth: that celibacy is impossible.
                It is programmed in your biology. Just as a woman has to go through her monthly period -- she
           cannot do anything about it, it is part of her biology -- in the same way, man, by his food, by his
           exercise, by his work, goes on creating male sperms.
                And he has only a small space for them. When the space is full, they want to get out. And it
           seems to be logical, because they are alive and they want to get out into the world and grow and
           become beings. If you don't give them a natural outlet, then they will find some unnatural outlet.
                If monasteries keep only men, and nunneries keep only women, then naturally men will become
           homosexuals. Homosexuality is a by-product of the religious stupidity of insisting on celibacy.
           Unless you prevent celibacy being preached from all the platforms in churches, in temples, in
           mosques, you cannot get rid of homosexuality. And homosexuality has come to a climax in the
           disease AIDS, which has no cure. AIDS is simply slow suicide.
                So politicians have created death for you, and your religious leaders have created death for you.
           And it is time to revolt against both. But you can revolt against both only if you go through an inner
           revolution which will give you strength, stamina, courage, guts and insight.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS MATURATION AN ONGOING PROCESS? HOW IS MATURATION RELATED TO AWARENESS?
              PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               Yes, maturation is an ongoing process. There is no limit to it -- not even the sky is the limit. Your
           consciousness is far bigger than the whole universe. It is infinitely infinite. You cannot come to a
           point where you can say, "Enough." There is always more and more. There is always a possibility to
           go on growing. And growing, maturing is such a beautiful experience, that who wants to stop it?
               We are stopped in every way. Even a great scientist like Albert Einstein has used only fifteen
           percent of his intelligence. What to say about ordinary people? -- they never use more than five
           percent.
               Just think, if Einstein was capable of using one hundred percent of his intelligence he would have
           given the world unimaginable richness.
               And if everybody is using his consciousness one hundred percent, then who would like to go to
           heaven and live with those dead saints, dodos, masochists, whose only qualification was self-torture?
           -- which is simply a psychological disease.
               If everybody uses one hundred percent intelligence, we can create paradise here. There is no
           need to go anywhere. We can give man as long a life as he wants, as healthy a life as he wants. We
           can create so much wealth that it becomes just like air -- nobody needs to hoard it.
               Using your intelligence totally, means the beginning of maturity.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Awareness is only a methodology. First, become aware of how much intelligence you are using,
           or are you using it at all? Belief, faith, are not intelligent. It is taking a decision against your
           intelligence. Awareness is a methodology to watch how much intelligence you are using. And just in
           that watching you will see that you are not using much. There are many ways awareness will make
           you alert. You can use it.
               Awareness will bring you to your one hundred percent intelligence, will make you almost divine.
           And awareness does not stop there. Awareness helps you to use your intelligence fully.
               Intelligence is your outgoing road, connecting you to the world, to the objects. Intelligence will
           give you more science, more technology. In fact, there is no need for man to work anymore, if we
           can use our intelligence. Machines can do almost everything. And you need not go on carrying,
           according to Jesus, the cross on your shoulders. That is stupid.
               Machines can do everything, and you are freed for the first time from slavery; otherwise, it is
           only in name that you feel you are free. But you have to earn the bread, you have to earn some
           money to make a shelter, a house, money for medicine, money for other things.
               So it seems you are independent, but you are not. The old slavery is no more there; now you are
           not chained, but there are invisible chains -- your children, your old parents, your sick wife, your job.
               Man is not yet free. He is working eight hours, and still carrying files home. Working late in the
           night at home, working on Sundays. Still the files go on growing on his table, and there seems to be
           no end to it. Enter any office and you will see these people, see these people's tables. Can you call
           them free? Just think about yourself: are you really free?
               There is only one possibility: supertechnology, which can do all the work and man will be
           completely free to be creative. You can play your guitar, sing your song. You can paint, you can
           make sculptures. You can do thousands of things to beautify this earth. You can make beautiful
           gardens, ponds.
               There is so much to be done to make this earth beautiful. Even if there is a God he may start
           feeling jealous, thinking that it was wrong to drive Adam and Eve out of heaven; those people are
           doing far better. And there will be no surprise -- if there is a God, one day he will knock on your
           doors and will say, "May I come in?"
               Awareness will release your intelligence, will make you mature. And then maturity goes on
           growing.
               Ordinarily you simply grow old, you don't grow up. Growing old is one thing, growing up is
           totally different. All animals grow old: no animal, except man, can grow up. Growing old simply
           means you are coming closer to your death -- not much of an achievement. Growing up means you
           are coming to realize the deathless, the eternal which has no beginning and no end. All fear
           disappears. All paranoia disappears. You are not mortals.
               Growing old, you are mortals. Growing up, you become immortals. You know you will be
           changing many houses. You will be changing many forms, but each form will be better than the past
           one, because you are growing, you are maturing. You deserve better forms, better bodies. And,
           finally, there comes a moment when you don't need any body. You can remain just pure
           consciousness spread all over existence. It is not a loss, it is a gain.
               A dewdrop slipping from the lotus leaf into the ocean.... You can think the poor drop is lost, has
           lost its identity. But just look from a different dimension: the drop has become the ocean. He has not
           lost anything, he has become vast. He has become oceanic.
               Awareness is the method to first wake up your intelligence, then to wake up your being, then to
           help you become mature, give you the realization of immortality, and ultimately to make you one
           with the whole.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU HAVE OFTEN REFERRED TO THE QUOTE, "POWER CORRUPTS, AND ABSOLUTE
              POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." HOW CAN THIS BE PREVENTED FROM HAPPENING
              AGAIN?
              IS A HORIZONTAL HIERARCHY REALLY POSSIBLE?
              ALLELUIA FOR THIS NEW DAY.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That sentence is not mine. I have quoted Lord Acton, so a few things have to be clarified.
               I agree with him to a certain extent, but basically I disagree with him. His quotation is, "Power
           corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
               This is a factual experience of the whole history of man. Whoever comes to power, goes through
           a great change. A man you have never thought would do such criminal acts starts doing them on a
           large scale.
               When Adolf Hitler was chosen by Germany to be the chancellor -- and remember, Germany is
           one of the most intelligent countries in the world, seriously intelligent. They are so serious that they
           cannot understand any jokes. But there are no two opinions about their intellectuality. They have
           given to the world the best philosophers like Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, Freud, Marx, Albert Einstein.
           In every field they have contributed. In music, in poetry, in literature. Just one problem with them:
           they don't have a sense of humor.
               I have heard that if you tell a joke to an Englishman he laughs two times: first, just to be polite to
           you -- it is expected, you are telling a joke; not to laugh is ungentlemanly. He does not understand
           what is the matter, but just to look nice he follows etiquette. He is a gentleman, he laughs. And the
           second time, he laughs in the middle of the night when he gets the joke.
               The German laughs only once -- that too, when he sees that others are laughing, so there must be
           something in it. Next time never comes.
               But if you tell a joke to a Jew he does not laugh at all. On the contrary, he says, "Stop all this
           nonsense. The joke is very old, stale. Secondly, you are telling it all wrong!"
               Such a serious country, and they fell into the hands of an idiot. Even Charlie Chaplin would have
           been better. If they wanted the same type of mustache, Charlie Chaplin was capable of doing it.
               What happened? Adolf Hitler was not a bad man in the beginning. In fact, the whole country felt
           that he was capable of bringing the chaos in the country to an end, he could make the country strong.
               And he did that, but once he was in power then his own personality started going into a change.
           Now it was not a question of making Germany strong, financially rich. Now it became a question of
           conquering the whole world. What happened? -- and this has been happening always.
               So, factually, Lord Acton is right, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
           But Lord Acton himself was a politician. He cannot go very deep into the psychology of the matter.
               Power does not corrupt; it simply gives you an opportunity to bring all your unconscious into the
           conscious. You always wanted to do these things, but there was no opportunity. So you had
           repressed all those desires, because they were making you miserable. But any desire repressed
           remains alive and, whenever there is an opportunity, the desire rises to the conscious mind.
               Power does not corrupt you; you are already corrupted. Power gives you an opportunity to
           realize whatever your desires are. In fact, the people who have been in power are themselves
           amazed. They had never consciously thought about it. It was all in the dark corners of their minds,
           hiding. But now there is opportunity; there is no need to keep those desires repressed. They start
           surfacing.
               So to me, basically, psychologically, power simply gives you an opportunity to show your real
           face; otherwise, you are wearing a mask, a nice, smiling Jimmy Carter smile.
               Power gives you the chance not to wear the mask. You can show your real intentions and nobody
           can prevent you. And if it is absolute power, then certainly you are going to do every animal act that
           is part of your collective unconscious.
               I have to remind you there are three layers of your consciousness: the conscious -- the first, very
           thin layer. You can scratch just a little bit and the unconscious will erupt. Then there is this
           unconscious -- nine times bigger than your conscious.
               And the latest, and the greatest contribution of Carl Gustav Jung, is that beyond the unconscious
           there is still a tremendous darkness which is the collective unconscious. You have been carrying all
           that you have been for millions of years. You have changed your forms, but your unconscious goes
           on carrying all those memories.
               Scientists say man was born in the ocean, so the first form must have been a fish. And the child
           in the mother's womb in nine months passes through the whole evolution of man. And it is strange: if
           you take a picture every day for nine months you will discover the whole long history of each human
           being.
               First the child is a fish, and at the last, before he becomes a human child, he is a monkey -- even
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with a tail! And before he completes the circle in nine months and becomes a human child, the tail
           drops. But the place where the tail was connected to you, the bones which were holding the tail,
           remain with you all your life.
               That was the greatest argument of Charles Darwin, that man has come from monkeys. He has
           just lost his tail and has stood on two feet. And because he has stood on two feet, he has grown a
           certain intelligence.
               And he is right about it, because all animals are horizontal to the earth, so the blood circulates to
           the head, to the tail, in the same proportion. Their heads cannot grow the very subtle nervous system
           which is needed for intelligence.
               In your small skull you have millions of small nerves. They are so thin you cannot see them with
           your eyes. They are so thin that if you put one nerve cell on top of another, then one hundred nerve
           cells will be as thick as your hair. They are really delicate. Because man stood on two feet, blood
           could not reach to the head in the same proportion -- it was against gravitation. Small quantities
           reach. That allowed the whole structure of the mind to develop.
               You may not have observed that you feel so relaxed after sleep; all worries, all tensions are gone.
           In the morning you feel so fresh. The reason is you fall down from humanity into a horizontal
           position; you become an animal. And an animal has no tensions, no worries. The blood circulation
           becomes equal to your mind and feet: that's why in the morning you feel so fresh.
               Seeing this freshness, this morning aliveness, yoga got into a trap. They thought that if horizontal
           blood flow can give you so much mental relaxation, then standing on your head will be really great,
           because all the blood will be flowing like a flood, because now it will be in tune with the gravitation.
           Your feet will not be getting enough blood, and your head will be flooded. But their logic was not
           right. That much of a flood destroys your mind tissues; they are too delicate for that much blood.
               In India, I have never seen a single intelligent Hindu sannyasin who has been practicing the
           headstand. They are just super-idiots, for the simple reason that they have destroyed....
               Yes, you will see them very calm and quiet -- just like buffalos munching grass, so calm and
           quiet. Have you seen any buffalo bored? any buffalo worried? in anxiety? in tension? asking about
           the meaning of life? thinking, "What is anguish?"
               No, for a buffalo all these problems don't exist. She does not have that delicacy. And the people
           who have been standing on their head for hours become buffalos. Yes, you will see them very calm
           and quiet, but don't be deceived by their calmness and quietness. They have paid for it; they have
           lost their intelligence.
               The human child passes through all the stages humanity has passed, and your collective
           unconscious has all the memories. You may have been a lion, you may have been a tiger, you may
           have been a fox. In your past lives you may have taken all these forms. That means, if you get
           absolute power, all these forms will start arising.
               If you have power -- not absolute power -- then only your unconsciousness will affect your
           actions. But if you have absolute power, then your collective unconscious will start affecting your
           actions.
               So it is not power that corrupts; it is that power simply reveals your reality.
               You are asking me, what can be done to prevent it? The only way to prevent it is that you should
           enter as a witness, first of your conscious mind, thoughts, imaginations, etcetera -- just be a witness
           to them without any judgment.
               And you will be surprised. As your witnessing becomes more and more crystallized, thoughts
           start disappearing. When you are one hundred percent crystallized, all thoughts disappear.
           Consciousness becomes just a pure silence.
               Now you can move deeper. Now you can turn your witness and enter into the darkness of the
           unconscious, where you will find all that you have been told to repress.
               Telling to a fourteen or fifteen-year-young boy that celibacy is a virtue, that he has to remain
           celibate until he has come from the university and he gets married, you are simply asking the
           impossible.
               At the age of eighteen man has the most sexual power. After eighteen he starts declining. It is at
           the age of eighteen that he comes to the peak of his sexual energy, and he can have tremendously
           significant orgasms. And he is capable of having three, four, five orgasms in one night. When he was
           able to have orgasms, he was told to remain celibate. He repressed his energy, or he became a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           pervert. He became a homosexual or he started masturbating.
               But in all the countries even doctors go on telling people that masturbation will make you crazy,
           will make you mad. This is sheer nonsense. In fact, to get rid of sexual energy which is too much,
           masturbation is the most hygienic method. And at the age of eighteen, if you can be taught
           masturbation with meditation, your whole life will be a totally different life. Not a life of misery,
           suffering, sadness, frustration, but a life of sheer dance and song.
               That's what I will teach people. When they are at the peak of their sexual energy, that is the
           moment when they can have orgasm very easily. And now the Pill is available, so there is no
           problem. Boys and girls should be living in the same hostels. They should be making love. The fear
           of getting pregnant is no more there. Now love is, for the first time, pure fun. And joined with
           meditation it becomes sacred fun.
               No prayer, no church-going can help you to understand what I am saying. No HOLY BIBLE can
           give you the insight.
               But if the girl is not available, then help people with masturbation. Teach them how you have to
           be meditative. And when you come to a peak and you explode into an orgasmic joy, watch. Be alert.
           This is absolutely medical, scientific, and to me, spiritual. But this is not being done. They are being
           told lies: that you will go crazy if you masturbate. Then you are driving them towards
           homosexuality.
               Girls you keep in separate hostels. Boys you keep in separate hostels. Masturbation will lead
           them to madness -- nobody wants to be mad. So what alternative have you left for them? All these
           imbeciles who have been teaching these things drive people towards homosexuality. And a man
           becoming homosexual is in a great danger. Now we know that he can have AIDS, which will not
           have any cure.
               Between the age of fourteen and twenty-five, while he will be in the university, he is in every
           way repressed. In the unconscious he will find all these repressions. But if he remains just a witness,
           those repressions will surface to the conscious and disappear. That is the miracle of witnessing.
               When the whole unconscious is empty, then ordinary power cannot corrupt you.
               The third step has to be taken now: to enter into the collective unconscious. And you are capable
           of it. The same method: witness. You may witness yourself as a tiger, as a fox, as a dog, as a wolf --
           all are the possibilities. Different people will come to realize different forms, because different
           people have come from different sources.
               Just witness. Those forms will start surfacing; they will move into the conscious and disappear.
               Anything that you can bring to the consciousness with witnessing, disappears. And if you can
           clean, give a spring-cleaning to your whole consciousness, to the very bottom, then no power can
           corrupt you -- not even absolute power can corrupt you. In fact, on the contrary, power will make
           you more humble, more creative. Absolute power will make you a great servant of humanity, a great
           blessing to existence.
               This is the only way. You cannot prevent others, but you can transform yourself.
               And the new humanity will choose such people to be the presidents, to be the prime ministers, to
           be vice-chancellors, chancellors -- people who have a completely pure consciousness.
               I call it enlightenment. All darkness has disappeared and everything has become light.
               The enlightened person will have power, but his power will be used for sharing love, for creating
           more opportunities for love. His absolute power will make him absolutely humble.
               Sannyasins have to cleanse themselves. We have one million sannyasins around the world at
           least. If we can cleanse just a few thousand sannyasins, then those will be the people who will be
           holding power in the coming days. And they will transform the whole humanity and its course.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                      Chapter #11
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                        Chapter title: The dewdrop has disappeared into the ocean
           25 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509250
              ShortTitle: BONDAG11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 121 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL THAT ONLY NOW I BEGIN TO SEE YOU. UNTIL NOW, YOU WERE ANOTHER
              PROJECTION OF THE FATHER. A REAL MASTER IS NOT EVEN A MASTER. THIS TOTAL
              FREEDOM SCARES ME, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LIVE IT. WHAT IS A REAL DISCIPLE?
              DOES HE EXIST? OR DOES HE BEGIN TO EXIST ONLY WHEN HE STARTS TO BE AN
              INDIVIDUAL?


                The real master is only a presence. He has no intentions of being a master. His presence is his
           teaching. His love is his message. Every gesture of his hand is pointing to the moon. And this whole
           thing is not being done, it is a happening. The master is not a doer. He has learned the greatest secret
           of life: let-go.
                The master has drowned his ego and the idea of separation from existence itself. He is no longer
           there as a separate entity, he is just a window. You can see through the window the infinite sky and
           the expanding universe: the sunrise, the sunset, a bird on the wing, the lotus opening its being,
           releasing its fragrance.
                The master is certainly not one of the so-called masters you will find everywhere, pretending to
           be masters, posing as masters.
           The master is just an immense emptiness.
                And, naturally, the disciple is one who comes closer and closer to the same qualities:
           nonexistence of the ego; no separation from existence; an overflowing love, unconditional; a
           tremendous sensitivity to beauty... a great revolution -- that you are not, existence is. The dewdrop
           has disappeared into the ocean.
                The function of the master is to give you a taste of dissolving into the whole, of becoming part of
           this tremendously beautiful orchestra of existence. He has no creeds to teach you, no dogmas to
           preach to you, no catechism, no theologies. He is not to give you more slavery, more mental
           bondage.
                That's what all your so-called masters are doing. Somebody is making you a Christian, somebody
           is making you a Hindu, somebody is making you a Mohammedan. These are not masters. These are
           all phony, plastic, American -- or better, Californian.
           The authentic master is immense freedom.
                To be close to him is to be close to the infinite sky, which knows no limits.
           To be in his presence is to be lost, utterly lost.
                Just now, you don't exist. What exists is the silence that pervades five thousand people. You are
           melting in that silence.
                A master is not a pretender. He does not declare that he is a master, he proves it -- just by his
           presence. The presence of the master is the only miracle in the whole existence. And it is
           tremendously magnetic. Whoever is courageous enough and wants to explore this silence, this
           stillness, comes closer to the master.
                Coming closer to the master is what is meant by disciplehood. It is not a surrender, it is not a
           belief, it is not faith.
                It is an adventure, the ultimate adventure -- because as you come closer to the master, you
           strangely feel that you are disappearing. The moment you are really close to the master, you are not.
           Neither the master is, nor the disciple is.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Then there is communion.
              Then there is that transfer which no word can manage to communicate.
              In that immense silence between two utterly absent but fully alert beings, there transpires the
           most exquisite, ecstatic experience of life.
           You have come back home.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU TALKED OF SHIVA, WHO WAS INFATUATED SO MUCH WITH HIS WOMAN THAT WHEN
              SHE DIED HE CARRIED HER DEAD BODY ON HIS SHOULDER FOR TWELVE YEARS. IS IT THE
              SAME SHIVA WHO WAS KNOWN AS THE ENLIGHTENED ONE, WHO GAVE ONE HUNDRED
              AND TWELVE TECHNIQUES FOR ENLIGHTENMENT? CAN THERE BE ANY POSITIVE MEANING
              OF CARRYING THE DEAD BODY TOO?


               Yes, there is great meaning. And it is the same Shiva who has given one hundred and twelve
           methods of meditation to the world.
               It is very rare that a man exhausts the whole of science single-handedly. Shiva is one of those
           geniuses. As far as meditation is concerned, in these thousands of years nothing has been added to
           those one hundred and twelve methods. They are exhaustive.
               Shiva has taken note of every possibility. He has not left any corner, any space, any dimension in
           which you can discover a new method. Certainly no other genius in the whole humanity can be
           compared to this strange man.
               But the story must be confusing you. His wife, Parvati, dies; he loved her immensely. I would
           like to go step by step into the story and to explain all the implications of it. They mean much to you
           and to humanity today.
               First, Shiva was not celibate. And a man who was not celibate discovered all the techniques of
           meditation. What is the implication?
               The implication is that celibacy has nothing to do with meditation -- that in fact the so-called
           celibate saints and monks have not contributed anything to human wisdom, human intelligence, to
           beauty, to richness, to music, to dance. No, not in any dimension have your celibate monks and nuns
           been contributors. They have been a burden on the earth. The only thing they have contributed is
           AIDS. And it is a very natural consequence.
               Life arises out of sex, life consists of sex. You can grow your sex to such a refinement that it can
           become love, it can become compassion. But if you block the very energy of sex by celibacy, you
           have destroyed all possibilities of your growth. You are now moving towards death. If sex is life,
           then celibacy is death. This is a simple logic.
               And AIDS is another name of slow death. That's why there is no cure for it, because there is no
           cure for death. The only difference is, death comes suddenly; AIDS comes slowly, takes time. But to
           die suddenly has a beauty. One moment you are alive, next moment you are gone; there is no
           intermediate period where you are in torture.
               But a man who has to live for two years waiting for death -- you cannot conceive his torture. He
           knows there is no way to avoid it. All his life loses meaning; he is simply waiting in immense
           anguish. And two years for him are not just two years. Time is relative. If you are happy, time goes
           fast. If you are meeting your beloved, you cannot believe that the night is over and on the horizon the
           sun is rising. If you are meeting a friend after many years, hours pass -- it seems suddenly time is
           running, not walking in the normal way.
               But when you are just in despair, anguish, and there is nothing tomorrow except death, those two
           years are almost infinite. To us, from the outside, they are two years; but for the person who is in the
           grip of AIDS, those two years are eternity.
               These celibates have given AIDS to you, because celibacy is unnatural, against biology, against
           physiology, against your hormones.
               And remember perfectly well that your body is autonomous. It does not work on your orders; it
           has its own program and it works accordingly. You eat food. It is up to you what to eat, but once it is
           below your throat it is beyond your capacity to do anything about it. Now it is in the power of your
           body to digest it, to separate it into different elements, to send those different elements to different
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           parts of the body.
               What is needed for the brain will be carried to the brain. What is needed for your genitalia will
           be carried to your genitalia. And your body does not know that you are a Christian monk, that you
           are celibate -- it goes on creating male sperm in you. What are you going to do with those male
           sperm?
               You cannot keep on containing them within you, because there is only a small space; once it is
           full, they have to be released. And they are in a hurry to be released, because they also want to go
           into the world and see what is happening outside. That's how you have come into the world, that's
           how everybody else has come into the world.
               It is good that Gautam Buddha's father was not a monk. Just a few people: Gautam Buddha's
           father, Lao Tzu's father, Chuang Tzu's father, Moses' father -- if all these people were monks, there
           would have been no religions, except Christianity... because the poor father of Jesus had nothing to
           do with Jesus' birth -- he was a monk!
               But have you ever thought about it, that the Christian God is a trinity, and that one part of the
           Christian trinity is the Holy Ghost. He is not a celibate, he is a rapist.
               A great divine act! -- he rapes a poor carpenter's virgin wife, and you still go on calling this
           monster the Holy Ghost. Then what do you think an unholy ghost is? And he is an essential part of
           God. That makes God also a noncelibate.
               But your monks, your nuns, all the religions have forced death on humanity, destructiveness on
           humanity. And the ultimate result is AIDS. And AIDS is more dangerous than nuclear weapons,
           because nuclear weapons are not going to be used at all. It is absolutely clear that to use those
           weapons is to destroy all life on the planet.
               War has meaning when somebody is victorious and somebody is defeated. War has no meaning
           when the whole of humanity is destroyed. Nobody is victorious; nobody is defeated. I can say to you
           with absolute certainty, nuclear weapons cannot be used. But AIDS is spreading fast, like wildfire. It
           may destroy humanity.
               The first implication in Shiva's story is that he is not celibate. The second implication is that he is
           not a homosexual. All your monks and nuns are bound to be homosexuals, lesbians. You have forced
           them into such a place that there is no other way.
               The third implication is that Shiva has infinite love for his beloved, so much that he carried
           Parvati's dead body in search of a physician for twelve years around the country, till all the limbs,
           one by one, fell away. Nothing was left on his shoulder. It looks a little ridiculous, but to me it has a
           totally different meaning.
               A meditator like Shiva knows life is eternal. And if life is eternal, then there is no reason why
           Parvati has to take another form. She is still young, healthy, beautiful. There must be someone who
           can manage to make her heart beat again, her lungs function again, because behind the body is the
           soul, which is eternal -- just something in the body is missing.
               In that way, Shiva proves to be the first pioneer in human engineering. He is searching for a
           physician to change any part that is preventing the soul of his wife from entering this beautiful body.
               Now scientists say that the human body has the capacity of rejuvenating itself as long as you
           want. Why do people almost always die at the age of seventy, on average? The reason is not
           physical, the reason is psychological.
               We have become accustomed to the idea that life is only for seventy years. This conditioning in
           the mind for a life of seventy years is the cause of your body stopping; otherwise there is no reason.
               There are places in Kashmir, a small part which is now occupied by Pakistan, where there are
           people who are one hundred and forty years old, one hundred and fifty years old -- and still young. I
           have been to see those people. They live in the hills, and somehow they have not got the idea that
           man's life is only for seventy years.
               In the Caucasus, in Russia, there are people who have reached one hundred and eighty years,
           thousands of people, who are still working in the fields like young men. They are robust....
               I am reminded of George Bernard Shaw, who lived all his life in London. But, when he was
           coming close to the age of seventy, he started going around in small villages to visit the cemeteries.
           His friends thought that he had become crazy.
               They always had known that something was wrong with Bernard Shaw, but now it was perfectly
           proved that this man was going crazy. What is the point of going into small villages and visiting
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cemeteries, and reading the inscriptions in the cemeteries, and collecting notes?
                Finally he decided to change his residence from London to a small village. His friends asked,
           "What is the reason? You are a man of literature, of culture; London is your milieu. What are you
           going to do in that stupid village?"
                He said, "That is the only village I am going to live in, because in that village cemetery I have
           found that people have lived one hundred and ten years, one hundred and twenty years, one hundred
           and thirty years. And still the inscription is that the man died untimely. One hundred and thirty years,
           and the man died untimely!
                "That village has the right psychology. I am going to that village, and I am going to visit the
           cemetery every day. Now that is my university, and I have to read those inscriptions on the graves to
           convince myself that seventy is not the end." And he lived almost one century.
                Now the people who are working on human engineering say that man can easily live for three
           hundred years, without any difficulty and without any old age. Just his psychology has to be
           changed, his conditioning has to be changed. And there are more daring scientists who say that if we
           can change the program in the basic human cells -- which can be done, now we are capable of doing
           it -- then we can make man live as long as he wants.
                One of my sannyasins here has written a letter to me that he is very confused. He is a scientist,
           and he works in a scientific lab where artificial human organs are made -- hands, legs, liver, heart --
           all human parts. His confusion is "whether I am going against nature, because the factory-produced
           heart is not as good as the natural heart. Am I doing something wrong by being in this profession, by
           creating artificial hands?"
                His confusion is absolutely unfounded. Remember, nature has given you intelligence, and the
           function of intelligence is to improve upon nature. It is just the beginning.
                If your artificial limbs are not so good as the natural ones, don't be worried: within a few years
           your artificial limbs will be better than the natural ones, because natural limbs are created by blind
           biology and your limbs will be created by conscious intelligence. And that conscious intelligence is
           part of nature, so you are not doing anything against nature.
                Yes, those who are preaching celibacy are against nature. Those who are preaching against birth
           control methods are against nature. Those who are making nuclear bombs are against nature. They
           are all destructive -- your work is creative. If your limbs are not yet superior to natural limbs, make
           more effort, put in more energy. It is just a question of bringing more intelligence into your work.
                And it will be a tremendous blessing to humanity if you can create superior parts for the human
           body, because when somebody dies of a heart attack -- life never dies -- only his heart has failed; if it
           can be replaced, he will be again alive. You are in the service of life.
                Somebody has a fracture: now, rather than joining the fractured bone, which will never be as
           strong as it was before, it is better to change the whole bone completely for a new, artificial and
           better bone. We can make bones which cannot have such accidents.
                We can make man capable of changing anything that is not functioning well. There is no need for
           glasses if eyes can be changed. And there will be real beauty -- at the age of seventy, having fresh
           eyes like a child!
                There is no need to feel confused. You are to remember only one single criterion: anything in the
           service of life is in the service of nature; anything against life is against nature.
                And intelligence is nature's only hope to improve upon itself.
                Shiva's story has beautiful implications. In carrying his dead wife, he is saying that perhaps there
           may be someone who can change some small part which has gone out of function. He is the first
           scientist of human engineering.
                Third, his love -- don't call it infatuation -- his love for his wife simply shows that meditativeness
           is not against love. A man who created all the methods of meditation, who was perhaps history's
           greatest meditator, was still human and had no difficulty in being in love.
                All the religions have been teaching just the opposite. They are teaching that you renounce your
           wife, you renounce your children, you renounce the world, you renounce comforts, you renounce
           everything that makes your life a joy. Then only can you be saved. They are teaching you suicide; it
           is not religion. But they have turned millions of people into a gang of suicidal people.
                The moment your love dies, many other things also die in you. A man whose love is dead is
           incapable of seeing beauty in a painting. If he cannot see beauty in a human face, in the face of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Cleopatra; if he cannot see beauty in the ultimate expression of existence, what can he see on a
           canvas? Just a few colors. He cannot see beauty in it.
                He whose love is dead cannot compose poetry, because without love his poetry will be simply
           juiceless. It won't have life in it. It will be a simple gymnastics of words without any spirit behind it.
           It will be a corpse of poetry, but not poetry.
                A man who cannot love cannot be creative in any sense. Why should he make a beautiful statue
           of a woman or a man? Why should he make beautiful statues of women in Khajuraho in India?
                I am aware of all the best sculptures around the world: nothing is comparable to Khajuraho.
           Thousands of beautiful women in one temple... and there are thirty temples still in perfect shape.
           There used to be one hundred temples. Seventy temples are in ruins, but in those ruins also you can
           find beautiful pieces.
                In one temple, thousands of women, men, loving each other, hugging each other.... You can see
           that the stones have become alive, you can see that the stones can speak. You can see that nature has
           not been able to create such beautiful women as those unknown artists have done.
                But if stone can be made so beautiful, so alive that it seems the woman is just going to come out,
           that she is just going to start breathing again, then why can't we improve on humanity? There is no
           need for ugly people. It is our fault and our responsibility.
                Now the medical profession is capable of deciding what kind of child it will be that you are
           going to produce, because the male sperm has the whole program, the woman's egg has the whole
           program. Both programs can be read, and if it is not worthwhile to go on, they should be discarded.
                We have to discard many old conceptions -- that your child has to be your child. But if your child
           is going to be blind, if your child is going to be crippled, if your child is going to be just an imbecile,
           do you still want it to be your child?
                Will it not be better that people go to the hospitals and donate male sperm, that women go to the
           hospitals when they want children? The couple can go and say, "This is the kind of child we want, so
           you figure it out. This is my wife, so you read her eggs" -- and every month a woman is releasing
           one egg, so there is no trouble -- "and you give her the best sperm from your lab. I want my child to
           be a genius. I want my child to be healthy. I want my child to live long."
                You have to drop that stupid idea that it has to be just your sperm. Can you recognize your
           sperm? If twelve samples are placed before you, can you recognize it, that "this is my sperm"? So
           what is the point? Why make a fuss about it? Get the best sperm that is possible. Think of the child
           and his future -- give him all that is best.
                But the most sorry thing is.... We are doing this with trees, with animals -- and we have improved
           upon animals, upon trees.
                I had one gardener.... I have lived in many cities, but wherever I have lived, I have lived
           surrounded with trees. My gardens are almost jungles. This old gardener was really a genius. He was
           winning the first prize in the state every year for producing the biggest flowers, and he wanted to do
           it in my garden.
                I asked, "What is your secret? How do you manage to create the biggest rose in the whole state?"
                He said, "The secret is simple. I don't allow many flowers to grow on one rosebush. I cut all the
           buds and keep only one bud. Naturally, all the juice of the tree moves into one bud. Instead of
           creating hundreds of roseflowers, it creates one roseflower, but then nobody can compete with it."
                If this is possible, then rather than having a dozen children it is better to have one child, but have
           a child which will have the best intelligence, the best body, the most beautiful face. But no, people
           are interested in having dozens of children. They are exhausted, their children are born almost
           exhausted; from the very beginning they are old.
                What we are doing in nature with trees, with animals, we have not yet been courageous enough
           to do with human beings; otherwise, there is no need for crippled people. It is sad; they are victims
           of your stupid ideas. They are suffering because of their parents. There are blind children, there are
           deaf children. There are children who are sick from the very beginning.
                In Tibet, it used to be a traditional thing that whenever a child was born they would dip the child
           in freezing, ice-cold water nine times. Out of ten children, nine would die.
                Looks inhuman, primitive -- but the basic principle is understandable. Their idea was this: that if
           these children cannot survive the shock of freezing water, then in Tibet -- which is the land of eternal
           snows all around -- their whole life will be a misery. "Now one has survived; we can depend on his
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           strength, his stamina -- that he will be able to live in this remote corner of the world; the very roof of
           the world." And Tibetans are really strong, very strong people. But the reason is because nine have
           been sacrificed.
               I am not telling you to sacrifice your children -- just don't produce them.
               Shiva's story makes it clear that a man of meditation will be a man of immense love. He will not
           be inhuman.
               For example, Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, would not allow any woman to come close to
           him. Women had to be eight feet away from him. What kind of fear...? Jaina monks are not allowed
           to sit on a spot where a woman has been sitting before, because that spot still has a feminine vibe.
           These people seem to be insane.
               Nine months they were in their mother's womb -- nine months' continuous feminine vibe! And
           half of their being is contributed by the mother; their flesh, their blood, their skin, their bones are all
           contributed by their mother -- they all have a feminine vibe. And these idiots are saying, "Don't sit in
           a place where a woman was sitting."
               So every Jaina monk carries a small mattress, rolled up, with him. So, wherever he sits, first he
           puts his mattress as a protection, and then he sits on the mattress. If feminine vibes are really so
           powerful, I think a mattress cannot prevent them. In fact, the mattress itself is feminine. Have you
           seen a male mattress?
               Buddha told his disciples, "You have, while walking, to keep your eyes only four feet ahead,
           looking down on the earth just four feet ahead, so that you never see a feminine face. At the most
           you can see the feet of a woman, and if you see the feet, move away."
               What kind of fear...? And these people are meditative? This is paranoia! They must be
           tremendously repressed. These are psychologically sick people, they are sexually pathological.
               Buddha had said, "Never touch a woman, never talk to a woman." Women are half of humanity!
           This is simply a male chauvinistic attitude, absolutely macho.
               And it is not based on the transformation of man through meditation, but on repression of
           sexuality; that's why these people are so fearful.
               Not to touch a woman -- I don't see the point. My people are here... they are hugging women,
           touching women, and I don't see that their spirituality is destroyed, or their meditation is disturbed.
           In fact, just the opposite is the case.
               There is a question... a man has said, "It is very strange that when I make love to a woman, the
           next day I understand you better. My meditation goes deeper."
               He is feeling strange. There is nothing strange in it, it is how it should be. Making love to a
           woman relaxes you, takes your tensions away, makes you more childlike. Naturally you understand
           me better, naturally you meditate deeper.
               Man and woman can help each other tremendously towards meditation and towards the ultimate
           transformation of their being.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW CAN THE COMMON MAN RISE ABOVE ALL THE POWER TRIPS OF THOSE IN POWER,
              AND TRULY BUILD A WORLD OF THE HEART, OF LOVE, AND OF CARING? IS SUCH A WORLD
              REALLY POSSIBLE, OR SHOULD I JUST CONTINUE TO BE GRATEFUL FOR THE AWARENESS,
              BLISS, JOY AND GRATEFULNESS THAT HAS COME INTO MY LIFE SINCE FINDING YOU?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                The only way to prevent people from getting power-oriented is to start with yourself, because
           everybody carries in his unconscious the desire for power of some kind or other.
                One of the great emperors of India, Shah Jehan -- who made the most beautiful grave for his
           wife, the Taj Mahal -- was arrested by his own son, imprisoned, and the son became the emperor.
           His name was Aurangzeb; he was one of the worst emperors India has known. But sometimes even
           third-rate human beings have certain insights which are significant.
                Aurangzeb told his court, "My father has sent a message from the prison that the whole day
           sitting there he feels bored. It will be a tremendous kindness if he can be given thirty children whom
           he can teach." Aurangzeb commented, "This is nothing but lust for power. He has lost his kingdom,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           but he still wants thirty children so that he can rule over them, discipline them."
               There is insight in the comment. The people who become teachers, the people who become
           preachers, the people who become politicians, all are searching for power in different ways. Even
           your God is not much different. How can he be much different? -- because he is your creation, he is
           your projection. He has all the ingredients of your mind.
           God does not exist anywhere. You paint him.
               I have heard.... One small child was making a picture, very fast. His father watched and asked,
           "What are you doing so quickly?"
               The boy said, "I am making a picture of God the father."
               His father said, "But how can you make a picture of God? You have not seen him, nobody has
           seen him."
               The boy said, "Don't be worried: when my picture is complete, everybody will know how God
           looks!"
               All your gods are nothing but the pictures of that child.
               God punished Adam and Eve -- for what? Disobedience. This is lust for power; otherwise, a God
           who is love will be able to forgive. But he drove them out of the Garden of Eden and made them feel
           guilty that they have disobeyed.
               But couldn't he explain to them? Couldn't he give them another chance? -- even ordinary human
           fathers will not drive their children out of the house because they have disobeyed. We expect a little
           more compassion from God. And what was their disobedience? They had just eaten the fruit of the
           tree of knowledge. I don't think there is anything wrong in it. Knowledge is not a sin. In fact, God
           making knowledge a sin is behaving really insanely.
               He has prohibited them from eating the fruit of eternal life. What kind of father, what kind of
           God is he? In fact, he should have told them, "These are the two best trees in the whole Garden of
           Eden, so eat as many apples as possible." Strange, the apple tree is the tree of knowledge! "And eat
           as many fruits of the tree of eternal life" -- then certainly they would not have disobeyed.
               If anybody is criminal in this whole act it is God, not Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve did not
           rebel. In fact, they should have driven God out of Eden, thrown him out of the garden, told him,
           "You are no longer needed, you are out of date. Get lost! Now we are here and we will manage!" But
           they must have been very simple people, innocent. God drove them out in a third-class Ford
           motorcar.
               And they accepted the guilt, and Christians are still living in that guilt. Six thousand years have
           passed, but every Christian is born in sin. This is God's lust for power. And the priest found it
           perfectly suitable to his own lust for power. He is perfectly in tune with God. He makes you feel
           guilty, he makes you feel a sinner -- that gives him power over you.
               Just a few days ago the Catholic pope informed all the Catholics in the world that they cannot
           confess their sins to God direct. Why not directly? It is now a sin to confess directly to God! They
           have to confess to the priest; everything has to go via the right channel. This is all lust for power. If
           people start confessing to God, then the priest is useless -- and finally the pope is useless.
               And Catholics confessing their sins to the priest don't understand the conspiracy that the
           power-lusty people are imposing on them. They are told that if they confess to the priest, God will
           forgive them. So they confess, but that makes them more and more enslaved by the priest, because
           the priest knows everything about their sins, crimes.... They cannot leave the Catholic fold; they
           know the priest knows too much about them. Now they are in the hands of the priest. This is a simple
           political strategy.
               I know about Indira Gandhi in India. She was very much interested in my ideas -- we had a few
           meetings. She told me, "My power consists in having a few files."
           I said, "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
               She said, "I have files against each politician who can be a competitor to me, and he knows that I
           will immediately expose him before the public, before the court. Rather than becoming the prime
           minister, he will be behind bars."
               Those files now are in the hands of her son, Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi was never in politics,
           but those files are enough: all old politicians are silent, knowing perfectly well that they can be
           caught and exposed. They have committed every kind of crime.
               You will be surprised... when Indira Gandhi's son, Sanjay Gandhi, had an accident and died -- his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           plane crashed just near Indira Gandhi's house, two blocks away -- Indira Gandhi rushed there
           immediately. Naturally, you would think a mother would rush immediately; her son has died. But
           what she inquired was, "He had some keys with him -- where are those keys?" She had not rushed
           there for Sanjay Gandhi, she had rushed there for those two keys, because those two keys were to all
           the files containing all the papers against all the Indian politicians.
               In fact, it seems she felt relieved by Sanjay Gandhi's death, because Sanjay Gandhi was harassing
           her. It is a well-known fact all over the country -- there are eyewitnesses -- that once Sanjay Gandhi
           slapped Indira Gandhi. And it was an everyday thing, they were fighting continuously, because he
           wanted all those files. Finally, just to keep the peace, she had given him the keys. His death came as
           a relief; the keys were back with her.
               You are asking me, "How can we stop people from getting into a power trip?"
               Start from yourself. Just don't do anything to dominate, and don't allow anybody to dominate you
           either. Take the whole responsibility of being an individual, and respect the right of everybody else
           to be an individual, to be totally free. Never interfere in anybody's life, and never allow anybody else
           to interfere in your life.
               And be watchful, because the ego is very subtle, its ways are very subtle. Watch that you are not
           trying to be powerful in some way -- over your wife, over your children, over your servants....
               Do you treat your servant exactly the same way as you treat your boss? If not, then you cannot
           get rid of the power trip. Respect everybody: the boss is doing his work, the servant is doing his
           work.
               But as it happens now, the servant passes through the room and you don't even look at him, you
           don't even say, "Hi." The servant is just a servant -- not to be taken any note of. But if the boss
           comes in the room then you stand up, trembling, nervous. What has happened? Your servant is as
           much a human being as your boss. Behave with them equally, be respectful to each individual. What
           their function is, is secondary.
               That is the whole point in this commune. Somebody is a cleaner, somebody is a psychotherapist
           -- but in the commune there is no difference at all. The psychotherapist is not being treated specially,
           and the cleaner is not thought to be doing something third rate.
               After the functions, in the evening, you will see that the professor, the president, the cleaner --
           they are all hugging, and they are all dancing in the disco. This is how things should be. Everybody
           is contributing to the commune. Everything is absolutely necessary. In fact, we can live without the
           professor, but we cannot live without the cleaner -- his function is far more important.
               If you just keep a little alert that you are not dominating anybody in any way.... Even small
           children that have unfortunately fallen into your hands, be respectful to them. That will teach them
           also to be respectful to everybody. And that will give them an integrity, individuality, a certain kind
           of crystallization, a great spiritual strength. And then they will never seek power.
               Power is sought only by people who are feeling deep inside an inferiority complex. So don't
           create an inferiority complex in anybody, and don't feel yourself in any way inferior.
               All human beings are unique. I cannot say they are equal. That is my basic point against
           communism. Communism is absolutely an unpsychological philosophy. No two human beings are
           equal. Yes, every human being is unique. There is no need for equality; what is needed is
           uniqueness.
               Try to express your uniqueness, and help others to express their uniqueness. And destroy the
           inferiority complex first in yourself, then in your wife, then in your children, then in your neighbors,
           in your friends. And let this fire spread.
               I can see a day somewhere in the future that people will be there but there will be nobody who is
           hungry for power. To be hungry for power simply shows that the man needs psychiatric treatment.
           All the politicians of the world, all the presidents, all the prime ministers, kings and queens, need
           psychiatric treatment so that they can again become human beings.
               That atmosphere can be created. We have one million sannyasins around the world: create that
           atmosphere, spread that idea to every nook and corner of the earth.
               We have lived under these power trippers for thousands of years and, except for suffering and
           misery, nothing has happened.
               I am showing you the way where there is a possibility of a song bursting out of your heart and a
           dance, for no reason at all -- just for dance's sake. It is so joyful to dance with the wind, in the sun,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just the way trees are dancing.
           Humanity has not yet become cultured.
           Civilization has not yet happened.
           We have to create the ground for it to happen -- and we are going to create it!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #12
                                   Chapter title: Today we claim the rainbow
           26 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509260
              ShortTitle: BONDAG12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 94 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUDAS, THE ONLY INTELLIGENT DISCIPLE OF JESUS,
              BETRAYING HIM, AND SIDDHA, THE VICE-CHANCELLOR OF OUR MEDITATION UNIVERSITY,
              AND OTHER INFLUENTIAL LEADERS AND POWERFUL PEOPLE OF THE COMMUNE, LIKE
              PRABODHI, DEEKSHA, SHIVA, MAKIMA, SOMENDRA, SUSHILA, DIVYA, ETCETERA GOING
              AGAINST YOU?


                There is a great difference. Judas betrayed Jesus, nobody can betray me -- because Jesus asked
           for faith, and I don't ask for any faith from you.
                Jesus asked people to believe in him; he is the savior. I do not ask you to believe in me but to
           believe in yourself, because nobody can save you except yourself. There is no other savior than
           yourself.
           How can you betray me?
           You can only betray yourself.
                That's what Sheela and her gang have done. They have betrayed their own spiritual growth.
                And the remaining people -- you mentioned Siddha, Deeksha, Makima -- these people were
           forced to leave by Sheela. They still love me, as they have always loved me.
                Just the other day Richard came back from Santa Fe, the city of the camels, and he was surprised
           that they are all immensely happy that Sheela has left, and they all want to come back. Hundreds of
           others who have left will be coming back. This time they will find a totally different climate, fresh
           air. Now one can breathe; otherwise, people were getting suffocated.
                They tried hard to live under Sheela and her gang, but there is a limit to human patience. Finally
           they decided it is better to leave. How much can you tolerate humiliation, and humiliation by
           someone who was nobody. Sheela was just a waitress in a hotel in America before she came to me.
           And I made her a queen of a whole kingdom of sannyasins all over the world.
                It was great for Makima to have tolerated her for almost three years. Makima comes from one of
           the most super-rich families, and Sheela was forcing her to drive trucks. She had always been
           chauffeured, and now she was driving big trucks; but she accepted it out of love for me, because she
           wanted to remain here. Amrit, her boyfriend, was a doctor.
                But Sheela's assistant, and the mastermind in this whole gang of fascists, was Puja, who has been
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           harassing all the doctors, all the nurses, everybody, in every possible way. She would write
           prescriptions and force the doctors to sign them. It is illegal. Patience is one thing, but to be forced to
           do illegal things is not right.
                Puja herself was capable of prescribing medicines -- she was a perfectly educated nurse, had a
           license to prescribe medicines just like any doctor, but she was absolutely cunning.
                The doctors were not willing, because the things that were prescribed were not relevant to the
           sickness, to the person at all. But those prescriptions were not for the sickness, they were
           punishments. Amrit did not become part of all the crimes that they were doing; he left with tears in
           his eyes. And I know Makima: whatever happens, her love for me cannot change.
                These people have not betrayed me. These people have been forced to go away from here. Sheela
           was afraid of all those people who were more intelligent than her -- and almost everybody is more
           intelligent than her. She is not educated; I had to teach her each and every thing. From a hotel
           waitress, I made her a celebrity all over the world. And this is the reward and gratitude that she has
           shown me.
                Naturally, anybody who is in power and feels that there are people who are far more intelligent
           remains in a kind of phobia, wanting somehow to get rid of these people.
                The chancellor of the university, Amitabh, left. The vice-chancellor of the university, Siddha,
           left. Both were unique individuals, but both will be back soon.
                Shiva, who had been a guard for many years -- she forced him to leave. And the way to force him
           was through humiliation, giving him jobs which the man had never done. The day he left.... I used to
           go driving outside the commune. Just near Krishnamurti Lake, at the end, he was kneeling down on
           his knees, tears in his eyes, to say goodbye to me. He has not betrayed.
                And they are all informing me that they want to come back, because the reason that they had to
           leave has disappeared.
                So remember, these people were not Judases -- except Sheela, who proved really poisonous. But
           I can understand her problem. She had come to power, she had never seen so much money in her life
           passing through her hands.
                She had a bank balance in Switzerland. She slowly slowly siphoned money coming here from
           European communes -- forty-three million dollars. It is in the name of Sheela and Savita -- it was
           said in front of Hasya and Savita promised that before she left she would give all the details to
           Hasya. She has not given any details, she simply escaped.
           The only person who has betrayed is Sheela.
                I have always respected women. Sheela has betrayed that respect.
                The whole commune I had given into the hands of women. It will not be so anymore. Now men
           will have an equal share of power in everything.
                It is a crime against womankind. I was trying to give some compensation to women because they
           have suffered so long, for thousands of years. But I am having second thoughts: perhaps they needed
           that suffering.
                One of India's great poets, Tulsidas, writes in one of his poems, "Animals, untouchables, and
           women, once in a while need a good beating." I have always condemned that man, but Sheela and
           her group have proved Tulsidas was not wrong. I was not right; perhaps Tulsidas is right. I have
           been always a supporter of women's liberation, but Sheela and her gang have proved that if women
           are in power, Hitlers will be forgotten.
                Even one FBI person was overheard to say here that when he saw all the bugging devices he was
           amazed, he could not believe it. He said that whoever has done this has surpassed Nixon and
           Watergate, because the way it was done was far more sophisticated.
                And how many houses have they bugged? The whole hotel -- all the rooms were bugged.
           Anybody staying in the hotel was staying in an imprisonment. Even bathrooms were bugged. You
           could not be allowed to have your thoughts or just sing a song of your own without it being known
           to Sheela immediately.
                She had bugged my room. She was continually insisting for many days that a switch for a buzzer
           was needed -- a buzzer for the guards who are on the roof of my house -- so "if you see any
           emergency you can inform them."
                I said, "I live in the room. The curtains are drawn almost the whole day, except only for one hour
           -- half an hour when I take my lunch, half an hour when I take my supper. And anyway, if somebody
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is coming towards the house the guards on the roof will see him first. Their visibility is bigger. And I
           mostly sit with closed eyes. It is absolutely useless; but if you want to put it in, just for your
           satisfaction you can."
                But it was not a switch for the buzzer only. Yes, on the surface it was a switch for the buzzer to
           the guards, but inside the switch was a microphone. Now the guards have come crying to inform me,
           "We were seeing it every day: Julian continually coming to change the tape" -- the tape was in the
           bathroom of the guards. "We could not open our mouths because Sheela convinced us that it was for
           the master's safety: 'If anybody enters the room -- he sits with closed eyes -- if something happens in
           the room, you will immediately know.'"
                Since that buzzer was fixed I was puzzled only about one thing, that whenever she wanted to talk
           about something that she thought was very secretive -- she used to sit at least four, five feet away
           from me -- then she would come close.
                I could not understand, because even if it was secret, there was nobody in the room: what was the
           need to come so close? But she was not coming close to me, she was coming close to the
           microphone so that everything she said would be picked up exactly, and whatever reply I gave her
           would also be picked up. She proved a real snake.
                And now she is giving interviews to magazines, to television. And she is repeating two things:
           first, that she had to leave the commune because there was a power struggle. We had never heard
           about that power struggle. Who was struggling for power?
                And the second thing was, "I have so much information with me, almost as much as the ocean,
           but I will not reveal it." That is a message to the attorney general of Oregon, to the FBI -- that she is
           willing to reveal it if they give her immunity. Then she can save all those twenty criminals who have
           escaped from here, and she can point to any people and say that these are the people who did all the
           wrong deeds.
                And remember it, it is a simple principle of dirty politics that the government, FBI, and the state
           police do not seem to be interested in the crimes. We have given them solid proofs, and they have
           not taken a single step; otherwise, they could inform Interpol to arrest these twenty people and bring
           them here.
                They could inform the Swiss government, they could inform the German government that these
           people are criminals and they should not be given shelter, before they escape into a country where
           the American government will have no power at all. For example, if they enter East Germany, then
           you will not be able to catch hold of them. And they are giving them time. The simple reason is,
           perhaps their agents are meeting them and finding a way that the whole thing can be forced on
           innocent sannyasins.
                It has been overheard from FBI people that they would like at least five hundred sannyasins
           imprisoned. Strange -- we give you the people who have done the crime, the people themselves have
           proved that they are criminals by escaping, and you want to imprison five hundred sannyasins. For
           what reason? To destroy the commune.
                They will choose people who are absolutely necessary for the commune's existence: doctors,
           legal experts, people who prepare your food, people who drive your buses -- anybody who is in any
           way essential for the commune's existence. With five hundred, they can destroy the whole commune.
           Their interest is not the crime that has been committed. They want to commit a bigger crime: their
           interest is in destroying the commune.
                And now Sheela is trying her last strategy: if immunity is given to her she is ready to reveal all
           the names of the people who have committed the crimes.
                Just the other day, STERN magazine wanted somebody from here to go to Germany for a
           discussion on the television with Sheela. I sent the message, "Why should anybody go there? Sheela
           can come here; I will face her myself, and I will see how much guts she has." I am ready for an open
           discussion on television, and I am ready to expose everything she has done. Nobody else can do it.
           Nobody else knows her and her mind the way I know her.
                She is telling lies to the press, unbelievable lies. I don't possess a single thing. Everything that I
           use belongs to the commune, has been donated by sannyasins from all over the world. It was their
           gift to me. But I told her that I do not want to have any gifts, so make trusts; all those gifts should go
           to the trust. I want to remain exactly as I was born, without anything and that's the way I want to go
           from the world -- without anything. But if people love me around the world, and go on sending gifts,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then make separate trusts for everything.
                There are now ninety Rolls Royces. And she is saying in an interview with STERN that for one
           Rolls Royce I threatened that if she did not bring one Rolls Royce more I would commit suicide. It is
           simply so absurd. And it is against the law of economics. Everybody knows the law of diminishing
           returns: If you have one Rolls Royce, you may have great joy -- but with ninety Rolls Royces, each
           Rolls Royce becomes less valuable.
                In the whole world there is nobody else who has ninety Rolls Royces. So whether I have ninety
           or ninety-one does not make any difference: I am already on the top! And now, after ninety Rolls
           Royces, one more Rolls Royce -- what value can it have to me? And for that one Rolls Royce I will
           commit suicide? She is going almost insane. She looks on the television completely drugged. If she
           has any courage, she should come here -- no harm will be done to her. She should just face me, and
           let it be known to the whole world.
                Before me, she becomes just a mouse, starts crying and weeping -- the same ancient female
           technology. It has happened so many times -- crying and weeping and sobbing, so that just to get rid
           of her, I would say, "Okay, do whatever you want to do."
                Just last night it happened -- one interviewer went on and on, on and on. There seemed to be no
           end to his questions; he had almost a whole book of questions. Just to stop him somewhere.... It was
           getting to be ten at night, and he asked, "Do you agree with Socrates and his dictum, 'Know
           thyself'?"
                I said, "I absolutely agree." And I had to stand up and tell him that I had to agree, otherwise this
           interview would never end! Otherwise, who is going to agree with that old Socrates, who was a
           homosexual?
                But to bring up all that would mean the interview would continue: Is homosexuality the way to
           know thyself? Socrates is the most prominent homosexual the world has known. And now that we
           know about AIDS, he will have to take the responsibility for it. Knowing thyself turned into a very
           dangerous disease, AIDS. But to finish the interview.... It had become almost a torture; for three
           hours....
                And that was the situation with Sheela. How can she manage to face me? And if she was
           courageous enough to face me, at least she would have come to say goodbye to me. She did not even
           come to say goodbye to me. She escaped like a thief, a murderer. She has degraded, in my eyes, the
           status of womanhood.
                She could do anything. She deserted her husband when he was seriously ill, and began a love
           affair with another sannyasin. This was a great shock to her husband and may have caused his death.
           She then married an American and, without divorcing him, or even telling him that she was
           divorcing him, she then married a Swiss sannyasin, so that when she escaped from here she had a
           home in Switzerland. This is bigamy -- a big crime.
                When she became aware there that she had committed a crime, she rushed to Nepal -- a small
           Himalayan kingdom in India, very poor, with perhaps the poorest people in the world, where you can
           give a small bribe to any magistrate and you can get a back-dated divorce.
                So now she has a Nepalese back-dated divorce. Strange -- why should one go to Nepal for a
           back-dated divorce? It was necessary. You cannot get, in any cultured country, a back-dated divorce
           so easily. And when you are married to an American husband, you should divorce him in America.
           There are possibilities -- there are states where you can go and get a divorce. But she could not come
           back to America. The American husband perhaps still does not know that he is divorced. The poor
           fellow still believes that he is her husband!
                So the only person who has proved a Judas is Sheela. But even Judas was better than Sheela, far
           better and far superior, because when he realized the crime that he had done he committed suicide --
           just within twenty-four hours. Handing over Jesus for thirty silver pieces to the enemies.... He must
           have been a man of conscience; he hanged himself from a tree.
                Christians don't talk of him, his crucifixion is not at all discussed in churches. He crucified
           himself. It was a great understanding that what he had done was wrong -- a great repentance.
                Sheela does not have even that conscience. And with a man like me... if she had come to me,
           even if she comes to me now, with her whole gang, and confesses that they had committed these
           things and they feel guilty, I will take all their crimes on myself -- because to me, to live tomorrow
           does not mean anything. I have attained whatever life is capable of attaining. I have experienced the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ultimate peak of life, love, light.
                There is no problem, I can take the whole load of crimes, but at least I should know what the load
           is; otherwise, how can I take it on myself?
                Those twenty people have not yet known anything, so rather than sending them to prison, I
           would prefer myself to be hanged. And they have committed enough crimes, enough for a death
           sentence for one single man. That will help the commune. That will help those people.
                But instead of doing that, Sheela is lying to the press -- which is not going to help. Lying has
           never helped anybody. It is truth that liberates.
                And my love for all those criminals remains the same, because I have never loved anybody while
           asking them to be according to me, to my ideas. I have never put any condition on my love. My love
           is unconditional.
                They can come and see what unconditional love can do. I will take all their burden on me,
           because to me it does not matter. But all those twenty people have still to realize themselves; they
           have not even found the blessed state in which I am -- now no death can destroy it.
                So I am the right person to be hanged for all their crimes. I would like them to confess, and I
           would like you to forgive them, because love knows infinite forgiveness.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW IS IT THAT ALTHOUGH I FEEL SO SERENE AND IN HARMONY WHEN I AM WITNESSING, I
              STILL SPEND MOST OF MY TIME IN A DAZE? I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY I CONTINUE TO
              SLEEP, WHEN THE RARE MOMENTS THAT I SURFACE ARE SO EXQUISITE.


              Just old habit. Old habits die hard, but they do die. Don't be worried!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAID AT A PRESS CONFERENCE THAT IF THE AUTHORITIES DON'T ACT, WE WILL TAKE
              MATTERS INTO OUR OWN HANDS, AND BRING THEM BACK HERE. THIS WILL PRESUMABLY
              INVOLVE KIDNAPPING, FALSE ARREST, AND OTHER CRIMES EVERY BIT AS SERIOUS AS
              THOSE OF SHEELA AND HER GANG. IF YOU ORDER THIS, HOW IS YOUR BRAND OF FASCISM
              AND ANARCHY DIFFERENT FROM SHEELA'S?


               I have just answered that my way of bringing them here will not be fascist. It will be my love, my
           forgiveness, that will bring them here.
               But whosoever is asking the question is an authentic camel.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT FEELS AS IF THE LESSON THAT HAS COME OUT OF OUR RECENT EXPERIENCE IS WHAT
              YOU HAVE BEEN TEACHING US ALL ALONG -- THAT ALL HOPE IS FALSE, AND THAT IN
              ORDER TO SURVIVE WE MUST LEARN TO LIVE WITHOUT DREAMS AND ILLUSIONS. WOULD
              YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


              Is there any need to comment?


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WE ARE FEELING A TREMENDOUS GRATITUDE AND EVEN DEEPER LOVE FOR YOU. SHEELA
              HAS GONE OF HER OWN CHOICE, AND SEEING THE SCOPE OF HER CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES, I
              CAN'T HELP FEELING THAT SHE ONLY LEFT BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T CONTROL YOU, NO
              MATTER HOW SHE TRIED. THE ROCK WAS SHATTERED BY THE FLOWER. MASTER, CAN WE
              EVER THANK YOU?


              That's something to be remembered: The rock can be shattered by a roseflower. And that is our
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           power.
               In the last press conference you heard a question from a journalist, and I said, "If any harm is
           done to my innocent people, then no American embassy anywhere in the world will be allowed to
           function. And my people can hijack any American planes." But that was just a joke! We do not need
           to do such things.
           Our power is of love, of innocence.
               And whosoever will clash with our love and innocence will be shattered.
               Even nuclear weapons are not more powerful than love, because death can never be more
           powerful than life. Guns can never be more powerful than laughter.
               So if they want to destroy us they need not take unnecessary trouble and go in circles, give
           immunity to the criminals and force the innocent to be punished -- there is no need. You can have a
           beautiful Hiroshima here, you can just drop a hydrogen bomb. And that will be something, because
           you don't have what Japan has: a Nagasaki, a Hiroshima -- America is missing. You can also brag
           then, that you also have a Hiroshima.
               But this Hiroshima will be totally different. People will be dancing, laughing, loving, and they
           will welcome death. There will be no despair, no anguish, no fear. Try it. That will become a
           precedent for the whole world. Our laughter, our dance, our song, our music, will remain haunting
           the politicians for their whole life.
               Why take such long routes? It is so strange.... The KGB in Soviet Russia is persecuting my
           sannyasins there, and they are continuously hammering in their minds that I am a CIA agent. And
           the CIA and the FBI are trying to destroy this commune. Perhaps they think I belong to the KGB.
               I am certainly a unique person! No other person has that distinction. Either you belong to the
           KGB or you belong to the CIA -- and I am riding on both! And I am enjoying the ride, and seeing
           how stupid human beings can be.
               I have no interest in politics, neither in the CIA nor in the KGB. My interest is in humanity, in
           values that can make man flower. I am certainly in love with the American Constitution, because it is
           the only hope for humanity. But American politicians are corrupting it as much as possible. So it
           seems that we will have to fight to save the American Constitution and its values against the
           Americans!
               From all the courts of America the BIBLE should be thrown out. It is nothing but pornography.
           And when you have a beautiful document like the American Constitution, why go to third-rate
           pornography, and keep it in courts for people to take the oath on? And still you go on thinking that
           you are not mixing religion with the government! You are mixing religion with government.
               And politicians are in a difficulty -- I can understand. The American Constitution was made by
           real, authentic lovers of humanity. But the reward for such people is assassination.
               Abraham Lincoln was assassinated -- the only politician in the whole world of whom it can be
           said that he was not political. His only fault was that he was not political.
               Twenty percent of the American presidents have been assassinated; and the American president
           has the most sophisticated security arrangements. And in these twenty percent were the best
           American presidents. The third-grade eighty percent nobody bothers about. Who bothers to
           assassinate Ronald Reagan? Why waste a bullet? Nobody bothered about Jimmy Carter.
               Do you know where Jimmy Carter is, and where his smile is? Both have disappeared. In the last
           pictures of him I have seen there is no smile. And what happened to Jimmy Carter? You will know
           only one day when he dies. Then there will be in newspapers a small news item, that "Jimmy Carter,
           ex-president of America, died."
               Who wants to kill people who don't have any high ideals? To have high ideals in your life is
           dangerous, because the world is full of retarded people; they cannot tolerate you, your presence.
           Your very existence makes them feel that they are retarded.
               Abraham Lincoln had to be assassinated. The Kennedys, both the brothers, had to be
           assassinated. Something beautiful could have come out of those two Kennedys. The first Kennedy
           was a beautiful man -- young, fresh, available for new ideas. And the second Kennedy was even
           more intelligent than the first.
               It is a very strange world. You destroy your best flowers, and you preserve plants which never
           flower, never come to fruition.
               I am not a politician, I am not a religious leader. But Sheela, while I was in isolation, had created
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a few things which have to be withdrawn.
                First, the book of RAJNEESHISM is not my writing, nor my discourses; it was Sheela and her
           group's creation, so it should not be printed again. There is no thing like Rajneeshism -- because then
           it becomes again another Christianity, another communism, another Hinduism. I have been fighting
           my whole life against all "isms," and these people made an "ism" out of me!
                They created the word "Rajneeshee." You have to drop that word; otherwise, what is the
           difference between a Christian, a Jew and a Rajneeshee? I want you to be yourself, not a Rajneeshee.
                You love me -- that does not mean that you have to become a Rajneeshee. You can love me
           without becoming a Rajneeshee. And what these Rajneeshees have done, this gang of twenty
           Rajneeshees, is enough to condemn the word.
                So now, there are no longer any Rajneeshees. You are individuals, totally free individuals. Out of
           your freedom and love you are here. There is no bondage, there is no contract. There is no surrender,
           there is no faith.
                And today I would like to declare something immensely important, because I feel perhaps this
           helped Sheela and her people to exploit you. I don't know whether tomorrow I will be here or not, so
           it is better to do it while I am here and make you free from any other possibility of such a fascist
           regime.
                That is, from today, you are free to use any color of clothes. If you feel like using red clothes,
           that is up to you. And this message has to be sent all over the world to all the communes. It will be
           more beautiful to have all the colors. I had always dreamed of seeing you in all the colors of the
           rainbow.
           Today we claim the rainbow to be our colors.
                The second thing: you return your malas -- unless you wish otherwise. That is your choice, but it
           is not a necessity anymore. You return your malas to President Hasya. But if you want to keep it, it is
           up to you.
                The third thing: from now onwards, anybody who wants initiation into sannyas will not be given
           a mala and will not be told to change to red clothes -- so we can take over the world more easily!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THANK YOU.
              FOR THE FIRST TIME I FEEL LIKE MEDITATING. I DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE IN ANYTHING. I
              DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING. THERE IS NOTHING TO HOLD ONTO. I JUST WANT TO
              EXPERIENCE YOUR SILENCE.
              IS THIS THE POINT?


              Exactly!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #13
                                    Chapter title: The world needs to be one
           27 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509270
              ShortTitle: BONDAG13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 132 mins
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




               BELOVED MASTER,
               YOU HAVE BROUGHT ZORBA THE BUDDHA TO LIFE, LOVE AND LAUGHTER, WITH LUMINOUS
               SILENCE. YOU HAVE ALSO SPOKEN ON THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN REBELLION AND
               REVOLUTION. IF ZORBA THE BUDDHA WERE IN THIS COMMUNE, HOW COULD HE HAVE
               RESPONDED TO THE GROWING MENACE OF SHEELA AND HER GANG?
               WOULD HE, AS ONE REBEL AMONG THE COMMUNITY OF REBELS, HAVE ACTED NOT ONLY
               INDIVIDUALLY, BUT TOGETHER WITH OTHERS? COULD THERE BE SOME SHARED
               AWARENESS OR ACTION WHICH MIGHT HAVE FREED US FROM THE ENEMIES WITHIN?
               PLEASE COMMENT ON ZORBA THE BUDDHA'S RESPONSIBILITY AS A SOCIAL OR
               COMMUNAL BEING.


                Zorba the Buddha is certainly amongst you. And he has acted the way he is supposed to act --
           individually, rebelliously. Revolution is for crowds, mobs; hence, revolution changes things but
           never betters them.
           Rebellion is individual.
                It has a superiority, a consciousness which only an individual can have.
                The moment Zorba the Buddha saw what was happening, not a single moment was lost; action
           was immediate. And Zorba the Buddha acts in such a way -- so silently, without any destructiveness
           -- that you become aware only when the act is almost complete.
                How do you think, how do you explain that Sheela and her fascist gang simply fled away? I had
           not even uttered a single word, I had not told them to leave, but they could see, feel that I had
           become aware of their misdeeds.
                They were not even courageous enough to come and say goodbye to me. I have never seen such
           a cowardly group -- a group who have been here, who have been working in the commune in my
           name, representing me, and yet who could not gather courage to come and say, "Goodbye, we are
           leaving."
                The functioning of Zorba the Buddha is so silent and so serene, so nonviolent, and so loving....
                Sheela has given an interview to STERN. I have just heard that my picture is on the cover of
           STERN, and just in the corner is a small picture of Sheela. It is her interview, twenty-five pages
           long, with a beautiful heading: "To Hell With Bhagwan."
                That's really the place I would like to go! What am I going to do in heaven with all kinds of
           dodos, saints? -- who are all torturers of themselves -- masochistic. Heaven must be the most
           psychologically sick place, because all psychologically sick people are there. Sheela at least
           understands my taste. I loved the title.
                Hell is full of colorful people. All the scientists will be in hell, all the artists, painters, sculptors,
           poets -- people who have contributed to the happiness of man -- will be in hell, because they never
           bothered about the priests and their stupid theologies.
                You cannot conceive of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Wagner, in heaven.
           Impossible! Picasso, Van Gogh, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Epicurus, Socrates, Gautam Buddha -- such
           a great company! The best, the cream of the whole history is in hell. And wherever people like
           Socrates, Buddha, Epicurus, Diogenes, Dionysius are, do you think the place will remain the same?
                Hell will be contemporary, perhaps ahead of us. So many geniuses! Heaven must be absolutely
           outdated, with a God who is perhaps dead -- because since he created this mess called the universe
           nothing has been heard about him. Perhaps he committed suicide, seeing what he has done.
                And I know the saints: ugly, in every way. They have not contributed anything to beautify
           existence, to make man's life more pleasurable. On the contrary, they have destroyed man's joy in
           life, they have destroyed naturalness in man, they have made man a perverted being.
                I don't think that laughter is heard in heaven. But in hell it must be a great party, a real Italian
           party, ongoing -- spaghetti and all. Hell is the place to go right now.
                I feel sorry for Sheela and her fascist gang; they will miss this great opportunity. I am certainly
           going to hell, and my people are going to be with me. Now, let Sheela be in heaven with all those
           people who have created homosexuality. In a way, she likes homosexuals -- she was always
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           surrounded by homosexuals. Strangely enough, amongst all the sannyasins, she had only
           homosexuals around her. She will rejoice greatly in heaven, because everybody there is a
           homosexual.
               Just one thing I am worried about. She was raped when she was sixteen, became pregnant, had to
           go through an illegal abortion. In heaven there is every possibility of the gang being raped, because
           rarely have women entered there. In fact, they are not allowed -- just to save the saints.
               But she has closed the doors for hell, because I am going to be there with one million sannyasins.
           She cannot go to hell, she has to go to heaven. And she is going to be raped by so-called saints. The
           Holy Ghost is not going to leave her alone. Virgin or no virgin, for the Holy Ghost it matters not.
           Just think, for two thousand years the poor fellow has been celibate; it is time for breakfast!
               I do not know German -- fortunately, because it is such a language... if you want to fight, it
           sounds perfect. But if you are a loving, gentle person, German is absolutely useless. I have always
           wondered how German lovers talk, because the language is such -- as if you are throwing stones at
           each other. So, I can talk only about the heading on the cover. Soon they will be translating it, then
           point by point I will discuss it.
               Zorba the Buddha is something totally new in the world. There have been Zorbas, there have
           been Buddhas, but they have remained always opposed to each other.
               Zorba represents materialism, Zorba represents the West. Buddha represents spirituality, Buddha
           represents the East.
               The English poet, Rudyard Kipling, says that West is West and East is East, and the twain shall
           never meet. I don't write poetry, I don't believe in words and playing with words. I trust existence. If
           Rudyard Kipling has any guts -- come out of your grave and see, the East and West have met! Here!
               Zorba is not separate from Buddha. The West is not separate from the East. In fact, any
           materialism that has no values of spirituality is going to be very mundane, profane, ugly. It will not
           have any flights into the open sky towards the stars. It will not flower and release its fragrance; it
           will be just a rock.
               Spiritualism without materialism may have beautiful values but it is without foundations. It may
           create great palaces reaching to the stars, but without foundations these palaces can only be
           hallucinations, they cannot be real.
           This reminds me....
               One journalist was asking, "If Sheela was so crude, so violent, so hostile to people, so full of
           hatred, why did you choose her as the president of the foundation?"
               When you make a beautiful building, for the foundation you choose all kinds of ugly stones.
           When the foundation is finished, then you start working with marble, not before that.
               With human beings this is a difficulty: they don't know when their time is over, they cling. They
           think they have been chosen forever. I have told Sheela many times, "Nobody is chosen forever. You
           fulfill a need. You do your best, then vacate the place for those whose work is now to make
           something better, higher."
               Zorba can only be the foundation; Buddha is the temple. Neither can exist without the other. It
           has been tried for thousands of years that they should exist separately -- and the ultimate result is this
           insane humanity you see.
               Either somebody is just a gambler, a drunkard, visiting prostitutes, and knows nothing of
           anything better... higher values remain absolutely unknown to him. Sheela is that type -- a prostitute.
           She deserted her first husband when he was dying; even prostitutes won't do that.
               Now the second husband is still living, and she has married a third husband. The second husband
           knows nothing about it, that he is divorced. Before she went to Nepal, she sent the second husband to
           Australia to function in the commune there. Now the third husband should be alert. And these are
           husbands -- I am not counting boyfriends.
               Sheela has something exactly primitive, like an uncut stone, which can be used only in the
           foundation, because once the building is over nobody is going to see the foundation. I have accepted
           her because better people are not for foundations. Hasya will not do for a foundation. Kaveesha will
           not do for a foundation.
               Zorba has to be only the foundation, to support the Buddha -- which is the goal of existence.
               My whole effort is to bring East and West to a deep merger. The West has science, technology --
           they are all for the foundations. They can create better machines, but they cannot create better men.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The East is poor, has no idea of how to create better machines, better houses, better roads, but it can
           create better men.
                Even the poor people in the East have some quality which is missing in the West. The poorest
           will still be immensely patient -- not tense, not worried; trusting in existence that something good
           will come out of it, hoping. Even in the darkest cloud he will be able to see the silver lining.
                The Western mind, even in the brightest silver lining, will see the dark cloud surrounding it.
           They both are there; it is a question of your choice.
                And I would like you to see the whole -- not to choose, because the darkest cloud is absolutely
           necessary for the brightest lining. The bright cannot exist without the dark cloud. Neither has the
           dark cloud any meaning unless it flowers into bright linings. There is no contradiction.
                Roots are bound to be ugly. Their function is such, they have to be ugly. They have to go deep
           into the earth in search of water. They remain hidden -- but without them the roses will not flower.
           All the juice that roses have comes from those ugly roots.
                And it is not a one-way traffic either, because in response flowers are sending to the roots
           sunrays, air. They are connected. In fact, there are no divisions anywhere; it is one phenomenon.
           From the root to the flower, from the West to the East, from Zorba to Buddha, it is one phenomenon.
           All the religions have denied it. That's why all the religions have been against humanity.
                Communism is the by-product of all these religions. Now more than half of humanity is
           communist, atheist, irreligious, does not have any inquiry into its own interiority. A very strange
           thing has happened; it has never been such a big movement. There have been atheists, but there have
           not been so many atheists -- more than half.
                Who has created them? It is the failure of the religions. They talked about flowers, but they could
           not produce. They failed utterly in their promises; they could not deliver what they were talking
           about. And the reason was, they were denying the roots. Naturally, a revolution was going to happen,
           and it has happened.
                Russia was one of the most religious countries. You will be surprised to know, Karl Marx had
           never thought that communism would happen first in Russia, then in China. It would have been
           inconceivable to him; he was thinking communism would happen first in America. But he was not a
           philosopher, he was not a psychologist; he had no knowledge about man's growth. He was only an
           economist.
                And when people are very linear, moving in one line, forgetting all other dimensions of life, such
           problems are bound to arise. His only idea was that communism would happen in a country where
           rich and poor were divided; where the poor would go on becoming poorer, and the rich would go on
           becoming richer. Naturally, the division would create revolution, the class struggle. But he failed
           completely in his analysis. It is difficult to find a greater failure than Karl Marx.
                Communism happened in Russia, which was the most religious country, not rich. There was no
           class struggle in fact. Why did it happen in Russia?
                My analysis is: any religious country denying the roots of human growth is sooner or later bound
           to move to the other extreme. Flowers are not coming. Theism failing, religion failing, priests
           proving nothing but phony: perhaps atheism is right. They have tried theism for thousands of years;
           "Now let us try atheism." In Russia, communism came as atheism, not as an economic theory. That
           was just part of it, but the basic thing was religion.
                The same happened in China, one of the most ancient lands. It has always been religious. Most of
           China was Buddhist. Zorba was missing, and Buddha alone cannot be a fulfillment. The temple was
           never made. Finally, they had to move, and the movement was going to be psychologically to the
           other extreme: become atheist, become communist, destroy religion completely.
                If we want a whole man -- and to me a whole man is the only holy man -- then Zorba has to be
           absorbed into Buddha. They have to be accepted totally as one. And I don't see where the trouble is.
           In fact, Zorba plus Buddha will be a tremendous enrichment.
                Buddha cannot laugh, cannot dance, cannot sing, cannot love. Now what kind of life will it be?
           Hollow!
                Zorba can sing, dance, enjoy food, drink, love. He will have a life, but he will not know who he
           is. He will not know the meaning of existence. He will never come to experience the deathlessness of
           life, the eternity of his existence -- that he has been here always, and will be always; only forms
           change. He will never enter into his own center. He will always remain in the cyclone, very busy,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           concerned with everything except himself.
                And the center of the cyclone is the most ecstatic experience, the ultimate experience of human
           consciousness. Beyond that there is nothing; you have arrived home. But I don't see that there is any
           problem, there is no contradiction. You can arrive home, you can be at your center -- what prevents
           you from laughing? In fact, you should be the only one who can really laugh, can become laughter;
           who can really love, can become love itself -- where the lover disappears and only love remains; one
           who can dance and dance to such abandon that the dancer is completely gone, there is only dance.
           This is my effort:
           To bring Zorba the Buddha into the world.
                That will create a unity in you; your body and soul will have a unity. You will not have to fight
           against your nature, you can use it as a stepping stone. There is no need to fight, there is no need to
           repress.
                All psychological diseases are out of repression. All psychopathological people are just incurable
           unless they accept their nature totally, without any grudge. You have to use your natural energies to
           grow. It will bring man into a totality.
                All religions have made you schizophrenic, split. They have created guilt in you by creating a
           split; it is their whole business. Only a guilty man will go to church, will go to the synagogue, will
           go to the temple; otherwise there is no need.
                If you are one, you would like to dance in the open air under the sun. That will be your real
           prayer. Nothing is said, nothing is asked, but you are showing your gratitude to existence.
                Zorba the Buddha will not only destroy the split in man, it will destroy the split in society.
                The poor and the rich depend on each other; the rich cannot exist without the poor. It is a simple
           humanitarian gesture... we have enough technology now to produce so much wealth that there is no
           need for anybody to be poor and starving. But what we go on doing is just the opposite.
                Thirty million people in the richest country of the world, in America, are undernourished. And
           you will be surprised: thirty million people in America are overnourished. They are dieting, and they
           are trying hard somehow to lose weight. America has the most ugly, fattest men in the whole world.
           It is a simple arithmetic: these thirty million fat people are eating the food of thirty million who are
           undernourished.
                We can produce enough, more than needed, so the necessity to hoard disappears. You don't hoard
           air. Of course, on the moon you will. You will have a container hanging on your shoulder with
           oxygen, because there is no oxygen on the moon.
                In a desert you will hoard water. People fight in the desert for a small oasis, kill each other. The
           fight is for water. Here you don't fight for water; there is more than enough available.
                I have a different view of society than communism and capitalism. Society needs a
           super-capitalistic system, and it will become communistic automatically. There will be no need for
           any revolution. What is needed is evolution, not revolution. Revolution never betters things. It is
           evolution -- growth -- which betters things.
                If many people are poor and a few people are rich, that simply means there is not enough wealth.
           All effort should be made to create enough wealth, and it can be created; there is no reason why not.
           And when wealth is there -- more than needed -- then who bothers to hoard it?
                A few things will disappear of their own accord which you have not been able to dispel from the
           society. The poor will disappear, the thief will disappear. The policeman perhaps may not be needed,
           the magistrate can be put to better use. Thousands of legal advocates are just wasting their time and
           people's money; they are not needed.
                We don't see things; we simply remove the symptoms, and they come back again.
           Look at the very causes.
                In America there is so much crime. Why? There must be temptations for crime. Those
           temptations can be dropped very easily.
                Just look at my watch. Are you tempted or not? You will be tempted because you don't know that
           it is just of stones, not diamonds. It has no value. When stones can do the work of diamonds, then
           only fools will be after diamonds. Can you see any difference?
                In diamonds, the watch is a quarter-million dollars -- the same watch exactly. My sannyasins
           have made it just with stones. It is functioning as accurately as any watch -- just one second's
           difference in one year -- because now it is a very simple phenomenon: whether you purchase a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           one-million-dollar watch or just a ten-dollar watch, they both use the same kind of electronic battery.
           The electronic battery has changed the whole idea of watches.
               But if stones -- real, authentic stones -- can do the work of diamonds, then why unnecessarily
           create temptations? Create more watches with beautiful stones, and the temptation for diamonds will
           disappear. And the prices of the diamonds will come down. In fact, diamonds are stones. We create
           temptations for crime, and then the criminal is punished, not the person who has created the
           temptation. Both should be punished!
               But only symptoms are being removed. The cause will create other symptoms. This is so
           unscientific. Instead of creating more wealth, every nation is creating more weapons -- atomic,
           hydrogen bombs, nuclear bombs -- and piling them up. For what? Do you want to commit a global
           suicide? Then why so much wastage? If humanity has decided to commit suicide, simple methods
           are available.
               Seventy-five percent of man's energy around the earth is being poured into war efforts. Are we
           servants of death, destruction? And this seventy-five percent of man's energy can be poured into life,
           into the service of life; and there will be laughter, and there will be more health, and there will be
           more wealth, more food, and there will be no poverty. There is no need for poverty to exist at all.
               Zorba the Buddha has to first bridge the gap within himself -- that will be the basic thing -- then
           start bridging gaps in society.
               What is the difference between a Christian and a Jew? If there is any difference, then Jesus was
           not a Christian. He was born a Jew, he lived as a Jew, he died as a Jew. He never heard the word
           "Christian." If there is a difference between the Jew and the Christian, Christians should deny Jesus
           completely. He was a Jew, and all the apostles were Jews. What is the difference between a Jew and
           a Christian?
               In my commune there are people from all religions. I cannot see any difference. I have been
           trying hard -- I look in their faces, I look in their eyes, but I cannot figure out whether the man is a
           Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu, or a Mohammedan.
               What are the differences? Maybe there is a little bit. For example, somebody is white, somebody
           is black -- not a big difference, not more than a half-dollar's difference. The black man has more than
           the white man, he is richer by a half-dollar's worth of pigment, which makes him black. And he
           needs to be black because he comes from Africa. That pigment prevents him from being burned by
           the sun. It is a geographical thing.
               If people are white, it is not something to brag about. You are white because you live in a cold
           climate. And hankering to get a tan, making so much effort.... Whole beaches are full of people lying
           down under the sun. Why don't you go to Africa and have a real tan?
               The best way will be through crossbreeding: Africans making marriages to white people, making
           marriages to yellow people, making marriages to brown people. Then your children will have a real
           variety, something new. They will not be white, they will not be black, they will not be brown, they
           will not be yellow. Mix all four colors!
               It is a well-established fact that crossbreeding in trees, in animals, in men, always brings better
           generations. It is simply stupid that Christians should only marry Christians, Jews should only marry
           Jews, Hindus should only marry Hindus. This is simply unscientific, absurd.
               Why doesn't any culture of the world allow brothers and sisters to marry? That will be the best
           thing, because they have grown up together, they know each other; there will be less nagging, less
           fighting. But why has every culture decided not to do that? -- because the children born out of a
           marriage between a brother and sister will be weak, retarded, crippled, will not be so intelligent,
           because there is no tension.
               Remember, life is a tension. Death is relaxation. Do you think people in graves are tense? They
           are completely relaxed. A brother and a sister are so close that the tension is almost nil; hence the
           child will be without any tension, he will be dull.
               If this is the case, then let marriages happen between people who are as far apart as possible: the
           greater the distance, the better the generation. The tension is big; it brings the best out of both
           persons. And within three or four generations you will find a totally robust, intelligent, long-living
           humanity.
               The East should get married to the West. The South should get married to the North. It will help
           immensely in many ways. I would like to see the whole world as one. And if people are marrying so
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           far away, slowly slowly differences in languages will disappear; there will be only one language.
           Right now there are thousands -- that keeps people apart.
           The world needs to be one.
           The world needs one language.
                The world needs only one kind of man: Zorba the Buddha.
                The world is fed up with all your religions and all your nations. It is fed up with your priests and
           your politicians.
                And Zorba the Buddha can do it very silently -- just by his presence, just by his loving,
           compassionate approach to everything.
                Now, would it not be good if Americans and Russians start getting married? Let the idiot
           politicians pile up nuclear weapons, but young people from both the countries should start getting
           married. Soon the unnecessary hostility will disappear; it will become difficult for an American to be
           against the Russians -- his wife is a Russian. It will be difficult for the Russians to be against the
           Americans -- somebody's wife is American, somebody's husband is American.
                We have to destroy all the boundaries which have been placed between people. There is no need
           at all for any boundaries; all boundaries are criminal. The earth is one, and whosoever tries to divide
           it is committing a great and serious crime.
                You are asking me what Zorba the Buddha would have done when Sheela and her fascist group
           created an ugly situation. Zorba the Buddha did it, at the right point. Unfortunately, right now there
           is only one Zorba the Buddha. But one Zorba the Buddha is more than thousands of split people. His
           unsplit energy was enough: those twenty criminals simply escaped.
                I would like them to come back and face me on each point. But I don't think they have the
           courage. And they are still wanting to commit crime.... Sheela had informed me that she would
           return my authorizations for her to be my attorney, my secretary, her appointment by me as the
           president. But she never returned them to me.
                And then taking papers from every corporation, that means they have still in mind to do
           something criminal; otherwise, what was the need to take the stationery of different corporations?
           Perhaps they have bank accounts in the name of different corporations, and they would like to draw
           the money from them. Or they will exploit sannyasins, still pretending that Sheela is my secretary.
                And it is strange that people can lie so easily. In one of her interviews she says she was my lover.
           I don't love prostitutes. I had made her the secretary, not because she was my lover, but because I
           saw that she can be a foundation stone; and she was.
                But stones are stones. When you put them in the foundation, they start telling you that they
           would like to remain and become the whole temple. When I refused, that was the point at which they
           escaped.
                Saying to the press that she has been my lover.... I have no aversion to love, I have loved many
           people -- perhaps more than any man on the earth living today -- but Sheela being my lover...?
           However I stretch my memory, however compassionate I try to be, it does not work.
                She is looking, in her interviews, pathetic. And she will suffer her whole life. She has betrayed
           the whole commune, all the sannyasins around the world. She has betrayed a great trust, a great love
           that the sannyasins had shown to her.
                But Zorba the Buddha has done his work. You need not be worried: nothing like this is going to
           happen again. It was a good experience, and it was good to have the experience in the beginning. So
           now you will be more alert, more aware, and you won't allow anything like that to happen again.
                She has done much harm, and I am trying in every way to heal the wounds that she has created.
           For example, Antelope. They are worried about our police being there. This is strange! In all these
           years our police have not done any harm to anybody. The people of Antelope want the police to be
           removed. I will remove the police if the state of Oregon takes the responsibility to see that no
           sannyasin will be harmed, that no property will be harmed, burned, damaged -- because all the
           sannyasins are here the whole day working, and in the night they go to Antelope.
                The police are there simply to look after the property; we have two-thirds of the properties of
           Antelope. I am willing to remove the police force immediately; just purchase all the lands and all the
           properties and then it is up to you to do whatever you want.
                They say that we have increased the taxes.... It is very strange: only a dozen old Antelope people
           are there, and one hundred sannyasins are there -- so who is paying the taxes? And those taxes are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going into improving the city, its streets and everything that is needed.
                Just purchase all the properties, and we will declare Antelope tax free. Then do whatsoever you
           want. It is your city -- we have no concern with your city. We will declare it tax free. Let your roads
           be rotten, your water system finished, your fire brigade dismantled. Do whatsoever you want! We
           will leave the city tax free. And right now we are paying the taxes, not anybody else.
                But one condition they have to remember: they have to purchase their properties back at a
           reasonable price, at the market price right now. I had offered that we would sell them at the same
           price as we purchased them, but the ex-mayor of Antelope gave an interview to the press and said, "I
           don't trust."
                That is enough for me. Now the properties will be sold only at the market price, not at the price
           for which we had purchased them. And we have improved on the properties, renovated the
           properties, so their prices will be almost twice or thrice more.
                And it can happen in one day. They can just ask their friends -- who were ready to die for
           Antelope. Now they can help, this is the point of action. Ask the governor, ask the state -- take all the
           properties back and we will vacate. And before vacating we will make it tax free.
                As far as the name is concerned, we are going to change it immediately. There is no need to wait
           for it; it costs nothing. But we don't want any kind of hostility. From our side the people who had
           created hostility have fled. So now these innocent sannyasins have nothing to do with it.
                And I have told my sannyasins that you can use any color clothes you want so that you can mix
           with people more easily, so you cannot be discriminated against. You need not use your mala. You
           can return it or you can keep it as a memory.
                But if you want to remain in orange, red, you can. But, particularly when you go out, certainly
           don't use red, because it seems Oregonians in the past have been bulls. Why unnecessarily disturb
           the bulls? Let them rest. Red creates something in their psychology, and we don't want to disturb
           anybody in any way.
                Sheela has created a book, RAJNEESHISM. That is not my book; I have not read it, I don't know
           what is written in it. She has collected material from my other books. Whatever she has added to it, I
           don't know; what she has deleted from it, I don't know.
                On Monday we are going to have a big world press conference, and we are going to have a
           bonfire -- with dancing and rejoicing -- to burn that book... because I am always against the word
           "ism." Humanity has suffered enough.
                Sheela has created the word "Rajneeshee." That is an ugly word. Then what is the difference
           between a Rajneeshee and a Christian and a Hindu and a Mohammedan?
                I have withdrawn it. Now nobody is a Rajneeshee. I give you back your individuality, your
           integrity. To me, you are all individuals, living together because your search is one -- not that your
           dogma is one, not that your system of belief is one. You are rebellious people, and I would like you
           to remain rebellious. That is the only point that joins you all.
                You are not to surrender to anybody. You are not to worship anybody. We don't have a God. God
           is the projection of the retarded mind. We don't have a religion in the same way as Christianity,
           Judaism. We don't have a holy book. We have only human beings, and we have only books.
                I have called a big press conference. So get ready with all the rainbow colors. The press should
           see that something tremendously new has happened to you as individuals.
                You love me, that's enough. There is no need for adoration.
                Just last night, a press reporter was asking, "Then it is going to be very difficult. What are we
           going to call your people?"
                I said, "Just call them my people, they are my people. They are not Rajneeshees. So call them
           friends of Rajneesh -- but more than that is not needed."
                And then, outside the temple, we will be having a bonfire to burn all the books on Rajneeshism,
           all the stationery that belongs to the Academy of Rajneeshism.
                That "ism" is an ugly and dirty word, and I don't want it to be associated with me. Now it will be
           called Rajneesh Academy; in short, RA. RA is an ancient Egyptian word which means "the highest
           experience of consciousness."
                We are going to change the plaque before the Mandir, because here also they have put "Academy
           of Rajneeshism." That will be changed before Monday. We have to clean up all the rubbish that they
           have done here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The air is already fresh, people are already breathing happily.
           I can feel your joy, your freedom.
           You have again come back to life!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU HAVE SAID THAT ANY RELIGION OR WAY IS CLOSED. IS YOUR RELIGIOUSNESS THE
              ONLY ONE THAT CAN GIVE BIRTH TO NEW HUMAN BEINGS ALL OVER THE WORLD?


               It is not a religion; hence naturally it is open. It is a kind of religiousness; an experience, not a
           theology; a meditation, not a catechism. Yes, it is the only possibility for humanity which is
           absolutely open.
               Now there are no problems for anybody who wants to become a sannyasin. He does not have to
           change his clothes, he does not have to wear the mala. Those were problems for people. They have
           jobs, they have families... thousands of people wanted to be sannyasins but could not. They had their
           problems. I have solved all their problems!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ISN'T IT STRANGE THAT THE NEGATIVE IN US IS SO VOCAL, AND ITS OPPOSITE -- LIKE LOVE
              AND GRATITUDE TO YOU -- HESITATES TO SPEAK BUT SIMPLY IS, OVERFLOWING BUT
              HELPLESS IN ITS OWN WORDLESSNESS?


               It is not strange. It is how it has to be. The negative is very vocal. It has to be vocal because the
           negative cannot speak through silence. The negative has to shout. The positive need not say
           anything. Just your experiencing it... and the fragrance reaches to me.
           Yes, it is a kind of silent is-ness.
               That's why many times the people who are functioning in the offices become confused, because
           two or three people out of five thousand people will come and make much fuss, say negative things,
           behave in an ugly, inhuman way. And, naturally, the people in the office think that this must be
           widespread, these people are representative of others too.
               That is wrong. The negative person is nobody's representative. And never bother about the
           negative people. Just send them to some therapy, they need a good therapeutic bath. And there is no
           problem -- their no can be changed into yes. But they don't represent the commune. The commune is
           full of love and silence and joy.
               And there is no need... for example, when you really love someone, it is very difficult to say, "I
           love you." The words fall short of what you feel. What you feel is so big, and the words "I love you"
           are so small, they cannot contain it.
               Real lovers may sit silently holding each other's hand, not saying a word. But when love dies, as
           it happens in almost all marriages.... Marriage is the death of love. Then people start saying to each
           other three, four times a day at least, "I love you, darling." They have to say it, because now love is
           not there. The silence will not speak it; they have to be vocal about it. They have to be American
           about it.
               One of the all-time bestsellers, second only to the BIBLE, is Dale Carnegie's book HOW TO
           WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. It suggests that every couple, at least three, four times
           in a day, should find some way to say, "I love you." Always bring a roseflower or ice cream or
           something for the wife, to show your love.
               That's why I said, "the American way." Dale Carnegie is just a phony man; he knows nothing
           about love. Perhaps that's what he must have been practicing himself.
               Love needs no words: eyes say it, gestures say it, actions say it.
               Just sitting silently, and it is overflowing and reaches.
           So don't be worried about it: I know it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT EXACTLY IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VISION AND ILLUSION? CAN ONLY AN
              ENLIGHTENED PERSON HAVE A VISION?


              Yes.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              JOKES ASIDE, PLEASE TELL ME, WHO AM I?


              Swami Satyananda!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #14
                                       Chapter title: No master, no disciple
           28 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509280
              ShortTitle: BONDAG14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 135 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ALWAYS SAID THAT WOMEN ARE BETTER THAN MEN AS FAR AS RULING AND
              GOVERNING PEOPLE IS CONCERNED. YOU SAID THAT THEY ARE BETTER THAN MEN
              BECAUSE THEIR STARTING POINT IS FROM THE HEART.
              CONSIDERING RECENT FACTS, DO YOU STILL HAVE THIS OPINION? DO YOU STILL TRUST IN
              WOMEN?


               Certainly. The proof is Ma Prem Hasya, Ma Anuradha. Just one Sheela does not make any
           difference to me. Does it make any difference that man has produced during history people like
           Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, Nadirshah, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin? Does that
           mean that all men are condemned?
               One Sheela is just a dewdrop; it will evaporate in the morning sun. It has not made even a dent in
           my respect for womanhood. That's why I have replaced her with another woman -- far better, far
           more intelligent, far more loving. Sheela was sick. She needs to be forgiven. Whatever she did was
           out of a deranged mind. She has done many crimes, but still she deserves your compassion.
               As far as I am concerned, one person cannot represent the whole womankind. Two billion
           women are on the earth. Are you going to decide about two billion women because of Sheela?
               Just look at Anuradha, who has been with me longer than Sheela. She has never hankered for any
           power, carries no inferiority complex in her, is absolutely fulfilled as she is. All that she wants is to
           be here in my presence, whatsoever the cost.
               Look at Vivek, who has been with me longest -- for fifteen years. When she first came, she was
           only twenty; now she is thirty-five. Almost half of her life she has been with me. And she has served
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           me with an immense devotion, love, care, such that you can only find in ancient stories about
           women, not in reality. From the morning when I wake up, till at night when I go to sleep, she is
           running all around. She has no time of her own, every moment she is devoted. Just to serve me is her
           joy.
               Sheela is not representative. And there are thousands of women who love me more than Sheela
           ever did. I don't think she is capable of love. Perhaps that early rape and pregnancy and the
           condemnation -- particularly in India -- have destroyed some part in her heart. She has become more
           violent, aggressive, hostile to the whole world.
               Your asking the question is absurd. I have known many more women than any man has known,
           ever. I have been loved by so many women -- without any demands, without any jealousy. My
           respect for womanhood remains the same. Just one sick woman cannot destroy it. And she is
           certainly sick.
               I had made her the president of the foundation for the simple reason that in a strange land you
           will be opposed, you will be continuously harassed. The whole of Oregon was hostile to you, which
           is simply man's animal nature: anything that is strange makes them afraid. And who can find more
           strange people than you? You are the strangest lot on the earth!
               I have collected all the unfits, rebels, individuals who have refused to become just a cog in the
           wheel of the social mechanism, who have refused to believe in religious lies, in political
           cunningness, hypocrisy.
               My people are not a society; it is a commune. And the difference between a society and a
           commune is tremendous. A society functions according to certain rules, regulations, morality,
           religion, politics. And anybody who does not fit becomes an outcast. A commune is a totally
           different phenomenon. It has nothing to impose upon you -- no ideology, no discipline, no religion,
           no culture. A commune simply helps you to be yourself.
               So this is a group where individuals exist. And because they have allowed everybody else to be
           themselves, everybody else loves them as they are. There are no demands on them. You need not
           fulfill any conditions to be respectable; you are born respectable. Existence has respected you
           enough; otherwise, you would not have been here. Existence needed you; without you something
           would have been missing.
               So the commune is nothing but a communion, a meeting of individuals who are able to meet, to
           love, and yet remain individuals. There is no need, no effort to dominate, to destroy the other.
               All the people around the world in different societies, cultures, civilizations, are doing one thing.
           They may call themselves lovers, wives, husbands, parents, teachers, students -- but everybody is
           trying to destroy the other. There seems to be some fear, paranoia, that if you don't destroy the other,
           then the other is going to destroy you, so it's better to be first. And they have, down the ages,
           developed strategies. Those strategies have become part of their upbringing.
               When the parents are trying to destroy their children -- they don't think they are destroying them;
           they think they are making them human; they are teaching them to be cultured; they are teaching
           them manners, etiquette, behavior. Whatever they are doing, they think they are doing for the
           children's sake. This was done to them by their parents, and for millennia every generation has been
           doing it to the coming generation.
               Only in this last phase of the century has a generation gap arisen. It has never been in the world
           before, for the simple reason that people were not going to the colleges, to the university, and being
           away from their parents for such a long period -- ten years or more.
               Those years they have been in the university is the gap. The parents could not condition them
           according to their ideology, and when they come back from the university -- twenty-five years old,
           twenty-six years old -- they are grown-ups. They have their own intelligence, their own thinking.
           Now it is not easy to force them to believe in things for which you cannot give any rational proofs.
               You cannot tell them to believe in a God, you cannot tell them to believe in heaven and hell, for
           the simple reason that now they can think on their own, and your ideas look just stupid. This is the
           generation gap. It is growing wider.
               You are the product of the generation gap; you could not fit in the society. You are fortunate.
           Others who have preceded you had to fit with the society from the very beginning. They never got a
           chance for their own individuality to grow. So the old type of human beings are bound to be very
           much against you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Just the other day, from a very reliable source I have been informed that the governor has put the
           National Guard on alert against us. It seems so absurd; one of the greatest powers in the world is
           afraid of five thousand unfits? And you are not doing any harm to anybody -- you don't have any
           time to!
                Living is so much, loving is so much, dancing is so much, singing is so much, rejoicing is so
           much -- who has time for anything else? From the early morning to late in the night you are engaged
           in an ecstatic journey.
                In the outside world people work. Naturally, they are tired. You worship; you are not tired. You
           can dance after the whole day's work. You can still love after the whole day's work. Your girlfriend
           does not have to pretend that she has a headache. I don't see that headaches are happening here at all.
           There may be other aches, but no headache. Heads we have put aside!
                To put the National Guard on alert against us is simply to show the impotence of the politicians,
           of the government. And if the Russians come to know about it -- and they must come to know about
           it -- what will they think?
                This is a nuclear power; you can destroy my people. Just dropping one hydrogen bomb will make
           a beautiful Hiroshima in America. You miss it! It will be a good tourist spot. You are poorer than
           Japan. Japan has two tourist spots: Nagasaki and Hiroshima. You have nothing. I am offering you a
           chance. And you will see how people can dance and sing and rejoice and love and hug -- even while
           they are being destroyed.
                My people are not afraid of death or destruction, for the simple reason that they have tasted life,
           love. The person who is afraid of death is the person who knows nothing of life. The more you know
           about life, the more deeply you live it, the more intensely you get absorbed in it, overwhelmed by it,
           the more you become aware that there is something in you which is deathless. No nuclear weapons
           can destroy it.
                But for every reason we are strangers to these people. I had put Sheela in charge, knowingly. She
           was needed, she did much good to the commune. But there is always a risk, and she started doing
           harm too. The moment I became aware that she was doing harm also, and I saw that the commune
           was now established and Oregon has accepted that we are going to be here -- America or no
           America, we are going to be here -- Sheela was no longer needed. And that was hurting her ego very
           much.
                Now we need a softer quality of people who can destroy all the hostility that Sheela has created,
           had to create. We need superior people who don't have any inferiority. We need more creative
           people, more healthy, more juicy.
                You will have observed that I have put Americans in most of the power positions. In Sheela's
           group, most were non-Americans. The reason was, those non-Americans would be more able to fight
           for you against the Americans. That phase is over. Now we want friendship. We are now part of
           America. We are Americans, fresh Americans.
                I have put more Americans in power, but they are still women. Man has his own qualities; they
           are different from woman's.
                And I want to prove to the world that just as the woman is capable of managing a house
           beautifully -- a clean house, good food, good clothes, everything in place; can beautify the house,
           just by her presence can make it something of an art -- women can do the same to the commune. It is
           a bigger home.
                Of course, they cannot be soldiers, and they should not be. They cannot be great scientists, and
           there is no need. But they can be good painters, poets; they can create great literature. And greatest
           of all, they can create an atmosphere of love, hospitality. This has to be proved existentially;
           otherwise the woman will remain always a slave.
                For centuries she has been a slave, and now there are a few idiotic women who call themselves
           the women's liberation movement. And whatever they are doing is not liberation, but simply
           reaction. They are teaching women to be lesbians, against men. They are spreading hatred. But a
           woman who cannot love a man loses something.
                That was the case with Sheela; she cannot love a man. She has been trying hard; she has changed
           many husbands, many boyfriends, hoping that perhaps somebody she can love. But she cannot love
           unless her deep-rooted hatred for men is dissolved. She needs psychotherapy. She needs to open her
           wounds so they can be healed.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The liberation movement is not really in favor of woman's future, it is against it. It is a
           reactionary movement. They are asking for equality with men. Why equality? Woman is woman,
           man is man; they are unique beings. They are not equal, they are not unequal either; they are simply
           different. They are opposite polarities.
               Asking for equality, they are doing all kinds of idiotic things. Because man smokes, liberation
           women are smoking. Do you think this is intelligence? Man is doing something foolish, but to be
           equal, you have to do that foolish thing. Soon the women's liberation will tell women to piss
           standing! Equality? This is sheer nonsense.
               I don't see that there is any problem. Women should behave like women, according to their
           nature. A woman smoking looks as if something has gone wrong. And please, at least don't start
           pissing standing. Equality does not mean that you have to do everything that man is doing.
               Psychologically there is no equality; there is only uniqueness. The woman has to assert her
           uniqueness, and she has a different way of expressing herself.
               It is not only when you make a painting that you are a creator; when you make delicious food,
           you are an even greater creator, because nobody can eat the painting. It does not help in any way.
               You just have to make certain that whatever you are doing is done as a worship, as love, as
           creativity. Your creativity as woman is far more nourishing than man's creativity. What does he do?
           He paints, he makes sculpture, he writes poetry, novels. This is good, but it is only entertainment; it
           is not life.
           Woman has to contribute more to life.
               Why not make life more poetic? And just a small touch and life becomes poetic. Why not make
           life a little more musical? Why not make life more colorful? -- which will be the woman's way of
           painting. Why not grow beautiful gardens around your house? Why not bring thousands of flowers
           around your house? A flower is far more valuable than any sculpture. The sculpture is dead; the
           flower is alive, is full of dance in the wind, in the rain, in the sun.
               The woman should not try to imitate man; otherwise she will be only a second-grade man. She
           will never become equal, she will be only a carbon copy.
               Be original. And that's what I have been trying in my commune: giving women every
           opportunity to express their potentiality.
               Sheela was not really a woman. She had lost her heart long ago, she was crippled. But I had
           chosen her for the simple reason that she is so full of hate, so hostile that she will be able to fight,
           and allow you meanwhile to become established.
               She did her work. But when you give some work to a sick man or sick woman, you know it is
           risky. A madman may be useful; but a madman is, after all, a madman. When she got the taste of
           power, then rather than defending the society, the commune, the people that gathered here, she
           started becoming a criminal. She wanted to take revenge.
               That was the time that I had to stop her. I had to wait for the moment when you were established.
           To remove her was not a problem. I had not even told her to get lost. I just started speaking, and she
           understood that now her power was gone. Her power was as my representative. Now, there is no
           need for any representative -- I am speaking myself.
               Now I have given you another group. You need now a higher and better group which can create
           friendship. Even idiots can create enmity; not much intelligence is needed. But to create friendship,
           to make bridges, intelligence is needed, love is needed, grace is needed.
               I have given you the group now. Support the group, help the group, for the simple reason that
           now we are no longer foreigners.
               Right now we are the only people who are bringing in almost thirty thousand people per year,
           around the year. Nobody can claim that the thirty thousand tourists are coming because of them. Of
           course, these people spend money -- that goes to Oregon. If we are supported, we can bring
           thousands and thousands of people here. They should simply look at it.
               And there are many experiments going on simultaneously....
           I am trying to give woman her place.
               I am trying to make the family disappear, so that people are not fixated on a very small, tiny
           group -- three, four, five people. Their loyalty should be wider and bigger. This small loyalty is
           dangerous.
               We are trying to make the whole world know that five thousand people can live for four years
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           without producing a single child. So why can't you do it? The world population has to be made less;
           otherwise, death is the alternative.
                We have proved it perfectly, that people of all races, all religions, all nations, can live together
           without any difficulty. In fact, nobody even bothers, nobody even inquires of you, "Are you a
           Brazilian, or from Puerto Rico, or from Constantinople?" Nonessentials -- who cares about it? Are
           you a Catholic or a Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, or a Mohammedan? Nobody bothers about it.
                These five thousand people living together here, and similarly in other communes around the
           world, have proved that man by nature is not antagonistic to color, to religion, to race, to nation.
           These things are cultivated by the priest, by the politicians.
                Here, nobody looks inferior, nobody feels superior. If Sigmund Freud had to come into this
           commune he would be in real difficulty, because he thought every person has to carry either an
           inferiority complex or a superiority complex. In this commune, he would have not found any
           example for his theory.
                There is no need to feel inferior or superior. Everybody is just himself, there is no question of
           comparison. You are alone. There is nobody like you, so how can you be compared? It is comparison
           that brings inferiority, superiority, and then the complexes and the psychological problems, and the
           whole lot of it.
                Simultaneously, many experiments are going on. And I can say to you with great joy that we are
           successful, and we will become a model for the whole humanity. What we can do can be done
           around the world without any difficulty.
                Most of you have been brought up in nonvegetarian families. You have never thought or even
           bothered that you are eating something nauseating. Howsoever tasty it is, you have killed living
           beings.
                Cannibals say that human meat is the most delicious. And you have to believe them, because
           they know the taste; they are not just proposing a theory about it. They have eaten all kinds of meat,
           but they say the best is of the human baby; nothing can be compared to its delicacy.
                But I don't see any difference between cannibals and nonvegetarians. Maybe a difference of
           degree, but not of quality. If you can eat monkeys, who are your forefathers -- which is really ugly,
           to eat your own forefathers -- what is the difference? Cannibals are eating human beings, which
           seems to be more right; at least they are eating contemporaries, not forefathers.
                But here, most of you are trying vegetarian food. In the future, that should be the food for all
           humanity. Life is not to be eaten. And when there is so much possibility for vegetarian food.... It has
           never been explored; otherwise there is so much possibility that there is no need for anybody to go
           hungry.
                And life should be respected, whether the life is in you, or in a lion, or in a deer. The man who
           kills a deer has fallen from his humanity. He has destroyed a beautiful living being. Have you seen
           the deer jumping and running? So alive!
                Have you watched one thing? From all the ranches around the deer have moved to this place.
           They seem to be more intelligent than the attorney general of Oregon. They saw that these people are
           harmless. Otherwise, for ten days every year Oregonians are free to kill deer, and for ten days they
           are all roaming around with their guns and killing the poor deer. All the deer slowly slowly have
           moved, because in this place we will not allow anybody to kill.
                I have told President Hasya that I would like to make a deer park just near the Gurdjieff Dam
           where there is a waterfall. We are not using it, but any time we can use the waterfall. So the waterfall
           will become a small river, and the whole area should be made into a deer park. And they don't need
           anything much.
                They eat a certain grass, alfa-alfa, so just.... They don't even ask about omega-omega, just
           alfa-alfa. Such simple people -- they have stopped at the first letter of the alphabet. So grow much
           grass for them, and they will be coming. And people can visit them in the daytime, in the night. And
           at least two, three thousand deer -- a whole commune of deer....
                And once you are finished with deer, you have to make another place for my peacocks: a
           peacock park. Already in my garden there are three hundred peacocks. So I am willing -- you can
           take two hundred peacocks from there. And given good facilities, they grow fast. Soon, thousands of
           peacocks!
                My idea of life in the commune is thousands of peacocks dancing, deer running, people loving,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enjoying -- that seems to be human. And the peacocks and the deer, all have understood that there is
           nobody here who is going to harm them. They move freely without any fear. It gives me great joy
           that these innocent people -- peacocks, deer.... We have swans; I want to have more swans also. A
           place which has swans, thousands in the lake.... You can play with them and swim with them.
                We have to be in tune with nature. We can make this place full of flowers, full of trees, full of
           animals, full of beautiful, unconditioned people. And this should be the model for the whole
           humanity.
                Support the new people who are in power. They will be new to you, their methods will be new to
           you, so just be a little conscious of the change; it is for the better.
                I don't believe in violent revolutions. I believe in a nonviolent evolution. And you can see it
           happen here. The old regime -- we have not even shot a single bullet -- has fled on its own. And we
           have changed the whole regime. This is evolution; this is not revolution. Nobody is killed, nobody is
           hit, nobody is harmed. But new people, a new group is now taking care of you -- a new phase, a new
           development. Support it, enjoy the change.
                And now I am going to be available to you every day, so nothing can go wrong. Just my presence
           is enough so that nothing goes wrong.
           My respect for women remains the same.
                Every man should be respectful to women: they are your mothers, they are your beloveds.
                Every woman should be respectful towards men: they are your children, they are your lovers.
                There is no question of any conflict between man and woman: they are two sides of the same
           coin.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THROUGH THE LAST EVENTS THERE HAS BEEN TREMENDOUS JOY AND PAIN. THE JOY IS
              TO SEE HOW YOU ARE THE ONLY REALITY THAT MATTERS. AND THE PAIN IS THAT MY
              CONNECTION IS SO SUPERFICIAL THAT I DIDN'T LISTEN TO YOU. AND SUDDENLY I CAME TO
              REALIZE THAT MY LOVE FOR YOU, HOWEVER BURNING AND INTENSE, IS MEANINGLESS,
              CHEAP AND WORTHLESS. I NEVER FELT SUCH A WOUND. IS THERE ANY WAY TO BE CLOSE
              TO YOU? AS I CAN'T REFRAIN FROM LOVING YOU, PLEASE TELL ME IT DOESN'T MATTER
              FOR YOU.


               It matters to me -- not that I am in any need of somebody to love me but because you are in need
           of expanding your love, of giving your love as high a dimension as possible.
               It is good that you understand that your love is not as much, not as pure as it should be. This very
           awareness is a good sign. It means you can make it deeper, higher, more unconditional.
           I am just an excuse.
           Let me repeat: I am just an excuse.
               I want your love to expand, to grow, so that you are overwhelmed with loving energy. Then it
           will not be only directed towards me, then it will be just like breathing. Wherever you go, you will
           be breathing; wherever you go, you will be loving.
               Loving will become your simple state of being. Then only is it not cheap. Love as a relationship
           is always superficial and cheap.
           Love as a state of being is invaluable.
               But one has to begin with the first. You are already in the first stage. And because you are aware
           that it is cheap, there is every possibility you can transform the love energy. Use me as an excuse.
           It matters to me because I love you.
               It matters to me, because I know when love flowers, how much ecstasy it brings. It is my
           experience, and I want it to be your experience also.
           I have discarded God. Now only love remains.
           Your lovingness is your religion.
               But remember the difference: to love a person is only to have a relationship. It is as if, when you
           are with a certain person, you breathe, and then when you leave the person you stop breathing,
           because how can you breathe without the person for whom you live? But that means the next time
           you don't find the person again, you will be dead.
               And that's what has happened about love. Everybody is insisting, "Love me" -- and is very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suspicious of you, that you may be loving other people too. This jealousy, this suspicion has killed
           love. The wife wants the husband to love only her.
                While I was a professor in the university, a woman professor fell in love with me. I have never
           fallen in love with anybody. I only rise in love, I don't fall. So she was harassing me. It became
           difficult for me to sit in my university's common room because she was always waiting there. And
           she was a real woman: yakkety-yak, yakkety-yak.... And she asked me hundreds of times, "Do you
           love me?"
           I said, "I have told you before -- yes!"
           "But do you love me, only me?"
                I said, "I have told you I love only you -- but this I tell to many women. Every woman wants to
           hear it -- what to do?" Since that day she disappeared.
                The very question, "Love only me".... Then what are you going to do when you are out in the
           world meeting other people, on your job? You have to be alert not to show any love to anybody.
                What to say of persons? Even if you are a very great lover of books, that's enough for your wife
           to create trouble for you, that when she is present you are still reading! When she is present you
           cannot read. When she is present, your reading means you love the book more than her. Women are
           known to take away books, throw them away. This type of behavior on the part of men and women
           has killed love.
                In fact, if you really want to love your woman or your man, you have to be loving towards
           everybody you meet. You have to keep the flame burning. You have to keep breathing love. You
           have to keep radiating love; otherwise, when you meet your beloved, you only have just words to
           say: "I love you."
                You know it is false, she knows it is false. You know she knows it is false; she knows you know
           it is false. Both know the reality, and both are trying not to see it. But what has happened? Why has
           the love disappeared? Because you made love a relationship.
                Love cannot be made a relationship, love is a state of being. You are just a loving person. You
           love your friends, you love your books, you love paintings, you love the sunrise. You love many
           things. In all those things your love grows, expands; and the woman is benefited because now she
           has a man who is so full of love. The man is benefited if the woman also is in a state of love.
                In my commune you have to learn loving -- not love relationships, but love as a state of your
           being, love as breathing. Just what breathing does to the body, love does to your soul.
                Love is the breathing of your soul. The more you love, the more soul you have.
                So don't be jealous. Don't prevent anybody, and don't try to monopolize love. There are a few
           things which cannot be monopolized.
                You see a bird on the wing in the air, so beautiful -- the freedom, the joy. You can catch the bird,
           you can put it in a beautiful golden cage. Do you think it is the same bird? Apparently it is the same
           bird, but in reality it is not the same bird.
                Where is the freedom? Where are those beautiful wings, balancing in the air? Where is that vast
           sky, the unlimited freedom? You have taken everything from the poor bird, and you think you have
           given him a great, precious cage, made of twenty-four karat gold! You have killed him.
                That has been happening to love. The bird on the wing, free in the sky, is a beauty. The bird in a
           cage is dead, his spirit is dead. He still breathes; but he must be dreaming of the freedom of those
           beautiful moments rising higher and higher into the sky... of those beautiful mornings... the sunrise,
           the sunset. You have taken everything from the bird.
                Love is a bird. Keep it free, don't try to monopolize it. It dies when you monopolize it. And that's
           why in the whole world everybody is saying, "I love you," and there seems to be no love at all
           anywhere.
                The basic reason is, we have not allowed love freedom. We have tried to keep it in bondage --
           and it is not possible. Then you can have only a hypocritical kind of love. It says, "I love you,"
           because it has to be said; otherwise there is trouble. To avoid the trouble, the husband says, "I love
           you," the wife says, "I love you." But you can't see the shine, the gleam in their eyes, the aura on
           their faces. You cannot hear their hearts beating faster, you cannot smell the aroma of love around
           them. Everything is dead.
           Love is the breathing of your soul.
                Never allow your love to be dead, at any cost: you are killing your own spirit. And never do this
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           harm to anybody else either.
              Love gives freedom. And the more freedom love gives, the more loving the person becomes.
           This has to be the approach in my commune.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YESTERDAY IN DISCOURSE, LOOKING AROUND RAJNEESH MANDIR, I THOUGHT THE
              REPORTERS AND THE STATE POLICE LOOKED SO TENSE, THEY COULD NOT SIT STILL FOR
              ONE MINUTE. HOW CAN WE BE OPEN AND LOVING TO THESE PEOPLE? IS IT POSSIBLE?


                In the first place, what the hell were you doing looking at them? I have never seen any police,
           any state officers. Why were you looking at them? Are you here to listen to me, or to look at police
           officers?
                Secondly, if somebody is tense, fidgety, cannot even sit in one posture for one minute, he needs
           more compassion and more love. He is sick. He is not relaxed; something in him is not clean. He
           needs compassion and help, and you are asking, "How can we love them?"
                I don't see any problem. The other person is tense, you are not tense. If you were tense, then the
           question would be meaningful: "I am tense, how can I love?" You are not tense; the other person is
           tense. This is like a doctor asking me, "Somebody is sick. How can I treat him?" The doctor is not
           sick, and the doctor's function is to treat the sick. No, when you saw them tense, you also became
           tense. When you saw them unrelaxed, you also became unrelaxed. Perhaps you became afraid, that's
           why the question: how can we love them? Otherwise, loving is no problem.
                If you know love, you can love anybody. And particularly people who are tense are more in
           need. Your love will relax them. You should be more understanding.
                Police officers, state officers, FBI officers, are bound to be tense here. They are almost on a
           different planet. They know how to behave with criminals; they don't know how to behave with
           lovers. They know how to behave with murderers; they don't know how to behave with meditators. It
           is understandable, their tension is understandable. They may have been hearing me for the first time.
           They may have been getting so many shocks from what I am saying....
                Be compassionate to those poor people. They are not bad. At least they had the courage to come
           to the meeting, to sit with you, to listen to me, to try to understand what is happening here. But it is
           so new for them, so utterly unknown, that it is natural that they will get tense: what kind of people
           are these?
                And one thing you should remember: the people in the police department, the FBI, the CIA,
           KGB, these people, and the people who are in the jails serving long sentences -- for ten years, fifteen
           years, twenty years, great criminals -- they are of the same quality.
                A criminal employed becomes a police officer. A police officer unemployed becomes a criminal.
           It is only a question of employment. The police officer does crimes in the service of the government
           -- for which he is paid. The criminal is doing crimes independently. He is like a private detective, no
           government support. He is more courageous. But the quality of these people is not different.
                If you are not a criminal, you will not be interested in becoming a police officer -- because you
           have to deal with criminals continuously. And your having to deal with the criminals means your
           having to learn their language, having to learn their strategies. You have to be a little better criminal
           than them; then only can you catch hold of them.
                In a better world, there will not be criminals and there will not be any FBI, CIA, KGB.
                It is a very strange conspiracy against humanity. Just think: if there are no criminals, what will
           the magistrates do? They will be out of a job. What will thousands of advocates do? They will be on
           the streets, beggars. The police, the magistrates, the advocates, all need criminals. It is a question of
           life and death. They all live on criminals. It is a very strange society... a great establishment of
           justice, thousands of people employed in it -- but they should all be grateful to the criminals. Those
           are their real masters.
                Now these police officers you saw sitting here, the FBI people you saw sitting here, they had
           never come before. It is Sheela and her criminal group that have brought them here. It is Sheela who
           has provided their daily bread and butter. Naturally, they feel a certain sympathy with criminals. The
           innocent people they hate, because they don't give them anything.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And that is one of my insights, that the attorney general of Oregon is trying somehow to defend
           Sheela and her criminal group, to give them immunity so that they can point to innocent people and
           say that these are the people who have committed all the crimes. In this way they can destroy the
           whole commune.
                We are not going to let them do any such thing. But that is their strategy. It is very apparent,
           because I should have been the first person for them to interview. They did not ask for my interview.
           I told them, "You have to take my interview first, because I have the overall, bird's-eye view of my
           commune."
                Four times they gave appointments, and just before the appointment they canceled it. And the
           cancelation was from higher up. A phone call would come from the capitol, "Cancel it." They
           wanted to take time. They are delaying the whole process so that they can make some deal with
           Sheela and her group.
                That's why I say criminals and the police and the politicians belong to the same category. They
           are not concerned what crimes Sheela and her people have done. Their interest is how to use this
           opportunity to destroy the whole commune. Do you see the cunningness of politicians and their
           criminal minds? We have been supporting them, we have been giving them every evidence of the
           crimes. They are not taking much interest in it; their interest is in how to destroy the commune.
                But they cannot destroy the commune. I have my own ways. If any of my people are sent into
           jail, go joyously, and convert the people in jail to sannyas. So five hundred will go in, and at least
           five thousand sannyasins will be left behind.
                Teach meditations in the jail. Take the books, take the tapes with you. We don't fight in a
           primitive way, we are intelligent enough to fight just intellectually. So it will be perfectly good. They
           cannot make you a criminal. They can keep you for a few days in jail, and that's a good opportunity
           to change all the people in the jail -- there may be thousands of criminals. Help them to meditate -- in
           the morning, start with Dynamic Meditation. There is no law against meditation. Nobody can
           prevent you, because it is our religious practice, and the government cannot interfere in any religious
           practice. So when you come out of the jail in ten or twelve days, you will have changed the whole
           atmosphere in the jail.
                They will repent later on that they did a foolish thing. You have not committed any crime, and I
           will fight for you up to the Supreme Court, for every single sannyasin who has no crime on his
           hands.
                There is no problem at all. It is a good opportunity to expose American politicians, that these are
           all third-class criminals. They are not worthy of being governors, of being attorney generals. And
           they are not according to the beautiful Constitution of America.
                A strange fate... we are the latest Americans, but we have to fight for the American Constitution
           against the rotten old Americans. But we will fight for it, because the American Constitution is the
           only one in the whole world which has some hope for humanity.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              RECENTLY, YOU SAID THAT YOU WOULD BE BETRAYED BY SOMEONE VERY CLOSE TO
              YOU. I THOUGHT THIS COULD NOT HAPPEN HERE, YET IT SEEMS THAT ANYTIME LOVE
              HAPPENS, THEN HATE ALSO FOLLOWS. THE GREATER THE LOVE, THE GREATER THE HATE,
              AND HENCE, FINALLY, BETRAYAL.
              THIS CAPACITY MUST BE INHERENT IN ALL OF US. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE WITH A
              MASTER, KNOWING THAT THE DEEPER THE LOVE, THE CLOSER I AM TO DESTROYING IT? IS
              THIS WHERE WE LET GO EVEN OF THE MASTER? I FEEL LIKE A MAN LOOKING OVER THE
              ABYSS, TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH DIRECTION TO JUMP.


              You need not decide at all, because I have decided already. I am not your master, and nobody is
           my disciple. You are all my friends.
           Okay?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                Chapter #15
                             Chapter title: Now meditation is needed even more
           29 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509290
              ShortTitle: BONDAG15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 119 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I SEEM TO BE BALANCED ON THE TIGHTROPE OF PO. I NEVER BELIEVE NOR DISBELIEVE
              WHAT YOU SAY IN THAT OUTER POLITICAL WORLD OF FACTS AND FIGURES, THAT
              MERRY-GO-ROUND OF DIFFERENT VIEWS, THAT SHIFTING MIRAGE OF TRUTHS,
              HALF-TRUTHS, CONTRADICTIONS, AND PARADOXES THAT SLIP THROUGH MY MIND LIKE AN
              AUTUMN BREEZE. IT'S ALL PO NOW.
              WOULD I HIJACK A PLANE, STONE AN EMBASSY, OR FRUSTRATE A POLICE INVESTIGATION?
              PO, PO, PO -- I DON'T KNOW. YET I DO KNOW THAT MY HEART STILL DANCES WITH YOU,
              YOUR SILENCE STILL PENETRATES ME WITH A DELICATE, EXQUISITE AWE. AND MY
              LAUGHTER IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE ROOTLESS, LIKE A MAD CHILD, GIGGLING AT
              NOTHING IN PARTICULAR. AM I MISSING, BELOVED MASTER?


               It seems you come from Poland: PO, PO, PO! Get to Poland as soon as possible. You may be the
           next pope chosen. You are showing all the qualities that are needed to be a pope.
               I am surprised. Are there so many idiot-generals in Oregon with no sense of humor? Do you
           think a lazy man like me will hijack a plane? -- a man who has never hijacked even a bicycle? Stone
           embassies? Just sometime come and touch my hand; it has never taken up a stone. You can feel the
           softness of it.
               One of my friends came to see me from Russia. Shaking hands with me, he said, "I suggest you
           should never come to Russia."
           I said, "Why?"
               He said, "Your hands will create trouble. Anybody shaking hands with you will immediately take
           his hand back: your hand is bourgeois." It is true. I have never done anything with my hands.
               I was joking with the journalists, but idiots can't understand any sense of humor. The attorney
           general of Oregon has immediately put the National Guard on alert. It is good. To be alert is always
           good. That's my whole teaching! Keep the National Guard, your armies, twenty-four hours alert.
           That's what I want. And I can go on making statements so that you have to keep them alert.
               But just for you -- privately, don't tell it to anybody -- we are nonviolent people, vegetarians: we
           don't do such things.
               There is no need to do it. Our joy, our laughter, our love, our silence, our meditation, are a far
           bigger force than nuclear weapons. They can try, they can kill our bodies; they cannot kill our spirit.
           And the moment they kill our bodies they are really getting into greater danger, because then our
           spirits are free to go around the world, with no visa, no passport, no green card. I am preparing you
           for that.
               Hijacking planes or throwing stones at embassies is for retarded politicians.
           We have nothing to do with politics.
               We are the only group of people in the whole world which is apolitical.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So you have to understand; you get confused. I am always speaking the truth -- sometimes in a
           way that looks like a joke, sometimes in a way that looks like a contradiction, sometimes in a way
           that looks like a lie; but I am always saying the truth, and truth alone.
               Those who understand me have no difficulty, no conflict, no confusion. So meditate a little more;
           otherwise I will send you to Poland. Po stands for Poland, where everybody is confused. Nobody
           knows what is right, what is wrong. Nobody knows when to say yes, when to say no.
               Here, you have to attain to clarity, to insight into everything, and I am giving you all the
           opportunities to see. And I will be giving you bigger and bigger opportunities to see yourself,
           understand yourself. Right now, you have missed the point. Try to see that it does not happen again.
           Next time, get it.
               And it is my everyday business to create a situation in which you can miss or get it.
               Just the other day I said that I am not anybody's master, and nobody is my disciple. One
           sannyasin, immensely happy, wrote a letter to me, "This is what I always wanted to be: your friend."
               I have no objection. I want you all to be my friends -- but you will have to travel a long way to
           be my friends.
               You are living in the dark valley of your unconscious. You are fast asleep.
           If you want to be my friends, then awake.
               She has also asked, and that shows the mind of the sannyasin, "Now that we are your friends, is
           meditation needed anymore?"
           Now meditation is needed even more.
               A master-disciple relationship means the disciple can depend on the master, and the master has a
           certain responsibility. I dropped that responsibility yesterday. Now I am no longer responsible for
           anybody. You have to be responsible for yourself. You cannot depend on me. I am not your savior, I
           am not your leader. Now you have to become your own savior.
               She got the idea of being a friend, but she missed the whole point.
           Be as independent as I am.
           Be as free of mind as I am.
           Be as centered as I am.
               Experience the same ecstasy, the same vast experience of ultimate blissfulness.
           Then only can you be my friends.
               Now you are to be more mature. A disciple can remain retarded, but a friend cannot be forgiven
           if he remains retarded. So every day I will be giving you chances. It is an effort to sharpen your
           intelligence, to give you integrity, individuality, to give you freedom from everything, to give you
           the beauty of your aloneness.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I LOVE YOU. PLEASE TELL ME IF WE HAVE LET YOU DOWN. I FEEL HURT WHEN I HEAR
              QUESTIONS IN DISCOURSE THAT DON'T APPRECIATE YOU AND THE LOVE THAT YOU SO
              GENEROUSLY POUR ON ME. I HOPE THAT OUR LOVE IS ALSO ENOUGH TO HELP HEAL US,
              AND YOU NEVER FEEL WE TAKE YOU, OUR BELOVED, FOR GRANTED.
              PLEASE COMMENT ON WHETHER OUR NOT LOVING ENOUGH HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH
              WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT NOT WEARING MALAS AND ONLY RED COLORS. ALSO, BELOVED
              MASTER, PLEASE SAY IF THERE IS ANYTHING WE AS A COMMUNE CAN DO TO HELP THE
              HEALING SO WE CAN REALLY CELEBRATE YOU AND YOUR LOVE FOR US, AND LET THIS
              CANDLE OF OUR LOVE BURN COMPLETELY AT EVERY END.


               I am grateful for your understanding. But it is not that your love is not enough for me. You love
           me more than anybody has ever been loved. You cannot let me down.
               Telling you that it is up to you to wear malas or not, it is up to you to be in red clothes or not, is
           not out of any hurt feeling in me. Nobody can hurt me -- that is impossible, because in the first place
           I never expect anything from anybody. So disappointment is impossible.
               I have said these things because I love you, and I want you to be responsible and to take
           decisions on your own so that no fascist kind of regime again fetters you and destroys you. I cannot
           be with you always. One day I will have to leave my body, and then there will be every possibility of
           people exploiting you, becoming your leaders.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                That was the great hope of Sheela that I shattered. She wanted to be the high priestess of the
           latest religion. When I said nobody is going to succeed me, and nobody is going to represent me, that
           was the day she started thinking of leaving, because her whole desire was to become the high
           priestess.
                I am not going to create popes, shankaracharyas, Ayatollah Khomeiniacs; each and every
           sannyasin who loves me individually inherits all the treasures of my being, experience, love,
           blissfulness. Nobody is going to be the priest. Then you create another Vatican.
                We are tortured by these popes, shankaracharyas, imams, rabbis. It is time that man is freed from
           all these fetters. It is out of my love that I want you to be free, totally free, no dependence, no father
           figure, nobody between you and your truth, no mediator. That's why I will destroy everything that
           can create the old mistake all religions have fallen into.
                Tomorrow I am going to have a world press conference in which the book RAJNEESHISM will
           be put to fire and burned. I don't want you to be Rajneeshees; one Rajneesh is enough. You have to
           be yourself.
                You loved me, I am grateful for it, but I don't want you to imitate me. Imitators are phony.
           Imitators are bound to be unnatural, because they are going against their potential.
                Nature produces each individual as unique. In twenty-five centuries, how many Buddhist monks
           have been trying to become Gautam Buddha? Not a single one has succeeded. For two thousand
           years, how many Christian monks have been trying to become Jesus Christ? None of them has
           succeeded. And the same is the story around the earth in all the religions.
                Still we are blind; we can't see a simple fact, that Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Mohammed -- or
           anybody, known or unknown -- is unique, unrepeatable.
                Nature does not like carbon copies. Nature loves original faces.
                My effort is to take away all the barriers so that you can discover your original face; to remove
           all the masks so that you can discover who, in reality, you are. And the moment you realize yourself,
           that will be the moment of your gratitude towards me, because then you will understand why I was
           destroying everything that you thought was a connection. It was not a connection, it was a
           dependence.
                I hate the word "ism." I hate collectivities. I respect the individual. Collectivities are mobs, and
           the mob psychology has to follow the lowest denominator. Only individual peaks can become
           Everests. Collectivities become only flat ground. Do you want to be just a flat ground? Wouldn't you
           like to be an Everest, reaching higher and higher towards the stars?
           Whatever I am doing is out of my love.
                I cannot see you dependent. I cannot see you being harassed, tortured, ordered, made to obey --
           no. Hence, I say to you: My way of life is not a religion. It is certainly a kind of religiousness. To be
           religious without being attached to any religion is the most beautiful experience of life. Then
           religiousness is a quality, not a faith.
                Slowly slowly, I am taking away all excuses for your faith. I have taken away God, I have taken
           away paradise. I have taken away the fear of hell, taken away the greed for heaven. And I don't want
           anybody after me to undo what I have done.
           It all depends on you.
           My guards, be on alert!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ARE A TOTAL STRANGER TO ME, YET A FRIEND AND LOVER. HOW CAN THIS BE?


               This is the only way it can be. We are all strangers to each other. The closer we come in
           friendship and love, the more we see the strangeness of the other, the uniqueness of the other, the
           unpredictability of the other.
               When we are not friends and lovers, then just acquaintance is enough. You know the name of the
           person, you know his profession, you know his address. Do you think this is knowing the individual?
           You may know that he is a doctor, or a shoemaker, but those are functions; they don't have anything
           to do with the reality of the being. The doctor can become a carpenter, can become a gardener. And
           one day, he will be retired from the hospital.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You may not know why retired people become so irritable, so angry; any excuse is enough for
           them to explode. Why are old and retired people in such agony, anguish? The reason is, they have
           lost their identity.
                When they were doctors, professors, they had a certain identity. Others believed them to be
           doctors -- to be professors, to be engineers, to be scientists -- and they also believed they were
           doctors. Now that mask has slipped. Now they don't know who they are.
                It is a chaos in their mind, they cannot figure it out. And they are angry against the whole world
           which kept them in darkness about themselves for their whole life. And still there is no way made
           available by the society so they can find their real original face.
                When you are acquainted with a person there is no need to bother about his anxieties, his future,
           his past. Your acquaintance is professional. You may meet him in the marketplace: he is a teacher,
           you are a student; things are quite defined. You are a patient, he is a doctor; things are quite defined.
           But behind the patient there is a human being, behind the doctor there is a human being -- they
           remain unknown to each other.
                But when you love somebody the difficulty arises. When you are really a friend to somebody, a
           great question haunts you, because now your friendship, your love, cannot be satisfied by knowing
           that he is a doctor or a professor. You know those are his professional functions, but he is not
           exhausted by them: Who is he?
                The closer you come, the more you become strangers to each other, because all false labels,
           identity cards, passports, nationalities, religions, start disappearing. You are facing a naked human
           being, and you are also a naked human being -- just the way you were born. Even the name is just a
           label given by others.
           Love reveals the stranger in the other.
                This is one of the most significant questions in the human relationship, because you are afraid of
           the stranger -- and the stranger is in your bed! And you don't know this man, you don't know this
           woman; it is risky. If you don't know this man, this woman, you cannot predict what he is going to
           do in the night. Perhaps he may steal everything and escape, or may kill you. So people start finding
           new, phony labels -- husband and wife. Again you are going away from each other. You were not
           capable of remaining strangers and yet lovers.
                I would like my people to know that it is a tremendous joy to discover the stranger in your friend,
           because this is the only reality. Don't camouflage it, don't cover it up. Don't go to a church to get
           married. Let him remain unpredictable; this is his independence and his birthright. And the same is
           true for you; this is your independence and your birthright.
                In fact, nature does not allow anybody to enter into the privacy of any individual. Nature is
           immensely compassionate: you cannot trespass.
                I can know myself, nobody else can know me. You can know yourself, nobody else can know
           you. This is a blessing.
                Only machines can be known by others. This is man and his privilege, that his privacy is
           absolutely guaranteed. Only he can enter into his center -- experience, feel, understand, see. This is
           possible only if friends and lovers allow each other to remain strangers.
                All your efforts to cover up the strangeness of the other are the causes of all the conflicts in every
           home. Husband and wife, mother and children, father and children, children and parents -- they are
           all trying desperately to reduce you to a thing. They are trying to mold you in such a way that you
           become predictable, so that there is no fear about you.
                But all these strategies create conflict. Instead of two persons, there are four persons in a bed.
           Two are the real -- which are strangers, which have to hide behind a mask. Two are the masks, which
           are making love, kissing each other. Masks are kissing each other, promising each other that they
           will remain in love forever. But masks...?
                And the stranger behind it already knows that this is false, what you are saying is untrue. You are
           simply saying it to make things convenient. You are creating a situation of consolation. But nobody
           wants to be encaged in a mask. He hates the person who has forced him to be someone he is not.
                Every husband hates his wife, every wife hates her husband. Children hate their parents, parents
           hate their children. The whole world is full of hate, and the reason is that we have been denying
           reality.
                Drop all the masks, and declare that you are a stranger. Say the truth, that "I cannot promise you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that I will be loving you tomorrow too. Only tomorrow knows." Be truthful and authentic and
           sincere. It may look a little harsh in the beginning, but soon you will see its beauty, its glory, its joy.
               Yes, your question I can understand. You say, "I love you, you are my friend. But the more I
           love you the more I feel you are a stranger."
           I am. You are too. Everybody is a stranger.
               And it is good, tremendously good that everybody is a stranger, so that you can explore, inquire,
           and always remain excited. What is the woman going to turn into tomorrow? What is the man going
           to do tomorrow? No expectations -- with strangers, you don't have expectations -- no
           disappointments. Whatever happens has to be accepted without any complaint.
               Of course, a stranger is a stranger, and he will behave in his strange way. But life becomes really
           an excitement, every moment an ecstasy. And when you know that perhaps tomorrow the woman
           may not be in your hands, then only today is yours. In fact, only this moment is yours.
               Squeeze the whole juice out of this moment. The next moment is uncertain.
               If we accept the truth of the strangeness of everybody, people will start living in the present.
           Right now, people are only miserable in the present, they don't live in the present. They live in their
           hopes: tomorrow everything will be good. And that tomorrow never comes. What comes is more
           misery, more trouble, more problems. And life becomes just a tragedy.
               I would like your life to remain a beautiful comedy, an ongoing carnival.
               And if your wife and you are strangers -- and there is no way to change this situation, this is
           existential -- if your children and you are strangers, how much joy there will be, because each time
           you meet your wife, you meet a new woman... a new husband... each time a new child, a new parent.
               Otherwise, in ordinary life -- people have lived for thirty years together, and ask the husband,
           "Just close your eyes and remember the face of your wife," and he cannot. Thirty years living
           together and he cannot remember the face of his wife! But he can remember the neighbor's wife's
           face perfectly well because she was a stranger, and his wife was just taken for granted.
               Who loves one's own wife, one's own husband? If you can find somebody, he must be a crackpot.
           But who can avoid being attracted to beautiful women in the neighborhood, to beautiful men in the
           neighborhood?
               Have you observed a simple fact, that you never dream about your husband, you never dream
           about your wife? You dream about women, but they are never your wife -- somebody else's wife.
           You dream of Cleopatra, of some Italian film actress... Lolita.... Who is going to waste his sleep
           dreaming about his own wife -- who is sleeping by his side dreaming about Muhammad Ali!
               The reason is simple. You reduce the other person, as if you know him or her. Your knowledge is
           false.
               Let your wife become a stranger -- which she has always been. Let your children be strangers.
           They have come from the beyond. They may have come through you, they have used you as a
           passage, but they don't belong to you.
               You can love them, but you cannot make them Christians, Jews, Hindus, Americans, Russians,
           Indians. These are the strategies: labeling them from every side so the real stranger is hidden and
           remains hidden his whole life.
               And the stranger cannot live, because that is not expected. The stranger has to be repressed, and
           the false goes on living, because the false is the one accepted by the culture, by the religion, by the
           society, by everybody. Everybody is living a phony, plastic, American life.
               You can come out of it very easily, just the way a skin is dropped by a snake. Every year he slips
           out of it, leaving it behind. He does not even look backwards. Drop all your falsities which give you
           identity and just be yourself, which will make you a stranger, but which will also make your life a
           constant song, a dance, a rejoicing -- at least with me.
               I am just myself, I don't have any mask; so naturally if you love me and you come closer to me,
           you will find me more and more a stranger. Don't freak out! Come even closer. I will help you also
           to become a stranger.
               If the whole humanity becomes real, everybody will be a stranger, and all hate, all repression, all
           dreaming, all psychoanalysis will disappear of its own accord.
               I don't dream, for the simple reason that whatsoever I am, I am -- the whole day. I don't repress
           anything, so there is no content in me which can become a dream. If I see a beautiful woman, I don't
           take my eyes away because this is not good.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Psychologists have found that to look at any woman more than three seconds is not mannerly;
       she will be offended. That is her problem. But if I like a woman, I will look at her to my heart's
       content. If I can look at a beautiful roseflower more than three seconds, and I can look at a bird on
       the wing, and I can look at the stars.... Of course, human beauty is closer to me. I am sensitive to
       beauty. And once I am satisfied, that woman cannot disturb my sleep.
           There was one Egyptian king -- a little bit of a crazy type -- he declared to his kingdom, "A few
       people go on coming into my dreams, and that I don't like! So if anybody comes into my dream, he
       will be beheaded. So be aware!" Now, people were very much afraid. Nobody was coming into his
       dreams, they were his dreams; but many people were beheaded. It was his repression; but other
       people suffered.
           I don't have any repression about anything. My sleep is simple and silent.
           The more you come close to me, the more you will find a vast opening into a strange world. And
       this will happen to you with anybody; just the masks have to be dropped. And if you love through
       the mask, it is ugly. Then why not love through the servants?
           I can send my servant to my girlfriend and tell him, "Give her a good kiss, make love to her on
       my behalf; but remember, you are only a servant."
           Perhaps in the future, when people are very rich and they don't want to take the trouble of
       making love, they will hire people, because it is such a gymnastics; and fear of AIDS.... It is good
       that servants do it all. But the servants will be doing it on their own behalf, so they will enjoy it.
           But this is actually happening! Your mask is kissing your woman -- and not really the woman,
       but the mask of the woman. Two masks kissing each other, and two fools standing behind! The beds
       are made for two people, not for four, but in every bed there are four people. Hence, every bed is a
       bed of thorns, not of roses.
           Remember one basic truth, that there is no way possible that you can know your friend. You can
       know only yourself. Socrates says, "Know thyself." Knowing yourself, you will have a glimpse of
       others too, but there is no way to know the other. Allow him to know himself or herself.
           Wisdom comes in freedom. And love allows the space in which wisdom can descend.
           This commune is a love commune. I have taken away the false God; now I have to point out to
       you the real God. It is love. Love is the greatest transformation you can have, but be ready for a great
       pilgrimage in an unknown territory.
           Don't be afraid, there is nothing to fear. The territory may be unknown, but it is full of treasures.
       On each step you will find new treasures opening their doors. Don't stop until you have found
       yourself, because that is the treasure of all treasures. Nothing is beyond it.
Sabar upar manus satya, tahar upar nahin.
           One of the mystics, Chandidas, says, "The truth of man is the highest truth, and there is nothing
       beyond it."
       And you are that truth.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS JOY EVER TO HAVE COME INTO MY LIFE UPON THIS EARTH.
              IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I COULD REALLY FEEL THIS WAY ABOUT MY OWN BEING?


              Read it again.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS JOY EVER TO HAVE COME INTO MY LIFE UPON THIS EARTH.
              IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I COULD REALLY FEEL THIS WAY ABOUT MY OWN BEING?


               If you have not felt it about your own being -- the preciousness, the ecstasy, the joy -- how can
           you feel it about me? It is not possible. You are projecting, you are imagining. And this is the
           trouble.
               Now think of your words -- that's why I said, "Read it again." It was not for me, it was for you.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You say you have come upon the most precious experience upon the whole earth. What do you
           know of the whole earth? There are four billion people on the earth. Have you experienced all four
           billion people? Don't make exaggerated statements.
                You may not even have experienced the five thousand sannyasins who are here in
           Rajneeshpuram. You have not even experienced yourself. When you write a question, be very alert
           what you are writing. People are always getting misled by beautiful words.
                This is your projection. But just think, tomorrow you come to my room and you find me
           smoking, or just drinking champagne. What will happen to your question? You will say, "My God!"
           All your great ideas will disappear; on the contrary, you will move to the other extreme. Again that
           will be a projection. It is unnecessary to make an opinion about me. What is the use? Why waste
           time? -- because I don't know what you have projected on me.
                My mother was saying to me, "This is too much: you have been shocking people all your life
           from your childhood, and now you are dancing with girls on the stage!"
                Now, she is an old-fashioned, simple Indian woman, with a mind conditioned by centuries. She
           cannot conceive of Buddha dancing with girls, naturally. You cannot conceive of it either. Can you
           conceive of Jesus dancing with girls? But you can conceive of Jesus drinking wine, because that's
           what he was doing. So you are conditioned for that. But nobody in India can conceive of Buddha
           drinking wine.
                Opinions are yours, and I am a stranger, unpredictable; I can do anything which can go against
           your expectations. Then you will feel frustration, then you will move to the very opposite extreme.
                Sheela, in her statements to the press in Germany, has repeatedly said, "Rajneesh is the most
           corrupted man on the earth." One journalist was asking me what is my comment. I said, "It is a
           compliment! To be the most corrupted man on the earth -- it is a unique thing."
                And poor Sheela does not understand. She was accustomed to calling me "the most enlightened
           man upon the earth": it is the same sentence, just she has moved to the polar opposite. "The most
           enlightened man upon the earth" has become "the most corrupted man upon the earth." And I had
           been telling her, "Drop this idea of the most enlightened man, because I am afraid this may change
           any day into its opposite."
                And now she is saying such lies, you cannot conceive. She is saying, "Rajneesh is not
           enlightened." She has been with me for almost ten years. In ten years she could not realize that
           "Rajneesh is not an enlightened man"? A sudden revelation! But that is nothing; that I knew could
           happen any day. Whenever her power would go, she would turn sour, bitter, angry. What does she
           know about enlightenment? She knows nothing.
                She is saying, in her statement, "Instead of an enlightened master and disciples, Rajneesh's
           relationship with his disciples is that of a pimp with prostitutes." I don't get angry at anything. I can
           understand.... But the problem is: she was the only prostitute coming to me! I never go out of my
           room. If I am the pimp, then who is the prostitute?
                And the job of a pimp is a difficult job -- particularly for a man like me who never leaves his
           room, never goes to the disco, never goes to the hotel, to the restaurant. Where will I find customers
           for the prostitutes? And if I am the pimp, then she was the only prostitute. She was coming to me,
           and she was carrying my messages. Perhaps all those twenty persons who have escaped with her are
           all prostitutes. There are a few male prostitutes also involved!
                Can you conceive of Sheela saying that? I can. This is the problem with people who project
           ideas. I was the most enlightened person, the most beautiful person, the greatest master who has
           lived in the world. But finally, it turns out that I am only a pimp.
                I have no objection. The problem is, she has taken all my prostitutes, so how am I to earn my
           livelihood? A pimp without prostitutes is really in bad shape. And certainly, out of the five thousand
           sannyasins here, nobody can stand up and say that she is the prostitute and I am the pimp. Sheela
           should come here and face me directly! Is there anybody for whom I have worked like a pimp? Stand
           up.
                I have no objection to being called anything, because this is people's minds. But if there is no
           prostitute here, then the only possibility is that Sheela was the head prostitute, and the other twenty
           -- the whole gang of prostitutes -- have left the poor pimp alone.
                Don't project, because your projection can change any day. I don't care about your projections,
           because they show your mind; they don't show anything about me. You use me just like a screen, and
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you project your mind. When your mind changes, you project something else. And the screen is
           always empty. Withdraw your projections and the screen is absolute silence and purity. There is
           nothing on it.
               You are asking me, can you also be the same type of person as I am? Not exactly. But
           essentially, you can know yourself just the way I have known myself. You can explore your being
           the same way that I have done. And I am teaching you all the techniques, how to explore.
               And please stop projecting anything on me; otherwise, I will have to suffer all these types of
           projections that Sheela is doing. Learn a lesson from it: leave me alone.
               My prayer to you is: please don't project anything upon me. That will be a great favor to me. Just
           leave me alone the way I leave you alone. I never project anything on you. Please do the same to me.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ARE THE CENTER OF THE CYCLONE. WHEN I AM NEAR YOU I FEEL FINE. BUT WHEN I
              AM A LITTLE AWAY FROM YOU I AM AGAIN IN THE STRONG WHORLS OF THE CYCLONE --
              THE GREAT MOVEMENT OF EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS. HOW CAN I GET TO THE CENTER OF
              MY OWN CYCLONE?


              Just be a witness of all those emotions, thoughts, which you call the cyclone. Just be a witness,
           and that point of witnessing is the center of the cyclone.
           This is the simplest method to realize oneself.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE OTHER DAY YOU CALLED THE BIBLE A PORNOGRAPHIC BOOK. PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT
              YOU MEANT BY THIS REMARK.


               There is nothing to explain, just read the BIBLE. Nearly five hundred pages, spread all over the
           BIBLE, are pornographic. If you find it difficult to read the whole BIBLE, then just read in the Old
           Testament, the "Song of Solomon," and you will be completely satisfied as to what I am talking
           about. It is the worst pornographic literature ever. You will find all kinds of perversions --
           homosexuality, bisexuality, sodomy, making love to animals.
               Perhaps, just reading, you are not conscious of it. So I am telling my people to prepare, from all
           those five hundred pages of pornography in the BIBLE, a pictorial, glossy book, so that you can see
           what sodomy means. Seeing a picture is easier....
               If PLAYBOY had no pictures in it, just reading, I don't think anybody would bother about it.
           Nobody bothers about the written content, people are interested in the pictures.
               So I am going to produce a BIBLE with really beautiful pictures, real living models doing all
           kinds of perverted sexual acts, with the quotations of the BIBLE to support them.
           You will just have to wait a little!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #16
                                    Chapter title: This existence is paradise
           30 September 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8509300
              ShortTitle: BONDAG16
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 138 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN NONSANNYASINS THAT I KNOW ARE NOT DRAWN TO SANNYAS AND DO NOT FALL IN
              LOVE WITH YOU, I FIND MYSELF FEELING VERY ANGRY, HURT, AND FRUSTRATED ABOUT IT.
              CAN YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS REACTION OF MINE?


                This has been the tragedy of the whole human history. People want to convert other people to
           their idea, their ideology, without realizing that this is against the freedom of the individual. All
           kinds of conversion are fanatic. All the missionaries are simply businessmen -- just selling invisible
           things to gullible people. They are the greatest parasites that have existed ever.
                You have to understand one thing very clearly. This is not a religion, it is only a religiousness.
           You can open your heart to anybody you love, respect, but to make any effort to convert him is a
           trespass. You are entering into that man's territory, you are an invader. And the reason why people
           do this is very strange.
                Psychologically, all the people like Witnesses of Jehovah and other idiots, who are forcing their
           ideas on other people... their means may differ, but their end is the same. A Mohammedan comes
           with a Koran in one hand and a sword in the other. You can choose. The Christian missionary comes
           with The Holy Bible in one hand and bread and butter in the other. You can choose. But both are
           doing the same thing. They are trying to enslave you, to destroy your freedom of thinking, freedom
           of inquiry. They want you to believe, they want you to become part of their politics of numbers.
                What is the power of the Polack pope? Six hundred million Catholics are his power; otherwise he
           is a simpleton. Take those six hundred million Catholics away, and he will have to go back to Poland
           and be just a Polack. His popedom depends on how many people are Catholics. More people are
           needed, so the kingdom becomes bigger.
                Every religion has tried to convert the whole world. What is the psychological reason for it?
           What kind of mind becomes a missionary? You have not yet experienced the truth for which you are
           canvassing. If you can convert somebody to your ideology, that will give you a sense that certainly
           what you have is true. More people are converted to your ideology, and your conviction that
           whatever you are saying is true grows stronger. When somebody refuses, anger arises in you.
                It is his birthright to refuse. He wants to go on his own way. Why should you be angry? He is not
           your slave. But the anger arises because he has not helped you to become stronger in your own
           belief. Your truth is not your experience. It is simply a belief, and all beliefs are lies. They need
           support from outside.
           Truth needs to convert nobody.
                Even if the whole world is against me it will not make me angry. It will certainly make me feel
           sorry, but not angry... sorry for them, because I had brought a golden treasure for them to share. And
           I was not trying to convert them. They could have enjoyed my experience and gone on their way
           with all my blessings. Perhaps my experience somewhere on their way might have helped them. But
           I cannot be angry. It is their choice.
                I have never followed anybody. I have never been part of any religion, any political ideology,
           and it seems everybody around the world is angry with me. Christians are angry because I will not
           accept all that they say about Jesus Christ -- I know it is not possible. I will not accept all that they
           say about God, because none of them has experienced it. I will not accept their spirituality -- it is all
           bogus. Basically, they are all materialists.
                Just the other day I received two letters -- one letter from a minister of a Methodist church... very
           respectful, very loving. The reason was that he had heard on the television that I am going to
           distribute all the Rolls Royces to my sannyasins. He wants one for his Methodist church. These are
           the people who were against my Rolls Royces, but when it comes to getting one, they are ready to be
           beggars.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Another one I have received from The Dalles. The bishop tells me, "It will be a good gesture of
           friendship and love from your side towards Oregonians if you withdraw the case against the
           community church in the City of Rajneesh."
               In the first place it was not a Christian church; it was a community church, it belonged to the
           whole community. And if sannyasins are living there, they have every right to use it, they are part of
           the community. But before the old council had to resign they donated the church -- which is
           absolutely illegal -- to The Dalles, to the head office of their fellow Christian worshippers. Now,
           what has The Dalles to do with it?
               In the first place it was illegal; a community church cannot be donated to a Christian hierarchy.
           A community church remains a community church, it will belong to whoever constitutes the
           community. But we don't need it. It is so old, and so dirty, and so dilapidated -- no sense of beauty.
           So I said, "It is okay, we will withdraw the case. You can have it, although it is illegal."
               But the council, before dissolving itself, also gave up the fire station with the community church.
           Now I cannot conceive that fire stations have also begun to be Christians, Jews, Hindus,
           Mohammedans. He does not mention it.
               I have said to him, "I will ask my people -- because I don't hold any power -- I will advise them
           to give the church to the Christians, because we don't use such dirty and dilapidated places. It is good
           for people who are sad and miserable and suffering, with Jesus Christ on the cross -- it is good for
           them. It is not good for my people who are dancing and laughing and enjoying. They need a different
           kind of place, where laughter is not sin, where love is not condemned, where the cross -- which is a
           symbol of death -- is not praised. But what about the fire station? That should be returned to the
           city."
               These are religious people. First, he is asking for a community church, as if it is a Christian
           church. Second, he does not mention that the fire brigade has nothing to do with Christianity.
               I have received a third letter too, from the old mayor, ex-mayor, and other dignitaries, saying to
           me, "It will be a peaceful gesture from your side if you advise your people to dissolve the City of
           Rajneesh as a city."
               I am surprised: not a single letter has come which shows any gesture of love and peace towards
           us. They want every gesture of love and peace to come from us. Love and peace cannot exist from
           one side -- and that too for material gain.
               The Methodist church wants a Rolls Royce. Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor." How can I give a
           Rolls Royce? -- because cursed are the rich. A Methodist church having a Rolls Royce -- they all
           will go to hell. Then who will be responsible?
               Poverty has been praised by Christianity as spiritual. What are poor people going to do with a
           Rolls Royce? They don't even have any shame -- begging for a Rolls Royce. I could have given not
           one, but all ninety Rolls Royces to the Christians, but they have to understand they will have to lose
           their heaven and their Jesus Christ.
               If you want heaven, you have to carry your cross on your shoulder. And remember, Jesus says
           even a camel can pass through the eye of a needle, but a rich man cannot pass through the gates of
           heaven. No, I cannot do that much injustice to these idiots. Let them pass with the camel through the
           eye of the needle. If camels are going into heaven, I am not going into heaven, my people are not
           going into heaven. We have chosen hell. At least it will be better than Oregon.
               All the letters want us to make gestures of peace. A small minority -- just five thousand
           sannyasins in this desert -- and the whole of America, the greatest destructive power in the world
           today, is begging for gestures of peace from us. They should show some peace. It should come from
           the majority of the people. We will welcome it -- our hands are ready to shake hands, but their hands
           want Rolls Royces, churches, fire stations.
               All the religions of the world are phony. They say one thing, they do something else, just the
           opposite. They are all hypocrites.
               We do what we say. If in paradise everything is luxurious, then we are practicing luxury, to be
           ready. Unprepared, what will you do in heaven, in paradise? The saints will be looking silly, because
           their whole life they practiced celibacy -- and in heaven, beautiful young girls are available free of
           any charge. Those dead bones, those dry people who have practiced torturing themselves, how are
           they going to adjust in paradise? Impossible.
               My people will create, even in hell, a paradise. If they can create an oasis in this desert, which
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has been lying deserted for fifty years.... Nobody purchased it -- what will you do with a desert? We
           accepted the challenge of the desert. We have changed it into a beautiful oasis.
               And in hell you will find all the colorful people of the whole history, juicy people -- poets,
           painters, dancers, actors, actresses, sculptors -- all creative. You will not find a single dodo saint --
           dull, dead, with a long face. In hell you will find people who laugh, who dance. There will be music,
           because all great musicians will be there. Because for thousands of years all the cream of humanity
           has been going to hell, you will find that those people have changed hell into paradise already. All
           the scientists, the most modern technology, delicious food -- everything that you enjoy; no guilt, no
           sin, no church.
               But all religions have been converting people on the basis of fear and greed. They are creating
           paranoia -- that in hell you will suffer for eternity. And in heaven you will rejoice for eternity -- all
           that you have to do is just to believe in their dogma. Don't ask any question, don't be skeptical;
           simply be retarded. Have faith in Jesus Christ, have faith in Moses, have faith in Krishna, in
           Mohammed. And for such a simple thing -- just having faith -- the whole eternity of luxuries!
               These people are simply exploiting your fear and your greed. But why are they so interested in
           exploiting you? They themselves are not certain; looking into the certainty in your eyes, they feel at
           ease.
               One journalist -- he was a rare case because journalists don't go to heaven, cannot go to heaven --
           by some accident reached heaven. But on the door he was stopped by the gatekeeper, and the
           gatekeeper said, "All vacancies for journalists in heaven are full. In fact, we have ten journalists and
           they don't have any work. In heaven there is no newspaper, no television, no radio, because there is
           no news; here, nothing happens. Just angels go on playing on their harps, 'Alleluia, alleluia.' How
           much news can you make out of that? You go to hell! There is tremendous news... so many papers,
           so many networks of television, radio."
               But the man said, "I have come here: at least give me twenty-four hours, just a chance to visit the
           place. And have mercy on me -- if I can convince one of the journalists inside heaven to go to hell,
           then there will be a place vacant, and you can give that place to me."
               It looked logical. The gatekeeper allowed him, but said, "Remember, only twenty-four hours!"
               After twenty-four hours the journalist came to the gate. The gatekeeper said, "You cannot go
           out."
           The journalist said, "Why?"
               The gatekeeper said, "All the ten journalists have left. You created such a rumor -- that a new
           newspaper is going to start in hell. It needs a chief editor, a Sunday editor, and all kinds of
           journalists, and it is going to be the biggest newspaper -- so they all have left. You were lying. There
           is no newspaper like that which is going to happen."
               The man certainly had been lying to the journalists; but when ten left, he said to the gatekeeper,
           "Please let me go. Perhaps there is some truth in it."
               The gatekeeper said, "But you know already that you were lying!"
               He said, "I know. But if ten people can believe in it, there must be some truth in it. I cannot
           remain in heaven anymore."
               This is the psychology of conversion. People convert others to Catholicism, to Hinduism, to
           Mohammedanism, for the simple reason that they don't have any authentic experience of their own.
           They are shaky inside; they know that they know not. They want to be certain. This is the easiest
           way: to convince people. In convincing people, they are convincing themselves. And the more
           people are converted to their path, the more certain they become that they are on the right path.
               That's why you are feeling angry; otherwise there is no need to feel angry. So remember, your
           anger shows your emptiness. It shows that you are not certain. Rather than convincing others, it will
           be better to experience the truth that is available to you.
           Go deeper into meditation.
           That's the only way to attain to certainty.
               Then the whole world can be against you, but there will be no anger, only compassion.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN A TRUE REBEL BE A DISCIPLE OF A MASTER, OR MUST HE BE SIMPLY A FRIEND OF
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               THE MASTER?


                A rebel needs no master. If he needs a master, he is not a rebel. A rebel is a master unto himself.
           Rebellion is his religion, and there is no other religion for him.
                To follow a master, and at the same to think yourself a rebel, is a contradiction in terms.
                A rebel can only be a friend. A rebel can learn from all the sources available, but a rebel cannot
           be a follower. He cannot be a believer. A rebel cannot afford a master. He has chosen his
           individuality, his freedom, and he is not going to be enslaved by any master.
                That's why I go on insisting to you that I am not your master, because I don't want anybody to be
           enslaved. It is a psychological slavery: whatever I say you believe, whatever I do you believe -- and
           still you think you are a rebel?
           To be a rebel needs guts.
                Yes, you can be my friends -- and I am available to you: whatever I know, whatever I have
           experienced, is always available to you. And I don't ask anything for it -- your trust, your surrender,
           your faith, no! I cannot be inhuman to any human being.
                In the past, your so-called masters have all been inhuman to you. What does it mean when Jesus
           says, "I am the savior"? What does it mean when he says, "I am the shepherd and you are the
           sheep"? What more humiliation do you want? And still there are millions of Christians who think
           that they are sheep, and their shepherd is hanging on the cross.
           I am not your shepherd, you are not my sheep.
                A rebel is a beautiful human being. A sheep? -- you have fallen far below being human. Have
           you seen sheep? They always move in a crowd -- so close to each other, rubbing their bodies against
           each other. They cannot move alone. No sheep is a rebel -- they feel comfortable and cozy only in a
           mob.
                Only lions move alone. Lions don't move in a crowd -- they are rebels. I would like you to be
           lions, not sheep.
                I am not your master, you are not my disciples. You love me -- that's enough. I love you and
           respect you, and respect your freedom. In this freedom and love, if something can transpire and
           transform you, that will be beautiful. But nobody was the master and nobody was the slave.
                This is not a religion, this is a love affair; and in love, nobody is a master. This is the highest that
           can be possible. And I would like you to live at the highest peak of human growth.
                There is not much difference between me and you, a very little difference: you are asleep, I am
           awake. But that is not much of a difference. You can be awake any moment. I was also asleep one
           day. If I can be awake, why can't you be? The capacity to sleep proves the capacity to be awake. You
           can sleep only if you can be awake. Stones don't sleep, because they cannot be awake.
                All that is needed is just a little shaking, a little cold water thrown into your eyes. That's what I
           am doing every day, day in, day out. Once in a while you open your eyes too, but old habits die hard;
           then you close them again. Once in a while you hear me too, but then you pull the blanket over
           yourself again. Just human -- just a little bit more rest, just a little bit more of a beautiful golden
           dream.
                And naturally, sometimes you get angry at me because I am disturbing your dream. But I am not
           angry. Even if you pull up your blanket again, turn to the other side, start snoring again, I am not
           going to leave you. I know that you are not dead -- you can pull up the blanket, you can move to the
           other side. So it is very close; just a little more effort and you will be awake.
                I am not your savior, just a friend who knows both the states: the state of sleep and the state of
           being awake. And I feel that you are missing such a great joy, of opening your eyes and seeing the
           sunrise, and the birds singing, and the fresh morning air. And I feel compassion for you, that you are
           unnecessarily wasting your time in dreaming, while real life is waiting for you.
                So remember it: there is no question of anybody being your master. These masters have exploited
           you enough! It is time to stop this exploitation. An authentic human being cannot reduce you to a
           sheep. If there is any sin, Jesus has committed it, and that was making you sheep, and posing as your
           savior.
                And when he was being caught, just a few minutes before, his disciples asked, "What about us?"
           He said, "I will be coming soon to deliver everybody who has faith in me from all suffering and
           misery. And I will take you to the house of my father in paradise."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Two thousand years have passed, and that guy has not been seen since then. How long can you
           stretch the word "soon"?
                And I can say, with categorical certainty, that he is not going to come back again. He could not
           save himself! -- how can he save the whole humanity?
                He died in tremendous doubt. At the last moment he shouted, looking at the sky, "God, my
           father, have you forsaken me?" He was expecting a miracle -- naturally. He was believing himself to
           be the only begotten son of God. The only begotten son is being crucified, and God -- sitting on a
           white cloud with angels playing on their harps -- does not come to save him? Jesus died shaken. His
           faith was only that of a crackpot, it was not authentic experience.
                I do not expect anything; nobody can disappoint me. I don't have any God -- I am happy just
           being myself.
                Remember one thing: if there is a God, then you are all slaves, and freedom is impossible. The
           first principle of rebellion is that there is no God, no savior, no prophet, no messenger; you are alone,
           and you have to learn to depend only on yourself. That brings independence. And independence is
           such a joy, is such a beauty, is such a maturity, is such a flowering, that nothing more is needed. You
           feel so contented, so fulfilled, and the whole existence becomes your paradise.
                It is not a question of going into paradise. It is a question of going within yourself, reaching to
           your very center of being, which changes your perspective. This very existence becomes paradise.
           They are the same trees, the same birds, the same people, and yet they are no longer the same
           because you are no longer the same. Now you are not dreaming; now you are awake.
                For the awakened one, this existence is paradise. Every moment it is paradise. And when I say
           this, I am not saying it according to any holy scripture. There are no holy scriptures, there are only
           books. I am saying it out of my own experience, out of my own authority. I am ready to share with
           you. And it is not something that can be sold or purchased. Only in deep friendship, in love, does the
           transfer, the transformation happen.
           You are all rebels.
           Only rebels can have a contact with me.
           And I would like you to be a rebel always.
                I respect your rebellion. It would be so ugly for me to have five thousand sheep around me. Even
           if I become the shepherd, what would be the joy from it?
                I want five thousand rebellious spirits, five thousand burning torches, lights unto themselves --
           and then to be amongst you is a joy.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE READ YOUR WORDS ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF CREATING A NEW WAY TO
              CONCEIVE BABIES, AND THEY OPENED MY HEART. WHY THEN, HAVE YOU NEVER HAD A
              SON IN THIS WAY? PLEASE EXCUSE ME FOR ASKING SUCH A PERSONAL QUESTION.


               There is no need to ask for any forgiveness. You can ask every question possible -- personal,
           impersonal, it does not matter. I want to open myself completely to you. I want to be an open book, I
           don't want to keep any secrets from you. So it is perfectly right to ask the question.
               The reason why I have not given birth to a child is very simple. First, look at the world -- the
           whole mess of it. Look at the population, which is already four times more than this planet can
           support comfortably. Thousands of people are dying in Ethiopia every day out of hunger. Fifty
           percent of the people in India -- that means four hundred million people -- are undernourished, can
           barely manage one meal a day. Soon India will be a far bigger Ethiopia. And the same is the
           situation of many poor countries of the Third World.
               And it is not great, even in Great Britain. It is not great, even in the greatest world power,
           America. Millions of people are on the streets; they don't have a decent shelter, they are beggars.
           And you want me to give birth to a child?
               What will I give him as his inheritance? This world -- this madhouse which is piling up nuclear
           weapons to commit suicide, global suicide? Do you want me, and my child also, to be burned,
           tortured, killed by nuclear weapons? The nuclear weapons have come to a point where the whole of
           life on the earth can be destroyed seven hundred times! There is no need, because one time is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enough.
                What will I say to my child -- "This is the world I have brought you into"? Only sleepy people
           can bring children into the world, because they don't know what they are doing. Their children are
           accidental. My child cannot be accidental.
                This world is no longer the place to give birth to more children. For at least twenty to thirty years
           there should be total birth control so that the population of the world comes to one-fourth. Right now
           it is four billion; by the end of this century it will be five billion. When it becomes five billion, you
           will see everywhere starvation, hunger, people dying -- and no way to help them.
           No, I cannot give this world to my child.
                On the other hand, do you see what religions have done? This is what politics has done; politics
           has ended in nuclear weapons, prepared for a global suicide. And what have religions done? They
           have created the disease AIDS, which is going to kill two-thirds of the whole of humanity.
           Politicians and priests have always been in conspiracy against humanity. This time it is absolutely
           clear.
                AIDS is a religious disease, and all the founders of religions are responsible for it. They are the
           greatest criminals. Small criminals are being punished in the courts, and the real and great criminals
           are worshipped in churches, in mosques, in synagogues, in temples. It is really an insane state of
           affairs.
                All the religions teach that celibacy is spiritual, and nobody -- not a single human being -- has
           asked the question, "Is celibacy possible?"
                It is absolutely impossible. In a healthy body, the male sperm will be created. And what are you
           going to do with those male sperm? -- because their biological function is to make life continue, they
           are in a hurry to reach the female egg. When you feel horny, what does it mean? Your small bag of
           male sperm is overcrowded; they want to get out of there, they want to explore the world.
                Do you see the absurdity of all these religions? You may be a Christian, you may be a Hindu;
           you may take the vow of celibacy, you may become a monk, you may be worshipped as a saint -- but
           your physiology knows nothing about your Christianity, about your Hinduism. Your physiology has
           its own program, which is not under your mind's control. It goes on functioning according to its own
           program.
                You may have this idea in your head, that celibacy is spiritual, but it will never reach to your
           blood cells, to your bones, to your stomach. There is no communication. There is no line of
           communication between you and your physiology. It functions on its own, it is autonomous.
                So because all the religions insisted on celibacy, they created homosexuality, masturbation,
           sodomy, lesbianism. For all sexual repressions and for all sexual perversions they are responsible.
           And humanity has suffered under their idiotic idea.
                In your monasteries the monks are all homosexuals. If they are not homosexuals, then they will
           be masturbating. Religions don't allow the monks and nuns to meet and have a little love affair, at
           least once in a while -- every weekend. One day in a week can be given as a holiday from your
           saintliness. But there is no holiday.
                So these people created homosexuality, these people created sexual abuse of children. And now
           homosexuality has come to such a peak that it has exploded into the disease AIDS. Even to call it a
           disease is not right. It is death itself, because AIDS has no cure. Every disease has a cure -- if not
           today, then tomorrow it will have a cure. But all the scientists who are studying AIDS are unanimous
           that there is no possibility of any cure for it. What does that mean? There is only one thing in life
           which has no cure, and that is death.
                AIDS is nothing but slow death; it is not a disease. It may take six months to two years, but the
           person is going to die in a very ugly, inhuman, condemned, guilty way. What has he done to
           himself? It would have been better to die suddenly. But for two years continuously contemplating all
           that he has done, and this death that is coming.... Nobody can invent a better torture.
                Do you want my child to be born in this idiotic world full of AIDS? Do you know that a few
           children are born with AIDS? What will be their whole life? -- within two years they will be gone.
           They will not have any life.
                And AIDS is spreading like wildfire, for the simple reason that no nation wants to give exact
           information as to how many people are suffering from AIDS, because no nation wants to be
           condemned in the world as homosexual, as perverted, as sexually sick. So governments are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           repressing information. The doctors don't want anybody who has AIDS to be admitted to their
           clinics, hospitals, nursing homes.
               The best way is to convince the man that "You don't have it," so they can get rid of him;
           otherwise he is dangerous. If they keep him in the hospital, the doctor is in danger, the nurses are in
           danger, other people are in danger. But to tell that man that he does not have AIDS is making the
           whole society available to him, forcing the whole society into danger.
               And AIDS does not spread only by sexual contact. You can kiss somebody who has AIDS, and
           the saliva is enough to transfer the disease to you. Now kissing should be prohibited completely, it
           should be made illegal. Somebody is crying and weeping and tears are rolling down his cheeks, and
           out of compassion and love you wipe those tears with your hands. Be alert: tears carry the virus of
           AIDS. It should be prohibited. Nobody should show such compassion, it is too dangerous.
               Such a dangerous phenomenon, and doctors are not accepting it. State governments are trying to
           make it such that in tests of a hundred people who have AIDS, at least ninety will come out clear, so
           that the state is not condemned, so it is not burdened with so many AIDS people. Nobody exactly
           knows what to do with these people. But you are taking a great risk. You have saved your name,
           your state's name, your government's name, but those people who have been left in the society will
           create more and more problems.
               Do you want me to bring a child into this world? I love too much. I cannot give this world to my
           child. I love your children too much. In the four years this commune has existed, not a single child
           has been born here. This is intelligence. This is not a time to bring children, this is a time to reduce
           the population of the earth.
               This is the time to be very alert about AIDS. Perhaps this is the only place in the whole world
           where every precaution has been taken against it. All six thousand sannyasins have gone through
           tests. No other place has guts enough to put the whole city through tests. They are afraid that they
           may find people who have AIDS. And the people who feel perhaps they may have it are not going
           through the test -- for the simple reason that if they go through the test and they are found positive,
           then even their wives, their children, their parents, will refuse them. They will have no place in their
           own home. They will not be allowed in any restaurant. Their own friends will become their enemies.
               So they don't want to be tested; the government does not want it, the hospitals do not want it.
           And the fire is spreading; nobody wants to recognize it, to see it. This is not intelligence. Just closing
           your eyes does not mean that the enemy has disappeared.
               We have found a few people with AIDS -- two persons. We have made a beautiful isolation place
           for them; the best that we could afford has been given to them. They have all our respect and love,
           because they are victims.
               If anybody has to be punished, it is pope the Polack, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Hindu
           shankaracharya. These people are still going on preaching celibacy. These people should be
           immediately imprisoned. There is no question; no two opinions about it are possible. Anybody who
           teaches celibacy is teaching homosexuality, is teaching sexual perversion. And these people go on
           teaching no birth control, no Pill, no abortion. Do they want to see the whole world starve and die in
           agony?
               Their interest is totally different. If people use birth control methods, then from where is Mother
           Teresa going to find orphans? Her whole business will be finished. And these orphans are being
           converted into Catholics, so the pope is in absolute support.
               You give Nobel Prizes to these people who need to be sentenced to prison for their whole life!
           They are the cause of poverty in the world, they are the cause of the orphans in the world. And they
           are still free, preaching the same old nonsense. They go on saying God gives children. On what
           authority do they know it? Have they got any proof, any evidence that God gives children to people?
           And if God gives children to people, then their God must be absolutely insane. Seeing this earth
           overpopulated, thousands of people dying, he goes on giving children?
           There is no God.
               It is the greatest lie invented by the religions to exploit humanity.
               And I am surprised.... Mother Teresa has been in correspondence with me. Because I condemned
           her so much in India, she finally had to write a letter to me in which she said, "It is out of my
           compassion that I am serving the orphans."
               I replied to her, "Your compassion is costing too much. You can be compassionate to something
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           else, but please stop this compassion to orphans, and stop talking this nonsense that God gives
           children."
               And I wrote to her, "God is omnipotent, all powerful. If he really wants to give children, then he
           can do anything. What about the Pill? Can't God remove the Pill? God could part the ocean for
           Moses to move with all his followers; can't he make a passage in the condom? He can part the ocean,
           he cannot part the condom? So leave it to him. If he wants -- he is all-powerful, all-knowing, present
           everywhere -- he will do whatsoever he wants to do. Why are you bothering and teaching people
           against birth control methods?"
               Her next letter came without any answer to what I had written. She simply wrote, "I will pray to
           God to forgive you."
               I had to write to her again: "I have not given you the authority to pray on my behalf. I can sue
           you in the court. Who are you to pray on my behalf to a God who does not exist? You are interfering
           with my freedom. Stop praying, at least for me! I do not want anybody's prayer, anybody's
           forgiveness; I am not committing any sin. Pray for yourself."
           And that was the end of the correspondence.
               No, I cannot conceive that in this ugly situation anybody who has some love will bring children
           into the world. This is impossible for a loving heart.
               Use all birth control methods, and let us see God's omnipotence. I tell you he is absolutely
           impotent. He does not exist.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ALMOST DAILY WE HEAR YOU VILIFY HOMOSEXUALS. ARE YOU WITHDRAWING YOUR LOVE
              FROM THE THOUSANDS OF US WHO ARE HOMOSEXUAL AND ALSO HAPPEN TO BE IN LOVE
              WITH YOU? I FEEL LIKE A SECOND-CLASS MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY. DO YOU HAVE
              ANY GUIDANCE FOR US?


               As a homosexual you are not even a human being, what to say about a second-class citizen? You
           have fallen from dignity. I have great love for you, but that does not mean that I will support your
           perversion.
               You love me, but your love is meaningless if you cannot understand what I am saying. Be
           heterosexual. Homosexuality is just a habit that you have got, an ugly habit. Drop it. It is simply a
           question of dropping it, because it is not natural. Wild animals in the jungle are never homosexual;
           but in zoos, where females are not available, they turn into homosexuals. All your monasteries are
           zoos! Why are you becoming part of a zoo? Gather courage: Why are you afraid of a woman?
               My love is for you. That's why I am condemning homosexuality continually -- because I want
           you to become natural again.
               But homosexuals used to think, before AIDS, that they are very progressive people, avant-garde,
           more intelligent than heterosexuals. Heterosexuals are just backward, primitive, just doing the old
           thing; and they are doing new experiments, new explorations. But AIDS has proved you were wrong.
           You were perverted. No heterosexual in this commune has suffered from AIDS.
               Do you want me to support AIDS? Supporting homosexuality exactly means that -- supporting
           AIDS.
               It is a small commune. We had only two persons for whom we were caring; one of them has
           died. Nine, from other communes around the world, have arrived. And many others who are not
           sannyasins are ready to become sannyasins, just so that they can have a place, respect, dignity. But
           how many AIDS people can we support? And why should we support them?
               If AIDS people have any guts left in them -- and now they have nothing to lose, they have lost
           everything -- they should all move to the Vatican. The Vatican has to become the AIDS camp! They
           created homosexuality, now they have to take the consequences of it.
               There was a time when Rome was at its highest peak of culture, and there was a proverb: "Every
           road leads to Rome." Now it is not heard anymore, because that Rome has fallen, disappeared. But I
           say to you, now create a new proverb: "Every road leads to the Vatican, particularly for those who
           are suffering from AIDS. Go to the pope and tell him, 'This is the result of your teachings of
           celibacy. Now take care of us!'"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               This is a small commune.... And I have never advocated celibacy, I am against it. I have always
           taught love and how to transform your love more and more into the higher qualities which are
           inherent in it. Celibacy is not my number.
               So I think the commune should tell the AIDS people, "We will pay for your tickets; you go to the
           Vatican. That's all that we can do for you."
               It has to be made clear in the whole world.... The Vatican is big enough, has enough marble
           palaces, and enough money. The Vatican is the richest city in the whole world. Talking about
           poverty -- and the pope is the head of the richest empire! They should make arrangements for AIDS
           people.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE SPEAK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GACHCHHAMIS NOW THAT WE HAVE
              DROPPED RAJNEESHISM.


                Gachchhamis have nothing to do with religion. Gachchhamis have something to do with your
           determination. These are the gachchhamis. It is not a prayer....
                "I go to the feet of the awakened one, to his commune, to his truth."
                This is simply a declaration on your part. The awakened one does not indicate any individual; it
           simply means all the awakened ones of the past, of the present, of the future. It simply means the
           quality of being awakened. And you are making yourself remember, "I am dedicated to only one
           thing: I have to become awakened."
           ..."To his commune... to his truth."
                No particular name is mentioned. All the communes of all the awakened ones are implied in it.
           Of course the truth is the same; whoever has awakened has found the same truth.
                The gachchhamis are simply a remembrance of your own decision. They are going to remain.
           And the gachchhamis are individual, they have nothing to do with any collectivity. And they are
           profoundly beautiful.
                They serve another purpose also. "I go to the feet of the awakened one," means you are at least
           for a moment putting your ego aside, for the commune, for the truth. The only way to reach
           awakening, and the truth it reveals -- all that is needed is to drop the ego completely. But even to put
           it aside for a moment will give you a tremendous experience, a glimpse. Just a small breeze of
           awakening will move through your being. It has nothing to do with religion.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM CELEBRATING THE SUDDEN AND BEAUTIFUL DEATH OF RAJNEESHISM, AND THE IDEA
              OF A BONFIRE WHOLLY OF THE BOOK OF RAJNEESHISM. BUT HOW CAN WE BURN THE FIRE
              TO DESTROY RAJNEESHISM WITHIN? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               That's a very simple matter, because I have never taught you any religion, I have never taught
           you any belief system. If you have created something inside you, it is your doing. Undo it.
               Today, we will be burning the book of RAJNEESHISM, symbolizing that we are not a religion
           but a way of life, a way of religiousness. There are no Rajneeshees, only friends of Rajneesh.
               Inside you, if you have created any idea of a religion -- if you can create it, you can uncreate it. It
           is a very simple matter, just give it a try. It is your own imagination, it does not exist; how long can
           you carry it within you? It will not be supported from the outside. All the props will be taken away
           from you, and your inner idea will fall flat on the earth.
               If you cannot manage, I will manage. But first I will give a chance to you, because I want you to
           do it. And I know you are capable of doing it. But if I see you cannot do it, then I will start
           hammering from every side. Then don't feel hurt.


              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I HEARD A RUMOR THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OREGON IS IN A GREAT PANIC. HE
              HAS ALERTED THE NATIONAL GUARD AGAIN. WHAT IS HIS FEAR? PLEASE COMMENT.


               Politicians are always cowards. Politicians suffer from an inferiority complex. The attorney
           general of Oregon has not enough courage to come here and see what is happening. But I think he
           cannot sleep; he must be dreaming about us, continuously thinking of us.
               The governor wants to declare a state of emergency, to impose on Rajneeshpuram something
           absolutely absurd -- because there is no violence happening, nobody is fighting, no- body is killing,
           nobody is doing any harm to anybody.
               The state police are here, the county police are here, the city police are here, the FBI people are
           here -- nobody is hindering their work. Whatsoever they want to do, they are doing. They cannot
           find any tension anywhere. And still the governor wants to declare a state of emergency, and the
           attorney general has put the National Guard on alert.
               My suggestion is, they should also have hydrogen bombs, missiles aimed at Rajneeshpuram.
           America misses not having a Hiroshima -- this opportunity they should not lose.
               It is simply idiotic what he is doing. I feel like calling him the Idiot General of Oregon, not
           attorney general of Oregon.
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #17
                                  Chapter title: You just need a little courage
           1 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510010
              ShortTitle: BONDAG17
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 115 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT IS A RUMOR IN THE AIR THAT YOU ARE BEING ARRESTED TODAY OR TOMORROW. WHAT
              IS YOUR COMMENT?


               Aha! That's really groovy. That's the only experience I have missed in my life. And knowing that
           this is my last life, I would certainly want to be arrested. Make sure that I am handcuffed, because
           whenever I do anything, I do it totally.
               Arresting me, an absolutely innocent person who has done no wrong, is the beginning of the end
           of American hypocrisy about democracy. It will be a great help to the whole world to understand
           that America is not what it pretends to be. It is not following its Constitution. It has the best
           Constitution in the world, but the worst politicians also.
               The politicians of America are prostituting the Constitution. They should stop calling it
           "Constitution," they should start calling it "prostitution."
               I have been for three and a half years in isolation, in silence, just remaining in my room, no
           contact with sannyasins, and still I am a criminal. If I am a criminal, then nobody on this earth is
           innocent.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is perfectly good; if they have guts they should arrest me and show their real faces to the
           world, show that democracy is just fake. America and the Soviet Union do not differ in any way.
           Perhaps the Soviet Union is more straightforward; it says what it does, it is not phony.
               The Soviet Union may be doing all kinds of wrong things -- it is -- but it calls itself the
           dictatorship of the proletariat. America calls itself a democracy -- a government by the people, of the
           people, for the people. Arresting me, they will destroy their own image in the whole world.
               I am perfectly happy. I don't want to miss this opportunity. But why tomorrow? -- because
           tomorrow never comes. It is better today. Arrest me today. And arrest me as a criminal, handcuffed,
           so the whole world can see that this government is not for the people, of the people, by the people.
           That this government is, behind a mask of democracy, as dictatorial, as fascist as it can be.
               But they should remember.... I inquired of a few of my sannyasins: they are all wanting to be
           voluntarily arrested, they want to be with me. So they should come with five thousand handcuffs. It
           is not going to be an easy thing. And we know how to make history. We don't read history, we make
           history. Five thousand sannyasins will offer themselves voluntarily to be arrested. And that will
           make what I say is the beginning of the end of American hypocrisy.
               We are for the American Constitution, but not for American dirty politicians. We will fight for
           the Constitution against the politicians. I have tremendous respect and love for the Constitution. It
           has all the great values that humanity needs. But these politicians are not Abraham Lincoln.
           Abraham Lincoln must be tossing and turning in his grave. The best in America will feel it, and will
           be with you.
               Not only here -- if five thousand people are arrested here, then the same is going to happen in
           every country. Sannyasins will offer their governments, "Either disconnect all connections with
           America, throw out the American embassies, or arrest us." In every country thousands of sannyasins
           are going to do the same, because they feel the same as you feel. It is going to be a world-wide
           phenomenon.
               To arrest me is not so simple. These politicians are just simpletons. But I welcome their idea. As
           far as I am concerned, I will really enjoy it.
               In India I have been speaking against the politicians for thirty years, but they never tried to do
           any harm to me knowing perfectly well that doing any harm to me, means thousands of sannyasins
           around the country will be hurt.
               We are nonviolent people. We cannot hurt anybody, but we can offer ourselves.
               For thirty years they have not even tried any inquiry, any investigation. Even in the times of
           emergency rule in India it was more democratic than in America without emergency rule. All the
           ashrams were raided except my commune, for the simple reason that they understand me, and
           understood that it is better not to take such a risk. But these American politicians are not aware of
           me. It is a good chance to make them aware.
               So only a few sannyasins will remain to take care of the commune; otherwise every sannyasin
           has to offer himself for voluntary arrest.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT YOU STARTED THE NEO-SANNYAS MOVEMENT ON
              SEPTEMBER 26 AND STOPPED IT ON THE SAME DAY AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS?


               I have not stopped the sannyas movement; I have stopped it becoming a religion. A movement is
           a flux; that's the meaning of movement -- it is moving, it is growing. But a religion is dead -- it has
           stopped moving, it has stopped growing. It is dead. The only place for it is in the crematorium. That's
           where we had to take it. And we have celebrated the death of the religion -- a religion which was not
           my idea.
               I trust in sannyasins remaining individuals, I trust in their growth and movement; but I don't like
           the idea of them becoming like Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists. That's what was done while I
           was in isolation. In my absence, Sheela gathered around herself a fascist group and managed to
           cripple the sannyas movement, to make it dead, to make it a religion.
               We have burned the religion -- that does not mean we have burned our religiousness. That is a
           totally different thing.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Religiousness is like love -- invisible, yet so tangible. You cannot explain it, but you can
           experience it.
                Religiousness has been freed from a dead structure, a bondage that Sheela and her criminal group
           have put around it. Now you are not Rajneeshees. And I would like the press, the media to be kind
           enough not to refer to my people as Rajneeshees. They need some kind of reference -- they can call
           them friends of Rajneesh, and that will be absolutely right and appropriate.
                Sheela wanted a dead religion. Every priest or priestess wants a dead religion, because it is
           predictable. Everything is just a catechism. There is no opinion, no evolution, no growth. Just look at
           Christianity: two thousand years have passed -- have they gone even an inch farther than Jesus
           Christ? Twenty-five centuries have passed since Buddha -- have Buddhists gone a single step ahead?
           This is destroying growth, destroying evolution.
                Now I want my people to remain open, alive, growing, always fresh and new. It remains a new
           kind of phenomenon, religiousness: no label attached to it, because every label is a full stop. And I
           don't like full stops, I don't like even semi-colons: Life is always ongoing....
                One journalist was very much worried; he said, "You have destroyed Rajneeshism, the religion.
           Now you will be in great trouble on two counts: first, Rajneesh Foundation International will lose its
           tax-exempt status."
                I told the man, "Don't you worry about it. We have burned religion but not religiousness; and we
           will fight so that a man can have a growing experience of religiousness without being part of a mob
           psychology, without being a member of a collectivity. That is perfectly good for the sheep, but not
           for lions. And I want my sannyasins to be lions, not sheep.
                "Nobody can take away the tax-exempt status. We are more religious than any Christian, any
           Hindu, any Mohammedan. We have just buried the dead structure and freed the soul of religion. That
           freedom is religiousness."
                He was also worried that it would be difficult now for me in reference to my immigration, on the
           same grounds. It is not going to be difficult for me at all. If you don't have a category for
           religiousness, that is your fault. Make a category for religiousness.
                Even in my interview with the INS I had made it clear that this is no ordinary religion; it is
           simply a way of life, a quality of religiousness.
                The INS officer said, "But it is difficult, because we don't have any category for that. We have a
           category for religion."
                "Then," I said, "you can write that it is a religionless religion." And that is on record.
           What does "religionless religion" mean?
           It simply means a religiousness.
                And I love fights. It is so exciting. I am all for fighting -- of course, nonviolent fighting, not with
           guns. Guns are used only by retarded people. I have enough intelligence to fight, to argue. And I will
           argue my case up to the Supreme Court.
                I would like the Supreme Court to give me special permission to fight my case myself. An
           advocate can be an assistant to me, but I do not want to be lost in legal jargon. I am a
           straightforward, simple man. And what is the need for truth to have any advocate to defend it? Truth
           is not defensive; its presence is enough, and its victory is absolutely certain.
                So there is no question. The movement of sannyas has been freed, it has not been stopped. It was
           being stopped.
                I used to have another corporation just like Rajneesh Foundation International: Neo-Sannyas
           International. Sheela dropped it. I came to know only when I came out of silence, that now
           Neo-Sannyas International does not exist -- and that has been my whole life's work!
                I am going to revive Neo-Sannyas International. That is a movement; anybody can join it, and I
           have made it wider, I have given it a wide base. There are millions of people who love me, who love
           my insights, but cannot become sannyasins because they have to change their clothes -- that creates
           trouble in their family, in their job, with their friends, in the society. I have withdrawn it.
                I have withdrawn the mala. It has significance in India, because in India the red clothes and mala
           have been used for thousands of years by all the religions as symbolic of a sannyasin. I wanted to
           destroy that traditional idea of sannyas, because the sannyasin has to be celibate, the sannyasin has
           not to touch a woman, not to talk to a woman. The sannyasin cannot stay in a household, he has to
           stay in a temple. He has to eat only once a day, he has to fast continuously again and again. He has to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           torture himself. This is sick.
                I wanted to destroy this image, that's why I had chosen the red color. And I had almost three
           hundred thousand sannyasins in India. My sannyasins created tremendous trouble amongst the
           traditional sannyasins, because there was no way to know who is who. My sannyasins would be
           walking on the road and people would touch their feet, not knowing that these are not celibates; they
           have their girlfriends. They eat two times a day, they eat everything that is the best -- whether it is
           Italian or Chinese or Japanese, it does not matter. These people belong to the twenty-first century,
           and old sannyasins were very angry because I have destroyed their image.
                With our coming to the West, now red clothes and the mala are no longer needed, because in the
           West they have never been symbolic of religion. They have done their work in India. They have
           made their point, that a sannyasin can be with a wife, with children; that he need not be a parasite on
           the society, he can work, he can create, he can earn; that he need not be worshipped.
                But in the West there is no need. I was going to withdraw the mala and the color anyway, but
           Sheela made it more urgent; you have to be grateful to her. All her crimes made it absolutely
           necessary that now sannyasins should be absolutely normal human beings, so you can live in the
           society without creating any kind of hostility or embarrassment for yourself, for your family, or
           difficulties in your job.
                And, more specifically, you are now completely devoid of all outer symbols. All that is left is the
           essential core of religiousness, the inward journey, which only you can do. I cannot do it for you,
           nobody can do it for you.
                So now there is left only the essential quality, the most fundamental quality of religiousness.
           That is meditation.
           You have to go inwards.
                I have been teaching you all the methods of meditation. You can choose any method that suits
           you. There are only one hundred and twelve methods; there is no possibility of adding more. It is
           exhaustive. All the methods possible have been explored. The simplest is witnessing.
                So now that you no longer have any outer symbols, it is good, if you want to be a sannyasin, for
           you to remember only one thing: how to go into the discipline of witnessing; otherwise there is a
           possibility that wearing red clothes and the mala you are completely satisfied that you are a
           sannyasin. You are not. Clothes don't make anybody change, neither does the mala make anybody go
           through a transformation. But you can deceive yourself.
                Now I am taking all that away from you, and leaving only one simple thing. You cannot deceive:
           either you do it or you don't do it. Without doing it, you are not a sannyasin. So the movement has
           come to its purest state, the most essential stage; it has not been dropped.
                But it is a good coincidence that on the same date I had started the sannyas movement, and on the
           same date I have made it absolutely purified of all unnecessary, nonessential things. But it is purely a
           coincidence, because I am not good about dates, days, years. Forgive me for that.
                I live in a timeless space. I don't know what day it is, I don't know what date it is. I use the watch
           only for you -- in the morning discourse, in the evening interviews for the press -- otherwise, the
           whole day I don't use it. I don't have any need to know what the time is. What am I going to do with
           the time?
                Just for your sake... because I am such a crazy man that I may go on speaking and speaking --
           three hours, four hours, five hours -- the watch prevents me. It is simply for your sake, a
           compassionate gesture.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR VISION OF THE BENEFITS OF THE ARTS FOR OUR PROCESS
              OF GROWING TOWARDS OURSELVES, IN THERAPY, MEDITATION, WORSHIP.


               The arts can be immensely helpful in therapy, in spiritual growth, in your meditations. But it is
           taking a hard and long way unnecessarily. The shortcut is: first, meditation, and then out of
           meditation comes creativity of its own accord. Otherwise, it is a long journey; even one life may not
           be enough.
               For example, the paintings of Picasso are nothing but his nightmares, as if somebody is not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           painting but vomiting. It has helped him to relieve himself of his tensions, schizophrenia, paranoia
           and all kinds of mental repressions. But it is not of much use to you. In fact, if you go on looking at a
           Picasso painting for a long time, you will feel sick, because it is vomiting. You will start feeling
           nauseous. This is not real art.
               The people who created the Taj Mahal -- that is real art. They were Sufi mystics who knew what
           meditation is. And they created the Taj Mahal in such a way that if on every full-moon night, exactly
           at nine o'clock in the evening, you just sit looking at the most beautiful architecture in the whole
           world, you will find suddenly you are becoming silent, peaceful, serene. Something is transpiring
           between you and the Taj Mahal.
               Gurdjieff used to call the Taj Mahal, objective art. It means: created by people who are fully
           aware, able to create something which can help people to grow. He would not call Picasso an
           objective artist. Picasso is a subjective artist, he is just throwing up whatsoever is in his mind. It is
           not going to help anybody. Picasso feels relieved, but for how long? Soon he will gather tensions
           again. Soon he will be again in a state of insanity, and then he will paint. Painting is a release for
           him.
               The people who built the Taj Mahal -- it is not a release for them; it is their experience. And they
           are trying somehow to make something which can also give you the same experience -- at least a
           glimpse of it.
               In India there are many places of objective art, and it is obvious why they are in India -- because
           for ten thousand years the country has been involved with meditative techniques. The caves of
           Ajanta and Ellora... there are many caves; the whole mountain has been carved. Great caves have
           been made into the mountain. A line of caves -- perhaps thirty or thirty-five, and each cave has its
           own beauty; not just beauty, but its own meditative fragrance from a different angle.
               In the last cave, Buddha is lying down just before he died. It is a long statue -- perhaps thirty feet
           long. Just sitting by the side, alone in the cave, you can again feel something that must have been felt
           by people who saw Buddha dying -- the release of his light, the release of his soul becoming
           universal. Somehow the statue gives you an insight into it.
               Tourists miss it. It is not something that you simply go in and have a look and then rush into
           another cave. That is simply idiotic. And most of the tourists are idiots. Most of them are old women
           having nothing to do. Perhaps they have finished their husbands -- now there is nobody even to nag.
           India is full of old women from all over the world.
               Tourists cannot understand it. You have to sit down. You have to be quiet and silent. The cave is
           very cool -- remains cool even in the hottest summer -- and outside is the lush green valley. If you
           can sit for an hour or more, then perhaps some glimpses of objective art will be felt.
               There is one cave in Ajanta which has been made of special stones which are musical. You can
           just hit them with your hand, with your finger, and you will be surprised that they resound just like a
           guitar. If you are really a good musician, you can create any music on those pillars in the cave, on
           the walls of the cave.
               But if you are not a musician, no problem: you simply sit there. Once in a while a breeze comes
           in, and with the breeze there is a murmuring music in the cave. And it is so soothing. I have never
           known anything that can be so soothing to your mind, to your heart, to your body -- so relaxing. This
           is objective art.
               But your question is, "Can art help somehow in being more healthy spiritually? Can it become a
           therapy?" Yes, it can; vomiting is a therapy. And when you are feeling nauseous, it is good to vomit,
           have a good vomit, and you will feel clean. The nausea is gone. But this is not something of great
           help. Please go vice versa: first meditation, then out of meditation there is a spontaneity of creativity.
               Right now you don't know even what areas of creativity can bring out your potential for spiritual
           growth. To paint? -- everybody is not a painter. To write poetry? -- everybody is not a poet. To play
           music? -- everybody is not a musician. How are you going to choose in your confusion? But if you
           are silent through meditation, utterly silent, suddenly you feel a tremendous urge to create
           something, to become a musician.... It comes spontaneously!
               I know one of the great musicians in India -- it is inconceivable, the way he created music. You
           know the name of Ravi Shankar -- Ravi Shankar married that great musician's daughter; Ravi
           Shankar is his disciple. He was capable of creating music with anything. He would start hitting just
           two pieces of steel, and you will be surprised how many and how beautiful were the sounds he could
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           create out of it. He was a born musician.
               A meditator finds his potential and starts moving towards it. Then poetry or dance or sculpture --
           whatever happens spontaneously -- is objective art. It is your contribution.
               It will help you to grow spiritually. It will be your real therapy, because growth is therapy. It will
           give you authentic spiritual health. And, by the way, it will help many other people who can for a
           few moments sit silently, listen to your music, or watch your dance, or see your painting. They will
           be immensely benefited because your art will give them a certain direction towards meditation.
               So my suggestion is, everything starts with meditation. And if you try other things, you will be
           going on a sorry-go-round for many lives, round and round -- I cannot call it a merry-go-round -- but
           you will never reach to your center.
               The first and the foremost act of a sannyasin is to reach to his center, and then leave everything
           to that experience to explode in its own way. Then you are natural. Then whatever you do is helpful
           to you and helpful to others. This is the only love, compassion that you can share with humanity.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              JUST THE OTHER DAY, SUMAN AND I WENT OFF TO LOS ANGELES VIA PORTLAND TO BUY
              RAINBOW CLOTHES. A FUNNY THING HAPPENED. WE THOUGHT WE WERE INCOGNITO,
              WEARING RAINBOW CLOTHES AND NO MALA. AND SOMEHOW PEOPLE IN THE SHOPS AND
              IN THE AIRPORT RECOGNIZED US, COMMENTING IMMEDIATELY: "ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT
              THE CHANGES? ARE YOU DISILLUSIONED? HOW IS SUNSHINE?" EACH TIME WE LAUGHED
              AND LOOKED AT EACH OTHER IN DISBELIEF, BECAUSE WE HAD THOUGHT WE WERE IN
              DISGUISE. BELOVED MASTER, WOULD YOU CARE TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?


               I know it is going to happen. It is not by the clothes that a person is recognized, it is the energy
           aura around him which makes him separate and unique from others.
               My sannyasins will have a different flavor. It does not matter what clothes they wear. You
           cannot disguise yourself, you will be found out. Your very vibe will make you a stranger.
               But without the clothes and the mala, your being a stranger is not going to be offensive to
           anybody. On the contrary, they will become interested: What has happened to this man, to this
           woman, which is special? What kind of fragrance surrounds this man? Your gestures will show it,
           your eyes will show it. The way you walk, the way you talk -- everything will show it. There is no
           way to hide a fire which is burning within you. There is no way to hide a light.
               You can easily recognize a house which is in darkness and there is no light in it. And you can
           recognize from the outside of a house if there is light inside: every window, every door shows the
           light. It is impossible for meditators to become just like other people who are not meditators.
               And it is good that they recognize you. That gives you a chance to open your heart to them -- that
           clothes and mala have been dropped, not because of any disillusionment, but because their purpose is
           served. Now we can be recognized without them. We have come of age.
               Many more people are going to become sannyasins, because we have withdrawn all barriers for
           them. The only change will be that they will have a spiritual name that is not their legal name. In the
           world they can continue to have their legal name. Their spiritual name will remind them in their
           day-to-day work that they should not forget they have made a commitment to grow spiritually. And
           their spiritual name will be a connection with a world-wide community.
           Except that, meditation remains your whole work.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE REAL STORY? SHEELA LEFT BECAUSE SHE GOT RAPED.
              VIDYA AND PUJA LEFT BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T.


               Perhaps you are right.
               There is a group of psychologists who think that the women who are raped are really inviting it.
           To be raped means to create so much excitement in the man that he forgets that he is committing a
           crime. It is a tribute to the beauty of the woman. She has proved to be almost like a drug, and the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man has proved to be completely in her power. He is ready to commit a crime for which in different
           countries he will have different kinds of punishments. For example, in the Middle East, death will be
           the punishment. He has even forgotten that death will be the punishment. Perhaps those
           psychologists have a certain insight into the matter.
               I was a professor in the university. One day I was just sitting with the vice-chancellor -- once in a
           while he used to call me, just to chitchat. When I was with him, a young, beautiful girl came crying.
               She said to the vice-chancellor, "Now it is becoming too much...." One student was continuously
           harassing her. He was throwing pebbles at her in the class, sending letters to her, writing loving
           words on her desk. "You have to do something to prevent all this."
               The vice-chancellor was sympathetic. He said, "I will call him and put a stop to it."
               I said, "Wait a minute. Let me deal with the case." I turned to the girl and asked her, "Be sincere
           and true: are you not enjoying it?"
               There was a great silence for a few seconds. And then the girl said, "But how did you know that I
           am enjoying it?"
               I said, "Just think of the opposite. If nobody writes letters to you, and nobody throws pebbles at
           you, nobody takes air out of your bicycle tires, nobody writes beautiful words on your desk --
           nobody at all, you are simply ignored, as if you do not exist -- will that make you happy?"
               Again there was a silence. The girl said, "But how are you able to know all this?"
               I said, "Leave that aside. You just first figure it out -- because the vice-chancellor is going to stop
           the boy. But if it is giving you enjoyment.... In fact, informing the vice-chancellor has also given you
           joy. You have made your point even to the vice-chancellor, that you are a beautiful girl. You
           certainly are. And I think it is perfectly right for people to do these small things to you; otherwise,
           you will be miserable. You go back and think about it again. If you want to stop that boy, then you
           can come back again to the vice-chancellor tomorrow." She never came back.
               The vice-chancellor was very much surprised. He said, "You solved the problem so easily; the
           other party was not even called."
               I said to him, "You are now very old" -- he must have been sixty-five; he was a retired chief
           justice of a high court. "Do you remember the times when you were a student in the university? Have
           you not written letters to girls, thrown pebbles at the girls, made attempts somehow to touch them?
           Have you never taken air out of their bicycle tires?"
           He said, "You are really strange. How do you know?"
               I said, "Again, the same question the girl was asking. I don't know anything either about the girl
           or about you, but I know everything about the human mind, and you cannot be an exception. Has not
           youth come to you? Haven't you seen the spring?"
               He said, "Perhaps you are right. Yes, I remember doing all these things."
               "And," I said, "still you were going to stop that poor boy. In fact, you should encourage all kinds
           of these activities so no girl is left miserable, so that no boy misses his youth, his springtime. What is
           natural should be accepted."
               I told him, "In my class it never happens, for the simple reason that my class is the only class in
           the whole of India where girls and boys cannot sit separately. It is mandatory that they should sit
           mixed; then there is no need to throw pebbles. You can nudge the girl -- which is far more human,
           more loving. You can feel the warmth of the girl. The girl can feel your lovingness towards her."
               I said, "One day you should come to my class. This is the most silent class, without any trouble,
           for the simple reason that I am not creating monks and nuns. I am helping them to be human beings,
           and I am allowing them to be together.
               "I have made it clear to them: 'Anybody who wants to leave the class can leave the class without
           asking me. Anybody who wants to come in the class at anytime can come in without asking me. Just
           don't disturb the class; come slowly and sit silently.'
               "Nobody leaves, nobody comes late. When you don't make people obey you, when you don't
           become dictatorial, of course there is no question of disobedience, there is no question of resistance."
               Life would be so simple if people accepted its naturalness.
               In fact, nobody can rape a woman unless deep down she is willing. It is impossible. She will
           scream, she will throw tantrums, she will hit you, she will bite you. And in all that atmosphere, can
           you make love to her? You will lose your erection! She can give a really good hit to your balls, and
           you will forget forever raping anybody! That is such a simple thing. And man is most vulnerable at
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that point -- just a good hit, the way you kick a football, and he is finished. If a woman is raped,
           there is some deep willingness for it.
               So perhaps you are right that Sheela left because she was raped in her youth, and she could not
           forgive men or the society. And when she got the power in her hands she started torturing
           everybody. And the others left because they have not been raped. They have been available to you,
           and you did nothing. I know about Vidya; I don't think there is any man who is going to rape her.
           That is one of the problems she has come to me for, that "I feel nobody loves me."
               But I said, "What can I do about it? You can console yourself: at least I love you. I love all kinds
           of creatures, don't be worried."
               And as for Puja, she can rape any man! If she can murder a man, can make attempts to murder a
           whole city, to murder sannyasins, rape is a very small thing. But I don't think any man would like to
           be raped by her. The man will do everything -- he will start doing Dynamic Meditation to avoid the
           rape. Dynamic Meditation is immensely helpful in many situations.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNE AS IT IS NOW, REGARDING THERAPY AND
              MEDITATION AS OFFERED IN THE UNIVERSITY; AND VICE VERSA? AND WHAT IS YOUR
              VISION OF BOTH THEIR GROWTH PROCESSES?


               The function of the commune is to create an atmosphere of encouragement -- that you are not
           alone. The path that you have to travel, you have to travel alone; but if you know that so many
           people are traveling alone on the path, it gives tremendous encouragement. There is no fear: "If these
           people can manage, I can manage also."
               The commune is not a religion, following collectively on a super-highway. The commune
           belongs to individuals who have joined hands with each other because they are going on an inner
           journey where they will be alone. But with so many people going on that inner journey alone the fear
           of being alone is dropped.
               You can share your experiences with each other; perhaps sharing your experiences with each
           other will help immensely. That's why therapies exist where people can open their heart and share
           their experiences.
               But the commune experience is a therapeutic experience -- day in, day out.
               My vision of a commune is of absolutely individual meditators living together, helping each
           other: "Don't be afraid, it is tremendously exciting to go in. Although you are going alone, you are
           not the only one who is going alone. One million sannyasins are going alone."
               It is a very strange phenomenon: living together, yet exploring the truth in absolute aloneness.
           And whatever you find, you can share. It will be respected, it will be accepted. And everybody is to
           have different kinds of experiences on the way, until the person reaches to the ultimate omega point.
           That omega point is exactly the same for everyone. But on the way there are so many beauties, so
           much splendor.
               You just need a little courage, and the commune provides you the courage. And I am here to
           encourage you to take the jump. You have nothing to lose, and you have the whole universe to gain.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HEARD YOU SAY THAT THE PSYCHOLOGIST IS SLOWLY TAKING THE ROLE OF THE PRIEST.
              GROUP LEADERS TEND TO BECOME ARROGANT AND OFTEN HALLOW THEMSELVES AS
              AUTHORITIES, WELL-DISGUISED IN HUMBLENESS. THEY THUS GIVE JUICE TO THEIR
              PARTICIPANTS' DEPENDENCY ON AUTHORITY, EVEN THOUGH THAT IS WHAT THEY CAME
              TO THERAPY TO GROW OUT OF. ISN'T THIS EXPLOITATION OF TRUST EVEN MORE
              DANGEROUS THAN ANY OTHER EXPLOITATION?


              It is happening around the world. The therapist, the psychoanalyst, the psychiatrist -- they are the
           new priests. The old priests are out of date with the new generation.
              The gap between the old people and the new generation is widening every day. The gap is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           widening, but your conditioning is done by the older generation: your parents, your teachers, your
           priests. So now you are in a situation where you have to find new priests, new father figures, and that
           is being fulfilled by the psychologists of different schools.
               One of the functions here in our university is to destroy this role. The therapists have to be aware
           not to become authoritative. But they can become nonauthoritative only if you are ready to drop the
           idea of authority.
               So it depends on both the therapist and the people who are participating in the therapy. The
           persons who are participating should drop the father figure, they should drop the idea of any
           authority. They will help the therapist. But if they are all demanding that he become an authority, a
           father figure, then it will be difficult for him to drop it. So both have to become aware of it.
               At least in my communes, therapies are not going to replace priesthoods. My therapists are
           simply experts who can help you to sort out problems, problems which you cannot sort out yourself,
           problems which are too heavy on you. An outsider who knows the expertise of analyzing your
           dreams, of analyzing your behavior, of analyzing your mind, can be of immense help.
               But the danger is, you both are human: you want a father figure, and the other person wants to
           become an authority. You have to be conscious about it. The therapist is just doing his job as the
           plumber is doing his job, as the electrician is doing his job, as the mechanic is doing his job. They
           are experts in different fields. He is expert in the field of the machine called mind. He is a mechanic,
           he can help you.
               But both have to be aware -- and this will happen, because I am creating every possibility for it.
           If I can become your friend, that is an indication for all therapists to be just friends. And to be a
           friend has a beauty of its own. This exploitation will disappear, I will take care that it disappears. At
           least in my communes nobody can be exploited and nothing of the old can be perpetuated again with
           new labels. Old wine in new bottles will not be allowed while I am here.
               It is good that you brought it to my notice. Anything that you feel, bring it to my notice, so
           whatsoever is needed can be done.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #18
                                          Chapter title: Existential worship
           2 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510020
              ShortTitle: BONDAG18
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 125 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WE HAVE DROPPED THE WORD "WORK" BECAUSE OF ITS UGLY CONNOTATIONS. PLEASE
              SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE WORD "WORSHIP" AND ITS CONNOTATIONS.


               Work is something that you have to do. It is imposed on you by your social circumstances,
           financial status, political structure. But worship is that which you love to do. It is creativity, another
           name for creativity. We could have called it "creativity," but I prefer the word "worship" for two
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reasons.
               There is no God for me except this existence, which is so utterly beautiful that work with love is
           bound to become your worship. In worship the worker is lost completely, only the worship remains.
           Digging a ditch in your garden, making food for those you love, or anything else, if you are lost in it
           so utterly that there is no ego or even its shadow left -- you have become your work, the worker is no
           more there -- it becomes worship.
               Religions have used the word "worship." Their use of "worship" is phony. Christians go every
           Sunday to church -- that is their worship -- for one hour or two hours. And what do they do in the
           remaining time, the whole week?
               Hindus worship in the morning every day, but then what do they do the whole day? It must be
           something which is not worship; otherwise there is no need to have a separate time, a separate place,
           a temple, a mosque, a synagogue, a church for worshipping.
               I want worship to become your twenty-four-hour-a-day thing -- just like breathing. It has to
           become existential. Then you don't need to go to any church, to any synagogue. Then wherever you
           are becomes your temple, you are always on holy ground.
               I am reminded of Moses when, according to the story, he met God in the form of a flame arising
           out of a bush; and the bush was still green. As he came closer, a voice thundered, "Take off your
           shoes, Moses. You are on holy ground!"
               To me the green bush and the flame have no meaning except as a fiction. What has meaning is
           that Moses is told, "Take off your shoes. You are on holy ground." But is ground divided into two,
           holy and unholy? Where is the line?
               To me the whole earth is holy, the whole existence is holy, and there is no need to take off your
           shoes either, because they are also holy. What wrong have those poor people done, that they should
           not be holy?
               Make every action of your life holy. Choose every action of your life as if it were a love affair.
           Perhaps you may not become very rich; there is no need. Richness will come to you in a totally
           different form: the richness of being blissful, contented, ecstatic.
               Choose your work, not according to others -- let it arise out of your own heart. In any act, if your
           heart joins you, it becomes worship. If only the head is doing it, then it remains simply work. And
           when you are totally immersed in it, it brings so many blessings, blessings that no religion has been
           able to give to man. On the contrary, every religion has prevented man from gaining those blessings
           which are available to him. They have been distracting people, they have been telling silly things to
           people: "Repeat a mantra -- in Sanskrit, in Hebrew, in Greek -- and you are doing something
           religious." You are just being a parrot!
               All the religions have insisted that their books should not be translated into the languages which
           people understand. Why? because the priests know perfectly that in those so-called holy books,
           nothing is holy. Ninety-nine percent in those books is absolutely unholy. How that one percent has
           remained in them is a miracle, it must have been accidental.
               So it is good to let the BIBLE remain in Hebrew, let the VEDAS remain in Sanskrit, let Buddhist
           scriptures remain in Pali -- which are dead languages. Nobody speaks them and nobody understands
           them, and people will remain ignorant of what they are chanting about. Sometimes people are
           chanting very stupid things, and thinking they are doing prayer, worship.
               For example, in the VEDAS there are passages -- and not a few, but the major part of the
           VEDAS, which are the most ancient scriptures in the world... the major part is so ugly, stupid,
           primitive, crude, that if you understand it, you will not chant it.
               There are sutras which say, "God, let your clouds only shower on my fields. Particularly avoid
           the fields of my enemies." Do you think anything is religious in it? There are sutras which say, "God,
           give more milk to my cows, and let the cows of my neighbors become completely dry, so that no
           milk comes out of them." And these sutras you are chanting as worship, praying!
               First, religions insisted that their books should not be translated into the common, layman's
           language. Then, when printing was invented, they insisted that their religious scriptures should not
           be printed -- because to print them meant they would become available to everybody, and the priests
           knew what is there in those so-called holy scriptures!
               In THE HOLY BIBLE there is so much pornography that anybody who looks into it will call it
           the UNHOLY BIBLE, not the HOLY BIBLE.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And when you are chanting something -- Ave Maria, Ave Maria, Ave Maria -- what actually are
           you doing? It is a simple process of autohypnosis. It can be done in many ways. Concentrate on
           anything. Just standing before a mirror, concentrate on your own reflection in the mirror. No Ave
           Maria is needed: you will start feeling sleepy, you will start feeling calm and quiet. Just after ten or
           twenty minutes of concentration you are bound to fall into an autohypnotic state.
               It does no harm. On the contrary, it will give you a good rest, it will give you better health, it will
           give you good sleep. But that is not the purpose of worship. That can be attained by anything.
               The purpose of worship is to reveal to you your own being. It is not a state of sleep. It is a state
           of absolute awakening -- just the opposite of what the religions have been teaching you. They all
           have been teaching you methods of concentration, and all concentration methods are against
           meditation, because they bring hypnosis. Hypnosis simply means created, deliberate sleep.
               Meditation means an awakening: every fiber of your being is vibrant, alert, aware. And only in
           that awareness do you for the first time know that there is no ego in you. The ego disappears from
           you, the very idea of "I" is no longer existent, and the barrier between you and existence has fallen
           away.
           Then you are one with the whole.
           And the whole is vast.
           To become one with it is worship.
               And it can be approached from any dimension: chopping wood, carrying water from a well,
           cooking food or cleaning the floor, washing the clothes, taking a bath. All activities of your life
           should be done so totally, so intensely, that the ego disappears. And suddenly you find yourself
           expanding. That expanding consciousness reaches to the trees, to the flowers, to the animals, to the
           human beings, to the stars.
               Vincent van Gogh has painted pictures of trees which go above the stars. People thought he was
           mad, because no tree goes above the stars. But when he was asked why he paints this way -- where
           has he seen any tree going above the stars? -- he said, "I have seen the aspiration of the tree, the
           longing of the tree, the very spirit of the tree. It is on the way; it is going to reach to the stars, it is
           going to reach beyond them."
               When you feel expansion of your consciousness, that is the most ecstatic experience possible,
           because suddenly you are the whole universe.
           Stars are within you.
           The sun rises within you and sets within you.
           The earth moves within you.
           The flowers blossom within you.
           This mystic experience is the outcome of worship.
               And you are always on holy ground. The God of Moses was wrong to tell him, "Now take off
           your shoes." Even God is trying to divide the ground like a politician, that this is America, this is
           Soviet Russia, this is England; this is holy land, and everything else is unholy.
               No. I say absolutely no to such a God who divides existence. Existence is one organic unity. And
           the moment you worship, you fall into that organic unity. And once you know the secret, then
           anything is worship. Walking, going for a morning walk, is worship. You are not doing anything.
           But just the wind, the sun, the beach, the ocean -- what more do you want? Can't you see you cannot
           make a better church? -- with the sun, with the wind, with the sand, with the ocean -- unbounded.
               Even sleeping becomes worship. If all your activities start becoming worship, then sleep is also
           an activity. You fall into sleep so silently, so serene, so joyful. The whole day has given you so much
           that your whole sleep becomes a silent rest in the very bosom of existence.
               So there is a tremendous difference between work and worship.
           Worship will transform you.
               Worship will give you a real, authentic experience of life.
           Work, at the most, can give you a livelihood.
               But there is no need to do anything that you don't want to do. One has to be a little more
           rebellious, a little more individualistic, a little more alert and aware so that the society, religion,
           politics, do not exploit you. It does not matter even if you remain a beggar; you will be more blissful
           than Alexander the Great. He died in utter misery, because he could see he had conquered almost the
           whole known world, but what had he gained? He had simply wasted his life. He died when he was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           only thirty-three. He had not lived -- there was no time to live, there was no time to love. There was
           no time to sing, there was no time to play on a flute, there was no time to dance. For thirty-three
           years he was simply murdering, continuously, innocent people for an insane ambition: he wanted to
           be the conqueror of the world.
               But what are you going to do? Even if you become the conqueror of the world, you will be empty
           and hollow. And if your whole life has gone into murdering people, killing people, burning people,
           you will become incapable of loving. You will become incapable of enjoying beautiful music, a
           beautiful painting, a beautiful dance.
               You are bound to become incapable, because a person who has been continuously killing people
           his whole life has also killed his own heart, has also killed his own sensitivity, has also killed his
           own aesthetic sense.
               I know about a very famous surgeon... he was a friend of mine. He was retiring, and all his
           friends and students -- he was also a professor in the medical college -- had gathered to celebrate, to
           give him a beautiful farewell party. They were dancing and singing, but I looked at him -- he was
           sad.
               I approached him and asked, "What is the matter? You should be rejoicing. These people have
           gathered here to give you a beautiful, joyful farewell."
               He said, "I am sad because I never wanted to be a surgeon. I wanted to be a musician. My parents
           forced me, and I was not strong enough to rebel, and they destroyed my whole life."
               I said to him, "But you became one of the best surgeons in the country."
               He said, "Who cares! Even if I was the worst musician in the country, I would have loved it. It
           was my own choice, my own individuality, my own expression, my own signature. This has been
           slavery. And because I am retiring I feel sad. My whole life is wasted, and it does not seem that now
           I can begin as a musician."
               I said, "It is never too late. You have still a few years to live. Forget the past; start what you
           wanted to be. Now your parents are dead; forgive them, they never intended anything bad for you.
           All that they wanted to show you was that if you become a musician, what are you going to get?
           Now you are one of the richest persons. As a musician you would have remained a poor person.
               "So just remember that their intention was good, although they did not care about your
           individuality, your freedom, your choice. They had taken it for granted that you are their possession.
           Forgive them, they are dead. Don't be angry and don't be sad. Start."
           He said, "You really mean that I can start?"
               I said, "I really mean it. And I know a musician, I will introduce you."
               He lived fifteen years more and died a very contented man, although he never became a famous
           musician. Nobody ever heard that he is a celebrity as far as music is concerned. His music remained
           not very developed, because Indian music particularly needs tremendous effort: eight to ten hours'
           practice every day, a lifelong discipline; only then can you create those subtle nuances. It is not jazz;
           that, any idiot can do.
               It is said that if the Indian musician does not practice for one day, he immediately recognizes the
           difference. If he does not practice for two days, then the people who understand the depths and the
           heights of music start feeling there is something different. If he does not practice for three days, then
           even people who are only acquainted with music start feeling the difference.
               It is a devotion, it is a worship -- and he had loved it. If he had gone into music from the very
           beginning, he might have become one of the most authentic, creative musicians of the world. But
           even though he was old now, he died happy. I was by his side when he died, and he said to me,
           "There are no words of gratitude for you. You encouraged me -- I had lost all hope. I am dying
           fulfilled, I am happy. At least for fifteen years I have been myself. At least for fifteen years there
           have been moments when I got lost completely into music. And those have been the greatest
           moments of my life."
               Worship means you have to be very alert not to be manipulated by anyone, and you have to go
           and find your own way. It is risky, but it pays immensely.
           In fact, only very few live.
           Only those who can take risks are alive.
           Others simply vegetate.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAY YOU RESPECT AMERICA FOR ITS DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM. I FEEL THAT WE
              ARE CONTRADICTING THAT SPIRIT BY SUBMITTING ALL VISITORS, WHO WANT TO COME TO
              SEE YOU AND OUR COMMUNE, TO CUSTOMS INSPECTIONS AT PORTLAND AND AT MIRDAD,
              BY HAVING THEM SIGN PAPERS AND WEAR WRISTBANDS.
              THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE USA. WAS THIS PART OF THE FASCIST
              MENTALITY? DO WE STILL NEED THESE THINGS?


               I respect democracy, but I don't respect the so-called politicians who are only hypocrites and not
           democrats. I hate fascism, and I don't want anything in this commune which gives any indication of a
           fascist structure.
               And it is true, as you say, in no other city of America are visitors searched. But you are not aware
           of the whole situation. You are not yet accepted by America as one of its cities. They are trying hard
           to destroy you, and their ways of destroying you are very simple. They can bring drugs inside the
           commune. Then who will be responsible for those drugs? Do you want me to be responsible for
           those drugs? Those people can come with all sorts of germs, viruses, and they can spread them
           among you. And if you are all sick, who is going to take care of you?
               So we are in a position where every precaution has to be taken. It is not fascist; it is simply
           self-defense. We don't want any drugs here. We don't want any people coming here with AIDS and
           spreading it amongst the commune. So how are we going to protect ourselves against it?
               It is absolutely democratic to defend yourself. We are not hurting those people, we are simply
           checking. And we will stop checking them the moment the hostility against the commune in Oregon
           is dropped. The hostility is so much -- which is natural, the animal nature of man is always afraid of
           strangers, and who can be more of a stranger than you?
               You are all rebels -- it is a commune of rebels. The only thing that connects you is not any
           ideology, is not any religion, is not any politics. The only thing that connects you is that you are all
           rebellious spirits. And the rebellious spirit is the very salt of the earth.
               You are not aware... the attorney general of Oregon had an interview with me the other day, and I
           told him that I have always been against organizations and organized religions. And before I went
           into silence there had never been anything like Rajneeshism, there had never been the word
           "Rajneeshee."
               The attorney general has declared Rajneeshpuram an illegal city, because religion and state are
           mixed, which is unconstitutional. So I told him, "Now you withdraw your case. There is no religion
           here, so the question of mixing religion with state does not arise. Your case has gone down the
           drain." I insisted, "Answer me directly," and he went on saying that time and the court would decide.
               I said, "Time and the court will decide, but what do you say? If there is no religion, then if you
           have any grace, withdraw your case. It is absolutely absurd."
               The attorney general has been trying -- and he has done it. The National Guard is on the alert
           against a peaceful group of people who have done no harm to anybody.
               Now, it is a well-known strategy of all these dirty politicians around the world: somebody can
           enter here and put a time-bomb, and you will be responsible for it. And because the bomb explodes,
           kills a few people, they can plant people here who can start shooting somebody. And that will be an
           excuse for the National Guard to come in.
               The governor is thinking of putting martial law on the city. It seems the third world war is
           happening between Rajneeshpuram and America. What is the need of martial law? -- because we are
           not committing any crime. They cannot find any society anywhere which is so peaceful and silent,
           which just wants to be left alone to do its own thing.
               Now, these are the people who are forcing us to check people before they enter the commune, it
           is not our desire. It is their intention to destroy us. And we are nonviolent people, vegetarians; we
           don't want any violence here -- but that is their desire. Otherwise, what is the point of collecting
           National Guard troops in Madras and keeping them on alert any moment, so that you can be
           destroyed?
               The governor and the attorney general are in conspiracy to destroy the commune. I am not going
           to let them do it in any way. If they have any sense at all they should keep off, they should not
           interfere at all illegally. They are getting into unnecessary trouble. But they are welcome. We have
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nothing to lose, and they have everything to lose. They will be condemned all over the world.
               I have been talking to the world media for almost one-and-a-half months every night, just to
           create the atmosphere around the world of what the real situation is. And everybody is aware of it.
           The governor and the attorney general should know it, that it is going to be very tough. America will
           lose all the respect of the world, because they have no grounds to arrest me or to arrest one hundred
           sannyasins. We are cooperating -- and you want to arrest people who are cooperating? And these are
           not the people who have done any harm. It seems they want to protect the criminals and destroy the
           community. They have got a good chance to, but they should not remain in any illusion. Up to now
           they have been fighting with politicians of their own kind. We are not politicians, and they don't
           know how to fight with mystics.
               So please, remember that those small measures are just to protect you. If you want to withdraw
           them, they can be withdrawn right now. Please just raise your hands.... If you are ready for
           self-defense, for the defense of innocent people, and you are not going to allow these third-grade
           politicians to destroy you, then we will have to take measures so that they cannot blame us and bring
           their army and bring their National Guards to bulldoze your houses and destroy this beautiful place
           where you have worked hard -- twelve hours, fourteen hours a day for four years -- and have
           changed this desert into an oasis.
           So please raise both of your hands....


              BELOVED MASTER,
              J. KRISHNAMURTI DOES NOT WANT AN ORGANIZATION -- STILL HIS SECRETARY, RAJ
              GOPAL, BETRAYED HIM AND TOOK POSSESSION OF HIS FINANCES AND HIS ARCHIVES. YOU
              APPROVE OF INSTITUTIONS AND AT TIMES PERMIT ORGANIZATION WHERE NECESSARY. IN
              SPITE OF DUE CARE, A SIMILAR SITUATION TO KRISHNAMURTI'S WITH RAJ GOPAL HAS
              HAPPENED WITH YOU AND SHEELA.
              DOES THIS MEAN THAT IN THE VERY NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS SUCH A SITUATION
              CANNOT BE AVOIDED? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               A similar situation has not happened. Sheela has done much good, ninety-nine percent good. The
           whole credit of keeping all the commune together, of creating houses for five thousand people with
           all the modern facilities, with central airconditioning -- I don't think any city is totally
           air-conditioned as you are -- of giving you the best food possible.... She has done immense good to
           you, and you should be grateful for it. The credit goes to her. Only one percent she missed, and that
           seems to be natural to human nature, particularly for people like Sheela.
               Sheela had no spiritual aspirations. Seeing that she has no potential, at least in this life.... And
           this was my impression on the very first day she entered my room in 1970 -- that she was utterly
           materialistic, but very practical, very pragmatic, strong-willed, could be used in the beginning days
           of the commune... because the people who are spiritually-oriented are stargazers.
               I am reminded of an astrologer in Greece who was the best astrologer, and he used to go out of
           Athens in the night to watch the stars. One night he fell into a well because he was looking at the
           stars, so he could not see the well. Hearing the sound, a woman who lived nearby threw a rope and
           somehow managed to pull him out.
               The astrologer was very grateful, and he said, "You have done so much for me -- you have saved
           my life. Perhaps you don't know that I am the greatest astrologer in the whole country, and perhaps
           in the whole world. Kings come to see me, and they have to wait because my appointments are
           already fixed for weeks ahead. My fee is very high, but I will see you and predict your future without
           any fee. Tomorrow you can come, and I will cancel the appointment: tomorrow one of the kings is
           coming to see me, but you are more valuable to me."
               The old woman laughed. She said, "You just go! If you cannot see a well, how can you see the
           stars, and how can you see my future? Just forget all about it!"
               Sheela was not a stargazer. The reason I had appointed her my secretary was basically this: she
           was not interested in meditation, she was interested in making roads, houses -- which meditators
           would need. And she did her job well. Just one percent she took advantage of the opportunity,
           because I was not available to you.
               Five thousand people she could manipulate in my name, by saying, "This is what our Beloved
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Master wants." Now I have come to know things from sannyasins that I had no knowledge of. But
           each thing that she wanted, she said was wanted in my name. For example, if you were told to make
           a ditch for electric wires, you made it. You have nothing to do with the crime, although the ditch was
           made to bug the houses. But how can you know the difference, if you are not an electrician or an
           electronics engineer -- that the wires are not for electricity but for bugging? You saw the wires, you
           have made the ditch; still you are innocent.
                Only the group of twenty people who have fled with her knew perfectly well what was
           happening. They had made the whole system of bugging. This is just the fear of any person who
           becomes ambitious for power. He is always afraid.
                Out of fear she drove away all the people who could have been rebellious, who could have
           doubted -- because they have lived with me longer than Sheela, they knew my ideology. They could
           not believe that I was creating a religion, that she was the high priestess of the religion. She threw
           them out, harassed them in such a way that they had to leave.
                Only the group of twenty people that she had chosen -- they were all new, they had not known
           me before. They were not aware of my ideology, my approach, my respect for everybody. They were
           simply gullible. And because Sheela made them heads of corporations, naturally they were happy.
           They were not expecting -- new people getting all the power.... And she made them commit crimes --
           all of them. This is a simple strategy. If all those people have committed crimes, then nobody is
           going to open his mouth, because he will be caught too.
                She tried to kill three of the people who were intimate to me, for the simple reason that she was
           afraid these three people had the opportunity to approach me without her permission: my physician,
           my dentist, and my caretaker. They were living with me in the same house, but they were not aware
           of anything until she started poisoning them.
                First, my caretaker was poisoned in Sheela's room, with a cup of tea. But nobody ordinarily
           comes immediately to the conclusion that you are poisoned. She felt sick, the doctors examined her,
           but there was nothing, no disease. They said, "Simply rest will do."
                Then my physician was poisoned with a cup of coffee in the same place -- in Sheela's room.
           Because he is a physician, and of great talent -- has the highest degrees from England, was the
           youngest member ever of the Royal Society of Physicians. Such young people are never accepted by
           the Royal Society, but his genius is there -- he immediately suspected there was poison, but there
           was no way to detect it.
                He said that there are poisons which cannot be detected through blood, or through any other way.
           He even named one poison that is undetectable. And when Sheela left, in her room we found all this
           literature on poisons, how to murder people. And in the literature on poisons, the same poison that
           my physician was suspicious of is underlined. That is the only poison which is underlined, and it
           says it is undetectable.
                When I heard that these things were happening I started to speak. Sheela was insistent, "Your
           health is good, it has improved; you have recovered. If you start speaking again, it may be affected."
                I said, "What am I going to do with the health?" If my people are being poisoned -- for whom I
           am living, to whom my health is dedicated, to whom my whole life is dedicated....
                And the day I started speaking, everybody was excited, ecstatic -- because they were thinking I
           was not going to speak for the rest of my whole life -- except Sheela. She was sad, and her gang,
           because now it was clear that sooner or later I would find out things from people.
                Now I can see why she was asking me again and again, "Will you ever change me as a
           secretary?"
                I said, "Why do you ask me that question? I have told you I am not going to change you." But
           she went on asking the same question dozens of times. It was enough indication to me that she was
           doing something which made her suspicious that, if I found out, I was going to change her. And she
           did not even come to say goodbye to me. She simply escaped like a criminal, a thief, with all those
           twenty people.
                Just one woman amongst twenty, Ava, proved to be really a courageous woman. From Seattle
           she turned back. She told them that she could not remain her whole life with this burden and guilt,
           she was going to the commune. And she is giving her testimony today. She knows all the crimes,
           because she was part of the gang.
                Now the whole burden goes on Sheela. And if the FBI does not take any action when they have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           an eyewitness, that means they are protecting the criminals. Then I will have to take other measures.
           Certainly, I cannot be violent with them -- but they have committed crimes that they can be
           imprisoned for by the Swiss police, who will be cleaner than the American police. Sheela has
           committed bigamy, and her Swiss husband, Dipo, has also committed bigamy. His American wife is
           here.
                She cannot go to India, because she committed many crimes after I left India, without my
           knowledge. After I left Sheela's gang committed many crimes there, so she will be immediately
           caught if she goes back to India.
                So I am waiting for the FBI and the American government to take action. Now we have given
           them every solid proof, and now there is a witness to all the crimes they have committed. If they
           don't do anything, then we are going to approach the Swiss government, and we are going to
           approach the German government....
                The whole world, its intelligentsia, and the whole world media is with you. And if America
           wants to fall in the eyes of all the intelligent people of the world, then it is up to them. But we will
           give them a real fight, one they have not seen in the three hundred years of their history. It is not
           going to be easy.
                But this is a totally different confrontation. We are nonpolitical people. And I am advising my
           people to undo everything that Sheela has done politically. We don't want to take over anything. We
           are not interested at all in any political thing. But the politicians are simply trembling. I don't see the
           point: why are they so afraid of us? Perhaps we are the people who can expose them -- that they are
           against their own Constitution.
                And I don't think that Columbus had any visa or any green card, or any Americans who came in
           the beginning had any green card or any visa. But the people who have succeeded them have been
           holding back my green card for four years. If you want to say no, do you need four years? They are
           afraid to say no because they don't have any grounds to say no. And once they say no, we move to
           the courts. Then it goes beyond their hands. Yes they cannot say, because of the pressure of the
           politicians.
                It does not matter to me. The green card is of no value to me. I can live here without a green card
           -- I have lived without it for four years, I can live without it twenty years more. They can keep their
           green card. But they have to know that they are going against the Constitution in every way. Either
           they have to say yes, or they have to say no.
                The whole department has been working on my green card for four years. Great intelligence!
           They have never confronted a group of people like us. So it is very exciting to us, but to them it is a
           nightmare. So have a good nightmare! What can we do? We are ready to withdraw the nightmare if
           they just do the right thing -- that which the Constitution allows.
           But you have to be ready and alert.
           Whatever happens will be a good experience.
           In fact, as far as I am concerned, I am really excited.
           Okay?




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #19
                                      Chapter title: A mystic versus America
           3 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510030
              ShortTitle: BONDAG19
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 95 mins
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY IS THERE A MEETING PLACE CALLED RAJNEESH MANDIR? WHY NOT GIVE IT ANOTHER
              NAME WHEN THERE IS NO RAJNEESHISM ANYMORE?


                It is true. There is no Rajneeshism anymore -- but Rajneesh is still here. And this question must
           be from somebody who is from the outside, who does not know the commune of the sannyasins and
           their heart. I have not put that name there. I have come into the world without a name -- I don't know
           about you -- and I will go from this world without a name. Between these two nameless states, any
           name is just arbitrary. You can change the name; there is no problem. If somebody feels hurt by the
           name... I do not want anybody to be hurt.
                But if the commune wants the name.... It is the only direct democracy in the whole world. All the
           democracies are indirect, and the moment democracy becomes indirect it is no longer democracy. It
           is just a Rotary Club, changing from one party to another -- but you remain the slaves. Whether you
           choose the Republicans or the Democrats, it makes no difference. Once you have chosen, then for
           four years in one country, five years in another country, you have given up your democracy. Then
           the persons you have chosen function in every fascist way.
                This is a direct democracy. If you want to change the name of Rajneesh Mandir to another name,
           I will be more than happy. But if you don't want to change it, then I am helpless. I am here just as
           your guest. I cannot go on changing things in your commune.
                So let me ask you: Do you want the name Rajneesh Mandir? Then raise both of your hands and
           say yes three times!
           [EVERYONE RAISES THEIR HANDS AND CALLS, YES! YES! YES!]
                And who is the person who has asked the question? Please stand up. I would just like to see your
           beautiful face.
           [THERE IS NO RESPONSE.]
                Don't you have any guts?
                You don't know how this commune functions. Remember, the name can be changed, but with it
           many other things will be changed too. You will have to do the discourses here; I will not be coming.
           You will have to guide my people on their spiritual path; I will simply vacate the place for you.
                Whoever has asked this must be feeling deep down that if it was his name, that would have been
           really nice. It can be. I can persuade my people -- although they are against changing it. But they
           love me, and if I say to them to change it they will do it. But where are you? -- because from
           tomorrow the chair will be empty.
                So don't ask such silly questions. Before you ask anything, think twice. This is not a political
           assembly, senate, parliament, where you can go on asking all kinds of idiotic questions and waste the
           time of the whole country for months together. This is not a bureaucracy where files move so
           slowly....
                I have known one old man -- ninety years old -- who has been fighting a case for sixty years.
           When he was thirty he wrote a book, HISTORY OF INDIA. But because it was not in accordance
           with the British government.... He has simply stated the real facts, not bothering whether they go
           against the British or favor the British. He was a very impartial man.
                The man was sued by the government of India, his book was banned. The publisher, the printer,
           the editor and he -- four persons were sued. Three of them died; the case continued. Many judges
           came and died; the case continued. Even the British government disappeared from India; the case
           continued.
                I told the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, "The case on Pandit Sunderlal should be
           removed. This is ridiculous."
                He said, "You don't understand the ways of laws. It is a very complex case, and has become more
           and more complex as time has gone on."
                I asked Pandit Sunderlal, "When is this case going to end?"
                He said, "Not before I am dead, because I am the only remaining person. All the advocates who
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have been involved, all the judges, all the people who were sued by the government are gone, the
           government itself is finished, but the case continues. This is bureaucracy. Things simply don't move,
           or move with such a slow pace that it is inconceivable."
                A whole department has been deciding about me for four years. They have been given a whole
           department and an office, and dozens of people to figure out whether my green card can be issued or
           not. In four years they have not come to any conclusion. Great intelligence!
                If they have any dignity and if they have any respect for their Constitution; if the Supreme Court
           of America is really fair, it will order all the Americans to vacate America. Give it back to the Red
           Indians to whom it belongs, and you all apply for green cards: you are not native to this place.
                This is the only country in the whole world where slavery is not going to be destroyed. In India it
           was possible to destroy the British kingdom for the simple reason that the British never made it their
           home. They remained there to rule and exploit, but it was not their home. From all over the world
           slavery is disappearing, but in America the question is not even asked.
                I am going to fight it in the Supreme Court, and challenge the Supreme Court: "If you have any
           fairness, then all the Americans either should leave the country, or should apply for visas. It has been
           long enough they have been touring here. Tourists are tourists: what right have they to claim other
           people's land?"
                And the Supreme Court should dissolve the American parliament and dismiss the American
           president, and invite the Red Indians to make their government. That will be a real tribute to the
           American Constitution, to justice. And as a by-product it will destroy the possibility of a third world
           war, because Red Indians are not going to make nuclear weapons. They are so happy dancing,
           singing, gambling, drinking. Who bothers about fighting and a nuclear war?
           With me, it is not going to be an easy case.
           It is me versus America.
                And I want them to come to a decision -- any decision, yes or no. Whatever their decision is, I
           am going to move to the court -- even if they say yes, because I don't recognize that they have any
           authority to say yes. They are foreign tourists, invaders. Who has given them the authority to give
           me a green card? So they should not think that by giving me a yes, the thing is finished.
                But my commune is a direct democracy. Anything can be asked directly to five thousand people.
           And if they want to change it, it is perfectly right. If they don't want to change it, it is perfectly right.
           It is their commune.
                But those who ask such questions should have a little guts and come up front and face the people.


               BELOVED MASTER,
               WE ARE NO LONGER A RELIGIOUS COMMUNE; THEN WHAT ARE WE? AND WHAT DO YOU
               SAY ABOUT THE TAX-EXEMPT STATUS OF RAJNEESH FOUNDATION, AND ALSO ABOUT
               YOUR IMMIGRATION? IS IT NOT JEOPARDIZED?


               Nothing is jeopardized. My immigration is going to expose America, its hypocrisy, to the whole
           world. Their democracy, their mask of democracy is jeopardized.
               We have declared Rajneeshism, as a religion, dead. That does not mean that you have lost
           something. You have gained. Now it is a commune of mystics, people who are seekers of the
           mysteries of their own being. It is no longer an organized religion like Christianity, Judaism,
           Hinduism, Mohammedanism; it is no longer a religion, but it has a flavor of religiousness. The
           flower is no longer there, but the fragrance has taken wings into the air. You are freed from
           confinement.
               Each individual now is his own religion, his own spirituality, his own seeking, search, inquiry.
           Nobody is going to dominate him. He has not to follow a church, a pope, a high priestess. He has
           simply to follow his own natural simplicity, potentiality.
               Who can take away the tax-exempt status of Rajneesh Foundation International? It has risen
           higher in spirituality by dissolving the organized religion. In fact, all organized religions should lose
           their tax-exempt status because they are not religious.
               The moment truth is organized, it becomes a lie, it becomes politics. Organization is a political
           thing. Religion is an individual search.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So we are opening many new dimensions to fight with all kinds of stupidities which are prevalent
           in the world. We are the only people who should be given tax-exempt status, because we have
           dropped that bullock cart organizational religion and burned it completely; we have freed individuals
           to be spiritual on their own.
               Do you think a person cannot have the qualities of religiousness without being part of an
           organization? Do you think by becoming a part of an organization a person automatically gets
           religious qualities? Then look at history. The religion based on the name of Jesus Christ has killed
           millions of people in these twenty centuries, burned people alive. It is based on Jesus' truth, and
           Jesus was teaching, "If somebody hits you on one cheek, give him the other cheek." Do you see any
           relationship between all the crusades, killings, wars, burning towns, burning living people -- and
           Jesus' statement? This is what happens when truth is organized. It dies.
               Truth is something which blossoms only in individual freedom, in the total freedom of your
           being.
               Look at the Hindus. They are still following ancient scriptures, five thousand years old, which
           are full of ugliness, which cannot be even called human. But because Hinduism is organized, it is a
           religion. One-fourth of the Hindus have lived, for ten thousand years at least, in a very inhuman way;
           they have been forced to live in an inhuman way. They are called untouchables. This is
           religiousness? One-fourth of Hindus cannot take water from the well from which everybody else
           takes water. They cannot live in the city, they have to live outside the city.
               You will be surprised to know that even today there are places which are very orthodox. The
           untouchables move with a bell in their hand, continuously making people aware that an untouchable
           is passing: "Please move away. Close your doors." And they have been forced to have a broom
           attached to their back so that, when they move, the broom goes on cleaning the road, because they
           are touching it and it is becoming unholy. They cannot move in all the parts of the city where higher
           classes live. These people are religious? -- and they all have tax-exempt status.
               Mohammedans have killed thousands of people, burned thousands of cities, raped thousands of
           women, forced people to become Mohammedans at the point of the sword. In the fourteen hundred
           years they have been on the earth they have been just a curse! But they are a religion.
               I don't want any organization. I don't want you to be political in the name of religion. I want you
           to be aware that all these religions don't have any religious quality. The religious quality comes
           through meditation, and meditation has nothing to do with organization. It is something... you have
           to go inwards; organization is something outside you.
               You need not go to a church to be religious, or to a synagogue to be religious. You have to go
           inside yourself. That makes one a mystic, a scientist of one's own interiority. And only the few
           people who are doing this inner search are truly religious.
               Nobody can take away the tax-exempt status from Rajneesh Foundation International. If they
           even raise the question, I am going to prove to them that all the religions should be stopped from
           being given tax-exempt status. They have done only murders, rapes; they are criminals.
               It is only a meditative person who becomes silent, serene, centered, reaches to his innermost
           core. From there arises the fragrance of truth, love, compassion. He will not be a Christian, he will
           not be a Jew, he will not be a Rajneeshee. He will be only a mystic, one who has known his own
           mystery.
               So, by declaring Rajneeshism dead, I have made you alive. I have given you the real dimension
           of flowering and blossoming and growing into true religiousness. I call my way, the way of
           religiousness -- but it is not an organization, it is an individual inquiry.
               You are worried about my immigration status. Don't be worried about me, I can fight with all
           kinds of idiots without any trouble. I don't need any legal support.
               A way of religiousness certainly.... I am not the leader of a religion, because the leader -- the
           very word "leader" is ugly. It is political. I am a friend, a guide, a philosopher. And if you don't have
           any category for a friend, a guide and a philosopher, then create a category.
           Laws are for man; man is not for laws.
               You have never encountered a man like me; naturally you don't have any category. But now I am
           here, create a category for me. I don't belong to any other category, I have my own category. But
           nobody can say that I am not religious, that I am not loving, that I am not a guide to millions of
           people.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                So don't be worried about anything. Let them worry; they are already worried, and now they will
           be worried even more. They have been trying, but they cannot prove that I am not religious, they
           cannot prove that I am not meditative; they don't have any criterion for it.
                I can prove that Jesus is not religious, is not meditative -- and the whole of Christianity goes
           down the drain. I can prove that Mohammed is not meditative, is not a religious person -- and the
           whole of Mohammedanism is nothing but a political strategy, a lust for power.
                I am open and ready to challenge all these people. Pope the Polack -- he is welcome. He can
           come here and be our guest, and have a little discussion about meditation, what he knows about it.
           These are the people who have created all the poverty in the world. These are the people who are
           still teaching against birth control. That means more poor people, and more clients for them to
           convert to Catholicism, to Christianity. Their interest is not in the sufferings of the poor, in the
           sufferings of the orphans. Their interest is in more orphans, more Catholics.
                Now there are six hundred million Catholics in the world; naturally, the pope becomes one of the
           greatest powers. Otherwise, he is just a Polack; nothing less, nothing more. It is a politics of
           numbers. That's why I am saying you should not ever get interested in organizations. The moment
           you become organized, you become interested in numbers.
                I have allowed you complete freedom from any outer symbols -- now it is up to you. You are
           free, and all the colors of the rainbow are yours. You are free to use the mala or not. Only one thing
           remains: it is your journey inwards, which is the essence of religiousness.
                So just don't be worried about anything. I alone am enough to fight all the politicians of America
           and all their agencies, and the government and the Supreme Court. And this is not out of any ego, it
           is simply out of a humble experience of truth.
           And truth is going to be victorious.
           There is no other possibility.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE RELIGION IS DEAD. THEN IS THERE ANY NEED OF MEDITATION?


               My God! It seems it is the same idiot who is asking all these questions.
               Because the religion is dead, now only meditation is left. I had to destroy everything
           nonessential, so you don't get lost in nonessentials as all other people in the world have. They have
           got lost in nonessentials, and completely forgotten the essential.
               The essential is very simple; the nonessentials you can go on increasing. Buddhism has
           thirty-three thousand rules for the Buddhist monk. Now, I don't think any Buddhist monk can even
           remember them. I don't think even Gautam Buddha can repeat them again. Thirty-three thousand
           rules! And if people start following these rules, who is going to meditate? There is no time left.
           Strange kinds of rules all the religions have!
               I have not given you a single rule -- just to keep you focused on the essential, the only thing that
           can transform you. And you are asking me, "Now that the religion is dead, is there any need of
           meditation?"
               Then what the hell are you doing here? The religion is dead, meditation is no longer needed, so
           what the hell are you doing? Get lost! Go to the county road which goes directly to hell! You will
           have some taste on the county road of what it means to go towards hell. The county road has been
           made such a great thing, to give an experience to people of how the road to hell goes.
           Can't you see a simple thing?
               I used to live in a place, and in front of my house there lived a man.... Followers of Jainism have
           this idea that women are impure. I don't know what they mean, because they have the same blood,
           the same bones. And, in fact, man is born from the woman's womb. From the father he has got only a
           small injection of a male sperm, so minute that you cannot see it with bare eyes. That is his father's
           contribution. The father's contribution is almost nil, any syringe can do it far better. There is no need
           for so many gymnastics to do it.
               But everything else comes from the mother -- your blood, your bones, your flesh, everything
           comes from the woman. And Jainism has the idea that women are impure. I cannot see the logic.
           Then what happens to men? Men must be more impure; nine months living in a woman's womb,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           growing with her blood -- everything that you have has come from your mother, except one sperm
           from your father. But nobody asks about men.
                This man who lived in front of my house was a very orthodox Jaina. And he was in real trouble.
           The trouble was that he was a poor man, he had no running water inside his house. So he would go
           outside on the street, to the public water place where everybody was getting water, as early as
           possible. But if he saw a woman pass by, then that water that he had in his pot had become impure.
           He would throw away the water, wash his pot again. Sometimes it would be ten times, sometimes
           twenty times, sometimes it would be almost the whole morning that he was doing that.
                And who can prevent them? Half of the people are women, half are men, and it is a road. I told
           him, "You waste so much time, you are bound to be poor; you are responsible for your poverty. If
           you washed people's pots and carried so much water to people's houses, you would have enough
           money for yourself. And what nonsense you go on doing!"
                One day it was too much, because I told one woman, "Whatsoever happens -- I am going to give
           you five rupees -- you continue walking down the street the whole day. And I have to see this man
           and his religion."
                The whole day he was throwing away water and washing his pots, and getting angrier and
           angrier. And finally, by the time the sun was setting... he had been doing that since sunrise, now it
           was too much. He was hungry, he had not eaten; he had not gone to work -- he hit the woman with
           his pot!
                I reached there at that moment, and I told him, "This is absolutely wrong. The pot has become
           impure for its whole life. Now you cannot wash it clean, it has touched a woman. And what
           happened to your nonviolence, your compassion?"
                He said, "This woman is very bitchy. I want to kill her!"
                I said, "That is not allowed in your religion. You have forgotten completely, just cleaning your
           pot, that murder is not allowed by your religion. But suicide is allowed by Jainism, so if you are fed
           up, you can commit suicide."
                He said, "You are strange! You always give me strange ideas. And I am puzzled why this woman
           goes on walking up and down the road."
                I said, "I have arranged it with her. And from tomorrow she is going to walk up and down,
           because I am going to pay her five rupees per day until you stop this nonsense."
                It is easy to see other religions and their stupidities. It is very difficult to see your own
           conditioning, the religion in which you have been brought up. But if you are a little aloof -- and
           that's what meditation is: being aloof, detached, watching your mind -- you will be surprised what
           kinds of things you have been thinking are religious.
                No Christian thinks that drinking alcohol is irreligious. In fact, on every holy occasion alcohol is
           an absolute essential. Now, Jainas or Buddhists cannot think of a religious person drinking alcohol.
           To them, all Christians are irreligious, antireligious.
                Mohammedans, Christians, Jews -- all are meat-eaters. It does not occur to you that killing living
           animals just for your taste... and what taste? Just a few tastebuds on your tongue can be removed by
           any plastic surgeon very easily, and you will not taste anything. Just for your tastebuds you are
           killing living beings -- and still you think you are religious? And if Charles Darwin is right, then you
           are killing your forefathers. This is not good, it is not even nice -- what to say about it being
           Christian? Mohammedans think that God has created all the animals for man to eat. Their religious
           scripture says it, so there is no question about it: animals have been specifically created for man to
           eat. They don't see the implication of it. It means God is also a cannibal, life-destructive; he is not a
           creator, he is a destroyer.
                A meditator -- who is neither a Christian, nor a Hindu, nor a Mohammedan, nor a Jaina, nor a
           Buddhist, but simply an inquirer into his subjectivity: "Who am I? What is this life?" -- the moment
           he comes to know this life, he also comes to know all life, because it is the same. Then he sees life
           not only in other human beings, he sees life in animals, he sees life in trees, he sees life all around.
           The whole existence is alive; we are not living in a dead existence. Out of a dead existence, life
           cannot arise.
                And when you come to your center, you also know the ultimate peak of consciousness, the very
           Everest of consciousness. From that height you can see that there are people who have the same
           potential, but are not aware of it, are too much engaged in the outside world. Even if they become
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religious, then too they are engaged in outside rules, regulations, disciplines. But they have the same
           Everest of consciousness.
                Not only man, animals have the same possibility. The trees have the same possibility. They have
           tremendous sensitivity. Even in plucking a flower, you are hurting the tree. A man of meditation
           cannot do it -- not because it is prohibited in his scripture: he cannot do many things simply because
           now his consciousness gives him the clarity to see what is right, what is good, what is wrong, what is
           bad. And to attain to this clarity is enough.
                The moment you know of your own accord what is right and what is wrong, you cannot do the
           wrong. It is impossible. When you know what is good and what is bad, you cannot do the bad. The
           evil, the bad, the ugly is possible only in sleep.
                The real religiousness is essentially very simple. I call it meditation. You can give it another
           name, awareness; or another name, consciousness. But whatever you call it, it has nothing to do with
           any organization, any holy scripture, any leader. Yes, a friend who has seen that luminous, that
           ecstatic world, who has touched the farthest star in his being, can help you as a guide.
                I am not your leader -- leaders happen in politics. I am not your priest -- because I cannot do
           anything on your behalf. I am simply a friend whose own experience has made him so full of love
           that he wants to share it with anybody who is willing to share. And to a guide you don't owe
           anything. Just a thank-you perhaps will be more than enough. So you don't owe anything to me.
                But the death of religion makes meditation absolutely important. Now you don't have anything
           left with which to deceive yourself. I have taken everything away that could have distracted you, and
           left you alone with meditation.
                And you are asking me, "Should we stop meditating too?"
                Why don't you ask, "Should we stop living too? Because religion is dead, should we be also
           dead?"
                No, meditation you want to stop -- and what are you going to do then? Eat, drink and be merry,
           because the religion is dead? I am not against "Eat, drink and be merry," but a meditator really eats.
           He knows really the taste. While you are eating, you are doing a thousand and one things in your
           head; you are not there.
                A meditator just drinking a cup of tea enjoys each sip as if he has found a treasure. He tastes
           everything -- the beauty of a rose, or a bird on the wing, a white floating cloud in the sky, a night full
           of stars. Existence is so full of splendor that a meditator -- because he is silent, available, present to
           the moment -- enjoys everything to its fullest.
                I am not against your eating, drinking and merrying. I would like it to happen more deeply, more
           profoundly. But to give it that intensity, that totality, that profundity, that depth... except meditation,
           there is no other way.
                Life without meditation is simply vegetating. You can be different vegetables. Somebody is a
           cabbage, somebody is a cauliflower.... A cauliflower is only a cabbage with college degrees, not
           much difference.
           But to live truly, you have to know yourself.
                "Know thyself," says Socrates, but his statement is incomplete. I would like to say to you,
           "Know thyself so that you can be yourself."
                And in being yourself, you are fulfilled. You have come home, the wandering is finished. Now
           there is nowhere to go, you have arrived. You have known the eternal life, its beauty, its bliss. All
           that you can do now is share it -- which comes automatically. When you see people stumbling in the
           dark, you start helping them, trying to move them in the right direction. It is a joy. When the
           gardener sees his rosebush full of flowers one morning, his heart also blossoms with the flowers.
                And that's what happens to a man who has known himself, who has become himself. He starts
           sharing his joy, his bliss, his love, in different ways with different people -- whoever is available.
           And whenever he sees somebody moving in the right direction, he is immensely gratified, satisfied.
           Existence has given him so much, and he has nothing else to give to existence to show his gratitude.
           This is his gratitude. And when he sees others also reaching home, he feels that he has not been
           ungrateful -- and that is a tremendous experience.
                When I see you moving, growing, this is my gratitude towards existence. It has given me so
           much, there is no way to pay anything back; there is no word even to express gratitude. The only
           way is that my every breath should be used in helping people to reach to the same Everest of
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           consciousness.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #20
                                      Chapter title: The power of the mystic
           4 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510040
              ShortTitle: BONDAG20
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 109 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM ONE OF THE STARGAZERS, IDEALISTS, NAIVE. I LEARNED FROM YOU ABOUT
              TRUSTING EXISTENCE TOTALLY. BUT I UNDERSTOOD TOTAL TRUST TO MEAN JUST THAT --
              TOTAL TRUST, TRUST UNTO DEATH. SO I HAD GREAT DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING WHEN
              MY OWN MASTER SUPPORTED PROTECTING OURSELVES WITH GUNS AND SEARCHING
              VISITORS, OR EVEN JUST BUYING INSURANCE. I BECAME SPLIT: ONE PART OF ME COULD
              SEE PERFECTLY WELL THAT EXISTENCE CONTAINS WARS AND FAMINES AND HITLERS,
              AND EVEN JUST THIEVES WHO WILL TAKE YOUR BELONGINGS IF YOU DON'T WATCH THEM.
              ANOTHER PART OF ME THREW OUT LOVE AND TRUST TO EXISTENCE, AND WAS
              REWARDED WITH GREAT JOY AND WHAT SEEMED LIKE A CONSTANT AND CONTINUOUS
              SHOWER OF MIRACLES.
              THE EVENTS AND THE DISCOURSES OF THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE GREATLY SHAKEN MY
              TRUST AND INTENSIFIED THE SPLIT IN ME.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               It was not total trust. Don't deceive yourself. A trust that is total cannot be shaken by anything. It
           is unconditional. You have just been hallucinating about total trust. Neither do you know what
           totality means, nor do you know what trust means.
               If you trust existence, guns are part of existence too, just as roseflowers. And if you want
           roseflowers, you will need guns to protect them. But many people think life just a bed of roses. What
           are you going to do with the thorns? Those guns are the thorns. And it is such a simple thing to
           understand, even an idiot can understand it.
               We have not harmed anybody, we are not going to harm anybody. But we are not going to allow
           anybody to harm you either. To harm is ugly. To allow somebody to harm you is the same, it is ugly.
           Life in both the cases is harmed.
               And what can these three dozen guns -- which are not even automatic -- do in a world which is
           full of nuclear weapons? America has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the whole world. Why
           should they be afraid of three dozen guns which have not been used at all in four years? And there is
           no possibility of using them....
               But if you want, I can just withdraw them today. But then don't object if Hell's Angels come and
           harass you, if fanatic Christians come and harass you, if all kinds of criminals come and destroy your
           commune. Do you think that will be a more beautiful scene than these three dozen guns, which are
           not doing any harm to anybody? These guns were not there in the very beginning, but fanatic
           Christians started coming and harassing people, Hell's Angels started coming and being a nuisance.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You cannot remain naive about the facts of life. It is a struggle. In this struggle you have to
           remember only one thing, that you are not on the destructive side, that you are not attacking
           anybody, that you are not harassing anybody.
               Since we have had three dozen guns and a security force, those fanatic Christians and Hell's
           Angels and Witnesses of Jehovah have not come again. It seems the gun is far more powerful than
           Jehovah, more powerful than Jesus Christ. And these are toy guns; in a nuclear world, these guns
           don't matter.
               The attorney general has alerted the army. I have never seen such cowards in my life -- to alert
           the army so that within three hours, any time, they can reach to Rajneeshpuram. People who are
           living silently, peacefully, meditating, rejoicing, dancing, doing no harm to anybody -- for them the
           army is alerted. The army is not alerted against all the criminals in New York, in San Francisco and
           L.A.
               Every moment there is a crime committed in New York -- that is okay, that is the accepted
           American way of life. We are strangers; we are not committing any crime every moment. One
           person is dying of AIDS in L.A. every day. That means there must be thousands of homosexuals in
           L.A. Do you want to compete with New York and L.A. and San Francisco? Do you want to follow
           the American way of life, which is nothing but crime?
               If you want, we can withdraw those three dozen guns; they don't matter. But you are being
           simply stupid. Those three dozen guns are keeping all the cowards away from you. And in Oregon I
           don't see anybody other than cowards.
               We have been inviting the governor, the attorney general, to come and see: "Be our guest. Stay
           here for a day or two, go around the commune and see; these people are not criminals." They have
           never accepted the invitation. These cowards are afraid of toy guns, so why not keep them afraid?
               And you are asking me, "People are searched...." It can be stopped, but then I cannot stay here
           with you, because the government is making every effort to destroy you. Then drugs will be brought
           in, planted here, and you will be arrested. That is their idea: one thousand sannyasins behind bars.
               Right now they have no reason, but drugs just have to be brought and put in your houses. While
           you are working in the fields, making the roads, listening to me, your houses can become dangerous.
           Then who is going to be responsible for those drugs? It is perfectly right; anybody who enters here
           should be totally searched. We don't want any kind of interference with our people's lives.
               But if you are happy, you have nothing to lose -- you will only lose me. Then I cannot stay here a
           single moment, because I cannot see you imprisoned, harassed, beaten; your houses bulldozed --
           which you have created with tremendous creativity, love.
               And you go on asking these stupid questions. Just last night, one woman sannyasin wrote a letter,
           that in the press conference when I asked people if they were with me to raise their hands -- ten
           thousand hands were raised, and she says she wanted to stand against me. And still she writes to me,
           "Beloved Master, I love you too much." Is she blind -- she cannot see ten thousand hands? To me it
           does not matter, she could have stood up. But why, in the first place, should you be in this
           commune?
               A commune has to be an organic unity -- not a union but an organic unity, just like the body is.
           The left hand cannot go against the right hand. The legs cannot go against the head. The heart cannot
           go against the head. This is not a union, it is an organic unity. A commune has to be organic, one.
               Whoever wrote that letter -- either she should change her attitude, or she should leave. There is
           no reason -- why be here? Why live in antagonism with five thousand people? She seems to be
           somebody planted by the FBI, by the attorney general, or by some other agency. She is not a true
           sannyasin.
               And she is also a coward. What is the point of writing the letter to me? You should have stood up
           and seen what happened then. While I was here, nothing would have happened. But when I would
           have left, five thousand people -- they are not cannibals; otherwise they would have made a good
           breakfast of you. But they can play football; that is not against spirituality.
               So remember: if you don't feel at ease with the whole, just leave the place. And don't ask stupid
           questions. Before you ask a question, think over what you are asking. Those security people are for
           you, so that you can meditate without disturbance, you can work without disturbance, you can live
           without disturbance.
               And strange, that just three dozen security people can keep you in peace for four years. You
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           should be grateful to these people, because they are bored with the guns, just standing with the guns
           for four years, no chance to use them. And if sometime they have to use them, by that time they may
           have forgotten how to use them. They are for your security, and you seem to be against them. You
           are nuts or something!
               If the government takes the responsibility that no nuisance will be done in this commune, we can
           withdraw the security forces -- and what security forces against the greatest world power!
               In these four years, I have seen that Adolf Hitler did only one thing wrong: rather than attacking
           Russia, he should have attacked America! These cowards, who are afraid of three dozen ordinary
           guns -- not even automatic.... The American seems to be the most cowardly, spineless...!
               You made the Constitution, and you have put the people to whom this land belongs into
           reservations. The reservation is nothing but the American name for concentration camps -- yes,
           without barbed wire. You have a more sophisticated way: you give those Red Indians pensions.
           Now, people who have nothing to do, and get enough money, what do you expect them to do? They
           will gamble, they will drink, they will fight. They are all drunkards, gamblers -- rowdy. These people
           cannot think of independence, they cannot think of freedom. You have not put barbed wire around
           them, you have put barbed wire around their very soul!
               If Americans have any integrity and dignity, the first thing they will do is: give the government
           to the Red Indians. They will decide who is going to stay here and who is not going to stay here. Let
           them decide about Ronald Reagan's green card, because his forefathers entered this country without
           any visa, they had no green cards. They committed crimes.
               And it is a very simple thing to understand: If Adam and Eve disobeyed God and every Christian
           is still born in sin because of Adam and Eve, then what about Americans? Your forefathers
           committed all the crimes, and it was only three hundred years ago. Suddenly you have become
           president, you have become governors, you have become attorney generals, you have become
           judges, Supreme Court judges, and you have started deciding. This is not your country.
               This thing has to be brought to their notice, and to the whole world's notice. You talk against the
           Soviet Union, you talk against slavery -- and that's what you are practicing here.
               Those three dozen security people keep all the idiots away. And I perfectly approve of it. If just
           by having guns, without even using them.... And I have told them not to use them unless it becomes
           necessary; and I will not let it become necessary.
               Tomorrow, before the American embassy in India, ten thousand sannyasins are protesting -- this
           is the beginning -- that we are being mistreated. Every American embassy around the world will
           have to face the sannyasins. If anything is done to my people here, I have my people around the
           world: no American embassy can function. I have enough people in every country to force their
           government to disconnect their relationship with America.
               This country is not a democracy; this country is simply hypocrisy! But till the whole world is
           awakened against this country's criminal politicians, we have every right to defend our small
           minority. They are trying to destroy it in every way.
               They go on moving so slowly, and the reason is, they want to make some deal with the criminals
           who are hiding in Germany, in the Black Forest. They want to give them immunity, so that they can
           point to innocent sannyasins and accuse them of all the crimes that they have committed. That's why
           they are delaying.
               Out of the twenty criminals only one young woman, Ava, came back from Seattle. She is trying
           to give her testimony, and they have been postponing. I don't understand it. She has been in the
           group who committed all the crimes; she is an eyewitness, she can expose the whole group. Not
           taking my interview, not taking Ava's interview, simply indicates one thing: they want to make some
           deal with Sheela and her gang, so the criminals are protected and the commune can be destroyed.
               But I am not going to let it happen. And if it happens, America will repent for it, because our
           fight will not end here in Oregon. It will go on into every nook and corner of the world.
           They have never faced nonpolitical mystics.
           This will be a new experience for the idiots.
           I am really excited.


              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              I HAVE HEARD YOU EMPHASIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY IN MUSIC AND
              SPIRITUAL GROWTH, FOR THE LAST ELEVEN YEARS. YET THE ASHRAM, THE COMMUNE, IS
              THE ONLY PLACE I HAVE LIVED IN WHERE IT HAS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE TOTALLY AS
              AN ARTIST OR MUSICIAN.
              THERE ARE ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS HERE, INCLUDING MYSELF, WHO HAVE BEEN
              YEARNING FOR THE SPACE TO PURSUE THEIR ART IN A CLIMATE OF MEDITATION, BUT
              HAVE HAD TO PUT IT ASIDE TO BE WITH YOU.
              IN THE PAST, WE WERE TOLD REPEATEDLY THAT IT IS NOT THE RIGHT TIME. ISN'T NOW
              THE RIGHT TIME?


                It is always the right time. You just have to remember: who is going to prepare food for you?
           You can play music, you can be creative; but don't ask for food, don't ask for houses, don't ask for
           clothes -- because others also want to be creative. Everybody has his own guitar. Do you want that
           you play the guitar, and the others make the roads and the houses for you? And they should prepare
           food for you?
                Do the necessary work that keeps you alive, and in the remaining time you are free. Who is
           preventing you? Play music in the night when you are free. But then you have your girlfriend, your
           boyfriend.... Sacrifice something. Either sacrifice food, clothes, houses, or sacrifice girlfriends and
           boyfriends. Every creativity needs sacrifice, because who is going to do all the other necessary
           things for you?
                I have been getting reports every day that people are not turning up in time in a few places. For
           example in the dairy, people are not coming on time; then the milk cannot be delivered to the
           commune in time. The cows are waiting for you, but you are missing.
                You have got freedom, but you don't understand that freedom brings more responsibility than
           slavery. Slavery has no responsibility. It seems most of the people in the world are happier with
           slavery than with freedom, because in slavery they have to do something. Somebody is goading them
           continuously to do it!
                In freedom, nobody is there to force them. But if people who prepare food are not reaching there
           in time, then you will not get your lunch in time, or you may not get your lunch at all.
                I will see. One week more, and I warn you: if you cannot take responsibility and work as a
           responsible member of a commune, then you are asking for a strict discipline, order -- good names
           for slavery.
                Seven days more... otherwise, I will advise all the presidents of the corporations, all coordinators,
           to enforce the hours -- because in four years it has never happened; you were always on time in
           every place. People are leaving early, coming late, coming whenever they want, not coming
           whenever they do not want. You are behaving in a very unintelligent way. You are asking for a
           fascist rule! It seems you have become addicted to the relationship of master and slave.
                I am reminded that in the French revolution there was one central jail, which was only for people
           with lifelong imprisonment. Their chains had no keys, because the locks were never to be opened.
           When they died, then their hands would be broken and the chains taken off.
                The revolutionaries thought that all those people, almost two thousand, who had been living in
           the jail for their whole life -- somebody had lived there for fifty years, somebody for forty years,
           somebody for thirty years -- should be released. But do you know what those prisoners said? "We
           don't want to be released."
                The man who had been there for fifty years -- he was caught when he was twenty -- said, "I have
           completely forgotten the outside world, and here life is more comfortable. Food is given at the right
           time every day, we don't have to bother about it. And my eyes have become accustomed to this dark
           cell in which I have lived for fifty years. And these heavy chains on my hands and on my feet have
           become almost part of my body. Without them I will feel something is missing. I don't think I can
           even sleep without them."
                But revolutionaries are revolutionaries -- they forced them. They cut their chains and forced them
           to get out of the prison. But by the evening almost everybody was coming back. They said, "Outside,
           our eyes hurt; that much sun we cannot tolerate. Who is going to give us food? For fifty years,
           getting food without any trouble -- now we don't know any skill to earn our livelihood. Who is going
           to give us clothes? And the greatest problem is, we cannot sleep without the chains. Please give us
           our chains back! And we want to sleep in our dark cells." The revolutionaries could not believe it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But this is a reality of all human beings. For four years there was no complaint, and you were
           perfectly happy. Now I am receiving letters of complaint, that this is wrong and that is wrong, and
           guns should not be here. Everybody should be allowed to do whatever he wants -- play music, do
           painting, write poetry, or just lie down by the side of the lake and have a good sunbath.
               I am not saying that you should not do this, but first comes the commune's survival. You should
           do everything that the commune's survival needs. Then play music, paint, sculpt, or do whatever you
           want: dance, sing. But the commune's necessary work should not suffer.
               If within seven days it does not change, then you will be back under a strict disciplined order.
           And those who cannot fit will have to leave the place. Why should anybody else take your
           responsibility? You have to be responsible for yourself. Outside in the world, do you think you can
           go on playing music and somebody will come with all kinds of dishes, Chinese food, and spaghetti,
           because you are such a great musician? Spaghetti comes first. Your music is your private affair.
               So make it clearly understood that only seven days... and you have to learn responsibility;
           otherwise you lose your freedom. I cannot help it. Your president, Prem Hasya, is continuously
           coming to me, "What to do? People don't come to work. They have a strange idea of freedom."
           I respect your freedom.
           I want you to remain totally free.
               But that is possible only if you accept your responsibility.
               And your freedom will be only in proportion to your responsibility -- neither less nor more.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ON OUR FARM, THE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS OBVIOUS. THE COWS NEED TO BE
              MILKED ON TIME, THE VEGETABLES HAVE TO BE PICKED FOR EACH MEAL. REJECTING THE
              OLD WAYS OF ORGANIZATION AND AUTHORITY HAS CREATED A GAP. LESS IS GETTING
              DONE AND PEOPLE ARE CONFUSED. IT'S VERY EXCITING, AND A SPONTANEOUS KIND OF
              ORGANIZATION SEEMS TO BE ARISING, BUT IT IS STILL VERY CHAOTIC.
              HOW CAN WE GET THE WORSHIP DONE? HOW DO WE BALANCE WHAT WE WANT TO DO
              AND THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNE?


              Don't be worried. I have given seven days' time: either you do it, or it will be done the way it has
           been done for four years. It is your choice.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE SUCH A THING AS PERSONAL POWER WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM POWER OVER
              OTHERS? WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY?


               They are two totally different things: personal power and power over others. Not only are they
           different, they are diametrically opposite.
               The person who knows himself, understands his own being, understands the meaning of his life,
           suddenly has an explosion of power. But it is more like love, like compassion. It is more like
           moonlight than like sunlight -- cool, calm, beautiful. Such a man has no inferiority complex at all.
           He is so full, so contented, so utterly blissful, there is no reason for him to feel any ambition to have
           power over others.
           I call it the power of the mystic.
               Power over others is political, and the people who are interested in power over others are people
           who feel a deep inferiority complex. They are continuously comparing themselves with others, and
           feeling themselves inferior. They want to prove to the world and to themselves that it is not so --
           they are superior beings. All politicians suffer from an inferiority complex. All politicians need to be
           treated psychologically.
               These are the sick people, and because of these sick people the whole world has been in immense
           suffering. Five thousand wars in three thousand years!
               And there is no end for the seeker of power over others, because there are always people left out
           of his power. That makes him still feel his inferiority. Otherwise, what is the need for anybody to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become Alexander the Great? -- just sheer stupidity. The man died when he was only thirty-three. He
           could not live for a single moment, he could not love for a single moment. His life of thirty-three
           years was, in the beginning, preparing to become a world conqueror, and the remaining part was
           fighting, killing, burning. The only idea in his mind was to become the world conqueror.
               When he was going to India, on the way, passing the boundaries of Greece, he met one of the
           rarest men in the history of man, Diogenes. He used to live naked. He was so beautiful, it was
           perfectly suitable for him to live naked.
               Clothes serve many purposes, of climate, of culture, but the basic purpose.... All the animals can
           manage to live without clothes in every climate all around the world. What is wrong with man? Is he
           the most vulnerable and weak animal in the whole world? No. Clothes were first invented because
           all people don't have beautiful bodies. You know people by their faces. In fact, even you yourself, if
           you see a picture of your body naked, without the head, you will not be able to recognize that this is
           your body.
               Diogenes was an immensely beautiful man; he needed no clothes. He lived by the side of a river.
           It was early morning and he was taking a sunbath. He had only one companion, a dog, and only one
           possession, an old type of lamp.
               Alexander heard that Diogenes was very close when they were passing the boundary of Greece.
           He said, "I have heard so much about the man. He seems to be a little strange, but I would like to see
           him." Alexander went to see Diogenes -- Diogenes was resting. His dog was sitting by his side.
           Alexander said to him, "Diogenes, Alexander the Great has come to see you. It is a great favor, it is
           unique; I have never gone to see anybody."
               Diogenes did not even sit up. He remained lying on the sand, laughed, looked at his dog and said
           to the dog, "Have you heard? A man calling himself great -- what do you think about it? He must be
           suffering from great inferiority. This is a projection to hide some wound." It was a truth. Even
           Alexander could not deny it.
               Alexander said, "I don't have much time; otherwise I would have sat here and listened to some
           wisdom from you."
               Diogenes said, "What is the hurry? Where are you going -- to conquer the world? But have you
           ever thought, if by chance you succeed in conquering the world, what will you do then? -- because
           there is no other world, there is only one world. Right now, fighting, invading, you can go on
           forgetting your inferiority; but when you have succeeded, your inferiority will come back, will
           surface again."
               Alexander said, "Returning, I will come and stay for a few days here and try to understand.
           Whatsoever you are saying hurts, but it is true. In fact, just the idea that there is no other world
           makes me sad. Yes, if I conquer the whole world, then what am I going to do? Then I will be just
           useless, and all that is hidden in me is bound to surface."
               But Diogenes said, "You will never return, because this kind of ambition is unending. Nobody
           comes back." And strangely, Alexander never came back. He died while he was coming back, before
           reaching Greece. And a beautiful story has been told since then, because the same day Diogenes also
           died. It is just a story, but very significant.
               There is a river, according to Greek mythology, which you have to pass before you enter
           paradise. Diogenes was just a few feet ahead, Alexander just behind him. Seeing Diogenes, the same
           beautiful man, naked -- and now Alexander was also naked, but not with that beauty -- just to cover
           up, Alexander said, "This is a strange coincidence, the meeting of a world conqueror with a beggar!"
               Diogenes laughed and he said, "You are right. Only on one point are you wrong -- you don't
           know who is the conqueror and who is the beggar. Just look at me and look at yourself. I never
           conquered anybody, yet I am a conqueror -- a conqueror of myself. You tried to conquer the whole
           world, and what have you got? Just a sheer wasting of your whole life. You are just a beggar!"
               The personal power belongs to the mystic -- one who has had his flower of consciousness
           blossom, who has released his fragrance, his love, his compassion, far and wide. It is a very subtle
           power. Nothing can prevent it; it simply reaches to your heart. It simply makes you fall in tune with
           the mystic -- into a kind of synchronicity, a harmony. You don't become a slave, you become a lover.
           A great friendliness, a great gratitude arises in you.
               Just the presence of the mystic creates an immense aura. In that aura, whoever is open, available,
           receptive, immediately starts feeling like bursting into a song or into a dance.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Political power is ugly. Power over others is ugly. It is inhuman, because to have power over
           somebody means to reduce that person to a thing. He becomes your possession.
                For example, in China, for centuries the husband had the power over his wife even to kill her.
           The law allowed it, because the wife was nothing but a possession -- like you possess a chair, and if
           you want to destroy it, it is not a crime; it was your chair. And if you kill your wife, it was your
           wife.... For centuries no man in China had been punished for having killed his wife -- up to this
           century.
                Power over anybody reduces the other person's individuality, reduces his spirituality, and he
           becomes just a commodity, a thing. For centuries men and women have been sold in the markets like
           any other commodity. Once you have purchased a slave, you have all power over the slave. This may
           fulfill some insane and sick psychology, but it is not healthy. No politician is healthy -- I mean
           spiritually.
                When Nixon was caught bugging and tapping other people's phones, and he had finally to resign
           as the president, Mao Zedong's remark is remarkable. He said, "Every politician does it. There is
           nothing special in it. Why are they making so much fuss about it? Poor Nixon has just been caught
           doing it."
                And even after Nixon's resignation as president, Mao sent a special plane, his own plane, to take
           Nixon to China -- to console him, to say that this is just stupidity. "Whatever you were doing is
           being done all over the world. All the politicians are doing it. What was wrong was being caught.
           You were an amateur."
                What politicians are doing all over the world, all through history, is simply inhuman, ugly. But
           the reason, the basic reason is that they have a deep feeling of inferiority, and they want to prove to
           themselves that it is not so. "Look, you have so much power, so many people in your hand you can
           make or mar, so many nuclear weapons in your hand. Just push a button and you can destroy the
           whole planet."
                Power over others is destructive -- always destructive. In a better world anybody who is
           ambitious, who wants to be more important than others, ahead of others, should be treated
           psychologically. Only humbleness, simplicity, naturalness -- no comparison with anybody....
           Because everybody is unique, comparison is impossible.
                How can you compare a roseflower with a marigold? How can you say who is superior and who
           is inferior? Both have their beauty, and both have blossomed, danced in the sun, in the wind, in the
           rain... lived their life totally.
                Every human being is unique. There is no question of anybody superior or anybody inferior. Yes,
           people are different. Let me remind you of one thing; otherwise you will misunderstand me. I am not
           saying that everybody is equal, as communists think. I am absolutely against communism, for the
           simple reason that the whole philosophy of communism is against psychology and against all
           psychological research.
                Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique,
           incomparable. You are you, I am I. I have to contribute my potential to life; you have to contribute
           your potential to life. I have to discover my own being; you have to discover your own being.
           It is perfectly good to be powerful as a mystic.
                It is ugly, disgusting, stinking to have even a slight desire for having power over others.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE PAST, YOU'VE ALWAYS SAID THAT OUR LOVE IS WHAT KEEPS YOU IN YOUR BODY.
              IS ALL THIS NEGATIVITY AND EVERYTHING THAT'S BEEN HAPPENING RECENTLY
              AFFECTING YOU? WILL WE LOSE YOU?


              There is every possibility.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HUMAN NATURE IS TRICKY. IT WILL CREATE A SIMPLE INSTITUTION TO BEGIN WITH AND
              THEN TURN IT INTO AN ESTABLISHMENT SO AS TO CONTROL IT AND THE PEOPLE IT IS
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THERE TO SERVE. IN SUCH A SITUATION, CAN AN ENLIGHTENED MASTER CREATE AN
              INSTITUTION OR A FLEXIBLE, FLUID RELATING, WHERE THE EMERGENCE OF AN
              AUTHORITARIAN ORGANIZATION IS NOT POSSIBLE?


              And what do you think I am doing here!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THAT'S ALL -- THERE ARE NO MORE QUESTIONS.


              That's great!
           Okay?




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #21
                                   Chapter title: Your work should be your joy
           5 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510050
              ShortTitle: BONDAG21
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 126 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW COME PEOPLE DO NOT SEE THIS AS A MYSTERY SCHOOL, A PLACE OF HEALING, A
              "RELIGIO" TO ONESELF AND TO THE WORLD ALL AROUND, THE MOST POWERFUL RELIGION
              THERE IS... A PLACE TO FIND YOURSELF, AND TO FIND YOURSELF LOVED BY YOURSELF
              AND ALL THOSE AROUND YOU?


                It is just because of that, that people cannot see it. It is a mystery school. It is not a commonplace
           phenomenon, an ordinary theological college, but a mystery school. The very word "mystery"
           answers your question. The ordinary human mind cannot comprehend: what mystery is there? For it,
           there is no mystery. For the idiot, everything is already known.
                Socrates says that when he was young he thought he knew everything. When he became mature,
           a little older, he could see that he did not know everything: a few things he knew, but much more
           was there which was unknown and a mystery. And the day he died he said to his disciples, "This
           should be my last statement: I do not know anything." Strange... from knowledgeability he is
           growing into a strange kind of ignorance. But when he died he was so blissful, so peaceful, so at
           home that even his impending death did not create a ripple in his consciousness.
                Later on his disciple, Plato, made two categories. One, the first category: knowledge which is
           ignorance, mere knowledgeability. You have heard it, you have read it, but you are not an
           eyewitness to it. It is mere hearsay, knowledge which is ignorance. Unfortunately, ninety-nine
           percent of humanity belongs to that category.
                The second: ignorance which knows. You have become a child, innocent; all knowledgeability
           has been dropped, existence has again become mysterious -- just as it was when you were born.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           When you opened your eyes for the first time, everything was a mystery.
               Ignorance that knows... you have become ignorant in the sense that you do not carry the burden
           of scriptures, doctrines, theologies, philosophies. But you have a clarity which only innocence can
           give to you. In that clarity you can see, but what you see is beyond words; hence you cannot say, "I
           know." In fact, in that clarity, in that seeing, the seer disappears. There is only seeing. There is
           experiencing, but the experiencer has disappeared.
               This is the state of the mystic, and this is the search of a mystery school.
               Do not expect that people will understand you. Their misunderstanding is a recognition that you
           are a mystery school. Their misunderstanding is a qualification for you. If they start understanding
           you, then you are no longer a mystery school.
               That's why I said, "Religion in this commune is dead" -- because religion they understand, but
           they do not understand the mystery, the origin, the root from which the word "religion" is derived. It
           is religio. It means putting yourself together: no longer split, no longer divided into body, mind,
           soul; no longer divided into God the creator, and existence the created. Everything that divides is
           against religio.
               The mystic disappears in his experience, because to remain an experiencer is a division. The
           knower and the known -- there is still a division. There is a certain experiencing: the experience and
           the experiencer have become one. That is religio.
               In the East, philosophy is called darshan. "Philosophy" is not the right word to translate it. It is,
           in fact, the most wrong word to translate it. Darshan means seeing, experiencing; the duality of the
           seer and the seen has dissolved. It cannot be translated as philosophy.
               Philosophy means love of knowledge, and darshan means dissolution of knowledge and the
           knower. It is a totally different approach. And the professors of philosophy in India and outside India
           can never be forgiven for translating darshan as philosophy, and translating philosophy as darshan.
               The East has no philosophy, the West has no darshan. They are two different categories. The
           West has philosophy -- love of knowledge. That makes you more and more knowledgeable. Your
           universities, your libraries, they all help you to become knowledgeable.
               In the East, it is a mystic experience -- neither the university is needed, nor the library is needed.
           All that is needed is the courage within you to go as deep in your being as possible. At the very
           center of your being -- the explosion. There is nothing known, and there is nobody to know; there is
           only knowing. You cannot claim, "I know," because you were not there when it happened. You
           cannot claim, "I know," because what happened cannot be made knowledge.
           Knowledge is something dead.
           Knowing is something alive.
               Knowing is something like a roseflower dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun. Knowledge
           is a roseflower you find in an old book -- crushed, dead, no fragrance. Can you believe these two
           roses are the same? In a way both are roses; but one is only a corpse, the other is life itself. The
           moment you try to bring your experiencing into words, the dancing rose dies. Then you get only a
           rose crushed within the pages of an old book, with no fragrance, with no dance, with no life.
           Yes, it is a mystery school.
           Religion we have buried, burned.
           Religio we are going to live.
               Religion becomes an organization. Religio remains always an individual inquiry. Religion sooner
           or later becomes a hierarchy. Religio never becomes a hierarchy -- the question does not arise.
               This is a mystery school for people who are in search of themselves. That is the only common
           ground, that they are all seekers. Other than that there is no belief which joins them, no ideology to
           which they are connected, no faith to which they are surrendered.
               Just the other day, I told President Prem Hasya that gachchhamis should be stopped, because
           they give a certain idea of religion. So many people doing gachchhamis looks like Mohammedans
           doing namaz, Christians doing prayer.
               No, religio is individual; it has no collectivity. You are related to each other with a very thin
           thread; because the other is seeking himself, you are also seeking yourself. This seeking has brought
           you together. It can be of immense help, because seeking oneself means going into aloneness. One
           fears, one always wants to be in the crowd with someone; that way you can avoid your aloneness.
               I traveled in India for thirty years continuously, and sometimes it took forty-eight hours to reach
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a place. The fastest train would also take that long. There were places that you could reach only in
           seven days. But that was the only time for me to rest, because when I reached the destination, then
           there was continuous work to be done from morning to night: to talk to people, to destroy their
           conditioning, to deprogram them.
               It happened many times that traveling in an air-conditioned compartment I was with only one
           other passenger -- because only two passengers could travel in a compartment -- and the other
           passenger was very eager to know about me. So before he even opened his mouth, I would say,
           "Wait! This is my name... this is my father's name... this is my father's father's name.... This is their
           business... this is the number of my brothers and sisters" -- how many are married and how many are
           not married, how many have a college education, who are still in the university: somebody is
           becoming an engineer, somebody is becoming a doctor....
               The man would look shocked. He would say, "But I have not asked!"
               I said, "You were going to; now what is the point? Unnecessarily you will ask one question after
           another. I have given the whole thing! Do you have any more questions?"
               And just thinking, "That man seems to be mad!" he said, "No, I don't."
               Then I said, "Remember, for the coming twenty-four hours no questions, no yakkety-yak. This is
           my period of rest. If you want to talk, you can talk to yourself."
               But that was also difficult -- to talk to himself in front of me. So what would the man do? He
           would open his suitcase, bring out something, put it back, close the suitcase; go to the bathroom,
           come back out -- unnecessarily. He could not tolerate it, twenty-four hours just being alone. And
           finally he would go to the conductor and say, "Whenever you have a seat in another compartment,
           please change me."
               But the conductor said, "That man is innocent! He travels continuously. I know him, he has never
           harmed anybody."
               He said, "It would have been better if he had harmed me! But it is very strange to live in that
           room. He does not speak, he just goes on looking at me, and I feel very tense, fidgety. I turn to this
           side and that, and he simply goes on looking at me. And just because of him I am doing stupid
           things, and I know that he is enjoying it! I cannot even smoke, because the moment I take a cigarette
           out, he simply indicates with his finger the sign, 'Smoking Not Allowed.' So what am I supposed to
           do? Just go on opening my suitcase? And I know what is there in the suitcase!
               "I am unnecessarily going to the bathroom and there is no need; I am ordering the waiter to bring
           water or tea which I don't need! And he goes on staring. It is even difficult to sleep because of that
           man! I am sleeping, but just to see what he is doing I look at him and he is still looking at me. I say,
           'My God! There is no possibility that he will let me sleep.' You just change me."
               What was the trouble? Just to be alone is the most arduous thing. That's why people join
           religions. They become Christians, Jews, Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians. They join political
           parties -- communist, socialist, fascist, republicans, democrats. Even that does not satisfy their
           hunger for the crowd. They form the Lions' Club, Rotary Club -- all kinds of associations. They go to
           the church -- not for the church, but for the crowd. They go to meetings -- political, religious.... They
           feel at ease when they see so many people are there: they are not alone.
               What is the fear of being alone? The fear is that in your aloneness is hidden the mystic
           roseflower... but you will have to go deep. And the deeper you go, the more alone you will be,
           because the world will be left far behind. Nobody can accompany you there.
               A mystery school simply helps you, because somebody is ahead of you, somebody is behind you,
           somebody has already reached. The atmosphere of the commune, the milieu, gives you courage:
           "Don't be afraid. If others are moving inwards, why not you? If they are not losing anything, then
           aloneness is not dangerous. In fact, they are becoming more and more radiant, more and more
           loving, more and more compassionate."
               Seeing so many people helps you. It creates a certain energy field which becomes your support.
           Of course, you have to go alone, but those who have reached can say with authority: Your inside is
           not empty; it is the only fullness in the whole existence. You are not hollow; you will find the
           greatest treasure of joy and bliss, peace and serenity, grace and gratitude, within yourself. You will
           find that you have always been here and you will always be here; death does not exist, life is eternal.
               But your question is relevant. You are asking me, "Why don't people understand that this is a
           mystery school?"
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They have never understood. And down the centuries such schools have existed, but behind a
           facade. For example, you know about alchemists. And in the chemistry books it is said -- which is
           absolutely nonsense -- that chemistry was born out of alchemical experiments, that alchemy was the
           predecessor of chemistry. They don't know what alchemy was.
               Yes, there was a screen: alchemists pretended that they were trying to make gold out of base
           metals. This people can understand; gold they understand immediately. And if these people are
           trying to make gold out of baser metals, they are ready to support, to do anything for these people.
               Never was any gold made out of base metals. It was just a pretense. They had tubes and bottles
           and lamps and the whole paraphernalia -- it looked as if it was a scientific lab, but that was just in the
           front of the school. Behind that facade the real alchemy was going on.
               Those were mystery schools, and certainly they were not cheating anybody. They were trying to
           transform the base metal in you into gold -- but that was metaphorical language. And they had to do
           that; otherwise, Christianity was there to kill all these people, because religion was Christianity's
           monopoly.
               How do you dare! All that you are expected to do is to believe in Jesus Christ. What is the need
           of a mystery school and a search inwards? Jesus has given you all that is needed. You simply believe
           in him. He is the savior, and on the last day, the judgment day, he will choose his sheep and save
           them. So all that is needed is simple faith, belief. Why go through all this arduous journey, when a
           shortcut is available?
               Alchemists knew that nobody can save you. There is no savior, and there has never been any
           savior, and there will never be any savior. You can save yourself or not -- it is absolutely an
           individual freedom and responsibility. But for that a certain school is needed.
               My only fault is that I thought, "This is the twentieth century and man has become more cultured,
           more civilized; we are not living in the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages" -- and I created this mystery
           school without any facade.
               But somebody has to bring it into the open, because there are millions of people who want to be
           seekers, who don't want to be believers. They need to know that they are not alone, that there are
           millions of other people around the world who are working on the same lines, that there are people
           who have arrived, reached, found the ultimate source of life.
               But the mob will never understand you. There is no need to bother about the mob. Don't waste
           your time about others understanding you. You put your whole energy into understanding yourself.
           The mob has remained always in the Dark Ages, and it seems it is determined to remain always in
           the Dark Ages. It is their freedom and their choice. Let them remain whatever, wherever, they want
           to be. Don't be bothered whether they understand you or not.
               You put your total energy -- because your own inner work needs your totality, and life is short,
           and nobody knows about tomorrow. So not even a single moment has to be lost in unnecessary
           worries.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ANARCHY SIMPLY MEANS ABSENCE OF AUTHORITY -- WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL. BUT IN
              COMMON LANGUAGE IT HAS THE MEANING OF ABSENCE OF DISCIPLINE. WHY THAT
              CONFUSION? COULD YOU SPEAK ABOUT DISCIPLINE, ESPECIALLY ITS RELATION TO
              REBELLION?


               Anarchy is one of the most beautiful words in the human language. Yes, it means absence of
           authority. It means you are accepted as an independent individual; you are no longer a slave.
               Your question is: Why, in people's minds, has anarchy taken on the connotation of absence of
           discipline? It is a very simple psychological phenomenon. All discipline that you have known was
           imposed upon you by the authority. The authority of the parents disciplined you -- what to eat, what
           not to eat, when to eat, when to go to sleep and when to get up. What to do and what not to do was
           never left to your own decision. The parents were your first authority -- just like God the father was
           the first authority for Adam and Eve. He was the father, they were the children. And he was telling
           them not to eat from the tree of knowledge, not to eat from the tree of eternal life. Authority
           disciplines.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then there are teachers in the school, the priest in the church, in the temple, the rabbi in the
           synagogue. And they are all authoritarian figures. You have to do what they say; otherwise you will
           have some kind of punishment either here or after death. Naturally authority and discipline become
           associated with each other. So whenever authority is removed, you think now there is no need of
           discipline.
               The reality is, when authority is removed then there is a real need of discipline. Now there is
           nobody to impose any order on you, it is your responsibility to live a life of order, discipline. Why?
           -- because a man who lives without order starts falling into pieces, falling apart. His life starts losing
           harmony. A man who does not know discipline lives a life which cannot be called really human. He
           falls back into the world of the animal kingdom.
               Discipline makes you integrated, gives you a certain crystallization. And without that
           crystallization you cannot be more conscious. Authority is slavery for you. Discipline is living an
           organic, harmonious life.
               Just see how authority has destroyed humanity down the ages. Start from the very beginning.... It
           was God's authoritarian order that Adam and Eve should not eat from these two trees of knowledge
           and eternal life. What was the result? The result was disobedience. Any obedience forced upon you
           creates in you -- if you have any guts -- disobedience. You want to do just the opposite.
               When I first read the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion, I went to my father and showed
           him the story. He said, "But why are you showing it to me?"
               I said, "I am showing it to you so that you understand: no shoulds, no should-nots; otherwise I
           am going to disobey. Even God could not manage; you will not be able to manage it. The story is
           clear."
               He said, "You draw strange conclusions! The story is told so that people don't disobey, and you
           are drawing the conclusion that the story says people should not be authoritarian."
               I said, "It is absolutely clear -- because in the Garden of Eden there were millions of trees; if God
           had not been so stupid, then I don't think even by now Adam and Eve would have found the tree of
           knowledge and the tree of life. He is responsible for their disobedience, and if anybody has to be
           punished, God has to be punished.
               "So I am just telling you that if you tell me to do anything, I am going to do its very opposite,
           whatever the consequences. It may harm me, it may harm you, it may harm anybody, but one thing is
           certain: obedience is not going to be my way of life. You can certainly advise me, but the choice is
           always mine -- to do or not to do." My whole family remained in trouble continuously. And it was
           natural....
               In my city there was a very beautiful river. But it was a mountain river, so suddenly in the rains it
           would become too big and huge, and in summer it would shrink and become small. In the rains the
           current was so great that to cross the river by swimming was almost to invite death. But I told my
           father, "This river is a constant challenge to me. So I am ready -- even if death happens, I am going
           to cross this river when it is in full flood."
               It becomes almost one mile broad, and it takes nearabout three hours, four hours to cross it. And
           the current is so powerful that you cannot cross it directly. The current goes on pushing you
           downwards, so when you reach -- if you survive -- you reach almost five, six miles down on the
           other shore. Then you have to walk twelve miles up -- then only can you come back to the spot from
           where you had started. It was going to take the whole day.
           My father said, "Don't do that."
               I said, "You are not advising me, you are ordering me. I am going to do it."
               My whole family was in a turmoil: "You are so small, and this is dangerous. Nobody has even
           tried it; the best swimmers in the city have not dared."
           I said, "That makes it more challenging."
               I went against the whole family. They even threatened me that they wouldn't allow me to come
           into the house if I survived. I said, "That's okay. I will sit just outside the house."
               It was difficult. There were moments when I thought, "Perhaps it is not possible to reach the
           other shore." It was arduous, tiring, but I managed it. And then twelve miles I had to go upstream.
               By the evening I was back. I didn't enter the house, I sat just on the steps. They were all amazed
           to see me, that I had come back alive. My mother said, "Why don't you come in?"
               I said, "You made the condition that even if I survive, you are not going to let me in. So I am
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sitting on the steps. If you have any objection, I can sit on the street."
                My father came and took me in. He said, "We are sorry. We never expected that you would be
           able to manage. You do not know in what agony we remained the whole day."
                I said, "But the ecstasy that I have felt -- in comparison to it your agony means nothing. My
           suggestion is, next time you also come with me. All my uncles are invited to come with me. It is a
           tremendous job, but once it is done, something in you crystallizes. I feel stronger than ever!"
                In the school it was continuously a problem, because I did not believe in any authority.
                I have loved hats from my very childhood, but in the school I had to drop hats because it was
           compulsory; you could not come to the school without a hat. My family said, "But you love hats!"
                I said, "I love hats, but I love freedom more... even more than my head! If I have to lose my
           head, I will lose it willingly, but I cannot lose my freedom. Tomorrow, I have been called by the
           principal of the school, so I am very excited about the encounter."
                The principal was thinking that he would just threaten me and things would be settled. I entered
           his room and I told him, "Before you start threatening me -- and I know you have been using
           corporal punishment -- if you do any harm to me, I am going directly to the police station. Corporal
           punishment has been banished, it is illegal; you will be unnecessarily in trouble. I don't want you to
           be in trouble.
                "So first, drop whatever you have been thinking. Man to man, let us discuss the whole problem.
           If you can convince me.... I love hats, but if you simply order me, then there is no way that I will use
           hats." I asked him, "What relationship has a hat with education? Does it increase a man's
           intelligence?"
                He said, "These questions I have never thought about."
                Then I said, "You think, and you inquire; you consult higher authorities. You have to prove that
           the hat has some relevance. I have come to the school to be educated. If the hat helps intelligence, I
           am perfectly willing to wear it. But you will have to prove it."
                The reality is that in India, Punjabis are the only people.... They use turbans; that is part of their
           religion. The Sikh has to use it, otherwise he is not a Sikh. And they are the most unintelligent
           people in the whole country. The Bengalis are the people who don't use any hats, any caps, and they
           are the most intelligent people in the country. Not a single Punjabi has risen to world eminence for
           his intelligence. They have not achieved Nobel Prizes. But Bengalis have become world famous.
           They have achieved the Nobel Prize for science, the Nobel Prize for literature, and all other kinds of
           awards.
                I told the principal, "What this proves is that the turbans are preventing the intelligence of the
           poor Sikhs. The Bengalis, without any caps, any turbans, any hats, seem to have fresher minds, are
           more intelligent. They have created the best literature in the whole of India, the best poetry, the best
           art, and their language is a beauty. Even if two Bengalis are fighting, you cannot think that they are
           fighting, their language is so sweet."
                The principal said, "I will call you when I have figured it out, but you seem to be a difficult
           case."
                I said, "That's true. But call me only when you have enough proof."
                And I remained all my school life without a cap. Naturally, many other students stopped using
           caps. One day the principal called me and said, "This is too much! You are not using caps, and you
           are spreading a kind of rebellion, disobedience. Others are not using caps."
                I said, "I have not said anything to anybody; to use or not use is their freedom. One thing is
           certain, you have not come with any argument to prove it helps intelligence. To you I can say that
           you should not use the cap! It is not dignified of you. For no reason, why are you destroying your
           intelligence?"
                In the college, I used to have a long robe, with a wraparound lungi as it is used in India, and with
           no buttons on the robe, so the chest is open. And I was very healthy and robust, one hundred and
           ninety pounds.
                The principal told me, "Coming to the college without buttons is not according to the etiquette."
                I said, "Then change the etiquette, because my chest needs fresh air. And I decide according to
           my needs, not according to anybody's idea of etiquette."
                In my first year in the college, I won the all-India university competition for debate, and the
           professor in charge -- he is dead now, Indrabahadur Khare -- was a very properly dressed man.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Everything about him was proper. He took me to a photo studio near the college, because they
           wanted my picture to be released to the newspapers, to the magazines, and particularly for the
           college magazine: I had won the all-India competition and I was just a first-year student.
                But he was very tense all the way to the studio. And when we entered the studio, he said,
           "Excuse me, but without the buttons, how will your photograph look?"
                I said, "It will look just like me! You have not won the debate, I have won the debate. And when
           I was debating there were no buttons, so what is the problem now? If I can win the debate without
           buttons, then my photograph has to be without buttons!"
                He said, "You do one thing" -- he was a very small man. He said, "You can take my coat, it will
           fit you. You just put it on top of your robe and it will look beautiful."
                I said, "Then better you stand here and let it be perfectly proper. Let that picture go."
                He said, "That cannot be done. That will be simply objectionable. The principal will say, 'This is
           your photograph, and....'"
                So I said, "You should remember, my photograph has to be like me. I cannot use your coat.
           Either the photograph will go without buttons, or I am not interested in the photograph at all. So you
           decide."
                He had to decide for something very improper. He said, "I have never done anything improper,
           and I never allow anybody to do anything improper. But you seem to be strange."
           I said, "This is not improper."
                Every child is born naked -- that is proper. Every animal is naked, and that is proper. But there
           are people addicted to properness....
                I have heard, in the times of Victoria in England, ladies were putting clothes on their dogs,
           because to keep a naked dog with them was not ladylike -- and the dog does not know any etiquette.
           If the dog meets a lady of his own kind, he may have an erection. That is very improper in public. He
           may even try to make love -- in public! No, he has to be covered completely. He cannot have any
           erection in public, he cannot make love in public because of the clothing. And you will be surprised:
           even the legs of the chairs were covered with clothes -- because they are legs, and a lady's leg should
           not show. Stupidity can go to any length.
                I have fought against authority my whole life. But I have never forgotten the difference -- on the
           contrary, the more I have fought against anybody imposing his authority, the more I have tried on
           my own to be disciplined. Because now I am alone, nobody can discipline me, I have to discipline
           myself; otherwise I will start falling apart, I will not be able to have an integrated individuality.
           I believe in discipline.
                The word "discipline" is very beautiful. It comes from a root which means learning: a man of
           discipline is a man who is always learning, a man who is always ready to learn. He is a man who is
           always open to learn -- with no prejudice, with no preconceived conclusions.
                A bigot cannot learn. A Christian cannot learn, a Hindu cannot learn, a Buddhist cannot learn.
           They have already accepted conclusions without any experience. They are closed people.
                Discipline means you remain open. It comes from the same root as disciple. A disciple means
           one who is ready to learn. A disciple means one who is not bigoted, who is not prejudiced, who has
           no unexperienced beliefs, who knows what he knows and who knows what he does not know. He is
           very clear about it. And when there is no authority over you, then you are the authority -- a
           tremendous responsibility, a great freedom.
                I have been telling you that Sheela and her fascist gang are gone -- and it has been a tremendous
           relief to the commune, but it has created many problems. It has given you freedom, and you are not
           capable of being free. You are accustomed to being slaves. In four years I had never received any
           letter from you saying that you would like to come to work when you feel like coming, you will
           leave the work when you feel like it. I have heard of no problem.
                Now I have received a letter just last night -- somebody wants just to meditate in the hills the
           whole day long. You can meditate, but then don't ask for food, don't ask for clothes, don't ask for
           shelter -- because the people who prepare food also would like to meditate in the hills. Why should
           they prepare food for you? Why should they bother about you?
                It is your meditation, it is your joy. They should have their joy, and do whatever they want to do.
           Then you will not find the dentist in the dentist's office; he will be meditating somewhere. You will
           not find the doctor. One day the whole department of the medical center did not turn up for work;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they just felt to relax. That's a great idea -- but what about the patients? Who is going to look after
           them?
               I am not preventing you from meditation, but you have to understand your responsibility. It is a
           commune, and now that a fascist regime has been removed, if you behave in this way you cannot
           exist; it will be impossible.
               But if you miss this opportunity, perhaps you will miss forever -- at least for this life. And this is
           a tremendous loss -- a mystery school, a religio, has not the guts to be independent and yet create
           order out of independence and love?
               Work for love, not because somebody is forcing you to work. Your work should be your joy!
           You are doing it for the people you love.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY THAT YOU COULD BE ARRESTED, AND THEY
              COULD HURT OR KILL YOU THEN, UNPROTECTED AS YOU ARE, MY FIRST REACTION WAS
              OF TURNING INTO A WOUNDED LION, OF SPENDING THE REST OF MY LIFE BURNING
              EMBASSIES AND LIVING AS A FASCIST ANARCHIST, AS A REACTION TO THIS INCREDIBLE
              PAIN.
              WHAT CAN MY MEDITATIVE RESPONSE BE TO THESE DIRTY ACTIONS OF POLITICIANS?


                No need to be worried. They cannot dare to arrest me, for the simple reason that arresting me
           means America loses its mask of democracy, and its real face of hypocrisy comes before the world.
                I have not committed any crime. To be silent is not a crime. To be in isolation is not a crime. I
           was silent, in isolation -- that is my birthright. If somebody takes advantage of it, I am not
           responsible for it.
                For example, if you are asleep and somebody steals from your house, it can be said you are
           responsible for the stealing. Why were you asleep? You gave the opportunity to the person; he took
           advantage of it and stole. Does that mean nobody can sleep? Do you mean to say that nobody can go
           into silence, into isolation, because advantage can be taken of it? This is sheer nonsense, this is not
           logic.
                They cannot arrest me, don't be worried. And I have one million sannyasins around the earth, and
           more than two million sympathizers. There is no need for anybody to become terrorists, burn
           American embassies, or do any violent activity. All that is needed is, in front of every American
           embassy, go there and sit down and meditate. Let the whole world see that these people are simply
           meditators. Even in protest they are only meditating, not doing any harm to anybody, but just being
           silent; if you have some heart, it will respond.
                All the sannyasins and the sympathizers meditating before American embassies will be far more
           effective than throwing bombs. This will humiliate them more than burning embassies. And this will
           bring pressure on the American government: "You are not dealing with terrorists, you are dealing
           with a mystic commune. And you should behave more humanly."
                This will be a beautiful opportunity to show the power of silent, meditative compassion: no
           destruction, no violence, no ordinary political kind of protest. Just see what meditation can do. It can
           destroy a whole empire.
           Love is more powerful than any power.
                You see a waterfall: the water is so humble, so weak against the rocks on which it is falling. But
           soon the rocks will be gone, the water is going to be victorious. The rocks were hard, very strong,
           but not before water. The power of meditation is the power of water. The power of politics, violence,
           is the power of the rocks.
                Don't be worried at all. Whatever happens -- this is my experience of the whole of life: whatever
           happens brings something good to me and to my people. So whatever happens will be a benefit, a
           blessing.
                Let them arrest me. I have informed them, if they want to arrest me they should come with
           handcuffs, because I want the whole world to see my hands with their handcuffs, to see that this is
           America -- and this America is going to protect democracy in the world. It is destroying democracy
           itself, it is against its own Constitution. Just my hands raised with the handcuffs will have enough
           power. Don't be worried. All their nuclear weapons are nothing. If they are going to take this risk,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they will repent forever. They will see America and its prestige going down the drain.
               And how long can they keep me arrested? Two hours? I have not committed any crime, but
           within those two hours they will have destroyed their credibility.
               So it is up to them. It is for the attorney general to decide. If he has any intelligence, then it is
           better to leave us alone. But if he is as idiotic as I think he is, then he is bound to do something
           stupid which will destroy him -- not me, not you, not the commune.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #22
                                 Chapter title: This whole earth belongs to us
           6 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510060
              ShortTitle: BONDAG22
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 84 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO I BETRAY MY REAL SELF, AND ONLY MYSELF, BY NOT LETTING GO?


                In this commune, you cannot betray anybody except yourself. In the outside world the situation
           is different. You can betray Christianity, you can betray Jesus Christ, Moses, Mohammed. You can
           betray communism, Karl Marx. You can betray a thousand and one things, for the simple reason that
           they are all asking for your faith. Betrayal comes as the other side of faith.
                I am not asking for your belief, I am not asking for your faith. There is no way to betray me or
           anybody else here. This is a commune of individuals, totally independent, living out of their freedom
           and responsibility.
                There is nobody above you. You are alone here! So if you betray, you can betray only yourself.
           Let this sink as deep as possible in you, because every faith creates rebels, and every belief creates
           disbelief. The very seed of betrayal is sown in the idea of obedience.
                God thought that Adam and Eve had betrayed him. In fact, he had created the whole situation
           himself. The Christian-Judaic God is a fascist. He orders his own children not to be wise, not to have
           eternal life. He is provoking them to betray. If they have any guts, they will do just what he is telling
           them not to do. And then he dumps on them that they have betrayed, they have not followed, they
           have not been faithful, reliable, trustworthy. They have committed a sin, they should be punished for
           it. And not only are Adam and Eve punished; generation after generation, each human child is being
           punished because thousands of years ago Adam and Eve had betrayed God.
                You cannot betray me. You cannot betray anybody else in this commune. You are here out of
           your freedom, you can leave out of your freedom. You are welcome to come in; you are welcome to
           go out. Our respect for your individuality, for your freedom, for your decision, is absolute.
                So remember: either you can fulfill yourself or you can betray yourself. If you fulfill yourself,
           your freedom will become a fragrance. If you fulfill yourself, your individuality will reach to its
           ultimate potential.
                If you betray yourself, you will remain retarded. But nobody is punishing you. It is your action
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and its consequence.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF ALL THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS HAVE BEEN DOING THINGS NOW IN THE HOPE OF REWARD
              LATER -- IN THE HEREAFTER FOR THE CHRISTIANS -- HOW CAN WE AVOID FALLING INTO
              THE SAME TRAP, BECAUSE OF HABIT, OF MEDITATING NOW TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT
              LATER, AND IN THAT WAITING FOR IT TO HAPPEN, MISSING NOW?


               That is this enlightenment all about? What do you understand by enlightenment?
               The first thing: it can never be in the future. You cannot make a goal of it; it can never be
           tomorrow. Either it is here and now, or never. Remember those words: now or never!
               You have misunderstood the idea of enlightenment. The idea of enlightenment is to remain in the
           present moment. I call it meditation -- not to go into the past, which is no more, not to go into the
           future, which is not yet -- because if you go into past and future, you are going to miss the present
           moment, which is the only reality.
               Just be here, now. And if you are here and now, enlightenment comes of its own accord. It is not
           a goal that you have to reach. It is not somewhere far away, so that you have to travel a path to it. It
           comes to you, you never go to it. It is not your doing, it is a happening.
               All that you have to understand is: be authentically in the present, because there is no other
           reality anywhere. This small moment, this silence -- and suddenly you will feel something arising
           from the very depths of your being. It has always been there; you never gave it a chance. You have
           been wandering everywhere, but you have not allowed your innermost core just a little space, a little
           time.
               All the other religions teach you that God is there far away; you need a savior, a messiah, a
           prophet, a holy book, a religion, to help you to reach there. They teach you that heaven is far away,
           and you have to accumulate virtue to deserve it. They are keeping your eyes focused on a faraway
           future.
               This is a very cunning strategy so that life goes on slipping out of your hands. From the cradle to
           the grave, you are just hoping and hoping and hoping. And what comes is neither God nor heaven,
           but death. And you missed the tremendous opportunity of being alive! You simply vegetated,
           because you were not interested in life itself. Even great thinkers, theologians....
               One Christian theologian, a great intellectual, respected all over the world, was Stanley Jones. He
           was traveling all around the world, preaching the gospel of Christ.
               I met him in one of his discourses. After the discourse I asked him, "Your discourse was
           beautiful, but do you understand what you are doing? You are harming all these simple people. You
           are proving exactly what Karl Marx used to say, that religions are nothing but opium to the people. I
           don't agree with Karl Marx on anything else, but on this statement I cannot disagree. You are giving
           them dreams of the future, of an eternal life beyond death. Have you been beyond death?
               "Being a Christian, certainly you cannot say that you have been beyond death. A Hindu may be
           able to say yes, because he believes in many lives; he has been many times through the process of
           death. But you cannot say that. Christians, Jews, Mohammedans believe only in one life, so there is
           going to be only one death. Have you been beyond death? Have you come experiencing what you are
           saying?
               "Be sincere. And I hope that you will be honest. And if you don't know what is beyond death,
           then why destroy these people's lives? Focusing their mind on the future, which is unknown, is really
           murderous. In my eyes, you are not a theologian but a murderer! The law may not catch you as a
           murderer, but you cannot deny that you have murdered many people; you have taken them away
           from the present -- and that is the only life there is. Live this moment in its totality."
               Other religions have goals. This is not a religion, this is a mystery school. This is a religio -- the
           root from where the word "religion" has come. Religio means putting you together. Nothing else --
           no God, no heaven, no hell, just putting you together, a crystallization. And that can happen only in
           the present.
               I don't sell opium, I am not a dope dealer. For that you will have to go to Christian bishops and
           cardinals and the pope -- they are dope dealers. The dope is so subtle that the law cannot catch them;
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it is invisible. But it is far more dangerous than the ordinary dope. Once you get accustomed to
           focusing your life, your longing, your hope, in the future, you are finished. You have committed
           suicide, you will not be able to live.
           I teach you life.
           I teach you love.
           I teach you meditation.
                They all mean the same thing: to be in the present. And see the beauty of being in the present --
           the silence that descends, the serenity that surrounds you, a tremendous contentment that arises for
           no reason at all.
                And as you become more and more attuned to the present, as your depth within yourself grows,
           suddenly one fine morning you really wake up! Not the everyday waking -- you really wake up,
           because you are at your very center, and you see the whole life in a new light. The whole existence
           becomes luminous. Everything becomes a glory unto itself. Small things start having tremendous
           meaning. And what God had forbidden.... You have eaten the fruit of wisdom and the fruit of eternal
           life; now you know those trees are not outside you, they are your very being.
                The Garden of Eden is not somewhere outside, it is within you. And once it is felt, what a relief,
           what a blessing! This I call enlightenment. Then moment to moment you go on growing more and
           more into light, into life, into love. There is no end to it. Even the sky is not the end. You are far
           bigger than the whole universe. You are carrying within yourself all the millions of stars, all the
           flowers, all the music of the world. There is nothing that you are missing.
                This experience I call enlightenment. But please, don't make it a goal; otherwise you will miss it.
           Make it a goal and you have missed it. You simply learn how to be in the present, and enlightenment
           comes to you. You don't have to go anywhere.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              A FRIEND IS GOING TO VISIT RUSSIA IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS. DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE
              FOR YOUR SANNYASINS OVER THERE?


               Yes, a few things....
           Tell my sannyasins in the Soviet Union: one, that not only are they underground, now my whole
           sannyas movement is underground. I have taken away everything outside and left you with only
           meditation. No government, no fanatic religion is capable of finding the treasure of meditation that
           you are carrying. And outer things don't matter.
               Russian sannyasins have always felt sad because even though they live in a red country, they
           cannot use red clothes. Now there is no problem: we have claimed the whole rainbow. Now all
           colors are our sannyas colors, so they should not feel sad anymore. And now it is possible in the
           Soviet Union to spread meditation more easily; hence the Soviet Union is one of the most potential
           countries.
               It needs meditation, because Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin -- the communist trinity -- had
           no idea of meditation at all. They have never been to their inner being. They have never touched
           their own self and felt its benediction. They were poor people.
               And in Russia, after the revolution, everything that is in any way related to religion has become a
           crime. But what I am giving, even the Soviet Union cannot deny, because we don't have any God, we
           don't have any heaven and hell, we don't have any priesthood, we don't have any prayer, we don't
           have any kind of ritual.
               We have declared that we are no longer a religion. We don't have any theology. We are seekers
           of our own interiority -- that has nothing to do with religion. And who can prevent you from going
           inwards? You can be prevented from going to some place outwards, but you cannot be prevented by
           any force, atomic, nuclear -- no force can prevent you from going inwards.
               And there is no principle in the whole literature of Marxism which says that going into your own
           being is against communism. It has nothing to do with communism. Communism is just a political
           phenomenon. To go inside is just like sleep; what has sleep to do with communism? Going inside is
           absolutely unconnected with any kind of politics.
               So tell the sannyasins in the Soviet Union that they need not be afraid. The KGB is persecuting
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them -- make it clear to them that we are not a religion, and we don't have any politics. What we are
           doing is an "insearch." And, according to the Soviet constitution, insearch is not a crime. So don't be
           afraid. Be straightforward and up front.
               Meditation is not a prayer. Prayer needs a God: meditation needs no God. Meditation needs only
           you, ready to explore what is inside you: What is this life? What is this consciousness?
               And Russia has more potential, because for sixty, seventy years the Russian people have been
           deprived of any inner journey. It is just like a land which has remained unused for seventy years. No
           crops have been grown. The land is ready to burst forth -- just the seeds are needed. That's why I say
           Russia is one of the most potential countries. And meditation is the seed.
               Meditation can become a wildfire in Russia, because everything else is difficult. The government
           is continuously after you; even walls have ears. Everybody is a detective -- but nobody can detect
           your meditation. Spread it! Many people need it.
               The second thing: tell the Russian sannyasins not to feel in any way sad that in other countries
           sannyasins are free. It is not true. Our experience in America proves it -- that all democracy is simply
           talk. The American Constitution is beautiful, but the politicians are just as ugly as anywhere else.
           The Constitution is a dead book. The power is in the hands of the politicians, and they are doing
           everything that they can do to destroy sannyasins. That is the reason that I am telling my sannyasins
           to go underground. And it is so easy for my sannyasins to go underground: no red clothes, no mala --
           you are underground.
               I am not a sadist. I don't want you to be unnecessarily persecuted, tortured, harassed. There is no
           need when you can go underground so easily. The politicians will prove absolutely impotent; they
           cannot do anything to you.
               In Mohammedan countries we have sannyasins. They were also feeling bad that they cannot be
           like every other sannyasin, and the movement cannot grow. Now it can grow everywhere; now there
           are no barriers.
               It is the same thing -- the politicians may talk of democracy, they may talk of dictatorship, it
           doesn't matter. Politicians are simply politicians. Their minds function in the same way, their
           cunningness is the same. Yes, their masks may be different. In these four years we have seen that the
           American politician has only the mask of a democrat. Behind democracy is hypocrisy and nothing
           else.
               This whole world is tortured by politicians in different names, exploited in different names. The
           only way to get out of this exploitation is to spread meditation to as many people as possible --
           because the meditator is no longer gullible. He has a maturity and an intelligence; words cannot
           deceive him.
               And if the major part of the world becomes meditative, it will release such a great energy of
           peace, love, compassion.... That, to me, is the only possibility of preventing the third world war,
           because meditators will refuse to fight, meditators will refuse to be violent. It does not matter
           whether they are American or Russian or Indian, the quality of meditation is the same. It makes you
           so sensitive that you cannot be destructive.
               And if the whole world simply refuses to fight, then if these politicians are so interested in
           fighting they can have wrestling matches, boxing matches, and meditators will enjoy it
           tremendously. But the world is not going to be destroyed by these idiots.
               I am not a pacifist. I will not tell you to go on a protest march to Moscow or to the White House
           or to anywhere. Those protest marches have been going on -- they don't make any difference. I want
           you to be peaceful -- not pacifist, but just a deep pool of peace. That is the only possibility of saving
           humanity.
               And if we can avoid the third world war, then many doors open. There is no need of nations...
           what is the need of nations? I don't see the point. It is because of the wars that nations are needed. It
           is a vicious circle; because of the nations, war is needed. If there is no need of any war, then there is
           no need of any boundaries.
               Then why America? Why Soviet Russia? Why India? Why China? This whole earth belongs to
           us. And if the whole earth becomes one organic whole, poverty can be destroyed very easily.
           Seventy-five percent of the whole world's energy, income, is going into the service of death, making
           more and more sophisticated nuclear weapons. If the world is one, all this energy can become
           creative; all these scientists can change the whole direction of their work, and this seventy-five
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           percent energy and income will become available to people.
               There is no need for any Ethiopia -- one thousand people dying every day; there is no need.
           There is no need for India to remain undernourished. Fifty percent of the people -- and that is a big
           number, four hundred million people -- are eating only one time a day. Soon, within months, India
           will be another Ethiopia.
               But if the world is one, if war is no longer needed, the whole energy devoted to war can be
           devoted to getting rid of poverty, can be released for people's comfort, luxury.
               Meditation can bring the only revolution there is. All other revolutions have failed.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              GURDJIEFF'S LAST WORDS TO HIS DISCIPLES WERE, "BRAVO, AMERICA."
              I HAVE HEARD YOU APPRECIATED HIS INSIGHT ABOUT AMERICA, BUT RIGHT NOW THE WAY
              AMERICAN BUREAUCRACY AND POLITICIANS ARE BEHAVING WITH YOU AND WITH THE
              COMMUNE, IT SEEMS THE WORDS OF GURDJIEFF ARE NO LONGER RELEVANT.


               No, they are still relevant. A man like George Gurdjieff never becomes irrelevant. People of that
           category are eternally relevant. Politicians may be behaving in an ugly way -- the only way they
           know -- but America is not just the American politicians.
               Gurdjieff's last words before he died were "Bravo, America." His disciples were at a loss to
           figure it out. Their whole life they had been in trouble with this man, and now at the last.... Nobody
           could have expected that his dying words would be, "Bravo, America." And he was dying in France!
           And now he is dead so you cannot even ask, "What do you mean?" But what he said was more
           significant, meaningful, than ordinary intellect can understand.
               America is the youngest country in the whole world, its history is only three hundred years. It is
           nothing compared to the histories of China, India. In India, three hundred years mean nothing. The
           Indian astrologers prove -- and nobody has been able to contradict them yet -- that Indian civilization
           is at least ninety thousand years old.
               In the RIGVEDA, the most ancient book in the whole world, a certain constellation of stars is
           described in detail, in every particular, precisely. That constellation happened ninety thousand years
           ago, according to the scientists. Since then that kind of constellation has not happened again.
               There is no way for the people who were writing the RIGVEDA to describe the stars and their
           constellations in such precise and exact detail unless they had observed it. Now the proof is such that
           no argument can defeat it. A country which is ninety thousand years old -- what does three hundred
           years mean to it? China perhaps is even older.
               Gurdjieff's statement means first that America has no burden of past conditioning -- one thing. It
           is a very thin layer of conditioning, three hundred years, in comparison to ninety thousand years. To
           change the Hindu mind is almost impossible. It is so old, so thick; so deep have gone the roots. But
           the American mind is only very superficially conditioned -- one thing which makes it possible that
           America can be deprogrammed, and Americans can become the first citizens of a new world.
           Perhaps Gurdjieff was remembering the words, "brave new world," when he said, "Bravo, America."
               Secondly, America is the only country where all kinds of people -- Spanish, Italian, English,
           German, Swedish, Belgian, Swiss -- all kinds of people have mixed. It is not a race; it is more
           cosmopolitan than any other country.
               The man of the future has to be cosmopolitan. He cannot be an Italian, a German, an Indian, an
           African. No, he can only be a human being. There is more possibility in America for it to happen.
           All other countries are racial; America is a nonracial country. It is a tremendous opportunity to
           create a new world without any racial mind.
               Thirdly, America is more receptive to new ideas, new technologies, new scientific research, than
           any other country, for the simple psychological reason that a child has no past, he has only a future.
           That's why he is always ready to learn -- in fact, asking too many questions because he wants to
           know what this life is all about. He harasses his parents by asking questions which the parents
           themselves don't know how to answer. They don't know the answers either, and they are not
           courageous enough to say, "We don't know."
               An old man has no future, only past. The old man looks backwards, not forwards. In the future
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is only darkness and death, in the past are all his golden memories; he lives in the past. The
           same is true about countries. A country like India or China has such a long past -- they live in the
           past. India thinks it has seen its golden age.
                You will not believe that in India the theory of evolution is not acceptable. India has another
           theory: the theory of involution. Things are not going, growing, towards better states, evolving -- no.
           Things are falling down -- involution.
                India has the idea that the best age was thousands of years ago; they call it the "age of truth."
           Then the second stage came, the fall started. They call it simply "the age of three legs." The reason is
           that the first age they compare to a table with four legs -- completely balanced, with no possibility of
           falling. The second stage has lost one leg, so it is a tripod with three legs, treta -- still not too bad,
           because even with three legs a tripod has a certain balance. The third stage they call dwapar -- the
           age of two legs. Now things are becoming dangerous. A table with two legs -- it is not a bicycle, it is
           bound to fall. The bicycle will also fall unless you go on riding it so that it has no chance to fall.
           Slow down and it starts wavering; stop and it falls. But a table is not a bicycle, so it is bound to fall.
           The fall is inevitable. The fourth stage has only one leg. They call it "the age of darkness" --
           kaliyuga. We are living in the age of darkness.
                Now, a country which thinks in such terms cannot accept evolution. It has happened -- now there
           is no future. The golden age has come and gone; now there is only darkness and death.
                America is just like a child. Three hundred years compared to ninety thousand years -- it is just a
           small child. It has its eyes open, ready to evolve, to grow. It has no past to be bothered about.
           Gurdjieff is still relevant, and will remain relevant always. People like him never become irrelevant.
           In spite of the third-rate politicians, America is going to evolve, evolve into the new man, evolve
           into a new humanity.
                I have chosen to be here, I have called you to be here, because I don't want Gurdjieff to become
           irrelevant. His prophecy has to be fulfilled.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              TODAY WE GOT RID OF GACHCHHAMIS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I WANT TO SUGGEST WE
              DROP ALSO THE WORDS "TEMPLE" AND "WORSHIP." THEY ARE APPARENTLY AN INVENTION
              OF OUR HIGH PRIESTESS, SHEELA.


              Done!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE COMMUNE IN SWEDEN HAS NOW CLOSED AS ALL THE OTHER SMALL COMMUNES
              HAVE ALREADY DONE. THERE ARE NOW ONLY A FEW BIG ONES LEFT IN THREE
              COUNTRIES. IS IT TIME TO START NEW, FRESH COMMUNES NOW? OR SHALL THE
              CENTRALIZATION TO THE BIG COMMUNES CONTINUE? PLEASE COMMENT.


              It is time to start fresh communes. I am absolutely against centralization.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE ANY REASON THAT YOU TELL US THE SAME THINGS DAY AFTER DAY?


              You are the reason!
           Okay?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #23
                                 Chapter title: Religion is dead, religio is born
           7 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510070
              ShortTitle: BONDAG23
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 120 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              GOD IS DEAD, RELIGION IS DEAD. THEN WHAT REMAINS?


               It is an old story.
           First, let me tell you the latest death. Last week in the Vatican a Minorite monk, aged fifty-five,
           constructed a machine for masturbation. His name was Guardiano Alfredo Germonari. Testing the
           machine, a short circuit happened, and the poor monk died from an electric shock. He was doing a
           great humanitarian work, particularly for monks -- to save them from the disease AIDS. But it seems
           God is more favorable to homosexuality and AIDS than to a mechanical device which is more
           clinical, less harmful -- unless a short circuit happens, which is very rare.
           Now, your question....
               Reading the name, Guardiano Alfredo Germonari, I thought perhaps God died because...
           pronouncing all these Italian names, it is better to die. Their names are so clumsy, just like their
           spaghetti. At least one thing is certain: God does not like spaghetti, because there is no mention in
           any scripture; otherwise every kind of detail is given.
               You are asking me, "God is dead...." He has never been there. This is just another way of saying
           that God was our own projection, our own desire for a father figure. As man matures, evolves,
           becomes more intelligent, the projection is bound to disappear.
               God has never existed, and his death is tremendously significant. His death means man is not a
           machine. It means that man is not a creature, created by someone; that man has an independence. He
           is not created, he has evolved over millions of years. He is existential, he is not mechanical. The
           death of God is tremendously significant. It is the declaration of man's freedom.
               If God can create you, he can any moment uncreate you. You are just a puppet. If God creates
           you, then whatever you are, you are not responsible for it. That's why the whole humanity behaves
           irresponsibly. Every responsibility is God's. If good happens, it is because of God, if bad happens, it
           is because of God: man is simply a victim.
               God is a fascist dictator, and very whimsical. He created the world, according to Judaic and
           Christian tradition, only six thousand years ago. Then what had he been doing before that -- for
           eternity? He has a gay company with him, a very strange company -- and people are known by the
           company they keep. The Holy Ghost -- now what kind of company is this? A son, but there is no
           mother. This is the trinity.
               How this son is born, no Christian theologian, no Jewish rabbi has been able to answer. Has the
           Holy Ghost given birth to Jesus Christ? Is the Holy Ghost a woman? Then he should be called the
           Holy Witch. Is he bisexual? As far as names are concerned, all the three are male. This is sheer male
           chauvinistic ideology, really macho.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The death of God declares freedom for man and equality for women. With God in the heavens,
           the woman can never be equal with man. Man was created in a special way, out of mud, humus --
           that's why he is called "human." Why couldn't he create a woman out of the same material? There is
           so much mud, even in this small commune -- it is called the Big Muddy Ranch -- and God owns the
           whole universe!
                There is so much mud, but he could not find mud enough to create a woman. No, just a macho --
           the woman cannot be created exactly the way man is created. He took out one of the ribs of man and
           created the woman out of the rib. The woman is nothing but a bone. Now, a bone cannot be equal to
           man. A bone is just a bone.
                God alive, the woman will remain in bondage. God dead, the woman is liberated, liberated from
           a male chauvinistic idea. Man himself is liberated -- because to be created by someone is very
           humiliating. Then you are like a painting, or a sculpture, dependent completely on the artist. You
           don't have your own being.
                A small child was saying to his friend, another small child, "My father is such a great painter that
           he makes a painting and you can see the face in the painting smiling. And just by a single stroke of
           his brush the smile disappears, and you see a sad man."
                The other boy laughed. He said, "That's nothing. You must see my mother. I come home smiling,
           there is no need even for a single stroke of a brush: just seeing her and I become sad, just a look is
           enough.... I was coming dancing, running, happy, but she is such a 'mum' that to face her you cannot
           be smiling. She is a great artist! What is your father compared to my mother?"
                If man is created by God, then you are not responsible for your sexuality, you are not responsible
           if you commit a murder, you are not responsible if you commit suicide -- because all these potentials
           were created by God in you... these ideas, these possibilities which will one day become actual.
                All courts are really against God -- but they are punishing victims instead of punishing the real
           criminal. All religions are really against God, but they are telling you how to behave rather than
           telling God, "Why don't you change your way of creating man? If celibacy is spiritual, create
           celibate people."
                And nothing is impossible for God. If he can create the whole existence, can't he manage to
           create a celibate man? Can't he create a man or a woman who is a born monk, a born nun? He just
           has to do a little work in your biology, in your chemistry, in your hormones.
                It is strange -- God creates men, women, full of sex, and the priests of God are against sex. God
           creates you the way you are, but you are not accepted by the society the way you are. You have to
           mold yourself according to the ideas of the society. God is secondary; the social norm is primary.
           And, strangely, nobody sees this contradiction. All these societies, all these religions, all these courts
           of law go on paying tribute to God.
                Once I was in a court because I had inaugurated a church which was lying closed for ten years,
           because the people who used to worship there had left when the British empire in India disappeared.
           It was a special church for English people, and it was locked; it was owned by the archbishop of
           England.
                I told a few of my Christian friends, "This is strange -- such a beautiful church is simply
           becoming a ruin, such a beautiful garden is simply not taken care of. Why don't you start
           worshipping here? You have a church which is very ordinary, and this church was made for the
           people who ruled India" -- it was all marble. "So why do you continue to worship in a third-class
           church, when this church is empty and Christ has been imprisoned for ten years? Give him a little
           fresh air -- open the doors!"
                It appealed to them. A few young Christians agreed, but they said, "You will have to inaugurate
           it."
           I said, "That I will certainly do."
                So they broke the lock and I inaugurated the church. They started worshipping in the church;
           they cleaned it, they tried to make the garden better. But the archbishop of England informed the
           archbishop of India to put a case against these people. And because I had inaugurated their church, I
           was also involved in the case, so I had to go to the court. In fact, I had provoked them to do
           whatsoever they had done. And the church was looking so beautiful. The garden was coming back,
           and it was looking alive.
                I was brought to the court, and the judge asked me, "In the name of God, take the oath that you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will speak only truth and nothing else."
                I said, "In the name of God I cannot take the oath. Have you seen God? Has anybody in this
           court seen God? I have not seen him, and I don't think he exists at all! Why should I take the oath in
           the name of God? I can say on my own responsibility that whatever I say will be the truth. But I
           cannot start it with an ultimate lie. God is the ultimate lie!"
                The death of God is the victory of truth. It is freedom for man. Now you need not pray, now you
           need not ask a favor. Now you need not believe in a messiah, in a savior, in a messenger -- they all
           died with the death of God. Without God there is no savior, no prophet, no messiah. There is no
           pope, no Ayatollah Khomeini, no shankaracharya. They are all living and exploiting humanity in the
           name of God -- who does not exist at all.
                The death of God is an immense freedom, multidimensional. It is not to be mourned; it has to be
           celebrated. Yes, I have declared that religion too is dead. If God is dead, how can religion survive?
           One lie leads you to another lie, and God is the fundamental lie. Then you can make a whole palace
           of playing cards -- just a small breeze of understanding, of intelligence, and the whole palace
           collapses.
                Religion is dead. It has really lived too long, it should have been dead long ago. It has not done
           any good to humanity, it has done immense harm. It has divided humanity. It has given different
           groups of people the idea that "You are the real people of God," that "You are special; other human
           beings are second class." It has fulfilled the egos of Jews, of Christians, of Hindus, of
           Mohammedans -- of everybody. It has created so many wars. It has killed millions of people, burned
           thousands of people alive, and all in the name of God. For your own sake you are being burned
           alive!
                Religion is one of the most criminal phenomena that have existed in the world. It is time that we
           declare it dead.
                But remember, every death is a beginning of something new; every death is not an end. On the
           one side it looks as if something has ended, but on the other side something fresh starts growing. The
           death of religion becomes the beginning of religio.
                The word "religion" comes from RELIGIO. "Religio" has a beauty of its own, which is lost in
           "religion." Religio means an existential, an experiential phenomenon. The very word means coming
           to a point where you are one -- one with yourself, one with existence. The religion which comes
           from the same root does not have that meaning. It, on the contrary, makes you split. Making you one
           is not its work; its work is to make you schizophrenic, to put you into a split state, to put you against
           your own body, to put you against your own sex, to put you against yourself; to divide you into
           parts, fragments, and create an inner conflict in you.
                All religious people are continuously fighting with themselves, because their biology says to do
           something, and their holy scripture says to do just the opposite. Their own being wants to grow in
           one way, but the priests direct them into some other way.
                Every religion has been trying to make you somebody else. No religion has allowed you to be
           just yourself. They are all afraid of your being just yourself; then their function is lost. Their function
           is to create conflict in you, to make you miserable, suffering, in anguish. Then naturally you have to
           seek help.
                They create the disease, and then they start praying for you to be forgiven. They are the
           criminals, and they are asking for you to be forgiven. And whom are they asking? There is nobody.
                So it is really a great exploitation by the priesthood of all the religions. They have destroyed
           every individual. They have made you Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, but they have not
           allowed you to become just an individual, a human being. You were born not as a Christian, you
           were born not as as Buddhist; you were born just as a human being. They have destroyed your
           innocence, they have misdirected your life. They have molded you into something which you cannot
           become; it is not your potential.
                This is not religio. Religio is accepting you in your totality, making you whole, healthy. And that
           opens the door to become one with existence. You are part of it; every moment you are part of it.
           You are breathing existence in and out every moment -- you are eating it, you are living it in every
           possible way. No man is an island, we are all part of an infinite continent; that's what I am calling
           existence.
                Religio will relax you. Religio will give you, for the first time, the dignity of being a human
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           being, and the vastness of being part of the whole existence.
           Religion is dead, religio is born.
                Religion is something like marriage: unnatural, arbitrary, artificial, created by social
           convenience.
                Religio is like love: natural, simple. No law is involved in it; no society, no culture dominates it.
                Love is a law unto itself, and love gives you something that is immensely precious. You start
           feeling needed. You are not superficial, you are not just accidental; you are needed, you are fulfilling
           some essential need. Love gives you the first glimpse that existence wants you the way you are.
           There is no need to become Jesus Christ or Gautam Buddha. Nature does not like carbon copies.
           Existence likes originals. You, in your originality, are acceptable.
                But a Christian is a carbon copy; he is trying to become Jesus Christ, and in two thousand years
           not a single Christian has succeeded. In twenty-five centuries not a single Buddhist has succeeded in
           becoming Gautam Buddha. Is it not proof enough? You can go even further backwards. In five
           thousand years, no Hindu has succeeded in becoming a Krishna. It is simply impossible. Nature
           never repeats.
                They say history repeats itself -- because history is not nature. History belongs to carbon copies,
           retarded people; naturally it repeats itself. They don't know what else to do, so they go on doing the
           same thing again.
                Nature is very inventive. It does not create even two persons equal, even similar. There are four
           billion people on the earth today, but you cannot find two persons who are exactly alike. Even twins
           are not exactly alike. They may appear to be, but their mother knows who is who; their wives know
           who is who. There are differences -- very subtle. Outsiders may be puzzled, but those who know
           them closely can see the differences in their individuality -- in their gestures, in their way of
           speaking, in their way of thinking, in their way of walking -- in small things. But the differences are
           bound to be there.
                Religion has tried a very futile experiment, and almost destroyed humanity for thousands of
           years. The death of religion releases you from becoming somebody else. Now you can enjoy being
           yourself.
                We can call our commune, religio -- a mystery school, a way of searching for one's own spiritual
           being, a way of discovering one's original face. Nobody has to become anybody else.
                And you are asking me, "God is dead, religion is dead, then what is left now?"
                In fact, those were the hindrances, which are removed, and everything that is essential is
           available now. Now you can be yourself without any guilt. Now you can be simply a human being
           without belonging to any organized religion. The moment truth becomes organized, it becomes
           untrue.
                I am reminded of a beautiful ancient story. A newly-recruited devil came running to the master
           devil, huffing and puffing, and said, "Something has to be done immediately! One man on the earth
           has just found the truth! And if he spreads it, what are we going to do? Our whole business is
           finished! He has to be prevented."
                The old man laughed. He said, "You are a new recruit; you don't know -- my people are already
           there."
           The young devil said, "Your people?"
                He said, "Yes, my people. The priests are already around the man, and they are organizing
           whatever he has found. That is my way of destroying truth, and it has never failed; for centuries I
           have been doing that. The priests -- all the priests -- are in my service! They don't know it, but the
           moment truth is organized, it dies."
                Why does truth die when it is organized? It dies because it is an individual experience. Can you
           organize love? Nobody has ever thought about it; otherwise it would have died. You cannot organize
           love. Love is something that transpires between two individuals. It does not need any priest, it does
           not need any book of instructions.
                When I was studying in the university I used to have a roommate -- he was a little bit of an idiot,
           just the same as people are all over the world.
                He asked me, "Everybody talks about the fact that he has fallen in love, and some girl has fallen
           in love with him. It seems we are the only two persons in this whole university.... About you there is
           no problem, because you don't want anything to do with any love, any woman, because you think
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they will be a distraction in your search. I don't know what you are searching for, but I am at a loss: I
           want to fall in love. But how to fall in love? I have been to the university library looking for a book,
           HOW TO FALL IN LOVE; there is not a single book on the subject. And I cannot ask anybody else,
           because they will simply laugh. If everybody knows how to fall, then why don't I?"
               I said, "You don't be worried, I will teach you. You just choose the girl that you would like to fall
           in love with."
               He said, "I chose her two years ago, but how to start? The moment she enters, I become so
           nervous in the classroom, I forget all about love. I forget even what the teacher is saying."
               I said, "Don't be worried. I will write a love letter for you. You simply post it to the girl and wait
           for the answer."
               I knew the girl; she was one of the most beautiful girls in the university. She had been interested
           in me, but I had told her, "Right now, I am involved too much in my own work, in my meditations,
           and I don't think you have patience enough to wait. But if you can wait, then I can promise you one
           thing: the day I become enlightened I will be ready. But not before that."
               She said, "Enlightened? My God! How long will I have to wait?"
               I said, "Nobody knows. I may become enlightened in this life, I may become enlightened in
           another life. Nothing can be said, it is unpredictable. So the best is, for the time being you choose
           somebody else."
               But she was persistent. So I approached her and said, "Just do me a favor."
           She said, "Have you become enlightened?"
               I said, "No, not yet. But one of my friends is in a difficulty. He wants to fall in love, but he does
           not know how to fall in love. So you will receive a letter from him. Don't discourage him -- write
           him a beautiful letter."
               She said, "This is tricky. Then I will be stuck with that boy -- and I know your roommate, I don't
           want anything to do with him."
           I said, "You need not be worried."
               And she said, "How can I write a very loving letter to that idiot? I cannot!"
               I said, "Then I will write it." So I was writing letters from both the sides. And the boy was so
           ecstatic! He could not believe that just with his writing a letter, love began.
               But then the girl fell in love with somebody else. She told me that she could not wait, her parents
           were forcing her: either she had to choose someone, or they would. "You are my choice, but your
           enlightenment is a strange thing," she said. "I have never heard of anybody making such a condition,
           that when they become enlightened, then they will think about other matters. I have to choose;
           otherwise they will choose. So I have chosen, unwillingly. I will remember you, but I am getting
           married."
               I said, "You get married happily, and don't feel that you are doing it unwillingly. I am
           responsible for making you sad, and for making you decide in favor of someone else. I like you, but
           as far as love is concerned, that involvement is possible only after my enlightenment, not before
           that!"
               She said, "Then what about your friend that you have been unnecessarily forcing upon me? He
           goes on writing every day. And you have made it such a mess that you go on writing in my name,
           and I have to post those letters. I read them and I say, 'My God! That idiot!' And you are praising
           him and telling him, 'I will die without you, and I cannot live without you. You are my heart.' What
           am I to say to that man?"
               I said, "You have simply to say that your parents are forcing you to get married." And in India it
           is common, an arranged marriage. A love marriage is still not acceptable.
               So she told the idiot, "What can I do? I love you so much, but my parents have arranged my
           marriage. So now I will not be seeing you anymore, and you stop writing the letters."
               He almost came to a nervous breakdown, crying, in tears. I asked, "What is the matter?" -- I
           knew what was the matter!
               He said, "My love affair was going so smoothly. Every day a letter -- I was writing, she was
           replying; everything was going so smoothly. And her father has disturbed everything. I will shoot
           that man!"
               I said, "That won't help. You find another girl -- there is no problem -- and start writing letters
           again."
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           He said, "But I don't know what to write."
               So I said, "You do one thing. You go to the girl and ask for all the letters you have written to
           her."
           He said, "What!"
               "You just tell her, 'I need those letters, because I have not been writing them.' And return her
           letters to her."
               So he went to the girl and asked for his letters. But she said, "What will you do with those
           letters?"
               He said, "What will I do? Have I to live or not? You are getting married -- I will have to write
           letters to somebody else. Now what is the point of writing the same letters again? I can use these
           letters. And here are your letters that you had written to me; perhaps you may need them sometime,
           because who loves one's own husband? Who loves one's own wife? You may need them."
               The girl said, "You can have both the sets, because both are written by the same man."
               He was very angry with me, but I said to him, "That is the function of a priest. I have not done
           anything unique; that is what the priests have been doing all through man's history. They pray for
           you to God. They even bring answers from God to you -- answers to your prayers. They make your
           prayer, they make the answers for your prayer. I have been just functioning like a priest -- only the
           area was different; it was love, it was not God."
               The priests have no function if there is no God. Then there is no prayer, then there is no holy
           book, then there is no ritual. The priest has nothing left. He wants an organized religion. He turns
           religio into its opposite and calls it religion.
               Religio is a freedom. Religion is a slavery. Dropping God, dropping religion, I have restored
           your freedom. Now you can be yourself without any fear. You can grow without copying anybody.
           You can just grow into your own unknown potential.
               You are asking, "What is left?" Everything becomes available; only blocks have been removed,
           hindrances have been removed. Now you can meditate. You cannot pray; prayer needs a God.
           Meditation needs no God. Prayer has divided humanity, because Christian prayer is different from
           Hindu prayer. Mohammedan prayer is different from Christian prayer. But meditation is the same.
               Here, this very moment... if you are all silent, it is the same silence.
           Silence cannot have any name, any label.
           And meditation is the ultimate growth of silence.
               Now you can be silent, you can grow deeper and deeper within yourself, searching for the center
           from where your life arises. The moment you discover that center, there is an explosion which is far
           more significant than any atomic explosion, far more luminous. The atomic explosion is destructive.
           The explosion that happens at your center gives you a tremendous energy to be creative.
               And it does not make you part of any organized cult, creed, dogma -- no. It simply makes you a
           dignified individual, immensely blissful because you have found the greatest treasure in the world.
           There is nothing more to be found. In finding your center, you have found the very center of
           existence.
           You have found eternity.
           Now there is no death.
               And out of this experience arises lovingness, compassion, creativity. Even sitting silently, doing
           nothing, there will be a certain aura of bliss around you, a certain fragrance around you.
           You have come home.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              SITUATIONS ARE CHANGING VERY FAST, AND YOU ARE STIRRING MY HEART. THERE ARE
              CHAINS OF ACTIONS, REACTIONS AND INTERACTIONS. I AM CONTINUOUSLY IMAGINING
              THE FUTURE. I DON'T FIND A WAY OUT OR A WAY IN.
              PLEASE GUIDE.


              There is no need to find a way out; there is no need to find a way in. Just remain where you are.
           One has not to go anywhere.
              Religio is not a going somewhere, but the dropping of all journeys and just being wherever you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are, whatever you are.
               Religio is not a way in or out. It is a stoppage, a total stoppage of all movement. And suddenly
           you are where you always wanted to be.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE HEARD, "WE CREATE OUR OWN REALITY," AND I HAVE HEARD, "FLOW WITH
              EXISTENCE." AT TIMES IT APPEARS LIKE ONE OR THE OTHER OR PO. HOW MUCH AM I
              RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT I EXPERIENCE? WHAT KIND OF DANCE IS GOING ON?


               You are responsible for everything, for every dance that is going on. When you relax and let go,
           that too is your responsibility. When you don't relax and don't allow the state of let-go, that too is
           your responsibility. So there are not two different things. There is only one thing, and that is, your
           responsibility.
               Only one thing has to be remembered: whatever gives you a more loving heart, whatever gives
           you a more clear intelligence, whatever gives you a more integrated individuality, do it. Whatever
           goes against it, goes against your own ultimate growth.
               These are symbolic. Lovingness, friendliness, compassion, intelligence, clarity of vision -- these
           are symbols that you are in the right dimension.
               But whatever you do is your responsibility. You cannot dump your responsibility on anybody
           else. There is nobody else. With God, the devil has also died; they were two sides of the same coin.
               Now you are left alone with your freedom. Make whatever you can make of it. I can only explain
           to you that these are symbols that you are in the right dimension. If you are going in a wrong
           dimension your lovingness will disappear, your compassion will disappear, your creativity will
           disappear, your sharpness of intelligence will disappear. So you only have to be alert and always
           watching that these symbols go on growing, not diminishing. Then whatever you do is right.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              COULD YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE FEAR OF FREEDOM? THERE IS SUCH A
              LONGING TO BE FREE, YET ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS I SEE SO MUCH FEAR
              COMING UP AT THE SAME TIME. IS IT NOTHING ELSE BUT AVOIDING ALONENESS AND
              RESPONSIBILITY?


               It is natural, because from the very beginning of your childhood you have been told to depend on
           others, their advice, their guidelines. You have grown older, but you have not grown up. All animals
           grow older. It is only man who has two possibilities: either he can grow old like every other animal,
           or he can grow up. Growing up means getting rid of all dependence. Naturally, in the beginning it
           will create fear.
               You were surrounded by your own projections, and thinking that you were protected. For
           example, you have been told from the very beginning that God is protecting you. Even small
           children are told in the night, "Don't be afraid. Go to sleep. God is protecting you."
               That child is still within you -- and I say, "There is no God. You can sleep in darkness in safety.
           Nobody is protecting you." But that means you cannot sleep; you are afraid, somebody is needed to
           protect you. That God was hocus-pocus, but it helped. It was like homeopathic medicine -- just sugar
           pills.
               But if your disease is just an idea -- and there are so many people around who get ideas; just a
           slight thing and they will exaggerate it, almost unconsciously. No real medicine is needed for their
           imaginary diseases, all that they need is an imaginary medicine.
               In the first place, darkness is beautiful. It has tremendous depth, silence, infinity. Light comes
           and goes; darkness always remains, it is more eternal than light. For light you need some fuel, for
           darkness no fuel is needed -- it is simply there. And for relaxing, light is not the right thing. Light
           creates tensions, keeps you awake. Darkness allows you to relax, to let go.
               There is no fear in darkness, so the whole idea of fear in darkness is a projection. Then you need
           a God -- another projection -- who will protect you in darkness. One lie needs another lie, and then
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           there is no end; you have to go on lying.
                Certainly freedom will make you afraid of many things. Be alert. Look deeply into anything that
           makes you afraid. And you will be surprised that if you look deeply into anything that makes you
           afraid, it will disappear. There is nothing to fear in the world. Then you can rejoice in freedom and
           the responsibility it brings.
                Responsibility makes you grow up. You become more and more responsible for every action, for
           every thought, for every feeling. It makes you crystallized. It takes away all the chains that have
           been binding you and your psychology.
                I was staying with a friend; we were going to a meeting which I was to address, and the man was
           driving me. He was honking the horn for his wife to come down, because we were getting late. And I
           don't like to be late, because so many people are waiting, and you come late? It is disrespectful,
           ungraceful.
                Finally his wife looked out of the window and said, "A thousand times I have told you I am
           coming in a minute!"
                I said, "My God! How can she say it a thousand times -- and still she is coming in a minute?" But
           she is not conscious of what she is saying.
                You have exaggerated your fears. Just look at them, and just by your looking at them they will
           start becoming smaller. You have never looked at them, you have been escaping from them. You
           have been creating protections against them, rather than looking directly into the eyes of your fear.
                There is nothing to fear at all; all that is needed is a little more awareness. So whatever your fear
           is, catch hold of it, look at it minutely, the way a scientist looks at a thing. And you will be surprised,
           it starts melting like an ice flake. By the time you have looked into its totality, it is gone.
                And when freedom is there without any fear, it brings such benediction that there are no words to
           express it.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU AGAINST TEMPORARY, WORKABLE ORGANIZATION?


                No. A temporary workable organization is an absolute necessity; otherwise there would be
           simply chaos.
                But remember that it is a temporary workable organization. It has no power, it is just functional
           -- just like the post office. Certainly we need a certain kind of organization; otherwise the post office
           cannot work. But nobody knows who the head of the whole organization is in America, who the
           head postmaster general is. There is no need to know; it is a functional organization.
                But why should you know about President Ronald Reagan? That should also be another postal
           organization, not more than that. There are railways functioning, airplanes functioning. They have
           their functional organizations; nobody bothers about who is the president. Then what special status
           has the government got?
                And these people go on saying that democracy is for the people, of the people, by the people --
           but nobody knows those people. People come to know only the presidents, the governors, the
           attorney generals. There is no need.
                The press and other media should be more intelligent, and should start talking about creative
           people: musicians who have contributed to music, painters, poets. Politicians should belong to the
           very last category. They have not contributed anything to existence. It is good -- they have a
           functional organization, but they should be put into their place.
                I am not against temporary workable organizations. I am against organizations which become
           more important than the people they are supposed to serve. People should always remain more
           important. Nobody is more important than the people. The government is only a servant to the
           people.
                And what is there to brag about, that you are the president of servants? Enjoy it, but keep quiet.
           And, in fact, it would be very protective of these people's lives. If Ronald Reagan is just the head of
           the servants of the people, who is going to assassinate him? For what? Nobody assassinates servants.
                Organizations are for the people, and they should be liquid, flexible. If something has to change
           it is the organization, not the people.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, a decade ago they made in Oregon some land-use laws. The people who had made
           those laws I don't think were farmers. They may have been legal experts, but what have legal experts
           to do with land?
               We have changed this desert into an oasis. We have made it sufficiently cultivable so that we are
           growing our own food for five thousand people, we are growing our own vegetables in greenhouses.
           And the attorney general is saying that whatever we are doing is against land-use laws!
               For fifty years nothing was done on this land. For fifty years nobody was ready to purchase it.
           Who will purchase a desert? For what? Then it was according to the land-use laws. For fifty years
           there was no question; nothing was cultivated, the land was simply lying dead -- it was according to
           the land-use laws. We have put two hundred million dollars into the land, we have changed its
           character -- and we have committed something illegal! It goes against their land-use laws.
               I have invited them, said that they should come here, and they can see in what way we have used
           the land. And then change your laws, because if a commune can transform a desert into an oasis, it
           has proved its point. No argument is needed; we have existentially proved our point. You come and
           see, and then change your laws, because laws are for men, and men are not for laws.
               This is the difference between a functional organization and the organizations that exist in the
           world today. All organizations should be only temporary and functional. And man should be the
           criterion, not the laws. Why are those laws made? -- to serve man.
               But these servants become great leaders, and their laws become something... as if they are
           ultimate laws and they cannot be changed, like gravitation. Your laws are made by people -- and by
           people who know nothing about land use. The attorney general of Oregon -- what does he know
           about land use? And finally he got defeated in the court. We have been victorious in the case.
               Now he has another case in the court: he says the city is illegal because state and religion are
           mixed here. Again, I would like to know how much religion he knows, how much he has meditated.
           To what stage of meditation has he reached? I give him an open challenge. I want to discuss openly
           with him what religion should mean.
               Now we have buried the religion, burned it completely. Now there is no religion here. Nobody
           can say that religion is being mixed with the state: religion does not exist here anymore. But he has
           not even the guts to withdraw his case.
               But he will be defeated again, because we have withdrawn the whole functional temporary
           organization of religion.
               That does not mean that you become enemies of religion. That does not mean that you become
           irreligious. It simply means we have left religion far behind. Now we declare ourselves religio, a
           school of mystics, a commune of meditators. And there is no law against religio, meditation,
           spirituality. Now we have to see him in the court.
               We are not a religion like Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism. We have left them all behind, far
           behind.
               We are individuals, seekers living together because our search is one. Our paths are individual.
               I am not against temporary organizations, workable -- they will be needed. Whenever there is
           more than one person, some kind of organization is needed. Even with just two persons -- wife and
           husband -- some kind of organization is needed. Who is going to wake up first and bring a cup of
           tea? Naturally, it is the husband! But some functional organization is needed.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE STORIES AND ACCUSATIONS BEING PUT OUT BY YOU LATELY AGAINST SHEELA AND
              HER GROUP ARE GETTING SO OUTRAGEOUS THAT I DO HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING
              THEM ANYMORE. AND I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE MAFIA WAS BAD.
              WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FORMERLY "ONLY CRIME-FREE CITY" OF THE WORLD?


              It is again free of crime!
           Okay?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #24
                                        Chapter title: Learn the art of living
           8 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510080
              ShortTitle: BONDAG24
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 115 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS I AM AGAIN AND AGAIN REMINDED OF THE WORDS OF KAHLIL
              GIBRAN: "MAN CANNOT REAP LOVE UNTIL AFTER SAD AND REVEALING SEPARATION AND
              BITTER PATIENCE AND DESPERATE HARDSHIP."
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               It is true about Kahlil Gibran, but not true about love. Kahlil Gibran suffered much despair,
           anguish. He was not what you find him in his immensely important books, THE PROPHET, THE
           GARDEN OF THE PROPHET, and JESUS, THE SON OF MAN. Kahlil Gibran was just the
           opposite.
               And that is true about almost all the so-called great artists, painters, poets, sculptors, musicians,
           dancers. They are trying to fulfill their unfulfilled life in writing poetry, literature. That literature
           simply signifies their dream, not their reality.
               Never meet any man like Kahlil Gibran. Read his book, THE PROPHET -- it is immensely
           beautiful -- but avoid Kahlil Gibran himself, because you will be very much disappointed, for the
           simple reason that you cannot believe that this man has produced one of the classics of the whole of
           history. His book stands like an Everest, but he himself lies deep down in the dark valley of despair,
           existential meaninglessness: angry about life, angry with life, angry about everything. And the
           reason is simple. It is a psychological truth that whatever you miss in your life, you fulfill in your
           dreams. Your dreams show what you are missing in your life.
               You can try small experiments and you will be able to see it. Just fast one day, and in the night
           you can be certain of having a great feast in your dreams -- all delicious foods, perhaps an invitation
           from the king, or the president in the White House. Your dream shows that during the day you have
           been hungry. These creative people are able to put their dreams into their writings -- but they are
           their dreams.
               So what Kahlil Gibran says about love is the experience of a man who wanted to love but could
           not love. He could not love because of his ego. The first need of love is that you should put aside
           your ego; and artists, poets, painters, musicians, are very egoistic people.
               Kahlil Gibran could not put his ego aside. It was not love that became his despair, it was his ego
           that would not allow him freedom to move into the world of love. He was chained. The longing for
           love and being chained to the ego created the whole tension, the anguish of his life. He has to be
           pitied. He is certainly one of the greatest geniuses of this century, but that does not make him a great
           lover. The very fact that he was a great genius helped him to go on nourishing his ego. He never
           could become innocent like a child -- of which he talks again and again in his writings. That is his
           dream.
               So remember, while you are reading books written by unenlightened people, looking at
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           paintings, sculpture, architecture made by unenlightened people, beware. These people were not
           blissful people themselves. They were capable of projecting their dreams, but they were not able to
           transform their dreams into a living reality within their own being. They were utter failures as far as
           their own being is concerned.
               Love does not need you to go into depression, despair, no -- just the opposite. Love needs you to
           go into silence, into peace, into meditativeness, into a tremendous rejoicing -- rejoicing just in the
           fact that you are alive. And out of this rejoicing, this dance, love radiates.
               According to Kahlil Gibran's statement, before you reach love you have to pass through hell.
           Strange training... a great school to teach love! And a man who has been in despair, depression,
           anguish, anxiety, will become farther and farther away from love.
               No, if you want to experience love you have to pass through your inner paradise. You have to
           become centered, you have to become so peaceful that small things of life make you dance. Just a
           roseflower dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun -- and something in you starts dancing with it.
           You are ready. You have graduated from the school of paradise; now love is your reward.
               So I contradict Kahlil Gibran absolutely and categorically, because it goes against my existential
           experience. I have been through my own paradise, and after that only the fragrance of love remains.
           You are so blissful that you would like to bless the whole world.
               Kahlil Gibran is absolutely wrong. But what he is saying is his own experience, and he never
           graduated from hell. He never could manage to be a loving human being. He was always sad, always
           a long face, always angry -- as if he was against existence itself, as if he wanted to ask existence,
           "Why have you chosen me to be born and suffer?"
               If you want to write poetry about love, follow Kahlil Gibran.
               If you want to experience love, then listen carefully to what I am saying to you.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL HURT SEEING SANNYASINS WITH SUCH UGLY WEAPONS IN THEIR HANDS DURING
              DISCOURSE. PLEASE COMMENT.


               I also feel the same way. But the questioner is ignorant; I am not. The questioner is a visitor, a
           mother of two children. I would like to ask her, "Would you like your two children to be bulldozed?
           Would that be beautiful?"
               Before these guns appeared here, fanatic Christians were harassing sannyasins. It became
           absolutely necessary for sannyasins to have some kind of protection. Hell's Angels were coming to
           the commune: we had no guns, no weapons. The people of the commune are not interested in guns
           and weapons -- this is not an army -- but to prevent these people from harassing your children we
           have to accept something ugly, because those people will not understand the meaning of roseflowers.
               I would like that guards carry roseflowers rather than guns. But who is going to take care of your
           children? I can tell the security force to give all those guns to the government, if the government of
           Oregon is ready to protect the commune.
               You feel they are ugly. You don't feel that all over America the police carrying guns is ugly. You
           don't feel that your having nuclear weapons is ugly. You know that you are the people who
           destroyed innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atom bombs -- that was not ugly?
               And these toy guns? For five thousand sannyasins only three dozen toy guns! They have not
           been used, and I have been insistent that they should avoid using them as far as possible, unless it
           becomes absolutely necessary. If some hooligans come and start raping a woman, will that be
           beautiful? Roseflowers won't be able to stop the rape; these guns will be able to stop the rape.
               And since we have made a security force, all those fanatic Christians, Witnesses of Jehovah,
           Hell's Angels -- they have stopped coming, knowing that it is dangerous to create a nuisance here. So
           these guns have been of immense help. They have not harmed anybody, but they have prevented
           people harming the commune.
               You are a mother: what do you want to be done with your children? Should they be protected or
           not? If you say no, they should not be protected, stand up -- and all the guns will disappear
           tomorrow. Have courage! Then I will not be responsible at all for whatever happens to the
           commune; you will be responsible.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Before asking a question, please think what you are asking, all its implications.
               You have been clapping because I have dropped red clothes, malas. And when you clap, you
           don't know how it hurts me. That means you have been a hypocrite! Why have you been wearing red
           clothes if dropping them brings you so much joy? Why have you been wearing the mala? The
           moment I say, "Drop!" you rejoice. And people rushed to the boutique to change their clothes, they
           have dropped their malas. But you don't know how much you have wounded me by your clapping
           and by your changing.
               Now I have to say one thing more, and I would like to see whether you have the guts to clap or
           not: that is, now there is no buddhafield. So if you want enlightenment, you have to work for it
           individually. The buddhafield exists no more. You cannot depend on the energy of the buddhafield
           to become enlightened.
           Now clap as loudly as you can. CLAP!...
               Now you are completely free: even for enlightenment only you are responsible. And I am
           completely free from you. You have been behaving like idiots! And this has given a good chance to
           see how many people are really intimate with me. If you can drop your malas so easily.... Even in my
           own house there is one sannyasin who immediately changed to blue clothes, with great joy. What
           does it show? It shows that those red clothes were a burden. She was somehow managing to be in red
           clothes against her will.
               But I don't want you to do anything against your will. Now I don't want even to help you towards
           your enlightenment against your will. You are absolutely free and responsible for yourself.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CHRISTIAN, A COMMUNIST AND A COMMUNE
              MEMBER?


               Judaism has given birth to very strange children. The first is Christianity. Jesus was a Jew -- born
           a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a Jew. He never knew that he was a Christian. In fact, Christians
           should take note of it, that Jesus was not a Christian. They are following a Jew. Even the word
           "Christian" was unheard of by Jesus because it is Greek, and he knew only Aramaic, his mother
           tongue.
               In Aramaic, which is a popular version of Hebrew, he was calling himself "the messiah," not
           "Christ." It was three hundred years afterwards, when the New Testament was translated into Greek,
           that "messiah" became "Christ" and the followers of the messiah became "Christians."
               It is one of the most primitive religions. It has not the heights of Buddhism, Taoism, Hassidism,
           Zen -- nothing of that sort, it is very primitive. And that is the reason why Christianity has become
           the biggest religion in the world -- because it appeals to the retarded mind.
               No intelligence is needed to understand Christianity. There is nothing to understand; you have
           simply to believe. You have to have faith, and the faith in Jesus Christ will save you -- so simple,
           any idiot can do it. It is not a transformation. Those who do not believe will fall into the darkness of
           hell.
               I am reminded of one English philosopher, Edmund Burke. He used to go to listen to one of his
           friends who was a bishop, every Sunday, because the bishop was very articulate and a great orator.
               Edmund Burke asked him, "I have only one question. If faith is the only thing that saves, then
           what happens to all those people who do not have faith but are good, virtuous, moral? For example,
           what happens to Socrates? What happens to Gautam Buddha? What happens to Confucius? They all
           fall into hell? And connected with the same question is the second question: that there have been
           people -- murderers, rapists -- who have done all kinds of crimes; but they believed, they had faith,
           and they will be saved? You have to answer me."
               The bishop was in a difficulty. He could not say that men like Socrates, Gautam Buddha,
           Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, will go into hell. No intelligent man can say that. Certainly they
           were not believers; they were very much seekers, searchers. They doubted everything, they were
           skeptical. Unless they came to some indubitable truth, they were not going to have faith of any kind.
           And when you realize some truth, the question of faith does not arise: you know it! Faith is only for
           the ignorant. You don't believe in the sun, you don't believe in the moon. You don't believe in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           yourself -- you know you are. You cannot deny that you are, because even your denial will only
           prove that you are; otherwise, who is denying?
           Faith is a cover-up for ignorance.
               The bishop was learned enough; he was a friend of Edmund Burke's, and to say anything stupid
           to that man would create a great controversy. He said, "I would like seven days' time to think it over.
           Nobody has asked this question. The question is significant.
               "Virtuous people, good people who have never done any harm to anybody, will go to hell just
           because they don't have faith in Jesus Christ. Then goodness, virtue, morality, are all meaningless.
           Then crime, rape, murder, theft, are perfectly good: just have faith in Jesus Christ, and you will be
           saved."
               In seven days he could not figure it out. He could not sleep well; the question was continuously
           torturing him. The question was such that if he says that good people will enter paradise, then what
           about faith? Faith is not a necessity. If he says that evildoers will fall into hell even though they have
           faith, then faith is impotent, it cannot help, it cannot save. So what is the need of faith? Those who
           are good will go to paradise; those who are bad will go to hell. Faith becomes simply irrelevant.
               The bishop was going crazy. And the next Sunday came -- he went to church a little early,
           because he was not yet ready to answer Burke. He thought perhaps by praying to Jesus Christ, God
           the Father and the Holy Ghost, he may be able to answer the question.
               It was dark when he reached the church. He prayed. But he had not slept for seven days; rather
           than praying, he fell into sleep, and he saw a dream. The dream was: he is at a railway station
           purchasing a ticket for paradise. The train is just about to leave. He rushes into the train, because he
           wants to see who the people are who have entered paradise -- the faithful or the virtuous?
               He was surprised when the train reached paradise. It looked so dull and so dusty and so dead, he
           could not believe it. He inquired of other passengers, "It looks like hell! This cannot be heaven." But
           they all said, "This is heaven."
               He went into the streets, looked at people -- no joy, no laughter, all serious faces. Saints are not
           supposed to laugh. He could not even find a restaurant... because he was wanting a cup of tea, but
           saints are not supposed to have such delicacies. No restaurant... and people were looking almost
           dead. He could not see anybody -- Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci,
           great painters, great artists, great musicians. Nobody was there, only retarded saints who had become
           even more retarded -- sitting there the whole day, playing on the harp, "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."
           That was the whole work they were doing.
               He rushed to the station to inquire whether any train goes to hell, because he would like to see
           hell also. And he was surprised: as the train entered the area of hell... fresh air, a new atmosphere.
           Something beautiful... beautiful gardens, lawns.... He said, "This looks like heaven! Strange, but the
           sign at the station says 'Hell'."
               There was everywhere laughter, joy; people were dancing, playing on their guitars. There were
           painters he recognized, musicians he recognized. He met Socrates, and it was such an ecstasy to see
           the man! He met Buddha; he could not believe that a man like Buddha should be in hell.
               He said to Buddha, "I cannot believe my eyes. I have just been to heaven, and it looked like hell!
           And this place is so lush, green, so many flowers, so much fragrance, so much singing and dancing!
           All great poets, all dancers, all great philosophers, all geniuses -- the very cream of humanity is
           available here. I am puzzled."
               Gautam Buddha said, "Don't be puzzled. These people are creative people. When we had come, it
           was far worse than the heaven that you have just seen. But with all these beautiful people, we
           transformed it. Even the devil is meditating, learning to paint, composing music. He has forgotten his
           old business."
               And at that point the bishop woke up, because people had started coming into the church. The
           dream had given him the answer. He was a sincere man certainly; he said to Edmund Burke, "Please
           forgive me. It is not a question of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. We have to look at the
           whole question from a different angle. Wherever people like Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu
           are, they create heaven. And wherever dull, retarded, idiotic saints are, they create hell. So it is not a
           question of you going to hell, it is a question of what you can create. You bring your heaven and hell
           with you."
           And that's my whole teaching.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Don't bother about heaven and hell. Rather, learn to live in hell, in heaven -- whichever you
           choose. You are totally free right now. Discipline yourself. If you want to be in paradise, then be in
           paradise, and start living in paradise from this moment! Then wherever you will be, it does not
           matter, you will be in paradise.
           Learn the art of living.
               When we came here it was just a desert. When I came here, I was surprised -- I could not find a
           single bird; the possibility of finding a man was out of the question. Even a bird was not there, only
           poor juniper trees here and there. Juniper trees are camels, very stubborn; they defy even the desert.
           But they were all without any juice -- not green, not with an abundance of leaves; very poor,
           somehow struggling to survive.
               Within four years we have made it an oasis. Now birds have started coming. Deer have moved
           here from all the other ranches, because anywhere else their life is in danger; they can be killed.
           They are being hunted. For ten days every year, Oregon state gives hunters freedom to kill deer.
           Only on these one hundred and twenty-six square miles nobody can kill any deer. The hunters are
           very angry, the ranchers are very angry, because all their deer have disappeared, and the deer are
           here in abundance.
               I have asked my people to make many small pools of water in the coming winter, and grow as
           much grass as possible that deer like, so the whole city becomes a deer park. And it is so beautiful to
           live in harmony....
               And have you watched? -- the junipers are no longer just surviving; they have grown, they are
           greener. We will make this desert a lush green place, one of the places Oregon can be proud of -- a
           beautiful holiday resort. We can create as many lakes as we want. We can bring all kinds of animals,
           birds. Now we have three hundred peacocks, thousands of deer, dozens of swans. And we are going
           to plant, this year, twenty thousand evergreen trees.
               The question is simply to be creative, to be in harmony with nature -- and you are in paradise.
           Paradise is within your hands.
               It has nothing to do with any faith, any belief. Paradise is simply creativity, sensitivity, humanity.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              QUANTUM PHYSICISTS ARE USING THE TERM "CONSCIOUSNESS." ARE THEY USING THIS
              WORD IN THE SAME SENSE THAT YOU DO? IF NOT, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
              THE CONSCIOUSNESS THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, AND THE CONSCIOUSNESS YOU ARE
              TALKING ABOUT?


               There is a great difference. The physicists are talking about a consciousness which they have not
           experienced within themselves; it is only a hypothesis. It is their objective observation that
           consciousness exists: people are conscious -- you cannot deny it. Because it is an objective
           observation, they are bound to be defining it in a wrong way, because basically consciousness is
           your subjectivity. It is irreducible into an object. You cannot study it from outside.
               From outside you can study only behavior, you cannot study consciousness; hence, there is a
           school of psychology called behaviorism. People are behaving as if they are conscious. The
           physicist's consciousness is "as if" -- a hypothesis, because people are not behaving consciously.
               So the first, basic mistake is, they are simply taking an objective view of something which can
           never become an object, which is always the subject. There is no way to make it an object. And
           because they are studying it as an object, they are falling into many pitfalls. One is that
           consciousness is a by-product of biology, physiology, chemistry -- of all that man is made of. It is
           simply a by-product, it is not an independent entity in itself.
               It is just like a clock: the hands move, but that movement does not show that inside there is life
           that is moving them. It is mechanical; you can separate the parts and the movement will stop. You
           can put them back together again and the movement will start. You cannot do that to man. Take his
           physiology, chemistry, biology apart, and then try to put them together again -- you will have just a
           corpse, no consciousness. Consciousness is not a by-product.
               Consciousness experienced subjectively needs some inward journey. No scientist is doing that.
           He wants to study consciousness in white mice, in guinea pigs. This is very strange. The scientist has
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the consciousness in himself, what is the need to go to a white mouse? Go inwards!
               And that's what I call the science of interiority, religio, meditation. You move deeper, leaving
           your body, your mind, your heartbeat far behind -- and, still, you are. And you are more than you
           have ever been, because you had known yourself filtered through the heart, through the mind,
           through the body -- thick layers. So you had felt your consciousness in a very slight way.
               But when you have reached to your own center -- which is neither chemical nor physical nor
           biological -- you experience a totally new reality. Immediately you become aware that it is not a
           by-product, that it has its own existence. The body may die, but this consciousness is so separate
           from the body that there is no possibility of its dying with the body. The heart may stop, but you are
           so far away from the heart, you are no longer identified with the heart. You are part of an eternal life.
               So when I talk about consciousness, I am talking about my own experience of diving deep into
           my being. And when the physicists talk about consciousness, they are talking not about experience
           but about experiments that they are doing with white mice, guinea pigs. Strange people! You have
           consciousness, the white mouse is in a very backward state of life; why not find it within yourself?
           Man is the highest expression of consciousness.
               Science can never know the real being, the real soul, the real consciousness, for the simple
           reason that it is object-oriented. Hence, a totally different approach is needed, a science which is
           subject-oriented.
               You cannot put consciousness in a test-tube. Consciousness is not something material; it is not
           something like a commodity. It is not something that you can dissect and find out what elements it is
           made of. It is a single, indivisible life. And the only way to know it is to go within yourself. That is
           the purpose of the commune. It is not a religion; it is the science of subjectivity.
               So there is a total difference. What they are talking about is absolutely irrelevant. What I am
           talking about is the real thing. And you need not go anywhere, because it is within you. No lab is
           needed, no instruments are needed. All that is needed is that you learn how to relax, how to be silent,
           how to be just a witness. And slowly slowly your mind stops its unnecessary chattering, your heart
           stops its moods, feelings.
               And suddenly you are your reality, your consciousness.
               And it reveals all the mysteries. It is the golden key, the master key, because it makes you aware
           not only of your consciousness, it makes you aware that your consciousness is not separate from
           other consciousnesses.
               Consciousness is almost like an ocean. We are all in it, we are all sharing the same
           consciousness. The trees, the animals, the birds -- they are all sharing the same consciousness in
           different stages of growth.
               You are fortunate to be a human being, because this gives you an opportunity to turn in.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              TO MOST OF US, IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO BE NEAR YOU THAN ANYTHING ELSE, MOST
              IMPORTANT TO BE PART OF THE COMMUNE, WHATEVER IT TAKES. PLEASE COMMENT.


               It is certainly the most important thing -- to be near any enlightened person -- for the simple
           reason that you are a seed, and he has grown, become a tree... has come to fruition, has flowered. He
           is your future. To be near him is the greatest encouragement that you are not being born just to
           remain a seed, that you have to grow, that you have to die as a seed and become a living, growing
           tree.
               If one seed has managed to come to flower, the other seed can also take the jump. It is a great
           jump, because the seed will die. You need some proof that after the seed dies, the real life begins.
               The enlightened man is your ultimate flowering. The person who is enlightened is the only proof
           that you can also become the same, that you have the same potential -- just a little courage is needed
           to die as a seed, as an ego.
               And the more you die as an ego, the closer you are to me. The only distance between me and you
           is not that of space: the only distance is that of your ego. Drop the ego. Be innocent like small
           children, and growth will start happening of its own accord. Seeing anybody coming out of the seed,
           becoming a sprout, is a tremendous joy. The journey has started.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And I created these communes for the simple purpose of protecting those fragile sprouts. There is
           every danger you will never reach to the flowering state; you may be destroyed in the middle.
               The commune is not an organization; it is simply a communion of friends who are searching for
           the same treasure, and helping each other. Somebody is ahead of you, somebody is behind you.
           Somebody is still more ahead, somebody has blossomed. All that helps you to drop all fear, and you
           start growing fearlessly.
               To be close to me is very easy. Just put your ego aside, and then there is no difference, no
           distance. But I have been seeing... you want to be close to me, but whatever you do takes you farther
           away, it does not bring you close to me.
               Just a few days before, in a press conference, I had asked you, "Are you with me? Raise your
           hands." And ten thousand hands were raised. One woman wrote a letter to me, "I did not want to
           raise my hands."
               There is no problem -- but then what the hell are you doing here? If you are not with me, then go
           somewhere else where you can be with someone with your totality.
               And I had not asked you to jump into a well, I had just asked you to raise both your hands. Even
           that she could not do. Now, this woman is part of the commune. In what way can she be part of the
           commune? I don't want to tell you her name because then I will have immediately to go and wash
           my mouth.
               Such ugly attitudes! Then I wonder how you can grow, how you can come close to me. Then it is
           perfectly right -- pack your luggage and go down the county road, which goes directly to hell. It is
           made in such a way that you will feel much of hell on the road itself.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS LIFE?


                It is not a question.
                A rose is a rose is a rose. What is a rose? You are alive, and you ask me what is life? Are you
           alive or dead?
                If I was in a graveyard and people started coming out of their graves and asking, "What is life?"
           the question would be relevant. But you are still out of the grave. You are alive, but you have never
           looked into the source of your life, from where comes your aliveness.
           Just go in.
                Forget everything -- the whole world. Even for a few moments, as if you are alone, just go in.
           Right now, in this very silence, you will know what life is.
                You will never be able to say to anybody what life is. It is a mystery to be experienced, but it
           cannot be explained. That's why I said "A rose is a rose is a rose." It says nothing, there is no
           explanation, but you can experience it.
                And the rose is something outside you, but life is all that you are. But for thousands of years you
           have been conditioned not to live, just to survive. You have been told by religions to renounce
           everything that can give you a taste of life.
                My effort is just the opposite of all the religions. That's why I have refused to call my people a
           religion. I don't want to belong to that category of life-negative people. I am utterly in love with life.
                My approach is life-affirmative. You dance, you sing, you love, you meditate. And, in different
           ways, try to feel your aliveness. Whatever you are doing, do it so intensely and so totally that your
           full life starts functioning, that you start throbbing.
                You will know, but you will never be able to say what it is. But there is no need; anybody who
           asks you, you can show him the way. You cannot explain to him what life is, but you can show him
           the way, how you have arrived, how you have been able to experience it.
           It is a taste on the tongue -- very sweet.
                I am reminded of a story.... In a cafeteria in paradise, Gautam Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu are
           all sitting around a table talking about great things of life. A naked, beautiful woman comes with a
           jar in her hands, and she says, "This jar contains the very juice of life. Would any of you like to taste
           it?"
                Buddha immediately closes his eyes. He is for renouncing life, he is for not seeing a woman --
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and that too, so beautiful, and naked.
                Confucius tries to follow Buddha, because he does not want to be thought less than Buddha. But
           just out of the corner of his eye -- the woman is so beautiful, the temptation is so great -- he looks at
           her. And the woman says, "Perhaps you would like...?"
                He says, "First I will have just a sip to taste what it is." He takes a sip and says, "It is bitter!"
                Lao Tzu is sitting with wide open eyes, enjoying the beauty of the woman. He takes the whole
           jar, and drinks it completely.
           The woman says, "What are you doing?"
                He says, "Keep quiet! I never do anything halfway. Either I do it, then I do it totally; or I do not
           do it, but then I do not do it totally. And Confucius is right: in the beginning it is bitter -- one has to
           learn the taste -- in the end it is really great, just groovy!"
                My approach is, drink the whole juice of life. Squeeze every moment to its fullest, and you will
           know what life is.
                I cannot answer. It is not a question. It is a quest, and you have to do it. Nobody else can do it on
           your behalf.
           I have tasted it, and it is really groovy.
           Okay?




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #25
                                      Chapter title: The buddhafield remains
           9 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510090
              ShortTitle: BONDAG25
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 100 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE COULD YOU TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INNOCENCE AND STUPIDITY?


                Innocence is the ultimate flowering of your consciousness. Even a child is not innocent; he is
           simply ignorant. He does not know, but he is not aware that he knows not. The child most probably
           will become stupid, because the society needs stupid people, the religions need stupid people, the
           politicians need stupid people. All vested interests need the masses to remain stupid. Their stupidity
           is the opportunity for all vested interests to exploit them.
                It is very rare that somebody rebels against religions, politics, social structure, and tries to retain
           his individuality; chooses ignorance rather than to be knowledgeable, because ignorance at least is
           natural. In being knowledgeable you have gone far away from your nature.
                The person who rebels against all these vested interests and discovers that he knows nothing, that
           he only knows one thing, that he knows nothing -- he is the innocent man.
                When Bodhidharma was asked by Emperor Wu of China, "Who are you?," Bodhidharma said, "I
           do not know." It was not ignorance. Bodhidharma is one of those few people who have come to
           innocence.
                Socrates' last statement is, "I know only that I know nothing."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Stupidity is common. It comes in all sizes, all shapes: Christian stupidity, Hindu stupidity,
           Mohammedan stupidity, Buddhist stupidity, communist stupidity. One thing about stupidity: it never
           looks inwards. It can see outside -- for example, a Hindu can see that Jesus cannot be enlightened,
           for the simple reason that he drinks wine and moves with prostitutes. It is impossible for Hindu
           stupidity to recognize Jesus as enlightened. The Christian cannot see Krishna as enlightened. He had
           sixteen thousand wives, all forcibly taken from their husbands, from their children -- and the man is
           the perfect incarnation of God! It is difficult for the Christian to see how Krishna can be the
           incarnation of God. He forces Arjuna to go to war, convinces him -- against his will -- to go into a
           war which is known in India as the Great War, which destroyed India forever. It broke India's spine;
           since then India has never been able to reach any heights. It was available to all kinds of invaders,
           easily available to become enslaved. The whole responsibility goes to Krishna.
               Now, a Christian who believes, "Love your enemy, love even your neighbor"... I am always
           wondering why Jesus has not said, "Love your wife too, love your husband too" -- because the
           enemy is far away, to love the enemy is easy. To love the neighbor is more difficult, and to love the
           wife or the husband is almost impossible.
               The Christian teaching seems to be of peace, and Krishna's teaching seems to be of war,
           violence. No, it is not possible for Christians to accept Krishna. They can see the stupidity of Indians
           who believe in Krishna.
               The Christian cannot accept even Gautam Buddha, for the simple reason that he never healed
           sick people, he never gave eyes to the blind, he never raised the dead back to life. Then what kind of
           a savior is he? He never served anybody, and service is religion to the Christian mind.
               Just look from the other side. If you ask the Buddhist, "Do you think Jesus Christ is a savior?" he
           will simply laugh. He will say, "Saviors are not crucified. Jesus could not save himself; he is a
           pretender, a hypocrite, claiming that he can save the whole humanity."
               And the Hindus, the Jainas, the Buddhists, all the Indian religions, believe that if a certain person
           is crucified, that means in his past life he must have committed really grave crimes, perhaps murders.
           Otherwise crucifixion is impossible; it has to be related to his life.
               Jainas say that when Mahavira, their savior, walks on the road, even thorns move away. Because
           Mahavira has not committed any crime in his past life, he cannot suffer even a thorn. Hindus say, if
           Meera is given poison, the poison turns into nectar, because she has not committed any sin in her
           past life. So Jesus' crucifixion, which is very significant to the Christian, is simply a proof for
           Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists, that this man was simply a pretender.
               Stupidity has this trait: it can see in others, but it cannot look withinwards. No Christian can see
           anything wrong in Jesus Christ, no Hindu can see anything wrong in Krishna, no Buddhist can see
           anything wrong in Gautam Buddha. Suddenly their intelligence disappears; they become
           immediately retarded, they fall back. This is one of the characteristics of stupid people.
               Stupid people can become very knowledgeable. They can become great scholars, popes,
           shankaracharyas, Ayatollah Khomeiniacs, great rabbis full of knowledge, but no knowing of their
           own. All knowledge is borrowed. In themselves they are just empty; they are covering that emptiness
           with borrowed knowledge. It is not their own intelligence that has become sharpened, it is only their
           intellectuality that has become too full of information.
               Remember, a computer has no intelligence, but it has memory. It can have as much information
           as you feed to it. The stupid person can become a great scholar, a world-famous scholar, but he is
           just a computer. All knowledge is information; it is his memory, not his experience. In his
           experience he proves very stupid. I will give you two instances of two very great scholars.
               One is a great Greek scholar, thought to be one of the greatest mathematicians; he discovered
           many things in mathematics. He discovered the principle of averages -- that is his greatest
           contribution to the world. Before him nobody had ever thought about the principle of averages.
               One Sunday morning he took his family for a picnic. They had to cross a small river. The wife
           said, "Take the children on your shoulders" -- they had four children. "Two I will take, two you
           take."
               He said, "Wait. I am a mathematician, and no ordinary mathematician. Let me first see the
           average height of the children and the average depth of the river."
               Naturally, the river somewhere was very shallow, somewhere very deep. The bigger children
           were taller, the smaller children were shorter. But the average... he figured it out on the sand with his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           finger and found that the average height of the children was enough that the average depth of the
           river could not drown them.
               The wife insisted, "You keep your average: I don't understand mathematics, I can only see that
           there is danger."
               He said, "Don't be afraid. You just follow me." And then the children started drowning, because
           the average is just a pure mathematical concept. It does not exist, it is not found in reality.
               And when the wife shouted, "The children are drowning!" do you know what he did? He did not
           go to save the children, he rushed back to the bank. He said, "Then there must have been some
           mistake in my calculations; otherwise, how is it possible? Their average height is greater than the
           average depth of the river." This is stupidity. The man is a great mathematician, but if you put his
           mathematics aside, he is simply retarded.
               The second example I give you is about Karl Marx. He was a chain-smoker, and one day he
           found a cheaper brand of cigarette. He was an economist, and certainly one of the great economists
           of the world. And if you think of his influence, he is the greatest economist because he has
           influenced more than half the world. Communism is his philosophy, his economic theory.
               Seeing the cheaper brand, he purchased as many boxes as he could carry home. When the wife
           saw him carrying so many boxes of cigarettes, she said, "What are you doing? Doctors are saying to
           you, 'Stop smoking!' Your friends are saying to you, 'Stop smoking!'"
               And Karl Marx with a big smile said, "You don't know -- I have found a way. Now there is no
           need to be worried about earning money. If I smoke one cigarette, so much money is saved in
           comparison to the older brand; the more I smoke, the more money is saved. So now I am not going
           to do anything except smoke, because you have always been asking me for money, money, money.
           Now have as much money as you want!"
               The wife could not understand how the money could be saved by smoking. But this is an
           economic theory, it does not correspond to reality. She had to inform his closest friend, Friedrich
           Engels, "He has gone mad. In his room he is sitting and smoking continuously -- to save money!"
           Engels came, and he asked, "What is the matter?"
               Marx said, "Now I can explain to you, you are an intelligent man. My wife cannot understand
           higher economics. I was smoking up to now a brand which was costly. Now this is a cheaper brand;
           with each cigarette so much money is saved. The natural consequence is: the more you smoke, the
           more money is saved."
               This is sheer stupidity. He may have been a great economist, but that is only scholarship,
           computer scholarship. As far as his own experience is concerned, he is behaving stupidly. So
           stupidity can become very knowledgeable. That does not mean that it has disappeared; you have
           simply covered it up.
               Innocence is not knowledgeable. Innocence simply means a clean clarity, insight with no
           preconceived ideas, knowledge. Innocence simply means just to be a mirror, which is empty but able
           to reflect anything that comes before it. Innocence is the greatest achievement. Only a very few
           people have been able to become innocent.
               It is said, when a person becomes so innocent, he is just like a child. Remember the words "like a
           child." He is not a child. There is a certain similarity. The child is ignorant, without knowledge, a
           clean slate, a tabula rasa -- but he will soon gather knowledge, because he is ignorant and it hurts to
           remain ignorant.
               The innocent man is also a tabula rasa, but he will never again accumulate knowledge. It has
           already been too hard to drop it. It has been too hard to get rid of the mind and its accumulations.
               The child is bound to get lost in the world of knowledge. Socrates or Bodhidharma are not
           corruptible; nobody can corrupt them. They have passed through all the dark stages of corruption,
           and they have survived. Now their state is of pure silence. They know nothing as far as
           knowledgeability is concerned.
               Socrates makes a beautiful distinction; it is worth remembering. He says, "There is knowledge
           which is ignorant, and there is ignorance which knows." It looks contradictory, what he is saying:
           knowledge which is ignorant, and ignorance which knows. He is talking about innocence.
               Innocence has no claim to knowledgeability, but it is open, available, capable of responding
           spontaneously, just like a mirror reflecting. It is tremendous freedom, and tremendous individuation.
               Now you can commune with the flowers, with the mountains, with the clouds. You are so
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           innocent that there is even a possibility of communion with existence.
           Knowledge is a barrier.
               I used to have a very famous man once in a while as my guest, Mahatma Bhagwandin. He was
           the only one, other than Mahatma Gandhi, who was known as "mahatma"; only two persons in India
           were known as "mahatma." Mahatma means the great soul, the great saint.
               Whenever he was my guest, I used to take him for a morning walk. And he was so full of
           knowledge about everything -- he was an old man -- he knew the name of every flower, its uses,
           what diseases it can help cure; he knew all the different trees and their uses.
               He would continuously talk, and I had to tell him, "You please shut up! -- because I have come
           for a morning walk. I want to enjoy the flowers, I don't want to become knowledgeable about them. I
           don't want even to know their Latin names. And your knowledge is a barrier -- you can't see the rose.
           Your whole knowledge stands between you and the rose -- its Latin name, its properties, its uses in
           different diseases. The roseflower is lost, far away; you start moving into your knowledge."
               I said, "If you want to come with me, then please keep your mouth shut. You can do whatever
           you want in your mind -- that is your business -- but I don't want to know the names of the trees and
           the plants and the flowers and the leaves and the trunk and the bark. You destroy my whole morning!
           I want to remain completely available to this beautiful sunrise, the flowers dancing, the beautiful
           breeze blowing. I don't want to be hindered by knowledge. My experience of their beauty is
           enough."
               He would remain silent for a few minutes -- but you cannot say to computers, "Shut up!" After a
           few minutes he would forget again. Seeing something new, he would say, "Look at that plant. This is
           very good for people who are suffering from migraine."
               I said, "You are giving me migraine! Please give me a few leaves of that plant too. You are my
           migraine. I come every day, I never suffer from migraine." I asked him, "Can't you enjoy at all the
           beauty, the radiant morning, the freshness of it all? Have you to bring your knowledge in?"
               The last time I saw him, he was almost dying. I asked him, "What about your knowledge? You
           know about all the kinds of plants which can cure everything. Now why are you bothering about
           allopathy? And I can see that allopathy is not helping."
               He was continuously coughing; he had become just bones. And I said, "What happened to your
           knowledge? You missed your whole life, you never lived it. Your knowledge became a bondage to
           you, and now you are dying and that knowledge is of no use. Perhaps if you had lived totally,
           intensely, that experience might have transformed the experience of death too."
               To those who do not live, death seems to be an end. To those who live totally, death is not an end
           but a new beginning: an old house is abandoned, and a new form, a new world opens up. But that
           depends on whether you have lived or you have just been hung up in your head.
               I saw tears in his eyes. He said, "Perhaps you are right. I never lived, I was always accumulating
           knowledge -- and it has not helped me. My whole life has been just a desert without any oasis. But
           now it is too late."
               I call this stupidity. The man was known as a great sage, but to me he was a great idiot. And he
           confirmed before dying, with his tears, that he had missed.
               Innocence comes as you become more conscious, more alert, and you start dropping unnecessary
           luggage. Have you ever thought how much unnecessary luggage you are carrying within yourself? A
           conscious man slowly starts dropping everything, because the most precious treasure in you is to be
           absolutely unburdened, clean, pure, innocent.
               The innocent man is the only wise man. The knowledgeable man is the only stupid man. All your
           universities and colleges and schools create stupid people.
               My effort here is to undo what your universities and colleges and schools have done to you -- to
           deprogram you. And I don't have any other program to replace theirs. I deprogram you and simply
           leave you deprogrammed.
               That is innocence, and it is tremendous intelligence. It is such a great insight that there is no need
           of knowledgeability.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN YOU WIPED OUT TEMPLES AND WORSHIP AND GACHCHHAMIS, I GOT A SINKING
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              FEELING THAT MAYBE YOU HAD GIVEN UP ON US. THE MOST SHOCKING REVELATION OF
              THE PAST MONTH HAS BEEN THE GROSS STUPIDITY WE HAVE SHOWN WITH OUR PETTY
              GRIEVANCES AND DEMANDS. WE HAVE BEEN LIKE A BUNCH OF BOLSHEVIK MICE, ACTING
              LIKE WE WANT A REVOLUTION ALL BY OURSELVES. WE ARE NOT THE MATURE,
              RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE YOU ARE ENCOURAGING US TO BE, AND I FEAR WE ARE
              DESTROYING THE COMMUNE OURSELVES WITH OUR TINPOT FANTASIES OF FREEDOM.
              PLEASE PROVIDE SOME GUIDANCE ABOUT THE ORDER OR DISCIPLINE WE NEED TO KEEP
              THE COMMUNE TOGETHER. AND PLEASE, DON'T GIVE UP ON US.


               Even without your asking, even if I want to give up, I cannot. My love does not allow it. Order
           and discipline you have to find. I would not like you to depend on anybody to give you order and
           discipline. Just make a little effort -- and it is not difficult.
               If you go on depending on something, somebody, then any day there will be disorder. One day I
           may not be in my body. Then you will find yourself completely helpless. You don't have even a
           father figure in God to pray to. I have taken all those props from you. I want you to be responsible of
           your own accord.
               I had said yesterday that I will withdraw the buddhafield. I cannot do it. Whatever you are, I have
           loved you unconditionally, and I will love you to the very end, without expecting anything from your
           side.
               The buddhafield remains. It was just to give you a shock, so that you can wake up a little and see
           that freedom does not mean disorder, freedom does not mean no discipline. Freedom means more
           order, more discipline, because now you are the master of yourself; nobody is dictating to you.
               I have destroyed all dependence. Dependence keeps you helpless, and I want you to be
           independent, absolutely independent.
               So just a little awareness -- and whenever I find that you are missing that awareness, I am going
           to give you bigger shocks. I will not hesitate even to give you an electric shock.
           I am determined to wake you up.
           But it will be a joy if you wake up yourself.
               So don't be worried about that. I know there are stupid people -- it is not their fault; they have
           been brought up in a stupid society, educated by stupid teachers, professors, priests, churches. They
           are victims. They need all the compassion possible.
               I know you can start taking advantage of freedom. But while I am here, it is not possible to take
           advantage. I will hit you directly on the head. That you will remember even after your
           enlightenment!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES MY SADNESS FEEL MORE REAL THAN MY HAPPINESS? I WANT SO MUCH TO BE
              REAL AND AUTHENTIC, NOT TO WEAR ANY MASKS. BUT THIS SEEMS TO MEAN SO MUCH
              REJECTION BY OTHERS. IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE SO ALONE?


               It is important to understand. It is the case with most of the people. Your sadness is certainly
           more real because it is yours, it is authentic. Your happiness is shallow; it is not yours, it depends on
           something, somebody. And anything that makes you dependent -- however happy you can feel for a
           few moments, soon the honeymoon is over, sooner than you had ever expected.
               You are happy because of your girlfriend, your boyfriend. But they are individual beings; they
           may not agree on all points with you. In fact, mostly what happens is that whatever the husband
           likes, the wife dislikes; whatever the wife likes, the husband dislikes. Strange... because it is almost
           universal. There is some reason in it. Deep down they hate each other, for the simple reason that they
           are dependent on each other for gaining happiness -- and nobody likes dependence. Slavery is not the
           intrinsic desire of human beings. If a woman or a man gives you joy, and you become dependent,
           you are at the same time creating a deep hate -- because of dependence. You cannot leave the woman
           because she makes you happy. And you cannot leave your hatred of the woman, because she makes
           you dependent.
               So all so-called love relationships are very strange, complicated phenomena. They are love-hate
           relationships. The hate needs to be expressed some way or other. That's why whatever your wife
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           likes, you don't like; whatever your husband likes, you don't like. On every small thing husbands and
           wives are fighting. Which movie to go to? -- and there is an immense fight. Which restaurant to go
           to? -- and immediately there is a fight. This is the hatred which is moving underneath the facade of
           happiness. Happiness remains shallow, very thin; just scratch it a little bit and you will find its
           opposite.
                But sadness is more authentic, because you are not dependent on anybody. It is yours, absolutely
           yours. This should give you a great insight, that your sadness can help you more than your
           happiness. You have never looked at sadness closely. You try to avoid seeing it -- in many ways. If
           you feel sad, you go to a movie. If you feel sad, you start the television. If you feel sad, you go and
           play with your friends, you go to a club. You start doing something so that you do not have to see the
           sadness. This is not the right approach.
                When you are sad, it is a momentous phenomenon, very sacred, something of your own. Get
           acquainted with it, go deeper into it, and you will be surprised. Sit silently, and be sad. Sadness has
           its own beauties.
                Sadness is silent, it is yours. It is coming because you are alone. It is giving you a chance to go
           deeper into your aloneness. Rather than jumping from one shallow happiness to another shallow
           happiness and wasting your life, it is better to use sadness as a means for meditation. Witness it. It is
           a friend! It opens the door of your eternal aloneness.
                There is no way not to be alone. You can delude yourself, but you cannot succeed. And we are
           deluding ourselves in every way -- in relationship, in ambition, in becoming famous, in doing this, in
           doing that. We are trying to convince ourselves that we are not alone, that we are not sad. But,
           sooner or later, your mask wears out -- it is false, it cannot remain forever -- then you have to wear
           another mask. In one small life, how many masks do you wear? And how many have melted away,
           changed? But you go on continuing the old habit.
                If you want to be an authentic individual, use sadness; don't escape from it. It is a great blessing.
           Sit silently with it, rejoice in it. There is nothing wrong in being sad. And the more you become
           acquainted with it and its subtle nuances, you will be surprised -- it is a great relaxation, a great rest,
           and you come out of it rejuvenated, refreshed, younger, livelier. And once you have tasted it, you
           will seek those beautiful moments of sadness again and again. You will wait for them, you will
           welcome them, and they will open new doors of your aloneness....
                Alone you are born, alone you will die. Between these two alonenesses you can deceive yourself
           that you are not alone, that you have a wife, a husband, children, money, power. But between these
           two alonenesses you are alone. Everything is just to keep yourself engaged in something or other, so
           that you don't become aware of it.
                From my very childhood I have never been associating with people. My whole family was very
           much concerned: I was not playing with children, and I have never played with them.
                My teachers were concerned: "What do you go on doing when all the children are playing? You
           sit under the tree just by yourself." They thought something was wrong with me.
                And I told them, "You need not be worried. The reality is that something is wrong with you, and
           wrong with all your children. I am perfectly happy to be alone."
                Slowly slowly they accepted that that's how I am; nothing can be done about it. They tried in
           every way to help me to mix with other children of my age. But I enjoyed being alone so much that it
           looked almost neurotic to play football.
                And I told my teacher, "I don't see any point in it. Why unnecessarily hit the football from here to
           there? There is no point. And even if you make the goal, so what? What is achieved out of it? And if
           these people love making goals so much, then rather than having one football, have eighteen
           footballs. Give everybody one, and he makes as many goals as he wants, nobody prevents him. Let
           them have goals to their heart's content! This way it is too difficult -- why make it unnecessarily
           difficult?"
                And my teacher said, "You don't understand at all that that will not be a game, if eighteen
           footballs are given to the children, and everybody is making goals as many times as he wants. That
           will not help."
                I said, "I don't understand, that creating hindrances, preventing people.... They fall and they have
           fractures and all kinds of nonsense. And not only that: when there are matches, thousands of people
           gather to see them. It seems these people don't know that life is so short -- and they are watching a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           football match! And they are so excited -- jumping, shouting. To me, it is absolutely neurotic. I
           would rather sit under my tree."
               I had my tree, a very beautiful tree, behind my school building. It became known that it was my
           tree, so nobody would go there. I used to sit there whenever there was time for play, or time for any
           kind of neurotic activity -- "extra-curricular" activities.
               And I found so much under that tree that whenever I used to go back to my town, I never went to
           the principal whose office was just close to the tree -- just behind his office was the tree -- but I used
           to go to the tree just to thank it, to show my gratitude.
               The principal would come out, and he would say, "This is strange. You come to the town -- you
           never come to me, you never come to the school, but you always come to this tree."
               I said, "I have experienced much more under that tree than under your guidance and that of all
           kinds of mad teachers that you have. They have not given anything to me -- in fact, whatever they
           gave to me I had to get rid of. But what this tree has given to me is still with me."
               And you will be surprised -- it happened twice, so it cannot be just coincidence.... In 1970 I
           stopped going to the town, because I gave a promise to my grandmother: "I will come only while
           you are alive. When you are gone, I have nothing to come here for."
               I was informed that when I stopped going to the town, the tree died. I thought it must have been
           an accident, just a coincidence; it could not be connected with me. But it happened twice....
               When I became a professor in the university, there was a line of beautiful trees. I used to park my
           car under one tree. And it had always been my privilege -- I don't know why -- that wherever I sat in
           the common room for the professors, nobody would sit on the chair I used, nobody would sit even by
           the side of the chair. They thought me a little dangerous.
               A man who has no friends, a man who has strange thoughts, a man who is against all religions,
           against all traditions, a man who can oppose single-handedly people like Mahatma Gandhi, who is
           worshipped by the whole country -- they thought, "It is better to keep away from this man. He can
           put some idea in your mind, and you may be in some difficulty."
               I used to park my car under that one tree. Nobody else parked their cars in that place; even if I
           was not coming, the place remained empty. All the other trees died, only my tree -- it had become
           known as my tree -- remained gorgeous.
               After I resigned from the university, the vice-chancellor said to me, one year later, "It is strange:
           that tree has died. Since you stopped coming to the university something has happened."
               I understand that there is some synchronicity. If you silently sit with a tree... the tree is silent,
           you are silent... and two silences cannot remain separate, there is no way to divide them.
               You are here. If you are all thinking thoughts, you are separate. But if you are all silent, then
           suddenly there is something like a collective soul.
               Perhaps those two trees missed me. Nobody came close to them again, nobody with whom they
           could communicate. They died because they could not get any warmth from anybody. I had
           tremendous love and respect for those trees.
               Whenever you feel sad, sit by the side of a tree, by the side of the river, by the side of a rock, and
           just relax into your sadness without any fear. The more you relax, the more you will become
           acquainted with the beauties of sadness.
               The sadness will start changing its form; it will become a silent joy, uncaused by anybody
           outside you. That will not be shallow happiness, which can be taken away very easily.
               And getting deeper into your aloneness, one day you will find not only joy -- joy is only midway.
           Happiness is very superficial, depends on others; joy is in the middle, does not depend on anyone.
           But going deeper you will come to the state of bliss -- that's what I call enlightenment.
               Use anything and you will come to enlightenment. But use something authentic, which is yours.
           And then you have a bliss which is yours twenty-four hours a day. It is simply radiating from you.
           You can share it now, you can give it to whomsoever you love. But it is an unconditional gift. And
           nobody can make you miserable.
               In this commune, this is my effort: to make you independently blissful. That does not mean that
           you have to renounce the world. That does not mean that you have to leave your wife, your
           girlfriend, your love for food -- even for ice cream; it has nothing to do with that.
               Your blissfulness is with you whatever you are doing. It will enhance every activity, it will
           enrich every act that you do. Your love will have a totally different flavor. Now there will not be any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           hate hiding behind it; it will be simply love. There will not be even the expectation that something
           should be returned to you. You don't need anything. Giving is such a benediction, there is no need.
           You are so rich inside that nothing can make you richer.
           And you can go on sharing bliss.
               The more you share it, the more you have it, so nothing can make you poorer.
           This is the only miracle that I know of.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I FEEL I MISSED, THIS MORNING IN DISCOURSE, WHEN YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT
              WEARING RED AND THE MALA AND NO MORE BUDDHAFIELD. WHEN YOU SAID, "CLAP!"
              PART OF ME WANTED ME TO CLAP, NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU HAD BEEN TALKING
              ABOUT -- WHICH MADE ME WANT TO CRY -- BUT JUST BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU
              SHOUTED "CLAP!" THAT ONE WORD WAS LIKE A COMMAND, A CHALLENGE TO TAKE THE
              JUMP AND CLAP AND SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT.
              LATER I REMEMBERED THE STORY OF RINZAI AND HIS GREAT SHOUT AND CLAP, "THE
              GOOSE IS OUT!" DID WE MISS YET AGAIN?


               Yes. You go on missing again and again. But no need to be worried. I will not allow you to miss
           forever. One day you are bound to catch the train!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #26
                                    Chapter title: Truth is enough unto itself
           10 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510100
              ShortTitle: BONDAG26
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 124 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE SPENT THREE BLISSFUL WEEKS HERE, AND NEXT WEEK I RETURN TO GERMANY. I
              AM NOT A SANNYASIN, BUT I HAVE AGAIN BEEN DEEPLY IMPRESSED BY THE GENUINE
              SPIRIT OF THIS COMMUNE AND BY YOUR DISCOURSES. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE
              HEARD YOU SPEAK, AND YOUR WORDS HAVE GONE TO MY HEART AS WELL AS TO MY
              BRAIN.
              IN GERMANY I WILL BE CONFRONTED WITH DISCUSSIONS FROM MANY DIFFERENT SIDES,
              MOSTLY INFLUENCED BY THE PRESS, WHO ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR EXAGGERATIONS AND
              AN UGLY PLAY WITH SENSATIONAL NEWS.
              I WILL DO MY BEST TO DESTROY ANY MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISBELIEF, AND I AM
              GOING TO FIGHT AGAINST ANY LACK OF GOODWILL. BUT I EARNESTLY DOUBT WHETHER I
              WILL SUCCEED. WHAT DO YOU THINK I COULD DO?


               There are so many questions in your one question. Let me go into it step by step.
               First, truth needs no defense; only lies need defense. Truth needs no argument, it is self-evident.
           So the problem with truth is always how to convey it to the other person.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Lies can be argued about. The other can be convinced about them; logic can be used to convince
           the other. Hence, I hate the word "missionary," because the missionary can only spread lies. He
           convinces, argues, quotes scriptures.
                But truth needs nothing. Truth is enough unto itself. So, if you have felt something of truth here,
           just please don't try to convince anybody. You cannot succeed. Only make your experience available
           -- naked, with no logic, with no argument. Truth has its own way. It will come through the shine of
           your eyes, through the aura of your being, through your very presence, that you have been in a
           garden -- you are still fragrant.
                A man who is standing with closed eyes -- you cannot convince him that there is light. But you
           can describe the beauties of light. As the sun rises, flowers start blossoming, birds start singing, the
           whole existence comes out of sleep refreshed, alive, younger. You can tell this to the man who is
           standing with closed eyes. This is not giving an argument for the existence of light; it is simply
           creating an urge in the man to open his eyes. And that urge exists in everyone.
                There is not a single human being in the world who does not want to know beauty, to know love,
           to know truth. But the problem has been created by the missionaries, theologians, the so-called
           religious people. They try to convince him of something which needs to be experienced.
                Be loving to your friends. If in Germany they can feel that something German has disappeared
           from you, you have given evidence. Be loving. Be rejoicing. Sing, dance with them. Let them feel
           your energy; in your singing, dancing, let them feel the difference. You cannot say it, but you can
           show it in every gesture, in every word, in every silence. Show the difference that has happened to
           you. Allow yourself to be available to your friends. Open all the doors and all the windows of your
           being so they can see that some ray of light has entered in you.
                And if they inquire, tell them the only way is to come here, to be here. Man can go to the moon,
           which is a silly project, because what are you going to do on the moon? -- just stand there looking
           stupid! There is nothing to see, not even a juniper tree. Just create the urge in them sometimes to
           have a few days in this oasis. This is the first thing to remember.
                The second thing: you say you are not a sannyasin. That is wrong -- you are. There are
           sannyasins who are not sannyasins; there are nonsannyasins who are sannyasins. Sannyas is not
           something outward, it is something inner. If you could enjoy these three weeks, you are already
           initiated. These three weeks are going to change your whole life.
                So drop that idea that you are a nonsannyasin. Anybody who is so open, so available, so
           unprejudiced that, just being a visitor here, he fell in tune with the commune, its sincerity, its love --
           the initiation has happened. The outer initiation may follow in its own time, there is no hurry. And
           even if it doesn't follow, it doesn't matter. What matters has happened!
                Third: you say that my words have reached your heart and your brain. Just let them reach your
           heart. The brain is dangerous; it is German. The heart is human. And the brain is continuously
           distorting everything. So don't go via the brain, because the brain is conditioned by millions of years,
           by many lives, by many different stages, and anything moving through it cannot retain its purity. But
           it can be bypassed; there is no necessity to go through it.
                We are being educated that everything should go through the brain. That is one of the strategies
           of the vested interests all over the world, because truth, love, beauty -- any great value going through
           the brain will not be the same by the time it reaches to the heart. In fact, it may have turned upside
           down. The brain distorts everything. It pollutes all that is innocent.
                Learn to put the brain aside -- that's what I call meditation. Put the brain aside. Let me talk to you
           heart to heart. It is a totally different experience. Your heart starts beating in the same rhythm, a
           great synchronicity happens, and with it comes understanding, experience, vision, insight.
                The brain cannot give anything to you; the brain is only a mechanism. Don't put things like love,
           truth, beauty, through any mechanism. They will be distorted, crippled, crushed; and by the time
           they reach to the heart they will be dead, they will not be breathing.
                But this has been taught to us, that everything has to go through reason, through the brain,
           rationality. These are standing at the door of your heart; they guard your heart. They don't allow
           anybody in unless they are satisfied. And it is not possible for real values to satisfy them.
                Yes, a theology can satisfy them, it can give all the arguments they want. But what argument can
           beauty give? What argument can you give that the sunset is beautiful? If some idiot starts asking,
           "Please give me a rational explanation of your statement. Why do you call the sunset beautiful?" you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will be absolutely incapable of doing it.
                This is what your brain is continuously doing. It won't allow beauty, truth, love, without their
           being searched, asked all kinds of questions -- inquiries to which they cannot provide answers; it is
           not in their nature.
                So put the brain aside. Let the heart function in its own right, and you will start growing into new
           dimensions of being which were not available to you before. And then you will know that the brain
           is good as a servant, but not good as a master. A machine should always remain a servant, it should
           never become the master. Once a machine becomes a master, it destroys everything that has any
           intrinsic value. Those values are very delicate, very fragile.
                Try to have a direct connection, from heart to heart, and see the tremendous revolution that
           comes to you. And then you can say the same thing to your friends back home: "What I have brought
           is something not of the mind, for the mind, from the mind; it is something of the beyond."
                So if you can, put your friends' brains aside -- and if they are your friends this small thing can be
           done. If you cannot do it for a friend, then for whom are you going to do it? A friend wants to
           connect directly with your heart. There is no harm, no loss. So just tell them, "Don't argue about it.
           Just for a few moments let me hold your hand, let me hug you, and put the mind aside. Feel my
           warmth, my love, and let our hearts synchronize." You may be able... something may transpire. This
           is not missionary work. This is the work of pure love.
                You say that you are afraid you may not succeed. If you try through the mind, it is certain you
           will not succeed. On the contrary, those people may succeed in destroying something that was
           growing in you. They will make you suspicious of your own experience. They may convince you:
           "Perhaps you were hypnotized. Perhaps seeing five thousand sannyasins, living amongst them, you
           became too gullible." And you may start thinking: Who knows? Was it true, or just my imagination?
           Was it true, or just my projection? Was it true, or did I have a dream? You cannot succeed in
           convincing them, but they can succeed.
                Intellectually, destruction is very easy. Intellectually, to lead people to a creative experience is
           impossible. You are aware that all those people back home are full of negative attitudes, gossips, the
           sensational news that journalism thrives on. Journalism has not yet been able to become an art; it is
           still third-rate. It is unfortunate, because journalism has a tremendous power over people's thinking,
           being. Journalism simply lives on sensationalism. The more sensational news is, the more you can
           sell it to the masses.
                There is an old saying: No news is good news. I feel it is not complete. I want to complete it:
           Good news is no news, because good news does not create sensationalism. Murder is needed, suicide
           is needed, rape is needed; all kinds of crimes are needed. But to go on feeding people on all this kind
           of news -- do you think you are serving humanity? Do you know the psychological effect of all this?
           A person who reads every morning about murders, suicides, rapes -- all kinds of crimes -- by and by
           becomes immune, it does not make him feel bad about it. It is the way life is; it is happening all over
           the world.
                If war is the only reality that covers the front pages of all the newspapers, televisions, radios; if
           cunning politicians are the only people whose statements are always on the first page.... Have you
           seen, ever, on the first page, a musician's statement, a sculptor's statement, his photo, a poet's
           statement, his photo? No, they are not news. They are too good to be news.
                Journalism is corrupting humanity. It is making people feel that crime is the way of life. If you
           are not committing crime, you are just a fool. Everybody is doing it and getting away with it.
           Criminals become presidents, prime ministers. You have never heard that a great scientific genius
           has become a president of a country, or a great guitarist has become a prime minister of a country.
           These people are struggling just to survive somehow. Perhaps they will live anonymously and die
           anonymously.
                Do you know, in the times of Alexander the Great, how many poets there were? how many
           musicians there were? how many great creative artists there were? Not even in the footnotes of
           history are their names available. They lived anonymously. They made this life more beautiful, they
           made human experience more rich. They brought something from the beyond -- but they remained
           unknown and they will remain unknown. And what has Alexander the Great done, other than
           murdering thousands of people, burning cities, trying to conquer the whole world? This murderer
           becomes "the Great" Alexander.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                This has to be changed. All politicians' names should disappear from the front pages of the
           newspapers, from magazines, television shows, radios. What do they have to give to the world? Why
           should people go on seeing the face of Ronald Reagan? -- just a third-rate cowboy film actor. What
           contribution has he made?
                Is there no one in America who has contributed to life immensely? There are poets, musicians,
           there are people who have created great literature. The front pages of all the newspapers and
           magazines should be concerned with those who beautify life, who give something to existence, who
           don't destroy. Politicians should be pushed to the last page!
                There is no need to continuously insist on murders, suicides. You may not think so, but it is
           absolutely certain that your insistence on these stories makes people, by and by, murderers, suicidal,
           criminals. Who is responsible for that? And now the world is so small that anything happening
           anywhere, immediately reaches within hours, through modern media, to every nook and corner of
           the earth.
                Journalism should understand its responsibility: it is great. Up to now, it has been irresponsible.
           Its only interest is how to sell more, how to earn more. Whatever happens to human beings is not its
           concern. Journalism needs a total change.
                A California University has been surveying and studying in California, for one year, what
           happens when there are boxing matches. By thirteen percent, crime immediately rises, and for one
           week steadily that thirteen percent increase remains. Then slowly it tapers off. Knowing this, still the
           government of California has not done anything. Boxing matches should be made a criminal offense!
           If they create a thirteen-percent rise in crime.... Those criminals will be punished -- and the real
           crime is coming from the boxing matches! It looks like such an insane world.
                Stop such nonsense as boxing matches. But no, Muhammad Ali becomes a great hero -- and what
           has he done? What has he contributed? He may have broken a few people's ribs, a few people's
           noses, a few people's eyes, and he may have created a wave of crimes -- that is his contribution. And
           journalism will give great credit to him.
                Journalists have to learn that it is time to become more mature, more responsible: they should
           understand that just selling stories, whether true or untrue, just for the sake of earning money --
           without any concern what they are going to do to human beings.... It is poison that is being spread!
                So I can understand your concern that journalism has been spreading all kinds of lies about me,
           and people believe them. People have a certain psychology: they believe anything which is printed.
           It becomes something very significant that it is printed: it must be true.
                Just the other day -- I do not understand German, fortunately -- Sheela, in one of her interviews
           given to the German sensationalist magazine STERN, a twenty-five-page interview full of lies, not a
           single word true in it.... I just looked at the translation quickly, because what is the point of going
           through all those lies? And you see how journalism works.... After that, the STERN representative
           was here interviewing me, but he never mentioned Sheela's interview, neither did he bring any
           question: "Sheela has brought such-and-such allegations against you and the commune" -- not a
           single point.
                Do you see the cunningness? He knew perfectly well that I would contradict it and say the truth;
           then it would be difficult. And they have been living on lies. He asked many questions, but not a
           single question related to Sheela's interview.
                So certainly, back in Germany, you will be faced, encountered by people who are just full of
           such nonsense, garbage. Don't argue with them. Just tell them, "The best way to know is to go there.
           It is an experience. I had also the same ideas you have, because I have also read all these magazines
           and watched the television shows, and naturally I had believed."
                Humanity is raised in such a way as to believe that anything that is brought on the television
           screen, on the radio, in the newspapers, has a validity. Nobody bothers to inquire about the truth.
           And anybody can come here and inquire of my people, "What kind of nonsense is this?" This is the
           only place in the whole world where there is no prostitution, for the simple reason that we don't
           believe that married partners should monopolize each other.
                My basic approach is that the more you love, the more freedom you give to the other. Even the
           freedom that, if your woman wants to go with a man just for two days on a holiday, you will be
           immensely happy that she will be happy. You are not her owner, she is not a thing. You love her and
           you want her to be happy; if this is her happiness, then she can go. There is no need to hide it, there
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is no need to pretend. Things are frank here in the commune. And for two days she is free, for two
           days you are also free. You may have been attracted to another woman -- because there is no natural
           law that you can only be attracted to your wife. In fact, it is very difficult to be attracted to your wife.
           That is the last woman in the world you can be attracted to.
               Two days' freedom for you... and after two days, when you meet again, it is as if a fresh
           relationship begins. Those two days have given a break -- a love break, just like a tea break, a coffee
           break. I don't know the English language exactly, but I don't care either. If I can manage to make you
           understand, that's enough: love break! And in two days' time she realizes that all men are alike. In
           two days' time you realize all women are alike: just put the light off and there is no difference. A
           great reunion, again a small honeymoon....
               There is no need for prostitutes in this commune. Prostitutes exist in the society where marriage
           is a monopoly, where marriage is ownership; there is no way to have just a little holiday. Female
           prostitutes have existed always -- it is called the oldest profession -- but now there are male
           prostitutes also. That is the latest profession.
               But in this commune there is neither a female prostitute nor a male prostitute -- and there is no
           need for a pimp. What will he do? He will simply die, seeing that he is not needed at all. People are
           making their arrangements themselves. He was needed very much in the outside society, as a
           mediator. The man cannot directly manage to find a prostitute, he has to save his respectability. The
           prostitute cannot manage to find a man, because it is absolutely unfeminine to go to a man and to
           say, "I want to sell myself to you for one night." The pimp was a necessary link. It helped the
           prostitute to remain feminine. It helped the man to protect his reputation, his children, his parents,
           his wife, his family, his society. Everybody believes that he is really a proper husband, this is an
           ideal couple. The pimp functions, does a very necessary work. But in the commune there is no need
           for a pimp.
               Tell those people that if they have any questions which third-rate journalism has created in
           them.... And I emphasize it! -- all journalism is third rate. There is only yellow journalism, there is
           nothing else. It has not yet become an art. It has to become an art.
               So tell those people, "I had also believed in all these lies. They simply disappeared the way
           dewdrops disappear in the morning sun. You just go and experience -- there is no other way."


              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE FINE LINE BETWEEN OUR TRUST IN YOU AND THE SAYING, "IF YOU
              MEET THE BUDDHA ON THE ROAD, KILL HIM."


               There is no fine line. Unless you trust, you don't have a Buddha, you don't have a master.
               Buddha has made the statement: "If you meet me on the way, kill me." It is not said to those who
           don't trust him, who don't love him, who have not merged their identity with his being. Once you are
           in deep trust with a master, there is a danger that you may become so blissful with the merger of
           your identity with the master that you may not like to become enlightened on your own; hence, the
           statement.
               The statement is saying that you are feeling so blissful, just being in tune with an awakened
           being, you don't know how much more bliss is possible if you yourself become awakened. But to
           become awakened you will have to drop this identity. You will have to forget even the master.
               It is something about the inner journey. When a person is moving in meditation on the inner
           journey, the last thing is the master. It is easy to drop other ideas, other feelings; it is easy to drop
           greed, anger. But finally you come to a point when you have to drop the master too. That is the last
           barrier. It is just in your mind. You have loved the man so much, your love has made it so difficult,
           that you would prefer to remain unenlightened than to drop the master. And a real master will say,
           "Drop me, so that you can also become a master in your own right."
               It happened in Ramakrishna's life -- and Ramakrishna was alive just in the last part of the
           preceding century, so he is not very far away, he is very close to us. He was a great devotee of the
           mother goddess, Kali. And it was not a formality, it was not just like going every Sunday to the
           church. He was the priest of the temple of Kali, but his behavior was strange. Sometimes he would
           worship, sometimes he would not open the doors of the temple at all. Sometimes he would worship
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the whole day, from morning to evening, till he fell down unconscious from dancing.
               Rani Rasmani had made the temple near the Ganges in Calcutta -- a beautiful temple and a very
           scenic place. But Rani Rasmani, although she was a queen of a small kingdom, belonged to the
           fourth caste of the Hindus, the untouchables. So no brahmin was ready to become a priest in the
           temple of an untouchable. For years there was no priest. Rasmani was very much in trouble. She
           looked all over Bengal; she was ready to give any salary the priest wanted, but no brahmin was ready
           to worship in a temple of a sudra, an untouchable.
               But when Ramakrishna was approached, he said, "I will come." Even Rasmani was a little
           puzzled: the man seems to be a little mad, because no brahmin was ready to come. Ramakrishna
           said, "Whether the temple is made by an untouchable or by a brahmin, the highest caste, the mother
           Kali is the same; it doesn't matter. I am coming, and whatever salary you feel is right, must be right.
           I don't know much about money -- you are a queen, your decision will be far better."
               When she heard that sometimes he dances, sings songs the whole day, and sometimes he does
           not even open the door, Rani Rasmani called him and said, "This is not right."
               He said, "Nobody can say to me what is right and what is wrong: it is a love affair. Only I know
           and my mother Kali knows. Sometimes I get angry at her when she does not behave. I have been for
           three days dancing, and she has not even given a little vision to me? Now let her be punished! I am
           not going to open the doors, and I am not going to offer the food."
               Rasmani said, "You are strange! You are supposed to be a priest -- you have to do the ritual."
               He said, "I am not a priest, and I am not supposed to do any ritual. I love! I love the Kali in my
           village. I will continue; if you are worried you can stop my salary... because when I prepare food for
           Kali first I taste it, then I offer it to her. So that's enough, I don't need much -- I can just taste a little
           more!"
               This was unimaginable. In India you cannot taste anything and then offer it to God, or to a
           goddess. Rasmani said, "This is too much!"
               He said, "No. My mother used to do the same. She would taste everything before she gave it to
           me. Was it worth giving or not? Has the taste come out right or not? I cannot offer anything to my
           mother without tasting it."
               This man, Ramakrishna, was really in love with that statue. Nobody was there, but his love was
           real. The goddess was unreal, but his love was not unreal.
               One wandering mystic came to the temple and said to Ramakrishna, "You have not yet attained
           to the ultimate consciousness, and I can see you are capable of it. You are very close to it. Only one
           thing is blocking the way: this mother goddess, Kali. You love her too much. She does not exist, but
           your love certainly exists. And you have created a great image of her. You have dropped everything
           else from your mind, you are ready to reach to ultimate samadhi, ultimate ecstasy, but you will have
           to cut off the head of Kali."
               Ramakrishna said, "That is a little hard. Killing one's own mother? -- what are you saying? I
           would rather remain unenlightened. And anyway, the moment I close my eyes I see her; she is so
           beautiful and so alive, I cannot do this."
               But the mystic insisted. He said, "I have never come across a man who is so close -- just one
           step!"
               Ramakrishna was a simple man. He said, "Then you will have to help me, because when I close
           my eyes I will not remember you. And Kali is standing before me, so gorgeous, so beautiful! And it
           is such an immense bliss to see her, I completely forget."
               Many times he tried. He would close his eyes, and soon he was swaying, as if from an inner
           dance. And the mystic would say, "Wake up! Don't forget what I have said."
               Ramakrishna would open his eyes and say, "But this seems to be impossible."
               Then the mystic found a way. He brought a piece of glass, really sharp, like a knife, and he said,
           "I will do one thing: I will just cut your forehead with this piece of glass. It will be painful, but it will
           remind you. The same way, you cut the mother Kali."
           Ramakrishna said, "Let us try."
               The mystic cut Ramakrishna's forehead and the mark remained all his life. Blood started flowing,
           the pain was intense, and he remembered: with great courage, he cut the image of Kali in two parts --
           it was just in his imagination -- and Kali fell in two parts. And he went into transcendental ecstasy. It
           took six days to wake him up, he was so deep in ecstasy. And the mystic said, "Don't disturb him."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               After six days he was awakened, and his first words were, "The last barrier has fallen! I am
           grateful to you," he said to the mystic. "If you had not insisted, I would have remained happy, but
           now I know what bliss is. It is a millionfold more."
               That is the meaning of Gautam Buddha's saying. It is not for all, because you don't have that
           love. When you go inside you will not find Gautam Buddha. You may find all kinds of idiots there:
           the attorney general of Oregon, Governor Atiyeh, Ronald Reagan -- anybody.
               The statement is not for you. The statement is for those who had loved Buddha so much that
           Buddha knew that they could drop everything else, but they could not drop him. So he had to say,
           "When you meet me on the way" -- that way is the inner way -- "just chop my head off, so that you
           can become an enlightened person on your own." And that is the joy of a master, to see his disciple
           also becoming a master.
               This is the meaning when I say that this commune is a mystery school. The effort is to have
           everyone become a master; just disciplehood won't do. I want you all to be masters. The world needs
           masters. Only a great energy of masters around the world can prevent the catastrophe of a third
           world war, which is looming on the horizon.
               So it is not only a question of your enlightenment. It is also a question of the life or death of this
           whole planet.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIMU -- RAJNEESH INTERNATIONAL MEDITATION
              UNIVERSITY -- AND RAJNEESH ACADEMY?


               The Rajneesh International Meditation University is an educational institution. It teaches you
           everything about meditation. It makes you knowledgeable about the art of meditation, but it is not
           existential or experiential. It is educational -- just the way all other universities are.
               There are universities of different kinds in the world. They give you knowledge about the
           subject. And the meditation university gives you degrees according to your knowledge, your
           acquaintance with all the literature about meditation.
               Let me emphasize: it is about meditation, but it is not meditation. Rajneesh Academy is an
           existential, experiential institute. It does not give you knowledge about meditation; it gives you the
           experience of meditation. From the university we can create teachers of meditation, writers, Ph.Ds,
           scholars, D.Litts. But as far as they themselves are concerned, they have not tasted anything of
           meditation.
               There are one hundred and twelve methods of meditation; they were discovered ten thousand
           years ago. I have made a few new methods for the modern man, because those methods were created
           for a totally different kind of humanity, for very simple people. The contemporary man is not simple,
           he is very complex. Those methods were for people who were not repressed, who were natural. In
           these ten thousand years religions have made everybody repressed; sexually, and in other ways, they
           have driven humanity against its own nature.
               So I have created new methods which are cathartic, so that you can throw out all repressions, all
           garbage out of your being, and can become clean, a tabula rasa. Then those one hundred and twelve
           methods -- any one method that appeals to you will be enough to transform your being.
               The Academy also gives titles, because the meditators -- although they experience the same
           space of blissfulness, of eternal life, they come from different paths, and after their experience their
           expressions are different. For example, siddha is one of the titles that the Academy gives. He knows
           the meditation, he knows the ultimate experience, he knows the deathlessness -- but he cannot
           express it, he cannot say anything about it. In fact, the experience is inexpressible, and the siddha
           remains silent.
               In India, we know only of eighty-four siddhas in the whole of history. There may have been
           thousands, but even to know a siddha is difficult. He keeps it to himself, he is not articulate.
               The second category is the arihanta. He is very articulate, but the way he expresses himself is
           rarely understood because he tries to remain close to his experience, rather than thinking of the
           audience. He does not come down into the valley; he remains on top of the hill, and from there he
           speaks. So you can hear a few sounds, but you cannot make any sense of it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The arihanta is more articulate than the siddha. The siddha is absolutely silent. He will be helpful
           only to those few people who can understand silence, who can communicate through silence. The
           arihanta helps more people, but not many. His statements are maxims: you will have to figure out
           what he means, and most probably you will figure out something which is not the right thing. Your
           mind cannot understand that experience; but he is closer to his own experience and is not much
           concerned whether you understand him or not.
                The third category is the acharya. He is the most articulate of all the three categories. His effort
           is to come closer to you, to bring the truth in such a way that it can become of some use to you. He
           does not speak in mysterious language, he speaks in ordinary language. He creates devices so that he
           can lead you towards the way. He helps the biggest number of people.
                These three categories are of equal value. It is not that some category is higher than the other,
           because their experience is the same. But their expression is different.
                The siddha simply denies expression. The arihanta tries, but tries in such a way that in no way is
           the truth polluted by language and words. His expression goes above your heads. The acharya is
           more humane; he tries to reach you in your language, in your ways. He comes down from the hill
           into the valley to pick you up and lead you up towards the peak. Their experiences are exactly the
           same; hence, nobody is lower or higher.
                Rajneesh Academy is an experiential university; the Meditation University is informative. It
           creates teachers, the Academy creates masters -- and there is a great difference. The teacher is only
           saying what he has learned from his teachers, from the books, but he cannot support it by his own
           experience. The master does not care about the books, about the teachers. He is his own authority, he
           is his own scripture.
                Hence, I have made two different institutions. The University will prepare you to be acquainted
           with meditation, so that you become interested in having the real taste of it. It will lead you towards
           the Academy. The Academy has a far higher status than the University.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN I HEAR PEOPLE SAY THAT THEY HAVE DROPPED SANNYAS, I WONDER IF THIS IS
              POSSIBLE. I FEEL THAT ONCE YOU HAVE STARTED ON THIS PATH OF SANNYAS, THERE IS
              NO RETURN.
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               You are right. Once you are a sannyasin, you are a sannyasin forever. You can drop the clothes,
           you can drop the mala, but sannyas is something that has entered into your being.
               You cannot drop it, unless you drop your heart. And I don't think anybody is going to drop his
           heart.
               Sannyas is initiation of the heart: the individual heart moving towards the universal heart. There
           is no way to drop it.
           So before you enter, think twice!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #27
                                   Chapter title: Close your eyes and find me
           11 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510110
              ShortTitle: BONDAG27
                  Audio: Yes
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 112 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I WORK IN EUROPE AS A JOURNALIST, AND EVERYBODY IS ASKING ME ABOUT SHEELA, "IS
              IT TRUE THAT SHE BETRAYED HER MASTER?" THE ONLY ANSWER I CAN GIVE IS, "I DON'T
              KNOW." WHEN THEY ASK ME WHAT I FEEL ABOUT THE RECENT EVENTS, I SAY THAT I FEEL
              TREMENDOUSLY GRATEFUL TO SHEELA, WHATEVER SHE HAS DONE.
              AT THIS POINT, EVERYBODY THINKS I'M CRAZY. MY QUESTION IS, DO YOU? PLEASE
              COMMENT.


               Certainly you are crazy -- for two reasons. First, nobody can betray me. You can betray Jesus
           Christ because he asks faith from you. You can betray Gautam Buddha because he requires total
           surrender from you. How can you betray me? Faith can be betrayed; but I ask you to doubt, to be
           skeptical, to be rational, to be intelligent. How can you betray me?
               Sheela has not betrayed me, she has betrayed herself. She has fallen in her own eyes, and she will
           live with all the crimes heavy on her heart for her whole life. As far as I am concerned there was no
           expectation. I have never demanded any commitment to me. I have never said that you have to be
           loyal to me: how can you betray me? This is the first point which proves you are crazy, when you
           say to people that you do not know. That means you do not know me and you do not know my work.
               Secondly, you are telling people that Sheela has done great work and the commune should be
           grateful to her. She has certainly done great work, and the commune is grateful for all the good that
           she has done. But side by side she has been committing crimes. The commune cannot be grateful for
           those crimes -- crimes ranging from killing people, attempts on people's lives, to bugging houses --
           and taping phone calls, which cannot be forgiven, because that is trespassing on individual privacy.
           And she was planning bigger crimes.
               People are accustomed to see things as black or as white. In life it is very rare to find somebody
           who is absolutely black, or somebody who is absolutely white. People are different in degrees
           between these two polarities. But one thing has to be remembered, that you may be doing
           ninety-nine percent good work, but a single crime will destroy your credibility completely. Your
           good work cannot save you.
               You are saying that the commune should feel grateful because Sheela burned the planning office
           of Wasco County? that she tried to poison one of the judges of Wasco County and one of the
           attorneys of Jefferson County? that she tried to kill Doctor Devaraj and Vivek, here in the commune?
           You are going to be grateful to her that she was lying to me continuously?
               She bugged my room. She bugged almost the whole commune. Nobody was left their
           independence, their freedom of privacy. One hundred and forty-five rooms in the hotel were bugged.
           Nixon looks like a pygmy before her!
               I have heard that she placed guards, thirty-two guards at my house, pretending that they had to be
           protection for me. But she ordered the guards not to speak to anybody who lives with me in the
           house -- my physician, my kitchen people, my cleaners, my seamstresses, people who do everyday
           work for me.
               The guards were ordered not to recognize that the people in my house even existed. They were
           not to smile at them, they were not to wave at them, they were not to talk with them; they were not to
           create any kind of contact with them.
               One guard must have asked "Why? If we are there to protect the Master, then what is the point of
           this precaution?"
               She said, "The precaution is absolutely necessary. One day you may have to shoot all those
           people who live there."
               Yes, you should be grateful to her. She has made roads, she has made houses -- but she has also
           stolen forty-three million dollars. Even before I came to America she had stolen three hundred
           thousand dollars, and managed in the court to show that that money had gone to Rajneesh
           Foundation. Now the court has decided one point four million dollars is to be returned to the person.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And the money had never come to the Foundation. All those papers were bogus.
               Yes, we have to be grateful to her -- she was doing great work. She created this fascist group.
           She threw out every person who was capable, far more capable than herself, of making the commune
           better, more comfortable, less tedious. She harassed those people -- the vice-chancellor of the
           university, the chancellor of the university, many psychotherapists, doctors. People who were
           competent like Sushila, Makima -- they had to leave. Not that they were leaving me, because they
           are all coming back. They had to leave simply because there is a limit to suffering humiliation,
           harassment.
               And why should a person like Sushila be thrown out? ... Because Sushila could have managed
           this commune far better than Sheela. But you are not aware of it, that when we came here we had not
           a single dollar, and Sushila managed to collect thirty-three million dollars to start the commune with.
           Now, she was a dangerous woman in the eyes of Sheela, because she had done such a great job to get
           the commune started. This was the reward for her -- to be thrown out from here!
               In Australia Sushila was managing, with another sannyasin, a company which was capable of
           producing millions of dollars. And her idea was that that money would come to the commune. I
           prevented Sheela... I told her, "Don't interfere. They are working well." But seeing millions of
           dollars and the possibilities, she unnecessarily went there and forced Sushila from there too -- in my
           name. She told her, "The Master says you should leave. I am going to take charge of the company."
               That was a pure lie; I had told her just the opposite. When Sushila was in charge there, there was
           no problem. I have known Sushila for many more years than I have known Sheela. I know her love
           towards me, and I have great respect for her capacities. But when Sheela used my name, finally
           Sushila left. And the moment she left, the whole company fell into pieces. Those millions of dollars
           disappeared; the company is in a mess, under litigation. Yes, you are right, we should be grateful to
           her.
               What has she done? -- forced you to work twelve, fourteen hours a day, made you slaves. I told
           her, "I see people don't have good clothes; in winter they don't have enough clothes. So go and
           purchase clothes." Because I had said to, she purchased clothes, but they were never given to you;
           they were locked in a warehouse. Now they have been found.
               So what you see is not always the whole truth; there is much more behind it.
               She destroyed hundreds of centers around the world which I had created. People were running
           them with love, joy, and new sannyasins were coming through those centers. She destroyed those
           centers and concentrated sannyasins into six communes in Germany.
               Everybody who has an ambition for power wants centralization. Those centers were independent,
           they were not under anybody's rule. They were spreading my love, my message to people on their
           own; there was no need to destroy them. But they were not under her.
               In England Poonam had a beautiful commune -- four hundred sannyasins were in the commune --
           and a beautiful place, lush green, with all the facilities. Sheela called Poonam here and took power
           over the commune, then sent all the sannyasins to European communes. And she was going to sell
           the commune property. She was destroying all the centers of England -- she had almost succeeded.
           So you know only one side of the story, you don't know the other side.
               And I understand your mind.... The question is from an Italian sannyasin, Sarjano. Italy has lived
           under the authoritative rule of the popes, which ended finally in the fascism of Benito Mussolini.
           Somewhere deep in his mind there is no place for democracy and democratic values.
               Yes, she did some good work -- as a facade! But behind the facade, she was doing every kind of
           criminal activity. Two persons she placed in Desiderata declaring that they had positive AIDS tests,
           for the simple reason that they were not willing to do something that she wanted them to do. This
           was a punishment -- you cannot find a better punishment. Their blood was either mixed with the
           AIDS virus, or changed, so the test came back from outside as positive. And after she left, their
           blood was checked again -- they have no AIDS.
               Do you see the criminality of the mind? Putting two people who don't have AIDS with eight
           other people who have AIDS is putting them in great danger. And they cannot say anything, because
           the report is coming from outside. But the blood that was sent must have been taken from the people
           who have AIDS.
               Sheela's intimate, her assistant in crime, was Puja, who was trying to create the AIDS virus. I
           don't understand what is the need of creating the AIDS virus, of culturing the AIDS virus. Perhaps
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that would have been their next step: anybody who does not listen to them goes to Desiderata.
           Without killing him, they have killed him.
               If you look at things... for example, Adolf Hitler: you will find many good things that he did. The
           superhighway that he has created across Germany is the only superhighway in the whole world of its
           kind. It is straight -- few curves, few turnings; hence, you can go at any speed, there is no problem.
           He changed the old pattern of crossroads; there are no crossroads because that delays the speed.
           Roads meet, but first they run by the side of the road and slowly slowly merge with the road. So
           there are no crossroads. You can go very easily one hundred and twenty, one hundred and fifty miles
           an hour.
               You can say he has done a great work -- but the same man killed ten million people in the world.
           A person who wants to see the wholeness of any situation has to look from all sides, from all angles.
               Sheela has done a few good things. She has made houses -- but anybody could have done that,
           and in a far better way, not making you slave workers. She has made roads, which cannot be said to
           be very great, nothing to be compared with Adolf Hitler's superhighway. She was managing
           sufficient food for you -- but she was also poisoning three thousand street people for twenty-one
           days continuously through their food, to keep them drugged so that they could vote for her. She
           wanted to take over the county.
               I have been insistent that sannyasins should not be in any way involved with politics. I am
           absolutely against politics. I want the world to be freed from politics -- it is a cancer of the society.
               So I would like to say to you, first look at the whole picture, all the sides of it, before you say
           anything.
           That's why I say you are certainly crazy.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I AM SO TOUCHED AND OVERWHELMED BY YOUR TOTAL LOVE TOWARDS US, AND I FEEL
              HURT AND ASHAMED WHEN I SEE HOW WE GO ON ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS, MAKING
              COMPLAINTS, AND THROWING RESPONSIBILITY ON YOU.
              I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, HOW MUCH I FEEL
              THANKFUL TO YOU. I AM AFRAID YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE US BECAUSE WE'RE NOT RIPE
              ENOUGH. BUT PLEASE, BELOVED MASTER, FORGIVE US AND STAY WITH US LONGER. IT IS
              NOT EVERYBODY WHO DOESN'T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. NOT EVERYBODY DROPPED THE
              MALA, NOT EVERYBODY STOPPED WORKING. I TRUST YOU MORE THAN EVER, AND I WANT
              TO BE WITH YOU, WHATEVER HAPPENS.


               I know. There are only a very few idiots, but idiots have a quality of pulling people downwards
           to their own state.
               Man is not an island. If an enlightened person can pull you upwards, an idiot can pull you
           downwards. And, of course, the journey downwards is easier. Going uphill is difficult; going
           downhill no intelligence is needed, no effort is needed.
               Even a rock, rolled, will go downhill. Have you seen any rock going uphill? That will be against
           gravitation, that is not possible. Idiots function like gravitation; so there may be only a few people,
           but they create a certain atmosphere which pulls you downward. And it is easier to go downward.
               I know you love me. And I am not going to leave you, even though there are moments when
           anybody else in my place would leave. But I am not that type of person. Every difficulty to me is a
           challenge. Until I change those idiots, I am going to be here. It is a question of great importance: a
           struggle between enlightenment and retardedness. I am not going to be defeated by retarded people.
           Either they will have to change, or they will have to leave. So don't be worried about me.
               The same I have told the INS: "If you give me the green card, perhaps I may leave America. If
           you don't give me the green card, then there is no way I am going to leave America. America can
           leave -- I am going to be here!"
               I have to fight with any challenge; that's my nature. I have never turned my back on any
           challenge. I am not a hippie. Do you know the meaning of "hippie"? One who shows his hips and
           escapes. Sheela and her gang are hippies. People have forgotten the meaning of the word. The
           meaning of the word is, a coward who runs away from the challenge.
               Just as you love me, you know that I love you... even more. Even those who go on doing stupid
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           things, I love them in the same way. I want them to change, because they are living a life which is
           not life -- at the most vegetation. I have every compassion for them.
               This commune is a place of love. And if love cannot transform you, then what else can transform
           you? Love is the alchemy. And when so many people are radiating love, there is no fear of a few
           idiots. Our love will bring them up, will make them understand, will make them new human beings.
               So be absolutely satisfied... don't be worried about me leaving you. You are free to leave me; I
           am not free to leave you. If Sheela can leave with twenty people -- and I gave all those people all my
           love, but my love never takes away anybody's freedom. But I cannot leave you, for the simple reason
           that I am not imprisoned here. It is my own will to be here, because I see the possibility in this
           commune for the future of the whole humanity.
               These are small episodes -- Sheela and her gang, somebody doing a stupid thing... these are small
           episodes. My caravan is so big that a small percentage of idiots can be accepted with love and
           compassion. And the percentage is so small that it is bound to be changed.
               And this is my whole life's stand: I have never turned from any fight. I cannot leave this place. I
           have to fight for the American Constitution against the Americans. I have to fight for all the
           beautiful values in the American Constitution. That is the only Constitution in the whole world
           which has some hope.
               But the politicians are the same around the world. Just third-rate street dogs! And in America
           they are in more difficulty because they have to keep up with high ideals, which is beyond their
           capacity. We have given all the proofs, all the evidences, testimonies, eyewitnesses, for so many
           crimes of Sheela and her group, but the attorney general of Oregon is silent, as if nothing has
           happened. He is not taking any step against the criminals. And he was so quick to take steps against
           us because we simply made him look foolish.
               We had made tents of a special kind -- winterized, so even in winter, in snow, they can be used.
           They can be heated, they can even have air-conditioning. But they were tents, they were not
           permanent structures.
               Thinking that if heating is possible, air-conditioning is possible -- without coming here or
           sending somebody to see -- he immediately declared a one point four million dollar fine, because we
           had not taken out a permit, and these are permanent structures. For permanent structures you need
           permission; for tents you don't. Then he was so quick.... In the whole history of Oregon nobody has
           been fined one and a half million dollars.
               I told my people that in the court there is no argument needed, no question of law. You just take
           a tent there, unfold it, put up the tent within ten minutes -- it takes ten minutes to put it up. Tell the
           judge to go into the tent and have a look. Then fold it; within ten minutes it is packed up again. And
           ask him, "Is this a permanent structure? Can you do that with the White House?"
               And even the judge felt ashamed. He simply dismissed the whole case. But the attorney general
           has no feeling of shame. That time he was so quick. And he was so quick to declare Rajneeshpuram
           illegal because, according to him, religion and state are mixed.
               To make things clear I declared the religion dead. We have burned the religion completely. Now
           there is no religion here. But now he is not so quick to take his case back. If there is no religion, how
           can you mix religion with the state? We don't have any clergy, we don't have any church, we don't
           have any theology, we don't have any system of beliefs, we don't have any holy scripture. We don't
           have anything that defines a religion.
               This is a commune of mystics, seekers. It is not an organization. It is just an organic unity of
           friends who are searching for the truth on their own. The search is individual; hence, there is no
           question of any religion.
               If he had any intelligence, the attorney general should have withdrawn the case. But it is good
           that he is not withdrawing it, because that gives us another chance to be victorious in the court.
               But about the crimes -- she has committed every crime possible; otherwise, there was no need to
           escape like a thief. Even these people have my love, still intact. I know whatever they have done is
           out of unconsciousness, blindness. There was no need to escape from here. They could have simply
           come and told me whatever they had done. That would have been more dignified, more like a
           sannyasin. And they should have faced the law with all our love and support. And even if they got a
           few years' imprisonment, that would have been a blessing to them, because after that they would
           have come out clean, and I would have sent you all to receive them.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              But now they will go on carrying all that they have done -- and done to innocent people, and
           done to me, who has always loved them, still loves them. They will carry a burden in their hearts,
           and they will remain criminals hiding here and there.
              Don't be worried; I am not going to leave you. Of course you are always free to go, but wherever
           you go, you will find me there just within you. Whenever you close your eyes, you will find me.
           Whenever you are silent, you will hear my voice.
              Love is not a child's play; it goes deep into the heart, and there is no way to get rid of it.
           So be cheerful.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ONCE YOU SAID JESUS WAS FULLY ENLIGHTENED. RECENTLY, I HEARD YOU SAY JESUS
              WAS NOT ENLIGHTENED. YOU TELL US THAT YOU ALWAYS SAY THE TRUTH. HOW CAN
              TRUTH CHANGE SO FAST?


               Truth never changes, but statements about truth can change. When we start teaching a child, his
           book is full of big pictures and very little written matter. If he is learning the alphabet, then every
           letter stands for something. "M" stands for mango. The child can understand the mango, not the "M,"
           and he can see the mango -- a colorful, beautiful picture. But slowly slowly the mango will be
           dropped. Now when you read, have you to repeat every time, "M stands for mango"? You have
           completely forgotten what stands for what. Now you can read the alphabet directly.
               Yes, I had said to you, "Jesus is enlightened." It was "M stands for mango," because you were
           not in a state to understand that Jesus is not enlightened. To say to you something which you cannot
           comprehend is meaningless. For centuries you have become accustomed to believe that Jesus is the
           only begotten son of God: he is light, he is love, he is life, he is the savior -- twenty centuries of
           conditioning.
               Now you can understand my problem. I have to start with conditioned people, programmed
           people. Their conditioning is thick; I have to go with them so that they can go with me!
               So I had been going with all kinds of people: Hindus -- and I have spoken twelve volumes on
           Krishna; Jainas -- and I have spoken many volumes on Mahavira; Buddhists -- and I have spoken
           more on Buddha than anybody else; Christians.... And even bishops and cardinals have written
           letters to me, "It is surprising -- you are not a Christian, and in two thousand years nobody has
           shown such insight into the meanings of the statements of Jesus Christ."
               And I had a belly laugh. Those statements are third-rate -- not only third rate, but wrong too; the
           meaning that I had given to them was mine. But that was the only way that a Christian could become
           available to me, a Buddhist could become available to me.
               Now I have found my people, I need not say, "M stands for mango." Now I can say to you
           exactly what is in my heart, and I know you will be able to understand. I have walked so long with
           you, can't you walk a few steps with me? I have suffered so much, managing your conditionings,
           giving them meaning. Now I want you to listen to the naked truth.
           Jesus was not enlightened.
               Truth never changes, but statements have to change because the statement depends on the
           audience. I am not talking to the walls; if I were there would be no need to change the statement. I
           am talking to people who are conditioned and programmed. It is a very skillful work to uncondition
           them, to deprogram them, to create a trust, a friendship, a love stronger than your conditioning -- so
           that if a moment comes that you have to choose between your conditioning and the love, you will
           choose love.
               Now I have people who are ready to listen to the truth without any Jesus, any Krishna, any
           Buddha. I can now talk directly to you. These three and a half years of silence were simply a device
           to give a gap so that you could forget all that I have said before, and I could start afresh.
               Jesus is not enlightened. In fact, in the Western world enlightenment has been very rare. People
           have not worked for enlightenment, people have remained part of organized religion. And
           enlightenment needs a rebellious spirit so that you come out of all organized religions; you drop
           everything that has been taught to you, and you start looking within yourself for the truth of your
           being.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Jesus is not a meditator -- how can he become enlightened? He has not even taken the first step.
           He prays -- and there is a tremendous difference between prayer and meditation.
               Prayer is directed towards a mythological God, a fiction. Prayer is always directed outward.
           Meditation is an inward journey, not to some fiction but to your own reality. Enlightenment happens
           to those who come to realize their being.
               Jesus is still praying to a God, thinking still that he is the only begotten son of God -- that proves
           him just to be a crackpot -- thinking that after crucifixion God will raise him again, more luminous,
           glorious. But on the cross nothing happens. He is thirsty and he asks for water, and God cannot even
           give him a bottle of Coke. Frustrated, he shouts towards the sky, "Father, have you forsaken me?"
           The very word "father" shows that he is still a helpless child, he is not a mature person. He still
           needs a father figure, and is afraid perhaps the father has forsaken him. But now it is too late -- he is
           crucified.
               Jesus thinks that he is the savior. No enlightened person has ever said that he can save anybody;
           he can only share his experience. Then to save yourself or not is your business. See the subtlety of
           the point: if somebody can save you, then even your being saved is not your freedom, it is
           dependent. What kind of saving is it?
               Not a single enlightened man -- Bodhidharma, Chuang Tzu, Basho, Nagarjuna -- has ever said
           that he is a savior. All that he can say is, "I am saved, and I have an experience which you don't
           have. If you are ready to share it with me, I can open my whole heart to you." And then it is your
           decision to be saved or not saved.
               I was sitting in Allahabad on the bank of the Ganges, alone. A man jumped into the river -- and
           the Ganges at Allahabad is very deep, vast. I thought that he was just taking a bath, but after jumping
           he started shouting, "Save me!" He was going down and up, and whenever he came up, he would
           shout, "Save me!"
               Seeing no other way -- and there was nobody else -- I jumped into the water and pulled the man
           out. He was a heavier man, it was difficult to get him out. And he was very angry when he got out.
           He said to me, "Why did you save me?"
               I said, "My God! You were calling, and I am alone here. I have unnecessarily destroyed my
           clothes; now with wet clothes I have to go three miles to the place where I am staying. And if you
           didn't want to be saved, why were you calling?"
           He said, "I want to commit suicide."
               I said, "That's perfectly okay. If you want to commit suicide, who am I to prevent you? Then why
           were you calling 'Save me'?"
               He said, "Just natural instinct -- when I started drowning, I forgot all about suicide."
           I pushed the man back into the river.
           He said, "What are you doing!"
               I said, "I am simply undoing what I have done. Now I will not be deceived by what you say."
           And he was drowning and again shouting, "Save me!"
           I said, "Nothing doing."
               Nobody can save someone who does not want to be saved. And if somebody wants to be saved,
           he has to find the way himself.
               The enlightened person is just like a bird: he flies into the sky but leaves no footprints. You
           cannot follow him; you can simply see the joy, the freedom -- that the whole sky is available to him.
               Perhaps that may awaken in you a desire also. Perhaps for the first time you will find that you
           also have wings. And if that bird can fly, why can't you fly? The function of the enlightened person
           is just to create the milieu in which you become aware of your wings, you become aware of your
           potentialities.
               Jesus is not doing that. He is the shepherd and you are the sheep. No man has insulted humanity
           in such a way as Jesus has done. Enlightened people don't humiliate; in fact, they respect you
           because they can see your potential -- if not today, then tomorrow you will be flying. If not
           tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow.
               Time does not matter, because we are part of eternity. On both ends it is eternity. Time does not
           matter. When you start flying has no significance; flying has significance.
               But to tell you, "I am the shepherd and you are the sheep," is to destroy your individuality, is to
           destroy your freedom, is to destroy your integrity; is to destroy everything that is valuable, is to
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           reduce you from human beings to animals. An enlightened person raises you, helps you to rise to
           super-human beings. He does not make you sheep.
               No, Jesus was not enlightened. In fact, in the Judaic and Christian tradition the orthodox have
           never been enlightened. Amongst Jews, there have been a few enlightened people, but they are not
           accepted by the orthodox Jews. Those are the Hassids -- rare and really genuine people. But the
           orthodox will not accept them... and they are the only beauty that Judaism has created. The very
           flowering of Judaism is Hassidism, but it is rejected.
               The enlightened person is bound to be rejected by every tradition. In Greek tradition you will
           hear about Aristotle, Plato, Plotinus, and so many other philosophers; but you will rarely see
           Heraclitus mentioned as an enlightened man, or Pythagoras, or even Socrates. But these are the
           people.... But the very word "enlightenment" does not exist in the Greek traditions.
               The same is true in Mohammedanism. Mohammed is not enlightened, and the orthodox tradition
           of Mohammedans rejects Sufi mystics who are enlightened: Jalaluddin Rumi, al-Hillaj Mansoor,
           Sarmad, Rabiya al-Adabiya. These people are not part of the traditional religion. They are rejected,
           condemned. The same has been true all over the world.
               But now it is time -- I can tell you things directly. Rejoice that you are accepted as capable of
           hearing the truth.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS GOD REALLY DEAD?


              Sure!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #28
                                           Chapter title: You are eternal
           12 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510120
              ShortTitle: BONDAG28
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 119 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHEN AND HOW DO POWER AND FORCE BECOME ONE? MASTER AND DISCIPLE DO NOT
              COME FROM THIS SPACE AT ALL. PLEASE COMMENT.


              Power and force never become one. Power is something that radiates from you. The source is
           within. Force is violent. Force is interference, a trespass on the freedom of others. But, ordinarily,
           people don't make the distinction between the two words. They use them almost synonymously.
           Love is power, but not force.
           A president has force, but not power.
              Power never hurts anybody; it is always healing energy. It showers on you like flowers
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           showering on you. It is a fragrance that reaches to you very silently, not even making any noise. It is
           for you to receive it or not to receive it. It does not force you to receive it.
                Power keeps your dignity intact -- in fact, it enhances it. It makes you more individual, it allows
           you more freedom. It makes no conditions on you. Force is totally the opposite of power. Force is
           violence against the other. But these words became synonymous; there must be some reason why. It
           is because in life we experience power changing into force.
                For example, you love someone; that is power. But then you get married, you are a husband and
           she is a wife; it is a social contract, it is business. Now power disappears, force enters in. You will
           still use the same words, but they don't mean the same. You will still say, "I love you," but you know
           that these are only empty words. Yes, once they were alive, once they had immense content. Once
           there was juice in them -- now everything is just dry.
                You have to say, "I love you." It is not coming from your heart, it is coming from your head. The
           space has changed. You will still kiss your wife, but it will be just an exercise of the lips; behind the
           lips there is nobody. You may be far away, thinking of your secretary. Your wife may be far away,
           thinking of her boss. Now power, which was a radiance, a field of energy, has disappeared. Instead
           there is force. Love is gone; law has entered into life. Because of these changes of power into force,
           the words have become synonymous -- even to the linguists, who should know better. The difference
           is very subtle.
                Force is always that of the sword. The sword may grow into nuclear weapons. Power is always
           of love. It can grow only into deep mysteries, unknown spaces. Ultimately, it can become a source of
           religio. It can open doors, to both the lovers, of something transcendental. It can help them to merge
           with the universe.
                In the moments of love when their powers meet, they are two bodies but not two souls. In those
           moments they start feeling a deep synchronicity with existence itself -- with the grass, with the trees,
           with the birds, with the clouds, with the stars -- something which only heart is capable of. It is not a
           question of reasoning, but of experiencing.
                So remember, power has some spirituality in it. Force is animal. Muhammad Ali may have force;
           I do not have. What connects me to you? It is not power of the same kind as that with which
           Muhammad Ali is connected to his fans. It is so different. You are not my fans. You are me, as if I
           am extended in you.
                In Ramakrishna's life -- and Ramakrishna is one of the very significant persons of the last
           century -- he became sick, he had cancer of the throat. He could not eat anything. And he had always
           loved delicious food, so much so that even his disciples had advised him, "This is not right for an
           enlightened man; this makes us feel embarrassed before others."
                He would be talking about great things, and then in the middle he would say, "Wait, I will be
           coming back. I smell something. Sharda is cooking something really great" -- Sharda was his wife.
           And he would go to the kitchen, leaving the disciples wondering what kind of enlightened man he is.
           And now he could not eat.
                Sharda was also a rare woman. They had never had a wife-and-husband relationship from the
           very first day, when Ramakrishna was only fourteen years old, and he had gone to see Sharda, with
           his parents and relatives, to see whether he liked her or not.
                His mother had put one rupee in his pocket in case he needed it -- he was going to the nearby
           city. One rupee was more than enough in those days; one could live the whole month comfortably on
           one rupee.
                When Sharda came -- and this is the traditional way, that the girl will come with the food, with
           the plates, and place the plates before all the guests, and that is the time when the boy can see her,
           his parents can see her. When she came to put the plate of food before Ramakrishna, his eyes were
           full of tears. He took out his one rupee, put it at her feet, touched her feet.
                His parents thought, What is he doing! He destroyed the whole thing. Husbands don't touch the
           feet of their wives, although wives can touch their husband's feet. And putting this one rupee at her
           feet, and touching her feet; what does he think -- is she a goddess, or what?
           And they asked Ramakrishna, "Do you like the girl?"
           He said, "Immensely."
                They got married. The girl's family was also a little bit shaky about whether to let this marriage
           happen or not, because the boy seemed to be a little crazy. Nobody had ever heard of this kind of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thing. But he was such a lovely, healthy, silent, beautiful young man, they could not refuse. And
           Sharda insisted that if she married anyone, then she would marry Ramakrishna. They said, "Are you
           mad? -- because what he has done is simply a proof that he can do anything."
                But Sharda said, "Something in his tears, something in his touching my feet, has touched my
           very heart. Now I cannot be anyone else's wife -- that would be cheating. I have already accepted
           him as my lord."
                They got married. On the first night, the first thing Ramakrishna did was, he placed her high on a
           stool and worshipped her. She was a young girl -- just maybe thirteen years of age. She asked what
           he was doing, and Ramakrishna said, "From today you will be my mother, I will be your son. Don't
           tell anybody; otherwise they will think we are mad. So to the outside world I will be your husband,
           you will be my wife; but as far as we are concerned, you will be my mother and I will be your son."
           And that's how they remained: mother and son.
                So when he became sick with cancer of the throat, Sharda asked him, "This is unbearable -- you
           loved food so much, and preparing food for you was my only worship. Why don't you ask God to
           remove this cancer? If you ask, it is going to happen!"
                Ramakrishna said, "If you say, I will ask." He closed his eyes, then opened them and said to
           Sharda, "I am sorry. I asked, but he says, 'You have eaten from this throat your whole life. Now why
           can't you eat through the throat of Sharda, of your disciples? All those throats are yours!'
                "And he is right, so I will be eating.... So don't be sad. There is a possibility of such an organic
           unity that your throat can become my throat, that your hands can become my hands. And if it does
           not happen, then there is no love."
           Love is the greatest miracle in existence.
           Naturally, there is no power higher than love.
                But love is not a force. The very word "force" -- the very sound of the word "force" indicates that
           you are interfering in somebody's being. You are destroying somebody, reducing somebody to a
           thing.
                So remember, power never becomes force. Power becomes bigger and bigger; it can become
           universal, but it still remains power. It is a benediction, a blessing. Force is ugly. Force is inhuman.
           Don't be misled by the fact that in the dictionaries they mean the same. Dictionaries are not written
           by enlightened people; otherwise, words would have different meanings, different connotations, and
           language would have a purity. But unconscious people go on writing dictionaries, books on
           linguistics. They have never known anything like power; they have known only force. Naturally, to
           them the words are synonymous. But to me they are contraries.
                Keep them separate; never become attracted towards force. Be full of power -- which is yours;
           expand it, let others share it. And it can become so vast that you can spread yourself over the whole
           existence.
                That's what enlightenment is: when even the farthest stars move within you, when there is
           nothing outside you, when everything becomes your interior kingdom. But it has not been
           conquered, it has not been invaded. It is through the sheer magnetism of love that the whole universe
           has become your own, and you have become part of the whole universe.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS MEDITATION ENOUGH TO BE WHOLE AND HEALTHY? PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               The word "meditation" and the word "medicine" come from the same root. Medicine means that
           which heals the physical, and meditation means that which heals the spiritual. Both are healing
           powers.
               Another thing to be remembered: the word "healing" and the word "whole" also come from the
           same root. To be healed simply means to be whole, not missing anything. Another connotation of the
           word -- the word "holy" -- also comes from the same root. Healing, whole, holy, are not different in
           their root.
               Meditation heals, makes you whole; and to be whole is to be holy. Holiness has nothing to do
           with belonging to any religion, belonging to any church. It simply means that inside you, you are
           entire, complete; nothing is missing, you are fulfilled. You are what existence wanted you to be. You
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have realized your potential.
                In the West, meditation has not grown roots, because all three religions in the West -- Judaism,
           and the two offshoots of Judaism -- Christianity and Islam -- are all prayer-oriented.
                Prayer and meditation are absolute contraries: prayer moves outwards. Prayer is addressed to a
           God you know nothing of -- just a belief given to you by your parents, society, church, synagogue.
           You pray, but there is nobody who is listening to your prayer. There is nobody who is going to
           answer your prayer.
                Yes, people who pray may feel good; that does not mean that their prayer has been heard. Just
           praying, they become silent. Just praying, a certain kind of attitude arises in them; they put aside
           their ego, they put aside everything else. They become pointedly concentrated on the idea of God. It
           is their idea, their projection, but it will give them a feeling of well-being. And that well-being is
           very deceptive; it makes you feel that your prayer is significant. And there must be a God; otherwise,
           after prayer, why do you feel so quiet, so calm?
                Prayer functions almost like autohypnosis. There is no need for a God, you can concentrate on
           anything. In India there are people who worship trees, and they get the same feeling. There are
           people who worship statues -- just stones -- and they get the same feeling. There are people who
           worship the sun, or the river, and they get the same feeling. The question is not what you worship;
           the question is that if you become concentrated you fall into a hypnotic trance. And a hypnotic trance
           is very relaxing, it gives you well-being.
                So if you are doing the prayer just to feel well-being, there is no harm, it is perfectly good. But it
           has nothing to do with the search for truth. It has nothing to do with the inquiry into your own being.
                Meditation moves inwards; prayer directs you outwards. That's why I say their dimensions are
           polar opposites. Prayer needs a God, an object. And you can have any kind of object. Hindus have
           thirty-three million gods. Why have just one, when you are going to imagine? Why be so miserly?
           Hindus have gods in abundance. You can choose, according to your liking, any kind of god.
                To outsiders it looks very strange, but they don't understand the psychology of prayer. It does not
           matter what you are praying, to whom your prayer is addressed. All that matters is that you should
           be concentrated.
                You can do the same just lying down looking at the light bulb without blinking your eyes,
           praying -- at least the light bulb is not your imagination, it is there -- and soon you will fall into a
           hypnotic trance. And when you wake up you will feel very refreshed, rejuvenated, livelier than ever,
           younger.
                So nothing is wrong as far as all these things are concerned. The problem is, if you think this is
           religio, this is spiritual growth, then you are falling into a very dangerous fallacy.
                Religion is a journey inwards, and meditation is the way. What meditation actually does is, it
           takes you, your consciousness, as deep as possible. Even your own body becomes something outside.
           Even your own mind becomes something outside. Even your own heart -- which is very close to the
           center of your being -- becomes outside. When your body, mind and heart, all three, are seen as
           outside, you have come to the very center of your existence.
                This coming to the center is a tremendous explosion which transforms everything. You will
           never be the same man again, because now you know the body is only the outer shell; the mind is a
           little bit inner, but not really your inner core; the heart is a little bit more inner, but still not the
           innermost center. You are disidentified with all the three.
                It is because of this that George Gurdjieff used to call his way "the fourth way" -- because if you
           can transcend these three, you reach the fourth, beyond which there is no way to go. You have come
           to the very end.
                But this gives you many experiences. You start feeling, for the first time, crystallized, not that
           old wishy-washy person you had always been. For the first time you start feeling a tremendous
           energy, inexhaustible energy that you were not aware of. For the first time you know that death will
           happen only to the body, to the mind, to the heart, but not to you.
                You are eternal. You have always been here, and you will always be here -- in different forms,
           and ultimately in a state of formlessness. But you cannot be destroyed, you are indestructible. That
           takes all fear from you. And the disappearance of fear is the appearance of freedom. The
           disappearance of fear is the appearance of love.
                Now you can share. You can give as much as you want, because you are now at the inexhaustible
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           source of living waters. Many who are thirsty will be coming to you. They will find you, there is no
           need for you to call them; their very thirst will bring you in contact with them. They will come closer
           to you, because as they come closer they will find their thirst disappearing and a great contentment
           arising in them. The same as you are, they are becoming.
                Meditation makes you whole, makes you holy, and makes you an inexhaustible source for all
           those who are hungry, thirsty, seeking, searching, groping in the dark. You become a light, and many
           can share your light. And you can see it: one candle which is lighted can help many candles to be
           lighted. That does not diminish its own light.
                One enlightened being can share his enlightenment and many can become lighted. But his
           enlightenment is not diminished; on the contrary, it increases. The more he gives, the more he is. A
           moment comes when he gives himself totally. And that is the moment when he becomes a master.
           Then those who are ready to take, who are open, available, can take as much as they want.
                The master is only a light. He is not a teacher, but something transpires between him and the
           disciple. And the moment the disciple also becomes lighted, there is no difference between the
           master and the disciple. And that is the greatest joy for the master -- when all his disciples are also
           masters.
                That has been my whole idea in creating communes around the world. These communes are not
           ordinary organized religions, these communes are not communes of believers. These communes are
           alchemical labs for transformation and for creating more and more masters. With less than masters I
           will not be satisfied.
                Meditation is the way to the mastery of your own being. No God is needed, no catechism is
           needed, no holy book is needed. Nobody is needed to become a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu -- all
           that is sheer nonsense. All that is needed is to find your center, and meditation is the simplest way to
           find it. It will make you whole, healthy spiritually, and it will make you so rich that you can destroy
           all the spiritual poverty of the world. And that is the real poverty.
                The poverty of physical bodies for food, for clothes, for shelter, can be easily helped by science
           and technology. But science and technology cannot help to give you blissfulness -- that is beyond
           their scope. And you may have everything that the world can offer, but if you don't have peace,
           serenity, silence, ecstasy, you will still remain poor. In fact, you will feel your poverty more than
           ever, because the contrast will be there. You are living in a golden palace, and you know you are a
           beggar. The golden palace will become a contrast: now you can see inside there is nothing, you are
           just empty.
                That's why, as humanity becomes more intelligent, more mature, more and more people start
           feeling meaninglessness, more and more people start feeling life is accidental, that it is just futile to
           go on living.
                The latest developments in philosophy in the West all indicate one thing, that perhaps suicide is
           the only solution. And of course, if you don't know your inner world, and you have everything
           available that the outside world can give to you, suicide will appear to be the only solution.
                Meditation can make you inwardly rich. Then suicide is out of the question; even if you want to
           destroy yourself, there is no way. Your being is indestructible. And to know this immortality is a
           great freedom -- from death, from disease, from old age. All those things will come and go, but you
           remain untouched, unscratched. Your inner health is beyond any sickness. And it is there, just to be
           discovered.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              COULD RELIGIO BE TERMED AS NEO-EDUCATION?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               No, because education is something very ordinary. Religio will remain religio. It cannot be
           replaced by another word, for the simple reason that it has multidimensional meanings which no
           other word can have.
               The first meaning of religio is: to make you one. All the societies and cultures and religions have
           made you schizophrenic, split. They have divided you in many parts -- the good part, the bad part,
           the light part, the dark part, the higher and the lower. They have been teaching humanity for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           centuries that you are not acceptable as you are; you have to drop many of your essential parts. Then
           only will you be acceptable; otherwise you will remain a sinner. To become a saint, you have to go
           on destroying many parts of your being, your nature.
                Religio means, nothing has to be destroyed, nothing has to be cut from you. Everything that you
           have has to be used in an organic unity. In fact, what you call bad, what you call black, dark, devil --
           they all can enhance what you call divine, white, good.
                Just look at a painter. He uses all the colors; he uses black, he uses white too. He uses all the
           colors to create something immensely beautiful; everything just has to be in the right place. Go to
           any school and you will see a blackboard, because to write with white chalk, a blackboard is needed.
           It gives the white letters more whiteness, it creates the contrast. The same words can be written on a
           white board and they will be lost, you will not be able to see them.
                Life is a great orchestra, all the instruments have to be used. But if you don't know how to play
           all the instruments, then instead of an orchestra there will be just noise, a nuisance -- neurotic,
           unbearable. A master musician will put the same instruments in the right places, to be used in the
           right times to create the symphony.
                Man comes with all the ingredients to become an enlightened person, but very few people
           manage to become -- for the simple reason that you start fighting with yourself, rather than trying to
           understand all your ingredients and finding ways they can be used to create a beautiful symphony.
                Religio simply means to put all your separate parts together in oneness, to make a cosmos out of
           your chaos. It also means that it is an individual process, that there is no need for crowds, no need to
           become part of organized religions -- because the organized religions have not produced a single
           enlightened person. Have you thought about it? All the enlightened persons had to rebel against the
           organized religions; only then could they become enlightened. It seems organized religions are the
           greatest barrier to enlightenment.
                Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Gautam Buddha, Bodhidharma, Baal Shem Tov -- all these people had to
           go out of the organized religion for the simple reason that the organized religions exist for the mob,
           and the mob has no desire to become free of their slavery. In fact, they find themselves very cozy
           and comfortable in their slavery.
                Freedom freaks them out! Freedom creates fear in them. Freedom means responsibility. In
           slavery you are not responsible; you have just to follow the order, just to do what the priest says.
           You have not to find your own truth, you have to just become parrots and repeat THE HOLY
           BIBLE, the holy KORAN, the holy GITA. You don't have to journey inwards; you have to become
           only more informed, more learned, more accustomed to the rituals -- howsoever meaningless.
                Anybody who wants to become enlightened will have many doubts about all these rituals, about
           all these scriptures, about all that is being taught in the churches and synagogues by the bishops, by
           the rabbis, by the shankaracharyas. There are bound to be a thousand and one doubts.
                Religio is individual, religion is organized. And the most challenging thing in the world is to be
           individual. But the greater the challenge, the more is the gain, the more you become steel, the more
           of your potential becomes actual.
                But in organized religion there is no challenge: there are only consolations. Those consolations
           function as opium. They help the crowd not to revolt against all kinds of exploitation, against all
           kinds of superstition, against all kinds of stupidities.
                In the whole of history, not a single organized religion has been able to produce a single
           enlightened man. Those who became enlightened became against the organized religion. They had to
           become individuals, rebels. They were tortured, they were harassed, they were condemned, because
           all the forces for torturing people, condemning, harassing them, were in the hands of the organized
           religions.
                And the state has been always in conspiracy with organized religions. They support each other,
           their aim is the same. The state, the politicians want people to be enslaved physically, and the priest
           wants people to be enslaved spiritually. And enlightenment is freedom, freedom in all its
           dimensions.
                So please, don't bother looking for another word, there is no need. Religio has all the meanings
           that are needed. Religio has no scripture, no doctrine except a challenge: "You are alive -- seek the
           source of your life."
                It only provokes the dormant desire to know oneself: it does not give a belief, an idea who you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are. It simply provokes the desire to know thyself. And it allows you to be thyself -- against the
           whole world. It is the only revolution there is.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE OTHER DAY YOU SPOKE ABOUT SIDDHAS, ARIHANTAS AND ACHARYAS. COULD YOU
              SPEAK ABOUT BODHISATTVAS. IS THERE ANY RELEVANCE IN THESE SANSADS NOW?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                The Rajneesh Academy has many dimensions to fulfill. One I talked to you about was to appoint
           acharyas, siddhas, arihantas. These are not clergymen, not bishops and cardinals and popes. They
           don't have any function to perform -- marriage, birth of a child, circumcision, death, no. Any friend,
           any sannyasin can do all these things.
                So there is no question of clergymen. In fact, it is a question of friends. Somebody dies... then
           those who were close to him, they should perform the death ceremony. The clergyman may not have
           even known the person; he will simply repeat a certain ritual. It is better that friends perform the
           ceremony.
                If there is a marriage, there is no need for any clergyman. Moreover, it is very strange that most
           of the religions' clergymen are celibate -- and they are performing marriages! -- just doing something
           which is a sin. Friends should do it, those who know the lovers should perform the ceremony -- not
           in the name of God, not in the name of any holy book, but in the name of love.
                If a child is born, then friends should be present there, helping the child, helping the mother,
           making the atmosphere as natural as possible. No clergyman is needed, not even a doctor is needed
           -- just people who love, a small group of people who love. Their presence will help the woman to go
           through the pains more easily. Their presence and their understanding will help the child to enter
           into the world more lovingly. Now, a clergyman doing circumcision.... It is not a very great welcome
           to the world. It is really hurting the child.
                What the doctors have been doing has not been very friendly. Yes, it has been professional, but
           their profession is based on wrong knowledge. As the child is born, the first thing the doctor will do
           is to hang the child upside down, and to hit the child on his bottom -- that is the traditional way -- so
           that the child starts crying. But this is not a great welcome to the world -- coming crying into the
           world! And immediately he cuts the cord that joins the child with the mother. That too is not right.
                But he is in a hurry, every professional is in a hurry. He has to do many other things; there are
           other mothers waiting. The whole hospital is full of pregnant women; he cannot waste unnecessary
           time. The room is full of glaring light. And nobody thinks that the child has been for nine months in
           utter darkness; his eyes are very delicate. This blinding light perhaps may be the cause of all the
           glasses that you see in the world. Eyes are damaged from the very beginning.
                Friends should think of the child, his future, because the first step is almost the most important
           step.
                Only candlelight should be there, not glaring electric lights -- there is no need! Incense should be
           burning there; the child should be received with flowers, roses. And the child has been in his
           mother's womb at a certain temperature, floating in a liquid which is exactly the same as sea water.
           As the child is born, immediately he should be put into a tub with the same temperature he is
           accustomed to, with the same kind of water, the same salts, which are very relaxing. And don't be in
           a hurry to cut the cord. Let the child first start breathing. And once the child starts breathing, then cut
           the cord.
                Right now what happens is that doctors cut the cord -- and then they have to hang the child
           upside down, to hit him on the bottom, so out of shock he starts breathing. But this is treating the
           child like an old Ford -- you have to push from the back for half a mile, then it starts. This is stupid.
           Yes, it is done quickly. It is in favor of the doctor, but not in favor of the child, because he has not
           started breathing on his own and you have cut the cord. You have created such a great fear of death
           that it will follow the child his whole life.
                First wait -- and it is not more than three minutes -- until the child starts breathing on his own.
           When he starts breathing, then cut the cord, because then he does not need it and it won't hurt him.
           And he will never be so fearful as you see people are fearful now. Then take the child and put him on
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his mother's belly. He has been inside the belly -- don't take him away so far, so quickly. Put the
           child on the belly, because he knows only one contact, only one warmth, and that is his mother's
           body. He is acquainted only with his mother's body, so let him rest. After a good bath, let him rest on
           his mother's belly. You can play the guitar. You can sing a beautiful song -- nothing like jazz!...
           something soft, something more Eastern and more classical, which is soothing and which will make
           the child comfortable in his new world.
               I have told you about these three titles -- siddha, arihanta, acharya -- which are experiential. I
           have also created three groups which will be active only when I leave the body. So you will have to
           wait a little for them to become active. While I am here there is no need for these three groups to be
           active. But these three groups belong to Rajneesh Academy.
               The first group is the mahasattvas. These are the people who will become enlightened before my
           death. The second group is the sambuddhas, who are already enlightened, but because I am here,
           they will remain anonymous just out of their gratitude. The third group is the bodhisattvas, who will
           become enlightened before their death.
               So I have chosen names for these groups, and I have directed the groups about their numbers --
           that these numbers should remain constant, and if one person dies, how he has to be replaced. I have
           given them all the instructions. But that is not of any use to you.
               When I am not here, then the people who will be running the commune will need elders for
           guidance. These three groups will provide all kinds of guidance. They will not have any power; they
           will not be holding any post, but they will be available to all the people who are running the
           communes here and around the world, for any guidance.
               When I say they will not be holding any post, that does not mean that anybody who is holding a
           post cannot be a member of any of the groups. As a group member, he will not be holding the post,
           but as an individual he can hold the post. But while he is on the post, he cannot function as a member
           of the group.
               I want these groups completely free from any politics, so they can have a very nonpolitical
           vision. And if they need to, all three groups can meet and take decisions, and their decisions will be
           absolute. All their decisions have to be unanimous. Unless they come to a unanimous decision, it is
           not of any worth. So it is not a political thing, that majority decision will win. They have to argue,
           discuss, persuade, and come to a unanimous decision. Then only can they advise the people who are
           in power to follow it.
               Rajneesh Academy will become your source of religio.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOUR HAND RISES AND EMBRACES THE UNIVERSE. A WISP OF YOUR BEARD MOVES AS
              YOU WALK AWAY. AND I FALL IN LOVE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE MAGIC?


              Baby, I don't know!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                 Chapter #29
                             Chapter title: Truth -- not a highway but a hill track
           13 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510130
              ShortTitle: BONDAG29
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 111 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              GOD IS DEAD, RELIGION IS DEAD; THEN WHAT IS LEFT?


                God has never been in the first place. It is the greatest lie that has been told to humanity. When I
           say God is dead, it simply means the lie is dead, the fiction is dead. And when a lie dies, no corpse is
           left behind.
                So remember it, don't misunderstand the statement that God is dead. It does not mean that he was
           alive. It does not mean that he was sick, it does not mean that he was on his deathbed, it does not
           mean that you have to go to the crematorium again. He has never been there. Existence knows
           nothing of God. It is only the crafty priests who had invented the fiction. With the death of the
           fiction, the profession of the priests becomes irrelevant.
                When I say religion is dead, there is something very significant to be understood. Religion is
           alive only when it is unorganized, when it is an individual search out of your own freedom; not
           based on any belief system, but simply based on a deep inquiry -- which is man's privilege. That
           makes a man a man, when he starts looking into what life is all about, who he is. When he turns in to
           find out the very center and the source of life, of love, of consciousness, religion is alive.
                Religion is dead the moment it becomes something collective, organized. When it becomes
           Christianity it is dead. When it becomes Hinduism it is dead. When it becomes Buddhism it is dead.
           When it becomes Rajneeshism it is dead.
                If you are here as an individual seeker, then there is a beauty. There is no hierarchy, there is no
           dogma, no creed. You have to find your way yourself. In fact, the very effort of finding the way
           crystallizes you. To be closer to the truth -- the very fact of inquiring into the truth means you have
           completed almost half the journey.
                When religion becomes organized it becomes a catechism. You are handed over a belief system.
           You have only to believe, there is no need for you to inquire. You have to believe in Jesus Christ --
           that's enough. You have to believe in Gautam the Buddha, and that's enough.
                Belief is the most dangerous thing against truth, because it prevents you inquiring. It makes you
           knowledgeable, but it does not make you wise. It can make you a great scholar, a theologian, but
           deep inside you are full of darkness; you don't know who you are.
                Organized religions have been deceiving humanity for thousands of years. But they could do it
           because you allowed it to be done. Belief is cheap; you don't have to do anything. You don't have to
           go into the unknown, the mysterious. You have just to cling to your belief system and Jesus will save
           you, Buddha will save you.
                Nobody can save anybody else. That will be against human dignity. If I save you, I am not your
           friend. I have taken away your birthright -- the most important, the most significant glory of your
           being. I have not allowed you to discover the truth yourself, and I have destroyed you, not saved
           you.
                Truth can be known only as an individual experience. It is just like love. You don't have
           organizations of love. Just think of organizations of love! -- and they say to you, "You have just to
           believe, you have not to do anything else. The savior will do everything; he will make love on your
           behalf." But truth is an even higher quality.
                And people have been telling you, "We will do it on your behalf -- you just have faith in us."
           That's why religions are called faiths. And every religion is fake, because whatsoever you do, your
           doubt will remain within. You can repress it as deeply as possible, but the deeper you repress it, the
           more dangerous it becomes. The result is fanaticism.
                All believers who find that there is still some doubt, somewhere, become fanatic. It is a simple
           psychology. By becoming fanatic they are trying to repress their doubt below their consciousness.
           But even if you drive it beyond your consciousness into the unconscious, you are not free of it. In
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fact, you are more full of it.
               All the religions are afraid of reading other religions' books, listening to other religions' teachers,
           for the simple reason that they all differ in their belief systems -- they may create doubt in you. They
           are so afraid of doubt -- but it is within you, and the only way to get rid of it is to know the truth of
           your own accord.
               My truth cannot dispel your darkness. You can believe in me -- it is cheap. You can believe and
           console yourself, and waste your whole life in believing. But you will die as ignorant as you were
           born.
               So when I say religion is dead, I mean religiousness is always alive -- that is something
           individual -- but religion is always dead. Religion is an organization; religiousness is a search. I want
           my people to understand the difference very clearly. Howsoever difficult it may be, the only way to
           find the truth is individual. There are no superhighways, only small footpaths, and they too are not
           ready-made, available. You create them as you walk.
               You cannot walk in somebody else's footsteps. That is suicidal, because you have a unique
           individuality, the person you are following has his own unique individuality. His path can never be
           your path. He can be an inspiration for you, but he cannot be a leader for you. Leaders exist only in
           politics. The moment leaders start existing in religion, religion is no longer religion. It has become
           another name for politics.
               The most basic thing to recognize is that it is your privilege to find the truth yourself. Only that
           finding can save you, can release you from all bondage; can make you aware of eternal life, can take
           you beyond death, can take you into the benediction that existence is.
               So when I said the religion is dead, I mean that I don't want you to become a religion. I want you
           to remain simply seekers, searchers. And it is a great excitement to seek, to search, to find on your
           own. Small things make you so ecstatic when you are the finder.
               For example, what happened to Archimedes? He had not found something great, but he had
           found something which was not known before. The king of his country had received a beautiful
           golden crown. He wanted to know whether the crown was solid gold or if there were other metals
           mixed in it. And the crown was so beautiful he did not want it destroyed to find out. He said to
           Archimedes, "You are the greatest scientist. You have to find out, without destroying the crown,
           whether it is solid gold or not."
               It was an almost impossible task. But one morning, when he entered his bathroom... his bath was
           full of water, he entered the bath -- and strangely, he found what he was seeking. As he entered the
           bath, naturally, to make space for him, a lot of water spilled out. He became very intrigued with the
           phenomenon. He came out, weighed himself, weighed the water, the quantity of water that had gone
           out -- and he figured out the solution. If gold is put in water, if it is pure gold, then a certain quantity
           of water will come out to make space for it. But if it is not pure gold, then a greater quantity of water
           will come out, because every metal will bring a different quantity of water out of the tub.
               It was such a great excitement -- he was naked in his bathroom, but the excitement was such that
           he forgot. He just rushed out, ran on the streets towards the palace shouting, "Eureka! Eureka! I have
           found it! I have found it!"
               When he reached the palace, a great crowd was following him. "What has happened to the man?
           He has gone insane!" He was involved in such experiments that they were always afraid that some
           day he would go crazy. Now that had happened.
               Even the king was suspicious when he looked out of his window -- a big crowd, and Archimedes
           naked, shouting, "Eureka!" Naturally, he thought Archimedes had gone insane, but he called him in
           and asked, "What have you found? What is the matter? What is so much excitement about?"
               Archimedes said, "I have found out something which nobody has known before! Now I can say
           whether your crown is solid gold or mixed with other metals. I will just have to dip it into water."
           Not a big discovery....
               But when you find the truth of your being, it is the greatest discovery there is. And beliefs
           prevent you. They say you need not bother; you simply believe, you worship, you pray. Jesus Christ
           has already found, why should you bother? Gautam Buddha has already found, you can just follow
           him. But this is fallacious. For twenty-five centuries millions of people have followed Gautam
           Buddha, in his footprints; none of them has become another Gautam Buddha. For two thousand
           years, how many people have been following Jesus Christ? And how many have become a Jesus
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Christ?
                To be a Christian is ugly. To be a Buddhist is ugly. It simply says you are blind; you don't know
           anything, and you are following somebody because you believe that he knows. In fact, in existence,
           no individual is repeated again. Existence is very inventive.
                It happened that one of Picasso's paintings was purchased by an American for one million
           dollars. Naturally, he wanted to know whether it was an authentic Picasso or not. He approached
           Picasso himself -- because that was the only way to find out -- and he asked Picasso, "Is this painting
           authentically yours, or has somebody made a copy of your painting?"
                Picasso looked at the painting, and he said, "It is not authentic."
                Picasso's girlfriend was amazed by the answer, because Picasso had painted that painting in front
           of her. She said to Picasso, "This is an inhuman joke! That man has spent one million dollars! He has
           come from America to France to ask you -- and you are lying, because I am an eyewitness. You have
           painted this painting; this is absolutely authentic!"
                Picasso said, "You are not wrong. I have painted it, but still I say it is not authentic."
                Now the man who had purchased the painting was absolutely in confusion. The girlfriend was
           also puzzled. What does Picasso mean? If he says he has painted the painting, and still insists it is
           not an authentic Picasso, this is a contradiction.
                The man said, "This is even more confusing. It was good that it was not authentic; at least things
           were settled. But now you are saying you have painted it, and still it is not authentic. What do you
           mean then?"
                Picasso said, "It is very simple, there is no contradiction. I have copied it from one of my old
           paintings. It is not authentic, it is just a copy. I have painted it, but it is not original. Somebody was
           insisting that he wants a painting, and I was not getting any ideas, so I simply used an old painting of
           mine and painted -- it is a copy. Now it does not matter who copies, Picasso or somebody else: a
           copy is a copy, it cannot be authentic."
                I am telling you this incident to remind you that existence never produces copies. It only
           produces authentic individuals -- never again the same person, never before. You are unique: you
           have never been in the whole eternity that has passed before you, and you will never be in the
           coming whole eternity. This uniqueness is something to be proud of.
           Your truth has to be discovered only by you.
                Yes, the person who has discovered his truth can be a guide, but he can only say how he has
           discovered his truth. And he can make you alert that "You are not to follow my path." But he can
           give you tremendous encouragement, that a fellow human being, someone just like you, is capable of
           finding the truth. Maybe you have to find your path, but his presence is a guarantee, is an
           encouragement that truth can be found, that it is not something utopian; it is something realistic.
                I call this state of affairs religio, the root from where the word "religion" comes. Religio is
           individual; religion is organized. And the moment you organize the truth, it dies. There are things,
           values, which cannot be organized at all. They are so delicate that organization is impossible.
                And you are asking me: "God is dead, religion is dead; then what is left?"
                In fact, because God is not there -- which was a fiction covering your eyes; and organized
           religion is dead -- which was sheer stupidity, ignorance -- therefore nothing is lost, everything is
           gained. You have simply lost layers of fictions from your eyes. Now you can see the real existence
           as it is. Everything that is becomes available to you -- it was not available to you before because of
           your lies and fictions and beliefs. So nothing is lost and everything is gained. The whole existence,
           all its beauty, its tremendous benediction, its infinite bliss -- all is available. You had just put thick
           layers on your eyes which were making you blind.
                You have lost your blindness and you have gained your insight: this is a good bargain!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WE DROPPED RED CLOTHES, MALAS, TEMPLES, GACHCHHAMIS, WORSHIP. DID WE
              FORGET SOMETHING -- LIKE DROPPING OUR EGOS?


              Just look how easily you can drop red clothes, how easily you can drop your malas, how easily
           you can drop gachchhamis, because you were never authentically and sincerely in love with them.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You pretended, you were hypocrites.
                You had pretended you loved your mala, but the moment you found the chance to drop it, you
           dropped it immediately. And you must be thinking you dropped it because I have said so. But I have
           been telling you for years continuously to drop the ego -- that you don't drop.
                Strange... I said only one day, "Drop the malas," and you were so happy and so clapping,
           rejoicing. But when I say, "Drop the ego," you don't clap. You know that you are not going to drop
           it. Ego seems to you to be very precious, and ego is nothing but poison. The mala cannot harm you,
           red clothes cannot harm you. But the ego is constantly harming you.
                The ego means your ambition to be superior to others, to be higher than others, to be bigger than
           you really are; in every field to be more important, to be somebody who has power over people
           either through politics or through money. All these are different dimensions of your ego. And if you
           go on fulfilling these desires you can never come to a state of contentment, fulfillment, because the
           ego is just like the horizon. It looks so close -- as if you just have to walk a little more and you will
           reach it. But by the time you have reached there, the horizon has also moved away.
                The distance between you and the horizon remains always exactly the same, because the horizon
           does not exist in reality; it only appears to. It is an appearance, because the earth nowhere meets the
           sky. But because it is round, the fallacy is created: you feel that somewhere, just close by, it is
           meeting the sky.
                The ego is your psychological horizon. You can go on, but you will never come to a point when
           you can say, "My ego is satisfied." That is not in the nature of the ego, to be satisfied. To remain in
           discontent is its very nature. I have not seen a single person who can say that his ego is satisfied --
           and I have known all kinds of people.
                In Indore, India, I used to be a guest of one of the richest men of the world -- perhaps the richest
           man of the world -- Sir Seth Hukumchand. He has beautiful palaces made all of Italian marble. His
           own private temple is a unique piece of art. It is made only of glass crystals -- a huge temple made
           just of glass crystals. You stand in the temple and you see yourself reflected in millions of mirrors.
           You are surrounded by a crowd of your selves.
                He was the only man in the whole world who had a Rolls Royce made in solid gold -- even the
           engine! Nothing else but solid gold was used. But I have never seen a more frustrated person in my
           life. He had everything, but whenever I used to stay with him he was always talking about his
           frustrations, anxieties, and that he was becoming old and his desires were not fulfilled.
                Desires are millions, and your life is so small. He had perhaps become the richest man -- but that
           was not certain, because the Nizam of Hyderabad had so many diamonds, emeralds and rubies that
           every year, when they were brought out of the treasury, seven terraces of his palaces were filled by
           them. They were not counted; they were weighed. Counting was impossible, because in his small
           kingdom of Hyderabad was the best diamond mine, from which all the great diamonds of the world
           have come. The Kohinoor, which is in the crown of the queen of England, has come from the
           Nizam's collection. His collection is immense. Nobody has been able to evaluate it.
                Sir Seth Hukumchand used to say to me, "Who knows, perhaps he is richer than me! Perhaps I
           am not the richest man, the Nizam of Hyderabad may be the richest man."
                I said, "Strange -- why should you be worried? You have everything that you want, you can have
           everything that you want." But this is how the ego functions.
                Working his whole life, earning -- he had thousands of businesses, industries, around the country
           -- naturally, he had destroyed his health. Now that was a problem for the ego: even his servants were
           more healthy than he was. He had the healthiest horses in India -- because he was a lover of horse
           races, and he had unique horses. I have never seen that kind of horse anywhere else. Those horses
           were living in marble palaces, the stable was a marble palace. And they were as healthy as any horse
           can be.
                But his ego was suffering because even his servants, even his horses were healthier than him.
           And he was not a man you could call beautiful. He had beautiful palaces and beautiful collections of
           all kinds of things. He had his own private museum. From all over the world everything that he
           wanted was purchased for his museum. But he was just an ordinary, homely man -- not beautiful, not
           handsome -- and that was hurting his ego. He was not very tall -- that was hurting his ego.
                I said, "You are just unnecessarily creating problems for yourself. A six-foot man, or a five-foot
           man -- it doesn't matter, because the five-foot man also reaches the earth, his feet are on the earth. So
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you may be six feet, seven feet, it doesn't matter; your feet are on the earth. And as far as the sky is
           concerned, nobody's head touches the sky. So what is the problem? You are not hanging one foot
           above the earth because you are only five feet tall. That would have been a real problem. But I don't
           see the problem -- your feet reach the earth perfectly well!"
                But the ego is impossible. And because you are trying to fulfill the ego, you forget your real task.
           Who is going to discover your real self, which is not the ego? Ego is something made up, a facade. It
           is a palace made of playing cards: a small breeze, and the palace disappears. And that's what
           happened.
                Sir Seth Hukumchand was known as the silver king of India because he was the dominant figure
           as far as silver was concerned. It was in his hands to control the price of silver; to bring it down or to
           bring it up was within his hands. But before he died he was almost bankrupt. Somebody else had
           become the silver king.
                Before his death I had gone to see him, and I told him, "Now you can relax. All that stupidity is
           gone; you are bankrupt. You could not enjoy all those riches, now enjoy bankruptcy." And in his old
           age -- he was almost eighty -- he started crying. I said, "You have not lost anything, because when
           those things were there you were not happy, you were not rejoicing -- so what is the loss?"
                He said, "I am not crying for all that. I am crying that death is coming near and I have not looked
           even for a moment into myself. And you have been telling me again and again that the ego will not
           help, you will have to find the self; ego is a false substitute."
                But when I say to you, "Drop the ego," you all become deaf. "Drop the mala," and you are
           immediately ready. But all have not dropped the mala. Those who had loved it, those who had
           accepted it as symbolic of a relationship with me -- they have not dropped it. Neither have they
           dropped their red clothes, because red clothes have become their remembrance of being a sannyasin,
           that they are initiated into a mystery school. Those red clothes twenty-four hours a day remind you
           that your work is to find yourself. They have not dropped them.
                A few immediately dropped... and it was simply a great experiment to see who is really an
           initiate, and who is here just by accident. Those who did not drop the mala and did not drop the red
           clothes may perhaps be able to drop their egos first. Then those who dropped the mala and the red
           clothes and rushed to the boutique to find new clothes, they will be the last to drop the ego.
                And I am not Jesus, who said, "Blessed are the last" -- no. Blessed are the first! Cursed are the
           last!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL, OSCAR WILDE SAYS, "FOR ALL MEN KILL THE THINGS
              THEY LOVE. YET NOT EVERYONE HAS TO DIE." IT FEELS LIKE THIS INSIGHT DOES NOT
              ONLY APPLY TO SHEELA, IT SEEMS TO REFER TO EACH OF US.
              PLEASE FORGIVE OUR DEAFNESS, BELOVED MASTER, AND FROM YOUR COMPASSION, GO
              ON ENCOURAGING OUR SOULS TO GROW AND NOT FALL BACK AND DIE.


               Oscar Wilde is not an enlightened person, but a very keen observer of life, and he has many great
           insights. This is one of his great insights: People kill those things they love.
               Why does it happen?... because your love is not pure love, it has many other things. Just hiding
           behind it there is jealousy, there is a power trip, there is fear of losing the loved one.
               So lovers try to make each other prisoners -- afraid that if they don't make them prisoners, then
           their freedom may take them away from them. They cut their wings so that they cannot fly. They are
           so jealous and suspicious that they destroy each other's joy in life. They want the other to be loving,
           and the other wants the same, so it becomes almost a dead ritual. You can see a husband kissing a
           wife: he is just doing a dead ritual because it has to be done; otherwise there will be trouble.
               The American philosopher, Dale Carnegie, whose books have sold next to the BIBLE -- and he
           could be a philosopher only in America, because whatever he is talking is such nonsense and rubbish
           -- he suggests that you remember to say two or three times in the day to your wife, "I love you." The
           same "I love you" the wife has to say two, three times a day to the husband.
               But it is not coming out on its own, you are following the book of Dale Carnegie and just
           repeating like a parrot "I love you." And both know that the love has disappeared long ago, only
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           words have remained. They have killed the love, they have tried to possess each other; and when you
           try to possess someone you reduce his humanity to a commodity. A wife is not human, she is a thing.
           A husband is not human, he is a thing.
               In China, for thousands of years, until the communist revolution three decades ago, to kill one's
           wife was not a crime because the wife was your possession. If you destroyed your table or your
           chair, nobody could say that it was a crime. It was your chair and if you wanted to burn it, it was
           nobody's business to interfere. The wife was a possession; hence, the husband was allowed to murder
           a human being and it was not counted as a crime.
               In China, the small girl babies had their feet bound so that their feet didn't grow big; that was
           thought to be one of the most beautiful things in a woman. Only the poor could afford, in China, to
           have natural feet. In higher society the women were almost crippled; they could not walk, their feet
           were so small. The body had grown and the feet had remained encaged, so they had not grown. To
           have the smallest feet was one of the most beautiful things. This is inhuman, but you can do it if it is
           only a question of possession. Then you can make the possession as beautiful as possible.
               And the woman is bound to take revenge in her own way. All the women around the earth have
           turned bitchy, for the simple reason that they have been tortured in every way. They are boiling with
           anger. That anger comes up in nagging, in fighting, in continuously quarreling, in beating the
           children, making the life of the husband as impossible as possible.
               In India, for thousands of years, the woman had to jump alive into the funeral pyre of her
           husband, because now she had no right to live. The husband possessed her while he was alive; he
           cannot drop the possession, even though he is dead. He wants to keep the domination and possession
           even after he is dead. He wants to make sure that his wife will not fall in love with somebody else, so
           the best way is that she dies with him.
               So women were forced to die -- because it is not an easy thing: you can just try putting your hand
           in a small candle flame, and that will give you the idea. A living woman has to be forced into the
           burning funeral pyre. She will rush out to save herself, so they had made arrangements....
               Much purified butter would be poured into the funeral pyre. It creates so much smoke that what
           is happening there, people cannot see. And around the funeral pyre are standing the priests with long
           torches in their hands, so if the woman tries to get out of the funeral pyre, with their burning torches
           they push her back. And you cannot see it because so much smoke is there. And in the second line,
           behind the priests, there are musicians playing so loudly that whatever she screams cannot be heard.
           And the crowd is standing behind them. This continued for thousands of years. Even today, once in a
           while -- although it is against the law -- it happens in small villages.
               This is not love. Oscar Wilde's insight is true as far as your so-called love is concerned: you kill
           the person you love. He may remain alive, but you destroy his freedom, you destroy his humanity;
           you reduce him to a thing. If this is love, then what is hate?
               Jesus says, "Love your enemies just like yourself." He should have said rather, "Love your
           husbands just like yourself, love your wives just like yourself." These are the real enemies -- intimate
           enemies. But to attain to that love, just preaching is not enough. You have to go through a total
           transformation. You have to move from mind to a state of no-mind. That's what I call meditation --
           the process of moving from mind to no-mind, from thought to a state of thoughtlessness, silence.
               Once you start experiencing the space of no-mind, everything in your life goes through a
           transformation. The ego dies, your love becomes absolutely clean and pure. Then it does not follow
           what Oscar Wilde is saying. Oscar Wilde himself became so much disturbed with his love
           relationships that he became a homosexual.
               It is not strange that homosexuals are known as gay people; they are gay. Heterosexuals -- you
           cannot say that they are gay. They are so sad, so serious, so burdened; just waiting for death to free
           them from all this nonsense that they have created themselves -- the wife, the children.... They have
           messed up their whole life, and their house has become a madhouse.
               But homosexuality is not a way out; it is just a slight change, because homosexuals start
           becoming as jealous, as possessive, and destroy the other as much as heterosexuals. And it is good
           that Oscar Wilde is not alive today; otherwise, he would be suffering from AIDS. So all his wisdom
           would have led him to the disease AIDS.
               Love has certainly to be purified, and just by changing objects of love nothing is changed.
           Change your subjectivity.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You ask me not to take note of your deafness, of your blindness. I never take any note. I may talk
           about it, I may hit you as hard as I can, but I don't take any note of it. What can you do? This is
           enough, that you are here. You have taken a great step, even in your blindness, to come close to
           someone who is not blind.
               So don't be afraid. My love is not the love Oscar Wilde is talking about. He has no idea of the
           love that I have for you. It does not destroy; it helps you to become free of all bondages, it helps you
           to become yourself. My only joy is if you become absolutely free individuals, finding in yourself the
           source of eternal light.
               And there is no need to worry. My compassion for you and for all the sannyasins around the
           world will keep me in the body long enough, until you open your eyes and wake up. So if you really
           want me to remain in the body forever, then keep your eyes closed and remain deaf. But that is not
           good on your part. You should wake up as quickly as possible, because my work as far as I am
           concerned is finished. I am just hanging around for you.
               Even though you go on doing stupid things, it does not change my love for you. I know that what
           else can you do in your state? Whatever you are doing is expected. But don't continue it: bring it to
           an end, to a full stop.
               I want you to become free of all bondage. Help me, so that I can become free of my body too.
           That will be your response to my love -- because to me my body is a bondage.
               This is my last life. Once I get out of this body I am not going to be born again. Then I will be
           part of this vast universe, that tremendous freedom....
           How long are you going to force me to wait?


              BELOVED MASTER,
              AFTER TWO YEARS HERE, I HAD HEARD BODHIDHARMA'S LAUGHTER. I NEVER HEARD HIM
              AGAIN. IS HE STILL AROUND?


               He has always been around. Who do you think is sitting in this chair? But if you do not hear the
           laughter, that simply means you are not hearing, you are not listening; otherwise, the laughter is
           happening every moment.
               In fact, in the whole history of humanity there has never been such a commune, with so much
           laughter. And a commune that is in search of truth, a commune that is in search of religiousness, a
           commune that wants to attain to the ultimate heights of ecstasy -- no, this type of people have never
           before been laughing. They thought laughter was something below them.
               My understanding is totally different. Laughter is one of the greatest religious qualities. The
           sense of humor has not been indicated by any religion as an essential quality for their followers. But
           here there are no followers, only individuals. They are together here because their search is the same.
           They are together here because their love is the same. They are together here because they have
           fallen in love with the same guide.
               But the guide is nobody other than Bodhidharma; hence, laughter is our most essential quality.
           And a sense of humor, playfulness, fun, is something sacred -- nothing profane in it. Just listen to it.
               I don't laugh, for the simple reason that if I laugh, you will stop laughing immediately. To allow
           you to laugh, I have to contain myself. I laugh in my room when I am alone!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW MANY IDIOTS ARE HERE?


               It is a very simple question. There are only two types of people in the world: either you are
           enlightened, or....
           Okay?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                     Chapter #30
                                          Chapter title: This beautiful earth
           14 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510140
              ShortTitle: BONDAG30
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 115 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              DOES THE CEREMONY OF OATH IN THE COURTS AROUND THE WORLD HAVE ANY
              SIGNIFICANCE?


                It is sheer nonsense. It is carrying out an ancient superstition. It is ugly to see that even in the
           twentieth century's courts we have not been able to get rid of it. In the past people believed in God;
           they feared hell, they were greedy for heaven. Naturally, it was easy to manipulate them with the
           ceremony of the oath. If a Christian has to take the oath, putting his hand on THE HOLY BIBLE, he
           cannot speak any lie -- just out of fear, because God is the witness, and this is God's book. And to
           touch it and take the oath, that "I am going to tell the truth, and only the truth," had a certain
           meaning in those dark ages, because the man was so afraid that if he lied he would fall into hell.
                Now it is not a question of the court; it is a question of his religious conditioning. His
           conditioning has been challenged; the court is exploiting the conditioning. And if he speaks the truth,
           then there is bound to be a reward -- perhaps after death, but God will know that he has been true to
           his word.
                But today, in a scientific age, when people are no longer burdened with past superstitions, the
           ceremony of the oath is simply stupid. Who cares about hell and heaven? Who is worried about
           God? The whole conditioning has disappeared. Now putting your hand on the BIBLE means
           nothing, you can still lie -- of course with less embarrassment, because you have taken the oath. The
           oath used to serve the truth in the past because of your superstition. Now it serves the lie: because of
           your oath, your lie is accepted as truth. It is absolutely irrelevant -- and particularly for a man of
           evolved consciousness. It is against his being to take the oath, because it simply means that without
           an oath you are not capable of saying the truth. And if a man is capable of lying, what prevents him?
           -- he can lie even if he takes the oath. And the book on which he is taking the oath is full of lies, utter
           lies!
                And it is not only THE HOLY BIBLE; all religious books are third-rate fictions -- not even
           first-rate. There is no holy book in the world; there are only well-written books and
           not-so-well-written books. And your so-called holy scriptures belong to the second category. As
           literature they have no value.
                A man should be accepted on his own authority, on his own individuality. He should be
           respected -- that he will speak truth.
                And now there are scientific devices -- this old rotten device is of no use. There are lie detectors.
           Where you are standing in the court, a lie detector can be just underneath the platform you are
           standing on: it can immediately show whether you are lying or whether you are saying the truth. It is
           so easy, because whenever you lie your heartbeat changes: when you know the truth and you go
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           against your own knowledge -- you are saying something you know is not true -- your heart is no
           longer rhythmic. When you are saying the truth, the heart has a rhythm; it can be picked up.
                Just underneath the witness platform there can be a light -- which the witness will not see, but the
           magistrate can see -- which can signal when the person is lying and when the person is saying the
           truth. It is so easy. There can be a graph like a cardiogram. Whenever you lie, your cardiogram will
           go berserk. And when you are saying the truth there will be a harmony in the cardiogram. It can be
           in front of the magistrate: he can go on seeing the cardiogram -- when you are lying and when you
           are saying the truth. When he feels you are lying, he can inquire more. He can question from
           different dimensions until you speak the truth, until the cardiogram says, "Okay, go ahead."
                When we have devices which can detect lies, this device of the oath is simply out of date, simply
           meaningless. A man who can commit a murder, do you think he will bother much about your holy
           book? And he has committed murder already: he knows he is going to hell, what more can you do? If
           he lies, he will go to hell -- the same hell which he was going to already. What more tortures can you
           give him? At least by lying he can protect himself while he is alive from the tortures of the prison.
                And who knows about after death? And God is compassionate, God is kind, God is love: just a
           little murder.... If one murder sends a person to hell, what will happen to Adolf Hitler? -- ten million
           murders! Even God cannot find enough punishment for the man; hell will not be enough.
                You have committed a small theft -- just a little bit of lying can save you from unnecessary
           harassment, punishment. And as far as after death is concerned, nobody has come back; nobody is an
           eye-witness that bad people go to hell and good people go to heaven. Nobody knows what kind of
           logic functions after death. Perhaps good people are sent to hell, because "you have enjoyed
           goodness enough. Now have some taste of hell too." And bad people have suffered their whole life
           with anxiety and anguish; they need a little rest, a little holiday, a long weekend. Send them to
           heaven! This seems to be logical.
                And nobody knows whether you are going to survive after death. There have been great
           philosophers -- in India, a whole school of philosophers called Charvakas -- who believe that with
           the death of the body everything dies. So it does not matter what you do -- just do it skillfully so that
           you are not caught. And don't be worried about what happens after death; after death you will not be
           there. Death means the end of you.
                In Greece there was Epicurus, a very great logician, who said there is no life beyond death; and
           he had a great school and hundreds of followers. And today, for the first time, half of the world --
           more than half of the world -- is communist. Karl Marx, the founder of communism, does not believe
           in any God, any hell, any heaven. He says, "Consciousness is just a by-product. When the body
           disintegrates the by-product disappears."
                There has never been such a large number of people believing that death is the end. That's why it
           was easy for Joseph Stalin to kill millions of people without a prick of conscience, because after
           death nothing survives.
                In this world, continuing a very ancient superstition in the courts -- in the high courts, in the
           Supreme Courts of the world -- just shows that even our judges are not contemporaries.
                Use scientific methods to find the truth, and respect the individual. And reward the truth -- that is
           something to be remembered. On the one hand you ask the person to be true, not to lie. And on the
           other hand, if he is true he is punished, and if he lies he is rewarded. What do you think -- people are
           so dumb?
                If a person says the truth, then reward him! And you will see people are saying the truth without
           any trouble, because truth is rewarded. Nobody will be saying lies, because lies are punished. Who
           wants punishment?
                In my childhood, I made a contract with my father. When he said to me, "Always say the truth," I
           said, "There has to be a contract about it."
           He said, "What contract?"
                I said, "Whenever I say a truth, I have to be rewarded. Then you need not be worried -- I will
           always be saying the truth. And whenever you find I am lying, I have to be punished."
                He said, "This is a strange contract. That means you can do all kinds of mischief and you can say
           the truth. You do the mischief and you get rewarded!"
                I said, "It is up to you. Mischief I will continue; the question is whether you want me to be
           truthful or not. You can think it over. Otherwise, I am going to lie, because nobody wants to be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           punished. And you will have to find out the truth -- which is very difficult, because whatever
           mischief I do, I take all precautions. Then it is your work, you find it out -- but I am not going to
           admit it." And he knew perfectly well that whatever I used to do was such that it was almost
           impossible to catch me red-handed.
                For example, one of my relatives, one of my father's brothers-in-law, often used to come and stay
           for months. He was immensely interested in eating. He was too fat and ugly -- and I would help him
           eat too much. Now, nobody could say that I was committing any mischief; I was simply serving a
           guest.
                Then he would fall sick and he would tell my father, "This is your son! I thought when he was
           bringing more sweets and more things, 'Why is he so interested in me?' I know now."
                I said to my father, "Do you think serving a guest is not right? And if he was feeling that he is
           going to be sick, he should not have eaten. The fault is not mine. If you want to punish anybody,
           punish your brother-in-law."
                Finally, he made the contract with me. It was very difficult for him, because then I started
           admitting everything that I had done -- and after admitting it, I asked for reward. He would say,
           "This is a strange contract that I have fallen into. I have made many contracts in my life, but this is a
           strange contract. That you took away one of my neighbor's...."
                In India, in the summertime, people sleep outside the house; it is too hot. This man was such a
           deep sleeper and he snored so much that almost nobody else on the street could sleep. Everybody
           was against him, but what to do?
                I said, "You don't be worried. You just help me. I will manage."
           They said, "What do we have to do?"
           I said, "You come with me."
                I took three people; we took his bed, carried his bed.... Just in front of his house there was a
           water well, a very small one: I put his bed on the well. Those people said, "What are you doing? If
           he wakes up and finds himself where he is, he may fall into the well!"
                I said, "Don't be worried. The well is not that deep. I have been jumping in the well."
                They said, "My God! And we have been drinking the water!"
                I said, "That is my usual practice. Every morning, early, the first thing I do is to jump in the well.
           It is not deep; the man will not be killed, and he knows swimming."
                And that's what happened. When he woke up, he could not believe it. Where was his house?
           Where had he come to? And just getting out of the bed, he fell into the well. He screamed, he
           shouted, he gathered the whole neighborhood. He was taken out of the well, and he said, "Who has
           done this?"
                People said, "Nobody knows who has done this, but you should sleep a little more alert."
                "This is too much! How can I sleep a little more alert?"
                They said, "Then you should stop snoring. If you snore, this is going to happen again and again."
                My father immediately caught hold of me. He said, "What is the matter?"
                I explained to him the whole thing: "That man has been a nuisance -- and not for one day, for
           years he has not allowed the neighbors to sleep. He needed it! And if he snores, I am going to put
           him on the well again. And yes, I have done it. Now, my reward."
                My father said, "I want to withdraw from the contract. You may kill somebody -- and still you
           will want a reward!"
                I said, "I can kill somebody even without asking for a reward. But the reward will make you
           aware of the truth. You are so much interested in truth -- for truth you have to pay."
                Truth is not repaid in the world -- it is punished. If a man in the courts says absolutely what he
           has done, is the court going to release him with honor because he has been truthful? If the court is
           not going to release him with honor, then the court is forcing the man to lie -- and everybody has the
           right to protect himself. Then your oaths don't mean anything.
                It is so simple to make the whole world full of truth. Just reward truth, and lies will disappear.
           Your oaths and your courts and your punishments have not destroyed criminals; on the contrary,
           criminals go on increasing. And you must be blind that you don't see that your jails, your courts
           create criminals. They don't destroy crime. Your jails are universities for criminology where amateur
           criminals learn from master criminals and come out of the jail after two, three years, more mature.
                All your laws and all your courts have created only one idea in the mind of criminals: that to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           commit a crime is not unlawful, but to be caught is unlawful. So the only thing is not to be caught.
           You have to be more intelligent and more skillful, more sophisticated.
                This whole system of jurisprudence has failed. We need a totally new kind of jurisprudence
           where truth is rewarded; certainly, if the man has done something wrong he should be rewarded for
           telling the truth. And he should be sent not to the jail, but to a psychiatric, psychoanalytical
           caretaker, to a university where he can learn that what he has done was wrong, and that a society
           which rewarded truth.... He will feel embarrassed to do anything that goes against human life, human
           culture.
                And anybody who is committing a crime... it simply means he is psychologically sick; he needs
           treatment, not punishment. Truth should be rewarded, and the person should be given to people who
           can treat him. And this is not condemnation. The individual is respected; just some sickness is there
           in his psychology for which he receives treatment. And within a few years, all crimes can evaporate
           from the earth.
                But with the crimes evaporating, what will happen to the judges, to the advocates, to so many
           people who have vested interests; to the jails and the jailers? Millions of people are engaged in this
           stupid business. The criminals are providing employment for millions of people. If crime disappears,
           this employment also disappears. That's why the judges are going to continue the old way; it is their
           bread and butter, it is their respectability.
                Jailers are going to do the same thing they have been doing for centuries -- creating more and
           more criminals, stronger and stronger criminals, because those are the people who are giving them
           employment. Without them, they will be nowhere. We have to see this whole situation.
                I am reminded of a story by Kahlil Gibran. A few friends go to a pub and drink too much, enjoy,
           sing and dance and fight, and do everything that drunkards are bound to do. The pub owner is very
           happy because business has never been so good.
                When they were leaving, he asked the man who paid the bill, "When will you be coming again?"
                The man said, "Just pray to God... if my business goes well, we will be coming every day."
                The pub owner said, "We will pray every day for your business. But what is your business?"
           He said, "It is better if you don't ask."
                But the pub owner said, "That makes me even more curious. I am going to pray for your
           business, my wife will pray, because if you come every day we are going to become rich very soon."
                He said, "I am a gravedigger. If people go on dying every day in big numbers, I will be coming
           every day with all my friends. That is my business."
                The gravedigger, naturally, wants somebody to die. The doctor, naturally, wants somebody to be
           sick. Things have to be changed: this is not a sane structure of the society.
                In China, Confucius made a very significant change. Every person had to pay the doctor if he
           remained healthy. If he becomes sick, he stops payment; then the doctor has to pay for his medicine,
           and has to take care of him. Now that seems to be a sane arrangement. Every person pays the doctor
           for remaining healthy. Now the doctor cannot pray that people should be sick; he will pray that
           people should be healthy. He cannot afford for people to be sick. He cannot afford epidemics; he will
           go bankrupt.
                But in our society, the situation is just the opposite. The more epidemics there are, the more the
           doctor's bank balance becomes bigger and bigger. If everybody is healthy, then the doctor becomes
           poorer and poorer. If everybody remains healthy, then the doctor will be the only person who will be
           sick!
                A sane society will arrange things in such a way that the profession -- any profession -- does not
           go against the society. The judge should be paid because there has been no criminal case. The police
           should be paid and rewarded because there is nothing for them to do. The doctors should be
           respected and paid because nobody is sick. Right now we are doing something which is very
           suicidal.
                Truth should be respected -- rewarded, not punished -- and there is no need for any oath.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY IS HUMANITY SO WILLING TO WALK THE PATH TOWARDS GLOBAL SUICIDE?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The reason is clear. People have become clear that their life has no meaning, that except misery,
           nothing happens; except anxiety, anguish, life has nothing to offer.
               Individuals have always committed suicide. And you will be surprised: the people who have
           committed suicide have always been a little more intelligent than the normal people. Psychologists
           commit suicide twice as much as any other profession. Painters, poets, philosophers either go mad or
           commit suicide. Idiots have never been known to commit suicide, nor do they go mad.
               Just two or three days ago I was looking at a news tape. Somebody is talking to the attorney
           general of Oregon, Frohnmayer, about me, saying that I have said that Frohnmayer is trying to
           protect the criminals so that he can destroy the commune. And if he cannot protect the criminals,
           then the second step will be to kill them. Then he is free to put in jail anybody from the commune,
           someone who is absolutely innocent, for any crime.
           His comment was, "This is lunacy."
               And I laughed, because perhaps he does not know the meaning of the word "lunacy." It comes
           from the word "lunar," the moon. In the beginning, the word "lunatic" was used for poets --
           moongazers -- who would stand for hours looking at the moon. This kind of situation was called
           lunacy, and slowly slowly it became equivalent to madness.
               I would like Frohnmayer to know that he is fortunate he can never become a lunatic. Idiots
           cannot do that; they never go mad. To go mad, first you need to have some intelligence. Have you
           seen a buffalo going mad? And as far as I am concerned, my very name, Rajneesh, means lunatic. It
           means "the moongazer." And certainly I would rather belong to the category of the mad than to the
           category of the idiots.
               The idiots have never committed suicide because they cannot even think about meaning,
           significance, purpose. They don't think at all; they simply live, they vegetate. The higher the
           intelligence, the more dangerous, because it makes you aware that the life that you are living is just
           hollow, utterly empty. There is nothing to hold onto. You know tomorrow will be a repetition of
           today, so what is the point of continuing?
               Individuals have committed suicide because only individuals have come to a certain stage of
           intelligence, of understanding whether life has any meaning or not. Now, for the first time, millions
           of people around the earth have reached to that maturity where they feel life is meaningless. That's
           why humanity is moving towards a global suicide. There seems to be no reason to continue -- for
           what? You have lived your life, and you have found nothing. Now your children will live and they
           will find nothing: generation after generation, only emptiness in your hands -- no fulfillment, no
           contentment.
               But to me, this gives man a tremendous opportunity. Only very highly intelligent people have
           committed suicide or have become mad, because they could not live with this insane world. They
           could not adapt themselves to all kinds of insanities that are going around. They felt themselves
           fallen apart -- that was their madness. But only the same kind of people have also become
           enlightened.
               So these are the three possibilities for intelligence. Either the intelligent person goes mad
           because he cannot figure out what is happening, why it is happening, why he is supposed to do this
           or that. Or, seeing the situation, that it is driving him mad, he commits suicide, he puts an end to life.
           This has been mostly the case in the West.
               In the East the same kind of people have tried something else -- not madness, but meditation. The
           West is poor in that way. It does not know the richness of meditation. It does not know that
           meditation can transform your whole vision of life; it can give you tremendous meaningfulness,
           beauty, benediction. Then life is something sacred, you cannot destroy it.
               You must look at it, that in the East the rate of suicide is very low compared to the West, the rate
           of people going mad is very low compared to the West. And one thing more: in the East, the people
           who go mad are really not very intelligent people. They are psychologically sick. It is not their
           intelligence that has led them to madness, it is something missing in their minds. Perhaps their food
           is not right, it is not enough to help their mind become mature. Their vegetarianism is lacking certain
           proteins which are absolutely needed for intelligence to grow.
               So the madness in the West and in the East is totally different. The madness in the East is
           something psychological: they are missing certain things, their growth is retarded, their minds cannot
           grow the way they would have grown.
10/28/07                                            Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
            Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

            That's why in my commune I have allowed vegetarian eggs. All the vegetarians of the world
        should allow vegetarian eggs, because they supply the necessary proteins for intelligence; otherwise,
        just vegetarian food is not enough. They will be against me, because just the word "egg" is enough
        for them to be against me. But these eggs are simply pure vegetable, because they don't have the
        male sperm. They are not going to give birth to anything. They are not alive, so you are not killing
        anybody. For all vegetarians of the world, unfertilized eggs should become an essential part of the
        menu.
            The people who commit suicide in the East are also different than the people who commit suicide
        in the West. In the East people commit suicide because of hunger, because of starvation, because
        they cannot manage to live -- and life becomes such a torture. So there is a qualitative difference.
            But the intelligent people in the East have always turned towards meditation. Whenever they
        have felt that life has no meaning, they have tried to find the meaning within themselves; that's the
        way of meditation. They have tried to find out the very source of life, love, and they have found it.
        Anybody who looks inwards is bound to find it. It is not far away, it is just within you. You are
        carrying it all the time!
            The Western intelligentsia is looking for meaning outside, and there is no meaning outside. They
        are looking for blissfulness outside. Remember, the beauty is in the eyes of the onlooker; it is not
        there outside. And the same is true about meaningfulness, blissfulness, benediction. It is within your
        vision, it is within you. When you have it, you can project it over the whole existence. But first you
        have to find it within yourself.
            If Jean-Paul Sartre, Marcel, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, people
        like these, had been born in the East, they would all have become enlightened beings. But, in the
        West, they all became tremendously burdened with anguish, anxiety. They found that it is all
        accidental and meaningless, that there is no purpose in life, and joy is just a dream, just a hope; it
        does not exist in reality.
            The West needs meditation. The East needs medicine; it is sick in the body. The West is sick in
        the soul. Once we understand the problem clearly.... Now it is not the East which is a danger to the
        world; at the most they can starve and die as they are dying in Ethiopia. But it is not a danger to the
        world. In fact, in a way the starving East is helping the world by dying. It is reducing the population
        of the world. It is making everybody richer, without your knowing. One thousand Ethiopians dying
        every day -- you may not see that somehow they are helping your comforts, but they are, because if
        the population of the world is reduced, people can live more comfortably, more easily, more
        joyously.
            The problem is not coming from the East; the problem is coming from the West. The problem is
        the Western intelligentsia is fed up with life, so there is no real resistance from the intelligentsia
        against nuclear weapons, against a third world war. In fact, it seems deep down the Western mind is
        somehow hoping that it happens soon, because life is meaningless.
            Rather than taking the risk of committing suicide yourself, if politicians can manage to destroy
        the whole world, that will be far easier. You will not be in the dilemma of to be or not to be. You
        will not have to think whether to destroy yourself or not, to wonder if perhaps tomorrow things may
        be different.
            It is an individual responsibility to commit suicide, but a global war, a nuclear war -- all your
        personal responsibility disappears. It is not your doing, it is just happening.
            Why is the Western intelligentsia not really fighting against nuclear weapons? Why are the
        scientists -- who are part of the intelligentsia -- still serving governments? The simplest way will be
        that all the scientists who are creating nuclear weapons should resign. They should say, "Enough is
        enough. We cannot create these weapons which are going to destroy life on the earth." And the
        poets, the philosophers, the painters -- they don't seem to protest. They have just become spectators.
        There is a reason behind it. Western humanity has been turned by and by into spectators -- about
        everything.
You don't play football, but twenty-two persons who are professionals, this is their business, to play football. And
millions of people are just spectators, and they are so excited... jumping in their seats, screaming, shouting. If they
are not in the stadium, then they are sitting in their homes before the television screen and they are doing the same
gestures there. Somebody else is playing; you are just a spectator.
            The average American is looking at the television five to six hours a day: six hours of just being
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a spectator, not a participant. Then there are movies where you are spectators, and there are boxing
           matches where you are spectators. It seems you have lost contact with life. You simply see others
           living; your life is just to watch. Somebody is in a competition for a world championship in chess,
           and you are watching. Can't you play chess yourself? Can't you play football yourself?
               It is not far away, it is already happening... you will not be making love to your wife, to your
           girlfriend -- somebody else will be doing it and you will be watching, jumping: "Aha! Great! Go
           on!"
               You have left the whole of life for others to live on your behalf, and then you ask where the
           meaning has gone, why you don't feel alive, why there is not some significance in your life.
           Spectators cannot have significance -- only participants, totally involved, intensely involved in every
           action.
               So perhaps the Western intelligentsia is just in the situation of spectators, watching when it is
           announced on the television that the third world war has begun. Listening to the radio, reading the
           newspaper.... But are you going to do something or not? It is doing that keeps your juices running. If
           you are simply watching, your own juices dry up. You become just a skeleton.
               I am surprised that the West has a great, educated, intelligent majority in the world, but they do
           nothing, they don't take any action. AIDS is spreading -- you are simply watching. The Soviet Union
           and America are both piling up nuclear weapons, preparing your funeral pyre -- and you are just
           watching.
               You have to be taken out of this hypnotic state of being a mere spectator. There are not many
           people who are making nuclear weapons. There are only twenty scientists in America who know --
           just twenty scientists. Can't they simply say, "No, we are not going to be servants of death!"
               And the same will be the situation in the Soviet Union. There cannot be more people than that
           who can create nuclear weapons. If it happens in America, I am certain it will happen in the Soviet
           Union too. The question is just that somebody has to begin.
               And all the poets and all the painters and all the great Nobel Prize-winners, novelists, actors,
           musicians, dancers -- what are they doing? There should be a great protest -- that all the nuclear
           weapons should be drowned in the Pacific. Whoever named it the Pacific must have had great insight
           into the future. Now let that name become a reality.
               But the trouble is, unless you start feeling some meaning in life, some joy arising in you, some
           fragrance surrounding you, you cannot fight for life. And life needs, for the first time in the history
           of man, to be fought for.
               Meditation will create the necessary atmosphere. It will bring you back to action, back to love,
           back to meaning. And then, naturally, you will see that it is time something has to be done. This
           beautiful earth should not die.
               This is a unique planet, very small. In this immense universe, which knows no limits, this small
           earth is unique -- unique because birds sing here, flowers blossom here, life has reached a new level:
           consciousness. And in a few people consciousness has touched its omega point: enlightenment.
               Compared to this earth, the whole universe is dead. It is big, vast, but even a roseflower is far
           more valuable than the biggest stars. Anybody who wants to destroy this earth wants to destroy
           something unique that is evolving. And it has taken millennia to come to this state of consciousness.
           Even if only a few people have attained to ultimate bliss and ecstasy, that is enough to make this
           earth the greatest treasure.
               It is very small -- the sun is sixty thousand times bigger than the earth. And this sun is a very
           mediocre one; there are very big suns that you see as stars. There are millions of solar systems, but
           no solar system can claim a Gautam Buddha, a Lao Tzu, a Bodhidharma, a Kabir. This earth has
           done something immensely great, it has made the whole universe rich. It cannot be destroyed.
               War should be stopped -- and it is within our hands to do so. Don't be only a spectator. Rather
           than just remaining in your misery, start finding sources of life and mystery within yourself.
               This is the function of this mystery school: to make you acquainted with simple methods so that
           you can attain to the very center of your being. That is the only possibility for saving the whole
           world. If only two hundred people are enlightened, then there is no way the world can be destroyed.
           And two hundred people is not a big number. Just in this commune we can manage two hundred
           enlightened people!
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              COULD AMERICA SURVIVE THE DESTRUCTION OF RAJNEESHPURAM? CAN THE WORLD?


               No, America cannot survive the destruction of Rajneeshpuram, nor can the world, for the simple
           reason that we are creating the energy that can stop the destruction that is looming larger and larger
           and closer and closer on the horizon.
               This is the only commune in the whole world where people are not just being spectators, where
           people are searching for the antidote to nuclear weapons, where people are trying to find out the
           sources of life so that death loses all meaning.
               It will be the most idiotic act on America's part to destroy this commune, because it will mean
           destroying innocent people who are trying to reach to their own center of being. And that is the only
           possibility of saving the whole world.
               Either meditate, become enlightened -- or the whole world is going to become a graveyard...
           Christian, of course.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DID "JESUS CHRIST!" BECOME A SWEAR WORD?


               Jesus! -- that's great.
               There is a psychology behind it. Jesus has been claiming himself as the savior of the world, as
           the only begotten son of God. He is placing himself at the highest point. He is the shepherd and you
           are the sheep. This egoistic attitude is bound to create its reactions. This is one of the reactions, that
           the very name of Jesus became a swear word. I don't want to become a swear word. That's why I
           have been trying to come closer and closer to you.
               Now Rajneesh Foundation International is going to be changed into Rajneesh Friends
           International. I would really like to sit with you there, amongst you. The only problem is, the chair
           cannot speak. But don't blame me for the chair's incapacity. Whenever somebody has done that, tried
           to position himself above you, some way or other you take revenge. In India, the same has happened
           with Gautam Buddha. In Hindustani, "Buddha" has become just its opposite: the idiot in Hindustani
           is called buddhu, and buddhu comes from the same root as "buddha."
               But strange -- why should buddha become buddhu? The reason is the same. It is said, after the
           birth -- and of course it has to be special kind of birth.... Buddha's mother is standing and Buddha is
           born -- no woman stands when a child is born! And Buddha is born standing; not only that, he walks
           seven steps and then declares, "I am the most supreme enlightened being. In comparison to me there
           has never been anyone, and there will never be anyone."
               Now, this type of person is bound to create reactions!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #31
                                 Chapter title: Democracy means mediocracy
           15 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510150
              ShortTitle: BONDAG31
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 Length: 96 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT TO PROVE AND TO ASSERT? WHAT IS THE PSYCHOLOGY
              BEHIND PROVING AND ASSERTING ONESELF?
              PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               The psychology behind assertiveness, behind proving oneself, is very simple. Every child, from
           his very beginning, is told that he is not what he should be. Disciplines are given, commandments
           are given; he has to fulfill them. If he cannot, he starts feeling inferior. It seems that others are
           fulfilling them, only he is not capable. And the inferiority complex is the basic mind disease out of
           which many diseases arise.
               No child is born with an inferiority complex. It is the parents, the teachers, the priests, the
           society, the culture, which are responsible for creating the inferiority complex in the child. And the
           only way for the child to get rid of it seems to be to prove himself worthy according to the
           expectations of others. It creates a very miserable situation. He is not growing towards his own
           potential, he is following guidelines given by others. He will become somebody else that he was not
           by his nature supposed to be. He will never be happy; misery is going to be his lot. He may be able
           to assert himself; he may not be able to prove he is worthy, or he may be able to prove he is --
           whatever the case, misery is going to be the end result.
               If he proves worthy in the eyes of others and becomes respectable, he will smile -- but in his
           being there will be no flowers blossoming. He will show that he is dignified, but deep down he
           knows he has betrayed himself. He has committed the greatest crime possible: he has betrayed his
           own nature. He has gone against existence and listened to all kinds of idiots.
               If he succeeds, then he is miserable. If he does not succeed, of course he is going to be miserable;
           he has failed. Others were right, that he is basically inferior, that he does not belong to the higher
           class, that he belongs to the lowest. It hurts -- because no individual is higher and no individual is
           lower.
               I do not mean by that that everybody is equal. I am not a communist. Communism, to me, is out
           of date. It is as dead as Christianity, Buddhism, Mohammedanism. My approach is totally different.
               In the past these were the only two alternatives: either man is equal -- equality of all human
           beings -- or people are unequal. I have a third alternative: people are unique, incomparable. They
           cannot be compared, so how can you say who is inferior and who is superior? Is the flower of the
           marigold inferior to the rose? But how can you decide? They are unique in their individualities. The
           whole existence produces only unique people; it does not believe in carbon copies. So the question
           of equality or inequality does not arise; I cut it from the very roots.
               There is a Greek story. One crazy king had a very beautiful house made only for guests, and he
           had made a golden bed. When the guest entered the house he could not believe it -- those guests
           were also kings -- that he would be receiving such a warm welcome, so much respect and honor:
           "And people think that this man is crazy! He is not." But soon they were to find that he was.
               His craziness was that the guest had to fit with the length of the bed. If he was longer, then he
           had to be made shorter -- a little part of his legs would be chopped off. If he was shorter -- I think
           that man was the inventor of traction -- the king had very big wrestlers who would pull the guest
           from both ends to make him fit the size of the bed. Whether he died or lived, that was not important;
           the size of the bed was important! Mostly the man would die.
               This idea of making everybody equal, cutting them to the same size -- economically,
           educationally, in other ways -- is absurd, because inequality will show in other dimensions. People
           are not equally beautiful -- then tomorrow plastic surgery has to make them equally beautiful. Their
           color is not the same -- then some day they have to be injected with pigments to make their color the
           same.
               Everything is unique; you cannot find two persons equal -- and communism has the idea that the
           whole humanity has to be equal! Intellectually you cannot make them equal. The genius of a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           musician and the genius of a mathematician are totally different worlds. If you want them to be
           equal, then you will have to destroy the heights, the peaks of genius, and reduce them to the lowest
           denominator. Then communism will be the greatest massacre that has happened to humanity in the
           whole of history.
           I stand for man's uniqueness.
                Yes, every person should be given equal opportunity to be his or her self. In other words, every
           person should be given equal opportunity to be unequal, to be unique. The opportunities can be
           given, but the mathematician should become a mathematician, and the musician should become a
           musician. But no society up to now has allowed the individual his freedom.
                You think that you are free. You are simply living in an illusion. Humanity will only be free the
           day there is no inferiority complex produced in children; otherwise, freedom is just hypocrisy.
           Others are trying to make you a puppet. My whole life I had the problem....
                The intentions of the parents are not bad, the intentions of the teachers are not bad. I never
           suspect their intentions -- but I suspect their intelligence. I suspect their understanding of human
           nature, its growth, its possibilities.
                When I was going to the university, my whole family was in a turmoil. Somebody wanted me to
           be a doctor, somebody wanted me to be a scientist, somebody wanted me to be an engineer. I
           listened to everybody, and then I said, "Nobody wants me to be myself. And you think you are all
           well-wishers! Not a single person in the whole family" -- and in India, the family is a joint
           phenomenon; my family consisted of fifty, sixty people -- "none of you has said, 'We want you to be
           just yourself.' Why do you want to impose your ideas on me? What right have you got? If you are so
           interested in medicine, go and become a doctor! But why should I fulfill your desire? You are
           making me a puppet, an instrument. And I simply say no to everyone in the family. I will do what I
           want to do. I am going to study philosophy."
                They all laughed. They said, "Study philosophy? Then you will remain a pauper all your life."
                I said, "At least I will have the satisfaction that this is my own choice, that I am independent in
           whatever I have done, nobody has manipulated me. Becoming a doctor and rich, a scientist and rich,
           will not be a contentment to my heart. I will always remember that this is somebody else's trip -- I
           have been forced to do it! Even your Nobel Prize will not give me the contentment, the joy which
           comes out of freedom."
                I knew what they would do, so I said, "I know what is in your mind. You will say, 'Then you go
           on your way, but we are not going to support you financially.'" I said, "That is clear. I don't resent it.
           I don't follow your advice -- I have no right to take your financial support. Even if you give it to me,
           I will not take it."
                For two years I was earning -- working in the night, studying in the day. My father was very sad
           and very sorry. Many times he came and said, "Forget all that. You are destroying your health; you
           don't have time to rest, you don't have a disciplined life."
                Finally he came and wept and said, "Unless you accept money from me every month, I am going
           to sit here and fast and I am not going to move."
                I said, "That makes sense. You have finally accepted and respected my desire. These two years
           have not gone in vain." It was troublesome, it was not comfortable: running twenty-four hours a day
           -- only once in a while, whenever I could get time, sleeping, eating.
                He said, "We are sorry. We had not thought that you would go so far."
                I said, "Remember it. Whenever I do something I do it the whole way."
                When I came back from the university, everybody except my father asked, "Now what are you
           going to do?"
                I said, "You need not be worried. I have already an appointment as a teacher of philosophy in a
           university." Because for six years I proved my love for philosophy, my insight into philosophy, my
           ingenuity in seeing into its complexities, every teacher of my university and the vice-chancellor
           wanted me, immediately after I passed my master's degree, to become a teacher in the university.
                I said, "It does not matter.... If you want to do something totally, you can change deserts into
           oases. You can change the life of a beggar into the life of an emperor. The whole question is, inside
           you there should be no inferiority complex. And you have not been able to create that in me."
                I have never proved myself superior to anybody. I have never been assertive in that sense, of
           dominating. But I started speaking very early in my life, when I was in high school, and the principal
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was amazed. He could not believe that a student could speak in such a way.
               Then I was speaking continuously throughout my whole university career. I had won so many
           shields, cups, inter-university competitions around India, that my mother started asking me, "Where
           are we going to keep all these things you go on bringing again and again?" But I have never learned
           speaking in a school, or oratory. I have never read a single book on how to speak, simply because I
           want to be just myself. Why should I read somebody else's book? I can speak in my own way.
               And what is the problem? Everybody speaks, and everybody speaks beautifully. But something
           happens; if you are brought to the podium before the microphone, something strange happens. You
           forget speaking -- which you have been doing since your very childhood. Standing before an
           audience of thousands of people, so many thousands of eyes on you, you become afraid whether you
           will be able to perform according to their expectations or not. It is, somewhere, your inferiority
           complex that gives you trouble. Otherwise, it is just the same whether you are talking to one person
           or you are talking to one million people.
               If you are clean inside, having no wounds of inferiority, then who cares what people expect of
           you? You have never fulfilled anybody's expectations. You have been simply living your life
           according to your own insight, intuition, intelligence. And that's the way it should be. A healthy
           human being will not have an inferiority complex.
               And the other side of the story is: if you don't have an inferiority complex, you will never try to
           be superior. There is no need to be superior to somebody, dominating somebody, having the upper
           hand over somebody, controlling somebody -- you will never become a politician.
               Only people who are basically suffering from an inferiority complex are attracted to politics. The
           very attraction towards politics guarantees it, what their problem is. Anybody who is attracted
           towards politics should be immediately treated psychologically. All politicians are sick, without any
           exception. Unless they are sick, they will not be in politics.
               A person who has no desire to have power over others, to prove himself... because there is no
           need! He is alive, he is breathing, he is doing his thing; that is enough proof. He has made his
           signature. Certainly it is his signature, not somebody else's.
               And remember, if even your thumbprint is unique in the whole world, what about your being? If
           nature does not create two thumbs alike.... How much care! Not even by mistake do two thumbs
           have the same lines -- and there are five billion people on the earth!
           Being is so significant that it is irreplaceable.
           You are just yourself.
               Do something that comes out of you -- not to assert, but to express! Sing your song, dance your
           dance, rejoice in being whatever nature has chosen you to be.
               If we can destroy the inferiority complex... which is very simple: the teachers and the parents just
           have to be aware not to impose themselves on the helpless children. And just within two decades the
           new generation will be free of the inferiority complex. And with it will go all politics, all presidents
           and all prime ministers. And their going will be such a great relief!
               People will express their creativity. There will be musicians, there will be dancers, there will be
           painters, carpenters. There will be all sorts of creativity around the world. But nobody is competing
           with anybody else; he is simply doing his best. It is his joy. The joy is not in competing, the joy is
           not in coming first; the joy is in doing it. It is not outside the act, it is intrinsic to the act.
               That's my image of the new man. He works, but his work is his life, his very soul. Whatever he
           does, it does not matter.
               I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln. When he became the president of America, his father was a
           shoemaker. And, naturally, egoistic people were very much offended that a shoemaker's son should
           become the president. They were aristocrats, super-rich, who thought that it was their birthright to be
           in the highest post. A shoemaker's son?
               On the first day, as Abraham Lincoln entered to give his presidential inaugural address, just in
           the middle one man stood up. He was a very rich aristocrat. He said, "Mr. Lincoln, you should not
           forget that your father used to make shoes for my family." And the whole senate laughed; they
           thought that they had made a fool of Abraham Lincoln.
               But Lincoln -- and that type of person -- is made of a totally different mettle. Lincoln looked at
           the man and said, "Sir, I know that my father used to make shoes in your house for your family, and
           there will be many others here... because the way he made shoes, nobody else can. He was a creator.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           His shoes were not just shoes, he poured his whole soul in it. I want to ask you, have you any
           complaint? -- because I know how to make shoes myself; if you have any complaint I can make
           another pair of shoes. But I know that nobody has ever complained about my father's shoes. He was
           a genius, a great creator, and I am proud of my father!"
               The whole senate was struck dumb. They could not understand what kind of man Abraham
           Lincoln was. He had made shoemaking an art, a creativity. And he was proud because his father did
           the job so well that not even a single complaint had ever been heard. And even though he was the
           president of America, he was ready to make another pair if there was any complaint.
               The man looked silly. Lincoln insisted, "You have to speak! Why have you become dumb? You
           wanted to make me a fool, and now, look all around: you have made a fool of yourself."
               It does not matter what you do. What matters is how you do it -- of your own accord, with your
           own vision, with your own love. Then whatever you touch becomes gold.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN WHAT WAY DO YOU ENVISAGE DEMOCRACY PLAYING A PART IN YOUR COMMUNES?


               The question is a little complex. Democracy is not the highest goal. It is better than dictatorial
           regimes, it is better than monarchies, but it is not the end of the journey -- because democracy
           basically means government by the people, of the people, for the people, but the people are retarded.
           So let us say: government by the retarded, for the retarded, of the retarded.
               Democracy cannot be the highest possibility man can attain. It is good in comparison to other
           forms of government that have preceded it, but not something that can succeed it. I call that
           meritocracy.
           I want a government by the people of merit.
           And merit is a very rare quality.
               As the situation is, all the geniuses of the world are outside governments. It is hilarious: those
           geniuses are needed in the government because they can give the best world to humanity, but they
           are servants of the retarded politicians. Now the scientists who are making nuclear weapons are in
           the service of people like Ronald Reagan. What merit has he got? What intelligence has he got?
           What is his contribution to the world? -- those third-grade Hollywood cowboy films? But he will
           make the decision, and the geniuses will never be known; they will work almost anonymously.
               The same is the situation in Soviet Russia, and everywhere else in the world. The Russian
           government does not allow its scientists, poets, or other geniuses to receive the Nobel Prize, for the
           simple reason that by receiving the Nobel Prize they become world famous. And a genius has no
           business becoming world famous; he should do his work.
               The greatest physicist today is in imprisonment in Soviet Russia. The greatest physicist perhaps
           of all the ages, who has gone deeper than Albert Einstein -- Sakharov -- is serving a life sentence in
           Siberia. His only crime was that he refused to obey the Soviet government, and accepted the Nobel
           Prize.
               Now, the people who are ruling the Soviet Union are just third rate. None of them has shown any
           genius -- Sakharov alone has as much as the whole stupid lot -- but they have power. And the best
           physicist, who can contribute to the world immensely, is simply rotting in Siberia.
               The situation may be a little bit different in different countries, but the basic thing is the same:
           the people of merit are not the people who rule. The people who rule are always mediocre.
           Democracy, rightly translated, is mediocracy. I cannot support mediocracy. I would like people of
           merit, geniuses, to manage the world -- and things would be totally different.
               For example, instead.... Anybody who is born in America, after a certain age becomes adult, is
           able to vote. Why this limitation of a certain age? What is so great about it? And if you can make a
           limitation that at twenty-one years -- any age limit -- you are able to vote, why can't you make it a
           point that unless you have a master's degree, a first-class master's degree in any subject, you cannot
           vote for the federal government?
               You can make it a point that you have to have a first class bachelor's degree if you want to vote
           in the state government. You have to have a doctorate if you want to stand for any position in the
           federal government -- a Ph.D. is absolutely necessary. If you want to become the president of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           country, then you must have at least a D.Litt. or D.Sc. Without having these qualifications you
           cannot stand, you cannot run for the post.
               So we should require merits for each post -- the highest merits. And we should make grades of
           voters: for the federal government, the highest degree; for the state government, a lower degree; for
           the county, a little lower degree.
               But meritocracy has to take the place of democracy. Then perhaps you will see Sakharov not
           suffering in Siberia, but being the prime minister of the Soviet Union. Then you will see Yehudi
           Menuhin perhaps being the president of America. And there are thousands of geniuses around the
           world....
               And remember, geniuses are never destructive; they are always creative. With a genius president
           in America, and a genius president in the Soviet Union, a third world war becomes impossible. In
           fact, with geniuses ruling all over the world, the day will not be far off when they will decide that it
           is better to make one world rather than divide it into nations, because that solves problems more
           easily.
               There are thirty million Americans who are dieting because of too much eating. Now, these
           people should be transported to Nigeria, Ethiopia, India -- there is no need for any dieting, just being
           in Ethiopia will bring them to their senses! Just leave them in Ethiopia. They will not die -- they
           have at least enough fat to last for ninety days. And for ninety days, bring thirty million Ethiopians
           to America. Those people will really enjoy your fridges!
               It is simple... a world government can look at the whole world as one humanity. Problems are not
           so much as they appear. At one time, in Soviet Russia, they had a bumper crop of wheat. Rather than
           giving it to the countries who were dying without food, they started burning wheat in their railway
           trains instead of coal. Now, those poor countries where people were dying have enough coal: if the
           world is one, the coal can be given to Soviet Russia, the wheat can move to the poor country.
               And if there is one world, then there is no need for seventy-five percent of every nation's wealth
           to be wasted on nuclear weapons, on armies, on other kinds of war materials. Seventy-five percent!
           Humanity is living only on twenty-five percent. If there are no longer any nations, the question of
           war does not arise. A hundred percent of all energy, money, income becomes available to the whole
           world.
               There are countries -- for example, I know India -- where labor is so cheap.... In America, things
           are almost ten times more costly, for the simple reason that labor is so costly. It is simply stupid.
           Why not make industries in India, produce any item in India, ship it to any country where it is
           needed? It will be cheaper, it will be available to more people.
               The Soviet Union has one-sixth of the land of the whole earth, and the population is only two
           hundred million. India's population today is eight hundred million, and by the end of the century it
           will be one billion. For the first time in history, India will be going ahead of China. Up to now China
           has been ahead. China will be number two, India will be number one. But it is not a great joy to be
           number one. India can manage very easily four hundred million people; more than that is impossible.
           The land is not there, the soil has been exploited too much for centuries. One billion people -- simply
           the idea...! India will become a thousandfold bigger Ethiopia.
               In Ethiopia one thousand people have been dying every day. In India millions of people will die
           every day. But there is no need. Just by the side is the Soviet Union, with vast lands spreading from
           one corner of Europe to the other corner of Asia, covering two continents. It is such a simple matter:
           over-populated areas should be shifted, people should be shifted to under-populated areas.
               In Switzerland they have dropped birth control policies. They are encouraging people to produce
           children, because for the last two years their population has been going down. We are living in an
           insane world. There are countries where it is so hard to teach people to use birth control methods so
           that their population does not rise, and there are countries where the government is giving every
           encouragement and rewards for people to produce children; otherwise the country will disappear.
           But what is the need to produce children when so many children are there, dying? Just shift them to
           Switzerland. Adopt them; that will be more humane.
               And the same is the situation about everything. All this can be changed by people of genius
           coming to the top. And the simple way is, make categories so universities become your centers of
           power, not governments; universities create your governors, your presidents, your vice-presidents,
           your senators. And that should be the right thing to do.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Now, as things are, the profession of the politician is the only profession which needs no
           qualification. Even if you want to be a plumber, some kind of qualification will be needed, some
           training in plumbing, some certificate. But if you want to be the president of America, no certificate
           is needed. It seems strange: plumbing is more important than the presidency of America! If you want
           to be a senator, no qualification is needed. If you want to be a teacher in a kindergarten school,
           qualifications are needed.
               Democracy is not succeeding; it has failed. It was better than its predecessors, but now we have
           to find a new alternative, because democracy has failed. It has not been of any help.
           I call it meritocracy.
           The future belongs to meritocracy.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HAVE NOT RELIGIONS DONE ANY GOOD TO HUMANITY?


               Corpses cannot do any good to anybody, unless you like stinking things. It is a question of
           preference. Religion means something dead.
               A roseflower alive, dancing in the sun, in the wind, surrounded by its aura of perfume, is one
           thing. You can find a roseflower, dry and dead, in THE HOLY BIBLE too; people keep them. The
           color has faded, the fragrance is gone, there is no life in it. It only reminds you of a flower, it is no
           longer a flower. There is no longer any juice in it, it is dead, dry. Even to call it a roseflower is not
           right -- it is only a corpse. Religions are corpses.
               Religious experience is the living rose. Religious experience is individual. Religion is an
           organization, and the moment truth is organized it dies. Truth can have a beating heart only in the
           individual, because organization has no heart. Organization does not breathe, organization is just a
           graveyard.
               All religions are graveyards. Yes, underneath the graves there are people who have once been
           alive, who had once loved, sang songs, danced, laughed. But now it is only a graveyard. Those
           people may be there only just as skeletons.
               Religion is always dead. Religious experience is always alive. Religious experience has given
           tremendous riches to humanity. Religion has simply harmed. Religious experience needs no priests,
           no churches, no ritual, no God, no heaven, no hell. It needs only an inward journey, because there is
           the real shrine. There is the source of your life, of your love, of your joy, of your celebration.
               Moving inwards, you will find living sources, living waters which are eternal. And the man who
           finds it can help others. He cannot give to you his experience, but he can explain it to you -- in a very
           rudimentary way, because words are not capable of expressing the wordless. But he can try. He can
           at least create an urge in you -- which is dormant in every human being -- to enter into your own
           being.
               And once you know yourself, you know there is no death. Once you know yourself, you know
           there is no inferiority. Once you know yourself, a tremendous rejoicing arises in you which wants to
           create. It wants to sing, it wants to dance, it wants to compose music. To different individuals it will
           happen in different ways.
               Religious experience has been a benediction, a tremendous blessing -- but to very few people,
           because most of the people don't bother about individual experience. They simply become
           Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jews. They become part of an organization which promises,
           "Just believe in THE HOLY BIBLE, in the TORAH. Believe in the GITA, in the KORAN. Just
           belief is needed on your part and you will reach to the ultimate state of bliss, to paradise."
               Organized religions are cheap. They have not helped anybody; they have harmed millions. They
           have created thousands of wars, burned living human beings -- they have called them crusades,
           jihads, wars of religion, wars for God. Every kind of nuisance has been committed in the name of
           religion.
               It is time -- we should get rid of religions and start searching for religious experience, which has
           never harmed anybody.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU SO AGAINST CELIBACY?


               I am not. Nature is -- and I am all in favor of nature. To me, there is no other way to find truth, to
           find peace, to find meaningfulness, than being natural.
               Celibacy is one of the most unnatural things. It has destroyed so many human beings -- millions
           -- Catholic monks, Hindu monks, Buddhist monks, Jaina monks, nuns. For centuries they have been
           teaching celibacy; and the most amazing thing is, even in the twentieth century, not a single medical
           expert, physiologist, has stood up and said that celibacy is impossible, that in the very nature of
           things, it cannot happen.
               To impose celibacy means to pervert the sexual energy of man. It is celibacy that has created
           homosexuality. It is celibacy that has created sodomy. Perhaps you don't understand the word
           "sodomy"; it is making love to animals. And, finally, it is celibacy which has brought humanity to
           experience the great joy of AIDS. I call AIDS a religious disease. It has been created by all the
           religions.
               Nobody ever has been celibate, whatever the pretensions; you can only be a hypocrite. But your
           sexual energy will find ways to move -- it is natural.
               Celibacy is as natural as somebody taking a vow that he will not allow his hair to grow. What are
           you going to do? Is it within your hands? The body does not listen to you and your orders: the hair
           will continue to grow. You will be surprised: even in his grave, when a man is dead, hair and nails
           go on growing. What to say about in his life?
               I have heard... two small children, six and seven years old, were standing by the side of a
           Catholic monastery. A few monks were passing by.
               The little child asked the older one, "I wonder, what is the difference between a man and a
           monk?"
               The older one said, "I know the difference, but I don't understand the meaning. I have asked
           older boys. They said that the difference is that the monks use their ding-dong only for pissing."
               The younger boy said, "I don't understand.... That means we are also monks, because we also use
           our ding-dong only for pissing! What else to do with it?"
               But remember, ding-dong is two words. Ding is pissing -- and dong you have understood!
               You cannot escape from dong, and there is no need; it is perfectly natural, human. Enjoy both:
           ding, and dong too!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #32
                                          Chapter title: The great accident
           16 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510160
              ShortTitle: BONDAG32
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 105 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              A PRIEST SETS HIMSELF UP AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. THE LAWYER'S JOB
              IS TO MEDIATE BETWEEN MAN AND JUSTICE. AREN'T THESE PROFESSIONS ESSENTIALLY
              THE SAME? WHY DO WE NEED LAWYERS?


                We do not need them. The priest is not needed. You are part of existence, you are already in it;
           there is no question of any mediation. Any mediator between you and existence will be a barrier, will
           not be a bridge. The bridge is already there. You cannot exist without the bridge. Your breath, your
           heartbeat, your very being is continuously nourished by existence in every possible way.
                The priest is absolutely not only unnecessary, but harmful, poisonous. He creates the division
           between you and the whole, and then he exploits you. His strategy is simple. He exploits, because he
           knows how he can help you to be bridged with existence, with the cosmos. You do not know, and he
           knows; naturally, you become spiritually enslaved to him.
                The priests are serving the devil, and all the churches and all the synagogues, all the mosques, all
           the temples are not for God. They are creations of the priest, and they are barriers, to be demolished
           completely, erased from the earth. There is no need for any priest.
                When you see the sunrise, do you need a mediator to connect you with the beauty of the sunrise?
           When you see a beautiful flower, do you need a philosopher to explain to you what beauty is? Then
           his explanations will become a wall. His philosophy will not help you to understand and to
           experience the beauty of the rose. On the contrary, instead of understanding the rose you will have
           some dead words about beauty. When beauty is present, there is no need to think about beauty. Why
           not drink it directly, immediately, without mediation?
                The same is the situation with the legal expert. He is not there in the service of justice, he is there
           to protect the criminal; otherwise, there is no need. A case that goes on for years can be settled
           within three days.
                And that's what happened in Mao Zedong's China. He made it clear that lawyers are not needed,
           the whole profession is finished. The man of justice is there; he can see clearly, can listen to both the
           parties. But the legal experts camouflage the whole thing in legal jargon. They create such a smoke
           around the thing that even the judge cannot see what is true and what is untrue. It is better -- let the
           common man stand before the judge.
                The judge should be educated about justice, fairness, respect for the individual. Even though he
           has committed a crime, you may condemn the act but you cannot condemn the individual. An action
           is a small thing in the whole life of an individual, just a small episode. That episode is not the whole
           life. Condemn the act, but don't destroy the dignity of the individual. Justice will be easier, far easier.
           The more experts are there, the more they try to find ways to go roundabout. And logic is a
           prostitute; it can prove anything, it can disprove anything.
                It happened in one of the universities of India, Nagpur University, that I was a participant in an
           inter-university debating competition. My partner fell suddenly sick; he was not able to participate. I
           was speaking for the subject, he was speaking against the subject. I spoke for the subject, and I asked
           the judge -- who was the chief justice of the Supreme Court -- that permission be given to me to
           speak on behalf of my partner too, because he was sick.
                But he said, "How is that possible? You have just now spoken for the subject."
                I said, "Logic is a prostitute. You just give me a chance and I will show you."
                He was interested. He said, "There is no harm. Try!"
                I spoke against the subject. I won two prizes: first prize, against the subject, second prize, for the
           subject. Naturally, I spoke more emphatically for the sick man. And I told the chief justice, "Now do
           you see? Logic can prove anything, can disprove anything." And law is only an application of logic
           in a particular direction.
                So legal experts go on arguing, confusing the judge, confusing the juries. It takes years, and even
           then most of the criminals are released, most of the murderers are released. So much expense, so
           much wastage of time, so many people involved -- finally the murderer is released. In fact, the man
           who can save the criminal is thought to be a greater expert in law than the man who cannot save the
           criminal. But by saving the criminal you are harming the innocent person.
                It would be far simpler if there were no mediators. Two simple, common men cannot create so
           much smoke. The judge should be perfectly educated. The situation in America is just the opposite.
           The judges are elected, elected by the common masses, by political parties. They don't know even
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the ABC of law. They are utterly ignorant about jurisprudence -- and they are to decide! And
           confronting them are experts of law who can confuse anybody.
                Justice has become more and more impossible. The whole legal profession is illegal, there is no
           need of it. And judges cannot be elected -- that is not democracy, that is sheer stupidity.
                The judge should be absolutely knowledgeable about the human mind, human psychology, the
           laws of the land, the values of the constitution. He cannot be elected; he has to be appointed
           according to his merit. And then it is so simple: two common men cannot deceive him; within three
           days the case will be over and the criminal will be caught. But it is strange -- judges know nothing of
           justice, and they have to face experts of law. And behind them are hiding all kinds of criminals. Even
           such a simple thing people cannot understand -- that justice is an expertise.
                And there are means which can be used -- science has provided so many means so that the
           courtroom's whole structure will be different. The man who is testifying should be standing on a lie
           detector -- not knowing it is there. There is no need for any oath. The days of the oath are over;
           nobody cares about the oath.
                I know professional witnesses.... I used to live in a city where the high court of the state was. I
           had a friend, and I was surprised that he was always moving around the courts; I thought perhaps he
           was employed there.
                I used to go to the university by way of the court. One day I stopped the car and called him and
           asked, "What kind of job have you got? -- because mostly I see you outside the court."
                He said, "I don't have any job. I am a professional witness."
           I said, "What is that?"
                He said, "You don't know what a professional witness is? I witness for anybody. So outside I
           find a client, a customer who wants a witness. He has done something wrong; I can witness and
           prove that he has not done it."
           I said, "But you must be taking the oath...."
                He laughed, he said, "I have taken the oath so many times it does not matter anymore. And even
           the judges know me, the advocates know me, the criminals know me. When the advocates find that it
           is very difficult to save a criminal, they seek my help. I am an eyewitness for anything. And I have
           become so expert in all these ten years that I earn more than the advocates."
                There is no point in the oath. Who cares about a book when there are scientific instruments
           available which are absolutely certain? And more sophisticated mechanisms can be invented. The
           man can be hypnotized, and in hypnosis he cannot lie; he will have to say the truth. There is no way
           to lie, because in hypnosis he is unconscious. You can record everything that he says. And when he
           wakes up after hypnosis, let him listen to the record. He will be simply surprised: he has told
           everything that he wanted to hide.
                Hypnotists are needed in the courts, hypnotic devices are needed in the court. Lie detectors are
           needed in the court. A very fair mind, not bigoted, having no conditions -- that should be the training
           of a judge. He is no longer a Christian, no longer a Hindu, no longer a Mohammedan, no longer a
           communist; his only function is to decide what is true and what is untrue. Beyond that, he has no
           ideology to impose, he has no mind to interfere with the truth.
                The whole education of the judges should be of unconditioning. Silently he should listen to both
           sides, watch the lie detectors, listen to their hypnotic states, and decide. Within three days even the
           greatest case can be finished, and absolutely only the criminal will be punished. Neither advocates
           are needed, nor are witnesses needed. These are unnecessary parasites.
                But everywhere mediators have been exploiting human blood. Man has to be made conscious
           about it. Every institution that civilization has created needs total change, a new orientation.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN A PERSON BECOME ENLIGHTENED BY ACCIDENT?


               This is something very significant to understand. Enlightenment is always accidental. That does
           not mean that you have not to try for it, but your trying is not going to bring it. Your effort is not
           going to achieve it. But making the effort, searching in all directions in every possible way, some
           day it happens -- not because of your efforts but because of your intense urge, a tremendous intensity
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           like a flame within you. But it is always accidental; you cannot say, "It happened because I did that."
           Otherwise, things would have been very simple.
                For example, Buddha was sitting under a bodhi tree, and enlightenment happened. Now,
           thousands of Buddhist monks.... In every Buddhist monastery there are bo trees, and they are sitting,
           waiting for enlightenment to happen -- as if the bo tree has something to do with it.
                Buddha had eaten that evening a sweet made of milk and rice. Buddhist monks think that has
           something to do with it, so for them it has become very spiritual food. Before sitting for meditation,
           they will eat kir -- that is the name of the sweet. But enlightenment has nothing to do with kir.
                Buddha was sitting in a certain posture, the lotus posture. So every Buddhist monk sits in the
           same posture -- perhaps the posture has something to do with it. The posture has nothing to do with
           it, but millions, throughout history, have been sitting in that posture, torturing their legs. And now
           Westerners have started learning yoga postures, in which the lotus posture is the most important
           because Buddha became enlightened in that posture. For a Westerner, who has been sitting in a chair
           his whole life -- in a cold country you don't sit on the ground -- his legs are in tremendous torture,
           but he tries hard. It takes almost three months for him to attain to the lotus posture, but only to the
           lotus posture; and then he waits his whole life for enlightenment. It doesn't happen.
                So it is not a certain sequence of causes that brings enlightenment. Your search, your intense
           longing, your readiness to do anything -- altogether perhaps they create a certain aroma around you
           in which that great accident becomes possible.
                But you cannot manage it. Every seeker has to begin from the beginning; you cannot learn by
           watching somebody. That's what all the religions have been doing: a certain prayer, a certain posture,
           a certain ritual, a certain way of breathing. Nothing helps.
                I have always loved a small story.... The archbishop of Russia became very much annoyed
           because on a small island three men had become known to the population as saints. Now, this is
           against Christianity. Christianity is the most foolish religion of all the religions. A saint has to be
           certified by the church -- as if to be a saint is a degree, a title. The English word saint comes from
           sanction. When the church gives the sanction, one becomes a saint.
                The archbishop was very angry that without his sanction, these three people had become known
           as saints. And thousands of people were going to touch their feet, to get their blessings. Naturally,
           this was making him very angry.
                One day he finally decided to go and see what kind of saints these were. He went in a motorboat,
           reached the island -- it was a very small island, only those three people lived there. It was early
           morning, and those three were sitting under a tree. They looked simple, uneducated, illiterate people.
                The archbishop on the way was very nervous about facing three saints who have influenced
           thousands of people. But now he saw there was no problem -- these were idiots! He went there and
           they all touched his feet. He was well satisfied. He said, "Do you think you are saints?"
                They said, "We are uneducated, illiterate, poor people. How can we think such high things? They
           are not for us. But what can we do? People go on coming. We try to prevent them, we tell them they
           should go to you, but they don't listen."
                The archbishop said with an authoritative tone, "What is your prayer?"
                The three looked at each other, they nudged each other. One said, "You say it." The others said,
           "You say it."
                The archbishop said, "Anybody can say it, there is no harm. But start!"
                They said, "We feel very embarrassed, because it is not really a prayer; we have made it up."
                The archbishop was really angry: "You have invented the prayer? What is the prayer?"
                One of them said, "You insist, so we have to say; but we are feeling very embarrassed, because
           the prayer is not very great, it is very simple. Our prayer is: 'You are three, we are three; have mercy
           on us.'"
                Even the archbishop in his anger had to laugh. He said, "Great! This is your prayer?"
                Those poor people said, "We are ready to learn. If you teach us the right prayer, the proper
           prayer, we will try it. But it should not be long, because we may forget it, or we may make mistakes,
           get confused. Our prayer is so simple we cannot forget it, we cannot make any mistake."
                The archbishop read the whole prayer of the orthodox church of Russia. It was too long. Those
           three poor people said, "This is too long. Please read it again." The third time, they said, "Just one
           time more, so we can remember."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The archbishop was happy that these idiots... "Now there is no problem: I can convince people
           that they know nothing -- not even the prayer of the church!"
                They touched the archbishop's feet, thanked him and told him that there was no need for him to
           come, he should have just sent a message and they would have come to him. Why should he take
           such trouble? Anytime he wanted, he should just send a message and they would come to the church
           itself.
                Very happy and contented, the archbishop left. When he was just in the middle of the lake, he
           saw those three running on the water, coming towards him, saying, "Stop! We have forgotten the
           prayer! Just once more!"
                The archbishop looked at them -- they were standing on the water, running on the water. He must
           have been a man of some intelligence. He said, "Forgive me. Your prayer is right; you continue your
           prayer. Your prayer has reached; my prayer has not reached. You are really saints; it does not matter
           whether the church has sanctioned you or not. Sanctions are needed by those who are not really
           saints; your very existence proves it. Just forgive me, that I interfered in your life."
                This is a story by Leo Tolstoy. It is possible. With purity of heart, with serenity of the mind, with
           calmness, even this becomes a prayer: "You are three, we are three; have mercy on us." And the
           great accident happens.
                But you cannot copy it -- that is the problem. You can go to an island and sit under a tree, and
           say, "You are three, we are three; have mercy on us," and nothing will be happening. Within an hour
           or two you will get bored, and you will say that this does not work. It is not a question of
           methodology.
                Existence has allowed enlightenment in so many different ways to people, all that we can say is
           that certain qualities -- not very particular methods, but certain qualities -- when they come to meet
           within you, function not as a cause, but something happens because of their presence. This is what in
           science is called a catalytic agent. They function as a catalytic agent.
                For example, you know that water is made with hydrogen and oxygen. But you can go on mixing
           oxygen and hydrogen and water will not be made. If you divide water, you will find only hydrogen
           and oxygen. Then what is missing? Why, even when mixing them in the proper proportion, H2O, is
           the water still not happening? For that, the presence of electricity is needed. It does not cause it -- it
           is a totally different phenomenon than causality -- but its presence is a catalytic agent. Without its
           presence, oxygen and hydrogen can remain together for eternity, but water will not happen.
                So when you see silver lines in black clouds, it is not just for painters and people who understand
           beauty and are sensitive to esthetic values. That silver line is nothing but the presence of electricity
           that transforms hydrogen and oxygen into water. But scientists were surprised in the beginning,
           because it does not take any part -- just its presence is needed. But without its presence nothing
           happens.
                So I can say to you that enlightenment is always an accident, not an effect produced by a certain
           cause; otherwise, things would have been very easy. Everybody could have produced the cause, all
           the necessary ingredients, and would have become enlightened.
                If the lotus posture is needed, he will do it. If standing on the head is needed, he will do it. If
           sitting under a bo tree is needed, he will do it -- anything. If other men have been able to do it, you
           can. But the problem is that it is not a cause-and-effect phenomenon. So I can describe only a certain
           presence which functions as a catalytic agent.
                Meditation creates the catalytic agent: a totally silent mind with no thoughts, a totally relaxed
           body with no tensions, a totally empty heart with no moods, no feelings, no sentiments, no emotions.
           And then, simply wait.
           In this silence, serenity, just wait....
           And out of nowhere something explodes in you.
                Yes, it is an explosion -- of light, of love, of tremendous bliss, which remains with you forever.
           You cannot lose it even if you want to. Nobody can become unenlightened again, that is not
           possible.
                In an ancient sutra it is said, "You can make curd out of milk, but you cannot make milk out of
           curd." The process is not reversible. You can make butter out of curd -- in India people make
           purified butter they call ghee, but you cannot make ghee again butter or curd or milk. You have
           come to the end of the process. You cannot go back and there is no possibility of going beyond.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                In India, ghee became a very spiritual, symbolic thing, for a simple reason; otherwise, there is
           nothing spiritual in it. The symbolic reason was that it gives you the whole process of enlightenment.
           You can attain it, but you cannot step down the stairs. Those stairs are gone; any step that you have
           passed no longer exists.
                Nobody has said what I am saying to you: that enlightenment is accidental. There are only two
           possibilities -- either a thing can be causal or a thing can be accidental. The causal thing cannot bring
           you to eternal freedom because it is based on a chain of cause and effect. Only the accidental can
           bring you to freedom, to total newness, freshness, a new birth. Because of this phenomenon all
           religions have failed, because they were trying just to imitate somebody's enlightenment.
                The Taoists are still trying to imitate Lao Tzu -- after twenty-five centuries doing the same
           things, eating the same things, living the same way, thinking that they will become Lao Tzu. But in
           twenty-five centuries not a single man has been able to attain the goal.
                Jainas are doing it, Buddhists are doing it, all religions are doing a single thing: they have seen
           somebody whose eyes had a different light, whose gestures had a different grace, whose words had a
           different authority. He spoke from his very innermost core, he was not a scholar. He was not saying
           anything within quotes; he was simply expressing his own vision. He was singing his own song,
           dancing his own dance. He was utterly individual and immensely blissful. People seeing him started
           imitating -- what he was doing, they should do. And they have been doing, for thousands of years, all
           kinds of imitations.
                Thomas a Kempis has even written a book which is thought by Christians to be next only to THE
           HOLY BIBLE in importance. The name of the book is THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. You can
           understand from the very name what the book contains. But even Thomas a Kempis could not
           become what he thinks by imitating Jesus Christ one can become. His book is read by monks, and
           they try to imitate. They become carbon copies.
                And one thing is certain: this existence is absolutely against carbon copies. This existence knows
           only original faces. It will recognize you only when you come with your original face -- not
           Christian, not Buddhist, not Hindu, but just you in your utter nudity.
                So I can suggest only that you can create the catalytic situation, and then wait. And have
           patience; you cannot force enlightenment to happen. You can manage the catalytic atmosphere, that's
           all that is within your hands -- then wait. Be patient.
                Existence is impartial. Whenever the time is ripe, you will suddenly be aflame. All the old will
           be burned and something new, absolutely new, that you could not have even thought about, dreamed
           about, will have happened.
           It is possible, but nobody can guarantee it.
                It is going to happen if you can manage the catalytic atmosphere and wait. One never knows: it
           may happen today, it may take the whole life -- but it will happen. Just wait. Wait with deep trust in
           existence.
                But whenever it happens, it will come as a great surprise to you, because it is accidental.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO ALL ORDINARY PEOPLE THINK THAT OTHERS HAVE SOMETHING MORE OR BETTER
              THAN THEY DO?


               That's the definition of ordinary people. They are continuously comparing themselves with
           others. Comparison is their whole life's work.
               Certainly people have... somebody has a better house, somebody has a better nose, somebody has
           a better body, somebody has a better mind. There are thousands of things. You can find in every
           person something better than you.
               Even a beggar may have something better than you. Just the way he walks may have a grandeur,
           a carelessness. He has no worries, he has nothing to worry about. He sleeps in the street better than
           you sleep on the best mattress in the best house. The better the mattress, the worse the sleep. It is
           very strange but that's how it is, because for sleep what is needed is at least eight hours of hard work.
           That's the way your physiology is built. It has a built-in program. If you don't work eight hours at
           least, you can't have eight hours of deep, beautiful sleep.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               You will feel jealous, and people are burning with jealousy, because it is not one thing with one
           person; everybody around you has something better than you: fair color, beautiful hair.... How many
           things are there? Can you find a person who has nothing better than you? And if you are looking
           only for "Who has something better than me?" then this whole world has things better than you. So
           many people, and you are burning with jealousy!
               This is the ordinary state of humanity. And what creates it? Comparison. You have been told
           from your very childhood to compare. That is poison. You should have been told never to compare.
           You are unique, so is the other, and there is no question of comparison. Comparison is possible only
           if two persons are similar, but there are not two persons similar on the whole earth. Comparison is
           not possible.
               The moment comparison drops from your mind, all jealousy disappears. Suddenly you find
           yourself strangely peaceful, contented, strangely respectful towards yourself, grateful to existence
           for whatever it has given to you. And it has given you so much, and without charging you anything.
           It has given you life -- which you cannot purchase. No money can purchase it.
               Alexander the Great was simply impotent when it came to the question of purchasing life. He
           was dying, and he wanted to live only twenty-four hours more, because he had promised his mother
           that he would come back home and put the whole world at her feet.
               Athens was only a twenty-four hours' journey, but he was so sick that the doctor said, "You
           cannot survive more than two, three hours, and it is better to stop here."
               Alexander offered to give them anything they wanted, but the doctors said, "What can we do?
           Even if you give us your whole empire" -- and he was a world conqueror -- "life is not something
           that we can give to you."
               But you have not been grateful to existence at all. It has given you more than life, which even
           Alexander the Great could not purchase. It has given you love, it has given you the sensitivity to see
           beauty, it has given you the capacity to understand great music. It has given you all that is priceless,
           and still you are ungrateful.
               To me, to be grateful to existence is the first step of being a religio, a man of religiousness. It has
           nothing to do with God. It has something to do with gratitude. Just look how much you have. And
           look -- there is much more which you have not even explored. But your whole energy is wasted in
           comparing, which leads you nowhere, except to burning in jealousy, anger, frustration.
               You are unique. And if existence accepts you as you are, don't reject yourself. That's what you
           have been told by your priests, your parents -- that you are worthless, that you have to prove
           yourself, that you are good for nothing.
               That's what my father used to say to me in my childhood, "You are good for nothing." And I said
           to him, "Thank you!"
           He said, "For what are you giving me thanks?"
               I said, "At least you used the word 'good' for me. Good for nothing, but good, certainly. And I
           don't think that nothing is a bad quality. In fact, Gautam Buddha says nothingness is the highest
           experience. Buddha's word for enlightenment is nothingness, nirvana. So," I said, "you are telling
           me, 'You are good for enlightenment.' Thank you. Whatever your meaning is, I don't care. Whatever
           I understand, for that I am giving you my thanks."
               And he said, "It is so difficult to talk with you. You make words mean whatever you want them
           to mean. Now, everybody knows what 'good for nothing' means."
               I said, "I have no obligation to be convinced by their meaning. I give it a better meaning. And I
           will prove in my life exactly what you have said, you have predicted: I am good for nothing."
               And when he became a sannyasin, I reminded him. I told him, "Look. Now you are going to be a
           disciple of somebody who is good for nothing. And all that I can do for you is to make you also good
           for nothing."
               And he died with tremendous gratitude. The last day when I went to see him in the hospital, he
           reminded me, "Perhaps I have come to the point which you call 'good for nothing.' I was wrong, you
           were right, and I feel proud that even at that young age you had the guts to assert whatever you felt.
           You never rejected yourself, you never condemned yourself, you never compared yourself. You
           never asked for anything somebody else had. You were so contented with yourself -- as if you owned
           the whole world."
               I said, "Really that's the case. Why bother about small things? You own the sun, you own the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           moon, you own all the stars. Why bother about small things?"
               I have heard that two hobos -- that is another word for good for nothing, a shorter form -- on a
           full-moon night, are sitting by the side of the ocean. And it is immensely beautiful -- the ocean, the
           beach, the full moon driving the ocean mad.
               One hobo said to the other, "I could give everything" -- and he had nothing -- "I could give
           everything to purchase this moon."
               The other said, "Forget all about it! I am not going to sell it."
               Why bother about purchasing and selling? You already own it! This whole universe is yours.
           And small things -- somebody has a little longer nose -- and you are worried, and you don't think
           about the whole sky full of stars.
               People are all on fire continuously, but it is their own doing. Get out of the funeral pyre! In the
           end you will be there, but while you are alive, why go on sitting on a funeral pyre?
               Accept, respect, and be grateful to existence. And suddenly you will feel a tremendous release
           and relaxation.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              RABINDRANATH TAGORE HAS WRITTEN, "I KNOW THAT A COMMUNITY OF GOD-SEEKERS IS
              A GREAT SHELTER FOR MAN, BUT DIRECTLY THIS GROWS INTO AN INSTITUTION, IT IS APT
              TO GIVE READY ACCESS TO THE DEVIL BY ITS BACKDOOR."
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                It is easy to feel loving towards me. That is not something great on your part. It is easy to feel
           trust, easy to feel surrender, but these are not going to help you.
                In the commune, when you come across people just like you and you have to trust them, you
           have to love them, and you have to be in a surrendering attitude -- not in a fighting mood, not
           competitive, but ready to merge with them -- it is difficult. But you will have to take that challenge.
           Unless you take that challenge, you cannot come close to me.
                These people are devices; the commune is a device. These people are just as frail as you are, as
           weak, as angry, as jealous, as immediately annoyed, irritated about anything. It becomes difficult for
           you to be loving towards them. But that is the test. In spite of them, you have to grow your strength
           of love.
                You can love me because I don't give you any trouble. But that does not show that your love is
           growing within you. Your love has to become stronger, your trust has to become stronger -- even of
           those who are not trustworthy. It does not matter: they are not the consideration, you are. In spite of
           all their hindrances, obstacles, still remain loving. Unless you pass all these tests in the commune,
           you will never be able to love me. These are the steps which come to my temple.
                It has always been easy for people to love and dedicate themselves to dead saints, sages, because
           they don't create any trouble for you. They are so far away -- Jesus, Krishna, Buddha; they are so far
           away they will not create any trouble for you. They will not snatch your girlfriend away from you! It
           is very easy to go and put a few roseflowers at the feet of Gautam Buddha's statue. But the real test is
           the people who are just like you, who are also passing through the same hindrances. You are a
           hindrance to them, they are a hindrance to you. The commune is a great device: everybody is a
           hindrance to everybody else. So five thousand obstacles -- naturally, you feel it is difficult.
                Somebody snatches your girlfriend, then some woman catches hold of you. Being a gentleman
           you cannot say no. Being a man you cannot say, "I have a headache." Your girlfriend is gone, and
           this woman is sitting on top of you.
                A strange commune: everybody is an obstacle for everybody else. And they are perfectly trained;
           they are doing their job just great! So to pass this ocean of five thousand people and still remain
           loving, trusting.... But that is the only way to come close to me. Without this fire you will never
           become real gold.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT ARE YOU COOKING?
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              WHATEVER IT IS, WE ARE EAGER TO EAT IT.


               Unfortunately, I am not a cook. I have never made even a cup of tea in my life. I am really good
           for nothing. But something is cooking....
               I am not allowed in the kitchen by my kitchen people, but I can smell something is cooking. And
           not only are you eager, I am also eager!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #33
                                         Chapter title: Dismantle the ego
           17 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510170
              ShortTitle: BONDAG33
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 119 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS EMPATHY THE CURRENT THAT BRINGS ABOUT THE AWARENESS OF OUR EACH AND
              EVERY RELATEDNESS, AND VICE VERSA?


               The experience of empathy is very rare. You know what sympathy means, you also know what
           apathy means; but empathy you do not know.
               Sympathy and apathy are opposed to each other. Empathy is beyond both. To help you
           understand it, let me tell you an incident in Ramakrishna's life.
               He was in a boat, going to the other shore of the Ganges near Calcutta. And just out of nowhere
           -- he was surrounded by his disciples -- he started screaming, "Don't beat me!" Tears started flowing
           from his eyes, and one could see that his body was getting distorted as if somebody was beating him
           badly. The disciples could see nobody there, but he was in immense torture.
               When they reached to the other shore, they found a fisherman with a big crowd surrounding him.
           He had been beaten by a few people. And the strangest thing was that the same bruises and scratches
           that had come up on his back, had come up on Ramakrishna's back too -- exactly the same.
               It was a very mysterious phenomenon. They asked Ramakrishna what it was. He said, "This is
           empathy. You feel so one with the other that your separate identities lose their boundaries. The
           other's thirst becomes your thirst, the other's hunger becomes your hunger, the other's joy becomes
           your joy. The other is no longer other: some secret passage has opened between two beings, a deep
           connectedness."
               Man has forgotten about empathy completely, but he knows about sympathy. Sympathy is not
           something great. When somebody is in misery you sympathize; but if you look inside you will find
           you are feeling great because you are not in misery, somebody else is. At least in this situation you
           are superior. You can sympathize -- you can afford it.
               Apathy is your everyday experience. You pass people as if they don't exist. The servant comes in
           your room -- you don't wave at him, you don't smile at him. You don't even take any note that
           somebody has come in the room. You remain exactly the same as you were before -- no recognition
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of the other's existence. This is your everyday experience.
               Sympathy once in a while -- when somebody goes bankrupt, when somebody's house is burned,
           the whole neighborhood is sympathetic. And these are the same people who were jealous of his
           beautiful house. How can it be? The same people who were jealous of his beautiful house suddenly
           have become so sympathetic because his house is burned. It is a mask; underneath they are feeling
           great joy, this was the day they were waiting for. His beautiful house was continuously a torture for
           their heart. Now, sympathizing with the man, they are in a higher position. They are really feeling
           good.
               So remember perfectly well, whenever you sympathize with somebody -- watch the inner
           workings of your mind; it is not friendly. It is not out of your goodness, out of your compassion, but
           just the opposite. It is your hate, your jealousy, your violence -- but now there is no need to show it,
           the man is finished on his own. Now you can have this beautiful experience and a good night's sleep
           by sympathizing with him, by being a real Catholic. Sympathy is not a great quality. It is phony.
               Apathy is inhuman. And remember, when you are apathetic towards anybody, your heart is
           becoming harder. You are not doing any harm to the person, you are simply being self-destructive.
           The more apathetic you are, the more your heart will lose its great qualities. It will become just a
           pumping mechanism for breathing, but not a bridge for feeling.
               Empathy has almost disappeared from human beings. It is certainly the only quality that joins
           you with the life current within other human beings, animals, trees -- with the whole existence. It is
           pure religiousness. But no religion teaches empathy. All religions teach is sympathy, and sympathy
           is not the real thing.
               But in animals and in trees, empathy is still pure, alive. There have been experiments on
           animals.... A child of some animal is taken deep into the ocean. The mother is on the shore, miles
           away; but when they start torturing the child, the mother starts feeling the same -- the way
           Ramakrishna did. When they stop torturing the child, the mother stops being tortured. There is some
           connection between the mother and the child, which, even miles away, remains -- some invisible
           connection.
               The child has been in the mother's womb for nine months. He is nothing but an extension of the
           mother. Whatever he has is the gift of his mother; his blood, his bones, his flesh, his very life is
           ninety-nine percent from the mother, only one percent from the father.
               The father does not feel empathy, but the mother feels it. The experiments have been done
           thousands of miles away, and still it has affected the mother. The father remains unaffected. The
           father is really not a relative; he has performed just an arbitrary function. Any syringe could have
           done it -- but syringes don't feel empathy. The father is an unnatural institution.
               The mother's situation is totally different. The child is her own extension. Every small thing that
           has happened in the nine months when the child was in the mother's womb has affected the child,
           even the dreams of the mother. If she was sad, the child was sad, because he was just part of her. If
           she was happy, the child was happy.
               If you see this whole world so sad, so unhappy, so miserable, one of the reasons is that mothers
           are not aware when they are pregnant that they are carrying a tremendous responsibility: they are
           going to create a new being. Now it is not only a question of themselves, somebody else is growing
           within them; and they should be alert not to get into fights, into anger, into hatred, into jealousies.
           They should listen to great music, they should read great poetry. They should see nature and its
           beauty.
               At least for nine months they should be as silent and meditative as possible. This will change two
           lives! The child will come in the world with a rejoicing heart; and nine months of silence and
           meditativeness, music and poetry, is certainly going to change the mother too. It is going to be
           mutual. She will be grateful to the child her whole life, the child will be grateful to her -- and this
           link continues, there is no way to cut it.
               But this is a natural phenomenon. In animals it has not been disturbed, but in man it has been
           utterly disturbed. Even in trees it exists. It has been found... now there are scientific experiments
           available: there are certain mechanisms like cardiograms which can be attached to a tree, and the
           cardiograms start making the graph of how the tree is feeling right now. An early morning sun, a
           beautiful breeze, the whole night's rest, birds singing -- it is paradise; and there is a tremendous
           harmony in the cardiogram, the graph is harmonious.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Then you tell the gardener to come with an axe to cut one of the branches of the tree. The
           gardener comes with the axe -- and he is far away, but the graph starts going berserk, it loses its
           harmony. The branch has not been cut yet; cutting it is only in the mind of the gardener, but even
           with the mind of the gardener the tree has a certain relatedness.
               The scientist runs to the gardener and says, "There is no need to cut the tree, but still come with
           the axe."
               Now the mind of the gardener is changed; he is not to cut the branch, just to bring the axe.
           Everything on the outside is the same, but the graph immediately comes back to its harmony.
               And the most surprising thing is -- this is quite mysterious -- this sensitivity of the tree is far
           more than that of human beings. Even thoughts are affecting it. It is so receptive that even small
           waves of thoughts passing by it are caught in its net of sensitivity.
               But even more surprising is, when they have attached the instruments to another tree, they were
           surprised to know that when the gardener was instructed to go and cut a branch of the first tree, even
           a second tree, which was not going to be cut, lost its harmony. That means it is not only sensitive to
           the gardener's mind, it is also sensitive to the neighboring tree. Its neighboring tree is going to be cut
           -- that hurts it. And when the gardener was stopped, the chaotic pattern of the graph disappeared
           from both trees. They were in tune and in harmony.
               Man thinks he has evolved. In certain ways, yes, but in certain other ways he has lost much. His
           evolution is only of reason, intellect, but he has lost, on the way, his heart. And the heart is the most
           significant thing. A thousand and one rationalities cannot give you that which a single heart full of
           sensitivity can give you.
               Empathy is relating to people through the heart. But this is possible only if the mind is silent, if
           there are no thoughts in the mind and it gives way, opens the door to the heart. But ordinarily you are
           so full of thoughts there is no way to be sensitive.
               Even when you love someone, you say, "I think I have fallen in love." That too, is a thought: you
           think. Your love is also dependent on your thinking. You cannot do anything directly from the heart.
           Your mind has been trained, educated, conditioned in every possible way and your heart has been
           ignored in every possible way. By and by, you have forgotten that the heart is far more valuable than
           the mind. Your mind has become everything.
               The heart is not a Christian, is not a Hindu, is not a Mohammedan, is not a communist -- but the
           mind is. Different ideologies make the mind different. The mind is American, the mind is Russian,
           the mind is Indian, the mind is Chinese. But the heart? Have you ever thought about the heart? Is the
           heart also American, Indian, Russian? The heart knows no boundaries, but it has been put into a state
           of nonfunctioning.
               Your whole energy has been diverted by the educational system, by religious teaching, by
           political ideologies. It has been forced to go directly to the head and bypass the heart. Slowly slowly
           you start living without the heart. And to live without the heart is not to live at all.
               The head is only a mechanism, a biocomputer. And soon there will be better computers than the
           greatest genius' head. It is already not of much use. A mathematical problem that Albert Einstein
           could solve in three or four days' arduous work can be solved by the computer in a single second.
           Soon you will see that the head is being replaced by the computer.
               That's how things change in the world. Machines replace human beings because they function
           better. They don't go on strike, they don't make unions, they don't demand more wages. They simply
           go on working day in, day out; they don't even need rest. And they produce a thousand times more
           than man can. Naturally, man is being replaced everywhere by machines, technology.
               The day is not very far away when you will be paid if you are ready to remain unemployed. If
           you insist on employment you will not be paid. You can't have both the things together, employment
           and pay. If you remain unemployed you can be paid.
               Naturally, people cannot live only with employment, they need the necessities of life; they will
           choose to remain unemployed and receive the pay. But the implications are very great. When
           millions of people are unemployed, have nothing to do, there is bound to be more crime, more rapes,
           more divorces, more thefts, more murders, more suicides.
               Man cannot just sit -- unless he happens to be a sannyasin. Either people will have to learn to sit
           silently, doing nothing, and let the grass grow by itself, or they will be a constant nuisance to each
           other.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Mind is already finished. Man has to evolve a new system of education which directs his
           energies towards the heart. Machines cannot have hearts, the computers cannot have hearts. The
           computers cannot fall in love with each other, nor can they elope with somebody's wife.
               The heart knows something which the mind is not aware of. It knows the way of empathy. The
           heart can connect itself to the whole existence. And that will bring it great ecstasies, immense joy --
           as if constantly flowers go on showering on you from nowhere.
               Your question is significant, but I don't think you understand what you have asked; empathy is
           not your experience. Once in a while lovers, great lovers, have felt it. Once in a while great disciples
           and masters have felt it.
               Gautam Buddha had a disciple, Ananda, who remained with him till his very last breath -- almost
           forty-two years without a single break, day in, day out, twenty-four hours a day. His relationship
           with Gautam Buddha was not of the mind. The relationship between the master and the disciple has
           not to be of the mind. If it is of the mind, then it is the relationship between teacher and student. If it
           is of the heart, then it is the relationship of master and disciple.
               Slowly slowly their hearts came closer, became almost one. It is said that before Buddha asked
           for water, Ananda was ready. Before Buddha said that he was feeling cold, Ananda was already
           bringing the blanket. A very underground way had opened -- no need to say anything.
               Many times Buddha would say, "Ananda, why have you brought this water? I had not asked
           you."
               Ananda said, "It does not matter whether you ask or not, I felt the thirst, that my master is thirsty;
           I felt my master is cold. I don't know how, because it is not a question of my mind. Just the feeling --
           and so strong a feeling that I cannot go against it. If you are not thirsty, don't drink."
               Buddha laughed and he said, "No. I was just inquiring how you managed to know it. I was
           feeling thirsty, I was just going to say. I was feeling cold, and I was just going to say -- but you don't
           allow me even to say a thing!" Even in the night -- if Gautam Buddha was not able to sleep because
           there were mosquitoes, Ananda could not sleep either. The moment Buddha awoke in the morning --
           exactly, simultaneously, immediately, Ananda awoke.
               With lovers it has happened that before your beloved says something you know it. It is already
           heard by you, although it has not been said.
               So only in very rare cases is empathy still alive. But it has been a great loss to humanity. It is
           because of the loss of empathy that we have become unspiritual beings. It has to be regained. Getting
           it back will give you a totally new, luminous existence. And then you will not feel as an island apart
           from everybody else, but just part of an infinite continent. And just to feel it is so relaxing, to feel
           that you are one with the trees, and one with the rivers, and one with the stars. Then for the first time
           you will know what beauty is, what bliss is, what life is. All that you have to do is to behead
           yourself.
               Meditation is nothing but a subtle way of beheading! Your head remains in its place, but loses all
           its content, becomes hollow. When the head is empty, the heart is full. When the head is full, the
           heart is empty, because you have only that much energy. You can't have both. Up to now, humanity
           has chosen the head. And you can see the consequence: the whole earth has become a madhouse.
               My sannyasins have to change the whole direction of their life force towards the heart. And then
           you will see a new intensity, a new totality -- something that was so close and yet of which you were
           unaware.
               Empathy is an experience of the heart. Yes, it is the life current, it is life itself.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              FOR CENTURIES THE BRITISH BOBBY, WITH NO GUN, ONLY A SMALL TRUNCHEON, HAS
              BEEN A SYMBOL OF THE RESPECT FOR LAW AND ORDER IN A CIVILIZED COUNTRY. NOW
              RIOTERS ARE ATTACKING THE POLICE WITH SHOTGUNS AND GAS BOMBS. IN THE LATEST
              RIOT TWO HUNDRED POLICEMEN WERE WOUNDED AND ONE KILLED WITH A HATCHET. A
              SENIOR OFFICER SAID, "THIS IS NOT ENGLAND, THIS IS MADNESS. THEY ARE USING MY
              MEN FOR TARGET PRACTICE."
              WHAT IS CAUSING THIS SURGE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST LAW AND ORDER? COULD IT
              HAPPEN IN AMERICA?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It is going to happen everywhere. But before we discuss it, a few of your misconceptions have to
           be completely dropped.
               You say England was a very cultured society.... England has been the greatest empire in the
           world, it has exploited millions of people as barbariously as possible. And you call England a
           cultured, a civilized country? It looked civilized, because all its barbariousness was being expressed
           all around the earth in the British empire. All ugly people were sent -- in the armies, in the civil
           services, as governors, as governor-generals -- outside England. And the empire was vast. It was said
           the sun never sets on the British empire and it was true. Somewhere or other the sun was still there in
           the British empire.
               So it had a very simple way of sending the barbarious elements to the empire, to torture people,
           to kill people, and to bring all the riches from the whole world to England. Naturally, when all the
           riches were available to England, there was no need for riots, no need to fight. England had the best
           universities -- Oxford, Cambridge and others.
               England has done so many ugly acts that you will not be able to believe it. India -- which was the
           biggest part of England's empire -- was one of the ancientmost countries on the earth. It had its own
           developed craftsmen, arts. For example, they used to make such thin cloth in Dacca, in Bengal, that
           you could cover a whole elephant with the cloth and still you could pass the whole cloth through a
           small finger ring, it was so thin. Thousands of years of craftsmanship.... Even if you had seven layers
           of it on your body, you would still be seen as naked. Millions of people were involved in creating
           that kind of cloth. The Britishers were in a difficulty. They cut the hands of millions of craftsmen so
           that they could sell Manchester cloth in India -- and you call England a civilized, cultured country?
               In one place in Punjab, there is a public park, Jalianwala Bagh. It has only one entrance. They
           were having a peaceful meeting -- almost one hundred thousand men, women and children inside the
           park, which has eight-foot-tall walls all around, and just a single small gate. A British general fixed a
           machine gun on the gate and ordered the people to vacate the park within ten minutes. Now, that was
           impossible; it was a walled garden, people could not get out of it, and the gate was already closed,
           with the machine gun fixed. The name of the general was Dyer. And after ten minutes he started
           shooting absolutely innocent people, who had not done anything. Within minutes there were only
           corpses of children, women, men -- one hundred thousand. It was such a blatant, cruel act. What
           punishment did General Dyer get? Only one punishment: he was sent back to England. You kill one
           hundred thousand people for no reason, and this is a cultured and civilized country?
               People in England were rich, not because they had produced the riches, but because they had
           exploited the whole empire. They squeezed the last drop of blood from countries like India. Of
           course, England was happy -- at the cost of millions of people dying in poverty. You have taken all
           their gold, silver, their diamonds, their mines. You have taken everything from them.
               And England is a small country, not big enough even to be compared to a state in India. India
           consists of thirty states now -- British India was even bigger, because now Pakistan is separate,
           Bangladesh is separate. But even now India is thirty times bigger than England.
               England was a parasite. Of course, the British behaved well, they were very cultured; they were
           ladies and they were gentlemen. And what were they doing around the world? They never
           considered other human beings equal to them. All other human beings, whom they were exploiting
           and on whose blood they were living, were treated like animals.
               All these riches pouring in from all over the world made England really beautiful, rich, educated,
           cultured. But now the empire has disappeared. Now England is going down the drain. And now all
           those people whom England has trained to kill and murder are turning upon their own people. Every
           action has its reaction. You cannot escape from the basic laws of life. England will have to suffer.
               You are asking me: Why is it that there were no riots in England before, and now hundreds of
           people are being killed, policemen are being killed?
               There will be more riots, because England has become accustomed to all the riches which are no
           longer coming. It has become accustomed to having all the luxuries without producing them. Now
           from where can it get all those riches? Now it is the darkest and the most dismal country on the
           earth. But that's how existence functions. If you do something wrong, you are bound to suffer. If you
           do something right, existence is very rewarding.
               England has done so much wrong in the past three hundred years that it seems difficult for it
           even to survive. All that glory and glamor was borrowed, stolen; forcibly, violently taken away from
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           others. Now that glory is gone; those beautiful days have become dreams. People are unemployed.
           England is becoming every day poorer and poorer. And the people have become accustomed to
           being violent, violent with others, in the past; now they will be violent with themselves, with their
           own. It is absolutely natural, and absolutely justified.
                It is going to happen to all those countries which have been living on exploitation, whose culture
           depends on somebody else's blood. It is bound to happen. It is simply the law of life. You cannot go
           on against the law for long. Sooner or later it takes you over.
                Now England is just a pauper country. And there is no way to create the empire again, those days
           are gone. England will suffer much violence in the future from its own people. It has done that
           violence to other people; the ghosts of all those people will follow it.
                England has no future. Darkness and more darkness.... And all that old nonsense of being
           cultured and civilized is already disappearing; the barbarious reality is showing its face. This is
           going to happen almost everywhere, for different reasons.
                For example, in India only ten families have half the income and money of the whole country.
           Ten families have money equal to that of eight hundred million people! How long can you manage
           such a state? Eight hundred million people are going, sooner or later, to destroy these families. The
           money belongs to them, they have produced it -- and they are dying, their children don't have milk,
           their parents don't have medicine. It is going to happen everywhere. Reasons may be different, but
           everywhere violence is going to erupt like volcanoes.
                You are asking me: Can this happen in America too? If it cannot, it should. It is a strange
           country. The people to whom the land belongs have been forced to live in reservations -- the Red
           Indians -- and the people who are ruling the country and have become the owners of the country are
           all foreigners.
                This is the only country where the people of the land don't bother at all about freedom, don't
           think at all that they have been enslaved, that their beautiful country has been taken away by
           foreigners. And the foreigners have some nerve!
                We have been here for four years. I came with a legal visa, I am here legally. It is up to them to
           decide, and they are such chickens they cannot decide either yes or no. They don't want to say yes.
           They are afraid -- and rightly afraid, because I can prove very dangerous! They cannot say no,
           because the moment they say no, the whole file moves from their hands, and I go to the court.
                And it is not only a question of my green card; I will make it a question of freedom for the native
           Americans. I will ask the Supreme Court, "If you have any sense of justice, if you have any respect
           for your Constitution, then no foreigner can be in the government. Red Indians should form the
           government. And all the foreigners should apply for citizenship. If their forefathers committed a sin,
           forget all about it; they are gone and there is no way to punish them. But they have left generations
           behind which are answerable. And if the Red Indians want you to be here, you can be here;
           otherwise, just get back to your own countries."
                And if Red Indians are in the government, the possibility of a third world war simply disappears,
           because Red Indians will not be at all interested, or even ready for a third world war. They will not
           pile up nuclear weapons -- they cannot create them.
                And all the foreigners who call themselves Americans have taken it for granted that this is their
           country. Sheer bullshit! They can ask for refuge, they can ask the Red Indians to be allowed to live
           here -- but they cannot live here as masters. Enough is enough.
                There is an old prophecy of the Red Indians -- they have informed me, and I said perhaps it is
           right -- that somebody from the East will come and deliver them from their slavery. Perhaps I have
           come!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE EGO? IT SEEMS A COMPLEMENTARY QUESTION TO "WHO AM I?" AND AS
              MUCH A KOAN.


               The ego is just the opposite of your real self. The ego is not you. The ego is the deception created
           by the society so that you can continue playing with the toy and never ask about the real thing. That's
           why my insistence that unless you drop the ego, you will never come to know yourself.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               When you were born you had your authentic self. Then they started creating a false self: you are
           Christian, you are Catholic, you are white, you are German and you are the chosen race of God, you
           are supposed to rule over the world, and so on and so forth. They create a false idea who you are.
           They give you a name and around the name they create ambitions, conditionings.
               And by and by -- because it takes almost one-third of your life -- they work on your ego through
           the school, through the church, college, university.... By the time you come back home from the
           university you have forgotten completely your innocent being. You are now a very big ego with a
           gold medal, first class, topping the university. Now you are ready to go into the world.
               This ego has all the desires, ambitions, wants to be always on the top of everything. You are
           exploited by this ego. And this never allows you even a glimpse of your real authentic self, and your
           life is there, in your authenticity. Hence, this ego only produces misery, suffering, fighting,
           frustration, madness, suicide, murder -- all kinds of crime.
               A seeker of truth has to begin from this very point: that whatever you have been told by the
           society you are, discard it. Certainly you are not it, because nobody can know who you are except
           yourself -- neither your parents, nor your teachers, nor your priests. Except yourself, nobody can
           enter into the privacy of your being. So nobody knows about you; whatever they have said about you
           is all wrong.
               Put it aside. Dismantle the whole ego! In destroying the ego, you will discover your being. And
           that discovery is the greatest discovery possible, because it starts a totally new pilgrimage towards
           ultimate bliss, towards eternal life.
               You can choose: either frustration, suffering, misery -- then go on holding the ego, nourishing it.
           Or peace, silence, bliss -- but then you have to recover your innocence.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS SYNCHRONICITY THE VERY LAW OF LIFE?


               It is exactly the same as empathy. It is a scientific name for empathy -- synchronicity. There is no
           difference between the two.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN YOU SORT OUT THE BIG PEAS, THE SMALL PEAS, AND THE MIDDLE PEAS?


                It is a difficult problem. First I have to tell you the story from which the question has arisen.
                In the second world war, one of the German professors of philosophy was recruited into the
           army. He was not willing, but you know, Germany is Germany: willing or not willing.... From higher
           up orders were that everybody had to be recruited, the whole of Germany had to become a military
           camp; only then can you conquer the world.
                The poor philosopher said many times, "I am of no use," but nobody listened to him. The first
           day, early in the morning, he was to learn marching, and the colonel ordered, "Left turn," but he
           remained standing still. Everybody else turned left.
                The colonel knew that he was a philosopher, was bound to be a crank. He could not even turn
           left. But the colonel thought, "I will see him later on." Then he went on saying, "Turn right...
           backward... forward..." and the philosopher just remained standing in his place, as he was. Finally,
           the line came back to its old position. The colonel asked the professor, "Why didn't you follow the
           orders?"
                The professor said, "What is the point? If all these people, after all these left turns and right turns
           and backwards and forwards, have to come to the same place where I am already standing, I don't
           see the point. And as far as I am concerned, I cannot do anything unless I have a reason to do it. You
           simply said, 'Left turn.' I thought it over. I could not find any reason why -- why should I turn left? In
           the whole world there is no reason for me to turn left, or right, or go back, or come forward. This is
           all stupid!"
                The colonel reported to the higher authorities, and they said, "What to do with this man?...
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because he cannot be trained if he asks about everything, 'Why?'" In the army you are not supposed
           to ask why.
               The general knew about the professor; he was a famous man. He said, "Don't torture that poor
           man. Put him in the mess and give him some small work."
               So he was put in the mess, and given some small work. He was given a pile of peas and told,
           "You have to sort it out: small peas on one side, big peas on the other side."
               After one and a half hours, the officer came back. The professor was sitting exactly as he left
           him, and the peas were also sitting exactly as he had left them. The officer asked, "What is the
           matter? Can't you do even that?"
               The professor said, "It is such a philosophical matter. I have been pondering over it for one and a
           half hours. It is good -- big peas on this side, small peas on this side. But what about the middle
           ones? And unless I am clear about everything, I don't take a single step!"
               And you are asking me how much time it will take for me to sort out big peas from small peas. I
           don't think I can manage it, for the simple reason that I have to go to pee right now!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #34
                                    Chapter title: The sound of truth: "Aha!"
           18 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510180
              ShortTitle: BONDAG34
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 91 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU ANSWERING ALL THE QUESTIONS THAT ARE BEING ASKED?


               No. I must have answered more than twelve thousand questions, but they are not all the questions
           that are being asked.
               There are questions which are merely of the head. Your head is already full of too much garbage.
           I don't want to be unkind to you, I don't want to burden your mind more. I want to unburden it, so I
           choose the question which helps your mind to unburden itself.
               There are questions which are concerned with your conditionings, beliefs. I am against all beliefs
           as such. I cannot support any belief, for the simple reason that it is a belief. I want my people not to
           believe, but to know. And the way to know means you have to drop your beliefs.
               There are questions which are only out of curiosity. They don't deserve to be answered. This is a
           mystery school; people are deeply interested in a quest -- they are not just curious. I cannot waste my
           people's time for a single person's curiosity. Curiosity is something like an itching in the head. You
           can scratch your head yourself, I need not bother about it.
               In fact, you yourself are not sincere. You have asked just by the way. You are not thirsty; your
           question is not out of a longing. It does not show any appetite, it shows only childishness -- the way
           children ask questions, about each and every thing. If you can just be patient, within a minute they
           forget all about it, they start asking other questions.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have seen people who ask out of curiosity, and if you answer them, by the time you answer
           them there are other curiosities coming in their mind. They don't listen even to your answer. You are
           not even finished with the answer, and a totally new question, which has no relevance to the first, is
           put before you -- as if they are not in search of anything. But just seeing things, the monkey mind
           becomes curious.
                My people here are not to waste time. Time is very precious for those who are on the quest; each
           moment may prove of tremendous importance.
                There are questions which are not even questions; they are, on the contrary, answers. Now, I
           don't know how to answer an answer. Those people are full of knowledge. They know the answer
           already; all that they want is support from me for their answer.
                If you know, you know. No support is needed. If you do not know, then accept it; then you can
           be helped. But I cannot play this stupid game in which you go on bragging that you know, and still
           you are asking. What is the point of asking, if you know?
                I never asked anybody any question after I arrived at my very being. Since then I only have
           answers; all questions have disappeared. I have not even asked for anybody's support. Authentic
           experience needs no evidence, no support, no argument, no witnesses. It is borrowed knowledge --
           from the scriptures, from the priests -- that you are carrying, thinking that you know. You want me to
           support it so that it becomes more certain.
                But remember one thing: knowing is absolutely certain, there is no greater certainty than that.
           And not knowing -- you may gather the whole world's affidavit for it, but it will still remain not
           knowing. It will not help that the whole world supports it, you will know that you are ignorant.
                There are questions which are so stupid that I don't want to expose the stupidity of somebody
           who is present here. I respect you, I have immense love for you -- and when I see a stupid question, I
           simply feel it is better not to talk about it, because I will have to hammer your stupidity.
                Just a few days ago, one man asked, "Next time you ask the sannyasins to raise their hands for
           something to show their trust, their love, I am going to stand against you."
                Now, what the hell are you doing here? If this is your mind, that you want to stand against me --
           not even knowing about what, but you are certain that you will be against it, and you will stand
           against it -- then certainly you are in a wrong place. You should not be here.
                Should I answer such questions? Are they questions? They don't show even intelligence. In the
           first place, what will be the situation in the future in which I will ask your support? He is not
           concerned about the subject on which the support will be asked; he is more interested in standing
           against me. So why don't you stand, without me asking? Just stand up! Where is that idiot? You don't
           need any subject, you simply want to stand against me. So just stand up, and remain standing the
           whole discourse, to your heart's content.
                But I wonder what you are doing here if you are so much against me. Don't you know the county
           road? Just pack your luggage and be on the county road; it goes directly to hell. I don't want such
           people to be here, part of the commune. I am trying to create a synchronicity, a great energy of love
           that surrounds the whole commune. But this type of person will be a hindrance. And he has no
           courage either!
                So many questions of this kind -- do you want me to answer them? They just go where they
           belong -- down the drain.
                There are questions which are esoteric. Esoteric means bullshit. Now, I am not interested in
           bulls, and I don't answer that kind of question. I am a very realistic person; I don't want to give you
           any illusions, hallucinations of spirituality. But there are people who cannot live without
           hallucinations. They need some illusions; reality is difficult for them.
                Illusions create a kind of buffer between them and the real. The reality will shatter their egos;
           these buffers save their egos, their ideologies, theologies. And it feels great that you are in contact
           with mediums who are directly connected to God. Soon you will become a medium; it is just a
           question of apprenticeship.
                So people ask me about mediums -- whether they are true or not. There is no God, so how can
           mediums be true? They are just exploiting gullible people. But you are fifty percent responsible for
           the whole thing. If they are exploiting, you are willing to be exploited. In fact, if nobody is ready to
           exploit you, you start feeling uneasy. You need some parasites.
                So there are mediums, there are people who have direct relationship with spirits. There are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           people in whom spirits descend, and they answer your questions. And all this goes on around the
           earth, and this has nothing to do with spirituality. Spirituality is a very real science. These people are
           preventing many from reaching to the real, because they are giving substitutes for the real.
               I have heard of a small boy who was going with his grandmother to a spiritual session where a
           few old women used to sit in darkness, and then the spirit would descend on one of them. The boy
           was very interested, because he wanted his grandfather's spirit to descend. So he asked beforehand,
           "Please let there be no misunderstanding: everybody should ask for my grandfather who has been
           dead for two years; ask that his spirit should descend."
               Lights were put off. Those old ladies were sitting in silence.... One old lady, who was the leader
           of the group, started swaying, and the grandmother of the child nudged the child and said, "Your
           grandfather has come -- you can ask any question."
               He asked, "Grandpa, are you there?" and a voice came, "Yes."
               The boy laughed, he said, "So, after all, you are not dead yet? And we all have been thinking that
           you have been dead for two years. But I will not be convinced unless you tell me something which
           only I and you know."
               Now, this was a difficult question for the old lady. She had no idea what this boy and his
           grandfather knew and nobody else knew. Suddenly, the swaying stopped, and she said, "The spirit
           has gone."
               The boy said, "But this is strange. We have so many secrets between us -- he loved me so much,
           I loved him so much. He could have mentioned anything that only I and he knew. I cannot believe
           that this was my grandfather. You can deceive my grandmother but you cannot deceive me; just
           swaying does not mean anything."
               Even a small child, if he is intelligent, can see this is all a hocus-pocus game that goes on in the
           names of mediums, messengers. There are so many questions concerning such esoteric matters....
           Spirituality has nothing to do with any esotericism. Spirituality is very pragmatic, very realistic --
           and that is my whole effort here.
               All the religions have created a split between the real and the spiritual -- this world and that
           world, body and soul, matter and spirit. Nobody has yet recognized that this division in existence is
           the basis of all schizophrenia in humanity.
               Every person is split, he is not one. To be split is to be sick, and to be one and whole is to be
           healthy and holy. I am against the split. I want you to know that your body is your visible spirit, and
           your spirit is your invisible body. The universe that you can see is the visible body of existence, and
           the universe that you can only feel -- the beauty of a flower, the blissfulness of silence, the ecstasy of
           one's own being -- that is the invisible part of the universe. They are one, there is no dividing line
           anywhere. Certainly they are not opposed to each other.
               It is so simple to understand that your body and your soul are not opposed to each other;
           otherwise, how can they live together? How can they live in such harmony?
               But religions had to make the split; their whole business was dependent on the split: God is
           separate from existence, the soul is separate from the body. That opens the doors to all kinds of
           exploitation in the name of religion, because then they can say, "Your body is dragging you towards
           hell, and unless you fight with your body, its nature, its instincts, its hunger, its sensuality, its
           sexuality -- everything that makes up your body -- unless you conquer it, you will not enter into the
           kingdom of God. Only pure souls who have transcended their bodies enter there."
               Naturally, millions of people have been torturing their bodies to attain spirituality. All that they
           attain is stupidity. The more they torture their body, the more unintelligent they become, because the
           body gives everything needed for their intelligence. And if they start fighting the body, those
           resources stop flowing towards their intelligence.
               I have never come across a single so-called saint in my life -- and I have seen thousands -- who
           had any gleam of intelligence in his eyes, who had any aura of beauty around him; who had any
           magnetism that made you feel pulled towards him. On the contrary: in India, there are Jaina saints....
               Because they are against the body, perhaps their religion is the most antilife religion. They don't
           take a bath, they don't wash their teeth, because that is all serving the devil, decorating the devil.
           They stink, because they have not taken a bath for years. Their perspiration has gathered on their
           body in layers -- dust and perspiration. And they live naked, so the whole body is available to the
           dust. They don't wash their mouth. You cannot talk to them sitting closely, because every word that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they speak comes as a shock: their breath is unbearable.
               But they are respected immensely because they have been torturing their body. They have lost
           the balance of their body completely. Because they eat only one time a day, naturally they eat too
           much -- to make up for the two other times. So their bellies become too big, and the rest of the body
           becomes thin. Rather than becoming beautiful, they become ugly. And this is thought to be a great
           attainment.
               A really spiritual person will live life as an art, will create a deep harmony between the body and
           the consciousness. And this is the greatest art there is. His life will be a joy to see. And he will be
           fragrant, for the sheer reason that there is no split in his being. The very unity makes him organic;
           the wound of division is healed.
               So people who go on asking questions about how to control the body, how to control sex, how to
           control this, how to control that, don't understand me at all.
               I am not for control, I am all for understanding. Understanding brings its own balance; it is not
           control, you live in sheer balance. Nobody is controlling -- neither is the body controlling the soul,
           nor is the soul controlling the body. They have merged, and a new entity, the organic unity, has
           arisen in you.
               I have called that unity Zorba the Buddha, for the simple reason that Zorba lived according to the
           body, forgetting the spiritual needs; Buddha lived according to the spiritual needs, forgetting the
           body. Both are incomplete -- they have to be bridged. In each man, in each woman, they have to be
           bridged. There has not to be any conflict, but a deep musical unity.
               And when I say this, I say it from my own experience. There is no question of any conflict. I
           have lived in a tremendous togetherness, and I have not found any problem. On the contrary, I have
           found every solution.
               The people who are splitting you are your enemies. But they have to do it, because without
           splitting you, they cannot make you miserable. And unless you are miserable you cannot become
           customers of churches, of synagogues, of temples, of mosques.
               If you are blissful on your own, why should you go to a church? Are you mad? If you are really
           in a dance within yourself, why should you bother about any priest, any mediator? You are directly
           connected with existence. No agent, no mediator is needed at all.
               For religions to exist, man has to live in misery, has to be in continuous anguish, suffering, guilt.
           These are the necessities that make him a Christian, a Mohammedan, a Hindu; otherwise, you will be
           simply a human being who is utterly fulfilled. You will not become part of any organized ideology.
           You will know your own truth, you will not live on borrowed knowledge.
               So forgive me, I do not answer all the questions. I answer only questions which are going to help
           you in your individual growth towards freedom and ultimate truth. Everything else is meaningless.
           You have to be careful in asking, because I have unnecessarily to go through your questions. That's
           why sometimes I am late, because after my bath I just go through the questions. Coming here in the
           car, I go through the questions.
               Don't ask foolish things; they simply make me come late, and I hate to come late! To make so
           many people wait, hurts me. I am not a politician.
               It is a ground rule for politicians never to arrive in time, because if you arrive in time that means
           you are not very much engaged, occupied, overburdened. So even if the politician has nothing to do,
           he will make people wait. That proves his importance.
               I am not a politician. I don't have to prove my importance to anybody. I am not important at all. I
           enjoy being just my own simple self.
               So please, don't bother me by asking questions which have no relevance to me, to this gathering
           of mystics. Be careful.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS TRUE REPENTANCE?


               The religions have made much fuss about repentance. Jesus goes on repeating again and again to
           his people, "Repent, repent, because the kingdom of God is close! Repent, because the day of
           judgment is coming close!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               First, religions make you feel guilty; otherwise, repentance would not have any relevance. You
           looked at a beautiful woman passing by, and there was a longing in you, your heart started beating
           faster. But you are married and the father of half a dozen children; moreover, you are a Christian. It
           does not suit you. You start feeling guilty; you have not done anything, but you start feeling guilty.
           Now, how to get rid of this guilt? You are feeling guilty towards your wife, so you will have to bring
           ice cream -- that is repentance. And the wife also understands it, that you must have done something
           wrong; otherwise, why ice cream? You have to bring toys to the children -- that is repentance.
               But this is not enough. You have to go to the priest to confess that a beautiful woman was
           passing, and you had a sexual desire arise in you: "It is not right. Ask God's forgiveness on my
           behalf." Now you will be at ease. But you have not done anything, and you are unnecessarily
           wasting money on ice cream, toys, going to the priest -- and becoming a victim of the priest, because
           now you will be always under his power.
               The Catholic religion has more power over its people than any other religion, for the simple
           reason that everybody has to confess their sins. Naturally, the priest knows so much about
           everyone... you cannot leave the fold -- he can expose you.
               Confession is being used to keep you in bondage; you cannot leave the fold. The idea given to
           you is that this is how you repent, but the reality is that in most of the cases you are not committing
           any sin. To look at a beautiful woman and feel your heart beating faster is absolutely right, it is
           according to nature. It is respectful to the woman. In a better, more human society where all these
           dead religions are finished, you would rather go to the woman and thank her for her beauty, to be
           grateful that she is.
               You don't feel guilty when you see a beautiful roseflower, you don't feel guilty when you see a
           beautiful sunset. Then why should you feel guilty when you see a beautiful woman or a man? Beauty
           is not sin. It should be respected. And in a more intelligent, understanding, human world, the woman
           will accept your compliment with gratitude. You are not doing any harm.
               Most of your sins are not sins at all. A few perhaps are mistakes, but not sins.
               In my way of life, the word "sin" does not exist. You will be surprised to know that the original
           root from where the word "sin" comes, means forgetfulness. That's great, that's what it should mean.
           You were not aware, you forgot, you committed a mistake.
               The idea of sin is invented by the priests to suppress you, subjugate you, humiliate you, destroy
           your dignity. But forgetfulness is understandable. You can do something without being aware of
           what you are doing; later on you become alert that you have done something wrong. Then the best
           way is not to go to the priest, but to go to the person to whom you have done the wrong. What
           business has the priest in it? And what business has God in it? The person whom you have harmed in
           any way -- you should go to him, to ask his forgiveness. That will be beautiful, and that will bring
           people together.
               You will be surprised that in Thailand there is a small tribe of very primitive people who, even if
           in their dreams they harm somebody.... For example, if they beat somebody in their dreams, the first
           thing in the morning they have to go to that person and ask his forgiveness because, even though it
           was a dream, there must have been some desire somewhere which created the dream.
               They tell him, "I have not hurt you, and I am not going to ever hurt you. I have never been even
           aware that there is a desire to hurt you, but there must have been because dreams are part of reality.
           They just don't come from nowhere."
               And you will be surprised to know that that small tribe is the most peaceful tribe in the whole
           world: no fight, no rape, no murder, no suicide. And for thousands of years they have been following
           the same way. Slowly slowly they have stopped dreaming too. They have become so innocent that
           even in the unconscious there are no longer any desires to be violent, to be a rapist, to torture
           somebody, to kill somebody.
               In thousands of years, continually going to the man and asking for his forgiveness -- and he is
           amazed, because he knows of nothing that you have done to him. But it brings you closer to him --
           he hugs you, he says, "There is nothing to be worried about, it was only a dream."
               But you insist, "It does not matter that it was only a dream, it was my dream. I am involved in it,
           and unless you forgive me I will suffer."
               If a man like Sigmund Freud had gone to Thailand to these people, he would have been amazed
           that his psychoanalysis is of no use. They don't have any dreams, you cannot psychoanalyze them.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Once in a while somebody may have a dream, but they have found a way to get rid of even a slight
           unconscious desire.
                There is no question of sin in your life. You can, at the most, commit a mistake; you can do
           something which you never wanted to do, and then there is heaviness on your heart. Then do
           something to undo what you have committed. Going to the priest is simply idiotic. Whatever you
           have done, undo it -- that is the only real repentance -- and not for any motive.
                "Repent, because the day of judgment is very close by." If it was not very close by, then...? Then
           there is no hurry; go on committing sin. When it comes close by, you can repent. And it is not close
           by, because two thousand years have passed, and Jesus was simply telling a lie when he said, "The
           day of judgment is very close by, so repent." He was creating fear in people, that "if you don't repent,
           then on the day of judgment you will be punished. It is better that, before that, you repent. Go to the
           priest, confess, get rid of it."
                But if you can get rid of your so-called sins so easily, by every Sunday going to the priest, do
           you understand the implications of it? It means for the next week you are again free to commit sins
           and do anything you want, because all that you have to do is to go again to the priest.
                Hindus have an even simpler method. Every year go to the Ganges, have a good bath, and all
           your sins are washed away. Why make such small installments -- one week? Why not one year? And
           if you cannot manage once a year, then every twelve years there is a special fair in Allahabad --
           perhaps the biggest gathering of people in the whole world, millions of people. Whatever you have
           done in twelve years, by taking a bath in the Ganges on that day you are clean, free to do the same
           things again; at least for another twelve years there is no problem.
                I am reminded of an incident in Ramakrishna's life. He was very simple, uneducated, but a man
           of tremendous insight. A man came to him and said, "I am going to the Ganges -- it is the twelfth
           year -- and I want your blessings. And is it true that all sins that you have done are washed away?"
                Ramakrishna was not my type. He said, "Yes, it is true. All sins are washed out while you take a
           dip in the Ganges."
                The man gave a great sigh of relief. He said, "Then it is good. If you say so, then it is perfect."
                Ramakrishna said, "But I have not finished, I have to say something more. Have you seen those
           big trees on the bank of the Ganges?"
           He said, "Yes."
                Ramakrishna said, "That is the trouble: when you take the dip in the Ganges your sins jump out
           and sit on the trees, and they wait for you. How long can you remain in the water? The Ganges is
           really great and it does purify, but how long...? Finally, you will have to come out, and the moment
           you come out -- those sins are sitting on the trees, they jump on you. And sometimes it happens that
           somebody else's sins also jump on you -- just for a change they enjoy it. Those trees are full of sins.
           So you can go, but beware of the trees."
                The man said, "This is very difficult. How long can I remain in the water? Finally I have to come
           out, and I have to pass under those trees."
                Ramakrishna said, "I can't help you with that. That's why I don't go -- what is the point?"
                All religions have found strategies, first to make you feel guilty, then to give you a simple
           method so that you can be free of guilt.
                I am not teaching you a religion. I simply want to tell you the truth. If you have done something
           wrong, go to the person. Be humble, ask his forgiveness. Only he can forgive you, nobody else --
           neither the Ganges nor God.
                And remember, that is the meaning of the word "sin": forgetfulness. So now, don't forget again
           and do the same; otherwise, your asking forgiveness becomes meaningless. Now be careful, be alert,
           be conscious; and don't do the same thing again. That is true repentance. Once you made the mistake
           -- it was just a mistake. To err is human, there is nothing to be worried about.
                And to forgive is divine, so if somebody comes to you and says that he has committed a mistake
           against you, don't miss the opportunity of tasting something of the divine. Or, when you have
           committed some mistake and you go to somebody else to be forgiven, you are giving him a great
           chance to have some taste of the divine. It is good for both of you. By forgiving, he tastes something
           which is impossible to explain; it can only be called divine, godliness. And you also will feel
           something tremendously beautiful: humbleness, egolessness.
                But remember not to commit the mistake again. It should become a decision in you; then you are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           really repentant. It has nothing to do with God, it has nothing to do with any priest; it has something
           to do with your own psychology.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE HEARD THAT THE TRUTH CANNOT BE SPOKEN, BUT ONE THING YOU SAY TICKLES
              MY INSIDE SO MUCH. AREN'T YOU SINGING THE SOUND OF TRUTH WHEN YOU SAY, "AHA!"?


              Aha!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #35
                                 Chapter title: Existence is only in the present
           19 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510190
              ShortTitle: BONDAG35
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 107 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              THIS IS MY FIFTH VISIT TO RAJNEESHPURAM. I CAME TO SEE MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY
              WHO LIVE HERE. I CAN SEE HOW HAPPY MY FORMER WIFE IS, LIVING SO CLOSE TO YOU. I
              FEEL VERY HAPPY AND AM DOING GROUPS AT THE UNIVERSITY. BUT I HAVE A BIG FEAR:
              WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN HERE WHEN YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE YOUR BODY? I'M AFRAID
              THE COMMUNITY COULD BECOME FANATIC AND DANGEROUS. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT
              SOMETHING LIKE THIS COULD HAPPEN?


               I never think of the future -- not even of tomorrow, not even of the next moment that is just going
           to come. This way of thinking of the future keeps man tense, worried, never allows him to be relaxed
           and enjoy the moment that is available.
               You feel good here, you feel your former wife is immensely happy. Why is she happy and why
           are you not? She is living in the moment. That is my fundamental approach to life: if you want to
           live, live here and now; if you want to worry, then tomorrow is the time. Then you can have a
           thousand and one things....
               I cannot say what is going to happen when I am not here. One thing I know: the people who have
           learned the art of living moment to moment will continue to live the same way of life wherever they
           are, because no other way can give them so much joy, so much juice.
               And who cares what is going to happen when I leave my body? How many millions of people
           have left their body? The place you are sitting must have been the grave of at least ten persons -- that
           many people have died on the earth. Life goes on, people come and go.
               I am not important, but what I am imparting to you is important; that should not leave your body.
           And that is up to you. If you want to fall back into misery, anguish, suffering, then it is your choice,
           you are free.
               You say you have been coming here again and again. Why do you go away? Five times in four
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years you have been here -- and you must have seen the difference: when you are away you are in a
           darkness; when you are here you are surrounded with light, with love, with immense life around you.
               You cannot find this laughter anywhere in the whole world. The world is too serious, and
           seriousness is the cancer of the soul. The world is too much concerned about the future, and goes on
           losing the real present, unlived. You are losing something which is in your hand for something
           which is not in your hand. This is simply stupid, but this is how the whole world has been living for
           millions of years -- a stupid way of life.
               Existence knows only one tense -- the present. It neither knows the past, because it is no more,
           nor does it know the future, because it is not yet. But the mind is always concerned either with the
           past or with the future, never with the present. Do you see?
               Existence is only in the present. Mind is never in the present. In fact, the moment you are in the
           present, there is no mind in you, there is great silence. The whole sky of your inner being is without
           thoughts, without clouds. I call this the state of no-mind.
               Only in this state of no-mind do you meet existence. And that meeting is the ultimate ecstasy.
           Once you have tasted it, you will never bother about the future. You know how to live in the present,
           so in the future also -- it will be coming as the present, it will not come as the future -- you will know
           the art.
               And it is not that my presence is making people happy here; it is their own presence. Certainly
           they have learned the art of being in the present, but now they are absolutely independent of me.
           They are not my followers, I am nobody's leader -- I hate such words!
               To me, the most beautiful word in the human language is "friend." And the most beautiful
           experience in life is that of being friendly with someone who is authentically herenow. Because to be
           friendly with him, you will have to be here and now; otherwise, you cannot shake hands with the
           man, you cannot converse with the man, you cannot be with the man. The distance between you and
           him will be unbridgeable.
               But once you have tasted the beauty, the benediction of the present moment, its eternity, its
           deathlessness, you simply forget all about the past, all about the future. You have the master key.
           Whatever door comes before you, you will be able to unlock it.
               But I feel sorry for you; you can see your wife is happy, you can see the people are happy, you
           yourself feel happy being here -- then what is there out in the world? Perhaps a good job, more
           money, more power, respectability. But are they worth it if they destroy your happiness, if they
           destroy you? if they destroy your life, if they kill you before your death comes?
               Millions of people in the world are dead -- although they go on breathing, working. And perhaps
           it will take years for them to be recognized as dead, but they are dead. There is no smile on their
           face, nothing flowers in their being; no song arises, no dance, no laughter. Every moment they are
           missing life -- which is so precious that you cannot purchase it. Even if you give everything you
           have, not even a single moment can be purchased; it is not a commodity, it is a gift unconditionally
           given by nature. And you have taken it for granted. You have not been even thankful to existence,
           you have not shown any gratitude.
               To me, unless you feel full of joy, bursting with happiness, you will not be able to have that great
           quality of gratitude towards existence.
           That quality is authentic religiousness.
               So rather than thinking about the future, about what will happen to this commune, think about
           your present. This time, just be here and don't go anywhere. Enjoy risking -- it is great excitement --
           risking all for nothing, because we have nothing to offer to you except what you already have.
               I take away from people what they don't have, and I give to people what they already have. My
           work is very simple.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY HAVE THE OLD RELIGIONS FAILED IN TRANSFORMING HUMANITY?


               The old religions failed because they were all against this world. And this is the only world there
           is. They were all for renouncing it. And when you are renouncing the world, the question of
           transforming does not arise -- the world has to be condemned. All the religions have been
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           condemning the world.
               It is a very strange thing -- nobody has even raised the question in five thousand years, that "You
           say God created the world, and the priest says to renounce the world." Anybody with just a little
           intelligence -- not much -- can see that the priest is against God. God creates the world, and the
           priest says renounce the world.
               I am the first man who is saying to you, "Rejoice in the world." There is no question of
           renunciation, there is nothing to be renounced; everything has to be enjoyed to its fullest. Because
           the old religions were saying, "Renounce the world," they created a humanity which was sick.
               You are part of the world -- how can you renounce it? You cannot live even a few moments
           without breathing the world. You cannot live for a few days without drinking the world. You cannot
           live a few months without eating the world. You are an intrinsic part of the world, and you are
           connected every moment with the sun, with the moon, with the ocean, with the trees, with the air,
           with the earth.
               And these people have been teaching for thousands of years, "Renounce the world," without even
           taking note that the man who really renounces the world cannot be allowed to breathe, cannot be
           allowed to drink water, cannot be allowed to eat food, cannot be allowed in any way to be connected
           with the world. And we are connected in millions of ways, known and unknown.
               If the sun suddenly goes dark, gets exhausted, do you think you will be living in darkness? You
           will be simply dead, not living in darkness, because it is the sun that is giving you warmth every
           moment. The trees will die, the flowers will not blossom anymore, the birds will not sing --
           everything will be dead. In some unknown way the sun is your very life, it is your warmth.
               Renouncing the world made the human mind very sick. If you try to renounce it, you find it
           impossible. If you don't renounce it, you find yourself guilty and a sinner.
               The old religions have not been able to transform humanity. They have only been able to make
           the whole humanity a madhouse. And because we have been listening to them century after century,
           from the very childhood, even things which are absolutely idiotic have become our conditionings.
           For example, all the religions teach that celibacy is something spiritual. And I am puzzled: the world
           is full of scientists, physiologists, chemists, biologists, medical people, and none of them has raised a
           voice to say that celibacy is an impossibility.
               To ask people to be celibate is to drive them to perversions, to make them homosexuals, lesbians,
           to drive them towards sodomy and all kinds of unnatural expressions of their sexual energy. And the
           pervert can never feel at ease with himself. He knows deep down he is doing something which is not
           right. What is right, the religion does not allow. What is not right makes him feel guilty. He is being
           crushed between two rocks.
               Religions have been killing human beings -- their naturalness, their consciousness, their
           innocence. All the religions praise fasting. Your body is hungry, your body gives you indications
           that it is hungry. Your stomach shouts loudly to you, "I am hungry!" But your religion says fasting is
           spiritual.
               This is making people schizophrenic, divided against themselves, and a house that is divided
           against itself cannot stand long; it is going to be in ruins soon. And that's what has happened to
           humanity:all human beings are not what they would have been, they are just ruins. In a very subtle
           and psychological way they have been deprived of their own nature. That's why old religions have
           not been able to transform humanity. On the contrary, they have been the hindrance for any
           transformation.
               I am telling you to be natural. When you are hungry you should eat, and when you are not
           hungry you should not eat. One extreme creates another extreme. Hungry people go on remaining
           hungry and torturing their bodies -- this is one extreme. Then the other extreme is thirty million
           Americans are dying of over-eating; everybody is dieting. Either you are fasting or you are dieting?
           It seems a crazy world! Why can't you simply be balanced? When your body says, "I am hungry,"
           you are fasting. When your body says, "It is enough," you go on swallowing because it is so tasty --
           how to stop?
               The body always gives you the right indication in the right moment. If you just listen to the
           wisdom of the body, all your wise men will look fools. Your body has its own wisdom. Rather than
           looking in THE HOLY BIBLE, or in the holy KORAN, or in the holy GITA, you should listen to
           your own body. When it is thirsty, it says; when it needs rest, it says. When it is rested, it wants some
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           exercise, it wants to run, to play, to swim, to go for a long walk.
                But you are not listening to the body because your religions have said that the body is your
           enemy. Once you accept the idea that the body is your enemy, naturally you are not going to listen to
           the enemy. And who is the friend? -- the priest, the prophet, the savior, the messenger, who are all
           somehow crackpots. If you look into their lives without any prejudice you can see the cracks in the
           pot.
                Mohammed declares himself to be the last messenger of God. Why the last? The world continues
           -- has God lost interest in the world? No, he has sent the final message. And the KORAN itself
           cannot be counted even as third-grade literature. Mohammed is uneducated; he cannot write, he
           cannot sign his name. You can see why the KORAN is so poor: Mohammed is poor; his mind has no
           refinement, he has not seen the heights of mind flights. So whatever he says is just as a villager. But
           he declares that he is the last messenger; now there will not be any other messenger of God coming
           -- and if anybody tries to be a pretender, he has to be punished. And Mohammedans have killed
           many people in fourteen centuries who have claimed that they were messengers of God....
                I have looked into Mohammed's words, and into the words of al-Hillaj Mansoor, who was killed
           because he was declaring not only that he was a messenger of God, but was also saying, "I myself
           am God." Al-Hillaj Mansoor has a beauty as far as his words are concerned, a tremendous poetry, far
           superior to the KORAN. The man is again a crackpot, but the pot is far more polished.
           Mohammedans killed him; and they have been killing many other people.
                If you look into the psychology of Mohammed you can see this man seemed to be not normal. He
           married a woman sixteen years older than himself. He was only twenty-four, and he married a
           woman who was forty. Now, this is something strange. A man who is forty may marry a woman who
           is twenty-four, but there is no parallel to Mohammed: a man who is twenty-four marrying a woman
           who is forty. It seems he is not marrying a wife, he is marrying his mother. The reason why he
           married this woman was that she was immensely rich. And nobody else was ready to marry that old
           woman, even though she was rich. This marriage was not out of love; the motivation was the money
           the woman had.
                These are the people who are telling others, "Renounce the world!" Mohammed married nine
           wives. And these are the people who are saying, "Renounce the world" -- renouncing the world
           remains spiritual. Marrying nine women -- the whole battalion -- and nobody asks how it can fit in
           with the renunciation of the world.
                Mohammed has given the name "Islam" to his religion. The word "islam" means peace -- and
           Mohammed was carrying a sword; no other prophet has cut off so many heads as Mohammed has
           done. But on his sword the sentence was written: "Peace is my message." Islam has been one of the
           most murderous religions -- and peace is the message.
                If you look at all these people who have claimed themselves to be incarnations of God, saviors of
           humanity, prophets, you will be surprised that this whole lot seems to be eccentric. They say one
           thing and they do just the opposite.
                Jesus says, "Love even your enemy as yourself." A beautiful sentence... but one day he is hungry,
           his disciples are hungry, and the village they have passed refused to give them food. They come to a
           fig tree, hoping that there may be fruits on the tree. But there are no fruits on the tree. And now you
           can see what I mean by a crackpot: Jesus curses the tree!
                It was not even the season for the tree to give fruits, but he curses the tree because she has not
           welcomed him and his disciples with fruits. Now, the poor fig tree -- what can she do? it is not the
           season. And this man seems to be utterly blind; he cannot see that it is not the season, and trees are
           not supposed to welcome people with fruits. Cursing a tree, and teaching, "Love your enemy as
           yourself" -- can you see the contradiction? The tree is not even the enemy. She has done no harm, it
           was not her fault that the season wouldn't allow fruits.
                Jesus talks about love; he even says, "God is love." But he throws out the moneychangers from
           the temple of Jerusalem, singlehanded, with great anger and rage. Lashing them, beating them, he
           overturned their tables and threw them out of the temple, and said, "I will not allow such dirty
           business in the house of my father." This behavior does not show love, it does not show compassion;
           it shows only anger, hatred.
                Without any authority, he was claiming himself to be the only begotten son of God. And he
           could not convince anybody; not a single rabbi was his follower -- and Judea was full of learned
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rabbis, scholars, professors. Judea had its own university and not a single professor, scholar, rabbi,
           was influenced by his teachings. The people who were influenced were twelve uneducated, poor
           fishermen, woodcutters, farmers, who don't know anything about religion. But they got interested in
           Jesus because he was saying that if they have faith in him, they will enter into paradise, and on the
           judgment day he will choose who his people are.
               These poor people, who have suffered starvation, suffered humiliation, are suddenly given a
           great hope -- and very cheap. You just have to have faith in this man and paradise is yours. It is just a
           lottery; having faith costs nothing and you are getting a ticket for entry into paradise.
               Is it not something very significant that not a single man of intelligence, scholarship, culture, was
           impressed by Jesus? They all really laughed at him. He looked like a clown, for the simple reason
           that he was claiming things he had no way to prove. How do you prove you are the only begotten
           son of God? Anybody else can say "You are not, I am!" There is no way to decide either.
               It happened in Baghdad, in the times of Caliph Omar. A man was brought to his court who was
           declaring himself to be the messenger of God -- which is against Islam.
               Caliph Omar said, "Take him to the jail. Bind him to a pillar, naked, and keep him hungry for
           seven days. Give him a good beating every day; and after seven days I will come and see whether he
           has changed his mind or not."
               After seven days he came; the man was almost dying. Seven days without food, and continuous
           beating -- his whole body was oozing blood, he had lost much blood. Omar asked him, "Have you
           considered your idea again?"
               The man laughed. He said, "When I was leaving God he had told me, 'They will torture you very
           much.' This proves that I am certainly the messenger -- your torture is a proof!"
               And at that very time, another man who was tied to another pole shouted, "Omar! Don't listen to
           that idiot, because I have never sent any messenger after Mohammed." He had been caught a few
           days before; he proclaimed himself to be God. So he said, "This man is completely lying; I have
           never sent him, I have never seen him before. After Mohammed, no messenger -- that's why I had to
           come!"
               You can find strange rationalizations. Because the need is there, and messengers cannot come --
           that dimension is closed with Mohammed -- God himself has come.
               These people are psychologically sick, not healthy. They may say some beautiful things -- even
           mad people say some beautiful things -- that does not mean that they are not mad. Mad people may
           paint a few beautiful paintings, that does not mean that they are not mad.
               The very desire to put yourself at the highest place -- nobody can go above you -- arises from a
           deep inferiority complex. It is the projection that leads you to the most superior position in existence.
           You become God, God's son, God's messenger: you raise yourself above humanity.
               These people have been managing the human mind for centuries. They were themselves sick;
           they have made the whole humanity sick. It is time to get rid of all this nonsense. Man has to
           understand one thing: that religiousness is not something propounded by a prophet or a messenger, it
           is an experience of your own being.
               Religiousness is not a philosophy or a theology. It is just like love... the highest, most refined
           quality of love. You love one person -- religiousness is falling in love with the whole existence. And
           that happens when you enter within yourself and you find the lifeline running within you, joining
           you with all lifelines around you, from the smallest blade of grass to the biggest star. It is one life in
           different manifestations, a great play of abundant energy: you have fallen in love with existence.
               This is religiousness. You don't become a Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu; you simply become
           yourself. And you don't find any God, any prophets, any saviors; you simply find the whole
           existence is yours. You are part of it, an intrinsic part of it, an organic part of it. Without you
           something will be missing. That gives you, for the first time, a real sense of being proud.
               It is not ego, because it is not putting yourself above others. Now you know even the smallest
           blade of grass is as essential as you are. And to feel this pride, that existence accepts you as you are
           -- which no religion has ever done.... When existence accepts you as you are, you start growing
           without any split. The transformation happens of its own accord.
               We need a humanity without religions. We need a humanity with religious people, but not
           churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, no... no mediators, no priests.
               Every man is capable of entering into his own shrine, and from there can get the perspective that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           delivers him from all misery, suffering, tension, fear, death. And then his each moment becomes a
           moment of ecstasy and this whole existence is his kingdom.
               The whole existence consists only of kings and queens; there are no slaves, no servants.
           Existence is really the only communism there is. All are equally accepted, respected, nourished. And
           a dance comes to your life.
           This dance is the transforming force.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT POSSIBLE THAT WHERE THE OLD RELIGIONS FAILED, OUR COMMUNE CAN SUCCEED?


               It is not only possible, it is absolutely certain, because our commune is not a religion. Our
           commune is a very liquid religiousness. It is not an organization; it is just a meeting place of people
           who have dropped all conditions, all religions, all ideologies, and who are ready to become seekers
           on their own, individuals on their own, who are no longer searching for a prophet and a savior, who
           have decided that all the saviors have failed -- now the only way is to save yourself.
               And because the search is the same, there is a loving atmosphere, a togetherness -- not of any
           ideology, not of any belief system, but only of a friendship of fellow travelers.
               The commune is a totally different phenomenon from religion. Religions are dead; the commune
           is a living phenomenon. And each individual has absolute freedom to be himself. There are no ten
           commandments, no discipline imposed on you. You have to simply follow your own hunch. Yes,
           that is the right word: your own hunch. That is something that comes from your innermost being.
           Without any reason, without any rationalization, you follow it. It has never led anybody into a ditch.
               And the commune is helpful in many ways. A certain energy field is created -- so many
           seekers.... You just think: one roseflower creates a certain fragrance around it, but then five thousand
           rosebushes and thousands of roseflowers will create a tremendous fragrance, a field full of rose
           energy.
               If you even pass through that field without doing anything, your clothes may catch the fragrance,
           your hair may catch the fragrance. When you have passed through the field, you will be surprised
           that you are full of rose fragrance, it is all around you.
               Exactly the same is the situation of the flower of meditation. It is subtler, but more powerful.
           Five thousand people functioning meditatively create a certain energy field. I call it the buddhafield,
           the field of awakening.
               Anybody who comes just as a spectator is bound to be affected by the energy, by the love, by the
           laughter, by people's faces. Something has happened to these people.
               I have told my sannyasins that now if they want to use any color of clothes, they can. I received
           one letter two days ago, saying that a few sannyasins in London went shopping -- not in red clothes,
           and without malas. But the shopkeeper said, "You look a little different from other people;
           something is strange about you."
               So they have written to me, "Beloved Master, it is useless: by changing the clothes and dropping
           the mala, we cannot go underground. People can see from the face, from the eyes, from the gestures,
           from the way we speak, the way we walk, that something is different." It is bound to be so.
               Here, we are doing the greatest experiment which has ever been done. Religions have existed,
           but they were all destructive. They could not create the new human being. We are not a religion, but
           we are certainly religious -- which is a far higher quality. And we are making the effort to create
           individuals.
               We are not interested in stupid miracles. And if you look at those miracles, you can see that they
           are fictions, nothing else. For example, in the Old Testament Moses leads his people out of Egypt.
           The enemy is following behind; they come to the ocean, and there is no way ahead, they cannot go
           back. The sound of the enemy is coming closer and closer, and then suddenly the miracle happens:
           God helps. The ocean parts, gives way; Moses and his followers pass through the ocean. As soon as
           they have passed, the ocean is again back to its old state; the way that was created for Moses is no
           longer there. Their enemies are now on the other side of the ocean. It is a great miracle.
               But I cannot say that it happened, ever, for the simple reason that the God who is so much
           interested in helping Moses and his people that he goes against the laws of nature and parts the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ocean, makes a way for them.... This God does not help Moses and his people when for forty years
           they go on wandering in the desert to find Israel, the promised land.
                Forty years! Almost three-quarters of the original followers have died: a new generation has
           grown up, which has no respect for Moses. On the contrary, it is full of anger because this man has
           been driving them mad! In the desert, hot sun, no food, no water -- they have become beggars, and
           where is the promised land? And they are continuously asking him, "How long will it take? Why
           didn't you say before that it would take so long?"
                Just this fact is enough to prove that the ocean didn't give way, because a God so compassionate
           as to make it give way, to change the laws of nature, must have helped these poor dying people.
           Three-quarters of them died. And finally, it is not that they found the promised land, it is simply that
           the old, tired Moses says, "This is the promised land" -- because Israel is nothing that can be called
           God's promised land!
                The first miracle is just a fiction; the second story is a reality. Moses got so tired -- and nobody
           had any idea how the promised land looked, so they settled in Israel. And Moses found an excuse
           just to get rid of those people, because one of the tribes somewhere on the way was lost....
                It was not lost, it had reached the promised land! They simply dropped following Moses -- it was
           enough. For twenty years they had tortured themselves in the desert, and there was no hope. And the
           desert seemed to be infinite; you go on and on and there is no end to it. So they moved in exactly the
           opposite direction from Moses, and they reached Kashmir. And Kashmir is certainly a place that can
           be called God's promised land. They settled in Kashmir. They were later on converted by force to
           Islam, but they are basically Jews.
                Moses said, "I will have to go to find the lost tribe." He also reached Kashmir, and you will be
           surprised -- Moses died in Kashmir. His grave is in Kashmir, in India, in the promised land of God --
           not in Israel.
                If you look at Jesus, his miracles, things can be very easily understood. He walks on water, he
           heals the sick, gives eyes to the blind, makes the crippled walk, makes Lazarus come back to life out
           of his grave. He does everything that you can conceive -- makes water into wine....
                Such a man was not recognized by his contemporaries as a savior? Such a man would be
           recognized even in the twentieth century, with all the miracles of science, to be the savior -- what
           more do you want? No Jewish scripture even mentions the name of Jesus. That is impossible. If such
           a man appears, then all the television sets and all the radios and all the newspapers will be full of
           him. As long as he lives, he will be the "Man of the Year" every year. You cannot ignore such a
           man.
                But not even a mention in any of the Jewish books! And Jesus was a Jew: born a Jew, lived a
           Jew, died a Jew -- he had never heard of the word "Christianity." Jews would have been immensely
           happy with him; on the contrary, they crucified him.
                All those miracles are fictions. If they were real, Jesus would not have been crucified. And if
           they were real, who would be able to crucify him? The man who can walk on water can also walk on
           air. The man who can make dead people come back to life -- you cannot crucify him. And a man
           with such power falls three times on the way, because the cross is very heavy and he has to carry it
           on his own shoulders. He is young, only thirty-three, and he is a carpenter's son; he must have been
           accustomed to carrying logs....
                If I was carrying the cross and had fallen three times, it would have been understandable. I have
           never carried even a glass of water. Carrying a cross on my shoulder? Impossible. Just somehow I
           manage to carry myself! But Jesus falling three times shows his humanity, shows that after all he is
           the son of man, not the only begotten son of God.
                Those three incidents on the way are very significant to me. They prove that all the miracles are
           just invented.
                These religions have been trying to reduce human beings to sinners, and to raise their prophets,
           messengers, into saints; and creating such a distance that it becomes almost impossible even to
           conceive that you can become a saint -- transformation is impossible.
                But this commune is going to do it! It is already happening. And when I say "this commune" I
           mean all the communes around the world -- it is one commune. I want to create a circle of energy
           around the world of meditative people, so that anybody who wants to have some taste of meditation
           can have it. And it is very addictive!
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I DO NOT KNOW THE QUESTION, BUT WOULD YOU PLEASE STILL ANSWER IT?


              I will answer it, and I will answer it three times: Yes! Yes! Yes!
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #36
                                       Chapter title: To each his own song
           20 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510200
              ShortTitle: BONDAG36
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              I LOVE THE DIFFERENT MEANINGS OF THE WORD "THERAPY." ITS GREEK ROOT,
              THERAPEUEIN, SHOWS THE SOCRATIC APPROACH TO EDUCATING A HUMAN BEING.
              THERAPEUEIN MEANS: ACCOMPANYING THE OTHER, TAKING HIM SERIOUSLY, LISTENING
              TO HIM PATIENTLY, HELPING HIM TO UNDERSTAND, AND ABOVE ALL, BOWING DOWN IN
              REVERENCE TO THE OTHER PERSON'S GODLINESS. HOW COME ALL WESTERN
              PSYCHOTHERAPY AND EDUCATION SEEM OBLIVIOUS TO THEIR CULTURAL ROOTS?
              INSTEAD, THEY KEEP CIRCLING IN THE THIN AIR OF DEDUCTIVE ANALYSIS AND PROVEN
              SYMPTOMS.
              PLEASE SPEAK ABOUT YOUR VISION OF SPIRITUAL THERAPY AS A MEANS OF SHOWING
              PEOPLE THE BEAUTY OF THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND ALONENESS, THE LOVINGNESS OF
              THEIR VERY BEING.


               It is one of the misfortunes that Socrates has not really been the source of Western thinking and
           philosophy. Socrates was not in any way Western. Spiritually he belongs to the East, and that was
           the trouble, the reason that the Greek people could not tolerate him. He was poisoned, killed. His
           poisoning not only killed him physically, it also cut him away from the Western development of
           thinking.
               The Western attitude developed, not out of Socrates, but out of Aristotle. Aristotle, in a way --
           apparently -- is the disciple of Plato, and Plato was the disciple of Socrates. But intellectually
           Aristotle is just the contrary of Socrates.
               Socrates is a mystic -- not believing in God, not believing in any belief, not teaching an
           organized religion; but on the contrary giving absolute importance to the individual, and helping the
           individual to find his own life source. That is the true therapy. "To know thyself" is the condensed
           meaning of therapy. The function of the therapist is not to teach you who you are, but to create
           situations in which you start discovering yourself.
               The first condition is creating self-respect in you -- which all the religions are against. They all
           condemn you. They create a sense of guilt, and that is a wound that goes on growing within you.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Whatever you do, something is wrong in it. You can never fulfill the expectations of others for the
           simple reason that you have a unique individuality. And that was the basic approach of Socrates --
           the uniqueness of the individual; each one has to discover his own truth.
               The function of the teacher, of the master, of the therapist, of the educationist, is to create just the
           right atmosphere so that you gain self-respect, and to give you an acquaintance with the methods for
           going inwards.
               All educational systems take you outwards. Listening to the person -- it will look strange,
           because the teacher's function is to make you listen to him. The Socratic method is listening to the
           person respectfully, patiently, so that he can open up. He need not repress anything, he need not
           inhibit anything; he can be utterly naked and yet remain dignified.
               If a therapist can do that -- help a man to be utterly nude, open, with no secret, hiding nothing --
           the therapist has succeeded, because in this nudity one realizes one's innocence. One is born again.
           This nudity is symbolic. Just as a child is born nude, you are born again -- now spiritually nude.
               Socrates was punished because he was teaching the truth. He had a school -- that was his
           commune -- where the whole function was to be respectful to everyone who comes to the school and
           help him uncondition himself, deprogram himself so he becomes again an innocent child.
               Socrates has nothing to teach. He simply cleans you and leaves you to yourself, to grow
           according to your own potential. He does not give you even any guideline, because nobody knows
           what is hidden in your seed, what kind of flower is going to blossom in you. All guidelines are
           dangerous -- they may distract you from becoming yourself.
               This was his crime, and he was dragged to the court. The crime was: "You are spoiling the youth
           of Athens." Certainly, in the minds of the mob, he was spoiling them. The mob wanted the people
           just to follow the well-trodden path of their forefathers. And Socrates was teaching them to be
           themselves and to find out the path on their own, with no scripture, no holy book, no God, no guide.
           Socrates was taking all these things away from you, unburdening you, making you a tabula rasa;
           nothing is written on you, and you are free now to be whatsoever your nature intends to be. He
           leaves your future open.
               Naturally, the masses were against him. Their youth were being destroyed; they were being taken
           away from the religion, the philosophy, the ideology which had been followed for centuries. "They
           should carry it, it is their inheritance" -- and Socrates was insisting that you are a totally new being,
           with no inheritance.
               Yes, a great potentiality is within you -- and it does not come from the past. It is present in you,
           and it is going to blossom, and only then will you know what you were supposed to be. Before it
           blossoms there is no way to know it.
               This was the crime: corrupting the youth. Socrates was punished with the death penalty -- and by
           punishing Socrates, the West committed suicide. It was not the death of Socrates, it was the death of
           the most important insight into human beings. The West moved farther and farther away from man's
           inner being; it became more and more head-oriented.
               And because Socrates was punished by death, Plato changed the strategy. He wrote down
           everything that Socrates had said -- and humanity will remain always grateful to Plato -- but he
           changed the whole methodology. He was not so great a man as his master. He opened another school
           he called "The Academy," where he was teaching the old ways, the traditional ways, the
           conventional ways, and people were happy. Nobody was against Plato. Aristotle was Plato's disciple
           -- he went still farther away.
               The death of Socrates created a stoppage to the inner growth of man in the West. Aristotle is the
           father of Western logic, philosophy, analysis. He has been respected for two thousand years.
           Socrates is also given respect, but nobody makes any effort to revive his school.
               The meaning of therapy is certainly of great importance, but it is only significant in its Greek
           origins if you go to Socrates. But the therapy that is prevalent in the world today has nothing to do
           with Socrates. You will not find even the name of Socrates mentioned in any book on psychology,
           psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychiatry. All these have evolved since Sigmund Freud.
               Sigmund Freud is Aristotelian. He believes in analysis, he believes in dividing things into black
           and white, right and wrong, good and bad, life and death -- clear-cut divisions. According to
           Aristotle, A is A, B is B. A cannot be B, B cannot be A -- a clear-cut division.
               It is not so with the mystics. In the East, analysis has never developed. And if Socrates had not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been destroyed and his school had not been destroyed, there would have been in the West also,
           instead of psychoanalysis, far more important therapeutic methods.
                In the East, black and white are not two, darkness and light are not two. The darkness is simply
           less light -- the difference is of degrees, not of polarities -- the light is less darkness. And it is very
           existential. There are birds, animals who see in the night. When it is night for you, it is day for them;
           when it is day for you, it is night for them. Their eyes are attuned in a different way: they can see in
           darkness. That means darkness is not darkness, just for you it is darkness; it is below the range of
           your eyesight.
                Too much light you also cannot see; then it is dazzling. Look at the sun sometime -- you cannot
           see. The sun is light, but you start feeling darkness; what has happened? You can even go blind; it is
           too much, it is far above your small range of vision. Below is darkness, above is again darkness;
           light is only in a small range. But there are other animals whose range of seeing is different. And it is
           understandable....
                Take something easier: hot and cold. Are they opposites? They are not. Hot simply means less
           cold; cold simply means less hot. That's why, with one thermometer, you can know both. How many
           degrees is the hot water and how many degrees is the cold water -- one thermometer can show you
           both. That means the difference is only of degrees -- the same thermometer shows you different
           degrees. Life and death are also not polar opposites.
                In the East Aristotle is laughed at, because the East thinks in a totally different way: no
           opposites, everything is complementary. Hence the question of analysis does not arise. What is
           significant is synthesis, not analysis, and the East has done tremendous work in synthesis. That's
           what Socrates was trying to do. He was bringing the East to the West.
                On my dining table I have a small statue somebody has sent to me. It is an ancient statue, it has
           existed in the East almost for seven thousand years. It is a statue which is half-man, half-woman.
                Only in this century one man, Carl Gustav Jung, who had traveled widely in the East... he was
           really disturbed because he could see where the West had gone wrong. Aristotle is the point from
           which the West separates from the East and takes a route of analysis. Seeing this statue, he managed
           to work upon his patients and figure out that every man is both man and woman. And so is the case
           with woman, she is both woman and man.
                Man and woman are two sides of one coin. One side is showing, the other side is hidden. If you
           are a man, your feminine side is hidden -- but it is there, and it affects your life. It is better to
           recognize it, understand it. It is better to come to a synthesis between man and woman. Drop the
           Aristotelian idea that man is man, woman is woman, A is A, B is B; no, A is both, B is both. All
           contradictions have to be brought into a synthetic, organic unity.
                But because Aristotle has remained a tremendous influence on Western thinking, Sigmund Freud
           created psychoanalysis; man's mind has to be analyzed. There are millions of psychotherapists
           around the earth today, and this is the most highly-paid profession. And there is not even a single
           person in the whole world who is fully psychoanalyzed, the very effort is impossible.
                You go on analyzing, and the mind goes on creating new thoughts, new dreams, new projections,
           new illusions. There is no end to it; there are people who have been in psychoanalysis for fifteen
           years and they have reached nowhere. Yes, they have given a large amount of money to the
           psychoanalyst, thinking that when analysis is complete they will be again healthy and whole. But the
           psychoanalysis can never be complete. The very effort is directed into a wrong dimension.
                Psychosynthesis can be complete. And psychosynthesis should work differently. There is one
           Italian psychologist, Assagioli, who has created a philosophy of psychosynthesis against Sigmund
           Freud's psychoanalysis. But the unfortunate part is that it is still within the framework of Aristotelian
           logic.
                Psychoanalysis is one polarity, psychosynthesis is the opposite of it -- the same game, just the
           names are different. Assagioli is using a better name, but it is not of any help.
                Socrates has to be revived again, Aristotle has to be removed. And that's what I am doing here:
           bringing Socrates back to life -- because Socrates is essentially the East, where analysis has never
           existed -- nobody has ever thought about it -- where organic unity has always been the goal to be
           achieved.
                So if a man is sick, that simply means that religions, cultures, civilizations have made him split,
           they have divided him. They have told him the body is separate, the soul is separate; matter is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           separate, the spirit is separate; this world is separate, that world is separate; materialism and
           spiritualism are enemies.
                I call the new man Zorba the Buddha, for the simple reason that to me materialism and
           spiritualism are not separate, they are inseparable. The moment you make them separate, you make
           humanity sick. And all analysis is separation, division.
                There is no need -- you are already existing in unity, your body and your soul are existing
           together in tremendous harmony. But if you are being told to be against the body, fight the body,
           control the body, inhibit the desires of the body, then naturally you are going to become
           schizophrenic. And the whole of humanity is in that situation.
                Everybody who belongs to any organized religion is schizophrenic, he is not whole. And unless
           you are whole, you can never be holy. None of your saints are holy, because they have missed the
           basic thing -- they are not whole. They have chosen a part, and they have destroyed other parts of
           their being. They are partial.
                And man is not a machine. You can function only in your wholeness; that is health. You cannot
           function if you are against your own body, your own sensuality, sexuality, your own taste, desire for
           comfort, for luxury. If you are against all these things, then you can live only a very partial life. And
           that partial life cannot be of joy, cannot be of laughter. It will be so crippled you cannot dance, and it
           will be so dead you cannot sing.
                You can see your religious people, you can see your so-called saints -- they have lost all that is
           significant and beautiful. And the reason is, they are dividing themselves against themselves. They
           are creating a hell; they are miserable, they are suffering. But there is a motivation behind it: that the
           suffering is only for a few years. After death they will enjoy; everything that they have not enjoyed
           in life, they will be enjoying in paradise.
                You just look at the ideas of paradise in different religions and you can know what those
           religions are depriving their people of. You need not know what they are depriving them of; just
           look at their idea of paradise. For example, the Mohammedan paradise has rivers of wine. You can,
           without any hesitation, conclude that Mohammedanism must be depriving people of wine; otherwise,
           there is no need for rivers of wine -- bottles are enough. But they are not enough for saints. Saints
           have been depriving themselves for their whole life, and if they get just bottles in reward, then what
           is the point of being deprived of bottles on the earth? They were available here. You have to give a
           bigger reward.
                You will be surprised: in the Mohammedan paradise there are beautiful women whose age is
           always sixteen. How long they have been sixteen nobody knows. On the earth also, women have a
           little habit of getting stuck, but not such a habit -- for eternity stuck at sixteen! But you have to think
           of the poor saints, you have to provide them with the most beautiful women. If saints reach there and
           find women who are eternally old, that will not be a reward, that will be a punishment! The logic is
           simple.
                In Mohammedan countries, homosexuality is punished with death. Not a small punishment --
           three years in jail, five years in jail, ten years in jail -- no, just death. But in the Mohammedan
           paradise, young and beautiful boys are available for the saints.
                These are your religions. Homosexuality is available: here it is punished with death, and there
           saints are rewarded with young, beautiful boys who will remain always young and always beautiful.
           This is the outcome of dividing man against his own body, against his own nature.
                Therapy is not psychoanalysis -- I mean, my therapy is not psychoanalysis. My therapy is
           psychosynthesis, but not that of Assagioli. Assagioli's psychosynthesis is very poor; it is just a
           reaction against Sigmund Freud. It has no true and authentic vision of synthesis itself. He is just
           fighting an argument against analysis; it is argumentative, it is still Aristotelian.
                My synthesis is not against Sigmund Freud's analysis; on the contrary, it includes it, it is
           inclusive of Sigmund Freud's analysis. Then it is true synthesis. Do you see the difference? Assagioli
           is against Sigmund Freud -- again the division. Sigmund Freud has to be wrong, Assagioli has to be
           right.
                My psychosynthesis is big enough: it includes Sigmund Freud, he is not to be left out. Then it is
           non-Aristotelian, then it is organic. We accept his contribution. We don't stop at that, we go far
           ahead of him, but whatever he has done can be accepted in the right context and it melts into the
           organic unity of therapy.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Yes, therapy is hearing the patient, respecting the patient, accepting whatever he is, giving him
           encouragement to be himself, destroying the idea of becoming somebody else, helping him to stand
           on his own feet, helping him to drop all divisions between materialism and spiritualism, making him
           an organic unity, an orchestra. Then life is a benediction. Out of this orchestra will arise what I call
           religiousness -- the fragrance, the song, the music -- but it will be total. It will have all the
           ingredients that constitute you, it will have all the instruments that nature has given to you.
               It will not be just a harp, angels playing on it, "Alleluia, alleluia." That is boring. And just think
           of those poor angels -- for eternity they have been playing on those harps, the same "Alleluia."
           Perhaps they have completely forgotten what it means. Perhaps it has become just a robotlike habit.
           They cannot stop, they have become mechanical; doing something for eternity, it is bound to happen.
           And they are going to do it in the future also for eternity. Can you think of a worse punishment? And
           these poor angels have done no harm to anybody.
               No, just a harp is poor when man can become the whole orchestra -- all the instruments possible.
           Life is the art of arranging all the instruments of your being into an orchestra. Of course, each
           individual will have his own song and his own music, but that makes life rich, that makes this earth
           immensely valuable. Everybody is contributing something to its beauty and its blessings.
               Therapy is not only for people who are insane. Therapy is for everybody, because humanity's
           past has driven almost everybody to a certain degree of insanity. If they are normally mad people
           then there is no problem, nobody takes note of them. If they are abnormally mad people, then you
           start taking note of them. And all your psychologists are doing only one work: making the
           abnormally mad people, normally mad. They are not restoring health.
               In India, I was in a university for nine years. Hundreds of professors... it was the hottest place,
           exactly in the middle of India, and still those idiots were using ties. I asked them, "Are you mad or
           something? These ties are for cold countries, so no air enters. But here, you need some air."
               This is just normal insanity: in a hot country in summer they are using shirts, coats, ties, socks,
           boots -- and dying within them, boiling, and they were worried about my sanity, because I used to
           wear a wraparound lungi in the university and just a very thin shawl around my shoulders, half the
           body open.
               When I first entered the university with such a dress, the vice-chancellor said to me, "Are you
           going to come every day with this dress?"
               I said, "If the sun is going to remain the same, I can come even without a dress. It is just out of
           consideration for you idiots that I am wearing this thin cloth; otherwise, my body is saying 'Throw it
           away! It is so hot!'"
               The vice-chancellor said, "Wait... don't...! It is perfectly good, you can come in this dress, but
           don't do anything more!"
               I said, "Then never ask about my dress. You are all insane! I know you have been educated in
           Oxford, but I don't consider you literate. The dress that you are using was perfectly good in Oxford,
           but not here. And if you don't have that much intelligence to choose the right dress, then I don't
           consider you have intelligence at all."
               Every professor who met me would look first at my dress, and I would say, "Yes? Start asking --
           but remember that what I am doing is exactly the right thing in this climate. And what you are doing
           is just insane. Do you want to commit suicide, or what? You are perspiring, your whole body is
           perspiring; you are stinking of perspiration. I am the only person whose body is getting air, is not
           perspiring. And I am able to throw off this dress any moment, and have a shower right here in the
           university."
               Soon they became silent. They would look at my dress but avoid talking about it. These are
           normally mad people. Just one step more and they will become abnormal; then the function of the
           psychologist is to bring them to their normal state.
               This is not the function of my therapies. My therapies want you to be a whole, organic being --
           intelligent, undivided, and living your life with intensity and totality; with no fear of any hell, no
           greed for any paradise; respecting yourself, not condemning, accepting yourself as you are.
               If existence accepts you, what more certificates do you need? The sun does not reject you. The
           moon does not reject you. The stars are perfectly happy with you; the flowers perfectly enjoy you as
           you are. The whole existence accepts you.
               Just be a little kind to yourself, and there will be no need of any psychologists. There will be no
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           need of anybody to bring you back to your innocence, to your real being. You have been born with
           it, it is your birthright to live it.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT ONE WORLD AND ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. RECENTLY
              PRESIDENT REAGAN REFUSED TO ACCEPT THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORLD COURT ON
              POLITICAL ISSUES. CAN POLITICIANS EVER BECOME CONTEMPORARY?


               No. Politicians can never become contemporary; politics itself is out of date. Politicians no
           longer have any function; they are unnecessarily bothering the whole humanity. It is time for them to
           disappear as politicians. They are acceptable as plumbers, as electricians, as pilots, as truckdrivers.
           But as politicians they are no longer needed.
               And if President Reagan refuses to accept the World Court's decisions about political matters, he
           is showing his real face. His mask has slipped. The World Court has the right to decide about every
           issue that concerns humanity. Politics cannot be above law. His refusal to accept it simply means
           that he is not ready to create, on this planet, a beautiful global village.
               Nations are no longer needed; they are absolutely unnecessary and harmful. But the politicians
           will lose all their egos if nations disappear. Then what is President Reagan going to do? Go back to
           Hollywood? And he was not a great actor either, just a third-class cowboy actor -- he can become
           one again.
               He had a chimpanzee as his friend.... One is known by the company he keeps!


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WATCHING AND WITNESSING?


               There is a difference. You watch television, you don't witness it. But, while watching television,
           if you start witnessing yourself watching television, then there are two processes going on: you are
           watching television, and something within you is witnessing the process of watching television.
           Witnessing is deeper, far deeper. It is not equivalent to watching. Watching is superficial.
           So remember that meditation is witnessing.
               Otherwise, there are the "One Thousand Friends of Oregon," who call themselves "watchdogs" --
           they will all become enlightened! And I don't think you have heard the word "witnessdogs." Nothing
           like that exists. Watchdogs are possible, watching can be done even by dogs. Witnessing is a very
           deep and higher quality only man is capable of.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IT IS HILARIOUS WHEN YOU TELL THE STORY OF MOSES LEADING HIS PEOPLE THROUGH
              THE DESERT FOR FORTY YEARS, AND YOU SAY, "AND MOSES GOT SO-O-O TIRED...."
              BELOVED MASTER, DON'T YOU EVER GET SO-O-O TIRED OF TRAVELING WITH US CAMELS
              THROUGH THE DESERT OF OUR THOUGHTS AND GREEDS AND FEARS, BLINDED WITH THE
              SAND OF OUR OPINIONS AND PREJUDICES?


               I have something in common with poor Moses. He ended finally in a desert, and I have also
           landed finally in a desert. And I am really so tired...!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                    Chapter #37
                                      Chapter title: Doubt is absolutely okay
           21 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510210
              ShortTitle: BONDAG37
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 100 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS REBELLION? AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REACTION AND THE
              ACTION OF THE REBELLIOUS MAN?


               The first thing to be understood is the difference between rebellion and revolution.
               Revolution is an organized effort to change the society forcibly, violently. But the trouble is, you
           cannot change the society through violence, because it is violence that is the very life current of the
           society. That's why all the revolutions have failed. And there is no possibility of any revolution
           succeeding, ever.
               Rebellion is individual, nonviolent, peaceful. It is out of love. Rebellion is not against something,
           but for something. Revolution is against something, but not for something. Revolution is so much
           engaged in being against, it forgets for what all this fuss is being made. It is anger. But anger cannot
           create a better society. Rebellion is not oriented against the society, but is oriented towards a new
           man, a new humanity.
           Revolution is fighting with the past.
           Rebellion is meditating for the future.
               I said rebellion is out of love, silence, understanding, compassion -- all the qualities that make
           man divine. Revolution is based on all the qualities that make man again an animal. Because
           rebellion is individual, there is no need of any struggle, of any fight. The society will not even be
           bothered by one individual being different than others. But even single individuals meditating,
           loving, hoping for a new sunrise, can create the possibility of a new society. Their very presence will
           be enough to transform others. Their love cannot fail -- love never fails. Their understanding, their
           intelligence, their compassion are bound to succeed.
               But rebellion has not been tried. Revolution seems to be easier, because against such a big
           society you need a big organization. But the moment you become organized you become the same
           type of society. You become just a reflection of what you are opposing. You stand before a mirror:
           the reflection in the mirror is your reflection, although it is opposed to you.
               So just being opposed does not mean that you are really different; the methods are the same. The
           old society depends on violence; the revolutionaries depend on violence. The old society depends on
           enslaving people; the revolutionaries depend on the same. The old society depends on beliefs;
           revolutionaries also depend on belief. It makes no difference whether your belief is in THE HOLY
           BIBLE or in DAS KAPITAL.
               And one thing very significant to remember: if the revolutionaries are going to win they have to
           be more violent than the old society, more cunning, more clever, more political, more cruel;
           otherwise they cannot win. So, in fact, in the name of revolution more violence is becoming
           victorious, more cruelty is becoming victorious; more slavery, more submissiveness is demanded by
           the revolutionary party. You can see it happen in all the revolutions.
               The Russian revolution has been the greatest revolution. The czars who ruled Russia were cruel,
           were violent -- the very idea of ruling over somebody is violent. The communists dethroned the czar,
           but they could manage to do it only because they proved more violent. Nineteen members of the
           czar's family were simply butchered, and one of the members, the youngest, was only a
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           six-month-old child. He had not done any crime against anybody -- for what was he being punished?
           Just because he belonged to the royal family? Was that his responsibility? They wanted to destroy
           the whole family so there would be no possibility of any royal blood of the czars in the future. But
           the people who did it certainly showed a heartlessness.
               Joseph Stalin became the leader of the revolutionaries. Stalin was not his real name, "Stalin" was
           given to him by the people. It means "man of steel." And certainly he proved to be a man of steel,
           with no heart. He killed almost one million people after the revolution. Just suspicion was enough;
           there was no need for any trial, for any investigation. The communist party suspects that somebody
           is against the revolution -- there is no proof, but the man has to be immediately destroyed.
               The Russian revolution has proved one thing absolutely: that czars were never so violent; they
           had never killed one million people. And the society was not so deeply enslaved -- that's why the
           communist revolution was possible.
               Now in Russia no revolution is possible, people are completely enslaved. Even to think against
           the status quo today is betraying the religion of communism. People are even afraid if they dream
           anything against the government. They don't tell the dream to their wives, to their children, because
           nobody knows.... The system that came into force after the revolution is such that husbands are
           spying on their wives, wives are spying on their husbands, children are spying on their parents.
           Almost everybody is spying on everybody else. And these people are rewarded. If a child comes to
           the communist party office and informs that his parents have been saying something against the
           government, he is rewarded. He is sent to a better school, given a better scholarship. Of course, his
           parents disappear.
               Now there is no possibility to revolt against the communist regime in Soviet Russia. No freedom
           of expression, no freedom of getting together, no freedom of thinking -- is this revolution? It is going
           backwards.
           Rebellion is a spiritual phenomenon.
               It is not against the society as such; it is simply the intelligence that shows that this society is
           dead, that this society is incapable of giving birth to a new human being, that it is spent, that it is
           almost on the verge of global suicide. It needs compassion; it does not need anger.
               The rebel can do only one thing.... He is not going to organize, because the moment you organize
           you have to follow the same patterns as the society you are going to oppose; and you have to follow
           the same language, the same patterns, structures, that the society has practiced for so long.
               There is an ancient Chinese saying: "To have a bad friend is not as bad as to have a bad enemy."
           Looks strange, but it has great meaning in it -- because if you have an enemy, then sooner or later
           you will have to follow his tactics and strategies to fight with him; there is no other way. If you want
           to be victorious you have to be far ahead of him in his own methods. Hence, I always say, friends
           you can choose without much consideration, but enemies have to be chosen with great consideration,
           because they are going to change your character.
               The rebel has no enemy. He simply has a vision that the old is finished. It need not be fought
           against, it is dying itself. Fighting with it is to give it life. Just ignore it. It is already on the deathbed;
           it will die of its own accord. Don't give it energy by fighting.
               The rebel can do only one thing: he can transform himself into the new man, he can become his
           own vision. That is the only proof that his vision is not a dream. The rebel starts transforming his
           vision into a reality.
           I want you all to be rebellious.
               That's why I don't believe in organization. I don't want you to be another religion, another
           ideology, because that will be simply a repetition of the old patterns. You can be together without
           any conditions, without any bondage, just out of sheer friendship; no ideology dominating you, but
           just pure love -- because you are on the same path, discovering yourself, finding out whether the
           vision of a new man can become a reality or not. You can help each other, you can support each
           other, you can encourage each other.
               There are moments when encouragement is needed, because to change -- and to change totally --
           is not an easy job. Many times the mind wants to fall back into its old patterns, old habits; therefore,
           the commune.
               The commune is not an alternative society. It is not another organization: it is something totally
           new. It is a loving togetherness of fellow travelers who are all working on themselves. But five
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           thousand people all working on themselves creates an atmosphere of great encouragement -- you are
           not alone. And if five thousand people are trying, there is hope. You can see people ahead of you,
           you can see people behind you -- on all the rungs of the ladder. That makes it clear that human
           beings just like you are carving the way, changing themselves. It becomes an individual challenge
           for you not to be a coward and fall back into old habits. You cannot fall back into old habits, because
           five thousand people are watching you and they are very optimistic about you. They have great
           hopes for you, they see that the sunrise is not far away.
               Yes, it is very dark right now, but to find the light you need not go back. To find light you have
           to go forward. The darker the night, the closer is the morning; and a few have reached the morning.
           You can see the sunlight in their eyes, you can see the flowers of their being blossoming. You can
           feel the fragrance that is released. So it is only a question of a little more patience, a little more
           courage.
               But rebellion remains individual. Rebels can live together; they can create an atmosphere, a
           milieu, a buddhafield where awakening becomes easier. But they are not organized, they are not
           bound to any belief. They are free individuals; out of their free choice they have joined these seekers
           of the sunrise.
               You ask me, "What is the difference between reaction and action as far as the rebellious person is
           concerned?"
               The rebellious person has no reaction; he has only action. The revolutionary has only reaction; he
           does not have any action. The difference is significant.
               Just a few days ago I received a letter from an old woman who is the president of the Atheists'
           Association of America. She must be the oldest atheist in the whole world, because I used to know in
           India one man, Gora, who was her follower, and he was old himself. She has opened, in many
           countries, associations for atheists.
               On some television she must have listened to my words -- that there is no God -- and she was
           immensely happy. She wrote the letter to say, "You are certainly a man of great courage. Although I
           am very old, I would like to come and see you, meet you, talk to you."
               I told Hasya to write to her that she is welcome, but she must understand that I am not an atheist:
           "If she is coming here thinking that I am an atheist because I have declared there is no God, then she
           will be disillusioned. It is better to make it clear."
               To me, atheism is reaction, reaction against theism. There are people who believe in God,
           millions of people; a few people react to it, and they start disbelieving in God. This is a reaction.
               You can check it very easily by a simple method. If all the theists disappear, if there is no theism
           at all in the world, can atheists exist? They were secondary, they were simply a reaction. When there
           are no religions and nobody is saying there is God, what is the point of disbelieving in God? You
           will look a little silly. With the death of theism, atheism will die automatically. That means it was
           only a shadow, it was not a reality in itself. A reaction is a shadow.
               When I say there is no God, I am not saying that I disbelieve in God; even for disbelief, God has
           to be. Whether you believe or disbelieve, that is your approach, but for both God is needed. For the
           theist he is needed, for the atheist he is needed. I am simply saying there is no God, has never been.
           All theists and all atheists are wrong. Those who believe are wrong, and those who disbelieve are
           wrong.
               I don't think that old woman will come. I would love her to come, because in her whole life she
           may not have met a man who is neither theist nor atheist. Because there is no God, there is no point
           in being either one.
               I think it is simply stupid: if there is no God, then a person wasting his whole life establishing
           atheist associations all over the world -- this is sheer wastage of one's life. If there is no God, then
           why bother? But no, this has become her whole life. But just denying, just disbelief cannot make
           anybody blissful.
               And my statement that there is no God is an action, not a reaction. I am not speaking against
           anybody; I am simply giving expression to my own experience. I have searched for him within
           myself, and I have not found him.
           I have found, instead, godliness.
           I have found eternal consciousness.
           I have found immortality.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           I have found eternal light -- but no God.
                I don't think this woman has ever thought of looking inwards. She is simply fighting with the
           theists. Those theists are idiots; in fighting with them you are bound to become an idiot. Reaction
           cannot take you farther than those you are reacting against.
                The revolutionary is reactionary. He is against the society; he is against its economic structure,
           he is against its political way. He is against so many things -- his whole life is negative. It depends
           on being against this, against that, against thousands of things -- there are so many no's in his life.
           But you cannot live a life of benediction, bliss, out of thousands of no's.
                A single yes is far more powerful than a thousand no's. The no is empty. It shows your anger, it
           shows your violence, it shows your destructiveness, but it does not show that you have anything
           creative that you are going to contribute to life and existence.
                Action means, something not related to anything but coming out of your own silence, out of your
           own spontaneity.
                The rebel knows no reaction, he knows action. Action means yes.
                The rebel creates; he gives birth to himself. He becomes a new man, he heralds a new age. He
           opens himself to all possibilities, he allows himself unknown dimensions. Not against anybody -- it
           is simply a growth, just like a rosebush is growing. Do you think it is growing against the rocks? Do
           you think it is growing against anybody? It is growing, not as a reaction; it is growing because
           growth is its nature. It is growing to blossom, to bring its potential to actuality. It is a process of
           actualization.
                Action means the process of actualization. Reaction is simply hate, anger, jealousy, violence,
           destructiveness. Those are not the qualities to be valued. So, in my vision, the revolutionary has no
           value, only the rebel. And you can see....
                Socrates is not a revolutionary, he is a rebel. Gautam Buddha is not a revolutionary, he is a rebel.
           Heraclitus is not a revolutionary, he is a rebel. And these are the greatest heights humanity has
           reached.
                Revolutionaries are on the same ground as those whom they are opposing. They have to be on
           the same ground to fight with them. The rebel is not fighting against anybody. The rebel is making
           himself free so that he can grow, grow to his own destiny. The rebel has a beauty; the revolutionary
           is a political, social criminal. The rebel is the only holy man, he is sacred.
                But the moment you start organizing rebellion you change its character, it becomes revolution. It
           is no longer the same thing. That's why I had to insist again and again.... The tendency to organize is
           very deep rooted, because it is millions of years old. And to be alone needs guts.
                To be alone... but you can be together with people who are also trying to be alone. Your
           togetherness is just a friendship of two fellow travelers. There are no conditions. It does not make
           you a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist. You remain yourself, the other remains himself.
                And this is the only respect expected of sannyasins: do not destroy the dignity of the other
           person. He is as valuable in existence as you are. There is no need to impose your ideas on anybody.
           Who are you? What authority have you got to impose your ideas on others? You can share, you can
           tell, you can expose your heart. And if the other feels that something falls in tune with him, and
           chooses it, it is his decision, not your imposition.
                Revolutionaries are trying to impose their ideas on others. They are doing the same thing as the
           old religions have been doing. That's why I categorize communism as one of the religions; there is
           no difference. It does not matter that communism does not believe in God, because there are older
           religions which do not believe in God: Buddhism does not believe in God, Jainism does not believe
           in God. So that is not a problem. A religion is something that you try to impose on others. It is an
           effort to convert people, it is always missionary.
                A rebel is never a missionary, he is always a friend. He can invite you to his innermost being
           and, if you see something that suits you, that is helpful to you, that is going to nourish you, make
           your search easier, you can choose it. But it is out of your freedom -- nobody is converting you.
                That's how it should be in the commune. Whatever I say to you, you need not believe it. You
           have just to be available to it, so that you can decide. The decision has to be yours. And if it suits
           you, suddenly if it rings a bell in your heart, then I am no longer responsible for it: the bell is ringing
           in your heart. But if it doesn't suit you, my love for you remains the same, because it is not based on
           converting you.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              And, in fact, each individual has to be unique. That is the prerogative of human beings -- to be
           unique. And all the religions, all the political ideologies, they have all tried to destroy that privilege.
              I want to encourage your privilege. On no account should your individuality be interfered with.
           Your freedom is absolute, and the highest value.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY ARE YOU SO OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE NEW MAN?


               I can't help it, because I see the sunrise so close. But people's eyes are focused on the past. In
           fact, nature should have given them eyes at the back of their head, so they can go on looking
           backwards -- or at least given them rearview mirrors. But nature has given you eyes only to look
           ahead, not even rearview mirrors.
               Existence does not want you to look at the past. The past is gone forever. It is dead, it is finished.
           And if you go on looking backwards and walking forwards, you are going to fall in a ditch sooner or
           later. That's why you find so many people in different ditches -- the Catholic ditch, the Protestant
           ditch, the Hindu ditch. They are all waiting for you. But you are responsible for it. They are making
           their ditches bigger and bigger, because many customers are coming -- looking backwards, walking
           forwards. It is a very strange situation!
               I am optimistic because I can see the sunrise is very close. It has already come on the horizon,
           the horizon is already red. Any moment.... The birds I can hear singing, I can smell the flowers
           opening. And you ask me, "Why are you optimistic?"
               Optimism is natural; pessimism is unnatural. But the whole world is full of pessimistic people
           because their life is misery, suffering, anguish, and they can't conceive of how to get out of this
           mess. They go on round and round in circles: the same misery, the same anguish, the same suffering
           -- and they know sooner or later is the end. They have not been able to live, they have not been able
           to love, they have not been able to laugh -- and death knocks on their doors.
               Most of the people realize only when death comes: "My God! So I was ALIVE!" -- because there
           was nothing alive in them; they were just breathing, vegetating. Life is much more. They have not
           known the grandeur that existence goes on bestowing on them.
               But you are not available, because you are so down in your misery, suffering -- and you are the
           creator of all those miseries and sufferings. And by and by you become so addicted that without
           misery you cannot live. You cannot conceive of yourself living without anxiety.
               Just the other night one journalist was here, and he asked me, "At the ultimate experience of
           enlightenment, it must be very boring." According to him, all the excitements of life -- the miseries,
           the anxieties, the sufferings -- will not be there. One is eternally just blissful.
           And I asked him, "What do you want?"
               He said, "For example, the joy of bicycling, or going in a helicopter...."
               I said, "You don't understand anything about enlightenment, or you would not have asked such a
           stupid question. Going in a helicopter -- there is no problem; the enlightened man can go in a
           helicopter, but that does not make his bliss more or less." Perhaps it may give him nausea.... I don't
           see any joy in the helicopter. Helicopters should all be sent to heaven, so saints can have a little fun,
           some noise.
               They were thinking of bringing a helicopter for me. I said, "First, it has to be absolutely
           soundproof; otherwise, I am not going in it." Why should I unnecessarily bother? And cycling? Then
           why not ride on a camel? That would be more fun.
               There are people who are addicted. The way they are living seems to them the only way they can
           live; hence, it is difficult to bring them out of their habitual hell. Otherwise, it is so simple to come
           out of your miseries: simply don't create them.
               Miseries are exactly like bicycling. You go on pedaling and the cycle goes on. You stop pedaling
           and you will fall, the bicycle will stop. If you go on remaining miserable, that means you are
           pedaling -- because who is interested in your misery? Everybody has his own misery.
               I am reminded of an ancient parable.... A Sufi mystic was constantly praying to God, "Why have
           you made me so miserable? I am such a devotee, I do five prayers prescribed by the holy KORAN
           every day without fail. I have been to Mecca -- I have done everything that is prescribed for being
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           truly religious. But why do I remain miserable? Can't you do me only one favor? If you cannot take
           my miseries away, you can at least give me a chance of changing my miseries with somebody else."
               That night he had a dream, and he was very much surprised: his prayer had been heard. A great
           voice from the sky declared that everybody should put all his miseries, sufferings, anguishes into a
           bag and take it to the mosque. He was enchanted -- "So the time has come!"
               He gathered all his miseries and anguishes and anxieties -- everything -- packed them well, and
           rushed towards the mosque. And there were crowds of people carrying their bags. He said, "My
           God!" -- their bags were so much bigger than his small parcel, he became afraid. With whom is he
           going to change? "But now let us see, many people have already reached, many will be coming."
               When he reached the mosque, the voice was heard again: "Put all your bags by the side near the
           walls, and wait for the next order."
               Everybody had always wanted to believe that "others are living so happily, only I am suffering."
           But now they were puzzled, looking at the bags... and they were all afraid now to change. So they
           were standing just by the side of their bag. If somebody else takes their bag, then they will have to
           take somebody else's. It is better to be with your own miseries. At least you are acquainted with
           them, and you have a certain feeling -- they are yours! You have lived together for so long, and this
           parting makes you feel sad.
               Even the Sufi was standing just close to his small packet. His neighbors asked, "Why are you
           standing so close to your packet?"
               He said, "My packet is the smallest, and I don't want to change with anybody else. I had no idea
           about other people's miseries."
               Then the voice ordered, "You can take any bag you like" -- and everybody rushed to his own
           bag. And the Sufi came home with his parcel, so happy.
               This is the situation: you don't see other people's troubles, problems; you see only your own. And
           constantly seeing your own miseries creates a film on your eyes, and life becomes dark.
               Pessimism is nothing but getting addicted to a miserable way of living -- and you are the creator
           of it. You are miserable because you are jealous. Now, a jealous person cannot hope to be optimistic.
           You are miserable because you are constantly angry, angry against the whole world, angry that
           existence has not been fair to you. Such a person cannot be optimistic.
               And you all believe in religions which are pessimistic. Do you think worshipping a cross is
           optimistic? It is worshipping death. And people are carrying crosses around their necks. Even if you
           make the crosses of gold, it does not matter -- a cross is a cross.
               Listen to your holy scriptures. They condemn you continuously, they say that you are sinners,
           that you are still burdened with the disobedience of Adam and Eve. They condemn everything that is
           natural in you -- that creates guilt. You cannot go against nature, and your mind says, "But you are
           going against your religion." That creates guilt.
               A guilty person, a sinner, cannot be optimistic. Pessimism is going to be his whole way of life --
           just darkness and more darkness, and no hope for a sunrise.
               I am not a sinner. What Adam and Eve did was perfectly right. They should be appreciated; they
           were the first rebels. The whole humanity owes so much to Adam and Eve -- everything. If they had
           not disobeyed a dictatorial God, there would not have been any humanity: no Gautam Buddha, no
           Socrates, no Baal Shem Tov, no Chuang Tzu. You would be still naked, chewing grass in the Garden
           of Eden. The whole credit goes to Adam and Eve, that they disobeyed.
           Disobedience shows intelligence.
               And it was worth it, eating the fruit of knowledge. They could not reach the other tree; otherwise,
           they would have eaten the fruit of eternal life too. Why should you feel guilty? You should rejoice!
           If anybody has to feel guilty, it is the God who prohibited his own son and daughter from being wise,
           from being alive forever. The sin has been committed by God, he should feel guilty.
               But the same is the situation about other religions: they all make you feel miserable. It seems the
           whole business of religion depends on your misery.
               I don't have any guilt. I have never committed any sin. I have lived absolutely naturally; I have
           never listened to any religious commandment. I have listened to the wisdom of my body. I have
           decided of my own accord. I have loved my freedom, and my eyes are without any dark film. Hence,
           I am helpless: I cannot be pessimistic. Even in this world which is almost insane, I am optimistic,
           because I cannot conceive that the forces of life can be defeated by the forces of death. I cannot
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           conceive that truth can be conquered by lies.
              It is such a deep certainty in me that I know the birth of the new man is very close by.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              DO THOSE OF US WHO ARE NOT ACHARYAS, SIDDHAS, ARIHANTAS, BODHISATTVAS,
              MAHASATTVAS, OR SAMBUDDHAS HAVE ANY CHANCE OF BECOMING ENLIGHTENED IN
              THIS LIFE?


              More chances! If you are nobody you have more chance of becoming enlightened. The moment
           you become somebody, the doors close.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS DOUBT REALLY OKAY?


              Doubt is the very foundation of all human growth. Belief is the poison -- doubt is the nectar.
           Doubt does not mean disbelief, because disbelief is again negative belief; it is not doubt.
           So don't get confused between doubt and disbelief.
              Doubt is simply the open mind, inquiring. Doubt means only a question mark. Doubt means, "I
           do not know, and I want to know, and I am ready to travel to the very end. But I will not accept any
           borrowed knowledge -- I want to know on my own."
           Yes, doubt is absolutely okay.
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #38
                                    Chapter title: Enough just to be with me
           22 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510220
              ShortTitle: BONDAG38
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 105 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS BEYOND PSYCHOTHERAPY?
              PLEASE EXPLAIN.


               Beyond psychotherapy is your real being. Psychotherapy is confined to the mind -- and you are
           not the mind. The West has always divided man into body and mind. The East, which knows more,
           knows that there is something beyond this duality of body-mind.
               Psychotherapy can help a little bit for those who are mentally sick, but not much, because
           psychotherapists are the most mentally sick people on the earth. More psychotherapists commit
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suicide than any other profession. More psychotherapists go mad than any other profession. More
           psychotherapists are sexually perverted than any other profession. And these people are trying to
           help mentally sick people!
               They have the expertise, they can help you a little bit; they can bring you back to your normal
           state of insanity. But that which is beyond psychotherapy brings you to real health, wholeness.
               Man consists of three layers: the body -- the most visible; the being -- the most invisible; and the
           mind -- in between.
               The mind is a good mechanism, but not a good master. It can serve you if you are the master and
           the mind is the servant. But if the servant becomes the master and starts ruling over you, that is the
           state of insanity. That's why I say the whole humanity is "normally insane."
               What is mind? It is all borrowed, and borrowed from different sources -- from the parents, from
           the neighbors, from the teachers, from the priests, from the libraries. Its hunger is insatiable; it goes
           on swallowing all kinds of information. That information may be contradictory, that information
           may create tensions, may create a split -- or many splits.
               For example, if you are born a Christian.... The BIBLE says the earth is flat. From your very
           childhood you have believed in the BIBLE because your parents believed in it. But in school you
           learn that the earth is not flat, it is a globe. Both these pieces of information are collected by the
           mind. Their conflict becomes your anxiety, and this anxiety takes thousands of shapes. And it is
           impossible for you to decide which way to go; you are pulled apart in all directions.
               If you somehow can maintain your balance, this is normal insanity. Insanity is there, but it is just
           the same as everybody else's. Unless you come in close proximity to a saner person, you will not be
           able to think yourself insane.
               The function of the psychotherapist is, whenever somebody goes beyond the boundary of the
           normal humanity, to bring him back. It is not an easy job. It takes years, and only the very rich can
           afford it. Then, too, success is not certain, because the person who is treating him is himself
           repressing his own insanity.
               I have heard about one psychotherapist.... He was treating a patient who had this insane idea that
           thousands of flies, which nobody could see, were sitting all over his body -- on his face, on his hands
           -- and he was continuously brushing them off. Everybody said that there are no flies, but he said,
           "Should I believe my own eyes or your eyes? Should I believe my own hands which are feeling the
           flies, or your hands? I can see flies are not on you; they are simply attracted to me."
               Finally, it became impossible for him to do anything. His family brought him to the
           psychotherapist. The psychotherapist tried, explained, analyzed his dreams.
               After two years they were sitting in the garden chitchatting -- they had become friendly in the
           two years -- and the man started brushing off flies. The psychotherapist stood up, and he said, "Not
           on me! I have tolerated it for two years, but there is a limit to everything."
               In these two years the madman with the flies has convinced the psychoanalyst that flies exist,
           they are -- rather than the psychoanalyst convincing him that the flies are just his imagination. It is a
           dangerous game. That's why so many psychotherapists go mad; to be with mad people is not an easy
           job.
               In one madhouse, the old doctor had retired and the new doctor had come in, and all the mad
           people were very happy. They rejoiced and danced. The doctor said, "Why are you so happy?"
               They said, "Because you are just like us! That man, although he stayed with us for ten years,
           remained a foreigner. But you really understand." At that moment the doctor saw that he himself was
           dancing with them, rejoicing. Even the mad people recognized that he was also mad. They said,
           "This is the greatest thing that has happened in this madhouse. Now there is no problem -- we are all
           one."
               This unity between the patient and the doctor.... The psychotherapist has to create some kind of
           bridge to communicate, but inside him is the same kind of mind which can go berserk any moment.
           And to convince a madman, a fanatic -- and all madmen are fanatic, and all fanatics are mad -- is
           very difficult.
               One man, who thought he was dead, was brought to a psychoanalyst. That was too much. The
           whole society was puzzled as to how to convince him that he was not dead. His family, wife,
           children, parents, were all in deep sadness. But how to convince a man that he is not dead? The
           psychoanalyst thought of a method. He asked the madman, "Do you know that a dead man never
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bleeds?"
               The madman said, "That's true, I know. How can a dead man bleed? Blood disappears as life
           disappears."
               The psychoanalyst took him close to the mirror, pushed a needle into his hand, and blood came
           out. The psychotherapist asked him, "Now what do you say?"
               He said, "This means the proverb is wrong -- dead men do bleed! This is a proof; nobody ever
           experimented before. Are you convinced, or not?"
               Naturally, psychotherapists become more and more filled with these mad people's ideas; they
           become their nightmare, they follow them like a shadow. So it is understandable why they go mad
           more than any other profession.
               And why do they commit suicide? Perhaps the tension becomes so much that living becomes
           impossible. Why do they become perverted? -- because they are surrounded by perverted people.
           And your mind is continuously taking information from outside, accumulating it; it is a computer.
               Psychotherapy has not done much good to humanity. It cannot.
               In the East, nothing like psychotherapy has happened. You will be surprised that in the East, for
           ten thousand years, no enlightened person has even paid any attention to the mind. If they have ever
           talked about the mind, they have talked in reference to meditation. And what they have talked about
           is how to make the mind silent, empty, a total nothingness, a no-mind.
               The state of no-mind is unknown to the West, and it is only in the state of no-mind that one
           becomes aware of that which is beyond mind.... Because when all the chattering of the mind stops
           and there is no more noise, the still small voice of the being is heard. For the first time one becomes
           aware, "I am here. I was not there in that crowded place, I was always out of it."
               And a single moment of knowing yourself to be above the mind has given you a master key.
           Now the mind can never become your master. And if the mind can never become your master it can
           never drive you mad. Now the mind cannot go on accumulating whatever it wants. Once the being
           asserts itself, the mind becomes very submissive -- immediately.
               It is just like in a small school... children are chitchatting, making noise, running around in the
           class -- and the master appears. Immediately, every child is in his seat, with open book, trying to
           look very busy; and there is complete silence. The master has not done anything, he has not even
           uttered a single world, but his presence is enough.
               Exactly something like that happens. The presence of being -- and the mind stops all its nuisance.
           The thoughts disappear and the mind becomes just a pure space.
               The being can see through the mind with great clarity, perception. Before the being's arrival it
           was always a question of either/or -- to do this or to do that, what is right, what is wrong -- and the
           mind was never able to decide. And, whatever it decided, it was always half-hearted; hence,
           repentance was always bound to happen. You were thinking to marry this woman or that woman...
           finally the mind has to decide. Wavering, it comes to a decision. By marrying one woman you come
           to know the woman in her totality, and a great repentance settles in: you have chosen the wrong
           woman.
               Nobody in the whole world has chosen the right woman, neither has any woman chosen the right
           man. It is very strange.... How do you manage, out of millions of people, always to find the wrong
           woman, the wrong man?
               The fault is not of the man, not of the woman. The mind has no clarity. It is clouded by so many
           thoughts; it is incapable of decision because it is incapable of clarity.
               Once mind is silent, once there is a state of no-mind, being is very sharp and clear. There is no
           question of either/or, there is no question of choosing; whatever the being does is choiceless. It
           simply does that which the clarity allows it to do. It is always right. Just as mind is always wrong,
           being is always right.
               But the West has not recognized being. Hence, in the muddy waters of the mind, Sigmund Freud,
           Carl Gustav Jung, Alfred Adler and their progeny -- they are all just making the water more muddy.
           They have themselves not known that there is something in their innermost core which cannot go
           mad, which is sanity itself. Existence speaks through it -- it is the voice of life itself.
               But the psychotherapists are afraid even to discover being. There were chances.... Jung traveled
           long in India, visiting the Taj Mahal, Khajuraho, Konarak, the caves of Ajanta and Ellora -- all
           beautiful places. And he was told by every person he came across, "Rather than wasting time in
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           visiting these places, you should not miss meeting a man, Raman Maharshi, who lives in South India
           on the hill Arunachal -- it is not far away -- because he can give you a glimpse. Perhaps in his
           presence, just sitting by his side or talking to him, you may have some idea of why the East has
           never paid any attention to mind, and yet has produced the greatest enlightened people, the sanest
           people possible, with crystal-clear vision."
                Raman Maharshi was one of those people, but Jung never went to him. He was afraid; the very
           idea that there is something beyond mind was very scary. That means the whole of psychoanalysis is
           meaningless, and he was not ready to take the risk of meeting such a man. He came back from India
           without visiting Raman.
                Jung's fear is the fear of all psychoanalysts -- something beyond the mind makes their whole
           profession utterly meaningless. And if there is a direct method to reach the being by bypassing the
           mind, and if the moment you reach the being the mind itself cools down, there is no need of any
           psychoanalysis. There is no need to convince the insane person that he is wrong. There is no need to
           go into deep details about his dreams, diaries, and all kinds of nonsense.
           Meditation is a direct route to being.
           It simply bypasses the mind.
                And once you are centered in your being, the mind, which was jumping up and down pretending
           to be your master, suddenly becomes submissive; it immediately falls silent, drops all its noise. And
           a man of being can use the mind just the way you can use any mechanism. But if the mechanism
           starts using you, that is an ugly state.
                Man should remember that he is the master of his body and of his mind. Certainly the master
           must be beyond both. And I say it on my own authority: it is so. You can play with psychotherapy
           and other therapies -- they are just games. If you like those games, no harm. They are better than
           football, but they are no more than games. And they are not going to give you a new life, they are not
           going to give you an authentic intelligence, a clarity which can see into every problem without any
           question of either/or.
                The enlightened man is nothing but the man who functions from his being.
                People tell me, "We have to decide what is right and what is wrong." Yes, you will have to
           decide if you live under the impact of the mind -- and none of your decisions is going to prove right.
           Whatever you choose you will suffer, and you will always look back: "Perhaps the other alternative
           was better?"
                The enlightened man never chooses, he lives in a choiceless awareness. In the light of his
           awareness he knows what is right; it is not a question of decision. And the moment you know what is
           right, with your total being, you never repent.
                For three decades continuously I have never looked back. I have never for a single moment
           thought that perhaps if I had chosen something else, it would have been better. The question does not
           arise.
                Hence, the enlightened man carries no burden of the past, and remains clear -- because the
           burden of the past is like dust gathering on your awareness, on the mirror of your being. When the
           mirror is clear it simply reflects what is the case.
                So it is not a question of deciding what is right and wrong. That's why I have never talked to my
           people about morality, immorality, virtue, sin, good, bad; it is useless. I have insisted only on one
           point, that you become centered in your being. And then whatever you do is right, is virtue. Yes,
           there is your real being -- beyond psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is only children's play. And it is
           strange, still today the psychoanalyst is not willing even to consider the position of enlightenment. I
           can understand why he cannot even consider it: psychotherapy has become his bread and butter. It is
           one of the most highly paid professions.
                The psychotherapist is the latest version of the priest. He is a parasite, he is sucking blood in the
           name of curing insane people. And I have never come across a single man who has been cured by
           psychoanalysis. Even the psychoanalyst is not cured. The founders of psychoanalysis were not the
           people who can be said to be whole and absolutely healthy in their consciousness.
                Jung was very much afraid of death. Now, that is not a sign of a meditator. He was so afraid of
           death.... But it is a strange phenomenon: whatever you are afraid of, you are also in some way
           obsessed by. He was obsessed with the desire to see the mummies in Egypt. At least half a dozen
           times he booked his ticket to go to Egypt, and each time he would find some excuse to cancel it. The
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sixth time he gathered courage and reached the airport, but at the airport he lost his nerve again.
                He turned back, and he wrote in his diary, "I cannot go to Egypt. I cannot see those dead bodies,
           hundreds of years old, because every dead body reminds me of my own death."
                A man of meditation knows there is no death. And if this kind of fear exists in the founder of a
           school called analytical psychology, what can you expect from his disciples?
                Jung himself was a disciple of Sigmund Freud. And the reason they had to part was a very funny
           one. Sigmund Freud was very much afraid of ghosts. Even the word "ghost" was enough to make
           him go into a fit, and he would start foaming at the mouth. So every disciple knew that the word
           "ghost" was never to be mentioned before him. And this is the founder of psychoanalysis! These
           people are sick themselves. Because Jung continued to use the word "ghost," and three times made
           Freud go into a fit, that was too much. The third time, when he came out of the fit, Freud told Jung,
           "You just get lost! I don't want to hear anything that makes me sick."
                But what is the fear in ghosts? Why is he so afraid -- such trembling, such fear? And Freud was
           psychoanalyzing hundreds of people's dreams, but he never allowed any of his disciples to
           psychoanalyze his dreams. He himself was not psychoanalyzed. Strange... the founder should be
           available for his own method.
                The reason is clear. Freud knew what his dreams were, and how he had been interpreting others'
           dreams -- making everything symbolic of sexuality. If somebody sees a rocket in the dream, that is a
           phallic symbol. Anything! He was very clever at making symbols, interpreting them as your
           repressed sex. And that was the fear: because these disciples have become experts, now they will
           interpret his dreams as repressed sexuality -- which he never wanted the world to know. But this is
           not the way of the seeker, the way of truth.
                Psychotherapy's days are numbered. As meditation spreads, psychotherapy will start shrinking. If
           we can spread meditation around the earth, psychotherapy will simply disappear. There is no use for
           it, and it has not helped in any way.
                And you should not get into the mud of psychotherapy -- because to get into it is very easy but to
           get out of it is very difficult. You go on digging, and you go on finding more and more mud; there is
           no end to it. Mind has an infinite store of dreams, thoughts, desires, repressions, perversions.
                There are people who have been psychoanalyzed for fifteen years continuously, but their
           psychoanalysis is not complete. There is not even a single man in the whole world whose
           psychoanalysis is complete. He is exactly at the same stage where he had started fifteen years ago --
           although his bank balance has disappeared.
           Meditation takes you to being.
           It is a direct route to the beyond.
                And once the master is there, mind immediately surrenders. In that surrender is health, because
           the master is in his place and the servant is in his place; the harmony is restored. And to be
           harmonious is all that health means.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS IT TRUE THAT ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS ARE BOTH MIND PROCESSES, AND IN THE END
              NEITHER CAN HELP VERY MUCH?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


                Yes, both are mind processes, analysis and synthesis both. What can help is witnessing --
           witnessing the mind and its activities. And witnessing is the real miracle. The more you witness, the
           less thoughts are there in the mind -- in exact proportion. If your witnessing is only ten percent, then
           there are ninety percent thoughts. If your witnessing is ninety percent, there are only ten percent
           thoughts. If your witnessing is one hundred percent, then there is no mind, there are no thoughts at
           all.
                So Sigmund Freud, who talks about psychoanalysis, and Assagioli, who talks about
           psychosynthesis, are in the same boat. They are both talking about mind; neither of them is talking of
           going beyond mind.
                Witnessing simply takes you beyond mind. And to be beyond mind is the whole of religion, the
           true religion. I call it pure religiousness.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              SOMEWHERE IN THOSE FAR-OFF POONA DAYS THIS QUOTATION HIT ME -- THE AUTHOR
              AND EXACT WORDS NOW FORGOTTEN, BUT IT SEEMS TO SAY EVERYTHING THERE IS TO
              SAY. "THE GREATEST GOOD FORTUNE THAT CAN BEFALL A MAN IS TO BE BORN IN THE
              AGE OF A BUDDHA. EVEN GREATER IS THE GOOD FORTUNE OF HE WHO COMES TO HEAR
              OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE BUDDHA. AND EVEN GREATER STILL IS THE GOOD FORTUNE
              OF HE WHO IS DRAWN INTO THE FAMILY OF THE BUDDHA."
              SO MY QUESTION IS: HOW CAN ANY SANNYASIN BE SUCH A PEABRAIN AS TO NOT BE HERE
              WITH YOU COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, POISON OR PRISON, BULLETS OR BOREDOM,
              ANGUISH OR AIDS?


               It is true that it is a great fortune to be born in the age of an enlightened one. It is greater fortune
           to have heard about him. It is an even greater fortune to be part of his family.
               But there are people who are blind; they have eyes but they cannot see. They are deaf; they have
           ears but they cannot hear. Even sometimes by accident they may get into the family of the
           enlightened one, but they still remain an outsider, they never merge with it. And it has been always
           so.
               In Gautam Buddha's time, how many people were in his family, how many of those people
           became enlightened? How many people dropped out of his family -- how many people even became
           enemies of Gautam Buddha? How many attempts were made to kill him by his own ex-followers?
           Buddha's own cousin-brother tried to kill him many times. He could not succeed, but he made those
           efforts.
               So the statement is true, but not for all. It is true only for those who have a sensitivity to feel the
           presence of the enlightened one, to be soaked in his silence, to be filled with his fragrance, to let
           their heart beat in the same rhythm, to become part of his song, his dance. How many people have
           eyes to see?
               The birth of a buddha is very rare -- that's why the statement that it is very fortunate to be born in
           the times of an enlightened one. It is more fortunate to hear about him, because millions will not
           even know that he had existed, that he was here, that the river was just flowing by their side and they
           remained thirsty. Millions will see the body of the enlightened one, but will not be able to see his
           spiritual aura, his energy field.
               Millions will hear about him, but will not believe. Millions will hear him, but will not listen. And
           there will be many who, on trivial excuses, will leave the enlightened one's family, not knowing
           what they are leaving, not knowing that their excuses are just meaningless.
               And many will try even to destroy the man, because somehow his presence is against their egos.
           His presence makes them feel to melt with him, to become one with him, and there are egoistic
           people -- hard, they don't have hearts -- who cannot melt. For them it is better to destroy this person,
           because he is a constant reminder of their dead heart.
               But there will always be a few who will remain with the enlightened one in every situation.
           Nothing matters more than to be with him. But one needs a little sensitivity, and then all stupid
           things become meaningless. It is certainly a great blessing.
               I am reminded of one of my vice-chancellors. He was a world-famous historian. He had been a
           professor of history in Oxford for almost twenty years, and after his retirement from Oxford, he
           came back to India. He had a world-famous name, and he was elected to be the vice-chancellor of
           the university I was studying in. He was a nice man, a beautiful personality, with immense
           knowledgeability, scholarship, recognition -- so many books to his credit.
               By chance, the day he took charge as vice-chancellor was Gautam Buddha's birthday. And
           Gautam Buddha's birthday is more important than anybody else's birthday, because Gautam
           Buddha's birthday is also his day of enlightenment, and also his day of leaving the body. The same
           day he was born, the same day he became enlightened, the same day he died.
               The whole university gathered to hear him speak on Gautam Buddha. And he was a great
           historian, he had written about Gautam Buddha; and he spoke with great emotion. Tears in his eyes,
           he said, "I have always felt that if I had been born in Gautam Buddha's time, I would have never left
           his feet."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               According to my habit I stood up, and I said, "You please take your words back."
           He said, "But why?"
               I said, "Because they are false. You have been alive in Raman Maharshi's time. He was the same
           kind of man, his was the same enlightenment -- and I know that you have not even visited him. So
           whom are you trying to befool? You would not have visited Gautam Buddha either. Wipe your tears,
           they are crocodile tears. You are simply a scholar and you don't know anything about enlightenment
           or people like Gautam Buddha."
               There was a great silence in the auditorium. My professors were afraid that I might be expelled;
           they were always afraid, that any time.... And I had told them, "You don't be worried about me. I
           have been expelled from many colleges, universities -- it has become almost my way of life, being
           expelled."
               But now they were very much afraid. They loved me, and they wanted me.... But to create such a
           situation, such an awkward situation... and nobody knew what to do, how to break the ice. In those
           few seconds it looked as if hours had passed. The vice-chancellor was standing there -- but he was
           certainly a man of some superior quality. He wiped his tears and asked that he should be forgiven --
           perhaps he was wrong. And he invited me to his house so that we could discuss it in more detail.
               But he said, before the whole university, "You are right. I would not have gone to Gautam
           Buddha, I know it. I was not aware when I said it; it was just emotional, I was carried away. Yes, I
           have never been to Raman Maharshi when he was alive. And I had been very close to his place many
           times -- I used to deliver lectures in Madras University, from where it is only a few hours' journey to
           Arunachal. I have been told by many friends, 'You should go and see this man' -- and I always went
           on postponing till the man died."
               The whole university could not believe it, my professors could not believe it. But his humbleness
           touched everybody. Respect for him grew tremendously; and we became friends. He was very old --
           he was almost sixty-eight -- and I was only twenty-four, but we became friends. And he never for a
           moment allowed me to feel that he was a great scholar, that he was the vice-chancellor, that he was
           my grandfather's age.
               On the contrary, he said to me, "I don't know what happened that day; I am not so humble a man.
           Being a professor in Oxford for twenty years, being a visiting professor to almost all the universities
           of the world, I have become very egoistic. But you destroyed everything in a single stroke. And I
           will remain grateful to you for my whole life: if you had not stood up, I might have remained
           believing that I would have done this. But now I would like it... if you can find someone, then I
           would like to sit by his feet and listen to him."
               And you will not believe it that when I said, "Then sit down and listen...." he said, "What!"
               I said, "Just look at me. Don't be bothered by my age, sit down and listen to me." And you will
           not believe it -- that old man sat down and listened to me, to whatever I wanted to say to him. But
           rare are people who have so much courage and so much openness.
               After that day he used to come to the hostel to visit me. Everybody was puzzled: what had
           happened? -- and I had created for him such an embarrassing situation! He used to take me to his
           house, and we would sit together and he would ask me, "Say anything -- I want to listen. My whole
           life I have been talking; I have forgotten listening. And I have been saying things which I don't
           know." And he listened the way a disciple listens to a master.
               My professors were very much puzzled. They said, "Have you done some magic on that old
           man? or has he gone senile? or what is the matter? To see him, we have to make an appointment, and
           we have to wait on a long list. When our time comes, only then can we meet him. And he comes to
           see you -- not only that, he listens to you. What has happened?"
               I said, "The same can happen to you too, but you are not that intelligent, not that sensitive, not
           that understanding. That old man is really rare."
               And you will not believe it: one year after I left the university I came back to the same town to
           deliver a lecture in a conference. The vice-chancellor came to listen to me and said, "You will have
           to talk to the students of your university also." So I went to the university to talk to the students.
               And this is the most unbelievable part: when I reached the podium, he touched my feet. I said to
           him, "What are you doing?"
               He said, "I should have done it before, but I cannot miss this chance. Perhaps we may meet
           again, we may not meet again." And we did not meet again, because after just two days, he died. But
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           before the whole university he touched my feet -- the feet of one of his students.
              Such sensitivity is unique -- and such humbleness. But the love and the compassion and the
           benediction and the blessings of the enlightened one shower only on such people.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              BEING WITH YOU, WHAT DOES GROWTH MEAN?


                It is enough just being with me. Growth will come of its own accord, there is no need to be
           bothered about growth. Just being with me you will become more and more silent, more and more
           loving, more and more soft, more and more humble, more and more melted into the universal flow of
           life.
                The moment you have melted like a snowflake, the growth has come. When you are not, the
           growth has happened. You are the barrier, you are preventing it.
                And I am giving you the simplest method: Just being with me -- alert, aware, receptive, open --
           all that is possible to human beings will become possible to you. Neither I have to do anything, nor
           have you to do anything.
                This is called by the ancient mystics of China, action without action.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE POINT OF CALLING YOUR JUICY DISCOURSES, THE BIBLE?


              [These discourses were first given under the title, THE RAJNEESH BIBLE -- Ed.]

               The point is clear. The Bible of the Christians is not juicy. They have destroyed a beautiful word,
           "bible." It has become dead. I want to make it alive. I love the word, and I want to give it all the juice
           that is possible.
               The point is very simple: so people can see the dead BIBLE and the living Bible -- the BIBLE
           which is just dry bones and the BIBLE which has juice. Now the choice is theirs.
           Okay?




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #39
                                   Chapter title: Every child is born a witness
           23 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510230
              ShortTitle: BONDAG39
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THE ORIGIN OF DANCE, LOVE AND MEDITATION IN SYNCHRONICITY? WHY HAS DANCE
              BEEN THROUGHOUT THE AGES THE HIGHEST ART?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              PLEASE COMMENT.


                Everything that is of authentic value in life has arisen out of meditation. There is no other way.
           Meditation is the mother of art, music, poetry, dance, sculpture. All that is creative, all that is
           life-affirmative, is born out of meditation. All that is life-negative -- hate, anger, jealousy, violence,
           war -- is born out of the mind. Man has two possibilities: mind and meditation.
                Meditation can be translated as no-mind; then things will be simple. Either something comes out
           of the mind, or something comes out of no-mind. Mind is noise, it is craziness, insanity. No-mind is
           silence, health, wholeness. Mind cannot create anything which is not poisonous. And out of no-mind
           there is no possibility of anything arising which will serve death.
                You ask about love. Your love is not out of meditation; you don't know meditation, you are
           acquainted only with the mind. Just look at your mind. For ten minutes sit silently and write down
           whatever comes into your mind, without editing, without adding anything -- exactly whatever is
           arising in the mind. Howsoever irrelevant, stupid it may be, just write for ten minutes, and then read
           it. And you will be surprised: this is your mind? And if this is mind, then what is madness? And this
           mind is continuously running -- in every action, feeling. If you love, this mind is bound to pollute
           that love with hate.
                Psychotherapists, who do not know anything about no-mind, have finally decided that love and
           hate are not two things, and they have started using one word, "love-hate." ... Because love can
           change into hate any moment, hate can change into love any moment.
                And this is not a new insight. One of the most cunning and clever men, Machiavelli, writes in his
           book, THE PRINCE -- it is advice to kings -- "Never say a thing to a friend that you would not like
           to be said to an enemy." Three hundred years before psychotherapy, he was giving its whole insight
           -- because the friend can become tomorrow the enemy. So never say to the friend what you would
           not like to say to any enemy.
                And his second statement is, "Never say about the enemy anything that you would not say about
           a friend" -- because tomorrow the enemy can turn into a friend, and then it will be very
           embarrassing, that you said such an ugly thing about him.
                Machiavelli was certainly a genius of cunningness. He was the tutor of almost all the princes of
           Europe. When they started becoming kings, he wanted to become somebody's prime minister, but his
           own disciples refused -- without exception. He was puzzled, he could not figure it out: what was the
           matter? -- they loved him so much.... He asked, "If you love me so much, you respect me so much,
           then why can't you allow me to be your prime minister? Where can you find a man equal to me?"
                And those princes said, "You are too clever, too cunning. We know your genius. To make you
           the prime minister means within just a few months or a year or two you will be the king, and we will
           be nowhere! We respect you and we love you, but we cannot give you that much power. You will
           destroy us, and we will not be capable of fighting with you."
                This man is not considered a great philosopher, but he should be. Even though he was a
           philosopher in favor of evil, his insight is deep. Love can become hate, hate can become love. Your
           love, which can within a moment change into hate, is not love. It has come from the mind, and mind
           always lives in contradictions. If there is love, then just behind love there is hate. If there is
           compassion, just behind compassion there is anger.
                Mind is a duality, so everything is balanced by its opposite; that is the way of the mind. No-mind
           means you become a witness of all the processes of the mind. You detach yourself. Your
           consciousness is not part of the mind; it can watch the mind. Just the way you can watch a movie on
           the screen, your consciousness can watch on the screen of the mind all its craziness. This witnessing
           will lead you into a new space within yourself.
                The arithmetic is very simple. When there is no witnessing in you, you are one hundred percent
           mind. One percent witnessing, and you are ninety-nine percent mind. And as witnessing grows, your
           mind starts disappearing. They cannot exist together; there is no coexistence between no-mind and
           mind, between meditation and mind -- it is either/or.
                When your witnessing is ninety percent, your mind is reduced to ten percent. And when your
           witnessing is one hundred percent -- total, absolute -- the screen is empty, the film has disappeared.
           This is the state of meditation: when there are no thoughts, no feelings -- nothing moves, everything
           stops. There is tremendous serenity. Out of this serenity, silence, peace, a new kind of experience
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           arises, new flowers blossom.
                If love happens now, it will not have with it jealousy, hate, anger, and all those poisons which
           kill love. Now it will be pure love, unconditional. It will not ask anything in return, it will rejoice
           only in giving. It will be grateful that you accepted whatever was given to you; it will not burden you
           by making you feel obliged. It will not destroy your freedom. If you love somebody else and you are
           happy with somebody else, the meditator will feel very happy because you are happy -- it does not
           matter with whom. He loves you, and he wants you to be happy.
                Love out of meditation gives total freedom, accepts you the way you are, never tries to mold you
           into a certain pattern -- that is ugly, that is violent. It respects your dignity. It has no suspicion....
                There is, in India, one of the most ancient stories of a king, Rama, whose wife, Sita, had been
           stolen by another king. It took three years of fighting to get the wife back. Naturally, Rama was
           suspicious; three years in the enemy camp -- who knows whether she has been able to remain pure?
           He proposes a fire test -- she has to pass through fire. If she is not burned, then her love is pure, she
           has not loved anyone else.
                When I was reading it in my early childhood... because every child in India reads about Rama
           and his wife, Sita. Rama is thought to be one of the incarnations of God. But when I read about his
           suspicion, I told my father, who was teaching me the story, "If Rama suspects her, then his love is
           not very great. And in my opinion, Sita is far higher than Rama, because she does not suspect him.
           Three years he was also away from her; in these three years he may have loved some woman,
           desired someone. She does not ask Rama, 'You also come with me, we both should go through the
           fire test.' She proves that her love is authentic."
                And the story is beautiful: she comes out of the fire without being burned. That is simply a
           symbolic way of saying that even fire cannot burn true love. Nothing can destroy it.
                But what about Rama? I said, "As far as I am concerned, he has fallen in my eyes. Sita is far
           superior. But in India, he is worshipped as the reincarnation of God, not Sita." I told my father, "This
           is inconceivable."
                My father said, "I have read this story myself many times, but this point was never apparent to
           me. Perhaps you are right."
                The man with suspicion cannot have the purity of love. And the woman without any hesitation,
           without questioning, goes through the fire. I know fire will not change its rules whether your love is
           true or not, but the story is symbolic. It says even fire will not hurt and change authentic love.
                But Rama fell in my eyes from that very day. And I have tried many times -- because all over
           India people were asking me to speak on Rama, and I said, "I cannot do that, because you will not be
           able to hear what I want to say. And I cannot say what you want to hear. It is better not to bring
           Rama between us." I have spoken on all prophets, saviors, messengers, except Rama -- and Rama is
           the most worshipped in India -- for the simple reason that from the very beginning that man shows a
           very mean mind.
                Your love comes from the mind, which is basically mean. Love coming out of no-mind has a
           splendor of its own, a grandeur, something of the divine in it. Anything that comes out of meditation
           comes with the aura of eternity: painting, sculpture, poetry, music.
                Look at modern music: it is simply insanity, it is not music. Just making noise is not music. It
           may help you to have some catharsis -- that's what music like jazz does, it is cathartic. You feel
           afterwards a kind of well-being, relaxed; but it is not music.
                Music will make you silent, will make you disappear, will make you almost absent. Only the
           music will be there, not the musician -- because in meditation the musician cannot exist. And if you
           are listening, soon you will find yourself melting, disappearing. It will create a new space within
           you. It has come out of meditation, and anyone who listens to it will feel something of meditation.
                Old mystics have used music to convey their experience -- for example, Kabir, Meera, Nanak.
           They will not discuss, they will not talk with you. They will simply play some instrument, sing a
           song -- which has nothing to do with God, heaven and hell; which has nothing to do with theology,
           with any creed or cult.
                But Kabir playing on his ektara -- the simplest musical instrument.... Ektara means only one
           string. It has only one string, not the complexity of a sitar. But with his ektara he would create an
           atmosphere where many would be transported to another world.
                Meera used to sing -- and I don't think in the whole world any woman has sung such beautiful
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           songs. People would be listening and they would forget themselves. It happened that when she was
           wandering around India, she came to a place, Vrindavan, where Krishna had lived. In Vrindavan
           there is the main temple of Krishna. There are hundreds of temples, but in the main temple, the most
           ancient, his priest has to be absolutely celibate -- so much so that no woman can enter the temple.
           And the priest never goes out, so he never comes to see a woman.
               When Meera reached Vrindavan, she went singing, dancing, to the great temple. The watchman
           was so overwhelmed that he forgot his work -- his work was to prevent women from going in -- and
           Meera entered. The priest was worshipping. He could not believe that a woman had come into the
           temple -- for thousands of years no woman had entered the temple. But he waited till Meera stopped
           singing; he himself was overwhelmed. The song was so beautiful, so touching -- reaching to your
           very innermost being, because it was coming from the innermost core of Meera. It was not
           something composed by the mind. It was the overflowing love of no-mind. It was meditation flowing
           in song, in dance.
               Afterwards, as he woke up -- it was as if he had fallen asleep -- he said to Meera, "This is not
           good; what you have done is unforgivable. This was to the credit of the temple, that for thousands of
           years no woman had entered."
               And do you know what Meera said to the priest? She laughed, and she said, "I have always
           thought that Krishna is the only man; all others are women, beloveds of the lord. Do you consider
           yourself also a man? Then you have been wasting your whole life! Have you not yet become so
           loving towards Krishna that you can forget this macho attitude?" And since that day the temple has
           not prevented any woman. Meera opened the door.
               The priest could not answer. She was saying something out of her innermost being -- that
           existence is our beloved, we are all loving the same existence; and the more you love, the more
           feminine you become, feminine in the sense that you become more graceful, more beautiful, more
           rounded.
               Man has so many corners. If you see the statue of Buddha, you will see everything is rounded, all
           the corners have been dropped -- he even has no beard, no mustache. Not that he was missing some
           hormones, no; it is symbolic. It is simply saying that the more he became loving, the more he
           became feminine, graceful.
               Love out of meditation is not a relationship: it is a state of your being. You love because you
           cannot do otherwise; you have to love. You have only love to give -- and this love will be expressed
           in many ways. Different people, different talents -- somebody will paint, somebody will compose
           music, somebody will dance; but the basic quality is the same.
               While painting, the meditator disappears; there is only painting going on, there is no painter. The
           dancer disappears; there is only dance, there is no dancer. The poet disappears; there is only poetry.
           And the same is true about all the dimensions in which your creativity can have its expression. You
           create because you are so overflowing with energy you cannot contain it. So whatever your talent,
           whatever your genius, your energy will take that dimension.
               Any act arising out of meditation has no goal, it has no motivation; its value is intrinsic. While
           dancing, you are getting all the reward; there is no need for any other reward afterwards. There is no
           ambition, that you want to become famous, the greatest painter, the greatest poet -- all that nonsense
           is part of the mind, which is egocentric.
               Meditation is your egolessness. Just a little taste of it and you will be drawn into the very center
           of your being. And you will find the paradise that people have been thinking is somewhere in the
           clouds, far away in the stars.
               Paradise is within you, in your state of no-mind. And hell is also within you, in your very mind.
           The choice is yours. You can move from the mind to no-mind; the bridge is witnessing.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HOW DO I COME TO KNOW WHEN I AM REALLY WITNESSING MY BODY, FEELINGS AND
              THOUGHTS, OR WHEN IT IS ONLY MY MIND PRETENDING TO BE A WITNESS?


              The question is only intellectual; you have not even tried to pretend. When you are witnessing
           and you start feeling that it may be just the pretense of the mind, then it is certainly a pretense of the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           mind... because who is thinking about it as pretense of the mind? -- something behind the pretense.
                You can never get confused about witnessing, because behind witnessing there is nothing. You
           cannot witness witnessing. Anything that you can witness is part of the mind. So if you witness that
           it is a pretense, it is a pretense. Witness the pretense, don't get identified with it.
                Witnessing has a beauty: it cannot be reduced to an object, you cannot witness it. It is
           irreducible, it always slips back; it remains only witnessing. So whatever you feel, that means you
           are getting identified with the mind. You have not tried it -- the question is simply intellectual. If you
           had tried it the question would not have arisen.
                I witness my hand: that means I am not the hand. I witness the mind: that means I am not the
           mind. You go on witnessing anything that comes to you -- feelings, moods -- you are not it. Finally,
           there is nothing to witness: this is it!
                Only the witness is there, but nothing to witness, just nothingness all around. You have come to
           the witness. Nobody has ever been deceived about it.
                But never make intellectual questions; they won't solve existential problems. This is something
           existential -- you have to do it. It is like swimming. You cannot be taught swimming on a
           comfortable mattress in your room. You can be told how to throw your hands and your legs about,
           and you can do much exercise, but that is not swimming. You have to go in the water.
                There was one famous logician in India. Because he was a logician, he said, "I cannot enter the
           water until I have learned swimming, that is absolutely clear. Without knowing swimming, how can
           I enter the water?"
                His swimming teacher told him, "It is not a question of logic. If you want to learn swimming,
           you will have to enter water without knowing swimming, because entering the water is the
           beginning. And that's the only way to learn it. If you decide that you will enter the water only when
           you have learned swimming -- which is very logical thinking -- then it is impossible, you will never
           enter the water. So either be logical, or be existential."
                And whatever I am telling you has nothing to do with logic. Try witnessing. And whatever you
           find, it is not the witness. The witness is always standing behind; otherwise, who is finding these
           things? -- the pretense, the mind, anything.
                When you cannot find anything, when all is silent, then there is only the witness. It is a very
           strange situation. When there is nothing to witness, you come to experience the witness in its purity.
           When there is something to witness, the witness is involved with some object.
                It is like the mirror. If you want to know the purity of the mirror, then the mirror should be
           empty; nobody should be standing in front of the mirror. If somebody is standing in front of the
           mirror, then the mirror is polluted by the reflection.
           Your witness is the ultimate mirror.
                Anything that passes pollutes your witness. But if you go on struggling, remembering that
           whatever you see is not you -- just a simple exam: "the object of my knowing is not me" -- soon the
           objects will disappear, because you have broken the identity. And any moment, suddenly out of
           nowhere, you find yourself absolutely alone without any object. The seer is there, but there is
           nothing to be seen. Awareness is there, at its very peak, but there is nothing to be aware of. The
           witness is there, but there is nothing to be a witness of.
                So this should be the criterion of whether your witness is a reality or just a projection, just
           imagination or an authentic reality.
                And it is a very simple process, just like swimming. Once you know swimming, you will be
           surprised that there was nothing to learn. Before knowing swimming, it seems dangerous, difficult --
           you cannot believe how people are swimming. But have you seen a dead body? The dead body
           automatically comes up and starts swimming -- not even swimming, it simply floats. The dead body
           knows something which you don't know. If the dead body can float, why can't you float? It is so
           simple that even dead bodies are doing it.
                One Japanese scientist has been trying with small children, because his hypothesis is that the
           child in the mother's womb remains in liquid, in water for nine months, so swimming must be
           something very natural. It need not be learned.
                The hypothesis seems to be correct. If the child manages in the mother's womb.... In the mother's
           womb there is exactly the same kind of water as in the ocean, with the same constituents. That's why,
           when a woman is pregnant, she starts eating salty things, because the water needs more and more
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           salt. The child is already swimming from the very first day. And in the very beginning the child is
           just like a fish. Scientists think that man began life as a fish in the ocean. Now, to teach a fish how to
           swim would be just utter stupidity.
               This Japanese scientist started working on six-month-old babies. He would leave them in water
           in tubs, and he was surprised that they were not afraid -- not only that, but they started floating. Then
           he went down to three-month-old babies. They were even more expert. Then he did his experiment
           with the newly-born baby: he was the perfect master as far as swimming is concerned -- nine months'
           training!
               That's why, once you know swimming, you cannot forget it. Everything that you learn you can
           forget, but something in swimming is so natural, that once you know it you cannot forget it. The
           same is true about witnessing.
           Every child is born a witness.
               As he opens his eyes, his first act is witnessing. He cannot think. He sees you, he sees your red
           clothes, but he cannot think that these are red clothes. He does not know the names of colors, he does
           not know what color means. He simply reflects like a mirror. He is just a pure witness with no
           knowledge, with no thought forming in him.
               That's why I say, once you learn witnessing it is so easy, and you cannot forget it. You had
           already known it -- it is a rediscovery.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU MEAN BY "SYMBOLIC GESTURE"? I REALIZE THAT YOU LOOK AT
              YOUR WATCH OFTEN. AND WHY HAVE YOU ONLY NOW SAID THAT WE CAN WEAR OTHER
              COLORED CLOTHES?
              PLEASE EXPLAIN.


                I have to look at the watch, because I live in a timelessness. I use the watch only for you, when I
           come to the morning discourse or to the evening interview; only for four hours do I use the watch.
           The whole day I have no business with time.
                I don't know what day today is, I don't know what date today is. To me, it is always the now.
                And when I said every gesture means something, my looking at the watch again and again
           simply means compassion, because without the watch....
                One day it happened that the watch stopped. I looked at it again and again, and I thought it was
           perfectly right. I realized only later on that I had spoken for three hours. I would have spoken longer
           -- I had to stop after three hours because my bladder was full!
                I have no concern with time. I live moment to moment. That's why I go on looking at the watch
           -- so that I don't harass you too much.
                And you are asking why only now have I told you that you can wear any color clothes. ...
           Because only now do I feel that there are a few amongst you who will still wear red clothes even
           though I say you can use any other clothes. And those are the real "chosen ones."


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IN SUCH A BEAUTIFUL WAY, WITHOUT TELLING THEM TO GO, WITH WHAT GREAT ART YOU
              MANAGED TO HAVE SHEELA'S CRIMINAL GANG LEAVE THE COMMUNE WITHOUT DOING
              MUCH HARM TO US. ARE YOU A MAGICIAN? OR IS THIS HAIKU TRUE ABOUT YOU? "SITTING
              SILENTLY, DOING NOTHING, WINTER COMES AND THE WEEDS DIE BY THEMSELVES."


              I am not a magician, but the whole existence is magical. Perhaps the haiku is true.
              "Sitting silently, doing nothing, the winter comes and the weeds die by themselves."


              BELOVED MASTER,
              THE CHIMPANZEE WHO MADE REAGAN FAMOUS AS AN ACTOR WAS CALLED BONZO.
              REAGAN WAS HIS SIDEKICK. THERE IS A RUMOR THAT IT IS ACTUALLY BONZO WHO IS IN
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THE WHITE HOUSE, AND REAGAN IS SKULKING UP A TREE IN BEVERLY HILLS. BELOVED
              MASTER, DO YOU KNOW THE INSIDE SCOOP ON THIS STORY?


               I know it. It is not a story, it is the truth! I have met Ronald Reagan in our own hills, so certainly
           Bonzo is in the White House. And except people like Bonzo, who would like to live in White
           Houses?
               All politicians are chimpanzees -- without exception. They look like men, but they behave like
           chimpanzees. You should not go by the looks, you should watch their actions -- and all their actions
           are idiotic. And it is not only today; it has been so for the whole history of man.
               Unless we get rid of politicians and create a humanity where politicians are not needed -- and, in
           fact, there is no need for them -- we will not be able to survive long.
               The politicians are seeing clearly that they cannot exist anymore. Their futility is becoming clear,
           so they are planning to destroy the whole planet. Rather than being thrown out of their jobs, their
           great presidentships, prime ministerships, they would destroy all life on this planet. It is in the hands
           of the intelligentsia of the world not to let them do this suicidal act.
               All scientists of the world should stop creating any war material. They should make it clear to
           their governments that they are ready to work, but they will work only for life, not for death. The
           same nuclear energy can make this earth again young, can destroy all poverty, can make humanity
           live for the first time in real comfort, luxury, can allow people to develop their talents, their
           potentials to the highest peak possible.
               And it is a very simple thing: all the scientists who are serving the governments and creating
           more and more death weapons, should just stop, and start creating more and more life-enhancing
           energies. The same energy, nuclear energy, which can make this earth a dead planet, can make this
           earth the most glorious and the richest planet in the whole universe.
               Politicians want war. That is their vested interest. Without war, what are they going to do? You
           can see it in a simple fact: all your great politicians are born in times of war. If any politician wants
           to be a great leader, a great hero, then war is a necessity. Just look: from Genghis Khan to Tamerlane
           to Nadirshah to Alexander the Great to Ivan the Terrible to Napoleon Bonaparte to Adolf Hitler to
           Benito Mussolini to Joseph Stalin to Churchill to Roosevelt -- what makes these people great
           heroes? It is war. If there had been no wars there would not have been great heroes.
               Politicians live on war. And now the game has come to its ultimate peak. The old wars, those
           bullock-cart wars, were okay. A few people died, somebody became victorious, somebody was
           defeated. But now war has lost all meaning. Nobody can be defeated and nobody can be victorious.
           With war losing all meaning, politicians have lost their greatest vested interest.
               And if politicians disappear, there is no need for nations. I cannot conceive why nations should
           exist. Science has turned the whole world into a small global village. Yes, there can be a functional
           world government. But there is no need of armies -- millions of people just sitting stupidly polishing
           their guns for years, doing "left turn, right turn," and then creating Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For all
           that is ugly, the whole credit goes to the politicians.
               Just a general raising of consciousness is needed, and the politicians will melt like snowflakes.
           And with them will go nations, national boundaries, stupid ideas of some nations being special, just
           born to rule over the world. And all the energies which are being wasted in creating war materials --
           and that is not a small amount: seventy-five percent of the energy of the whole of humanity is being
           diverted into war. We are living on only twenty-five percent of our energy.
               Just think: if one hundred percent of our energy is available, there is no need for any Ethiopia to
           happen. There is no need for anybody to remain uneducated, poor. We can make this world a
           paradise -- the politicians just have to go on a long, long weekend.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              MY LORD, MY BELOVED MASTER, WE LOVE YOU SO-O-O MUCH!


              I love you... so-o-o much, too!
           Okay?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                         From Bondage to Freedom
                                                   Chapter #40
                                Chapter title: Without Zorba there is no Buddha
           24 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510240
              ShortTitle: BONDAG40
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 93 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS THE MEETING OF ZORBA AND THE BUDDHA REALLY POSSIBLE? IF IT IS SO, THEN WHY
              HAVE OTHER RELIGIOUS LEADERS NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT?


                The first thing to be understood: I am not a religious leader. A religious leader cannot think,
           cannot see the way I can -- for the simple reason that he has immense investment in religion; I have
           none.
                Religions are necessarily splitting man, creating a duality in the human mind; that is their way of
           exploiting you. If you are whole, you are beyond their control. If you are cut in fragments, all your
           strength is destroyed, all your power, your dignity abolished. Then you can be a Christian, a Hindu, a
           Mohammedan.
                If you are left just the way you are born -- natural, without any interference from the so-called
           religious leaders, you will be a man of freedom, independence, integrity. You cannot be enslaved.
           And all your old religions are doing nothing but enslaving you. To enslave you, they have to create a
           conflict within you so you start fighting with yourself. And when you are fighting with yourself, two
           things are bound to happen. First, you will be miserable, because no part of you can ever be
           victorious, you will be always defeated. Second, a guilt is produced in you that you are not worthy
           enough to be called a real, authentic human individual.
                This is what the religious leaders want. A deep feeling of unworthiness within you makes them
           leaders of men. You cannot depend on yourself because you know you cannot do anything. You
           cannot do what your nature wants, because your religions prevent it. You cannot do what your
           religions want, because your nature is against it. You find yourself in a situation where you cannot
           do anything; somebody else is needed to take your responsibility. Your physical age goes on
           growing -- your mental age remains retarded, just nearabout thirteen. These retarded people are in
           great need of somebody to guide them, somebody to lead them to the goal of life, to the meaning of
           life. They themselves are incapable.
                Religious leaders could not have thought of the meeting of Zorba and Buddha, because that
           would have been the end of their leadership and the end of their so-called religions. Zorba the
           Buddha is the end of all religions. It is the beginning of a new kind of religiousness which needs no
           labels -- Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism. One is simply enjoying oneself, enjoying this immense
           universe, dancing with the trees, playing on the sea beach with the waves, collecting seashells for no
           other purpose -- just for the sheer joy of it. The salty air, the cool sand, the sun rising, a good jog --
           what more do you want?
                To me, this is religion -- enjoying the air, enjoying the sea, enjoying the sand, enjoying the sun --
           because there is no other God than existence itself.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Zorba the Buddha, on the one hand, is the end of the old man -- his religions, his politics, his
           nations, his racial discriminations, and all kinds of stupidities. On the other hand, Zorba the Buddha
           is the beginning of a new man -- a man totally free to be himself, allowing his nature to blossom.
           There is no conflict between Zorba and Buddha. The conflict has been created by the so-called
           religions.
               Is there any conflict between your body and your soul? Is there any conflict between your life
           and your consciousness? Is there any conflict between your right hand and your left hand? They are
           all one in an organic unity.
               Your body is not something to be condemned but something to be grateful for, because it is the
           greatest thing in existence, the most miraculous; its workings are just unbelievable. All the parts of
           your body are functioning like an orchestra. Your eyes, your hands, your legs are in some inner
           communion. It is not that your eyes want to go towards the East and your legs are going towards the
           West, that you are hungry but your mouth refuses to eat: hunger is in your stomach, what has it to do
           with the mouth? -- the mouth is on strike. No, your body has no conflict. It moves in some inner
           synchronicity, always together.
               And your soul is not something opposed to your body. If your body is the house, the soul is your
           guest. And there is no need for the guest and the host to continuously fight. But religions could not
           exist without you fighting with yourself.
               My insistence on your organic unity, so that your materialism is no longer opposed to
           spiritualism, is basically to demolish all religions from the earth. Once your body and soul start
           moving hand in hand, dancing together, you have become Zorba the Buddha. Then you can enjoy
           everything of this life, everything that is outside you, and you can also enjoy everything that is
           within you.
               In fact, within and without are totally different dimensions; they never come in conflict. But
           thousands of years of conditioning, that if you want the inner you have to renounce the outer, has
           taken deep roots in you. Otherwise, it is such an absurd idea.... You are to enjoy the inner -- what is
           the problem in enjoying the outer? The enjoyment is the same; that is the joining link between the
           inner and the outer.
               Listening to beautiful music, or looking at a great painting, or seeing a dancer like Nijinsky -- it
           is outside you, but it is in no way a hindrance for your inner rejoicing. On the contrary, it is a great
           help. The dance of Nijinsky may bring out the dormant quality of your soul so that it can also dance.
           The music of a Ravi Shankar may start playing on the strings of your heart. The outer and inner are
           not divided. It is one energy, two ends of one existence.
               Zorba can become Buddha more easily than can Pope the Polack. There is no possibility for Pope
           the Polack, no possibility for your so-called saints to become really spiritual. They don't know even
           the joys of the body. How can you think they will be able to know the very subtle joys of the spirit?
               The body is the school where you learn, in shallow water, to swim. And once you have learned
           swimming, then it does not matter how deep the water is. Then you can go to the deepest part of the
           lake; it is all the same to you. And when I say this, I am not simply propagating a philosophy. I am
           making a statement of my own experience; hence, you can feel the authority in my words.
               I am not an authoritarian person -- you should remember the difference. The authoritarian person
           imposes his authority on you, he is a power seeker. But when words come out of experience, they
           have an authority of their own. They are not trying to impose anything on anybody; they are, on the
           contrary, simply exposing one's own heart to those who are ready to see the great possibility that
           materialism and spiritualism are not opposite goals, that Zorba and Buddha are not moving in
           different directions, that only a Zorba has the guts to become a Buddha. It is possible he may not
           become, he may get stuck in being a Zorba....
               But you must be reminded about Buddha's life. Up to his twenty-ninth year, he was a pure Zorba.
           He had the best young girls available in his kingdom, by the dozen. His whole palace was full of
           music and dance. He had the best food, best clothes, beautiful palaces to live in, great gardens. He
           lived more deeply than poor Zorba the Greek.
               Zorba had only one Bubulina -- an old, faded woman, a prostitute who had lost all her customers.
           She had false teeth, false hair -- and Zorba was her customer only because he could not afford to pay.
           You call him Zorba? -- and you forget completely the twenty-nine years of Buddha's life which were
           far richer. Day in, day out, he was simply living in luxury, surrounded by everything that he could
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           imagine. He was living in a dreamland. It was this experience that turned him into a buddha. It has
           not been analyzed this way. Nobody bothers about the first part of his life -- which is the very base.
                He became fed up. He tasted every joy of the outside; now he wanted something more,
           something deeper, which was not available in the outside world. For the deeper you have to jump in.
           At the age of twenty-nine he left the palace in the night in search of the inner. It is Zorba going in
           search of the buddha.
                Zorba the Greek never became a buddha for the simple reason that his zorbahood is incomplete.
           He is a beautiful man, full of zest, but a poor man. He wants to live life in its intensity, but he has no
           opportunity to live it. He dances, he sings, but he does not know the higher nuances of music. He
           does not know the dance where the dancer disappears.
                The Zorba in Buddha knew the highest and the deepest parts of the outside world. Knowing it all,
           now he was ready to go on an inner search. The world is good, but not good enough; something
           more is needed. It gives momentary glimpses; the Buddha wants something eternal. And all these
           joys will be finished by death. He wants to know something which cannot be finished by death.
                If I have to write Gautam Buddha's life, I will start it from Zorba. And when he is completely
           acquainted with the outer and whatever the outside can give, and still finds the meaning missing, he
           goes in search -- because that is the only direction that he has not looked in. He never looks back --
           there is no reason to look back, he has lived it all! And he is not just a religious seeker who has not
           known the outer at all. He is a Zorba -- he goes towards the inner with the same zest, with the same
           strength, the same power. And, obviously, he finds in his innermost being the contentment, the
           fulfillment, the meaning, the benediction that he has been seeking.
                It is possible you can be a Zorba and stop there. It is possible you may not be a Zorba and start
           looking for the buddha -- you will not find him. Only Zorba can find the buddha; otherwise, you
           don't have the strength: you have not lived in the outside world, you have avoided it. You are an
           escapist.
                To me, to be a Zorba is the beginning of the journey, and to become a buddha is reaching the
           goal. And it can happen in the same individual -- it can only happen in the same individual. That's
           why I am insisting continuously: don't create any split in your life, don't condemn anything of the
           body. Live it -- not unwillingly -- live it totally, intensely. That very living will make you capable of
           another search.
                That's why I don't say my sannyasins have to be ascetics, that my sannyasins have to leave their
           wives, their husbands, their children. All that nonsense has been taught for centuries, and how many
           people -- out of millions of monks and nuns -- how many people have blossomed? Not even a single
           one. I want you to live life undivided. And first comes the body, first comes your outer world.
                The moment the child is born he opens his eyes, and the first thing he sees is the whole panorama
           of existence around him. He sees everything except himself -- that is for more experienced people.
           That is for those who have seen everything of the outside, lived it, and are freed from it.
                Freedom from the outside does not come by escaping. Freedom from the outside comes by living
           it totally, and then there is nowhere to go. Only one dimension remains, and it is natural that you
           would like to search in that remaining dimension. And there is your buddha, your enlightenment.
                You are saying, "Is it possible that Zorba and Buddha can meet?" That is the only possibility.
           Without Zorba there is no Buddha. Zorba, of course, is not a full stop. He is the preparation for the
           Buddha. He is the roots; Buddha is the flowering.
                Don't destroy the roots; otherwise there is not going to be any flowering. Those roots
           continuously supply the juice to the flowers. All the color in the flowers comes from the roots, and
           all the fragrance in the flower comes from the roots. All the dance of the flowers in the wind comes
           from the roots.
                Do not divide. Roots and flowers are two ends of one phenomenon.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR THREE YEARS NOW, AND STILL CANNOT SIT CLOSER TO YOU THAN
              THE FIFTH ROW. I FEEL SO HURT THAT I AM NOT WORTHY ENOUGH TO BE CLOSER. IS IT
              BECAUSE I AM A FARMER NOW AND STINK TOO MUCH?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              You are not unworthy, you are just unaware of a simple thing: that I only see the fifth row! The
           people who are sitting in the four rows ahead, I don't see them. So be a farmer, and stink as much as
           you want!
              But the fifth row is not unfortunate. From this place my eyes are focused on the fifth row.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              IS LIFE REALLY MEANINGLESS?


               Meaning can be understood in two ways. There is meaning that is somewhere far away, you have
           to reach to it. It is extrinsic.
               Life is not meaningful in this first sense. And it is good that life is not meaningful in that sense,
           because then life becomes only a means to reach to the faraway goal, the faraway star. Then life
           loses its autonomous beauty. It is just a way; the real thing is tomorrow.
               Meaning has another category too: intrinsic. Life is tremendously meaningful in the second
           sense. Then meaning is not separate, somewhere else; then meaning is in the very living itself.
               You don't ask, has love any meaning? You know love is itself meaningful, it is not a means to
           some end. You do not ask if the beauty of a rose is meaningful. The beauty itself is enough; it does
           not lead anywhere, it contains its meaning within itself.
               In existence everything that is really valuable is always intrinsically meaningful. And life is
           equivalent to existence. Life has meaning. If you just change the word "life" into "living," you will
           be able to understand more easily. Living has meaning -- each moment -- because living is not
           something dead like "life." The word "life" is dead -- all nouns are dead. But the language is created
           by dead people.
               Some day the new man is going to create a language which consists only of verbs, because that
           will be authentic to existence. In existence there is no noun. Have you seen "life"? Have you met
           "life" anywhere? All that you meet, experience, is living.
               Sipping a cup of tea, going for a morning walk, doing your work -- all these small activities make
           up your living. And each part, each moment of living, is meaningful. You just have to be there;
           otherwise, who is going to experience the meaning?
               People go on drinking tea, but they never are there; their minds are wandering all over the world.
           People are making love, but they are not there. It is a very strange world that we have created. In one
           bedroom there are at least four people. Already the bedrooms are so small, too difficult for two
           people; and in the bed there are four people, or even more. These two people who are making love
           are not there: the man is thinking of some Hollywood actress, the woman is thinking of Muhammad
           Ali. So there are four people. Who is making love to whom? These two people are simply going
           through the gestures of love -- they are not present -- mechanical gestures of love. And then they ask,
           "Is there any meaning in life?" You go on losing every moment by your absence.
               When I was a student, my principal in the high school was continuously troubled by my absence
           from the school. My family was troubled. I would start going to school, but never reach there. Life
           was so much, and so many things were happening on the way... and the school was almost one mile
           away from the house.
               The principal called me one day and said, "You are almost always absent."
           I said, "That's where you are wrong."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "I am always present wherever I am. To be absent is not my style of life. And what can I
           do? -- this one mile between the school and my house.... A magician was doing his tricks on the
           street, and I became present there. It was far more interesting than your teachers, and I learned more
           than I could have learned here -- because whatever your teacher is saying I can read in the book, but
           I will never meet that magician again. And he did such beautiful tricks that when he was finished I
           followed him to his tent outside the city.
               "He asked me, 'Son, why are you following me?' I said, 'You are getting old. Don't you want your
           tricks to live on even when you are gone?' He said, 'That seems to be meaningful! -- you can come
           in. Many people have asked me to teach them the tricks, but not in this way.' So I have been with the
           magician.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "Life is a bigger school than your school. And I am, each moment, present wherever I am. To be
           absent is not my style of life, so you please take your words back."
               He said, "In that case I will have to see your father."
               I said, "You can see anybody you like, but remember that my father knows me perfectly well.
           Just let me be informed when you are coming so I can also be present there. You both will be absent
           -- because my father is continuously busy with his business, and you are busy with who is absent,
           who is present. At least let somebody into that meeting who is present!" I told him, "Be honest and
           sincere and tell me: Are you present right now?"
               He said, "My God, perhaps you are right. I was thinking of my buffalo -- she has not returned for
           two days."
               I said, "You need not be worried, I know where she is. That's the beauty of being present
           everywhere! I have seen her just by the side of the tent of the magician. Now what do you say: Was
           it more worthwhile my coming to the class, or finding your lost buffalo? You can go and catch hold
           of her."
               People are not there where they seem to be. This is why they go on missing the meaning of life.
           Just remain present to any small act you are doing. It does not matter -- you don't have to do great
           acts, become a world conqueror, go to the moon, or stand on top of Everest; it does not matter what
           you do. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing -- or not doing -- be present, and the meaning
           of life will start unfolding. It is tremendously blissful.
               But don't seek it somewhere else -- in a church, in a temple, in a holy book. You will not find it.
           Even if you come across God -- who, by the way, does not exist -- but even if you come across God,
           you will not be present. You may be thinking of your buffalo. It is good that God is not there;
           otherwise, he would be so embarrassed by all these saints of all the religions, because none of them
           is present to the moment. They are living a life somewhere else in the tomorrows -- and today goes
           on slipping by, and the tomorrow never comes. Finally comes death, not tomorrow.
               Life is today! Tomorrow is death. So when you come across death, it is a great shock that life has
           gone by and you have not been able to find any meaning in it. And now there is no tomorrow left,
           and you are accustomed to search for meaning in the tomorrows. But you have been told about,
           taught about, prepared for, tomorrows.
               If you understand me... I want you always to be present wherever you are. It does not matter
           where you are; just be totally present, and every small act, by your presence, will become lighted up,
           and you will know that your whole life becomes just a caravan of lights. That's the meaning. Death
           comes and goes, but the caravan continues.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHY DO YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE NOT A SAVIOR?


               All the saviors, all the prophets, all the messengers of God have failed you, have deceived you. I
           don't think their intentions were bad; I never suspect anybody's intention. But the point is not the
           intention; the point is the result. These saviors, messiahs, prophets, may have been thinking they are
           doing good to you, but they have done immense harm to humanity. First, they made you dependent.
           They took away your responsibility with their own hands.
               If somebody takes away your money, nothing is taken; money you can earn again. But if
           somebody takes your responsibility, you are destroyed, you are almost instantly killed. To be
           responsible for yourself is the very life of your being. And these saviors were saying, "You have just
           to be faithful, and to save you is our responsibility."
               I don't take anybody's responsibility, because I don't want to destroy you. Your responsibility is
           your dignity, your very pride in being human beings.
               Secondly, I am not a savior because I don't want to be crucified. I don't like that idea at all. I am a
           very contemporary man, I prefer an electric chair; crucifixion is too primitive and crude. And to be a
           savior, to be crucified seems to be something essential; otherwise, nobody is going to believe that
           you are a savior.
               Do you know how many followers Jesus had before crucifixion? You could have counted them
           on your fingers. And how many followers does he have after his crucifixion? Christianity is the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           greatest religion in the world, has the largest number of people. Is it not strange?
               Jesus alive -- not a single learned man was impressed by him, not a single rabbi was his follower.
           And Judea, his country, was full of learned scholars; rabbis were not a rare commodity. Whom could
           he influence? -- twelve illiterate, uneducated people! But after his crucifixion a great change came
           over the world. Crucifixion did a miracle.
               This is the human mind. If you are living in a beautiful house, nobody comes to say to you,
           "Your house is really beautiful, and to pass on the street and see the house makes one feel so
           joyous." Nobody will come.
               But if the house is on fire, then the whole neighborhood will gather together to sympathize with
           you. And these are the same people who were jealous. Perhaps these were the same people who had
           thought, "If something happens to this house, if it is burned, destroyed, it will be good: it was an
           eyesore." The same people are sympathizing. What has happened?
               Now they are feeling themselves to be better than you. Your house is burned, their houses are not
           burned: God is more favorable to them. He has destroyed your house because it has become too
           much of an ego trip to you. But this is the moment to sympathize, because in sympathy the
           sympathizer has the upper hand.
               When Jesus was crucified, a wave of sympathy... and many who had never thought about the
           man at all became Christians. In fact, he was crucified under the orders of the Roman emperor, by
           his governor-general, Pontius Pilate, on the request of the chief rabbi of the Jews. But after his
           crucifixion Rome became the capital of Christianity and it still remains so; the Vatican is just by the
           side of Rome. The whole of Italy is Christian. Strange, the way human mind functions.
               I am not interested in creating a religion. I want everybody to be responsible for himself; I don't
           want to be anybody's savior. Nobody has ever been, they were all pretending. And I don't want to be
           counted with those pretenders. And, of course, I don't want to be crucified, because that crucifixion
           will create great sympathy for me, and that sympathy will become a religion.
               I do just the opposite. I live in absolute luxury. You can see my collection of Rolls Royces, you
           can see my collection of diamond watches. Nobody is going to sympathize with such a man.
           Do you get the point?
               Okay!




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #41
                                 Chapter title: The psychology of the buddhas
           25 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510250
              ShortTitle: BONDAG41
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 96 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              PLEASE EXPLAIN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE BUDDHAS.


              Man can be understood as a seven-story building: three stories are underground, three stories are
           above ground. One story, the middle one, is half underground and half above ground. This fourth
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           story is where we are. Sigmund Freud calls it conscious mind.
               When Freud started working with sick people, he became aware that there is something
           underneath the conscious mind. He called it the unconscious mind. He stopped there. He thought he
           had discovered something new -- and in a way he was right, because he was not aware of the Eastern
           psychology that has existed for thousands of years which has taken note of all the states of the mind.
           So it was a re-discovery.
               Sigmund Freud's closest colleague, and the most talented psychologist, was Carl Gustav Jung.
           He worked even harder, went deeper into the psyche of man, and found another story underneath the
           unconscious. He called it the collective unconscious mind. He stopped there. It is enough for one
           man to discover even one story, because it is such a vast phenomenon. And, after Jung, nobody has
           gone deeper than that.
               But in the East, below the collective unconscious mind, we have discovered the last story -- the
           cosmic unconscious mind. In the East these minds are simply mentioned, no details are given. The
           reason is clear... because the search in the East and in the West differed fundamentally. The Western
           psychologists were concerned with sick people, insane people; naturally, they have to go below the
           conscious mind to the unconscious. But if there was somebody who was even more insane, they had
           to go to the collective unconscious. But it is very rare to find a man who is so mad that he has
           reached the cosmic unconscious mind. If somebody goes that mad, he will be almost a rock. That's
           why they have not been able to discover the cosmic unconscious mind.
               But, in the East, the search was totally different. They started looking into the minds of
           meditators, not madmen. As they worked, they found that above the conscious mind there is a
           superconscious mind. And many religions have stopped there, thinking they have arrived -- it is so
           beautiful, so peaceful.
               But a few seekers continued to fly higher and higher, and found another story on top of the
           superconscious mind: the collective superconscious mind. Most of the seekers stopped there; the joy
           is too much, uncontainable. It is unbelievable that there can be anything more. But only a few have
           gone to the very end, to the highest peak -- and they have found the cosmic conscious mind. The
           cosmic conscious mind is what I call the state of enlightenment, the state of buddhahood.
               The West has not even started working upwards. It has not even finished the downward journey.
           And it is not just accidental that more psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists go mad than any
           other profession. It looks strange: these people should be the sanest people -- but you don't see the
           complexity.
               With their patients they are going deeper into darkness -- and going with the patients, they are
           becoming vulnerable themselves. Seeing the patient has fallen from his conscious mind into the
           unconscious, they become aware of their own unconscious. Seeing the patient who has fallen into the
           collective unconscious, they become aware of their own collective unconscious. And it is like
           standing on the verge of an abysmal depth. Just a single wrong step and you will be drowned in
           darkness.
               More psychologists commit suicide than any other profession: the proportion is almost double.
           More psychologists are sexually perverted than in any other profession. One should have thought
           just the opposite -- that the people who know psychology, the workings of the mind, would be more
           natural, healthier, saner. But that is not the case, and the reason is that Western psychology has never
           looked upwards. It has never worked with meditators. It has never raised its eyes towards the sky; it
           is focused towards deeper and deeper, darker and darker spaces. They have not been studying
           healthy people.
               In fact, why should somebody who is healthy go to a psychoanalyst? -- and particularly
           somebody who has attained to superconsciousness. He will have a far vaster vision than any
           psychologist. He has nothing to learn from them; he can teach them many things of which they are
           absolutely unaware. The man who has reached to the collective superconsciousness has become
           almost superhuman.
               But in the West, in the first place it was difficult to find such people. Secondly, where such
           people existed, the Western psychologists were afraid to go; their very existence disturbed their petty
           theories. They want to be very systematic -- and then suddenly they come across a man who has a
           superconscious mind. He disturbs their whole system. His functioning is different, his behavior is
           different, his actions are different.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He looks at the same things with a different eye. He listens to the same words, but with a deeper
           and profounder meaning. He lives the same ordinary life, but with such a joy, with such a radiance,
           that it is unbelievable. He has nothing to be so blissful about, but it cannot be denied that he is
           blissful.
                The man of the higher stage -- the collective superconscious -- will be a giant. Sigmund Freud,
           Carl Gustav Jung, Alfred Adler, Assagioli, will look like pygmies before him. And nobody wants to
           look like a pygmy. It is said, in the East, that camels don't like mountains. Without the mountains
           around they are greatly content with their height, but by the side of a mountain the camel simply
           finds that he is nothing.
                Western psychology has been avoiding facing the reality of the higher states of mind. I call these
           people cowards. They are trying to look busy in mental asylums, or sitting by the side of the couch
           and listening to the dreams of some stupid guy -- mostly Americans, because you have to tell your
           dream and you have to pay too; otherwise, who is going to listen to your stupid dream?
                The psychologist is paid -- it is the most highly paid profession today -- for a strange thing: that
           he listens. Whether he listens or not you don't know. He just sits behind the couch so you cannot
           even see him, whether he is dozing, thinking, "When is this guy going to finish?"
                I have heard that one psychologist was very famous; each single minute you had to pay for. And
           a rich man, a very rich man, became his patient; of course, poor people cannot afford psychology --
           thank God!
                The rich man was able to pay whatever the psychologist wanted, but he had a condition: he was
           not to be interrupted. When he started telling his dreams then you had to listen, whatsoever the
           charge; money did not matter. And he went on and on. He was driving the psychologist nuts!
                Finally, the psychologist said, "It takes too much time, and I have to see other patients also. So I
           will do one thing: I will put on my tape recorder so whatever you say will be recorded. And in the
           night, when I have time, I can listen to it."
                The rich man said, "That's a perfectly good arrangement."
                Next day, when the psychologist was coming in the office, he saw the rich man leaving the office
           -- and the office had just opened. He said, "So soon? Are you finished with the story?"
                He said, "No, but I thought, if you are saving your time, why should I waste mine? So in the
           night when I had time I recorded it. So my tape recorder is telling the story, your tape recorder is
           listening to it. Your time is saved, my time is saved."
                Western psychology is in very bad shape. And the reason is, to study higher states of
           consciousness nobody is going to pay you; on the contrary, they may ask you to pay! The lower
           states, where a person becomes insane, are paying -- and when something like psychology becomes a
           business, it is dangerous. There should be a few things which should not be business. Now, it is the
           business aspect of psychology that is preventing it from studying higher states.
                At the level of superconscious mind, all thoughts, all feelings disappear; you start living in an
           absolute silence. But this silence is a little bit empty. It is beautiful; just to be silent, utterly silent,
           has a beauty of its own. But when you reach to the collective superconscious you become aware that
           silence can remain and yet it can become full; it need not be empty. It can become full of joy, it can
           become full of love, it can become full of creativity.
                But there is still one higher stage: the cosmic superconsciousness, where your individuality
           disappears like a dewdrop falling into the ocean. Suddenly you become the whole ocean. At the
           stage of cosmic superconsciousness you start experiencing the ultimate truth of life, the meaning of
           existence, your unity with the whole.
                Things are no longer outside you, you are no longer outside of things: all divisions have
           disappeared. In some strange way the sunrise is within you, and the stars are within you, and the
           flowers are within you. You have become spread over the whole cosmos.
                There is tremendous liveliness. Birds are singing, peacocks dancing. The whole existence is your
           home. Only one thing you cannot find: your tiny ego. That is lost somewhere on the way. You are,
           and you are for the first time, but you are not an ego, you are just pure isness.
                The psychology of the awakened ones covers the whole range -- all the seven stories. The lower
           three stories are not bothered about. Years of psychoanalysis is sheer wastage. In the psychology of
           the awakened ones, anybody who has fallen below the conscious is simply taught a simple method of
           meditation, which brings him back to normal consciousness without any analysis, without going
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           through years of all kinds of torture.
               And the same method -- once you know it has brought you from the unconscious to the
           conscious, you have a master key in your hands, because the method to pass from one story into
           another is the same. The same method of witnessing takes you away from conscious mind to
           superconscious mind. Don't stop. There will be great temptation to stop, because you have not seen
           such serenity, such tranquility -- you may think perhaps the end has come. No. Until you feel
           oneness with the whole existence, go on. The same method will take you step by step to the final and
           ultimate stage of being.
               Western psychology is only for sick people. Eastern psychology is for healthy people. My effort
           is to bring them together -- because healthy or sick, they are the same people. And if a method is
           available which can take you from one stage to another higher than it, then why stop anywhere? Just
           being normal is nothing. There are higher treasures waiting for you, greater experiences ready to be
           yours. The ultimate home has no doors: you can simply enter it.
               Western psychology has no method through which the patient himself can become independent
           from the psychologist. He becomes dependent. In fact, it becomes something of prestige; people ask
           each other, "Who is your psychoanalyst?" If you cannot say some great name, that means you are
           missing something.
               And the psychoanalyst, after years of analysis, reaches nowhere, helps you to reach nowhere.
           You can change the psychoanalyst -- and that's what people go on doing. It becomes an addiction.
           Two sessions per week -- if they don't have them, then they start feeling uneasy. It is a kind of
           catharsis. Just speaking your mind without any inhibition, without any taboos, helps you to
           unburden.
               But within two to three days you accumulate again the same burden, because the psychoanalysis,
           as it is practiced, is not destroying your inhibitions, it is simply giving you temporary relief. At the
           most you may become a normal human being. That means you may reach to the fourth stage, in
           which the whole of humanity is living. That is not much of a gain.
               And you have not been given any insight into how to go on growing. You have not even been
           told that there is anything above the normal conscious mind. In fact, even the psychoanalysts don't
           know that there is something above it -- and they are not interested, for the simple reason that the
           person who goes above is not a patient. He has no dreams to analyze, he is not sick anymore. He is
           for the first time healthy, and getting more and more healthy. At the seventh stage he will be whole.
               To me, that's what "holy" should mean -- not being a saint according to a certain doctrine, not
           being an ascetic, not following Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism.
               The real holiness is the fragrance of becoming whole, becoming one with the whole.
               But because psychoanalysis has become a business in the West... and it was meant to become a
           business. It was created by a Jew, and it is mostly dominated by the Jews; it is a Jewish profession.
           And whatever the Jews do will become a business. Christianity became a business -- that was the
           working of a Jewish carpenter, Jesus Christ. It is big business. Sigmund Freud has created another
           big business.
               What I am saying and doing is to destroy it as a business. It is something more valuable. It is
           something that should not be categorized as a profession, as a business: it is human growth, and we
           should look for higher states.
               Perhaps the people who have fallen lower than the normal, if they had known that there were
           higher stages, may have fallen higher. Why choose the lower when you know...?
               There is a story, a Sufi story. It must be a story, it cannot be true, but it has some truth in it. A
           Sufi mystic, who was known to be a little bit eccentric, a little crazy, was staying in a disciple's
           house. And they thought, "This man is known to do things which create unnecessary nuisance, and
           he enjoys it. So let him sleep in the basement, and we will lock the door so in the night at least he
           cannot do anything."
               Suddenly in the middle of the night they heard great laughter coming from the roof. They rushed
           up, and they saw the saint rolling on the roof and laughing a belly laughter. He could not stop even
           to tell them what had happened.
           The host asked, "What has happened?"
               He said, "Strange things happen to me -- I started falling upwards! You put me in the basement,
           and in the night I started falling upwards -- I am here on the roof! That's why I am laughing, because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           this is not the normal way of falling, and you will think that I am being a nuisance."
                The story may be a story, but such stories are told to say something which cannot be said
           otherwise.
                The people who have fallen below the normal mind, if they had known that there is a door
           upwards, may have chosen to fall upwards. For example, all great artists, painters, poets, dancers,
           musicians, sculptors -- most of them have been, sometime or other, inmates in a mad asylum. And
           these were the most intelligent people you can find on the earth.
                I can clearly see that a person like Vincent van Gogh, if he had known.... (THERE IS THE
           LOUD ROAR OF A MILITARY JET PASSING OVERHEAD.) Don't be worried: somebody has
           fallen down, has lost his normal consciousness. Otherwise, the whole sky is available, there was no
           need to come so low -- but it happened at the right moment!
                Vincent van Gogh, if he had known that there is some door upwards -- I cannot conceive that he
           would have fallen downwards. (THE JET RETURNS.) He is back again! But still don't be afraid. He
           is falling, but he will not fall too much, because there are only three stories down and he seems to be
           on the third already. (THE JET RETURNS AGAIN.) He is giving proof!
                My work here is to bring the Eastern discoveries of higher consciousness to the West and create
           the psychology of the buddhas, so that there is no need for anyone to fall down. Just make the
           passage going upwards available to every person.
                Most of the great painters and other artists have committed suicide because they could not
           prevent themselves from falling again and again back into madness, and it seemed that only death
           could become their deliverance. This is shameful, this is ugly! In the East, in the whole of history,
           not a single artist has been mad, not a single artist has committed suicide. And they have created far
           greater art, far deeper music, far more magical dances. The West cannot compare.
                But what happened? Why did these people not become mad, not commit suicide? The reason
           was, the higher realms were available. And they had the intelligence: they were not satisfied with the
           normal consciousness, they had to move away from the normal consciousness. If there is no way to
           go up, they were ready to go down, but they wanted to move away from normal consciousness.
                But once they are made aware that higher possibilities exist, I don't think anybody is going to
           choose lower realms.
                It is something of tremendous importance to understand that Western history is not more than
           two thousand years old. The East is at least ten thousand years old. And yet in ten thousand years not
           a single case of madness or suicide amongst such intelligent creators who made the Taj Mahal, who
           made the temples of Khajuraho, who made the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, the temples of Konarak --
           there exists nothing comparable to them anywhere in the world.
                In China, there is a temple known as the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, because the temple
           has ten thousand statues of Buddha. It is almost the whole mountain, carved. It must have taken
           centuries, and thousands of sculptors, craftsmen, designers to create a temple out of the mountain --
           and with ten thousand beautiful statues of Buddha. Just sitting inside it you will feel that you are
           uplifted. The whole atmosphere is vibrant. Not a single artist has fallen into the depths and darkness,
           as has been happening in the West to almost every artist.
                This situation can be changed. But the psychology should be transformed. It should not be
           oriented to the insane people; its orientation should come from the awakened ones.
                Meditation is simply a method to go beyond your normal mind. And anyone who meditates
           cannot fall below the normal mind. That is an impossibility. And anyone who meditates is sooner or
           later going to reach his real home -- which is not only his, which is our home.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              SHAKESPEARE SAID, "THERE WAS NEVER A PHILOSOPHER WHO COULD ENDURE THE
              TOOTHACHE." WHAT IS THE MYSTIC'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS PHYSICAL PAIN?


               Shakespeare is right. There has never been a philosopher who could bear a toothache, because
           philosophy has nothing to do with toothache, headache, stomachache. Philosophy is just intellectual
           gymnastics, it has nothing to do with reality. It talks, argues, creates magnificent systems of thought,
           but it does not change the man who is creating all this. He remains the same man.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, I remember that Immanuel Kant, one of the great philosophers of Germany,
           became very sick. The doctors were at a loss, because there was no reason for his sickness. They
           could not find anything wrong with his body.
               Then one of the friends who had been out of town came back. He looked around and he said,
           "Don't be worried, I know what is the cause."
               The doctors said, "We have been searching for the cause and we don't know it. You are not a
           doctor -- how do you know the cause?"
               He said, "I know Immanuel Kant. The window in the room is the place where he used to stand
           every morning to see the sunrise. The neighboring house has been sold to a new owner and they have
           planted tall trees just close to the window. And Immanuel Kant is a man who functions just like
           clockwork -- moment to moment, things have to be exactly the same. These trees are the cause of his
           sickness."
               The friend went to the neighbor and told him. He said, "If this is the cause, anybody could have
           come and told me. Immanuel Kant is so precious a man -- we will cut down the trees immediately."
               The trees were removed, and the next day Immanuel Kant was perfectly healthy -- not even a
           toothache. But because he cannot see the sunrise from his window.... He could have seen it from
           somewhere else, but that was not his way. He had very fixed habits.
               At ten o'clock in the night he would go to bed. Everybody knew about it. Once in a while
           somebody who was not aware of the fact would be simply shocked, because Immanuel Kant, seeing
           the clock striking the hour of ten, would simply jump into his bed and cover himself with his blanket.
           He would not even say good night, and the man was sitting there!
               His servant would come and say, "The master has gone to sleep. He goes exactly according to the
           clock, so he cannot waste a single moment even in saying good night. Now you have to go -- you can
           come tomorrow, or whenever you like. But don't feel offended, he does not mean any offense to
           anybody."
               He was habituated to getting up early in the morning, at five o'clock. He loved the early morning
           fresh air, the crispness of it, and the silence of the road. But to get up at five was a difficulty. The
           servant was told that he had to wake him at five, whatsoever happens. Kant would fight, he might hit
           the servant. The servant was allowed to hit him, drag him out of the bed, push him into the
           bathroom. You could do everything, but if you allowed him to sleep, your service was finished.
               And this was a daily ritual: the servant beating the master, the master beating the servant. He was
           hiding under the blanket, and the servant was pulling him out and forcing him into the bathroom; he
           was coming out again and again, and trying to get into the bed.
               Immanuel Kant would say at that time, "What are you doing? You are my servant, and I am
           saying that I want to sleep!"
               But he had warned him, "I will say such things! You are not to listen to ANYthing. I may say
           that I am feeling sick, I don't want to get up. Don't listen to any argument, any excuse: your work is
           to put me in the bathroom, so that at exactly five I am on the road."
               He was a man of tremendous intelligence and he created a great philosophical system; but as far
           as his attitude, his approach towards life is concerned, he behaved very childishly -- not even in a
           mature way. It seems his philosophical intelligence had become overgrown, and everything else had
           remained retarded.
           You ask me, "What will be the mystic's attitude?"
               I will tell you an incident -- it happened in this century.... In 1920, the maharaja of Varanasi in
           India had to go through an operation for appendicitis, but he refused to take any anesthesia, any
           chloroform, anything that could make him unconscious.
               He said, "I have been working my whole life to expand my consciousness. Just for this small
           operation I am not going to take anything that goes against my consciousness; I don't want to fall
           into unconsciousness."
               He told his doctors, "Don't be worried" -- and the doctors had been called from England, the best
           surgeons. But they were concerned because it was a major operation, and to do it without giving any
           anesthesia was unheard of.
               But there was no way. The maharaja was adamant, and he said, "I tell you that there is no
           problem. I will simply close my eyes and go into my meditation. Then what happens to my body, I
           am simply a witness of it."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It was not understandable for the surgeons, but to wait was also dangerous; the operation had to
           be done as quickly as possible. So finally they had to agree.
               The maharaja closed his eyes, relaxed his body, and the operation was done. It took two hours.
           The doctors could not believe their own eyes, that the man was there, fully conscious, yet there was
           no sign of pain on his face.
               When the operation was over he opened his eyes, and he said, "I loved it. It was a great
           experience to witness my body being operated on, and just to stand there aloof, far away -- as if
           something is happening to somebody else."
               That's the mystic's attitude. Anything that happens to his body is not happening to him; he is
           simply a witness. Even if death comes, he is simply a witness.
               Socrates was dying -- he had been given poison. He was a great mystic. His disciples were
           surrounding him, and he went on saying to them, "My legs have become numb." And he laughed, he
           said, "But I am just the same! My legs are gone, but I am not reduced. My hands have become numb,
           but I am the same. My consciousness is not reduced; on the contrary, it is more clear than it has ever
           been. Soon my heart may stop. Soon I may not be able to talk to you, but remember, only the body is
           dying, I am not."
               This is the mystic's attitude, and this is the only healthy attitude. Every human being should
           attain to it.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOUSNESS? PLEASE
              EXPLAIN.


               Spirituality is something which accepts the duality between matter and spirit. It is against
           materialism, it is a word that creates schizophrenic people.
               Religiousness is something far more beautiful. The word "religiousness" comes from religio. It
           means putting things together. Spirituality means splitting things into matter and spirit, Zorba and
           Buddha, body and soul. That has been the way of all the religions up to now. But it is basically
           wrong, because existence is not dual; it is oneness, it is one organic whole.
               The word "religiousness" simply means that you are feeling a togetherness with body, with mind,
           with soul; there is no division. In this unity blossoms religiousness. Religiousness is far higher than
           spirituality. Spirituality can take you into the lower states of consciousness. Religiousness can take
           you into the higher states of consciousness.
               Do not divide. All divisions are false. And anything that divides, drop it. Anything that unites,
           cherish it, nourish it, rejoice in it.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              ARE YOU EVER BORED WITH US?


              Sure -- but only when you ask such stupid questions!
           Okay?




                                        From Bondage to Freedom
                                                  Chapter #42
                                  Chapter title: Everything beautiful is absurd
           26 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Archive code: 8510260
              ShortTitle: BONDAG42
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 103 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              IF YOU ARE NOT OUR LEADER, WHY DO WE GET CLEAR MESSAGES FROM THE MASTER TO
              DO THIS OR THAT?


               I am certainly not your leader, and I never was before. The very word "leader" stinks of politics.
           In the world of religiousness there are no leaders, no followers, because to be led by someone is to
           remain blind. He knows -- you do not know. You have simply to be his shadow, following his
           footprints wherever he goes.
               Religious experience is totally different. The function of the guide is acceptable. The guide has
           not to be followed, but understood. The guide can tell you about his experience, the path that leads to
           the peak of existence. But he also knows that every individual is unique; hence, you cannot follow
           the footprints of another person. You will have to find your own path. There are not ready-made
           paths already available -- and that's the beauty, the beauty of total freedom. As you walk you create
           the path. By your very search you create the truth.
               The guide is a friend; he is not a leader. A leader is ugly. He reduces you, insults you, humiliates
           you, makes you puppets. He decides for you -- you are not allowed to decide for yourself. For
           example, Jesus says to his followers, "I am your shepherd, you are my sheep." And I am amazed that
           not a single disciple stood up and said, "This is humiliating. You are degrading us, putting us below
           human beings." Just to become a shepherd thousands of people have to be reduced to sheep -- to
           fulfill one man's mad ego. How many million people have been reduced to subhuman levels?
               The leader becomes bigger as he manages to make the follower smaller. The leader can never be
           your friend. And if he can never be your friend, then who is he? He is your enemy! I repeat it: he is
           your enemy. He has kept you retarded, blind, unevolved. He has really made you into sheep just to
           fulfill his desire of being a shepherd, of being a savior. And for twenty centuries not a single
           Christian has raised the question that this statement of Jesus does not show compassion, love. The
           statement is fascist!
               I am certainly not your leader. I do not want anybody to remain retarded, to remain blind, to
           become dependent on me. I don't want to become your father figure.
               Have you ever thought why you call your priests, bishops, cardinals, "father"? They don't have
           any children, they are unmarried people -- a very strange kind of father! You are their children, and
           to remain your father they have to keep you confined to your childhood consciousness. You should
           not be allowed to grow.
               Why do all the religions call God, the father? Why not God, the uncle? -- which seems more
           human, more soft, more intimate. But God has to be the father for a certain reason. He helps you to
           remain a child, dependent, always praying for help, always hoping for reward. But that never allows
           you to stand on your own feet.
               For thousands of years humanity has remained stuck. If Charles Darwin is true, that one day,
           thousands of years ago, even monkeys managed to become men, then what has man been doing for
           thousands of years? Is evolution finished? Has man come to a full stop? It does not seem so. Looking
           at your misery, your suffering, your anguish, you cannot be accepted as the end of evolution.
               Then what has gone wrong? Monkeys could become man because there was no priest amongst
           them -- they were free. Man could not evolve higher consciousness, for the simple reason that your
           higher consciousness will take away the leadership of your priests, politicians, popes.
               The word "pope" also means the father. Why so much desire for a father? You must be feeling
           immensely helpless, must be feeling that you need somebody to protect you, somebody who is
           all-knowing, all-powerful. But the very dependence is your slavery.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Each leader -- political, religious, or of any other brand -- is against the evolution of man.
                I am not your leader. And I hate the very word from my guts, because I can see the implications
           of it. To be a leader means to be a criminal! Of course, the crime is so subtle that you don't see
           somebody being murdered. But the whole humanity is being crushed, murdered under the weight of
           it.
                You have been told for centuries just to follow: it is not your business to think, to contemplate, to
           meditate, to decide for your own life. Somebody else has to decide it. Somebody else has to give you
           ideals, values. Your function is only to be faithful.
                Faith is poison, and to be faithful means you have committed suicide. But the leader needs
           faithful people, committed people, surrendered people. These are good words for making people
           enslaved.
                But the guide is a friend, he is not your leader. He has found something which you can also find.
           His function is to make you aware of your potentiality. His function is not to create a certain
           personality according to his ideas but to give you freedom, to help you come out of all kinds of
           conditionings so that you can become an individual.
                Personality is borrowed. It is what others have made of you. Individuality is your nature. It is
           what you have brought from your very birth with you.
                The guide helps you to destroy the personality. The moment the personality falls apart, suddenly
           you discover your original face. And your original face is always a tremendous transformation. You
           have got hold of your natural being, of your spontaneity, of your freedom. And these are the basic
           elements which will help you on the way.
                Now you can move on your own, without any leader, without any father figure, without any
           pope, without any God. You feel a strange contentment with yourself. You feel whole unto yourself.
                So remember, whenever I say something or I give a message to you, it is simply to destroy your
           bondage, your chains, your imprisonment. I am not shaping your being, I am simply deprogramming
           you. Your being is already there, covered under so many programs -- Christian, Hindu,
           Mohammedan, communist.
                You are almost like an onion, layers upon layers. My message is: start peeling those layers. And
           when you come to the very center of the onion there will be just nothingness in your hands, silence.
           From that silence, from that nothingness, everything becomes possible -- and you need not do
           anything.
                Just as the seed, finding the right soil, starts changing into a sprout.... The seed dies -- its death is
           absolutely necessary for the birth of the plant. And soon there will be a lush green bush full of
           flowers and fragrance.
                But your seed has been covered with so many layers of culture, etiquette, education, religion,
           country, that you have completely forgotten that you are here to grow, that you have to become a
           lush green bush full of flowers, fragrance, dancing in the wind and in the rain and in the sun. To me,
           that is religiousness.
                The guide is only a friend, to help you discover yourself. I am certainly not your leader. At the
           most, a friend, and that too, not against your will. I have not come to you -- you have come to me. I
           am not going anywhere. The thirsty have to come to the well. There is a saying of Mohammed, that
           if the thirsty cannot come to the well, then Mohammed is going to the thirsty. That is the language of
           the leader.
                The well simply remains available. You have thirst -- the well has water. You are always
           welcome, but the well is not going to force you, tell you, "You have to drink." It is your freedom to
           drink or not to drink.
                I have made myself available to the whole world. Now, those who feel some kind of
           synchronicity with me, those in whose hearts bells start ringing... I am not responsible for it. And if
           they start coming to me, I cannot refuse them.
           My message is to discover yourself.
                I am not your ideal; you are not to become like me. You are not to have faith in me -- that will
           not help. You will have to do hard work for transformation, and each will have to do it according to
           his need. I can help in many ways.
                All my messages are letters from a friend. Accept them or not -- that is up to you. There is no
           enforcement.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU ARE THE GREATEST. YOU ARE LIKE THE MUSIC OF MOZART, VIVALDI AND BACH AND
              MORE.
              YOU MAKE ME LAUGH, AND ALWAYS AT A TIME WHEN I NEED IT MOST.
              YOU TELL US THAT YOU FELT HURT AT THE ENTHUSIASM WITH WHICH PEOPLE DROPPED
              THE MALA, ETCETERA. THE RAJNEESH TIMES CALLED IT A STUNNING STATEMENT. THAT
              MADE ME LAUGH EVEN MORE.
              I HAVE NOT BEEN WITH A ZEN MASTER -- AT LEAST IN THIS LIFE. BUT I RECOGNIZE ONE
              WHEN I SEE ONE, AND YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY THE TOP -- HITTING PEOPLE WHEN THEY
              NEED IT, AND IN THE MANNER MOST APPROPRIATE. OF COURSE, I'M WAITING FOR MY
              COMEUPPANCE -- IT'S BOUND TO HAPPEN. AND THAT TOO MAKES ME LAUGH. IS JOY ALSO
              AN ABSURDITY?


                Everything beautiful is absurd. Joy is one of those experiences which are not utilitarian. Love,
           peace, enlightenment -- all are absurd, absurd in the sense that there is no meaning beyond
           themselves. Their meaning is intrinsic.
                I am reminded of Picasso. He was painting.... For almost two hours a man was standing behind
           him, watching; he could not figure out what the painting was, what the meaning was. Finally, he
           could not resist the temptation of asking Picasso.
                Picasso looked at him and said, "This is something! I was really going to ask you, because you
           have been watching for two hours: perhaps you may have found the meaning. I was so much
           engaged in painting, so much into it -- I was not there, only painting was happening. So I was hoping
           that perhaps you might be able to say to me what is the meaning of it all. As far as I am concerned,
           just painting it has been such a joyous experience -- now no other reward is needed."
                And one thing more he said. "You ask me what is the meaning of this painting, but you never ask
           these flowers what is their meaning. You never ask the sun, you never ask the moon, you never ask
           the whole sky full of stars what is the meaning. Why do you torture a poor painter? If the whole
           existence can remain without explaining what its meaning is, can't my small painting also remain
           without meaning? One thing I can say, it is tremendously beautiful."
                The man said, "That's right, it is attractive, it is beautiful; but a thing without meaning is absurd."
                Picasso said, "Exactly. It is not a commodity. In the marketplace everything has a meaning. It is a
           commodity, it is for some utilitarian purpose. But life is not just the marketplace, and it is good that
           it is not so. In life there are a few things which are utterly meaningless, yet absolutely fulfilling.
                "This painting is absurd. It is so absurd that I cannot figure out how I am going to hang it in my
           house -- which way is going to be up, which way is going to be down. I cannot figure it out. If you
           can help -- because you have been observing for two hours... how should I hang it?"
                The man said, "You are mad! You are painting it, and you don't know how to hang it?"
                Picasso said, "I am mad, you are not -- that's why I am asking you."
                The man tried in all possible ways -- there are only four possible ways to hang it. It was beautiful
           each way. The man said to Picasso, "You and your painting will drive me crazy! It was stupid of me
           to stand here and waste time. And this is as crazy as you are, because you can hang it any way and it
           looks right."
           Picasso said, "That's the beauty of it!"
                But beauty is absurd. Joy is absurd. Laughter is absurd. Collect as many absurdities in your life
           as possible. People collect strange things -- postal stamps.... Collect absurdities; and the more
           absurdities you have, the richer you are. The world may think you are a little off the track, but that is
           their problem; you are enjoying it.
                In my postgraduate studies in the university, I used to go on a small street which ended, just after
           two miles, in front of a deep valley; that was the dead end. Only a few professors who loved silence
           had their bungalows on that street; there was no traffic, because in those two miles what traffic can
           exist?
                I used to go there only when it would rain -- I loved to go into the rain. The last house on the
           street belonged to the head of the department of physics -- one of the very well-known scientists. He
           had been in America before I came to the university, teaching physics.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               His family, it became a routine thing -- whenever it would rain I would appear drenched, without
           any umbrella, without any raincoat, enjoying the natural shower.... The whole family would come
           onto their veranda -- the wife, the children -- and they would all watch, thinking that I must be mad.
               The professor was at the university. He heard one of my talks and he was very interested. We
           became friends -- he was an old man -- and one day he said, "Why don't you come for supper today?
           It happens to be my birthday."
           I said, "I will come, certainly."
               He had talked to his family about me many times, and the family was very much excited: "Who
           is the guest?" They were all waiting outside in the garden when I went in, and they all started
           laughing, looking at me. The professor could not understand what the matter was, because I also
           started laughing. The professor said, "I don't understand, but it seems you understand why they are
           laughing, and they understand you. And I was thinking I am going to introduce you to my family!"
               I said, "I know your family, they know me. We are well acquainted, although we have never
           spoken. I come here whenever it rains -- this street is so silent. Your house is the last house before
           the road ends, and your family rushes out to see me. I know they think I am crazy, but they don't
           know that I think they are crazy! -- because what is the point of rushing out again and again to see a
           crazy man? They wait for me. Whenever it rains, they stop all other work; they are simply waiting
           for me! Sometimes I have to come just for them. I may have some other work, but I think of these
           poor fellows -- that they will be waiting, and they will be unnecessarily frustrated if I don't come.
           They think I am mad, I think they are mad."
               The professor said, "This is strange! You never told me about it."
               I said, "You would not have understood the relationship that was growing between me and your
           family. We have become very close, very intimate -- without speaking a single word."
               The professor said to me, "Next time it rains, I am going to be with you if it is so joyful. I have
           never done anything like that."
               The next time he joined me, and he was really ecstatic. Just ordinary rain on an empty street --
           and we both laughed. He said, "But I have missed my whole life! And how am I going to convince
           my family now? -- they are watching both of us."
               And now I was also acquainted, so we both went into the house. The wife said, "This is the
           strangest thing that I have seen in my husband, that he should do such a thing."
               But the husband said, "You can think me crazy, there is no harm in it. But at least once, you
           should join us. Now we both are going every time the rain comes; you should, at least once, join us."
           She said, "But what is the meaning of it?"
               The professor said, "That is the difficulty. There is no meaning in it, but there is great joy."
               In small things you can find joy. But if you are looking for meaning, then even in the greatest
           experiences you will not find meaning. Meaning is a mind interpretation. And all that is beautiful,
           loving, ecstatic, is something of the heart.
               And the head can never understand the heart: there is no communication line between the two. It
           is the head that asks the meaning. It is the heart that asks for joyful experiences, for ecstatic
           experiences, but it never asks about their meaning.
               Put your head aside and try to look at life from the heart. You will find it so glorious, so
           infinitely luminous that you will not be able to conceive how you have been missing, how much you
           have been missing. And that will explain why you are miserable, why you are in anxiety, why you
           are always sad.
               It is as if somebody is trying to listen to music through the eyes -- he will not hear anything. He
           will say, "I want to see the music." But you cannot see the music, you can only hear it. It is better if
           you close your eyes and open your ears.
               Meaning is of the head, and if you go on searching through the head you will come to the same
           conclusions as Jean-Paul Sartre and other existentialist philosophers. They say, "Life is meaningless.
           The only thing worth doing is committing suicide, because why go on living a meaningless life?"
               Life is certainly meaningless, but tremendously joyful, hilarious... a dance, a song, a beauty. But
           you will have to change your gears from the head to the heart.
               Look at small children -- how excited they are in your bored world! You are sitting there
           completely bored, and your child is so excited. And you think you are right and the child is a fool.
           He does not know anything about life, that's why he is so excited about any absurd thing --
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           butterflies, flowers, colored stones, seashells, anything! And you can't see any meaning in them. But
           the child is right, you are wrong.
               The criterion is boredom: who is bored? Whoever is bored is wrong. Whoever is dancing,
           singing, having a good belly laughter is right! But one has to change. It is not a very big change --
           your heart and your head are not very far away, maybe a few inches. And the heart is closer to you,
           closer to your being; the head is the farthest from your being. But the whole programming going on
           is to avoid the heart and join your being directly with the head. That's what your schools, colleges,
           universities, are doing.
               The heart has no function in your education -- naturally, your life is a misery. A true education
           will be basically the education of the heart. It will make you more innocent, more childlike, more
           excited and ecstatic about small things. Then each moment becomes luminous.
               And what are you going to do with meaning? Even if there is meaning in something, what are
           you going to do with meaning? The real thing is experiencing.
               So it is perfectly good to accept joy, laughter, without any reason -- the way you accept your
           health. Are you ever worried when you are healthy, wondering: Why am I healthy? Do you go to the
           doctor, tremendously concerned and worried, and say, "Doctor, for seven days I have been healthy;
           something seems to be wrong"? No, health is natural; it need not be diagnosed, analyzed, it has to be
           lived.
               But when you are sick, you go to the doctor. You want to know the cause of it, because sickness
           is not natural. When somebody is sad, he is sick; he needs to find out why he is sick, why he is sad.
           But when somebody is laughing, just dancing, it is natural. In a healthy society it should be accepted
           without any questions.
               But because the whole society is sick, and suddenly one person starts laughing, naturally the
           whole society points to the person, that he is going crackers. There is no reason why he is laughing.
           Nobody has told a joke, nobody has slipped on a banana peel. Without any reason, he goes on
           laughing. But if somebody is sad, nobody says, "Without any reason this man is sad -- this cannot be
           accepted." This is a strange state.
               We have to change it completely. We have to make laughter, rejoicing, dancing, singing, part of
           a healthy being -- just overflowing well-being. And anybody who is miserable, sad, long faced, has
           to be taken to the psychologist. Something is wrong with the man. He is not overflowing with
           energy; his energy has shrunk.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              HAVE YOU EVER REGRETTED ANYTHING IN LIFE? -- BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER HEARD YOU
              SAYING, "I'M SORRY." PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ON THIS.


               I am sorry! -- but I have never regretted in my life, for the simple reason that whatever I do, I do
           it wholeheartedly.
               You regret because you never do things wholeheartedly, you are always divided. Some part of
           you wants to do it, some part of you is against doing it. If you do it, the part that was against is going
           to make you regret. If you do not do it, the part that was for it is going to make you regret. Anyway,
           you are in a fix.
               A divided mind cannot avoid regret. He always looks backward, and he always thinks perhaps
           the other alternative was better. But nothing can be done about it now, except regretting.
               I have never regretted in my life, because in the first place, I never do much. To regret, first you
           have to do something. So, basically, I am a good for nothing: why should I regret?
               Secondly, if circumstances, situations, are such that I have to do something, then I do it totally.
           And I never look back because there is nothing to look back for. Whatever I did, I did totally; there
           is no part of me which can say, "I was telling you, don't do it." So who is going to regret? And
           whatever has been done cannot be undone. So what is the point of crying and weeping over spilled
           milk?
               So I can say to you I am really sorry -- but I am helpless: this is the way I am. And I have
           enjoyed not doing; I have also enjoyed doing anything totally. There is no reason to regret anything.
               You regret only because you think that things could have been better. To me, they have always
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           been better. Whatever it was, to me it was the best. I enjoyed it fully.
                I am reminded.... I was traveling in a bus. I was going to a place where no buses, no trains were
           going, so for eight miles I had to go by bullock cart.
                But some misunderstanding happened. I had to get down at a place eight miles from my
           destination. I asked the passenger sitting by my side, "Is this the right place, the nearest?"
                He said, "No. If you stop at the next stop, it will be easier. It will be closer and you will be able
           to get a bullock cart. Here, you will not get a bullock cart."
                Thinking that he knew that area, I went to the next stop. When I got down there, the bus left, and
           I inquired. People said, "You have missed. It was the last place from where you could have got some
           vehicle to the place you want to go. From here it will be very difficult, and it is long. And the bus
           comes only once in twenty-four hours, so if you want to go back to that place you will have to wait.
           The same bus will come tomorrow."
                Seeing me in difficulty, a man offered me his hut, saying, "You can stay here for the time being."
                I have never been in such a poor place in my whole life. Not only poor, but utterly dirty, stinking.
           The man used to sell kerosene oil, so it was really awful. He offered me a bed for the night -- the bed
           was smelling of kerosene oil and nothing else.
                I could not turn over, because to keep my nose as far away from the bed as possible, the only
           position was just to lie down straight and look up. But I enjoyed it really -- remaining in the same
           position, looking at the roof, the stink of the kerosene oil all around, bedbugs, mosquitoes...
           everything that you could conceive to make a man suffer. I laughed.
                The man was on the veranda. He said, "What is the matter? Why are you laughing?"
                I said, "I am laughing because of this little experience of hell. I have always been intending to go
           to hell; this is a good training! And I promise you that once in a while, whenever I pass through here,
           I will be your guest."
                He said, "I was afraid, because although I do this business, the stink is so much that even after
           doing it for years I have not become accustomed to it. The mosquitoes are so big, the bedbugs are
           there; and I can see you are not even lying on your side. I know the reason," he said, "but I am sorry.
           I don't have anything else to offer to you."
                I said, "Don't be sorry. I am rejoicing in the whole experience. It is so new to me, and everything
           that is new is a great adventure and excitement."
                Next day, when I was leaving, he asked me, "Are you really thinking of coming back again?"
                I said, "Certainly." And I went to his hut at least four times. Whenever I passed through there, I
           always stopped at the wrong stop, reached the hut. And the man could not believe it: "Either you are
           crazy, or something... because now you know where to get down. The first time it was a mistake, but
           why are you doing it again and again?"
                I said, "I am not making any mistake -- I enjoyed that night so much. I could not sleep at all, and
           I had had no experience of bedbugs, mosquitoes. It is always good to be acquainted with new people.
           One never knows where one will end up.... New acquaintance is always good. And your kerosene oil
           makes me feel I am in hell. I don't know whether there is any hell or not, but I don't want to miss any
           experience. Perhaps there is no hell after life; then I will have had this experience. And I am
           immensely grateful to you."
                Whatever happens, you can always look into it and find something really precious. Now, once in
           a while sleeping on my back, looking up, I remember and I laugh. That experience has made all my
           life's nights far more beautiful. Now the comparison exists. Before it there was no comparison, it was
           stale: no bedbugs, no mosquitoes, no kerosene.
                I don't regret, I don't feel that it should have been otherwise. No, whatever has been should have
           been exactly the same as it has been. And I am perfectly happy with every act and with every
           consequence, because everything has been a tremendous teaching. It is just that you have to change
           your outlook, and the whole of life becomes a terrific drama.
                And you are not victims, you are just actors in it. You can keep your witness untouched by
           whatever happens. And the witness knows no regret, the witness cannot say, "I am sorry."


              BELOVED MASTER,
              CAN I DOUBT YOU?
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              Yes, absolutely yes -- including this statement!
           Okay?




                                          From Bondage to Freedom
                                                    Chapter #43
                                           Chapter title: The blessed ones
           27 October 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8510270
              ShortTitle: BONDAG43
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 75 mins




              BELOVED MASTER,
              YOU SAID BUDDHA IS A STATE OF NO-MIND. THEN HOW CAN THERE BE ANY PSYCHOLOGY
              OF THE BUDDHAS?
              PLEASE EXPLAIN.


                There can only be a psychology of the buddhas. The man who is in the mind cannot be objective
           about it. It is as if a madman were doing research on madness. Apparently -- it looks logical --
           because he is mad he can do research on madness. But it is not so in reality. Only one who is sane
           can look at all the dimensions of insanity objectively. The madman is not in a position to see
           anything, to understand anything.
                The same is the situation about the mind. One is in the mind and is trying to create a psychology:
           it is an impossible task. He can create only a fictitious psychology. That's why there are so many
           psychologies; otherwise there can only be one psychology -- just as there can be only one physics,
           one chemistry. There cannot be schools of psychology contradicting each other, refuting each other,
           arguing against each other, trying to prove themselves the real psychology.
                Sigmund Freud has never known anything beyond the mind that can give him the right to study
           the mind. He is immersed in it, he is it. Who is going to understand it? The understanding is always
           from the beyond -- some distance is needed. So whatever he creates is a beautiful fiction. His own
           disciples start creating their own fictions. Alfred Adler created another fiction. Carl Gustav Jung
           created still another fiction. They are all irrelevant. Nobody can prove who is right, because they are
           all wrong -- wrong for the simple reason that living in the mind you cannot look at it from a detached
           space, which is the basic scientific method.
                If you are studying tomatoes, one thing is absolutely necessary: that you should not be a tomato.
           You can be anything else. The state of the awakened person is a state beyond mind. He can see from
           the top of the hill into the dark valleys of the mind. The hilltop is full of sunlight. His vision is clear,
           he has no prejudices, he has no preconceived ideologies. He has left them far behind in the valley
           where everybody is a bigot, everybody is conditioned, everybody is either a Christian, or a Hindu, or
           a Mohammedan, or a Buddhist, or a communist.
                Everybody has become identified with a certain ideology. He has lost the clarity of vision, he is
           clouded. And he looks through those clouds, and everything becomes perverted.
                Sigmund Freud turns everything into sex. It is not true; everything is not sex. Sex is one of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           most significant parts of life, but everything is not sex. But the way of seeing... he has colored
           glasses on his eyes. Whatever he sees, immediately his mind translates it into some sex symbol.
                If he sees these pillars here, they are phallic. You have been sitting by these pillars. You have
           never thought that these are phallic symbols, that they represent the man's longing to have a long
           genitalia. But this long genitalia, the man will have to carry it on a truck! And what will happen
           about women? He cannot chase women, he is stuck with his truck.
                Anything! Fountain pens, pencils -- everything is phallic. He has a cloud over his vision. He
           himself is oversexual, too much repressed. His repression is creating a certain smoke, and it is
           coming out into his writings. They are hilarious! You give him anything, and within minutes it is
           turned into something sexual. You could not have conceived that this thing can be turned into
           sexuality. Every hole becomes feminine sexuality. This is not psychology, this is psychopathy.
                And one of his disciples, who said that "There are things which are connected with man's
           sexuality, but I cannot agree that everything is sexual" -- he found another fiction: will to power. For
           Alfred Adler, psychology simply became synonymous with will to power. Whatever you are doing,
           it is nothing but will to power. You say, "I have fallen in love" -- all wrong. According to him this is
           a strategy to be powerful over the woman. And that's why she is trying to escape from you. She
           knows the real purpose.
                But she also cannot escape too far, because she has also the same psychology: she wants power
           over you. So every husband and wife are continuously in a power struggle. Children and parents are
           in a power struggle. Students and teachers are in a power struggle. Everywhere the whole business of
           life is reduced into a power struggle -- will to power.
                According to Adler, sex becomes nothing but will to power. He was not aware of Eastern
           literature on sexology, which goes far back -- five thousand years old. Vatsyayana's maxims on sex
           describe eighty-four postures of lovemaking. But Adler knew only one posture -- the missionary
           posture.
                It is called the missionary posture in the East, the man on top. The East became aware for the
           first time of this brutality when Christian missionaries went there to spread the word of God. People
           simply laughed. How can a man who is loving, lie on a woman who is delicate, smaller, fragile? The
           brute is on top of the beauty -- and he does not allow her to move, because to move is not ladylike.
           That is the meaning of the word "lady" -- a good lay. But a good lay means a dead lay. The woman
           has to lie down completely dead, and the brute goes on doing exercises, gymnastics, pushups, and
           this he calls love.
                In the East it has been accepted that the woman should be on top. And it seems to be more
           natural. Man is stronger, more muscular, taller. And it is sexologically also significant that the
           woman should be moving, because if the man moves and woman remains unmoving, the man comes
           to his orgasm within seconds, and the woman has not even started yet. He is finished; gets down and
           goes to sleep. The woman cries, because she is simply being used, and to be used hurts more than
           anything else. This is not love. You have not taken any care about the woman, what happens to her.
                Vatsyayana makes it clear that the man should remain less moving so his orgasm is delayed, and
           the woman should be moving so they both come to orgasm almost simultaneously.
                But Adler saw in the West man on top, and immediately he had another instance, evidence for
           his psychology, that this lovemaking is nothing but will to power -- being on top. The woman is not
           physically so strong, but she takes her revenge in being bitchy. You can be on top of her for a few
           seconds, but for twenty-four hours she is bitchy, a pain in the neck.
                Love becomes a strange thing in the hands of Adler. It has to fit his idea of psychology. The
           same is true of Jung, of Assagioli, and so many others. Now there are dozens of schools, and every
           school pretends that they have found the real science of psychology. None of them is capable of
           finding real psychology because they don't fulfill the basic requirement.
                The basic requirement is to go beyond mind, because only then you can see the functions of the
           mind, the subtle activities of the mind, the darkest corners of the mind. From the hilltop of no-mind
           the whole valley is available to you, and you are simply a witness, an objective witness.
                Hence, I repeat it again: Only buddhas can create authentic psychology. Otherwise, there will be
           only different schools of psychopathologies.
                I can understand your question. Your question is: A man who has reached to the state of
           no-mind, what can he say about the mind?
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You are just putting this no-mind and mind in opposition. No-mind is not opposite to mind.
           No-mind is beyond mind. It is a clarity, a silence, that can give you the deepest insight into mind.
           You can look into all the layers of mind, but this is possible only from the highest point.
                And because now you are no more in the mess of the mind, you are no more confined by your
           mind. You have gone beyond boundaries; you cannot only see your mind, you can see mind as such.
           And unless mind as such is known, psychology will remain just a fictitious game.
                From the sunlit peaks you can see all the layers of mind. You are at the highest point. I have
           called it the cosmic mind, the mind of the whole existence. You are one with it. Just below you is the
           collective superconscious mind. Below that is the individual superconscious mind. Below that is the
           normal conscious mind. Below that is the unconscious mind. Below that is the collective
           unconscious mind. And at the very bottom is the cosmic unconscious mind. This is the whole
           rainbow of mind energy -- all the seven colors. The cosmic superconscious mind and the cosmic
           unconscious mind are the two ends of the rainbow. And then there are five divisions in between.
                We are at the fourth, exactly in the middle. Three are below us, three are above us. If a man goes
           mad, that means he slips down from the fourth to the third, sometimes even to the second; very
           rarely, to the first.
                A meditator travels upwards: first to the superconscious mind, then the collective superconscious
           mind, and then cosmic superconscious mind.
                This whole rainbow is not available to your so-called psychologists. So whatever they are doing
           is very fragmentary. And remember one thing: a fragmentary truth is far more dangerous than a lie.
           A half-truth is worse than a lie, because the lie cannot go on pretending to be true for long; sooner or
           later you are going to discover it. But the half-truth is dangerous:you can go on believing that this is
           the whole truth forever. You can be deceived by it.
                And the second thing to remember: truth cannot be divided. So the half-truth is again a very
           beautifully systematized lie.
                Just as you cannot have a half-circle -- or can you? Verbally there is no problem, but if you look
           at it closely, a circle can only be complete. The half-circle is not a circle, it is only an arc. Unless it is
           full, it cannot be called a circle. There are no other kinds of circles, there is only one kind: the full
           circle.
                The same is the case with truth. You cannot have half-truths; they become far more dangerous,
           poisonous than straightforward lies. And whatever the psychologists are doing is nothing but
           stretching small fragments to absurdity in order to make them look like the full truth, the whole truth.
                I say to you again, only the awakened one, the buddha, can give you a total vision of psychology.


               BELOVED MASTER,
               WESTERN PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY THAT MEDITATION IS A SUBJECTIVE PHENOMENON AND
               THEREFORE MUCH PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH IS NOT POSSIBLE. DO YOU AGREE?


                I do not agree, because no research is possible. You are saying, "Much psychological research is
           not possible." That's why I do not agree.
                Man's interiority, his subjectivity, cannot be trespassed. There is no way to make it an object of
           study. Research is absolutely impossible -- even search has not been done, and you are thinking of
           research.
                Man can experience his subjectivity on his own, but he cannot invite a researcher to go into him
           and to find out who he is. This is, by nature, impossible. And it is very fortunate that it is impossible
           -- that your subjectivity, at least, is always private, always your freedom. No trespass is possible.
                Yes, one can study one's own interiority, and one can make an effort to explain in words what he
           has found within himself. Perhaps that may give you some idea of your own subjectivity -- not
           exactly the same, but some glimpse, or at least the possibility that there is some inner essence in you
           which needs to be discovered; an encouragement that if somebody else can do it, why cannot you do
           it? Perhaps his methods of his own inner journey may help you to find methods suitable for yourself.
           Maybe a little bit modified, changed, but the same methods may be applicable.
                But one hundred and twelve methods of going inwards are available, have been for ten thousand
           years. Not a single method more can be added. The science of inner search is complete. You can just
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           look at those one hundred and twelve methods, and it is my experience and many of my sannyasins'
           experience that when you come to the method that will be suitable for you, something immediately
           rejoices in you -- as if something in your heart has been touched, some bell starts ringing within you.
                So just going through those one hundred and twelve methods -- and each method is described in
           two lines -- you just go slowly and see which method synchronizes with you. Then give it a try. Most
           probably that will be the method. If by chance you don't succeed in it, then look again. Some other
           method may be even more striking. But for the whole of humanity all the methods are there.
           Symptoms can be told to you: when you come to the method that is going to be your journey,
           something immediately is lit up in your being. Your mind falls silent, you know -- not from any
           outside authority, but by your own heartbeats -- that "This is the method for me."
                And as you start working on the method you will see how relaxing it is, and how simple, smooth.
           And on each step you will feel yourself more grounded, more rooted -- no more phony, no more
           American, no more plastic. For the first time you will feel you are real, authentic. And as you go
           deeper with the method, the sense of joy, sensitivity, goes on increasing.
                Love, for no reason at all, unaddressed to anybody -- just a lovingness surrounds you. And when
           you reach to the very center of your being there is an explosion of immense light, and a fragrance
           that you have never known.
                Those who are a little receptive may even become aware that something great has happened to
           you, because your face will take on a certain quality which you can find in the statues of Gautam
           Buddha. Your eyes, for the first time, will have a magnetism; your gestures will have a grace. Your
           whole being will be a beauty and a benediction to you and to all. As this experience ripens, you
           become a blessing to the whole existence.
                It is true that no objective research can be done on it, but that does not mean that this subjective
           world does not exist. That will be a stupid conclusion. It will be like a blind man who cannot see the
           light; hence he concludes that the light does not exist.
                There are things which are objectively available to be studied, but they are always things -- not
           life, not love, not consciousness. All that is great is subjective. And it is one of the greatest
           misfortunes of humanity that scientists go on insisting that unless you can study something
           objectively, it does not exist. That means that in the lab of Albert Einstein, everything exists except
           Albert Einstein. Then who is doing all these experiments? Who is watching and researching, and
           who is finding electrons and protons and neutrons? They all exist because they are objective. Albert
           Einstein does not exist, because his consciousness is not available to objective study. This is sheer
           stupidity.
                Your eyes cannot hear music; that does not mean that music does not exist. Your ears cannot see
           light, that does not mean light does not exist. It simply means you are using wrong means -- ears to
           see, eyes to hear.
                The method of objective study is for things, matter. And the inward journey -- because it is not a
           research into matter but into consciousness -- needs different methods. Those are the methods I am
           calling meditations.
                For the objective world, observation, experiments -- these are methods. For the subjective world,
           witnessing, experiencing -- these are the methods.
                And one of the fundamental rules of science is that everything exists with its polar opposite. The
           polar opposite is not contradictory, it is complementary. If love exists, hate exists; if beauty exists,
           ugliness exists. And if objective reality exists, you cannot deny subjective reality; otherwise, you
           will be going against the fundamental rule of science itself. Objective reality needs, as a polar
           opposite to it, a subjective reality. And certainly the same methods cannot be applied to both.
           Different methods are needed.
                Meditation will not help you to find atomic energy, nuclear weapons; otherwise, the East would
           have discovered all this nonsense long ago. And objective methods will not allow you to discover
           man's real being. And without knowing man's real being you can have all the riches of the world, but
           deep inside you will remain a pauper, miserable. East and West -- the objective approach and the
           subjective approach -- both are half. My own effort is that they should become one. There is no need
           to divide.
                Rudyard Kipling has stated, "West is West and East is East, and ne'er the twain shall meet." He is
           dead, but sometimes I think to drag him out of his grave and ask him, "Where is the line which
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           divides East from West? They are meeting everywhere." You are, in comparison to some place, East,
           in comparison to another place, West. And what nonsense is this, that "ne'er the twain shall meet"?
           The twain are always meeting on each point, because the same point can be called West and the
           same point can be called East. Calcutta is East of Bombay, Bombay is West of Calcutta. But Calcutta
           itself is West of Rangoon, and Rangoon is East of Calcutta.
               Rudyard Kipling was the poet laureate of the British empire. To me, he is simply an idiot. East
           and West are meeting everywhere, except in man. Things become easier; it is only a question of
           man's mind. In reality there is no division; the division is only mental.
               And in my sannyasins that division has dropped. My sannyasins don't belong to East or to West.
           They claim the whole earth as their own.
               They claim the objective reality as their own. They claim the subjective world as their own.
               To represent this, I have called the new man Zorba the Buddha. Zorba represents the materialist,
           objective approach. Buddha represents the subjective, spiritual approach.
               Divided, both are poor. Neither of them is a full circle. Joined, they become immensely rich.
           Joined together, they experience the greatest ecstasy that is available to humanity.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WHAT IS IT IN A PERSON THAT DRAWS THEM TO YOU AND TO WHAT YOU REPRESENT? ON
              THE ONE HAND, IT SEEMS THAT ANYONE WITH ANY INTELLIGENCE AND OPENNESS
              SHOULD BE HERE. ON THE OTHER HAND, I CAN'T CLAIM TO HAVE FOUND YOU THROUGH
              BEING EITHER PARTICULARLY INTELLIGENT OR OPEN. IT SEEMS I CAME TO YOU IN SPITE
              OF MYSELF, RATHER THAN BECAUSE OF MYSELF.


               That's the right thing to do -- coming to me in spite of yourself. Yes, there are people who come
           because of their openness, receptivity. There are people who come with their intelligence, with their
           rationality. But these are not going to be closest to me.
               You are fortunate that you are here in spite of yourself. That means neither a conviction of the
           head has brought you here, nor an openness of the heart has brought you here, but something which
           can only be called a magnetic pull between two beings.
               That's why you are puzzled: it is unexplainable. It is one of the greatest mysteries. Two beings
           can find each other -- pulled against their minds, against their logic, against everything -- nothing
           can prevent them. Something far more powerful than openness, than intelligence has made them
           aflame.
               Yes, there are a few people who are here just in the same way. They will be enriched more than
           anybody else. They are the blessed ones.


              BELOVED MASTER,
              WOULD YOU TALK ABOUT SHEELA AND HER GANG?


              My God! Such an old story. And you must be real lazy and late to ask such a question. I can talk
           about Adam and Eve -- that is far more fresh. But I do not want to waste my time and your time
           about Sheela and her gang. It is finished.
           Okay?




                                   From Darkness to Light
                                       Answers to the Seekers on the Path
                                   Talks given from 28/02/85 pm to 31/03/85 pm
                                             English Discourse series
                                                   30 Chapters
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                                     Year published: 1985
           Originally published as "The Rajneesh Bible Volume 5". Title changed 1991.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #1
                               Chapter title: Who says humanity needs saving?
           28 February 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8502285
              ShortTitle: DARK01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 116 mins

              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW CAN WE SAVE HUMANITY FROM FALLING EVEN MORE?


                It is one of the trade secrets of all the religions to propose propaganda that humanity has to be
           saved.
                It is a very strange idea, but it is so old that nobody seems to look into the implications. Nobody
           asks why you are worried about saving humanity. And you have been saving humanity for thousands
           of years, but nothing seems to be saved.
           In the first place, does humanity need any saving?
                To answer this question all the religions have created an absolutely fictitious idea of the original
           fall, because unless there is a fall the question of saving does not arise. And the religious conception
           of the original fall is just rubbish.
                Man has been evolving -- not falling -- in every possible way. The only way the original fall can
           be supported is by the idea of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin; but religions cannot use that --
           they are very much offended. Charles Darwin's idea certainly can be put in such a way -- at least by
           the monkeys if not by man -- that it was an original fall. Certainly if man has evolved out of
           monkeys he must have fallen from the trees, and the monkeys who did not fall must have laughed at
           these idiots who had fallen. And there is a possibility that these were the weaker monkeys who could
           not survive in the trees.
                In monkeys there exists a hierarchy. Perhaps the same mind and the same hierarchy are carried
           by man too; it is the same mind. If you see monkeys sitting in a tree you can know who's the chief:
           he will be at the top of the tree. Then there will be a big group of ladies, his harem -- the most
           beautiful, young. After that will be a third group.
                I was thinking about this third group for many days but I had no word for it. In India we call that
           group the chamchas. Chamcha means a spoon, and these people are suckers. Just the way you take,
           with a spoon, things out of a bottle, they go on taking things -- power, money -- from those who
           have. Of course, they have to buttress these people, they have to praise these people.
                But Devaraj has sent by coincidence today the right word -- because chamcha cannot be exactly
           translated; "spoon" loses all meaning. He has sent me a word which is Californian: the brownnose.
           And he sent me the Webster's dictionary also because I might not understand what a brownnose is;
           and certainly I would not have understood what a brownnose is.
                He sent a note also, thinking perhaps that even the dictionary may not be helpful because
           Webster writes it in such a way that it does not look in any way obscene, dirty. So he sent me a note
           also: "In Europe we call these people `arse-kissers'." That's exactly the meaning of chamchas.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The chief on the top, then the harem of the ladies whom he controls, then the brownnoses! And
           then you come down to lower categories of the hierarchy. On the lowest branches are the poorest
           monkeys, without girlfriends, boyfriends -- servants. But perhaps from this very group humanity has
           grown.
                Even in this group there may have been a few people who were so weak that they could not even
           manage to stay on the lowest branches. They were pushed, pulled, thrown, and somehow they found
           themselves fallen onto the earth. That is the original fall.
                Monkeys still go on laughing at man. Certainly if you think from the monkey's side, a monkey
           walking on two legs ... if you are a monkey and you think from its side, seeing a monkey walking on
           two legs, you will think, "Has he joined a circus or something? And what happened to the poor guy?
           He just lives on the ground; he never comes to the trees, the wild freedom of the trees, the higher
           status of the trees. This is really the fallen one, the downtrodden."
                Except for this, religions don't have any logical support for the idea of the original fall. Stories
           they have, but stories are not arguments, stories are not proofs. And stories can have just the opposite
           meaning to that which you wanted to give to them. For example, the original fall in Christianity
           makes God the real culprit, and if anybody needs saving it is the Christian God.
                A father preventing his children from being wise, from living forever, is certainly insane. Even
           the worst father would like his children to be wise, intelligent. Even the cruelest father would like his
           children to live forever.
                But God prevents man from eating of two trees -- the tree of knowledge and the tree of eternal
           life. This seems to be a strange kind of God; it is not in any way possible to conceive Him as
           fatherly. He seems to be the enemy of man. Who needs saving? Your God is jealous: that's what was
           the argument of the devil who came in the form of a serpent and seduced the mind of Eve.
                To me, there are many significant things to be understood. Why did he choose Eve and not
           Adam? He could have chosen Adam directly, but men by nature are less sensitive, less vulnerable,
           more arrogant, egoistic. Adam may not even have liked to have a conversation with a serpent, may
           have thought it was below his dignity. And to be persuaded by a serpent's argument would have been
           impossible for man. He would have argued against him; he would have struggled, fought -- because
           to agree with someone seems to the ego as if you are defeated.
                The ego knows only disagreement, struggle, victory or defeat -- as if there is no other way, as if
           there are only two ways: victory and defeat. For the ego certainly there are only two ways.
                But for a sensitive soul there is only one way -- to understand whatever is true. It is not a
           question of me and you, it is not a question of somebody being defeated or victorious. The question
           is: What is the truth?
                The woman was not interested in arguing. She listened and she found that it was perfectly right.
           Wisdom was prohibited because, the serpent said, "God does not want man to become godlike, and if
           you are wise you will be godlike. And once you are wise it will not be very difficult for you to find
           the tree of eternal life."
                It is really the other side of wisdom -- eternity. And if you are wise and you have eternal life,
           then who bothers about God? What has He got that you have not got? Just to keep you a slave,
           eternally dependent -- never allowing you to become a knowing being, never allowing you to taste
           something of the eternal -- in this vast garden of Eden He has prohibited only two trees. The
           argument was simply a statement of the fact.
                Now, the person who brings the truth to humanity is condemned as the devil; and the person who
           was preventing humanity from knowing the truth, from knowing life, is praised as God. But the
           priests can live only with this kind of God; the devil will destroy them completely.
                If God Himself becomes useless, futile, by man becoming wise and having eternal life, what
           about the priests? What about all the religions, the churches, the temples, the synagogues? What
           about these millions of people who are just parasites sucking humanity's blood in every possible
           way? They can exist only with that kind of God. Naturally the person who should be condemned as
           the devil is praised as God, and the person who should be praised as God is condemned as the devil.
                Just try to see the story without any prejudice; just try to understand it from many aspects. This is
           only one of the aspects but it is of tremendous importance -- because if God becomes the devil, the
           devil becomes God: then there is no original fall. If Adam and Eve had declined the devil's wise
           advice, that would have been the fall, and then there would have been a need to save man. But they
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           did not decline. And the serpent was certainly wise, certainly wiser than your God.
               Just see. Anybody knows, even a very mediocre person knows, that if you say to children, "Don't
           eat that fruit: you can eat anything that is available in the house but don't eat that fruit" -- the
           children will become absolutely disinterested in all kinds of foods; their only interest will be in that
           fruit which has been prohibited.
           Prohibition is invitation.
               The God of this story seems to be absolutely a fool. The garden was huge, with millions of trees.
           If He had not said anything about these two trees I don't think even by now man would have been
           able to find those two trees. But He started His religious sermons with this sermon. This is the first
           sermon: "Don't eat from these two trees." He pointed out the trees: "These are the two trees that you
           have to avoid." This is provocation.
               Who says that the devil seduced Adam and Eve? It was God! Even without the devil, I say to you
           Adam and Eve would have eaten those fruits. The devil is not needed; God has done the work
           Himself. Sooner or later it would have been impossible to resist the temptation. Why should God
           prevent them?
               All efforts to make people obedient simply lead them into disobedience. All efforts to enslave
           people make them more and more strong to rebel, to be free.
               Even Sigmund Freud knows more psychology than your God, and Sigmund Freud is a Jew, just
           in the same tradition of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are his forefathers' forefathers' forefathers,
           but somewhere the same bloodstream is flowing. Sigmund Freud is more intelligent; and in fact there
           is no need for much intelligence to see a simple fact.
               In my childhood, in my neighborhood, lived the richest man of the city. He had the only palatial
           building -- all marble. Around his house there was a beautiful garden, lawn. One day I was standing
           just outside his fence, and he was telling something to his gardener. I told him, "Dada" -- he was
           known as dada; dada means big brother. The whole town called him Dada, even people who were
           older than him, because he was rich.
               I said to him, "You should remember one thing. Put a few posters around the garden that nobody
           should urinate here, because I have seen a few people urinating around your house." And it was a
           good place to urinate because a big garden, trees ... you could go behind them.
               He said, "That's right!" The next day he painted a few instructions around the garden: "No
           Pissing Allowed" -- and since that day the whole town has been pissing around his house! He came
           to see my father. He said, "Where is your boy? -- he has made my house hell. And who has said to
           him that he has to advise me?"
               My father said, "But what advice has he given to you? If you had asked me I would have told
           you never to listen to him; it always leads into some trouble. What happened?"
               He said, "Nothing. I was just talking to the gardeners. He said, `Dada, I have seen a few people
           urinating.' I have never seen them myself, my gardeners said, `We have never seen anybody,' but the
           idea struck me that it is true: huge trees, bushes ... people may be urinating in my garden or around
           my garden. This is not to be allowed anymore. So he suggested to me to make a few posters around
           the house: `No Pissing Allowed.' So I did that, and since that day the whole town is pissing around
           my garden. Where is your boy?"
               My father said, "It is very difficult to know where he is. Whenever he comes, he comes;
           whenever he goes, he goes. He is not under our control. But if he has started giving advice to you, he
           will come to give more advice -- don't be worried. If his one piece of advice has worked, he will
           come; you just wait. And if he comes and I find him, I will bring him to you."
               My father caught hold of me in the evening and he said, "You come. Why did you give this
           advice?"
               I said, "My advice was to prohibit people. Nobody can say that my advice is wrong -- I have seen
           it written in many places. And yes, it is true I have seen people pissing there; that's how I got the
           idea. And I have enquired why people have started pissing.
               "They say, `When we read the board suddenly the urge ... we remember that the bladder is full;
           otherwise we were engaged in other kinds of things and other thoughts were there. Who thinks of the
           bladder? When it becomes absolutely necessary, then only one thinks of it.
               "`But when we look at these boards suddenly the bladder becomes the most important thing, and
           one feels the place is good, that's why the board has been put there -- people must be pissing here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           And we see that there are many marks, many people have pissed already, so we feel it is perfectly
           right.'"
               It is a simple thing: If you prohibit anything, you provoke, you give a challenge.
               In India it is not any legal problem to urinate anywhere, wherever you can manage: there is
           freedom of urination. When I was nearabout ten or eleven years old my father became very sick so
           we had to take him to a very good hospital, far away in Indore.
               The hospital in Indore was famous all over the country. We had to live there for six months. Just
           at the entrance of the hospital was a board: "No Urination Permitted. Anybody Disobeying Will Be
           Prosecuted." And there used to stand a policeman. To me that was even more provocative. The board
           was enough but a policeman with a gun standing there!
               The very first day my father entered hospital and we were given quarters in the hospital to live
           in, I could not resist; it was impossible. The board alone was enough but to put a policeman there
           with a gun -- this was too much. I went directly.
               The policeman was standing there; he looked at me. He could not believe it because it had never
           happened: I pissed!
           He said, "What are you doing? Can't you read?"
           I said, "I can read -- better than you."
           And he said, "Can't you see me with this gun?"
               I said, "I can see that too. It is because of your gun and this board -- otherwise I had no need. My
           house is just a two-minute walk from here, and I have just come from the bathroom. It is really
           difficult to piss because my bladder is empty. But I cannot avoid the temptation."
               He said, "You will have to come with me to the chief administrator of the hospital" -- it was a big
           hospital.
               So I said, "Okay, I will come." I went there. The administrator was very angry.
               He said, "You have just entered -- the first day, and you do such a thing?"
               I said, "But what can I do? This policeman was pissing there!"
           He said, "What!"
               I said, "Yes, he was pissing there, and when I saw that a policeman was pissing there I thought
           perhaps it is absolutely legal, this board is nonsense."
               The policeman said, "Who says I was pissing? This is absolutely wrong!"
               The administrator said, "This is strange. Let us see."
               What I had done, I had pissed in two places and I showed him those two. The administrator said,
           "Two places!" He said to the policeman, "Your services are finished! And that innocent boy -- he is
           not wrong. If you are pissing here ... you are supposed to prevent people."
               I said, "I saw him, with his gun, pissing here, so I said, `Perhaps this is perfectly okay.' And I am
           new anyway, I don't know much." And the policeman could not deny it; there was no way to deny.
               I said, "If you were not pissing you can deny it, but that simply means that you were not here,
           you were not on duty; somebody else has pissed. Either way you are finished."
               He was thrown out of his job. When we came out he said, "Just listen, how did you manage that
           second place? You know that I was not pissing."
               I said, "I know, you know, but that does not help. The question is the administrator: he does not
           know. And you were in every way caught: Either you were not on duty -- somebody else has pissed
           there -- or if you were on duty then you had pissed."
               He said, "How did it happen? Perhaps when we were inside somebody else did it."
               I said, "To be true to you now that you are finished -- you are no longer a policeman and I feel
           pity for you -- I had to do both the things before we left. You were not observant enough to see that I
           moved two feet."
               He said, "Yes, I remember. You moved, and I was thinking, Why have you moved? Now I know.
           But that administrator won't let me even inside the house; he is a very strict man."
               I said, "He may be a strict man, but he has become a friend to me" -- and he remained a friend to
           me for six months. I did every kind of thing in that hospital, but whenever I was brought to him, he
           said, "This boy is innocent. From the very first day I have known this boy is innocent and
           unnecessarily people are harassing him; for all kinds of things people are harassing him.
               "Somebody else does something and he is being caught. And I know the reason: he is innocent,
           simple, from a small village. He knows nothing about the city and the cunningness of the city and all
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           kinds of ruffians so you go and get hold of him: he has become the target." And I would stand before
           him very peacefully.
                He remained a friend to me all those six months, just because of that one case in which the
           policeman was thrown out. But to me it was a simple case of provocation.
                God could not see a simple thing? -- that to these innocent Adam and Eve He is giving a
           challenge? In the uncorrupted souls, utterly innocent, He is putting the seed of corruption. But to
           save Him the priests have managed to bring the serpent in, and thrown the whole responsibility on
           the serpent -- that he is the sole cause of man's original fall. But I don't see him as the original cause.
           If anything he is the original incentive to man's growth.
                The devil is the original rebel. And what he said to Adam and Eve is the beginning of a true
           religion, not what God said -- that is the beginning of suicide, not religion.
                In the East the serpent is worshiped as the wisest animal in the world; and I think that is far
           better. If the serpent really did this then he is certainly the wisest animal in the world. He saved man
           from eternal slavery, ignorance, stupidity.
                This is not the original fall, this is the original rise.
                You are asking me how to save humanity from falling even further.
           Humanity has never been falling.
                What has been happening is that all the religious dogmas sooner or later become small and
           cannot contain man.
           Man goes on growing:
           Dogmas don't grow, doctrines don't grow.
                The doctrines remain the same and man outgrows them.
                The priest clings to the doctrine. That is his heritage, his power, tradition, ancient wisdom. He
           clings to it. Now what to say about the man who goes on outgrowing all those doctrines? Certainly to
           the priest this is a continuous fall; man is falling.
                Just take a few examples and you will understand how doctrines are bound to be rigid, static,
           dead. Man is alive. You cannot hold him in something which does not grow with him. He will break
           all those prisons, he will shatter all those chains.
                For example, in Jainism the Jaina monk is not supposed to use shoes, for the simple reason that
           in ancient days shoes were made only of leather, and leather comes from animals; animals are killed.
           It is a symbol of violence, and Mahavira wanted his followers not to be in any way -- directly or
           indirectly -- involved in violence.
                He prevented everybody from wearing shoes. He was not aware that one day shoes of rubber
           would be available, which involves no violence. Shoes of synthetic leather would be available,
           which involves no violence. Shoes of cloth would be available, which involves no violence. He was
           not aware. So it indicates two things. The claim of the Jainas that Mahavira is omniscient is
           nonsense; he knew nothing of synthetic leather -- he cannot be omniscient.

                Secondly, now twenty-five centuries have passed: Jaina monks and nuns are still walking
           bare-footed on the dusty roads in hot weather in a country like India. You should see their feet; tears
           will come to your eyes. The skin of their feet is all broken, as broken as when for two or three years
           rains don't come and the earth breaks; and blood is oozing out of those wounds. Still they have to go
           on walking; they cannot use a vehicle, because in those days again a vehicle meant horse-driven,
           bullock-driven -- and that was violence.
                And I can understand that it is violence. Who are you to force poor animals to pull your vehicles
           and to pull you? But Mahavira was not aware that there would be cars which would not be pulled by
           horses but would have horsepower without horses, that there would be trains, electrical vehicles. He
           was not aware of that, that there would be airplanes with the least possibility of violence.
                Even walking you will do more violence because it is not only when you kill an elephant that it is
           violence. According to Jainism the soul has the same status in the ant, the smallest ant, and the
           biggest elephant. Only the bodies are different -- the souls are the same. So when you are walking on
           the road you may be killing many insects; not only insects, even when you are breathing you are
           killing very small living cells in the air. Just by the hot air coming out of your nose, your mouth, they
           are being killed.
                Perhaps for the Jaina monk and nun the airplane is the most non-violent vehicle. When I
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           suggested it to Jaina monks they said, "What are you saying? If somebody hears it we will be thrown
           out, expelled!"
                I could convince just one Jaina monk, and certainly he was expelled. He was a little stupid. We
           both were staying in one temple, and I told him, "You unnecessarily walk ten miles every day from
           this place to the city, while a car comes for me; you can go with me."
           He said, "But if anybody sees?"
                I said, "We can always manage." He used to have a bamboo mat, so I said, "You put the bamboo
           mat on the sofa in the car, and sit on the bamboo mat."
           He said, "What will that do?"
                I said, "You can simply say, `I am sitting on my bamboo mat; I am not concerned with the car or
           anything.'"
                He said, "This is perfectly right, because if I am sitting on the bamboo mat and somebody pulls
           my bamboo mat, what can I do?"
                I said, "That's right -- you just sit on the bamboo mat." I took him in the car, and we reached the
           place where there was a meeting in which I and he were both going to speak. When they saw him
           sitting .... And I asked somebody to come and pull the bamboo mat out, with him sitting on top of it.
           They said, "What is all this?"
                I said, "You first pull him out, because he has nothing to do with the car -- he is simply sitting on
           his bamboo mat. I have pushed his bamboo mat into the car; now we have to take him out." And I
           had told him, "You simply sit with your eyes closed." I said to them, "He is a very meditative person,
           and don't disturb him, just pull his mat."
                They pulled, but they were angry that this ...."We never heard of it: a Jaina monk sitting in a car!
           And we know perfectly well this is not a meditative monk; this is the first time we have seen him
           sitting with closed eyes. He is not very erudite either, not scholarly or anything."
                He knew only three speeches, and he used to ask me which one would be right, so I used to make
           the sign one, two, or three; that would do. So whichever finger I raised first he would do that speech.
           And I always managed to let him deliver the wrong speech, one which was not supposed to be for
           that audience, but he depended on my finger; he was a little stupid.
                Finally they expelled him just because he sat in the car. While I was there they could not,
           because I argued for him, "He has nothing to do with it. You could expel me -- but you cannot
           because I am not your monk, I don't belong to anybody; nobody in the whole world can expel me.
           But you can expel me; if you can enjoy expelling, you can expel me. But he is absolutely innocent."
                So in front of me they could not do anything, but the moment I left, the next day, they expelled
           him. They took away all his symbols of a Jaina monk. Only after five, seven years passed I met him
           in Lucknow, and what a great coincidence! -- he was driving a taxi, he had become a taxi-driver.
           That's how I met him -- at the railway station, because I had to get down there and go to a hotel and
           wait at least eight hours; then my next train would come which would take me to the place where I
           was going.
                So in Lucknow I had no work and I had not informed anybody, so I could just rest eight hours.
           By chance I called the taxi and he came. I said, "What! You are driving a taxi."
           He said, "It is all your doing."
                I said, "But I think it is perfectly logical: from car to car, and from the back seat to the front seat.
           This is what evolution is! And at that time you were even afraid to sit down; now you are driving.
           You keep going: soon you will be a pilot and someday I will meet you in the air."
                He said, "Don't joke with me. I have been so angry with you, but seeing you all my anger has
           gone -- you are such a nice person. But why did you do that to me?"
                I said, "I took you out of that bondage; now you can go to the cinema, you can smoke cigarettes.
           You can do everything that you want."
                "I am. Yes, that is true," he said, "that you have made me free. I was a slave of those people; I
           could not even move without their permission. Now I don't care a bit about anybody; I earn my
           living and I live the way I want to live. If you could help all the other Jaina monks also ...."
                I said, "I try my best but the followers are always surrounding them, protecting them, insisting
           that they should not talk with me. They say `Even talk is dangerous because this man may put some
           idea in your mind.'"
                All the religions are afraid of thinking, afraid of raising questions, afraid of doubt, afraid of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disobedience, and stuck centuries back -- for the simple reason that these things were not available
           then. Those people who were making those rules had no idea what the future was going to be.
                Hence all the religions are agreed that man is continuously falling because he is not following the
           scriptures, not following the doctrines, not following the messiahs, the prophets. But I don't see that
           man is falling. In fact man's sensitivity has grown.
                His intelligence has grown, his life span has grown. He is more capable now of getting rid of
           slavery and patterns of slavery.
                Man is courageous enough to doubt, question, enquire. This is not a fall.
                This is the beginning of a true religion spreading. Soon it can become a wildfire.
                But to the priests certainly it is a fall. Everything is a fall because it is not according to their
           scriptures.
                Do you know, in India, just a hundred years ago nobody was allowed to go to foreign countries,
           for the simple reason that in foreign countries you would be mixing with people who cannot be
           accepted as human beings; they are below human beings.
                In India they have the worst class of human beings whom they call untouchables. They cannot be
           touched. If you touch them you have to take a shower and cleanse yourself. In foreign countries
           people are even farther down than the untouchables. For them they had a special word, mlechchhas.
           It is very difficult to translate that word. It means something so ugly, so obscene, so dirty that it
           creates nausea in you. That will be the full meaning of the word, mlechchha: people whose contact
           will create nausea in you, a sickness in you.
                Even when Gandhi went to England to study, his mother had taken three oaths from him. One
           was that he would not look at any woman with lustful eyes -- a very difficult thing, because by the
           time you become aware that you have been looking with lustful eyes, you have already looked! I
           don't think Gandhi followed that; he could not, it is impossible to follow, although he tried his best.
                Secondly, he should not eat meat. And he was in such a trouble because -- now in London you
           can find vegetarian restaurants, health food is now in fashion, but when Gandhi had gone to study,
           there was no vegetarian food available. He had to live just on fruits, bread, butter, milk. He was
           almost starving. He would not mix with people because those people were all mlechchhas. And of
           course he was so much afraid of women: Who knows? -- just like a breeze lust comes to the eyes.
                Lust is not something that knocks on your door and says, "I am coming." You see a beautiful
           woman and suddenly you feel, "She is beautiful" -- and that's enough. Just to say, "She is beautiful,"
           means you have already looked with lustful eyes; otherwise what business is it for you to judge
           whether she is beautiful or ugly?
                In fact if you go deep down in your judgments you will see, at the moment you say that someone
           is beautiful, deep down you want to possess. When you say someone is ugly, deep down you don't
           want to have anything to do with that person. Your "ugly," your "beauty," are really your desires for
           or against.
                So Gandhi was continuously afraid of women. He had to remain confined to his room, because in
           Europe there were women all over; how could you avoid them?
                And the third oath was that he should not change his religion.
                The first trouble arose in Alexandria. Their ship was to wait there for three days for loading,
           unloading cargo. And all the people who were on the ship who had become friendly towards Gandhi
           -- they were all Indians -- said to him simply, "What is the point, sitting here for three days? The
           nights in Alexandria are beautiful!"
                But he didn't understand the meaning, that "nights in Alexandria are beautiful." In that way he
           was a simpleton. He had never heard the name of the famous book ARABIAN NIGHTS; otherwise
           he would have understood. Alexandria is very close to Arabia, and those are Arabian nights!
                So Gandhi said, "Okay, if the nights are beautiful I am coming." But he was not aware where he
           was going. They took him into a beautiful house, and he said, "But where are we going?"
                "To beautiful nights," those friends said -- and it was a prostitute's house. Gandhi was so shocked
           that he lost his voice. He could not say, "I don't want to go in"; he could not say, "I want to go back
           to the ship" -- for two reasons. One was: "These people will think that I am impotent or something."
           Secondly, he was not able to speak; for the first time he found that his throat was choked.
                Those people just dragged him. They said, "He is new -- nothing to be worried about," and he
           went with them. They pushed him into a prostitute's room and closed the door. The prostitute was
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           also a little puzzled seeing this man trembling, perspiring. She completely forgot that he was a
           customer. She just made him sit; he wouldn't sit on her bed but she forced him. She said, "You are
           not in a position to stand, you will fall down, you are shaking so much. You just sit."
               He could not say that he could not sit on a prostitute's bed; What will my mother say? I have not
           looked yet -- he was talking to his mother inside -- I have not yet looked with lustful eyes. This is
           just an accident; those idiots have forced me here. The woman understood that it seemed he had been
           forced. She said, "Don't be worried, I'm also a human being. What do you want? Simply tell me and I
           will do it." But he could not say anything.
               The woman said,"It is very difficult now, how .... You don't speak?"
           He said, "I ... just ...."
           So she said, "You please write."
               He had to write on paper, "I have been unnecessarily forced here -- I simply want to go. And I
           look on you as my sister."
               She said, "That's perfectly okay, don't be worried." She opened the door and she said, "Do you
           have money enough to go to the ship or should I come with you to lead you? -- because Alexandria
           in the middle of the night is dangerous."
               He said, "No" -- now he was able to speak for the first time, seeing that a prostitute is not some
           dangerous animal. She behaved more humanly than any woman had ever behaved with him. She
           offered him food. He said, "No, I cannot eat; I am okay." She offered water; he wouldn't drink water
           from a prostitute's house ... as if water also becomes dirty because it is in a prostitute's house.
               In India that happens. In Indian stations you will find people shouting, "Hindu water!"
           "Mohammedan water!" Water Hindu? Mohammedan? And Jainas of course don't drink either the
           Hindu water or the Mohammedan water; they carry their own water, Jaina water, because they are
           such a minority that in stations you won't find Jaina water, so they have to carry their own water.
               But Gandhi thanked the woman, and in his autobiography he wrote about that woman and about
           the whole incident: "How cowardly I was! I could not even speak, could not even say no."
               Now these three things kept him a slave in England where he could have been free. He could
           have looked into many aspects of life which were not available in India, but it was impossible
           because those three oaths were so binding. He did not make friends, he did not go to any meetings,
           sermons. He simply kept himself with his books and prayed to God, "Somehow finish my course so I
           can be back in India."
               Now, such a person cannot become a great legal expert. His examination was good, he passed.
           But when he came to India, in his first case, when he went to the court again the same thing
           happened as had happened in the prostitute's house. He simply said, "My lord ..." and that was all!
           People waited a few minutes, then again he said, "My lord ...." And he was trembling so that the
           justice said, "You take him and let him relax."
               That was Gandhi's first and last case in India, in an Indian court. Then he never dared to take any
           case because just after "My lord," he might stop, and that would not make sense. And the reason was
           simply that he had no experience of meeting people, talking with people, conversing with people. He
           had become almost like an isolated monk who had lived in a faraway monastery, alone, and then had
           been brought again to Bombay where he was not at all at ease.
               And this man became one of the greatest leaders of the world. In this world things work very
           strangely. Because Gandhi could not go to the court, he accepted an offer from a friendly
           Mohammedan family; they had business in South Africa and they needed a legal adviser. He was not
           to go to the court, he had just to advise the advocate there, to assist him to understand the whole
           situation of the business in India and in Africa.
               So he was just an assistant to the advocate; he was not going to court directly. For this purpose
           he went to Africa, but on the way two accidents happened which changed not only his life but the
           whole Indian history, and perhaps made an impact on the whole world.
               One was that a friend who had come to see him off at the ship presented him a book, UNTO
           THIS LAST, by John Ruskin -- a book which transformed his whole life. It is a simple book and a
           small book. It professes -- "Unto this last" means the poorest one -- we should consider the poorest
           one first. And that became his whole philosophy of life: the poorest should be considered first.
               In South Africa, while Gandhi was traveling in a first-class compartment, one Englishman
           entered and said, "You get out, because no Indian can travel in first class."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Gandhi said, "But I have a first-class ticket. The question is not whether I am Indian or
           European; the question is whether I have a first-class ticket or not. Nowhere is it written who can
           travel; whoever has a first-class ticket can travel."
               But that Englishman was not going to listen. He pulled the emergency chain and threw Gandhi's
           things out. And Gandhi was a thin and weak man; the Englishman threw him out also on the
           platform and told him, "now you travel first class."
               The whole night Gandhi remained on that small station's platform. The stationmaster told him,
           "You unnecessarily got into trouble; you should have got down. You seem to be new here. Indians
           cannot travel first-class. It is not a law but this is how things are." But the whole night Gandhi spent
           in a turmoil. It became the very seed of his revolt against the British Empire. That night he decided
           that this empire has to end.
               Gandhi lived many years in Africa and there he learned the whole art of fighting non-violently.
           And when he came to India in the 1920's he was a perfectly trained leader of non-violent revolution,
           and he immediately took over the whole country, for the simple reason that he was conventional,
           traditional, religious. Nobody could say that he was not a sage, because he was following rules of
           five thousand years before, laid down five thousand years before.
               In fact he was preaching that we should turn the clock backwards and we should move to the
           days of Manu -- five thousand years back. To him the greatest and the latest invention was the
           spinning wheel. After that, no science ... science's work finished with the spinning wheel. Of course
           he became the leader of those people who are not contemporary.
               You are asking me how to save humanity. From whom? I will say from Mahatma Gandhi and
           people like him.
           Yes, save humanity:
               Save it from the popes, shankaracharyas, imams. Save it from Jesus Christ, Mahavira, Gautam
           Buddha. Save it.
               But I know your question is not about saving it from Jesus Christ. You are asking just the
           opposite: you are asking me how to save it for Jesus Christ, not from Jesus Christ. But why? And
           have you tried to think -- are you saved? Can you say that you have come to the point beyond which
           there is no growth? Can you say that you are utterly contented, that you don't need even a single
           moment more to live because there is nothing left for you?
               Are you saved from all anxiety, anguish, misery, suffering, anger, jealousy?
           Are you saved from your own ego?
               If you are not saved from all this rubbish hanging around, all this poison in your being, you have
           some nerve to ask how to save humanity.
           And who are we to save humanity?
           On what authority?
               I can never conceive myself as a savior, as a messiah, because these are all ego trips. Who am I
           to save you? If I can save myself, that is more than enough.
               But it is a strange world. People are drowning themselves in shit and crying loudly, "Save
           humanity!"
           From whom? From you?
               It is psychologically understandable. You start all these ideas of redeeming, saving, helping,
           serving, just to do one thing: to escape from yourself.
           You don't want to face yourself.
               You don't want to see where you are, what you are. The best way is, start saving humanity so you
           will be so much involved, engaged, occupied, worried about great problems that your own problems
           will look negligible. Perhaps you may forget all about them. This is a very psychological device, but
           very poisonous. You want somehow to be as far away from yourself as possible so you need not see
           the wounds which are hurting. The best way is: serve.
               I used to go to speak in Rotary Clubs, and on their desk they have their motto: We serve. And
           that was enough to trigger me. "What nonsense is this? Whom do you serve and why should you
           serve? Who are you to serve?" But Rotarians all over the world believe in service; just believe ....
           And once in a while they do little things, very clever.
               The Rotarians collect all the medicines which are left in your house, unused because the sick
           person is no longer sick. Half the bottle is left -- what are you going to do with it? Have some bank
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           account in the other world; give it to the Rotary Club!
               You are not losing anything, you were going to throw it anyway. What were you going to do
           with that medicine, those tablets, injections or any other things that are left? You just give it to the
           Rotary Club. The Rotary Club collects all kinds of medicines from everybody and has all the top
           people of the city. It is a prestigious thing to be a member of a Rotary Club, to be a Rotarian,
           because only the top man in a certain profession .... Only one professor will be a Rotarian, only one
           doctor will be a Rotarian, only one engineer will be a Rotarian -- only one from every profession,
           vocation.
               So the doctor who is the Rotarian will distribute those medicines to poor people. Great service!
           The doctor takes his fee and finds out from this junk that they have collected what medicine may be
           in some way useful. He is doing great service because at least he is giving this much time in finding
           the medicine from out of the junk: "We serve." And then he feels great inside that he is doing
           something of immense value.
               One man has been opening schools in India for aboriginal children his whole life. He is a
           follower of Gandhi. Just by chance he met me, because I had gone into that aboriginal tribe. I was
           studying those aboriginals from every view, because they are living examples of days when man was
           not so much burdened with all kinds of morality, religion, civilization, culture, etiquette, manners.
           They are simple, innocent, still wild, fresh.
               This man was going and collecting money from cities, and opening schools and bringing
           teachers. Just by the way he met me there. I said, "What are you doing? You think you are doing
           great service to these people?"
           He said, "Of course!"
               So arrogantly he said, "Of course!" I said, "You are not aware of what you are doing. Schools
           exist in the cities, better than these: what help have they provided for human beings? And if those
           schools cannot provide, and colleges and universities cannot provide any help to humanity, what do
           you think? -- your small schools are going to help these poor aboriginals?
               "All that you will do is, you will destroy their originality. All that you will do is, you will destroy
           their primitive wildness. They are still free: your schools will create nothing but trouble for them."
               The man was shocked, but he waited for a few seconds and then said, "Perhaps you are right,
           because once in a while I have been thinking that these schools and colleges and universities exist on
           a far wider scale all over the world. What can my small schools do? But then I thought it was
           Gandhi's order to me to go to aboriginals and open schools, so I am following my master's order."
               I said, "If your master was an idiot, that does not mean that you have to continue following the
           order. Now, stop -- I order you! And I tell you why you have been doing all this -- just to escape
           from your own suffering, your own misery. You are a miserable man; anybody can see it from your
           face. You have never loved anybody, you have never been loved by anybody."
               He said, "How did you manage to infer that? -- because it is true. I was an orphan, nobody loved
           me, and I have been brought up in Gandhi's ashram where love was only talked about in prayer;
           otherwise, love was not a thing to be practiced. There was strict discipline, a kind of regimentation.
           So nobody has ever loved me, that's true; and you are right, I have never loved anybody because in
           Gandhi's ashram it was impossible to fall in love. That was the greatest crime.
               "I was one of those whom Gandhi praised because I never fell in his eyes. Even his own sons
           betrayed him. Devadas, his son, fell in love with Rajgopalchary's daughter, and then he was expelled
           from the ashram; they got married. Gandhi's own personal secretary, Pyarelal, fell in love with a
           woman and kept the love affair secret for years. When it was exposed it was a scandal, a great
           scandal."
               I said, "What nonsense! But Gandhi's personal secretary ... that means, what about others?" And
           this man was praised because he never came in contact with any woman! Gandhi sent him to the
           aboriginal tribes and he had been doing what the master had said.
               But he said to me, "You have disturbed me. Perhaps it is true: I am just trying to escape from
           myself, from my wounds, from my own anguish."
               So all these people who become interested in saving humanity, in the first place are very egoistic.
           They are thinking of themselves as saviors. In the second place, they are very sick. They are trying to
           forget their sickness. And in the third place, whatever they do is going to help man become worse
           than he is, because they are sick and blind and they are trying to lead people. And when blind people
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           lead then you can be certain sooner or later the whole lot is going to fall into a well.
               No, I am not interested in saving anybody. In fact, nobody needs saving. Everybody is perfectly
           okay as he is. Everybody is what he has chosen to be. Now who am I to disturb him? All that I can
           do is, I can say about myself what has happened to me. I can tell my story. Perhaps from that story
           someone may get an insight, a direction. Perhaps from that a door opens up. But I am not doing
           anything, I am simply sharing my own experience.
               It is not service, I am enjoying it, so it is not service. Remember it. A servant has to be very
           long-faced and very serious -- he is doing such a great work. He is carrying the Himalayas on his
           shoulders, the whole burden of the world.
           I am not carrying anything:
           No burden of the world, no burden of anybody.
           And I am not doing any serious job.
           I am just enjoying telling you about my experience. To share it is a joy in itself.
           If something reaches to you, thank God!
           He does not exist.
           Don't thank me -- because I exist!




                                             From Darkness to Light
                                               Chapter #2
                  Chapter title: Innocence: the price you pay for the failure of success
           1 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503015
              ShortTitle: DARK02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins




               BELOVED OSHO,
               HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO STAY WITH YOUR OWN CLARITY AS A CHILD AND NOT LET
               YOURSELF BECOME INTIMIDATED BY THE GROWN-UPS AROUND YOU? WHERE DID YOU
               GET THAT COURAGE FROM?


                Innocence is courage and clarity both.
           There is no need to have courage if you are innocent. There is no need, either, for any clarity because
           nothing can be more clear, crystal clear, than innocence. So the whole question is how to protect
           one's own innocence.
           Innocence is not something to be achieved.
           It is not something to be learned.
                It is not something like a talent: painting, music, poetry, sculpture. It is not like those things. It is
           more like breathing, something you are born with.
           Innocence is everybody's nature.
           Nobody is born other than innocent.
                How can one be born other than innocent? Birth means you have entered the world as a tabula
           rasa, nothing is written on you. You have only future, no past. That is the meaning of innocence. So
           first try to understand all the meanings of innocence.
           The first is: no past, only future.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The past corrupts because it gives you memories, experiences, expectations. All those combined
           together make you clever but not clear. They make you cunning but not intelligent. They may help
           you to succeed in the world but in your innermost being you will be a failure. And all the success of
           the world means nothing compared to the failure that finally you are going to face, because
           ultimately only your inner self remains with you. All is lost: your glory, your power, your name,
           your fame -- all start disappearing like shadows.
               At the end only that remains which you had brought in the very beginning. You can take from
           this world only that which you have brought in.
               In India it is common wisdom that the world is like a waiting room in a railway station; it is not
           your house. You are not going to remain in the waiting room forever. Nothing in the waiting room
           belongs to you -- the furniture, the paintings on the wall .... You use them -- you see the painting,
           you sit on the chair, you rest on the bed -- but nothing belongs to you. You are just here for a few
           minutes, or for a few hours at the most, then you will be gone.
               Yes, what you have brought in with you, into the waiting room, you will take away with you;
           that's yours. What have you brought into the world? And the world certainly is a waiting room. The
           waiting may not be in seconds, minutes, hours, days, it may be in years; but what does it matter
           whether you wait seven hours, or seventy years?
               You may forget, in seventy years, that you are just in a waiting room. You may start thinking
           perhaps you are the owner, perhaps this is the house you have built. You may start putting your
           nameplate on the waiting room.
               There are people -- I have seen it, because I was traveling so much: people have written their
           names in the bathrooms of the waiting room. People have engraved their names on the furniture of
           the waiting room. It looks stupid, but it is very similar to what people do in the world. There is a
           very significant story in ancient Jaina scriptures ....
               In India it is believed that if somebody can become the emperor of the whole world he is called a
           chakravartin. The word chakravartin simply means ... CHAKRA means the wheel. In ancient India
           it was a way to avoid unnecessary fighting and violence: a chariot, a golden chariot, very valuable,
           with beautiful and strong horses, would move from one kingdom to another kingdom. If the other
           kingdom did not resist and let the chariot pass, that meant that kingdom had accepted the owner of
           the chariot as its superior. Then there was no need to fight.
               This way the chariot would move, and wherever people obstructed the chariot, then there would
           be war. If the chariot was not obstructed anywhere, then without any war, the superiority of the king
           was proved: he become a chakravartin -- one whose wheel has moved around and whom nobody has
           been able to obstruct. This has been the desire of all the kings, to become a chakravartin.
               Certainly it needs more power than Alexander the Great had. Just to send your chariot ... it needs
           tremendous power to support it. It needs the absolute certainty that if the chariot is obstructed there
           is going to be a mass slaughter. It means the man is recognized already, that if he wants to conquer
           anybody there is no way to prevent him conquering you.
               But it is a very symbolic way, more civilized than .... There is no need to attack, there is no need
           to start killing; just send a symbolic message. So with the flag of the king, the chariot will go, and if
           the other king feels that there is no point in resisting -- fighting simply means defeat and unnecessary
           violence, destruction -- he welcomes the chariot, and in his capital, flowers are thrown over the
           chariot.
               This seems to be a far more civilized way than what the Soviet Union and America are going to
           do. Just send a beautiful chariot -- but that means your strength should be something absolutely
           certain to you; and not only to you, it should be certain to everybody else. Only then can such a
           symbol be of any help. So every king had the desire to become a chakravartin someday.
               The story is that one man became a chakravartin -- and it happens only once in thousands of
           years that a man becomes a chakravartin. Even Alexander the Great was not a world conqueror;
           there was yet much left unconquered. And he died very young, he was only thirty-three: there was
           not even time enough to conquer the world. What to say of conquering, the whole world was not
           even known. Half of the world was unknown, and the half that was known, even that was not
           conquered. This man, of whom I am going to tell you the story, became the chakravartin.
               It is said that when a chakravartin dies -- because a chakravartin happens only in thousands of
           years, he is a rare being -- when he dies he is received in heaven with great rejoicings and he is taken
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           to a special place.
                In Jaina mythology, in heaven there is a parallel mountain to the Himalayas. The Himalayas are
           just made of rocks and earth and ice. The parallel Himalayas in heaven is called Sumeru. Sumeru
           means the ultimate mountain: nothing can be higher than that, nothing can be better than that. It is
           solid gold; instead of rocks there are diamonds and rubies and emeralds.
                When a chakravartin dies he is led to Sumeru mountain to engrave his name on it. That is a rare
           opportunity; that happens only once in thousands of years. Of course this man was immensely
           excited that he was going to write his name on Sumeru. That is the ultimate catalogue of all the great
           ones that have been, and will also be the catalogue of all the great ones who are going to be. This
           emperor was becoming party to a lineage of supermen.
                The gatekeeper gave him the instruments to engrave his name. He wanted a few of his men who
           had committed suicide just because their emperor was dying -- they could not think of living without
           him. His wife, his prime minister, his commander-in-chief -- all the great people who were around
           him, they all had committed suicide, so they had come with him.
                The emperor wanted the gatekeeper to let them all come to see him engrave his name, because
           what is the joy if you go alone and engrave your name and nobody is there even to see? -- because
           the real joy is that the whole world should see.
                The gatekeeper said, "You listen to my advice, because this is my inherited profession. My father
           was a gatekeeper, his father was a gatekeeper; for centuries we have been gatekeepers to Sumeru
           mountain. Listen to my advice: Don't take them with you; otherwise you will repent."
                The emperor could not understand, but he could not even go against his advice -- because what
           interest could that man have in preventing him?
                The gatekeeper said, "If you still want them to see, first go engrave your name; then come back
           and take them with you if you want. I have no objection even now if you want to take them, but just
           in case you decide not to, then there will be no place, no chance ... they will be with you. You go
           alone." This was perfectly sane advice.
                The emperor said, "That's good. I will go alone, engrave my name, come back, and call you all."
                The gatekeeper said, "I am perfectly agreeable to that."
                The emperor went and he saw the Sumeru shining under thousands of suns -- because in heaven
           you cannot be so poor as to have just one sun -- thousands of suns, and a golden mountain far bigger
           than the Himalayas -- and the Himalayas are almost two thousands miles long! He could not open his
           eyes for a moment, it was so glaring there. And then he started looking for a space, the right space,
           but he was very much puzzled: there was no space; the whole mountain was engraved with names.
                He could not believe his eyes. For the first time he became aware what he was. Up to now he was
           thinking he was a superman who happens once in thousands of years. But time has been from
           eternity; even thousands of years didn't make any difference, so many chakravartins had happened
           already. There was no space on that biggest mountain in the whole universe where he could write his
           small name.
                He came back, and now he understood that the gatekeeper was right not to take his wife and his
           commander-in-chief and his prime minister and other intimate friends. It was good that they had not
           seen the situation. They would still believe that their emperor was a rare being.
                He took the gatekeeper inside and he said, "But there is no space!"
                The gatekeeper said, "That's what I was telling you. What you have to do is to erase a few names
           and write down your name. That's what has been done; my whole life I have been seeing this done,
           my father used to say this has been done. My father's father -- none of my family have seen Sumeru
           empty, or any space ever.
                "Whenever a chakravartin has come he had to erase a few names and write his own name. So
           this is not the whole history of the chakravartins. Many times it has been erased, many times it has
           been engraved. You just do your work, and then if you want to show your friends you can bring
           them in."
                The emperor said, "No, I don't want to show them and I don't want to even write my name. What
           is the point? -- someday somebody will come and erase it.
                "My whole life has become utterly meaningless. This was my only hope, that Sumeru, the golden
           mountain in heaven was going to have my name. For this I have lived, for this I have staked my life;
           for this I was ready to kill the whole world. And anybody else can erase my name and write his.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           What is the point of writing it? I will not write it." The gatekeeper laughed.
           The emperor said, "Why are you laughing?"
               The gatekeeper said, "This is strange, because this too I have been hearing from my grandfathers
           -- that chakravartins come, and seeing the whole story, just turn back; they don't write their names.
           You are not new: anybody having a little intelligence would do the same."
           In this whole world what can you gain?
           What can you take away with you?
               Your name, your prestige, your respectability? Your money, your power -- what? Your
           scholarship?
           You cannot take anything.
           Everything will have to be dropped here.
               And in that moment you will understand that all that you possessed was not yours; the very idea
           of possession was wrong. And because of that possession you were corrupted.
               To increase that possession -- to have more money, to have more power, to conquer more lands
           -- you were doing things which even you cannot say were right. You were lying, you were dishonest.
           You were having hundreds of faces. You were not true even for a single moment to anybody or to
           yourself; you could not be.
               You had to be false, phony, pretending, because these are things that help you to succeed in the
           world. Authenticity is not going to help you. Honesty is not going to help you. Truthfulness is not
           going to help you.
           Without possessions, success, fame; who are you?
           You don't know.
               You are your name, you are your fame, you are your prestige, your power. But other than these,
           who are you?
               So this whole possessiveness becomes your identity. It gives you a false sense of being.
           That's the ego.
               Ego is not something mysterious, it is a very simple phenomenon. You don't know who you are,
           and to live without knowing who you are is impossible. If I don't know who I am, then what am I
           doing here? Then whatsoever I am doing becomes meaningless. The first and the foremost thing is to
           know who I am. Perhaps then I can do something that fulfills my nature, makes me contented, brings
           me home.
               But if I don't know who I am, and I go on doing things, how can I manage to reach where my
           nature was supposed to reach, to lead? I have been running hither and thither but there is not going to
           be any point that I can say, "Now I have arrived, this was the place I was searching for."
               You don't know who you are, so some false identity is needed as a substitute. Your possessions
           give you that false identity.
               When Alexander the Great was coming back from India he remembered that his master,
           Aristotle, had asked him to bring a sannyasin from India. Aristotle had heard about sannyasins.
           Rumors from business people, travelers, adventurers, were reaching him that a strange kind of man
           exists in India: the sannyasin. It was absolutely unbelievable because a sannyasin is possible only
           when a certain civilization reaches its very peak, not before that. A primitive society cannot have
           sannyasins.
               Only a very superior culture, rich, can become fed up with richness, fed up with culture, fed up
           with civilization. You cannot be fed up with something which you don't have. To be fed up with
           something, you need to have it so much that it loses all meaning.
               There is a continuous loss in meaning. For example: if you have one million dollars, do you think
           when you have ten million dollars the dollar will have the same value for you? It will be ten times
           less. But if you have one hundred thousand million dollars, then in the same proportion the dollar
           will go on losing its value for you. You can think of a situation where the dollar loses all meaning, it
           becomes just dust unto dust. But that is possible only when you have so much.
               A country poor, hungry, starving cannot have real sannyasins. Yes, India still has sannyasins but
           that is just the dead corpse of sannyas carried on by tradition. Otherwise sannyasins disappeared at
           least two thousand years ago in India -- they don't exist.
               My effort was the first after two thousand years to bring the sannyasin back in his true color.
           That became a conflict because the old sannyasin is dead, but he holds the power of tradition, of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           past; my sannyasin is alive, but he has no power of the past, no power of tradition, no authority from
           the scriptures. There was going to be conflict. And the old were afraid: although they knew they had
           all the authority, one thing was certain -- that they were not alive. They may have all the authority
           but they are a corpse.
                My sannyasin may not have any authority, but he is alive, and life is the only authority there is;
           hence, the fear in all different traditions of sannyas in India against my sannyasins.
                We were not doing any harm to anybody; we were not even concerned. We were simply trying to
           live our way, not interfering with anybody, not even trespassing on anybody's path. But strangely,
           the whole of traditional India -- and the whole country is traditional -- wanted to destroy my people.
                The reason is clear: they became aware that if we succeed in surviving then their death has come.
           Then they cannot remain any more, they will have to disappear. In fact they are living posthumously;
           they should have disappeared two thousand years before. Exactly at the time when Alexander left
           India, they should have disappeared.
                Alexander enquired in every place he visited, "I want to see a sannyasin. My master has
           requested me .... I asked him, `Would you like anything from India?'" -- because in those days India
           was the golden bird. Everything valuable was coming from India -- in fact Europe was almost in a
           barbarous state. But Aristotle had asked not for something that Alexander could have thought of,
           imagined. He asked a very strange thing: "Bring a sannyasin."
                Alexander enquired in every place he visited, and everybody said, "You come a little late." It was
           five hundred years after Buddha that Alexander reached India. They said, "You should have come
           five hundred years before, or at least two hundred years before.
                "If you had come five hundred years before you would have been greeted by sannyasins
           everywhere; they were all over the place. They were a strange tribe of people. Even if you had come
           two hundred years before you would have found one here, one there. That great era of the sannyasins
           had passed but a few remnants were still available. Now it is very difficult, but you go on trying;
           perhaps somewhere you may be able to find one."
                Alexander was very puzzled: he would not even be able to present to his master the simple gift
           he had asked for; but finally at the border he found a man. People said, "You have come to the right
           place. This is the man." Alexander reports in his memoirs that the man's name was Dandamis; that
           seems to be a Greek transliteration of some Indian word.
                I have been thinking what exactly it could be, because Dandamis is not an Indian word. But there
           has been a certain group of sannyasins who are called Danda Swami. Danda means a staff -- they
           carry a staff -- and swami means a master of oneself. So it seems "Danda swami" somehow has got
           mixed and become "Dandamis."
                Alexander sent his people -- obviously. Alexander was a great conqueror, emperor: he would not
           go to the sannyasin. The sannyasin was just a beggar, and Alexander heard from people that he was
           naked and just lived by the side of the river under a tree.
                Alexander sent four soldiers with naked swords and told them, "Invite the swami. Tell him,
           `Alexander the Great wants you to be his guest. He wants to take you to his country with great
           respect and honor, and you will remain there as a royal guest. This is something very special,
           because Alexander has never invited anybody the way he is inviting you.'"
                They went, and they told Dandamis. The naked man simply laughed. He said, "A man who calls
           himself Alexander the Great cannot be really great. That is a sign of a very mean mind, to think of
           oneself as `the Great'."
                The soldiers were shocked. They said, "What are you saying? Can't you see our naked swords?"
                Dandamis said, "I am not blind like you, and like your Alexander the Great. If you who are blind
           can see, can't I, who am not blind, see? Just go and tell Alexander that a sannyasin moves according
           to his will. Thanks for your invitation, and in return I invite you to be here with me, my guest under
           my tree, to have some taste of what sannyas is."
                Alexander was very angry when he heard that this had been the response. He himself went and
           he said, "I am a dangerous man."
                Again the naked man laughed, and he said, "You cannot be more dangerous than I am. If you are
           so dangerous, why are you carrying this sword and having so many people around you with naked
           swords? Look at me, standing naked -- and you think you are dangerous? Have you come to accept
           my invitation and be with me, or have you come to repeat your invitation?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Alexander said, "I have come to take you forcibly. Now it is no longer an invitation: either you
           come with us, or this sword will cut your head off and finish you right now."
                Dandamis laughed a third time, and he said, "That's great! You do it, right now. I am not moving
           from here. Nobody can move me against my will. Yes, you can cut off my head because that does
           not belong to me, but you cannot shake me; that is my citadel where I am absolutely the emperor.
                "You can cut off my head, you can cut off my hands, you can cut off my legs, you can cut my
           whole body into pieces, but remember one thing: when you are cutting my body, my head, my hands,
           I will be watching in the same way as you will be watching. Your sword cannot cut me, my watcher
           cannot be penetrated by a sword. So start!" he said.
                But it is so difficult to kill such a man, who is inviting you to kill him. Alexander said, "I am
           sorry that I disturbed you, but now I know why my master asked me to bring a sannyasin. And now I
           also know why I could not find a sannyasin in so many places I have been visiting. Now I understand
           also why people were saying, `You have come five hundred years late. The whole country was full
           of sannyasins; now they are certainly a rare phenomenon.'
                "I don't know what this watcher is, but seeing you, looking at you -- your integrity, your strength
           -- makes me feel that I have wasted my life. Perhaps rather than conquering the whole world, if I had
           also found this watcher that would have been better."
                You come with an innocent watcher into the world. Everybody comes in the same way, with the
           same quality of consciousness.
                The question is, how did I manage so that nobody could corrupt my innocence, clarity; from
           where did I get this courage? How could I manage not to be humiliated by grown-ups and their
           world?
                I have not done anything, so there is no question of how. It simply happened, so I cannot take the
           credit for it.
                Perhaps it happens to everybody but you become interested in other things. You start bargaining
           with the grown-up world. They have many things to give to you; you have only one thing to give,
           and that is your integrity, your self-respect. You don't have much, a single thing -- you can call it
           anything: innocence, intelligence, authenticity. You have only one thing.
                And the child is naturally very much interested in everything he sees around. He is continuously
           wanting to have this, to have that; that is part of human nature. If you look at the small child, even a
           just-born baby, you can see he has started groping for something; his hands are trying to find out
           something. He has started the journey.
                In the journey he will lose himself, because you can't get anything in this world without paying
           for it. And the poor child cannot understand that what he is giving is so valuable that if the whole
           world is on one side, and his integrity on the other side, then too his integrity will be more weighty,
           more valuable. The child has no way to know about it. This is the problem, because what he has got
           he has simply got. He takes it for granted.
                Let me tell you one story which will make it clear. One rich man, very rich, became in the end
           very frustrated -- which is a natural outcome of all success. Nothing fails like success. Success is
           significant only if you are a failure. Once you succeed then you know that you have been cheated by
           the world, by the people, by the society. The man had all the riches but no peace of mind. He started
           looking for peace of mind.
                That's what is happening in America. In America more people are looking for peace of mind than
           anywhere else. In India I have never come across a person who is looking for peace of mind. Peace
           of the stomach has to be taken care of first -- peace of mind is too far away. From the stomach the
           mind is almost millions of miles away.
                But in America everybody is looking for peace of mind, and of course when you are looking for
           it, then people will be there ready to give it to you. This is a simple law of economics: wherever
           there is demand there is supply. It does not matter whether what you are asking for you really need.
           Nor does anybody bother about what the supply is going to give you -- whether it is just bogus
           advertisement, propaganda, or whether there is something substantial.
                Knowing this simple principle, that wherever there is demand there is supply, the cunning and
           clever people have gone one step ahead. Now they say, "There is no need to wait for demand to
           happen, you create the demand." And that is the whole art of advertisement: it is creating demand.
                Before you read the advertisement you had no such demand, you had never felt that this was your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           need. But reading the advertisement, suddenly you feel, "My God, I have been missing it. And I am
           such a fool that I never knew that this thing exists."
               Before somebody starts manufacturing something, producing something, even years ahead --
           three, four years ahead -- he starts advertising. The thing is not there yet in the market because first
           the demand has to reach the minds of people. And once the demand is there, by that time the supply
           will be ready.
               Bernard Shaw has said that when he was new and he published his first book, of course there was
           no demand -- nobody had ever heard about George Bernard Shaw. How can you demand, "I want
           George Bernard Shaw's book, his drama?" So what he used to do the whole day .... He published the
           book -- he himself was the publisher, he put together the money himself -- and then he went from
           one bookstore to another bookstore asking, "Have you got George Bernard Shaw's book?"
               They said, "George Bernard Shaw? We never heard the name."
               He said, "Strange, such a great man and you have never heard of him and you run a bookstore?
           Are you out-of-date or something? The first thing you should do is get George Bernard Shaw's
           book." He had published only one book but he started advertising for several books, because when
           you are going around, why just publicize one book? And one book does not make a man a great
           writer.
               He would go in different clothes -- sometimes with a hat, sometimes with glasses. And people
           started calling at George Bernard Shaw's house. And he had to do all this -- the advertising,
           supplying; that's how he sold his first book. He was asking people on the street, "Have you heard ...
           because I am hearing so much about a certain book written by some George Bernard Shaw. People
           say it is just great, fantastic. Have you heard?"
               They would say, "No, we have never even heard the name."
               He said, "This is strange. I used to think London was a cultured society." And he went to
           libraries and clubs and every place where there was a possibility to create a demand, and he created
           the demand. He sold the book, and finally -- that's what he was continuously doing -- finally he
           became one of the greatest writers of this age. He had created the demand.
               But if you succeed, there is no need for anybody to create the demand for peace of mind. If you
           succeed, you lose peace of mind on the way. That is a natural course. Success takes all peace from
           your mind. It simply sucks everything that is significant in life: peace, silence, joy, love. It goes on
           taking everything away from you. Finally your hands are full of junk, and all that was valuable is
           lost. And suddenly you realize peace of mind is needed.
               Immediately there are suppliers, who don't know anything about mind, who don't know anything
           about peace. I have read one book entitled PEACE OF MIND by a Jewish rabbi, Joshua Liebman. I
           have gone through the whole book; the man knows neither about peace nor does he know about the
           mind. But he is a businessman, he is a Jew: He has done a good job without knowing anything about
           peace of mind.
               His book is one of the best sellers in the world because whoever wants peace of mind is bound to
           sooner or later find Joshua Liebman's book. And he has written it beautifully. He is a good writer,
           very articulate, impressive; you will be influenced by it. But peace of mind will remain as far away
           as it was before, or it may even have gone farther away by your reading this book.
               In fact, if man knows what peace is, and what mind is, he cannot write a book entitled PEACE
           OF MIND, because mind is the cause of all unpeace, all restlessness. Peace is when there is no mind.
           So peace of mind -- no commodity like this exists. If mind is there, then peace is not. If peace is
           there then mind is not. But to write a book "Peace of No Mind" ... nobody is going to purchase it. I
           have been thinking ... but I thought, nobody is going to purchase "Peace of No Mind". It just will not
           make sense to them, but that's exactly the truth.
               The child is unaware of what he has brought with him. This rich man was in the same position.
           He had all the riches in the world, and now he was searching for peace of mind. He went from one
           sage to another and they all gave great advice, but advice helps nobody.
               In fact only fools give advice, and only fools take advice. Wise people are very reluctant to give
           you advice because a wise man certainly knows that the only thing in the world which is given freely
           is advice, and that which is never taken by anybody is advice, so why should he bother?
               A wise man first prepares you so that you can take the advice. He does not simply give you
           advice; you need to be prepared. It may take years to prepare you, to prepare the ground, and only
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           then can you sow the seeds. It will be a fool who simply goes on throwing seeds on rocks and stones
           without even bothering that he is wasting seeds.
               All these sages gave him advice but nothing clicked. Finally a man whom he had not asked, who
           was not in any way a famous man -- on the contrary he was thought to be the village idiot -- that man
           stopped him on the road one day and said, "You are unnecessarily wasting your time: none of these
           are sages. I know them perfectly, but because I am an idiot nobody believes me. Perhaps you will
           also not believe me, but I know a sage."
               "Just seeing you so tortured continuously for peace of mind, I thought it would be better if I
           showed you the right person. Otherwise I am an idiot; nobody asks me for advice and I never give
           any advice to anybody. But it was too much: seeing you so sad and so miserable, I broke my silence.
           You go to this man in the next village."
               The rich man immediately went, with a big bag full of precious diamonds, on his beautiful horse.
           He reached there, he saw that man -- this man was known to the Sufis as Mulla Nasruddin.
               He asked the Mulla, "Can you help me to attain peace of mind?"
           Mulla said, "Help? I can give it to you."
               The rich man thought, "This is strange. First that idiot suggested ... and just out of desperation I
           thought there is no harm, so I came here. This seems to be even a greater idiot: he is saying, `I can
           give it to you.'"
               The rich man said, "You can give it to me? I have been to all kinds of sages; they all give advice
           -- do this, do that, discipline yourself, do charity, help the poor, open hospitals, this and that. They
           say all these things, and in fact I have done all those things; nothing helps. In fact more and more
           trouble arises. And you say you can give it to me?"
               The Mulla said, "It is so simple. You get down from the horse." So the rich man got down from
           the horse. He was holding his bag, and Mulla asked, "What are you holding in your bag so closely to
           your heart?"
               He said, "These are precious diamonds. If you can give me peace, I will give you this bag." But
           before he could even figure out what was happening, Mulla took the bag and ran away!
               The rich man, for a moment, was in shock; he could not even understand what to do. And then he
           had to follow him. But it was Mulla's own town -- he knew every street and shortcut, and he was
           running. The rich man had never run in his whole life and he was so fat .... He was crying and
           huffing and puffing, and tears were rolling down. He said, "I have been completely cheated! This
           man has taken away all my life's hard work, my earnings; everything he has taken away."
               So a crowd followed, and all were laughing. He said, "Are you all idiots? Is this town full of
           idiots? I have been completely ruined, and rather than catching hold of the thief you are all
           laughing."
               They said, "He is not a thief, he is a very sage man."
               The rich man said, "That idiot from my village got me into this trouble!" But somehow, running,
           perspiring, he followed Mulla. Mulla arrived back under the same tree where the horse was still
           standing. He sat down under the tree with the bag, and the rich man came crying and weeping. Mulla
           said, "You take this bag." The rich man took the bag and put it close to his heart. Mulla said, "How
           does it feel? Can you feel some peace of mind?"
               The rich man said, "Yes it feels very peaceful. You are a strange man, and you have strange
           methods."
               Mulla said, "No strange methods -- simple mathematics. Whatever you have, you start taking it
           for granted. You just have to be given an opportunity to lose it; then immediately you will become
           aware of what you have lost. You have not gained anything new; it is the same bag that you have
           been carrying with no peace of mind. Now the same bag you are holding close to your heart and
           anybody can see how peaceful you are looking, a perfect sage! Just go home, and don't bother
           people."
               This is the problem for the child, because he comes with innocence and he is ready to buy
           anything, and give his innocence. He is ready to buy any rubbish and give his courage. He is ready to
           buy just toys -- and what else is there in this world except toys? -- and lose his clarity. He will
           understand only when all these toys are there in his possession and he can't feel any joy from them,
           can't see any achievement, any fulfillment. Then he becomes aware of what he has lost -- and he
           himself has lost it.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You are asking me how I managed not to lose my innocence and clarity. I have not done
           anything; just simply, from the very beginning .... I was a lonely child because I was brought up by
           my maternal grandfather and grandmother; I was not with my father and mother. Those two old
           people were alone and they wanted a child who would be the joy of their last days. So my father and
           mother agreed: I was their eldest child, the first-born; they sent me.
                I don't remember any relationship with my father's family in the early years of my childhood.
           With these two old men -- my grandfather and his old servant, who was really a beautiful man -- and
           my old grandmother ... these three people. And the gap was so big ... I was absolutely alone. It was
           not a company, it could not be a company. They tried their hardest to be as friendly to me as possible
           but it was just not possible.
                I was left to myself. I could not say things to them. I had nobody else, because in that small
           village my family were the richest; and it was such a small village -- not more than two hundred
           people in all -- and so poor that my grandparents would not allow me to mix with the village
           children. They were dirty, and of course they were almost beggars. So there was no way to have
           friends. That caused a great impact. In my whole life I have never been a friend, I have never known
           anybody to be a friend. Yes, acquaintances I had.
                In those first, early years I was so lonely that I started enjoying it; and it is really a joy. So it was
           not a curse to me, it proved a blessing. I started enjoying it, and I started feeling self-sufficient; I was
           not dependent on anybody.
                I have never been interested in games for the simple reason that from my very childhood there
           was no way to play, there was nobody to play with. I can still see myself in those earliest years, just
           sitting.
                We had a beautiful spot where our house was, just in front of a lake. Far away for miles, the lake
           ... and it was so beautiful and so silent. Only once in while would you see a line of white cranes
           flying, or making love calls, and the peace would be disturbed; otherwise, it was almost the right
           place for meditation. And when they would disturb the peace -- a love call from a bird ... after his
           call the peace would deepen, it would become deeper.
                The lake was full of lotus flowers, and I would sit for hours so self-content, as if the world did
           not matter: the lotuses, the white cranes, the silence ....
                And my grandparents were very aware of one thing, that I enjoyed my aloneness. They had
           continuously been seeing that I had no desire to go to the village to meet anybody, or to talk with
           anybody. Even if they wanted to talk my answers were yes, or no; I was not interested in talking
           either. So they became aware of one thing, that I enjoyed my aloneness, and it was their sacred duty
           not to disturb me.
                So for seven years continuously nobody tried to corrupt my innocence; there was nobody. Those
           three old people who lived in the house, the servant and my grandparents, were all protective in
           every possible way that nobody should disturb me. In fact I started feeling, as I grew up, a little
           embarrassed that because of me they could not talk, they could not be normal as everybody is. It was
           just the opposite situation ....
                It happens with children that you tell them, "Be silent because your father is thinking, your
           grandfather is resting. Be quiet, sit silently." In my childhood it happened the opposite way. Now I
           cannot answer why and how; it simply happened. That's why I said it simply happened -- the credit
           does not go to me.
                All those three old people were continuously making signs to each other: "Don't disturb him -- he
           is enjoying so much." And they started loving my silence.
                Silence has its vibe; it is infectious, particularly a child's silence which is not forced, which is not
           because you are saying, "I will beat you if you create any nuisance or noise." No, that is not silence.
           That will not create the joyous vibration that I am talking about, when a child is silent on his own,
           enjoying for no reason; his happiness is uncaused. That creates great ripples all around.
                In a better world, every family will learn from children. You are in such a hurry to teach them.
           Nobody seems to learn from them, and they have much to teach you. And you have nothing to teach
           them.
                Just because you are older and powerful you start making them just like you without ever
           thinking about what you are, where you have reached, what your status is in the inner world. You are
           a pauper; and you want the same for your child also?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But nobody thinks; otherwise people would learn from small children. Children bring so much
           from the other world because they are such fresh arrivals. They still carry the silence of the womb,
           the silence of the very existence.
                So it was just a coincidence that for seven years I remained undisturbed -- no Miss Judith Martin
           to nag me, to prepare me for the world of business, politics, diplomacy. My grandparents were more
           interested in leaving me as natural as possible -- particularly my grandmother. She is one of the
           causes -- these small things affect all your life patterns -- she is one of the causes of my respect for
           the whole of womanhood.
                She was a simple woman, uneducated, but immensely sensitive. She made it clear to my
           grandfather and the servant: "We all have lived a certain kind of life which has not led us anywhere.
           We are as empty as ever, and now death is coming close." She insisted, "Let this child be
           uninfluenced by us. What influence can we ...? We can only make him like us, and we are nothing.
           Give him an opportunity to be himself."
                My grandfather -- I heard them discussing in the night, thinking that I was asleep -- used to say
           to her, "You are telling me to do this, and I am doing it; but he is somebody else's son, and sooner or
           later he will have to go to his parents. What will they say? -- `You have not taught him any manners,
           any etiquette, he is absolutely wild.'"
                She said, "Don't be worried about that. In this whole world everybody is civilized, has manners,
           etiquette, but what is the gain? You are very civilized -- what have you got out of it? At the most his
           parents will be angry at us. So what? -- let them be angry. They can't harm us, and by that time the
           child will be strong enough that they cannot change his life course."
                I am tremendously grateful to that old woman. My grandfather was again and again worried that
           sooner or later he was going to be responsible: "They will say, `We left our child with you and you
           have not taught him anything.'"
                My grandmother did not even allow ... because there was one man in the village who could at
           least teach me the beginnings of language, mathematics, a little geography. He was educated to the
           fourth grade -- the lowest four; that is what was called primary education in India. But he was the
           most educated man in the town.
                My grandfather tried hard: "He can come and he can teach him. At least he will know the
           alphabet, some mathematics, so when he goes to his parents they will not say that we just wasted
           seven years completely."
                But my grandmother said, "Let them do whatsoever they want to do after seven years. For seven
           years he has to be just his natural self, and we are not going to interfere." And her argument was
           always, "You know the alphabet, so what? You know mathematics, so what? You have earned a
           little money; do you want him also to earn a little money and live just like you?"
                That was enough to keep that old man silent. What to do? He was in a difficulty because he could
           not argue, and he knew that he would be held responsible, not she, because my father would ask him,
           "What have you done?" And actually that would have been the case, but fortunately he died before
           my father could ask.
                But my father continuously was saying, "That old man is responsible, he has spoiled the child."
           But now I was strong enough, and I made it clear to him: "Before me, never say a single word
           against my maternal grandfather. He has saved me from being spoiled by you -- that is your real
           anger. But you have other children -- spoil them. And at the final stage you will say who is spoiled."
                He had other children, and more and more children went on coming. I used to tease him, "You
           please bring one child more, make it a dozen. Eleven children? People ask, "How many children?"
           Eleven does not look right; one dozen is more impressive."
                And in later years I used to tell him, "You go on spoiling all your children; I am wild, and I will
           remain wild."
                What you see as innocence is nothing but wildness. What you see as clarity is nothing but
           wildness. Somehow I remained out of the grip of civilization.
                And once I was strong enough .... And that's why these people -- Miss Judith Martin, and their
           kind -- insist, "Take hold of the child as quickly as possible, don't waste time because the earlier you
           take hold of the child, the easier it is. Once the child becomes strong enough, then to bend him
           according to your desires will be difficult."
                And life has seven-year circles. By the seventh year the child is perfectly strong; now you cannot
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           do anything. Now he knows where to go, what to do. He is capable of arguing. He is capable of
           seeing what is right and what is wrong. And his clarity will be at the climax when he is seven. If you
           don't disturb his earlier years, then at the seventh he is so crystal clear about everything that his
           whole life will be lived without any repentance.
               I have lived without any repentance. I have tried to find: Have I done anything wrong, ever? Not
           that people have been thinking that all that I have done is right, that is not the point: 97I have never
           thought anything that I have done was wrong. The whole world may think it was wrong, but to me
           there is absolute certainty that it was right; it was the right thing to do.
               So there is no question of repenting about the past. And when you don't have to repent about the
           past you are free from it. The past keeps you entangled like an octopus because you go on feeling,
           "That thing I should not have done," or, "That thing which I was supposed to do and did not do ...."
           All those things go on pulling you backwards.
           I don't see anything behind me, no past.
               If I say something about my past, it is simply factual memory, it has no psychological
           involvement. I am telling you as if I am telling you about somebody else. It is just factual; it has
           nothing to do with my personal involvement. It might have occurred to somebody else, it might have
           happened to somebody else.
               So remember, a factual memory is not enslaving. Psychological memory is, and psychological
           memory is made up of things that you think, or you have been conditioned to think, were wrong and
           you did them. Then there is a wound, a psychological wound.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                Chapter #3
                         Chapter title: Help your child -- protect him from yourself!
           2 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503025
              ShortTitle: DARK03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 143 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY TO HELP A CHILD GROW WITHOUT INTERFERING IN HIS NATURAL
              POTENTIALITY?


               Every way to help a child is wrong.
           The very idea of helping is not right.
           The child needs your love, not your help.
               The child needs nourishment, support, but not your help.
               The natural potential of the child is unknown, so there is no way to help him rightly to attain to
           his natural potential. You cannot help when the goal is unknown; all that you can do is not interfere.
           And in fact, in the name of help everybody is interfering with everybody else; and because the name
           is beautiful, nobody objects.
               Of course the child is so small, so dependent on you, he cannot object. And the people around are
           just like you: they have also been helped by their parents, the way you have been helped. Neither
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they have attained their natural potential, nor have you.
                The whole world is missing out in spite of all the help from the parents, from the family, from the
           relatives, from the neighbors, from the teachers, from the priests. In fact everybody is so burdened
           with help that under its weight ... what to say of attaining natural potential -- one cannot even attain
           unnatural potential! One cannot move; the weight on everybody's shoulders is Himalayan.
                And it is one of the most difficult things, not to interfere. It is not the nature of the mind. Mind is
           basically continuously, persistently, tempted to interfere. It lives on interference. The more you can
           interfere, the more powerful you are.
                How do you measure power? It is not something material, you cannot weigh it -- but it is
           measured, weighed. The way to measure it is by how much you can interfere in how many people's
           lives. Adolf Hitler is powerful because he can interfere in millions of people's lives. You are not
           Adolf Hitler, but still you can interfere in a few people's lives ... a little, miniature Adolf Hitler.
                At least the husband can interfere in the wife's life, the wife can interfere in the husband's life. It
           is a mutual game; in this way both become powerful. The husband goes on interfering in his own
           way, without being aware why they are interfering. They were supposed to be together to enhance
           each other's life but ....
                The husband will come late every day -- not that it is essential to come late, but it is a question of
           power, ego: if he comes home on time that means he has surrendered. I know husbands who go on
           sitting in offices doing nothing, gossiping, knowing perfectly well that their wives will be boiling.
           They can reach home in time, but that's what she wants. Just because she wants, it is impossible for
           the man, against his manliness, to be on time; he will come late. And the same scene is repeated
           every day.
                Nor is the wife ready to drop asking him why he is late, knowing perfectly well that whatsoever
           he says is a lie. She knows it is a lie, he knows that she knows that it is a lie -- and it is a lie, but it is
           a good beginning to a fight, a good start, a good excuse. And then the wife goes on doing the same
           ....
                I have sat with a husband in his car, and he is honking his horn because he is worried; he has to
           take me to a particular meeting and I have to be there in time. And I don't like to waste people's time;
           I am not a political leader. A political leader is supposed to come late. Again, the same power -- you
           have to wait. And he is not just a nobody; he is so occupied, so busy, that he is bound to be late.
                I know political leaders who were just sitting and gossiping, and I have told them, "We have to
           go to your meeting."
                They said, "You don't understand. A politician should not arrive on time. That means he is not a
           big shot, just a small fry."
                I am not a politician. I am neither a big shot nor a small fry. I am just a human being, neither
           anything more nor anything less. I have been particular about arriving in time.
                So the husband is worried, and the wife leans out of the window and says, "Stop honking your
           horn! I have told you one thousand times that I am coming in one minute."
                I looked at the husband and said, "This is something, `one thousand times' and `I am coming in
           one minute'! Where did she get the time to say it one thousand times in one minute?" But it is a
           power trip. The wife wants it to be known who is the boss. You can go on honking the horn, but
           without the boss coming down the car cannot move.
                I have a certain rapport with women, so whomsoever I was staying with, soon I became very
           close to their mothers, to their wives, sisters. And I asked, "What is the matter? Every day it
           happens; the poor man goes on honking." And they would say, "Nothing is the matter. We are not
           busy, but he goes on coming home late every day and pays no attention to what we are saying. So
           whenever we have the chance .... It is simple give and take."
                All the people around you have been helped, greatly helped, to be what they are. You have been
           helped; now you want to help your children too.
                All that you can do is be loving, be nourishing, be warm, be accepting. The child brings an
           unknown potential, and there is no way to figure out what he is going to be. So no procedure can be
           suggested: "This way you should help the child." And each child is unique so there cannot be a
           general discipline for every child.
                People like this Miss Judith Martin are suggesting measures for every child, as if children are
           produced on an assembly line in a factory. No two children are the same. How can you suggest, how
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           can you have even the nerve to suggest a generalized program, that this should be done?
               But Miss Judith Martin .... I don't know how many times she has become "Miss." I think at least
           a dozen times certainly, because no husband can survive her; either he will escape or commit
           suicide, but he will have to do something to make her Miss again. And she must be now very old.
               Perhaps finally when she became famous and the most well-known authority on child-rearing,
           nobody dared to marry her again, because such a woman, who has no compassion on children -- do
           you think she will have some compassion on husbands? She will train them exactly the way animals
           are trained in a circus. She will make them dance to her tune; and her being a world-famous
           authority, what can the poor husband do except dance?
               This kind of person has existed down the ages around the world everywhere. They have
           prescriptions, recipes, disciplines for everybody, not only for their contemporaries but for all future
           generations, as to what is right. They are so idiotic -- although they are known as great sages who
           have given you religions, disciplines, moralities, ethics, codes of conduct: great law-givers. But I say
           again to you, these people are idiots. Only an idiot can think in a generalized way when human
           beings are concerned.
               There is no average human being; you will never come across the average man. And all these
           authorities are concerned with the average man, who does not exist! The average man is just like
           God -- omnipresent, yet you cannot find him anywhere. God is so omnipresent that ....

               I have heard about one nun ... the whole nunnery became concerned about her. Is she sick or
           something? -- because she was taking her bath with her clothes on! And the doors were closed in the
           bathroom. And when they asked, "What is the matter? -- why don't you undress when the doors are
           closed and nobody is there?" she said, "Nobody? God is omnipresent. Yes, there is none of you, but
           God is there, and to undress before God does not look right."
               They all must have thought her a crackpot, but she really, literally had accepted the idea of the
           omnipresence of God.
               Exactly like omnipresent God is the average man: he exists nowhere and is supposed to exist
           everywhere. And all the principles are addressed to the average man.
           You ask me how to help the child in the right way.
               The right way is not to help the child at all. If you have real courage then please don't help the
           child.
           Love him, nourish him.
           Let him do what he wants to do.
           Let him go where he wants to go.
               Your mind will be tempted again and again to interfere, and with good excuses. The mind is very
           clever in rationalizing: "If you don't interfere there may be danger; the child may fall into the well if
           you don't stop him." But I say to you, it is better to let him fall into the well than to help him and
           destroy him.
               It is a very rare possibility that the child falls into the well -- and then too, it does not mean
           death; he can be taken out of the well. And if you are really so concerned, the well can be covered;
           but don't help the child, and don't interfere with the child. The well can be removed, but don't
           interfere with the child.
               Your real concern should be to remove all dangers but don't interfere with the child; let him go
           on his way.
               You will have to understand some significant growth patterns. Life has seven-year circles, it
           moves in seven-year circles just as the earth makes one rotation on its axis in twenty-four hours.
           Now nobody knows why not twenty-five, why not twenty-three. There is no way to answer it; it is
           simply a fact.
               The earth takes three hundred and sixty-five days to make one round of the sun. Why three
           hundred and sixty-five? Nobody knows, nobody needs to know. And it does not make any
           difference. If it were taking four hundred days, what difference would it have made to you? ... or
           three hundred days ...? The question would have remained the same: Why?
               So remember one thing: any question is absurd if with every answer the question still remains
           standing the same. In twenty-four hours the earth makes one turn on its own axis. Why? Make it
           twenty-five, make it twenty-six, make it thirty, sixty -- as much as you want -- the question still
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stands the same: why? Hence I call the question absurd; it will always remain the same.
               So don't ask me why life moves in seven-year circles. I don't know. This much I know, that it
           moves in seven-year circles. And if you understand those seven-year circles, you will understand a
           great deal about human growth.
               The first seven years are the most important because the foundation of life is being laid. That's
           why all the religions are very much concerned about grabbing children as quickly as possible.
               The Jews will circumcise the child. What nonsense! But they are stamping the child as a Jew;
           that is a primitive way of stamping. You still do it on the cattle around here; I have seen stamps.
           Every owner stamps the cattle, otherwise they can get mixed up. It is a cruel thing. Red-hot steel has
           to be used to stamp the cattle's leather, skin; it burns the skin. But then it becomes your possession; it
           cannot be lost, it cannot be stolen.
               What is circumcision? It is stamping cattle. But these cattle are Jews.
               Hindus have their own ways. All religions have their own ways. But it should be known whose
           cattle you are, who your shepherd is -- Jesus? Moses? Mohammed? You are not your own master.
               Those first seven years are the years when you are conditioned, stuffed with all kinds of ideas
           which will go on haunting you your whole life, which will go on distracting you from your
           potentiality, which will corrupt you, which will never allow you to see clearly. They will always
           come like clouds before your eyes, they will make everything confused.
               Things are clear, very clear -- existence is absolutely clear -- but your eyes have layers upon
           layers of dust.
               And all that dust has been arranged in the first seven years of your life when you were so
           innocent, so trusting, that whatsoever was told to you you accepted as truth. And whatsoever has
           gone into your foundation, later on it will be very difficult for you to find: it has become almost part
           of your blood, bones, your very marrow. You will ask a thousand other questions but you will never
           ask about the basic foundations of your belief.
               The first expression of love towards the child is to leave his first seven years absolutely innocent,
           unconditioned, to leave him for seven years completely wild, a pagan.
               He should not be converted to Hinduism, to Mohammedanism, to Christianity. Anybody who is
           trying to convert the child is not compassionate, he is cruel: he is contaminating the very soul of a
           new, fresh arrival. Before the child has even asked questions he has been answered with ready-made
           philosophies, dogmas, ideologies. This is a very strange situation. The child has not asked about
           God, and you go on teaching him about God. Why so much impatience? Wait!
               If the child someday shows interest in God and starts asking about God, then try to tell him not
           only your idea of God -- because nobody has any monopoly: put before him all the ideas of God that
           have been presented to different people by different ages, by different religions, cultures,
           civilizations.
               Put before him all the ideas about God, and tell him, "You can choose between these, whichever
           appeals to you. Or you can invent your own, if nothing suits. If everything seems to be with a flaw,
           and you think you can have a better idea, then invent your own. Or if you find that there is no way to
           invent an idea without loopholes, then drop the whole thing; there is no need. A man can live
           without God; there is no intrinsic necessity.
               "Millions of people have lived without God. God is nothing that is inevitably needed by you.
           Yes, I have my idea; that too is in the combination of all these ideals in this collection. You can
           choose that, but I am not saying that my idea is the right idea. It appeals to me; it may not appeal to
           you."
               There is no inner necessity that the son should agree with the father. In fact it seems far better
           that he should not agree. That's how evolution happens. If every child agrees with the father then
           there will be no evolution, because the father will agree with his own father, so everybody will be
           where God left Adam and Eve -- naked, outside the gate of the garden of Eden. Everybody will be
           there.
               Because sons have disagreed with their fathers, forefathers, with their whole tradition, man has
           evolved.
               This whole evolution is a tremendous disagreement with the past.
               The more intelligent you are, the more you are going to disagree.
               But parents appreciate the child who agrees; they condemn the child who disagrees.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               It was the practice in my family to produce me in front of anybody to condemn me. Any visitor
           to the family, any guest of the family ... and I would be called. And I knew for what, but I enjoyed it.
           I was called to be condemned: "And this boy is in disagreement with everything." In Hindi there is a
           phrase for it: ulti khopdi -- it means upside-down skull. So that was the phrase used for me.
               I said, "It is true, but the reality is, I look upside down to all these people because they are
           standing on their heads. They are doing yoga asanas, shirshasana -- headstand posture. I am simply
           standing on my feet. I am the only one here who does not believe in any kind of nonsense. They are
           right, because to them it must appear that I am standing upside down. And they are in the majority --
           perhaps you also belong to them.
               "But this is the usual procedure: they don't answer my questions, they only condemn my
           disagreement. Now this is inhuman. If you answer my question, and still I disagree, then certainly I
           am stubborn. But have you answered a single question of mine? Have you satisfied me? Have you
           any right to condemn me because I disagree?"
               In India, at the end of the monsoon there is a festival of lights, diwali, when the whole country
           becomes very festive and every house has thousands of small earthen lamps decorating all the walls,
           balconies. The whole town becomes a fairyland, the whole country turns into a fairyland, with
           firecrackers and great rejoicing. That day they worship money.
               The goddess of money is Laxmi. Laxmi is the wife of the Hindu god, Narayana, and of course a
           god's wife should be the goddess of wealth. In fact one of the Indian words for god, iswar, means
           "one who has all the wealth of the world." His wife is the goddess of wealth. And on the night of the
           festival of lights they worship money.
               Before paper currency came into being they used to make a pile of silver rupees and worship
           them. Now they put paper money and worship it. Before silver rupees there were golden rupees. The
           word rupee simply means gold; it comes from Sanskrit. It is an Indian word ... because in the
           beginning the coin was gold, pure gold, so the word rupia, which became in English, rupee, was
           meaningful.
               They used to worship gold, then came silver, then came paper currency. And they went on ... the
           question is of worshiping money. I never participated in their worship. I simply hated the whole idea
           and I told them, "This is one of the ugliest things you can do. Money is something to be used, not
           worshipped. On the one hand your religions teach that money is nothing but dust. On the one hand it
           is dust, on the other hand it becomes a goddess. And you cannot see your split mind?
               "On the one hand you praise a man as a sage if he renounces money; then he becomes
           synonymous with God because he renounced money and everything. And on the other hand you
           worship money. Can you in some way help me to understand? Is there not a clear-cut contradiction?
               "If money is God's wife then in the first place the person who renounces God's wife is a criminal.
           In the first place why did he possess God's wife? -- that seems to be absolutely illegal. He should be
           caught and imprisoned. In the first place was he pretending to be God's wife's husband?"
               My father would say, "You just keep quiet; at least let us finish our worship."
           I would say, "No, first I want my answer."
               And I had a big stool in my house -- they used to use it as a ladder for taking things up or down
           -- so wherever they would be worshiping, in the main hall of the house, I would sit on that stool. And
           they would say, "At least please come down. You are sitting on that stool."
               I said, "No, I want my answers. I see so much stupidity in it, because I have seen you touching
           people's feet who have renounced money. Then you tell me that this man is great, a sage: he has
           kicked all that is thought to be valuable and that needs courage and guts. But what are you doing? If
           that man is right to renounce all this money, at least stop worshiping it. And you have to answer me;
           otherwise my disagreement continues."
               My mother would say to me, "On such days you should be out of the house because you don't
           know -- if the goddess Laxmi becomes angry we will all starve and be hungry and die poor."
               I said, "I have been doing this year after year, sitting on my stool. I don't see that your goddess
           can do anything. If she can, I challenge her -- let her, because at least that will give me some
           answer." And when they were all finished with their worship I would go and kick their rupees, and
           spit on their rupees, and I would say, "Now this is what I wanted to do; now let us see who is
           rewarded." They could not prevent me, although they tried hard.
               I said, "You cannot prevent me. I will do what I want to do, unless you prove me wrong. And
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you call me in front of everybody saying that I am in disagreement about everything. I have to be in
           disagreement about everything, for the simple reason that you go on doing things that any intelligent
           person would see the contradiction in."
                For example, in India, if somebody has smallpox it is not thought to be a physical disease.
           Smallpox is called in India, mata; mata means mother goddess. And in every town there is a temple
           for the mother goddess, or many temples ... the mother goddess is angry, that's why poor little
           children are suffering from smallpox.
                People like Mahatma Gandhi were against vaccination because it was unnatural. Smallpox is
           natural. It destroys so many beautiful children's faces, their eyes, and it kills many. And the prophet
           of non-violence was against vaccination because he was against anything scientific -- and moreover
           it was thought the disease is not a physiological disease, it is a spiritual anger.
                One of my sisters died of smallpox, and I was very angry because I loved that sister more than
           any of my brothers or my sisters. I told them, "You have killed her. I have been telling you that she
           needs vaccination.
                "I have suffered from smallpox, but at that time I could not say anything to you; I don't even
           remember it, it happened just in my first year. And every child suffers. When this girl was born I was
           insisting that she should be vaccinated. But you are all followers of Mahatma Gandhi: Vaccination is
           against nature. And to prevent ... the anger of the mother goddess will be dangerous. It will come in
           some other form."
                And when the girl became sick with smallpox they were doing both things: they were taking
           medicine from the doctor and they were continuously going to worship the mother goddess.
                I said, "Then please do one thing at least; either take the medicine, or go and worship your
           mother. But you are being cunning; you are even deceiving the mother goddess. I am honest, I spit
           on your mother goddess every day" -- because I used to go to the river and the temple was just on the
           way so there was no harm; coming and going I would spit.
                And I said, "Whatsoever you do ... but it is strange -- I am spitting, I should suffer. Why should
           she suffer? And I cannot understand that the mother goddess becomes angry and small children
           suffer -- who have not committed any crime, who have just arrived, who have not had time enough
           to do anything, nor are capable of doing anything. Others should suffer, but they are not suffering.
                "And mother goddess you call her! You should call her a witch, because what kind of mother is
           she who makes small children suffer? And then you are cunning. You are also not certain; otherwise
           don't take the medicine. Throw all the medicines; depend completely on your mother goddess. There
           too you are afraid. You are trying to ride on two horses. This is sheer stupidity. Either depend on the
           mother and let the girl die, or depend on the medicine, and forget about that mother."
                They would say, "We can understand that there is a contradiction, but please don't bring it to our
           notice, because it hurts."
                I said, "Do you think it hurts only you, and it does not hurt me seeing my parents being stupid,
           silly? It does not hurt me? It hurts me more. There is still time, you can change; but on the contrary,
           you are trying to change me, and you call it help. You think without your help I am going to be lost.
           Please let me be lost. At least I will have one satisfaction, that nobody else is responsible for my
           being lost; it is my own doing. I will be proud of it."
                Up to seven years, if a child can be left innocent, uncorrupted by the ideas of others, then to
           distract him from his potential growth becomes impossible. The child's first seven years are the most
           vulnerable. And they are in the hands of parents, teachers, priests ....
                How to save children from parents, priests, teachers is a question of such enormous proportion
           that it seems almost impossible to find how to do it.
           It is not a question of helping the child.
           It is a question of protecting the child.
                If you have a child, protect the child from yourself. Protect the child from others who can
           influence him: at least up to seven years, protect him.
                The child is just like a small plant, weak, soft: just a strong wind can destroy it, any animal can
           eat it up. You put a protective wiring around it, but that is not imprisoning, you are simply
           protecting. When the plant is bigger, the wires will be removed.
                Protect the child from every kind of influence so that he can remain himself -- and it is only a
           question of seven years, because then the first circle will be complete. By seven years he will be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           well-grounded, centered, strong enough.
                You don't know how strong a seven-year-old child can be because you have not seen uncorrupted
           children, you have seen only corrupted children. They carry the fears, the cowardliness, of their
           fathers, mothers, their families. They are not their own selves.
                If a child remains uncorrupted for seven years .... You will be surprised to meet such a child. He
           will be as sharp as a sword. His eyes will be clear, his insight will be clear. And you will see a
           tremendous strength in him which you cannot find even in a seventy-year-old adult, because the
           foundations are shaky. So in fact as the building goes on becoming higher and higher, the more and
           more shaky it becomes.
                So you will see, the older a person becomes, the more afraid. When he is young he may be an
           atheist; when he becomes old he starts believing in God. Why is that?
                When he is below thirty he is a hippie. He has courage to go against the society, to behave in his
           own way: to have long hair, to have a beard, to roam around the world, to take all kinds of risks. But
           by the time he is forty, all that has disappeared. You will see him in some office in a gray suit, clean
           shaven, well groomed. You will not even be able to recognize that he is an ex-hippie.
                Where have all the hippies disappeared to? Suddenly you see them with a great force; then, just
           like used bullet cases, empty cartridges, impotent, defeated, depressed -- trying to make something
           out of life, feeling that all those years of hippiedom were a wastage. Others have gone far ahead;
           somebody has become the president, somebody has become the governor, and "we were stupid; we
           were just playing the guitar and the whole world passed us by." They repent.
                It is really difficult to find an old hippie. Just one I have found; that is Bapuji, Sheela's father. He
           will die a hippie. At his age -- he must be near about seventy -- he was living with hippies in
           northern New York State. Some photographer took a photograph of him; he was sitting naked on a
           hill ... snow, ice, all around. And he was sitting naked there. Somebody took his photo, and those
           photos have been coming to me. People think Bapuji is me!
                It is printed now, because he looks really beautiful -- naked, sitting on the top. The sun is rising,
           and all around snow, and he is looking really beautiful. Many people who have found that photo -- it
           is a postcard now -- go on sending it to me saying, "Osho, it was a surprise to find you sitting here."
                I told Sheela, "Tell Bapuji, `don't do such things, because nobody knows you.'" But he will die a
           hippie.
                He brought all his children to me, which no father has done except him. It was he who brought
           Sheela to me ... forcibly, because she was not interested. But he is not a man to listen to anybody. He
           said, "Once, you have to come; twice I will not ask, then it is your business. But once I have to force
           you because you don't know what you are refusing. So forgive me for forcing you, but one time I
           have to force you."
                He brought all his children by and by, and almost all his children are now sannyasins. And once
           Sheela came she never left me. He asked Sheela, teased her, "Now what about going back to
           America?"
           She said, "I am not going anywhere."
                "But," Bapuji said, "I had brought you just to meet him, not to stay."
                Sheela said, "But I have to -- this is the place I have been searching for."
                He said, "I am happy because I have brought you to the right place: now I am freed of my
           responsibility. Now whatsoever becomes of you, it will be right."
                If you are a parent you will need this much courage -- not to interfere. Open doors of unknown
           directions to the child so he can explore. He does not know what he has in him, nobody knows.
                He has to grope in the dark. Don't make him afraid of darkness, don't make him afraid of failure,
           don't make him afraid of the unknown. Give him support. When he is going on an unknown journey,
           send him with all your support, with all your love, with all your blessings.
           Don't let him be affected by your fears.
                You may have fears, but keep them to yourself. Don't unload those fears on the child because
           that will be interfering.
                After seven years, the next circle of seven years, from seven to fourteen, is a new addition to life:
           the child's first stirring of sexual energies. But they are only a kind of rehearsal.
                To be a parent is a difficult job, so unless you are ready to take that difficult job, don't become a
           parent. People simply go on becoming fathers and mothers not knowing what they are doing. You
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           are bringing a life into existence; all the care in the world will be needed.
                Now when the child starts playing his sexual rehearsals, that is the time when parents interfere
           the most, because they have been interfered with. All that they know is what has been done to them,
           so they simply go on doing that to their children.
                Societies don't allow sexual rehearsal, at least have not allowed it up to this century -- only
           within the last two, three decades, and that too only in very advanced countries. Now children are
           having co-education. But in a country like India, even now co-education starts only at the university
           level.
                The seven-year-old boy and the seven-year-old girl cannot be in the same boarding school. And
           this is the time for them -- without any risk, without the girl getting pregnant, without any problems
           arising for their families -- this is the time when they should be allowed all playfulness.
                Yes, it will have a sexual color to it, but it is rehearsal; it is not the real drama. And if you don't
           allow them even the rehearsal and then suddenly one day the curtain opens, and the real drama starts
           .... And those people don't know what is going on; even a prompter is not there to tell them what to
           do. You have messed up their life completely.
                Those seven years, the second circle in life, is significant as a rehearsal. They will meet, mix,
           play, become acquainted. And that will help humanity to drop almost ninety percent of perversions.
                If the children from seven to fourteen are allowed to be together; to swim together, to be naked
           before each other, ninety percent of perversions and ninety percent of pornography will simply
           disappear. Who will bother about it?
                When a boy has known so many girls naked, what interest can a magazine like PLAYBOY have
           for him? When a girl has seen so many boys naked, I don't see that there is any possibility of
           curiosity about the other; it will simply disappear. They will grow together naturally, not as two
           different species of animals.
                Right now that's how they grow: two different species of animals. They don't belong to one
           mankind; they are kept separate. A thousand and one barriers are created between them so they
           cannot have any rehearsal of their sexual life which is going to come.
                Because this rehearsal is missing, that's why in people's actual sex life foreplay is missing; and
           foreplay is so important -- far more important than actual sexual contact, because actual sexual
           contact lasts only for seconds. It is not nourishment. It simply leaves you in a limbo. You were
           hoping for so much, and nothing comes out of it.
                In Hindi we have a proverb: kheela pahad nikli chuhia. `You dug out the whole mountain and
           you found one rat.' After all the effort -- going to the movies and going to the disco and going to the
           restaurant, and talking all kinds on nonsense which neither you want nor the other wants to do, but
           both are talking -- digging the mountain, and in the end, just a rat! Nothing is so frustrating as sex.
                Just the other day Vivek brought me one advertisement about a new car, Lagonda; in the
           advertisement they had a beautiful sentence that I liked. The sentence is: "It is better than sex." I
           don't care about the car -- the advertisement is beautiful. Certainly if you look around you, you will
           find a thousand and one things better than sex. Sex is just a rat, and that too after so much huffing
           and puffing, so much perspiration ... and in the end both feel cheated.
                The reason is that you don't know the art of sex; you know only the middle point. It is as if you
           see a film just in the middle for a few seconds. Naturally you can't make any sense of it; the
           beginning is missing, the end is missing. Perhaps you simply saw the interval ... where there was
           nothing.
                Man feels ashamed after sex; he turns over and goes to sleep. He simply cannot face the woman.
           He feels ashamed, that's why he turns to his side and goes to sleep. The woman weeps and cries
           because this was not what she was hoping for. This is all? Then what is this whole drama all about?
           But the reason is because the rehearsal part in your life has been canceled by your society. You don't
           know what foreplay is.
                Foreplay is really the most satisfying part in sex. Foreplay is more loving. Sex is simply a
           biological climax, but the climax of what? -- you have missed everything that could have made it a
           climax. Do you think you suddenly reach to the climax, missing all the rungs of the ladder? You
           have to move up the ladder, rung by rung, only then can you reach the climax. Everybody wants the
           climax.
                Now the foolish psychoanalysts and their kind have put an idea in people's minds of orgasm.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now, orgasm is even a higher stage than climax; it needs much more than climax. People are
           missing climax -- their sexual life is nothing but a kind of relief. Yes, for a moment you feel relieved
           of a burden, just like a good sneeze. How good it feels afterwards! -- but for how long? How long
           can you feel good after a sneeze? How many seconds, how many minutes can you brag that "I had
           such a sneeze, it was great." As the sneeze is gone, with it goes all the joy too.
                It was simply something bothering you. You are finished with that botheration, there is a little
           relaxation. That's the sexual life of most of the people in the world. Some energy was bothering you,
           was making you heavy; it was turning into a headache. Sex gives you a relief.
                But the way children are brought up is almost butchering their whole life. Those seven years of
           sexual rehearsal are absolutely essential. Girls and boys should be together in schools, in hostels, in
           swimming pools and beds. They should rehearse for the life which is going to come; they have to get
           ready for it. And there is no danger, there is no problem, if a child is given total freedom about his
           growing sexual energy and is not condemned, repressed -- which is being done.
                A very strange world it is in which you are living. You are born of sex, you will live for sex,
           your children will be born out of sex -- and sex is the most condemned thing, the greatest sin. And
           all the religions go on putting this crap in your mind. They have made you almost brown bags.
                Only in New Jersey did I come to know what brown bags are. Strange, I don't know whether it
           happens all over America or only in New Jersey because I have not seen anything else, only New
           Jersey. In New Jersey when I used to go to drive in the morning, everybody was coming with a
           brown bag full of all crap, putting it by the side of the road.
                I enquired, "What is the matter? Couldn't they have found any other color? A brown bag?" But
           then I thought perhaps that's exactly right. Most of the people are simply brown bags. Never open
           anybody.
                It happened in my childhood: India became independent but the British government had left
           some Indian states. India was in two separate sections; only one was under British rule. There were
           small pockets all over India of Indian states which were still ruled by Indian kings. They were under
           British government -- their foreign policy was ruled by the British government, but otherwise in their
           internal policy they were completely free.
                When the Britishers left India they left it in a mess, in a real mess. First, they divided India and
           Pakistan; second they left the Indian states absolutely in a limbo, without making any decision about
           them. The idea was to create a chaos, and they had already created a chaos because there were so
           many Indian states. Now the question was, were they independent nations? Were they part of India
           and would their foreign policy be ruled by India, or were they part of Pakistan and would their
           foreign policy be ruled by Pakistan?
                Nothing was decided, the whole question was not decided. And the Indian states constituted
           almost half of India. The trouble was more complicated because in some Indian states the major
           population was Hindu and the king was Mohammedan; in some Indian states the major population
           was Mohammedan and the king was Hindu. Kashmir was ninety percent Mohammedan, but the king
           was Hindu. Hyderabad was ninety percent Hindu, but the king was Mohammedan.
                Just close to my town, beyond the river, was a small state, Bhopal. The king was Mohammedan,
           the population was Hindu, so everywhere there were riots because the population wanted the state to
           merge with India, and the king wanted to merge it with Pakistan because he was Mohammedan. But
           it was in the middle of India so it was not easy to merge with Pakistan. There was a great fight
           between the king's forces and the population, and we were just on the other side of the river. We
           could see from this side people being killed on the other side.
                We caught four dead people who were killed by the forces of the king; somehow they must have
           fallen in the river, and they came to our side so we caught hold of them. Naturally, I had to persuade
           people, "This is not good. They have been fighting for the freedom of the country; they wanted the
           country to merge into India -- you should not leave them like that."
                They wanted to throw them into the river and be finished: who could be bothered with them? But
           somehow I gathered a few young people, and then a few old people felt ashamed and they came.
                But first, before we could do anything they had to be postmortemed, so we took them to the
           hospital. The postmortem place was almost two furlongs away behind the hospital, in the jungle. One
           can understand that they were cutting up bodies ... the smell and everything, so they had made the
           place that far away outside the city. But we had to carry these four corpses.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That was the first time I saw a brown bag open. The doctor was the father of one of my friends so
           he allowed me in. He said, "You can see how man looks inside," and he opened the bodies. It was
           really shocking to see how man looks inside. And this was only the body: later on I saw the
           postmortem of the mind also. Compared to that it is nothing, this is only the poor body. Your mind is
           so rich in crap ....
               That day one thing happened that I have to tell you, although it is not concerned with what I was
           going to tell you -- but it must be concerned in some way, otherwise why should I remember it?
               When we were carrying out the bodies after they were postmortemed .... They put them together
           again and covered them. One of the leaders of my town, Shri Nath Batt, had always felt as if I was
           his enemy, for the simple reason that I was a friend of his son and he thought I was corrupting him --
           and in a way he was right. By chance it happened that we were carrying a corpse together; I was
           ahead, holding both the poles at the front of the stretcher, and Shri Nath Batt was behind me holding
           the end of the two poles.
               The head of the man, the dead man, was at my end, and the legs at his end. I had just read
           somewhere that when a man dies of course he loses all control -- control over the bladder also, so if
           you put his head upwards and his legs downwards .... I thought, "This is a good chance to see
           whether that idea is right or wrong," so I just raised the poles .... And you should have seen what
           happened -- because that corpse pissed and Shri Nath Batt ran away!
               And we could not persuade him to come back. He said, "I cannot. Have you ever heard of a dead
           man pissing? It is a ghost!"
           I told him, "You are the leader."
               He said, "To hell with the leader! I don't want to be the leader if this is the kind of work I have to
           do. And I've always known you -- from the very beginning. Why did you raise those poles?"
               I said, "I don't know, it must have been the ghost. I suddenly felt like somebody was raising my
           hands up; I am not at all responsible." I had to drag that body alone, for two furlongs, to the hospital.
               Shri Nath Batt was in the town telling everybody, "This boy is going to kill somebody someday.
           Today just by God's grace I am saved. That ghost just pissed over me, on my clothes. And that boy
           persuaded me: `You have to come because you are the leader; otherwise what will people think? -- a
           leader in times of need, missing. Then remember, at voting time I will not be of any help.' So I went
           there, but I never thought that he would do such a thing to me."
               These people all around the world are really brown bags, full of everything rotten that you can
           conceive, for the simple reason that they have not been allowed to grow in the natural way. They
           have not been allowed to accept themselves. They all have become ghosts. They are not
           authentically real people, they are only shadows of someone they could have been; they are only
           shadows.
               The second circle of seven years is immensely important because it will prepare you for the
           coming seven years. If you have done the homework rightly, if you have played with your sexual
           energy just in the spirit of a sportsman -- and at that time, that is the only spirit you will have -- you
           will not become a pervert, a homosexual.
               All kinds of strange things will not come to your mind because you are moving naturally with the
           other sex, the other sex is moving with you; there is no hindrance, and you are not doing anything
           wrong against anybody. Your conscience is clear because nobody has put into your conscience ideas
           of what is right, what is wrong: you are simply being whatever you are.
               Then from fourteen to twenty-one your sex matures. And this is significant to understand: if the
           rehearsal has gone well, in the seven years when your sex matures a very strange thing happens that
           you may not have ever thought about, because you have not been given the chance. I said to you that
           the second seven years, from seven to fourteen, give you a glimpse of foreplay. The third seven years
           give you a glimpse of afterplay. You are still together with girls or boys, but now a new phase starts
           in your being: you start falling in love.
               It is still not a biological interest. You are not interested in producing children, you are not
           interested in becoming husbands and wives, no. These are the years of romantic play. You are more
           interested in beauty, in love, in poetry, in sculpture -- which are all different phases of romanticism.
           And unless a man has some romantic quality he will never know what afterplay is. Sex is just in the
           middle.
               The longer the foreplay, the better the possibility of reaching the climax; the better the possibility
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of reaching the climax, the better opening for afterplay. And unless a couple knows afterplay they
           will never know what sex in its completion is.
               Now there are sexologists who are teaching foreplay. A taught foreplay is not the real thing, but
           they are teaching it -- at least they have recognized the fact that without foreplay sex cannot reach
           the climax. But they are at a loss how to teach afterplay because when a person has reached the
           climax he is no longer interested: he is finished, the job is done. For that it needs a romantic mind, a
           poetic mind, a mind that knows how to be thankful, how to be grateful.
               The person, the woman or the man who has brought you to such a climax, needs some gratitude
           -- afterplay is your gratitude. And unless there is afterplay it simply means your sex is incomplete;
           and incomplete sex is the cause of all the troubles that man goes through.
               Sex can become orgasmic only when afterplay and foreplay are completely balanced. Just in
           their balance the climax turns into orgasm.
           And the word "orgasm" has to be understood.
               It means that your whole being -- body, mind, soul, everything -- becomes involved, organically
           involved.
           Then it becomes a moment of meditation.
               To me, if your sex does not become finally a moment of meditation, you have not known what
           sex is. You have only heard about it, you have read about it; and the people who have been writing
           about it know nothing about it.

               I have read hundreds of books on sexology by people who are thought to be great experts, and
           they are experts, but they know nothing about the innermost shrine where meditation blossoms.
               Just as children are born by ordinary sex, meditation is born by extraordinary sex.
               Animals can produce children; there is nothing special about it. It is only man who can produce
           the experience of meditation as the center of his orgasmic feeling. This is possible only if from
           fourteen to twenty-one young people are allowed to have romantic freedom.
               From twenty-one to twenty-eight is the time when they can settle. They can choose a partner.
           And they are capable of choosing now; through all the experience of the past two circles they can
           choose the right partner. There is nobody else who can do it for you. It is something that is more like
           a hunch -- not arithmetic, not astrology, not palmistry, not I-Ching, nothing is going to do.
               It is a hunch: coming in contact with many, many people suddenly something clicks which had
           never clicked with anybody else. And it clicks with so much certainty and so absolutely, that you
           cannot even doubt it. Even if you try to doubt it, you cannot, the certainty is so tremendous. With
           this click you settle.
               Between twenty-one and twenty-eight somewhere, if everything goes smoothly the way I am
           saying, without interference from others, then you settle. And the most pleasant period of life comes
           from twenty-eight to thirty-five -- the most joyous, the most peaceful and harmonious because two
           persons start melting and merging into each other.
               From thirty-five to forty-two, a new step, a new door opens. If up to thirty-five you have felt
           deep harmony, an orgasmic feeling, and you have discovered meditation through it, then from
           thirty-five to forty-two you will help each other go more and more into that meditation without sex,
           because sex at this point starts looking childish, juvenile.
               Forty-two is the right time when a person should be able to know exactly who he is. From
           forty-two to forty-nine he gets deeper and deeper into meditation, more and more into himself, and
           helps the partner in the same way. They become friends. There is no more husband and there is no
           more wife; that time has passed. It has given its richness to your life; now there is something higher,
           higher than love.
               That is friendliness, a compassionate relationship to help the other to go deeper into himself, to
           become more independent, to become more alone -- just like two tall trees standing separate but still
           close to each other, or two pillars in a temple supporting the same roof -- standing so close, but so
           separate and so independent and so alone.
               From forty-nine to fifty-six this aloneness becomes your focus of being. Everything in the world
           loses meaning. The only thing meaningful that remains is this aloneness.
               From fifty-six to sixty-three you become absolutely what you are going to become: the potential
           blossoms.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                From sixty-three to seventy you start getting ready to drop the body. Now you know you are not
           the body, you know you are not the mind either. The body was known as separate from you
           somewhere when you were thirty-five. That the mind is separate from you was known somewhere
           when you were forty-nine. Now, everything else drops except the witnessing self. Just the pure
           awareness, the flame of awareness remains with you, and this is the preparation for death.
                Seventy is the natural life span for man. And if things move in this natural course then he dies
           with tremendous joy, with great ecstasy, feeling immensely blessed that his life has not been
           meaningless, that at least he has found his home. And because of this richness, this fulfillment, he is
           capable of blessing the whole existence.
                Just to be near such a person when he is dying is a great opportunity. You will feel, as he leaves
           his body, some invisible flowers falling upon you. Although you cannot see them, you can feel them.
                It has been always a great moment in the lives of disciples when the Master leaves the body. And
           it is possible because the Master can know when he is going to leave the body -- he can collect all
           those who have been his fellow travelers moving in the same way. Now that he is leaving he would
           like to give you his last gift.
                As the Master opens his wings towards the other world you will feel the breeze which is
           incomparable. There is nothing in life to which it can be compared.
                It is sheer joy, so pure that even to have a little taste of it is enough to transform your whole life.




                                             From Darkness to Light
                                                Chapter #4
                       Chapter title: The death penalty: not punishment but revenge
           3 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503035
              ShortTitle: DARK04
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 136 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT ON THE DEATH PENALTY?


                The death penalty is a degrading proof of man's inhumanity to man. It shows that man is still
           living in the barbarous age. Civilization still remains an idea -- it has not become a reality.
                The death penalty is so idiotic that you will have to look from all the aspects to understand why
           such an idiotic thing has continued in all the civilizations, cultures, nations. Even in a few countries
           where it was dropped it has been adopted again. In a few other countries where it has been dropped,
           it has been replaced by life imprisonment -- which is worse than the death penalty itself. It is better
           to die in a single moment than to go on dying slowly for fifty years, sixty years.
                Changing from the death penalty to a life sentence is going not towards civilization, it is going
           still deeper into barbarous, inhuman darkness, unconsciousness.
                The first thing to remember is that the death penalty is not really a punishment. If you cannot
           give life as a reward, you cannot give death as a penalty. This is a simple logic, there cannot be two
           opinions about it. If you cannot give life to people, what right have you to take their life?
                I am reminded of a true story. It happened that two criminals were in search of a treasure that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was hidden in a castle. Many people had tried but had not found the way; somehow these criminals
           stumbled upon the treasure. The treasure was so vast that one of the two was not willing to divide it.
           The only way was to kill the other, but in killing the other he might get caught. There was danger,
           and now he could not take any risk because the whole treasure was in his hands.
                He managed a very cunning way. He disappeared and spread the rumor that he had been
           murdered, and he left all the evidence that would prove that his friend was the murderer. The friend
           was caught with all the proofs: his revolver was there; two bullets were missing, and his fingerprints
           were on the revolver. His handkerchief with his name embroidered on it had fallen .... And only he
           knew the place where the friend was hiding in the jungles against the police, because they had done
           other crimes also, and there was a price on both of them to be caught alive or dead.
                He could not prove his innocence; there was no way -- everything went against him. He was
           given the death penalty. He knew he had not murdered his friend; he knew that this whole thing was
           a plot. His friend was not dead; it was just to keep the whole treasure, that the friend had removed
           him in a legal way, out of the way.
                But he escaped from the prison before he was executed. After twelve years he came into the
           court, dragging the dead body of a very famous politician, a rich man of the city, and he told the
           court -- it was the same judge -- "I have murdered this man, and I dare you to punish me. But first let
           me tell you the whole story. I am the man who twelve years ago you had sentenced to death. I
           escaped from the prison because I was absolutely innocent, but I had no proof."
                In fact innocence has never any proof. Proofs are for the crime or against the crime, but
           innocence has no proof.
                He said, "Now I have murdered the man you charged me twelve years ago for having murdered
           -- this is the man. If your first judgment was right then you cannot punish me again for the same
           murder because that man was murdered twelve years ago. And if your first judgment was not right,
           how can you be sure that your second judgment is going to be right?"
                Can you punish a man for murdering the same man twice?
           It is really very difficult to decide.
                He said, "The only crime I have committed is escaping from the jail, but can you call it a crime?
           When you punish an innocent man with death, who is the criminal -- you or me?
                "And this man plotted the whole thing; he managed all those proofs because he had my revolver,
           he had my handkerchief. He managed all those proofs, escaped from there with the treasure that we
           had both found, became a rich man, famous. He changed his name, his personality, shaved off his
           beard, changed his hair-do, and became respectable; he opened a hospital, a school, made a temple.
           And this is the man who managed the plot to show he had been murdered.
                "In that way he was saved from the punishment for other crimes for which the police were
           searching for him; now he has been murdered -- so that file is closed. He killed two birds by one
           stone: he killed me, not directly, but through a legal procedure. He used all you idiots to kill me, so
           that he would become the whole owner of the treasure -- and he did. By the same strategy he
           removed all crimes against him. The file was closed, the man was dead -- of course, his body was not
           found. The murderer had been very clever, because he was a known criminal."
                The story has many implications. The man asked, "If I was sentenced to death and I had not
           escaped and was executed, what would have been the case now? If it had come to be known that the
           man thought to be murdered is alive, would you be able to give me my life back? If you cannot give
           my life back, what right have you to take it away?"
                It is said the judge resigned, apologized to the man and said, "Perhaps I have done many crimes
           in my life."
                A strange thing all over the world is that unless you are proved innocent, you are guilty. This
           goes against all humanitarian ideals, democracy, freedom, respect for individuality; it goes against
           all. The rule should be: unless you are proved guilty you are innocent. Yes, it is said in words, but in
           reality the case is just the opposite.
                For example, this city, Rajneeshpuram, is, in the opinion of the attorney general of Oregon,
           illegal. It is just an opinion. He is not a judge; he has to go before the court to prove it. Unless he
           proves that the city is guilty of being illegal, the city is legal, we are innocent. Until guilt is proved,
           innocence needs no proof. But this is not the case.
                Although America goes on claiming to be the greatest democracy in the world, it is sheer
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bullshit. The Supreme Court of America goes on declaring that unless a person is proved guilty, he is
           innocent. Innocence needs no proof; otherwise it would be impossible for anybody to live. If
           everybody has to prove his innocence; otherwise he is a guilty man and he should be thrown into jail
           because he cannot prove his innocence ....
               How do you prove your innocence? Innocence is not an act, it leaves no traces behind, no
           evidence. So the Supreme Court says, "This is our standpoint: Unless a man is proved guilty, he is
           innocent." But this is only said, because our city is already being regarded by the state government,
           by the federal government, as illegal -- without it having been proved before a court.
               The case is still in the court. The court is theirs, but they cannot wait even for the court to decide.
           The federal government has stopped giving the money that was due to the city; not only that, the
           federal government has asked that the money that they have given for the past two years should be
           returned. For two years the city was legal. And what support have they given? -- two hundred and
           sixty-five dollars!
               I would like the mayor of your city to return the money with interest. Such a poor government,
           giving such a great support to the city, certainly needs at least bank-rate interest on the great sum of
           two hundred and sixty-five dollars.
           These nuts think they are democratic.
               The state government has stopped giving their share. The attorney general has been forcing the
           police authorities to declare our city's police also illegal. This is strange. You have not proved us
           guilty, you cannot prove us guilty; in fact your own court has incorporated the city with all legalities
           fulfilled. For two years your governments -- state and federal both -- have been accepting the city,
           training the police, having its police department in the city. You arrange the elections for the mayor,
           for the council.
               Everything proves that the city is legal. Just one man who wants to rise in political power, who
           wants to become the next governor, is in need of us. Without our support in Oregon nobody can
           become the governor. But our support is a strange kind of support: anybody who wants to win an
           election has to be against us. Just being against us is enough to gain the support of all the bigots, of
           all the Christians, of all the orthodox, conventional people, of all those who think that Oregon is
           their property. Just to be against us ....
               Without proving in a court -- and even if you prove in one court that does not mean that you have
           proved it. We can appeal. The case will not be decided for at least twenty to thirty years -- not before
           that. It will have to go up to the Supreme Court of the United States.
               We are not going to be humiliated in any way. And when the law is in our favor, the whole
           democratic concept is behind us, all the values that democracy cherishes are in our support, there is
           no reason at all .... But they have started accepting us as illegal.
               This is how man goes on saying one thing and goes on doing just its opposite. He talks about
           being civilized, cultured -- he is not civilized, not cultured. The death penalty is a proof enough.
               This is the rule of a barbarous society: An eye for an eye, and a head for a head. If somebody
           cuts off one of your hands, then in a barbarous society, this is a simple law: one of his hands should
           be cut off.
               The same has been carried down the ages. The death penalty is exactly the same law: An eye for
           an eye. If a man is thought to have murdered somebody, then he should be murdered. But it is
           strange: if killing somebody is a crime, then how can you remove crime from society by committing
           the same crime again? There was one man murdered; now there are two men murdered. And it is not
           certain that this man murdered that man, because to prove a murder is not an easy thing.
               If murder is wrong, then whether it is committed by the man or by the society and its court,
           makes no difference.
           Killing certainly is a crime.
               The death penalty is a crime committed by the society against a single individual, who is
           helpless.
           I cannot call it a penalty, it is a crime.
               And you can understand why it is committed: it is a revenge. Society is taking revenge because
           the man did not follow the rules of the society; the society is ready to kill him. But nobody bothers
           that when somebody murders, it shows that man is psychologically sick. Rather than sending him to
           imprisonment or to be executed, he should be sent into a nursing home where he can be taken care of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- physically, psychologically, spiritually. He is sick. He needs all the compassion of the society;
           there is no question of penalty, punishment.
               Yes, it is true, one man is murdered; but we cannot do anything about it. By murdering this man
           do you think the other will come back to life? If that were possible, I would be all in support of this
           man being removed -- he is not worth being part of the society -- and the other should be revived.
               But that does not happen. The other is gone forever; there is no way to revive him. Yes, you can
           do one thing, you can kill this man too. You are trying to wash blood with blood, mud with mud.
           You are not aware of what has happened in history in many cases.
               Three hundred years ago, in many cultures the madman was thought to be pretending. In many
           other cultures he was thought to be possessed by ghosts. In other cultures he was thought to be mad,
           but treatable by punishment. And these were the three ways mad people were taken care of.
               They were treated by beatings -- strange treatment! -- and by taking their blood out. Now you
           give blood transfusions; they used to do just the opposite -- they used to take the blood out of the
           man. It was thought that he had too much energy. Naturally when his blood was taken out he became
           weak; he started showing signs of weakness because so much blood was taken out, and it was
           thought they had cured him of his madness.
               By beating a man, naturally once in a while it used to happen that the man came to his senses. It
           is almost as if a man is asleep and you start beating him and he wakes up. A madman has fallen out
           of his conscious mind. If you beat him too hard, once in a while it may happen that he wakes up into
           his consciousness again. That became a proof that beating is the right treatment. But is used to
           happen only once in a while; ninety-nine percent of the cases were unnecessarily beaten. But that
           one exception was the rule.
               It was thought that he was possessed by spirits, ghosts; then too beat him, because if he is
           possessed by ghosts the beating will reach the ghost, not him. You are not beating him, you are
           really beating the ghosts who are possessing him, and because of the beating they will escape. And
           once in a while, but just once in a while, that is one percent, no more than that ....
               I have been in one place -- it was very famous for mad people. Hundreds of mad people were
           brought to that place. It was on the bank of a river, a temple, and the priest must have been a butcher
           for at least a few hundred lives. He looked like a butcher and he gave a good beating. The mad
           people were chained, given a good beating, no food, and very strong laxatives. And I have seen that
           once in a while a person came to his senses.
               Strong laxatives for a few days with no food cleaned his inner system. Beatings brought him
           back a little consciousness. No food, hunger -- a hungry man cannot afford to be mad because his
           body is in such torture. To be mad you need a little bit of comfort in your life situation.
               You can see it: the more comfortable a society, the more luxurious, affluent a culture, the more
           people go mad. The more poor a society -- starving, hungry -- the less people go mad. Madness
           needs, in the first place, a mind. But a hungry person has no nourishment for the mind. He is
           undernourished: his mind is not in a situation to go nuts. For that the mind needs more energy than
           ordinarily is involved in life.
               Madness is a rich man's disease. The poor man cannot afford it.
               So when you keep a person hungry and give him laxatives, it cleanses his inner system, makes
           him so hungry that he becomes bodily-oriented. He forgets the mind, the question is the body. He is
           no longer interested in mind and mind games.
           Madness is a mind game.
               So once in a while I have seen people being cured there, but that one percent cured would spread
           the rumor all around, and hundreds of people were coming there. The temple became very rich. I had
           gone there many times to see it but only once did I meet a man who had been cured; others went
           back to their homes just beaten, hungry, starved, more sick, more weak. Many died through that
           priest's treatment.
               But in India if the treatment is being given in a temple, a sacred place, by the priest, it is not a
           crime if you die; in fact you are fortunate that you are dying in a sacred place. You will be born on a
           higher level of consciousness; so it is not a crime.
               But I spoke against the man wherever I went and I said, "This is absolutely criminal. What
           authority has he or what medical qualifications has he? Is he a psychiatrist, physiologist? -- he is
           only a priest." But priests have been treating mad people for centuries, in the same way, all over the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world.
                Now we know that a mad person cannot be treated this way. Mad people were put into prison, in
           isolated cells. Still that is happening around the world because we don't know what to do. Just to
           hide our ignorance we put the mad person into jail, so we can forget about him; at least we can go on
           ignoring that he exists.
                In my town one of my friends' uncles was mad. They were rich people. I used to go in their house
           often, but even I became aware only after years that one of his uncles was kept in an underground
           basement, chained.
           I said, "Why?"
                They said, "He is mad. There were only two ways: either we keep him in our own house, chained
           .... And of course we cannot keep him chained in the house; otherwise people will be coming and
           everybody will feel worried and concerned. And his children, his wife, watching their father, their
           husband .... And it is against our family's reputation to send him to prison, so we found this way: we
           have imprisoned him underground. His food is being taken to him by a servant; otherwise nobody
           goes to see him, nobody goes to meet him."
                I persuaded my friend, "I would like to meet your uncle."
                He said, "But I cannot come with you -- he is a dangerous man, he is mad! Although he is
           chained he can do anything."
                I said, "He can at the most kill me. You just remain behind me so if I am killed you escape, but I
           would like to go."
                Because I insisted, he managed to get the key from the servant who used to take the food. In
           thirty years I was the first person from the outside world, other than the servant, who had met him;
           and that man may have been mad -- I cannot say -- but now he was not mad. But nobody was ready
           to listen to him because all mad people say, "We are not mad."
                So when he said this to the servant, "Tell my family that I am not mad," the servant simply
           laughed. He even told the family but nobody took any note of it.
                When I saw the man, I sat with him, I talked with him. He was as sane as anybody else in the
           world -- perhaps a little more, because he said one thing to me: "Being here for thirty years has been
           a tremendous experience. In fact I feel fortunate that I am out of your mad world. They think I am
           mad -- let them think that, there is no harm -- but in fact I am fortunate that I am out of your mad
           world. What do you think?" he said to me.
                I said, "You are absolutely right. The world outside is far madder than when you left it thirty
           years before. In thirty years there has been great evolution in everything -- in madness too. You stop
           saying to people that you are not mad; otherwise they will take you out. You are living a perfectly
           beautiful life. You have enough space to walk ...."
                He said, "That's the only exercise I can do here -- walking."
                And I started to teach him vipassana. I said, "You are in such perfect conditions to become a
           buddha: no worries, no botherations, no disturbances. You are really blessed."
                And he started practicing vipassana. I told him, "You can practice it sitting, you can practice it
           walking" -- and he was my first disciple as far as vipassana is concerned. And you will be surprised
           that he died a sannyasin -- died in the basement.
                But the last time I had gone to my village, I went to see him. He said, "I'm ready; now you
           initiate me. My days are numbered, and I would like to die as your sannyasin. I'm your disciple; for
           twenty years you have been my master and whatever you had promised is fulfilled."
                And you could see from his face, from his eyes, that he was not the same person -- a total
           transformation, a mutation ....
                Mad people need methods of meditation so that they can come out of their madness.
                The criminals need psychological help, spiritual support.
                They are really deep-down sick, and you are punishing sick people. It is not their fault. If
           somebody murders, that means he has carried a tendency to murder in him for a long time. It is not
           that somewhere, out of nowhere, suddenly you murder somebody.
                In one of the existential novels there is a story: a man is caught -- in fact it is not right to say
           "caught" because he never tried to escape. He killed a stranger who was sitting on the beach. He
           came from behind and killed him with a dagger; the man died on the spot. The man was absolutely a
           stranger; the murderer had never seen his face even, because he killed him from the back. Even after
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the murder he had not seen his face; he had no idea whom he had murdered.
               It was a very strange case -- existentialism has been of great help in bringing strange cases to
           light. The court asked the man, "We cannot understand why you murdered the man."
               He said, "It is not a question of `why' -- I simply wanted to. There are people who try to find
           excuses to do something that they want to do. I am a simple person: why bother about an excuse? --
           just do it if you want to do it."
               Now he is saying a truth of tremendous importance. People try to find an excuse: for example,
           they are angry with you -- they think they are angry with you; that is not true.
               They were carrying that anger -- it was boiling within them, they were sitting on a volcano. They
           were just waiting for somebody to give them an excuse: you gave the excuse, and they exploded. It
           seems you are responsible for the explosion. No, you are only an accidental excuse, you are not
           responsible. Somebody else would have done if you had not. It is just coincidence that you happened
           to pass by; otherwise, somebody else ....
               This murderer says to the court, "I am a simple man; I don't bother about rationalizations and
           excuses -- I simply wanted to kill. And it was really an exciting experience. When I forced the
           dagger into the back of that man whom I don't know, who has not done any wrong to me, when the
           blood dashed out from his back I had the greatest, the most exciting experience in my life.
               "I am perfectly happy: you can give me any punishment that you want. I am not going to say that
           I have not done it, I have done it. I wanted to do it for a long time, and it is good that I did it."
               Now, what do you want to do with this man? Is he a murderer, or a psychiatric case who has
           been prevented from having any excitement in his life? Perhaps he has never known love, because if
           you ask Sigmund Freud, he will say that the dagger is nothing but a symbol of the male's sexual
           organ, and dashing it into the back of the man is just an effort -- perverted, but an effort -- to have
           some entry into another body. That's what people are doing all over the world. Making love is
           entering another's body.
               This man is certainly not in the right shape, things are upside down, but what he is doing is
           simply a sexual act; it has nothing to do with murder. The murder happened; that is just a
           by-product.
               And why does a man want to enter the body of a woman? -- because every implication has its
           own implications. It is because the man is born out of woman's body. He has come out of the
           woman's body, and he has never been so comfortable again, and he wants to be back in the womb of
           the mother.
               Every man is searching for his mother's womb. These murderers are also searching for the
           mother's womb -- of course in a wrong way, unnatural, but they are not responsible for it: your
           society is responsible for it. If a murder happens then the society should be punished, then the whole
           society should have to pay the penalty.
               Why did it happen in this society? What have you done with the man that he had to commit a
           murder? Why did he become destructive? -- because nature gives everybody energy which is
           creative. It becomes destructive only when it is obstructed, when no natural flow is allowed.
           Whenever energy goes towards the natural it is prevented by society, it is crippled; it is directed into
           some other direction.
               Soon the man is in a confusion. He does not know what is what. He does not know what he is
           doing, why he is doing it. The original reasons are left far behind. He has taken so many turns that he
           has become a jigsaw puzzle.
               Nobody needs the death penalty, nobody deserves it. In fact, not only the death penalty, no other
           kind of punishment is right, because punishment never cures the person.
               Every day the number of criminals goes on growing; every day you build more prisons. This is
           strange. It should not be so. Just the opposite should be the case, because with so many courts and so
           many punishments and so many prisons, crimes should be less, criminals should be less, slowly,
           slowly prisons should be less, courts should be less. But that is not happening.
               I am reminded that in Great Britain, just one hundred years ago, corporal punishment for stealing
           was the common thing. And the punishment had to be given in a public square so people could see
           what happens when you steal -- just to teach them. It would be a lesson to them, that if you steal this
           happens: a public humiliation. The person had to be naked and lashed till blood started oozing from
           his body.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But what happened -- just one hundred years ago -- was that the punishment had to be dropped
           because it was found that when the crowd was there ... and thousands gathered to see -- it was not a
           good sign. When thousands of people come to see such an ugly scene it shows something in them is
           wrong. Perhaps they also want to beat someone naked, but they don't have the guts; at least they can
           see it being done.
                That's what you are doing everywhere. You love football: you don't play -- there are professional
           players -- you watch. You become identified with a certain team of football players and you are so
           excited, as if you are participants. Just look at the crowd in a stadium: thousands of people so
           excited, as if their life and death is in question -- shouting, screaming, throwing their caps, their hats,
           fighting with each other because the person by their side is giving encouragement to the party they
           oppose.
                The football players are playing their games, and the thousands of spectators -- what are they
           doing? They are also, in a psychological way, participants -- perhaps more excited than the real
           players. The real players are professionals, that is their business, and these idiots are unnecessarily
           becoming so hot.
                And this is not the whole crowd; the real crowd is sitting by their television sets, millions of them
           -- listening to commentaries on their radios.
                I had a friend in the university; he was a professor, but a fan of hockey matches -- in India,
           football is not so hot. One day I was sitting in his room and he was listening to the commentary on
           his small transistor that he used to carry continuously, keeping it close to his ear so he did not miss
           anything.
                I was sitting there and I told him, "I have come to say something to you."
                He just told me, "Keep quiet!" and went back to his commentary. And then something happened:
           he threw the transistor and it broke into pieces.
           I said, "What happened?"
                He said, "My team, they failed me! I had so much hope for them."
                "But," I said, "if your team failed, why did you destroy the transistor?"
                He said, "You won't understand. I was in such anger that you should feel fortunate that I did not
           hit you with the transistor."
                "But this would have been too much! First you destroyed the transistor, and I am just sitting
           waiting here for you to get finished with your transistor, and you wanted to hit me with it," I said.
                "Yes, I was so angry," he said, "I could have hit you. For a moment I was just going to and then I
           changed my mind."
                I said, "This is good -- next time I will never be around anyone listening to the commentary on
           hockey matches. This is dangerous, even to be around."
                Now this man is so much involved .... The whole world has become a world of spectators.
                What are you seeing in a movie? I don't think you are seeing a movie, you become part of it, you
           become identified with some character in it. When he falls in love, you fall in love; when he kisses
           his girlfriend, you are kissing his girlfriend. This is sheer nonsense, but you cannot expect anything
           more from the humanity that you have got around.
                So those spectators in Great Britain, what were they doing? They were so involved in watching
           that there were pickpockets all around, cutting their pockets. It was brought to the notice of the
           parliament: "What kind of lesson are you teaching, because exactly there, where the crowd has
           gathered to learn the lesson, there are people who are cutting others' pockets." And it is easy because
           those people are so involved they have completely forgotten themselves and their pockets. And that
           man is being beaten almost to death, and those pickpockets ....
                Your whole reasoning is wrong. You cannot teach by punishment.

               That's what your jurists, legal experts, politicians, have been saying down the ages: "If we don't
           punish people, then how are we going to teach them? Then everybody will start committing crime,
           so we have to go on punishing so people remain afraid."
               They think that fear is the only way to teach -- and fear is not the way to teach them at all. What
           punishment teaches is, it makes people acquainted with fear, so the original shock is no longer there.
           They know what can happen: "At the most you can beat me. And if one person can take it, I can also
           take it. And out of a hundred thieves you can catch only one or two persons."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now, if you are not ready even to take that much risk -- ninety-eight percent success, two percent
           failure -- then what kind of man are you?
                Nobody learns from any punishment. The very person who is being punished, he also does not
           learn what you want him to learn. Yes, he learns something else: he learns how to become a
           thick-skin.
                Once a person goes into prison, prison becomes his home, because there he finds people of a like
           mind. There he finds his real society. Outside he was a foreigner; there he is in his own world. They
           all understand the same language, and there are experts. You may be just an amateur, an apprentice;
           it may be your first term.
                I have heard: one man enters a prison; in the dark cell he sees an old man, resting. The old man
           asks him, "For how long are you going to be here?"
           He says, "For ten years."
                The old man says, "Then you can stay close to the door. Just ten years! You seem to be new. I
           am going to be here for fifty years. You just remain close to the door. Soon the years will be gone
           and you will be out."
                But when you are with experts for ten years, of course you learn all their techniques, strategies,
           methods, their experience. You will find your jail almost a certain kind of university where crime is
           taught at government expense. You will find professors of crime, deans of the crime faculty,
           vice-chancellors, chancellors -- all kinds of people who have done every kind of crime that you can
           imagine; certainly the newcomer starts learning. And one thing is in the air of every prison .... I have
           been to many prisons.
                It happened that in Madhya Pradesh when I was a professor there, one old man, Mangaldas
           Pakvasa, was governor of Madhya Pradesh. He was very much interested in me, so much so that
           although I went on telling him, "Kaka" -- he was known to everybody as kaka, uncle -- "I don't
           believe in God," he said, "Whether you believe it or not, just when you reach, tell God something for
           this Mangaldas Pakvasa, because I am an old sinner. Being in politics, you know, I have done
           everything that I should not have done. Now I am getting old."
                "But," I said, "you will be dying first, Kaka. Can't you see a simple thing: you will be reaching
           first. So if you want, you can help me, but I cannot help you; I am not going that early!"
                "But," he said, "I suspect that I will never be going to heaven. Governors and prime ministers
           and presidents -- I don't think any of them are going there. This whole company is going to hell!"
                He was a very simple and good man. Because he was governor, I had immense dimensions open
           for me. I asked him, "You give me a general permission: if I want to visit any jail I should be
           allowed."
                He said, "That is no problem." And the biggest jail was in Jabalpur itself; it was the central jail of
           the whole state -- three thousand diehard criminals. So I used to go almost every Sunday; while he
           remained governor I continued to go there. And what I saw -- this was the climate, and in other jails
           also. I went in smaller jails also but the climate was essentially the same.
                The climate was that it is not crime that brings you to jail, it is being caught, so if you know right
           ways to do wrong things .... It is not a question of doing right things; the question is doing wrong
           things in a right way. And every prisoner learns the right way of doing wrong things in jail. In fact I
           have talked with prisoners and they said, "We are eager to get out."
           I said, "For what?"
                They said, "You are a friend, and we don't hide anything from you: we want to get out as soon as
           possible because we have learned so much, we want to practice. Just the practicals were missing, it
           was all theoretical knowledge. For practicals you need the society."
                Once a person becomes a jailbird, then nowhere will he find himself at ease; sooner or later he
           will be coming back to jail. And slowly slowly jail becomes his alternative society.
                It is more comfortable, he feels more at home; nobody looks down on him, nobody thinks that he
           is superior and you are inferior. Everybody is a criminal. Nobody is a priest and nobody is a sage and
           nobody is a holy man: all are poor human beings with all the weaknesses and frailties.
           Outside he finds that he is rejected, abandoned.
                In my town there was a permanent jail-goer. He was a very beautiful man; his name was Barkat
           Mian. He was a Mohammedan. Mian is a Mohammedan respectful word exactly like "sir" or the
           Indian, Hindu, ji. If you simply say, "Gandhi" it will not look respectful; you have to say "Gandhiji."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           For Mohammedans mian is simply equivalent to ji or "sir".
               It was strange that Barkat Mian was a permanent jail-goer, almost nine months in jail, three
           months outside; and in those three months also, every week he had to go to report to the police
           station to show that everything was okay and he was here.
               But I had a great friendship with that man. My family was very angry; they said, "Why do you
           keep company with Barkat?" My family used to say to me, "A man is known by his company."
               I said, "I understand you: that means Barkat will be known by me, and to give a man a little
           respectability is not anything bad."
               They said, "When will you see things in the right way?"
               I said, "I am seeing it exactly the right way. Rather than Barkat degrading me, I am upgrading
           Barkat. You think his evil is more powerful than my goodness? You don't trust my integrity; you
           trust Barkat's integrity." I said, "Whatever your opinion, I trust myself. Barkat cannot do any harm to
           me. If any harm is going to be done it will be done to Barkat by me."
               He was really a beautiful man, nice, and he used to tell me, "You should not be around me. If you
           want to meet me and talk to me, we can manage to meet somewhere outside the town, by the
           riverbank."
               He himself lived near the Mohammedan cemetery where nobody goes unless one dies: one goes
           only once. He was not allowed to live in the town. In the town nobody was ready to give him a house
           to rent. Whatsoever rent he was ready to pay, nobody was ready to take it, nobody was going to take
           him in.
               There on the Mohammedan cemetery was a house -- nothing but a shelter for the rainy season,
           summer. People die in all kinds of climates, not bothering about anybody -- that it is raining and they
           could wait a little, there is no hurry. But people are people: if they can harass you, they will harass
           you. They will die when it is raining dogs and cats, or is it cats and dogs? But it makes no difference;
           when it is raining who is first and who is second does not matter.
               So that shelter was just for certain times; people could sit there. But in a small place people don't
           die every day, only once in a while; so Barkat used to live in that shelter. He said, "You always are
           welcome in my house" -- that shelter he used to call his house. And of course there was no fear
           because nobody could steal anything from Barkat. Nobody could even dare to go in the night near
           Barkat Mian because he was a dangerous man.
               Just by the side of my father's store was a big shop, a kind of general store, having all kinds of
           things. He stole from that. One night he told me, "Tonight I am coming to Mody's shop" -- that was
           the name of the shop. And he came and he did a good job: he took out all the ornaments and
           everything, and managed to escape but finally was caught. Not that day -- after two months, in
           another robbery he was caught, and there it was found that one watch he was wearing was from
           Mody's store.
               So it was worked out and he was forced to confess from where the watch had come to him. And
           he confessed that it was from Mody's store because that was the only store in the town that had
           watches to sell. From where else could it come? Everybody's watch came from Mody's store!
               But other things were also found in his home, in that shelter where he used to keep his suitcase
           and things; and a few things he had sold -- so he was sentenced to six months. After six months --
           this I call a real gentleman -- after six months, when he was released from the jail .... The jail was in
           a district which was nearabout sixty miles away. He came in a taxi, stopped the taxi before Mody's
           store and went in.
               Mody stood up, afraid that now there was going to be trouble; this man has been released. Barkat
           said, "Pay the taxi -- I don't have any money. And you know for six months you have kept me
           unemployed, so, some money for my pocket."
               I was just present there because Mody's store was just next to my father's shop. Mody had to pay
           the taxi and give Barkat a few rupees. He told Barkat, "Don't come every day," and Barkat said, "Till
           I manage something I will have to come, because six months you kept me unemployed. You are
           responsible."
               He continued to come every day, and I said to Mody, "Modyji, you go on giving money to
           Barkat."
               He said, "What to do? He can cut my throat -- he is a dangerous man! You don't see: when he
           comes inside the shop, he shows me a knife. Nobody sees it from the outside because of so many
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           things in the shop. With one hand he asks for the money, with the other hand he shows me a knife, so
           everybody thinks I am giving the money happily. You think I am giving it happily?"
                I said, "No, I know about the knife because Barkat Mian is my friend and he tells me
           everything."
           I asked Barkat, "How did you become a thief?"
                He said, "The first time I was jailed I was absolutely innocent, but I was poor, I could not hire an
           advocate; and the people who wanted me to be forced into jail had some vested interest.
                "My father and mother died when I was very young, fourteen or fifteen, and my other relatives
           wanted to capture the whole family's possessions -- house, land -- and they wanted to remove me out
           of their way. They simply managed it. They put something into my bag in my house. And there was
           no way to get out of it: the thing was found in my bag, and I was sent to jail.
                "When I came back, my land was gone, my house was sold, my relatives had managed to
           disperse everything and distribute everything. I was just on the streets.
                "So, first, I was innocent when I went in, but when I came out I was not innocent, because I had
           come with a certain graduation. I told everybody in jail what had happened to me -- I was only
           seventeen. They said `Don't be worried, these nine months will be soon finished, but in nine months
           we will also give you the finishing touches. And you will be able to take revenge on everybody.'
                "And I started to take revenge on all the relatives -- this was simply tit for tat. They had forced
           me to become a thief, and I proved that, okay, now I am a thief. I destroyed this whole gang of my
           relatives; I stole everything that they had. But by and by I became more and more involved.
                "You can have ten cases in which you are saved but in the eleventh you are caught. As you grow
           older and more efficient, you are caught less. But now there is no problem; in fact imprisonment
           proves a relaxing place, a holiday from work and worry and all kinds of things.
                "A few months in jail are good for health -- a disciplined life: an exact time to get up, to go to
           work, an exact time to go to sleep. Just enough food to keep you alive; more than that makes you
           sick."
                He said, "I am never sick in jail, unless I pretend and want to be in hospital to escape; otherwise I
           am never sick. Outside I fall sick, but never inside. And outside is a foreign world and everybody is
           superior and I am inferior. Only in jail I feel a freedom."
                Strange! When he said that, I said, "You say in jail you feel freedom?"
           He said, "Yes, only in jail I feel freedom."
                What kind of society is this, in which people in jail feel freedom, and outside they feel
           imprisoned?
                And this is almost the story of every criminal. A small thing in the beginning -- maybe he was
           hungry, maybe he was cold, needed a blanket and just stole a blanket -- small necessities which
           should be fulfilled: otherwise the society should not produce these people. Nobody asks it to produce
           them.
                On the one hand you go on producing people more and more and more, and there are not enough
           things for them, neither food nor clothes nor shelter. Then what do you want? You are putting people
           in a situation where they are bound to become criminals.
                The world population has to be cut to one third -- if you want crime to disappear.
                But nobody wants crime to disappear because the disappearance of crime means the
           disappearance of your judges, of your advocates, of your law experts, of your parliaments, of your
           policemen, of your jailers. It will create a big unemployment problem; nobody wants anything to
           change for the better.
                Everybody says things should change for the better, but everybody goes on making things worse,
           because the worse things are, the more people are employed. The worse things are, the more chances
           you have to feel good. Criminals are needed for you to feel that you are such a moral, respectable
           person.
                Sinners are needed for saints to feel that they are saints. Without sinners, who will be the saint?
           If the whole society consisted of good people, do you think you will remember Jesus Christ for two
           thousand years? For what? It is the criminal society that remembers Jesus Christ for two thousand
           years.
                It is a simple thing to understand. Why do you remember Gautam Buddha? If there were millions
           of buddhas, awakened people in the world ... what speciality did Gautam Buddha have? He would
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have been lost in the crowd. But twenty-five centuries have passed and he stands like a pillar, a
           mountain peak far above you and your heads.
                In fact Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Mahavira, are not giants -- you are pygmies.
                And every giant has an investment in your remaining a pygmy; otherwise he won't be a giant.
           This is a great conspiracy.
                I am against this whole conspiracy. I am neither a giant nor a pygmy; I have no vested interest at
           all.
           I am just myself.
                I don't compare myself with anybody, so nobody is lower than me and nobody is higher than me.
           Because of this simple fact I can see directly; there is no vested interest creating diversions to my
           vision. And this is my immediate response to the question: the death penalty is simply a proof that
           man still needs to be civilized, needs to be cultured, needs to know human values.
                In this world nobody is a criminal, never has been. Yes, there are people ... they need
           compassion, not imprisonment, not punishment. All prisons should be transformed into
           psychological nursing homes.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                Chapter #5
                        Chapter title: Successful criminals and cowardly politicians
           4 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503045
              ShortTitle: DARK05
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 124 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW COME YOU SPEAK ABOUT POLITICAL LEADERS AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN THE
              SAME TONE -- IS THERE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM?


               Fundamentally there is no difference at all. Superficially of course there are differences.
               The basic desire to be a leader arises in people who are suffering from an inferiority complex. It
           does not matter whether they move into the political world or into the religious world; the
           will-to-power is an absolute indication that the man feels himself inferior to others and he wants to
           prove to the world that it is not so.
               It is not only a question of proving to the world; through the world he wants to prove it to
           himself too, that he is not inferior to anybody. The only way mind can manage it is to make
           everybody inferior to you.
           Mind is not your intelligence.
               It may sound strange but this is a truth, that mind is not your intelligence. Mind can be
           intellectual, which is a very poor substitute for intelligence. Intellectuality is mechanical. You can
           become a great scholar, a great professor, a great philosopher -- just playing with words which are all
           borrowed, arranging and rearranging thoughts, none of which are your own.
           The intellect is absolutely bankrupt.
           It has nothing of its own, all is borrowed.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And that's the difference between intelligence and intellect.
               Intelligence has an eyesight of its own, a capacity to see into things, into problems.
           Intelligence is your born quality.
               It cannot be learned, it cannot be nurtured. Everybody is born with intelligence, but the society is
           in favor of intellect, because the intellectual person is not a real individual, he is phony. He has
           nothing of his own; he is a beggar, and beggars are not supposed to be emperors, are not supposed to
           be masters. They are destined to remain slaves.
               So your so-called greatest scholars are continuously proving their slavery to the establishment.
           None of them is a rebel. They are hankering for the prizes and awards the establishment can bestow
           upon them: respectability, honor. They are all desiring to be Nobel laureates, but to get the Nobel
           prize you have to sell your soul. You have to accept a thousand and one things that no intelligent
           person can accept.
               You have to support the status quo, the people who are in power, who have the money. You are
           just a puppet to them. Yes, it is a very mutual conspiracy: they give you the Nobel prize, they give
           you honorary doctorates, they make you world famous; in return you support their exploitation, their
           oppression, and whatever nonsense they are doing. You have to become a protecting wall.
               And of course the world is going to listen to you because you are a Nobel prize winner, honored
           by Oxford, by Cambridge, by Harvard. The ordinary people, the common masses are bound to listen
           to you.
               If you are supporting the society then naturally there is nothing wrong with the society; there is
           no need to change it. The problems are not created by the society but by the "anti-social" elements.
           And who are the anti-social elements? All the rebels are anti-social elements. It is these people who
           provoke the masses, steal their souls, make them aware that they also are human beings, not cattle.
           These are anti-social elements; they have to be destroyed.
               Either they have to be purchased in some way ... give them a Nobel prize, and purchase them;
           give them honorary doctorates and purchase them. If they refuse to be purchased then society has all
           the ways to condemn them.
               Their books will not be published by the great publishers, because those great publications are
           owned by the vested interests. Their names will disappear from the newspapers, from the magazines,
           from the media. They will live almost as if they are not, as if they don't exist.
               This is a far superior way to destroy somebody than crucifying. At least when you crucify a
           person you give him immense publicity. Two thousand years have passed: Jesus is still hanging on
           the cross. He has become almost an eternal advertisement. Wherever you go you will see the cross --
           on the graveyard, on the churches, on the vehicles of the Red Cross Society.
               Now this is free publicity for two thousand years! Isabel, you should learn something! Not a
           single cent has been wasted. Jesus was certainly a Jew, not only by birth but by his very spirit. He
           managed his own crucifixion, and created publicity which goes on increasing.
               It is a very essential thing to understand, that the establishment first tries to persuade you, to
           bribe you. When it fails in purchasing and bribing you, then it comes into its true color: then it starts
           destroying you. And it has learned through the centuries that poisoning a Socrates is not good. You
           killed the man, but you made him immortal; you imprinted his message on the very soul of
           humanity. You proved foolish -- it was not the right way.
               Crucifying Jesus was not the way to destroy him. You have saved him.
               Now the modern status quo, establishment, vested interests, are far more clever. If Jesus comes
           back he should not be afraid that he is going to be crucified again. No, this time it is going to be
           worse: he will be ignored. To be crucified does not take your dignity, but to be ignored .... Nobody
           bothers about you, nobody pays any attention, nobody is for or against you. This is real humiliation
           that is being done.
               But intellectuals are not capable of resisting; they don't have the guts, they can't have, because all
           that they have is borrowed. They are easily purchasable, cheap. But they become a very significant
           protective wall around the establishment. People look towards them with respect. People think that if
           a Nobel prize winner is saying something it must be right -- as if by winning the Nobel prize one
           attains to enlightenment, nirvana!
               It is a political game. It is all politics.
               Once in a while they go on giving a Nobel prize to a Russian scientist, to some scientist whom
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           they would like to get out of Russia; his being in Russia is dangerous for them. He is close to finding
           something -- or he has found it already -- in which they are far behind.
               Now you see the ways of the politicians? Give the man a Nobel prize -- now you create trouble.
           The scientist is not capable of resisting the temptation of accepting the Nobel prize, because that is
           the world's greatest honor. It does not happen to everybody; it happens once in a while to one
           individual in millions.
               Now, a poor scientist, howsoever great a scientist he may be -- as a man he is a poor man with all
           the desires to be famous, to be well known. Now, the politicians have put him into a dilemma: if he
           accepts the Nobel prize he goes against the Russian establishment because the Russian establishment
           knows perfectly well -- politicians know each other well; nobody knows them as well as they know
           each other. They speak the same language, they work the same strategies.
               The Russian politicians know why the Nobel prize has been given to this man. By giving the
           Nobel prize a rift has been created between the man and the Soviet government. The Soviet pressure
           will be: "Reject the Nobel prize. It comes from the capitalist world; it is not an honor, in fact it is an
           insult. Reject it, and if you don't reject it then you will be in trouble."
               And it has happened with many people: either they have been imprisoned ... that's what the
           politicians of the other side wanted, that they should be imprisoned so their work is spoiled. They
           may have been coming close to something which may have made Russia the most powerful nation in
           the world. They have disrupted it; they have sabotaged it in a very clever way -- without interfering,
           without saying a single world.
               Or if the man has a world-wide reputation already -- which scientists generally don't have ...
           perhaps a literary person, a poet, a novelist may have. If the person has a world-wide reputation, then
           from all capitalist countries all the intellectuals, their institutions, academies and societies will start a
           great campaign and movement against the Russian government.
               Now, the Russian government has only two choices: either to release that man and stop this
           campaign .... But they cannot keep this man any longer in the country; he has become an enemy.
           And now he is in the hands of the enemies, he can become an informer. He is dangerous -- he has to
           be expelled. That too is good for the capitalist world. Once the man is expelled he is received with
           great honor all over the capitalist world; he is made a hero.
               If you look into the ways the politicians go on doing things you will be surprised. But they
           succeed only with intellectuals, because intellectuals are really not intelligent people. If they were
           intelligent then nobody could manipulate them, neither the communist nor the capitalist; nobody
           would be capable of manipulating them. It would be impossible; they would see things clearly.
           Intelligence is of the soul.
           Intellect is of the mind.
               Mind is just garbage. Mind is that which has been given to you by others. The whole collection,
           the whole junkyard all kinds of people have been throwing in you -- that is your mind. That mind
           continuously suffers from an inferiority complex, is bound to suffer: it has nothing of its own, it has
           no ground underneath its feet.
           The mind wants power, prestige.
               It can have power through politics, which is the criminal's way. If your mind has a criminal
           tendency then you will follow the path of politics. Politicians and criminals are not basically
           different people.
           Politicians are successful criminals.
           Criminals are unsuccessful politicians.
               Criminals are poor, pitiable. They had tried but they failed. Politicians are of the same tribe, with
           only one difference: they have succeeded.
               And in this world success makes everything right. What you have done, how you have arrived,
           what method and means you have used -- who bothers about it? When you are successful it is
           enough proof that you are a man of tremendous capacity. Your success is the proof.
               And when you have failed, your failure is also a proof that you were hankering for the moon; you
           were just foolish. Try to walk on the earth, don't try to fly towards the moon; otherwise you will fall
           and get multiple fractures. That's what poor criminals have got -- multiple fractures.
               But the mind of the politician and the criminal is the same. Those who are not courageous
           enough will go in a way which can lead either to the world of criminals or to the world of politicians.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Of course, of the hundred people who will walk on the path, ninety-nine will go to the world of
           criminals; ninety-nine will be in the jails. One percent will also be in jail, but of a different kind: it is
           called the White House.
                All kinds of black deeds -- naturally you have to call the house the "White House" to hide them.
                I have heard: a black man, very old, hair all white, was following a woman, a young girl -- must
           have been of the age of his grandchildren -- with such lustful eyes that another old man, his friend,
           stopped him and said, "This does not suit you. It was okay at one time, but all your hair has become
           white, and you are following that girl with such dirty eyes -- everybody is shocked."
                Do you know what the man said? He said, "You will never understand anything. My hair is
           white, but that doesn't mean that my heart has become white: it is still black and it is going to remain
           black. Even if I were dead and this girl passed by my side, I would have opened my eyes and looked
           with the same lustful eyes. What has hair to do with it? What kind of argument are you giving to me,
           that `your hair is white'? Let my hair be white -- I am not!" But white hair helps you to hide black
           deeds.
                I have always wondered why they call this topmost criminal place in the world the White House.
           Perhaps unknowingly the idea came from their unconscious that everything inside is going to be
           black, but from the outside you have to keep a white face, everything clean.
                One person reaches to the White House, ninety-nine to the black houses.
                So there are people who are not courageous enough to take this risk -- ninety-nine percent
           possibility of failing, and only one percent possibility of succeeding. They want far surer ground.
           Religion provides that ground: there is no failure in it.
                You become religious, you become a great religious leader. If you succeed you become a great
           saint; if you don't succeed, still you are a small saint, you don't fail. The smallest saint is still a saint
           -- the lowliest priest is still in the same line as the pope. In religion there is no failure. So, cowardly
           people -- who are as much interested in gaining power, who are suffering as much from an inferiority
           complex, who are on a power trip but don't have the guts to follow the criminal path -- find the path
           of righteousness, ascetism, morality, prayer.
                By becoming a saint they will also attain to power. Of course, this power cannot be very
           effective. They cannot become Alexander the Great, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin; they cannot have
           millions of lives in their hands -- and now such politicians have the whole of humanity's life in their
           hands. Of course these saints can't have that much, but in a certain way, from a different aspect, they
           are more powerful because the politicians will come to touch their feet, the presidents will come to
           bow down in respect to them.
                The politician does everything according to a particular strategy. If just before the elections
           President Reagan goes to the Vatican to pay respects to the Catholic pope, it is not accidental, it is
           preplanned. When Reagan goes to the Vatican and gives his respects to the Catholic pope, all the
           Catholics of America are, without much effort, converted to giving him votes: this is the right man.
                All the bishops, all the cardinals in America will now tell their congregations that Reagan is our
           man. Now, to persuade so many Catholics in America ... if he had to go from home to home it would
           have taken eternity. And how many stupid things politicians have to do! They have to go on kissing
           all kinds of children -- their noses are running and they are kissing them .... The politician has to do
           it.
                This is easier, to go to the pope -- just kiss his hand and millions of Catholics are on your side.
           And the pope blesses you: that way he feels far superior to the presidents, prime ministers, kings,
           queens. Of course his power is only airy-fairy, but you enjoy it. It has nothing substantial in it, it is
           hollow inside. But it does not matter, because when the presidents and the prime ministers come, the
           whole media is there, all the newspapers, all the television stations of the world, all the radio stations
           are talking about the pope -- you can feel a certain gratification. But the gratification is of the same
           desire -- the will-to-power.
                That's why I go on talking about the political leaders and the religious leaders without making
           any distinction -- because there is no distinction at all, only a superficial distinction. Their psyches
           are functioning in the same way.
                Neither the religious leader nor the politician is interested in the people whom they pretend to
           lead.
                They are interested in being leaders -- and of course the leader cannot be without the led, so it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           a necessity to go on promising the people things. Politicians promise them things of this world;
           religious leaders promise them things of the other world. But do you see any difference in what they
           are doing? Both are promising so that you go on following them, afraid to get lost somewhere else,
           because if you lose the path then you will miss the promise.
               The promise keeps you with the crowd -- and promises don't cost anything. You can promise
           anything. Promises are always for tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes. And you are not going to
           live here forever.
               Just look at past history. All politicians have been promising people things which have not
           materialized in thousands of years. Thousands of political leaders have been promising the same
           things. How blind humanity must be!
               The promises have not changed -- that means certainly nothing has been achieved. The same
           promises are being given to you and you go on following, hoping.
           Hope is the greatest drug that man has invented.
               Strange, that religious people are against drugs; politicians are also against drugs. Politicians
           make laws against drugs, religious people create hell and punishment against drugs.
           Why are they so afraid of drugs?
               It needs a deep search, investigation. They are afraid of drugs because drugs are competitors to
           them. LSD can give you hallucinations of heaven. That's the trouble. No religion can afford to allow
           people to use LSD. LSD is not dangerous; taken in the right proportions, under medical care, it can
           be tremendously helpful in religious growth.
               But religions are not ready to allow it for the simple reason that if LSD can give you a beautiful
           experience -- hallucinatory, but still it is an experience and tremendously satisfying, fulfilling -- then
           just promises will look like dry bones without any juice in them. Only idiots perhaps may continue
           to chew the dry bones.
               Dogs do that. They chew dry bones and enjoy very much, not knowing what is happening. When
           they chew dry bones those dry bones hurt their mouths and their mouths start bleeding. The more
           they chew, the more bleeding happens. And blood goes through their throat and they think --
           logically enough -- that the blood is coming from the bone. Now, how to explain to a dog that, "it is
           your own blood; the bone is absolutely dry."
               So perhaps a few idiots may still continue to go to the churches, but intelligent people will stop.
           Rather, when they feel the urge to have a beautiful hallucination, whenever they want to live in
           another world, they will not wait for death to come: they will go to a medical clinic and have a two,
           three-day session with LSD, and enjoy everything that their religious leaders have been telling them
           that they will get after death.
               Drugs are dangerous to religions for the simple reason that they are their greatest competitors.
           And even better drugs can be invented, but religions continuously cripple the research.
               Politicians are against drugs, because if people start taking drugs then who cares about your
           five-year plans? Who cares about the classless society that will come in the future to your
           grandchildren? Who cares about the revolution, democracy, freedom of speech?
           You don't have even the freedom to hallucinate!
               This is absolutely innocent because only you are doing it, nobody else is involved. No, you don't
           have the freedom to hallucinate. Reduced to the basics, that's what drug prohibition means, that you
           don't have the freedom to hallucinate. The government is in control of your dreams. Drugs can give
           you dreams, and properly used, can help you to see many things in yourself which in psychoanalysis
           will take three years, four years; then too it is not certain that you will be able to see.
               It is a well-known fact that scientists have discovered something like truth serum, but it is
           prevented from being used, because if something like truth serum is possible .... You take an
           injection of truth serum and then suddenly you can see all your falsities, your hypocrisies, your
           bogus personality ... and certainly if anything can make you aware of truth, it is bound to make you
           aware of all that is false: that is going to happen simultaneously. The moment you see the truth you
           see the false too.
           Now, the whole of politics depends on falsities.
               Communism goes on talking about equality of people -- an utter untruth.
           People are not equal, people are unique.
               Once you see the truth, that people are unique, how can they be equal? That does not mean that
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somebody is inferior to you and somebody is superior to you. You are not equal, you are not unequal
           either. You are simply different.
                You don't compare things that are different. You don't say that the house and the tree are equal. If
           you say that, you will be thought insane, because a house is a house and a tree is a tree; they have
           different functions. Their individualities are different. You don't compare them. You cannot say that
           the house is superior to the tree, or the tree is superior to the house. In fact, the category of
           comparison is inapplicable.
                Each individual is so unique. When you know the truth of it you cannot be a communist.
                Communism will never allow anything that makes you aware of the truth.
                In the non-communist countries, there are different lies, different falsities. For example, freedom
           of expression: it exists nowhere; it is only written in constitutions.
                Once I was in a court in Ahmedabad in India, for absolutely ungrounded complaints against me
           -- I was talking to a big rally of at least twenty thousand people who had gathered to listen to me --
           for the simple reason that Morarji Desai was the chief minister of Gujarat at that time, and he wanted
           me to be prohibited from entering Gujarat.
                He could not convince his own assembly and cabinet that by preventing a person ... they said,
           "You will be creating trouble for yourself and for the cabinet. What reasons have you got? What has
           he done against Gujarat? What crime has he committed that you can prevent him from coming to
           Gujarat? And it goes against the constitution, because the Indian constitution declares it as one of the
           basic rights that in India, every citizen of India has the right of movement. Now, you are preventing
           him from moving into Gujarat: you have to give some solid reasons; otherwise you will be in
           trouble."
                And the moment I heard I said, "Let their parliament decide -- I will be there already in Gujarat."
           So I was addressing the people, and while addressing them I mentioned a small story.
                In Mahatma Gandhi's ashram they used to read the story of Rama, the Hindu incarnation of God,
           every day. Each evening Acharya Vinoba Bhave would read the story of Rama, and Gandhi and all
           the followers -- and there were not many, just twenty, thirty people -- would listen to the story.
                There comes a moment when Rama's wife, Sita, is stolen by his enemy, Ramana. She is in
           difficulty: How to make Rama know by what path Ramana has taken her? She must have been an
           intelligent woman; she tried one strategy -- she started dropping her ornaments. And Indian women,
           and particularly a queen, have so many ornaments; they weigh much more than she herself does.
                She started dropping her ornaments one by one on the path so Rama would know exactly where
           she
                had been taken. And Rama found them but he could not recognize whether they were Sita's
           ornaments or somebody else's.
                His brother, Lakshmana, was with him. Lakshmana said, "You seem to be puzzled. What is the
           matter?"
                He said, "I cannot recognize them because I loved her so much that whenever she was with me I
           looked at her, I never looked at her ornaments. I cannot recognize them -- perhaps you can. Just look
           at the ornaments: if they are hers then we are on the right path."
                Lakshmana said, "Forgive me, because I can only recognize the ornaments that she used to wear
           on her feet." Indian women wear ornaments on their feet, even on their toes. He recognized them. He
           said, "These are her ornaments."
                At this point of the story Mahatma gandhi said, "This is strange! I can understand Rama loved
           the woman so much he did not recognize her ornaments. But what about Lakshmana? -- he was
           living with them for years. Ahead was Rama -- because they had been expelled from their kingdom
           for fourteen years to live in the forest .... so ahead was Rama, in the middle was Sita, behind was
           Lakshmana, just to guard. It is strange that he could not recognize any other ornament."
                Vinoba, who was a celibate for his whole life -- now he is dead -- gave an explanation which
           appealed to Gandhi very much, so much so that just before this explanation, Vinoba was known only
           as Vinoba Bhave; but because of this explanation Gandhi gave him the title of acharya, a master.
                The explanation was that Lakshmana never looked at any other part of Sita's body. He was a
           celibate and to look at anybody's wife is not right for a celibate. But because he used to touch her
           feet every morning, he had to see the ornaments on her feet, just out of necessity. What could he do?
           -- he had to touch her feet every morning. The elder brother's wife is just like a mother. She has to be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           respected, and the first thing in the morning was to touch her feet; so that's why he could recognize
           the ornaments of the feet only.
                This is an outlandish explanation, nowhere ever given before. The story is five thousand years
           old, and there have been so many commentaries on it, but nobody had even asked the question and
           nobody had answered it. Gandhi was immensely impressed, and said, "Vinoba is an acharya -- just
           this simple explanation shows his insight into human psychology."
                Talking to the masses in the rally I said, "This explanation does not show anything about
           Lakshmana, it shows something about Vinoba Bhave. It is not Lakshmana's explanation; obviously,
           it is Vinoba Bhave's explanation, and it shows his mind. He is afraid to look at women's faces, or the
           other parts of their bodies. It is his fear that he is projecting on Lakshmana.
                "And if his explanation is true then Lakshmana falls in my eyes completely. If Sita was just like a
           mother to him, still was he afraid to look at her face? One has to be afraid of looking at one's own
           mother? That means he must have been dreaming sexual dreams about Sita, fantasizing about her.
                "This explanation is insulting to Lakshmana, and I reject it as an explanation. My feeling is that
           Sita was so beautiful -- if she was so beautiful for her husband, what to say about others? If the
           husband himself was so hypnotized by her beauty that he never saw her ornaments, what to say of
           poor Lakshmana? He must have been hypnotized even more!
                "A husband sooner or later gets fed up. In fact a husband stops looking at his wife's face, her
           body: he looks at everything in the room except his wife. If you enquire into couples you can be
           convinced of what I am saying. Just ask any husband, `How long has it been since you looked
           directly into your wife's eyes, her face?' -- and he will start scratching his head. `It is difficult;
           perhaps since the honeymoon I have not looked at her.'
                "But Lakshmana .... And it is just one side, that your elder brother's wife is equal to your mother.
           The other side is that the younger brother of a woman's husband is known in Hindi as devar. Devar
           means her second husband. In case the husband dies he has the first right to marry her. Var means
           husband; devar means second husband.
                "Just as there are presidents and vice-presidents -- in case the president dies the vice-president
           becomes the acting president -- devar is simply a ready-made husband in case of emergency."
                A case was put against me, that I had hurt the religious feelings of the Hindus. In the court there
           were many problems. The first was that I was asked to take the oath in the name of God, or in the
           name of the constitution of India, that I would speak only the truth.
                I said, "Before I take the oath I would like to ask you: What about freedom of speech? The oath
           goes against freedom of speech. You are binding me. You are telling me I can speak only the truth;
           then why in the constitution do you talk about freedom of speech? You should have said, `You are
           free to speak only the truth.' Freedom of speech has no boundaries to it.
                "How can I go against the constitution? I can take the oath that I will follow the constitution, use
           freedom of speech, but I cannot say truth or untruth, because that divides freedom of speech in two
           parts."
                The magistrate said, "This is a little difficult. I have been a magistrate for twenty years, I have
           been studying the constitution in every possible way, all its aspects, but that this oath is against
           freedom of speech never occurred to me."
                I said, "You don't know what freedom of speech is. But," I said, "I don't want to change the
           subject, so just to continue I will take the oath. But remember, you can believe in my oath, but you
           cannot believe in my other statements. On what grounds do you make the distinction? If I am a
           person who lies, I can lie when I am taking the oath. Who prevents me?
                "You know perfectly well that everybody takes the oath here and everybody is not speaking the
           truth. Both the parties fighting in a case take the oath; certainly both the parties are not speaking the
           truth. At least one party certainly is not speaking the truth; perhaps both are not speaking the truth.
           But both speaking the truth is not possible; otherwise how are you going to make the judgment?
                "You accept my oath -- on what grounds? Do you know me, that I speak the truth? That I will
           take the oath and will follow it? What gives you that guarantee? I will remain the same person as I
           was afterwards, so it makes no difference to me. I can take the oath just so that we can proceed,
           because there are so many problems."
           The judge said, "Problems? For you or for me?"
                I said, "You have summoned me to the court" -- and there were thousands of people who had
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           come; they were in the court and outside the court. And that man who had put the case against me --
           a Hindu political leader, a Hindu chauvinist -- became afraid seeing so many people sympathetic
           towards me.
               I said to the judge, "Look: first, I was simply quoting a statement of Mahatma Gandhi, and an
           explanation of Vinoba Bhave. If anybody has hurt the feelings of Hindus, they should put cases
           against Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. I was just quoting them, without inverted commas.
               "It was not my explanation. In fact I was offended by the explanation that Vinoba has given.
           Vinoba's explanation means that he thinks that Lakshmana has some sexual interest in Sita. That is
           purely his explanation. Said in plain words, he is afraid to look at Sita's face. Why? If he is not
           sexually interested he should not be afraid. Vinoba is trying to make an explanation which is
           insulting.
               "I am saying that Sita was so beautiful -- anybody would have been interested. I would have been
           interested. You would have been interested. Beauty is not something that one should not be
           interested in. It is one of the gifts of nature; it has to be adored. And my feeling is he was touching
           her feet every day because Sita was so beautiful; he was adoring her.
               "And you know the meaning of devar -- that he was the second husband. Now, if somebody is
           hurt, then he should put a case against the whole Hindu tradition, that this tradition is in a mess. On
           the one hand you say treat your brother's wife as your mother -- okay, treat her as your mother. But
           when the brother dies, then? -- treat your mother as your wife!
               "And this man who has complained against me and forced me to come from Calcutta to here,
           unnecessarily wasting my time -- is he the only Hindu in Ahmedabad? These thousands of people are
           here -- these are all Hindus. You ask those whose feelings are hurt to raise their hands. And if you
           don't ask then I am going to ask."
               So the magistrate had to ask. Not a single hand was raised. I said, "Now you can see: nobody's
           feelings are hurt. This man is a Hindu chauvinist."
               At that time the man became afraid and he told the magistrate, "I want police protection, because
           after the court this crowd can kill me."
               I asked the magistrate, "Do you want any more argument that nobody's feelings are hurt? This
           man is afraid of Hindus, that they will kill him. They should kill me -- I should ask for the protection
           of the court because I have hurt the feelings of Hindus, he hasn't. Why should he be afraid?
               "And why should I have been called to the court? Why is Vinoba Bhave not being called? Of
           course, Gandhi is dead -- you cannot summon him, but he is not needed anyway. Vinoba is alive --
           why has he not been called to the court? Just because he belongs to the party who rules the country?
           Because he is a guru to all the politicians of the country, you didn't have the guts to summon him?
               "He was needed to answer whether I am quoting right or wrong. If he says that I am quoting
           wrong, then certainly I have to be answerable for it. And my advocate had asked you to summon
           Vinoba because it is most important and essential, what he says. Still you did not summon Vinoba.
           And still you go on saying that the courts are impartial?
               "Just look at the fact: I was simply quoting him. It was the court's duty to ask the man whether I
           am quoting him rightly or wrongly. You should have called him here; we could have argued in front
           of you and made it clear to Vinoba that he is sexually obsessed and he is projecting his sexual
           obsession on poor Lakshmana.
               "I was protecting Lakshmana. Vinoba should put a case against me. And this man is simply an
           idiot: he does not understand even what I was saying. He does not know what it means. But Vinoba
           is not called. And," I said, "I will not appear again in the court unless Vinoba is called."
               The judge had no guts -- because the prime minister goes to Vinoba, the cabinet ministers go to
           Vinoba, the president goes to Vinoba. To call Vinoba to the court would incur anger from all sides.
           The judge dismissed the case. He could not do anything else -- he simply dismissed the case.
               Politics has power. Vinoba was a religious leader, but through the politicians he has power.
           Although that power is not very substantial, still the power is there.
               The religious leader or the political leader -- both are in the same boat, helping each other. The
           politician protects the religious leader, the religious leader protects the politician. He protects him
           through people's religious feelings, and the politician protects the religious leader by his power. It is
           a mutual understanding. Hence I don't make any difference between the two. To me, the political
           leader is more criminal-minded; hence is ready to take the risk.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The religious leader is a coward, but cunning; through cunningness he manages to rise even
           higher than the political leader; at least in the abstract sense he is higher than the political leader.
                But the desire of both is the same: to rule, to have control over millions of people.
                To me, a man who does not suffer from an inferiority complex has no need even to lead a single
           man, to be powerful over even a single man. Such a man, if he is a husband, will not have any power
           over his wife. He will be just a friend, not a husband.
                The word husband is ugly. It comes from husbandry: just as the farmer sows seeds in the ground,
           the husband does husbandry with the wife, he sows seeds. The woman is just like the earth and the
           husband is the possessor of the earth, the owner. The word husband is ugly, it should be changed.
           The whole idea is very primitive, crude.
                The wife is not taken as a human being but as earth which you can sell. And it has been the case
           in the past: in many cultures wives were sold, purchased. In China you could have killed your wife --
           it was not a crime because she was your possession. If you destroy your chair it is nobody's business;
           the chair was your possession -- so was your wife.
                Just because I mentioned Vinoba Bhave I remember ... I had met him many times. One time he
           was giving his daily discourse in his ashram -- and what ashrams these people had! Twelve widows,
           that was his ashram. And those widows were listening to his great discourse.
                I just happened to pass from Wardha to Nagpur and his ashram was just outside the Wardha city,
           by the side of a river, Pavanar; hence the name of his ashram, Paramdham Pavanar. The friend who
           was driving me said, "This is the time Vinoba's discourse starts. Would you like ...?"
                I said, "There is no harm," so we went and sat. He had already started and he was telling an
           upanishadic story. The story was about a very famous upanishadic seer. His name was Raikva,
           Maharishi Raikva, but he was better known as Gadivan Raikva because he always traveled in a
           bullock cart. Gadivan means one who drives the bullock cart.
                But in those days to have a beautiful bullock cart was something very special, it was not
           ordinary. Even today in Indian villages to have a beautiful bullock cart is to have a great possession.
           Gadivan Raikva went to a market where girls were being sold. It was a market to purchase slaves --
           men, women.
                Now, in the first place what is a maharishi doing in a market where slaves are being sold?
           Vinoba did not bother about that. There was one very beautiful girl, and when the auction began on
           the girl, Maharishi Raikva started raising the price. But it was difficult because the king of the
           country was also present and he was also interested in the girl, and he was doubling the price. Now,
           Gadivan Raikva was a rich maharishi, but not to be compared with the king. Finally the king
           purchased the girl at a very high price. Raikva was very angry.
                After ten years .... this is the whole story that I am telling. Vinoba did not tell this part of the
           story, of the slave market, Raikva's competition with the king, his defeat, the girl being purchased by
           the king. All this part was left out.
                Vinoba began praising Raikva, his wisdom, and started the story ten years after this incident: The
           king was becoming old and wanted somebody to guide him in the spiritual life, so he went to
           Gadivan Raikva with many chariots full of gold, money, valuable clothes. He offered everything to
           Raikva, touched his feet, and Raikva said -- he used the word "sudra" for him.
                "Sudra" is the worst you can say to a man. It is difficult to translate in English, so I will say,
           "You son-of-a-bitch! You think that by all this money you can purchase spiritual guidance? I spit on
           all your money -- take it back!"
                This was the main emphasis in Vinoba's story, and he said, "These were the people who could
           throw all those valuable presents and say directly -- even to the king -- `You are a sudra, the worst
           kind of human being: untouchable. The very idea in your mind, that by money you can purchase
           spiritual guidance, makes you untouchable. Just take all this rubbish from here and don't come back
           to me.'"
                So Vinoba talked much about it, that this was the courage of the seers of India, that they could
           even insult a great king without being afraid. I was very puzzled, because those twelve widows were
           listening in great silence as if some great thing was being said.
                I said, "Vinoba, you have not told the whole story. You have left out two portions, first in the
           middle of the story -- which is very important in order to understand in what context this man Raikva
           was speaking -- and you have left out the end part also .... Because the king went home and he asked
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his prime minister what to do: Raikva has refused, and he was very angry.
               The prime minister said, "I knew it was going to happen. You must have forgotten: ten years
           before you had, in an auction, defeated Raikva; now if you want him to guide you, you take that
           woman rather than money. Offer the woman to the man. Touch his feet, ask his forgiveness, and he
           will guide you ...."
               He took the woman, and Raikva received him with great joy, accepted him as a disciple and
           guided him into spirituality.
               I said, "These two parts you have dropped from the story. You are cheating these twelve widows.
           Now, what authority have you got to change the story? Who are you? On what grounds did you drop
           those two parts? -- because without those two parts the story takes a totally different color. It seems
           as if Raikva is so high that money does not matter to him, but the reality is that it is not a question of
           money. The woman that was taken from his hands matters too much to him.
               "And this man who carries for ten years a revengeful attitude, and for ten years is still lusting for
           the woman -- what spiritual guidance can he give?" I asked him, "You tell me what spiritual
           guidance this man can give -- and why you dropped these two parts from the story."
               And since that time Vinoba remained angry with me. He said, "The time is over, so if you want
           to discuss you will have to come to my ..."
               I said, "I don't want to discuss, because there is nothing to discuss; I simply wanted to make the
           story complete -- and I have made it complete and all the widows have understood. You have
           understood. What argument? I have nothing to do with all these kinds of rogues, this Gadivan
           Raikva. What do I have to do with this man? I wanted simply to make the story complete, just out of
           a sense of appropriateness; otherwise I am not interested."
               But this kind of thing is not expected of a man of integrity. This is simply cheating.
               These are "religious" people. Indira used to go for spiritual guidance to Vinoba Bhave. I told
           Indira Gandhi -- I had told her this story -- "This is spiritual guidance? You are also a widow; when
           you are no longer a prime minister go into his ashram."
               But Vinoba died before Indira, and then she died, so the chance never came; otherwise she would
           have ended up in Vinoba Bhave's ashram of widows.
               And I asked her: "What do you say? Is this a man who has some sense of being truthful? And if
           Raikva could not give guidance, I say to you this Vinoba also cannot give you any guidance."
           Misguidance perhaps ....
               We have never heard what happened to the king, what spiritual growth he obtained; the Indian
           spiritual history remembers nothing of the king. But it is natural, because whatever advice this idiot
           must have given could not be called spiritual -- this man was not spiritual.
               But this is how religious leaders and political leaders .... They are all made of the same stuff, the
           same holy cow-dung. I don't see any difference, except superficial differences about which there is
           no need to talk.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                 Chapter #6
                         Chapter title: Every child's original face is the face of god
           5 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503055
              ShortTitle: DARK06
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 129 mins
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW DO WE, THE COMMUNE, ENSURE THAT OUR CHILDREN MAINTAIN THEIR ORIGINAL
              FACE?


               The original face of every child is the face of God. Of course my God is not a Christian, a Hindu,
           a Jew. My God is not even a person but only a presence.
               It is less like a flower and more like fragrance. You can feel it but you cannot catch hold of it.
           You can be overwhelmed by it but you cannot possess it.
           My God is not something objective, there.
           My God is your very subjectivity, here.
           My God can never be indicated by the word "that."
           He can only be indicated by the word "this."
               The God of my vision and experience is not to be searched for in the synagogues, temples,
           mosques, churches, in the Himalayas, in the monasteries. He is not there because He is always here.
           And you go on looking for Him there.
               When I say every child's original face is the face of God, I am saying that God is synonymous
           with life, existence. Whatsoever is, is divine, sacred. And there is nothing else than God.
               God is not to be understood as quantity, but as quality. You cannot measure it. You cannot make
           a statue of it, you cannot draw a picture of it. In that sense it is absolutely impersonal. And if you
           look at the faces of children when they arrive, fresh from the very source of life, you will see a
           certain presence which cannot be named -- unnameable, indefinable.
               The child is alive. You cannot define its aliveness, but it is there, you can feel it. It is so much
           there that howsoever blind you are you cannot miss it. It is fresh. You can smell the freshness around
           a child. That fragrance slowly, slowly disappears. And if unfortunately the child becomes successful,
           a celebrity -- a president, a prime minister, a pope -- then the same child stinks.
               He had come with a tremendous fragrance, immeasurable, indefinable, unnameable. You look
           into the eyes of a child -- you cannot find anything deeper. The eyes of a child are abysmal, there is
           no bottom to them. Unfortunately, the way society will destroy him, soon his eyes will be only
           superficial; because of layers and layers of conditioning, that depth, that immense depth will have
           disappeared long before. And that was his original face.
               The child has no thoughts. About what can he think? Thinking needs a past, thinking needs
           problems. He has no past, he has only future. He has no problems yet, he is without problems. There
           is no possibility of thinking for him. What can he think?
           The child is conscious but without thoughts.
           This is the original face of the child.
               Once this was your face too, and although you have forgotten it, it is still there within you,
           waiting someday to be rediscovered. I am saying REdiscovered because you have discovered it
           many times in your previous lives, and again and again you go on forgetting it.
               Perhaps even in this life there have been moments when you have come very close to knowing it,
           to feeling it, to being it. But the world is too much with us. Its pull is great -- and there are a
           thousand and one directions the world is pulling you. It is pulling you in so many directions that you
           are falling apart. It is a miracle how people go on managing to keep themselves together. Otherwise
           their one hand will be going to the north, another hand to the south, their head must be going towards
           heaven; all their parts will be flying all over the place.
               It is certainly a miracle how you go on keeping yourself together. Perhaps the pressure from all
           sides is too much so that your hands and legs and heads cannot fly. You are pressed from
           everywhere.
               Whenever I see ... and I don't know why people go on sending me beautiful paperweights -- I
           don't have any papers. What am I going to do with paperweights? Perhaps they think there are
           hundreds of books in my name so there must be so much paperwork around me, all over my room
           papers and papers. There is not a single paper.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Yes, paperweights go on coming, and whenever a paperweight comes I am immediately
           reminded of you. You would have been flying like papers in the strong wind, but there are so many
           paperweights to keep you pressed and give you an idea that you are one individual. You are not --
           you are many, and in the crowd of this many-ness of your existence, your original face is lost.
                Even if by chance you happen to meet your original face, you will not be able to recognize it, it
           will be such a stranger. Perhaps you come across it once in a while, just by accident, but you don't
           even say Hi! It is a stranger and perhaps deep down, a certain fear -- that is always there with every
           stranger.
                That's why people try to become acquainted, introduced to strangers, the sooner the better. They
           don't want to be left in that state of fear, that somebody is absolutely unknown to them. They don't
           know what he can do, what he intends to do, what kind of person he is. Maybe he is a murderer, a
           thief.
                I played around this theme so many times because I was continuously traveling in India, and I
           was always traveling in an air-conditioned coupe. So at the most two persons -- that too very rarely
           because in India very few people can afford to travel in the air-conditioned coupe, except people like
           me who have nothing to lose. Just poor people like me can travel like that because we cannot be
           more poor than we are.
                But once in a while a minister, a governor, a rich industrialist, a scientist, a vice-chancellor --
           people like that were my fellow travelers. And I always tried to see what happened to them if I
           continued to remain a stranger. And I enjoyed -- it does things to people.
                I was not doing anything, I was just trying be a stranger, which really I am. They would ask me,
           "Where are you going?" -- just anything to begin with.
           I would say, "Anywhere will do."
                They would say, "Anywhere will do?" -- and I could see the fear arising: "Is the man mad? But
           no, he does not look mad." They would then say, "Are you joking?"
           Once I said, "Why should I joke with you?"
                In India, it is a convention that you joke only with certain relatives. Joking is very confined, to a
           certain relationship. You joke only with your wife's brother, otherwise you don't joke; only that's
           acceptable to the society. I said, "But you are not my wife's brother, why should I joke? Or are you
           my wife's brother? Perhaps you are. But I don't remember ever seeing you before."
                The man became really more shaky and I could see the trembling arising -- and he had to travel
           with me for at least ten hours, twelve hours, or even twenty-four hours. But still he tried: "What is
           your name?"
                I said, "The moment you asked me, it was just on the tip of my tongue. Now I am trying hard to
           remember. I have a name, I certainly remember ... I know it is there but you will have to give me a
           little time. If it comes, it comes; if it does not come what can I do? What can you do? But it doesn't
           matter anyway, you can call me any name. Anyway every child is born without a name and we give
           him one. All names are arbitrary, so it does not matter whether you call me Ram, Rahim, Ibrahim,
           Moses, Jesus, Christ; anything will do."
                And I said, "You please sit down, there is no need to continue to stand. Sit down, be at ease, and
           I will go and close the door."
           He said, "Why are you closing the door?"
                I said, "The door has to be closed. Passengers are passing by, what will they think? You are
           trembling, perspiring, in an air-conditioned room? No, I don't want you to look so silly and
           embarrassed." I virtually forced the person to sit down. I was forcing him to sit down, and he wanted
           to stand up.
           He said, "Can't I stand?"
                I said, "You just first relax. Do you want to go to the bathroom or have you already done it?
           Anyway there is no need to worry -- you just sit down."
                That man looked at me and looked all around. It was just a small cabin for two persons and he
           was thinking, "this type of man, he can do anything." But he tried somehow to figure me out;
           anyway he wanted to be acquainted. And he said "By your face you look religious."
                I said, "Yes, when I look in the mirror I also feel that this man looks religious. But I am not
           religious. Never go by the appearance, appearances are not always real."
                "No," he said, "you are still trying to befool me. You are a religious man." Now he was trying
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           somehow to categorize me.
               I said, "If you say, and if it consoles you, helps you in some way, okay, I am a religious man."
               The man was a brahmin -- I had seen his name on the door. In the air-conditioned compartment
           they have the passengers' names on the door, so I had seen that he was a Bengali, a high-caste
           brahmin, a chattopadhyaya. So he said, "What religion?"
               I said, "Religion is just religion -- there is no adjective to it."
               He said, "That I cannot believe. You must be a religious Hindu sage."
           I said, "If it helps you, I am."
               And he fell at my feet, and he said, "I knew from the very beginning that you are not mad, that
           you are a sage. And sages and mad people look alike, behave alike. Everything that you said now
           makes sense."
               But I said, "One thing I have just said to console you -- really I am not a Hindu, I am a
           Mohammedan." And now you cannot believe what a terrible mess he fell into. He had touched the
           feet of a Mohammedan! A Hindu brahmin, a high-caste brahmin, is afraid even of touching the
           shadow of a Mohammedan. If he touches even the shadow of a Mohammedan he will have to take a
           bath to cleanse himself. And he had touched actual feet!
               Now the situation had become much worse. The chattopadhyaya said, "But why did you lie to
           me?"
               I said, "I was just trying to console you. I never thought that you would fall at my feet. Before I
           could prevent you, you had already done it. But don't be worried, I am really a brahmin. I was just
           checking what happens: if some Mohammedan looks like a brahmin sage and you touch his feet,
           what will happen to you? I was just trying to see."
               He said, "That's right." And a great smile ... and he relaxed in his seat and he said, "I knew from
           the very beginning -- such a nice person could not be a Mohammedan. Those Mohammedans are all
           butchers."
               I said, "You are right, because I was born a Mohammedan so I know perfectly well they are all
           butchers."
               This way I have seen many well-educated people trying to figure out ... and I told them, "Why
           are you bothering to figure out about me? If you take that much trouble to figure out about yourself
           you will become enlightened! You need not worry about me. You do your work, whatever you want
           to do; you simply accept me as absent, I am not here. Behave as if I am not here and do whatsoever
           you want to do.
               "If you want me to close my eyes, I can close my eyes. If you want me to go to sleep, I will go to
           sleep. But please be at ease; just forget about me. But don't try to become familiar with me -- that I
           don't allow. We are going to remain strangers for ten hours."
           In fact we are all strangers.
               Even if we live our whole life together it makes no difference, we remain strangers; we just settle
           for consolations, and we start taking the other for granted. It is a make-believe that you know the
           other -- your wife, your mother, your father, your brother, your friend -- it is just a make-believe that
           you know them. You know nothing about the other because that is impossible -- for the simple
           reason that you don't know anything about yourself yet. Without knowing oneself it is impossible to
           know anybody else.
               The trouble is you can be introduced to somebody else, but how can you be introduced to
           yourself? Who is going to do that?
               You can be introduced to somebody else because that introduction is just arbitrary. The name,
           the caste, the country, the religion, the profession -- these are all arbitrary and accidental.
               It happened ... really a great coincidence, almost inconceivable, but it happened so whether it is
           conceivable or not makes no difference. When I was standing at the window after my matriculation,
           to obtain entry into a college, there were many people who were filling in forms and I was waiting to
           get my form. When I was filling in my form a boy just of my age came to me, and he said, "What
           subjects are you taking?"
               So I showed him my form and said, "These are my subjects."
               He said, "Oh, okay, I will fill in these subjects also."
               I said, "But this is strange. You have come to the college -- don't you have any idea what you
           want to study?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "It is all the same to me. My father wants me to study so I have come to the college. I
           don't have any interest in anything, I have just come to enjoy. My father is rich. He wants me to be in
           college so okay, I will be in college and have fun and enjoy. Any subjects will do."
               But I said, "These subjects perhaps may be difficult for you: philosophy, logic ...."
               He said, "I don't care even what they mean. I don't know, I have never heard this word `logic'
           before."
           "Then," I said, "It is perfectly okay."
               And he asked me, "Will you please give me your fountain pen?"
               I said, "This is too much -- you don't have your own fountain pen?"
               He said, "I am not a man who is interested in these things."
               He showed me a packet of cigarettes. He said, "I am interested in cigarettes, not in fountain pens;
           and I am not going to attend any class or anything. My father is going to send me the money and I
           am going to enjoy, and I am going to ask him for more and more. He has enough, and I am the only
           son so I am not wasting anybody else's money. It is my own, I am going to inherit it anyway."
               I gave him my fountain pen and he filled in the form. He even had to look at my form for the
           spelling of the words that he was filling in. But this way we became friends. I liked the boy, he was
           sincere, and not a hypocrite in any way. We became friends. He needed me and I needed him,
           because I needed so much money for books and he had so much money that I said, "This is good."
           And he was not interested in books at all.
               But I was his first friend in the college. And he had everything: a car, a driver, a bungalow -- I
           needed all these things so I said, "That's perfectly good -- you came at the right time. And whatever
           your need is, I will manage, you don't be worried." So I had to do examinations for both of us. In
           three hours time, half was mine and half was his. In one and a half hours I finished my paper and
           then I would start his paper.
               But he said, "This is a great bargain." He said, "If I can pass, my father is going to be mad with
           happiness. He cannot believe that I can pass, because in matric he had to give such a large bribe to
           push me through. And now he knows that in college it is going to be difficult."
               I said, "You don't be worried, you will pass first class." And he passed first class with a B.A.
           After the B.A. I left Jabalpur because one of the professors in Sagar University, S.S. Roy, was
           persistently asking me, writing me, phoning me to say, "After your B.A. you join this university for
           your post-graduation."
               From Jabalpur University to Sagar University there is not much distance -- one hundred miles.
           But Sagar University was in many ways unique. It was a small university compared to Benares
           University or Aligarh University, which had ten thousand students, twelve thousand students. They
           are just like Oxford or Cambridge -- big universities, big names. Sagar University had only one
           thousand students and almost three hundred professors, so for every three students, one professor. It
           was a rare place; perhaps nowhere in the world can you find another university where there is one
           professor for three students.
               And the man who had founded the university was acquainted with all the best professors around
           the world. Sagar was his birthplace; Doctor Harisingh Gaud was his name. He was a world-famous
           authority on law, and earned so much money -- and never gave a single pai to any beggar, to any
           institution, to any charity. He was known as the most miserly person in the whole of India.
               And then he founded the university and gave his whole life's earning. That was millions of
           dollars. He said to me, "That's why I was a miser; otherwise there was no way -- I was a poor man, I
           was born a poor man. If I were doing charity and giving to this hospital and to this beggar and to that
           orphan, this university would not have existed." For this university ... he had carried his whole life
           only one idea, that his birthplace should have one of the best universities in the world. And certainly
           he created one of the best universities in the world.
               While he was alive he managed to bring professors from all over the world. He gave them double
           salaries, triple salaries, whatsoever they wanted -- and no work, because there were only one
           thousand students, which even a small college has in India; one thousand students is not a large
           number. And he opened all the departments which only a university like Oxford can afford. Oxford
           has nearabout three hundred and fifty departments.
               He opened all the departments which exist anywhere in the world. There were hundreds of
           departments without students but with full staff: the head of the department, the assistant professor,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the professor, the lecturer. He said, "Don't be worried. First create the university -- and make it the
           best. Students will come, will have to come." Then all the professors and all the deans were all in
           search of the best students. And somehow this professor, S.S. Roy, who was the head of the
           department of philosophy, got his eye on me.
               I used to go every year to the university for the inter-university debating competition. And for
           four years I was winning the trophy and for four years he was listening to me, as a judge -- he was
           one of the judges. The fourth year he invited me to his home, and he said, "Listen, I wait for you for
           one year. I know that after one year, when the next inter-university debating competition is held, you
           are bound to be there.
               "The way you present your arguments is strange. It is sometimes so weird that it seems ... how
           did you manage to look from this angle? I have been thinking about a few problems myself, but I
           never looked from that aspect. It strikes me that perhaps you go on dropping any aspect that can
           happen to the ordinary mind, and you only choose the aspect that is unlikely to happen to anybody.
               "For four years you have been winning the shield for the simple reason that the argument is
           unique, and there is nobody who is ready to answer it. They have not even thought about it, so they
           are simply in shock.
               "Your opponents -- you reduce them so badly, one feels pity for them, but what can we do? And
           I have been giving you ninety-nine percent marks out of a hundred. I wanted to give you more than a
           hundred, but even ninety-nine .... It has become known to people that I am favorable to a certain
           student. This is too much, because nobody goes beyond fifty.
               "I have called you to my home for dinner to invite you to leave Jabalpur University and come
           here. Now this is your fourth year, you are finished when you graduate. For post-graduation you
           come here. I cannot miss having you as my student; if you don't come here then I am going to join
           Jabalpur University."
               And he was a well-known authority; if he wanted to come, Jabalpur University would have been
           immensely happy to accept him as head of the department.
               I said, "No, don't go to that much trouble. I can come here, and I love the place." It is situated ...
           perhaps it is the best-situated university in the world, in the hills near a tremendously vast lake. It is
           so silent -- such huge trees, ancient trees -- that just to be there is enough education.
               And Doctor Harisingh Gaud must have been a tremendous lover of books. He donated all his
           library, and he managed to get as many books as possible from every corner of the world. A single
           man's effort ... it is rare; he created Oxford just single-handedly, alone. Oxford was created over one
           thousand years; thousands of people have worked. This man's work is really a piece of art.
           Single-handedly, with his own money, he put himself at stake.
               So I loved the place. I said, "You need not be worried, I will be coming -- but you have seen me
           only in the debate competitions. You don't know much about me; I may prove a trouble for you, a
           nuisance. I would like you to know everything about me before you decide."
               Professor S.S. Roy said, "I don't want to know anything about you. The little bit that I have come
           to know, just by seeing you, your eyes, your way of saying things, your way of approaching reality,
           is enough. And don't make me frightened about trouble and nuisance -- you can do whatsoever you
           want."
               I said, "Remember that financially I am always broke, so I will be continuously borrowing
           money from you and never returning it. Things have to be made clear beforehand; otherwise later on
           you can say, `This you never said.' You will have to lend me money whenever I want. I am not going
           to return it, although it will be said I am borrowing -- but on your part you have to understand that
           that money is gone, because from where can I return it? I don't have any source.
               "Second, you have to make arrangements in the university for my free lodging and boarding.
           Thirdly, you have to ask the vice-chancellor, because I don't know him -- or you can introduce me to
           him -- for his special scholarship. He is entitled to give one special scholarship. Other scholarships
           are there, which are smaller scholarships given to talented people -- first class, first gold medalist,
           this and that; I want the special scholarship which is three times more than any other scholarship.
               "It is special because the vice-chancellor is entitled to give it to anyone talented, not talented, in
           the good list of the university, not in the good list of the university; it does not matter. It is his
           personal choice -- because if they start thinking about my character certificates and this and that, I
           cannot produce a single character certificate.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                "I have been in many colleges because I have been expelled again and again. So in four years
           time .... People study in one college, I have studied in many, but all that I can bring from them is
           expulsion orders. I cannot produce a single character certificate -- so you have to recommend me.
           You are my only character certificate."
           He said, "Don't be worried about that."
                So I moved to Sagar. This is the coincidence that I was going to tell you about. When I was
           filling in the form, the same boy appeared again! He said, "What subjects?"
                I said, "My God! Who told you that I had come to Sagar?"
                He said, "You are asking that? For days I never see my car, my driver; in my house strangers
           come and live. They say they are your guests, and I have to make arrangements for them. And you
           think I have to know how you have come to Sagar? My driver has brought you here; he told me.
                "So I said, `If he is going to Sagar what am I going to do here, because who will write my
           papers?' So I ran fast and I have caught you in time. Just exactly four years ago, in the same way we
           met."
                I said, "That's true. So you are going to fill in these subjects again?"
                He said, "It's perfectly okay, because I have nothing to do with the subjects. I don't know
           anything that happened in these four years because I was engaged in drinking and in gambling and
           all kinds of things. And you managed well; two first classes by one person -- you did well. Now once
           more you will have to do it.
                "And as far as things from my side are concerned, I am ready to double them. Everything that
           you want you take, but just don't try to leave me, because without you I am nobody. My father gave
           such a great party and all the relatives gathered, and it was such a celebration. And I was only
           thinking of you -- that this whole celebration should be for you.
                "Do you know what my father said when I came home and I told him that I have topped the
           university? He said, `That means in that university all kinds of stupid people must study; otherwise
           how could you have got the gold medal? That is a simple proof that all the fools go to that university.
           You change your university.' I said, `I am going to change it but the same fools I will meet
           anywhere.'"
                This was the only celebration for me. To my father it was impossible that I would get even third
           class, because I was never going to the college and was continuously being expelled from one
           college after another. Finally a college accepted me with the condition that I would not attend the
           classes because the same will happen again.
                "You will fight with the professors, argue, and we will have to expel you. So the best way is --
           examinations are close -- you simply do whatsoever you want to do anywhere else except the college
           campus. Don't come to the college campus. As far as your attendance is concerned, I will take care,"
           the principal told me.
                "But," I said, "you have to take care of two persons, because wherever I am expelled my friend
           has to move from that college too because he can not live without me. So as many times as I was
           expelled, he also had to move." I said, "You will have to take care of two persons."
                The principal said, "I don't understand: why two persons? You alone are taking admission."
                I said, "No, one of my friends is also. He is not expelled, but he never attends. He is not
           interested in studying but his father is forcing him. And what can the poor chap do? It is just to
           console his old man."
                The principal said, "But why does he go with you? I see on the record that he follows you to
           every college."
                I said, "I am his only friend, that's what he thinks. He is not interested in college, he is interested
           in me. He comes with me -- it is one package. If you accept me, you accept him. I promise you that
           your college will get the gold medal. Attendance you will have to give for two persons."
                And all the principals and professors knew that I was continuously winning in their eloquence
           competitions. Only once I got a second prize in one eloquence competition, and that became almost a
           great scandal against the professor who was one of the judges.
                He was in love with a girl, one of his students. The girl was a competitor, and he wanted the girl
           to win the competition any way. All other judges had given me more marks but he had given to the
           girl a hundred marks completely. She was not even worth ten -- because others ... somebody had
           given her five, somebody seven, somebody nine; nobody had gone beyond ten. But if one person
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           gives her a hundred .... She came first, but I immediately went to every newspaper and informed
           them of the whole story.
               The next day the professor had to resign and escape, because I said, "He is in love, and it is just a
           way of seducing the girl. I challenge -- not the girl, I challenge the professor to compete with me
           anywhere before any kind of judges. If he can win in the debate I will think it is perfectly okay, the
           girl has won. The girl is nobody."
               The scandal became so hot that the principal told the professor, "You please leave, because it is
           so clear: no judges have given her more than ten, and you have given her a hundred, and she is your
           student." I was present when the principal said to him, "I never thought that she was going to be even
           third, and she came first. And you unnecessarily took the risk of making this boy angry: he will not
           leave you alone."
               And the next day .... To all the papers I had given their pictures. That was done with my friend:
           he was always carrying his camera and his transistor -- he was that type. So I just told him, "You get
           me two pictures: one of this professor and one of that girl."
           He said, "No problem, Together or separate?"
           I said, "Do you have them already?"
           He said, "I have got them together already."
           I said, "That will do."
               So the professor putting his hand on the girl's shoulder -- the picture was published. The
           professor resigned, the girl escaped, and the competition had to be arranged again. I said, "Just his
           resignation does not mean anything; nor does the girl escaping from the city mean anything. I don't
           believe in being second. Either I am nobody or I am first; I don't accept any mediocre position
           anywhere." Again the competition was arranged.
               This boy was handy in many ways. This was a great coincidence that he managed to reach Sagar,
           and he filled in the form just according to mine. For two years he continuously helped me. My help
           was small: it came only in the end -- at the examination time I had to write for him too.
               In life I have tried, with all kinds of people to insist that everybody knows deep down that he is a
           stranger, a stranger to everybody, even to his closest friend. I told this boy -- his name was Umakant
           Joshi .... He is now a professor.
               That's what makes me wonder ... this world is a strange place; this planet certainly must be the
           weirdest planet in the whole universe. Now, Umakant Joshi is a professor who does not know even
           the spelling of the word "philosophy," but he is doing perfectly well. When I last saw him in 1965, I
           had just gone to inaugurate a social gathering. I had no idea that he was a professor in that college,
           and when he greeted me there, I said, "What are you doing here?"
           He said, "What am I doing here? -- the same."
           I said, "What, the same? Now nobody can help you."
               He said, "Money can do everything. I never bother to teach, I pay people to teach for me. I never
           examine people's papers, I pay teachers to examine their papers. Money can do everything."
               Perhaps by now he may be a principal, one day may rise to become a vice-chancellor. If money
           can do everything, there is no problem. And I have seen people ....
               I told this boy when we were departing after six years of being together, "Umakant, have you
           ever realized that we are as much strangers as when we met on the first day, just by accident, in that
           college office where you asked what subjects you should fill in on the form?"
               He was in a way very innocent and nice. Tears came to his eyes, and he said, "That's true. We
           have lived so closely that I had completely forgotten that we are still strangers. I don't know you, you
           don't know me, and whatever we do know is irrelevant."
               If you enquire among your friends you will be surprised: everybody is a stranger in a strange
           world. But we have managed deceptions, we have camouflaged ourselves. We have labeled
           everybody in so many ways that the person starts thinking that he is that.
               In my village there is one man, Sunderlal. I have been surprised ...sunder means beauty,
           sunderlal means beautiful diamond; and he is anything other than a beauty. He is not even homely. I
           have been surprised again and again that names are given to people which are just the opposite of
           their qualities.
               I have seen immensely rich people named Garibdas. Garib means poor, das means a slave. I have
           been a guest to one Seth Garibdas in Hyderabad. Seth means very rich, super-rich, and garibdas
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           means a poor slave. I asked him, "Have you ever thought about your name? Your father was rich;
           richness is almost your family tradition -- it is nothing new. You are not a newly rich person, that
           you were poor and became rich. Then it would have been understandable: you were poor and people
           called you Garibdas. But you were born rich; you were born with golden spoons in your mouth.
           Then why Garibdas?"
               He said, "You ask strange questions. In my whole life nobody has asked me this. But my father is
           alive; we both should go and ask him."
               We both went to his room and asked him. He said, "It is a protection. The astrologers suggested
           giving him a name which suggests poverty so that fate always remains compassionate to him." They
           were deceiving fate by giving him the name Garibdas -- so fate thinks he is poor, don't harass him --
           and he remained rich.
               This Sunderlal was really ugly. To talk to him meant that you had to look this way and that way;
           to look at him made one feel a little sick -- something went berserk in the stomach. His front two
           teeth were out, and he had such crossed eyes that to look at him for a little while meant a certain
           headache -- and he was Sunderlal! He was the son of a rich man, and he was a little nuts too.
               I used to call him Doctor Sunderlal although he was never able to pass matriculation. He failed
           so many times that the school authorities asked his father to remove him because he brought their
           average low every year -- and he was not going to pass.
               How they managed to get him up to matriculation, that is a miracle. But it is understandable,
           because up to matriculation all examinations are local, so you can bribe the teachers. This was
           difficult to do in the matriculation examination because it is not local, it is state-wide. So it is very
           difficult to find out who is setting the papers, who is examining the papers. It is almost impossible;
           unless you happen to be the education minister or some relative of the education minister, it is very
           difficult to find out.
               But I started calling him Doctor Sunderlal. He said, "Doctor? But I am not a doctor."
               I said, "Not an ordinary doctor like these physicians: you are an honorary doctor."
               But he said, "Nobody has given me an honorary doctorate either."
               I said, "I am giving you an honorary doctorate. It does not matter who gives it -- you get the
           doctorate, that's the point."
               He said, "That is true, " and by and by I convinced him that he was an honorary doctor. He
           started introducing himself to people as Doctor Sunderlal. When I heard this, that he introduces
           himself as Doctor Sunderlal .... He was a relative of our sannyasin, Narendra.
               One day I saw a letterhead with "Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt., Honorary," printed on it in golden
           letters, embossed. I said, "This is great!" And as time passed by people completely forgot: he is now
           known as Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt. Nobody suspects, nobody even enquires who gave him a
           doctorate, from what university? But the whole town knows him. And because he is an honorary
           doctorate he inaugurates social gatherings in the school, in the college -- now the town has a college
           -- and he is the most literary figure.
               Just now my mother was saying that Doctor Sunderlal has become a member of parliament. The
           new government ... after Indira's assassination, Rajiv Gandhi chose him. He is rich and certainly
           respected in the town because he is the only doctor -- an honorary doctor! People get ... and perhaps
           he believes it. Now you cannot tell him that he is not. He will drag you to the court.
               Now, for almost thirty years he has been a doctor; that is enough. Nobody has objected, nobody
           has raised a question. In his election campaign his name was Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt. -- "Vote for
           Doctor Sunderlal, D.Litt." Perhaps -- and he is a little nuts -- he believes that he is. I know that even
           I cannot persuade him that "this doctorate I gave to you." He will laugh and say, "What are you
           saying? I have been a doctor for thirty years. You were just a little kid when I became a doctor!"
               He will not agree so easily to drop his doctorate. But even if you get a doctorate from a
           university, what does it mean? There is not much difference.
               I know one very famous Indian politician, Doctor Govindadas. Maitreya knows him because they
           both were in parliament together. Doctor Govindadas was in the parliament perhaps the longest time
           in the whole history of humanity: from 1914 till he died, I think in 1978, he remained continuously,
           without a single gap, a member of parliament. He was the richest man in the whole state of Madhya
           Pradesh.
               His father was given the title of raja, king; although he was not a king, he had so much land, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so many properties -- one third of the houses of the whole city of Jabalpur, which is ten times bigger
           than Portland, belonged to him. He had so much land that the British government thought it perfectly
           right to give him the title. And he was helping the British government, so he was called Raja
           Gokuldas, and his house was not called a house, it was called Gokuldas Palace.
               Govindadas was Gokuldas' eldest son -- a very mediocre mind. It hurts me to say so but what can
           I do? If he was mediocre it is not my fault. He was very kind and friendly to me and very respectful
           too. He was very old but he used to come every day whenever he was in Jabalpur. Whenever the
           parliament was not in session he was in Jabalpur; otherwise he was in New Delhi. Whenever he was
           in Jabalpur, in the morning from eight to eleven, his limousine was standing in front of my door,
           every day religiously.
               Anybody wanting to meet him between eight and eleven need not go anywhere; he had just to
           stand outside my gate. What was happening in those three hours? He used to come there with his
           secretary, his steno. He would ask me a question, I would answer, and the steno would write it in
           shorthand. Then he published in his own name everything that I said.
               Govindadas has published books, two books; not a single word is his. Yes, there are a few words
           from the secretary. I was puzzled when I saw those books -- and he presented them to me. I looked
           inside ... I knew that this was going to happen, it was happening every day -- in newspapers he was
           publishing my answers all over India.
               He was president of the Hindi language's most prestigious institution, HINDI SAHITYA
           SAMMELAN; he was the president of that. Once Mahatma Gandhi was president of that, so you can
           understand the prestige of the institution.
               Govindadas was president for almost twenty years, and he was the main proponent in the
           parliament that Hindi should become the national language. And he made Hindi the national
           language, at least in the constitution. It is not functioning -- English still functions as the national
           language -- but he put it in the constitution.
               He was known all over the country. Every newspaper, every news magazine, was publishing his
           articles -- and they were my answers! But I was puzzled, because once in a while there would be a
           quotation from Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabirdas. I could not believe that he had even the intelligence to
           put the quotation in the right place, in the right context.
               So I asked his steno one day when I was staying in Delhi in Govindadas's house. I asked his
           steno, "Shrivastava, everything else is perfectly right; I just wonder about these -- Surdas, Tulsidas,
           Kabirdas -- how Seth Govindadas manages to put them ..."
           He said, "Seth Govindadas? I put them in."
           I said, "Who told you to put them in?"
               He said, "He says that at least something should be put from our side too."
               I said, "I am not going to tell anybody, but just to deceive me, these two lines of Kabirdas in the
           whole question? You have been putting them in and you think I will be deceived?"
               He said, "I had to work hard, looking into Kabirdas' collection to find some lines which could fit
           somewhere in your question."
               I said, "You are a fool; you should have asked me. When your master can steal the whole article,
           you, being his steno, should at least learn this much politics. You could have said to me, `Just give
           me two or three quotations so that I can fit them in.' In future don't bother yourself."
               He was a poor man, and where would he find Kabirdas, and something very relevant to me? So I
           used to give quotations to Shrivastava and say, "These are the lines you fit in so Govindadas remains
           happy."
               Why did I want him to remain happy? He was helpful to me in the same way that the boy was
           helpful to me. I was continually out of town without any leave from the university. Govindadas'
           limousine standing in front of my door was enough. The vice-chancellor was afraid of me because
           Govindadas was a powerful man; the vice-chancellor could be immediately transferred, removed --
           just a hint from me was enough. The professors were afraid. They were really puzzled why every
           day Govindadas was hypnotized; he spent three hours with me every day.
               And he started bringing other politicians. He introduced me to every chief minister, every cabinet
           minister in the central government, because they all were his guests in Jabalpur. Jawaharlal used to
           be his guest in Jabalpur. He introduced me to almost all the politicians; I think Maitreya must have
           come to me through Seth Govindadas. He even arranged for a small group of important members to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meet me in parliament house itself. Maitreya certainly must have been there.
               Govindadas was helpful, so I said, "There is no problem. And it does not matter whose name
           goes on the articles. The question reaches to thousands of people. The answer reaches to thousands
           of people. That is important; my name or Govindadas's name, it does not matter. What matters is the
           matter."
               This man remained continuously in contact with me for almost ten years, and when I told him,
           "We are strangers," he said, "What are you saying? We have known each other for ten years."
               I said, "We don't know each other. I know your name, Govindadas; it has been given by your
           father. The doctorate you have received from the university. I know how much value that doctorate
           has, and why you have been given that doctorate -- because it was you who proposed the
           vice-chancellor. Now the vice-chancellor has to pay you back with the doctorate. The
           vice-chancellor is your man, and if he manages to give you a doctorate there is no wonder in it. Your
           D.Litt is absolutely bogus."
               First I used to hear .... He had written almost one hundred dramas. He was in competition with
           George Bernard Shaw because George Bernard Shaw was the great drama writer and he had written
           one hundred dramas. So Seth Govindadas was also a great drama writer of Hindi language -- a
           hundred dramas. And he was not capable of writing a single drama!
               He was not capable of even writing a single speech -- his speeches were written by that poor
           Shrivastava. Govindadas has published one hundred dramas. By and by I came to know those people
           who had written them -- for money -- poor people, poor teachers, professors. So I told Govindadas,
           "I know what your D.Litt is: one hundred dramas, and none is written by you. Now I can say it
           authoritatively, because you go on publishing articles, and now you have published two books
           without even telling me, `I am going to put your answers in these books.' And they are nothing but
           my answers -- there is nothing else."
               So I said to him, "Doctor Govindadas, I also have such a doctor in my village -- Doctor
           Sunderlal. I have given him the doctorate. He has not written one hundred dramas, neither have you.
           Just the way you believe you are a doctor, he believes he is a doctor. And I don't think there is much
           difference of quality in your minds, because seth is a title ..."
               Before he became a doctor he was known all over the country as Seth Govindadas. Seth is a title,
           it comes from an ancient Sanskrit word, shreshth. Shreshth means the superior one; from shreshth it
           became shreshthi and from shreshthi it became seth. In Rajasthani sethi, sethia -- it went on
           changing. But it is a title.
               So when Govindadas became a doctor he started writing "Doctor Seth Govindadas." It was
           Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who told him, "Govindadas, two titles are never written in front of a name.
           Either you write "Seth," then you can write "D.Litt" behind, but if you write "Doctor" in front then
           you cannot write "Seth."
               So he asked me what to do. I said, "There is no problem. You write "Doctor (Seth) Govindadas."
               So he said, "Great!" And that's how later on he did it for the rest of his life: "Doctor (Seth)
           Govindadas." He could not leave out that seth either. And when Jawaharlal saw those brackets, he
           said, "Who has suggested these brackets to you? Can't you leave out that seth, or put it at the end?"
               He said, "I cannot leave it out. It is one of my great friends who has suggested it to me, and he
           cannot be wrong. The brackets are perfectly right."
               Jawaharlal said, "To me there is no problem. You write whatsoever you want, but two titles in
           front simply make you a laughingstock."
               Govindadas again asked me what to do. I said, "You don't be bothered by Jawaharlal; the
           brackets are meaningless. The brackets simply mean "underground": doctor aboveground and seth
           underground -- and you are both. Tell Jawaharlal clearly, `I am both. If people don't write two titles
           in front, the simple reason is they don't have them. There is no other reason; they don't have them. I
           have got two titles so I have to write them.'"
               What is the difference? But so much attachment to names, titles, professions, religions -- and this
           is all your identity. And behind all this brown bag is lost your original face.
               You are asking me how, in our commune, we can save the original face of our children.
           You don't have to do anything directly.
           Anything done directly will be a disturbance.
           You have to learn the art of non-doing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           That is a very difficult art.
                It is not something that you have to do to protect, to save, the original face of the child. Whatever
           you do will distort the original face. You have to learn non-doing; you have to learn to keep away,
           out of the way of the child. You have to be very courageous because it is risky to leave the child to
           himself.
                For thousands of years we have been told, if the child is left to himself he will be a savage.
                That is sheer nonsense. I am siting before you -- do you think I am a savage? And I have lived
           without being interfered with by my parents. Yes, there was much trouble for them and there will be
           much trouble for you too, but it is worth it.
                The original face of the child is so valuable that any trouble is worth it. It is so priceless that
           whatsoever you have to pay for it, it is still cheap; you are getting it without paying anything. And
           the joy on the day you find your child with his original face intact, with the same beauty that he had
           brought into the world, the same innocence, the same clarity, the same joyfulness, cheerfulness, the
           same aliveness .... What more can you expect?
                You cannot give anything to the child, you can only take. If you really want to give a gift to the
           child, this is the only gift possible: don't interfere. Take the risk and let the child go into the
           unknown, into the uncharted. It is difficult. Great fear grips the parents -- who knows what will
           happen to the child?
                Out of this fear they start molding a certain pattern of life for the child. Out of fear they start
           directing him into a particular way, towards a particular goal, but they don't know that because of
           their fear they are killing the child. He will never be blissful. And he will never be grateful to you; he
           will always carry a grudge against you.
                Sigmund Freud has a great insight in this matter: he says, "Every culture respects the father. No
           culture on earth exists, or has ever existed, which has not propounded, propagated the idea that the
           father has to be respected." Sigmund Freud says, "This respect for the father arises because
           sometime back in prehistoric times the father must have been killed by the children just to save
           themselves from being crippled."
                It is a strange idea, but very significant. He is saying that the respect is being paid to the father
           out of guilt, and that guilt has been carried for thousands of years. Somewhere ... it is not a historical
           fact, but a meaningful myth, that young people must have killed their father and then repented --
           naturally, because he was their father; but he was driving them into ways where they were not happy.
                They killed him, but then they repented. Then they started worshipping the spirits of the
           ancestors, fathers, forefathers, out of fear, because the ghosts of those can take revenge. And then
           slowly, slowly, it became a convention to be respectful towards the elders. But why?
           I would like you to be respectful to the children.
                The children deserve all the respect you can manage, because they are so fresh, so innocent, so
           close to godliness. It is time to pay respect to them, not to force them to pay respect to all kinds of
           corrupted people -- cunning, crooked, full of shit -- just because they are old.
                In my commune I would like to reverse the whole thing: respect towards the children because
           they are closer to the source, you are far away. They are still original, you are already a carbon copy.
           And do you understand what it can do if you are respectful to children? Then through love and
           respect you can save them from going in any wrong direction -- not out of fear but out of your
           respect and love.
                My grandfather .... I could speak a lie to anybody -- even if I met God I could speak a lie without
           any trouble -- but I could not speak a lie to my grandfather because he respected me so much. When
           the whole family was against me I could at least depend on the old man. He would not bother about
           all the proofs that were against me. He would say, "I don't care what he has done. If he has done it, it
           must be right. I know him, he cannot do wrong."
                And when he was with me of course the whole family had to shrink back. I would tell him the
           whole thing, and he would say, "There is no need to be worried. Do whatsoever you feel is right,
           because who else can decide? In your situation, in your place, only you can decide. Do whatsoever
           you feel is right, and always remember that I am here to support you, because I not only love you, I
           respect you too."
                His respect towards me was the greatest treasure I could have received. When he was dying I was
           eighty miles away. He informed me that I should come immediately because there was not much
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           time. I came quickly; within two hours I was there.
               It was as if he was just waiting for me. He opened his eyes and he said, "I was just trying to
           continue to breathe so that you could reach me. Just one thing I want to say: I will not be here now to
           support you, and you will need support. But remember, wherever I am, my love and my respect will
           remain with you. Don't be afraid of anybody, don't be afraid of the world."
           Those were his last words:
           "Don't be afraid of the world."
           Respect the children, make them fearless.
               But if you are yourself full of fear, how can you make them fearless?
               Don't force respect on them towards you because you are their father, you are their daddy, their
           mom, this and that.
               Change this attitude and see what transformation respect can bring to your children.
               They will listen to you more carefully if you respect them. They will try to understand you and
           your mind more carefully if you respect them. They have to. And in no way are you imposing
           anything; so if by understanding they feel you are right and they go on that way, they will not lose
           their original face.
               The original face is not lost by going on a certain way. It is lost by children being forced, forced
           against their will.
               Love and respect can sweetly help them to be more understanding about the world, can help
           them to be more alert, aware, careful -- because life is precious, and it is a gift from existence. We
           should not waste it.
               At the moment of death we should be able to say that we are leaving the world better, more
           beautiful, more graceful.
               But this is possible only if we leave this world with our original face, the same face with which
           we have come into it.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                Chapter #7
                     Chapter title: Time is very short but my methods are very quick
           6 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503065
              ShortTitle: DARK07
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 110 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HOW DO YOU INTEND TO RAISE THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ENTIRE PLANET? DO WE
              HAVE ENOUGH TIME? DO WE HAVE A CHANCE?


               I can only answer for myself. I cannot use the word "we."
               That word is used by political leaders and religious priests. I am neither of them. I do not
           represent anybody in the world except myself.
               The politician represents a certain crowd; hence his use of the word "we" has some meaning. He
           is no more than the total sum of the crowd. Withdraw the crowd and the politician disappears into a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           vacuum, into nothingness.
                The same is true about a pope, a shankaracharya, or any other religious leader. The pope is
           simply the sum total of all the Catholics of the world. But remember, he is not a man but only a sum
           total -- a number in arithmetic, but not an individual.
                The individual can never use the word "we," he can only use the word "I" -- and that too with a
           very specific condition. His "I" is not equivalent to the ego. His "I" is not to be written in capital
           letters, his "I" should be written in lower case letters. It is not something extraordinary: he is simple,
           an ordinary human being. I am using the word "i" in the same way. "We" is impossible for me
           because I don't belong to any crowd, any mob.
           My commune is not a crowd.
           It is a communion of individuals.
                Yes, one can misunderstand it as a crowd. From far away you see a forest, but as you come close
           there are only trees, no forest. Exactly that is the case with my commune. Those who never come
           close to it will think of it as a cult, a creed, a certain society. But those who come close will find only
           trees, no forest -- each individual so absolutely unique, alone. The question of "we" does not arise at
           all.
                So when I am saying that I cannot use "we," I am also trying to help you understand that you
           cannot use "we" either. You will have to be very alert.
                And the "I" that you have to be has not to be the "I" of the egoist. The egoist uses "I" in the sense
           that he is superior to you, that you are nothing compared to him. His "I" is big, and his whole effort
           in his whole life in only one: how to make the "I" bigger and bigger, higher and higher, so that it
           becomes an Everest; no other peak can ever come even close to it.
                This is the way Muhammad Ali uses "I" -- Muhammad Ali, the Greatest. This is the way
           Alexander used his "I" -- Alexander the Great. Just Alexander won't do, "the Great" is needed to
           make him stand separate from thousands of other Alexanders.
                I am suggesting to you to use "I" just in a utilitarian way -- not to impose yourself on others, not
           to project yourself as bigger than others, but as an absolutely human necessity. You have to use some
           word. There have been people who have tried not to use the word "I" for the simple reason that it
           may be misunderstood as being used in the same way as everybody uses the "I." Or perhaps they
           were deep down afraid themselves that if they used the word "I" the ego would come following it; it
           would be standing just behind it. Perhaps that is the case.
                I recall one person, one very important Hindu sage of this century, Swami Ramateertha. He has
           been to America; and he was an influence wherever he went; he was a man of charismatic
           personality. He never used the word "I." But that makes no difference at all -- he had to use
           something else. If he was feeling thirsty, instead of saying, "I am thirsty," he would say,
           "Ramateertha is thirsty" ..., "Ramateertha wants to go to sleep."
                New people who had no idea what he was talking about could not understand it. They looked
           here and there and they asked, "Were is Ramateertha who is thirsty?" And then he would have to
           point to himself: "This is Ramateertha who is feeling thirsty." But this seems to be such a stupid
           procedure. Rather than catching your ear directly, you go around the head and make such weird
           gestures, and finally you catch the ear -- nothing special.
                I am a lazy man, I cannot do that. If I have to catch hold of my ear I will catch it directly, rather
           than moving my hand around my head and then catching hold of my ear -- that looks ludicrous. But
           Ramateertha made a great impression by this. People are foolish; if you try to see what things people
           get impressed with you will be surprised. That will show you what kind of humanity exists on the
           earth. They were very much impressed by Ramateertha: "Here is a man who is egoless."
                He was not egoless. There is enough proof in his life to show that he was not egoless. When for
           the first time in India I said that, there was great anger amongst Hindus because they always believed
           that Ramateertha was one of the greatest souls born in this century. He was respected around the
           world, and nobody has said anything against him. But the problem was that the Ramateertha League
           -- it is an international organization, its headquarters are in Lucknow, India -- invited me to speak on
           Ramateertha.
                Now, it was not my fault. I even inquired of them, "Are you sure you want me to speak on
           Ramateertha?" And they were not aware ... because nobody had spoken about him. He was a nice
           man, but to be nice is not enough. I went to speak at their annual conference, a world conference,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and I said, "To me Ramateertha befooled himself and nobody else" -- and I gave the instances from
           his own biography published by the league ... authoritative, approved by Ramateertha himself. I said,
           "I will simply be quoting, there is no need even to interpret. If you are just a little bit intelligent, you
           will see the point."
               Ramateertha toured all over the world and then he came back to India. Everywhere, he was
           received with great honor as a sage from the Himalayas. First he went to Varanasi, the center of
           Hinduism for thousands of years. He was shocked because, naturally, deep down he must have been
           expecting .... The biography says he was shocked because there was no overwhelming reception. The
           same way, just a few days ago the pope was shocked in a Catholic country because there was no
           overwhelming reception.
               But unless you are expecting something, I don't see the possibility of being shocked.
           Ramateertha must have been expecting an overwhelming reception, a welcome -- the welcome that
           is given to a man who has conquered the whole world. He comes back to the citadel of Hinduism,
           and he has been talking about Hinduism around the world, praising Hinduism around the world,
           making Hinduism appear the highest religion in the world. Naturally, it is human -- he must have
           been expecting ....
               But out of eight shankaracharyas, the heads of Hinduism, not a single one was present to receive
           him. Forget about shankaracharyas, because they are the heads, and Ramateertha was still a monk,
           not a head of Hinduism; but there were no other monks either to receive him. A few people had
           come who looked more curious than receptive or welcoming.
               And instead of Ramateertha having a red-carpet welcome, a letter was handed to him from the
           highest Hindu committee of pundits, scholars. The letter said, "Before you speak anywhere else, first
           you have to face the committee, the supreme committee of the scholars of Hinduism, because the
           way you have been talking about Hinduism is not orthodox, it is not traditional." More shocking!
               He was almost court-marshaled. In front of the scholars he had to answer why he said this, why
           he said that. This he had never thought was going to be, but this is how it happened. He had to
           appear before the scholars -- and there is the point that I wanted to make to the conference in
           Lucknow.
               As he was just going to speak, one old Hindu scholar stood up and said, "First tell me, do you
           know Sanskrit?" Unfortunately Ramateertha did not know Sanskrit at all, for the simple reason that
           he was born near Lahore, which is now in Pakistan. In that part even Hindi was not spoken; Urdu, a
           Mohammedan language, was the spoken language. And those who wanted to become great scholars
           of course had to read Persian and Arabic. They had to go to the roots of Urdu; that is, Persian and
           Arabic. Sanskrit has nothing to do with Urdu.
               Mohammedans or Hindus was not the question: the area where Ramateertha was born was
           Urdu-dominated; in schools, in colleges, in universities, Persian and Arabic were the exalted
           languages. So he was a scholar of Persian, Arabic and Urdu, but he had never thought that religion
           had anything to do with language.
               You can be a Hindu without knowing Sanskrit, you can be a great Hindu sage without knowing
           Sanskrit; Sanskrit is not something absolutely necessary. And that was one of the questions those
           scholars were asking him: "While speaking around the world you were not quoting the upanishads,
           the vedas, the shankaracharyas. You were quoting Sufi mystics -- Jalaluddin Rumi, Farid, Sarmad.
           You can befool in the West because people don't know what you are quoting, but these are not
           Hindus, these are not our people."
               The truth is Ramateertha had quoted exactly rightly. It does not matter whom he was quoting,
           what matters is the meaning. He had no knowledge of Sanskrit but he understood. He had read the
           upanishads in Urdu, he had read the vedas in Urdu, and naturally he had the understanding of the
           essential message. And that message was so clearly expressed by Sufi mystics -- Rumi,
           Al-Hillaj-Mansoor, Junnaid, Rabiya Al Adabiya; they have expressed the same thing. Of course their
           language was different. But here he found that he was being treated as a criminal.
               Another scholar stood up and said, "Before you speak in front of us, first go and learn Sanskrit."
           And he was completely shattered. Now, only an ego can be shattered.
               If I was in his place, in the first place I would not have expected any overwhelming reception. If
           they were not throwing stones at me, that would have been enough -- a great reception. If they
           allowed me to enter Varanasi that would have been more than one could hope. And then I would not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           have gone to their scholars to be examined, interrogated. I should have torn up that letter then and
           there, and thrown it on the platform and said to them, "Tell all of them to go to hell! What business
           have I got to do with your scholars? If they want to do anything, they have to come to me.
                "And I have not come here to be certified that I am really a Hindu sage. I myself say that I am
           not a Hindu, neither am I a sage. So what is the problem? How can you shatter me? -- I don't have
           any claim. Can't you even accept me as a human being? If even that is difficult for you, then that is
           your problem, don't accept. But that is not going to shatter me either."
                You are shattered only when you are living in a glass house. Then anybody can throw a stone
           and that's enough. But I am not living in a glass house. The ego is a glass house: it is continuously
           afraid of being shattered. Somebody does not say "Hello" to you on the road, and that's enough. He
           has not done anything, he has not even said "Hello" -- but this man used to say "Hello" every day. It
           pinches, it hurts: "What happened? Have I fallen in his eyes, or what?" He will disturb your sleep
           because he has not said "Hello" to you.
           Expectations always lead to frustrations.
                Expectations are the seeds, and frustration is the crop that sooner or later you will have to reap. It
           is your own doing.
                So I asked the followers of Ramateertha, "What was shattered? If there was no ego there was
           nothing to be shattered. If you throw a stone into empty space, nothing will be shattered, only the
           stone will look silly -- falling with a thud, no obstruction, no joy of destroying something, no
           excitement of shattering something; just falling with a thud on the ground like a fool.
                "A man without an ego is like an empty house. You can throw stones from this side to that side,
           they will go across him without finding any obstruction. Nothing can be shattered."
                So I said, "Note this point, but this is not the whole story. Ramateertha left Varanasi and went to
           the Himalayas. He had a follower and a friend who was a king of Gadhwal in the Himalayas, a small
           state. He went there and told his friend, the king of Gadhwal, `I would like to learn Sanskrit, so
           please arrange for a scholar to teach me Sanskrit.'"
                Now, is this the way of a sage? Who could not say to these fools in Varanasi, "Enlightenment
           does not come through a language. It comes when all languages are left behind. It comes when even
           thinking exists no more. There is no Arabic, no Hebrew, no Greek, no Sanskrit, no Latin. Only then
           that light shines within yourself."
                Yes, when you start communicating of course you will have to use some language. And you will
           use the language which you know best. In Ramateertha's place I would have said, "I will continue to
           use Urdu, Persian, Arabic because those are the languages I know best, and I am not going to follow
           your dictation that I should start learning Sanskrit. For what? to get your recognition? to be certified
           by you that I am really a saint? Does sainthood need anybody's recognition?"
                Who recognized Gautam Buddha, that he is enlightened? Who has recognized anybody in the
           whole world, in the whole of history? In fact it is impossible. The unenlightened people cannot
           recognize or certify an enlightened one; he has to declare himself, there is no other way. Whether
           you believe it or not, that does not matter, and that does not shatter him.
                Nobody may believe it, not even a single human being. Do you think that makes any difference
           to the status of a man of enlightenment? He remains still the same, his enlightenment not even a little
           bit less because you have not recognized him.
           Why did Ramateertha agree to learn Sanskrit?
                And the story is really strange. He started learning Sanskrit -- not only that, he dropped his
           orange robe and started using white clothes. Asked why, he said, "Because if Hindu scholars do not
           recognize me then I am not yet capable of using the traditional robe of a Hindu sannyasin."
                When I decided to give my sannyasins the same robe, it was for one reason -- to destroy this
           whole idea that anybody has a monopoly.
                In India there is an organization of Hindu monks. It has been founded by one of the politicians
           who has been twice prime minister of India, for a few days only. His name is Guljarilal Nanda.
           Whenever a prime minister dies this man is put as acting prime minister. Before the second one
           comes, for a few days, a few weeks, he remains a prime minister. He has no support but he is a
           person who can be relied on not to create any trouble. And he is not even courageous enough to
           create any trouble -- he is a weakling.
                Sometimes your weakness proves of great help. When Jawaharlal died, Morarji was hoping to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           become immediately the acting prime minister, but he was not chosen because he is, although very
           mediocre, also very stubborn. If once he becomes acting prime minister then it will be difficult to
           recall him, to tell him to get down. He will not get down so easily once he gets up.
               Some weakling has to be chosen for the interim period so you put him up like a puppet; and
           when you want him down, he comes down. The same man did it twice: when Jawaharlal died he
           became the prime minister, and when Lal Bahadur Shastri died he became the prime minister. Both
           times Morarji was hoping, and both times he was denied, because everybody was afraid that once he
           got up, he would not come down.
               But this man was cowardly, weak; hence, naturally, he could not manage to be a great political
           force. Guljarilal Nanda turned towards religion. Many weaklings turn towards religion, many
           cowardly people turn towards religion, because here you don't need much guts. He founded an
           organization of Hindu monks; he was the president of the organization.
               When I started initiating people into sannyas, he told me, "You are creating trouble."
           I said, "What trouble?"
               He said, "You are giving them the same robe. Now it is going to be a very confusing thing: who
           is who?"
               I said, "That is what I want to do. And I am going to fill your whole organization with my
           sannyasins, you cannot prevent it. And soon you will see, my sannyasins will be the president, the
           secretaries, in your organization."
               They became freaked out so much! I was just joking -- I was not interested; who bothers about
           these idiots and their organizations? They became so freaked out they immediately made a resolution
           that anybody wearing my mala should not be allowed in the organization as a member -- "He is not
           really a Hindu sannyasin."
               I said, "That's true, he is not. He is neither a Hindu sannyasin nor a Mohammedan sannyasin, nor
           a Christian sannyasin. He is just himself. The orange robe I have chosen is just to destroy this
           monopolistic idea."
               But Ramateertha was subdued so much by those mere intellectuals that he dropped his orange
           robe. These are all ways of the ego. Now he would learn Sanskrit; he would prove to himself that he
           was a scholar in Sanskrit too -- and with grace and honor he would receive the robe from them.
               These are the ways of the ego. Who are they? On what authority ...? Just because they are
           crammed with rotten knowledge? So I said to his followers, "To me his saying that `Ramateertha is
           hungry' rather than saying, `I am hungry' does not change his ego; it simply makes it more
           complicated. And the greatest problem is, he may be deceived by it. If others are deceived, that is not
           much of a trouble; he himself may be deceived. He may himself start thinking that he has dropped
           the ego because now he never uses the word `I'."
               So the question is not of using the word. The question is of understanding how you are using it.
           Use it as a utility, don't make it a psychological trip.
               Now you are asking me -- how are we going to raise the consciousness of the world? Why should
           we raise the consciousness of the world? Are you nuts or something? Can't you let the world alone?
           You just raise your consciousness.
               No, but this is how the world is. Nobody is interested in raising his own consciousness.
           Everybody is interested in raising the world's consciousness -- that seems to be easier, more fun. To
           raise one's own consciousness is arduous. To raise the consciousness of the world is just fun, no
           problem to you. Whether it is raised or not, you are not losing anything.
               Yes, by trying to raise it suddenly you become a great sage, you become a great religious leader,
           you become world famous. You are raising the consciousness of the world -- as if consciousness is
           just lying down there asleep and you just have to wake it up. Just pour cold water over it and
           consciousness rises up and says, "What is the matter? Who is troubling me?"
               It is not so easy. Consciousness is not there in any collective sense, there is no world
           consciousness. There are only trees, no forest. Forest is only a word -- convenient, useful, but
           non-existential. If you go in search of a forest you will never find it. Standing in the middle of it still
           you will not find it. What you will find always is an individual tree, and of course an individual tree
           is not the forest.
               This consciousness of the world, consciousness of humanity, is just a word. Don't fall into
           linguistic games.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Remember one thing:
           Consciousness is always individual.
               There is no way for consciousness to become collective. It is always "I," it is never "we."
               Why this concern? And this is not only your concern -- millions of people around the world are
           concerned with raising the consciousness of the world. And not only now; as far back as you can
           find any records they have been concerned with raising human consciousness, humanity, making the
           world divine, sacred. And the same problems ....
               In Mesopotamia -- where one of the oldest civilizations existed once and is no longer in
           existence, but ruins are there -- a pillar has been found which is six thousand years old at least. That
           is the minimum, it cannot be more recent than that; it can be twelve thousand years old, but six
           thousand is the bottom line. With all the scientific observations they have concluded that it is at least
           six thousand years old, more perhaps.
               What does it say? The pillar says: "Man has fallen to such a rotten state that we have to teach
           humanity again to become human. Sons are no longer listening to their fathers" -- there is a
           generation gap -- "wives are no longer faithful to their husbands. Husbands are doing all kinds of
           things, which make them disrespected and fathers are not fulfilling their duties." The whole pillar
           seems as if it is in some newspaper, just today's editorial.
               In India the RIG VEDA is the oldest book. According to the Hindu scholar Lokmanya Tilak, a
           great scholar, it is ninety thousand years old. He has immense proof and evidence, and as yet he has
           not been challenged. It is almost sixty years or more since he proved that it is ninety thousand years
           old. In these sixty years nobody has been able to disprove his evidence; it is now either forgotten or
           accepted.
               Whatsoever the case, the RIG VEDA is certainly the most ancient book in existence -- but it
           raises the same problems that you face today, the same questions: Is it possible to change man's
           nature? Is there time enough? Ninety thousand years before, they were worried: Is there time
           enough? And the time has not proved enough, that's certainly true, because the problems are still the
           same -- perhaps worse.
               You are asking me the same questions but I am a different kind of man, a little bit eccentric ...
           otherwise, if you had asked the question to any mahatma, any great religious personality, he would
           have answered, "Yes, we can raise humanity's consciousness. Of course time is very short but my
           methods are very quick too."
               That's what Maharishi Mahesh Yogi goes on telling people. Time is short, according to all the
           prophecies, all the astrologers; as this century closes there is every possibility that the earth will be
           finished. Time is really short. It is 1985 -- only fifteen years more. Ninety thousand years have not
           proved enough. Fifteen years! But Maharishi Mahesh Yogi goes around the earth with jet speed. Of
           course he has to use the jet speed -- time is short!
               But he says his method is quick: just ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening
           you do transcendental meditation. And what is transcendental meditation? You repeat one word that
           is given to you. Of course you have to pay a fee for it, two hundred and fifty dollars. And what does
           he give? He asks you, "Are you a Christian?" You say, "Yes."
               He says, "Catholic? Protestant?" -- just to figure out who you are so he can give you a mantra
           suitable to your religion.
               If you say, "I am a Catholic," he will say, "That's very good. You start the mantra, `Ave Maria.'
           Repeat continuously: Ave Maria, Ave Maria, Ave Maria, anywhere, in any posture, just for ten
           minutes. Between two Ave Marias don't leave any gap, go as fast as you can." One Ave Maria
           almost entering another Ave Maria, just as when sometimes there is an accident of a railway train,
           and compartments go over other compartments, and inside other compartments. All the buffers are
           broken and the train is for the first time in a real unity.
               This is a very traditional method in India. It is nothing new, and it is used by everybody; in every
           village you can get it, very cheap .... If you are very rich then the price is eleven rupees, which is less
           than one dollar. If you are poor it can be reduced; for the very poor, a coconut.
               And, in India, there are two types of coconuts -- coconuts which people eat, and coconuts which
           people use religiously. They offer it to gods, to temples, to gurus. Those coconuts for centuries have
           the same price, their price has not changed. For one rupee you can get three -- because they are the
           same coconuts! For centuries ....
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               In my village, just in front of my house there was a temple of Krishna, and by the side of the
           temple, a coconut shop. A coconut shop is always very close. If you find a temple, you can believe
           without any trouble that within a five-minute radius there must be a coconut shop; mostly it is just by
           the side of the temple.
               You go on offering to the god, and the same coconuts go on getting back to the side shop. So the
           price remains the same because ... and they are all rotten. The coconut shell is so hard that what is
           inside nobody knows. These are religious coconuts. Nobody will purchase coconuts from a religious
           coconut shop for eating, or for anything, because inside you will find nothing. Their function is just
           to move from the shop to the temple, and from the back door again to the shop. In the morning they
           are again for sale -- and this round goes on and on.
               And the coconut is a strange fruit. You can work with it for centuries. Its consciousness remains
           the same, no change. In India it is so cheap -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi may not have been able to
           raise the consciousness of the people but he has raised the price of transcendental meditation from
           one coconut to two hundred and fifty dollars. I don't know how many coconuts that will be ...
           because for one rupee you can get three coconuts -- religious coconuts, don't forget that. For one
           rupee, three religious coconuts; for one dollar you can have at least sixty religious coconuts; for two
           hundred and fifty dollars ... now you can work it out.
               And now he is not only trying to raise the consciousness of people. He has been doing that for
           almost thirty years, and now people are fed up because nothing is raised. Simply their pocket
           becomes lighter, and nothing is raised. They are getting fed up. And how long can you cheat people?
               So now these people have to go on inventing something new. His new thing is even more idiotic:
           now he is trying to levitate people. First he was trying to levitate their consciousness, now he is
           trying to levitate people. The fees have also gone higher -- of course, because he is raising your body
           too. Now he says he has found the secret. Joined with transcendental meditation your body will rise,
           float in the air; your head will touch the roof. And there are fools in the world who are ready to pay
           for this kind of nonsense.
               Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has been asked again and again, "Give a public demonstration, at least
           one person." That he is not doing, because it is such a secret thing that you cannot do it in public. It
           can be done only in private. But strangely, if it is done only in privacy, how are the photographs
           appearing in his magazines? At least the photographers must be there. It is public; the person is not
           isolated.
               The whole thing is, it is a simple photographic trick. It is not much of a thing; any person who
           understands a little photography can manage it. He just has to mix two negatives; in one negative
           you are sitting on the floor, and in the other negative it has to be managed that you are touching the
           roof. You can be put on a tall stool, with the same mattress on which you were sitting on the floor, in
           the same room. And there is no problem -- you just have to arrange these two photographs together
           to show that this man's body has levitated.
               Time is short, and people are trying to levitate bodies. For what purpose? Even if, for argument's
           sake, we accept that people can learn to levitate their bodies, and their heads start touching their
           roofs, how is it going to make humanity better?
               If just touching the roof with your head is the thing, then simpler methods can be used. Just make
           a tall stool -- ask Asheesh; he can make you a beautiful tall stool so your head touches the roof. A
           stool can be adjustable, so if you are short or tall the stool can be adjusted. You can adjust it
           yourself, so your head touches the roof. If that makes you a superman, then why bother about
           meditation and such long procedures? Time is very short.
               But I am not interested either in raising people's consciousness, or in raising their bodies. In fact
           for decades I have not been interested in doing anything for the world, for humanity, because to me
           these are bogus words. I am interested only in a few chosen people.
               The whole mass of humanity -- whether it lives or disappears makes no difference.
               I may look hard to you, but I am simply being factual. Just look at the past. Millions of people
           have lived and died -- what does it matter? Where does it lead? Millions of people are living today --
           in what way are they enriching life? Just breathing, just vegetating; is that enough?
               Just today I have received a news item: in Miami, a man's situation has become really terrible.
           He had a brain cancer, and to remove that cancer they had to use, for the first time, some poison
           without which it was not removable. That poison entered into his brain by mistake. The cancer was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           removed but the poison entered into his brain and killed his brain. Now the man is alive, the brain is
           dead. He can live for years, there is no problem; you just have to take care of him. His brain is
           completely dead, so everything that his brain was doing, you will have to do. And it was your
           mistake.
                But the doctor can also not be condemned. That poison was used for the first time, so there is no
           way to say that he used it wrongly because there is no precedent. He tried his best -- just an unlucky
           man.
                Now, between this man, I thought as I was reading the news, and the millions of masses, is there
           any difference? That was the question that came to me. Their brains are not dead, but their souls are
           dead -- which is far worse. And nobody else is responsible -- they themselves are responsible.
           They are living, but do you call it life?
           What is the point of their living?
                What have they found out about it, what have they experienced?
           Where have they arrived?
           If they were not born, would you have missed them?
                If they were not here, would existence be poorer because of that?
                All these considerations have to be looked into before you start raising the consciousness of the
           world.
                The greater masses of the world are not interested in consciousness.
           They are more interested in unconsciousness.
                You will be surprised because you may not have heard them saying that they are interested in
           unconsciousness, but you can see them drinking alcohol -- all kinds of narcotics are being used, all
           kinds of drugs are being used. And there are other kinds of unconsciousnesses which are not
           produced by chemical drugs.
                For example, in a movie, for three hours, for what are you searching? You are searching for three
           hours of unconsciousness. For three hours you become so involved in any idiotic story. And they
           have been almost the same for centuries: just two men, one woman; two women, one man. There are
           only two stories. I tried to find a third story -- I have not succeeded. If any of you succeeds, please
           inform me, help me, because I have found only two stories. And there is not much difference in those
           stories: two women, one man; or two men, one woman. It is really one story. Only three persons are
           needed; put them in all kinds of situations, create all different details, but the story remains the same.
                But it is helpful -- you get involved in it. Millions of people seeing sports, millions of people
           participating in political rallies, shouting slogans, screaming ....
                I used to know one man in Jabalpur. I liked that man, I was really impressed by him: he was
           something unique .... For one year I was living in a bungalow which was facing six roads, so all
           kinds of processions were passing by there. And it was near the high court, the collector's office, the
           commissioner's office. They were all just within a half-mile radius.
                So every kind of procession -- protests, either going to the chief justice, or going to the
           commissioner, or going to the collector .... I used to enjoy seeing them. The most exciting thing for
           me was one who was always in every protest, whether it was the communist party, socialist party,
           congress party, president's party -- any party. And in India there are all kinds of parties.
                Whether it was a religious protest -- Christians protesting that something was being done against
           their religion, or Mohammedans, Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists -- he was always, inevitably there. I
           could not believe it. That man was something! One day I caught hold of him and I said, "You have to
           come inside with me."
                He said, "Right now I cannot come, I am going in the protest."
                I said, "You can go later on -- I will send you, I will drive you. But for five minutes you just
           come in -- because now it is too much, I cannot bear it any more."
                He said, "But what is the problem? What have I done to you?"
                I said, "You have not done anything to me; I just want to know to which party you belong."
                He laughed. He said, "As far as parties are concerned, I am a member of all the parties."
           I said, "But ...?"
                He said, "You will not understand, nobody understands. I enjoy shouting, screaming. Now, who
           is screaming against whom, that is not material. I simply enjoy -- I shout, jump, have a flag. I don't
           care whose flag, I don't have any flag of my own. And I am not interested in what they are
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           demanding, whether they get it or not, but I enjoy it."
                Now this man has no political interest, no religious interest. What his interest is, is in finding
           unconsciousness in shouting, screaming, getting involved in something in which he has no
           ideological interest. But he has psychological involvement, he forgets himself. For the two, three
           hours that the protest continues, he forgets himself. Now, how can he miss if some other party is
           protesting? His psychological interest is the same.
                He said, "It is not very costly." In India you can become a member for one fourth of a rupee; that
           is a one-year membership. And that too you don't have to pay, somebody will pay for you, you have
           just to vote for him.
                So I asked him, "So many parties, so many religions and you must be paying so much money ...."
                He said, "No, they pay it. And those idiots don't even ask, `Are you a member of any other
           party?' I have not yet been asked, so I have not yet been forced to lie. Nobody asks me. I say, `I want
           to become a member of your party.' They say, `Very good, you just become a member of the party,
           fill in the form.' I have filled in all the forms of all the parties. I go to all religious prayers, religious
           meetings. I believe in the unity of all."
           I said, "That's very good."
                But he was really getting juice. You try protesting, shouting, and soon you get involved in it.
           Your thinking disappears, your past, your present, disappear. You are suddenly herenow -- but not in
           a conscious way -- through an unconscious trick. You can do it by alcohol, you can do it by politics,
           you can do it by religion. You can do it in a church, you can do it in a movie house. You can do it in
           a thousand and one ways, and people are using all kinds of ways.
           People are not interested in consciousness.
                Consciousness is painful, because you will have to drop so much which you have carried your
           whole life thinking it very valuable.
                You will have to uncover your wounds which you have covered and completely forgotten.
                You will have to revive all worries and anguishes that somehow you have repressed.
                You will have to face again your original face which you have lost far back. You have become
           somebody else. You have been somebody else so long, that now to face your original face is going to
           shatter you completely.
           To be conscious not a game.
           To be conscious is to go through a deep surgery.
                And the problem is, you are the surgeon, and you are the patient.
                Just think of some surgeon doing surgery on himself. I had one surgeon friend -- and it was not
           much of a problem .... A certain disease, a very strange disease, started happening to me every year.
           First, one of my fingers started being painful in the first joint -- immense pain. Sleep was not
           possible; no sleeping medicine would help, the pain was so shooting sharp. It continued for
           twenty-one days.
                I asked my surgeon friend about it. He said, "This is a troublesome thing, but for one year there
           is no problem. Next year the second finger will be affected, and for twenty-one days at the utmost.
           But for ten years you will have to suffer; each year one finger will be affected."
                I said, "I don't want that kind of business for ten years. Who knows? -- if I die tomorrow then my
           nine fingers .... No, I cannot leave them just like that. You have to do something."
                He said, "There is no medicine for it -- only surgery can be done. I will have to cut the bone --
           which has grown a little -- on the joint. That's how this whole thing is happening."
                So I said, "There is no problem, you can cut it. But I can't wait for ten years."
                He prepared everything, but I was so close to him that at the final time he had a nervous
           breakdown. He said, "I cannot do it; on you I cannot do it -- I cannot cut your finger. I will call
           another surgeon. I have kept him ready in case, because I knew it from the very beginning -- last
           night I could not sleep, just the idea of cutting your finger ...."
                I said, "What nonsense. My finger, anybody's finger -- you should be able to cut your own finger
           too if the time comes. If there is no surgeon available, you should be able to cut your own finger."
                He said, "I can cut my own finger, but I cannot cut your finger, because then I will repent my
           whole life that I did that nasty thing to you. No, I will not do it."
                He simply freaked out; the other surgeon did it. That day I understood how difficult it must be to
           be the patient on the table and also the surgeon by the side -- the same person cutting his own
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           deepest layers of being.
           Consciousness is self-surgery.
               And don't ask me how can we raise ...? Nobody can do it for somebody else; you can only do it
           for yourself.
               This is the fundamental of spiritual surgery: you can only be successful on yourself.
               Howsoever painful it is ... but there is no other way. Yes, it pays tremendously if you can pass
           through the test.
               If you can pass through the pain, if you can pass through all the misery, the suffering that you
           have repressed will rise again. It is like entering a house which nobody has entered for years. You
           will raise so much dust -- and that dust is not simple dust, it covers your wounds. It has helped you to
           forget yourself. It has made you unconscious of yourself. It is not like taking off your clothes, it is
           more like peeling off your skin.
               But once you succeed, then all the pain seems to be just nothing, because the bliss that descends
           on you is incomparable; the pain that you suffered looks so tiny and so meaningless. But that is in
           the end.
               Gautam the Buddha used to say, "My path in the beginning is tremendous pain; in the end,
           tremendous blissfulness. But patience is needed."
               I told you, in this surgery you are the patient and you are the surgeon both. Remember the
           English word "patient" comes from "patience." It is significant. Why is the sick person called a
           "patient?" He has to be patient, he has to wait. But when you are the patient yourself and also the
           surgeon, the difficulty is multiplied. But still it is nothing compared to the bliss.
               All that you can do is to pass through this suffering, to pass through this dark night of the soul.
           Reach to the dawn of your being.
           Blossom. Let your blissfulness explode.
               Perhaps somebody's sleeping soul may be triggered. Somebody's sleeping consciousness may
           have a shock and wake up.
               But these are only "perhaps." One cannot be certain in these matters. The matters are so subtle
           you cannot be certain.
           Hope for the best.
           And wait for the worst.
           And time certainly is short.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                               Chapter #8
                   Chapter title: Agony is missing yourself, ecstasy is finding yourself
           7 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503075
              ShortTitle: DARK08
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 104 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS AGONY AND WHAT IS ECSTASY?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The same. They are not opposites as they are understood to be. They are complementaries,
           intrinsic parts of one organic whole. Neither can exist without the other.
                It will be a little difficult to understand because they have always been thought to be polar
           opposites. They are polar opposites, seen from the outside. But all polar opposites are joined
           together from the inside. The negative or positive poles of electricity, the body and soul -- from the
           outside they are not only different but antagonistic. From the inside they are two aspects of one
           phenomenon.
           Let us first try to understand their meaning.
           What is agony?
           It is not ordinary suffering, misery, pain.
                All these are very superficial things, just like ripples on the surface of a pond. They don't have
           any depth. You have known many pains, many miseries, many moments of suffering, and you know
           perfectly well they come and go. They don't even leave a trace behind them, they don't leave scars
           behind.
                Yes, while they are there you feel that you are engulfed completely in pain. But when it is gone
           you know perfectly well that that was only a momentary emotional, sentimental, non-intelligent
           understanding of the thing. When you were in the cloud, yes, you were engulfed. But the cloud is
           gone with the wind and you are out of it, and now you know exactly that even in the cloud you were
           out of it, you were not it.
                Note this difference, because that is the fundamental difference.
           Agony is not separate from you, it is you.
                Pain, suffering, misery, they are all separate from you; hence, momentarily they come and go.
           They have causes; when the causes are removed they disappear. Mostly they are your creations.
                You hope for something, and then it does not materialize: great frustration comes in. You feel
           pain, hopelessness, as if you have been rejected by existence. Nothing of the sort has happened -- it
           is all due to your expectation. The bigger the expectation, the bigger is going to be the frustration.
                It is within your hands to be frustrated in life or not. Just your expectations should become
           smaller, smaller, smaller, and in the same proportion the frustration will become smaller. A day will
           come when there will be no expectation; then you will never come across any frustration.
                You think, you imagine, some moments of pleasure -- and they don't materialize, because
           existence has no obligation to materialize your imaginations. It has never given you any promise that
           whatever you think is going to happen. You have taken it for granted without any enquiry, as if the
           whole existence owes you something.
           You owe everything to existence.
           Existence owes you nothing.
                So if you are running to catch shadows, you cannot catch them -- it is not in the nature of things.
           Then there is pain, because you were so much absorbed in running after the shadows that you were
           feeling a kind of fulfillment. A goal was there; although not in your hands but far away, still it was
           there. And it was only a question of time, a little more effort. Be a little more American: try and try
           and try again -- and sooner or later existence is going to yield.
                Existence does not care who you are, American or Russian. It never yields to anybody -- it
           simply goes in its own way. By making an effort to fulfill your desires, to force nature, existence, to
           come behind you, you are creating causes of pain, suffering.
           The moment you understand, you drop these causes.
                And the dropping of the causes is the disappearance of all your misery.
           It was your projection.
                There is a Sufi story about a very cunning fox .... All foxes are cunning, but there are politician
           foxes too. This happened to be a politician fox, very cunning. One day she woke up, and finding
           herself very hungry, came out of her cave in search of some breakfast. The sun was rising, and she
           saw her shadow so long she could not believe it. She said, "My God! I am that big? Now where am I
           going to get my breakfast? I will need at least one camel; less than that won't do. My shadow is so
           big, naturally I must be as big." It is logical, perfectly Aristotelian. You cannot say she is wrong.
                You also know yourself only in the mirror -- there is no other way. Have you known yourself in
           any other way except through a shadow?
                So don't laugh at the poor fox. How can she conceive that a small thing can make such a big
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           shadow? It is very natural to conclude that if the shadow is so big, you must be as big.
               And when it comes to feeling oneself big, who wants to argue against it? When anything gives
           you the sense of bigness, you don't want to go into details to find whether it is true or wrong,
           whether it is logically right, scientifically provable. No, your whole being is so enchanted ....
               The fox really felt that big. You could see -- her walk changed. But where can she find a camel
           for her breakfast? And even if she can find a camel, it is going to be absolutely pointless; she cannot
           make a breakfast out of a camel. She searches, she finds many small animals which would have been
           enough any other day, but today is different. She does not bother about all those small creatures.
           They will be lost just in her teeth. She needs a camel, an elephant or something big.
               But she finds nothing big. The sun goes on rising higher and higher, and she goes on becoming
           hungrier and hungrier. When the sun is just exactly above her head she looks again at her shadow: it
           has shrunken so small it is just underneath her. She says, "My God! Hunger does things to people.
           Just one morning I have missed breakfast and look what has happened to my poor self! In the
           morning I was so big; only half a day has passed and this is my situation. Now even if I can get any
           small creature, that may be too much, I may not be able to digest it."
           This Sufi story is significant. It is our story.
           This is our agony:
               We are trying to become something which is not in the nature of things. We are not allowing
           nature to take its course; that is our agony.
               When I was leaving my parents to go to the hostel in the university, they were persistently
           asking, "What do you want to become?" And I was telling them, "That question is utter nonsense.
           How do I know what I am going to become? Only time will show."
               They could not understand me. They said, "Look at all your friends: somebody is going to
           become a doctor, somebody is going to become an engineer, somebody is going to be become this,
           somebody is going to become that. You are the only person who is going to the university without
           any idea of what you want to become."
               I said, "Becoming is not my number. I want to let things take their course. I would love to find
           what nature makes of me, but I don't have any program of my own. To have a program of my own
           means suffering. That means I am trying to impose something on nature and it is going to fail."
               Man has been failing for thousands of years for the simple reason that he wants to conquer
           nature.
               Someone has even written a book, CONQUEST OF NATURE. Nature cannot be conquered. Just
           look at the foolishness of the idea. You are part of nature, such a small, tiny part of such an infinite
           nature. And the part is trying to conquer the whole -- as if your little finger is trying to conquer you.
           How can you conquer nature?
           Nature is your very soul.
           Who is going to conquer whom?
           Where is the separation?
               I told my parents, "Please let me go. I am not going to project anything for my future. I want to
           keep it open so if nature desires anything of me, I am available. If nothing is desired of me that too is
           perfectly good. Who am I to expect that something should be desired of me? One day I was not, one
           day I will not be. Just a few days in between -- why make much fuss about it? Can't you pass silently
           across this little interval between birth and death without making noise, raising flags, and shouting
           slogans? Can't you simply pass?"
               But they said, "This is not the way. Everybody has to have an ideal; otherwise he will be lost."
               I said, "I would love to be lost but remain true to nature, to existence, rather than achieve a great
           ideal against nature, against existence. In the first place, in which you say I will be lost, I will be
           blissfully lost. In the second place, in which you think I would have achieved something, I will be
           nothing but pain, suffering, and finally agony."
           Agony is the deepest in you.
           And it happens only to man.
               All other animals are free of agony -- but they are also free of ecstasy. Agony and ecstasy happen
           together; otherwise they don't happen at all.
               Have you seen any animal in ecstasy or in agony? a buffalo in agony? Just to think of it seems to
           be absurd. A buffalo in agony? For what reason should the buffalo be in agony? The buffalo never
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           tried to become the queen of England -- why should it be in agony? It simply allowed nature to make
           her whatsoever was the will of existence. Yes, it will never know ecstasy either because both happen
           at the same depth.
           Agony happens if you go on missing your self.
           Ecstasy happens if you happen to find yourself.
           Missing yourself or finding yourself:
           Both happen at the same depth of your being.
                Missing yourself means that you have been trying to become something, somebody. You have an
           idea, and you are trying to fulfill that idea in your life.
           All idealists live in agony.
                It is not only the existentialist philosophers who are in agony. Of course they have brought the
           word to great prominence for the simple reason that
                this century has come as far away from nature and existence as possible: one step more and
           humanity disappears. This was the longest distance possible -- we have traveled it.
                We have come as far away from ourselves as possible.
                That's why in this century a philosophy like existentialism became possible.
                I showed one of the histories of existentialism to one of my old professors who must have
           studied thirty, forty, years before. At that time the word "existentialism" was not even coined. Sartre,
           Jaspers, Marcel, were yet to be. He looked at the content and he could not believe it.
                He said, "Is this a book on philosophy? No chapter on God, no chapter on the proofs for God, no
           chapter on religion, no chapter on the soul of man, no chapter on beyond death, heaven, hell. A
           strange history -- chapters on agony, meaninglessness, anguish, anxiety. These are philosophical
           subjects?"
                I said, "You have missed forty years. You have completely forgotten that forty years have passed
           since you were in the university studying philosophy, and after that you have never bothered about
           what has been happening to philosophy. You are still remembering Aristotle, Kant, Hegel,
           Feuerbach, Shankara, Nagarjuna, Bradley. You are still remembering these people who have really
           faded out; they are simply no longer in. And any philosopher worth the name today is not interested
           in God -- he is interested in man. And to be interested in man brings all these problems, agony ...."
           He said, "But what is agony?"
                I had to use his language, something from the past history of philosophy so that he could have a
           little insight into agony. In the past there has been a great philosophical question down the ages. The
           question was: between animals, trees, rocks, and man, what is the difference? Certainly they all
           exist; as far as existence is concerned there is no difference. Certainly they all live -- even rocks
           grow.
                The Himalayas are growing every year, one foot higher. The place where I was born was by the
           side of a mountain range called Vindhyachal. It is thought to be the ancientmost mountain in the
           world. It is almost a proved fact that Vindhyachal and the land around it came out of the sea first,
           because on Vindhyachal corpses of sea animals have been found which are the most ancient. On the
           Himalayas also they have been found but they are not so ancient. The Himalayas are the youngest
           mountains in the world, and Vindhyachal is the oldest mountain in the world.
                Just by the way, I am reminded of the story about Vindhyachal in the UPANISHADS. One great
           seer, Agastya, went to south India, and had to cross Vindhyachal.
                Vindhyachal was so high it was difficult for the seer, so he prayed to Vindhychal, "Be kind
           enough to just bend down a little and let me pass. And remain bending till I come back, because I
           will have to pass again." Agastya died in the south and never came back, but Vindhyachal is still
           bending. If you see the mountain you can see, it is as if an old man is bending.
                The story is beautiful, but it shows that Vindhyachal is really old, an old man who cannot even
           stand straight. Mountains grow old or young; they are as alive as you are. Trees, animals, birds -- as
           far as life is concerned we may have different kinds of life but we all have a certain quality called
           living, aliveness, which is similar.
                So in ancient philosophy this has been a problem: Then what is the difference? Is there no
           difference? There have been two schools. One said there is no difference; we are all alike, we are
           part of one single whole -- different dimensions, different branches, but we are all rooted in one
           existence. These are the spiritualists who say that we are all one.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The other school is that of the materialists, who say that we are all separate, there is no organic
           unity anywhere; existence is not one. According to the materialists, the word "universe" should not
           be used. The word "universe" was invented by the spiritualists because it means "uni," one.
           According to the materialists the right word should be "multiverse" -- many, not one. Everything is
           separate, and there is no unity anywhere.
                And how does this whole go on? -- and in a such a tremendous harmony? This is where you will
           see how logic can be fallacious.
                The spiritualist says there is harmony because it is ruled by one God, or one universal
           consciousness. One absolute being, one center, controls everything. That's why nothing goes wrong.
           Everything moves in an absolute harmony. And the universe is vast, it is immense, immeasurable;
           still, everything goes on without any disturbance, without any discrepancy. The logic seems to be
           solid, but it is not so.
                The same logic the materialist uses. He says it goes on in such a harmonious way because there
           is nobody who is controlling it. Whenever there is somebody who is controlling everything, there is
           a possibility of failure, mistakes, errors. Nobody is infallible.
                If there were one God controlling everything for millions of years sometimes He might fall
           asleep, sometimes just for a change He might go for a morning walk. If it is being controlled by one
           being then there is every possibility of a mistake. And during such a long period can you think that a
           person will not commit any mistake? Just by mistake he may commit a mistake. And there are so
           many things to be arranged and looked after -- just look ....
                Just the other day Vivek was saying to me -- seeing a peacock with its feathers open, so colorful,
           she said, "God must be taking so much care to paint them."
                If God were really to paint all the peacocks of the world then you can be certain there would
           bound to be a thousand and one mistakes. Howsoever infallible God is He cannot manage to go on
           painting year by year millions and millions of peacocks. And not only peacocks, there are other
           birds, and every detail has to be looked into.
                The materialists say that the world goes on perfectly because there is no manager, so who can
           commit a mistake? It is mechanical.
                The same logic: the spiritualist tries to prove God, the materialist tries to prove, using the same
           logic -- this harmony, this continuity -- that there is no manager, that it is all mechanical. Only
           machines are not able to commit mistakes -- either they work, or they fail. While the machine is
           working, it will be working the way it has been working forever, reproducing again and again, again
           and again, the same kinds of peacock feathers. It is not a work of consciousness.
                A conscious mind would try to improve, would like to change a little bit -- once in a while to put
           a little more red, a little more green, a little more blue ... a little different blue, because there are so
           many kinds of blues and so many kinds of greens. Once in a while he would put the head of one bird
           on another bird. One gets bored, putting on the same kind of head again and again, the same red nose
           again and again; just for a change, one would change to yellow, green, blue. But nothing like that
           happens.
                The materialist says it is mechanical, it is a vast mechanism that goes on reproducing without any
           mind. While it produces, it will be producing the same. Yes, one day every machine fails, but you
           will not be there to know it. Once the machine fails, you fail too, so there will be nobody as a
           witness of the failure.
                I told the old professor -- his name was Professor Dasgupta -- "Through this argument I can help
           you to have some insight into agony. The existentialist says there is a difference between animals
           and man. For the first time a certain group of thinkers has pointed to a difference which really makes
           a difference. They say, two sentences will have to be understood. One is: Existence precedes
           essence. And the other is: Essence precedes existence.
                "In animals essence precedes existence. Essence means whatsoever they are going to be; the
           whole program comes first, before their birth. Before they exist the blueprint is there; they bring
           their blueprint with themselves, it is ahead of them. Their existence follows the essence."
                Essence means the program, the blueprint of what they are going to be, how many lives they are
           going to live, how many children they will have, what colors they will change to according to
           seasons -- everything. So much so that there are birds who come flying from the North Pole, three
           thousand miles down, because it becomes too cold there, and to exist is impossible.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                They have to ... they start exactly on the same date every year. They don't have any calendar,
           they don't know that the season is going to change, but on the exact date, day, time, millions of birds
           immediately start moving towards the south. They will stop only when they have passed the
           three-thousand-mile radius, because within three thousand miles they will not be able to survive,
           they need a little warmer place.
                But the strangest thing that has puzzled the scientists is that while they are away from their arctic
           home, the season for reproduction comes. So they mate, they make love, they find boyfriends,
           girlfriends. It takes time for the girls to become pregnant and then lay the eggs. By the time they lay
           the eggs, the warm season is finished. Now the arctic is ready to receive them back. So they leave
           the eggs and fly back to the arctic exactly on the same date as their forefathers and their forefathers
           have always done.
                Those eggs hatch in their time, and the birds come out and start flying towards the arctic; three
           thousand miles in the exact direction they fly back to their world. Strange, absolutely miraculous,
           because nobody is there to tell them where .... "Your parents have gone. You don't have a map, and
           the arctic is far away -- three thousand miles -- and you are a little bird just out of the egg." Such a
           long journey with no preparation ... but they manage, they reach. And this happens year after year.
                This is the meaning of essence coming first, existence following. They don't know what they are
           doing. It is some inner impulse, some urge that takes those birds far away. Flying three thousand
           miles without fail they reach their parents who had left them in the eggs without even telling them,
           "We are going, so when you get out, please come back home. Don't forget us, we will be waiting
           there," or giving them any indication of direction, nothing -- no message has been left. At least they
           could have left one old guy and said, "When all these kids come out you take them home." Nobody
           is left, no message is left, no contact exists between them -- but they reach.
                There are fishes from the arctic that move in a certain season, and near England at a certain place
           they lay their eggs. Before the eggs are ripe, their journey back starts. And when the eggs give birth,
           the new fish start swimming against the current! The natural course would be to go with the current,
           but their program is fixed. Against the current they start moving towards the arctic, and they find
           their way back to their parents.
                They will not recognize their parents. There is no need either because these fellows, if they can
           manage a three-thousand-mile journey against the current, don't need any parents, any teachers, any
           schools, college, universities. They are self-sufficient. This is the meaning of essence preceding
           existence. They are born with their whole life pattern complete and they will simply go on unfolding
           it. They are not going to learn anything.
                Learning is not for them. They need no learning. They have already got all that they need for
           their life, every detail about everything -- what to eat, what not to eat. You just look at a buffalo
           eating grass and you will be surprised: she goes on leaving certain grass and goes on eating certain
           other grass. Strange, but if you look closely, you will find she eats only a certain grass, other grass
           she does not eat.
                You see here so many deer. They prefer a grass called alfalfa, and just now because we have
           brought water and planted trees and lawns and made it a green place, and certainly because of the
           deer, I have told my secretary, "Take care that so much good alfalfa is grown around that the deer
           will come automatically, and this will become a deerpark."
                And I love that word, because Gautam Buddha lived in a deerpark. Where his thousands of
           disciples lived, hundreds of deer also lived in the same place. And our deer are growing, but a danger
           has started happening: they are eating too much alfalfa, getting too fat, and for deer that is dangerous
           because once they get too fat then they cannot run. Then they are easy prey to any animal, to any
           hunter. Not only that -- when they become too fat ... because two or three deer have died.
                I enquired why they died. The reason was they became so fat they could not walk. They fell over
           their feet and broke their legs, the weight was too much. Their feet are thin, those feet are not meant
           for that big a load. So I told my secretary then to either bring more deer so the alfalfa is not too
           much, or start cutting down the alfalfa, because this will kill the poor deer. They don't have a built-in
           program where to stop. Nature takes care. In nature, nothing goes off balance.
                If there is too much alfalfa then deer will start coming more and more from all over the place; if
           there is less alfalfa, deer will disperse. But our deer are in a difficulty: they cannot go anywhere
           because they cannot find a place where human beings will not be killing them. This much in three
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           years they have understood perfectly well.
                They are far more intelligent than your attorney general; they know that these are the right
           people to live with. They stand on the road, they don't bother ... you may go on honking the horn --
           they move with their ease and grace and beauty. They don't bother; they understand that "These are
           our people," so they are not going to leave. And they don't have a built-in program where to stop, so
           they go on eating.
                I told that professor, "Essence is a built-in program -- and that's where man is different. Man
           comes as existence, and essence follows. You are not given a built-in program. You come
           open-ended, with no directions, with no clear-cut idea of what you are going to be. You exist first --
           and this is a great difference, the greatest possible difference."
                You exist first, and then you have to find who you are. The animals, the trees, the rocks, know
           first who they are, then they exist; hence there is no spiritual enquiry. No animal bothers asking the
           questions: Who am I? What is the meaning of my life? He knows it already; there is no question,
           there is no doubt, no enquiry.
                Man is a continuous enquiry, a continuous question. To the very last breath he goes on growing.
           To the very last breath he can change his whole life pattern.
           He can take a quantum jump.
                There is no necessity for him to just go on following the path that he has followed. At the very
           last moment he simply can step aside. There is nobody to prevent him, it is his freedom. Man is the
           only animal in existence who has freedom -- and out of the freedom is agony."
           Agony means: I don't know who I am.
                I don't know where I am going and why I am going. I don't know whether whatever I am doing I
           am supposed to do or not. The question continuously remains; not even for a single moment does the
           question leave. Whatever you do, the question is there: Are you sure? Is it the thing for you to do? Is
           this the place for you to be?
                The question leaves not even for a single moment. And this is as deep as anything can be in you,
           at the very core of your being. This is the agony -- that the meaning is not known, that the purpose is
           not known, that the goal is not known. It seems as if we are accidental, that by some accident we are
           born.
                No other animal, no tree, no bird is accidental; they are planned. Existence has a whole program
           for them. Man seems to be totally different.
           Existence has left man utterly free.
                Once you become aware of this situation then agony arises. And it is fortunate to feel it. That's
           why I say it is not ordinary pain, suffering, misery. It is very extraordinary, and it is of tremendous
           value to your whole life, its growth, that you should feel agony, that each fiber of your being should
           feel the questioning, that you should become simply a question. And naturally it is frightening. You
           are left in a chaos. But out of this very chaos the stars are born.
                If you don't start stuffing out of fear, if you don't start escaping from your agony .... Everybody is
           trying to escape, finding ways: falling in love, doing this, doing that -- somehow, somewhere
           engaged. One thing is not finished, and you start doing another thing because you are afraid. If there
           is a gap between the two and the question raises its head, and you start feeling agony, then it is better
           to continue, to go on running; don't stop. People start running from their birth till they die. They
           don't stop, they don't sit by the side of the road under a tree.
                To me the statues of Buddha and Mahavira in the East, sitting in a lotus posture under a tree, do
           not mean anything historical. They mean something far more significant.
                These are the people who have stopped running. These are the people who have stepped out of
           the road on which the whole procession of humanity is going.
                They are real dropouts, not the Californian type which within a few years drops in again. No,
           these are real dropouts who never drop in again.
                Sitting under a tree is just representative. You will be surprised to know that after Buddha's
           death, for five hundred years his statue was not made. Instead of a statue only a tree was made. For
           five hundred years, in the temples that were made and dedicated to Buddha, there was only a tree
           carved on the stone or marble, nothing else.
                It was enough to remind one to step out of the road, because this has been for thousands of years
           the tradition, to plant trees on both the sides of Indian roads -- huge trees with big branches almost
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           meeting over the middle of the road so the road is completely covered with shadow. Even in the
           hottest summer you can go on the road in coolness, in the shadow.
                So the tree became the symbol of dropping out of "the road." The road is the world, where
           everybody is going somewhere, trying to find something, and in fact basically trying to forget
           himself because it hurts. To remember oneself hurts, and the only thing that everybody is doing is to
           get engaged, concentrated -- after money, after power, after this, after that. Become a painter,
           become a poet, become a musician, become someone and go on becoming. Don't stop, because if
           you stop you become aware of your hurt; the wound starts opening up. So don't give it a chance. This
           is the road.
                For five hundred years they managed simply to have the tree. It was a beautiful symbol of
           stepping aside. But as time passed, people started forgetting the symbol. The simple tree -- they
           could not understand what is supposed .... They started worshipping trees. It was at that time when
           Alexander the Great visited India, five hundred years after Buddha. He had seen those temples with
           trees, and he had asked people, but nobody knew what they meant, just tree worship. And all over
           India, even today, trees are worshipped; it has remained.
                Then the Buddhist monks who could understand started making statues of Buddha. But five
           hundred years had passed; there was no photography possible in those days, so they had not even
           any idea of how Buddha looked.
                At that time Alexander visited India. Alexander looked beautiful, he was a beautiful man, so the
           statues of Buddha are really Alexander's statues. That face is not Indian, that face is Greek. That's
           why when you see the Buddha's face, you cannot think that it is an Indian face. It is a Greek face,
           and not an ordinary Greek face -- the face of one of the most beautiful Greek men. It is Alexander's
           face. They got the idea from Alexander's face. It was very fitting. It fits better with Buddha than with
           Alexander, so I don't have any objection.
                I see it as perfectly right. Even if while Buddha was alive their heads were changed, it would
           have been perfectly good. What Alexander was ... what he was doing he could have done even with
           Buddha's face, there was no trouble. But Buddha certainly needs a beautiful face, very symmetrical,
           very harmonious with his inner self. The beauty that is shown on the face, in the proportion of his
           body, is the beauty of his soul.
                Agony is the experience that you have come into the world a clean slate, a tabula rasa; nothing is
           written on it. This is your original face.
                Now, you can do two things. One is, being afraid of this vacuum, you can start running after
           something or other -- earning money, power, learning, asceticism, becoming a sage, scholar,
           politician -- somehow to give you a feeling of identity, somehow to hide your own inner chaos.
                But whatever you do the chaos is there and is going to remain there. It is an intrinsic part of you.
           So those who understand don't try in any way to escape from it. On the contrary, they try to enter
           into it.
                These are the two ways: either run away from it as everybody else is doing, or run into it. Reach
           to its very center howsoever painful, fearful -- but reach to the center, because that is you. And it is
           good at least one time to be at the very exact center of your being.
                The moment you reach that center then the second word becomes significant: ecstasy.
           Ecstasy is the flower of agony.
           Agony is not against ecstasy.
           Agony is the way to ecstasy.
                You just have to accept it -- what else can one do? It is there. You can close your eyes -- that
           does not mean that the sun has disappeared; it is still there. And everybody is trying to close his
           eyes; the sun is too glaring. Close your eyes, completely close your eyes. Forget about it, don't look
           at it ... as if it is not there. Believe it is not there.
                These pseudo-religions are trying to teach you exactly that:
                Try to reach to God, try to reach heaven, follow Jesus Christ.
                But none of them says don't follow anybody and don't look for any paradise or heaven because
           this is all trying to deceive yourself.
           Encounter yourself, face yourself.
           Have a one hundred and eighty-degree turn.
                Look into the chaos that is there, into the agony that is there. And if it is your nature, then
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           howsoever painful it is, we have to become acquainted with it. And the miracle is, it is painful to
           pass through it but it is just the greatest bliss when you have passed and reached the center of your
           being.
               Agony is all around the center, and the ecstasy is just in the center. Perhaps agony is just a
           protective shell -- ecstasy is so valuable it needs protection. And nature has created such a protective
           wall, what to say of others? -- even you start running away from it. Who is going to enter into your
           agony if you yourself are running away?
               The moment you think of it, agony seems to be a tremendous gift of nature. It changes its whole
           color, its fragrance, its meaning. It is a protective wall, so protective that even you start running
           away from it.
               Don't run away from yourself whatever the case may be. A man's mettle is judged by his entering
           into his own inner chaos. You are worthy to call yourself human beings when you have reached to
           the center, and you can see from the center, around yourself. You are blissful -- not only are you
           blissful, from the center the whole existence is blissful too.
               Agony and ecstasy are two sides of your being. They both make you one organic unity, one
           whole.
           So I am not telling you how to get rid of agony.
               That's what pseudo-religions have been telling you for centuries.
               I am telling you how to befriend agony, how to be in love with the chaos.
               Once you are in love with the chaos, the freedom that chaos brings, the unbounded space that
           chaos brings, enter into it till you reach the center.
           To find oneself is to find all.
               Then there is nothing missing, then there is no question left. Then for the first time you have the
           answer. Although you cannot convey the answer to anybody else, you can convey the way you found
           it.
           That's what the function of a Master is.
           He does not give you the answer.
           He does not make you more knowledgeable.
               He simply shows you the method, how he found himself. He encourages you to take a jump into
           your chaos, into your agony.
               The Master is simply a proof that you don't need to be afraid. If this man can find his center,
           passing through all the agony, there is no reason why you cannot do it too. And once you know the
           taste of ecstasy, your whole life, for the first time, has something that can be called godliness. A new
           quality arises in you, a new flare, a new flame. But that is our nature, everybody's nature.
               I have never tried in my life to become anybody. I have simply allowed life to take me wherever
           it wanted. One thing I can say to you, I have not been a loser; it was a great joy to be taken over by
           nature. I have not at all interfered. I have not even been swimming, because in swimming you are at
           least throwing your hands about. I have been just going with the stream, floating with wherever the
           stream is going.
               Fortunately all streams reach finally to the ocean. The small, the big, somehow or other they all
           find their way to the oceanic. And the oceanic feeling I call the religious feeling.
           When your small drop drops into the ocean ....
           In one sense you are no more.
           In one sense you are for the first time.
           On one hand there is death, and on the other hand there is rebirth.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #9
                                Chapter title: Your suffering makes you special
           8 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


           Archive code: 8503085
              ShortTitle: DARK09
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 86 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO GET RID OF PAIN, MISERY, SUFFERING OR ANGUISH, WHILE
              KNOWING PERFECTLY WELL THAT ONE HAS JUST TO UNDERSTAND AND DROP THEM?


                It is difficult to get rid of pain, misery, and suffering for the simple reason that they have been
           your companions for your whole life. Except them, you don't have any friends in the world.
                It is easier to be in pain, misery, suffering, than to be utterly lonely, because there are ways you
           can have pain-killers, you can have drugs, as an escape from misery. You can get engaged in all
           kinds of stupidities to forget your suffering. But there is no way -- no painkiller is going to help you
           out of your loneliness, no drug, no stupidity.
                Loneliness is so deep that all these superficial methods cannot reach to it, cannot touch it. That's
           why it is so difficult to get rid of these few friends that you have got. This is your world, your family.
                In my professorial days in the university, I had lived for a few months in the university campus.
           My neighbor was a newly-married man, a professor of physics, Nityanand Mukhopadhyaya -- a very
           sharp, intelligent teacher, with a great future ahead, because he had such a grip on physics that even
           older professors of physics used to come and ask him things about new physics.
                He had been married not more than two or three months, but the marriage was finished. They
           were constantly fighting, quarreling. The wife was also educated, a postgraduate, and in a beautiful
           subject, in music. The walls that separated me from this couple were not very thick -- so thin that it
           was impossible not to hear what was going on.
                It was almost thirty years ago. I was only their neighbor for a few months; since then I have not
           seen them, but they have given me one thing to which I have become addicted: earplugs. Even today
           when I don't have any neighbors for miles ... and even those who live miles away don't consider me
           their neighbor. In the whole of America I don't have a neighbor. And anyway, tourists are not
           supposed to have neighbors.
                But I cannot get rid of those earplugs. I cannot go to sleep without earplugs. I have tried. The
           moment I think of dropping them I start thinking of Nityanand Mukhopadhyaya. From morning till
           midnight they were quarreling, on every point, on every single thing. There was no agreement on
           anything. And almost every night it ended with them throwing things -- a pillow fight. I even heard
           them slapping each other.
                Once or twice I interfered. I just knocked on their door in the middle of the night, and they
           opened the door. I looked at the scene -- things all over the floor -- and I said, "Don't be
           embarrassed, because I have been hearing the whole thing since the morning. I know every detail of
           it, so you do not have to be hypocrites before me.
                "This is perfectly good -- it is supposed to happen between every husband and wife sooner or
           later. You are intelligent people: it is happening sooner. But one thing I cannot understand: once in a
           while you both say to each other, `I love you, darling, I love you.' That, I cannot understand.
           Everything else is understandable to me.
                "I had to interfere in the middle of the night because just now, after a big pillow fight, you said,
           `I love you, I love you, my darling.' It simply disturbs my whole sleep. Everything else I accept, but
           how, out of this pillow fight, and throwing things and shouting and screaming, does the conclusion
           come, `I love you, darling'?"
                They looked at each other. They had no answer because .... Then the professor said, "I have
           never thought about it but certainly you are right. After all this, this should not be the conclusion. I
           can understand -- you are a man of logic. I cannot understand too much logic but physics is also
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           based on logic; I can see the contradiction."
                The wife said, "I have never thought about it, but it is true that .... Can you help us to understand
           why?"
                I said, "That's why I have come. This happens with husband and wife: they hate each other, and
           then they hate themselves for hating each other. And then to cover up the whole thing -- that `I hate
           you,' that, `I hate myself for hating you' -- this is the cover: `I love you, darling.'
                "This manages both things. You are no longer hating yourself, because you love your wife. But
           this is only a cover, a very thin cover which cannot stand the strong winds of life. Tomorrow
           morning again you have forgotten. The same story begins, comes to the same conclusion. Why don't
           you just separate?"
                And they both were angry at my suggestion. They said, "This is not nice of you to suggest that
           we separate."
                I said, "Yes, I suggest it. Get a divorce." And they were both ready to fight with me.
                I said, "You need not fight with me because I don't hate you, I don't love you, darling; I am
           simply not part of it. Exclude me out, I am going back. I just dropped in the suggestion -- you can
           think about it. Only three months have passed. After thirty years you will be still in the same
           situation, but then it will be too late, even divorce will not be of any help. You will have become
           addicted to the quarreling, to the fighting, to everything that you hate. You will become addicted to
           it, you will miss it."
                They were very angry; they closed the door in my face. I said, "Thank you."
                After two months the wife went to see her mother for a week -- her mother was sick -- and in just
           one week Professor Nityanand Mukhopadhyaya started coming to me and continuously saying, "I
           miss my wife so much. I cannot sleep -- the bed seems so empty."
                I said, "And the room also seems so empty, things are not all over the place. Why don't you
           throw things yourself? Shout a little, scream a little -- and she is not here so you can say anything
           you want. Throw things, beat on the clothes, and then come to the climax: I love you, darling. And
           you will have a good sleep."
           He said, "You must be joking."
                I said, "Why should I be joking? You try it -- what is the harm?"
                And you will not believe it: not that day, but after two days, he tried it -- because I heard it. He
           was doing really a great job, greater than he had done ever before, a greater performance. And he
           climaxed it: "I love you, darling." And soon I heard him snoring.
                In the morning I went to see his room; things were all over the place. The servant opened the
           bedroom; the professor was still asleep. I woke him up; I said, "You did such a good performance."
                He said, "Really, it works. I was just trying, knowing perfectly well that it was not going to
           work. How could it work? -- she is not here. But it worked; slowly slowly I got hotter and hotter. She
           was almost here: when I was beating the pillows I was beating her. And I have never given her such
           a good beating -- it was such a deep contentment to the heart. I have never slept so deeply. You were
           right."
                But this is the situation of almost everybody. You become addicted to your pain, to your misery,
           to your suffering. You really don't want to get rid of it.
                You go on asking how to get rid of it, but that is also a strategy of the mind; to go on inquiring
           how to get rid of it.
                Have you ever asked sincerely, do you want to get rid of it? Are you ready to live without all the
           miseries and the pains and the sufferings that you have been carrying all along? Will you be ready to
           be left alone without all these longstanding companions who have been with you in thick and thin,
           who have never left you?
                When everybody was leaving you, they were still with you. They have followed you like a
           shadow; they have been in a certain way a consolation. This will be very shocking to you when I say
           they have been in a certain way a consolation to you. When I say that, I have many things implied in
           it.
                Your suffering makes you somebody special. Without all your suffering, you are nobody. Who
           are you? You will not even have something to talk about with anybody. You will be at a loss -- what
           are you going to talk about?
                In England, people talk about the weather just to avoid real conversation. It is a very
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sophisticated way, to talk about weather. But it looks a little idiotic because you are seeing the
           weather, I am seeing the weather, it makes no sense to say, "What a beautiful day, how sunny!" you
           are seeing it, you are also in the same day. You are not tomorrow, you are not yesterday, you are
           here with me. And you say, "Yes, so beautiful!"
               This is because of the English character; it is one of the most phony characters in the world. It
           does not want to raise any controversial conversation. Politics is dangerous, there is controversy;
           religion is dangerous, there is controversy; literature is dangerous, there is controversy. Except the
           weather there seems to be nothing non-controversial -- something on which both can agree without
           any problem.
               It is said that two Englishmen were traveling in a compartment for almost three hours. Then the
           ticket checker came in, looked at them ... they were looking very sad and depressed. He asked ....
           One said, "Three hours sitting, not even somebody to talk to."
               He said, "Just in front of you another Englishman is sitting -- you could have talked."
               The man said, "But how? -- because nobody introduced us. Without an introduction it is a kind of
           trespass."
               I have heard another story too, that a man went to meet his wife -- a four or five-hour journey.
           The wife had come to the station to receive him, and he was looking very tired, utterly tired. She
           asked, "What is the matter? Why are you looking so tired?"
               He said, "It always happens when I have to sit in a position where my back is against the
           direction of the train. If I am sitting against the direction of the train -- the train is going this way,
           and I am sitting facing that way -- then my whole body gets very tired."
               The wife said, "But there was no problem. You could have asked the gentleman in the front seat,
           `This is my trouble; would you be kind enough to change?'"
               He said, "I wanted to but there was no gentleman, the seat was empty. Whom to ask?"
           These are very sophisticated people.
               Just now I was reading that the most prestigious directory of the royal family's noble blood has
           dropped many names out of it in the new edition because they were all AIDS victims. Now, you can
           see even noble people have ways which are not noble at all: noble people with ignoble lifestyles. But
           that is all underground. On the surface everything seems to be the way it should be. More or less it is
           the same all over the world; nobody wants really to drop their suffering.
           You have to ask this question very sincerely:
           Are you ready to be lonely?
               At least your suffering, your pain, your misery, makes you somebody special. It gives you a
           certain character, it gives you a certain identity. Moreover it is your misery, nobody else's. It is your
           possession, your prestige. If it is just taken away from you, you will be a beggar.
               You ask me, why is misery so difficult to get rid of?
               It is difficult because you don't want to get rid of it.
               It is also difficult because you have many misunderstandings.
               You say, "pain, misery, suffering or anguish." That shows you don't understand. You can get rid
           of pain, misery, suffering, which are your own creations; you can withdraw. They cannot stand
           without your support, they need constant nourishment from you. They suck you, they are parasites --
           but you can throw them away.
           Anguish you cannot get rid of.
           So don't say "suffering or anguish."
           Anguish is a totally different plane.
           Anguish is something spiritual.
               Anguish you are not to get rid of; anguish you have to become more acquainted with.
               If you are standing with your back towards anguish, it appears like suffering.
               If you turn your face towards anguish, it becomes blissfulness.
               You are not to get rid of it. And it is nothing to do with you, so you cannot get rid of it. Even if
           you want to get rid of this blessing, then too it is not in your power. It is something intrinsic to your
           nature. If you are not facing yourself, you will feel anguish; if you turn towards yourself, the same
           anguish becomes the greatest blessing in the world.
               So don't say suffering or anguish. That shows your utter ignorance of your own inner world.
           Suffering, misery, pain, are all outside.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Anguish is within.
           Anguish you are born with.
           Suffering, misery, pain, are your creations.
                That is also one of the causes why you cannot get rid of them. You have created them, they are
           your children.
                You just look at people when they are talking about their suffering; watch their faces, watch their
           eyes -- and you will be surprised. Are they talking about their suffering or are they bragging about
           it? -- because their face seems to be radiant when they talk about their suffering. And remember, you
           know! -- because you are doing the same. You always exaggerate your pain, your suffering, your
           misery; you make it as big as possible. Why? If it is something to get rid of, why are you magnifying
           it? You are enjoying it.
                One of my friends is a Catholic priest. I asked him once, "You hear people's confessions. Have
           you ever wondered whether they may be exaggerating?"
                He said, "What! Exaggerating? They are confessing their sins, why should they exaggerate?"
                I said, "People exaggerate everything. If sinners are standing in a queue, you would like to stand
           first, you would like to be the greatest sinner. You would not like to be just third-class, standing at
           the end of the queue. And if somebody asks what kind of sin you committed -- you have stolen a
           hen!
                When there are Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, and Nadirshah, and Alexander the Great, and Ivan
           the Terrible -- your whole life you only stole a hen? You must be an idiot! Such a long life -- seventy
           years -- you could not do anything else? And you have some nerve to stand in the line with such
           great people: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin. Get lost! Don't count yourself a
           sinner!
                No, you will have to magnify it as much as possible.
                A small boy came running into his home and, huffing and perspiring, told his mother, "A lion has
           been following me! But I was not afraid."
                The mother said, "Lion? In the middle of the city? I have told you a thousand times: Don't
           exaggerate. Where is the lion?"
           He said, "He is standing outside the door."
                The mother went to the door; a small dog was standing there.
           The boy said, "Yes, this is the lion."
                The mother said, "You know perfectly this is a dog."
                He said, "I know, but when you are telling a story, and you say a small dog was following you,
           and you were not afraid -- that does not fit. A lion is needed. And as far as exaggeration is
           concerned, you are telling me that you have told me one thousand times not to exaggerate. You are
           exaggerating yourself."
                Everybody is making himself look, in every possible way, like somebody special.
                You are talking about your suffering and somebody says, "It is nothing." You will be hurt, you
           will not like this response. You were telling such a great story; you were opening your wounds and
           that man said, "This is nothing. You should know my suffering."
                Suffering also becomes a support to your ego. A man without suffering, without pain, without
           any misery -- how can he manage his ego? He won't have any props for the ego.
                I used to stay with one of the presidents of the Indian National Congress -- which has been the
           ruling party since independence. His name was Uchchhangrai Dhebar, and he loved me very much.
           He was the only politician of that status who used to come to the camps to meditate, to participate.
           He was really a nice person. It is very difficult to find in politicians that quality of niceness.
                He was talking about the great problems that he was facing. I listened, and I told him, "You can
           talk about these things to other people -- don't waste my time. If you can do something about those
           things then do it; otherwise what is the point of unnecessarily talking? I am not the person interested
           in that kind of thing."
                Just then the phone rang and he took it. The prime minister was calling, and Uchchhangrai
           Dhebar said, "I am very much engaged right now." And he was not engaged at all -- we were just
           gossiping! He said, "I am very much engaged right now; today it is not possible for me to meet you.
           Perhaps tomorrow I can manage. I will have to enquire from my secretary."
                As their conversation was finished I said, "I don't see that you are engaged."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "That is not the point. When a prime minister phones -- and I am the president of the
           party as far as organization is concerned, he is just a member of the organization .... He may be the
           prime minister, but when a prime minister calls me, I am always engaged. When the president of the
           country calls me, I am always engaged. These people understand only that language.
               "If I just go and run to his house and say, `Yes, sir, I am here, what do you want?' then what is
           the point of being the president of the party? So much struggle, so much trouble, so much conflict,
           quarreling, and then in the end I have been able to become the president. And you want me to say to
           the prime minister that I am gossiping, I am free, I have nothing to do? Now I am engaged in great
           problems."
               I said, "Perhaps the same is true when you are talking about your great problems to me. At least
           with me be sincere. I am not the prime minister or the president."
               He looked into my eyes for a moment and he said, "You are right. I was just bragging about how
           much puzzled I am, how much trouble my life is. To be the president of the ruling party of such a
           vast country is to be lying on a bed of thorns."
               He was sleeping on a Dunlop mattress. I said, "What are you talking about? I see you sleep on a
           Dunlop mattress!"
               I cannot sleep on one of those because it is so soft that the moment you move, it moves with you.
           It keeps me awake; I am waking continuously the whole night.
               Once Teertha brought for me a water bed. That night I will never forget. That water bed must be
           supplied in hell, because you turn and the whole water inside moves just underneath you. That much
           water movement -- how can you sleep? I can sleep on a hard floor; it may hurt a little bit, but sooner
           or later you will fall asleep. But on a water bed ... and that was the latest "in thing" so Teertha
           brought it for me. I had to suffer many latest in things.
               You cannot get rid of your miseries for the simple reason that you don't have anything else to
           cling to. You will be empty -- and nobody wants to be empty. People befool themselves in every
           possible way.
               I have visited areas where people were so hungry -- starving; they had no food. I enquired, "You
           don't have any food, how do you manage to sleep?" -- because without food you cannot sleep. In fact
           sleep is needed for one of the most basic reasons: to digest food. So all other activity is dropped and
           your whole energy goes into digestion. But when you don't have any food in the stomach, sleep
           becomes difficult.
               I have been fasting, so I know. Before the fasting day, the whole night you go on tossing and
           turning, thinking of the next day and the delicious foods. And when you are hungry anything looks
           delicious. But you cannot sleep. I asked, "How do you manage to sleep?"
               They said, "We drink a lot of water to fill the belly, to deceive the body, and then sleep comes."
           They know perfectly well they are deceiving; water is not nourishment. The body is asking for food,
           and they are giving water because only water is available. But at least something is in the stomach, it
           is not empty.
               This is the situation as far as your psychological emptiness is concerned: anything will do.
           Nothing is not acceptable to you. And unless nothing is acceptable to you, you are not ready to get
           rid of your pain, misery, and suffering.
               You say, "Knowing perfectly well ...." You don't know at all, and you are saying, "Knowing
           perfectly well." You know nothing. "Knowing perfectly well" means that if you understand, all these
           sufferings and miseries will drop of their own accord.
               Knowing perfectly well and still continuing to suffer, to be miserable -- no, it is not possible.
           Either you don't know or you cannot suffer. You cannot be allowed both together: knowing perfectly
           well and still suffering. And your last sentence makes it clear that that knowledge is not knowing. It
           may be knowledge.
               You say, "Knowing perfectly well that one just has to understand and drop them." It is a little
           delicate affair -- to understand and drop them ... as if after understanding you will have to drop them.
           That's not how it happens.
               In understanding is the very dropping. There is no "and to drop them."
           There is no action after understanding.
           Understanding is the action itself.
               It is not that you bring the light inside the room, then you throw the darkness out. You don't say,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "I will bring the lamp in and then throw the darkness out." If you say that, anybody will know that
           you are blind. You don't know what you are saying. When you bring light in you will not find
           darkness at all. What are you going to throw out?
           Understanding is light.
               The moment you understand, there is no suffering to be thrown out, to be dropped, to be got rid
           of.
           Understanding simply cleanses you.
               You may have a laugh after it, but there is no action. You may have a good laugh because you
           will see how stupid you have been. You have been trying to get rid of things which only need to be
           understood, and that very understanding becomes freedom from them.
           No doing other than understanding is needed.
               But perhaps you don't have a clear-cut idea of knowing and knowledge. It is knowledge: you
           have heard, you have listened, you have read.
               Yes, you are knowledgeable, but knowledge helps nobody.
               Sigmund Freud, a man of great knowledge, was afraid of ghosts -- although he said continually,
           "There are no ghosts, there is no evidence, no proof." He was so much afraid of ghosts that a simple
           incident became the breaking point between his chief disciple, Carl Gustav Jung, and himself.
               Carl Gustav Jung was going to be his successor. Freud had already declared, "Jung is going to be
           my successor." And Jung was the most intelligent, scholarly, impressive, charismatic personality
           amongst all Freud's disciples, but there were a few things which were troublesome. One was that
           Jung was interested in ghosts; that was a constant trouble.
               One day Sigmund Freud was sitting in his office with Jung in front of him; they were talking and
           somehow the topic of ghosts came up. Jung said, "Whatever you say, I still suspect that something
           like ghosts exists." Sigmund Freud became red with anger -- and at that very time, in the cupboard
           behind, there was a sound almost like an explosion. Sigmund Freud fell from his seat.
               Jung opened the cupboard: there was nothing. He closed it again, put the seat right, placed Freud
           there and said, "There is nothing. I don't know what happened, what caused this explosion." They
           started talking again, and again the ghost thing came up. Sigmund Freud said, "I don't believe in it
           and you stop talking about it" -- and the explosion!
               This was too much: Sigmund Freud fell into unconsciousness. And that was the breaking point.
           He simply informed Jung, "Either you drop me, or you drop your ghosts."
               So knowledgeable, so much a pioneer, a great scientific mind .... But if you really know that
           there are no ghosts then there will be a different response. You will not fall unconscious, you will
           not fall from your seat. It is just knowledge, belief. Freud wants to believe that there are no ghosts,
           but deep down he is just an ordinary human being like anybody else, with all the fears.
               Jung was not different either. He was interested in ghosts, but he was very much afraid of death.
           Now look at this strange thing. You are interested in ghosts; if you are really interested in ghosts,
           you should be interested in death too, because without death ghosts can't exist. A ghost is nothing
           but a man who was once in the body and is no more in the body. If you are interested in ghosts, you
           should be logically interested in death, in the very process of death.
               But Jung was so afraid, more afraid than Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud at least had some
           excuse in the explosion to fall unconscious. Jung was so afraid that even the word "death" was
           enough. Thrice in his life he became unconscious just because the word "death" came into the
           conversation.
               He was very much interested in seeing in Egypt the mummies of ancient Egyptian pharaohs,
           queens, kings -- which were very recently discovered, excavated, and were now available for the
           public to see. He booked at least a dozen times to go to Egypt but at the very last moment he would
           find some excuse not to go.
               One time Jung even reached the airport in Zurich; finding no excuse not to go, he was very much
           in trouble. He was trying to find some excuse not to go but there was no excuse. People had even
           come to give him a good send-off and say, "Have a good journey." And finally he said, "I am not
           going."
           "But," they said, "why?"
               He said, "I have tried to find an excuse not to go -- there is none. But if I don't want to go, who
           are you to force me to go? You have come with flowers, and I am dying with fear. I cannot look at a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           corpse."
               It is the strange mind of man. You are obsessed with things of which you are afraid. Perhaps you
           are obsessed only because you are afraid. Your fear and your obsession are almost always pointed to
           the same thing. Jung never managed in his life to reach Egypt, and this was one of his cherished
           desires. He was very knowledgeable, but as far as knowing was concerned -- just nil.
           Knowing transforms you.
               Knowledge only gives you a false idea that you are wise.
               It is better to be sincerely ignorant -- because there is a chance of change -- than to be a hypocrite
           insincerely believing that you know.
           Ignorance has done no harm to anybody.
           Knowledge has done immense harm.
               The knowledgeable person goes on living with this false idea that he knows. And because he
           knows, there is no need to enquire any more. The ignorant man is continuously on the verge of
           enquiry; always a question mark is there. And this is one of the traits of human nature, that you
           cannot live with a question mark. Either you have to cover it with false knowledge -- which becomes
           your answer -- or you have to find the real answer so that the question disappears.
               Knowledge is not the answer but only a pretension of an answer.
               You say, "Knowing perfectly well" .... Drop this idea of knowledge. Please just accept your
           ignorance. Be courageous and capable of saying, of many things, "I do not know."
               If somebody asks you about God, do you have the courage simply to say, "I do not know"?
               The atheist has no courage; he says, "I know there is no God."
               The theist has no courage; he says, "I know there IS God."
               Only the agnostic is a little courageous; he says, "I do not know yet." He leaves the question
           without any definite answer. He is enquiring, he is searching.
               From my very childhood I have been continuously questioning knowledgeable people. My house
           was a guest house of many Jaina saints, Hindu monks, Sufi mystics, because my grandfather was
           interested in all of these people. But he was not a follower of anybody. He, rather, enjoyed me
           bothering these saints.
               Once I asked him, "Are you really interested in these people? You invite them to stay in the
           house and then you tell me to harass them. In what are you really interested?"
               He said, "To tell you the truth I enjoy their being harassed, because these guys go on pretending
           that they know -- and they know nothing. But anywhere else it would be difficult to harass them
           because people would stop you. People would tell me, `Your grandson is a nuisance here -- take him
           away.' So I invite them, and then in our own house you can do whatever you want. And you have all
           my support: you can ask any questions you want."
               And I enquired of these people, just simple questions: "Be true and just simply tell me, do you
           know God? Is it your own experience or have you just heard? You are learned, you can quote
           scriptures, but I am not asking about scriptures: I am asking about you. Can you quote yourself, your
           experience?"
               And I was surprised that not a single man had any experience of God, or of himself. And these
           were great saints in India, worshiped by thousands of people. They were deceiving themselves and
           they were deceiving thousands of others. That's why I say that knowledge has done much harm.
           Ignorance has done no harm.
           Ignorance is innocent. Knowledge is cunning.
           Knowing is far beyond both.
               Knowing has the innocence of ignorance and the knowing of knowledge, both together. It is
           innocent knowing.
           And knowing is authentically yours.
               Unless any knowledge is yours, it is better not to have such ideas of having perfect knowledge.
               Do you understand, when you use words like "perfect"? Is there anything in life perfect?
           The moment anything is perfect, it is dead.
           Life is continuous imperfection.
               Yes, it is moving towards perfection -- but always moving and never arriving. That's the whole
           stance of evolution, that it goes on evolving higher and higher but there is no point where it can say,
           "Now the journey is finished." The book of life has no beginning and no end. It is a continuum;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           infinite continuity.
               Never use words like "perfect". Everything is imperfect here, has to be -- except idiots like pope
           the polack. These are perfect people, infallible. Only idiots can claim infallibility. The wise ones will
           say, "Perhaps it is so. I do not know absolutely. Yes, I have glimpses. There are moments of clarity;
           there are times it seems, `Yes! This is it!' but there is no full stop anywhere."
               If you ask me how many times I have said, "This is it!" and the next day, something bigger ....
           And I think, "My God! So this is it!" But slowly slowly, when it was happening more and more,
           more and more, bigger and bigger, I dropped the idea of saying, "This is it!"
               This is always becoming it, but there is no full stop. It is never perfect.
           Knowing is a process.
           Knowledge is a dead thing, with a full stop.
               You don't know, and it will be of immense help to you to know that you don't know, because
           from there a true journey can start. Your question gives enough evidence of ignorance because you
           say, "By understanding and then dropping it." Alas, after understanding there is nothing to drop. You
           will be at a loss.
               Before understanding there is so much to drop, but you cannot drop it.
               After understanding, when you can drop it, there is nothing to drop.
               These are the mysteries of life, real mysteries of life -- tremendously enjoyable.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #10
                         Chapter title: Not spiritual guidance but spiritual presence
           9 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503095
              ShortTitle: DARK10
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              IS NOT SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY FOR HUMAN GROWTH?


               There are no absolutes in real life -- including this statement too. Life is full of exceptions; that's
           one of its most beautiful things. Exceptions mean freedom. Exceptions mean you are not in a
           concentration camp. The absolute is nothing but complete bondage and slavery.
               In the beginning days of scientific research scientists were thinking that in science there are no
           exceptions. That was one of the great prides of science, because that makes it absolutely certain. If
           there are exceptions you cannot be certain about the rules -- and science needs certainty to be the
           base.
               For the last three hundred years science went on proving that there were no exceptions, finding
           absolute rules. But Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity destroyed the whole
           three-hundred-year-long efforts of hundreds of scientists in a single blow. The theory of relativity
           means that nothing is absolute, everything is relative, and there are exceptions everywhere.
               It is one thing that you may not be able to find the exception; that shows your limitation. Your
           instruments may not be yet refined enough to catch the exception. It does not prove anything about
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the absoluteness of any rule -- only the limitations of human mind. The finer your instruments
           become, the finer your approach to reality, the more you are simply mystified: there are exceptions,
           and exceptions to everything. Nothing is absolute. After Albert Einstein nothing is absolute.
               This is something to rejoice in, because science was creating a world of dead rules, mechanical.
           The whole concept of pre-Einsteinian science was that the world is a vast mechanism -- that it is not
           an organism, but a mechanism.
               A mechanism functions perfectly without any exceptions. It has no mind, how can it create
           exceptions? It simply goes on moving in the same rut. It never gets bored. It never feels to do
           something just for a change, something other than it has been doing always. There is no mind in it;
           hence, the machine can be absolute.
               But an organism, a living being, cannot be absolute. It is a free agent. If it follows a certain rule,
           that is its decision. It can drop out, it can just go in the opposite direction. Hence, science never said
           that the world is an organism, but a vast mechanism.
               But the theory of relativity disturbed the whole setup, and it has disturbed it forever. Never again
           will science be able to have the old certainty, because it has been found through the theory of
           relativity that as we go deeper into the inner world of the atom, a strange phenomenon is
           experienced.
               When we go inside the atom there are three divisions: the electron, the neutron, and the positron.
           It was thought that they must be following a set discipline, just as we find in every material thing.
           But strangely enough, they are very individualistic. Sometimes they behave in one way, sometimes
           they don't behave in the same way.
               And one thing that is of tremendous importance for you to remember is -- it is just like when you
           are taking a bath, with the door closed, nude, enjoying the freedom of being alone, making faces
           before the mirror knowing that nobody is seeing you. But then suddenly you become aware of a
           noise near the door and you see two eyes looking through the keyhole. Suddenly you are no longer
           the same, you have changed. Now you cannot make faces before the mirror.
               What has happened? An observer changed your behavior. We can understand this because you
           are a conscious human being and you were behaving in a certain way with the knowledge that
           nobody was watching. Once you see that somebody is watching, you start behaving the way you are
           supposed to behave.
               Making faces before the mirror is very childish. There is nothing wrong about it; it is not a sin. It
           is your mirror, it is your face, you are not doing any harm to anybody. But certainly the observer
           instantly changes you. You start doing other things just to look busy, as if you are doing meaningful
           things. Just a moment before you were doing meaningless things, now you are doing meaningful
           things.
               The same was discovered in the innermost core of the atom: the electrons behave differently
           when there is no observer. And the moment the scientist and his instruments make them aware that
           somebody is observing, they change their rules; a sudden transformation takes place.
               This was very shocking to the scientists because electrons are supposed to be particles of
           electricity: that's the meaning of electron. They are supposed to be material, but they are behaving
           with such great consciousness. And as the work progressed, many more things became noticeable.
               You go from point A to point B -- certainly you exist between point A and point B when you go
           from point A to point B. You must exist between the two; otherwise how can you reach point B? It
           was found that in the inner world of the atom this is not applicable. The electron moves from point A
           to point B but between the two he disappears; he is no more, he is non-existential. This is very
           absurd, illogical; it does not suit a good electron to do such a mischievous thing -- that moving from
           point A to point B, in the middle you simply disappear, and no trace is found.
               Because of this, science fiction became very prominent. In many languages that kind of fiction
           was written. And it seems possible -- if electrons can disappear, why not you, because you are
           nothing but millions and millions of electrons, you are a crowd. And if a single electron can do such
           a thing, perhaps one day it will be possible .... And that is the only way that man can hope to reach
           some faraway star. Traveling by traditional bullock cart means won't do, you cannot reach.
               Even to reach the nearest star will take you four years traveling at the speed of light, and that too
           only if we can manage to create a vehicle which can move with the speed of light -- which is
           impossible because anything moving with the speed of light becomes light. At that speed the heat is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           so much, the friction at that speed is such that everything becomes fire. No kind of metal exists
           which can resist that speed and remain itself.
                The speed is very tremendous. In one second, one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles -- in
           one second! Multiply it by sixty, that is in one minute; multiply it again by sixty, that is in one hour.
           This way go on multiplying to find the distance traveled in one year: that is one light year. The
           nearest star is four light years away! With such a speed .... First, there is a barrier: such a speed is not
           possible. Your vehicle, you, and everything would become light. By the time you reached that star
           you would be just rays of light and nothing else.
                Scientists, and particularly scientific novelists, became very enchanted with the idea that the
           electron can disappear in the middle, between two points. That gave them a beautiful myth for the
           future: that we can make a machine in which the man enters and disappears -- just like the electrons.
           We have just to find out how they manage to disappear. What is their mode of disappearance?
                Once we have found their methods of disappearing from one point and then appearing again at
           another point, then there is no problem. Then man can disappear from the earth and can appear on
           the moon, on Mars, or anywhere in the whole universe. Then time is no problem. Here you
           disappear, and there you appear. In the middle there is nowhere that you can be found.
                This looks very fictitious. Yes, as far as man is concerned, right now it looks fictitious, but the
           electrons have been doing it all along. They are still doing it. Their behavior destroys the whole
           certainty of science. It destroyed the whole Aristotelian logic and Euclidian geometry, it destroyed
           Bacon's rules -- it destroyed everything.
                It opened a new dimension of utter freedom. And if even matter is so free, what about
           consciousness? Then consciousness is pure freedom.
                So the first thing about your question I want to tell you is, there is nothing absolute. Everything
           is relative.
                "Absolute" is a weighty word. It gives you a certain confidence. Politicians use such words to
           create confidence, certainty. But I cannot use such words, I am not a politician. I would prefer to use
           a more humble word: "relative". It does not give you the feel of certainty. But certainty is needed
           only by people who are uncertain, certainty is the need of weaklings. People who are at ease have no
           need for certainty. They can very well understand the word "relative" and its implications.
                There is a story: one day a man came to Gautam Buddha just in the morning, and asked him,
           "Does God exist?" Buddha looked at the man for a moment, and then said, "Yes." The man could not
           believe it because he had heard that Buddha does not believe in God. Now, what to make of his yes?
                Even his disciples, the closest disciples ... Ananda was with him, he was shocked. Buddha had
           never said so certainly, without any ifs and buts, a simple yes -- to God! He had, his whole life been
           fighting against the idea of God. But there was a settlement between Buddha and Ananda .... Ananda
           was Buddha's elder cousin-brother. When he was taking sannyas, Ananda had asked beforehand,
           "You have to promise me a few things. Right now I am your elder brother. After taking sannyas I
           will be your disciple: then whatsoever you say I will have to do, but right now I can demand
           something and you will have to do it."
                Buddha said, "I know you. You cannot ask anything which will put your younger brother in any
           difficulty. You can ask."
                Ananda said, "They are not big things, just simple things. One is that every night before going to
           sleep, if I want to ask something, you will have to answer, you can't say, `I am tired, and the whole
           day's journey, and so many people and so many meetings ....' You will have to answer. Yes, I will
           never ask in the day, I will not disturb you the whole day, but I am a human being and I am not
           enlightened: certain questions may arise."
           Buddha said, "That is accepted."
                In the same way Ananda asked two more things: "One is that you will never tell me to go
           anywhere else; I will always be with you, to serve you till my last breath. You will not tell me, `Now
           you go and spread my message,' just the way you send others. You cannot send me."
           Buddha said, "Okay, that's not a problem."
                And third, Ananda said, "If I ask you to give some time to somebody, at any hour -- it may be a
           very odd hour, in the middle of the night -- you will have to meet the person. That much privilege
           you have to give me."
           Buddha said, "That too is okay because I know you."
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Ananda was very much puzzled by Buddha's answer that yes, God exists, but he could not ask in
           the day, he had to wait for the night. In the afternoon, another man came and asked the same
           question: "Is there a God?" And Buddha said, "No, not at all."
                Now, things became more complicated -- Ananda was almost in a state of falling apart. But this
           was nothing. By the evening, a third man came; and he sat by the side and he asked Buddha, "Will
           you say something about God?"
                Buddha looked at him, closed his eyes and remained silent. The man also closed his eyes. They
           sat in silence for half an hour; then the man touched Buddha's feet and said, "Thank you for your
           answer," and went away.
                Now, it was too much. Everybody gone -- the time was passing so slowly and Ananda was
           boiling; and when everybody was gone, he simply jumped up. He said, "This is too much! You
           should take care, at least, of us poor people too. Those three persons don't know all the three
           answers, they only know one answer. But we are with you, we have heard all the three answers. You
           should think of us too, we have been going crazy. If this is going to go on, what will happen to us?"
                Buddha said, "You should remember one thing. First, those questions were not your questions,
           those answers were not given to you. Why should you jump into it? It is none of your business. It
           was something between me and those three people."
                Ananda said, "That I can understand. It is not my question, and you have not answered me. But I
           have ears and I can hear; I heard the question, I heard the answer. And all the three answers are
           contradiction upon contradiction. First you say yes, then you say no; and then you remain silent, you
           don't say anything. And that great guy touched your feet and said, `Thank you for your answer.' And
           we are sitting there and there has been no answer at all!"
                Buddha said, "You think about life in terms of absolutes, that's your trouble. Life is relative. To
           that man, the answer was yes; it was relative to him, related to the implications of his questions, his
           being, his life. That man to whom I said yes was an atheist; he does not believe in God, and I do not
           want to support his stupid atheism. He goes on proclaiming there is no God. Even if a small space is
           left unexplored ... perhaps in that space God exists. You can say with absoluteness there is no God
           when you have explored all existence. That is possible only in ultimate samadhi.
                "And that man was simply believing that there was no God -- he had no existential experience of
           there being no God. I had to shatter him, I had to bring him down to earth. I had to hit him hard on
           the head. My yes was relative to that person, to his whole personality. His question was not just
           words. The same question from somebody else may have received another answer.
                And that's what happened when I said to the other person, no. The question was the same, the
           words were the same -- but the man behind those words was different. So the relationship between
           the words and the implications had changed. It is relative. The second man was as much an idiot as
           was the first, but on the opposite pole: he believed there is God. And he had come to get my support
           for his belief. I don't support anybody's belief because belief as such is the barrier. It does not matter
           what belief it is, true or false. No belief is true, no belief is false; all beliefs are simply idiotic. I had
           to say to that man, no.
                "And the third man had come with no belief. He had not asked me, `Is there a God?' No, he had
           come with an open heart, with no mind, no belief, no ideology. He was really a sane man, intelligent.
           He asked me, `Would you say something about God?' He was not in search of somebody's support
           for his belief system, he was not in search of a faith, he was not asking with a prejudiced mind. And
           he was asking about my experience: `Would you say something about God?'
                "I could see that this man has no belief, this way or that; he is innocent. With such an innocent
           person, language is meaningless. I cannot say yes, I cannot say no; only silence is the answer. So I
           closed my eyes and remained silent.
                "And my feeling about the man proved to be true. He closed his eyes -- seeing me close my eyes,
           he closed his eyes. He understood my answer: Be silent, go in. He remained in silence for half an
           hour with me and he received the answer -- that God is not a theory, a belief, that you have to be for
           or against.
                "That's why he thanked me for the answer, and you are puzzled for what answer he thanked me.
           He received the answer that silence is divine, and to be silent is to be godly; there is no other god
           than silence. And he went tremendously fulfilled, contented. He has found the answer.
                "I have not given him the answer, he has found the answer. I have simply allowed him to have a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           taste of my presence."
               I am telling this story for two reasons; one, to illustrate that nothing is absolute. You are asking
           me, is it absolutely necessary to have spiritual guidance? It all depends, nothing is absolute.
               For the first man, there was no need for any guidance. He had not come for any guidance. So was
           the case with the second man; although he was opposite to the first, he had not come for any
           guidance. He wanted a ready-made answer. Those two were not seekers. They wanted somebody
           else to take their responsibility. They were parasites, suckers. They wanted to throw their burdens
           onto somebody else's shoulders.
               "But the third man was a seeker. He had not asked for guidance, but he received it. I had not
           given it to him."
               It is not necessarily so, that you can receive only that which is given to you. There are so many
           ways to receive it. You can steal it, you can borrow it, you can simply find it on the street -- it may
           have fallen from somebody's pocket.
               Gurdjieff actually used to say to his disciples that unless you are ready to steal the truth from the
           Master he is not going to give it to you. He will only give it to you when he sees that now you have
           come to the limit of your tolerance; now if he is not going to give it to you, you are going to kill him.
           Only then will he give it; only then are you capable of receiving it.
               But Buddha is saying a different, totally different thing. He is saying, "I have not given it to him
           but he has received it. I was simply present, available -- just like a river flows, and if you are thirsty
           you drink. The river does not give the water to you, does not invite you. You have to bend down and
           make a cup with your hands to take the water. The river is available. If you are an idiot you can go
           on standing on the bank of the river for your whole life -- thirsty, cursing the river, "It goes on
           flowing with so much water, and I am thirsty and standing here, and nobody takes care of me!"
               You will have to allow the presence of the Master to flow into you. You will have to be open,
           vulnerable. That man in his silence was vulnerable. He left all his windows and doors open to let the
           breeze blow. And when you are so close to a Master like Gautam Buddha, you will be filled by his
           presence, his waves will go on shattering on your shores. Nothing is being given, but much has been
           taken in.
               You ask me: Is it not absolutely necessary to have spiritual guidance? It raises so many
           questions. Let us try to understand the implication of different words in it. Spiritual guidance ... what
           spiritual guidance? stand on your head? fast every alternate day? go on changing a mantra? ... What
           is spiritual guidance?
               Guidance is possible, guides exist. When you go to visit an historical place, ruins, then there are
           guides who tell you what used to be a palace and is now a ruin. I used to go to many places, just
           traveling around India, talking to people, finding my people. On the way there were so many ruins --
           India is such an old and ancient country, there are so many places.
               Sarnath is near Varanasi, where Buddha gave his first sermon. I was staying with a doctor friend
           who was very insistent that I should go. "Sarnath is so close, just a half-hour ride." He was willing to
           take me, and he knew the best guide, so he would make every arrangement. And he could take me
           around the ruins of the temples -- the places where Buddha lived, where he sat, where he spoke for
           the first time.
               And now many new temples have arisen because of Buddha. All the countries of the East have
           made their temples and their guest houses, because people from Japan, people from China, people
           from Tibet, people from Burma, people from Ceylon, from all over Asia, continuously go on coming
           on a pilgrimage -- and Sarnath is one of the places where they are bound to come. All these countries
           have made big places, big temples, so Sarnath is not just ruins. On one hand it is the ruins of
           twenty-five centuries, and in these twenty-five centuries, many Buddhist kings have made temples
           and they have gone into ruins. Now new countries go on making temples.
           So I said, "If you insist I will go."
               The best guide happened to be one of the Buddhist monks, Jagdish Kashyap. He is a learned
           man, and finally became the head of the Buddhist research institute. But at that time he was the guide
           for the kings from Buddhist countries, queens, ambassadors, big shots. He took me around, and he
           started saying things that he must have been saying every day to people who were coming. He said,
           "This is the place where Buddha sat and gave his first sermon."
               I asked him, "Do you have any inner certainty about it?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He said, "Inner certainty? It is an historical fact."
               I said, "I am not concerned about history. I am asking you, do you have any inner certainty?
           Have you sat in this place and felt that a man like Buddha may have sat in this place? Have you felt
           any vibe?"
           He said, "My God, these ... I am a GUIDE!"
               But I said, "Otherwise, what historical proof can you give? For centuries it has been said King
           Ashoka has made a pillar and written that this is the place. But he himself lived five hundred years
           after Buddha. Gossips change with five minutes ... five hundred years! This pillar is not an historical
           fact; it was made five hundred years after. You give me something solid."
               He said, "You are a difficult person. Come with me to my house and have a cup of tea."
               I said, "That seems far better than your historical proofs."
               Sitting in his house was such a difficulty. Just to drink one cup of tea was difficult -- so many
           mosquitoes, and so big I have never seen. In India there are great places where there are really giant
           mosquitoes, but nothing compared to Sarnath. Just drinking tea, I told him, "You say Buddha gave
           his first sermon here."
           He said, "Yes."
               And I said, "You told me on the way that in another city in Vasali, he gave forty sermons."
           I said, "Why didn't he come to Sarnath again?"
               He said, "How can I answer why he ... that was up to him, whether he wanted to come back or
           not. You ask strange questions."
           I said, "No, because I have the answer."
               He said, "You have the answer ... why he didn't come twice?"
               I said, "Because of the mosquitoes. I am also not going to come twice. Finished! And I call this
           proof; there is no need for any historical proof. These mosquitoes are enough to prove that any
           intelligent person would not come here again. And you must be an idiot that you go on living here."
               Guides are good in ruins, historical places; but you are not an historical place, you are not a ruin.
           You are a living being. You are not a ruin. You are a living being. You are here, now, present. You
           don't need guidance -- you need presence. And try to understand the difference.
               In guidance you are given certain rules: Do this, don't do that -- ten commandments. But you can
           follow those rules, you can follow those commandments; you will be just an imitator and nothing
           else. You may become very disciplined but inside you will remain as hollow as ever.
               I had a friend who was a homeopathic doctor. Now homeopathic doctors are almost starving,
           nobody goes to them. Or sometimes people go to them when they have tried everywhere else and are
           just on the last hope, ready to die, knowing perfectly well .... This homeopathic doctor used to live
           next door to me, and whenever I saw a patient coming to him, I said, "This man is dying. If he is not,
           why is he going to the homeopathic doctor?"
               I used to keep a record, and I found that anybody who came to him died within a few weeks. And
           I showed him the record. I said, "I have been keeping a record for you. You are some great doctor!
           Anybody who comes to you, you don't let him live more than four weeks. That is the longest span
           you give."
           He said, "You mean I killed him?"
               I said, "No, I don't mean that, I mean they come here only when they are dying. Before that
           nobody thinks of homeopathy as a pathy or any scientific treatment. People just laugh at it. The
           moment I introduce you to somebody and say, `He is a homeopathic doctor,' they start smiling."
               He was a poor man -- because if patients are not coming, and those who come, die, it becomes
           notorious all around: "Don't go to that doctor. Once a man goes to that doctor, then his fate is
           sealed." And he said, "The trouble is that not only do they die, they don't give me the fees! Before
           giving me the fees they are gone."
               He showed me one day, his post office account: one hundred and thirty-six rupees. He said,
           "Once these one hundred and thirty-six rupees are finished, what do you think I should do?"
               I said, "Why wait for your one hundred and thirty-six rupees to be finished? Take them out,
           enjoy, and become a sannyasin."
               First he thought that I was joking, but then he said, "The idea is right. Why should I wait? At
           least once in my life I can enjoy for two, three days whatever I want and then become a sannyasin.
           This is a good idea." So he became a sannyasin.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               After ten or twelve years passed ... I had no news about him, what had happened to him, where
           he went -- just one day, when I was passing near Gwalior somebody told me that one sannyasin lives
           in the nearby forest. I asked the name, and I said, "Are you certain?"
               He said, "I am absolutely certain -- I go there. He is a very nice man, and he is a great
           homeopathic doctor. I am almost a disciple to him."
               I said, "I must go and see" -- so I went. He was living in a small house. The window was open
           because he was in the forest, and he was naked, walking inside the room. I saw him from the outside,
           walking inside the room. I saw him from the outside, walking naked. I knocked on the door. He
           came with a towel wrapped around. I said, "Why did you do this?"
               He said, "Did you see me walking naked, from outside?"
               I said, "I have seen you, you can put aside your towel. There is no need."
           "No," he said, "not now -- slowly slowly."
           I said, "What do you mean?"
               He said, "I am disciplining myself. That is my goal, to become a nude monk." That is the highest
           goal, to become a nude monk; and he was practicing for it by walking nude, then going into the city
           with just the towel on. Then one day, just by chance, the towel slips ... slowly, slowly.
               I said, "I can understand. You are following a right methodology -- but this will not make you a
           real sannyasin, this will make you only a practiced circus man."

               What can you practice? Can you practice love? Yes, you can do all the actions of love; you can
           hug somebody, but it does not mean that it is love. It may be just a wolf's hug. Yes, in love, people
           hug, but that does not apply vice-versa, that when you hug you are in love. Yes, when people love
           they have certain expressions for each other. That does not mean that by repeating those expressions
           you are in love.
               This is something very essential to understand: when a person like Mahavira became nude, it was
           not practice; he had not practiced it. He was a king. He distributed all his property, land, money;
           whatsoever he had, he distributed it all to the masses, to the people. With just a shawl around he left
           town. But when he was just leaving the town, he met a beggar who was crippled, who was trying to
           come to the town because he had heard that Mahavira was distributing things. But he was crippled,
           so he was just dragging himself, without legs. And he was late, so he met mahavira when Mahavira
           was getting out of the city.
               He said, "I was coming, but I am without legs so I could not reach in time. You are leaving, and
           the poorest man of your kingdom has not received anything."
               Now Mahavira said, "I have not got anything else except this shawl, but it is very precious
           studded with diamonds." So he tore half and gave half to the beggar. He said, "This will be enough
           for your whole life and I will manage with the other half." So now it remained just like a towel
           wrapped around him.
               As Mahavira was entering the forest, a rosebush caught hold of the half that was his shawl. He
           suddenly found himself naked. He thought to take the shawl back from the rosebush, but then he
           thought, "What is the point? Sooner or later I am going to lose this shawl. It is so precious that even
           while I am asleep I will have to take care of it. It is better the rosebush has taken its share and freed
           me completely. Now I have nothing to fear -- nothing can be stolen. And I am left exactly as I was
           born."
           This is not practice, this is simple
           understanding.
               Now this man was practicing for twelve years, slowly slowly reducing his clothes: four, three,
           two one. Now he had come to a towel; and in the house he was naked, outside the house, he wore the
           towel. And the villagers all around knew him as naked. He was really making them see, that's why
           he kept the windows open. This was his practice.
               He would become a nude sannyasin one day and would be very famous and people would
           worship him because he had renounced everything.
               And it happened that I was in Patiala, in Punjab, eight years after meeting him in the towel, in the
           forest. He had become very famous, thousands of people used to gather to listen to him. The king of
           Patiala, who was my host, told me that a great saint had come. I said, "I know the saint, and I know
           that he is great."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The king said, "No, it is ... I am not talking non-seriously, he is really a great saint. He has
           renounced everything."
               I said, "I know how much he has renounced: one hundred and thirty-six rupees."
           He said, "How do you know the exact amount?"
               I said, "You can ask him: one hundred and thirty-six rupees was in his post office account."
               He invited the great saint. I was in another room, and I said, "First you ask him; if he refuses to
           say then I will come in."
               So first the king asked, "How much did you renounce?"
               And the man, in a saintly way, said, "Who cares? Who remembers how much it was? But I
           renounced it all. It is all useless, it is just a burden. I will suggest that you too, renounce this
           kingdom, this Patiala kingdom. It is so peaceful and so silent when you renounce the worldly
           things."
               Then I came in, and he ... it was worth seeing! he suddenly stood up, and he said, "From where
           have you come?"
               I said, "I was here and was listening to your great spiritual things. What about one hundred and
           thirty-six rupees? Have your forgotten? Could you not be true and say to the king, `I have renounced
           one hundred and thirty-six rupees'?"
               The king said to the man, "You are known as a great saint."
               I said, "He is a great homeopathic doctor too. And he had to renounce the world, it is not that he
           wanted to renounce it. And he renounced it on my advice. He had to renounce because every patient
           coming to him was dying. He had become so notorious, there was no other way. The world had
           rejected him. I suggested to him that it is better to renounce the world than to be rejected by the
           world; why miss such an opportunity?"
               There were tears in the man's eyes and he said, "I am very sorry that I was not telling the truth,
           but the truth is that I am also living a complete lie: I am not a saint at all -- it is all practiced."
               And I told him, "I have told you that practice will not make you a saint. Saintliness comes out of
           understanding, not out of practice. It is the flowering of your intelligence, not a certain discipline."
               So what kind of guidance can you get? No real Master gives guidance. Those who give guidance
           simply show that they are not Masters at all. And there are millions around the world who are
           guiding people. In every religion, rabbis, priests, monks, are guiding people, helping people to grow
           spiritually. Nobody even bothers to ask himself: Has any REAL Master ever given guidance?
               Bayazid, a Sufi mystic, remained with his Master, Junnaid, for twelve years. When he came,
           Junnaid told him to sit down. Every day he would come and Junnaid would say, "Sit down." Many
           would come and talk, and this and that, but Junnaid never asked anything about him. In the evening,
           when Junnaid withdrew into his silent room, Bayazid would get up and leave. It continued for twelve
           years. Every day Bayazid would come and immediately Junnaid would say, "Sit down."
               After twelve years Junnaid looked at him and said, "Those fools have been wasting their time
           and my time. What about you?"
               Bayazid said, "I am immensely happy just with your saying, `Sit down.' And slowly slowly,
           slowly slowly, everything in me has settled. It is not only me just physically sitting. Spiritually
           inside me everything has settled. There is no turmoil, no question. You have given me so much. I
           cannot, in any way, repay it."
               But Junnaid said, "I have not done anything -- I was simply saying, `Sit down.' Do you think that
           is something for which you have to be grateful to me? Anybody in your place would have killed me!
           Twelve years! and nothing but, `Sit down' every day! The whole day sitting there, and again the next
           day, the same story."
               But Bayazid said, "That is not the question. I am not saying anything about your giving, or not
           giving. Just sitting by your side I was getting it. I don't know whether you were giving it or not, but
           just sitting by your side I was getting it. It was simply flowing in me."
           Spiritual guidance is nonsense.
               Spiritual presence is the way of a real Master. And it does not need you to sit down for twelve
           years. That happened in the case of Bayazid -- all cases are different. It may happen just by a look
           into your eyes. It may happen just by a touch on your head. So there is no fixed pattern of guidance
           with a real Master. And I am talking about pseudo-teachers.
               With a real Master anything can become a transfer of energy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           All that is needed is your availability.
           All that is needed is your indefensibility.
                Ordinarily everybody is defending himself. That's how you have been brought up in the world:
           be defensive, be alert, because the whole world is your enemy. And if you are not defensive, you will
           be crushed. In fact, people like Machiavelli say that the best way to defend is to attack. If you really
           want to defend yourself, before anybody attacks you, you attack. That's the best way of defense. And
           certainly it is.
                If you are in search of defense then don't wait for somebody to attack you; it is better you attack.
           Make the other person defensive and you will be one step ahead. That is better for your defense.
           Machiavelli is the real teacher of all your spiritual guides. They are not helping you to drop your
           defenses.
                Now this Junnaid saying to Bayazid, "Sit down" -- and then not even looking at him for the
           whole day .... It must have been difficult in the beginning, almost unbearable. When Bayazid was
           leaving after twelve years, paying his tributes, gratitudes, touching his Master's feet, who has never
           said anything other than "Sit down," he asked Junnaid, "Will you tell me something about YOUR
           Master, just as a parting message?"
                Junnaid said, "It was not much different from what has happened between me and you. It was a
           little more difficult. For six years he would not allow me in his room; I had to stand outside.
           Anybody .... What do you say? -- Harry, Tom, Dick? or Dick, Tom, Harry? These three names are so
           difficult. I can never manage to remember who is first, who is second, who is third. Tom ... Dick and
           Harry ... Okay, I will try to remember that Harry is last: Tom, Dick, Harry. So all Toms, all Dicks,
           and all Harrys were allowed in. Just Junnaid was not; for six years he remained outside.
                "After six years the Master himself came outside, took my hand in his own hand, and said,
           `Please come in.' Then for six years again, there was silence. I was allowed in, and I used to come
           and sit, and wait for any guidance. After six years he looked at me and smiled; and then for six years
           again he forgot about me completely.
                "It took eighteen years. After eighteen years, he called me close, and hugged me, and kissed me
           on my forehead; and that very moment something happened. I don't know how and what it was, but
           something in me died, and I was completely renewed -- a renewal. I looked all around; I had the
           same eyes, but everything looked new, fresh, alive -- the whole existence became a beauty. And just
           the way you are feeling grateful to me, although I have not done anything, I also had felt grateful to
           him. He said, `I have not done anything. Your patience for six years standing outside earned my
           coming out and taking you in. You deserved it, you were ready for it, to come in.
                "`For six years I did not pay any attention to you,' he said, `but I never felt a single moment of
           depression in you, hopelessness in you, anger in you, or hostility towards me, that a man who was
           keeping you sitting for twelve years, wasting your life .... That's why I smiled. I smiled to give you a
           sign that you were coming closer, just to give you a little encouragement.'"
                Six years of standing outside, and he calls it a little encouragement! Six years of sitting and he
           calls it a little encouragement -- a smile. But with a true Master these small things are not small.
           Remember, everything is relative. Its meaning, its depth, changes with the person.
                When a Master smiles it is not just an ordinary smile.
                And it was understood. Then another six years passed, and Junnaid's Master said, "I have not
           called you on my own, I had to call you close to me. It was something irresistible. You have
           managed such an openness, such a great trust that I am grateful to you. You need not be grateful to
           me; I had to call you. In fact I have been too hard on you and I simply kissed you so that you could
           forgive me all those eighteen years of hardship."
                A true Master looks at things in a totally different way. But that kiss transformed Junnaid ....
                In the human being's growth, the presence of the Master is needed, but not any spiritual
           guidance.
           All guidance is bogus. It is exploitation.
                The real thing never comes through practice, through discipline.
                The real thing only happens between two living flames.
                All that is needed is that those two living flames should come closer.
           Now, coming closer is not a discipline.
           It is a love affair, it is not a practice.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               That's why I say that religion is a love affair, a love affair with existence itself.
               Be silent, be available, trust -- because you have nothing to lose.
               And then one day -- of course it is unpredictable when, one never knows because things are so
           relative. It may happen in this moment, it may take years, but it doesn't matter.
               Once you have detected a real Master, once you have had a little glimpse of an authentic man,
           then it does not matter when it happens. It does not matter even whether it happens or not.
           In finding the Master it has happened already.
               Now it is only a question of when you realize it, when you recognize it. You may take a little
           time, you may take a long time -- but it is immaterial.
           I repeat: In finding the Master it has happened.
           Now take your time, and whenever you want to recognize -- recognize this life, next life ... time is
           immaterial.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                              Chapter #11
                    Chapter title: Science and religion -- two petals of the same rose
           11 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503115
              ShortTitle: DARK11
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 127 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              ISN'T A SYNTHESIS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION NEEDED?


               The very idea of synthesis already accepts that they are not only two but opposed to each other.
           Unless there is an antithesis there is no question of synthesis at all.
               For me, science and religion are two sides of the same coin. Science is looking outwards, religion
           is looking inwards, but both are the same kind of looking, the same kind of search. They may have
           different names -- that does not matter at all.
               Science calls it observation, religion calls it awareness.
               Science calls it experiment, religion calls it experience.
               The difference of words simply signifies that their dimensions are different.
               Science is focused on the object; and remember the meaning of the word "object" -- that which
           hinders, objects, prevents.
               Religion is focused on the subject. Without the subject there can be no object; without the object
           there can be no subject.
               The subjectivity of man's consciousness and the objectivity of existence are totally
           interdependent. But this idiotic idea of synthesis between religion and science has a long history, just
           as long as foolishness and stupidity. It is part of the same parcel.
               Just now, one British marine scientist, eighty-nine-year-old Sir Alistair Hardy, has won the most
           prestigious British award, the Templeton award. The award has been established to give to people
           who are trying to create a synthesis between religion and science. So all kinds of idiots are going to
           get it -- Mother Teresa has got it.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Now this other fool, Sir Alistair Hardy, has got it. He must be really senile .... The things for
           which he has got the award and the things which he has been saying are worth close analysis. He
           says that he is a follower of Charles Darwin; he strongly believes in the theory of evolution -- and he
           also believes in religion. His whole life he has been trying to create a synthesis between religion and
           science, to bring them closer together.
                He says he does not believe in the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven. That's why I call him an
           idiot. Why can't you believe in the ascension of Jesus Christ? If you can believe God created the
           whole world then the ascension to heaven is a very small thing. If God can do all this mess, can
           create you, Sir Alistair Hardy, then what is the problem in the ascension of Jesus Christ?
                Just see the stupid mind: the whole world is created by God, and still he believes in the theory of
           evolution. That is a miracle far bigger than the ascension of Jesus Christ. Creation and evolution are
           absolute opposites to each other. You can't believe in both. Creation simply denies any possibility of
           evolution. That's the meaning of creation: God created man as man.
                According to Charles Darwin, God created man never. He created monkeys; man evolved. Man
           does not owe his creation to God. God must have had some other idea in His mind when He created
           the monkey; otherwise He would have created man Himself. Why go so indirectly -- first create all
           kinds of monkeys, and then a few monkeys evolve into man?
                Charles Darwin's theory is only a hypothesis. And Alistair Hardy certainly is eighty-nine years
           old: I think for at least fifty years he has not looked into all the research that has completely
           destroyed the theory of evolution. Now no prominent scientist believes in the theory of evolution,
           there is so much evidence against it.
                Just look at the simple fact: why did only a few monkeys evolve? There are millions of monkeys
           still waiting to evolve. For thousands of years we have seen man as man, and in these thousands of
           years no other monkey jumped out of the trees and said, "Here I am, no longer a monkey -- I am a
           man!" For these thousands of years not a single monkey has evolved into man. The whole idea seems
           to be fictitious.
                And why did only monkeys evolve into man? Elephants are there, they have not evolved;
           crocodiles are there, they have not evolved; tigers are there, they have not evolved -- far more
           intelligent people than monkeys. The elephant is very wise .... And now we know that there are sea
           animals which perhaps have a better mind than man, far more sensitive, far more fine. They have not
           evolved.
                If you look around the world there are millions of species of animals, birds, insects; nobody has
           evolved. Elephants are just elephants, as they have always been. Camels are just camels, as they
           have always been. It just happened to a few monkeys -- becoming man? If evolution is a truth then
           the whole of creation must be evolving: elephants should be evolving into a better being, tigers
           should be evolving into a better being, perhaps non-vegetarians turning into vegetarians, camels
           becoming Christians.
                Evolution -- why only to a few monkeys? If evolution is a fact, a reality, then it should be
           happening all around. Trees should come out of the ground and start walking, talking. They have
           been standing there for millions of years -- no evolution, no sign of evolution, just the same circle
           goes on moving. The Hindus call it the wheel of life and death. The same spokes come up, go down,
           come up, go down. The elephant creates, reproduces, more elephants; just the way he was produced,
           he produces. His children will produce elephants.
                Charles Darwin's theory has remained only a hypothesis.
                In the first place, to give the prize to Alistair Hardy is absolutely wrong because in the last fifty
           years the theory has been losing ground every day. There are more and more anti-Darwinians --
           more than Darwinians -- because facts and realities don't support Darwin. Secondly, he does not
           understand at all that creation means once and for all. That's what Christians believe: in six days God
           completed the creation.
                Darwin is trying to say He did not complete it. There were possibilities of evolution open that
           God only began but He never ended. He left it open-ended. But this is nowhere mentioned -- not in
           the Christian BIBLE nor in any other holy book of the world. Wherever God is believed to be the
           creator, He creates completely, entirely. And He is the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent:
           whatever is the best He knows and He has done it.
                Evolution means that you can improve upon God -- that His creation is just a primitive thing, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you have evolved out of it.
               I call these people idiots for a specific reason -- because they can't see simple contradictions.
           Creation and evolution cannot go together.
               However hard Mr. Hardy tries he cannot succeed in putting them together. They are simply
           antagonistic to each other.
               Evolution means nothing is complete, nothing will ever be complete; everything is in a process.
           Existence is an ongoing phenomenon. It is not that on Monday God started, and on Saturday evening
           He looked at what He had created and said, "Good" -- just the way I say it; even where it is not
           needed I say it. And at least at that time, when God said it, it was not needed because there was
           nobody to hear it.
               Monkeys cannot understand it, elephants cannot understand it, tigers cannot understand it. And
           man was yet to come, if Charles Darwin is correct. In fact, even if man was there .... All religions
           believe that God created man, man is not an evolved animal; God created him -- not only did He
           create him, He created him in His own image.
               Now, do you think the monkey is the image of God? That He created the monkey in His own
           image?
               Charles Darwin was also a very orthodox Christian. But he never thought about it, whether God
           created the monkey and then said, "I create you in my own image," and thanked Himself and said,
           "Good"; was rejoiced seeing the monkey: "I have succeeded in creating myself." Neither Charles
           Darwin bothered about that, nor does his follower Alistair Hardy bother at all. They continue to
           remain Christians and they continue to believe in the theory of evolution. You cannot be a Christian
           and a believer in the theory of evolution.
               Whatever God created must have been something totally different. In all these millions of years
           everything must have changed, if evolution is true. But they don't see the simple contradiction.
           Evolution denies God.
           Let me make it absolutely clear:
               Evolution denies God because evolution denies creation.
               And if there is no creation there is no need of a creator.
               These are simple implications. God is a hypothesis to support another hypothesis -- the creation.
           If there is no creation there is no God, because the whole base of His existence is demolished. If
           evolution is the thing then one wonders whether God is evolving or not. If monkeys have become
           men, what has happened to God?
               Sometimes such questions harass me very much; why don't these idiots ask, "What happened to
           God?" Charles Darwin never asked this. If even monkeys evolved, at least God should have evolved.
           Nothing has been heard of that guy since that last Saturday. Sunday of course was a holiday, He
           rested. Then comes Monday again -- but He had finished His creation already. He had put "The End"
           on His film on Saturday.
               Now, for God, Monday cannot come. Or if it comes it will be so empty -- nothing to do. The
           calendar will go on moving, Monday, Tuesday, for eternity. What happens to God? Religions created
           the idea of God and forgot all about the fact that someday somebody is going to ask what happened
           to Him, whether He died, got lost somewhere .... Religions have no answer to what happened to God.
               At least evolution has not happened to God, because no religion can accept the idea of God
           evolving; God means perfection, absolute perfection. He is the last word -- the first and the last, both
           alpha and omega. There is no way beyond the omega point.
               And if evolution is not happening to God there will be a great discrepancy. What He has created
           is evolving, and God is stuck at that Saturday, four thousand and four years before Jesus Christ. It
           must have been the first of January, Monday, I assume -- unless it was April Fool's Day; that is
           another matter. Creation goes on evolving and God is stuck where He was; He remains aboriginal,
           primitive.
               You have gone far, far away from Him. And you can see it in Jewish scriptures; in the TALMUD
           God says, "I am a very angry God, I am a very jealous God. I am not nice. I am not even your uncle"
           -- speaking exactly in the Jewish style: "I am not your uncle." This God is very primitive -- anger?
               Buddha seems to be far more evolved even though he is not a God, he is only a human being. But
           he seems to be far more evolved because he has no anger; he is far more evolved because he has no
           jealousy. And certainly he is nice. Of course, he is far better than any uncle.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               God is stuck -- His creation goes on evolving. Charles Darwin never bothered about that.
               This man, Alistair Hardy, gets the Templeton award -- but all these awards are political! It is a
           big award, one hundred and sixty thousand pounds; one hundred and sixty thousand pounds is big
           money. Why is it being given to a man who has no experience of religion at all? -- this award is
           meant for those who will bring religion and science closer.
               He has no religious experience, and as far as science is concerned he is fifty years behind; he is
           no longer worthy to be called a scientist. Perhaps half a century before he was, but within these fifty
           years he became stuck, just like his God.
               The theory of evolution has almost gone down the drain. No scientist worth the name is in
           support of it, for the simple reason that existence seems to be certainly changing, moving, but not
           evolving; otherwise, in thousands of years a few men must have evolved into supermen.
               The idea of supermen arose because of this theory of evolution: if monkeys can become men,
           then certainly a few men are going to become supermen. Who are the supermen? Adolf Hitler?
           Benito Mussolini? Joseph Stalin? Who is the superman?
               As far as I can see, existence remains exactly the same.
           Consciousness evolves, not bodies.
               Consciousness moves to higher peaks, bodies simply go on doing their routine job. But
           consciousness is not in any way bound by the body and its program. Consciousness is something in
           you which is utterly free. So to me there is no contradiction. Existence is as it has always been, as far
           as the physical aspect is concerned -- but consciousness has evolved immensely. But Darwin is not
           concerned with consciousness, neither is Alistair Hardy interested in consciousness.
               Consciousness is a totally different dimension. I said to you, it is subjectivity. The objects will
           remain the same but the subject, the seer in you, the watcher in you, the witness in you, can have
           immense levels of height; it can go on rising higher and higher.
               Even when a buddha is there his body is not different from yours. His body follows the same
           routine biological program as your body. All religions have been trying to prove that the bodies of
           their prophets, messiahs, incarnations of God, don't follow the ordinary routine biology. That is just
           an effort to prove that their bodies have evolved. That's why Christians talk of the "ascension of
           Jesus Christ." He does not die like you, or like me. He simply ascends towards heaven, fully in his
           body.
               His body is not left behind, he takes it with him. Mohammed did even better: he ascended to
           heaven with his horse too! Now, sitting on that horse -- naturally the horse must have evolved. So
           why is Alistair Hardy so much disturbed about Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is not doing very great;
           even Mohammed's horse did it, it is not something very special. But he never says anything about
           Jesus' virgin birth.
               These people who are trying to synthesize science and religion are very afraid of bringing things
           in which may create conflict. It will be difficult scientifically to prove the virgin birth, the Holy
           Ghost. He does not talk about it. But without it you cannot be a Christian. These are the fundamental
           beliefs of a Christian; these are the test of whether you are a man of faith or a doubter.
               If you doubt the virgin birth of Jesus Christ you are not a religious person. And I know this man
           Hardy: if he cannot believe in the ascension of Jesus' body, how can he believe in the descension of
           the Holy Ghost and his raping a poor girl?
               It is a simple case of rape -- and still you go on calling him the HOLY Ghost. Rape seems to be
           something holy? At least after the rape he should have been called the unholy ghost. Before that he
           may have been the Holy Ghost but this was enough proof that this man is not holy. But Hardy does
           not ask, because he must be afraid: if he asks these questions, then how to bring religion and science
           together?
               Anybody who tries to bring them together is going to be in great difficulty.
               In India Mahatma Gandhi was trying hard to bring all the religions together. Of course it was
           politically motivated but he tried his whole life -- a tremendous dedication -- to bring all the
           religions together. But how was he doing it?
               I was too small; I saw him when I was very small, met him, talked with him, but it was not time
           for me to discuss. I was not even aware of what he was doing. But I discussed with his son, Ramdas,
           I discussed with his chief religious follower, Vinoba Bhave, and I have discussed with many of his
           disciples who had lived with him very closely. None of them has any answer .... And they are not
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ordinary people.
               Acharya J. B. Kripalani, who must be ninety-five years old, was a professor before he became
           committed to Mahatma Gandhi's programs -- a learned man. I asked him, "Can't you see that Gandhi
           chooses from the KORAN only those sentences which are almost exactly the same as the
           BHAGAVAD GITA, the Hindu holy scripture? He leaves out everything that can create problems.
           He chooses from THE BIBLE -- again the criterion is the GITA. The GITA is the ultimate truth. He
           will not say it but his action shows it, that the GITA is the criterion.
               Anything that is in the GITA, wherever it exists, is true. So he picks up fragments from the
           KORAN, from the BIBLE, from the DHAMMAPADA, from the TAO TE CHING, from all
           religious books of the world. But what actually is he saying? He is saying that the GITA is the only
           truth. Yes, other holy books have also a few fragments here and there, reflecting the truth. The GITA
           is true as a whole; the KORAN, only in fragments; the BIBLE, only in fragments. And those
           fragments are to coincide with the GITA; that is the only criterion.
               And he does the same with Jesus Christ, Hazrat Mohammed, Gautam Buddha, Mahavira,
           Krishna -- the same. He has the Hindu ideal of the perfect man, the man of God; then he goes on
           choosing. But a Christian cannot choose from Jesus Christ's life: either he accepts it whole, or he
           rejects it whole.
               What about Jesus Christ drinking alcohol? Now, Mahatma Gandhi is in trouble. In his ashram
           even tea was not allowed, what to say about alcohol?
               I asked his son,"Your father continued his whole life talking about Jesus Christ, even sometimes
           he expressed the desire to become a Christian. But what about Jesus Christ eating meat, drinking
           alcohol, mixing with prostitutes? Can Gandhi accept this man as a man of God? No, he ignores all
           these facts.
               The same is being done by all the people who try to synthesize. Now there are hundreds of facts
           in religion -- the so-called religions -- which go against science. How are you going to reconcile
           them. Either you have to deny them or you have to deny science.
               THE BIBLE believes in a flat earth. And you cannot edit THE BIBLE, you cannot change
           anything in THE BIBLE; it is God's book. You are just a human being. This will be outrageous, to
           change it. Now what are you going to do?
               It is an accepted fact now that the earth is round, it is a globe, it is not flat. Either THE BIBLE is
           wrong or science is wrong. Hardy has not the courage to say that THE BIBLE is wrong, nor has he
           the courage to say that science is wrong.
               So these people go on playing games with words: "We want to create a synthesis" -- but how can
           you create a synthesis? And when they talk about religion they forget completely that there are three
           hundred religions in the world. First, create the synthesis among three hundred religions so that you
           can have something called religion.
               That is absolutely impossible in the first place because there are religions that believe in God;
           there are religions that believe in an eternal soul, there are religions that don't believe in an eternal
           soul. There are religions that believe in one consciousness; in all of us only one consciousness exists.
           And there are religions that believe that each consciousness is individual and remains for ever
           individual; there are millions of souls.
               Jainism is that religion which believes that there are infinitely infinite souls in existence. Not
           only one infinite soul in existence. Not only one infinite, they use double -- not only in one direction,
           not only horizontally infinite, vertically too; so there are infinitely infinite souls in existence. And
           there is Hinduism which believes there is only one consciousness, the brahma, and all
           consciousnesses simply are part of it. It is one light shining in so many people; but it is the same
           source.
               How are you going to ...? And these religions have existed for thousands of years quarreling with
           each other, arguing with each other. They have not come to any single conclusion.
               In Jainism it is almost a sin to breath because when you breathe, hot air comes from your nostrils
           and kills small living cells in the air. And it is true. You know that a doctor doing surgery keeps his
           nose covered. For what reason? He is afraid of infection -- infecting the patient, or getting infected
           himself. So there is a continuity of infectious cells living bodies, through the air.
               Just the other day I read the news that AIDS can be caught even by sneezing! Now, it is beyond
           the board, now you can simply forget all about it; you cannot save yourself. You can prevent people
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           kissing, you can prevent people making love. You can prevent people doing this, doing that -- but
           how can you prevent people sneezing? And a sneeze never comes knocking on your door saying,
           "Get ready, have your gloves on!" It simply comes.
                But a sneeze certainly throws out many infections. They say now it can infect you with AIDS, so
           it seems that you are a goner. You should rather accept it simply, that you have AIDS, rather than
           going through any test or anything. There is no point.
                So Jainas are not wrong. Their monks, just like surgeons, keep their mouth and nose covered. it
           is so difficult to talk to them because you cannot hear what they are saying. They are simply
           mumbling.
                When I used to see them I used to tell them, "You please write. Or, I am going to close the door
           -- you remove all this nonsense because ...." So those who were intelligent would allow me to close
           the door and would remove their paraphernalia. And I would say, "Just be like a human being;
           otherwise it looks like you are from somewhere else. And when you talk it is difficult to figure out
           what you are saying -- and I have to answer it."
                But then I became worried about another thing -- because they stink. Their breath stinks because
           Jaina monks are not allowed to do mouth-washing, use toothpaste, teethcleaning, no -- because you
           may be killing so many germs -- and each germ is as valuable as a human being. There is no
           question of any categories; all souls are equal.
                Jainism is perhaps the only communist religion, truly communist. Even the germs which will
           give you AIDS are equal to your soul. They are living beings.
                Now how are you going to reconcile Mohammedanism with Jainism, because the KORAN says,
           "God created animals, birds, for man to eat" -- a simple statement without any philosophical
           hogwash. You cannot manage .... The KORAN is simple in that way because Mohammed was
           uneducated. He could not write complicated philosophical treatises. He could not write, he could
           only talk. And the KORAN was not written in one sitting, it was written over many years. In
           Mohammed's whole life, once in a while he would manage to say some sentences, and they were
           written down.
                And those sentences are simple: "God created everything for man." So there is no violence -- in
           fact this is the whole purpose of all the animals, birds, trees. And if you don't kill them you are going
           against God; you have to eat them. Now how are you going to reconcile these two religions? And
           there are three hundred versions. On each single point you will find them different. So what religion
           do you want to be synthesized with science?
                Only what I call religiousness can be an intrinsic part of science. But that is not a synthesis
           because there is not antithesis.
           To me religion is really one aspect of science.
                Science has two hands. Now nobody tries to synthesize my right and left hand. They are
           synthesized, they are continuously synthesized without anybody synthesizing them; they are always
           in tune. While you are walking do you synthesize your left and right leg, keeping alert so that you do
           not commit some mistake?
                I have heard that in an army regiment a captain was training the new recruits and he was saying,
           "Left turn, right turn, march." And then he said, "All of you raise your left leg." Everybody raised his
           left leg. Only one man by mistake raised his right leg, so his right leg and the left leg of the person
           by his side, both were raised close together. And the captain said, "Who is that fool who is raising
           both his legs?" You cannot do that; even by mistake you cannot do that. Your whole body continues
           in an organic harmony.
                Science and religion to me are just like my two hands, dancing in tune, in synchronicity. There is
           no question of synthesis, there can never be a synthesis. There can only be oneness. And remember,
           oneness and synthesis are not the same.
                Synthesis is a very poor thing: somehow managing, trying hard, making the corners less corny,
           giving them a little rounder shape .... I am not saying horny, I am saying corny. Or do both the words
           mean the same? There is no possibility of any synthesis and there is no need either.
                In the first place, why can't we accept different dimensions having their own uniqueness? Today
           you are synthesizing science with religion, tomorrow you will synthesize science and religion and
           music, and then art, and dance -- but why? And you will create a hodgepodge.
                Now, synthesizing music with mathematics you will destroy both. The mathematician will be
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           dancing, and the dancers will be doing arithmetic. But what is the need? They are perfectly okay as
           they are, doing their work in their own dimension. Just one thing has to be understood -- that life is
           multidimensional.
                A painter has no need to synthesize himself with science or with religion or with music. All that
           he has to be is a committed, involved artist, a true painter, so that while he is painting the painter
           disappears and only painting remains.
                Let me repeat: when a true painter is there, painting, there is no painter at all; there is only the
           process of painting, there is nobody doing it. It is happening. Yes, from the outside you can see a
           man with his brush and paints and canvas, working. That is an outsider's outlook. But as far as the
           inside of the painter is concerned there is nobody. There is only a vision of the painting, and that
           vision is translating itself onto the canvas. All that is needed of the painter is not to interfere, not to
           come in the way of this transference.
                When a dancer is dancing, there is no dancer, only dance.
                All these different dimensions meet at one point, which I call religiousness.
                There is no need to mix up all these dimensions with each other. Then they have to make an
           effort to be friendly and to be adjusting, and not to hurt anybody's feeling: the mathematician has to
           look whether the musician is happy with his mathematics or not, the chemist has to be worried about
           the physicist. You will make a madhouse -- there is no need.
                All that is needed is that the physicist disappears when he is doing his work, the musician
           disappears when he is doing his work.
           This disappearance is religiousness.
           I cannot give it that third-class name, synthesis.
           It is oneness.
                It is just like the rose opening in many petals -- all the petals are separate but joined at the center,
           getting juice from the same source. Every scientist, every artist, every mystic -- they are all petals of
           the same rose, getting juice from the same roots, but totally unique in themselves, totally separate
           from the others.
                Don't try to synthesize. And you cannot succeed anyway.
                Alistair Hardy, just try to be a little religious, and in your being religious you will understand
           that there is no need for any dimension of life to have an outer combination, synthesis, cooperation;
           no, they are already joined at the center.
           I declare that they are already one.
                But for thousands of years the effort has continued. In India there was a great philosopher,
           Doctor Bhagwandas. His whole life he wrote volumes upon volumes; synthesis was his theme, the
           synthesis of all religions. He was very old when I went to see him.
                I said, "I don't feel like harassing you in your old age but all that you have written is just
           nonsense. You talk of synthesis and you are still a Hindu! If you were really interested in synthesis at
           least you should have declared, `I belong to all religions, and all religions are mine.' But no, you are
           still a Hindu. I can see the mark of Hinduism on your forehead.
                "So what nonsense have you been talking about? I have read your books, and this is simply
           befooling people, trying to say that Krishna and Mahavira are giving the same message to the world.
           It is so easy because Krishna has spoken so much. You can find one sentence in which he says,
           ahimsa paramo dharma non-violence is the greatest religion.' You pick it out, that's enough.
           Mahavira's whole message is: Non-violence is the greatest religion. Synthesis is accomplished."
                I asked him, "And what happened about the mahabharat war in which millions of people were
           killed, butchered? And Krishna is responsible for it." Arjuna, his disciple, wanted to renounce the
           kingdom and to renounce the war because the war for the kingdom was being fought between
           cousin-brothers.
                Seeing that so much bloodshed was going to be there, Arjuna said to Krishna, who was
           functioning as his charioteer, "Move me towards the Himalayas -- I simply want to drop out of this
           bloodshed.
                "Even if we win, which is not certain because the forces are almost balanced, but suppose ... even
           if we win, it will be by killing so many people of the other side, who are also related to us because
           the other side are our cousin-brothers. Their friends are our friends, their relatives are our relatives;
           our relatives are their relatives, our friends are their friends. We have grown up together in one
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           house, in one family.
               "We have studied under one guru, one teacher. Now both sides are friends, brothers. And it has
           been such a hard time for everybody, how to decide with whom to be? Everybody has been invited
           by both the parties and they had to decide with whom to fight, for whom to fight."
               Dronacharya, the teacher who had taught them archery, who had made Arjuna the master archer
           of India, was fighting on the other side. Now, the master is on the other side, and the disciple is on
           this side .... It was a difficult thing for Dronacharya also to decide with whom to be. Finally he
           decided, because on that side there were a hundred brothers, and on this side only five brothers.
               But those hundred brothers were the sons of a blind father. So Dronacharya just felt
           compassionate; "The father is blind, it is better I should be with these people" -- whom he had never
           liked, who were all rascals. His love was for Arjuna and those five brothers who were really great
           warriors, but when the blind father asked him, "Because I am blind I cannot come; you be there, you
           be their father."
               Their grandfather was grandfather to both, and their grandfather was one of the most famous men
           of Indian history, Bhishma. He was a rare man. It was difficult for him also because he loved these
           five brothers. They were sons of one of his sons, but the other son was blind, and he had those
           hundred rascals who were really cunning politicians. He had never liked any of them, he wanted
           them to be defeated. But that blind son was also his son, and now to be against the blind son's sons
           would not look right. So he was also there.
               Arjuna said, "It looks so weird to fight against my own grandfather, who wants me to win yet has
           to fight against me. It is just inconceivable to fight against my own master who has made me a
           world-famous archer. It is better you take me away. Even if we win, all our people, from both sides,
           will be gone. I will be sitting on the golden throne on top of millions of corpses -- for whom? There
           will be nobody to rejoice, to celebrate even. It is better that I become a sannyasin and let my brothers
           rule the kingdom."
               If Arjuna had been listened to by Krishna there would have been no war. And Krishna says,
           "Non-violence is the greatest religion." He is a politician. In some other reference, maybe defining
           religion and talking to religious people, he may have said that. But here, what he says to Arjuna is,
           "You are a warrior, and the religion of a warrior is to fight. Escaping from the fight is cowardice."
               But Arjuna goes on arguing, "Let me be a coward. The world will call me a coward, okay -- what
           does it matter? But I don't want to color my hands with millions of people's blood."
               But Krishna goes on insisting to Arjuna "It is not you, it is God's will."
               God is very handy. When you cannot manage anything, bring God in: "It is God's will. Those
           rascals have to be eradicated. God wants you to destroy the immoral people and establish the rule of
           the righteous." Now, when you bring God in, man becomes silent. What can he say now? And
           Krishna says, "If God wants, then you should simply surrender, surrender to His will."
               Finally he convinces Arjuna, and takes him into the war -- and millions of people are killed. This
           happened nearabout five thousand years ago; it is called the Mahabharat war -- the great Indian war.
           After that, India never became the same again. It lost its nerve, it lost its spine. The war was so
           destructive that it destroyed India for five thousand years.
               "Now, how are you going," I asked Doctor Bhagwandas, "to synthesize Mahavira and Krishna?
           Just by hanging the pictures of Krishna and Mahavira in your room you think synthesis is going to
           happen? This man is responsible for one of the greatest wars in history; and not only that, he
           supported the war in the name of God. He made it a religious war, a holy war. I know that Arjuna,
           somehow in his unconscious, must have been ready. He was a warrior, he was a fighter; so deep
           down, although he was arguing to leave .... If I were in his place I don't see Krishna convincing me.
               "All Krishna's arguments are so stupid. If he said to me, `It is God's will; you should surrender,' I
           would say, `Okay, I surrender: God is telling me to go to the Himalayas. That's why I am going to
           the Himalayas -- I am surrendering. He does not want me to fight.'
               "It was so simple, no other argument was needed. But somehow, deep down, Arjuna was ready
           for war. They had gathered to fight. They were standing in front of each other just waiting for the
           signal to happen, then they would rush into each other and kill millions of people.
               "Up to now Arjuna had never even bothered what war means. And he had fought many other
           small wars and battles, and killed many people, without ever thinking of non-violence and other
           things, so unconsciously he was ready. Only consciously he became a little troubled, and that trouble
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was also not about violence.
               "That trouble was about his master, his grandfather, his brothers, his blind uncle, all his friends.
           It was really attachment, not the question of violence or non-violence. Deep down it was an
           attachment to all these people. Relationships, that was troubling him: How to kill our own people?
               "If they had been somebody else he would have killed them without thinking even a single
           moment. So unconsciously he must have been ready. But for convincing him, for bringing his
           unconscious over his conscious, the responsibility goes to Krishna.
               "One of Krishna's cousin-brothers, Neminath, was a Jaina tirthankara. Neminath is the
           twenty-second Jaina tirthankara. The twenty-third is Parshvanath, the twenty-fourth is Mahavira.
           Mahavira came after Krishna, nearabout five or seven hundred years afterwards. But in Krishna's
           time, Krishna's own cousin-brother, Neminath, was one of the Jaina masters.
               "Krishna never even went to listen to Neminath because Neminath had become a follower of a
           different tradition, the Jaina tradition: he was no longer a Hindu. Although Neminath was a
           cousin-brother, elder brother, and so much respected by the Jainas that he was declared to be their
           ultimate master, Krishna would not go. Even though many times he passed by the side of the town
           where Neminath was delivering his talks, he would not go to see him. Jaina sources say that Krishna
           always considered Neminath to be a man who had betrayed Hindus.
               You are trying to synthesize these people who think in terms of betrayal? If Neminath feels it
           right to be a Jaina, it is his birthright to be a Jaina. Who can prevent him? It is not a betrayal. He had
           not come into the world as a Hindu, you forced Hinduism on him. Now, when he becomes mature,
           thinks over things, finds that this is not the right religion for me, moves into another religion .... He
           has the right. To say that he has betrayed is ugly.
               And you are trying to synthesize these people? No, you cannot synthesize three hundred
           religions. It is impossible. On each single point you will find them differing. And then the question
           arises of synthesizing religion with science.
               "Each religious scripture if full of unscientific facts. Either you will have to drop those
           unscientific superstitions -- the religious people will not allow that -- or you will have to compromise
           and you will have to say the earth is both flat and global. To synthesize, what else to do but say that
           sometimes it is flat, sometimes it is global? Or when a religious person looks at it, it is flat, when a
           scientific person looks at it, it is global? Some kind of compromise you will have to find. I don't
           think it is possible, and I don't see the need either."
               Let religion grow in its own way. Let science grow in its own way. And whenever religion will
           be authentic .... The past religions have rarely been authentic; once in a while there is an authentic
           individual -- but not communities. Whenever there is an authentic religious person you will not find
           him in any conflict with science, art, music, dance. You will not find him in any conflict for the
           simple reason that he will have such wide perceptivity, such tremendous sensitivity, such a great
           insight, that in his perceptivity all different dimensions will merge.
               He will be able to see the original source of all different dimensions of human research. And it is
           good that they remain different; it is good they remain true to themselves. And it is difficult to find a
           man .... This whole Templeton award should be dissolved, this is useless!
               It is difficult to find a person who knows even all the sciences. You cannot find a physicist who
           knows how much evolution has happened in chemistry, in biology, in other sciences; you cannot find
           one person. The world has moved far away from Aristotle. Aristotle wrote one book about all the
           sciences, all the religions, all the philosophies. In those days it was possible.
               In fact he devoted one chapter to each and that was enough. Philosophy was called metaphysics
           for two thousand years for the simple reason that the chapter on philosophy comes after physics. In
           Greek, metaphysics means "after physics". The chapter had no name so it became metaphysics -- the
           chapter coming after the chapter "physics".
               It was possible then. But now, when every science has taken such a flight and has divided itself
           into so many divisions, which themselves have become independent sciences .... For example,
           chemistry has developed into organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry; now they are two different
           sciences. Organic chemistry has a division, bio-chemistry, which is a totally different world -- so
           vast that it is not possible for a single person to know everything that is happening in bio-chemistry,
           what to say about organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry? It is not possible.
               All the sciences have gone so far away from each other that there is not a single person who can
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           manage to know all these sciences. So even to use the word "science" is as wrong as to use the word
           "religion". There are three hundred religions; perhaps there are going to be more sciences than that.
           If there are not now, there will be. The whole effort will be meaningless. What is significant is very
           simple: science is the search into the outside world, and religion is the search in the inside world.
           Both are searchers, enquiries about the same truth, because it is the same truth that exists outside and
           that exists within. Within and without are not different, so from wherever you arrive to the truth you
           arrive to the same truth.
                There is no need to go on comparing small details. You may have followed a different route, and
           on your route there may have been no trees; you may have come through a desert, and I may be
           coming through a jungle where there are hug, ancient trees, but if we reach to the same point ....
           Then I go on arguing that a person only reaches here who comes through huge, ancient trees, and
           you go on arguing that it is impossible to reach here unless one passes through a desert. But we both
           have reached, that's enough proof.
                So what I suggest is that a simple meditativeness should become a part of all sciences, religions,
           arts, all departments of human research -- a simple meditativeness of becoming silent, thoughtlessly
           silent.
           In that silence is the experience of oneness.
                It is not going to be done by Mother Teresa, who knows nothing of religion. It is not going to be
           done by Sir Alistair Hardy; he knows only Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution, which is no
           longer valid.
                One thing you should remember: it almost always happens that scientists have a very uncommon
           intelligence -- but they lose common sense, they don't have common sense. Perhaps they can't have;
           if they have too much common sense then they cannot be scientific. To be scientific many things
           have to be sacrificed; common sense is one of them. If you listen to common sense then you will
           cling to the tradition, the old, the conventional.
                When the Wright brothers were trying to make the first airplane, it was absolutely absurd to any
           man with common sense. Their father was an owner of a bicycle shop. In their basement he used to
           collect all kinds of junk -- old bicycles, their parts -- and that basement was the science lab of the
           Wright brothers, these two young boys; one was nineteen, the other was twenty-one. And with
           rejected cycle parts they were trying to make a flying machine. Of course it was not called an
           airplane at the time, it was called a flying machine.
                They had to work in the night when the whole family was asleep because everybody thought they
           were crazy. Who had even heard of a flying machine? And out of cycle parts! But they managed.
           They must have been very uncommon, they did not listen to anybody. Their teachers were laughing,
           their friends, their family was saying, "You will go crazy. You stop this nonsense!"
                But they continued, and one day they managed it. But they were afraid. They wanted to test it
           alone because if it falls flat on the ground then everybody will say, "We have been telling you, but
           you will not listen. You wasted you lives, so many years."
                First they tried in a lonely faraway place. And for sixty seconds, just for sixty seconds, their
           plane remained in the air -- but that was enough. Next day they declared that the whole village
           should come. Nobody was willing; they said, "It is all nonsense, why waste our time? These are
           idiots. They have gone completely mad now. Up to now they were saying, `We are making it'; now
           they say they have made it. The have gone crazy."
                But the brothers said, "Think us mad but just be kind enough to come there for a single minute
           because our flying machine will remain in the air only for one minute. We will not take much of
           your time."
                So people came, just getting bored by these brothers they were harassing their teachers and the
           principal and their family. So all the people came, and they could not believe their eyes. The second
           day, the whole world knew about the Wright brothers, that they had made the first airplane. Only
           sixty seconds it used to stay in the air, but that was enough for a beginning.
                One needs uncommon sense, but one loses common sense. These people like Alistair Hardy have
           lost common sense completely. That's why they are saying that he is trying to bring together religion
           and science: the theory of creation and the theory of evolution.
                I am just a common-sense man. I am not a scientist I am not a religious prophet. I am just a
           common-sense man, but I have tried to sharpen my common sense to its utmost.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have only one capacity, to see clearly; not in the sense of my eye doctor -- he is sitting here. he
           is trying to force glasses on me. I am talking about his eyes. About my eyes I will listen to him.
                I am very much a man of common sense. When it comes to my physical eyes, I listen to my eye
           doctor. When it comes to my body, I listen to Devaraj. When it comes to anything concerning the
           ordinary details of life, I listen to Vivek. Then I don't go into details about these things. If these
           people are doing the work, and if they are doing their homework properly, then it is perfectly okay.
                When I say that I have only one capacity and that is of seeing clearly, I mean some insight.
                And in my insight, religion and science are two names of one phenomenon.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                   Chapter #12
                                    Chapter title: A single humanity rejoicing
           12 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503125
              ShortTitle: DARK12
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 123 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE EUROPEAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WORRIED ABOUT EASTERN RELIGIONS, WORRIED
              THAT THEIR VITALITY CAN DESTROY THE NATIONS. IS THERE THIS DANGER/BLESSING
              WITH YOUR RELIGION TOO?


               Religion is not geography. It is neither Eastern nor Western. It cannot be divided in such a stupid
           manner; otherwise there will be a Southern religion, a Northern religion, and there will be no end to
           these divisions. The Middle East is not the East, and the Far East is also not the East.
               Just a few days ago one South African politician said, "Now the conflict between East and West
           is over; now the real fight is going to be between South and North." Up to now nobody has been
           thinking in terms of a conflict between South and North, but basically, there is. Southern countries
           are all poor; northern countries are all rich. Southern countries are mostly black; northern countries
           are mostly white.
               This seems to be a far wider gap than that between East and West. In fact to divide East and
           West is very difficult. In Europe, Russia is thought to be an eastern country, although half of Europe,
           the upper half, is Russian. Russia is spread from one end of Europe to the other end of Asia. In fact,
           Asia and Europe are nowhere divided; it is one continent, one continuity.
               Politicians need division -- without divisions politicians have no function. Priests also need
           divisions, because they are a spiritual kind of politician. Without divisions the priest also disappears.
               So there are people who are tremendously interested in keeping divisions, and they go on
           dividing everything -- even to the extent of stupidity. Now, dividing religion into Eastern and
           Western is just inconceivable. A little intelligence is enough to understand that love cannot be
           Eastern or Western -- or do you think it can be? Can silence be Eastern and Western? Can
           meditativeness be divided according to geographical divisions?
               A man meditating in Tibet or a man meditating in Europe or America will have the same quality
           of consciousness; there will be no difference at all, because the man in Tibet, when in meditation,
           disappears. He is no longer Tibetan, he is no longer even man; he is just pure silence, awareness. The
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           same is true for anybody meditating anywhere.
                Meditation is universal, just as love is, compassion is, intelligence is.
                These are qualities -- and religion is the ultimate quality of consciousness. At least don't be so
           idiotic as to divide it.
                I am reminded, when I was graduating from the university .... In India -- I don't know how it is in
           other countries -- to pass the post-graduation class you have to pass two kinds of examinations. One
           is written and the other is oral. In the oral examination one professor from some other university is
           invited. The vice-chancellor is present, the head of the department is present, and each individual
           student is called in for an interview.
                The vice-chancellor just jokingly had mentioned to me .... We used to meet almost every
           morning because we were the only two persons going for a morning walk. Slowly slowly I was no
           longer a student, he was no longer a vice-chancellor; we were simply two persons going for a
           morning walk. And just as it happens to all morning walkers -- they become friendly, they start
           gossiping .... And two years is a long time -- slowly slowly the partitions, divisions, dropped, and as
           the examination was coming closer, my vice-chancellor asked me, "I will be present in your viva, in
           your oral examination; whom would you prefer to be called from another university?"
                I said, "Find the toughest guy!" He said,"I knew you would say that, and I have also been
           thinking about finding the toughest guy, because I would love to see how you manage it."
                And they found him. In Aligarh University there was a Mohammedan professor who was known
           all over India as the toughest professor of philosophy. For years he had not passed anybody, and in
           his whole life he had never given the first class to anybody. Third class was the highest that he had
           given to anybody.
                One of my professors had been his student and he used to say, "I am one of the persons who
           passed from Aligarh University. I am only a third class, but a third class from Aligarh University is
           far better than a first class from Oxford, because that man in his whole life has been continuously
           failing people. Nobody comes up to his standard."
                So the vice-chancellor said, "I am thinking of calling this professor from Aligarh."
           I said, "That's the right thing!"
                That professor was invited. He was rarely invited; he was very happy! The head of my
           department, S.K. Saxena, told me, "Be cautious, because that man is absolutely destructive."
                I said, "You don't be worried; he cannot be more destructive than me."
                But he said, "You cannot do any harm to him, you are not the examiner; he can do harm to you,
           he can fail you. And he is well-known for failing; he simply puts zero."
                I said, "You don't be worried. If he gives me zero then I have achieved my goal, because that's
           what I have been working for -- to attain to the state of zero-ness."
                He said, "You are incurable! I am not talking about that zero."
                I said, "You just wait." He said, "Remember, I will be sitting by your side, and if you go off the
           track I will nudge you with my feet, or I will pull your kurtha. That is an indication -- `Come back,
           come right to the point.' And that means just be within the limits of the textbook."
           I said, "You need not be worried."
                But they were afraid. Even the vice-chancellor that morning said to me, "Although I have invited
           him, now I feel concerned. That man is really hard, he has no compassion."
                But I said, "I don't need anybody's compassion; he will need my compassion."
                He said, "We will have to see what happens. Of course it is my fault, I should not have invited
           him. I carried the joke too far and risked your career. You may pass in all your written papers but if
           he fails you, your two years are wasted, and I will never be able to forgive myself."
                I said, "Don't be worried at all. This is the first time he is encountering a real philosophy student.
           He will remember it his whole life."
                The examination began; I was called in. I came in .... Of course it is not expected that the
           professor, the vice-chancellor and the invited guest will stand up, but I came in and I remained
           standing.
                My vice-chancellor asked, "You may sit down. Why are you standing?"
                I said, "I am just looking at three gentlemen who don't know any courtesy. If you cannot pay
           respect to a human being, you should not expect any respect in return."
                That visiting professor was shocked -- hearing this from me, and hearing me talk this way to the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           vice-chancellor of the university. But the vice-chancellor knew me: he stood up; he said, "I am
           sorry." My professor stood up; he said, "I am sorry." When those two stood up, the invited guest
           thought, "It looks odd if I don't stand up," so he stood up and he said, "I am sorry."
                I said, "You are all forgiven. Now the real business can be started. But you must have understood
           what kind of man I am. I have heard much about you -- that you are a hard guy -- so please prove it,
           because I don't see that you are a hard guy. You stood up for a student and apologized! You are
           almost feminine, you are not a man."
           My Professor Saxena started kicking me, saying,
           "From the very beginning you are going off."
                I said, "Professor Saxena, this is not good, that underneath the table you are kicking my leg. This
           is an examination -- you are not supposed to support me, help me, or in any way give me indications.
           You keep yourself in control."
                And I said to the vice-chancellor, "It is up to you to watch, because he loves me too much and he
           is kicking me so that I don't go off the path. You keep an eye on him so that he does not disturb me,
           because I am determined to get the zero. This is my life's goal."
                Before the examination began I told them everything: "This is my life's goal -- to attain to the
           state of zero. And Professor Saxena is trying hard that I should not get zero today, but I trust in the
           invited guest, that he will remain hard and he will do his best -- that means he should do his worst."
                So I told my vice-chancellor, "You look at my professor and watch that he does not disturb me,
           and I will take care of the invited guest." And I asked him, "Now you start. Why are you sitting
           silent? I am not here to examine you; only I am speaking -- you start!"
                He was almost having a nervous breakdown. He must have come prepared -- what to ask, what
           not to ask -- but he completely forgot. He simply asked me, "How can you explain the distinction
           between Eastern philosophy and Western philosophy?"
                I said, "I do not need to explain it -- because there is no distinction. Who has told you that there
           is any distinction between Eastern philosophy and Western philosophy? Have you lost your nerve?
           You cool down, collect yourself; remember what you wanted to ask me.
                "Is this a question? Can philosophy be divided into Eastern and Western? Philosophy is literally
           ... the word means love of wisdom. Now, love of wisdom can exist anywhere; it will be the same
           love of wisdom. It is an inquiry into truth. Do you think truth is different in the West? Do you think
           truth changes itself according to the climate, nation, geography?
                "I am not here to explain the distinction; first you have to explain to me on what grounds you
           have asked the question. You tell me how philosophy can be Eastern or Western. It is such a simple
           thing."
                There was silence for a moment, and I said, "Do you have another question or are you finished?
           Then give me zero, but remember, that zero is given to you by yourself. You have utterly failed as an
           examiner, and these two gentlemen are witnesses of it."
                That man somehow managed to come out of the shock and he said, "You are right. I had never
           thought that philosophy cannot be divided, because traditionally it has been divided.
                "Bertrand Russell has written the history of Western philosophy; Radhakrishnan has written the
           history of Indian philosophy; Suzuki has written the history of Eastern -- so I simply believed these
           fellows."
                I said, "But a philosopher is not supposed to believe. This is so obvious, such apparent nonsense.
           Bertrand Russell, Radhakrishnan, Suzuki, all are committing the same mistake: they are dividing
           something which is indivisible. And everybody goes on accepting it, just because great authorities
           have written .... Bertrand Russell got his Nobel prize for this book, THE HISTORY OF WESTERN
           PHILOSOPHY, which is a third-rate book, for the simple reason that from the very title it goes
           wrong.
                "And then to write the history of philosophy is a tremendous job, it cannot be completed in one
           volume. It will need all the volumes of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA; then too it will be
           only a very very abridged history of philosophy.
                "To write one book and to give two pages to Socrates -- what can you write about a man like
           Socrates in two pages? Two pages to Heraclitus, two pages to Pythagoras? -- this is simply
           unforgivable, this is insulting. The whole book will not suffice even for a single philosopher:
           Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plotinus -- just a single philosopher will be enough. This is very
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           idiotic, daring. And I have looked into the book -- it is Russell's poorest book, for the simple reason
           that you cannot put Socrates in two pages."
                I am not Socrates, but can you put me in two pages? I will be almost out of it. Yes, you can write
           the name of my father and the birthplace and the birth date and how many books I have written and a
           little bit of my life and how the life ends -- but this is not philosophy.
                This has nothing to do with Socrates -- where he was born, when he was born. What about his
           vision, which provoked the whole of Greek orthodox, traditional, conventional people to such a point
           ... and they were the most cultured in the world.
                Jesus' crucifixion can be forgiven because they were not the most cultured people of the world.
           Judea was an almost non-existential part of the world. Who cared about Judea? Who knew about
           Judea? And it was a slave country. But Athens was at the peak of its culture, sophistication,
           intelligence; perhaps nowhere else, in no other time, has any city reached to such a peak of wisdom
           as Athens reached in the time of Socrates. And I don't think it will be possible again; Athens will
           remain unique.
                Still that sophisticated, cultured, intelligent city decided to poison Socrates. His philosophy must
           have been a tremendously rebellious vision of life. In those two pages you won't find that rebel
           anywhere, nor that rebelliousness anywhere.
                Bertrand Russell got the Nobel prize for this book, for the simple reason that all the books
           written by him -- all the other books -- are in some way or other controversial. He himself was a man
           of great insight, and he was unorthodox, untraditional, unconventional.

                He could write a book like WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. He could write a book,
           UNPOPULAR ESSAYS, because every topic was against the mind of the society; it was unpopular.
           He could write SKEPTICAL ESSAYS which show his logical sharpness.
                The Nobel prize awarding committee was in a difficulty. Russell was at the peak of his
           popularity. Not to give him the Nobel prize would be too apparently prejudiced. Fortunately he
           wrote this HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY which, just being a history, has nothing
           controversial about it. What controversy could there be?
                He is simply writing the history, and that too so condensed -- and it has to be condensed. It is a
           one-thousand-page book, but two thousand years of philosophy, thousands of philosophers, many of
           whom are not even mentioned .... This was the most uncontroversial thing, and the Nobel
           prize-awarding committee thought it was a good chance to get rid of Bertrand Russell; give him the
           Nobel prize for this book -- because he himself was a trouble-creating man.
                He belonged to a very noble family. He was a lord, but he dropped using the word "lord" before
           his name "because," he said, "this looks ugly." He was participating in a protest against the
           government just in front of the House of Lords, where they meet. The police were beating the
           protesters, and they started beating Bertrand Russell. He fell on the ground -- and at that time
           somebody said, "What are you doing! He is a lord!"
                The policeman simply started trembling and said, "Please forgive me -- I had no idea that you
           were a lord."
                He said, "No, you have done perfectly well -- I am not a lord. I am protesting against these
           lords."
                Now, this man could get the Nobel prize for a third-class, third-rate book .... Because of the
           Nobel prize that book became the most prominent of all his books, which are really valuable.
                I told that professor, "You also got deceived by the Nobel prize? And you talk to me about
           Radhakrishnan? Radhakrishnan later on became president of India and his whole fame depended on
           a book -- two volumes of Indian philosophy. And you will be surprised to know that these two
           volumes were stolen; they were not written by Radhakrishnan.
                It was a thesis of a student. Radhakrishnan was a professor in Calcutta University and the thesis
           came to him to be examined. He went on prolonging the period for two years. But he was a very
           prominent figure; nobody could think what was going on underneath.
                Within these two years he published his book, INDIAN PHILOSOPHY, in England -- it is
           nothing but the thesis of that poor boy. You can go on reading pages and pages exactly the same; not
           even a comma is different. And when his book was published, then the boy was given his doctorate
           -- just to make it appear Radhakrishnan's book was published first, so nobody could say that he had
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stolen it; if anyone had stolen anything then that student had.
                But that student went to the court, the High Court; the case was in the High Court. " ... Because,"
           the student said, "I produced my book two years earlier in the university. The university is a witness.
           Other professors -- because three examiners are needed for the thesis -- two other examiners are
           witnesses. This is my thesis and this is his book. There is no need to judge -- just read.
                Pages upon pages, even chapters completely as they are in the student's thesis, are in
           Radhakrishnan's book; Radhakrishnan must have been in a hurry. It is a big, two-volume book --
           must be two thousand pages. He must have been in a hurry; he could not manage .... Otherwise he
           would have been able to manage to change a few words here and there.
                The case was so clear -- but the student withdrew the case from the court before the decision of
           the court, because he was bribed. Ten thousand rupees were given by Radhakrishnan to the student
           to withdraw the case. He was so poor that ten thousand rupees in those days was enough.
                Everybody was puzzled why the case was withdrawn because the case was clear: the boy was
           going to win. But the boy must have thought, "Even if I win the case I am not going to get anything.
           Perhaps Radhakrishnan may get punished by the court, but what am I going to get out of it?
                "Right now I am getting ten thousand ...." And the boy who had written the book was so
           intelligent, he could not care: he could write ten other books like that.
                I told the professor, "You trust Radhakrishnan? You must have known about the case." He said,
           "Yes, I know about the case. I know about the High Court, and I know that it is certain theft." "And,"
           I said, "still you think of these people as authorities. You withdraw your question.
                "There is no division of Indian philosophy, Eastern philosophy, Western philosophy: philosophy
           is simply philosophy. If you agree with me you can ask another question."
                He said, "I agree with you completely. There is no need for another question."
                My professor and vice-chancellor ... now it was their turn to be shocked. They could not believe
           it because this man gave me a first class, and he said, "This is the only first class I have given in my
           whole life, and I don't think I will give one again, because I don't think anybody is going to hit me so
           hard."
                He hugged me. He invited me and my vice-chancellor and the professor to come to the cafeteria.
           He said, "I enjoyed it because for the first time I felt I was really encountering someone; otherwise,
           students come so afraid, and they go on repeating only what is written in the books. That's why I
           have never given anybody more than third class. Most of them fail for the simple reason that they are
           only robot-like, repeating. And here is a student who knows perfectly well that I can fail him, I can
           harm him, but is not afraid of it at all. That should be the philosophical approach.
                "A man of philosophy should be unafraid, and I am giving him first class because of his
           unafraidness, because I have not asked anything else. One question I have asked which he has
           dismantled. He has not answered, he has thrown it back on me: I have to answer it."
                He was very happy, and later on whenever I used to go to Aligarh, he forced me to stay with him.
           I said, "You don't understand: the trouble is I am being invited by the Jains, and if I stay in the
           Mohammedan's house that creates trouble."
                He said, "You can face trouble perfectly well -- that I know -- but you have to be my guest."
           While he was alive, I was always his guest, and the people who were inviting me were very much
           concerned because they even started asking me, "Have you dropped vegetarianism too? -- because
           staying with that Mohammedan, you must be eating with him."
                I said, "Yes, I eat with him, but I eat my food. And you will not believe it -- he calls in a brahmin
           cook to prepare food for me. And the food is far better than you will be able to manage because he
           takes every care that in a non-vegetarian house I should not feel in any way inconvenienced. He
           takes so much care that I start feeling a little uncomfortable -- because of his care. I tell him, `You
           need not worry about me, I can manage things myself,' but he won't listen."
                You are saying that in Europe there is a fear that Eastern religions can be very destructive. It is
           strange to remind you that this idea was given currency by one of the best minds of Europe -- Karl
           Gustav Jung. He was the first who started saying that Eastern religions are dangerous, particularly
           for the Western man.
                His argument is worth understanding although it is absolutely wrong. His argument was that
           Western man has developed in a different way; his traditions, his past, his roots are different. And
           Eastern man has also developed in a different way.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They have grown in such divergent manners that it is just like bringing a mango tree from India
           and planting it in Europe. It will die, it cannot survive, for the simple reason that the mango tree has
           millions of years' tradition of a certain climate, a certain temperature, certain rains. It cannot simply
           change itself, it cannot adjust itself to a new environment.
               Many animals in the past have died because climates changed and they could not adjust to the
           new climate. Many trees have disappeared from the world for the simple reason that the climate
           changed and those trees could not go anywhere else; they were rooted in the earth.
               Only two beings are capable of adjusting to any climate: One is man, the other is the cockroach.
           And wherever you find man you will find cockroaches; wherever you find cockroaches you will find
           man -- they are always together. If man goes to the moon, cockroaches will go. They are inseparable
           companions, and both are capable of adjusting to any situation. Perhaps cockroaches are more
           capable of adjusting, because man has many scientific, technical ways to adjust himself.
               If it is is too cold he can have warmer clothes; if it is too hot he can have air conditioning. Poor
           cockroaches don't have any technical, any scientific methods with them, but they manage. Certainly
           they are more capable. Man without all these technical supports would not be able to adjust. If he
           goes to the Arctic naked, he will die, but the cockroach has to go naked.
               Karl Gustav Jung said that religion is such a strong power that if it is not supported by your
           heritage, by your past, by your tradition, it will simply destroy you, it will uproot you.
               It looks logical, and if you think of pseudo-religions, Jung is right. For example, compared with
           Eastern religions, Christianity, Judaism, or Mohammedanism cannot survive, for the simple reason
           that they are very immature, very primitive, while the religions coming from the East have reached
           to the highest possibility of sophistication.
               Eastern religions' logic is not primitive, and they have lived longer -- Jainism, for example, for at
           least ten thousand years. For ten thousand years they have been polishing, and the way they have
           been polishing ... Christianity has not been polished in two thousand years. Jainism has been
           continuously arguing against Buddhism, against Hinduism; Hinduism has been arguing against
           Jainism .... Thousands of treatises of tremendously beautiful argumentation are there.
               Great minds like Nagarjuna, Shankara, Ramanuja, Vallabha, went around the country
           demolishing everything that was not according to their vision. Teachers were roaming all over the
           country with a challenge to anybody to argue, to discuss. The whole country was in a philosophical
           turmoil for ten thousand years.
               Naturally, out of that turmoil and argumentation and continuous confrontation they sharpened
           their arguments, they became very subtle. Mohammedanism is only fourteen hundred years old,
           which is also nothing.
               India reached its peak at the time of Buddha and Mahavira; that was five hundred years before
           Jesus Christ. If you compare Jesus Christ with Gautam Buddha you can see: Jesus looks simply like
           an illiterate villager who has heard a few things about philosophy and religion, but has no argument
           to prove them. He is simply repeating the conclusions, while Buddha will never repeat the
           conclusion.
               Buddha will start from the argument, the very premise. Then he will go through the whole
           procedure, and in the procedure he will also talk about all other possibilities, and will go on
           demolishing them, proving that they are wrong. He will not leave chances for anybody. He will take
           account of all other viewpoints and will demolish them before he reaches his conclusion.
               In Indian philosophy it is a basic tenet that when you say something, always say simultaneously,
           immediately, that which is its opposite. First destroy the opposite; then only declare your conclusion.
           If you cannot destroy the opposite, then forget all about your conclusion, because anybody can raise
           the opposite and your conclusion will be lost. It is better that you do it yourself.
               So to read a book of Indian philosophy is totally different than reading Kant, Hegel .... They are
           simply proposing their idea. Hegel is proposing his idea, not at all bothered that this is only one
           aspect and there are thousands of others. Hence Indian treatises are very complicated. Before you
           can get to the conclusion of the man you will be puzzled about what is happening, because if he
           believes in God's existence, he will first demolish all arguments against God; he will not leave a
           single loophole.
               When he has demolished all the opposite viewpoints, all alternative possibilities, only then will
           he come to his conclusion. It has a solidity. It will be very difficult for you to find something which
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           he has not already criticized. You need a very outlandish attitude like me; otherwise you cannot
           manage Indian traditions, their treatises, their philosophies.
                What do I mean by outlandish? It happened that I was invited to one of the international Vedanta
           conferences in Amritsar. The name of Amritsar has just now become world famous because for
           Sikhs, that is their sacred city, and they have the beautiful golden temple there.
                Just now, because they have been trying to become an independent nation, separate from India,
           thousands of Sikhs have been killed, thousands of Hindus have been killed, and Indira Gandhi has
           been assassinated. And it continues still: people are being killed. And it will continue, it is not going
           to stop easily. Amritsar is the stronghold of the Sikh religion, and Sikhs are very fanatic people, but
           very sincere, very honest.
                In India if you need to trust anybody, find a Sikh; you can trust him. All others are cunning: they
           will promise you but the goods will never be delivered. But when a Sikh promises you, he means it.
           He will do it even at the cost of his life. They are sincere, they are honest, they are nice people -- but
           they are very fanatic about their religion. That corner of their mind is completely blocked.
                This Vedanta conference was being held in Amritsar. It was a Hindu conference; from all over
           the world Hindu representatives were there, shankaracharyas, all the great monks were there. In
           Punjab at that time there was one very famous Hindu saint, Harigiri Maharaj. He inaugurated the
           conference.
                He told a beautiful story that I myself have told many times; it is so beautiful and so indicative.
           Inaugurating the conference, he said that ten blind men were passing a stream in the rainy season --
           the stream was flooded. They held the hands of each other. It was not very deep, but the current was
           very strong; so holding each other's hands they reached the other side.
                And then one of them said, "Let us count whether we all have come, because we are all blind,
           nobody can see; if somebody has been taken by the current we will never know."
                So they started counting, and of course the number always came to nine because the person who
           was counting never counted himself. He started with the others and ended with the last man. A very
           simple fallacy -- the scientists are doing it all over the world. All blind! The scientist counts the
           whole world; believes, trusts, accepts its existence, except the scientist's own self -- that is left
           unaccounted for.
                He is ready to accept anything believable, unbelievable. In physics, in chemistry, in other
           branches of science -- even if it goes against logic he accepts it, because experimentally, objectively
           it is there, proved. But if you ask him, "What about your consciousness, your awareness?" he simply
           tries to explain it away.
                He says, "It cannot be proved; hence, I cannot accept it. It cannot be made an object: I cannot put
           it in a test-tube, I cannot put it on the table, dissect it, figure out what it is, what it is made of, what
           its constituents are. Unless I can do that I cannot accept it."
                Now this is what those ten blind people were doing. Condemning scientists, I had used that story
           many times, because it so clearly shows that the scientist is leaving himself out of the account: he
           counts everything but then he leaves out the most important and the most significant thing.
                Harigiri Maharaj told the story, and he said when they counted and found there were nine, they
           started crying and weeping: "One of our friends is lost."
                A man was watching, sitting by the side of the river, and he laughed at the whole thing: "These
           fools are all there and are crying for someone who is lost. Nobody is lost" -- because he had been
           watching all these ten coming from the other side to this side. He came close to them and asked,
           "What is the matter? Why are you crying?"
                They said, "We have lost one of our companions in the current."
           He looked at them; he said, "How many were you?"
           They said, "We were ten and now we are nine."
                He said, "You all stand in a line and I will count and teach you how to count. I will slap the first
           person; he has to say, `One,' then I will slap twice the second person; he has to say, `Two,' then
           thrice, the third person; he has to say, `Three.' This way I will go on hitting. And when I hit ten times
           you know you are ten; nobody is lost." And this way he counted. He enjoyed hitting them, and they
           were very happy being hit because the lost companion was found.
                This is Vedanta's attitude, that in the world we go on collecting everything, possessing money,
           power, prestige, just forgetting ourselves -- but that is the most precious thing.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I was the second person to speak. You know I am crazy, so I said, "This story is just absurd." The
           whole conference was shocked: This is an ancient Vedanta story and nobody had ever called it
           absurd, not even those who are against Vedanta, because they all use it. Jainas use the story,
           Buddhists use the story. The story is so beautiful, so indicative, that everybody has used it; nobody
           has condemned it.
               And I said, "This is absolutely absurd, for the simple reason: how did these ten blind people
           come to know that they are ten? Before they entered the stream, did they count? Now I want Harigiri
           Maharaj to answer me. Did they count before they entered the stream?
               "If they counted, then they know how to count. Just by passing the stream they forgot how to
           count? First they counted themselves -- and just by passing the stream they stopped, all the ten,
           counting themselves? This story is absolutely foolish; it makes no sense.
               "All that I can understand is that somebody else must have told them, `You are ten'; they never
           counted. Somebody must have told them, `You are ten,' and they believed that somebody else. This
           is where belief leads. They believed, but they knew not. So when there was nobody and they
           themselves tried to count, they were in great anguish: one companion was lost.
               "This story only proves that beliefs should be completely dissolved from all religious climates.
           Nobody should believe anybody because in a real situation you will be in trouble. Either know, or
           know that you don't know.
               "If these ten people were not aware that they were ten, there would have been no trouble. If they
           had not believed somebody else they would have been perfectly happy being nine; there was no
           trouble. On both the sides they would have counted in the same way. The trouble arose because on
           one side was the belief, on the other side was knowledge. And belief falls flat when you encounter
           knowledge.
               "So," I said, "once and for all, this story should be removed from all Vedanta literature."
               Harigiri became so troubled, red with anger .... Of course there was no answer, and I said, "If you
           have any answer, come to the mike and give the answer" -- and there were at least fifty-thousand
           people gathered for the conference. But what answer could he give? -- he had never thought about it,
           nobody had ever thought about it. It was so outlandish, out of the way.
               Instead of coming to the mike he left the stage, and I said, "This is cowardly, Harigiri -- and you
           have been known as `the lion of Punjab'! And the way you are escaping from here -- your tail under
           your legs -- you are proving to be a cowardly dog."
               Of course he had thousands of followers there; I had none except myself. There was nobody, and
           I was for the first time speaking in Amritsar. Still, people were silent, shocked, because what I had
           said was absolutely logical. Only two persons who must have been very very close to Harigiri
           shouted, "Shame! Shame!"
               They were shouting at me, but -- you know, I said I am crazy -- I said, "Stop! Even if he is a
           coward, don't do that." They were standing; I said, "Sit down! Although he is a coward, that does not
           mean that you should start calling, `Shame! Shame!' This is not a moment to humiliate and insult
           him; he has insulted himself enough already." And those two cowards could not say that they were
           shouting "Shame!" at me.
               I have been moving around India, and in many situations the same was the case. I had to find
           some very eccentric way to find a loophole. Of course there are always loopholes because whatever
           man makes -- howsoever foolproof -- you can always find a loophole. No man-made thing can be
           perfect; even the God-made universe is not perfect, what about man?
               But if you compare .... And that's why Jung was afraid. Jung was studying Eastern religions his
           whole life, and as he became more and more acquainted with them, a great fear arose in him; and the
           fear was that one day, sooner or later, the East is going to take over the West completely:
           "Religiously we cannot argue with such sharp, ten-thousand-year-old, very intricate, complicated
           systems. Our systems in the West are very poor."
               There is not a single commentary on Jesus' gospels. In two thousand years Christians have not
           even written one commentary, for the simple reason that there is nothing to comment on. Jesus was
           saying things so simple that I became the first commentator on Jesus, because I can make simple
           statements into complex philosophies.
               It is not difficult. It works both ways: you can make very complex philosophy into simple
           statements; you can do vice versa -- simple statements you can make into a great philosophy.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When I spoke first on Jesus in THE MUSTARD SEED, it was accepted all over the Christian
           world as something unique, because in two thousand years nobody had bothered; nobody had even
           thought that there is any philosophy in it.
                Philosophy is not something that is ready-made, present anywhere; you have to create it. It does
           not exist. It is not that you simply open the door and philosophy is sitting there. No need to open the
           door -- you can simply create the hallucination of philosophy.
                Philosophy is just a linguistic game. It is a gimmick. you have only to learn to play with words --
           and just being born in India is enough to know the game. It is in the very air. Everybody is talking
           great philosophy, it is not something rare. Even villagers are talking great philosophy, reading great
           philosophical treatises.
                So when I spoke on Jesus it had nothing to do with Jesus, it had nothing to do with anybody else;
           I enjoyed playing with words. But it is a very dangerous game. I can play for, I can play against. So
           when I was playing for, even Christian publishers published my books.
                Sheldon Press in London is a Christian publishing house. They published THE MUSTARD
           SEED and eight other books and, when in one of my talks I said that there are sources which say that
           Jesus was ugly, that he was four foot five inches high and that he was a hunchback, they freaked out!
           Their board of directors decided to withdraw all my books immediately.
                They withdrew all the books. Our sannyasins told them, "We are ready to purchase all the books
           at cost price." No, they wouldn't sell them even at cost price, because they would again be back in
           the market. They sold the books to some shopkeeper who sells old newspapers, old magazines, old
           books, which are not used for reading, mostly for recycling.
                But Poonam, our sannyasin, was behind them, following them; she found the place. She got all
           those books -- even cheaper because that man was very happy, they were going to be recycled; so all
           the books are back in the market, and those Sheldon board people are at a loss -- what happened?
           How did these books, which were recycled ...? This is resurrection! At least Christians should not be
           worried about such things: things like this happen.
                Jung was afraid, and his fear was right, that if Eastern religion comes as a strong wind it will
           demolish all Western religions and their systems. And it will demolish Western man because
           Western man is rooted in a different soil, in a different climate, in a different way of thinking. It was
           Jung who created the fear in the West, then others followed.
                But to me, if Eastern religions and their winds can destroy Western religions then they are worth
           being destroyed, they deserve to be destroyed. No special protection should be given to them. Either
           they should stand on their own -- they should become more sophisticated ....
                Not a single meditation method exists in Western religions -- only prayer. And prayer is not
           meditation: prayer is a very primitive method. These religions, if they can be destroyed, that's
           perfectly good; let them be destroyed.
                Jung says that Eastern religions will destroy Western religions but he never says Western science
           will destroy Eastern science. No, that is not his concern. I am happy in both ways: Western science
           should destroy Eastern science, because Eastern science is not scientific enough; that's why Western
           science can destroy it.
                If you believe in stupid things ... for example in India you can see it often happening. On a hot
           summer day ... when it is too hot a poor man may have sunstroke, may fall on the ground, go
           unconscious; and a crowd will gather around. Indians are very efficient in gathering quickly. Where
           not a single soul was, within seconds you will find a crowd.
                Nobody is bothered about their work, where they were going, what they were doing: everything
           stops. And do you know what they do when somebody falls with sunstroke? They put a shoe on his
           nose to bring him back to consciousness. Now, this is Eastern science!
                Jung is a coward. If Western science comes and destroys Eastern science of this type, it should
           be welcomed. Western science has evolved, Eastern science has not evolved. And whosoever is on a
           higher pedestal should be victorious.
           It is not a question of East and West.
                Western science should take over the whole world as far as science is concerned.
                Eastern religiousness should take over the whole world as far as religion is concerned.
                And that's what I mean when I say science and religion are two aspects of one thing.
           The West has worked on the objective truth.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The East has worked on the subjective truth.
               The East has poured its whole energy into that dimension, just as the West has poured its energy
           into the objective direction. Now, both have found great treasures. It is good that they should share
           their treasures. In that sharing the world will become one; and of course in that sharing much will be
           destroyed -- in the East and in the West. But it needs to be destroyed. It has no right to exist. If it
           cannot face the truth then why go on clinging to it because it is Eastern or because it is Western?
               Yes, it is true that if religious consciousness spreads it is going to destroy pseudo-religions. It is
           going to destroy nations.
           There is no need for nations.
               The whole world can be governed by one single government -- and that government will be only
           functional.
               Let me make it clear to you what I mean by functional. Right now a president of a country is not
           only functional, he has a status, power. But the postmaster general -- what power has he and what
           status? He is functional. Of course he is the head of all the post offices of the country. In one world
           he will be the head of all the post offices of the world -- so what? It is just functional, he is the head
           clerk.
               In the same way, all departments should be functional; and when the world is one, many
           departments will not be needed -- for example, defense. This takes almost seventy-five percent of the
           countries' income. Seventy-five percent of the income of the whole world will be simply saved,
           because there is no need for a defense department. Who is going to attack? -- unless some other
           planet starts a war against the earth. But I don't see any possibility of that.
               We have not yet been found by anybody, nor have we been able to find anybody. Signals have
           been continuously sent for fifty years; from the earth, for fifty years continuously, a few scientific
           departments have been sending signals to the planets, to the stars, in different ways. But as yet there
           is no sign that any signal has been received or that anybody has answered. So there is no question of
           any other planet creating a war against us.
               There will be no defense department -- which is the most destructive department, killing millions
           of people unnecessarily, because all of the money goes on pouring into more and more death
           material. Who is interested in life?
               Perhaps, except this small commune, in this whole world nobody is interested in life.
               Politicians are interested in the other world -- which means after death. Nothing special is going
           to happen before death, don't waste your time unnecessarily. Simply die, because then the real show
           begins. What are you doing here? Simply wasting your time. It is not even a rehearsal. Everything
           begins after death -- heaven, God, eternal life, bliss: everything after death.
           Religions are interested in death.
           Politicians are interested in death.
               Perhaps this is the only commune which is interested in life. Perhaps I am the first religious man
           who is interested in life here and now.
               All other religious leaders, founders, prophets, messiahs, were interested in the other world:
           "This world is just a punishment, this world is an imprisonment, this world is nothing but
           humiliation. You have been thrown out of the garden of Eden. To be alive is disgraceful. Pray to
           God, ask Him, `Please let us be back in the Garden of Eden.' That means you will have to pass
           through death."
               All these nations, religions -- what is their need? If they are interested in death, let them die.
               What happened in Jonestown was absolutely Christian, but not even a single person in the world
           has talked about the fact that it was a Christian phenomenon, that Christianity was its background,
           that Jim Jones was a reverend, that he was a Christian priest, and the people who followed him
           simply followed according to the Christian ideology.
               Of course, they went to the very logical end. Jesus says to his people: "After death there will be
           judgment day, and I will be there to pick my people. And only those who are with me will be saved;
           all others will be thrown into the eternal darkness of hell."
               Reverend Jim Jones was continually teaching the BIBLE, Christianity, and of course he was
           teaching that real life begins after death. And if he convinced those fools, one thousand fools, it is
           nothing to be surprised at: they were all Christians. The gospel was Christian, and if he convinced
           them to die with him ... why wait for the judgment day?
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               And on the judgment day there is going to be so much of a crowd -- poor Jim Jones, how is he
           going to find his one thousand followers? It will be really difficult. The best way is: Jim Jones dies
           and with him his followers die. And they will reach the gates of heaven with God and Jesus Christ
           and all the apostles shouting, "Alleluia!" This is far better, quicker.
               Other Christians have waited for two thousand years but the judgment day has not come yet. And
           if you read Jesus, his disciples asking again and again, "When will the judgment day come?" and he
           says, "Soon." The whole indication is that it is going to happen within your life. Now, twenty
           centuries have passed; it has not happened. Nobody asks the pope, "What about the judgment day?
           Jesus was saying, `Soon.' What do you mean by `soon'?" At least it should be explained how many
           centuries, how many generations .... "Soon" cannot be extended that much.
               But Christian bishops and cardinals and priests are comparing me with Jim Jones. In churches,
           sermons are delivered and it is said that Rajneeshpuram is going to become a second Jonestown.
           Now, who is going to say to these fools that this is the only place which cannot become Jonestown?
           The whole rest of the world can become -- because we are not interested in the afterlife, we are only
           interested in life here, now.
               But strange are the ways of the world! A man like me is compared with Reverend Jim Jones .... I
           am absolutely for life, so much so that I am ready to drop God, paradise, heaven -- everything! Life
           is so precious; everything can be dropped for it.
               So if a real religiousness spreads and nations disappear -- so far, so good. If religions disappear --
           so far, so good.
               The Western man as Western, dies -- so far, so good, because his death as Western will also
           mean the death of the Eastern man as Eastern. Those terms are related only to each other: the East
           cannot exist without West. The death of the Western man will be the death of the Eastern man -- and
           that's perfectly good.
               Then only man remains -- neither Eastern nor Western, belonging neither to this nation nor to
           that nation. A single humanity rejoicing herenow in this very life, in this, the very lotus paradise ....




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                   Chapter #13
                               Chapter title: Truth is found in your own boutique
           13 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503135
              ShortTitle: DARK13
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 109 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY SHOULD RELIGION AND STATE REMAIN SEPARATE?


               Religion as such does not exist yet; hence, whatever is known as religion should remain separate
           from the state for the simple reason that it is not religion -- it is pseudo, fake.
               You cannot ask the same question in reference to science. Can you ask that science and state
           should remain separate? Nobody even thinks about science's separation for the simple reason that
           science exists, has come of age, has contributed immensely to human growth, welfare, health,
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           longevity.
           In every possible way science has been a blessing.
                Hence, nobody will think of science remaining separate from the state.
           Religion has not been a blessing yet.
           It has been a curse.
           But remember, it is not religion.
           It is pseudo-religion.
                Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, Mohammedanism -- these are all cults.
           These are all exploiting humanity in the name of religion. They are not religions at all. They are
           superstitions.
                Of course superstitions should remain separate from the state. What kind of superstition it is does
           not matter: Hindu, Christian, Jewish. Superstition of all shapes and sizes should be kept as far away
           from the state as possible because the state is power, and if superstitions become joined with power
           they can do immense harm. They are doing immense harm even without the state. They have
           managed to create power of their own, they have their own generators. That's what is meant by
           "organized religion".
           A religious person has no power.
                He is humble. Not that he has practiced humbleness, he simple enjoys being humble. He has
           simply understood the stupidity and suffering of the ego, and by that sheer understanding, all that
           nonsense has disappeared. Suddenly he finds himself humble, egoless; he is harmless.
                But organized religion is nothing but politics in the name of religion. And the people who
           organize it are not religious, cannot be. The popes, the shankaracharyas, the imams, the rabbis --
           these people are not religious at all for the simple reason that they are full of knowledgeability, while
           a religious man knows he knows nothing. He knows that existence is so mysterious, there is no way
           to reduce it into knowledge. He is mystified by existence.
           A truly religious person is a mystic.
                He is a poet -- not writing poetry, but living poetry.
                He is a painter -- not painting on the canvas but painting on his own consciousness continuously.
                He is a musician; he may have never touched any instrument but he is continuously playing on
           his own inner being a music which cannot be translated in any way, cannot be brought from those
           higher realms of being to the lower, darker valleys of our life.
                He is a dancer; he may not move from one posture but his being is in a continual dance.
                A religious person cannot be Christian, Hindu or Mohammedan. To be religious is to be so vast
           you cannot confine it in such small prisons -- churches, sects, creeds, dogmas.
           A religious man has no catechism.
                He knows love, he knows truth, he knows beauty, he knows authenticity. But he also knows that
           these values are impossible to express. You can live them, you can be them -- that is the only way of
           expressing them. But you cannot say. You can show, but you cannot say.
                Christians in India asked me again and again, "Why don't you make a small book containing your
           religious vision, just as we have the Christian catechism?"
                I said, "You can, because you are not religious. I cannot, because I am religious. My experience
           is so vast that no words are capable of containing it."
                Religion has not ever existed up to now. Only once in a while has there been a religious person.
           And whenever there has been a religious person, soon the pseudo-religious people, politicians with
           religious masks, gathered around. It is not Jesus who created Christianity. It is not Buddha who
           created Buddhism. It is not Mahavira who created Jainism.
                Very strange, almost unbelievable .... Jesus was crucified by the Romans because Judea was a
           slave country under the Roman empire and what a strange fate, that Rome became the citadel of
           Christianity! It still remains the citadel of Christianity.
                Mahavira fought against Hindus and particularly brahmins, the priestly class among Hindus --
           and his religion was founded by eleven brahmins, all brahmin scholars. He fought his whole life
           against brahminism, and finally the people who made his religion were no one but the brahmins. And
           they were perfectly efficient in creating a religion, they had all the experience of ages. They have
           been, for centuries, the priests ... because in India it is decided by your birth what your profession is
           going to be.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Your profession is going to be just the same as your father's; if he was a shoemaker, you will be a
           shoemaker, and your children will be shoemakers. This has been going on for ten thousand years. It
           is very ugly in a way, that there is no freedom of movement, in life you cannot move and change; but
           in a way, very economical, very efficient economically. Humanly it is ugly, but economically
           nothing could be better than that ....
                A child is born in a brahmin's house: from his very first day he lives in the climate of being a
           priest. From his very childhood he is being respected by the whole society. He need not be taught, he
           simply catches it from his climate. By the time he is a young man he knows all the ins and outs of
           priesthood; when he is initiated into priesthood he is all ready. Economically this is a very perfect
           arrangement.
                So the eleven brahmins who consolidated Mahavira's teachings when he died turned the whole
           clock backwards. Whatever Mahavira had done they managed to undo -- and in such a sophisticated,
           intelligent way that not even now, after twenty-five centuries, have Jainas recognized that they have
           been ruled by the brahmins against whom Mahavira's whole life was dedicated. He fought these
           same people who have since then been ruling.
                The same happened with Buddha. He was not a brahmin, he was a chhatriya, the warrior caste,
           lower than the brahmin. Brahmin is the highest caste, the warrior is number two in status. And
           Buddha rebelled against it. He said, "Nobody comes by birth as a brahmin or a warrior or a business
           man; these things one has to learn. One becomes what one does."
                Brahmins were very much against Buddha because the warriors are not supposed to be priests;
           their duty is to fight. And when Buddha started preaching, this was against the whole tradition -- he
           was trying to be a brahmin, and he was born a chhatriya. This is pure and simple rebellion. But
           Buddha was of great charismatic personality. He managed to influence millions of people, and when
           the brahmins saw that this man could not be destroyed by easy and ordinary means they started
           organizing Buddha's teachings. They started organizing Buddhism. And when Buddha died the
           people who wrote his scriptures were all brahmins.
                You will be surprised that in India, the priest of the temple where Buddha became enlightened is
           still a brahmin. For twenty-five centuries the same family has provided the priest of the temple. The
           temple stands as a memorial of Buddha's enlightenment. But the brahmins who were his
           contemporaries simply denied that he was enlightened -- to them, except for a brahmin, nobody can
           be enlightened. Before your enlightenment you will be born as a brahmin. So in your other lives all
           that you can earn is a life as a brahmin.
                From all your good deeds, your morality, your character, this will be your earning -- that you will
           be born as a brahmin. Then the doors open for you, you can become enlightened -- but nobody can
           jump the class barrier. And Buddha did exactly that: he just bypassed the brahmins and entered the
           world of nirvana. This is impossible, unforgivable! His contemporaries could not accept Buddha as
           enlightened or a wise man; they thought him just a nuisance, a disturbance. But when he died he left
           such a tremendous impact on millions of people that brahmins were clever enough to see this was
           not an opportunity to be missed.
                They were not like the Jews, who missed the whole opportunity of Jesus. If the Jews had been as
           clever as the brahmins, the moment they had crucified Jesus, the second thing would have been to
           create a religion around Jesus. In both ways they would have profited -- I am using their term.
                Nobody would have ever condemned them for crucifying Jesus because they would have been
           the popes, they would have been the representatives of Jesus. And they could have managed to
           interpolate all his teachings with Judaism. There was no difficulty; Jesus was a jew, he was speaking
           in the Jewish language, he was speaking within the Jewish religion. The interpolation would not
           have been very difficult.
                It was very difficult with Buddha. It was difficult with Mahavira because Mahavira was speaking
           a totally different language. But the brahmins were clever enough to change the whole climate
           around Mahavira, around Buddha; they created bogus pseudo-religions -- but organized. And they
           have been exploiting since then.
                Organized religion is one of the ugliest things that has happened in history. And the state should
           remain separate from organized religion, because organized religion is nothing but all kinds of
           superstitions -- beliefs -- beliefs without any evidence, doctrines, creeds, which go against every
           scientific discovery and invention. The state should not support any pseudo-religion, any organized
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religion. That is supporting charlatans, cheats, deceivers, exploiters, parasites.
               Let me summarize what I am saying. I am saying: religions should not be mixed with the state
           because there is no religion yet. And whatever exists in the name of religion is not religion. That
           brings me to a totally different understanding.
           Religion is in the process of birth.
               Just as it took three hundred years for science to come of age, if humanity survives, then religion
           will also come of age. That day it will be sheer stupidity to say that state and religion should remain
           separate, because it will mean that all which is valuable in life and all that is great in existence
           should remain separate from the state -- that the state should not be benefited by the enlightened
           ones, that the state should continue to exist in its dark world of politics, dirty in every possible way,
           that it should never see the light.
               Yes, today I agree that the state should remain separate from religions. Remember, I am saying it
           should remain separate from religions -- I am using the word in the plural.
               But when religion comes of age -- religion in the singular, just as science is singular -- then it
           will be simply stupid to keep state and religion separate.
               Then you have to translate religion into what it actually is: then it is love, then it is
           understanding, then it is silence, peace. Then it is wisdom, meditativeness; then it is intelligence,
           pure intelligence.
               All these qualities, values, enrich life; they will enrich the state. By the sheer presence of an
           authentic religion the politicians will start dropping their dirty ways, their cunning policies. They
           will start feeling ashamed. Religion will function like a mirror, and politicians seeing their own faces
           -- which they have never seen, because to see your face your need a mirror ....
               I have heard that Mulla Nasruddin found a mirror on the street. He looked into it and said, "My
           God! I never thought that my father had gone to a photographer; that old man, I never thought he
           was so fashionable. But it is good that although he is dead, at least I have got his photograph." He
           came home, fearing that his wife ....
               Just the way wives are, husbands are; the husband hates not only the wife but all the relatives of
           the wife. Strange, those relatives have done nothing -- or perhaps they have, because if the father and
           the mother had not been there in the world, at least this wife would not have been produced. And the
           wives hate all the relatives of their husbands. Their hatred is so much that only to focus it on the
           husband is not sufficient; it spills all over.
               Afraid that if his wife found the photograph she would burn it immediately, Nasruddin went
           upstairs in the attic and somewhere managed to hide the photograph -- which was not a photograph
           at all, just a mirror. But you cannot hide anything from your wife. That has not been possible since
           there have been husbands and wives. You cannot hide. His wife was doing her work, but seeing from
           the corner of her eye that he has brought something, is hiding it in the attic -- "I will take a look at it.
           Let him first do his thing."
               Nasruddin came down. As he came down he passed his wife; she was going up. He said, "Where
           are you going?"
               She said, "The same place from where you are coming."
               The wife went up and found the mirror. She looked into it and said, "My God! So this is the
           woman he is after. In his old age, the father of two dozen children -- but I will teach him a lesson.
           And he is hiding her photograph in my house.
           Without a mirror you can't see your face.
               The politician has remained dirty, ugly, for the simple reason that he has no mirror. And the
           mirror is possible only from a higher consciousness. It has to be a mirror of consciousness, no
           ordinary mirror will do. It is not his physical face which he will see -- it is his corrupted soul.
               When the true religion comes of age, religion, without any effort on anybody's part, will become
           the light of everybody: of the teacher in the schools, in the colleges, in the universities; of the state,
           of hospitals. A true religion is bound to overwhelm all values of life.
               My effort here is to create an unorganized religion.
               Hence, I call it religionless religion to emphasize the fact that it is not an organized religion; that
           I am not your leader, your messiah, your prophet; that I do not bring to you the word of God; that I
           am not in any way special.
           These are the ways of the old pseudo-religions.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Everyone tries to prove that the founder of his religion is the only true messenger of God. God
           Himself is a fiction, and from that fiction they go on deriving more and more fictions -- the true
           messenger of God, another fiction. Then the true message from the messenger -- another fiction. It
           becomes so complicated that unless you deny God Himself you cannot deny anything; then you have
           to follow every detail of the whole superstitious structure. And all these religions prove that their
           book is written by God ....
                I am not claiming anything; hence you cannot organize a religion around me.
                I am making every effort to create barriers, hindrances, for those who will try to make a religion
           organized around my teachings.
                In the first place it is impossible to find out what my teachings are. Anybody is going to go nuts
           finding out what my teachings are, because I have not been teaching at all. These are not gospels that
           I am giving to you, they are simply gossips. Now, have you ever heard of any religion being created
           around gossips?
           I am not giving you a message from God.
           I simply enjoy talking, I love it!
                In India, my dentist used to tell me, "At least when I am working on your teeth you should stop
           talking." Just five minutes work takes two hours! -- because the poor fellow had to stop. Of course
           he is my disciple so he could not tell me to stop, to shut up. I say that many times to him while he is
           doing dentistry -- it is, of course, difficult to do dentistry on me -- I tell him many times, "Shut up!"
           If his gas is not running well I tell him, "Hit the cylinder!" And he has to hit it, because I insist, "You
           hit the cylinder." And he was surprised that by hitting it, it works.
                My dental nurse was also there. I always have a woman there in case I need some support -- then
           I cannot rely on a man. So I go on telling her, "Keep an eye on the doctor. Don't listen to him, listen
           to me because I am your Master. He is not your Master." So the poor nurse has to listen to me!
                They could not talk loudly because I would hear, and they had to talk while I was talking, to
           discuss what to do -- the work had to be done. So they started whispering. I said, "No whispering at
           all! At least in front of me, no affairs, no whispering. Speak clearly so that I can hear what is going
           on."
                So my dentist was saying, "With you talking it takes two hours, three hours." He said, "You say
           all kinds of things."
                There was a time when he started taking notes -- what else to do? "If he insists on talking and
           won't allow me to work, it is better to take notes of what he is saying -- they may be useful later on."
           He has compiled a whole book -- it will be coming soon. It must be a unique book in the whole
           history of mankind: a man talking under dentistry, in the dentist's chair. People want to escape from
           the dentist's chair -- I enjoy it.
           I simply love talking.
                It does not matter what I am talking about. What matters is, that I am talking and you are
           listening. The essential religion happens there, in my talking and your listening.
           In that meeting, the essential religion happens.
                So you cannot find out any teaching. You cannot reduce it to ten commandments -- do this, don't
           do that. That kind of thing you cannot find because one day I will say, "Do this," and another day I
           will say, "Don't do this." It is impossible to manage all my contradictions.
                It is easy with Jesus, because what contradictions can there be in just those four gospels -- which
           are not even four -- just one gospel written by four persons, each a little different version of the same
           thing. What contradictions? And he is not a man of logic who will think in contradictions or talk in
           contradictions. He is not attuned to the very deep esoteric traditions of religion, which talk in
           paradoxes. His teaching is simple, so you can make a catechism, you can organize a church.
                With me it is going to be tremendously difficult, impossible. I want it to be impossible because I
           want you to remain individual religious persons. If you are together here, that is just a friendly
           togetherness, not a commitment; not in any way are you sacrificing your freedom, your
           independence, your individuality.
                How can you organize a religion around a man who teaches you disobedience, rebellion?
                All these teachers are responsible; although others organized the religion, these teachers are
           responsible. If I meet Mahavira and Buddha or Jesus or Mohammed, I am not going to forgive them
           so easily. They cannot just use the excuse: "When we died others organized the religion." I will tell
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           them, "But you left the message in such a way that it could be organized. Who is responsible for
           that? You should have made arrangements to make it impossible to be organized."
               If there had been no organized religion on the earth we would have seen a totally different
           flowering of humanity. A different fragrance would have been there on this earth, not this stink that
           you can see everywhere, in every church, in every temple, in every mosque, in every synagogue. It is
           through organization.
           Organization immediately becomes power.
               Now, six hundred million Catholics organized under one leader -- it is power. Otherwise the
           pope is just an ordinary polack. But the crowd that follows him ... and the crowd is following Jesus
           Christ -- and not even Jesus Christ; the crowd is following God .... It is a very strange game. They
           can't see God's back, whom they are following. They can't even see Jesus' back, whom they are
           following. They can see only this polack pope. But he consoles them by telling them, "I am directly
           connected to Jesus, to God." These people have direct phone lines.
               I don't have any phone, not even a phone line from here to Jesus Grove, what to say about Jesus
           and what to say about God? I have no phone lines, for the simple reason that I don't want to be
           disturbed by these people. But all these religious leaders in some way implied that they have a direct
           connection with the ultimate source of life and existence.
               I don't have any direct connection with any ultimate source of life.
               I have only a connection with the immediate life -- not the ultimate, the immediate.
           My whole emphasis is herenow.
           This very moment is all to me.
           You cannot create a religion around me.
               You can dance around me, you can sing around me, you can paint around me. You can do a
           thousand things around me, but you cannot do politics around me. And if you do then you are an
           idiot. Then you are simply wasting your time, you are in the wrong place. If you want to play
           politics, be somewhere else. Here, finally you will realize that you wasted your time, this was not the
           place for politics.
           My religion is only a quality, a religiousness.
               This is the problem for politicians to understand. They think that here in our city, state and
           religion are mixing. They are absolutely wrong. There, state and religiousness are one, not mixing;
           there is no question of mixing. What do you mean by mixing? In Washington they are mixing, in
           Salem they are mixing. Here, they cannot mix -- here, they are one, because here religion is not
           Christianity, is not Hinduism.
           Here, religion is only a silence of the heart.
               Now, won't you allow a teacher to teach silently, peacefully, joyously? Won't you allow a teacher
           to have these religious qualities? Won't you allow the school to have the climate of love? Of truth?
           Of sincerity? Of so much authenticity that work becomes worship? Won't you allow a school to be
           religious in this sense?
               Then you don't understand education, you don't understand religion, you don't understand
           anything at all. You don't even understand the basic meaning of the word "education." The attorney
           general of Oregon needs to look in the dictionary for the basic meaning of education. To me he
           seems to be absolutely uneducated, illiterate.
               The word "education" means drawing out whatsoever is the potential of the person. Educating
           means "drawing out," just the way you draw water from a well. The water is there, already there; you
           have to draw it out, then you can quench your thirst. The word "education" means drawing out. And
           drawing out truth from a man -- which is there, just laying, it has to be awakened; drawing out love
           -- which is there, it has to be mined; drawing out authenticity, compassion -- which are all there;
           somebody just has to knock at the right door.
           This is religion:
           Knocking at the right doors of human potentiality.
               My teachers will be religious, my students here will be religious, because to me religion is not
           something that is only on Sunday; for one hour, you become religious in the church.
               Just today Vivek gave me a cream -- she felt that some rough skin had come on my face. I looked
           at the cream and I really enjoyed what was written on it. Cream apart, what was written on it was,
           "Seventh Day Scrub." Great! It is the name of the cream -- "seventh day scrub cream." Six days you
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           work, seventh day you scrub.
                I said, "This cream is religious. And if the attorney general of Oregon comes to know about this
           cream mixing with people's faces ... but that's what God must have done: used the seventh day scrub.
           Six days creating the world, naturally he must have collected all kinds of dirt, and needed a good
           scrub. My religion is not seventh-day scrub cream.
                To me religion is not something separate from life -- or separable.
                You are religious or you are not. It is not that for one hour per week you become religious, that is
           impossible. That is almost like saying that every Sunday for one hour you breathe, and then for six
           days no more breathing, because you have to do other kinds of work. Breathing continues seven
           days, day in, day out. Even when you are asleep the breathing continues.
                My sannyasin is religious even when he is asleep. Even when he is dying he is religious because
           religion is a new way of the heart beating in tune with existence. When your heart starts beating in
           harmony with existence, you feel an at-one-ment with the trees, with the rocks, with people, with
           animals. You start feeling a relatedness. You are part of an organic mystery, and you are so filled
           with this mystery that whether you are a mayor or governor or a president does not make any
           difference.
                If the president is allowed to breathe, if the president is allowed to live, if he is allowed to have
           his pulse continue and his heart continue to beat, won't you allow his innermost core, his being to be
           in tune with existence, to pulsate with existence? In fact that should be the most basic requirement
           for anybody to be the president of a country.
                In my city everything is religious, but religious in my sense. I am changing the whole meaning of
           religion. No religion is being taught in the school -- nobody is taught that there is a God, that Jesus
           Christ is His prophet. Nothing is taught but we live religiously, we walk religiously, we eat
           religiously. You cannot stop it.
                A state has no value compared to such religiousness. We can sacrifice everything for it, but we
           cannot sacrifice this religiousness. This is our very life. And it is a question of twenty-four hours a
           day. There is no possibility of dividing, so that from eleven to five you are mayor, so you are not
           religious -- at eleven you put your religion in the suitcase and lock it so that it is not stolen, then go
           to the office. This is sheer nonsense, and the people who go on talking this way are continually doing
           the same stupid thing -- which is not happening here.
                This attorney general is going to take the oath on THE BIBLE. I would like my commune to
           fight this man to the Supreme Court. Drag him, ask him, "Why THE BIBLE? The case is secondary,
           first the oath has to be considered. Why THE BIBLE? Why in the name of God? If this is not mixing
           religion with state then what will be? First prove God; otherwise it is a superstition."
                We don't mix. Even if God comes here to Rajneeshpuram I don't think any of my sannyasins are
           going to mix with Him. He will be just an outcast. Just the idea that He thinks He is God will be
           enough for my people to laugh and tell Him, "You get lost."
                Take an oath on THE BIBLE? -- why? THE BIBLE is full of lies, and you are taking an oath to
           remain truthful, on a book which is full of lies! You can ask any scientist; the book is full of lies. The
           earth is flat in THE BIBLE -- and you are taking an oath on flat earth! In the very oath you are lying;
           the earth is not flat.
                Or you take the oath in the name of God, whom you have never seen. The judge has no idea who
           this guy God is. Why can't you be simply human? If you really want to say truth, say it! If you don't
           want to say truth, don't say it. That is the business of the whole court, to find out that it is a lie. The
           oath makes no sense. For what does the court exist? The juries, the judges, the advocates of the other
           party, they will all find out whether it is true or not.
                Asking you to take oath .... In India once I was in a court. I refused to take the oath; I said, "I
           cannot take an oath in the name of God. I don't know this fellow. First you have to produce Him, I
           must see Him. Who is this fellow on whose name I am taking an oath? And why should I take an
           oath on the name of somebody to whom I have not even been introduced?
                The judge said, "Okay, then on the SHRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA?
                I said, "The SHRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA? -- which is full of lies and statements of a man,
           Krishna, whom you cannot trust, who has broken his own promises, who was not a man of his
           word." He said he would not fight in the Mahabharat war, he would only be a charioteer. That was
           his promise given to the other party -- because both parties had approached him and asked him,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "Fight for our side." But he was a very clever and cunning man.
               He was having an afternoon nap when Arjuna and Duryodhana, the heads of both the parties,
           reached there. Duryodhana was a very haughty and egoistic type of man. He sat near the head of
           Krishna. Arjuna was humble; he sat near the feet of Krishna, so naturally Krishna's eyes first saw
           Arjuna. And he said, "Why have you come?"
               Arjuna said, "Not only I -- my brother Duryodhana is also there, sitting behind your head. We
           both have come -- I have come to ask you to participate in the war from my side, and he has come to
           request you to participate from his side."
               Krishna was very clever, he was a politician par excellence. He said, "Because I saw you first,
           you have the choice. I give you this choice: Both of you are my relatives, both are my friends; from
           one side I will fight, from another side my army will fight. You can choose."
               Duryodhana was very much afraid; he was just a stupid type of man, he could not understand
           subtler things. He thought, "Now Arjuna will choose the army." Krishna had the biggest army, the
           most sophisticated, technically-equipped army. "He will choose the army, what will I do with
           Krishna? It is already finished." But Arjuna chose Krishna.
               Arjuna said, "This is my good fortune that you gave me the chance to choose -- I was afraid .... I
           choose you; Duryodhana can have your army."
               Now Duryodhana became a little alert -- there seems to be something fishy! Arjuna is so happy
           choosing Krishna alone, leaving the whole army, the biggest in the world at that time, to
           Duryodhana. Duryodhana said, "This is not fair because you alone are more important" -- this was
           all lies. "You alone are more important than your whole army. We will miss you. Without your
           guidance what are we going to do with your army? I want one promise more: you will not fight."
               It was known, it was the myth, that Krishna had a divine wheel, a chakra, which was invisible
           ordinarily. But whenever he wanted, he could materialize it. That chakra moved around his finger,
           and he could throw it at anyone; wherever that person was, the chakra would cut off his head. It did
           not matter -- miles apart, maybe in a crowd, it did not matter; that was his divine power.
               Duryodhana said, "We know that your chakra alone is enough, it can cut off anybody's head. So
           I want a promise. The army you have given to me -- what about your arms, because that chakra is
           with you." Krishna promised that he would not use it, but he did use it.
               "Now, you ask me to take an oath on this man's book, who could not keep his own word? I
           cannot."
               The judge said, "Then the only way is the constitution of India."
               I said, "That is absolute nonsense. Those politicians -- most of them I know -- are the ugliest, the
           greatest hypocrites. Nobody can lie more efficiently than they can. And this constitution goes on
           being amended every day. You want me to take an oath on a constitution made by politicians, which
           needs amendments every day? Just be a little more respectful about truth. Can't you simply trust me?
           -- you can trust my oath. This seems to be stupid: you can trust my oath -- as if an oath has some
           miraculous power -- and you cannot trust me! Just trust me.
               And what is your business here? So many jurors, twelve jurors, three judges, and the opposite
           party's advocates -- what are you all doing here? If I simply say the truth then what is your business
           here? What are you trying to find out?
               This is going to happen, because there is a case .... My secretary asked to argue against the
           attorney general herself, and the court has permitted it. Now there is great agitation. If they are afraid
           of her -- and these people think themselves bigshots, they are nothing but used cartridges! There is
           nothing inside, they are hollow. Yes, she will be enough to put them right.
               In every school Christianity is being taught. In every possible way it is stuffed down the throat of
           every child directly, indirectly. The government, even the parliament, begins with prayer to God. I
           wonder how do you find so many fools to fill the parliament? And nobody asks, "Why this prayer to
           God?"
               Democracy is for the people, of the people, by the people.
               From where comes this God? -- he is not people. This despotic God, a dictatorial God, who
           believes in dictating, believes in giving commandments -- you are praying to Him in a democracy,
           and still you think you are keeping religion and state apart!
               Only in this place does your kind of religion not exist, so there is no question of mixing them.
           Here exists a totally different quality of religiousness which is one with all that we do. We eat
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           religiously, we drink religiously; what can we do about it? We do everything religiously -- we even
           breathe religiously.
               And that is my whole effort, that each of your actions should have the quality, the fragrance, of
           godliness.
               Our religion is an inquiry into truth, and it is an eternal inquiry. In life, in death, in everything,
           the inquiry is to continue. So if our people are in a state they can't stop their inquiry. And their
           inquiry is going to enhance the state and its status. Their inquiry is not against Christians or Hindus
           or Mohammedans or anybody, nor is their inquiry for anybody. Their inquiry is for truth.
               And the greatest thing about truth is that when you find it, you are simply amazed that it was
           hidden in the inquirer himself.
               Just two days ago, two things happened. I was looking for a toothpaste that is not available here
           but was available in India, and a few other things. Suman, who is in charge of our boutique, phoned
           almost all over the world, because they have stopped producing that toothpaste in India; but the same
           company exists all over the world -- it is a Swiss company. So she was phoning all over the world.
               As a few other things were needed, so she was looking for some oil, and other things -- and
           Rafia, who is sitting here, found the toothpaste in the boutique! It was not found anywhere in the
           whole world. I said, "That's really great!"
               Then the second day it happened that Vivek was looking for a blanket for me, and she said it was
           needed within two days. So they phoned the manufacturer, and he said, "Two days will be too soon,
           it will take at least seven days." So Suman asked, "You must have an agent in Oregon; you can give
           us the address and we can find it from there." They gave her the address -- and it was the address of
           our boutique, Rajneeshpuram. We are the only agent of that company in the whole of Oregon!
               Now Suman could not say to him, "I am phoning you from the same boutique." She simply said,
           "Okay we will try your agent."
               The inquiry into truth is almost like that. You look all around the world and finally you find it in
           your own boutique. And it is not something that is in any way against democracy. Inquiry for truth
           or inquiry for great consciousness or inquiry for greater love -- in what way are these things against
           the state? And if these things are against the state then you should teach in every school hatred,
           unconsciousness, lying, deceiving, cheating; that will be true education.
               Then every politician should declare that he is a cheat, hypocrite, deceiver, mean, because these
           are qualifications for being a good politician, and these are qualifications for being in power. A man
           of love, a man of truth, a man of sincerity is disqualified.
               If this commune becomes illegal, that means truth is disqualified, honesty is disqualified, love is
           disqualified. Then everything of value is illegal, and all that should be criminal becomes legal,
           political, approved by the state.
               This case is going to be of decisive importance. That man, the attorney general, does not know it,
           but unknowingly he has put his head into a nest of bees. He will repent his whole life because we are
           not going to leave things so easily. We have the right to define religion in our own way; nobody can
           prevent us. If Christians can define their religion in their way, and the Hindus can define their
           religion in their way, and every other religion is allowed to define things, why are we not allowed to
           define things in our own way?
               For us, there is not God. But there is godliness -- just a quality, a presence.
               For us there is not heaven or hell. But there are heavenly moments, hellish moments -- and they
           depend on you. They are not geographical. It is not that you enter hell or heaven; it is that you create
           hell or heaven for yourself. And it is up to you at anytime to change.
               For us, religion has nothing to do with any creed or cult, with any holy book.
               Vivek was just asking me, "Why are your discourses called `The Rajneesh Bible'?"
               They are called "The Bible" just to make it clear to the whole world the "bible" simply means the
           book, it does not mean the holy book. That's why you say "bibliography". Is there anything holy in a
           bibliography? A bibliography simply means a list of books. It is really just "the book", and I want it
           to be clear to the whole world that a bible has nothing to do with holiness.
               I am not a holy man because to me the word "holy" seems so phony, so bogus that I would prefer
           just to be a human being. Just to be a human being is so grand, so great; there is nothing greater than
           that. But strangely, man has been trying to become God. Rather than trying to become man he had
           been trying to become God. God he cannot become because there is no God, and nothing like God is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           possible.
               But in making the effort to become God and trying hard to rise higher, he falls, is bound to fall.
           And when he falls, he falls below the human being. That's where all your religious people have
           fallen, your so-called holy men and saints and sages. Trying to become God they have fallen even
           from being human beings, they have become subhuman.
           Our effort is just to be alive human beings.
           This is our religion.
               And there is no question of mixing because they are not two for us.
               In each of our acts we are totally present. We don't leave anything out of it, we are totally in it.
               Whether the city remains legal or illegal does not matter.
               What matters is that we are going to define religion for the first time in the right way.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                 Chapter #14
                            Chapter title: The best government is no government
           14 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503145
              ShortTitle: DARK14
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 119 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE BEST GOVERNMENT?


               No government.
           The very idea of somebody governing somebody else is inhuman.
           Government is a game, the ugliest and the dirtiest game in the world.
               But there are people in the lowest state of consciousness who enjoy it: these are the politicians.
           The only joy of a politician is to govern, to be in power, to enslave people
               The greatest desire of all those who have reached to the peaks of consciousness has been the
           dream that one day we can get rid of all governments. That day will be the greatest in the whole
           history -- past, present, future -- of man, because getting rid of all governments will mean destroying
           the ugliest game, the game the politicians have been playing for centuries.
               They have made man just a chess piece, and they have created so much fear, fear that without
           government there will be anarchy, disorder, chaos ... everything will be destroyed. And the strangest
           thing is that we go on believing this nonsense.
               Just look at the past five thousand years. Can you conceive that if there was no government at all
           in the world things would have been worse? In what way? In three thousand years, five thousand
           wars have been fought. Do you think more would have been possible without government -- that
           more chaos was possible, more crime was possible?
               What have these governments done? They have not done anything for the people except exploit
           them, exploit their fear, and set them against each other. A continuity of war somewhere or other on
           the earth is almost an absolute necessity for politicians to exist.
               Adolf Hitler, in his autobiography, has many insights; and he is a man worth understanding
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           because he is the purest politician -- I mean, the dirtiest. He says that war is an absolute necessity if
           you want to remain in power. If you cannot create war people start thinking of you as nobody. Only
           in wartime are heroes born.
                He is right. Just think of all your heroes -- what would they be without wars? Who would
           Alexander the Great be? Who would Napoleon Bonaparte be? Who would Winston Churchill be?
           Who would Benito Mussolini be? Joseph Stalin? Adolf Hitler himself?
                These people have become heroes of great importance. The bigger the war the bigger the heroes
           it creates.
                Hitler says that if you cannot create war then at least continue to propagate the idea that war is
           coming. Never leave people in peace, because when they are in peace, you are nobody. They don't
           need you; your very purpose is not there. They need you when there is danger. Create danger. If
           there is not real danger, at least create the climate of a false danger.
                The American fear of the Russians, the Russian fear of the Americans -- it is nothing but a game
           of the politicians. People themselves are exactly the same all over the world -- they don't want to be
           killed in wars and they don't want to kill others in wars. But the politician cannot exist without wars.
           Hence I call it the dirtiest game -- because it depends on human blood, the bloodshed of millions of
           innocent people.
                When I say no government is the best government I know perfectly well that perhaps it will not
           ever be possible. But it is better to have dreams that are impossible but are of some higher
           consciousness, of beauty, love. Perhaps if the idea goes on existing, some day we may come close to
           it. We may not be able to achieve it in its totality -- hence I say, the closest to no government is one
           government, which is not impossible. And after one government, no government becomes very
           possible.
                Try to understand the idea. When I say one government, then politics loses much juice. When
           there are so many presidents in the world and so many prime ministers and kings and queens, and
           everybody is trying to prove himself the greatest, the game has some juice. When there is one
           government then it becomes functional; there is nobody against it.
                The whole joy of politics is in "the enemy." When there is no enemy, then you are just working
           like the Red Cross Society or the organization of post offices or railways or aeroplanes. Do you
           know who is the head of the organization that runs the railway trains in America? There is no need,
           he is just a functional head.
                And when there is one government we can make it a Rotary Club. There is no need for anybody
           to remain a president for four or five years. A few weeks will be enough; enjoy four weeks and then
           rotate. There is no problem in it. So every part of the world is represented; sometimes their person is
           the president. But by the time the world comes to know, he is no longer the president. And when it is
           a Rotary Club people lose that desire, the will to power.
           One government means that nations disappear.
                In fact there is no validity for nations; they are simply a calamity.
                In Ethiopia people are dying of starvation; in Europe they are throwing foodstuff into the ocean
           because they have so much that if they continue to keep it then prices in the market will go down;
           and prices have to be kept going up. The only way is to get rid of it. So much is being thrown away
           that just to throw it in the ocean one hundred thousand dollars are needed -- just for the labor of
           throwing it into the ocean.
                This is a mad world. Ethiopia is so close to Europe -- for one hundred thousand dollars all that
           stuff could have reached Ethiopia. And it is not a small amount: three million tons of tomatoes and
           eight million tons of other foodstuff.
                Can you believe human beings can be so inhuman when people are simply starving and dying
           just because there is no food in their country? For four years there have been no rains; even the
           moisture in the air has disappeared. People don't have water to drink -- they are dying of thirst. And
           you are throwing food in the ocean!
           This is what your nations have been doing.
                In India people have been dying of starvation .... Russia is one of the friends of India, and they
           have a treaty for almost the next fifty years, sixty years, that they will never fight against each other.
           And anybody who is an enemy of India will be an enemy of Russia, or the enemy of Russia will be
           the enemy of India. This way they have lived for thirty years.
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                But all these treaties, all these contracts, are one thing; reality is totally different. Yes, if there is
           a war, Russia will help; but if Indians are dying of starvation it has nothing to do with the friendship.
           What kind of friendship is this?
                In Russia they were burning wheat instead of coal in their trains because they had surplus crops
           of wheat, and coal was costlier than wheat. India could have given them as much coal as they
           wanted, and India needed wheat. But that is none of the concern of anybody else, that is your
           business; you take care of your country.
                Nations are creating walls between human beings. Otherwise the earth is still capable of
           supporting beautiful, healthy life. And science has provided all the means so that there is no need for
           anybody to die of starvation, of sickness. There is a possibility that life can be extended to at least
           three hundred years avery easily. In fact scientific research shows that intrinsically there is no reason
           why a man should die, because his body is made in such a way that it renews itself continuously. If it
           can renew itself for seventy years, why not seven hundred years? Or why not seven thousand years?
                It is only a question of time -- the mechanism is there. Perhaps there is need of a little scientific
           help to reprogram the inner system of the body. It has been programmed by nature for seventy years;
           the program can be changed, and the body will follow any program that is given to it. But nations
           will not allow this to happen.
                It is strange, in India right now thousands of people have been killed in Punjab -- just a political
           game, and people don't mean anything to politicians.
                The Sikhs in Punjab want their state to become an independent nation. I don't see anything wrong
           in it. If that's what Sikhs want, then who are you to prevent them? What right have you got to
           prevent them? If they want to become an independent nation they should be welcomed into the
           community of nations. India should not create trouble for them. That's what India has been doing:
           killing thousands of Sikhs. Why? -- because India should remain united. But why? What is the value
           of remaining united, for what?
                The same game has been going on a long time. In 1930 Mohammed Ali Jinnah said that
           Mohammedans want an independent nation. Mahatma Gandhi continued in every direct and indirect
           way to spread the idea that India should remain united. But why? As if unity in itself has some
           value!
                Just look behind it. India should remain united because in unity is power -- and in power is the
           whole of politics. The bigger the country is, the more powerful it is against the neighbors; and the
           people who rule the country, they are also more powerful.
                Of course Jinnah was a very cunning and clever politician -- just the right person to oppose
           Mahatma Gandhi: otherwise it would have been very difficult for Mohammedans to get a separate
           country. Gandhi's whole politics was, that the country remain one: Hindus and Mohammedans are all
           brothers. But these are just words of absolute meaninglessness ....
                When Gandhi's own son became converted to Mohammedanism he was so angry that he
           abandoned him. What happened to Hindu-Mohammedan brotherhood? If they are brothers then there
           is no conversion. Just from this house the son has gone to another house -- there is no problem.
           Gandhi should have welcomed it. But he forgot; for a moment the real Hindu came in, the
           politician's mask slipped. He never saw the face of his own son again.
                He instructed his family that when he died, his eldest son should not put fire to his body -- which
           is the traditional way in India: the eldest son puts fire when the father dies.
                Haridas was his eldest son, but he had become a Mohammedan. Now, if Hindus and
           Mohammedans are brothers, Haridas has done really a very Gandhian act; Gandhi should have been
           happy. But no, Haridas was not allowed .... He was following at the end of the procession of
           Mahatma Gandhi after he was shot.
                All his brothers, the leaders, the president, the prime minister, the cabinet ministers -- they were
           all with the body of Mahatma Gandhi. Haridas was just in the crowd, tears in his eyes, nobody even
           bothering about him, that he is the eldest son. He was standing by the side at the funeral when the
           fire was given, tears in his eyes. But Gandhi was very strict in his orders: "He should not be allowed
           even to touch my dead body." Haridas simply touched the ground and disappeared into the crowd.
                Why did Gandhi want India united? One thing was certain: Hindus are the majority in India, so if
           India remains united, Hindus will remain in power. That is obvious. A Hindu will be the prime
           minister, a Hindu will be the president; Hindus will be in every high post. Mohammedans cannot
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           compete.
                In a democracy the majority decide who is to rule, and that's why Jinnah insisted, "We cannot
           live with Hindus because to live with Hindus means to live under their rule. We can never be in
           power." That was his politics: to be in power.
                He wanted to be in power, and with Hindus it was impossible. Gandhi was a very clever
           politician, so clever that he almost deceived the whole world into thinking he was a religious man.
           He tried to bribe Jinnah too. He made an offer to Jinnah: "You will be the first president of India --
           that is my promise."
                Jinnah said, "I can understand, and I trust your word -- I may be the first president, but then
           what? I cannot remain in power forever; the majority can throw me out any day. And even if I am
           the president I am not really in power, because I don't have the support of the majority of the
           country. Just you are making me the president; you are the king-maker, you are still higher than me."
           Without the country's support a single man's vote is making him the president!
                "But," he said, "it is not a question of my being president; what about my people? Once you are
           dead, I am dead; Hindus will be ruling forever -- and we cannot accept this. We are descendants of
           rulers, we have ruled over India for two thousand years; before the Britishers we were the rulers.
           Now after the Britishers we are not going to be slaves. We need a separate country."
                The Britishers were playing their game too. They had no interest in Hindus or Mohammedans or
           Sikhs. Their interest was, if these three go on fighting among themselves, they remain in power.
           Their simple plea was there -- a very British type of politics, very nice. Even if they kill you, they
           kill you with a smile. Their politics was simple. They said, "We are ready to leave the country, we
           are ready to make you independent, but first you decide: to whom are we to leave the country? In
           whose hands? You are not united. We cannot leave the country in chaos."
                Just understand the politician's strategy: "We cannot leave you in chaos, in disorder. You first get
           yourself together."
                Even in 1930 Sikhs were asking for a separate, independent country. Their leader was Master
           Tarasingh, a very fanatic Sikh and a very powerful politician. Kashmiris also wanted to have their
           own country. They have a very strong politician, Sheikh Abdullah, who has ruled Kashmir for
           almost half a century.
                He wanted Kashmir to be a separate country. He said, "We don't want to be part of Pakistan,
           because in Pakistan we will be lost, and we have the paradise of the earth in our hands; we don't
           want this paradise to be lost, to fall into anybody's hands. We don't want to be with India either,
           because wherever we are we will be a minority and we will be lost." His politics was to remain
           independent; then he would be in power.
                If I had been there in 1930 I would have said, "Give Mohammedans what they are wanting -- that
           is their right, to rule themselves." And if in 1930 Pakistan was given to Mohammedans, there would
           have been no violence at all, because there was no violence in 1930, no riots; Hindus and
           Mohammedans were not killing each other.
                This whole thing came into being between 1930 and 1947 because Jinnah and Gandhi went on
           fighting more and more, and the fight started spreading to the masses. Jinnah started provoking
           Mohammedans against Hindus, and the British government went on supporting Jinnah in every
           possible way so that he remained strong, even though he was just a minority.
                In seventeen years everything changed. So much violence happened -- and this whole violence
           happened because of this messiah of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi.
                It would have been so simple to give Mohammedans the parts of the country where they were in
           the majority. They were not asking anything irrational. They don't want to live with you -- who are
           you to force them to live with you? Their religion is different, their language is different, their
           culture is different. In every possible way they are a separate entity, they have their own
           individuality. Allow them.
                And if in 1930 it had been allowed, there would have been no violence; Pakistan and India would
           have remained friendly. It is because of Mahatma Gandhi that it was not possible to separate in a
           friendly way. The violence became necessary.
                India was partitioned. It was absolutely clear to anybody who had eyes that you could not stop it.
           Gandhi had said, "I will allow India to be divided only over my corpse" -- but even that could not
           prevent it. India was divided, and he forgot completely that it was being divided without his corpse.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Politicians don't have good memories. They cannot afford good memories. They have to go on
           forgetting their own promises.
                And after the partition there was even more violence, because once both the countries were
           separate, with their own armies, and the British government was gone ... there was more violence
           because Mohammedans were moving to Pakistan. It must have been the greatest movement since
           Moses moved from Egypt -- but that was not this big.
                Millions of Mohammedans moved from India to Pakistan. But it was not any easy thing -- trains
           were burned, people were killed. To pass thousands of miles and enter Pakistan was not easy
           because those thousands of miles were Hindu territory. And the same was happening in Pakistan on
           even a bigger scale -- because Hindus are not very efficient in killing; they have not killed for at
           least five thousand years. It needs a certain expertise; Mohammedans are far more expert.
                In Pakistan they completely demolished the Hindus -- completely! Only a very few people could
           escape. In India many Mohammedans were killed but still India remains the biggest Mohammedan
           country in the world. Again, the same politics ....
                Mohammedans claim their religion says that every Mohammedan is allowed to marry four
           wives." To interfere with their religion means danger, immediate riots all over the country, so you
           cannot. Although the constitution says that one man can marry only one woman, Mohammedans
           continue to marry four women. Nobody can prevent them. And this is their political game.
                You can understand: if four men marry one woman they can produce only one child in a year.
           Four men or forty men, that does not matter -- if the woman is one, only one child will be produced.
           Perhaps with one man it is easier; four men may mess around and kill the child. But one man and
           four women -- then there can be four children very easily, there is no problem. While Hindus will be
           producing only one child, Mohammedans will be producing four; they are increasing four times
           every year.
                It is politics -- in the name of religion. Again Mohammedans will be in a position to ask for
           another country -- and they will ask. Sikhs have been asking for almost half a century. They should
           have been given one, there is no problem in it. Why insist on the unity of the country? When the
           people themselves don't want to remain united, who are you to force unity? And can unity be forced?
                Now thousands of Sikhs have been killed, thousands of Hindus have been killed, Indira Gandhi
           has been assassinated -- and Punjab is in the same situation. Not a single bit has changed: Punjab is
           still asking to be independent; the Indian army is sitting all over Punjab. How long can you do that,
           and for what purpose?
                If somebody asks me, I will say, "Give it to them, it is their country; if they want to be
           independent, let them be independent. If Bengalis want to be independent, let them be independent
           also. If South India wants to be independent, let it be independent also."
                Naturally, the leaders of India will say that means India will disappear. So what! -- let it
           disappear. I don't see any problem. What is the problem? Nothing disappears: people will be there in
           Pakistan, people will be there in Punjab, people will be there in Bengal, people will be in South India
           -- just the name, India, will disappear. Let it disappear!
                People will be living -- but you are more interested in names than in people, in living people.
           People don't mean anything, names mean much. But it is not the name -- it is a question of the
           leaders who are leaders of a great country becoming leaders of small states, small countries with no
           power.
                The same is the situation of those who are asking for their own countries, to be independent. If
           Sikhs are asking, what is the problem? The problem is that Punjab was a big state; then half of
           Punjab went to Pakistan because half of Punjab had a Mohammedan majority, so Punjab became
           halved. Then this continuous quarrel started .... While there were Mohammedans, there was no
           conflict between Hindus and Sikhs. They were one -- against Mohammedans. You see the game of
           politics?
                The enemy of the enemy is my friend. But when the enemy disappears, what happens to the
           friend? Sikhs and Hindus were friends, brothers; they had never thought of being separate because of
           the Mohammedans: they had to fight the Mohammedans.
                Once half of Punjab had gone to Pakistan, suddenly they became aware that "we are Hindus and
           you are Sikhs" -- and the fight started. Then Punjab had to be divided again into two states, into
           Punjab and Hari Ana. Hari Ana became a Hindu state -- the majority of its population is Hindu -- and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           in Punjab Sikhs became the majority of the population.
                It is now one fourth of the original Punjab, but there is a danger, because now the Sikhs are in the
           majority, and the Sikh leaders think, "Unless we are an independent country .... We have no chance
           to become leaders of the whole of India; we will always remain a very small minority, a small state
           of no importance." Their leaders want to be important.
                My idea is: let every city become a country just like us, just as we are a country -- because in
           what category can we be put? We are not a city, we are not a state; the only category that is left is, a
           country! A very small country -- but unless proved otherwise, we are a country. And nobody has
           raised any objection.
                If each city becomes a country that will spoil the whole game of the politicians. Then K.D. will
           be the president of Rajneeshpuram, and there will be millions of presidents and prime ministers --
           they will lose all meaning.
                Hence the continuous effort to keep countries big: the bigger the country, the bigger the
           politician; the smaller the country, the smaller the politician. I want the country to be so small that
           the politician is of no significance at all. And in that way, democracy can be direct -- as it was in
           Greece in the days of Socrates.
                Greece was constituted of city democracies. Each city was a state independent in itself; hence
           direct democracy was possible. Indirect democracy is almost no democracy at all. You choose a
           person for four or five years to be the president. Now, for four or five years what guarantee do you
           have that this man is not going to go nuts? Most probably he is already nuts; otherwise why should
           he bother to become president of your country. Can't he find anything better to do?
                This very desire to go to the White House is so stupid -- you can just paint your house white. Be
           in the White House!
                I really did it .... In my university, by coincidence the gate of the university was a pentagon --
           five roads meeting at the gate. And one of my very beloved professors, Professor S.S. Roy, lived just
           by the side of the gate.
           I told him, "You are missing a great opportunity."
           He said, "What?"
           I said, "You don't be worried -- I will do something."
           He said, "What?"
           I said, "Let me first do it" -- so I collected four or five students and painted his house white.
           He said, "But what are you doing?"
           I said, "Now this is the White House on the Pentagon!"
           He said, "What will people think?"
                I said, "Nothing! You haven't yet seen the signboard." He ran out, looked at the signboard:
           "White House, Pentagon, Washington," and said, "What is this `Washington'?"
                I said, "That is the name of your garden! And from today we are going to call you, `President,
           sir.'" And in the class we started to call him not "professor" but "president", and he would say, "Don't
           do that to me, because each time it reminds me of my house that you have destroyed. My wife is
           angry because other women are laughing at her. And even buses and trucks stop on the road to look
           at the board, `White House, Pentagon, Washington.' And certainly, it is a pentagon."
                I said, "This is easier than trying to become the president. This is so easy -- to paint your house."
                In Athens, direct democracy was possible. Direct democracy means you don't choose any
           representatives -- because how can a person represent millions of people? It is impossible. Who can
           represent me? Except myself, nobody can represent me. And when somebody represents millions of
           people, certainly he is not representing anybody except himself. You are being befooled. Indirect
           democracy is simply a deception.
                Athens had direct democracy -- no representatives. All Athenians gathered whenever there was
           any problem to be discussed; all the citizens would gather and they would vote for each single issue
           directly. They would raise their hands for or against; this is the way it was done. That was direct and,
           in fact, democratic. And everybody knew there was no question of somebody cheating you, some
           Nixon creating a Watergate -- no problem.
                In Athens, when a problem was there, the whole problem was told to you; then you voted and
           you decided, and you could see that the city had decided for or against. Once it was decided then the
           whole city followed it because the majority had decided; then the minority had to be in support of it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               There were no political parties in Athens -- there was no need. Political parties are only needed
           in an indirect democracy. In a direct democracy everybody has his own idea and he is independent,
           able to represent his idea, to vote for himself; he can propose his idea, and explain his idea to the
           people. Perhaps he can convince them, perhaps they will be ready to support him -- but everybody is
           free.
               Only in a small commune is direct democracy possible. And direct democracy is the only
           democracy.
               Indirect democracy is just a trick. You think you are choosing your representative -- do you
           know his mind? Have you ever thought whether your mind and his mind are similar? And with how
           many minds can he be similar?
               Now, Ronald Reagan -- whom does he represent except himself? I don't think he can represent
           even his wife -- and you all know that no husband represents his wife. And this man has got a
           swollen head now because he represents the whole of America. Certainly that is not possible at all.
           But he has the power to prove that he represents it: he can go to war and drag the whole country to
           war. He is preparing for war and can drag the whole country to war.
               And of course if he wants to become the greatest hero in the world he should not miss this
           chance, because after the third world war there is not going to be any fourth war; this is his last
           chance to become a hero. Of course nobody will be left there to write your history, but at least
           existence will remember: the ruined earth will remember, the dead bodies of all human beings,
           animals, birds -- they will remember. The dead trees, the whole earth will become one Big Muddy
           Ranch -- that will remember.
               He should not lose this chance. And what has he to lose? He is old enough, anyway he is going
           to die; and when you die, whether the world lives afterwards or not, that is none of your concern.
           This is a good chance. He has lived enough, he is going to die -- why not take the whole world with
           him?
               Nobody represents you, nobody can represent you. If Rajiv Gandhi asks me, I will tell him the
           only solution is to give Punjab independence. Make it a country -- and not grudgingly, reluctantly,
           but joyously. Celebrate the birth of a new country. The whole of India should celebrate the birth.
           And if other parts of India want to be free, let them be free. Let India, the word, disappear; it doesn't
           matter. But let the people live -- and let them live the way they want to live. Don't force anything on
           anybody.
               I can understand how difficult it is .... If somebody imposes something on me .... For example, I
           lived in Maharashtra, but I would not like anybody to impose the language of the Maharashtrians on
           me -- no, not while I am alive! I simply hate it. I cannot conceive how Maharashtrians can be making
           loving conversations to each other. They look always as if they are fighting, their language is such --
           harsh. It hits you! It has no roundness anywhere.
               Every word has many corners, cutting you. And they talk so loudly ... I have never seen two
           Maharashtrians talking in a human way -- I am not saying whispering, just talking. No, they are
           always shouting as if they are addressing thousands of people.
               I had one professor who used to teach me psychology; he was a Maharashtrian. I was his only
           student. Just because of him nobody joined the psychology department. I joined just out of
           compassion -- for no other reason, because I knew much more psychology than he knew.
               I had just joined because the poor fellow, for three years, had not had a single student, and he
           was running after students saying, "Please join!" because he was afraid that if nobody joins, sooner
           or later he is going to be thrown out. He was head of the department of psychology and earning a
           good salary -- and all would be gone.
               Almost with tears in his eyes he told me "Only you can help me -- I don't think anybody else has
           the guts to join."
               I said, "You should have told me before, there is no problem. Just one thing you have to
           promise."
           He said, "What?"
               I said, "You have to keep silent, because I don't want to be addressed as if you are addressing a
           meeting of two or three thousand people without a microphone. That I cannot bear, that is too much.
           Moreover I love to sleep in classes. So be silent. I will join your class; you can go out whenever you
           want, you can do whatsoever you want. You can come, go or .... Don't disturb me, and don't try to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           teach me psychology -- because I know enough, more than enough. I am really fed up with
           psychology. If you agree to this condition ...."
               He said, "I can agree, but once in a while when the vice-chancellor comes, just passes by in the
           corridor, I have to speak, otherwise he will ...."
               I said, "No, at that time I will speak so he will hear that somebody is speaking; you listen."
               He said, "This is strange! If he looks from the window?"
               I said, "Then I will be asking a question -- but you are not to answer. That question will be so
           long that he cannot stand there. Let him stand there -- my question will continue -- but you are not to
           speak." His name was Professor Dandekar. I said, "Dandekar, if you agree with all these conditions,
           I am your student, you are my professor." He had to agree, but it was very difficult for him, and he
           was boiling within.
               I said to him, "If you want to talk, just tell me -- I will go out, and then you can do whatsoever
           you want. It is your classroom: you can speak to the walls, you can speak to the tables .... And
           anyway, even when I am here what difference does it make -- whether out of a hundred chairs, one
           chair is filled or not? And I am always asleep; I don't waste time. In the night I read and in the day I
           sleep. I come to the university to sleep."
               For a while I lived in Bombay, and then I lived in Poona. Poona is the very capital of the
           Maharashtrians. But it is unbelievable .... Now, if somebody wanted me to learn the Maharashtrian
           language as my national language, I would leave that nation but I would not learn that language.
               And that is nothing: if you go into South India then you will come across real monsters -- Tamil,
           Telugu, Kannad, Malayalam, and it seems you have come onto another planet! The way they are
           talking -- how have they developed their languages? But if these people want to be ... and if they are
           not willing to accept Hindi as their national language, I can understand: why should they accept it?
               Hindi is my mother tongue; I love it, but why should a Maharashtrian learn Hindi or a Telugu or
           a Tamil learn Hindi? For them Hindi is as foreign as any other language. Chinese would be almost
           the same as Hindi. Why should it be imposed on them?
               These are really different nations, forcibly joined together. Let them be free, and soon you will
           see .... Make Punjab independent and you will see that the Sikhs start fighting amongst themselves --
           there are Sikh sects whose differences are not yet in focus because they are all together against the
           Hindus. Just let the Hindus be removed and you will see.
               There is a certain group of Sikhs who dress in blue, and always keep a very special kind of
           sword. The ordinary sword is long, thin; their sword is short but very thick and very heavy. Just one
           hit on your neck and you and your head are separated.
               They are the most ferocious Sikhs. Once the Sikhs have an independent country .... They are
           called, neelah Sikhs, `blue Sikhs,' because of their blue dress -- and they are really fanatic people.
           Soon they will say, "Either we will dominate ... otherwise we want an independent country." Then
           ordinary Sikhs will understand how difficult it is.
               It has already happened .... When Pakistan was divided, half of the country was on one side of
           India, and the other half of the country on the other side of India; in the middle was India. Pakistan
           was a strange country -- in two parts, divided by almost two thousand miles.
               But politicians are politicians. Jinnah was asking for a one-hundred-mile-broad corridor from one
           part of Pakistan to the other part -- going through India! Even to the Britishers it looked too much.
           This was so strange: one hundred miles broad so their railways and their people and their airplanes
           and their army could pass just through the middle of India -- and they would cut India in two. Then
           India would ask for a corridor -- because how could they be joined?
               This would go on and on. Everybody could see that this would be very difficult to solve; this
           would be Bertrand Russell's paradox. So the idea was dropped.
               Half of Bengal in the East, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan in the West -- these two became
           Pakistan; and it became clear that sooner or later they would fight. They were both Mohammedan
           and they fought against India to achieve Pakistan but once Pakistan was achieved, Bengalis started
           saying that they wanted an independent country, Bangladesh, on their own, because they speak
           Bangla.
               They said, "The Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Baluchistanis speak Urdu and we have no
           communication. If we remain together we will always be ruled by those with whom we have no
           connection -- we are even two thousand miles distant and our cultures are different. We cannot be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ruled by Punjabis."
                And Bengalis are almost like the French; they think they have the best culture in the world, the
           best language in the world -- everything they have is the best. Only when I visited Calcutta for the
           first time did I come to know that I am an Indian. They are Bengalis; they don't consider themselves
           Indians. Indians are far below them -- they are Bengalis!
                So immediately after Jinnah died, Pakistan separated into two. With the same ugliness they
           fought, they killed -- now they were Mohammedans killing Mohammedans. But these were Punjabi
           Mohammedans, and those were Bengali Mohammedans. Thousands of people were unnecessarily
           killed, and finally they had to concede -- because how can you rule somebody who does not want to
           be ruled by you?
                If those people are ready to die, then sooner or later you will have to retreat. What is the point?
           And Sikhs are people who cannot budge an inch. They would rather die completely than surrender to
           an idea which is not their idea. Their politicians are continuously provoking them; every day there is
           violence.
                And just a few days ago they killed the high priest, their own high priest, because the high priest
           was a liberal type of man; he wanted some kind of negotiation. But what negotiation can there be?
           Either Punjab remains part of India or it becomes an independent country -- what negotiation?
           Because he said he wanted some negotiations with Rajiv Gandhi, Sikhs killed him -- and to kill their
           own high priest means they are determined.
                Sikhs have a tradition that anybody who goes against the Sikh religion, if he is a Sikh, then the
           high command of the Sikh community can call him to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to punish him.
           Now they have called two persons to the temple; one is a cabinet minister in Rajiv Gandhi's
           government -- a Sikh -- and the second is the president of India; he is also a Sikh.
                These two persons should come to the temple to receive punishment, and the punishment can be
           anything. You can be beaten, you can be told to go naked around the temple, your face can be
           painted black, you can be put on a donkey and moved around the town -- any punishment, because
           "both of you Sikhs are in power and yet millions of Sikhs are living in terror and thousands have
           died, and their temple has been profaned." This is the first time that the military has entered the
           Golden Temple.
                In three hundred years the British government never dared. In two thousand years of
           Mohammedan rule, Mohammedans never dared. No army could enter the Golden Temple. It had
           become conventionally accepted that the Golden Temple had its own authority, a kind of sovereignty
           in its own territory.
                The assassination of Indira Gandhi was not accidental. She was the first one who forced the army
           into the Golden Temple. This was provoking the Sikhs, and if they got mad and assassinated her, it
           was not just accidental: she had asked for it.
                To me it seems all absolutely idiotic. Let them be free. They want to be free, and freedom is
           everybody's right.
                My understanding is that the whole world slowly slowly should be divided into smaller and
           smaller units so every unit becomes a direct democracy. Then these direct democracies choose a
           Rotary Club for the whole world. But that Rotary Club will be functional, utilitarian, not based on a
           lust for a power. And these people will be continually changed. So this will be one government, the
           closest to no government.
                The final dream should remain no government. In fact there is no need for any government -- just
           a little understanding in people. What is the need for governments?
                Just look at our commune: what government do we need? No crime is committed. We have a city
           judge but not a single case has yet appeared in three years; and it is not going to appear. We have the
           police but we don't need the police for the commune, because in the commune nobody is doing
           anything for which the police are required.
                We need the police for the outsiders, the Oregonian idiots. We don't want to be interfered with by
           anybody. We want to live on our own, and we ARE ... peacefully, silently, lovingly, joyously. We
           don't need any government.
                Do you know what function our lord mayor has to perform? Nothing! just bumming around. And
           nobody knows who the council members are. They are all doing their jobs but there is no point; just
           once in a while their council meets -- nobody even takes note when their council meets or what they
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           decide.
               If people have just a little understanding that they are not to interfere with each other, then for
           the community council ... things like the post office, hospital, roads, electricity -- all these things will
           be there; they have to make arrangements for them. Of course when there are so any people living
           together, somebody has to be responsible for all these things.
               So I don't think that with governments disappearing there will be chaos, no. With governments
           disappearing there will arise intelligence, understanding.
               Because of these governments, people have not been intelligent; they have always looked up to
           the government, felt that the government is going to do everything for them. All responsibilities are
           thrown on the government.
               When there is no government and you feel for the first time that you are responsible, whatever
           you do, there is nobody you can throw your responsibility upon -- that triggers your intelligence. I
           know it is an impossible dream to have no government in the world, but if you know moments of
           silence, peace, intelligence, it does not seem so impossible. If you ask me, to me it seems to be very
           simple and very practical.
               Governments have been only a nuisance, nothing else.
               You can look at any single problem -- for example, they will say that if we dissolve the courts
           and the police and the jails then there will be crime everywhere.
               This is not right. I have seen communities, aboriginal, primitive communities, where no court
           exists, no police exists, no jail exists -- no crime either. Yes, once in a while something happens, but
           those people are so innocent that they go on foot hundreds of miles to the nearest town where they
           can go to the court and report.
               And do you know who goes to report? The man who has committed the crime! Somebody has
           murdered someone in a rage: he himself goes to the court to say that it has happened, and "I am
           ready for any punishment because in my community there is no court, no punishment. They told me
           to come here."
               It looks like a miracle that a murderer should come himself, hundreds of miles, to report that he
           has murdered. But this is how human beings should be. If you have done something wrong and you
           feel that it is wrong, then you should be ready to accept the consequence of it. Trying to hide it is
           becoming phony; you are losing your authenticity.
               Now, this murderer who comes to the court is a far greater sage than your saints -- just in the
           very act of coming to the court to declare that he is a murderer. In fact it is such a difficulty ....
               One of my friends was a judge in Raipur; Raipur is the nearest big town to a big aboriginal area,
           Bastar. The judge said to me that it is very difficult when somebody comes with such strength, with
           such clarity, with such pride, with nothing to hide. He has committed something wrong and he is
           ready for the consequence.
               He said to me that it feels wrong to punish this man; it seems he should be rewarded. Our police
           have not caught him; nobody would have even heard about the murder, because for hundreds of
           miles there are no trains, no roads, no schools, no hospitals. Nobody would have even heard if this
           man himself had not confessed.
               And this is not a hocus-pocus confession like a Catholic does every Sunday before the priest.
           That is not a confession; you are really consoling your own guilty conscience.
               This man comes to the court and says, "I have committed a murder." The judge told me, "Many
           times it has happened that we have to ask a man, `You have to produce evidence; otherwise we
           cannot punish you.'"
               Once, a man said, "But evidence -- there is none. If evidence is needed, I will have to go back
           and find somebody, if somebody had seen us ... because we were both alone when we were fighting"
           -- they live in the jungles. "I will have to go back and find if I can get evidence. But when I am
           saying myself that I have committed murder, what is the need of evidence?"
               But the problem of the judge is that without eyewitnesses, evidence, arguments from this side
           and that side, legal procedures -- all that hullabaloo that goes on for years, and then this man has to
           be convicted, or most probably, he will be released .... But what to do with this man who has no
           evidence, who has no advocate on his side?
               The judge asked him, "Would you like to have an advocate appointed by the government to fight
           for you?"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               But the man said, "For what? I am guilty. What more can he prove? He is going to prove me
           guilty? I am guilty, I have murdered. I myself am the eyewitness."
               And these governments say, without government there will be chaos.
           All chaos is because of government.
               Their courts go on increasing, their jails go on increasing, their armies go on increasing,
           criminals go on increasing, crime goes on increasing -- and still nobody compares the crime rate and
           the increase of the judges, courts, prisons. They go hand in hand.
               My own feeling is, if you dissolve all your courts, all your advocates, even if a few thefts
           happen, a few murders happen, it will be less costly than this whole business of courts, advocates,
           juries. It will be less costly just in terms of pure economics.
               And I don't see that if people have a little understanding there will be stealing. Stealing is there
           because people are not helping each other, people are not sharing with each other. People go on
           living as if the whole world is against them and they are against the whole world. Once this attitude
           is dissolved and you start feeling more in tune with people around you, crime will disappear. And the
           greatest crime, war, will disappear. All other crimes are so tiny, not worth mentioning. If wars
           disappear, we will have arrived at a certain stage of maturity, responsibility.
               This is my vision for your commune. This is actually what we are doing here. And if three
           thousand people can live this way, I don't see any reason why the whole world cannot live in the
           same way. They are the same kind of people; they just need a little bit of understanding -- which you
           have got, and they are missing.
               Three thousand people living in peace and silence, and enjoying, and without any problem, is
           enough proof.
               But politicians would like to destroy us because we are a proof against their whole history; we
           are a proof against their whole future too. They would like to demolish us completely so they can go
           on saying that without government there will be chaos, that without wars the world cannot exist, that
           without nations, how is it possible to exist?
               Now, here we already exist without any nations. Who bothers whether you are an Italian or a
           German or an Indian? Nobody even questions; people don't even know who is who. I was thinking to
           publish a who's who for the commune, because people don't know. Sometimes they may even be
           boyfriends and girlfriends and they don't know. They come to know only when the other does not
           understand their language; otherwise there is no problem. And even with language people are
           managing perfectly well. I don't know English but I manage. I am surprised myself because English
           is such an unscientific language and I am not acquainted with it in any way, but when you have to
           say something, when you have something to say, then the language follows. If you have just a little
           bit of an acquaintance with the words they follow, they fall in line.
               All languages are here, all nations are here, all religions are here -- and nobody is taking any
           notice of any differences.
               Rajneeshpuram is simply one single nation, and the only nation which represents the whole
           world.
               But the politicians are often offended by our existence, and I can understand why they are
           offended. If we are right -- and we are right -- then they are in the wrong, and they have always been
           in the wrong. But nobody has given them a solid proof of their wrongness.
               Prince Kropotkin talked about anarchy, no government; but just argument won't help. I love
           Kropotkin, his idea is right, but he should have managed .... And he was a prince in Russia, he had
           every possibility to create a commune without government. He never did it. I think he himself
           suspected that he could not succeed. To write a book is one thing; to write life is totally different.
           We are writing life here.
           If we succeed then we are the hope of the whole humanity.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                      Chapter #15
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                   Chapter title: The sweet taste of corruption
           15 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503155
              ShortTitle: DARK15
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 105 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              THE OTHER DAY I GAVE A TALK AT A COLLEGE WHERE A MIDDLE-AGED MAN IN THE
              AUDIENCE, VISIBLY UPSET, SAID, "BY SPEAKING AGAINST GOD, AGAINST CHRISTIANITY,
              AGAINST ALL RELIGIONS, YOU ARE CORRUPTING THE MINDS OF THESE YOUNG PEOPLE."
              WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMMENT?


                I have never spoken against God for the simple reason that God does not exist. How can you
           speak against someone who does not exist in the first place? I have never spoken against Christianity
           either, because there is no such thing in the world as Christianity.
                What exists in the name of Christianity I have always called Crossianity. It is the worship of the
           cross, not of Christ. It is fear of death, not love of life. Just take a few things out of the life of Jesus
           and Christianity disappears. If he is not crucified can there be a Christianity? Jesus is not important;
           what is important is crucifixion. Even more important is the fiction of resurrection, but that is
           possible only if first Jesus is crucified. It is a corollary.
                These so-called Christians worship Jesus because of resurrection. That is a great consolation
           against death. That's why I say they are worshiping the cross, the crucifixion, the resurrection -- not
           for any love for Jesus and his teachings but because of a deep fear of death. This fear of death makes
           them believe in things which they know are impossible. But when you are in a psychological turmoil
           of fear you can believe anything, just as a temporary consolation.
                They believe Jesus walks on water, turns stones into bread, makes wine out of water, raises the
           dead back to life. Just remove these things which don't have anything to do with Jesus' teachings --
           or do you think these things are necessary for there to be a religion? Then there cannot be any
           Buddhism, there cannot be any Jainism, there cannot be any religion other than Christianity. But all
           these religions are there.
                Buddha never made wine out of water. In fact if he had come to know that, "Jesus is going to
           make wine out of water when I'm gone" -- because Jesus came five hundred years afterwards -- he
           would have condemned this man as a sinner. This is criminal -- making wine out of water? This is
           against the law of every country. Just try to make marijuana and you will know whether you are
           worshiped or imprisoned.
                A very intelligent man, Timothy Leary, served seven years in jail because he was teaching that
           LSD can make man in every way superior to what he is now: his consciousness can be wider, his
           love can be deeper, his sensitivity can touch unknown peaks which have never been touched before.
           In every dimension LSD can be a tremendous boost for human growth. Just because of teaching
           these things he was put in jail.
                He was a professor, perfectly acquainted with the chemistry of LSD and the chemistry of the
           mind. He was not an illiterate person; what he was saying was based on scientific discoveries. But
           still, because he was teaching a philosophy supporting drugs, he was imprisoned for seven years. He
           is not a man of great guts; professors rarely are. He may have never thought that just by teaching a
           philosophical attitude you can get into so much trouble.
                Since he has been out of jail he has forgotten all about his philosophy. Now he is teaching
           something else -- he has to teach, he has become a world-famous man. He can't remain silent, he
           can't keep quiet. The old thing he cannot teach again; otherwise he will be back in jail. Now he is
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           teaching something absolutely absurd. Now is the time that he should be in a madhouse.
                Those seven years in jail were absolutely unjustified. On the one side these politicians go on
           talking about the freedom of speech, and on the other hand a man cannot say something which he
           feels is a scientific fact. It may not be -- then prove it!
                A cultured society need not throw a man like Timothy Leary in jail. You have so many scientists,
           let them prove what he is saying is wrong. There is no need for any court, for any law to come into
           it. And if he is right then he should be accepted, then he should be received as a messiah because he
           is bringing a new way of transformation. If he is right, welcome him. If he is wrong, prove him
           wrong; that's enough.
                This is very primitive, ugly, to throw him into jail because he is saying something which goes
           against the law. But who told you that the law is anything ultimate? You have made the law. Science
           goes on progressing. You will have to change your laws if they go against science; science is not to
           be prevented.
                I am not saying that Timothy Leary is right, no, don't misunderstand me. What I am saying is, he
           has been mistreated without any justification. I also say he is wrong, but he is not a criminal. To be
           philosophically wrong does not make a person criminal.
                But when I say he is wrong, I also say that there is some truth, maybe just a little bit, in what he
           is saying. His idea of changing men's mind chemically has a truth about it because mind is
           chemistry. And there has never been any method which was not chemical which has ever been used
           to change mind.
                Just look -- yoga is the ancientmost methodology of changing mind. What do they do? Body
           postures are physical, but in certain postures your body chemistry changes. So simple: if you stand
           on your head the whole normal functioning of your body, its mechanism, is turned upside down.
           More blood is going into your head, less blood is going into your feet. More blood in the head is
           going to change the chemistry of your mind, more oxygen is going to change the chemistry of the
           mind.
                Yoga has been teaching you breathing exercises. Breath is chemistry. With more oxygen in your
           lungs you are a certain man; more carbon dioxide, and you are a different man. If your lungs are full
           of carbon dioxide you are dead; if they are full of oxygen .... There are millions of small, very small
           rooms; with your breathing, only one third of those small sacs receive oxygen, two thirds remain
           filled with carbon dioxide. This is your normal state.
                With yoga-breathing those sacs, those small rooms, start removing their carbon dioxide,
           throwing it out and filling themselves with oxygen. When all the sacs are full of oxygen your vitality
           is different, is bound to be different -- normally you are only one-third alive. And that much oxygen
           in your body is going to change everything -- but it is all chemistry.
                So I say there is a certain truth in what Timothy Leary was saying, yet I am against his
           supporting drugs to transform man. That is dangerous.
                In fact, politicians are idiots; otherwise they would have used this man; he would have proved of
           immense help to them. He would have shown them how to enslave people forever. Drugs can be
           created -- and people can be made addicted to those drugs -- which will cancel all revolutions, all
           rebellions. Anything that goes against the status quo, the drug will prevent it.
                I am against him for other reasons too -- because drugs can only change mind, and man is not
           only mind. He is something more. The real transformation has to happen in that something more -- in
           consciousness. And no drug can even touch consciousness. It can change the mechanism of the
           mind, the chemistry of the mind. It can give you hallucinations of samadhi, of nirvana,
           enlightenment; but those are only hallucinations, they are not true.
                One day you miss your injection and they are gone and you are back in the dumps. And when
           somebody falls from nirvana, he is going to have multiple fractures -- everything destroyed. If you
           are going to fall, it is better never to try climbing so high. It is better to crawl on the earth if you are
           going to fall; at least you won't have any fractures. Drugs can take you very high but you will have to
           come back down; it was the drug, not you.
                Meditation changes not your mind, but you, your consciousness.
           And the change comes by your own awareness.
                Nobody can fall from awareness. The greater the awareness, the less is the possibility of falling.
           When awareness is complete, entire, then there is no way you can fall.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           You have arrived.
               This feeling of arriving can be given by drugs; hence the influence of alcohol, marijuana, LSD,
           opium -- and there have been hundreds of other drugs around the world. They have always been
           used. And Timothy Leary is not saying anything new: for thousands of years there have been people
           who have not only been talking about them, but have been using them and thinking that they are
           reaching closer and closer to paradise.
               In India you can find thousands of Hindu sannyasins taking all kinds of drugs, to such a point
           that they become so accustomed to drugs that drugs don't affect them. Then they start keeping
           dangerous snakes, cobras and other kinds, with them, because only a cobra bite on their tongue will
           give them a little bit of hallucination. A cobra bite will kill you; to them it is just a drug -- for a few
           hours they are flying high. In fact there are monks in India -- if they bite you, you will die, their
           whole body, their whole chemistry has become so poisoned.
               Timothy Leary was wrong but he should have been encountered on philosophical, psychological,
           scientific grounds. Sending him to jail simply shows that the country, even a country like America,
           which is the most sophisticated and cultured in the world, is still barbarous. It does not know how to
           handle questions, problems. This is not a way of handling a philosophical ideology. It simply shows
           a very primitive society.
               And Timothy Leary did not prove to have guts. When he came out he started talking about taking
           a trip to the moon; he started recruiting people, because he wants a few hundred people to go with
           him to the moon. And there are fools who are getting recruited. Nobody is asking "What are you
           going to do on the moon? Why don't you do it here?"
               On the moon they are going to expand their consciousnesses. But why on the moon? This man
           has to do something. He has lost his job, the university won't take him back. He cannot go back to
           his old philosophy because that means jail again. Out of all this mess has arisen a great idea: go to
           the moon because this earth is going to be finished soon!
               So many fools become interested. They don't even know that on the moon you cannot exist. The
           oxygen is not enough, water is not there, nothing grows on the moon. You cannot live on the moon.
           The idea of expanding consciousness ... you will not be there at all to expand anything. But he is
           getting money, support.
               Now the government is not taking any action against him. This is the time that action should be
           taken against him: "What nonsense are you teaching?" But this goes against no law because there is
           no law that says that going to the moon is criminal, or arranging a trip to the moon is criminal.
               If Buddha had known that Jesus was going to change water into wine, he would have called him
           a sinner. But Christians will drop Jesus Christ immediately if all these miracles are removed. They
           don't believe in Jesus Christ: they believe in the cross, in the death, in the resurrection, in the raising
           of the dead, in his changing stones into bread, in changing water into wine.
               Why do they believe in these things? Something inside them seems to be consoled ... something
           -- fear of death. Now they can say, "There is no need to be afraid of death, there is resurrection; one
           man has proved it. There is no need to be afraid, you are a follower of Jesus Christ. He can raise
           even dead people back to life. You need not be afraid of hunger, starvation, you are a follower of
           Jesus Christ; he can turn stones into bread."
               These miracles -- which are all invented, none of them is a historical fact -- are invented to fulfill
           your psychological needs. That's why I say there is no Christianity; nobody trusts Christ, so how can
           you be a Christian? And all the miracles are bogus, because if these miracles had happened the
           whole community of Jews would have disappeared from the world. They would have all become
           Christians.
               If the resurrection actually happened it made no impact on the contemporaries of Jesus. Can you
           believe this? A man who has been crucified, rises again in immense glory, with a halo of light
           around him, walking, meeting people, talking to people -- do you think Jews would not have been
           tempted to follow this man? Do you think Jews are made of stone? They are as human as you are,
           with all the fears that you have. Their seeing in their own lifetime, with their own eyes, a man
           coming back from death would have transformed the whole Judaic system into following Jesus
           Christ. But not a single Jew was converted.
               When Jesus raised Lazarus from his grave back to life, what do you say about the people who
           were witnesses to it? They were all Jews; and it is not a small thing -- if it is not news then what is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           news? Lazarus was a Jew, all the people around were Jews; still they did not accept Jesus as a
           messiah. Certainly all these stories are false, they never happened; otherwise they would have left a
           tremendous impact on his contemporaries. That is the true criterion.
               How many people followed Jesus? What kind of people followed Jesus? Not a single rabbi, and
           yet Jews had one of the most ancient traditions of scholarship. Nobody was impressed by this man. If
           contemporaries are not impressed do you think the polack pope, after two thousands years, is a
           Christian? On what grounds? There is no Christianity, because Christ could not influence anybody.
           He has not left any impact on the world. What exists in his name is something else.
               So it is absolutely wrong to say that I have been speaking against Christianity: there is no
           Christianity to speak against. I would have loved to speak against it, but where is it?
               Friedrich Nietzsche I quote again and again. He said, "The first and the last Christian died two
           thousand years ago on the cross" -- underline the words, "THE FIRST AND THE LAST
           CHRISTIAN." So what Christianity are you talking about? There is not a single Christian in the
           whole world.
               I cannot speak against Christianity. Yes, I have been speaking against something which is
           pretending to be Christianity and is not. I have been speaking not against religion, but against
           religions. Yes, that is true, because the very fact that there are so many religions makes it so clear
           that they all cannot be true. They all can be false, but they all cannot be true.
               I have looked into all those religions and I don't see that any of them is true, because they are
           based on premises which they cannot prove.
           They ask you to believe.
               The moment somebody asks you to believe in something, that means he has no reason, logic, no
           existential support for what he is saying.
           A man of truth never asks you to believe.
           He asks you to experiment, to experience.
               He says, "I have come to a point, you can also come to the same point. But you will have to
           travel, my reaching is not enough for you to believe. You will have to know it yourself, I can only
           show you the way."
               The man of truth always shows the way but never asks you to believe.
               He inspires you to walk on the path but he never says that before you have experienced, your
           faith, your belief is needed. This is something to be understood.
               If you believe in something then there is no need to explore. If you believe, if you have faith,
           then what is the need for exploration? Then it is just pointless, all enquiry is pointless. Having faith
           and enquiring simply means your faith is not real, you are still trying to find out whether it is true or
           not. Your faith is not faith if you enquire.
               And without enquiry, how are you going to manage to have faith? I say to you, "There are seven
           gods; believe it." But you will say, "How to believe it? There is no support for believing it -- and
           why seven? Why not six, why not eight?" No, the people who require you to believe also require you
           not to doubt, not to question, not to ask why.
               What kind of people can become believers? -- utterly cowardly, boneless, spineless, just hollow,
           nothing inside, no spirit. If you are a man you should have some courage to doubt, to question, to
           enquire. Yes, you can take the belief as a hypothesis, and you can say, "Now we will enquire
           whether it is true or not. If it is true we will be always grateful to you. If it is not true then we will
           inform your that you had better change your mind."
               All those religions, without exception, ask you for faith.
               I am speaking against all kinds of beliefs because I want you to know the reality. I want you to
           experience the truth -- and the only way to do that is for all your beliefs to be demolished
           completely, eradicated from your being totally, uprooted, root and all, so that you are free to enquire,
           so that you are free to move in any direction, any dimension that you choose.
           All religions are giving you blindfolds.
               My dentist puts a blindfold on me. Have you ever heard that in dentistry a blindfold has to be put
           on the poor man whose teeth you are going to drill? He has to put the blindfold on me, but he is not
           successful. He puts on the blindfold so that he can make signs to his nurse because he cannot speak.
           If he says anything that goes against my idea ... he has to convey messages to his assistant, his nurse,
           because she has all the mechanism, all the knobs on her side. And I keep the dentist on this side, and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           say, "Don't you be close to the knobs and the mechanism, let the nurse manage. You just be on this
           side and you do your work."
                So he has to make signs because he cannot whisper, because if he whispers, I stop. If he says
           something that is difficult ... so he found a blindfold. That poor man ... because of the strong light I
           can even see the shadow of his hands, and I stop him and say, "No indications!"
                And I say, "This is not right, because you can drill on the wrong tooth and I cannot even say
           anything. I cannot even see what is going on. These are my teeth; at least I have the right to say,
           `Don't drill on the wrong one.'" But I can understand his trouble; if he starts arguing with me, then
           the dentistry is never going to happen.
                And I don't start anything on belief, I start with doubt. I start by being skeptical because that is
           the only right way to enquire. Only then one day can you come to know something; otherwise your
           whole life you will be a believer with nothing solid as your experience.
                The man who was very much upset and agitated and said that I am corrupting the minds of youth
           -- it is true. That's exactly what I am doing: corrupting the minds of youth. But this is not something
           new. Socrates was poisoned for the same crime that I am committing. The crime was, corrupting the
           mind of the youth.
                Now nobody can say Socrates was corrupting the mind of the youth. Socrates is known as one of
           the wisest men who has walked on the earth, but he had accepted, the way I accept, "Yes, I corrupt,
           because there is no other way to make them innocent again. You have corrupted them, you have
           poisoned them, you have distorted them. Now if I remove your distortions, your poisons, your
           corruptions, naturally to you it looks as if I am corrupting. But you have spoiled them; I am putting
           things right."
                But it is natural; a person who believes in God, hearing that I say there is no God, will think I am
           corrupting the minds of youth.
                I am simply purifying, cleaning, just removing all the dust that has gathered on their mirrorlike
           mind. But if they think that dust is the mirror then of course they will think I am corrupting the
           mirror; I am simply cleaning it. But one thing is important: Socrates was blamed for corrupting the
           minds of the youth, and this man also is saying I am corrupting the minds of the youth. What can we
           do?
                Young children are not available to us. They are being corrupted in your churches, in your
           synagogues, in your temples; they are not available to us. In your schools they are being corrupted,
           we cannot prevent it. Old people are gone almost beyond the border; now there is only dust, no
           mirror. And to waste my time on old people whose one foot is in the grave and the other is going to
           follow soon -- do you want me to corrupt them?
                I am reminded: three great Russian novelists, Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Gorky were great
           friends. They were sitting in Leo Tolstoy's garden discussing. And when men gather together you
           know what they discuss: women. When women gather together you know what they discuss: men.
           That's why if a woman comes into a man's group, it feels as if she has disturbed the whole thing,
           because now they cannot discuss women. So boys' clubs are separate.
                Even in parties, after dinner the boys will move into a separate room to have some drinks and
           cigars. But the basic thing is not the drink, because they can drink there, they can smoke there -- the
           basic thing is they need a place where they can discuss women. That is the real topic. And the
           women also want them to move because then they can discuss men. That is the only juicy topic in
           the whole world.
                So all the three old men were discussing women. Gorky said something: he said, "The woman is
           the most deceptive animal in the world. Howsoever loving a woman may be, you can never believe
           her. She can deceive you."
                Chekhov said, "You are perfectly right. She can not only deceive you, she can kill you. She
           really kills you slowly, slowly, slowly. Every day it goes on and on; finally you are killed."
                And they both asked Leo Tolstoy who was sitting there with a very long face, "What is your
           idea?"
                He said, "Don't ask me. If my wife hears it .... And I don't trust either of you. I don't trust
           anybody, man or woman. If my wife hears my idea about women there is going to be great trouble. I
           am not going to say anything."
                Those two persons said, "You are such a great, world-famous writer. You should leave some
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           opinion about women because it carries weight. And you have written so much and so beautifully,
           and you have characterized women in such a manner that we don't think anybody can even come
           close to you."
                And that is true. Tolstoy created novels like ANNA KARENINA -- no novel comes close to it:
           Anna Karenina is such a character.
                They said, "You should say something about real women."
                Tolstoy said, "Don't tempt me. I will say something but I will say it only when one of my legs is
           in the grave; I will say it and jump into the grave and be killed. Before that I am not going to say
           anything."
                So much fear, even in a man like Tolstoy. And he was a very fanatical Christian. But all religions
           make you a fanatic, for the simple reason that unless you are a fanatic you cannot forget that your
           belief is superficial. By becoming a fanatic you become so involved and committed that you forget
           completely that it is only a belief.
                I have been speaking against faiths, beliefs. Of course I do not corrupt old people unless old
           people themselves come to me to be corrupted. That is their business, that simply means they are not
           yet old; their spirits are still young and rebellious. Their bodies may be old but they are not old.
           I don't go after anybody to corrupt him.
                People come from all over the world to be corrupted by me.
           What can I do?
                They are in such a search, they travel thousands of miles just to be corrupted. There must be
           something in this corruption! That old, agitated, upset man should come here and have a little taste
           of corruption. It is really delicious, there is nothing that tastes so good as corruption; otherwise I
           don't see why people should come here. And I have been escaping from people -- you can just see --
           from one city to another city to another city, in such a small life!
                I have been escaping from people, and I came to Oregon thinking that nobody would come here.
           But once you have tasted corruption, it does not matter where I go -- even if I go to hell, the young
           people are going to come there to be corrupted because only the young mind can understand that this
           is not corruption, this is purification.
                They come here already corrupted, and for the first time they see that one can live without any
           corruption, without any belief, without any faith, without any God, without any religion. One can
           live with tremendous joy, with a song in one's heart, a dance in one's whole being.
                There are a few children, there are a few old people, there are many young people, but as far as I
           am concerned consciousness is always young. There are children who have a consciousness which is
           not related to their physical age. There are old people who have a youthful consciousness which is
           not related to their age either.
           In fact, consciousness has no age.
           It is always youth, always spring.
           It is always rebellious.
                I simply help you to uncover your rebelliousness, because to me to be a rebel is to be religious.
                Yes, I corrupt people. And I am going to corrupt people. And my people are going to spread all
           over the world the same corruption.
                I am not going to be poisoned as easily as Socrates. In these twenty-five centuries people like me
           have learned much. I am not going to be crucified as easily as Jesus. They told him to carry his cross,
           and the poor man carried it. My cross will go on my Rolls Royce. And one hundred Rolls Royces
           will follow it!
                In twenty-five centuries we have learned something. And I have my style, my way. I cannot
           carry the cross. No court can order me to be poisoned and killed. I am not so simple as Socrates.
           They had given Socrates the alternative, "You can leave Athens or you can stop teaching your truth
           and we will not sentence you to death."
                For me both alternatives were perfectly good. I would have left Athens, I have left Athens so
           many times. But just outside Athens I would have created my campus. And the same youth ... in fact,
           they would have been more interested in coming than they ever were when Socrates was in Athens.
           It was simply ordinary arithmetic.
                In London you can find thousands of people who have never gone to see the Tower of London
           for the simple reason that "any day we can go and see it, the tower is always there." But do you
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           know what happened in the second world war? The rumor came that Hitler was going to bomb the
           Tower of London. Thousands of people who had lived their whole life in London, had passed by the
           tower millions of times, but there was no hurry, the tower was there .... But "Adolf Hitler is going to
           destroy the tower" -- and thousands of people were rushing to see the tower because tomorrow it
           might not be there.
                I would have taken it, it was a perfectly beautiful chance. I would have left Athens, and just
           outside the boundary of Athens -- Athens was only a city -- I would have started my school, and the
           people who had never come to my school in Athens would have come because then perhaps I might
           leave completely, go far away.
                Do you know, hundreds of letters come from India now, saying, "We never could manage to
           meet you here. We are ready to come to Oregon to meet you." I was in their city, I lived in their city
           for twenty years; now they are willing to come to Oregon just to see me. Every day there are letters
           saying, "We missed you in India. Please allow us to meet you just for a few minutes."
                There I was available. Naturally they thought, "Anytime." In Bombay I lived in a skyscraper, a
           beautiful building, "Woodlands." One family lived just above me, just above my head. For three
           years I lived there. I was being talked about all around the world, but they could not gather courage
           to come down just a few steps to see me or to meet me. When I left Bombay then they became
           aware. And, can you believe it, don't you think it unbelievable? -- they left Bombay and came to
           Poona; left their family, left their business, became sannyasins: the husband, the wife, and their girl,
           the whole family.
                And I asked them, "What was happening to you for three years?"
                They said, "We always thought, you are there every day. We were hearing about you so much,
           reading about you so much. We thought we could manage any day. But when you left Bombay,
           suddenly we became aware one day you may even leave life, and this chance has not to be lost."
                My mathematics is different. I do not agree with Socrates being unnecessarily a martyr. There
           must have been some suicidal instinct in these people -- Jesus, Mansoor, Socrates; somewhere they
           wanted to die, they were tired of living. And this was a good opportunity, so that the whole
           responsibility goes on others.
                Or, if I had chosen not to go out, I would have become silent in Athens; silence makes no
           difference. For three years I have been silent here, still corrupting the youth and their mind -- in
           silence. If you know how to corrupt, you can corrupt even in silence. It is a skill. You know perfectly
           well that for three years I was silent. What were you doing here? -- being corrupted! And nobody
           could even say to me, "You are corrupting them," because I was silent.
                I would have remained in Athens, but in silence, and still the corruption would have continued,
           because my corruption is not confined only to words. It is existential. It is infectious. You can infect
           anybody with your disease, even in silence. Corruption is just like a disease. In fact in silence it
           works even better because words are a longer route. I say something to you, you hear something
           else. Then you start interpreting it, what it means.
                Words out of my mouth are just like arrows out of your bow; they cannot come back. And what
           happens to them in your mind is beyond me. Your mind is such a mess that it is impossible to put
           anything in it. Even if you drop the purest diamond in the Big Muddy Ranch it will be lost. You will
           soon lose track of where it is.
           Silence is a short cut.
           It goes directly, heart to heart.
                They cannot crucify me. They know perfectly well that by crucifying Jesus they committed a
           mistake, they created this whole nonsense of Christianity. By poisoning Socrates they made him an
           immortal. They cannot be so kind to me. They will have to allow me to corrupt as long as I want to
           corrupt, and as long as people want to be corrupted by me.
                But make it clear to these people, say, "To you it looks like corruption; to us it is a purification of
           the soul. It is a bath, we are rejuvenated by it. And if you have any doubts, come to our place; don't
           be afraid."
                They are so afraid of even listening to the truth, what to say of experiencing it. Even listening to
           the truth their whole personality starts falling apart because they are somehow keeping it together. It
           is just glued, it is not an organic whole. They are afraid that just a single shock of truth is enough and
           they will fall apart. Hence my books are on the black list of pope the polack -- they should not be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           read. It is a sin to read them.
               In Jabalpur, where I lived for twenty years, there is a big theological college where they train
           Christian missionaries for Asian countries; it is the biggest in Asia. I used to go there. I had a few
           friends there, but the principal informed those friends that I should not be entertained inside the
           campus "because you are making that man known to the students and to other professors. Now small
           meetings have started happening in your houses and he will corrupt you."
               My friend told me, "This is what the principal has said, and he wants you not to be entertained
           anymore in the campus. And we are poor professors, we cannot antagonize him."
               I said, "You don't be worried. I will go and see him myself." I went to Principal Mackwan, who
           was the chief of Leonard Theological College, and I told him, "You prepare missionaries for the
           whole of Asia -- and you are afraid of me, a single person, coming into the campus of all those
           missionaries who are going to convert Asians to Christianity! You don't trust your professors, you
           don't trust your Christianity, you don't trust your missionaries. You don't trust your students who are
           going to be missionaries. Your whole campus -- there are ten thousand people on the campus -- I can
           corrupt them, and those ten thousand people cannot corrupt me? And you are included in those ten
           thousand people.
               "I am here and I am going to come every day -- not in the campus anymore, to your office, just to
           be corrupted by you."
               He looked shocked. He said, "To be corrupted by me?"
               I said, "Yes, you corrupt me, or I will corrupt you. It is an open challenge. You are the head of
           this institute. Ten thousand people follow you, they think you are some great sage. Corrupt me, make
           me a Christian; I am ready to be converted. But if you fail, then be ready to be converted to my way,
           which has no name."
               He said, "I don't want to create any conflict, any controversy."
               I said, "There is no controversy, no conflict. I will simply sit here silently; you corrupt me. Or,
           you sit silently, I will corrupt you. Nobody will ever even hear what is going on."
           He said, "Let me think about it."
               The next day I was there again. I said, "Principal Mackwan, have you thought about it? Have you
           asked your wife?"
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "That's what thinking means. When a husband says, `I will think about it,' it means he will
           consult his wife."
               He said, "You are something because actually -- that's what I did."
               And I said, "That shows that you are not even man enough -- how can you be a Christian?" Just
           behind him was Jesus, a wooden sculpture on a cross. I said, "Give that cross and Jesus to me
           because it does not belong in your office. You are not man enough; you asked your wife. Do you
           think Jesus asked anybody, `What do you think -- is it okay to be crucified, or escape?'"
               That man became a friend -- and of course became corrupted slowly slowly. His house became
           my meeting place. He said, "You are irresistible. You say things which are certainly against our
           scriptures, our tradition, but not against our reason."
               And when I left Jabalpur, among the people who had come to give me a send-off was this old
           Principal Mackwan, with tears in his eyes. He said, "I will miss you. You became a reality in my life,
           far more real than Jesus Christ has ever been. Jesus Christ has been just a belief. I am not courageous
           enough to drop that, but you know it has dropped. I cannot say to the world, `I am no longer a
           Christian,' but I have come to say it to you because perhaps we may not meet again. I am old, and I
           know you -- once you leave a place you never look back."
               And I have never gone back to Jabalpur. Perhaps he is dead now. But on the station he confessed
           to me that he is no longer a Christian; he has started enquiring, although it is too late. But he is
           happy; even though it is late, and the evening of his life has come, "Perhaps there is not time enough
           to enquire, but I am immensely satisfied only with this, that at least I am not dying with false beliefs,
           insincere, inauthentic, not my own. I don't have any truth yet, but at least I can die with this
           contentment, that I have started the journey. And if there is a beginning perhaps one day there will
           be an end to it too."
               Every being is in search of truth, but small fears go on preventing you.
               Now all those Christians and Jews are having meetings. Just two or three days ago I received a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           printed invitation card which must have been distributed in some big church somewhere in Oregon:
           they are going to have my discourses every Sunday.
                Why, when I am here? And these discourses will be discussed by the priest, by the bishop,
           argued against; it will be said that these are all anti-religious ideas, that this man is a heretic.
                Why not come here? If you want to call me a heretic, come here and call me a heretic. In fact I
           love the word. I enjoy being called a heretic because only very rare human beings have been called
           heretics. To be orthodox is nothing; to be a heretic needs guts. Come here and say, "You are
           corrupting people." That will give me a chance to corrupt you too.
                In fact in my whole life I have not met a single man whom I have not corrupted; whether he
           knows it or not, that is a different matter. I know if perfectly, that he is corrupted; he will never be
           the same again. Even those who have left me for this reason or that reason, do you know their
           situation? They cannot mix in society. I have corrupted them so much they cannot mix in the society.
                They cannot come back here because they have been telling lies against me, now how to face
           me? So a rare thing is happening: in Santa Fe all those fools are gathering together. They have left
           me. What kind of departure is this? -- they are still together! They are my people; they cannot mix
           anywhere. Now they are gathering together in one place, and they are continually talking about me,
           against me. That does not matter.
                Whether you talk for me or against me, you have to talk about me. They cannot forget me. And
           when you are talking about me, even if you are talking against me, you have not left me yet. I am
           still very much alive in you. In fact you are talking against me just to get rid of me but you cannot
           get rid of me. The more you talk against me, the deeper I will be going in you.
                It is impossible to come in contact with a man who has experienced truth and to go away without
           being touched this way or that, for or against.
                When I will be leaving this world I can promise you one thing -- I will leave this world divided
           into people who are for me and people who are against me, but there will not be a third kind. And
           these both are corrupted by me.
                Those who are in favor of me have used the opportunity for growth.
           Those who are against me missed the train.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                    Chapter #16
                                        Chapter title: Till you live life totally
           16 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503165
              ShortTitle: DARK16
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 104 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS THE GOAL OF LIFE? WHY IS THERE A DESIRE TO CONTINUE TO LIVE FOREVER?


              There is no goal of life, for the simple reason that life is its own goal. The goal is intrinsic, not
           something outside; not there, far away, but herenow, in this very moment.
           The very idea of goal is future-oriented.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                The moment you start living for a goal you stop living in the present, in the immediate. The goal
           becomes more important. Tomorrow becomes more important, and you have to sacrifice today for
           tomorrow; and the trouble is, tomorrow never comes, has never come, is not going to come ever.
                But you go on sacrificing your today -- which is your only treasure, which is all that you have
           got.
                You risk that which you have for that which is only a mind desire.
                But the society, culture, civilization, religions -- they have all conditioned the mind of human
           beings to live for ideals, goals, to go on sacrificing the real for some imaginary paradise, future life,
           eternity, God. All these names mean only one thing: Don't live now.
                All the cultures and all the civilizations and all the religions are against the "now" -- and now is
           the only reality.
                Wherever you are, whenever you are, it is always now. Except "now" there is nothing existential.
                The word "goal" is very dangerous. It is suicidal to have a goal. Without your awareness you are
           being sacrificed for something which is never going to happen.
           Life in itself is enough -- it needs no goals.
                That's why there is this urge, this desire, this tremendous lust to live and to live forever. It has
           nothing to do with you; it is your very life. This is not being taught to you; you are born with this
           desire. This desire is your gift from existence itself.
                If you listen to this desire and if you stop listening to all kinds of religious nonsense, you will be
           a new man, really alive. Yes, life has a tremendous power, and it wants to expand. It wants to live as
           intensely and totally as possible.
                And this is not going to happen some other day. If it is going to happen it can happen only now:
           Now or never.
                But it is not happening now because your minds are tethered to some future goal: you have to
           achieve heaven and you have to achieve the realization of God. All bogus words, meaningless
           jargon, but because they have been repeated so often for thousand of years it sounds as if those
           words have some content in them.
                You cannot find a more hollow word than "God" -- with no content in it at all, with no meaning
           in it at all.
                When I was reading the book, WAITING FOR GODOT, I thought perhaps Godot is a German
           word for God. I asked Haridas; Haridas said, "No, Godot is not German for `god'; the German is
           GOTT."
                I said, "My God! that is even worse. `Godot' is far better!"
                But Godot or God or Gott, one thing is certain, you are never going to get it. And these Germans
           are thinking they have gott! Nobody has ever found God.
                People have been lying, and in the name of God lying becomes easier because the name of God
           becomes a protective umbrella.
                In the court you have to take the oath in the name of God -- this world is certainly insane -- in the
           name of the greatest lie. The oath is being taken all over the world, in all the courts: "I am going to
           speak truth."
                When I was in a court I simply refused; I said, "I can take the oath in anybody's name -- in the
           name of the furniture, in the name of electricity -- but I cannot take the oath in the name of God
           because God is the greatest lie. And you are making me tell a lie at the very beginning."
                But people are conditioned to live for hypothetical things. It is a strategy of all those people who
           want to exploit you.
                The priest cannot exploit you if God is not the goal of life.
                The politician cannot exploit you if the classless society is not the goal of life.
                If democracy, freedom, if these are not the goals of life then how is the politician going to
           manipulate you? You simply say, "My goal is to live, and to live joyously, and to live today --
           because tomorrow is uncertain. It may come, it may not come; and I am not a gambler. And life is so
           valuable that I cannot postpone it."
                If the whole of humanity decides to live herenow then the second thing will disappear: the desire
           to live forever.
                Let me explain it to you, why there is this second thing, to live forever. It is because you are
           missing life, you are not living it. You are thirsty for it, you are hungry for it, you are starved.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Naturally, in this starving, hungry and thirsty state, life starts thinking of living forever -- because for
           what is not happening today you have to create a tomorrow.
               And you see that it is not happening. Even tomorrows come and go; tomorrows go on becoming
           yesterdays and it is not happening, not happening. Childhood becomes youth, youth becomes old age
           -- and it has not happened.
               When I was a small child, one of my father's friends was very loving towards me. He was a very
           well-known scholar, and I used to ask him all kinds of questions because my father used to refer me
           to him: "You ask Pandit Dada." Pandit means a great scholar, dada means big brother. He was older
           than my father so he used to call him dada; he was known all over the area as Pandit Dada.
               So I would ask him all kinds of questions, and essentially his answer was always the same:
           "When you become a little older then you will know; you are too young."
               I said, "Remember, because one day I am going to become older. How long can you deceive me?
           I know that you don't have the answer. If you have the answer, please give me the answer. Whether I
           understand or not, that is my problem, not your problem. Your problem is to give me the answer.
           Even if it takes years for me to understand it, I will wait, but please give me the answer."
               He would say, "You will not understand -- you just wait. First you have to be at least mature."
           I said, "Okay."
               Every year I went on asking the same question. I went from the school to the college, but
           whenever I would come in the holidays to my home, I would repeat the questions; and now he
           started becoming shaky. I said, "Now how long do I have to wait?"
               I graduated from the university; I won the gold medal for the whole state. I came to him and said,
           "Now what do you want? I have come first class -- first in the whole state -- in my postgraduation. Is
           the time right?"
               He said to me, "Please forgive me, I was lying all the time. But you are stubborn! I have done
           this to many people; they forget. They become so much involved in so many things -- who bothers
           about childhood questions? "You are strange -- the same questions you go on persisting in year after
           year, and I have been hoping that you will forget, but it doesn't seem to happen."
               I said, "Now you tell me the truth: Do you have any answers? -- because now you are almost
           beyond eighty; death is not far away. Do you have the answers?"
               He said, "I don't have any answers. I have been deceiving myself by deceiving others. People
           believed in me, and because so many people believed in me I started believing in myself."
               It is a reciprocal thing. When so many people believe in you, it results in a very strange
           conclusion: you start believing in yourself, for the simple reason that if you are not right, then how
           can so many people believe in you?
               Each leader needs thousands of people in order to be convinced that he is a capable leader. Just
           take the followers away and you will see the leader disappearing; you will see just an ordinary
           person -- perhaps below average or retarded. But when thousands of people are behind you,
           believing that you have eyes -- they are all blind -- you start believing that you have eyes because so
           many people believe in you.
               You forget completely that you don't know. And these people go on conditioning other people.
           Parents go on giving their diseases as an inheritance to their children, teachers to their students,
           professors to their scholars.
               I was continually insisting to my teachers, to my professors, to my vice-chancellors, "I don't want
           a bookish answer. That I can find in the library, I don't need you for that. I want your personal
           experience. Have you experienced anything that you can go on teaching?"
               And I have seen their embarrassed faces, their empty eyes, their empty souls. Yes, they are full
           of rubbish, all kinds of doctrines, creeds, cults. If you want them to give you a sermon then they can
           give you a sermon, a beautiful sermon, on the ultimate goal of life.
               And the truth is, life is only immediate; there is nothing ultimate.
               But the vested interests cannot live without the ultimate.
               They have to convince you to sacrifice your life for some imaginary idea.
               The idea can be democracy, the idea can be communism, the idea can be fascism, the idea can be
           Christianity, the idea can be Hinduism; it does not matter. But something far away .... All along the
           way you have to go on sacrificing that which is real for something unreal; and in the end comes
           death, no goal.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Because of this situation -- that you have been told to sacrifice your life -- there is a hunger for
           eternal life. Otherwise each single moment is so blissful -- who cares to live forever? For what?
               If this moment is fulfilled, if you are contented, you don't need even a next moment. If it comes,
           good; if it does not come, even better -- because you have lived, you have tasted the nectar of life.
           Now what more can the next moment give to you?
               You have squeezed the juice of life so totally, you have not left anything for the moment that is
           going to follow. Yes, you will live it too; you will squeeze again, you will have another drink, but
           the desire for life to continue forever will disappear absolutely.
               Only poor people think of riches. A rich man never thinks of riches, a rich man is really bored
           with riches. It is the hungry person who thinks of food, dreams of food. When you are well fed,
           nourished, can you have a dream about food? That's impossible, it is not even psychologically
           probable.
               People are dreaming of sex because their sex is being repressed by the priests, by all the
           religions. Naturally the repressed sex becomes their dream. They start a vicarious kind of
           satisfaction. What they cannot have in real life at least they can dream about in their sleep.
               Sigmund Freud discovered one of the very fundamental things about the human mind: that you
           cannot believe a human being when he is awake, but you can believe him when he is asleep. Strange!
           You can believe in his dream but you cannot believe what he says, because what he says is only
           parrot-like. He has been told what to say. All the preachers are telling him what to say. He knows all
           the beautiful words. But in his dreams his truth comes up; his conscious mind goes to sleep and his
           unconscious starts asserting itself. That is more real.
               Hence the psychologist, the psychoanalyst, has to look into your dreams. You are not reliable.
           You are so deeply conditioned to become a hypocrite, you may be saying things without ever
           thinking that you are lying. You may be thinking you are telling the truth, but that does not matter,
           your belief is not the question; your dream has to support it.
               You will be surprised to know, there are aboriginals in the world still -- I have lived with a few
           aboriginal tribes in India -- and they don't dream. Sigmund Freud missed a tremendous thing. He
           should have visited these aboriginals who are not conditioned by civilization, education, culture,
           religion, who are still living a primitive life.
               They don't dream. I have asked so many people, and they say no. Yes, once in a while a person
           dreams, but then that person becomes a prophet. His dream always proves to be true. His dream is a
           vision, not a dream.
               Now, my secretary has just informed me from Australia, the day she reached Australia the chief
           of the Australian aboriginals came to see her. She asked, "But how did you come to know that ...? I
           have not informed anybody, I have come on a personal visit."
               He said, "I have not come to meet you, I had a vision that Bhagwan or somebody very close to
           him is coming to Australia. I don't know who the person is, but this vision was so strong that I had to
           come and enquire if Bhagwan comes, where he will be. That's why I have come to the commune of
           the sannyasins. And if you have come, then my vision was right."
               And when he was told that she is Bhagwan's secretary, he said, "That's perfectly good, because
           my vision was of Bhagwan or someone very intimate with him coming. And I have come from the
           aboriginals to welcome you."
               He said, "I have been trying to read Bhagwan's books. I'm not very educated but it seems
           language does not matter: I understand what he is saying. He wants people to become again
           aboriginals -- innocent, childlike, again reclaiming what you have been forced in every way to lose."
           You have been forced to lose your life.
               Life has been condemned in every possible way by all the religions; and when everybody is
           condemning life -- the whole world is full of condemners -- what can a small child do? He becomes
           impressed by all this condemnation.
               Just look at the story of the beginning of the world. God said to Adam and Eve, "Don't eat from
           the tree of knowledge, and don't eat from the tree of life."
               He had prohibited two trees. Both are the most significant things in life: wisdom and life -- and
           God denies both. Then you can go on eating all kinds of grass and whatsoever you want. He does not
           say, "Don't eat marijuana, don't drink alcohol." No, He is not interested in that. Adam and Eve can
           smoke grass, that is allowed; can make wine from grapes, that is allowed.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Only two things are not allowed: they should not become knowers, they should remain ignorant;
           and they should not live, they should go on postponing life. And because they disobeyed and ate the
           fruit of the tree of knowledge ... they could not manage to eat the second tree's fruit, they were
           caught. After eating the fruit of knowledge they were speeding fast towards the tree of life but they
           were prevented immediately.
               It is natural: anyone who has awareness, consciousness -- which are the qualities of wisdom --
           his first thing will be to go deeper into life, to taste it as much as possible, to connect himself with its
           center, to be drowned in the mystery of life.
               The story does not say it, but the story is not complete. I say to you, they were rushing
           immediately, because it is absolutely logical: after eating the fruit of knowledge they were rushing
           towards the tree of life. And that's why it was so easy for God to catch hold of them; otherwise, in
           the Garden of Eden there were so many millions of trees, where would He have found them? It
           would have taken eternity to search: rather than man searching for God, God would have been still
           searching for man, for where he is.
               But I know how things would have happened -- they are not told in the story. God, coming to
           know that they have eaten the fruit of knowledge, must have rushed immediately to the tree of life
           and waited there knowing that they must be coming. It is such simple logic, no Aristotle is needed.
               And certainly they were caught there. Both were rushing, naked, rejoicing, because for the first
           time their eyes were open. For the first time they were human beings; before this they were only
           animals amongst other animals ... and God threw them out of the Garden of Eden. Since then, man
           has been longing for life, more life.
               But the priests who represent the God that has driven you out of the Garden of Eden -- the popes,
           the imams, the shankaracharyas, the rabbis, they all represent the same guy.
               Strangely enough, nobody says that that guy was your first enemy. On the contrary, they say it
           was the poor serpent who convinced Eve, "You are being foolish by not eating from the tree of
           knowledge. God is jealous; He is afraid that if you eat from the tree of knowledge you will become
           knowledge. And He is afraid that if you eat from the tree of life you will be just like God. Then who
           is going to worship Him? He is jealous, afraid -- that's why He has prevented you."
               This serpent was humanity's first friend -- but he is condemned. The friend is called the devil,
           and the enemy is called God. Strange are the ways of the human mind! You should thank the
           serpent! It is just because of the serpent that you have become what you have become. It is because
           of disobedience to God that you have attained a certain dignity, a pride of being human, a certain
           integrity, a certain individuality.
               So instead of thanking God, change the phrase. Rather than saying, "Thank God!" say, "Thank
           the serpent!" It is just due to his courtesy; otherwise why should he have bothered about you? He
           must have been a very compassionate fellow.
               Disobedience is the foundation of a real religious man -- disobedience to all priests, to all
           politicians, to all vested interests.
               Only then can you throw the conditioning away. And the moment you are no longer conditioned,
           you will not ask what the goal of life is. Your whole question will go through a revolution. You will
           ask, How can I live more totally? How can I drown myself utterly in life? -- because life is the goal
           of everything; hence there can be no goal for life. But you are starved, and except for death there
           seems to be nothing; life is slipping out of your hands and death is coming closer every moment.
           You cannot dodge death.
               I am reminded of a story, a very famous Sufi story. A king dreamed that a black shadow
           appeared -- even in his dream he freaked out! He said, "Who are you and what is the purpose of
           being in my dream?"
               The shadow said, "I am your death, and tomorrow at sunset we have to meet. I just came to
           inform you, because you are a busy man. Ordinarily I don't go to inform people, but you are a king,
           you are very special, a V.V.I.P. I am afraid perhaps you may not meet me at the right place, you may
           be engaged somewhere else; then what am I to do? You have to meet me at the right place, right
           time, remember!"
               And before the king could ask, "Where is the right place?", out of fear his sleep was broken; the
           shadow disappeared. The time was known, the right time -- sunset tomorrow -- but where was the
           place? He tried many times to close his eyes and find the shadow to ask, "Where is the place where I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           am supposed to meet you?" Not that he wanted to meet death; he wanted to know the place so he
           could avoid it. But in this whole world, where was that place?
                But you cannot continue a dream -- this is the difficulty. Once it is broken, however hard you
           close your eyes, you cannot continue the same dream again.
                The king became so afraid that in the middle of the night he called all his wise men, his
           astrologers, his priests, palmists, prophets, and he said, "You decide where the right place is so I can
           avoid it." And they all started looking into their ancient scriptures. Morning came and the sun started
           rising; and once the sun started rising, the king became more and more afraid, because sunset is the
           end of sunrise. Sunrise is the beginning of sunset. When there is sunrise, sunset is not far away.
                The sun had started moving towards sunset already and those people had not reached any
           conclusion; on the contrary, they were quarreling so much, arguing about each word of the
           scriptures. The king said, "I am not interested in your scriptures; you simply tell me where that place
           is exactly so I can avoid it."
                They said, "Wait. This is not a simple question and we have to consult ancient scriptures. We
           have to find some precedent, and we have to come to an agreement. The astrologer is saying
           something, the priest is saying something else. If we give you fifteen answers, what help are they
           going to be? So let us come to one conclusion."
                The king's old servant was standing by his side. He whispered in his ear, "I am an old man, and I
           am not supposed to interfere in this great conference of big shots; I am just a poor servant. But I am
           old, I am just the same age as your father, and I have brought you up from your very childhood. Just
           listen to me: these people will never come to any conclusion.
                "These people have been arguing for centuries and they have never come to any conclusion. Two
           philosophers never agree, two prophets never agree, two astrologers never agree. Disagreement is
           their business, they live on disagreement. So don't wait. Time is very short. If you listen to me, just
           take your best horse -- and you have such beautiful horses -- take the best and run away from this
           place. At least one thing is certain: you should not be here in this palace, in this city, in this kingdom
           of yours. You escape ANYWHERE."
                The idea was striking. The king said, "You are right, because these people are not going to settle
           it before sunset." He escaped. He took his best horse, and by the evening, when the sun was just
           going to set, he had crossed the borders of his kingdom and entered another kingdom. He was so
           happy that he had escaped. Now it was not going to be possible for death to find him.
                To rest for the night he went into a garden. He was thanking his horse, because the horse had
           done really a miraculous job. The whole day he had been running so fast -- even the king had never
           seen him run so fast. He didn't wait to drink water, he didn't wait even for a single moment's rest ...
           as if he understood the urgency.
                The king was thanking him, saying, "You saved me. I thank you and I love you and I will reward
           you. Tomorrow when we go back to the kingdom you will be received with just the same honor as
           me."
                At that very moment the sun set, and a hand ... the king felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked
           back: it was the old dark shadow he had seen in the night.
                The shadow laughed and said, "You should not thank the horse; I should thank the horse. This is
           the place where I was waiting, and I was wondering whether your horse was going to make it or not.
           But he did make it. You have really the rarest horse in the world! You have come to the right point at
           the right time."
                Whatever you are doing you will reach at the right time in the right place to meet death.
                Your life is not life because you are not living. So why do you call it life? At least be clear about
           the meaning of words. Why do you call it life? You are not living, you are simply dying -- you have
           been dying since you were born. Since that moment you have not been doing anything but dying ...
           coming closer and closer to the right place, to the right moment, to meet your death.
           Your life is nothing but a slow death.
                And who has done this to you? -- all your benefactors, the do-gooders, your prophets, your
           messiahs, your incarnations of God. These are the people who have changed your life into a slow
           death, and they have been very clever in doing it. A very simple strategy has been used: they say
           your life is a punishment.
                Christians say you are born in original sin. Now, how can you have life? -- you are just a sinner.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Hence the only way to get to real life is to stop this life which is nothing but sin. Who are your
           saints? The people who are living at the minimum, they are your saints; the less they are living, the
           greater they are.
               That's why you never worship a contemporary saint. No, for you, only a dead saint is a real saint.
           A contemporary saint? -- suspicious! You can't believe in him unless he is not living at all. He may
           be living in his dreams; he may be living a double life, showing one thing, being something else.
           You know perfectly well that you are living in the same split way.
               Now, just the other day I was reading a news story that one Christian sect has decided that
           anybody who declares himself a homosexual should not be initiated as a priest. Now what does it
           mean? It simply means that you have not to declare yourself homosexual and you can be ordained as
           a priest. No other problem in it!
               And in fact homosexuality is a by-product of the monasteries; it is a religious phenomenon. It is
           truly very religious because in monasteries you have gathered men in one place; no woman can enter
           there. Women you have gathered in another place; no man can enter there. You have created the
           situation for homosexuality.
               Now these men are not idiots. They will find some way for their biological urge to be fulfilled.
           That is simple intelligence: if you can't have one thing to eat you will have to eat something else, you
           will have to find something. If you can't have a woman, then what are you supposed to do? You will
           have a man. If you are a woman and you can't have a man, then you will have a woman.
               Monks in these monasteries were the first homosexuals in the world. Women in these nunneries
           were the first lesbians in the world. And these people are worried about ordaining ... that if a
           homosexual is ordained .... And why suddenly? -- because ten years ago the same sect had declared
           that everybody is equally acceptable. Anybody who wanted to be ordained as a priest had the right to
           be ordained as a priest; they forgot to exclude homosexuals. But now after ten years they recognized
           that some amendment is needed.
               Repress anything and it will come up from some other side.
               Life is condemned, sex is condemned, having a desire to live comfortably is condemned. To
           enjoy anything -- food, clothes -- is condemned. This is cutting your life. Piece by piece life is taken
           away from you.
               In Mahatma Gandhi's ashram every day at lunch and supper, a certain sauce was served. It was
           made of a tree called neem, which is the bitterest tree in the whole world: just eat one leaf of it and
           for hours you will not think of anything else. It is just the bitterest thing. But according to Indian
           medicine it has more medicinal properties than any other herb, any other tree, any other leaf.
           Nothing is close to it, it has the most significant medicinal properties.
               So Gandhi had five principles for his disciples. One of the principles was tastelessness. Of course
           he found neem perfectly good. And neem is grown all over India in every town, every city, every
           village; in fact every house is supposed to have a neem tree, because in Indian medicine the idea is
           that having a neem tree in the house purifies the air.
               I don't know ... because I don't believe in any kind of nonsense. I have seen people living
           surrounded by neem trees suffering from all kinds of diseases, so how can I believe that it has
           medicinal properties? You can have neem anywhere.
               Gandhi was the first in the whole history of humanity to make a chutney, a sauce, out of neem
           leaves, to destroy the taste of food. It was served; and he was not a man like me ....
               I don't know where you eat, what you eat; I have never been to your restaurant, to your canteen --
           and I never will be. But Gandhi was just the opposite type of man. He would sit with all his disciples
           so he could keep an eye on what they were eating. He was almost like a detective, following and
           seeing if everybody was taking the neem sauce or not, because people were tricky. They might try to
           hide or ....
               One American writer, Louis Fisher, was writing a biography of Gandhi. He went to see him, to
           live with him for three weeks, to see his ashram with his own eyes. Of course he was a guest, so
           Gandhi took him with him for lunch, and Fisher was honored to sit by the side of Gandhi. And then
           came a cup of neem sauce.
           He said, "What is this green thing?"
               Gandhi said, "This is the best thing in the whole world: the more of it you eat, the healthier and
           longer you live. I am going to live for one hundred and twenty-five years because of this sauce."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Fisher was impressed. He tasted it and he said, "My God! If I have to eat this then I don't want to
           live one hundred and twenty-five years, because who is going to suffer it for one hundred and
           twenty-five years? Then I would like to die -- the sooner the better."
                But Gandhi was very insistent. He said, "One gets accustomed. If people get accustomed to
           smoking cigarettes, cigars .... Certainly for the first time when you smoke it is not a pleasant
           experience. People start drinking all kinds of things -- coffee for the first time is not something
           fantastic. So don't be worried: in three weeks I will train you -- you just go on."
                Louis Fisher could not deny this old sage, by whom he was already impressed; that's why he had
           come to write the biography of this man. He could not be disobeyed, but to destroy all of the food ....
           He thought it better to drink it in one gulp and then enjoy the food, rather than eating them together
           .... Because an Indian chutney, the sauce, has to be eaten with food; you mix it with bread, with
           vegetables. You have to eat it, but that destroys the whole thing.
                He was more scientific; he said, "It is better in one gulp, and then enjoy the food." But he never
           knew that Gandhi was a businessman, he was a Jew. In India the banya, the businessman, is called
           the Jew; he is equally cunning, clever. Gandhi was a banya by his very birth, and he never changed.
           He remained a banya, a Jew, his whole life.
                When Fisher drank, Gandhi asked the cook, "Bring another cup. Look how much he liked it! --
           and first he was saying that it is so bitter!"
                Now Fisher said, "This won't work." One cup he had swallowed somehow; it was all poison.
           Now the second cup was available. He said, "I will take it only in the end -- first let me finish the
           food; otherwise the third cup will come." This is the principle of tastelessness. You destroy the taste;
           otherwise you are enjoying the food.
                I was a guest in Gandhi's ashram. There were so many mosquitoes in the ashram, more
           mosquitoes than Gandhians. Gandhians were only twenty, mosquitoes must have been twenty
           million, and just for twenty Gandhians, twenty million mosquitoes ...! It is asceticism. And the
           mosquito net was not allowed in the ashram, it was prohibited; nobody could bring a mosquito net.
                Gandhi had his own inventions -- I don't know who gave him the idea that he was a scientist. He
           continued his whole life inventing all kinds of silly things. He invented the idea that if you paint your
           face and hands with kerosene oil then mosquitoes won't bite you -- of course, because even
           mosquitoes are more intelligent. They will not come to the stinking face of a man -- because when
           you paint your face and your hands with kerosene oil ....
                I told his son, Ramdas, who was my friend, I asked him, "Ramdas, I cannot survive here, I am
           going; I cannot remain here in the night."
           He said, "Why?"
                I said, "This kerosene! If mosquitoes can't come, how can I sleep? -- the smell will be coming to
           me too. And if even mosquitoes are not so idiotic .... Just forgive me."
                Those twenty poor people were sleeping there with kerosene painted on their face. Sleep was
           difficult. I enquired ... next morning I came back and enquired. They said, "It is difficult, but sooner
           or later in spite of all the smell, sleep has to come. One day you may go on tossing and turning, next
           day you may go on tossing and turning .... In the day, sleep is prohibited because that is luxury."
                I said, "If that is luxury, then in the day also I cannot be here. I have to sleep two hours in the
           day."
                Ramdas said, "This is difficult, because if you sleep here in the day and my father comes to
           know, of course you won't be in trouble but I will be in trouble."
                I said, "No need of anybody to be troubled, I simply will go. This is not the place for me. In the
           day you cannot sleep; in the night those mosquitoes and the kerosene oil will not allow you to sleep."
                This is religious discipline -- and this is nothing. If you look in the history of Christian
           monasteries, Jaina monasteries, Buddhist monasteries, Hindu monasteries you will be simply
           surprised: it is unbelievable that human beings have been treated in such an inhuman way -- in the
           name of religion. All kinds of stupidities ....
                A Jaina monk eats only one time a day. He cannot use any kind of utensil -- a cup or a plate, no
           -- he has to use only his hands. So whatsoever can come into his two hands, cupped, that's his whole
           meal for twenty-four hours. And how much can you hold in your two hands? And he has to eat like
           an animal because he cannot use his hands; they are holding the food.
                The less you live, the more you cut your life, the greater saint you are. The real sages sleep only
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           three hours; sleeping six hours, seven hours, is luxury. It is simply nature, it is not luxury.
                It is good that these idiots cannot sermonize to the children in their mothers' wombs -- because
           they sleep twenty-four hours; they are the greatest sinners in the world. Then out of the womb the
           child sleeps for twenty-two hours, twenty hours, eighteen hours. That is his biological necessity. In
           his sleep he grows; his body functions perfectly for growth. And as you become mature, sleep comes
           to a point ... the average is seven hours, but each individual has a different personality, different
           needs.
                Somebody may need eight hours, somebody may need six hours; seven hours is average. And
           there is no average man on the earth, remember. Average is only in arithmetic, it does not exist in
           reality. So a person who sleeps eight hours is thought to be a sinner.
                Once a young man was brought to me. He was a disciple of a very world-famous sage of India,
           Swami Shivananda of Rishikesh. Many American fools were interested in Shivananda. In fact,
           unless you are a fool you cannot be interested in Swami Shivananda. He was a rare being. This
           young man was brought to me by his father and mother because he was going nuts. Shivananda had
           told him that three hours' sleep is enough, more than three hours is a sin: sleep only three hours. So
           he was sleeping three hours.
                Now, a young man needs at least seven hours, average. He may need eight, he may need nine, it
           depends. But three hours? -- impossible. Now, three hours he was sleeping, so the whole day he was
           feeling sleepy. That is a proof that you are a very dark soul. The word in Indian spirituality is
           tamasik. Your whole soul is full of darkness, that's why you are feeling sleepy the whole day;
           otherwise the day is to be awake.
                Now, first you tell a person to sleep three hours in the night; then in the day of course he will feel
           sleepy. Then his soul is tamasik, full of darkness. Naturally he is going to ask, "What am I to do?" It
           was suggested that he should change his food; his food must be tamasik. Out of his food, darkness is
           being produced. He should only live on milk and stop all other food. So he started living only on
           milk.
                Now, it is a simple understanding that except for man no animal in the whole world, after a
           certain age, drinks milk. All mammals in the beginning live on milk -- but only in the beginning.
           Once they are able to eat solid food, milk is dropped. Milk is for children, it is not for mature beings.
           It is only man who goes on using milk. That keeps him retarded.
                So that boy started drinking milk. Now, it was not enough: he started feeling weak, sick. He
           enquired again. Shivananda said, "These are all symptoms of your past lives in which you have been
           committing so many sins, and you have to repent for everything. Now, you start a japa,
           transcendental meditation. You continue chanting inside, `Ram ... Ram ... Ram ...'" -- the name of the
           Hindu god -- "while walking, eating. Whatever you are doing, even talking with somebody, inside
           you continue, `Ram ... Ram ... Ram ....'"
                You are not to say it loudly; inside there is to be a continuity. And it becomes possible. If you
           continue then slowly slowly you can do other work and you can continue. It is a robot-like,
           mechanical thing: "Ram ... Ram ... Ram"; it goes on inside. That is thought to be a great
           achievement. In fact that is simply making the person schizophrenic, splitting him in two. He is
           doing one thing, and inside he is doing, "Ram ... Ram ... Ram ...." He is in two.
                This boy's father told me, "Something has to be done because he walks on the street -- the
           truckdriver is honking his horn and he does not listen, he goes on walking ahead of the truck.
           Someday he will be killed!"
           I asked the boy, "What is the matter?"
                He said, "Because I am continuously concentrating inside with `Ram,' slowly slowly that sound,
           `Ram,' has become so loud in me that I don't hear anything else. Perhaps a truckdriver was honking
           the horn but I didn't hear." If you are so full inside of your own noise .... You also know many times
           when you are in a very brooding mood, you may not hear a thing that is going on.
                Now this man was continuously in such a state, and his father and mother said, "We are in such
           trouble. At three o'clock in the night he gets up and starts chanting, `Ram ... Ram ....' We cannot
           sleep. He is going nuts -- he is driving us also nuts!"
                And the boy said, "That is not three o'clock in the night; that is BRAHMAMUHURT." In India
           three o'clock in the night is known as the hour of God. All sagely people wake up at three o'clock.
           "And I am not disturbing anybody, I am simply practicing something sacred; and these people are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           disturbing me, they are committing sin. Just the way I have committed sin in my past life and I am
           suffering now, they will suffer in their future life."
                It was so difficult to convince him. I had to keep him with me in my house for four weeks. I told
           the parents, "Leave him with me, because it will take time. He has been badly damaged, he needs
           great repair -- you leave him with me. And don't be worried about me, I will not go nuts -- I am
           already! You just forget about it. After four weeks I will bring your child back to you."
                It took four weeks continually hammering him to bring him back to earth. And when he came
           back to earth, it was almost as if he had been dead and come alive again. He said, "Now I can see
           what was happening. It was a nightmare!"
                But he might have lived in that nightmare and would have become a great sage. All your sages
           are living in nightmares, and they are preaching to you also to follow them.
                Their whole effort is to cut your life as much as possible.
                It helps the politician if you are less alive, because then you are less rebellious, more obedient,
           more conventional, more traditional -- you are not a danger.
                It helps the priest if you are less alive -- for the same reasons.
                If you are really alive then you are a danger to everybody, everybody who tries to exploit you,
           everybody who is a parasite on you. You are going to fight tooth and nail. You would rather die than
           live like a slave, because even death for a fully alive person is not death; it is the culmination of life.
           Even dying he goes on living intensely and totally. He is not afraid of death, he is not afraid of
           anything.
                That is what makes all the vested interests afraid of the living person. They have found a very
           subtle strategy, and the strategy is to give you a goal for your life, that you have to become
           somebody.
                You are already that which existence wanted you to be.
           You are not to become anybody.
                But they go on saying you have to become Jesus Christ. Why? If Jesus Christ was not to become
           me, why should I become Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ should be Jesus Christ, I should be myself. But
           what are all the Christians doing? -- trying to imitate Jesus Christ, trying in some way to become
           Jesus Christ. Hindus are trying to become Krishna; Buddhists are trying to become Buddha. Strange!
           Nobody is worrying about himself; everybody is trying to become somebody else. That cuts your life
           completely. Hence I say,
           Life has no goal because life is its own goal.
           Drop all goals.
           Drop the very idea of future.
                Forget completely that there is going to be a tomorrow. Collect yourself from every dimension
           and direction. Be concentrated herenow, and in that single moment you will be able to know life in
           its eternity. Then the hunger for living, and living forever, will not be there.
                Tasting life in a single moment makes you aware that life is eternal. There is no need to desire it,
           it is already eternal. Death is only an episode which happens many times -- perhaps millions of times
           -- but life continues. Death is only a changeover from one house to another house.
                Right now there is a case in India in a court, a very beautiful case. A young man -- must be
           nearabout twenty-two or twenty-four -- killed an old man of about eighty. The old man was a
           door-to-door salesman. And there was no enmity between the two; what to say of enmity -- they
           were not even introduced to each other, they were not acquainted with each other, and the young
           man killed the eighty-year-old man.
                In the court the young man said, "In my past life I was the dog of this old man, and he tortured
           me very much, so much so that finally through his torture I was killed. This was simple revenge. I
           don't deny that I have killed him."
                He said, "I can produce evidence" -- and he produced two eyewitnesses who said that exactly
           twenty-four years earlier that old man had a dog; he tortured the dog and the dog was killed through
           his torture. That coincides with the age of the young man. And they said that it is simple: without
           any enmity with the old man, without any reason .... They were asked if there was any reason, if
           there was any conflict, any quarrel: no quarrel, no reason, nothing -- suddenly he killed that man.
           That made it even more solid a case; perhaps it had something to do with his past life.
                The judge is puzzled what to do with this man, because if he has just been killed himself, now to
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           punish him, to kill him again, would be too much. In fact the criminal was the old man who was
           dead, who could be punished. To leave this man unpunished is also dangerous, because then every
           murderer will start saying, "In my past life ..." and might even produce evidence, because evidence is
           not difficult to find, particularly in India. You bribe anybody and anybody will give evidence.
                Perhaps these two witnesses were just paid. Perhaps there was no dog. If these two persons lived
           in the neighborhood of the man and they knew the old man their whole life, they could say, "We are
           eyewitnesses: he tortured the dog, he killed the dog." The age coincides, and the young man had had
           no problem with the old man. And from the old man's side nobody has come to say there was any
           conflict, any antagonism; no proof has been found of any antagonism. Certainly the judge is in a
           difficulty.
           Vivek was asking me, "What would you have done?"
                I have not told her what I would have done because I cannot say many things just for the reason
           that the whole world is full of bigots about everything. Otherwise it is very simple. It has nothing to
           do with the judge; the man should be given to a hypnotist. The young man should be deeply
           hypnotized so that he goes below his conscious mind and comes to the unconscious -- and then he
           should be asked. And the truth will be out, because the unconscious mind cannot lie.
                That is one great thing about the unconscious mind: it cannot lie. And if the hypnotist is really
           skillful, he can take the person even deeper than the unconscious, to the collective unconscious.
           Then everything is crystal-clear, pure truth. It is not a question to be decided in a court; the judge has
           nothing to do with it.
                Whatever he decides will be wrong. I can say it before he decides: whatever he decides will be
           wrong unless he decides to give that young man to a great hypnotist. And things can be very easily
           found -- the unconscious carries all your past lives and their memories. If there has been such a
           thing, the unconscious will reveal it, will tell it to you clearly.
                Perhaps the man may start barking when he is unconscious. He may make the bark of a dog who
           is being tortured, and that will be enough proof. Dogs cannot talk, but they can bark, which will be a
           better proof than talking. If that man in deep hypnosis starts barking, and starts showing all
           indications of being tortured, of being killed, that will be enough proof of the innocence of the man.
           He has done nothing. He should be released with honor. But perhaps this will not happen, because
           people all around the world are so much against hypnotism -- which is a very accurate science.
                They are so afraid of hypnotism; they think it is something magical, something dangerous,
           something evil. It is neither evil nor dangerous; it is a simple, deliberate way of putting a man's
           conscious mind to sleep and allowing the unconscious to speak. It is going to be, in the future, one of
           the greatest sciences ever.
                But if you are not living now, you will hanker for eternal life.
                The last thing I would like to say about it is: you will be born again and again for the simple
           reason that you are not living. Your desire, which Buddha calls trishna, lust for life, will continue till
           you live life totally, fully, feel blessed to be alive. Once you are satisfied to your heart's content, then
           there is no more getting into another body again.
           This is what we call nirvana.
           This is what we call moksha.
                This is what we call ultimate freedom from all imprisonment.
                The body is an imprisonment. Consciousness can be without the body, but because of the desire
           to live, the consciousness is dragged again and again into a body.
                Once you have lived .... And that's my effort here in my commune, that you should live totally,
           unafraid. There is no sin, there is no hell, there is no evil: there are only politicians and priests who
           have to be avoided.
           Live totally!
                Of course that does not mean to interfere in other people's lives. A man who knows how to live
           also feels a tremendous responsibility for other people to live. And when you are living with people,
           the more nobody is interfered with, the more space there will be for everybody to live. So, remember
           one thing: don't interfere in anybody's life and don't let anybody interfere in your life either.
           This is what makes you my sannyasin.
           Live, and let others live -- fully.
                Help, share, and the desire to live forever will disappear. Then this death will be your last
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           episode, then there will be no more coming back to the body. Then you are free of all imprisonment
           -- and that freedom is life in its utter purity, at its highest peak.
               Life itself is its own goal -- the goal is intrinsic.
               But just listening to me or repeating my words is of no help.
           If you understand me then forget my words:
           Remember the spirit.
           And be totally dedicated to that spirit.
               And you will be surprised that even a single moment can give you so much that all the paradises
           of all the religions become pale compared to it.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #17
                                 Chapter title: Love is a very unscientific idea
           17 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503175
              ShortTitle: DARK17
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 117 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY THAT SCIENTISTS ARE ONLY NOW DISCOVERING THINGS THAT
              PEOPLE IN THE EAST KNEW FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO. HOW DID WE COME TO GO
              BACKWARDS?


               Science as such has no intrinsic value like life, like love, like blissfulness. These are ends in
           themselves. Science is only a means. This is the most essential thing to be understood.
               Science is concerned with providing you the means to make life richer, profounder, more
           comfortable, more healthy. But science can do just the opposite too; it can be destructive, it can
           move in directions which are anti-life. Hence, science cannot be left only in the hands of the
           scientists. Something higher, something which is an end in itself must be the decisive factor in
           determining in what direction science should move, in what direction it should not move.
               The concern of science is things, objects; it is not concerned at all with being. The word "being"
           is just nonexistential for the scientific mind. This is very idiotic because the scientist is a being
           himself. He is not a thing amongst other things.
               Have you ever seen a chair doing scientific research? or a table? The scientist has something
           which things do not have: consciousness, life, being. But the problem for the scientist is that his
           methodology limits him. He has a limitation, he can only work on something which he can dissect,
           which he can set to work upon, which he can put in a test-tube.
               Now, you cannot put your own consciousness in front of yourself. You cannot divide your being
           the way you have divided matter -- into molecules, then into atoms, then into electrons. And they go
           on dividing.
               Being is indivisible. There is no sword which can cut it in two. There is no method by which we
           can experiment upon consciousness; hence, science completely denies the existence of
           consciousness -- because to accept the existence of consciousness is to accept your impotence too.
           You cannot do anything about it. Then science becomes a very small thing, concerned only with
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           things. And things are utilitarian, their whole purpose is to be used ... by whom?
                Are things using things? clothes wearing clothes? food eating food? houses living in houses? The
           scientist is in a real dilemma. If he accepts consciousness, being, life, then he is accepting something
           higher than his reach, something which is beyond his methodology. And of course a scientist, as a
           scientist, cannot accept anything which is not proved in his lab -- not only by himself but by
           thousands of other scientists around the world.
                When the same conclusion is reached through millions of experiments, always the same, without
           any exception, then it becomes a scientific truth. Only then can the scientist accept it -- that too only
           temporarily because tomorrow new facts may be found and things will have to be changed.
                It was not so in the beginning. Just a hundred years ago scientists were very adamant, stubborn,
           absolute about their findings, because whatsoever they were finding was without exception. But
           within these hundred years all that absoluteness has disappeared. Every day, new facts are being
           discovered which go on dismantling the old theories.
                Now a new standpoint has arisen; that is, that science can only be temporarily, hypothetically
           accepted. Nobody can say of anything that the same will happen tomorrow. We can only say that, up
           to now, whatever we know, this is the conclusion out of it. Anything new being added to it is going
           to change the whole conclusion.
                The dilemma is that science cannot accept being, life. You can cut a man in thousands of parts,
           you will not find life anywhere. In fact, you cannot put him back together again. Even if you glue
           him together again, life will not come back.
                What is life? How can science accept it? It is beyond the scientist's grasp. So if he accepts it he
           accepts a limitation of science -- and he accepts something higher than science. Then science cannot
           be the decisive factor in human life. This is against the ego of the scientist.
                He can deny, as he has been doing up to now, or ignore, which is far better; but some standpoint
           has to be taken. Even ignoring it is a standpoint -- you have accepted it; otherwise, what are you
           ignoring? Either reject or ignore: in each case the acceptance is there. If you reject it, if you simply
           say it does not exist, that it is a by-product .... Try to understand the word "by-product."
                You mix a few things and out of the mixture a new thing arises; it was not there before. But if
           you take those things which you have mixed ... for example, water: hydrogen and oxygen are mixed.
           Water is formed in a particular ratio, H2O: two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, and water arises.
           The water is a by-product. If you take oxygen out, or you take hydrogen out, the water disappears.
                But the scientist cannot say even that, because when you put the hydrogen back, the water
           appears again; yes, it is a by-product. I accept that. But life is not a by-product, because when you
           put the parts together it does not appear again. You cut off the head, and then you fix it back -- you
           can call Leeladhar, you can do perfect plastic surgery -- but still life will not appear. Hence the
           scientist cannot even say that life is a by-product, that consciousness is a by-product. He will still
           have to prove both.
                Karl Marx said that life and consciousness are both by-products. But he is not being logical, he is
           being simply a fanatic materialist. It is so clear. A by-product is something which arises out of a
           certain mixture; it will always arise whenever the mixture is made, it will always disappear
           whenever the mixture is taken away. That is not the case about life.
                The second problem in the dilemma is that the scientist has to deny himself. The moment he
           denies being and says the world consists only of matter -- that is, only of things -- then who is he?
           He is a thing.
                This is very strange: a few "things" are researching, finding great truths -- dangerous, fatal,
           decisive -- and other things are doing nothing. If we are all things, then perhaps while you are
           sleeping, your chair is trying to experiment upon you, looking into you, trying to find out what kind
           of thing this is. And the chairs must be publishing periodicals, research papers, getting PhDs, BScs
           .... But it is strange that only men, not even animals, are scientists. Animals have life but they are not
           consciously alive; hence they simply go on living a biological program.
                Man is the only living organism on the earth who has a totally new quality -- consciousness. The
           walls in this room are not conscious of you. They are not conscious of themselves either. They don't
           know they exist, they don't know that anybody else exists. Man is very special; he knows others
           exist, he knows he exists.
                The scientist has to deny the greatest prerogative of man. He has to say that he is also a thing
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           among things. Strange! Scientists also when they are not scientists -- because nobody can be a
           scientist twenty-four hours a day. It is not like religion. A person cannot be religious for a few hours
           in a day, or a few hours in a week. Either he is religious or he is not.
               Religiousness is overwhelming, reaches to every pore of your being; it is not a profession like
           being a doctor, an engineer, a scientist.
               I used to stay in Calcutta in the house of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Bengal. His
           wife told me, "I cannot tell anybody, but you have become so close to us that I am daring to say it to
           you. And my husband only listens to you. Otherwise he is twenty-four hours a day chief justice of
           the Supreme Court of Bengal; nobody is above him, he never listens to anybody. So it was pointless
           to tell anybody anyway, but I want to tell you that you have to tell him that to be a chief justice is a
           profession. He need not be chief justice twenty-four hours a day."
               I said, "What do you mean `twenty-four hours a day'?"
               She said, "I mean even in bed he is the chief justice and I am the criminal. He is ordering! He
           can't speak in any other way. The jargon of his court has gone into his very marrow. To the children
           he speaks in the same way. When he is out of the house we are all so happy. And when he comes
           home everybody becomes serious because the chief justice is coming: not the father, not the brother,
           not the husband -- no, no relationship exists with the chief justice. The chief justice is even required
           not to be friendly to anybody because that may affect his fairness. He is nobody's relation."
               I talked to him. I said, "This is simply stupid. You are a chief justice between eleven to five in
           the court. It is a profession, it is not your religion. You need not be a chief justice in bed with your
           wife. That is ugly. And if you are doing that then you are the criminal. You start behaving rightly
           and forget all your legal jargon. Your children want you to be their father. What do they have to do
           with the chief justice? Do you know the moment you enter the house the whole house becomes sad,
           afraid? Do you consider it something great about you?"
               He said, "Perhaps you are right. I have made it my religion."
               Religion can only be for twenty-four hours a day, it cannot be otherwise, remember. You cannot
           say, "For half an hour I am not going to be religious" -- or can you? Then a Jaina for half an hour can
           eat meat because for half an hour he was not religious. Then a Christian, for half an hour, can kick
           the statue of Jesus from this corner to that corner in the room -- for half an hour he is not religious!
           After half an hour it will be put back on the pedestal with great honor and respect and he will kneel
           down and pray to it. But for half an hour ....
               And everybody needs a little holiday once in a while. But in religion there is no holiday. Religion
           is twenty-four hours, day in, day out, year in, year out, because it is just like your breathing. But
           science is not a religion.
               So when I have talked to a scientist when he is not a scientist -- and nobody can be a scientist
           twenty-four hours a day, remember, it will kill him. He cannot love his wife because love does not
           exist according to science; there is nothing like love. It is a very unscientific idea -- poetic, but not
           scientific. Love has not been analyzed, it has not been found what constitutes it, how it can be
           produced on a mass scale, what taste it has, what color it has, what smell it has, whether it is tangible
           or not.
               Nothing has been found out about love scientifically. In any scientific book you cannot find love
           mentioned.
               When I was in my matriculation year there used to be ninety-two elements, now there are one
           hundred and eight; that is why I say things go on changing. Ninety-two elements constituted the
           whole existence. I asked my teacher, "But in this whole list many things are missing."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               "For example," I said, "there is no mention of love."
               He said, "Are you crazy? In a science class you inquire about love? All that kind of nonsense is
           okay when you are reading poetry, but in a science class ...?"
               I said, "Science or not, I know that you are in love."
               He was very much embarrassed because I really knew -- and he knew that I knew. I had really
           caught him kissing a woman. And I said, "You confess; otherwise I will tell the whole class and the
           whole school who the woman is" -- because the woman was also a teacher in the school, and this
           whole thing was happening behind the scientific lab.
               "In these ninety-two elements where is it mentioned? If it is not mentioned, on what grounds
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           were you kissing that woman? So unscientific, silly. You should start teaching in a poetry class --
           poetry, literature -- and behind the poetry class you can go on kissing anybody you want. But behind
           the science lab ...."
           He said, "I am sorry, but ...."
               I said, "This won't do. Say that there are ninety-three elements in life."
               He said, "That I cannot say because love is not proved scientifically."
               I said, "That's true, but all scientists love. Not only that, they produce children. Not only that,
           they get married, they even get divorced -- and everything is unscientific! In the first place, falling in
           love ...."
               Even a man like Albert Einstein could not resist falling in love, knowing perfectly well that love
           does not exist. He fell in love with a woman, who later became Frau Einstein. She was an
           outstanding poet but it was very difficult to converse because Einstein was so stuffed with his
           science, and she was so stuffed with poetry. Now, with two heads stuffed with poetry and science
           together there is bound to be trouble.
               In the beginning she used to show him poems that she was writing, and Einstein would listen,
           because he had to listen. But once in a while he would raise a question which would be scientific.
           For example she would be comparing the face of a woman with the full moon, and he would say,
           "Wait. This is going too far. A woman's face, and you are comparing it to the moon? A woman's
           body cannot carry it, it is impossible. Secondly, what beauty do you see in the moon? No eyes, no
           nose, no mouth, no hair -- nothing! What do you see there that you are comparing?
               "And do you know that even this light that shines from the moon is not its own, it is just a
           reflection. It is sun rays reflected from the moon." The moon is just as dusty as this Big Muddy
           Ranch. There is no light that you see; from the moon the earth also shines in the same way as the
           moon and looks so beautiful.
               I asked Yuri Gagarin .... After he first orbited around the moon -- the first man to come so close
           to the moon -- he was invited for a tour, a welcome tour to India. I asked him, "What was your first
           idea, seeing the earth from that far away; for the first time, the first man, looking at the earth from
           that distance, what was your impression?"
               He said, "I was simply mystified. I am a communist, I don't believe in mysticism, but I was
           mystified -- what can I do? The earth looked so beautiful, so glorious, with such an aura of light.
           And for the first time I could not think of myself as Russian, American, Indian, Chinese. For the first
           time, I thought only of myself as belonging to the earth: this is my earth. That was my first feeling:
           this is my earth. America was included."
               I used to tell my friends in the university who were great scholars -- physicists, chemists,
           biologists, zoologists: "You all love. You all want to live. You all want to have silence, peace. You
           all want, deep down, to know who you are. Still, as scientists, you go on denying these things. Have
           you considered that you are denying yourself, that you are turning yourself into a thing?"
               Science cannot go beyond things. And there is nothing wrong about it; all that is needed is that
           science should understand its limitations. Everything has limitations, and one should not try to prove
           that that which does not exist within those limitations does not exist at all. My eyes cannot hear
           music -- that does not mean music does not exist. My ears cannot see the light -- is that enough to
           prove there is no light? It simply proves the limitations of the ear.
               I dropped the word "limitation" because it is humiliating. I used to say to my scientist friends in
           the university, "It is specialization, forget the word `limitation'. The eyes are specialized organs to
           see; ears, specialized organs to hear. And you will be surprised that it is the same body, consisting of
           the same chemicals.
               "It is the same skin, the same bones, which become your ears, which become your eyes, which
           become your nose, which become your tongue. It is one organic unity. Ears are nothing but bones
           specialized for a certain purpose; your eyes are nothing but your skin specialized for a certain
           purpose. It is a specialization -- but a specialization certainly means you will have to leave many
           things outside."
               Specialization means knowing more and more about less and less. You go on becoming narrower
           and narrower and narrower and narrower. The greatest specialist is certainly bound to be knowing
           much about almost nothing. The ultimate logical conclusion is knowing all about nothing. That will
           be the greatest specialist, one who knows all about nothing.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have heard a story about the twenty-first century. A man enters an eye specialist's office, sits
           down and says, "I am feeling very much troubled."
                The eye specialist says, "Before we begin -- because once we begin you will be charged -- I
           would like to ask which eye you are having trouble with?"
           The man said, "The left eye."
                The specialist said, "Then you go to the other specialist, because I specialize only in the right
           eye."
                In fact the right eye is in itself a world so vast that sooner or later you will find that somebody
           specializes only on the eastern side of the right eye, somebody else on the western side of the right
           eye. That's how specialization goes on.
                In India you go to a physician, an Indian physician; he is not a Western doctor. You need not
           bother about specialization because he is still practicing something which was invented five
           thousand years ago when there was no specialization. And the strangest thing is that he will not ask
           you, "What is your trouble?" -- because in India particularly, the Indian physicians think it an insult
           to ask the patient, "What is your trouble?" Then what kind of expert is he?
                They will take your pulse with their hand, close their eyes and they will say what your trouble is.
           And it is almost always true. They will look at your tongue, they will see your stomach. And they are
           almost always right, because they have been watching the pulse for five thousand years or more --
           the slight changes in vibration according to each disease. Just looking at your tongue ... not at the
           Western tongue because from the Western tongue I don't think even an Indian physician can find out
           what kind of disease you are suffering from.
                He will find all kinds of diseases, because in the West, for some reason, you clean everything
           except your tongue. It has not occurred to anyone that the tongue has to be cleaned. It is only in the
           East that the tongue is cleaned.
                Just as toothbrushes exist, tongue cleaners exist, and only the Eastern tongue is capable of
           showing to the physician what the disease is. The color of the tongue, the layers of whiteness,
           blackness, brownness that have gathered even in spite of our cleaning show what kind of disease it
           is, because your tongue is connected with your stomach. It is an indicator, it goes on showing you
           what difficulty is there in the stomach. But if you don't clean it then of course it is a mess, you
           cannot figure it out.
                The eastern physician ... the greater the physician, the less he will ask you. He will simply check
           you and will start writing the prescription. You will be puzzled that he has not even asked what
           disease -- he need not. Specialization for thousands of years has made him know everything about
           very small things: the pulse rate, its very fine differences; the tongue, its color, the stuff that gathers
           on the tongue. But don't call it a limitation, call it a specialization.
                Science is a specialization. You cannot be a scientist twenty-four hours a day.
           Religion is not a specialization.
           It is a way of life.
                It is a way of breathing, it is a way of walking, it is a way of sitting, it is a way of sleeping.
           Religion overwhelms all your life.
                A religious man sits in a different way than a non-religious man.
                A religious man talks in a different way than a non-religious man.
                A religious man is always at ease, at home, relaxed.
           A religious man knows no tensions, no anxieties.
                Naturally all his functioning has a tremendous grace, a beauty. And because it is not a
           specialization it can spread all over his life -- it has to spread.
                Once Gautam Buddha's chief disciple, Ananda, asked him, "Bhante, many times I have
           awakened at different hours in the night just to see, are you in any need? You were always asleep,
           you were never in any need. But a problem has arisen for me that when you go to sleep you continue
           the whole night to sleep in exactly the same posture: the same hand underneath your head
           functioning as a pillow, one leg upon the other leg, resting -- always on one side, never changing
           sides. This is strange."
                Buddha said, "This is not strange. There is no need to move. When I was unconscious I also used
           to toss and turn -- that was the mental turmoil affecting the body. Now if I want to change my
           posture I can, but there is no inner necessity. And I don't want to, I love this posture."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                People have been asking me how I go on sitting with my left leg upon my right leg for hours. I
           can change but I don't see any need. For years I have been sitting that way and now it has become so
           comfortable that if I change it that will be a discomfort. In this posture I completely forget my legs;
           there is no need for me to remember about them. But if I want to change I can change, there is no
           problem in it.
                Once you live consciously, every act starts taking on a different quality: the quality of
           relaxedness, restfulness. A religious man can be religious twenty-four hours a day. Yes, even in bed,
           even while making love to his wife he will be religious. His lovemaking will be of the same category
           as his prayer, his worship, his meditation.
                Perhaps I am one of the most misunderstood men on the earth today. In my name there are more
           than three hundred and fifty books on all kinds of subjects; perhaps I have not left any corner of life
           untouched. But one book became world-famous, or world-notorious.
                It is just a series of lectures on the subject FROM SEX TO SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS. It is very
           strange, because anybody who reads the book will be surprised ... but people believe in gossips; who
           wants to actually read the book? People believe the journalists. Who wants to go into anything to
           find out the truth?
                The book is not for sex; it is the only book in the whole existence against sex, but strange .... The
           book says that there is a way to go beyond sex, you can transcend sex -- that's the meaning of "from
           sex to superconsciousness." You are at the stage of sex while you should be at the stage of
           superconsciousness. And the route is simple: sex just has to be part of your religious life, it has to be
           something sacred.
                Sex has to be something not obscene, not pornographic, not condemned, not repressed but
           immensely respected, because we are born out of it.
           It is our very life source.
                And to condemn the life source is to condemn everything.
                Sex has to be raised higher and higher to its ultimate peak. And that ultimate peak is samadhi,
           superconsciousness.
                But I was condemned all over the world by all the religions for preaching sex. I was amazed. I
           chuckled. I said to myself, "I am born in a great world, in a great time! I had never thought that the
           world consisted of so many idiots."
                Books have been written against my book; articles in almost every language, in every newspaper,
           in every magazine have appeared against my book. But the fundamental of their understanding
           remains the same: that I am teaching sex.
           I am teaching transformation of sex.
                It is so clear. But no, these people were not interested in transformation of sex, they were
           interested in condemning sex. It was a good excuse. And who is going to read the book? Who is
           going to find out what I have really said in it?
                It is so strange and unbelievable that Hindus have worshiped one great sexologist, the first in the
           world, Maharishi Vatsyayana, who has written a book KAMASUTRAS, which means "Aphorisms
           on sex." It is the first obscene and pornographic book, with ugly drawings -- it is pictorial;
           photography was not in existence; otherwise it would have been like PLAYBOY. Sketches ... and he
           propounds eighty-four postures for intercourse.
                Now many idiots must have been trying them and wasting their whole life -- eighty-four
           postures! And a few are such that it is better if you join the gym and do some gymnastics rather than
           doing those postures. You will break your neck or your wife's neck. You will not believe that there is
           a posture -- the woman is standing on her head and the man is making love to her. And this man,
           Vatsyayana, is respected in India as a maharishi, as a great seer. Because he was supporting Hindu
           ideology, Hindus -- it was a mutual understanding -- respected him.
                Because I am not supporting anybody's ideology there is no question of respecting me for
           anything.
                And out of three hundred and fifty books, that is the only one in which I talk about sex and its
           transformation. What about the three hundred and forty-nine books in which I have talked about
           every possible problem of human growth? Nobody bothers about all those books because nobody is
           concerned with human growth. Everybody is concerned that man should remain retarded.
                The more retarded humanity is, the more it is in the hands of the politicians, in the hands of the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           priests, in the hands of all kinds of vested interests. Who is interested in transforming man? They
           want you to be completely blind and deaf. They want you to be just a robot: efficient, not creating
           any trouble -- no strike, no protest, no revolution, no rebellion -- just a robot who is always ready to
           say "Yes, sir."
                The question is significant: why has it happened that there was a time, five thousand years ago in
           the East, when science reached to its highest peaks -- then what happened? Why in the East was that
           whole project dropped?
                When, in the East, science was at its peak the West was just barbarous. Even today Ashoka's
           pillar which was made to honor Gautam Buddha .... It was made two thousand years ago, and
           scientists have not been able to find how it was made, because to make that high a pillar of solid
           metal .... It has been standing in the rain -- for two thousand years -- in the summer, in the winter --
           and has not gathered any trace of the years: it is without any stain. Stainless steel is a modern
           phenomenon; it was not possible then -- but the pillar is there.
                In Egypt, the pyramids have such huge stones on the top that we don't have cranes even today to
           take all those huge stones to that height. And they were put there three thousand years ago.
           Something must have existed, something better than our cranes.
                Five thousand years ago, in India, there happened a war which must have been something like
           the third world war, if it happens. Millions of people died and the weapons that were used -- their
           description is clear-cut in the scriptures -- seem to be nuclear. They were not ordinary weapons.
                What happened to this science? Why has it simply disappeared?
                In Mexico there are triangles made on the earth so big, so vast, that you cannot see them.
           Wherever you are standing you will see only one line. If you are standing at the corner you will see
           two lines meeting, but you cannot see the whole triangle. The only way to see the whole triangle is
           from an airplane, there is no other way. Every way has been tried to see them but the only way is
           from an airplane. You cannot see it unless you are flying over it, it is so huge. It is geometrically
           accurate -- and it is almost four thousand years old!
                Why did the people create that? For what purpose? It cannot be of any use to "primitive" people
           -- a triangle so vast and so accurate -- unless it was a signal to flying machines, just the way you
           have lights and signals for airplanes in our airport. And just by the side of these triangles .... These
           triangles have been found in many places, not in just one; one may have been accidental, may have
           been natural, but in many places .... Just by the side of the triangle there is the runway. A runway for
           what purpose?
                Those people had no use of a runway; unless an airplane was descending or taking off, those
           runways are useless. And those runways have been measured and it has been found that that length is
           absolutely necessary only if a flying machine is being used.
                But what happened to all these scientific developments? It is significant to understand that it was
           a conscious decision to drop all scientific development because it was going against life. It was
           going against consciousness, it was going against humanity, it was going against nature.
                It was a conscious decision after the Mahabharat war in India, five thousand years ago, that these
           arenas of science should be closed -- because science is not a value in itself. Unless it serves life,
           unless it makes you more enriched, there is no need for so many human beings and so many geniuses
           to be involved in it.
                It was a conscious decision. But who can make this conscious decision? That's why I have been
           telling you again and again that humanity can be saved only if there are enough conscious people in
           the world, people who are not Christians, not Hindus, not Americans, not Russians, who are simply
           conscious, and can create a climate of consciousness around the earth and an awareness that science
           should be subservient to human values.
           Man is not the servant of science, but the master.
                And human values should decide whether a certain scientific project is worth going into or not.
                For example, when Albert Einstein wrote the letter to President Roosevelt about making the atom
           bomb, if President Roosevelt had any consciousness of human values he would have refused,
           knowing that this plaything, this atom bomb, could become the ultimate danger to humanity that it
           has become. Neither Roosevelt nor Albert Einstein had that consciousness.
                Albert Einstein certainly repented later on when Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were burned
           through atomic explosions. Within seconds hundreds of thousands of people simply evaporated. It
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           was a shock to Albert Einstein because it was his letter that triggered the whole process; he was
           responsible. Roosevelt was no longer the president, the president was Truman, and you cannot find
           ... strange, you cannot find a more untrue man, but names are strange -- just the opposite.
                When Truman was asked the next morning, "Could you sleep? -- because Hiroshima and
           Nagasaki have been burning. One hundred thousand people in Nagasaki, one hundred and twenty
           thousand people in Hiroshima have died. Could you sleep? -- because it was your decision to drop
           the bomb."
                He said, "I slept the best I have ever slept, because so many worries had been there, but in my
           dropping that bomb, all the worries finished. I slept beautifully." Can you say this man has any
           awareness of what he is saying, what he is doing?
                The man who dropped the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the pilot, was asked the next
           day, "What is your reaction?"
                He said, "What reaction? I simply followed the orders; I had nothing to do with it. I was ordered
           to drop the bombs, I dropped the bombs. That's my profession, I am paid for it. Those who have
           given the order should have some responsibility or not -- that is their business -- but I don't have
           anything to do with it." Now, can you say this man is even a human being? Could he not say that, "I
           am not going to follow this order. Two hundred and twenty thousand people are going to be killed! It
           is better you shoot me; I am not going to follow this order"?
                This is what I call religious disobedience. And this man would have become, in my eyes at least,
           the beginning of a new humanity.
           But the idiot said, "I simply followed the order."
                I am not saying don't follow orders. I am saying, before following orders at least think twice
           about what the order is.
           Science is not the ultimate value, it is a means.
           The scientist is an expert -- specialized, limited:
                He goes on knowing more and more about less and less.
           The religious person is just the opposite:
                He goes on knowing less and less about more and more. A day comes when he knows nothing
           about everything. I am in that position.
           I know nothing about everything.
                That is why I can speak about everything without bothering whether it is so or not. I am an
           ignorant man so there is no need to be worried.
           Religion has values.
                I have told you science is concerned with objects, things.
                Religion is concerned with beings, consciousness, awareness.
                Unless religion has the upper hand, science is going to destroy everything, for the simple reason
           that the scientist has no bird's-eye view of the whole. Of course the bird's-eye view cannot be called
           the expert's-eye view.
                The bird flying high in the sky can see everything, but you cannot say that the man who is a
           biologist working on the earth, finding more and more about biology, sees more than the bird. The
           bird knows nothing, but the bird sees everything that is there. The bird's vision is vast. The scientist's
           vision is very narrow; naturally he cannot see beyond it.
                Now, there is one scientist, Delgado, who has invented electrodes which can be planted in your
           head. You will not know -- once the electrode is inside your skull you will never know that there is
           anything there, because inside your skull there is no sensitivity. Even a stone can be put there, you
           will never know about it. That electrode in your head can be controlled from anywhere, from distant
           control systems, remote control.
                You may be going to your home and from a thousand miles away Delgado can dictate to you,
           "Don't go, come back!" And you will immediately turn about and start moving back. Of course you
           will find some excuse why you are doing it, not knowing that you are not doing it, you have been
           forced to do it. But man is such an egoist, he cannot accept such a thing. He will find some excuse,
           something or other. He will remember something that he has forgotten that has to be done first, he
           has to run back.
                Now, Delgado is proposing -- again, like Albert Einstein, to all the politicians of the world -- "If
           you want humanity to behave rightly then put electrodes in their heads."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               For example, he says there is no need for a criminal to be kept for thirty or fifty years in a jail.
           Fix an electrode -- it is just a five-minute operation. Put him under anesthesia, and within five
           minutes the electrode will be inside his skull and he will never know about it. And you have the
           remote control; you can always tell him what to do, what not to do.
               If he is a murderer you can program him not to murder again. If he is a thief, you can program
           him not to steal again. What is the point of putting these people in jail for fifty years when just a
           simple electrode can do the work? Sensible ... the suggestion is perfectly sensible, but Delgado is a
           scientist: he knows more and more about only the electrode; he has no conception of any of its other
           implications.
               In Russia, what will they do? An electrode will be put in every child's mind the moment he is
           born. In Russia, no child is allowed to be born in a house, the child has to be born in the hospital.
           And that is the best time; the skull is not hard, the operation is very simple. You just push the
           electrode in and the child will never know for his whole life. He cannot disobey the communist
           party, he cannot disobey the state, he cannot disobey DAS KAPITAL. He cannot do anything that
           you don't want him to do, he will do only whatever you want.
               You can have in the Kremlin a central remote-control system for two hundred million people.
           You just push one button and they will all be ready to fight, to give their life -- for any purpose.
               And this is not going to happen only in Russia -- because this is the problem: if it happens in
           Russia it is bound to happen in America on a wider scale, a bigger scale, because America cannot be
           number two. If Russians orbit around the moon, then Americans have to step on the moon. If they
           put in an electrode, America is going to put in two electrodes -- in case one fails. Why take chances?
           But Delgado is not aware of all these implications.
               In the East, science came to a point where it was clear that it would destroy ecology, it would
           destroy man's dignity, it might destroy the whole planet; it was better to shut it down. That is why in
           the East almost everything that you know of has been invented but stopped because there were
           superior beings available, enlightened people available who could be asked whether this line would
           be right.
               If Delgado asks me, I will say, "You are wasting your genius and you are wasting it in such a
           dangerous project, one which can destroy the whole of humanity, one which is worse than nuclear
           weapons." It is better to kill the whole of humanity than to put electrodes in human minds and make
           them slaves.
               Only through deep meditation, silence, compassion, love, intelligence, will you be able to direct
           science.
               In the West, science right now is going wild. It is time, there is still time -- not much of course,
           but still time to put a stop, a full stop, and move scientific research into helping human growth: to
           make man more loving, more caring, more alive; to give him something to sing and dance about; to
           make him celebrate, so that this whole earth becomes a rejoicing.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                Chapter #18
                        Chapter title: Meditation: the door from slavery to freedom
           18 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503185
              ShortTitle: DARK18
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 93 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              MODERN SCIENCE HAS DISCOVERED A NUMBER OF LAWS SUCH AS THE LAW OF GRAVITY,
              WHICH DESCRIBE THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MATERIAL WORLD. DOES THE SCIENCE OF THE
              INNER SOUL ALSO HAVE LAWS WHICH APPLY TO CONSCIOUSNESS AND BEING?


               It is one of the most fundamental differences between the outer and the inner.
           The outer is ruled by laws:
           The inner is just freedom.
               Consciousness knows no laws. It is matter that needs laws. Without laws, the material existence
           is impossible. And in the same way, with laws, the world of consciousness is impossible.
               Consciousness can exist only in absolute freedom, with no limits, with no conditions, with no
           laws.
               Matter will immediately fall apart without laws, for the simple reason that it has no individuality.
           It has no center of being which can hold it together if there are no laws. Matter is without a center, or
           in other words, without a self. Just because there is no center in it, it cannot remain together unless it
           is surrounded by all kinds of laws, conditions, rules.
               Science goes on discovering laws because it deals only with dead matter. It has not yet come to
           encounter consciousness. Perhaps the very existence of consciousness is beyond its scope. It can
           discover laws, it cannot discover freedom.
               Laws create a certain slavery. Matter exists in slavery. Hydrogen and oxygen meeting in a certain
           proportion make water; H2O is their formula, no freedom, it cannot be H3O. Hydrogen cannot say,
           "I am bored always being H2; just for a change, today I am going to be H3.
               The material existence is absolutely mechanical. There is no freedom, there cannot be, because
           there is no one to be free. Freedom needs consciousness; its first requirement is consciousness. There
           is no consciousness in hydrogen, no consciousness in oxygen; they simply follow a routine eternally.
           That routine we call a law because we cannot find any exception to it.
               What is a law? -- a certain way of behavior without any exception. The moment you find the
           exception, the law has to be dropped; it is not a law, you have to find out more, you have to go
           deeper. The exception is not allowed in the objective world. And in the subjective world there are
           only exceptions. Each individual is an exception.
               You cannot find laws, in the inner world, like gravitation. You throw a stone up; it goes to a
           certain height which is determined by how much force you have put into throwing it. When that
           force is exhausted that stone starts falling according to the force of gravitation. The stone has no
           decisiveness of its own. It cannot say, "Today I am not going to fall downward," or, "Today is a
           holiday." There is no holiday -- the stone has to fall downward.
               I am reminded of a very beautiful Sufi story. A Sufi mystic who was very much loved by people
           yet very much feared too .... That was a strange combination: they loved him for his unique beauty,
           compassion -- everything in that man had a grace -- but they feared him also, because he was
           unpredictable. He might do anything unexpectedly, things which are not supposed to be done by a
           mystic saint. He was a little crazy.
               As far as I am concerned it is impossible to be a saint and not be crazy. I am saying it is
           impossible to be a saint and sane in the eyes of the world. If the world thinks you are sane, that is
           simply a proof that you are still part of this world. You still follow the same arithmetic, the same
           logic, the same reason -- that's why people think you sane. But a saint has fallen out of the mob. He
           is no longer part of any society, any culture, any religion.
               He is spontaneous; that is his danger. For example, a Christian saint is supposed, when you slap
           him on one cheek, to give you the other cheek. Anybody doing that is certainly not a saint. He is
           simply following a rule. He is a follower, a blind follower -- but he is a Christian saint.
               When you slap a real saint then it is absolutely unpredictable what is going to happen. He may
           slap you twice. He may slap you on both the cheeks together. Or he may simply have a good laugh
           and go on his way without turning the other cheek. He is not following any creed, any dogma, any
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           principle. He is acting in the moment, so whatever happens spontaneously is his way.
           About spontaneity you cannot be predictable.
               And this is the most fearful thing in the world. People want you to be predictable. That's why you
           are so much afraid of strangers. You don't know them, they may do something that you don't want to
           be done.
               This Sufi mystic was loved; he was lovable, he deserved it . But he was feared also because he
           was well known for his strange behavior.
               He was staying in a disciple's house, and knowing his craziness they made arrangements for him
           to sleep in the basement -- because in the night he may start doing something, may create a nuisance
           for the neighbors, for them. The basement was good: even if he started doing something nobody
           would even come to know of it, it was an underground basement. And they locked it so he could not
           come out in the night. But in the middle of the night they suddenly heard great laughter coming from
           the roof! They rushed up and saw the mystic lying on the roof laughing. They said, "How did you
           manage to get up here?"
               He said, "I simply started falling upwards. I don't know how ... that's why I am laughing, because
           you poor guys had made so many arrangements, you had even put on a big lock. And it was perfectly
           okay -- but then I started falling upwards! I am laughing at this whole thing."
               This may be just a story but it has something significant to say to you; a saint can fall upwards.
               Don't think in terms of objective facts. The story does not belong to objective reality. It is saying
           something about the freedom of consciousness, where gravitation does not work. It is simply saying
           that there is a world in you which is beyond this world in which you are living, a world within this
           world: a world of freedom in the midst of a world full of laws without exceptions.
           The spiritual man is bound to be a free man.
           He lives in freedom, he dies in freedom.
               You cannot take his freedom away, there is no way. You can kill his body, but you cannot even
           touch his soul.
               Science cannot accept this for the simple reason that science means laws. And if you accept an
           exception then the whole law loses meaning. According to the scientific attitude, everything in
           existence is bound by laws. And if you want to do something in the world, all that you have to do is
           to find out the law. Once you have got the law then you can do everything with matter. Just follow
           the law; matter cannot go against the law.
               For this simple reason science has always denied, for these three hundred years, that there is any
           soul in man. To accept the soul is to accept that something is there which transcends all laws. That is
           very destructive to the scientific attitude. The whole palace of science collapses.
               A single religious man is enough to destroy the whole scientific edifice. Hence, either the
           religious person has to be destroyed before his presence becomes dangerous to science itself, or he
           has to be ignored -- so much so that it is as if he does not exist at all. But whatever you do it is an
           existential reality that consciousness exists, and exists without any laws.
               Meditation is only a door to take you from the world of slavery to the world of freedom.
               The languages of both the worlds are going to be contradictory to each other, but as far as I am
           concerned there is no need for any conflict. All that is needed is a little wider mind, just wide enough
           to accept that there are many dimensions in existence. The dimension in which you are working is
           not the only one. There are many other dimensions in which things exist in a different way. It does
           not destroy your dimension, it simply shows the richness of existence.
               Everybody here is trying to make existence poor. The scientists are trying to make it poor by
           saying that it is only matter and nothing else. The religious people are trying to do the same by
           saying it is only God, nothing else; only the soul, nothing else. These people who are trying to prove
           that existence is only one-dimensional are wrong. Why make existence so poor? It is
           multi-dimensional. One thing may be true in one dimension, and may not be at all applicable in
           another dimension. One thing may be right in one dimension, may become wrong in another
           dimension.
               But science is too much ruled by one mind: Aristotle. This one man for two thousand years has
           been dictating everything in the world of science: the laws, the logic that he wrote two thousand
           years ago continue to be applied. Anything against Aristotle is simply unacceptable. No man in the
           whole history of humanity has dominated so much. A single man -- and he created the whole system
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           of logic, and science goes on following his logic.
               He himself is not very logical. Looking into his books you can find so many flaws, even
           according to his logic; it is not a scientific mind who is writing it. And in his personal life he was
           absolutely illogical.
               He writes in one of his treatises, "Women have fewer teeth than men." He had two wives, not
           only one. It is not a scientific mind who is writing it. He could have said to Mrs. Aristotle One, or
           Mrs. Aristotle Two, "Please just open your mouth." And it is not such a big thing just to count the
           teeth. In fact there is no need even to tell women to open their mouth; you always have to say, "Shut
           up!" You can always count their teeth without saying anything! Just a little alertness is needed.
               Or, if he was so afraid and henpecked, in the night he could have managed it; when one of the
           Mrs.'s was snoring he could have counted. But my feeling is that he never tried. He simply accepted
           the view prevalent among the masses for thousands of years, that the woman has to have everything
           less than the man, naturally. It is a logical corollary that if the man has thirty-two teeth then the
           woman must have no more than thirty-one. She can't be allowed to have thirty-two.
               This is not logic, this is superstition. And this man has been dominating the whole world of
           science for two thousand years. Only just now, within these fifty years, have a few scientists started
           feeling a little uneasy with Aristotle because they have come very close to a few things in existence
           which don't follow Aristotle's law.
               For the first time when it was found that nature goes on its own way -- it has its own laws, it has
           no obligation to follow Aristotle -- it was such a shock that even though people had discovered
           things which went against Aristotle, they were not courageous enough to publish them. People kept
           those discoveries for years without telling anybody, because how could anything go against
           Aristotle? He had put logic so tightly together ....
               For example, A can only be A. It cannot be B. Now this is a simple logical formulation: A is A
           and can never be B. But in the East twenty-five centuries ago we also had discovered many systems
           of logic, not just one; that is significant. The West knows only one system of logic, that of Aristotle.
           The East knows many logical systems developed by different people, very contradictory to each
           other but in themselves very logical. According to their own logic they are absolutely logical.
           According to somebody else's logic of course they are not.
               The fact that in the East there are many systems of logic symbolizes one thing: whatever man
           creates is going to be a very small fraction of reality. It may represent a fraction of reality, but it
           cannot represent the whole reality.
               Hence Buddha ... if Aristotle and Buddha had met, it would have been really something just
           fantastic, because Aristotle says A is always A and can never be B. But Buddha has a fourfold logic:
           he says A is A, A sometimes is B, A and B sometimes are both together -- so much so that it is
           difficult to decide which is A and which is B; and sometimes A and B both are absent -- still, their
           absence is their absence. He calls it fourfold logic. And if you look at existence you will find
           Buddha a better logician than Aristotle.
               In those fifty years science has come closer to fourfold logic than Aristotle's onefold logic. Now
           there is non-Aristotelian logic, which is absolutely contradictory to Aristotle; still, it works. Just as
           Aristotle's logic works in a certain fragmentary reality, the non-Aristotelian logic also works in the
           same way in some other part of reality.
               Euclid's geometry works for one fraction of reality, non-Euclidean geometry works for another
           fraction of reality. But there are still more parts or reality to be discovered. Buddha had a fourfold
           logic, Mahavira goes a little further; he has a sevenfold logic. And it is almost impossible to think
           that there can be more dimensions than seven. He has managed every possibility in that sevenfold
           logic.
               If you ask Mahavira about God his answer will be sevenfold. Of course you will not get any
           answer. You wanted an Aristotelian answer, yes or no. Mahavira says yes, God is. Then, he says,
           wait; don't run away with that statement, it is only the beginning. The second statement is: God is
           not. But don't be in a hurry. The third statement is: God is both -- is and is not; and the fourth
           statement is: God neither is nor is not. The fifth statement is: God is indescribable. And the sixth is:
           God is, and is indescribable. And the seventh is: God is not, and is indescribable.
               You cannot get anything out of it, you will think this man is crazy. If you had come confused,
           you will return worse. At least you were only puzzled abut two things: whether God is or God is not.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now there are seven openings. But modern science is coming very close to such openings.
           Physicists, digging deeper, have reached into matter they have found very strange .... They had never
           expected that they would find something in the deepest core of matter which would defy all their
           logic, all their laws. First they tried somehow to manipulate matter according to their logic -- but you
           cannot manipulate reality.
                Finally, Albert Einstein had to say that whatever reality is, whether it goes against our laws and
           logic does not matter. We will have to say good-bye to our laws and logic and listen to reality. We
           cannot force reality to follow our laws and logic. But reality has logic and laws of its own. It is not
           freedom.
                Aristotle's logic helped, at least on the surface; as far as the waves on the surface were
           concerned, he was perfectly right. But as you start diving deeper into reality, more and more new
           facts start emerging. Aristotle is already abandoned, and Euclid is no longer part of modern science.
           But that does not mean that science has come to feel that matter is free; it simply means that matter
           has its own laws.
                Up to now what we were doing was, we were trying to put our laws over matter. On the surface it
           appeared okay, because our instruments were not fine enough to detect the differences between
           reality and out laws, so we were able to enforce laws over matter.
                For example, the question raises something about the law of gravitation. It used to be a law; it is
           no longer. It used to be a law according to Newtonian logic. Because things fall downwards,
           naturally it was assumed that there must be a force, a magnetism in the earth, which pulls those
           things downwards.
                They say it is not the earth that pulls them downward, it is the universe that forces them
           downwards. These are the two sides: either they are pulled downwards, or they are pushed. It is
           almost as if you enter an office door; on one side is written "pull" and on the other is written "push."
           If it is written "push" and you go on pulling, the door is not going to open. It is the same door, but it
           has two sides. Gravitation is only one side of the story. The other side of the story has now got a
           name, the law of levitation. Things can be pulled up, just as they can be pushed down.
                Your rockets have gone to the moon. Now we know that the law of gravitation functions up to
           two hundred miles. After the rocket passes the two-hundred-mile boundary, the law of gravitation
           simply disappears. Then something else starts working, perhaps the law of levitation -- the rocket is
           being pulled, not pushed down.
                All these years this has been the only problem: how to cross the boundary of the gravitational
           field? Those two hundred miles are the only problem. You have to go so fast, faster than the law of
           gravitation can pull you down, so that before it catches you, you are out of the field of gravitation.
           Once you are out, the earth is absolutely impotent, it cannot do anything to you. And once you are
           out of the gravitational field, even in your rocket gravitation no longer functions.
                So you cannot sit in a rocket without a belt; the moment you open the belt you start floating up.
           In a rocket you can fly, inside, from one corner to another corner. You can go out of the rocket --
           people have gone out of the rocket; there is no danger because there is nothing to pull them. They
           just have to keep a certain mechanism with them because the rocket itself has no gravitation to pull
           them towards the rocket. So they have a certain mechanism that helps them to move back towards
           the rocket; otherwise they would be lost into the eternal universe.
                They become weightless, because weight is nothing but gravitation. If you are on the moon, it is
           as if your weight is one eighth of what it is here. If you are eight hundred pounds, on the moon it will
           be like only a hundred pounds. If here you can jump ten feet, on the moon you can jump eighty feet.
                If someday people start living on the moon, it is going to be really difficult. People can simply
           jump into your house; you may be living on the third story of a building, but from the road they can
           jump directly, inside your house -- there is no need for a lift. Games like football and volleyball
           become impossible, because the same hit will take the ball eight times higher or longer. You will
           need eight times bigger stadiums, eight times bigger playing grounds, because the moon is very
           small compared to the earth, it has very little force.
                Because of the moon this has become something important to think about: there may be planets
           which don't have any gravitation. You cannot land on those planets unless you have certain
           mechanical devices to land. The planet itself won't support you in any way. Even walking on the
           moon is very difficult. You need very heavy boots so that you can keep yourself on the ground;
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           otherwise you will go eight times higher each time you take your step. You will be flying in the air.
                As science goes deeper into different specializations, new facts go on emerging, old laws go on
           changing. Only one thing remains certain: the old law has to be dropped because a new law has to be
           adopted. But one thing you cannot drop, and that is, you cannot accept any exceptions: that is true in
           the new law also -- no exceptions.
                However subtle physics has become, its laws are still without exceptions. And I don't see any
           possibility that science can come across anything which will be freedom. There will always be laws
           without any exception: new laws, different laws: more complex, more difficult to understand, more
           difficult to figure out. But one thing remains constant -- that there is no exception anywhere.
                It is true about the inner world, too, that one thing remains certain -- there, everything is
           exceptional. Religious people have not been able to understand this.
                In India ... religion has gone deeper in that country than anywhere else. Just as for science you
           have to look towards the West, for religion you have to look towards the East. And the East means
           simply India and nothing more, because all other Eastern countries have only borrowed from India;
           the originals are in India.
                I was speaking in all kinds of religious communities in India, and I discovered one thing: that
           they don't have any idea that the inner world is the world of freedom. They used to ask me, "You
           speak about Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Mahavira, Jesus, in the same way? They are not similar;
           they all cannot be right." Why can't they all be right?
                For the Jaina, Mahavira is right, that is their criterion; anybody who is not like Mahavira has
           certainly not reached to the same state of consciousness. To the Buddhist, Buddha is the criterion. To
           the Christian, Jesus is the criterion. They are all living in the same fallacy -- that in the religious
           world there are criteria, laws, certain patterns; and that when you reach to a certain stage of
           consciousness you start manifesting the same things. Neither time matters, nor space.
                Now the Jaina cannot accept the idea that Jesus can drink alcohol; that is impossible for the
           Jaina. At the stage of consciousness of a Mahavira, how can one drink alcohol, or eat meat? They
           cannot accept that in that state one can do anything. In fact, only in that state can one do anything
           because it is a state of freedom. To you it is alcohol, to you it is a drug and it makes you
           unconscious. But in that state of consciousness it is just water, it does not make you unconscious. So
           what you choose in that consciousness is totally free.
                Jesus chooses to drink, feels no problem about it ... perhaps thinks it is good because it keeps you
           closer to people. Mahavira becomes too distant -- so far away, sitting on the top of Everest; and you
           are there, deep down in the dark valley. The distance is so much, communication is not possible. But
           that is his decision. He enjoys that sunlit peak -- he does not bother to communicate. If you want to
           communicate you have to climb the whole mountain and come to him. The well is not going to the
           thirsty, the thirsty has to come to the well; that's his freedom.
                Jesus decides differently. He is not afraid of drinking alcohol. Why should he be afraid? --
           because it makes no difference to him whether he drinks water or he drinks alcohol. It is all the same
           -- his consciousness remains beyond, just a witness. But it helps him to come close to those people
           who will be left far behind if he stops drinking, if he stops eating meat.
                It makes no difference to Jesus because he knows that the soul is immortal, you cannot kill it --
           so where is the question of violence or non-violence? The question of violence or non-violence
           arises only if the soul of man can be killed. But the soul cannot be killed. There is no question of
           violence and non-violence for Jesus. He simply wants to live a common human life with human
           beings, just like them -- not become a faraway saint. That's his decision.
                Mahavira decides differently, and I don't think there is anything wrong in it. Mahavira said to his
           disciples, "When you reach the ultimate state of samadhi remember to keep a distance from the
           ordinary masses" -- Why? -- "because if you don't keep a distance you will never be able to influence
           them, impress them. You will never be able to give them a thirst for something that they know
           nothing of but can see in your eyes. Don't mix with them: remain distant like a star shining far above
           showing the way."
                He must have been aware that people in that state of consciousness can choose to mix.
                In Japan there was great saint, Hotei. He is known as the laughing saint. He lived a very strange
           life, not like a saint at all. He used to carry a big bag on his shoulder full of things -- sweets, toys --
           for children. He would pass through the village and children would gather and Hotei would
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           distribute whatever he had in his bag. Then he would beg from the shopkeepers, "Fill my bag again
           because in the next village children will be waiting for me."
                His whole life he was doing only that. When he was dying he was asked, "Hotei, you have
           achieved .... You could have communicated to people."
                He said, "I have been -- but I decided to communicate with the uncorrupted, the children. Why
           bother about the corrupted? Somebody else who is better than me will take care of them. I am a
           simple man, I can deal only with children. I cannot argue. I can distribute sweets, I can distribute
           toys. I cannot give doctrines and dogmas and theologies. That is not my business. And I have done
           my work, I am perfectly satisfied. I have sown the seeds; they will grow in their own time."
                And it is said that each village through which Hotei had passed -- after his death, in all those
           villages saints started springing up. Those small children were now becoming mature, young people.
           Hotei had not said anything to them, but he must have infected them in some way. He was
           contagious, and children are most impressionable. But it all depends, in that state; nobody can tell
           you to become a Hotei, and if you try to, it won't be the real thing.
                It has been asked of me again and again, "Neither Mahavira, nor Buddha, nor Krishna, served the
           poor, opened hospitals, schools. Christian saints serve the poor, the sick, the orphans, the old. Who is
           religious?" The ordinary mind will think certainly the person who is serving the poor, the old, the
           sick, is religious. It is not so easy to decide: Jesus cures the sick; Mahavira never cured anybody.
                There is a story about Gautam Buddha: a woman's only son died -- her husband had died already,
           she was a widow. And in India, to be a widow is to be really in hell. In the West the widow again
           becomes Miss. In India it is not possible; once you have missed, you have missed, you cannot
           become Miss again.
                So that child was her only hope, she was living for him; and the child died. She went mad: she
           was carrying the dead child all over the town asking, "Help me! Somehow bring my child back to
           life!"
                A man on the way suggested, "We are ordinary people, we cannot do such miracles. But Buddha
           is in the town, why don't you go there?" The suggestion was perfectly right.
                The woman rushed. She placed the dead child at Buddha's feet, and she said, "I am a widow and
           this child was my only hope. You are a great saint. Your blessing will be enough to bring him to
           life."
                Buddha said, "I will do it, but only on one condition." Jesus never asked such a thing -- condition
           ...? "I will do it only on one condition." The woman said, "I am ready to accept any condition. You
           do it."
                He said, "First fulfill the condition. It is not a very big condition. Go around the town and bring
           from some house a few mustard seeds." The woman said, "That is not a problem at all. I have
           mustard seeds in my house, I can bring them right now."
                Buddha said, "You have not heard the whole thing. You have to bring them from a house where
           nobody has ever died. Only then am I going to bring your child back to life."
                The woman in despair rushed from one home to another asking for a few mustard seeds. They
           said, "A few mustard seeds? -- we can bring bullock carts full, but they won't be of any use because
           the condition is impossible to fulfill. So many people have died in our family ... and you are not
           going to find a house where nobody has ever died. This is just impossible. Wherever life is, death
           has happened -- they go together."
                By the evening the woman came back. She was no longer in despair, the tears had disappeared
           from her eyes. She was no longer concerned about the child. She fell at Buddha's feet and asked him
           to initiate her on his path.
           Buddha said, "What about the child?"
                She said, "Everybody dies sooner or later, it doesn't matter. Now I want to know something of
           that which never dies."
                Now this is a totally different way of working than that of Jesus. Jesus cures; the stories are that
           he raises the dead back to life. Perhaps that is his way, that's his uniqueness. In that way he wants
           people to understand that life is not just eat, drink and be merry. "There is something more to it,
           more mysteries. Don't waste it in just mundane things. I can show you the way of eternal life." That
           is his way.
                But who can decide that Buddha's way is wrong? Perhaps it is more sophisticated, perhaps for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           more cultured people. Jesus' way may be for the uneducated, illiterate, who will believe in a miracle
           first; only then can they be interested in the mysterious. Buddha's audience seems to be different.
                The woman seems to be of immense intelligence. The whole day, going from one house to
           another ... in her inner being there was a revolution happening. She was becoming aware that
           everybody dies, that death is the law of the outside world. "My husband has died, my child has died,
           tomorrow I am going to die. Every house is full of tears." And she understands why Buddha has
           made such an impossible condition -- in order to turn her consciousness one hundred and eighty
           degrees.
                She does not look at the child anymore. Just that morning she had come with the child, holding
           the dead body, with great hope. Buddha said, "But what about the child?"
                The woman said, "I am no longer concerned with anything. You have made it clear to me that
           death is a natural phenomenon. Now I want to know, is there something more, something deeper,
           greater? Something that never dies, something that is eternal? My whole concern with the child and
           my husband and myself has disappeared. This day has been a day of great revolution."
           Now who can say who is doing right?
                I don't think Lazarus, after being raised from the dead, became an enlightened person. Have you
           heard anything about Lazarus, what he did after he was raised? He must have done the same things
           that he was doing before -- the same stupidities, the same foolishnesses, the same anger, the same
           greed, the same lust. Nothing is mentioned about him, about what revolution he went through ....
           And this was such a great revolution: he had died, he had been raised back to life. What more do you
           want for a revolution to happen?
                But I don't think anything happened. He just came back as one wakes up every day in the
           morning. Do you think any revolution happens every morning when you wake up? Just the same
           person wakes up who had gone to sleep. You slept for eight hours, Lazarus slept for four days;
           nothing much in it. After four days he wakes up, he looks all around and says, "What is the matter?
           Why are people gathered here?" But to him, nothing happens.
                Buddha never did any miracle, but this woman was transformed without his doing anything. But
           that is the exceptional quality of every religious person, the uniqueness; hence they are
           incomparable. Nobody is a criterion for anybody else.
                But it has been continually argued for centuries: what is the criterion to decide who is
           enlightened and who is not? It has not been decided yet, and will never be decided ever, for the
           simple reason that every enlightened person is nothing but freedom, spontaneity. He is beyond any
           predictions.
                You cannot decide according to a formula that, yes, this man is enlightened because he has
           fulfilled the formula. There is no formula.
                The enlightened person is known only by those who happen to fall in love with him, who
           somehow come close to him, become intimate with him; so intimate that something of his freedom,
           something of his spontaneity, something of his light starts filtering into them. Only disciples know,
           outsiders cannot know. That's one of the biggest troubles.
                Those who came close to Buddha knew, but there were millions who never came close to him,
           who went on condemning him, saying he was corrupting the minds of the people. Those who came
           close to Mahavira knew.
                But to come close to these people needs courage, it needs guts, because to come to these people,
           to be close to them, is almost a death.
                Of course there is a resurrection but who knows ...? When you are facing death you don't know
           there is going to be a resurrection. You will know only when you are ready to die; not only ready to
           die, when you really die -- and suddenly you see a fresh new being arising in you.
                It is you and still it is not you. The old you is no longer there, and a new you is there. There has
           been a discontinuity. You are not even continuous with your past.
           This is the moment you understand that you are in close contact with someone who is enlightened.
           There is no other criterion.
           The reason is because the inner world follows no laws. The outer world follows laws.
           Matter is slavery.
           Consciousness is absolute freedom.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                               Chapter #19
                         Chapter title: Where nothing is right and nothing is wrong
           19 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503195
              ShortTitle: DARK19
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 101 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU HAVE SAID THAT RIGHT AND WRONG ARE DETERMINED BY EACH SOCIETY. IS THERE
              NO UNIVERSAL RIGHT AND WRONG?


               There is no possibility of any division between right and wrong on the highest level of universal
           consciousnesses, for the simple reason that there are no divisions at all. It is one.
               In the East, those who have attained universal consciousness are not even willing to say that it is
           one, because "one" implies two, three, four -- the whole infinity of numbers; one is only the
           beginning. Hence they have used a very strange concept. They say in universal consciousness there
           is not-two; it is non-dual. To avoid the implications of one they have used a negative: not-two.
               The concepts of right and wrong are local, social, cultural. In every society, in different times
           they had to change their concepts continuously because circumstances change, climates change; then
           naturally, something that was right becomes wrong, something that was wrong becomes right: Let us
           take a few examples.
               Mohammed married nine women, and he made it a rule for every Mohammedan to marry at least
           four women. Not to marry four was falling below the Mohammedan concept of right; marrying more
           was good. A strange thing it appears to us, but it was really right in Mohammed's time -- that was the
           proportion between men and women in Arabia: four women, one man. The reason for this strange
           proportion was because men were continually fighting and killing each other, and it was thought
           unmanly to kill a woman. So women were surviving and men were dying.
               When in a society there are four women to one man there is bound to be trouble, great trouble:
           only one woman is going to get a husband. The other three women are going to sabotage the
           marriage in every possible way. They will become prostitutes, and there will be so much jealousy
           and so much conflict .... To avoid this, Mohammed made a moral rule -- but it is applicable only in
           that circumstance.
               Now, Mohammedans marrying several wives in other countries are simply stupid, because
           circumstances have changed. Now even in Arabia the proportion is equal: one man to one woman. It
           seems that once a certain rule is accepted, people become so much addicted to it they completely
           forget in what circumstance the rule was made.
               It was perfectly okay in Mahavira's time in India to allow millions of sannyasins to be celibate. It
           was something not only moral but, they thought, spiritual too. But if you look into the mechanism of
           the concept it becomes very clear.
               In Mahavira's time women were fewer, men were more. The reason was that many tribes in India
           in those days used to kill girls when they were born, just to avoid the trouble of raising them and
           then getting them married. It was such a trouble, because girls could be married only if you gave
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enough money, land with the girl to the man whom she was going to marry -- unless the girl was
           exceptionally beautiful, which was rarely the case. And people were so poor, they could not afford to
           have one dozen girls. It was simply impossible for them to manage.
                You cannot blame them for killing the girls. It was better than leaving them beggars on the
           streets, or having them become prostitutes. It was better, but then the problem arose that there were
           fewer women, more men; hence celibacy was not objected to -- on the contrary, it was praised. But if
           you look into it, there was nothing spiritual in it, nothing moral in it; it was simply certain
           circumstances ....
                They wanted many men to remain unmarried. How to manage it? Unless you give celibacy a
           certain prestige, a higher status than marriage; unless you put it on a holier pedestal, it is impossible
           for people to remain unmarried. You can't just say to them, "Women are fewer, men are more;
           simply look at the figures and remain unmarried. Just do a little service to society."
                You cannot hope that people will be ready to do such a service to society. No, you have to give
           them some incentive; celibacy was given an incentive. Only the celibate ones would reach heaven.
           The married people were worldly, ordinary; the celibate ones were other-worldly, spiritual. They
           were respected, given great honor, worshipped almost like gods.
                That continues even today, although the situation has changed. Now in India the proportion is
           exactly the same. If you allow nature, if you don't interfere with nature, nature always goes on
           keeping its balance in every way; it never loses balance. Balance is something very fundamental to
           existence -- in every dimension.
                When one hundred girls are born, there are one hundred and ten boys born at the same time,
           because boys are not so strong as far as resistance against sickness is concerned. Girls are stronger,
           not in a muscular way but in a very different way. They are more resistant to sickness, to disease, to
           death.
                All over the world it is the same proportion, one hundred and ten boys to one hundred girls,
           because one hundred girls are going to survive up to the marriageable age, but ten boys will go down
           the drain. By the time they are marriageable the balance will be regained.
                You will be surprised to know that in wartime when many more men die because they go to the
           front, to the war, naturally the proportion of women becomes higher. But in these two world wars it
           has been discovered that the birthrate also changes. Nature, in a strange way, keeps the balance. In
           wartime and after war for a few years fewer girls are born, more boys are born. Afterwards, the
           balance is established again, the same proportion -- one hundred girls, one hundred and ten boys.
                Celibacy was preached by Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara -- all the great teachers of India; and the
           reason was that it looked right and nobody objected to it because it was serving the society in a very
           subtle way. But today it is not true.
                I said to the Jaina monks, Buddhist bhikkhus, and Hindu sages: "Now celibacy should not be
           given the same respect; now it is dangerous to go on praising celibacy, because the more you praise
           celibacy, the more women will remain unmarried. What are they going to do? What is going to
           happen to their biological instinct? You are forcing them to find some perverted way, something
           ugly, in the name of your celibacy."
                They said, "We have never thought about celibacy in this way, that it is a social condition."
                I said, "Whether you have thought about it in that way or not, all rights and all wrongs are social
           by-products." For example, of all the people in the world only India, a very small minority, is
           vegetarian, for the simple reason that if the whole world becomes vegetarian we cannot support the
           existing population; it is impossible. Only very small groups can become vegetarian; the majority
           will remain non-vegetarian, has to remain non-vegetarian.
                Even the small group that becomes vegetarian has to be given great incentives. You are not doing
           something great, you are just eating vegetables. So what! Eat well, enjoy. I don't think that just by
           eating grass you are attaining some spiritual quality, that you will reach paradise just on that merit.
           That is not something great -- but something great is needed to make people go on eating grass their
           whole life.
                If you simply say that it is just an aesthetic value -- that's what I say. My people are vegetarian,
           but not for any religious or spiritual reason. I am absolutely existential, factual. My people are
           vegetarian for an aesthetic reason. I cannot conceive somebody eating meat, somebody destroying
           life for his taste, killing millions of animals every day.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I once met a man, an African, who himself was not a cannibal -- but in Africa there are a few
           small tribes of cannibals still in existence. The tribes go on becoming smaller and smaller because
           they go on eating their own people. They will disappear.
                This man was caught by a cannibal tribe and they were going to eat him. But he happened to
           have so much money -- he told them, "I can give you much money if you spare me." The money was
           so much, those poor cannibals could not resist the temptation; they said, "Okay, we can spare you,
           but we cannot trust you; the money has to arrive first. Our man will go with your letter. The money
           has to be here and then we will release you."
                So he had to stay three days with them, and while he was with them he had to eat what they were
           eating; he became a cannibal for three days, because that was the only food. He told me, "I have
           never tasted anything so delicious. Although I was feeling bad, the food was delicious." And he
           enquired of those people, "You eat man -- what kind of man, what age of man is most delicious?"
                They said, "Small children are the best." They served him the meat of a small child. And he told
           me, "Although I don't want to be known as a cannibal, it is true what they said. I have tasted it." He
           was a rich man, had toured the world almost a dozen times, knew many languages, had many
           industries around the world. He said, "I have to confess that it is true. I have eaten everything that
           man eats around the globe, the best, but nothing is comparable to the food cannibals eat."
                Now, how can you teach the cannibals not to eat man? They say, "Then you give us something
           better to eat." You don't have anything better to give them, so they have remained cannibals. One
           tribe was three thousand in number just at the beginning of this century; now they are only three
           hundred. They have eaten all the rest. If anybody commits a mistake it is enough; they are in search
           of people who are doing something wrong so they can eat them.
                I have heard about a Christian missionary who was trying to change the minds of cannibals,
           trying to convert them to Christianity. But before you can convert them you have to meet them. So
           he went to meet them, but those people said, "You just go on saying whatsoever you want to -- we
           are preparing the place to cook you."
                He said, "But I have come to convert you. Have you ever tasted Christianity?"
                They said, "No -- for the first time we will be tasting! When you are cooked, for the first time we
           will be tasting Christianity."
                Nobody has been able to convert them and have them drop this cannibalism. Just for the taste,
           people are eating other people, their own people. People are eating animals; that is not very different
           -- life is life. But I know that it is impossible to keep the whole population of the world on a
           vegetarian diet unless science helps and provides new ways, means and methods; then it is possible.
           But the problem is how to convince people that eating non-vegetarian foods is ugly?
                People are not so sensitive to beauty, aesthetics, art; they are greedy. They can be ready if you
           tell them, "You will reach paradise if you drop eating this food; the food that you are eating is going
           to prevent you from finding eternal bliss." You have to give them something so big that their desire
           for taste becomes so small that just out of greed they are ready to change. That's what religions have
           been doing.
                In India two religions have tried vegetarianism. One is Jainism, which has tried fanatically; the
           ultimate result was that Jainism remained a small community. The Jaina monk cannot even go
           outside India to teach because who is going to provide him with vegetarian food? He cannot eat
           anything non-vegetarian -- and the whole world is non-vegetarian. Hence Jainism remained confined
           to India. Only a few -- I think two or three Jaina monks, very daring people -- risked their lives and
           reached to Egypt.
                This is the only case in the whole of history -- when three Jaina monks tried to contact the
           outside world. And we know about these three Jaina monks through Pythagoras, because Pythagoras
           was going to India through Egypt. He met these three Jaina monks in Egypt; he refers to them as
           Zenosophists. That seems to be a perfectly right translation for a Jaina philosopher -- Zenosophist.
                It cannot be anybody else because the description was of a Jaina monk. They were nude, and
           they ate only vegetables and fruits. It was very difficult for them to get food every day because they
           had to beg -- the Jaina monk lives on begging. Sometimes some kind people would provide for them
           because they would say, "We cannot eat anything else." So there is only one reference in Pythagoras,
           that he met three Jaina monks in Egypt; otherwise Jainas have never crossed the boundaries of India,
           for the simple reason, who is going to provide them with food? How are they going to live?
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Buddhists also taught vegetarianism, but when they crossed India's borders they all became
           non-vegetarian; they had to, there was no other way to survive.
               A small section of Hindus, the highest class of Hindus, brahmins, are vegetarians -- but not all
           brahmins. Kashmiri brahmins are non-vegetarians because they live in a community of
           Mohammedans: ninety-two percent Mohammedans, eight percent Hindus. It is very difficult for
           them to survive. They have to be in a certain harmony with the community where they are living. It
           is such a vast majority, and they have to depend on them for everything. If the Mohammedans
           simply boycott them they will die.
               In Bengal the brahmins don't eat any meat, but they eat fish, because in Bengal it is difficult to
           survive without eating fish; fish is the main food -- fish and rice. In South India the brahmins eat fish
           because of the same problem: without fish the food is not enough.
               So I cannot say that vegetarianism is something universally right. I am absolutely a non-fanatic
           person. About nothing am I fanatic. I try to see all the aspects of a thing, and I am utterly liberal,
           human. I don't try to make any principle more valuable than humanity itself.
           Nothing is above man.
           Nothing should be above man.
               So all these concepts of right and wrong are social, climatic. For example, in Tibet .... The holy
           book of the Tibetans says that one bath per year is absolutely necessary. In Tibet even that is a
           difficult job, and many must be trying to avoid it -- even that one bath per year.
               In India a person takes two baths every day, and there are people who take three baths every day;
           I myself used to take three baths every day. When a Tibetan monk was a guest with me, he could not
           believe it. He said, "You are wasting your whole life in taking baths! Morning, evening, and at night
           before you go to bed -- three times! In Tibet once a year is enough."
               I said, "I know," because one of my friends, a professor, Doctor Rajbali Pandey, was studying
           translations from Sanskrit into Tibetan. He was a scholar of Tibetan and Sanskrit, so he was working
           on this. He went to Tibet. I told him -- he was a brahmin -- "You are going to be in trouble." And he
           was a very orthodox brahmin too: early in the morning, five o'clock, a cold bath; then the prayer, the
           religious ritual -- only then can you take a cup of tea.
               He went and came back. He remained only one day in Tibet, although it took him three months
           coming and going because he had to travel just on horseback. Three months he traveled just to stay
           one day in Tibet!
           I said, "What happened?"
               He said, "Even one bath early in the morning, five o'clock, was such an experience that I said, it
           is better that I leave sooner, because I cannot go against my rules. My dying father took my promise
           that I would follow all the orthodox rules of my family -- that five o'clock bath is the beginning of
           the day, and that will kill me!"
               In Tibet, people don't change their clothes for years, because there is no dust, no perspiration.
           The air is as clean as you can imagine. It is the highest country as far as altitude is concerned. It lives
           in the purest air; no contamination. It is not L.A.! So there is no need either for a bath every day. But
           the difficulty is that my friend insisted on continuing his idea, which was a by-product of an Indian
           milieu where there is so much dust and so much perspiration that it is perfectly right to have two
           baths -- one in the morning, one in the evening. And if you can afford it, then three.
               This Tibetan guest who was staying with me would not change his clothes.
               I said, "You will drive me mad! You stink. This is India, it is not Tibet."
               And their clothes ... it is not just one dress, it is layers of dresses -- four, five, six, seven layers of
           dresses. And he wouldn't take a bath because only one bath is required by his religion. To take a bath
           every day was going against his religion.
               I said, "Nonsense! Your religion simply says you should take one bath at least every year; it does
           not prohibit you from taking two baths or three baths in a year; it says nothing about it."
               He said, "Because it says nothing about it, that simply means that we are not supposed to do such
           a thing; otherwise those sages would have said so."
               I said, "Those sages never came to India! And if you want to stay with me you will have to take
           two baths every day; otherwise get lost!" He preferred to get lost rather than change. People take
           their local, geographical, social ideas spiritually, which is nonsense.
               There is nothing universally right, there is nothing universally wrong. And you should be very
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clear about it: everything is very relative, relative to many things.
                A conscious man tries to change according to the changing situations, conditions, geographies.
           He should live consciously, not according to fixed rules. He should live in freedom.
                You are asking, is there something universally right and wrong?
                The man who comes to know the universal, the man who becomes so awakened that he is no
           longer part of any geography, any body, any mind, he is just pure awareness .... In that state there is
           nothing right, nothing wrong.
                The man of that state will also have to function on lower levels. Hungry, he will have to eat;
           thirsty, he will have to drink. He will have to live in some kind of society, with some kind of people.
           The awakened man is very adjustable, infinitely adjustable, because for him there is nothing that
           prevents him from adjusting. He is free from all conditions, all barriers. The only thing is for him to
           see what is applicable in this particular case. He does not live according to principles. Only idiots
           live according to principles, only unconscious people need principles.
                It is just like the staff of a blind man. The blind man needs the staff just to grope his way because
           he does not have eyes. But when you have eyes you can drop the staff.
                I have heard -- I don't know whether it is true or not, but it certainly is significant -- Jesus cured a
           blind man who had come with his staff. He was cured, he could see; he thanked Jesus and started
           going away, still carrying his staff.
                Jesus said, "At least leave the staff now with me -- you have got your eyes."
                The blind man said, "But without the staff it will be very difficult to find the way." He had no
           idea yet -- his eyes were so new, he had no idea that now the staff was not needed.
                Sariputta, one of Gautam Buddha's disciples, became enlightened while Buddha was alive, and
           still continued to follow the old principles that were given to him before his enlightenment. Buddha
           had to call him and say, "Sariputta, are you mad or something? Now that you are enlightened you
           don't need to follow those principles which were given to you when you were unconscious; you can
           drop them."
                But Sariputta was really a genius, of the same quality as Gautam Buddha. He said, "Master, you
           are right, I can drop them; but I am not dropping them, for the simple reason that there are millions
           of unconscious people around me. Seeing me drop them, they will all start dropping them. What
           about them? To me it is not a problem at all -- I am accustomed to all those principles, they are no
           trouble to me. I know now dropping them makes no difference; carrying them also makes no
           difference. It is kind of you to bring it to my notice but I was aware of it."
                Buddha conceded the next morning in his discourse to his ten thousand sannyasins: "Sariputta is
           right. Not that I was wrong -- I was worried that after enlightenment, why was he carrying those
           principles that were given as a substitute for enlightenment? Now he need not carry them, he can
           simply drop them. He can live now in total freedom on his own. He can live spontaneously.
                "So I was concerned and called him, but he has brought something significant to my notice, and I
           would like you all to remember that what he has said is right. He can drop them, but he is not
           dropping them out of compassion for all those who are unconscious. Seeing Sariputta dropping them
           they will think, `There is no problem: if Sariputta can drop them, we can drop them.'
                "They don't know that Sariputta is now one of the awakened ones and they are not. So I support
           Sariputta and I want you to remember this: when you become enlightened, remember all those souls
           around you who are groping in the dark. Drop anything that is not going to harm the people around
           you, and with other things there is no problem for you: out of your freedom you can choose to follow
           them if it is going to help anybody anywhere."
                Sariputta used to go to spread the word of Buddha but wherever he was, five times a day he
           would bow down in the direction where Buddha was dwelling and he would do his gachchhamis:
           Buddham sharanam gachchhami `I go to the feet of the awakened one.'
                Many times he was asked, "Now you are yourself awakened, there is no need for you to go to the
           feet of another awakened one."
                Sariputta said, "I know there is no need for me, but for you there is need. I am doing this
           gachchhami not for myself but for you. If I stop it, that will be enough excuse for you to stop. And
           secondly, I am awakened because of that man; without him I don't think that in this life it would
           have happened.
                "If you ask him he will say, `I have nothing to do with it, because nobody can make anybody else
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           awakened -- it is all Sariputta's own doing.' And he is right; he has not forced me to be awakened.
           But just his presence was enough to bring me out of my dreams, nightmares, my sleep. He was not
           doing anything."
               The Master is only a catalytic agent, just like the sunrise in the morning -- the birds all around
           start singing. Not that the sun comes to each bird's nest and knocks on the door or presses the buzzer
           and says, "It is time now -- get up and sing!"
               The flowers start opening, releasing their fragrance -- not that they are being told, "It is morning
           and you have to do it"; the very presence of the sun is a catalytic agent. The sun is not doing
           anything, but millions of things are happening just by its presence.
               The Master is exactly that -- a catalytic agent. He does nothing, but millions of things happen
           around him.
               They happen because of him but are not caused by him -- and the difference is great.
               Those things ... the people to whom they happen may feel gratitude, are going to feel gratitude,
           but the Master cannot expect gratitude from anybody. It is impossible even to think of it, because he
           has not done anything. He has not done it, but it has happened to you; and it has happened to you
           because of him.
               From your side gratitude is perfectly right, but from his side to request it, to expect it, is
           absolutely wrong. Then he is not a Master in fact. Then what has happened to you must have
           happened for some other reason, you were mistaken. Yes, many times it has happened that the
           master was not a real Master but still the disciple became awakened.
               A beautiful story is told about Marpa ... a Tibetan story. He was with his master -- who was not a
           Master at all, just a con man, cheating people, gullible people. Marpa was so innocent that he
           surrendered himself to this hocus-pocus man. His surrender was total, there was no doubt in his
           mind; he was just like a small child.
               Within just a few days all the other disciples became very angry with Marpa. They told the
           master, "This man is dangerous; he seems to be a magician of some kind, because he is doing things
           which are not supposed to be done. He walks on water, he flies from the top of one mountain to the
           top of another mountain!"
               The master said, "This cannot be done, this is against nature. Call Marpa."
               Marpa was called and asked, "How are you doing these things? Are you a magician?"
               He said, "No, I do it just by using your name. I take your name and I say, `My beloved master,
           let me pass over this river by walking,' and I walk! It is just the glory or your name."
               The master was in great difficulty: now what to do? But a natural idea came to his mind: "If he
           can walk on water taking my name, I can walk, of course, without any doubt." He tried -- and
           drowned immediately. That man was not authentic, but what had happened to Marpa was authentic.
           His trust was so total -- the transformation came through trust. But naturally he misunderstood and
           thought that it was coming through the master.
               So it has happened many times that there have been wrong masters and right disciples. Vice
           versa always happens: right Masters, wrong disciples! That is universal, that is not something
           special. But this is possible because the real thing is going to happen inside the disciple; anything
           can trigger it. The Master's presence triggers it.
               And once you have a taste of the universal consciousness, you immediately know there is
           nothing right, nothing wrong. Hence it has been one of the greatest problems down the centuries --
           no great Masters are similar in their life patterns.
               You cannot find people more different from each other than religious Masters, because they live
           out of freedom, knowing nothing is wrong and nothing is right.
               I am reminded of a story about Kabir. Kabir was a poor man, a great Master. His wife and his
           son were both in constant trouble because of this strange father, because every day in the morning
           devotees would come in hundreds. Kabir would sing his songs, would dance. He was not literate, he
           never gave any sermon, but he danced; he sang -- simple songs but of tremendous beauty, of
           immense depth -- and he danced. And the whole gathering sang and danced with him.
               And it continued for hours. Then it would be lunchtime and then he would ask everybody,
           "Please don't go -- first share your poor Master's lunch." And the wife and the son were in trouble:
           from where to get food for so many people every day? It was difficult to manage even for the three
           of them.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                 The son was also a unique person who became in his own right one day a Master. But he was
           totally different from Kabir, they never agreed on any point. Kabir was so fed up with Kamal that he
           wrote, "Just because Kamal is born to me, my whole heritage is finished. This son cannot carry the
           treasures that I am going to give to him." -- because Kamal had his own ways, not agreeing on any
           point.
                 Kamal called all this singing and dancing nonsense. He said, "Just sitting silently it can happen --
           why unnecessarily make so much noise and disturb the neighbors? And I don't see that for hours you
           have to dance. In old age ... and because of you, other people, old people, are also dancing and
           getting tired." He never participated in any dance, he never participated in singing. He said, "There is
           no need: silence is enough of a song. And sitting silently I know a far more beautiful dance than
           what you do here."
                 A point came that when, again and again they asked Kabir, "You stop requesting people to stay
           for lunch. We have borrowed from everybody in the town. Now nobody is ready to give us anything
           because they say, `How are you going to return it?' Now we don't have anything in the house; you
           have to stop."
                 Kabir said, "That is impossible, because after the dance and the song and such a beautiful
           rejoicing, not to offer food to people who come to my house for lunch .... No, I cannot do that. Find
           some way. What kind of son are you? Can't you just find some way?"
                 Kamal said, "Now the only way is that I become a thief."
                 Kabir said, "Great! Why did you never think of it before?"
                 This is universal consciousness. Even stealing is not wrong. Even the people who follow Kabir in
           India -- he has a small religion, very small -- don't mention this story. When I was speaking to his
           followers and I mentioned the story, the high priest whispered in my ear, "Please don't tell that story
           because it puts us in great trouble -- Kabir saying that stealing is a great idea."
                 But Kamal was really an extraordinary man. That's the meaning of the word kamal. Kamal
           means extra-ordinary, exceptional. He was not going to be stopped just by Kabir's outrageous
           saying: "Great!" He said, "Okay, tonight I go, but you will have to come with me. I will try my best
           -- you try to help me. At least I can bring things out of the house; you can carry them from outside
           the house to our place. This much you can do."
                 Kabir said, "Perfectly good!" So they went into a rich man's house. From the back Kamal made a
           hole in the wall, and Kabir was sitting outside, slowly singing his song.
                 Kamal said, "This is strange. You just stop that song. We are now thieves, we are not saints
           here."
                 Kabir said, "We are the same wherever we are -- it doesn't matter what you are doing. You just
           do your work and let me do mine. When you bring things, I will carry them. I am old; otherwise I
           would have come in with you." So Kamal went in. Still he carried the logic to its very end. He
           brought things, from the hole -- he dropped them outside and told his father, "These are the things
           ...."
                 He was half leaning out of the hole telling him, "These are the things -- you take them." At that
           moment the people in the house, the servants, woke up. All this was going on -- the breaking of the
           wall and somebody singing -- and when Kamal went inside, Kabir completely forgot where he was.
           He started dancing and singing so loudly that the people were awakened.
                 They came and they caught hold of the legs of Kamal -- because he was half inside. The story is
           very strange, cannot be factual. Kamal said, "Father, you take those things. I am caught -- those
           people are holding my legs. You have put me in enough trouble, this is the last -- goodbye! Now I
           am going to be finished in jail."
                 Kabir said, "Jail? There is no need to be finished in a jail. I have brought a knife with me."
           Kamal said, "What do you mean?"
                 He said, "I will cut off your head and take it with me. Nobody will ever know who was the
           thief!"
                 Kamal could not believe it. He was thinking that he was carrying the logic to its very end -- but
           this old guy was carrying the logic to the very end! But Kamal was really a man of guts: he said,
           "Okay, cut off my head." He was still hoping that this was not going to happen, but Kabir cut off
           Kamal's head, and took home the head and the things that Kamal had dropped.
                 The poor people pulled Kamal in. They found the head missing, and they said, "Now this is a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           problem. Who is this man?"
                One servant said, "As far as I know, I think this is Kabir's son, Kamal, and the voice that I heard
           which wakened me was Kabir's. He must have been outside. But this is strange that he should
           participate in such an act -- he is such a great sage. And his own son ... and it seems he has cut off
           his head and taken it away!"
                This servant used to go once in a while into Kabir's congregation, the devotional meeting that
           used to happen every morning. He said to the rich man, "Do one thing: tomorrow morning, when
           Kabir and his followers go to the Ganges to take their morning bath before they start singing and
           dancing, just on the crossroads hang this body."
                The rich man who owned the house said, "But what is this going to do?" The servant said, "You
           simply do this -- there is no harm," and the body was hung at the crossroad. As Kabir came dancing,
           singing, after the bath, Kamal immediately raised his hand and said, "Stop all this nonsense!"
                That's how he was recognized as Kamal -- certainly kamal! And they asked Kabir, "Do you
           recognize him?"
                He said, "Of course, because his head is in my house; I cut it off myself."
                The rich man could not believe it. He said, "But you are supposed to be a saint."
                Kabir said, "Not supposed to be -- I am! If I was only `supposed to be' a saint then I would not
           have participated in this act of stealing. And I would not have murdered my own son if I were only
           `supposed to be' a saint. I am really a saint, and at my peak of consciousness, nothing matters.
                "Your money is not your money, so what is wrong in taking it away? Nothing belongs to
           anybody, so what is wrong in stealing? And this son was going to die sooner or later, so what is
           wrong in cutting off his head? Death is bound to happen. In my consciousness there is nothing right,
           nothing wrong."
                The followers of Kabir deny the story. Perhaps after five hundred years I was the first man to
           start telling it around India, and the followers of Kabir were very angry. They said, "We knew that
           something like that was there but it has not been written in our records, and nobody ever repeats it
           because it seems to be so strange -- stealing, killing, Kabir participating in it .... What will happen to
           right and wrong?"
                I said to them, "You have to understand that right and wrong belong to the dark valleys of life.
           They don't belong to the sunlit peaks of consciousness. Yes, this story is dangerous and difficult and
           harmful in the dark valleys, but who is insisting that you remain in the dark valleys? Come to the
           sunlit peaks.
                "This is the message of the story: why live in a world which is divided between wrong and right?
           Why not move to a world of oneness, where nothing is right and nothing is wrong?"
                The man of universal consciousness does not follow any principle, but whatsoever he does is
           right, and whatsoever he avoids is wrong. That is for those who are in the valley. They can try to
           figure out that what the man of pure consciousness does, that is right; and what he avoids, that is
           wrong.
                He avoids that only for you; for him there is nothing to be avoided. It is just out of compassion
           that he avoids anything; otherwise for him everything is very simple, undivided, one.
                I can understand your question. In your life you will be facing every moment the choice of what
           to do, what not to do. In the dark world where humanity lives, each moment is a moment of decision:
           what to do, what not to do. And the trouble is, whatever you do proves to be wrong. Whatever you
           do you have to repent, for the simple reason that existence is one and undivided. In your
           unconsciousness you divide it in two, right and wrong. Your division is arbitrary. So what you think
           is right you do and what you think is wrong you don't do.
                But the wrong is an indivisible part of the right, so sooner or later it will take revenge. You will
           start feeling guilty about why you did this and not that, why you chose this and not that -- perhaps
           that was right ....
                In your wavering state you are bound to think, "Perhaps that was right which I have not done."
           You can't be certain about your doing because you are not yet certain of your being.
                Being comes first, and once being is realized, all doing is right: it does not matter what you do.
           But in the dark valleys of unconsciousness, doing is first -- and that is your problem.
                One thing is right this moment; the next moment the same thing is not right. Then you are split
           continuously. Yesterday you did something thinking it was right; today you found it was not. Now it
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           cannot be undone, it will hang over you your whole life. And don't think that if you have done the
           other thing, things would have been different -- no, not at all.
               I have seen people who are married and are suffering and continually thinking that if they had
           chosen to remain unmarried, that would have been right. And I know people who have remained
           unmarried and are continually worried: perhaps they are missing the real joys of life -- it would have
           been better if they had married. People who have children are constantly harassed by the children.
           Those who don't have children are constantly harassed because they don't have children; they are
           missing something.
               It seems in this world you cannot be in the right place, whatever you do. Whichever way you go
           you always reach the wrong spot. It looks very strange and weird but it is not, it is very
           mathematical. Because you are wrong, wherever you go, whatever you do, turns out to be wrong.
           You cannot do right remaining the way you are.
               So my emphasis is not on action. All the religions in the world emphasize action: do the right
           action.
               First be, and then the right action follows of its own accord.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                   Chapter #20
                                      Chapter title: Don't drop -- transform!
           20 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503205
              ShortTitle: DARK20
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 96 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY DO I CLING TO MY MISERY? WHY CAN I NOT DROP IT?


               The I, the ego, is not something separate from the misery, that's why it is absolutely impossible
           for anyone to drop it. Who is going to drop it? They are not two, the dropper and the dropped.
               The ego is nothing but a complex of all your miseries, sufferings, anxieties, anguishes, wounds;
           your anger, your jealousy, your hate -- they are, all together, one complex.
               The problem arises because when you start feeling miserable, it is not the whole complex which
           is feeling miserable -- just a part, a fragment, and the remaining whole becomes your "I"; a false
           division is created. you want to drop the misery; you think yourself separate from the misery.
               The same goes on happening with everything else: you feel anger -- then anger is taken as a
           separate thing from you. Or jealousy .... It never happens that all these things, this whole hell, you
           want to drop completely.
               Why do you want to drop misery in the first place? -- because it is unpleasant; you would like to
           be joyous, blissful. But in the very liking, the very desiring of joy and bliss and happiness, you have
           created the misery. The desire is the cause of the misery, and the same desire is befooling you -- now
           you want to drop misery. You have created it. You, and only you, are responsible, and still you will
           go on creating more and more, even while you are thinking of dropping it.
               This becomes now a new misery: "I cannot drop my misery." Do you see the game? You were
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           miserable enough, now you want to drop it. More misery is added. You were angry, now you want to
           drop anger. You become even more angry because you cannot drop it. You feel trapped.
                Your ego, the whole of you, consists of a thousand and one things; hence it becomes possible
           that you can separate yourself from one thing. Anger, jealousy, misery, hatred, you can separate, but
           those one thousand things that are now playing the role of being your "I" are not your "I" at all. They
           are part and parcel of the same complex system; they are all interrelated.
                If one can be dropped, then the whole can be dropped. But because the whole is trying to drop
           one, you are in a mess. You cannot figure out what is happening. "I don't want to be miserable" --
           still the misery continues. It continues because everything else that supports it, nourishes it, helps it,
           has become your "I". Every time you separate a fragment from yourself, this is going to be the case.
                I cannot suggest to you how to drop it. There are not methods to drop, there is no possibility to
           drop. I am not saying that you are going to remain miserable forever. I am simply trying to make it
           emphatically clear that it is not a question of dropping; it is a question of understanding. And in the
           very understanding of misery, it disappears. Not that you have to drop it -- who are you?
                Just try to look around, and you will find yourself nothing but a combination of a thousand and
           one things; the whole junk of the world is within you. And the major part of junk tries to drop a
           small part of junk. And they are related, they are relatives. They are one family, they cannot really be
           separated.
                Just see: Can you separate anger from hate? Can you separate hate from love? To separate anger
           from hate obviously seems to be impossible, because without hate, anger is not possible. Without
           anger, hate is not possible.
                Then try to separate hate from love. Just try to think: don't you hate the man you love also?
           Haven't you been destructive in a thousand ways to the same man you love? Have you not tried to
           possess the man or the woman? Is possessiveness love? Can a man who loves even think of
           possessing? Is it not very clear that to possess someone is to reduce him from a being to a thing?
           There is nothing worse that you can do.
                Let me repeat, there is nothing worse than this that you can do, that you are capable of: reducing
           a being to a thing. And that's what possession is. Only things can be possessed; beings cannot be
           possessed.
           You can have a communion with a being.
           You can share your love, your poetry, your beauty, your body, your mind.
           You can share but you cannot do business.
           You cannot bargain.
           You cannot possess a man or a woman.
                But everybody is trying to do that all over the earth.
                The result is this madhouse we call the planet earth. You try to possess -- it is naturally
           impossible, it cannot happen in the very nature of things. Then there is misery. The more you try to
           possess a person, the more that person tries to become independent of you, because every person has
           a birthright to be free, to be himself or herself.
                You are trespassing on the privacy of the person, which is the only sacred place in the whole
           world. Neither Israel is sacred, nor is Kashi sacred, nor is Mecca sacred. The only sacred space in the
           true sense is the privacy of a person -- his or her independence, the beinghood.
           If you love a person you will never trespass.
                You will never try to be a detective, to be a Peeping Tom, peeping into the privacy of the other
           person. You will respect the privacy of the other person. But just look at the so-called lovers --
           husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. All they are doing, around the clock, is finding ways
           to trespass, to enter into the private world of the other person. They don't want the other person to
           have any privacy. Why?
                If the person has independence, privacy, individuality, they are afraid. The person tomorrow may
           not love them -- because love is not something stagnant. It is a moment, it is nothing to do with
           permanency. It may continue for eternity, but basically love is a phenomenon of the moment. If it
           happens again in the next moment you are blessed. If it does not happen you should be thankful that
           at least it did happen before.
                Remain open: perhaps it may happen again -- if not with this person, then with another person.
           The question is not persons, the question is of love. Love should remain flowing, it should not be
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           stopped.
                But in their stupidity people start thinking, "If this person goes out of my hands then I am going
           to starve my whole life without love." And he does not know that by trying to hold this person
           permanently in his captivity, he will starve. He will not get love. You cannot get love from a slave.
           You cannot get love from your possessions; from your chair, table, house, your furniture, you cannot
           get love.
                You can get love only from a free agent whose uniqueness is respected by you, whose freedom is
           respected by you. It is out of the freedom of the other that this moment of love has happened. Don't
           destroy it by trying to possess, by trying to hold, by creating a legal bondage, a marriage. Let the
           other be free, and remain free yourself. Don't let anybody else possess you either.
           To possess or to be possessed, both are ugly.
           If you are possessed you lose your very soul.
                Just look at husbands when they are going with their wives; do they look like individuals? I was
           traveling in a train; in my compartment -- it was a coupe -- there was only one woman passenger.
           There were only two seats and one was reserved for me. The man who was with the woman had to
           travel in another compartment, but at each station, if even for two minutes the train was to stop, he
           would come rushing just to ask her whether she needed anything, water or tea or anything to eat -- at
           each station.
                When it went on happening for at least ten stations I could not resist the temptation. I asked the
           woman, "It is not good of me to ask you, but I cannot resist the temptation: How long have you been
           married to each other?"
           She said, "For seven years."
           I said, "Don't lie to me."
                She was shocked when I said that. She said, "How can you say that?"
                I said, "It is so apparent. I cannot conceive of a husband who has been married for seven years
           coming at each station to ask you ... to hold your hand for two minutes, to give you a kiss. If it is true
           then this must be the rarest husband in the whole of history. I cannot believe it, it is an absolute lie."
                For a moment she was silent and then she said, "You are right. He is not my husband, we are not
           married. And we have not known each other for seven years either. Just three or four days ago we
           met. We don't have any relationship yet."
                I said, "Go on being this way. Don't have any relationship ever, because the moment you have a
           relationship this man will not come at every station. In fact if he was your husband, once he had
           dropped you in this compartment he would have escaped for the whole journey, because there are so
           many women traveling in this train -- he would not bother about you. In fact he would pray to God
           that somebody takes you away, or you elope with somebody, or something happens, some accident."
                Husbands are praying, wives are praying, that accidents happen; "Everybody dies, but my
           husband never does. No accident happens to him. Every evening he is back home, the same old guy,
           and the same old story is repeated every day."
                Lovers love only while they are not yet in a fixed relationship. As the relationship settles, love
           disappears. Once the relationship is fixed, instead of love, something else takes place:
           possessiveness.
                They still go on calling it love, but you cannot deceive existence. Just by calling it love you
           cannot change anything.
           It is now hate, not love.
           It is fear, not love.
           It is adjustment, not love.
           It is compromise, not love.
           It can be anything -- but not love.
                The deeper you try to understand, the more it will become clear to you that love and hate are not
           two things. It is just a linguistic mistake to call them love and hate. In the future, at least in
           psychological treatises and books, they will not be using "and" between the two. In fact it is better to
           make one word, "lovehate." They are two sides of the same coin.
                You want to drop hate and you want to preserve love? Now, you are asking something
           impossible. All these things are interconnected. Wherever there is love you will find jealousy. It is
           impossible to find love without jealousy surrounding it. Everybody wants to drop jealousy, but
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           jealousy is an intrinsic part of love.
                The moment you love someone, immediately you become jealous of so many things .... The
           woman you fall in love with is talking with someone and looking so happy; she never looks so happy
           with you. Now, you are twenty-four hours a day with the woman -- nobody can be twenty-four hours
           happy except a crazy man like me who has nothing else to do other than just to be happy. It is
           possible.
                But a poor woman, living with a dodo twenty-four hours a day, and you both expect that she will
           be continuously laughing and enjoying and being a fairy .... You are expecting too much, you are
           being too esoteric. Be a little more real, more pragmatic; come down to earth.
                And it is just because of you that she is enjoying those few moments with somebody else; you
           have bored her enough. And it is not going to do any harm to anybody. Let her have a little laughter
           -- it will be healthy for her. You should be happy because she will be back a little healthier. Perhaps
           for a few moments she may laugh with you too. But your jealousy ... and your jealous mind starts
           thinking, What is going to happen? Is she in love with that man? -- because she never looks so happy
           with me.
                And then the struggle, the constant conflict, the nagging. And naturally it is not one-sided; the
           woman is even more jealous than the man. But the responsibility goes on man because he has not
           allowed the woman as much freedom as he had allowed himself.
                Can't you see it? There are women prostitutes. For centuries they have existed -- it is said that
           they are the oldest profession ... perhaps. I say perhaps, because in my opinion the priests are the
           oldest profession. Without the priests there cannot be prostitutes. Who will call them prostitutes?
           Who will condemn them?
                But whether the first or the second, it is really one of the oldest professions. But male prostitutes
           are a very recent development. Strange -- why for centuries did only women remain prostitutes?
           Why were there not, parallel to women, male prostitutes?
                The reason is simple. Man has his world of freedom; those prostitutes are his freedom. He does
           not allow the woman the same freedom. Just in this decade, and that too only in very sophisticated
           cites like London and Tokyo, have male prostitutes appeared. This is a good symptom, because if
           man has the freedom to purchase love, if he has a market, a love market, then the woman should also
           have the right.
                In the same way, in every field, man has cut the woman's freedom. In most countries, in most
           cultures, for most of the time, the woman was economically dependent. She is still, in ninety-nine
           percent of the world, dependent on man. And you can see the simple arithmetic.
                When you are economically dependent you cannot be independent spiritually either. Then
           spiritual freedom is just talk; economically you are dependent on the man. You are continually afraid
           he may leave you, he may disappear -- just like Werner Erhard, the founder of "est."
                One day he disappeared from his home, leaving his wife, his children, his old parents. He not
           only disappeared, he changed his name. He is a Jew -- and Werner Erhard is a German name. You
           can see the logic; moving from being a Jew to being a German is going to the opposite pole. Nobody
           now will recognize him as a Jew. Have you ever heard of a Jew adopting a German name?
                Now, if a husband escapes, starts a new relationship somewhere .... The woman is dependent on
           him economically, children are there -- how is she going to live now? In almost every culture,
           woman has not been allowed education because education will make her independent, at least
           potentially independent: if a time of difficulty comes she can stand on her own feet.
                Uneducated, without any knowledge of the world, of business, how is she going to survive? The
           only way left for her is to be a prostitute. All that she knows is that she can sell her body. She has
           nothing else to sell. Naturally she was more jealous, afraid, clinging -- clinging as a creeper clings to
           a tree.
                Without the tree the creeper will fall down on the earth. It is only with the support of the tree that
           the creeper can move upwards towards the sun, can open its flowers and can have the joys of the sky;
           otherwise it will be on the earth, trodden on by people, eaten by animals, finished. The woman has
           been continually compared to the creeper. She has not been allowed by any religion to be a tree.
           Naturally she is jealous and continually keeps an eye on the husband -- where he is going, what he is
           doing ....
                Mulla Nasruddin was so fed up with his wife every day finding some woman's hair on his
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           clothes, and there was no excuse: "How can you explain this hair on your coat? You must have been
           hugging, you must have been sleeping with some woman. The proof is here."
               So one day before going into the house, Mulla Nasruddin went into a friend's house and told him
           to look all over his clothes. "Give me a brush so I can clean all my clothes. And today I am not going
           to give her any proof. These hairs ... the women are strange on both sides. On one side they leave
           hairs on you, on the other side they catch the hairs. That seems to be a conspiracy against man.
           Today I am not going ...."
               So he really cleaned himself up and went home. His wife looked for the evidence, but there was
           no evidence. She started crying. Nasruddin said, "Now what? Why are you crying?"
               She said, "My God, now you have started going with bald women. No hair! Where did you
           manage to find a bald woman? This is very rare."
               I have seen millions of people but I have yet to see a bald woman; I have not seen one. In fact the
           woman's brain has not been allowed to work, how can she become bald? It is the proof, the same
           kind of proof. The woman's brain never uses all the nourishment, hence her hair goes on getting the
           nourishment. Man's mind uses the nourishment -- his hairs starve and die.
               I remember a scientist's prediction that in four thousand years all boys will be born bald. They
           will not need to wait for forty, fifty, sixty years to become bald; they will be born bald just four
           thousand years from now because man will have used so much of the nourishment that the very
           genetic program of the boys will change. There seems to be a possibility .... Baldness in men has
           been growing each decade -- more and more people are getting bald earlier and earlier.
               The woman is not allowed education, not allowed social mobility. The only place she can go is
           the temple, the church; every other area of life is closed to her. And the church, the temple, and the
           synagogue are all male chauvinist. They are poisoning the minds of women. They have convinced
           the women, "You are a somewhat lower category of human being."
               In Jainism a woman cannot become enlightened directly from a woman's body. First she has to
           be born as a man and then she can become enlightened. I have been talking to Jaina priests and
           monks -- they have no argument to support this.
               I was asking them, "Does enlightenment happen in the body? Has it something to do with
           hormones, female or male? Obviously it has nothing to do with hormones, nothing to do with the
           body itself. No chemistry is involved, no physics is involved, no physiology is involved. It is a
           question of consciousness, and consciousness is neither male nor female. Then on what grounds do
           you go on saying that a woman cannot become enlightened?"
               But for twenty-five centuries not a single woman in the East has protested against it. Is it not
           strange, unbelievable? But no; the reason is, they were completely conditioned by the male
           chauvinist priests, and that was their only education. Whatever the priest was saying was all that they
           knew. They had no other way of becoming acquainted with other kinds of views.
               So all their freedom is cut, the woman is enclosed in the house. Naturally she is visualizing her
           husband flirting here and there. She knows him perfectly well, and mostly she is right; it is not that
           she is just imagining it. Her imagination is very close to reality -- that's what the husband is doing
           with his secretary in the office, with his students in the college.
               The reason why her imagination comes close to truth is because she knows -- deep down
           everybody knows -- that you cannot remain interested in each other forever. Once the man knows the
           woman's whole geography, her whole topography; the woman knows the man and what kind of
           lousy lover he is ....
               When they are well acquainted, one thing is certain, that both become suspicious, both become
           jealous. Suspicion follows jealousy. And when you are suspicious, jealous, how can you be loving?
           How can you even be friendly?
               Husbands and wives I have never seen to be friendly. Once they may have been lovers, now they
           are enemies. To be friendly means to respect the other person, his privacy. But no, the moment the
           husband comes in the house, the first question is, "Where have you been?" But if you are respectful
           to a person it is none of your business where he has been; that is his business, wherever he has been.
           With whom have you been?
               And the husband coming home goes on figuring out in his mind excuses, explanations of where
           he has been, what he has been doing. He knows those questions are going to be there. And he also
           knows that his wife is not going to believe his explanations. The wife knows what explanations he is
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going to give. It is a strange game.
                But nobody is ready to stop this nonsense and just be straightforward; "We don't feel interested
           in each other anymore, and that is natural. Why should we feel interested in each other? We felt
           interested because we were unacquainted." It is always the unknown that is interesting, it is always
           the hidden that gives you the challenge. Once you know it, the challenge disappears.
                If you are understanding, then a friendship can grow; otherwise all these things will be there --
           jealousy, suspicion, doubt, a continuous fight. And then you say, "I cannot get rid of my misery."
                Do you really want to get rid of your misery? Then you will have to get rid of many other things
           too which you don't want to get rid of, that's the trouble. If you want to get rid of misery, you will
           have to get rid of your idea of permanent love. You will have to get rid of the idea that you are going
           to be always beautiful to the person you love. The beauty disappears once you are acquainted. It is
           always a mirage; the farther away you are, the better.
                The grass is really greener ... but don't come too close. But when you see the grass is greener,
           you want to graze. And then you ask how to get rid of misery because when you come close the
           grass is not so green. It has never been. It is not anybody's fault, it is just the way things are.
                Try to understand what your misery is. And the first principle to understand is: Drop the idea of
           dropping, because if you are already determined to drop it, how can you understand it? You are
           already prejudiced, you are already against it.
                First drop the idea of dropping misery, and you have taken really a great step.
                Now the second thing is, try to understand what misery is. From where is it arising? Move into
           all its connections, find out its whole complex unity within you, and you will be surprised that it is
           not something separate, or separable. It is joined with a thousand and one things. And you will be
           shocked that all that you always wanted to drop is part of that which you have been told is the ideal,
           that this is what you should be.
                Jesus says to love your enemy. Have you ever thought, if you don't have any hate in you, can you
           have love? That is not possible. All these religious teachers have been telling you things which are
           unnatural: "Love everybody." It is not possible. You can neither love everybody nor can you hate
           everybody.
                If you love somebody, that means you have a choice, a liking; anybody who doesn't fit with that
           liking, that choice, you cannot love. You will have to decide; if you love, you will have to hate
           somebody; if you have friends, you will have enemies.
                A man like me has no friends and no enemies. Only then can you be free of misery. But you have
           been told that there are good ideals which have to be saved, and there are evil things which have to
           be dropped; that there are divine values, and that there are evil temptations. The trouble is that they
           are not separate.
                You will be surprised to know that the word "divine" and the word "devil" come from the same
           Sanskrit root, deva. They are not separate; devil and divine mean the same. But you have been told
           that they are just polar opposites and that there is a universal fight going on between God and Satan,
           God and evil. If that is true then it seems God is losing continually.
                The devil is winning because everywhere you can see crime increasing, people becoming more
           and more inhuman. It does not seem that God is winning. Seventy-five percent of every country's
           income goes to the devil, twenty-five percent goes -- I am not saying to God: it goes to small devils.
           But seventy-five percent goes to the chief, the great devil. Every country is wasting seventy-five
           percent of its income for war. God is not winning. God cannot win because He is the other side of
           the devil. They are together, they are partners in the business.
                If you try to understand the complexity of your misery you will see that all that is good is
           connected with all that has been condemned as bad. And you have been told to drop the bad and save
           the good. This is the dilemma you have been put into by your priests, by all your religions, by all
           do-gooders. They have put you in such a schizophrenic state ....
                Once you see that good and bad are together you will be immensely relieved, you will feel such a
           relief, because the whole conflict was baseless. You were fighting against shadows, you were
           fighting against yourself. It is as if my left hand is fighting with my right hand. Do you think there is
           any possibility of coming to a conclusion? There is no possibility. Both are my hands; there is no
           need for them to fight, they can be together and friendly. They can be helpful to each other, they can
           be a tremendous support to each other.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And that's the whole difference between me and all the religions of the world. They have been
           trying to create a conflict in you between good and bad, and I am trying to bring your good and bad
           closer and closer so that you can start using them in a harmonious unity. When I started calling the
           new man that is going to come into the world, "Zorba the Buddha," this was the idea behind it.
                The Ceylonese ambassador to America wrote a letter to me -- apparently very humble but one
           could see he is boiling within, even in his letter, between the lines. He said, "You have to stop
           calling your restaurants and your discos, `Zorba the Buddha,' because Buddha is our spiritual
           founder; to put him with a materialist like Zorba is insulting, and it will create great antagonism
           towards you amongst all the Buddhists of the world."
                I told my secretary to write him: In the first place Buddha is nobody's copyright. And you have to
           understand that we are not calling it Zorba Gautam the Buddha. The founder of your religion was
           Gautam the Buddha. His name was Gautam; "the buddha" was not his name. The buddha means the
           enlightened one. There have been many, there will be many; this is nobody's monopoly.
                And even Zorba has the potential to become the Buddha. Just look into your own scriptures.
           Your Buddha says that the lowest has the potential to be the highest. The sinner has the potential to
           be the saint. So what is wrong with Zorba? And as far as I am concerned, I don't want Zorba to
           become the Buddha by dropping being Zorba. I want Zorba to become the Buddha remaining Zorba
           -- and this is a totally new concept. If it creates inconvenience to some fools around the world, I am
           not concerned; I have never been concerned about fools.
                My effort is not to create a division between Zorba and Buddha, but to create a bridge.
                Zorba AS Zorba can become the Buddha, that's my approach.
                You need not drop anything. You have simply to understand your complex being, where good
           and bad are one. But you have been told they are not one and you have accepted that nonsense;
           hence, you have been trying to drop the bad. And you cannot.
                I don't want you to drop it, because that is your energy. It is good that you cannot drop it. I want
           you to transform it, not drop it. A man who cannot feel suffering cannot feel compassion either.
           What is compassion? If you cannot feel suffering you cannot feel compassion for somebody else's
           suffering because for you suffering does not exist. Your experience of suffering can be used for your
           growth.
                All the stones on your path can become stepping stones.
                They need not hinder you, you just have to know that they are steps.
                Look into your suffering, find out that good and bad are all together there. You cannot separate
           them, so the question of dropping does not arise. You have to use them together -- not as opposites,
           but as complementaries. And that is possible.
                Even poison can be used as medicine -- it is used. In fact, on most of the medicines you will find
           written: POISON -- in red letters. Poison is to kill, but by understanding it you can use it to save
           somebody who is dying. But if you are foolish, even nectar will kill you; you may drink too much of
           it. In fact you will drink too much nectar if you can find it.
                I am reminded of one of the experiments of Delgado. He had put an electrode in a white rat's
           brain. And he put a small remote control in front of the rat and taught him to push the button. That
           button gave the rat the same experience as sexual orgasm.
                Remember, sexual orgasm does not happen in our genitals, it happens in your brain. Genitals are
           only the outermost posts of your brain, they simply inform the brain, they simply say, "Okay." The
           brain goes berserk -- the actual orgasm happens in the brain. So it is possible to have a man's brain
           just kept in alcohol, and he can have a sexual orgasm without anybody, without any genitals.
           Nothing is needed because the real experience happens in the brain.
                And that white rat ... these white rats are poor fellows. Scientists are after them, they are being
           imported from all over the world. Once the rat learned the trick, how to push the button, you cannot
           believe what happened to him: in one hour he pushed the button six hundred times!
                He wouldn't stop, he went on pushing it. He died! -- because that much orgasm nobody has ever
           had: six hundred times in one hour. Good food was provided there; everything that he liked ...
           beautiful white rat girls -- no interest at all in anybody. His only interest was in the button.
                He forgot food, he forgot the women, he forgot even to drink, or just to take a little rest. What
           was happening was so far out, he could not miss a single second. He died on that red button.
                You just have to be a little alert about your inner composition and you will be surprised to know
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           many things. You will come to know that all your joys are within you, all your miseries are within
           you. Nobody else creates them, you simply find an excuse in somebody. Everything is within you,
           and except you nobody else is responsible.
                Then what is the question of dropping misery? If you want to continue, continue. If you don't
           want to continue, who is telling you to continue? The very understanding that "it is my own work"
           becomes the dropping.
                And the second realization that comes is: "What I used to call `I' was nothing but this
           combination." When this whole combination subsides, falls into a deep harmony, the discordant
           notes become a symphony. You suddenly become aware of a new I, which was standing far back
           because the noise of your mind was so much, and you were so much engaged in all that. Your real
           self was simply waiting for you to look inwards. But you were focused outwards, and you were so
           much struggling with things .... You cannot be victorious -- and you cannot be defeated either; you
           will always remain in a limbo, in a confusion.
                Once all that confusion is gone, suddenly from the background a new concept of your being
           emerges.
                It is more like am-ness than I; it is more existential. It is not egoistic, it is simply a feeling of
           am-ness. And then you know that it was simply foolish to ask, "How can I drop misery?" because I
           is the misery, I is the jealousy, I is the hell.
           And you don't know your real I.
           The real I you can know only when the false is gone.
           The moment the false disappears the real appears.
           The death of the false is the birth of the real.
                And that quality which I am calling am-ness is the very center of life, the very center of bliss.
           You will remain the same person in a way, but in another way you will be absolutely discontinuous
           with the old; you will be absolutely new.
                You will love, but now your love will not be the same as it was before. It will not have hate as its
           opposite side.
                Your love will be now so great that it can absorb hate, it can transform its poison into nectar.
           You will love but you will not possess.
           You will love to give, not to get.
                You will love because you are so full of love you have to share it; otherwise it becomes a burden.
                You will be like a raincloud so full of rain that it wants to shower. Then it does not even care
           where it is showering -- whether on the hills where nothing grows, or in a fertile land where flowers
           will grow. No, the cloud is just as mad as any enlightened man. It knows nothing of who is to be
           avoided and who is to be taken into one's confidence. No, it simply goes on showering on all. It has
           no friend, no foe. It is grateful because the earth is ready to receive it with joy.
                The enlightened man is grateful to his own disciples, to his own devotees, because they are so
           open, receptive, vulnerable, ready. Your love is to get something; his love is to give all. He receives
           much, much more than you can ever receive by trying to get. You remain a beggar.
                The enlightened man receives much without ever asking.
           These are the mysteries of existence.
                If you can give without asking, the whole existence will start pouring on you. You are no longer
           a beggar, now you are an emperor; and existence exalts only emperors, not beggars.
                I cannot say, "Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God." Sheer nonsense!
                I say, "Blessed are the emperors because they have already inherited the kingdom of God; there
           is nothing else to be inherited."
                My sannyasins have to be emperors -- for the first time in the whole history of the world. All the
           sannyasins of all the religions have been beggars. Enough of that beggary!
                I want you to be rich in every possible way -- material, psychological, spiritual. I want you to
           live the richest life that has ever been lived on the earth.
           This whole earth is like a desert.
           I want you to become small oases.
                Perhaps in those small oases lies the very hope of humanity's future.
           Yes, Zorba the Buddha is humanity's future.
           And you all have to become Zorba the Buddhas.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Nothing has to be denied, nothing has to be dropped.
               Everything has to be enjoyed, everything has to be understood. Everything has to be transformed
           in such a way that it becomes a new source of richness, nourishment, rejuvenation to you.
           Please don't try to drop your suffering.
           Try to understand it.
               And in that very understanding suffering will disappear. But the energy involved in suffering will
           be left with you. The same energy becomes blissfulness.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #21
                              Chapter title: I am a man who hopes against hope
           22 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503225
              ShortTitle: DARK21
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 89 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY THAT RELIGION AND POLITICS ARE OPPOSITE DIMENSIONS: A
              RELIGIOUS MAN CANNOT BE INTERESTED IN POLITICS, AND A POLITICIAN CAN NEVER
              BECOME RELIGIOUS WHILE REMAINING A POLITICIAN. IF THIS IS TRUE, IS THERE NO
              CHANCE FOR A BETTER WORLD?


               I have said that, and I repeat it: the really religious person cannot be interested in politics. And
           the politician, remaining a politician, cannot have any religious experience, any taste of that flight to
           the unknown.
               But I have never said that there is no hope for a better world.
               This is true, that the politician cannot become religious -- for the simple reason that politics, all
           politics, politics as such, is power politics. It is will-to-power. One wants to dominate, one wants to
           possess, one wants to be the decisive factor in people's lives. These are the qualities of the ego.
               Obviously this type of person cannot be religious because religion is basically the experience of
           egolessness.
               In religion there is no place for will-to-power. In fact, in religion there is no place even for will.
           Will-to-power is far away; even will-to-be is not there. One is in the hands of existence, in a deep
           let-go. This let-go is what I call religiousness. That's why I said that religion and politics are opposite
           dimensions.
               But don't be worried; it does not mean that there is no hope for humanity, no hope for the future.
               I am a man who hopes even against hope. It is impossible for me to be hopeless. And when there
           is hope you can always find a way. The proverb is: "Wherever there is a will there is a way." I don't
           think it is right. Everywhere there is will, and there is no way. Some idiot must have made this
           proverb. But wherever there is hope there is always a way.
               I would like to change the proverb. I don't have any right to change anything, but I am simply
           crazy, you can't help it. I go on changing the meanings of words because my feeling is that no word
           has any ultimate meaning. All meanings are given meanings. If somebody else can give a meaning to
           it, why can't I give a meaning to it too? Words in themselves are just sounds. A word means what
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           you want it to mean -- it depends on you. So I would like to change this old proverb.
                For my people, will is poison because will ultimately leads to politics. Will means, "I want to be
           something, somewhere, somebody." I teach you will-lessness; that's my meaning of let-go. The will
           clings, the will tries to force its own way; it wants existence to follow it.
                When I say will-lessness, I am saying to you, don't force your way. Just let nature take its own
           course. You just be a cloud. Wherever the wind blows the cloud moves, with no resistance, with no
           grumpiness: "I wanted to go south and what is happening? -- I am going north, I hate it! I was
           destined towards the south, dreaming of the south, and everything is shattered by this wind."
           No, the cloud simply moves with the wind.
           There is no conflict, there is no resistance.
           The wind and the cloud are not two.
                If the wind suddenly changes its movement -- from going north it starts moving towards east or
           west -- the cloud does not even raise a question: "This is inconsistent. We were going north; I had
           agreed, irrespective of the fact that I was destined to go to the south. I had sacrificed my goal just to
           be with you. Now this is too much! Somehow I managed to make myself agreeable to the idea of
           going to the north. And you seem to be just mad! You have started moving towards east or west, this
           is inconsistent. This is not friendly, this is not the way of lovers.
                "This is a divorce. I cannot always be a follower, so that wherever you go I have to go. I am not
           just a hen-pecked husband. If you want to go to hell, go! I am not going."
                No, there is no question even that the wind is inconsistent. The cloud has no will; hence no
           conflict, no question, no doubt. The way of the wind is accepted as the way of existence, that's what
           existence wants. The cloud is in a tremendous let-go, it has no will of its own. The cloud is not and
           cannot be a politician.
                The religious man cannot be interested in politics for the simple reason that he has nowhere to
           reach -- he has reached there already. He is there where the politician is trying to reach and never
           reaches -- cannot reach because of the very nature of things. The religious person is already there.
                He has not reached there, he has discovered that he has always been there, always and always,
           from the very beginning; he has never been anywhere else. Even if he wants to move, it is
           impossible. He can only be where he is, nowhere else can he move.
                How can you move from yourself, from your being? And nothing is higher than that, nothing is
           more blissful.
           There is no need either.
                Hence the religious man cannot be interested in politics, because the politician's way is against
           the flow, against the current. The politician is trying to move above everybody's head; whatsoever
           the cost, whatever evil means he has to use does not matter. All that matters is that he is determined
           to become somebody significant; he has to leave his name in the pages of history, although nobody
           reads those names.
                And as history grows bigger -- and it goes on becoming bigger every day -- bigger names go on
           becoming smaller. Naturally, those who were very prominent go on slipping into the footnotes, or
           are just referred to. Once they ruled over the whole world.
                Genghis Khan was one of the greatest emperors ever. He ruled from one corner of Asia to the
           opposite corner of Europe; both the continents were under his thumb. He was called "The Great
           Khan." But now, if you look in the history of the world, you will find his name referred to in some
           footnote. History will become bigger sooner or later. First you slip into the footnotes, then you start
           disappearing from the footnotes. Leaving your name in the history books is like writing your name
           on the sand.
                One of my teachers, a history teacher, used to say again and again, and this has been said to
           almost everybody: "Leave your name in the pages of history. Write your name in golden letters. You
           should leave your mark that you have been here."
                The first day I entered his class ... of course the first day the teacher is at his best. He tries hard to
           impress, because the first impression is a lasting impression. So he was at his peak -- not speaking
           but thundering. I could not tolerate it when he said, "You have to leave your name in history, it has
           to be written in golden letters. You have to make a mark that you have been here."
                I stood up and I said, "You are shouting too loudly -- and only forty students are here. Are you
           leaving your mark on the walls of this classroom, or on the tables and chairs? You are thundering as
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           if you are addressing a meeting of at least ten thousand people. And can I ask a few things?
                "One thing, I have never seen any history book written in golden letters. So of all those who have
           lived up to now, nobody has been able to write his name in golden letters. Are you proposing that,
           for me especially, a book will be written in golden letters? And even if it is written in golden letters,
           I will not be here to see it; so what is the point, whether my name is written in it or not?
                "In fact, when I came into this world I had no name. The name is given to me; the name is just
           arbitrary, it is not mine. So whether it is written in the history book or not does not matter.
                "Secondly, you are saying, `Leave your mark here, to prove that you have been here.' You are
           talking just like a dog."
           He said, "What!"
                I said, "Yes -- because dogs leave their mark wherever they are. They raise one of their legs up
           and leave their mark there. And when I am saying that, I am simply stating a biological fact. You can
           ask the scientists why the dog does that. He leaves his mark: `I have been here and this is my
           territory.' Pissing is golden. He is making history."
                But all the politicians are doing that, pissing and thinking that they are leaving golden marks.
           Yes, pissing is a little yellow but I cannot say it is golden, that would be exaggerating. And all that
           the dog is leaving as his mark, and making as a declaration to existence, is that "This is my territory"
           -- it stinks!
                I said to him, "The whole of history stinks, and all your politicians simply stink. You please just
           stop thundering and stop telling us nonsense. You just start the story of all the idiots of the past. And
           please forgive us for not being added to that list."
                The politician suffers from a tremendous inferiority complex. Deep down he knows he is
           nothing, and he wants to prove to the world that he is huge, powerful. He wants to stand first in the
           line of the whole humanity. But the trouble is, humanity follows a general universal law; it is one of
           the fundamental laws of the universe that things move in circles. The earth goes around the sun, the
           moon goes around the earth, the sun itself is going around some bigger sun which we have not yet
           been able to discover.
                But everything moves in circles, and that is true about humanity too. We are standing in a circle
           and moving in a circle, so there is always somebody ahead of you. This is the trouble, you cannot get
           out of it; somebody is always ahead of you. Yes, somebody is behind you -- that gives a little
           satisfaction, but the person who is ahead of you kills it immediately. You are trying to pull the
           person back by his leg and be ahead of him. He will try his hardest not to be pulled that way, he will
           kick you as hard as he can.
                But even if you succeed .... If you fail, you fail; but if you succeed, then too you fail, this is the
           trouble, because again you find that there is somebody else ahead. And you will always find that,
           because it is a circle.
                As you go on succeeding, go on succeeding, go on succeeding, one day you will find that a man
           who was once behind you is ahead of you. That is the ultimate failure. When somebody becomes a
           president, a prime minister, then he comes to know: "My God! The man ahead of me now is the
           same man who was behind me when I started the journey." And you can see it every four years in
           America, and in India every five years: the president is begging for the vote of the man who was
           behind him. Now he has to ask and beg a vote from him, now his presidentship, his premiership
           depends on the vote of that man; he is ahead.
                I have been saying again and again that the leaders are the followers of their own followers. It is
           a very strange game. You have to pretend to be first, and yet you know the last man has the power to
           keep you there or not to keep you there.
                The politician's life is a life of constant struggle and constant anguish. He tries hard to get
           beyond them, but if he remains a politician this is not possible. All these sufferings, miseries, are part
           and parcel of his political game.
                One education minister used to come to see me. He was a very rich man, very well educated.
           Before he became the education minister he was the vice-chancellor of a university. When he was
           vice-chancellor of the university there, he heard me in a conference and became my friend. Once in a
           while he used to come, just to relax for one or two days, away from the world of the capital and the
           politicians.
                He would ask me again and again: "You teach people methods of meditation, of becoming
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           peaceful, silent. And I can understand that what you are saying is right, that unless you become silent
           and peaceful you cannot hope to be blissful. You have to create the ground for bliss to happen. But
           you never tell me anything."
                I said, "I will tell you only when you drop your politics, because your politics and my teachings
           together will make you even more miserable. You are miserable enough. If you start trying to be
           peaceful also, to be silent even for a few moments, to meditate every day even for half an hour, you
           will become more miserable than you have ever been, because you cannot succeed in doing it. It is
           better for you to accept that this is all that life has in it: suffering, misery, sleeplessness, and
           continuous turmoil.
                "It is better, in a way, that this is all life is. If you become aware that life is more and you start
           trying for it, you will be unnecessarily multiplying your suffering. You cannot be peaceful, you
           cannot meditate, you cannot sit silently. And that will be a very painful defeat; a great successful
           politician who has become a cabinet minister of a country like India -- big, vast, the biggest
           democracy in the world; and you have one of the most important portfolios, education -- such a great
           successful man cannot be silent even for one moment? That will be very disturbing."
                But he didn't listen to me. He started meditating and reading my books. And what I had said
           would happen, happened -- a complete nervous breakdown. He was brought to me. I said, "I told you
           before, these two things cannot go together. You are trying to run east and west at the same time;
           then one leg goes to the east and one leg goes to the west, and you will be torn apart. It is a very
           simple thing: if you are in politics then just be in politics. There is no such thing as religion for you."
                The politician cannot be religious while remaining a politician. Remember the condition.
                The religious person is on such a fantastic journey, what does he care about being a president of
           a country, or a prime minister, a king or a queen? What value do these kings and queens have? In
           fact, there are only five kings in the world: four in the playing cards and one in England. And they
           have a similar value: nothing much. Do you want to be the sixth king?
                Politicians for centuries have been living in hell, for the simple reason that they think that
           through this hell they will attain one day to the highest power and position. But what are you going
           to do with the highest power and position?
                This education minister was one day sitting with me in his car; we were just going for a ride, and
           a dog started chasing the car. I said to the driver, "Slow down a little -- the poor dog is huffing and
           puffing so much, just slow down. Let him catch the car and see what happens."
           The politician said, "What will happen?"
                I said, "You will see -- exactly that which happens to a politician."
                The driver slowed down the car. The dog came close to us -- and looked silly, because now
           what?
                I told the education minister, "This is your position -- now what? Chasing the car, he was far
           happier. At least there was something to do, a great challenge. But once he reaches the car he feels
           embarrassed, because now the challenge has disappeared. And he looks all around: he must be
           foolish, why are you staring? He never thought about why he is chasing the car, what he is going to
           do if he gets to the car. Even if he sits in the seat of the driver, what is he going to do?"
                These great politicians sitting in great power in the White House and the Kremlin -- just dogs
           sitting in a car looking all around, feeling silly, thinking, "Is this the end?" There is nowhere else to
           go. Once you have reached the White House you have nowhere to go. You are really caught -- and
           by your own efforts -- in a prison.
                The politician cannot be religious because religion means understanding, awareness, silence,
           harmony, and a deep let-go with existence, a feeling of being at peace with everything as it is: no
           desire to be anybody else, no desire to be anywhere else, no desire for tomorrow. All is fulfilled in
           this moment. The politician cannot afford this. And the religious man who is in this situation, in this
           ultimate state of being, for him politicians are just foolish people, although he may not say so just
           out of etiquette.
                I am not a man of etiquette, I don't know manners. I simply call a spade a fucking spade, because
           that's what it is. I have made the spade actually what it is. The old proverb is, a spade is a spade. That
           doesn't sound of any import. Of course a spade is a spade -- so what! It does not say anything about
           the spade. So I simply say that these are all idiots.
                But there is still hope for humanity. The hope is not that religious people will become politicians,
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           or that religious people will start taking an interest in politics, no. But religious people can become,
           should become, rebellious against all political stupidity. There is the hope. The religious person
           should not remain just contented with his blissfulness and allow all these idiots to go on doing harm
           to innocent humanity.
           To me this is the only compassion:
           To rebel against the whole history of humanity.
           The religious person should rebel.
               In the past he has not done that. That's why I say, in the past religion has been just immature.
           Even the greatest religious personalities in the past will look like pygmies compared to the authentic
           religious person who is going to be born, because the authentic religion is basically rebellion --
           rebellion against all superstition, rebellion against all stupidity, rebellion against all the nonsense that
           goes on being imposed on the human mind continuously.
               A rebellious religious man is a fire; his words will be words on fire.
               His silence is not going to be the silence of a cemetery.
               His silence will be the silence of a song, of a dance.
               His silence will be the silence of two lovers meeting, and not capable to find words to convey
           their love. Their love makes them wordless. The moment lovers start talking too much you can
           understand; love has disappeared. Conversation has started; conflict is not very far away.
           Conversation is the beginning, soon there will be argument. Where else can conversation lead except
           to controversy? But two lovers when they are really in love, throbbing with a new energy, feel
           themselves stuck, suddenly wordless. Even to say "I love you" seems to be difficult, seems to be far
           below the fact of love. It seems somehow to be sacrilegious to bring words into something which is
           so silent, and so glowing in silence, and so alive in silence.
               The religious person is silent, but it is not the silence of a cemetery, not the silence of a dead
           man.
               It is the silence of one who is really alive, fully alive, intensely alive.
               This intense aliveness is going to become his rebellion.
               What have I been doing for thirty years continuously? -- fighting every kind of nonsense. Was
           there any reward, was I seeking any reward out of all this fight? No, it was not for any reward. It was
           just the way my aliveness was asserting itself. It was not goal-oriented, there was no motivation; I
           was simply being myself.
               I enjoyed all that fight. In fact the people who came in conflict with me were very much
           surprised because it was an agony for them. To me it was an ecstasy. They could not understand how
           I was enjoying it. And I was surrounded on all sides with enemies. Alone, single-handedly I was
           moving among millions of people and against them, saying things which were very hurtful to their
           beliefs.
               One shankaracharya even asked me, "What are you going to get out of it? You are simply
           making so many enemies. Politicians are your enemies, all kinds of religious people are your
           enemies. The rich are your enemies, the poor are your enemies, the capitalists are your enemies, the
           communists are your enemies." He said, "This is strange; Mohammedans, Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists,
           Parsees, Sikhs, Christians -- they are all your enemies."
               I said to him, "I am going to write a book, How to Impress People and Create Enemies. This is
           just an experience for it.
               He said, "You are never serious. I was just being concerned." He was a young man, newly
           appointed to be a shankaracharya; he had known me before he was a shankaracharya. He was
           genuinely concerned, he said, "I don't see anything that you can get out of this except making
           everybody an enemy; and yet you enjoy it."
               It happened in Faridabad, a place near New Delhi, that there was a great Hindu world
           conference. This shankaracharya told me, "There is danger."
               He was still being friendly towards me, and he said, "In public I cannot be on your side but deep
           down I feel your authenticity, your sincerity. I cannot say this before the public because I don't have
           that much courage. But I want you to be warned because there is much conspiracy going on: `Today
           something has to be done to this man because he has been hammering all our beliefs, all our heritage,
           all our institutions. Nobody seems to have any answer for him, nobody seems to have any argument.'
           So they are thinking, just the way idiots will think, `Why not kill this man, why not destroy this
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           man?' So today's meeting can become fatal to you."
                I said, "Don't be worried. Every moment is fatal because any moment death can come. And this
           is great: with fifty thousand people I will enjoy my death too!"
                He said, "You are incurable. I am just being friendly to you, and I am certain there is something
           going on."
                I said, "If you are certain, I trust you. I will do my best to let it happen." And really, in the
           evening conference there must have been at least one hundred thousand people. In the morning
           conference there were only fifty thousand; the number had doubled because the gossip that
           something was going to happen, something was boiling up, brought many more people to the
           evening meeting.
                As I started speaking I could see that three persons, strong men, came and sat just behind me.
           They looked like professional criminals. Perhaps they were borrowed for the occasion. Before
           speaking I said, "I want to say a few things about these three strong men who are sitting behind me."
           There was deep silence on the stage. They were all great Hindu monks, three shankaracharyas,
           prominent politicians -- at least fifty people were there. Delhi was so close, so great politicians were
           available -- and they don't miss such a gathering. One hundred thousand people ... just seeing them
           on the stage is enough!
                Those three people had not expected that I was going to speak about them first. And how did I
           know about them? I said, "These three persons are here to kill me, so you all have to be aware -- at
           least they should be patient. There is no problem in killing, they can kill me, but first let me finish
           what I want to say to you. If they kill me in the middle you will be at a loss; you will have missed
           what I was going to say to you.
                "So I want to ask you one thing: Do you want me to say all that I have to say? If you want me me
           to, then please raise your hands. If you don't want me to, then what is the point of saying half the
           things; half the truth is far worse than a lie. Then I would rather remain silent and tell these three
           people to kill me."
                One hundred thousand hands shot up, with shouts of "We want to hear you, and we will see who
           can attack you" -- and many people, hundreds of people, came behind me, to prevent those three
           people. You will be surprised; I spoke the way I always speak, I said things as strongly as possible.
           And the miracle was that I was speaking against those people's beliefs!
                But somewhere, deep down, man remains innocent. You just have to know the knack of reaching
           that point, to touch his heart.
                All those shankaracharyas and politicians by and by started getting off the stage. I had been
           given only twenty minutes to speak ... but the president had left, the other organizers had left, seeing
           the situation, that the whole thing had backfired. But the people would not let those three persons go,
           they were holding them.
                The whole meeting became my meeting. I spoke for almost two and a half hours because there
           was nobody else to speak, and nobody to tell me to stop or anything. The chairman was missing --
           they had all escaped because they were all part of the conspiracy. And those three men fell at my feet
           and said, "Somehow save us. If you leave, these people will kill us."
                I told the crowd, "Just leave them, because they have not done anything; moreover, they are
           professionals, they have nothing personal against me. They may have got some money, and I am not
           against that. Have you got the money?" I asked them, "or have you not got it yet?"
                And these are the moments when you see realities which are not ordinarily available. They said
           ... they could not tell a lie. They were professional criminals, murderers, they had been charged with
           murder before, they had been in jail many times -- but they could not tell a lie. Just seeing my truth, a
           synchronicity ... something in them also was touched. They said, "Half they have given us and half
           they have promised after we kill you."
                "So," I said, "you will lose half. You kill me and get the other half."
                They said, "We don't want to kill you. We had no idea who you are. Listening to you we wanted
           to kill all those people who were trying to kill you."
                I said to the people, "Leave these simple, innocent people, don't harass them, I would like them
           to move away before I leave the place because I don't know ... this is such a big crowd and you look
           so angry."
                The conference was going to be for three days; this was the first day, so I said, "The conference
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will continue. Now it is my conference. Every arrangement is here, so for three days we will
           continue." And we continued for three days. You will be surprised, those three men were
           continuously coming to listen and sitting in front of me with tears in their eyes.
               When I was leaving Faridabad, among the people who had come to give me a send-off were
           those three people, with garlands and with tears. And they said, "You have changed our whole life.
           We have always played like puppets in the hands of politicians and priests. We are not criminals;
           these people have made us criminals, they pay us to commit a crime. If we are caught then they try to
           save us; they give us all legal support, any bribery that is needed for the judges. They do everything
           to save us because they need criminals for their political careers, for their religious careers."
               I said, "Yes, a priest is not a religious man, he has a religious career. He is a professional."
               For thirty years I have been hammering as hard as possible. And a few things I have realized:
           howsoever thick the conditioning may be that has happened to humanity in the past, it can all be
           broken. We just need a few authentic religious persons -- not priests, not professionals but people
           who have experienced. They will become burning torches in the darkness of the night.
               They will not become politicians, but they can destroy the whole political structure of the world
           -- and that's what is needed.
               They will not be interested in politics -- but they will certainly be interested in the humanity that
           the politicians have been exploiting for centuries.
               They will not take power in their hands, they will simply destroy these parasites and let the
           power be with everybody.
               In fact, power should be distributed to everybody. It should be decentralized; there is not need
           for power to be centralized.
           Centralized, power is bound to corrupt.
               With power decentralized, everybody is powerful in his own way.
           What is the need of having politicians?
               The animal called politician has to disappear from the earth; this is the hope. And I know that
           now -- and only now -- is it possible. Before it was not possible, for two reasons: the authentic
           religious people were not there; and secondly, the politician had not yet done his worst. Now both
           things are available. The sincere, authentic religion is being born among you. And the politician has
           come to his tether's end. He has done the worst, now he cannot do anything more. What more can he
           do than to bring about a nuclear war, destroying the whole world?
               Before the politician and his nuclear weapons destroy the whole humanity, the few authentic
           religious people have to bring fire to every heart, a fire in which the whole political game is finished.
           And with the political game finished, the politician will disappear. This is the only hope.
               The third world war is a great hope because it will reveal the politician in his true colors.
               Up to now there have been wars, big wars -- the first world war, the second world war, and
           thousands of other wars -- but they were not total. Somebody was going to win, somebody was going
           to be defeated. The third world war is going to be a total world war: nobody is going to win, nobody
           is going to be defeated. All are going to be finished.
               Now this is the ultimate in war, the ultimate in idiocy. What is the point of fighting if both are
           going to be finished? The whole point was that you can win, there is a possibility of your winning.
           At the worst you can lose, but the other will win; somebody is going to be victorious.
               In the third world war nobody is going to be victorious because nobody is going to survive it.
           Neither democracy nor communism, neither American nor Russia -- nobody is going to survive it, so
           what is the point? But the politician has come to such a state, he cannot go back. He has to go on,
           knowing perfectly well that this is going to end finally in the ultimate destruction of this whole
           planet, this beautiful planet.
               There are millions of planets in the universe but perhaps the earth is the most beautiful. All those
           planets are without greenery, without flowers, without birds, without animals, without human
           beings; without poetry, without music, without dance, without celebration. They are just dead -- the
           earth is so alive.
               It is not only the question of humanity's future. It is also the questions of existence missing its
           most precious planet.
               It is an existential question, not just a planetary one, not confined to this small earth.
               It is a question for the whole infinite universe, because in this whole universe this small planet
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           has become an oasis of consciousness. And there are more possibilities; they should not be stopped.
               Hence I say there is hope -- but the hope lies in the religious person's rebelliousness.
               I have been asked thousands of times, "You go on teaching religion, there is no problem; but why
           do you mix religion with rebellion? That creates a problem."
               One of the prime ministers of India, Lalbahadur Shastri, was a very good man, as good as a
           politician can be. I have known so many politicians that I can say perhaps he was the best out of all
           those criminals. He said, "If you are a little less sincere and a little more diplomatic, you can become
           the greatest mahatma in the country. But you go on saying the naked truth without bothering that this
           is going to create more enemies for you. Can't you be a little diplomatic?"
               I said, "You are asking me to be diplomatic? That means being a hypocrite; knowing something
           but saying something else, doing something else. I am going to remain the same. I can drop being
           religious if it is needed, but I cannot drop being rebellious because to me that is the very soul of
           religion. I can drop every other thing which is thought to be religious, but I cannot drop rebellion;
           that is the very soul."
               The day I became convinced that now I have enough people who can move towards that Everest
           I have been pointing to all my life, I dropped my contact with the masses completely, so that I can
           give my whole time -- whatsoever there remains -- so that I can give my whole energy, whatsoever
           existence allows me, to a small concentrated group. The need is not of millions of religious people,
           no. The need is only of a few chosen ones.
               If I can ignite fire in my sannyasins then I have done my work.
               Then each of my sannyasins will be capable of doing the same as I have done to him.
               And we can put this whole earth afire, aglow with a new humanity and with a new sunrise.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                   Chapter #22
                                   Chapter title: Truth is here but you are not
           23 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503235
              ShortTitle: DARK22
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 108 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHAT IS TRUTH? AND WHATEVER IT IS, WHY ARE MOST PEOPLE NOT INTERESTED IN IT?


                The way the question is formed says more than is apparent. The first thing it says is that you are
           not interested in truth at all. It is strange that sometimes the formulation of the question has much
           more significance than the question itself.
                You are asking: "What is truth? and whatever it is ...." Does this show any inquiry? Does it mean
           that you are committed to seek and search for truth? If it were so, you could not have said "whatever
           it is." It shows such an indifference, just like government office letters -- "whomsoever it may
           concern."
                "Whatever it is ...?" It makes no difference to you. And you are asking why people are not
           interested in it. Why blame people? Why can't you be sincere and say, "why am I not interested in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           it?" Who are these people you are talking about? What concern do you have about these people?
           They don't have any names; it is just a word, empty: "people."
                With me be honest, be sincere, be direct. Don't bring anonymous people into the question. The
           question has to be yours. You are asking for an answer, and the question is not even yours. And how
           is it possible to answer you when the question belongs to "people"? Who are these people? I don't
           know, and I don't think you know either.
                A question has to be individual, then it is alive; and I can answer only an alive question. A dead
           question deserves only a dead answer. I am incapable of doing that.
                So first, remember always the question must be your quest.
                The question must arise from the depths of your heart; it must be rooted in your being.
                It must be nourished by your life; then it deserves an alive answer.
                You ask me, what is truth? This is the greatest question ever asked. And you ask it in such a
           stupid way, you put the ultimate question in such a silly form. This is simply unawareness,
           unconsciousness. You don't know what you are doing, what you are saying; You don't know what
           you are asking, and why you are asking.
                What business is it of yours to be bothered about unknown people? Are you in a state where no
           question of your own exists? Have you dropped all your questions? If that had been the case there
           would have been no need to ask this question either, because you would have known the answer.
                When all questions disappear, that consciousness, that questionless consciousness, is the answer,
           is the truth.
                The question is yours but you are a coward: you cannot even accept your ignorance. Of course,
           to accept that "this is my question" certainly means that you are an ignorant person; hence the
           question is thrown on the shoulders of some unknown people. I cannot find those people anywhere.
           Neither can you. Consciousness never exists in collectivities: people, nation, society, culture,
           civilization. You will not find these things anywhere; they don't exist.
                Whenever and wherever you come across "people", you will come across the individual. That is
           solid reality. And "people" can't have any questions. The "people" don't have any soul, the "people"
           is only a collective name.
                It is just like a forest. From far away you can see the forest but as you come closer and closer the
           forest starts disappearing. When you are exactly in the forest there is no forest, there are only trees.
           You will come across trees and trees and trees; unique trees, individual, having their own world;
           their own foliage, their own fragrance.
                You cannot find even two trees exactly the same in the whole so-called forest. What to say about
           the forest? -- even two trees are not exactly the same. The forest is only a word. Yes, it denotes a
           collectivity, but no collectivity has any consciousness of its own.
                The society -- have you come across society anywhere? Or do you hope some day to say, "Hi,
           society! How are you?" These words are just hollow, empty. They are only containers without any
           content in them. But man is so idiotic that he is more interested in containers than in the content.
                I have heard that in a book shop a certain dictionary was not being sold at all. And the bookshop
           had kept the dictionary for ten years. They had purchased the wholesale rights to the dictionary, but
           not a single copy had they been able to sell in ten years, and they had been selling other books in
           thousands. The dictionary was really very significant, a milestone in the world of dictionaries; that's
           why they had purchased the wholesale rights to it. But the book was not selling.
                It just happened that the shopkeeper mentioned it to a painter who was looking for a book. The
           painter looked at the dictionary and he laughed. He said, "The whole problem is, its cover is wrong.
           Who bothers what is inside the dictionary? The cover is repulsive, that's why you have not been able
           to sell it. I will make a cover for it. You change the cover."
                But the man said, "Just by changing the cover ...? The dictionary will be the same."
                The painter said, "Don't be worried -- you just do what I am saying." He made a new cover,
           beautiful, glossy, attractive .... Now, what has a dictionary to do with a nude woman? -- but a nude
           woman was on the cover looking into the dictionary, the same dictionary. Again on that dictionary's
           cover was the nude woman looking into the dictionary, the same dictionary. It was a beautiful cover.
                But the owner was simply shocked -- there was a queue! People were dying to purchase the
           dictionary. What he had not been able to do in ten years was done within a week. He had to order a
           reprint. He told the painter, "This is strange."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The painter said, "It is not strange -- it is just human."
               When you fall in love with a woman do you think of the content? When you fall in love with a
           man do you think of the content? Just the container ... a little longer nose and you may fall in love. If
           the nose were a little shorter you might not have looked twice at the woman.
               That's the meaning of the word "respect". You may not have thought about it; people don't think
           about words. Respect means looking again:
               re-spect. When you see somebody and you feel like looking again at the person, that's the
           meaning of the word "respect". The person is so attractive, spectacular, that you would like to look
           again and again. But what you are looking at is the container, still.
               I know of a professor ... he was my colleague in the university, one of the most intelligent people
           I have ever met -- but he was ugly. The content was just great, but the container ... that too was just
           great! He was head of the department of psychology. Just because of him, students were not taking
           the subject of psychology.
               He told me, "This is a strange university, where nobody seems to be interested in psychology.
           We have a full-fledged department, perhaps one of the best departments in the university. All the
           staff are very qualified people, but somehow students take psychology up to their B.A., and after
           getting a B.A. nobody turns up for postgraduate study" -- because the head of the department gives
           classes only for postgraduate students or research scholars.
               I said to him, "It may shock you but you are the reason."
           He said, "Me? I have done no harm to anybody."
               I said, "You simply look into the mirror and don't ask me. Your container is all wrong."
               And the postgraduate philosophy and psychology courses are mostly filled by girls, because
           psychology or philosophy are not going to be of much help in life. They may create trouble perhaps,
           but they are not going to help you. So, in India particularly, only girls turn to psychology because
           they are not interested in business, in service, in a career; they are interested, in India, in catching
           hold of a rich husband. And a postgraduate girl obviously has more chances of catching hold of a
           good-salaried husband.
               In any other department there is much competition; in psychology and philosophy there is not
           much competition. Moreover, professors are very generous in passing people, giving them better
           marks, higher distinctions, more first classes, so that more people will become attracted. Those
           departments are dying all over the world.
               There are hundreds of universities where no student takes postgraduate classes in philosophy for
           the simple reason that wherever you go, although you may have a first class M.A. in philosophy, that
           is not a qualification. In fact, it is a kind of disqualification -- nobody is going to take you just
           because of that. It is enough proof that you are not going to be of any use; your degree shows you are
           useless. Philosophy has no market value.
               When I went to study philosophy in the university, my family were absolutely against it,
           unanimously. Everybody was bothering me continuously: "Don't go in for philosophy. You know
           perfectly well," they told me, "in our town there are postgraduates in philosophy who have been
           unemployed for years. Nobody takes any interest in them. The moment they hear you are a
           postgraduate in philosophy, they say, `You are not of any use in the world.'"
               But I told them, "Don't be worried, I am not interested at all in your world. And I will be the last
           person to ask anybody to employ me. I am going to create my own world."
               My father said, "You are simply crazy. How are you going to create your own world?"
               I said, "You will see. I am not going to use your world. I will create my own world."
               Reluctantly, sadly, they sent me to the university. You will be surprised -- even my professors,
           becoming acquainted with me, told me, "An intelligent student like you should be in the department
           of politics, economics. What the hell are you doing in the department of philosophy?
               "This is only for girls, and they are not interested in philosophy at all. But we go on passing them
           because without them the department will be closed and we will be unemployed. So whether they are
           interested in philosophy or not, whether they do their work or not, we go on passing them. They need
           certificates, and their certificates are not for the marketplace, they are for marriage -- that is a totally
           different thing. But what are you doing here?"
               Even the professors were worried about me. After my graduation they all suggested, "You
           move."
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I said, "You don't understand -- it is my subject. You people don't belong to this subject. You
           have somehow wrongly entered philosophy. Perhaps you could not get entry into any other
           department; that's why you entered to study philosophy. And once you studied philosophy there was
           no other profession left for you except to be a professor of philosophy; that was the only profession
           left. But you don't belong to philosophy at all; otherwise you should be happy that I am joining it. It
           is my world.
                I was also a student of that professor who was really ugly; later on I became his colleague. When
           I told him, "You just look at your face in the mirror," he said, "But, then, why have you joined our
           department?"
                I said, "Because I am not interested in containers -- my interest is in content. I don't care in what
           kind of boxes you are presented; I just look inside. My interest is in your inside. Whether your nose
           is flat, your eyes are crooked -- I have no interest in what kind of case you have been imprisoned. I
           am interested in YOU." But this is a human weakness: just to see the cover of a book, the
           advertisement of a certain thing, and be impressed by things which have nothing to do with the
           reality, things not concerned with reality.
                If you want to sell a car, you have to advertise the car with a beautiful woman standing just by
           the side of the bonnet, looking at the car, enchanted. She is enchanted by the car, you become
           enchanted by her. Strange game! And then you purchase the car -- as if that woman is going to come
           as part and parcel of the car. Later on you understand and feel silly, but then it is too late. That
           woman has nothing to do with the car.
                In fact, such kinds of advertisements will show people of the future, what kind of people have
           existed on the earth before. After two thousand years people will think, "It seems it was just a
           madhouse! These advertisements show something about the people who were advertising, who were
           looking at the advertisements; these advertisements must have worked." They are working.
                You purchase a thing not because you need it but because it is advertised so much, hammered so
           much in your mind, from all sides. Wherever you go the billboards are there; in the movie it is there:
           Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola ... wherever you go. It is difficult to get rid of Coca-Cola -- and
           then naturally you decide it is better to taste it, because if the whole world is talking about
           Coca-Cola there must be something in it.
                The question you have asked is your question -- you are not interested in truth. But you don't
           have the courage even to say that. Why be afraid? If you are not interested, it is perfectly okay. Then
           the truth is not interested in you either. The truth is not going to follow you, it is not going to nag
           you, "Be interested in me! Why are you not interested in me?" It is not your wife.
                Asking what truth is would have been enough. If you had stopped there .... The same question
           was asked by Pontius Pilate -- his last question to Jesus Christ. He had asked many other things and
           Jesus had answered them. His last question was, "What is truth?" -- and this is the only question that
           Jesus did not answer.
                Now, Jesus not answering the question can have many interpretations. Perhaps he knew nothing
           about truth. Perhaps he knew, but he also knew that the questioner was not going to understand it; it
           was futile, because the questioner was asking from a space which was absolutely wrong. Pontius
           Pilate was the governor-general; he was going to decide the fate of this young outrageous person
           who was just a hobo, a nobody. Perhaps he was the first hippie in the world.
                To ask about truth you have to be in a certain space.
                You cannot be in power and ask the person who is standing before you as a criminal, whose life
           is in your hands -- you are going to decide whether he is going to be crucified tomorrow or not. This
           is not the way to ask such a vital, ultimately meaningful question. You have to come down. You
           have to sit as a disciple by the side of the man you want to question about truth. Only a disciple has
           the qualification to ask such a question. Perhaps Jesus did not answer because there was no disciple;
           there was a governor-general.
                Or, it is possible Jesus wanted to answer but language was a barrier. Truth cannot be expressed
           through language; the moment you put it into words something goes wrong.
                It is just as when you take a completely straight staff and put it in the water halfway: you will be
           surprised that the straight staff is no longer straight. Where it meets the water -- half of it is out, half
           is in the water -- something has gone wrong, it is no longer straight. It has taken an angle, it is
           crooked. You take the staff back out of the water ... and it is a miracle! -- it is again absolutely
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           straight. Nothing happens to the staff in water, but the nature of water and the nature of air cause
           them to function differently. The straight line becomes no longer the same; it is under different laws.
                The same happens to truth the moment it enters the world of language.
           Language is all human creation:
           Truth is not.
           We are a creation of truth.
                Language is our creation; hence it cannot express our origin, it is superficial.
           Language is just a toy in our hands.
                I was talking to a great scholar, Doctor Hiralal Jain; he was a world-famous scholar on Jainism,
           and a man of words. He knows seven languages and was so efficient in every one that it was difficult
           to decide which was his mother tongue. His whole life he had devoted to words, their roots .... Words
           have traveled for thousands of years in so many lands, in so many climates; they have changed with
           every move of the society. It is really a very, very interesting enquiry -- how words have come to be
           what they are, from where they have come.
                We were traveling in the train, in the same compartment. We knew each other -- he was an old
           man but he belonged to the same city where I was brought up. We were neighbors, his whole family
           lived next door to my family. He used to come once in a while when I was a child, only in the
           summer vacations, because he was engaged all over the world in different universities. But finally I
           also became a professor in the same university where he had become head of the department of the
           Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit languages. These three languages are the ancientmost in the East, and he
           was perhaps the best scholar of all the three.
                So traveling in the train ... we were both going to the same conference. I said, "You have wasted
           your whole life with words. You have never bothered about meanings."
           He said, "Meanings? But words have meanings!"
                I said, "Words don't have any meaning." I said to him, "For example I can say, `What is this
           whole hullabaloo?' Now what does this word "hullaballoo" mean? I can change it. I can say, `What is
           all this Honolulu?' If you are a little bit intelligent you will understand that it is the same -- Honolulu
           or hullabaloo. Words mean what we want them to mean, they don't have any intrinsic meaning.
                Meaning is something different, totally different -- and truth is pure meaning, pure content
           without any container. The moment you put a container around it you are doing something ....
                It is as if you see a bird on the wing in the sky. It is so beautiful -- the flight, the freedom, the
           space, the sunrays, and the joy of the bird on the wing ... life throbbing, pulsating. You can catch the
           bird, you can put it into a golden cage -- do you think it is the same bird?, the same bird that was on
           the wing when the sun was rising, the same bird fluttering in the strong wind in the vast sky with no
           barriers? Yes, your cage is beautiful, golden; but the bird has no longer the same freedom, it has no
           longer the same beauty, it has no longer the same truth. You have killed everything.
                In a very superficial way it is the same bird because the body is the same, but what about the
           soul? What about the innermost core of the bird? Can it be the same in the cage and in the open sky
           on the wing? This is a little bit delicate, but not beyond intelligence: it is no longer the same bird.
           The same happens to truth.
                The moment you put it into language, the whole freedom, the whole beauty, the whole
           authenticity is gone.
           Truth said is truth dead.
           You are asking what is truth.
                I can show you the way so that you can see what is the truth.
                You cannot see through my eyes; you cannot get a glimpse of it through my words.
                If you are really interested in knowing, then I can show you the path which leads to truth.
           I have been calling that path meditation.
                You be silent -- because truth is your innermost property, your own treasure: not the kingdom of
           God somewhere else in the heavens, but the kingdom of God within you just now, throbbing,
           pulsating -- your heartbeat.
           It is here, but you are not here.
                You have to be brought back home. You have gone too far away from yourself. Perhaps you
           have got lost and you don't know how to come back home. Perhaps you are standing in front of your
           home, but you cannot remember that this is your home.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                I have heard about a drunkard who comes to his home in the middle of the night, but he is so
           drunk, it is a miracle that he reaches his house. Not really a miracle, just an old habit of the body: the
           poor body, simply like a robot, mechanically brings him home. But he cannot recognize that this is
           his home.
                A woman opens the door; she is his mother. He falls at the feet of the old woman and says, "Help
           me, -- my old mother must be waiting for me. Where is my house? Just lead me."
                The mother tries to tell him, "I am your mother. This is your house."
                He says, "Don't be ridiculous. My old mother waits for me without eating, and half the night is
           gone. It happens every day, and every day somebody or other helps me and leads me to my home.
           You be kind enough ... just think of my old mother and help to show me where my house is. I cannot
           figure it out."
                At that very moment another drunkard, a friend, comes staggering along, and he says, "Don't be
           deceived by anybody. I am here, your friend; I will take you to your home. Just hold my hand, hold it
           tight, and I will take you to your home."
                The mother says, "Don't go with that idiot! He is drunk just like you, and wherever he takes you,
           it is not going to be your home. This is your home. The farther he takes you, the farther away you
           will be from your mother and your home."
                All your so-called religious leaders have been taking you away from yourself, towards God.
           God is the longest distance from you.
                If you want a definition of God, that will do: The longest distance from you, the absolute
           distance from you.
                And all the religions are taking you towards God. They are really taking you away from yourself.
           Their whole conditioning is to help you forget yourself. They teach you to remember God, they don't
           teach you to remember yourself.
                They poison people who teach that sort of thing. They poisoned Socrates because he was
           teaching: Know thyself. They wanted him to say: Know the way to God, the way to heaven. It was
           heretical in their eyes to say to people, know thyself. Know God, know anything else, but not
           thyself.
                Now, what crime was Socrates committing? If he was saying to people, "Know thyself," why did
           the religious people of his days become so angry? There is a reason: he was cutting their very roots
           by telling them, "Be yourself, know yourself; then there is no need of any religion, no need of any
           pope, no need of any priest, no need of any mediator between you and God."
           Mediators are needed because God is so far away.
                You cannot see, you cannot conceive .... Somebody else is needed who is capable of seeing God
           -- a prophet, a messiah. He will become your mediator; it is enough for you to know him. Not even
           that, it is enough for you to believe in him, and to believe that he knows God; you just blindly follow
           him.
           And remember, all following is blind.
           There is no other kind.
                I cannot show you anything other than yourself because that is the truth:
           You are the truth.
                And you are asking why people are not interested in it? They are not interested in it because they
           have been conditioned. For centuries they have been continuously conditioned: You are just a sinner,
           you are born in sin. This life is a punishment. You are not of any value, of any worth. There is
           nothing to be searched for within you, you have to look outward. You have to approach some god,
           some truth, which is far away, a long, long journey."
           And the problem is that truth is just within you.
           Truth needs no journey.
           It needs only a remembrance.
                People are not interested in truth because they have been taught not to be interested in
           themselves.
                All the religions are telling you: be unselfish, be interested in others, serve others, love your
           enemy -- even love your neighbor, which is certainly more difficult. But nobody says, "Love
           yourself."
                "Love God" -- I don't know how you are going to love God. You don't know what God looks
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           like. You don't know from where to approach Him, which side is His face. The Indian god has three
           faces; from all the three sides you can approach him. The Hindu god has thousands of hands; you
           can hold any. But where are you going to meet these gods with thousands of hands, three heads ...?
           Just all junk. Nobody knows ....
                A small child was making a drawing. His father asked him, "What are you doing, so absorbed?"
           He said, "I am drawing a picture of God."
                The father said, "A picture of God? But nobody has seen Him, nobody knows how He looks.
           How can you make a picture of God?"
                The child said, "Just wait. Let me finish the picture and everybody will know how He looks." All
           these gods that you know in the temples, in the churches, are the drawings of children, nothing more.
                You have been told to seek and search for something which always takes you away from
           yourself. That's why people are not interested in truth -- because truth is within you, it is you.
                You have been programmed so criminally, such a deep harm has been done to you, that your
           priests, your prophets, your messiahs cannot be forgiven. They have spoiled millions of people's
           lives; just for the sheer joy of being a messiah or a prophet, they have crushed you all.
           I am teaching you to be selfish.
                Let me repeat it, because the word "selfishness" has been condemned so much that there is every
           possibility you will misunderstand me. But the word is really beautiful.
           To be selfish simply means to be yourself.
                I say to you: don't consider anybody else in the world, just consider yourself; and in that very
           consideration you will have considered the whole world. In being selfish you will find all the
           altruism that you have been seeking and seeking and not finding, because the whole thing was upside
           down.
                You are told to love your neighbor -- but you have never loved yourself. And a person who has
           not loved himself, how can he love the neighbor? From where can he get love? First you have to
           have it. You are loving the neighbor -- you who knows nothing of love because you have never
           loved yourself. The neighbor is loving you -- he has never loved himself. Such insanity is happening
           in the world: people who know nothing of love are loving each other.
                It is like beggars begging from each other, each thinking the other is the emperor. Both are
           thinking in the same way: the other is the emperor. Both are beggars. Sooner or later the reality
           manifests itself; then there is misery, suffering. Then you think you have been cheated, this beggar
           has been trying to prove himself an emperor. Now this is absolutely absurd -- it is you who were
           thinking him an emperor. And the same is the situation from the other side: the other person thinks
           you have been cheating him, pretending to be an emperor and you are just a beggar.
                When both beggars find that they are beggars, what else can they do other than be angry,
           enraged, violent to each other, hating each other as deeply as possible? And the love ...? It was
           nothing; they don't know what love is.
           To know anything, you have to begin with yourself.
                Once it happened ... I was sitting by the side of a river, and just a few feet away another man was
           sitting. A small boat in a strong wind turned over, and the man who was in the boat cried loudly,
           "Save me!" -- he was drowning. The man who was sitting just a few feet away from me was closer to
           the man, so he jumped in to save him ... and then both started crying, "Save me!"
                I said, "This is something!" I had to jump in. It was difficult to save two people -- because they
           both were trying to drown me! -- but it was not a long distance from the shore; somehow I carried
           them both. And I told the man who had jumped in to help, "If you don't know swimming you should
           not be so compassionate."
                He said, "But I forgot. Seeing the man drowning I completely forgot that I don't know
           swimming. I realized only when I had jumped into the water, what I had done. But it was too late."
                And I said, "I had to think twice before I jumped, because to save two drowning men is very
           difficult" -- they both try to be on top of you, they are so much afraid of drowning. "It was just
           fortunate that the bank was not far away, so even underwater ...." I remained underwater while
           carrying them to the bank. "Otherwise you would have killed me! You were two, and I was alone." I
           knew swimming but that was of no help because these two persons, both strong, were holding onto
           my neck as tight as possible.
                But during the whole of your life this is happening. You go on forgetting that you don't know
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           what love is. You have never loved yourself, you have never respected yourself, you have never
           considered yourself.
                I teach you to be selfish. Learn swimming first; then perhaps you can save somebody. There is
           no need to go in search of somebody to save.
                That's what the Christian missionary does -- he is in search of people to save. They even
           approach us here -- where everybody is saved! They try to convince sannyasins -- and our
           sannyasins enjoy it tremendously. It is really hilarious: trying to save somebody who is saved! On
           dry land, in a desert, in Oregon, trying to save somebody ...!
                Do you think in this dry creek ... even if you try to kill yourself by drowning, it is impossible.
                Our sannyasins say to them, "We are saved" -- but they don't listen, they go on saying that,
           "Christ is the savior." But this is strange. If a man is not sick why should he enter your hospital, or
           drink your medicine? Isn't anybody allowed to be just healthy?
                No! According to these religions everybody is born sick, and from your very birth they are trying
           to save you. And they have created this world where nobody knows what love is, nobody knows
           what respect is, nobody knows what truth is; nobody knows anything which can make life bliss. Yes,
           everybody knows how to create troubles for himself and for others. Everybody is so skilled in
           creating misery -- and the whole cause is that you have been told to be unselfish. You have been told
           to sacrifice yourself for some idiotic ideal.
           I want you just to be simply selfish.
                And you will be surprised that if you are selfish you discover so many treasures within yourself
           that soon you start sharing them -- because finding a treasure is a lesser joy than sharing it.
                And the treasures that are within you don't follow the ordinary economics and its laws. They are
           just the very opposite, diametrically opposite to the ordinary economic structure.
                In the ordinary economics if you give something, you will have less. If you go on giving, soon
           you will be a beggar. In the ordinary economic world you have to snatch as much from everybody as
           possible then you have more and more and more. The treasures I am talking about to you, follow a
           different law: if you cling to them they shrink, if you cling too much you can even kill them. If you
           want to destroy them, then close all the windows and doors, become a grave so nothing can escape
           outside you -- but you will be a dead man, with all your treasures also dead with you; your truth,
           your freedom, your love, your joy. Everything will be dead with you -- securely dead, well-insured.
                But if you want to grow your treasures, share them, share to all and sundry -- don't bother
           whether this is a friend or a foe. When you are sharing, the question is of sharing, it is not with
           whom. Whomever it may concern, you simply give. Don't be concerned about the address, you
           simply go on sending love letters. Somebody will receive them somewhere. And the more you go on
           sharing, the more goes on entering you from unknown sources. A man is just like a well ....
                It happens in hot countries -- in India, in many places -- that there are only two wells in the
           village: one that belongs to the richest man, in his compound, and the other for everybody, the
           people. Certainly the well of the rich man is deeper, bigger; the people's well is as poor as the people
           are. In summer the people's well will dry out, but they cannot be allowed to use the rich man's well
           because -- this is ordinary economics -- if they go on taking the water from his well, his well will dry
           out too.
                It happened in one village, the rich man was so afraid of his well going dry, that not only did he
           disallow anybody from the town to take water, he disallowed his own family. He simply closed the
           well, locked it.
                His servants brought water from many miles away, from a river. It seemed sane because for three
           years there had been no rain and there was a danger that his well might dry out; even the river was
           becoming thinner and thinner every day. So he was saving his well for the last moment when there
           would be no water anywhere available; at least he would have water in the last moments of the
           summer.
                The river dried out, and he had to open his well. It was full of water, but the water was not
           drinkable anymore, it had become poisoned.
                A well remains drinkable if you go on taking water from it. The more water is taken out, the
           more water from the hidden sources all around the earth goes on coming into the well; fresh water
           goes on coming into it. Because the well was closed there was no need for the fresh water to come
           in, there was no way. So all the sources closed, and the water died; it became poisonous.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The same happens to the person who is afraid of sharing himself. He cannot save his treasures --
           this is not the way to save them, this is the way to destroy them.
               So when I say be selfish, I am really trying to help you to become as unselfish as possible; that's
           the only way.
           Be selfish.
               Find out your truth, your love, your compassion -- all that you have brought into the world with
           your birth.
               And start giving it to those who need, to those who do not need; to those whom you love, to
           those whom you don't love. You should not make any distinctions; only then can you expand. When
           there are no distinctions, no categories, you start expanding.
           And that expansion is the truth;
           That expanding consciousness is the truth.
               And it is right this very moment within you, you have not to go anywhere else.
               But at least let the question be yours so that I can help you to find the answer which will be
           yours.
           My answer is of no help:
           My answer will be only words to you.
               You can make holy scriptures of those words, you can worship those words. That's what
           humanity has been doing for thousands of years. It is time to stop this garbage.
               I want you to find your answer, but that is possible only when you start with your question.
               So ask, "What is truth?" and don't be so insulting to truth that you ask, "Whatsoever it is, why are
           people not interested in it?" Don't shift it to somebody else's shoulders. Say sincerely, "Why am I not
           interested in it?"
               This is not a Sunday sermon. I am not a speaker, a lecturer, an orator. I don't know anything
           about oratory. I am simply talking to you, man to man, human being to human being. It has to be
           immediate, direct.
           I am not somebody sent by God.
           I am just born amongst you, just like you.
               If there is any difference, this is the difference: I began with my own questions. And that's almost
           half the journey finished. The first half is the most difficult, the second half is not so difficult.
           Accept your ignorance.
               In that very acceptance you have taken a wise step; perhaps you have had the first glimpse of
           wisdom.
               Recognize that "I am not interested in truth." In that very recognition there will be a shocking
           realization; perhaps a door that was closed may open in that shock.
           But remember, it is your quest:
           It has to be your question.
           And I do not want to give you any answer.
               I can only show you the way to find your own answer. Truth liberates, but it has to be your own.
               Otherwise, if it is somebody else's, truth binds. Jesus Christ's truth, Mohammed's truth, Buddha's
           truth, have all become prisons. I don't want my truth to become a prison for anybody.
           I want my truth to be an inspiration.
               I want my truth to trigger something in you which is yours.
               My truth simply gives you an assurance that a human being, just like you, can attain to truth.
               That will give you immense respect towards yourself. You will not feel unworthy sinners, that
           somebody has to come to save you -- some Christ, some Buddha has to come, and then you will be
           saved. You don't have to wait for anybody to save you. You are born saved, just a little insight .... If
           my presence can do that, then my work is finished.
           I don't want to become a prison around you.
               I want to become a freedom around you, an open sky around you, not a golden cage -- so that
           you can open your wings and feel the joy of flying higher and higher towards the stars.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                 Chapter #23
                            Chapter title: Our way is of humour our way is of bliss
           24 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503245
              ShortTitle: DARK23
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 107 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE WHAT WE ARE DOING, WHY DON'T THEY JUST LEAVE US ALONE TO
              DO IT?


               There are many reasons for it, and of great importance. First; why do people not like what we are
           doing here? It is none of their concern in fact. We are not doing anything to them. If we are doing
           anything at all, we are doing it to ourselves. Particularly my whole philosophy is selfish,
           self-centered. Why do they not like it?
               There is tremendous fear behind it, because we are doing something they have stood against for
           the whole past history of humanity.
               If we succeed, their whole history, all their religions, culture, civilizations, are proved to be
           wrong.
           Our success is risky.
               Our success is dangerous, it is a challenge -- and not to a single individual, not to a single
           society, not a single religion, but to all that they have been doing; their philosophy, their religion ....
           If you just see the great implication: you are standing against the whole history of man -- your
           success cannot be allowed. Somehow or other they want you to fail; in your failure is their success.
           That's why they are against it. It is a great question -- who is right?
               We are a small commune. On their side is the whole history of man -- millions and millions of
           men, thousands of cultures, civilizations; but they have all lived according to some basic principles
           and we are against those basic principles.
               The trouble arises because they have not succeeded; otherwise they would not have bothered
           about you. If they had succeeded they would have pitied you, they would not have been against you.
           But they have not succeeded, that's where the real trouble lies. They have failed, utterly failed. On
           every single point they have failed, and they cannot allow anybody else to succeed because that
           success will make them a thousandfold miserable.
               Right now at least they have the consolation that "this is the way things happen." There has never
           been real opposition to them. Hindus against Mohammedans -- that is not real opposition; Jews
           against Christianity -- that is not real opposition, because on fundamental points they are all in
           agreement.
               We are in total disagreement on every step, on every single point. This has never happened
           before; naturally, they are freaking out. We can't help that. They are facing a great danger: our
           success will make their whole history a history of stupidity. And we are succeeding. Every day we
           are succeeding, and we are proving to them that they have been wrong.
               And now it is not just an argument. For thirty years I have been arguing; finally I decided that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           just argumentation is not going to help. They have no answer, but argument just disappears into the
           air. It may remain in the books, but it won't transform the whole life of man. It will not make a
           complete break with the past and a totally new beginning, fresh, as if man has arrived on the earth
           for the first time.
                That realization slowly slowly made me decide to create a commune -- a reality, not just an
           argument; a reality which they cannot ignore, not just a philosophy.
                Philosophies -- ninety-nine percent of people remain unaware of them. The one percent who
           become aware are the professional philosophers. Philosophy is any easy-chair affair; you enjoy it but
           gives you no challenge. It became clear to me that I have to translate my argument into a real
           phenomenon or people are not going to be affected by what I am saying. In the first place they
           cannot understand it because their whole past is against it. Their mind is conditioned by the past.
           When they listen to me they cannot listen with an open mind.
                I have seen people listening to me nodding their heads when something is in agreement with
           them, or shaking their heads sideways if something is not in agreement. They are not aware that their
           heads are showing that which is going on within.
                Only with Japanese was I in trouble. They are the rarest people in the whole world. They just do
           the opposite: when they want to say no they say yes! So when I came in contact with a Japanese then
           I was really confused -- what to make of it? In the beginning I thought they were saying yes, but
           what I was asking them ... they were supposed to say no, and they were saying yes. When they were
           supposed to say yes, they were saying no .... Only Japanese do it in a different way.
                Except Japan -- but why did it happen in Japan? -- the whole world nods in the same way. You
           can read their minds just by their facial expressions, their heads nodding, their eyes, their hands,
           even their posture of sitting. When somebody is interested, he leans towards you. When somebody
           simply wants to show his arrogance, he leans away from you.
                Arguments cannot penetrate their thick minds, and they go on becoming thicker and thicker,
           because as time passes more and more dust goes on gathering on the mirror. Now the mirror is
           nowhere to be seen; it is only a thick layer of dust. Still, I tried my best, for the simple reason that I
           am a lazy man. I never wanted to do such a thing as I had to do: create a commune.
                It is easy for me to talk about everything in the world. Whether I know about something or not, it
           does not matter, I don't care at all. I simply enjoy talking. So it is not a question of whether I know
           about it or not, I enjoy in both cases. Talking is easy; that I have done from my very childhood.
                I used to sleep in the room with my grandfather. I asked him, "You always cover your head with
           the blanket, even when it is not so cold ...."
                He said, "It is not a question of the cold, it is you. You tell stories even in your sleep, and you
           talk so relevantly that I become interested."
                It is that old man who gave me also the habit of covering my head, because I said, "This is not
           good, to disturb the old man in the night." Since then, I also sleep with my head covered, so even if I
           start talking nobody is disturbed.
                Talking has been to me just like breathing. That's the only thing I have done in my whole life. So
           I recognized the problem, but it took years for me to collect myself and get involved -- not just to go
           on standing on the bank of the river, talking, talking, while the river goes on flowing without
           listening .... I had to decide that I would jump in and do something, although it was against my
           nature; this flow of the river had to be disturbed.
                So even though I have created communes, I am almost outside the commune. But I have found
           the rarest people in the contemporary world, the very cream, intelligent .... There is no need for me
           to do anything, I just have to give a hint. And sometimes even a hint is not necessary. Everything
           goes on happening exactly the way I would have liked it to happen.
           I can love you but I cannot dictate to you.
                I cannot say to you, "Do this," and I cannot nag you if you don't do it.
           But I have found my people.
                Now it is no longer a question of my two hands; millions of hands are with me around the world.
           They are all my hands. I can now afford to be absolutely lazy.
                And you know that I am lazy. I don't do anything, or I do things which only lazy people like me
           can afford: two hours in the morning taking a bath -- I don't think even Alexander the Great was able
           to afford that -- two hours again in the evening taking a bath. You should one day come and see my
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           bath. Vivek does not allow anybody to enter -- it is enough that she allows me! She is otherwise a
           very strict manager, but she allows me.
                Vivek and Hasya together have made my bath really pleasant, because they must be thinking:
           that two hours this man takes in the morning, and two hours in the evening ... just with the water! So
           now you must see my bathroom; they have arranged so many things there, that two hours are falling
           short. Now I am thinking to start a third bath at night, because two more hours are needed.
                And the remaining time I just sit with closed eyes listening to music -- and mostly I fall asleep, to
           be frank with you, because I have been listening to the same music for thirty years. There is a limit
           to patience too.
                It is strange: as the music starts I start dozing and I wake up immediately as the music stops. I am
           myself surprised; this is something strange, I should be awake when the music is on. I am awake
           before it is put on, and I am immediately awake when it is going to stop; I just hear the last line and
           the first line. But I know the middle so there is no problem in it; nothing, nothing is missed.
                And this is just in the morning. The whole night I have been asleep. And I must be sleeping ...
           just as I finish talking with you, I go to sleep within half an hour. And I sleep up to seven, just
           because there is nothing else to do; sleeping is a great activity. And I cannot believe it, that at seven I
           have got out of bed and by nine, after my bath, listening to the music I am again asleep.
                Up to eleven this goes on with music; then I take my lunch and go to sleep again. And I had to
           tell Vivek, "Remember, I have to go for the two o'clock ride to see my people. So wake me up,
           because I may continue to sleep." I can sleep twenty-four hours -- and not one day, every day. When
           I came from India to here I was completely asleep the whole time. I enjoyed it very much -- such a
           long sleep!
                After the ride I come back ... and again that music. it seems to have something to do with my past
           karmas that I have to listen to the same music again and again ... and I fall asleep again. It is good
           that there is nobody, I am alone. I wake up at four-thirty and again my bathtime ....
                Now do you think this kind of a man can create a revolution? But somehow it is happening.
                People think walking on water is a miracle -- idiots! I just saw last week's STERN magazine.
           They have a cartoon about me. The cartoon has the outlines of Krishnamurti Lake and sannyasins are
           standing on one side, and my Rolls Royce is moving on the lake! One of the sannyasins says, "It
           must be Osho!" That is not much of a miracle.
                What is really happening here is a miracle.
                I do nothing but, I don't know why, you have fallen in love with me.
                I don't deserve it either because I have never done anything; how can I deserve so many people's
           love?
           But your love is doing the miracle.
           You are here for no other reason.
                Sometimes you also must be wondering why you are here. I also wonder why; but love is such a
           thing, that you go on wondering why, and it goes on happening.
                I don't know where your office is, I don't know how your finances are managed. I don't know
           who is doing what. What to say about the commune? -- I don't know even in this house what is going
           on, where my kitchen is; I have not seen it.
                People are afraid because they have never seen love at work. They have tried by force to create
           culture, civilization, by violence, and they have failed.
                Here love is at work. And when love is at work, it attracts intelligence. There is an inner
           attunement between love and intelligence.
                It is not accidental that so many intelligent people from all over the world have become
           interested in me -- who is against everything that they have been brought up to believe in: who is
           against their culture, who is against their country, who is against their religion, who is against their
           parents; who is against even their children who are not born yet, who won't allow them to be born. If
           it were in my power I would not have allowed your parents to be born. It is too late; but your
           children I am not going to allow.
                This is the only place in the whole world where love is doing things; and love never says, it
           never dictates.
                Love is the most mysterious energy in the whole world.
           It makes things happen.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Perhaps love is the very center of all that moves, of all the stars that are moving.
                Scientists are searching for the center; there must be a center to the universe. I am not a scientist
           but I know the center. Let them search, they will never find it, because their very methodology will
           not allow them to find love.
                Love is the center of the whole universe; the suns, the moons, the planets, the stars -- all are
           moving around it. And we have created this small commune on the same existential principle.
                Everybody feels responsible. I don't say to you that you are responsible towards the commune,
           towards me, towards my philosophy; I have never said anything like that.
                But you feel to be responsible because somebody trusts you. Somebody loves you in spite of
           yourself. Somebody accepts you in your totality, as you are.
                I never judge anybody -- love knows no judgment. I don't see that somebody is good and
           somebody is bad. To me you are all one energy, different manifestations, and all are needed to make
           an organic unity.
                Sheela comes again and again to me and says, "These are the topmost workers, ace workers.
           These are second class, these are third class, and these are just to be thrown out."
                I say to her, "You don't understand. If the fourth class disappears you will start thinking of
           throwing out the third class -- naturally, it is a simple logic. If the third class disappears you will start
           throwing out the second class. And if you throw out the second class, how are you going to know the
           ace workers, the first class? They are all one organic whole -- they are all needed."
                The first class needs the second class, they support each other. If the second class disappears the
           first class will be in a limbo, hanging in the air, there will be no support for it. Somebody is needed
           to support it. It is just like a staircase; every step is needed. The lowest step is the support of the
           highest step.
                Don't judge that the lowest is in any way lower as a value. It can be the lowest as a physical
           status but there should be no evaluation involved, it is not "lower". The highest ... that is simply a
           way of measuring things, but it is not higher.
                Nobody is lower and nobody is higher. There many be lower steps and there may be higher steps
           but they are all connected in one symphony.
                Love knows no judgment, that's why love can do miracles.
                What humanity has not been able to do is happening here without anybody doing it. About
           nobody can it be said, "He is doing it." Everybody is involved except me.
                So I am always grateful to you all that you allow me to remain just a guest, and I am grateful to
           the American government that they allow me just to be a tourist. And I hope I will die just as a
           tourist. People have only said that life is a journey; I am going to prove it! It is not only a journey, it
           is a tour, without a visa, without a passport; it is a tour.
                People are afraid because they can see things they have tried so hard to do and they have not
           worked ... and nobody is trying here; still somehow they are working. Three thousand people are
           here ... no management, but some inner feeling keeps you all connected. No fanaticism -- because
           when there is love to connect you, you need not have ugly substitutes for it.
                A fanatic Mohammedan is connected by his fanaticism to other Mohammedans. A fanatic
           Christian is connected by his fanaticism to other fanatic Christians, it is the fanatic element that
           connects them. Here, nobody is a fanatic.
                How can you be a fanatic with a man like me, who takes nothing seriously?
                I have never in my whole life taken anything seriously because I don't see the point, why one
           should take things seriously. Life is really such a joke, so hilarious.
                I have heard of a man who was sitting in a railway station waiting room; sometimes he was
           sitting alone, sometimes there were other passengers also. Sometimes he would gesture as if to throw
           something with his hands. Everybody was interested in what he was doing because there seemed to
           be nothing that he was throwing away. Sometimes he would giggle and sometimes he would even
           laugh. Finally he was driving everybody crazy -- although it was nobody's business. It was his hand;
           if he wants to make some gesture, who are you to be bothered by it? And if he wants to giggle, that is
           his business. And if he wants to laugh ....
                But the whole place became very tense, hot. Only that man was enjoying, with his eyes closed.
           Finally it was too much: one man stood up and he said, "I have to ask, because he is driving us crazy,
           what he is doing." So he shook him and told him, "You are driving the whole waiting room crazy;
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           nobody can take his eyes off you. What are you doing? Why are you giggling? There is nothing
           happening here, on this ugly platform, in this dirty waiting room -- and you laugh?"
                The man said, "It is something ... just an old habit. You need not be worried. I am in the habit of
           telling jokes to myself. When some very old joke that I have told many times comes by, I just shake
           it off: `Get lost again!' And when some juicy one comes, I have to giggle -- although I know the
           joke, it is an old joke, but so juicy that even to hear it a thousand times ... still, I have to go the whole
           way.
                "I know everything that is going to happen in the joke but that doesn't matter, it is so juicy. And
           sometimes the joke is so great that I cannot just giggle, I have to laugh out loud. I know that perhaps
           it may disturb others, but what can I do?"
                I think this man is no one but me; because this is how I have lived my whole life. I have never
           taken anything seriously. This was not a decision on my part; otherwise that decision would have
           become serious. Just looking at life I found it was so humorous, so ridiculous, that if you cannot
           make yourself giggle and laugh you are just an idiot, and missing such a great opportunity.
                People come here, and when they see you working twelve hours a day, fourteen hours a day and
           still laughing and giggling and dancing, they cannot believe it. They have to believe, but they cannot.
           And of course they have to find some explanation -- perhaps you are all hypnotized; perhaps it is all
           just show business, you are just trying to show those idiot spectators your laughter, your dance, your
           song. They think it is just managed for them; once they are gone, you will be crying and hurting all
           over from so much jumping.
                Back home that's what they think, that it was all made up. They write articles, they have written
           books about me, that all my people are trained in such a way that the moment they see any spectators
           immediately they start laughing, singing, dancing, hugging .... They are poor fellows just trying to
           console themselves that this is not for real; otherwise how will they explain to themselves their
           misery, their suffering?
                If it is for real -- if your laughter, your joy, your dance, your song, is for real -- then they have
           missed the train. Then their whole life is nothing but foolishness. And this is too much to accept.
           Only very intelligent people will be able to accept it. And in that very acceptance there will be a
           change, the beginning of a revolution.
                But people are mediocre. Intelligent people are few and far between, they are not all over the
           place. Ninety-nine percent, the crowd, is just mediocre. And with the mediocre mind the problem is,
           how to console oneself?
                You are enjoying so much you don't know how much it hurts those who have never enjoyed.
                You say we are doing our thing, why are they angry, why are they against us? Can't you see a
           simple fact? They are not against you; just be miserable like them, be in suffering, in anguish, and
           they will be very sympathetic to you. They will donate to your commune. All opposition to you will
           disappear. The opposition is for a certain consolation: they want to believe that you are pretending,
           they want to convince themselves and others that this cannot be true. Yes, it may be true in paradise,
           but it cannot be true in Oregon. It is against their whole way of misery.
           Our way is of humor, our way is of bliss.
                We don't care about gods and heaven and theories of karma and hell. We have dropped all that
           crap -- and they are carrying that crap as holy scripture. When they see you so light, and they look at
           themselves carrying mountains of crap .... And you say they should not be angry at you, they should
           not be against you.
                They are crying, and you are laughing. Their hearts are full of wounds, and you are hugging each
           other. This is too much! That's why they are against you. And they will become more and more
           angry, more and more against you because as you become more successful -- which you are going to
           become .... Love knows no failure. Intelligence knows no failure, failure is only for fools.
           Humor knows no failure.
                If a man who has some sense of humor slips on a banana skin and falls down, even he will laugh
           -- he is capable of laughing at himself too. That is a true sense of humor. To laugh at somebody else
           slipping on the banana skin is not much -- anybody can do it, any Tom, Dick, Harry .... I think for the
           first time I am right, and the reason that I am right is because of our poor Harry.
                Last time, when I was told the correct sequence I tried hard -- how to remember it? Then I
           remembered poor Harry. He is the last. And he is a man so simple that he will stand at the last. He
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           will not try to push himself ahead, he will not try to be the first. Whosoever invented the sequence
           must have been a man of tremendous insight, putting our Harry at the last.
               Then it became easy for me: Dick comes in the middle. What can I do? -- it simply comes in the
           middle. And then only Tom is there. And this Tom who is standing first must be the most idiotic
           person.
               Now I think I will not forget the sequence -- but you cannot rely on me, I can forget. The whole
           credit goes to Harry, because he was last; that made things very clear.
               These Toms, Dicks, Harrys ... the world is full of mediocre people who are in great suffering and
           who have no way to get out of it, who cannot conceive that there is any way out. And when they see
           you, that you are out -- when they see the goose is out -- they are naturally offended. They have been
           worshipping in the churches, in the temples, in the mosques, in the synagogues, and God has not
           heard them yet -- and these godless people are living in the lotus paradise!
               They have been doing all the virtuous acts: serving the poor, opening hospitals, schools, doing
           everything that is thought to be good, but it doesn't heal their wounds. It does not change anything in
           their miserable lives. In fact they go on becoming more and more miserable, because slowly slowly
           even the hope that by being virtuous, religious, they will get over this dark night of the soul .... But
           they have done everything that their scriptures prescribe. They have followed all the recipes that
           their priests and so-called wise people have given them. Nothing works. Their hope starts dwindling.
               And then they see you; no prayer, no god, no temple, no synagogue, no church; strange people!
           -- and yet without wounds, yet without tears, yet without any misery.
               I saw an interview: one Oregonian woman was being asked, on the television, "What do you
           think about Osho?" She said, "I hate him! He is not a gentleman. He is not even a Christian!"
               That made me so happy. It was really something great that she said. First she said, "I hate him."
           That's perfectly good because at least she relates with me, she has some relationship with me. And if
           today it is hate, tomorrow it can be love. At least one woman hates me. Do you think that is
           something small? I was thinking that women had forgotten me but at least one women hates me; she
           must be thinking of me.
               I enjoyed it -- because how can you hate me without thinking of me? In fact, how can you hate
           me without loving me? Hate is secondary; you cannot hate directly, first you have to love. It is a
           simple thing: if you want somebody to be your enemy you cannot directly make him your enemy,
           there is no way. First you have to make him your friend; friendship is a necessary bridge if you want
           him to be your enemy. The woman, knowingly or unknowingly, loves me; otherwise from where can
           the hate arise? And the way she said, emphatically, "I hate him ...."
               And the second thing was even more important: "He is not a gentleman." This is true, absolutely
           true. I agree with her. I am not a gentleman because all the gentlemen of your whole history have
           simply dragged you into hell. I am not part of that company.
               And the third thing is even more significant: she said, "He is not even a Christian." I started
           thinking, can somebody be a Christian without being a gentleman? -- because first she says, "He is
           not a gentleman" And then she says, "He is not even a Christian." That simply shows a Christian
           need not be a gentleman. And she is not interested in my being a gentleman. If I were a Christian,
           then gentleman or not, she would not have hated me; I just had to be a Christian.
               But what was she going to gain by my being a Christian? There are millions of Christians, what
           has she gained out of them?
               What is going to be added to her happiness if I am a Christian?
               I am such a non-serious person that if somebody can convince me that my being Christian is
           going to help the poor woman, I will become a Christian. What does it matter? I can be a Christian, I
           can be a Jew, I can be a Hindu ... if it can help some woman. But I don't see that it can help, because
           there are so many Christians already and they are not helpful. And a man who is not even a
           gentleman ....
               But the point is: my not being a Christian and yet being happy, hurts. It is not necessary to be a
           Christian to be happy, it is not necessary to be a Christian to be blissful. It is not necessary to be a
           Christian to be loved by so many people. Christ was not loved by so many people. If he is anywhere
           he must be feeling jealous, just like this woman. He must be saying, "I hate this man. He is not a
           gentleman, he is not even a Christian!"
               But even if the whole world hates me that makes no difference to me. I will remain just as
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           blissful as I am. This is what troubles them.
                Jesus was not a happy man. Have you seen any of Jesus' pictures, statues, where he looks
           smiling, happy, blissful? No, he always looks tortured, he always looks to be on the cross. He was
           not always on the cross because for thirty-three years he lived without being on the cross. What was
           this man doing for thirty-three years?
                In the Christian gospels there is not a single reference that he laughed, that he smiled, that he
           joked. No, he is always serious, he is always with a long face. And it seems if Jews had not crucified
           him it would not have made any difference; he himself was always on the cross -- the Jews simply
           fulfilled his desire. They said, "Okay, if you are going to remain this way let us fulfill your desire.
           Once and for all be finished" -- because even before his crucifixion he was telling his disciples,
           "Each one has to carry his cross."
                Why a cross? Why not a flute? or a guitar? "Everyone has to carry his own guitar ...." That is
           natural -- you cannot play on somebody else's guitar, two persons cannot play on one flute. You may
           even be lovers, that does not matter; you cannot play on the same flute together, simultaneously. You
           have to carry your flute yourself.
                But Jesus chooses the cross. In this whole world he could not find anything else to carry! This
           man must have been utterly miserable. My feeling is the Jews finally got fed up with his misery.
           They said, "This man is not going to change. This man is never going to be satisfied unless he is
           crucified."
                He had not gathered intelligent people around him. Those who had come were very mediocre,
           below average. They were also miserable. They had come in the hope that with him ... he is the son
           of God, so "one day, when we reach the kingdom of God, the world of bliss, he is going to be
           helpful." They had gathered around him, in deep misery, with a hope ....
                All miserable people go on living, tolerating misery because they have a hallucination of hope
           somewhere: "Today is bad, yesterday was bad, but tomorrow? -- things are going to change. And we
           are with the messiah, we are with the only begotten son of God. Tomorrow things are going to be
           different."
                Jesus' disciples were again and again asking him, "How long will it take?" You can understand it
           -- the same way a patient asks the doctor in the hospital, "How long will it take? How much longer
           do I have to remain in the hospital?" And the doctor goes on saying, "Soon you will be released."
           But his face says something else. He has not even courage enough to look eye to eye with the
           patient. The doctor goes on saying to the patient, "Soon you will be all right," and goes on looking at
           the chart of the patient's disease; and his face goes on becoming sadder and sadder because the
           patient's health is falling every day.
                The doctor cannot say that to the patient. He has to say, "You will be okay, soon you will be
           okay." But the patient can see the face of the doctor. He can see the eyes, that the doctor is avoiding
           him. He can see the silence on the face of the nurse. He cannot believe what he is being told, because
           there is much more, tangibly present, which says his time is limited, his days are finished. But yet he
           goes on asking; and knowing perfectly well that the doctor's face is saying something else, he goes
           on believing what he says -- knowing it is not true. But he wants it to be true.
                Those disciples of Jesus knew perfectly well, deep down, that this whole paradise is just a
           mirage. Yes, it is helpful for the time being, it helps them to tolerate misery. They want to believe in
           it, that it is true. That's why religious people become fanatics.
                What is fanaticism? Have you looked into it? The fanatic person is saying he knows perfectly
           well that what he believes is not true. That's why he shouts loudly that it is true, and the only truth.
           He is not shouting at you, he is shouting against his own still, small voice. He wants to drown that
           voice in his shouting. But he knows perfectly well it is not true.
                When such people see you, you can understand how much it hurts that, for a few people it is
           really true, and true now.
                Nobody here is asking about paradise, nobody is asking about life after death, nobody is asking
           about God and how to find Him. Nobody is bothered by all this.
                This shows something so glaringly -- that you are happy where you are, as you are.
           You are not bothered about the future.
                You are not hoping, because you are not miserable. You are not fanatic, because you don't have
           any belief. You are simply living sincerely, honestly, totally; and for whatever small joys this life
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           provides, you are grateful to it. You don't ask for more.
               Once you ask for more you become miserable. Hence all the religions have been telling you,
           "Ask for less." But that is not going to help. It is the same logic, the same line, the same continuity:
           seeing that asking for more creates misery, ask for less. But you are simply reacting. Nothing will be
           changed in your consciousness because you will ask again for less, for more less; the more will come
           back. All your monks are doing that; they start by asking for less, but then it becomes for more less.
           The "more" never leaves you -- and more is misery.
               In fact, more or less, the moment you ask, you ask for misery.
               The people who are blissful simply don't ask. They live, and they thank existence; they don't ask
           either for more or for less. They don't make any demands on existence, that is ugly. They simply
           drop demanding.
               And the miracle of life is that the moment you don't demand, the whole existence is yours; all its
           joys and beauties are yours -- and the people surrounding you can see it.
               So don't be disturbed because they are angry. Why shouldn't they be? But if they are intelligent
           they should be angry with themselves their society, their culture and their religion, their history and
           their past. But if they are idiots they will be angry against you. Now, if they are idiots what can I do?
           What can you do? Let them enjoy their anger, hate. But they are simply punishing themselves.
           This is one of the fundamentals of life:
               If you hate, you punish yourself. If you are angry you punish yourself.
               If you are loving, you reward yourself. If you are happy, you create possibilities for more
           happiness.
               They have a saying that money attracts money. It is true. It is true on other levels of life too.
           Happiness attracts happiness.
           Lovingness attracts more love.
           Blissfulness attracts more bliss.
               Giggle, and soon you will be laughing. Just try to move your hands and legs and soon you will be
           dancing -- what else to do? I see it happen every day during the drive-by. First people just try,
           because it is so much against their upbringing. But then they see that others are also doing it; they
           look to both sides, people are doing it. Against themselves, reluctantly, they start moving a little bit
           -- and soon they are dancing.
               One old man is there: at first he used to just stand. I went on watching him, what happens. He is
           old, has a thick past, but by and by he started moving. One day I saw -- he had brought a flute, but he
           was keeping the flute under his arm. Then he started playing the flute. Then he started dancing and
           playing on the flute, together.
               And today he was just dancing with the flute above his head, in his hand; he had dropped
           everything. He had forgotten he is old; he forgot that he is not supposed to do such a thing -- and he
           was so happy! Just to see his face ... it was a beautiful moment. He again became a child, again the
           same innocence was in his eyes.
               So those outside the commune who are intelligent are sooner or later going to be part of you.
           And it is good that idiots remain against us because that is a great safety: they will never enter.
               To me it is of great significance that idiots don't get interested in me. They get angry at me, that's
           very good. And I try my best to keep them angry, hating me, against me, because I don't want them
           to be here. I don't want this place to turn into a commune of idiots.
               Sometimes an idiot comes by accident. But soon he escapes, it is too much for him, to look so
           high. He has always crawled on the earth; he is a creature who, by some accident, started walking on
           two legs. He should be walking on all fours -- that's where he belongs. I am not interested in that
           kind of people. And of course they are the majority -- so I am not interested in the majority.
               I am perfectly happy that they are angry. Please keep them angry. And I will go on doing things
           so that they will remain angry and will not come in. We are not afraid of people going out. Those
           who go out we are very happy, relieved of a burden. We are worried about people coming in, people
           who cannot really belong to an intelligent, loving, responsible commune.
               I want you to be just the chosen few, because if the chosen few are really transformed, that will
           be the only proof for the millions -- no other argument can convince them. That will be the only
           possibility for their mutation.
               So my interest is not in the mob, in the crowd. My interest is in a few individuals -- and I have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           found them. That's why I stopped traveling. I had a certain number in my mind, and when that
           number was complete I stopped traveling. I have taken account how many of them will fall out;
           those who remain, that is my number, and they are going to become a magnetic force. They will
           attract new generations immensely.
               You are going to become the world's most significant people because there is no other
           alternative. All other ways are finished. This is the only living way arriving right now.
               This is the birth of a new man that you are witnessing. You should rejoice that you are
           witnessing something which is going to be the most significant factor in human history, which is
           going to divide the past and the future.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #24
                              Chapter title: The third alternative: the whole man
           25 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503255
              ShortTitle: DARK24
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 87 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY THAT TRIBES WHICH ARE NOT SEX-REPRESSIVE REMAIN POOR,
              AND SOCIETIES WHICH ARE SEX-REPRESSIVE BECOME RICH AND CREATIVE. OSHO, YOUR
              COMMUNES ARE NOT SEX-REPRESSIVE AND YET THEY ARE RICH AND CREATIVE. CAN YOU
              COMMENT?


                It is one of the most sensitive areas of life because it is concerned with the very life force -- sex.
           The word has become too condemned. The reason sex became condemned was because all the
           religions had to be against everything that man can enjoy. It was their vested interest to keep man
           miserable, to destroy every possibility of his finding some kind of peace, solace, a moment of oasis
           in the desert. This was absolutely necessary for religions, that man be made completely devoid of
           any possibility, of any potentiality for rejoicing.
                Why was it so important for them? It was important because they wanted to shift you, your mind,
           somewhere else -- towards the other world. If you are really happy here, why should you be bothered
           about the other world? Your misery is absolutely needed for the other world to exist. It does not exist
           in itself; it exists in your misery, in your suffering, in your anguish.
                All the religions have been doing that harm to you. They are creating more misery, more
           suffering, more wounds, more hatred, anger -- and all in the name of God, all in the name of
           beautiful words.
                They talk about love and they destroy every possibility of your ever being in love.
                They talk about peace and create every situation for war.
                The strategy is very simple -- go on talking about beautiful things, keep people engaged in
           words, ideologies; and while they are engaged in words and ideologies, philosophies, go on cutting
           their roots from the soil, from the life energy.
           And your life energy is rooted in your sex.
                All the societies became aware of the fact that it is only sex that can stand against God. If your
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           sex is fulfilled your don't need God, because your life is fulfilled. Then God is just Godot. But if
           your sex is destroyed, repressed, condemned, if you are made to feel guilty about it, then God can go
           on living forever. He derives His energy through your suicide.
               Yes, I have said somewhere that sex-repressive societies have become civilized, cultured, richer,
           philosophical, scientific. They developed in all possible ways. Sex-expressive societies -- which are
           very few now; the aboriginals are poor, they are uncultured, uncivilized. They have not evolved the
           way sex-repressive societies have evolved.
               This gave a great impetus to religious stupidity -- because religion could prove on a basis in
           reality, that the societies that have been sex-expressive have remained poor, starving, hungry. And
           the sex-repressive societies have evolved in every possible way.
               The more sex repression, the higher becomes your cultural development. This became a proof for
           religions that sex repression is something absolutely needed; otherwise you will be simply
           barbarians. And in a way it is true, factually true. Hence, naturally, the question arises.
               I am not against sex. To me sex is as sacred as everything in life.
           There is nothing profane, nothing sacred.
           Life is one -- all divisions are false.
               And sex is the very center of life. So you have to understand what has been happening down the
           centuries. The moment you repress sex, your energy starts finding new ways to express itself. Energy
           cannot remain static. This is something of a fundamental law: energy cannot remain static, it is
           always dynamic, it is dynamism. If you force it, and close one door upon it, it will open other doors;
           but you cannot keep it in bondage. If the natural flow of the energy is prevented, then it will flow in
           some unnatural way. That is why sex-repressive societies became richer.
               When you repress sex you have to substitute something for your love, some object. Now the
           woman is dangerous, she is the way to hell. Because all the scriptures have been written by men, it is
           only the woman who is the way to hell. What about men?
               I have been telling Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, that if woman is the way to hell, then
           only men can go to hell; women can never go. The way always remains wherever it is, it never goes
           anywhere. People go on the way. We say that this way goes to that place, but that is a linguistic
           fallacy: the way never goes anywhere, it simply lies down there. People go. So if women are the way
           to hell, then hell must be full of only men. It will be just a male-chauvinist club.
               Woman is not the way to hell, but once your mind is conditioned in that way, you are going to
           project the woman into something else; you need an object for your love. Money can become your
           object of love.
               Why is there so much greed? Why are people clinging to money like crazy? It is their love
           object. Somehow they have managed to move their whole life energy towards money. Now you want
           them even to drop money; again they will be in trouble.
               Politics becomes their love object. Rising higher and higher in the political bureaucracy becomes
           their love object. The politician looks towards the presidentship, the prime ministership, with the
           same lust as a lover looks to his or her beloved. This is perversion. Somebody may become directed
           into other ways, such as education; then books become his love object.
               Somebody may become religious; then God becomes his love object. And if you look into the
           lives of your so-called saints you will be really puzzled. I am always surprised why a man like
           Sigmund Freud missed this point. He should have looked into the lives of Saint Teresa, Saint Meera
           and other women saints first, because women are more straightforward.
               Meera's songs are full of lust, because she denied herself the company of men; God became her
           only companion. Of course it is just a fantasy, but in her fantasy she is absolutely romantic. She talks
           to Krishna, her God; she sleeps with Krishna -- of course she cannot find the real Krishna so she
           keeps a statue of Krishna close to her heart when she sleeps.
               The way she sings about Krishna can, without any interpretation, be easily understood as sexual
           perversion. She says, "I am married to you, my lord. I can only be yours, I cannot be anyone else's.
           You are my heart, and I am waiting for you, waiting for you. And I will wait till eternity."
               The word she uses -- because in India when a couple gets married, the first night .... In India
           there is no honeymoon as such. Instead of a honeymoon is the first night. It is called suhagrat `the
           night of bliss'. The wife prepares the bed with beautiful flowers, roses, bela -- and there are
           thousands of beautiful flowers in the East. She hangs garlands all around, she almost covers herself
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           with flowers. That night, gold is worth nothing; the fragrance of the flowers is the most valuable.
           She prepares the bed and waits for her husband to come in.
                Meera goes on singing the same thing: "I have been preparing the bed every day with beautiful
           flowers, and I go on waiting and you have not come yet." Now, is there any doubt that in her mind
           Krishna has become just an object of love? She cries, she weeps, she sings, she dances, but it is
           always in the name of Krishna. Sigmund Freud would have found tremendous support, from Meera
           and her songs and her life, for his idea that if you repress sex it takes some other path.
                But energy has to move. It can take a religious way; then the priests are happy. It can become
           academic; then the academicians are happy. It can become scientific; then the scientists are happy. It
           has to become something -- that's why sex-repressive societies have developed in so many directions.
           Yes, they have become very cultured, polished, civilized, educated, scientific, technological. But at
           what cost?
                They have lost all joy. They have lost all peace. They have lost all silence. They have lost all
           love.
                You can project your love towards an imaginary object but it is not going to give you fulfillment.
           You can go on writing poetry about Krishna or Christ, but that poetry is not going to give you the
           experience of love. You will remain starved. So the society has become really rich in every possible
           way -- but the individual has died. And what is the point of the society becoming cultured, civilized,
           educated, technological? For whom?
           The individual is dead.
                This society is nothing but corpses walking all around -- of course very culturally: corpses, but
           very polished. They all speak English with an Oxford accent. But corpses, even if they speak with an
           Oxford accent, are still corpses. They become great politicians, they become great religious leaders,
           but just look inside those people: they are hollow. There is no substance inside, there is no soul. If
           they get defeated in one direction, then they start moving in another direction.
                Just now I was reading one statement of an ex-president of America, Ford. In a meeting which
           was called by Governor Atiyeh of Oregon, Ford said that religion and state should not be separate,
           cannot be separate: this separation is unnatural. Without religion you cannot help man. This is the
           defeated politician who is now trying to be religious. He never said such a thing when he was
           president.
                He should remember that he was never really a president of America, it was just accidental; he
           was chosen by Nixon as his vice-president. Now a man chosen by Nixon ... can you think of him
           becoming holy, religious? But because Nixon had to leave, Ford became the president. And then he
           got it into his head that he was somebody important.
                He was nothing; he was just a puppet in the hands of Nixon. And to be a puppet in the hands of
           somebody like Nixon is to be nothing but a criminal. But because he became president for two years
           he started thinking that now he could be elected -- and he could not be elected, he had no guts. I have
           seen a few of his pictures when some attempts on his life were made. You can see by his face ... I
           have never seen anybody so afraid. He is so much afraid of death, such a coward.
                And when he got defeated .... Now he is taking a different direction. Now he knows politics is
           not for him; that door is closed. He is talking of bringing religion and state together. I am surprised;
           Governor Atiyeh silently listened to it, the party was given by Governor Atiyeh. And we are being
           dragged into the court for the simple reason that we believe, and we experience, that in life nothing
           can be separated.
           Life is an organic unity.
                If religiousness has any reality you cannot leave it at home when you go to the office. Then it is
           not a real thing, if you can leave it at home. Then it is something separate, a thing; it has no life. You
           cannot leave your heart at home. Wherever you go your heart will be with you, beating.
           Religion is your heart -- how can you leave it?
                Love is your very being -- how can you leave it? Wherever you are, you will breathe, your heart
           will beat. Everything is absolutely organic, united, one.
                But from Ford these words don't mean anything. The same energy that was moving into politics
           now wants to become holier, to play another game -- the game of religion. And Atiyeh must have
           listened silently because soon he is going to be retired too. It is better to keep silent because after a
           few months he will have to be religious too.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Religion is for all kinds of retired people.
               We are the only people in the whole world who are young and in religion, who are alive and in
           religion.
           Our religion is not something posthumous.
               The society that did not repress sex naturally remained undeveloped for the simple reason that
           they were contented. There was no energy available to go after money, to go after politics, to go after
           God. No, they danced, they sang; they had a small but beautiful architecture -- huts, but made
           beautifully. They lived a very clean life; there was no crime because there was no energy for crime.
               And now you have to understand how the things are related. When there is no crime what is the
           need of a judge, what is the need of a court, what is the need of the cops? When everybody is happy
           and enjoying and is not feeling guilty for being happy, why should he go to a Catholic priest to
           confess that "I am feeling guilty."
               I have heard .... A woman went to confess and she said, "I have been raped."
               The priest said, "But if you have been raped, you have not committed any crime. The person who
           has raped, he should come to confess."
               The woman said, "I know. but I did not resist -- that's why I am feeling guilty. I did not resist."
           The priest asked, "When did it happen?"
           She said, "Last night -- three times."
           The priest said, "What kind of rape is this!"
               The woman said, "That's why I have come to confess. The first time I was a little afraid; the next
           time I really enjoyed it, and the third time it was fantastic."
           The next week she came again.
           The priest said, "What! Have you been raped again?"
               She said, "Not again. I have come to confess about the same old night."
               The priest said, "You are strange -- you have confessed it already."
               She said, "But I even enjoyed confessing it -- now that makes me feel guilty. I want to say it
           again. Please forgive me but ...."
               When people are happy and don't feel guilty because nobody has told them that happiness is sin,
           naturally there will be no priests, no cathedrals, no temples, no synagogues. That is why there is no
           culture -- in your eyes. What you understand as culture is not there: of course they are uncultured.
           They don't have a religion, they don't have holy books, they don't have universities, they don't have
           libraries -- how can they be called cultured, how can they be called civilized?
           But they are immensely contented.
               I have lived with these people and I have never heard them complain about anything. They have
           no problems as such. They accept life as it comes, and they enjoy it as much as they can. They live
           joyously, they die joyously -- without any fear in life nor any fear about what will happen after
           death. They don't care, there is no energy for all these things. Yes, they don't produce a George
           Bernard Shaw. Their life itself is such a beautiful drama, there is no need for a George Bernard
           Shaw.
               George Bernard Shaw himself was not a happy man. He may have written great dramas; his life
           itself was very poor. The woman he wanted to love refused him. She was one of the most beautiful
           women of the past century -- Annie Besant. Not only was she beautiful, she was very intelligent and
           had a charisma of her own. She became the world president of the Theosophical movement.
               She didn't care about George Bernard Shaw, and the wound went deep. Refusal from a woman ...
           George Bernard Shaw became a great writer. Why? -- because Annie Besant was a great writer,
           Annie Besant was a great orator. You can see the logic: refused by the woman, George Bernard
           Shaw tried to prove himself, became a celebrity, a Nobel prize-winner. He wanted Annie Besant to
           feel that she had missed a beautiful man. But she never bothered about him, and the hurt went very
           deep.
               He went on producing dramas, he wrote more dramas than anybody else in the whole world --
           one hundred dramas. His life was spent in writing dramas, but his life was not a drama, there was no
           drama in it.
               Now, the question is: who is civilized? -- the people who write dramas, paint paintings, compose
           music, or the people who live a very simple, poor life, but with tremendous joy?
               Yes, they also paint, but their painting is not that of a Picasso; they don't have energy for that.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           They just paint small things on their small houses. They also create music, but their music is simple
           -- simple drums. Once in a while they gather together; they dance, they have flutes, bamboo flutes.
           Their musical instruments are not sophisticated, they cannot produce Yehudi Menuhin or Ravi
           Shankar; there is no need. Ravi Shankar can play so beautifully on the sitar, but what about his life?
           Nobody bothers about his life.
                I know his wife. He married a very beautiful woman, the daughter of his own master who taught
           him music. He fell in love .... Because he used to live with his master, he fell in love with the
           master's daughter, who is as great a musician as he is. But he could not manage to live together in
           love.
                He had ambitions -- and that woman is as great a musician as Ravi Shankar, perhaps better, but
           she has no ambitions. She is utterly fulfilled in playing on the sitar for herself. Once in a while a
           friend comes and sits, that is another matter. But she has never given a public performance: to her
           that is prostitution.
                Now their ways have separated. Ravi Shankar wanted to become a world figure, world famous.
           The woman was not interested in fame. He had become world famous, but his life is utterly empty.
           he still loves that woman but he cannot manage to be with her. He does not know -- no ambitious
           man knows -- how to love. Ambition takes all his energy away. Love remains starving; energy is not
           available for love, it has been all invested in ambition. Ambition has become the parasite.
                So one thing to be understood: these sex-repressive societies became very cultured, very
           civilized, very rich, very scientific, but at what cost? They died, they are no longer alive.
                My problem is, I want you to be alive and yet as rich in every dimension as possible.
                I am not ready to choose between these two, either/or. I would not like you to be aboriginals. I
           would not like you to become very civilized, cultured, running after money and power and prestige. I
           would not like you to become politicians, priests. But I would like you to have a fuller life. And
           anything that develops out of a fuller life, to me that is true culture.
                Aboriginals live a life that is full, but not overflowing. The civilized societies of the world have
           all kinds of developments -- but the man for whom they have been developing these things has
           disappeared long ago. They go on making skyscrapers; they have completely forgotten for whom
           they are making these skyscrapers. That man is dead -- you should make, rather, small graves, not
           skyscrapers. Nobody needs graves that tall; just six feet long and two feet deep will do.
                So on one hand are the aboriginals -- alive but not overflowingly alive. They don't know that life
           energy can shrink, can expand. You can use it as it is available from nature -- and you can be
           contented -- but you will remain poor in many ways. You will not know flights of music. You will
           not know flights of painting and sculpture; you will not know flights of meditation. You will live
           almost like animals -- contented.
                All animals are contented. Have you seen any animals discontented, bothering you, saying, "My
           life is just a misery -- can you help me? What am I supposed to do with my wife? And the children
           are growing up ...." No, there are no problems for them. They are living, and living far better than
           your civilized man, because your civilized man has ceased living. He sacrificed himself for
           civilization, culture, technology.
           I cannot choose between these two.
                I would like you to rise higher than the animals; and the only way to rise higher than the animals
           is to find ways to expand your energy.
           And that's what I call religion:
                The science of expanding energy, so that you have so much energy that you can be a Zorba and
           yet so much is left that you can be a Buddha too, together, simultaneously.
                Zorba is alive but knows nothing of higher flights. he is happy crawling on the earth, while he is
           capable of opening his wings -- but he is not aware of that.
                His boss is a cultured man, very educated, fish -- but miserable, continuously in anxiety. Zorba
           says to his boss, "Boss, only one thing is wrong with you: you think too much. Why not live? I don't
           see the point -- why go on thinking? What are you going to get out of it? Live! Come with me!"
                He takes his musical instrument, drags his boss to the bank of the river where they live, and starts
           playing on his instrument, starts dancing. And the boss is standing there, embarrassed: If somebody
           sees this crazy man, and I am here standing with him, what will he think? He is not dancing but he is
           afraid that if somebody sees him there .... Zorba pulls him up and he says, "Start dancing!"
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           The boss says, "I don't know dancing."
           Zorba says, "Nobody needs to know dancing.
                Dancing is not something that you have to learn. Just start jumping, it will come. And I will give
           you the music -- you simply start."
                Seeing that the man is not going to leave him, he starts moving, and Zorba goes on pushing him.
           And finally on that full-moon night he forgets completely about his culture, education, civilization --
           and for the first time he realizes he can also live, he can also dance; his legs are not meant just to
           walk. He has wings, Zorba teaches him something of the earth.
                I feel sorry for Zorba, sorry because he died before I could meet him; otherwise I would have
           taught him that there is a higher dance too. And I am certain -- I don't know why but I am absolutely
           certain he would have understood. Because he has known the lower steps, he could have understood
           the possibility of higher steps.
                I would have made him a Buddha. That is what I am doing here for you.
                You come here either an aboriginal, or -- which is far worse -- a civilized man. Once in a while,
           yes, a Zorba also comes. This Patipada sitting here -- she is a Zorba. Once in a while .... There are
           many Zorbas here who are learning to rise above, who are moving higher, touching the fringes of
           buddhahood.
                My methods of meditation are the ways that will make you expand your energy. Energy is like
           seeds ....
                I am reminded of a story. An old man, very rich, was puzzled because he had three sons; the
           problem was that all three sons were born simultaneously, their age was the same. Otherwise, in the
           East, the eldest son, inherits. The problem for the old man was who was going to inherit, because all
           these three were of the same age.
                He asked a wise man, "What should I do? How should I decide who should inherit?" The old
           wise man gave him a certain method. The old man went home, he gave one thousand silver pieces to
           each son and told them, "Go to the market, purchase seeds of flowers."
                They went, they purchased seeds. Carts and carts came, full of seeds, because one thousand
           silver pieces in ancient days was big money, and just flower seeds .... When all the flower seeds had
           come, all that the three had bought, they said, "Now?"
                Their father said, "I am going on a pilgrimage. It may take one year, two years, three years. You
           have to keep these seeds with you, and when I come back I will ask for the seeds to be given to me.
           And this is going to be a test also, because whosoever proves wise will inherit my whole property, so
           be careful." He went on the pilgrimage.
                The first son thought, "This is a strange test. If he comes after three years ... these seeds will
           simply die, and he will ask for the living seeds. So the best way is to sell them in the market, keep
           the money, and when he comes back purchase new seeds again -- fresh, young." Very economical,
           mathematical -- he did that.
                The second son thought, "What this brother is doing is not right, does not seem to be right,
           because our father emphatically said, `These same seeds I would like to be returned.' So I will keep
           these seeds." He made arrangements in the basement of the house, put all the seeds there, locked it,
           and said, "Now whenever he comes I will give him the key and say, `These are the seeds.'"
                But the third one had a different idea. He said, "Seeds kept in a basement will not remain alive;
           they need soil. By the time our father returns they will not be the same seeds because they will be
           dead. They cannot sprout -- how can you call them the same seeds? The seeds that our father has
           given us can sprout, can become trees. One seed can produce millions of seeds; that is what he has
           given. And when he comes after three years those seeds will not be able to produce a single seed, a
           single sprout. This is not the way."
                He went behind their house -- they had much land -- and he sowed the seeds all over the land.
           Each year they became a thousandfold more. After three years when the father came, he could not
           believe his eyes -- as far as he could see his whole land was full of flowers! He asked the other sons
           .... They had certainly failed the test. He said, "The third son inherits my property because he knows
           how to expand, how to increase."
           One seed can make a whole earth green.
                One small sparkle or energy in you can fill the whole earth with dance, song, music.
           Just a little sparkle is enough.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                If you know how to expand it, it can become a wildfire.
           It may be just a little flame within you.
                Meditation is nothing but an effort to expand your inner flame so that you can become afire,
           aflame, aglow, overflowing.
                The there will be a science, but totally different than the science that has been produced by
           repressed sexuality. There will be a qualitative change. This science is destructive because it has
           come out of perversion; it is perverted sexual energy which has become nuclear energy. When it
           comes out of meditation, overflowing love, it will be creative science -- a totally different science
           which we are not even aware of.
                This whole scientific project has to be dropped because it is bringing you closer and closer to
           death. Anything that goes against sex will bring death closer to you, because sex is life.
                You see paintings by Picasso. Looking at his paintings you will feel -- not peace, silence, joy, no.
           Looking at his paintings you will feel anguish, worry, a trembling, a fear, because those paintings are
           out of repressed sex. Those paintings cannot be life-affirmative. Looking at Picasso's paintings you
           will see the world of a madman. He is insane. He is a genius -- that does not matter. You can be a
           genius and yet you can be mad.
                In fact it is easier to be mad when you are a genius. Mediocre people cannot afford to be mad,
           they are so mediocre, so middle-class. Insanity happens only when you are at the extreme. Only from
           the extreme can you see the abyss which drives you insane, which drives Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh
           and all the other great painters of this century mad. And this is true not only about painting. The
           same is true about your dancers, jazz music -- do you think it is music? Music has some spiritual
           quality to it; jazz is simply insanity. But repressed sexuality is bound to produce these developments.
                Jean-Paul Sartre or Marcel or Jaspers -- great writers, but what are they writing? They are
           writing about the meaninglessness of life; that life is accidental, that it does not matter whether you
           live or you die, it does not matter whether you commit suicide or murder. It doesn't matter because
           life is accidental, it has no meaning. Great writers, but what they are writing is just spreading their
           insanity into other people's minds.
                My people have to keep the innocence of the Zorbas, of the children, of the aboriginals. They
           have to be as innocent as Adam was when he was turned out of the garden of Eden.
                And yet they have to learn methods of expanding the seed of consciousness in them to such a
           luxurious growth, that as far as you can see, you can see only yourself flowering. You can feel your
           fragrance twenty-four hours a day; and not only can you feel it, you cannot help it: you will have to
           share it. Whether you want to or not, that does not matter.
                When a roseflower opens, the fragrance starts spreading. It does not ask the permission of the
           roseflower, there is no need. The very opening of the roseflower is the permission for the fragrance
           to spread to all the directions, to all the winds.
                The moment your consciousness flowers in meditation there is a tremendous explosion.
                Yes, you will have music, but it will have a spiritual quality to it.
                You will have dance, but your dance will not be sexual. The repressed society has many kinds of
           dances but they are all sexual, perverted sex.
                You will have poetry, but your poetry will not be just unsatisfied sexual lust. It will be a fulfilled
           love. Your poetry will become like the mantras of the UPANISHADS. Each word coming out of
           your fulfillment will catch something of what I call godliness.
                You will have a science which will be creative, helpful to life.
                You will have everything -- but with a different quality.
                Up to now those two societies have existed. We are not going to be either of them.
                We are the third alternative -- for the first time proposed in the world.
                Nobody has ever dared to think of man as Zorba the Buddha. Neither Zorba had any idea of
           Buddha nor Buddha had any idea of Zorba. Both are half.
           I want you to be the whole man.
           To me the whole man is the only holy man there is.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                 Chapter #25
                            Chapter title: The bell always tolls for somebody else
           26 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503265
              ShortTitle: DARK25
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 120 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I KNOW IT IS CERTAIN THAT ONE DAY I AM GOING TO DIE, BUT I DON'T FEEL ANY FEAR --
              WHY?


                It is not something exceptional, it is almost the rule. Nobody is afraid of death; otherwise living
           will become impossible. There is a natural safety measure, and that is something of a very basic
           nature to be understood.
                You know that it is always the other who dies, never you. It is always somebody else, but never
           you. That gives an unconscious foundation for the hope that perhaps you are the exception,
           everybody dies except you.
                That's why you don't feel fear. Nature does not want you to feel fear of death for the simple
           reason that if fear of death becomes overwhelming, you will not be able to live. Life can be lived
           only if somehow you can go on believing that you are going to be here forever. Things will change,
           people will die, but you will remain outside all this change. And it is based on your experience.
                The poet says: "Never ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." But when it tolls for thee,
           you are not there to hear it, that's the trouble. I say to you, it always tolls for somebody else, that's
           why you can hear it. The poet does not know the deeper realms of human consciousness. In a way he
           is saying a truth. Yes, it tolls for thee. But you are hearing it ....
                You can understand the implication, but that implication will not create fear in you. I can say for
           certain that even the poet who wrote that was not afraid of death. Even he, hearing the bell tolling,
           would not have thought that it is tolling for him. It is always for somebody else. It is always for the
           other. So this is one fundamental thing: you are not an exception, you are just the rule.
                But I have to go deep into your question. It has many layers you may not be aware of. You say,
           "It is certain that I am going to die one day." On what grounds do you say it is certain? Have you
           seen anything in life as a certainty? Life is a flux, nothing is certain. Everything goes on moving in
           new directions, unpredictable; you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow.
           Talking of certainty is absurd.
                A conscious man will never talk about certainty. A life is just a perhaps, it is never a certainty.
                I can understand when you say, "I am certain that one day I am going to die." I know what you
           mean. But you don't know what you mean. It is only an inference, not a certainty. You have seen
           people dying; your grandfather died, your father died, neighbors died, teachers, your professors --
           people go on dying. You are also one of the members of this dying queue, and the queue is moving.
           Each time somebody dies you have to move a little closer. You don't know where you are moving,
           but one thing is certain: whoever moves, it is when somebody dies. Every step in this queue brings
           you closer to death. But it is an inference. Have you really seen a man die? You will say yes. Almost
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           everybody has seen somebody die. But I say to you emphatically, you have not seen a single man
           die. You have seen only a man stopping breathing, his heart stopping beating, his pulse disappearing.
           Yes, you have seen this. And the medical profession will say that the man is dead. But now even the
           medical profession is not so certain as it used to be.
                There are at least ten bodies in America being preserved because science has become aware that
           when somebody stops breathing, if his brain cells can be preserved, if his brain can be preserved
           from dying -- and it simply means that the brain has to be provided nourishment, oxygen, or
           whatsoever is needed -- then the body will remain dead but the brain will remain alive. And they
           hope that within twenty years' time there will be methods available to bring the body back -- to
           pulsate, to breathe. The heart will start beating again; if the brain has been kept alive, the man will
           come back to life again.
                Of course it will be very difficult for the man who has been dead for twenty years to come back
           to life. Everything will have changed by that time. His generation will have disappeared from the
           earth; new kinds of people will be there -- new ideas, everything new. I don't think he will be able to
           adjust. The very shock is going to kill him again, because what he will see will be absolutely against
           his beliefs, against his conventional mind which he has been carrying for a century. A century-old
           mind -- it cannot bear the shock.
                But that apart, whether it can bear the shock or not ... even medical science is no longer certain
           that what we have always called death, is death. Yes, there are symptoms; the man is no longer
           capable of doing things he used to do. This is a very negative definition of death. Medical science
           has not been able to provide a positive definition of death: no breathing, no pulse, no heartbeat --
           can't you see it is all negative?
                One yogi in India -- his name was Brahmayogi -- devoted his whole life to prove that all the
           symptoms that make the medical profession certain about death are wrong. His work was of
           tremendous value. He practiced methods very ancient in the East, simple methods, but requiring one
           thing which has disappeared from the world: patience. The methods are very simple, but ... twenty
           years', thirty years' practice -- in this world of hurry and blurry, who is going to practice a certain
           breathing technique for thirty years?
                People are speedy. People are not walking, people are running, faster and faster every day; their
           vehicles are becoming faster and faster every day.
                Now in Japan they have trains which can move at four hundred miles per hour. And this cannot
           be the end -- the Japanese scientists say that soon it will be possible to move the train at any speed
           you want, because four hundred was the barrier, which we have crossed. When a train moves at four
           hundred miles per hour, it rises one foot above its rails -- because of the speed. It is almost in the air,
           it is an airplane -- one foot above the ground.
                Now there is no reason why it cannot move one thousand miles per hour. The Japanese say --
           because Japan is such a small country -- "We don't need that much speed. Four hundred is too much,
           because in four hundred miles you can move from one end to the other end of Japan, and the train is
           so speedy it cannot stop in between." You can't have so many stops and stations. And if a train
           moves at one thousand miles an hour then it will have only two stops, the beginning and the
           terminus.
                Speed is one of the great diseases of the modern man, because it has made impossible many
           things which can happen only in patience.
                Love grows in patience, but you are so speedy, only divorce can grow out of it. With your speed,
           love is non-existential. It needs patience.
                There are seasonal flowers; within six weeks they blossom -- but within six weeks they are gone
           too. Their whole life span from seed to death is only twelve weeks at the most. But if you want a tree
           like the cedars of Lebanon, or the redwoods of California, thousands of years old, reaching hundreds
           of feet into the sky .... They have a certain pride and a certain personality.
                The cedars of Lebanon have a grandeur, just like emperors; everything is just pygmy compared
           to them -- but they take time. Four hundred years, five hundred years is nothing. They can go on
           growing for two thousand years; at two thousand years they will still be young. They will become
           old somewhere near four or five thousand years.
                Now, you cannot grow these cedars like seasonal flowers. And if you are stubborn and insist that
           everything has to grow within six weeks' time, then of course you will have to deny the existence of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the cedars of Lebanon.
                That's what has happened to the Eastern methods which have proved totally different conclusions
           about what indicates death. Brahmayogi practiced for thirty years a certain method of breathing
           which makes you capable of stopping the breath, the pulse and the heartbeat for ten minutes. He
           exhibited what he attained to almost all the great medical centers in the world, the great universities
           of the world.
                In Oxford ten doctors, the topmost, looked in every possible way, and they all certified that the
           man was dead. But after ten minutes the man was back, and he said, "Now what do you say? You
           were deciding by symptoms -- symptoms may not be there. Life energy is something else. It is not
           breathing. Yes, it needs breathing, it uses breathing, breathing is its means; but life energy itself is
           not breathing. It can exist without breathing."
                If it can exist for ten minutes it can exist for ten years. The question is whether life energy can
           remain separate from breathing, from the heartbeat, the pulse. Brahmayogi's effort was to prove that
           your symptoms of death are simply symptoms of a body which has become incapable of keeping the
           life energy in itself. It is not a proof of death.
                But it is a strange world. The man proved his point in front of all the scientists of the world. But
           the problem for the scientist is, who is going to be trained for thirty years in a certain breathing
           technique? Who is going to be ready for that? People want instant coffee, and you are talking about
           thirty years of a breathing technique!
                Brahmayogi had also trained himself for another miraculous feat. Science says that there are
           certain poisons that if your tongue even touches them, you will die. There is no way to help you,
           your death is certain. He practiced for that too -- not only touching those certain poisons , he would
           drink cups of those poisons. He baffled the scientists.
                But in Rangoon an accident happened. His practice had made Brahmayogi capable of containing
           anything in his stomach for thirty minutes without it mixing with his body in any way; but within
           thirty minutes it had to be thrown out. In Rangoon University he gave the demonstration of drinking
           poison, and then he moved to the hotel where he was staying -- but you don't know the traffic in the
           East; it is simply crazy. It is just a miracle that people go on reaching the places they want to reach.
           It is a miracle that every day you come back home alive.
                The Eastern traffic has difficulties because it contains so many centuries together. Somebody is
           going on his donkey, somebody on his horse, somebody -- in countries like China -- sitting on a
           buffalo ... bullock carts, camels, elephants ... and added to all this, modern speedy vehicles; buses,
           trucks, cars. In the East you can find all the models of cars that have ever existed since God drove
           Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden. That first car you can find in Bombay -- still moving!
                All the centuries together -- and the roads were not made for buses and trucks, they are small, not
           broad enough. And people have no traditional sense that they have to keep to the right or to the left.
           People believe in freedom, and many people believe in the middle way; they just move in the middle
           of the road. And of course all the constitutions of the world say that man has a birthright of freedom
           to move, movement is man's birthright. So Eastern traffic is really something worth seeing.
                And how people go on managing in it is just a miracle: so many horns honking continuously, and
           nobody listening -- who cares? These idiots go on honking and people go on moving at their own
           pace ....
                Brahmayogi could not reach the hotel in time to throw out the poison; he died. But before dying
           he had demonstrated, almost all over the world, both these things: the poisons you think can kill
           man, can kill only if the man is not trained and disciplined in a certain way to keep the poison away
           from his blood stream; and all the symptoms of death are not at all symptoms of death, they are
           symptoms only of a body failure. Your deeper life force, elan vital, is eternal.
                You say,"I am certain that I am going to die one day." How can you be certain? You have not
           seen death yet, you have seen only symptoms, outward symptoms. You have never seen any life
           dying. You have seen only a dead body stop functioning; it was always dead, it is nothing new for it.
           It was a mechanism functioning for a certain period, programmed to function for a certain period.
           When the period is over the mechanism stops.
                You wind your watch, and for twenty-four hours it goes on ticking; after twenty-four hours it
           stops. That does not mean that something has died. But if you believe that there was a life inside the
           watch which has died, because now the hands are no longer moving, then you are believing in a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fallacy.
                So the first thing I would like to say to you is, don't be so certain. Never be certain about
           anything that you have not experienced. You have not seen anybody really dying. And even if you
           can see somebody dying then too you cannot be certain -- unless you see yourself dying -- because
           these things are so intimate.
                You can see two persons loving -- that does not help in any way for you to become certain what
           love is. You can seen two persons hugging each other, kissing each other, looking at each other like
           lunatics ....
                This word "lunatic" I like. It comes from the moon, lunar; a lunatic is one who goes on looking
           at the moon. Two lovers look at each other like lunatics looking at the moon. Why did it become
           synonymous with insanity, madness? -- because of a certain fact, that the moon has an effect on the
           human mind: it can drive it mad.
                On the full-moon night more people go mad than on any other night. On the full-moon night
           more people commit suicide than on any other night. On the full-moon night more people murder
           than on any other night. It is not coincidental; it is just as when, on the full-moon night, the ocean
           starts stirring, tries to rise towards the moon. Some immense force, some immense magnetism in the
           moon pulls the ocean.
                Man also comes from the ocean. Man's body still contains ninety percent elements of the ocean.
           It is very natural that when the ocean gets stirred, your little ponds also get stirred; hence, the word
           "lunatic" became synonymous with madness.
                Literally it means `MOONSTRUCK'. But lovers are moonstruck -- just watch two lovers. But
           don't start being certain that you know what love is, because in a movie you can see two lovers even
           more mad, more moonstruck -- but they are just acting. They may be really husband and wife,
           nagging before they act, and nagging after they act; just between the two naggings they have to play
           at being lovers. And they play it.
                You cannot be certain by seeing the symptoms in others' lives. You can infer, but your inference
           should be preceded by a perhaps: perhaps these people are in love. But what is love? You can watch
           the symptoms; they are holding hands, they are saying sweet nothings, telling each other dialogues --
           great dialogues that they have crammed from movies and novels.
                One student was my roommate in the university. He was a simple boy and he was always
           worried because everybody was saying that somebody was in love with some girl, somebody was in
           love with some woman teacher but, "Nothing happens to me." He would tell me, "Nothing happens
           to me."
                I said, "If you go on sitting in this room nothing is going to happen to you. At least while I am
           present here nothing is going to happen to you. If you want something to happen then do
           something!"
                He said, "What should I do? Before I get close to a girl I start trembling. I cannot take my hands
           out of my pants pockets because my hands are trembling. Even my pants start shaking -- with no
           wind, and the pants .... I simply turn away. I try to say something beautiful but nothing comes out, I
           end up saying something stupid. And I have tried for hours, crammed the whole dialogue -- and at
           the very last moment, something snaps and I am no longer together. And because of this, girls get
           bored with me, nobody wants to have me as a lover."
                I said, "You do one thing -- start writing love letters.
                He said, "You are telling me? I have been writing love letters but nobody returns ... the answer
           never comes. I must have written love letters to all the girls in the university, but nobody bothers."
                I said, "You just show me one of your love letters." I saw his love letter, and I said, "This is a
           love letter? -- or some bureaucratic .... Reference number, subject matter ...." I said, "You are the
           first lover to write such a scientific letter -- reference number, subject matter: Love. Who is going to
           answer you? You are a fool."
                He said, "I have only seen this kind of letter; I thought that this must be the right manner in
           which to write, so I have been writing like this."
                I told him, "I will write love letters for you. You just choose the girl."
           He said, "Really?"
                I said, "You go and you just choose the girl and bring her address and I will write the letter for
           you."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He chose a certain girl, a very beautiful girl -- she was a Kashmiri girl, and by chance she was in
           the same department, in the same class as me. I knew her. I said, "That's perfectly good," and I
           started writing love letters for him. Only the signature was his. That too I had to teach him because a
           lover's signature should not be businesslike; it should have some art, some beauty.
                And the answer came. He was just mad with joy, that the answer has come! Then I went on
           writing for him, and answers started coming -- more and more loving. One day the girl invited him to
           meet her: "I have not even seen you, but just by your letters I can understand how beautiful a person
           you must be, what great poetry must be in your heart. You seem to be a born poet, an artist."
                He said, "Now the difficulty has come. You never said to me that I would also have to meet her,
           you just told me to write letters. And I am enjoying enough, this is enough; I don't want .... I see the
           girl from far away, here and there, but that is enough. More than that I don't want, because I know
           myself."
                I said, "What do you want? Should I go in place of you? Now gather courage and go and meet
           her."I almost had to push him -- in fact, to throw him out of the room. And I said, "You go -- first
           you meet the girl and then come back; otherwise I will not allow you into the room. Are you a man
           or ...!"
                So almost with tears in his eyes he went to meet his girlfriend. And you can imagine what
           happened there. She simply threw him out. She said,"You were writing those letters to me?"
                He said, "To be true to you, I was not writing them; somebody else was. And before I leave you I
           want my letters back!"
                That was the climax! The girl said, "What are you going to do with the letters?"
                He said, "I will send them to somebody else. I cannot write, and the man who used to write them
           will refuse now. He will say `You are useless -- what is the point?'" I will write these same letters
           again, and this time I will try to be a little stronger; I will start yoga and join the gymnasium. But
           please give my letters back."
                The girl mentioned to me, by the way, "Something strange happened today. An idiot has been
           writing letters to me. His letters were so beautiful, so intelligent, I had almost fallen in love with him
           through the letters. I asked him to meet me; I told him, `You go on hiding, remaining anonymous. I
           am just hankering to meet you.' The man came -- and I have never seen such a lousy fellow! And the
           last thing that he did was just unimaginable: he asked for his letters back, `because,' he said,`these
           letters I will use for some other girl'!"
                You can imitate, you can borrow, you can act; somebody watching you may think this is love.
           These are only symptoms; they may be true, they may not be true. They may be just acting. They
           may be just out of habit. They may be just etiquette, mannerism. But you cannot be certain that it is
           love.
                You can be certain only when you are in love, when you experience it; when it suddenly changes
           the whole climate of your being, when it makes you a totally new man; when you cannot walk
           because your legs want to dance, when your prose becomes poetry not by any effort; when you are
           surprised by yourself -- you had never thought that you are beautiful, that you are of any worth, that
           you can be needed by somebody.
                One of the greatest needs of man is to be needed. And the moment somebody needs you, your
           spirits start flying high; you are not unnecessarily here. You are not a burden, somebody needs you.
           You are here to fulfill somebody's life, you are here to make somebody complete. But you have to
           experience it; only then can you be certain.
                The same is true about death. You will be surprised; why am I comparing death with love? It is
           not accidental -- they are alike, very much alike. In love there is death; the old dies and the new is
           born. There is a death and there is eternity; death of something non-essential and the revelation of
           eternity, which is essential.
                The same is true about death. There is something of love in it. The old dies, the old body
           disappears, and suddenly there is a new freedom, unbounded. You cannot believe that you can be so
           huge, that stars can move within you.
           Love is a tiny death: death is immense love.
           Love happens between two small individuals:
           Death happens between two universes.
           Love makes two individuals one:
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Death makes two universes one.
                That's why I have purposely chosen love to be an example.
                You say, `I am certain ....' Please, don't be certain. Without experiencing anything, to be certain
           is stupid. First know, then certainty follows as a shadow, but without knowing .... You have only
           heard the bell tolling for others; you are not certain, you cannot be.
                And you say, "One day I am going to die." This is very strange; you have not lived yet, how can
           you die? At least follow the natural course of things; first live. Without being alive, nobody can die. I
           mean unless you have experienced life in its totality, you will not be able to experience death in its
           totality either, because death is not separate from life. It is just an episode in your life. And there
           have been many episodes like that in your life.
                Your life is from one eternity -- the beginningless beginning -- to another eternity, the endless
           end.
                Millions of times the episode of death will happen, but you will be able to experience it only if
           before it, preceding it, there is the vital experience of life.
                It is something like you see in schools: they all have blackboards. Why don't they have
           whiteboards? When I entered my first grade that was my first question. The teacher could not believe
           that such a small boy ... and he looked embarrassed because he had no answer.
                I said, "Why are all these boards black? Black is the color of the devil, the color of death, the
           color of mourning. Why? Why can't you have white boards?"
                The teacher looked at me and he said, "But nobody ever asked that before."
                I said, "That has nothing to do with me, whether anybody asked or not. I am asking it, and I want
           the answer." And the fool could not give the simple answer, "We have white chalk to write." That
           was the simple answer. You can't write with white chalk on a white board. You can, but it will not be
           visible to anybody, to you or to anybody else. You have to write on a black board. And white chalk
           was easily available; it is just white mud, refined -- cheap.
                Exactly that is the case in life. Your life has to have an intensity, because death is a very
           momentary, fleeting experience. If you have not lived a life of tremendous depth, intensity -- so
           intense that in one moment the whole eternity becomes joined -- you will not be able to detect when
           death comes and when it goes.
                Death comes and it goes so fast that unless you are in the moment, totally present, you will miss
           it.
                You may think of it: it is coming, it is coming, the queue is becoming smaller, smaller ... and
           then suddenly it is gone: you are out of the queue. You will know it before, you will know it after,
           but you will not know it when it is really with you. It is a very fleeting moment, it is an episode. It
           has no continuity.
                It is not that you can say, "Okay, I have missed today, tomorrow I catch up with the train." Then
           tomorrow may come after one life, and you may not remember at all that in the past you had missed.
           Do you remember how many times you have missed the train in the past? You have missed so many
           times that you have started living in the waiting room, thinking this is your house.
                This is not your house. But you have missed the train so many times that it is natural to believe
           that this is where you belong -- the waiting room, the platform. The train comes but you can never
           get to the train, you are always late. That has become your pattern of life.
                In India, along the superhighways they have billboards saying, "It is better to be late than never."
           It is for people who are going beyond the legal speed: It is better to be late than never.
                I would like to say to you, it is better to be never than to be late.
                You have always been late. And if you say that you know, "I am going to die one day, I am
           certain;" you are going to miss again, you will be late. Death will have passed by your side and you
           will not have been able to detect it. You will remain certain in your knowledge. You will be shocked
           only when you see that it has happened without even making you alert, giving you no warning, not
           even knocking on your door. It has passed.
                Death does not believe in knocking on your doors. It is a very fleeting moment, and it is a
           momentary thing. Life has a length -- death has no length.
                So please drop this idea that "I am certain." Drop this idea that, "I know that death is coming one
           day." How do you know? It may come, it may not come. How can you be certain? There is no way.
           Yes, you see people dying but you are not those people; you may live. This is an inference. What I
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           want to emphasize is, there is an inference, a logical inference.
               Aristotle, in his logical treatises, takes the example of his own master's master. Plato was his
           master, and Plato's master was Socrates. So Aristotle takes the example that Socrates is a man -- this
           is a logical syllogism -- Socrates is a man, obviously; all men are mortal, obviously; hence, Socrates
           is mortal ... not so obvious.
               Socrates is a man, but such a unique man that there can be no other Socrates before or after.
           Socrates is a man, but you are forgetting that he is a unique man. All men are mortal, yes, as far as
           we know up to now -- except a few fictions like Jesus Christ ascending to heaven, Mohammed
           ascending to heaven with his horse. Except for a few fictions all men are mortals; up to now it is
           true.
               But Socrates is so unique you cannot put him just as a number in the collectivity of all men. No, I
           don't agree with Aristotle.
               Although his syllogism is simple -- all men are mortal, hence therefore, Socrates is mortal -- no, I
           say no, because Socrates is not a number, Socrates is not just a part of all men. He is an individual,
           so unique that you cannot predict anything about him according to the rule. Perhaps he is the
           exception.
               Why do you think yourself to be just a number in the crowd? Why can't you respect yourself as
           an individual? You say, "I am going to die one day ...." Be a little respectful to yourself. I am not
           saying that you will not die, I am saying at least before dying, don't die.
               Die only once, don't die every day; otherwise whenever the bell tolls you die again. How many
           deaths in such a small life! -- so many deaths that there is no time left for living. From one death to
           another death -- there is no gap even where you can breathe.
           Don't say that "I am going to die one day."
           First live! And live this very day.
               And I promise you that if you can live this very day, death will happen, but not to you, only to
           your outward imprisonment -- your body, the shell in which you are imprisoned.
               You are not going to die on any day.
           And fortunately there are only seven days.
               So I give the guarantee that in these seven days you are not going to die, unless you invent the
           eighth day, which is very difficult.
               It is very strange that around the world all the cultures, all the societies, all the languages, not in
           connection with each other, all have seven days. And their seven days have all the same meanings.
           For example in English Monday is the moon's day, that's why Monday. In Hindi it is somvar; som is
           the Hindi name for moon. Sunday is the day of the sun. In Hindi, it is ravivar, ravi means the sun.
               In all the languages there are only seven days, and all the seven days have the same meaning.
               In fact, five thousand years ago when days were decided and developed, we knew only seven
           great planets around the earth. At that time the sun was also considered to be a planet moving round
           the earth, just like the moon. Earth was the center, and seven were the planets moving round it. So
           according to those seven planets ... now there are eleven. The sun is counted out; otherwise there
           would be twelve. The sun is not a planet. The moon is a planet, earth itself is a planet, and they all
           are moving around the sun.
               Now things have become different, but even when things become different old traditions
           continue, old worlds continue. Old words are like old habits, they die hard.
               There are only seven days -- please live! And I am not a Christian so I don't even give a holiday.
               The Christian God to me seems to be really lousy. Just six days' work -- and not a great work.
           Just look around the world to see the mess that He has created! And He had some nerve to say
           "Good." This world, in which there is even Oregon, and the old fool said, "Good"! Then he went on
           a weekend holiday, and since then nothing has been heard of Him.
               It is very strange -- Monday He should have come back to the office. I have always wondered
           why He didn't come back to the office on Monday. What happened to the old guy? The only reason I
           could find was, after making man, He became so disgusted .... That was his last creation on Saturday
           evening. He must have said, "Good" before that. Once He created man He became so disgusted. He
           really freaked out. He dropped the whole idea of creating anything anymore. He had created a
           monster.
               And since then nothing has been heard of Him. Either He committed suicide, started taking drugs
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           .... Nothing is known so nothing can be said positively, just inferences -- He just felt so guilty, so
           Catholic, that He hanged himself.
           There are only seven days -- please live!
                Even Sunday is not a holiday -- make it an intense day of life.
                Live each moment, don't leave a single moment unlived. Then only will you become capable of
           knowing death. When death comes you will be in the moment, available, open.
                And a man who is open and available to death comes to know in death the most beautiful
           experience of life -- because death is silence, utter silence, abysmal silence.
           And you ask me, "I am not afraid of it -- why?"
                Nobody is afraid of death. I have never come across a person who is afraid of death. People are
           afraid of having cancer, people are afraid of having AIDS, people are afraid of becoming blind,
           people are afraid of becoming crippled; people are afraid of all kinds of things that can happen in old
           age; they are afraid of old age. Nobody is afraid of death. Death is so clean -- why should one be
           afraid of death?
                In fact the closer you come to your old age and the closer to death, the more you start hoping that
           death comes soon. Death is absolute clean, pure. It has never bothered anybody, it has never tortured
           anybody. And the contrary, it has relieved millions of people from torture, from disease, from
           concentration camps, from suffering, misery, anguish. Death has been a great friend to the whole of
           humanity.
           That's why I say to my sannyasins:
           When death happens, celebrate!
           It is the coming of a great friend.
                Death is not the enemy. Death is very compassionate. It is the universe getting rid of all the junk
           that you have gathered around yourself and freeing you again, making you again fresh, young, giving
           you another chance to live -- this one you have lost again.
                Nobody is afraid of death. I have never come across a person who is afraid of death. People are
           certainly afraid of lying down in strange kinds of beds in the hospitals -- legs up, hands down, all
           kinds of instruments attached to the head and to the chest. People are afraid of all this, but death ...
           have you seen death doing any harm to anybody ever? Why should anybody be afraid? That's why I
           said it is not exceptional that you are not afraid. Don't start patting your own back, that "I'm not
           afraid of death." Nobody is.
                People are afraid of life, not of death, because life is a problem to be solved. Life has thousands
           of complexities to be resolved. Life has so many dimensions that you are continuously in a worry ...
           is the dimension you are moving in the right one, or have you left the right one behind?
                Whatever you are doing, this question mark never leaves you: is this the kind of thing you really
           wanted to do, or are you really destined to do this? Everybody is in constant turmoil because of life.
           People are afraid to live, so people try to live as limitedly as possible. They have made life a limited
           concern.
                They try to create a fence around their life. They don't want to live in the wilderness of life -- that
           is very fear-creating. They make a nice fence around their house, they make a beautiful British
           garden inside -- everything symmetrical, well-cut, groomed -- and they think this is life. This is not
           life, this is just an effort to avoid life.
           Life can only be wild.
                It cannot have fences, it cannot be like the British garden. It is not Victorian, everything
           symmetrical.
                A famous story I have always loved .... A great king sent his eldest son -- who was going to
           succeed him as the king -- to a Master to learn gardening. Masters have used all kinds of methods to
           teach. Gardening can become meditation, swordsmanship can become meditation, wrestling can
           become meditation; anything can become meditation, because meditation is a certain quality. You
           have just to bring that quality to any act and that act becomes meditation.
                This Master was known as the greatest Master of gardening. He taught his disciples gardening,
           and through gardening, meditation. The prince came to him, and the Master said, "You start right
           now."
                The prince said, "I thought you would say,`Come from tomorrow morning.'"
                The Master said,"Listen carefully: here, tomorrow does not exist; it is either now or never., Start
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           now! Come with me to the garden."
                The prince had never met anybody who behaved like this -- but you have to forgive people like
           me. We don't know good behavior, we don't know good manners. And it is good that there are once
           in a while a few people who don't know good manners, who don't know etiquette.
                Once I was invited to Hyderabad University in India -- and while I was touring in India and
           speaking to all kinds of audiences, I used to sit on the table. Ordinarily the speaker stands behind the
           table, between the chair and the table; the microphone is on the table. That's how it is. But I am not a
           man of manners or any thing, I would simply step up on the table. And that would be enough shock
           -- people could not believe what I was doing! And I would tell the machine operator to put the mike
           in front of me. I would sit on the table, and I would simply start speaking.
                The vice-chancellor asked me -- he was a learned man -- "You did not address people as
           gentlemen and ladies ...?"
                I said, "Yes, because I didn't see any gentlemen or any ladies there. It is not my fault. I looked
           around, you must have watched." I had looked around to see if there was any gentleman or any lady.
           "So I thought it was better to leave it unaddressed, I should just start talking to the walls. And walls
           don't believe in being gentlemen and ladies, male and female."
                He said, "What are you talking about? This is just good manners -- whether they are gentlemen
           or not is not the point."
                I said, "I cannot do anything just for the sake of good manners."
                The prince was very angry but he could not do anything because this was a different world. This
           was the world of the Master, it was not under his empire. No Master's world is part of anybody's
           empire.
                Do you think Rajneeshpuram is under America? Forget it. It is my world. If America wants to, it
           can be part of it. We are not part of anybody.
                The Master dragged the prince, started showing him how to do things. The prince saw the garden
           of the Master and he said, "But this looks like a wild forest. You call it a garden?"
                The Master said, "Yes, because we do not disturb any tree's individuality. We try to help the tree
           as much as we can to be whatever it can be. But we do not cut, we do not prune. We are not
           interested in creating symmetries, because in existence there is nothing that indicates symmetries.
           Existence is asymmetrical."
                For three years the prince had to learn; and of course in his own palace he had one hundred
           gardeners, so whatsoever he learned, he told the gardeners to follow: -- "And prepare the garden,
           because after three years, one day the Master will come just to see the garden. If he is happy, I have
           passed. If he is not happy, remains serious, I have failed. He is such a man -- he won't even say `you
           have failed' or `you have passed.' If he smiles, that's enough, enough of a certificate; you have
           passed. If he leaves without a smile, that means I have failed; three more years again ...!"
                So he did everything, and he had as many servants, as many gardeners as he wanted. And he
           made a really beautiful forest-like garden. But it was made forest-like -- it was, after all, man-made
           -- and there is a great difference. The Master's garden was not man-made. The garden was supported
           by man, nourished by man; it was a friendship with the trees. This was a totally different thing.
                Of course the prince's garden was almost like the Master's garden. And the last finishing touch
           .... The prince went, before the master was to come, and he saw a few dead leaves in the garden,
           fallen on the path. He said, "Remove these. Make the garden absolutely clean, young, fresh; no
           yellow leaves, no dead leaves on the ground." So all yellow leaves, all dead leaves were removed.
           And then the Master came. He was very serious, and the prince was trembling.
                Finally the prince said, "Will you say something? Is my garden in any way satisfactory to you?"
                The Master said, "My foot! Everywhere I see the signs of man. Where are the dead leaves? In a
           forest, dead leaves create a music of their own; when the wind blows and the dead leaves start
           moving, there is a sound. Or when you walk on a path, under your feet the dead leaves cracking,
           making sound .... Where are the yellow leaves on the trees? -- because unless there are yellow leaves
           the trees are man-made. Where are the old trees? All the trees look young. In existence always there
           are young trees, there are children, there are old people -- all the generations together. Then it is
           totally different."
                The prince said, "I am sorry. The leaves were there -- just now we threw them out."
                The Master went out, collected all the old leaves, brought them, and threw them on the garden
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           path. And as the wind blew and the dry leaves started fluttering and making a sound, he smiled. He
           said, "Now there is something which is not made by you, something which is happening between the
           dead leaves and the wind. Something existential is there. Only this was missing. Now I can leave
           smiling."
               People are afraid of life, and they are afraid of life because life is only possible if you are capable
           of being wild -- wild in your love, wild in your song, wild in your dance. This is where fear is.
               Who is afraid of death? I have never come across such a person. And almost every person I have
           come across is afraid of life.
               Drop fear of life .... Because either you can be afraid or you can live; it is up to you. And what is
           there to be afraid of? You can't lose anything. You have everything to gain.
           Drop all fears and jump totally into life.
               Then one day death will come as a welcome guest, not your enemy, and you will enjoy death
           more than you have enjoyed life, because death has its own beauties.
               And death is very rare because it happens once in a while -- life is everyday.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #26
                              Chapter title: The enlightened and the endarkened
           27 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503275
              ShortTitle: DARK26
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 122 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              HISTORY SHOWS THAT WHEN A GREAT MASTER APPEARS ON THE EARTH, OTHER, LESSER
              LEADERS RECOGNIZE HIM AND BRING THEIR FOLLOWERS WITH THEM. DO YOU SEE THIS
              HAPPENING HERE?


               It has never happened, and it cannot ever happen either. There is a fundamental reason why it
           cannot happen. The lesser cannot recognize the higher, the lower cannot recognize the higher. The
           higher can recognize the lower. So it is existentially impossible. What history are you talking about?
           History cannot go against existence and its principles.
               The first thing to be remembered -- which is very simple -- is, the man who has eyes can
           recognize the man who has no eyes; he can see that this man is blind. But do you think the blind can
           recognize that this man has eyes? That is sheer impossibility. And this is about the physical eyes ....
               When you think of the inner eye, the third eye, then it becomes absolutely impossible. Those
           who live on higher planes of consciousness are simply beyond your grasp. You cannot see them, you
           cannot understand them. Your intelligence is not capable of understanding planes of silence,
           meditation, experience of bliss.
               You live in suffering; you know the language of suffering. That's all your experience is. You can
           understand somebody is in suffering, but you cannot understand when you come across somebody
           who is in blissfulness, "the blessed one." How will you recognize him? From where will you find the
           criterion? What measurements do you have? In your experience there is nothing similar to it, not
           even a faraway echo.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You must have heard an ancient fable: A frog from the ocean was just on a pilgrimage -- it must
           have been on religious pilgrimage. He comes across a well; he is thirsty -- it has been a long journey,
           a hot day -- he takes a jump into the well and drinks to his heart's content. There lives another frog in
           the well, who is sitting in his corner looking at the stranger and his arrogant behavior -- without
           permission, not even saying, "Can I come in, Sir?" And this is my territory ....
                But he waited: let the stranger first drink -- he can see the day is hot. When the stranger is
           satisfied, he looks around. Seeing another frog, he says, "Hello, how are you?" Then they start a
           conversation, and one thing leads to another. The frog from the ocean asks the other frog, "Have you
           ever been to the ocean? Come sometime -- I invite you. I have been your guest without asking you; I
           was so thirsty that I could not take care of manners before I drank water. But you are welcome -- you
           come to the ocean."
                The frog in the well looked with suspicion, as strangers are always looked on with suspicion ...
           the way we are looked on with suspicion. We are the people from the ocean. Oregon is a small well.
           The attorney-general of Oregon is nothing but a frog, worried that these strangers have suddenly
           appeared; afraid, and out of fear he is going nuts, doing everything illegal.
                The frog in the well looked with suspicion. He said, "Ocean? Never heard about such a thing!
           How big is your ocean?"
                The frog from the ocean said, "It is very difficult to describe."
                The frog from the well laughed; he said, "Ha ha! I knew it, I knew it from the very beginning:
           how can you describe a thing which does not exist? If a thing exists it can be described. It is simple;
           if it exists, then howsoever difficult the description will be, you cannot say that it cannot be
           described. It is not indescribable; it must have some attributes."
                The frog from the ocean is at a loss. The frog from the ocean is always at a loss because he has
           known something which this poor frog has never dreamt of. But the poor frog thinks the frog from
           the ocean crazy. He says, "I will help you. I will take a jump, and I will ask you, `Is your ocean this
           big?' If not, I will take another jump: `Is your ocean this big -- two jumps of mine?'"
                He jumped one fourth of the well. The frog from the ocean said, "Forgive me -- this kind of
           measurement cannot be applicable." But the frog from the well jumped a second time, a third time, a
           fourth time -- that was the whole area of the well. And then the stranger said again, "Excuse me,
           your well is too small -- and the ocean is so vast. Your well cannot be used as a measurement."
                "The well so small?" -- the frog from the well was really offended, just the way the Oregonians
           are offended. Their religion so small? Their Jesus Christ so small? Their churches meaningless?
           Their BIBLE nothing but superstitions?
                But he felt compassionate. Strange is the story -- that the well's frog felt compassionate towards
           the frog from the ocean. He said, "You must be mad, you must have dreamt it. Once in a while I also
           dream of bigger things; but there exists nothing bigger than this well. And don't try to seduce me -- I
           am not such a fool as to go in search of utopias. You just get lost! I don't want to hear more of this
           nonsense. There has never been anything bigger than this well. Since my very birth I have seen ....
           My father was here; my forefathers have lived here, and they have all told us that this is all the world
           is. There is no world outside this well."
                But the frog from the well can be understood; and the frog from the ocean also can be understood
           -- he is also very much embarrassed. He cannot answer; he can only show. He invites the frog from
           the well, but he refuses. He says, "Unless you convince me that something as vast as you are talking
           about exists in reality, unless I am intellectually convinced of it, I cannot leave my beautiful well."
                How to convince him? The only way is to invite him. But he is not ready to accept the invitation
           before being convinced. The frog from the ocean is doing the right thing. He is saying, "Come with
           me and I can show it to you. I cannot explain, I cannot describe, I cannot convince you. This is my
           fault, but because of my fault don't deny the existence of the ocean. That's dangerous: you are
           denying your own possibilities -- that you can live in an unlimited space with tremendous beauty, the
           wind, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars ...."
                I am not interested in convincing you that the ocean exists; I am interested in showing you that
           you are capable of being part of an oceanic existence."
                You are asking me, "History says ...." I don't know which history you mean. I have read enough
           to destroy my eyes -- I have never come across any history where it describes that when a great
           religious master appears, lesser leaders recognize him and come to him.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Who had come to Jesus? Yes, there is one story only: three wise men from the East. Their names
           are not known. If they were really wise people, at least their names must have been known. If they
           were so wise, so insightful, as to see in the seed the whole future of the tree, of the flowering and the
           fruits and the birds and their nests and all the beauty of it, their names must have been known in the
           East.
                But in the Eastern scriptures there is no mention of any wise men going to Jerusalem to pay
           tribute to a recently-born child who is going to become a messiah. This is not history -- this is
           fiction. And why do they have to bring three wise men from the East? Weren't there any wise men in
           Jerusalem? There were so many rabbis, the high priest ... and Jews had their own tradition of
           intellectual, philosophical growth. Not a single Jew recognized Jesus.
                What to say of recognition? -- he is born in a stable. Because it was a religious festival time, all
           the hotels, all the caravanserais were packed with people; and he was going to be born to a very poor
           couple, Joseph and Mary -- Joseph was just a poor carpenter.
                No door opened. Joseph begged: "My wife is pregnant, and her time has come to give birth. It
           may happen any moment, and I am standing on the street. Just for the night give us some shelter."
                Perhaps all caravanserais were packed with people, all hotels were packed with people; it is
           never so. In India there is perhaps the biggest gathering that happens anywhere in the world. It is
           after each twelve years in Allahabad, where three rivers -- the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati --
           meet. This meeting of three is thought to be very symbolic, so Allahabad has become the most
           sacred meeting place. After each twelve years there is a huge gathering; millions and millions of
           people gather there. Naturally all hotels are packed, all caravanserais are packed. There is no place
           anywhere.
                I had been there, the first time when I was only twelve or thirteen; with my uncles I went there.
           And the whole day, from morning -- in the morning we had arrived; my two uncles were with me --
           up to evening, we looked for some place for the night because we were going to stay there for at
           least three days. The festival continues for one month.
                I was just a child so I simply remained silent. They tried their hardest. Finally, in a hotel, I said to
           them, "You please keep quiet. The whole day you have wasted; let me talk to the manager."
                They said, "What can you do in this matter? It is a problem: hundreds of people are wandering
           about; there is no place. Ten million people have already arrived, and people are continually
           arriving. Hundreds of special planes are running from all over the country; thousands of special
           buses, planes .... Everybody is going to Allahabad. What will you do?"
                I said, "Just watching you the whole day .... Give me a chance."
           They said, "Okay."
           I asked the manager, "Is there really no place?"
           He said, "There is no place at all."
                I said, "If the prime minister comes to the hotel, will there be a place or not?"
                He said, "For the prime minister or for the president or for the governor we have emergency
           rooms. Of course they are empty."
                So I said, "Give us the emergency room, and if the prime minister comes we will immediately
           vacate it -- there is no problem in it. If nobody comes, you need not be worried." He looked here and
           there, he could not find what to say.
                I said, "If you need the room, we promise as you get the information .... It is not going to be that
           the prime minister will come directly to you, his secretary will phone. As you get the information ....
           And you are not the best hotel in this city. Don't be foolish. If the prime minister comes, he will be
           staying in the Hilton, in the Oberoi. He is not going to come to your third-class hotel. But if he
           comes, we are willing -- we can give it in writing -- we will leave immediately."
                He said, "Your argument seems to be right. In fact in my whole life they have never come, and I
           don't think they are ever going to come. You are right -- they always go to the Hilton. And we are
           really foolish, we are keeping the most beautiful room empty. You just get into it. You are the first
           person who has made me aware that we are wasting our best room for years. Now I am not going to
           bother."
                I told my uncles, "Get in!" And I told the manager, "Because I am the first person who has given
           you the idea, just be courteous. Anyway your room was empty for years; you give us three days
           more."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                He said, "Absolutely right. You are our guests: for three days you live here." And we became
           really very friendly, so friendly that he would take us in his car to the festival place which was
           almost ten miles away and impossible to get any taxi or any bus to: everything was overloaded. My
           uncles were very much impressed for the first time.
                They said, "For the first time we are impressed; otherwise we always thought you are a nuisance.
           But sometimes nuisance works. The way you were arguing with that manager, we were thinking, `He
           is going to throw us out! At least during the whole day the hotel-owners were polite; this man is
           going to throw us out -- he will kick us out of the place!' But it is strange, that you managed."
                I said, "It was so simple, and the man is intelligent: he understood."
                Joseph and Mary could not find a wise manager. Jesus may have helped; he was just there inside
           the belly of Mary -- he could have managed some miracle. He was born in a stable -- this is history.
           The three men coming from the East is fiction because no Eastern source refers to them. And even
           the Christian sources don't mention their names. The reason is obvious: Whose name were they
           going to mention?
                If they mention a Hindu, Hindus will deny it and say, "This is nonsense -- no wise man has gone
           from India." If they mention a Buddhist, Buddhists are going to deny it; if they mention a Jaina,
           Jainas are going to deny it. Hence the best way is, don't mention the names of those three anonymous
           fools. And they brought immensely valuable gifts for the just-born child ....
                Except in this fiction, who is mentioned in the Christian sources as a lesser religious leader who
           recognizes Jesus as the messiah and brings his following and becomes a follower of Jesus? Those
           three fools were also to come when Jesus was just born. All that is left about those three fools is,
           when the first fool entered -- it was a stable -- he hit his head. It was a small door; because he hit his
           head he said, "JESUS!"
                Mary said to Joseph, "This seems to be a very good name for the child."
                This is the only impact those three wise men have left on the world; so whenever you get hit, you
           say, "Jesus!"
                I have not heard of any religious leader coming to Buddha and recognizing him, or to Mahavira
           and recognizing him, or to Mohammed or to Moses or to Zarathustra. Yes, people had come but they
           were not religious leaders.
                For example, Sariputta came to Buddha, Mahakashyap came to Buddha -- but they were not
           religious leaders, they were great philosophers. A philosopher is always a thinker; a philosopher is
           always ready to accept something which seems logical, rational, even though it goes against the
           whole philosophy of his past. A philosopher is a lover of wisdom. He has not arrived; he is making
           all the efforts to arrive. In all those efforts, this was also an effort.
                Sariputta had gone to many people in search of the truth. He wanted to find someone whose
           presence could give him just a little taste of what religion was. Arguments he had heard enough;
           arguments he had given enough. He was a well-known philosopher in India, and he had defeated
           many philosophers -- which was a unique tradition in India. It must prevail all over the world.
                Philosophers used to move from one place to another place, challenging other philosophers -- an
           open challenge. Thousands heard them -- and this raised the whole intelligence of the country. When
           two giants are struggling, going to finer and finer logical levels, splitting hairs, certainly if thousands
           have come to watch .... It is better than to watch a bullfight or Mohammed Ali's boxing. The people
           who are watching boxing can't be accepted as human beings. Yes, they may be Americans, but not
           human beings; they are a subhuman species.
                Darwin was continually concerned about one thing his whole life. He lived with the problem; he
           died with the problem; it remained unsolved because the person who could have solved it was not
           there. I could have solved the problem -- it is so simple. The problem was that monkeys became
           man, but there must have been a middle link. Monkeys cannot just jump down and become man; first
           they will become something in the middle: half monkey, half man. About this problem poor Charles
           Darwin continually worried. It was so simple: Americans -- they are the middle link! There is no
           need to be worried about the problem, it is so simple. It just needs a simple man like me to state it.
                But in India they were not watching football matches, boxing, bullfights -- all that nonsense was
           not there. Huge crowds gathered to listen to great philosophical discussions in utter silence. Of
           course when a man like Shankara or Ramanuja is arguing, it is time to be silent. Nobody will even
           whisper, nobody will move for days. Every day the discussion will continue until one is defeated,
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and you will have to accept that. They are what I call cultured human beings. When one was
           defeated, he accepted it; there was no need for a judge. That's what I call culture. There was no need
           for a judge to decide who has won the debate. The people who were fighting tooth and nail, they
           themselves decided who is victorious and who is defeated.
                This was honest, sincere. It was not just an effort to defeat the other, it was a search for
                truth; and if the other has better arguments than you, certainly he deserves to be your master.
           Then the defeated one will become the follower of the victorious, and all the followers of the
           defeated one automatically will become followers of the victorious. This way philosophers roamed
           around the country with thousands of disciples. And wherever they came, they created a climate of
           great depth, intensity, alertness.
                But these were philosophers: your question says, "lesser religious leaders." That has never
           happened. Not a single religious leader came to Buddha or Mahavira. Religious leaders went against
           them -- that's history. In fact the lesser the religious leader was, the more he was against them,
           because his whole profession was at stake. Can't you understand simple business?
                The religious leaders were doing a tremendously beautiful business: no investment, all profit, no
           income tax. The religious profession is really the only superb business. You don't have to invest any
           money into it, no risk of losing, no risk of the dollar going down. Wherever the dollar goes it doesn't
           matter; it is always profit, never loss. In religious business it is always profit.
                And you don't have to manufacture any commodity; you don't have to create factories and bring
           labor and labor problems -- strikes and lock-outs. No problems at all. You deal in invisible
           commodities. Nobody can see the god, nobody can see the angels, nobody can see the heaven. It is
           really a strange business.
                I have heard of a Jewish real estate man who was very angry with one of his agents; he was
           boiling! This man was always late coming to the office: the real estate man was looking again and
           again at the clock and the agent was still not there. But he could not even fire him because he was
           the best agent. The agent really did miracles, so he could not afford to lose him. He used to boil and
           be angry when the agent was not there, but when he came the real estate man would become
           absolutely cool and smiling. The agent came, but today it was really too much, what he had done.
           The owner of the firm said, "Today you have done really too much! Do you think people are blind?
           -- you sold to a man one property which is six feet under water, and you told the man that it can
           become a beautiful place to live. The poor man purchased it, and yesterday he was here: when he
           saw the property .... And I have been waiting for you; I could not sleep the whole night thinking that
           this is too much. I know you are a great artist in seducing people's minds, but this is too much!
           Sooner or later he is going to see his property six feet under water. Where is he going to make his
           house?"
                The agent said, "Cool down -- don't be worried. I have seen him -- I have sold him two boats
           also. Those two boats we were stuck with for years, they are rotten. So just cool down and smile
           again. When I do something I have my whole plan. I knew that this was going to happen, that he
           would come; but if he is foolish enough that without seeing the land he purchases it -- I trusted in his
           foolishness, that he would purchase those two boats also once he sees the land. But even though the
           land was six feet under water, it was there. It is Jewish business, but at least the land existed. Those
           two boats were rotten; they will not float, but at least they were boats."
                But religious business goes far higher than anything Jews have ever done. It sells you things
           which don't exist. It sells you heaven.
                I used to go to the university, and one day my car was stopped by a beautiful lady. I never give
           lifts to anyone, particularly beautiful ladies, because it is easy to give them lifts but it is difficult then
           to get rid of them. But she was standing just in front of me so I had to stop. I said to her, "Lady, this
           is not the way to get a lift; and anyway I never give lifts. Just standing in front ...."
                She said, "I don't want a lift, I just want to give you this little piece of literature about our
           religion" -- she was a Christian. She handed over a few pamphlets. I just looked: the first pamphlet
           was a beautiful house, a picture of a beautiful house surrounded by beautiful gardens, a river flowing
           by the side. And the pamphlet had the caption, "Do you want a house like this?"
                I became interested; I said, "Why not!" Otherwise I was not going to read that nonsense, but
           because of that house I turned the page and it said, "It is in the garden of God." I said, "That's
           perfectly good: if you follow Jesus Christ you will have such beautiful houses to live in near God
10/28/07                                                  Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Himself." This is real salesmanship!
               Religion is doing the greatest criminal act in the world: deceiving people on such a mass scale
           that whenever a really religious person appears, all religious leaders go against him, nobody goes to
           him.
               Of what history are you talking? I don't think you have written your question consciously.
           History says only one thing, that whenever there was a man of the caliber of Buddha or Jesus or
           Socrates, then all religious people -- the so-called established, organized churches -- went against
           them.
               It was the religious people who crucified Jesus. Not a single rabbi ever came to him, except one,
           and that too, in the middle of the night when the whole city was asleep -- a rabbi called Nicodemus.
           He was a professor in the Jewish university of Jerusalem ... a learned man, but he could not gather
           courage to come in the daylight. In the middle of the night he woke Jesus.
               Jesus was surprised. He said, "You could have come in the day, anytime -- I am just staying next
           to your house."
               Nicodemus said, "Speak silently! If any of your disciples wakes up and sees me here, there will
           be trouble."
           Jesus said, "What trouble?"
               Nicodemus said, "I don't want to be seen with you. I don't want it to be known that I had gone to
           you to ask a few things."
               Jesus said, "If you don't have even this much courage then forget all about religion. If you cannot
           come even in the daytime, if you are such a coward, then nobody can be of any help to you. In the
           search for truth the most significant qualification is courage -- and you don't have any courage.
               "Go home, and unless you are born again, remember: you will not be able to understand what
           religion is. `Unless you are born again' -- what does that mean? It means unless you drop your
           cowardliness and become just the opposite of what you are today -- a courageous man .... That is
           rebirth, and unless you are reborn again, don't come to me; I cannot help you. If you want to be
           helped, at least you should prepare the ground."
               Except this Nicodemus, no rabbi ever approached Jesus -- and Nicodemus approached him in the
           night. It would have been better that he also had not approached Jesus, because he shows the
           cowardliness of your so-called religious people and who crucified Jesus? The high priest and the
           supreme command of rabbis who overruled the whole community of Jews -- they decided that he
           should be crucified.
               There were many attempts made on Buddha's life by religious people, and I have always
           suspected -- although it is impossible now after twenty-five centuries to find out whether my
           suspicion is right or wrong, but there is a ninety-nine percent possibility that it is right .... It has to be
           right because some fundamental principles are involved. Buddha died of food poisoning. I suspect he
           was given poison, that it was not a coincidence.
               There were many attempts on the life of Mahavira. Yes, in India it was not as primitive as it was
           in Judea. Even the cross on which they hanged poor Jesus was not a piece of art -- so ugly. At least
           they should have shown some respect. Even if they were in disagreement, even if they were going to
           crucify him, they should have found something beautiful -- just out of respect for a human being. But
           no, what did they do?
               For miles they forced him to carry his own cross -- which is really ugly, big. Jesus was young,
           thirty-three years old, and healthy, but he fell down three times; the weight of the cross was so much.
               When you are killing a person at least you should be a little more courteous, a little more human.
           You are doing your worst, but do it the best way you can. There was no need for the cross to be
           carried by Jesus himself, and there was no need to go miles uphill. Anywhere else it would have
           been perfectly good, he would have died anywhere else. The cross would have worked -- there was
           no need to go on that hill, Golgotha. But it was purposely done so he had to carry that load uphill.
           They wanted to torture him as much as possible.
               Even in the most primitive societies, whenever a person is sentenced to death, at the last moment
           he is asked if he has any wish that he would like to be fulfilled. That is a simple courtesy. A man is
           going to die: why not let him die at least with the contentment that his last wish was fulfilled?
           This is almost universal.
               But Jews behaved very brutally. The reason was that Jesus was not an ordinary criminal. With
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           ordinary criminals they were also courteous. In fact on that day there were three crucifixions
           happening: two were of murderers, well-known criminals -- who had been visitors to the prison
           many times, better known than Jesus himself.
                Those two criminals were going to be crucified, and Jesus. It was a privilege for the priest, the
           high priest of the Jewish temple, that he could release one man every year from being crucified. And
           every year he had released criminals.
                The Roman governor-general, Pontius Pilate, was hoping ... it seemed natural that he would ask
           for Jesus' release, because those two were such notorious criminals, and Jesus had done nothing
           illegal, no harm to anybody, was an innocent man. Yes, he talked outrageously, but that does not
           harm anybody; and if you don't want to hear, you don't hear it, you just plug your ears and go home.
           You ignore him. He is simply a talker, he is not a doer.
                But it was a shock and a surprise that Jesus was not released. The high priest asked for a
           murderer who had committed seven murders to be released. Strange it seems, but no; deep down
           there is logic. The murderer is not a danger to the priest; in fact he is a help. Anybody who creates
           crime, anybody who creates misery, anybody who makes people suffer, is a help to the religious
           leaders, to the organized church.
                Jesus was dangerous. Although he had done nothing, he had been saying things which could
           become dynamite and destroy the whole organized religion: he had to be stopped.
                And you tell me that history proves that whenever there was a religious man, lesser leaders of
           religion had recognized him. Nobody has ever been recognized by lesser religious leaders or bigger
           bigshots.
                Buddha was not recognized, while he was alive, as being religious; on the contrary, he was
           condemned by all other religions that were established as sabotaging the very roots of religion. And
           in fact he was sabotaging, not the roots of religion, but the roots of the organized religion -- which is
           nothing but an exploitation mechanism.
                But when Buddha died, then things changed. Then the same people recognized him. History
           never says that Buddha was recognized by religious people while he was alive, but it certainly says
           he was recognized after his death. But let me tell you the way he was recognized.
                Hindus accepted him as one of the incarnations of God. They had to. It was just impossible to
           ignore him, because he had left such a great influence over India that almost the whole country was
           under his wings; Hindus had completely lost all hold over the masses. So this was a political
           strategy: recognize Buddha. And now there is no danger in recognizing him -- he is dead. Now he
           can be recognized as not only religious but as an incarnation of the Hindu god, so the people who
           have become Buddhist can be under the Hindu fold again. Bring Buddha himself into the Hindu fold.
           And he is dead; he cannot do anything. He cannot resist; he cannot say, "I don't want to come into
           your fold; I have been always against you -- I have fought my whole life against you. For forty-two
           years I have argued against all your scriptures."
                But Buddha was no longer alive. It was easy to bring him into the Hindu fold; but in a very
           cunning way it had to be done because his statements were against the Hindu religion. His whole
           philosophy -- it was not a question of one or two sentences here and there. They could have been
           edited, they could have been commented on, their meaning would have been changed -- everything
           is possible -- but the whole philosophy .... For forty-two years he taught the same thing continuously
           -- that the VEDAS are rubbish.
                And Hindus say the VEDAS are written by God. If God is writing rubbish .... Buddha was
           continually against all Hindu rituals, saying that this was simple exploitation of poor people. There is
           not a single sentence in favor of Hinduism. In forty-two years of continual talking, not a single
           statement for Hinduism; all are against. How can you manage this man?
                But Hindus are of a very ancient religion, and have been logical for centuries; they can play with
           logic -- they manage. They invented a simple story and changed the whole substance of Buddha's
           philosophy ... changed his whole life's efforts by a small story.
                The story is that God created the world; He also created at the same time, hell and heaven.
           Heaven for those who do good, virtuous acts, believe in God, have faith in the VEDAS -- the holy
           scriptures of the Hindus -- follow the Hindu priest from birth to death; they will reach heaven. And
           those who deny all these things will fall into hell and the tortures of hell.
                Centuries upon centuries pass; the man in charge of hell became tired and bored because nobody
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           came there. You see the beautiful story? He approached God and he said, "What is the point of
           keeping this space -- nobody ever comes. And I have been waiting and waiting and getting more and
           more bored. And I have not committed any sin. You have made me in charge of the place; it seems
           only I am suffering in hell. I don't want this job -- you can give it to anybody.
                God said, "Don't be so much in a hurry. You should have come before. For me, centuries mean
           nothing because it is an eternal existence; centuries are not even seconds. You should not have
           waited that long. For you it looks so long, for me it seems as if I have just created hell and heaven
           and the earth. My time-scale is different from your time scale."
                This story in fact was invented twenty-four centuries ago, but it contains the whole content of
           Albert Einstein's philosophy of relativity. God said, "The time-scale in hell is one thing; in heaven it
           is different. For me of course it is totally different." In hell even a single moment seems like a
           century. And we can understand it ....
                When you are in pain, just a single moment seems to be so long. You start suspecting that
           perhaps your clock has stopped, or is it some conspiracy against you by the clock, that it is going so
           slow? Pain makes time longer. The greater the pain, the longer you will feel the time.
                Just the opposite happens with pleasure: it makes time shorter. The greater the pleasure, the
           shorter the time; hence, in hell, moments turn into centuries, and in heaven, centuries turn into
           seconds. And beyond these both is the Hindu concept of moksha, `ultimate freedom,' where no time
           exists. It is all eternity; hence there is no question of small, long. There is no question of relativity --
           it is beyond relativity.
                But the very idea of scales of time is the whole content of Albert Einstein's philosophy, that time
           is not something fixed; it is relative, relative to many things -- particularly to pain and pleasure.
                God said, "You should have come, knowing perfectly well that you are in hell where each
           moment looks like centuries; and without your coming here there was no way for me to know. I was
           thinking you must be enjoying."
                He said, "I cannot remain there unless you start sending people. Heaven is full of people. There
           are people who are not dying because they are on the waiting list! Death is simply waiting; when
           there is space she can take them. And on the other hand I am sitting there with all the space, and
           nobody is coming.
                God said, "You go back -- I will manage .... I will come back to the world in a new incarnation --
           as Gautam the Buddha -- and I will teach people everything that leads to hell."
                This is superb sophistry, cunningness. Hindus have defeated Jews. Putting Jesus on the cross
           seems to be stupid. This is the real cross, and with what art they have managed it! So Buddha, on the
           one hand, is declared an incarnation of God and taken back into the fold with all his following
           naturally becoming part of the Hindus; and yet they have condemned Buddha and his philosophy,
           because whosoever follows that philosophy is going to fall into hell. It is God's strategy to fill the
           space which is lying down there empty.
                And the story says that since Buddha's time, things have changed to just the reverse, heaven is
           becoming emptier every day, and hell is overcrowded. Now people are on the waiting list for hell.
           You can see them in the hospitals, hanging their legs up. What are these people doing? They are on a
           waiting list! And the doctors are going to push them as hard as possible on respirators, on drugs ...
           people are in coma; their brains have died, only their bodies are there -- but what to do? Hell is so
           full that unless there is some space, unless some people are released from hell -- unless some people
           have received their full punishment and are released -- the queue cannot move.
                There will be more and more hospitals, there will be more and more people hanging upside
           down, there will be more and more doctors. It is nothing but in the service of death, because death
           cannot take these people. Where to take them? They are not worthy of heaven, and hell has no space.
                Such a beautiful story, and yet with such ugly intentions. Can you see the trick? But when
           Buddha was alive, even to accept him as religious was not possible; and when he was dead he was an
           incarnation of God.
                The same is the situation with all religious authentically, existentially religious people: no
           organized religion, their heads, the leaders, their priests, their popes, have ever gone to them. They
           cannot -- they want to destroy these people.
                You are asking me: "Is something like this happening here too?" It has never happened; how can
           it happen here? The same thing is happening here as it has happened always. Intelligent people are
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           coming, people who are in search of truth are coming; people who are seekers -- who want to know
           on their own, who want to feel and experience -- they are coming, but not religious leaders.
                All the religious leaders are against me. They would like to crucify me, they would like to poison
           me -- they have made attempts on my life. But I have learned much since Buddha's time.
           Twenty-five centuries is enough -- I have learned much. If I know that in Jerusalem they are going to
           crucify me, I am the last person to go there. Why should I go to Jerusalem? -- unless I want to be
           crucified. That's why I say Jesus must be carrying some suicidal instinct, some will to die.
                Perhaps seeing that nobody listens to him, nobody understands him -- only a few illiterate,
           uneducated poor people have gathered around him hoping that they will inherit the kingdom of God
           .... But nobody of real caliber ever comes. Perhaps he got tired; perhaps he was too impatient. And
           you can see it in Christian gospels that this man is impatient. The way he talks is the way of an
           impatient mind.
                He tells people, "In this very life, in your life, you are going to see the glory of God." This is
           utter nonsense. And now there is no need to prove it -- it is proved already. Twenty centuries have
           passed: how many generations in twenty centuries? -- at least a hundred generations. If you think
           that one generation changes in twenty years, and in one century, five generations change -- in twenty
           centuries at least one hundred generations have existed and disappeared.
                Jesus was telling his contemporaries, "In your very life, in this very life, you will see the glory of
           God descending. You will see the kingdom of God attained by the poor."
                He was teaching only for three years -- not more than that -- but it seems that even in three years
           he became utterly tired. Impatient people become really tired very soon. Buddha was teaching for
           forty-two years; Mahavira was teaching for forty years; Lao Tzu was teaching for sixty years -- but
           not a single statement of impatience. Even in the time after teaching for sixty years, Lao Tzu is not
           impatient.
                In these centuries, which are crystal-clear before me .... I don't have any suicidal instinct because
           to me the suicidal instinct means that something in you has still remained unreligious. Religion can
           only be life, equivalent to life. There cannot be even a small dark corner for death, and death is ....
                If I am still alive it is not because the twentieth century has become more civilized, no ... because
           people are being killed, people are being shot -- people who are not more dangerous than me. Now,
           what danger is Mahatma Gandhi? It was just unnecessarily wasting one cartridge. That old man was
           going to die soon himself. But he had also started to think of dying.
                Before India's freedom he used to say, "I want to live one hundred and twenty-five years." After
           India's freedom he started saying, "I feel that it is time for me to be finished; perhaps I am no longer
           needed." That suicidal instinct was arising in him.
                I don't have any desire to die. That does not mean that I want to live forever. It simply means that
           as long as life is, I enjoy; if death comes, I will enjoy it too. But I am not going to Jerusalem
           knowing perfectly well that they are preparing a crucifixion.
                It happened in Amritsar when I was getting out of the train, I was blocked. Two hundred Hindu
           chauvinist people wanted me to get back into the train and not enter Amritsar. The people who had
           come to take me had no idea that there would be two hundred people, so only twenty or twenty-five
           people were there just to take me home. And there was to be a meeting immediately -- just time
           enough for me to take a cup of tea and go to the meeting. So everybody was in the meeting -- ten
           thousand people waiting there -- and these twenty-five people surrounding me in case those two
           hundred Hindu chauvinists do any harm to me. I could see in the faces of those two hundred people
           nothing but murder.
                The stationmaster by chance happened to be one of my lovers. He phoned to the Golden Temple
           of the Sikhs, "This is the situation: We are not moving the train, because if we move the train there
           will immediately be trouble. We are not moving the train. Those people are insisting that he should
           get into the train and he is not going to get into the train, so immediately send a few temple guards.
                The temple guards have naked swords, so a few temple guards came. As they came the crowd
           started dispersing, because naked swords -- there would have been a massacre. And for the first time
           I had to be escorted, protected from all sides with naked swords, into the city.
           I said, "This is my last time in this city."
           They said, "Why?"
                I said, "Because I don't want this kind of nonsense." And that was not only my last time in that
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           city, I stopped moving altogether. I said, "Those who want to understand me will come, and those
           who do not want to understand me -- in fact why should I interfere in their lives? If they don't want
           me to be in their city .... It is their city: if they want to remain idiots forever they have the freedom,
           and I respect their intention. I cannot force them to be enlightened. Let them remain endarkened --
           this is their choice. Why should I bother?"
                That day became decisive: I was not going to move anywhere. Still, even when I stopped moving
           absolutely, one man made an attempt on my life. Many of you were present there; seven thousand
           sannyasins were present there. The police were present there, the police officers were present there,
           the police commissioner himself was present there -- because they got some information: some
           anonymous person phoned to say that a certain gang was going to throw a knife at me.
                So they arrived before the gang arrived. They all witnessed the man throwing the knife. But you
           know, Indians are lousy. It seems that man has never thrown anything in his life: the knife fell some
           eight feet away from me. Even I felt sorry.
                This country -- how long can it remain free, with such people? If he wanted to kill me then he
           should have practised a little bit. Eight feet away ... even eight inches cannot be allowed. And what
           kind of knife? When I saw the knife I simply laughed: Indians will always remain without any
           intelligence it seems.
                The knife was, at the most, capable of cutting vegetables. That too it has not been used at least
           for a few decades. It could not kill a man at all, not even a man like me who is absolutely fragile. But
           seven thousand eyewitnesses, twenty policemen eyewitnesses, ten police officers, one police
           commissioner -- still the court freed the man.
                If the court can simply release the man -- not even a three-day punishment or a five-rupee
           punishment -- with all the evidence against him .... The court was under pressure from the political
           sources to free that man; perhaps political and religious sources were behind him.
                The man was completely free. I said, "If this is the case, then to remain in this country means
           going to Jerusalem. I am not interested in committing suicide or being available to be murdered. My
           work is not finished, my people are growing. It is still a nursery.
                I have to see it become a wild garden; only then can I say goodbye. Before that, to leave you will
           be an act not of love, not of trust, not of compassion.
                It is very difficult for me to go on living in this body, because my work was finished long ago. I
           am not sick; I am not suffering from any diseases the way medicine will understand. Of course,
           medicine will understand in its own way that there is diabetes, that there is asthma and this and that;
           they will find their own way. But I know I am not medically sick -- of course I am not medically fit
           either.
                My problem is existential, not medical. My work is finished. My ship has arrived long ago; it is
           waiting there. Where? Do you know? Portland! That's why I had to come so far. The ship was
           waiting in Portland. I have to be nearby: any moment the captain of the ship can say, "Enough!"
           My problem is existential.
                There is nothing for me to go on breathing for. There is no need. What has to happen has
           happened; it is already past.
           For you there is future:
           For me there is no future ... no present even.
                In my inner world all stopped long ago. That's why there is a disparity between my body and my
           life. That disparity creates many kinds of sicknesses. That disparity has made my body very fragile.
                I am somehow hanging around; but I will insist on hanging around until you understand your
           responsibility, until you give me the proof that not only my inner work, but my outer work is also
           complete ... that now I can leave without looking back ... that I know now that the seeds I have sown
           will go on growing forever.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                       Chapter #27
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                                   Chapter title: This time it can be one earth
           28 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503285
              ShortTitle: DARK27
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 137 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              WHY HAS IT HAPPENED THAT IN THE EAST, RELIGION CAME TO ITS HIGHEST FLOWERING,
              AND IN THE WEST THE SAME HAS HAPPENED TO SCIENCE? IS THERE SOME DIFFERENCE
              OF CONSCIOUSNESS BETWEEN THE EASTERN MAN AND THE WESTERN MAN?


                Consciousness is one and can only be one.
           It is just like the light. East and West make no difference at all. Geography has no effect as far as
           consciousness is concerned.
           But it is true that in the East religion blossomed, reached to the highest peaks. The same was not the
           case with science in the East. It began its journey but it never reached to the peaks the same way as
           religion reached.
                Just the opposite has happened in the West. Religion is still primitive, just the beginnings, while
           science has taken a tremendous flight. Naturally the question is very relevant, but it has nothing to do
           with any difference between Eastern and Western man and his consciousness. It has to do with some
           other factors.
                One thing that is most significant to understand is that religion happens only when a civilization,
           a culture, reaches to the state of ultimate luxury -- the omega point beyond which you cannot
           conceive that things can be better. All your physical needs are fulfilled, all your psychological needs
           are fulfilled. Only then do you start feeling the spiritual urge.
                Religion in fact is the only luxury, because it happens when you are rich in every possible way.
                Blessed are not the poor, because they shall never know the kingdom of God; the question of
           inheritance does not arise.
                Blessed are the rich, those rich in every dimension of life.
                They need not bother about God; the kingdom of God is theirs, not God's. But the basic thing is
           the richness in all dimensions.
                This will help you to understand why East and West have developed differently. The East is very
           ancient; Western history starts with Jesus Christ. That's why you use "before Christ, "after Christ" --
           Christ is the demarcating line. Before Christ it is prehistory, mythology, there is no evidence for it.
           After Christ things start becoming more factual; you have evidence for them.
                But Christ is only two thousand years old. Centuries before Western history began the East had
           reached to its highest peak of material richness -- in all dimensions. Not only had it reached to its
           ultimate peak of development, it had also fallen. This all happened before the West started its
           history. In comparison to the East the West is childish.
                The East is ancient. This is the reason why religion reached its highest peak in the East. Science
           too began there. For example, arithmetic began in India many centuries before Jesus Christ.
           Astronomy began in India many centuries before Jesus Christ. Medicine began in India. Printing, the
           mechanism to print, began in China one thousand years before Jesus Christ. Guns, machine guns, all
           were invented in China.
                If we look into the past of the East there is every evidence that they might have invented
           something like airplanes. There is so much evidence that it cannot be simply overlooked.
                As far as richness is concerned, India was known all over the world as a golden bird. Columbus,
           who stumbled on and discovered America, was not trying to discover America, remember. He had
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           started his journey to go to India. There were connections between the West and India. Columbus
           was trying to reach India by a new route because of the scientific discovery of the fact that the earth
           is a globe.
                Columbus thought, "If it is a globe then even if you move in the opposite direction, sooner or
           later you will reach India. And if you go on moving, finally you will come back to your home,
           because the earth is round."
                And when he saw, for the first time, American soil, he thought it was India; he thought he had
           reached India. That's why those poor people of America are still called "Red Indians." They don't
           like it, they have never called themselves Red Indians. They are not Indians. It is Columbus' mistake
           that they are still carrying. Columbus thought that he had arrived in India from the long route,
           proving the theory that the earth is round. Everybody who had any adventurous spirit was headed
           towards India because all kinds of riches were there, easily available.
                We have enough evidence that at the time of Mahabharata -- which happened three thousand
           years before Jesus Christ -- something like nuclear weapons were used. So it is not that science had
           not developed -- but it was prevented; its direction was changed.
                Seeing its destructiveness, seeing that it is against ecology, seeing that sooner of later it would
           destroy humanity itself ... all scientific movement was directed into other dimensions. For example,
           yoga, tantra, ayurveda -- these are all scientific methods, but not against nature, not against man;
           they are creative. And of course people were so rich and the soil was so rich and fertile, and the
           population was so small, and the land was so vast ....
                You will be surprised to know that even my maternal grandfather received land free from the
           government because the land was so available and the people so few. It was difficult to find a market
           for land. Just my maternal grandfather ... it was not very long ago, at the most a hundred years. Just a
           hundred years ago fifteen acres of land were given by the government free of charge. That was the
           way.
                In India even in my early childhood, milk was freely available. To think of selling milk was
           inhuman, ugly, for the simple reason that there was so much milk in the country. Who was going to
           purchase it? And secondly, to sell milk looks bad because milk is nourishment, and if somebody is in
           need of nourishment and you are doing business, you are trying to exploit his hunger, his thirst. Food
           was not sold. If you asked for food you were invited to be a guest. And this was in my childhood,
           just fifty years ago.
                I have seen my own mother distributing milk because there was so much -- what to do with it?
           Every morning at my house there used to be a queue of people to receive milk -- people who didn't
           have their own cows -- and as much as they wanted. This can give you an idea of what it would have
           been like in Buddha's time.
                Now, India's population is forty times more than in Buddha's time. Naturally the land has become
           poor; people are starving and dying. What to say of not selling milk? -- in the famine of Bengal,
           mothers sold their own children.
                Looking at India today you cannot comprehend what this country was in the past: millions of
           monks, Buddhist, Hindu, Jaina, all lived without doing anything. Only a very rich country could
           afford them; otherwise who was going to give these millions of people clothes, shelter, food? And
           they were not productive in any way, they were not doing anything. But they were not thought to be
           beggars; remember, they were respected, they were almost worshipped.
                If they receive food from you -- you will be certainly surprised to know -- first, if the monk is
           willing to receive food from you, it is a great blessing -- to you. He receives the food from you and
           eats it and you have to be grateful. The monk will never thank you, you have to thank the monk. This
           strange tradition was there: first you give the food and your are fortunate if the monk accepts it.
           Then, because he has accepted it, you give something as a symbol of your gratitude; that is called
           dakshina. The country must have been immensely rich.
                Jaina monks used to go from one house to another, and people were standing in front of their
           houses welcoming them. But the monks had a certain idea: in their morning meditation they would
           decide where they were going to accept their food, what kind of a house, what kind of a situation.
           That was part of their religion, because if existence wants you to live, it will provide the situation. If
           existence does not want you to live, it will not provide the situation.
                Strange situations they would imagine, and they would go around the town. Everybody was
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           begging them ... but they would look for their situation. If their situation was fulfilled they would
           receive food; otherwise they would come back without food. The whole town would feel sad,
           unfortunate, that a monk had returned without food -- "That simply shows that we are unfortunate
           people. We have missed a blessing that could have happened."
                This luxurious, rich country was not only luxurious and rich in money, in gold, in precious
           diamonds, stones; it was also rich in music. It created one of the most perfect sciences of music. In
           five thousand years nothing has been added to it because it reached such perfection that there is no
           possibility of adding anything to it.
                For five thousand years thousands of musicians have tried to do something more, to bring
           something more to music, and have failed. And I don't see that there is any possibility .... It simply
           reached its perfection. Whatever you can do is only new combinations -- which are not in any way
           new; just from the old you gather fragments and make a new combination, a new composition -- but
           it is not creation.
                Language reached its peak. There is no other language in the world which is more scientific than
           Sanskrit. It is so scientific that you cannot find fault with it. Every other language in the world looks
           very immature compared to Sanskrit.
                For example, you can see in English that you pronounce a word in one way, you spell it in
           another. Now what kind of stupidity is this? In Sanskrit you spell the word the way you pronounce it.
           There should not be two ways because this is unnecessary and very unscientific; it is creating
           unnecessary troubles for people. Sanskrit is perhaps the only language you can learn perfectly just by
           reading. You cannot do that with any other language.
                I don't know much English. I know enough to hit people, but that is not much. But one thing I
           can see that English grammarians, linguistics experts, are not able to answer: b-u-t is but, and p-u-t is
           put. That seems to be strange. Either b-u-t should be boot, or p-u-t should be putt. There is no way to
           explain all these. In Sanskrit you cannot find a single example in which there is any difference
           between the pronunciation and the spelling.
                In English you have only twenty-six letters in the alphabet. Sanskrit has fifty-two, just double the
           amount of English. There cannot be more than fifty-two, that's why Sanskrit has stopped at fifty-two.
           That exhausts the possibility of all kinds of sounds -- fifty-two is the limit. Twenty-six is just the
           minimum, not the maximum, hence, it is such a difficulty to translate Sanskrit words into English --
           or just to write them in Roman letters, because in English there is only one "s", in Sanskrit there are
           three. There are very subtle phonetic differences, but they are there.
                According to the Western historians, Sanskrit also reached to its ultimate peak of refinement in
           some prehistorical age; since then there has been no change. Not that they are against change; you
           cannot change it because it has been refined to the very last. All the finishing touches were done five
           thousand years ago.
                People were scientific, but their devotion was to human growth -- in music, in art, in poetry, in
           drama, in dance.
                In India there are so many schools of dance, centuries old; so many schools of music, centuries
           old. And the teaching of dance or drama is not the way it is in the West; it is very religious. The man
           who teaches you drama, dance, music, is as much respected as a master is. And he is a Master,
           because music is not only music; it is, deep down, meditation. It is music used for meditation.
                You may have come to learn music; you will return with something more, something more
           precious than you have every imagined. Music of course you will learn, but side by side something
           will start growing in you which is far more musical, which is the music of silence.
           Ordinary music is the music of sound.
                It is just playing with sound, creating rhythm with sound.
           Meditation is the rhythm of silence.
                Unless a Master can teach music plus meditation he is not really a maestro, he is only a teacher, a
           mere teacher of music. He becomes a Master of music when his music is an instrument to teach, to
           create, the space called meditation.
                The same is true about dance, the same is true about all the arts. Great sculpture exists in the East
           unparalleled anywhere else, but all the sculpture is devoted basically to mediation, in some way or
           other.
                You can see Roman sculpture -- naked men, pornographic. And why naked men -- because
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Romans were homosexuals; they thought the woman was not beautiful. The male, the athletic male,
           was thought to be the pinnacle of beauty; hence, you will not find in Roman sculpture women
           represented at all.
               The same was the case in Greece. And you will be surprised that even people like Socrates,
           Plato, Aristotle, were all homosexuals. Homosexuality was thought to be a refinement, a more
           cultured thing because heterosexuality exists in animals, that is nothing special. The logic is perfect:
           All animals are heterosexuals, so what is great in it? If man is heterosexual he is just an animal.
               That's how Aristotle has defined man, as the only political animal. In every other aspect he is
           animal; only politics is something that is more, a plus factor.
               But in India you will find sculpture a thousandfold greater, millions of temples with
           tremendously beautiful statues of men, of women -- but all devoted basically to meditation. Just
           looking at the statue of Buddha you will feel some serenity within you -- the proportion of the
           Buddha, the body, the posture the way he is sitting, the half-closed eyes. You just sit silently, look at
           the statue, and you will start falling into a silence.
               Gurdjieff used to call Eastern art "objective art" and Western art "subjective art." He means by
           objective art, art which has some intrinsic quality which can be imparted for thousands of years. The
           work of art is a code word. After experiencing meditation for thousands of years, meditators have
           come to recognize that a certain posture, a certain way of sitting, a certain way of the eyes, can
           create in anybody a synchronicity, a sympathy; some sympathetic note can be stirred by the statue.
               In the East a statue is not made for its own sake. It is made as a code language for centuries to
           follow. Scriptures may disappear, languages may change, words may be interpreted. Doctrines can
           be wrongly interpreted, commented upon. There may be dispute about theories -- and there has been
           -- so they thought there must be a different way than language.
               Now what dispute can there be about the statue of a Buddha or Mahavira? There is no question
           of dispute, there is no need of any commentary. Anybody who is capable of sitting silently by the
           side of this statue will have a certain thing stirred in his heart. This is objective art.
               Picasso's pictures are subjective art. Seeing a painting by Picasso ... he has not considered you,
           who are going to see the painting. You are not taken into account at all. He has simply vomited his
           own madness on the canvas. It is simply vomit; hence you cannot go on looking at a Picasso painting
           for a long time. You will start feeling tense, your stomach will start feeling weird -- because Picasso
           is not concerned with you, what happens to you, he is simply subjective. He is pouring out his own
           mind, what is happening to him; unconcerned about humanity or anybody. He is going crazy, that's
           why his painting is crazy.
               Almost all the painters in the West have gone mad once or twice in their life, and have been put
           into mad asylums. Many of the Western painters have committed suicide. This has never happened
           in the East. There is not a single instance in ten thousand years that a painter, a musician, a poet, has
           been mad, or has committed suicide. The reason is, it was art on the surface, but meditation in depth.
           In the West it is just surface, there is no depth in it. And the surface is without any compassion,
           without any consideration, without any responsibility.
               When you compose music or poetry you are to understand that somebody will be reading it --
           what effect it is going to have on the person? Will it drive him sane or insane?
               I myself have been very interested in painting. From my very childhood I started many paintings
           but not a single painting have I left intact. I have burned all of them.
               One of my professors was a painter himself. I used to visit his studio, and I used to say
           sometimes, "This seems to be wrong. If you do a little change here then the whole impact of the
           painting will be different."
               He started asking me, "Are you a painter? -- because whatsoever you suggest, reluctantly I do it,
           and certainly it improves the painting. And by and by I have dropped my reluctance. I simply accept
           your suggestion. But this is possible only if you are a painter ... because there are so many people
           coming here. Even my own students who are painters never suggest that this is wrong; just a slight
           change will do a miracle. And it does. So you have to explain to me the truth."
           I said, "Yes, I am not a painter, but I paint."
               He said, "What is the difference between being a painter and painting?"
               I said, "There is much difference: I don't allow my paintings to be exhibited because I am still
           not in a position to create objective art; they are all subjective. They represent and reflect my mind,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           and what can my mind be to others? They are already burdened with mind; now, burdening them
           more is inhuman. So I paint because I enjoy painting. I love colors."
               And I don't know why Sagar University in India .... I have traveled all over India continually for
           thirty years, but I have never seen such colors in the sky as happens over the lake by the side of the
           university in Sagar. Never have I seen anywhere such splendor; the sunrise, the sunset, are just
           divine ... without there being any God.
               I painted, and destroyed my paintings. Only a few friends have seen them. I allowed this
           professor to see a few of my paintings. He said, "You are mad -- these paintings are far superior to
           mine. You can earn so much money, you can become world famous.
               I said, "I accept your first statement. You said, `You are mad' -- I am! That's why I am not going
           to leave these footprints of a madman for others to travel and follow." I have destroyed all those.
               I love poetry. I have written poetry. But I continued to destroy it. My basic standpoint was that
           unless I am no more, whatever I do is going to harm others. This is the Eastern way.
               Now it is unfortunate that when I disappeared, the desire to paint or to make a statue or to
           compose poetry all disappeared too. Perhaps they were just part of that madman who died. And I am
           happy that nothing of it survives.
               In the East they had reached, five thousand years ago, to such a peak in every direction and
           dimension that only religion was left to be an adventure. So those who had any adventurous spirit
           were attracted towards religion -- the best, the chosen ones, the most intelligent, the genius, the
           giants, became interested in religion because there was nothing else left.
               These people, like Mahavira, Buddha, Krishna, Nagarjuna, Shankara -- these people gave
           tremendous heights to religion, and all the best minds moved towards religion because that was the
           only challenge left. Everything else was being done by mediocre people. And they were doing
           perfectly well, there was no need ....
               If Einstein had been born in Buddha's time he would have been another Buddha, for the simple
           reason that that was the only challenge for a man like him. Mathematics was done by mediocre
           people, and they were doing perfectly well. There was no need for an Albert Einstein to get caught in
           a mediocre game. No, he would have moved in the same way as Buddha or Mahavira. All the best
           people were attracted towards religion; that's why religion touched the pinnacles of height.
               But science was ignored, consciously ignored, because the people who had reached religious
           consciousness could see the destructiveness of science. They changed the direction of science.
           Rather than science becoming allopathy, in the East it became ayurveda, it became acupuncture, it
           became yoga .... These are the same kind of people who, in the West, created allopathy. They were
           the same kind of mind, but in the East they created acupuncture, they created herbal sciences.
               The word for medical science in the East is ayurveda. Even the word will show you the
           difference. In the West you call it "medicine." Medicine means curing, healing, but can you see the
           implication: it does not mean health, it comes after the disease has already come in. It is a follow-up.
           First you are sick, then comes the doctor. The doctor follows sickness, with his bag of medicines.
               Ayurveda means the science of life. The very word has nothing to do with disease, sickness; it
           has something to do with life, health, longevity. It is positive, it is not negative. It shows you the way
           to remain healthy, to remain young as long as you want, to live longer if that's what you want. Its
           focus is not on sickness, its focus is on health.
               In China, Confucius advised the emperor of China that doctors should be paid not for curing a
           sick man -- that is dangerous because that means the doctor will like people to be sick so that he can
           cure them. If everybody remains healthy then only the doctor will be sick, he will die of hunger. So
           to create a system in which the doctor is paid by curing and healing people is to create a dilemma.
               The doctor's business is to cure people, but his prayers will be that people should fall sick. There
           should be as many epidemics as possible.
               One doctor came to Mulla Nasruddin and said, "You have not paid me. I visited eight times to
           cure your child of smallpox; you have neither paid for my eight visits nor have you paid for my
           medicines. And you have some nerve, you go on in front of my medical clinic as if you own it."
               Nasruddin said, "You should remember who started the epidemic -- it was my child. You should
           pay me! Who made the whole school sick? In fact I own your medical clinic. My boy has done so
           much for you, and not even gratitude .... you should pay me, and remember that!"
               If the doctor is paid when people are sick, then Nasruddin is perfectly right, logically right. His
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           boy has done such a great job making the whole city sick; all the doctors should pay him.
                Confucius suggested that doctors should be paid for keeping people healthy, not for curing them.
           Everybody should have a personal physician. Every body should register himself with one physician
           as his personal physician, and he should pay him every month a certain amount of money for
           keeping him healthy, If he becomes sick the money is not to be paid to the doctor any more.
                If the doctor cannot cure him then the doctor has to pay him because he is not able to cure him
           and he has to go to another doctor. Till the patient becomes healthy again the doctor has to pay for
           his medicines, his doctors, anything that is needed. Confucius turned the whole direction of medicine
           around.
                This is how it happened in the East with every science. Science was in the service of humanity,
           in the service of health, life. Yoga is devoted to making you almost a citadel against sickness. One
           who practices yoga is not supposed to be sick. If he is sick that means whatever he is doing with
           yoga, something is basically wrong.
                One hypocrite in India is Satya Sai Baba. I call him a hypocrite because he knows nothing of
           yoga. There is nothing wrong if you don't know anything of yoga -- I don't. I can afford to be sick,
           nobody can object; it is my birthright to be sick. I don't know yoga. But Satya Sai Baba declares
           himself a great yogi; then the problem arises. Then for his appendix operation he has to go to Goa
           secretly. And he has to pay ten times more to the doctor so the secret should not be known, because a
           great yogi going for an operation? What control has he over his physiology?
                But it is difficult to hide because his whole ashram became curious: where has Baba
           disappeared? His own people became curious about where he had gone. And after the operation he
           had to rest for two or three days in Goa. They found out, and the media and the press -- everybody
           was there, and the doctor had to confess that he had done the operation.
                Eastern science was indicating something, it was saying that yoga is basically transforming your
           body in such a way that your resistance to sickness increases a thousandfold. It becomes impossible
           for sickness to enter you. This was a positive change in science.
                Tantra is basically spiritual sexology ... because man's mind is perverted throughout the world by
           religions teaching repression of sex. Tantra is the only science which teaches you expression of sex
           -- not as indulgence, but as a spiritual discipline. This is a transformation of a biological
           phenomenon into spirituality.
                For example, Ramakrishna was one of the great tantrikas of this century. The story is beautiful
           .... He had his first glimpse of superconsciousness when he was only fourteen. But that age, fourteen,
           is also the age when sexuality starts its journey. And he had his first experience of
           superconsciousness at the same time. He was coming home from the field -- it was evening -- and he
           was passing the lake that was between his hut and the field.
                It was rainy season -- black clouds had gathered over the lake. Soon it was going to rain, so
           Ramakrishna was rushing towards his house -- and just at that moment he saw a line of white cranes
           flying above the lake, against the backdrop of black clouds. It was a tremendously silent and
           beautiful moment. Both were reflected in the lake, the silent lake: the black clouds and the white
           cranes in a line, flying. He was struck by the beauty of the moment; he fell down and became
           unconscious. And from that day he became a different person. He was only fourteen ....
                His parents certainly became worried, the whole village became worried: something had to be
           done. The boy was talking almost like a madman -- who would think otherwise of a
           fourteen-year-old child if he starts speaking like the seers of the UPANISHADS, and talks as if he is
           a great wise man? They simply thought that he had gone crazy: "This boy we know. Only the other
           day he was simply an ordinary boy, and just in one day he has become a sage." So they all thought --
           as it is thought all over India, if some trouble arises like this -- the best way is marriage. It is the
           medicine for almost every kind of sickness. Perhaps the reason is that whenever you are in pain, if
           something of a bigger trouble happens, you forget the pain. For example, you have a headache and
           your house starts burning; do you think you will remember about the headache? -- you will forget all
           about the headache. It simply means you needed a bigger headache, that's all.
                So marriage is thought to be the cure of all kinds of sickness in India. But the parents were a little
           concerned. They thought that he was not going to say yes, he would not agree; but there seemed to
           be nothing else. The whole village suggested only one thing, marriage, so they finally asked him.
                His name at that time was Gadadhar. He became Ramakrishna when he became enlightened and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his name was changed by his master. They asked Gadadhar, "Would you like to be married?"
               He said, "Yes, why not? Even great seers have married."
               They said, "He is really crazy, completely crazy! `Great seers were married ...' he is saying. He
           does not know anything about marriage, and he says, `Yes, why not?'" But the whole village said, "If
           he is saying yes, then why not? -- let him be married. Marriage will bring him to his senses. All these
           great seers and strange things that he talks about, he will forget. He needs a beautiful girl. It is just
           the age." They said, "He is a little young, and it is just a sexual upheaval in his mind that is making
           him say all these things."
               So they arranged for him to see the girl -- just in the next village there was a beautiful girl.
           Gadadhar was so happy when he was dressed in new clothes, and it was almost a procession which
           went to the other village to see the girl. His mother had put one silver rupee in his pocket "just in
           case you need it." They were poor people -- one rupee was a lot of money.
               The girl came; the way it happens in India is, the girl comes to put food in your plates. That is the
           only time you see her. When the girl came to put food in the plate of Ramakrishna, he took out his
           one rupee and put it at her feet. He touched her feet, and said, "Mother, you are really beautiful. The
           seers have said rightly."
               His family and the villagers that had come said, "This boy -- even marriage cannot cure him; he
           is beyond cure. Look at this nonsense -- his own wife, and he is touching her feet, putting the rupee,
           and is saying that, "The great seers have said rightly that the woman is always a mother."
               The family of the girl was also in a dilemma ... what to do? This boy seems to be crazy, and
           looks nice, beautiful; but the way he has behaved -- no boy has ever behaved. But they were poor,
           and this was a good chance. They married the girl. And Ramakrishna continued to have the same
           relationship his whole life: his wife Sharda, remained his mother. He continued to call her mother.
               He practiced tantra with Sharda ... he would put Sharda naked on a high pedestal and sit
           underneath just like a devoted son. This was an old and ancient method of tantra: that if you can see
           in a beautiful naked woman your mother and still no desire arises, or if it arises you simply watch it
           pass. It will pass because nothing remains in the mind forever. The mind is in a constant flux --
           nothing remains stable, so don't be worried if anything comes, just be watchful, but underneath let
           the basic idea remain -- that of the mother.
               Yes, in the beginning there were, ideas. Ramakrishna was young and sexuality was there; but he
           watched, and he watched year in, year out -- with the basic concept clear. Slowly, slowly all those
           ideas, when they are not received well, start disappearing. If a guest comes and you don't even say,
           "Hello," how long is he going to come to you?
               Soon the basic idea remained there. All sex ideas, desires disappeared. Sharda became his
           mother. It took years, every night, but it was a double-edged sword because while he was practicing,
           Sharda was also practicing -- just an ancient Indian idea. If the husband is moving above sex, then
           the wife should follow him; she should be a shadow. She never objected, she never said anything
           like, "What nonsense is this?"
               As Ramakrishna grew, Sharda was also growing; their growth was simultaneous, so much so that
           when Ramakrishna died .... It is a custom in India -- that the wife becomes a widow. She cannot use
           any symbols of a married woman: bangles, a teeka, colored clothes -- only white sarees without
           borders.
               But Sharda did not follow any of it. She continued to wear the bangles, colored saris; she
           continued to use the red mark on the forehead which declares that the woman is married, and her
           husband is alive. People objected. She said, "You may not know, but I know he is alive. I know, and
           my relationship with him remains the same as it was always: I am his mother, he is my son."
               They said, "This woman also has gone mad with that madman. He was mad, that was certain, but
           we never knew that he will drive this woman also mad."
               Tantra is a scientific methodology; it has many techniques to transform sex. Yoga is scientific
           physiology; it has methods to make it almost impossible for your body to be sick. It gives you
           control over the body so you can live as long as you want, and you can decide your own death
           whenever you want. Science was there, but in a totally different dimension. It was not devoted to
           war and politicians.
               In the West it is the same consciousness -- but the West is very new. Science is only three
           hundred years old, and the West is so new that when the East was at its peak of culture and richness
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           -- the West was just barbarous. It was simply fighting with nature just to survive. That's how the
           famous doctrine became so important -- survival of the fittest.
               In the East they were thinking of transcending life to attain eternal life; in the West it was a
           question of survival. The climate was harsh, cold; the land was not fertile; most of the year, the sun
           was not available. Man was fighting with nature to survive; there was no possibility for religion. Life
           was at risk -- who is going to think of eternal life? Even moment to moment survival was difficult.
               In fact, this curse turned out to be a blessing in the end because the East became very, very
           relaxed -- good climate, warm climate, good soil, enough of everything. People became non-fighting,
           they dropped weapons, they forgot about weapons; there was no need. The West became strong and
           started creating empires.
               It was not very difficult for a small country like England -- which is just as big as a district of
           India, not even a state -- to manage the biggest empire in the world. It was said, "In the British
           empire, the sun never sets." Somewhere or other, it is always rising. The empire was around the
           world. And the people who controlled this whole empire ... what gave them the strength? -- the fight
           with nature, the continuous fight for survival.
               When you have nothing to lose, you have a certain strength; when you have everything to lose
           you are weak, you are afraid, because in fight the other party is not going to lose anything. If you
           win, you win nothing.
               From India, never in the whole history, did people come out to conquer any country -- never.
           They never invaded anybody. Who bothers? They had so much, and the poor people around ... to
           invade them was just inhuman. And for what? Taking unnecessary responsibility over your head to
           feed them, to clothe them.
               India never invaded anybody, and India was invaded by almost everybody -- Spanish,
           Portuguese, English, French, Arabians. Everybody who was capable of fighting made his way to
           India. That was the easiest place to be victorious. These people -- Spaniards, English, French,
           Portuguese -- had not much resistance in India, almost no resistance. People were not interested in
           fighting.
               The logic is clear: in fighting, they will be the losers. And the people who have come have
           nothing. So rather than fighting, they simply let them control the country. They had become so
           relaxed for thousands of years; it was impossible suddenly to become warriors again; it needs
           training, centuries of training.
               So the West found a blessing in disguise. The climate was antagonistic but it made the people
           strong, hard, cruel, cunning, inhuman -- that became their strength. They were not interested in
           religion, they were interested in becoming more stronger, they were interested in creating bigger
           empires, they were interested in being all powerful because their own land was poor. They wanted
           other people's land. Their own country was not of any worth.
               You can see it, as the British empire has disappeared, England is going down the drain everyday.
           England must be now in a more depressive state than any other country in the world -- Ethiopia
           included. In Ethiopia people are dying; in England they are not dying, but they are dead. Which is
           worse? Dying is clean, but dead with your umbrella?
               England has no hope now because that old empire cannot come back. The whole situation has
           changed: England is no longer a power. Now Russia is a power, America is a power, China is a
           power; but England is almost nobody. Why do they go on keeping England on the map? -- I don't
           know. It should not be on the map; finished is finished.
               But there was a day when England was the very center of the world -- London was the world
           capital. Now it is the ugliest city, most depressive. It is impossible to smile in London -- just the
           climate won't allow you. And if you smile, then a crowd will gather asking, "What has happened?
           Why is this man smiling?" Laughter is unheard of; everybody is sad and with a long face.
               This was the situation of the whole West. They needed science and destructive science because
           they were fighting and creating empires all around the world. They needed more and more superior
           weapons to kill, to destroy, to invade. They gave science a turn which is destructive, which has
           brought you to the very verge of a third world war. They were not interested in religion, because
           religion is possible only in a very relaxed climate, in a very relaxed milieu of your soul ... when
           everything is fulfilled, and you don't have anything else to do than just sitting silently.
               To sit silently, certainly you need every other need to be fulfilled. In the West they have the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           proverb, "the empty mind is the devil's workshop." Obviously, the West could not afford the empty
           mind; it has to be condemned. The West would not have allowed anybody to just sit silently, doing
           nothing. It was a question of life and death .... You are sitting silently doing nothing, and you say,
           "And the grass grows by itself."
                "But what are we going to do with grass? The wheat does not grow by itself, and we need wheat,
           we need rice, we need food, we need machine guns, we need airplanes. They don't grow by
           themselves ...."
                It is possible only in a very different milieu where you can say, "Sitting silently doing nothing
           and the grass grows by itself," and you can be understood.
                In the East, the empty mind is the ultimate experience of existence. When you are empty, it is not
           the devil's workshop; when you are not empty, then you are the devil's workshop.
                The whole West emphasizing, "Do something," has become a devil's workshop. They go on
           telling their children: "Don't sit silently. Do something!" Nobody says to them,: "Don't do anything,
           just sit silently." That is possible only when you have enough luxury that you can allow your
           children to sit silently, you can enjoy sitting around a bonfire gossiping, sipping tea, you can sit by
           the fireplace playing on your guitar, listening to poetry, reading Omar Khayyam's RUBAIYAT. But
           for that you first need food, clothes, house, enough wood for the fireplace. When everything is
           available, then only mind starts searching for the truth. In the East, everything was available.
                There is no difference of consciousness in the East and the West. The difference was in the
           climate, in the geography, in the situation; the difference was outside, not inside. Hence, religion
           became the only challenge in the East, and science became the only challenge in the West.
                But now the situation is totally different. The East has fallen into bankruptcy, which is natural ...
           that too is a law to be understood. When you are affluent, luxurious, religion is born. Once religion is
           born, immediately religion starts teaching you to be poor. That is a very strange thing, but there is
           some inner consistency in it.
                When you are luxurious, and the whole country is enjoying, and eating, and drinking, and being
           merry -- this is their only religion. Naturally, those who attain to samadhi and superconsciousness --
           start condemning, "What are you doing, wasting your life eating, drinking, and merrying. Do you
           think this is life? Stop all this nonsense ... renounce it, because the real life is something else which
           you are missing."
                So they become against all comfort, all luxury, all richness, because the best minds of the
           country, those who are loved by people, respected by people those who have charismatic influence
           on people are all saying, "Renounce all this," they don't know what they are doing. They don't know
           why they have been able to find truth.
                They have been able to find truth because of all this luxury, and comfort, and richness. It gave
           them an opportunity to sit silently, to not be worried about anything, to not do anything. There was
           no question of surviving, so they could enquire into eternal life.
                That is why I say Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna, all are right in some way, but wrong in some other
           ways; and we have to see what wrong they have committed. This was their fallacy: they forgot the
           ladder, that had brought them to this peak, and they started condemning those people who were on
           the same ladder, but on lower rungs: "You idiots, why are you clinging to the ladder? Renounce the
           ladder." They had moved away from the ladder, far away; they had renounced the ladder, but they
           forgot completely that they came to that point of renunciation through the ladder. Without the ladder,
           they would not have been able to renounce it.
                What can you renounce if you don't have riches? What can you renounce if you don't have in the
           first place? -- the poor cannot renounce, the hungry cannot renounce. So this is a strange circle, a
           vicious circle: The country becomes rich, people become affluent. Then a few geniuses start rising
           higher than the ordinary human consciousness, and they become so enchanted with the bliss, they
           forget all about the ladder which has led them there. They start condemning everything that is lower.
                Perhaps their intention is good. They want you to fly as high as they are flying, but they
           completely forget that without the ladder these people will simply crawl on the earth. That is what is
           happening in the East -- people are crawling on the earth. They have renounced the ladder because
           they trusted Buddha, they trusted Mahavira, they trusted Krishna. They renounced the ladder -- but
           the ladder can be renounced from two points -- either from the first rung or from the last rung.
                In both ways you are renouncing the ladder; but if you renounce from the first rung you will
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           crawl on the earth. The whole East is crawling -- it is ugly, disgusting, nauseating. You can also
           renounce the ladder from the highest rung. That happened only in the life of a few people.
                Now the situation has changed; the West is affluent, rich, and now facing a great problem. On the
           one hand, in three hundred years it has created a science which is destructive and has helped to
           exploit the whole world; to spread imperialism, to make empires, it has helped. But all those empires
           have disappeared.
                Now, Western science is like an old, ancient fable .... A man found a bottle in the lake. He had
           gone fishing, and in his net, with the fishes, came a bottle also. He looked in the bottle and he was
           amazed; there was a very tiny man inside. And not only that, the tiny man said, "If you open the
           bottle I can serve you in any way you want -- I am not so tiny. I have been cursed and closed in this
           bottle, but the man who cursed me has said that if somebody opens the bottle and takes me out, I will
           be free from the curse.
                "I have been waiting in this lake for centuries. It is just by coincidence that you have caught me.
           Now, please -- I am a djinn; open the bottle and I will do anything you want."
                The poor man thought, "This is a good opportunity" -- he opened the bottle. Great smoke came
           out of the bottle and with the smoke, almost like a cloud, was the djinn. The man now looked so
           small before the djinn, and the djinn said from the sky, "Now, I am free. Thank you for making me
           free. I will do everything, I will be your servant, but there is one condition. I cannot sit silently. I
           need work continuously, twenty-four hours a day, day in, day out. If you cannot give me work I will
           kill you."
                The man said, "Don't be worried, I will give you work. But what work can you do?"
                The djinn was such that if you gave him some work, any work, you were thinking that at least for
           a few hours he would leave you; but within seconds he would be back, the work was done! You
           would tell him to make a palace; within seconds he would be back, the palace was ready.
                Work? -- he was driving the man crazy! Within two or three days the man thought, "I am going
           to be killed," because he could not even think of anything more. All that he could imagine he told the
           djinn and he did it.
                The man said, "Wait, I have an appointment with a wise man. Till then you clean the palace and
           the garden -- I will be back." He ran to the wise man and asked, "Save me, because this is my last
           day. I don't think that I will be alive by the evening because all the work that I could think of, he has
           done. Tell me what I am to do."
                The wise man said, "Nothing to be worried about. You take this ladder and tell that idiot, `Go up,
           come down, go up, come down.' Let him do that, no other work, just `Go up, come down.'"
                The djinn is still doing that! The man has died long ago, but the djinn continues because he needs
           work.
                Science has proved to be almost the djinn in the bottle. The West opened the bottle; science
           served beautifully, it did miracles. It made the whole world a slave under the West. For the first time
           there was really one world, dominated by a few people. Otherwise, in India itself, in Buddha's time
           there were two thousand nations just in India. But this three hundred years of scientific technological
           growth gave the West so much power that nobody could stand against it.
           But now science is threatening the West itself.
                Those empires have disappeared, they had to disappear. How long can you exploit a people? A
           moment comes when you have exploited them so much that now they are hungry, starving, and they
           become a responsibility and a burden on you.
                Never be befooled by the historians and the politicians who go on saying that India, Pakistan,
           China, Burma -- these countries became independent because of their freedom struggle. Nonsense!
           The reality is that all these empires became burdens on the imperialists. England could not manage
           India any more. Now it was not a place to exploit. You have exploited enough, you have taken
           everything. Now the situation was the reverse.
                The country was a responsibility on you: you have to feed the people, you have to make schools
           for them, you have to make hospitals for them. If you don't, you are condemned by the whole world.
           It was time to somehow get rid of these people. But how to get rid of these people? These idiots
           themselves started saying, "We want to be free."
                If I was there .... I was, but I was too young. And nobody hears me even now, so at that time
           certainly, nobody was going to listen to me. I used to say to my parents -- because they were all for
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           freedom, they all had been to jails, they all had been beaten, tortured. I used to tell my uncles, my
           father, my grandfather, "It is all nonsense. What are you going to get with freedom? Freedom is not
           food. Freedom is not clothes. Freedom is not science. Freedom is not technology. In fact your
           freedom struggle is really greatly needed by Britain. They want you to fight for freedom, then they
           can give you freedom."
               And they gave it without much trouble. They simply gave it, they wanted to give it. They were
           really looking for the right time so that it was understood that "you have asked for it, we have not
           given it. You were fighting for it. You forced us, so we gave it to you." And slowly, slowly the same
           happened in Africa, in other parts of Asia, where there were no freedom struggles either. There too
           freedom came. It had to come; how much can you exploit?
               In India, people worship cows. They cannot kill them and they cannot sell them to butchers, but
           there is a time when the cow becomes old, it gives no milk, no children; now it is a burden to feed it.
           The people are so poor they cannot feed themselves, how can they feed these cows and these
           buffaloes? And they cannot sell them either -- they make them free! They simply leave them on the
           roads. Nobody knows whose those cows are. That's what has happened. Cows have become free:
           they no longer give milk, they no longer give anything, so what to do with them?
               So in Africa and Ethiopia, in India, in Burma, in Thailand, cows are on the streets dying, hungry.
           They cannot even now condemn anybody: "It is because you are making us slaves, that's why we are
           dying." Now there is nobody to condemn either, it is their own responsibility. So the empires had to
           die -- a natural death.
               Now science is there, like the djinn, asking for more work "otherwise I will kill you." And that's
           why the West is facing a great crisis.
               This crisis is going to be very decisive. The West either will have to commit suicide -- and of
           course, with the West, the East will die. It cannot survive separate from the West, it needs all the
           technology of the West for productive and creative things. Or, if the West turns the whole train of
           science towards creativity and drops this idiotic idea of war, then both these things will happen:
           science will take on a new dimension, as it took on once in the East; and the second thing will be a
           rise in religious consciousness. If you are no longer preparing for war and wasting seventy-five to
           eighty percent of your energy, life, and money preparing to destroy -- if that eighty percent of energy
           is released to eat, drink, and be merry, if the eighty percent of energy is released to go to Zorba the
           Buddha, then soon there will be people rising, flying higher, reaching to the topmost layers of human
           consciousness.
               Both the things are possible: science can be turned into creativity, and that creativity will make
           you capable of rising in religious consciousness.
               And this time it need not be East and West.
           This time it can be one earth, our home.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                 Chapter #28
                        Chapter title: Either politicians remain or humanity remains
           29 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503295
              ShortTitle: DARK28
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 115 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BELOVED OSHO,
              DO POLITICIANS HAVE BRAINS?


                I am sorry, but I doubt it. If one has brains there are so many beautiful things in life to do; it is
           impossible for such a man to be interested in politics at all. Politics is for the lowest category of
           intellect. You can see it all over the world.
                I am reminded of one of my friends who was a national figure in politics. His whole life he
           devoted to two things: one, which was his priority, that cow slaughter should be stopped; and the
           second was, that Hindi should become the national language.
                I once asked him, "You go on calling the cow `the holy mother'; then who is the bull -- the holy
           father?"
                He became angry. I said, "It is a simple thing. If the cow is your mother, then the bull has to be
           your father."
           He said, "You always confuse me."
                Another time I asked him, "What about Charles Darwin's theory that man is evolved out of
           monkeys?"
                He said, "Absurd! Monkeys are animals, man is not. Man is divine. God has made man in His
           own image."
                I said, "Then what about the cow? The monkey is an animal. You cannot accept that man evolves
           out of monkeys but you go on calling the cow your mother. Isn't the cow an animal?"
                And, moreover, you reject the bull, the poor bull, who has done no harm to you except given you
           birth -- without the bull the cow cannot be your mother. You should be all-grateful to the bull. You
           became angry on that point; now you are denying Charles Darwin's theory simply because monkeys
           are animals -- but what about the cow? Can't you see such a simple logic? Then only one thing
           remains -- which will be very absurd ...."
                He said, "What? Nothing can be more absurd than Charles Darwin's theory."
                I said, "You just wait. The cow is the mother, and the monkey is the father and man is a
           cross-breed. It is not that I am saying it -- it is you who should say it, but you are not capable of any
           intelligence. This is a simple thing. You have the mother; the father is missing -- the bull is not
           acceptable. Charles Darwin has the father; the mother is missing. That is very strange of Charles
           Darwin too, that he talks about the male monkeys becoming man. Then who became the woman?
           Very strange -- what about the female monkeys?
                "Charles Darwin nowhere mentions female monkeys. It is strange, a man who continually
           worked on the theory must have come across the question that, okay, the monkey becomes the man,
           but who becomes the woman? Female monkeys must become women, but there is no reference to
           them in Charles Darwin's books. So the monkeys are our forefathers and cows are our foremothers.
                "I don't know whether such a word exists or not and I don't care either -- I have never come
           across such a word as `foremothers'; but if `forefathers' makes sense, then `foremothers' also makes
           sense."
                He was so angry that he said, "You will never talk sense."
                I said, "What can be more sensible? Man is a cross-breed -- all the qualities of the cow, and all
           the qualities of the monkey. Man is so rich! No other animal is a cross-breed; that's why man has
           become the supreme-most, the highest animal in the world."
                And this man -- Seth Govindas was his name -- was respected all over the country; but he
           couldn't see simple things.
                In India there are thirty languages of almost equal importance. There are a few differences; for
           example, Hindi is spoken by more people, but Bengali has a far richer literature, more refined
           language. Just to hear two Bengalis talking is such an experience in itself. Their language is so
           sweet, every word is so rounded.
                I had one Bengali girl as my post-graduate student. In Hindi her name would be Rama. Rama
           means beautiful, attractive, but when I asked her her name -- she was a Bengali -- she said, "Roma."
           I tried hard ..." Roma? Has it something to do with Rome?" She said, "No, it is your Hindi `Rama,'
           but in Bengali it becomes Roma." Roma certainly is more romantic; Rama looks hard, harsh,
           clear-cut but not rounded.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Bengalis have their claim that they have the best literature, not only in India, but perhaps in the
           whole world -- a great tradition of the best poetry.
               What does it mean, just counting numbers? Hindi may be spoken by many people; the numbers
           are not much different. If Pakistan had not been divided from India then Bengali would have been
           spoken by more people than Hindi, because half of Bengal went into Pakistan. Otherwise Bengali is
           spoken by more people than Hindi. So it is just a political accident that the country got divided and
           half of Bengal became Bangladesh and half of Bengal remained in India. But if you look at world
           languages, Bengali will come before Hindi.
               But numbers don't count. Tamil has its own literature, far more ancient than the literature of
           Sanskrit, because the people of South India are the original Indians. The people of North India are
           invaders. The people of North India who speak Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati are all Aryans. They are
           blood brothers of the French, Italians, Germans, English, Swedish, Russians, but they have no
           relationship of blood with the South Indians. South Indians have a blood relationship with the
           negroes.
               There was a time when Africa and India were connected. It is now a well-known fact that
           continents go on shifting -- they are not stable. You just cut out the maps of India and Africa and put
           them together and you will be surprised -- they fit perfectly. The south of India fits perfectly with the
           lines of Africa. Some time in the past the land parted; Africa shifted away, over thousands of years.
               South Indians are negroid, their blood is connected with the negroes; their skin is black, their
           language has no connection with Sanskrit at all. You will be surprised: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam,
           Kannad -- the four main languages of South India -- have not a single word from Sanskrit, while
           Russian has forty percent, German has sixty percent, Lithuanian has seventy percent, English has
           thirty percent. French, Swedish -- all the European languages originated predominantly from
           Sanskrit.
               Naturally, South India does not want to be dominated by a Sanskrit-originated language, Hindi.
           They have no connection with it.
               I told Seth Govindas, "These are simple facts. This country cannot have a national language. Just
           as Russian has no national language, the country can have only provincial languages. And it can use
           one language, for example English -- because English is only understood by two percent of Indians,
           but those two percent of Indians are spread all over India, in every language group. So English
           remains a link language, not a national language, because two percent of the people speaking it
           cannot make it a national language. But it can become a link language.
               "Every language has its own state, its own independence, so that it can grow independently
           without any pressure from any other language. There is no need for a national language, just a link
           language so that all these thirty languages don't fall apart." That's how in Russia ... Russian is only a
           link language. The same is the problem in Russia: thirty six languages, so widely apart -- you cannot
           impose one language as the national language.
               India is not a small country like England or Switzerland or France; it is a sub-continent. England
           can have one language, but a sub-continent cannot have one language. You cannot impose it -- and
           for thirty years, forty years continuously, they have been trying. English remains the national
           language and there is no hope of an Indian national language ever.
           I told that old man, "Just see the facts."
           But certainly politicians don't have brains.
               In India I knew many politicians, but I have not seen any brains in them.
               Simple things that anybody will understand, things which don't need great genius, politicians will
           miss. One of my friends was commander-in-chief of the Indian armies. When Pakistan invaded
           India, this man -- his name was General Chaudhuri -- asked permission of the prime minister to
           counter attack; it was needed, just being defensive would not help. That's a simple military strategy:
           if you become defensive you are already defeated; the best way is to be aggressive.
               If Pakistan has invaded one part of Kashmir, Chaudhuris idea was that we invade Pakistan from
           four or five fronts. They will be confused, they will run amok; they will not be able to decide where
           they have to send their armies. Their attack will become a failure because they have to defend all the
           borders of their country.
               But politicians. The prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, informed him, "Wait till six o'clock in the
           morning."
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               General Chaudhuri told me that he was thrown out of the army -- not publicly: publicly he retired
           honorably, but he was kicked out. He was told, "Either you resign or we will throw you out."
               The reason was that he attacked Pakistan at five o'clock in the morning, one hour before the
           order. That was the right time; by six o'clock it would be sunrise, people would be awake. Five
           o'clock was the perfectly right time -- everybody was asleep -- to drive them crazy. And he did what
           he was saying -- he made the whole of Pakistan tremble. He was just fifteen miles from Pakistan's
           biggest city, Lahore.
               The whole night Jawaharlal and his cabinet were discussing this way and that way, to do it or not
           to do it. And even by six o'clock in the morning they had not come to any conclusion; they just heard
           on the radio that "General Chaudhuri is entering Lahore."
               That was too much for the politicians. They stopped him just fifteen miles away from Lahore.
           And I can see that was sheer stupidity. If the man had taken Lahore, the problem of Kashmir and
           India would have been solved forever. It is not ever going to be solved, the problem of the territory
           of Kashmir which Pakistan has occupied -- and it was because General Chaudhuri was told to come
           back, "because India is a non-violent country and you did not wait for the order."
               He said to them, "I do understand military strategy; you don't. Even by six o'clock -- where was
           your order? Pakistan has already occupied a certain territory, the most beautiful part of Kashmir --
           and you were just discussing the whole night. This is not a question to be discussed, this has to be
           decided in the warfield. If you had allowed me to take over Lahore then we would have been in a
           position to bargain. Now we are not in a position to bargain. You pulled me back, I had to come
           back."
               The U.N. decided for a cease-fire line. So now for forty years, U.N. armies have been there
           patrolling; on the other side Pakistans armies are patrolling, on this side Indian armies are patrolling.
           For forty years -- just nonsense! And in the UNO they go on discussing and nothing comes out of it.
               And the territory that has been occupied by Pakistan you cannot take back because of the
           cease-fire. They have really decided in their parliament that the territory occupied by them is
           combined with Pakistan. Now they show it on their maps. It is no longer occupied territory, it is
           Pakistan's territory.
               I had told General Chaudhuri, "This was such a simple thing, that you have to be in a bargaining
           position. If you had taken Lahore they would have immediately agreed to leave Kashmir because
           they could not lose Lahore. Or if a cease-fire was to come, okay, then Lahore remains with us when
           we cease fire. Either way there will be something to bargain. India doesn't have anything to bargain
           with -- why should Pakistan bother?"
           But politicians certainly don't have brains.
               I was thinking that perhaps this is applicable only to Indian politicians, but coming to Oregon I
           was really surprised because I saw greater idiots.
               Just the other day Oregon's assembly decided that the post office of the City of Rajneesh will
           continue to be called the post office of Antelope. Now can you see the foolishness? Antelope is
           dead; there is no longer any Antelope anywhere, the people of Antelope buried it. But the post office
           should be called the post office of Antelope.
               The city is called the City of Rajneesh. It has no post office. The real, the living city, has no post
           office; the dead, the unreal city has the post office. And naturally the postmaster goes on rejecting all
           mail that comes in the name of the City of Rajneesh because it is the post office of Antelope. Can
           you think these politician have brains?
               If they wanted to destroy the City of Rajneesh they should have had the guts, and they should
           have resolved in the assembly that the City of Rajneesh should be again called Antelope. That would
           have been logical, and the post office would certainly be the post office of Antelope. Or they should
           have changed the name of the post office.
               Both were logical. But what they have done -- the city they cannot touch because it is against the
           constitution. The people of the city have changed the name. They have the right to change the name;
           that is their constitutional right. The majority decided to change it, and the assembly cannot interfere.
               But those idiots think that they can at least save the post office, the post office of Antelope -- and
           nobody in that assembly asked, "When the city is no longer there ... how can there be a post office of
           a city which is non-existential?" And this is going to create unnecessary problems.
               I would like my people to go to court first against the postmaster general of America -- because it
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           is just a simple rule that whenever a city changes its name, within one month the post office has to
           change its name. But a year has passed and we have been asking the postmaster general and he has
           been delaying. He must have been waiting for these politicians to decide in the assembly.
               So first go against the postmaster general, asking why he delayed for one year when the simple
           rule is one month. And who is he to decide that the post office should continue to be called
           Antelope's post office? Then go against the assembly also; their decision is stupid. Either change the
           name of the city if you have guts -- go against the constitution -- or if you don't have guts then let the
           post office name be changed.
           But politicians don't show any sign of brains.
               I am reminded of a story. A great politician had developed a tumor in his brain, perhaps a
           canceric growth. It was a very complicated operation, his whole brain had to be taken out. He was
           lying down on the table; it was a long and very delicate operation. The doctors were operating on the
           brain in another room. When the operation was over, they came back to take the politician ... he was
           missing! "My God, where has he gone?"
               The nurse said, "A man came running and he said, `You have been chosen the president.' The
           patient stood up and started walking. I tried to prevent him, I said, `Your brain is in the surgery, and
           they are working on it.' He said, `Now that I am the president I don't need the brain. Let them work
           on it. Whenever I need it I will come, but at least for five years forget all about it. I am the president;
           brains are needed by small people, nobodies. Where is the need for brains for a man who has risen to
           the highest post?'"
               The whole of history proves it, that politicians have been the most idiotic people around. But the
           strange fact is that the more idiotic the politician is, the more possibility there is for his success.
           That's what happened in Adolf Hitler's case.
               Perhaps Adolf Hitler was the most idiotic politician ever, but he went on succeeding. He went on
           conquering countries. It was an amazing phenomenon. The reason is very strange. He knew nothing
           of military science -- that was the reason for his success. His generals would tell him that this is
           absolutely wrong, this step is absolutely wrong.
               But he never listened to the generals, he listened to the astrologers. He had his astrologers who
           said, "This is the right time -- move into France, move into Poland, or move anywhere." That was
           decided by the astrologers and the stars, not by military science. Naturally he baffled everybody. If
           he had moved according to military science, then on the other side the same military science is
           known.
               If he had bombed London according to military science, then London would have been ready and
           prepared. But it was being decided by the stars, by an idiot astrologer. His generals were absolutely
           impotent. They could see that this was nonsense, but this nonsense was succeeding so they also
           slowly slowly became silent: "Perhaps he is right."
               You will be surprised that Churchill had to call astrologers from India -- because Western
           astrology is different from Eastern astrology. These are just fictions, so there can be as many
           astrologies as you want. Stars don't care about you, so you can manage anything. They don't object
           either, they don't have any idea that you are here.
               I have heard: one elephant was passing across a bridge and a small fly was sitting on top of the
           head of the elephant. When they were just in the middle of the bridge -- the bridge was not made for
           elephants to cross; it was a poor village, and a poor bridge temporarily made for the rainy season --
           the bridge started shaking. The fly said, "Uncle, our weight is too much."
               The elephant heard some buzzing noise. He said, "Just say it loudly -- who are you? And where
           are you?"
               The fly said, "I am just sitting on your head and our weight is too much."
               The elephant said, "My God, I was not even aware that you were here." But the fly included
           itself; He said, "Our weight is shaking the bridge."
               Man is not even a fly so far as stars are concerned. And people are such ... they ask the
           astrologers, "What time will it be good to start a business; are the stars in the right position? When
           will it be good to get married; are the stars in the right position?" All stars are in the right position --
           but all marriages are in the wrong position. This is enough proof that stars don't care about you, they
           don't know about you. But you can create fictions. Churchill did not ask the Western astrologers
           because they would give him the same advice as was being given to Adolf Hitler. That wouldn't be
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the right thing. Churchill understood why this man was succeeding. He was succeeding because
           whenever they expected him to attack, he never attacked. And whenever they never expected, could
           never conceive, there he attacked.
                It was a simple rule of war that you attack at the weakest point. It is so obvious; you don't attack
           the enemy at his strongest point. But those astrologers don't know what is a weak point and what is a
           strong point. They look towards the stars -- and the stars have no idea that there is a war going on.
                He called those astrologers from India; the war took a turn, because now Churchill was also
           functioning like a fool. He was also no longer listening to his generals. He said, "You keep out of it
           -- because that man is mad. He knows no military science and it is not going to help. Now astrology
           is going to help." And astrology did help. Poor Adolf Hitler was defeated. He was succeeding
           because of astrology -- he was defeated because of astrology.
                But the man was absolutely an idiot about everything. When Germany started retreating, the
           generals would not inform him, "We are being defeated," because any general who said that would
           be shot immediately. Adolf Hitler could not be defeated, so this general must have gone mad."
                When the bombs were falling on Berlin itself, just outside the house where Adolf Hitler was
           living in the basement, then too the German radio continued to say that "we are winning all over the
           world." Nobody was ready to get shot unnecessarily -- what was the point? This man was not going
           to listen.
                Adolf Hitler thought himself almost a demigod. His word was the law, and if he said that he was
           going to conquer the world, it was going to happen. The bombs were falling outside his house; he
           could hear the buildings falling, people crying, the noise, the explosions, still he was consulting the
           astrologers: "Which country are we going to invade next?" To the very last moment he was
           convinced he was winning. Can you think that a man who has a little bit of brain would be so thick?
                But other politicians are not different either -- maybe more of less, but the brain is not the
           business of the politician. The politician has to be stubborn, adamant, fanatic; these are the qualities
           that make him succeed. He has to be foolish enough to believe that he has, by birth, a determined
           future, a destiny. He is the man of destiny. Only fools can believe that.
                The more intelligent you are, the less stubborn, the less fanatic; more thinking, doubting, more
           skeptical. Skeptical about yourself -- you cannot think of yourself as a man of destiny. You cannot
           think that you are born to dominate the world.
                And these people are what our whole history is about. Our whole history needs to be burned,
           completely burned, erased. We should start writing from ABC again, because this history is being
           taught to every child. And these people are called Alexander the Great, Genghis the Great Khan,
           Ivan the Terrible -- and they are praised, their qualities are praised. And much of the praise is just
           fiction because those histories were written by their court clerks. Those court clerks who were
           writing those histories were paid. The better the praise, the more they were paid.
                One of the great emperors in India was Akbar. He was making a new capital. He wanted to shift
           the capital from Delhi to a fresh capital, completely newly-made. His whole life he poured as much
           money into it as possible -- and he created a city, Fateh-pur Sikri -- a beautiful city, almost a miracle
           city. All stonework ....
                He gathered all the best stone artists and craftsmen from the world, and the best stones, marble.
           He made the whole city his whole life. Nobody has ever lived in it, because to create a capital so that
           the whole of Delhi could be shifted in just a single move .... Akbar died and Fateh-pur Sikri remains
           incomplete, although a vast city. So much money wasted, such huge and beautiful buildings, each
           inch a piece of art -- but for what? Nobody has ever lived there. Nobody is going to live there ever,
           for the simple reason that when the city was made nobody thought of water. Nobody thought that
           many more things are needed when people live there -- land is needed for crops ....
                It is a very weird experience to be in Fateh-pur Sikri, a city made with so much money. I think no
           other city has ever been made in that way -- and nobody ever lived in it. It was a ghost town from the
           very beginning, and it is going to remain a ghost town.
                Even now thousands of people can be accommodated there, but other necessities are not
           available. And Akbar never went there to see what was happening. He wanted to wait for it to be
           completed; then he would go there. Akbar is thought to have been one of the intelligent emperors,
           but I don't think so. What kind of intelligence is this?
                There was another Mohammedan emperor who almost surpassed Akbar. He simply ordered the
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           whole of Delhi to move -- from Delhi thousands of miles away to Aurangabad. Aurangabad was very
           close to Poona.
               Now his order had to be followed, the whole city had to be emptied immediately. It was a
           military operation. Everybody was thrown out of his house; the whole of Delhi was emptied --
           almost half a million people moving thousands of miles, not knowing what was going to happen in
           Aurangabad. And nothing was prepared there!
               At least Akbar had planned the city, made the city. Aurangabad was a small place. Where were
           these people going to live? And nobody bothered about their food supply for this whole journey. It
           took months; almost eighty percent of the people died, twenty percent reached Aurangabad. And you
           can think in what condition they were if eighty percent died on the way.
               Those twenty percent had become sick, old. The journey took at least ten years from their life.
           They were utterly wiped out -- in fact, feeling jealous of those who had died, because it was so
           terrible to live. And then in Aurangabad there was no space and that idiot king said, "No, this is not
           the right place -- we should go back." The whole journey again! This man's name was Muhammad
           Tughlak.
               Do you think these type of people have any brains? By the time they reached Delhi almost
           everybody was dead. Delhi was empty; it became a military camp. And all this for no reason at all!
           The only reason was that Muhammad Tughlak's father had died in Aurangabad and he wanted
           Aurangabad to be made the capital of India in his memory.
               But to make a capital for half a million people, to move them thousands of miles -- and trains
           were not there, buses were not there. People were moving by foot, on camels, on horses, on donkeys,
           on bullock carts. And nobody bothered about how the food was to be managed for the whole
           journey, how water was to be managed .... And they had to pass through the whole desert of
           Rajasthan, where most of the people died, just because of thirst.
               If you look at history you will be surprised -- why do we go on teaching these people's lives to
           our children, why do we contaminate our children? What is the point?
               I feel that politics and politicians should be completely debarred as far as the education of the
           new generation is concerned. The new generation should be helped to forget the whole past so they
           can start living anew.
               There is a saying that history repeats itself. Yes, it repeats itself because you go on teaching it.
               Just stop teaching history and it won't repeat any more.
               You teach it, you poison the minds of children, and they start having political ambitions
           themselves.
               You make them ambitious. In every possible way you make them ambitious.
               Your whole education system is not to make children intelligent but to make them ambitious.
               Yes, you try to make them intellectuals -- that too is a help for being ambitious.
               If they are intelligent they won't be ambitious at all. If they are intelligent they would like to live
           a very simple and ordinary life in tune with nature, in harmony with existence, with trees, with birds,
           with animals, with people. They would not like to dominate anyone or be dominated by anyone.
           They would like to live together in friendliness, not as masters or slaves.
               There can never be a friendship between the owner and the owned, the boss and the servant, the
           leader and the led. There can never be any friendship. Friendship can happen only when there is a
           very subtle undeclared form of equality -- not the equality communism talks about, because that is
           politics, that is forced equality.
               I have heard ... there was a very strange Greek king who had a very beautiful, very precious,
           golden bed, made of twenty-four carat gold, studded with diamonds and all kinds of precious stones.
           It was kept only for guests. But whosoever was unfortunate enough to be his guest never came out of
           the King's guest house alive because he was determined on one point: the guest had to fit his bed.
           His bed was so precious that if the guest was a little longer, then cut his feet off; if needed, cut off
           his head -- but make him to the size of the bed. If he was a little smaller, then stretch him. Perhaps
           this king was the man who invented traction.
               They used traction on me. When I first heard about traction I started wondering, from where does
           this word "traction" come? I found that it comes from Christian churches of the Middle Ages where
           they used to torture people, pulling them from both sides -- hands on one side, legs on the other -- to
           confess that they were in contact with devils, with witches, that nuns were having intercourse with
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the devil, that monks were having intercourse with ghosts ... all kinds of things. And unless you
           confessed, this traction would continue.
                It was by chance that a monk had a bad back; and when they did this traction to him, he
           confessed, and he also said, "One thing more: my back was bad and I have been suffering for years;
           your traction has been a great blessing to me. I am grateful; my back is perfectly okay, I can walk!"
           That's how this traction came -- it is a religious device used by medical science.
                But that Greek king was even more ancient, he was really the pioneer. People got killed in both
           cases, because it was very, very difficult to find a person exactly the same size as his bed. And he
           was a king -- no ordinary person was going to be his guest, only very extraordinary people.
                The bed was not made according to anybody's size, so everybody was either too long or too
           short. Everybody came out dead in the morning. From his guest house nobody came back alive
           because he never could find a man who could fit his bed. And the bed was so precious that people's
           lives did not matter at all.
                These people have dominated humanity -- they are still dominating humanity.
           Their whole game is one of retarded minds.
                It is time we burned the whole of history and started from the very beginning, fresh.
           That's my whole work with you.
                Talking to you I am really trying to burn your conditionings, trying to remove all the rubbish that
           you have been carrying your whole life ... just trying to clean you and make you utterly blank so that
           you can start sprouting your self -- otherwise you are so full of junk that there is no space for your
           self.
                I used to stay in a very rich man's house in Indore. The man was certainly one of the richest men
           in the world. I don't know anybody who has been given as many titles as that man. In India Seth is a
           title which is given to super-rich people. He was called Sir Seth, not just ordinary Seth, Seth of the
           Seths: Sir Seth means above the head, the chief. And he was the only man who has ever been called
           Sir Seth in the whole of history.
                And he had so many titles .... When you saw his letterhead, you could not believe it: Sir Seth,
           Raoraja Sir, knight and whatnot; everything was there. And he had a huge palace, but so full of junk
           -- precious junk, but junk after all, is junk. Everything that came into the market anywhere in the
           world was immediately purchased, and things went on gathering in his palace.
           He asked me, "How do you like it?"
                I said, "I just wonder if I can get out of this palace alive, because there is no space to live in this
           place. You cannot move!" I took him to my bedroom, that was his best room. I said, "You just look
           -- you move anywhere and you stumble into something." All models of television, all models of
           radio were there, and I said, "Television has not come to Indore yet -- why possess these sets?"
                He said, "That is my order to all of my offices around the world: anything new, purchase
           immediately for the palace."
                Useless models of television sets ... I said to him, "One day I would like to go around your whole
           palace with you, because if this is the situation of the guest house, I would like to know what the
           situation of the host is. It must be worse." And it was.
                This guest house was a small house in the garden; between the garden and the palace there were
           beautiful fountains and trees and lawns, and then his palace. The first floor was full of horses! I said,
           "My God! Do you like riding?"
           He said, "No."
                I said, "Then what are these horses doing here?" -- and such beautiful horses I have never seen.
                He said, "Just my orders. Anywhere, any beautiful horse, immediately it has to be purchased."
           Rare horses I have seen but nothing to be compared to Sir Hukumchand's horses. Then elephants in
           one corner; in another corner, camels -- and they stink!
                I said, "Sir Seth, you must be going crazy with all this stink."
                He said, "No; in fact I have become so accustomed to it I don't go anywhere because I can't sleep
           without this fragrance."
                He had to feel that in the whole world he was the only man -- that was his liking. He wanted, in
           everything, to be at the top. He had one Rolls Royce made of solid gold; it is still there. It was
           useless because he was afraid to take it out -- it was dangerous. It was too costly -- all solid gold,
           completely; even the mechanism inside was solid gold. It never moved, it simply remained in a
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           showcase.
           I said, "What is the point?"
                He said, "The point is that I am the only person in the whole world ...."
                I said, "That is very easy, it can be done in a very simple way. Just shave half your hair, and you
           will be the only man in the whole world with half the head shaved. Why waste so much money? Just
           cut half of your moustache and you will be a walking exhibition. This car is stuck here -- people
           have come to see it. They will not need to come anymore. You go to the temple, you go to the office;
           wherever you will go, your half-moustache will declare that you are the only man in the whole world
           ....
                The palace was three-storied -- not even space to go into the rooms which were fully packed with
           strange things; even he had no idea what they were, but they had been purchased because they had
           come new in the market.
                I told him, "Sir Seth, your palace represents exactly the mind of people. You have money so you
           can fill your palace with all kinds of junk. People don't have that much money so they fill their
           minds -- that is cheaper -- with all kinds of junk."
                And politicians particularly do this because the politician has to deal with the lowest mob. He has
           to descend to the lowest, only then can he communicate. And slowly slowly he becomes that person
           -- retarded, mediocre, having a mob psychology. You become that which you go on practicing
           continuously.
           You ask me, "Do politicians have brains?"
                I can only say what I have experienced and seen. Certainly the question will arise, because if I
           say they don't have any brains then how do they go on working? They go on working just like
           computers, just like robots. They go on working, not intelligently, but mechanically.
                Two thousand years of history we know clearly, with evidence. One thing comes out absolutely
           clearly, that all political leaders have functioned mechanically. That's why history is repeated --
           because of the mechanical behavior of the politicians. It is the same wheel that goes on moving: the
           same ambition, the same desire, the same strategy, the same tricks, the same exploitations -- and the
           same results.
                But now the game has come to a point where either the game has to finish or humanity has to be
           ready to commit suicide.
                The game is not so precious, the game is just worthless. Humanity cannot be sacrificed to the
           political game.
                Human individuals should start declaring that the earth is one, the whole of humanity is one; that
           we don't want any nations, we don't want this dirty politics; that we don't see any problem, why
           Russia should be against America, or America be against Russia.
                The Russian people are as innocent and simple as Americans. It is just the topmost politicians
           who cannot let you relax, because your relaxation is their death. They want you to remain
           continuously tense, afraid, so that they go on playing the game that "the war is coming and we have
           to prepare for it."
                I want my people to declare that there is going to be no war and we are not going to be
           participants in it, that this war is absolute absurdity.
                And it is good that politics has brought you to this logical conclusion. Without it there would be
           no hope of getting rid of politicians. Now there is a chance, and we should not miss it. It is so
           glaringly clear that it is a question of either/or.
           Either the politicians remain or humanity remains.
                And this is where politicians themselves have dragged us. They cannot back out, there is no way
           back. Life only goes on forwards, never backwards. And they are all pushing towards war --
           reluctantly, afraid, because they are going to be killed in it themselves.
                It is time that consciousness be raised, that people be made alert and aware that the question is no
           longer of communism or democracy, Russia or America; the question is politics, or religion. And
           when I say religion I don't mean religions. When I say religion I mean religiousness.
           The religions are all fictitious.
                Just the other day I was talking to you about three fools visiting at the birth of Jesus Christ,
           coming from the East to touch his feet. But the story is so fictitious that I would like you to be
           reminded of one thing: what led them to the place where Jesus was born, in an unknown corner of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Bethlehem, in a stable?
               The story says that a great star led the way. They followed the star and then the star stopped, just
           on top of the stable, so they knew Jesus was there, and they went in. This star makes the whole thing
           clearly fictitious, because stars don't move in a direct line. They don't move in any other way than in
           orbit; every star moves in a circle.
               And the stars are so far away that it would be very difficult to decide which stable the star was
           above! They are millions and millions of miles away. The distance is so great ... but the story sounds
           as if the star was just sitting on the roof of the stable; only then would it have been possible. But do
           you know, stars are very huge, they cannot come that low; otherwise the whole earth would be
           destroyed, with Jesus Christ included.
               Our sun is a star. It is sixty thousand times bigger than this earth -- and this sun is a very
           mediocre star. There are stars which you see in the sky which are millions of times bigger than our
           sun.
               Now, a star leading the way seems almost like somebody holding a torch ahead, or a lamp, and
           then coming to the stable and telling them, "This is the stable." Stars can't do that. They cannot move
           out of their orbit -- even for Jesus Christ they won't do it.
           But all religions are fictitious.
               Just as there are science fictions there are religious fictions.
               All holy scriptures are religious fictions, and not of first grade quality. In fact, they cannot be
           counted as great literature -- only fragments are great.
               For example, in the whole of the Old Testament, just one small piece can be counted as literature,
           all else is rubbish. That small piece is "The Song of Solomon," which Jews don't even want to talk
           about -- and that is the only important thing in their whole scripture! But they want to ignore it for
           the simple reason that Solomon certainly seems to be a wise man, certainly a religious man; a man of
           tremendous sensibility, aesthetic, moral; a man who knows what beauty is, what poetry is.
               Except for that small piece, everything else is only worth burning. In the New Testament, just a
           small piece, "The Sermon on the Mount," is enough for Jesus to be counted as a man of some worth.
           All else is just written for the mob. The same is true about other religions.
               So when I say religion I simply mean the religious consciousness: a certain quality -- not a
           certain dogma, not a creed, not a cult, not something organized but something felt deep in the heart,
           something closer to when you see in the morning a beautiful sunrise .... You feel something,
           something is stirred in you. You cannot express it, you cannot tell anybody what you are feeling. All
           you can do is, you can hold the other person, and with your finger you can show the sunrise without
           saying a single word.
               If the man has any aesthetic sense, any sensibility, he may be able to feel it; otherwise there is no
           way. You cannot argue, you cannot make a statement, you cannot do a commentary. You can only
           point it out ... fingers pointing to the moon.
               All religious sages have only pointed to the moon. And all organized religions have caught hold
           of the fingers, forgotten all about the moon, and are worshiping the fingers. Now, the fingers are not
           the moon -- they never were.
               In Kashmir there is one hair of Hazrat Mohammed which is worshipped. A few years ago, the
           hair was stolen. Now there was great turmoil; riots happened, because certainly some Hindu must
           have stolen it. Many people were killed, many houses were burned, many temples destroyed, many
           mosques were burned. And after three days the hair was found back in its place. I know for certain it
           is not the same hair.
               But what difference does it make? To the idiots ... who knows whether the first hair was of
           Hazrat Mohammed or not? And even if it was of Hazrat Mohammed, what does it matter?
               In Kandi in Ceylon there is a huge temple, one of the most important in Ceylon -- important
           because it has one too of Gautam Buddha. I have been to Kandi. The tooth is not of Gautam Buddha,
           for the simple reason that it is not a human tooth at all! It is so big -- and I got it confirmed from
           people who understand animals, man. I had taken a vet with me. He said, "It is certainly of some
           animal; it cannot be of a man in any way."
               And now it is confirmed by other sources also that it is from some animal. But it makes no
           difference; every year the festival continues, millions of Buddhists go on worshipping.
           Organized religion clings to fingers.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Fingers are not in the moon.
               If you really want to see the moon you will have to forget the fingers completely; otherwise
           fingers will come in between you and the moon. They have to be ignored. They have done their
           work, they have indicated; say goodbye to them.
               Religious consciousness is a receptivity, a vulnerability to the existence that surrounds you, so
           alive that if you are open, its living vibes start moving within you, dancing within you. It is so full of
           joy -- just you are closed. It is overflowing with bliss -- just you are not there to receive it.
               Religious consciousness means receptivity to the joy the universe is made of.
           Yes, that is the stuff the universe is made of.
               Any intelligent person is of necessity going to be religious.
               Politics is only for idiots. Its day is finished. We have to begin a new history in which there will
           be no place for politics. We want to get rid of all this retardedness, this mediocrity. We want the
           earth to become really the very cream of the whole universe. It can become, it has the potential.
           Unfortunately we have not used it. But the time has come -- and I am preparing you to use it.




                                            From Darkness to Light
                                                  Chapter #29
                               Chapter title: History repeats itself, unfortunately
           30 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503305
              ShortTitle: DARK29
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 127 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              AMERICA HAS BEEN LIKENED TO ROME PRIOR TO ITS FALL. IS IT APPROPRIATE TO SEE
              THE FALL OF THESE TWO POWERS AS BEING CONNECTED TO THE PREDOMINANCE OF
              CHRISTIANITY AT THE TIME?


               History has moved, up to now, in circles. That is what is meant when it is said that history
           repeats itself. It need not be so, it should not be so, but unfortunately it has been so up to now.
               There is a certain law behind this phenomenon of history moving in circles. I call it the law of
           mediocrity, because anybody who has any intelligence could have seen that we have been making
           the same kind of mistakes again and again and again. The mistakes are the same, the situations are
           the same. It is unbelievable how mediocre the human mind is.
               First let me explain to you the law of mediocrity. I have said to you that religion comes into
           existence only when a society reaches the peaks of luxury.
               Religion is the ultimate expression of all luxuries.
               It is simple to understand and obvious. There are physical needs which should be fulfilled first,
           because without the body the soul may melt and merge into the cosmos, but it cannot live on the
           earth.
               Jesus says man cannot live by bread alone. This is only half of the truth -- and remember,
           half-truths are more dangerous than complete lies. At least they are complete, and because they are
           lies, sooner or later they will be found out. But the half-truth is dangerous because in the first place it
           is half, and truth cannot be half, just as a circle cannot be half.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                You cannot say, "This is a half-circle." Circle means complete. If it is half then it is only an arc,
           not a circle; it is just part of a circle. It will only be a circle when it is complete. The half-truth is
           dangerous in the first place because the truth can only be when it is total, whole, it cannot be half.
           But because it pretends to be the truth, you will not be able to detect it as a lie either.
                The half-truth has some fragment, it may be an arc only, but still it is part of the circle. It is not a
           circle but it is part of a circle. In some way it is a fragment of truth. That fragmentariness is very
           deceptive. You can go on believing in it for centuries.
                Jesus says, man cannot live by bread alone. It is a half-truth. It will be whole only when the other
           half is also added to it. Yes, it is true man cannot live by bread alone, but it is even more true that
           man cannot live without bread either. In fact, man may be able to live without music, art, religion,
           literature, science, but man cannot live without bread. Bread is a basic necessity.
                So when the physical needs are not fulfilled no great music is born, no great literature is born, no
           poetry is written. Hungry stomachs don't produce poetry. Dying bodies cannot dance. So when the
           society is poor and its basic needs are not fulfilled, there is no possibility of an authentic religion.
           Yes, there will be something in the name of religion, but that religion will be a religion not of
           affluence, of overflowing ecstasies; it will be a religion of the beggar.
                You can look at poor countries: their religion consists of demands, their prayers consist of asking
           God, "Give us this, give us that. Give us our daily bread." Their rituals are continuously to persuade
           God about something or other. Perhaps the rains have not come and they will do some religious
           ritual. Or perhaps too much rain is there and it has to be stopped; they have to pray to God. One
           thing is certain: whatever they do in the name of religion is concerned with their physical needs. God
           is just a father figure, and they believe that the father will help them in times of need.
                Poor societies, civilizations, cultures, have a very poor religion too. It is a kind of compensation.
           What they are missing here they project onto heaven.
                Look at the ancient scriptures: they say that in heaven there will never be starvation. Those
           people must have been starving, whoever has written that must be starving. We don't know who
           wrote that but this can be said absolutely, that he was starving, his society was starving, and they
           were trying to find some consolation: "It is only a question of a few years; they will pass. In heaven
           there is no starvation, nobody will be sleeping hungry."
                All the religions in their scriptures provide things in heaven which are being missed here:
           beautiful palaces -- and to people who don't have even grass huts or bamboo huts, to these poor
           people they are giving the hope of marble palaces in heaven! You can see the simple strategy. They
           are giving them dreams. And all poor societies have lived out of those dreams; hoping, hoping,
           hoping -- and then death comes. And nobody knows what happens after death; nobody comes back,
           so the others continue to hope.
                In Indian scriptures heaven is air-conditioned. The word is not used because the word was not
           available at that time. Air-conditioning is a new phenomenon, and this is the first ashram in the
           whole history of man which is air-conditioned. In a centrally air-conditioned ashram three thousand
           sannyasins have never lived before! But air-conditioning was in the mind ....
                In a hot country like India, where people die from sunstroke every year, hundreds of people, a
           hope was needed that in heaven it would always be cool, neither hot nor cold -- because the poor
           person suffers from both. When it is too hot he suffers because he has no protection, no shelter; when
           it is too cold he suffers because he has no clothes, no shelter. Cool, just the morning cool when the
           sun rises, and there is no heat ... in heaven it is always sunrise time. It never becomes noon, evening,
           no; the sun is simply hung there for eternity and cool air continues to blow.
                There is no dust in heaven, obviously. If you have lived in India you will know -- in heaven, if
           there there is also dust, then what is the point of the religion and all the practices and all the prayers?
           No perspiration .... You can see the psychological strategy. In India everybody is perspiring the
           whole day, it is so hot. They have to compensated there, they have suffered enough here. So their
           heaven has to be just the opposite of here.
                Poor people, poor countries, have a very bogus religion. It is not religion, it is a psychological
           compensation. It is selling dreams to hungry people, just trying to convince them: Don't be worried;
           blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God.
                Jesus gives no argument why the poor are blessed. It is strange that nobody ever asked this man,
           "What
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-


            qualifications does poverty fulfill? It must be fulfilling some qualifications. As we see it, it is just
           the opposite: cursed are the poor. Who says blessed are the poor? They are condemned and cursed --
           these are actual facts. To cover it up, just the opposite is proposed: blessed are the poor."
               Why did nobody ask the simple question, "What are the reasons that you call the poor blessed? --
           because we see all the blessings are with the people who are rich." And Jesus says that "even a camel
           can pass through the eye of a needle but a rich man cannot enter into the kingdom of my God."
           Naturally, the rich people were very few, and they were not even bothered about this carpenter's son
           -- uneducated, illiterate. Jesus was trying to convince the ninety-nine percent of the people, who
           were poor.
               It was worth sacrificing the one percent. To make his statement "blessed are the poor," he has
           also to make another statement, "cursed are the rich." What greater curse can there be than not to be
           able to enter into the kingdom of God? What more punishment can there be? They will be falling
           into hell for eternity.
               At least Eastern religions have some arithmetic; Christianity has none. Eastern religions have
           some logic; Christianity has none. Eastern religions believe that you have thousands of lives.
           Naturally, when you live millions of years you can commit an immense number of sins. But still the
           Eastern hell is not eternal. They say you will suffer in hell to the degree that you have committed
           sins. Once your sins have been punished and your punishment is equal to your sins, you will be
           released.
               In Christianity there is only one life; seventy years, eighty years, ninety years, a hundred years.
           In a hundred years' time how can you commit so many sins that the punishment will be eternal? Do
           you see that Christianity lacks all arithmetic?
               But Jesus was not interested in, nor was he capable of giving, a logical, rational explanation. He
           was exploiting people through their emotions, their sentiments.
               The poor were happy to hear that they were blessed. They felt proud of being poor. Why should
           they inquire: "What qualifications do we have which make us blessed?" They were afraid
           themselves; if Jesus could not prove his statement then all their hope was lost. So the poor would not
           ask. And the rich people never came to listen to him, they never bothered about him; he was nobody,
           a nonentity. The poor were happy that they were blessed and the rich were cursed.
               So it is only a question of waiting a few years, not even a few lives. In the Eastern religions you
           will have to wait thousands of lives. In Christianity one life is all, so it is only a question of a few
           years. You have already passed so many; you will pass others also and then will come the day of
           compensation, which Jesus calls the day of judgment. It is really the day of compensation.
               The poor will enter heaven and the rich will be thrown into the depths of hell. I call it the day of
           compensation. The rich have enjoyed enough, now it is time for them to suffer.
               It is strange why enjoyment ... is it a sin? -- that you have to suffer for it? Is suffering a virtue? --
           that you will be blessed because you suffered? Then the natural conclusion is: suffer more, be
           miserable more. The more miserable, the more anguish, the more you will be blessed.
               In fact I sometimes have been thinking that there are so many poor people, who will be first in
           the queue? It is going to be almost impossible to decide who is the poorest. Ethiopians I think are
           going to defeat everybody. Americans are going to hell without question; they need not wait for the
           judgment day -- I give the judgment. They are bound towards hell. Ethiopians are really blessed ...
           according to Christianity.
               These religions are just exploiting people, giving them dreams and hopes. And because you give
           them dreams and hopes you become messiahs, prophets. You gain out of it. You give them empty
           dreams -- and they make you great leaders of humanity.
               The law is: when a country is poor, its religion is false. Its real need is material. A poor country
           needs science and technology. So whatever is said on the surface is one thing, but a poor country
           goes on trying to become rich. In India you can see that.
               People from all over the world were coming to me, but the number of Indians coming was very
           small. Once in a while an Indian was puzzled, and he would ask me, "What is happening? People
           from all over the world are coming to you, and Indians ...?"
               I would say, "Once in a while they also come, but their needs are different. They come here to
           get some financial help from me or from my followers; some recommendations because they want to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           go for studies to England, to America, to Germany. They want to become engineers, doctors,
           professors. They were not coming to me for meditation."
               Just the other day I received a letter -- and I receive letters almost every day -- from a famous
           Indian film actor, Shashi Kapoor. He had come to see me for ten minutes, one time only, in 1970.
           After that I remained in Bombay ... where he lives and has his studio and produces his films; he is
           one of the topmost film people in India. After that I lived for four years in Bombay -- he never came
           back. For seven years I lived in Poona; he never came to see me -- and he was always coming to
           Poona to shoot his films.
               On the contrary, he was telling people everything possible against me. I came to know it because
           he was working as the hero in Hermann Hesse's novel SIDDHARTHA, which was being made into a
           film. Some English producer wanted to see me, and Shashi Kapoor was his hero. Kapoor
           discouraged him; he said, "There is no need. This man was really "Bhagwan, the blessed one" before
           he was known as Bhagwan. Since he became known as Bhagwan and he has not denied it, he has
           fallen. He is no longer in the same state of consciousness."
               So he was very much against me being called Bhagwan. He wanted me to make a public
           statement that I am not what people think I am. It was really a dilemma for me. I can say that, but it
           will be a lie. I don't want anybody to call me anything, but specifically to say that I am not the
           blessed one would be to lie. And that I cannot do.
               Yesterday I received his letter. He is now in great financial trouble; four million dollars he needs.
           Now he remembers me. This was the situation in India, this is the situation here. Now he is
           immensely interested -- but the interest is not in me, the interest is in four million dollars. Now he
           knows that this is one of the richest communes in the world. We have already poured into this Big
           Muddy Ranch almost two hundred million dollars, so naturally he can think that four million dollars
           is nothing for us.
               But to approach me for finances is idiotic. I don't possess anything, I am the poorest man. In fact,
           if blessed are the poor, then the Ethiopians should remember I will be first in the queue, because
           howsoever poor they may be they must possess something. I don't possess anything. I simply use
           things, I don't possess them. You cannot find another man as poor as me.
               For almost thirty years I have not had any pockets because there is nothing to keep; I told my
           tailors, "Drop the pockets, because unnecessarily some pickpocket may follow and waste his time --
           he would finally find an empty pocket, because I don't have anything. I don't need pockets even to
           keep my hands in, because if I keep my hands in the pockets then I cannot talk. Pockets are
           absolutely useless. "So for thirty years I have not been having any pockets. I don't possess a single
           cent.
               But the Indians are poor. Their religion today -- I am not talking about their past -- is a poor
           religion. They go to the temple to ask God for something. And whenever you go to the temple or the
           church to ask, that's an indication of a false religion. Whenever you go to the temple to give
           something then it is the sign of a real religion.
           The authentic religion has nothing to ask.
           It has much to share, much to give.
               To understand the law of mediocrity you will have to see this. The poor country remains
           interested in science, technology, engineering, medicine; and of course if it continues to remain
           interested in these things sooner or later it will become rich. When it becomes rich then of course its
           interest changes; it starts thinking of painting, of music, of art, of literature, of poetry. If it goes on
           becoming richer, which is a simple process ... once you know how to be rich then you go on
           becoming richer and richer. Money goes on attracting more money, money goes on producing more
           money.
               It is something autonomous: once the wheel starts moving then it goes on moving of its own
           accord. When you are satisfied with all the pleasures of the body, then certainly your psychological
           needs are there which can be fulfilled by music, art, dance, drama, literature, sculpture. Soon they
           are also satisfied, because these are limited needs. The body has a limitation, its pleasures are very
           few: food and sex. How much can you eat? And you cannot eat gold, you cannot eat diamonds --
           what a shame! You have gold, you have diamonds -- all these beautiful things and you cannot eat
           them.
               You can have sex, but there again is the trouble: there is a limitation. By the time a man becomes
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           rich he becomes impotent -- or almost impotent, which is even worse. If you are really impotent you
           are finished with it, and you know it. But if you are almost impotent then you mind goes on thinking
           of it, trying to find some panacea, some doctor, some plastic surgeon -- a Leeladhar; some hope that
           something can be done ... some injections, some hormones. You are in real misery.
                But even if you don't become impotent by the time you become rich, or perhaps you are born rich
           with a silver spoon in your mouth .... This idea of a silver spoon in the mouth must have arisen in a
           poor country; otherwise, why not a golden spoon in the mouth? Why say silver spoon? It must have
           arisen in a very middle class society where silver is something very valuable. Why not a
           diamond-studded spoon? Your proverbs, your words -- everything has a history and a psychology
           behind it.
                If you are born rich then there are even more problems, because then you can have as many
           relationships with as many women as you want. And that is one of the calamities that can happen to
           a man. Monogamy is really something very protective, protective of your dreams, hopes; protective
           of your flights of imagination. Stuck with one woman you are certainly fed up with her, she is fed up
           with you. But both are free in their imaginations and both can enjoy, in imagination, other men, other
           women. Both can go on thinking, "that man, that woman, is a real beauty."
                Once can never think of one's wife as a beauty. When Mulla Nasruddin got married .... Among
           Mohammedans this is a tradition: as the wife enters the husband's house the first thing she asks the
           husband is -- because Mohammedan women use burga, a black veil on their face .... You cannot see
           them, they just have two small holes in their veil so they can see. You cannot see them.
                The tradition is that the woman asks her husband the first thing, "Before whom am I allowed to
           open my veil?" The husband's permission is needed. So he tells her, "Before my father, or before my
           brother, or before my uncle -- these are the people before whom you can open your veil, there's no
           problem. Except for these people you have always to keep yourself veiled."
                Mulla Nasruddin's wife asked him. He said, "It is very simple: except for me you can open you
           veil to anybody. Just forgive me -- anyway, in the daytime I will never be home. And in the night I
           cannot see, it is dark; moreover, my eyesight is not right. But in the day, if by chance I have to come
           home, please, don't open your veil."
                You are not interested in anything that you have got, your interest is only until you get it. In fact,
           it is an egoistic trip, a challenge. In monogamy, every other woman is a challenge to you, every other
           man is a challenge to you. You cannot get them, and they look so beautiful, so smiling, so happy,
           that when you compare them with your wife who is always nagging and is always bothering you for
           this and for that ....
                When you compare these beautiful women on the beach, smiling in the wind, in the sun, you feel
           so sad. But you don't know that these women's husbands are also in the same trap. These women on
           the beach turn into bitches when they go home -- these same women.
                So monogamy is really very protective, it keeps your interest alive. Men remain alive thinking of
           women, women remain alive thinking of men. All poetry, pornography, novels, films, are filled with
           only one thing: the love story, because that is the only thing that is missing -- everybody is missing
           it. At least in the story you can have a certain satisfaction. You can get identified with the actors,
           with the characters, and forget your personal misery for two hours while you are looking at a movie,
           sitting in a moviehouse.
                If you are rich enough you can have as many women, as many men, as you want -- and that is the
           tragedy. When you come in contact with many women, you are surprised that it is the same woman
           again and again and again. She comes in all shapes, all sizes, but it is the same woman -- just scratch
           a little bit and you find the same woman again. And the same is true about men.
                They may look different, but that is only the container. Containers can be different, just like
           American cars -- Cadillac, Lincoln. Just the containers are different, the content is absolutely the
           same. Under the bonnet ... don't look. I have never looked under the bonnet and I am not going to
           look, ever; why unnecessarily kill your dreams? It is murderous.
                I never go to the garage. Avesh is waiting -- he is the director of my garage; he is waiting. I am
           not going to come, because to see under the bonnet is so disappointing. But when you are rich you
           open so many bonnets ... and it is nobody's fault, it is just that you have money enough so you can
           open many bonnets; and under the bonnet it is always the same mechanism.
                You get fed up with food, with sex. You start looking for something higher. That's when you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           start moving into higher dimensions, psychological satisfactions. The physical world is finished;
           now you would like Beethoven, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy. Then
           many dimensions open.
                Of course the psychological world is wider than the the physical, but it is not unlimited; soon that
           is finished too. Soon you know all the best music, all the best literature, all the best art: then what?
           That is the point when real religion enters life -- the spiritual need.
                The real religion happens only in a very luxurious, rich, affluent society. Now, I can explain to
           you the law of mediocrity.
                When somebody becomes interested in religion, really involved and committed to a search for
           truth, for some experience of consciousness, he realizes that he wasted his whole life unnecessarily
           in food and sex, in music and in literature; it was all a waste. He could have been in this ecstasy for
           all that time. He starts condemning. He condemns food, he condemns sex, he condemns music, he
           condemns literature, he condemns every body and mind need. And these are the topmost people, the
           geniuses of society, who have reached to religious consciousness. When they all start condemning,
           the circle starts moving downwards.
                The society listens to them -- and they are evidence of what they are saying. Everybody is
           miserable and they are not; everybody is in suffering and they are so blissful. There is no need for
           any other argument; they are their argument.
                It happened ... one of the most famous logicians of this century in India was Keshav Chandra
           Sen. He was really the same type of man as Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein, men who
           could go to any depth arguing. Ramakrishna was at his highest peak of samadhi, superconsciousness.
           Keshav Chandra said, "I will go and put that old idiot ...." Ramakrishna was illiterate and keshav
           Chandra was world famous, everywhere recognized as one of the finest logicians who had ever
           existed.
                It was a challenge, because people were going to Ramakrishna -- they both lived in Calcutta; the
           whole of Calcutta was moving towards Ramakrishna, and nobody was coming to Keshav Chandra.
           This was a great challenge. He informed Ramakrishna, "I want to argue with you, because I can
           prove there is no God, I can prove there is no heaven, I can prove there is no superconsciousness, I
           can prove there is no soul; it is all nonsense and you are exploiting people. And if you cannot prove
           them, then you will have to become my disciple. If you do, I will become your disciple."
                Ramakrishna's disciples were very worried and concerned. Ramakrishna was a simple man,
           innocent, childlike; so childlike that even in the middle of the street, if somebody uttered the name of
           God, he would go into ecstasy, he would start dancing there in the middle of the road. The whole
           traffic would be blocked. The policeman would come and say, "Paramahansa Deva, please, this is
           the road ...." But he was such a simple man, so innocent, loved by everybody.
                All his disciples were very much afraid -- it was difficult to face Keshav Chandra. What would
           Ramakrishna do? What would he argue? He had never given any argument for anything. But
           Ramakrishna was very happy; he said, "Tell him to come tomorrow, or come right now. Why wait?"
                Keshav Chandra came with all his great logician disciples to show them how he could dismantle
           this old idiot who was dominating the whole of Bengal and had become the topmost religious leader
           in the country. Many people from Calcutta came just to see what was going to happen because it was
           a rare occasion. Perhaps never before had it happened that a man of the quality of Ramakrishna and a
           man of the qualities of Keshav Chandra, argued.
                Ramakrishna, seeing Keshav Chandra, ran and hugged him. That was enough to make keshav
           Chandra embarrassed; he was not expecting that. When Ramakrishna said, "I am so happy -- so you
           have come to defeat me? Great! Nobody comes .... At least you thought of me, so kind of you -- just
           come and defeat me."
                "But," Keshav Chandra said, "how to defeat you? First give some argument."
                Ramakrishna said, "Argument? I am the argument. You defeat ME."
                There was absolute silence in the crowd. Keshav Chandra looked silly. He had never thought that
           a man would say, "I am the argument, you defeat me." But Keshav Chandra was also a sincere man,
           not just a poor logician. He looked into the eyes of Ramakrishna and fell at his feet. And he said, "I
           am defeated if you are the argument. And certainly you are the argument, I can see it."
                When a religious man is there his presence creates a climate.
                And when there are many religious people, the whole country is vibrant with their being.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               They all, up to now, have been condemning everything that has really led them to their state of
           consciousness. So when all the religious leaders of a country condemn materialism, attachment to
           body, attachment to this, attachment to that, and start teaching people tastelessness, celibacy, the
           country starts shrinking. It stops being creative. It drops its sciences, its technology. It starts
           following these great religious people, not knowing that you cannot follow them. You are destroying
           the very ladder they have climbed up on!
               And it is very easy for them, standing on the roof, to tell you, "Destroy this ladder, it is useless. It
           wasted so much of our time. On each rung of the ladder we wasted our life. Just burn it." It is so easy
           from the roof. And these poor idiots burn the ladder and destroy the very basis upon which religion
           becomes authentic. The country starts becoming poor again. Civilization disappears, culture
           disappears.
               This is the circle, the vicious circle. The country will continue to become poorer and poorer and
           poorer and poorer, till the very last, when poverty means death. One more step into poverty and there
           will be death. It is at that moment -- but it takes centuries to reach that state. And by that time all
           those dwellers on the roof have disappeared. Nobody is there to condemn. They start again from the
           very ABC: technology, science, wealth, how to be rich. The circle moves again.
               This is the circle -- I call it the law of mediocrity.
               Poor countries go on trying to become richer; richer countries start becoming poor.
               This has been the case up to now. History has moved in circles. It should move in a line. It
           should be linear, not circular. When it is linear then it cannot be repeated, then you go on and on. But
           that needs intelligence; to break out of this law of mediocrity you need intelligence to understand
           how it has been happening up to now.
               The East was very rich. Then its Gautam Buddhas, Lao Tzus, Mahaviras, they condemned riches;
           it became poor, it became dependent on other people. Now it has reached the very depths of poverty.
               Talking in India about meditation I have felt as if I am committing a crime. People are hungry
           and they ask me, "If we do meditation will our financial situation become better?" And that's what
           Maharishi Mahesh Yogi goes on telling them. These charlatans have some nerve! Maharishi Mahesh
           Yogi teaches people that his transcendental meditation will make them prosperous in all possible
           ways: materially, spiritually, psychologically. Whatever your need is, he has the panacea.
               I cannot say that, that meditation will fulfill your physical needs. It is impossible for me to cheat
           in such a way. So even in India, while I was traveling, I was speaking only to the very rich people. I
           was condemned as the rich man's guru. I said, "This is not a condemnation, this is really the fact. I
           am the rich man's guru because only the rich man can understand what I am trying to say, to convey.
               "The poor man has needs, I know. But what I can offer to him will not meet his needs. I am not
           for him. Mother Teresa is for him, I am not for him. What can I do if I deal in some higher things? I
           don't own a grocery store. I cannot give you anything less than ultimate consciousness. But for that
           you have to be hungry -- and you are not hungry for that. I have something to offer to you; but you
           are not ready to receive it, so it is not my fault."
               Naturally, people from all over the world started coming to me, but these were all from rich
           countries, rich cultures, well-educated, very intelligent people, young people. To them I could
           convey. Something was possible now; they were ready, they were open, they were finished with the
           marketplace, the pleasures of the body and the pleasures of the mind. They had had enough of it.
           They were at a point that if something else was not possible then only suicide was the way to get rid
           of this whole nonsense called life.
               Sannyas is possible only when you are ready to commit suicide -- only at that critical moment,
           when nothing else matters.
           The old life is finished.
               Unless a new life begins -- you are not going to continue to live in the old pattern -- you will
           finish yourself.
           This is the moment when a man becomes a sannyasin.
               Your question is that Rome, its civilization, its great culture, suddenly fell and disappeared,
           leaving only beautiful ruins. It happened at a time when Christianity was at its peak and Rome had
           become the citadel of Christianity. Yes, Christianity is responsible for Rome's fall. You will have to
           understand a few things.
               Roman people were pagans, they had never been religious. They had never been interested in
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           airy-fairy things, they were not esoteric at all; very earthbound, very earthly people, solid.
           Christianity condemned them, condemned their paganism, condemned their life of "eat, drink and be
           merry." That was their whole religion in three words -- the simplest religion in the world. You
           cannot make a more condensed catechism than this: Eat, drink, be merry. That is the whole Roman
           philosophy.
               Christianity condemned them, condemned them so much that they stopped being pagans and
           started becoming religious. They dropped their old way of living joyously, luxuriously. They
           dropped being warriors, they dropped being imperialists; they dropped expanding, they started
           shrinking.
               When they became Christians they started believing, "Blessed are the poor." And they wanted to
           get through the doors of heaven, so they started becoming poor. First psychologically you start
           shrinking, and then outwardly you start shrinking.
               There was a time when all roads led to Rome, Rome was the world capital. Now Rome does not
           matter at all: whether it exists at all or not will not make any difference. Who bothers about Rome
           now? This is what Christianity has done to the Roman empire, culture, civilization, just with the
           condemnation of their material life, the condemnation of Zorba -- and the Roman people were just
           Zorbas.
               The trouble is that just by condemning the Zorba you cannot transform people into Buddhas. If
           you condemn them as being Zorbas then you simply destroy them. You are not a help, you are
           simply poisoning them. The Zorba has to be made into the foundation for the Buddha. Don't
           condemn the foundation; otherwise the whole edifice will become impossible. Christians committed
           the crime, and Rome suffered.
               The same is the situation of America today. It is at the peak of its wealth, scientific knowledge,
           technological expertise -- and it is getting caught in the hands of the Christians. Christians have
           never been so powerful in America as they are today.
               Americans should learn a lesson from Rome; otherwise history will be repeated and the law of
           mediocrity will go on functioning; but I don't think Americans are going to listen.
               The American president, Ronald Reagan, is a fanatic Christian, and is trying in every possible
           way to make the country as Christian oriented as possible. In fact he thinks that Christianity is the
           only answer to communism. He is wrong.
           Christianity is not the answer to communism.
           In fact, communism is a by-product of Christianity.
               It is that idiotic statement, "Blessed are the poor," which is the base of the whole communist
           philosophy.
               But Ronald Reagan is not a man of intelligence. He was just a poor, third-class, cowboy-film
           actor. I have not seen a single statement from him which seems to be coming from an intelligent
           source. His going to the Vatican, his meeting with the pope ... and he is continually talking about
           religion and Christianity and Christ. His idea is that you don't have anything parallel to the ideology
           of communism to use against Russia. Democracy is not such a strong thing that it can make anybody
           fanatic.
               Have you seen any fanatic democrat? It is a contradiction in terms. If you are a democrat you
           cannot be fanatic. So who is going to fight against the fanatic communist? Yes, a fanatic fascist can
           fight, a fanatic Christian can fight, a fanatic Mohammedan can fight. But remember one thing: it is
           really fanaticism that is going to fight. Communists are fanatic. They have an absolute faith that they
           are going to take over the world.
               I had one communist friend -- he was really a great intellectual. He had written many, nearabout
           a hundred, books, all on the communist theme but in a very indirect way: they were novels. But
           through the novel he was preaching the communist theme, so indirectly that you would be influenced
           by the novel. The novels that he has written are first rate -- he was a first-rate creative writer -- but
           the result ultimately will be that he will be pulling you towards communism.
               His name was Yashpal. I told him, "Yashpal, you are against all religions" -- and communism is
           against all religions, it is an atheist philosophy. "But the way you behave and other communists
           behave simply proves that communism is another religion."
           He said, "What do you mean?"
               I said, "I simply mean that you are as fanatic as any Mohammedan, as any Christian. You have
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           your trinity: Marx, Engels, Lenin. You have your Mecca -- Moscow; you have your kaaba -- the
           Kremlin; you have your holy book -- DAS KAPITAL. And although DAS KAPITAL is now a
           hundred years old you are not ready to change a single word in it. In a hundred years economics has
           changed totally -- DAS KAPITAL is absolutely out of date."
               He was ready to fight. I said, "It is not a question of fight. Even if you kill me that will not prove
           that you were right. That will simply prove that I was right and you could not tolerate my existence.
           You give me arguments."
           Communism has no argument.
               I said to him, "Your whole philosophy is based on the idea that the whole of humanity is equal.
           This is psychologically wrong. The whole of psychological science says that each individual is
           unique. How can unique individuals be equal?"
               But communism is fanatic. He stopped speaking with me, he stopped writing letters to me. I used
           to pass through his city, Lucknow. He always used to come to the station to see me -- he stopped
           coming to see me.
               When many of my letters were not answered I wrote a letter to his wife. She was a very loving
           woman. She wrote to me saying, "You can understand -- there is no need for me to tell you that he is
           a fanatic. And you touched his weakest point. Even I keep myself alert not to say anything against
           communism. I can do anything, I can say anything against him, but I should not say anything against
           communism because, "That he cannot conceive, that anybody can be against communism."
               He told me once, "We are going to take over the whole world."
               I said, "Your project is a very small one, this earth is very small. Why don't you join in my
           project?"
           He said, "What is your project?"
               I said, "My project is very simple. I am a man of very simple taste and very easily satisfied. I am
           just going to take over the universe. Why bother about a small earth which will be included in the
           universe? No need to be worried about it." But communism believes it is going to take over the
           whole earth, and almost half of the earth they have already taken.
               Their fanatic attitude will create the reaction in America to become fanatically Christian. That
           seems to be the only alternative for Americans, but they don't know .... You can survive communism,
           but you cannot survive fanatic Christianity.
               Just trying to save yourself from one danger your are falling into a greater danger.
               I can show you the way to survive communism -- not only for you to survive communism, but for
           you to help the whole world to get rid of communism. it is very simple: just make people more rich.
           Let poverty disappear, and there will be no communism left.
               Marx, in his best book, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, declares in the end, "Proletariat of
           the world, unite: you have nothing to lose but your chains; you have the whole world to gain." I am
           saying, if you want the world not to be communist, let everybody have something of value to lose
           and he will never be a communist.
               Make people richer -- and you can do it. Now there is no difficulty. If you divert your attention
           from fighting with communism, and pour your energies into making people richer and richer, the
           whole country will become rich, so rich that even the iron curtain of Russia cannot prevent the
           people of Russia from seeing what is happening in America. They are poor; it just has to be made
           clear to them that the only way to be rich is capitalism -- and the only way to remain forever poor is
           communism.
           Christianity cannot do that -- only capitalism.
               Christianity will kill you; before communism kills you, Christianity will kill you. Christianity is
           really the father of communism. Trying to save yourself from the son, you are getting into the
           clutches of the father, who is far more dangerous, who has destroyed many civilizations before.
               But I doubt that any intelligent thing is going to be heard. The circle seems to be repeating itself.
           We have to be just helpless spectators because these idiots will not hear; even if they hear they will
           not understand; even if they understand, they will not follow it.
               It is such a strange situation. In Russia I am thought to be an American agent sabotaging
           communism in the name of religion. In America they think I am certainly a communist, and by
           creating a commune I am creating the basis for communism -- "communism" comes from
           "commune." The original idea in Marx's mind was of a commune.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Because of the commune and the red robes .... Just two days ago one of our Australian
           communes tried to purchase a holiday resort there. It has a huge building, and they wanted to make it
           a school for sannyasin children -- it could manage at least one hundred and fifty children -- and the
           resort could become a beautiful commune. The commune is in the city but they wanted to move out
           and to spread.
               The fear went all over Australia. The whole media -- television, the newspapers -- was full of the
           same fear. Just as we have heard here that we are going to take over Wasco County .... I am sitting
           here, and they are saying in Australia that I am planning to come to Australia and we will try to take
           over. Already there are posters in Australia: Better dead than red. Strange, that red color seems to
           have become the monopoly of the communists.
               Communists think that I am against them; capitalists think that I am against them ... sometimes I
           wonder, am I against myself?
               But if there is even a little bit of intelligence in America then it is time to stop now; otherwise,
           the country is going to have the same fate as that of Rome and Roman civilization.
               In these last ten years all the decisions of the Supreme Court of America have become more and
           more favorable to the government against individual freedom. They have been more protective in
           these ten years; it was not the case before. Before, ten years ago, the Supreme Court of America was
           really a fair institution, and it was protecting the individual -- who is helpless against the state,
           against the government.
               The individual has to be protected. His freedom of speech, his freedom of thinking, his freedom
           of living, have to be protected. The Supreme Court exists for that; otherwise the state, the monster of
           state, can simply destroy your freedom, your democracy, your individuality. It is just a steamroller, it
           can go on killing you.
               But in these ten years there has been a trend continuously towards the Supreme Court supporting
           the government against the individual. And particularly at this moment they are supporting the
           government too much, for a simple reason: five Supreme Court judges out of nine are going to retire
           this year. It is a rare thing. The people who made the constitution had never thought about this. They
           had provided in the constitution that the Supreme Court judges will be appointed by the president --
           and for their whole lifetime, so they are not under any pressure.
               Once they are appointed, even the president cannot do anything to them. And they should not be
           elected, because elections mean politicians. They should not come through bureaucracy, just by
           seniority, because seniority means by the time a person becomes senior enough he is also senile
           enough. To become a judge of the Supreme Court, if he has to move from the lower courts to higher
           courts, state courts, state Supreme Court, then by the time he reaches he is bound to be sixty,
           sixty-five, almost senile.
               That's how it happens in India: Supreme Court judges there are almost senile. One of my friends
           became the Supreme Court chief justice. He was first chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh Supreme
           Court; Hidayatolla was his name, a Mohammedan. We became friends in a very strange way. I used
           to organize a world religious conference every year while I was in Jabalpur. I invited prominent
           intellectuals from all over the country. Hidayatolla was a very cultured man and he had just come to
           Jabalpur as the chief justice of the Supreme Court, so I phoned him and asked him for an
           appointment.
               I invited him to preside over the conference at least one day. "The conference is going to be for
           seven days and there will be seven presidents; one day you preside, any day you choose, whenever
           you are free."
               He said, "I would love to, but the problem is, being chief justice, I should not participate in
           anything public. I should not come in contact with the public, I should not become intimate with
           people. I should not have friends because that can put pressure on my judgment."
               I said, "I don't know about your situation but I am determined to have you for one day as
           president."
               He said, "How can you have me if I am saying no?" I said, "We will see."
               Next day I told a press conference that Hidayatolla was going to be the president for the first day.
           And I sent one taxi with a loudspeaker, with a student in it, and told him, "The whole day you go
           around Hidayatolla's house declaring the same thing again and again. Unless he comes out, drive him
           insane."
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So that student went around his house declaring, "President Hidayatolla is going to preside over
           the first day of the world conference of religions."
               Of course he was getting .... In the newspaper he read it, on the radio he heard it. He said, "This
           is something!" And then this man was continuously ....
               His wife told him, "You better preside. That is simple, that is not such a big deal. And these
           people are not going to leave you alone. You go out; otherwise they will drive the whole family
           mad."
               He came out, and told the student, "You go and tell your professor that I will be coming, but let
           this be the first and the last time."
               The student said, "We never ask anybody to be the president of the conference twice. We never
           do that, don't be worried." That's how we became friends.
               Finally he became the chief justice of the Supreme Court of India, but by that time he was
           seventy. When I saw him in New Delhi, he could not even recognize me. I said, "Hidayatolla, you
           have gone really senile."
               He said, "Perhaps, because I go on forgetting everything. But I have to pretend; otherwise I will
           lose the job; so I keep quiet. I don't say anything in case I may say something wrong. I am simply
           pretending, just passing time -- it is only a question of two years more. Why lose a good job, the
           greatest, highest salary, and the most prestigious position?" -- because he gives the oath to the
           president of India, so in a certain way he is higher than the president.
               The American constitution decided something really very significant, that the president will
           appoint the judges. But history does not move according to your constitutions. They have never
           though of a situation where five judges will be retiring in one year. If one judge retires, eight judges
           are there. Even if the president puts his man in it makes no difference because those eight judges will
           be the majority.
               But this year it is going to happen that five judges are going to be appointed by Ronald Reagan.
           They are all going to be Christian fanatics. And seeing this, all the judgments of the lower courts,
           state Supreme Courts, are going in favor of Ronald Reagan. Whatsoever he says now is right,
           because now everybody is hankering to be appointed to the Supreme Court. And he will appoint only
           those five people who are going to support him in every way.
               Now the majority in the Supreme Court will be in his hands. For the first time in American
           history the Supreme Court will be under the thumb of the president ... and the president is such an
           idiot!
               He is influencing the Supreme Court continuously, and it is becoming more and more a
           government agency rather than a protector of individual freedom. It is no longer fair, it is no longer
           the same institution it used to be. America has lost one of its most beautiful things, the Supreme
           Court. And if the Supreme Court is in Ronald Reagan's hands, then he can enforce anything upon
           this country -- and he wants to enforce Christianity.
           But let this be a reminder to all:
           Christianity means committing suicide, and nothing else.




                                           From Darkness to Light
                                                   Chapter #30
                                   Chapter title: Does a flower need religion?
           31 March 1985 pm in Lao Tzu Grove

           Archive code: 8503315
              ShortTitle: DARK30
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 105 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              DOES A PAGAN LIVING A NATURAL LIFE NEED RELIGION?


               It is one of the most basic questions that can be asked. The first thing to understand is, who is a
           pagan? It is not what Christians go on calling a pagan. The pagan is a natural man -- sincere, not a
           hypocrite, living life naturally without an domination of the mind.
           The pagan is part of existence.
               He is not trying to go in some other direction but is always in a let-go and moving with existence
           wherever it leads.
           There is no goal in the life of a pagan.
               There is no question of any meaning in the life of a pagan. Life in itself is so beautiful that to ask
           the question of the meaning of life is simply nonsense. It has to be remembered -- we ask about
           meaning only when something goes wrong.
               If you have a headache, you certainly inquire why; you go to the doctor to find out the cause. But
           when you don't have any headache, what to say about headache? -- you even forget about the head.
           Without the headache is there any head? There is no need even to remember it. When you are
           healthy you never ask the question, What is the meaning of health? Such a question only arises in the
           mind of a man who is not healthy.
               The people who ask what is the meaning of life are the people who have missed life, who are
           alive because they are still breathing, their heart is still beating, their pulse is still going on;
           otherwise they are dead. Except for these three things there is nothing in their life. Naturally the
           question arises: What is the meaning?
               Heart beating, breathing continuing, pulse perfectly right -- but can these three things give you
           any fulfillment, any joy? Can these three things be the meaning of existence, the meaning of being?
           This is vegetating, not living. These are the people who ask, "What is the meaning of life?" --
           because they are missing it.
               The people who are really living are in love with life, in love with the small things of life, not
           hankering for any great things, non-ambitious.
           Sipping a cup of tea is enough of a joy for them.
               Just to see the sunrise is such a glory that who bothers what is the meaning of life? They enjoy
           their food, they enjoy their clothes, they enjoy their houses, they enjoy their gardens, they enjoy their
           lovers, their beloveds. They enjoy music, they enjoy poetry.
               They enjoy everything that is enjoyable, with no guilt.
               Joy is not a sin, and to be happy is not a crime. On the contrary, not to enjoy is a sin, not to be
           happy is to be a criminal, because the person who is not happy is going to do something wrong
           sooner or later. He is potentially on the way to crime. If he cannot be happy, he cannot allow
           anybody else to be happy; that is intolerable to him. He will be destructive of other people's
           happiness, of other people's joys. If he cannot enjoy, he is not going to allow anybody else to enjoy
           either. It hurts him that others are enjoying: "What is wrong with me?"
               There is certainly something wrong with you. Perhaps you are a Christian, perhaps you are a
           Hindu -- these are diseases, and they go so deep in you, they contaminate you all the way. Your
           blood, your bones, your marrow -- everything becomes contaminated.
               Just look at the face of Jesus. If you are a Christian you should look like Jesus, always carrying
           the cross, always sad, with a long face because the burden of the whole world is on his shoulders. He
           has to be the savior.
               The savior cannot be blissful. There is so much to save, so many people are drowning, dying; so
           many people are committing sins -- and you are being blissful? Sitting silently doing nothing -- and
           the crime grows by itself! The savior cannot have any holiday. He cannot go to a holiday resort for a
           few days to relax and enjoy the sun and the sand and the sea. No, it is not for saviors. This is for
           pagans.
               The pagan is never a savior, for the simple reason that if somebody wants to be miserable, it is
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           his birthright -- let him enjoy his misery! If he is enjoying his misery who are we to interrupt? If he
           wants to go to hell, then who are you to prevent him? He is not preventing you from going to heaven
           -- you just go and take your flock with you, but leave him alone.
               But saviors cannot leave people alone. That's why I say they are the most dangerous people on
           the earth: in the name of good they will interfere with your privacy. They won't allow you to live
           according to your own nature. They will force you according to their ideas of how a man should be.
           They have a certain mold, and they will try to fit you into that mold; and nobody is going to fit into
           their mold, because their mold is according to their size, their height, their weight, their shape. It is
           their mold -- it fits them perfectly.
               But all these saviors carrying this idiotic idea that what fits them is going to fit everybody; not
           only is going to, has to fit. The man is for the mold, not vice versa; the mold is not for the man. The
           mold cannot be changed according to you; you have to change according to their mold.
               Perhaps Jesus enjoyed being sad and long-faced. I have no objection to it -- it is his life. If he
           wants to paint it with dark and dismal colors, it is his birthright; but he cannot say to anybody that,
           "You cannot paint your life with such shiny, such colorful moments."
               But that's what all these saviors have been doing. You have to paint your life just like a
           blackboard in a school. The darker it is, the happier the savior feels -- he has saved one soul who
           otherwise was going to fall into the world of colors and songs, into the world of beauty and love. He
           was going to be distracted. Now he will remain with the dark color.
               It is not strange that Christian priests use black for their robes. Strange, they call those robes
           `habits.' I used to wonder: habit, for a robe? Then slowly I understood that really it is a habit, an
           idiotic habit. It is not a robe -- they are not wearing clothes -- they are habits, conditionings. That
           black, to them, is the color of mourning too. Why should the Christian priest be in the color of
           mourning? That's what he wants you all to be, continuously in mourning. That's what he calls
           "saving people from sin."
               Sin is really colorful. In the world of sin the color black does not exist ... very alive colors,
           smiling, laughing, roaring.
           The pagan lives without any principles.
               To live according to principles is not to live. To live according to principles means you have to
           cut much of your living according to the principle -- the principle is more important than your life
           itself. You have to sacrifice your life to the principle; you cannot sacrifice the principle to your life.
           The pagan has nothing higher than his life.
               Christians have condemned pagans; they had to condemn them because either the pagan can exist
           in the world, or millions of Christians -- and they have destroyed the pagans almost completely. Now
           there are very few pagans in the world. They too have to live a double life. Just on the surface they
           have to show they are Christians, they are Hindus, they are Mohammedans; and underneath,
           underground, they have to live life as they would have loved to live it openly.
               These Christians have made the whole of humanity schizophrenic. They have divided every man
           in two, one thing on the surface and just the opposite underneath. And the life you live underneath
           you cannot enjoy fully; in fact, you feel guilty about it, you know that you are deceiving God. You
           know you are going against religion, you know you are not following the holy scripture.
               So even those who are living something true and natural, underground of course they are not
           living joyously; the guilt poisons everything.
           You are asking me, "Does a pagan need religion?"
           I am a pagan.
               I do not need religion because I am religion.
               The authentic pagan has no need of religion because, whatever religion can provide, he already
           has it.
               Religion gives you only hopes; the pagan has all those hopes realized herenow. Religion tells
           you that somewhere in the future, in the kingdom of God, you will be happy, continuously playing
           on the harp and singing, "Alleluia, Alleluia!" But sometimes I think, "How long can you play on the
           harp?" And in heaven there is no other work, at least no religion says that there is any work; just be
           happy and go on singing alleluia.
               Those saints, who must have been doing this for centuries -- feel compassion for them.
               And the difficulty with heaven is, there is an entrance but there is no exit. Jean-Paul Sartre has
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           written a play, NO EXIT; it is about hell. That's where he is wrong. The book should have been
           about heaven. Hell has an exit but heaven has none. In hell there is so much going on -- in every
           religion's hell. It is really a fantastic place, so much is going on. You will never be tired and bored --
           all kinds of colorful people are there. In heaven you will find only dodos.
               I have experienced many times -- because I have lived with many so-called saints -- that saints
           are the worst company in the world. You cannot imagine: to live with a saint for twenty-four hours is
           enough to make you decide never to be a saint. From the morning till the night they are moving like
           robots, everything according to principle.
               The Buddhist monk has thirty-three thousand principles. I told one Buddhist monk ... he is an
           Englishman, converted at an early age -- now he is very old. Bhikkhu Shankra Chitta is his name,
           and he has lived in Kalimpong between Tibet and India, almost his whole life. He has written
           beautiful books on Tibetanism, and is certainly one of its authorities as far as scholarship is
           concerned.
               Just by chance I was holding a camp in Bodh Gaya where Buddha became enlightened, and he
           had come to pay homage to the temple and to the tree where Buddha became enlightened. Just by
           coincidence I was also there sitting under the tree when he came. We became friends.
               I told Shankra Chitta, "I cannot visualize myself ever becoming a Buddhist monk because my
           memory is not good. Thirty-three thousand principles! Following all those principles is out of the
           question; I cannot even remember them. And if you are following thirty-three thousand principles in
           such a small life, where will you find time to live or to breathe? Those thirty-three thousand
           principles will kill you from all sides."
               But all religions have done that. They have given you guidelines without knowing you, who you
           are. But they don't bother -- "whomsoever it may concern." They decide for a non-existential human
           being -- just an imaginary idea -- how that human being should be. Nobody is interested in the real
           human being, because it is not a question as far as the real human being is concerned -- how he
           should be; the question is how he IS. "Should" is nonsense; "is" is the reality. But all religions are
           imposing the "should" on your "isness."
               The pagan is one who has no shoulds; his life is should-free.
               He simply lives without any guidelines, without any principles, without any savior, prophet,
           messiah. He himself is his savior, his messiah, his prophet, his holy book.
           The pagan is really a unique individual.
           I have called him Zorba.
               The pagan goes on living peacefully in harmony with nature; and without any effort on his part,
           religiousness flowers in him.
               If a man can be authentically a Zorba he is not far away from being a Buddha. He has traveled
           almost half the path. And the first half is the most difficult because all the religions are against it. All
           the religions drag you somewhere else, away from the first half; and once you are dragged in some
           other direction you can never be a Buddha -- because only this way goes to Buddha.
           Zorba is the way to Buddha.
               If you are taken somewhere else -- you become a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jaina, a
           Mohammedan -- then there is no hope of your ever becoming a Buddha. You have been distracted
           from your nature; You have been taken away from the harmony between you and existence; You
           have been turned unnatural.
               A pagan is natural -- as natural as trees and birds and rivers and mountains.
               Why don't you ask me, "Does a flower need religion?" What will the poor flower do with
           religion? The flower blossoms. Its fragrance is released. The flower dances in the wind, in the sun, in
           the rain. That's its religion. What else is needed? A dance in the rain, in the sun, in the wind ... what
           more do you want? Your fragrance released to all directions ... what more do you want? -- because
           this is fulfillment. You have matured, blossomed. You have come to your ultimate peak. There is
           nothing higher than that.
           This is the religion of a flower.
               A Zorba is a bud, a Buddha is a flower; but you can distract the bud, you can destroy the bud --
           and millions of buds are being destroyed all over the world. They never become flowers, they never
           come to know what it means to blossom.
           To blossom is ecstasy.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                When the flower opens its petals it is just like a bird opening its wings into the sky.
                When the flower starts sharing its innermost treasure of fragrance with all and sundry, there is
           tremendous contentment. One has arrived.
           The Zorba is a bud.
                Yes, a bud should not remain a bud, but the bud needs no religion. It needs to go on growing the
           way it has been going on. The way, the same way as it has become a bud -- it has to go on the same
           path -- and the flowering will come of its own accord. And remember, when flowering comes of its
           own accord, it has a beauty, a grace. When it is forced, then it is just painted -- make-up -- but not
           beauty.
                In Buddha's time there was one very beautiful woman; she was a prostitute, her name was
           Amrapali. I remembered her at this moment because she never used any make-up. Ordinarily
           prostitutes use more make-up than anybody else; in fact, prostitutes always use make-up, and the
           older they become, the thicker becomes the make-up.
                Amrapali was so beautiful. To indicate that -- that she was so beautiful -- the scriptures say that
           she never used any make-up. There was always a queue in front of her palace, of kings, princes, the
           super rich. It was very difficult to get permission to enter her palace. She was a singer, a musician, a
           dancer.
                In the East, the meaning of the prostitute is different from in the West. In the West it is simply a
           sexual object. One goes to a prostitute -- that means one goes to a woman as an object, a commodity.
           A man pays for his sexual pleasure.
                In the East the prostitute is not just an object of sex; in fact it is not easy to persuade a prostitute
           to be an object of sex. Particularly in the past that was so. Still, in places like Lucknow, where the
           old tradition of prostitutes still continues, the prostitute is a musician, a dancer, a singer. She dances,
           sings, she plays on instruments. She tries to make you forget all your worries.
                That does not mean you are purchasing her as an object for sex. You will have to pay for all the
           pleasures that you enjoyed in her music, her dance; she is an artist. It is very rare that she falls in
           love with somebody; then she is just a woman as any other woman. She is not purchasable, she is not
           a commodity.
                These princes and these kings and these super rich people all hankered -- and they were beautiful
           people -- to somehow persuade Amrapali to be their queen, their wife. But she fell in love with
           Gautam Buddha.
                Buddha was coming to the city of Vaishali where Amrapali lived. Everybody who was of any
           significance had gone to receive him. The king was there, the prime minister was there; Amrapali
           was also there in her golden chariot. Seeing Buddha -- she had seen so many beautiful people in her
           life, but she had never seen such a man -- so silent, so serene, so peaceful, so relaxed, so at home.
           The way he walked -- because he came walking; he used to move only on his feet -- the way he
           walked into the city ... the grace that surrounded him ....
                Amrapali fell at Buddha's feet and said, "Initiate me as your disciple, give me sannyas."
                The prime minister, the king and the princes, and all the so-called big shots could not believer
           their eyes. Buddha said to Amrapali, "It is better, Amrapali, that you think about it. You are young,
           you are beautiful. So many people have been waiting for you, they are ready to give you everything
           you want. You have not looked at any of them, I am a poor man, a beggar, and becoming my disciple
           means becoming a beggar. You think twice. It is a difficult life. We eat only one time a day, we
           travel on our feet -- just look at my feet. You think again."
                It is said that even Buddha felt sorry to give this woman sannyas because she had lived in such
           luxury, she was such a flower. But Amrapali said to him,"Yes, so many people are waiting for me,
           but I was waiting for you. And I don't want what they want to give me. They can give me the whole
           world, but I don't want that. I would love just to follow you in the dusty roads, with naked feet. I will
           be immensely happy just to eat food once a day. I am ready to be a beggar. Just to be under your
           shadow is enough."
                Amrapali was a pagan; she had lived very instinctively. Buddha gave her sannyas, but gave her
           no guidelines. That is the most important thing. He gave sannyas to millions of people but Amrapali
           was the only exception: to her no principle was given, no guidelines.
                Buddha said, "You go on following the way -- you are on the right path. If you had not been on
           the right path you would not have chosen me. I have got nothing; on the other side is the whole
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           world, and you chose me. That's indication enough that up to now you have been on the right path.
           Now don't ask for any guidance -- that will be a distraction. You simply go on following your own
           innermost being."
                And Amrapali became enlightened one day. Buddha not giving her any instructions shows
           tremendous insight which is missing in Jesus, Mahavira, Krishna. Buddha has something special
           about him. That's why I have Zorba the Buddha. I could have said Zorba the Christ, but that would
           not have been right. It would be simply a contradiction in terms. Zorba and Christ simply don't mix
           -- like oil and water. However you try, they don't mix. Zorba will go on playing on his -- Mukta,
           what is it? -- kontukki? The instrument that Zorba plays?
           "I forget."
                You forgot! That's a good sign -- my people have to forget everything. I call it "kontukki" -- I
           think it will do. Who understands Greek anyway!
                He will go on playing on his kontukki, and Jesus will go on carrying his cross. The company will
           be absolutely in discord, there will be no harmony. Jesus will be simply angry and tell him: "Stop it
           and get lost!" And Zorba is not a man anyone can stop, not even Christ.
                He will say, "You shut up! You put that cross down and come with me and have a dance."
                When I said Zorba the Buddha, the reason was Amrapali. Amrapali was a female Zorba. She had
           lived the life of music and song and dance. Buddha allowed her to remain herself. It is here that I see
           Buddha's insight, which is missing in every other so-called prophet and messiah of the world. This
           man is not interested in interfering; if anything at all, he is interested in just helping you to be
           yourself, to be on your own feet. Amrapali was a pagan. She did not need any religion; that's why
           Buddha gave her no guidelines.
           I have not given you any guidelines.
                I have not given you a certain mode of life, so that you have to do this and you have not to do
           that.
           There are no commandments in my vision.
                I simply love you as you are, and I would like you also to love yourself as you are, and just go on
           growing, just remain simply yourself.
                Be a little alert because there are so many crocodiles around, religious crocodiles. Just be
           watchful. Those crocodiles have killed almost the whole humanity. They don't want human beings
           on the earth; they want Catholics, Protestant, Mohammedans, Hindus, communists, atheists -- but
           they don't want anybody just to be a simple human being without any adjective.
                I would like you to be just yourself without any adjective.
           You don't need any religion; nobody does.
                Your question is such -- as if you are asking me, "Does a healthy man need medicine?" If the
           healthy man is a crackpot, then it is up to him; but if he is not a crackpot I don't see why he should
           need medicine. And if he is a crackpot then he is not healthy. To be a crackpot is enough proof that
           he is not healthy; he is as unhealthy as he can be. He will need all kinds of medicines, therapies,
           analysis, synthesis and what-not, and still he will remain a crackpot. He will go on becoming worse.
                Moving from Freud to Adler, from Adler to Jung, from Jung to Assagioli, he will become more
           and more of a crackpot -- because these are all crackpots! He will become a very learned crackpot;
           he will know all the theories of Sigmund Freud, he will know all the philosophy of Adler and Jung
           and Assagioli. But a crackpot he will remain, because these people themselves are crackpots. Their
           philosophies are crazy, their theories are insane. None of them is a man who has arrived home; none
           of them is a buddha, none of them is an enlightened person.
                Blind people are trying to lead other blind people. They are going to fall in a ditch all together --
           but then it will be too late.
                Do you know that more psychoanalysts commit suicide than any other profession? The number is
           exactly double that of any other profession. Strange, that psychoanalysts should commit suicide
           twice as much as any other profession. They go mad also twice as much as any other profession. The
           world of the psychiatrist, the psychoanalyst, is a very strange world. Sometimes the patient is more
           healthy than the doctor.
                I have heard of one patient who was going through psychoanalysis for months, two sessions
           every week. The psychiatrist was getting fed up with the man because his problem was only one;
           anybody would get fed up. But because he was paying, what could you do? For money, people are
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           doing all kinds of things -- even psychiatry. Siddha is here -- he is a psychiatrist. But for money
           people can commit suicide, people can murder, people can do any crime. They can even do
           psychiatry, psychoanalysis!
               This patient was really driving the psychoanalyst crazy. But he was paying, he was never late in
           his payments; his checks were exactly on time. He would never be late even for one moment; at the
           exact time he would enter in ... and the same problem.
               The problem was very simple, nothing great. The problem was that he had this fantasy that some
           kind of strange creatures go on crawling up all over his body the whole day; even in the night he
           cannot sleep, they go on crawling up, and he goes on throwing them off. And after all this
           psychoanalysis there was not even a single creature less -- the same number, the same problem.
               He sat in the chair and started scratching. The psychoanalyst said, "Wait! Don't throw them on
           ME!"
               This profession is the strangest in the world. Sooner or later the psychoanalyst has to go to be
           psychoanalyzed by another psychoanalyst. This is the only profession where they psychoanalyze
           each other.
           A pagan is healthy and whole.
           He needs no religion, but religion comes to him.
               So please don't misunderstand me. I am saying he needs no religion, but religion happens to him.
               Without the pagan needing religion, it blossoms in him.
               Does the rose bush need the rose flowers? What need can there be? The rosebush is perfectly
           good without rose flowers; but they come. If the rosebush is healthy, well-nourished -- the soil is
           good, the watering is right and the gardener is not a psychoanalyst -- then those roses are bound to
           come. They're on the way. The rosebush just has to be perfectly healthy: out of its health, out of it
           overflowing vitality, those flowers will blossom. And the more vital the rosebush is, the more
           fragrance will be there.
               I have, my whole life, loved trees. I have lived everywhere with trees growing wild around me. I
           am a lazy man, you know, so somebody had to look after my trees. And I had to be careful about
           those people who were looking after them, because they were all prophets, messiahs, messengers of
           God: they all tried to do something to the tree, they wouldn't allow the tree to be itself. They would
           prune it, they would cut it.
               I had one gardener in Jabalpur -- a beautiful old man -- but I told him, "The moment I catch you
           cutting anything, you are fired. I love you, I respect you, but I love and respect my trees more, so be
           careful! Don't be caught."
               He said, "What kind of garden is this? And I am a gardener -- I have to cut. I cannot allow trees
           to go wild, the whole garden will be destroyed. And if I don't cut" -- he was just working on a
           rosebush. He said, "If I don't prune this rosebush then the flowers will be small. I have to go on
           cutting many buds, then there will be few flowers but really big. And I have been winning prizes my
           whole life for my flowers' bigness."
               I said, "You will have to forget about your prizes now, I am not interested in your prizes. I don't
           care whether the flower is big or small. If the tree wants to blossom in a hundred flowers, who are
           you to manage just to create one flower? I understand, your logic is simple: if all the buds are cut
           then the whole juice of the tree moves into one flower; it certainly becomes big."
               He had been winning prizes. Each year there was a state-wide competition and he was always
           winning the prizes. In fact I got hold of him just because of that, because that year he had won the
           prizes, and I saw his flowers and I could not believe .... So I told him, "You just come and be my
           gardener."
           He said, "What about my salary?"
               "Salary" I said, "you decide; gardening I will decide." Poor man -- he was getting only seventy
           rupees per month, wherever he was working. Now a poor man cannot even imagine much.
           I told him, "You decide."
               He must have stretched his whole imagination, and he came up with one hundred and forty --
           double. He could not believe that I was going to say yes.
           He said, "If it is too much then ...."
               I said, "No, it is not too much. I was wondering how far you could stretch your imagination: only
           seventy rupees more? Seventy has become a fixed idea in your mind, and asking for one hundred and
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           forty you are feeling guilty. That is decided -- if you had asked any amount I was going to give it to
           you. But now I am sorry -- you have asked one hundred and forty, you get one hundred and forty.
           But gardening you have to do according to me. No more big flowers, no more exhibitions, because
           the rosebushes are not interested in exhibition. And they don't get the prize, you get the prize."
               Perhaps Jesus gets the prize because he has cut so many buds and made so many Catholics and
           so many Christians. Perhaps Krishna gets the prize. But what about these people you are cutting in
           the name of saving them?
               I said, "This is your last year of prizes. Now -- if my garden goes wild, let it go wild; that's what
           nature wants it to be."
               But his whole life .... Whenever I was out -- I would go to the university and he would start
           doing his thing. I had to come in the middle of the day when he was not expecting me. I had to leave
           my car far away so he could not see the car coming. And then I would come and I would catch the
           old man. He would say, "Excuse me -- just an old habit! I cannot see this garden being destroyed.
           And I feel guilty that I am getting double the salary -- for what? Just letting this garden get
           destroyed?"
               I said, "It is not destroyed. You have to understand. This is the way it would have been if we
           were not here; if all men disappeared, it would be this way. Let it be the way it would be if man had
           not interfered. You can support, you can help, you can be a friend, but don't be a savior."
           A pagan is a natural human being.
           He needs no religion.
           Do you think I need religion?
           What will I do with religion?
               I don't see that it has any utility, it will be just useless junk.
               I have lived without religion my whole life, and I have never missed it, for the simple reason that
           the bud has become the flower.
           And I have this immense feeling of arriving.
           Now there is nowhere to go, nothing to achieve.
               I have become what nature, existence, life, wanted me to become. Good, bad, famous, notorious,
           it doesn't matter what; but this is what existence wanted me to be.
               I feel immensely blissful that I have not in any way interfered with nature, life, existence; I have
           not let them down.
           I am a religionless man.
           Every religious person is a religionless man.
               Only those who are religionless in the sense that they don't need religion, are fulfilled. If you
           need religion something is wrong with you.
               If you need God something is really very very wrong with you; otherwise what are you going to
           do with God? Have you ever thought that if by chance you meet God .... People have come to me
           asking how to see God, how to meet God. I said, "That I will arrange. But first tell me, what will you
           do if you by chance meet God? What is your next program? You will look silly, God will look silly;
           and once you have found God then your life will be pointless." That's why nobody ever finds God.
           Life remains a searching, a seeking.
               God is like the horizon: it seems to be just there, so close; it is meeting the earth, the sky is
           meeting the earth. You go on and on and on, but the distance between you and the horizon remains
           exactly the same. As you move, the horizon goes on moving away from you. The horizon does not
           exist, it only appears to.
               And remember, appearance is not reality. The sky and the earth meet nowhere. It is an illusion.
               God does not exist. But the hungry, starving, unfulfilled, discontented human mind wants
           something there -- close enough so that you can believe in it; and yet, however, whatever way you
           try to reach it, the distance remains the same.
               "God" is as distant from Judas as it is from Jesus, equally distant -- because it is a horizon. It
           doesn't matter if you are a Judas or a Jesus: "God" is as far away from the greatest criminal of the
           world as it is from the greatest saint of the world. It doesn't matter because it doesn't exist, it is
           simply a horizon point. That horizon point is called religion.
           You need it if you are not fulfilled here and now.
               If you are fulfilled here and now, who bothers about the horizon?
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               I have never bothered, I have never tried to reach the horizon; there is no need. And even if I
           meet the horizon what am I going to do with it? I will have to come back home again.
               Religion is the need of the sick mind -- a pagan is not sick.
               Religion is not his need, but religion is his gift to existence.
               I don't need religion, but whatever I have been giving to the world is religion.
               And only a man who does not need religion can give. If you yourself are in need, how can you
           give it? I don't need it. In fact I am so much burdened by it that I go on giving it to anybody.
               I am reminded of an ancient parable. A sage in the Himalayas refused throughout his whole life
           to initiate anybody. He became famous for that, that he is the greatest sage because he does not
           hanker for followers. Kings came to be initiated; he refused point-blank, telling them, "Just get lost!"
               He had only one boy, a poor orphan who had no place anywhere to go to; so he said, "You can
           live with me and you can do a few things for me." That was the only person who was with the old
           sage.
               One day suddenly he called the boy and said, "Go down to the plains and tell anybody you meet,
           `If you want to become a disciple, don't waste time -- go immediately. This is the last day of my
           master. By the evening, as the sun is setting he will leave the body.'"
               The boy could not believe it, because he had seen even kings being refused. He said, "Anybody?
           or do I have some guidelines about whom I have to tell? -- because you have refused great scholars,
           great saints. Whom am I to call? And so suddenly -- where am I going to get them? And by evening
           you will be gone so there is not much time. I will run, but I cannot promise you that I will bring
           persons who are qualified, because I have seen every kind of person refused by you; nobody was
           qualified."
               The old man laughed, and said, "You don't understand. You simply go. Everybody is qualified,
           you just bring anybody! And when I say `anybody' I mean anybody; anybody you meet just bring.
           Time is short -- by the evening I will be gone."
               The boy went. By the afternoon he came with thirteen people, a strange bunch. One man was
           going to commit suicide, he was just climbing up the mountain. The boy met him first. The boy said,
           "First take initiation, then you can jump. What is the hurry? And my master is willing today. This
           will be simply foolish ... I am not against your suicide -- that is your business -- but my business is
           right now to find people, anybody."
               The man said, "Will he give me initiation?"
               The boy said, "Certainly. You just follow me. And we have to find more people: evening is
           coming close."
               He said, "Okay, I can commit suicide at any time, that's not a big deal. I was going to commit
           suicide because of my wife. This is better; becoming a sannyasin, one is finished with the wife, one
           has renounced the world -- this is better than suicide. You came at the right time. But will he accept
           me? -- because I am in every way disqualified. I am a thief, I have been in and out of jail many
           times; I am a drunkard. There is nothing evil that I have not done in my life. Will he accept me?"
               The boy said, "Don't be worried, you just come with me." Shopkeepers, unemployed people who
           were standing before the employment office ... the boy said to them, "At least today don't waste your
           time -- you can stand here tomorrow. Come take the initiation. The great master is willing."
               They said, "If he gives initiation, then who cares about employment? Just to be known as his
           disciple will be enough. Even this employment exchange officer will come and touch our feet. We
           are coming!"
               It was a strange lot. The boy was worried: "I don't think that these people that I am taking ....
               He will hit me, but what can I do? Where can I find kings and great scholars in this small
           village? And there is no time for me to go to Varanasi and find real scholars, wise people. He did not
           give them the chance when they came before. He is such a strange old guy."
               Very afraid, he entered. He said, "I have brought thirteen people. I could not manage to bring
           more because somebody was too busy with his work, somebody was going in a marriage procession;
           they said, `Today it is not possible. After three days ....' Only thirteen people I have brought, and
           they are not qualified in any way. All are the rottenmost people because they were uselessly sitting
           there. They said, `Okay, let us see what this initiation is. They are not even religious.":
               The old man said, "Don't be worried -- you bring all of them."
           The boy said, "All of them?"
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               "Yes," he said, "all of them, because time is short and I have to initiate them."
               He initiated all those thirteen people. Those thirteen people were also shocked. They said, "You
           are going to leave? Then this will always remain a mystery, that your whole life you refused, refused
           such qualified people -- anybody would have been proud to have them as his disciples. And you are
           accepting us -- just third-rate, rotten people living in this village. And we have come here just
           because we had nothing to do, so we thought, `Let us see what is this initiation.' We don't know
           anything about religion, about initiation."
               The old sage said, "Don't be worried. There is no mystery in it. The times I refused were the
           times I had nothing to give. It was not a question of their qualifications, it was a question of my
           qualification. I had nothing to give them. I had not blossomed myself, and I cannot cheat people.
               "Today I have blossomed, but unfortunately I am the kind of flower which blossoms in the
           morning and by the evening the petals fall and disappear. Now I have something to give. It doesn't
           matter who you are -- qualified, unqualified does not matter at all. Does a flower ask you, `Are you
           qualified to receive my fragrance?' So why should I ask that? You just take it, I am burdened; before
           I leave this world I want to share something. I want to go with the contentment that I am not a poor
           man, that I am dying an emperor, not a beggar."
               Religion is given by those people who have no need of religion.
           Only a pagan can become a buddha.
               And only a pagan becoming a buddha releases the fragrance called religion.
           But it is not his need.
           His need is to share it.
           His need is to shower it on all -- known, unknown, familiar, stranger, it doesn't matter.
           His need is that of a raincloud; just to shower.




                             From Death to Deathlessness
                                       Answers to the Seekers on the Path
                                   Talks given from 02/08/85 am to 14/09/85 am
                                             English Discourse series
                                                   40 Chapters
                                               Year published: 1985
           Originally published as "The Rajneesh Bible Volume 7". Title changed 1991.




                                      From Death to Deathlessness
                                                  Chapter #1
                               Chapter title: The man of compassion has to lie
           2 August 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8508020
              ShortTitle: DLESS01
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 91 mins
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-



              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU SAID THAT YOU LIE OUT OF COMPASSION, AND WE, YOUR SANNYASINS, CAN
              UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. BUT CAN THE OUTSIDE WORLD EVER
              UNDERSTAND? WON'T IT CREATE MORE MISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT YOU, ABOUT
              RAJNEESHISM, ABOUT YOUR SANNYASINS? PLEASE COMMENT.


                Compassion knows no conditions. It can do anything, it knows no right and no wrong.
           Compassion can lie to help you. In fact, in your sleep you can only understand lies, you cannot
           understand the truth.
                Many things are involved. First, the experience of enlightenment, awakening, illumination,
           happens when there is no mind present. Enlightenment is a no-mind experience. Words are not there,
           language is not there. In fact, you are not there either. It is such a silence, so profound and infinite, it
           cannot be expressed without lying.
                The moment the truth is said, it is no longer true. Just the process of saying it makes it a lie. To
           bring the wordless experience into words is to change the very quality of the experience.
                So in fact, anything that is great -- if it has been experienced at any time, by any individual -- out
           of sheer necessity that person has to use lies to speak of it. But the lie of the awakened one is far
           more true than the truth of the sleeping one.
                I am reminded of a small anecdote.... A man went to a nearby big city. His children had asked,
           "Bring us this, bring us that," and he had promised that he would. But by the time he had returned
           home, his house was on fire. There was a great crowd around, and they were all concerned about the
           children who were inside.
                The crowd told him, "We have been shouting, `The house is on fire, and there is still time -- you
           can get out.' But they are enjoying the whole scene, they are not aware of the danger. Now you are
           here, somehow bring them out."
                He had forgotten to bring the toys, the trains, the cars and the dolls that the children had asked
           him to bring. He went to the only door which was not yet burning, but it was locked from inside. He
           knocked on the door. He tried to tell them, to explain that the house is on fire. They said, "We are
           enjoying it so much. It is so beautiful!"
                The man was shocked. He said, "Forget about what you are enjoying. I have brought your cars,
           your trains, your dolls" -- and he had not brought anything. The moment they heard about their toys,
           they opened the door and ran out. Then he could explain to them why he had to lie. "Forgive me, I
           could not manage time enough to find your things; next time I will bring them. But forgive me for
           saying a lie to you -- because that was the only way to save you; you would not come out."
                Do you think this lie is a sin? And this is about an ordinary man and his children. What about me
           and my children? It does not matter to me whether I lie or not, because it makes no difference to my
           consciousness anymore, it is just a game. But to you, it matters immensely.
                I can go on telling the truth -- nobody among you is going to understand, and nobody among you
           is going to be benefited by it. It will pass over your heads. Hence I said the man of compassion has
           to lie. The lie is only a device to wake you up. Once you are awakened I can say to you, "I am sorry
           that I had to say so many lies to you." And I am absolutely certain you are going to forgive me.
                As far as the outside world is concerned -- for me you are my world, there is no outside world --
           they should take care of themselves. I am existing for you, not for them. If they get disturbed or
           confused, so far so good. Perhaps out of their disturbance and confusion they may start becoming
           curious about what is going on. Many of you have come here out of such curiosity, and then you got
           caught, and you have not been able to leave.
                So I never take the outside world into consideration. Let them sleep. But if they get disturbed, if
           they get hostile, it is good; then a certain relationship between me and them begins. Enmity is a
           relationship just as friendship is. In fact, enmity is far deeper and stronger than any friendship.
                I am doing it absolutely knowingly. I want to shock the outside world. Perhaps that is the only
           hope for them, perhaps the shock will create an opening for them. They may come here hostile, as
           enemies, but about that there is no problem. We have this buddhafield of love, singing, dancing,
           rejoicing. All their hostility and opposition will be simply gone. The moment they see you and me,
           they are finished.
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
               Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               So don't take it seriously. You are afraid that I am creating difficulty for you sannyasins. Of
           course, I am continuously creating difficulties. What else can I do? You go on falling asleep again
           and again! I have to create difficulties because only in difficulties can you remain awake. Once you
           learn the beauty, the ecstasy of being awake, then certainly there will be no need to give you shocks
           unnecessarily.
               So, don't be worried about that. If you go into the outside world, people will be hostile to you,
           but you have to be compassionate to them. Let hostility and compassion stand facing each other. It is
           one of the fundamental laws of life that compassion cannot be defeated by hostility. Compassion
           simply changes the hostile person. So don't be worried that you will be facing hostility. Be
           concerned about compassion, love. Just start looking into people's eyes with grace. That will disturb
           them more -- and I want to disturb them!
               There was a man in Gautam Buddha's time whose name was Angulimal. He had taken a vow to
           cut off one thousand heads, and to take one finger from each dead person and make a garland of one
           thousand fingers. Angulimal means the man with the garland of one thousand fingers.
               He was a ferocious man. People stopped going close to him. The road that passed by the hill
           where he was staying was no longer being used. He had already cut off nine hundred and ninety-nine
           heads; he was waiting for only one more. The road that passed by his hill was utterly empty, nobody
           was coming. And then Buddha came to pass. That road was the shortcut, but people were going the
           long way around, just to avoid Angulimal. Naturally, Buddha took the shortcut.
               His disciples said, "Bhagwan, you don't know what you are doing! Haven't you heard about that
           madman, Angulimal? It is better to go the long, roundabout way, rather than to take the shortcut."
               But people like Gautam Buddha never turn back. He said, "I cannot turn back, now even more
           than before. If I had not known about Angulimal, perhaps I might have taken the other road. That
           poor fellow is waiting for only one head! My work is done; I have known all that can be known, I
           have experienced all that can be experienced. Now there is no reason for me.... If I can be of some
           service to that poor man, it will be good."
               He went. Angulimal saw him. Buddha's disciples, who were always clambering around him, by
           and by started creating a distance between him and themselves. If he was caught, at least they could
           escape. Angulimal saw Gautam Buddha coming. Even that dangerous man, who had murdered nine
           hundred and ninety-nine people already, felt for the first time that he also had a heart. Gautam
           Buddha was looking so innocent, so childlike and so beautiful in the early morning sun.
               Angulimal shouted, "You please turn back, because only one head is missing! Perhaps you are a
           stranger... but looking at you, something in me says `Let this man go -- there are many idiots, I can
           cut off their heads.' Even if my mother comes here, I will cut off her head! But you please go back.
           Don't come close to me -- I am dangerous! Do you see my sword? It is waiting for the last head."
               Gautam Buddha continued. He stepped off the road and started moving into the mountains,
           closer to Angulimal.
               Angulimal said, "It seems you are more mad than me. Why are you going on and on and on?"
               Buddha said, "Angulimal, I stopped going anywhere a long time ago. I am not going anywhere, it
           is you who are." Angulimal was standing there -- Buddha was walking!
               Angulimal said, "Certainly you are mad. You are walking, moving, and you say you have
           stopped a long time ago. I am standing, and you say, `You are moving.'"
               Buddha said, "Just try to understand. Your mind is moving, thinking. My mind is silent, there is
           no movement. And you will not get a better head. It is really a joy to fulfill your vow. Prepare your
           sword."
               Angulimal could not understand what kind of man he was. He was in a great shock; he had never
           come across such a man! He was ashamed of himself for the first time in his life. He could not look
           at Buddha eye to eye, because those eyes were radiating compassion, love, grace, joy, blissfulness,
           ecstasy -- things that he had never known, but the fragrance was reaching him.
               He said again to Buddha, "You please go, sir. I don't want to kill you. You are unnecessarily
           insisting that I do something that I don't want to do." But Buddha went on coming closer and closer.
           And finally he was standing before Angulimal.
               Angulimal said, "I used to think I was a stubborn man -- you are a thousandfold more stubborn.
           Now I cannot help you, I have to cut your head."
               Buddha said, "It is an old tradition and convention to fulfill the last wish of a person who is
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           going to die, and I have a very small wish. You fulfill it and then kill me."
               He said, "What is your wish? Even if it is the biggest thing, I will manage it for you."
               Buddha said, "No, it is a very small thing. Just cut off a branch of the tree under which you are
           standing."
               Angulimal said, "What kind of thing are you asking? But okay, if that is your wish." With his
           sword he cut off a branch.
               Buddha said, "Now, put it back. Let it be part of the tree again. Let it blossom again."
               Angulimal said, "That is impossible. How can I join it with the tree?"
               Buddha said, "If you cannot even join a small branch to the tree, do you see the implications of
           it? Any child could have broken that branch off the tree, and you are a strong man -- you have not
           done a great job. You can cut off my head, but can you manage to give me life again? And if you
           cannot create, what right have you to destroy?"
               There was a moment of silence. The sword fell from Angulimal's hands. He threw away that
           garland of nine hundred and ninety-nine fingers, and fell at Buddha's feet. He said, "I never thought
           about it, that destroying something -- any mediocre person, any coward, any idiot can do that. The
           real genius is creative -- you are right. Please accept me as your disciple."
           Buddha initiated him.
               He came back to the town. Even the king, Prasenjita, when he heard that Angulimal had become
           a sannyasin of Gautam Buddha.... He was a lover of Gautam Buddha, but he was afraid to go there
           because that man Angulimal could not be trusted, he could do anything any moment. But he wanted
           to see the man; he was so famous all around -- hearing his name, even kings used to tremble.
               He came, he touched Buddha's feet and asked, "I have heard that Angulimal has also become
           your initiate."
           Buddha said, "Yes, he is sitting by my side."
               Prasenjita became so afraid, he pulled out his sword. Buddha said, "Now it is not needed, put it
           back in the sheath. The Angulimal that you used to know is dead; this is a totally new man who
           cannot harm anybody. Don't be afraid."
               And that very day when Angulimal went to beg in the city, the same cowards who had stopped
           even going on the road that passed nearby Angulimal's place locked their doors, stood on their
           terraces with large piles of rocks, and started throwing rocks at the poor man.
               He fell down; blood was flowing from all over his body. Buddha was informed, and he came.
           Just a few more minutes and Angulimal would be gone. Buddha said to him, "Remember one thing,
           that this act of yours -- that you have not in any way reacted to the hostility of the people -- is
           enough. You are dying as a truly awakened man." Smiling, touching Buddha's feet, Angulimal died.
               Don't be afraid of people's hostility. Just be aware of your compassion, your love, and nothing is
           going to be wrong.
               As far as I am concerned, out of necessity I will have to create devices. I will have to tell you
           things which can wake you up. They may not be true, because the truth, in the first place, is
           inexpressible. In the second place, even if somehow one manages to express it, it never reaches the
           sleeping person.
               The sleeping person is living in lies, that is the language he understands. And if I have to make
           you understand me, I am going to do everything possible -- telling lies included -- because the goal
           of lying is not to lie, it is just to wake you up.

              BELOVED OSHO,
              COULD YOU SPEAK OF THE CREATIVE FEMALE? I AM A WOMAN, AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT
              BURNS STRONGLY IN ME. RECENTLY, YOU MENTIONED THAT THERE SHOULD BE MUCH
              ART AND MUSIC, BUT IT WAS IN REFERENCE TO MEN. I KNOW WOMEN CAN OFFER A
              VISION, AN INSIGHT, A SOFTNESS TO THE WORLD OF ART THAT HAS NEVER BEFORE BEEN
              SEEN. I FEEL IT HAS A DIFFERENT BASE TO START FROM. PERHAPS IT IS BECAUSE ART
              CAN BE BORN OUT OF LOVE AND NO LONGER NEEDS TO BE CONQUERED.


               The first thing to be understood is that I am not speaking only of men. Whenever I am speaking,
           I am speaking to you all. In fact, there are more women here than men.
               Drop that idea from your mind that I make any distinction between man and woman. You seem
           to be part of that stupid movement called women's liberation. Here there is no need for any women's
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           liberation. Here the situation is totally opposite -- the men are afraid of the women. They are writing
           letters to me, "How can we be liberated?"
               In my commune there is no need to make any distinction. And this is the same stupidity -- man
           used to think for centuries that he is higher, he is better, he has more intelligence. Now the woman
           starts the same idiotic game. I won't allow it.
               Creativity is not concerned whether you are man or woman. If you feel to be creative, do it. But
           don't think that you are going to give creativity something higher, something that man has failed to
           do.
               Why always go on putting dividing lines between man and woman? The truth is that every man
           carries a woman within him, and every woman carries a man within her. And it is bound to be so,
           because whether you are man or woman, you are created by one man, one woman. They have
           contributed to you half and half. Your father and your mother both are alive in you. It is only a
           question of which side of the coin is facing up and which side is underneath.
               That's why it is so easy for Leeladhar to change a man into a woman, or a woman into a man,
           because the basic reality is similar -- just a little bit of difference which makes no difference. Even a
           plastic surgeon can do it, you don't need a spiritual surgeon for it.
               Certainly, it will be a better art if both men and women are creating from their different angles.
           But the way you say it, you don't understand creativity at all. You say creativity can be out of love;
           painting, sculpture and dancing need not be conquered. But the possibility is ninety-nine percent that
           love is so fulfilling you will not bother to paint. You will not bother to waste your time in making a
           statue.
               Love is so fulfilling that who cares about writing poetry? Poetry is written by people who have
           missed the train. Now they are somehow consoling themselves by writing poetry about love -- love
           they do not know.
               It is very difficult to be creative out of love. Yes, a different kind of creativity will be there. If
           you love a man, perhaps your kitchen will become the field of your creativity. You would like your
           man to have the best food. You would like the man to have the best clothes. Just look at my clothes!
           This is creativity out of love.
               Rarely is it possible for a woman who loves, to be bothered about painting, poetry, dancing, et
           cetera. It is really man's inferiority complex -- that he cannot love so deeply, that he cannot give birth
           to a child -- that makes him have to find some substitutes to compete with the woman. He creates
           painting, he creates sculpture, he creates architecture, he creates the landscape for a garden. He
           wants to feel that he can also create.
               It is basically coming out of his inferiority. He can see the woman and her immense power of
           creating life. He creates a dead statue -- howsoever beautiful it is, it is dead.
               Whoever has asked the question seems to be against men, and any woman who is against men is
           herself becoming something unnatural. Being against men, she is becoming a man herself.
           Psychologically she is now feeling inferior because the man can paint and create music and dance.
           Naturally, she will have to stop giving birth to children so her own creativity can be directed towards
           these things: painting, poetry, music.
               But I would like you to know you that will be a loser. You are competing with man, and you
           need not compete; you are already superior. You need not write poetry, you are poetry. Your love is
           your music. Your heart throbbing with your lover is your dance!
               But if you want to create poetry, music and dance, you will have to deprive yourself of love. You
           will have to be in the same space where man is: feeling inferior and then finding substitutes for
           creativity. That is ugly. I cannot give my support to it. The woman is the superior sex; she need not
           prove it.
               Why does man have to conquer? -- because he is in a difficulty. Be compassionate to man, he is
           in a great difficulty. He has to reach the peak of the Everest, he has to go to the moon -- all stupid
           things, because what are you going to do on Everest? You will not find even a Coca-Cola there. And
           what are you going to do on the moon? Life is almost impossible on the moon, because there is not
           enough oxygen, and water is not available at all.
               The one person who has walked on the moon was walking with all kinds of gadgets, carrying
           many things, oxygen and other emergency things. And he was covered completely so he would not
           get any infection that might exist on the moon. Now do you want to live like that, covered with a
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           plastic bag, carrying oxygen and other things? What kind of life will that be? And for how long? It is
           okay for half an hour to have a walk on it and come back home. The man on the moon must have
           looked silly. It is a dead planet, you cannot live on it.
               It is a strange world the politicians have created. They want to destroy a living earth, a living
           planet which has everything life needs. And they want to go to the moon, a dead planet which can
           provide nothing to support you -- not a single tree, not a single bird, no animals, no rivers, no oceans.
           The politicians seem to be really nuts! How much money has been wasted to reach the moon! The
           same money could have saved Ethiopia.
               Man is continuously trying to prove himself superior.
               One of my friends, who was also a colleague of mine in the university, told me, "I am in a
           difficulty and I cannot talk about it to anybody. You are the only one I know who may perhaps
           understand my situation, and may be of some help."
           I said, "What is the problem?"
               He said, "The problem is I am in love with a woman who is taller than me. Now, should I marry
           her even though she is taller?" No man wants to marry a woman who is taller -- just out of an
           inferiority complex; otherwise what is the problem?
               I said, "There is no problem. You can always carry a small stool with you, so whenever you want
           to kiss your woman, stand on the stool. If women can manage with taller men, then why can't a man
           manage with a taller woman? Just watch women, how they are managing with taller men, and do the
           same. Perhaps you will have to use shoes with high heels -- so use them! People in love say, `I could
           die for you' -- but you cannot use shoes with high heels so that you can reach your woman?"
               He said, "I came to find some solution, and you are making a joke of me."
           I said, "No, I am not making a joke."
               It is really because of the inferiority complex in man that he has to marry a woman who is not
           taller than him, that he has to marry a woman who is at least three or four years younger than him.
           And that is absolutely unscientific.
               If you listen to science, everybody should marry a woman who is at least five years older than
           him because women live longer than men -- five years longer than men. Why should you marry a
           woman five years younger than you? Then you are creating a ten-year distance. You will be dead
           and your widow will be suffering alone for ten years. The most scientific way will be to marry a
           woman who is five years older than you, so you can both live together and die together! But man's
           inferiority is such....
               The woman who has asked the question should remember she is already superior. There is no
           need to prove it, that's why there is no need to conquer anything. But if she feels that she has no
           desire for children, and she wants to paint and she wants to compose music, it is perfectly good.
               In fact, many women should do that, because the earth is so overpopulated. You will be a great
           help if you divert your creativity from children to paintings, because paintings don't need food.
           Dancing is perfectly good. Dance as much as you want, it creates no Ethiopia. Write poetry. Because
           of your poetry, perhaps a few people will have to suffer listening to it, getting bored with it, but that
           is not much of a problem. They can manage to avoid you.
               But if there is no desire to give birth to children, it is absolutely right. Certainly you will have to
           create something else. Do it, but don't think that your creativity will be higher than that of man. It
           cannot be, for the simple reason that you are the superior sex, you don't have that inferiority in you
           which is the incentive for man to put all his life into his painting.
               He is competing with your baby! And even if he is a Picasso, he dies in despair. His whole life he
           tried to paint something, but no painting can be alive, no poetry can be alive. So remember that a
           woman can create, but most probably her creativity will be just third-rate.
               But it is good for the world. We don't want any more population, we want to cut the population
           to one-fourth of what it is today. So you will be helping a great project. You will be a blessing not
           giving birth to a child.
               But drop the idea that you will be creating something superior out of love. If you really want to
           create something, don't think of love either, because love is so satisfying, so fulfilling. It is such a
           miracle, who wants to write poetry?
               I have never come across a single lover, man or woman, who has created poetry, who has created
           paintings, who has created sculptures, for the simple reason that they are so contented. All these
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           creative things need a discontent, a wound which you have to cover up.
               I am perfectly happy with your idea. Just do whatever creative endeavor you want to; but
           remember, you don't have the inferiority complex of man, so you cannot compete with man in any
           way. You are already in a better position. Man is poor; just have compassion on the poor guy.

              BELOVED OSHO,
              IT IS MY EXPERIENCE THAT OUTSIDE OUR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNES MANKIND HAS
              BASED LIFE ON A SYSTEM OF PENALTY AND REWARD. ARE OUR COMMUNES THE ONLY
              PLACES WHERE THERE IS COMPLETE ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY, AND MISTAKES
              ARE RECOGNIZED AS OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN? PLEASE COMMENT.


                Yes. Our communes are the only places in the whole world where you are accepted totally, you
           are not judged, you are not labeled as a sinner or as a saint, and you are not condemned for your
           small mistakes. You are accepted in your totality. Those mistakes come with you.
                Yes, we would like you to learn from your mistakes, but condemnation is not the way. Every
           mistake is an opportunity to learn something; but the moment people start condemning you, they
           destroy your opportunity and they make you stubborn. They force you to commit the same mistake
           again and again just as a resistance. Your ego is hurt.
                It is true that outside my communes the society is run by punishment or by reward. Reduced to
           the roots, the whole society outside is based on fear and greed. Fear as an ultimate consequence
           creates the idea of hell; greed, on the other hand, as a logical conclusion creates the idea of heaven.
                The moment there is no fear in you and no greed, you will be surprised: hell and heaven have
           disappeared. They were just projections of your psychology; they disappear the moment you accept
           yourself -- and you can accept yourself only if people around you accept you, if they do not create
           some guilt in you, do not make you feel unworthy.
                In a commune it is so easy to accept yourself, because everybody else is accepting you.
           Acceptance is the very climate of the commune. And there are great implications in it. If a man
           accepts himself without any guilt, God will disappear. God is your guilt projected. It was God who
           condemned Adam and Eve in the first place. It was God who drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden
           of Eden as a punishment, because they had disobeyed. This God seems to be more like Adolf Hitler
           -- no compassion even for his own creation.
                And if Adam and Eve disobeyed, the whole responsibility goes to God, because why did he
           create disobedience in Adam and Eve in the first place?
                God begins condemnation, expulsion, punishment -- and what a punishment! We do not know
           when Adam and Eve existed -- at least one million years ago, perhaps two million, three million
           years, or perhaps never. Most probably never. But we are still sinners because four million years ago
           Adam and Eve disobeyed God.
                Do you think it is fair? Even the most fanatic Christian cannot say that it is fair. It is absolutely
           unfair. We have not done anything. This is strange, that four million years ago somebody did
           something, and you are jailed for it, imprisoned, sentenced to death. You don't even know whether
           these people existed at all. In fact, it is only a story, and the story has been created in almost all the
           religions, with small differences in the details.
                The story has a function -- to make you feel guilty from your very birth. You are born in sin -- it
           has nothing to do with your actions. Do you see the unfairness of the idea? You have not done
           anything, you are just born; but you are born into sin because four million years ago Adam and Eve
           disobeyed God. He punished them, so the story should be closed. They disobeyed, he punished them
           -- the chapter is closed. But no, it goes on and on.
                From the very beginning they start creating guilt in you. For that very purpose the story has been
           invented. But what purpose does it serve to the outside world? It serves great things. If they can
           manage to convince you that you are guilty, they have destroyed your individuality from the very
           beginning. If they go on punishing you for your mistakes, which are human....
                You arrive here unprepared for anything; you have not had any rehearsal before your birth. It is
           natural that when you enter into a new world, with no guidelines given to you by nature, you will
           commit a few mistakes. Nothing is wrong in committing mistakes, just don't commit them again and
           again.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               Whenever you commit a mistake, it is an opportunity to learn that this door leads to darkness.
           Knock on some other door. It is through mistakes that a man grows, learns, becomes mature.
               In my commune there is no punishment because I accept your mistakes as human, natural. To
           punish you for something natural and human is to destroy you, your humanity and your natural
           spontaneity.
               Nobody is rewarded, because punishment and reward are together. The reward says, "You have
           done right. Now go on doing right until you get the Nobel Prize." It is a bribe. It is an effort to mold
           your life according to the vested interests. The society needs slaves, it does not need independent
           rebels.
               And my commune consists only of independent individuals, rebels. They have gathered together
           -- not that they believe in a certain catechism, not that they believe in a certain dogma.
               I don't give you any dogma, any doctrine. You have gathered here because you have found a
           certain synchronicity with other sannyasins. You are all rebels. Your rebellion joins you together.
           Your rebellious spirit is the only hope for the world. Spread it!
               If we can make the world know the beauty of the rebellious spirit, then there can be no third
           world war. Then politicians have to hang themselves; nobody is going to bother about them, they are
           no longer needed.
               Strange... small things have great implications. Punishment and reward is a political strategy. It is
           a religious exploitation. It is creating slaves on a mass scale -- and for centuries they have been
           doing that. They are still doing it, and because we are no longer part of their ugly game, they are
           hostile towards us. That is natural. They could destroy a single rebellious man very easily, but they
           cannot destroy communes of rebellious spirits.
               You have the power to take over the whole world spiritually. Politically, I am not interested. But
           if your rebellion spreads... it has to spread like a wildfire. Your red clothes are symbolic of the fire
           that you have to go on spreading all around.
               And in returning humanity to the slave and giving him back his dignity, his individuality, his
           freedom of thinking and expression, we are saving this living, beautiful planet from the clutches of
           the politicians.
               The politicians and the priests are the greatest criminals in the whole history of man.

              BELOVED OSHO,
              ALL MY DREAMS FEEL FULFILLED. MY MASTER IS DANCING. MY HEART HAS WINGS. HOW
              CAN THERE BE ANYTHING MORE AFTER THIS? OSHO, THANK YOU.


              There is much more. There is no end to it! Soon your master will be drinking wine with you.
           Soon your master will be dancing in the disco. You have got a very unreliable man here. I can do
           anything -- and I am going to!




                                       From Death to Deathlessness
                                                 Chapter #2
                            Chapter title: Abandon hope all those who enter here
           3 August 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8508030
              ShortTitle: DLESS02
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 135 mins
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU HAVE OFTEN USED THE WORD "EXISTENTIALISM," AND YOU HAVE REFERRED TO
              YOURSELF AS AN EXISTENTIALIST. PLEASE DEFINE THESE WORDS.


               There has been a contemporary school of philosophy in Europe called existentialism. I have
           nothing to do with it. That is only a philosophy, a mind game. These people were talking about
           existence, but they knew nothing of what it means to be existential. I also use the word
           "existentialist" for myself, but the difference between Jean-Paul Sartre, Jaspers, Marcel, and me is
           vast, unbridgeable.
               When I say I am an existentialist, I am not saying that I believe in the philosophy of
           existentialism.
               Existence needs no philosophy. Birds don't need philosophy, flowers don't need philosophy,
           rivers and oceans don't need philosophy -- but they are all existential; they exist, and they exist with
           totality and intensity.
               I am not a philosopher. To be a philosopher is just to be a "foolosopher." It is a sheer waste of
           time. Down the centuries philosophers have been struggling intellectually to find the truth. Not a
           single one of them has found it, for the simple reason that intellect and its way goes round and round,
           about and about, but it never penetrates to the center.
               To love, you do not have to be a philosopher of love. Love needs no philosophy; love is an
           existential experience.
               I call myself an existentialist. I call you existentialists. But it has nothing to do with those dodos
           in France. It is not a philosophy but a way of life -- not according to any dogma, cult, doctrine,
           discipline, no! -- just living without any idea of how to live. The moment the "how" enters, it opens
           the door for all the philosophies to come in, all the theologies to come in.
               I want you to live like the trees, like the birds, like the clouds. Without man, do you think
           existence will disappear? Without man, after the third world war, do you think the sun will not rise?
           And the nights will not rejoice in millions of stars?
               My insistence is: live spontaneously without any discipline. Live in freedom and live in totality,
           because one never knows the next moment. I may not be here, you may not be here. The next
           moment is meaningless. As far as existence is concerned, it knows only one tense, and that is the
           present tense. The past is no more, the future is not yet.
               Only idiots bother about the past; they are gravediggers. And only idiots are concerned about the
           future, for the simple reason that they have lost contact with existence now. They are hoping perhaps
           tomorrow the miracle will happen, perhaps tomorrow the messiah, Jesus Christ, will come down and
           give you salvation, liberation, paradise.
               I want you to know: that guy, Jesus Christ, is never going to come, for the simple reason that the
           way you behaved with him.... If he has any intelligence he is not coming back to this earth. And I
           know that you will do the same or even worse to him if he comes again. I think he is not that
           retarded. And just think: what salvation did he bring when he was here? He could not save himself,
           and he was proposing to save the whole humanity.
               But people who have missed life start hanging onto some hope. They know perfectly well they
           themselves are not capable, so they start projecting messiahs, prophets, incarnations of God. This is
           just to console themselves: "Let the tomorrow come; somebody is going to arrive. God is merciful,
           compassionate..." Seeing your misery he is bound to send a messenger or his only begotten son or a
           prophet. This gives you a certain kind of opium so you can tolerate the suffering through which you
           are passing.
               One thing: there is no God. It is your hope -- and what a hope! An absolutely hopeless hope. And
           God is not merciful; otherwise through what more misery does he want to show his mercy?
               In the first world war people were waiting for the merciful God to do something. He never did
           anything. In the second world war when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were suffering the worst that
           humanity has ever suffered, the merciful God did nothing. He is just a lousy fellow -- and not even
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           real. It is your projection. You would like a god, a father figure who takes care of you. You would
           like prophets who have a direct communication line with God.
               Do you know that the Mormons believe their leader has a private phone line direct to God, so
           whatever he says is God's word. There is no way to argue about it; you cannot argue with God.
               Rather than hoping.... Have you not seen entering Rajneeshpuram? -- the Christians have put up
           a beautiful sign: "Abandon hope all those who enter here." Those fools don't know that they are
           preaching my thing.
               Yes, abandon hope all those who enter here, because we don't live through hope. We live in the
           present, and hope is always in the future. Abandon all future, and start living moment to moment
           rejoicing in the small things of life.
               Remember, life is not made of great things; it is made of very small things. In the early morning,
           sipping a cup of tea, do it totally, as if this is the last cup of tea you will ever sip again. Take each
           moment and squeeze the whole juice of it.
               I call this my existentialist approach. It has nothing to do with God, it has nothing to do with
           heaven and hell. It has nothing to do with religion and all kinds of stupid subtleties that theology has
           created.
               My approach has nothing to do with philosophy. It has something to do with you. And it has
           something to do with now, because to me there is only one time, that is now; and only one space,
           that is here. Once you have learned the art, the knack of being herenow, you will be so fulfilled, so
           contented -- you will not need any opium for yourself.
               On the one hand, you will not need the opium which the religions of the world have been
           providing for people to keep them dreaming for centuries. On the other hand, you will not find what
           the so-called existentialists in Europe have found: meaninglessness, anguish, anxiety, despair.
               Those people were finding meaninglessness because all other philosophers and theologians had
           proposed that life is very meaningful. But their meaning was derived from God, heaven, hell, the
           holy Bible, and all kinds of garbage. Jean-Paul Sartre, Jaspers and people like him were searching
           for the meaning. There is no need to search for the meaning. Life is neither meaningless nor
           meaningful. Meaning is a mind thing. Life is a taste!
               Do you ever think what meaning taste has? Eating spaghetti, do you ask what meaning the taste
           has? Having a beautiful shower, the freshness of it, have you ever asked what the meaning of
           freshness is? Looking at the sunset with so many colors spread all over the horizon, have you asked
           what meaning the sunset has?
               Ask the wrong question and you will find the wrong answer. The existentialists of Europe
           accepted the questions of religions, which were wrong. Naturally, they found wrong answers. They
           are not existentialists, I am -- because I don't see any question about meaning. Life is such a
           beautiful experience, who bothers whether that beautiful experience has any meaning or not? Love is
           such an ecstasy, who bothers whether love has any meaning or not?
               To be silent and meditative is so ecstatic, you will forget all about your search for meaning, truth,
           God. And once you have dropped the wrong questions, the wrong answers disappear of their own
           accord. Then between you and existence there is no question, there is no answer, but there is a
           communion. Your heart slowly slowly starts beating in the same rhythm as the whole existence. You
           start feeling yourself part of this immense organic whole. You enjoy tremendously. How can there
           be anguish?
               Those existentialists were feeling anxiety, anguish, despair, because death is there, and death will
           destroy everything. Life has no meaning, and facing them, there is just death closing in on them. The
           darkness of death makes them feel lost. They start trembling deep inside their being. Their life has
           been empty, and now comes death. What kind of existence is this? -- just despair.
               It seems to be created not by God but by the devil. Perhaps the devil enjoys torturing people. He
           enjoys wars, he enjoys Ethiopias, he enjoys poverty, he enjoys all kinds of crimes. Courts go on
           increasing, and crimes are always far ahead of them. Governments go on becoming more and more
           dictatorial, anti-individual, because they think if the individual is left free, there will be havoc.
               With all the armies and police forces and government agencies, still rape goes on happening,
           murder goes on happening, suicide goes on happening -- and always on a larger scale! Looking at
           the world, the existentialists of Europe found nothing but despair.
               But I am puzzled about one thing: why didn't they commit suicide? They talked about suicide,
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           that suicide seems to be the only exit out of this mess, this madness, but none of them committed
           suicide. Somewhere deep down, they were still hoping that perhaps they were wrong. Perhaps the
           messiah is going to come, the misery has reached to its Everest peak, just a little more -- a little more
           patience, a little more waiting, and God is going to save them. All this misery perhaps is only a test
           of your faith.
                That's what religions have been telling you down the centuries -- that misery, suffering, poverty,
           is just a test of your faith. God is watching you round the clock. Perhaps, deep in the unconscious of
           the existentialists the same conditioning still prevails. So on the conscious level they go on saying
           that this is worthless, this life is accidental, that it has no meaning, that all that it gives is anguish,
           despair, death, and the only way out is suicide. But none of them committed suicide, they all lived
           long lives. It is just a game with words.
                I want you to remember that I am the only existentialist ever!
                I have tasted from the cup of existence. There is no meaning. There is no meaninglessness either.
           There is no hope. There is no hopelessness either.
                These things are absolutely irrelevant. If you enter into existence... And the miracle is you cannot
           enter existence through the mind. Mind consists only of past and future -- both are non-existential.
                If you want to enter existence, you will have to shut up your mind completely. And in that small
           gap -- when there are no past memories surrounding your consciousness, and no future imaginations
           or hopes present -- in that small moment of pure silence you meet existence for the first time. And
           immediately all questions disappear. You are so abundantly fulfilled, so content, so whole, that who
           bothers about meanings?
                Have you watched a simple thing? When you are sick, then you ask, "Why am I sick? What is
           the cause of it?" You go to the doctor to find out the cause so that some medicine can be given to
           you. But when you are healthy, have you ever asked, "Why am I healthy?" Have you become
           worried that "I am healthy"? Have you gone to the doctor to say, "Please tell me the cause of my
           health?" No, when you are healthy and feeling a great well-being, you don't ask such questions.
           Health is natural; disease is a disturbance.
                To be in tune with existence is the most healthy experience. There is nothing more than that, but
           it is so much you cannot exhaust it.
                My existentialism simply means meditativeness. And Jean-Paul Sartre, Jaspers, Marcel,
           Kierkegaard, Heidegger -- their existentialism is simply mumbo jumbo. They don't know what it is
           to be meditative.
                The existentialism in Europe is an outcome of Christianity, Judaism. If you search for its roots,
           from where it has come with so much despair, you will find Christian and Judaic traditions behind it;
           it is a by-product. Because for centuries the Jewish religion... and the Christian religion is just a
           by-product of Judaism, because Jesus was born as a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a Jew. He never
           heard that he was a Christian.
                Christianity is only an offshoot of Judaism. Their basic theology is not different. They differ only
           on one point, that Jews will not accept Jesus as their prophet, as their messiah. Just that single point;
           otherwise there is no problem. You can see it: the Christian Bible consists of both -- the Old
           Testament which is Jewish, and the New Testament, which contains the gospels of Jesus. But the
           Christian has not denied the Old Testament, it is still his holy book.
                Look at the bible of the Jews; it has only the Old Testament, the New Testament is not there --
           cannot be there. They crucified the man as a criminal. They crucified Jesus as one who was against
           the whole tradition, convention; he was a heretic.
                These two religions are not really two, and both these religions are the roots; existentialism is
           their ultimate fruit. For centuries they have been giving hope -- there is bound to come a time when
           some intelligent person is going to ask, "How long do we have to wait for Godot?"
                I used to think that Godot must be the German word for God. I asked Haridas, my German
           sannyasin, "Does Godot mean God?"
           He said, "No!"
                I asked, "Then what is equivalent to God in German?"
           He said, "Gott!"
                I said, "That is even worse that Godot! Godot sounds nearer than Gott!"
                But people have been waiting and waiting for centuries; neither the messiah comes, nor does
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           human misery disappear. On the contrary, it goes on increasing. We have made the world more
           educated, more cultured, without seeing the fact that if people are more intelligent they are going to
           ask questions which uneducated masses have never asked before. They are going to ask, "How long
           will it take for the fulfillment of our hopes?" And there is no answer.
                They were asking the same question of Jesus two thousand years ago, and he said, "Don't be
           worried. Soon I will be coming." Now, two thousand years... isn't the "soon" finished?
                If the "soon" takes two thousand years, then any intelligent person will have doubts. And what is
           the guarantee that he is coming in the future? Two thousand years can pass, ten thousand years can
           pass. His "soon" seems to be very elastic, you can do anything with it. You can go on stretching it
           out for thousands of years and man's suffering goes on becoming more and more.
                Man has never suffered so much as he is suffering now, for the simple reason that man has never
           been so intelligent before. Buffalos don't suffer. Have you seen a buffalo sad, bored? Have you seen
           a donkey in very great despair?
                Religions have tried hard to make sure that people should not become intelligent. Intelligence
           was their monopoly: the priest knows, and you should just have faith. The masses went on believing
           this up to this twentieth century, and it is not a coincidence that existentialism burst out in Europe --
           not in India, not in Ethiopia.
                One would think it would have been more logical for existentialism to be born in Ethiopia, where
           people are dying in thousands every day; they know what despair is. But they are not intelligent
           enough. They accept it still as a test of God, perhaps the last test; and beyond that is all they have
           always wanted, available in paradise forever and forever.
                I have watched it in poor countries -- because I have been in India -- the poor are the least
           discontented people. It is shocking. They cannot manage even one meal a day; sometimes they have
           just to drink water and go to sleep. I have asked them, "Why are you drinking so much water?" And
           they have said, "Just so that the stomach feels full. Food is not available."
                But I have not seen these people feeling despair -- they should. They don't think life is
           meaningless -- they should. They don't raise a question about God -- they should. But poor people
           are not discontented. They have accepted poverty as fate, as something God-given. And crackpots
           like Jesus have been telling people, "Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God."
           So it is only a question of a few days more, or a few years. The kingdom of God is not far away.
                And they have a certain joy imagining that they will be in paradise enjoying everything possible
           -- beautiful women, rivers of wine -- and the rich people will be suffering in hellfire. They will be
           able to look from above at what is happening to Henry Ford and Rockefeller and the Kennedys. They
           still believe this. In India, for five thousand years there has been no revolution. People have taken
           suffering as something natural, to be taken for granted.
                Why did it happen on the continent of Europe that existentialism became the most important
           philosophical movement? For the simple reason that Europe was affluent, rich. And when you are
           rich, affluent, when you have all that you want, paradise means nothing to you. What can paradise
           give to you which Paris cannot give?
                And when they had all that a man can desire, they suddenly became aware -- even if all these
           things are given, something is still missing: the meaning. They have everything, but that black hole
           of anguish inside them is not diminished; it has really become more clear in contrast to all the riches
           and all the comforts and all the luxuries. Now they can see that nothing can help.
                A tremendous helplessness -- that is anguish. An ultimate hopelessness -- that is despair.
                But I don't think these people are really existentialist in my sense. They are just reacting against
           the whole past, which had great hope of great things. Now they have managed through science every
           great thing which for centuries man has been hoping, and it has not given them any contentment. It
           has not fulfilled them. They are poorer than the poor. The poor at least have hope; they don't even
           have hope.
                My existentialism is not an "ism." It is unfortunate that I have to use the language that is
           available; otherwise I would not call it "ism." That word stinks.
                The only way to existence is through meditation. Jean-Paul Sartre never heard what meditation
           is. Kierkegaard had no idea what meditation is. Meditation is simply to be totally in the present, and
           to be in rhythm with the existence that surrounds you. Meditation is the only existentialist approach.
           It is not intellectual, it is total: your whole being is involved in it.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And if even for a moment you can taste the wine of existence, that transforms your whole life.
           You don't bother about meanings, you don't bother about gods, you don't bother about heaven and
           hell, you don't bother about messiahs and prophets. You have the whole existence in your hands, and
           it is tremendously beautiful. Remember, I am not saying it is tremendously meaningful, I am saying
           it is beautiful.
                When you see a roseflower, and you say it is beautiful, some idiot can ask you, "What is the
           meaning of beauty? It has to be meaningful too." But existence knows nothing about your logic, your
           philosophy, your theology. They are your creations. Existentialism is simply the frustration from
           thousands of years of waiting, and Godot has not come. In fact, nobody has seen Godot. Nobody
           knows that Godot has promised to come -- there is no appointment.
                All the centuries of ignorance, darkness, exploitation by religions have come to an end, for the
           simple reason that science has released man's intelligence into a freedom. But that freedom can be
           misused, and it has been misused by the so-called existentialists. I am using that intelligence and that
           freedom for its right purpose and dimension.
                Live abundantly here, now, and you will never have any despair. And remember you will not be
           a Christian, you will not be a Jew, you will not be a Hindu or a Mohammedan. Those are just
           different names of hopes. The opium is the same, only the labels differ.
                I am against drugs, and all religions are supplying drugs to you. It is symbolic that Jesus turned
           water into alcohol. I don't do miracles; otherwise I would turn alcohol into water. All the religions
           have been turning water into alcohol and befooling you. It is strange; alcohol is a far worse drug to
           your health, to your life, than LSD or marijuana. But LSD and marijuana are prohibited, you will be
           punished. Alcohol, of course, is a religious drug.
                If Jesus had done a little more turning, he could have turned ordinary grass into real `grass'. Then
           it would have been a religious thing. But the poor fellow had not heard the name of LSD, he had no
           idea of marijuana.
                The function of a government should be to keep people awake. But they are afraid of your
           awakening; hence, their hostility towards me. If I was also turning water into alcohol, your
           presidents and your premiers and your governors would have come to touch my feet. That's what
           they want: that people should remain in a hazy, unintelligent state. Then they can be exploited, they
           can be enslaved, and any kind of nonsense can be poured into their heads -- they won't resist.
                And you can see -- no child is born as a Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu, but the parents and the
           society immediately start pouring all kinds of crap into the poor, innocent child's mind. By the time
           he can think, it is too late: he is full of garbage. And he has been told that it is not garbage; it is
           something holy, something very precious. He goes on clinging to it, and that keeps him mediocre.
                Existentialism in Europe came after the second world war. The second world war struck the
           intelligent people: if the second world war was not enough for a messiah to come and God to do
           some miracle, then all those hopes were absurd, then they had been befooled for centuries. But they
           moved to the other extreme. Because for centuries they had been told life is meaningful, they started
           saying it is absolutely meaningless.
                Because they were told God created man in his own image, they started saying it is all accidental.
           Nobody has created man, it is just an accident. Some monkeys -- must have been mischievous
           monkeys -- jumped on the ground from the trees and started walking on two feet. Man is not a
           creation -- because there is no proof that he is created in God's own image. This is the image of God!
           Adolf Hitler is the image of God, Winston Churchill with his cigar is the image of God.
                The second world war was such a shock to the intelligent people of Europe that they revolted
           against the whole past. But when you react -- it is a logical thing -- you move to the very opposite
           extreme, and the truth is always somewhere in the middle. It is never at this extreme or that extreme.
           Truth is always somewhere in the middle, because at the extremes there is always tension, strain,
           fear. In the middle you can relax.
                I teach you not to react to the past. They wasted their life on one extreme, now you should not
           waste your life reacting to them on another extreme. I show you the way which is exactly in the
           middle: no past, no future, no reaction, but a meditative space.
                And once a man has tasted a meditative state, then there is no problem for him. He knows the
           secret key, he knows the alchemy of transformation. He can go on moving deeper and deeper into
           the present -- it is infinite. You can never come to the borderline where it ends. And your joy goes on
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           growing, your laughter goes on becoming more and more crystal clear and more and more innocent.
           Now you are not laughing because somebody has told you a joke; there is no cause to your laughter,
           it is simply bubbling inside you, uncaused. Now you cannot resist singing.
                All prayers are bogus, unless the song comes from your heart for no reason at all. Perhaps just as
           flowers blossom in the trees, songs blossom in the meditative man. Soon you will be dancing. And
           the crowd will think you certainly mad. But one who is entering an authentic paradise does not care
           what people think about him.
                First, they will call you mad. But we have to go on growing these mad people around the world.
           Looking at so many people mad, they will have to think, "One man can be mad, but so many people?
           And they are intelligent people -- they are doctors, they are professors, they are engineers, they are
           computer experts. And in their whole lives they are working so intelligently. They cannot be called
           mad."
                We have just to spread our madness fast enough before the idiotic politicians destroy this whole
           beautiful earth. The time is short, but it is a beautiful challenge.
                The more red people there are around the earth, the more people will start inquiring of you,
           "What is it that you are enjoying? What is it that you are singing for? Why is it that you are
           dancing?" And once they become curious, inquiring, they are already on the path. Take their hands
           in your hands and let them move also into singing, dancing, rejoicing.
                I am giving you, for the first time, an authentic religion: a religion which has wings to fly, a
           religion which does not condemn you, but accepts you as the highest evolution of consciousness on
           earth, a religion which gives you freedom to laugh, to sing, to dance.
                The pioneers are going to be in a little difficulty, because the sad people who are living in despair
           -- who have never known a single moment of love, who have never known a single moment of
           silence or peace -- seeing you enjoying, are going to become hostile to you. That's why the whole of
           Oregon is hostile to us. We are not hostile to them.
                One journalist has asked me, "Cannot your commune and the Oregonians coexist?"
           I said, "Never!"
                We are going to change the whole of Oregon to red. Why should we coexist? Coexistence means
           we keep our hostility hidden, and we become hypocrites, and we say nice nothings to each other. No.
                I am for either or. Either they change us and make us sad and frustrated, or we are going to
           change them and make them dance and sing!

              BELOVED OSHO,
              YEARS AGO I HAD CONTACT WITH CERTAIN PSYCHOLOGISTS, AND THEIR IDEAS SEEMED
              TO SET ME FREE. I FOUND NEW WAYS TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF, AND MET PEOPLE WITH
              INTEGRITY THAT I RESPECTED. I STILL LOVE THE POETRY OF PSYCHOLOGY. NOW,
              READING SOME PSYCHOLOGISTS WRITING ABOUT SO-CALLED CULTS, THEY SOUND LIKE
              FANATICS, PRIESTS AND POLITICIANS. THEY WANT TO CONTROL PEOPLE, NOT TO FREE
              THEM. CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT?


               That first idea of yours about psychologists was childish. There is no poetry in psychology.
           Psychology is the latest instrument to keep people oppressed. Because the priests have failed, new
           priests are needed. The psychologists are the new priests, and obviously they have come with a new
           jargon, but the basis is the same.
               The politician has been conspiring against you with the priest for centuries. But now it seems the
           priest has lost hold of people. Churches are empty, so empty that my people have purchased a church
           in Holland and are turning it into a disco. In fact, that is a good beginning. I would like all beautiful
           cathedrals and churches to be turned into discos. Now nobody goes into them, they are cold and
           dismal and dead.
               The politician is very cunning. He can see the priests have lost their hold -- at least on the
           younger generation. He has to find a substitute. The psychologist has come in handy, because he
           speaks a different language than the priest. He pretends that his psychology is a science. That is
           absolutely wrong!
               It is not science; how can it be science when Freud, Jung, Adler, Assagioli, are not agreeing on a
           single point? The four great psychologists -- and not agreeing on a single point! Science always
           comes to an agreement. When the truth is known about anything, the scientist is humble enough to
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           drop his prejudices and accept it. It does not matter who has discovered it, what matters is that it has
           been discovered!
                But the psychologists are divided into so many schools -- the same way as religion was divided
           into so many religions, so many subdivisions of religions, cults, creeds. The same is the situation
           now of psychology. But the psychologist does not bring God in, does not bring heaven and hell in.
           He has found different names for these entities. He does not talk about man in the old terms the
           priests have always used; hence, you got caught in their jargon.
                The psychologists don't say that you have to become an ascetic, that you have to practice a
           certain discipline for years together -- or perhaps for lives together -- and then you will be liberated,
           no. They say psychoanalysis will do, just go on being psychoanalyzed.
                I have never come across a single man whose psychoanalysis is complete. In fact, even Sigmund
           Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, is an unpsychoanalyzed person. I have been trying to
           psychoanalyze him, and I am finding treasures. I would not have believed it if somebody had told me
           that Freud was so afraid of ghosts that even the word "ghost" was enough, and he would freak out.
                Once he was talking to Jung, his most intimate follower at that time, who was very much
           interested in ghosts. Jung started talking about ghosts, and Sigmund Freud fainted. These are your
           founders of psychoanalysis. That was the point where Sigmund Freud and Jung parted. Jung could
           see, "This man, who cannot even listen to what I have to say about ghosts without fainting, is not
           going to be my master. " And Sigmund Freud also realized, "This man is not going to be my
           successor." Sigmund Freud and Jung parted.
                Listening to me, you may be thinking that Jung was very much more courageous than Sigmund
           Freud, because he was so interested in ghosts, but that is not true. He was interested in ghosts
           because he was very much afraid of death, and afraid of becoming a ghost!
                Jung wanted to go to Egypt to see the ancient mummies of kings and queens preserved there.
           Almost ten times he booked his trip, but at the last moment he would find some excuse and cancel
           the trip. On the tenth time, he even went to the airport; and the moment the departure of the plane
           was announced, he chickened out. After that, he never made any attempt to go to Egypt. He was very
           much afraid of a dead body. These people are certainly in need of much psychological help.
                You say you were very much impressed. It was not that you had come across something very
           impressive, it was only because you were ignorant, impressionable -- anything would have
           impressed you, you were just soft clay. Otherwise, to see poetry in psychology is insanity.
                There may be some psychology in poetry, but in psychology... In psychology you will find your
           psychologists talking about masturbation, schizophrenia, nightmares, all kinds of madnesses. I don't
           think you can find any poetry in all this. Nobody has found poetry in a medical book, and the
           psychologist is dealing with far worse sicknesses than any medical book can.
                But the politicians found that a substitute was urgently needed, and psychoanalysis has become a
           worldwide movement. It was bound to. Sigmund Freud was a Jew, and whenever a Jew starts a
           business, it is going to become a worldwide chain.
                What did Jesus do? He was a Jew. And Jews have not forgiven him yet, for the simple reason
           that they are angry with themselves for losing the greatest business that Jesus had made available to
           them. Now Christianity is the biggest business firm in the world. Sigmund Freud also made a great
           business out of psychoanalysis. Jews know how to do business.
                Seeing that psychoanalysis was spreading fast, and people were trying to find the meaning of
           life, some hope, trying to get rid of despair -- it was simple for the politicians to use psychology,
           psychoanalysis, psychiatry, in the service of the vested interests. That's what they have been doing.
                Now you are a little more mature. Seeing what the psychologists are writing about cults, new
           movements -- they are all against new movements, new religious beginnings -- it is very simple to
           see that they are in the service of the past, not in the service of humanity's future. They have been
           purchased. They are the new priesthood! Beware of these people. Because they are new, they are
           more dangerous.
                Now psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, are providing deprogramming. If somebody moves out of
           Christianity -- bored with all its nonsense -- and joins a new movement, the psychologists are
           offering their services to the parents, to the society, "Bring your boy or your girl and we will
           deprogram the person." And they do it. Of course, they charge enough money. And particularly in
           America they are very successful, for the simple reason that the American mind is always ready to
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           change. It has not very deep roots in the past. Americans are the uprooted people.
               It has been found that three years are enough for an American to be in a job. Three years is also
           the limit for an American to remain married to a woman. Three years are also enough to have a
           honeymoon with a new cult, a new creed. There is no need to deprogram them; within three years
           they will move themselves.
               And this is not just about small children or young people. One old man -- perhaps seventy years
           old -- has been coming here throughout the whole year, almost every month. He is a billionaire --
           and you know perfectly well I am not averse to money.
               Money is a perfectly beautiful method of exchanging things, one of the greatest inventions of
           man. It was so difficult before money came in. You had a camel to sell, but nobody was ready to
           purchase a camel. You had to find someone who wanted a camel and was willing to give his two
           cows in barter. It must have been a very difficult world. Money has made it easier. You need not
           bother to find the purchaser, you can simply sell the camel and purchase the cows. It is one of the
           greatest inventions of man to make exchange easier. I am not averse to money. I want the whole
           world to become rich and luxurious.
               I say to you, "Blessed are the rich and the luxurious. Even a camel can pass through the eye of a
           needle, but no poor man can enter the gates of heaven." For a simple reason; what is the poor man
           going to do there? He will simply feel silly with all that luxury in paradise. The poor man will lose
           his mind, because all these things were condemned on the earth, they were sins, and here saints are
           dancing with naked girls! And this is what the saints are doing -- who knows what God is doing?
           Perhaps having a sexual orgy.
               The poor man will find hell perfectly suitable. He has always lived in hell, he is accustomed to it,
           he has experience of it. And of course, the experiencer should be sent to the place where his
           experience can be of some use.
               Jesus' whole theology is absurd, sending the poor to paradise -- they have never enjoyed
           anything, they have not rehearsed before they entered paradise. And whatever they have been
           practicing is perfectly suitable in hell.
               I would like poverty to disappear from the world. I am all for richness in all dimensions. The
           poor cannot understand classical music. The poor cannot understand the beautiful poetries of great
           poets. The poor cannot understand the paintings of Van Gogh or Picasso. The poor will be absolutely
           at a loss to understand what is going on, if you play Mozart; he cannot figure out that this is
           something celestial.
               This old man was a billionaire, but I don't believe in persuading anybody to become a sannyasin,
           and I don't allow my sannyasins to convert anybody. We are not missionaries. The word
           "missionary" is a four-letter word. The missionary is trying to interfere in your life against your will.
           We are here. If somebody finds the place beautiful, rejuvenating, it is up to him to decide.
               His family became disturbed because one time was okay -- he had come out of curiosity -- but
           now he has been coming every month for one week at a time, and they are afraid that he may become
           a sannyasin. He is the head of the family and of all their international corporations: he has the
           authority over all the money the family has. Naturally, they are afraid.
               But how to take a seventy-year-old man to a deprogrammer psychologist? They went alone, not
           taking him, to ask advice. The psychologist said, "It is really a difficult situation. Your people you
           can bring forcibly, but this old man you cannot bring forcibly. If you do, it is certain he will become
           a sannyasin. And I don't think that I can deprogram him either."
               The simple reason is that no sannyasin can be deprogrammed, we have already deprogrammed
           him. You don't have any programs, so what can they do? You are not being given a certain program.
           They can deprogram the Moonies, they can deprogram the Hare Krishna people. They can
           deprogram any cult: Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus freaks....
               I am surprised... Jesus himself was a freak. In fact, Jesus freaks are really doing the right thing; to
           follow Jesus you have to be a Jesus freak. Jesus was not a gentleman, not dressed in a gray business
           suit. You can think of him as a freak, as a hippie, or anything, but he was not part of the old
           conditioned mind. That's why he was rewarded by crucifixion.
               At that time deprogrammer psychologists had not arrived; otherwise Jesus would have been
           saved from crucifixion. Just deprogramming would have been enough. He had just to be constantly
           hammered: "You are not the only son of God. Drop this nonsense. If you are the messiah for whom
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           the whole Judaic tradition is waiting, let them recognize you. Why do you go o;n shouting that you
           are the awaited messiah?" It would have been very easy to deprogram that poor carpenter, but the
           psychologists were not around there.
               In America they are doing great business, particularly in California. They are spreading in other
           countries also.

                You have found now the right attitude about these people. They don't want any revolution in the
           world. They don't want any kind of religiousness in the world. They don't want the new man in the
           world. And they are against humanity, because only the new man can save it. Only the new man can
           throw these politicians with their nuclear weapons into the Pacific -- pacific, certainly, so they can be
           at peace forever.
                These deprogrammers are writing against cults, dogmas, and they don't know anything about
           them. They don't come here. Not a single deprogrammer psychologist has appeared, because he
           knows he will be deprogrammed.
                We have our own deprogrammers, who are certainly far more efficient, for the simple reason that
           they are not giving you any program. So their work is simple: they simply deprogram you and leave
           you alone to yourself. They do not REprogram you. They give you freedom. Deprogrammed, you are
           no longer a Christian, no longer a Hindu, no longer a Mohammedan. You are no longer an
           American, a Russian, a German. Completely deprogrammed, you are simply an innocent, reborn
           child.
                My sannyasins are again reclaiming their childhoodness, their innocence, which has been
           disturbed by the priests, by the politicians, by the educationists. In every way you have been cut to a
           certain size, according to the dress that they have prepared for you. This is strange! The dress should
           be cut according to you, and for centuries they have been cutting you according to the dress. The
           dress is already available -- the Christian dress, the Hindu dress, the Buddhist dress -- and you have
           to fit into it. It is imprisonment.
                It is good that you have understood that these psychologists are the new jailers. Beware of them.
                If anybody needs deprogramming, these are the people who need it. So if you can catch hold of a
           deprogrammer, bring him here. We have to start deprogramming the new priesthood, because we
           want the whole humanity to be one. We don't want any priests, we don't want any religions and we
           don't want any nations. We want the world to be one, because only in one world is there no need for
           nuclear weapons, is there no need for war.
                Right now, seventy-five percent of human energy, income, resources, is going in to creating
           more and more nuclear weapons. And these politicians who go on piling up nuclear weapons also go
           on shedding crocodile tears for Ethiopia.
                Ethiopia, with all its wounds, can be immediately healed. Half of the population of India need
           not be existing below survival level. In America itself, thirty million people, are so poor that it is
           simply ugly and insane for the American president to go on pouring money into nuclear weapons.
                And the amazing thing is, you have enough nuclear weapons to destroy humanity seven hundred
           times! Strange! I don't see the arithmetic. Have these politicians forgotten even the basic three r's?
           Russia and America both can destroy this planet seven hundred times. There is no need, one time is
           enough! You have already got weapons seven hundred times more than you need. Just an average
           mind can see the foolishness of it.
                Stop nuclear weapons, stop this whole idea of war. But the politician knows if the priest
           disappears he will be in difficulty. He wants to substitute the priest with the psychologist -- a more
           up-to-date version of the same priesthood. There is no difference.
                It has to be stopped. So whenever you see a deprogrammer, catch hold of him and bring him
           here. The way they are catching hold of people... what a strange world! -- Parents are hijacking their
           own children and giving them into the hands of the psychologist, and he hammers them.
                The method is very simple. He goes on hammering for two days, three days. The man had been a
           Christian, now he has become a Hare Krishna. The Hare Krishna ideology is only on the surface,
           very fragile, new; his Christianity is centuries old in his unconscious. It is very easy to deprogram
           him; his unconscious will be supporting you. You have just to scratch a little and his unconscious
           will start coming up.
                You have to make him feel guilty: "You betrayed Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God; you
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           betrayed your country, you betrayed your community." You have just to make him feel guilty-that is
           scratching -- and soon his unconscious will come up.
               But nobody can deprogram my sannyasins, because we already do it and we never give another
           program to people. We leave them completely free, individual. We give them the dignity of being
           and individual and not just a member of some religion. We give them the pride to be themselves and
           not to be an American or a Russian.
           Nobody can deprogram my sannyasins.
               In fact, if you find yourself in a situation where you are forced to be deprogrammed, don't be
           afraid. Deprogram the deprogrammer! Don't miss the chance. And I know you can do it!




                                       From Death to Deathlessness
                                                   Chapter #3
                               Chapter title: Belief is a barrier, trust is a bridge
           4 August 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8508040
              ShortTitle: DLESS03
                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 98 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I TRUST YOU UNCONDITIONALLY. AT THE SAME TIME, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU. CAN YOU
              SPEAK ABOUT TRUST AND BELIEF?


               Baby, that is really great! Just groovy. I don't believe in my own statements either! We are in
           perfect agreement. I trust myself, I trust you, because I trust love.
               Trust is of the heart, belief is of the mind. They are diametrically opposite, they never meet. They
           can run parallel to each other, but they will never meet. Belief will remain hollow, without any
           content, and trust is overflowing with joy, blissfulness.
               You say you trust me. That's enough, more than enough. I don't want you to believe in my
           statements, because my statements go on changing every day. If you believe in my statements you
           are going to be crazy. They are so contradictory, you will not be able to figure out what I actually
           want to say to you.
               But trust remains the same -- the same flavor, the same grace, the same beauty, because it is not a
           statement of the mind. It is not a statement at all. It is a silent communion between two hearts, a
           silent communion in which two hearts synchronize; their beats become a rhythm, their vibe takes the
           same color and aroma.
               I am not a man who wants you to believe in anything, including me. I am against belief as such.
               That's why I have been continuously contradicting myself, so nobody can make any belief out of
           my statements. No scholar, no theologian is going to make any system out of my statements. In thirty
           years I must have contradicted myself thirty thousand times. Anybody working on me for a Ph.D.
           will soon be found in a madhouse. And my reason for doing so is crystal clear. If I were making
           statements consistent with each other, you would not listen to me, you would make a belief system
           out of it. I am a little outlandish.
               In the forty-two years Buddha spoke, you cannot find a single inconsistency, no contradiction.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           Now it is so easy to make the whole living religion into a dead belief, a dogma. The religion
           becomes a cult.
                Religion is religion only when the master is there continuously watching that you don't get into
           the head, that you remain centered in the heart. But when the master is gone, all that you have left
           with you is his statements. If they are consistent, then it is very easy for you to make a theology, a
           Christianity, a Buddhism, a Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and then cling to it. You have forgotten
           the master; now you have only words, which mean nothing. It was the man behind the words who
           had meant something to you. Can't you see the difference?
                When Gautam Buddha spoke, many hearts started melting into him. The same words are written
           in the books; the Buddhist theologian is not speaking any other words, he is speaking the same
           words Buddha used -- but nothing stirs in your heart. On the contrary, your head becomes interested;
           you start arguing for and against.
                My strategy has never been used before. No master has been self-contradictory, and because they
           were not self-contradictory they have all failed. Although Buddha goes on saying, "Don't believe in
           me," that does not make any difference. When Buddha is gone, they need some substitute -- a holy
           book, the DHAMMAPADA, the BIBLE, the KORAN -- they need something substantial to hold on
           to. They will make a belief, they will make a theology, they will make a philosophy. And that's how
           all the religions have slowly slowly died.
                By the time a religion becomes a theology, it is only a cult. Christianity is a cult, Hinduism is a
           cult, Buddhism is a cult. But the miracle of miracles is, they call my people a cult and I am managing
           things in such a way that whatsoever you do, you cannot make it a cult. Either it remains as religion
           or it disappears. It is better that it disappears than that it becomes a cult.
                I am not going to leave any successor because we have seen what happens to successors. Two
           thousand years of popes coming and going.... If you want to find idiots in history, it is so easy -- take
           the names of all the popes, because other names have disappeared. These popes are representing
           Jesus Christ, and because they are representing Jesus Christ they are infallible. I am not going to
           leave any successor behind me, because in the first place I, myself, am fallible. How can my
           representative be infallible?
                I am not special, not holier-than-thou. I am not a messiah, not a prophet, just a simple, ordinary
           human being like you. You cannot manage with such a man to have anything like the whole history
           of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism. They fall into the same pit, into the same darkness. And the
           basic reason is that their prophets and messiahs and their founders were trying hard to be consistent,
           because consistency has been thought to be of immense value. It is of immense value, but only for
           the head. No scientist can afford self-contradictions, he has to be consistent.
           I am not a scientist. I am a mystic.
                Science tries to demystify things. What does knowing everything about existence mean? In other
           words, it is demystifying existence.
                I do just the opposite: I mystify the rose, I mystify the cloud. I mystify the sky, the stars. I
           mystify you. And remember, it is no mystification-that is bogus. I simply reveal your reality to you.
           And it is such a mystery.
                I can afford contradictions, because I am not aiming at your head. My aim is somewhere else.
           You can ask, then why do I talk? I talk to keep your head engaged; meanwhile, my arrow goes
           directly to your heart. Continuously I am throwing arrows to your heart; but the head knows nothing
           about it, cannot know anything about it. They are not on talking terms either.
                And I have to contradict; otherwise my arrows will be futile. Your head will find rationality,
           consistency, a better philosophy, better argument, more contemporary, and you will be satisfied with
           your head. And your head is just a computer, it is not you.
                Anything can be fed into the head. It can contain almost all the books of all the libraries of the
           world; a single head can contain that much information. And the more information you have, the
           more your head starts swelling up, becoming bigger and bigger. And in the noise and the clamor,
           who is going to listen to the still, small voice of the heart? Hence, you need not believe my
           contradictions; you should not believe what I say.
                When I am here, why not have a heart-to-heart meeting? That is trust. Behead yourself
           completely!
                You are right, and I can see your difficulty, because in ordinary dictionaries "belief," "faith," and
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           "trust," are all synonymous. They are not. Belief is rational, it is in favor of the better argument, it
           simply goes on following a long line since Adam and Eve -- blindly, faithfully. If so many people are
           ahead of him, they must be going in the right direction. And everybody thinks so too.
                My word is "trust," and it has a different orientation altogether. It is simply a love affair.
                Just think of a situation: a man says to a woman, "I believe I love you." The statement will
           offend the woman. He believes he loves you. You simply say, "I love you." There is no question of
           belief or faith. You cannot say to a beautiful woman, "I have faith, that are beautiful." That is enough
           proof that the woman is not beautiful.
                Just the other night, I was talking to a very beautiful heart, a Dutch journalist -- which is rare,
           because journalism is worse than politics. In fact, of the people who become journalists, ninety-nine
           percent are the people who wanted to be politicians but could not manage. They did not have guts
           enough to fight and struggle. They could not race in competition, so the second alternative was
           standing by the side and throwing stones at anybody who is going up higher. The whole function of
           journalism has become nothing but a frustration, and out of frustration, naturally, comes
           revengefulness against the politicians.
                But this man was not of that category. Accidentally it seems, he became a journalist. He had as
           pure a heart as you have. I was asked by him, "I have been reading so many contradictions in your
           books. You say one thing today, tomorrow you contradict it. Then how do your sannyasins go on
           believing in you?"
                A consistent question, relevant. You can believe in a person who says the same thing. You
           cannot believe in a person when you know perfectly well tomorrow he may say just the opposite:
           "So at least let us wait for tomorrow, then we can see what to do." But tomorrow never comes, it is
           always coming.
                And I don't take any account of my past statements. For me there is no contradiction at all,
           because unless I compare two statements how can I find there is contradiction? By the time I go to
           bed I am finished with that day. In the morning I wake up fresh -- just like an innocent child,
           carrying no burden of the past. I speak to you from that innocence.
                And I speak not to emphasize a certain psychology, a certain theology -- I do not speak to
           program your mind. I cannot humiliate any human being by programming his mind. Programming
           the mind of a human being means you are reducing the man to a machine.
                His question was relevant. He was puzzled: "There are people who have been with you for
           twenty, thirty years -- can't they see these many contradictions? And they go on believing in you?"
           He was simply using the word "belief" wrongly.
                My people trust me, love me. It is not a question of my statements to them. They enjoy my
           statements, it is good entertainment, but it is not a belief system for which you have to live and die. It
           is only pure entertainment. You have just to laugh and enjoy.
                My real work is going on underground. Whatever I am doing is just creating a situation so your
           head is engaged. And my real approach, my target, is your heart, not your skull. And it is the best
           way I have found to sort out people. Those who approach me rationally will soon find the way
           towards Santa Fe. Santa Fe is going to be a world-famous place. All the camels of different sizes and
           shapes!
                To be with me you have to learn one art, and that is, don't take my statements seriously. For the
           moment enjoy them, but don't expect that I am not going to contradict them. Don't impose any
           expectations of yours on me. I never impose any expectations on you. At least this much you can do
           -- a simple thing.
                For centuries masters have been imposing their ideas on the disciples. I am not imposing any of
           my ideas on you. Don't from your side insist on how I should behave, what I should say or not say;
           accept that saying something will create contradiction, saying it will create hostility in people
           outside, saying it will create unnecessary confusion. Don't expect anything from me. Open your
           heart. That is where the real surgery has to happen.
                And once you have known the beauty, the joy, the blessing of dancing in tune with my heart, you
           will never be bothered by what I said yesterday, what I said ten years ago. Leave all this to people
           whose profession is gravedigging. Let them settle with the skeletons of the past.
                You be here now in this moment, part of my life, part of my love, part of my being. Let me reach
           you in your innermost core. Allow me to touch your center.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               The head is only the periphery, and I am not interested in your heads. I don't count heads, I count
           the hearts.
               The Dutch journalist could understand. When I stood up and started dancing with the sannyasins,
           he was dancing behind me -- in absolute abandon, as if nothing else existed in that moment but the
           dance.
               I told the man, "You can write anything you want about me. Even if you want to say things
           which I have not said, I give you the authority, because I have been able to touch your heart. And
           beware, soon you will be a sannyasin!"
               I could see the glow in his eyes -- just the idea of being a sannyasin, a great adventure ahead, a
           great pilgrimage. And the way he was dancing was absolutely drunk. It is just coincidence that he
           happens to be a journalist, that is not his place. His place is amongst the sannyasins, he is a seeker.
           And he trusts me....
               The second problem that you have raised is about believing. But who is asking you to believe
           me? I go on destroying every possibility of believing in me. Even if you want to believe in me, you
           cannot; I will not allow it. To the very last breath of my life I will go on contradicting continuously.
               Perhaps at the last breath I may say all this enlightenment business is just bullshit. Forget all
           about it! Just be human, ordinary, enjoying the small things of life, relishing the beauty of nature,
           drowning yourself in love, friendship -- and you have something better than enlightenment.
               Yes, I want it to be remembered: It is difficult to be enlightened, but enlightenment is not the
           end. One has to transcend enlightenment too. Then one is completely free. Enlightenment helps one
           to be free from every other bondage, but then one becomes dependent on enlightenment. The real
           enlightened person transcends it, and he becomes again simple, ordinary, with no idea of any
           holiness, no idea of meditation, no idea about anything. He lives moment to moment, joyously.
               It is good that you trust me unconditionally. Trust can only be unconditional. Belief is always
           conditional. A better argument, and your belief can be destroyed. But your trust is unconditional,
           nothing can destroy it. If there is a condition, then it is easy to argue and prove that the condition is
           wrong, that the condition has loopholes. And when you see that in your condition there are
           loopholes, your belief falls down.
               Trust has to be intrinsically unconditional; hence, nobody can argue against my people. My
           people are not believers. They have known something far deeper and far higher: they have tasted the
           juice of trust.
               You are fortunate. Don't be worried that you don't believe in me. I don't want you to believe in
           me! And what you are feeling, an unconditional trust, is what is needed between me and you.
           Belief is a barrier. Trust is a bridge.
               So rejoice, and forget all about beliefs. Anyway you cannot believe because I am going to
           contradict myself.
               When I was talking to the Dutch journalist, he was worried. He loves me, he has been here
           before at celebrations, he has been reading my books. He himself has paid his fare, because the
           editor was not ready to pay the fare. The editor is ready to publish whatsoever the journalist writes,
           but he was not ready to pay the fare from Holland to here. The journalist has paid it himself.
               It was a problem for him, and naturally he said: "I cannot conceive -- you go on contradicting
           and still your people are not disturbed by your contradictions."
               I said, "That is one of the fire tests for becoming a sannyasin. I will contradict my statements. I
           can start contradicting them by my actions, but trust has no condition."
               He asked me, "In the world press conference you said that you are a showman."
           I said, "Me, a showman? What are you asking?"
               He was, for a moment, silent. And then he said, "You said in the press conference, `My people
           are a circus.'"
               I said, "my people? The whole world is a circus except my people! These are the sanest people in
           the whole world, and anybody who is sane is going to join my people."
               Naturally one gets puzzled. But if you trust, you don't get puzzled at all. You can enjoy. You
           laughed when I said I am a showman, and you are laughing when I am saying I am not! You were
           laughing when I said you are my circus, and now you are laughing when I am saying you are the
           only people who are not a circus.
           This is the beauty of trust.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I HAVE BEEN A SANNYASIN FOR ONE YEAR, AND FEEL LIKE A KANGAROO WHO HAS TO
              MAKE BIG JUMPS TO FOLLOW YOU. TODAY, I WAS SHOCKED TO READ THAT YOU HAD SAID
              YOU MAY NOT REMAIN CELIBATE WHEN YOU ARE HEALTHY AGAIN. I THOUGHT YOU HAD
              SAID THAT AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON HAS TRANSCENDED SEX. YET, I KNOW HOW
              BEAUTIFUL IT IS TO MAKE LOVE. WHY DO I FEEL SO CONFUSED?
              PLEASE COMMENT.


               One always feels confused if one has expectations. Now who told you that enlightened people
           transcend sex? And immediately you are saying, "... although love is such a beautiful experience."
           So why prevent enlightened people from having such a beautiful experience? But the idea has been
           created down the centuries that the truly religious people are celibate, and particularly that the
           enlightened person is celibate.
               I have never been celibate. Amongst so many beautiful women, you want me to be celibate? It is
           like standing by a beautiful spring, purest water flowing from the top of the hill, and you are
           standing thirsty by the side of it because you are enlightened. Forget all about it! I will take care of
           enlightenment later on -- right now I am going to drink from this beautiful spring.
               And you have also misunderstood. I have said enlightened people transcend sex, but I have never
           said they transcend love. It is a complicated phenomenon.
               You think sex is love? It is simply biological bondage. In fact, only an enlightened person can
           make love. What you call making love is just biological gymnastics. You don't know what making
           love means. So I say to you that the enlightened man and the enlightened woman are the most
           beautiful lovers. It need not necessarily be sexual, it need not necessarily be non-sexual. An
           enlightened man is free.
               My mother came to me yesterday; she was a little worried. She said, "It is beautiful to see you
           dancing, but now you have started dancing with girls!" She was concerned that if people in India see
           this, in the pictures, on the video, they will be very much shocked. I said, "So far, so good."
               But I am free -- more free than Gautam Buddha, more free than Mahavira. Gautam Buddha did
           not have the guts to dance with a girl.
               I can dance because I don't see any problem. There is no hindrance, no boundary to me; I can do
           anything.
               Just the other night, Vivek was asking me, "Should we go to the disco?"
               I said, "I am going to the disco one day, but right now it is too late."
               My discos, my restaurants are called Zorba the Buddha. First I am a Zorba, and then I am a
           Buddha. And remember, if I have to choose between the two, I will choose Zorba, not Buddha...
           because the Zorba can always become the Buddha, but the Buddha becomes confined to his own
           holiness. He cannot go to the disco and become the Zorba. And to me, freedom is the highest value;
           there is nothing greater, more precious, than freedom.
               My enlightenment has freed me from everything, including enlightenment.
               Now will be the crucial point. Those who trust me will trust me even when I am drinking
           champagne, because there was no condition. You had not told me, "I will trust you only until you
           start drinking champagne." The trust is unconditional.
               The heart knows different ways of seeing. The mind is linear, it looks only towards one line. The
           heart is multi-dimensional. And the more I feel my people's trust, the more dimensions of my being I
           can reveal to them.
               I would like you to know me in my total freedom, because that is what I want you to be -- totally
           free, no strings attached.
               Blessed is the sannyasin who can trust me without bothering about my statements or my actions.
           His is the kingdom of God right now!


              BELOVED OSHO,
              LIKE YOURS, MY TASTES ARE SIMPLE: I LIKE THE BEST. HOWEVER, I TAKE THIS TO THE
              EXTREME, AND WANT THE ULTIMATE IN EVERYTHING -- AND NOT ONLY IN MATERIAL
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

              THINGS. I WANT, ESPECIALLY WITH WOMEN, EACH MEETING, EACH LOVE AFFAIR TO BE
              THE PERFECT, ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE. CONSEQUENTLY I REMAIN SEPARATE, MISS MUCH,
              AND MAKE MYSELF MISERABLE. PLEASE COMMENT.


                Strange... you compare yourself with me, and I don't know what misery is, what frustration is.
                You say that your tastes are just like mine: for the best. But before you can have that taste for the
           best, you will have to become like me -- and you are far away.
                I have said it, that my tastes are simple; I am easily satisfied with the best of anything. But
           remember, I am easily satisfied, and your question ends with misery and frustration. You cannot be
           simple.
                And who does not want the best? And do you think I always get the best? For example, you are
           here.... Now, what am I supposed to do with you? You certainly are not the best -- miserable,
           frustrated -- but I will still love you, whether you are the best or not the best.
                You have heard only half the statement. It is time you should know the other half also. There are
           people who want the best; these are the people who fill the whole world, all frustrated, all miserable.
           There are also a few people who make the best out of anything. They are the people who can say
           they are like me. I make the best out of anything.
                Yes, I am satisfied with the best, but the best is not always handed over to you. You have to learn
           to transform it into the best. And it is easy, if you understand towards what I am taking you.
                Don't think that there are great things in life and small things in life. It all depends on you, how
           you look at them. It is your attitude which is determining. You can enjoy a small grass flower, there
           is no need for lotuses to blossom for you. The joy comes from within you -- anything can trigger it.
                You need not have what is considered the best by the society, but you can make anything that
           you have the best. Enjoy it, live it totally, squeeze the whole juice of it -- and you will find that
           everything is the best.
                You say particularly with women you would like each experience to be the very ultimate. Have
           you seen your face in the mirror? Before you think of having the ultimate experience every time, just
           go into the bathroom and see your face first. That will cool you down.
                To get the ultimate, you have to be ultimate. You are just a monkey, and trying to have the
           ultimate experience with a woman. Thank God that she is tolerating you! Thank God that she only
           throws pillows at you, and does not throw you out of the window.
                Deserve it! Earn it! Nothing comes without your capacity to absorb it. You get only that which
           you deserve. Remember that maxim: you get only that which you deserve. And there is no need to be
           frustrated, you always get that which you deserve. Nature is very compassionate. It never gives you
           less, it never gives you more; it is very fair.
                So if you are not getting the best from your women, have you asked the women what they are
           getting? You may not be getting the best, but you must be getting something. And those poor women
           may not be getting even that!
                Love needs two partners. It is almost like two musical instruments playing together in symphony.
           If you want the best, then create the capacity to be the best lover, and help the woman also to be the
           best lover.
                There are biological discrepancies for which nobody can be blamed, because biology's purpose
           in your love affairs is different. It is not to give you joy. It is just to give reproductions of you,
           carbon copies, because soon the originals will be in the grave. Biology's function is finished there.
           And if you remain only biologically oriented, you are not going to get anything -- except frustration.
                Every man after making love feels frustrated. It is good that sex helps him to fall asleep;
           otherwise the whole night he will remain in frustration. It is good that sex helps his heart to be
           healthier; otherwise the whole night of frustration, and a heart weakening and drowning -- by the
           morning you will find the man finished. Those are biological strategies that make the man go to
           sleep immediately. There is no sleeping medication which is more effective than sex.
                And one thing you must remember: men have died in all kinds of actions -- people have died
           praying -- but nobody has ever died while making love. In the whole history of man... not a single
           exception.
                Strange. People die in all kinds of situations -- because there are so many people, and so many
           people have been before, and before them, it seems to be logical that somebody will die while
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           making love. Somebody will die just walking on the street, somebody will die doing something
           good: painting, music, poetry -- or serving the poor. But biology has its own ways. It has made it
           intrinsically impossible for a man to die while he is making love.
               Although all the religions have been teaching just the opposite, that if you make love you will die
           sooner, it is not medically true. The people who love -- their hearts are functioning better. Lovers
           don't have heart attacks. The celibate can have a heart attack. Do you want your enlightened people
           to have heart attacks?
               Please, don't compare yourself with a poor man like me, who owns nothing -- not a single cent.
           Even if I have to be deported, the Oregon government will have to pay for my ticket. But I will make
           the best out of it. Even if they deport me, I will make international news. I will make so much fuss
           about it that they will be condemned all over the world.
               That's why for four years they have been silent. They neither say yes to my green card, nor do
           they say no. They don't want to say yes; they are afraid to say no, because I am not going to accept
           their no easily. So they have been, for four years, just sitting, working out what to do. Both ways it is
           dangerous. Saying yes is a danger, saying no is an even bigger danger.
               If they deport me, I will go around the world -- I have my people around the world. And I am
           going to expose the American mask completely: that it is not a democracy, that it simply has a
           different name, but it is exactly what the Soviet Union is -- with one difference. The Soviet Union is
           straightforward, and Americans do the same thing with hypocrisy; they go round about, round about,
           and try to make it look democratic.
               My deportation -- I am going to enjoy it as the best. Anything that has happened in my life, I
           have enjoyed as the best. I make it the best. Even if I have to make love to an ugly, disgusting
           woman, I put the light off! In darkness, whether you are making love to Cleopatra or your own wife
           makes no difference.
               Just be a little clever. There is no need to be frustrated. Find out ways, whatsoever is available, to
           make the best of it.
               Yes, I enjoy the best because I know how to turn everything to its best. You also want to enjoy
           the best, but you don't want to take the trouble to change it to its utmost beauty and flavor.
               As a sannyasin you should learn that life consists of small things, but each small thing can be
           transformed into something glorious.
               You can ask Vivek, who carries my tea, my food -- and now I am going for Coca-Cola. Just ask
           her: whatsoever food is offered to me, I enjoy it as the best food anybody will be enjoying in the
           whole world. I enjoy my tea -- which has no sugar in it, no milk in it, just water and tea leaves; but I
           really enjoy it, each sip of it. And I feel as if I am in paradise each moment.
               So please, learn the alchemy of transforming things.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              IF THE BRAIN OF AN ENLIGHTENED MAN WAS TRANSPLANTED INTO AN ORDINARY MAN,
              WOULD HE START BEHAVING LIKE AN ENLIGHTENED MAN? WOULD HE EXPERIENCE
              ENLIGHTENMENT?


               No, because the brain has nothing to do with enlightenment. If you put the enlightened man's
           brain into some unenlightened man's body, he will not behave like the enlightened man. He will
           simply behave the way he had been behaving. Perhaps for a few days he will be in a little difficulty,
           but soon he will get adjusted.
               The brain has to be adjusted to the soul, not vice versa.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              COULD IT BE POSSIBLE FOR SCIENTISTS TO DEVELOP ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE IN A
              TEST-TUBE?


              Never. Don't wait for such stupid things. In the test-tube the scientist can produce a great painter,
           a great artist, a great dancer, a great musician, a great poet. But the scientist cannot produce an
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           enlightened man in the test-tube, because that is the only quality which you have to work for.
           Nobody can give it to you.
               You have to become more conscious. It does not matter whether you are born in a test-tube or in
           a mother's womb -- both are wombs. It does not matter at all. Enlightenment is the only thing in
           human life which will remain forever and forever the glory of individuality. Everything else can be
           produced; enlightenment you have to grow yourself. It is something so intrinsic to you, it is your
           very soul.
               The scientist can give you a better, stronger body, he can give you a longer life, he can give you
           a better mind -- but he cannot give you awareness. He himself is not aware. He is as unconscious as
           you are. And do you think these unconscious scientists will be able to produce the consciousness of
           the awakened one? It is absolutely impossible.
               So don't wait for test-tube babies to become enlightened. Don't waste your time. You become
           enlightened yourself. Test-tube babies will have to work their way towards enlightenment on their
           own.
               It is something so individual... and that is the beauty of it, that it is individual. It is not something
           mechanical. It cannot be produced on an assembly line; otherwise, just as Ford cars go on coming
           out off the assembly line -- every minute one car comes out the same as the one before, the same as
           the one after.... Enlightenment cannot be created on an assembly line.
               It is an absolutely individual growth. It is your responsibility to become enlightened or remain in
           darkness. That is the only area where science cannot be of any help.


               BELOVED OSHO,
               I HAVE OFTEN HEARD THE EXPRESSION: WHEN A WOMAN SAYS NO, SHE MEANS YES. BUT
               IN THIS COMMUNE, IT DOES NOT SEEM TO BE TRUE. IN YOUR DISCOURSE THE OTHER DAY,
               HOWEVER, IT SEEMED THAT YOU ARE NOT AGAINST THESE GAMES. CAN YOU PLEASE
               COMMENT?


               I am not against any games. And it is true. This commune is going to create its own proverbs.
           Here yes means yes, no means no. In the old society outside, when a woman says no she means yes,
           because that woman is a slave. For centuries she has been taught to be shy, to be unaggressive, not to
           chase men.
               Here, the situation is totally different. Nobody need be shy about anything. So when the woman
           says no, don't try to interpret it as yes -- she will give you a good punch on your nose! And when she
           says yes, she means it. If you can escape fast enough... it is up to you. But here, we mean what we
           say, and we say what we mean!
               And I am perfectly in favor of all these beautiful games -- men chasing women -- but that has
           become difficult here. In the outside world when the man chases the woman, the woman runs,
           escapes, hides. Here, the moment a man even starts chasing, the woman catches hold of him: "There
           is no need, all this unnecessary huffing, puffing, no need! Why waste time in chasing? Why not do
           the real thing?"
               So beware! In the first place, keep quiet, don't ask.




                                        From Death to Deathlessness
                                                      Chapter #4
                                           Chapter title: The taste of peace
           5 August 1985 am in Rajneeshmandir

           Archive code: 8508050
              ShortTitle: DLESS04
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                  Audio: Yes
                  Video: Yes
                 Length: 146 mins




              BELOVED OSHO,
              I SEEM TO HAVE HEARD YOU SAY THAT PEOPLE ARE ATTRACTED TO WAR BECAUSE IT IS
              EXCITING, WHEREAS PEACE IS BORING. IN MY OWN EXPERIENCE I SEEM TO ENJOY
              INDULGING MY PERSONAL DRAMAS AND TRAUMAS, AND WHEN I'M NOT INDULGING THEM
              LIFE IS A BIT FLAT. IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE ATTRACTED TO PEACE? WILL THE NEW HUMANITY
              FIND PEACE, RATHER THAN WAR, EXCITING?


                It has never happened. Man has never found peace exciting. It seems that the way man is, war
           certainly will remain exciting, because the peace that you know is not the real peace; it is the peace
           of a cemetery, not the peace of this mandir! No war is going on, everything is silent -- do you think it
           is flat?
                The new man will know this peace twenty-four hours round the clock, waking or sleeping. And
           the peace that is not only absence of war but a positive flowering within you, a positive wordless
           song within you, is totally different.
                Up to now man has known peace, but that peace was only preparation for war. History can be
           divided into two parts: the period when people are fighting, and the period when people are
           exhausted, tired, ruined, preparing for another war from scratch. War or preparation for war: these
           are the only two periods human history has known up to now.
                Peace has never been known, because peace is something which the individual has to create. War
           is something which the crowd, the nation, the politician, the ideologies, the churches create. Peace,
           each individual has to create. It will be far better to say that he has to discover it, because it has not
           to be created, it is already there inside you.
                But you are surrounded so much by the mind and its turmoil, you never come to hear the still,
           small voice within you. And if you cannot hear even the still, small voice within you, how can you
           taste peace -- which is beyond that voice -- where you simply exist? There is no thought in the mind,
           no emotion in the heart. In that nothingness you come to know, for the first time, the taste of peace.
                I am saying it from my own experience. For thirty-two years I have been in that peace, and I
           have not found it for a single moment flat. It is always opening new doors, new dimensions, new
           depths.
                When for the first time you know your inner peace, you think, "This is the end." Soon you have
           to change this idea, because the peace goes on growing. And the day comes when you understand
           that there is no end, the peace is going to become as vast as the universe itself -- and the universe has
           no limits.
                You must be feeling flat when you are not passing through some drama or trauma, because in
           your life what have you got? If there is nothing going on: a fight, a love affair, a marriage, a divorce,
           fighting for an election or going bankrupt -- if all these things are not going on around you, naturally
           you feel flat. It seems nothing is happening, time has stopped; you feel dead.
                It is a well-established fact that whenever there is war in the world, wherever it is, people look
           more happy, excited. They wake up early in the morning waiting for the newspaper to come. What is
           happening? What has happened last night? They cannot wait, they want to know it immediately.
                People are carrying their transistors glued to their ears not to miss a single bit of information.
           Life is no longer flat, there is excitement, because every moment something new is happening --
           victory or defeat, something is happening. You can look forward to some news. When there is no
           war, then tomorrow's newspaper will be carrying exactly the same as today's news.
                I used to live in a place... just in front of my house lived the family of a doctor. The doctor was
           thought to be a little crazy; still, he was a good doctor. People used to come to him, knowing
           perfectly well that he was a little crazy -- but as far as his profession was concerned he was perfectly
           sane. He used to come every day in the early morning to my house, to read all the newspapers and
10/28/07                                              Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           magazines available there. He would come and ask for the latest newspaper.
               One day I gave him a newspaper of the same date but from the year before. And he enjoyed it, he
           loved it. He said he had never expected these things to happen, because they didn't seem to be
           connected with yesterday's newspaper.
               I said, "Now that I know that, every day you will be excited."
           He said, "But how did you do it?"
           I said, "This newspaper is one year old."
               He said, "My God! If reading old newspapers makes you so excited, why have you been keeping
           it a secret from me? Sometimes I used to wonder why you go on collecting old newspapers,
           magazines. Now I know! Now I don't care whether today's newspaper comes or not. There are so
           many piled up in your room. I can pull one out from anywhere, and it will be exciting."
               People are excited with something that is unexpected. Politicians rule over you because they
           provide excitement. Wars have been condemned for centuries but nobody listens, because everybody
           knows that a long peace will be so flat -- people will start committing suicide, there is nothing
           happening.
               Just think of one year... no news happens. You just go on waiting and waiting and waiting. Then
           finally you decide to create news yourself: you commit suicide or you murder somebody. Something
           has to be done to break this peace.
               In one of the dramas of an existentialist philosopher, a man is brought before the court because
           he has killed a stranger, someone whom he had never known before. He had not even seen the man's
           face. The man was sitting on the beach looking at the sea, and this fellow came from behind with a
           big dagger and pushed it into his back.
               He had never seen that man before; he did not even see him while he was murdering him. What
           could be the cause? -- because that stranger was absolutely innocent.
               The man was, of course, caught and presented before a court. The judge was also puzzled. He
           inquired of a few witnesses, "Is this man mad?"
               They said, "No. In our neighborhood, this is the most rational and sane man." The judge was
           trying to find out something in his past which could make some sense of this act which he had done.
               One man said, "I remember one thing, that when his mother died, it was Sunday morning, and we
           were both sitting in the garden. He said, `I knew that old bitch was going to spoil my beautiful holy
           day. Now, couldn't she have died on Friday, or Tuesday, or Monday? Why on Sunday? I was ready
           to go boating on the lake, and I have to cancel my whole program.'"
               The neighbor said, "That day I thought this man was strange. His mother dies and he says, `That
           woman died purposely on Sunday. She was always making efforts to spoil all my happiness. Even in
           death she continued her old habit.'"
               Another witness said, "When all the proceedings for the funeral were over, this man immediately
           rushed to the house of his girlfriend, and they went to see a movie. In the morning, the mother dies;
           by the evening, he is at a movie with his girlfriend."
               A third witness said, "That is nothing, because after the movie, he was drinking and dancing! His
           behavior has always been a little bizarre."
               The magistrate asked the man himself, "Do you have any explanation for these things?"
               He said, "For everything that I have done I have explanations. My mother dies on Sunday
           morning: my Sunday, my plan to go to the lake is spoiled -- is it wrong to say it clearly, rather than
           repress it? And anyway whether I say it or not, my mother is dead, so what difference does it make?
               "And certainly I was angry. She could have died... there are seven days in the week -- why
           choose Sunday especially? And she knew, because the previous night I had told her, `Tomorrow
           morning I am going to the lake.' And I am absolutely certain she died on purpose because she was
           the only one who knew that I was going to the lake in the morning. And as I was preparing to leave,
           she died. You think I have to give an explanation, or does that dead woman have to give an
           explanation?"
               The magistrate said, "Okay. About that nothing can be done; your mother is dead, she cannot be
           asked. It may have been just a coincidence. But does it look right to you that in the morning your
           mother dies and in the evening you go to a movie? And in the night you are found in a nightclub
           drinking, dancing -- do you think it looks right?"
               He said, "Absolutely right. Because now, whenever I go to a movie it will be after my mother's
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           death. Do you mean that for the rest of life I cannot go to a movie? Whenever I go to the nightclub
           and drink and dance, it will be after my mother's death. Do you want me to commit suicide because
           now I cannot enjoy anything -- it is after my mother's death? And what difference does it make
           whether her death was ten hours ago or ten days ago, or ten years ago?"
               There was great silence in the court. The man looked rational, what he was saying was
           meaningful.
               "Now everything I am going to do is going to be after my mother's death! What do you want me
           to do? Should I also die with my mother because now there is no point in living any longer; will I be
           a criminal if I live? If I laugh, somebody will say, `What? You are laughing, and your mother is
           dead?' And the time factor... can you tell me what is the demarcation line? Ten hours, twelve hours,
           ten days, twelve days, ten years, twelve years? And what is the criterion to decide that now it is all
           right to dance and drink -- now let my mother be dead.
               "I thought that if I am to love, I have to accept the fact that my mother is dead; and then there is
           no point in wasting time. Moreover I had purchased those two tickets already. Wasting those two
           tickets over a dead person, I don't think is sane."
               The magistrate said, "Drop all these things. You just tell me exactly why you killed that man on
           the sea beach. You had never known him, he had never done any harm to you. You were not even
           aware whom you were killing."
               The man said, "It is very simple. My life was going very flat. I used to think, `Once my mother is
           gone there will be peace.' But once she had gone everything became flat. I would come home drunk
           in the middle of the night and nobody was there to nag me and instruct me as to what time to come
           home, what to do and what not to do. Life became flat, and I wanted some excitement. And I got it.
           Does it matter whom I killed?"
               He said, "When I pushed the dagger into the man's back, and a fountain of blood came out, for
           the first time in years I was excited: what was happening? Something new! I have never seen a
           fountain coming out of a man's back. Red blood! Yes, I do not know who the man was, I have no
           enmity with him. I have not killed him for any reason except for my own excitement. And I got it,
           and since then life has been very exciting.
               "I escaped, and the police chased me; finally I was caught, then I was jailed. Things started
           moving! And now I am standing in the court listening to all these idiots who are my neighbors. And
           it gives me great joy to contradict what they are saying. And you are sitting there looking so silly,
           and these people are saying, `Your Honor.'
               "It is hilarious, I have never enjoyed life so much! And I am already tremendously excited
           waiting for the judgment, to see whether I am released, whether I am sent to a mental hospital, or I
           am sentenced to death, or twenty years' imprisonment. There are so many alternatives in my mind."
           This man is you.
               People are doing all kinds of things just to feel excited. And when the whole world becomes dull,
           starts feeling stale, flat, some politician comes as a savior to you, an Adolf Hitler. Many people in
           the world are waiting for another Adolf Hitler -- life is becoming flat. That man made the five years
           from 1940 to 1945 tremendously exciting. I don't think there has ever been such a long period so full
           of excitement for the whole world. Adolf Hitler should be given as many Nobel Prizes as possible
           for making the whole world alive, thriving, their hearts beating faster. They are still waiting.
               I received -- I could never have conceived it -- I received a letter from the American Nazi party.
           Can you think that in America there is a Nazi party? I got the letter from the president of the party,
           and he was very angry, "Because," he said, "you have been continually speaking against Adolf
           Hitler; and it hurts our religious feelings." Even I was excited! This is really great: "religious
           feelings"?
               And later on his letter said, "Perhaps you do not know that he was the reincarnation of the Old
           Testament prophet, Elijah. Soon he will come to deliver humanity from all misery and suffering."
               I can understand this man, his party. Their lives have become flat, they are ready even to make
           Adolf Hitler a religious prophet. They are ready to do anything, but excitement is needed. After each
           ten or fifteen years the flatness becomes so thick in everybody's mind that a war becomes a certainty.
           Any excuse will do.
               Forty years have passed since the second world war. This is the longest period. The credit does
           not go to you, the credit goes to the nuclear weapons, because both the parties which are capable of
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           fighting, the Soviet Union and America, are afraid. They know perfectly well nobody is going to
           win, that everybody is going to be finished forever. The whole of life on the earth is going to
           disappear.
                It does not matter who starts the war, the other party will start only ten minutes later. So anybody
           can start, it does not matter. The other party will be only ten minutes late, and in ten minutes you
           cannot be victorious. You can destroy a few cities, but you cannot be victorious. Your missiles are
           aiming at Moscow; their missiles are aiming at New York, Washington, San Francisco -- just a
           push-button game.
                They are frozen out of fear, that's why forty years have passed. And I know that unless the war
           begins accidentally, the third world war is almost impossible. It is very close, any moment it can
           happen, but it will be just an accident: some technological defect, some scientist getting nagged too
           much by his wife, some politician losing his power, his grip, some country wanting to have the
           attention of the whole world, some crackpot somewhere. There are so many crackpots, and most of
           them are in politics.
                Pots without cracks don't go into politics; they have other, useful things to do. A crackpot is of
           no use. That's why politics is the only profession in the world where no qualification is needed.
           Everybody is perfectly qualified.
                Now there is so much power in the hands of the politicians that they themselves are afraid. They
           would like to win the war, but it is impossible; both the parties are equally balanced. And the war is
           not going to be between two countries; nuclear weapons will spread it all over the world. Perhaps
           within twenty-four hours all life on earth will disappear. This is frightening. That's why the war has
           not happened, and perhaps may not happen. But it is always very close; anything can go wrong.
                I was just talking to one journalist, and I was saying to him that you should not depend on
           machines. And now the whole war game is not between man and man -- that is out of date -- the
           whole war game is between technological nuclear weapons. Even the missiles which will carry the
           weapons will not have any pilots with them, there is no need. The missile itself can be programmed
           where to go, where to drop the bomb.
                I was saying to him that man has become so dependent on technological machines that anything
           can go wrong any moment. And when I said this, the electricity went off! The journalist had nothing
           to say anymore. The proof was there! I said, "Now we can move onto another subject. This is
           finished."
                I understand that you are in a very difficult situation. You would love to live in peace, but peace
           seems to be flat; nothing is happening, you are almost in your grave. To avoid being in such a dead
           state, you go on doing something or other -- falling into a love affair, chasing a man or a woman; and
           then the whole drama of overpowering each other, of dominating each other, fighting.... That too
           does not seem to be good -- every night a pillow fight. It does not seem good, but excitement is
           there.
                Every husband on his way home is thinking of excuses why he is late, figuring out where he has
           been, what to say, what not to say. And the woman is figuring out... she has phoned all his friends'
           houses and she has collected all the information that she knows he will use for his excuses.
                Yes, there is drama. You tell her, "I have been with one of my friends; we met after such a long
           time." And the woman laughs, and she says, "Don't be stupid, your friend has been here! Now I don't
           think your friend is a Jesus Christ who can be in two places simultaneously." You are caught. Every
           husband feels guilty, the woman is angry, he is trying to persuade her....
                At least all these dramas and traumatic experiences keep you from falling into that space you call
           flat. But at such a cost. The peace is flat, the excitement is a torture; you are caught in a dilemma.
                The reason is that you don't know what real peace is. Just not to fight, not to get involved again
           with another woman, not to go to the pub and drink too much and beat others and be beaten.... You
           can avoid all these things. You can just close your door and sit inside your room, but you will not
           find peace. The question is not of the room and you, the question is of your mind.
                Your mind is born out of the monkeys. Your mind is a monkey. Have you seen a monkey sitting
           silently? That would be a miracle. The monkey is always doing something or other -- jumping from
           one tree to another tree in search of excitement. He is bored with peace. Even if you have not done
           anything, just look at the monkey and he will make faces at you. What is he doing? He is just trying
           to create some entertainment.
10/28/07                                                 Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

               He will start running after you. If you run, then he will enjoy it very much. Great excitement,
           although there is no point. If you stop and turn back, the monkey will go up the tree; he does not
           mean business, it was just a game. He was feeling flat, you were feeling flat, and it was a good game.
           Both became excited.
               Your mind is constantly seeking and searching for some involvement, some trouble, because the
           peace is really killing, poisonous.
               Let me repeat: this is not the peace which I am talking about. That peace comes out of
           meditation, that peace comes when you come out of your mind and become centered as a witness,
           just watching the mind without any judgment, without any evaluation, without saying, "This is good,
           this is bad, this is really groovy." If you do such things, then you have already jumped in and become
           identified with the monkey. The moment you say, "This is groovy," you cannot remain outside; you
           are on the track again.
               You have simply to be a witness, like a mirror that gives no judgment -- a beautiful woman, a
           Cleopatra, or Mother Teresa, it makes no difference.
               One journalist was asking me about Mother Teresa, and he said, "I agree with you on almost all
           the points, but why are you against Mother Teresa? She is a beautiful woman...." And he was
           shocked to think of marrying Mother Teresa. Then he understood it is not easy to use any word in
           front of me just like that: "She is a beautiful woman." Then he must have remembered her face. Are
           you going to make love to the Nobel prize? What are you going to do with that woman? Then in his
           mind he must have understood that she is exactly the type of woman that Christians were burning
           alive in the Middle Ages -- witches. She is exactly that type.
               I know her. I would prefer to remain in hell for eternity than to get married to Teresa the
           Terrible!
               But the most difficult thing in your life -- which should really be the easiest -- is to sit by the side
           of the flow of your mind. Your mind is just like a river. Thoughts and thoughts and a crowd of
           thoughts go on passing. You simply sit by the bank, unconcerned, just a witness, and you are in for a
           great surprise.
               Slowly slowly, as you become more and more centered and simply a witness, thoughts start
           disappearing. They can exist only with your identification. You give energy to your mind. When you
           pull yourself out, you have stopped giving nourishment to the mind. And once there is no
           nourishment -- thoughts are very fragile things -- they start dying out.
               Soon there is silence, there is peace. And this peace is not the peace of a cemetery. This peace is
           not dead, it is not flat. It is such a tremendous experience that once you have reached the first rung of
           the ladder, the ladder goes to infinity. You can go on and on discovering new layers of peace. This is
           the real excitement, unending excitement.
               That's the meaning of the word "ecstasy": unending excitement. You cannot exhaust it, you
           cannot come to a point where you say, "There is no more to discover and I am feeling flat." It has
           never happened. On my own authority I say to you, I have been going as fast as possible, deeper and
           deeper into silence, but there is no bottom, there is no limit.
               Each moment of silence brings new fragrance. Peace brings new flowers. Nothing is said, but
           much is heard. Nothing is shown, but much is seen. Nobody guides you, but some magnetic force of
           peace itself takes you farther and farther away from the mind, from the body, from the neighbors,
           from the wife, from the husband. And the excitement is continuously deepening.
               Unless we can create millions of people around the earth who have experienced this kind of
           peace, war is inevitable, because people cannot survive flat lives. It is better to go into a war and
           have a little excitement, although it means death.
               If a man who has not known inner peace is forced to live peacefully, he will either murder or kill
           himself. Even that will provide some excitement. Excitement is a great nourishment, but only the
           right kind of excitement is nourishment. The wrong kind of excitement is poison. And up to now
           humanity has been dominated by the wrong kind of excitement.
               You are here with me to learn a very simple thing: to enjoy peace, to enjoy silence, to enjoy
           something that is within you and you do not have to depend on others for. Such a peaceful man
           radiates peace for others too. His silence starts touching other hearts too. His silence becomes
           oceanic and very inviting.
           That's what I am doing here.
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                Last night, a very nice, juicy journalist was with me. And he was constantly asking me, "Why
           don't you go out into the world to teach people meditation, silence, or whatsoever you name it?"
                It was difficult for him to understand that the well never goes to the thirsty. And remember, if the
           well goes towards the thirsty, the thirsty will escape! Seeing a well coming towards him, he will do
           anything but stand there where he was standing. He is thirsty, that is true, but that does not mean that
           wells have to come towards him. The well has to remain where it is.
                And what to say of an oceanic peace? The well is a small thing; you can miss it, you may not be
           able to find it. I am not a well. The whole world knows about this ocean. Few are the friends of the
           ocean, many are the enemies of the ocean -- but on one point they all agree, that the ocean is there.
                I told the journalist, "I create friends, I create enemies, but I never create a person who can
           ignore me. I am not ignored. And there is no difficulty; the friend and the foe are just superficially
           different. The friend will reach me first, and sooner or later the foe will be following. He has already
           become connected with me -- with his hate, with his hostility. He has already married me!" It is only
           a question of time. He will be watching what is happening to those who are friends.
                It all depends on you. If you become peaceful, silent, loving, you will create everywhere a
           certain area of loving energy. People will start stopping you in the street and asking you what has
           happened to you -- it is something invisible, but very tangible. I am going to remain here. You are
           going to spread like waves in the ocean to the whole earth.
                I am not fighting against the third world war, for the simple reason that there is only one way to
           fight it, and that is to create a peaceful humanity, a humanity which refuses to fight because now
           there is no excitement in fighting. Now there is excitement in sitting silently, doing nothing and
           letting the grass grow by itself. You have found real, authentic excitement. Now who cares to fight?
                I am not directly a pacifist, I am not taking protest marches to Washington or Moscow. But I am
           creating and generating a force which can envelop the whole earth. And that will be the barrier
           against nuclear weapons, wars, and all kinds of stupidities.
                Just recognize your responsibility. Man was never required to be so responsible as he is required
           to be today, because upon him rests the whole thing -- of whether the earth is going to be alive,
           thriving, flowering, or is going to be a dead planet.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              YOU HAVE SPOKEN MANY TIMES ON AIDS AND ON THE THIRD WORLD WAR, BUT NEVER
              ABOUT BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER. DO YOU THINK THERE IS STILL A NEED FOR THE THIRD
              WORLD WAR EVEN IF TWO-THIRDS OF THE WORLD POPULATION IS GOING TO DIE A
              NATURAL DEATH FROM AIDS?


               Certainly there is no need for the third world war. AIDS will do whatever the politicians want to
           be done by a third world war. But it is not in my hands.
               Politicians don't want to take a chance. Every day they are piling up more and more nuclear
           weapons. And on the other hand -- you will be surprised -- every nation is trying to repress
           information about AIDS.
               Why is every nation trying to repress the information about how many people are suffering from
           AIDS, and how many people have been in contact with these people? The cases may not be
           confirmed, but they are all around, and they will be spreading.
               Countries are afraid to declare that they have AIDS because it means they accept that there is
           homosexuality, it means they accept that all kinds of sexual perversions exist in their country,
           because AIDS is the climax of all perversions together. It is insulting to their ego.
               But they are not realizing the fact that if you repress information about AIDS, it is going to
           spread faster. Perhaps they are not worried because they know that anyway the third world war is
           going to be there -- AIDS or no AIDS. In the politician's mind it seems that there is no way out
           anymore: they are geared towards the third world war.
               Yes, it is a concern to me. The third world war can easily be avoided if people learn a little
           meditativeness. Then their whole excitement and support for war, democracy, communism,
           socialism, fascism -- everything -- disappears. They are no longer slaves of any government, any
           nation, any religion, any party.
10/28/07                                                Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

                And a man who is meditative, who knows his inner peace and silence, cannot be a perverted sex
           maniac. The experience of inner ecstasy is helpful in both ways. On the one hand, it will make you
           normal human beings, not perverted in any way. Secondly, it will make you capable of creating
           small fields of energy which will go on spreading on their own. We have to cover the whole earth
           with a red blanket. That will be the barrier which cannot be broken by any nuclear weapons.
                But you are right. If AIDS goes on spreading the way it is spreading.... It is not only through
           sexual intercourse that you can get AIDS. Even by kissing you can get AIDS. There are a few tribes
           -- old, ancient tribes living in the mountains in the Himalayas -- who seem to be far more advanced
           as far as kissing is concerned. They laugh at the whole idea, it is so unhygienic. In each kiss the
           partners are exchanging millions of germs. You have heard the words "kiss of death." Up to now it
           has been only words; now it is a reality.
                One journalist was asking me, "Then what do you propose as a substitute, because if we stop
           kissing, we will feel something is missing?"
                I said, "No, there is no need. Man is so inventive. You just rub noses with each other, and you
           will enjoy it more." These aboriginal tribes in the Himalayas do exactly that. They don't kiss, they
           simply rub noses.
                But the journalist was more concerned about catching a cold than about catching AIDS, and he
           said, "What if one partner has a cold?"
                I said, "That is such a simple thing. At the most you can catch a cold. If you don't take any
           medicine your cold will go in seven days; if you take medicine your cold will go in one week. There
           is no problem. And it is a show of affection, intimacy, love, that you are willing to rub noses with
           someone who has a cold."
                But please, avoid kissing. You don't know who has AIDS. Very few people are confirmed,
           because very few people go to the doctors. And those who know they have AIDS manage to bribe
           the doctors to keep the information secret. They know that they cannot live more than two years --
           that is the maximum -- perhaps they will live six months, eight months.
                Just think of a man -- put yourself in his position -- whose doctor says to him, "You have AIDS
           and you don't have more than two years to live, at the maximum; most probably six months will do
           it." Naturally, you don't want people to know that you have AIDS, because it is so humiliating. AIDS
           simply means you are a homosexual, perverted. So you are going to bribe the doctor, "Please keep
           your mouth shut."
                And there is no medicine for AIDS, so the doctor cannot be of any help. And as for you, when
           you see that you have at the most two years, or perhaps only six months, you will try to make the
           best of those six months -- make as much love as you can, find as many partners as possible, because
           life is finishing.
                The people who have AIDS become more focused on sexuality because their whole life flame is
           going out any moment. Before it goes out.... Now they have nothing to lose, but they can give
           something -- AIDS -- to as many friends, lovers, as possible. And each person who comes in contact
           with these people will become a new source. Within fifteen years, the world will be covered with
           people who have AIDS, and it will be impossible to prevent it.
                So you are right -- what is the need of the third world war? The need is that the politicians don't
           want to take any chance. Who knows? The medical profession may come up with some medicine.
           Who knows? Man may start naturally building antibodies to AIDS in his body, because this is a
           challenge to his whole system. Everything is possible. The body does not want to die, it creates
           antibodies for all kinds of sicknesses. AIDS is a new phenomenon, our bodies are not yet fully
           acquainted with it. Perhaps our bodies will start creating antibodies to AIDS.
                So it is better, the politicians think, to let AIDS do its work -- that is the work of God, the father
           who is in heaven, above the roof -- and we should go on doing our own job of piling up nuclear
           weapons, so no chance is left.
                They are determined, it seems, that this planet earth, which is a rare planet.... All the planets
           around you are dead. This is the only planet which is alive with millions of species -- animals, birds,
           insects, fish, trees. All the planets around you are very poor. They don't have oceans, they don't have
           rivers, they don't have trees. They are just dead stone. Nothing grows there. And your politicians are
           determined to make this earth the same.
                This is the greatest responsibility that man has ever faced. But remember, the greater the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           responsibility, the greater the challenge, the greater is the possibility for you to come to your highest
           intelligence, potential, capabilities, creativity.
               So, on the one hand, it is a very sad picture. But on the other hand, never before has humanity
           faced such a challenge. Who knows? This challenge may give you guts enough to do things which
           you always wanted to do for many lives, but went on postponing. Now there is no way to postpone --
           death is knocking on the door.
               What do you want? To read the newspapers -- or do meditation? What do you want? To go on
           playing cards -- or do meditation?
               Man has to be made aware of the great, the greatest challenge that is standing in front of us.
               Politicians are trying to keep both AIDS and nuclear weapons hidden. They do not declare
           exactly how many nuclear weapons they have, all estimates are guesswork. And now they are trying
           to repress information about the disease AIDS. Their whole effort is so that you do not become
           aware of the challenge, because the challenge can bring a transformation in the whole of human
           consciousness.
               I am hammering continually on these two things, AIDS and nuclear weapons, for the single
           reason that perhaps this is the moment when you would not like to remain asleep. This is the moment
           you would like to know something deeper than life and death itself. That is the world of peace. And
           it belongs to you, you just have to claim it.


              BELOVED OSHO,
              AS WOMEN, OUR NATURAL CREATIVITY IS EXPRESSED THROUGH THE BEARING AND
              RAISING OF CHILDREN. WHAT HAPPENS TO THAT ENERGY NOW THAT THAT AREA OF
              EXPRESSION IS NO LONGER VIABLE?


               Energy is always neutral. It has no program in it. It can save or it can mar, it can make or it can
           destroy.
               It is a great opportunity that is becoming available to women, now that they are freed from
           biological bondage. Of course, man has always praised them for their great creativity in having
           children. But what kind of children have you produced? Just look around the world: these are your
           children -- what creativity! All the animals are doing it, perhaps better than you.
               I have been in many jungles and mountains in India. I have never seen any deer which is too fat
           or too thin; they are all alike. They are not like man: one person is thin and one is so fat and ugly. I
           have watched all kinds of animals in the wild: nobody teaches them how to produce children. They
           don't have any schools, no maternity homes, no guidance from anybody. So don't take much pride in
           the fact that you can produce children.
               Yes, man has been giving woman much juice about it: "You are a great creator because you give
           birth to a child." It was really very tricky of man; it meant that the woman should continue to create
           children. And in poor countries it is still happening -- to have a dozen children is not rare. Some
           women have more than one dozen. I saw one woman who had twenty children. Now her whole life is
           wasted. Either she is pregnant or she is raising the children. And when the child is not even six
           months old, she is pregnant again. She is doing a double job.
               I know about a man who had uniforms for his children. I asked him, "What nonsense this is!
           Why do you create uniforms for your children?"
               He said, "Do you know how many children I have? Fifteen. Without their wearing uniforms I
           cannot recognize which my child is. So the uniform helps me in two ways. I have to take the children
           to the school and bring them back home. It helps me to recognize my children and sort them out. It
           also helps me to know if somebody else's child has not entered into my fold and my child has gone
           with somebody else."
               I said, "Now it is time you should stop; fifteen is too much."
               He said, "It is God and his grace. I cannot go against God." He was a very religious Hindu. "If
           God wants to give birth to more children, then who am I to prevent it?"
               All the religions of the world are against birth control methods, the pill. They are against
           abortion. It means the woman remains biologically in bondage, and her energies continue to create
           only mediocre people, crowds to serve in the armies, navies, airforce, to be killed or to kill-at the
10/28/07                                               Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
                Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-

           most to be clerks, nurses, porters. What do you mean by creativity? You have created a porter. Do
           you feel proud? How much pride can it give to you?
                Every parent should feel ashamed. You are creating like animals. Science has given you a chance
           today to get out of the bondage of biology-a great freedom so that sex becomes, for the first time, not
           a biological reproductive method; it becomes sheer play, joy.
                You are asking me, if women's energies are not poured into creating children, then what will
           happen to those energies? Why can't you start.... There are thousands of ways to make this world
           more beautiful. Anything that makes the world more beautiful is creative. Landscape the garden
           around your house. Crossbreed plants; create new flowers that have never existed before. And of
           course, they will give new fragrances which the earth has never experienced.
                And compete with men in every field. Prove to him that you are equal -- not by the women's
           liberation movement; prove by your actions that you are equal, perhaps superior. The women's
           liberation movement is just idiotic. A few women will gather and just create anger and hatred against
           men, and they will all smoke continuousl